Chapter Text
Kasumi wakes up to her alarm blaring at her, light streaming on her face through the curtains.
She lets out an exhausted -happy, happy- sigh, and goes to roll out of bed, almost hitting her head on the wall when she rolls the wrong way- she must have gotten turned around while she slept. She’s been doing that a lot, lately.
Kasumi eyes the Shujin uniform hanging neatly on a stand to the side of her desk, and remembers why she was dreading excited for today. Right, -that’s right- she starts at Shujin today, her first day of high school.
She goes to start putting on her uniform with a spring in her step, ignoring the tightening in her chest when her thoughts inevitably turn to Sumire. Sumire had been so excited to start high school (was she?), and it would have been the first step for the two of them working towards achieving their dreams; Shujin was famous for its athletes, after all, and the two of them were gifted honours status for their already impressive gymnastics ledger.
Kasumi wasn’t going to let what could have been get her down, though. She was strong enough for the two of them, and if Sumire couldn’t be there with her in person, Kasumi could still reach the top of the gymnastics world with Sumire there in spirit. She wouldn’t falter, especially not over something that she couldn’t change.
Are you being entirely true to yourself, Cinder?
Of course she was, that was what she had resolved to do, hadn’t she? On a snowy afternoon in early February-
What?
Kasumi clutches at her head as she stumbles, vision blurring. She leans against her desk (wasn’t it a different colour?) and catches her breath. As her vision clears, she pulls the edges of her lips up into a smile. It wouldn’t do to mope on her first day, would it?
As Kasumi pulls her hair into a ponytail with a ribbon, and waves goodbye to her mother and father in the living room, she struggles to remember what had put her in a bad mood to begin with.
***
Kasumi sits in the principal’s office, having been called in just after homeroom. In front of her sits the principal, with a tall, burly man and a young, tense girl standing to either side of him. Kasumi feels a bit awkward, sitting down while everyone else towers over her. She wishes she could stand as well, just to gain the little bit of height her legs would have granted her, but decides that politeness is more important.
“Well, Yoshizawa-chan,” The principal speaks up, “It is certainly an honour to have such an impressive student such as yourself join us at Shujin,” his flabby cheeks twist into something that was likely supposed to be a smile, but gives off more of the effect of a grimace.
“Thank you!” Kasumi smiles brightly in return anyway, “It’s really my dream to come to this school, and I hope that I don’t disappoint!” She gives as much of a bow as she can while sitting down.
“Yes, well,” The principal lets his grimace-smile fall back into neutrality, “Your honours status is quite important, and we hope to give you the best possible facilities here at Shujin to help you in your athletic endeavours,” he turns to the burly man at his side, “This here is Mister Kamoshida, our gym teacher.”
“Hello there,” Kamoshida offers, the edges of his mouth raising into a tight smile, while his eyes leer. Kasumi starts to wonder if it’s her that’s the problem if no one seems to be able to smile at her normally. Kasumi snaps herself out of her thoughts, “I heard you and your sister were aiming for the Olympics? Well, in that case, I’m an Olympic medallist myself, so you can come to me if you have anything you need, alright?” His smile doesn’t get any friendlier.
“Mm hm!” Kasumi tries to pick up the slack for the weird mood in the room, “even with my sister gone, I’m still hoping to achieve my dream. I’ll keep what you say in mind!” Kasumi bows again, just for good measure.
“Of course,” The principal answers, and Kamoshida seems satisfied. “This is the Student Council President, Makoto Niijima,” he turns to the other girl in the room, who somehow straightens her back even more upon being addressed, “She’ll show you around the facilities, and can explain more of what being an honour student means.”
“Right,” Niijima gives a bow, “Well, Yoshizawa-san, I can show you around now, if that’s okay? Your honours status gives you an extended exam period and some time off class, so you don’t need to worry about missing anything this morning.” Kasumi is thankful that someone other than her has finally achieved a normal smile, even if it is overly formal.
“Of course, Niijima-senpai,” Kasumi nods, “Oh, and no need to be so formal with me! Just my given name is okay, I don’t mind so much about honorifics.”
Niijima seems taken aback, but her smile then morphs into something more natural, “Of course.” She looks away, seemingly unsure, “and, um, you can use my given name as well, Kasumi-- -chan.”
Kasumi blinks away the weird static. Didn’t that happen earlier? Maybe she should bring it up with Doctor Maruki. “Right, thank you Makoto-senpai.” Her smile stays fixed, and she stands to leave the room, with Makoto leading the way.
