Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.

Ken stifled yet another yawn as he continued to pace in front of the television set. Koromaru sat on the floor, but his eyes followed Ken every moment.

Ken sighed before rubbing at his eyes.

It had been such a long day. First Akechi had decided to show up. Ken's first reaction had been to be confused. Why was Akechi here? And how did he even find where Ken had lived?

Then Akechi had to open his mouth…

Ken shut his eyes, trying to push the image of Akechi's almost maniac expression—the way his eyes gleamed with fervor—as he explained to Ken that he had been working for Shido all for the sake of revenge.

It was like looking at a distorted mirror. Ken couldn't help but think of a scenario where he had never come across Akihiko-san and Shinjiro-san's discussion, and so let his bitterness consume him.

Ken shook his head. Makoto hadn't dragged him to LeBlanc for that talk with everyone for him to wallow about this. He was just staying up to wait for Shinjiro-san to get back from work.

It felt wrong to wait any longer.

It was nearly 2:00 AM though… Ken sat down on the couch. Koromaru scrambled up to him, resting his head on Ken's lap. Ken chuckled softly before stroking the top of the shiba inu's head.

"Shinjiro-san sure is taking his sweet time tonight, isn't he?" Ken asked.

Koromaru just let out a little bark before snuggling closer to Ken. He sighed. Well… dogs did need more sleep than humans did. It was no surprise that Koromaru was tired.

Ken absentmindedly stroked Koromaru's fur as Koromaru drifted to slumber. Eventually, his eyelids started to grow heavier and heavier…

"What a night…" Shinjiro griped to himself as he trudged out of the elevator.

He normally liked his job, he really did. But damn, there were some nights that were rough. Especially when certain people got drunk and did something stupid. He really couldn't wait to shower and head to bed.

He pulled out his key and carefully unlocked it. He twisted the knob slowly to ease the door open and slipped inside so he wouldn't wake up Ken.

But he wasn't expecting the light to be still on.

"What the…?" he questioned. "Ken better not be up studying—"

He stopped short as his eyes fell on Ken slumped on the couch, with Koromaru sleeping on his lap. Shinjiro couldn't help but feel confused. Ken wasn't normally the type to fall asleep while watching a show—that was more Iori's forte—so why the hell had he fallen asleep on the couch? He didn't even have any books spread around him.

Wait… the TV wasn't even on. Then why was Ken just sleeping on the couch?

Shinjiro just shook his head. It wasn't important why he had fallen asleep on the couch. But he had to get Ken up. He'd have a serious crick in his neck if he'd keep sleeping like that. And it wasn't like he could carry Ken to bed like he could when Ken was still shorter than the girls.

He walked up to Ken, bending down and poking Ken's side. Ken was ticklish so the best way to wake him up was to poke him near the ribs.

"Ken, wake up," he hissed.

After only a few pokes, Ken's face suddenly scrunched up and his eyes fluttered open.

"Wha—" Ken suddenly gasped. "Shinjiro-san!"

Shinjiro snorted before straightening up. "Yeah, it's me. What were you doing, sleeping on the couch?"

"I didn't mean to—I was trying to wait for you to get back," Ken mumbled out as he rubbed at his eyes, his voice still a little groggy from sleep.

Shinjiro couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that. That was weird. Ken had never waited up for him like this. Not that he wanted to, when he worked so late. Ken should be getting his rest.

"What's so damn important that you're making yourself stay up? Couldn't it wait until morning?" he asked, folding his arms over his chest.

"It's important!" Ken said indignantly before he gave a little frown; then he pursed his lips together.

He suddenly looked really nervous.

"Um… well you see… Akechi came to see me earlier today," he said awkwardly.

What…?

"Goro Akechi?" he asked.

Ken scowled up at him before a small pout appeared on his face. "Yes, that Akechi. Who else would it be?"

His expression suddenly grew somber.

"Did he hurt you?" Shinjiro demanded as anger suddenly surged through him. "Threaten you?"

"No, it's just…" Ken trailed off for a moment before he slowly inhaled. "Shinjiro-san… he came here for a purpose."

Ken then bit his lip before meeting Shinjiro's eyes.

"Shido wasn't lying. Akechi is my cousin."

Shinjiro opened his mouth, but Ken shook his head.

"Akechi told me a lot. Our moms were sisters." A bitter smile suddenly filled Ken's face. "You've seen pictures of Mom. Her eyes are the same color as Akechi's."

Shinjiro wanted to argue that while red wasn't the most common eye color, it wasn't rare either. Ken and Akechi's hair weren't even the same shade of brown. Ken's hair was several shades lighter.

"Ken—" Shinjiro began, intent on reassuring his ward but Ken cut him off.

"He told me about the one time we met when we were five, after my grandparents on Mom's side died. It jogged my memory." Ken folded his arms over his chest. "That did happen. I remember sitting on the hotel room's bed, watching Neo Feathermen with him."

Ken couldn't help but falter.

"Um… he told me something that might shock you…" he said slowly.

"You just told me that he's barged into our apartment just to tell you that you're his cousin. Try me," Shinjiro challenged.

Ken blew his bangs out of his face, but he still looked conflicted.

"Uh well… Akechi is Shido's bastard son," Ken finally said.

"Well… wasn't expecting that," Shinjiro thought to himself.

But Akechi was Shido's bastard child, huh? Then something occurred to Shinjiro.

"Hang on. He's been helping Shido, right? Why the fuck would he help his old man if Shido abandoned him and his mom in the past?" Shinjiro demanded.

Ken picked at a stray thread of his sleeve, suddenly looking a lot more nervous. Then he finally raised his head, meeting Shinjiro's eyes.

"Revenge. And he wanted to rope me into it," Ken said quietly.

Shinjiro groaned, rubbing at his face. Of fucking course.

Akechi must've been fucked up after losing his mom. Though that didn't justify aiding Shido just for the sake of revenge. Not with other people's lives at stake.

But… revenge? Ken had met his aunt like… once. Why did Akechi just assume that he'd want revenge against Shido for that? It'd make more sense if Akechi went for how Shido's men kidnapped Ken.

Unless… Akechi was actually oblivious to that Shido's men had kidnapped Ken. But that was nearly impossible.

It had occurred to Shinjiro before that Akechi had known about the plan to kidnap Ken but he never voiced it. It would just upset everyone in the long run.

But then Ken spoke again.

"It was like seeing how I acted seven years ago," Ken suddenly said, his voice hollow.

His eyes had a haunted look to him, his fingers curling into Koromaru's fur.

"Don't beat yourself up about this, Ken," Shinjiro scolded. "You made the choice to give up on revenge. Akechi is clinging to it. You can't beat yourself up for something that happened seven years ago."

"I know, I know," Ken sighed, his eyes lowering to the ground. "Makoto and the others told me the same thing."

"So, you told them already, huh?" Shinjiro crossed his arms over his chest. "Why didn't you come find me at Crossroads after what happened, then?"

"Didn't want to bother you…" Ken mumbled out, his voice barely above a whisper as he raised his head.

Shinjiro grumbled to himself. He should've figured it was something like that. But Ken was already looking down enough. He'd let it go… this time.

Shinjiro said finally, "You're not a bother, Ken. But it's good that you're telling me now."

"Mm-hm." Ken seemed distracted for whatever reason, his eyes growing distant.

Shinjiro narrowed his eyes. Was Ken trying to hide something else from him?

"Though um, Shinjiro-san…" Ken suddenly said. "There's something you need to know… he knows about what happened that night."

Ken didn't have to clarify. Shinjiro immediately understood what he meant.

"How the fuck…" Shinjiro trailed off as the realization hit him.

Shido. Of fucking course. Akechi must've gained access through them. That also explained how Akechi was able to find Ken, he assumed. He must've gotten ahold of Ken's personal info.

Shinjiro took a deep breath; getting pissed about this wouldn't help, especially when Ken already felt so bad.

"Are you okay?"

A bitter smile suddenly pulled at Ken's lips. "Define okay."

Shinjiro's heart gave a pang at that.

Shinjiro hated to bring it up but… the others needed to be told.

Shinjiro slowly inhaled before looking to Ken. "Since you already told your friends… when are we telling everyone on Port Island?"

Ken flinched at that. "I… I don't know…"

He sighed, his expression growing pensive.

"I… I guess it's best to tell them as soon as possible." Then he bit his lip before hesitantly looking to Shinjiro. "But um, Shinjiro-san… can you be there for the call too?"

Shinjiro huffed. "Dumbass. Of course, I'm gonna be there."

Ken was nervous for nearly the entire day. He texted the group chat with his senpai about telling them something important. He was spammed by demands about what was wrong; they jumped to the conclusion that something had gone wrong with the operation already.

They only quit it when Shinjiro-san told them to knock it off and to wait until the video call. It was a relief. He was already nervous about telling them the truth.

Akechi had aided Shido. And Shido was the reason why the Shadow Operatives had hit so many troubles. He was honestly dreading to see how they'd react…

He was fairly confident that they wouldn't shun him for this but…

Koromaru suddenly jumped into Ken's lap, yanking him out of his thoughts. The shiba inu then let out a bark before licking Ken's cheek.

Ken couldn't help but chuckle before he petted Koromaru on the head. "Are you telling me not to worry?"

"I could've told you that," Shinjiro-san suddenly said, glancing up at the two of them.

Shinjiro-san was fiddling with the computer and wires for the video call, like how they had done with his friends when they called Mitsuru-san. But then his expression softened.

He asked, "Are you ready?"

Ken sighed, watching Koromaru drop back down to all fours before the shiba inu wandered off.

"As ready as I'll be, I guess," he said quietly.

Shinjiro-san just nodded before starting the call. Ken's heart thudded in his chest as the call rang.

Yukari-san picked up first—she had gone back to wrapping up her job, though with Kiyomi's early birth Ken suspected that she was in even more of a hurry to wrap things up. Akihiko-san and Minako-san were probably really exhausted from taking care of Kiyomi, who needed their full attention, as well as watching over the twins.

Yukari-san looked like she was ready to demand what's going on when Junpei-san joined the call. Then it was Akihiko-san and Minako-san, then Fuuka-san, and lastly Mitsuru-san and Aigis-san.

"Damn, you look like crap, Aki," Shinjiro-san suddenly said.

Akihiko-san immediately puffed up in anger. "Shut up, Shinji! You try taking care of a newborn baby!"

Well, Ken had to admit that Akihiko-san was looking a little… haggard. Minako-san looked just as tired, too. Newborn babies really did take a lot of you, so it wasn't a surprise.

"I've been looking after you all these years, haven't I?" snarked Shinjiro-san.

Akihiko-san looked like he wanted to retort but Mitsuru-san just gave him an imperious stare.

"Enough, Akihiko. And Shinjiro, stop egging him on."

"Hmph…" Akihiko grumbled under his breath, making Minako-san giggle in response.

"But um, Ken-kun…" Fuuka-san said gently. "What's the matter? What was so important that you had to talk to us all the sudden?"

Ken sighed. "Um, well… yesterday, Akechi came to see me."

"WHAT?!" Yukari-san growled out. "What did he want with you, Ken-kun?!"

"Did he hurt you?" Minako-san's cheerful expression melted away, replaced with panic.

"N-Nothing like that!" Ken said quickly before anyone else could throw in their two cents. "But it is important because… I found out a couple things. He admitted that he's been helping Shido. He said he worked directly under Shido."

"Does that mean… that he's the black masked Persona-user you've been looking for?" Junpei-san asked. "You guys had a suspicion about that, didn't you?"

"Maybe, but Akechi didn't delve deeper into it," Ken responded.

Ken kinda wished that he had, though. It would've been very useful to know that.

"Why work for Shido though?" Mitsuru-san's brow knitted together. "Did Shido promise him riches? Fame? Perhaps he aided in Akechi's career as a detective?"

Ken grimaced. He kinda wish that was the case. It just… dug up a lot of unpleasant feelings. He wished that recovery was linear. Media always made it look so simple. Why did he still feel guilty about things that happened a long time ago?

"No… Akechi's goal is revenge."

"Revenge? What could Shido do to a teenager?" Aigis-san tilted her head in bewilderment.

Ken grimaced. "Uh well… Shido is responsible for Ren's criminal record. But that's got nothing to do with why Akechi wants revenge against Shido. He's… Shido's bastard son."

It was quiet. So quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

"Oh..." Fuuka-san breathed out.

Yukari-san was dead quiet, her eyes growing dull as she wrapped an arm around her torso. She was probably thinking about the twins…

"I'm guessing he tossed Akechi's mom like garbage, huh…?" Junpei-san suddenly said before a bitter smile curled at his lips. "Figures… some men just love to crap on their kids."

"Junpei…" Minako-san said quietly.

Junpei-san's smile became rueful, before he rubbed the back of his neck. "But this isn't about me. There's more to the story, right, Ken?"

That was rather sharp of Junpei-san. But then again, it might've been obvious that there was another part of the puzzle.

Ken took a deep breath. He could do this.

"You're right, Junpei-san. It's um… Akechi is my cousin…"

This earned him several wide-eyed stares. Junpei-san's mouth even fell open. Fuuka-san pressed a hand to her mouth as her eyes grew wide as dinner plates.

"W-Wait a moment," Mitsuru-san suddenly said, holding up her hand. "Your mother's maiden name was Himura. Not Akechi."

Ken grimaced. "He told me that he changed his name a while ago. He didn't elaborate further."

"If I may offer a hypothesis…" Aigis-san spoke up. "It's most likely that Akechi changed his name before approaching Shido. If he wished to enact revenge, he would most likely do all that he could to mask his true identity, lest Shido realize his intentions."

"And he must resemble his mother," Fuuka-san said. "Shido doesn't share a hair or eye color with Akechi, after all."

"Well... I mean Shido is bald. So not like we'd know that part," Junpei-san pointed out.

