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When Ren opened his eyes, he saw that velvety blue and for a split second, he panicked. Being in the Velvet didn't mean anything good, he sat up and realized he was on the ground, in Club Velvet, he was less concerned and more confused.
He pulled himself to his feet and looked around, the disco ball was spinning and the AC was on, it didn’t seem like the place was abandoned or in any sort of trouble, he adjusted his glasses which Yep, those were there.
A downwards look confirmed he was in his Yasoinaba uniform, which while that wasn’t great it at least meant he wasn’t in his prisoner gear.
“Lavenza?” he called out to the open air, hoping she would appear and explain, but he was met with silence.
A scream pulled his attention away from the ground, he looked up at the ceiling only to see a portal, from which Toshiro Kasukabe appeared and screamed until he fell flat on his face.
Before Ren could move to try and help him, Erina fell and landed on his back.
Toshiro only let out a whimper of pain as Erina looked around, “Woah, I’m somewhere, I haven’t been somewhere in a while.”
“My… ribs…”
Erina looked down and grinned, “Toshiro! What are you doing underneath me? I didn’t think you’d retreat back into the kingdoms!”
He pulled his head up only to reach out a hand to Ren, a desperate silent plea for help. "I'm.. not... back..."
Luckily for him she promptly stood up and began examining the area, her eyes were wide as she looked around, when she saw Joker her pupils shook and almost took on a new shine, “Oh, Joker! Do you know where we are?”
He nodded, “I’m almost as confused as you are.”
Toshiro groaned as he pulled himself up, “Getting… harder on my joints to do this…”
“This place looks a little like that Velvet train we were on,” she giggled at the memory, “the one that almost ran over Skull!”
“That's rather unneeded, unless you mean to say you've seen a Second Velvet Train that hasn't tried to run Skull over.” Toshiro chided.
“I was just trying to remind you of what I was talking about, no need to get all persnickety.” Erina sighed and turned her head away.
He gasped dramatically, “I will not tolerate my own soul calling me persnickety!”
“Oh yeah?” She grinned evilly and took a step closer to him, “Persnickety, persnickety, persnickety.”
The two of them continued to bicker, with his friends occupied for the next forty minutes, easily, Ren decided it was time he took a look around the area, it seemed there were more doors around the rotunda than there used to be, with a curious step forward he approached one and grabbed the handle.
It almost felt too smooth, perfect in an unnatural way, he glanced towards Erina and Toshiro, it would be better to take them along before entering an unknown area, but that’s if this was the usual Metaverse, Club Velvet never posed a threat to them.
Except for the whole forcing him to remember things his friends could not.
He steeled himself and twisted the knob, entering the room was like stepping into another world, a vast expanse where he couldn’t see the walls, there was a strange blue or green or maybe it was pink tint to the world? It was white all around but there were so many other colors, and these small boxes floating about the place.
He took a step forward only to find himself standing on nothing, but not falling, merely floating in the endless expanse.
The door should be easy to find, he told himself as his desire to explore took over and forced him into the area, he didn’t make it very far before a message notification rang out in his ears.
He turned in the direction the sound only to find Sophia standing behind him, her digital eyes quickly curled into a smile, “Joker!”
“Sophia?”
She giggled and quirked her head to the side, her arms bouncing slightly as she did so, “I’m having a dream! Isn’t it cool?”
He nodded, “Very, have you been outside of this room yet?”
“Negative,” her pout told him she didn’t feel very good about that fact, “have you found anyone else here?”
A hummed response let Sophia know he was running out of energy to talk with, so he reached out for her hand and walked her back to the entrance, surely Sophia and Toshiro could explain themselves enough while Joker searched for the other Phantom Thieves.
Luckily by the time he returned, Zenkichi was also standing in the main clubroom, mid handshake with Toshiro.
Their footsteps must have given them away as Zenkichi’s head instantly shot to them, “Joker, Sophie, good to see you two. These guys say they’re also Phantom Thieves?”
An unusually pathetic ‘hahhhhh’ sound escaped Toshiro as he shook his head, “That is Not what I said! I’m not a member, I’m more of a collaborator.”