***
Makoto twists on her heel to face Kasumi as she finishes explaining all of the gym facilities Shujin has to offer. Her formality hasn’t wavered once during her explanation, and Kasumi can’t help but compare her to a wind-up doll with how stiff she’s been the whole time. Though, she thinks, she may have painted a similar picture with how she hasn’t let her smile waver one bit. Kasumi hopes it isn’t creepy, or anything- she really can’t help the urge to smile, and she takes it as a sign that she’s finally feeling better (When had she felt sad?)
“All the facilities will be free for you to use at anytime for practice, so long as you keep up your gymnastics results and maintain your honours status,” Makoto finishes. “If you ever need anything, you can usually find me in the student council room during breaks, I’m always happy to help my peers.”
“Noted!” Kasumi fires back cheerfully, “I’ll see you later, Makoto-senpai.”
Makoto smiles and takes her leave. Kasumi goes to check her phone, and sighs as the screen fails to turn on. She really needs to get that fixed; she doesn’t want to worry her dad by going MIA for a bit.
The Oracle has already told us it cannot be fixed, don’t you remember, Cinder?
The who?
Kasumi shakes it off. She really needs to see Doctor Maruki again. He’s been so helpful for her. She makes a note to bring it up as she turns and head home.
***
Kasumi opens the door to her house, and shouts “I’m home!” vaguely into the house. She gets an echoed response of “Welcome back!” from her parents coming from their bedroom and the study respectively. She huffs, satisfied with her welcome, and heads to her room.
She pauses at the door to what should have been her room, but, no- right. This isn’t her room, this is Sumire’s. Maybe she's just been reminiscing too much? She's been feeling a bit off all day-
You know that is not the case, Cinder.
And there's that voice.
All day, Kasumi has felt like she’s missing something. She really needs to bring that up with Doctor Maruki-
Would you really trust that Madman with your soul once again?
What? She’d forgiven him, hadn’t she? Even been grateful-
What the hell was she thinking about?
The clock ticks ever towards midnight yet again, will you cling to delusions once more?
No. She had promised- She found her resolve, so why-?
So then you know what must be done.
Cinders can be fanned into flame with the proper care. Will you take the stage without a spell to guide you? Without a prince on whom you can rely?
Yes. Yes. Everyone else may have not known how to truly defy their leader’s decision, but she knew it was wrong, knew that she would never falter in the face of her own name ever again, because-
Dear Violet, will you remember the past you have forsaken, the future yet to pass?
Yes. Because Sumire Yoshizawa had already proven to everyone that mattered that she was strong, that she was worth more than just a shadow to Kasumi. And with Ella by her side she knows that she will not falter again.
But wait-
Right. Hold on.
Sumire feels the weight of a year forgotten crash onto her shoulders.
Wasn’t their deadline February third?
And -oh no- It’s April, how could they have let it get so out of hand? Did the thieves fail? What happened to-?
You may want to check the date, dear Violet.
The date? Sumire already knows it’s April, how had she not noticed literal months passing in Maruki’s false reality? She checks her phone anyway, not one to ignore the advice of her soul (not anymore, at least), and does a double take.
April 4, 2016
2016? But- wasn’t it?
No. Oh no.
“Shoot.” Sumire hisses under her breath.
Well, Sumire thinks somewhat hysterically, it's at least an improvement over being trapped in Maruki’s reality.
God, what the hell is she going to do?
***
Sumire takes a deep breath as she turns onto the alley housing Leblanc, sheets of crystalline snowflakes shimmering like glass shards in the wind. Today was finally the day. The day of fates. Whatever other dramatic moniker Sumire could imagine to psych herself up. She feels a smile twitch onto her lips as her excitement outweighs her nervousness. She feels honoured to be a part of the thieves’ final heist, and she trusts them to see their goal done.
She had felt a bit strange when the rest of the thieves said that they were ‘leaving the final decision up to Ren’, as though there were any choice at all, but it doesn’t matter to her that much. She trusts her Senpai to keep his resolve- he had snapped her out of her own delusions as Kasumi, so she doesn’t think anything Maruki has to say could sway him.
Sumire opens the door to Leblanc, and nods to Sojiro behind the counter while she rubs her hands together, trying to absorb Leblanc’s warmth.
“The rest of ‘em are already upstairs. Good luck for whatever you kids’re planning” Sojiro says as his signature friendly smirk twitches onto his lips.
