Chapter Text
It was late. Like late late. As in so late no sane person with school in the morning would be awake at this hour.
So, naturally, Ann was up scrolling through Insta studying when her phone pinged with an incoming message. Exams were coming up soon, after all.
REN: I think I just got dumped.
Ann sat straight up in bed and immediately tapped out a reply.
ANN: Say no more. I’m coming over.
Half an hour later, Ann was storming through Leblanc’s door and up the stairs to the attic, a full carton of ice cream in hand. “Who is she and where should we hide the body?” she loudly proclaimed upon reaching the top. Luckily, the cafe was officially closed for the night, so there were no customers downstairs for her to bother.
She found Ren lying face down on his makeshift bed, and whatever response he gave to her arrival - which seemed to be barely more than an agonized groan - was muffled by the pillow he had buried his head under.
Oh, God, this was worse than she thought. Maybe she should have brought two tubs of ice cream.
“Lady Ann!” Morgana exclaimed, bounding across the room towards her. “Thank goodness you’re here. He’s been like this ever since he got back from the Metaverse with-”
At this, Ren suddenly revived, launching across the room to tackle Morgana before he could finish.
Ann blinked slowly, watching in utter confusion as Ren wrestled a yowling cat-not-a-cat to the floor. “The Metaverse?”
Both their phones pinged at the exact same time. Ren finally released Morgana to check his as Ann did the same.
FUTABA: Can confirm. The Nav was activated. And he wasn’t alone. >:)
“Stop bugging my phone, Futaba!” Ren shouted at the empty air.
FUTABA: Stop going on shady dates and maybe I will.
“Wait,” Ann said, shaking her head as she tried to mentally catch up. “If you were dumped in the Metaverse, does that mean it was someone on the team?”
“I never said I was dumped in the Metaverse,” Ren mumbled, curling in on himself.
“Wait, you were dumped?” Morgana asked incredulously. Okay, it seemed like nobody had the full story here. Except probably Futaba. In her own way.
“Was it Makoto? Haru? No, you’d probably be in pieces if Haru broke up with you.” Ann thought a bit more. “Shit, I didn’t mean to assume anything. I suppose it could have just as easily been one of the guys, huh. Ryuji? No, he’d be moping way worse than you.” Ann gasped. “Yusuke?!”
Ren buried his increasingly reddening face in his hands but shook his head at every single name Ann listed off.
“Another Metaverse user, then?” Ann continued.
Morgana piped up again. “Wait, you don’t mean-”
“Mona. Out!” Ren snapped, pointing at the window.
Morgana made a show of grumbling about it but padded away obediently. “Fine. I bet Futaba’s got a way better view of this disaster, anyway.”
“Futaba. Out!” Ren reiterated once Morgana had cleared the room.
FUTABA: It’s not like it’s anything I haven’t heard before. I’ve gone through your chat logs.
FUTABA: For research. Of course.
“What is my life?” Ren moaned, finally getting up from the attic floor and dusting himself off. He ambled back over to the futon and sat down, where Ann joined him. She allowed him a brief moment to collect himself as she offered up the ice cream and two spoons for them to share.
“So, are you going to actually tell me who dumped you, or am I going to have to keep guessing?” Ann asked, making a healthy dent in the tub with her spoon.
Ren muttered something unintelligible around a mouthful of Rocky Road.
“Didn’t catch that.”
“Akechi,” he repeated, louder.
Ann choked. “Akechi?!” Ren only nodded in response. “When the hell did that happen?” Not that it wasn’t totally obvious in hindsight. Watching those two interact, even in the short time Akechi had joined their group, it was like they were in their own world, leagues beyond anyone else. It was kind of insufferable, really, how often they would go off on tangents that the rest of the Thieves had no hope of following.
Now, she just felt stupid for not realizing it sooner.
Ren paused for a moment, then shrugged. “I don’t know, exactly.”
“How do you not know?”
“I don’t know! It just sorta….” He flailed his hands around helplessly, searching for the words in empty air. “...happened, I guess.”
Ann pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation. “Okay, when was your first date?”
Ren offered a smile that was somewhere between teasing and apologetic. “Define ‘date.’”
Ann yanked the ice cream out of Ren’s lap. At this rate, she was going to need it more than him. “Alright, I’m going to need you to back this all the way up. Start from the beginning. I need details.”
“Like, details details?”
“We’ve got an entire tub of ice cream to get through.”
“Fair enough.” He snagged another bite before launching into explanation. “So, you know how I already had his number and stuff when Makoto needed it? Yeah, he gave it to me back at the TV station.”
