2025-07-06: Detectives and Thieves and Killers, Oh My!
- Log: 2025-07-06 - Detectives and Thieves and Killers, Oh My!
- Cast: Ren Amamiya, Ann Takamaki
- Where: Class 2-D, Shujin Academy, Tokyo
- OOC Date: July 06, 2025
- IC Date: June 06, 2012
- Summary: In which Ren Amamiya, suffering from head trauma, destroys Ann's good mood by discussing serial killing. What a jerk! Also mentioned: the world's most famous Detective Prince...?!
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
There's a deep sense of satisfaction in a job well done--in seeing one's principles and ideas of justice carried out to completion. It hasn't been too long since Madarame's heart was changed, but it's already drawn a lot of attention in the media since his public apology. What seemed like what maybe might have been a prank or a coincidence with Kamoshida, people are starting to take notice and thus take seriously.
But while that mission has been successfully completed, that doesn't mean there isn't still a lot to do. There's researching for a new big target, requests on the Phan-site, and exploring Mementos--and for Ren in particular, there's part-timing at his various afterschool jobs (including non-paying ones), there's homework, there's actually going to school, there's dodging a certain Student Council President when she's creeping around at his back and stonewalling her when she's questioning him to his face, there's learning more about the city and spending time with people--just last night, he had a shift at the Triple Seven, which alternated between bombarded and empty due to the heavy rain. The rain has passed by now, but he spent a pretty good chunk of time just mopping floors. Then there's bathing in the night at the bathhouse, and getting up early in the morning to exercise...
Suffice to say that Ren does not always get a lot of shut-eye, despite Morgana's best efforts.
Which is why he ended up drifting off in class today. He didn't mean to, honestly. Mr. Ushimaru did not care about that part, and neither did his infamous chalk throw. Ren *still* has a mark from the impact site on his forehead, and Ushimaru lecturing him after class, just as lunch period was starting, meant he took too long to get down to the school store, and...
Well, suffice to say that today's lunch is a can of grape Fanta and nothing else.
At least he's got caffeine to keep him awake for his afternoon classes?
Suffice to say, Ren nurses his drink as he slouches at his desk. Most of his classmates spend this time ignoring him. He's okay with that, really. It's a form of bullying, but he'll take that over outright harassment. The upside of everyone thinking he's a violent delinquent, maybe.
Ren stares dolefully out the window and ignores the rumbling of his stomach.
<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
Life isn't easy for a mysterious transfer student.
Leaving behind all the rumors swirling around poor Ren, or how he was almost immediately targeted by Kamoshida, or the tribulations that seem to hound him no matter where he goes--
Ever since he got here, he seems to have become the tunnel-vision focus of Mr. Ushimaru's chalk-based ire! It's terrible!
Ann Takamaki feels for him. On the other hand...
... it's a sweet relief for the entire rest of them. Ren suffers so they may prosper.
This is not what's on Ann's mind at present, however. What's on her mind at present, of course, is--
"Bentoooo!"
This is the triumphant, beaming pronouncement of Ann Takamaki as she flops back into her desk just ahead of the suffering Ren Amamiya. Settling in sideways in her seat, Ann kicks her legs up in brief triumph as she cradles her sweet sweet premade lunch package gingerly against her chest.
"Bento bento bento~" sing-songs the blonde, eyes squeezed shut with the berth of her delight. She cracks the lid open to a plethora of snackable lunch selects and, of course--
"Heh heh, here we go--"
-- immediately plucks up a delectably cream-filled strawberry sando before literally -anything- else.
Frankly, it's a miracle that bento box actually has a balanced selection of foods in it.
She's about to take her first, sweet bite of her delicious desert--
--when she notices Ren just slouched there, nursing a lonely can of grape soda.
Sky blue eyes flutter in a blink. Her brows climb.
And Ann leans in, squinting at the state of Ren with a growing frown.
"Wow, he really did a number on you, huh?" she muses with a most solemn and sympathetic grimace.
