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Chapter Text

As much as Ren loved the life he built for himself in Tokyo, part of him was happy to be headed back home. He grew up in Inaba, and had a happy childhood. Or at least he thought he did. Now that he was back, it was clear how much he didn’t fit in.

The strip of shops felt too small. His house too big. His phone was still blowing up with text messages, but it felt hollow when he couldn’t just answer them with a text saying he’d meet up.

Ren didn’t realize how much he was out of step, and as he walked home after his first day of this last year of high school, he wondered if he ever did.

His classmates who blocked his number after his arrest looked at him like he was a moment away from attacking. It was a look Ren got very used to from Shujin, but it was different when it was people who he grew up with. People he once called his friends before he moved away and realized, no, agreeing to study with someone once a week or hanging out at Junes together did not make someone friends.

He missed his real friends a lot, but not enough to bother them with his issues. Ren figured it wasn’t that big of a deal, and he only had to deal with them for a year.

Home was another issue, one that Ren hoped Morgana would stop bugging him about. His parents weren’t bad people, not like the kind they would change the hearts of. They were just busy. Too busy to pick up their kid from the station. Too busy to do more than text him to remind him he would be having dinner alone that night.

Too busy to even notice that Ren brought back a cat, and didn’t call him out when he said Morgana had always been there. It was better that way. No matter the looks Morgana gave him.

The one bright side was that it made Morgana stop giving him that look whenever he pulled Akechi’s glove out. It was a new problem that the embodiment of hope felt like he needed to deal with, rather than the issue of how Ren was dealing with Akechi being gone.

It didn’t take Ren much to convince Morgana not to come to school with him, but now Ren was wondering if maybe he should have. Like everything about his life now, his bag felt off. Too light. Ren kept checking to see if he forgot anything as he walked to and from school.

It was then, as Ren looked over at his bag as he passed a metal pole that he caught a flash of tan. A very distinct tan jacket that he hasn’t seen since…

Ren turned around to see that no one was walking behind him. The street to his house was empty, with only a few sounds of people talking nearby.

It wasn’t the first time Ren thought he saw Akechi. On the train right when he was leaving Tokyo, he thought he spotted him outside the window. But as the train started going, whoever he caught sight of was gone, leaving only Ren’s reflection in the window. It led to Ren texting Futaba if she could check the cameras at the station, and Ren didn’t correct her when she thought he saw some of those government men that were stalking him.

She didn’t find anything, and Ren was forced to admit that it wasn’t Akechi.

It just seemed impossible that he was really gone. The gunshot echoing the engine room haunted his dreams, mixing in with nightmares of them all disappearing, and ones where he woke up just to find everyone smiling and happy without him.

Ren thought that Akechi was wrong.

Ren held onto the fact that even when Maruki told him the truth, Akechi was able to fight with them. He didn’t disappear like Futaba mom or Haru’s father did when they realized the truth. Ren thought that had to mean something about Akechi was different.

But as the months passed, the more Ren came to realize that maybe he was relying too much on that one difference. Not that it mattered, since agreeing to Maruki’s reality still made him sick to think about, even if the idea of living without seeing Akechi ever again made him feel like the walls were closing in.

Ren thought he was dealing with Akechi’s death pretty well. He still tried to text Akechi’s number even if none of the messages said they got delivered, and took out Akechi’s glove every day, but that was normal. People did stuff like that all the time when they mourned, and Akechi was important to him. His rival.

The only issue was that Ren didn’t want the others to know he cared that much about Akechi. Morgana knew. Morgana probably knew more about Akechi and Ren’s relationship than he wanted to, but Ren also knew even if Morgana was able to text, he wouldn’t tell the others. The bigger issue was the others.

Makoto tried bringing him up once, a few days after he got out of juvie, and Ren froze. His mind went blank and he couldn’t figure out what to say. Thankfully Makoto backpedaled and changed the topic to their exams and her university plans, but Ren knew he messed up. Especially when he got home and instead of calling him like usual, she sent him a website about the grieving process.

She hasn’t brought it up since, but Ren knew it was just a matter of time before she would. And Ren would have to tell her that he’s doing fine. That she doesn’t need to worry about him. That he was grieving in a healthy way, and hoped that she wouldn’t talk to the others about it.

Ren figured even thinking he saw Akechi was normal. The site that Ren glanced over once before deleting it off his phone history said that it can take the brain some time to get used to someone being gone. Thinking that they would be in the kitchen, only to go in and remember they would never be there again. Ren would have thought that would be more of an issue back in Tokyo, visiting all the places that he went to with Akechi, but it was the same situation at the end of the day. Yes, Ren was grieving Akechi, but it was normal.

Everything was fine. Ren was doing fine.

“I will be working late night, so you’ll have to fend for yourself,” Amamiya Akemi said as she threw her jacket over her scrubs, not even bothering to look at Ren who just walked through the door.

Morgana was already home, giving him a look from the chair that he claimed as his own. Ren’s old baby blanket was thrown on top about a week after they arrived; acceptance from one of his parents even if Ren never bothered to find out who. Ren couldn’t help but think that Morgana looked more in place in the home than Ren did.

“Alright. Want me to save you dinner?” Ren asked as  his mom shook her head before pulling her hair into a tight bun.

“No, just worry about yourself. Don’t cause any trouble.”

And with that reminder, she was out the door before Ren was even able to take his shoes off.

“She didn’t even welcome you home,” Morgana complained, and Ren wasn’t sure if he was talking about right now, or weeks ago when they first arrived.

Ren just shrugged in response as he finished taking off his shoes, slipping his feet into his house slippers. His school bag tossed to the side, with homework already filling it despite the first week of school not even being done. Also fliers for university exams dates that Ren took on a whim. All things that he should start working on, but instead he made his way to the kitchen.

“What are you going to make?” Morgana asked as he followed him into the kitchen, jumping onto the counter since there was no one to tell him not to.

Ren wanted to make some curry, feeling a sudden longing for it, but opening the fridge showed that all the vegetables were gone, and the meat.

“Something with eggs?” Ren asked as he looked at the carton, only to see there was one egg left.

“Is it too late to go shopping?” Morgana asked, and while it wasn’t that late,  by the time they walked to the shopping district and back it would be too late to make anything.

“I’ll get something on the way home tomorrow,” Ren said, closing the fridge as he got the frozen meals that he spent most of his life eating.

Morgana pulled a face, but didn’t say anything, only muttering about wanting the chicken on since the fish ones taste weird.

It was weird how Ren wanted to cook now. While Sojiro mainly taught him how to make curry and coffee, he did show Ren a few other meals and general tips. Before, Ren didn’t have time nor a kitchen to practice with, and now he does.

But the only one he could really cook for was Morgana and himself. Ren just found himself saving recipes to try, already making plans to ask Sojiro if he could use his kitchen when he visits during golden week.

The microwave beeped, and Ren let it sit while the rice cooker warmed up. His mom apparently did take all the rice and leftovers to work, which he didn’t mind, but it would have been nice for her to mention it before leaving.

Ren went over to the sink to wash some dishes in the meantime, only to stop at the window looking out onto the alleyway between their home and the fence of the neighbors.

There standing looking right at him was a figure with a tan jacket, dark pants, and just above the shoulder length hair. Ren felt like he couldn’t breathe since that was Akechi. There was no way it wasn’t, but as he took a step back to run outside and greet him, he was gone.

“Ren?!” Morgana called out as Ren rushed to the front door, but there was no sign of anyone on the street.

Ren still went out to the alleyway, going as far as to pull himself up the fence to see if Akechi somehow was able to jump it without him noticing, but there was nothing but a little white dog barking at him.

“Ren? Did you see someone?”

Ren let himself drop back to the ground, looking down to see that Morgana looked like he was getting ready for a fight. Or to run if Ren needed him to get help.

“No, I just wanted to see if I could jump this fence,” Ren joked, and Morgana rolled his eyes as he told him the rice was beeping.

They walked back to the house, and Ren kept looking around even though he knew that it couldn’t have been Akechi that he saw. People don’t just disappear that quickly. At least not now that the metaverse was gone.

Ren waited until he was seated with Morgana who eagerly dug into his meal before checking his phone. A bunch of messages from his friends that he ignored to check to see if the nav app was back.

It wasn’t.

There also wasn’t any response or ‘seen’ message from Akechi, which Ren was expecting.

“You should get started on your homework before it gets too late,” Morgana reminded him, and Ren tried his best to ignore what happened.

A week passed with Ren seeing Akechi out of the corner of his eye everywhere. While walking to school one day. In the reflection of the water when he was trying to fish with Morgana. In the window of the bookstore when he was looking for something to read.

It was only for a moment. Ren would move, or blink, and the image would be gone. Ren wondered for a moment if he was being haunted by Akechi before realizing how silly that would be. It still didn’t get him to stop carrying his glove in his back packet, even though he did get a box to keep it safe.

Then on Sunday Ren decided to sleep in until noon, do a trip to June, and try some of the new recipes he’s been looking at. Ren wanted to surprise his friends when he came back but he wasn’t sure of his ability to make anything besides curry at the moment.

“I’m going to patrol the place, make sure not to over cook my tuna!” Morgana announced as he left out the window that Ren’s been leaving open for him.

Ren thought about getting a doggy door installed, but he wasn’t sure if his parents would be quiet if he started doing house modifications without their permission. His metaverse money was safe in the account Haru opened up for them all, though Ren was the only one who really used it. It felt a little weird using it for food and books now that he can’t even claim it for the betterment of the phantom thieves, but the one time he brought it up everyone agreed that he should use it.

Either way, the window would have to do, and Ren tried not to think about how empty the house felt with Morgana now gone. He grew up in this house, and while his dad was less busy back then, he was more than used to Sundays alone.

Ren picked up the knife to start flaying the fish when he spotted something in the reflection. This time when Ren turned around, with the knife still in his hand, he instinctually used his third eye like he would in the Metaverse when a shadow was nearby. It always let him get a vague idea of how powerful it would be, and if he could dash into it for a quick attack, or needed the extra moments that an ambush would allow him.

In the real world, his third eye was much less useful. He still could spot security cameras or books that would be useful to him, but while Tokyo was lit up with such things, Inaba had much less to offer him.

Ren hasn’t really bothered with the ability that fake god gave him since the Metaverse was gone and there was no phantom thieves could benefit from it.

But now, Ren stood in his kitchen, the world dimming around him, as he focused on the slightly glowing figure in front of him. His confidants always glowed, showing the arcana that represent their bond above their head. Akechi always looked a little different under his third eye. At first Ren just thought it was because he was hiding something, but after Maruki’s reality, he wondered if it was just because Ren saw him differently.

It felt like a slap to the face now, as Ren saw Akechi standing in his living room, looking over the tv with his hand under his chin like he was about to tell him some back-hand comment about his living arrangement.

Then he turned around, and Ren saw his face.

Chapter Text

Akechi was following Ren.

That much Ren had figured out as he tried his best to spot him with his third eye. It wasn’t all day, not like the stalking Makoto did before joining. It was only for a few hours, then he left. And the one time Ren caught him leaving with his third eye, he saw Akechi just walked away, not disappeared.

His first thought was that it was a ghost. What was just a silly thought a few weeks ago was suddenly much more realistic. What else could explain how Ren could clearly see him with his third eye?

But that would mean ghosts were real, and if that was the case, then wouldn’t Ren have seen them before in Tokyo back when he was using his third eye to check out everything?

Ren was still worried that he was still just seeing things, but that was never the case with his third eye. After observing the figure that might be Akechi for three days, he waited until his mom left for her night shift and Morgana went on his evening ‘patrol’.

Akechi was at the bookcase, a hand out like he wanted to pull out a book even though Ren watched as his hand just went through it, and he jerked back.

Ren took a deep breath.

“Akechi?”

His voice felt too loud for the house and the figure turned around, looking right at Ren with his eyes that seemed even more red then what he remembered under the gaze of his third eye. Akechi opened his mouth, and Ren could see his lips move, but no sound came out.

“I can’t hear you, but if you are really Akechi… can you prove it?” Ren tried again, and immediately the ghost stopped trying to talk.

The glare that maybe-Akechi gave him was one Ren got very used to after trying to ask him anywhere beside Jazz Jin during Maruki’s fake reality. It was a little odd seeing it come from this maybe-ghost who was wearing his usual detective prince outfit. An expression that Ren only had a month to get familiar with, on a body that Ren was a little more familiar with.

His mouth moved, and Ren tried paying attention to see if he could spontaneously learn to lip read. Instead, his attention was drawn down as Akechi brought out one hand, and very slowly slipped off a glove from his hand while staring down Ren like he was moment away from ripping off his mask.

“I… I still have your glove, you don’t need to try throwing that at me. Again,” Ren stumbled over his words as he pulled out said glove from his back pocket, making Akechi pause.

It was Akechi. There was no doubt in Ren’s mind, unless this was a figure that has been stalking him since that fight, the only person who knew about the glove was Morgana. And Morgana never saw that it was the right glove. There was only one person who would know that would be enough of ‘proof’ for him.

Therefore, it was Akechi. It had to be.

Akechi’s lips moved again as he pulled his glove back on, taking his eyes off Ren for a moment, and Ren took advantage of it to get closer. It felt like it only took him two steps to cross the living room and get to Akechi. Despite not being Joker since February, Ren still moved quickly and silently like he was getting ready to strike a shadow.

He darted out to grab Akechi and…

“Oh.”

His hand just went through him. Ren didn’t feel anything. Nothing to suggest what he was seeing. No cold spot, no feeling of electricity. Ren wasn’t sure what touching a ghost would be like, but he thought there would be something.

Akechi in response pulled his arm back, holding it up to his chest. Akechi opened his mouth to yell at him, and while he still hasn’t miraculously learned how to read lips, Ren was pretty sure that Akechi was telling him not to do that again.

“Sorry, did that hurt you?” Ren asked, wondering if even though he didn’t feel anything, Akechi did.

Akechi let his arm fall back into a more normal position, and started to say something before suddenly closing his mouth with an annoyed expression and just shook his head.

“That’s… good,” Ren awkwardly said, messy with his hair in front of his eyes as he tried to figure out what to say.

Not being able to hear Akechi was putting him more off foot than not being able to touch him, and it didn’t help that Akechi looked just as annoyed.

Fingers soon appeared in his face, snapping though Ren still didn’t hear anything from the motion.

“Sorry, I just…” Ren didn’t want to explain how much Akechi’s presence was shocking him.

But Akechi was just standing there, looking at him trying to talk. Or was talking, but Ren couldn’t hear him.

“I kept seeing you. Or maybe just your reflection in the window and knife,” Ren forgot he was still holding that, and put it down before there could be an accident, “I thought I was just… missing you. But you’re really here.”

Akechi responded, and while Ren missed most of what he said, he thought he saw a ‘here’ and ‘don’t misunderstand’.

“Do you know why you’re here?” Ren asked, causing Akechi to look surprised for just a moment.

Akechi said something too fast for him to even attempt to lip read, before waving his hand.

“I was talking about here in my house, but if you know how you are here in general and alive, that would be nice to know as well,” Ren said, pleased that it seemed like he figured out what Akechi was trying to say just from body language.

And while Akechi spoke again too fast for Ren to lip read, he could tell that Akechi found fault with something he said.

“You don’t think you are alive, do you.”

Akechi didn’t even bother to talk, just slowly gestured to himself before quickly shoving his arm into Ren’s chest.

He stepped back on impulse, losing focus on maintaining his third eye. Suddenly the world was back to normal, way too bright, and Akechi was nowhere to be seen.

“Fine. You made your point,” Ren said as he focused again, Akechi suddenly appeared further away from Ren.

“Then do you know why you’re a ghost? ‘Cause I’ll tell you right now, you’ve the first one I’ve ever seen, and I would have thought if ghosts were a normal thing, I would have seen more.”

Ren felt his heart clenched as Akechi put his hand under his chin to think, and wished he could hear what the fake detective was theorizing. It seemed that he momentarily forgot that Ren couldn’t hear him, since as soon as he looked back at Ren, he scowled before walking away.

“Wait! Where are you going?”

Akechi didn’t stop, just walked over to Ren’s school bag, reaching over to grab something only for his hand to just pass through the bag. Akechi immediately stood back up, and turned to Ren before gesturing to the bag.

“You… want me to get something out of my bag?”

Ren was pretty sure this time Akechi was telling him off for being an idiot, but Ren ignored it to see what Akechi was thinking. He opened his bag wide enough that Akechi could point out what he wanted.

It was his notebook, that one he used to keep track of all his phantom thief stuff. Of course, to the normal person it just looked like a journal of day to day activities like studying or hanging out with friends, but Akechi knew better.

“You think it’s related to the metaverse?” Ren asked while he thought about it himself.

It made sense. If Ren hasn’t just somehow been missing any other ghost roaming around Tokyo, then the only difference between Akechi’s possible death and any other person, was that it happened in the metaverse. No body was ever found, which was one of the reasons Ren kept hoping that Akechi somehow survived but…

Akechi’s hand was in front of his face, trying to draw his attention again.

“What is it?” Ren asked, but Akechi just waved his hand as if to tell him to continue.

Ren doesn’t really like having to be the one to lead the conversations. He never had, and before moving to Tokyo that was one of the reasons he never really made any friends. Ren did find himself talking more with Akechi, but that was usually in response to a question he posed.

It was odd that now Ren had to be the one to ask all the questions.

“I guess, I should just ask you yes or no questions?” Ren asked, and Akechi made a very over the top gesture like he’s been telling Ren that the whole time.

It was likely that he had been.

“Did you become a ghost right after you…” Ren started to say before trailing off and deciding to change tracks slightly, “after what happened in Shido’s palace?”

Akechi shook his head.

“Then after we beat Maruki?”

He nodded, and Ren filed that information away along with the information that this Akechi remembered that false reality.

“Okay. So just to be clear, you’ve been a ghost since February 4th?”

Akechi gave a very annoyed nod. Ren made a mental note to figure out another walk to talk to Akechi since he wasn’t sure they would survive this only yes/no question style for very long.

“And have you been-” Ren suddenly stopped talking as something else grabbed his attention.

Ren looked to the window to see Morgana walking back in.

“Did you know your neighbor Saiko is seeing that weird blacksmith guy?” Morgana announced as he walked in, and Ren looked to Akechi who waved him off before leaving.

Ren wanted to ask him to stay, but that would mean telling Morgana that Akechi’s ghost was there and… he wasn’t sure if he was ready for everything that conversation would bring.

He just let Morgana tell him about all the gossip he overheard, and Ren wondered if Akechi could leave, or just wanted to make Ren think he could.

It took a few days before they were alone again. Long enough that Ren asked the bookstore if they had any books about learning sign language, and was told they would get some in a week.

“…I just thought that would be easier then keeping up this question answer method we got going,” Ren explained while he ignored the homework in front of him to talk with Akechi.

Ren doesn’t think he’s ever used his third eye this much outside of the metaverse. He kept checking to see if he could spot Akechi, but it seemed random. Sometimes Akechi was in the classroom, but often not. Usually he would be in Ren’s house during the afternoon, but always left when he got ready for bed.

“Okay, so back to before…” Ren said, trying to think of what he wanted to ask Akechi first.

“Are you okay? Like, are you in any pain or… trouble?”

Ren wanted to know if there was a deadline they needed to worry about, but also that Akechi wasn’t in pain for eternity. Ren never really went out of his way to watch ghost movies, but sometimes they would be trapped in the moment they died and Ren doesn’t want that for Akechi.

Ren felt him relax when Akechi shook his head, while opening his mouth to likely tell Ren off for worrying about something like that.

“I don’t know what exactly you are saying, but your wellbeing matters to me, okay?”

That got Akechi to look away.

“Are you here because I have your glove? Like… are you tied to it?”

That got Akechi to snap his head back, looking confused and clearly saying something about why Ren even asked that question before just shaking his head.

“Then you tracked me down because you thought I could help you?”

Ren just couldn’t figure out why else Akechi would be here if not because he thought Joker would be useful. If Akechi wasn’t stuck here and could go anywhere, then it would make sense he would first try to see if Ren could see him. Which turned out to be true since he could see Akechi, even if it took him way too long to try with his third eye.

Akechi for his part, hesitated for just a moment before nodding. Maybe if Akechi was able to answer Ren’s question verbally, Ren wouldn’t have noticed, but with him being limited to body language and under his third eye, the hesitation felt like a beacon.

Akechi was lying.

“Okay,” Ren said regardless, knowing better than to call out Akechi before he figured out why he was lying.

“Do you think there is a way to fix this?” Ren asked even though he was worried that Akechi wasn’t thinking to fix the ghost issue the same way Ren was.

There had to be some way. Ren knows there are myths of people bringing back loved ones from the underworld or what-have-you. While it was likely they were just stories, with personas and the Metaverse existing, Ren wondered if some of those stories had a grain of truth.

Akechi stared at him, perhaps similarly coming to the conclusion that Ren was hoping to find a way to bring him back, but instead of a nod or shake of his head, Akechi just shrugged his shoulders. It was a gesture that Ren doesn’t think he’s ever seen Akechi do before, and it looked awkward. Like someone who hadn’t done it since they were little.

“Right, I’ll look into that. In the mean time-”

“Who are you talking to?”

Ren turned to see that Morgana came back without him noting. It seemed that the embodiment of hope wasn’t on a walk like Ren assumed, but just was taking a nap upstairs.

“Practicing my speech for tomorrow,” Ren effortlessly lied.

Morgana took it at face value and jumped onto the table.

“You’ve been working on this for hours now, don’t you think it’s time for a break?”

Ren really wanted to use his third eye to see if Akechi was already gone or not, but Morgana seemed to always notice when he was using it. The last thing he wanted was him thinking he was trying to cheat and giving him a Makoto worthy lecture.

“Maybe you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right I-” Morgana said before suddenly doing a full body shiver.

“Morgana?”

“You should turn off the A/C, it’s not cold enough for it to be going off like this at night!” Morgana complained as he jumped off the table and started walking into the kitchen.

“It’s automatic, and I don’t know how to mess with it,” Ren said as he used this moment to see where Akechi was.

He was still standing by the table, looking at Morgana like he was one of his fangirls who hasn’t spotted him yet. Ren stepped between them to give a quick wave goodbye before deciding to make himself and Morgana something to eat.

For about a week that was their routine. Ren asked Akechi a few questions. Akechi only able to respond with a nod or shake. It was clear they ran into a dead-end, but Ren didn’t mention it in fear that Akechi would leave. Instead, Ren did his best to look into the cause or even a fix for Akechi’s ghostly state. However, if it was a Metaverse issue, then there were only two people he could ask.

Ren thought it would have been better to bring up this issue the day after he found out, but he knew Morgana would understand why he wanted to wait. Futaba would be more of a can of worms and Ren doesn’t want to bother her while she was still getting used to being back in school physically.

Sumire has been a huge help since they lucked out and ended up being in the same second year classroom. It made Ren feel a little better about not responding to Futaba’s messages right away.

“Are you fine if I tell Morgana,” Ren asked, both because he wondered if Akechi cared and because he was trying to stall for more time.

Morgana was getting suspicious. Ren tried not to ask to be alone too often, but already it was outside the norm. He was going to find out at some point, and Ren needed to figure out how to explain without sounding like he was losing his mind.

Akechi gave a response that Ren didn’t need to lip read to understand. The ‘I don’t care what you do with your cat’ was clear enough that Ren could almost hear it.

“He is from the Metaverse, or at least the velvet room. I never did find out if that’s the same thing or what,” Ren rambled, and Akechi looked like there were a few things he wanted to say, but it gave up too soon.

Ren was going to tell him to just say what was on his mind and he’ll figure it out, but soon he heard Morgana jumping up to the window sill.

It was showtime.

“Mona, there’s something I need to tell you,” Ren prefaced and Morgana didn’t even pause in his walk over to him.

“Are you finally going to let me know what’s been bothering you? If it’s school I could come with you.”

Ren smiled, wishing that he could bring Morgana to school like he did before, but his homeroom teacher would notice in a second, and Ren was trying to lay low until he graduated.

“I know you would, but it’s not about school. I... it might be Metaverse related,” Ren said to start off, and right away Morgana straightened up as he sat.

“Is the app back?”

“No, but... Akechi is,” Ren said, like ripping off a bandaid.

“Akechi?!” Morgana yelped, and started looking around like he was there right now.

Which, Ren checked real quick, he was. Standing on the other side of the room like he was trying to give them space but also wanted to be close enough to hear everything they were saying.

“He’s not all the way back. I can only see him with my third eye. It’s like he’s a ghost.”

“A ghost...?” Morgana repeated, sounding much more subdued as he stopped looking for Akechi and turned his gaze back to Ren.

“How long have you been able to see ghosts?!”

“This is the first time, which is why we think it’s related to the Metaverse.”

“We? You talked to him?”

“I can’t hear him, but we’ve worked out a method to communicate,” Ren said, and focused in on Akechi to see he was telling him off.

Probably saying how doing a y/n system doesn’t count as communication.

“Are you... is Akechi here right now?!” Morgana suddenly yelped, surprising Ren enough that he lost his focus.

“Uh, yeah. He’s over by the couch but...” Ren trailed off as Morgana set off, beelining right to Akechi, and then through his leg.

It was weird seeing Akechi try to keep Morgana from walking through him. An odd play of the times when Morgana felt being particularly annoying and would keep trying to trip someone, mostly Ryuji. Only Morgana was clearly trying to search for Akechi, and while it was a little amusing seeing it happen, Ren realized something else.

“Can you sense him?”

Morgana stopped long enough for Akechi to get away from the couch, but he was still looking down at Morgana. His back was to Ren, so he wasn’t sure what expression was on Akechi’s face as Morgana spoke up.

“Maybe... It kinda feels like a palace.”

“What?” Ren said in shock, looking at Akechi who was looking back at him.

Ren was expecting the Metaverse to be involved, but a palace made him wonder whose palace it was. And from how Akechi was looking, it was clear he was wondering the same thing.

“Or maybe not a palace exactly. It’s different from being in someone’s palace, or even mementos but...” Morgana trailed off, walking around in a circle as he tried figuring out just what he was sensing when near Akechi.

“Akechi do you mind getting closer to Mona?” Ren asked, and Akechi took a few steps to Morgana who was now just sitting in place.

“Is he to my left now?”

“Yeah, close enough that if you move you’ll go right through him, which he doesn’t like,” Ren ignored the glare that Akechi gave him for pointing out his obvious reaction, but it’s better for Morgana to know.

“I was walking through him?! Why didn’t you warn me!”

Ren saw Akechi move his mouth, and Ren was pretty sure he got the gist of what he was trying to say.

“I think Akechi wants you to continue trying to figure out what you sense when he’s nearby,” Ren guessed, and Akechi looked at him with a nod.

Ren was feeling like he was reaching a new level of being able to read Akechi’s body language.

“Oh right, it’s...hmmm...” Morgana got up again, walking very slowly in a circle around Akechi, only stepping through his foot once.

Akechi didn’t move, but Ren did see his face scrunch up.

“I think...It’s less like a palace and more like how it feels when I cross over to the metaverse. It’s only for a moment, so I’ve never really paid attention before but...”

“Is it like when we use the app?” Ren asked, remembering how jarring it was the first time they used it, but after a while Ren could hardly tell the difference until they were in the palace.

“Maybe, that app was more fixed that what I could do.”

“Fixed?” Ren asked, wondering what Morgana was talking about.

“Yeah. Fixed. While you were able to use that app to enter at any point, you could only exit at the entrance of a palace, or the surface of mementos. I could exit anywhere there the distortion was weak enough!”

“Huh.”

Ren didn’t know that, and Akechi was in his thinking poise so Ren figured he either didn’t know that, or had something else to bring up.

Almost like Akechi could tell when Ren was paying attention to him, he looked up and over to Ren. He hesitated for just a moment, before stepping over Morgana and quickly walked to Ren. It was fast enough that Ren had a brief fight/flight response and had the thought that Akechi was going to fight him. Only Akechi didn’t have that look in his face, just a slightly frustrated one that Ren caught sight of a few times while going through Maruki’s palace.

“Akechi?” Ren asked as the former teen heartthrob lended over him and gestured to his phone that was out on the table.

“The app still isn’t there, if that’s what you’re asking,” Ren said even though he knew that’s not what Akechi was trying to ask.

It was still amusing to see him get annoyed, but less so when he couldn’t hear what sharp remark he had in response. Akechi just put his hand on his hip and stared at Ren like he was a particularly annoying bug that he wanted to squish.

“Hey, does Akechi still have his phone?” Morgana asked, and Ren didn’t even notice that he came back over to them.

Akechi shook his head, and looked a little less annoyed. Ren wanted to know what happened to his phone, or if it just didn’t go with him into ghost mode. However, he was more interested in what Akechi was trying to ask.

“Do you think the app might still be on your phone?” Ren guessed, and Akechi started talking about something in response to that question.

“So does he have his phone?” Morgana tried repeating his question, but Ren was more focused in trying to figure out what Akechi was saying.

“He doesn’t have his phone, and I don’t think Akechi knows where it is.”

This time Akechi stopped talking and nodded at Ren, looking a little pleased.

There was a lot Ren wanted to ask, but it was clear that he needed Akechi’s help to figure this out. Hopefully when the sign language book arrives in a few days, that will help make things easier.

Chapter Text

Goro went from having his face smashed up against the window of a cat-turned-helicopter to his face smashed against concrete.

A massive improvement, and one that he wasn’t expecting since Goro wasn’t expecting anything. He was dead, and he didn’t put much thought into there being an afterlife. If he was in hell, it sounded very much like Tokyo in the evening.

Goro pushed himself up, and found himself sitting in the strip of bushes behind the Diet Building that he used to cross into Shido’s palace in his mad dash after figuring out that Joker tricked him. It made sense for him to get spit out back here if reality really did go back to how it was meant to be.

Besides the fact that Goro was still breathing.

He didn’t feel any pain; not from his fight with Ren, or that puppet wearing his face, or even Maruki. Goro felt better than he has in years. The type of lightweightness that came from sleeping for a little too long after crashing out.

Pushing his way through the bushes was also too easy. Nothing caught on his jacket, and Goro noticed that he was wearing his school uniform and not his outfit he went into Maurki’s palace with. He was what he was wearing when he went into Shido’s palace, which subjected that theory it was not long after that. There was a chance that reality going back mean that the time that passed in Maruki’s fake reality didn’t count. That it was still December. If not the date that Goro went in, then the date Ren fought that God he mentioned.

Only, once he got onto the street, the sun was low in the sky and people walking around were bundled up like it was February and not early December.

Goro didn’t bother entertaining the thought he might have survived, but if he did, he assumed he would remember what happened between being shot and when he came to on Christmas Eve already in the grasp of Maruki’s childish take on reality. There were still no memories in that gap, and no memories of why he was there if it was February. Weeks being gone was a question easily answered by Maruki’s influence. Now that the madman was dealt with, Goro had no explanation as to his current situation.

His first thought was to find Ren, because of course it was. The thief had the answer to everything, and when he didn’t, he had the tenacity to figure it out. Not to mention that Goro remembered that look Ren gave when he found out the truth about his ‘survival’. Or as it turned out, what he assumed was his lack of survival.

Goro couldn’t help but wonder if going back to reality wasn’t as smooth as they assumed.

No sooner than Goro thought that, someone bumped into him. Only, Goro didn’t feel anything as the business man walked through him and kept going.

Goro couldn’t move.

He was stuck in place as the crowd of people not only acted like he wasn’t even there, but treated him as such.

Suddenly the lack of pain, of any ache or tiredness, made Goro even more self aware of the lack of any physical senses. No wind in his hair as he walked, no pull of the fabric as he started running.

It didn’t take long for Goro to figure out something was wrong with reality after he awoke on Christmas Eve. But it was subtle until the new year rolled around and everyone’s wishes were coming true. Or at least people’s wishes that Maruki agreed with. Goro did his research and found it wasn’t everyone who got their wishes made. Even before he decided to find Ren and see if he was trapped by the fake reality.

