Ren was halfway through his breakfast curry when his phone started vibrating across the counter.
He ignored it.
It vibrated again.
Then it started ringing.
Ren stared at it.
"Please don't be another emergency."
Morgana stopped eating and looked up from his plate.
"You should probably check."
"I checked the last one. We ended up hunting Hollows until midnight."
"And it was fun."
"It was."
Ren picked up the phone.
ShadOP Messenger.
[ART]
Madarame called me again.
Ren stopped.
The chat exploded almost immediately.
[Skull]
WHAT
[Panther]
Again?!
[Dove]
Are you safe?
[Hime]
What did he want?!
[King Sis-con]
Did he ask you to come back?
Yusuke's typing symbol appeared.
[ART]
I am safe.
[ART]
I remain at the dormitory.
[ART]
He did not ask me to return.
Ren relaxed slightly.
Apparently, so did everyone else.
[Panther]
Good.
[Dove]
Very good.
[Skull]
then what the hell did he want
There was another pause.
[ART]
He asked me to watch a press conference he will be holding later today.
Ren slowly put his spoon down.
[Hime]
A press conference?
[Dove]
Did he tell you what it's about?
[ART]
No.
[ART]
He merely said it was important.
The typing symbol appeared again.
Then vanished.
Then appeared again.
[ART]
He asked me to "please" watch it.
The chat went completely silent.
For approximately three seconds.
[Skull]
HE SAID PLEASE???
[Panther]
The press conference, Ryuji!
[Skull]
I GOT THAT
[Skull]
BUT HE SAID PLEASE???
[ART]
I found that equally alarming.
Ren couldn't really blame them.
Madarame didn't ask Yusuke for things.
He expected them.
Paint this.
Clean that.
Stay here.
Be grateful.
The man saying please might actually have been more concerning than the sudden press conference.
[Joker]
How did he sound?
[ART]
Calm.
[ART]
Far calmer than during our previous conversation.
[ART]
As if he had already made some kind of decision.
[King Sis-con]
He probably wants you to hear it directly from him.
[ART]
That was my impression as well.
[Hime]
Do you think he's going to confess?
[Skull]
he's definitely gonna confess
[Panther]
We don't know that yet.
[Skull]
come on
[Skull]
what else would it be
[Joker]
Probably a confession.
[Joker]
But Panther is right.
[Joker]
We don't know until he actually says it.
Reality had lost the privilege of receiving optimistic assumptions.
Madarame's Shadow was safe.
His Palace was gone.
He hadn't started vomiting white goo or turning into a monster in reality.
That didn't mean Ren was going to assume everything had worked perfectly.
Not yet.
[ART]
The press conference begins at four.
[Skull]
we're watching it together right
[Panther]
Obviously.
[Dove]
Yes.
[Hime]
We'll all be there!
[King Sis-con]
Send us the location.
Yusuke didn't answer immediately.
Then—
[ART]
Thank you.
Ren stared at the message for a moment.
[Joker]
You don't have to thank us.
[ART]
Nevertheless, I am grateful.
Morgana stretched his neck toward the phone.
"So?"
"Madarame is holding a press conference."
That caught Sojiro's attention.
"The artist?"
"Yeah."
"The one with the giant banner hanging off his museum?"
Ren took another bite of curry.
"Completely unrelated."
Sojiro stared at him.
Ren ate his curry.
Morgana suddenly became very interested in his plate.
"Uh-huh."
Sojiro turned back toward the coffee maker.
"When is it?"
"Four."
"Hm."
That was all he said.
Ren looked down at his phone again.
Yusuke had been dealing with Madarame his entire life.
Whatever happened at that press conference, he shouldn't have to watch it alone.
---
School didn't help Ren think any less.
Madarame was holding a press conference.
Rukia wanted to enter the Metaverse.
Soul Society would probably have a problem with absolutely everything Ren was doing.
Orihime had kissed him.
...
Nope.
He returned to Madarame.
That was much easier.
Ren rested his cheek against his palm and stared out the window while the teacher continued talking.
Something white flashed at the edge of his vision.
Ren moved without thinking.
The classroom went silent.
He looked down.
A piece of chalk rested between his fingers.
Oh.
Ren looked toward the front of the room.
The teacher still had one arm extended.
Apparently, he hadn't expected Ren to catch it.
Ren glanced at the chalk again.
Then back at him.
"Should I toss it back?"
A few students laughed.
The teacher's face turned red.
"No!"
The answer came out much faster than necessary.
Ren raised an eyebrow.
"Then why did you give it to me?"
More laughter spread through the classroom.
"I didn't give it to you! I was trying to get your attention!"
"You have my attention."
"Put it down, Amamiya."
Ren placed the chalk neatly on his desk.
The teacher turned toward the board and cleared his throat.
"As I was saying—"
The student beside Ren leaned closer.
