2026-01-31: The Adversary
- Log: 2026-01-31 The Adversary
- Cast: Ren Amamiya, The One in the Black Mask
- Where: Mementos - Path of Chemdah
- OOC Date: January 31, 2026
- IC Date: Tuesday, September 18, 2012
- Summary: Following a conversation with Akechi about the topic, Joker heads into Mementos to search for a way to potentially lure the one in the Black Mask out for a conversation. It works way better than even they'd anticipated.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Joker doesn't like the chains in the air.
This is through throughout Mementos. It reminds them uncomfortably of their version of the Velvet Room--of how, apparently, they think of themself in their heart of hearts. Being Joker--being a Phantom Thief--is a thrill without equal, and sneaking, rushing, and fighting through Mementos is a part of that--
--if not for those goddamn chains. Maybe in another context they'd be better, maybe even intriguing (maybe even alluring?), but it's the difference between getting felt up as part of consensual foreplay and getting assaulted.
They frown at them when they emerge from the train that takes them from near the entrance of Mementos to near the bottom of Chemdah. This is as far as they can go at present, with or without their friends. (Today it is without. Joker and Mona discussed what they're doing, and Mona is following at a distance to back them up, but that's all.) They frown at them as they head further down, examining the ever-changing floors one by one until they reach the dead-end wall at the bottom of this block.
It should open eventually. For now, it does not. They bang a fist on it to no avail. How many Palaces do the Phantoms need to clear and hearts do they need to change before they can get past this point?
How much further down can the one in the Black Mask go? It's impossible to know. For now, they turn back to circle between here and the closest station, see if they can spot any good places to lay a trap and/or lure out their target. The trains pass by this spot, of course, and in fact they can hear one coming now, but they don't stop here, so Joker doesn't pay it any mind.
More's the pity--for them.
<Pose Tracker> The One in the Black Mask has posed.
Eventually it will open.
Eventually...
Joker is fresh off of banging his fist on it, when suddenly the door that looks like carved obsidian marble with red engraved lines...
...just...
...starts...
...to...
...open...
What must his mind be thinking in those few seconds, as the great slab just shifts and unfurls?
At least until the crack widens just enough that he sees a glimpse of a red lens, the silhouette of a mask, the criss cross of blue and black and wrapped belts around his limbs, the tattered cape.
All of it is there as Black Mask steps across the threshold. Whether Joker backs up or not at coming face to face with him, it hardly matters, as the moment he crosses.
The door's mechanism begins to work again, from each corner one part of the slab begins to shift, until it clicks back into place.
Even thinking it before, it's galling to witness firsthand that this place accepts him more than it does the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. Perhaps much more.
"My my, were you looking to get in?" A flash of a malicious grin, as a clawed gauntlet is shifted to rest against a slim hip, "You must not be on the list... you see this place just doesn't accept losers after a certain point. You have to understand, it's a very exclusive private club for me, myself, and I.
There's no weapon in his hand. No glimpse of a that gun, or serrated blade. Though of course, he's no less dangerous. "Or-"
It's like a thought occurs to him, "Could it be that-ahahahHAHAHA- were you SERIOUSLY waiting for me BY YOURSELF?" Now Joker knows how fast he or any of the Phantom Thieves can move to get into cover rapidly.
The way one reacts by becoming an ink smear of movement on the canvas of reality. It's easy enough to know it's coming in that sense.
But he's where he was standing in front of the door in that sassy pose, and the next, Joker is being gripped by his collar, slammed against a pillar on the platform hard enough to cause the wind to be knocked out of him with absolutely no warning.
"That's hilarious! Tell me, did I really make that much of an impression that you'd offer yourself up to me again on a silver platter?"
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Joker turns away to leave.
...just as the doors crack open.
They freeze up for an instant, then looks back over their shoulder at the shifting slabs. They grind open little by little, each millimeter revealing more and more of a red lens, a black mask, a costume in dizzying lines crossing and crisscrossing...
When the one in the black mask crosses over, Joker snaps around and back like a startled cat. Unlike a startled cat, he doesn't immediately run for it--he merely faces the Black Mask, shoulders tight with tension, his cognitive knife in hand. Their masked eyes flick to one side as the doors then grind shut, as if not allowing even the possibility of letting Joker through.
