After some haggling, Ren and Raven reached a deal.
Raven agreed to pay ten million US dollars to acquire the Honkai energy crystal fragments and Imaginary biological tissue remnants from Ren. She also agreed to cancel the favor Hare owed her, accepting Ren's supply line as a substitute.
After all, according to Ren, he could procure even more Honkai crystal fragments and Imaginary creature parts. The potential profits from a long-term trading relationship with Ren were enough for Raven to build her island villa and retire comfortably much earlier than planned.
Since Raven didn't have that much cash on hand immediately, she only paid Ren a three-million-dollar deposit in exchange for a portion of the Honkai crystal fragments from the black backpack, agreeing to meet Amamiya-kun again tomorrow to complete the transaction for the remaining goods.
To prevent the unprotected Honkai crystal fragments in Ren's possession from accidentally releasing energy and causing a Honkai Eruption in Nagazora City, Raven also kindly gifted Ren a suitcase made of special material with excellent sealing properties.
"Well then, pleasure doing business with you, Miss... hmm, I still don't know your name, Miss Operative."
Ren readily transferred all the Honkai crystal fragments into the suitcase. Slinging the black backpack, now even more bulging than when he arrived, over his shoulder, he stood up and bid farewell to Raven, who was leaning lightly against the bar counter behind him.
"Just call me Raven. And you? It's not fair if only I give my name. What should I call you?"
Raven waved a delicate white hand nonchalantly. Between her slender fingertips, she pinched a small, gem-like purple Honkai crystal fragment, her wine-red eyes carefully observing the purple gem containing immense Honkai energy as she replied lazily to Ren.
"Raven... Got it. Miss Raven can just call me Akira Kurusu."
Hearing the codename Raven casually tossed out, Ren felt a slight pang of regret internally while raising an eyebrow slightly. Not getting Raven's real name means I can't sneak into Mementos to find her Shadow, learn her true thoughts, or even change her heart to prevent her from betraying me, her supplier. What a pity.
Besides, the codename "Raven" instinctively made Ren think of crows, which then led him to think of the pancake-loving Akechi Goro, whose codename was Crow, leaving him feeling slightly unlucky.
"Oh, leaving already? You ordered milk in a bar, quite rare. Not going to finish it before you go?"
Seeing Ren turn and head towards the bar exit, Raven glanced at the untouched glass of iced milk on the counter, teasingly suggesting Ren stay.
"Next time for sure."
Ren waved back at Raven behind the counter without turning around. Pushing the heavy suitcase, he walked straight out of the remote and quiet bar.
"Such a cautious and suspicious guy. Completely unlike a high school student in maturity. Akira Kurusu is probably a fake name too."
Raven pouted slightly. She reached out, picked up the glass of iced milk from the counter, tilted back her slender, swan-like neck, and downed it in one go.
---||---
Meanwhile, after leaving Raven's bar, Ren didn't head straight home. Instead, he luxuriously hailed a taxi, asking the driver to take him towards the deserted outskirts of the city.
The outskirts were wide open, offering an unobstructed view of the surroundings. Any followers would be easily spotted in such terrain. According to Ren's own senses and the reconnaissance provided by Persona Yae Sakura residing in his heart, no one had tailed him from the bar, trying to score some cash off him.
This was certainly the best outcome. It seemed Raven the weapons dealer was reputable after all, and the bar's location likely wasn't chosen randomly.
Letting out a slight sigh of relief, feeling the substantial weight of the US dollars in his possession, Ren, sitting in the back seat of the taxi, drifted off slightly again.
Purple crystal fragments, as common as rocks to pick up in Mementos, could actually fetch such an exorbitant price from Raven. It truly exceeded Ren's imagination.
Maybe because the Serpent organization is constantly trying to research cognitive science, they have a particular fondness for products from Mementos, believing those purple crystal fragments and Shadow fragments hold significant research value?
Ren wasn't an internal member of the Serpent organization; he didn't know the true value of those purple fragments. Perhaps Raven had still profited from the information gap, but Ren didn't mind.
After all, the purple crystal fragments in Mementos were far too numerous, practically inexhaustible like stones, making them extremely easy to obtain. Letting Raven take a cut of the profit was perfectly acceptable.
