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Chapter Text

Present day...

"Another world in which people's cognitions take shape? Stealing treasure to change hearts? And on top of that, a talking cat told you all this?" Sae Niijima asked the beaten, bloody, and bruised teenage boy in front of her.

Ren Amamiya simply nodded. His head was getting fuzzy, his vision was starting to blur... It was a concerted effort just to concentrate at the task at hand. Ren saw the red marks from the handcuffs poking out from under his uniform blazer sleeves. He didn't exactly have much energy to speak. Regardless, Ren managed to force out, "Believe what you will."

Sae continued, "Honestly speaking, that all seems absurd. It's hard to believe that this is even worth listening to."

Sae kept talking, but Ren's mind wandered. It did sound ridiculous. Regardless, that was his life now. A talking cat guided Ren and his friends through the Metaverse to steal the hearts of corrupted adults to make them admit to their crimes. And unfortunately for him at this very moment, it somehow lead Ren to being in police interrogation talking to a prosecuting attorney. Ren wasn't even entirely sure why he had agreed to it, just that it was important. Maybe it was the drugs going through his veins and making his memories all jumbled, but he had a feeling that if he kept explaining his story, maybe the memories about why he was there would come back.

"These two other accomplices, besides this talking cat thing that appeared in your story... From what you've been telling me, they're students at the same school, aren't they?" Sae asked. Ren kept silent, deciding that that would be better in the long run for everyone. After a few seconds of eerie silence, Sae continued, "Very well. I'll leave it at that. Let's continue on. The questioning's not over anyway. If you are making this up, the cracks in your story will prove it. The next to receive a calling card was this individual..."

Sae opened up her folder and spun it around, showing Ren a picture of an old man wearing an olive green kimono. "A master of Japanese arts: Ichiryusai Madarame. It's even more incomprehensible than Kamoshida as to why this man was targeted. Where did you come to know him? And how did you learn of his crimes when you weren't a victim of them? Start by telling me what you all schemed..."

Ren sighed, flexing his hand. To explain that, he'd probably have to go back to that day...

Six months ago...

"None of these posts are any good. Everyone's just bitchin' about their parents or their boyfriends." Ryuji Sakamoto, Ren's first friend at Shujin Academy and one of his three friends here complained as he scrolled on his phone. "There ain't even a hint about a new Palace..."

Ann Takamaki, the only girl in the group so far, sighed, crossed her arms and flicked one of her blonde pigtails off of her shoulder. "We can't get everything online... Finding a post with a name and location is asking a lot..."

"Guess we just gotta find one ourselves then!" Ryuji half-heartedly complained.

"Are you seriously suggesting we look got a target that even the police have overlooked?" Morgana, the small black and white cat sitting on the tables in front of them, asked as he licked his paw. The four were currently sitting on top of Shujin Academy's rooftop, their makeshift hideout, and were talking about finding their next target as the Phantom Thieves. Ren being the leader, he just silently stood in the corner, trying to figure out a game plan while Ann, Ryuji, and Morgana talked. Hearing Morgana talk probably would have been strange for literally anyone else, even hearing what their whole group was talking about would have been weird, but their group of four were the only people there. Good for privacy and talking about things that sounded insane to everyone who hadn't lived through it.

"... Yeah, you're right. We should prolly just hold off 'til exams are done with, huh?" Ryuji suggested, pushing his foot against one of the tables in the center of their square and rocking his folding chair back and forth. "We can wait and see for a little longer, then worry about comin' up empty-handed if that happens..."

The door to the roof suddenly opened up, Ann, Ryuji, and Ren suddenly jumping to attention as Morgana ran to hide since he wasn't technically allowed on school property. Ann's eyes widened when she saw a relatively short girl wearing a white turtleneck, black vest, black tights, the Shujin uniform skirt, and black loafers walk through the door. Her short brown hair and bangs flicked in the wind as she scanned the roof with her red eyes. They eventually landed on the trio of humans on the roof, walking over to them. The closer she got, Ren noticed that the girl had a braid of brown hair holding back her bob like a headband. Ann quietly muttered to herself, "Oh..."

The girl paused in front of the tables, arms behind her back. "This place is off limits, you know."

Ryuji looked less than thrilled to see this girl. "... We'll get outta here once we're done chattin'. Anyways, what's Miss Council President want with us?"

Ren studied the girl in front of him. Based on what Ryuji called her, she was more than likely Shujin's student council president, making her a third year. He didn't see any reason to be mean towards her... She looked like she didn't want to be up there... A small pout on her lips. Miss Council President pushed back some of her hair as she commented, glancing at everyone. "The troublemaker, the center of gossip, and the infamous transfer student. Hmm, interesting combination."

Her gaze lingered on Ren for a few seconds longer than it did on Ann or Ryuji, almost like she was trying to get a read on him. Ren simply stood up straighter. Ann seemed to sit up straighter too as she muttered, "Great way to start a conversation..."

"By the way..." Miss Council President said, turning her attention completely onto Ren. "It seems as though you got to know Mr. Kamoshida pretty well."

Rem shrugged. It would be the first words he had spoken this entire conversation. "Not really."

"Yeah, y'know he's only been here a month or so." Ryuji said defensively.

"Hm... I heard Mr. Kamoshida used a volleyball team member to spread details of your past record." Miss Council President commented. Ren readjusted how he was standing. As if he needed more reminders why he was here in Tokyo. He was framed for a crime he never committed and now he's being forced to do his probation hours away from home. More reminds about how he had disappointed his parents and how he was now a societal reject. "Don't you hate him? Mr. Kamoshida, I mean."

Ryuji took his foot off the table and leaned closer to Miss Council President. "What's all this about?"

"I don't mean to offend. Many students have been shaken up by what happened with Mr. Kamoshida." Miss Council President said, tapping her chin before going back to holder her hands behind her back. "The rumors about that odd, calling card-esque posting aren't going away either."

Ann and Ryuji looked at each other cautiously before Ann added, "I didn't expect someone like you would care about that tactless stuff, Niijima-senpai."

"I dunno that it was tactless..." Ryuji quietly muttered to himself. Ren had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. Ryuji was being way too obvious about the fact that he was the one who wrote the calling card. "Anyways, we done here? We can't leave if you keep talkin' to us."

"At least try to understand my position. Being forced to deal with this horseplay..." Niijima-senpai, Ren assumed that that was her name, muttered to herself.

"Horseplay!?" Ann asked, clearly annoyed. Ren didn't exactly blame her. If the school had taken care of Kamoshida in the first place, maybe her best friend, Shiho, wouldn't be in the hospital right now.

"Ah yes, by the way... It's been decided that this place will be closed off due to the incident." Niijima-senpai added. Ann looked even more annoyed. The "incident" as Niijima-senpai put it was Shiho jumping off the roof during school hours because of Kamoshida's physical and sexual abuse. "I heard some people were coming up here without permission, after all. I'm sorry to have interrupted you."

And with that final word, Niijima-senpai turned on her heel and walked back into the school. Ann quickly stood up. "What was that about?"

Morgana jumped off of the roof and onto the table in front of Ryuji, back in view for everyone to see. "... She's on to us. That girl seems rather sharp. We should be cautious of her."

"She really pisses me off!" Ryuji said angrily.

Sharp didn't even seem too far off from what Ren was seeing. He wasn't pissed off with her like Ryuji and Ann seemed to be. Niijima-senpai just seemed like someone who was trying to make the best of her situation... Someone who was forced into this situation like he was and someone who was trying to get by. Ren would be lying if he said he didn't feel some semblance of familiarity. Still... Ren took a deep breath. "She's figured us out."

Ryuji sighed, leaning back in his chair and resting one of his feet on his knee. "Talk about a pain in the ass."

"That reminds me..." Morgana said, turning to look at Ryuji. "Study hard. Especially you, Ryuji. There are bound to be traps that will need to be solved with brains. Keep in mind that everything you do in your daily lives has an impact on your abilities."

"True, studying won't be so bad if we think of it as helping us prepare to be phantom thieves..." Ann commented.

"I guess you got a point..." Ryuji pouted as he stood up. "But man, it's just so lame... I was all fired up about helpin' people, not about studyin'..."

"Well, I do have somewhere interesting to show you beforehand. You guys did originally promise to help me out with my mission, after all." Morgana added chipperly.

"Huh? Mission?"

"Follow me." Morgana said, jumping off of the table as Ryuji gave Ann and Ren confused looks. Ren simply shrugged as he followed Morgana out of the school.

Chapter Text

Five months ago...

"You guys see the news about Madarame!? It's just like what happened with Kamoshida!" Ryuji asked excitedly as he looked up from the ground of the Shibuya walkway at Ann, Ren, Morgana, and Yusuke Kitagawa, the newest member of their group since he helped them change Madarame's heart.

"And they mentioned the Phantom Thieves!" Ann added enthusiastically.

"Man, this is startin' to get interesting... If we do it right, we can change people's hearts. With this power... We might be able to do more than just gettin' back at society. It'll be a big deal!"

"This'll be fun." Ren said, the smallest hint of a smirk on his face.

"Let's keep pushin' on then!" Ryuji said happily, drumming the ground in front of him with his hands. He jumped onto his feet, giddy. "As for me, I hope we just keep gettin' more and more famous!"

"Something like this happening twice is massive too. It's too great a coincidence to occur normally." Morgana added, poking his head out of the bag on Ren's shoulder.

"If we keep doing this, we'll definitely be able to give courage to everyone who needs it." Ann said with a giant smile on her face.

Yusuke looked over his shoulder, noticing that two police officers were walking up to them. They paused maybe three feet away, and Yusuke quietly said, "... We may want to quiet down a little."

"Do you know them?" Ann asked, tilting her head to the side in confusion. Ren shook his head in slight disappointment. Bless her, Ann was a great friend, she helped Ren keep positive every day he was in Tokyo, but she wasn't always the brightest person in the room.

Even Ryuji managed to catch on as he turned his attention to Ann. "You moron! Those're attendance officers!"

The two officers turned towards the group and walked over. The taller of the two, who was also wearing sunglasses, asked, "Hello there. May I speak with you for a moment?"

Ren started to feel his anxiety rise. He didn't like talking to the police. Even talking with Mr. Dojima now filled him with dread, and Ren had known Mr. Dojima for years. Ann seemed to notice Ren's anxiety, quickly stepping in despite her bad acting skills. "Ah, yes! How can we help you?"

"That monotonous acting of hers never fails to send a chill down my spine." Morgana whispered into Ren's ear.

"What are you all doing here? Are you friends?" The officer wearing sunglasses asked.

Panicking and without anything thinking, Ren blurted out, "We wanted some tea..."

The shorter officer nodded his head once, Yusuke and Ryuji now noticing how nervous Ren was. "Hm, is that so? And how would you do that in a place like this?"

"We were just discussing where we should go..." Ann said, trying to get the police officers to focus on her instead of Ren.

"Well, all right. Just make sure you disperse before it gets too late, okay?" The officer wearing sunglasses said, somehow managing to believe Ann's acting. "There have been some odd happenings lately, and the news about that artist has caused quite the stir."

"We'll be careful!" Ann said chipperly. Satisfied, both officers walked away. As soon as they were both gone, Ann's smile completely dropped as she looked over at Ren. "You good?"

Ren nodded, taking a deep breath. "Yeah... Thanks."

Ryuji scoffed, looking out the window at the bustling streets of Shibuya below. "It's still light out... Man, those guys must have way too much time on their hands. Are you sure you're okay, dude?"

Ren nodded again. "Yeah... Sorry that I blurted that excuse out though, Ann. Probably should have let you handle it so you didn't get thrown."

"Are you kidding? That excuse may have saved our asses. I may not be the best at acting, but I'm pretty decent at improv." Ann said, giving Ren a much gentler smile than she gave the police officers a few minutes before. She reached her arm up and placed a hand on Ren's shoulder. "I don't get thrown that easily. You have nothing to apologize for."

"Am I missing something?" Yusuke asked carefully.

"Let's just say that I really don't like dealing with the police." Ren said, wanting to leave it at that.

"Regardless," Morgana said, taking Ren's cue. "From now on, we'll need to be even more cautious than before. Look at us! Right after the second Thieves incident, both prior victims are meeting up."

"Wait, you mean people might be listening to us?" Ann asked, almost shocked.

"Eh, it'll be fine. Look around. We're rhe only people worryin' about it." Ryuji said, almost blowing off Morgana's comment.

"I guess you're right..." Ann muttered.

"By the way, Yusuke..." Ryuji said, turning to look at Yusuke. "You able to get anything out of Madarame? Remember how he was talkin' about that suspicious person in the black mask?"

Yusuke shook his head. "Well... I pressed him for answers, but he doesn't even understand what happened to him to begin with."

"It's not like he actually saw his desires get stolen, after all." Ann added.

"It's rumored that he may be sent to prison. In that case, gaining information will be difficult..." Yusuke continued.

"So, what're you gonna do now?" Ryuji asked, crossing his arms.

"I'll be leaving that house. I can't draw in such a place anymore."

"Do you have somewhere to go?" Ann asked, extremely concerned.

"The school dorms." Yusuke answered. "I can stay there free of charge thanks to my fine arts scholarship."

"A scholarship!? Wait, you're that good?" Ryuji asked, his eyes going wide.

"Although, Takamaki-san's house would do as well." Yusuke added.

Ann staggered back slightly in shock. "... Wait, WHAT!?"

"You know, you could ask her to model for you whenever you wanted!" Ryuji teased.

"You moron!" Ann said, lightly shoving Ryuji's shoulder as he laughed.

"Then again, now that Yusuke'll be livin' alone, it'll be easier for us to meet up whenever we want."

"For the time being, we should wait and see how this case plays out." Yusuke suggested.

"And it'll prolly take some time findin' a target as big as Madarame." Ryuji added.

"Anyway, we should just act like normal students while we look for our next target, okay?" Ann asked, clapping her hands together once.

"We'll be entrusting that to you again, Ryuji." Morgana said proudly.

"All right. Guess it's just more prep 'til then." Ryuji said, nodding his head once.

"So... What now?" Yusuke asked as Ann bent down to grab her bag. "Do we just go our separate ways, or...?"

"Now..." Ann said, glancing over at Ren. "I am going to go get a boba tea since Ren mentioned tea and now I want one. Who's with me? There's a Gong Cha maybe half a block away from the station!"

"I'm down!" Ryuji said happily.

"Let's do it." Ren said, nodding his head once.

"Boba... Tea? What is that?" Yusuke asked nervously.

"Have you never had one?" Ann asked. Yusuke shook his head. Ann smiled, putting an arm around Yusuke. "Welcome to the twenty first century, Yusuke! You're gonna love it! Your first one is on me!"

"Heck yeah!" Ryuji cheered as the group started walking.

"Then we really should split up after this to not draw any suspicion!" Morgana added, but Ryuji seemed oblivious.

Ren turned his head to make sure the police weren't following them. As he turned his head, he saw that one girl who had talked to them on the school roof and who talked to him occasionally on the way to school... Miss Council President... Niijima-senpai. Her eyes widened once she realized she had been spotted. Ren simply smiled and waved hello. Niijima-senpai quickly turned around and walked the other direction, Ren shrugging and catching up to the rest of the group.

Present day...

"So after Shiho Suzui, you did it again for someone you barely knew?" Sae asked, Ren struggling to keep his head up. "You were sent away twice, almost reported to the police... And yet you still wanted to save him? Moreover, you ended up in a museum instead of a castle this time... You're still going to maintain this rubbish about changing someone's heart by stealing their Treasure?"

Ren paused, closing his eyes for a moment to try and focus. When he opened them again, he said, "Take it how you will."

Sae nodded once. "Very well. The truth behind this tale of your's will be clear once your conspirators are in custody. Now then, tell me about this new member who joined your group."

Ren looked down at the table, his head instantly flaring with pain as he tried to hold it. Sae continued, "There's no point in being stubborn. It will only damage your position. The identity of Madarame's pupil can be easily discovered with a little investigation."

"I'm not telling." Ren said quietly, taking another deep breath. He might not remember much about Yusuke at the moment, but he knew deep down that he couldn't sell Yusuke out.

"So you won't sell out your accomplice?" Sae asked for clarification. Ren nodded. "... Fine. There's still much more that I want to hear. It was around this time that the Phantom Thieves began to truly gain popularity. Lies flooded the internet- Things like, 'The Phantom Thieves saved me too,' or, 'I got a calling card'... For heaven's sake... Those lies made the collection of intel take almost ten times longer. Now, your next target was this man..."

Ren peered down at Sae's folder as she opened it up to a new page and spun it around so Ren could see the picture of a large man with slicked back light brown hair. "Junya Kaneshiro. He doesn't compare to the previous two. Even the police have been struggling to apprehend him. So, exactly how did you take down such a well-guarded criminal? Tell me."

Ren nodded, taking a deep breath before he went back into the story.

Five months ago...

Ren walked into his room at Leblanc, seeing that Nanako was calling the second he got out his phone. "Hey Nana. What's up?"

"Did you just see the news report about Madarame?" Nanako asked carefully.

"Yeah... You've seen it?" Ren asked carefully. "Unprompted?"

"Not exactly unprompted." Nanako admitted. "Kanji was helping me with my history homework and apparently he's a big fan of Madarame's, so he pretty much went into mourning the second the news report came on."

Ren's nose scrunched up in confusion. "Kanji? Who's Kanji?"

"Oh... Um... I meant to say Mr. Tatsumi."

"... Why are you on a first name basis with Yasogami's counselor?" Ren asked.

"It... Um... It doesn't really matter..."

"Nanako..."

Ren could practically see Nanako roll her eyes as she spoke. "Okay, fine, I've known Kanji since I was a little kid. Happy?"

"Did he used to babysit you or something?"

"Not... Not exactly..." Nanako said anxiously. "Look, it's really complicated, Ren. You just need to know that Kanji has known me a year longer than you have. I was having trouble with my homework and Kanji offered to help me."

"Okay. That's fair." Ren agreed. He thought for a moment, then commented, "You got a homework assignment from Queen Tut, didn't you?"

"Oh my God, yes! I don't know how she managed to tie everything back to Ancient Egypt, but she did! It's a gift!" Nanako agreed.

"I know! I know more about Ancient Egypt than any other topic!" Ren agreed, Nanako laughing. "I have no idea how I've managed to bullshit my answers in my classes, but I have!"

"I bet you don't have any weirdos like Queen Tut in Tokyo."

"I... Wouldn't say that..."

"What do you mean?"

"Well..." Ren said, trying to think of what was safe to tell Nanako. Telling her about Ms. Kawakami, his homeroom teacher who worked part time as a maid, probably wasn't the best idea. "I have one teacher, Mr. Ushimaru, and he throws chalk at me like, all the time."

"Really?"

"Yeah... And one of my other teachers, Mr. Hiruta, he, no joke, always dresses up like he's a vampire."

Nanako cackled so loudly, Ren could almost imagine her kicking her feet in the air. "Does he like, teach English, but only focus on vampire novels?"

"No... He's a biology teacher."

"HE'S A BIOLOGY TEACHER!?" Nanako wailed, clearly entertained. "THEN WHY DOES HE DRESS LIKE THAT!?"

"I guess Mr. Hiruta just really likes dressing like a Victorian man." Ren said casually. "I even know this guy... He acts so wise, I barely understand the words that come out of his mouth sometimes, but he makes such dumb decisions. It's honestly kind of impressive."

"Wait... A guy?" Nanako asked. "Is this a friend?"

"Um... Yeah... A newer one."

"Newer? Do you have old new ones you haven't told me about?"

"Kinda..."

"WAY TO BURY THE LEAD, AMAMIYA!" Nanako said, disappointed. "Why didn't you tell me you have friends there?"

"I didn't want to make you feel left out..."

"I'd never feel left out." Nanako said, pausing. "My dad is calling me for dinner, so I gotta go."

"Gotcha. Talk to you next week?" Ren asked, looking above his head and seeing The Journey Rank 2.

"Yeah. Talk to ya next week!" Nanako said before hanging up.

Ren set down his phone, shaking his head as he looked up at the confidant tracker. "You rank up at the weirdest times... You know that?"

Morgana looked over from the couch. "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing." Ren said, shaking his head. "I'm gonna change into my pajamas and go to bed."

"Good." Morgana said, curling back up on the couch and starting to fall asleep.

Chapter Text

Five months ago...

"God, I hate that guy!" Ryuji complained, slamming his fist into one of the vending machines at Shujin Academy as Ren internally debated what drink to buy. "That detective from yesterday really pissed me off! We're some kind of threat? Let's see him do it, then! If someone else could help 'em, we wouldn't be doin' stuff as the Phantom Thieves to start with!"

"Ryuji..." Ren chided as he stuck some yen into the vending machine to grab a canned coffee.

Ryuji rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah, quiet down, I know."

"Honestly, Akechi doesn't seem like that bad of a guy." Ren said as he popped his can of coffee open. Ren took a small sip of the coffee, then wrinkled his nose in disgust. It wasn't better than the coffee at Leblanc, but it'd get him through the rest of the day. "Who knows? He might be an asset at some point."

"What, are you buddy buddy with him now?"

"No. He just likes the fact that I debate his points, that's all."

"Regardless, Akechi is the worst! If he knew what we were doing for those victims, he wouldn't have such a large stick in his ass about us!"

Ann walked behind Ryuji, used a hand to chop at his neck, then leaned against the circular table in the middle of the area with the vending machines as she continued eating her strawberry Pocky. "You're being way too loud."

"Ya know what? Who cares!? Everybody's talkin' about this stuff anyways. It'd just be more suspicious if we were whisperin'." Ryuji said, eyeing up Ann's Pocky. "Hey, are you really just gonna keep eatin' and eatin' and eatin' those things all by yourself!? At least gimme one!"

Ann stuffed the last strawberry Pocky into her mouth and tossed the whole package into a nearby trashcan. Ann shrugged as Ryuji playfully glared at her. "Sorry, just ate the last one."

"You guys are too laid back." Morgana said, poking his head out of Ren's school bag enough so he could join the conversation. "The police are getting involved now, you know."

"So you think it's true?" Ann asked, looking between Morgana, Ren, and Ryuji. "We'll be okay if we keep doing this... Right?"

"We can't let the cops scare us outta bein' Phantom Thieves." Ryuji stated.

"But... What about that weird guy from Madarame's Palace? Isn't there a lot we don't know?" Ann stated, Ren remembering what Madarame's Shadow had mentioned before his Palace was destroyed. There was someone else running around in a black mask, separate from their own group, causing mayhem in the Metaverse. Ren didn't want to think much about it, but Ann did raise a good point.

After a second, everyone heard a camera shutter go off to the side. Ren whipped his head towards the one entrance to the area they were in, Morgana stuffing his head back into Ren's bag, and saw Niijima-senpai standing facing them with a smirk on her face. How long had she been there? Ryuji seemed just as shocked based on the fact that his gut reaction was to ask, "The hell?"

"You three seem to be having so much fun. I'm a little jealous." Niijima-senpai said, sounding extremely haughty as she stuffed her phone into one of the pockets of her uniform skirt. Ren silently cursed to himself. He instantly knew that she heard everything.

"Are you snoopin' on us again?" Ryuji asked, a little annoyed. "We said before, we don't know nothin'."

"Why do you think I'm here to question you?" Niijima-senpai asked, putting on her best innocent act. Ren almost had to appreciate the fact that she was even trying to keep up pleasantries. "Could it be that you're hiding something? My ears are always open to the troubles of my peers, you know."

"You're really that hungry for a good letter of recommendation?" Ann asked harshly. Ren almost looked over and gave Ann a disapproving look. "Of course you are. Nobody would take on your annoying job if they weren't."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Niijima-senpai asked, dropping the innocent smile and almost glaring at Ann.

Ann took a few steps forward. It was almost like she was steeling her nerves for what she was about to say. "... You're student council president, right? Wouldn't you have known about Kamoshida?"

"Of course not! He honestly was a good teacher until that day-"

"And how would you know?" Ryuji interrupted, almost snarling at Niijima-senpai. "It's not like your path really crossed with his that much. You didn't have to deal with him first hand."

Niijima-senpai took a step back, looking down at the ground. Ren quietly sighed, going to the vending machine and pulling out some more yen to buy a bottled black tea. Ann continued while Ren paid for the drink, "Oh, but you always take the teacher's side. That's what a good council president does, right?"

