Little did Ren know, Morgana had awoken the second he heard the noise from inside the bag.
"I'll keep quiet and watch this guy," Morgana thought. "I can feel he's a good person… but those eyes are weird."
As he listened to the way Ren interacted with others, Morgana grew increasingly confused by the dissonance between the rumors, Ren's actual behavior, and the way he had acted inside the Castle.
"Ughhh… I already have enough going on with my own amnesia," Morgana whined mentally. "I don't think he's dangerous… I'll talk to them when they meet up later."
"You can relax, mi otro yo," Zorro consoled him.
"I sure hope so," Morgana sighed internally, soon lulled to sleep by the lecture.
-------------------------------------------
Ring.
As lunch began, Ren carefully picked up his bag, making sure not to wake Morgana, and exited the classroom as students parted like the sea to avoid him.
"Isn't this excessive?" he thought as he walked out.
"Ren!" Shiho called as she walked down the hall.
"Headed to the roof?" Ren asked casually.
Just then, a battered boy hesitantly approached the two.
"U-uhhh—" he awkwardly interjected.
"What's wrong, Mishima?" Shiho asked.
"K-Kamoshid—"
Shiho sighed. "Of course. Let me just eat first."
The boy quickly nodded and ran off.
"You probably shouldn't go," Ren said as they headed up the stairs.
"I know…" Shiho whispered.
Opening the door, they found Ryuji leaning back in a chair, playing a mobile game.
"What took ya so long?!" he said without looking up. "Damn, I died."
As Ren and Shiho approached, Ryuji's voice dropped into a serious tone.
"That was real, right?"
"Unfortunately," Shiho replied.
"Yeah, I still feel the singe from those Pyro Jacks," Ren said, rolling his shoulders.
"Don't you mean Jack-o'-Lantern?" Ryuji said. "Like Halloween?"
"Actually… that makes more sense," Ren agreed.
"So I heard you've got a criminal record. No wonder you're so gutsy," Ryuji smirked.
"Hah—no. I was just taught self-defense from a young age."
"Nah, man, you were kicking ass out there," Ryuji said. "Right, Suzui?"
"Yeah!" Shiho nodded furiously, memories of the cell flashing through her mind. "Arsène was cool too!"
"He says 'Merci, madame,'" Ren replied after a cough, trying to keep a straight face as Arsène barked out a laugh and pointed out that calling him cool was basically calling Ren cool. "Anyway—remember how that world is like a daydream? If the enemy sees me with a weapon, they assume I can fight. And I believe I can fight, so…"
"We might be able to fight too!" Shiho and Ryuji said in unison.
"You idiots are so close," Morgana said proudly, revealing himself.
"You hear that?" Ryuji said. "Who's there?"
"It's me, you jackass!" Morgana snapped.
"YOU'RE A CAT?!" Ryuji yelled.
"Quiet!" Shiho hissed. "What if someone hears Morgana talking?!"
"…My bad," Ryuji muttered.
"Anyway," Ren said, cracking open a TaP Soda he'd bought on the way up, "since we're all here, let's talk about whatever the hell that was—and why we got thrown into the school courtyard."