Friday 29th April
Fortunately for her, nothing did happen in the interim. Well—she got news back from various sources that her little interventions on their behalf had worked, so that was something, but otherwise nothing had gone badly wrong during the week. There was still no information on the mystery Metaverse user, but there was no creepy intervention from her least-favourite demonic presence either, so she was taking the policy that no news on that front was good news. It was about time she started gathering more information on the rumours she'd heard but… for now, she had a couple of bigger goals. The first of which she was dealing with now.
"So," said Renko, gliding into Wakaba's lab, "you got that mic up and running?"
"Of course," said Wakaba, glancing at her as she stepped in. "And an earpiece too, being as you'll need to hear me. The mic's all wired up to the bracers. You'll notice a new fancy button on top."
She certainly did. On the left bracer there was now a bright blue button, with a little picture of a microphone on it, and lying next to it, a slick black earpiece. Fortunately it looked just small enough to fit under her mask.
"Where do you get all these gadgets?" she chuckled, picking up the bracer and strapping it on carefully.
"Well, a woman's gotta have her secrets, hasn't she?" said Wakaba, smirking at her. "Now then, I'd like you to test it out before you get too deep into that place, so make sure it works once you're in the cognitive world fully, alright?"
"Can do," said Renko, picking up the other bracer and strapping it on, then carefully inserting the earpiece.
From there it was only a quick procedure to shift and identify a flashpoint, and then…
Ah, back in the depths again. Lovely.
A shock rang through her as a tiny chime came through her earpiece. She quickly raised the bracer to mouth level and pressed the button.
"Hi? Is it working alright?" she said, feeling more than a little awkward.
"Perfect!" Wakaba chirped over the line. "Okay, that should be everything all set for your infiltration. Be careful in there!"
"I will," said Renko, before releasing the button, and presumably their means of communication.
That's going to be weird, said Arsène.
No kidding, Renko thought back.
For now though, she had only one objective. Get into Shido's Palace. Mash his soul into tiny little pieces. Easy.
***
Remember you can get hurt in here! snarled the Trumpeter, deflecting a blast of electricity from a Barong.
"I know!" Renko hissed back, leaping out of the way.
Another blast of nuclear energy sent it reeling to the ground, dissolving into smoke in front of Renko's eyes.
Hide! hissed the Trumpeter, but Renko was already well ahead of him.
She leapt behind a wall, willing herself to remain invisible as she spied the man she'd been trying to trace ever since she entered the Palace: the politician Ooe—she first of the letter—holders.
Her earpiece crackled on.
"Renko, that's enough for today," said Wakaba, her voice uncompromising.
She sighed and raised the mic to her face. "But I'm so close!"
"Go any further when you're this tired and you're going to get badly hurt."
She was right, of course, and about half her Personas were screaming it at her too, but…
Renko desist, thundered Arsène, louder than all of them. This is too much. Don't be foolish.
…Alright.
It was true she was tired and… ugh, she really just didn't want to have to deal with another hospital visit.
"I'm on my way back," she said into the mouthpiece.
"Good," sighed Wakaba.
***
Leaving the Palace turned out to be a whole lot easier than entering it, and it wasn't long before she was standing in Wakaba's lab again—this time slightly more intact than she had been before. Next time… next time she'd finally get that damned politician.
"Same time again, next Friday?" she asked, removing the bracers and earpiece.
"If you're up for it," said Wakaba.
Her face was set in a frown, her manner concerned—Renko couldn't let her think she was flaking now.
"I won't abandon you," she said.
Wakaba smiled a sad smile, then got up from her computer and walked over to her.
"I really appreciate this, you know that, don't you?" she said, grasping her shoulder gently.
"I know," said Renko.
And she did—it was obvious, now she knew about it. The tension in her shoulders, the lines forming along her brow, the constantly tired, dull look in her eyes whenever she mentioned her work—she knew the agony Wakaba was going through. And she knew that this, however slow and frustrating their progress was, was at least something. Something after a very long time of nothing at all. So Renko knew. And she knew it too.
She nodded, rubbing her shoulder. "I hadn't imagined this would be so dangerous, but… it's almost a relief to finally be doing something against him."
"I understand," said Renko. "If I was in your position I'd want him gone too."
Wakaba smiled again, but this time it was sharp around the edges. "Oh, I don't doubt that. You're a determined one."
"So are you."
She laughed, releasing her shoulder. "True! I suppose that's why we get along so well."
She took a deep breath, then glanced around her lab. "Hey, you wouldn't mind sticking around and helping me clean up, would you?"
"Of course," said Renko.
"Be careful not to lift anything with that injured arm," she said warningly as she began unplugging the equipment.
"I won't!"
"Good." She smiled. "Now if you could get started over there…"
***
As usual, it wasn't long before Metaverse exhaustion began to set in when she got back.
"Long day?" asked Sojiro bemusedly as she walked in.
"Long day," Renko confirmed, heading directly towards the stairs.
In less than a minute she'd reached the top, closed her make-shift door, and dropped flat onto her bed.
She just didn't have the constitution for long-term stress like this.
You're lucky you didn't get hurt, said Arsène.
"I know," sighed Renko. "It's just frustrating to be so… useless! I'm usually so much better than this!"
You still need to take care of yourself.
Renko sighed and rolled over, facing the wall. "I know that. I just have a lot on my plate at the moment. Speaking of…" she drew her phone from her pocket and checked her calendar. "I have tomorrow free. Time to see if I can find out more about that bastard, Madarame."
That should be somewhat easier than the task we were faced with before.
"No kidding."
She'd been somewhat hamstrung in looking into it during the week, between various 'I'm a normal human-being' activities she liked to do to keep up appearances and having to work to catch up on the rent payments she was beginning to slip behind on. But no one was going to bother her this weekend, which meant she had plenty of time to work out precisely what Madarame had done to gain such an ominous-looking Palace.
They've been getting worse lately, don't you think?
They'd certainly been getting more… grandiose, that was for sure.
"I have a feeling it has to do with our friend that lurks in the depths," said Renko, clicking her phone off.
I think you are right, said Arsène, quietly. …But I also hope you are wrong.
"Yeah," muttered Renko.
If that thing was gaining more power somehow, it could only mean bad things. It was a stable situation for now—the only truly disastrous Palace she knew of at the moment was Shido's but… if it got worse…
We can check Mementos another time, said Arsène. For now, rest. You need to recover.
Renko turned over and closed her eyes, but she had a feeling that for all Arsène was right, her sleep wouldn't be easy at all.