"Then... Then how about you? About either of you?" Niijima-senpai asked, going on the defense as she looked between Ryuji and Ann. "What did you do for the track team? Or what did you do for your friend? You two were much closer to both situations than I ever was, so how did you help?"

Ren quietly wished that neither Ann or Ryuji took the obvious bait Niijima-senpai was laying out. Unfortunately for him, Ann halfway took the bait. "There wasn't any way to help! By myself... I couldn't do anything for her!"

"There's no need to shout." Niijima-senpai said, calm as a cucumber.

"If those Phantom Thieves are out there helpin' people... I'd root for 'em, no questions asked." Ryuji said, more calm than Ann. Ryuji looked Niijima-senpai up and down. "They've gotta be more dependable than some people I know."

Niijima-senpai looked like she wanted to say more, but instead turned to leave. "... Just make sure you show up to your classes, all right?"

As soon as Niijima-senpai was gone, Ann turned back to Ren and Ryuji as Ren finished his coffee. "You know what I asked about earlier about whether or not we'll be okay if we keep this up? I take it back. I'd be ashamed to let it end now..."

"Hell yeah." Ryuji said, rolling his shoulder back. "It's about time we find our next target too."

Ann checked the time on her phone, then nodded. "Lunch is almost done. We should head back to class."

Ren nodded, taking a deep breath. "I'll meet you there. I wanna go try to buy a meat bun before they officially sell out."

"Alright. See you guys later." Ryuji said, saluting Ren as he and Ann walked back to their classrooms.

Morgana poked his head out of Ren's bag and asked, "You're not going to go get a meat bun, are you?"

Ren shook his head, spotting Niijima-senpai standing closer to the practice building, looking out at the grass and taking a deep breath. "Not exactly."

"You just really like flirting with danger, don't you?" Morgana asked.

"Shut up." Ren said, reaching up to lightly push Morgana into his bag.

Ren walked over to Niijima-senpai as she studied the students on the grass, muttering to herself, "If only I could..."

"If only you could what?" Ren asked. Niijima-senpai jumped, looking over at Ren with wide eyes. Ren shyly smiled. "Sorry... Didn't mean to scare you, Niijima-senpai."

Niijima-senpai sighed, turning to look at the grass again. "What do you want?"

"Peace offering?" Ren suggested, holding out the bottle of tea to Niijima-senpai. She looked at it, her eyes filled with suspicion. "I'm sorry about what Ann and Ryuji said to you. That really wasn't cool."

"... You seriously don't think I knew? That's what everyone else seems to think because of that rumor." Niijima-senpai asked, turning to completely face Ren and study him. "You actually believe that I had no idea what was going on?"

"Logically speaking, if the school was covering it up longer than they have from when I started here, why would Principal Kobayakowa have told you? You're as far removed from this as anyone can be. Yeah, you're student council president, but that seems like the type of thing Kobayakowa wouldn't want getting out and would keep it on a 'need to know' basis. Up until recently, you didn't need to know." Ren said, lightly shaking the bottle of black tea. "Come on. Take the tea."

"... It's not poisoned... Is it?"

Ren rolled his eyes. "I literally bought this bottle in front of you and I didn't open that bottle at all. You can check yourself. Also... Where would I get access to poison on such short notice? I came from the vending machines and then directly over to you. I'm not a poison dart frog. I don't carry around poison with me like a crazy person."

Niijima-senpai snorted at Ren's joke, taking the bottle of black tea. She studied the bottle for any points of tampering, then opened it and took a sip once she deemed it safe enough. "Thanks... I guess."

"I'll talk to Ann and Ryuji about this later. Nobody deserves to be talked to like how they talked to you... It's not right." Ren said calmly.

"Why are you being so nice to me when I've been nothing but judgemental towards you and your friends?" Niijima-senpai asked bluntly. "What's your aim here, Country Boy?"

"Country Boy?" Ren asked, raising an eyebrow. He gave Niijima-senpai a slightly amused smirk. First time he had been called that while in Tokyo. "I've been trying not to speak with my accent, I swear. I know that my tonal inflection is a little different, but come on. I don't think I sound that different."

"Your aim?" Niijima-senpai repeated.

"No aim. Just showing common human decency. I know what it's like to have a lot of pressure forced upon you. It's not easy. Just... Trying to show you that you and I don't have to be enemies, ya know?"

Niijima-senpai took another sip of the tea, then nodded. She looked a little confused, like she wasn't used to someone being so sympathetic and understanding of her stress. "Yeah... I... I guess I get it..."

"I was class rep at my old high school before the incident, so I can only imagine the kind of stress you're under as student council president. I get it." Ren added, smiling warmly at Niijima-senpai. "You're just... Trying to please the many voices telling you what to do."

Niijima-senpai blinked, then nodded again. "Yeah... Exactly."

Ren's smile widened slightly as Niijima-senpai turned away and took another sip of the tea. Once she swallowed the bit of tea in her mouth, she lifted up the bottle slightly. "Thanks... For the tea."

"Don't mention it." Ren said, jokingly bowing to Niijima-senpai. A few kids in the covered area gave him some concerned looks, but Ren just ignored them. "Hopefully the tea was sufficient enough of a peace offering, Niijima-senpai?"

"I'll say it was if you stop bowing and drawing attention over to us." Niijima-senpai said, Ren instantly standing up straighter. "And you don't have to call me Niijima-senpai. I honestly don't like being called anyone's senpai. You can just refer to me as my first name."

"I don't know your first name." Ren said bluntly, Niijima-senpai eyes widening in embarrassment. "All the times we've talked because you wanted to get information while I'm hanging out with Ann and Ryuji, all the times you've talked to me on the Shibuya platform, you've never actually introduced yourself to me. I only figured out that your family name is Niijima through context clues."

"I've seriously never introduced myself?"

"Nope."

"Oh... I am so sorry! I am usually better at that!" Niijima-senpai said, her face flushing red. "I'm Makoto Niijima, but please don't call me Niijima-senpai anymore. It makes me feel all... Awkward. You can just call me Makoto. I prefer it."

"Okay Makoto..." Ren said, bowing his head. "I'm Ren Amamiya, though I think you already know that."

Makoto laughed slightly as the school bell rang. "We need to get back to class."

"Right." Ren agreed, the two walking back to the classroom building. Ren thought for a moment, then said, "And... Can we agree to just... Keep this little talk we had between us? I kinda didn't mention I was doing this to Ryuji or Ann."

Makoto nodded. "Okay... Between us."

"Great." Ren said, nodding his head once as he walked over to the stairs. "See you around, Makoto."

"Yeah... See ya..." Makoto said, watching as Ren walked back upstairs to the second year classrooms. Once he was out of view, Makoto shook her head and headed into her own classroom.

Chapter Text

Five months ago...

"Oh good, you haven't gone home yet." Ms. Kawakami said as she walked over to Ren at the end of the day. Ren turn "Niijima-san's looking for you. Could you head to the student council room right away? She says that there's no report of a lost item, so she wants you to start filling out some paperwork."

"Lost item?" Ren asked. He knew for sure he hadn't reported anything lost... Makoto's methods to get Ren alone to ask him questions about what she overheard were scarily obvious.

"The student council room is on the third floor of the classroom building next to the library. Got it?" Ms. Kawakami said exhaustedly. She turned around and muttered as she left, "Why am I running errands for a student? I know she's the principal's favorite or whatever..."

"Niijima's that girl who keeps following you around, right?" Morgana asked from Ren's bag. "What could she want...?"

Ren walked out of the classroom and over to the stairs, walking to the third floor. Ren steeled his nerves as he got up to the student council's room, then opened the door. Makoto was leaning against the table that was sitting in the center of the room, a smug smile on her face. Makoto stood up straighter, almost like she was trying to make herself look taller despite the fact that Ren easily towered over not just Makoto, but most people. "Hello Ren. You're earlier than expected."

"Hello Makoto. Lovely to see you again. Have I done something wrong?" Ren asked innocently, knowing exactly why he was called to the student council room.

"... Have a seat." Makoto said bluntly, motioning to one of the chairs by the table. Ren sat down, setting his bag with Morgana safely tucked inside on the seat next to him. Makoto sat down in the seat across from him, folding her hands out in front of her. "I'll get straight to the point..."

"Please do."

"Mr. Kamoshida and Madarame. Won't you tell me the truth behind the Phantom Thieves incidents?" Makoto asked innocently. Ren managed to keep his poker face as he stared at Makoto, his school bag shaking in shock. "Can't answer that? Ah, of course! There's no way you would admit to such things! Have a listen, would you?"

Makoto pulled out her phone and pressed her thumb on the screen, Ren's eyes widening. He undeniably heard Ryuji's voice say over her phone, "We can't let the cops scare us outta bein' Phantom Thieves."

"But... What about that weird guy from Madarame's Palace? Isn't there a lot we don't know?" Ann's voice followed up.

"So? What do you have to say about that? What could all this mean?" Makoto asked. Despite his best efforts, Ren burst into laughter. Makoto gave him a confused look. "What... Why are you laughing?"

"Gotta admit, that surprised me." Ren said, still slightly laughing as he pointed to Makoto's phone. "I knew you had overheard us, but... Recording us? Gotta say, I'm a little impressed, Miss Prez."

"Wait... What? You knew that I knew?"

"Yeah. I knew... Or least I assumed that you knew. I figured you had been there for a minute of our conversation, at least, based on that camera shutter."

"So... So that tea-"

"No, that legitimately was a 'I'm sorry that my friends are idiots and said that to you' peace offering." Ren interrupted, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms. Morgana poked his head out of Ren's bag and looked at him suspiciously. "So now that all of our cards are face up on the table... What are you gonna make me do? You have all the power right now."

"How'd you make them do it? Blackmail? Hypnosis?"

"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you the truth, so why bother?" Ren said casually. "Are you gonna turn me, Ann, and Ryuji in to Principal Kobayakowa?"

"No... Not yet, anyway."

"'Not yet'? So you do need something from us?" Ren asked, Makoto's face flushing red. "Well, before you tell me anything, you should know that the Phantom Thieves have a few rules... A few quid pro quos, if you will."

"Quid pro quos?"

"Our most important one is 'All for one and one for all'." Ren said bluntly. "Either we all agree to do something or we don't do it at all. If you want to pitch us someone to change their heart, which is why I'm assuming that you aren't turning us in right away, you need to pitch it to all of us, not just me."

"Alright... Fine. Get Ann and Ryuji here."

Ren took in a sharp breath, shaking his head. "No can do..."

"Why not?"

"You were there on the walkway in Shibuya. Do the math."

Makoto thought back to the walkway in Shibuya, seemingly remembering that Yusuke Kitagawa was there as well. "Right... Then... Take me to where they are. You... You can do that without permission, right?"

"Ren, this is a bad idea." Morgana said, Ren grabbing his bag and putting it on his shoulder.

"I'll probably get in trouble for it later, but I'll survive." Ren said, walking over to the door. He nodded his head to the exit. "Come on. We gotta board the subway."

"O-Okay." Makoto said, a little shocked, as she quickly gathered her bag and followed Ren out.

As they walked out of the school building and out to the subway station, Ren glanced back over at Makoto. "You don't need to be so skiddish. I'm not gonna hurt you."

"... You sure about that?" Makoto asked, taking a few steps forward. "You're not gonna somehow cause me to have a mental shutdown?"

"Those were happening before I even got to Tokyo. Not us." Ren said, purposely slowing down so that Makoto could catch up. "And all those rumors Kamoshida had Mishima spread about me are fake too."

"Oh really?"

"Well... Some of them are true based on what the police report says, but that's not what really happened." Ren said bluntly. The two walked into the train station, Ren turning to Makoto. "I know that you won't believe me when I say this... But if we had an actual choice about this, we wouldn't be doing what we're doing."

"Oh really? You wouldn't be stealing?"

"The only reason we do that is because nobody else is willing to figure out the truth." Ren said, taking off his glasses to clean them on his shirt. "The school knew about what Kamoshida was doing when he took over the track team. Shujin knew what was going on when Kamoshida broke Ryuji's leg and they just covered it up."

"Wait wait wait, Kamoshida broke Sakamoto's leg?" Makoto asked, blinking a few times.

"And made him a social outcast after the fact, yeah. His mom can't afford proper physical therapy, so that's why he still walks with a limp." Ren stated bluntly. He put his glasses back on and looked Makoto up and down. "Did Principal Kobayakowa happen to mention why Shiho jumped off the roof?"

"I... Well, no, but I assumed that it was because the abuse from being on the volleyball team got to be too much... Ya know, after the fact."

"He sexually assaulted her the day before at practice because Ann refused to have sex with him. The best way to punish Ann for flirting with him to keep Shiho on the starting lineup and not doing whatever at his beck and call was to do what he wanted to do to Ann to Shiho." Ren said, taking a deep breath. Makoto covered her mouth to soften her gasp. "Ann felt so guilty after that... Ryuji too. The school refused to act, so the three of us did."

"And... And Madarame? How does he fit in?" Makoto whispered as the train pulled into the station.

"Yusuke wanted Ann to model for him for a new painting. Through doing that, Ann, Ryuji, and I figured out that not only was Madarame abusing his pupils and taking their artwork as his own, but he also watched Yusuke's mother die in front of him from a seizure so he could get access to the Sayuri, he took Yusuke in so Yusuke could never figure out the truth about the Sayuri, he kept the Sayuri hidden all these years, and then painted forgeries of the Sayuri so that he could sell them at jacked up prices." Ren explained, Makoto's eyes widening in horror as she and Ren managed to find two empty seats on the train. "The only thing he painted on the Sayuri was that purple cloud to hide what was really there."

"Then... Then what was really there?"

Ren took a deep breath, calming down his boiling up anger. "The Sayuri was a self portrait of Yusuke's mother holding her baby boy."

"Oh... My God..." Makoto whispered in horror. "Takamaki and Sakamoto... I understand how you guys found all that out... But... But all that seems like something Madarame would keep under lock and key... How on Earth did you figure that out?"

"Why do you have to be so honest, Ren?" Morgana asked judgementally.

Ren lightly nudged his bag to keep Morgana silent. "We have our ways. The only reason we do this is because nobody else is going to. One of the very first things I learned because of my situation is that if you want something to change, you have to try and do it yourself. Nobody is coming to help you or to get you out of your own mess. You have to make the big decisions yourself."

"Preaching to the choir." Makoto muttered, leaning back in her seat. "Ya know... If I wasn't asked to do this stupid investigation... We wouldn't be in this situation in the first place."

"Kobayakowa asked you to find out who the Phantom Thieves are, right?" Ren asked.

"Yeah, basically. How'd you figure that out?"

"I figured there was a reason why you kept following me around and talking to me on subway platforms."

"And someone having a crush on you back in the country wasn't the first thing that came to mind? A criminal investigation was the first thing?"

"Believe it or not, most people didn't want to be associated with me back home, even before my criminal record."

"Why not?"

"Because I have a track record for coming to the defense of people who can't be their own defense." Ren said, shrugging. "I was nice to people and they were nice enough to me, but I wasn't exactly Mr. Popularity."

"So this... All this... It's a repeated behavior?"

"Much to my mother and father's disappointment, yeah. They always figured my need to want to help people would get me in trouble." Ren said casually, motioning to the air. "Though I don't think that my current situation is the kind of trouble they had in mind."

Makoto sighed, staring up at the ceiling of the moving train. "A lot of expectations, huh?"

"One way of putting it, yeah." Ren agreed. The train pulled into the Shibuya station, and Ren got up to his feet. "Come on. Hideout is this way."

"You guys seriously call the walkway a hideout?" Makoto asked, shouldering her bag as she followed Ren out of the train. "You guys aren't hiding. You're just... Standing there."

"We're hiding in plain sight." Ren said, making sure Makoto was following him as he walked up the stairs and over to the Teikyu building. "Why look for something hidden?"

"Ya know what... That's fair." Makoto said as they entered the walkway.

As the two approached, Yusuke said something that made Ryuji and Ann turn towards them. Ryuji stood up and asked, "Wh-What the hell?"

"What's the meaning of this?" Ann asked, a slight panic in her voice.

Ren glanced over at Makoto and nudged her arm. Makoto took the silent cue to play the recording she had of them talking. Ryuji and Ann's eyes widened as Yusuke shook his head in disappointment. "Oh for the love of... What part of 'lower your voice' do you not understand, Ryuji?"

Ryuji looked over at Yusuke in annoyance. "How was I supposed to know that she was there!?"

"Well, let this be a valuable lesson to be aware of our surroundings, Ryuji." Ren said gently.

"What do you intend to do with this?" Yusuke asked. "Have you come just to say that you're going to report us?"

"I bet someone told you to find us. The school can't have ties to criminals, after all!" Ann said, annoyed. "And yet, they turn a blind eye to abuse and sexual harassment. Those adults are just using you. I feel sorry for you."

"Makoto has a proposition for us." Ren said calmly as he stood in front of Makoto, almost protectively. "I brought her here so we could all talk about it."

"I... I know, Takamaki-san. I've kinda figured that out." Makoto said, taking a step out from behind Ren. "That's why I would like to verify the justice you all speak of."

"What?" Ryuji asked, looking at Ann and Yusuke in confusion.

"I'm the only one who knows about you. I haven't told a soul yet. If you prove that what you're doing is just," Makoto said, shaking her phone in the air. "I'll erase this. The recording goes bye bye."

"She wants to make a deal..." Morgana muttered, climbing out of Ren's bag to rest his front paws on his shoulders.

"There is someone who's heart I'd like you to change."

"Who?" Yusuke asked.

"See... That's the issue. I don't exactly know who they are, I just know what they're doing."

"... What do you mean?" Ryuji asked carefully.

Makoto took a deep breath. "Look... I'll be frank here... I was asked to look into you guys by Principal Kobayakowa... To find the Phantom Thieves. Have you guys seen those posters around the school?"

"Yeah. You put them up to help gather information?" Ann asked, recalling the posters around the school that said if someone had information to go to the student council room.

"Principal Kobayakowa put those up without my permission. Students came to me with information, but it wasn't information about the Phantom Thieves. It was about something bad going on in Shibuya. It's too big for me to deal with. I brought it to Principal Kobayakowa's attention, and... And he told me to take care of it myself." Makoto said, taking a deep breath. "As I mentioned, it's too big for me to deal with."

"So you're pushing it onto us?" Ryuji asked angrily.

"No, no, not at all. I'm sorry if it's coming off like that." Makoto quickly apologized. "It's just... I've heard so many horrible things from the students recently... I'd deal with it myself, but it's too big for me. If I could avoid asking for help all together, I would. However, I don't have a choice anymore."

"What, exactly, do you want us to do?" Yusuke asked.

"I... I can't say much right now. Ears are everywhere in Shibuya." Makoto said, looking around. "If you guys are willing to hear me out, can we meet on the school roof tomorrow? You'll be allowed up there as long as you're with me. I have files and files on what people have reported to me. Maybe you guys can find something I overlooked that can help you."

"Okay, but what about Yusuke?" Ryuji asked harshly. "He doesn't go to our school, remember?"

"I can easily call him so he can listen in. Calm down." Ren said quickly.

"God, this is a real pain." Ryuji muttered to himself.

"So... Are we doing this?" Ann asked nervously.

"What choice do we really have?" Yusuke countered.

Ren looked over at Makoto. "Does tomorrow after school sound good?"

Makoto nodded. "Yeah... Sounds good to me."

"Everyone else?"

Ann nodded, grabbing her school bag off of the ground. "Fine."

"Sounds good." Ryuji said exhaustedly.

"I'll meet you all outside the school." Yusuke confirmed.

Ann's phone pinged, and she checked her messages. "Sorry... I gotta go. I'm getting called to an emergency shoot."

"I should probably get going too. My mom has to be worried about me." Ryuji said, walking further into the walkway.

"I should go as well. I'll hear from you tomorrow." Yusuke said, waving goodbye to Ren before walking away.

Ren glanced over at Makoto, noticing that she seemed tense and exhausted. Ren gently asked, "Do you wanna go get a boba or something? You look like you need a hard one."

Makoto snorted. "I'll be okay."

"You sure?"

Makoto nodded, starting to walk through the walkway. "See you tomorrow."

"Yeah. See ya."

Chapter Text

The school bell for the end of the day rang, and Ren quickly stuffed Morgana into his school bag from his desk. Ann got out of her seat in front of Ren, her giant blonde pigtails moving in front of her body from behind her back. "Are we really going up there?"

"She wouldn't be asking for help if she didn't see any other option." Ren said bluntly, pushing up his glasses. "Can you just... Promise me that you'll be on your best behavior up there?"

"Me? Be on my best behavior?"

"You've noticed it too, right? That you've been a lot easier to piss off ever since getting your Persona?" Ren asked, Ann quickly turning her head to avoid eye contact. "I know that you have issues with Makoto. I'm not saying that those issues aren't valid. However... Remember to keep your cool, okay? She doesn't want to be doing this just like we don't."

"When did you become friends with her?" Ann asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I wouldn't say that she and I are friends. I just... I get the kind of pressure that she's under. I'm sympathetic." Ren elaborated. "I... I get the feeling of all forces around you pressuring you to do one thing that you're not even sure you want to do in the first place. I think we should hear her out since she wouldn't be asking us to do this if she didn't have a good reason."

"I guess... I don't know... It's just..."

"She didn't know."

"Huh?"

"About Shiho, about Kamoshida... All of it." Ren said as he and Ann left the hallway where Ryuji was waiting for them at the stairwell. "Kobayakowa kept her in the dark about all that. We talked about it yesterday on the train ride to Shibuya. She was horrified to find out about all that."

"Since when are you friends with Miss Council President?" Ryuji asked, falling in line with Ren and Ann.

"We're not friends. Makoto and I have just reached a mutual understanding."

"... But you're referring to her as Makoto." Ryuji stated.

Ren rolled his eyes. "Because she told me to. Don't overthink it, man... But the same thing I said to Ann goes for you too. I want you on your best behavior."

"Yeah yeah. I'll try and be a... A good boy." Ryuji said reluctantly.

Ren got out his phone from his pants pockets and saw Yusuke calling. Ren answered as the three walked up the stairs. "Hey Yusuke. You in front of the school?"

"Yes... And I have visual of movement on the roof. She must've beat you guys up there." Yusuke answered.

"Nice." Ren said, putting Yusuke on speaker as Ann opened the door to the roof.

Makoto was standing at the tables she had caught Ann, Ryuji, Morgana, and Ren at a month earlier, a bag with giant file folders resting inside. Makoto turned towards the group and awkwardly said, "I... I was beginning to think you guys weren't going to show up."

"Who's heart do you want us to change?" Ann asked, her voice taking on a slight gentler edge.

"... A mafia boss." Makoto said, slightly wincing as she stared at everyone.

"I'm sorry... I think the connection is a little weak on my end." Yusuke apologized. "Did she really just say a mafia boss?"

"Yeah... She did." Ren answered. "I don't know what I was expecting, Makoto, but it certainly wasn't this."

"What're you talkin' about!?" Ryuji asked, baffled.

"Okay... Hear me out..." Makoto said nervously.

"I thought we were already doing that." Ann muttered, Ren lightly elbowing her.

"There's this group in Shibuya that seems to be on the rise with phishing scams. What's worse, once you're in their sights, they won't stop threatening you until they get what they want. They'll force you to take part in their scams, threaten your family, and ultimately destroy your life."

"Holy shit..." Ryuji muttered.

"They specifically target high school students... And a lot of their victims are from Shujin. When Principal Kobayakowa put those posters up to help me get information on the Phantom Thieves, a lot of students came to talk and give information about this mafia in Shibuya." Makoto explained, grabbing the bag of paper files and set them down at her feet. Ren tilted his head as he stared at the bag, the playful panda print on it almost mocking him. "This bag holds the transcriptions of every single person who has come to me and told me about this mafia targeting them in Shibuya. I interviewed and transcribed each and everyone one of them myself."

Ren kneeled down on the ground to scoot the bag closer to him, studying the stacks of file folders inside. There was four manilla folders, each one bursting with papers. Ren looked up at Makoto in shock. "And Principal Kobayakowa wanted you to handle this? On top of figuring out who the Phantom Thieves are?"