What is it about the Black Mask that allows him deeper entry? Morgana had speculated that as the Phantom Thieves gained more acclaim and acceptance with the public, the deeper into Mementos they'd be able to go, but that hasn't been the case lately. Is there some kind of threshold? And what's he done to go past that?
If he's Akechi... if he's really Goro Akechi--could it be cumulative? Both the public's adoration of the Detective Prince, and the fear spread by the nameless assassin?
Their dark eyes snap back to the Black Mask when he grins and speaks. They frown, but don't rise to the bait. He's not holding any weapons, but that doesn't mean anything; they know perfectly well that any of them can call a weapon into hand in an instant here. He starts to laugh, and comes to the correct conclusion, as presented to Akechi by Joker, all on his own... More points in favor of Joker's least favorite theory. Who would come to that conclusion if they didn't already know that's what it was supposed to be?
There is a blur of darkness. Faster than Joker can track, they're slammed against a pillar. They let out a croaky scream of pain as the breath expels from their lungs, then instinctively grip the wrist of the clawed hand digging into their throat--not enough to choke, but certainly enough to threaten to. Their dagger falls from their hand and clatters onto the train platform at their feet.
Like this, it's easy for the Black Mask to feel Joker's hands shaking.
They definitely fear him--no matter how hotly their dark eyes burn in a glare at him.
Their heartbeat is roaring in their ears...
They can't make out his eyes past those red lenses. Just that sharp, sharp grin, delighting in their foolishness.
They swallow hard; they don't look away. "I wanted to know," they murmur, afraid and defiant.
<Pose Tracker> The One in the Black Mask has posed.
Is fame, or infamy what is required? What is it about the one in the Black Mask that lets him traverse deeper within Mementos?
If he's truly responsible for the two and a half years of Psychotic Breakdowns and Mental Shutdowns... well, that answers that.
It's on the news constantly, a low key creeping dread. The idea you could be on a train and it could crash as the engineer has a breakdown. The thought someone you love might abruptly just- stop, forever.
He is the intrusive thought that one day, you too might burn your place of business down. The anxiety that this haul might be your last.
The Phantom Thieves are loved. Would that not make him feared?
The One in the Black Mask remembers defiance of Joker, as he holds him up against the pillar, now he can see his hands are shaking. "Tsk... tsk. Are you afraid of little ol' me?" He lilts sarcastically, as he leans in to leer at him, "You should be... and yet..." He trails off, like he's considering the thought that he came back anyway.
The decision between life or death.
Joker swallows, and doesn't look away. Impressive, in light of that fear, as he gets out 'I wanted to know,' Which causes a cock of Black Mask's head to regard his face, and beneath the lenses the ever so subtle shift of the silhouette of his eyebrows, "Know? Know what? I'm not a fan of 'twenty questions' you know. It rather clashes with my reputation, you understand..."
As what? A violent killer? A dark and mysterious perpetrator? There's so many ways one can take that, with the ambiguity, "...I'll give you one."
The unspoken implication, 'However you clarify this one, that's all you get.' and 'Make it a good one.'
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
It would make him feared.
A very different brand of Prince...
"...." Once again, Joker doesn't throw words back at the Black Mask as he talks and talks. They made their one statement; they wait for him to digest it, to decide what he wants to do about it. It's no surprise that he wants Joker to be afraid of him, or at least feels they should be; given everything, it's also no surprise that he actually entertains the notion of indulging him.
They watch his face closely--what little of it they can see. There's a silhouette of furrowing eyebrows. His lips form around mocking words of a low, gravely voice, so unlike Akechi's usual silken cadence. Despite that, what he says--It clashes with my reputation, basically just another way of saying It doesn't match my image--almost makes Joker bark out a laugh.
Almost. That hand is still on their throat, clasped so perfectly it's like it belongs there.
...Even Joker thought that thought was weird. They move on.
One. One question.
There are obvious questions that Joker could ask. 'Why did you spare me that day?' 'What does the New World Order want with the students it has sent to Shujin Academy?' Even 'Is Mayor Amamiya of Inaba part of the New World Order?' This that are about Joker--things that would clarify their own position in this world. Things that could help reduce their anxiety and despair.