Sumire gives a nod and a smile as she heads toward the attic, “Of course, Sakura-san.”
“I told you to call me Boss!” Sojiro calls as Sumire walks upstairs, stifling a giggle in her hand.
Her mirth dies rapidly as soon as she sees the rest of the thieves gathered around the usual table. She feels like she’s walked in on a funeral, somehow. Everyone’s faces are stoic, and Ren almost looks to be on the verge of tears.
She looks around, noticing they were missing one. Maybe he was late? “Hello everyone!” Sumire tries to fill the void of emotion as much as she can. “Um, where’s Akechi-san?” It doesn’t escape her notice how everyone- including Ren, strangely- tenses at the mention of the absent thief.
“He’s, uh, not coming, probably…” Morgana says awkwardly from his perch on Haru’s lap, tail flicking nervously.
“What?” Sumire can’t help but gape, “But, he wants this reality destroyed the most out of all of us, doesn’t he?”
Ren takes a shuddering breath, clearly trying to calm himself. Makoto sighs as the silence gets to be too stifling.
“Well, apparently Ren has something to tell us? I think he’s been waiting for you to arrive.” She fidgets with her hands in her lap, betraying her nervousness despite her calm tone.
“Ah, well,” Sumire stutters- she really wishes everyone wasn’t so tense, the mood was contagious- “What is it then, Senpai?”
Ren takes another deep breath.
“We’re taking Maruki’s deal.” He says quietly, but his words echo with finality.
No one speaks for a moment. Then, everyone moves at once.
Ann gasps and covers her mouth. Ryuji stands up so fast his chair falls over.
“You can’t be serious, man- what- what the hell!” Ryuji runs his hands through his hair.
“I agree.” Yusuke, usually stoic, looks more affronted than Sumire had ever seen him. “You cannot truly be considering this.”
Their leader sits up to his full height, donning the mask and tone more ‘Joker’ than Ren. “You all said the final decision was up to me. And I’m making the decision.” In her daze, Sumire can see his hands shaking.
“Joker…” Morgana sighs.
“Ren-kun.” Haru speaks up, voice steely, “I think that you are also forgetting that we only make decisions unanimously.”
“Right,” Makoto snaps out of her shock. “We all agreed to face Maruki. You can’t just veto the decision without our input.”
Sumire still hasn’t sat down. She can hear the humming of static as the thieves argue in the background. She trusted Ren. He was the one to wake her up from Maruki’s reality in the first place, so why-?
“You didn’t even get a wish!” Futaba blurts, and Ren goes still at that, “We all told you that we wanted to face the real reality, so why?” She trails off as her voice starts to shake.
Ann puts her hand on Futaba’s back as she stifles her sobs. “I get it if you want to give us all happy lives, or something,” Sumire appreciates Ann’s composure in the moment, “But we all decided that our free will, and the choices we made in our own reality were more important to us than that! So…” Ann lets out a huff in her confusion.
Morgana hops up onto the table. “It’s because-” he starts,
“Don’t.” Ren interrupts with a gasp. Breaths getting shakier as he continued. “I- I’m sorry, I-” He chokes back a sob, “I know, I know, that you all said,” he bites his lip and gestures vaguely, “that you wanted to-” He gasps again, and somewhere faraway Sumire is able to think that she had never seen him like this, “but, god, I can’t, I can’t lose-”, Ren finally breaks into full sobs, unable to speak as he buries his face in his hands.
The rest of the thieves are all stunned into silence as their leader cries. Sumire still hasn’t moved.
Ryuji rubs the back of his neck, looking around uncomfortably. His eyes catch on where Sumire stands still, and he nods towards her, catching Haru’s attention as well.
“Are you all right, Sumi-chan?” Haru asks softly over the sound of Ren’s shuddering breaths.
But Sumire can’t think. The static was overwhelming, now- Ella clawing at the edges of Sumire’s mind in despair.
NO! Ella’s call makes Sumire’s knees shake. We cannot retreat to before the bells of midnight! The glass slippers have shattered, we have found our worth without the Madman’s spell!
“Sumi?” Ryuji asks nervously, as Sumire feels her breaths getting quicker.
Sumire turns on her heel and runs out of the attic and out of Leblanc, ignoring the cries of her name from the thieves and from Sojiro as she slams the door behind her.
Why wasn’t he here? Surely, of all the thieves, he would have been able to snap Ren out of it. Sumire feels the betrayal bind her legs and chest as she stumbles down the street, shards of snow cutting into her face and hands.