Yukari-san rolled her eyes and huffed out, "Junpei, you do realize there are pictures of him on the net when he first entered in the political scene and he wasn't bald back then."

"Like I keep up with politicians!" Junpei defended.

"Enough you two!" Mitsuru-san interrupted in exasperation before she sighed. "Please continue, Amada."

Ken nodded at vaguely remembered his aunt. She had Akechi's hair and eyes. Even in the face, she had resembled Akechi. Why had he been blind to the truth…?

"From what I remember about my aunt, I think you're right, Fuuka-san. Mom has the same eye color as Akechi and my aunt Tsukiko…"

"But she passed down her hair color to you," Mitsuru-san finished.

Ken fidgeted for a moment, fingering his bangs for a moment. There was more to say, to explain to them but… something was burning in his mind…

"I'm sorry," Ken blurted out.

"H-Huh?" Minako-san looked bewildered, even blinking in confusion. "What are you apologizing for, Ken-kun?"

"If our suspicion is right and if Akechi is the black-masked Persona-user…" Ken swallowed hard. "That means Akechi has caused so much trouble for the Shadow Operatives… he's responsible for why Shido is so untouchable…"

"Don't be ridiculous, Ken," Akihiko-san said sternly. "You met him once when you were a kid. You had completely forgot him until he reminded you. And you've always been against his actions. You've got nothing to apologize for."

"And we have talked about this before, Amada…" Mitsuru-san reminded, her voice unusually gentle.

Ken sighed before hanging his head. "I know, I know… I'm sorry. I just can't help but think about the what-ifs in my head. And… I can't help but think about how Akechi personally hurt Haru and Futaba, not to mention how he tried to kill Ren. Akechi kept repeating that we were 'family'…"

"Sometimes that means nothing," Minako-san said quietly, closing her eyes for a moment. "Minato and I were pushed from relative to relative. They all resented it because we were a burden and a drain on their funds."

Akihiko-san winced before taking her hand. Minako-san just smiled before her fingers curled around his hand, a silent thank you for the support.

"My parents are not… the most pleasant people either," Fuuka-san said with a wince.

Ken grimaced. He just couldn't fathom why Fuuka-san's parents just wouldn't care about her disappearance… on top of that, they had the gall to act like they had a say in who Fuuka-san chose to be with.

"My old man…" Junpei-san suddenly spoke, his tone suddenly venomous. "He was a piece of shit. He was way more interested in getting drunk than me."

"Besides that, nobody's accusing you to be like your uncle, Ken-san," Aigis-san said softly. "Why would it be any different than Akechi?"

Ken pointed out, "But he never hurt people like Akechi…"

"That's wrong and you know it, Ken-kun," Minako-san spat out.

Ken winced. From the moment they had met, Minako-san had hated his uncle. She probably would've decked him if Akihiko-san hadn't held her back.

"He refused to take care of you, he guilt-tripped you about being 'lucky' that you had someone to look after you! He may have never physically harmed people like Akechi has but it doesn't take away that he did hurt you," Minako-san hissed, both hands clenching into fists.

"And blood ties don't define who you are," Akihiko-san said firmly. "You're not Akechi. You chose your path, a long time ago."

Ken sighed; he knew that they all had a point, but it was just hard sometimes…

"I'll try to keep that in mind." Then Ken bit his lip. "Though um… there's another thing I need to tell you."

He hated that Akechi had reminded him how obsessed he was with revenge, that he had truly believed that he had nothing else to live for. The despair he had lived with… it was such an unpleasant memory.

Koromaru crawled into his lap, pressing his head against Ken's hand. Ken took the moment to pet Koromaru on the head. It calmed his nerves as always.

"Akechi… wanted to rope me into his revenge plot. He had this crazy idea that I would want revenge against Shido too."

"Where did he get that crazy idea?" Akihiko-san looked baffled.

Ken let out a heavy sigh. "The day when I met Akechi—it was because my grandparents on Mom's side of the family had died. Mom came to Tokyo to arrange the funeral. But she reached out to my aunt Tsukiko who was estranged from the family. They ended up fighting over what led to her being estranged from the family."

"I know that you've mentioned having an aunt before but… you never said that she was estranged," Fuuka-san mentioned.

Ken sighed. "I actually… didn't realize why until Akechi reminded me. Mom was always vague about it."

"Your grandparents disowned her, because she became pregnant with Akechi… didn't they?" Yukari-san said quietly.

Ken could only nod. Personally, he couldn't fathom it. Women should be allowed to have a choice, if they want to keep their child or not, of course. But to shame a woman for wanting to keep their child just sounded so cruel.

Yukari-san let out a heavy sigh, a bitter smile twisting at her lips.

"I knew I had lucked out when Mom was understanding about me wanting to keep the twins but… it kinda gives me a new perspective, you know?"

"Oh, Yukari-chan…" Fuuka-san sighed, a sorrowful frown tugging at her lips.

"W-Well, ignoring that, you still would've had us!" Minako-san interjected but then she bit her lip. "I'm guessing… your aunt wasn't so lucky, Ken-kun?"

Ken sighed, shaking his head. "Unfortunately… no. She killed herself at one point."

Fuuka-san gasped, her eyes growing wide with horror. "That's just awful! She must've felt utterly alone…"

"No kidding…" Akihiko-san mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Wait so… if your aunt grew estranged from the family because she became pregnant…" Minako-san gasped as well. "Shido's the reason why your family fell apart."

"Damn…" Junpei-san uttered, looking at a loss for words for once.

"But you barely remember your grandparents, no?" Mitsuru-san questioned, looking puzzled. "And you met your aunt just once. Why would Akechi assume that you'd want revenge over that?"

"Maybe because he's lost his marbles," Shinjiro-san grumbled out.

Ken sighed. He guessed that Shinjiro-san mentioned that to lighten up the mood, but it didn't stop him from feeling nervous…

But he had to say it.

"He um… he knows about what happened. The night… Mom died," Ken managed to get out.

It was quiet. Dead quiet. Ken couldn't help but fidget, feeling anxious about how everyone would react to this.

"W-What?" Aigis-san finally uttered, breaking the silence. "How is this possible?"

"Shido," Akihiko-san said with a dark look on his face. "It's gotta be him."

Ken just winced. He wouldn't talk about how Akechi talked about his aunt Tsukiko's suicide note, though… he wouldn't do that to Shinjiro-san. The intense guilt… no. They had all moved on from the incident more or less. He refused to rub salt in that old wound.

"That little—!" Minako-san's expression became furious. "He dug up your personal information?! He's been stalking you?!"

"Hang on…" Ken said nervously. "There's more…"

"More?!" Minako's voice cracked.

Her ears were burning red; he was getting her worked up with frustration. Ken felt guilty. He wouldn't let Shinjiro-san know about the suicide note. But he had to tell them about this.

"It's more than Shido ruining our family… as I said, he knows about the night Mom died. He… he threw that in my face. He thought… I am the same as him." Ken was struggling to get the words out. "He thought, that the reason I am living with Shinjiro-san was because I am just like him, biding my time to… to…"

"That piece of shit!" Junpei-san interjected.

"That scumbag! He thinks he can go around and dig up your personal info, lord that over you, and expect you to go along with his schemes just because he's projecting his choices on you?!" Minako-san was getting louder and louder.

Ken fidgeted. "Um, well… Futaba said that she could help with enforcing our security—"

"That's not the point, Ken-kun!" Minako-san snapped, holding up a hand to stop him.

Ken couldn't help but wince. Minako-san was just getting started, though.

"He doesn't know jack shit about you and Shinji!" Akihiko clenched his fists.

Ken was almost scared to look at Shinjiro-san right now.

"I'm gonna wring that little twit's neck! On top of that, we don't even know how long he's been aware of you guys being related… Shido's plan wasn't only directed to Ren-kun… he was targeting all of you!" At that final declaration, Minako-san's voice begin to tremble.

But the implications of Minako-san's last statement started to sink in.

He hadn't realized that… Ken couldn't help but feel horrified.

Akihiko-san put a hand on Minako-san's shoulder.

"Mina, you've gotta calm down."

"But he—!" Minako-san began to protest.

"Ken and the others need to focus on Shido right now. The election isn't too far away—less than three weeks away. We'll deal with Akechi and the rest of Shido's cronies after. I get it, I'm beyond pissed off too, especially at Akechi just assuming what Shinji and Ken's situation is and all the grief Shido has put everyone through, but you're getting even more worked up than me," Akihiko-san said, before giving Minako-san's shoulder a comforting squeeze. "We gotta prioritize things. Especially with the things at stake here."

"And do not fret, Minako-san," Aigis-san spoke up. "I will happily assist you in punishing Akechi afterwards."

Ken waved his hands. "G-Guys, that's not necessary!"

He didn't need them to pick fights with Akechi. Especially since Akechi would be toast if both Minako-san and Aigis-san went after him.

"Hey… Shinjiro-senpai, are you gonna be alright?" Junpei-san was looking directly at Shinjiro-san with a sad expression.

Ken finally looked at Shinjiro-san and he looked very conflicted.

"Yeah, I'm just fantastic, Iori…" Shinjiro-san said sarcastically.

Ken felt his heart sink. He was even more determined to never tell him about the suicide note.

Fuuka-san placed a hand on her chest, "Oh… Shinjiro."

Ken winced. Fuuka-san almost never called Shinjiro-san by his full name, not since they had started dating.

"It's a load of shit is what it is!" Akihiko interrupted, his voice growing heated and his silver eyes snapping with anger. "He's just projecting onto you Ken! You know the truth! Shinji would never—"

"Aki… forget about it. It's in the past. It's like you guys said, he doesn't know about our situation. And truth be told, even if he found out the full story, I get the feeling he wouldn't care," Shinjiro said in a bittersweet tone.

Yukari-san spoke up, concern in her eyes, "Are you sure? I mean—"

Shinjiro-san interrupted her, "Yeah, don't worry about it. Look, I can't say hearing this stuff is all sunshine, rainbows, and shit. It fucking sucks… but I'll get over it. So don't go giving me that mopey expression, Ken."

"What?" He blinked.

"I can't imagine this was easy for you to explain. But Akechi is dead wrong about you. You're not like him. I already told you, didn't I? You both made different choices. You let go of your hate. He refuses to let it go."

Ken was at a loss for words so he just nodded. Everyone else seemed to relax a little bit after that. But even if Shinjiro-san said he'd get over this… no, he can't tell him about the note. He refused. He wouldn't put that on Shinjiro-san's conscience.

"But um… what now?" Fuuka-san suddenly spoke up, looking worried. "Akechi was able to find out where Shinji and Ken-kun are living… should they relocate?"

"No," Mitsuru-san spoke up, her voice firm.

When the others gave her startled looks, she was quick to clarify.

"Not when Shido is watching the Shadow Operatives' movements like a hawk. It'd be best for Shinjiro and Amada to stay put. If they move, that will put Shido and Akechi on alert. I imagine, for obvious reasons, Akechi came to visit Amada behind Shido's back. Regardless we don't wish to draw attention from either of them." Then she gave Ken a stern look. "Amada—I'd suggest you stay in the apartment as much as possible. Only step out if it's important, such as infiltrating Shido's Palace or Mementos.

Ken sighed to himself. Okay so there was Haru's birthday party they were planning… but he'd stick to that once they celebrated Haru's birthday. Haru had spent so long celebrating birthdays without anyone who actually cared for her. He wasn't going to miss it.

But it was a good thing he had already made the arrangements for Makoto's Christmas present. He didn't have to go hunting for a gift for her.

Mitsuru-san then looked to his guardian. "And Shinjiro… perhaps it'd be best if you resign from your job—"

"No," Shinjiro-san said, his voice growing stubborn. "That'll tip off Shido. It might make it tougher for Ken to slip over to Leblanc."

Mitsuru-san looked conflicted, but she let out a sigh.

"Very well. I see your point, Shinjiro."

"Of course you do."

Mitsuru-san glowered at him. "Arrogance doesn't suit you, Shinjiro."

Shinjiro-san just smirked. "It ain't arrogance when I'm right."

Mitsuru-san scowled at Shinjiro-san, but Ken's attention was drawn to Minako-san.

Minako-san was pursing her lips, looking conflicted for a moment.

Then she looked up. "Uh… hey, Ken-kun?"

"Huh? What's the matter, Minako-san?" Ken asked.

"You know we love you, right?" she said gently. "It wouldn't even matter if you were Shido's son."

Ken couldn't help but shudder. Sharing that horrible man's DNA…? Especially what Shido had put him through recently...

He had no real attachment to his father but from what Mom told Ken—he wasn't a bad man. His parents' marriage was just not meant to be.

"Your dad and I just wanted different things," was what Mom always said.

But she always said that she was grateful for their short time together—especially since it led to Ken being born.

But either way, the mere idea of him being Shido's son was just… ludicrous.

"I still remember our first meeting, you know," Minako-san continued, her eyes softening as she reminisced. "I didn't know how important you'd become to me. I invited you to dinner for the first time because you seemed… lonely."

He remembered that too. At the time, he was so baffled. What would an older girl want with him? He had felt that nobody had cared about him… and yet Minako-san had extended her hand out to him.

Before he knew it, Minako-san had been dragging him off to just hang out in the city. Sometimes Minato-san joined them but more often, it was just the two of them.

Though, annoyingly, she was the one to start ruffling his hair—and the others soon followed suit.

He loved all of his senpais, but Minako-san was special to him because she had been the first to reach out to him.

Ken coughed, before clearing his throat.

"You mean a lot to me too, Minako-san," he said softly.

His heart couldn't help but warm as Minako-san smiled brightly at him.

"Ken-san, there is something I am concerned about…" Aigis-san suddenly spoke up.

Junpei-san raised an eyebrow. "Whatcha mean by that, Ai-chan?"

"Is Akechi still fooled? Does he still believe that Ren-san is dead?"

