Chapter Text
There was something about Kasumi Yoshizawa that Ren couldn’t quite put a finger on.
Ever since their first meeting and then real “meeting” on the glorious event of trash picking, she seemed to be lurking in the back of his mind – a bit like a persona honestly - whenever Ren let it wander. Which admittedly didn’t happen too often – school, various part-time jobs, the other friends he made in the city, and, most importantly, the phantom thieving kept him quite occupied. But there were evenings when he would just lie in bed, staring at the ceiling with Morgana snoring on top of him, and he would catch himself thinking about her.
For what reason? He couldn’t tell.
It was as if she stood right in front of him. The easy smile, the spring in her step, the cat-like grace with which she moved thanks to her gymnastics training, the great waterfall of red hair, the…
Yea okay.
Even thinking about it logically Ren couldn’t crack it – because it always fell apart.
Kasumi was a girl. Okay sure, but he knew a lot of girls.
Kasumi was a very pretty girl. Most definitely, but he knew a lot of very pretty girls. Ann was conventionally beautiful, Makoto was very good-looking, Haru was cute, Futaba……….
Was a gremlin in human skin, those didn’t count.
It was a real brain buster.
To drive his confusion home, Ren and Kasumi spent precious little time together, especially compared to other people in his life. She was eternally busy with her training, and he with palace crawling. Maybe it was the lack of time that made him appreciate every meeting with her more. Or maybe it was something else entirely.
Whatever the reason, Ren found himself enchanted with Kasumi, and whenever his phone pinged with one of her messages he would usually just drop everything so they could hang out together – as rare as it was.
It would be fair to say that Ren had several options for a romantic life, which all happened in the last year. That being said, it just never seemed to click for him – whenever it was Ann’s unspoken question, Makoto’s spoken one – although he wasn’t sure if she meant it seriously – Takemi’s “joke” or Futaba’s level-up event. At these moments and several others, Ren knew that if he chose the right words he would enter a romantic relationship with the girl, or woman in several cases, but he never felt compelled to do so.
While he deeply respected all of his friends and confidants, something was missing; like a spark, which would make him seriously consider pursuing that type of relationship.
And this spark, or however he wanted to call it, was alight whenever he spoke to Kasumi. It even spawned a full-on fire when they entered the palace together on accident and he saw her awaken to her persona. The realization that he wouldn’t have to hide his metaverse activities from her set off a train of still unconfirmed feelings in his head that was heading towards the destination: Yoshizawa…
Only for it to come to a grinding halt when she just... didn’t give him the chance to fully act on it. Ironic in a way – as Ren turned down several potential candidates, it would seem that the one he wished for would do the same to him. But, unlike other teens of his age, Ren had much more on his plate than worrying about romance.
Sae’s palace happened, where Kasumi turned up to assist, only to be turned down afterward when she offered her help against the next target – a decision with which Ren wrestled a bit but, in the end, had to agree with the other Thieves; pulling Kasumi into their mess would be nothing short of an asshole move.
Shido happened.
Depths of Mementos happened.
Yaldabaoth happened.
And then…
???? happened.
With all of the Phantom Thieves abandoning him for their dreams, Ren was left with Kasumi (good) and Akechi (not-so-good) to scout out the new palace which was dominating the city.
It was there where the worst possible scenario happened.
He saw her shatter into million pieces at Maruki’s words, and it made his heart break in two. It took Akechi out of all people, Goro Akechi, to grab him and force Joker to back off for now and not charge the white-clad demigod who took her, citing that they were in no condition to challenge the deranged doctor.
The thought of her in danger did push Ren along when he talked to the (former?) members of the team trying to get them on board.
A week after, on their second visit, his relief that she is unhurt lasted only for a bit, because then he found himself facing the raving redhead, Kasumi? Sumire?, rapier in hand. In truth, she wasn’t that tough to take down in her mental state, nor her Persona, but any time he saw her flinch under the pain inflicted by his spells, it felt like a fair chunk of that damage was reflected right into his own face.
Then the tentacle thing happened.
Right on time the other thieves came, the challenge was issued, and a lot changed after they retreated with “Kasumi” resting on Joker’s back.
Kasumi was now Sumire, or always was to be exact, and it reflected on her immensely. She was way shier and more reserved now and seemed unsure of what to do next. Ren’s conversation with her in front of the school, where she peeked at him from under her long, unbound hair and a pair of glasses, revealed that. Despite wanting nothing more than for her to join the Thieves against Maruki, he forced a smile and said that he will understand any choice she makes. Sumire nodded, but Ren didn’t miss the tight line her lips were pressed in, just a bit above the red scarf wrapped around her neck.
In the end, she joined, much to his – hidden – glee.
With Violet now a part of their squad, they started researching the palace more in-depth, and at the same time Ren’s “relationship” with Sumire advanced to its next, or one could say real, stage.
It felt tragic and painful, seeing Sumire struggle to move on from Kasumi’s shadow, but it was also necessary and there was no way Ren could do it for her. This journey was something the girl had to experience on her own, and she did so with a brave face despite her aching heart.