She needs to find Akechi- he was always sure of himself; he would know what to do- he always does.
But why hadn’t he been at Leblanc? Did he already know that Ren planned to betray them?
Something in Sumire balks at calling it a betrayal- surely Ren has no malice, simply misguided compassion.
But wasn’t it a betrayal, though? No matter the reason, Ren still aims to trap her in her delusions yet again, even after he had been so kind, so supportive, of her finding her feet.
Sumire feels anger, anger she had been unable to summon throughout the entirety of their infiltration through Maruki’s palace begin to bubble within her. How dare he? How dare he play the saviour, the martyr who denied a perfect world for the sake of his friends’ truth, only to turn tail and run?
Akechi, she reminds herself, she needs to find Akechi. The thieves never told her what their grievances with him were, but surely they could agree that his resolve was the only hope they had if they wanted to stand a chance against Maruki.
She just has to find him. And then-
***
Sumire gasps as she manages to sort through the last of her recovered memories, collapsed on her (actually hers, she thinks distantly, not Kasumi’s) bed.
That’s right. Ren had gone back on his word, likely tempted by Maruki’s promises and supposed compassion. Sumire hesitates to start sorting through how that makes her feel. Ren had saved her in a way, snapped her out of her dream and Maruki’s brainwashing. She had trusted him more than anything, the first semblance of security she had since Kasumi died-
Sumire remembers why she wanted to save thinking about that until later.
She rakes a hand through her hair- her ribbon must have fallen out at some point- and lets out a long sigh. None of it makes any sense. Sumire can’t think of any reason as to why Ren would have taken the deal, other than some misguided saviour complex, like Akechi had always accused Ren of having. She lets out a huff of a laugh at remembering the two’s banter during January.
Abandoning that fruitless train of thought, Sumire begins to sort through her belongings, still scattered between her and her twin’s room.
Ah, right. Then there was the time travel.
Sumire honestly thought that, even with the knowledge of the Metaverse and all that entails, time travel was still something that was restricted to fantasy and sci-fi stories, something for Futaba and Ryuji to gush about and for Akechi to pretend he wasn’t interested in.
Frankly, this entire situation is absurd.
Sumire really has no idea how she ended up thrown almost a whole year into the past. And beyond that, she has no idea what she’s supposed to do about it. She also doesn’t really remember what she was doing during April of 2016- she guesses still grieving her sister, but even that’s hazy given that all her thoughts were a jumbled mess courtesy of her fully believing herself to be Kasumi.
Sumire flops back down on her bed, covering her face with her hands and letting out a long groan. Why me? She thinks, aware that she’s being childish- but really, doesn’t she deserve to indulge a bit?
Sumire certainly thinks so, so she spends longer than necessary moping on her bed, psyching herself up for when she inevitably has to rearrange all of her stuff back into her room.
It isn’t like you to give up in the face of adversity, dear Violet.
Sumire scrunches her face up at Ella’s declaration. It wasn’t like Kasumi to give up, she thinks. Her, on the other hand…
Sumire sits up abruptly. No. Ella was right. She can’t let herself sink back into the depression that consumed her after Kasumi’s death. She shouldn’t have to rely on anyone just to find the will to get of bed in the mornings- she had already found her resolve in the false reality, she won’t lose it just because of one little thing.
Something in her protests at time travel being called ‘one little thing’, but Sumire ignores it in favour of rushing to Kasumi’s room to grab all the thing she had left there, staggering a bit as she carries a tower of clothes and gymnastics things back to their rightful place in her room.
She heads to the bathroom to fix up her hair, straining a smile to herself in the mirror.
It’s okay. She thinks, hands shaking. It’s okay, you’ve got this, you’re Sumire Yoshizawa, you can do this.
And, for the first time in this timeline since her first session with Doctor Maruki, Sumire lets herself break down in tears.
***
Sumire rubs her cheeks furiously as her hiccupping sobs die down. She gives a breathy giggle at the absurdity of it all- she really had just come into the bathroom to fix her hair, not to cry for however long.
With one final sniff, Sumire slaps her cheeks and washes her face, making her way out into the kitchen.
Her father is in the middle of making dinner, and he smiles at Sumire as she approaches. Sumire notices the strained edges to it that she had been ignoring before.
“What’s cooking, dad?” Sumire says with a smile she actually manages to half feel.