It's a solemn day, after all. Ren may never ever recover from that chalk-based concussion, especially with that vicious one-two lecture combo.
Ushimaru does not mess around.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Morgana is meanwhile around here somewhere! Somewhere. Maybe he snuck off to make himself scarce so Mr. Ushimaru wouldn't notice him and cause Ren even more trouble. For now, this lunch is sadly catless.
In front of Ren's seat--well, all around it, really--there are various lunch-eating noises. It's fine, it's fine, he has money (today), there just weren't any snack breads left at the store. Once school is over, he can grab something from the Triple Seven to tide him over until dinner. Or... just be dinner. (Ren has atrocious eating habits.)
One of those lunch-eating noises is Ann sing-songing to herself about her bento. Ren had been trying not to stare at anyone eating, and so he does not turn to look at her pulling out that creamy strawberry sando, even if maybe he does catch it in the corner of his eye and damn it looks good--
He blinks, looking over at her as she leans in.
Then he laughs a soft, rueful laugh.
"Yeah, he sure did," he replies, rubbing his forehead. It's practically a welt. He always assumed the chalk throw was something that only happened in movies and TV shows, but apparently that was just his country boy ignorance at play.
Ren doesn't mind helping others. He doesn't even necessarily mind taking the heat for others. But it sure would be nice if Ushimaru would pick on literally anyone but him. Ah well, that's his fate as the convicted criminal, he guesses...
"I guess I should count myself lucky he only lectured me and didn't give me detention," Ren adds as he sets his hand down to cradle his soda. "Or tattle to the Principal to get me expelled."
It's very lucky that Ushimaru prefers to do his own disciplining. Even if it sure doesn't feel lucky.
<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
"That really doesn't -feel- very lucky..."
Ann: saying what we're all feeling.
"I guess it's one of those glass half-full kinda things? If the glass was half-full of something terrible and you're feeling lucky because it didn't get filled all the way up. Like, um... --Oh! Like acid!"
... Even if she takes a few detours in the doing.
Ren's classmate looks pretty pleased at her roundabout analogy for his bleak fortunes, at least: grinning from ear to ear in triumph, her enthusiasm is only redirected, not stopped, as she takes a bite of her sando.
"Mmm! Ssoooo goood--!" she enthuses, tragically oblivious to her unintentional cruelty. She even wiggles about in her seat and everything! The monster!
Fortunately...
"... Hey, Ren."
*clack*
"Wanna split?"
... Ann's still very good at -eventually- making up for her accidental tortures.
This would be the sound of Ann's bento being placed on Ren's desk and then nudged forward about half an inch with the insistent poke of Ann's finger. Inside Ren will find: pickled cucumbers! Tamagoyaki! An empty slot where there was once two sandos that are now possessively clutched in Ann's free hand because a girl's gotta have her lines in the sand! And, of course, it goes without saying--
Adorable tako sausage.
They've even got sesame seed eyes and widdle cheese ring mouths.
"Hey," continues Ann after this modest offering to assuage Ren's grumbling stomach. Her voice pitches lower, -just in case someone's listening-.
"Did you see the news--?"
Which, really, just makes it more suspicious from a certain perspective, because who cares that they're being eavesdropped about discussing the news?
But at least she tries.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
It's okay. Those detours make Ren smile at a time where he has precious little to smile about.
"Yeah. At least the glass isn't all-the-way-full of acid," he agrees amiably.
Ann delights in her sandwich. Ren takes a sip of his soda and looks back out the window. Ann, a monster? Well... Ren's a little more magnanimous about it than that. He knows she's not trying to be cruel. Besides, it's her lunch; if she doesn't feel like sharing something she clearly loves, then he's not going to hold that against her, nor is he going to put her out by asking for her to share and force her to either a) refuse and feel guilty about it, or b) accept and feel resentful about it. He really doesn't want to make his new friends resent him. He can survive 'til the afternoon.
...But he doesn't really want to watch her eat while he goes hungry, either.
Fortunately--
*tak*
'Wanna split?'
