Rain: Hey guys! Rain here and I have an announcement to make. Hey guys…Rain here and this is MY last chapter for Persona V: Reversing the Wheel of Fate I had so much fun on but I want to focus more on my book and doing this and FF (For me) has been more harming than good so I decided to end my time here.

Originally, I was going to delete all of my fics but my cousin Blues convinced me that not only should they stay up but he can take over so I'm leaving all my fics in his capable hands. Besides, he's played through Royal so he knows it better than I do.

I want to thank every single person that has reviewed my stories and no worries, each of my fics will get their last chapter with me as the main writer but after that, It's all Blues. So sit back, relax and enjoy the show!

Persona V: Reversing the Wheel of Fate
Chapter Thirty

"I tried hard but where did we go wrong?

I hope we could... but I won't start all over again."

It was nightfall when Ren found himself waking up from the vibration in his right pocket, the familiar tune of "Way of life" coming out muffled.

Ren found himself cuddled close against Ann, his forehead pressed against her chest, their arms loosely wrapped around one another protectively. At first, Ren was confused but it was then the memory of how he wound up here flashed through his mind.

He bared his soul to Ann. Something that he wasn't prepared to do but talking to his parents and seeing Sumire again had awakened the raw hurt that he had forced down when he got on that train to stay with Sojiro.

But despite it, he felt more at ease from the outburst of emotions. Unlike when he had to battle the world back in his hometown, he was not alone here. And his new friends had shown him this.

Ren pulled his phone out and saw that it was Sojiro who was calling him. Ren answered the phone and placed it to his ear and mumbled "Hello?"

"Kid! Where in the world are you?!" Came Sojiro's angry voice.

Ren gently pulled back from Ann's grasp, which caused her to open her eyes sleepily. "Ren?" she questioned groggily as she leaned up from the couch.

"Miss Kawakami called and said that you never showed up to her class and you didn't come here so where are you?!" Sojiro shouted.

"I'm sorry," Ren said genuinely. "I…I had something bad happen today and I couldn't take it. I know it doesn't make up for me leaving but I was really bad off…"

There was silence on the other line before a low sigh was heard. "Just get back to café kid. We'll talk more there, okay?"

"Okay Sojiro-san," Ren said before the line went dead and his cellphone switched off. Ren suddenly felt guilty. Sojiro sounded stressed out. He was a grump but he gave Ren a place to call home and he didn't want to stress him out.

Maybe he should do something for him as a thank you.

"Well, I better get going," Ren said softly. "But before I do…I just wanted to say thank you…"

Ann eyed for a moment before she shook her head and smiled, still a little groggy from being woken up. "Ren, you never have to thank me for being there. After everything we've been through with Kamoshida…With all of us sharing our shame, our failures and our triumph. I feel like you, Shiho, Haru, Morgana are like my siblings…I can't see myself without any of you now. And I can't let one of us hurt so much."

Ann reached over and placed a kiss on his forehead and said "So cheer up. We'll face her together if we see her. I won't let you be alone ever again."

Ren felt touched by the gesture to the point he felt his eyes watering but he pushed it back and gave her a smile. "I know I don't have to but thank you Ann…" Ren said.

Ann merely smiled in response.

Ren then blinked in confusion. "Wait…You didn't mention Ryuji at all during that…" Ren said to her. Ann blushed a bit at this.

"Ryuji is…In a different level then the rest of you. I don't know where to place him yet," Ann admitted. "He's more than a friend and a sibling but I don't know how…"

"What do you mean Ann?" Ren asked.

"I…I um…D-Don't you have to see Sojiro-san?" Ann asked him, obviously flustered by his question.

Ren squinted his eyes at her in suspicion as he said "Hmm Okay, I'll leave you off the hook but eventually, you'll need to tell me how you see him."

"Well…Are you able to help me with that?" Ann asked him. "I don't mean to put you on the spot but I've been feeling these feelings for him and It's confusing to wade through it alone an-"

"I'll be happy to," Ren responded with a grin on his face.

"Really? Wow…T-Thank you…I can't promise that I'll make sense a lot of the time but I want to figure this out and will do what I can to do it," Ann told him with a wide grin.

It was then Ren heard that familiar voice in his head.

"I am thou, thou art I…
Thou hast acquired a new vow.

It shall become the wings of rebellion
that breaketh thy chains of captivity.

With the birth of the Lovers Persona,
I have obtained the winds of blessing that
shall lead to freedom and new power…"

'Huh….This is weird….' Ren thought. She became his confidant by talking about Ryuji with her? How strange but he will go with the flow on this one…

"When you're ready to start your own investigation about your feelings, let me know. For now, I better get going…No need to get Sojiro even more angry at me," Ren said before the two shared a tight and supportive hug that said the remainder of what the two needed to say to one another.