“Ah, Sumire!” He scrapes some vegetables into the pot he’s standing over, “Just curry, since it’s easy and we can have leftovers. Your mom got called in to work a shift at the hospital, so it’s just us for tonight.”
Sumire can feel her smile become a bit more real at the thought of a nice family dinner.
“Do you want me to help, then?” She offers, “I know that I’ve been a bit of a mess in the kitchen since, um…” Sumire pauses to try and find a way to explain how she’d been brainwashed into genuinely believing she was Kasumi in words her dad could understand without having a heart attack.
Luckily, he interrupts before she has to continue, “Don’t worry about it, Sumire, I know things haven’t been great recently.” He pauses to taste the curry, “But you can just relax if you need! How was your first day at Shujin, anyway?”
Right, Shujin. Sumire had completely forgotten in her scatteredness, but she had met the soon-to-be Queen, the principal, and Kamoshida today, hadn’t she?
“Um!” Sumire offers in place of saying that she met someone who was going to confess to various horrific crimes in a month and someone who was going to die six months after that. “It was really great, actually. I think that the facilities are going to help me a lot, and the extra time they’re giving me from my honours status is really great as well.”
Her father beams as she lets the half-truth spill from her lips. “That’s great!” His smile becomes more genuine, as well. “Well, you can get some rest, then. I’ll call you when dinner’s ready.” Sumire nods and goes to head back to her room.
“Oh, one more thing!” her father calls after her and she pauses mid step. “Don’t forget you have another session with Doctor Maruki this Wednesday.”
Sumire goes still, her athletes balance the only thing keeping her from falling face-first, “Oh! Um…” she scrambles for an excuse, “Ah, is it okay if we actually cancel? I’ve kind of had an epiphany, and I don’t feel like I really need his help as much anymore! And I’d hate to make you guys waste any money on it or anything!” Sumire really hopes she sounds halfway convincing.
You’re doing wonderfully, Cinder.
Her father pauses, concern etched onto the lines of his face, “Are you sure? It’s not a bother for me or your mother at all.”
“Yep!” Sumire pops the ‘p’, hoping again that she has a hidden penchant for acting. “I’m also not sure that Doctor Maruki’s advice was really the best for me, anyway. I think this was something I had to overcome on my own.”
“Well, alright.” Her father says, still clearly hesitant, “But you know there’s no shame in asking for help when you need it right-?”
“Of course!” Sumire interrupts, waving her hands in front of her, “But I just think that Doctor Maruki was encouraging me to run away from my problems, is all, and I don’t really.. want to do that anymore.” She mumbles as she trails off.
“That’s fine then,” Her father says, looking somewhat relieved, “I’ll call him to cancel.” Sumire breathes a sigh of relief and heads back towards her room.
“Just tell me if you want to try seeing someone else!” Her father calls, still from the kitchen.
“Got it!” Sumire quickly closes the door behind her and slides onto the floor, resting her head on her knees.
It’s a start, Violet.
Yes, a start.
She can do this.
… She just needs to figure out what ‘this’ is.
***
Sumire wakes up in her bed (actually hers) to her alarm blaring (her alarm is so much more annoying compared to Kasumi’s) and the sun shining on her face. (The curtains are the right colour)
She sighs with more drama than necessary and moves blindly to turn off her alarm. She eyes her Shujin uniform like it’s offended her personally- it’s a bit more wrinkled today, she hadn’t been bothered to iron it after the previous night’s revelations.
She sighs again with the knowledge that she definitely isn’t bothered to iron it this morning, either. That’s fine, it’s not like it’s a completely crumpled mess. She forgoes putting up her hair, and chooses glasses over contacts. She laughs a bit as she remembers that she actually forgot to put in contacts half the time she thought she was Kasumi- Her sister hadn’t needed glasses, so she just ignored her subpar eyesight, placated by Maruki’s actualisation.
Actually, would Maruki’s reality have fixed her eyesight? If he could bring back the dead, why not, right?
Sumire lets her train of thought carry her through her morning routine, going through the motions of making a double-layered bento to sustain her afternoon practice.
She’s still in her thoughts when she hears a familiar voice (but it’s wrong, wrong, how had she never noticed before?) cut through her haze.
“You’re rather impressive, Akechi-san, a detective at your age? And so many cases solved, too!”
Sumire’s eyes widen as Akechi’s tinkling laughter comes through the speakers of her TV.
“It’s nothing so dramatic,” Sumire’s nose scrunches at Akechi’s light and smooth tone, “I’m simply doing my job within law enforcement- my elder peers are deserving of as much praise as I, if not more.”