"How the hell did you catch that?"
Ren shrugged.
"I saw it coming."
"You were looking out the window."
"Peripheral vision."
That answer didn't seem to help.
Ren turned his attention toward the board.
Mostly.
---
Kawakami noticed that Ren wasn't paying attention almost immediately.
Again.
He had been doing that a lot lately.
Staring out the window.
Looking down at the cat hidden in his bag.
Occasionally whispering to himself.
She still wasn't entirely sure what was going on with him, but he was passing his classes, helping other students, and somehow answering correctly whenever a teacher tried to catch him off guard.
It was annoying.
More annoying was the fact that he still hadn't called the maid service again.
Not that she wanted him to!
That would be inappropriate.
He was her student.
She shouldn't be hoping that a teenage boy would pay an absurd amount of money just so she could sleep in his room for an hour.
Still...
She had slept really well.
Better than she had in weeks.
He had said he would call her more often and let her rest there when she needed it.
Had he actually been serious?
Probably.
Amamiya was strange enough to be completely serious about something like that.
Maybe he had forgotten.
Or maybe he had realized how weird the arrangement was.
Kawakami looked toward him.
He was staring out the window again.
She felt her eyebrow twitch.
"Amamiya."
No response.
Several students turned toward him.
Rukia glanced over from the other side of the room.
"Amamiya."
Ren finally looked away from the window.
"Yes, Sensei?"
"If you're finished thinking about whatever is more interesting than my class, perhaps you can answer the question."
Ren looked at the board.
Kawakami crossed her arms.
They were covering how different cultures understood death and the passage into the afterlife. Nothing especially difficult, but she doubted he had heard any of it.
"What role do figures like Hermes, Anubis, and the Grim Reaper share in mythology?"
The class waited.
Ren glanced at the textbook.
Then he answered.
"They're psychopomps."
Kawakami blinked.
Ren continued calmly.
"Figures who guide souls from the world of the living to whatever comes next. They aren't always responsible for the person's death. They're usually just the ones who arrive afterward and escort the soul."
Rukia slowly turned her head toward him.
Kawakami stared for a moment.
That was already a better answer than the textbook gave.
"And a Japanese example?"
"Shinigami, broadly speaking."
Rukia's eyes narrowed.
Ren noticed.
He ignored her.
"Although the modern idea of a Shinigami is newer than most of the other examples. Japan had spirits and gods associated with death before that, but they weren't always treated as one specific group."
The room went quiet.
One of the students near the front slowly lowered her pencil.
"Who just knows that?" someone whispered.
"Amamiya, apparently."
"I thought he was asleep."
Ren adjusted his glasses.
Kawakami let out a quiet sigh.
"Correct."
"Can I go back to not paying attention?"
A few students laughed.
"No."
"Worth asking."
"Look at the board."
Ren obediently looked toward the board.
Kawakami turned around before he could see the small smile threatening to form.
Infuriating kid.
She glanced back once while writing.
Ren was looking at the lesson now.
Rukia was still staring at him.
Kawakami decided she didn't want to know.
---
Shibuya.
The group gathered beneath one of the large public screens before four.
They weren't alone.
Madarame's sudden press conference had already drawn a crowd. Reporters had spent most of the day speculating about the Calling Card, his missing exhibit, and the growing number of former students accusing him of stealing their work.
People wanted an answer.
So did they.
Ryuji kept checking the time.
"It's four."
"We know," Ann said.
"It's exactly four."
"Press conferences don't always begin exactly on time."
"They should."
Shiho sighed.
"Staring at the clock won't make it start faster."
"It might."
"It won't."
Orihime stood beside Ann and Shiho.
She looked toward Ren.
Their eyes met.
Her face immediately turned red, and she looked back toward the screen.
Ren did the same.
Nope.
Later.
That was a later problem.
Morgana shifted inside his bag.
Ren could feel the little bastard judging him.
Yusuke stood slightly away from the others.
He hadn't said much since arriving.
Ren walked over and stood beside him.
"You okay?"
Yusuke continued watching the blank screen.
"I do not know."
"Fair."
His hands were clenched tightly at his sides.
Ren looked at them.
"Whatever he says, you don't owe him anything."
Yusuke was silent for a moment.
Then his hands slowly loosened.
"I know."
The screen flickered.
Conversation throughout the plaza began to die down.
A news anchor appeared.
"We now take you live to an emergency press conference being held by the renowned Japanese artist, Ichiryusai Madarame."
Ryuji stopped moving.
Ann reached for Shiho's hand.
Orihime held her bag tightly against her chest.
Yusuke went completely still.
The image changed.
Camera shutters flashed across the screen.
A row of microphones sat on a table.
Then Madarame walked into view.
He looked exhausted.
Older.
Smaller than Ren remembered.
Madarame sat behind the microphones and slowly lowered his head.
The entire plaza went silent.
---