[Ren is surprised to find himself so relieved that Kotone has such a kind reaction to his confession. Even after all this time, the expectation of being met with fear, distrust, and rejection is difficult to discard.

And he was more of a pawn then than he ever knew until so much later. Ren shakes his head.]

My parents did what they thought was best. I’d been expelled from my old high school, and there wasn’t another school any closer to my hometown that would’ve accepted a student with a criminal record.

[He shrugs. Convincing everyone, including himself, that every point of what happened to him wasn’t a big deal is what he needs to do to keep the primal, unbridled rage that boils inside of him over such an injustice from eating him alive like so much acid.]

I was falsely accused of assault, and the man who accused me was very powerful. That’s how I ended up with a record.

[Ren shoves the memory of Shido’s face to the back of his mind. For as much harm as he’d caused Ren, there were others who’d been hurt far worse. And his heart had been changed. Shido would have to live with the weight of his crimes until the end of his days.]

It wasn’t all bad, though. I made some really good friends in Tokyo, and I never would’ve found the Metaverse if I hadn’t been sent there. And the conviction did get overturned, eventually.

[Ah, here’s the door. Ren pushes it open and points to the dusty, faded black Citroën H van parked a few feet from the entrance.]

This is it.