Archive of Our Own ^beta

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As soon as the school bell rang to finish the day, Ren got his things in his school bag and made his way to the student council room. The door was slightly cracked open and Makoto was already sitting inside, going over some homework. Ren opened the door so he could slip inside, Makoto looking up. She closed her notebook and started putting it in her bag. "Thanks for coming... I didn't know how else to do this..."

"It's okay." Ren said quickly. "What's up?"

"Well... As you know, up until now, I've been the quintessential honors student. I've always had good grades. I've always been essentially the teacher's pet. I believe I've been handling my position as student council president with as much ease as I possibly can." Makoto said as Ren closed the door. He gave her a slightly confused look, causing Makoto to blush out of embarrassment. "I-I don't mean that in a boasting way. That's just... Simply how I've thought of my life... And how it's all been laid out for me."

"And now?" Ren asked, starting to get invested.

"This whole... Joining the Phantom Thieves thing... It made me realize just how much about everything and everyone around me I don't know. I wasn't able to help anyone with the Kaneshiro situation until I joined, I wasn't able to help Suzui-san... It turns out there's no use for a rule abiding honors student when things get rough." Makoto said, staring to pace along the length of the table in the center of the room. "Everyone has high expectations of me. My path is laid out in front of me with what everyone wants and expects me to do... And I think joining you guys has helped me come to the realization that I can't just... Be the one who studies in their room and does absolutely nothing else anymore."

"And what are you gonna do about it?" Ren asked, a proud smile on his face.

"That's where you come in." Makoto admitted. "Now that I'm a member of the team, I want to do everything I can to help you all... But as everyone else made it painfully obvious, I don't know much outside of my books and my studies. It's... Kind of kept me narrow-minded."

"Right." Ren agreed.

"I... Think I need to broaden my horizons." Makoto said, stopping mid pace to stare at Ren. "You're newer in Tokyo."

"Correct."

"And... You seem like a more normal and well-adjusted person."

"Also correct."

"What... What do kids our age do for fun?"

Ren smirked. "So that's what's going on here... You want someone to take to you places where kids in high school hang out, but you didn't want to say it in front of your sister because she wants you to keep studying."

"Yeah..."

"And you figured that it'd look less suspicious if you hung out with the new guy while doing it because it can look like you, a Tokyo local, is showing the newbie around."

"Also correct." Makoto said, blushing even more. "This is... Kind of embarrassing, you totally don't have to do this-"

"I'm game." Ren said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Now what should I subject you to first?"

"Please go easy on me." Makoto begged. "Something simple. I just want to get a better idea on what my peers like so I can help serve them better as student council president... And also as our strategist and advisor. I kinda have a hard time connecting to people."

"... How about the arcade?" Ren suggested.

"The arcade..." Makoto repeated, lost in thought. "I do often hear a lot of the student body talking about going to the arcade... I've never exactly been to one myself though... You are free right now, right?"

Ren nodded. "You're the only thing I had booked."

"Could you... Take me to an arcade now? I'm not entirely sure if it will broaden my horizons per se, but I've come to realize that just studying will get me nowhere."

"Yeah. Come on. There's one on Central Street." Ren said, opening the door for Makoto.

Makoto grabbed her school bag, flinging it over her shoulder. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it." Ren said happily. "Just... Think of this as like a field trip."

"Yeah... A field trip." Makoto said confidently.

Ren lead Makoto to the train station, noticing that Makoto was staring at her phone as they walked. Ren cautiously asked, "Did Kobayakowa say anything else?"

Makoto shrugged. "Just that he's expecting my written report at the beginning of next month... Which reminds me..."

Makoto held her phone out in front of her so Ren could see as they walked, going to her audio recordings. Makoto pressed on the one labeled Phantom Thief Blackmail, then looked back over at Ren. "You're serving as my witness here."

"Of course."

Makoto pressed the delete button, then pressed the confirmation button. She nodded her head once, silently confirming that the audio was deleted. "I'm not going to need that for the foreseeable future."

Ren smiled. "You'd be turning in yourself as well if you sent that in."

"Exactly." Makoto agreed. The two walked down into the station as Makoto stuffed her phone back into her school bag. "So... What, exactly, is your story? How did you end up here? You know a lot about me, so it's only fair I know a little more about you."

"It was a big misunderstanding." Ren hesitantly admitted. "I was walking home late from my friend's house. I had gone over there for dinner, eating dinner at each other's house was a normal occurrence for us, so my parents weren't worried. As I was walking home, there was this guy... He was trying to force this woman to kiss him, he was grabbing her arm-"

"That's horrible."