"...You don't act solo. You work for a conspiracy in the government called the New World Order," they rasp. Not questions. Simply establishing the facts they've already figured out. "All this terrorizing you do, you do it on someone else's orders. Almost killing Kaneshiro, harassing Kobayakawa, god knows whatever else--if even a fraction of the mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns are your doing..."
They trail off. They swallow hard and shift their grip on his wrist. It's almost a caress. But it couldn't be--right? Especially not in this context.
"...What do you get out of it?"
Not quite the same as Why?, but very similar. Joker has to be careful here. If by chance this man isn't Akechi, their odds of getting out of here unscathed are deadly low.
Yet still, it's worth it to understand this enemy of theirs more.
<Pose Tracker> The One in the Black Mask has posed.
It's a good thing that Joker doesn't laugh. It may not get him killed, but it sure would have hurt. Indeed, he talks, and talks. Like he's in it for the attention, just as Ren Amamiya had once theorized to Goro Akechi atop a wall in Yongen-Jaya...
For a ruthless killer who supposedly leaves no witnesses in most circumstances, he sure does talk a lot.
Then Joker asks his question, and that causes the Black Mask to just stare at him throughout him detailing his relationship with the New World Order.
To his very small credit, he doesn't interrupt Joker all throughout it. However, at the end... 'what do you get out of it?'
It begins as a small snigger, from the corner of his lip, then a chuckle, then laughter again, "Aha-AHAHAHA- REALLY? What a practical question! Can the leader of the Phantom Thieves NEVER unclench?" His grip goes just a tad lax on Joker, at least allowing him to the floor again, even if he still has a hand against him, a palm that encircles his shoulder without any real force.
Still sending a message of 'don't go anywhere'. "You said a lot of things there that make you sound like you think you know what you're talking about~"
He lilts musically, like he finds it amusing, like he's not going to confirm any of that one way or another.
"But that wasn't your question... what do I get out of what I do?"
Without detailing which part, if any of that at all was correct. "What do you think - I get?" He asks, speculatively, but answers with a yell before Joker can even answer, "RELEASE! This world is a MISERABLE SHITHOLE! And I come down here to have my fun poking more holes in it. One..."
A clawed finger over Joker's shoulder taps into the concrete, with a grating scrape that digs in farther than one should. "... by... one..." Then another, as he feels powder from the cognitive concrete fall over his shoulder, "... by one." One final hole is poked behind him, dirtying Joker all the more simply by being close to him, as he then scrapes with a nails on the chalkboard sound of scratching the concrete down towards Joker's neck.
"Until all that's left is wrack and ruin."
There's a wicked grin as he stares him down through the crimson filters of his eyes, through the eyeholes of Joker's white mask, "It's my little way of giving back to the community that's done so much for me... changing it for the better... just... like... you." What does he mean by that!? "Isn't it the best? Here you can do whatever - whenever. Where not a single sickening adult can even try to tell you what to do? Bringing low who you want... reveling in their downfall."
Such a wide grin, of teeth so perfectly white, they could belong to a shark, "It's the greatest thrill in the world... but you already know that. Don't you? It's why you're here."
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
He really does talk a lot.
...Another thing he's got in common with Goro Akechi. Even if they aren't one and the same, he's done nothing to convince Joker that he's not a drama king who's starved for attention. Being dangerous and bloodthirsty is not mutually exclusive with that.
But not crazy. He's very good at making himself sound crazy with all that boisterous cackling, but he focused too well when Joker was outlining the situation. He's got too much self-control, even while he's screaming in their face. The way he releases their throat just enough to let them breathe a little easier, let some of the tension out of their body, but doesn't actually release them...
Can the leader of the Phantom Thieves never unclench? Well... they've got a lot of people counting of them. What's more, they're doing this without the knowledge of most of their team, against the advice of one of their closest friends. If they're going to be this reckless, they'd better at least stay locked in. To that point, Joker says nothing when the Black Mask mocks them. They don't go anywhere, either--not that they could safely, but even their red-gloved hands stay where they are.
Not that that stops the Black Mask from doing what he wants either. Joker manages to keep a straight face when he yells, but he'll also feel the flinch in their hands, which let his arm slip forward to grind into the concrete pillar at their back. As he digs, sending gray dust down to dirty their black coat, they listen to him.
