The Arcade.

After school, Ren found himself in the library, only to spot a familiar brown-haired girl surrounded by a mountain of books. From the title given to her by the world, or was it Igor?, she was The Priestess. A symbol of wisdom, knowledge, intuition, and the subconscious. 

"Yo!" Ren greeted, taking a seat beside her.

"Ah, Ren. Hello." Makoto replied, pulling out a notebook. "I actually found a lot of things about what we talked about before. There wasn't that much in the books we had here but I was able to find some more stuff in the library at the university."

Intrigued, Ren picked up the book, his eyebrow arching with interest as he looked at the pile of notes that seemed to go way deeper than his own. 

"I see you also found out about Dr. Maruki…" Ren remarked, scanning the pages before his eyes widened in surprise. "These are notes on his presentations! How the hell did you find recordings of his presentations? I looked everywhere online and couldn't find any."

At this, Makoto let out a proud smile.

"I actually know the librarian at the University of Tokyo. She said that she kept some copies of the recordings because she thought that Maruki was cute and that it would be a waste to delete all of them. I wasn't sure if you would be interested in them, but I'll make sure to bring copies of them next time."

"Delete them? Why would the university delete them?" Ren said with shock as he looked at Makoto.

Makoto shrugged.

"I don't know. The librarian thinks it is because all of his research was discredited. But even then, it's pretty odd, since they usually keep the recordings either way."

Ren held the book with the notes as if it were made out of gold before turning over to Makoto and saying.

"Thanks, I owe you one…" Ren responded, pausing briefly before asking. "What are you doing later today?"

Makoto looked up from her books, a glimmer of hope shining in her eyes. 

"Probably just more studying. Would you like to study together? It's usually just me, and it was actually nice to have someone to study with last time."

As Ren caught the hopeful look in Makoto's eyes, he would sense her loneliness. He could tell by her awkwardness last time they met that she had probably pushed back social interactions in favor of studying. It seemed she had always strived to be the "Perfect student," though that must have been quite draining.

Glancing at the clock in the library, he saw that he had about an hour and a half before he had to be back at Leblanc for his cooking lessons. It wasn't quite enough time to delve into the Castle, but it was just enough time for a different kind of adventure.

"Let's save studying for another time. For now, how do you feel about arcades?" Ren suggested, recalling the arcade near the airsoft gun store.

"Arcades? I haven't been to one since I was about five. My sister considers them a waste of time." Makoto replied, a hint of curiosity in her voice.

"Then today's your lucky day because you're about to 'waste' some time with me for once. Come on," Ren said as a charming smile appeared on his face before leading the way out of the library.

Makoto, momentarily startled, quickly gathered her books and followed him.

As Ren glanced back and saw Makoto running behind him, he got lost in thought.

'This is probably a good way to strengthen my bond with her. I probably could have just studied with her to do so, but since she went out of her way to get me such valuable notes, I don't mind doing the same.'

Navigating the lively streets, Ren seized the moment to learn more about Makoto.

"So, what's it like being the student council president?"

Makoto's face became slightly uncomfortable as she answered.

"It's... okay. I had different expectations. Honestly, it feels like a hollow title. I've attempted to implement changes at school, but the principal has blocked every move. Even when students approached me about Kamoshida, my hands were tied."

"Is that so?"Ren's interest spiked at the principal's mention. 

"Do you know anything about the principal? Anything suspicious?" Ren asked with curiosity as he recalled his brief meeting with him. His short meeting hadn't given him that much to think about him.

Makoto exhaled in frustration. 

"Not much to say, really. He's been principal for a year and has yet to make a mark. The only time he has actually taken action was to make sure we didn't cause a fuss about Kamoshida. He said it was in order to keep the reputation of the school intact, but that's ridiculous."

"Sounds like a great guy." Ren joked, though internally, his curiosity grew even more. It probably wasn't a coincidence that he had been placed at Shujin. Maybe Kamoshida was just a massive red herring. 

"He's certainly a stand-up individual." Makoto managed a small smirk at the joke despite her irritation.

