Work Text:
Peeking out from behind the lockers, the president of the newspaper club kept her eyes glued to the doors of the classroom for 2-D. Her hands gripping firmly onto her notepad and pen as she watched students leave the classroom.
All of the other classrooms had let out for the day and finished up their cleaning but 2-D had been let out of their final lesson rather late - Probably thanks to someone putting Ushimaru into a bad mood. So now, they were scurrying to finish up their required cleaning as quickly as possible. However her interest was focused onto a single student that hadn't appeared yet. Her best guess was that he was assigned to clean within the classroom.
She'd seen a few of his friends walk past already and make notes on their movements but there wasn't anything particularly interesting or groundbreaking about what they were doing… They were just simply going about their usual routines.
Her eyes widened and she focused harder as Ann Takamaki, the beautiful blonde model of the school left the classroom.
"Well, I should probably head to work now. See you tomorrow, Ren!" She called out, looking back into the classroom and waving goodbye before walking away.
"See you tomorrow! Stay safe!" The voice of the boy she'd been waiting for replied.
So why exactly was she so determined to observe Ren closely? Well, the answer was very simple:
She had a theory that he was the leader of the Phantom Thieves.
It all made sense when you took a step back and analysed all of their big targets!
Kamoshida only had a change of heart after Ren had transferred into the school. Not to mention, this had happened after he had made friends with Ryuji Sakamoto and Ann Takamaki - Two people who had very good reason to detest Kamoshida. Not to mention, she'd heard that apparently Ren, Ryuji and Mishima ran to confront Kamoshida after Shiho attempted to take her own life. They do that and then a couple of weeks later, Kamoshida does a complete 180° and begs for forgiveness? Interesting…
Madarame was someone that they didn't seem to have any connection to at first, but then she stumbled onto the fact that they had recently come into contact with a Yusuke Kitagawa. Now, she had some friends at Kosei High, she had heard the rumours. She knew that Madarame had a single student left who was a blue haired pretty boy named Yusuke Kitagawa that was currently attending Kosei High on an art scholarship. So imagine her surprise after seeing that same group hanging around with him just after Madarame had a change of heart.
Now Kaneshiro couldn't possibly have any connections to a random highschooler, right? Wrong! She had plenty of reasons to suspect Ren of changing his heart. Reason number one: Their group suddenly got a new addition in the form of Makoto Niijima, the student council president… The same student council president that had been assigned by their useless principal to do something about the onslaught of students being blackmailed by the gang in Shibuya. Reason number two: The group were seen talking to supposed victims around school… Ren in particular was seen pulling a very anxious Iida away from prying eyes to chat and then a few weeks later, the mastermind of these scams turned himself into the police. And reason number three: One of her club members had seen Ren and Makoto walking around Central Street together and then talking to a very shady pair of men… Apparently the conversation didn't seem to go anywhere but why else would they go out of their way to converse with people who clearly had connections to guy running the entire scheme?
And Medjed… Okay, she didn't have anything connecting him to Medjed… But he could have other connections outside of Shujin! That was always a possibility!
And then currently… You were gonna tell her that it was a coincidence that when Kunikazu Okumura was ranked first in the Phan-Site polls… Their group is suddenly seen with Haru Okumura? A likely story.
The point was that she had plenty of reason to suspect him, even when disregarding the smaller changes of hearts that had been requested on the Phan-Site. Such as Ren keeping an eye on Mogami when her crush on Ikesugi began to grow increasingly obsessive and violent… and then she had a change of heart. Right. Pure coincidence.
She quickly gasped and shuffled backwards when she finally saw the guy in question leaving the classroom. She watched as he politely shut the door behind him and stopped in his tracks as he nearly bumped into a pair of girls walking past him. He quietly apologised and walked away, clearly pretending that he couldn't hear them whispering about the various rumours about him behind his back.
It was time to flex the Newspaper Club's investigative skills! She'd finally get some concrete evidence or her name wasn't Airi Edogawa!
