"Those monster sculptures on display are all the Shadows of Palace rulers I've defeated, and the people in the portraits on the walls posing with me are my former companions."
Just as Bronya, due to Seele's pointed question, was breaking out in a cold sweat, her gaze darting around, her usually impassive face almost cracking, Ren Amamiya's timely interjection, inserted between Bronya and Seele, instantly alleviated Bronya's predicament. A flicker of relief flashed through her silver-gray eyes, and she smoothly changed the subject.
"Ren's former companions…? Then why did Ren separate from them and form a new Phantom Thieves team with Big Sister Mei?"
Although she had used this as an excuse to divert the topic and avoid Seele's pointed question, Bronya was genuinely curious about the answer.
Not only Bronya, but Hare and Raiden Mei were also curious about the answer to this question, turning their gazes towards Ren Amamiya's calm face, awaiting his response.
"If you ask why, then I can only say that they are no longer in this world."
Ren Amamiya's expression was very calm as he answered Bronya, as if devoid of any sorrow or joy, simply stating this heavy and cruel reality.
"Ah, I'm sorry. Bronya shouldn't have asked that…"
Seeing Ren Amamiya, who showed no emotion whatsoever, as if forcibly suppressing his feelings, Bronya couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt. Her voice was low as she apologized to Ren Amamiya.
In fact, with a little careful thought, Bronya could have figured out why Ren Amamiya's former companions were no longer with him.
After all, there could be many reasons for parting ways with a companion, but separating from an entire team and then forming a brand new one… there was basically only one possibility for such a situation.
Fighting in Mementos wasn't child's play, and the path of salvation was fraught with thorns and hardships. It was inevitable that there would be sacrifices along the way.
With Bronya's intelligence, she should have immediately thought of the possibility that the previous team had been wiped out. However, because she was too concerned about Seele's suspicion regarding her relationship with Ren Amamiya, she had inadvertently touched upon Ren Amamiya's wound when trying to change the subject. This avoidable mistake filled Bronya with immense guilt.
"You don't need to blame yourself, Bronya. Although my companions are no longer in this world, it doesn't mean they are completely gone… Based on the current situation, I deduce that my companions have only been forgotten by the world, erased from public cognition by the false god and vanished from the material world. Somewhere in the gap between the spiritual and material planes, they must still be stubbornly resisting this predetermined fate."
"Big Brother Ren's past companions vanished from the material world… It sounds very similar to Seele's situation. But what does being 'erased from public cognition by the false god' mean? Seele doesn't quite understand…"
Having fallen from the real world into the Sea of Quanta, Seele had undoubtedly experienced the terrifying process of being erased from the material world. However, based on Ren Amamiya's description, the experiences of his teammates seemed to have many similarities and differences with Seele's own.
"Just like how defeating the Shadow of a Palace ruler in the cognitive world can change the heart of the Palace ruler's real-world counterpart, the false god Yaldabaoth's authority allows it to freely manipulate the collective cognition of the general public… Erasing specific individuals from public cognition can make the erased target vanish from the real world, forever lost in the gap between the spiritual and material planes. And all traces of the erased person's existence in the real world will be completely eliminated, as if they never existed."
This was a restarted world where the Phantom Thieves of Hearts didn't exist.
The members of the Phantom Thieves, erased from public cognition by the false god Yaldabaoth from the very beginning, might have inherited memories from the previous loop, or they might have been ordinary people, completely unaware of the situation, when they suffered at the hands of the false god.
However, regardless of whether the members of the Phantom Thieves had inherited memories from the previous loop, Ren Amamiya, at least, had not. He had only deduced that this world had been restarted based on fragmented clues.
As Ren Amamiya had said earlier, the members of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts had only been erased from the real world; their lives weren't in danger. As long as he found them in the gap between the spiritual and material planes, he could rescue the imprisoned Phantom Thieves.
Moreover, since Ren Amamiya himself had no memories of the previous loop, his feelings for the members of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts were still at the level of fondness for characters. Even if he knew they were his comrades-in-arms, he didn't have a strong personal connection. So, he truly was calm and composed, not feigning composure as Raiden Mei and the others thought.
"…Not only vanished from public cognition, but even all traces of their existence in the real world were erased? Could it be that the people you asked me to investigate at Leblanc yesterday, Ren, were your former teammates?!"
