Chapter 51
They embraced for a long time, as if trying to imprint each other onto their very souls.
Ren clutched Yu’s coat, his fingers trembling.
He had almost lost him, almost lost to Maruki’s fabricated reality.
“Hey, are you two done yet?” Akechi finally interrupted, unable to endure the sappy scene any longer. “Do you know how many people live in this city?”
Yu looked up at him, puzzled. “Akechi? What are you doing here?”
Akechi: …
Had he really been standing there for so long, unnoticed?
They separated, but no one around them seemed to care, lost in their own worlds of manufactured happiness, oblivious to the two boys embracing in the alley.
“Akechi has been acquitted,” Ren explained to Yu. “Because the mental shutdown incidents never happened.”
“Never happened?” Yu stroked his chin, thinking for a moment. “So, is there fog in Tokyo too?”
“Fog?” Akechi frowned, considering the unfamiliar term. “Why would there be fog in Tokyo?”
Yu stepped out of the alley, looking up at the sky, a grayish-white fog swirling above, visible only to him.
The fog was a symbol of falsehood, obscuring the truth and manipulating perception. But to Yu, it was clearly visible.
He was the one who had emerged from the fog, the one who had fought Izanami, the embodiment of falsehood, representing humanity’s desire for truth.
“Something’s wrong with this world,” Ren said. “It’s like the bad things have been erased. The mental shutdown incidents never happened, and Akechi is innocent.”
“It is strange,” Yu nodded after a moment. “I still don’t believe my mother would resign because of stress.”
His mother was the most resilient woman he knew.
“So something is altering reality?” Akechi asked.
Ren hesitated, searching for the best way to explain Maruki’s involvement without any concrete evidence.
Unlike his past life, Maruki had been reported early on by Yu, eliminating any opportunity for them to become acquainted. And Sumire hadn’t awakened her Persona in Maruki’s Palace.
This was problematic…
Yu remained silent, then looked up, determination in his gray eyes.
“It’s okay. I can find him.”
Both Akechi and Ren looked at him, surprised. “Really?”
“Yes, because I’ve always fought against falsehood,” Yu said, putting on his glasses, his gaze sharp and focused, his usual gentle demeanor replaced by a cool, almost intimidating aura.
He pointed at the sky. “I’m an expert at dealing with fog.”
Akechi shivered, stepping back, instinctively recoiling from Yu’s intensity.
Ren shook his head. Even with his memories restored, the PTSD lingered.
Poor Akechi.
Yu ignored them, his gaze fixed on the distance, the white form of Izanagi-no-Okami shimmering faintly in the fog.
His light gray hair stirred in the windless air, his voice calm and gentle, yet carrying a resounding power.
“If you open your eyes and look ahead, the truth is always visible. And I will dispel the fog that obscures it.”
“Believe in the Myriad Truths that lie ahead!”
A blinding light erupted as Izanagi-no-Okami swung his blade, cleaving through the fog, shattering the illusion of happiness. The world seemed to freeze for a moment, even Akechi clutching his head.
After a few seconds, Akechi looked up, startled.
“I remember.”
He looked at Yu, his expression complex. “You… Narukami, who are you?”
Such power, dispelling a world of falsehood… was that even humanly possible?
Sunlight streamed through the dissipating fog, and Yu turned to Akechi, a smile in his eyes, his presence radiant.
Ren chuckled softly, his tone teasing. “Just a high school student.”
“A high school student in love.”
Akechi: …
He wanted to drown these two.
“I found the culprit,” Yu said, returning to them, removing his glasses, his gentle demeanor returning.
He pointed in a direction that Ren recognized as the location of Maruki’s Palace.
Ren wondered: If he hadn’t died in Maruki’s Palace in his past life, would he have eventually encountered Yu, drawn to the anomaly?
What kind of story would that have been?
He wanted to know.
Arriving at Maruki’s Palace, they found him waiting for them.
He stood at the top of the stairs, looking down at them.
“When I realized you were the one who reported me, I wanted to talk to you, but I knew you wouldn’t understand. I had no choice but to separate you temporarily. I apologize.”
“But it seems I underestimated you.”
Maruki looked at Yu. “Myriad Truths? What a remarkable ability.”
He seemed neither defeated nor hostile, just curious. “May I know the reason for your unwavering resolve?”