She hurried after him as he walked down the stairs - stealthily, of course. She ducked behind the wall as he turned to go down the next set before darting down to the halfway point. She stared intensely while the boy casually sauntered down to the bottom of the stairs, intrigued to see what he could possibly be planning to do afterwards. She was so focused on her target that she had completely disregarded everything else in her surroundings.
"Well, yeah, that's what I'm saying but do you think he actually listened?"
"Eh, fair point. He's a great guy but sometimes it feels like I'm talking to brick wall…"
"Exactly! Like if I-"
Thud!
A sudden pressure barged into Airi's back. It hurt. It was hard and kind of sharp… and it was sending her rumbling forwards… towards the staircase leading down.
"Oh shit! Look out!" A panicked voice exclaimed from behind her but Airi couldn't answer. Her mind was simultaneously screaming a thousand words a minute but also running in slow motion as she saw herself growing closer and closer to a very painful fall.
Before she react in the slightest, a sudden blur entered her vision and then she collided with… something soft? Wait, what? She blinked in confusion as her heart pounded anxiously. Looking down, she saw a pair of plaid trousers. Her eyes followed them up to discover that she had fallen into someone's chest. And then looking up even further, she discovered Ren staring down at her with a concerned expression.
Taking a better look at where she was, Airi discovered that Ren had darted back to the stairs and lowered his body to catch her, steadying himself with one hand firmly gripping onto the nearby banister and his other arm wrapped firmly around Airi's waist to ensure that she didn't slip away from him and down the stairs.
But… He was halfway down the corridor… How the hell did he move that fast?
"I'm so sorry, Edogawa! I couldn't see you!"
Airi followed the voice and looked back at the top of the stairs to discover two boys in PE uniforms carrying large boxes of textbooks. The one wearing a headband was looking down at Airi with a guilty expression - clearly he was the one that had bumped into her. The other was looking at Ren, his eyes practically sparkling.
"You okay?" Ren's soft voice entered her ears, causing her to flinch slightly from just how close his mouth was to her ears.
"O-Oh, right, yes, I- Uh… I'm fine, thank you." She replied, very flustered by both the terrifying experience of almost tumbling down the stairs and also being saved by the very person she was tailing.
Ren simply nodded and smiled at her, readjusting his hand from her waist to her back and carefully pushed. Airi leaned up with his support until she could reach the banister and pull herself back up onto her feet.
Once she had solid footing again, Airi readjusted herself; fixing her hair, Patting down her uniform and tilting her glasses back to their original position. Looking back up at the two boys in tracksuits, Airi finally recognised them as Takeishi and Nakaoka from the recently reinstated track team. Takeishi was still looking at her with a guilty expression while his arms were full carrying a box of textbooks reaching up to his chin.
She gave him a reassuring smile. "It's okay, Takeishi-kun. I'm fine and to be honest, I'm not really surprised that you couldn't see me."
A relieved sigh came flooding out of Takeishi's mouth. "Oh thank god… Still, though, I'm really sorry… Is there anything I could do to make it up to you?"
"Um… Not that I could think of… Maybe a drink from the vending machine? I am pretty thirsty…" She murmured with a thoughtful finger pressed to her chin.
"O-Okay, sure, yeah! I can do that! Just… let me put these away first." Takeishi requested as he began carefully descending the stairs himself.
"But damn, Amamiya! You sure moved quick!" Nakaoka gasped, his gaze still firmly focused on the fluffy haired boy who was once again at the bottom of the stairs.
Ren just hummed curiously as he looked back at the group on the stairs.
"For real, you were like some kinda ninja!" Takeishi agreed.
"You ever thought of joining the track team? You'd probably win meet after meet with that kinda speed!" Nakaoka continued with an enthusiastic grin.
Ren let out an amused scoff and shook his head. "Nah, I'm good. If you wanna invite anyone to join the team, invite Ryuji."
"We tried! He turned us down."
Ren laughed brightly. "Damn, your loss, huh?"
"You're telling me… Oh! By the way if you see him around, could you tell him we said sorry for slugging him?"
