"Two attendants, and Igor is almost never in the Velvet Room?" Yu muttered as he read the message he had received from Ren.
"Didn't Margaret use 'sister' when referring to his attendant? Singular?" he continued.
"A prison?"
He stopped thinking, replied to Ren, and called Mitsuru.
This was getting weirder and weirder.
---
"Yu said he'd get back to me about it. He needs to talk to a friend of ours, apparently..." Ren groaned in frustration. "At least he told me that something was wrong with that place."
Morgana was silent.
'Hopefully, Igor can't see, hear, or read what I'm doing or talking about in reality.'
'Follow your heart, mon ami. Do the whims of fate frighten you, Trickster?' Arsène asked.
Ren's expression hardened.
"No."
---
"Oh my, how interesting!!" Margaret said.
"Your attempt to sound like Elizabeth failed," Yu said through the phone.
"You're right. That wasn't like me at all. But the Trickster said he has two attendants? Twins? Little Lavenza didn't have a twin. Strange." Margaret frowned.
Her eyes glowed dark blue, then bright gold, before returning to their normal pale-gold hue. Since she broke her contract with the Velvet Room, she was becoming more human. But she was still a being who ruled over power.
She blinked, and her face fell.
"Looks like I need to meet the Trickster soon."
"Margaret?"
"We will have more freedom for intervention if that's the case," she muttered.
"MARGARET!"
"AH?! I'm sorry, my gues— Yu-kun," she said with a yelp and a blush.
"I'll be in Tokyo as soon as I can. I will travel through the TV World."
"I still wish we could do that."
"You'd have to become like us, and you like being human, do you not?" Margaret shrugged.
---
"Hey, kid. You're finally back. Are you here to buy this time? Or sell some more weird shit?"
"I've got some metal scraps, if you want those," Ren answered the gruff man behind the counter at Untouchable.
"Your sarcasm is going to get you beaten." Iwai snorted.
"I'm here to shop," Ren laughed as he began to browse.
DING.
The door opened, and a detective and a rookie police officer with a bad expression came in.
Iwai blinked and handed a bag to Ren.
"Here's your purchase, kid."
He gave Ren a look, and Ren noticed it was essentially screaming, 'DO NOT OPEN THIS.'
Ren simply took the bag and said, "Thanks as always, Iwai. I'll fill you in on the airsoft club later."
Turning, he bowed to the policemen briefly. "Officers." Then he began to walk out.
"HEY! Let me see what's in that bag!" the rookie demanded as he approached Ren.
"Uh. I'd rather not. Do you have reasonable cause? I'm just trying to go home," Ren said.
'Heh. Kid is good at acting,' Iwai mentally smirked.
"Leave him alone, rookie. We aren't here for a customer. Let alone a teenage one. Go home and behave, Iwai-san's customer," the detective snorted.
Ren left as Arsène praised his performance in his head.
---
"OPEN IT OPEN IT OPEN IT!" Morgana demanded once they were clear of the shop.
Ren hesitated for a second and decided to look inside.
"HUH?" Morgana screeched.
"A real g—?!" Ren began. "No, the weight is wrong. It's like the cap gun Naoto gave me when I was younger."
"Ren, this thing looks way too real..." Morgana whispered. "Should you ask Iwai if he could stock us with this quality?"
Ren shrugged. "He trusted me enough to give it to me. He definitely knew there was a high chance I'd open it, so maybe."
---
CHAT LOG
[aRT]
Ren-san, Orihime-san, would you be free anytime soon?
[Joker]
Just give me the time.
[Hime]
What Ren said!
[Skull]
Why is the A lowercase in your name now, @aRT?
[aRT]
Inspiration is fading.
[Joker]
Call me after school.
---
"Yusuke is a weird guy," Morgana mumbled as Ren read his messages in the chat.
"Be sure to ask questions today. I'll scout the area around the house." His eyes narrowed.
"...Alright," Ren said.
'I don't like lying to him. He's too similar to me,' Ren mentally whispered.
'Treat others the way you wish to be treated,' a feminine, angelic voice rang in his head.
'I do.'
'But do YOU treat yourself the same way?' Arsène asked.
Ren was silent.
---
At lunch
The group was finishing up their meal when Ren asked Orihime if she would be willing to go out later.
Which immediately led to Ann, Shiho, and Orihime all gagging and coughing on their food and drinks.
Realizing what he had asked, Ren waved his hands frantically.
"Sorry! I'm not great with words!"
Scratching his cheek, he continued, "I meant to see Yusuke. My mind is a bit scattered right now from what Fuuka just revealed to me about Madarame..."
---
In a dark room
"Plagiarism... BZZT... abuse... financial fraud... BZZZT CHEEE BEEP."
Ren's crackling voice rang through the headphones that Futaba Sakura was wearing.
"Ichiryusai Madarame and Yusuke Kitagawa, huh?"
She began to type furiously on her computer with single-minded focus, ignoring the rest of the conversation she was eavesdropping on.
---