Blue.
Ren opened his eyes to the rhythmic clacking of wheels against tracks.
Click-clack.
Click-clack.
Click-clack.
For once, waking inside the Velvet Room didn't immediately make his shoulders tense.
That itself was probably progress.
He was sitting inside the familiar blue train car, the world outside the windows reduced to an endless dark expanse broken occasionally by distant lights.
Igor sat across from him.
Caroline and Justine stood nearby, dressed in the blue clothing they had taken to wearing since the Room had returned to normal.
No chains.
No bars.
No oppressive weight sitting in the back of Ren's mind telling him to watch every word he said.
Just the sound of the train.
"Welcome, guest."
Igor's strange, high voice echoed gently through the car.
Ren leaned back in his seat.
"Evening."
Igor smiled.
"You appear unusually at ease."
Ren blinked.
Then smiled.
"I got answers today."
"Hehehe."
Of course Igor knew enough to be amused without actually explaining what he knew.
Ren had come to accept that this was apparently a requirement for Velvet Room employment.
"I finally found out what Hollows are."
"So you have."
"And what Kuchiki-san is."
"Indeed."
"And what happens to ghosts."
Another smile.
Ren narrowed his eyes.
"You already knew all this, didn't you?"
Igor's fingers folded together beneath his enormous nose.
"This is your journey, Trickster. There are truths best learned from those who walk the roads connected to your own."
Ren stared at him.
"...That was almost an answer."
Caroline snorted.
Justine hid a small smile behind her clipboard.
Igor laughed.
Ren relaxed farther into the seat.
Something really had changed.
Maybe not just the Room.
Maybe him.
A few days ago he'd felt like he was standing in the middle of a conspiracy constructed entirely out of supernatural bullshit.
Shadows.
Hollows.
Ghosts.
The Velvet Room.
Whatever the fuck was happening with his eyes.
Morgana.
Madarame.
Kasumi.
People watching him.
Entire histories that apparently didn't line up correctly.
Every answer had just produced another handful of questions.
Today hadn't fixed all of that.
Not even close.
But one entire category finally had structure.
There were Soul Reapers.
They handled Hollows.
They understood ghosts.
Someone else knew the rules.
Ren didn't have to derive an entire afterlife from first principles.
That felt fucking wonderful.
Igor watched him quietly.
There was something strangely pleased in the old man's expression.
"You have found a direction."
Ren glanced toward him.
"A direction?"
"The Fool has spent much of his journey studying every road before him."
Ren's smile slowly faded.
Igor continued.
"To the left, danger. To the right, uncertainty. Behind him, regret. Before him..."
He opened one hand.
"Possibility."
Ren stared.
"That sounds familiar."
Igor's eyes gleamed.
"Does it?"
Ren leaned back.
"You've been telling me this for a while, haven't you?"
"Hehehe."
Of course.
Ren rubbed his face.
"Trust my bonds. Lean into what I already know. Don't let somebody else walk the path for me."
Igor seemed genuinely pleased.
"And yet knowing a lesson and living by it are rarely the same thing."
Ren sighed.
"Unfortunately."
"A Fool who fears choosing the wrong road may convince himself that standing still is wisdom."
Ren looked out the window.
Darkness moved beyond the glass.
"I've been trying not to do that."
"So I have seen."
Ren looked back at him.
There wasn't judgment in Igor's expression.
If anything, he looked like a teacher watching someone finally understand something that had been written on the board for weeks.
"You have discovered one problem that does not require you to carry it alone," Igor said. "And thus your attention turns again toward the road you already chose."
Madarame.
Yusuke.
The Palace.
Ren nodded.
"We're finishing it."
Igor smiled.
"Are you?"
Ren frowned.
"Yes."
"Then perhaps the question has already been answered."
There was something about the way he said it.
Something tugged at Ren.
Not physically.
Not like the MetaNav.
Not like his Third Eye activating.
More like an urge rising from somewhere beneath conscious thought.
His eyes drifted toward Igor's desk.
Empty.
Then the thought formed.
"Can you read my cards again?"
Igor's smile widened.
Caroline and Justine both looked toward Ren.
Ren blinked.
Why had he asked that?
He hadn't planned to.