After hearing Ren Amamiya's explanation, a flash of inspiration struck Bronya's mind. She suddenly understood why Ren Amamiya had asked her to search for information on a group of non-existent people at Leblanc yesterday, a request that had seemed baffling at the time.
"Even though they were erased from public cognition by the false god, you could still remember your former teammates, Ren…? No, you probably couldn't recall their existence from the beginning, right?"
Even if forgotten by society, even if forgotten by the world, Ren Amamiya, their leader, still remembered his teammates.
Raiden Mei couldn't help but marvel at Ren Amamiya's tenacious memory. However, midway through her sentence, she seemed to suddenly realize something, turning a probing gaze towards Ren Amamiya's eyes.
"This is also inevitable. If I'm not mistaken, Ren should still retain memories from before the last loop, right? To inherit memories from the past, memories that should have completely vanished, in a new world is already shocking enough, a miracle among miracles. It wouldn't be surprising if Ren lost most of his past memories… However, not only has Ren retained his complete memories, he has even recovered the parts that should have been artificially deleted and lost."
Before Ren Amamiya could respond to Raiden Mei, Hare, standing beside them, sighed softly. She carefully observed Ren Amamiya's expression and, after confirming that he didn't show any displeasure at her revelation, slowly shared her long-held deduction with Raiden Mei, Bronya, and the others.
Before meeting Ren Amamiya, Hare had always been in a state of self-imposed isolation in imaginary space, occasionally appearing in the real world to carry out World Serpent missions, living only to pursue her own death, with no interest in exploring anything beyond the Stigma Project.
And after joining Ren Amamiya's team and becoming his companion from the bottom of her heart, Hare's once cold and dead heart had become active again. She had made more and more companions, and Seele and Kevin were always there with her in the Kaslana Palace.
Although Seele was a natural Stigmata Awakened, her perspective and knowledge had always been limited to the orphanage by Cocolia. She knew very little about the outside world's anti-Honkai organizations, let alone about the Honkai itself.
As for Kevin, as a Will of Stigmata he naturally possessed an incomparably rich knowledge of the Honkai. However, being in the Kaslana Stigmata Space, he didn't know much about the organizational structure of the real world.
The three in the Kaslana Palace, their connection with the outside world almost completely severed, had naturally accepted and understood the Persona system theory proposed by Ren Amamiya.
However, while they were waiting in the Kaslana Palace for Ren Amamiya and the others to come to Mementos again, Kevin, the master of the Kaslana Palace, raised questions about the very foundation of the Persona system theory.
Although she was in imaginary space, as the crystallise Stigmata of the entire Schariac family, Hare could still find ways to learn more about the real world as seen by the Schariac family, and she happened to have plenty of time while waiting in the Kaslana Palace.
Schicksal was the largest anti-Honkai organization in the real world. Besides the Apocalypse family, representing the Overseer, the Schariac family, representing the Saint, and the Kaslana family, representing the Knight, were the pillars supporting Schicksal.
As Wills of Stigmata of the Schariac and Kaslana families, Hare and Kevin had special access to directly peek into the experiences of high-ranking Schicksal members. As long as they were patient enough, this world held almost no secrets from them.
However, even after Hare and Kevin used their unique Will of Stigmata method of reading through all the records preserved in the Schariac and Kaslana Stigmata, they couldn't find much information related to the Persona system—in fact, the few scarce pieces of information only appeared in Schicksal records after Ren Amamiya became active.
After reviewing all the records and discussing with Hare and Seele, Kevin came to a final conclusion.
Even if Ren Amamiya's body was born and raised on this land, his deeper soul and memories must have come from a far more distant place.
The Previous Era had once searched for remnants of even earlier civilizations, but the results could only barely prove the existence of more ancient civilizations and reincarnation. They couldn't learn from and inherit the knowledge and skills of earlier civilizations through archaeology like the Current Era.
Compared to tracing the marks of earlier civilizations back through time, the Fire Moth, which had created the Seed of Sumeru with the Herrscher of the Void's Core, had more extensive experience in observing parallel worlds.
Each leaf spreading and growing from the Imaginary Tree was extremely similar, yet subtly different. The veins of the worlds on the leaves always followed a broadly similar pattern, and the figures active at the forefront of these worlds were all strikingly familiar.