Makoto nodded, massaging her temples. "I've been burning the candle at both ends ever since Kamoshida. I can barely keep up with my responsibilities at home and my responsibilities here. I want to help the students of Shujin, don't get me wrong, but-"

"This is not something you should have the responsibility of dealing with. You're in high school. This is ridiculous!" Ren said, getting annoyed on Makoto's behalf. "Nobody should be asking you to do this! This is just incredibly stupid on everyone's behalf!"

"I know, I know, but I'm apparently a push over and I don't know when to say no and how to fight against authority figures. I always do what I'm told, even if I don't want to." Makoto said, almost snapping at Ren. Ren looked up at Makoto, noticing once again that she just looked exhausted. She had probably put on makeup to hide the dark circles under her eyes that she no doubt had, but her body language said more about what she was feeling than she probably wanted them to know. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay. Take a breather." Ren interrupted.

Makoto took deep breath, then another, then continued. "I'm giving you guys the files on loan. Maybe there's something in those interviews that I missed that can help you guys steal that mafia boss's heart."

"... Do we have a time limit?" Yusuke asked from Ren's phone.

"Time... Limit?"

"Do we have to get this done in a predetermined time limit? We usually have a D-Day we have to work with." Ann asked. "Ya know... The day of a teacher meeting where Kamoshida is going to try to expel Ren, Ryuji, and Mishima, the day when Madarame is most likely to call the police on us, stuff like that."

Ren glanced over at Makoto again. She was leaning against the tables the resting her head in her hands. She didn't immediately answer. All Ren knew was that if this mafia business and these needless commands from Kobayakowa kept coming, she wouldn't be able to keep up the facade of handling the pressure for much longer. Ren took a deep breath and asked, "Does two weeks sound okay to you?"

"Couldn't list a bigger number?" Ryuji muttered to himself.

"Huh?" Makoto asked.

"Two weeks. Does that sound like a good time limit to you?" Ren asked. "If we don't get this done in two weeks time, you report us to Kobayakowa. Does that work?"

Makoto thought for a moment, then nodded. "That works."

"Okay... Then I think we need to start sorting through these files." Ann said, walking over to Ren and grabbing the panda bag. Ann glanced down at Ren's phone. "Yusuke, you good to head to that cafe in Shibuya to look at these files?"

"Yeah. I'll be waiting for you guys down here." Yusuke said, ending the call.

"Okay... So we're doing this?" Ryuji asked.

"Looks like it." Ann agreed.

"I'll meet you guys there. Go on without me." Ren said quickly.

"You sure?"

"I know where the cafe is. I'll meet you guys there. Just make sure you save me a file to look over." Ren said as Ryuji and Ann reluctantly left the roof. Ren opened up his school bag, Morgana giving him a confused look, as Ren spotted a pack of Choco Baby. Ren looked up at Makoto and asked, "Are you allergic to cats, by any chance?"

"I am not a-" Morgana tried to protest as Ren zipped back up his bag to hide Morgana inside, taking out the plastic package of Choco Baby.

"Um... No?" Makoto said, a little confused.

"Good. Here." Ren said, handing the Choco Baby to Makoto. "I was asking because I have a cat back at where I'm staying and the cat really likes sleeping in my bag. There might be some cat fur on the package."

Makoto turned the Choco Baby over in her hands. "Milk chocolate...?"

"It helps with headaches. I always have a pack or two on me for emergencies." Ren said simply. "You should also probably get some sleep."

Makoto sighed, opening up the Choco Baby dispenser so she could pour some of the milk chocolate pellets into her hand. As Makoto stuffed the chocolate in her mouth, she asked, "Is it that obvious that I'm tired? Is my foundation rubbing off or something?"

Ren shook his head. "I've just always been really good at reading people's body language. I know a tired person when I see them."

Makoto's face turned bright red. Ren continued, "And... Ya know, just for the record, I may not know you well, but whoever told you that you're a push over... They're wrong. You're not a push over."

"Really? It feels like I am. I just can't seem to say no these days." Makoto said, pushing her hair back as she stared up at the sky. "Sometimes... I just want to... To steal a motorcycle and go as far as a gas tank will take me."

"A motorcycle?" Ren asked, a small smile on his face.

"My... My dad taught me how to drive one before he died. He promised that he'd get me my first motorcycle once I got my license. My older sister and I had to sell his bike after he died three years ago to help pay for his funeral." Makoto said, closing her eyes. "When you're on a bike... It's like the rest of the world doesn't matter. It's just you and the machine under you and the road. I'd kill to just leave everything behind right now."

"You and me both." Ren agreed, standing up and putting his bag over his shoulder. "Get some sleep, Makoto, seriously. The reason I suggested two weeks is because you and I both know that you can't keep going like this forever. You need to take care of your body. I'll find you at school when we have an update, got it?"

Makoto nodded. "Got it."

"Alright... I'll see ya later." Ren said, turning around to leave.

"... Don't let me down, Amamiya. You Phantom Thieves are the last hope I have to end all this mafia malarkey." Makoto said quickly.

Ren turned around and jokingly bowed to Makoto. "I wouldn't dream of it."

Present day...

"The student council president... From Shujin Academy!?" Sae asked Ren in shock. "Are you saying that Makoto was sticking her nose into this Phantom Thief business!?"

"You seriously didn't notice?" Ren asked, starting to feel his temper rise again. "You seriously didn't notice how stressed out your sister was? You seriously didn't notice how exhausted she was when you two sat down for dinner? Kobayakowa didn't tell you what he was asking your sister to do on top of school work? Even I noticed, and I barely knew her!"

"I'm not- Why would Makoto..." Sae said, panicking slightly before maintaining her composure. "Bringing up my sister to upset me, are you? It seems there's no limit to your duplicity."

"Why would I dare to bring up your sister if there was no point to it?"

Sae went silent, checking her nails for a second before continuing. "Fine. I'll listen to everything you have to say before I decide the truth of your statements."

"Okay... Now, where were we?"

Chapter Text

Five months ago...

"Niijima-kun, what is going on here!?" Principal Kobayakowa asked Makoto in his office. Principal Kobayakowa was a larger man with a bald head, his yellow suit making him seem larger than he actually was. Makoto had come to hate being called in here as of late since it usually meant more stress for her. "Apparently, the damage done by this so called mafia has even reached our student body!"

"Well..." Makoto started to say uneasily.

"I thought this absurdity was nothing but a joke!" Principal Kobayakowa continued, holding his head in his hands. "Not only are there victims, there are even rumors that some are involved with such crimes... I've even received inquiries from their guardians. Why is this happening?"

"Unfortunately, I do not have the answer to that..." Makoto admitted.

"This is the greatest disgrace in the history of this academy... If it were to be discovered..." Principal Kobayakowa said out loud.

A greater disgrace than your volleyball coach sexually assulting a girl and physically abusing their team? Makoto thought to herself bitterly.

Principal Kobayakowa looked up at Makoto, almost glaring at her. "This is a vital issue for the student council! Did I not ask you to resolve it!?"

"I'm... Doing the best I can..." Makoto said, flabbergasted. She had asked him to set up precautions for the student body about this the last time they talked, and now he was blaming her for it?

"A-And I can trust you!? You must do something about this at once! You are the only one who is reliable around here... Don't let me down..." Principal Kobayakowa argued. Makoto stayed silent solely because of her disbelief. He was seriously upset with her because he was the one who asked her to do his job and she was struggling. Instead of potentially offering actual help, he was upset because Makoto was struggling to keep up with his impossible demands. Principal Kobayakowa continued, "From what I've heard, even the other students are starting to be dissatisfied with you. At this rate, you and I will both lose our roles at this school. Do you understand?"

"I do. Please, just give me a little more time..." Makoto begged meekly. She didn't know how she still had the energy to fight on this.

"Fine. You have until the first week of next month. Don't let me down, Niijima-kun."

"Okay. Thank you for your time." Makoto said, bowing her head as she quickly turned around and left the office. Makoto felt her world spinning as she checked the time. Still a little bit left in lunch. Not wanting anyone to see her in case she started crying while trying to calm herself down, Makoto made a beeline for the stairs, running all the way to the rooftop.

As Makoto got to the roof, taking a deep breath of the fresh air, she noticed a girl wearing a lilac tank top sweater starting to tend to some flower boxes in the corner of the roof. The girl turned around, staring at Makoto with a welcoming smile. "Hello!"

"I-I'm sorry, I'll just-"

"No, it's quite alright. I don't mind the company." The girl said, Makoto vaugely recognizing her as being a third year. The girl stood up, clapping the dirt off of her hands before walking over to Makoto. "You're Makoto Niijima, right?"

"Y-Yeah..."

"Well, it's lovely to finally meet you. I'm Haru Okumura. We've been in the same grade for years, but our paths never crossed. I've been wanting to introduce myself for some time now."

"Why...?"

"You just seem really nice, is all." Haru said innocently. She walked over to a school bag. "I have permission to be up here, just for the record. The school is letting me garden up here."

"Alright..." Makoto said carefully.

"I hope I'm not being too forward... But are you okay, Niijima-chan?" Haru asked gently. "You don't look so good and you came onto this roof in a hurry."

Makoto took a shakey breath before shaking her head. "No... Not really..."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Haru asked innocently. She pulled out a giant metal bottle and two metal cups from her bag. "I know that you barely know me, but I come with blueberry tea that I mixed and brewed myself this morning."

Makoto meekly laughed, walking over to Haru. "You really don-"

"Nonsense! It'd be stupid of me to not offer something to drink while we talk." Haru interrupted, twisting the cap off of her bottle before pouring some blueberry tea into one of the small mugs. "So what's on your mind?"

Makoto grabbed the tea from Haru, took a small sip, then explained to Haru everything that had lead her to running up to the roof... Well, almost everything. She kept the fact that she had actually found the Phantom Thieves out of the conversation entirely. Once Makoto was done, Haru took a large sip of her tea. Haru seemed to be putting a lot of thought into her words before she said, "Well, Principal Kobayakowa is being ridiculous. You're just one person, Niijima-chan. You can't possibly be expected to do the job of the actual police on top of school work and on top of what you actually need to be doing as student council president. He is asking too much of you. I'm honestly surprised that you haven't snapped sooner."

"Trust me, I am doing my best to keep it together... Desperately." Makoto admitted. "And you can call me Makoto. I really don't like people calling me by my family name. It just... Feels wrong."

"Then you can just call me Haru." Haru said chipperly. She tapped her fingers against her metal teacup. "And did Akechi-kun really have to say that you are a good girl push over? That seems a little much in my opinion."

"Well... He usually deals with my older sister, and my older sister is perfect. She's pretty, smart, graceful, calculated, she always knows what she's doing and there's always a method behind what she does." Makoto said, taking another small sip of her cup of tea. "Everyone expects me to be like her... And I'm failing to live up to their expectations."

"You don't need to be a carbon copy of your older sister, Mako-chan. You just need to be you. My father is the same way sometimes." Haru explained. "It's not fair for everyone involved to compare you to your sister. You are both different people and you both have different strengths."

"Oh, I know that. Trust me, I know that. Doesn't change the fact that whenever people see my last name, they either think of my older sister or my late father. I just... I want people to see me for me, ya know? I don't want people to see me as prosecutor Sae Niijima's younger sister. I want them to see Makoto." Makoto explained, setting down her teacup. "However, unless I somehow make a name for myself, my sister's reputation is going to be following me around and people are just automatically going to think that I am Sae 2.0. I love my sister, don't get me wrong. I adore her. I appreciate every single thing she has done for me ever since our father passed. But I am so sick and tired of everyone having me do the stuff that my sister would be able to do with no problem."

"I get it." Haru said, setting down her own teacup. "People do the same exact thing to me. They think that I am my father's daughter just because he and I have the same last name. In truth, I take after my late mother more. She loved gardening and providing comfort to those that need it."

"Yeah, well, unlike you, I am most definitely my father's daughter... Which some small part of me thinks that Sae resents me for. He always liked questioning things... He was always more quiet and analytical... Always the one who encouraged us to take a step back when things got too crazy. Sae never exactly adopted that mentality. I guess part of me is trying to prove that I'm worthy of the Niijima name or... Something? I don't know." Makoto muttered. "Our father always told us to make sure we made time for ourselves so we could stay healthy, but everyone here is so insistent that I am identical to my sister and loading me with so much... Shit that I've barely had time to sleep or take a bath unless it's at, like, three in the morning."

"That's really not healthy."

"I know, I know."

"I sincerely hope I'm not the first person to say this... But you really need to get a decent night's sleep."

"I know... And you aren't the first person to tell me that."

"Oh? There's actually someone else in this school that makes sense?"

"Yeah... He literally gave me chocolate yesterday to help me deal with headaches and told me to get some sleep..." Makoto said, smiling to herself. "I'm not really... Used to anyone noticing stuff like that."

"... You need an outlet." Haru decided, standing up abruptly and walking over to her planter boxes.

"I need a what?" Makoto asked.

"Come on!" Haru said with a smile, waving Makoto over. Makoto walked over to the planter box as Haru held out a trowel with a pastel purple trowel and offered it to Makoto. "Take this and stab the dirt."

"What...?"

"I believe that part of your issue is that you don't have an outlet to vent all of your daily frustrations into. Some people do journaling, some people beat others up in video games, I prefer a more direct and violent approach." Haru said, forcing Makoto to take the pastel purple trowel. "I usually cut wood with an axe, but I can't exactly sneak some logs and a literal axe into the building and up here that easily. Stabbing the dirt is much easier and might give you some catharsis."

Makoto looked down at the soil, the flat surface undisturbed. Makoto looked back over at Haru and said, "But you've been gardening-"

"Nothing is planted in there yet. I'm bringing the seeds for it tomorrow since I forgot them at home." Haru said, patting the soil with an ungloved hand. "Have at it, Mako-chan!"

Makoto stared down at the soil and lightly stabbed the soil, the trowel disrupting the flat surface. Haru shook her head disapprovingly. "I know you can stab harder than that. Go wild! Destroy the soil!"

Makoto lifted the trowel out of the soil and stabbed it a little harder, realizing that it... Felt good? Makoto put two hands on the trowel handle and stabbed it into the soil again, then kept stabbing the garden bed, the stabs becoming more frequent and more violent. Makoto didn't know how many times she had stabbed the soil until a few tears started rolling down her face. Eventually, Haru gently grabbed the trowel, causing Makoto to pause mid stab. Haru tilted her head and asked, "Do you feel a little better?"

Makoto nodded, looking down at the soil. Everything was messy, some soil escaping the white planter box amd some landing on Makoto and Haru's uniform skirts. Makoto laughted slightly, wiping away her tears as she let go of the trowel and let Haru have it back. "Yeah... A little."

"Good!" Haru said, brushing the soil left on the trowel with her ungloved hand and set it off to the side, some soil getting underneath her fingernails. "I'll clean up all the soil after school today."

Makoto heard the bell ring for afternoon session, her eyes widening. "Oh no, we're gonna be late!"

Haru nodded, grabbing both of the teacups and put them back in her bag after making sure they were both empty. Haru set the trowel under a milk crate box that was sitting off to the side, then grabbed her school bag as Makoto did the same. "We better hurry back downstairs then!"

The two girls ran back down to the first floor where their classrooms were, Makoto running into Mr. Inui. Mr. Inui gave Makoto and Haru confused looks before saying, "Okumura-chan... Niijima-chan... Why aren't you two in class already?"

"Mako-chan was helping me garden up on the roof. We lost track of time a little bit." Haru lied with a calming smile on her face.

Mr. Inui looked over at Makoto. "That true, Niijima-chan?"

"Yes sir. Okumura-chan was having some difficulty carrying up a bag of soil, so I helped her. The soil kinda got all over us." Makoto said with an anxious smile. She had never outright lied to an authority figure before.

Mr. Inui looked between Makoto and Haru, then said, "Hurry to class."

"Thank you!" Haru said as Mr. Inui walked away. As soon as he was out of earshot, Haru whispered, "Good improv there."

"Thanks... For everything." Makoto said honestly.

"Don't mention it." Haru said, starting to walk towards her own classroom. "I'm in Class 3-B. If you ever want to talk again or vent, I'll either be there or on the roof."

Makoto nodded, walking over to her own classroom. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Bye Mako-chan!"

"Bye." Makoto said, feeling a little better about what was going on.

Chapter Text

"Okay, so everyone know the plan?" Ren asked, looking between Ann, Ryuji, and Yusuke.

"Spread out and look for whatever information we can." Yusuke said, everyone nodding their heads. "I'll take the square."

"I'll take the underground area." Ann added.

"And I'll take the Teikyu building and the walkway." Ryuji said, lightly nudging Ren. "Since Iida said that a lot of this goes on on Central Street, we'll leave that to you."

"Everyone have your phones out and group chat open in case someone send out an SOS." Ren said, taking a few steps away from the rest of the group. "Stay in contact."

"Got it." Ann said, walking away.

Ren started walking through Central Street, Morgana poking his head out of Ren's bag. Morgana groaned from the bag. "Why is she following us again?"

Ren smirked to himself, flashing up a peace sign that was visible from the back. Ren knew that Morgana was talking about the fact that Makoto was trailing a little behind them, probably holding a magazine over her face to not look suspicious. It reminded Ren of something he and Nanako used to do as kids. Nanako would always dress up as Detective Loveline and Ren would always put on this brown owl hat to work as her sidekick. They'd follow around some of the high school students around Christmas, Nanako's birthday, and summer vacation so they could do some detective work. They'd always get caught, but they'd always try and make it look like they weren't spying on anyone by grabbing random newspapers or looking at random fruit stands by the road. It felt a little funny to be on the opposite side of something he was so used to doing, it made Ren smile. "She doesn't mean any harm, Morgana. She probably wants to make sure that we're doing what we promised."

"Why are you being so nice to her anyway? You've told her the truth about so many things."

"She seems nice. I know you said to be careful around her, but you make more allies with honey than with vinegar." Ren said casually as he walked down the small road.

"I don't know..."

"Look, I know you don't trust her. I get it." Ren said calmly. "However, I do."

"Why? She's been nothing but a pain."

"I just don't see her the way that you and Ann and Ryuji do, I guess."

"... Do you have a crush on her?"

"What? No. Sure, she's pretty. I'd be an idiot not to acknowledge that, just like I'd be an idiot to not acknowledge that Ann is also very pretty, but I'm not nice to Makoto because I think she's pretty. I'm nice to her because I can see that she's stressed out and in over her head despite not wanting to be. I feel bad, so I want to take some of that stress off of her back. If we have to be in the crossfire for a little bit, then so be it." Ren said, tilting his head slightly. "Besides, in the grand scheme of things, it'd be better to have the student council president as an ally instead of an enemy. I'm thinking the big picture here, Morgana."

"Okay... You raise a fair point with that last part. I just hope you know what you're doing."

"Relax... I have a plan."

"Do you?"

"Yes!" Ren said exhaustedly. He reached back and gently shoved Morgana's head back into his bag. "Now stay hidden. We don't want to draw too much attention."

"Hey kid," A sleazy man asked as Ren walked past the alleyway that lead to Untouchables. "You looking for an easy after-school job? These are easy, unforgettable deals."

Ren studied the man, his accomplice, and the two Shujin students they were talking to. They were obviously sketchy, but based on what the accomplice was saying to the other kids, it sounded like it could have something to do with the case at hand, but just in case, Ren said, "I'm not interested."

"Well that's disappointing. Come back if you ever change your mind." The sleazy man said before turning around and focusing on the other two Shujin students.

"C'mon, the shop's right around here. How about you come take a look?" The accomplice suggested.

"It seems like some kind of sale. You probably shouldn't bother them." Morgana commented.

Ren simply nodded, taking a note on his phone about the exchange as he kept walking down Central Street. As Ren turned around and walked back, he saw a man wearing a dirty trench coat standing by the trash. Ren snuck past the salesmen and over to the guy as he readjusted his black knit hat. The man gave Ren a confused look as he asked, "What's wrong, kid? Don't see guys like me very often?"

"No, I see homeless people pretty often. I uses to volunteer at a homeless shelter back home. I know what homeless people look like. They have a certain way they carry themselves." Ren said sternly. "You aren't homeless. You clothes are too new. They're brand name. Your coat, specifically, still has the tag on it. Are you in the mafia?"

"You can't just ask that!" Morgana hissed.

"Why are you talking about all this dangerous stuff all of a sudden? I don't know anything about them. I haven't been here long. Try talking to someone else."

"Don't play dumb with me. I know you know something. Everyone does."

The man wearing the coat sighed. "Okay, fine. I only know one guy around here... Sometimes, I see him in the alleyway across the way, but I don't think he's there today. He might be near the station. Go there if you wanna see him."

Ren smiled. "Thank you. That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Ren turned around and started heading to the train station, passing Makoto on the way. Ren practically saw her quickly turn around out of the corner of his eye so she could keep following him. Morgana asked, "Do you have an idea on where we're going?"

"I'd say I have a pretty good hunch." Ren said, marching to the underground passageway.

Ren walked right up to a homeless man sitting against a wall near the JL line. Ren had always thought that this guy was suspicious, especially since the times he showed up here were inconsistent. As Ren got closer, the homeless man said, "What's with that scary look on your face? If you have something to say to me, just say it."

"Are you in the mafia?" Ren asked bluntly.

"Again with the bluntness..." Morgana muttered.

"Me! No, I'm just a lonely hermit. What could you possibly want to do with them anyway? Don't go near them, you hear me? They're horrible people. Some of my friends have fallen victim to their schemes... That mafia is evil, I tell you."

"Your friends should run away then."

"I keep telling them to. I keep telling them to stay away from that alley across the street from the cafe... That alley with that gym in it. Nobody listens to me though."

"I do." Ren said, easing up his facial expression. "You've been a big help. Thanks."

Ren turned around and walked away, noticing that Makoto had ducked into a corner as he walked past. Ren got back onto Central Street and kept walking like he wasn't intenally debating anything, then turned into the alley that had Protein Lovers in it. As he got to the center of the alley, Ren paused and asked, "Are you going to keep following me around like a stalker, or are you going to get up here and join me like a normal person?"

"... Hey..." Makoto said awkwardly as she walked into the lobby from around the corner. She walked over to Ren, anxiously fiddling with the straps of her school bag. "Have you made any progress finding that mafia boss?"

"Yeah, actually. Those interview transcriptions were really useful."

"Really?" Makoto asked excitedly. Her red eyes seemed to show more life than they had the entire time Ren had known her.

"Yeah, a few people mentioned stuff about how a kid in my class, Iida, suddenly had a lot of money to spend but was constantly on his phone. Ann managed to distract him for a little bit while I asked one of his friends in the library for information. Once Ann and I managed to get enough out of him yesterday, he lead us here and that's why I've been walking around Central Street."

"Intel gathering... Nice." Makoto said approvingly.

"Hey... You two got some time? I have a great job for you." A man asked as he walked over to Makoto and Ren. "It's real easy. I guess you could call it a delivery job."

"It seems like we didn't have to look very hard in the end." Makoto commented as she turned her attention to the suspicious guy in front of them.

"You're high schoolers, yeah? Don't you want something more than just your allowances?" The suspicious guy continued.

"Hm... By delivery, do you mean that of suspicious materials?" Makoto asked, batting her eyes to make her question seem more innocent than it actually was.

"Wow, she's more blunt than you are. Talk about a match made in heaven." Morgana muttered from Ren's bag.

The suspicious guy looked uncomfortable as he said, "Heh... You're a funny girl..."

"So you won't answer me?" Makoto asked, tilting her head slightly. "So I was right?"

"Eh? What's up with you anyways? Why're you asking all these questions, huh?" The guy asked, getting in Makoto's face.

"Back away from her, or I'm calling the police." Ren said, glaring at the guy. "Violence isn't the answer."

Makoto slowly turned her head to stare at Ren, her eyes wide. "Oh..."

The guy took a few steps back. "Calm down. It was all a joke. Why would I get worked up over some dumb kids? Anyways, I can't hang. Seeya!"

"U-Um, if you don't want to deal with us, we could always go see your boss ourselves." Makoto said, a little flustered.

"You're really gonna say that, knowing who he is?" The guy asked, looking between Ren and Makoto. "Heh... No way I believe that. Well, I'm outta here. You guys are starting to annoy me."

As the guy walked away, Makoto turned her attention back to Ren. "I'm pretty sure he's part of the mafia we're looking for."

"No, really?" Ren asked sarcastically. "Never would have guessed."