Release. Poking holes in a rotten world for fun, until it's left in ruins. Superficially, it does sound like the words of a madman, particularly with that shark-like grin--but there's something that stands out to Joker. Their dark eyes narrow behind their pale mask at the implication that what the two of them are doing is the same, but more than that--
Not a single sickening adult...
So he's a teenager, like them.
Like all of them.
...It is a thrill. That's something Joker can't deny. Getting back at a world of rotten adults that want to chain kids like them and their friends down and grind them into dust until they fall in line--changing the hearts of the corrupt and wicked so they beg for forgiveness from the very people they chained--climbing and leaping and swinging about, sight unseen, a hero in the darkness risking their life to make the world a better place.
To prove their Justice, like Akechi--but also to revel in their power, like... the one before them.
They, too, contain multitudes.
Joker takes a deep breath, then lets it out slowly. Just as slowly, they let one hand drop to their side--and squeeze the other, very, very gently, around the Black Mask's wrist. The look in their eyes is neither coldness, nor contempt...
"Who hurt you?" they ask softly.
...but concern.
Maybe even compassion.
<Pose Tracker> The One in the Black Mask has posed.
It would be so much easier to explain him, to quantify him, if he were truly crazy, wouldn't it?
Indeed though, while he revels in his power, in violence - in the thrill... he's quite sane. How much of this is an act for Joker's sake? How much of it is the truth?
Well it doesn't matter.
Joker asks his follow up question. One filled with compassion and a desire for understanding. And at first, the figure looks startled- then angry - no furious.
"Didn't I say-" As his clawed hand shifts to the collar of his vest, and he hauls him up, with the ease as if he were scruffing a kitten, albeit from the front of his neck, rather than the back. "-YOU GET ONE?"
He steps with a quick, angry staccato towards the edge of the train platform, and holds Joker out in mid-air. Over the space where when the train comes soon, he'll at the very least get raked against the side of it, if not slammed into outright.
"Time for a penalty round." He says with barely controlled fury, "How about you answer one of mine. When someone, say for example - you - gets run over by a train- does one ask the train after: 'Who hurt you?'"
He says in a mocking echo, "The train is indifferent. It doesn't remember running over anyone at all. A short stop while the people all murmur, 'That's so sad.' Then it - just - keeps - going. It has to keep going."
Down the tunnel, Ren can see the red glow of the train's lights as a distant haze in the subway, the sounds at the station like it's coming.
A distorted announcement on the overhead, of garbled nonsense that makes no sense whatsoever.
"'Who hurt me?'" he echoes again, mockingly. "Has my visual aid given you enough of a hint?" The subway whistle makes a hollow noise in the tunnel, as the clanging grows ever closer, "In my little metaphor. What does the train represent?"
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Not just that--it would be easy to dismiss him if he were crazy. It would be easy to regard him as a force of nature--or, say, a runaway train--rather than a person with feelings and frailties. As a thing that needs to be destroyed, or a rabid beast that needs to be put down.
Joker wouldn't be engaging with the Black Mask like this if they were interested in things being easy. Thus, when that look on the Black Mask's face flickers from surprised to furious, and he grips their throat again to lift them up and dangle them right at the edge of the platform, Joker utters a strangled noise and clutches at his wrist with both hands again, but does not actually meaningfully struggle to get away.
It's harder than it might look. Joker sure as hell wants to struggle, to lash out a kick and get away. Staying calm in a situation like this with frazzled nerves and the very real possibility that it might lead to their gruesome death is hard as hell. Even with Mona potentially around the corner where the escalators are wouldn't help.
It's easy to tell why he's mad. He outright says it: he identifies with the train--something powerful, something inevitable, something that destroys everything in its wake, unstoppable and unfeeling.
But once again, he betrays himself with one little comment that stands out to Joker as if written in flashing neon lights:
It has to keep going.
A horn sounds in the near distance. A red light glows. An announcement calls out garbage. Joker tilts their head slightly to take this in, sweat beading down their face as they continue to clutch the Black Mask's arm, coattails rustling with their legs, bent with tension against the stagnant air.
They look back at him. He really does love to talk.
"You," Joker replies, voice choked but still low. "But your metaphor is flawed. The train isn't a person; you are. No matter how much easier you might think it is to not be."