Compared to a "fire-passer" from a past civilization, Ren Amamiya seemed more like a visitor from another branch of the Imaginary Tree.
However, precisely because of the Fire Moth's experience in observing parallel worlds, Kevin understood even more deeply the immense and terrifying power needed to cross the barriers between worlds. Even he, who had theoretically completed the Stigma Project, couldn't pierce through the world's barrier, let alone Ren Amamiya, who merely had the potential to surpass him.
The current Current Era hadn't yet failed the Honkai's trial. It was a real leaf-world on the Imaginary Tree, not a world bubble falling into the Sea of Quanta and gradually fading away. The difficulty for Ren Amamiya to enter it from outside the world was countless times greater than for someone from the Previous Era to pass down their will.
Since the Previous Era could have Pioneers entering the next generation, then it wasn't unacceptable for a traveler from a more ancient civilization to awaken in the Current Era.
Although the probability was extremely slim, even with the Current Era's methods, as long as the power of the Key of Sentience, Fenghuang Down, was used, there was still a minute chance of reviving one's consciousness in the next generation.
After discussing with Hare, Kevin finally concluded that Ren Amamiya must be a "fire-passer" from the Previous Previous Era, or even an even more ancient reincarnation… Having undergone the baptism of countless eons, the fading embers had been rekindled in this world and were now burning fiercely, with a terrifying momentum to incinerate and cleanse all the evils in the world!!
Even Seele, who was also in the Kaslana Palace, didn't know about the exchange between Hare and Kevin, these two Will of Stigmata. Only Veliona, also a Will of Stigmata, sensed something amiss.
Since Ren Amamiya had never proactively revealed his origins before, Hare, as his companion, naturally chose to keep this earth-shattering secret.
Until now, Ren Amamiya had actively invited all the Phantom Thief girls to enter his Palace, showing his intention to be completely honest.
And when Hare explained on behalf of Ren Amamiya, who might have found it awkward to explain his origins now after missing the earlier opportunity, Ren Amamiya hadn't shown any intention of stopping her. This clearly meant he tacitly approved of her revealing the secret for him.
"…The previous loop? I vaguely heard Cocolia mention it before. I didn't expect Ren would actually have memories of the previous loop. This is truly surprising."
Bronya looked at Ren Amamiya. After confirming that he didn't show any signs of denial, surprise appeared in her silver-gray eyes.
"To be precise, it should be memories of the previous loop, or even loops before that."
Hare carefully corrected Bronya.
"..."
Although Ren Amamiya had no memories of the previous loop and had only deduced its existence based on clues, in the current atmosphere, he couldn't bring himself to deny or explain.
Anyway, Ren Amamiya, with memories of his past life, could, for all intents and purposes, be considered as having memories of the previous loop.
His past life's game experience could be considered the first loop, the previous loop after transmigrating would be the second loop, and it wouldn't be wrong to call this the third loop. Therefore, he didn't really need to explain everything in detail; what Hare said was completely correct.
Explaining now would not only betray Hare but also disappoint Seele, who was looking at him with starry eyes and a look of admiration.
So, Ren Amamiya simply coughed lightly and stepped forward, giving the order to start the operation to his Phantom Thief companions.
"Let's move. This Palace is quite large. Although there are no Shadow guards blocking the way, finding the Treasure hidden within the Palace will still take some effort."
Ren Amamiya walked towards the depths of the Palace. As he moved forward, a gramophone with a brass horn came into view.
The gramophone stood quietly in the corner where the music appreciation function should be, a black vinyl record with the Phantom Thieves' mask pattern on its label already loaded.
Ren Amamiya walked over and gently lifted the gramophone's tonearm, carefully placing the small, sharp stylus onto the rotating vinyl record.
As the vinyl record spun, no sound came from the brass horn above, only a faint scratching sound from the record below.
Just as Ren Amamiya frowned slightly, about to tap the gramophone to see if it was malfunctioning, soothing music, seemingly integrated with the entire space, suddenly started playing softly from every corner of the Palace.
A lazy saxophone melody sounded, blending perfectly with the deep bass and gentle keyboard sounds, bringing a sense of ease and comfort to those listening.