He hadn't even been thinking about another reading.
Well.
That wasn't entirely true.
Ren thought about Tarot constantly.
But he'd had no intention of asking tonight.
Still...
It felt right.
"My, my," Igor murmured.
Ren narrowed his eyes.
"What?"
"Nothing at all."
Which meant something.
Goddammit.
Igor lifted one hand.
A Tarot deck materialized above his palm.
It floated downward gently.
Ren leaned forward.
"How many?"
"Three."
Only three.
Igor shuffled the cards.
There was no dramatic flourish.
They moved almost lazily between his fingers before three cards slid onto the table.
Face down.
Igor rested his hand beside the first.
"Your previous readings concerned possibilities."
Tap.
The first card flipped.
The Chariot.
Ren stared at it.
Igor smiled.
"The Chariot advances."
Ren waited.
Igor apparently noticed his expression.
"Hehehe."
"That's it?"
"Would you prefer I obscure the meaning unnecessarily?"
Ren stared at him.
"That's never stopped you before."
Caroline laughed.
Justine elbowed her lightly.
Igor continued.
"The Chariot is movement. Yet movement alone has no purpose."
He gestured toward the card.
"Two forces pull in different directions, and still the charioteer advances."
Ren studied the image.
Opposing sphinxes.
One vehicle.
One driver.
"Contradictions," Ren muttered.
"Precisely."
Igor folded his hands.
"You contain many."
Ren snorted.
"Understatement."
"The wish to protect others and the desire to remain free."
Ren's expression softened.
"The wish to trust and the instinct to suspect."
His gaze dropped.
"Compassion and anger."
Click-clack.
Click-clack.
"The polite student."
A faint smile appeared on Ren's face.
"The thief."
Arsène stirred somewhere deep in his mind.
'Both devastatingly handsome.'
Ren ignored him.
"The Chariot does not ask one force to destroy the other," Igor continued. "It asks whether the one holding the reins can choose a direction despite them."
Ren stared at the card.
Madarame.
Yusuke.
The others.
He had already chosen.
"We're going after him."
Igor smiled.
"The card did not say that."
Ren looked up.
"No."
Igor's smile widened.
"You did."
Ren froze.
Then slowly leaned back.
"...Right."
The second card waited.
Tap.
Strength.
Caroline immediately leaned forward with interest.
Ren looked from her to the card.
"Power?"
Igor shook his head.
"Not quite."
He gestured toward the image.
A woman.
A lion.
No chains.
No weapon.
No violence.
"The beast possesses greater physical strength."
Ren nodded.
"Yet it yields."
"Control?"
"Understanding."
Ren frowned.
Igor continued.
"Strength is conviction without desperation."
That caught him.
"One who trusts his own will need not prove it every moment."
Ren's eyes stayed on the card.
"The Trickster has often answered uncertainty by searching for another answer."
Ren winced.
Okay.
Rude.
"Another perspective. Another possibility. Another contingency."
Ruder.
"Another person who may know better."
Ren looked toward Igor.
"Are you telling me to stop asking for advice?"
"Hehehe. Certainly not."
Igor sounded genuinely amused.
"Only a fool rejects wisdom merely to prove independence."
Ren relaxed slightly.
"Then what?"
Igor tapped the card.
"Recognize when advice illuminates your decision..."
He paused.
"...and when you are asking another person to make it for you."
Ren went quiet.
Yu.
The Investigation Team.
Morgana.
Igor.
Yoruichi.
Urahara.
His Personas.
People he trusted.
People who sometimes knew far more than he did.
And somewhere along the way, Ren had started believing that if he could just find the person with the correct answer—
Then nobody would get hurt.
Then the mistake wouldn't belong to him.
His stomach tightened.
"Conviction is not certainty, Trickster."
Ren looked up.
"You may choose correctly and still suffer."
Click-clack.
"You may choose wrongly and learn."
Another beat of the train.
"You may make the best decision available to you and discover later that hidden knowledge would have changed everything."
Ren swallowed.
"That's terrifying."
"It is."
Igor smiled.
"And yet humanity continues to choose."
Ren laughed quietly.
"Yeah."
The final card waited.
Igor tapped it.
Flip.