It was during one of these outings when everything finally clicked into place for him. Nothing serious even happened, they were just chatting in front of one of many Kichijoji’s stores and Ren doesn’t even remember what he said back then, but Sumire rewarded him with one of those shy smiles she did nowadays – just a tiny twitch of her lips – and that was enough. Looking into her dark red eyes, Joker figured out why Sumire occupied his thoughts so much for the past year.
He truly loved her – this broken yet slowly-healing girl, this brave fighter, this hard-working gymnast, this cute and shy often-blushing mess. He loved Sumire Yoshizawa.
But…
There wasn’t any indication that Sumire loved him back, or if there was Ren was too dense to pick up on it. So, for now, he decided, he would stuff these feelings somewhere deep.
Ren assisted Sumire whenever he could, not only because of these old-yet-only-recently-fully-realized feelings but mostly because he genuinely cared for her and wanted her to be happy again. Yet another new revelation dawned on him when he helped Sumire pick out a new outfit for herself. All the blushing and embarrassed word-mincing when he teased her made Ren realize something –while “Kasumi” was most likely not interested in Ren romantically, Sumire might be a different story.
This left him in quite a precarious position. He knew that Sumire was vulnerable right now, and the last thing he wanted was to make her feel pressured or abuse her temporary weakness. Despite the interest she showed and his own, long-harbored, feelings, Ren ultimately decided not to make his move.
As problems sometimes tend to, this one solved itself.
“A-And the last thing I want to do is make you uncomfortable. So…”
She was so cute. Sitting on LeBlanc’s barstool, refusing to meet his eyes, blushing so fiercely that her face matched the color of her hair. Despite all that, she pushed the confession out of herself, and it was now up to Ren to decide how to act.
A few words out of him later, a squeak from her, and an activity that involved both of them taking their glasses off, it was official – Ren and Sumire entered a romantic relationship.
Not long after this, Sumire declared that she is ready to perform for her coach, and being the supportive friend – scratch that, boyfriend – Ren was more than happy to attend.
He watched her routine, completely enchanted by the way she moved, her flips and twirls reminding him of the way she fought inside the metaverse. The coach was liking the show too and encouraged the gymnast to keep working hard. And after she left and they caught each other in a fierce hug, Ren has never felt more sure that Sumire will make it. Right to the top of the world.
“I was thinking that just me and Violet can head into the Mementos today.”
“Just the two of you?”, Makoto was taken aback by the suggestion, “Why?”
“Well, she is the newest addition to the team, so I want to bring her up to speed – and doing it one-on-one would be fastest.”
“Akechi is also new.”, Ryuji pointed out, getting a scoff out of the detective.
“I was tearing through palaces long before you amateurs.”, he said, “I don’t need any training.”
“Maruki’s palace is dangerous…”, Haru agreed softly.
“Alright then.”, Makoto backed off, turning towards Sumire, “You okay with it, Violet?”
She nodded enthusiastically.
“If senpai thinks I need experience, I will do my best to catch up with you guys.”
“It’s settled then.”, Ren took the word, “You guys do what you feel is best, me and Violet will do some basic level training. Please stay reachable on your phones should we run into any serious trouble.”
With that, the meeting disbanded.
“Senpai,”, Sumire spoke up when it was just the two of them in LeBlanc, “I had an idea which I would like to run by you…”
When she spoke, describing the attack she came up with, her eyes sparkled – almost as much as Jose’s star when Ren pulled it out of his pocket. And just like that, their showtime unlocked. Looking at the star and then back at his excited girlfriend, Ren grinned.
“Let’s dance.”
Leaving everyone behind the pair made their way to mementos, moving much slower now that they weren’t using the services of Mona-mobile. Or Morgana-car. They started slow, clearing some shadows which weren’t much of a challenge with Joker sitting back and letting Sumire do all the work.
Violet was more than a capable fighter, despite her lack of experience. Translating her gymnastics training into combat with shadows came to her naturally, and her physical capabilities left others in the dust. It also helped that her persona was rather powerful, definitely stronger than Arsène initially was before he evolved into Raoul.
Ren didn’t count Satanael simply because ever since their fight with the God of Control he wasn’t able to summon his ultimate persona again. The Demon Lord’s presence was there, dark and heavy, in the back of his mind, but when Ren called Satanael never answered. Almost as if he had done what he wanted, and was now just enjoying the ride.
He even asked Lavenza about it but all she did was shrug.
“When persona of such caliber doesn’t want to come you can’t force it.”
“That’s awfully egoistic of him.”
“Well.”, Lavenza’s voice remained dead serious, “Evolved persona do mirror their wielders, trickster.”
Being alone with Sumire also brought some new challenges to light that Ren didn’t notice before. Like the fact that when she had an idle moment, Sumire tended to do a standing split to keep her muscles active, stretching her leg all the way up to a freaking 180-degree angle – when Ren first saw it from the corner of his eye, he felt a cold sweat beading alongside heating of the cheeks. The challenge was not to stare, and he wasn’t doing too well. Sumire noticed him definitely-not-staring and turned towards her leader with a questioning tilt of her head, so he cleared his throat and looked away to save face.
