Ren sat up with a splitting headache.
He jumped to attention and began to check his surroundings.
But he was shocked to find he was in a familiar room.
A tall man with silver hair walked into the room.
"Relax, Ren."
"Yu?! Where are they? Are they okay? Was the—"
"Ren," Yu said. "Deep breaths."
Inhaling deeply and slowly exhaling, Ren calmed down. Surely they were fine, right? Yu wouldn't be so calm if they weren't.
"They're sleeping in other rooms," Yu said gently.
"I don't know how you did it, but your phone pinged us on the ShadOp Messenger as a distress call."
'I don't remember doing that,' Ren thought gravely.
"Someone or something knocked us all out when we were about to confront a Shadow," Ren revealed.
"Ren, there wasn't a Shadow there, and you were definitely unconscious," Yu answered with a scrunched brow.
"Do you think someone helped you and pinged the distress signal?" he continued, his frown growing deeper.
"Maybe...?"
"Yu!"
"My bad. Let me take you to your friends. Only Ann and Shiho are awake, but the other girl, your cat, and Ryuji are still out cold," Yu apologized.
"Is Orihime okay? She's never encountered a Shadow before," Ren asked. "Shit, how do we explain this to her?!"
"Ren, do you have a bond with her?" Yu asked suddenly.
"Huh? Yeah... how'd you know about that?"
"Just tell her then. It's fate at this point."
"Fate my ass," Ren said through gritted teeth.
---
Hearing the story from Ann, Shiho, and Ren, Yu had to accept the truth.
There was indeed a Shadow.
An absolutely massive one.
He had been dealing with cognitive issues for years now, but never had he come across such a large Shadow, even in the biggest of nests.
"Shit. So we have a potential rogue Persona user who rescued you, and we don't know who it is," Yu said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Mitsuru is gonna chew me out for this."
"Wait. Ann, you said she's from Karakura Town?" Yu suddenly asked.
"Huh? Yeah," Ann replied.
"No wonder," Yu exhaled. "I was investigating before I came to Tokyo. All sorts of weird stuff happens in that town, but no one in the town even seems to notice."
"That would explain why she seemed to recognize the Shadow."
"Ann, a massive monster taller than a skyscraper is something anyone would consider dangerous," Ren said deadpan.
"Just accept that you need to tell her, Ren," Yu said.
Ren exhaled through his nose.
"Tell who what now?" Ryuji mumbled as he walked into the room.
He froze momentarily.
"WHERE THE FUCK AM I?! AM I DEAD?!"
"CALM DOWN, IDIOT!" Morgana yelled from the other room.
"Seems like the others are awake," Yu said nonchalantly, taking a sip of his coffee.
---
Ryuji woke up fully and found out what had happened before apologizing for his yelling.
Morgana lumbered out of the room shortly after, mumbling about not being able to get decent sleep.
Orihime entered the room with a smile as usual, but it was a bit strained. Her hair was sticking up everywhere from lying down, and she had a drool stain on her chin.
After Ann lent the panicking Orihime a brush and a mirror, the group settled in again. Yu dramatically introduced himself as Ren's big brother.
"So... yeah..." Orihime said suddenly while scratching her cheek. "Looks like you've seen those things before too."
"You know of Shadows?" Yu asked in surprise.
"Not really?" Orihime said in confusion. "I feel like I've dreamed about them before. A long time ago. It was very familiar for some reason."
She rubbed her hairpin.
Ren sighed. There was no doubt that 'fate' was truly a bitch.
Orihime looked at him with fear, confusion, and determination.
Ren decided to tell her what they knew.
---
Orihime was still rubbing her hairpin as she listened. Her brow was slightly furrowed.
"I really can't believe this..." she muttered. "This..."
"IS SO COOL!"
"Huh?"
Everyone was dumbfounded.
"Real-life superpowers!" Orihime cheered.
"This girl makes me feel like I'm eating sugar," Yu said.
"That's creepy, dude."
"Fair enough."
---