He blinks at her, then down at the lunch from which the fruit sandos have been removed. He breaks into another smile, this time relieved. "God, yes," he says, and tucks in on the tako sausages and pickles. (The tako sausages are both adorable and appealing! Fortunately, the best efforts to anthropomorphize them has not put him off his appetite.)
He won't eat all of them. Ann needs her share; she can't just have fruit sandos either. But, god, food tastes so much better when you're hungry. Hopefully Ann either has an extra pair of chopsticks or doesn't mind if Ren eats out of her bento box with his fingers.
However that part of it goes, he has his mouth full of half-chewed tako sausage when Ann leans in to whisper to him. "Hmm?" He blinks, finishes chewing, swallows. Is it more suspicious that they're being hush-hush about the news? That requires any of their classmates to want to have anything to do with either of them. (Well, there's Mishima. But he's on the other side of the room, and also technically in the know already. Technically. Very technically.) "Which news?" he murmurs back.
There's a lot happening on the news lately. He even got interviewed on the street about a recent piece of news, something he has not yet brought up to the group, which prompts him to wonder, "Do you mean about that serial killer in Sumaru City?"
The one they call the Joker Killer... Ren is not a fan, for reasons no one in the room but Ann knows.
<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
If we're being totally really real here--
Ann doesn't even remember, day-to-day, how much in the know Mishima is or even if he is in the know at all.
Don't take it personally, Mishima. Ann just only has so much mental bandwidth to spare on extraneous things.
Still, Mishima is - unsurprisingly - far and away from Ann's thoughts as she delivers that hushed question. There's no chopsticks to spare, but Ren's blonde-haired blue-eyed classmate doesn't seem particularly nonplussed about him eating with his fingers. She's pretty sure Ren's a hygienic guy. Unlike -some- people she knows.
Besides, any concerns about fingers grabbing foods is far on the backburner for Ann; so possessed of giddy excitement is she that she just kind of...
Which news? Do you mean about that serial killer in...
"I know, right??"
... obliviously assumes Ren knows exactly what she's talking about and responded appropriately. Which leads to this tragic moment:
"It seems like people are finally starting to really notice us!"
... wherein she accidentally implicates them as serial killers.
Wait for it.
"It's kinda nerve-wracking."
She'll get it eventually.
"But exciting at the same time-- wait, -serial killer-??"
There's a moment, as Ann races to catch up, where her mind kind of jumbles what Ren said up with what SHE was talking about and what she knows about said killings where she looks briefly horrified that he might have just confessed to being a serial killer--!
Fortunately she knows better, and ultimately she transitioned from alarmed to embarrassed and exasperated, slumping back into her seat and taking a nervous bite out of her sando.
"-Serial killer-?" she repeats, more lowly. Because it begs repeating. What serial killer?!
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Mishima likes to think he's in the know, anyway. That is something Ren is content to neither confirm nor deny for him.
Ren is indeed hygienic; unlike some people who use the men's bathroom, he washes his hands afterwards every single time. With soap and hot water. There's no especial need for concern for him using his fingers, especially since he takes care to only touch the morsels he actually eats.
There might be especial concern for the things that he's got on his mind right now, especially when Ann bulldozes ahead with the conversation as if Ren had given the response she'd assumed he would give.
Ren's jaw drops for a moment. Fortunately, he was in between bites, so he doesn't show off his lunch to the classroom. That would be decidedly unhygienic.
"Uh, Ann..."
Nope, she's full steam ahead. Ren shuts his mouth and waits patiently for Ann's brain to catch up with her ears.
Wait for it...
Wait for it.......
Okay there we go. "The one in Sumaru City? The one whose victims end up really messed up? The one they call the 'Joker Killer'?" he concludes a little pointedly. And then, just in case: "The one rumor says you get in touch with by calling your own number on your own phone?"
He pauses.
"The news about the Phantom Thieves is also pretty damn cool," he adds, voice lowered. "But I've had the other thing on my mind the past couple days."
