Taking Hearts, Breaking Limits (Persona 5 Royal x Final Fantasy VII)

XXI

5/6 - Friday - After School

Ren's POV

After another exhausting day (and, sadly, getting hit with chalk), Ren was about to pack up and go home. He was currently looking at the Phantom Aficionado Website on his phone, looking for potential targets. Sadly, he found nothing so far.

As he was distracted by his phone, a boy's voice called to him.

"Hey." said an oddly familiar voice behind him. He turned around and saw a boy as old as him with blue-tinted hair, no blazer, laid down suspenders, and green sports shoes.

"Oh, hey Mishima." Ren replied. "You're looking real better now."

"Oh, really? Thanks." Mishima said.

Usually, he would come into class with so many bruises and injuries because of Kamoshida. Fortunately, he didn't have to feel all that pain anymore.

"So... have you seen that Phantom Aficionado Website?" Mishima suddenly blurted out.

"Well... I've heard of it." Ren said, trying to act formal. He didn't want to give out any hint that he was in the Phantom Thieves.

"You see... I'm the one who started it."

Ren's eyes widened. He was the one who made that website?! Ren exclaimed in his thoughts. He bet that he was probably throwing so many hints out the window now.

"Um, so..." Mishima went close to Ren and whispered, "you guys are the Phantom Thieves, aren't you?"

"Um... what?" Ren tried to act confused. His wits were hitting its end.

"Oh... sorry. I should explain. Although, if things really are as I think, I should keep it a secret." Mishima said while backing up. "You see... Kamoshida used me, and I did some horrible things to you guys."

Ren knew what he meant. The day Shiho almost killed herself, he, Mishima, and Ryuji barged into Mr. Kamoshida's office. Kamoshida said that Mishima leaked Ren's record all over Shujin's blog, making everyone aware about his past. Ren had forgiven him for that, but still... he couldn't really shake off the fact that his records were leaked because of him.

"This isn't much of a way to apologize for it..." Mishima continued as if reading Ren's mind, "but if there's anything I can do to help, just let me know!"

"Well... that's great, but-"

"Thanks. I'm glad to hear that."

Ren could see the determination in his eyes. He wasn't lying when he said he wanted to help. He wanted to atone for his mistakes, even for the mistakes he was wasn't even at fault for.

"It's not just Kamoshida," Mishima said, "there are tons of evil adults out there. But I'm sure the Phantom Thieves will do something. They can't let this end after just one target. That's why I wanted to make a forum where people can post their problems."

"So that's why you made the Phantom Aficionado Website?"

"Exactly. It may sound a bit much, but there are probably a lot of people who have high hopes for the Phantom Thieves' next move. So I've also implemented an anonymous poll on the site."

He pulled out his phone and showed Ren a poll question and its results on the website.

""Do you believe in the Phantom Thieves or not?"" Mishima read the question out loud. "I wanna work on this forum so eventually it'll be packed with tons of supportive posts. I'd really like to help out in the Phantom Thieves' acts of justice! Can I, please?"