Chapter Text
The Iwatodai Dorm felt oddly quiet. Logically, Ren knew that there wasn’t any less sound then any other time when the residents were out at various activities or sleeping. Yet with everyone either busy packing or making excuses to stay away, it already felt like a ghost town.
The day before the dorm was supposed to close for good, Ren spent the morning combing through his room and making sure he’d packed everything but his toothbrush, PJs, and a change of clothes for tomorrow. As he checked through all his desk drawers, Ren heard Morgana comment, “So tomorrow’s the day we leave, huh?”
Ren glanced over at the young cat who was sitting in a loaf on his bed. Although 10-year-old Ren didn’t look much different from his 9-year-old self, Morgana had grown dramatically. His partner had barely looked like a 2-month-old kitten when they both went back in time. Now 8 months later, he looked almost fully grown, with just a slightly thin and lanky look to suggest he had a little more growing to do.
In response to Morgana’s question, Ren shrugged and said, “Yeah. My parents were supposed to pick me up a couple weeks ago, but something came up with their job so they needed to stay overseas a little longer to finish up.”
Morgana tilted his head thoughtfully, then chirped, “Well, at least we get to say goodbye to the dorm with everyone else!”
Ren just hummed an acknowledgement. He honestly would rather have been gone weeks ago. Staying at the dorm just kept reminding him that Minato was gone. Even if he happened to forget for a little while, every time he saw the downcast faces of the rest of SEES, it just reminded him of Minato’s funeral.
Trying to chase away those thoughts, Ren shoved his desk drawer shut and went to check one of his closets. On a shelf inside, he found all his gear as a member of SEES: armbands for himself and Morgana, his Evoker gun and Morgana’s special Evoker vest, a slingshot, and a dagger. As he stared at their equipment, Ren muttered, “I’m going to have to give all these back. Well, I might get away with keeping the slingshot, but there’s no way my parents would let me keep anything that looks like a real weapon.”
“Yeah…” Morgana agreed sadly. Then in a tone that sounded just a little too bright, he added, “Good thing we know where to get good model weapons when we get back to Tokyo!”
“Mm-hmm,” Ren replied listlessly. He knew that, but it still would have been nice to keep the weapons he’d gotten used to. Then again, it’s not like he’d need them. Since the Dark Hour was gone, he wouldn’t have any way to encounter Shadows until 2016 when the Metaverse app would appear on his phone. For now he just gathered up all his SEES gear and set it on the desk to give back later.
Early in the afternoon, all the dorm’s residents gathered in the command room to return their Evokers. At least, that was the plan. As Ren put his and Morgana’s gear on the table and took a seat on a couch, Fuuka hung up a phone call and sighed, “Yukari-chan says she’s too busy with cram school to come.”
Junpei scoffed, “Yeah, and Akihiko-senpai said he’ll be out at the gym.”
Shinjiro clicked his tongue, then grumbled, “I have half a mind to go drag him back myself.”
Yet Mitsuru shook her head and said, “There’s no need. Everyone deals with things in their own way.”
The room fell silent for a moment, then Ken said, “Um, I’m glad at least you were able to join us, Shinjiro-san.”
With a sigh, Shinjiro sat back and said, “Yeah. Hospital says I’m not quite ready to be released, but I could visit for today.” The cane he was still using to walk with was leaning against the arm of the couch.
Fuuka tilted her head and asked, “Um, if the dorm will be closed by the time you’re released from the hospital, then where will you go?”
Nodding over at Mitsuru, Shinjiro answered, “She’s helping me find an apartment. I should be all set up by the time school starts up, so I’ll be living there while I finish my third year.” Glancing over at Ken, he added, “We’re looking at two-bedrooms, so there’ll be space for you later.”
Koromaru sat up and barked at Shinjiro, tilting his head quizzically.
Shinjiro gave the dog a slight smile and added, “Yeah, we’re making sure whatever place we pick accepts dogs, too.” That made Koromaru’s tail start wagging.
Junpei sighed and said, “Lucky. I’m just going back to my dad’s place. Man, I’m gonna miss staying in the dorm.”
Fuuka added, “Oh, I’m going back to living with my parents, too.” Looking over at Ren, she asked, “And your parents are picking you up tomorrow, right?”
“Yeah,” Ren answered. “They said they’re coming for real this time.”
Looking between Ren and Morgana, Ken asked, “Are they OK with you taking Morgana with you? I know you didn’t have him when you started school here.”
Nodding, Ren replied, “Yeah, Mitsuru-san called my parents to talk to them about it.”
Ren had actually overheard that conversation. Mitsuru had basically told his parents that a good friend of his had died very recently, and he turned to the dorm cat as a source of comfort. She recommended he keep the cat for emotional support, and he had been very responsible about helping them take care of the cat. Apparently they accepted that, because she told him later that his parents would let him keep Morgana.
Mitsuru told Ren, “I know you two are nigh inseparable, so I’m happy to do what I can to keep you two together.” Then she looked at the Evokers on the table and added, “Although, I’ve been so busy lately that I almost wasn’t able to see you off tomorrow. If I didn’t have to retrieve all of these, I probably still wouldn’t have been able to make it.”