Sumire can’t help but raise an eyebrow as the co-host titters a reply, “Ah, and so humble, as well! No wonder you’ve captured the hearts of Japan’s younger generation, Akechi-kun!”
Akechi’s responding laugh sounds identical to the last one he gave, and Sumire tunes out the rest of the conversation as she tries to get over the whiplash of Akechi’s interview personality comparative to the truth she had seen in January.
But he had acted like that in person, too, hadn’t he? Before January, Akechi’s interview personality and conversational personality were nearly identical. Of all the thieves, Sumire really knows the least about Akechi, especially surrounding their history. She wishes she had pushed him for more answers back then- she had always wanted to know him better.
As yet another identical laugh of Akechi’s floats from the TV, and Sumire giggles a bit as she tries to reconcile that with his deranged cackle, or his airy pleasantries with when he told Ren to ‘Shut the fuck up before I gut you with the dullest thing I can find in this damn laboratory’.
Her mood sufficiently improved, Sumire finishes with making her bento, and makes a note to ask her dad about Akechi. The man had always been an enigma. But now, she has the time to get to know him, doesn't she?
Sumire calls out a goodbye to her parents, and begins her commute towards Shujin.
***
Sumire goes through the motions of the morning, jumping when the bell for lunch rings. She figures her decision of where to sit is made for her when the rest of her class splits off into their own cliques immediately after class is dismissed.
She huffs a bit- even time travel hasn’t given her the ability to make friends easier, huh? She collects her things, and makes her way towards the stairwell. The roof was never a bad place to eat lunch, and she can get lost in her thoughts there without feeling too weird for spacing out.
Sumire yelps and jumps back as a mess of blonde barrels into her from around a corner, knocking her glasses off her face. She ducks quickly to grab them before they can get crushed, as her assailant squeaks from above.
“Omigosh, I am so sorry!” The girl gasps, clearly out of breath from rushing somewhere, and- wait, isn’t that-?
Sumire fixes her glasses on her face and comes face to face with Ann Takamaki, her hands clasped over her mouth from shock and face flushed with embarrassment.
“I’m so, so sorry!” Ann repeats, flustered, “I was just in a rush, and, ugh, damnit-”
Sumire interrupts her in a panic, hoping she doesn’t look as embarrassed as she feels, “No, no, it’s fine! I was distracted as well, it’s not your fault!” she waves her hands in front of her, feeling more flustered the longer this interaction goes on.
“Ugh, really?” Ann huffs a sigh of relief, “That’s good,” She fiddles with one of her pigtails, “Well, um, bye-”
“Oh, wait!” Sumire wrings her hands together. And, wow, she really is bad at keeping her cool, never mind acting, “Your name is Ann Takamaki, right?”
Ann immediately stiffens, looking defensive, “Yeah, uh, what of it?”
“Oh, no, nothing bad!” Sumire waves her hands in front of herself again, “I just wanted to introduce myself, Takamaki-senpai,” Sumire opts for formality. They’ve never met before, after all, “I’m Sumire Yoshizawa.” She ends with a bow and a small smile.
Ann’s defensiveness melts immediately, “Oh wow, you’re so polite!” She lets out a carefree laugh that Sumire is far more familiar with, “You’re a first year, yeah? Oh, wait, are you that new honours student?”
“Um, yes!” Sumire lets out the tension she didn’t realise she had been hoarding as Ann’s demeanour becomes more friendly.
“Oh, gymnastics, yeah?” Ann’s smile becomes even brighter, somehow, “My best friend is an athlete, too! She’s on the volleyball team, and she’s so amazing. I was actually going to meet up with her just now, but it was so cool to meet you, Yoshizawa-chan!” Ann gives a bright wave as she skips off in a much calmer manner than her rushing from earlier.
“Oh, you as well!” Sumire calls after her, blushing slightly at the blonde’s enthusiasm.
She stands awkwardly for a few seconds, before remembering that she’s in the middle of a hallway, and rushes towards the roof yet again. Somewhat solemnly, Sumire realises that her conversation with Ann confirms that she doesn’t remember the past year- that or she was pretending not to know, for some reason or another. Sumire supposes that it’s not like she outright said ‘I’m from the future, Ann-senpai’ or anything, either. Though, Ann’s reactions had definitely seemed genuine, too.
Sumire decides that the jury’s still out. She really hopes that she isn’t the only one in this mess. It seems a lonely mess to be in.