"Right, and as most of the people in my home town can tell you, I have this really bad habit of coming to the defense of those that need it. I've been doing it since I was a kid and I keep doing it now despite the fact that everyone keeps telling me to keep my head down and don't cause a scene."

"So you intervened?"

Ren nodded. "The dude was obviously drunk. He was wobbling on his feet, his words were slurred, his eyes bloodshot. I step in between this guy and this woman and the guy falls back and hits his head on the pavement. One of the neighbors called the police because of the disturbance. Before they get there, the drunk guy convinces the woman he was assaulting to tell the police that I punched him and knocked him down to the ground. For some reason I still can't understand, that woman went with it."

"So you never actually hit him?"

"Me beating up Shadows is the most violent I ever get. I barely have a violent bone in my body." Ren confirmed. "Well, that friend I had dinner with? Her father is a detective at our town's police station. He and one other detective were sent out with some officers to investigate the scene. Her father believed me since he's known me since I was seven, give or take, but everyone else on the scene thought he was being biased since he personally knows me. I was just at his house for dinner, for crying out loud! So he got dismissed from the case due to potential bias, the other people at the scene thought that I actually punched that drunk guy, I got thrown into a cement cell despite my friend's dad trying to get me better accommodations until they could get in contact with my parents, I was taken to court, I was sued, I was sentanced with assault, and I was told that if I behaved myself on probation I could potentially get it expunged from my record. I think you know the rest from there."

"Sounds like this friend and her dad really care about you."

"They do. They were my biggest supporters when the court case got announced. They did whatever they could to get evidence that I didn't do that, but by then the rest of the town decided I was guilty. They're kinda being shunned now because of it. I miss them... A lot." Ren said, a small smile on his face. "In some ways, Sojiro, the guy who runs Leblanc, he kinds reminds me of my friend's dad."

Makoto laughed. "Really?"

"Oh yeah. I don't know how to really explain it, but both Sojiro and Mr. Dojima have this hard exterior that hides the fact that they're actually big softies. Sojiro will probably never admit it out loud, but I think he's growing a soft spot for me. I'm sure that if we somehow managed to put Sojiro Sakura and Ryotaro Dojima in a room together, they'd get along thick as thieves... Pun not intended."

Makoto laughed. "And Mr. Dojima's daughter?"

"Don't tell Ryuji this since he's already claimed this position, but Nanako is my best friend... Okay, maybe best friend is an oversimplification." Ren admitted. "Most of the kids in my hometown bully her for something out of her control, but she's one of the nicest people you're ever going to meet. She's just... Really calming. She has so much empathy bottled up her tiny little body it's crazy. There's this temple in our town and there's this fox that lives there. It's the town's fox. The only way we can tell this fox apart from foxes in the area is because it wears this little heart apron as a collar... Anyway, when I was like... Twelve and Nanako was eleven, she decided that she was going to build the fox a hut at the temple for when it got cold because 'the fox deserves to have a home when it snows too'. I still have no idea how she managed to convince our local grocery store to donate some precut wood to our efforts, but for an entire summer, the two of us were up at this temple making a fox house. And when Nanako feels things, she feels them intensely. She cried because a butterfly got squished. She cried tears of joy when she found out that her cousin and his college girlfriend were getting married and that she was the flower girl."

"She sounds like quite the character."

"Oh, she is." Ren agreed. "I'm sure that everyone out here will meet her eventually, but when you guys do, I'm sure that everyone will... Well..."

"Get along thick as theives?" Makoto asked.

Ren laughed. "Exactly. Thick as thieves."

The train pulled into Shibuya station and the two got out, walking towards the arcade. As they made their way towards Central Street and saw the remnants of their calling cards still stuck on the buildings, Makoto noticed that no extra shady people were out. "None of Kaneshiro's men are out... That's a good sign."

Ren nodded. "That's a great sign. We should still be cautious though."

"Right." Makoto agreed. Ren opened the door to the arcade and let Makoto walk in. Makoto looked around the space and saw some kids in Shujin uniforms playing some games. The walls were dark, but the whole area was illuminated with bright neon lights. "So this is what it's like in here..."

Ren nodded, taking out his wallet. He paused for a second, then walked back over to the door to let Morgana climb out. "Meet us back here in two hours, got it?"

Morgana nodded. "I'm gonna go spy on Shibuya-senpai."

"You do that." Ren said, standing back up and slinging on his bag. Makoto looked at him, a little confused, before Ren said, "Now that the cat is away, the humans can play."

