Ren opened the door to the rooftop to find Ryuji awkwardly standing nearby as Ann tightly hugged Shiho.
"Nice of you to join us, but it might be a few minu—" Ryuji started, only to be cut off as Ann suddenly rushed forward.
She grabbed Ren by the shoulders, staring straight into his face.
"Tell me what's going on!!"
Ren froze for a split second—more from the unexpected physical contact than the demand—before forcing himself to calm down.
'Thanks, Arsène,' he thought.
"Takamaki," Ren said seriously, "you should hear it from your friend. Stay with her today. And don't go near that man."
Ann felt the weight behind his words. The seriousness in his expression made her nod without argument, a vague sense of danger settling in her chest.
Ren turned to Shiho. "You should explain it to her. I think that'd be best. Ryuji, Morgana, and I will figure out how to get back… there."
Shiho nodded, relieved. Thankful he'd managed to defuse the situation so quickly.
'This guy is really good with people,' Morgana thought idly.
'Guess the eye thing isn't important at all. I wonder how Lady Ann looks?'
"Morgana?" Ann asked aloud, just as Ren and Shiho exchanged contact info.
------------------------------------
Soon, only Ren and Ryuji remained on the roof—until Morgana popped out of Ren's bag.
"This is slightly concerning," Morgana said. "The palace is starting to affect reality."
"Huh? How? Nothing's different," Ryuji replied.
"Think carefully about what happened earlier," Morgana prompted.
"What Kamoshida said publicly was way out of line," Ren said. "I'm still stuck on the fact that Kawakami told me we'd 'gotten into it' with him."
"Exactly," Morgana said. "He blatantly broke the law to ruin your credibility, accused you of threatening him without proof… and yet nothing's happening. Isn't that weird?"
"For real?!" Ryuji yelled. "Now that you mention it—"
"So, Mona—"
"It's MOR-GA-NA," the not-cat snapped.
"—do you know how we got kicked outta the castle? And how we get back?" Ryuji finished.
"I don't know how we were expelled," Morgana admitted. "But I'm guessing the Metaverse rejected something Ren has. Right?"
"Metaverse?" Ryuji echoed.
"…The glasses?" Ren wondered aloud. "They repaired themselves somehow."
"Your glasses don't look special," Morgana said. "They just make your eyes less scary than bef—"
He stopped abruptly.
"It's fine," Ren chuckled. "I know I have a bad glare."
"Well, I doubt it's important," Morgana said. "As for entering the—"
"Wait," Ryuji interrupted. "What the hell's a Metaverse?"
"The palace is a self-contained world inside the collective unconscious," Morgana explained. "That's the Metaverse."
"...Uh-huh."
"It's the daydream world," Morgana sighed.
While they talked, Ren checked his phone—and froze.
The red app was back.
Frowning, he tried deleting it again. His finger slipped, opening it instead. A navigation screen appeared.
Last destination: **Kamoshida's Castle of Lust**.
"Well," Ren said, turning the screen toward them, "I figured out how we got there."
"…Let's test it outside the school," he added. "I don't want to accidentally appear on the castle roof and fall to my death."
"Oh—yeah, that's smart," Ryuji agreed solemnly.
'He's catching on fast,' Morgana thought.
'Self-defense training or not, this level of planning isn't normal for a teenager… I think.'
"Alright," Ryuji said. "Let's test it before heading home. You should get back soon too—Kamoshida's the one who leaked your record. Wouldn't surprise me if he lied to your guardian."
"Haaaaah," Ren sighed, slinging his bag over his shoulder as Morgana hopped inside.
"Let's head to that alley. The one where we first saw the castle."