The smell of coffee was what finally dragged Ren downstairs.
Not an alarm.
Not Morgana.
Not even the sunlight coming through his bedroom window.
Coffee.
Ren walked down the stairs with his hair somehow even messier than normal, one hand rubbing at his face as he tried to convince his brain that being awake was a worthwhile life choice.
Morgana was still asleep upstairs.
Again.
Ren had checked his breathing twice before leaving the room.
He was fine.
Probably.
Ren was going to have to talk to him about that soon.
But one thing at a time.
He reached the bottom of the stairs and stopped.
Yusuke was already awake.
More surprisingly, he was standing at the counter speaking with Sojiro.
He looked significantly better than he had the night before, although that wasn't saying much considering he had barely been capable of controlling his own legs.
His hair was slightly disheveled, his clothes were wrinkled, and there were still bags beneath his eyes.
But he was standing.
That was progress.
"...I must thank you again for allowing me to stay here," Yusuke said seriously, bowing his head.
Sojiro waved him off with one hand.
"You needed somewhere to sleep. Don't make it into something bigger than it was."
Yusuke straightened.
"I cannot agree. Hospitality without obligation is not something I am particularly accustomed to."
Sojiro's hand stopped halfway toward the coffee pot.
Ren froze on the stairs.
Oh.
That sentence hit a little harder than Yusuke probably intended.
Sojiro studied him for a moment.
Then he sighed.
"Kid."
"Yes?"
"If somebody gives you a meal and then spends the next ten years reminding you that you owe them for it, they didn't give you anything."
Yusuke went completely still.
Ren slowly lowered the foot he had been about to place on the next step.
Well.
Fuck.
Apparently Sojiro Sakura had decided to accidentally perform therapy this morning.
Yusuke lowered his eyes.
"I see."
"No, you probably don't yet."
Yusuke looked back up.
Sojiro picked up a clean cup.
"But you'll figure it out."
He poured coffee into it and pushed it across the counter.
Yusuke stared at the cup.
"...I did not order this."
"I know."
A few seconds passed.
Yusuke slowly picked it up.
"Thank you."
"There you go."
Ren smiled faintly.
Then Sojiro's eyes shifted.
Directly toward him.
Ren's smile immediately disappeared.
Goddammit.
"Morning," Ren said.
Yusuke turned around.
"Ah. Ren."
"Feeling better?"
"Considerably."
He paused.
"Although apparently awakening one's inner self through the violent removal of a metaphysical mask is physically taxing."
Ren blinked.
Sojiro slowly looked between them.
Yusuke's eyes widened.
Ren closed his eyes.
Fantastic.
Absolutely fantastic.
Yusuke cleared his throat.
"...Metaphorically."
Sojiro stared at him.
Ren opened one eye.
Sojiro continued staring.
Yusuke took a long drink of coffee.
"Exceptionally good coffee."
"Get out."
"I believe that would be wise."
Ren had to cover his mouth.
Yusuke walked toward the door with considerably more dignity than anyone who had just accidentally admitted to ripping off a metaphysical mask deserved.
He stopped beside Ren.
"I intend to take some time today."
"Good."
"There are things I must think about."
"Even better."
"And several sketches I wish to finish."
Ren smiled.
"Best thing you've said so far."
Yusuke gave him a small smile in return.
Not the distant polite expression he normally wore.
Something quieter.
Tired.
Real.
"I'll contact you later."
"Take your time."
Yusuke nodded.
Then he looked toward Sojiro.
"Thank you again, Sakura-san."
Sojiro grunted.
Yusuke left.
The bell above the door jingled.
DING.
Silence.
Ren stared at the door for approximately three seconds.
Then slowly turned toward the counter.
Sojiro was staring at him.
Ren considered going back upstairs.
Technically, he hadn't eaten breakfast yet.
That meant he had a perfectly valid excuse to—
"Sit."
Fuck.
Ren sat.
Sojiro put a cup of coffee in front of him.
Red and black mug.
His mug.
Which somehow made the impending interrogation worse.
Ren wrapped his fingers around it.
"So..."
Sojiro leaned against the counter.
"So."
Ren took a drink.
Maybe if he drank slowly enough the conversation would disappear.
It did not.
"What happened to him?"
Ren looked into the coffee.
There were several answers.
Most of them involved impossible museums, cognitive realities, demonic manifestations of the human psyche, magical masks, and a famous artist turning into a glowing golden asshole.
So probably not those.
But Ren had also promised himself he would stop lying when he didn't actually need to.
He could leave things out.