Sumire sighs and pushes open the door to the roof, only to yelp again as she sees she isn’t alone. Ryuji Sakamoto paces in circles on the roof, grumbling something as he runs his hands through his hair angrily. What is she, a thief magnet? Or maybe a blonde magnet, she considers in the midst of her shock.
Ryuji turns as Sumire makes a sound, and gives her a death glare she doesn’t entirely feel she deserves.
“What do you want, huh?” Ryuji puffs out his chest and leans on one leg, “Gonna rat me out to a teacher or something?”
“What? No!” Sumire waves her hands in front of her for what must be the third time today- she really needs a better way of explaining herself, “I was just coming up here to eat lunch…” She lifts her bento from her bag half-heartedly.
“Oh, shit that’s a huge lunch,” Ryuji says, aggressive demeanour evaporating in an instant, “Oh, I mean,” He deflates a bit, “Sorry for snappin’ at ya’. I just had a run in with a teacher s’all, or- well, I didn’t, but he was harrassin’ Takamaki and- yeah” He gestures vaguely in the air, clearly not sure how to explain himself. “But, oh, right! You’re a first year, huh? I’m Ryuji Sakamoto.” A big grin splits his face, and Sumire feels comforted just by the sight of it.
“Nice to meet you, Sakamoto-senpai!” A matching smile spreads across her face, “I’m Sumire Yoshizawa.”
“Ohh, the honours student, huh?” Ryuji scratches the back of his head, leaning back on one of the stacked tables, “I used to be an athlete too, but I, uh, quit.” He looks sheepish as he averts eye contact.
“Right,” Sumire decides not to press it. She makes her way to sit down at one of the tables and opens her lunch, “You mentioned that a teacher was harassing Takamaki-senpai?” Sumire remembers the scandal last (this?) year involved Ann, could it have been..?
“Yeah, that bastard Kamoshida just wouldn’t leave her alone.” Ryuji spits, kicking his leg back and forth. He puts his face in his hands and groans, “Shit, I dunno why she puts up with that asshole.”
Sumire nods unhappily, her suspicions confirmed, “Maybe he’s threatening her, or something?” She pokes at her bento pensively, “I mean, he is a teacher, after all.”
“Damnit, your right. Everyone in the damn school doesn’t have a bad thing to say about Mister Kamoshida” Ryuji sings his name mockingly. He sighs, biting his lip. “Well, uh, sorry for bringing down the mood n’ stuff” he smiles sheepishly.
“Oh, it’s not a problem, Sakamoto-senpai!” Sumire’s face brightens again.
“Agh, enough of that ‘Sakamoto’ stuff” Ryuji waves his hand dismissively, “I thought I’d be fine with it since you added ‘senpai’ to it, but it still kinda sounds like it’s a teacher talkin’ to me. Just Ryuji’s fine.”
Sumire nods, smile even wider at Ryuji’s antics. “You’ve got it, Ryuji-senpai.”
“Hey, that’s more like it! Anyways, you’ve gotta tell me your workout routine,”
The two continue chatting for the rest of the break. Sumire feeling her buried enthusiasm for her sport being brought out in spades through Ryuji’s encouragement.
“Join me for a run sometime!” Ryuji calls as they split off to their respective classes, Sumire nodding enthusiastically in return.
It’s nice, Sumire thinks, that the thieves are still the same as ever, even through their hardships. And even without their memories, she thinks with a tinge of melancholy.
And, right, it looks like its three for three on the ‘thieves not remembering’ front. Neither Makoto, Ann, nor Ryuji have shown any sign so far of remembering who Sumire is- though had they always been so friendly upfront? But from what Sumire remembers, the thieves being overly familiar was sort of the norm, so that doesn’t really prove anything.
She sighs, and thinks about the month to come.
If Ryuji and Ann really remembered anything, they would have sprinted into the Metaverse the first chance they got to change Kamoshida’s heart- but they both seem trapped in their situations.
Though, could Sumire do anything? Maybe she could deal with Kamoshida, before anything got worse? She doesn’t know his keywords, but it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out, right?
Sumire turns into the bathroom and pulls out her phone, going to check the Metanav to see if she can guess anything. Upon opening her phone, she scans for the familiar black and red (and later holographic silver) icon, finding nothing.
It seems that a Persona is not the prerequisite for acquiring the Nav, Cinder.
It certainly seems that way, indeed.
