2026-06-19: Alibaba (Futaba) Awakens
- Log: 2026-06-19 Alibaba (Futaba) Awakens
- Cast: Futaba Sakura, Ren Amamiya, Morgana (NPCed by Ren), Sojiro Sakura (NPCed by Ren)
- Where: Cafe Leblanc, Yongen-jaya, Tokyo
- OOC Date: June 19, 2026
- IC Date: Tuesday, November 27, 2012
- Summary: Futaba stirs from her post-Awakening slumber and walks, of her own initiative, over to Leblanc. Sojiro, Ren, and Morgana are all proud of her.
<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
TUESDAY - AFTERNOON
It is today, for better or for worse.
Futaba laid in state for a while. It wasn't complete inertia, but it came damn close.
But it wasn't forever. This time she got up and it wasn't for the last time, either. The previous evening passed in a haze of slowly dawning physiological reminders, a range of obscure alerts that had to be attended to. Some were trivial - eating something, taking a shower - others were important - replacing her headphone battery, checking her threads - but all of them took her slow, half-awake attention.
But that was yesterday.
Today Futaba woke up before *noon*. Not much before noon, yeah, but that hasn't happened in a *while* save by accident.
She felt an obscure motivation. Perhaps driven by a sense of the faintest, subtlest hints of her old habits, the way of life she had abjured, the style of existence which had led into her despair sneaking back in. It would be *easy* to just stay in her room. To know that she'd been freed from hallucinatory terror. Yet how long until it came back?
The Phantom Thieves had condemned her for her sloth. (Even if the condemnation wasn't, like, deep rooted, it was part of making it work. They aren't condemning her in general.) If she cannot feel quite like she needs to do it for herself, she can do it for them; so their works were not in vain.
But unlike previous targets (that she knows of... however distantly) she does not have a news camera she can speak into.
And that is why she steps into shoes for the first time in months and stares at the front door of the Sakura residence. Afternoon light peeks, a little wan but still golden, through the edges.
Futaba adjusts her headset and clicks on the noise cancellation. It is like sliding into a cave, and she can't even hear her breathing. If she really, really tries she can hear her heartbeat just the tiniest little bit.
A deep, deep breath -- raise right arm! Grasp doorknob! Turn! Pull! The sunlight comes in, along with the wind. Autumn air around her bare legs! Maybe I should go put on leggings, but no, a shake of her head to herself, no! I can't! I have to keep moving!
Left leg, forwards! With a slightly farcial rocking motion and one more step, she's outside.
I did it, Futaba thinks. She looks left and right. Nobody else is on the little one-lane alleyway that the house exits onto. The noise cancelling headphones eat the vast majority of external sound but it is something a little different. A distant rumble. Futaba adjusts one ear can for a moment, hearing the myriad polyphonic rumble of Tokyo for a few seconds.
Individual parts are dissected. The sound of a nearby street. A rising sound that's probably a train somewhere. The distant, so-distant sounds of people talking, people TALKING - she puts the headphone back in order and exhales. "OK... bear a little left..."
I'm forgetting something, Futaba thinks. It hits her a second later: she closes the door behind her, and then it's off the porch, outside of the wall, through the gate, and -- suddenly someone passes by on a bicycle, completely ignoring her, but the sheer sight is enough to startle her. She can hear her pulse better now, and even give it a good estimate. 115 bpm. Definitely elevated.
She looks down at the pavement. It's the same as always. No, that little bit of grass is new, Futaba thinks, and there is a moment of psychological muscle-tremor somewhere as she realizes just how long it's been since she *left* left the house. OK, she tells herself: plot route!
There is, in fact, no little green line that appears, but it's as if it does, and Futaba walks forwards, breathing shallowly. One block, right? Yeah, it was two, she estimates, though what a block really constitutes is fairly fuzzy. She stares intently at the sidewalk although there is nobody else coming down the side road. At that point she pivots to the right, ninety degrees, and lifts her head up. There is a sense of huge relief that the secondhand store seems to be closed, or at least, that the owner isn't sitting in front right now.
