Chapter Text
Today was the day. The day Maruki would contact them for their final decision. Ren let out a deep exhale, marveling at the white cloud of air that formed from his breath. There was no point dwelling on it right now. Maruki would contact them when he’d contact them.
He knew what their answer would be, anyways. And if Maruki didn’t like it, then he could go fuck off and get his heart changed. Ren hadn't spent a whole week breaking his friends out of their perfect realities only to go back and decide that it wasn’t worth it in the end, after all. He hadn’t spent this entire year fighting for a better world for his friends, only for Maruki to come and decide that all of it was entirely futile, and that they would have been better off without ever having gone through all of the hardships.
They’d survived. Why wasn’t that enough?
Ren really ought to calm down. Why was he so angry? He may have been spending way too much time with Akechi lately, he never thought he’d get himself this heated over Maruki’s ultimatum. He knew that the counselor only wanted the best for all of them but…
This wasn’t right. None of this was right. Maruki couldn’t just have the right to decide what was best for everyone. That was their choice to make.
But enough of that. For now, Ren had to get to school. With no further delays, he arrived at the station and got onto the Ginza Line metro towards school.
In a stroke of luck, he managed to find himself a free seat. The station had felt strangely empty today. But, no. As he looked around, things were just as busy as usual, bustling crowds fighting to enter. He wrote it off as him being on edge due to their deadline being right around the corner. I mean, who wouldn’t be? Despite his clear disapproval of Maruki’s actions… he’d still been a friend, after all. And Ren didn’t want to fight his friend.
A ding from his phone warned him of an incoming message. He was about to take a look when a mechanical voice announced, “Aoyama-Itchome Station. Arriving at Aoyama-Itchome Station.”
Already? Ren quickly pocketed his phone and shuffled out of the metro, dutifully avoiding arriving late at school. Morgana would have killed him if he knew how close he’d been to missing his stop. Speaking of the cat, he missed him… Yes, it had only been a few hours since Morgana had decided that, “I’m going to stay over at boss’ place. Futaba’s been tinkering with this cat paw friendly tablet so I can finally join your group chats!” But he already missed the little guy.
Making his way into his classroom (On time!!!), he took his seat behind Ann, already knowing that he wouldn’t be able to concentrate in class today.
“Ren! You’re here!” Ann exclaimed, waving excitedly.
“Of course I am. Where else would I be?” He snorted, taking out his notebook. Might as well pretend that he was following.
“Well, nowhere, I just wanted to show you something!” Without warning, Ann shoved her phone in his face.
“Woah there tiger, I may be wearing glasses but they’re purely for aesthetic purposes. The words don’t need to be that close for me to be able to see them.” He backed up, leaning back into his chair.
“I still stand by the fact that you really should go without those hideous things by the way. Your eyes are gorgeous, I'm honestly jealous.” Ann sighed before getting herself back on track. “Anyways! As I was saying! Shiho and her parents were discussing and stuff, but in the end, they decided not to move at all! Shiho’s still changing schools but Shiho’s new school is like, a station away!”
“Wait, really? Oh, that’s great!” Ren felt a smile grow on his face. Shiho may not be in the same school, but being so close meant that Ann and her would be able to see each other virtually every day. Even if he knew Ann still had the rest of the thieves, he also knew she’d have been lonely without her little girlfriend by her side. “Wait, no. You two are attached enough at the hip, You guys are gonna be spending every afternoon on dates and completely forget to do your homeworks.”
“No, we wouldn’t,” Ann protested, flipping back her hair, “Shiho would never let that happen!”
“Love how you don’t even deny that you totally would.” He laughed, the tension he’d been feeling the entire morning easing up. Things were going well for once. There was no reason to be stressed over Maruki’s imminent visit.
Just then, the teacher came in, marking the beginning of their lesson. Maybe he’d have to borrow less notes than he’d expected, class was interesting enough, and there really was no reason to be so overly worried.
The day continued on as usual, students milling around, all of them unaware of just how monumental today was. As the final bell rang, Ren yawned, glad that it was over. Don’t get him wrong, he loved his teachers (except maybe Mr. Ushimaru, but that man was something else), but he really did prefer spending his time elsewhere.
He took out his phone, marveling at how little his friends had texted during class today. Rarely came a day when Ryuji decided to actually focus on school instead of being on his phone. But then again, not being on his phone definitely did not mean the other boy had been focusing. If anything, he’d probably managed to distract the rest of the class with his loud antics.