Makoto laughed. "Do you do that all the time?"

"Oh yeah. Morgana values alone time." Ren answered, taking some money out of his wallet. "Now, what do you want to do in here? We have options."

"You're letting me choose?"

"This is your field trip. You choose where we go."

Makoto paused, then started looking around the arcade as Ren went to the coin machine to exchange his paper yen for coins. When he found Makoto again, she was standing in front of a large crane machine, staring at a familiar looking panda stuffed animal. Ren held out his hand with the coin yen out to Makoto. "You want to play for it?"

Makoto's eyes flicked down to the yen. "I can pay for it."

"This is going towards your work as advisor. I'm counting this as a thief expense." Ren said, jingling the money. "Come on... You know you want the panda..."

"... His name is Buchimaru."

"Okay... You know you want Buchimaru-kun then." Ren said, jingling the money a little more. "Come on... Do it..."

Makoto rolled her eyes, grabbing the money from Ren's hands. She put a few coins into the machine, then narrowed her eyes as she focused on the machine. She managed to aim the claw over the panda's body, lifting it up and dragging it closer to the collection area. When the panda dropped from the claw and Makoto looked disappointed, Ren said, "Put more money in and do what you just did."

"You can do that?" Makoto asked.

"Of course!" Ren said, lightly pushing Makoto to the side as he put more coins into the claw machine. "You can even ask for help if you need it. Claw machines are always going to be a gamble, yeah, but you always get what you want in the end with a little bit of effort... Unless someone rigged the machine in the first place so you never get the prize."

The claw wrapped around the pandas body again and dragged it over to the collection chute, dropping the panda inside. Ren bent down and got the panda out, offering it to Makoto. It was large and floppy, laying on it's stomach with a neutral expression on it's face. Makoto just stared at the panda for a second. It didn't look like it was worth much, but to Makoto, that panda was easily worth a million yen. Ren shook panda. "Come on, take it. It's yours."

Makoto smiled widely, snatching the panda from Ren's arms and held it tightly. "Mine..."

"Wow, so possessive." Ren said teasingly.

"What else do they have here?"

Ren took a look around as Makoto set the panda on top of her school bag. He glanced over at one of the Gun About machines and said, "How about that?"

Makoto walked over and studied the machine. "You play by aiming the gun at the screen, right? That actually seems somewhat realistic..."

Ren nodded, putting some coins in the machine so they could play together. He set down his bag, Makoto doing the same, before they each grabbed a gun. Makoto looked a little hesitant, but when the game started, she started blindly shooting at the CGI characters on the screen while Ren took a more calm approach. When Makoto took down one guy, she cheered, "I did it!"

"... We're still in the game, Makoto." Ren said hesitantly.

"... We are?"

"Yeah. Keep going! You're losing health!"

Makoto looked back at the screen and saw one of the creatures attacking her, screeching as she quickly fired off her fake gun. Ren looked around and saw a few people staring at them thanks to either Makoto's excited cheers when she took one of the CGI creatures down or her distressed screams when they swarmed her, but that only made Ren laugh. For how stoic she usually was, Makoto had quite a different side to her when you got her away from her text books. She didn't even seem to notice the attention as she kept screeching and cheering at the screen.

When the game ended, Makoto quickly placed her fake gun back. "So that's how that works..."

"Wanna go again?" Ren asked.

Makoto quickly shook her head. "No thank you... Those zombies swarming me was enough excitement."

"Want to go further in?" Ren suggested. "They should have DDR and some of those Mario Kart machines back there."

Makoto's eyes widened. "Mario Kart machines are a thing!?"

Ren laughed and nodded. "Yeah, come on!"

The two walked around the arcade for a little while longer, going to a few different game cabinets, and when they made their way to the front, Makoto commented, "I think I get why people come here... And I think I'm starting to understand people a little more... Maybe I can use that gun game to make some strategies for the Palaces..."

"That's one way of thinking of it." Ren said, lightly nudging.

"Maybe it's the fact that I got out of my usual study environment that helped me come up with that..." Makoto said, then focused her attention on Ren. "We should do this again."

Ren nodded. "Definitely."

"I might be able to give the team more ideas if I can gain increased knowledge outside of my studies... I need to live up to your expectations now that you're counting on me..." Makoto said, then studied Ren. "Prehaps it won't be immediately, but I'm sure I can be of use."

"You shouldn't be living up to my expectations, Makoto. You should be living up to your own." Ren said quickly.

"I... Don't even know what my expectations are." Makoto admitted.