"Yeah… I won't lie, we kinda needed that at the time but the more time that passes, the more I just feel like an asshole…"
"I mean, sure, but I think it would be better if you told him yourself."
"True…"
"Yeah, I guess you're right… It's just kinda… hard to bring it up."
"Yeah, I get that but you can do it. I don't think Ryuji holds any grudges." Ren replied, shoving his hands into his pockets. His eyes widened in surprise as he felt something unfamiliar. Pulling the object out, he immediately remembered what it was.
"Oh, right. You dropped this, Edogawa-san." He stated as he held out his hand with her notepad and pen perched in his palm.
Airi yelped and hurriedly snatched them back from him; that notepad had her notes on him and his teammates after all, the last thing she wanted was for him to see it… He didn't see it, did he?!
The three boys looked at her with stunned faces. Ren quietly snickered, looking at her with a knowing smile. "Spoilers for your next article?"
Huh? Oh! Well, that would certainly make for a good cover story! Let's go with that!
"Yep! It's a big work-in-progress so I really don't want anything to leak out about it." She explained, frantically cramming her notepad into her own pocket while trying to play it cool.
"Damn, must be a pretty good article if you're that protective of it." Remarked Nakaoka.
"Yeah, I might have to actually check out the school newspaper for once." Agreed Takeishi.
Nakaoka hurriedly elbowed him in the side and hissed into his ear with an urgent whisper. "Don't say that to the person who writes the thing, dumbass!"
"Oh, uh, I mean! I always look forward to the newspaper…!" Takeishi tried to rectify the situation, not wanting to hurt Airi's feelings especially after accidentally shoving her down the stairs.
"It's fine. I know it's nowhere near as popular as it used to be. Just the fact that you're showing interest in this article means a lot." Airi assured him, already having grown a thick skin after consistently hearing faculty members discussing potentially shutting down the newspaper club.
"Well, I'm really looking forward to reading it. I'm sure you'll have some interesting analysis." Ren spoke up, making direct eye contact with Airi while he had a cheeky smirk on his face.
… He knew, didn't he?
He had to have seen the notes she'd taken… That was only explanation for that smirk he was giving her. She opened her mouth to question him but before she could speak-
"Ah, Amamiya-kun! Here you are! I was looking for you!"
The cheerful voice drew the teenagers' attention over to Maruki who was wandering over to them with his usual friendly smile.
"Oh, Sensei. Everything alright?"
"Yep, I was just a little worried about you, that's all. You said you were heading over to the Nurse's Office and then you didn't show up… Is everything alright?"
Ren's eyes widened, seemingly only just remembered that promise to meet up now. "Oh, right! Sorry, there was a slight accident so I got a little distracted."
Maruki glanced over at the other three lingering at the bottom of the stairs and took note of the slight scuff marks on a couple of the steps. "I see. Is everyone alright?"
"Yeah, I'm good."
"Yup!"
"Oh, it's nothing to worry about."
"Yeah, Amamiya stopped anything too bad from happening."
Maruki looked back at Ren with a smile and gave him an encouraging pat on the back. "Oh yeah? Well, good on you, Amamiya-kun."
Ren just blushed and shrugged off Maruki's praise. "It's nothing… Anyone would have done the same…"
"Alright, alright… Well then, shall we get this session underway already?" Maruki changed the subject.
"Sure thing."
"Alright then, after you."
Maruki gestured for Ren to go first which the tall boy happily did. As they walked away towards the Nurse's Office, Maruki turned around and looked at the other three.
"You all take care too, okay?"
"Sure thing!"
"Will do, Doc!"
"Of course, Sensei."
As the two track team members began walking away to finally put down the huge boxes crammed full of books, Airi stood there with a thoughtful expression. Maybe she'd have to go about this in a more roundabout way… Were there any other happenings around school that could point to the conclusion she was trying to prove? It was hard to say, I mean it's not like there were any other teachers that publicly… ousted…
… Wait.
"Takeishi-kun! Nakaoka-kun! Do you two mind if I ask you two some questions?"