Just as he opened his messaging app to respond to some of Futaba and Morgana’s cat tablet test messages, he stopped. Hadn’t he received a message in the metro this morning? He’d totally forgotten to check it. But scrolling through his recent texts, he couldn’t find anything from this morning.
He had messages from his confidants, asking to meet up for more tests or readings, but most of them had been sent around noon. Well, whatever, it must have been spam or something. Ren knew he had a tendency to click on sketchy sites, or to way too readily give up his personal data. Futaba kept telling him not to, but well, what could it hurt? He was sure she’d put whatever antivirus on his phone anyways.
He quickly responded to Haru’s text about stumbling upon the perfect place to open up the first of her cafe chain, with a thumbs up and a promise to go see it soon. It was great to see how passionate Haru was about the whole thing, scouting out potential locations before even getting her degree. He was even sure she’d somehow manage even without going to college.
Turning off his phone, Ren shivered, he better get back to Leblanc, it really was cold out today. Unfortunately, now without school or his friends to distract him, his mind naturally drifted back to the impending confrontation with his therapist. Why hadn’t Maruki contacted them yet? Had he contacted one of the other thieves? No, they would have told him if that was the case.
And so why hadn’t he contacted them yet??? Okay. Calm down. He knew he was being irrational, Maruki knew their schedules, he knew they’d be in school the entire day, he was probably just being considerate and was going to contact them once they got home or something.
Impatient, yet filled with an uneasy dread, Ren made his way home.
Leblanc was eerily quiet when he arrived.
As soon as he entered, Sojiro left him to lock up, claiming that they’d run out of ingredients and that he needed to go restock. Ren was confused. How did one just run out of ingredients? What did that even mean? Following his gut, he went into the kitchen area, only to see it fully stocked, as usual.
All of a sudden, he felt annoyed. This was Maruki’s doing, wasn’t it? Why else would boss suddenly run out of the shop, leaving him alone despite clearly having enough stock? Well. He knew where Maruki was planning on meeting him, he guessed. At very least, it was familiar territory.
He couldn't do much else than wait, huh? He was surprised that the other thieves weren’t making such a fuss. He’d have at least expected Makoto to be all worried about Maruki contacting them, but instead she’d messaged him about her upcoming college entrance exam for an extremely prestigious college in the area. He’d actually thought she was planning to go to a different one, but he knew she’d pass either way. It was Makoto after all.
He went up to his room and took off his jacket. With a sigh, he flopped onto his bed, burying his face into the pillow. Why him anyways? What did adults see in him that every single one he met somehow found a use for him or decided to just straight up fuck his life up?
Ren felt the sudden urge to call Akechi. Just to… hear his voice or something? He actually didn’t know. Akechi’d surely just tell him all about how society sucked and that’s why you should never trust anyone and blah blah blah. He’d start ranting about how most adults in this world thought nothing of anyone else, that humans were innately selfish creatures who would only ever strive for what they wanted, no matter what choices you made and–
His phone began to ring. He sat up and took it out of his pocket. ‘Maruki’. Somehow, he still managed to surprise himself with his own disappointment. Why’d he expect Akechi to call? They had nothing to talk about anymore, their decision was clear.
Resigned, he accepted the call…
Maruki was here. Composing himself, he descended the staircase, desperately wishing Mona had stayed over instead of going off tinkering with Futaba.
Ren took a seat.
The whole scene felt awfully familiar, yet unfamiliar at the same time. He’d sent so many different calling cards but no of them had been as nerve wracking as this time.
“So… Getting down to business.” Maruki adjusted his glasses, “I wanted to confirm one last time: is there no other way to come to an agreement besides fighting?”
“We can’t accept this reality.” Ren leveled him with a hard stare, fighting the sudden unease that rose in his throat. He was sure of his choice, of course. But somehow, it felt… like something was going to go wrong? Without really knowing why, he shot a quick glance at the door, just to verify that it was really closed or something. It was unusually cold inside the cafe, Ren had to resist the urge to shiver, goosebumps raising on his skin.
“Oh, Ren-kun… I expected this response from you but…” Maruki shook his head, smiling sadly at him as if he was a child who just didn’t get what he was trying to explain. “This world may seem distorted to you, but really, isn’t everyone much happier like this?”
Feeling an abrupt wave of irritation, Ren scowled, “They may seem happy, but that’s just because you took away their choice! You’re forcing people into what you believe will make them ‘happy’.”