Ken just gave a half-hearted shrug. "Far as I know… yes. Akechi even started to ramble about how he had 'triumphed' over Ren."

Yukari-san snorted at that. "Akechi is in for a surprise, then."

"Hopefully that won't happen until you steal Shido's heart," Mitsuru-san remarked.

"Don't jinx them, Mitsuru-senpai!" Junpei-san exclaimed. "You know what they say 'bout tempting fate!"

Ken let out a strained laugh in response, before rubbing the back of his neck. He personally hoped that he wouldn't be anywhere near Akechi when he realized the truth. Something told him that Akechi wouldn't take it well at all.

Fuuka-san gave him a concerned look. "Try not to worry about that, Ken-kun. Just focus on keeping low until you and the others can take down Shido for good."

Mitsuru-san nodded in agreement. "Yamagishi is right, Amada. Hopefully Akechi will know to stay away."

"You never did mention how you got Akechi out of the apartment," Shinjiro-san remarked idly.

"Uhh, well… I got mad at him, and I kicked him out of the apartment," Ken mumbled out.

Koromaru suddenly wandered up to them.

"Oh hi, Koro-chan!" Fuuka-san greeted.

Koromaru looked straight to the screen before letting out some barks. Aigis-san blinked a couple times before speaking.

"Koromaru-san would like to report that Ken-san threatened to throw out Akechi unless he removed himself from the apartment," she announced, hardly even blinking.

This earned a few guffaws and snickers from certain people. Ken just shrank into his seat, feeling himself blush out of embarrassment.

"Too bad that didn't happen," Junpei-san said in-between snickers. "I would've liked to see that."

Yukari-san scoffed. "You weren't even there, Stupei."

"It's the principle of the matter!"

"Amada…" Mitsuru-san scolded. "You shouldn't go picking fights like that."

"I know, I know…" Ken mumbled out.

But then Mitsuru-san's expression turned thoughtful. "But I suppose I can't blame you for that, given the circumstances."

"Hey, how come Ken gets a free pass about picking fights?!" Akihiko-san protested.

"Because Ken doesn't do it to every random sod on the street," Shinjiro-san deadpanned.

"I don't do that, Shinji!"

Shinjiro-san just rolled his eyes. "Uh-huh. Sure, Aki. Whatever helps you sleep at night."

Akihiko-san opened his mouth to retort, only to be cut off by a baby's cry. Minako-san immediately jumped up.

"Hang on, guys. I'll be back after I calm down Kiyo-chan!"

Without another word, she scampered out of view. Akihiko-san rubbed at his face.

"Sorry, we're still trying to figure out Kiyo's schedule," he apologized.

Yukari-san shrugged before giving a wave of her hand. "Babies are babies. Plus, it's been barely a week since she's been born."

But then a smile curled at her lips, her eyes suddenly softening.

"Even with all the sleepless nights, they also will bring you the greatest joy."

"Aww, that's so sweet…" Fuuka-san said with a giggle.

Junpei-san snickered. "Sooo, Shinjiro-senpai. When are you and Fuuka planning on having a baby?"

Shinjiro-san turned red at that. It was kinda impressive to see how fast Shinjiro-san was turning red.

"For the love of… we haven't even talked about planning the wedding! Why are you immediately jumping to babies?!" He then narrowed his eyes dangerously at Junpei-san before demanding, "And what about you, Iori?!"

"Hey no! We're not taking the baby spotlight off you!" Junpei-san yelled while blushing.

Ken couldn't help but chuckle at that. Though he was glad that Junpei-san didn't get it in his head to start teasing Ken about this kind of thing.

"What about babies?"

Minako-san had returned with Kiyomi in her arms. She plopped back into her seat, shifting Kiyomi in her arms.

"Say hi, Kiyo-chan," she cooed to her daughter, raising her little hand in a wave.

"It's nothing, Minako." Mitsuru-san sighed. "Iori is just teasing Shinjiro. And Shinjiro fired back."

"Oh?" Minako-san's expression turned devious. "About him and Fuuka-chan having babies? It'd be nice for Kiyo-chan to have playmates. Though, speaking of which, you and Chidori need to get a move on."

"HEY!" Shinjiro-san and Junpei-san shouted at the same time.

Laughter broke out into the group and Ken couldn't help but chuckle along with them.

Fuuka-san waved her hands, a small pink blush on her cheeks. "Shinji and I haven't even discussed children. That won't be happening for a while."

Ken would never voice it (because Shinjiro-san would probably smack him for it), but he couldn't help but think that Shinjiro-san would make a wonderful father when the time came.

"How did we even get to this topic…?" Mitsuru-san sighed.

"It was Kiyomi-san, I believe," Aigis-san stated.

Ken's eyes drifted over to baby Kiyomi. Akihiko-san had leaned over, his hand smoothing at the fine hairs on the top of Kiyomi's head. Kiyomi then reached out, latching onto her father's finger.

To think… that there was a possibility that Kiyomi wouldn't be here today. Because of Shido.

"Ken-kun?" Fuuka-san's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Is something the matter?"

Ken shook his head. "Not really… just thinking about Shido."

Mitsuru-san pursed her lips. "Amada… just promise me that you'll be cautious when you return to Shido's Palace. He won't go down easily."

Ken just nodded. "I will. Though I can't make promises for Ren…"

"Maybe you should get a leash for him," Minako-san joked.

Shinjiro-san gave her a look. "You're one to talk, Minako."

This made a few people laugh in response.

Mitsuru-san then cleared her throat. "I believe that we have prolonged this call enough. We all do have work and duties to attend to."

Junpei-san groaned. "Ugh... don't remind me—I have so much paperwork to do. It's like having a pile of homework all over again!"

"You'll get through it, Junpei-kun. You always do," Fuuka-san said with a kind smile.

"Speaking of which…" Mitsuru-san looked to Ken. "Amada, have you been keeping up with your studies? I don't think I have to remind you how important your studies are right now. You shouldn't slack off just because you can't attend school right now."

Shinjiro-san scowled at that. "Don't encourage him, Mitsuru. His constant studying late into the night is why he has reading glasses now."

Ken waved his hands. "Don't worry, Mitsuru-san. I've been keeping up with the studies."

Makoto had also promised that she'd come over and study with him when she could, but he wasn't going to share that. He didn't need to give Junpei-san and Minako-san more ammunition to tease him with.

Mitsuru-san nodded. "Very good. I'll speak to you all soon."

"Hopefully we'll able to spend New Year's together," Fuuka-san said with a soft smile. "Good night, everyone."

"See ya!" Junpei-san gave a little salute before cutting off the call.

Minako-san and Akihiko-san gave another wave before they cut off the call as well.

It was quiet for a moment but then Shinjiro-san turned to Ken.

"Are you okay?"

Ken slowly nodded before offering his guardian a small smile. "I think… I'll be okay, Shinjiro-san. I just needed the reminder. But… what about you?"

Shinjiro-san snorted. "I told you already, I'll get over it. Come on, let's get something to eat."

Shinjiro-san ruffled his hair and for once… Ken couldn't bring himself to protest.

He followed Shinjiro-san into the kitchen. He already got some food out. Ken began rolling up his sleeves as he took the vegetables Shinjiro-san passed over to him. He started washing the carrots in the sink.

Goro Akechi was not his family.

Family were people who wanted him in their lives, the ones who had accepted him—no strings attached—and the ones who loved him no matter what.

And he knew exactly who that was.

Chapter Text

Shinjiro hated the hospital. There was just an atmosphere that always made him uncomfortable; the white walls almost felt like a prison to him. It also gave him a nasty reminder of the hospital staff trying to save Miki, only for her to succumb to her burns and injuries. 

So of course he was stuck in the hospital until further notice. Shinjiro let out a suffering groan. It had been one day since he had woken up.

His former teammates all were distracted. Apparently Minato had died from unknown complications, so unknown that they were still in the process of figuring out even with Kirijo's best.  That was one hell of a thing to wake up to.

Though that didn’t stop Aki from yelling at Shinjiro for being stupid and for worrying him like that (like the idiot could talk).

“Aragaki.”

Shinjiro snapped to attention.

For as long as he could remember, Kirijo was poised, always looking immaculate. It reminded him of how he assumed that she was a prissy little princess back when they first met. But not today. Her complexion was pallid and the shadows under her eyes were dark, even though Shinjiro could see that she was trying to mask it with make-up.

Kirijo folded her arms over her chest. “I… apologize for the chaos. With Arisato’s death…”

“It’s nothing, Kirijo,” Shinjiro said brusquely.

Kirijo pursed her lips. “There’s nothing I can do for Minato. However, the same can’t be said for you.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Shinjiro asked.

Kirijo’s expression became unimpressed. “Eloquent as always, Aragaki. I’m referring to your current state. Your… condition was a blessing in disguise. It bought the Kirijo scientists time to determine a cure. We will be able to reverse the effects of the Persona suppressant drugs. It’ll be slow—”

“Why?”

Kirijo blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

“I was in a fucking coma, Kirijo,” Shinjiro said with a scowl. “Why pour money into this?”

“Why…” Kirijo’s eyes widened before her expression grew steely. “You’re really asking me that? There was a chance that you would awaken but it was never a certainty! I cannot allow even a chance of you dying after all that!”

Shinjiro couldn’t help but stare. Kirijo had… really changed. 

“Besides that, we’ve faced too much death already,” Kirijo finished softly, her expression turning mournful.

 Did he… want to know? Though Shinjiro supposed he would find out eventually.

Kirijo took a deep breath. “It won’t be a quick procedure. You did take the drugs for two years. But my scientists are confident that it’ll be a success. And… Yamagishi will be aiding in monitoring your progress.”

“Yamagishi?” Shinjiro repeated, baffled.

The scanner of SEES was nice enough, though she really had to stop overthinking things when cooking. Though Shinjiro was really confused on why she wanted to help. 

Kirijo shrugged in response. “She volunteered.”

Shinjiro slowly lifted his gaze to look at Kirijo. He really hadn't known she cared so much.

“Uh… thanks, Mitsuru. You didn’t have to do this.”

 The statement earned him a raised eyebrow. “Well… you’re welcome, Shinjiro.” Then she brushed her hair behind her back. “Though, regarding Amada—”

Panic spiked inside of Shinjiro. “You don’t have to drag the kid into this.”

He still felt guilty about everything he dragged Ken into. He didn’t feel ready to look at the kid, never mind talk to him.

Mitsuru pressed her lips together. “You can’t keep running away from Amada. You two really need to speak to each other, so you can work things out.”

Aragaki scowled. “Sure, once you work things out with Takeba.”

Mitsuru suddenly looked amused. “ Yukari and I have. Months ago.”

…Dammit.

“Tch. After I get out of the hospital,” Shinjiro bluffed.

Kirijo sighed. “You’ll have to face Amada at some point, Shinjiro. Otherwise… you’ll never be able to move on with your life.”

Without another word, she turned and left the hospital room.

It’s been four days since Minato-san’s death and Ken still didn’t know how to process it. Mitsuru-san had been talking about closing the dorm since SEES’s purpose had been fulfilled. He had… mixed feelings. He was happy that they had accomplished what they sought to do but… he was also sad that the dorm would be closed and he would have to part ways with everyone. 

He'd tried to distract himself by reading a book, but the words were swimming off the page. His concentration was completely shot.

Everyone else wasn’t doing well either.

Yukari-san had shut herself in her room, hardly speaking to anyone; though that was understandable given how much she had loved Minato-san.

Aigis-san withdrew from everyone as well. Junpei-san was out of the dorm constantly, usually visiting Chidori-san—which they all knew was equal parts love and  distraction. Minako-san was swamped with funeral preparations. Their female leader’s smiles were all fake but at least she had Akihiko-san to help her.

And Fuuka-san… she was busying herself with helping Shinjiro-san.

Ken’s heart twisted at the thought of Shinjiro-san. He had thought that was the end of Shinjiro-san when he took a bullet so Ken could live. Despite all of his resolutions, Ken was still scared of facing the older teen. He felt almost… paralyzed.

Beside him, Koromaru whimpered as if sensing Ken’s self-conflict. The shiba inu pressed his paws against Ken’s lap, his red eyes suddenly mournful.

“I-I’ll be okay, Koro-chan,” Ken mumbled out, taking the moment to scratch behind Koromaru’s ear.

But the door suddenly opened.

“Hello?”

Ken perked up at that, as did Koromaru. Koromaru then ran over to Fuuka-san, giving a couple barks. Fuuka-san laughed softly.

“Hi, Koro-chan.” After bending to give him a pet, she looked over to Ken. “Oh, hi Ken-kun. What are you up to?”

Ken shrugged. “Trying to read.”

Fuuka-san just gave him an understanding smile. She probably knew how he felt. He guessed that’s why she volunteered to help Shinjiro-san.

“So… how’s everyone?” she asked quietly.

Ken quickly rattled off a summary of what’s everyone up to, finishing up with Minako-san’s preparations for the funeral. The older girl just sighed, closing her eyes for a moment.

“Poor Minako-chan,” she said, her voice soft with pity.

Ken sighed. Unfortunately, all of them knew the feeling. Just a few months ago, Mitsuru-san had to bury her father. He still couldn’t believe he had forgotten about his resolution. He had promised to live in order to honor his mother, especially after everyone in SEES supported him, but…

“…getting stronger.”

Ken blinked. “Huh? Sorry could you repeat that again, Fuuka-san?”

Fuuka-san just smiled faintly. “I was saying that Shinjiro-senpai’s already getting stronger.”

“O-Oh, that’s great…” Ken said, doing his best to sound neutral.

The problem was that he did care—too much. And that made him anxious thinking about facing Shinjiro-san again. He knew that Shinjiro-san had pulled that sacrifice with no regrets but… what could you even say to the man who you were trying to murder?

“Ken-kun,” Fuuka-san’s voice was gentle as she looked at him, “you have to talk to him.”