Deep breath. In and out. She lowers her gaze -- the sign!! A black diamond course guide! Step, step, step, step, step, a brief glimmer of herself in reflection that she doesn't cringe from even if part of her screams at its sight. She doesn't look. Because that sign. She knows that sign, and she takes a slight route around to confirm the front - yup, it's the same ol' Mr. Sign as it was the last time she was here - which means -
"final approach," under her breath, face right, and in front of her: A door. To the side, a chalk signboard, but she's almost there! She grips the door handle. There is a half-beat pause. The temptation wiggles there: you COULD just run back home, where it's safe, and quiet, and dark, and -
*ring~*
Instead Futaba opens the door and walks towards the familiar smell, eyes still lowered. Her first thought is shared with what many heroes and villains of history would think immediately, were they to be revived as Futaba Sakura has been: 'why is it so dark in here?'
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
It's not that dark in Leblanc--but compared to outside, it's certainly a low, moody lighting. Night hasn't fallen yet either, so there isn't a reason to turn the lights up, either. For today, after the shop was closed yesterday, Leblanc is open for business to its usual clientele, and Sojiro chats with Ren, who's helping out again today, behind the counter.
"...not up for company just yet, but she's making a lot of progress," Futaba will hear him say as she enters. "One of these days, you might even get to meet her." Sojiro looks up, brain on automatic for a second. "Welc--"
His eyes widen. He gawks at her. Ren half-turns to look over their shoulder, and their eyebrows rise behind their glasses in surprise too.
"F-Futaba?!" Sojiro utters. "What are you--how did you get here?!"
He's happy but he's also astonished! Don't tell him she made the entire walk here on her own?!
Ren, for their part, offers her a slim but sincere smile. They turn to face her fully, hands still in their apron pockets, and bob their head in greeting.
"Welcome," they say, as if this is the most normal thing in the world and Futaba is just another customer of Leblanc's. "Come for a cup?"
A cat face peeks out from behind the stairs in the back. Morgana had spotted Futaba approaching from the upstairs window, and of course he's got to see what's going on. There may or may not be customers in Leblanc proper at the moment, and if there are, they too turn to look at her with mild curiosity before turning back to whatever they were doing before.
That's just what it's like to be out in public, Futaba.
<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
That is one of the myriad perils of Futaba life: she became dark-adapted. Thankfully, the condition wasn't terminal.
BUT SPEAK OF THE HERMIT AND SHE APPEARS: Futaba raises her head slightly when she hears Sojiro's voice, not quite full face to face but looking up over the rims of her glasses.
It's her. She's here.
"... walked," she says, though it's more of a half mumble, given that she dropped an article, but then there's Ren to whom Futaba looks at a little more directly. Not energetically but the tension in her form, as if she *does* want to bolt and run, is relaxing.
"... ah... sure? ... I got hungry..."
Her eyes flick past Ren then, suddenly, stimulated by the high-contrast resolution of a
Kawaii
Intruder
That's
Taking a
Ylittle peek
in the distance.
Futaba's eyes turn downwards again and she folds her hands behind her back, rocking back on her heels slightly and then looking back to Ren, asking them (and not Sojiro?! No, she's just speaking on the quiet side, Sojiro can probably hear despite his rampaging decrepitude) "Can I sit over there?"
It has not yet occurred to Futaba that she did not indicate, except maybe in a vague way by looking past Ren in a Morganawards direction, where she wants to actually sit. 'Over there' encompasses most of the restaurant, empty though it may be just at this time.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
The astonishment on Sojiro's expression doesn't abate. He only can look from Ren and Futaba, back and forth, as she shares three words--and even makes a request.
"I--sure. Sit wherever you like," Sojiro utters. It'll take him a moment longer, but he'll start to smile with a glow that Ren, at least, has never seen on him before.
(The "I don't know, can you?" dialogue option does appear on his wheel. Just because you think of it doesn't mean you have to say it, though. Ren knows that well too.)
Ren meanwhile follows her gaze towards the back of the restaurant. They can't see Morgana from here, but they know their furry companion well enough to be able to guess he might be there. Sojiro's already invited her to do what she wants, though, so they instead, "You want curry, then? The Boss finally started trusting me to make it."
The normalcy of this statement helps ground Sojiro. "He's not half-bad, either," he adds. "I was telling him the other day that you'd be the real test for him. What would you call it--the 'final boss'?"
Ren maintains an excellent poker laugh and so has no need to stifle a laugh. There is, however, a twinkle in their eye as they solemnly nod.