“Oh, but they are happy! And I’ve been perfecting my work, taking your values into account, I’ve been changing the least possible, for the happiest outcome!” Maruki shook his head, “But I’m getting ahead of myself. This conversation would be better held with all the relevant parties after all. So, won’t you come in, Akechi-kun?”
Ren quickly snapped his head back to the door, but he wasn’t really expecting anything.
When nothing happened, Maruki sighed, and pointedly said, “You know that there’s no point in keeping yourself hidden. This conversation will be taking place with or without you.”
There was silence for a few more seconds before the door opened, the little entrance bell letting out a ‘ding’, and in came Akechi, dressed in his brown coat and plaid scarf, arms crossed, with a scowl fixed onto his face. He looked very much like he didn’t want to be here at all.
“Akechi…?” Ren felt a strange sense of deja vu, a strange chill running up his spine.
“Amamiya.” The other looked at him with a conflicted expression, a mix of sorrow, pity and disappointment. But as he turned towards the third person in the room, his gaze hardened into a fierce glare. “Maruki. Aren’t you tired of this stupid game of yours?”
“Akechi-kun,” Maruki shook his head exasperatedly, “Aren’t you tired of resisting? I’m trying my best here, following your own advice and letting the people have more freedom! This time around things really are perfect, everyone’s bursting with joy, and I barely even changed a thing!”
“Barely even changed a thing?” Akechi scoffed, “Thinner strings don't mean more freedom, they just make it harder to see when they’re being pulled. How many times are you going to go through with this game of yours? You know his answer. It’s been the same ever since you first asked, and it’s never going to change. Ren can be just as stubborn as I am, you should know this by now.”
Said boy’s gaze was flickering between the two, confused, yet filled with an irrational urge to leave. He didn’t… want to be here anymore? He shook his head, he still had to give Maruki the calling card. And yet, something in him protested at the thought. Something was telling him that giving out the calling card right now would… not be a good idea?
Maruki’s gaze turned towards him as if sensing his hesitation, “Ren-kun, didn’t you see how happy your little friend had been when she learned that her friend was going to stay nearby? It didn’t take much but look how much happier they both are now! All of your friends are!”
“That– that was you?” Ren was horrified at the thought. How much had Maruki continued to change? How had he not noticed? How many of his current friends were under Maruki’s influence?
He briefly recalled Haru’s fortunate discovery, Makoto being contacted by a more prestigious college. Yusuke’s recent better eating habits, Ryuji’s mom who had finally managed to afford a good physical therapist for him. Futaba’s new project collaborators on Discord, Morgana’s new talking tablet. And…
Sumi. Who hadn’t contacted him at all today. What— did he do something to her again?
“What did you do to them? I thought you were done with them?” Ren felt betrayed. He shouldn’t have expected more from their current target, but Maruki was his friend! He’d thought he’d at least let them make their own choices…
“I didn’t do anything to them! I just made the circumstances around them a bit more favorable!” Maruki exclaimed, “They still have their freedom, and yet they’re so happy now. Don’t you see it, Ren-kun? What this world could be? This is the reality that I want you to accept. It’s your choice to make, of course but–”
“Stop it with your saviour bullshit. None of us have any freedom,” Akechi butt in, a fierce glare directed at the counselor. “Least of all him.”
“Akechi-kun… I’m only doing what both of you want. I’ve changed. I’ve been learning from what you tell me, don’t you see? This ideal reality is better for everyone now,” Maruki preached.
Ren was conflicted and lost. The conversation felt off. Like there was something he was missing. Something big. He understood the words being said. And yet, he had absolutely no idea what any of it meant. What’s more was that he still didn’t know what to do with the sudden surge of apprehension he’d felt concerning the calling card.
He wanted to change Maruki’s heart. Now more than ever before. Maruki had no fucking right to manipulate his friends like that over and over again, treating them like, what? Like lab rats? Tests? Experiments for the rest of his ‘ideal’ reality?
Or… did his toying with Ren's friends have less to do with the bettering of the world, and more to do with… Ren himself?
Fuck this. He didn’t want to be here anymore. Despite his misplaced unease, he reached into his pocket for the calling card. But before he could take it out, Akechi’s voice called out, “Let us have a moment together. I’ll… I’ll tell him about that fucking ace you like to keep up your sleeve up until the last moment, myself.”