“He’s still recovering,” Ken mumbled out, praying that Fuuka-san would buy the excuse.

To his dismay, Fuuka-san shook her head.

“He’s just as confused as you too, Ken-kun. He expected that… night to be the end of it. But he’s alive now and Mitsuru-senpai’s determined to ensure that he’ll make a full recovery after everything. But he won’t be able to fully recover… not until you two work it out.”

When Fuuka-san spoke of it, it sounded so simple. Ken couldn’t help but feel that the words were stuck in his throat, trapped like a bird in a cage.

Fuuka-san smiled softly at him before reaching out to give him a rub on the head. Ken didn’t have the heart to swat at her hand, though, like he did when anyone in SEES tried to give him a headpat—he blamed Minako-san for starting it.

“Just think about it, Ken-kun,” she said, tone coaxing. “Shinjiro-senpai’s a good man and I think that if you take a chance, you two could become friends.”

“I’ll… think about it,” Ken hedged.

Fuuka-san just smiled, nodding. “That’s all I ask for, Ken-kun.”

She then excused herself, citing that she had to take Koromaru on a walk. But Ken couldn’t help but feel that it was an excuse to leave him alone.

He knew that she was right though. On top of that, she wasn’t the only one. Just earlier today, Minako-san had given him a letter, penned by Minato-san just a few days before his death. Even though Ken was much closer to Minako-san, Minato-san tried to help him with his homework. He also let Ken ramble on for ten minutes about Neo Feathermen R and even suggested that they watch the show together sometime.

Minato-san had written to Ken an apology for not realizing the conflict between Ken and Shinjiro-san sooner. But… he had also encouraged Ken to reach out to Shinjiro-san.

Minato-san’s handwriting had been wobbly, a physical sign of how his health had been deteriorating for the past month. He had only held on for that long to fulfill their promise. 

It was one of Minato-san’s last requests… 

Could he really just let things be? Besides that, they would be all leaving the dorm soon. He didn’t want to let things go unsaid especially since he might not see everyone again…

Shinjiro was bored. It hadn’t been a week and he was dying to get out of this damn hospital.

Yamagishi was nice enough to bring him recordings of his favorite cooking show to watch—even though Shinjiro had been horribly embarrassed the first time she put in the recording. He appreciated that Yamagishi showed her concern in a quieter manner. Minako and Aki both raked him over the coals, Mitsuru’s near-hovering was stifling, and the list went on.

The silver lining was that the doctors seemed to think that he would be strong enough to leave the hospital soon. He had to come back for monitoring and other crap, but still.

He looked up at a light knock on the door. The nurse in charge of him poked her head in.

“Aragaki-san, a visitor for you,” she announced.

Shinjiro gave a curt nod. She opened the door and his visitor walked in.

Ken looked like a skittish animal, looking like he didn’t even know what he was doing here. Shinjiro barely registered the nurse excusing herself.

Ken clutched a bento box as he walked up to Shinjiro-san’s bed. His eyes were darting back and forth from Shinjiro and the door, as if he was unsure if he wanted to make a break for it. 

“H-Here!” he blurted out, all but thrusting it in Shinjiro’s face. “I-I, um… I got it for you… I don’t think hospital food is very good…”

Shinjiro couldn’t help but stare. Okay, hospital food tasted like crap, but it wasn’t like bento boxes from the convenience store were any better, nutrition wise.

“Uh… thanks, kid,” Shinjiro said, just to be nice.

He’d eat it to get a break from the shitty food since it at least tasted better. Ken fidgeted as Shinjiro nibbled on a piece of tamago. He tried not to grimace at the salty taste; the kid obviously bought it for him, so he had to eat it.

“I’m sorry, Shinjiro-san,” Ken suddenly said.

Shinjiro swallowed the last of the tamago as his eyes swung to Ken.

His voice started to shake. “A-About that night. I was dumb a-and I almost got you killed… You would’ve gotten killed if Minako-san hadn’t found your watch…”

“Stop.” When Ken looked at him in shock, Shinjiro sighed. “Look, Ken, you were a confused and lost kid. I stole your mom from you. And you couldn’t get closure from it thanks to Mitsuru’s dad—what I did was completely covered up.I couldn’t stand it, either, so I left. I started taking the drugs. It was my way of running away. I couldn’t forgive myself for what happened. I should’ve been stronger.”

Ken just bit his lip. “But—”

“I ain’t done,” Shinjiro said sharply before sighing. “Did you know… why I joined SEES?”

Ken silently shook his head.

“It was ‘cause of Aki. The idiot was so excited when Mitsuru approached him about his potential. I couldn’t let it be. I didn’t want him to get killed—he was always reckless like that. I turned out to have the potential too, but I guess… I was trying to push myself when I wasn’t ready. My control of Castor had been shaky, but I had insisted on going into the field anyways. And that had been costly… too costly.”

Ken just stared at him, wide-eyed. An awkward silence hung in the air and Ken swallowed hard. 

“I still dream about that night,” he said suddenly before wrapping an arm around his torso.

He suddenly looked small and… fragile.

“Sometimes I wonder if it would’ve been better if Takaya had shot me,” he said quietly.

“Shut it,” Shinjiro snapped. “If you keep thinking that, I will get up from this bed to smack some sense into you.”

He exhaled shortly.

“If you had been the one lying in this hospital bed or worse, I would’ve felt even worse about myself. I killed your mom in a freak accident and if I couldn’t even keep you safe? That would’ve been the worst scenario. I’m alive… somehow. I have a second chance, so don’t go beating yourself up for this.”

He wanted to save Ken from himself. It was a dangerous path, revenge. He didn’t want an innocent kid to stain his hands with blood.

Ken sighed. “I just… can’t help but keep second-guessing myself. And I don’t know what to do with myself… I spent so long working towards this that I just feel… stuck.”

Shinjiro raised an eyebrow. “Ken. You’re eleven.”

Ken suddenly puffed up in anger. “Don’t treat me like a kid!”

Shinjiro couldn’t help it. He laughed.

“Stop laughing at me!” Ken whined out, a pout on his face.

“I’m not laughing at you,” Shinjiro replied.

“Well, you’re not laughing with me because I’m not laughing!” Ken said, still indignant.

Shinjiro snorted. This kid was a piece of work, wasn’t he?

“Well, do you wanna hear what Aki and I were up to when we were eleven?”

Ken blinked in surprise. “Um… sure.”

“Well, take a seat then.” Shinjiro waved a hand at the seat by his bedside.

Ken hesitated for a moment before pulling up a chair. He was a little more relaxed now, some of the tension draining from his little shoulders. He was looking at Shinjiro curiously.

Shinjiro paused, combing his mind for a story.

“Didja know that Aki had a phase of trying to sneak strays in the orphanage?”

He talked, longer than he had expected. He even got Ken to laugh a couple times. The kid looked different—like he was actually his age—when he laughed. It was… nice to see. 

Shinjiro was in the middle of telling Ken a story about how both Shinjiro and Aki were both getting heckled about their hair habits—Aki had been assumed that his hair was dyed and Shinjiro had too long hair in the eyes of the teacher—when the nurse suddenly knocked on the door.

“I’m sorry to interrupt but visiting hours are over,” she said with an apologetic smile.

Ken’s face fell at that, but he nodded slightly. “Okay. I’m coming.”

He suddenly gave Shinjiro an almost shy smile.

“Um… would it be okay to come see you some time, Shinjiro-san?”

Shinjiro waved a hand. “Yeah. I’m kinda stuck here anyways.”

Ken pulled a face at his attitude.  “You don’t have to sound so annoyed about it.”

Shinjiro couldn’t help but snort. He had never noticed it but Ken was actually kinda amusing to tease. Even more than Aki.

But Ken gave him a small smile as he left with the nurse. And after they were gone, Shinjiro found himself staring up at the ceiling. He felt… at peace for the first time in a long time. It felt like he could finally start afresh. He wouldn’t be able to fully forget what happened during that godawful night… but he and Ken could finally move on. 

Together. 

Chapter Text

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

“Oh, Minato-kun! Welcome back!”

Minato just raised a hand in greeting, giving Fuuka a small smile. He then moved to the dining table, setting his schoolbag down in the chair next to him. He then removed the photos he had developed during Photography Club today.

“Oh, I didn’t attend Photography Club today… did your photos turn out well?” Fuuka inquired.

“Mm-hm.” Minato nodded.

Though these photos… included Shinjiro-senpai. It was… bittersweet looking at them, but it’s also why Minato felt it was important to develop these photos. Keisuke had suggested to him, after his first few sessions, to start taking pictures of his home and his family. And while Mina was the only family, he had left… Minato figured he could start taking pictures around the dorm.

Fuuka gasped as Minato spread the pictures out on the table.

“Oh, these…” Her eyes grew downcast as her gaze fell on a picture of Shinjiro-senpai and she bit her lip. “I-I’m sorry… if I had just—”

“Fuuka, it’s not your fault,” Minato said firmly.

The first week after… the last full moon had been hellish. He had been plagued with nightmares, his mind conjuring up terrible scenarios where the others had died.

“Your fault. It’s all your fault.”

Minato squeezed his eyes shut, trying to banish that awful taunting voice.

“But I think that’s why it’s important to develop these,” Minato said quietly. “The dorm party was fun, wasn’t it?”

“Mm… it was,” Fuuka said, nodding.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ken lingering nearby. The boy standing just outside of the doorway, standing there a bit awkwardly.

“Hey, Ken. Do you want to see some of the photos I took?” Minato asked.

Ken grew quiet, tugging at his sweater’s sleeve for a moment. “Um… okay.”

He walked over, his face suddenly scrunching up. “W-Why did you take a picture of me sleeping on Akihiko-san’s back…?”

“Oh, but it’s such a sweet image.” Fuuka giggled before reaching out to ruffle the little boy’s hair. “You look so cute here.”

“D-Don’t call me cute!” Ken whined out, pouting for a moment at both Fuuka’s comment and how she ruffled his hair.

Minato couldn’t help but chuckle. The indignant look on Ken’s face, his wounded pride. It was rather funny. And well… yeah it was cute.

Ken scowled at Fuuka before his gaze fell down on a photo of Shinjiro-san. Then… his face fell and he bit his lip.

“U-Um… Do you know when Minako-san will be back?”

Fuuka tilted her head. “Minako-chan? Oh, well, you know how she is, always very busy. I think she mentioned something about shopping with Yukari-chan today?”

“Well that means that they won’t be back for a while,” Minato said dryly.

Sometimes it was rather troublesome to have your sister being the best friend of your girlfriend. It was annoying to have her hog Yukari when she was in the mood for girl time.

“You had Yukari-chan for most of yesterday, Minato-kun,” Fuuka pointed out.

“It was her birthday,” Minato pointed out.

Fuuka just giggled in response. Ken grumbled before walking over to the end of the table, pulling out a bento box from his bag.

Fuuka’s face fell. “Oh, Ken-kun, a bento box from the convenience store again?”

Ken’s face flushed. “I-I don’t know how to cook so…”

Minato looked to Ken. He knew that Mina had been taking him out for dinner a lot but… maybe a home cooked meal wouldn’t kill him. Minato knew the basics, though sometimes he admittedly was pretty lazy about cooking.

“Why don’t we make something together?” Minato said finally.

Ken’s eyes widened. “W-Wait, you know how to cook?”

“Nothing super fancy but it’ll do in a pinch.” Minato shrugged. “Come on.”

He looked through the fridge. He knew how to make a decent stir fry. There was some prechopped onions in a bag. Some carrots also in the drawer. There was some broccoli and chicken he noticed that was recently bought. There was also an open bottle of oyster sauce too. Perfect, this will work. He gathered the four main ingredients and headed to the cabinet to get the sesame oil, mirin, and rice vinegar. Still wasn’t everything. He moved back to the fridge and found the container filled with the minced garlic. He remembered Shinjiro-senpai grumbling that it was better to freshly chop garlic but this would do.

“Hey Ken, can you go get me the sugar and the ginger?” Minato instructed.

“Huh? Okay.” Ken nodded and moved to go get that out of the other cabinet.

Fuuka watched him with wide eyes.

“I didn’t know you knew how to cook, Minato-kun,” she said in awe. “Maybe you should join Minako-chan and I in cooking club too!”

“Thanks, but Mina’s got your back for that,” Minato said, shrugging.

It was nothing fancy like Shinjiro-senpai. But he and Mina practiced this recipe together a bit, it tasted decent. Shinjiro-senpai’s tasted better. He used even more vegetables and some other ingredient Minato couldn’t place. Maybe shoyu? He wasn’t sure. He was also certain he must have added some other spice in it too. But he wasn’t sure what.

Ken came back with the ginger and sugar, and Minato began to measure everything and start cooking while Ken went to go grab the noodles for him to start cooking too. It took a little bit, but it turned out not too bad.

Fuuka helped him clean up the countertops and stove after he finished with cooking. She placed the dishes in the sink. Minato made enough for all three of them and they sat down together.

“Mm… this is delicious, Minato-kun.” Fuuka then sighed. “And you made it so easily… I wish I could cook like this…”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Fuuka,” Minato said. “You’ve been practicing, you’ll get there.”

“Thank you, Minato-kun,” she smiled with a light blush.

Ken was quiet, staring at the front door as he ate. Minato studied Ken, wondering what was going on in his head.

“So… Ken,” Minato said carefully. “How’s everything?”

Ken started at that, looking at him with round eyes. Then he bit his lip.

“Um… okay, I guess,” he mumbled out.

He continued to poke at his dinner, using his chopsticks to pick up a bite of noodles. He chewed quietly. After swallowing a bite, Ken sighed to himself, looking down more at his food. He just moved around the food more on the plate with his chopsticks.

“This is good, Minato-san. I didn’t know that you knew how to cook,” Ken said.

Minato shrugged. “It’s nothing fancy.”

