Chapter Text
11/17/20XX (Fri.)
Late evening sunlight streams though an open window, lighting up Ren’s troubled face as he sits on his bed. The phone in his hand displays the close nature of the relationship between him and another person with just a few visible messages. Now though, the young man finds himself unsure of what exactly to say as his burdened gaze remains locked onto the screen.
With November 20th being so close, it brings Ren little comfort having the whole month so far pass by without a single major incident on his part. This is probably a bad thing in the long run, especially since the so-called “long run” involves evading the topic in its entirety. A year is a long time to have to almost single-handedly carry memories of torture, blood and the simple fact that he had been no more than an hour away from losing his life.
As for the matter of Ren telling his parents… how is he going to be able to go about that? Telling them is a matter of when, not if, and he already has an invisible countdown on when he can explain everything before they find out first. If that happens…
…Ugh. This is way too much to think about.
Morgana’s out on a walk, so Ren can’t turn to his cat-shaped companion for a second opinion at the moment. Actually, the first person to spring to mind hadn’t been him or any of the Thieves— though he wouldn’t want to burden them with such a thing, anyway. No, for some no-longer-as-strange-as-before-but-still-odd reason, the self-proclaimed fortune teller that is Naoya who is not at all what he seems had been number one on Ren’s go-to list for this. Why? Because he’s old. …And maybe a small, insignificant portion has to do with his rather sincere offer to always help should Ren turn to him for assistance not long after Ren had returned home.
The offer probably still stands, though; Ren should be able to contact Naoya about anything at any time. That promise had been fulfilled a couple of times over the summer, but never for anything as personal as this.
…I guess it wouldn’t hurt to shoot him a text.
With his mind not quite made up, Ren taps on the text bubble and begins to type out his message.
Ren: hey unc
Ren: how would you feel about some type of meet-up today?
Ren is surprised when he gets a reply almost instantly.
Naoya: Oh?
Naoya: The great Trickster asking me for help? I wonder what brought this along all of a sudden, hmm…
That’s fast, especially for him…
Ren: come on, you know…
Naoya: Do I?
Naoya: What a minute… who are you calling “unc”?
Ren: you
Ren: fine i’ll just ask someone else
Ren: Thank you for your time.
Naoya: Waitttt
Naoya: Fine, fine…
Naoya: But if I may ask, why me specifically? Certainly you have a lot of closer confidants than me in your corner.
Ren: you’ve been around for quite a while
Ren: (you’re old)
Naoya: Hey!
Ren: ᕕ( ᐕ )ᕗ
Ren: i don’t really want to trouble everyone with this
Ren: and…
Ren: i think “that day” is finally coming up
Ren: or at least one of them since these kinds of things like to drag out
Ren: i feel like talking might help so… yeah.
And if Ren is being honest with himself, he thinks that Naoya will be able to provide him with some pretty nice insight.
Naoya: I see.
Naoya: I don’t think I will be able to come visit you in-person today, but I can call you in a few minutes if that works.
Ren: yeah that works
Ren: …thank you
Ren: really
Naoya: You are most welcome, Mr. Trickster. I can only hope that I can provide you with adequate assistance.
Ren locks his phone after rereading the last message way too many times, letting out a breath that he hadn’t realized he’d been holding for basically the entire conversation. Knowing someone is in your corner and actively experiencing what it means to have someone in your corner are two separate things.
Okay, how is Ren going to make this a success? First, don’t panic. Otherwise, Naoya will become sympathetic and reassuring in a way that is natural but also really strange since he hardly ever seems to be serious. Besides, after the grand talk they had back in March, Ren is not particularly inclined to make the man worry so much again.
(The more that you attempt to hide it, the worse that it shows.)
Oh. Hello, Arséne. I know, but—
*buzz*
Ren’s phone displays Naoya’s name in unmissable characters as it plays his ringtone on his bed. Shoot, he didn’t even get to the “secondly” on his list for success… Well, better sooner than later before he can overthink his way into backing out.
“…That was fast,” Ren comments when the call connects. “Are you sure you weren’t free already?”