Ren pulled back and made his way to the living room doorway. He turned around and said, "See you tomorrow, Sis."

The large smile on Ann's face had him smiling all the way home.

"I see," Sojiro said as Ren sat in front of him.

LeBlanc was empty and it was just the two of them sitting in the middle booth, sitting across from one another with a cup of coffee in front of them. The minute Ren had arrived back at the café, Sojiro was there waiting for him.

Instead of trying to bullshit the older man with a lie, Ren swallowed his reservations and told the man the truth about why he cut the rest of school day.

The man gave him a home, even if it was in the attic of his store. No sense in disrespecting him by lying. "Considering the situation, I can't be too angry at you," Sojiro said after he took a sip of coffee. "But I have to ask. Why didn't you come to me with these problems?"

"Admittedly Sojiro-san, you have done so much to help me," Ren admitted. "You gave me a home and put up with me. I didn't want to drag you down when you already aren't too thrilled with me…."

Ren glanced at the coffee cup that sat in his hands.

Sojiro let out a soft sigh and asked "Did you know I have to report to your probation officer twice a month?"

Ren nodded.

"It's been a pain in my ass to write extra crap. With the incident with Kamoshida and you getting stabbed by students under his employ. It hasn't been pretty but those incidents were out of your control. The emotional aspect of it I am willing to say is not under your control either. You got dealt a really shit hand and having to confront it can make you react," Sojiro told him.

"However, how you react is in your control and I don't need your ass doing poorly in school or skipping it because of facing your past," Sojiro admonished. "Which is why whenever something like this happens again, you come to me and talk to me. No more skipping school because remember, if anything happens, you got to juvie and we can't have that. You're a pain in my ass but I see there's something good in you and I don't want to see that wasted. Got it?"

Ren nodded.

"Good," Sojiro said before his phone began to ring a song he wasn't expecting.

"I did it so hard. I did my best

So, a bit (heart). I ask you just a little bit

Quickly chocolate. Please give me chocolate quickly!

Pass me chocolate! Chocolate please!"

"I-Is that Baby Metal?" Ren asked with a snicker but a quick stare from Sojiro stopped the laugh in its tracks.

Sojiro answered the phone and said "Hey…Hm? What's the matter? Hm, Yeah, I'm leaving now. Just closing up the shop…..The usual right? *chuckle* Alright. See you soon." Ren noticed a small smile on Sojiro's face as the older man stared at the phone for a moment then shook his head and placed it back in his pocket.

"Now before this, I was going to ask you something when you got home. As you can tell, I'm busy in both my work life and personal life and I wanted to see if you would be willing to work for me. You won't be doing it for free. If you help me out, I will teach you out to make the perfect cup of coffee," Sojiro said.

"I do love my coffee and I did want to do something as a thank you for putting up with me…" Ren said with a thoughtful expression before he nodded and smiled. "Count me in."

"Good. I'll be counting on you now kid," Sojiro said with a grin.

And like with many others before, the mysterious voice appeared in his head.

"I am thou, thou art I…
Thou hast acquired a new vow.

It shall become the wings of rebellion
that breaketh thy chains of captivity.

With the birth of the Hierophant Persona,
I have obtained the winds of blessing that
shall lead to freedom and new power…"

'I am never going to get used to that…' Ren thought.

"Yo dude! How you feeling?!"

Ren turned around to see Ryuji. Ren felt much better after a night a rest but he was still a little uneasy but as long as he had his friends and his new sister in Ann, things would be okay. He could face seeing…her again.

"I'm living the dream Ryuji," Ren said as he gave Ryuji a high five.

"Yeah…" Ryuji said. "Look bro, we met Sumire…"

Ren was startled by this.

"I'm sorry?" Ren asked.

"Yeah. She bumped into me asking if I knew you. Said I did. Me, Shiho and Haru spoke to her yesterday. Told us everything," Ryuji said with a sympathetic smile. "It sucks that she did that to you but she seems sorry about it."

"Hm…" Ren hummed faintly.

"But that is totally your business RenRen. No way in hell I'm going to wade into that mess," Ryuji said with a smile. "But when you're ready to do that and you need help, I got your back."

Ren looked to Ryuji and gave a grateful smile then replied with "Thanks Ryuji…"

The two continued to walk down the halls of their school but as they walked passed, a student holding a book in front of their face began to walk behind them. Ren happened to see the student trailing them but Ren thought nothing of it.

But as they walked up the second floor and began to walk to Ryuji's classroom, Ren saw that the student was still trailing them. Ren nudged Ryuji and motioned him to look back.

