Sunday 1st May
Renko woke to her phone buzzing. She blearily retrieved it from her pocket and blinked until the new messages resolved themselves in her vision.
Kitagawa Yusuke: If it isn't too much trouble, would you like to meet up today?
Kitagawa Yusuke: There's something I'd like to talk to you about.
Renko quickly pushed herself upright.
That does not sound good, said Arsène.
"It sure doesn't," muttered Renko, leaping out of bed and beginning to pull on her clothes. "Still—if it means he's realising what's going on…"
We need to meet him.
"Yeah…"
She quickly grabbed her phone and unlocked it to text back.
Amamiya Renko: Sure!
Amamiya Renko: Anywhere you wanna go?
There was a bit of a pause.
Kitagawa Yusuke: Meet me at Inokashira Park.
The place they'd met, huh? Well, they ran much less of a risk of being spied on that way.
Amamiya Renko: I'll be right there.
Kitagawa Yusuke: Thank you.
***
Yusuke wasn't exactly hard to spot once Renko got to the park. He was sitting on a bench, staring gloomily at the lake as though he wished it would swallow him up. Something had happened, that much was obvious.
"Hi," she said, approaching Yusuke carefully, trying not to shock him. "What's up?"
Yusuke still jolted, then turned to slowly look at her.
"Ah, Renko," he said, and his voice was dull and monotone. "Thank you for coming, I appreciate it."
"You said there was something you wanted to talk about," said Renko, sitting down next to him.
Yusuke nodded, looking back out at the lake. There was silence for a moment. Renko waited for him to speak.
"Do you ever find yourself thinking that… it's all hopeless?"
All of Renko's muscles seemed to tense at once. She'd suspected it was bad, but she hadn't anticipated it had gotten this bad.
"In what sense?" she asked. She needed to keep Yusuke talking.
Yusuke shrugged. "I'm not sure. Life seems… awfully dull of late."
"And why is that?"
Yusuke frowned, his brow contorted, some emotion finally breaking through the haze. "Does it have to be because of anything? Can I not feel this of my own volition?"
Ah, he was getting defensive. At least that was something-breaking him out of the depression.
"No," said Renko, calmly. "It's just… you seemed so happy on Monday… I wondered if anything had happened, that's all."
"It hasn't," said Yusuke, sharply.
"Alright," said Renko.
There was a silence after that. The wind whispered quietly through the trees. Dim voices of others walking through the park carried to them on the wind. It would have been peaceful, in better circumstances.
"Have you had anything to eat yet today?" asked Renko, eyeing Yusuke's thin frame.
Yusuke shook his head.
"Here," said Renko, handing him the breakfast bar she'd stowed away this morning. "I was saving it for later but I want you to have it."
Yusuke closed his eyes tight for a moment, then took a deep, shuddering breath. It was obvious he was trying to hold back tears.
"Why are you so nice to me?" he whispered, barely loud enough to hear. "No one's ever…"
"We're friends, remember?"
"Friends…"
Yusuke's face was hidden in shadow, his thoughts obscured from Renko's gaze. But he was thinking. Good. He needed to think.
Eventually he breathed in again and sat up straight, taking the breakfast bar Renko had offered.
"Thank you," he said, his voice still slightly cracked. "I appreciate this."
Renko shrugged. "Whatever you need."
Yusuke laughed, but it was strained. "You're so nice, Renko. I don't understand it."
"You will," said Renko.
"Will I?" he muttered. "I hope… I hope someday I do. To have a heart as forgiving as yours… it must be a wonderful thing."
But of course, Renko wasn't forgiving at all. But Yusuke didn't need to know that. Not yet.
"I'm happy you think so," she said.
Yusuke nodded, then began to eat in silence. Something had happened with Madarame, it was obvious. She hadn't found out today, but Yusuke had considered telling her—and it was a step in the right direction. A big one. And she'd find out sooner or later. Whether it came from Yusuke or not.
***
Monday 2nd May
Yusuke hadn't spoken to her at all in school that day—all Renko's attempts at conversation were brushed off with stony silence. It seemed he was embarrassed by his near breakdown at the park. It was fine. He'd come around again. If something more had happened, he'd have come back to Renko, and that would have been vastly more worrying than this aggressive embarrassment.
Renko was used to playing the long-game with victims like him. Sometimes it would take months for them to be in a position to be freed from their abuser, sometimes they wanted their tormentors gone flat—Renko was used to it now. Knew how to play the game. Wait for the perfect moment to strike—to avoid hurting anyone too badly. Well. Except the abusers, of course.
So she could wait a few more days. And keep a watchful ear out for any more murmurings of hopelessness from her friend. Because if Yusuke did begin to feel actively suicidal, then… she'd have a much bigger problem on her hands.
You should go back downstairs, Arsène offered. Spend some time with Sojiro.You've been too stressed lately—your performance in Mementos the other day was appalling.
"Thanks," muttered Renko, rolling her eyes, but she knew Arsène was right. Between Shido's Palace, Yusuke's troubles and the potential of another, unknown Metaverse user, these past few weeks had been wearing her down.
She made her way slowly downstairs, the exhaustive effect of the last two weeks seeming to pile up on her all at once now she finally had a moment to think.
"You alright there?" Sojiro asked bemusedly as she limped half-heartedly around the counter.
"Here to help," said Renko.
"Well you don't have to look so damned miserable about it," Sojiro chuckled, throwing his apron at her. "Now get that on, and make sure you smile for the customers."
"Sure thing, boss," said Renko, tying it around her waist. This much was familiar at least.
She quickly found herself falling into the usual routine around the café, bantering with Sojiro as he showed her how to make a new brew he'd come up with, calmly serving the regular customers who showed up day after day. In fact she almost felt somewhere close to normal again when it happened.
"Hey boss, doesn't that sound like one of those mental breakdowns people keep having?" asked a rather pompous man Renko had yet to learn the name of.
He was pointing at the TV screen in the corner that Sojiro always kept on. Mental breakdowns were, of course, Renko's speciality, but… this was odd. She couldn't remember causing any breakdowns recently. Shutdowns yes, breakdowns no. And as she squinted at the screen to gather what the news story was, she got an odd sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Outlets are reporting that Kamoshida Suguru, a former olympian and current PE teacher at the prestigious Shujin Academy, confessed in a public assembly today to sexually and physically abusing his students. Police have taken him in for questioning, and though details surrounding the case are yet unknown, it bears a resemblance to other strange lapses in sanity we've been seeing nationwide. What could be causing these mental breakdowns?"
Kamoshida Suguru? She'd never heard that name before. But if he'd confessed to his crimes in a sudden and inexplicable change of personality…
It's them. Whoever's discovered the Metaverse—they've worked out how to brainwash Palace-owners.
Renko could hear her heart in her ears. It had taken her almost eight months to work out the intricacies of how Palaces worked, but this new interloper had cracked it on their very first try? How? How was it even possible they could have worked it out so fast? If they were that intelligent then… This was bad. This was incredibly bad.
We know one thing already, said Arsène, already beginning to calculate how to deal with the situation, they almost certainly go to Shujin Academy.
Right. That narrowed down the list of suspects. Now she just had to find out the victims. Because if anyone would want to get back at Kamoshida… well, it had to be one of them, didn't it?