i've been told i'm hot when murderous

I can only imagine how tired he must have been by the end. In my head, it’s been five years since this business started in earnest. Five years of this every single day. From 14 to 19. No matter how much he claims it was his decision or his plan, I refuse to allow that child to bear the responsibility for this.

What song makes you feel better?

What is your go to comfort show?

Reading or writing? Why?

Whats your favorite feeling?

How do you like to take care of yourself?

What’s your favorite candle scent?

Who do you feel most like yourself around?

Whats a fabric/texture that’s nostalgic for you?

Best childhood moment?

When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried? (or just felt really good afterwards)

Do you have a comfort item? Tell us about it!

What calms you down?

Bath or shower to relax?

Whats something upcoming that you’re excited for?

Comfort food?

What’s something you want to create soon?

How do you feel best loved?

What age in life do you think you’ll feel most yourself at?

Have you ever written or received a love letter?

Tell us about a memory you hold close to your heart.

Tea, Coffee, or hot cocoa?

Name of your favorite playlist?

Have you ever received flowers?

Who is your bestfriend?

If your soul was a color, what would it be?

If you could live anywhere with anyone you want, where would it be and who would you bring?

Do you like to garden? Have you ever grown something?

What are you proudest of?

Are you a kind person?

“Wait… ZAM??? I FUCKINGHATE YOU IMGONNA KILL YOU FUCK YOU”

"I do though!" Along with the medicine Joker brought them, nutrition was also important to their visits to Mementos. The Lablanc curry was delicious, but also messy to tote around and eat while standing around or crammed into Mona-bus.

Finds out from Makoto that boys don't like vegetables.

"...what do they eat then?"

Goro glances at his phone for the tenth time in the last five minutes. He's early. He knows he got here early- somehow still too awkward around his girlfriend to be able to risk being late. To the date. That he planned.

Her date, with her absolutely incredible boyfriend, that Ren is head over heels crazy over, and no, she isn’t nervous at all, why would she be nervous? They’ve been on dozens of dates by now, so there’s no reason for her to be nervous.

No reason at all, Ren reminds herself as she practically tears apart her closet searching for the right outfit (she settles on the soft grey sweater Ann had gifted her a few weeks earlier because it “wasn’t seeing any use in my closet anyway, Ren,” with a cute black skirt. Immediately after, she scraps the entire thing. Ren isn’t always meticulous with her outfits—that’s something reserved mainly for her shifts at Crossroads, when the dysphoria is hitting a little too hard and she needs to feel like a girl, or, as she is quickly becoming aware, dates with Goro. Finally, she decides to wear a red dress and black cropped jacket over it—just in case it gets chilly. Or wait, maybe she should ditch the jacket, so that if she got cold Goro could offer her his? That’s the “romantic” thing, right? Ren has no idea. She’s relying mostly on the knowledge she’s garnered from the shitty romcoms she’s seen—both as a guilty pleasure and for the Phantom Thieves’ monthly movie nights.)

Right as Ren is pulling off the jacket again, deciding that it’ll probably be fine if she goes without, she glances at the nearest clock, and yelps in surprise. If she doesn’t leave now, she’s going to be late, and she hasn’t even attempted to do her hair or makeup yet! Well. It’ll have to be fine, she decides, smearing on the lipgloss Haru suggested she try out, patting Morgana on the head as a goodbye as she hurries out the door (her final outfit ends up being the red dress, a gold belt she’d thrown on, a nice pair of hoop earrings (she really hopes the earrings aren’t too much), and some black lace-up boots).

She sprints on the way to the station. Knowing Goro, he’ll have gotten there at least 10 minutes early, and here Ren is, running late. She’s antsy on the ride, fidgeting with the hem on her dress, and the second the doors open, she’s out, hurrying past passerby and yelping a few apologies behind her.

Finally, Ren makes it to the funfair, with… zero minutes to spare. In fact, she’s bridging on being five minutes late, she realizes despairingly, glancing at her phone. Her eyes dart through the thick crowd, and then lock on—

Despite her bashful behavior, there’s a playful grin on her lips as she twirls for Akechi. Make no mistake: despite her tendency to blend into the crowd (something that remains a habit even now, after all this time), Ren is far from shy. In fact, embracing her true self has only allowed her confidence to skyrocket.

Oh shit.

Her bag.

She freezes, heat rushing to her cheeks. “Um,” Ren says. And then, “Well.”

But it’s…

Even if she had her wallet on her, the ¥11,600 in total would have made a significant impact on Ren’s funds. It’s not like she’s sorely lacking in money—she works several jobs on the side, so she has a fairly steady income—but most of her money goes to her necessities (as well as previously to buying the Phantom Thieves’ supplies). And Goro just forks out that money like it’s nothing.

Goro knows he’s probably gone bright red. Somehow, Ren’s always managed to fluster him with just a simple teasing one-liner. He loves her for it, annoying as it may be.

"It's not a test, Goro, I was just asking," she says, playfully kissing him on the cheek. As she pulls away, she notices that her lip gloss has smeared on his skin, so Ren lifts a hand to gently wipe it away. Though really it just kind of smears into his skin, and she has to cover her mouth to hide her smile. "Oops. Here, let me-"

He scans the stalls. The usual funfair games- deceptively easy and probably rigged.

Her eyes catch on a booth—one of those crappy shooting games where you have to try to hit all the targets with a water gun. Most likely either the stream of water isn’t strong enough to knock them over or the targets move when you try to shoot them. But still… Ren glances at Akechi with a grin, mind drifting back to the little competition they’d had so long ago, with the arcade shooting game. She’d still been learning her way around a gun—through the Metaverse, of course—back then, but now, she’d go as far as to say that she’s really skilled at it.

Maybe it’s time for a rematch?

Ren got a glimpse of the way the game worked when her and Goro were heading over. It seemed like the firing power of the water gun was just fine, but what made it ‘difficult’ was the fact that all of the targets were moving. Well… difficult to anyone who wasn’t used to shooting moving targets on a semi-regular basis. Anyway, the timer is ticking down, so Ren snags the water gun, testing the weight in her grip. It’s lighter than the guns she used in the Metaverse, but that’s fine. Ren can adjust.

She readies her aim, narrowing her eyes before firing off and hitting several targets in quick succession. She aims for the targets with higher points first, with a focus that befitted Joker, leader of the Phantom Thieves.

He plays a decent game- it’s not helped by Ren trying to distract him with teasing remarks.

His score is 9520. He stares.

Five points.

He lost. By five points.

”What was it you said before?” she asks innocently, blinking at him. “I’m… not winning this one?”

She doesn’t mind talking to strangers anyway. That’s pretty much how she’s made a vast majority of her companions.