“Mom used to say the same thing…” When Minato and Fuuka looked to him in surprise, Ken shrunk into his seat. “Um, forget I said anything.”

“It’s okay, Ken-kun,” Fuuka reassured him but then bit her lower lip. “I know it’s been hard bringing up your mom. But… it’s also okay to talk about her.”

Ken’s eyes grew glassy. “I know what you’re saying, Fuuka-san. I want to, it’s just…”

Minato swallowed subtly.

Nearly ten years since his parents had passed and he still got flashes of the incident. The sickening crack on impact, instantly killing both of his parents. The glass windows shattering.

It was… a miracle that Minato and Mina had both survived that night. Sometimes… Minato had dreams about Mina dying that night too.

But he forced himself to snap back to reality, looking to their youngest member.

“Ken… you don’t have to push yourself. If it’s too hard to bring up your mom right now, it’s okay. Just take it at whatever pace makes you comfortable.”

Ken just managed a small nod, biting his lip.

“And… we’re here for you, Ken-kun,” Fuuka said softly.

Ken nodded. Fuuka then reached for the tea pot on the table, pouring him some tea. Minato was grateful she started brewing some while he was cooking.

“Here, drink some tea. Drinking tea always helps me feel a little better,” she coaxed.

Ken obediently sipped the tea but Minato caught on the small grimace he made. Probably wasn’t a fan of bitter drinks. Minato had seen Ken trying to down black coffee, in an attempt to look more mature. Maybe that’s why he decided to mess with Ken that one time, nearly convincing the young boy that he drank coffee with hot sauce.

Even if Mitsuru-senpai scolded him for it later, it was kinda worth it.

But Ken’s face eventually relaxed.

“You know Ken, I can get you a little sugar, or even honey for your tea,” Minato suggested, changing the subject.

“Honey or sugar? No, I don’t need anything sweet for it.” Ken frowned.

So stubborn. Minato laughed to himself and shook his head.

Minato shrugged. “Why not? I sometimes like to drink tea with just a little sugar, or honey depending on the tea. Not a lot, just a little. It turns out pretty good.”

He looked up at Minato with surprise in his eyes.

“You… like honey with tea? Or sugar? Isn’t that…” Ken trailed off.

“Yeah of course I do. A lot of people my age do too.” Minato gave him a slight smile.

Maybe that will hopefully convince him he doesn’t need to drink bitter drinks to come off as mature.

“Hmm… okay maybe a little sugar is fine.” Ken bit his lip.

Fuuka had a quiet giggle as she left to go grab him some sugar. Minato couldn’t help but smile after her. They both found it cute but couldn’t voice it or else Ken would start pouting again.

She gave him two teaspoons of sugar and mixed it in. He seemed to enjoy the tea a little more after that.

They finished dinner but Koromaru came trotting down, begging for a walk. Fuuka decided to do it tonight, leaving the two of them alone.

Minato went to finish washing the dishes when he heard the door open.

“Hey, we’re back! Anyone here?” Mina called out.

Minato stripped off the gloves to go see his sister and girlfriend. Yukari’s eyes brightened at the sight of him.

“Hey!” Mina greeted even as Yukari drew close to kiss his cheek.

“Hey,” Minato said with a shrug.

He then took Yukari’s hand, giving it a light squeeze.

“Did you have fun cruising the mall?” Minato asked, raising an eyebrow at his twin.

Mina just wrinkled her nose at him. “Hey, shopping’s fun! You should come some time!”

“And just sit around waiting for you for four hours? No thanks,” Minato retorted.

“And you could see Yukari-chan dressing up all cute for you,” Mina said, sticking her tongue out at him.

“Yukari is always cute,” Minato said, matter-of-factly.

Which was true. He had seen from the beginning why Yukari had been popular with guys. Sometimes he wondered what about him drew her.

Yukari’s face turned pink. “How can you say that with such a straight face?”

“Because it’s true,” Minato said.

“Yeah, yeah, act like I’m not here, I see how it is,” Minako huffed.

Ken stared at them, before cocking his head.

“I don’t understand girls,” he decided.

Minato sighed. “Join the club, Ken.”

“You understand me just fine,” Yukari admonished but there was a fond smile on her face. “But anyways… what are you up to?”

“Just finishing up dinner,” Ken answered. “Minato-san was nice enough to offer me and Fuuka-san dinner.”

“Aw man, Minato, you cooked and didn’t save me anything?” Mina pouted.

Minato huffed in response. “Who said that? There’s some in the fridge.”

Although he wondered how fast his sister would inhale it…

Minato was working on some math homework when his phone abruptly buzzed.

Mina: Hey, Minato

Mina: Ken-kun asked me to come with him to… where Shinjiro-senpai almost died

Minato: are you gonna go?

Mina: well… yeah.

Mina: it’s… I dunno. He looked like he really needed it.

Minato: I see

Mina: I just didn’t wanna say nothing, ya’know? Since it’s late already

Minato paused at that. While they ventured out late due to their trips to Tartarus, it was nice for Mina to give him a heads up. But still, Minato found himself questioning what he could’ve done better as both a leader and as a friend.

Minato: I want to come too

Mina: ???

Minato: everything that happened that night, it’s been in my head

Minato: and I feel bad about it, I wanna make up for it

Mina: oh… uh, lemme ask Ken-kun

Minato: OK

Minato set his phone aside with a sigh. He got through one more math problem before his phone went off again.

Mina: he’s ok with it. A little confused but…

Mina: ugh, it makes me so sad :(

Mina: did you know one time he said ‘you don’t have to be nice to me’

Mina: makes me wonder about his upbringing after his mom died

Minato: did he ever say who has custody of him?

Mina: I think it’s some relative of his dad’s, a cousin or something.

Mina: his mom must’ve had no immediate family.

Mina: he doesn’t really like talking about him, either way

Minato frowned. If that wasn’t familiar…

He couldn’t help but recall how he and Mina were passed from relative to relative. Just treated as a money sink… a burden.

Minato: I didn’t realize how much Ken bottled up either

Mina: yeah… u coming?

Minato: yeah, just lemme text Yukari

Mina: oooh planning on some ‘special’ time with Yukari?

Minato: get your head out of the gutter

Minato huffed before texting Yukari as a heads up. Not that it was Mina’s business how far they’ve gone, but he and Yukari have recently become more… intimate. She had taken to sneaking into his room and sharing a bed ever since… the last full moon.

But due to the recent shift in their relationship, he didn’t want his girlfriend to sneak into his room, only to discover that he wasn’t even here.

He waited for Yukari to respond before sticking his phone in his pocket. He ducked out of his room, heading for the lobby. Mina and Ken were waiting by the door.

“Oh, hey Minato,” Mina greeted.

“Hello, Minato-san,” Ken said quietly.

Minato nodded before sticking his hands in his pockets. “Are you ready to go?”

“Mm.” Ken nodded.

They set off, making the long trek to… that place. Normally, Mina was somewhat of a chatterbox. But she was… morose as they walked to the seedy area of Port Island.

Lights flickered on and off as they drew closer to where it all began. It was a bit odd to Minato personally. He was so used to the nice part of Port Island.

“Here we are,” Mina said softly.

He was… glad that the city came and scrubbed all the blood from here. Minato’s stomach gave a flip as he recalled the way Akihiko-senpai had stripped off his gloves, trying to staunch the blood flow.

“Um… thank you for coming with me,” Ken said, his voice rather stilted.

He wrapped an arm around himself, giving a small shiver.

“I was just… too scared to come here alone,” he mumbled out.

“We’re with you,” Mina promised.

“T-Thank you.” Ken then looked up. “Um… this used to be a residential area. My mom and I lived here before…”

He trailed off, growing quiet but Minato could fill in the blank.

Before she died.

Minato’s breath suddenly escaped him.

No answers. A sudden death, covered up by the Kirijo Group. No wonder Ken had been so lost.

“Living… is so painful…” Ken suddenly choked out.

When he looked up, his eyes were swimming with tears. Minato was suddenly struck with how young he looked. He still had some baby fat stubbornly clinging to his cheeks but… this just really hammered it in. Ken tried acting much older than he was, but he was just so young still.

Too young to deal with crushing grief. Too young to bear this burden. And was too alone once to shoulder all this. But… he didn’t have to deal with it all alone anymore.

“I want to take Shinjiro-san’s words to heart but I… I…!”

Minato quickly kneeled down to Ken’s level. “It’s okay if you don’t know yet, Ken.”

“Minato-san…”

Ken tried to wipe at his eyes quickly with his sleeve. Minato put a hand on his shoulder, giving it a light squeeze.

“Minato’s right, Ken-kun,” Mina said gently, crouching on his other side. “I… would’ve been lost if Minato had died that night too. We had each other.”

Minato glanced towards his twin. He still remembered the first few dark days; he had virtually shut down. If it wasn’t for Mina stubbornly pulling him along… he couldn’t even imagine what he would’ve been like without her.

“But you’re not alone. I’m sorry we didn’t realize what you were going through.” Mina’s voice wobbled at that and she sharply inhaled.

Ken hung his head low, “It’s not like you could read my mind… I’m sorry, I lied about joining SEES and everything. And now… I don’t even know what I can do to make up for what Shinjiro-san did for me.”

“Just take it one step at a time, Ken. We’re here with you,” Minato said, placing a hand on the boy’s back.

They had to do better.

It wouldn’t take away that Shinjiro-san was in a coma, and they weren’t sure if he would make it out of it. But Minato vowed to do better with Ken from now on.

Mina also placed a hand on Ken’s back then said, “You’ve already made the resolve to live. Living… is far harder than dying.”

“I want to do it… for Mom and Shinjiro-san,” Ken said quietly before he choked back a sob. “E-Even if I don’t know how exactly yet…”

Minato removed his hand from Ken’s back as he saw Mina’s movement knowing she wanted to embrace Ken. She pulled him into a tight hug, her breath shuddered a little. Her eyes were glassy, but she held back her tears.

“It’s okay, Ken-kun… you can let it out,” she murmured.

Ken trembled in her arms before burying his face into Mina’s shoulder. Minato reached over again to place his hand on the boy’s back, this time rubbing circles on it while his sister embraced Ken.

Ken cried for what felt like was several minutes. Neither of them said anything, letting the boy get it all out. Mina was doing an admirable job holding back her own tears still. Minato refrained from placing a hand on hers, he knew she was trying to be strong for Ken. If he reached out to comfort her right now, that would break her resolve. He’ll make sure to check up on her when they are alone later.

Ken eventually started to slow down on his sobs, trying to take deep breaths despite how uneven they were. He then pulled back, rubbing at his eyes.

“We’ll help you through it,” Minato promised, then sighed lightly. “I’m sorry, I haven’t been a good leader. I should’ve picked up on this. Then maybe all of this could’ve…”

“Hey, no what ifs,” Mina scolded, jabbing a finger in his direction. She then looked to Ken and smiled. “All we can do is move forward… right Ken-kun?”

Ken jumped, looking at Mina with startled eyes. Then he nodded.

“Right!”

They walked back to the dorm. Even though the ambience remained the same, Minato had to admit that… he felt lighter.

Mina was right. Ruminating on their past mistakes would do nothing but just stew on the past. All they could do… was walk forward with their own two feet.

Chapter Text

Monday, July 23rd, 2018

Makoto smoothed down her skirt, trying to calm her racing heart. She couldn’t help but second-guess what she wanted to suggest to Ken.

The first semester of the school year had ended just two days ago. She had been trying to work up the courage to ask her boyfriend if he’d be interested in moving in together after this year.

As he promised Mitsuru-san, Ken had stayed at the penthouse where he and Shinjiro-san lived during their final year of high school. But half of the school year remained so Makoto thought it’d might be prudent to bring it up so they would have time to look and save up money for the deposit.

“Makoto? Is there something the matter?”

Makoto dragged her fingers through her hair. “No, it’s… well…”

She trailed off, unsure on how to broach the topic.

“Have you… looked at other apartments yet?” she settled on finally. “I know it’s like another eight months but…”

“I’ve looked but nothing too seriously,” he admitted. “Why?”

Makoto bit her lip. “It’s well… we’ve been dating for nearly two years. I just thought, maybe we could look for a place together?”

She watched her boyfriend carefully, unsure on how he’d react.

Ken blinked rapidly, as if he was trying to compute her suggestion.

He then gave a sharp inhale, running a hand through his hair. “You want to move in together?”

Makoto sighed to herself. “W-Well, it’s okay if you would prefer a space on your own. But—!”

Makoto halted as Ken grasped her wrist gently.

“Did you hear me say no?” he chided. When Makoto gave him a flustered look, Ken just smiled wryly. “It was… unexpected. I thought you were content with living with your sister still. Since it helps you save money to pay for the tuition.”

“It’s…” Makoto sighed, pursing her lips. “I guess I’ve been thinking about it ever since Ren and Anne moved in together a few months ago.”

As Ren promised, he had returned from Shimoda after his high school graduation. He and Anne were renting out a modest apartment, along with Morgana. Though sometimes Anne wasn’t even in Tokyo, let alone Japan.

“And… I think I would like to be more independent,” she admitted. “This past year and a half has done us both a great deal of good. But I don’t want to stay forever. I thought it might be good to move forward… together.”

Ken was quiet, chewing on his lower lip.

“We would have to find a good location, somewhere in between our schools,” he said before he gave her a small smile. “But we have time to prepare.”

Makoto let out a little squeak. Ken just chuckled before leaning in and kissing her temple.

“But let’s wait until we’ve figured out something more concrete before announcing it to everyone.” Ken then rolled his eyes. “I can just hear the inappropriate jokes Ren will make…”

“Well Anne can’t keep him completely under control… unfortunately,” Makoto quipped. “Though, speaking of Anne—do you remember when she’ll be back from Italy?”

“Um… sometime this week, I think,” Ken said, tapping his chin for a moment. “But beyond that… I don’t remember. Why?”