They were at that festival in Sumaru just the other day... though that isn't technically the reason why.
"Sorry, I derailed you pretty hard, huh," he adds, rubbing the back of his neck with his other hand sheepishly as he watches a terrible rainbow of emotions grunge across her face. He grabs another pickle slice. "I didn't mean to bring the mood down. Forget that; it's got nothing to do with us anyway. You're right, it is exciting the way more people are talking about The Phantoms."
Now the question is: does Ann let him drop the subject or no?
<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
The killings in Sumaru.
Ann's been through a lot. Some things, though, are still difficult to digest. The concept of death, and it now being a very real and present part of their lives, is one thing -- especially in how it puts random news reels into starker perspective.
Whatever good mood Ann Takamaki might have been possessed of swiftly evaporates like beads of water against the relentless summer sun.
"O-oh," she mumbles, sky blue eyes hooding. Her mood dampened by embarrassment -and- recollection of that particularly grisly bit of news, a frown creases her lips as she takes a bite of her remaining sando, looking off into the distance.
"... Yeah. I remember seeing that crossing my feed. There was something about it in Coolest, I think?" Her gaze drops down to the crescent bite marks framing the edge of the sando, fixated on the way cream and strawberry spill between the seams from the pressure of her bite.
"It's really kind of scary, isn't it? Like an urban legend come to life, or something."
Which sets off -some- alarm bells for her, but, well... Ann's still very new to this supernatural world. Kotodama is not a thing she's really wrapped her head around or even accepted as real, yet. Honestly -- it's debatable if she's even heard of it. But, seeing her mood rapidly collapsing in on itself, Ren - thoughtful guy that he is - tries to divert the subject back to the news on those mysterious Phantom Thieves.
Ann appreciates the effort. She really does; she even manages a half-hearted smile about the whole thing, before she takes a bite out of her dessert and chews.
"Mm." ... But that little noise of assent as Ren suggests they forget it is a distant thing as her gaze casts out over the other students still lingering in the classroom, the kick of her legs slowing to an eventual stop.
Can she just move on?
The Joker Killer...
The Joker Killer...
Silence is Ren's answer as he talks about the thrilling focus they - the Thieves - are getting. Ann looks lost in thought. There's a question itching at the back of her mind that name seems to be setting off. But when she speaks again?
"That's... that's not really something we can look the other way about. Is it?"
She focuses on what she feels is the most important thing.
Frankly? She already knows the answer, for her:
She's done looking the other way.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
It's a heavy subject for sure. Not something one would normally want to talk about over lunch, but... Ren misunderstood what Ann meant, and there's no putting this cat back in the bag. Morgana isn't even back yet!
"In Coolest, huh... That's a magazine, right?" Ren is only as familiar with it as a name on the business card that reporter lady gave him, but if Ann knows it, then it's probably a magazine. He hasn't seen it himself before. Not yet. He grimaces a bit to see her sunny cheer so thoroughly clouded, and adds, "Sorry." It's an important topic, but... it's one hell of a downer, too. "You're right, though. It is."
He crunches another pickle between his teeth. The sourness helps tamp down his appetite, so he focuses on chewing all the flavor out of it. Together, they sit in silence as Ann casts her gaze out at their classmates, who are all content to have their own conversations and their own lives well outside of the two of them.
Eventually, Ann gives her answer. Ren's lips tug up.
"I don't know for sure if there's anything we can do about it.
"...But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try."
Ren dips his hand into his pocket, where he'd left that business card. He never got around to taking it out, so it's still there from when he put it away on Friday. He holds it out to Ann. "I was planning on telling everyone at the same time, but since it came up... Here."
MAYA AMANO
EDITOR at COOLEST
...or something like that, it reads.
"This lady came up to me on Friday and asked me a bunch of questions about that serial killer. I didn't know anything she didn't already know, but she claimed she'd met him in person, and some 'Deja Vu Boy' came to her rescue. The way she talked about it, it sounded like she was implying he had a Persona. I don't know if she was on the level or if she was trying to fish for something about me, but..."