"We'll figure it out. I'll help you figure out your expectations and show you how normal people have fun, and in exchange I get the best right hand woman known to man." Ren said with pride. "Sound like a deal?"

Makoto nodded. "Sounds like a deal."

Present day...

"There must've been people who obstructed your actions as the Phantom Thieves." Sae said, her arms crossed as she studied Ren. Ren's head was killing him, causing his attention to shift in and out of focus. "You managed to overcome them because you had someone who specialized in analyzing enemies... Isn't that right?"

"Maybe... Maybe not." Ren snarkily said, looking up at Sae. "Who knows? Maybe you already know who that person is."

"You... You aren't suggesting..." Sae said, her stern nature faltering.

"Take that as you will." Ren said aggressively. "Can I continue telling the story now?"

Sae sighed, her fist tightening. "Proceed."

Five months ago...

Ren looked above Makoto's head and saw the familiar tarot card he associated with his confidants floating above her head, except this time it had a new French word underneath it. La Papesse... The Priestess. Ren tilted his head a little as he studied the tarot card. Makoto noticed, tilting her head back so she could try and look above her head. "What are you looking at?"

Ren shook his head. "Nothing important. You want me to walk you home?"

Makoto shook her head this time. "No... I can get home by myself."

"You sure? It's no trouble."

"I'll be fine." Makoto said quickly as Ren walked over to the door and opened it for her.

"When you want to meet up next?"

"I don't know... I'll text you."

"No place in mind?"

"Not right now... But I will."

"That's cool... When you got a place, just let me know."

"I will." Makoto said, walking down Central Street as Morgana ran back over to Ren. "Thanks again for today! Talk to you later!"

"Later!" Ren said, waving goodbye as Morgana climbed back into his bag.

"You have fun?" Morgana asked.

"Yeah... I did." Ren said happily. "Now let's get back to Leblanc. I have some homework to do."

☆○☆

"Hey, you got a package shipped to the house today." Sojiro said as Ren walked back into Leblanc.

"I did? I wasn't expecting anything." Ren said nervously.

"I figured as much." Sojiro said, bending down behind the counter. He groaned, lifting up a giant cardboard box. "I told you to get everything shipped here, not to the actual house."

Ren walked over and grabbed the box from Sojiro, seeing in bright neon pink Sharpie Call me when you get this -ND written on the side of the box. Ren sighed, shaking his head. "I know who sent this... I'll take care of it. I'm sorry."

"Just make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Yes sir." Ren said, bowing his head as he quickly walked back upstairs. Ren carefully set the box down on the ground and sat down, getting out his phone out.

Ren unlocked his phone and scrolled through his contacts, finding Nanako's number. Ren pressed the call button and put his phone on speaker. After a few seconds, he heard Nanako's voice say, "Hello?"

"Hey... I got your box."

"Really?"

"Yeah... I think I forgot to give you Leblanc's address. Don't use the original address I gave you, okay? I'll text you the new one."

"Are you not staying there?"

"Sorta... It's complicated." Ren admitted. "Anyway, what did you send me?"

"Just a little care package... Open it up!"

"I'm working on it..." Ren said exhaustedly as he started opening up the cardboard box and tearing past the tape. Ren took one look inside the box, seeing a familiar black case decorated with stickers and inside jokes between kids. "Nanako, you didn't..."

"I figured it'd help keep you entertained!" Nanako argued.

Ren pulled the black case out of the cardboard box and opened it up, revealing the acoustic guitar he had left behind in Inaba. Back when he and Nanako were kids, Nanako decided she was going to learn piano. She was still serious about it, she took her piano lessons twice a week, but when they were kids Nanako never wanted to take her music lessons alone. Somehow, Ren still couldn't figure out how Nanako had managed to convince his parents to do this, Nanako decided that Ren was going to learn how to play an instrument with her. At first it was piano, but when Ren turned ten, he decided he wanted to learn guitar instead. Ren had since fallen off the guitar train, he hadn't touched this thing in years, but he had left it at the Dojima house, last he remembered... Performing music was more Nanako's thing anyway. "Nanako... You know I haven-"

"I know, I know, but I also included some of our old sheet music." Nanako interrupted. "And you know, some other goodies since you've been away from home for a while."

Ren sighed, reaching into the box to try and grab some more stuff. When Ren resurfaced unsuccessfully, Morgana ran over to Ren and said, "I'll push the stuff to the front."

"... Did I just hear a cat?" Nanako asked.