Afraid, but still calm. Even as a whistle cuts through the conversation, louder and louder.
"No matter how much you think you have to keep going--you can always stop. No one pulls the brakes but you."
<Pose Tracker> The One in the Black Mask has posed.
And it's like he's daring him to try, daring him to struggle.
Joker's answer, as the train gets closer. 'You'. He chokes out, then continues in explanation. Was it the correct answer?
He holds him in stasis for several long seconds, like he's boring daggers into him, right as Joker feels the whoosh of the train.
"I must be feeling generous..." Then at the last possible moment, he yanks him back over the platform, as the train screams by, rocking Joker back and forth in his grip from the rush of stale air being displaced in his passing.
"... you get partial credit."
Does that mean he's spared!? And then with no fanfare, he cocks his arm back, Joker still held by it, and pitches him at the train.
While it's still moving.
Somehow, his aim is true, rather than ramming into the metal, instead glass fractures, sending Joker inside, as crimson lights inside shine with the hue that makes the windows almost opaque, typically.
There are no Shadows inside, this train is heading back to the entrance. From God only knows where.
However Ren recovers (or doesn't) when he looks towards the broken window, he'll see the one in the Black Mask has squatted on the cushions of the seat Joker was thrown through, like some delinquent trying not to sit on the ground.
"The World."
He finally gives what he considered the correct answer to his question.
"I'm the one who derails trains."
The answer may raise Ren's hackles, despite whatever he's going through right now. It's like he's admitting to the train derailment, on the day Ren came to Tokyo.
Yet at the same time, he hasn't admitted to being behind the Psychotic Breakdowns at all.
But he has admitted in a sense to being something so powerful, that the world itself cannot hold him accountable for the damage he's done to it.
At the same time, is he not saying it is the World itself, that hurt him, rather than any one person?
Perhaps, but it might be best not to drill this down to that one statement.
"Because I enjoy it. Because no one can stop me."
Because here. I decide what Justice is.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Right up to the last second, Joker's hands shake.
All of this is a gamble. If they're wrong about him, they're about to die.
I must be feeling generous...
They're pulled forward, and the tails of their coat whip at their past as the train begins to rush by.
It's a heady feeling, itself a thrill. The rush of that thrill keeps itself going when the Black Mask hurls them through the window of that still-moving train, something surely only possible because of the nature of the Metaverse. They let out another involuntary scream of pain as they roll onto the floor, fragments of (plexi?)glass raining down around them. They groan in pain, red light flashing around them, as they slowly push themself partly upright.
Their head lifts, and the Black Mask is still there, watching them from the seats where he's squatted.
Joker's eyes widen behind their mask. After that impact, it takes them a moment to parse what he says next. The train is the world. That actually... makes sense, all considered... He had asked what the train represented right after mockingly repeating their question of who had hurt him. If the train represents who hurt him, then...
(They don't think they'd give themself even partial credit for that one, in light of that. They aren't going to bring that up.)
It could be an admission to causing the psychotic breakdown that led to the train derailment when Ren first came to Tokyo. It could just be an arrogant assertion of his power and how he's been using it. He hasn't actually confirmed or denied any of Joker's own assertions, which doesn't make him innocent, but does mean Joker can't be 100% sure he's guilty of everything they accused him of either.
More than that, they're dizzy. They probably at least aren't concussed; they hit the window back-first, and the back of their coat cushioned their fall a tiny bit. It was still a hell of an impact, and they cannot parse how he managed to get inside the train he just hurled them into.
They do know one thing: if it's the World itself that has hurt the one in the Black Mask...
...that, too, is just like Akechi.
He enjoys it, he says. No one can stop him, he says.
Joker staggers to their feet and stumbles backwards until they stumble onto the seats opposite him.
"Except the one holding your leash," he rasps, staring him down.
Because the one thing they are 100% sure of is that he's taking someone else's orders. What they learned in Kobayakawa's Palace makes that damningly clear.
Still, despite this assertion, they can't hold their stare. A moment later, they sink against the cushions with another pained groan. One other thing they can be sure of is that the Black Mask continues to find them interesting, or else he wouldn't have bothered to follow them into a moving goddamn train. So, for right now, he's not likely to try to kill them (again). Even if they did recklessly sass him just now.