“Oh, I just thought it might be fun to get together, all nine of us. It is summer break so we might as well make the most out of it.”

It was a little harder to get together now. But they still kept in contact and more often than not, the group chat was still buzzing with updates.

The last time they had been together as a group was… Yu-san and Rise-san’s wedding, during Golden Week. That had been a fun wedding. More ostentatious than Shinjiro-san and Fuuka-san’s wedding but that was no surprise with how Rise-san was.

“Well, that’s true,” Ken conceded. “I know that Ryuji’s been wanting to get together again too.”

“You’d know that pretty well,” Makoto said with a chuckle.

Ken and Ryuji helped coach a local junior high soccer team. It brought them a little closer than before. It had kindled an interest in coaching in Ryuji so he was now studying to become a PE teacher.

Ken just nodded. “Well… I can’t say that I blame him.”

But suddenly both of their phones buzzed.

[Ryuji]: yo! It’s been a while since we’ve all gotten together, yeah? Anne’s back from Italy, Yusuke’s got no art exhibits coming up, no school! It’s the perfect timing!

[Ren]: you couldn’t wait one day, huh, Ryuji?

[Futaba]: someone’s salty. You were looking forward to some special time with Anne huh?

[Anne]: aw Ren it’ll be okay! Plus there’s always tonight ;)

[Ryuji]: EW

[Ren]: ;)

[Ryuji]: GROSS

[Yusuke]: I believe you brought this on yourself Ryuji, I do not believe you can complain

[Makoto]: moving on… I think a get-together sounds nice. Should we meet up at Leblanc then?

[Haru]: of course, it was our old hideout after all!

[Ken]: that sounds good to me… but Futaba have you talked to Sakura-san about it?

[Futaba]: you know he’ll have it open for us! There’s nobody there!

[Ken]: you should still ask obviously…

[Futaba]: Ugh you’re still such a nag >(

Ken let out a frustrated breath at Futaba’s last comment. Makoto just laughed at the disgruntled look on his face.

“Be quiet…” Ken grumbled out.

Makoto giggled but cleared her throat. “It seems Ryuji’s ears were burning. Well, I suppose this saves us from having to strike up the question ourselves.”

“Welcome back, Anne!” they chorused together as Ren and Anne entered Café Leblanc.

Anne beamed. “Thanks, guys! Oh, and I brought you guys souvenirs!”

She put the tote bag she carried onto the bar, sorting through them. She passed out the gifts; it was a vast assortment going from a nice pair of leather boots for Makoto to coffee beans for Futaba and Sakura-san to Venetian glass earrings for Haru.

Her gift for Ken ended up being a leather wallet. Ken was surprised. He had mentioned to Anne offhandedly that he really needed to replace his wallet during Ren’s party back in May, since it was getting so worn out. He hadn’t expected her to remember that comment.

“Thank you, Anne, I appreciate it,” Ken thanked her.

“No problem!” Anne said with her usual cheery smile. “Oh, and I figured since you’d be visiting Port Island sometime this summer, I got Shinjiro-san some really good balsamic vinaigrette. It was something I had in the restaurant—they make it in-house! It’s really good, I think he’ll like it.”

Ken just raised an eyebrow. He was curious to why Anne was so confident about it.

“Why would Shinjiro-san want vinegar?” Ryuji asked, scratching the back of his head.

Morgana scoffed. “Not vinegar, vinaigrette! You can use it for salads and stuff. Sheesh, Ryuji, you really ought to expand your palette beyond ramen.”

“Can it, Mona!” Ryuji snapped out.

Makoto quickly interjected with an inquiry of how Anne liked Italy before Ryuji and Morgana could squabble even further. Of course, Anne was mostly working but she had some down time, allowing her to explore the city. Anne wound up showing them some pictures she took.

“Oh, Venice looks so beautiful!” Haru sighed. “I’d love to see it one day.”

“As would I,” Yusuke chimed in. “I can just picture the inspiration I would get.”

Anne’s eyes brightened before giving Haru a meaningful look. “Maybe you should take a trip there together some time.”

Haru blushed. “Ah, well… maybe one day.”

She looked at Yusuke shyly. Ken expected Yusuke to be oblivious but he just smiled at her.

“I would love to accompany you there someday, my dear.”

Ken couldn’t help but do a double-take at that comment. The room all stopped short as well. They all clearly had the same thought. Yusuke just called Haru “my dear”.

Haru then quickly coughed. “U-Um, so… we actually need to share something.”

“Did you two finally get your act together?!” Futaba blurted out.

“W-Wha…? F-Futaba-chan!” Haru’s cheeks turned pink.

“I mean… it’s ‘bout time,” Ren drawled out with a smirk.

Ryuji meanwhile kept nudging Yusuke and whispering “you dog” at him. Ren was patting Yusuke on the back as well. Ken couldn’t help but shake his head.

“Ahem! Before these two really get going…” Makoto gave Haru and Yusuke a warm smile. “Congratulations. You two are meant for each other.”

“I’m happy for you,” Ken said. “I’m glad you two figured it out.”

“More like Yusuke…” Ryuji said with a quiet chuckle but then cleared his throat. “It was hard staying quiet on this for a while, still really excited for ya both though.”

I’m surprised that Ryuji hasn’t blabbed,” Morgana quipped.

Ryuji turned on his heels and glared down at their furry friend.

“Sh-Shut up!” Ryuji cried out.

Well, Ken had to agree with Morgana there. Ryuji tended to have… loose lips. Not that he’d say that aloud, he wasn’t interested in needling Ryuji like Morgana did.

Anne then leaned forward. “But you need to tell us how it happened, Haru!”

“W-What?” Haru stuttered out before waving her hands in front of her. She then squeaked, “N-Now?”

Anne huffed, crossing her arms. “Okay fine, maybe not now… but soon!”

She held up her index finger, looking sternly at Haru. Ken had to bite his tongue, kept himself from chuckling at Haru’s panicked expression.

“The next girl’s night we have—you’re so spilling.”

Makoto laughed lightly before leaning in to whisper to Ken.

“Happy that another couple’s taking the heat this time?” she asked with a wry smile.

“Yusuke was oblivious for over a year so…” Ken said dryly. “But yeah, guilty as charged.”

But then again… Ryuji might be next on the list to get teased. Shiho-san sometimes stopped by when he and Ryuji were coaching the kids. Ryuji tended to get bonked on the head by stray soccer balls when Shiho-san was around.

Makoto giggled next and then tugged his arm. He followed her to sit down at one of the booths while the group teased Yusuke and Haru. Morgana joined them, hopping up to sit on the table. He turned to face the others, shaking his head.

Morgana then sighed, pressing a paw to his face. “Ugh… are you done teasing them?”

“Nope, we’re just getting started!” Futaba said with a cheeky grin.

Haru smiled awkwardly, lacing her arms around Yusuke’s left arm.

Yusuke narrowed his eyes. “Is it truly that important to you? Perhaps you should look at a gossip magazine if you care so much for romance.”

“Or maybe Futaba should look a little closer to home,” Ren muttered to Ryuji.

Before Futaba could retort, Makoto loudly cleared her throat to interject. The whole room stopped their chatter. They all moved to gather around, sitting at the booths.

Makoto spoke up soon as they were all seated. “Well, anyways, as Ryuji said… our schedules are fairly open. We should do something together.”

“There’s a movie festival going on,” Morgana piped up.

“That’s boring, Mona!” Futaba complained. “We should do something bigger! Better!”

“Like what, go to Destinyland?” Morgana said sarcastically.

“We did that already,” Yusuke pointed out.

Morgana gave him an irate look. Yusuke tilted his head as he looked at Morgana. It seemed he didn’t pick up that Morgana wasn’t sincere in that suggestion.

Ren leaned against his seat. “You know… my folks used to take me camping every couple of summers when I was younger.”

“Camping?” Ryuji then grinned. “Man, I haven’t done that since junior high! Let’s do it!”

“I’ve never been,” Haru murmured, holding a hand to her mouth.

“It’s fun!” Ren’s eyes started to light up. “We used to hike in the mountains around Shimoda. Mom taught me about bird calls and my dad taught me about fishing. And at night, we would cook a ton of food. My mom would tell the best spooky ghost stories too. And right before we went to bed, we’d lay down under the stars and Dad would tell me about the constellations and the stories behind them.”

Ren smiled as he reminisced. It was nice seeing how relaxed Ren was about his parents now, Ken couldn’t help feel relieved. The year in Shimoda did the three of them good.

“I’m not opposed to it!” Haru laughed, holding up her hands. “Maybe we should do it then! Oh, and you can leave the firewood chopping to me!”

Ken sometimes forgot that Haru was stronger than she looked. It was still impressive (and a little scary) how well she wielding her axe when fighting Shadows.

Ken shook his head and cleared his throat.

“But if you’re going to cook with pots and pans, you should get a hot plate,” Ken suggested. “Or I suppose a portable stove would work too…”

“If we’re bringing a stove, I would like to request hot pot,” Yusuke announced.

Ryuji put his hands in his pocket and grimaced towards Yusuke.

“Summer’s so not the right time for hot pot,” Ryuji huffed out.

Before Yusuke and Ryuji could really get into it, Anne chimed in.

“But we definitely need to start a campfire though,” Anne said. “I never went camping but when I lived in America, my grandparents showed me how to make s’mores in their fireplace! They’re the best!”

“Of course you have sweets on your mind,” Makoto sighed out, giving Anne a smile both exasperated and fond. “Though… how long are we planning to go camping? That will determine just how many the supplies we need…”

“Maybe we should write down a list,” Morgana suggested. “We’re throwing out so much, we’re bound to forget something. And where are we even going to get everything?”

Futaba’s eyes brightened. “Oh, that’s easy.”

She whipped out her phone, holding it right before her.

“EMMA, give me a recommended list of camping supplies,” she stated. “Oh, and give me a store near Shibuya for us to buy them!”

There was a ping as EMMA recited the closest store where they’d be able to buy their supplies.

Makoto’s eyes widened before she commented, “That’s… a long list of supplies.”

“Maybe we can split up everything then,” Ken suggested.

“That’s true, we would need to go grocery shopping,” Yusuke mused. “But I must request that we bring along some mushrooms. They’re quite delicious roasted.”

Ken pinched the bridge of his nose. He dearly hoped that Yusuke wasn’t going around in parks and just picking up mushrooms to eat again…

Tuesday, July 24th, 2018

They had agreed to go shopping for supplies first thing in the morning. Ren was in charge of getting the cooking supplies—like a portable gas stove, butane fuel, pots, pans, and utensils. He was also thinking of getting a kettle just in case they wanted coffee in the morning.

Since everything would be a lot to carry, he and Ryuji would be going together.

Ken, Yusuke, and Futaba would be getting tents and sleeping bags and extra chairs for everyone, since Sojiro had a limited number of foldable chairs. Futaba had tried to argue that she wasn’t strong enough to help with those supplies but Ken overrode her protests and dragged her off. And lastly, Makoto, Anne, and Haru would be getting cooking ingredients.

But… Ren couldn’t help but feel a little bothered. The dream he had last night…

He hadn’t seen Lavenza since the day he had departed Tokyo, to move back to Shimoda with his parents.

Of course, he had known in the back of his head that he’d probably would fight with his Persona again at some point. Ken was proof of that. The incident with the Abyss of Time, the crap with Sho Minazuki he heard about, and of course, what led to Ken meeting them all.

Three more Shadow incidents since Ken had awakened to his Persona, nearly a decade ago.

But… Ren felt unsettled.

“Ren?”

Ren blinked as Morgana’s paw came into view.

“You okay, Ren?” he asked in concern.

“I’m fine, just didn’t sleep that well last night,” Ren dismissed.

Morgana sniffed. “You and Lady Anne shouldn’t have stayed up so late as is.”

Ren smiled sheepishly. “I missed her, okay?”

It wasn’t even that they were making out or anything (though some kisses were exchanged last night). But he always loved hearing about Anne’s travels, talking about the people she’s met, her new experiences…

Morgana just sighed, shaking his head. “I know. But you still shouldn’t put that above your health!”

“Fine, fine, Mom-na,” Ren teased. Morgana grumbled at the pun but before he could complain further, Ren quickly interjected, “But c’mon, Ryuji should be around here.”

They had agreed to meet at the Buchiko statue. And sure enough, Ryuji was standing nearby, messing with his phone.

“Hey! There you guys are!” Ryuji flashed them a grin. He then grimaced before fanning his face. “But ugh, it’s so damn hot. C’mon! Let’s hustle to the store so we can chill there!”

Ren had to stifle a snicker. It was always funny to him that Ryuji’s Persona resisted the element fire but he still complained about the heat.

“We’re picking up the cooking supplies…” Morgana said slowly. “Go ahead and lead the way then, Ryuji.”

“Uhhh… right.” Ryuji scratched the back of his neck. “I kinda… forgot the store name.”

But then he gasped, his face lighting up.

“Ohhh, right! I can just use EMMA!”

He then activated the app. When EMMA’s automated voice greeted him, Ryuji rubbed the back of his head.

“Uhh… yeah… show us the store you told us about earlier,” he said.

“That isn’t vague at all,” Ren thought with amusement.

With a ping, EMMA stated that it was pulling up the optimal route. Ren couldn’t help but let out a low whistle at that.

“Damn… it’s really too impressive,” he commented.

“And with such a vague question too,” Morgana chimed in. “Well, better for us! Especially Ryuji.”

Ryuji opened his mouth to retort but some shrieking caught their attention.

“Alice! ALICEEEE! We love you!!” a group of girls squealed as they ran by.

“What’s that racket?” Morgana asked, his tail swishing back and forth.

Almost as if on cue, two businessmen walked by. One of them unintentionally answering Morgana’s question.

The man in the gray suit said, “A promotional store opening is currently underway at the Shibuya 705 storefront with Alice Hiiragi.”

