Otto completely ignored Ren Amamiya's disgusted gaze, as unperturbed as if it were a gentle breeze.
He had no idea what the real Goro Akechi had done to Ren to elicit such a strong aversion, but it hardly mattered. Otto had endured far worse, far more hateful glares over the past five hundred years.
Compared to those who truly loathed and cursed him from the depths of their souls, Ren's distaste was hardly extreme and couldn't affect Otto's composure in the slightest. It was simply a matter of practice.
Since Ren had been successfully misled about his true identity, Otto decided to go with the flow, cleanly severing himself from the real Goro Akechi. As "Cognitive Akechi," he once again sought cooperation with Ren.
"Indeed, you're not the real Goro Akechi. You haven't committed those heinous acts. Theoretically, you are currently innocent..." Ren mused, considering Otto's cunning words.
Just as Otto felt a glimmer of hope, believing Ren might accept this "Cognitive Goro Akechi" who was detached from past crimes, Ren's tone suddenly shifted. He flatly refused Otto's alliance offer once more.
"However, I refuse."
"Even if you're not the real Goro Akechi, but another existence created from my cognitive memories of him, I have absolutely no trust in you... I don't oppose your desire to defeat the false god. Feel free to do so. But I will not cooperate with you."
In the original P5R storyline, Cognitive Goro Akechi did indeed assist the protagonist in defeating Takuto Maruki, the successor to the false god, and calmly faced his own demise. Aside from being a bit foul-mouthed, he didn't have any major flaws.
But the Cognitive Akechi standing before Ren now wasn't created by the good-natured Maruki; he was a product of the false god Yaldabaoth. Ren's thoughts and personality differed from the original protagonist; he felt no camaraderie with Akechi.
Since the source of cognition was different, and the god creating the cognitive existence was also different, Ren naturally couldn't apply the original Cognitive Akechi's personality to this Pancake Man before him.
In Ren's mind, the name Goro Akechi was strongly associated with words like "traitor," "backstabber," and "pancakes." Teaming up with an Akechi created from such cognitions felt like playing parkour on a cliff edge while hugging a time bomb.
"Clearly, we all share the same goal. Wouldn't it be better to pool our strength? Even just once, why not try fighting together as a trial?" Despite Ren's repeated rejections, Otto remained undeterred, a gentle smile on his face as he suggested a trial joint battle.
"...Stop with the fake smile and trying to maintain a persona. Your crazed outbursts in private are more bearable. Are you that concerned about how others perceive 'Detective Prince' Goro Akechi?" The persistently clinging "Akechi" and his unnervingly fake smile increasingly irritated Ren, who sat diagonally across from him.
Just then, Sogoro Asakura, the owner of Cafe Leblanc, emerged from the back kitchen with a tray. He placed two freshly brewed Leblanc coffees and a plate of fragrant, golden pancakes on the table where Ren and the others sat.
"Boss, the check." Ren drained his Leblanc coffee in one gulp, stood up from his seat, placed a few Yukichi Fukuzawa banknotes on the table, and then walked past Fu Hua, who had moved aside, into the cafe's aisle. Ren had initially planned to savor the taste of Leblanc coffee and, if curry was available, order a plate for lunch. However, the Pancake Man's arrival had completely ruined his desire to relax at Cafe Leblanc.
He now just wanted to get as far away from this Cognitive Pancake Man as possible.
"Hey, hey, you gave too much—" Sogoro's eyes widened in surprise at the banknotes Ren left. He quickly called out to Ren.
"Consider the extra as a pre-payment for coffee. The coffee was delicious, I'll be back..." Ren initially intended to leave directly, but after taking two steps, he suddenly stopped and asked Sogoro somewhat sheepishly, "By the way, boss, could I take a look at the attic?"
Having come all this way to Cafe Leblanc, it would be a waste not to see the attic. Who knew, he might find a massive, almighty, triple-hit Izanagi-no-Okami on a storage shelf upstairs.