"Well sure, just let us us return these first. My arms are killing me…"
"Questions about what?"
"About Yamauchi and how he was pulled from the role as the track team supervisor."
Ren… definitely knew that Airi was investigating him. He had to. That was the only explanation for his recent behaviour.
The only thing that had changed was that a calling card had been sent to Okumura and now everyone was waiting for a response from the man himself. No one had any idea how long that would take since the time between the calling cards being sent and the target's publicly apologising varied.
So, while they waited for the inevitable press conference, Airi decided to put her all into digging up definitive evidence of Ren being a Phantom Thief.
However.
Ren didn't seem to want to make that easy for her.
She'd be hot on his tail, only for him to walk around a corner and seemingly disappear into thin air. Or he'd enter the train station and just completely blend into the crowd and make Airi lose track of him.
Hell, one time she saw him walk towards that Untouchables shop off of Central Street but he wasn't there when she turned the corner… and when she went into the store itself, he wasn't there either… and there was no way that he would have been able to escape through the other end of that street without making a racket as he climbed over all of the bikes. It was just impossible. Somehow between Central Street and Untouchables… He had just vanished. And then half an hour later he walked out of that alleyway as if nothing had happened!
And the worst part was that he seemed to be enjoying this. Just as quickly as he'd disappear, he'd magically reappear behind Airi. And he'd always be his usual sweet self: asking if she was okay, offering her a drink, asking if she needed any help with anything… One time, Airi had wandered over to the school's flower garden and paced back and forth, muttering to herself.
"It's just one guy. He can't be that slippery. I can catch him, I'm a journalist after all. I'll prove that Ren is the one! It has to be Ren!"
"What about me?"
Airi could still remember the way her soul practically left her body as Ren popped up from behind one of the flowerbeds, staring up at her with an innocent smile and a cutesy tilt of his head. It was insane how someone could be so adorable and yet so irritating at the same time.
She came to find out that he was there because he was helping Haru tend to the flowers, which in hindsight, Airi should have considered as a possibility after doing so much research on his potential teammates. She made a mental note to avoid the garden and the rooftop if she ever needed to vent about her lack of progress.
She had been doing a lot of extra investigating around Shujin, trying to get more info around Ren himself in the hopes that this opposite approach would garner some sort of connection to potential Phantom Thief shenanigans. Unfortunately she hasn't come up with too much… Although she did discover two very interesting stories:
The first one was the scoop she had gotten from Takeishi and Nakaoka. Apparently Yamauchi was outed by Ryuji via a phone recording of a conversation he had at restaurant. However Ryuji wouldn't have been able to sit close enough to record that without Yamauchi recognising him… Which then led to the reveal that Ren was the one sat near them on call with Ryuji, allowing the blond to record the entire conversation being picked up by Ren's phone.
The second story was one she had overheard from some girls in the third year. Apparently Ren had been seen accompanying Makoto through Shinjuku and talking to a Eiko Takao. With that interesting tidbit, Airi simply had to question Eiko herself… The truth of the situation was that Eiko had unfortunately been tricked into thinking a host truly loved her when in reality he just wanted to scam her and sell her off for some easy money. It was an honestly sickening scam and Airi couldn't properly express how grateful she was that the two of them had saved Eiko from that. Eiko couldn't either; she'd apparently tried to do something nice for Makoto multiple times but Makoto always refused, saying that she was simply doing the right thing.
So, what did these stories have in common? Ren got involved in some business that really didn't concern him in the slightest to help someone he barely knew anything about. Sort of like the Phantom Thieves with these big changes of heart they were triggering, right?
And what did this prove? Well… Nothing, really. It was still all just a working theory.
But right now… Right now, she had an amazing scoop! She saw Ren on the phone with someone, speaking with quite a tense expression on his face before quickly rushing off. If he was reacting with that much urgency, it had to be something important! Such as… something related to the Phantom Thieves! She didn't know where exactly he was heading, but she did overhear him mumbling about Odaiba. So of course she was rushing over there immediately.