“All the way back in June? That long?”
“Eh, sort of? I mean, I was still working out the whole ‘pancake’ thing from the day before, but he came up to me after the interview saying all this super smart stuff about Hegel and wanting a debate partner, and there was that weird little voice in the back of my head going ‘hey, this is an important person in your quest’ or whatever.”
Ann let her spoon drop. “I’m sorry, what?”
“It happens a lot. Kind of hard to explain,” Ren said, tugging sheepishly at one of his curls. “Anyway, I kind of wasn’t paying much attention to that part because, like, holy shit. A celebrity is talking to me and shaking my hand and asking for my number and he’s so much fucking prettier up close.” Ren cleared his throat awkwardly after that sudden admission. “And then he said something about wanting to meet up again soon, and I almost said something stupid like ‘it’s a date’ because that’s honestly what it sounded like.”
He suddenly froze, panic dawning on his face. “Shit, Ann, what if I just read that whole conversation wrong? I kinda thought ‘debate partner’ was just a really dumb excuse for coming on to me, but what if he’s really just that weird? What am I saying, of course he’s that weird. Is he even into guys? God, this is going to be so awkward if he isn’t.”
Ren looked pleadingly at Ann, who held up her hands defensively, asking, “Why are you asking me? You know him the best out of all of us.”
“But you have a much better sense of these things than I do!”
“That is correct,” Ann conceded. She hadn’t interacted with Akechi all that much, even counting all the time they had spent traversing Mementos with him, but thinking back on what she knew…yeah, the vibe was pretty clear. After a moment, she answered Ren. “Definitely gay. But please don’t quote me on that. I don’t really like to just assume, you know?”
Even so, Ren’s shoulders sagged in visible relief, and he shoveled more Rocky Road in his mouth. “Crisis averted, thank you very much.”
“How did you not know he was gay if he dumped you?”
“It’ll make more sense in a minute,” Ren promised.
“Will it, though?”
He paused a moment, considering. “Probably?”
For possibly the first time in her life since meeting Ren, Ann wondered if she was the smartest person in the room.
“Moving on!” Ren announced, getting back to the topic at hand that wasn’t about his apparent stupidity. Not directly, at least. “Because I’m a chicken and was also still kind of suspicious, I didn’t actually text him back right away. I started seeing him at the train station every so often, though, and once again, he actually came up to me, so I thought, you know, maybe he was actually serious? I mean, I don’t know how often that guy hands out his number or anything.”
Ren paused for a beat. “Come to think of it, he might have just been coming on so strong because he already pegged me for a Phantom Thief.”
Ann couldn’t resist the urge to roll her eyes. “What do you think gave it away? You advocating for us to his face on live television or the fact that he was clearly stalking us in the Metaverse by that point?”
“One or the other. Who can say?” Another scoop and he went on. “He ended up texting me first and invited me out to Kichijoji to play billiards, which, granted, you can talk through but is most definitely not a usual space for philosophical debates on morality, so of course I booked it over there as fast as humanly possible because okay, the hot detective actually wants to hang out with me and isn’t that just the coolest thing ever. Also, pool is objectively one of the sexiest games ever. I don’t make the rules.”
“Don’t you and Ryuji regularly go out to play darts and pool?”
“Yes, and while I appreciate the view, it is not the same.”
Ann blinked slowly. “I am learning so much about you right now, and I gotta say it’s fascinating.”
“I’m glad my utter disaster of a love life is entertaining to you,” Ren snorted. “Anyway, while I’m wondering what god I must have pleased for blessing me with Akechi stretched out across the table, that asshole goes and gets a break ace, which you know he totally did on purpose.”
“Without a doubt,” Ann agreed. If there was one thing she knew for sure about Akechi, it was that he was a compulsive showoff.
“And then he has the audacity to switch hands to play a game against me, like I hadn’t already seared our handshake into my brain at that point and stared at him for probably an indecent amount of time but plenty long enough to know that he’s left handed.”
“He’s left handed?”
“You didn’t notice that?”
“Why on earth would I notice something like that?”
“Because he has pretty hands?” Ren shrugged awkwardly. “I dunno. That’s a pretty weird thing to say, huh. But, like, he doesn’t take his gloves off very often, so whenever he does it kinda feels like I’m being let in on some big secret and-”
“Ren!” Ann snapped. “Focus!”
