Life Will Change | Akechi x Reader x Ren

1: "His name is Ren... Ren Amamiya."

"Ugh! This is gettin' outta hand!" Ryuji yells with a strained grunt as he uses his persona to fight off the large black and blue tendrils sent after the group by Dr. Maruki.

"I've got you, Skull!" Sumire quickly jumps into action and she manages to hit a weak point on the tendril aiming for Ryuji, but she's immediately knocked down by a different tendril by brute force. Another one of the other tendrils is about to attack her again, but Futaba reacts quickly and uses a green shield barrier to protect her from the strike.

"Don't back down! Keep... fighting!" Ann struggles to yell, trying to encourage the entire group in the heat of the intense battle.

"Noir!" You yell. You and Haru use your melee weapons and take down a tendril together. You both nod at each other and separate to help your other teammates fight.

"We have to end this now! There's no other option!" Yusuke says confidently. He and Makoto try shooting in Maruki's direction only for their bullets to be blocked by the tendrils themselves, which was the plan all along so the tendrils wouldn't try to evade the bullets and still take damage.

"Yeah! Let's win this together!" Morgana says as he heals the group from their injuries.

With one last tendril to go, Ren makes the final blow and it drops lifeless to the floor. It remains silent for a brief moment except for the heavy breathing of everyone as you all wait for whatever situation came about next. And though it seemed your efforts were finally working, everything is inevitably thrown out the window as Dr. Maruki revives all of the tendrils you each had taken out all over again.

"Enough!" Suddenly Dr. Maruki raises his arm in the air, and the tendrils quickly shoot out in your direction, the attack hits almost everyone and knocks them down, pushing them to the point of being momentarily out of commission. You, Ren, and Goro barely remain standing.

"... Both of you... stand your ground," Goro commands with a husky voice and he uses an item to heal the entire party at once, tossing the useless, empty cylinder-container to the side. As the rest of your teammates slowly try to recover from the blow, the three of you stand tall and stare straight across the way at Dr. Maruki who in turn did the same, but all by his lonesome self. For the first time until now, he seemed truly... alone.

Dr. Maruki looks at you with desperate eyes, and you flinch under his emotional gaze. "And last but not least... you, L/n. In this reality, I granted everyone's wish. For a brief time, your teammates lived their dreams. None of them were unhappy with their lives. No regrets, and no misunderstandings. Every single one of them had what they most wanted in this world when my reality came to fruition... except you." You stiffen at his words and break eye contact, not wanting to be reminded by that fact. "During our counseling sessions, you never gave me a chance to figure out what it was that you wanted most from this cruel, unforgiving world, so I was unable to grant your true wish." Dr. Maruki takes a few steps forward in your direction, the tendrils following him providing protection from any danger. Goro and Ren get into a fighting position as you continue to just stare at Maruki, not knowing what to do. "So, tell me Y/n L/n. What is it that you truly desire?"

You continue to stare down at the floor in anguish and think to yourself. 'What is it that I desire...? Is that even important? What's the point in answering him? We're here fighting Dr. Maruki because there's no point... it doesn't matter. But why has it come to this? How did I even end up in this situation? When I became one who steals hearts and desires... one who saves the world...  and now, one who saves reality... it all started when I became a Phantom Thief.'

Months ago, back in April...

"Hey, did you guys hear about the new transfer student that's coming to Shujin?"