“I was almost done to begin with.” Naoya's enigmatic smile can practically be heard through the phone speaker. “And I was actually waiting for you to contact me.”
Naoya was waiting for him to text? “Every conversation we have just convinces me more and more that you’re a psychic…”
“I’m not a psychic. I’m—”
“—A fortune teller.” Ren’s heard this tagline a few too many times to not know it by heart. “But you do know that you’re probably the only fortune teller who has… those abilities, right?”
Naoya chuckles. “That makes me special then, doesn’t it?”
(The word “special” has a variety of connotations. I am curious to find out which he thinks applies to him.)
“...Pfft.” Do you want me to ask him?
(Do you want to ask him?)
Do you?
“Are you talking to Arséne without me? I want to say hi, too!”
Jeez, Naoya really is too sharp for his own good. Why did he just know that? “He can hear you, you know.”
(...Hello, Naoya.)
“He says,” Ren clears his throat to imitate Arséne’s cadence. “‘Hello, Naoya.’”
(Hm. Not bad.)
“What, that’s it? No, ‘how’s your day?’ or, ‘what have you been up to lately’?”
“He’s my Persona, not your mom.” Ren just barely stifles down another laugh, rolling his eyes instead. “And you probably won’t be thrilled to know what he said before he said hello.”
(...Sometimes I seriously wonder how this man can possibly be older than you.)
“Haah… I could take a wild guess, but I fear that I’ll be right. …Anyway.” Something shifts in Naoya’s voice— it’s not anything drastic, but his voice does become richer in depth as he switches topics. “I’ll start off easy. How have you been these past few months?”
Ren closes his eyes to think back. “Not… bad,” he answers, but it comes out a bit too hesitant for his liking. “But sometimes I’ll be doing something and it’ll just randomly remind me of last year and…” It’s a useless gesture when Naoya can’t even see it, but Ren makes a little explosion with his hands. “But that hasn’t been that often. Maybe a handful of times?” All in all, he had been rather pleasantly surprised. Not that Ren had actually taken the time to enjoy that, since each passing day only served to remind him of the one dreadful day inching closer.
“Considering how upset you got at Shido’s trial, that’s not bad. …But you still sound worried. Do you think things will get worse as the day gets closer?”
There’s no obstacles in Ren’s way anymore. The police seem to have backed off for good(?), no Conspiracy after them, and no false god trying to take over reality as everyone knows it. No more roadblocks, except the ones that exist in his mind. Even still…
“I… have no idea what to expect.” Ren is honest with his words, almost painfully so as the weight of them hits and he starts a small spiral. “What if it gets worse, or what if I manage to tell them and they get mad, or… or what if something like it happened all over again?” Then what would he do? That would be the absolute worst case, and it’s the one that physically makes Ren cringe and bunch up the fabric of his sleeve in his fist even as he sits on the bed.
A long bout of silence precedes the soft sigh coming from the other side of the call. “Do you need me to come give you a hug?”
Ren briefly mutes the call to pull himself together. The exact thing that he didn’t want happening is happening and he’s just as equally disappointed as he is upset. “N— No, I’m good,” he manages to force out of his mouth. “Really.” That’s not strictly true, but Naoya doesn’t need to know that.
There’s a sound similar to a pen clattering on the table. Is Naoya taking notes, or is he actually doing something important? “Forgive me if I’m being presumptuous, but I’m not inclined to believe that you’re fine.”
Ren knows perfectly well why Naoya doesn’t believe him, and Naoya probably knows the reason as well. “I mean, I’m… managing…”
“Managing what, exactly? You probably wouldn’t have called me to begin with if you had been fine.” Bingo. “You’ve been thinking about this a bit too much. About how your parents might feel about all of this.”
Goodness, straight to the heart of the matter… Did Naoya really have to call him out so plainly? This seems to be Naoya’s true way of doing things, though. His accuracy in pinpointing the truth and getting to the point is a little frightening, yet it also eliminates the need for useless runaround. Not like that helps with how uncomfortable Ren feels in his own mind at the moment, but perhaps that’s not such a bad thing.