Currently, Raven was Ren's only channel for selling these goods. As the sole buyer, the more Raven earned, the more reluctant she'd be to lose him, and the less likely she'd be to sell out his information to the Serpent organization for profit. This, in turn, made Ren feel more secure and safe.
Besides, as an ordinary person, Ren had never touched such an astonishing amount of money—three million US dollars—in both his lifetimes combined. As operating funds for a phantom thief, three million was undoubtedly more than sufficient.
"Stop here is fine, driver."
About three kilometers before leaving Nagazora City proper, Ren asked the taxi driver to stop. Pulling a wad of US dollars from the black backpack and tossing it to the driver in the front seat, he opened the car door and stepped out onto the nighttime city ground.
The sound of tires turning faded behind him as the taxi driver, overjoyed with the hefty fare, headed back. Ren walked forward silently for some distance, confirming the surroundings were finally deserted and free of surveillance cameras.
He stopped walking, gently closed his eyes, focused his mental energy, and called upon the latent power sleeping within him.
Ethereal, azure-blue flames silently emerged from Ren's body, enveloping the Chiba Academy uniform he wore. The blue flames under the black night sky flickered and vanished. When Ren slowly opened his eyes, his school uniform had been replaced by his familiar phantom thief attire.
"Amazing! I actually put on the Phantom Suit in the real world! I feel power welling up endlessly!"
Using the power of Jizo Mitama, Ren successfully summoned his Phantom Suit in reality. He raised his hand, touching the white bird mask on his face, a fervent glint flashing in his obsidian eyes.
Ren bent his knees slightly, then launched himself forward like a cannonball, a fierce gust of wind trailing in his wake. The coattails of his black-wing-designed coat billowed behind him due to his high speed, like dark feathers spreading wide in the wind.
Ren no longer suppressed his power.
He pushed his speed to the absolute limit, becoming like a black falcon streaking through the night. Leaping onto high walls lining the streets, vaulting from tall building rooftops, the Phantom Thief of Hearts, carrying the silver suitcase and the bulging black backpack, zipped across the night sky. His agile and nimble figure momentarily eclipsed the bright full moon hanging high above.
The few scattered pedestrians occasionally passing on the streets below couldn't help but stare wide-eyed, stunned, upon seeing the black phantom thief figure racing across the night sky.
No matter how you looked at it, Ren currently resembled the classic image of a phantom thief making a successful escape after stealing a Treasure!
"Phew—That felt great, working out like that! I never thought I'd see the day I could exert such terrifying physical abilities in the real world."
After sprinting non-stop for four or five kilometers, Ren, like an incarnation of a storm, swept into the outskirts of Nagazora City. Letting out a long, satisfied breath, he came to a stop, not even breaking a sweat. He merely felt slightly warm, as if he'd just completed a perfect warm-up routine that awakened his body.
"Physical ability test complete. Next up is—Persona!"
Standing still, Ren quickly regulated his breathing. He raised his hand, removed the white bird mask from his face, flicked his elbow sharply, and threw the white mask into the distance.
Following Ren's call, the white bird mask erupted into a mass of azure-blue ethereal flames. Then, a crimson-black hue suddenly surged from within, dyeing and restructuring the blue flames.
Once the crimson-black ethereal flames finished reforming, the figure of Yae Sakura—clad in her red-and-white miko outfit, with dazzling sakura-pink long hair and fox ears—materialized from the night sky, landing lightly before Ren.
Yae Sakura knelt on one knee, her white over-knee-sock-clad knee touching the ground lightly. She lowered her sakura-pink head slightly, presenting the crimson-black Jizo Mitama katana to Ren with both delicate white hands.
"Sakura, thanks for keeping watch for me back at the bar... Now, let's test how much of a Persona's power can be wielded in the real world."
Ren thanked Yae Sakura, then shared his thoughts, directing her to freely unleash her power in this deserted wilderness.
"Next, the other masks—Come, Arsene!"
"Huodou!"
"Use Eiga!"
"Zio!"
"Maharagi!"
"Concentrate!"
.....
Under the moonlight illuminating the outskirts, Ren's loud and decisive commands echoed continuously, like a rapid-fire menu callout.