The Impostor's Game Begins.

(I forgot to repost Takemi's thief pic after deleting the announcement chap, so here it is again, lol.)

— — —

Ren lay on the floor of his room for a moment, taking in everything that had just happened. Mona sat next to him, tail waving back and forth curiously, waiting for him to speak. He had just finished delivering the calling card to Madarame and had come back expecting to deliver the good news, but then he had found Ren like this.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" Mona asked again, seeing the expression on Ren's face change as he looked deep in thought.

"You know, Mona… it's weird," Ren began, glancing at the countless flowers all around his room. "I feel like I should be freaking out, or devastated, or sad, or whatever. But I'm not."

"Hm?" Mona tilted his head, watching as Ren sat up with a slightly confused expression.

"I was… scared," Ren started, recounting everything that had happened in the past few hours, from his meeting with Elizabeth and Igor. He felt entirely out of control when talking to Igor, almost as if he could be crushed at any moment. It felt like he was facing a god.

Igor's words had weighed on him, meant to crush him down, but now that he was back in his room, he could think back to their interaction. The Arcana Igor listed, as if they saw him as nothing more than a pawn: Goro Akechi, Munehisa Iwai, Tae Takemi, Sadayo Kawakami, The Devil, Naoto Shirogane, Elizabeth, Sae Nijima, and Takuto Maruki.

-

It was strange, but he couldn't help but laugh now.

"Yeah, duh." he chuckled as he said thought about it.

Goro and he were playing their game; whoever slipped first would lose. He hardly knew Iwai; their relationship was purely business at the moment.

He had literally promised Tae she could use him as she wanted. Kawakami was using him for his money, and he was fine with it.

He didn't know who The Devil was supposed to be, but so what? And as for Naoto, she had been spying on him, of course she was suspicious.

Elizabeth didn't even need to be mentioned; it was clear she wanted to use him, but she would teach him in exchange. Even though he couldn't read her, he didn't feel any malice from her.

He knew Sae was trying to use the Thieves to get ahead in her career. That was literally the whole point of why they had contacted her, because she would try to use them.

Which only left Maruki. The doctor he hadn't visited in some time, yet he could still remember the words Maruki had told him during their first meeting: to live for himself.

As he explained everything to Morgana, he couldn't help but notice the frown on his face.

"Igor… " Mona began, his face complicated as he thought. "It hurts to remember… but it doesn't feel right."

Petting Mona's head, Ren chuckled as he stood up. 

"Wanna go on a walk? It'd be good to clear our heads before the heist tomorrow."

With a quick nod, Mona jumped onto Ren's bag, and as they stepped into the dark sky, Ren felt Mona's head poke out. It was quite calming, and as the two of them made their way through the busy city streets, Ren couldn't help but take in the sights. His mind felt clearer than ever, almost as if he was finally awake.

Igor had told him to his face exactly what he was, a pawn. It was a fact he knew; he was playing an unfair game, a game rigged from the start. A game meant to entertain Igor and whoever else was watching. Now it all made sense to him.

He had tried to run away from it before. After his talk with Maruki, he had thrown himself into his confidants, wanting to complete his Fool's Journey. That had been his mission, his purpose. Deep down, though, he still felt indebted to Igor. He had wanted to set a nice play for those watching him.

"Ren, you know you're not just a pawn," Mona said, breaking the silence. "You've got something special. The way you connect with people, how you inspire them. That's not something Igor can control."

Ren chuckled, shaking his head as his smile became wider, his golden eyes shining brighter than ever.

"No, I am a pawn. That's the fun part," Ren said, giving Mona a wink and leaving the cat confused. Before Mona could ask, Ren brought a finger to his lips in a shushing motion. "Don't you think?"

His conversation with Igor had been like a slap to the face, the slap he needed to fully realize what mattered to him. His confidants were his life; they were the ones he cared about. To try to place a bridge between him and them had been the wake-up call he needed.

Mona went silent for a few moments, thinking about the words. It was clear Ren was hinting at something, and after a few moments, a mischievous smile appeared on Mona's face.

"Oh!" Mona said, holding back his laughter as he gave a wink back. He had spent enough time watching Ren to understand what that mischievous look meant, and though he wasn't sure what Ren had planned, he had already sworn to follow him no matter what.

As the two of them walked, the persona hiding in Ren's shadow, Tartuffe, couldn't help but smile as he heard the conversation.

"Good. It's time for us to play the role of our lifetimes. We are the impostors and the hypocrites. I am thou, and thou art I, Trickster. I have been asleep until now, dreaming of this day."