This time, Goro couldn’t see anything wrong besides himself.

Goro pushed away his thoughts to track down Ren. He first needed to know what was happening. Get an idea of what has happened before finding Ren since there was no way the other boy would know.

Avoiding people walking into him, Goro went through the same places he did while tracking down how Maruki’s reality worked. He wasn’t able to just ask people like only a day before since no one reacted to his yells, but Goro was able to overhear the conversations happening around him.

It seemed normal. Nothing off putting and sanitized like in Maruki’s reality.

Goro spent most of the day just walking around, then decided he might as well see what happened to his apartment. He still felt no exhaustion despite walking around all day, and not even the tug of hunger.

If it wasn’t Maruki’s reality taking its time to break, then Goro was faced with another issue. That he could be dead, but a ghost.

Goro was afraid of ghosts as a child, once staying up too late watching a horror movie and his mother had to comfort him. She explained that there was nothing to worry about, going on to tell him a story of how if a taxi picks up a ghost they will just drive them home.

Goro doesn’t believe ghosts are real. At least not that they are dead people. There is enough about the Metaverse that Goro could see ghosts being palaces or shadows momentarily being visible to people.

Yet, Goro was faced with the fact no one can see him, and he was intangible. The last memory he had before Maruki got involved was being shot.

It fit, even if Goro hated to admit the possibility of ghosts being real.

The train station was busy, but Goro kept to the edges and he took out his phone to check...

Goro’s hand came up empty. There was nothing in his jacket or even pants pocket. He vaguely remembered that he entered Shido’s palace with his briefcase as well, but even if Goro forgot about it, he knew he didn’t see it when he woke up.

Not having his phone made it harder to double check that the Metaverse was gone.

It was getting late, and Goro was running out of options. He was forced to check to see if Ren would know anything. Jumping the train was something Goro hasn’t been forced to do since entering high school, but there was no thrill in it when no one could even see him. Then the train ride itself was spent with Goro trying to stay as close to the walls as he could to avoid people stepping into him. While he couldn’t feel anything, the sight of the invasion was enough to trigger alarm bells in his brain that it was wrong.

Like Goro needed the reminder.

Yongen-Jaya was the same as ever, with only a few people walked the streets as the sun set behind him. It was almost enough that Goro could think he was meeting up again at one of the phantom thieves gatherings. However, if they were able to break Maruki’s reality, then the phantom thieves were no more. They were useless without access to the Metaverse.

Goro tried not to think about what that meant about him who has been using it longer.

Before he even opened the door he saw that the cafe wasn’t empty. Goro only paused for a moment, spotting the colorful group, before opening the door and getting ready for his presence to bring down their mood.

“Fuck,” Goro hissed out when his hand just went through the handle.

He cursed once more, before staring at the door. If the problem was that he was unable to interact with anything physical, then there was a simple solution. The only issue was that Goro didn’t want to try walking though the door in case he was wrong, and ended up smacking his face into it like an idiot.

If Ren saw he would never be able to live it down. It would be worse than the pancake slip up.

Goro also refused to back out now that he bothered coming all the way to the cafe, and for a moment, hoped that none of the thieves could see him as he closed his eyes and took a step.

There was no resistance, no sign that he just walked through a door. The phantom thieves didn’t even notice him enter, but Goro wasn’t really expecting them to. While they were able to break out of Maruki’s reality unlike the others, it was only with Ren’s help. It would be a good test to really see if Goro’s intangibility is due to his own death or some leftover from the false reality.

If it was the latter, then there was a small chance the others would see him. By virtue of having personas if nothing else.

Goro first took the moment of them not noting him to look around. Everyone there, even Sumire. The only person missing was the one person Goro needed to see.

“We can’t just leave him there!” Ryuji yelled, and ever so helpfully clued Goro into what was happening.

Since reality was back to the way it was supposed to be, Goro never turned himself in to testify against Shido. He clearly remembered Sae telling Ren that he would need to before he interrupted them without much thought except that this was his chance to do something against Shido. He wasn’t able to go through with his original plan of making Shido completely reliant on him, and had to rely on the phantom thieves to change his heart. It didn’t matter to Goro that admitting to his crimes would also leave him in jail for life, if not the death penalty depending on how much they wanted to try him as an adult rather than a minor. All that mattered was making sure Shido’s crimes stuck.

And it seemed like Ren had a similar idea when Akechi wasn’t there to save him.

“I see you’re all here,” Goro tried getting the groups attention, but they were talking too loudly to hear him.

Or, as Goro frowned and walked closer, they couldn’t hear him.

“You really should be more aware of your surroundings,” Goro tried again, this time step right in the middle of their little group.

No reaction. At least two people should have been looking right at Goro, and nothing. They just continued talking about to do about Ren. The phantom thieves were a lot of things, idiots mostly, but at least their reactions were always honest. They weren’t the type of people who would just ignore Goro barging in.

Goro didn’t bother listening as they talked about how to get to get Ren out of juvie. No one noticed his present, and Ren wasn’t there. His trip was pointless.

Leaving through the door that time was faster, even if it still gave Goro a sense of wrongness. He had no reason to stick around. Ren sealed his fate, and Goro needed to figure this out by himself.

Any thought that Goro just needed to wait a little bit before fully dying faded into annoyance when a month passed with no change. No one could see Goro. He couldn't interact with anything. Didn’t need food or water. Goro even tried to hold his breath to see if he needed to breathe, but it started getting uncomfortable after five minutes and he stopped.

If anything, it reminded him of being in mementos for hours. He never got hungry or thirty until after he left, and then it all seemed to show up at once. Of course, going into mementos hungry doesn’t make it disappear, but easier to ignore.

Goro was forced to go back to the possibility, a very small possibility, that he might be a ghost. The only thing he knew about ghosts were from ghost stories his mother used to read, and the few movies he watched when he was too young for them. Not the most useful source of information, and made worst with the fact that Goro was unable to access the internet to try finding something else.

The one thing that was a common factor from the few stories and movies Goro remembered, was the ghost having things left undone that caused them to sticking around. Goro had a lot of things left undone. While he was always prepared to die to get his revenge on Shido, he didn’t want to. Goro awoke to his personas because he refused to die. Refused to roll over when society wanted nothing more than for him to be gone.

Even now Goro kept thinking that maybe he was like this due to the Metaverse, not his own death. Some chance that it would be fixed. That Goro was able to do the impossible and survive, even if he had no idea what he would do if he was still alive.

But trying to deal with the ‘things left undone’ issue was something Goro could do. He refused to stay in this half dead, half alive state any longer than he needed to be.

Which is why Goro ended up following Sae to Shido’s trial.

Most of it was already done. Ren apparently testified back in January in the real reality, and Goro wished he could have seen that.

Sae didn’t have Ren testify publicly due to him being a minor, and his name wouldn’t be mentioned in court even if it was on paper where any cop or lawyer involved in the case could look and ’slip up’.

More importantly than Ren, was Shido. He would be showing up to the trial, and Sae was pressing charges on all the mental shutdowns, money lottery, election interference, and ties with the Yakuza along with other organized crime organizations. It was nice seeing Sae’s skills being used on someone who undoubtedly deserved it. And that Sae wasn’t cutting any corners.

The down side with Goro following her into work everyday was that he forgot.

“Wouldn’t it be better to wait until Okumura is brought up before listing out his use of my services?" Goro asked as he looked over Sae’s notes, before remembering that she couldn’t hear him.

It was annoying, and while Shido was admitting to all of his crimes, his lawyer was trying their best to keep it under wraps. Not to mention that there would be a lot of people involved with the conspiracy who would get off free. Far enough away that Sae doesn’t know their involvement, and the only person who does know all of their names, was a ‘ghost’.

March was nearing its end when he overheard Makoto telling Sae that she was going to drop Ren off at the station. Goro did overhear that the former thieves were able to get Ren out, and got his original crimes turned over. It would have been better to visit him, but that was before Goro realized how disorienting it was to have no one noticed you.

However, now that Goro knows that Ren is heading home, he was suddenly stricken with the urge to see him. That maybe, just maybe, Ren would prove to be special once more and be the only one who could see him. That Goro does exist.

Goro thought about just going with Makoto while she picked Ren up, but on the chance that Ren does see him, Goro wants it to just be the two of them. Or at least no other thieves around to make Ren hesitate.

He ended up at the station long before Ren ever showed up, making him wonder just what took so long. Then he had to wait even longer since Sumire apparently had the same idea as him, and said her goodbyes before Ren got to his train.

Goro knew how to be patient. He knew where Ren’s hometown was, and which train line he needed to take to get there. It was information Goro looked into after Ren told him he lived above a cafe, and while he always meant to ask more about Ren’s home life, it never came up.

Goro waited by the train, and only stepped into Ren’s path once Sumire was long gone.

“Amamiya,” Goro said, anything else he wanted to say got cut off as Ren just kept walking.

It was only his quick reflexes that he was able to stop Ren from walking through him, but it felt like he did regardless.

Goro wanted to scream for getting his hopes up.

Why in the world did he think Ren would be able to see him when no one else could? Just because he was able to see through Maruki’s reality when no one else could? Because he could wild multiple personas like he could?

Goro left the station just as Ren’s train left, not even noticing eyes tracking him as he walked away for just a moment.

First week of April Shido was sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of parole. There was no mention of Akechi Goro’s crimes, even when Sae prompted Shido to explain his connection to him.

Just a child who got a little too close, and that Shido blackmailed him to ‘solve’ the mental shutdowns.

Goro didn’t think he could hate him more than in that moment.

It was one thing that Goro had to rely on Ren to change Shido’s heart and testify about the Metaverse. It was another that Shido of all people in his brainwashed state thought he was protecting Goro by lying about his crimes.

As far as everyone knew, Goro was dead. There was nothing left to protect. No one even seemed to remember the detective prince, and Goro thought Sae was one of them until that moment.

Goro tried not to let it bother him too much. In the end, Shido was in jail and everyone knew just what a scum of the earth he really is. While it didn’t fit Goro’s childhood fantasy of Shido coming to his mom to apologize for abandoning them, it would have to do.

There was no one for Shido to apologize to, and Goro was tired of seeing that man cry like he gave a shit about what he did.

But even with Shido behind bars, Goro was still there. If there was ever a time for him to ‘move on’ it would be when Shido was read his sentence.

Goro wasn’t sure how to feel that he had been wrong about that. It led to the idea he might be wrong about being a ghost, about really being dead, but it also meant he had no idea what to do if that was the case.

Goro was running out of options.

Makoto left to go to university, and Sae was getting ready to switch to being a defense lawyer. Everyone was moving on and Goro was still stuck wearing the clothes he had on before he died.

Roaming Tokyo quickly got boring that first week of February, and it had not improved in the months since. Goro felt like he was going to go crazy if he just stopped, and that was the reason why he ended up going on the train to Yasoinaba station.

It wasn’t to see Ren, since it would be pointless. But to answer some questions he had about Ren’s life since he was curious. Nothing more.

Chapter Text

NOT the Phantom Thieves of hearts

Ladykiller: I have a modeling gig on the 6, but i’m free on the other days!

Queenofbooks: I don’t have any classes the whole week.

Allseeingeye: urgh lucky. Why do they even call it golden week when we only get 4 days off :/

Queenofbooks: Most workers take the full week off.

ForREalboy: the F? That’s not fair!

Ren scrolled through the messages on the former phantom thieves chat with a smile on his face. First day of golden week was only in a few days, and Ren couldn’t wait until Tuesday when he could head back after school. He already bought the ticket there and back, but that was before he found out about Akechi.

It was too soon to tell the others even if Morgana being able to sense Akechi was proof that it wasn’t just in his head. There would be time later, after golden week.

Ren scrolled up to his last message in the group chat, from weeks ago now, and tried to figure out what to say. The unread private messages in his inbox were also something Ren needed to look at, but it wasn’t as important. He decided it would be fine just telling them he was looking forward to seeing them even if the conversation moved on, yet as he half texted his message-

“Amamiya! Since you think being on your phone is more important than physics class, can you tell me who came up with the equation for non-relativistic quantum mechanics systems?”

Ren blinked as he put his phone away. There was no Morgana in his desk to help figure out the question, but a quick flash of his third eye showed that Akechi was hanging out in the back of the classroom. Akechi didn’t always show up, but Ren figured the other teen was getting bored enough that going to class was looking appealing. Or he was hoping to go with Ren as he picked up the book on sign language after school. Either way, the stakes were up.

Ren didn’t care about saying the right answer like when he was back in Tokyo, but with Akechi watching there was no way he could afford to say the wrong thing. They weren’t even talking about quantum mechanics, so his lackluster notes would be no help.

Akechi wasn’t going to be any help even if they were able to communicate outside of gesturing. The fake detective just tilted his head, attention fulling on Ren as he looked away and let Akechi disappear from view.

He could still feel his gaze on his back even as he guessed the one name he remembered in the textbook.

“Hm. Lucky guess. And yes, Schrodinger was the one who formed Schrodinger’s equation. You are likely familiar with the thought experiment of Schrodinger’s cat, a popular way to explain superposition...”

Ito continued with the lecture and Ren was forgotten. Even the classmates didn’t bother whispering about Ren getting the answer correct. It reinforced that Inaba wasn’t like Tokyo and Ren shouldn’t care what his peers thought, but it still made him want nothing more than to just take a nap and skip to the end of the day.

Even with the nap, Ren was the first one out of the classroom. He made himself wait until he was past the front gates before checking if Akechi followed, and sure enough, he was walking in step with him. For a moment it felt normal. Like they were about to walk together to Jazz Jin or Penguin Sniper. But then Ren caught sight of their surroundings.

“Sorry there isn’t much to show you here,” Ren said, not caring if anyone around thought he was talking to himself.

Akechi just turned to him, mouth in a tight line. Ren wondered if Akechi was trying to not speak to keep from the frustration of having not been heard.

It was an awkward walk to the bookstore, but Ren forced a smile when he saw the owner wave to Ren when he walked in.

“Got the book you ordered right here, Ren-chan. It’s always nice seeing young folk doing studies outside of class. You got a new friend who’s deaf?”

Ren just nodded in agreement rather than attempt to explain the situation. The owner was someone who was friends with Ren’s grandma before she passed away, and one of the few people in the town who didn’t seem to care about Ren’s record.

Usually Ren didn’t mind talking to the old man, but at the moment Ren wanted nothing more than to be back at his house.

“Thanks,” Ren said, not even bothering to put the book into his bag as he left.

Instead he opened it up, and started reading as he walked. Under his third eye, some of the text popped out, and Ren held it far enough away that Akechi could look over it. He didn’t make much of a show, but Ren had to keep a smile back from noticing that Akechi was walking closer to him than before.

“I don’t think it should take us too long to learn this,” Ren commented as he looked through it, gazing at some of the more common gestures.

Suddenly, Akechi’s hand appeared through the book, and Ren stopped walking.

“What…? Oh.”

Ren looked up to see a telephone pole right in front of him.

“Thanks. I guess I should wait until we’re back before reading this,” Ren said, refusing to look at Akechi in fear of the smug expression he would be wearing.

Ren even went as far as to turn off his third eye, and was momentarily shocked by how bright everything was. The sun was making his skull throb behind his eyes, and Ren wished he brought sunglasses or an umbrella to block it out.

The throbbing was mostly gone by the time he got back to his house, and Ren was surprised to see his mom and dad were both there.

“Good you’re back. I left a list of what you need to take care of while we are gone,” Akemi said as she handed her husband a suitcase.

“Gone?” Ren asked, looking to his dad who he hasn’t seen once since arriving back.

It wasn’t odd for Amamiya Riku to be gone for weeks on a business trip. It was more odd that he was refusing to look at Ren. The last time they really spoke was after Ren was let out of holding and told him he would be staying with a friend in Tokyo for the year.

“We are taking a trip to Sapporo, I need you to water the plants and keep the house clean while we are gone.”

“For how long?”

Ren doesn’t remember the last time his mom took a vacation, usually he would be fine with them going but considering how close it was to golden week…

“Until May 7th. I have some deliveries I’m expecting on the 4th and 5th that need to be signed, so you need to be physically here.”

Those were the days Ren was planning to go back to Tokyo.

“I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t? You don’t have a job, and it’s only two days that I’m asking you to be home for. You’re free to invite any friends over as long as neighbors don’t complain about it.”

Ren wondered if any of his friends would be able to come down. It was definitely more out of the way than Ren coming down to visit them. Not to mention that his neighbors were noisy and hated Ren. They would somehow find fault with Haru coming down and being too much of a ruffian.

His parents ended up leaving for the train an hour later, and Ren soon found himself in the kitchen island staring at his phone.

Da_jonker: sorry guys, I can’t come down for golden week

Everyone expressed their disappointment in Ren being unable to come, but it didn’t stop their plans. Haru and Makoto were still able to come visit, as well as Ann for two out of the three days and Sumire for one of the days. It was only Ren who was unable to make it, and it was fine.

ForREalboy: we’ll just have to do something with renren for summer break!

Ladykiller: yeah! Like a road trip!

Ren just watched as the conversation moved on.

“You’re not going to ask if any of them want to come visit you?” Morgana asked, and Ren shook his head.

“They already have plans. I can wait until summer.”

Morgana didn’t look happy to hear that, but didn’t say anything as he jumped off the island.

“Is Akechi still hanging around?”

Ren looked around.

“No.”

It seemed like the family conversation scared him off. Ren wasn’t looking forward to Akechi learning sign language enough to ask him about that. There was no doubt in his mind that Akechi would ask about it. 

But at least it was a distraction for the week. Something Ren can put his mind to.

It only took a few hours for Akechi to figure out enough to sign something.

“Why didn’t you use a video?”

“Oh,” Ren eloquently said when he finished flipping through the book, and looking at his notes that were filled with poorly redrawn signs.

“I kinda forgot you can just look up stuff like this.”

Akechi opened his mouth before closing it hard enough that Ren swore he heard it. He marched over to the sign language book, and held out three figures with his right hand. Ren quickly flipped the book three pages back, and Akechi stared at it for only a moment.

“This book doesn’t have enough.”

Ren also wasn’t liking how long it took himself to translate what Akechi was signing. They were both starting from ground zero, and yet Akechi usually only needed reminders for one or two signed while Ren had to keep looking at his notes.

“Is this because you want to learn how to swear at me?” Ren asked, and Akechi gave him a smile before flipping him off.

Ren leaned back with a half laugh, closing his eyes and for the first time noticing how his head was pounding. He rubbed his temples a little before deciding he should at least get up and grab some water.

Opening his eyes made it worse. With him not using his third eye, the lights in the house felt like they were trying to drill bullets into his brain.

“I need to take a short break,” Ren told Akechi even if he couldn’t see him at the moment, not sure if he would be able to focus on using his third eye with how his head was pounding.

Morgana left shortly after they started, and it was just the two of them. The doors to the backyard garden were slid open, making a nice late spring night breeze through the house. It was a little cold, but Ren liked being able to see their backyard and it made it easier for Morgana to come back in.

Ren waited until he was back at the table with his water, and drank half of it before using his third eye. The dim lights made his head feel better, even if it was harder to focus.

Akechi was much closer than he was before, staring in Ren’s face for a moment before signing.

“Do you have any bad…” With this Akechi scrunched up his nose, obviously not knowing the sign that he wanted to use before waving his hand and flashed his hand a few times.

Ren blinked and turned the book near the end where all the dictionaries of all the Kanji equivalents of the signs were. It was a long list, and wasn’t as useful in Ren’s mind as just reading the chapters in the book, but Akechi liked it. Part of Ren wondered if this was the closest he got to taking notes when there was no way for him to write.

Akechi glanced for a moment before frowning even harder and ended up just using his finger to write the word that he wanted to say in the air.

Ren mentioned when they started how that was common, yet Akechi seemed to take it as a sign of defeat if he couldn't just sign everything. Either way, he apparently decided that what he wanted to ask Ren was too important to try figuring out how to properly say it.

“You want to know if my third eye has any adverse effect on me?” Ren repeated as he put together what Akechi was trying to say between signing and just finger writing.

“You keep closing your eyes,” Akechi signed, and Ren felt that he wanted to point out more, but didn’t.

“Sorry, just tired from studying," Ren said since he was the one who had to go to school and finish his homework before they started.

Ren wasn’t sure if there were any drawbacks to using his third eye. Most of the time he only would use it to gauge the strength of a shadow or spot something. Just a quick few seconds. The only other times he’s used it coincidentally like how he currently was to look at Akechi, was when they got lost in Futaba’s tome, and during the dark maze in Sae’s palace. Both times any aches or pains were considered to be normal Metaverse drawbacks.

Even if Akechi was right in thinking that Ren was experiencing a side effect from using his third eye, it was his only way to reliably interact with Akechi. There was no way he was going to give that up.

Akechi in turn looked at Ren with his finger curled under his chin, and he could just hear the argument that he was holding back.

“In that case, we should stop for the night,” Akechi signed instead of trying to call Ren out or argue his observations more.

Ren should have felt relieved that Akechi wasn’t trying to force his point, but Ren wasn’t one to want to take the easy path. It just made it all that more apparent how much was being left unsaid, and this time it wasn’t because they were hiding things from each other, but because of their limits in communicating. 

“Alright. We’ll work more on it tomorrow.”

Golden week officially started and Ren hasn’t checked his messages since telling everyone he couldn’t make it back to Tokyo. He kept telling Morgana he would, but Ren just didn’t know what to say. Nothing was going on in his life except for trying to figure out what was going on with Akechi, and that wasn’t something he could just tell them over text.

Between Ren trying to learn a new language as soon as he can, and Akechi trying to learn it without being able to touch anything, he’s been busy on his days out of school. It reminded Ren of trying to manage everything back in Tokyo between his part time jobs, confidants, and phantom thief work along with normal school stuff.

Not to mention he was working with Akechi.

“Do you think it has to do with Maruki’s reality or you being in the palace when…”

“I died?” Akechi signed with one hand while the other was on his hip.

Ren forced himself to not overreact. There was a chance that Akechi did die, but clearly something else was going on. He just needed to figure out what and maybe for once they will get lucky.

“You remember that now?” Ren asked, or maybe challenged since Akechi was so avoidant in Maruki’s reality when it came to how he survived.

Ren knew now it was because Akechi didn’t know, didn’t remember anything between Shido’s palace and waking up on Christmas Eve. Knew the whole time that there was something off about that, and yet didn’t tell Ren. Likely wouldn’t have told Ren if Maruki didn’t force his hand.

“I remember being shot. Twice.”

“And nothing else?”

“I don’t remember being set to hell or any other afterlife if that is what you’re asking,” Akechi quickly signed like he was already fed up with this line of questioning.

Which Ren thought was a little odd. They never really talked about afterlife or more religious beliefs, but with how Akechi loved to talk about philosophy he would have thought Akechi would want to. At least talk about the different theories about if there really is a life after death or something.

“Okay. So there is a chance you just passed out, and don’t remember?” Ren asked just to see how Akechi would react.

Not that he’s hoping that is what happened. Ren’s just trying to cover all possibilities.

“I suppose it’s possible," Akechi signed with his face full of disgust before smoothing out, “But considering the only thing we have to rely on is my own memories, I don’t think we should be basing anything on the idea I survived."

“You know the same could be said about us assuming you are dead.”

With that Akechi gave a sharp smile that made Ren’s heart jump.

“It seems like a case of-” Akechi’s finger wrote a kanji that Ren didn’t recognize, “-cat.”

“Um, can you try that again, a little slower so I can write it down?” Ren sheepishly asked, and while Akechi actually rolled his eyes, he did so.

“Oh, Schrodinger. That’s the dead cat in a box thing,” Ren said as he remembered answering a question on it in school just before the holiday started.

“Do you not remember anything? You learned it in class not even a week ago. It’s a-” Akechi finger wrote another Kanji Ren didn’t recognize on sight, "principle for the dual state of elementary particles acting as a particle and a wave, but the mere act of observing it can collapse it into either a particle behavior or waveform. Hence the thought experiment of a cat in a box being both alive and dead until one opens it and forces it into only one state.”

“Ah,” Ren said when Akechi finished, watching as he shook out his fingers like signing so much was making his hands hurt.

“So you are alive and dead until we bring you back full into reality?” Ren asked, trying to figure out why Akechi was talking about quantum mechanics or light or whatever.

“No. I either died or I didn’t, but there is no way for us to know while I'm in this state.”

Ren thinks Akechi just didn’t want to admit that he figured him out. Or maybe he realized how far off a tangent he started going on for explaining his maybe death as lightwaves.

“I don’t know, I think I remember Futaba talking about quantum states when talking about trying to figure out that Metaverse app. Could be being in the Metaverse for so long either as unconscious or a dead body turns you into a light partical-wave-being,” Ren said, smiling a bit despite his head already starting to pound.

Akechi looked like he was getting ready to argue back when Ren’s phone started ringing.

He was surprised enough that he lost focus on his third eye and Akechi disappeared from his view, making his head pound even harder from the sudden bright lights.

“One sec,” Ren commented as he scrambled to grab his phone and turn it off.

Only he then saw Futaba’s ID on his phone.

He stopped to just stare as it kept ringing since Futaba never calls out of the blue. She texts 90% of the time, and the last time she called was after he helped her finish her list. There was no reason for her to check in to follow up a conversation on the phone unless she needed to hear his voice.

Suddenly thoughts of everything that could have gone wrong at school, or Futaba getting into trouble went through his mind.

“Hang on, it’s Futaba, she might need something,” Ren said as he answered the call, turning his third eye back on to see Akechi with his arms crossed and a slight frown on his face.

“Hello?”

“REN! Are you alive?”

Ren was taken back for a moment by the panic in Futaba’s voice despite the words that were very much a joke. She was asking about him, not telling him about something that happened to her. Ren tried thinking the last time he responded to one of her texts and not just the group chat. She texted him about starting classes and about Sumire, and surely Ren responded to those texts right?

Ren had the growing fear that he didn’t, and that Futaba wasn’t calling because she needed to hear his voice. Or she did, but it wasn’t for her own sake but because Ren messed up and made her worried.

“Sorry, I’ve been busy,” Ren even though he knew that wouldn’t be good enough of an excuse.

Morgana, who had been chilling in the other room while he talked with Akechi, was suddenly back. Ren looked away from him, and back to Akechi who hadn't left yet but was turned away to give Ren space for his conversation. Ren had no doubt he would be listening in, and heard Futaba yell on the other end.

“Nope! Try again. You haven’t responded to anyone's texts in over a week, and even before that you’ve been quiet. If you don’t tell me what’s really going on I’ll ask Mona.”

“Mona can’t use the touchscreen," Ren pointed out, though he knew that wouldn’t be enough to stop Futaba.

“Reeeen, you’re my key item. If there is anything going on you know we will be there in an instant to help. I’ll skip school if I have to!”

“You don’t need to skip school. It’s really not that big of a deal,” Ren said, already planning on what he needs to say to get Futaba off his back, but then Morgana yelled at him.

“Just tell her! You know having the others would really help.”

Ren looked at Akechi since it seemed rude talking about him while he was in the room, but he just nonchalantly waved his hand like he couldn’t care less what Ren did. Ren knew for a fact he did care, but he just wasn’t sure in which direction.

“Are you okay with me telling?” Ren awkwardly signed while pinning his phone to his shoulder.

“Futaba?” Akechi guessed, and Ren nodded only once before he continued, “the cat hasn’t been any help.”

Ren took that as Akechi not wanting Futaba to know, but willing to loop her in on the chance she could help figure something out. Ren was planning on telling her, but he just hoped it wouldn’t be now.

“Alright, are you sitting? This might be some shocking news.”

“Did someone die?” Futaba asked like it was a joke, and Ren laughed slightly.

“Ha, no, it’s the opposite-”

“YOU GOT SOMEONE PREGANT?”

“What?! No!” Ren quickly said, ignoring his red face and spitting out, “It’s Akechi!”

Chapter Text

Goro didn’t want the phantom thieves to know about him back in February and he wasn’t any more eager now in May. However Goro knew that there was very little Ren could do by himself, and Morgana hasn’t done much but support the idea that Goro is like this because of the Metaverse in some way.

Goro had to stop himself a few times from commenting how much more useful it would have been with Wakaba’s research, but that was long since destroyed. Goro had more than played his hand in making sure of it.

“What do you mean Akechi?” He was able to hear Futaba yell from the other end of the phone.

Morgana was sitting with Ren like he needed the support for what should be a simple enough call. Ren isn’t the one who murdered Futaba’s mother after all, but for some reason Ren cares about Goro and Futaba. Conflicting states that were only going to give him unnecessary stress.

“He’s alive. Kinda,” Ren looked at him when he said that with a smile like it was funny.

Goro scoffed in response. Somehow, that caused Ren to give an even brighter smile, before he turned away to focus more on what Futaba was saying.

“I’m the only one who can see him.”

“Then are you sure it’s him and not…” Futaba trailed off or spoke quietly enough that only Ren could hear.

Goro found himself getting closer, and it seemed Ren wasn’t using his special eye powers that he apparently can just do, since there was no reaction from the other boy.

“I can only see him with my third eye, but Morgana can sense him when he’s close enough.”

“Tell Futaba he feels like entering or exiting the Metaverse!” Morgana yelled loudly enough that Ren wouldn’t have to repeat it.

“Still, I… you know I was seeing my mom before you fought her in my palace.”

Goro didn’t know that Futaba had a palace. He knew that after he killed her mother, she became a recluse and only was able to overcome her agoraphobia last summer, but Goro didn’t know the specifics. Just that she ended up joining and was the hacker that took down their fake Medjed. Goro wasn’t sure what the order was, or when she even had awoken her persona, but pieces were starting to fall into place.

“It’s not like that. He’s really Akechi, not a Cognition or… something else,” Ren said so confidently.

Goro wanted to argue that he might be just a cognition with only the memories of being Goro. It was something he thought about a lot while stuck in Maruki’s reality. Creating a cognition of someone would be much easier than bringing back someone from the dead after all, but Goro held his tongue.

He couldn’t shake the worry that if he told Ren his thoughts, there was a chance he would be asked to leave. That Ren doesn’t want to deal with a fake Goro. It would make sense. It was even one of the arguments he used to make sure Ren wouldn’t take Maruki’s deal. Ren, for some reason, only wants the real Akechi Goro, and Goro had no issues using that against him.

But now Goro wasn’t sure. He hadn’t noticed anything different about himself besides the obvious, and surely Ren wouldn’t be so confident if he noticed something was off. Questioning his own self wasn’t something he wanted to do, and it was as pointless as figuring out if he died or not.

“Okay. I trust you. Besides, it’s not like we know what happens if someone stays in the Metaverse for too long. Or what happens if someone was in a palace when it collapses. We got close with Ryuji, and it seemed to just spit him out but…”

“But Ryuji was still conscious.”

“Yeah... so he’s really alive? Not like a weird Metaverse ghost hunting you with gay thoughts?”

“Uhhh,” Ren’s cheeks flushed red as he turned to Goro, then looked away when he saw how close he was.

Goro didn’t care about what weird inside jokes they had, and he wasn’t going to act like he wasn’t trying to listen in. If Ren wanted a private conversation he could have left the room, or even told Goro to leave.

Since Ren did neither, Goro did not move from his position.

“We aren’t sure he’s a ghost, but I’m thinking he’s not since I’ve never seen any ghosts before.”

“Oh wait, is he there with you? HEY PANCAKE BOY! IF YOU ARE THERE GIVE ME A SIGN!” Futaba yelled so loudly Ren had to pull his phone away from his ear.

“Great to know that she is still so willing to joke around with her mother’s killer,” Goro muttered to himself, since it wasn’t like anyone would be able to hear him.

Ren immediately zeroed in on his lips, trying his best to lip read, but Akechi didn’t bother to repeat what he said. Just gave him a smile that had Ren frown like he thought he missed something important.

“I can only see him, not hear him. We’ve been trying to learn sign language to talk but it’s hard when Akechi can’t interact with anything.”