“I’m basically a Phantom Thief.” Erina declared with utter confidence, “I mean they joined my rebel corp.”
Toshiro’s eyes looked like they were going to fall out of his head, “You forced them!”
She looked away from him with that shit eating grin she was so good at making, “Then technically you forced them~” she sing-songed.
Zenkichi groaned and pulled his hand away from the awkwardly long shake, he looked disturbed by the sheer amount of Toshiro’s sweat that managed to come off, “Technicalities that don’t make sense aside, Joker, can you verify?”
He nodded and Sophia took that as all the okays she needed as she quickly bounded over to Erina, “Hello! I’m Sophia, Humanity’s companion!”
Erina let out a soft gasp, “You look like a weird bullet.”
“I am an AI.”
“What’s so special about your eyes?”
She pouted, “No, AI, it stands for artificial intelligence, I am a simulated human brain. What are you? Your readings are not like a human.”
Erina did not reply to Sophia, instead she reached out and poked one of her hearts, watching the thing push back with a weird force as it tried to spin against her finger and push itself back into place.
“Woah. How do you get your hair to do that?”
“It is not hair.”
All too quickly Toshiro and Zenkichi were right beside Erina, “You know, the whole time I worked with you I was wondering what those were.” Zenkichi voiced.
Toshiro swatted at Erina’s hand, “It’s impolite to do that you know!”
“Don’t be such a spoilsport Toshi! It’s fine!”
“It’s not fine!” the two adults barked at nearly the same time.
The four may have been bickering, but there was a certain friendliness to it, like long time friends who’ve just met.
Ren was well aware of that feeling.
With that thought fresh in mind he heard the doors behind him creek as one by one the original Phantom Thieves all poured out, with them all here it didn’t take long for it to be a cacophony of excitement as seeing their various friends again.
“Ryuji!” Sophia shouted as she leapt at him, he caught her and spun her around, nearly hitting Yusuke in the process.
“Shortie! Great to see you again!”
Hardly a moment passed before Erina wrapped an arm around his shoulders, “Ryuji!”
Makoto excitedly moved to chat with Zenkichi about his well being while Yusuke and Haru congratulated Toshiro on making it around in one piece, all the while Sophia pulled Ren in for a hug, which eventually turned into a group hug that even Toshiro and Erina were told to pile in on.
“I know you are all very excited, but please a moment of silence so I may explain.” The elegant voice of Lavenza called out as she appeared out of seemingly nowhere, “As some of you may know, this place has been created specifically for you to hone your dancing skills as a means of self-expression.”
Morgana grinned, “Lady Lavenza! I thought’d we’d mastered that already.”
“Indeed, you original Phantom Thieves reached a new depth of the soul, however you original eight are the only ones to have done so, four more Phantom Thieves without that bond hardly sounds fair, now does it?” She grinned.
“And perhaps, maybe I simply wanted to dance with my Trickster again, I’m sure that is no crime.”
Ren chuckled lightly as the usual chatter and excitement over the dances rang out.
Seems like this is gonna be a Long night.
*---*
The dancing itself was a blast as always, even if it felt merely like a distraction, there was joy to be found in Zenkichi teaching Sophia and Erina how to waltz, as well as Ryuji teaching Sophie how to hit the Dougie.
The… value of the dances taught varied wildly.
Toshiro and Zenkichi got on well, both were excited to meet the other adult they’d heard so much about.
Futaba and Ryuji had gotten into a fight about how should help Sophie the most, and with their wildly different tactics, her dance turned into some interesting mix of her own favorite arm spins, a few cutesy moves like Futaba’s and things equally as cringe as Ryuji’s.
Erina had a fascination with incorporating fighting moves into her dance, which made her and Makoto visually quite compelling on the stage together, while Zenkichi’s more classical style looked nicer next to Haru.
Above all else, it was nice getting to see everyone again. It was easy to forget how much he missed his friends, but things like this were nice.
When he woke up after all of that, he knew that next time he went to bed, he’d be greeted by blue again, and he was looking forward to dancing under the stars for a while longer.