"What's your take on everything happening?" Ren probed, his tone light yet filled with genuine interest.

"At the school?" she clarified, clearly perplexed.

"In general." Ren nudged, his playful smile hinting at his curiosity.

"I... I'm not sure." Makoto hesitated, her voice tinged with uncertainty.

"Just trust your gut. I'm sure you have something in mind." Ren said with a reassuring tone.

"Well… Principal Kobayakawa definitely didn't get the job because he was fit for it. He probably had some connections and pulled some strings to get it… I really liked the previous Principal. He was a great guy who actually cared about the students, but he passed away after having a mental shutdown. Sadly, he was one of the first few cases." Makoto said before getting lost in thought.

Ren narrowed his eyes at the mention of mental shutdowns along with psychotic breakdowns. He had heard that word being mentioned over and over through the news lately as cases became more and more frequent.

A mental shutdown causes one to undergo symptoms similar to a sudden heart attack. The shutdowns had a high chance of ending in death. Additionally, even if they managed to survive the shutdown, then they became vegetables, unable to do anything by themselves.

As the two of them walked while lost in thought, they finally arrived at the arcade, causing both of them to perk up in attention. Ren had originally planned to wander around and play different games with her, but Makoto's attention was immediately captivated by a shooting game near the entrance.

Her dad, who was a cop, had taken her to a shooting range and taught her how to shoot guns. It was one of the few activities the two would do before he passed away. Ever since, Makoto hadn't touched anything resembling a gun. Now she had gotten carried away while playing the game. Watching her lose herself in the game, displaying a mix of concentration and joy, Ren couldn't help but smile.

Time slipped away in the arcade's lively atmosphere until Ren realized his responsibilities awaited him at Leblanc.

"We should stop here for now. I need to go work."

Makoto couldn't hide the slight hint of disappointment as she fixed her hair and put the fake gun down.

"Ah, yes. I forgot about that." She said before her disappointment turned into a bright smile. "Thank you for bringing me here. I haven't had this much fun in years."

Returning the smile, Ren asked.

"Years? In that case, how about we go try another fun place next time after studying?"

Makoto nodded her head with a bright smile as she answered in a joking tone.

"Good thing you didn't forget about studying. I might have had to reject your offer if you hadn't."

— — —

After spending some time learning how to cook and serve the food from Sojiro, Ren went upstairs to his bedroom, pulling out Makoto's notebook before beginning his deep dive into it. It was only once he was able to fully absorb the words within that he realized just how valuable the information was.

"Shadows… Personas… Cognition…" Ren muttered as he closed his eyes in thought.

Dr. Maruki's entire research was about cognitive psience. The study of people's hearts and how it guides their view of the world. According to Maruki, everyone comprehends the world differently according to their own cognition. In his words, people had their own "Cognitive worlds." 

If he considered what was written in the book to be true, then their guess that they were in Kamoshida's mind wasn't too far off. The Metaverse Navigator was probably a way to enter into the "Cognitive world" Maruki spoke of. Kamoshida viewed himself as the king of the school, so when they entered the cognitive world, that is what they saw.

Ren pulled out his phone and opened the MetaNav before looking up the Principal. Though, to his surprise, there wasn't an entry.

"That should be impossible… everyone should have a cognitive world… Right?" 

Ren asked as he began to search for different people with no success. The MetaNav required three different parameters in order to work. It required a name, a location, and a "distortion." For example, Kamoshida, Shujin School, and castle. 

It might have been because he didn't have the distortion, but even when he just inserted his name into the search, it would come back negative.

"Hmm…." Ren let out a sigh before turning over to some of the notes. His eyes became focused as they laid on one specific phrase: the collective unconscious. 

~Confidants~

Makoto Nijima (The Priestess) Rank 2.

(Also, this chapter took me so long to write, 4.5 hours freaking hours of writing/research. But it was thanks to it that I now have a bunch of new ideas of where to take the story. Hopefully, you all enjoyed it. Imma go play Persona 3 Reload, and I'll see ya'll next time.)