[Timeskip to the last day of school]

[Theoretical spoilers for the other route.]

Ren stretched as he left Shujin. He'd had a great year with these earrings. He'd used them, but he had kept his resolution to end up like Shido or Maruki. He didn't make anyone do something they wouldn't want to do (after Igor's calling him up), and he also didn't let himself influence anyone's professional dreams or hopes.

Admittedly, he had used the earrings on occasion (they were really tempting), but he always either turned things back or let them stay around if they weren't a big issue. He might have to head home at some point, but he still had time, and it wasn't hard to keep in touch with his friends anymore.

A slap on his back came as he turned to look at Ryuji, Ann and the rest of the Phantom thieves that attended Shujin following behind him. "Hey Buddy! you ready for the end of the year party?" Ren nodded as the group headed to the subway, chatting.

At Leblanc they had a bit of a graduation party for those who were. Sumire and Futaba had one last year to go, but they still turned up for the festivities.

"Quite the year since you got those earrings, huh?" Ren nodded. he had eventually opened up to his friends about them, and while they were now aware of any changes they made, they'd taken it well.

"I'll say." Yusuke nodded, the eccentric art student nodded. "I never expected you to make so much use of my artistic skills, Especially that ti-"

"Hey, don't bring it up!" Futaba said, blushing with the rest of the girls. Ren had had Yusuke do some 'body painting practice' with them as practice. It was rather intense, but he had done some good work remaking a few outfits on them. Ren grinned sheepishly at the memory too, he'd let the girls deck him if they'd felt like it afterwards. Makoto still had the strongest punch by far.

"As... 'awkward' as some of the misadventures had been..." Ann said, sitting in a manner like she was posing for a photo shoot while holding her drink. "It hasn't been all rough. Thanks for the practice with the modeling poses, Ren."

"You're still doing it, even though it's not 'normal' anymore." Haru chimed in with a smile, the heiress for Big Bang Burger commented on Ann's poses. The model blushed in response and tried sitting more casually - after Ren had made her aware of it, it had become a comfortable habit she kept slipping into.

"In any case..." Makoto coughed, the student council president interjecting. "There was some good to come out of it. I doubt Ryuji or Ann would have had an easy time passing their classes without it."

"Hey, we weren't that bad!" Ryuji defended himself, only for him and Ann to be met with deadpan stairs by everyone else in the room. "...fine, we did need the help. And hey, Kawakami's an effective educator." He said with a grin. Ann gave him a playful shove at that.

"You liked it how she coached us in her maid outfit."

"Hey, It's a great outfit!" Ryuji chuckled. "You couldn't have just gave us the smarts to get A's, leader?"

"Sorry, Ryuji. I wanted to help, but I figured it wouldn't really be your effort if I helped you get to more than a C minimum." Ren shrugged his shoulders, Makoto nodding her approval of at least making it so they put in some effort on studying.

"And I get to be human now!" A black haired kid in a gray shirt chimed in. Morgana was really enjoying the fact that he could turn into a human now. Ren had used how he'd looked from Maruki's Palace as a base. He let morgana change back between that and his cat form at will outside the metaverse now, though he gave his friends the ability to make him turn back if he was causing problems. "And thanks for taking me up on that date, Lady Ann~!" He said, remembering the date fondly.

"Well you did deserve the shot after helping me out at the photo shoots." The model replied, crossing her arms as she put her drink down. "Just don't think there's going to be any fish involved if it happens again."

Sumire chuckled in the booth next to Ren. "I'm glad I got to meet you guys." She said as the original 8 phantom thieves looked at her. "I can honestly say that my life wouldn't be the same without you guys."

"You're quite welcome, Sumire." Yusuke replied with a bow, the rest of the group nodding and saying likewise.

"You're too kind. And, I felt I should let you guys know something." She stood up from her seat. "I'm going to be going on a bit of a cross country vacation this summer. It's for training this year, and I'm practicing for the Olympics."

"That's great!" Ryuji interjected.

"But, I wanted to let you guys know I wouldn't be available for most of the summer. In fact, I'm heading out tomorrow." This was a surprise to the rest of them, both the training and the absence.

Ren spoke up first with a pat on the shoulder. "Good luck Sumire, I know you'll do great." A hug from him quickly became a group hug for their newest member.

Ren went back to his room with morgana. It had been a good party. Morgana returned to his cat form and stretched. Ren lied back, it had been a good day, and he and Ryuji were going to track down some barbecue tomorrow after seeing Sumire off. Futaba had had all of them try out that new virtual assistant, Emma, as well. It seemed pretty useful, but something about it bothered him a bit... he just couldn't place his finger on it...