Ryuji looked back and saw the student as well and gave Ren a look of confusion. "Let's go upstairs instead…" Ryuji nodded and the pair went up to the third floor of the school and Ren could see the student still trailing them.

"Turn right here," Ren whispered. Ryuji nodded and the R&R Connection took the next right turn and walked down the hall until they saw the opening to the boy's bathroom.

The two swiftly went into the doorway and through the body of students, they saw the student with the book in front of their face. "Dude…" Ryuji whispered. "They actually followed…"

The student removed the book and the frustrated look of Makoto appeared. She huffed and quickly walked back into the main hallway and walked off. "Was that Nijiima-Sempai?" Ryuji asked.

"It was…But why?" Ren asked.

"U-Um…Guys…" A voice said from behind them.

Ren and Ryuji jumped and turned around with their fists cocked only to see the terrified Mishima looking back at them. "Oh, man it's just you," Ryuji said as Ren breathed out a sigh of relief. "You gotta not scare us like that."

"S-Sorry…But this must be fate b-because I wanted to speak to you guys," Mishima said.

"You did?" Ren asked.

Mishima nodded as a blush streaked across his face. "B-But not here. Is there somewhere private we can talk?"

Ren and Ryuji glanced at one another.

"I'll get Haru. You go get Ann and Shiho," Ren said to Ryuji.

"Man, we are on this rooftop more than we are in class," Ann said with amusement.

"Yeah, it's absolutely crazy," Haru added on.

"Alright Mishima-kun. What is it that you wished to show us?" Shiho asked her friend kindly.

Mishima nodded and pulled out his laptop from his backpack and flipped open the top and after logging into the Phan-site, he held it open and said "I was getting rid of the s-standard "This guy stole my lunch" type emails when I came across this one."

Mishima pointed at the specific one and said "This woman said that her ex-boyfriend, Nakanohara Natsuhiko has been stalking her and she wishes for him to stop. I-I figured this one would be serious so I wanted to run it by you guys to see if you'll accept."

"Writing it down," Ryuji said as he pulled out a piece of paper and began to write.

"Stalking…" Shiho murmured with a frown on her face.

Anna and Haru had one as well.

"I think you can tell her we'll accept," Ren and Ryuji said in unison.

"P-Perfect. I-I will let her know right away…" Mishima said with a unsure smile. "D-Did I do?"

Ren smiled and ruffled Mishima's hair and replied "You did perfect. We'll take the rest from here."

Mishima nodded and with a red face, rushed off the roof.

"You're so affectionate with him," Ryuji noted as he looked to Ren.

"I know but after the abuse he's been through, I want to make sure he gets a lot of positive encouragement," Ren replied before he crossed his arms and added "We should be a little friendlier to him. He may not ever be a Phantom Thief like the rest of us but he is one of our own."

The group nodded.

"But now we have a name but I wonder how we'll be able to locate his palace," Haru said.

"Leave that part to me," Morgana's voice said from behind the group, which caused them to turn around and face him.

"Where have you been?" Ren asked.

"Investigating Mementos," Morgana replied.

"Mementos?" Ryuji asked. "Dude, I think it's called Mentos and why are you investigating candy."

"Not the candy you doofus," Morgana said with a swipe of his paw. "Me-men-tos and today, we're going there."

"And with that, Togo Hifumi was won the match!"

A loud cheer was heard around her but Hifumi only stared in despondence. In the distance, she could see her mother smirking proudly but it only infuriated her. She should be celebrating her victory but it felt hollow.

Hifumi gave a small bow to her opponent and stood up from the table and walked off the stage without accepting her award.

And without going near her smirking mother, Togo Mitsuyo.

Instead, she went back to her dressing room and locked the door and after a few seconds, she let out a scream of pure anger. This was all she could do to release the stress, the shame and the fury she felt at once again facing an opponent who was coerced into taking the fall.

"Aww. What's the matter champ?"

Hifumi's head snapped up and in front of her was a mirror of her reflection but what troubled her was that her reflection had yellow eyes glowing and a cocky smirk on her face.

And Hifumi didn't have either.

"We did it. We once again proved that we're the best," her reflection stated with a toothy grin. "Isn't it thrilling?"

"W-What is this?" Hifumi asked. "Who are you? How is this happening?

The reflection, still with the large grin, tilted their head and replied with "This? You mean me, Champ? Well…I'm you silly."

Rain: So a lowkey chapter with two starts of social links. So what the plan I have is that some social links will have some changes to them. Ryuji's for example, is going to be the largest change compared to the game. And with this lowkey chapter, ends my time on this fic but the fic is not done. Blues will take over from here and trust me, you guys will love one of his biggest ideas with the new palace involving our favorite Shogi girl.

So with this, I say goodbye and come next chapter, say hello to Blues!