"...Lucky him. You might not be crazy, but you're still crazy strong," they continue, eyes shut. "Thanks for the partial credit."
A moment passes of quiet breath. Then Joker cracks one eye open at him.
"...Do you have a codename you go by?"
<Pose Tracker> The One in the Black Mask has posed.
From his squatting position, it's like he's lording over Joker as a perched bird of prey, as he lets the Phantom Thief comprehend everything he says. It's true, the parallels between him and Akechi are clear.
But can't so many people blame the world for why they are how they are?
Perhaps he's not blaming the world, so much as explaining why he feels no empathy for an indifferent but necessary entity that keeps moving and moving.
As people are crushed underfoot.
Why should he? When they tolerate or even enable its indifference?
Joker tells him, 'Except the one holding your leash,' "Is that right?" He answers with a grim dismissiveness, like 'I wouldn't be so certain of that'.
After all, he could have killed Masayoshi Shido at any time. He could have done it before the two had even met, had he chosen to go that route.
But that wouldn't be enough, would it?
Not nearly enough. So instead he ruins the world, little by little - to enable the ultimate humiliation.
In his eyes, the perfect revenge.
And well, there's nobody on the Silver Lion's side that can dare to challenge him, except for Shinjo...
"Lucky you." He counters, when it comes to the partial credit, "Enjoying the benefit of having your safety net coddle you. Luck has nothing to do with me. All of the strength I have - I earned on my own."
That wasn't the context Joker said it in, in a way it sounds evasive on the topic of whoever is holding it on his leash.
But as he puzzles through the context, he might realize - the safety net the one in the Black Mask is talking about is Joker's teammates.
To his final question, he gives him an amused glance through his stark red lenses, the lights of the tunnels shining strangely as they flash, strobe like around him as the train passes, "Why would I need one? ... I work alone."
However, did he get performatively mad about Joker asking another question? Apparently not.
BBS: New BB message (7/14) posted to 'IC News And Rumors' by Jun Kashihara: Junko Kurosu Says "Gay Rights"
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
It's true that by itself, being angry at the world is not a unique trait. Lots of people are in a position to lash out at society, rightfully or unrightfully, for their own misfortunes. But when added to the mountain of other traits Akechi and the Black Mask share, well... That's true even if he isn't blaming the world, only explaining why he doesn't give a damn if it burns--but considering he just described himself as the one who overturns the train that is the world, it's hard to imagine there isn't at least a little anger there.
Then again, the tone of his 'Is that right?' introduces some doubt in Joker. He must be working for the New World Order, or at least someone within it. If he's taking orders from someone, why does he sound so uncaring about being on someone's leash? Are they actually completely off somehow...?
So Joker falls silent at first. The Black Mask criticizes them for having a 'safety net,' which is funny considering he's the one who gave them that partial credit--but as he says more, Joker realizes it's not about that but about their teammates, even though what they were saying is that the one giving the Black Mask orders is the lucky one, for having someone so strong under their command. Then again, Joker knows a dodge when they hear one.
Maybe they're not so off after all.
At least he doesn't get mad when they ask another question. "Mm," Joker murmurs, shutting their eye again, this time out of necessity--those strobing lights are hurting their eyes and thus their head. God, their whole body aches. They'll have to cast a healing spell on themself before they leave here so they can make it home. Regardless, if he let them have that one...
"What should I call you, then?"
...maybe they can keep this cat-and-mouse dance up for a while longer. And if he really is Akechi--why wouldn't they? He's the one who wants to keep it up.
<Pose Tracker> The One in the Black Mask has posed.
Dismissal - then evasion. He is trying to be cagey, but in a sense, it is self-sabotage to do anything other than completely stonewall him.
And having been on the receiving end of that from Ren Amamiya, he has discarded that fully as a possibility.
No, no, even if Ren hadn't done it, he wouldn't do it either. He has to show off, to be the strongest, smartest, most talented person in the room.
Ren Amamiya has to know it. Know how outclassed, how outmatched he is. He has to be motivated.
He does ask an interesting question though, and the one in the Black Mask folds his hands together as if in thought.
"If you happen upon me again... I'll let you pick."