He looks down at the remaining tako sausages. He carefully takes a slice of tamagoyaki instead.
"...she seemed dead serious when she told me not to do the call-your-own-phone thing."
<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
Sorry.
She's really still not used to people actually taking her into consideration -- at least, as a person. After years of just her and Shiho against the world, someone offering a simple but heartfelt apology still manages to take Ann aback, just a bit. She blinks; for a moment, she looks like she might say something.
... But instead, that gloom is - at least momentarily - dispelled by a grateful little smile in those moments before the silence is truly broken.
Ann is finishing off the rest of her sando by the time she asks that pointed, important question. A bit of her appetite has returned at least, if the way she manages a happy sigh upon finishing the remnants of that creamy confection off is any indication. When that blue gaze of hers tilts Ren's way, though, that expression doesn't read anything save for that telltale flickering flame of determination.
Maybe they -can't- do anything about it.
But...
... that doesn't mean we shouldn't try.
A full smile finally blooms on pink lips.
"-Exactly-."
It's as Ren continues though that Ann blinks; head tilting to the side, curiosity overtakes the Shujin Second Year. "What're you...?" she begins, before that card is offered up.
This much, Ann is well-acquainted with. After however many years of modeling, side hobby or not, you just sort of get used to magazine staff and business cards; Ann plucks up the card and instantly clocks what it is before she's even looked at the name. Her brows lift just a little in muted surprise.
"Wow," she begins, genuinely surprised. "Maya Amano, huh...?" The name is familiar. Maybe some articles in Coolest? She really needs to be better about actually reading who the writers are at the tops of the articles--
"She said she already -saw- the guy? ... 'Deja Vu Boy'?" Ann looks briefly flummoxed at Ren's accounting. She catches a few strands of blonde twintail in her fingers and curls them between those digits as her brows knit inward. "... I really don't get it at all," she ultimately decides. At least she's honest.
"It's not like journalists don't just totally make stuff up if they need to," this, too, she has actual (second-hand) experience with. "But that'd be a real weird way of trying to trick someone, y'know?" Not to mention the whole Persona thing...
Ann, lost at thought, plucks up a tako sausage with her chopsticks and plops it into her mouth, chewing equally thoughtfully. "Maybe she knows more?" A second passes.
"Do you think this guy has a Palace, maybe?" Ann wonders aloud, but not -too- aloud, just as before when her whispering started them down this road. You never know who's listening, even - especially - at school.
"He's gotta, right?"
Someone who is so distorted they desire to brutally murder people? That has to merit some kind of Palace, doesn't it?
Unfortunately... Ann just doesn't know what she doesn't know.
"And that name..." she begins, quiet again. "... Do you... do you think it's just a coincidence...?"
The 'Joker' Killer.
"I mean. It's gotta be, right...?"
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Ren sees that startled look on Ann's face. He reflects for a second on what a life one must have led to be surprised by a simple sorry.
But she accepts that apology with that little smile, and he mirrors that smile back at her.
There's no need to linger on it. They've both got friends now who accept them.
He pops in that bit of tamagoyaki. It's subtly sweet--a nostalgic flavor from when he used to eat omelets as a kid. That makes it a little bittersweet in turn. He opts for one last pickle instead, and slightly pushes the remainder of the bento box back towards Ann so she can have her share. He could eat more, in truth, but this will tide him over until after school.
More importantly right now is her grin and her revived spirit. Ann is the heart of The Phantoms, after all--the one who pushes the hardest for protecting the downtrodden and giving them the courage to live on day to day. It's no wonder why after what happened to Shiho, but seeing her downcast like that just doesn't feel right to Ren.
...Though admittedly, it would feel just as wrong if Ann were still cheery after the topic of a serial killer came up.
"Yeah. I never heard of her before. I ran into her at Shibuya Station. She said she was asking around about it, and she seemed legit, but..." He shakes his head a bit. "I don't know." He frowns a little at that, before cracking into a faint laugh. "I'm not sure I totally get it either. She never actually said the word 'Persona,' so... looking back, maybe I was being paranoid and reading too much into it."