Luckily for her, she had managed to keep up with Ren as he walked briskly through the streets, clearly very determined to reach his destination. Although at some point, something seemed to catch him by surprise and he sped up to a sprint. Airi wasn't entirely sure what since her eyes were glued to the boy himself but she would come to find out when he skidded to a halt and looked up.
…Up?
Airi's eyes shot wide open. Her jaw practically hit the floor. Just… what the hell was this?
In front of them, the place were a construction site for a new stadium once stood… Was now a towering, abstract building stretching up as far as the eye could see into the sky. The glimmering exterior reflected the setting sun in a way that was blinding.
Airi quickly dove behind a nearby wall as she watched Ren closely. When he first saw the building, he appeared confused too but now… Now he appeared very calm and collected, as if he were very familiar with this kind of bizarre experience.
She heard him talking to someone too… She wasn't quite close enough to make out what they were saying but the other voice was quite cute and Ren seemed to hold their opinion in high regard. Once their conversation had ceased, Ren charged towards the mind-bending building.
Airi gasped as she watched him disappear inside. He really entered a freakish building like that?! Was he insane?! Did he have a death wish?!
She… She needed proof that she wasn't going crazy. She fumbled around in her pocket and pulled out her phone, holding it up to take photographic evidence of what was before her very eyes.
But the camera didn't work.
Airi hurriedly checked the rest of her apps, only to discover that none of them were working despite being perfectly functional just minutes ago. Trying her best to ignore the hammering in her chest, Airi slid her phone back into her pocket.
Her eyes flicked about her surroundings. It was at this point that she noticed no one else was around. Not a single soul. In fact, there wasn't even any other life around. No people, no sounds of distant cars, no birds flying past, no stray cats lingering around… It was complete, eerie silence. She looked back at the building and the doorway Ren busted through…
She took a few steps forward.
She looked up at the tower disappearing into the clouds.
She shuffled back to her hiding place behind the wall.
Yeah, she really wasn't brave enough to enter that building. If she had to choose between the empty streets and the complete unknown of that creepy building… Yeah, she'd stick with the streets. Although she was left with the dilemma that, wherever she was, she had no idea how to get home…
She decided to just wait for Ren to return and hopefully tag along with him…
Thankfully for her, Ren was only gone for about an hour. And he came back with… Yoshizawa? What exactly was she doing in a place like that?
But that wasn't the strangest thing that occurred when they came back. When they exited that weird building, the scenery around Airi seemed to warp. The shimmery effect of that building's exterior faded away into the sky, the tower disappeared before her very eyes, the background noise of the city just living it's life re-entered her ears, and her phone had somehow started working again.
Just what the hell was all of that?!
She carefully snuck closer to Ren and Yoshizawa, hoping to gather some understanding of those bizarre events from their conversation. Unfortunately, there weren't too many good hiding spots close enough to them to hear so Airi kept shuffling around, only hearing bits and pieces of their conversation.
At one point, Yoshizawa appeared to be very flustered.
"S-So when we were at the café with Akechi-kun, I criticized the Phantom Thieves right to their leader's face…"
Airi immediately perked up upon hearing that comment from Yoshizawa. The leader…?! Yes! She knew it! She was right on the money! Her journalist's instincts never led her astray!
She couldn't help but give a victorious fist pump, accidentally elbowing a nearby piece of apparatus from the construction site.
"Did you hear something?"
Oops! Well, that was her cue to leave!
This turn of events was just insane… That press conference with Okumura was just… haunting. That lifeless look on his face as that black liquid leaked out from his eyes and mouth… That was unfortunately going to be burned into Airi's memory for the rest of her life. A shiver ran up her spine as the realisation hit her that she had watched a man die in real time… Horrifying wasn't enough to properly explain it.
But the worst part was that people believed that the Phantom Thieves killed him. All she had heard, no matter where she went, was people condemning the Phantom Thieves and declaring that they 'always knew they were evil!'… Just shamelessly lying as they jumped the bandwagon.
