Chapter Text
“Wow, I slept so well last night!” Akane stretched, sitting at the bar.
The morning had come in no time, with the stars that were outside giving way to the gray sky of daylight within the Void of Time.
Zenkichi chuckled, messing with the eggs he was cooking in a pan. “Yeah, those beds were mighty comfortable, weren’t they?”
Sojiro smiled. “I almost felt guilty sleeping on that thing. I know it’s going to hurt going back to my old bed at this rate.”
It was pretty much the adults that were awake outside of Akane, who was sitting at the bar and looking at something on her phone. Iwai had turned on the TV and was watching it, although what could be watched was vastly limited due to their location and circumstances. Kaoru, The Amamiya’s, Kawakami, Mr. Yoshizawa, Ichinose, Sophia and Okumura were scattered around the living room.
Chihaya had broken out the cards and was in the process of going through her fortune telling routine. For some reason, Ohya, Maruki and Yoshida had come over and were watching it with fascination.
“All of these are tarot cards right?” Ohya asked.
“That’s correct.” Chihaya nodded.
“So, what determines the whole thing? Is it the card in the middle?”
“If that’s how you want to look at it, yes.” Chihaya flipped the top right one. “But I wouldn’t call it absolute. Fate can change.”
Yoshida smiled. “That’s because of Amamiya-kun, correct?”
Chihaya smiled, before she let the giggle out. “How’d you know?”
Maruki let out a laugh. “He does have that effect on people, doesn’t he?”
Tae was sitting at the bar, writing something down before she looked up at the hatch. “Should we start getting them up?”
Sojiro looked at his watch. “True… it might be time to get moving. Timous came by earlier and warned us to be ready by ten.”
Sae frowned. “But he hasn’t even checked if Amamiya can even do the task today.”
“I doubt he would say this if he didn’t think Ren could do it.” Zenkichi countered. He kept playing breakfast. “Although they should get down here and eat since we fed everyone else outside of the teens.”
Mishima yawned as he came out of the boy’s hallway, dressed in school uniform. “Morning!”
“Come get some grub, kid.” Sojiro gestured to the plates with food on them. “We’re going to be back at it in an hour.”
Shinya came out and shook his head, slipping his hat onto his head before he followed after Mishima. Shiho and Guernica stepped out of the female side and walked into the kitchen.
Zenkichi looked over the living room. So far, only Hifumi, Akechi and Sumire were the only kids missing. Well, outside of the kids that were sleeping upstairs anyway.
“Should we go get them?” Zenkichi asked.
Sophia perked up and jumped up from her seat on the couch. “I will!”
The ai raced for the stairs and went up the ladder, invoking chuckles from Sojiro and Zenkichi and a giggle from Ichinose, others watched the girl with smirks and smiles as she pulled open the hatch and went up, just as Hifumi and Akechi left their hallways and came into the main area.
Sophia entered the room and looked around before she saw the giant bed with eight slumbering humans in it. She smiled before she lightly tapped her way over and clapped her hands together.
She pounced onto the bed, hands out and fingers wiggling before she collided with Ren. The teen grunted against the impact.
“Wake up! Wake up!” Sophia bounced around, hitting each of the thieves with her body outside of Morgana. Groans and whimpers left their mouths.
“Five more minutes!” Futaba whined. She pulled the pillow she was sleeping on up and over her face, trying to go back to sleep.
“Ow! Ow! Stop!” Ryuji swatted at Sophia.
“Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!” Sophia continued to bounce around, hitting Sumire and Ren before she bounced all the way down the line to Yusuke.
Yusuke shook his head, a grunt of discomfort escaping his lips. “Why…”
Makoto whined, shifting on the bed before she sat up, conveniently missing Sophia bouncing right over to Ryuji again.
“Ow! Ow! Stop it!” Ryuji yelled, as Sophia bounced over to Ann and attacked her next, making the blonde whine.