The Star.
Ren stared.
Again.
Igor seemed delighted.
"The Star returns."
"The Investigation Team."
"Perhaps."
Ren narrowed his eyes.
"I can literally see their Arcana."
"And perhaps the card means more than one relationship."
There it was.
Cryptic bastard.
Igor gestured toward it.
"Hope."
Ren remembered his previous reading.
A light in the distance.
Not close enough to grasp.
Close enough to follow.
But Igor's explanation was different this time.
"The Star is also something seen by others."
Ren frowned.
"Those who trust you have done something remarkable, Trickster."
"What?"
"They have surrendered certainty."
Ren looked up.
Igor's expression became unusually serious.
"Your companions cannot know that every decision you make will succeed."
Ryuji.
Ann.
Shiho.
Orihime.
Morgana.
Yusuke.
"They cannot know that you will always recognize danger."
Ren's chest tightened.
"They cannot know that following you will never cause them pain."
The memories came automatically.
Kamoshida.
The TV World.
Ren feeling a Cero tear through his heart while the others watched, even if it had ultimately been an illusion.
Yusuke.
Morgana getting hurt.
Times Ren had guessed.
Times he'd been wrong.
His mouth opened.
Igor raised one finger.
"But they choose to stand beside you nonetheless."
Ren stopped.
"Why?"
Ren knew the answer.
Still—
Igor asked again.
"Why?"
"...Because they trust me."
"Indeed."
Igor smiled.
"Not your infallibility."
Ren went still.
"Not omniscience."
His throat tightened.
"Not an imaginary leader who never makes mistakes."
Ren looked down.
"They trust you."
Silence filled the train car.
Even Caroline was quiet.
"Your companions are not pieces upon your board, Trickster."
Ren flinched slightly.
"They are players seated beside you."
That hit much harder than he expected.
Igor continued gently.
"When you choose, they choose as well."
Ren thought about Yusuke's message.
I would like to see this through.
Shiho.
Then that's what we're doing.
Ann.
Ryuji.
Orihime.
Morgana.
Nobody had asked Ren to guarantee they would be safe.
Nobody had demanded certainty.
They had asked what they were doing.
Then they had made their own choices.
Ren stared at the three cards.
Chariot.
Strength.
Star.
Direction.
Conviction.
Trust.
"So..."
Ren slowly leaned back.
"Trust my decisions."
Igor smiled.
"Perhaps."
"My convictions."
Another smile.
"And the people who decided to trust me."
Igor's eyes gleamed.
"An interesting interpretation."
Ren's eye twitched.
"You're never going to just say yes, are you?"
"Hehehehe."
Caroline burst out laughing.
Justine tried very hard not to.
Ren laughed too.
"You've already told me all of this, haven't you?"
Igor's expression softened.
"In different words."
Ren looked back toward the cards.
"So why did I feel like I needed another reading?"
Igor glanced toward the deck.
"Perhaps you finally wished to hear the answer from yourself."
Ren paused.
Then smiled.
"That one was good."
"I have my moments."
The cards vanished.
For some reason, Ren didn't feel disappointed.
The strange compulsion that had made him ask for the reading was gone.
In its place was something considerably quieter.
He knew what he wanted to do.
He trusted why he wanted to do it.
And everyone beside him had made their own decision to come.
Maybe that was enough.
Not forever.
Not for every problem.
But enough for tomorrow.
"Thank you," Ren said.
Igor dipped his head.
"It is always a pleasure to watch the Fool recognize that he has been walking under his own power all along."
Ren smiled.
"Still cryptic."
"Naturally."
---
"Trickster."
Ren turned toward Justine.
She was holding her clipboard against her chest.
Caroline stood beside her, doing a remarkably poor job of pretending she hadn't been listening to everything.
"What?"
"You have been neglecting your fusion training."
Ren blinked.
"I've been a little busy."
"Hmph!" Caroline crossed her arms. "Excuses!"
"Palaces. Hollows. Ghosts. Abusive artists."
"Excuses!"
Ren looked toward Justine.
"Help me out here."
Justine glanced down at her notes.
"My sister's assessment is somewhat harsh."
Caroline looked smug.
"However, she is correct."