Morgana, for his part, will emerge further from the back. He refrains from entering the restaurant proper because he knows Sojiro doesn't want him near the kitchen for sanitary purposes, but his blue, blue eyes are on Futaba as he sits just outside the bathroom. It's freshly cleaned as of last night!
<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
Futaba nods, looking at Sojiro for a long wordless second which may, in hindsight, be one of his favorite moments in life when the time comes. Then she scuttles to the booth closest to the back staircase, huddling in the corner and hunching up. It is apparent she has already and immediately brought her knees up to hug onto.
And she's facing the door.
But hey: hugging your knees while watching the door in public is progress.
"Mm," she says to Ren. Then, after a pause, she asks, "... really?"
Her eyes turn to Sojiro.
Back to Ren. Tentatively, she says, "... How long? It's..."
"It's stayed good, so you've..."
The compliment fumbles, but it got out there!
Once the preamble is done, she does turn her head around to look over the back of the booth. *Kitty*. Her eyes rest on him and her eyes widen. She blinks once, slowly, and smiles - brief but real - while raising a hand to waggle fingers at him.
And then Futaba looks at the bathroom door for several long seconds.
There's no clear motivation, unless she's assessing whether she needs to pee or something, and it passes. Her head uncranks from that not-very-spine-friendly posture to look at the TV, laterally, but it's some afternoon program. A couple more seconds of that, and a shift of her hips and butt to be sitting curled up in the booth proper, and she's facing the kitchen and coffee-bar more than the door.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
"Really," Ren confirms, casual and laconic as can be.
"Just recently," Sojiro adds. "And he isn't serving it to customers just yet." He crooks a half-smile and jokes, "We've still got standards here."
Ren shrugs, half-smiling themself. "It's a matter of time."
Sojiro chuckles at that and strokes his goatee. "Confident, aren't you? Maybe so." His gaze too goes to the corner. The fact that Futaba is waving to something clues him in that the kid's cat has come down to check out the ruckus. "Oh, is that Morgana?" he wonders. Seeing that smile on Futaba's face... "Well, it's pretty dead right now. It's fine if he hangs out down here for now," he decides, smile returning.
Hearing that, Morgana trots out to greet Futaba more properly. He does give her a puzzled look when she stares at the bathroom door, but he'd been prowling around town last night and isn't privy to certain things.
Either way, once she slips into a booth, he joins her, hopping up to the seat on the other side and resting his paws on the edge of the table. Sojiro chuckles again to see it.
"It's like he thinks he's a little person," he says with a touch of affection. "Cute." He nods to Ren. "Hey, go bring her a plate. Hell, make one for yourself too, if you want."
Ren nods back. Before long, Futaba is en-curried--as is Ren, who also serves themself. They also bring over cups of coffee, and this one is brewed by them.
"One thing this guy does get to make for the customers now is the coffee," Sojiro adds, watching the two (technically three, since Morgana has moved over to make space for his protege). "Give it a try. You might be impressed."
Then again, maybe not. Futaba has exacting standards, as he knows well. Still, even if she doesn't like it, he's just happy to see her out and interacting with people.
Ren, too, looks glad to see her. She'll see that in their face when they glance up to meet her gaze; the corners of their eyes crinkle before they dig into their curry.
<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
Futaba looks at Sojiro at his comment. She might have smiled. It's small if so. Maybe more of an eye-smile. Either way, she looks back to Ren, even as Sojiro grants Authorization to the ambitions of Morgana. She leans forwards to hold out a hand, dangling fingers at him but aha he's coming up!
Jumping up and putting his paws on the side of the table. "Hey Morgana," Futaba says, reaching forwards - such liberties! - to run her hand down along his head and his back. At least it's well meant. "He's smart," Futaba says to Sojiro, and the blood-pressure effects of *petting a cat* must be kicking in, because she's a full step calmer.
And then! Curry! Futaba's reaching for her spoon when she notices the coffee. She did ask for that, right? She picks the cup up, holding it in both hands like a shallow bowl for a moment. Maybe to warm her hands, maybe just to consider it.
When was the last time I had coffee, anyway? thinks Futaba.
She raises it to her lips.
ssssssip
Her lips purse afterwards.
Judgment...
... "It's solid."
Solid?