“Get up! Get up! Wake up! It’s breakfast time!” Sophia continued to shout.
“Yep. She might as well be the child.” Futaba grumbled, reaching up and grabbing her glasses from the board behind their heads. Haru sat up and gave a soft and adorable yawn before she rubbed her eye.
Morgana was the only one spared from Sophia’s attack as he stretched his legs and then jumped up onto the board. Watching as the thieves grabbed their phones one by one. Sophia laughed as she rolled off the back of the bed and stood up, waiting for them all to get up.
Ren put his glasses back on as he made to get off the bed. “Did you have to bounce on us like that?”
Sophia giggled. “I think it’s funny!”
“Oh, good for you.” Ann grumbled, grabbing her hairbands and redoing her pigtails. “We’re going to get you back for this.”
Sophia giggled some more. “No, you won’t! I can just have Ichinose lock our door!”
Ann pressed her lips together before she sighed. “Dammit.”
Morgana narrowed his eyes, then he leaned his head back. “So you have no flaws?”
Sophia shook her head. “Nope.”
“Did Ren like doing anything to mess with you at all? He does it with everyone.”
Sophia thought about it for a second. “For some reason, Papa always loved tickling me… I don’t know why he claimed I’m ticklish though…”
Morgana smirked, proud of how easy it was to get her talking. The others absorbed that little nugget of information for a few seconds.
Then a matching, devious smile climbed its way onto each of their faces, outside of Sumire who giggled, making Sophia frown in confusion from their similar expressions.
That was until she realized what she said.
A horrified gasp left Sophia’s mouth along with her arms and hands going upwards before she ran for the hatch.
*
“GET HER!” The majority of the guests snapped their heads to the ladder hearing Ann shout, just in time to see Sophia hurriedly climbing her way down the steel ladder before she ran down the staircase.
“Sophia, what did you do?” Ichinose blinked comically.
“Nothing!” Sophia cried.
All eyes snapped back to the ladder, as Ryuji had skipped it and jumped down onto the platform before he looked over his shoulder with a shit eating grin.
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!” Sophia screamed, running extremely fast down the girl's side as Ryuji, followed by Ann, ran down the first set of stairs, turned the corner and ran down the second staircase, then turned down the hallway.
“Get back here!” Ann shouted. Haru and Futaba were the next ones down the ladder before they chased after the blond duo.
“What happened!?” Kawakami was taken aback as Yusuke, Makoto and Ren came down. Morgana was on Ren’s shoulders as he climbed down before he jumped off and went after the others.
“She decided to bounce all over our sleeping bodies like we were a bounce house,” Ren explained.
Ichinose gasped, then she giggled. “Aww, Sophia might have seen some media about kids doing that to their parents. Sorry you got caught in that…”
Ren shrugged like he didn’t care anymore. Sumire climbed her way down the ladder just as the other main Phantom Thieves minus Morgana came back into the main area, no Sophia in sight. “Did she come out here?” Ann asked.
Zenkichi shook his head, deeply amused. “No.”
Ann screamed, before she went back down the hallway. “Where did she go!?”
Ren, Makoto and Yusuke walked after them, while Sumire took one look at the breakfast that was cooking before she made her way to the kitchen. Sojiro started plating her some of it.
Sophia trembled as she hid under the bed inside the room that was originally supposed to be Sumire’s. She swallowed as she watched the different feet walk by the room, some coming into the room for a second before they went elsewhere. That was until two more pairs of feet walked into the room.
“Dammit, where did she go!?” Ryuji complained, being one of the two inside the room. The other pair of feet went to the side, out of Sophia’s eyesight.
“She didn’t leave this hallway! Fan out and find her!” Ren exclaimed from the hallway.
Sophia did her best to silence her breath as they walked out. Two feet walking away from the room and going down the hall. She released a breath before she made to move out from her hiding spot.
“SURPRISE!” Ann’s head came out of nowhere from the top, her pigtails hitting the floor as Sophia screamed loudly before the blonde reached for her, a maniacal grin on her face like she was Jigsaw.
