“The Phantom Thieves are officially disbanded,” he replies, dryly. Didn’t you know that? Weren’t you paying attention? No, of course he wasn’t. Akechi had other priorities, after all.

You need to stop. If Ren said that to anyone else, they’d listen. Why couldn’t he make himself listen to the same advice?

Maybe it was because Ren didn’t know anyone like himself in the same way other people saw him. Maybe he just needed to be on the other side of a Confidant link for once.

Right. As if that would ever happen.

Moving on, since the mention of another Persona-user immediately seizes his interest.

“How does that work? Was the Metaverse even around in 2009?”