“Right. So, I call him on it, and he says he deliberately handicapped himself to make the game fair or whatever, but I think I impressed him a bit because he said if I ever do beat him right-handed, he’ll play me with everything he’s got. Which completely wrecked me because I couldn’t be sure if this was a date or not, but he definitely wanted to see me again, at least. He even called me after to say that he was looking forward to spending more time with me.” Ren flopped backwards on the bed, a dopey, lovestruck grin on his face.
“Probably still just trying to wring information about the Phantom Thieves out of you,” Ann pointed out.
“Shh! Just let me have this,” Ren begged. He didn’t get back up, so Ann helped herself to a hefty portion of the tub in his absence. “We went out to a cafe next. He said something about wanting to try the cake, but he doesn’t even like sweets, so I was kinda starting to think that it was most definitely an excuse for an actual date, right? A cafe feels very much like a date.”
“And at no point in the evening it ever occurred to you to ask, ‘hey, is this a date?’” Ann asked incredulously.
“No, because then I’d look stupid, and he’d get all smug about it, and you know how insufferable he gets when he’s like that.”
“How would that make you look stupid?”
Ren sighed dramatically, as if Ann were the totally unreasonable one here. “If I ask, and it really is a date, then I’m dumb for not realizing it on my own. If I ask, and it isn’t, then I’m desperate and jumping to conclusions.”
“And you potentially get rejected,” Ann said, cutting right to the heart of the issue.
Ren sat up. “Exactly.”
“So, if you never actually, officially started dating,” Ren winced at that, but Ann ignored it and continued, “how exactly did he dump you?”
“I’m getting to that!” he insisted. Ann wasn’t convinced but let him go on. She was the one who asked for details, after all. “Well, while we were at the cafe some of his fangirls showed up, which kinda ruined the mood, so he got up to leave. But while I was all like, ‘no don’t go you’re too sexy haha,’ he mentioned something about using glasses like mine as a disguise, and Ann, when I say I got the best idea I’ve ever had in my entire life…”
“Oh no.”
“Oh yes,” Ren pressed forward with a manic grin. “I dragged him to the bathroom, and I got to touch his hair. It was so fucking soft, Ann, you have no idea. If I still wasn’t such a chicken, I would have kissed him right then and there.”
“Ren, the point?” she interrupted again. God, this was going to be a long night.
“I made him look like shit so no one would recognize him,” Ren chuckled. “Apparently, it’s how he thinks I look most of the time, which, wow, okay, there goes my self confidence. But it was pretty funny watching him hate every second of it, so I guess we’re even. Then later, he started saying stuff about dressing me up, too, and I didn’t think I’d be into that, but I guess I kinda am, huh?”
Ren flushed and stole an extremely large glob of ice cream to shut himself up. The tub had been sitting out long enough that it had gotten all melty around the edges and even easier to dig into.
“Well, we never got into any of that, but he did invite me to a place that he said was special to him. Apparently, it’s the one place he can really relax and doesn’t bring anyone there, so I’m not going to elaborate on it, if that’s okay with you, out of respect for his privacy.”
“Respect for the privacy of the guy whose phone we bugged only to find out that he is actively planning to murder you,” Ann said slowly, making sure she heard that correctly.
“Well, when you put it like that.” Ren shifted uncomfortably. “Is it weird that I wasn’t actually surprised when I heard that? Looking back, he was never exactly subtle about it. We once played an FPS at an arcade, only for him to start joking that he needed all the practice he could get if he was going to take me out.”
“Just to clarify, this whole murder plot seriously isn’t a dealbreaker for you?”
“He’s cute when he thinks he has the upper hand,” Ren offered up as explanation.
“My god you are hopeless.”
“Also,” Ren hesitated, trying to choose his words carefully, “I don’t think he actually wants to kill me.”
“What makes you say that? I mean, we all heard him practically spell it out over the phone.”
“You’re going to think this is dumb, but it was something he mentioned while playing pool recently, something about striking unrelated obstacles in spite of good intentions. Sure, he was talking about the game, but he’s never been one to just say exactly what he means. I think someone may be forcing his hand, whoever he was talking to on the phone.”
He glanced at her, and he must have seen some kind of reaction he didn’t like because he immediately folded over and buried his head in his hands. “You know what? Forget it. You’re probably right, and this is stupid.”
“I didn’t say anything,” Ann protested, but Ren ignored her.
“The Akechi I knew was probably just another fake personality of his that he used to get on my good side, and I’m an idiot for reading too much into things.”
Ann rubbed his back soothingly. “You’re not an idiot, Ren,” she assured him. And then - without knowing quite why, as any sort of sane friend would discourage this terrible disaster of a crush - she said, “I actually think you might be onto something.”