“I’m… scared that they’ll… I don’t know, get mad?” Ren grimaces and balls up a sleeve in his fist. Those aren’t really the words he’s looking for but it’s the best that he can manage at the moment. “But that doesn’t even make sense. I think it’s more likely that they won’t even believe me to begin with.”
“How likely?” Naoya presses, though not unkind.
“Uh…” Ren falters again. “Pretty likely?”
(You do not even believe the words that you are saying.)
“That sounds like an assumption based on overgeneralizations.” Shoot, they’re double-teaming him!
“How would you know?” The question isn’t sarcastic, it’s a genuine inquisition.
“Yu’s told me a thing or two, and well… I’m inclined to believe that your parents are good people.”
Really? Huh…
Though Ren is internally quite elated that Yu views his parents in this light when few others in Inaba did, that joy does not spread when so many other things are weighing him down at the moment. “Even so,” he mutters, his eyes slipping closed just long enough to imagine countless scenarios of the upcoming conversation. “I wouldn’t believe me if I were my parents. I mean, a cognitive world? Personas? Shadows? Palaces? Who’s going to believe all of that?” Because Ren sure wouldn’t if he were them.
Naoya makes a little noise of surprise. “...You’re actually going to tell them about all of that?”
Huh? Is Ren not supposed to? “Are you saying I shouldn’t tell them everything? I thought that was the whole point.”
“No, little one— I’m saying that you just tell them that you’re a Phantom Thief, not the details.” The sound of a pen clattering on the desk echoes again through the phone speaker, making Ren wonder if Naoya might be attempting to twirl it around his fingers. “The name carries weight now, more weight than you might realize. All you need to do is figure out some way to offer proof that you’re telling the truth and that’s half the battle.”
The man does bring up a good point— why would Ren tell his parents about all the cognitive mumbo-jumbo when he can just… not? Plus that means he doesn’t have to sound like he’s clinically insane trying to explain Morgana can talk like he and the others must have when Sojiro and Sae found out. “I… yeah, that’s probably the better plan.”
An offer of proof… Hm, that might be tricky. Calling cards wouldn’t work, since they were the most publicized thing about their group other than their anonymity. Perhaps his second or third trial transcripts…? Wait, those are both sealed— and Ren doesn’t know if he would want to show his parents those, anyway. That would be way too much at once. Summoning Arséne for them to see would just be a plain terrible idea, although it does bring forth a rather humorous scenario. What could Ren possibly show to his parents that would back up his statement of being a Phantom Thief?
“...Oh!”
“You must have thought of something,” hums Naoya.
“Uh… yeah.” Ren places the call on speaker before he navigates to his phone’s built-in search engine, typing in the keywords that display numerous videos of their grand calling card almost a year ago. “Do you remember the calling card we made for Shido?” Better yet, Futaba had sent them a raw copy of the video in the Featherman chat. Ren can just download it and play it directly— that way, there’s no background interference.
“...Ah, you had been the only one who spoke without a voice modifier then. I think that should work fine.”
Ren huffs; who knew that the solution would be something so simple? So simple that there’s no way he would have thought of this himself. “I feel like I should be owing you one.”
“No need.” Naoya laughs good-naturedly, doing the exact opposite of what Ren had expected him to do (seriously taking him up on that offer). “Ah… I’m getting another call that I should probably take. Hmm… how do you think Mitsuru feels about being sent to voicemail three… oops! Four times?”
Now he can’t be too sure, but Ren has a feeling that even Kirijo’s tolerance for things only goes so far despite her surprising approachability. “Naoya, why are you still on the phone with me?”
“Haha! I can’t talk to my favorite little one for a while?”
Little, Ren’s ass. “I’m almost eighteen.”
“Still little in my eyes.” Before Ren can get out a well-timed unc joke, Naoya decides that it’s the perfect moment to wrap things up. “I really should call her back… she never calls without a reason. Just shoot me a text or call me if you need anything else these next few days— or whenever, really. I’ll make sure.”
Goodness, this guy… only Naoya would think to ignore the calls of someone as important as the head of the Kirijo Group just to talk to Ren for fifteen minutes. “I will. Talk to you later. …And actually call Kirijo back!”
“But of course. See you, little one.”