“Stay on your guard.”, he mumbled, “It’s dangerous.”
“Of course, senpai.”, Violet nodded, the image of an eager student.
Well, that was one slip covered up successfully. Somewhat.
The way each Phantom Thief fought in the metaverse reflected their respective personalities. Akechi was brutal, to the point of being unhinged. Makoto was efficient, all precise movements of her aikido. Out of all of them, Sumire was the only one who was so incredibly… elegant – there was no other way to describe it.
It fit perfectly into the routine they started practicing.
The showtime was strangely intimate, now that Ren thought about it, and involved a lot of touching. Whenever it was Violet hanging onto him as he swung around on the grappling hook or the final shot where he dipped her. He had no idea why the dramatic finishing pose was necessary, but was smart enough not to question his luck. It was a good fit, considering they were a couple now, but still…
Then again, as the showtimes repeated and they got better with the movement, the awkwardness disappeared and was replaced with trust in each other. Flash, another shadow evaporated back into mementos and another showtime successfully finished. Holding her for what felt like the hundredth time today Joker still wasn’t sick of it. In fact, he was enjoying it more and more.
He most definitely liked it more than the combo he had with Akechi because there the former detective tended to go so feral it made Ren half-worried that the next slash of Crow’s saber would be aimed at him.
Not Sumire, she was anything but feral as they finished their attack, and feeling Ren’s fingers still firm at her waist, not showing any intention of letting her go, she looked up with a question in her eyes.
And Ren decided to take the plunge.
Pulling her upright he crashed his lips into her, the kiss taking Violet by surprise. She half-squeaked against him but didn’t try pulling away – quickly relaxing in his embrace instead, her arms sneaked around Joker’s shoulders. Ren had one hand at the small of her back, the other supporting the leg Sumire had half-wrapped around his waist, and overall the pose must have been quite aesthetically pleasing. If Yusuke was here, he would agree.
The kiss was a bit awkward as their masks pushed against one another, but hundred-percent worth it. Especially when they finally separated but Sumire didn’t pull away, remaining in his embrace for a bit longer. She looked at the position of their bodies, shaking her head.
“I’m not changing our showtime finish to this.”
“Not even when we are alone?”
She looked away, blushing slightly, because of course she was.
“M-Maybe when we are alone.”
With a grin and another quick kiss Joker finally released her. As she slipped out of his arms, he couldn’t help but notice, as always, the way the black material of the leotard clung to her firm curves, the memory of her slim waist still dancing in his fingertips – despite the gloves Ren was wearing. He noticed it every time, but this was the first when he gathered enough guts to speak up.
“Did I ever tell you how much I like your outfit?”
It was rather obvious how he meant it, especially when he let Sumire catch him red-handed (red-gloved?) ogling her thighs, so the blush reached even deeper shades of red. If she was capable of doing that, Ren was sure that her thighs would be blushing too. She made a bit of a vain effort to cover the exposed flesh but gave up soon after realizing that there was no way to realistically achieve that while keeping the free movement the cut of her clothes provided.
“S-Senpai…”, she stuttered, “Y-You shouldn’t be s-saying th-that.”
“No?”, Ren scratched the back of his head, “Is it inappropriate to say that I like what my girlfriend is wearing?”
In a very Sumire-like fashion, Violet – who withstood horrible hits from shadows without flinching - looked like she was about to fall over when he said that but recovered just before doing so. Considering Ren’s words, she took a deep breath and shook her head, making the ribbon in her ponytail bounce.
“Guess n-not.”
Violet looked back at him, her own eyes having a new shine to them.
“In that case, since you are my boyfriend – I like your outfit too.”
He grinned - the similarities between their metaverse costumes were rather obvious. Although, his didn’t have the exposed thighs – a room for improvement, perhaps?
“I noticed.”
What wasn’t such a pleasant experience was that they had to end their solo visit to Mementos by fighting the reaper. The Phantom Thieves had already claimed his head in the past, but that was a whole team effort, now there were just two people. Yet when the echo of rattling chains bounced off the walls, Sumire’s eyes brightened up.
“Let’s do this, senpai!”
It hit him right in his weakness - he could not say no to such an adorable face, even with half of it being covered by Violet’s mask.
The fight was hard, so hard that when Ren faltered, he once again reached into the depths of his mind for Satanael’s assistance. All he got back was a dark chuckle.
“To spoil such an exquisite struggle? Preposterous.”
“Bastard.”, Ren growled, “I liked you more when you were just Arséne.”
Pulling himself upright he was met with Violet’s outstretched hand. Despite the sweat and the looming danger, she had an enchanting smile on her face.
“Let’s dance, Joker!”
With a summoned grin he took her offer, red glove intertwining with red glove, and together they entered the showtime which finally knocked the reaper out.
“S-So…Ho…How did I do?”, Sumire managed to get out in-between deep breaths, legs shaking from exhaustion.
Ren, who was sprawled on the floor, just gave her thumbs up. Maruki wouldn’t know what hit him.