As Ren surveyed the assorted gear piled on the table, he remembered something else he needed to give back. “Oh yeah,” he murmured as he reached into his pocket. After pulling out his cell phone, he held it out to Mitsuru and said, “I need to give you this back, too.”
Her brow furrowed in confusion as she told him, “There’s no need to return that. It’s hardly proprietary technology, after all.”
Still holding it out, Ren replied, “Yeah, but you told me I could use it while I was a member of SEES, and SEES is disbanding tomorrow. Besides, my parents would think it was weird if someone else gave me a phone.”
Mitsuru stared at him for a moment, then sighed and allowed, “I suppose that’s true.”
As she got up to accept the phone, Ren told her, “I did write down your number, so I can call you if I need to.”
While Mitsuru returning to her seat, Aigis came into the room and set one final Evoker on the table. At the sight of it, Morgana said, “Huh? I thought you didn’t need an Evoker.”
“It is not mine,” Aigis told him. “I was holding on to Minato-san’s for safekeeping.”
And that immediately brought the mood down as everyone remembered their absent field leader.
In a very obvious attempt to change the subject, Fuuka asked, “Um, Aigis, will you be moving into another dorm once this one closes?”
Aigis shook her head and answered, “No, I will be returning to the lab in the morning.”
“Huh?” Junpei said. “You commuting from there or something?”
Shaking her head again, Aigis said, “No, I chose not to continue attending school.”
Junpei looked taken aback and yelped, “Wait, really? Why not? You got away with it before.”
“Pipe down,” Shinjiro scolded. “It’s her own business. It’s not like she really needs to attend school, anyway.”
When Junpei started to protest again, Mitsuru added, “It was her own choice. Now, while I’m here, I thought we could have one last celebration to see the dorm off. I’ve ordered top-quality sushi for us all.”
Junpei was immediately distracted by the prospect of food, and joined Morgana in cheering, “Alright, sushi!” Ren smiled at his partner, ready to sneak the little cat all the sushi he could eat.
They all moved down to the lounge and stuffed themselves with delicious sushi while chatting and reminiscing. Eventually Morgana pointed out, “Hey Ren, it’s getting late. You should get to bed soon.”
“Is it really that late?” Ren wondered, reaching for his phone on reflex. Then he stopped, grimacing as he remembered he’d already given that back. Turning to the group at large, he asked. “Um, what time is it?”
Fuuka checked her own phone and said, “Oh, it really is late. It’s almost midnight.”
Ren chuckled and teased, “You’re losing your touch, Mona. You usually make me get to bed way before this.”
“W-well, that’s…” Morgana sputtered, glanced at the nearly-empty sushi platters, then insisted, “I was just having such a good time talking with everyone that I lost track of time!”
“Uh-huh,” Ren said, unconvinced. Clearly Morgana was distracted by the sushi, not the conversation.
“Anyway!” Morgana insisted loudly. “Now we know it’s really late and you should get to bed!”
But the reminder of midnight still made Ren slightly uneasy, even months after their fight with Nyx, so he said, “I kind of want to stay up until midnight, just in case.”
Everyone looked at him quizzically. Shinjiro was the first to have his eyes widen in realization, then he said gruffly, “You don’t need to worry about it. The Dark Hour’s gone.”
Shrugging awkwardly, Ren said, “Well, there’s no harm in waiting. You said it’s not long, right?”
Fuuka confirmed, “Yes, just a few minutes.”
Pouting a little, Morgana said, “Fine. But we’re going to bed right after midnight!”
The conversation didn’t really start up again after that, and everyone just stared at the news on TV. Finally the announcer said, “It will be midnight at the tone.”
Beep. Beep. Boooop.
Right at midnight, a weird feeling ran through Ren. Junpei immediately jumped to his feet and yelped, “You feel that?”
Morgana arched his back and hissed, “Yeah! Is the Dark Hour back?”
Junpei raced to the window, then drooped in relief and called, “No, everything’s normal out there.”
Everyone still looked uneasy, and Koromaru pressed close to Ken, growling faintly.
Then Ren heard the news announce, “Today is March 31, and here is today’s news.”
“Huh?” Ken said, turning towards the screen. “Didn’t the 31st just end?”
After a moment’s hesitation, Shinjiro scoffed, "Probably just a mistake.”
“R-right…” Morgana said, his fur slowly settling. Then he rallied and insisted, “Anyway! Ren, let’s get to bed.”
Ren kind of wanted to keep figuring out what had happened, but Aigis said, “I will retire as well. Good night, everyone.” As she headed upstairs, everyone else started getting up to do the same, so Morgana successfully bullied Ren into going, too.
Ren was woken by a loud crash. He jolted upright, looking around his room for whatever the danger was.
At the foot of the bed, Morgana scrambled to his feet and yelped, “It came from downstairs!” Ren immediately flung off the covers and raced down to see what was going on, Morgana hot on his heels. As he barreled down the stairs, he could hear yells and crashes, which spurred him onward.
When he turned the corner towards the kitchen, he was met with a war zone. Most of SEES was trying to fight some dark figure barehanded, which did not seem to be going well. Everyone looked injured, the floor and walls were littered with cracks, and some kind of giant trap door had opened up in the middle of the dining area.
As soon as Morgana laid eyes on the dark figure, he puffed up and yelled, “Watch out! That thing’s a Shadow!”