“Huh, so he is like a ghost. A Metaverse ghost,” Futaba said much more quietly, and Goro wondered if she was just now realizing who she was talking about.

“Hey, can he move objects around and mess with the lights?”

“I don’t think Akechi can do any of the cool stuff ghosts can do. Pretty sure I would notice by now if he can throw objects at me,” Ren said with a joking smile in his direction.

“Funny,” Goro deadpanned, and somehow that made the idiot smile even more.

It was ridiculous how he looks when he smiles. No where near the smile Goro perfected for his interviews and co-workers - of both types - yet it still felt like a beacon impossible to look away from. The lack of glasses Ren has been wearing made Goro even more aware of how long his lashes were, perfectly framing his eyes. Ren’s usually grey eyes had a reddish gleam to them that Akechi had learned to mean he was using his ‘third eye’. It wasn’t as noticeable as when they were in the Metaverse, and Goro had no idea if he could only tell the difference now from his current state or if it looked like that in the real world. Goro didn’t notice Ren using his ‘third eye’ outside of that maze in Sae’s palace, but if he had some ability that apparently allowed him to see the unseen, he would be using it all the time.

Goro also couldn’t see such an ability not having any drawbacks. But if Ren was going to blow out his eye vessels or give himself a stroke, that would be his fault for not considering the consequences.

“…I still have the code for the app even though it’s completely meaningless. I don’t mind giving it another look,” Futaba’s voice filtered back to Goro’s ears as he realized he’d been staring at Ren for way too long.

It didn’t help that while Ren was no longer smiling as brightly as he was making his dumb joke, he was still looking at Akechi. His head in his hand as he sat at the table talking on the phone.

“You don’t have to Futaba. There’s no real deadline here, and I know that Akechi…”

“I will never forgive Akechi for what he did, but you know none of us wanted him to die. I… don’t know how to feel about him being back but as the most useless ghost, but I want to help. And! If it’s Metaverse related, I want to figure it out! I wasn’t lying when I told you I wanted to research cognitive pscience like my mom!”

Goro didn’t think anything good could come out of researching cognitive pscience. Futaba had a good head, and unlike Wakaba, enough people around her to make sure she doesn’t stray too far from her own morals, but she was also too naive. It wouldn’t take much for someone to use her. The only good thing was that Shido was so paranoid that most of the people who researched cognitive science either got eliminated by Goro, or defunded like what happened with Maruki.

“Thanks, Futaba,” Ren said with such relief in his voice.

Goro had no disillusion that if Futaba asked, Ren would stop trying to help him. But Goro figured that Futaba knew just as well as Goro that Ren would be conflicted. Too much of a hero complex to just not help Goro despite everything he’s done. Just like Ren cared about her, Futaba cared enough about Ren’s feelings to not ask him to choose even if it would be for the best.

And Goro was too selfish to point that out.

“I know, I’m the best,” Futaba said right away, before pausing and continuing more quietly, “… but we should let the others know too. With the app still gone, we don’t have a lot of options to figure this out.”

“Like the others would be any help,” Goro complained, and Ren frowned at him.

It seems like he was able to lip read enough to figure out what Goro was saying.

“I’ll let them know in the group chat,” Ren said to Futaba, but how he was looking at Goro made him think it was more for his sake.

Goro crossed his arms in annoyance, but didn’t say anything. It shouldn’t matter to him if they know or not. The only ones who have a chance of changing Ren’s mind in helping him are Morgana and Futaba, and for some reason they both seem fine with it.

Goro still didn’t think it would help anything.

“Okay, I’ll leave it to you. Time to make like a tree and leave,” Futaba said, hanging up quickly enough that Ren looked confused.

“Is she going to be okay?” Morgana asked, and Goro wondered if he missed something.

“I’ll ask later. She might just need some time to process,” Ren told Morgana before turning back to Akechi, “do you want to continue?”

Goro wanted to talk with Ren more, but it was clear even before the call that he was reaching his limit.

“Tomorrow,” Goro signed for Ren, and it was proof enough of how exhausted the other boy was that he didn’t bother arguing.

“Wait,” Ren did say when Goro turned to leave the house and find something to occupy his time for the night, “You don’t have to go. I really don’t mind if you stay.”

“I do! I don’t want to walk into him by accident again!” Morgana complained, and Ren looked annoyed with the cat.

Goro should just say no. It was bad enough that Ren was the only one who could see him, the last thing he needed was more excuses to spend all his time around the other boy. However, knowing that Ren wanted him to stay even when Morgana clearly didn’t…

“Fine,” Goro said, then signed for Ren even though the boy was smiling wide enough that it was clear he lip read his answer.

The sun has long set and Goro crossed his arm in annoyance at seeing Ren yet again rub his temple. At the very least, he had a headache. Goro had no clue how bad since Ren was a little too good at hiding any pain or discomfort. Goro only saw a little of it during Sae’s palace, but it was enough for him to be suspicious.

“Stoping using your third eye,” Goro signed as soon as Ren looked back at him.

“What? Why?”

Morgana was napping on the couch after having his dinner, while Ren was still picking at his while ‘talking’ with Goro. While they weren’t talking about Goro’s situation, Futaba now knowing Goro was alive, or Ren promising to let all his little friends know, they did talk.

Just about superficial things like Ren complaining about his classmates or talking about the new season of featherman. Goro still hasn’t admitted he used to watch the show, but he didn’t need to. Ren just figured it out from his model gun despite having only watched the most recent series and the old seeker game.

During their talk while Ren made himself and Morgana dinner, and while Ren ate, Goro watched as Ren squinted his eyes more. Rubbed his temples or eyes. He waited until the moment where Ren wouldn’t be able to argue he was just tired, to prove that he was right about there being a side effect to his third eye.

Powers like that don’t just come to be without any drawbacks.

“You know why. It’s giving you a headache.”

This time Ren didn’t try to argue. Just close his eyes for a moment.

“I’ll take something for it later. I still have some of Takemi’s meds,” Ren said, and despite admitting that Goro was right, he opened his eyes and looked right back at Goro.

“For now it’s just a headache,” Goro signed, though from how Ren was squinting he was suspecting it was more of a migraine, “have you even tested how long you could use this ability?”

It was almost a relief talking to Ren about his issues rather than Goro’s. Trying to get any information out of the other boy was a challenge, and not one that Goro was going to backdown from.

“Not really. There wasn’t any reason to use it for this long. But it’s the only way I can really see you,” Ren said in almost a whisper, and Goro found himself unable to respond.

He knew that Ren was using his third eye to be able to see Goro, but from how Ren said it, it felt like he was just happy to be able to see him. It felt impossible for anyone to be happy with just something as simple as that, especially when it was him, but Goro knew that Ren wasn’t normal.

“You really are…” Goro refused to let himself finish, and ignored the smile that Ren said even though he didn’t sign any of that.

The other boy just knew what he was saying without needing to hear him. It would have been embarrassing that Goro was so predictable if it was anyone else. Ren has already seen him do much more embarrassing things after all.

“I’m leaving for the night. You should sleep before the cat wakes up,” Goro said instead.

“I guess it is getting pretty late. I really don’t mind you sticking around. Not like anyone else would be able to know,” Ren said before yawning.

And that was the problem. There was no point in leaving when he was unable to do anything besides watch people. Yet there was also nothing for him to do in the house when Ren was sleeping.

Goro didn’t want to wait.

“I rather not,” Goro simply said, and while Ren did frown at that, he didn’t push again.

Goro left just as Ren woke Morgana up and carried him upstairs. The clock on the microwave showed that it was nearing midnight, much later than Morgana usually let Ren stay up. Not to mention Ren had class the next day and only just finished all his homework during the break.

Walking the small town of Inaba during the night wasn’t what Goro considered a good time, but it was better than just waiting for Ren to wake up. That first week after he arrived but before Ren let him know he could see him, Goro spent his time getting to know the town Ren grew up in.

It was just the type of rural place that Goro always wondered about when he was a child. The shrine was well maintained and looked like it was recently updated a few years ago. The line of closed shops surrounding the supermarket of Junes told an all too common story of small stores unable to compete against the global monopoly of larger ones.

There were a few that survived. The bookstore that Ren visited just a week ago to get that book on Japanese sign language. The small pharmaceutical down the street, along with a tofu shop that always had someone walking in or out despite not being that busy.

Midnight it was a ghost town. Perfect for Goro who was hunting it.

He mapped out just how long it took him to walk from Ren’s house at the outskirts of the town right before the rice fields, to the shopping district. There were other neighborhoods that Goro explored, but now he’s seen it all and was back at the center of town.

The shrine wasn’t quiet at night. There was a family of foxes who came out. Goro made sure not to stick around when they do. He was never one to have much luck with animals and didn’t want to see if the myth of animals being able to see ghosts was true or not.

Watching the stars from the top of the shrine wasn’t too bad of a way to pass the time. Goro wished he knew more about constellations, but Tokyo was so polluted he never has been able to see the stars like in the country. Normally he would have done some research, but that was out of his hands unless he wanted to ask Ren. 

Looking as the stars slowly made their way across the sky was just a waste of time. Unfortunately, time was for once something Goro had more than he knew what to do with. He just waited until the first signs of the sun started to appear over the horizon, before jumping down and started his walk back.

“Futaba wants to ask you as few questions.”

Ren just came back from school, and Goro didn’t go with him. He did check out Yasogami high, but Goro stayed in the other classroom and made sure that Ren didn’t know he was there. The teachers in the school were eccentric, but most at least knew what they were talking about. Experts in their field as long as they stayed on topic. Goro didn’t mind listening in, and it was an odd experience not having to worry about his grades or teachers knowing he existed.

“She wants to talk now?” Goro signed, and Ren nodded as he pulled out his phone.

“I told the other this morning, but you weren’t back…” Ren said like that explained anything.

Goro wondered how the ‘others’ were reacting to the news that he was still around. Futaba was right to question if he was a cognition and he doubted she’d be the only one.

“I assume you’ll be translating for her?” Goro asked, having to write the kanji for assume and translate since neither were in the book Ren got.

“Yeah, sorry if you wanted to talk to her alone about anything.”

Goro didn’t have time to stop his face from reacting from that idea and saw the exact moment Ren caught it.

“I don’t think us talking at all is wise.”

“Oh, right. I think it will be fine though.”

Goro has no idea how Ren could be so optimistic considering everything that has happened to him. Maybe that was how he was able to keep improving his situation while Goro only made things worse.

Unlike last time, Ren not only had the phone on speaker, but Goro saw Futaba’s face.

“Okay! I want to see if the camera is able to notice any difference when Akechi is there or not, so give me a moment to get up my stuff,” Futaba disappeared from view, and the view suddenly showed the ceiling of her room and Futaba yelped loudly.

“She has some stuff she wants to test out,” Ren explained, like Goro wasn’t able to figure that out himself.

It was oddly nostalgic.

“Got it!” Futaba came back into view, “Is he in frame right now?”

“He’s behind me, to my left side,” Ren said and Goro suppressed the urge to move.

“Huh, like what he would do during our hideout meetings?” Futaba asked but before Goro could say anything or Ren, she just continued, “Okay took a snapshot. Akechi, get out of the view of the camera!"

“I doubt this is doing to show anything,” Goro muttered as he walked to the other side of the table, so he was behind Ren’s phone.

Ren’s eyes met his, that slight red tint that came from using his third eye visible.

“He’s out of frame,” Ren said.

Futaba had them do the same thing 15 times. Morgana long left, and Ren was already starting to squint when he looked at his phone at not Goro.

“I think this is enough for now,” Goro said, and Ren repeated right away.

“Akechi thinks this is enough? What does he know about trial runs.”

“Futaba please, I thought you had questions for him,” Ren pleaded, and Futaba perked up right away.

“Oh I forgot about that! Akechi, can you summon your personas?” Futaba asked him even though she was looking the wrong way.

“Tell her I’m not wearing my mask.”

“Akechi’s just in his normal clothes Futaba, and the Metaverse is gone so…”

“I’m not sure if the Metaverse is gone. Mementos is gone, and all of the palaces… and the app is gone so even if all that was still there we wouldn’t be able to do anything.”

“What does she mean the Metaverse might not be gone. If she thinks my presence suggests that, I find that a far stretch."

“Akechi wants to know why you think Metaverse might not be gone,” Ren said, and Goro hated how he kept softening his words.

“Oh that... It’s more with the idea of the collective unconscious that is the basis of cognitive psience. I don’t have any of mom’s theories about it, but the more public stuff is still available. And if the Metaverse is the collective unconscious then it explains a lot of the cognitive effects that we dealt with, and why there were shadows and why we could use personas. So it could still be there, but just not something we can physically interact with anymore.”

It did sound very similar to the hypothesis Wakaba would sometimes share. That the collective unconscious was always there, but Goro being able to interact with it was the strange part.

“But what does that mean for Akechi?” Ren asked, making Goro focus one more on the present.

“I don’t know yet. You said Mona thinks Akechi feels like crossing into the metaverse right? It could be he is just stuck in that loading zone.”

“I doubt it’s as simple as that,” Goro said even though he did wonder if it was something similar.

People weren’t meant to physically be in the collective convenience. Goro died in that place, and then it disappeared. It could very well be that those two things caused Goro to be ‘stuck’ as Futaba put it.

“Stuck?” Ren questioned out loud, and Goro wondered if he was having the same thoughts as Goro.

“But if Akechi is stuck in the metaverse, then he should still be able to use his persona, so...” Futaba waved at the camera ina ‘get on with it’ motion.

“Akechi still doesn’t have his mask though,” Ren repeated, and Goro couldn’t believe that’s what he was getting stuck on.

“I don’t need my mask to force my personas out,” Goro told him, and waited just long enough for him to repeat it for Futaba before trying for himself.

There have been times where the palace he had to go into didn’t recognize him as a threat, and Goro had to quickly learn how to summon his personas even when his mask wasn’t physically there. It was all cognition after all, and personas were still there whether or not the palace ruler thought Goro as a threat or not.

Goro placed his hand over his eyes like he was reaching for his helmet, and pretended to rip.

“Hereward!” Goro yelled, and even though he felt his persona stir...

“Uh, Akechi tried, but I didn’t see any change...”

Goro ignored how hot his face felt.

“I suppose it’s a bit harder when there’s not a door or shadow to focus my persona on,” Goro tried to justify, and ignore the slight smile Ren had on his face.

“Maybe you should try getting your persona to focus on something then,” Ren said with a cocky smile.

“Oh? Are you volunteering?" Goro asked with a polite smile that had lit up Ren’s eye with the threat.

Ren got up, not answering Futaba when she questioned where he was going. Ren just looked at him in the eyes, and Goro could imagine him twisting a dagger in his hand. In real life there was nothing in Ren’s hands, but the illusion of fighting Joker again was enough to get Goro to try once more.

“Hereward!” Goro called out, and this time with a goal in mind, his sight filled with blue flames.

It wasn’t as smooth as when he usually called out his persona. It felt more like when he was low on stamina, and Goro had to focus more on the act then he’s had to do since first awakening.

When the fake flames disappeared, Goro looked to see Ren was on his ass, back against the couch, and looking at him dazed.

“WHAT WAS THAT?!” Futaba yelled from the phone, and Goro had no idea.

“Meph? What’s going on?”

“Great, now the cat’s awake again,” Goro commented, watching as Ren collected himself and got back up.

He didn’t want to get his hopes up. It could have been that Ren just happened to fall right at the moment he summoned his persona. Or was shocked enough, but Goro knew that wasn’t what happened.

“Huh. That didn’t really feel like an attack, but...”

“You went flying halfway across the room! I take back your weakass ghost powers, Akechi.”

Futaba’s insult wasn’t even to stop the smile from spreading on Goro’s face.

Chapter Text

“Can you lift up the can rather than just knock it over?” Ren asked like he hasn’t been asking Goro to knock over the seemingless endless supply of canned drinks he had in his bag.

Goro would have pointed it out, but that would be admitting that he didn’t refuse Ren sooner. It was childish what they were doing. Just using his persona to knock over various things, but it was something Goro could do.

After months now of being unable to interact or influence anything physically, it was almost addictive to do something so simple.

“You want me to try having Hereward pick it up?” Goro clarified, wondering if he even could.

Personas were just an extension of once’s facade, the other side of one’s Ego. Fighting with a persona was just as easy as fighting with your own body, but Goro never called his personas out for much outside of fighting or destroying.

They could talk. Robin and Loki were chatter boxes whenever he was looking for a target in mementos. In the real world it was harder to hear them, more of an impression or feeling than any words he could hear.

Now it was more of the latter, though Goro wasn’t sure if that was just from Hereward. He felt like Robin and Loki, but also something new. Goro didn’t think much about it besides the feeling of wholeness when they first fused, and how much stronger he felt during the fight with Maruki.

“We should see if it’s your persona that’s able to interact with objects or just the attacks,” Ren said, eyes lit up with that red sheen.

The hill they were on was empty. It was in the afternoon, Ren having led Goro here as soon as he noticed him at school. It was a welcome break from Ren’s house, though Goro wondered if it was because his parents were back from their trip.

It was a puzzle that Goro has been meaning to figure out, but it could wait for the moment.

Goro got ready to summon Hereward with the command to just pick up the can of Mad bull that Ren finished drinking. He felt confusion from his persona as he appeared, still not as solid as in the metavere, but undoubtedly there.

It was a challenge to maintain as Hereward went over to the can, and picked it up. For a moment Goro thought he could feel the can in his own hand, then it was gone.

Hereward disappeared and the can fell onto the grass.

“It worked!”

“It did,” Goro said out loud, not expecting that to work.

It was something. His persona can do something. It wasn’t quite the same as Goro picking up the can himself, but it was more than he thought that would happen.

“Wait, do you mind doing that again? I want to see what it looks like without my third eye,” Ren asked as he pulled out his phone, likely to record for Futaba.

It was still just as odd the second time. Goro hoped that it would get easier using his persona in non-fighting ways, but it didn’t seem like it. He supposed he was asking for a lot. He never used Loki or Robin for anything besides driving people mad or killing.

“It just looks like it’s floating,” Ren said, frowning slightly.

Goro had to wait for him to look back at him before signing,

“Were you expecting to see Hereward in reality?"

“No,” Ren said in a way that made it clear he did expect that, “But it would have meant something.”

“Something,” Goro signed back, doing his best to keep his face blank despite his good mood, "eloquent as always aren’t you Joker,”

Ren’s smile was back, not as bright as before, but Goro still felt pleased that he caused that.

“You know what I mean. Having your persona able to interact is a big step in proving that you’re just stuck in the metaverse.”

Goro still wasn't sure how to feel about that. It was looking like it might be the answer to his problem, but it still doesn't tell them how to solve it. The fact Ren hasn’t really brought it up to him was all he needed to know.

Knowing Goro is stuck in between the Metavere and reality still didn’t mean he’s alive. It didn’t mean that he’ll be able to get unstuck with the metaverse gone. 

“I’ll send Futaba that video to look at and... oh that is a lot of messages.”

“What do you expect when you decide to tell them I was alive and then silenced your phone?” Goro said even though Ren was still looking at his phone and not him.

Goro thought about getting his attention and signing, but it wasn’t worth it. He just got closer to see if he could see what Ren was texting the ex-phantom thieves.

He was pleased when he saw Ren was giving him his undivided attention, but that feeling was now being replaced with worry. It was an unfounded feeling since why should he care about how they react to the news.

“Uh, Ann says hi,” Ren said as he scrolled through his unread messages, and Goro figured that Ann was likely the only one who said anything positive about his return.

It wasn’t surprising. The fact that Morgana and Futaba weren’t trying to get Ren to leave Goro alone was more of a surprise. Though Goro wasn’t sure if they hadn't tried, just in the moments he wasn’t around to hear it.

“And... Haru wants to talk to you with a ghost box?” Ren asked, looking up at Goro.

“A what?” Goro asked since he had no idea why Haru would ever want to talk to him.

Futaba made sense if she cared more about the possibly metaverse returning than his intangibility. She even said as much, just not explicitly that was the only reason she was helping.

Haru had no such reason unless...

“It’s... Haru says it’s a radio thing that ghost hunters use to talk to ghosts? Apparently she is really into it...” Ren said, obviously reading the texts as they came in.

Goro forced himself more into Ren’s space to see for himself, and while Ren yelped a little, he did move his phone over for Goro to see.

NOT the Phantom Thieves of hearts

Queenofbooks: Ghost hunting?

Karrot_Countess: Yes! While I prefer horror movies, I do like watching shows like that when I have time.

ForREalboy: For real? Should we do a ghost movie marathon for ideas

Ladykiller: That sounds fun! We can all do it online too so Ren and Morgana can join!

Goro was disappointed to see they cared more about watching horror movies than the fact he was alive. It was to be expected, but he was still shocked at how much it disappointed him. Goro should not care if they don't spend more than a second thinking about him. It was very mutual since they were barely even associates. It benefited him if, for some reason, they don't care about his past transactions against them.

“Do you think that could work?” Ren asked, obviously not clued into what Goro was thinking, and there was no way he was going to bring it up.

“What? The dumb idea to research using ghost movies of all things or the radio ghost box?” Goro signed next to Ren, neither of them bothering to move.

“Both. I know you’re not really a ghost, but who knows what could work.”

Goro had no clue what would work. He wanted to say it was pointless, but Ren was right that it might not be. He was able to bring some technology into the metaverse, like cameras, but not use the one on his phone. The rules of the metaverse was ambiguous at best, and Goro had no idea what they would be now that he might be 'stuck' in the remains of it.

“It might be useful to have another way to talk that doesn’t rely on you giving yourself a headache,” Goro signed, hoping that he was right about what the ghost box was for.

He wasn’t sure how a radio would help, but Goro also didn’t think he would be able to use his persona for mundane things like picking up an empty soda can. He was willing to try at the very least. And if it doesn’t work, Goro can lord it over Ren for even trying.

“Hey, it’s not every time, and it’s really not that bad.”

Goro couldn’t believe him. Almost every night now he’s been having  Acetaminophen for his headaches.

“I rather not have you put yourself in any pain just because you feel the need to talk with me,” Goro said, feeling like he was being very practical about that up until Ren tilted his head.

“Awww, it sounds like you care about me!”

Ren was joking. He was making a joke because not even six months ago Goro shot him in the head. He was right that the idea of Goro caring about his wellbeing now is hypocritical but…

“Do you really think so lowly of me?”

Goro hated signing. The book emphasized the importance of facial expressions when signing, and Goro wished he could just use his voice to get the message across.

Even with the lack of change in Goro’s own expression, Ren still reacted the way he wanted. He straightened up, and all signs of joking were gone from his face. It was the type of serious expression that Goro saw a handful of times. Mostly when he was leading the group in a tight situation in the metaverse when he couldn’t joke his way out of.

“I don’t. I do know you care enough to not want me in pain,” Ren said, and even if it was the same as what Goro just told him, it felt different hearing it out of his mouth.

Like it meant more. Or Ren knew just what Goro wasn’t saying.

“I’ll ask Haru if she knows where to get one of those ghost...spirit box things,” Ren said, and that was that.

It took about a week for the delivery to arrive. Haru apparently knew a lot about ghost hunting, but Goro didn’t bother reading Ren’s texts with her. It made him wonder why she was so willing to help. She wasn’t as involved as Futaba was, and it could be because she found the ghost thing interesting. Goro thought maybe she just wanted to help Ren out rather than the man who killed her father, but even that felt off.

He was missing something, as he often found himself with the phantom thieves. Their acts perfectly make sense until they do something that doesn’t match the profile Goro made of them. He knew getting to know them would fix that issue, but Goro had no reason to do so.

Especially now when he couldn't even talk with them without Ren acting as a translator.

But the ghost box arrived, and that suddenly wasn’t the case anymore.

“It seems like you just turn it on and…” Ren said as soon as he popped the batteries in and turned it back over.

They both flinched at the noise when the radio turned on, rapidly going through different channels too fast for them to pick up anything. Mostly static with the odd voice or a few notes of a song.

“Can you turn that down!?” Morgana yelled as he ran out of the room, his ears flat against his head.

“Sorry, sorry.”

Ren frantically looked over the device for the volume, and Goro wasn’t sure if it was for his own sake or Morgana’s.

Even with the volume lower, it was still obnoxious.

“I think that’s as low as it can go without me turning it off,” Ren said almost like an apology to Goro.

“I’m starting to wonder if this really is a better option. Might just be another way to induce a headache,” Goro commented, and was just about to sign it for Ren sake when the radio started being more coherent.

“I start to... wonder... if this... really is a... better option... might just be... cause another way... induce headache.”

The combination of different voices from talk shows to songs was slow to get through, but Ren was looking at it like it was a bomb.

“Is… how accurate was that to what you said?” Ren asked, eyes still with that red simmer even though the whole point of this device was to give Ren a break from using his third eye so often.

“Accurrent enough. Turn off your third eye.”

The device got most of what he said, and with a slight frown Ren looked down at it.

“But I still like looking at you.”

“Then get a fucking picture of me off the internet. I’m sure there are still plenty of those floating around.”

That got Ren to smile again, and Goro wasn’t disappointed when he looked back up and his eyes were slightly to the right of him. No red seam like he wanted.

“Okay, I guess we should try this for a bit.”

It was fine that Ren couldn’t see him. They were talking, and as annoying as it was hearing the ‘spirit box’ cycling through radio signals, it was unfortunately faster than them signing. Maybe after a few months, they would be better at signing that it wouldn’t matter, but that still wouldn’t solve the issue of Ren using his third eye too much.

Goro would just have to deal with Ren not looking at him while talking. Being able to talk more quickly was more than enough of a boon.

Chapter Text

The days passed much faster. When Ren told the others that the ghost box worked, Futaba started trying to figure out why it, and by the end of the week came up with her own version of it.

A text based version.

“You can just talk and it should work like the ghost box. Futaba said she also made an audio version,” Ren explained to Akechi even as he held his phone out so the other could read the long paragraph of text explaining.

Ren flashed his third eye for just a moment, to see Akechi’s face was almost touching his as he leaned in. It might have been touching if Akechi wasn’t partly stuck in the Metaverse. Either way, the thought alone was enough to make Ren’s checks feel warm even as he to continued explaining.

“She also said that I can hook it up to the vocal commands, and that I could add you back into the group chat with it.”

Ghostboi: Do not add me back into your phantom thieves chat.

The text showed up only a moment later, and Ren used his third eye to look at Akechi. He was staring at Ren’s phone, still in the same position as a few seconds ago, but looked up at Ren only a moment later. Like he could just tell that Ren was looking at him now.

Maybe he could. Ren noticed that Akechi seemed to always tell when he was using his third eye on him now.

“How accurate was that?”

“It missed a swear,” Akechi signed at him, but didn’t look too annoyed by it.

“Did Futaba add a censor mode?” Ren wondered as he texted her that question.

Ghostboi: Why does she even care if I freaking swear or not? It’s not like she ever censored herself.

Ren found himself giggling at little from the idea of Akechi saying ‘freaking’ rather than ‘fucking’. And even more when Futaba responded to his question with just crackling.

Ghostboi: You are both immature.

“Okay, want to try the audio version? Futaba promised it would be better than the ghost box.”

Akechi waved his hand, still too close to Ren but he wasn’t going to complain. Or even bring it up in case Akechi decided he needed to stand across the room.

The app Futaba made wasn’t very pretty, and he had a feeling the only reason there were buttons with options rather than a slew of code was because she knew Ren doesn’t know a thing about coding. Ren was good enough at following directions to fix that old laptop, not from any computer knowledge that he has.

It was just one option for audio, and it made a light beep when Ren clicked it on.

“Ready?”

Akechi rolled his eyes, and Ren turned off his third eye before he could tell him to.

“I doubt it’s going to sound much better than the ghost box,” Akechi’s voice said.

Ren blinked.

“What…”

“Did she really put together a voice bank from my interviews,” Akechi said, and Ren flashed his third eye to see Akechi looked pissed.

It was honestly kinda hot to see, but Ren quickly shoved that thought aside.

Now that Akechi brought it up, he heard that it was the prime and proper interview voice Akechi used. It was very different from how he sounded during the third semester, and even was different from how he sounded during their hang outs. Ren always got a little shocked when he caught one of Akechi’s interviews while washing the dishes at Leblanc, since it was such a difference.

“I’m not sure if I like it,” Ren admitted, then felt like he had to clarify when Akechi turned sharply at him. “Not like any of those interviews will have any recording of you sounding anything but the witty detective prince who doesn’t have a mean bone in his body.”

Akechi rolled his eyes.

“There is a lot I felt out of those interviews,” Akechi agreed, before continuing, “It is impressive Fu-taba was able to make this in such a short time. Not to mention I’ve only started doing interviews a few months before you showed up. I doubt there I said all the words needed in these."

“Huh,” Ren simply said as he watched Akechi.

It was weird seeing him talk, and hearing ‘him’ with a short delay. Like a video that had the audio a few seconds out of line. Not to mention as Akechi talked there were a few words that didn’t sound like they came from his interview but another source.

DaJoker: Did you use the call from Akechi’s phone?

Ren didn’t even finish his messages before he saw Akechi lean in to get closer. A little too close from how his hand accidentally went though Akechi’s, but Akechi didn’t even flinch. He was too busy trying to see what Ren was doing like the busybody he was.

“The call? Are you talking about the one where your little group found out I planned to kill you?”

Futaba responded, but Ren didn’t even bother to look since the ‘planned to kill you’ was in the same intonation as Akechi’s whole speech about planning to make it look like a sucide and he killed the guard. Ren listened to that call too many times during that November.

“Futaba’s good at covering her bases.”

Akechi gave a ugly sort of smile that still made Ren’s heat race, and he wondered if he gave that short laugh he only heard once at Jazz Jin. It was sad that futaba’s new app didn’t pick that up. Though, Ren supposed that the interview and phone calls to Shido still left a lot of ‘Akechi’ that was gone.

“Want to see if you can find any words that aren’t there?” Ren asked, and Akechi gave a sharp smile at the promise of a challenge.

“I doubt it will be that hard.”

“I don’t feel anything,” Ren said as he watched Hereward try and ‘pat him’ on the head.

It made sense. Akechi was able to use his persona to attack things and send them flying, but had to concentrate to use them to interact with stuff. Ren has seen Akechi use Egion to open a door, and more than one soda can ended up flying over a cliff. It was a little weird seeing moves that he knew from experience were powerful enough to bring him to his knees, doing nothing but knock him over without a scratch.

If Akechi was frustrated by how nerfed his persona’s powers were in the real world, he didn’t show up. Akechi either had an annoyed look when trying to have Hereward do anything outside of attack, or that cocky ‘I win’ look when he was able to move something. It just told Ren how much this whole situation must be bothering Akechi.

For Ren, it was the looming question if Akechi was alive or not. He still thought he was, and all they needed to do was figure out how to get him out of the metaverse or whatever transitional state Futaba and Morgana thought he’s stuck in. But it was hard to keep pushing away the worry that Akechi was dead, and it was like Maruki’s reality all over again.

“Trying to pick you up doesn’t do anything either,” Akechi commented, his hand under his chin in thought as he dismissed his persona.

Ren nodded, turning his third eye off for just a moment to look at the setting sun. It was getting late and his head was starting to hurt a little but no where as bad as a few weeks ago.

It was the first of June, and Ren was trying to figure out if mentioning Akechi’s birthday tomorrow would be a death sentence or not. It was something to talk about and celebrate that wasn't related to the metaverse and Akechi ghostlyness. However, Ren wasn't sure how Akechi would take the passing of time.

“We should stop here,” Ren said as he turned back, Akechi seemingly gone and it only took Ren a moment to use his third eye again.

Akechi was standing with his hand on one hip, standing around like he was waiting for him at the station rather than by the river in his home town. The only thing that was missing was Akechi’s briefcase.

“Might as well. I’ll see you tomorrow once you’re done with class,” Akechi said, and Ren just nodded as ignored the urge to ask him to come back with him.