Maruki hesitated but then, after seemingly thinking it over, he ultimately acquiesced with a self assured smile, “I’ll be outside. I’m sure you’ll make the right choice either way, Ren-kun.” And just like that, he exited the cafe.
As soon as he left, Akechi took his place in the booth. “Listen. Amamiya, we don’t have much time. Maruki’s only letting me do this because he thinks it won’t change anything, but I need you to listen to me.”
“What–” Ren was surprised with the sudden switch in the tone of the conversation.
“Just listen, okay?” Akechi snapped, wrought with tension, “First of all, I’m not–” But he seemed to reconsider his own words, glancing at Ren. He let out a deep exhale, and his next words came out… gentler, “What happened in Shido’s palace… was all real. I’m not real. Goro Akechi died months ago in a forgotten corner of the Shido’s unconsciousness. Right now, I’m just one of his creations. Just another one of Maruki’s puppets designed to be dangled in front of his favorite child.”
Ren froze. Did that mean… His hands shook, as he reached into his pocket to feel the smooth leather of their final promise. He didn’t want to believe it but, honestly? He felt like he’d already known that this entire time, he just hadn’t wanted it to be true... He stared at the other boy in front of him with wide eyes. “You…”
“I’m sorry but we really don’t have time for this. Don’t think about all of that right now.” Akechi sighed, “The more pressing issue is Maruki’s current mind game.”
“This” Akechi gestured vaguely, “whole ■h■ng isn’t ■■■l. Th■s ■s a d■■■m, Amamiya-kun. An you have to ■■■■ ■■.”
What? He expressed this thought out loud, “What are you talking about???”
“Fucking hell, Amamiya, don’t be daft. We don’t have much time. I did try to contact you before this to explain, but I guess you were just too busy with your friends.” Akechi scowled.
“No, I– I genuinely don’t understand what you’re saying.” Ren was confused, Akechi had tried to contact him? What had Akechi even been trying to tell him? And why had it been so… hazy?
“Fine. I’ll start from the b■ginni■g. ■ut don’t i■errupt ■e, this ■a■ to be q■■■k.” Akechi took a deep breath, and then started, “Y■■ must h■ve n■■ic■d, ■■■ n■■ic■ ■■e■y ■■■■■–”
“Okay, okay, stop it! I can’t understand what you’re saying, Akechi!” Ren was quick to stop the other on his tangent. The ringing in his ears hurt. “I mean, I literally can’t hear your words, it gets all ringy and fuzzy and hazy.”
“...what?” Akechi’s eyes widened and his mouth hardened as a realization seemed to set in. “Oh. Oh, fuck this. He can do that? How is this fair in any way? She didn’t tell me I’d have to– urgh...”
“Akechi…?” Ren watched as the other stood and began to pace. “What’s– No, Maruki did something, didn’t he? Something you can’t tell me…”
Akechi groaned into his hands, “How the fuck am I meant to get him to ■■■■ ■■ if I can't even– You know what, fuck it. Just give him the calling card already.”
“What? But what about, whatever you were going to say? Who is she? What has Maruki been doing?” Ren exclaimed, he didn’t know what was happening but something was wrong and he wanted to help.
“You can’t do anything anymore today, Amamiya, it’s too late. I’ll let the damned bastard back in, so just give him the calling card.” Akechi inhaled deeply, then approached him, looking him straight in his eyes, “Maruki won’t have his way, I promise you that. You can rest easy, dream of velvet and all.”
With that, the detective went to open the door to the cafe to let the other man in. Dream of velvet…? What did Akechi know? And what did it have to do with the Velvet Room?
“Have you boys made your decision?” Maruki came in, a smile on his face, as if he didn’t even think of them refusing him.
“We don’t accept your reality. We will never accept it, no matter how many times you ask.” Akechi scoffed.
“Oh, come now, you can’t just make the decision for him. Ren had the right to make his own choices, and I’m sure he wants everyone to be happy.” Maruki said in his patronising tired adult voice.
At that, Ren stood, he couldn’t stand this anymore, “Of course I do! But this isn’t the way!” He fumbled to find the calling card in his pockets, that same feeling of unease rising in his heart. Something was going on here, and handing over this card meant something, more than just making their decision. But he trusted in whatever Akechi was planning, and he handed the card over to the counselor, a determined look in his eyes. “I get that you just want people to be happy, but that’s a choice someone has to make themself.”
Maruki sighed. “You’ll understand it one day, Ren-kun. I’ll make this reality perfect.”
And he waved his hand and–
Everything went dark.