“Really?” He peeked at her through his fingers.
“What could he possibly hope to gain by taking you someplace special to him that he’s never taken anyone else to?”
“He said we have some sort of special connection,” Ren said, a bit of his smile returning as he recalled where he left off. “He even bought me a drink. Non-alcoholic, of course, but the sentiment is still there.”
“See?” Ann pulled him in close, where he rested his head on her shoulder.
“I’m just really mixed up about all this,” he admitted. “I know I should be angry about what he’s planning; everyone else is angry. The evidence that he’s a horrible person is right there in front of me, and it’s not like it would be out of character from what I know about him, but it just doesn’t feel real, you know? Like, I can see him pointing the gun at my head but not him pulling the trigger, and I know it’s probably just because I like him too much, but can’t really say this in meetings because nobody really knew how close we were. Rather, how close I thought we were.”
He paused a moment, then added, “Except probably Futaba.”
Ann anticipated the notification before it came.
FUTABA: Not getting involved. I don’t do fEeLiNgS.
“That’s fair,” Ann said to the empty air. Everything going on with Ren and Akechi was…well, it was a lot, to say the least, and she had a feeling that this was barely the half of it.
“I’m going to say something controversial.”
“Go for it,” Ann encouraged.
“I don’t think Akechi’s a bad person. If he is, then I might be too, since we’re so similar. I think he was dealt a bad hand, and he’s trying to do the best with what he’s got. He’s losing; I’m sure he knows this, but damned if he isn’t going to take a few other players down with him.”
Ren’s voice grew soft. “He tells me things sometimes without really meaning to, I think. Things about the way he grew up and who he wanted to be and how it was all kind of ripped away from him before he had a chance. He’s bitter, and he’s hurting, and I’d help him if I could, but I don’t think he’ll ever let me.”
Ann gave him a hard squeeze before sliding what was left of the ice cream into Ren’s lap for him to finish. “I think I get it,” she said, remembering how helpless she felt watching Shiho suffer in silence. Just the memory of it burned her up with guilt, with wanting to punish everyone who betrayed her, wanting to raze it all to the ground so she didn’t have to look at it anymore.
“Yeah,” Ren said in agreement.
“You still haven’t gotten to the whole point, though,” Ann said after allowing him a minute to stuff his face in silence. “Why do you say he broke up with you?”
Ren smiled around his spoon. “I beat him at billiards.”
“Wow. Sore loser, huh?”
“Oh, you have no idea, but that wasn’t exactly why.”
“I’m on the edge of my seat.”
“So after that, and after a conversation where he asked me, out of the blue, to ditch the Thieves and join him - which, I love you guys and all, but it was so tempting,” he paused to look at Ann apologetically, and she shrugged because how else would anyone react to a proposal like that, “he called me up again to hang out tonight. So I go meet up with him, as usual, and he suddenly springs it on me that he wants to go someplace more private.”
“Okay. Wow.” Ann’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline. “Bold move.”
“I know, right? He suggested we go down to Mementos, just the two of us, which I thought was a little weird, I guess, because if he wanted to say or, you know, do anything we could just as easily have gone back to my place or even his. But I figured hey, maybe he’s just self conscious or something and didn’t want to waste time and lose the nerve. I mean, I was definitely freaking out a little, and I’ve already seen him naked.” He held up a hand before Ann could interject. “Nothing scandalous, I swear! Still hot, though.
“Anywho, we get down there, far enough from any Shadows, and I’m thinking, ‘this is it,’ right? Except then that fucker turns around and pulls a gun on me! Like, a real, actual gun. Not that stupid little toy blaster he usually carries around. And my idiot self is staring down the barrel of this thing somehow not freaking the hell out because the only thought that pops into my mind is that yeah, I can be into this, too.” Ren smacked his forehead and groaned at his own stupidity.
Ann had to take a deep, slow breath before replying, knowing now that she certainly was the smartest person in this room. “Seriously? The gun didn’t raise any red flags? At all?"
“I sorta thought it might be a roleplay thing?” he offered weakly. “I mean, we kinda already had the whole ‘cops and robbers’ thing going on.”
“Oh my god.”
“I would like to blame horny teenage boy hormones on this one.”
“I think I know way too much about you now,” Ann grumbled.
“I thought you said I was ‘fascinating.’”
“Still fascinating. Still hate it.”
Ren laughed, though somewhat half-heartedly. “Seems there’s a lot of that going around tonight.”