"... are you having to save the beans? I mean," Futaba says to Ren, her voice quieter, more conversational. "Is he telling you to use only a little? It's good, but if you made it a little stronger..."
sssssip
She puts the cup down and begins to dig into the curry.
... with worrying speed.
... is she even chewing???
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Morgana accepts the pets! He even rubs his head into her hand with a kitty smile. He glances to one side at Ren, and Ren smiles too.
They both get it. They're both seeing the real Futaba for the first time. It's wonderful to see.
Tail curling at the compliment, Morgana hops up and joins Futaba's side of the table. Now that she's a Persona User, she ought to be able to hear him now, but he doesn't want to startle her in mixed company. He can say 'a cat' for a while longer. Vexing, but that too is the form of a gentleman!
"Thanks," Ren says, taking a sip of coffee at the same time. They glance at Sojiro, who watches over the three of them, and reply, "Not really. I'll keep that in mind for next time, though." They take another sip. "I'm glad you like it, but I'm still working on getting better."
Futaba proceeds to inhale the curry. Sojiro chuckles fondly from behind the counter.
"Hey, don't forget to chew. You don't want to end up choking," he scolds her gently.
Ren sets their coffee cup down to watch her eat with a touch of fondness of their own. "Good to see you out here, though," they murmur. "How did the sunlight feel?"
The calling card told her to look forward to bathing in sunlight, after all. How does the world look to her now that her distortions have been dispelled?
<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
At least he's getting pets out of it. Indeed, Morgana receives another.
Futaba looks back to Sojiro then. "I don't have to," she says. "It's super tender. You must be simmering it right." But when she takes another big spoonful there is some mandibular action, even if it is interfering with the optimized intake of curry contents. She did also get some rice.
Which is good, really, because Ren had a slightly complex question. Futaba's eyes widen slightly.
gulp
"... Aah... I thought I messed up not putting leggings on but... it wasn't bad. It's really bright, though..."
Which is a pretty obvious factor about the Sun, considering it is, indeed, a primary source of light to the planet, but be that as it may, she has another spoonful of curry along with a sip of coffee. And there were at least three chews on that one. "Do you eat the curry?" Futaba asks Morgana, *testing him direly no doubt*, but it's a friendly question; after 'asking' Morgana she looks to Ren, because they are the supervisor of Morgana.
"... someone was on a bike... did you hear them?" (It was a mamachari local bike, there was nothing really to hear.)
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Sojiro chuckles gently at Fubata's words of approval. "It's still not a good habit to get into," he counters, but clearly she's got him mollified for now.
Sadly for him, his cell phone rings them. "Ah, hold on," he says, and turns away from the two (three) to field the call, whomever it's from. Hopefully a hot babe and not, say, a shitty money-grubbing uncle, but he'll keep his voice low either way.
This means, though, that Sojiro won't be paying attention when Futaba addresses Morgana. His ears twitch as he gives her a thoughtful look; then he shakes his head. "Nah--it's tasty, but it's also a little too spicy for my palate," he replies, which is saying a lot considering Japanese curry is extremely mild. "I prefer tuna and milk."
"A bike? Like a motorbike?" Ren echoes, taking the talking not-cat with total aplomb, because of course they are. They shake their head. "Nope. Unless it was really loud, it's usually hard to hear what's going on outside from down in here."
But Futaba would know that, wouldn't she?
<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
Futaba's eyes turn down in a mildly abashed way at Sojiro's words. She might answer, but she literally just put curry in her mouth, as well as being literally a minor and numerous other things. But then the phone intervenes. Futaba watches as Sojiro turns to take the call, but after a few seconds, seems to relax about it.
"Mm," Futaba says, before looking back to Ren, "No, it was just a regular bike..." She picks up the cup of coffee and
you can tell the exact moment when it happens. When she realizes what she just heard. Perhaps it's a sign of just how relieved, how eased she has been made by Ren and Sojiro and even Morgana (and a helpful and lucky absence of customers... not that this place is hopping anyway).
Futaba goes perfectly still.
Her eyes turn to look towards Morgana. Her lips are slightly parted. Her hand begins to tremble, just the slightest bit. She'd be slopping hot coffee on her hands if she hadn't had those big sips a moment ago.
She stares at Morgana for several long seconds.