“Ah I see, I heard her merchandise sells really well. I am curious, shall we check it out? It could give us a good idea on the layout for our products on the store floor,” the man in the brown suit replied.

Ryuji grabbed Ren by the shoulder, a wide smile spread across his lips.

He gasped. “For real?! Alice is here?!”

That name… sounded familiar. He racked his brain. Wait… that magazine that Anne was reading two weeks ago. The one she was excited to have a spread in, she mentioned someone in the fashion industry she loved on the cover. Wasn’t that her name, Alice Hiiragi?

“The fashion designer, right?” Ren asked.

But EMMA spoke once more.

“Alice Hiiragi is a fashion model and performing artist. She has gained attention for her ‘adorable look’ and unique sense of style. She has acted in several media and genres. She has become a pop culture tastemaker and continues to cultivate a devoted fanbase.”

“I stand corrected…”

“I think Lady Anne mentioned her a few times.” But then Morgana shook his head. “But sheesh—I didn’t realize how popular she was.”

“Yeah, she’s huge!” Ryuji nodded. “You wanna go check her out?”

Ren shrugged. “If you wanna, sure.”

“Should we really be doing this?” Morgana fussed. “We were gonna meet up at Leblanc after we’re done with buying supplies, aren’t we?”

“Big whup, it’ll add on what—twenty minutes to our errand?” Ryuji scoffed. “Quit worryin’, Morgana! ‘Sides, it’s on the way to the store anyways!”

“Fine, fine…” Morgana grumbled out.

Ren followed Ryuji to see a pink stage in front of a store. He could see some decorations on the stage, like a pocket watch and a big fancy teapot and teacup.

He overheard some guys talking about Alice and how much they loved her.

“Hiii folks! Thanks for coming!”

Ren craned his neck to see a girl with pastel green hair and sky-blue highlights waving to the crowd.

“A shop that’s carrying one of my very own brands is opening today!” she said.

She then went on to ask the crowd if they dreamed of being someone else, even if it was for a little while. Ren craned an eyebrow at that.

That was kinda an odd question to him.

But then Alice giggled. “Well, I know a place like that! A special wonderland where you can be anything you wanna be!”

A special wonderland? Just what was she talking about?

“Sheesh, what’s the racket?”

Ren turned his head at the sudden complaint. He saw it was a couple of Americans. One had bright red hair and green eyes. The other had golden blond hair and blue eyes.

“Some fashion model yammering on and on…” the blond said, rolling his eyes. “But ugh, how does she expect people to buy her clothes? Just look at what she’s wearing! It looks like a cupcake puked on her.”

“And the dress is what a little girl would wear,” his companion sneered.

“Nobody will buy such ugly clothes.”

Ren couldn’t help but snort loudly at that.

“Huh? What’s so funny, RenRen?”

Ren snickered before giving the two Americans a side-eye.

“You can’t understand them, can you?”

“Well duh, they’re obviously tourists and speaking in English,” Ryuji said, rolling his eyes.

Ren’s English wasn’t always the greatest. But even before he and Anne started dating, she had shown him a couple of American films. It was pretty helpful with improving his English so Ren could follow English pretty decently now.

“They said that Alice’s outfit is ugly and almost childish,” Ren stated. “Like I get it if you think that kind of fashion is out there but they obviously haven’t seen high fashion.”

Or fairy kei for that matter.

Ryuji guffawed. “Forget high fashion. Have they even looked at our street fashion?”

“Honestly they should look at some fashion shows in the West themselves, they obviously have no idea what they are talking about if they find this odd.” Ren couldn’t help but laugh with a shrug.

So ignorant… he preferred Anne’s sense of style (not that he was biased or anything) but he had to admit Alice definitely was cute. She almost had a rather cherubic face, so the style fit her quite well.

“Okay, okay, sheesh, they’re not even from around here,” Morgana said.

“Just makes them even stupider for complaining…” Ryuji grumbled.

But then the crowd suddenly parted as Alice descended the stage.

There were a couple gasps when she started to handing out some cards out to random people in the crowd.

Ren blinked as Alice stopped in front of him. She looked at him curiously.

“Well, hey there!” she greeted him with a light laugh. “Do you want to go to Wonderland?”

Ren scratched the back of his head. What did she mean by that?

“Sorry, it was kinda hard to hear you when we were in the back,” he bluffed. “What’s Wonderland?”

“That’s okay! It’s well… hmm… Just a special place and this is the key,” she said with a wink before offering the card to him. “I hope you have fun!”

Alice seemed a little… eccentric. But then again… many in this industry can be that way. Maybe it was like her stage persona, like an idol’s. When his mom was an idol, she was supposed to be the cool one out of her idol group, Hanasaki.

But Ren didn’t want to be rude, especially since Alice had approached him specifically, so he accepted the card.

She smiled sweetly at him, waved and turned around to pass out a few more cards.

“What is it, RenRen?” Ryuji asked eagerly.

It was a pretty nice card, mostly a sky blue. There were a couple of horizontal light green stripes, similar to the shade of Alice’s hair. There was a white frame with an ace of spades in the corner. Ren couldn’t help but chuckle at that, his mind veering to Ken’s codename. There was a white bunny in the right corner, a speech bubble reading: “Here’s my EMMA keyword. Please be my friend!”

But at the top it read, “Keyword: Wonderland”.

“Keyword?” Morgana questioned.

“Ohhh, that means you can friend Alice on EMMA!” Ryuji’s eyes brightened. “RenRen, you gotta do it! Just imagine—being friends with Alice!”

“Not like we’re acquainted with celebrities as is,” Ren noted dryly.

Ryuji scowled. “Hey! This is different, we met the others more through Ken!”

“Not Hifumi,” Ren pointed out.

Ryuji grumbled, “Now you’re just bein’ a pain in the ass! And Hifumi is not Alice! Besides, didn’t Morgana just mention Anne’s a fan of hers? Anne would probably love it! She’d totally go for it in your shoes!”

He had to admit, Ryuji had a point there. From what he remembered, Anne mentioned how talented Alice was and she really found her admirable.

Ren shook his head and chuckled in response before pulling out his phone. Ryuji’s expression brightened as Ren pulled up the EMMA app.

“Hang on, you’re doing it?!” Morgana said incredulously.

“Eh, why not?” Ren said. “She seemed nice enough anyways. Now let’s see…”

He typed in Wonderland when EMMA prompted him.

“Beginning navigation.”

Wait... navigation? But that sounds too similar to… the Metaverse…

“Ugh… I should’ve gone with Makoto and Anne for the food,” Futaba groaned out before collapsing onto the couch. “Man, and Alice Hiiragi’s store opening wrapped up by the time we finished!”

She gave Ken an annoyed look while doing so.

Ken smiled sympathetically. “Sorry about that, Futaba.”

They had gone to the Sakuras’ to drop off the supplies they had picked up first before returning to Leblanc.

Futaba levelled him an irate look. “I deserve a reward for this. Your cheese potato mochi will do.”

Ken held up his hands. Futaba had done her part to help with their part of the errands, after all, with minimal complaints.

“All right, all right, I’ll make some tonight and bring them over tomorrow morning,” he promised.

Futaba beamed at him. She then wandered over to where her laptop awaited her. She had opened it when they heard the doorbell jingle.

“Hellooooo? Is anyone here?” Anne called out.

“Up here!” Futaba yelled, making Ken wince.

Before he could say anything, however, Ken’s phone suddenly went off. He pulled it out of his pocket to glance at the caller ID.

Mitsuru-san was calling. But that was normal, usually Ken got to talk to her on a weekly basis, even if it was a five-minute talk while Ken was walking to campus.

“Hi, Mitsuru-san,” Ken greeted her.

“Amada,” Mitsuru-san greeted him briskly. “Do you have time for a word?”

Ken’s brow wrinkled at that. Mitsuru-san’s tone felt… urgent. He noticed Makoto glancing his way, looking curious so Ken mouthed I’ll explain later at her. She blinked but gave a small nod.

“Amada?”

“Sorry, sorry, I got a little distracted. But… What’s the matter, Mitsuru-san?” Ken inquired, scratching his cheek.

Mitsuru-san was quiet before she slowly exhaled.

“Our technology has… detected some Shadow activity in Tokyo,” she said carefully. “Unfortunately, Yamagishi is out of town currently due to a work convention. However, I’ve reached out to Kujikawa and she’s agreed to come help. However, her schedule will be backed up for the next couple days. But in the meantime… can I trust you to investigate into this in the meantime?”

Ken gulped.

Shadow activity… it never really ended—which was why the Shadow Operatives existed. But still…

“It’s something outside the Metaverse?”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Futaba jerk towards his direction. Yusuke tilted his head, watching Ken as well. Ken gave a small shake of his head.

“I don’t know, Amada,” Mitsuru-san answered but Ken could detect frustration edging into her voice. “But are you willing to look into this as well?”

Ken bit the inside of his cheek before straightening up, even though Mitsuru-san couldn’t see him.

“You’d only need to ask, Mitsuru-san,” he said solemnly. “I’ll do my best.”

“Thank you, Amada.” Mitsuru-san sounded relieved. “I might send a couple more members as well but we need to know more. I will keep you posted, Amada. Oh—and since they’re in Tokyo anyway, you have my permission to divulge what I’ve told you to your friends.”

She trailed off at that but Ken could hear the unspoken message between the lines.

Ken nodded. “Noted, Mitsuru-san. I’ll talk to you soon then.”

“Goodbye, Amada,” Mitsuru-san said before proceeding to hang up.

“Ken…?”

He looked at Makoto, who looked uncertain.

“Was that Mitsuru-san on the phone?”

Ken inhaled. “Yes, she... told me that there’s Shadow activity in Tokyo.”

Haru gasped. “Really?! B-But the Metaverse…”

She trailed off, biting her lip.

“I think we should contact Ren,” Makoto advised. “Though, Futaba—have you been able to sense anything?”

Futaba shook her head. “I can’t access Prometheus in the real world, you know that. I haven’t gotten to that level yet.”

Makoto couldn’t help but wince, she mumbled out an apology. Ken placed a hand on her shoulder before shooting Futaba a small smile.

“Don’t feel bad, it took me seven years to reach that level,” Ken was quick to reassure her.

But even as he spoke, Ken pressed a hand to his heart. It’s been a year and a half since he’s last used Tyr. Mitsuru-san hadn’t deemed any Shadow incident that’s popped up since they defeated the Holy Grail big enough to call Ken into action.

He could sense his Persona still but he might be a little… rusty either way. Last time he felt like this was… right before he ran into Akechi in the Metaverse. Hopefully he won’t get pounced by another rouge Persona user and get nearly killed.

Ken couldn’t help but sigh.

“Let me take care of Ren!” Anne chirped before pulling her phone from her pocket.

She called Ren, pressing her phone to her ear. But then her brow furrowed after a few seconds.

She suddenly hung up before sending a text.

“Anne-chan?” Haru gave her a concerned look.

“Umm… Ren’s phone went to voicemail,” Anne said after a moment of hesitation. “Like right away.”

“How odd,” Yusuke noted. “It’s rather common for Ryuji to allow his phone to die but Ren is much more responsible.”

“It’s fine—Ren probably accidentally just put his phone on do not disturb,” Anne said.

But… Ken couldn’t help but notice her smile had become strained. She bit her lip before putting her phone away.

“Futaba, do you think you can trace Ren or Ryuji’s phones’ GPS?” Ken asked.

Futaba snickered, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

“Pffft, who do you think you’re talking to? This will be a snap.” She laughed.

“Wait, hang on, Futaba,” Makoto interjected. She stepped forward, resting a hand on Ken’s arm. “Ken, I get that you’re worried but I don’t think this situation is drastic enough to ask Futaba to look into this. Everyone has their off days. Ren could’ve just forgotten to charge his phone today. For that matter, has anyone tried calling Ryuji?”

“Let me try.” Yusuke pulled out his phone before calling Ryuji. He frowned almost immediately. “How odd. It went right to voicemail as well.”

“Let’s give them an hour, then,” Makoto suggested. “Their share of the supplies isn’t that big. They should be back soon.”

Haru bit her lip. “Hopefully you’re right, Mako-chan.”

Anne bit her bottom lip as well before finally pocketing her phone.

Ken just sighed. He hoped that they hadn’t wound up in some trouble. But then again, Ren seemed to be quite the trouble magnet…

Ren grimaced as he pushed himself up in a sitting position. They were definitely in trouble.

Seriously, what the hell was this?

The Metaverse was supposed to be gone after they destroyed the Holy Grail. But this place was crawling with Shadows and there was the “give me your hearts” thing from… Alice. Alice Hiiragi, she had a Shadow. On top of that, they could use their Personas!

But he still was reconciling Alice having a Shadow… Anne spoke highly of her the other day. She’s going to be so disappointed.

Ren was a little frustrated with how his abilities had deteriorated though… to say he was rusty was putting it mildly. That was how Alice’s Shadow goons were able to get the drop on him, Ryuji, and Morgana.

“So… who are these lil’ guys?” Shadow Alice asked, leaning forward to peer at them.

Ren grimaced, trying to wiggle free from his rope bindings. He was hoping it would loosen enough for him to get free but his efforts just made the ropes dig painfully into his wrists.

“Your Majesty, we captured these Thieves, but we were unable to take their Desires,” one of the Shadow goons stated. “We have brought them to you.”

Shadow Alice’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Couldn’t capture their Desires? Explain yourselves.”

This was so weird. What were they talking about with ‘Desires’? But then Ren’s mind flashed to how Alice’s Shadow had appeared on the jumbotron.

It seemed that Alice had a reason to invite people to her ‘wonderland’. But what was it, exactly?

But the sound of Shadow Alice’s heels clicking against the floor made Ren look up. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Morgana and Ryuji eyeing her suspiciously.

“Hmm… you look pretty cool.” She looked him up and down, her eyes glittering with interest. “So, what’s your name?”