"Well... It's not like we have any concrete proof of that. I tried to trick him into saying something, but he kept dodging all the traps I was laying down." Makoto said, tapping her foot as she tried to think. After a few seconds of silence, she looked up at Ren's face. "By the way... Thanks for standing up for me."

"Has... No one ever done that before now?" Ren asked carefully.

"... I'm going to go now." Makoto stated, avoiding the question. "It's getting late and my sister is bound to start worrying if dinner isn't on the table when she gets home."

"Okay... See you at school?" Ren said cautiously.

Makoto nodded. "Yeah. See ya."

And with that, Makoto turned around and walked out of the alley, leaving Ren to stand there in confusion while Morgana chattered on in his ear. Ren felt his phone vibrate, staring at it as he read the messages in the group chat.

Ryuji (Skull): 5:37 PM
How about it? Wanna meet up?

Chapter Text

Five months ago...

"Hey Makoto, can you come in here for a minute?" Sae yelled from the kitchen.

"Coming!" Makoto said, reading the last note on her flashcards before leaving her bedroom. Makoto walked out to the living room where Sae was sitting at the kitchen table in front of her laptop. Makoto nervously asked, "Is... Everything okay?"

"I received a call from your school today." Sae stated.

"Oh?" Makoto asked. Why did Shujin call Sae?

"They were asking if you've made any lifestyle changes recently."

"Huh?" Makoto asked. Was this some kind of ploy from Kobayakowa to figure out what Makoto was doing about both the Phantom Thieves case and the Shibuya issue outside of school?

"I gave them a suitable enough answer, but... Is there some kind of issue at school?"

"No... It's nothing. I'm sorry to worry you." Makoto apologized.

"You've been coming home late these past few days." Sae said gently, closing her laptop and walking over to Makoto. It honestly felt like Sae was trying to corner Makoto in. "I doubt you would do such a thing, but try to avoid wandering around Shibuya late at night. I've heard stories of girls your age throwing their lives away out there. Getting wrapped up in shady deals, blackmailed into sex work..."

Makoto sighed, starting to fiddle with the edge of her skirt. "I've heard rumors about that as well. People have been mentioning it at school."

"These aren't mere rumors. I know of a few such cases." Sae said cautiously. Makoto just stared at her sister. She understood why the prosecutor's office couldn't do anything about it, it's kind of hard to figure out who to arrest when you don't know the head of the snake, but... It just made Makoto more frustrated. Why did she have to be the one to handle it? Why was she getting all this stress on all four sides when she was just a student? Sae continued, "Well, it should be nothing for you to worry about. Just concentrate on your studies for now."

Sae walked away from Makoto, probably to go to the bathroom, as Makoto muttered to herself, "Easier said than done... They're unforgivable."

Makoto walked back to her bedroom and saw her phone screen lit up. Makoto sat down at her desk, the light from her Buchimaru desk lamp illuminating her Algebra homework and the notecards for History that she left off to the side, noticing that she had a missed call from Ren. Confused, Makoto grabbed her phone and called him back. After a few seconds, Ren's voice filled her ear. "This isn't a bad time, right?"

"No, you're giving me a much needed break from studying." Makoto said honestly. She had been staring at her Algebra so much it was giving her a headache. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to give you an update in full transparency. I am currently standing inside the bathhouse across the street from Leblanc because this is one of the few places my cat can't get into due to water and I don't want him overhearing this because he'll blab to everyone else."

"Your... Your cat?" Makoto asked, unsure if she heard that right.

"Long story. Focus. I don't have that long."

"Right. You said you have an update?"

"Yes. I have bad news and worse news. Which would you like to hear first?"

"... The worse news because then you can cover it up with the bad news?" Makoto suggested nervously.

"Okay, well, the worse news is that Ryuji and I are going to Shinjuku tomorrow. If you get any reports about two Shujin students in Shinjuku and their descriptions sound like us... No you didn't. You're the student council president, please do us a solid since we're technically doing this for you."

Makoto blinked a few times. "I'm confused... Why are you and Sakamoto-kun going to Shinjuku?"

"See... That's the bad news."

"Oh God, what?"

"So... Ann, Ryuji, Yusuke, and I met at a karaoke place that Ann knew had happy hour so we could talk about everything in private."

"Right, because that accessway is not private at all."

"Well... Besides what you and I found out yesterday, we did not find out much. As you know, we're kinda starting to get down to single digits with the two week count down and we did not get a lot of information, so little that, um..." Ren paused, his voice getting tight for the second half. "The other three may or may not have suggested that we ask you to choose a different target for us to change their heart."

"They WHAT!?" Makoto shrieked.

"Makoto... Is everything okay?" Sae's voice asked outside the door.

"Yeah, everything is fine. One of my friends from school just called and she's filling me in on the drama I missed since we're in two different classes, so I'm taking a small break from studying."

"Which friend?"

"Haru... Haru Okumura. I very recently became friends with her."

"Oh... Is she the reason-"

"Yeah... We've been studying together a lot..."

"Okay... Just remember to keep it quiet, alright?"

"Right... Sorry Sis!" Makoto apologized, then lowered her voice as she turned her attention back to Ren's phone call. "Okay, I'm sorry I shrieked, but... You all know the kind of pressure the school is putting on me for this... For both things. I really don't want to be selfish, but I don't think I really have the freedom to change targets for you guys. Kobayakowa is giving me until the beginning of next month to do my investigation on the Phantom Thieves, and... And based on how he was during the last meeting I had with him... I really don't think I have past until the beginning of next month for the Shibuya thing either."

"Okay... Time out, what do you mean 'based on how he was during the last meeting'?"

"It's not a big deal, I've already talked about it, I stabbed some soil-"

"No, talk. What did he tell you?"

"He said that I'm letting him down and that if I don't figure all this out, I'm going to cause him to not be Principal of Shujin and I am going to lose my position as student council president." Makoto squeaked out. "Again, I don't want to be selfish about this, but my future is at stake here just as much as you and all of the other Phantom Thieves's futures are. I have worked pretty much my entire life to be in a position where I can make real change and be reliable to those around me... I have worked my butt off to get to where I am, to meet the expectations that literally everyone in my life has for me... I can't afford to lose any of that just because your friends think that this mafia and drug muling business is a little too hard."

"Okay, before we get back to my stuff, I just have a few things that I need to say about... All that. Ya ready?"

"I don't know..."

"Number one, take a deep breath. I want to hear you take that on this call." Ren commanded. Reluctantly, Makoto took a deep breath, then released it as loudly as she could into the phone receiver. "Great. Now, number two, get a comfort object to hold on to. Something squishy that's ease to squeeze. You got anything like that at your disposal?"

Makoto glanced over at her bed and saw the cat Squishmallow that was resting by her pillows, a happy smile on it's face. "Yeah... I have Cam the Cat..."

"I meant like a stuffed animal, Makoto."

"It's a cat Squishmallow..."

"What is a Squishmallow?"

"I'm not entirely sure... My sister got it for me when she had to go to America for a work thing..."

"Okay... Grab Cam the Cat and squeeze it then." Ren said bluntly. Makoto set down her phone and grabbed Cam the Cat, holding the Squishmallow in her arms as she sat back in the chair. Once she was seated and Cam was situated in her arms, Makoto grabbed her phone again. Ren asked, "You got your Squishthingey?"

"Yeah."

"Great. Squeeze it while I keep talking." Ren said, taking a short breath. "Number three, you are not letting anyone down. Given the amount of shit he is asking you to do, you're doing the best you can."

"That's exactly what I told him!"

"He should absolutely not be threatening you with taking away your position. That crosses a line. I don't know who is pressuring him to figure all this out and he's putting that pressure onto you, but it's not fair and it's stupid. Number four, you are not letting anyone down. I may not know you that well, but I don't think anyone could be more concerned with how the students of their school are doing than you are. Kobayakowa may be pressuring you into this, but you are doing everything you can to make sure everyone is safe and protected."

"He said students have complained about me-"

"So? There's always going to be at least one person who complains about everything in a group. Ignore them. You're Makoto freaking Niijima, and you mean business. You don't need to live up to anyone's expectations of you and your life. At the end of the day, you are the only one who needs to live up to your own expectations. Who cares what anyone else thinks?" Ren asked, then took a long breath. "Okay... I'm off my soap box now."

Makoto paused for a second, staring at the top of Cam the Cat's head. You're Makoto freaking Niijima, and you mean business. "Something tells me that most people would disagree with that statement. I'm a Niijima, for crying out loud. I have a reputation to uphold."

"You may be a Niijima, but you're Makoto first. You are the first person who's expectations you need to meet. Everyone else's expectations are secondary."

Makoto blinked a few times, then asked, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"I said that you may be a Niijima, but you're Makoto first. Was there something wrong with that statement?"

"No, I just... Most people usually just see me as a Niijima, that's all."

"Well, I don't really know what the big deal is being a Niijima. I'm a transfer student, remember?"

"Right..." Makoto said, grabbing her pencil and started tapping it against her Algebra notebook. "Be honest with me, Ren, are you guys really going to ask me to change targets?"

"We were... Until I remembered the worse news."

"The Shinjuku thing...?"

"Right. Okay, some backtracking so we're both on the same page," Ren said, sounding a little excited. "Back during Madarame's case, when Ann, Ryuji, and I were standing outside of his shack, this lady came up to us and started asking about what happened at Shujin with the Phantom Thieves. She said she was a news reporter. Ichiko Ohya. You ever heard of her?"

Makoto thought about the name for a minute, the nodded. "Yeah. I've read some of her articles in the newspaper."

"Well, before she left, she gave me her business card before she left us alone and said that if we had any information regarding the Phantom Thieves and Shujin and Kamoshida's abuse to shoot her an email."

"Okay...."

"Well, I remembered that I had her business card in my school bag, so I shot her an email. I basically said 'Hey, remember me? It's that kid from outside Madarame's shack. I have information for you regarding Shujin, but I want information in return. Think you can help?'."

"You are not selling yourself out for me."

"Oh, I'm not. Depending on what she asks, I was planning on sending her to Mishima."

"Wait... 'What she asks'? Did she respond?"

"Scarily quick. That's why Ryuji and I are going to Shinjuku. I explained that I needed the name of that mafia boss-"

"Because if anyone is going to be able to find that information, it's a reporter."

"Exactly, and she said that we could exchange information at this bar in Shinjuku called Crossroads. I told the rest of the group that, and they weren't comfortable with me going to Shinjuku alone-"

"For obvious reasons. This is your first time in Tokyo and you don't know your way around yet."

"Which is why Ryuji is going with me... Well... That, and Ann and Yusuke are busy so they can't." Ren concluded. "So again, if you get a report on Monday that two Shujin students matching our description were seen walking around Shinjuku-"

"No I didn't."

"Exactly."

"If you're gonna go to Shinjuku... Be smart about it, okay? Don't go wearing your school uniform and if anyone asks, say you're a college student."

"Understood, Your Majesty." Ren said teasingly.

"Are you going to keep calling me that?"

"For a very long time, at least." Ren said, Makoto hearing the smirk on the other end. "I gotta go. Ryuji is going to start to get worried if I'm late. I'll fill you in on what we find out on Monday."

"Sounds good. Talk to you then."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Chapter Text

"How could you!" Ryuji said as he angrily walked over to Ren, Ann, and Yusuke. "I can't believe you guys ditched me yesterday! I almost entered a world I want nothing to do with!"

Ann looked over at Ren, a little confused, before asking, "What are you talking about, Ryuji?"

Ryuji's face quickly went red with embarrassment. "Nothing... Just start it up, Yusuke."

Yusuke shook his head as he got out his phone. "Did you guys get a name from that reporter last night?"

Ren nodded. "Junya Kaneshiro."

"Okay..." Yusuke said, quickly typing that into his phone. "I entered Kaneshiro's name into the Nav. Just as expected, it's a hit."

"All we need now are the two other keywords," Morgana said, climbing out of Ren's bag slightly and resting his front paws on Ren's shoulder. "What he thinks of as his Palace and where it is... But we don't have any clues other than people falling victim around here... We'll just have to try whatever keywords we can come up with."

"Ugh, that's gonna be impossible... How many buildings do you think there are in Shibuya?" Ryuji complained.

"No complaining." Ann chided.

"If we can figure out what the Palace is, we may be able to guess where it is by association." Yusuke suggested.

"Hm... It's prolly somewhere he has complete control over... Maybe a garden?" Ryuji said, his eyes narrowed as he tried to think.

Candidate not found. The Metanav on Yusuke's phone said.

"He likes money, so... What about a money bath? I've seen people online with things like that." Ann suggested, playing with the end of one of her pigtails.

Candidate not found.

"No... Not even close." Yusuke said, a little disappointed. He glanced over at Ren. "What about you, Ren? Can you think of anything?"

"Well... Ann's right about one thing, he likes money... He's a money grubbing fly..." Ren muttered. "He takes money from other people, he exorts people... He sees others as his own personal bank."

Candidate found.

"Okay, that's a hit!" Yusuke said happily. Ann and Ryuji cheered as Yusuke continued, "So... He thinks of somewhere in this city as his own bank! That's progress!"

"I thought it'd be something less realistic. That's all it is, huh?" Ann asked.

"Now then, what location would Kaneshiro think of as his bank?" Morgana asked, looking between the whole group.

"If we're talkin' about a place where he keeps his cash, maybe his own hideout?" Ryuji suggested.

Candidate not found.

"How about a real bank?" Ann asked.

"Then his cognition wouldn't be distorted." Ren argued.

"Oh, right."

"Damnit... We ain't gettin' anywhere!" Ryuji said, starting to pace in a small circle.

"This may be difficult to explain... But doesn't it seem like we're thinking a little too in the box?" Yusuke asked. "Palaces emanate a passionate madness. It feels as though we're missing that aspect."

"The hell're you talking about?" Ryuji asked, staring at Yusuke in confusion.

Yusuke rolled his eyes. "This Palace is a bank for someone who exorts money with criminal acts. It's something more..."

Ann stared at the phone and asked, "But what other ways can we think about it? Oh... Could it mean a place you withdraw money?"

Morgana's eyes widened. "Hold on! Do you think it might have something to do with the victims?"

"Okay, now we're onto something..." Ren said, tilting his head as he thought out loud. "If he sees people as his bank, then his bank has to be where his victims are."

"That's terrible... But you may be right." Ann admitted.

"But... How many people are a victim of his in all of Shibuya?" Ryuji asked rhetorically. "Too many!"

Candidate found.

"That... That's a hit." Yusuke said, surprised.

"Wait... D-Did I say something right?" Ryuji asked in shock.

"The place that Kaneshiro think of as a bank is all of Shibuya."

"Like... The entire city!?" Ann asked. "That's a lot of ground to cover..."

"Well, it is certainly where his victims are... He really is a terrible criminal." Morgana stated.

"And you four just wanted to give up." Ren said with a smirk.

Ann rolled her eyes. "Gloat later, Amamiya."

"I'm just saying... We figured it out..."

"Is it okay for us to go into the Palace right out of a crowd like this?"

"Nobody notices if a piece of trash disappears from a trash can." Ryuji countered. "This ain't any different."

"In that case... Let's go." Yusuke said bluntly. He pressed the Start Navigation button on his phone and the world distorted around them. Sure enough, everyone was now wearing their Phantom Thieves attire; Ryuji in his black pants, black jacket, and skull mask, Ann in her red leather jumpsuit and red cat mask, Yusuke in his blue and white jumpsuit and fox mask with his fox tail hanging off the side, and Ren wearing his black leather jacket with red gloves and simple black and white mask. Even Morgana had officially transformed to the bipedal cat looking thing that the group of five were used to. It was Ren's new normal, despite how insane he knew it looked to those that weren't in the loop like the rest of his friends.

Past Yusuke, Ren saw a bunch of walking ATMs, which he just assumed was how Kaneshiro saw other people. Yusuke noticed where Ren was looking, turning around before continuing, "Walking ATMs... That must he his cognition of people."

"Glad we're in agreement on that, Fox." Ren agreed, using Yusuke's codename.

Yusuke nodded. "So this is what Kaneshiro considers a bank..."

"I never thought it'd be the entire district." Morgana commented.

"Okay, we got into the Metaverse and into the area where his Palace is. That's step one." Ryuji repeated, even though the group of five knew the drill by now. It wasn't like this was their first rodeo. "Now we actually have to get into the Palace."

"Yeah... Where is it?" Ann asked, motioning to the area in front of them. "This just looks like regular ole Shibuya to me... Minus the walking ATMs and the money flying through the air, obvi."

"We should probably take a look around." Ren decided. "Look for a large bank... Something out of the ordinary... It can't be that hard to spot something out of the ordinary in Shibuya... Right?"

"... You keep thinking that, honey." Ann said gently, leading the way towards Central Street. "You're not in your little country town anymore, Joker. Things are different out here in Tokyo."

"I know that..." Ren pouted as the other followed Ann as she walked away.

The group of five made their way down Central Street. Ann paused when she got to the alley in between the airsoft shop Ren got their weapons from the the gym, noticing an ATM standing upright as yellow sparks came off of it's body. It looked broken, especially with it's broken screen and half broken sign. Without another word, Ann walked over and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Do these guys even have mouths...?" Ryuji muttered.

When the ATM didn't immediately answer, Ann asked again, "Excuse me, can we-"

"Ah! P-Please forgive me!" The ATM shrieked in a panic.

"What happened?" Ren asked.

"I-I don't have anymore, please! I'm telling you, not even one yen!" The ATM continued.

"Woah, cool it." Ryuji said, trying to be calm. "We're not tryin' to mug you or anything."

"Please, I don't want to end up like the others!"

Yusuke took a small step closer to the ATM. "Were you assaulted?"

The ATM shrieked, and Ryuji sighed. "There's no doubt he's a victim, but he can't even hold a goddamn conversation."

"We should keep going." Ren said, taking a step away from the panicking ATM.

The group came across more frazzled ATMs, some passed out and destroyed on the ground. Ren silently made note of one saying that it fell from a great height, but he didn't exactly know what that meant. As the group reconvened at the entrance to Central Street, Yusuke brought that up as well. "They have apparently fallen from quite far..."

"Wait a second..." Morgana said, seemingly starting to put things together. "They've 'fallen' from a place where Kaneshiro doesn't leave any tracks...? Could that mean that they were actually thrown down from somewhere high up?"

"From where? A skyscraper? There aren't any near here." Ryuji asked, rolling his eyes.

"Ya sure?" Ann asked, turning to look back down Central Street.

"Positive." Ryuji said, turning to help Ann look.

Ann tilted her head up to the sky, her eyes wide. "W-Wait, what's that!?"

Ren followed Ann's gaze, noticing a giant flying saucer type of thing that was spilling out money from it's wake. "Well... If I had to take a random guess... I'd say that's Kaneshiro's bank, Panther."

"That... Is a very accurate guess." Yusuke said approvingly. "Must be why we haven't been able to get in. It's flying all over Shibuya."

"'Kaneshiro doesn't leave any tracks', huh? Figures it'd be floating." Morgana commented.

"So... How do we get up there?" Ann asked. "Can you sure into a helicopter, Mona?"

"Nope. Just a van."

"Well, that is extremely useful right now." Ryuji said sarcastically.

"Shut it! I'm not some robot cat! I'm not a cat at all!"

"This may be the limit of what we can do today." Yusuke commented.

Ren nodded. "Yeah... Let's head back and come up with ideas on how we're breaking in later. There's gotta be a way..."

Chapter Text

"We got nothin'." Ryuji announced on the bridge as he, Ren, Yusuke, Ann, and Morgana met on the accessway to figure out a gameplan.

"Are we out of luck?" Ann asked.

"It's no fair his Palace is up in the sky." Morgana commented. Ren felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. When he got it out, he saw a text from Makoto. Ren managed to drown out more of the conversation as everyone else kept talking.

Makoto Niijima: 4:32 PM
Hey, it's Makoto. Are you guys on the accessway?

Chapter Text

When the distortion stopped, Makoto jumped a good five feet away from Ren. "What the-"

"Okay, your Ma-" Ren started to say, trying to calm Makoto down.

Makoto's eyes flicked over to Yusuke. "A canine?"

"No... I'm Fox." Yusuke said bluntly.

"Be quiet. The Shadows are going to notice us." Morgana chided.

Makoto grabbed onto Ren's arm and pulled him in front of her to use as a shield. "A monster cat!?"

"I am not a cat!" Morgana argued.

"That's Morgana, that cat we were talking to before we dragged you in here." Ann explained. "The costumes and the cat doubling in size... That happens every time we come in here."

"And... Where is here exactly?" Makoto asked, releasing Ren's arm.

"Okay... This is the part where you wouldn't believe it unless you came here yourself." Ren said, motioning to the area around them. "In simple terms... This is Kaneshiro's heart. His worldview distorted so much that his cognition created this."

Makoto slowly nodded. "So... This is how Kaneshiro sees the world around him?"

"Essentially, yes."

Makoto looked behind the group and saw a bunch of ATMs walking around. "And I'm assuming that those walking ATMs are how he sees people...? Am I getting that right?"

"Correct."

"So... Are there walking ATM versions of us now?"

"Probably... Not that we'd be able to tell." Ren said, Makoto blinking at him a few times. "Ya know, because they don't exactly have faces."

"And you all have the ability to access this place?"

"Using our phones, yeah." Ryuji confirmed. He pointed up to the sky. "We brought you in here to get us into that."

Makoto turned around, her eyes widening when she saw the floating bank. "It... It's floating! It's actually floating in the air! This is reality here!? My goodness... I don't know what I was expecting when the Phantom Thieves said that they stole hearts, but I was not expecting all this."

"Told ya you wouldn't have believed me even if I told you." Ren added.

"Yeah, this is definitely a 'see it to believe it' kind of situation..." Makoto said, starting to think to herself. "Is this... Kind of like the application of optical illusions in social cognition psychology?"

"I'm not gonna lie... I don't know what you just said." Ann admitted.

"So... This is all spurred on because of Kaneshiro's worldview, yes?" Makoto asked.

"Pretty much." Morgana agreed.

"Still getting used to that..." Makoto said, motioning to Morgana. "Then how do you guys steal his heart?"

"Well, it usually stems from one key desire." Ren explained. "We secure our route to that one key desire, we send the calling card to make that key desire physically manifest in here, and then we take the Treasure. After we take it out, all this disappears."

"And... Kamoshida and Madarame... They had one of these as well?"

Yusuke nodded. "Madarame's looked like an art museum."

"Kamoshida's was a castle." Ann added.

"And you stole the Treasure for them both?"

"Yup." Ryuji confirmed.

"I see... So you guys are essentially overwriting their cognition."

"Correct." Ren agreed.

"Interesting... Very interesting..."

"We're doing this to help those in need." Ann added with a huge smile. "The people in Shibuya need us to get rid of Kaneshiro. The police don't even really know his name or where he is."

"Plus, getting famous from this isn't the worst sounding idea." Ryuji added.

Makoto laughed. "'To help those in need'... That sounds like my father..."

"Your father?" Ann asked.

"Don't mind me." Makoto said, staring up at the bank again. "You guys wanna go up to that bank, right? Let's go then. Since I've become a customer of Kaneshiro, the bank will have to let me in."

Makoto walked past everyone else and started walking towards the bank. Everyone watched in shock as a bridge made of money connected the top of the bank to the ground by Makoto's feet. Ryuji's eyes widened. "No way... It actually came to us..."

"Just as I calculated." Morgana said with a smirk.

Everyone followed Makoto up to the bank, and as soon as the touched the flat surface, Makoto asked, "You know how you can use your card to get into banks during after hours? I thought I'd be able to get in since I have the same identity as such customers... Except I'm not shaped like an ATM. I am his source of revenue, after all."

"That makes sense." Yusuke said, nodding his head.

"Wow, this place is huge." Ann muttered.

"I rarely gotta go to the bank, so... This's makin' me kinda nervous." Ryuji commented.

"Being in a bank with costumes like these," Ann said, motioning to everyone but Makoto. "Is like, so obvious. We're totally robbers."

"Ya got that right."

"It seems there'll be a lot of Shadows from here on." Morgana added.

"What are Shadows?" Makoto asked.

"You'll see... Basically, they're kinda like demons and those of us in the 'robber suits', as Panther put it, have the ability to fight them." Ren added.

"Panther? You guys seriously have code names?"

"It's to keep our identities a secret as much as we can."

"Ah..."