The thunderous footsteps came closer to the room before the main thieves broke in, just as Ann began to pull Sophia out from under the bed.
“Aw yeah! We got her!” Ryuji grinned.
“Uh, excuse me! I got her!” Ann corrected him as she climbed off the bed and tugged.
“Noooo!” Sophia protested, trying to scramble her way back under the bed. Unfortunately for her, Ryuji helped Ann pull her out from under the bed by the arms.
“Wait! Wait! Papa! Please! We can talk about this!” Sophia tried to protest.
Ren smirked, wiggling his fingers mischievously. “Showtime!”
“NOOOO!” Sophia immediately activated some sort of blue light, blinding the entire team before she pushed herself up and ran out of the room. She ran for the main area, only breaking out of the hallway before,
“Mona-torpedo! Go!” Ren shouted.
A loud battle cry went off before Morgana crashed into Sophia like a missile, knocking her off balance and onto the floor. She blubbered on her back, as Morgana pounced over her, landed on his feet and turned around to face her.
To the absolute bafflement of everyone else, the Phantom Thieves dashed at blinding speed into different spots around the room. Yusuke was perched on the railing for the stairs. Ryuji was hiding against the couch. Ann and Makoto were crouched on the corners going down the female side, Haru was standing right by Morgana, wiggling her fingers with mischievous intent. Ren and Futaba were staring Sophia down, knees slightly bent and eyes wide and locked on their target.
“What are you guys doing!?” Ohya was exasperated by the dramatics of the Phantom Thieves. Chihaya, Sae, Yoshida, the Amamiyas and Maruki were just blinking comically at what they were looking at. Everyone else was laughing it up.
Outside of Akechi, who was basically trying to keep a neutral face and not let the burning jealousy out.
“Hey! She’s been knocked down!” Ryuji called out.
Ann giggled. “Alright! Here’s our chance for an All Out Attack!”
Sumire coughed on her food before she snapped her head to the thieves, a piece of sausage in her mouth with some of the juice leaking down the side of her lip onto her chin. She swallowed it swiftly before she shot to her feet and ran over, to the amusement of her father and Maruki. “Wait for me, Senpai!”
Zenkichi perked up and threw his towel against the counter. Drawing chuckles from Sojiro before the Pubsec officer ran out of the kitchen, “Oh shit! I better get in there!”
Toshiro chuckled, pushing himself to his feet. “I may be slower, but I can still keep up with you kids!”
“Wait, wait, what!?” Sophia was flubbering, trying to collect her bearings.
Futaba cackled. “Get her!”
Sophia screamed as the All Out Attack of Tickles began, all the thieves rushing her down at once.
*
Laughter came from the table as the Phantom Thieves enjoyed their breakfast, almost half an hour after the tickling they gave Sophia, they were forced to break it up by Sojiro and Ichinose, as the former reminded them that they needed to get dressed and ready to take on the day.
Sophia was pouting at the table, Ichinose laughing and enjoying her pouts right next to her. “That wasn’t very nice.”
“Neither was hopping up onto our bed and bouncing all over us but you don’t see us complaining.” Ren smirked, “Relax, Sophie. It’s just good humor.”
Ryuji shoved a mouthful of eggs into his mouth. “So what do we think is going to happen today?”
Makoto looked at Ren cautiously. “Well, if you’re good, I would assume we’re going back to the Theater…”
Ren nodded. “Right.”
“Are you sure you’re alright, Senpai?” Sumire looked worried.
Ren rolled his head. “Yeah… actually I’m feeling like a new me.”
Tae was checking him over while they were eating. She wrote something down on the clipboard she was holding. “Yes… it’s… honestly baffling how fast you recovered…”
Yusuke wiped his mouth. “So… outside of what happened yesterday… Do you have any idea where the game might start for us, Ren?”