It is a weird way to trick someone. Who would claim to have actually met the serial killer of rumor? So it's hard to think of it as something she made up just for a story. But if she was making it up, then the reason would have to be because she was trying to trip him up and tell on himself by accident? ...Maybe Akechi's got him paranoid. It's hard not to be after a novel detective-sounding asshole waltzes into the place where you live and starts going on about how detectives need crimes only they can solve while reading phantom thief vs. detective literature.
It was really very blatant and Ren had absolutely refused to engage at the time. He doesn't think he can afford to keep doing that.
But enough about detectives and more about murderers. "It's possible. I can't imagine a serial killer who wouldn't have distorted desires," Ren murmurs, holding his chin for a moment in thought. "But even if he does... we don't know his real name. If we had at least that much, we could confirm it..." Would that reporter know more? "Maybe," he admits thoughtfully. "We didn't get that deep into it, but she gave me her card in case I came up with more to tell her. She already told me a lot. Maybe I could check with her if she knows that much, too."
The name, though... Ren's expression darkens.
"It's gotta be," he agrees. "A joker is just a card in a deck. A wild card. It's not exactly some esoteric concept no one's ever heard of." There's even that character in that one superhero comic, maybe!
"But I still don't like it."
No doubt the other JOKER won't like it either.
"For now, though, let's wait 'til we get together with everyone to talk about it more," Ren continues, bringing his soda back to his lips. "Not that I think the others won't buy in, but we need to make sure we all agree anyway."
<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
Maya Amano. Coolest magazine.
Were the topic -less- serious than this, even by a hair, Ann would be not-so-quietly enthusing. She loves Coolest! They're one of the best ways to keep up on the latest trends! And they cover a lot of Ann's interests she can't quite find elsewhere, too! They're the total package in an admittedly slowly dying artform!
Ann still buys physical. It's the -principle-. ... Of shopping for something material. But shh.
But the topic -is- this serious, and Ann is frowning once more as she inspects the card and listens to Ren. At least this time, it's not one of those sullen frowns; this is a more pensive thing, a thoughtful "hum" escaping Ann's lips as she commits the Coolest editor's name and contact information to memory before sliding the card back over to Ren.
"Hmmm. Honestly?" begins Ann, thoughtful, as Ren talks about his own uncertainties with regards to the woman. "You've got a pretty great sense for this kinda thing. You should trust your instincts!"
A cheeky little grin flits across her lips, eyes squeezing shut.
"It's, like. A weirdo radar!"
...
Look. She thinks it's a positive.
After all, -she's- one of those weirdos!
"I guess we'd have to start investigating ourselves if we wanna figure out if he's got a Palace, huh? Kinda dangerous, going after a serial killer," muses Ann as she plucks a piece of tamagoyaki to chew on in great thought. It's extremely dangerous. She's honestly more than a little intimidated and/or terrified at the prospect, having watched too many slasher movies at entirely too young an age to start watching slasher movies.
But.
But!
"... I guess that'd make us detectives!"
The irony of -this- thought is not lost on Ann; she just chooses to ignore it in favor of beaming brightly at the fantasy of being an -ace detective-.
"Hee hee. We'd kinda be phantom thieves -and- detective princes, huh? Oh, oh! Like that one famous guy-- ummm, what's his name..."
does she mean--
"Naoto Shirogane! He's so awesome! And sooooo dashing, too!"
Alas, Goro Akechi.
Still; she's willing to believe Ren's guess that the naming is coincidental. She doesn't really know a whole lot about playing cards, really. It's just one of those things that makes her feel -real weirded out-.
"Yeah. Me either."
-Real- weirded.
That's no Joker she wants existing in this world!
Speaking of which...
"Mmhm," she exhales as Ren finishes. "We'll see what they think." They need to be unanimous, after all. But still...
"... But this is what the Phantom Thieves exist for."
Ann's got the fire lit, now.