Ren took a deep breath befkre her nervously suggested to Makoto, "Make sure you stick close to us, okay? We don't want you getting hurt."

Makoto smirked a little as she looked up at Ren. "I've trained in aikido. Don't worry, I can defend myself."

"Self defense won't do much good against Shadows, but then again, it's better than nothing." Morgana said, turning towards the bank doors. "Let's head in."

Makoto lead everyone into the bank, Ren quickly moving up to stand beside her for safety. Ren whispered to Makoto, "Are you sure you're okay?"

Makoto nodded once. "I'm an honorary customer, right? I better act like one. I will be useful to you guys."

"You already have been." Ren countered. "Getting us that information, letting us know that Kaneshiro was a thing... That was useful. Don't pressure yourself to be something you're not. You just have to be you, full throttle."

Makoto glanced up at Ren. "A motorcycle joke?"

"I noticed you looking at the bike ad before you left to go find Kaneshiro." Ren said with a small smile. "I told you I make bad jokes when I'm nervous. It's part of the reason why my codename is Joker... Well, that, and the fact that I'm a wild card. I'm unpredictable."

"That's one way of putting it." Makoto said as she opened the door.

As soon as the group crossed the front lobby, two large men in security uniforms ran up, holding their batons ready. Makoto glanced down and saw black smoke gathering at their feet. Makoto whispered to Ren, "Shadows?"

"Yup."

"What business do you have here?" One of the security guards asked.

"I had a feeling this would happen." Ann commented.

Makoto quickly took up a fighting stance. "Come at us!"

"No, no! Wait!" Ryuji said quickly.

"Easy there, Tiger." Ren said, placing a hand on Makoto's shoulder. Makoto instantly dropped the fighting stance, her face flushing red. Ren looked back at the Shadows and said, "We're here to see Kaneshiro. This one here is a very important customer. Can you make that happen?"

Makoto nodded to agree. "I'd like to speak to the bank president."

"You can do that?" Ryuji whispered to himself.

"Do you have an appointment?" The other security guard asked.

"I need to talk to him. Now let me through!" Makoto ordered.

Over the loudspeaker, Kaneshiro's voice said, "Let them pass." 

The Shadows backed off as Makoto glanced over at Ren. "That was Kaneshiro... Right?"

"The cognitive version of him, yeah. He's not gonna look like the Kaneshiro we saw." Ren answered.

"Banks have presidents?" Ryuji asked.

"Yes, but not the political sorts, in theory, anyway." Yusuke answered.

The group walked forward, and one of the security guards said, "Please head to reception. It's to the right, in the back. I strongly advise that you do not attempt to go elsewhere."

Ren lead the way as the group made their way to the back, a few more Shadow security guards guiding them to the reception. Once they got to the complete back, one of the guards said as they motioned to a room, "This is the reception office. Hurry on inside."

Ren opened the door to the conference room and saw a large stack of money sitting on the table. Makoto walked up to it and stared at the cash. Ryuji asked out loud, "How many beef bowls could I eat with this?"

"Unauthorized entry, property damage, and other disturbances." Kaneshiro's voice said over the speakers again. "That comes to three million yen total. You're here regarding that, correct, Miss Beautiful President?"

Makoto took a step closer to Ren as the group turned around and saw Kaneshiro on the TV. He wasn't in the velvet purple suit anymore. Now it was a cream white, his now black hair slicked back, his tiny black mustache perfectly combed, and his lilac skin matching his purple necktie. Kaneshiro kept talking, "It must be quite tough gathering so much money. I'd be willing to give you a loan, you know."

"You gonna call it off, then?" Ryuji asked, already knowing the answer.

Kaneshiro just laughed. "No, a loan. The interest rate is ten percent per day."

"Ten percent a day... Um... Uhhh... That means... That means... One day is..." Ann muttered to herself, trying to think.

Makoto rolled her eyes. "It's three hundred thousand yen."

"There's no need to be alarmed. I have a more manageable option for people like you." Kaneshiro continued.

"That was your plan from the beginning, wasn't it?" Makoto asked.

"Quite the impressive insight, Niijima-san... Or should I say, the younger sister of the beautiful prosecutor Sae Niijima?" Kaneshiro asked, Makoto's eyes going wide.

Everyone stared at Makoto in shock as she asked, "How do you know that!?"

"Please don't underestimate our intelligence network." Kaneshiro said bluntly. "My, what wonderful goods have come falling into my lap."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Ann argued.

"Young women are such great assets. They lack strength, be it social, physical, or mental. It's as if they only exist to be devoured by the strong. That just might be the rule since the dawn of history."

"You truly are despicable." Yusuke stated.

"You better be ready, Kaneshiro! We're gonna snatch your Treasure from you!" Ryuji said angrily.

"Don't make me laugh, you petty thieves. My citadel has the highest security installed in it." Kaneshiro said. Shadows appeared in the room in purple and black smoke, Makoto jumping up out of shock and bumped into Ren's chest. "Anyone will do anything for money. I'll rob you from your lives as easily as I breathe air."

Kaneshiro snickered to himself, then stared at the screen. "Get them!"

"Makoto, under the table!" Ren commanded, Makoto scrambling under the table. Makoto heard some commotion, she saw that the legs of the security guards didn't look human, she could have sworn she saw something floating behind everyone as they fought, but she couldn't tell what it was.

Eventually, Morgana yelled, "There's no end to this! We gotta get out of here!"

As everyone else ran out, Ren extended a gloved hand under the table for Makoto. "Come on!"

Makoto grabbed Ren's hand as he pulled her out from under the table and ushered her outside. Makoto commented, "Why did the security guards turn into monsters? What was floating behind you guys? How did-"

"We'll explain later! Right now, we need to get out of here!"

"Joker, come on! The exit's over there!" Morgana yelled to Ren.

As everyone got closer to the exit, another group of Shadows appeared in front of them. Ann cursed, "Shit, there's just no end to them!"

"You seem to be in quite a pickle..." Kaneshiro commented as he walked down to talk to everyone in the flesh. "Thank you all for providing me with such wonderful goods. It's time you disappear though."

Kaneshiro clapped his hands and more Shadows surrounded them. Makoto took a small step closer to Ren as he let go of her hand, ready to fight. Kaneshiro continued, "Managing a bank is tough enough as is. So it's my policy to kill clients who are more trouble than they're worth. Having one impertinent brat disappear is enough to set an example in that other world."

"Please stop!" Makoto begged as she took a step forward.

"Oh, I wouldn't damage an asset like you. They're dead men walking, but you'll be just fine." Kaneshiro promised. "Your sister is quite a beauty though. I'll make sure you make her my personal slave. Once I get bored, I'll just sell her off. Oh, poor Sis, she could've been successful, if only her younger sister wasn't so dumb."

"My sister has nothing to do with this!" Makoto argued back.

"Then you better start taking customers tomorrow. All you gotta do is endure it and do as you're told."

"Endure it... Do as I'm told..." Makoto said, her voice teetering onto pure rage.

"You'll make three million yen in no time. Although, your life and everything along with it will be a complete wreck by then!" Kaneshiro said with a sick form of glee. He laughed as Makoto's hands clenched into fists.

"I have been listening to you go on and on... Shut your damn mouth you money grubbing asshole!" Makoto screamed. "I am sick and tired of people telling me to just do what I'm told and to endure it! Not anymore!"

"Huh?" Kaneshiro asked, not expecting that.

"Have you decided to tread the path of strife?" Ren heard a voice ask.

Ren turned to everyone else, a proud smile on his face. "Let's give her some space, guys."

"Here we go again..." Ryuji muttered as the Phantom Thieves took a few steps back from Makoto.

"Yes... Come to me!" Makoto screeched. Her eyes turned yellow as she held her head in pain, doubling over.

"Very well... Let us proceed with our contract at once. I am thou, thou art I... You have finally found your own justice. Please... Never lose sight of it again."

Makoto released her head and stamped her foot on the ground, cracking the tile beneath her feet. Ryuji jumped. "Oh shit!"

A silver mask that looked like the guard on a knight's helmet with two cut out slots for eyes appeared on Makoto's face with blue fire. The voice continued, "This memorable day marks your graduation from your false self..."

Makoto tore off her mask as her face started bleeding, a column of blue fire erupting around her. When the fire cleared, Makoto was now wearing a blue leather jumpsuit with black pads on the shoulders, giant metal spikes lightly grazing the bottom of her brown hair. Under Makoto was a large, partially see-through motorcycle with a face. Makoto revved the bike as she stared Kaneshiro down. Yusuke muttered, "A Persona...?"

"No dude, that's a bike." Ryuji stated.

"A Persona... So that's what you are..." Makoto muttered as she got ready to take off. "I can feel it... My 'self'... Me... My real power... GUN IT, JOHANNA!"

Makoto and the bike took off, Makoto hitting two of the Shadows with the back wheel of the bike and sending them flying. Ann cheered, "Nice one!"

"What is that!?" Morgana asked.

"It's her Persona. I thought you would've been able to figure that out already." Ren said happily. "Good job, your Majesty."

Kaneshiro looked scared, but he managed to cover it up as he readjusted his suit and told the Shadows, "You better earn your keep, or else I'll kill you!"

"I will not lose heart again, ever!" Makoto argued, sending a blue blast of energy at the guards the knocking them back again. "I'll go full speed, non stop!"

"Let's hope you can keep up, then!" Ren said as he ran over and joined Makoto in the fight.

As the Shadows transformed into what they really looked like, Makoto glanced over at Ren. "Don't get all cocky just because I normally behave myself! I am DONE playing nice!"

"The enemy's agitated! Take them down and make an opening!" Morgana commanded.

"Right!" Ren agreed, sending some ice towards two of the enemies. He glanced over at Makoto. "What was that neon blue spell thing you casted?"

"It's a Nuke spell. Frei." Makoto said, then paused and blinked a few times. "Why do I know that?"

"You get used to the random information you get in your head thanks to your Persona." Ann said as she ripped off her mask. The monsters in front of the group erupted into fire.

"A Persona? What is that, exactly?"

"It's basically an extension of yourself. It's what gives all of us the ability to properly fight Shadows without dying." Yusuke stated, a giant man who looked like he was straight out of an old Japanese painting appearing behind him and bonking one of the Shadows on the head.

"That would be useful." Makoto said, instinctually tearing off her mask. Johanna appeared directly underneath Makoto as she did a loop around the Shadows and casted another Nuke spell. The spell hit all three Shadows and Shadow at the tip of the triangle collapsed on the ground while the other two stayed upright. "Is that good?"

"You figured out what the one up top is weak to. Now you get to either do another attack or pass that attack on to someone else." Ryuji yelled, quickly dodging an attack from the two Shadows he and Morgana were fighting. "We call it a Baton Pass."

"Who should I pass to?" Makoto asked.

"Pass to Joker, pass to Joker!" Morgana yelled as he casted a spell on two other Shadows. "I'd say pass to me, but I'm kinda preoccupied!"

"Right!" Makoto yelled, turning towards Ren. He held up a hand, ready for her to high five. Makoto revved Johanna's engine as she sped off, high giving Ren in the process, red, black and white light engulfing him for a second.

As Ren casted a wind spell that would hit the other two Shadows, Johanna disappeared from underneath Makoto. Makoto fell to the ground, not expecting that, as Ann ran over and helped her up. "You okay?"

Makoto nodded, noticing that all three of their Shadows were on the ground. "Yeah, I'm good. What now?"

"All Out Attack."

"What?"

"We all attack at once." Yusuke said, joining Ann and Makoto. "Follow our lead."

Makoto nodded once as Yusuke and Ann ran ahead of her, joining Ren as he pummeled the Shadows. Makoto was a few steps behind, joining the brawl as all three Shadows disappeared in black smoke. Makoto nervously looked over at Ren. "Did we defeat them...?"

"Heck yeah we did!" Ren cheered, giving Makoto a thumbs up of approval.

"Now let's get out of here!" Morgana said, Makoto instinctually tearing off her mask again and sitting on her bike. "We know how you get in now. Our objective's been accomplished!"

"But how are we getting out? There are still Shadows around us, Mona." Ann commented.

"There's only one exit, right?" Makoto asked, looking back at the front door to the bank. "The way we came in."

"So..." Ryuji said awkwardly as he studied Makoto and her Persona. "You're totally the Fist of the Phantom Star now, huh?"

Makoto just stared at Ryuji, an unamused expression on her face. "Do you want to get smacked?"

Ren had to stop himself from snorting as Ryuji quickly looked away in shame. Ren glanced over at Makoto and said, "I like this 'devil may care' attitude. It suits you."

Makoto had a slightly amused smile on her face as she said, "I'm going on ahead, so follow me!"

"Right." Ren confirmed.

Makoto pulled out a bit and whacked the Shadows in front of them with the back wheel of Johanna, then drove forward as fast as she could and crashed through the door. The rest of the Phantom Thieves stood in shock as the Shadows just accepted their fate and laid down on the ground. Ryuji was the first to speak. "Daaamn..."

"You can say that again." Ren said with a smirk as he ran after Makoto.

"We have a path, let's move!" Morgana ordered as everyone ran after Ren.

Once they were slightly outside of the bank, Morgana jumped into the air, flipped, and became a van (something else they would have to explain to Makoto later), and said while in van form, "GET IN!"

Ann, Ryuji, Ren, and Yusuke all climbed into the van, Ren taking the driver's seat. He pulled on the shift and started driving forward, flooring the gas to accelerate. As Ren got closer to the edge of the floating bank, Ann commented, "Wait... THERE'S NO ROAD!"

"REALITY, REALITY, REALITY!" Yusuke shrieked.

"Not without Makoto! She's one of us now!" Ren yelled, the Morgana Van going into freefall.

All four teenagers screamed until the van landed on the ground with a thud, everyone jolting up. The four got out of the van so Morgana could transform back, Ren seeing Makoto curled up in a ball on the ground. Ren walked over, squatting down to her level. "You good?"

Makoto looked up, her mask reflecting light. "I'm good... Just tired."

"Let's get back to our plane of existence then, huh?" Ren said, pulling out his phone. He went to the Navigation app and pressed the button to return them home, the world dissolving around them.

☆○☆

After a few seconds, the group reappeared on the accessway in Shibuya. Nobody on the accessway seemed to care or notice that a group of teenagers and their cat just popped into existance. As Ren stood up and Morgana quickly ran back into Ren's bag, Ryuji commented as he stared down at Makoto, "Man, talk about wild... That was no aikido... That was some hardcore ass whoopin'."

Yusuke kneeled down to the ground to make sure Makoto was okay. Ann massaged the back of her neck with one hand as she added, "I am SO not pissing her off... I feel like she'll rip off my arm..."

"She does exude that aura..." Yusuke reluctantly admitted.

"Oh, stop it!" Makoto whined, her face bright red with embarrassment.

Ren dug into his bag and pulled out a small unopened water bottle. He kneeled back down to Makoto's level and set it down in front of her. "You need to drink something. It'll help stave off the exhaustion until you get home."

"I can deal with the exhaustion." Makoto said, grabbing the water bottle as she stood back up, Yusuke quickly helping her to her feet. "It's the splitting headache I currently have that worries me."

"Ooh yeah, that's the worst." Ann agreed. "I don't understand why we have to literally rip our faces off to do that, but by the second time you go in there, you won't get a headache from doing that anymore."

Makoto opened up the water bottle and took a few sips. "I think that this is the worst headache I've ever gotten in the past few years... Which is saying something when I have to deal with stupid situations every single day."

"How you feeling?" Ren asked. "Ya know... Besides your head being in pain?"

"All things considered... That felt pretty great." Makoto admitted with a small laugh. "I did not realize I had that much pent up anger in me..."

"You must have the patience of a saint to be able to keep it under control for that long." Morgana commented from Ren's bag.

"So... Am I a... You know..." Makoto said awkwardly, motioning to everyone.

"Only if you want to be. We're not gonna pressure you to be something you're not." Ren said quickly. "You'll always have a place here with us, though."

"Totally." Ryuji agreed.

"Indeed." Yusuke chimed in.

Makoto looked over at Ann nervously, and Ann just smiled and gave her a thumbs up. Makoto started laughing before taking another small sip from the water bottle Ren had given her. "I never thought I'd become part of the Phantom Thieves I was after... Sis might faint if she found out."

"You... Mentioned her earlier." Yusuke said awkwardly.

"She's... A prosecutor for the district... And she's investigating the Phantom Thieves..." Makoto sheepishly admitted.

"Wait, ain't that bad!?" Ryuji asked, starting to panic.

"No need to worry. A normal investigation would never lead them to a world like that." Makoto said, tilting her head as she thought out loud, "Then again, it must've been fate for this to happen..."

"What do you mean?" Ann asked.

"I can't be like my sister, no matter how hard I try and no matter how hard the rest of the world tries to force me to be like her. I had a feeling that there'd come a time when we wouldn't see eye to eye anymore. I'm thankful to have a sister that works so hard, but there are times I feel sorry for her too." Makoto admitted, her fingers drumming against the small plastic water bottle in her hands. "And after hearing my Persona's voice, I clearly understand how I feel now. I have to make my own path... Whatever that actually means in the long run."

"It appears you're not as reserved as you make yourself seem." Yusuke commented as he stared at Makoto with an almost proud smile.

"I was just doing whatever the adults told me to and acting like how I thought they wanted me to act. I'm not doing that anymore."

"Won't she be perfect as our advisor?" Yusuke asked. "She's fearless and has a sharp mind."

"Advisor?" Makoto asked.

"Sounds good to me! We've needed someone like that for a while now!" Ryuji said happily.

"No kidding." Ren agreed. "We desperately need someone who has brain cells in our group."

"I have brain cells." Ann said defensively. "So do Ryuji and Yusuke."

"Okay... You have fashion brain cells, Yusuke has art brain cells, and I'm like... ninety percent sure that Ryuji's brain cells are made out of ramen."

"Hey!" Ryuji protested.

"We desperately need someone else in this group who has smart brain cells." Ren said, pointing to Makoto. "She has very smart brain cells. We need her."

"I'd be honored if I can help out... Though I don't really know why you keep talking about brain cells." Makoto said, laughing during the last half of the comment.

"We had way too much testosterone anyway, so I feel much better hav-" Ann said, staring at Makoto with a big smile on her face.

Makoto's phone started ringing, and when she looked at the caller ID, she rolled her eyes and stuffed it back in her pocket. "It's just Kaneshiro. He's probably reminding us of our debt... Or to yell at us for what just happened..."

"Most likely the first one." Ren said quickly. "Palace Rulers like him don't know what goes on inside their Palace."

"But if we do anything else to change Kaneshiro's cognition before we can steal his Treasure, then his Palace will be affected. We can't be lax. We need to be careful." Morgana added from Ren's bag again.

"Interesting... Very interesting..." Makoto muttered to herself. "So it seems it'd be best to avoid unnecessary contact with him until then."

"Three weeks left, huh?" Ryuji asked out loud. "I guess our deadline you kinda gave us is getting an extension?"

"Obviously." Makoto said quickly. "I'm not that mean."

"There's that security system too." Yusuke added.

"But if we pull this off, it'll definitely be great!" Ann said chipperly.

Makoto clenched her fists again, crushing the plastic water bottle in her grip. "We'll crush him like a fly. I'll make him regret making me angry..."

"Anyways, let's officially begin our operation tomorrow!" Ryuji said excitedly.

"First, we need to secure a route to the Treasure like always." Ann said, recounting the steps for Makoto's benefit.

"You guys are finally starting to get used to this." Morgana said proudly.

"I'll be waiting for the call to meet up." Makoto said, taking a deep breath as she readjusted her school bag.

Everyone soon went their separate ways to go back home, Yusuke sticking behind with Makoto as she gathered the last of her things. Yusuke cautiously said, "I'm sorry about earlier... Truly. I didn't think I was adding to the dog pile."

"It's okay-" Makoto tried to say.

"No it isn't. That was extremely unfair to you, especially since I don't even go to Shujin and the most I had heard about you came from Ryuji and Ann. They aren't exactly the most reliable sources of information." Yusuke admitted. "And... Honestly, I... I fell into old habits. Madarame used to have his pupils do something similar to each other, and I would have to go along with it if I wanted food or a peaceful night's sleep."

"That's horrible."

"I'm sorry I did that to you. That was cruel and unfair and I am deeply sorry." Yusuke continued. "I'm... Still trying to unteach myself some of the bad habits Madarame instilled in me. The first, and most important one for my back, is teaching myself to sleep on a bed instead of on the floor with nothing underneath me. I've graduated to sleeping in a sleeping bag, but I'm still not comfortable sleeping on the mattress, especially since I don't have any sheets or blankets for it and who knows how many people have slept on that thing."

"Where are you now?"

"The dorms at Kosei." Yusuke said, checking his wallet. "Okay... I do have enough money to get back to Kosei... That's good."

"Do you not normally have enough?" Makoto asked, starting to grow even more concerned.

"Well..." Yusuke said nervously, avoiding eye contact. "Madarame always taught me that material things aren't needed, hence why I never had a mattress growing up, so I was never allowed to buy anything unless it was art supplies or a necessity, like when my clothes got too small or when my shoes were starting to fall apart. Kosei is giving me a biweekly stipend to spend on art supplies and whatever else I need to live since that's part of my scholarship when you live in the dorms, but I don't exactly know what I need to live because I wasn't entirely taught that, so... I kinda keep spending the money on whatever and I think I keep spending too much on what I think I need but I not might actually need it."

Makoto fell silent, then remembered that she had gotten a bigger bed a few years ago and still had the old sheets somewhere in her bedroom. "Do you know what size the mattress is at Kosei?"

"... There are different sizes...?" Yusuke asked uneasily.

"Is it long and skinny?"

"Yes."

"Okay... How about after we steal Kaneshiro's Treasure, I help you make a budget list?" Makoto suggested. "Something that clearly broadcasts what you need and how much of your stipend should be allocated to that. We can even add a miscellaneous section for things that you might not need, but it's for things that you want."

"... You'd do that?"

"Of course! I'm usually the one who makes the budget lists for the student council since nobody else knows how to do that! It'll be a breeze!" Makoto said helpfully. "It won't even take that much time. It's essentially a priority list with money attached to it."

"Well... Thank you." Yusuke said, a little surprised.

"Don't thank me yet. Thank me when we actually sit down and make the budget list." Makoto said, searching her bag for her aspirin. "Shoot... Left my aspirin at home..."

"Are you gonna be okay getting home?"

"I'll be fine, promise." Makoto said happily. "See you tomorrow?"

Yusuke nodded. "See you tomorrow."

Chapter Text

Five months ago...

"Hi... Niijima-senpai, thank you for meeting me here." Ann said awkwardly as she walked into the student council room with her lunch. Makoto was already sitting at the table with her own lunch, leftovers from last night's dinner, and was looking at Ann with concern. "I'm sorry for asking you here like this."

"Oh, it's no problem. I actually find it refreshing to be asked to the student council room for once... Though now I get why everyone looks so anxious when they come in here." Makoto admitted.

"I think I'm a bit nervous myself." Ann said, anxiously playing with the ends of her pigtails. Ann set down her food on the table and kept standing. "Anyway, um... I wanted to apologize. I'm... Really sorry for everything I helped to put you through. That was just as bad as what I was put through, and it wasn't fair."

"What do you mean...?" Makoto asked, pushing her lunch off to the side.

"Ya know... How I blamed you for Kamoshida's sexual harassment? Well, I wanted to apologize for that... I've honestly been meaning to for a while. I realized later that Shiho was calling out for help and I wasn't paying any attention. I felt so bad, and I thought I was doing some good by being a part of the Phantom Thieves, but then this whole investigation situation happened and I just kept getting frustrated with this whole situation we were both kinda forced into and I didn't want to admit to my own guilt so I took it out on you and I am really sorry-"

"Takamaki-san, it's okay." Makoto interrupted as Ann quickly went into a bow in front of Makoto. "I'm sorry too... For treating you guys like criminals during my forced investigation and for not noticing what was going on earlier... And please stand up. There's no need for that. I think the two of us are pretty similar, after all."

"Huh?" Ann asked as she stood back up.

"In the end, I wasn't able to save anyone... Not Suzui-san, not any of Kamoshida's other victims, not even any of Kaneshiro's victims. I kept telling myself that I wasn't at fault because I was simply following orders... But that was all a lie. It felt like I would be admitting to my own worthlessness had I not shifted the blame off of myself. Fear of that worthlessness was probably why I acted so harshly towards you and your friends. I'm deeply sorry as well."