The next day couldn’t come soon enough. Ren knew better than to try and make Akechi anything since it wasn’t like he would be able to hold it or even eat. It limited to what Ren could do, but luckily he thought about that a week ago, and picked up the delivery just as he got home.

There was also no point in wrapping it, so Ren tried his best in acting like it wasn’t a big deal. He checked quickly to see if Akechi got back before him, but when his third eye showed nothing but Morgana coming over to greet him, Ren got his gift all ready.

“Oh, that arrived today? It didn’t take very long,” Morgana commented as he watched Ren get it all ready.

“I wasn’t sure it would come today, I’m glad it did.”

“Today? What’s special about today?” Morgana questioned, and just by chance, Ren checked again with his third eye and spotted Akechi outside.

“One sec,” Ren said as he checked once more to make sure it was all ready, before rushing out to meet Akechi before he came inside.

“Did something happen?” Akechi signed when Ren opened the door, clearly noticing that Ren was excited about something and assuming the worst.

“Nothing really. I just got you something. For your birthday.”

Akechi stopped midstep.

Ren saw him form the words ‘you did what?’ and just flashed Akechi a smile before walking in. He didn’t bother to check to see if Akechi followed, but as he turned around, Akechi was there.

“Tada! I got a laptop for you to use. Futaba already sent me a more advanced version of the app, so after setting it up, you should be able to use it. I think I’ll just leave it plugged in and Futaba showed me how to disable sleep mode... so you should be able to use it at any time without my assistance.”

Ren felt like he was rambling, but Akechi was just staring at him, not saying or signing anything. He wasn’t moving at all. Ren was a little worried he wasn’t breathing, but then again, he wasn’t sure if Akechi even needed to breathe.

Then Ren wondered if that was evident of Akechi not being alive if he didn’t need to breathe, then wondered if they ever needed to breathe in the metaverse. Ren was pretty sure they did, but it wasn’t like they ever tried holding their breath beside that trip in space.

“You…” Akechi finally said, and the laptop already repeated it out loud.

“I can switch it to text only if it bothers you.”

Ren found himself getting used to the ‘detective prince’ voice since it was better than the spirit box and while they have both improved a lot with signing, there were still moments of frustration. Not to mention the whole headache thing. Ren still thought it was worth it, but it wasn’t like he doesn’t take looks at Akechi when they are using the ‘ghostboy app’ that Futaba made.

“It’s fine,” Akechi said, but he didn’t look like it was fine.

Akechi looked like he was trying not to clench his teeth in anger. While Akechi was annoyed by the audio mode at first, they tend to use it more since it did make it feel more like Akechi was talking. At least for Ren. The frustration on Akechi’s face seemed to be about something else, and just as Ren was about to ask what was up Morgana showed himself.

“Hey! You could sound a little more grateful about it. It’s not like it was cheap!” Morgana said, and Ren tried to signal at him to shut up but it was too late.

“Forgive me if I’m wrong, but don’t you already have a laptop you could have used?”

Ren could have sighed in relief. It was hard to tell how Akechi would take expensive gifts. He wasn’t happy about the robot cleaner he gave him, but Akechi also mentioned he was using it.

“Futaba told me the RAM or something wasn’t enough for the new version she made. And I wanted something that was yours. I know you’re probably frustrated by having to rely on me to do any research or talking with others so…” Ren trailed off as he looked at Akechi’s blank face.

“I see. Thank you for the thoughtful gift Ren.”

Ren’s name wasn’t spoken outside, left out since Futaba never found a clip or call where Akechi said Ren’s given name and it was too short to put it together with other clips. But Ren recognized his name on Akechi’s lips, rare enough that each time he did say it Ren paid more attention.

But Akechi was still looking blank. Not annoyed at being given a handout, or happy at not having to rely on Ren so much. Morgana muttered something about ‘that being much better’ but Ren hardly noticed.

“What’s wrong with it?”

Ren didn’t want to sound annoyed, but it was hard not to when he thought Akechi was finally done with hidden things from him.

“Nothing is wrong with it. You clearly thought out just what I would have wanted and needed. It’s very much as perfect a gift as you could get.”

“But…?” Ren asked, waiting for Akechi to relieve his hand.

And he spotted it. The moment of annoyance that crossed Akechi’s face, before he frowned.

“Don’t you think it’s too much? Something like a laptop, giving me more independence with a new application... Those are all long term solutions.”

“Yeah?” Ren wondered where Akechi was going with this, “We are still looking for a way to fix this, but in the meantime isn't it better to have things easier for you?”

Akechi looked even more annoyed, but it was better than the blank look from before.

“And what if fixing my intangibility doesn’t come out the way you hope? You are so sure that I’m alive, but what if you’re wrong? You’ll be stuck with an expensive laptop that you only bought because of me.”

It was weird seeing Akechi looking like he was moment away from striking Ren down or attacking a shadow, when the voice of someone out was calm and only a little snarky. Just enough to be funny on daytime television.

Ren swallowed as he tried figuring out what Akechi was really worried about since…

“That never bothered you before.”

And maybe that wasn’t fair since Akechi did try his best to keep Ren away during their time in Maruki’s fake reality. Ren was the one who kept pushing, asking for any time that Akechi would give him. But Akechi still agreed to hang out at Jazz Jin. He still refused to tell Ren his doubts until Maruki laid it all out.

“You never bought me a duck in laptop so I could interact with the world again.”

Akechi looked like he was screaming. Ren almost wanted to turn off the audio since the swear censorship and the tone difference was starting to get to him. However, that would mean taking his eyes off Akechi, and there was no way he could do that.

“Then what’s the problem? If you do end up not being alive, then I’ll deal with it. But you’re here now, and we don’t have anyone trying to play god, or the Metaverse fussing with reality. Why not try and make your situation better if we can?”

“Because I don’t deserve it!” Akechi yelled even as the audio of him talking was in a joking tone.

Ren still finds himself surprised about how little self-worth Akechi can have at times while also thinking everyone else is beneath him. Not that Ren calling Akechi out at the hypocrisy would help matters, and he forced himself to not say his gut reactions of telling Akechi not to say that about himself.

“Well, I think you do,” Ren said instead, voice sounding much calmer than what he was feeling, “And besides, it’s a gift. It shouldn’t matter if you deserve it or not. I just want you to be a little happier.”

“Happier,” Akechi repeated, and Ren knew that word was a little tense thanks to Maruki, but it wasn’t like Ren was forcing Akechi to be happy.

“Yeah. I know your situation sucks, I get that. But you came to me for help, so let me help you!”

This time Ren could clearly see Akechi grinding his teeth in anger. What he was mad about, Ren still didn’t know and it was starting to bother him. Fighting wouldn’t do any good, and yet Ren wasn’t going to back down.

Ren’s been so relieved by Akechi being here, being alive in a way he could at least communicate with, that he’s been avoiding topics. Letting Akechi get away with not explaining things since for once, they had time. They still had time but now Ren was met with the burning need to know what else Akechi could be hiding.

“Of course that’s what you only care about. Hero-complex Amamiya Ren, here to help the one person he couldn’t duck in save!”

“You know that’s not what’s going on,” Ren said because Akechi had to know it wasn’t that. “I didn’t learn sign laguage out of a book because I felt fucking sorry for you!”

It was more than that. It was always more than that. Ren thought they already talked about this when Maruki revealed what Ren’s wish was and Akechi acted like the choice should have been easy for him to make.

It took Ren a moment to realize that Akechi wasn’t standing still like he was when they started, but was shaking. A light tremor through his body, and it was only when Akechi threw back his head did Ren realized he was laughing. Laughing in a way that the audio wasn’t able to pick up since the only time Akechi ever laughed like that was in the metaverse right before attacking them as the black mask.

“Then what was it? If it wasn’t because you felt sorry for me, then it was because you wanted to ignore your own issues. Isn’t that why you didn’t bother texting your friends until I showed up as a problem you could attempt to solve? Something you could talk to them about that wasn’t your boring life or your absent parents?”

Ren felt like Akechi hit him. It probably would have stung less if he did, but Akechi was just standing there with a smug smile on his face and a wild look in his eyes. Ren couldn’t care less about when Akechi tried insulting him by calling him a criminal attic trash. Ren took that as a compliment considering everything. But now, Ren realised that Akechi finally knew enough about Ren to really figure out what to say to hurt him.

Things that Ren thought Akechi just didn’t notice, but of course he did. Akechi was never one to just be oblivious to things. Expectedly when he could use it.

“That’s not it either!” Ren yelled, even as he wondered if Akechi could be right. It still wasn’t the most important reason.

“Is it really that hard to believe that I care about you? That despite everything, I enjoyed our time together and want nothing more than to see more of you?”

Akechi looked away even before Ren finished talking. Usually that would mean that Ren won their debate, but he knew this wasn't enough. Wouldn’t be enough until Akechi admitted that Ren cared for him. Cared for him a lot.

Ren could easily see his options now. He could leave it at that, let Akechi make the next move, or he could push it. Really lay out all his cards on the table, including the ones that Ren was holding so tightly to his chest that even the thought of removing it felt like trying to rip out his own heart.

He had to decide carefully.

Which was hard when Akechi so effortlessly cut through his insecurity and Ren almost wished they could just fight instead. Physically, with their personas. The rematch was always in the back of Ren’s mind, but that would have to wait.

Ren had to make his choice.

“Akechi, I-”

“Don’t,” Akechi cut him off, both with the audio of him and by stepping into Ren’s personal space.

“Don’t what?” Ren asked, unable to believe that Akechi was doing this again.

“I told you not to waste anything like that on a dead man,” Akechi said, Ren watching his lips that wasn’t matching the audio, and the frown that donned Akechi’s face.

Ren remembered just as Akechi was leaving, after giving Maruki the card, after getting angry at Akechi for trying to belittle his own life, after confirming that he wouldn’t take the deal, after seeing Akechi fuse his two personas into one... After all that, Ren asked him to stay. A confession on the tip of his tongue but Akechi refused since he didn’t want Ren to waste any more time on a dead man.

And Ren let him leave.

“But I’m not,” Ren said, looking Akechi dead in the eye,  “You said so yourself, we don’t know if you’re alive or dead, but I refuse to just carry on like you are already dead! I care for you a lot, I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you, and it doesn't matter if you’re dead or not because it’s already too late if you don’t want me in pain. I thought you were dead for months. I’m not going to give up now there is a chance that-”

“And what? You think telling me all this is going to help? Why should I care if you're delusional enough to think you are in love with me,” Akechi said, and Ren watched out of the corner of his eye as Akechi moved his arms before letting them fall back to his side.

Like he was about to grab Ren, but then remember he couldn’t.

“I just thought you should know,” Ren said, feeling more like he was watching this conversation than participating in it.

Akechi was still in his face, just a cm taller, but their eyes were more or less at the same level. Ren thought if Akechi was full there, he would be able to feel his breath on his lips.

“But I don’t believe for a moment you don’t care. If you didn’t feel something similar, why would you even be here?”

“Are you serious right now? You know why I’m here-”

“It’s not because you wanted me to help. You didn’t even know you could see you. I saw the reflection of you on the train when I was leaving, but it wasn’t until weeks later that I started seeing you here,” Ren said, all the thoughts he had about that lie Akechi made coming forth at once, “You thought I couldn’t see you like everyone else, but you still decided to come to my hometown, after I left.”

“You... I don’t...”

Akechi took a step back, and Ren watched as his eyes darted around like they were ambushed by shadows and he was looking for a way out.

“Akechi, please. Just be honest with me for once. Why did you come here?”

The final nail in the coffin. Ren saw Akechi straighten up.

Ren was ready for whatever Akechi told him. He reminded himself that it didn’t matter if Akechi felt the same way. If Akechi came just because he missed Ren or for some other reason that Ren didn’t know about, it was fine. Sumire survived after confessing her love and Ren rejecting her. Ren could survive this too.

“This was a mistake," Akechi said, and Ren blinked for a moment, surprised by Akechi not rising to his challenge that he missed Akechi fleeing.

“Wait!”

Ren tried grabbing Akechi but his arm just passed through Ren’s hand. Then instead of walking through the front door like he always did, Akechi turned sharply and walked through the wall.

“Akechi!” Ren yelled, rushing out the front door to try and catch up.

“Hey, where are you going?!” Morgana yelled when Ren almost stepped on his way out the door.

“Akechi! I’m sorry!” Ren called out, cursing at himself for pushing too far.

He never knew Akechi to back down from a fight, but there was a first time for everything. Ren went too far and couldn’t see any sight of Akechi with his third eye.

He was gone.

Chapter Text

Goro ran.

He ran for hours. The one good thing about not being fully alive was he never got tired. Not like in the Metaverse where he would get tired at a slower rate before it all came crashing down at once when he was out. There was no pain in his legs or shortness of breath as he ran at a sprint to the outskirts of Yasoinaba and then followed the street out.

The sun set, and it was only when it was dark enough that he had trouble seeing with how spread out the street lamps were, did he stop.

Goro still wasn’t tired, but he was breathing heavily like he was. A more psychological effect than physical. And he laughed at the fact that Ren’s little confession was enough to work him up to such a state.

It was pathetic.

More than pathetic. This was almost worst than losing to the Phantom Thieves and to Shido’s cognition of himself. All Goro had to say was that he didn’t feel the same way. That he only showed up because he was bored and wanted to know what Ren’s hometown was like.

It was the same excuse he gave himself months ago. It would have been enough for Ren, and they would have been able to continue like Ren didn’t just handed Goro his bleeding heart for him to stomp on.

Instead Goro panicked, and ran like a child.

Goro walked until he got to a street lamp, and sat down on the empty road. Nothing but empty fields and a few trucks passed. And even that stoped as the hours passed.

Goro had no idea what he was doing. He somehow ruined everything in only an hour. A real talent. Nothing good every lasted in Goro’s life, and it was his own fault.

“Fuck.” Goro muttered out loud as he tore a hand through his hair.

It didn’t even feel greasy. Just as clean as when he left his apartment after deciding that Ren was alive and in Shido’s Palace. Goro was suck in the moment before his death, and was still finding ways to fuck up his life.

Goro wasn’t sure how long he sat there on the side of the road, but at some point he decided to keep walking. Away from Inaba. Goro didn’t think he could show his face to Ren at the moment. Everything was too raw and Goro couldn’t…

He knew there was a city near by, Okina if he wasn’t mistaken, but Goro had no idea if the road he was following lead there or not. It didn’t matter. Goro just needed to feel like he was making progress.

And wasn’t that the worst part.

All of this started because Goro couldn’t just accept the gift Ren gave him. He had to question it, question why Ren was doing it, and then argue with him about it. Even with Ren’s confession now coloring all their past interacting, Goro had a hard time understanding why.

The phone app was fine. Ren could talk with Goro without splitting his head open or having to deal with the annoying radio sounds. There was no reason for him or Futaba to work another version that Goro could use.

That without Goro telling him, Ren knew he was annoyed with his lack of agency. Ren came up with a solution, and Goro hated how much it would help things. How many times did Goro complain about not being able to do his own research? One, maybe twice, and each off hand complain Ren cocked away like a bird picking up trinkets to use to build a nest.

Goro was a coward. Still the same scared little kid he was when his mother died, when he first went into the Metaverse and was almost killed by a shadow. Goro couldn’t even bring himself to turn around and head back.

He didn’t know what to say to Ren. It would mean explain how the idea of Ren loving him was enough to send him running. That Ren cut through his own dissolutions about coming for any other reason beside he wanted to see Ren. Missed his rival.

Goro couldn’t even say if he loved Ren back or not. He never thought about it like that. Never let himself think about it like that. Even now, Goro somehow found himself jumping from if he loved Ren to how it would even work. They couldn’t go on dates. Couldn’t do anything physical. Not kiss or hug, or even just hold hands. There was no point for Ren to bring that up now when Goro was noting more than a ghost haunting him.

Goro got to the next town just as the sun started rising. It looked bigger than Inaba, and he figured that maybe he did get lucky and ran off in the direction of the biggest city. Whatever navigation skills he picked up from traveling palaces and mementos alone was enough for him to instinctively go to the nearest city. The further Goro has ever been from Tokyo was Yokohama after all. It was no wonder his feet would try to lead him somewhere more familiar than a small town slowly rotting away.

Goro let himself walk the streets as people slowly started their day. It was already more people then he’s ever seen in Ren’s hometown, but still nothing compare to Tokyo. Sparse enough that Goro could almost pretend that he was just a normal teenager visiting the city. No one walked through him, or talked to him, and Goro just let himself window shop as he walked. An illusion to calm his mind and take it off of Ren.

Then he passed a coffee shop, a chain that Goro’s been to before, and his only thought was how much Ren would hate it.

Goro breathed out slowly.

He could fix this. As he fled, he heard Ren apologizing. It would be easily to hold him to a promise to never speak of it again. Ren would honor that agreement. Goro was certain of it.

But even as Goro mapped out how the conversation would go in his mind, he found himself tossing away because of a simple fact.

He didn’t want to.

Goro has always been selfish. He always wanted more of his mother’s time. The attention and admiration of his fans. Even the acknowledgment from Shido when it made him sick at the same time. It was one of the reasons he kept asking Ren out even after he figure out he was Joker and how he was going to blackmail the group into having him join. Ren kept accepting. Then when everything was revealed and Ren knew Goro was nothing but a murderer who wasn’t even able to get his revenge on his bastard of a father, he still asked to spend time with him.

Goro doesn’t think he would ever get tired of hanging out with Ren. He had to keep reminding himself to leave every night, and took a few days off just roaming around Inaba to prove that he didn’t have to spend all his time with Ren. The excuse that Ren was the only one who could see him worked, but Goro knew he would be still searching Ren out even if that wasn’t the case.

The day passed, and Goro didn’t head back.

Okina city had much more to see than Inaba. It still had the country pumpkin vibe to it, but Goro didn’t mind it as much. There was a few shops that look good and kept his thought away from Ren. At least until he thought about if Ren would like a book he spotted in the window or a black shirt that would have looked great on Ren.

Goro had a sinking feeling he knew why he kept thinking about Ren. Worst that it wasn’t any different from before. When Ren was calling them rivals and Goro felt his stomach flutter in excitement.

It was just the same.

As if to prove that Goro wasn’t some lovesick fool, he stayed in the town for a few more days. Then a week passed and he figured he stalled long enough. He was able to map out the entire city in his head and started to recognize people walking past.

Goro could argue with himself that it was for his own benefit. That Futaba would refuse to help him if Ren was sad by his avoidance. That the cat might know something useful. That the laptop that Ren so gracefully gifted to him was still at his house, and Goro couldn’t do anything without such a tool.

But the simple fact was that he missed Ren, and Goro hated he might know why now.

It was simple enough finding the one train that went back to Yasoinaba Station. It was less simple trying to avoid phasing through anyone, but Goro managed. He had to remind himself that it was faster than walking, and he’d hidden away for long enough.

The ride still took about an hour before arriving. Giving Goro just enough time to be annoyed by how long it took, then started worried than he still needed to figure out what to say to Ren.

His planed conversations always fell apart when talking with Ren. Nothing Ren said ever matched what he expected him to say. It was always a surprise, and while usually Goro enjoyed that, this time he wanted to yell. It made it just that much harded to figure out what to do.

He figured he should apology for running. Goro was that much aware that was wrong. It was after that Goro had no idea what to say. It all depended on how Ren will react. Goro thought it might be the last straw. The moment Ren finally realized that spending so much time and effort on Goro was worthless. However, Goro figured if attempted murder, and forceing Ren to practically cause his second death wasn’t enough, simple running away during their argument wouldn’t do it either.

It still didn’t feel right for Ren to just accept it though. Goro wouldn’t let him if he attempted to. He needed to clear up any fantasies that Ren had, and bring him back to reality.

With that goal in mind, Goro stopped pacing the shopping district and turned to the now familiar path to Ren’s family home. It was mid day, and Goro hoped that Ren was still in class. It would give him more time, allow him to start the conversation on his own terms.

And yet, even with a plan in mind, Goro still found himself pausing from walking into the house. He didn’t want to see Ren upset due to his actions. It would be better if Ren was angry at him. Goro knew how to deal with that and always thought that Ren looked his best when under a fury status ailment. The problem was Goro wasn’t sure how Ren would react, and since Goro had to run like a child and then stay away for a week, he was in the wrong.

Goro couldn’t even try can blame Ren for his action. Not that Goro was ever one to do that. He was perfectly aware when he was digging his own grave thank you very much.

The prep-talk didn’t help, and Goro thought maybe he should just wait until Ren came home, see how he was before planning his next move, when the fucking cat appeared out of no where.

“Fuck. Where do you even come from? There’s no metaverse for you to appear out of like an eldritch horror!” Goro complained, not even caring that no one was around that could hear him.

It was nice at times. At least when Goro felt like yelling into the night. Reminded him of memento runs after having a meeting with Shido and pretending the shadows he ripped into was his father.

Goro stepped out of the way to let Morgana walk past, ready to find a place he could hide out until Ren came home. But then Morgana paused.

“Akechi? Is that you?”

Goro wanted to scream. Usually the cat had to be closer to him to be able to sense he was nearby. Close enough that he usually step though his feet. Morgana was at a perfectly normal distance away.

“You better be here to apology! Ren has been trying to look everywhere for you!” Morgana continued as he walked closer, setting right next to Goro and looking up.

He would have been looking right at Goro if he sat at his feet rather than to his side, but Goro could appreciate his efforts. The cat did a better job at pretending to look at Goro than Ren did, at least when Ren didn’t cheated by flashing his third eye.

“He’s been a mess! It’s not as bad as before but... If you do that again I’ll find a way to track you down and bring you back! Argh, and here I thought you two would finally be friends!

“You make it sound so simple,” Goro commented, wondering why Morgana even wanted them to be friends.

If Ren was really as distraught as the cat was claiming, he should be telling Goro to leave and never come back. It reminded him too much of what he said after their fight, pointing out that Goro wasn’t telling the full truth when he said he hated Joker. Goro hated anyone seeing him so clearly. Especially some metaverse being that is taking form of the world most annoying cat!

“Then you had to run away because Ren decided to be nice and give you a birthday present."

“It... wasn’t because of the fucking laptop!” Goro tried arguing, and for a moment the cat signed like he heard him.

“I bet that wasn’t the real reason, but if Ren doesn’t want to tell me, then I doubt you would. Even if I could hear you.”

Goro felt a little better that Ren didn’t tell Morgana everything. He was in the room when their argument started. Goro didn’t even noticed when he left, but his cheeks seemed to burn at the thought of him over hearing Ren’s confession.

Or maybe he didn’t noticed. The cat would have been telling him off if he knew Ren had a ill-advised crush on him. That he was disillusioned enough to think it was love. Ren did just put it in between the rest of his argument. Like it wasn’t the main point of his statement. Just something that slipped out.

It just was the one thing that kept playing over and over in his head.

“Huh. I wonder if this is how Boss feels with me. It’s a little different since everyone can still see me even if they think I’m just a normal cat... but the only ones who can hear me are you and the rest of the group. You didn’t even have that until Futaba decided to help.”

Goro did not like that Morgana was trying sympathizing with his situation. It was bad enough that Ren figured it out. He could deal with that since Ren has always been able to cut through the masks that he wear, but the damn cat?

“I really don’t get why you could get so worked up by that, but I guess since you’re still here you are going to apologize for running?”

“I am,” Goro admitted.

It was pointless to tell Morgana that, but it still made it feel more real saying it out loud. Silence the part of him that still wanted to run and never stop.

“Ren’s mom just woke up, so I don’t think you’ll want to talk there... oh! Why don’t we just meet Ren on his way back from school? He still has that app on his phone. You can just talk on that hill no ones ever at. I’ll even leave you two alone!” Morgana said before standing up with a very cat-like stretch and started walking.

“Wouldn’t it be better not to surprise Ren like that?” Goro argued, but found himself following the cat regardless.

“Oh you are following, I wasn’t sure what I could do if you wouldn’t,” Morgana said, and Goro rolled his eyes.

“There wasn’t anything you could do even if you were able to physically interact with me.”

Goro hoped now that Morgana wasn’t worried about him running off, he would silently escort him to Ren, but it seemed like the cat was only capable of being silent when he was sleeping.

“You know... I was worried at first that you were dead. That it would be better for Ren to just move on before you were gone again but... I don’t think that anymore. If I was able to survive with the metavere being gone, then I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to, even if you really did die. You died in a cognitive world, but we still remember you and... you’re not dead now. I think that might be enough.”

Goro stopped walking. He couldn’t believe this fucking cat. There was no way he thought after everything Goro just did.

“You’re an idiot. You claim to be a metaverse expert but you don’t know anything. There is nothing similar between our situations and-”

Morgana stopped walking, and turned around, this time getting lucking that he was looking right at Goro’s head. Still not in the eye, but it was enough for Goro to shut his mouth out of habit.

“I guess it doesn’t really matter what I think since we still don’t know if there is a way to bring back the metaverse, or whatever pocket you’re stuck in. Ren hasn’t really been wanting to talk with Futaba about that with you gone, but...”

“I don’t get why you are wasting so much time and effort on me,” Goro said with a sigh.

He just felt tired dealing with them all. Ren made sense in a strange way, but the others? He wasn’t wrong when he told Ren he doesn’t deserve it. It would really be better if he just left now but...

“Come on, I want to get there before Ren passes by,” Morgana said before starting walking again.

Slowly, like he was prepared to turn around in a moment if he didn’t sense Goro following.

It was ridiculous. Morgana already admitted there was nothing he could do if Goro decided to not follow. Yet he still tried. It oddly reminded Goro a little too much of Ren, and he hesitated for a moment before following. Only because Goro already decided he wasn’t going to avoid talking with Ren. They would talk and then...

And then Goro can tell him they shouldn’t keep doing this.

Chapter Text

School sucked.

Ren couldn’t wait to get out. Leave high school. Leave Inaba in general. It was easier thinking about that then everything else.

Ren knew he messed up. He picked the wrong choice, pushed Akechi too far, and now he was gone. Futaba mentioned something about trying to find him using the ‘ghostboy app’, but Ren told her not to bother. Either he would come back, or not. Ren couldn’t no much more than check around his house every day with his third eye to see if Akechi was just hanging around.

It was fine.

School sucked, but everything else was perfectly alright. Ren even responded to the group chat a few times. Or maybe only once, but everyone else was pretty busy and Akechi was right that Ren didn’t have much to talk about.

Sometimes he worried that without the phantom thieves, they will stop being friends with him all together. It was what tied them together, and now that it was gone, Ren worried that they will all move on. You hear about it all the time. High school friends who never see each other again once they graduate. Haru and Makoto weren’t in chat that often since they already graduated, and Ren wonder when they will start prioritizing their new friends rather than them.

Ren took his time walking home. He thinks his mom said something last night about having the day off, and he knew to make himself scarce. His dad was still on a business trip though even if he wasn’t, Ren wouldn’t be rushing home. Before he got arrested, the first time, Ren would have stayed over at a friends house to study and get dinner at the Ai’s on the way home.

A week ago he would have tried bugged Akechi into ‘joining’ him fishing or just walk around until the sun set.

Now Ren walked just fast enough that he was out of the swarm of high school student, then dragged his feet for the rest of the walk home. It’s what he did yesterday, even when he knew the house was empty.

Then a black sport dashed in front of him, making Ren pause midstep.

“There you are! You were taking forever, come on!” Morgana yelled as he circled his feet to get him walking... up the path to the hill looking over the main town.

“Did you find something?” Ren asked, a little assumed at how excited Morgana was asking.

“Mahaha! I did more than find something, I found Akechi!”

“What?” Ren stopped walking, and turned on his third eye fast enough that his vision whirled for a moment.

There at the top of the hill was Akechi. Standing with his arms cross so tightly it looked more like he was trying to get warm or hug himself.

“Oh,” Ren exhaled because Akechi was back.

That was... that was good. Ren didn’t really think he was gone forever, but Ren also didn’t think he would just run out of the conversation like that so...

Ren took a deep breath that was only a little shaky before looking down. Not enough that he couldn’t see Akechi, but enough that he was mostly looking at Morgana.

“Mona, do you mind...” Ren waved his hand slightly, hoping that Morgana wouldn’t feel bad for being asked to leave.

“Yeah, yeah I do not want to hang around and see you make out,” Morgana said pulling a disgusted face.

Ren flushed hard.

“I don’t think you need to worry about that,” Ren managed to get out while his brain feel like it error out.

Ren.exe unable to work due to the mental image of kissing your rival. It was the last thing he should be thinking about. Most likely he was completely off base about how Akechi felt about him, and this would be nothing more than a rejection.

But as long as Akechi doesn’t literally ghost him, he’ll be fine.

Morgana didn’t leave right away, and instead asked, “Are you really going to be alright talking to him? If it doesn’t go well...”

“We’ll be fine Mona,” Ren promised, and started walking up the hill alone.

When he looked back up Akechi was turned toward him, with a hand on his hip like he’s been waiting for hours. Ren couldn’t stop the smile that tug at his lips at the sight, and it was almost enough to have him forget the abandonment he felt from Akechi sudden department.

Almost.

“Took you long enough,” Akechi signed, giving him a sharp look.

“Sorry, if I knew you were waiting for me I would have come sooner. Where did you go anyways?” Ren asked even though he knew Akechi would give him a non answer.

“I was in another town. I needed some time alone to think,” Akechi signed after only a moment’s hesitation.

He was being honest. Ren was expecting Akechi to be evasive and quickly tell him that he didn’t feel the same way. Not to tell him the truth of what he was doing. That he didn’t come back right away because he needed to think.

Ren tried not to get his hopes up.

“Alright. Should I bring out my phone for this?”

Akechi looked around, and for a moment Ren was worried he was going to jump over the fence. The overlook was pretty high up, but Ren wasn’t sure if it would even effect Akechi. No fall damage if you are incorporeal.

“It would be best, I’m expecting this is going to take a while,” Akechi signed, only looking back at him at the end.

Ren didn’t recognize his expression for a moment, but when he did it hit him like a tuck. Akechi only got hit by fear once, while they were fighting Maruki. It was a mess, and Sumire was able to knock him out of it before Ren could even bring out a Persona to heal it, but the look on his face and terror in his voice wasn’t something Ren would forget.

He obviously didn’t look as scared as when he was under the fear aliment, but it was close enough to draw the comparison.

Ren forgot whatever it was he planed to say, and just nodded as he pulled out his phone.

“Turn off your third eye,” was the first thing that came out of it, and Ren snorted.

“I already told you I like looking at you.”

“And I already told you to stop giving yourself a duck in headache for such an asinine reason.”

Ren moved to sit on the bench, looking out as he turned off his third eye. He could more easily see the view now that he wasn’t focusing in, and it was a nice June day. They were far enough away that they couldn’t hear the people walking along the river, and no one else was on the hill with them. 

“I’m sorry-” Ren started to say before Akechi’s voice interrupted.

“Don’t. You were just being honest will your feeling. I’m the one who ran like a coward rather than deal with it. If anything, you should be mad with me.”

Ren thinks it would be easier if he was. And maybe if Akechi didn’t come back for months or years, he would be. The 5 days Akechi was gone wasn’t even that long now that he looked back on it, but it still sucked. It was too reminiscent of after he got in juvie and everyone confirmed they haven’t seen Akechi. Or when they got back from Shido’s palace and all Ren had was a glove and an unfulfilled promise.

“Okay. I won’t apologize then,” Ren said, cracking a smile at Akechi even if he wasn’t feeling it yet.

He did flash his third eye just in time to see Akechi scoff at him and look away.

“Don’t misunderstand me; I’m not saying that you are fault less. Your tendency to having to solve every problem that you come across is going to backfire. Especially now that you don’t have the Metaverse to brainwash any obstacle standing in your way.”

While Akechi was right that being unable to change people hearts would have made thing more challenging, he didn’t agree with the rest of what Akechi said. Any other day Ren would like to argue about like they did back when they were just a detective and a boy who was a fan of the phantom thieves, it would be too much of a tangent. Ren needed them to stay on topic, or else he’ll lose his motivation and never bring it up again with Akechi.