They were wrong, though. Airi firmly believed that. After all, she knew who the Phantom Thieves were and it was obvious by simply watching them that they weren't the murderous type. They were all very virtuous people who strived to make the world a better place. Granted, their methods could be considered morally grey but they gave their targets the chance to apologise and redeem themselves by atoning for their crimes… Killing them completely went against that philosophy.
She sighed, running her fingers through her hair as her stomach anxiously tied itself in knots. She was releasing her new article in the school newspaper today and she really wasn't sure how well it would be received. She didn't mind though; those were her genuine beliefs and if she at least got some people to question the weird events that were happening, she would be happy. Still though, she couldn't help but feel nervous.
"Haru!" A voice softly called out as someone jogged past Airi. The bespectacled girl lifted her head to see Ren rushing over to Haru who was finally back at school after everything.
"Oh, Ren. Good morning…"
"How are you holding up?" Ren asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"I'll be fine, thank you…"
"You know the rest of us are here for you. If you need anything at all, please let us know. We'll be there."
Haru's eyes widened at the sincerity in Ren's voice. A sad, tired smile spread across her face. "I see… Thank you, that's very sweet of you."
"Actually, I remember Makoto mentioning that she'd taken notes for you for all of the lessons you missed. I'm sure she'd be happy to help you catch up."
"Oh, really? That's so nice of her…"
"That's Miss President for you." Ren chuckled in an attempt to add a little brevity to conversation. He gasped as his elbow nudged against his bag. "Oh!"
"What is it?"
Ren dug into his bag before carefully pulling out a thermos and handing it to Haru.
"It's from Sojiro. It's coffee. I can't remember which blend he used but it's a sweeter one with a chocolatey taste… He said for you to take care of yourself."
Haru stared at the thermos with wide eyes as the warmth spread through her hands right up to her fingertips. Her bottom lip trembled as her eyes began to water slightly.
"Th-That's so… lovely of him…! T-Tell him I said thank you…" She quickly rubbed her eyes, not wanting to walk into her classroom with puffy eyes.
Ren smiled gently at her. "You can tell him yourself. You're welcome at Leblanc anytime, after all."
Haru smiled again, this smile appearing a little brighter than the last one. "I see… Thank you!"
As the two spoke, a sudden influx of more students walking past let them know that the first lesson of the day was probably starting soon.
"W-Well then, we should probably get going… Thank you again, Ren. I really appreciate this." Haru bowed before hurrying away to her classroom, waving at Ren as she left.
Ren waved back, calling out to her in a comforting voice. "Take as much time as you need. We're here for you."
Airi couldn't help but smile at the display, although it was quite a conflicted smile. You expected her to believe that this boy trying his best to console his grieving friend was the one who killed said friend's father? Pardon her language, but that was bullshit.
Noticing that Ren was beginning to head over to his own classroom, Airi hurriedly jogged after him.
"A-Amamiya-kun!"
Ren hummed curiously and turned around to look at her. "Edogawa-san? Did you need something?"
This was clearly weighing down on him… At this point, it felt weird not getting some jokey, playful comment from him…
"It's nothing important… I wanted to talk to you but since first lesson's about to start, would you be able to meet me during lunch?" She requested, trying her best to play it cool.
Ren blinked, caught off guard by the sudden invite. "Uh, sure. I can do that."
"Great, would you be able to meet me in the Newspaper Club Room?"
"U-Um… Where is that?"
"Oh right. Practise building, second floor. You'll find it by looking at that signs."
"Alright, I'll see you during lunch, then."
"Great! Thanks! See you then."
"So… What exactly did you wanna talk to me about?"
It hurt Airi a little to see Ren so tense, but it was completely understandable. She breathed out a nervous sigh as she picked up the newest edition of the school newspaper and handed it over to Ren.
"I wanted to show you my new article."
Ren gazed down at the front page to see the headline of Airi's latest work.
'Phantom Killers? Doubtful. The Many, Many Holes In The Media's Story Make It Hard To Believe The Thieves' Guilt.'