Then she looks back at Ren and says in a quiet and urgent tone, as if she realizes there's a confidence that needs to be kept from rotten adults *but also* that she doesn't want to let this go, "you aren't using ventriloquism stuff or something are you. this isn't the work of an enemy stand right. did i really just."
She puts the coffee cup down.
Futaba's eyes shut.
Then she reaches over. If Morgana isn't quick he's going to get picked up from underneath his forelimbs and turned around to face Futaba. He may, indeed, end up dangled like a longcat for a moment.
"are you a hallucination!"
She's taking it well. (The moment literally one word comes out of Morgana's mouth there's a mostly-but-not-entirely-stifled 'eek!' and she drops him like he's made of hot iron.)
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Futaba's shock is... expected. That's why Morgana waited until Sojiro was distracted to speak up. He and Ren both watch Futaba as she stares back and forth at them.
"No. He really does talk. And he's always been able to talk," Ren murmurs, matter-of-fact. "Now that you've got a Persona and you've been inside the Metaverse, you can hear him."
Futaba seems to contemplate this.
Then she picks Morgana up by his armpits, and his arms point straight outwards. "Wha--hey! No, I'm not a hallucination!!" he hisses. Of course, he promptly gets dropped, but at least there's just the comfy booth cushion underneath him. Fortunately, Sojiro is distracted enough by his call to do noting more than glance absently back at the group and otherwise keep a finger in his non-phone ear to better hear his conversation.
"He's not a cat, despite how he looks," Ren remarks, and does not add, and sometimes acts. "He's a human being who was cursed into cat form by something supernatural."
"That's right," Morgana adds, licking a paw and smoothing down his ruffled fur. "It also stole my memories at the same time--but you don't need to worry about that." He puts his paw down and looks up at Futaba with bright eyes. "I'm glad we were able to save you in time, Futaba. It got pretty dicey in your Palace." Which Futaba also would know about.
Maybe it's getting to be close to time to discussing both of those things...? Especially since--
"Hey, I've got to step outside a moment," Sojiro calls to the two of them, one hand on the receiver of his smartphone. "You two all right?"
Ren nods. Sojiro heads out the door and resumes his conversation there, where he can't be overheard--and he, conveniently, can't overhear the others.
<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
The cosmic horror of realizing that a cat can talk is weighing substantially on Futaba's heart, on her soul, and her thin little shoulders. Fortunately, Ren is able to offer a cogent explanation for what is going on and *why she didn't know*.
After she drops Morgana.
Sojiro looks over-- but it's a false alarm!!
Futaba continues staring at Morgana, apparently not afraid but certainly baffled; perhaps dismayed. She reaches out with one hand JUST as Ren reminds her that he is, in fact, not a cat... he's been cursed into being a human. Futaba's hand curls in the air for a moment.
"A curse..."
Well, she can relate, can't she. Even so, Morgana, in a completely human way, licks his paw and smooths out his fur. "Ah, and amnesia too, huh..." She seems to be taking it on faith. This may be too much. She picks her coffee back up.
"... were you the little guy, in the Palace?" Futaba asks, quietly, before taking a slurp of the coffee, still boggling at Morgana a little. She steals small looks away. Then Sojiro addresses her -- kind of. "Um -- s'okay... he's got stinky breath," Futaba mumble-says, which is probably completely in standard parameters, as well as being potentially...
TRUE?
Ridiculous. A gentleman would certainly brush regularly! ... don't ask how he does it.
Futaba looks back to Ren, finally. "... I guess... after all of it..."
"... so you weren't just being a friendly cat, huh..." Her voice is slowly getting quieter but it sounds thicker and less... unfocused? Than some of her early tones. No panicking, just... embarrassment? Or...
"... ah... thank you... I mean, for... for..."
There is a sudden and distinct... *sniffle* from her.
She takes another sip of the coffee.
"... your breath's not stinky..."
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
TOTALLY a human and not cat-like behavior there. Don't remark on it. DON'T REMARK ON IT.
Fortunately, Futaba does indeed not remark on it. Morgana nods at her guess. "In that world, I'm called Mona--we've all got codenames, for stealth purposes," he explains, continuing to keep his voice down. He nods to Ren and adds, "This one's codenamed Joker." (Ren nods in acknowledgement too.)