“You’re makeing it sound like you didn’t only brought that up because I made you feel uncomfortable.”

“Uncomfortable. What a simple way to put it.”

“Would you rather I put it as your fear of letting anyone close in case you lose them?” Ren said before he could stop himself.

Under his third eye Akechi did not flinched, but he did turn slowly to face Ren.

“Ah, maybe that is part of it. It does leave me to wonder if it’s not the same for you as well? Everyone in this town cut you off with your arrest, even when they found out it was a false charge. Yet instead of letting that keep you weary of forming connections again, you still built a home for yourself in Tokyo. Just one of the many things I hate and admire about you,” Akechi said with a scowl as he turned away.

While Ren could have done without the jab, having Akechi admit he was right was well worth it.

“Then did you run because of me saying I love you, or was that just the final straw?”

Akechi didn’t respond for a while. Ren kept checking with his third eye to make sure he didn’t run away, but Akechi just sat next to him on the bench. Close enough that Ren would be able to touch him if he was able.

“Would you accept my reasoning if I said I was overwhelmed?”

“I think that was pretty obvious,” Ren said and smiled when Akechi turned to him, looking like he was trying to figure out how to shove him off the beach like a child.

“But I was serious when I said it’s fine if you don’t feel the same. I won’t stop helping-”

“Shut up. Don’t try to presume things about how I feel.”

Ren closed his mouth. He wanted to look at Akechi, but suddenly was worried he wouldn’t like what he would see.

“The issue isn’t about how I feel. It’s that... it wouldn’t work.”

“We don’t need to be physical to be dating Akechi,” Ren pointing out, and this time he did look.

Akechi was staring at him in shock.

“You really... no, of course you would say something like that. If me maybe being dead wasn’t enough to stop you, why would this,” Akechi said as he waved at himself.

“So, what are your feelings?” Ren asked, feeling hopeful about this.

If Akechi’s first issue was to bring up his ghost state, that means...

“Fine. You win. I only came to this shit town because I missed you.”

Ren exhaled a breath he didn’t know he was holding in. It wasn’t the confession he was probing Akechi for, but wasn’t it the same in the end? Ren asked before Akechi ran away why he bother showing up if at that point, they had no idea Ren could see Akechi.

“You missed me?” Ren repeated, and smile when Akechi looked back at him in annoyance.

Ren was pretty sure he spotted a flush on his check. It was hard to tell, and Ren doesn’t sure how that worked when Akechi apparently didn’t need sleep or food in this ghost state, but it was there.

“Yes. I missed you. Are you happy now? You were right all along. I didn’t come because I needed you to fix me, but because I just wanted to see you again.”

This time Ren was the one to look away with his check feeling too warm. It was one thing to figure that out, and it was another to hear Akechi say it. Or it was more seeing him say it, while Futaba did a fantastic job trying to get the audio to match, it still didn’t match the energy that Akechi was putting into it. It was something Ren just had to deal with.

“Wow, that’s practically a love confession coming from you,” Ren joked since if he didn’t he would be turning the ‘i missed you’ around his head forever.

“Don’t patronize me. If I was going to do a love confession, I would do it properly. Not just toss it into the middle of a argument like some people.”

“Oh?”

Ren turned his third eye back on to see Akechi staring at him. He wasn’t smiling, nor frowning. If anything Ren wanted to say Akechi looked loss in thought, yet it was clear he was looking at Ren and not zoning out.

“Are you saying you could do better.”

“Of course I can but...” Akechi trailed off, seemingly realizing that this wasn’t just one of their challenges.

Akechi looked away, glaring at the now setting sun.

“I don’t know.... I don’t know how to do any of this. I didn’t even realize that I might feel that way about you until... you brought it up,” Akechi slowly explained, acting more like he was being tortured for information than trying to admit to his own thoughts.

It was still more than Ren was expecting. He always thought that there was something between them, but it was always hard to tell with Akechi. The fact he was not flat out rejecting him just told Ren how much Akechi felt about him. Ren was surprised that Akechi never thought about it, or at least that’s was he was claiming.

“You really never thought about it before? Even when telling me how the aquarium was a popular place for couples or that infiltrating the phantom thieves was like ‘what they do in romance’?” Ren asked, almost wanting to bring up all the texts Akechi made about ‘being home alone’ or even the threatening flirts about taking him out.

There was no way Akechi wasn’t thinking about them dating before.

“I… I just thought it would be a useful manipulation tactic," Akechi said as he looked away, and this time there was no mistaking his blush.

Ren wish he could have known how Akechi said that. Was he embarrassed or angry at the fact? The app just made it sound like a joke, maybe even clipped from the very interview where he talked about infiltrating their group.

“Regardless, I doubt you could compare our interacted before like that. We both were meeting up to get information out of the other: you were trying to figure out why I was able to hear your cat while I was getting ready to trap you. There might have been a few instances that, out of context, might have seem like flirting, but you know that wasn’t not the primary goal in mind.”

“And if we started dating, that would be the primary goal,” Ren concluded.

“That is how dating works is it not?”

“Have you ever been on a real date?”

“I believe I already told you before I had no interest in that. You are the first person who’s confessed to be that I haven’t refused right away,” Akechi admitted, looking right at Ren with an intensity that he wanted to look away from.

But he didn’t. Ren has been banking on that fact that Akechi didn’t refuse him as proof that there was something there. And it turns out he was right for thinking that. There might be a lot Ren doesn’t know about Akechi, but it was always a pleaser to know what he does know.

“I’ve only dated once. In middle school. The girl wanted to make her friend that she had a crush on jealous and asked me to help,” Ren ended up saying.

The only other person he’s told was Ryuji when they were talking about experience they had. It was a fun story to retell, made Ren feel like he was an expert who could give Ryuji advice, but looking at the face Akechi pulled, Ren wondered if he should have stayed quiet.

“That doesn’t count.”

“What? Why wouldn’t that count. We even kissed.”

Akechi rolled his eyes.

“You said it yourself why. You were only doing it because she asked you to help make some else jealous. You weren’t dating because you were interested, but because she struck your need to help others. Which I already told you, I have no interest in a relationship like that. If we were to date, it will be because we are both interesting in each other romantically. Not because we want anything else from the other,” Akechi said with a hard look.

At least with that Ren could easily imagine the tone he was using.

He wanted to argue that helping other isn’t a bad thing. Ren helps all his friends and it doesn’t mean their friendship is less for it. Akechi was his one confidants that never asked for his help, and Ren wondered if it was because he didn’t think he could ask for it. Even now, Ren was the one who had to offer trying to figure out how to get Akechi to stop being a ghost. The only thing Akechi did was come see him because he missed Ren.

Ren turned off his third eye for a moment and thought. It was starting to get dark and he can see the first stars appearing in the twilight sky. Unlike what Akechi seems to think, Ren doesn’t have to ‘save’ everyone. He likes solving peoples problems, but that’s only because he doesn’t like seeing his friends hurt, and if there was something he could do, then he was going to do it.

“Alright. I can agree to those terms,” Ren said, and looked back at Akechi with a smile and his hand stuck out.

“Are you trying to make a deal with me? Over us dating?" Akechi asked as he stared at Ren’s out recked hand.

He just wiggled his fingers a little.

“We are rivals. I don’t care how dating works for others, only how it works for us.”

“Are you forgetting I still can’t touch you, let along shake your hand back?”

Ren didn’t forget.

“We can mimic it.”

For a moment, Ren thought Akechi was going to refused, but to his surprise, Akechi reached out his hand. It was slow, like he didn’t want to accidentally phase through Ren’s hand and ruin the illusion, but soon enough Akechi’s hand was hovering next to Ren’s. There was still a slight gap, but if Ren turned his head slightly, it did just look like they were grabbing each other's hands.

He slowly raised his hand up and down, with Akechi following in perfect timing.

“Great, meet me tomorrow after school outside my house. I want to show you how we can work this out,” Ren said with a bright smile.

It was showtime.

Chapter Text

Goro spent the night pacing, wondering what idiotic plan for a date Ren cooked up. There wasn’t a lot to do in town. Goro couldn’t eat, so all the restaurants were out. There wasn’t a movie theater or aquarium to visit. Mostly when they went out, Ren would take him to that hill to talk or see what Goro could do with Hereward.

There was no way Ren was going to have that as their first date. Their first official date, since Goro hated to admit that Ren might have had a point about their previous outing being similar. There was no tactical reason to take Ren to the aquarium, or even take him to Jazz Jin. He already knew Ren was Joker, and all he needed was to wait until they dealt with Okumura to join. Goro did have the though of trying to join like the others, but he never found out how they all joined until it was too late. The blackmail worked well enough in the end.

Goro did wonder if Ren would have them go somewhere outside of Inaba. He wanted to talk about it before school after all. It wasn’t out of the question that he wanted to go to the next city over, but they would be limited on time.

The sun seemed to take an eternity to cross the sky as he waited. Goro had no clue how he looked since he couldn’t see his own reflection, and just hoped that he looked the same as before he entered the metaverse for the last time, discarding during Maruki’s false reality. His clothes were still just as clean and wrinkle free after all.

Goro still tried to comb his fingers through his hair just in case, and he leaned on the stone wall next to Ren’s house. Very casual, like he wasn’t worried how their date would turn out. Goro tried wasting time so that he wouldn’t have to wait long for Ren to show up, but it still ended up being close to an hour before he spotted Ren walking back.

He got a wave for his trouble, and Ren calling out to him.

“Give me some time to get changed!”

Then he was inside his house. Goro wonder if he was expecting him to follow, but Ren usually had no issue telling him he’s welcomed. Taking that as Ren wanted to try surprising him during their ‘date’, Goro resumed his waiting. The street Ren lived on only had a few homes, all older, more traditional looking homes. As far as Goro has noticed, Ren was the only teenager on their street, and might be the only person under 30.

It made Goro wonder if the home was inherited by his grandparents, but before he could ponder to long about that, Ren opened the door.

Ren was wearing a black shirt that was a little too short, along with some skinny jeans that made him look like someone from a 2000s punk concert. It wasn’t that unlike his usual casual outfit, just more fitted.

Goro noticed he even painted his fingernails black as he waved to him with a bright smile. It didn’t look like a fresh coat, but Goro knew he  didn’t have them painted before they split up yesterday.

“Are you ready?” Ren asked as he come over, phone already in his hand.

“I still don’t understand how you think this is going to work. Most date activities aren’t an option for us, and even us just talking in public is going to draw attention,” Goro said instead of answering Ren’s question.

“Don’t worry, I know how to avoid attention.”

Goro very much doubted that considering what Ren was wearing. He even caught sight of eyeliner that Ren was wearing that only seemed to make his gaze more piercing than usual.

If there was one thing he liked about Ren being back in his hometown was how he never wear glasses. It was always a shame to see him try to hide behind them.

“You’re eyeliner is uneven,” Goro said as he started walking with Ren.

“I haven’t had much practice," Ren admitted as his twisted his hair between his fingers.

It had been a bit since Goro saw that nervous tick of his. Goro forgot that while Ren seemed very confident about this date, he was likely just as nervous as Goro was. Maybe even more so since he was the one to bring it up. If it fails, it will be on his hands.

Goro found himself not wanting to see that even if it would mean he was right.

“It still looks nice. You’re eyeliner I mean. Your eyes are one of your most noticeable features and it serves you well to enhance and draw focus to it.”

Ren dropped his hand and smiled.

“I think you look very handsome too.”

“That’s not…” Goro started to say before stoping himself since it was what he mean.

He was trying to flirt with Ren, and now Ren was flirting back without any facade of it being a joke. It was something Goro thought would feel more different that it really was.

“Fine. That is what I meant. You look very handsome with eyeliner on.”

“Handsome? Not pretty?” Ren asked, bending over while they walked to look up at Goro and batt his eyes.

Goro was tempted to just walk through him since he was unable to shove him. The thought of calling forth Hereward to knock Ren over was also tempting, but likely not an appropriate date activity to do.

“I was under the impressive that it was more appropriate to call a man handsome, but I suppose you were never one to care about gender social normals like that,” Goro covered and Ren seemed satisfied even if he only called him out as a playful banter.

“Do you really have a plan for this date or are you just making it up as we go?” Goro asked once they got out of Ren’s neighborhood.

“I have a plan. Multivariable activities that we can both do and flirt over,” Ren said as he pulled something out of his pocket.

Goro looked over to see it was a tangled mess of earbuds.

“In case others are around,” Ren explained at Goro’s look.

“So we’ll be going something that might have people,” Goro thought out loud.

It wouldn’t be the shopping district since that definitely would have people at this hour. The hill that Ren keeps taking him too is usually empty, and Ren have never bother bring headphones there before. It would likely be a place that people pass by, but not many hang out around.

“You’re not going to make me watch you fail to catch fish are you?”

Ren through a hand up to his chest, almost dropping his headphones that were still tangled up.

“Fail? I’ll have you know I was able to catch the Ichigaya Guardian three times!”

Goro rolled his eyes.

“I also fail to see how that is an activity we can both do since even if I wanted to go fishing, I can’t hold a pole.”

“You might be able to use Hereward to toss from fish out of the water and on land.”

“We are not doing that.”

Goro embarrassed himself enough the one time Ren tried taking him fishing. He had no desire to do it again while standing in the river summon Hereward like a fun party trick.

Ren didn’t respond, just smile at him in a very annoying way. Like he knew something that Goro didn’t. Goro wasn’t sure if it was because he was wrong that Ren thought fishing would be a good date activity, or that Ren had some plan to get Goro involved with it.

Either way, Goro refused to cave and just ask what they were doing, even if they ended up by the river.

“Ren, I am not-” Goro started to say before Ren cut him off.

“I know, we aren’t actually going fishing. We’ll wait until you can hold a rod for that,” Ren said with a fucking wink as he turned the other way, walking to the gazebo rather than down to the river.

Goro refused to let himself get worked up, and followed Ren.

“Then what…” Goro trailed off as he spotted Ren pull a box from under the table.

“I know you can’t move your pieces, or maybe you could try having Hereward move them for a challenge, but I think it would be fine just telling me your move and I can do it for you,” Ren explained as he pulled out a chess set.

It was a worn one. Either very old or was used often. They only placed chess once at Leblanc, and it was clear from the game that Ren didn’t have much experience. But it was said at even a novice could defeat a grandmaster.

“Have you practiced?” Goro asked as he took a seat, worrying for just a moment he would fall through the chair, but it held.

“I downloaded an app after our first game. I’ve been wanting a rematch," Ren said as he set up the board, spinning the board over so that the black pieces were in front of Goro.

“You’re going first this time?” Goro asked since last time, Ren wanted the black pieces.

The game was in November, right after a meeting were they talking about waiting to send the calling card. Goro stayed behind to get some coffee since it otherwise would have been a complete waste of time, and somehow got wrapped up into playing a game with Ren.

“We can take turns,” Ren said rather than explain his reasoning.

Goro wondered if he read any chess books on strategies. It sounded like something he would do.

“Hm, expecting another short game?”

“Not really, but I know better than to underestimate you. And I don’t think either of us would be satisfied with only one game.”

They managed to fit in three games before the sunset, making it too hard to see the board. Goro won the first game, though Ren was able to get his king in check a few times. The second game Ren won despite having lost most of his pieces to Goro. And the third game they had to end early due to afore mentioned setting sun.

“We could try finishing it later, but a few pieces in the past have gotten stolen which is why they are always put in the box now,” Ren explained as he reluctantly started putting it away.

Goro watched him for just a moment. His hands were dextrous at placing all the pieces together in the way that would best fit the small box.

“It would be better to start with a new game next time.”

Goro was not suggesting that because he was worried about losing again if they continued where they left off. It just made sense since it was too much of a hassle to have Ren take a picture of the board after he started cleaning up.

“Already planing for next time Akechi?”

“Playing chess? You’ve made it clear that your a decent opponent. If you are talking about another date, I’m still not convinced this was enough to prove your idea.”

“That’s good since we aren’t done with the date yet.”

Goro blinked absentmindedly at Ren. He really did think that this was the only activity Ren had planed before remembering his ‘Multivariable activities’ comment. He thought that was just Ren’s way of saying how they could flirt and play chess at the same time, but it seems he was wrong.

“…I see,” Goro said to try and cover up his surprise, but from the satisfied look Ren gave him, it didn’t work.

“I will need your help for this second part. Just let me know if there is anyone nearby.”

That got Goro attention.

“Oh? Are you planing something unsavory? What happened to laying low and trying to be the perfect student.”

“That was when I was on probation. I have a little more leeway now, but it still would be better if I don’t get caught… so you up for being look out?” Ren asked as he looked at Goro, the red gleam from using his third eye looking even more prominent in the dark.

“I have to say I am curious what you have planned, but not sure stealing something is fitting for a date.”

“Don’t worry, we aren’t going to be thieves,” Ren said with a cocky grin instead of trying to explain himself.

It was close to midnight and getting close to curfew, which might be the reason why Ren wanted Goro to keep watch. Especially when they ended up at the shopping district, walking pass the shops that Goro has seen Ren used, to the end where there was more boarded up shops than not.

Then at an unassuming building near the end, Ren crouched down at the front door and started picking the lock.

Goro did do his due diligence at making sure no one saw, but the street was dead. The shops all close early in a small town like this, and from what Goro could see, none of the shops next to them had resident areas as well. It was as close as private as you could get.

It didn’t take Ren long to pick the lock, and even though Goro has witness Joker doing that act a thousand time, he still looked back at him with a self-satisfying smirk. Goro hated how much that looked works for him. If Goro smirked like that he looked like a ’tier two featherman villain’ but with Ren, it only made him look more pretty.

“Come on, what I want to show you is in the basement,” Ren said as he slowly slid the door open.

The place was covered in dusty, broken bottles, and graffiti. It obvious has been abandoned for years, and the local teen population had acquired it as a hangout for underage drinking and other things that teenager did. Goro never participated in teen activities like that. The only drinking he did was when he was forced to go to Shido’s parties, and then it was just a cover to get keywords. Goro couldn’t allow himself to get drunk, or ‘let loose’ even a little.

“I have to say, despite you being a nationally wanted criminal, I never saw you as the type of delinquent to do this,” Goro said as he looked around.

Ren letting him, walking slowly to make sure he didn’t step on anything.

“I was invited to a party once, at the end of my first year of high school,” Ren explained, and Goro waited for him to say more, but nothing else came.

It was something he was use to. Ren never talked more then one or two statements about his personal life. Goro had to keep each remark in his head to ask about later. Or find out for himself.

Ren found the door to the basement behind a counter, and it took Goro too long to realize that this was once a restaurant. Everything of worth was pulled out, and any tables or chairs were gone or broken.

“And here I thought you wouldn’t bother bring me to a restaurant," Goro commented, assumed when Ren almost missed a step as he walked down.

“Well, it’s not like either of us will be eating here.”

It made Goro all that more curious of why they were there. If Ren was going to pull out some hidden art skills and try to make a meal in the basement Goro was going to leave.

The basement was in better shape. Lot of boxes that were covered in dust, and only a few empty cans stacked up against a wall. It seems it was mostly the storage, but any food items was gone.

“If there is any rats, I will be leaving.”

“You don’t like rats?” Ren asked, turning to Goro like he just discovered something interesting.

“Rats carry a bunch of diseases. It’s not a matter of liking or disliking them.”

Goro saw a rat once in his home as a child, then watched as his mom tried to kill it with a broom. They ended up moving a week later, and to this day Goro doesn’t know if it was related to the rat or not.

“But… a rat can’t even bite you right now.”

“It could still bite you, and you would have to drag yourself to a doctor.”

Ren just smiled at that, like he still was pleased when Goro said anything about caring for his wellbeing. Ren was like that even in Maruki’s place, grinning like a fool while Goro chewed him out for being reckless.

“Don’t worry, even if there is a rat, I don’t think they will be sticking around for very long,” Ren said mysteriously as he opened a box.

Goro walked over and took a lot, not expecting to see a much of plates and dishware.

“What are you planing on doing with that?”

“Have you ever heard about those rooms where you can break plates for stress release," Ren said as he pulled out a stack of plates, then proceeded to sneeze up a storm.

“Is that wise? Wouldn’t people hear us braking a bunch of dishware?" Goro said as soon as Ren stop.

Goro couldn’t say he was… uninterested in this plan. Ren was obviously thinking Goro could participate using Hereward, and the idea of being able to break something was appealing. The frustration of being unable to interact with anything physical was something he just had to deal with. There was nothing Goro could do unless something changed. Either he’s not alive but also not dead sate, or being stuck between the metaverse and reality.

The more he thought about it, the more being able to brake some plates sounded really good.

“I doubt it. Not much sound can be hear from the basement, and the closest neighbors are three houses down. I also thought it would be better to do it now then later in the night so we wouldn’t wake anyone up.”

It was late, but not so late that everything was quiet. It does run the risk of people taking evening walks, but the population in Inaba was so skewed older that Goro doubt there would be many people.

“If you don’t mine, I would like to go first,” Goro said, and Ren smiled as he took a step back.

“By all means, show me what you got.”

Ren was worried that there wouldn’t be enough of a challenge for Akechi, but turns out he was wrong. Trying to throw the plates in specific areas on the wall, or even try to throw them at the same time to get them to hit midair was more than enough. Akechi was laughing, and Ren wished he could hear it.

Sometimes the audio will give him a chuckle, but it was so fake that Ren preferred silence than to that. The main thing was that Akechi was having fun. Way more fun that Ren thought he would, and it made him wonder just how stressed Akechi was. Ren didn’t mention it before, but he thought this would be more of an anger thing, but Akechi didn’t look mad. Just a gleeful look in his eyes when a plate shatter into a bunch of shards.

For a moment, Ren was also glad that he was the only one who had to worry about getting hurt, since Akechi usually was standing between his persona throwing the plates and the impact zone. Ren could see his head starting to hurt from using his third eye for too long, but it was hard not to. It was the closes he could get to seeing Akechi fight again with the metaverse gone.

It made Ren want to pull out the gloved and demand a rematch with Akechi, but that would have to wait. Until Ren can figured out how bring Akechi back fully. Maybe even have their rematch in the metaverse once they figure out how to get back there. 

They ended up going through a whole box of forgotten plates, and Ren just started opening another one when his phone went off. As much as Ren wanted to ignore it, he needed to check in case it was Futaba.

Ren might have lied a little to Akechi that he doesn’t care if he were to get caught, and pulled a favor for Futaba to keep an eye on the local police precinct for any calls.

Allseeingeye: picked up a noise complaint in ur area. No one responded yet.

It was probably fine, might not even be from them, but it was getting late.

“Hey, Futaba said that someone called about a noise complaint. We should leave before anyone arrives," Ren said, leaving out the part that no one responded.

Maybe he wanted to pull off a daring escape with his potential boyfriend. It wasn’t like he’ll be able to do it in a palace ever again.

“Futaba? You told her we’re dating?”

“I told her that I was going to have some fun, but considering that she has my phone bugged there’s a chance she’s listened to some of our conversations,” Ren said, really hoping that Futaba listened to him talking about privacy, and that it wasn’t just about any internet searches he has or has not made.

Ren sneaked up the stairs, and waited a moment listening for any noise. Either car or human. It was silent, and Ren looked back to see Akechi right behind him.

“There’s a back entrance that will let us get back without having to walk down the main streets,” Ren signed, and waited for Akechi nod before continuing.

He only noticed it when he left school early to check out the place before inviting Akechi. A little bit of gold under his third eye, and while the industrial air vent in the kitchen wasn’t as nice as the vents they would crawl though in the metaverse, it worked well enough.

Ren was able to pull the grate off, and lift himself up through the vent. It groaned menacingly, but since he didn’t need to craw through it, just get to the wall exhaust, he ignored it. It was a little harder getting the other grate off from the inside, and Ren almost flinched when it ended up falling onto the ground.

Akechi, was already standing there looking up at him with his hand on his hip.

“Cheater,” Ren muttered as he tried figuring out the most grateful way to get out.

He never had to worry about this in palaces, and Ren had a moment where he was just hanging, and that groaning metal sound came back and-

“Ouch.”

Ren landed right on his ass.

It wasn’t that big of a fall, which really made it worst.

“You didn’t break anything did you?” Akechi’s voice rang in his ear, a little more quiet since the fall knocked the earbud out a little.

“Just my ego,” Ren said as he got up, wiping the dirt and hopefully only dirt, off his pants.

“So nothing important?” Akechi said in a playful tone, and for once Ren looked to see that the audio was matching his expression.

“Har har,” Ren fake laughed as he started walking through the small gap between the shops and the homes behind them.

It was a route Ren hasn’t taken since he was a kid, and it was clear that it wasn’t made for almost adult sized teenagers. Ren ended up turning his third eye off since there was a few time he spotted Akechi’s hand going through his arm and it was still a little uncomfortable to see. Not to mention he needed to watch to make sure he didn’t step on any animals.

“I noticed before you said we were dating. A word used for people who go on more than one date so I have to wonder... did I convince you?” Ren asked when they got out of the alleyway.

He turned to look at Akechi right in time to see him freeze.

“I... well, I suppose you did show that it is possible to go on a date considering the limitations I pose. I’m a little surprised this was all you had planned,” Akechi said, very clearly avoiding answering the question.

“It’s not. I have one last activity and-” Ren was interrupted by a growl, and it took him an embarrassing long time to noticed that it came from his own stomach.

“You haven’t eaten since lunch,” Akechi pointed out, looking very disappointed in Ren.

“Don’t give me that look mr. ‘I only have an apple for lunch’. I’ll eat something when we’re done.”

It was really late, but they only had a few minutes now before-

“Or we can go back to your house, and you can cook yourself dinner.”

Ren paused in his walk to turn to Akechi. He didn’t look disappointed in subjecting that activity, even though he pointing out numerous times that eating was not a date activity they could do. Which mean it wasn’t the eating part that Akechi care about.

“You like watching me cook?” Ren asked, and was rewarded with Akechi’s looking flabbergasted for a moment.

“You really-” Akechi started to say before cutting himself off, then taking a deep breath.

Ren wondered if Akechi even needed to breath if he didn’t need to sleep or eat.

“You are very graceful in the kitchen. I always enjoyed watching you make my coffee at Leblanc, and I suppose that was transferred to me... liking watching you cook. You always seem sure in your steps, even when trying a new recipe. When it turns out wrong, you don’t get disheartened, but just try figuring out what you could do differently. It’s mesmerizing to watch.”

It was now Ren’s turn to blush.

“Is that you tell me that you find me cooking hot?”

“I take it back. Maybe we should end the date here.”

“No, no. let’s go back to my place. I can get something to eat and... It should be dark enough to see it from my backyard.”

“Dark enough to see what, exactly?" Akechi asked, and Ren turned to see him looking intently at him.

Ren wondered if he’s trying to figure out what Ren has planed, like with all the other activities. So far he’s managed to surprise him two out of three, but there wasn’t a lot of way he can hide this last activitiy. No joke he can make about fishing to distract him. Or well...

“Would you believe me if I said night fishing?”

“No. I’m assuming you want to do some star gazing?" Akechi asked, looking way too pleased with himself.

“Yeah, I always wanted to take you to the planetarium in Ikebukuro, but we do have some nice night skies here,” Ren admitted, trying not to feel too bad at Akechi figuring this one out.

Two out of three still meant Ren won. At least with surprising Akechi.

Ren still didn’t know if he was winning at if them dating before figuring out how to get Akechi fully back was doable, but he had a good feeling. Akechi was enjoying himself, and if nothing else Ren feel satisfied at that.

“I have noticed the constellations here,” Akechi said, and Ren wasn’t sure who started walking first, but he did noticed when they started heading back to his house, “I didn’t realized you enjoyed the stars Ren.”

“I like looking at them, and when I was a kid I use to makeup constellations with my dad,” Ren said, and only after saying that did he realize his mistake.

“Your dad? I don’t think I’ve seen him expect for when he went on that trip with your mother,” Akechi thought outloud, going as far as to curling his hand under his chin.

“He travels a lot for work,” Ren said, hoping Akechi would leave it at that before spotting a familiar black cat sitting on his porch under the light.

 “Hey, I’m going to tell Morgana we are still on our date but we’ll keep it to the house for now,” Ren said before running forward.

Ren turned off his third eye just so he wouldn’t have to see if Akechi followed him or not. He didn’t say anything, or didn’t say anything that was picked up by the app, and Ren took that as a victory.

Not that Ren was avoiding talking about his parents, but Akechi was right that they weren’t the most loving family. Enough that he didn’t want talking about his dad to risk ruining their date.

“That took forever, was the date a success?" Morgana asked as he stretched.

“I think it was, but we’re not done yet. I wanted to get something to eat before doing the star gazing. It might be a while, so you can go to bed now if you want.”

“You’re not done yet? Argh, you’re lucky you don’t have school tomorrow.”

Ren smiled since while Morgana complained, he didn’t seem to regret the situation as much as Ren feared he would. He was nothing but supportive when Ren told him about his idea, though Ren didn’t tell him about the breaking in part of the date. Morgana would understand, but he didn’t have enough time to explain it when he came up with it last night after talking with Akechi.

“Thanks. I’ll make sure to bring back some fancy sushi next time I’m in Okina.”

“You better,” Morgana muttered, and Ren took a breath to steel himself, before looking for Akechi.

He wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

Ren panicked for a moment, trying to cover up his nerves by opening the door for Mona, and not be too obvious looking for Akechi inside. It took him a moment, but Akechi was over by the island, waiting for him.

“I’m going to close the door to your room, but I better not hear you two say anything gross!” Morgana yelled as he run up the stairs, and Ren got to see Akechi face twist up in annoyance.

“Any dinner suggestions from the peanut gallery?” Ren asked as he walked over, regretfully turning off his third eye.

His head was pounding a little, but nowhere as bad as it would have been if Ren used it non stop during the date instead of just whenever he wanted to look at Akechi. Which, was still probably too much, but Ren still has some painkiller from Takemi upstair that he could take later.

“I’m not going to be the one eating.”

“Yeah, but you’re the one who admitted you like watching me cook,” Ren pointed out, and despite his own warning about not overusing his third eye, he still flashed it on in time to see Akechi blush.

“If you were going to keep bring that up I would never had admitted it. Honestly, Ren, you seem to care more about that compliment than when I mentioned your eyeliner.”

Ren shrugged as he looked to see what he even had in the fridge. They were running low again, since Ren didn’t have time to go shopping and his mom was working that night.

“I put on the eyeliner because I knew you would like it. The cooking thing surprised me.”

Ren didn’t look to see what expression Akechi was making, since he found some chicken was he marinated a few days ago about forgot about. A quick smell showed that it was fine, and while it might be a little too marinated, it should work. No more then thirty minutes to cook since it was a small piece, not even enough for Ren and Morgana.

“You like it when I surprise you.”

It wasn’t a question. Akechi was pointing out a statement, and Ren wondered if he was right. Akechi has always been a mystery for Ren. A puzzle to solve, a mask to remove. But no matter how much he learned about Akechi, it never seemed enough.

“Not as much as you do. It was more that you took our agreement about flirty with intent to be a challenge.”

Ren didn’t want to let Akechi know how much that small monologue Akechi made effected him, but he had a feeling he already knew.

Akechi started rambling about a book he didn’t get to finish while Ren cooked, and it was some welcomed background noise. Ren made a note to see if he could find the book, but now that Akechi was back and was going to be using the laptop, he could find a ebook of it himself.

Ren still wanted to do things to help, but it would be better for it to be stuff that Akechi wouldn’t want to do himself. Or wouldn’t expect Ren to do.

“I’ll eat this outside, you can keep talking,” Ren said as he plated the meal and grabbed some chopsticks.

He check his phone to see they still have about two minutes. Ren wasn’t sure if they would be able to see it, since today was just the first day, which was why Ren wasn’t going to say anything else it happens.

“Have any space facts for me?” Ren asked since Akechi always seemed to be a wealth of knowledge.

“I’m afraid not much. If you had let me know ahead of time I would have done some research.”