That wasn't necessarily lying.
Right?
Arsène did not respond.
Which meant either Ren was getting better at mental boundaries or the bastard was asleep.
Probably asleep.
"His guardian has been exploiting him," Ren said finally.
Sojiro's expression didn't change.
"How?"
Ren thought carefully.
"Money. His art. Other students' art. Emotional stuff."
"So Madarame."
Ren glanced up.
Sojiro raised an eyebrow.
Ren sighed.
"Yeah."
"Figured."
Of course he did.
The man owned a television.
"So the rumors about him are true?"
"Some of them."
Ren hesitated.
"Probably worse."
Sojiro's eyes sharpened.
"Did he hit the kid?"
"I don't think so."
Ren hated that his immediate instinct was relief.
As if not being hit somehow made everything else smaller.
He tightened his fingers around the mug.
"He kept him dependent. Took credit for his work. Didn't give him enough money to take care of himself even though he had plenty. And..."
Ren stopped.
Investment.
Yusuke's expression when Madarame said it still bothered him.
"And?"
Ren looked down.
"He made Yusuke think everything he gave him meant Yusuke owed him."
Sojiro was silent.
Ren continued before he could stop himself.
"Like shelter and food and teaching him meant he had the right to decide his future. Yusuke didn't really see anything wrong with it because Madarame raised him. Or he did see it, I guess, but he always had another explanation."
Sojiro studied him.
Ren realized too late that he had stopped talking about Yusuke somewhere in the middle of that sentence.
He took another drink.
Coffee.
Coffee was safe.
Coffee did not ask questions.
Unfortunately, Sojiro did.
"And where do you fit into this?"
Ren didn't answer immediately.
"I found out."
"That's not what I asked."
Right.
Ren exhaled.
"I got involved."
"How involved?"
"Pretty involved."
Sojiro rubbed his forehead.
"I'm trying not to ask questions I don't want answers to here, kid."
Ren almost smiled.
"I'm trying not to give answers you'll think require calling somebody."
That got a look.
Ren quickly added, "Nobody committed a crime."
Probably.
Technically breaking into a cognitive manifestation of someone's subconscious wasn't covered by Japanese criminal law.
Ren hoped.
Sojiro sighed.
"Did you put yourself in danger?"
Ren opened his mouth.
Stopped.
Sojiro's eyes narrowed.
"...A little?"
"Ren."
"Define danger."
"Ren."
"Okay, yes."
Sojiro stared at him.
Ren stared back.
For once, he didn't try to smile.
"I wasn't alone."
"That doesn't make me feel better."
"We knew what we were doing."
Mostly.
"You came home carrying another teenager."
"That's fair."
Sojiro looked irritated.
But not angry.
Ren knew the difference.
He was beginning to learn the difference.
That realization settled somewhere strangely warm in his chest.
Sojiro crossed his arms.
"Is this connected to why you keep coming back bruised?"
Ren hesitated.
"Sometimes."
"The cat?"
"...Also sometimes."
"Your friends?"
"Sometimes."
Sojiro closed his eyes.
Ren waited for the explosion.
It didn't come.
Instead, Sojiro asked quietly,
"Are you safe?"
Ren froze.
That question was somehow worse.
He looked at the coffee again.
"I think so."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the best one I have."
Sojiro studied him.
Ren forced himself not to look away this time.
"I'm not trying to bullshit you," Ren said. "There's just... stuff going on that I can't explain without explaining a lot of other things first. Some of it isn't mine to tell you. Some of it..."
He paused.
"You probably wouldn't believe me."
Sojiro snorted.
"Try me sometime."
Ren blinked.
Sojiro turned away and grabbed a rag.
"I'm not asking you to tell me every stupid thing you and your friends are doing."
"That's reassuring."
"I'm asking whether I'm going to get a call one day telling me you're in the hospital."
Ren's smile vanished.
Sojiro wiped the counter.
He didn't look at him.
Ren understood that.
He looked away too.
"I'll try not to."
"That's a terrible answer."
"I know."
A few seconds passed.
Sojiro sighed.
"Fine."
Ren looked up.
"Fine?"
"For now."
Suspiciously merciful.
"But if one of you shows up looking like that again, I'm asking more questions."
Ren nodded.
"Fair."
"And eat before you leave."
"I didn't say I was leaving."
"You're wearing shoes."
Ren looked down.
He was.
Huh.
"I apparently planned further ahead than I realized."
Sojiro pointed toward the curry.
"Eat."
"Yes, Boss."
"Don't call me that."
Ren smiled.