Sumire worries her lip between her teeth in frustration. Well, what was she even going to do with the Nav, anyway? Complete Kamoshida’s palace on her own? Bring in Ann and Ryuji and hijack the thieves from Ren as their new leader? She really has no idea as to what the thieves were doing at any given point in time outside of their actions in January, and she's hesitant to mess with any fixed events without knowing what she's doing. What was it that Futaba called it? the butterfly effect? Sumire definitely doesn’t want things to spiral so far that she’s even more in the dark than she would have been before. What if someone dies because she acts carelessly? She knows how dangerous some of the thieves’ previous targets were- mentioning Shido alone was enough for all of them to tense up.
No, she needs more information. And also the Nav, but that’s a problem for when the thieves are actually established.
Actually, Sumire thinks, where was Ren? She remembers his arrival caused quite a stir in the last timeline.
He's probably arriving in the next week then, and there's nothing she can do until then, if his arrival sparks the thieves’ formation. Sumire bites her lip a little harder. She strongly dislikes feeling useless.
Well, she isn’t completely useless, is she? She still has future knowledge that she can make use of, and she’s already been acquainted with Makoto. So, there is actually something she can do.
***
After school, Sumire heads to the student council room.
“Makoto-senpai?” Sumire pokes her head into the room tentatively.
“Oh, yes?” Makoto is sitting at the table in the centre of the room, looking over some paperwork. Sumire takes a seat across from her.
“I’m really sorry to bother you, Makoto-senpai, and I know that it’s a bit unbecoming of me to talk about this on only my second day here, but,” Sumire pauses, unsure how to phrase it, “I’ve, um, heard some rumours? About Mister Kamoshida, and how he’s been harassing students, specifically Takamaki-senpai.” Sumire knows realistically that Makoto on her own is not enough to stop Kamoshida, but maybe she can curb the damage?
Makoto looks a bit shocked at Sumire’s words, her eyes widening. “Oh!” She fidgets in her chair, “Those are some pretty hefty accusations – I’m not saying that you’re lying, though,” She backpedals, looking unsure. “Hm, I suppose, are you sure that these rumours are true? And not just, well, rumours?”
Sumire winces a bit. That doesn’t seem like the Queen she knows at all. She guesses that a year is a long time to change as a person, and she never really interacted with the phantom thief strategist before she had acquired the title. But that's going to make this more difficult if Makoto is hesitant to challenge authority.
“Well, I guess not,” Sumire concedes, “But Takamaki-senpai and Ryuji-senpai both seemed really stressed, and I’m a little worried about them.”
“Right, well,” Makoto relaxes into her chair slightly, clasping her hands together, “If they have any complaints, they can bring it up with the faculty if they have evidence.” She looks much calmer now that the conversation has steered into safer waters. “Is there anything else you needed, Sumire-chan?”
Sumire sighs, defeated.
There are still other avenues of change, Cinder.
Right. This is no time to throw in the towel.
“No, that’s all, Makoto-senpai. I’ll see you later!” She bows and takes her leave.
She can still find other ways to change what is to come, and she can definitely make some change once she gets the Nav.
***
Sumire flops face first onto her bed the minute she gets home. She barely remembers to take off her glasses as she buries her face uncomfortably into her pillow.
She's exhausted. She thought she knew ‘exhausted’ after she remembered she was Sumire the first time around, but this takes the cake.
She spent so long relying on others; Kasumi’s strength to pull her through life, Maruki’s delusions so she didn’t have to face herself, Ren’s kindness when she resolved to stand on her own. She feels a bit pathetic that she still had to rely on someone, even when she was specifically trying to become more independent.
And now, she’s alone. Completely. She had managed to make friends, find a group, work towards something greater than herself, and now they don’t even remember her.
The person she trusted most in the whole world betrayed her and he probably isn’t even going to remember what he did. Let alone remember Sumire.
She bites back a sob. She can’t do this, not right now- she already cried yesterday, she isn’t allowed to do it two days in a row. She desperately doesn’t want to slip back into how she was the two weeks after Kasumi died, before she had her first session with Doctor Maruki.
Ha, Maruki had betrayed her too, huh? And she was so pathetic that she hadn’t even been able to get mad about it. She wonders what changed to allow her to get mad at Ren. Maybe because it didn’t seem like it was about her? He was going to ruin the world and she was nothing more than collateral damage. Maybe. She’s too much of a wreck right now to decipher anything she’s feeling other than ‘ugh’.
She can figure it out in the morning.
I’ll hold you to it, Violet.