Persona: The Phantom Masquerade.

"Yes… this one will do… A soul with great adaptability. A soul who longs for control. A perfect soul to consume. No matter what, I will win our bet." A deep voice resonated through the air before something resembling a hand reached down.

Snatching a soul from within the ether, the strange being looked down at the bluish flame it held in its hand before letting out a dark chuckle.

"You think humanity can beat me… No… How can humans ever hope to defeat their God of Control? Igor… you placed your faith in your fool. But what if your fool becomes corrupted? Divided?" The God then moved through space before standing in front of a young dark-haired boy sleeping on a train.

Reaching out, he placed the flame-like soul inside of the young boy before vanishing, leaving only the faint sounds of laughter.

— —- —

Waking up with a startled look, Ren Amamiya looked around in confusion.

"Where… am I?" He asked before grabbing his head in pain. Memories assaulted his mind for a few minutes before the pain subsided.

His initial question had been answered by the memories he had regained, but that only opened the door up for more questions. The teen could vividly remember dying. He remembered who he was. He felt like a stranger in his new body, like an imposter. But no matter how much he thought, he couldn't wrap his head around what was happening.

"Well… fuck it, I guess it is what it is." He said to himself as he took a deep breath and slapped his face lightly.

Those words had carried him a lot in his past life. It was a simple phrase, but it was one of the most used within his repertoire. He was Ren, that was a fact. He was once again alive, another fact. He wasn't going to complain about getting another chance at life.

From what he could remember, he had gotten in trouble after trying to save a woman from getting assaulted by a drunk dude. The guy must have been loaded or something because he got away without getting in trouble. In fact, the drunk dude had even put assault charges on him. Right now, he was moving to Tokyo to serve his probation. If he were to get into any trouble now, then he would probably end up in jail.

"Guess it's the simple life for me now. Gotta be a goody two shoes. No crime for me, no sir." He said to himself in a joking manner, earning a few strange looks from the passengers next to him.

Giving an apologetic smile, he shut his mouth before continuing in his mind.

'I should probably just go to Leblanc and get some rest. I need to process everything that's going on fully…'

Following the directions, he remembered he left the train and began his journey towards his new home. Weaving through the massive crowds felt somewhat strange, but it wasn't anything too bad. Everything was going smoothly until he felt his phone vibrate. Taking out his phone to check it, he saw an app that depicted an eye with a star as a pupil opened.

The world around him slowed to a crawl before a giant blue flame appeared in the distance.

"Ah, it's official. I am going crazy. Well, it was a good run. Bummer, my mind gave out so quickly."

The blue flame then suddenly became engulfed by a silver flame. The silhouette that was being formed inside of the flames changed, becoming an unidentifiable figure. And the very next moment, as if it had never happened, the world returned to normal. The strange eye app still remained on the phone, almost as if taunting him. For a second, he considered deleting it before shrugging his shoulders and tapping on the eye again. 

It opened to a strange navigation app, prompting him to input a destination. However, no matter what he wrote down, it kept getting an error. 

After getting bumped a few times by people walking by, he decided to put his phone away and begin his march to the cafe he would be calling home for the next year. To his delight, the cafe he would be staying at was located in a more quiet part of the city, a place called Yongen-Jaya.

Eventually arriving at the small cafe, he was greeted by a middle-aged man with dark, slicked-back hair. Decorating his face was a pair of glasses and a goatee. He was preparing a cup of coffee for the two customers sitting in a booth. He moved as naturally as he breathed, letting the somewhat flowery smell of coffee coat the room.

Ren placed a soft smile on his face before relaxing his body to appear more welcoming. The act of putting on a mask to survive was something he had used to survive in the past. Body language was 55% of communication, and that was what Ren excelled at.

Turning around after hearing the bell at the door ring, he gave Ren a glance before finishing the coffee he was preparing and giving it to the customers.

"You must be the kid I am watching over, right? I am Sojiro Sakura. I was wondering what kind of unruly kid would show up… I guess I shouldn't judge a book by its cover."

Rubbing the back of his head with false embarrassment, Ren let out a few awkward laughs before saying.

"Ah, my name is Ren Amamiya. About the incident, it was a bit more of a misunderstanding. But well, you know what they say. No good deed goes unpunished."

Sojiro raised an eyebrow with interest before turning over to Ren and waving at him to follow him as he went up the stairs.

Above the cafe was a somewhat abandoned attic full of dust and a random assortment of boxes and bags full of coffee beans.

"I left you some blankets and a bed over there in the corner. It is up to you to clean this place up. I heard the gist of your situation when I decided to take you in, so I won't really blame you that much since it seems you already get it. But get into any trouble, and you are out of here. Do you understand? I am not going to be babysitting you 24/7, so I hope you learned your lesson and don't stick your head into anything stupid."

Nodding his head, Ren answered. 

"Sounds like a plan. And also, I wanted to thank you for taking me in. I'm sure it must have been a hassle."

Shaking his head, Sojiro couldn't help but let a small hint of a smile appear on his face before he answered.

"Don't be getting all emotional on me, kid. I'm just doing this as a favor to a friend." He said as he reached into his pocket and handed Ren a small journal. "I am supposed to report what you have been up to, so just write the general gist of it in this. I am too busy to monitor everything you do."

Sojiro then turned to walk back down the stairs to the cafe to take care of the customers before saying once again.

"Remember, if you get into any problems, you are out of here, kid. Jail isn't a nice place, so I suggest you stay out of it."

Once he was left alone, Ren threw the small journal into one of the shelves before muttering to himself. "Seems like a nice enough guy."

Rolling his sleeves, he turned around to look at the mess all around him before shaking his head in annoyance.

"This won't do. I can't think properly with such a mess around me."

Luckily for him, Sojiro had left him some cleaning supplies. So, after taking a deep breath, he began meticulously cleaning. Organizing everythign and cleaning until there wasn't a single dust particle in the room. Or, well, as close as you could get.

Hours had passed without Ren noticing, and it was only when he heard a whistle behind him that snapped him out of it that he saw Sojiro standing behind him.

"Damn, kid. I heard the ruckus up here. But I wasn't expecting you to be cleaning. This place is probably cleaner than it has been in years."

Glancing all across the room, Sojiro let out a large smile before nodding his head.

"I had forgotten how nice this attic was. Gotta give it to you, kid. I'm impressed. I was going to close up shop, but you probably must have developed quite an appetite from working so hard. I'll whip you up a bowl of curry. Though don't expect it to become the norm."

Ren let out a real smile as he admired his work before heading downstairs to eat. The curry had been thrown together pretty quickly, but it was surprisingly delicious. Ren devoured it just as quickly as it had been cooked, causing Sojiro to let out a satisfied smile before heading out the door, leaving the cleanup for Ren.

All together, he had some time to process everything as he had cleaned. To be honest, he had simply accepted the new world he had found himself in. The body he was in felt a tad weird still. His body was different than the one he was used to. He was also weaker than he was used to. But all of that could be worked on or adapted to in time. And right now, that was all he had. 

Time.