---
Kasumi was still gone.
Ren stood beside the intersection for nearly ten minutes.
The flowers were still there.
Someone had replaced a few of them since the last time he passed through. Fresh white lilies had joined the older bouquet, and Ren crouched long enough to straighten one that had fallen against the pavement.
Nothing.
No red hair.
No chain.
No terrified girl asking if he could see her.
He stood.
"Kasumi?"
Nothing.
Ren frowned.
He had promised her he would come back.
Then she disappeared.
Which could be good.
Maybe she had moved on.
Except Ren had absolutely no fucking idea how ghosts worked.
Maybe they wandered.
Maybe they disappeared during the day.
Maybe something happened to her.
Maybe—
No.
Ren stopped the thought before it could spread into twenty others.
One thing at a time.
He looked around.
Nothing seemed unusual.
People crossed the intersection.
Cars moved.
A cyclist nearly hit an old man and got screamed at.
Normal Tokyo.
Ren activated his Third Eye.
Gold sharpened his vision.
The world didn't change much.
No glowing treasure.
No Shadows.
No convenient videogame objective marker reading FIND MISSING GHOST.
"Worth a shot," Ren muttered.
Then something moved.
Not ahead of him.
Above.
Ren's head snapped upward.
A shape flickered between two buildings.
Black.
Then gone.
Ren narrowed his eyes.
"...Hello?"
Nothing.
He waited.
Another flicker.
Farther away this time.
Ren moved.
He crossed the street and slipped into the alley between two buildings.
Empty.
For half a second he wondered whether he really was finally losing his mind.
Then a figure landed silently on a rooftop above him.
Black robes.
White underlayer.
A sword at the hip.
Short black hair.
Ren's mouth fell open.
No fucking way.
The figure vanished.
Ren recognized her.
"Kuchiki-san?"
No response.
Ren immediately ran after her.
---
This was stupid.
Ren knew this was stupid.
Following a mysterious possibly supernatural classmate across Tokyo because he had seen her wearing samurai robes while visiting the place where he had met a ghost was objectively stupid.
Counterpoint:
What the fuck else was he supposed to do?
Rukia appeared briefly at the end of another alley.
Ren ducked behind a vending machine before she turned.
She didn't.
She simply disappeared again.
Not metaphorically.
One second she was there.
Then—
Flicker.
Gone.
Ren stared.
"Oh, that's bullshit."
Yoruichi moved like that.
Not exactly.
But close enough that Ren's brain immediately made the connection.
His pulse picked up.
He followed.
Rukia had one enormous advantage.
She could apparently move across rooftops.
Ren had one enormous advantage.
She didn't know he could fucking see her.
At least Ren assumed she didn't.
Because there was absolutely no way somebody could be this terrible at hiding if they knew they were being followed.
He caught another glimpse of her near a train overpass.
Ren slowed down.
Didn't chase directly.
Watched where she went.
Thought.
Then cut down another street instead.
A minute later, he reached the next intersection just before the black shape appeared overhead.
Rukia landed on a streetlight.
Ren stared upward from beneath an awning.
She looked around.
Then vanished again.
Ren grinned.
Okay.
Maybe this was a little fun.
'Careful.'
Ren blinked.
Arsène.
'She is armed.'
Good point.
Ren's grin disappeared.
He continued following her.
Less dramatically.
---
Eventually the route became familiar.
Too familiar.
Ren slowed.
Yongen-Jaya.
Rukia crossed a rooftop.
Ren frowned.
"Why are you coming here?"
She dropped into an alley.
Ren followed from the opposite side of the street.
He waited.
Five seconds.
Ten.
Then looked around the corner.
Rukia was walking directly toward a store.
Ren stared at the sign.
Then stared harder.
"No."
Of course.
Of fucking course.
The secondhand shop.
Urahara's shop.
Ren stood there in disbelief.
Suspicious hat man.
Suspicious transfer student.
Suspicious gym teacher.
All somehow connected.
Ren rubbed both hands down his face.
"I am surrounded by weirdos."
Arsène chuckled.
'You summon fictional thieves from your subconscious.'
"Shut up."
A woman walking nearby gave him an odd look.
Ren bowed apologetically.
Then he looked toward the store.
Rukia stepped through the door.
Ren waited.
His original plan had been to observe.
Gather information.
Think.
Maybe come back later with Morgana.
Possibly ask Yoruichi about it first.
That would have been intelligent.
Responsible.
Reasonable.
Ren walked directly across the street.
One thing at a time.
And the current thing was apparently kicking open another supernatural hornet's nest.