Ren thought about it for a moment, resting his hands together on the table, elbows pressed into the hard marble. A hum escaped his mouth as he thought about it.
“Well… maybe the trial? Or… what if it starts on the day I come to Tokyo…” Ren muttered, thinking it over.
Futaba fixed her glasses. “It might be the latter considering the circumstances we’ve seen so far.”
Ryuji scowled. “After what just happened too…”
Ann swallowed her food before she put her fork on the plate. “Yeah…”
Haru sent a death glare towards Akechi, who was trying his best not to act like her glare was intimidating him. Ren saw her looking, but he did nothing to stop her from doing it.
The fact that Okumura was alive and breathing was screwing with multiple parties. And Ren knew that if Haru had the chance, she would save him from Akechi. Sure, the guy was fucked up, but Ren didn’t deny what Haru had told him previously.
He was once a good man. And had Akechi not murdered him, he would have been brought back to that man. But of course, Akechi and his condescending jackass nature decided to ruin that.
But since he was here, Ren quietly took notes on how his teammates/lovers were acting around Akechi.
Ryuji was quite literally treating Akechi like a homicidal maniac, snarling like he was ready to attack him at any point. Ann was being extremely protective, always trying to have skin to skin contact with Ren and looking like she was ready to unleash Hecate at any moment. Yusuke was quite literally pretending Akechi didn’t exist. Makoto seemed like she was more concerned about Ren than Akechi at the moment but she didn’t look like she was on the happy camper train either. Futaba was holding something back, like she was waiting for Akechi to praise himself again so she could rip him down. Haru was quite literally trying to be Death incarnate. Morgana kept watching Akechi with something between interest and pity. Sumire shifted in her seat, doing her best not to look at Akechi at all, but she looked extremely conflicted on the matter.
Then there was the contrast of those who hadn’t seen him before. Sophia was bumbling about, not understanding what the problem was between the Phantom Thieves and Akechi. Toshiro seemed more neutral grounded like the rest of his confidants outside of Sojiro and Sae, who were both giving their displeasure to Akechi’s existence well known at this point, and Zenkichi remained neutral faced, like he was keeping his feelings behind a mask.
Ren once again found himself conflicted. He couldn’t say he hated Gor- Akechi. But with everything that was being shown to him, he could almost confidently say that Akechi never liked him. In fact, it was more like Akechi got a thrill off of beating him to near death and proving that he was better than him… for all that was worth.
The phantom pains of the interrogation room had bothered him for a full week after it happened. That sick disgusting gaze that Akechi gave him, because of course Ren had managed to see what Akechi did to his cognitive self, thanks to Igor… A cruel, two faced, condescending fraud who had no sense of justice at all. Just a deceptive mask to lure in potential victims.
According to Igor’s vision, that was the true Goro Akechi. And as much as Ren didn’t want to believe it, the facts were getting harder and harder to deny. He murdered Wakaba and Okumura. He turned the public against them and framed them for his crimes all so he could bask in the spotlight as the Ace Detective. He used Sae’s palace as a means to frame them and get him captured by the police. He tried to kill him too without a shred of remorse and he was working for Shido without a single inch of regret.
The voice that was trying to tell him that there was more to the story was growing quieter by the hour. And as much as Morgana did his own series of arguments about Akechi and how he really wanted to listen to him, Ren just didn’t feel like entertaining it anymore.
Not when it was Ryuji, Morgana, Ann, Yusuke, Makoto, Haru, Futaba, Sumire, Sojiro, Sae, his friends and confidants and his future companions versus Akechi, who only cared about himself and his killings and would rather kill him. The answer to that question was obvious and if someone asked him, he would say them without a second thought.
Ryuji leaned back in his seat. “So when are we going back to the theater?”
Almost like on queue, Timous, the God of Time and Stories and host of their stay, came back into the suite, looking around at the gathered individuals before he locked on the main thieves. Having finished their breakfast and were now engaging in light conversation with each other.