There's a throaty, dark chuckle, "Don't pick wrong." He stands, straightening as he grips the frame of the subway train. And leaps up, and over, like he was simply swinging from a bar at high speed.
If Joker checks the roof of the train, he's already gone.
-=-=-
Shibuya Square, is well renowned. People take pictures here all the time as if it were emblematic of Tokyo itself, it's culture.
The hustle and bustle of youthful consumerism.
When Ren inevitably emerges from Mementos into the world, he might be struck by a sight he didn't expect. On the iconic screen, high above Shibuya...
Goro Akechi is sitting on a couch, before they go to a close up of his face, of his faux affable smile.
"-yes well, I didn't do much on my own actually. It was thanks to the efforts of the Sumaru City Police that our operation went so smoothly."
"And what of the Phantom Thieves? Are they not responsible for the ring leader turning himself in due to a Change of Heart?"
"Yes, that'd be accurate, however-"
Akechi's voice will likely fade, drowning into the static of pedestrians walking to and fro, because there's one thing on the screen above all else that might catch Ren's attention.
Right there in the corner, blaring red for all to see.
@LIVE
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
It's self-sabotage for him to have entertained this encounter at all. If Akechi knew what was good for him, he would have encouraged Ren to listen to Yusuke and not try to do this foolhardy thing in the first place. Everything after that is just the logical follow-through.
Of course, that could be said of his entire relationship with Ren as he grows closer and closer to them over time...
After all, isn't that why he, as the Black Mask, invites Joker to name him next time around?
Once you name something, you get attached to it...
For their part, Joker sways up onto their feet, eyes wide, when the one in the Black Mask shoves himself out and up the window, out of sight. They stagger over as fast as they can, but by the time they can safely stick their head out and up, the Black Mask is long gone.
...Honestly, that went pretty well. Way better than their last two encounters with him. They step back and return to slump on the opposite seats; they call up High Pixie to shower healing magic down on them to mend the worst of their wounds. They're still pretty beat up by the time they meet up with Mona at the entrance of Mementos and leave together into Shibuya Station, but they can walk without limping and their head isn't killing them. (Just wounding them a bit.)
As the two of them leave, Ren heads towards Shibuya Square to pick up a late shift at Triple Seven, despite Morgana's chiding that they really should go home and rest. What convinces them to do so isn't Morgana, or even their overall weariness.
It's the sound of Akechi's voice, booming pleasantly through the square from high above.
Ren and Morgana both stare up at the iconic screen, displaying that interview with Akechi on some talk show or another. The show itself isn't important.
The red @LIVE mark is.
"What--how..." Ren utters.
There'll be plenty of time to ponder it over a bath, homework, maybe an hour or so of reading or gaming to wind down with (they have been meaning to play more Featherman Seeker), and an early night's sleep, at least. It has to be a trick. It's got to be.
But how?!
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Later, when Ren is in bed, they text Akechi...
@> hey
@> so i found the guy
@> he beat me up less this time
@> i think im growing on him
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
It takes a while, before Akechi answers.
@>Really?
@>So quickly?
@>Color me surprised.
Then there's like about three minutes of ... ... ... ... like he's writing but is struggling with the words.
@>I admit I was worried about what might happen to you. However, since I traverse that realm alone, I'd be the worst hypocrite to tell you to take no risks.
@>I'm glad you're alright.
@>We should speak soon on what happened, if you're up for it.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
lol, and furthermore, lmao, Ren thinks at that first batch of texts.
Well. Not in so many words. But that's the gist of it.
@> ikr?
Seeing all the ellipses, they wait to text more until he's had his say. Once he has, they let an ironic little smile tug at the ends of their lips. They put some thought into their own response before they return fire.
@> Thanks. I didn't think I'd run into him so soon either. Guess I got "lucky."
@> We can talk now if you have the time. I saw a bit of your live interview earlier so I understand if you're busy.
[OOC] Goro Akechi says, "I think he'd probably tell him that he's got something tonight, but soon. Because he wants to get his the whole timeline straight in his head just in case. He's gonna be writing down the exact times he entered and left on days he encounters Ren as Black Mask because ho boy this is a lot to keep straight. It's why he was worried about making contact with him at all but went 'Fuck it I want validation'."