"I see..." Ann said awkwardly as she looked down at the ground in shame. Ann suddenly looked up and gave Makoto a warm smile. "In that case, wanna call it even?"

"Even...?" Makoto asked, confused. After thinking about it for a few seconds, Makoto chuckled to herself. "You're right... How about we leave this conversation in the past?"

"Mh-hm!" Ann said chipperly as she finally sat down at the table across from Makoto. "But... One more thing... You're not worthless, Niijima-senpai. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You were a bit reckless, yeah, but you're the reason we found a way into Kaneshiro's Palace. AND you even obtained the power to change people's hearts. You did that all yourself, Niijima-senpai."

Makoto laughed again. "That way of thinking is very much like you, Takamaki-san. When you confronted me about Suzui-san, I realized how dishonest and small I was. You're always very direct... That's what helped me realize the error of my ways. It turns out I'm a little slow on the uptake at times."

Ann laughed. "Maybe a little..."

The two girls laughed in unison, then Makoto asked, "Hey... Is it okay if I just call you Ann? I'm not really a fan of honorifics. They make me a little uncomfortable, quite frankly."

Ann blinked a few times in shock. "Um... Yeah! As long as I get to do the same M-Makoto... God, that feels so weird right now..."

"We're meeting the others at the accessway before we head back in tonight, yeah?" Makoto asked.

Ann nodded. "Yeah..."

"Do you... Maybe want to go get food before we meet up with the guys? Officially turn over a new leaf and all that?"

Ann smiled widely. "I know a place on Central Street that sells amazing crêpes! They're totally stuffed!"

"Sounds perfect. Do you want to split one?"

"Or better yet, we can each get our own and go halvies! That way, we can try two!" Ann said excitedly. "I can even fill you in on some of the stuff we didn't exactly talk about yesterday!"

"Sounds even better." Makoto said happily. "Do you want to meet here or at the station?"

"Let's meet at the station."

"Good plan." Makoto said, glancing over at Ann's lunch. "Now eat your lunch. We don't want to be wasting our lunch period on past drama."

"Right." Ann said, grabbing her lunch and starting to get up from the table.

"You can just eat in here." Makoto said, Ann pausing. "I eat lunch in here all the time."

"Really?"

"Yeah. If you, Ren, and Ryuji want to join me sometime, feel free. It gets kind of lonely in here after a while. Just shoot me a text to make sure I'm actually in here."

"Okay..." Ann said, sitting back down and getting out her lunch. Ann looked back up at Makoto. "I think this is going to be the start of a great friendship."

"I hope so. I know I don't have many."

"Well, now you do." Ann stated, opening up her bento box. "We're all in this together. When one of us goes down, we all go down. We're not gonna leave one of our own high and dry."

"That sounds like a nice change." Makoto stated.

The two ate their lunch and chit chatted about random things, waiting until the bell rang to summon them back to class.

The rest of the school day seemed to go by slowly for Makoto. She took diligent notes, like always, but she found herself looking at the clock more frequently than she normally did. Once they were finally dismissed for the day, Makoto quickly got her things together and headed to the train station. As she waited, Makoto saw a message from Kaneshiro, probably the tenth one he had sent her today, reminding her about the debt they all owed. Makoto marked the message as read and stuffed her phone back in her school bag as she saw Ann walking over. Ann smiled and said, "Sorry to keep you waiting!"

"It's alright." Makoto said happily. "Is it okay if I start asking questions now so we can just enjoy the crêpes when we get them?"

"Fire away!"

"Alright... Give me a second..." Makoto said, digging into her school bag and grabbing a small pastel blue notebook with the same panda that was on the bag that carried the transcripts on the front cover.

As Makoto dug around for her pencil case to grab a pen, Ann glanced over at the notebook and asked, "Are you really going to take notes on what I tell you?"

"Ren suggested it when he called last night."

"Okay... Pause..." Ann said as Makoto grabbed a dark blue pen out of her bag. "Ren called you yesterday?"

"Yeah... To make sure I got home okay. Why?"

"He doesn't like talking on the phone unless absolutely necessary." Ann stated. "He's kind of a quiet guy, ya know? He prefers texting. Did you call him?"

"No... He called me." Makoto said, getting out her phone. She went to call history and showed the screen to Ann. "See? Incoming call."

"Well... I'll be damned..." Ann said, glancing back over at Makoto. "He so has a crush on you."

"What?" Makoto asked, stuffing her phone into her bag. "He told me that he called to make sure I made it home okay."

"I disguised ploy." Ann stated. "He's never done that for anyone else in our group."

"Wait... Really?"

Ann nodded. "Yeah. He's a good guy, don't get me wrong. Out of all the guys in our group, including Morgana, he is the one I trust the most. Ryuji comes in at a close second, but that's only because he and I went to the same middle school. Ren is kind and respectful and caring and Kamoshida blackmailing poor Mishima to spread his criminal record around the school gave Ren a bad rep. The most he did for me after I awoke Carmen was bring me a cup of coffee he brewed the next day. I was the main one who was checking in on Yusuke before we added him to the group chat. I don't even know if he did anything for Ryuji since Ryuji awoke Captain Kidd before I joined. He's never contacted anyone hours after awakening their Persona to make sure they were okay, much less call the person who just got their Persona."

"Oh..." Makoto said as the train pulled into the station. As the two got in, Makoto asked, "Why do you think he has a crush on me then? Why would he have a crush on me?"

"Are you kidding? Look at you!" Ann said, motioning to Makoto. "You're absolutely gorgeous and you're really freaking smart! Who wouldn't have a crush on you?"

"I think you're just reading into it a little too much."

"Trust me, I'm not. I know my body language and human behavior. Ren acts differently with you than he does with the rest of us. Mark my words, whether he realizes it or not, he so has feelings for you."

"Yeah... Sure..." Makoto said awkwardly. "Can I ask my questions now?"

"Oh, right, got distracted. Go ahead."

"Okay... Number one, why the code names?"

"Two main reasons. Reason one, we don't know what kind of impact saying our real names in there will have, but we need something to refer to each other with. It's why Ren kept calling you 'your Majesty' yesterday... At least, I think that's what he kept calling you."

"And reason number two?"

"It makes us sound cooler, duh."

"Okay... Follow up to that question, what is everyone's code names? Is there a specific rhyme or reason for the code name, or is it predetermined by the Persona?"

"We kinda just gave each other the code names based on vibe or because of a defining feature our costumes have." Ann admitted. "I'm Panther because of my mask, Yusuke is Fox because of his mask, Ryuji is Skull because of his mask, Morgana is Mona because I said that codename was cute, and Ren is Joker because of his ability to tell bad jokes and because he's a wild card."

"Okay..." Makoto said, quickly writing down the notes. "Next question, during our phone conversation last night, Ren said something about how he remembered how tired he was when he got his first Persona, which is why he called. Do we get multiple Personas or something?"

"That is up for debate..." Ann admitted. "As far as we are aware, you, me, Ryuji, Yusuke, and Morgana only get one Persona. That means that from now until the end of time, I only get Carmen, Ryuji only gets Captain Kidd, Morgana only gets Zorro, Yusuke only gets Goemon, and you only get... Johanna, right? That's your Persona's name?"

"Yeah. That's right." 

"It's supposed to reflect who we truly are as people and there's only one person we can truly be, yeah? It's who we are deep down, the part of ourselves that we don't always let other people know."

"Okay... So it's kind of like Jungian psychology?"

"It's kind of like what?"

"Jungian psychology. There's this American psychologist, Carl Jung, and he has this way of looking at the people in the world around us. He divided it up into four archetypes, the Anima/Animus, the Self, the Shadow, and the Persona." Makoto elaborated. "The Persona, according to Jung, is the mask that we put on in society to make ourselves appear more likeable. By tearing off our literal mask in the Metaverse, we're able to fight the Shadow, or the unconscious aspect of a person that they wish to keep hidden. The only way we're able to fight the Shadow is by taking off our Persona and fighting them as the Self, or the best version of ourselves that we can be after we embrace all aspects of ourselves, the good and the bad."

Ann blinked a few times. "Do you want to be a psychologist or something when you graduate high school?"

"Oh no, we just talked about that in one of my jukus a few years ago." Makoto said, her face turning red. "I... May or may not have gone on a Jungian deep dive last night to refresh myself on Jungian psychology since hearing the word Persona yesterday triggered a memory of that lesson."

"You might need to give the rest of us a crash course on Jungian psychology then since that sounds eerily familiar." Ann said, tilting her head. "That might explain Ren's ability, come to think of it..."

"What do you mean?"

"Okay, you know how I mentioned that one of the reasons Ren's codename is Joker is because he's a wild card?"

"Yeah..."

"Okay, well, for some odd reason, Ren has the ability to change Personas. We don't really know why." Ann admitted. "His first Persona is Arséne, we still see him around, but he has the ability to have more than one Persona."

"Okay... So he has more than one mask at play... That makes sense." Makoto said carefully. "And he's the only one with that ability?"

"As far we're aware, yeah."

"And the names of our Personas... Any rhyme or reason behind them or...?"

"Sorta... So from what we've been able to figure out, all of our Personas are named after infamous tricksters. As I mentioned, Ren's first Persona is Arséne, named after-"

"Arséne Lupin, right?" Makoto interrupted. "I'm a somewhat big fan of Maurice Leblanc's novels about him."

"Yeah... Exactly." Ann said happily. "Ryuji's Persona is Captain Kidd, named after William Kidd, a man who was unjustly tried and executed for piracy. Yusuke's is Goemon, named after Ishikawa Goemon, I think it'd be pretty stupid if we didn't know who Goemon is by now. Morgana's is Zorro, who, just like Goemon, is a little bit of a Robin Hood-esque figure. Mine is Carmen, who is the main lead of the opera of the same name. Carmen is a femme fatale who, in the opera, kept using the men around her and was eventually killed by a jealous ex-lover. Johanna is kind of throwing me off slightly."

"Oh, I did some research into her last night in the middle of my Jungian psychology deep dive." Makoto admitted. "She's supposed to be Pope Joan. She ruled the Catholic Church under the guise of being a man the whole time. Most people believe that Joan is a myth meant to discredit the Catholic Church."

"Huh... That oddly fits you..." Ann said, studying Makoto.

"I guess it does... Though taking the form of a motorcycle sure is a weird way to express that idea... Or maybe not since I did mention to Ren when I was really stressed out that all I wanted to do was hop on a bike and drive until I run out of gas..."

"I was thinking that Johanna was supposed to be Joan of Arc..." Ann admitted. "Ya know... Lead the entirety of France to victory during the Hundred Year War because she thought she had a divine purpose. I didn't find anything about Pope Joan. It'd explain why your suit is kinda knight-y, anyway."

"I guess that's a valid interpretation." Makoto agreed. "On the topic of suits, do we-"

"Do you honestly think I would have chosen to have my breasts exposed and have everything be skintight for my outfit? Especially due to everything that happened with Kamoshida?" Ann interrupted as the train rolled to a stop at the Shibuya station. "That was chosen without my consent. I am not Black Widow. Why do I have to be wearing high heels in the Metaverse? My feet are in so much pain every single time we get out of there. If I could wear literally anything else, I would."

"Noted..." Makoto said, writing down a quick note about that in her notebook as the two left the train. "So I get to live with spikes for the rest of my life... Super..."

"Hey, your outfit looks awesome." Ann retorted. "At least you don't have a boob window."

"Sure, but did you see how tightly my suit hugs my body? I swear I caught Ryuji staring at my ass yesterday as I biked out."

"Oh, you definitely did." Ann agreed. "Ren is the only one who technically has some self decency. He does his best not to look. Yusuke does too, but only to a certain extend. He claims that he only looks 'because of art', but given the fact that before he joined our team, Yusuke tried to convince me to go nude so he could paint a portrait of me for Madadame, I don't trust him."

"Woah, pause, Madarame wanted a naked portrait of you to claim that he painted to put in his gallery?"

"Yup."

"Does that like... Count as child pornography?"

"I... Have no clue."

"Okay... That's kinda creepy... Now I get what you mean when you say that our of the four guys there, including Morgana, Ren is the one you trust the most."

"Exactly. He's a trustworthy guy. There's a reason why he's our leader." Ann said, then shook her head. "Do you want me to fill you in on the other Palaces while we get our crêpes?"

"Absolutely."

☆○☆

Ren walked onto the accessway with Morgana and saw that Ryuji and Yusuke were already there. As Ren got closer, he saw that the two were struggling to wrap some things with tape and panda patterned wrapping paper.

"Yusuke, you're messing it up!" Ryuji chided. "You're making it all messy!"

"Well, it's hardly my fault that you lied about how easy this is. This is not like oragami." Yusuke countered. "Madarame did not teach me how to wrap presents."

"Hey guys..." Ren said cautiously as he set down his school bag. Morgana poked his head out of the bag, careful to keep his body inside. "What's going on?"

Ryuji and Yusuke stared at each other, and then Ryuji said, "Ya know how Yusuke, Ann, and I were kinda mean to Niijima-senpai yesterday?"

"Yeah."

"Well, all three of us felt really bad after getting out of the Palace yesterday, so Yusuke started a solo group chat without you in it." Ryuji continued.

"She offered to help me make a budget list in an attempt to get my spending under control, even after I was rude to her." Yusuke said, motioning to the bounty on the tiled floor in front of him and Ryuji. "We got her a 'We're sorry we were a bunch of jerks' present."

"Well... Most of these were gathered by Ann." Ryuji admitted. "The only thing we really knew about her was that she's student council president and she apparently likes pandas, I guess, so we just trusted Ann to get everything."

"I made the card." Yusuke said, grabbing his own school bag and pulled out a simple white card that was decorated with small blue flowers. Ren took the card and opened it up, seeing a small panda sitting beside the words We're sorry we were a bunch of dicks towards you. We're happy to have you join the team. It won't happen again, we promise! Under the message was Yusuke, Ryuji, and Ann's signatures. Yusuke added, "Ann sent me a picture of her signature and I recreated it on the card to the best of my ability since she isn't going to have time to sign it since she's keeping Niijima-san distracted for us. We each technically wrote a sentance of the message inside... Ryuji wrote the first sentance, I wrote the second, and Ann wrote the third."

"'Distracted'?" Ren asked nervously as he handed Yusuke the card back.

"Yeah. Ann and Niijima-senpai are getting crêpes right now-" Ryuji continued.

"I know. I passed them on the way to Untouchables to go get some weapons for Makoto." Ren interrupted.

"Well... She is keeping Niijima-senpai occupied while Yusuke and I struggle to wrap up everything Ann picked out for her as an apology present." Ryuji said, motioning to their scissors, tape, and panda patterned wrapping paper. "It's mainly a bunch of stuff that could us out in the Palace... Ya know, bandaids, panda shaped airpods that Ann precharged, pens, a new notebook, stuff like that."

"We're struggling." Yusuke stated.

"I think you mean that you're struggling."

"It was the royal we."

Ren rolled his eyes, noticing that Nanako was calling him. "I gotta take this call, and then I'll help you guys wrap it up."

"Thanks dude." Ryuji said, giving Ren a thumbs up.

Ren answered his phone, putting it up to his ear. "Hey. What's up? You aren't in jail, are you?"

"Ren, you are in Tokyo. Do you really think I'd be calling you if I was in jail?" Nanako asked.

"Fair. Seriously though, is everything okay?"

"You never called me on Sunday. It's now Tuesday. You missed the weekly call."

Ren sighed, holding his head in one of his hands. "Shit... I'm sorry. Things got kinda hectic within the past week."

"What's going on?"

"Um... I... I made another friend..."

"That's good. Who's the friend?"

"She's the student council president of my school."

"Ooh, an older lady..."

"Don't... Don't be weird." Ren said, Yusuke and Ryuji staring at him with concern. "Anyway, our principal is putting an exuberant amount of pressure on her to do his bidding, so my friends and I are helping her out. I got kinda distracted with that. I meant to call, I swear."

"What kind of bidding does the principal want her to do?"

"He is under the impression that the Phantom Thieves are students at our school and he's forcing her to look into it." Ren said cautiously, Ryuji's eyes widening. "She's been really stressed because of that whole situation, so we're trying to help her get some intel."

"Hope she's doing okay. You aren't getting stressed out for her, are you? We both know that you feed off of the energy other people give you sometimes."

"I'm fine. She's fine. Everyone here is fine. What's been going on in your land?"

"I... Joined the school's dance team?"

"... Why? You hate dancing."

"I'm decent at it. I have idol training."

"Yeah... Idol training from when you were like, seven." Ren said bluntly, Yusuke joining Ryuji's confused look. "I don't think that Kanamin is that reliable of a dance teacher."

"I'll tell her you said that. We text each other every day, you know."

"Yeah, like I'm scared of Kanami Mashita. I've experienced more frightening things than the girls of Kanamin Kitchen." Ren said, rolling his eyes. "Seriously though, why did you join the dance team? You've never wanted to do dance competitively."

"They... Needed someone to replace you so I joined." Nanako admitted. "Nobody else knows this, but I'm literally just a place holder. I'm only gonna be on the team for one year, and then I'm dropping so you can rejoin."

"You don't have to-"

"That guy who put you in this situation took too much away from you as is. I refuse to let him take away the dance team too. I know how much you love that."

"I honestly doubt that they'd want me back given everything."

"Are you kidding? They miss you, they just feel awkward reaching out. I've heard them talk about it."

Ren sighed and muttered, "They aren't the only ones..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing. What's the group dance?"

"I'm not sure, but they did give me a solo..."

"Really? What song?"

"Shake It Off by Taylor Swift."

"You and your Taylor Swift."

"Don't make fun of my girl. You like her too."

"I know, I know. Besides that, what else is new?"

"Nothing much. I'm going to go help one my brother's friends right now."

"Really? Why?"

"Because Yukiko asked if I could..."

"As in Amagi Inn?"

"Yeah... My brother's friends are trying to keep me busy, I guess... To not give me time to think." 

"Think? Think about what?"

"They... People are kinda starting to ostracize me and Dad for being on your side."

"What...?" Ren asked, feeling his heart start to break. Nanako and her father were like family to him. To find out that they were partially being punished for believing there was more to the story...

"The police are still kinda restricting what my dad can do within the force, and we're even more isolated than normal because we're still worried about you."

"Dude, you don't have to-"

"Don't talk like that. Of course I'm gonna be worried about you, dummy. You're my friend."

"But if you're getting ostr-"

"Well, it's not like-"

"That's not the point. I'm fine here. You don't need to worry."

"It's my job to worry. It's also your mom and dad's job to worry."

"Want to tell them that?"

"Wait... What?"

"Do you want to tell my parents that it's their job to worry about me?"

"Have... Have they seriously not called to check in?"

"You're the only one who does."

"I... I'm going to-"

"No you aren't-"

"Ren, they are you-"

"I've dishonored my family. I'm not surprised that they haven't tried to check in."

"That doesn't mean-"

"I am okay. I don't need them to check in. You don't need to either if you and your dad are getting punished for it. Put yourself before me."

"No way. You're important too."

"Na-"

"You are not going to argue with me on this. You are my best friend. You aren't getting rid of me just because you got accused of a crime you didn't commit. I'm afraid you're stuck with me."

Ren sighed, shaking his head. "I don't deserve you."

"You're right. You don't." Nanako stated bluntly. "I'm coming up on Amagi Inn, and you know how sketchy cell reception is up there."

"I'll let you go then."

"You better remember to call me on Sunday, Amamiya. Set an alarm if you have to."

"I will, I will. I'll talk to you on Sunday, Dojima."

"Good. Talk to you then. Bye."

"Bye." Ren said, hanging up the phone. Ren glanced up, seeing that his confidant with Nanako ranked up, then sighed. He kneeled down on the ground and grabbed a pack of bandaids to wrap up. "Sorry about that..."

"Everything okay?" Ryuji asked.

Ren nodded. "Yeah... Um... My one friend back home was angry that I missed our weekly phone call."

"She knows?" Yusuke asked.

"Not really... I tell her everything on a need to know basis. She doesn't need to know about the Phantom Thieves." Ren admitted. "I'm just worried about her due to the... Circumstances of my situation. She's used to being ostracized, but now..."

"That bad?" Ryuji guessed.

"Yeah..." Ren admitted. "It's... It's not good for anyone."

"I'm sure it'll work itself out..." Yusuke said, trying to be positive.

"Yeah... Maybe..."

Ren, Ryuji, and Yusuke kept wrapping the presents, and after another ten minutes, Ann and Makoto walked up. Makoto smiled and said, "Sorry for making you guys wait."

"It's okay." Morgana said from Ren's bag, finally speaking up. "We weren't waiting long."

Yusuke pulled out the card again and silently handed it to Makoto. Makoto took the card, confused, as she read out loud, "'We're sorry we were a bunch of dicks towards you. We're happy to have you join the team. It won't happen again, we promise!' signed Yusuke, Ryuji, and Ann. What is this about?"

"We're all really sorry. We're groveling." Ryuji said, handing Makoto wrapped up presents. "We got you these to beg for forgiveness."

"It... It's water under the bridge..." Makoto said, glancing over at Ren suspiciously. 

"I didn't find out this was a thing until I got to the accessway myself." Ren said quickly. "I suggest opening up the two smallest things since those will probably be the most useful for the Palace."

"Okay..." Makoto said awkwardly as she put the larger presents in the bag. Makoto slowly unwrapped the smallest presents, then tilted her head. "Bandaids and airpods? Why would these be useful?"

"You'll see when we get in there." Ann said happily. "We ready to go?"

"Let's do it!" Ren said, getting out his phone and clicking the button for navigation.

Chapter Text

Five months ago...

"Okay, first things first," Ren said once the group entered the Metaverse. Ren held out his hand towards Makoto. "Give me your phone."

"Why?" Makoto asked nervously as she watched Ann, Ryuji, and Yusuke stick in their airpods.

"They all like to listen to music while they go through the Palace." Morgana explained. "I don't really need it, but they say that it helps them concentrate."

"I'm adding you to our group Spotify playlist." Ren said, taking off one of his bright red gloves so he could tap on Makoto's phone screen easier. After a few seconds, he handed it back. "Feel free to add your own music to it when we get out of here."

"Just a warning, the playlist is a little all over the place." Ryuji said cautiously. "All four of us have very different tastes in music."

Makoto scrolled through the playlist, tilting her head as she read the song titles. "Okay... Flight of the Bumblebee... I've Got A Dream from Tangled... A lot of Rise Kujikawa... Why is there so much Taylor Swift on here? Panther, did you-"

"Oh no, I didn't add the Taylor Swift. I added all the Disney songs." Ann said quickly.

"I... I added the J-Pop." Ryuji nervously admitted. "It's what we used to listen to on the track team so that we could all keep pace and stuff."

"I'm afraid that I don't really know music." Yusuke said bluntly. "We only listened to instrumentals in Madarame's shack."

Makoto slowly looked over at Ren again. "You added Taylor Swift?"

"You don't know the absolute joy of taking down a Shadow to Taylor Swift's Better than Revenge." Ren said bluntly. Makoto chuckled to herself as Ren asked, "What are you laughing at?"

"You are just the last person I would ever expect to like Taylor Swift."

"What, do you not like Taylor Swift?"

"No, I do, I listen to her all the time while I'm studying, it's just that I never expected you to listen to her."

"Why, because I'm a guy? My friend back home listens to her religiously. I've become a Swiftie through osmosis." Ren said defensively. "I may not understand English that well, but her lyricism is amazing."

"No need to be on the defense. I was just making a comment." Makoto said while still laughing.

"Well, what kind of music do you listen to, huh?"

"J-Rock and musicals."

"What?" Ryuji asked. "You seriously listen to musicals?"

"It's good study music! It stimulates my brain and helps me memorize things quicker." Makoto said, now going on the defense. "I've been obsessed with Hamilton recently. The rapping is mainly just background noise for me."

"Okay, we seriously need to make sure you don't just study." Ann said quickly. "All work and no play isn't healthy."

"I'll have time to play when I get into a good college."

"No... Not happening." Ryuji said quickly. "You're only a year older than us. You need to have fun at some point."

"Not according to my sister."