Ren figured that was the case. Akechi seemed to like being the one who knew the most in the room, but you can’t know everything. While Akechi always seemed to be lacking in a lot of normal teen knowledge like popular games or movies currently playing in the movies, he always seemed to know what philosopher said what theory. And while he might have been a fake detective solving his own crimes, Akechi did know a lot about the laws and justice system.

“Is that what you did before inviting me out to the aquarium?”

“Somewhat. One of my favorite books as a child was a book about sharks my mother got me for my sixth birthday. Obviously, I couldn’t share any of those facts in the off chance they were incorrect due to be a children book.”

Ren didn’t remember Akechi talking much about sharks. At least not any more than any of the other exhibits.

“Is there a shark constellation?"

Ren flashes his third eye just as his shoved more rice in his mouth, seeing Akechi’s thoughtful look before quickly turning annoyed at him.

“I already told you I don’t know much about space, but I doubt there is one.”

Ren made a note to check if there was one. There was different constellation in each culture right? Ren bet at least one trying making the stars look like a shark.

“I like jellyfish,” Ren said after swallowing.

“I did noticed you very enthralled when we were looking at the box jellyfish,” Akechi commented, and Ren smiled at Akechi noting such a thing.

“During the spring before my first year of middle school, we took a family trip to the beach for a few days and I stepped on a jellyfish.”

“What?”

“It wasn’t one of the really dangerous ones, I didn’t even spend the night in the hospital, but I always thought they were cool after that.”

“You thought jellyfish were cool… because you got stung by one?”

“What can I say, I like a little danger in my life,” Ren said with a grin, and made sure he saw Akechi grimace with a bush when he got it was a flirt.

Ren saw Akechi open his mouth, but then Ren caught a flash of something behind them.

“Look, a shooting star. Should we make a wish?” Ren said with a smile, trying to play it cool and not that he’s been looking for them since sitting down on the back steps.

“Don’t you think we’ve both had enough of wishes,” the app in Ren’s ear said, and Akechi turned away from Ren to look at the sky.

Ren wasn’t sure what expression was on Akechi’s face. Was he joking? Angry? Mournful?

“It can be a nice way to figure out what you want in life, even if it’s unattainable."

“Unattainable huh.”

A few more shooting stars filled the night sky, Ren pointing out most of them thanks to his third eye, but it didn’t stop Akechi from turning it into a challenge.

“You knew there was a meteorite shower tonight, didn’t you,” Akechi pointed out after the fifth or sixth star.

“I just checked to see if there would be anything cool going on. Wasn’t sure if we would be able to see it since tonight is the first night it’s visible to the naked eye, and they recommended watching at it’s height in a few days.”

“Did you know that asteroids, meteors, and meteorites are all the same thing, but the difference is if it’s in space, gets burned up in the planets' atmosphere, or hits the ground. The term shooting star is an inaccurate one since they are just meteors being burned up.”

“And here I thought you didn’t know any space facts.”

“That’s more common knowledge than space facts. Are you sure you’re top of your class?” Akechi asked, looking at Ren rather than the sky and he was suddenly hit with the urge to lean forward and see if kissing him would knock that smirk off his face.

Of course, Ren stopped himself after a moment, swaying in place before remembering that he couldn’t do that. He would just phase through Akechi and it would be a painful reminder. This whole date was to prove to Akechi that they could do this, and Ren was almost messing up.

“So,” Ren said, trying to recover after his almost mis-step on an otherwise perfect date, “What’s your verdict?"

Ren didn’t have anything else planed. The shooting stars were already tempering off, not even lasting an hour, and Ren was having to hide his yawns while he eat.

“I still think this is a bad idea, but I also know nothing I say will change your mind.”

“That’s not what I asked Akechi,” Ren teased, and Akechi looked away for a moment, clearly thinking about what to say.

Ren was fine giving him time. He already knew that Akechi was enjoying himself, but the real question was if Akechi was ready to admit that. Ren had his own worries, but they were things that could be dealt with later.

“Goro.”

“What?” Ren turned back, turning on his third eye to see Akechi was still looking up and not at him.

“If you really want to start dating, then shouldn’t you be using my given name?”

“Uh,” Was Ren’s eloquence answer, and watched as Akechi slowly turned to him.

His eyes looked too big in the moonlight sky, and Ren was struck with the fact he looked like a wet dog for a moment. Vulnerable in a way that was more like when they went to the bathhouse together than when they fought in Shido’s palace.

Ren needed to be careful what he says next. It was no time for jokes.

“Goro,” Ren said testing it out for a moment before continuing, “What did you think about the date?”

“Congratulation, Ren. You won. You were able to somehow figure out a way to make this work despite the… limitations.”

“Is that your way of agreeing to be my boyfriend, Goro-kun?”

“I…” Akechi, or Goro, trailed off staring at Ren in surprise before looking away.

“I’m still not sure if I’m in love with you or not, but I do harbor strong feeling for you. I don’t know how long us being... boyfriends would last, especially if we don’t find any way to fix my state or if doing so leading me to my end. But if you are going to ignore the risks, then I guess…”

Goro trailed off again, and Ren couldn’t stop smiling.

“Do you want to fake holding hands?”

“What?” Goro said, turning back sharply and Ren saw how flush his checks looked.

“Like what we did with the handshake. I’ll put my hand out like this,” Ren said as he leaned back, moving his hand closer to Goro in what he thought was a very smooth move, “… and then you could try covering it…”

Ren watched as Goro hesitated for just a moment, before putting his hand right over Ren’s. It was gloved, and obviously despite it looking like he was touch Ren’s hand, he didn’t feel anything from it.

“This is stupid,” Goro said, but he still didn’t remove his hand.

Ren just smiled, and stayed there not quite holding hands with Goro until the other told him to stop dozing off and go to bed already.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Goro said, and Ren walked back inside to go to sleep with a smile still on his face.

Chapter Text

Over a week passed since Goro agreed to date Ren and not much had changed.

He thought it would. Being in a defined relationship like that always seemed like a big deal. Ren being his boyfriend, even if he would never say that out loud, was something Goro kept thinking about. The title wasn’t enough to describe everything Ren meant to him, but Goro didn’t have anything better.

Ren liked to use the word rivals, and while them dating really didn’t feel any different then when they were just rivals, something must be different.

They were being more open with each other. The cards were laid out on the table, and while Goro was still holding on to a few, it was ones that Ren already caught a glimpse of before. They weren’t a detective or thief, not a murderer and a hero. Just two teenagers that had no clue what they were doing, but come to the agreement that they wanted to see more of the other.

It was as simple as that, and somehow much more complicated.

Ren ended up showing Goro that he set up the accursed laptop in the guest room/office that was never used. It was always on and plugged in, so Goro could use it with the door shut and no one the wiser.

It ended up being what he would do at night while Ren sleep, and besides Ren smiling every time he saw Goro in the morning before leaving to school, it wasn’t brought up.

Futaba apparently created an account for him to talk with the former Phantom thieves, but Goro refused to respond to any one. Not that anyone bothered to try to contact him, expect for Futaba to tell him he is not allowed to change his username, and Ann who for some reason wanted to ‘get to know him’.

Then Sumire texted him, and Goro was bored enough to respond to her.

Ghostboi: Shouldn’t you be sleeping?

Kickflips: Oh! I’m still finishing up some homework since practice went longer and Futaba was complaining…

Kickflips: Uh, not about you! She was just complaining about… the homework as well?

It did feel silly having to talk to the computer, but humans are a social creature. And while talking with Ren was more satisfying that Goro would ever admit, Goro didn’t realize how lonely he was only talking to one person until he realized he spent over an hour ‘talking’ with Sumire.

They weren’t even friends. It was nothing more then proof how how desperate Goro was.

Goro also made sure not to mention it to Ren, or Futaba when she tried one of her ‘experiments’. She was still mad about him not responding to her own texts, but drops it quickly. Goro figures that she didn’t want to talk to him either, but just wanted to make sure her application was working. He was a little surprised Sumire didn’t bring it up since it was clear they talked to each other, but he didn’t care what they did or didn’t talk about.

What Goro was more worried about was if Ren was planing another date, or if he was expecting Goro to plan their next one. Back when Goro was just trying to manipulate Ren into think Goro was nothing more than the detective prince and trying to figure out everything he could about the leader of the phantom thieves, Goro was the one to come up with most of their outings. And while Goro would continue to argue with Ren that they weren’t real dates, he couldn’t lie and say they didn’t fill most of the criteria for one.

Which is why Goro was confident he could come up with an even better second date for Ren. If he was able to pull off something Ren was considering in a date with altruistic motives, he should have no issues pulling it off when planning for its intended purpose.

Though, Goro still wasn’t sure what the intended purpose of dates were besides just getting to know the other party better. There was no clear differance between a date and them just hanging out, and that was the main issue Goro was having. There had to be something he was missing.

He almost thought about asking Sumire if she had any advice, but Goro wasn’t that cruel. He knew that the girl had a crush on Ren, like most of his friends. Goro hasn’t bother to ask if she truly got over him or not, but he knew better then to poke at an open wound. At least now that he knew Ren wanted him and no one else.

His first idea was something that his mom mentioned. Going to the Tanabata with a loved one. Goro was pretty sure telling him the story of Orihime and Hikoboshi was just her way of explaining why she didn’t want to go with Goro every year, making the festival seem more special than it really was, but it was the first thing Goro thought of when thinking of a place he wanted to see with Ren. Problem was that was still weeks away, and Goro wasn’t sure if he wanted to wait that long before going on another date.

There just wasn’t much for both of them to do in Inaba. Watching the stars might be interesting now that Goro could do some research beforehand, but it was too soon after Ren came up with that idea. He needed to wait.

Going outside of Inaba was also a possibility. There was a movie theater that Goro noticed when he was in Okina city. That was something they could both do that was also something couples did. Not to mention Goro has never seen a movie with Ren, or anyone since he was a child. He would have to see what was showing, but that can easily be accessed online now.

“Hey Goro? Are you here?” Goro heard Ren call out from the front hall.

“Should you really be shouting like that? Your mother only just left,” Goro said as he went through the door and into the hall, close enough that Ren’s phone should be able to pick up his ‘voice’.

Goro didn’t realize that it was already the afternoon. He would have felt embarrassed about spending the whole day just thinking about where to take Ren for a date, when the former apparently came up with everything in one night, but it wasn't like anyone would know. Ren didn’t even realize half the time when Goro got bored enough to follow him to school.

“Goro? Ew you’re on given names bases with him now.”

Goro paused only a moment from hearing Futaba’s voice on the other line. It was odd having her call at this time, since she seemed to prefer to wait until it was night and she was forced to do her homework while talking with Ren. Her calling now, was suspicious.

“Uh, what did you want to ask him about?” Ren said with a slight blush, and Goro found it very intriguing. 

It was clear that Ren didn’t seem to tell his friend about them dating yet and was embarrassed by the idea of Futaba finding out. It made sense. Unlike Ren, they would have a whole list of reasons why it was a bad idea. Goro being a ‘ghost’ would only be one of them. Ren already knew that and figured it would be best to avoid the issue.

Which was fine. Goro did not care what he did or didn’t tell his friends.

“Right, we’ll talk about your bad taste in men later,” Futaba muttered in the phone, quickly discrediting Goro’s previous thoughts about her not knowing, before continuing in a near yell, “Sketchy ‘Kechi! I need your assistance from beyond the veil of the material world.”

“What the fuck is she talking about?” Goro asked Ren, only flinching a little from the ‘censor’ of his swear.

“Futaba might have found something-”

“I have a list of names and I want to know if any of them worked for Shido. Is that something you could help with?”

Goro was a little surprised he was only being asked this now. He remember watching Sae during the trials, wishing that he was able to help make sure everyone connect got what they deserved. He had that opportunity now, but with most of the trials done, it would be almost impossible to reopen the case.

“I wouldn't say I know all of them, but I do remember the name of the more noticeable ones. The ones Shido was worried about,” Goro add that last bit for Ren, looking at him and was pleased to see he was looking back.

“Agh, of course he was so paranoid he had his hit man keep a list of everyone he might want to get rid of. Well, I guess this works in our case. I’ll send you the pdf!” Futaba said and a moment later there was a ping from Ren’s phone.

“Oh, that’s a lot of names,” Ren said before holding his phone out.

“It might be better to take a look at this on the computer rather than your phone,” Goro suggested, since the document looked to be several pages long and Goro would rather not having to lean over and look at Ren’s tinny phone screen for hours if he didn’t have to.

“I already did. You can’t avoid texting me now Pancake boy!” Futaba said before crackling like the pancake jokes weren’t old.

Ren even had the audacity to hid a smile behind his hand when Goro looked to him. He didn’t get why the two found it funny. It was a slip up that let them win against him. If anything it should be showcasing how close they all were to failing; if their plan only worked because Goro messed up.

“Let’s go.”

Ren joined him in the guest room even though he really didn’t need to, but it became useful when Goro didn’t need to tell the computer to scroll down the list every few seconds.

“Chiba Tetsuya worked in the cognitive psience department, as well as Miyazaki Midori and Hashimoto Kazuyuki,” Goro ended up saying after he skimmed through the list of over 100 names.

“Cognitive psience department?” Ren repeated like he was testing the words out in his mouth, but before Goro could explain to him just what that was, a voice interrupted him.

“They... did they work for m-mom?”

Futaba sounded small. Like she was further away from her phone then just a moment ago. Goro hated that he noticed because now he had to think of why that would be, and he already knew the answer.

“Chiba and Miyazaki did. Hashimoto only joined after I killed Wakaba and Shido didn’t like the results the previous replacement had.”

Ren didn’t physically react next to him, but Goro knew the reminded of what he did didn’t go unnoticed by his thief.

“...There were people who worked with mom and then just joined Shido? Did they just not know what he wanted to do?”

Goro almost expect Futaba to end the call, but he suppose she called him with a purpose, and wasn’t going to be dissuaded that easily.

“Most of the scientists Wakaba worked with didn’t care what their research was being used for, only that they were giving the grant money to do it. Wakaba was much the same until-” Goro cut himself off.

He didn’t need to be telling anyone about this, let alone Futaba. It was irrelevant to the list of name that Futaba managed to find. They might have worked with Wakaba at some point, but that has been years ago.

“...I have to ask, where did you get this list of names?” Goro asked before anyone could try commented on what he said.

“It’s a hire list for some AI tech company,” Futaba quickly answered, and for one brief moment Goro thought he was successful in redirecting the conversation before she continued, “what did you mean that my mom was the same? Did you ever meet her in person or are you just assuming things from her shadow?”

Goro needed to make her and Ren think there was nothing to talk about.

“Futaba-san, are you sure this is a conversation you want to be having with me? I think it would be best for everyone if we keep the conversation short and relevant to the questions you originally had for me.”

Goro ignored Ren’s eyes on him, wishing for a moment that Futaba was physically there so he could initiate her into cowing. Then the moment passed, and Goro wondered if that would even work on her. She wasn’t the strongest person, but also reacted in such an nontypical way it was hard to predict her reactions to thing.

“...You know what? No. We are doing this now. Ren leave. I want to talk to Akechi alone.”

“What?” Ren asked and Goro had to stop himself from repeating.

It seemed that Futaba did the exact opposite of what he was hoping and now was doubling down.

“I’ve been wanting to talk to Akechi about this for a while but... anyways. Ren, go on a walk with Mona or something, I-I’ll text you when we’re done.”

Ren didn’t look like he was planing on going anywhere, and even looked to Goro like he was expecting him to help.

Maybe a good boyfriend would have helped Ren convince Futaba he could stay, but a good boyfriend wouldn’t have killed his proto-sister's mother.

“Weren’t you complaining about not having anything in the fridge last night? If you leave now you should be able to get to June and back before sunset,” Goro said with a smile, and still that wasn’t enough to get Ren to cave.

“Are you sure you don’t want me here?” Ren asked, and while Goro would have assumed that was for Futaba, he was looking at Goro.

Suddenly, Goro had a bad feeling that Ren wasn’t just worried about Futaba, but both of them. 

“Ren. Save your busybodyness for later.”

“Busybody? I’m not doing this because I’m noise. I’m just worried that you two might...” Ren trailed off, obviously not wanted to say anything negative about Goro.

“That we might have a fight? It will only be a verbal one, and still doesn’t need you monitoring it.”

“I hate to be agreeing with Akechi of all people, but we’ll be fine. It’s a boss fight, but I’m prepared for it!”

That of all things seemed to get Ren to get up. Goro didn’t get what his issue was. If he was worried about Goro hurting Futaba’s feeling he should have just said so. If he was as curious as Futaba about learning about what Wakaba did, then he could just ask Goro later. Or even Futaba.

“Alright, let me know when you’re done.”

Ren reluctantly left the office, even going as far as to close the door. Goro could barely hear Morgana get up from his afternoon nap, and before long the front door opened and shut.

“...are you still there or did you take your chance to run?”

“I didn’t run.”

Now that he was thinking about, Goro wondered if that was an option. He could easily avoid Futaba. The only person he would have to worry about was Ren being disappointed and... that was enough for Goro to stay where he was. Also that he didn’t want Futaba to think he was running away from her.

He just wanted to avoid a pointless conversation.

“Cool. Uh, so first off... do you have any of mom’s research?"

“No. And before you ask, I wasn’t in change of destroying it and I don’t know who was. Might even be a few of the people who use to work for her.”

“Scum. How could they just betray mom like that?” Futaba muttered to herself, and Goro refrained from commenting.

“Was that all you wanted to know?” Goro hoped.

“No, I’m just trying to build up to it. You can’t just jump right into the big stuff!”

“Then ask your question,” Goro demanded, already knowing what Futaba was dancing around.

Wakaba was smart, but there was only so much one can do with only theoretical data. If Futaba knew a little of what her mother did, she must have realized there was no way she would form such accurate theories about the metaverse without interacting with it.

“Fine you jerk I will. Did you work with mom? Did she... did she experiment on you?” Futaba lost whatever confidence she had by the end, the words coming out in a whisper.

“Let me make this very clear to you. I worked with her under Shido’s order to help her understand the metaverse better. There was no experiments going on. I was not some innocent victim who didn’t know better. I already had both of my personas by that point, and caused a number of psychotic breakdowns for Shido. At best, Wakaba viewed me as an annoying intern,” Goro got out in a hiss, and was even more annoyed when the voice recording make it sound like he was joking.

It was insulting when he went into Wakaba’s palace and her cognition of him was nothing more than a child in a too big lab coat, asking never ending questions like a toddler. It was embarrassing since Goro thought he would sound more like an adult asking question like that, like he actually cared about Wakaba’s research and her methods behind it.

But she just saw it nothing more than an inconvenience. Something she had to tolerate because he was the only one who had access to the app and could survive the metaverse.

“...how old were you when you first meet?” Futaba said after a long pause.

Goro once again wished that he could see her face. Try to figure out just what she was feeling since from her voice alone it wasn’t clear. It would be her own fault if she started crying.

“When I first met Wakaba? I was 14. Already in high school.”

Goro met Shido for the first time when he was still in middle school, worried about aging out of the system and being unable to continue his schooling. Getting his revenge on Shido was always top priority, but having his schooling and rent paid for helped. It also made a easy weak point for Shido to use when he wasn’t getting the results he wanted.

The psychotic breakdowns weren’t good enough if he was only able to preform it on people with palaces, and the timing was unpredictable. Shido loved to point out that if Goro wasn’t able to do more, then his ‘scholarship’ to the school would be gone. It didn’t matter since Goro would have done anything to make Shido rely on him, but he could see how someone would interpret that situation as Goro being nothing more than a teen being taken advantage of.

It was why he didn’t want Ren to ever find out.

“Then was it only you? There wasn’t like, a bunch of orphans mom was experimenting on there?”

“A bunch of what? I already told you there was no experimentation. I was the only one who had access to the app even after I brought others into the metaverse,” Goro explain, only realizing after the app repeated it that he said too much.

“Hang on, you brought other into the metaverse?!”

Goro wanted to swear. He did not want to talk about that.

“Yes. I don’t know why you’re acting so surprised. Did you not realized that I was also the one who brought the cops into Sae’s palace to arrest Joker?”

For a moment Goro was almost glad that Futaba’s voice recording on himself was so limited. What Futaba heard had much less venom in the tone than what Goro said.

“Yeah, we knew it was you. But bring a bunch of stinky cops is different then bring in a much of squishy scientist! You didn’t bring my mom in, did you?”

Goro wondered why he was even bothering to answer her questions. It would be easy to refuse to answer expect for whatever that would be relevant to figuring out if there was even a way for him to came back into the real world or not. Yet, he found himself telling Futaba anyway.

Like if he answered all the questions that she had, maybe it would resolve him of the guilt of killing her mother. Goro knew it wouldn’t and yet it didn’t stop him.

“Only once. When it became clear I was the only one who could fight shadows, Wakaba decided it would be safer to have me explore alone.”

Though at the end, Wakaba even argued against that. Her palace was built around the distortion around her need to prove her research, but it was starting to get in the way of her own morals. Goro wasn’t sure if it was because the palace was relatively younger than the others he been to, but while more palace rules wouldn’t even care by that point, Wakaba did.

And Shido couldn’t allow any hesitation.

“She really let a kid go into the metaverse alone?” Futaba said in a quiet voice, and Goro wondered if she even meant to ask that out loud.

“I told you I wasn’t a child. I was the one who forced the issue of going by myself. And it wasn’t like I couldn’t take it.”

“Omg, can you shut up about that? I don’t care about you trying to paint yourself as some season 2 featherman r villian. I’m trying to figure out just what my mother did! And letting a 14 year old into a cognitive world without any backup isn’t a good thing! Even if it was you.”

Goro clenched his jaw in anger.

“I’m not trying to paint myself as a villian. I’m just answering your questions,” Goro got out in a hiss, and since luck has never been on his side, the app made it sound like he was just as annoyed.

“Yes, you are! You’ve been doing that since Maruki’s palace, and at first I thought it was just because your an asshole - which you are! - But then when we found out you were dead, I thought maybe that was your way of keeping us from getting too close when… Anyways. Doesn’t matter since Ren thinks you are alive, and we are going to bring you back, so you can keep being an annoying reminder of everything that went wrong in my life!”

“Why would you want that?”

Goro didn’t understand why anyone would want him around. Ren wasn’t normal in anyway once you got to know him, so he made sense that he liked Goro without any of his smoothed out edges.

“I don’t want it. But when I got my persona, I made a promise to stop ignoring the truth. And that includes your whole situation. Not to mention you got that thing going with Ren, and since I’ve adopted Ren as my brother, that means I have to deal with you. So, yeah.”

Futaba said so much at once Goro wasn’t even sure were to start. There was so much false in her logic, and yet…

“Ren told you we’re dating?” Goro said because he couldn’t come up with a better way to ask.

He remember her joking about Ren having ‘bad taste in men’, and now her knowing that he had something with Ren, it was-

“YOU’RE DATING???? HOW LONG HAS THAT BEEN HAPPENING?!”

Goro messed up.

“Ah, it’s a recent development. You’ll have to talk to Ren to find out why he thought it would be a good idea.”

“Gross. Well, I guess it’s better you’re doing that now and not when you were trying to kill him.”

Goro almost wanted to ask why Futaba thought they would have been dating back then, but she continued before he could.

“We’re getting off topic. I just… I was looking into any people still researching cognitive psience, and there was a lot of bad stuff that happened in the past before they even called it that. I shouldn’t be surprised that my mom also did some questionable stuff but…” Futaba trailed off, and Goro waited for her to continue.

She didn’t.

“Wakaba was conflicted. That was part of the reason why Shido decided to have me kill her was because she started pushing back more. If you’re worried about her being a bad person like me, then don’t. She was killed because she tried doing the right thing, but just trusted the wrong people.”

Goro didn’t tell her that it still took Wakaba years to get to that point. To question why Shido wanted to know about the metaverse so badly. That people still died because Wakaba wanted answers to her question about the cognitive world. The only difference is that once there was bodies, Wakaba tried to stop. 

Goro just doubled down.

It took Goro too long to realize it was silent on the other end. There was a good chance that he said too much. 

“Futaba? Are you still there?”

“Yeah. I am. You… you know you’re not a bad person right? You’ve done bad things, like a lot of bad things, but I don’t think that makes you a bad person. A-and you’re not doing any of that now so…” Futaba’s voice sounded weak and raspy like she’s been crying.

“Don’t try to make me feel better. I’ve ever been disillusioned about the harm my actions have caused.”

“You are such a pain to talk to… but thanks. For talked to me about my mom. I… I can’t say it’s what I was hopping to hear, but also not as bad as I was worried about.”

Goro wonder if he should tell her about all the other stuff he knew about Wakaba. That she had a palace. That the one picture she had of Futaba on her desk was all over the palace until he got into the lab part. How sometimes, near the end, Wakaba’s cognition of Goro would change to be Futaba.

He doesn’t think either of them would benefit from him bring that up.

“You said you got this list of names from an AI company?” Goro said once the silence became too much.

“Hmm? Oh that! Yeah, I got it from this tech company down in Okinawa. I just thought it was weird that they had so many people employed who weren’t in computer science but psychology. But I guess if three of the people were also working with mom, and Shido, then they might be trying to continue the research.”

“Shit,” Goro swore since, that would be very bad.

The only good thing it that the metaverse was gone, but if Futaba was right about it still being there just that they aren’t able to access it, that wouldn't be the case. If they are trying to recreate the metaverse app or even another method then...

“I think this is our best bet in trying to figure out your situation! I’m gonna tell Ren that we’re done talking, and see what he thinks.”

Goro frowned, wanting to bring up that people researching psience  was never a good thing, even if he might be able to benefit from it, but he could wait and just tell Ren later. Goro felt like he’s talked to Futaba enough for a lifetime.

He definitely didn’t feel excited at the thought of being able to in the real world again. Being able to eat and sleep. Being able to touch things again, and even finally have that rematch against Ren. Maybe even hold his hand for real and-

Goro had to remind himself not to get his hopes up.

Chapter Text

“You told Futaba we were dating?" Ren asked as he ignored his phone that was blowing up with messages

“It was on accident. I… misunderstood her jokes.”

Ren snorted at that, since he was pretty sure Futaba did know something was going on between them. He tried not to think about the type of texts they sent each other last year.

“Apparently Sumire thought we were already dating.”

“What?”

Ren activated his third eye in time to see Goro leaned over to look at his phone. His hair looks so nice. Ren really wished he could touch it.

“I thought she had a crush on you.”

Ren just shrugged, not really wanting to tell Goro that he was part of the reason why he declined her confession. The other reason was that he was worried that Sumire was just using him as a crunch, and she deserved so much better than that. Ren couldn’t help but be proud with how much better she and everyone seemed to be doing now.

He made the right choice, especially since waiting for Goro ended up working in a very round about way.

He was surprised that Futaba outing them in the group chat came with only a few private messages. Mostly Ryuji asking how the fuck that worked with Goro being a ghost (which he has yet to answer), and Ann congratulating him. Yusuke sent him a picture of a sketch he apparently did of Goro in his black mask outfit, leaning angst a wall in a safe room. Ren didn’t do anything but give Yusuke a thumbs up and safe it for later, thankful that Yusuke decided to try for a very realistic style for that sketch.

It was a little worrying that Makoto and Haru have yet to say anything, but Ren was fine waiting.

NOT the Phantom Thieves of hearts

Ladykiller: Oh! I found out that my semester abroad isn’t until September, so I should be good for the trip!

ForREalboy: For real? Hell yeah! OKINAWA HERE WE COME!

“Think we’ll be able to find anything there?” Ren asked Goro as the conversation with his friends effortlessly switched from them dating to their quickly developing summer plans.

“It’s suspicious that Futaba wasn’t any to find anything about what they are researching online. Or any money trails.”

Futaba was looking for information about this AI company for a few weeks before even bring up the list. Ren wasn’t sure how odd it really was that she couldn’t find anything online, but he supposed there must be something going on if both her and Goro thought there was.

“At least even if we don’t find anything, we’ll have a fun time at the beach.”

“You mean, you’ll have a fun time at the beach. I still have not decided if going is worth my time,” Goro said, but a quick look showed that he still hasn’t moved.

“It would be useful having you around to check this lab out. We could just have you go in and see what they are doing... and I’ll be sure to make it worth your time regardless.”

“Oh? And how do you plan that?”

“It’s a secret," Ren said with a smile and wished he could kiss Goro on his check that was turned to him.

Instead, he just closed out of the group chat and talked with Goro while the sun set.

The next few weeks were busy with planning their trip. Summer break started, but all that changed was Ren spending as much time outside of his house as he could. He got a decent enough cell signal and it was better than risk wakening his mother while she sleep during the day. It was simple enough to get everything together through the group chat and some calls.

Makoto agreed to drive them down, and Haru booked a ferry that would take them over in August. Sumire wouldn’t be able to come due to a gymnastics meet, but Ren decided that they might as well spend a few weeks in Tokyo before the trip, and everyone was so excited that he didn’t even need to come up with a reason why.

“Haru even tried connecting them saying she was thinking of donating money, but they never called back,” Ren told Goro as he laid out in the hot sun.

Morgana was curled up under a tree, sleeping, and Goro was next to him on the bench last he checked.

Ren messed with the earbud in his ear, wondering if there was a way he could position it that wouldn’t make him feel like it was traping sweat in his ear canal.

“Futaba said she still haven’t found anything online?”

“Just that payroll, and her suspicions that it was getting scrubbed by someone as good as her online.”

Ren was starting to get excited. If they were trying this hard to hide, there had to be something. Something they could use to go back into the metaverse and get Goro out completely. It’s also been long enough that Ren was missing his joker outfit and being able to fight with his personas.

If Futaba was right and all they needed to do was to unstuck Goro, then there wouldn’t be any fighting in the metaverse, but Ren can still daydream. No harm in wanting to be a hero. Especially when there was no god trying to take control or therapist. Just some scientist who might not even be doing anything wrong. Yet.

“You should be careful.”

“We’re always careful, and besides, you’ll be around to let us know when we’re being idiots, right?” Ren said with a smile.

Goro has been quiet the last few days, and Ren couldn’t help but wonder if he was having second thoughts about coming. The others were fine with it, though with Goro not really being physically there, it wasn’t like it would make much of an impact. Ren just wasn’t sure how to tell Goro that in a way that wouldn’t get him annoyed.

“Looks like they are getting ready for the Tanabata festival," Goro randomly said, distracting Ren from his own thoughts.

“Hm?” He looked to see the starts of the decorations hanging up at the shrine they were chilling at, “Ah, yeah. They do it at the shrine every year."

“Will you be going?”

Ren could help but make a face at the idea of going to the festival.

“If you want to we could. Last time I went was a few years ago and...”

Calling it a disaster would be over reacting. Nothing bad really happened. It was just the group of ‘friends’ he went with ended up ditching him, and his girlfriend told him that her planed worked so he didn’t need to keep being her fake boyfriend. It was more that nothing exciting happened. Ren remember he made a off-handed wish of wanting something new to happened, and that was it.

“If the local one isn’t to your liking, then what about another city?”

“Huh?” Ren turned to look at Goro who had his hand on his hip.

He was planing something. Ren mentally traced back their conversation to figure out when exactly Goro started leading him to this conclusion.

“Okina city isn’t too far away. Their festival might be a bit more exciting for you.”

Ren almost wanted to laugh that Goro managed to figure out just what Ren was missing. Or maybe he just thought the Inaba Tanabata festival would be too boring. He would be right of course, but Ren like to think he was thinking of him.

“Is that you asking me out of a date?” Ren guess, and from how quickly Goro blushed, he was spot on.

It only served to make him grin wider.

“I- and if it was?” Goro tried his best to remain composed, but it didn’t work that well.

The app made the stumbling of his word even more noticeable, but for once Ren didn’t mind.

“Well, then I would love to see the festival in the city with my boyfriend,” Ren said as he reached out his hand.

“You’re so sentimental."