"The attic? You're interested in the attic?" Ren's sudden request to see the attic made Sogoro look at him even more strangely. "It's fine if you want to take a look, but there's nothing noteworthy up there, just a pile of miscellaneous items the cafe doesn't currently need." However, seeing how generously Ren had paid, Sogoro readily agreed to let him visit the attic.
The items stored there weren't valuable anyway; even if Ren took some small trinkets, it wouldn't matter.
"He still likes the attic so much..." After Ren's figure disappeared up the attic stairs, Otto shrugged his shoulders as if resigned, remarking in a tone that suggested familiarity with Ren.
Bronya glanced impassively at Otto beside her, then focused her entire attention on the freshly made delicious pancakes before her. Her small, fair hands held a knife and fork, cutting into the pancakes with utmost speed.
Before Ren finished his tour of the attic, Bronya decided to finish her pancakes!! Her pink lips parted slightly, and as she brought a piece of pancake to her mouth, her silver-gray eyes instantly lit up, her twin-spiral pigtails even quivering slightly as if in delight.
Ren stepped into the attic of Cafe Leblanc. A musty smell of old dust greeted him. Just as Sogoro Asakura had said, the attic was completely unsuitable for living, filled only with various household items haphazardly stored. Ren looked around, then slowly approached a storage shelf, examining its contents.
However, the shelf only held ordinary items like kerosene lamps and small electric motors; there was nothing unusual or noteworthy.
Even when Ren touched the dust-covered shelf, he didn't receive any DLC power or begin a rampage with Izanagi-no-Okami gifted by Yu Narukami.
Though slightly disappointed, this wasn't a game, so not receiving DLC powers was perfectly normal. Ren mainly just wanted to see the attic's interior. His objective achieved, he turned without lingering and slowly descended the stairs connecting the attic to the first floor.
"Let's go, Bronya." Coming down from Leblanc's attic, Ren immediately called out to Bronya, who was still at her seat, to leave together.
"Understood." Bronya contentedly swallowed the last piece of pancake. Although Otto didn't move aside proactively like Fu Hua, Bronya still showcased the agility expected of a world-class assassin. With a nimble flip, she vaulted over the back of the sofa and stood obediently before Ren in the aisle.
Looking at Bronya standing before him, her delicate face tilted up to meet his, her expression impassive yet with a crumb of golden pancake still clinging to the corner of her mouth, Ren's initially suppressed mood lifted considerably due to her charmingly contradictory appearance.
Taking a tissue from his pocket, Ren gently wiped Bronya's lips clean as she stood still, allowing him to do so. He then completely ignored Goro Akechi and Fu Hua, who were still watching him, and led Bronya out of Cafe Leblanc.
"Ren, where are we going next?" Only after they were far from Cafe Leblanc did Bronya finally speak, asking about their next plan.
"I've verified what I needed to. I'm not really in the mood for more leisure or rest right now... Anyway, let's take the train to Shibuya first." Ren hadn't stopped walking. After a brief pause, he quickly decided on their next course of action.
"Although you're still a substitute member, Bronya, you should try entering Mementos for combat." The truths Ren learned today had undoubtedly added to his stress.
And the best way to relieve stress was, naturally, continuous battle, striving for further improvement in combat, to gain an edge in defeating the false god.
The Mementos connected to Shibuya was the entrance and starting area, the shallowest layer. In other words, it was the gathering place for the weakest wild Shadows.
With Raiden Mei on leave to accompany Kiana, trying to find clues related to Kiana's Shadow in Mementos, and Hare not yet part of the team, now, with only Ren and Bronya, was the perfect time to enter Mementos for Bronya's combat acclimatization and training.
"Mementos... Seele is currently in that kind of cruel otherworld, full of monsters and devoid of humans?" Bronya's voice, though her emotion-expressing brain center was damaged, leaving her perpetually expressionless and cool, carried an undeniable conviction. "Bronya understands. For the sake of freeing Seele from that otherworld as soon as possible, Bronya will work hard with Ren!"