Airi noticed Ren's eyes widen slightly upon seeing her headline but he quickly covered that up with his usual poker face.
"Why do you think that?" Ren asked, playing innocent.
"There's too many inconsistencies with the story. The death doesn't match their M.O., the poll of the Phan-Site almost feels like it was orchestrated, if a calling card was actually sent to the Principal why didn't they make a spectacle of it like they did with Kamoshida?, and if we follow the theory that the Thieves are Shujin students… Then they were likely in Hawaii when Principal Kobayakawa died. They have an alibi."
Airi stared deep into Ren's eyes with a serious gaze as she gave him the run-down of her reasoning. Ren's eyes, despite being hidden behind his hair, kept darting between Airi and her newspaper. Eventually he spoke up.
"… And why tell me this?"
Airi shot a cautious glance over to the door because leaning in closer and whispering to Ren.
"Because I know you're a Phantom Thief."
Ren fell silent.
His face turned pale.
His eyes trailed down to look at Airi's phone.
"You're fine. It's turned off." She assured him.
Ren remained silent, his Adam's apple bobbing as he anxiously gulped.
"It's alright, I'm on your side." Airi insisted, staring up at him with sincere eyes.
Ren nervously bit his lip before finally speaking up again. "… How long have you known?"
"I've had suspicions for a while now… But I've known for a fact for a week or so now. I followed you to Odaiba and saw you go into this weird tower… When you came back out, I heard you and Yoshizawa-san talking about it."
Ren's eyes shot wide open and he urgently leaned in closer to Airi. "Y-You saw that tower?! You didn't go inside, did you?!"
"N-No! No way! I was… way too scared… to go anywhere near it…" Airi shyly admitted, feeling a little embarrassed about essentially telling him that she was a coward.
"Okay, good… That was a smart call." Ren gave a surprisingly positive response to her apparent wimping out.
"R-Really?"
"Yeah, those places are dangerous if you don't have certain abilities."
"So then… Do those places have something to do with how you change hearts?"
"…Yeah, they do."
"Wow, she seems to catch on pretty quick." An unknown voice commented. Wait a moment… That was the voice was the voice she heard Ren talking with on that day but where-
She stared at the fuzzy head sticking out of Ren's bag in disbelief.
"Di-… Did your cat just… talk?"
Both Ren and his cat looked at her with stunned expression. "Wait, you understand him?!"
"Actually, wait! If she wandered into the Metaverse, then she probably heard my voice. It makes sense that she could understand me now." The cat remarked with a flick of his tail.
"Oh, that's true." Ren replied with an understanding nod.
This… was a lot for Airi to take in…
"Wh-What do you mean…?!" She managed to gasp out.
"Uhhhh… This is Morgana, he's the one that taught us to be Thieves. In the Metaverse, he speaks and if you hear him speak in that world, it changes your cognition and allows you to hear him in the real world. Does that makes sense?"
Airi had to process that for a minute or so to make sense of what she'd just been told. "So… Because I heard him over in that weird place… My brain just kinda accepted that he can talk and now I can hear him when he's like this?"
"Yeah, that's exactly it."
"Very well done!"
Airi awkwardly laughed, really not sure how handle being praised by a cat. Still though… She had to admit this was incredible; like something straight out of a manga!
"So then, how does that freaky place tie into things? How do you change hearts? What exactly does it mean to change someone's cognition? You said those places are dangerous, how do you protect yourselves? Wh-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa… It's a really long story… I'm not really sure where to start and it'll take a while to explain everything." Ren lifted his hands up in front of Airi in an attempt to calm her down.
Instead, the girl grinned and leaned in close. "We have until the end of lunch. Besides, I'm intrigued now, you can't leave me hanging!"
"Is that your journalist's instinct at work?" Asked Morgana with a knowing tilt of his ears.
"You know it!"
Ren shook his head, letting out an amused chuckle.
"Alright… But this is all strictly off the record, right?"
Airi proudly slammed her hand down onto her notepad as if she were swearing an oath.
"You have my word!"