Ren put a hand against his chest.
"Betrayal."
Justine's lips twitched.
Ren caught it.
She immediately looked away.
He smiled.
Something about the exchange felt different now.
Not new.
Just clearer.
The twins weren't wardens.
They hadn't been for a while.
They were his attendants.
His collaborators.
His friends, maybe.
Caroline still yelled.
Justine still hid behind professionalism whenever she was embarrassed.
Caroline still had a baton.
Ren had learned this fact repeatedly.
But there was warmth beneath all of it now.
Something that hadn't existed under the false Igor.
Or maybe something that had been there but twisted into the wrong shape.
"You're staring, Trickster!" Caroline snapped.
"Sorry."
Ren smiled.
"It's just nice seeing you two."
Caroline's face immediately turned red.
"WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!"
"Exactly what I said."
"Stop saying weird things!"
Justine adjusted her clipboard.
"...It is pleasant to see you as well."
Caroline whipped toward her.
"JUSTINE!"
"What?"
"You can't just SAY THINGS LIKE THAT!"
Justine looked genuinely confused.
"It was true."
Ren laughed.
Caroline looked ready to combust.
The whole thing felt oddly comfortable.
Justine cleared her throat.
"In any case."
She turned the clipboard around.
A sketch appeared on the page.
Ren leaned closer.
A strange demonic beast stared back at him.
Four legs.
Wings.
Horns.
Ren frowned.
"...What the fuck is that?"
Caroline immediately pointed her baton at him.
"Your next assignment!"
"My next what?"
"We wish to test your ability to perform deliberate fusion," Justine explained.
"Rather than stumbling around and making whatever Persona looks shiny!" Caroline added.
"I don't do that."
Both twins stared at him.
Ren thought about it.
"...Often."
Justine tapped the picture.
"You are to produce a Persona named Flauros."
Ren looked down.
Then back at the twins.
"Flauros."
"Correct."
"Through fusion."
"Correct."
"And you're not telling me how."
Caroline grinned.
"Now you're getting it!"
Ren narrowed his eyes.
"This feels suspiciously like homework."
"You are a Wild Card," Justine said. "Understanding how Personas combine is part of mastering your ability."
Ren looked at the drawing again.
"Do I get anything for completing it?"
The twins looked at one another.
Then back at him.
Caroline smiled.
Ren immediately became suspicious.
"Why are you smiling like that?"
"Complete it and find out."
"That's incredibly ominous."
"Good."
Ren laughed.
Justine lowered the clipboard.
"You need not accomplish it immediately."
Caroline looked scandalized.
"JUSTINE!"
"He has an active Palace infiltration."
"Oh."
Caroline hesitated.
Then pointed the baton at Ren again.
"Fine! But don't forget!"
"I won't."
"You'd better not!"
Justine nodded.
"We look forward to seeing what you create."
Ren paused.
That sounded strangely sincere.
"Thanks."
Justine smiled faintly.
Caroline huffed and turned away.
But Ren could see the corner of her mouth twitching upward.
He leaned back against the seat.
The train continued forward.
Click-clack.
Click-clack.
For a while, they didn't talk about anything important.
Caroline complained about something Ryuji had apparently done.
Justine corrected approximately half of Caroline's version of events.
Ren promised—again—to eventually take them into the human world properly.
Caroline pretended this was not something she had been waiting for.
Justine did not bother pretending.
And somewhere during the conversation, Ren realized he was getting tired.
Not the exhausted kind.
Not the kind where his brain continued working despite his body begging it to stop.
Just sleepy.
Comfortably sleepy.
The Velvet Room had become good for that.
He could breathe here now.
The sound of the train became softer.
Caroline's voice grew distant.
Justine said something he didn't quite catch.
Ren's eyes drifted closed.
Tomorrow they would meet.
Tomorrow they would explain the Soul Reapers.
Tomorrow they would plan for Madarame.
He didn't need to solve any of it tonight.
Chariot.
Strength.
Star.
His decisions.
His convictions.
The people who had chosen to trust him.
Ren smiled faintly.
His final coherent thought was considerably less profound.
What the fuck even fuses into a Flauros?
Somewhere nearby, Caroline laughed.
Then Ren slept.