Taking the train from Sangen-Jaya Station to Shibuya Crossing, Ren led Bronya to a secluded, deserted corner. Using the power of the MetaNav App, they directly entered the Mementos area corresponding to Shibuya from the real world.
"So this is Mementos?" An eerie, blood-red hue completely filled Bronya's light gray irises in the blink of an eye. "Bronya can feel a sense of otherness. Just being in this space consumes more stamina than usual."
She tentatively moved her body, noting the faster stamina drain compared to the real world, and murmured thoughtfully.
"But... just like Shibuya Crossing in the real world, is this Mementos area also connected to a station?" Bronya looked up, surveying the Mementos environment, her calm, cool tone rising almost imperceptibly. A white, hazy mist silently seeped in from all directions, enveloping the entire station in a cold, white fog.
This fog-shrouded station appeared empty and dangerous. Bronya could see railway tracks leading to deeper areas in the distance, but there was no sign of any trains stopped or passing through the wide tracks.
"Mementos is related to public cognition. Shibuya Crossing is near a station, so a station appears here in Mementos too..."
Cool blue flames flickered across Ren's body as he automatically donned his black, bird-winged phantom thief attire upon entering Mementos.
"However, this station is subtly different from my memory, and there's this suspicious white fog. Something must have happened on Yaldabaoth's end, causing some changes to Mementos's entrance."
Though the Mementos entrance station looked a bit strange, it wasn't a major issue. Unlike the cold and extremely cruel depths of Mementos, this area, while still part of it, had its coldness and cruelty greatly diluted, even evoking a faint, warm sense of déjà vu.
This was a rare sensation only experienced in the shallowest layer of Mementos.
Undoubtedly, this was the very beginning, the station of origin from which the train embarked towards its final destination. As long as the entrance to Mementos was still beneath Shibuya Crossing, its real-world corresponding location unchanged, it meant Mementos hadn't suffered an overwhelmingly powerful impact causing drastic alterations.
"As for why you feel your stamina draining faster," Ren patiently explained to the rookie Bronya, "it's because you're not a true Persona user yet, merely having accepted Seele's gift. Your own Persona power hasn't truly awakened."
Once she awakened her own Persona and became a true Persona user, the burden Mementos placed on her would become negligible, almost non-existent.
Ren had encountered examples of individuals wielding Persona-like powers without full awakenings several times.
Bronya, having received external Treasure power and thus wielding abilities similar to Seele's Persona, undoubtedly had the potential to awaken her own Persona.
Her feeling of being burdened by Mementos perfectly confirmed Ren's hypothesis.
Against enemies like the Herrscher of the Void, the power of Project Bunny 19C, merely Seele's Treasure, was completely insufficient. If Bronya wanted to shed her substitute member status, she had to awaken her own Persona power.
Starting directly from the Herrscher of the Void's Palace or the Kaslana Palace would be far too difficult for Bronya. But starting from the outermost layer of Mementos was just right, allowing for a gradual increase in pressure up to Bronya's limit!!
The goal this time was set: for Bronya to awaken her own true Persona in Mementos!! Ren wondered if, upon awakening, Bronya would wield two Personas simultaneously, or if Project Bunny 19C would fuse with her own Persona power.
As Ren and Bronya, full of motivation, began searching for Shadows in the Mementos station, back in the real world, at Cafe Leblanc, Goro Akechi, mimicked by Otto, still sat in his original seat, savoring Leblanc coffee with Fu Hua.
"...Ren Amamiya has left. Aren't you going to do anything?" Fu Hua finally couldn't help but ask, looking at Otto leisurely sipping his coffee, inquiring about his next move.
"No need to rush, my old friend..." Otto placed his empty coffee cup gently on the table. Facing his tense old friend, a mysterious and rather infuriating smile appeared on his face.
"Since Ren Amamiya is unwilling to take us to the other world, we just need to follow the traces they left behind and catch up to them again."