"The same sister who said that you were useless and a leech on her life?" Yusuke asked for clarification. Makoto blinked a few times as Yusuke said, "That's what I thought. Sure, you'll probably be accepted into a good college just based on your grades and the fact that you're student council president, but school isn't everything."

"Okay, let's stop making fun of her for only having study music." Morgana said quickly. He looked up and studied Makoto. "Now we have to go on to our second most important order of business... We need to figure out our new teammate's code name."

"Oh yeah..." Ryuji remembered.

"I precharged those panda airpods we gave you, so you can totally use them in here!" Ann added.

"Okay." Makoto said, patting her legs. "Where did they-"

Makoto paused, one of her hands slipping into a hidden pocket on her thigh. Ann's eyes widened. "You have pockets!?"

"Apparently..." Makoto said, pulling out the airpods case, the small notebook, a few pens, and the pack of bandaids.

As Makoto stuffed everything back inside except for her phone and the airpods, the pocket laying so flat against her thigh that nothing was seeing inside her pockets, Ann said, "Lucky! I have no pockets in mine! I always have to pass my stuff to Skull!"

"Ladies, focus, please." Morgana interrupted. "Code name."

"Right. Sorry." Ann apologized.

"This time's a hard one... Maybe somethin' like Shoulder Pads?" Ryuji suggested.

"Why in the world did you focus on that?" Morgana asked, staring at Ryuji in disappointment.

The second the airpods were connected, Makoto looked up and shook her head at Ryuji in disappointment. "I refuse to be called Shoulder Pads."

"What about... Rider?" Yusuke suggested.

Makoto shook her head again as she stuffed the empty airpod case in her pocket. "Sounds too much like a smuggler. Next."

Ann tapped her foot while she thought out loud. "Fixer?"

"I'm not a mastermind though. Next." Makoto said, nervously looking over at Ren. "Do you have any ideas? Can you give me something better to work with?"

Ren thought for a moment, then smirked at Makoto. "Queen."

Makoto's eyes widened in annoyance as Morgana said, "Ya know, she does kind of remind me of an empress."

"I totally see it!" Ann said excitedly.

"It fits so well I'm kind of at a loss for words..." Ryuji stated.

"Queen... It kind of has a nice ring to it." Yusuke stated. "Are you good with Queen?"

"I suppose..." Makoto said cautiously. "Could you guys explain what the strategy is for this mission? I got the general gist thanks to Panther, but how do we get from point A to point B? What's the methodology?"

"Strategy...?" Ryuji asked carefully.

"Methodology?" Yusuke asked.

"Wait... Do you guys seriously not have a plan? This entire time, the Phantom Thieves were acting without a concrete fan?" Makoto asked, her eyes widening under the mask.

"Well... We pretty much look around the area, I provide navigation when needed, and then... Um..." Morgana said awkwardly.

"If we run into Shadows, we beat the shit out of 'em!" Ryuji said chipperly.

"Maybe I'll be useful around here after all..." Makoto commented. "I'll be the brains of the operation then. I'll analyze the information Mona gives me, and then I'll give out orders."

"Like a Queen commanding her army." Ren said jokingly.

Makoto rolled her eyes. "Any objections?"

"N-None, Queen." Ryuji said anxiously.

"I bet Skull is definitely the type that'll be under a girl's thumb." Ann said teasingly.

"Mona, will you begin navigating us?" Makoto asked politely.

"Y-Yes, Queen!" Morgana said, walking ahead of the group.

As everyone followed Morgana, Makoto asked Ren, "Are they seriously scared of me?"

"I think they're just intimidated by a powerful woman." Ren said as Makoto stuffed the airpods in her ears. "Seriously though, feel free to add some music to the playlist. It doesn't even matter if it's musicals or not."

"I promise I won't go to crazy on the musicals... At least, not as crazy as you went on Taylor Swift."

Ren sighed. "Do you want me to add some other songs in there that aren't Taylor Swift or something?"

"I'm just joking. I don't mind the Taylor Swift, I'm just surprised because there is so much of it."

"We'll see if it evens out based on what you're adding." Ren teased, motioning to where everyone was waiting. "Let's go find our entrance, your Majesty. We kinda can't go through the front door anymore."

Makoto rolled her eyes. "I really am never getting away from that nickname, huh?"

"Not in a million years... Especially since your code name is Queen." Ren said, taking a few steps forward. "Come on. I hope you brought that notepad to take notes."

"And I brought pens in multiple different colors so I can color code everything!" Makoto said happily. Ren started laughing as Makoto felt her face turn red. "Too dorky?"

"Just dorky enough." Ren guaranteed. "Come on. Let's get ready for you to take notes."

Makoto followed Ren back over to the group. Ann looked over and said, "How are we organizing the team, Joker?"

Ren studied everyone, then asked, "Skull, Mona, if I put you two on standby, will you two kill each other?"

"I can behave myself." Ryuji pouted.

"Are you sure you don't want me up there? I have healing." Morgana said nervously.

"I have healing too, Mona. I'm sure we'll be fine." Ann said, glancing over at Makoto and rolling her eyes since Morgana couldn't see.

Ren nodded. "Panther, Fox, and Queen, you guys are gonna be frontal assault with me. Skull and Mona, you guys are gonna be back up."

"Are you sure you don't want someone more experienced on frontal assault?" Makoto asked nervously.

"The easiest way to learn is by doing." Ren answered. "Plus, I have yet to get any Personas that have a Nuke attack, so you're the only one we have."

"Great..." Makoto said, already feeling tired.

"You'll be fine." Ann said supportively. "We'll have safe rooms along the way that we'll take breaks in."

"Safe rooms?" Makoto asked. "You never explained that over crêpes."

"There are some things I don't properly know how to explain. You'll figure it out as we go along."

"Let's move out, guys!" Ren said, pushing a statue that had a secret passage under it.

"How did-" Makoto started to ask.

"He can just see things that the rest of us can't." Ryuji said, shrugging as everyone climbed into the tunnel under the statue.

Makoto stayed in the back of the group, climbing in after Morgana. Before she climbed in, Ren said, "I felt air coming from the bottom."

"What?" Makoto asked.

"I knew this was here because I felt air coming from this small crack in between the base of the statue and the opening." Ren said exhaustedly. "I can kinda see things that the rest of the group can't, but in this case, it was literally just air."

Makoto laughed. "Why are you telling me this, exactly?"

"I just... Don't want you to get a false idea about what you're joining." Ren said cautiously as he watched Makoto get out her small notebook and one of her many pens. "I'm not a criminal mastermind. I'm pretty smart, but I know for a fact that I am not the smartest one here. I don't... Exactly know how to explain my power to a certain extent, but... Just know that I have ability to figure things out if we get stuck. It's kinda complicated but-"

"'If things get sticky, work with Joker to come up with a plan of attack'." Makoto said as she read out what she was writing down. Makoto snapped her notebook shut, as if trying to make a show of it, and then put both the notebook and her pen back into her pocket. "Noted."

"And you can totally back out at any point in time-"

"Are you kidding? I can actually do something by doing this. I can actually make change instead of having the change happen all around me." Makoto interrupted, crossing her arms over her chest. "You aren't getting rid of me any time soon, Joker."

"Well good. I don't want to get rid of you." Ren said quickly. "I've never wanted to get rid of you."

"Even when I was actively working against you guys?"

"I don't really think about the short term. I think about the long term. I always figured you'd be a pretty good ally... Though I never anticipated you getting a Persona."

"And what does the long term tell you about me now?"

Ren tilted his head to think for a moment, then said, "That depends on if we figure out this Kaneshiro thing. Has he contacted you more?"

Makoto shrugged. "Just about paying him back. Nothing I can't handle."

"Ya sure?"

"Positive."

"And just for the record, we try and get the path to the Treasure taken care of in one day so we have time to plot the calling card. If you don't think you can handle that-"

"I'm a big girl. I can handle myself, Ren." Makoto said, opting to use Ren's actual name. "Not to mention, I'm the oldest one here."

"Now you're sounding a little cocky." Ren countered. "This isn't like studying, Makoto. You could die here. I just want to make sure you don't overexhert yourself and you don't get hurt."

"I'll be fine. I mean, I'll have you there to protect me, right?" Makoto asked.

"I mean... Yeah, you're my teammate. I'm gonna be there to protect all my teammates."

"I meant what I said yesterday before walking in." Makoto said bluntly as she stared up at Ren. "I will be useful, mark my words. I want you to depend on me as much as I'm going to depend on you."

"Glad you and I agree on that." Ren replied as he kept staring at Makoto.

The two stood in silence and just stared at each other, almost like they were trying to gage the other's next move, until Morgana came back up through the passageway and stared at them. "You two coming?"

"Yeah, we're coming." Ren said, motioning to the passageway. "Ladies first."

"Yeah... No." Makoto said, motioning to the passageway. "You're going first."

"Okay... Why?"

"Do you see how tight this is?" Makoto said, spreading out her arms and doing a quick spin to show Ren her Phantom Thief outfit. "I am not comfortable with you crawling after me seeing how my suit doesn't leave anything to the imagination."

"... As the Queen commands." Ren said, walking over to the passageway. "See you on the other side."

"See you on the other side." Makoto said, waiting until Ren and Morgana were a little bit into the passageway before going to join them in the bank.

Chapter Text

Five months ago...

"Take 'em down!" Ann and Morgana said in unison as they defeated the group of Shadows in front of the elevator they were supposed to go down.

"And that's never happened before today?" Makoto asked as she, Yusuke, Ren, and Ryuji stood back and let Ann and Morgana do their thing.

"Nope... We think it's because of this star thing." Ren said, digging a blue and yellow glowing crystal out of his pocket.

"And do we have a name for that? Have we thought of a name?"

"I haven't." Yusuke said quickly.

"It's just so dramatic." Ryuji added. "It's like they're putting on a show."

"... Should we call that move Showtime?" Makoto suggested.

"Showtime? Like Beetlejuice?" Ren asked.

"It works, doesn't it?"

"I mean... Yeah..."

"Okay... So that's a Showtime." Makoto said, using a bright red pen to write that down on a new page. "I'll keep track of the combinations on this page."

"Nice." Ren said, nodding as Ann and Morgana motioned for them to get to the elevator. As Ren walked past, he saw a small journal on the ground. Ren bent down and grabbed the journal, deciding to stuff it in one of the pockets of his coat for later.

Ryuji and Yusuke started walking forward, and when Ren noticed that Makoto wasn't immediately moving forward by the time he got to the elevator, he turned around, walked back to Makoto, and placed his hands on her shoulders. Once he was sure he hadn't accidentally knicked his hands on one of her spikes, Ren guided Makoto into the elevator.

Ann studied Makoto as she concentrated on her notes and asked, "More notes?"

"When you and Mona did that Showtime, did you guys lose any health or ability to cast your magic spells?" Makoto asked, still not looking up from her notes. It didn't even seem like she was aware she was even going down in an elevator.

"I don't... I don't think so." Ann said, glancing over at Morgana. Morgana shook his head.

"Okay... 'Can perform a powerful attack... Without using any HP or SP'..." Makoto muttered as she kept focusing on the notebook. "Interesting... Very interesting... That is an extremely useful move, but we need to figure out the proper times to use it... Hm... Definitely not during All Out Attacks... Maybe when someone's HP is too low, but then again that depends on the person who's doing the Showtime..."

"The what?" Morgana asked.

"She... Gave what you guys just did a name... She's calling that situation Showtime." Yusuke summed up.

Morgana nodded with approval. "I like it... It gives it a little more style."

The elevator doors opened up and everyone walked through. Makoto stayed in the elevator, still writing quick notes in her notebook. Ren sighed, grabbing Makoto by her shoulders again and directing to the Safe Room Morgana had found.

Ren forced Makoto to sit down as she got out a blue highlighter and started highlighting the important parts of the  information she had just written down as the others watched in awe. Ren dug into the bag he had brought in with him that had extra supplies in it, taking out a plastic cup and a metal thermos of coffee and poured some in. Ren lightly pushed the cup over to Makoto. "Drink some coffee. Your SP is running low."

"Okay. Thank you." Makoto said, finally setting down her notebook, pen, and highlighter. She grabbed the coffee cup, then looked up and realized where they were. "When did we get to a safe room?"

"... A few minutes ago..." Ryuji said cautiously.

"Oh... How did I get here?"

"I grabbed you by the shoulders and directed you here." Ren said bluntly. "Seriously, drink some coffee."

Makoto anxiously laughed, feeling blush creep into her cheeks. "Sorry... I... Kinda get engrossed in my notes easily..."

Ann grabbed the notebook off of the table, flipping through the meticulously color coded pages. "Wow... This is extremely thorough."

"I take my notes very seriously." Makoto said bluntly. Ren pulled out the journal from his pocket, starting to flip through. Makoto glanced over and asked, "What's that?"

"One of the Shadows dropped it..." Ren stated as he flipped through the empty pages. Ren paused when he got to a page close to the back of the journal with a code written on it. "Huh... I think I found something..."

Yusuke came around Ren and stared down at the paper. "'R=C=0, I=1, and H=2'... What on Earth does that mean?"

"Are you sure that's what it says?" Ann asked, setting down Makoto's notebook as she, Ryuji, and Morgana joined Ren and Yusuke.

Makoto grabbed her notebook again and pulled out a few different colored pens and quickly wrote down the information as Ren read off, "Yeah... That's what it says... 'R=C=0, I=1, and H=2'... Though I'm not sure what it means... And it looks like there are some pages torn out..."

"Well, it's a code of some sort." Makoto said, changing pens to write a note in a different color. "It's probably a number substitution. You substitute the letter for the corresponding number."

Ryuji slowly looked over at Makoto and asked, "How'd you know that...?"

"It's common sense..." Makoto said nervously. Makoto sighed, tapping her own notebook with her pen. "Look, my bet is that we have to input a number code somewhere and the letters spell out something. We just have to figure out where to input it in."

"That's... Actually kinda smart..." Ryuji said, still trying to figure out Makoto's plan.

"We ready to keep going then?" Morgana asked.

Ren nodded. "Let's go."

Makoto stuffed the notebook and pens back in her pocket before walking out of the room with everyone else. Makoto studied the large silver walls that towered over everyone. Makoto looked back at the elevator and asked, "Can I go back in there so I can figure out where we are?"

Ren nodded. "Mona, you're in charge while I go back in the elevator with Queen."

Morgana nodded as Ren and Makoto walked back over to the elevator. Makoto pressed the button so the doors could open, and then Ren pressed the button to go up.

The elevator shot up as Makoto stared out the glass walls. The ground below was about six layers of curved silver vaults with plenty of walking room in between. Makoto's eyes narrowed as she stared at a window cut into the ground, a straight shot to the center of the vaults. "Interesting..."

"What?" Ren asked.

"Well, I doubt the Treasure is going to be in any of those vaults down there... It's probably going to be in the center."

"Agreed, but how are we gonna get there? As far as I can tell, this is all a closed off maze." Ren answered. "The vault walls are way too high for us to jump on top of and run across.

"But the shape..." Makoto said, starting to put the pieces together.

Ren smirked a little as the elevator shot up and the lower part of the bank disappeared. "What's going on in that brilliant brain of your's?"

"We need to find somewhere that we can put in that code." Makoto said as she pressed the down button.

"The code?" Ren asked as the elevator started moving again.

"That letter-number-cipher thing." Makoto said as the lower part of the bank reappeared. Makoto studied everything around them as they went back down and said, "There has to be something here we can input that into..."

Ren joined Makoto by the window and spotted a silvery blue terminal near where Ann was seemingly annoying Ryuji by lightly shoving Ryuji's shoulder. Ren tapped the glass window and said, "Maybe that's where we put it in at?"

Makoto glanced down at the terminal, then playfully nudged Ren. "Good eye, Joker."

Ren laughed. "I do try every now and then."

The elevator doors opened again, and Ren and Makoto made a beeline for the terminal they saw. Yusuke watched them in fascination before asking, "So what's the plan?"

"Queen has a hunch." Ren stated as Makoto walked up to the terminal.

Makoto studied the number pad, then saw the word RICH engraved in the metal above the keypad. Makoto got out her notebook as Ren stood behind her and looked over Makoto's shoulder. Makoto's finger drifted over her color coded notes before finding what she was looking for. Makoto carefully punched out the code 0-1-0-2 before pressing enter. As soon as she did, a large silver key pushed through the floor, Makoto and Ren seeing it move through the glass pane keeping it safe. Everyone else watched in awe as the key turned and the wall of vaults moved to let them into the next layer of vaults. Makoto smirked. "I was right."

Ren smiled proudly, holding up his hand. "Up top, Queen!"

Makoto smiled and high fived Ren, having to jump to be able to reach his hand. Ryuji tilted his head and said, "I don't think I get it."

"... Think of it as like picking a lock." Makoto said carefully. "The walls of this vault area are like the tumblers in a lock. We have to find terminals like this one so we can essentially pick the lock and get in."

"And probably find more journals since I don't think 'RICH' is going to get us that far." Ren added.

"Right."

"Money... I need more money!" Kaneshiro's voice echoed. "I must grow richer! As long as I'm rich, anything will be possible!"

"Is he watching us or something?" Ann asked.

"So that isn't normal?"

"No... That's never happened before either..."

"It sounds like the voice of his heart. I guess all he really thinks about is money after all..." Morgana commented.

"So he blackmails people outta their savings and that's still not enough? What a douche..." Ryuji muttered.

"More importantly, I think that thanks to our advisor here, we have a game plan." Yusuke said, patting Makoto on the back. "First off, we find more pages that have the code."

"We also give me time to write the page in my notes and color code it." Makoto said, starting to take some pens out of her pockets. Everyone but Ren stared at her in shock, as if surprised that she would have the gall the propose color coding at a time like this, as Makoto added defensively, "What? It's how I've trained my brain to work! If I color code it, that makes finding the information faster, and if I can find the info faster, that means we get through this faster. Color coding is very important for memory's sake."

"Second, we get to a terminal." Ann continued, ignoring Makoto's comment about color coding. "We cover Queen and Joker while they input the code."

"Third, we move the wall and go further in." Ryuji added.

"Step four, rinse and repeat until we get to the center." Morgana concluded.

"Okay, is everyone clear on the-" Ren started to ask, then saw that Makoto was sticking some different colored pens in the braid holding her hair back. "Queen... What are you doing?"

Makoto looked over at Ren, a deer in headlights look on her face as if she got caught doing something really bad. "Easy access so I can write everything down quickly. I do this at home, like, all the time."

Ren took a closer look at the pens stuffed into Makoto's hair, then laughed to himself. "They kinda look like little devil horns..."

"Oh my God, they do!" Ann squealed. "That's adorable!"

"Can we just... Keep going?" Makoto asked anxiously.

Morgana nodded. "As you command! Let's keep going!"

The group fell into a familiar rhythm. When the new section opened up, everyone would go downstairs where more secret vaults were. They'd find where the other torn pages with code on them were being kept, usually in a safe that was disguised to look like a golden pig. Ren would cover Makoto as she quickly wrote everything down and put the page back like nothing happened. While Makoto wrote everything down, Ann, Ryuji, Yusuke, and Morgana would find the terminal they had to put the code into. Once they did, they'd go get Ren and Makoto. Ren would put in the corresponding numbers Makoto would tell him to, and then they'd move on to the next terminal.

After doing this system for what felt like a few hours, Ren said, "Okay... This note says O+H=10."

"Calculations? Again? Seriously?" Ryuji asked exhaustedly.

"Oh please. This one isn't even complicated." Makoto said, rolling her eyes.

Morgana, Ann, and Yusuke ran into the room as Ann announced, "We found the fourth terminal!"

"Awesome!" Ren said, glancing over at Makoto. "You ready?"

Makoto nodded, closing her pen and sticking it back under her braid. "Let's go!"

Makoto, Ren, and Ryuji jumped off of the raised platform the pig safe was on, then followed Ann, Morgana, and Yusuke to where they had found the terminal. The four other Phantom Thieves fanned out around Makoto and Ren as Ren said, "Word is GOLD. Do we have all those letters?"

Makoto nodded. "Yup."

"Okay... Read off what I need to press."

"One."

"One." Ren repeated as he pressed the one button. He glanced over at Makoto, her brows furrowed in concentration under her mask and pens sticking out of her braid. Her lips were pursed as she focused on her notes. Standing like this, Ren thought she looked pretty cute... Though he figured that nobody else thought that way.

"Eight."

"Eight."

"Four."

"Four."

"One."

"One." Ren said, then pressed the enter button. The screen flashed green with approval, the wall of vaults opening up to reveal the center elevator. Ren smiled proudly as he held up his hand again. "Up top Queen!"

"Woo!" Makoto cheered, jumping up to high five Ren again.

"We're almost done!" Ryuji cheered as he ran back in the direction of the elevator.

"Skull, stay with the group!" Yusuke chided as everyone else walked after him.

The group walked back up to the surface and followed Ryuji to the elevator and got inside, Makoto starting to take the pens out of her braid. Feeling that one pen was stuck, Makoto took off the braided headband and started fiddling with it as her hair got in her face. Ann stared at Makoto in shock as she asked, "Wait... That braid isn't your real hair?"

"No... It's a headband... My hair isn't long enough to actually do that." Makoto admitted, taking the pens out of her headband easier.

"... My life is a lie..." Ryuji commented as Ren discreetly rolled his eyes.

"Guys, focus." Ren said as he watched Makoto stuff the last of the pens in her pockets. Makoto kept holding onto the small notebook as she put the headband back on.

The elevator door opened up and revealed a sparkly silver orb hovering in the center of the otherwise empty room. Morgana excitedly ran out of the elevator and over to the silver orb. "We did it guys!"

"So... That's the Treasure?" Makoto asked, pointing to the silvery orb.

Yusuke nodded. "Correct."

"Can't we just take it now?"

"That silver orb thing is kinda... Not grabbable." Ryuji said quickly. "It needs to be grabbable."

"And the calling card makes it tangible?" Makoto asked. "It makes the person aware that the Treasure is worth stealing and therefore changes the Palace Ruler's cognition?"

"... Essentially, yes." Ren confirmed. "You catch on quick."

"I try."

"Now we need to figure out the calling card... This one is going to be much harder to distribute due to Kaneshiro's lack of being seen in public." Ann said, drumming her fingers against her leg.

"We should meet tomorrow to figure out distribution." Ren said, glancing over at Ryuji and Yusuke. "Think you two can work on a draft tonight?"

Yusuke nodded. "I'm free."

"Same here." Ryuji agreed.

"I'll figure out where we're meeting tomorrow to discuss this." Ann said happily.

"I'll start coming up with ideas and stuff on how to distribute it." Makoto said, tilting her head. "Might need some guidance on that though."

"We'll be your bouncing board tomorrow." Ren said supportively. "And Mona and I will get supplies and stuff over the next few days to make sure we're stocked up."

"Sounds like a plan!" Makoto said chipperly. She turned around and walked back to the elevator. "We leaving?"

"She's some addition to our team, that's for sure." Morgana quietly commented as everyone turned around and followed her out.

Ryuji (Skull): 8:38 PM
Works for me!

Yusuke (Fox): 8:39 PM
I may be a little late... One of my art teachers would like to talk to me about my recent work.

Chapter Text

Five months ago...

"I'll have a strawberry green tea with the normal boba pearls." Ann said happily as she and Ren stood at the counter of Gong Cha ordering their drinks.

The cashier listed off the price as Ann got out her wallet, Ren double checking that he had Yusuke's order right as Ann stepped to the side.

"Hello. How are you?" Ren asked politely.

"I'm good. What can I get you?"

"I would like a brown sugar milk tea with Oreo crumbles and the regular boba pearls and the friend I'm ordering for would like the matcha milk slush with regular boba pearls at the bottom."

"Great!" The cashier said as Ren got out his wallet.

"You still a little tired?" Ann asked as the cashier said the amount.

Ren nodded, getting out the yen to pay. "Yeah... I'll survive though."

Morgana nodded as he popped his head out of Ren's bag. "Yeah... We're big and strong."

Ann rolled her eyes. "Wow... So big and strong..."

"Ignore him, please." Ren begged, noticing that Makoto walked in, looking more annoyed than normal. "You good?"

"I... I need something to just..." Makoto said, holding out her hands like she was trying to choke an invisible man.

Ann untied the jacket around her waist, crumbled it into a ball, and handed it to Makoto. "Throttle this as much as you like."

