The group met up one by one outside Untouchable. Ren had gotten there first and was teasing Caroline. She had been more well-behaved since the real Igor came back, which gave Ren the urge to bully her.
He quickly found out she still had a baton.
Rubbing his sore head, Ren suddenly began to talk to Morgana, whom he had coincidentally run into on the train. Morgana had snuck on and was hiding in an overhead luggage area.
"You doing okay, Morgana? You seemed bothered about something earlier. Want to talk about it at Leblanc later?"
The not-cat gave a sigh and then perked up.
"Yeah, I'll talk about it with you later. I just feel like someone is watching us all the time, and it's annoying."
"You too, huh?" Ann muttered as she approached with Shiho and Orihime, uncomfortably rubbing her arm.
Apparently, the girls all had the same feeling as well.
That worried Ren a bit, but he put it aside.
'All in due time,' he thought firmly.
One step at a time.
Instead of building a mental system to make decisions based on scenarios he imagined and theorized, Ren was beginning to take things as they came and trust himself more.
He hadn't even noticed.
But the girls did.
Noticing his relaxed demeanor, the girls relaxed as well.
Their leader wasn't afraid, so why should they be?
They blushed at Ren's rebellious smirk, but also felt encouraged, each of them giving him one of their own.
"Where is Ryuji?" Shiho asked, looking around.
"Probably playing a video game."
"Yeah, and Yusuke is probably painting."
"You probably aren't wrong," Ren sighed, thinking about his goofball friends.
---
They were indeed being watched.
Rukia was nearby, hiding in an alley.
Or rather, a tiny space between two buildings that most people wouldn't fit into.
Which made her extremely bothered, especially as she watched Orihime, Ann, and Shiho approaching.
Glancing at their chests, her face darkened.
Not one of them would fit in here.
She smacked her head against the wall in defeat.
Lost in feelings of envy, she didn't even notice that the spiritual pressure pouring off of them was what made them sensitive to her glances.
---
"I'M SORRY I'M LATE!" Ryuji exclaimed with a bow as he saw the glares he received from the girls when he explained he had been on a roll in Tekken and couldn't afford to leave.
"...Should I bow too?" Yusuke asked, seeing Ryuji make a fool of himself.
"No. He's just an idiot," the entire group said in unison.
"I can't argue with it this time!" Ryuji groaned.
"Well, I asked to meet up here because we need to buy some new gear," Ren said, grabbing their attention.
"Yeah, my mace is not doing so hot..."
"Weapons?" Yusuke frowned.
"Remember when we told you about Shadows?"
"I thought it was a metaphor."
"No, we literally fight demons."
'Not demons,' everyone's Personas rang out in their heads after Ryuji bluntly explained how he saw it.
Ignoring the annoyed Persona chattering in his head, Ren continued his reasoning.
"Yusuke doesn't have any sort of way to protect himself right now. He has no weapons, no training, and no Persona. He's going to be in danger. We don't only need to upgrade our gear. We need to get Yusuke something he can use easily."
"Rocket launcher."
"We're thieves, Ryuji," Morgana deadpanned.
"Hey, he'd be pretty safe if he could just blow shit up, right?" he answered with a shrug.
Morgana was silent.
He wasn't wrong!!!
Ren gave a chuckle and motioned for the team to head into the cramped store.
DING.
---