Yet even as Goro complained, he still moved his hand to cover Rens, in their mock hand holding. Ren might have held his third eye on the sight for a little too long, but he’s spent most of their conversation with it off, so any headache later shouldn’t be too bad. Not enough for Goro to start threatening him to take better care of himself.

“Should I wear an Yukata?”

“Do you even own one?”

Ren does have one that his parent bought for him, but that was so long ago he wasn’t even sure if it fit. He had quite the growth spurt during his first year of high school, and even now he thinks he gained a cm since last year.

“You could pick something out for me,” Ren suggested since it wasn’t like Goro could get dressed up for their date, and Ren was curious what he would pick.

“You really trust me with something like that?”

Goro sounded like he was teasing him with the app, but when Ren looked away from their hand to look at him, he saw his eyes wide in shock. For just a moment, then his other hand came to rest under his chin before talking again.

“Well, I suppose I did promise to dress you up after what you did at the cafe.”

Ren didn’t have to think hard about what Goro was talking about, but he still thought to ask.

“You mean that great disguise I did for you?”

“It was hardly great. Any imbecile could ruff up some hair and put glasses on. No. When I’m done with you, Morgana wouldn’t even be able to recognize you in a crowd.”

A shiver went down Ren’s back at the threat. The promise.

“I’ll be looking forward to it,” Ren said, trying to play it cool, though from the satisfied look on Goro’s face, he didn’t succeed.

He didn’t have many options. Goro could either order one over the internet and just hope that it fits, or accompany Ren to June and get something cheap, or go to the old Textiles shop and pay for a custom fit. Goro wanted to do the last option, but since he wouldn’t be able to pay for it physically, ordering it online using the money from his hidden account had to do. It also allowed some suspense since Ren already knew he was getting one. 

Goro was almost certain that Ren, and there by Futaba, didn’t know he had another account beside the one tied to Shido. Maybe they didn’t even know about that main one, but Goro knew Sae did, and that it was frozen for investigation. His hidden one was one that Goro opened up as soon as he was old enough to, and placed any money that he got from Shadows in it. It wasn’t a lot, maybe 50,000 yen, but it wasn’t like Goro was using it.

The Yukata ended up not costing that much, but it did take a chunk out since Goro wasn’t buying a cheap one. Then a week later when it arrived, and Goro got to see Ren’s surprised looked from the nice black Yukata with red flowers on it.

“You know spider lilies symbolized death,” Ren commented as he held it up.

“I thought it was fitting considering you managed to escape your own death,” Goro said, hoping that he didn’t miscalculated since he didn’t know that.

Ren snorted, and gave Goro a bright smile before unfolding it all the way for Morgana who walked over to check it out.

“Hm, not too bad Akechi. Seems I was worried for nothing!”

Goro felt his eye twitch. Like the idiotic cat knew anything about fashion.

“Give me a second to get ready,” Ren said before running to his bedroom.

Goro took that as a sign that he like it. It was early enough in the day that Ren’s mother was still sleeping, and usually he doesn’t do anything that would risk waking her up.

Goro was worried if this would wake her. There was nothing Goro could do if that was the case, and while Ren told Goro that she doesn’t really care what Ren does, he know how finicky people can be. Goro didn’t want to have anything to do with Ren’s parents, but he knows how to get adults to like him. It would have been simple to get her to think that Goro was a good influence on her son, and the only risk would be Ren finding it funny how wrong that statement was.

But as it was, Goro couldn’t do even do that much unless Ren wanted to fake a phone call.

“I hope you two have fun tonight. And make sure Ren doesn’t forget to bring me something back!” Morgana yelled, not looking in Goro’s direction, but still sitting close enough that he could likely sense him.

Goro didn’t bother responding, but he might remember to tell Ren. The cat has been not as annoying about them dating as he should have been. He kept waiting for someone to tell Ren how this was a huge mistake, but so far nothing.

At least nothing that Goro has heard, but since Futaba told everyone in their little group that he was able to see their texts on the laptop, he would have thought someone would have confronted him.

At best, Goro wondered if they thought this was just a way for Ren to finally get over him. Maybe once they go to the lab and are unable to find anything to help Goro out of the metaverse, and once Ren realized how being with Goro would never lead to a happy conclusion, or-

Goro snapped his eyes back to the hall when he heard footsteps, and relaxed when he saw it was Ren. He was still fidgeting with the Yukata, clearly to worried about making Goro wait to put it on properly, and Goro was just forced to watch as he fixed it.

“You slick back your hair,” Goro commented, and Ren ran his hand through his hair.

“Yeah... it never stays like this for long, but I thought it would be fun to try.”

Goro was figured Ren would have to straighten his hair before trying to gel it back if he wanted it to stick, especially during the humid summer. However, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to see it. As it was, it was less all of Ren’s hair and more just his bangs were up and out of the way.

“You might have a better chance of putting hair clips in,” Goro commented offhandedly, and Ren turned to look at him.

He wasn’t wearing his glasses, and his eyeliner was much better than last time. Goro suddenly wonder if Ren knew how much Goro liked seeing his piercing gaze. He mentioned during their last date that his eyes were one of his best features, but now he felt like Ren was directing targeting his weakness for it.

“That’s an option?” Ren asked, and just like that, Goro was reminded of how much of an idiot he could be.

“We should get going if we don’t want to miss the train.”

The train ride was annoying, since while Ren didn’t seem to care about talking on the phone in public, Goro wasn’t about to get second hand embarrassment from it and refused to respond. They just ended up standing next to each other, and Goro noticed that Ren positioned himself so that Goro was closer to the the wall, making it almost impossible to let anyone walk through him on accident. It was just the type of meaningless gesture that Goro as come to expected from him, and yet it still made him feel seen.

It was good too, since it was even more packed than the last time Goro rode the train. It felt like every tourist in Japan was deciding to visit Okina City rather than Tokyo or Kyoto or some other city that would be more suited for it. Or perhaps Goro was just been away from the big city for too long and was starting to lose his edge.

Ren didn’t even wait until they got off at their station before popping in his earpiece again, giving Goro a smile before pulling out his phone.

“You really want to look like a jackass talking on your phone in public?”

“If it means talk with you, then always honey,” Ren joked, and even though Goro knew it was a joke, he still felt himself blush at the pet name.

It wasn’t even like it was the first time Ren’s joked about it, but of course, that was before they were dating. Before the flirting was really that.

“We should get going,” Goro said, hoping that Ren didn’t see anything.

“Lead the way Goro.”

The festival was already in full swing, with decorations hanging, and it wasn’t even the afternoon yet. Goro noted that Ren didn’t even bother going to the bamboo to hang a wish, and just walked around pointing things out. The line of food stalls were enough that Goro was starting to get annoyed that he couldn’t sample any of it, but Ren seemed like he was trying to do a test test of every single one.

“I give it a 8 out of 10. It was a little burnt,” Ren said as he plopped the rest of the fried ball into his mouth.

“8 out of 10? My, are you even capable of giving a score lower than 5 or are you that spineless.”

Ren barked out a laugh, then started coughing since he apparently didn’t now how to chew his food properly. There was a brief moment were Goro thought he might start choking, and Goro would be stuck watching him die without being able to do anything about it Then Ren swallowed, and looked back at Goro with a grin.

“That’s rich coming from you, Mr. food blog who lowest rating was ‘It wasn’t quite for me’,” Ren mocked, even going as far as putting his hand under his chin.

Goro refused to let it get to him and instead asked a very important question.

“You read my blog?”

It was just one of the ways for Goro to remain in the public eye between cases and interviews. Not a very successful way, since at least half the people who ended up following it didn’t even realize that Goro was the Detective Prince despite posing with his food every so often. But Goro liked trying new things, things that he always wanted to try as a child but was too poor to. The blog ended up being something he did without much prompting from his rp agent.

“I was curious when you mentioned it. Thought it might give me some insight in what you were hiding.”

Goro rolled his eyes.

“And I’m sure you realized by now how fake all those post were.”

“I don’t know… that post you made about that little hole in the wall cafe you found that you refused to name seemed different to me. What was it you said, something about the barista actually knowing a thing or two about coffee, making the perfect cup without burning the beans that you didn’t even needed to cover it up with cream or sugar?"

“Ah, I suppose you got me there. Sakura-san is a very accomplished barista,” Goro said, and smiled even wider when he saw Ren was frowning at him.

“I bet I could make you a better coffee now,” Ren said, a Goro was a little surprised to hear no sign of joking in his tone.

Did Goro accidentally stick a sore spot? Or was Ren jealous in thinking that Goro liked the coffee Sakura made better than Ren. In truth, they were very similar since Ren was still learning how to brew from the older man. And Goro refused to get any coffee from that place since November.

“You might have to wait a while for that, but I am curious if you have figured out your own brewing technique yet,” Goro admitted, and was rewarded with a bright smile from Ren.

“Futaba refuses to comment on it, but Ann really likes it.”

Goro ignored the first part and hummed at the later.

“Are you sure Ann is a good critic for you?”

“Well, she prefer sweet thing more than bitter, but Ann does like her coffee since she got so use to having it when traveling with her parents.”

“And you really think she’ll tell you the truth? Not just lie to you in order to make you feel better?”

“Ann’s… not the best liar, but if this you offering to be my taste tester in the future, I’ll take it.”

“I…” Goro trailed off, putting away his gut reaction at refusing as he thought about it.

Obviously the biggest reason was that he currently can’t drink Ren’s coffee, even if he wanted to. But, if somehow Ren is able to do the impossible and not only bring Goro back fully into their reality, and Goro isn’t dead than…

“I wouldn’t hold back on my criticism."

Ren laughed. Not very loud, but it still caught Goro off guard.

“Maybe you can remake your food blog too. Become one of those food critics that just tear down restaurants that make food that look good but taste awful."

Goro couldn’t help but laugh at that. While Goro never imagined himself having a future after dealing with Shido, he did tell countless interviews that he was planing on going to university for law. It was a safe option, and one he didn’t mind people thinking he wanted to do. Working with Sae wasn’t that bad, and Goro thinks in another life he could had done it.

But not this one.

“I’m sure whatever remains of my fanbase would be shocked by their beloved detective prince being nothing more than a common food critic. Though, even if we figure out how to get me out of the metaverse, and I am truly alive, it could be years from now. I doubt they’ll even remember enough about me to make the connection.”

Goro wasn’t trying to bring down the mood, and it was only after he said all that he realized his mistake. Goro turned to Ren to try to savaged their date, since this was his idea and there was no way he was going to mess it up when Ren’s date went so perfectly. Yet, the expression of Ren’s face wasn’t one of realization of what their future holds. It was a challenging look. The kind he got as Joker before asking if Crow could follow his attack.

Goro felt his heartbeat faster at the thought of what Ren was planing.

“Who says you have to wait?”

Nevermind. He was just being an idiot.

“I didn’t think you were so caught up in the moment you forgot the simple fact I can’t fucking consume anything,” Goro lowered his voice at the end, giving Ren a pointed look.

The app didn’t capture any of that of course, likely repeating what Goro said in his happy detective prince interview voice. But Ren had been using his third eye to look at him, and pulled on a lock of hair as he looked away from a moment.

“I know. I was just thinking nothing’s stopping you from writing it up. I could eat the food, tell you about it, and you make make it sound good. Or bad.”

“Doesn’t it defeat the purpose if the one writing isn’t the one tasting it?”

“I don’t know, aren’t ghost writers a thing,” Ren said, dropping his hand to look back at Goro with a cocking smile.

Goro had the sudden urge to smack that smile off his face. Not an uncommon feeling when dealing with Ren, but Goro had realization that it wasn’t just him wanting to hit him. The urge to grab his face and smash his lips into his was there, yet that feeling also didn’t feel new. Something that has been boiling under the surface, and only now Goro payed enough attention to it.

Goro wanted to scream.

“That’s now how ghostwriters work. It would be if you wanted me to write it under your name. What’s your suggesting is more the opposite,” Goro said as he turned away to hid the growing heat in his face.

There wasn’t as many stalls left for them to try, but Goro didn’t want Ren to think he won their little argument. He needed something that would challenge Ren. Maybe a little bit of a punishment for even suggesting such a thing for a set up to a pun.

“But if you are so determined to try…how about that cafe over there?” Goro said with a smile as he turned back, and it only grew as he saw Ren still like he was getting ready for a fight.

“Cafe… are you talking about that chain?” Ren said with a frown.

“I have been there a few times, or at least one of the cafes in Tokyo. I think it would be a good baseline to see how well you’re able to explain what you’re tasting to me,” Goro explained, not letting his smile drop.

Ren didn’t look happy as he gave the Chagall cafe a wary look. Goro was just waiting to see what would cave first. He always had a feeling Ren was a bit of a coffee snob. Funny, considering how Ren admitted he didn’t even drink coffee until moving to Tokyo. Or more accurately, moving into Leblanc.

Goro liked good coffee, but it has always been more for the caffeine than anything. He use to go to the Chagall cafe a block away from the police precinct almost everyday before going to Leblanc for the first time. It was more out of the way, but still ended up replacing his coffee intake before doing his homework or going into mementos in the evening. At least until he betrayed the phantom thieves. He went back to Chagall a few times, but ended up being too busy to order a coffee and just would grab a few cans.

Then he died.

“Alright.”

Ren looked more like he was walking to an executioner than a mediocre cafe. Maybe not even that, since Ren didn’t look this serious when they were done fighting Sae, and he had to have known even with his ‘plan’, his chance of making it out alive was low.

Goro wasn’t doing this to make Ren suffer. He didn’t think the coffee would be that bad, but to Ren who gotten use to some of the best coffee brewed in Tokyo, it was going to be a challenge.

“You can back out at any time if you want,” Goro reminded him, and despite his teasing tone, he did mean it.

Ren just flashed a grin back before opening the door, leaving it open long enough for Goro without having to walk through it or Ren. Goro did caught the eye of a few customers who looked over to see why Ren was holding the door so long. It was just one of the many times that Ren made a fool of himself to company Goro. It was pointless sentiment that was meaningless to anyone expect for Ren.

And yet Goro wasn’t able to bring himself to tell him.

“Any recommendations?" Ren asked, either not noticing or ignoring the looks he got for ‘talking’ on his phone.

Goro signed and walked to the menu on the wall. There was a few options that weren’t at the other joint, as well as a few options that were missing, but being a chain it was close enough.

“I would usually get an americano with an extra shot, though I doubt you would be missing out if you got it without the extra caffeine."

“Usually? I thought you said you only been here a few times?” Ren said with a frown, like he was actually disappointed in Goro.

“Are you really jealous of me going to another coffee shop before I even visited Leblanc?” Goro questioned, and Ren at least look a little embarrassed from being called out.

“I just think you deserve better.”

“Shut the fuck up. Go order the coffee. I’ll get us a table that’s out of the way,” Goro said, ignoring what Ren just said.

The only thing Goro deserves is to be six feet under. However, he’s always been selfish and wanted more than he had. Dating Ren despite everything is just prove of that.

Ren didn’t seem to noticed anything was wrong, and Goro relaxed at spotting that smile back on his face before Ren headed to counter to order. Goro hasn’t messed up their date by refusing to keep conversation topics light. He doesn’t know why he was so worried. They only pulled their punch to test the others limits, and they are past that point.

With the festival still going on, there wasn’t a lot of people dining in. Most were just getting something to go. It was easy enough finding a table out of the way that he could pretend that they were just on a normal date. Not that Goro would have ever brought Ren here if things were normal, but it was oddly familiar regardless.

Goro wonder if he should try bringing Ren to that cafe they frequent in Koichijoji. See if there was anything that would change with them going there on a date rather than an outing to get information out of the other. 

“One Americano with a slash of vanilla syrup,” Ren announced as he took a seat at the tiny table.

Goro watched in morbid curiosity as Ren’s legs went through his own as he sat down. It was telling how resigned to his current situation that Goro didn’t even react to the sight, and just looked back up.

“I didn’t tell you I took any thing with it.”

Goro knew he didn’t, and yet, somehow, Ren was able to order the drink Goro often got when he needed the pick me up. He thought he had it clear to Ren that the idea of him liking sweets was just a publicity stunt. Truthfully, Goro didn’t have a preference. He liked trying sweet things as much as salty or bitter. Only reason he bother putting something in his coffee was because...

“I might be looking into it, but when you said that the coffee at Leblanc was good enough to have plain, I took that to mean at other places with inferior coffee, you add stuff to make it better. There’s no cream or milk in an americano, so I though you might add sugar or honey to it. But then I thought about how much you like that layered cake you got back in August last year, and wonder if you would rather have some vanilla flavoring."

Ren was messing with his hair as he explain, and Goro was shock by his reasoning. As much as he loved pointing out how much of an idiot Ren could be, he was always observant. It shouldn’t shock Goro by now but...

“You really-” Goro cut himself off with a shake of his head.

Of course Ren noticed those things about Goro. Even a year ago. That was just the person Ren was.

“Maybe you should think about becoming a detective. Your reasoning was spot on.”

“Really?” Ren asked, dropping his hand and looking at Goro, his eye taking that slightly red tint.

“Honestly, Ren. I have no reason to lie about something as asinine as how I take my coffee. I just didn’t think much of it.”

“Of course you didn’t. The great Akechi Goro would never lead me to think he always took his coffee black, even when it’s a crime to human kind how poorly brewed it it. The espresso machine took over five minutes to brew! And the grind looks like French when it should be Italian…”

Goro watched in surprise as Ren ranted about the coffee. He didn’t think he’s ever heard the other boy talk this much at once, without any prompting or encouragement to speak his mind. It was oddly captivating, and Goro wondered if this was the reason Ren never seemed to mind listening to Goro talk about whatever crossed his mind when they went to Jazz jin.

“As much as I love seeing you tear down your foes in any form, your coffee is going to get cold,” Goro regretfully interrupted.

Ren blushed hard; either from Goro complimenting him or getting embarrassed for going on such a tangent. Goro hoped it was the former as he watched Ren attempt to cover it up by drinking his coffee. He used both hands to pick it up since the handle of the cup only being large enough to fit two of his fingers. Not that Goro thought for a moment that Ren needed the extra support to hold the cup, and thought it was more of a habit from liking to feel the warmth of the drink.

Maybe Goro should have told him to get a ice coffee since it was the middle of summer. He might be getting a little warm in his yukata.

“Hmm,” Ren said as he put the cup back down with a thoughtful look on his face.

“Well?”

“It’s fine I guess. Not as deep in flavor as a pour over, but for the grounds being too fine for the machine they used, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be,” Ren said with a frown.

“Mind saying that again? It almost sounded like you had something positive to say about a chain cafe,” Goro said as he leaned forward, aware of the smirk on his face.

“The beans aren’t burnt, but there is still enough sentiment from the grind that it’s making the drink feel less smooth then it should with this roast. The syrup does compliment the beans, but it’s more sweet then I though it would be, and it’s not easy to taste the vanilla in it.”

“I been wanting to use a homemade syrup, but it didn’t get approved."

Ren almost spilled his drink at the new voice, and Goro looked up to see a man standing behind Ren. For a brief moment, Goro thought that somehow they ran into Muren, despite being in another city, but then he noticed the newcomer looked younger than the Jazz jin owner. And was wearing a green apron.

“Oh, sorry I didn’t mean-”

“You got a good set of taste buds. Most people where don’t care about anything but a coffee fix. What was it you were saying to your friend about the grind?”

“Uh…” Ren looked to Goro like he could be any help.

“I told you to be careful talking in public on the phone.”

Ren pulled out one of his ear piece before turning around to properly talking to the man.

“I was just thinking that with the machine you use to brew the coffee, you need a more corse grind for your coffee,” Ren said, messing with his hair as he talked.

Goro looked at the barista in thought, unable to shake of the slight familiarity to the Jazz jin owner. It was a hunch that didn't really need solving, yet Goro still found himself speaking up.

“Ren, mind asking him if he has any siblings?”

Ren looked at him for a moment, but didn’t say anything as he repeated the odd question.

“Siblings? I have two brothers. One’s a monk like our parents wanted, but my other brother left to live in Tokyo. Think he’s running a bar or something now. Why do you ask?”

Goro didn’t even have to explain to Ren the connection he made as he saw the exact moment the other boy figured it out. It was a bit odd to see one of the bothers that Muren told Goro about whenever the owner decided to keep Goro company when he went alone. Which was every time until he brought Ren with him. Not that Goro thought about it much. He never understood why Muren told him about his estranged family, and there was likely no meaning to it beside the man thinking Goro was lonely and tried to keep him company.

“…Well, I don’t want to keep you from your call, but I do agree with the critics you pointed out. Are you interested in a part time job?”

“We haven’t even been here an hour and you’ll already getting a job offer,” Goro muttered to him, but Ren had to cover up a laugh that implied it was still loud enough for the phone to pick up.

A little humiliating for Goro, but it seemed Ren found it funny than insulting.

“I live in Inaba, but I could use the extra money,” Ren said, looking to Goro like he had a plan in mind.

Goro knew that Ren still had enough metaverse money to last him a few years if he stayed with his parents. Though Ren has mentioned a few times about wanting to go to school in Tokyo once he graduates in the spring. It would make sense Ren was planing for that, but Goro had a feeling it wasn’t just that.

The future was a uncertain thing, and Ren has already done his best to pull Goro into it. Trying his best to make their own future no matter if it means buying a laptop so Goro could have some ounce of independence, or tracking down some of the remains of the cognitive research in hopes to find a way to bring him back. It seemed impossible that anyone would do such a thing for him, and yet Goro could not deny the evidence. 

All surrounding the nebulous idea that Ren, for some godforsaken reason, loved Goro.

"I hoped that was satisfactory," Goro said as they started walking back to the train station, late enough that the cat would likely be yelling at both of them.

"It was more than satisfactory," Ren teased with a huge smile on his face as he swung the bag of sushi the picked up to go.

It was impossible for Goro to look away. 

"...Thank you Goro, for planing all this. It's... by far the best time I've had at a Tanabata festival."

"It wasn't like we ended up doing much in the festival itself. But..." Goro trailed off.

He been thinking how to tell Ren how he felt. Love still felt too raw to admit, and he wasn't lying when he told Ren before he wasn't sure if that was how he felt. Still, he wasn't sure. However, he didn't want Ren to think he was just doing this to humor him.

"I'm pleased to hear you enjoyed yourself," Goro continued after too long of a pause, and had to ignore the snort Ren gave, "I just wanted to show that I'm also taking this... relationship seriously."

Ren's face crumbled as he looked to Goro with a sickly sweet expression.

"I know."

Goro nodded, unable to say anything else. He still didn't want to get his hopes up about what their future might look at. But it was hard not to want more with Ren looking at him like that.

Chapter Text

“Yusuke finally got enough money to pay his phone bill, so everyone is catching him on the plan.”

“Ah, really? Isn’t it a bit late considering we are already on our way?” Goro asked, standing next to Ren who managed to grab a set on his second train.

“Sounds like both Ann and Sumire were able to talk to him in person about the trip but…” Ren trailed off, looking at his phone that seemed more active than it has been in weeks.

July passed slowly and Goro couldn’t say he minded. Hanging out with Ren has always been something he found more enjoyable than he had any reason to, but it was different now. Though, not that different. Despite them dating now, Ren refused to let their rivalry fall to the side, and has done everything he could to find ways to challenge Goro. Anything from chess games, to online games that he somehow manages to get Futaba to reprogram so Goro could play with his voice, to mock tests that had Morgana yelling at Ren for using Goro to cheat. It amazed Goro how they have been dating for over a month now, and it was working.

He still felt like something was going to go wrong. Good things just didn’t last for Goro. But for once, it seems the only disappointed was the chance of finding anything useful in the lab. While Goro would like nothing more then to have a answer if he was truly alive or not, and to be able to fully interact with the world again, Ren has made his life… well, livable if Goro was force to admit it.

“We are going to meet up at the hideout anyways to go over our trip plan in person once we arrive."

“Hideout? You still call it that despite the phantom thieves being no more?”

“What can I say… it’s nostalgic.”

“Nostalgic for something that happened only six months ago… you truly are a sentimental creature."

“Creature am I?” Ren replaying with a grin, leaning toward Goro slightly as-

“Argh, can you two stop flirting while I’m here?” Morgana yelled from Ren’s bag.

“It’s not like you can even hear half the conversation,” Goro reminded the cat despite his side being the half the cat couldn’t hear.

“So you’re not arguing that was a flirt?” Ren said with a too pleased smile.

“That-”

“Stop! Stop! You’re going to miss your stop and I don’t want to be stuck in here any longer!”

Goro wasn’t sure if Morgana was talking about the bag, the train, or just being the third wheel to their conversation. Either way, the cat like being looked like he was about to hop out of the bag and make his own way to Leblanc.

“Oh right,” Ren said, grabbing his bags as he got up and moved closer to the doors.

Goro stayed close to him for no other reason but to avoid other walking into him. Despite it being the lunch rush, that last stop before Yongen-Jaya was pretty empty. Only a few people got off with them, and it was painfully easy staying in step with Ren.

“Are you really to see everyone?” Ren improperly signed with the hand not holding his bag and Morgana.

“It’s not like any of them will be seeing me. I’ll be sure to stay out of the way so you all can have a nice reunion."

“Don’t be like that. Everyone still considers you part of the phantom thieves despite…” Ren spoke out loud, gaining Morgana interest for a moment before he ducked back into the bag.

“The murders and backstabbing?"

“Yeah. Besides, we aren’t meeting with everyone until later. It should just be Futaba and Sojiro.”

“Great.”

Goro wasn’t sure how much Sakura-san knew, but considering how his last conversation with Futaba went he was not looking forward to seeing how it would go in person.

Goro figured he could always find something to occupy his time until they were ready to go see the Lab in Okinawa, but Goro couldn’t bring himself to tell Ren. Or more accurately, he didn’t want to leave Ren that that long.

They arrived at the cafe too soon for Goro’s likings, and the outside looked the same as ever. However, the lights inside were all off despite the open sign on the door. Goro didn’t know if that was unusual or not, and neither Ren nor Morgana commented as they opened the door.

At first glance it looked like there was no one there, but while Ren’s eyes ajusted to the dark, Goro spotted people hiding in the booths. A surprise party. Of course Ren’s friends would do something childish like that.

“WELCOME BACK!”

“Welcome back senpai!” Sumire said a moment after the rest of the group, and was the only one Goro was surprised to see.

She reminded him just two days ago that she would be unable to meet with Ren before leaving for her gymnastics camp. Goro was almost proud at how effortlessly she was able to lie about it.

“Surprise! Did we getcha or what?”

Goro had to step out of the way as Ryuji bulldozed his way to Ren, throwing a arm over his shoulder and pull him into a half hug while the other thieves told Ren how much they missed him.

He was was now blocked. Sure, Goro could just go through the wall, but that would feel more like he was fleeing. Not to mention Ren said that he wanted Goro to stick around. He just ended up standing in the corner by the painting, not too far from where Sumire was standing behind the counter with Yusuke.

“Yeah… Sumi I though you had a camp to go to?”

“I do! But It’s not until the 27^th. Sorry Senpai, I didn’t want to lie but when Futaba-senpai mentioned throwing a surprise party I knew I had to!”

Before long Sakura-san made everyone go upstairs, and Goro was forced to follow when Ren glanced back at him. Part of him wondered when Ren was going to tell everyone he was there. Maybe he did listen to Goro’s concerns about ruining the mood and was having second thoughts. Or considering Ren’s stubbornness, wanted to easy them into it.

However, before Goro could figure out if Ren had a plan or not, the choice was taken out of his hands.

“Hey, is the dangerous crow boy who’s job is to destroy plastic here?” Futaba ask just as Ryuji ripped open a bag of chips for everyone.

“Futaba! I told you not to talk about that!” Ann said, playfully hitting Futaba who was snickering to herself.

It was clearly some inside joke between the two girls that no one else got, but even with the nonsensical joke, it was obvious who Futaba was to refer. Not that it really helped Goro’s position since Ren put his phone away, and was the only one who could answer for Goro.

“Crow boy…? Are you talking about Akechi? He’s here?” Makoto asked, looking around in a very frantic manner that Goro has never seen from Sae’s younger sister.

Makoto was many thing, but it was odd for her to be reacting like that to the idea of Akechi mere presents. Frustrated or annoyed was a much more common reaction.

“What the fuck is up with Makoto?” Goro asked Ren before remembering he would have to sign.

Yet before he had time to…

“What the duck is up with Ma-Koto?”

“AHHHH!” Makoto gave out a scream and she hid behind Haru who was sharing the couch with her.

Haru didn’t seem surprised by the reaction, and barely reacted as her arm was held in a death grip. 

“Nice it works,” was Futaba’s only comment as she put her phone in the middle of the table.

Her phone, which Goro quickly realized, that she bother to put the very speak to text program she sent to Ren. It shouldn’t be a surprise since she was the one who made it, however Goro didn't think she would bother putting it on her own phone and activated it without prompting. As far as they knew the only person they could talk to was Goro and that-

“Uh, why is ‘kechi talking about ducks?”

“I too am curious about that. While I don’t mind ducks, they aren’t the most artful of birds. I much preferred pigeons."

“Dude, I doubt he was talking about it for that either.”

Goro forgot how idiotic the phantom thieves were. It was even more pitiful that they were able to out smart him once.

“I wasn’t talking about ducks. It was just a censor,” Goro explained, causing Makoto to yelp again, but thankfully less loud.

“Don’t mind her, Makoto is just a little… uncomfortable about you being a ghost,” Ann explain like it wasn’t painfully obvious that Makoto was terrified by him talking out of nowhere.

“It’s nice to see you Akechi! Or, I guess not see…”

“What? How did crowboy get the senpai privilege drop? I’ve been trying to get you to be casual with me all semester!”

“Oh sorry Futaba-senpai. I guess it’s because we never went to the same school?”

“Huh? But Yusuke doesn’t go to our school, and you still call him senpai.”

Goro was pretty sure if he had a physical body, he could be getting a headache right now. He was so worried about how they would react, and it turns out besides Makoto of all people being afraid of ghosts, they acted like nothing changed. They just expected he was there with him, and moved on.

“I got confirmation about the fare ride. We are good to go for the week of August!”

“Wait, for real? I thought we were leaving this week!”

“Ryuji did you read any of the text or just saw Okinawa and got excited.”

“I read them! But we just got gone with finals, so I might have forgot.”

“Sorry again that I can’t come with you guy. I would love to help figure out how to get Akechi back.”

Sumire has already told Goro that over text a few days ago when plans started to get finalized. He responded over text that putting her ambitions on hold for him wasn’t acceptable, but it seems he would have to remind her.

“I think your gymnastic is more important. We don’t even know for certain this lab is researching piscience,” Goro reminded her, and ignored whatever over reaction Makoto had to look at the red hair girl.

She was staring at Futaba’s phone since that was were ‘his’ voice was coming from.

“Still...”

“You don’t leave until the 27^th right? We can do something together tomorrow,” Ren suddenly said, effortlessly commanding the room.

It was always interesting seeing how Ren act around his friends. Already Goro noticed he was much more relaxed than in his hometown. Not to mention, unlike when interacting with his classmates in Inaba, Ren was still engaged in the conversation even if he didn’t speak.

“You’re right... Oh I know, we should go camping!” Ann suggested, and just like that, the former phantom thieves were talking about other things.

Both Ren and Sumire look excited by the camping plans, though Goro wasn’t sure what he’ll do while they were gone. There was nothing for him in Tokyo. That was one of the reason he caved and tracked Ren down. He would just have to deal with being alone for a few days.

“If we need a location, perhaps I could suggest Kyoto and-”

“Shut it Inari. We are not camping in Kyoto. EMMA, what are the best camping locations nearby?”

Once again the group went on a tangent, but this time Goro couldn’t help butt in.

“You trust this EMMA program to not just be a surveillance system put in place to sell you stuff?” Goro asked after Ann had to remind Ryuji for the third time it was AI and not ‘An Eye’.

“Of course you would look at the negative of it. But the privacy terms seems pretty clear cut, and once I hack into the code, I’ll be able to improve your speech program by tenfold! So you’ll be singing a different tone then crow boy!”