Ren stayed silent, pressing his lips together. Shadow Alice suddenly scowled, slamming down that cane of hers hard against his shoulder. The force was strong enough to knock him down and Alice’s heel dug into his arm.

“Joker!” Morgana gasped.

“The hell you doing?!” Ryuji snarled out.

“Ah, so you’re Joker, huh?” Shadow Alice asked. “That’s good to know. Come now, Joker. You need to answer properly when your Queen asks you a question.”

“Sorry, you’re talking to the wrong guy about wanting a ‘Queen’,” Ren said dryly. “Personally, I prefer a Panther.”

“What are you babbling about now?” Shadow Alice asked mildly annoyed.

“Also, if this is your weird way of hitting on me—not interested,” Ren said flatly. “I’m happily in a relationship.”

Shadow Alice’s irritated expression suddenly morphed into anger. “Kh!”

Alice smacked him with her cane again. There was a… grin now on her face. But it wasn’t pleasant, her grin was mixed in with a scowl.

“And does she make you happy?” Shadow Alice hissed in his ear as she grinded her heel into his back now.

Ren wanted to retort but Ryuji suddenly growled.

“Quit it, asshole!” Ryuji spat out. “Why are you harassing him?!”

“Would you shut your mouth?” Shadow Alice shot back. “Or are you looking for punishment too?”

Ren wished he could get up but Shadow Alice’s heel dug into him even more. Ren gritted his teeth, not wanting to give her the satisfaction.

Ryuji growled at her but Shadow Alice sniffed haughtily.

“Ugh. I’ve stopped caring.” She looked to her guards. “Get rid of them.”

“W-Wait, what do you mean?” Morgana sputtered out.

“I don’t want toys that don’t do as they’re told." She sounded bored.

What the hell?! What was her problem?

But then the guards seized all three of them before chucking them down a pit. Darkness swallowed them up before they finally hit the cold, hard ground.

“Anything, Futaba?”

Futaba’s shoulders were tense as she looked up. Ken’s heart sank. That was probably not good news.

Futaba hesitantly shook her head, she bit her lip nervously.

Where could they be? And for Futaba to not be able to find them…?

Haru began to wring her hands. “If Futaba-chan can’t find them, has something happened?”

Makoto held up her hands in a placating manner. “C-Calm down. I’m sure there’s an explanation for this. Maybe both of their phones have no signal whatsoever? The underground mall doesn’t have the best reception, for example.”

But even as her tone turned soothing, uncertainty flickered in Makoto’s eyes.

“Perhaps it would be prudent for us to try and look for them, enough time has passed, has it not? I believe Ryuji and Ren were meant to go to Shibuya for their share of the supplies,” Yusuke stated. “We shouldn’t be waiting around for an answer, as skilled as Futaba is.”

“But… Tokyo is huge,” Haru said. “I’m not sure if that’s the best way to handle this issue.”

“I think Yusuke is saying we can narrow our search to Shibuya. Maybe the closest districts as well,” Ken suggested.

Yusuke nodded. “Yes, that’s what I was suggesting. Thank you, Ken.”

But then Anne’s phone suddenly went off and she jumped to her feet.

“Ren?!” she exclaimed.

But she then took a deep breath, her eyes looked wet but she blinked them rapidly, to hold back tears. She was even more worried than she let on.

“I was so… so worried." Her lip trembled slightly as Haru placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Are Ryuji and Morgana with you? They are? Good, good…”

She took another deep breath, and gave Haru a grateful nod. She then wiped one of her eyes with her sleeves.

“But where have you been?!” she demanded. “We’ve all been going crazy with worry, Ren! What do you mean, it’s a long story?”

Ken just sighed, rubbing his forehead. Beside him, Makoto gave a rueful smile as she shook her head. Haru let out a weak giggle as Futaba smirked in amusement as Ren’s voice grew more urgent as he spoke to Anne.

“You’re coming back to Leblanc now?” Anne’s face grew relieved. “Okay… I’ll see you. Bye.”

She then stuffed her phone into her pocket before wiping at her other eye with the back of her hand.

“Anne, don’t fret, it’s alright. I’m sure they’ll have a good explanation on what happened,” Ken said.

“My theory is that Ryuji led Ren and Morgana into trouble,” Yusuke stated.

Ken sighed with a rueful smile at that comment.

“Speaking from experience, Inari?” Futaba snickered out.

“I will refrain from commenting on that,” Yusuke said with a haughty sniff.

Ken just huffed, rolling his eyes. But the small banter actually made Anne giggle so he supposed it wasn’t so bad.

“Why don’t we wait downstairs for the boys?” Haru suggested.

Makoto nodded. “That’s a good idea.”

Futaba put on the TV as background noise. It was typically celebrity gossip, which Ken usually didn’t pay attention to.

“And now please welcome Rise Kujikawa!”

“Wait, Rise-san?” Makoto asked, blinking in surprise.

Rise-san suddenly appeared, waving to the crowd. She was dressed a bit more professional than usual. She wore a magenta blazer, worn open to reveal a cropped black top underneath. She had a matching black skirt. Her stiletto heels were black with white polka dots and had a pink bow on each.

“Thank you for having me!” Rise-san said in her usual cheery voice before sitting down across of the host.

“Thank you for making it, Rise-chan!” the host said with a laugh. “Especially with your busy schedule. Why, I can’t believe that you’re actually married!”

Rise-san beamed at that, twisting her wedding ring. “Thank you! I can’t believe it myself!”

She winked and blew a kiss right at the camera.

“I love you, Senpai!”

“Senpai…” the host repeated. “I’ve heard talk that you’ve known your husband since high school, is that true?”

Rise-san nodded before twirling a lock of auburn hair. “Uh-huh. We first met during my hiatus, when I was sixteen. We went to school together. And honestly, I think I might not have had the courage to come back as Risette if it wasn’t for his support. He’s always been there for me. I guess I’ve always had a crush on him but I can’t believe that he would pick me of all people.”

Ken just raised an eyebrow. It had been about a year after meeting the Investigation Team that they had felt comfortable enough to reveal that Yu-san and Rise-san were secretly dating. Personally, he found the no-dating rule that idols were obligated to follow was a little silly so he had just shrugged it off when he learned of it.

But Rise-san seemed positively giddy to get to be able to talk of her love for Yu-san in public. Then again, she had waited a long time for it—nearly five years.

And the crowd was eating it up.

“She knows how to work a crowd, wouldn’t you say, Anne-chan?” Haru prodded Anne, probably hoping to distract her.

“Huh?” Anne blinked at her before glancing up at the TV screen. “Oh um… yeah, she’s doing great.”

But before anyone could say anything else, the door suddenly opened.

“Uh… hey, we’re back,” Ren said with a sheepish smile.

Anne jumped to her feet before she practically bowled Ryuji over in her rush to get to Ren. She threw herself into Ren’s arms, burying her face against his shoulder. Ren caught her with well-practiced ease but his expression was guilty. He immediately began to rub Anne’s back.

“Anne, I’m sorry,” he murmured.

“You better be!” Anne pouted. “And you better tell us what’s going on, Mister! What happened?!”

Ken sighed before getting up to help Ryuji to his feet. The bleached blond started to grumble under his breath about being chopped liver. Ken just offered him a sympathetic smile.

“I’m glad all three of you are all right,” Ken said.

“Relatively,” Morgana grumbled.

“Relatively?!” Anne parroted, looking a little worried again.

“No, no, we’re fine,” Ren said hastily as the corner of his mouth twitched. “If anything, our pride’s the most bruised up part.”

Despite that, Ken frowned. He couldn’t help but feel that Ren was trying to smooth it over so Anne wouldn’t be upset. Granted, if he was in Ren’s shoes, he could sympathize prioritizing your girlfriend’s feelings. He couldn’t help but glance over at Makoto.

“Maybe we should move back up to the attic?” Yusuke suggested.

“That’s a good idea,” Morgana piped up.

They all nodded before climbing up the stairs. They gathered around the table, waiting for the story.

“So, uh… we were heading to the store to get our share of the supplies,” Morgana said. “Ryuji noticed that Alice Hiiragi was opening a storefront and wanted to check it out. She gave Ren a passcode to friend her on EMMA.”

“Wait, the Alice Hiiragi?!” Futaba interrupted. “And she wanted you in her friend list?!”

Ren, Ryuji, and Morgana looked exhausted. And they winced at Futaba’s excitement. That was… odd.

“Yeah… her… I entered the passcode into EMMA.” Ren picked up the story. “And… EMMA almost acted like the Meta-Nav. We were dragged into… I dunno, it was similar to a Palace. We even saw Alice’s Shadow.”

A Shadow self? Ken would have to inform Mitsuru-san of that later.

“She seemed so nice on TV… but there is more to this story, isn’t there?” Makoto asked.

“She was talking about… stealing Desires,” Ren said reluctantly, looking to Ken.

“Desires? What does she mean by that?” Haru asked as her brow furrowed in confusion.

“I don’t know, Morgana didn’t know what it was about, I was wondering… have you heard anything like this before, Ken?” Ren asked.

Ken shook his head. “Beat me. If this is anything like the Metaverse, Morgana would know more than me. And if Morgana doesn’t know… then I fear we’re in unfamiliar territory.”

Morgana sighed before leaping onto the table. His tail swished back and forth in agitation.

“We saw normal looking people drawn in get their Desires stolen. It was… I don’t know. It took the form of a red gem from the looks of it.”

Maybe he was jumping to conclusions with the little information they had but he couldn’t help but think of the Palace rulers having distorted desires.

According to them, Alice’s Shadow wanted others’ desires… it probably wasn’t the same.

But then… “stealing” desires? That sounded… more like what they did, stealing the distorted desires of the Palace Rulers in the form of treasures. Was it possible for Shadows to steal the Treasures of others? If they were Treasures at all?

“You said ‘normal’,” Makoto noted.

Ryuji nodded. “Yeah, we were fine but… we got dragged to Alice. She’s nothing like how she comes off in the real world! She’s… ugh!”

He then scowled, slamming his fist down on the table. Haru let out a startled squeak, making Yusuke narrow his eyes.

“Ryuji, calm yourself,” he admonished. “What happened after that?”

“Uhhh…” Ryuji glanced over to Ren. “W-Well, Alice heckled us, decided it wasn’t worth our time, and decided to chuck us down into a garbage pit.”

Ren rubbed his shoulder, wincing slightly. Ken watched him, wondering what happened. Maybe a scuffle with a Shadow?

But still, Ryuji’s anger was… odd. It was true that Ryuji was rather hotheaded but they were withholding something regarding their encounter with Alice, he could see it in their eyes.

Anne was surprisingly quiet during this whole time. She spoke highly of Alice Hiiragi earlier to Makoto the other week. He was surprised by her saying… nothing about her having a Shadow.

Maybe she was trying to hide how disappointed she felt? Or she didn’t want to make it about her considering what Ren, Ryuji, and Morgana went through?

His musings were interrupted by Ryuji speaking up again.

“And then we met an AI named Sophia! She helped us fight the Shadows we ran into there!” Ryuji exclaimed.

“I’m sorry… a what?” Anne finally spoke up, her brow furrowed. “Okay, I can get the place similar to the Metaverse but an AI—”

“Though that poses the question how,” Futaba interrupted. “We destroyed Mementos a year and a half ago when Ren defeated the Holy Grail.”

“While those are good points, you interrupted Anne. And I feel she brought up a good point,” Yusuke stated. “A sentiment AI? That’s just ludicrous.”

“I don’t think so,” Ken disagreed. “Bizarre things just… tend to follow Shadow incidents.”

The Midnight Stage was the first to come to mind with that… plus when you were friends with robots, an AI wasn’t exactly too surprising.

Ryuji’s shoulders slumped in relief. “At least someone believes us.”

Morgana, however, just jumped into Ken’s lap, peering suspiciously up at him.

“Why aren’t you more surprised?”

Ken shrugged. “Right when you dropped off the grid, Mitsuru-san contacted me. She informed that they’ve detected Shadow activity—specifically in Tokyo. She asked me to see if I could make some preliminary investigations before Rise-san’s schedule cleared so she can help scan the area but it seems that you did my work for me.”

“Man, if you just knew like ten minutes before we got sucked into that…” Ryuji griped.

“I don’t know, you probably still would’ve jinxed it,” Ken said, raising an eyebrow at Ryuji. “The three of you are walking trouble magnets.”

“HEY!” he sputtered out.

Ren just shrugged. “Eh. Guilty.”

“Not helping, dude!” Ryuji whined out.

“Ken, don’t tease them like that,” Makoto chastised, elbowing him in the side.

Yusuke then coughed, clearing his throat.

“But back on the subject of the matter… the news of a new Shadow nest troubles me…” Yusuke frowned deeply. “Mementos should be gone.”

“Well, there’s no sense in fretting over that currently, not until we learn more,” Haru consoled him.

“We still need to gather information regardless,” Makoto said, stroking her chin. “If only we could talk to Sophia…”

“Oh, that’s easy!” Morgana perked up. “She’s on Ren’s phone, right now.”

Ren’s phone pinged in response. The image of a red-haired girl flashed onto the screen.

“Yo, Phantom Thieves,” she greeted. “I am Sophia, humanity’s companion.”

The first thing that Ken couldn’t help but notice about Sophia was the hue of her eyes. It almost reminded him of Aigis-san’s eyes.

Mitsuru-san had explained to him once that Aigis-san’s eyes were the color they were because of the Papillion Heart the Kirijo Group used to give Aigis-san a ‘heart’ and the ability to wield a Persona.

He shook his head. That was probably just a coincidence.

“Still think it’s on par course for a Shadow incident?” Futaba asked, poking Ken in the side.

Ken rolled his eyes in response. He would have to explain to his friends about the Midnight Stage incident at some point.

Either way, he would have an interesting report to make to Mitsuru-san about this…