Especially the sound of rain interspersed within this pure, white-noise-like music brought relaxed and comfortable expressions to the faces of Raiden Mei, Seele, and the others.
"I've never heard this melody before… but it's very nice. It would be even more comfortable if this music played in a cafe on a rainy day, with a steaming cup of coffee in hand, just quietly watching the rain outside."
The gentle jazz music echoing through the Palace relaxed Bronya, whose body had been tense and mind somewhat muddled. Her perpetually expressionless, delicate little face softened slightly.
"You have good taste, Bronya. This song is indeed meant to be listened to in that kind of setting."
Hearing this, Ren Amamiya glanced at Bronya beside him, raised an eyebrow slightly, and a pleased smile touched his lips.
Music was a treasure of the world, especially the unrivaled P5 music composed by the eternally divine Shoji Meguro.
After transmigrating to this world, Ren Amamiya had thought he would never hear the stylish and sophisticated jazz music of P5 again. He never expected to be able to appreciate the music from the P5 game in his own Palace, and even be able to record it and take it back to the real world to listen to. This naturally lifted his spirits.
Beneath the Mask, that was the name of the song currently playing in the Palace.
And it was the "Rain" version, the gentle music that played in Leblanc on rainy days.
"There seem to be many TVs hanging on the wall over there. Can I go take a look, Ren?"
Raiden Mei looked around the spacious museum Palace. She quickly noticed the memory viewing area on the other side. While asking Ren Amamiya, she pointed towards the wall covered with square screens on the opposite side.
"Hmm, of course, no problem. Let's go together."
Ren Amamiya nodded and proactively led Raiden Mei, Hare, and the others towards the memory viewing area.
Although he had invited the Phantom Thief girls to visit the Palace within his heart, Ren Amamiya didn't intend to let them wander around separately—although they were authorized visitors, the Palace's mechanisms wouldn't show mercy because of their status. If they wandered around carelessly, the girls could still encounter danger.
For example, transforming floor tiles.
If the Phantom Thief girls accidentally stepped on a transforming floor tile in the Palace, changing their appearance into that of a member of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts would still be fine.
The real fear was them suddenly shrinking into the form of Morgana, or even worse, a rat-like version of a Phantom Thief member, and accidentally being stepped on by a teammate.
As a transmigrator, although Ren Amamiya's current Palace still retained the architectural style and appearance from the game, the internal design might have undergone subtle changes.
To prevent his teammates from being caught by the traps and mechanisms in his Palace, Ren Amamiya thought it would be safest to lead them on the tour himself.
As Ren Amamiya and the others approached, the TV screens, which had been turned off, lit up one after another. In an instant, all the screens glowed white.
First, a burning white spirit-bird mask appeared on the screens. Then, a deep red background flashed briefly, and finally, all the TV screens on the wall displayed various scenes related to Ren Amamiya.
"On the screens… it's Joker! So, these screens record all your past battle memories, Ren?"
Hare's gaze swept across the images displayed on the various TV screens. All the screens showed the familiar figure of Joker, the Phantom Thief of Hearts—Ren Amamiya, clad in his black Phantom Thief coat, leading a group of unfamiliar Phantom Thief members in battle against Shadows.
Hare stared at the TV screen closest to her. The Ren Amamiya on the screen wasn't wearing his iconic black Phantom Thief outfit but a white turtleneck shirt and a black suit jacket with red buttons, red and black checkered trousers, and even large, wide-rimmed glasses that covered most of his face, making him look quite inconspicuous.
The Ren Amamiya on the screen was inside a bizarre and terrifying castle, surrounded by Shadow soldiers along with another boy of the same age with yellow hair. It was clearly a tense atmosphere of having strayed into someone else's Palace.
The reason Hare was focused on this screen wasn't because it was closest to her, but because, as a Stigmata Construct, she sensed a familiar yet foreign aura from deep within this screen.
"It's Will Seed. I didn't expect my Will Seed to be directly embedded in these TV screens, instead of being hidden in some secret room."
As the Palace ruler, upon approaching a certain distance, Ren Amamiya naturally sensed the presence of Will Seed hidden deep within the TV screens.
Ren Amamiya gently touched the TV screen in front of him. Crimson ripples spread across the screen's surface, and then, as if a play button had been pressed, the previously static image on the square screen instantly began to play smoothly.