Futaba takes a look

"Futaba, you here?" Ren asked when he arrived back in Yongen. He entered the Sakura residence.

"Ren!" Futaba said, giving him a hug. "You didn't tell me you were coming!"

"I wanted it to be a surprise," Ren said. He was back in Tokyo for the summer, and he wanted to keep his visit a surprise from his fellow Phantom Thieves.

"Is Mona with you?" asked Futaba, manhandling Ren's bag, which the cat usually stayed in.

"Sadly, no," Ren said. "My parents went on a road trip and Morgana wanted to go with them. He said he was 'bored of going to Tokyo all the time'. He does say hi, though."

"Aw, he's no fun," Futaba said.

"Oh, Futaba," said Ren. "I wanted you to take a look at this."

He pulled the remote from his pocket.

"A remote?" Futaba asked.

"You're the tech expert," Ren said. "What kind of TV does this go to?"

"I don't know," Futaba admitted. She grabbed the remote and examined it. "It's got like a bajillion buttons on it. And some of these don't make sense. Why would a TV need an awareness setting?"

She hit one of the buttons, and seemed to freeze in place.

"Did you learn anything?" Ren asked.

No reply.

"Um, Futaba?"

No reply. And she didn't seem to be moving, either.

"Helllooo?" Ren waved his hand in front of her face. "Earth to Futaba."

Still nothing.

"You're missing a new episode of Neo Featherman Rangers!"

She still didn't move, which proved to Ren that she was frozen, somehow. Futaba would never miss an episode of her favorite anime.

It was then that Ren saw Futaba's finger was pressing the pause button. And the remote seemed to be turned to aim directly at her.

Ren lightly took the gamer girl's hand and worked the remote out of it. Futaba still didn't move.

"What do I do?" Ren asked. If Sojiro came home and saw this...

In a panic, Ren hit the play button and Futaba shook her head.

"That was weird," Futaba said. "I feel like time went by but...where's the remote?"

"Oh, I have it," Ren said. "It doesn't work on any sort of TV, but I think I'll keep it. It looks cool."

"Suit yourself," Futaba shrugged. "Let me know if you find anything it works on."

As she went back upstairs to her room, Ren hit pause again. This time, Futaba was frozen mid-stride.

"Oh my god," Ren said. "It works on people."

The remote worked on people. How was this possible? Again, not the strangest thing Ren had ever seen (he did fight the literal god of control, after all). But this was something altogether different.