“Me?” Yu looked at him.
“Perhaps it’s because I’ve already made my choice.”
Maruki was surprised. “Already made your choice?”
“Yes, last year,” Yu replied calmly, meeting Maruki’s gaze.
“To live in a fabricated happiness, or to face the painful reality of separation… I wanted to choose the former, but wouldn’t that be betraying those who supported me?” Yu said. “So I chose the truth.”
Yu had graduated from the Velvet Room, his rehabilitation complete. He had broken free from Izanami’s world of falsehood, obtaining the true treasure.
He no longer deceived himself and had accepted the pain of separation, leaving Inaba and returning to Tokyo to start anew.
That was how he had met Ren and Akechi.
Life was meant to be lived truthfully!
In that moment, Yu, standing at the bottom of the stairs, seemed to tower over Maruki.
Ren looked at Yu, thinking: How could anyone not be drawn to him?
Kind, righteous, and powerful, his heart pure and untainted, his spirit bright and unwavering.
Maruki said, “I’m doing this for the happiness of everyone in the world.”
Yu retorted, “What is true happiness? That’s not for you to decide!”
Maruki sighed. “It seems we can’t coexist.”
He turned and walked back into the Palace, the doors closing behind him.
Yu frowned, about to follow, but Ren stopped him.
“Wait here,” Ren said. “I have something to settle with him. Let me handle this. Akechi, come with me.”
“Huh?” Akechi asked. “Why me?”
Because in Ren’s past life, Akechi had been resurrected by Maruki, yet he hadn’t wanted to live in that fabricated world, while Ren had chosen Maruki’s reality, allowing Akechi to exist in that false happiness.
Ren didn’t explain, simply walking towards the Palace. Akechi, after exchanging glances with Yu, followed.
Yu stood at the entrance, wanting to follow, but holding back.
He trusted Ren. If Ren said he could handle it, then he could.
After about half an hour, the Phantom Thieves arrived, including Sumire.
“Narukami!” Morgana jumped into Yu’s arms. “Where’s Ren?! Where is he?!”
“Is Senpai okay?!”
“That guy, not telling us anything…”
“Waaah!” Futaba cried. “He must have been so conflicted!”
“Narukami-senpai!”
Yu looked at them, confusion in his gray eyes, then understanding. He smiled, pointing at Maruki’s Palace.
“He went inside. He said he had something to settle, and he wouldn’t let me come. But I’m worried about him,” Yu said with a gentle smile. “Can you go check on him for me?”
“Bring him back safely.”
“Of course!”
“No problem!”
Yu watched them rush into Maruki’s Palace, searching for Ren.
He turned and saw Margaret and Lavenza standing nearby, as if watching Ren’s final trial alongside him.
“He’ll be okay, right?” Yu asked.
“Our guest’s choices are never wrong,” Margaret said. “Since you’re our most exceptional guest, he will be too.”
Lavenza opened her book, Ren’s Arcana cards glowing faintly.
She smiled. “It seems the Trickster has finally found the right path.”
“Even without the true treasure, he chose reality.”
Yu stood there for two hours, the cold wind unable to penetrate his resolve, his legs aching, until the Palace began to crumble, Ren and the Phantom Thieves emerging from the dissipating structure.
Yu sighed in relief, a smile spreading across his face.
He opened his arms towards Ren.
As the Phantom Thieves watched in shock, Ren ran into Yu’s embrace, the force of the impact knocking Yu backward into the snow. As they fell, they returned to reality, the abandoned construction site.
“I’m back,” Ren said, tightening his hold on Yu.
“Welcome back,” Yu replied with a smile.
A flash went off.
Yusuke, sneaking a picture, had forgotten to turn off his flash. He quickly took a few more pictures before Ren could react, then ran away. The others, embarrassed, quickly found excuses to leave.
Only Akechi remained, smirking at them, calmly taking a picture with his phone.
“I’m posting this at both your schools!” he announced.
Ren calmly got up from Yu’s embrace.
“Actually, there’s something I haven’t told you. Futaba installed a virus on your phone. I can delete that picture anytime I want.”
Yu sat up, resting his arms on his knees. “Invading someone’s privacy isn’t very nice, is it, Akechi?”
Akechi: …
He was invading their privacy?!
What about planting a virus on his phone?!
