"You should probably let them know about what Kawakami said yesterday," Morgana advised. "You're as much a part of the team as the others."
"It should be fine. Kamoshida holds a pretty hefty chunk of power in that school, yes. But I doubt he'll act before the board meeting." Ren reasoned. "Ann and Shiho's compliance are more important to him. I'm an afterthought. No need to stress them out any more than they already are."
"Sigh. Whatever you say, Ren." Morgana sighed in defeat as the two approached the Shujin entrance. He may appear to have given up, but he was trying to come up with ways to fill the team in without Ren knowing.
'Zorro, what should we do?' Morgana aimlessly asked.
Morgana patiently listened to the suggestions of his other self.
---
Morgana was antsy.
He was antsy because Ren had not broken away from the group once anytime they all met up during the school day! Go to the bathroom or something!!
The group had a relaxing lunch on the roof. No one bothered them on their way up. Unless hearing absurd rumors about Ren selling an up-and-coming rapper fentanyl counted.
The bell rang, signaling the resumption of classes. Shiho and Ryuji split off from the group to return to their own class. Ann, Ren, and Morgana stuck together. Rounding the corner, they froze at the sight of their scummy gym coach.
"Hello Takamaki. I see you're still hanging out with this....thing." Kamoshida scoffed.
Looking briefly at Ren in disgust, he continued.
"No need to worry though, he's going to be expelled by the board meeting anyways. Make sure you ask Suzui if she is coming to practice today."
Kamoshida grinned menacingly before leaving.
"Expelled?" Ann repeated as she glanced at Ren.
"He's probably just -" Ren began before he was cut off by Morgana.
"Kawakami said that Kamoshida is pushing for Ren to be expelled at faculty meetings!"
Popping his head out of the bag, Morgana had a face of remorse.
"I'm sorry Ren, but this is important for the group to know!"
"Haaa." Ren exhaled lowly, almost like a growl.
"Ren why wouldn't you tell us? That's pretty important. If you get expelled, your future is pretty much cut off!"
"I-" Ren began to defend his decision.
"Nuh uh Mister. We aren't doing this now. We will talk about it later. With everyone. We aren't going to let you get expelled for no reason." Ann said definitively as she took her seat in front of him with a hmph.
Morgana meanwhile stuck his head out of the desk and rubbed Ren's arm as he sat down with it.
'I'm sorry Ren. You matter too.' he thought.
'Calm down Mon ami, it's because they care.' Arsene comforted.
He could feel Pixie rapidly nodding in the back of his mind.
Ren just closed his eyes and deeply sighed.
---
RING
The school day ended smoothly.
"Alright mister. I've texted the others during class. Go to the roof and accept your scolding!" Ann declared with great power.
"Fine."
Ren exhaled through his nose and began to head towards the roof, Morgana in his bag and Ann trailing behind him, presumably to make sure he went straight there.
Opening the door to the roof, Ren saw Ryuji looking forward with a cocky grin on his face that screamed 'hahaha! I'm not the one in trouble this time!'. Meanwhile Shiho glared directly at him. He could see it wasn't anger. Yes, he is familiar with looks of anger. But this look of frustration was new to him.
"What the hell Ren!? We saw each other yesterday and you had just been told you might be expelled? You were there for all of us. Why couldn't you just tell us!" Shiho asked in frustration.
"Ugh, sorry," she groaned. "I'm just fed up with Kamo-shithead."
"That's a good one actually." Ren stated.
"DON'T CHANGE THE TOPIC." The group fiercely retorted.
---
"Ugh what a headache." Ryuji complained. "The board meeting is thankfully still awhile away."
"Not really," Shiho corrected. "It happens towards the end of April. It's coming up soon."
"Then we should head back soon right?" Ann asked firmly. "Hey I still need a codename!"
"Let's head in today and see where we can get." Ren said.
"With the phone mapping the area and the fast travel ability, we should have this in the bag!" Ryuji reminded.
"Uh, hello, code name?!" Ann asked once again, as they entered the alleyway near the school.
"Once we're inside." Ren said as he pulled out his phone.
"Don't be mean to me just cau-"
[Beginning Navigation]
---
Ann's protest was unceremoniously cut off by the cold synthetic voice of the Metaverse Navigator.
The Metaverse felt heavy, aggressive, and staticky as usual.
"CODE. NAME." Ann demanded as Carmen's seductive purr overlapped her own voice.
Turning around, the team glanced at her.
Ann was clad in a zipped skintight red leather bodysuit, gloves, and a red mask complete with cat ears covering half her face. The suit was shiny, a window displaying her generous cleavage, she even had a tail accessory clamped to her waist.
"I'm the sadist?" Shiho asked with a giggle, covering her mouth as she glanced at Ann's whip.
"Damn," Ryuji got out with a slight whistle.
Morgana was frozen with his mouth open, staring directly at her.
Ann glanced at Shiho and the group in slight confusion before looking down at herself.
"AHHH!"
Ann quickly squatted in embarrassment, covering herself.
"What's with these clothes?!"
"It's part of the whole Persona thing." Ren coughed with a blush.
"Ugh. Fine. Fine. FINE." Ann groaned before standing back up.
Glancing down at herself once more, she nodded.
'I'm sexy! I'm proud! I'm strong!' she mentally declared before glancing back at the group which was recovering.
"So any ideas on a code name?" Shiho asked.
"Cat girl?" Ryuji offered weakly.
"No, something more ferocious." Ann stated seriously.
"She's a cougar~" Morgana had barely managed before being kicked in the butt by Shiho, colliding with Ann's fist before making a squeaky toy noise and falling to the ground.
"Ugh," Morgana groaned. "What was that for? Aren't cougars ferocious?!"
Ryuji bent down and whispered what it meant to call a woman a 'cougar' to Morgana, which caused the ever entertaining event of the not-cat blushing.
"Hmm. I'm more like a Panther!" Ann said with a smile.
---