As the pair walked, Ren felt Tartuffe's genderless voice echo in his soul. The delighted laughter sounded both practiced and rehearsed yet strangely genuine. Bringing a smile to Ren's face as he heard it.

There hadn't been any static.

— — —

[Madarame]

As Madarame walked back into his old shack, he couldn't help but accidentally shout the familiar words he used to. Habit was getting the better of him.

"Yusuke, I'm… home," he finished, the words trailing off near the end.

As he had expected, there was no answer.

He had heard that Yusuke had requested a room at his school, and they had asked him for permission. It seemed the boy had finally made his escape. Madarame sighed deeply, a mixture of anger and sorrow clouding his mind.

As he moved to look at the destroyed room, he couldn't help but feel the anger rise in him again. He had only ever given to Yusuke, and the day he took something in return, the boy had snapped at him. He destroyed the room and all of the paintings he had created.

Yet, as he stepped into the room, Madarame couldn't help but sigh. He knelt down to pick up one of the paintings, the very first painting Yusuke had been proud of, which had now been torn to pieces.

Holding the destroyed painting for some time, Madarame shook his head.

"He'll realize his mistakes soon enough, and then he'll be back." That's what he kept telling himself, but the slight unease in his stomach wouldn't leave no matter what. Moving to his studio, he revealed the painting he had been working on, his first original in a decade.

At its center, it was a large, deformed tree. The tree's dark, twisted trunk was violently split down the middle, with exposed, tangled roots spreading across the ground. Surrounding the tree were shattered mirrors, each reflecting fragmented images of a contorted face.

Scattered among the mirrors were broken art supplies, including paintbrushes, palettes, and canvases. The background was dominated by a stormy sky filled with swirling dark clouds and flashes of lightning. On one side of the painting, a shadowy figure with its back turned faded into the storm.

The entire scene was painted in moody, dark tones, with dramatic lighting from the lightning bolts casting intense shadows and creating a stark contrast with the bright shards of the mirrors.

After spending hours working on this painting, he eventually cleaned his brush before turning to the painting on his right, a recreation of one of Yusuke's destroyed paintings. The boy had acted too rashly, so he would fix his mistakes before he came back.

Once he was ready to return home, he stepped out only to see a small crimson card hanging on the door to his shack. There was a moment of confusion as he opened the card, looking at it before his expression twisted in anger.

[Sir Ichiryusai Madarame, a great sinner of vanity whose talent has been exhausted. The artist who uses his power over his students to shamelessly steal their ideas. You take the soul from the paintings you lay your hands on.

A failure as an artist.

An artist who would go as far as to desecrate their legacy by selling fake copies of the Sayuri. A scammer who lives only for the glory and praise of the masses. We have decided to make you confess with your own mouth for your crimes.

We will take your distorted desires.

Yours truly,

The Phantom Thieves of Hearts.]

As he held the card in his hand, he couldn't help but crumple it up in anger before beginning to pace around in his room. He had heard about the rumors from Kaneshiro. He had turned himself in and confessed. He had lost everything.

If he was being honest with himself, he was afraid. But as he looked at the note, he couldn't help but frown.

"Why the hell would they target me? Especially after they just went after Kaneshiro. I am below their pay grade. If anything, they should go after Okumura or even one of the Yakuza…"

With those thoughts in his mind, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Must just be one of my old students playing a prank on me."

Madarame shook his head, trying to dismiss the lingering unease. He crumpled the card in his hand and tossed it aside, determined not to let it bother him. But as he returned to his studio, the words from the note echoed in his mind.

He sat down at his easel, staring at the canvas in front of him. The deformed tree and shattered mirrors seemed to mock him, reflecting his own twisted ambitions and the broken trust of his students. He tried to focus on his work, but his thoughts kept drifting back to the Phantom Thieves and their warning.

"Confess with my own mouth," he muttered, the words tasting bitter. "They think they can scare me into submission? Once I find which student wrote that garbage, I'll make sure they never get accepted into any art class or museum."

His brush moved mechanically, painting over Yusuke's destroyed work. The act felt hollow, a futile attempt to reclaim control.

~Confidants~

Igor (The Fool) Rank 7 [Reversed]

Ren Amamiya/???????? (The Jester) Rank 6

Morgana (The Magician) Rank 7

(This is a slightly shorter chap at 1.8k, but since Palace chaps always go pretty long, I decided to cut it off short in this one.

Also, any feedback is always welcome! If you have any questions about the story or are confused, just drop the question, and as long as it isn't a spoiler, I will try to answer it as best as I can.

But also, just in general drop comments cuz I love to read them and they really motivate me! See ya.)