Of Phantoms and Thieves

Obey

“He’s showing no signs of waking up,” Morgana sighed, frowning down at Ryuji.

“No, no, no...” Ann muttered. “Come on, Ryuji! Wake up...!”

She took his hand. No response came from Ryuji.

“Morgana, Ann,” Yusuke said to get their attention.

Ann and Morgana looked to Yusuke. Yusuke held up his phone and pointed to a long series of text messages.

“What’s that?” Morgana asked.

“The group chat,” Yusuke informed. “Haru has been constantly messaging Ren. Something troublesome has come up. I was about to read it.”

“Then read it. This might be important,” Morgana replied.

Yusuke skimmed over the texts. His expression slowly grew more worried. Then his eyes widened, and the phone fell from his hand.

“What is it?!?” Morgana exclaimed. He walked over to the phone and read part of the texts. He looked up at Yusuke. “What’s going on?!”

“Ren has gone missing...” Yusuke murmured. “He’s not there at the hospital.”

Ann peered over at Morgana and Yusuke, as if coming out of a trance.

“Sorry, what’s happening?”

Morgana’s ears flicked in annoyance. “Ren’s missing.”

“He’s missing? As in?”

“He’s not at the hospital. He’s gone. The staff have looked all over for him. He’s not there.”

“He hasn’t been responding to the text messages either,” Yusuke added, picking up his phone again. “That is, until...”

“Until?” Ann quizzed. “There’s more?”

Yusuke scrolled down more.

“He said...” Yusuke’s face scrunched up in confusion. “That’s strange... ‘Until the end of tomorrow, I’ll be gone. Unless you find me, there’s no turning back. He has taken me hostage, and this is my only escape. Away from Tokyo. Away from the heart of the Phantom Thieves.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Ann questioned.

“From the sound of it, I don’t think it’s suicide like you guessed,” Morgana remarked. “I mean, ‘Away from Tokyo.’ Do you think... Do you think he might be running away?”

“Running away? But to where? Where would he go?”

“Well, think about what Futaba said. He knows how palaces work, and if he were to die, that would make it crumble on us. Ren cares too much for that to happen. But... Remember where the location was?”

“It was life,” Yusuke offered.

“Do you think that wherever Ren is living, that would be where his palace is? Or... more like his home? If I’m right and he perceives Café Leblanc as his current home, then if he were to move somewhere...”

“Then his palace would move as well,” Ann concluded.

“Precisely. As long as he sees himself as our protector, the walls he resides in is his fortress and he won’t let us in to see the pain he’s bottled up.”

“Ren said the end of tomorrow,” Yusuke reminded them. “If that’s the case, then we’ve got today and tomorrow. Which means we have to find the treasure today, send the calling card, and then fight his shadow tomorrow. There will be no time for Makoto or Ryuji to heal before we take action.”

“We almost have a complete route to the treasure secure,” Morgana told Yusuke and Ann. “I bet we could send the card today.”

“Hey guys?” Futaba called from downstairs. “I’m not getting a read on Ren’s phone. The signal is gone. How are we supposed to send him a calling card if his phone isn’t working and we don’t even know where he is? Not to mention, we can’t freely pass between reality and the Metaverse?”

“How about we try hacking again?” Ann suggested.

“For... both? You want me to hack both?”

“It’s our best option. First, hack the Meta-Nav if you can. Then try... what did you call it?”

“My Futaba Cannon.”

“Yeah... that.”

“On it! It won’t be too long!”

“Thank goodness we have Futaba,” Yusuke breathed.

“I’ll message Haru and tell her the plan,” Ann told them. “Morgana, can you go down and stay with Futaba? She might need some help.”

“Whatever you want, Lady Ann!”

Morgana zipped down the stairs.

“I really hope this works,” Ann sighed. She glanced down at Ryuji. “Hang in there. We’ll save Ren.”