Goro wasn’t sure what to think that Futaba was already thinking of ways to improve his only way of communication outside of Ren. Already she has done more then expected, more than he deserved, and that wasn’t enough for her. 

“We’ll have to buy all our stuff early tomorrow and be ready to go in the afternoon if we want to be back before Sumire has to leave,” Makoto reminded everyone, and suddenly Futaba was using the AI to create a plan.

Ren, Ryuji, and Sumire would be the ones to get all the equipment, while Ann and Yusuke volunteered themselves to get the food.

“I’ll go with them as well,” Makoto quickly said before Yusuke could finish talking about barbecue.

“Great. Then I’ll fine a campsite and...” Futaba trailed off for a moment before suddenly pointing to Ren, “And I’m going to steal your boytoy to help me!”

Goro was waiting to see how they would bring up the fact that he was dating their leader, and yet it was still a shock.

“Don’t call me that,” Goro said while Ryuji and Ann seemed to be dying.

“That is a bit of an uncouth nickname,” Makoto tried to argue but Goro only had eyes for Ren.

Who was looking a little too calm for the situation. Goro braced himself for whatever pun or joke he had in mind when he say the simmer of red in his eyes as he looked at him.

“I prefer to call Goro my lover.”

Silence fell over the attic for only a moment, but it felt like an eternity. Goro once again underestimated Ren. Being truthful was way more of a weak point to Goro than any joke.

“Agh, do you see what I have to deal with lady Ann?” Morgana complained, and time started to flow normally again.

Ryuji was shaking his head, and was saying something in Ren’s ear, but didn’t look angry. Sumire was a bright red, but everyone else was just moving on.

“Of course you would say that loverboy,” Futaba muttered, and Goro tried to not over react.

Though from the looked Ren’s keep sending his way, Goro either wasn’t doing a good job, or was doing too good of a job. Not that it matter much when Ren failed to hide of his yawns and everyone decided it was time to leave. Ren walked them out like the generous host he was pretending to be last moment, while Goro stayed in the attic with Morgana who was already napping.

It was strange seeing it without the nicknacks Ren had last time he was up there. Goro didn’t even see any of it in his room back in Inaba, and figured in was still boxed up. Ren delayed to unpack anything beside his clothes and school supplies. Making it clear that Ren considered that room to be less his than the attic.

“Should I be worried about you and Futaba hanging out tomorrow?” Ren asked before he was even fully up the stairs.

“Should I be worried about you finding trouble with Ryuji and Sumrie tomorrow?” Goro asked back rather than think about why Futaba wanted to talk.

He hoped she got all she wanted out of their last conversation, but seems he was wrong.

“Don’t worry, Morgana will keep us focused."

Unfortunately, Goro figured that would be true enough. Wasn’t like they could get into too much trouble in Shibuya during the day.

If anyone asked, Goro waited down in the cafe as soon as Ren fell asleep. It was odd seeing the place so empty, and even more so seeing Sakura walk in to open. Goro almost wondered if he should wait outside, when Ren stumbled down the steps, rubbing his eyes and Morgan darting between his legs.

“Feed me boss! We have a busy day today!” Morgana yelled as he ran down the stairs.

“Looks like someone is hungry, and I was expecting you to sleep in a bit. Got plans for today?”

Ren just muttered something as his head hit the table. Then he suddenly sat back up and turned his head to Goro. The eyes that meet his were red for just a moment, then Ren relaxed.

He raised a brow at Ren’s reaction, and the smile that slowly appeared on his face before taking the coffee that Sakura-san gave him.

Goro wondered if Ren was worried he would leave, but he didn’t want to distract him from eating by asking. Instead, he drew his attention to the books at the bar, seeing that Sakura-san had a few new ones. Goro stopped himself before attempting to grab any. It wasn’t like he would be able to read them. Just another sign that time was marching on without him.

Would there be a point were Ren would look older than Goro as he is now? Goro, forever locked in the moment before stepping out of reality for the last time. Never able to change his looks for long. Stuck in an in-between state just like everything else.

“Finally, took you long enough,” Morgana complained, and Goro blinked to noticed they were both done eating.

Ren once again opened the door long enough for him to walk through, and then pulled out his phone.

“Guess I’ll see you later. Make sure Futaba doesn’t get carried away with the campsite. She was texting me last night about cabins with fiber optic internet cables."

“I don’t know why she even wants my help. It’s not like I’ll be coming on this camping trip,” Goro said, hoping to see if Futaba told Ren the real reason she wanted to talk more, but Ren just looked at him in shock.

“What do you mean you’re not coming. Sumire wanted to hang out with all of us, and that includes you.”

Goro couldn't even stay surprised for too long since of course Ren wanted him to come. Sumire was a little more of a surprise since they only talked a few times over text. He didn’t think it was enough for them to be friends, but it wasn't like he had much experience what a 'normal' friendship would even look like. There was also the chance that Ren was just assuming that Sumire was including him, but that still meant that someone wanted him to come.

“I see,” Goro simply said instead of all the other thoughts he had.

“Do you want to come? If you have other plans...”

“I don’t,” Goro admitted, and wanting nothing more then for this conversation to end, he added, “You should go before you make Sumire wait too long.”

“And Ryuji.”

“You really think Ryuji is going to arrive on time?” Goro asked, and Morgana decided to agree with him.

Ren had as small smile back on his face as he said by and walked off to the station. On the other side of the street Futaba stood, phone so close to her face Goro was surprised it wasn’t hitting the lense of her glasses.

“How much of that did you hear?” Goro asked, and while he didn’t hear anything, Futaba looked around.

“Ah, not much. I don’t think you were close enough for my phone to pick up everything. We should probably test the range and if there is a difference with peoples speakers,” Futaba started rambling, and Goro didn’t know if she was really that interested or was just flustered by him calling her out for eavesdropping.

Though, it wasn’t like she could really do it on purpose. There was no way for the app to show where he was. That was still something only Ren, and Morgana to a lesser extent, could do.

“...but he was right you know. You are included in this camping trip. I mean, I sent everyone but Makoto and Yusuke have a version of the app so you can talk to them on the trip too. You might be a backstabbing mother killing assassin, but you’re still part of the phantom thieves.”

Futaba was the last person he wanted to reassuring him.

“And here I thought the phantom thieves were no more. I lied about a lot of them, but I truly do think the change of heart is no better than killing someone.”

“Urgh, you know what I meant. Come on, Haru is waiting for us at my house.”

Goro did not move to follow Futaba.

“Haru? You invited her?”

“Yeah, I thought about having this conversation 1v1, but then I started getting nervous and decided to call backup.”

Goro already knew that Futaba didn’t ask him to help her with picking out a site. That wasn’t a shock. But her inviting Haru...

“And this... conversation is something you feel comfortable having in front of another?”

Considering Ren hasn’t tried ask Goro about anything he told Futaba about his involvement with her mother, he assumed she was keeping that information between them. While Goro didn’t pay much attention the dynamic each for the former phantom thieves had with each other, he doubt that Futaba would be more comfortable talking to Haru than Ren.

“Why wouldn’t I be? I was the one who won the rights to give you The Talk.”

What?

“What? You didn’t single me out because you wanted to ask me more about Wakaba?” Goro asked staring at Futaba in confusion.

Futaba brought her phone closer to her face, then pulled it back before looking it again.

“What!? No, no, no. I’m still recharging from our last conversation. We just decided it wouldn’t be fair for all of us to give you the shovel talk about dating Renren, so we did a little competition. And of course I won.”

“Shovel talk,” Goro repeated, hoping that was a reference to something he didn’t know and not something as juvenile as threatening him to treat Ren well.

“But I couldn’t figure out a good speech, so I asked Haru to help last night. We can look through the campsite recommendations EMMA made after, soooo come on Goro Phantom, let’s make like a tree!” Futaba yelled loudly enough that the old man at the second hand stop turned to wave at her.

Which had her look away and almost run to her house. Goro didn’t even have time to complain about the new nickname Futaba attempted to give him. He would rather be called Crow boy than Goro Phantom or ghost boy.

Goro followed at a more normal pace, already knowing where the Sakura’s lived, but he never had a reason to visit before. It looked like the other apartments in the area, and the only different was the curry hair girl standing at the gate.

Haru was dressed more like she was about to go to brunch with some friends than hang out in the bedroom of a nerdy featherman obsessed girl. The later, who stopped in her mad dash to get out of the public eye to beeline to the plastic shopping bag that Haru was holding

“Hehehe, you brought the good stuff!”

“I wasn’t sure what you wanted when you requested snacks. I just got the stuff Ryuji and Ann usual bring.”

“And not the healthy stuff Makoto brings. You are most wise Okumura-sama.”

“Well, I did bring some homemade vegi chips I made with my new batch of vegetables, but that was more for Boss and myself.”

“Hmm, I might try one. But only because you made it.”

“Thank you Futaba-chan. That means a lot,” Haru said before turning around, “Akechi-kun? Are you here with us?”

For a moment, Goro was hoping they would just forget about him. But if Futaba was really going to attempt a ‘shovel talk’ it was best to get it out of their systems.

“I am.”

Futaba held up her phone for Haru to look at, and Goro witness the strange act of Haru looking excited from the text.

“This is just like a spirit box! You said that file you sent everyone last night should work?”

Goro then remembered how Ren mentioned that Haru was the one who subjected the spirit box. It was reassuring to know it wasn’t Goro she was excited about. It did make a interesting picture. The Okumura heir who apparently like ghosts enough to know of obscure ways to communicate with them, and then Makoto who is so a fear of them that Goro counted in her mind.

“Yeah, it’s pretty easy to work. To bad Inari’s phone data is too bad for it,” Futaba said as she grabbed the bag of junk food with both hands before looking to Haru, and behind her.

“Uh, we should get inside. Then I can switch it to audio to make it easier for all three of us to have this chat.”

Haru’s smile fell at that as he nodded, following Futaba in. Neither attempt to leaving the door open long enough for Goro to get through, but they did wait for him in the hallway.

“Is it weird just having this talk in my room? I did some research and people would do it in the car, or hike, or graveyard.”

“Did you do you research by reading romance manga?” Goro asked even if he wasn’t much more familiar with the idea.

The most he knew of romance was from the old featherman series when Red got together with blue at the end. Goro hated it as a kid, for how gross it was and that it made his mom leave the room when they watched it together. As an adult he just hated how in featherman neo they undid all of it to keep Red/Pink fans happy.

“Nah, I just binged watched the comhet scenes in featherman. Then watched a complication of Red/Black to get in the right mind set. ”

Goro wished he didn’t understand what she was talking about.

“Anyways, I’ll turn the interview Akechi setting on, but you need to listen to us first.”

“Then why even bother switching to audio?” Goro asked, and had to force himself not to reaction by the recoding of his voice saying it back.

“ ‘cause it wouldn’t be as fun if you don’t react. And since we don’t have special eyes to let us see you, you need to tell us how you react!” Futaba pointed to the wall opposite of where Goro was standing.

“...please tell me you’re standing there.”

“Let’s just get this over with,” Goro said, already tried of this charade.

Futaba room was a mess, but somehow cleaner than he was expecting. The walls covered in different posters, some he recognized as being limited edition featherman movie posters, but others were from series he didn’t recognize. Goro did try to have at least enough pop cultural knowledge for his interview, but hanging out with Ren proved how much more that was skewed older than he first realized.

“Pass me a blue drink!” Futaba yelled as she climbed into her computer chair as spun it around to face the center of the room.

Haru sat down on the bed like she has done this before, grabbing the soda that was closer to Futaba than Haru without comment.

“Would you like anything to eat Akechi-kun?”

Goro wondered if she was doing this on purpose. A fake niceties that had no meaning since they weren’t working together for a common goal.

“I can’t eat.”

“Ah, I suppose that answers my question if Ghosts could consume things.”

Haru looked vaguely disappointed.

“Weren’t you two meant to be giving me a Shovel talk?”

“Hm! Right! I have my notes but... Haru?”

“Yes. I’ll start,” Haru said as she folded her hand in her lap and looked through Akechi to Futaba’s phone that was on the desk.

“Ren mourned you. When you died in December, and again after we defeated Maruki when we thought you were gone for good... A shovel talk threatening you to not hurt him would be pointless since you already have.”

Goro knew Haru would not be pulling any punches. It was likely why Futaba decided to call her rather any of the others in their group. Nothing but facts and observations. Not even bringing up all the ways he harmed her personally.

He wanted to argue, but there was nothing to argue at the moment besides...

“It was not my intent to have him care that much for me.”

Ren was the one who kept saying they were rivals. It was something that Goro craved, a special connection that was only for them. He wanted to feel needed, wanted by someone, but Ren was his target.

Then he was something so much more.

“I hope that is the case, but that doesn’t change anything. Ren does care for you, and there will come a time that you will hurt him again. And maybe he will hurt you someday. But you leaving will also hurt Ren, so I only ask that you admit to your mistakes and try to do better.”

“That’s it?” Goro asked after Haru stoped talking for too long.

“That’s all I have to say about it. I think you have already made Ren very happy, and I hope you continue to do so for whatever time you have left with us.”

That made Goro pause for a moment. It was easy to forget with how certain Ren is about them having a future together, but Goro’s state of being is still uncertain. He was use to being the one who has to remind everyone that even if they managed to bring him back to reality, to ‘unstuck’ him from whatever form of the metaverse he was stuck in, that doesn’t mean he would be getting out alive. There was a very real chance the only reason he was able to still interact with everyone was due to the manger of his death.

And Haru was aware of that. Yet she still was not telling Goro to stop dating Ren. Only to own up to any mistakes he make and enjoy the time they have now.

“And you better not try disappearing again because you got self-conscious or think it would be better for Ren. I will track you down, and share you internet history online,” Futaba added in quickly, like it was taking all of her energy to do so.

“Internet history. That’s your threat?” Goro almost felt like laughing.

No wonder Futaba asked Haru to come. The later didn’t even have to threaten Goro to make him think about things.

“I know your readoon account information!”

Goro couldn’t remember the last time he posted anything on that form site. It could have easily been over a year ago.

“Dully noted,” Goro said, wondering which account she was talking about.

“Good. Now help me find a good campsite, I need something with indoor bathrooms and...”

Goro just listened as Futaba listed her long list of “necessities”, suddenly aware that he’s never been camping before. Neither had Haru, at least not in a tent, but she at least was able to figure out which of Futaba’s wants were unreasonable.

A few hours passed, but they were able to figure out a good location, not too far from the city. Futaba sent everyone the link, and Makoto responded that they got the food and should be good to leave in the afternoon. Then they all waited for Ren to respond.

“He still hasn’t responded? Or the others?” Haru asked while Goro kept an eye on the time showing on one of Futaba’s monitors.

It was already late afternoon. Long enough that Futaba was able to show Haru how the app to let Goro talk to them worked, and her plans to add to it.

Goro didn’t think about anything but that he once thought that Ren was a prompt responder with text messages, but as he found out in the last few months, that was only with Goro. With his friends, he usually respond at the end of the day. A few hours isn’t too odd, but considering they having heard from Ryuji or Sumire who both are quick to respond, it was worrisome.

“Do you still have Ren’s phone bugged?" Goro asked, and Futaba nodded hard enough that her headphone slipped off.

She made no move to fix it.

“I do but…” Futaba frowned at her phone, “I’m not getting a signal. Ren might have just forgotten to charge his phone or…”

“Or managed to find himself trouble,” Goro finished.

It was almost impressive how Ren was able to do this. Not even 24 hours in the city and Ren is missing. His phone either being blocked, or broken.

“Even if he did, Ryuji, Sumire, and Mona-chan are with him. I sure one of them would have let us know if something bad happen to Ren,” Haru responded, but it still didn’t change the frown on her face.

“Fuck it. I’m going to Shibuya to see what they are doing.”

Goro heard Futaba’s aborted laugh from the censor, but Haru also stood up.

“I’ll come with you. Then we can let everyone know they are alright when we track them down.”

Goro didn’t try to stop her from coming. 

Chapter Text

Ren’s first thought when they got attacked by shadows was that the metaverse was back. It wasn’t as big as a surprise as it should have been since Lavenza warned him the night before, but she didn’t confirm any of his worried about Goro or if Futaba was right about them using the metaverse to get him back. It was a bit harder getting out of the jail, as EMMA called it, but they did.

The metaverse being back meant they could try getting Goro back. He wanted nothing more than to text Goro to let him now, but he got distracted seeing Sophia on his home screen.

“We should go back to Leblanc,” Ren said once she explained how she was on his phone, wondering if he could just have Ryuji text the group chat when…

“Wow, that is a lot of messages.”

“Oh, uh, Senpai? Did Futaba also tried contacting you while we were in that jail? She a few of messages...” Sumire trailed off as she held out her phone.

“I can check for you Joker! You have two phone calls and 15 messages. Do you want me to read then out?” Sophia asked.

“No, I’ll just-”

“Ren?”

Ren turned around to see Haru walking at a very fast past over to them.

“Hey! Sorry if we made you worry,” Ryuji explained, also picking up the worried look Haru was wearing.

“That’s alright. Futaba and Akechi-kun were just worried… though you all do look very tired. Did something happen?” Haru asked but before Ren could answer Sophia spoke up again.

“Joker, you have some messages from another app coming in. I can’t tell who’s it’s from.”

“Another app…” Ren muttered before turning on his third eye.

There standing a few steps away from Haru was Goro. Arms crossed and eyes narrowed.

“What happened?” He signed, frown on his face.

Goro was there with Haru. Ren wondered for a moment why just those two were looking for them, but pushed it away due to the fact that Goro was there. With them. Who just came out of the metaverse.

“We ended up in something like the metaverse using EMMA. We could go back right now and see-”

“Senpai, I know Futaba-senpai mentioned using the metaverse to bring Akechi back, but shouldn’t we wait until we have everyone?” Sumire interrupted, and Ren opened his mouth to argue that it would be fine when he caught Goro’s eye.

He didn’t look to happy with the news, but also had his hand under his chin in thought. Ren made himself wait. As much as he wanted to see if this version of the metaverse would work for Goro, Sumire was right they shouldn’t rush it. The rules were different, not to mention those people were luckily still stuck in there.

“I’ll explain everything at the cafe.”

Even though Ren said that, Ryuji and Sumire end up telling Haru and Goro a little about what happened with Morgana adding in his two cent. How Alice seemed to be something like a palace ruler but it hasn’t a palace. Ren was mostly just paying attention to Goro on the train ride back.

“Might be able to check tonight,” Ren signed, not having to try hard to get Goro’s attention.

They were next together, to the side of their group with Ren’s bag on Sumire’s lap so Morgana could talk more easily. No one was paying any attention to Ren’s hands, expect for Goro.

“You have no idea what’s going on. This Alice person is using the EMMA app to bring people into something similar to the metaverse… you really want to risk going in unprepared because you are so eager to fix me?” Goro said, and Ren was glad he had the app switch to text mode since that would have been too much for them to sign at the moment.

Not that it mattered, since Ren already knew what Goro wasn’t saying.

“You know I don’t care about fixing you, but the whole reason we are planing a trip to Okinawa as to get you back fulling back in reality. But now the metaverse is back and we can see right now if going in and out will work or not.”

“And you don’t find that suspicious? Futaba was able to track down an AI lab with some of Shido’s old researched on the payroll, and now an AI app is able to access a new version of the metaverse?”

It was suspicious, and one of the reason he agreed to meet up with everyone to talk about it. As much as he wanted to help Goro right now, there was more going on. It wasn’t just a lucky break that the metaverse was back and Ren knew they needed to touch bases with everyone.

“Alright, we can wait until tomorrow,” Ren said, but Goro didn’t look happy about wining their little argument.

Part of Ren wondered if he was nervous. Going to a lab to see if they had any information was different from suddenly having access to the metaverse again. The question if they can ‘unstuck’ Goro was there, but also what will happen to him afterwards. Ren was just hoping that Goro will be alive once he pull him out of the metaverse, but as Goro liked to remind him, they don’t know for sure.

Ren just looked to Morgana, who also thought he wouldn’t be able to exist without the metaverse, but was able to thanks to all of the phantom thieves having him in their cognition.

The conversation in the hideout went about as well as Ren thought.

“It sounds crazy but it’s true.”

“We understand. None of us would make up something like this,” Makoto said, before asking about Sophia who made her presence known to the others.

Makoto reacted to Sophia talking through his phone much more calmly than when Goro did a day ago. Ren wasn’t sure if that was because Makoto had time to get use to it, or if it was the fact that Sophia was an AI and not a ghost. Futaba was freaking out like Ren thought she would, but she wasn’t doing too bad at talking to a new person.

“Okaaay… An AI with genuine will is just way too advanced…”

“Right? We couldn’t believe it either.”

“And you said you just happened to find her in the jail?” Goro asked, speaking out of Ren’s phone that still had Sophia on it, which was a little weird.

“We should introduces ourselfs before getting into that,” Ren said before Goro could get started.

Not to mention Ren hasn’t explained Goro’s situation to Sophia yet. He was wondering if she would ask, and it came up after Ren promoted Goro to introduce himself.

“Akechi Goro… You’re the one communicating that that other app Joker has. Are you with the other phantom thieves? I don’t see you with the cell phone camera,” Sophia said with a little pout at the end.

“That’s because he’s stuck between the metaverse and the real world. I had to do a bunch of calculations to get the phone to pick up anything from him.”

“Oh! Before I found Joker’s phone I was stuck in a white place, is it like that?” Sophia asked, and Ren turned to Goro using his third eye.

Goro had his hand curled under his chin.

“It might be similar, thought I didn’t experience a ‘white place’ as you called it. It could very well be the difference between the old metaverse and this new version, or a difference between myself having a physical body and you not having one.”

Sophia made her humming jingle again.

“I have another question. Joker calls Akechi Goro ‘Goro’, but everyone else called him ‘Akechi’. The internet says that it’s polite to call people you are not close with by their family name, is that true here?”

“Uh, I guess… though it is weird that ‘Kechi is the only one we call that. I mean, it made sense when he was backstabbing us, but now…” Ryuji said, which surprised Ren a little.

He hasn’t really had a chance to talk to Ryuji much besides a few text messages confirming he really was dating Goro, and explain to Ryuji how ‘that even worked’ when they couldn’t do anything physical. There was also the awkward moment were Ryuji asked if he had a crush on Goro the whole time, then tried to apologize for always smack talking him, even if he deserved it.

“I’m just going to keep calling him crow boy. I think that fits better,” Futaba said, causing Ann to have to cover her laugh.

He wasn’t sure what exactly they were talking about. Some western romance novel Ann was reading. He mostly got the second hand jokes from Ann, or third hand from Futaba.

“Ah, Akechi do you mind if we call you by your given name?” Ann

Ren smiled at the reaction Goro had from the question, looking like Ann physically slapped him rather than ask a reasonable question.

“Why would I care about something like that. I don’t give a dam if you use Goro or Akechi or even Crow to refer to me.”

“Crow? Do you have more names than just the two?” Sophia asked, reminding them that they didn’t explain code named to her.

That prompted them to explain that Joker, Skull, Violet, and Mona went by Ren, Ryuji, Sumire, and Morgana, and that everyone was fine with Sophia using their given names while in the real world. With that out of the way, Goro once again asked what happened. 

“There’s no doubt that was the cognitive world, but something about it was awfully different from Palaces,” Morgana said before summarizing everything that happened.

Alice hanging out EMMA friend code. Whoever entered them ended up in something ‘like’ a palace. Shadows taking something from them. EMMA working like the meta-nav, and calling the place ‘the jail’.

“Futaba, is there any connection between EMMA and that lab in Okinawa?” Goro asked once they were all done explaining their side to the story.

“Not at first glance. EMMA is owned by Madicce, and the lab is headed by some guy named Ubukata. There could be something since the lab in Okinawa is a private one that will do contract work for other company, but I’ll have to look into it more.”

“We still need to rescue those people who entered that place, and it sounds like we can use EMMA to help Akechi - or I mean Goro-kun?” Sumire reminded everyone before Goro, Makoto and Futaba could get too into theorizing who was the responsible parties.

It also warmed Ren’s heart he wasn’t the only one who was thinking about how they could use this to help Goro. Saving the people was important too, but he couldn’t help but focus on Goro first this one time.

“You don’t need to use a honorific with me Sumire.”

“Are you good to head in with us Sumire? We’ll have to postpone our camping trip and you have that camp in a few days…”

“Don’t worry about that Makoto-senpai. This sounds more important, and we’ll still be hanging out together, so it’s fine!”

“It is not fine! What about our barbecue extravaganza!” Yusuke stood up and explained, getting everyone to morn the lost of their camping trip.

They ended up wrapping up not long after that, with final confirmation that they will all meet up in Shibuya tomorrow. Futaba stayed a little longer to check Sophia’s code more in depth, but she left before it got too late. The attic felt strangely empty once it was just himself and Morgana. Then just him as Morgana went down stairs to get the food Sojiro left for him.

And Goro as he quickly checked with his third eye.

“Are you nervous about tomorrow?” Ren asked the question that has been on his mind since talking with him on the train ride back.

“Nervous? Why would I be. Either it will work or not. It doesn’t matter how I feel about it,” Goro said looking at the window over Ren’s bed.

“I’m nervous about it. I still think you are alive, but you right that we don’t know. I’m not ready to lose you again,” Ren admitted, and he wondered if they could just stay like this.

Ren was more than ready to continue dating Goro regardless of if they could physically touch or not. Being able to talk with Goro was more than enough for him.

“You don’t have a choice. I refuse to remain any longer in this in between state of being alive and dead.”

“I know,” Ren said in a whisper, since is why he didn’t suggest not trying, “I just want you to know no matter what happens tomorrow, I love you.”

Goro froze up for a moment before turning around. Ren realized it was the first time he said that since his confession over a month again. At least so directly like that, and suddenly Ren wish he said it more often. He should have been treating each day with Goro as if it was their last rather than just worrying about it.

“I know,” Goro said at the ground before raising his head and looking Ren dead in the eyes, “I love you too.”

It was nostalgic meeting up at their old hideout in Shibuya. Though it was much more crowded with everyone there, even if two members of their team didn’t take up any physical space. They all agreed to make it a short trip, both to see if Goro could even come with them - and then leave with them - then to do recon on the new area. 

“Seems all that’s left is to trust Sophia and see where she leads us,” Makoto said once everyone was ready.

Ren gave one last look to Goro, who was standing by the wall on the other side of Yusuke. Makoto would be freaking out if she knew he was standing so close to her, but Ren wasn’t going to point it out. Maybe if Makoto ever gets over her fear of the dark and ghosts, they can joke about it, but not now. The important thing was that Goro was in range of the phone, and Ren wondered what they will do if he doesn’t get pulled in with them.

“Then let’s do this thing!”

Refusing to hesitate any more, Ren’s used Ryuji’s exclamation as motivated to say the keywords. Alice’s ‘friend’ code. Then a moment later, they were walking out of that green portal. It looked like the same place they exited from as Ren walked forward a bit, Joker’s boots clicking on the metal scaffolding they were on.

“Well, did we all make it?” Futaba asked, and Joker steeled himself before looked around.

Mona was right behind him, and to his left was Fox. Then right behind him was a dark figure. The silhouette was something that has been burned in Joker's mind despite not seeing it for six months now. Seeing Crow rip through shadows without any limitations during the Maruki’s fake reality made Joker aware of a lot of thing about himself. It made it even more clear that what in front of him was slightly different.

The faceplate his helmet looked familiar enough, but with no bottom half nor red lenses to block his sight. More of a mask than a helmet now, and Joker could easily see his brown hair on the sides of his head. Gone was the black and blue stripes formfitting jumpsuit, and what replaced it was much more similar to his prince tunic, but black with red accents. And a bunch of belts across his chest, with at least one that looked like a a gun holster. Not that Ren could see if there was now a gun strapped to his back, since it was covered by a short black cap that seemed to fade into shadows.

His gloves were still clawed, but now a dark red that made it looked like they were dipped in blood.

“Your phantom thief attire! What sharp and bold colors. A masterful merge of grace and violence in one form!” Joker heard Fox explained, and imagined that he pulled out the fingers to frame him, but Joker didn’t look away from Crow.

“Y-you can see me?” A voice that Joker didn’t think he would ever heard again said.

It was pitched in a way that Goro never did during his interviews, and tone that covered up his surprise with irritation. A voice that had Ren step forward before he was conscious of doing do.

Ren grabbed Goro’s arm like he tried doing back in April. Only this time his arm didn’t pass through. He hit fabric, and Ren wasted no time in doing something he’s wanted to do since February 2nd. Since spotting him on the train. Since going on their first date.

He pulled Goro in closer and wrapped both arms around him, crushing him into his chest. Ren barely avoided the sharp edges of his new mask as he burried his face into the crock of Goro’s neck.

“It worked,” Ren muttered as he squeezed harder, feeling the warm and Goro’s heart beating against his own.

He heard Goro’s breath catch, either by Ren’s words or his action, but after a moment felt hesitant hands on his back. First light, then with more and more pressure as Ren felt the tips of the claws dig into his back. It wasn't painful, but even if it was, he wouldn’t have told Goro to stop. 

For once, something was going right. He was able to touch Goro, hug him and be hugged in return. Vaguely Ren heard the other phantom thieves talk about ‘giving them space’ and Sophia’s voice joined them, but none of it seemed urgent.

“We don’t know for sure that it work. There is a very likely chance that I’m just stuck in the metaverse,” Goro said in a whisper, and Ren felt the words vibrate in his throat.

“Then let’s go back. Even if it doesn’t work, I’ll figure out some way to get you back… as long as you let me,” Ren said, feeling like he had to say that last part just incase the worst happened.

Ren looked up, Goro’s new mask directly in his face like knife. Goro stared right back at him.

He wondered if he would have taken the deal if Goro told him he wanted to live. If Goro didn’t make it painfully clear that accepting would just be death in all ways but physical. Ren knew himself well enough that there was a lot of lines he would step over to keep his loved ones alive, but he refused to overstep their own boundaries. Refused to let himself do that.

“Didn’t you need to do some recon first,” Goro said, still holding just as tightly to Ren as he was.

All Ren needed to do was slid off his mask, see his face underneath and…

“We’re already done with all that. Queen thinks we should try finding the people who went into the jail to see if it was really them or just their shadows,” Oracle said, unfortunately shocking Crow enough that he left go, and Joker mournfully let their hug come to an end.

“Also to see how they act with their desires stolen,” Noir said, and Joker saw Crow smile sharply.

“Stolen desires? My, doesn’t that sound familiar."

“Huh? What 'cha mean by that Crow?”

“Have you already forgotten? Your change of hearts… you were stealing people’s desires to brainwash them to how you see fit.”

Joker wasn’t sure if Crow was laying it on this thick due to forgetting everyone was their during his moment of vulnerability, or getting their hug interrupted before it could become anything else.

“The hell? We weren’t doing anything like that!”

“We were only stealing people distorted desires."

“Ah, my mistake then. Clearly it would be impossible for someone to use the same method as use for their own gain… oh wait.”

“Yeah, yeah, you made your point Dangerous Crow Boy. We still aren’t going to figure out if that’s true or not if we stick around any longer… so are you coming or are you two going to get 18+ in the jail?”

“Oracle!” Violet yelled as she playfully slapped Oracle's side who was laughing like a villainess.

“We’re coming,” Joker said as he grabbed Crow's hand.

Even with his own gloves on, he felt metal digging in between his fingers. It wasn't as comfortable as what he imagined it would be, but Joker made his decision.

“You’re going to cut yourself like that,” Crow commented, but also made no effort to remove his hand.

“I can deal with a few scraps,” Joker said as he gave Crow's hand a experimental squeeze.

“You really are a sentimental fool,” Crow muttered as he looked ahead at the green portal, but gave Joker a squeeze back.

The grip got tighter as the walked closer. Everyone else with through before them, and neither Joker or Crow hesitated before following. Still holding hands, as they exited the jail.