Headed back to Yongen-Jaya with Morgana, Ren had a belly full of fire.
He had messaged Yu during classes like Fuuka had asked, only to find out that he was already in Tokyo! He tried to put that aside and ask to meet up for a conversation, only to be met with Yu acting calm, collected, and telling him to "Take care of the current problem."
"That bastard definitely knows all about this crap," Ren grumbled.
"I don't like how he's acting like he's fully aware of what's going on…" Morgana trailed off.
Ren stared out the window of the train, slightly relaxing as he exhaled.
"He's really good at figuring things out. It's nearly impossible to hide things from him," Ren revealed. "He's honestly a great guy. But he loves to screw with people."
"Well, he does have a point. He might not know exactly what our current problem is, but it is something we can't afford to get much more distracted from," Morgana reminded seriously.
"Haa. You're right," Ren sighed. "I'll deal with him being a troll later."
"He's a troll?!" Morgana gasped.
"No actually, he's quite handsome," Ren replied.
"Then why… never mind." The not-cat gave up.
---
DING
Ren was greeted with an empty Leblanc. Sojiro was absentmindedly cleaning some mugs and didn't turn around when the bell rang.
"Hello, Boss."
"Oh? You're back early today," Sojiro said.
"Are you okay?" Ren asked. He noticed that the man was much more distracted than usual.
"Yeah, it's no problem… Hey, do you know what a blue screen is with a computer?" Sojiro asked, confused.
"Uh. Depends on the context, but it usually means the operating system crashed," Ren replied. "Why?"
"My daughter somehow did it to two computers in a row. I don't even know how this happens…" Sojiro sighed as he put down the mug he was cleaning.
"Sounds like she was messing with files she shouldn't have been," Ren said. "Twice in a row?"
"Yep. Twice. I don't know anything about computer science. I could barely use them when I wasn't retired…" Sojiro sighed once more. "She says she needs a new one."
"I'd ask her to pay for it since she damaged the last two," Ren suggested.
"That's the thing! She has money somehow! What the heck is cryptocurrency?!" Sojiro groaned.
"Another tech expert, huh? I wonder what she did," Morgana got out.
"Oh hey, Morgana. Did you know that Futaba gave herself away because I didn't get you fatty tuna?" Sojiro asked with a smile.
"Guess I'm more important than I thought," Morgana preened as Ren and Sojiro laughed.
Ren was quite happy.
'I'm really glad he's opening up more to me.'
'Not every adult is a bad adult, hee-ho!' Pyro-Jack said.
'Yeah! Me agree!' Agathion chirped.
---
Sitting in his room above Leblanc, Ren let out a big sigh.
"Don't stress about it too much, Ren. We should be able to knock out the remainder of the Palace in the next infiltration."
"You think? It's starting to become second nature to me at this point," Ren muttered.
"I'm guessing we have around half of the Palace left?" he continued as he remembered the map.
"I think you're overestimating it a little bit. Maybe a quarter left at most," Morgana corrected.
"Good," Ren said. "We'll get that bastard."
"Yes," Morgana confirmed with narrowed eyes, remembering the anger in the eyes of the girls upon exploring that disgusting room.
"That room is going to come back, isn't it?" Ren asked.
"Most likely…"
"Let's try to keep Ann away from it…"
---
Ren decided to explore Tokyo a bit. He'd been there a while now and his days consisted of dealing with a perverted predator, fighting demons in said pervert's imagination.
'We only look like demons, ho!' Pyro-Jack cut in.
Fighting demons in a pervert's imagination. Learning about psychology theories that somehow happen to physically manifest.
'That's more accurate,' Silky warmly said.
Ren simply exhaled.
'You guys sure are talkative,' Ren directed at his Personas.
'Because you won't be!' Pixie teased.
"Hey, Ren," Morgana's unsure voice cut his thoughts short. "Isn't that Kawakami? I think…?"
Looking up, Ren saw his teacher. But she wasn't in a professional outfit or even looking like a teacher at all. She simply looked like an exhausted young adult. Ren was studying her when she caught sight of him.
"Amamiya?!" She jumped in shock.
"Hi, Sensei. You look… bad," Ren awkwardly said.
"Hmph, I could say the same to you!" she retorted.
"Sorry, that came out wrong," Ren scratched his cheek. "To make up for it, I can carry your groceries."
Looking at the bags she was carrying, he noticed a lot of instant food. Canned coffee. Pre-made bentos. It didn't look like a healthy diet. But then again, Ren was eating coffee and curry almost every day, so he didn't have any room to judge.
"Uhh…" Kawakami was shocked. She was aware that Ren wasn't as bad as those absurd rumors that somehow kept getting more absurd. But she didn't expect him to offer to help!
"No, it's fine. This is for my… sister. She is, uh, sick," Kawakami stuttered out. "I'll see you at school. Do your homework."
She darted away in embarrassment.
"That was strange…" Morgana said as he poked his head out from Ren's bag.
"Everyone has their problems," Ren replied flatly.
'Should I see if I can help her in any way?'
'It's kind of you, mon ami, but we must keep our focus on the perverted king. The ladies need this. You can always talk to Kawakami after we are done. Yu is correct. Focus on the current problem. One step at a time,' Arsene advised.
'Okay, I guess…' Ren replied to his other self.
---