The bell above the shop door jingled.
DING.
"Welcome!"
Urahara's cheerful voice came immediately from somewhere deeper inside.
Ren stepped inside.
Rukia was standing near the counter.
Still wearing black robes.
Still carrying a sword.
Still very obviously Rukia Kuchiki.
She turned.
Their eyes met.
Silence.
Rukia blinked.
Ren blinked.
Rukia slowly looked down at herself.
Then back at Ren.
Ren raised one hand.
"Hi."
Rukia's face went completely blank.
Urahara appeared from behind one of the shelves wearing his striped hat and carrying his fan.
"My, my."
He looked at Ren.
Then Rukia.
Then Ren again.
His smile widened.
"Kuchiki-san, it seems you've brought a guest."
"I DID NOT!"
Ren pointed at her.
"Okay, first question."
Rukia stared at his finger.
"Why are you dressed like a samurai?"
Her mouth fell open.
Urahara's fan snapped open.
Ren's eyes narrowed.
"Second question. Why can I see you when nobody else seemed to?"
Rukia's face went pale.
"And third."
Ren lowered his hand.
His expression became more serious.
"There was a dead girl near that intersection."
Rukia froze.
"Kasumi Yoshizawa."
Urahara's smile faded slightly.
Ren noticed.
Good.
They knew something.
"She had a chain coming out of her chest. She was scared. I told her I'd come back, and now she's gone."
Rukia looked toward Urahara.
Urahara looked back.
Some silent conversation passed between them.
Ren crossed his arms.
"No."
Both looked at him.
"No mysterious looks."
Urahara blinked.
"I have had enough mysterious looks for one lifetime, and apparently I'm only sixteen."
"Ren—"
He pointed at Rukia again.
"You transferred into my class and watched me for days."
Rukia flinched.
Then he pointed at Urahara.
"You were suspicious from literally the first moment I met you."
Urahara looked mildly offended.
"And Yoruichi somehow knows things she shouldn't know, Morgana got attacked by a monster with a white mask and a hole in its chest, Igor tells me those things are called Hollows, ghosts are real, and now my classmate is running around Tokyo dressed like she wandered out of the Edo period."
Ren inhaled.
Then exhaled.
He lowered his hand.
"I'm not even angry."
That surprised both of them.
Ren rubbed his forehead.
"I'm tired."
Very tired.
"So please."
He looked between them.
"Just explain one fucking supernatural thing to me without making it a riddle."
Silence.
Urahara closed his fan.
For once, there was no teasing expression on his face.
Rukia looked guilty.
Deeply guilty.
She reached toward the sword at her waist, not threateningly, but almost like she needed to remind herself it was there.
Then she looked Ren directly in the eyes.
"My name is Rukia Kuchiki."
Ren waited.
"I am not an ordinary human."
"Yeah. Got there."
Rukia's eye twitched.
Urahara covered a laugh with his fan.
She ignored him.
"I am a Shinigami."
Ren frowned.
The word took a second.
Then another.
"...A death god?"
Rukia winced.
"That translation is somewhat misleading."
"Of course it is."
"We guide souls to the afterlife and protect living humans from corrupted spirits."
Ren slowly lowered his arms.
"Corrupted spirits."
Rukia nodded.
"The creatures you have been calling Hollows."
Ren became very still.
Pieces started clicking together.
Ghosts.
Chains.
Masks.
Holes.
Monsters appearing in the real world.
Morgana's Persona somehow destroying one.
Rukia watching them.
Yoruichi.
Urahara.
Kasumi.
Ren looked toward Rukia's sword.
"So you're..."
He paused.
"Soul police?"
Rukia stared at him.
Urahara immediately lost control.
He doubled over laughing.
Rukia's face turned red.
"We are not soul police!"
"That sounded pretty soul police."
"We maintain the balance between worlds!"
"Government soul police."
"AMAMIYA!"
Ren couldn't help it.
He laughed.
It wasn't even particularly funny.
Maybe it was stress.
Probably stress.
But for the first time since Hollows entered his life, someone had actually answered a fucking question.
Rukia glared at him.
Then slowly started smiling despite herself.
Urahara wiped a tear from his eye.
"Well," he said brightly, "perhaps we should make some tea."
Ren's smile disappeared.
"No."
Urahara blinked.
"Coffee."
"My, you drive a hard bargain."
"And then you're telling me everything."
Urahara and Rukia exchanged another look.
Ren immediately pointed between them.
"No mysterious looks."
Rukia groaned.
This was going to be a long afternoon.