Then Futaba lies and claims to Sojiro that his breath is stinky.
"Wha--?!"
Fortunately, Sojiro leaves before this is put at issue at all. Morgana fumes for a moment--he might be too much of a gentleman to yell at Futaba, but that doesn't mean he isn't mad. Fortunately, when she takes it back a moment later of her own volition, that helps a lot.
"I get it. You need to feed him a line," he remarks. "You'll have to do that a lot going forward."
"If you want to be involved with the supernatural, anyway. If you'd rather focus on reintegrating into the regular world, I'd understand," Ren says. They give her a concerned look at her sniffling, then pick up their mug. "You're welcome," they say simply, and take a sip.
They'd never abandon someone who begged them for help. That's the long and short of it.
"You're right, though," Morgana adds. "I was watching over you to make sure nothing happened." He nods to Ren. "This guy and his friends all have school, but I don't have to worry about that for right now, so I was the obvious pick. I'm already brilliant and learned in all the ways of the master thief, anyway!" he boasts, raising a paw to his white chest.
"You've probably got a lot of questions," Ren adds. "We've got a lot of questions for you too. Would you mind getting together soon with everyone so we can all lay our cards on the table?" There are some disturbing things that happened in Futaba's Palace; the Black Mask took such a keen, disturbing interest in her, and Laurent claimed he'd spoken to her in the real world... Those are things she definitely needs to know about, whether she knows anything about them or not.
<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
Code names. They have *codenames*. A couple of details slip into place - of course she didn't know who all of them were, they've thought of that in case people overhear them. And they're in costumes.
She was in costume, Futaba remembers, but before the question of the outfit of one's heart's rebellion can come back to like, there is more *feline wisdom* being dispensed. (Human wisdom.)
'You need to feed him a line,' the kitty says. It's not just that he's talking, but that it's intelligent, even thoughtful. Morgana is a cat of mysterious qualities, and it's probably no wonder that Futaba is now gazing at him intensely.
It is *curiosity* on her face. Not masked horror, but fascination.
Ren speaks further. Her head turns towards them. She takes a deep breath and lets it out as -
'Reintegrating into the regular world'
A regular world of... thinks Futaba, and a number of things come after that list, scrolling in her mind like an unfolding search recommendation. Many of them are furious. Others aren't.
Her eyes turn down, and she picks up her spoon. Clink, clank. Clatter. "...And you're all in school..." she echoes their words, before looking back at Morgana. Who's boasting. But with justice. He's proud that he helped me, thinks Futaba obscurely--
-- and before she can think her hand has already moved to pet Morgana!! What is this technique!?
"I'm still kind of... waking up. I was wondering if you'd be here at all, a little bit, even though... I mean, I could tell stuff had been moved, so it couldn't have all been a dream," Futaba continues, staring at the diminishing plate of curry, "but..."
Futaba exhales. "... I'd like to thank everyone. I can thank everyone," she affirms, looking upwards again to meet Ren's eyes. "Just, um. I need... two days. I promise," Futaba concludes, with haste, "that's just my estimate of the time I need to finish repairs and power up."
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Hell yeah they have codenames. Not only do they help protect their identities from the "proper" authorities who would squash them, they're also freaking cool.
Curiosity killed the cat, Futaba!! ...then then satisfaction brought it back, so by all means, keep staring. Morgana twitches his little ears but stares right back. "What? Is there something on my face?" Then, in very human-like fashion, he rubs his paw against said face.
Ren notes that sigh when they bring up reintegration. "Up to you, of course," they add. "But I assume you asked us to change your heart for a reason."
Sae had come by to threaten Sojiro with legal action concerning Futaba if he hadn't talked...
Futaba is 100% correct: Morgana is proud of helping her. Ren, too, though they're less expressive about it--less expressive in general, which is funny to say next to a cat that lacks the facial muscles for expressions. That changes in a moment.
Until that moment, Ren digs into their own curry, looking up at Futaba and nodding every so often as she speaks. She gives it two days before she's ready to see and speak to and thank everyone--makes it clear that she's not dragging her feet, that's just what she needs to get herself in order.
"All right. I believe you." They pause. Then: "Futaba."
Ren's dark eyes soften in a slight but sincere smile.
"This might not mean much coming from someone you barely know, but... I'm proud of you."