He did side eye Akechi, who was now scowling at the main thieves from his little corner. No one seemed to be giving him the time of day though.
Timous walked to the table. Each and every one of the Phantom Thieves turned to look up at him, while the god’s eyes remained on the star of the show. “Good to go, Mr. Amamiya?”
Ren rolled his neck and nodded. “Yeah… honestly, I feel like a new me!”
Timous smiled warmly. “Splendid. That’s very good to hear.” He took out a phone and pressed the button on it. “Get everyone moving to the theater please.”
“What’s the phone for?” Futaba asked, fixing her glasses.
“Oh, just me speaking to my servants, who have been watching the rest of my guests on the twelfth and eleventh floors. Nothing major.” Timous explained.
"You mean those Dementor things?" Futaba asked.
Timous chuckled, a found smile on his face. "Ms. Sakura, please. We can't call them Dementors. That's copyright infringement."
Some actually chalked up a laugh from the god as he pocketed his phone.
Sojiro put the towel down as he came to the table. “We’re going back into the theater then?”
“Indeed.” Timous nodded, before he made for the door. “Be sure to grab anything you wish to bring. Come along! Time is no one’s friend after all!”
*
The walk back to the theater only set into their minds that this was really happening. Getting dragged into the Void of Time, fighting an old enemy, and then being told that they needed to play a video game to save the world? Unreal.
But here they were, as Lord Timous led the group back into the theater, where the rest of the residents were already situated inside the theater, once again taking up all the space in the third row and above. The first and second rows once again remained absent of people.
Some people looked at Ren with relief, and the teen did nothing but shrug them off. He followed the god down to the first row with the rest of his friends and team, almost recreating the seating that they made yesterday. He sat himself down right in the middle, while Ryuji and Ann made their way onto either side of him. The difference now was Makoto sitting by Ann, while Yusuke and Futaba went to the other side of Ryuji. Shiho snaked her way to Makoto’s other side, while Mishima chose to take a seat next to her. Haru took a seat right next to Futaba, her father right behind her. Morgana climbed his way up in between Ann and Ren and curled up in a ball.
Sumire went to the floor, sitting crisscross right in between Ren’s legs. Sophia joined her on the floor, while Ichinose took a seat with Zenkichi and Akane, though the latter went to the floor right by her father’s legs. Once again, there was an empty seat on the right side, but Akechi once again didn’t sit in it, choosing to sit on the stairs between the first and second rows.
Anything to get the Phantom Thieves off his ass.
Hifumi proceeded to take the last seat next to Haru, completing the first row while the confidants put themselves in the second row almost exactly similar to yesterday. Guernica went to the floor and leaned back, relaxing in the space between Haru and Hifumi’s chairs. Shinya once again decided to go on the floor next to Mishima, conveniently putting himself right next to Akane.
Timous cleared his throat, earning silence in the theater. “Alright. Just a reminder. As we go into this game, I would like everyone to be respectful. I will not tolerate violence in this theater from any party. Should you choose to break this rule, I will make sure to deliver swift punishment for it.” He turned to Ren and held out the controller for him. “Mr. Amamiya. The floor is yours.”
Ren reached up and took the controller from the god before he pressed the button to turn it on. The console left rest mode and turned, illuminating the screen once more and bringing him back to the user screen before he logged himself in.
He was brought right back to the intro scene from earlier, only this time the game was asking him to save his progress. He was quick to click yes, which then drew up the save files again.
He turned to Timous. “So… where exactly…”
Timous only waved his hand, a foldable chair forming out of nowhere as the god took a seat, facing the screen at an angle. “Feel free to use the saves as you see fit.”
Ren blinked, then shrugged, going down the list of save files and clicking on the empty one at the bottom. Almost all of them were void of saves anyway so…
Ren fixed his seat as he pressed the circle button, removing the save screen. “Here we go…”
And finally, the Phantom Thieves dived into Persona 5 Royal properly.