“Elaborate.”
“Getting there.”
“Are you? Are you really?” Ann asked, frustrated.
Ren held up his hands placatingly. “Okay, okay. Basically, in return for me beating him at pool, he’d promised to come at me with everything he had, which any normal person would assume would be in another game. But, no, apparently it’s Akechi-speak for ‘beating the shit out of each other until either of us can barely walk,’ which is still kinda hot, in it’s own way, though not exactly how I’d anticipated spending my alone time with Akechi. It’s fine, though. It’s whatever.” Ren fidgeted in a way that suggested it was definitely not 'fine' or 'whatever.'
“He seemed like he was feeling better after we fought, though, or at least, he said as much, even if I don’t think he was entirely satisfied with the outcome. More than once, he mentioned how he wanted to ‘see how far we can go,’ and I’ll be damned if he didn’t choose that phrase intentionally, but I digress. We left Mementos and started chatting, but he got all serious again and said that he wanted to be honest with me. And I’m like, ‘fucking finally a confession,’ and also more than a little smug because he would be the one breaking off the whole ‘are we dating or not dating’ game. But you know what that asshole said to me?”
“I’ve been waiting for you to tell me literally all night,” Ann deadpanned.
“I. Hate. You. The three words anyone wants to hear from their crush, right?” Ren laughed, but it was hollow, and the joking self-deprecation quickly faded into genuine heartbreak. If Ann didn’t have anything personal against Akechi before, she sure did now. “Yeah, I guess he finds my very existence annoying, or something like that. I kind of blanked out for part of what was probably a well-rehearsed speech on my inadequacies as a human being, but I was a little in shock, honestly. Not how I thought my night was going to go. Next thing I know, he’s throwing a glove in my face.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“It's apparently some kind of tradition in the West when challenging someone to a duel?”
“Yeah, maybe in the Old West,” Ann snorted. “Is he just going to walk around wearing only one glove now?”
“I dunno, maybe? Dude’s weird.”
“But you love it.”
Ren melted at that. “Yeah, I do.”
“Then what happened?”
“I came back here and texted you. The guy of my dreams who’s most definitely going to murder me in a few days even though we were sort of dating just told me, to my face, that he hates my guts. Who else was I going to talk to about that? Ryuji?” They both shuddered at the thought before breaking out in giggles.
“So, what now?” Ann asked when they settled down. Ren only shrugged. “I mean, if there’s one thing Ryuji could do that I can’t, it’s break Akechi’s kneecaps for you. I’d certainly give it my best shot, though.”
Ren chuckled but shook his head. “Nah. If I wanted him to experience grievous bodily harm, I would’ve called Haru.”
“Well, what do you want to do?” she pressed.
“I kind of want to throw up all this ice cream we ate,” he replied, glaring down at the empty carton in his lap. “But I also still kind of want to kiss Akechi stupid, so that continues to complicate things.”
A small, devious lightbulb went off in Ann’s head. “Why not?”
“Why not? Because it’s a god-awful idea, that’s why.”
“And since when has that ever stopped you before?” Ann jabbed, and Ren couldn’t help but agree. “Ever thought about switching tactics and seducing him to our side for a change?” Ann wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.
Ren rolled his eyes. “Right. Because that strategy has worked so well for us in the past.”
“Because it’s always been me who you guys send in for the seduction,” she pointed out, folding her arms across her chest. “Even though I absolutely suck at it.”
“Who’s to say I won’t be the same way?” Ren protested.
Ann threw her hands up in exasperation. “Are you kidding me? You’re fan-fucking-tastic at it! I’ve seen you flirt with shadows until they give us hordes of cash.”
“That’s…different.” Ren flushed. “Besides, if I was going to seduce Akechi, wouldn’t he have to be, you know, at least a little into me?”
“Oh, he’s into you,” Ann said with complete confidence. Even if Ren was leaving out the more emotional details, it was pretty obvious that Akechi cared in some sort of twisted capacity. Also, she was 90% certain she’d caught him checking Ren out on more than one occasion in Mementos, which she hadn’t thought much of at the time because in all honesty, literally everyone on their team had done that at least once. “He’s just in deep, deep denial about it.”
“You really think so?” He shook his head immediately after. “No. No! I am not considering this!”
Another ping.
FUTABA: Dew it. It’ll be hilarious.
“Not helping,” Ren grumbled.
“What’s the harm in it? If it works, you’ve got yourself a new boyfriend. If you fall flat on your face and embarrass yourself, well, he was already planning to kill you anyway. It honestly can’t get much worse than that.”