"Yeah... Long story." Ren admitted as Morgana climbed into the box. After a few seconds, Morgana pushed a black binder that said Ren's Music on the spine, some snacks from Junes, and a few other odds and ends that Nanako could scrounge up. The main thing in the mess of objects that caught Ren's attention was a small crocheted panda. Ren picked it up and studied it. "Nana... What is this little panda thing?"

"Ya like it? I got it from Kanji... I mean, Mr. Tatsumi!"

"Mr. Tatsumi? Yasogami's counselor?"

"Yeah... I mean, I never exactly told Kanji who it was for, but I figured a panda just suited your energy. It matches my little pink bunny on my school bag!"

Ren smiled to himself, grabbing his school bag and tying the panda on. "It is currently on my school bag."

"Yay!" Nanako said proudly. "That way, you and I are connected, no matter what."

"I doubt you'd be losing me that quickly." Ren said quickly. "You're my best friend, Nanako."

"I know, I know... It's just weird without you here... It's like I'm noticing how screwy Inaba can be without you here. I heard people at the gas station talking poorly about you today... It made me so angry."

"Are you and your dad doing okay?"

"We're surviving, just like we always do." Nanako said, then paused for a moment. "No Yosuke, I'm not talking to any bad influences. Calm down."

"Bad time?"

"No, it's a good time, one my Big Bro- YOSUKE HANAMURA, GIVE ME BACK MY PHONE!" Nanako screeched.

"Who are you and how do you know Nanako?" A deeper voice asked bluntly.

"Um... No hello? No how are you?" Ren asked as he heard shuffling on the other end.

"YOSUKE!" Nanako screeched again, taking the phone back. "I'm sorry, Ren, Yosuke is-"

"Wait... ARE YOU TALKING TO THAT KID WHO GOT ARRESTED FOR ASSAULT!?"

Nanako sighed. "I gotta let you go."

"It's fine."

"I'll explain later-"

"It's okay. You don't have to. I get it. Call me again when you can." Ren said, noticing that Nanako's tarot card appeared above his guitar to signify a raised rank in their relationship... Whatever that really meant in this situation.

"... I miss you." Nanako said, her voice quiet. It sounded like she was teetering on the edge of crying and screaming.

"I miss you too. I'll talk to you later. Bye." Ren said, his voice equally quiet.

"Bye." Nanako said, hanging up the phone.

Ren set his phone off to the side and took a deep breath. As much as he and Nanako were always in their own little world back in Inaba, they couldn't exactly be in their own little world anymore. They didn't want to admit it, but everything changed when Ren got falsely accused of assault... That was just the first time they had been forced to admit it.

Ren felt something warm in his lap, and when he looked down, he saw Morgana curled up in a ball of black fur, purring loudly and looking up at him with concerned blue eyes. Ren did his best to give Morgana a comforting smile. "I'm okay Mona... It was going to happen sooner or later."

"You sure?" Morgana asked.

Ren nodded. "Yeah. I'm okay."

Ren leaned over and grabbed his guitar case again, opening it up and looking at the lightwood frame. Ren pulled it out and put the red and black strap around his shoulder, then grabbed the black binder. It had a bunch of songs Ren had forgotten he liked when he was younger. Most of them were by this jazz singer named Lyn he and Nanako had been obsessed with as kids. Ren settled on one of the calming songs, Beneath the Mask, and did his best to start strumming along. It didn't entirely sound correct, Ren was extremely out of practice, but it felt kind of comforting to have some little bit of Nanako with him, even if it did come from badly performed music.

"Everything okay?" Sojiro asked. Ren jumped, noticing that Sojiro was standing at the top of the stairs. "I... Um... I heard some of that phone call."

Ren nodded. "I'm good... I was expecting that to happen at one point or another."

Sojiro's eyes flicked over to the guitar. "You play?"

"I... Haven't in a few years."

"If you got a little better at it... I'd be willing to pay you some money to play down in the shop."

"Really?"

"It might bring a little more business potentially... Think about it."

"I... I will." Ren said nervously. Was Sojiro actually trying to make Ren happy... In a weird way?

Sojiro just nodded as he headed back downstairs. "I'm headed back home. Don't forget to lock up."

"Alright." Ren said as he watched Sojiro walk out of his line of view. Once Sojiro was gone, Ren set the guitar off to the side. Ren looked down at Morgana and said, "As much as I appreciate the purring, Mona, but I do kinda need to make dinner for myself and do homework."

"Right..." Morgana said, climbing off of Ren and standing off to the side. "That's kind of important."

"Yeah." Ren agreed, pushing the conversation out of his mind as he walked downstairs to go make himself dinner.