“Why is that actually encouraging?”
“Because you’re a freak of nature, and I’m an amazing best friend.”
“Hell yeah you are.”
FUTABA: Are you guys finished yet? Mona’s saying it’s time to go to sleep.
The next excursion into Sae’s Palace was an adventure, and Ann wished she had smuggled in popcorn.
Because if there was one thing that all of the Phantom Thieves, and potentially everyone in the universe, could agree on, it was that Ren was hot. Tall, dark, and handsome with striking storm gray eyes, he was practically every girl’s fanfiction dream guy. Joker, on the other hand, decked out in his leather and swagger on top of all that, was even hotter. But a Joker that knew he was hot and knew how to use it as a weapon, now that was downright dangerous.
Akechi wouldn’t know what hit him. Ann almost pitied the poor guy. Almost.
They were nearly to the Treasure, if Morgana’s excitement was anything to go by. Ren just had to endure a Shadow cage match, and they would have enough credits to cross the bridge. Seeing that the end was so near, Ann was half concerned that Ren might still chicken out and back down from their - admittedly very stupid and makeshift - plan.
She needn’t have worried. Joker never half-assed things, after all, not when he had a singular goal in mind. And right now that goal was Goro Akechi.
Which, as far as goals went, was pretty lame, but to each their own.
“Only you will be able to continue from here onward. We’ll be cheering from the stands, so best of luck!” Akechi told him, still playing the perfect teammate like he hadn’t sent Ren down an ice cream binge breakup spiral recently.
Instead of heading straight for the gates as expected, Ren smirked and turned smoothly on his heel to come face to face with Akechi. He reached right into his personal space, tilting Akechi’s chin up slightly with just the barest brush of his thumb and knuckle. To his credit, and likely due to a mixture of shock and restrained interest, Akechi didn’t jerk away from the touch. “What? No kiss for good luck?” Ren teased, letting his gaze wander noticeably down to Akechi’s mouth before snapping back up to meet his eyes.
Ann had to cover her mouth with a hand to keep from laughing when she saw Akechi visibly swallow before responding. Because hell yes she totally called it, and the detective was extremely into this. Akechi narrowed as much of a glare as he could muster and said, “You’re doing this to spite me, aren’t you?” He grabbed Ren’s wrist and pulled his hand away from his face but didn’t put any more distance between them.
“You know you love it.” Ren even tossed in a wink for good measure.
“I believe I said quite the opposite the other day.”
“Really? I can’t seem to recall.” The gates opened up behind him, and Ren started backing away, keeping his eyes on Akechi for as long as he could. “Pity, I guess it’ll have to wait until after I win.”
“I will promise no such thing!” Akechi called after him, flustered, but Ren already had his back turned by then.
“The hell was that?” Ryuji blurted out once the gates had closed up again and Akechi had already made a beeline to the arena to avoid facing any kind of scrutiny over what just happened.
Makoto shot Ann a knowing glare, having picked up on her spending the entire Palace run watching Ren watch Akechi. “You know something about this, don’t you?”
“No idea what you’re talking about,” Ann said in her absolute worst attempt at nonchalance before following after Akechi to take a seat in the stands.
Ren won, of course.
But the bridge they needed to cross was rigged, also of course.
Except Akechi ended up coming in clutch with the spare card he had secretly been loading with credits before betting it all on Ren in the fight, increasing his amount exponentially until there was enough on both cards together to pay the toll on the bridge and then some. There was a round of begrudging but genuine praise for Akechi’s foresight, up until Ren, with the most wickedly terrifying grin Ann had ever seen on his face, passed by him, offered up a cursory, “Nice job, Crow,” and then smacked him directly on the ass.
Akechi stood frozen, face turning as red as his mask as his eyes bore holes into the back of Ren’s coat, the tails of which swished side-to-side as Ren sauntered off across the bridge to secure the route to Sae’s Treasure, hands in his pockets as if nothing had happened.
Not knowing what else to do after that, the rest of the Thieves all followed him, Akechi bringing up the rear once he managed to regain brain function. Ann caught Makoto’s eye as they made their way to the Treasure room.
“I’ve created a monster,” Ann confessed. “A beautiful, terrifying monster.”
Ann’s phone pinged almost immediately after she got home that night.
REN: Ann, did I really just do that?
ANN: Yep.
REN: In front of everyone?
ANN: Yep.
REN: Oh God.
ANN: Was it worth it tho?
REN: SO WORTH IT.
FUTABA: I hate you both.