"Thank you." Makoto said calmly. She looked down at the jacket, then stuffed her face into the jacket and screamed, the fleece fabric muting most of her loud scream. Ren and Ann nervously looked at each other as Makoto's scream prolonged, but eventually, Makoto resurfaced and, with a smile, handed Ann back her jacket. "Very much appreciated."

"Are... Are you good...?" Ann asked nervously as she took back

Makoto nodded. "Yeah... I just got out of a meeting with Principal Kobayakowa. That's why I was running a little late."

Ren's concerned look dropped to an annoyed expression. "What did he say now?"

"Ya know... The usual. That I'm going to get kicked out of my position, that I'm a failure as a student council president, that nobody at Shujin likes me being student council president, that everything going wrong at Shujin is somehow my fault-"

"Woah... Why is he saying all that?" Ann interrupted.

"Because of the mafia situation. He says that if I don't figure that out, then I'm getting kicked out as student council president... Well, that, and the whole Phantom Thieves situation." Makoto admitted. She looked down at the ground and shook her head. "Oh, if only he knew how that case has progressed..."

"The fuck?" Ann asked. "Why is he putting that much pressure on you? He's the adult. He's the one who should be taking care of this shit."

"I know... And because he's stressed out about it, he takes it out on me."

"I hate Kobayakowa more every single time I hear more about him..." Ren muttered to himself.

"That's so stupid..." Ann commented. "Part of me wonders if we should change his heart too..."

"That'd be too risky." Makoto said quietly. "You guys already targeted Kamoshida. Targeting Kobayakowa would create too much of a connection between the Phantom Thieves and Shujin."

"Newbie's right." Morgana quietly meowed from Ren's bag.

"No matter how much he deserves it..." Ren agreed.

Makoto looked around, finally realizing that Ren, Ann, and Morgana were the only ones there. "Where's Ryuji?"

"He and Yusuke divided up the work last night, so he went back to his apartment to grab what he did." Ann explained. "Ya know, just in case we're prepared to execute the plan today."

"I mean... I got everything I need to take care of." Ren said quickly. He glanced over at Makoto. "You said you had a plan for distribution, right?"

"It might be a little... Extreme? I don't know how to properly explain it."

"Well, you can explain it once Ryuji and Yusuke get here." Ren said, motioning to the counter. "Until then, you look like you need a hard one."

Makoto laughed to herself, then walked up to the counter. "Could I get a caramel milk tea with the tapioca pearls at the bottom?"

"Of course!"

The cashier rattled off the price and Makoto dug into her bag to grab her wallet. When she couldn't find it right away, Ren stepped forward and placed a few yen on the table. Makoto looked over at Ren as the cashier took the yen. "I could have paid for it."

Ren bent down so he was closer to Makoto's height so he could whisper in her ear, "I think I need to take you with me next time I go to sell what we find in the Palaces... We make bank when we go in there. I consider it the group fund. Trust me, your milk tea doesn't even make a dent in it."

Makoto's eyes widened as she slowly looked over at Ren and quietly asked, "How... How much money..."

"I have about two hundred thousand yen on me right now."

"Holy-"

"If you want a cut-"

"No I don't want a cut! That's just a lot of money!"

"And there's a lot more where that came from, your Majesty. Trust me, I'm good paying. I may be a little strapped for cash in between us leaving one Palace and going into another, but right now I'm like Scrooge McDuck."

Makoto snorted as Ren backed away. Ryuji ran into the store with a giant tote bag, a sweatshirt sleeve sticking out. Ryuji looked up and said, "Sorry I'm late... My mom kept trying to look inside my bag."

"It's okay. You still got here before Yusuke, and he's the last one who's supposed to be here." Ren said as Ann's drink came up. "You gonna order?"

"Right..." Ryuji said as he scanned the menu. Ryuji took a few steps closer and asked, "Could I get a taro with the regular tapioca pearls?"

"Of course!" The cashier said chipperly.

Ann took one of the big straws and jammed it into her strawberry green tea while Ryuji paid for his drink. Ann took a sip of her drink as Makoto asked, "So how is this going to work?"

"We'll explain that once Yusuke gets here." Ren said as both his drink and Yusuke's drink came up.

"Is this next part that complicated?"

"It's not... Complicated per se, it's just kind of... Tricky... I guess is the best way to describe it." Ann said carefully.

"Apologies for being late." Yusuke apologized as he walked in with his own tote bag full of calling cards and a large dark grey jacket resting inside. "The meeting with my teacher was more time consuming than I originally thought."

"Going on about your art again?" Ren asked as he handed over Yusuke's matcha.

Yusuke nodded. "And how I haven't sent in my usual results? Yes, exactly."

"You'll find your mojo again at some point." Ann said positively. "After all that Madarame stuff, who can blame you for not having the motivation to paint."

"Which is exactly what my teacher said... After reminding me that my scholarship to Kosei is at stake. The school is trying to be patient with me, but..."

"Dude, you just gotta find what you want to paint." Ryuji stated as Makoto's drink got called.

"But I don't know what I want to paint. That's the issue."

"Maybe this is thinking too broadly, but why don't you paint your trauma?" Makoto asked, taking a sip of her caramel drink.

"Elaborate? Please?" Yusuke asked.

"Ya know... Paint what happened in there from memory." Makoto stated. "I mean... There must've been some pretty weird stuff in Madarame's place. Obviously, don't paint any of the people who were actually there, but paint something only you have the ability to paint, ya know?"

"Interesting concept... I could certainly try to do that... I could call it 'The Place of Vanity'..." Yusuke said, tilting his head slightly. "I guess that, in a way, I've been trying to do that with Ren's help..."

"It doesn't hurt to give it a shot." Ren said supportively. "It's better than me freaking out people in a church for you draw."

Ann slowly looked over at Yusuke. "What are you having him do?"

"Normal stuff."

"I doubt that, highly." Ann said as Ryuji's drink was called. "Come on, let's go grab a seat."

Ann lead everyone to a small table for six in the back corner of Gong Cha, Ren officially taking his bag off of his shoulder and setting it down so Morgana could slightly come out of the bag and join the conversation. As the group sat down, Makoto asked, "So... The calling card... What happens now?"

"Right, we did not go over that completely." Ren realized. "So that silver ball thing you saw in the Palace. We have to send the calling card so we can materialize it and make it physical."

"I remember that getting brought up." Makoto confirmed.

"But we can only make it physical once. We only have one shot to steal the Treasure." Ann continued.

"And the calling card as a time limit for it's effectiveness." Ryuji added.

"There's another time limit!?" Makoto asked.

"We basically have twenty four hours to steal the Treasure. After we send out the calling card, we have to go in the very next day, no matter what." Morgana elaborated. "One shot and one shot only, so we have to be careful when we go in and when we send the calling card."

"How long does it take for the change of heart to trigger after we steal the Treasure?"

"... We have no clue." Ren admitted. "We think it varies from person to person. With Kamoshida, it triggered about two weeks after. With Madarame, it took maybe... Two and a half. We're not entirely sure what that means, recovery time wise, but it works."

"The only issue we have with Kaneshiro is how we're going to get it to him." Ryuji added.

"You said you had an idea on how we can do that, right Makoto?" Morgana asked, folding his paws in front of him.

Makoto nodded. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Palace ruler has to read the calling card themselves for the Treasure materialization to be triggered, correct? That's why you guys posted Kamoshida's all around Shujin and why you guys posted Madarame's all around his art exhibit?"

"Correct." Ren confirmed. "Let me tell ya, that wasn't easy."

"Morgana had to pick the lock on the school gate to get us in for Kamoshida." Ann remembered. "And then again to get us into the actual building."

"Madarame's was much easier." Yusuke added. "I just had to 'borrow' the keys to the exhibit from him and let everyone else in after hours."

"Figuring out where to put Kaneshiro's is gonna be difficult." Ryuji said, taking another sip of his drink. "It's not like we know where he lives and I doubt that we'd be able to get back into that club we saw him last time."

"True," Makoto agreed. "But we do know his basic victimology and his MO."

"His what?" Ann asked.

"Modus Operandi. It's Latin. It basically means 'mode of operating'. My sister uses it all the time while muttering to herself about court cases." Makoto explained. "His MO is blackmailing high school students to line his pockets with money. This can be by taking a picture of them in his club or by taking a picture of them being a drug mule. His victimology, or the type of people he targets, are, as I mentioned before, high school students, but more specifically, high school students who frequent Central Street in Shibuya. It's where the entrance to his bank is, it's the only place in Shibuya we see his people."

"Okay... And that helps us how?" Ryuji asked.

"No no no, I get it." Morgana said quickly. "Where his victims are, his people are, and where his people are-"

"They can get a message to Kaneshiro." Ren said, smiling at Makoto in approval. "You know, you got quite a knack for this criminal profiling stuff."

"I only know that much because my father and my sister." Makoto said, starting to blush.

"So you want us to put the calling cards up around Central Street?" Ann asked. "That's a suicide mission."

"Not everyone. Just me and one other person." Makoto corrected. "Preferably, the person here who lives closest to Shibuya."

Ryuji reluctantly raised his hand. "That'd be me. My mom and I live in that run down apartment building that's a ten minute walk from the station."

"Okay. When do we want to steal the Treasure?"

"Sooner rather than later." Ren said quickly. "Tomorrow, probably."

"Great. Can you meet me at 3:00 AM on Central Street?"

Ryuji's eyes widened. "3:00 AM!?"

"Hear me out. I did a little research. The latest any store is open on Central Street is the Big Bang Burger, which is open until 2:00 AM since the movie theater usually lets out it's last movie between 1:30 AM and 2:00 AM and they want to market on being the last place open to get some food. That means that between 2:00 AM when Big Bang Burger closes and 7:30 AM when the book shop opens, there is a close to a five hour window when Central Street is relatively empty. Nobody around to question, say, as an example, two teenagers wearing hoodies who are putting up red postcards for all of Central Street to see later that day."

"That's... Actually pretty smart." Ryuji commented. "How'd you find that out?"

"Simple Googling. When I said that I did thorough research, I meant it." Makoto said, crossing her arms. "Since they're all over the place and they presumably have Kaneshiro's name on them like they did for the others, one of his goons will presumably deliver one to Kaneshiro himself."

"Do our job for us." Ren agreed.

"Exactly."

"So we're doing that tonight?" Ryuji asked.

"Yeah."

"If you both do this successfully, I will bring you both coffee tomorrow morning." Ren said as bribery.

Ryuji wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Dude, you know I don't like coffee. It's too bitter."

"What if I put so much sugar and creamer in there that it moves like sludge? Sojiro will probably kill me, but-"

"Put salt in there instead." Makoto interrupted.

"Did... Did you not just hear me say that coffee is too bitter?" Ryuji asked. "Salt would make it more bitter!"

"You'd think, but you'd be wrong. Coffee isn't naturally bitter. It only becomes bitter by extracting the coffee grounds. By adding in salt to the coffee, the bitter and salt receptors on your tongue cancel each other out and makes the coffee taste sweeter." Makoto said, remembering early mornings when she'd wake up at the crack of dawn with her father before he had to go into work. Makoto had fond memories of her father using those few hours at the crack of dawn to help her with any questions on homework she struggled with the day before. She precisely remembered her father taking a pinch of salt and stirring it into his own cup of coffee before he would sit down at the table to see what she was struggling with. Before she let herself get too wrapped up in old memories, Makoto added, "I take my coffee the same way, so I kinda know what I'm talking about."

"A little genius over here." Ryuji commented.

"Do you want to try the salt thing?" Ren asked.

"I can... But there's no guarantee I'll like it."

Ren glanced over at Makoto. "Do you just take your coffee with salt?"

Makoto shook her head. "No. I also add milk and honey."

"Gotcha." Ren confirmed. "So it's official? We're sending the card tonight?"

Ann nodded. "Let's end this!"

Chapter Text

Five months ago...

Makoto didn't even bother going to bed that night. Instead, she used the extra time to study. When she noticed that it was 2:30 on the small alarm clock at her desk, Makoto got out from her chair and walked over to her closet. She pushed past all of the clothes that were hanging up, revealing a large cardboard box sitting in the back.

Makoto grabbed the box and pulled it out of the closet, then sat down in front of it. Makoto opened up the box, revealing a majority of her father's old things. After their father died, Sae got rid of most of his things just to make sure they had enough money to scrape by. Everything she didn't sell, Sae wanted packed away since they were moving to a much smaller apartment for just the two of them. The last remains of their father rested in this simple cardboard box, buried away for time to forget.

Makoto dug out old family pictures, her eyes lingering on a few from the year before her father passed. Makoto set the last of the pictures off to the side, then saw a small black notebook resting on top of some fabric. Makoto grabbed the notebook and started flipping through it. She remembered her father writing down notes in it, both for his job and for random little things that came to his mind. Makoto paused on the last page that had her father's handwriting on it.

Makoto gently set the police notebook off to the side and grabbed the thing she had been looking for. Makoto lifted up the black cloth of her father's favorite hoodie, careful not to accidentally clink any of the ceramic mugs that were rest at the bottom. Makoto didn't have much oversized clothing of her own since she was rarely ever at home to lounge around, but she figured her father's favorite hoodie wouldn't be missed since Sae still had yet to ask when any of this was getting unpacked.

Makoto unfolded the sweatshirt, staring at the plain black folds of the fabric. Makoto quietly stood up, careful not to accidentally kick any of the pictures or the cardboard box. She slipped the sweatshirt on over her sports bra and black leggings. Makoto caught a whiff of the sweatshirt as she pulled it down and let the bottom rest a few inches above her knees. Even after all this time, the sweatshirt still smelled like her father... Like the scent of coffee grounds and cinnamon was just permanently woven into the fabric.

Makoto grabbed a pair of black combat style boots she had in the back of the closet, then walked over to her dresser. She pulled out a pair of black socks and tugged them on, then grabbed the bag of calling cards Yusuke had given her before he left Gong Cha, her phone, her panda airpods, and her keys so she could get back into the apartment when she was done. Before she left her room, Makoto used some extra pillows to make the general shape of a body under her blankets in the off chance that Sae came to check up on her in the middle of the night.

Makoto crept out of her room, doing her best not to make any unnecessary noise as she left the house since Sae had only come home and went to bed about two hours ago. Makoto quietly unlocked the front door and opened it, looking back at the interior of the apartment to make sure Sae wasn't coming. Makoto left through the crack in the door and slowly closed it again, then walked to the second door where the shoe room was separated from anything else. Makoto quickly walked outside that and closed the door again. As soon as she was out in the hall, Makoto put on the black boots and quickly walked over to the elevator and went downstairs.

Present day...

"I'm... I'm still finding it hard to believe that Makoto is one of the Phantom Thieves." Sae said as she stared at Ren. "How could she have done that without me noticing? She knew I was investigating you guys. Why would she willingly do that?"

"I'm sure you'll figure it out using that big ole brain of your's." Ren said exhaustedly. "It's part of the reason why I decided to start doing this."

"... And why did you?"

"People were desperate." Ren said, trying his best to sit up despite the headache he was getting from the bright lights in the room. "'The most important part of your life is how you choose to live it' after all. Are you going to sit by and let people suffer or are you going to help them?"

Sae froze, slowly studying Ren. "Where did you hear that?"

"I'm sure you'll figure it out."

Sae's expression hardened. "Keep going. I want to hear about how you guys managed to change Kaneshiro's heart."

"Whatever you say..."

Five months ago...

Makoto walked into class the next morning, not feeling any exhaustion from the morning before. As she walked in, Mr. Ushimaru looked over and said, "Niijima-chan, the transfer student left something for you."

"What?" Makoto asked.

"Amamiya-kun... The transfer student in second year. He came in here earlier and left something for you on your desk after I directed him to it." Mr. Ushimaru elaborated. Makoto glanced over and looked at her desk by the window and saw a metal travel cup, some sort of sandwich, and an envelope resting on her desk. When Makoto looked back at Mr. Ushimaru, he was looking at her suspiciously. "I wasn't aware you were friends with him."

"I'm just keeping him out of trouble. Thank you, sir." Makoto said happily as she walked over to her desk. Makoto sat down and hung her school bag from the hook, then opened up the envelope.

One coffee with salt, milk, and honey, as promised. I also included an egg sandwich because you're gonna need your energy to steal the Treasure today after school. Ryuji sent a picture when he woke up. You guys did a good job. I'm sure you're plan worked. See you after school, same place as normal.
- Ren
P.S., don't be annoyed with Ryuji for making sure you made it home okay after you guys put them up. I told him to do that. Us societal outcasts gotta stick together , right?

Makoto smiled at the note, then stuffed it in her bag. She opened up the metal cup and took a sip, smelling the aroma of coffee and milk and honey. Makoto took a calming breath before going to eat the egg sandwich and get her things out of her school bag.

Chapter Text

Five months ago...

"Sorry I'm late! I was getting some last minute supplies!" Ren apologized as he walked down the walkway.

"It's alright. You deserve to be late occasionally too." Ann said, Yusuke getting off of the floor. "We ready to go?"

"As I'll ever be." Makoto said, gripping the straps of her school bag.

"I'm ready." Ryuji confirmed. "Let's make this sucker pay."

"Okay... We're headed in." Morgana said, poking his head out of Ren's bag. "No turning back now."

Ren got out his phone as everyone crowded around it. "Let's steal that Treasure!"

"Let's do this!" Ann echoed as Ren pressed the button that triggered the crossover.

As soon as they were in, the group of six started running up to the bank. Ren managed to guide everyone through the open shortcuts they had found along the way, and they got to the center of the Palace.

Once they were safely inside the elevator, Ren looked over at Makoto and saw that she looked anxious. She was avoiding eye contact, twisting her wrist in one of her hands. Ren jokingly nudged Makoto with his elbow and said, "You got this, Queen. We all got your back."

Ann nodded. "It's always scary the first time you do it. After a while, this will all just become second nature."

"What should I expect?" Makoto asked nervously.

"The unexpected." Ryuji said bluntly.

"Well, that narrows it down." Makoto said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"It always changes based on the Palace ruler. We don't know what to expect either."

"Well, that's half true. We know that Kaneshiro is probably going to turn into something big and bad. We know that we probably have to fight Kaneshiro before we can steal his Treasure. Besides that... It all varies." Morgana admitted.

"I'm still nervous about this too." Yusuke said, trying to be comforting. "Just make sure we watch each other's sixes, yeah?"

Makoto nodded. "Yeah... Thanks."

The elevator door opened and the group ran out. As soon as they got to where the Treasure was, they saw a giant vault wall standing in front of them. The Treasure was probably hidden behind the wall. Ryuji looked up at the giant tumbler lock and asked out loud, "What the hell?"

"This definitely wasn't here the last time we were in here..." Morgana commented.

"It all changed so quickly..." Ann said nervously.

"Well... It's not a bank for nothing." Ren added.

"Greetings... Welcome to my private city bank." Shadow Kaneshiro said as he came out of the shadows with an army of his goons. "I'm surprised you made it here alive. It seems you're all quite lucky."

"Lucky?" Makoto asked, her grip on her metal knuckles tightening. "Don't be ridiculous."

"We're gonna change your heart and make you confess everything you've done." Ryuji said angrily. "That'll save all those people who're suffering 'cause of your shifty actions. Even the police're strugglin' to deal with you, so this'll make the public believe in us too!"

"Those in power work those below them to the bone for money. Such is the hierarchy of the world. Just accept your fate as a source of my wealth!"

"We'll never agree to that!" Yusuke said angrily.

"And hierarchy? You have to be out of your goddamn mind!" Ann added.

"All of that was forced on me too, you know!" Shadow Kaneshiro argued, Makoto rolling her eyes. "I went through shit until I crawled my way out of the dregs! Now it's my turn to profit on everyone else!"

"Still, don't you think you're getting back at the wrong people!?" Ann asked.

"What a pitiful man." Makoto spat at Shadow Kaneshiro.

"It doesn't matter whether you're clean or dirty! Only the clever come out on top!" Shadow Kaneshiro argued. "The smart and the strong devour the weak. That is the natural order of things."

"Then I guess it's a good thing we're pretty clever." Ren countered.

"You damn brats who think you know the world through the shit you read online will make the perfect prey."

"He is utterly hopeless." Makoto scoffed.

"It's always the fools who get tricked! Fools who have to pay for their foolishness! And if those fools don't learn, well they have to suck it up and stay as plain, stupid fools!"

"Oh my God, will you just shut it already and let us beat you up!?" Ryuji asked exhaustedly.

Shadow Kaneshiro took a step back. "I guess there's not much point saying anything to you fools! This is where my gracious lecture ends!"

"Thank God!" Ann interjected.

"I hope you're ready to work as slaves here for the rest of your lives."

"That's outrageous!" Yusuke argued.

Shadow Kaneshiro laughed, clutching his stomach. "I'm gonna swarm all over you... And squeeze out every last penny!"

Shadow Kaneshiro suddenly slumped over, Makoto taking a step back as the goons flanking around Shadow Kaneshiro shared her shock. "What the..."

Makoto watched in horror as a black blood like substance squirted from his eyes and wings sprouted from his back. Makoto glanced over at Ren and said, "When I called him a money grubbing fly... I didn't mean that literally..."

"Yeah... This is a little too on the nose..." Ren commented as he watched the goons start to run away from Shadow Kaneshiro.

"And that's saying something... Madarame literally turned into paintings and then made forgeries of himself." Yusuke added.

Shadow Kaneshiro completed his transformation into a man sized purple fly... Well, he looked pretty much the same except for the red bug like eyes and the fly wings behind his back. Ann commented, "Okay... He's literally a filthy, money grubbing fly... This doesn't look bad so far."

"Don't speak too soon." Morgana chided. "Just because it looks simple right now doesn't mean that it is. There's always going to be another shoe to drop."

"Being young is such a crime, you know?" Shadow Kaneshiro said, rubbing his hands together like... Well, exactly like a fly would. "They're naive, they're reckless, and on top of that, they don't even realize how stupid they are! Now I couldn't just sit back and not cash in on those idiots, right?"

"Let's get him, guys!" Morgana commanded, everyone taking a few steps back.

Makoto summoned Johanna and casted Freila, then watched as it barely hurt Shadow Kaneshiro. She watched as everyone cast their attacks, she noticed that nothing seemed to have an affect on Shadow Kaneshiro.

After a few minutes of everyone passing around attacks between themselves and the other side and whittling down on Shadow Kaneshiro's energy, Shadow Kaneshiro commented, "Yeh're just gonna keep this goin' til the bitter end, huh? No more games then. I ain't gonna forgive yeh punks for this!"

"That's our line! You had better be prepared!" Makoto shot back.

Yusuke attacked Shadow Kaneshiro with his katana, and Shadow Kaneshiro fell to his knees. Morgana ordered, "All Out Attack!"

The group surrounded Shadow Kaneshiro and held him at gunpoint, everyone staring at him. Shadow Kaneshiro bitterly laughed. "Yeh goddamn punks..."

"Show no mercy! Let's finish him!" Morgana commanded.

"Go!" Ren said, everyone putting away their guns before attacking Shadow Kaneshiro.

Once the group separated from Shadow Kaneshiro, he stood back up and clutched his chest. "The hell? Yeh punks're stronger than you look... Looks like I gotta bring out my big guns!"

"You're all buzz and no bite!" Morgana argued.

"We'll see about that..." Shadow Kaneshiro said, laughing to himself while rubbing his hands together again. "Time to roll out! Here he is! My guardian robot!"

The door of the bank vault swung open as Shadow Kaneshiro flew inside. The wall around the door fell away, revealing a giant silver piggy bank. Shadow Kaneshiro's voice said from inside the piggy bank, "Yeh ready to die!?"

"That... That's a giant piggy bank..." Makoto stated bluntly, not knowing what else to say as the other teenagers around her all paused and looked up at the silver piggy bank.

"It ain't a pig! This is my Palace's swine-model defensive mechoid, Piggytron!" Shadow Kaneshiro corrected.

"Hello other shoe... How are you?" Ren asked, sounding slightly sarcastic. "Lovely to see you here."

"... Are we seriously about to fight a giant piggy bank?" Ryuji asked, starting to laugh.

Ann nodded, shaking her head to stop herself from laughing. "I think we are..."

"Okay... It's official, this is way more on the nose than Madarame was." Yusuke stated.

"Everyone, snap out of it!" Morgana yelled. "Let's just take down the pig!"

"Right, guys, we need to focus." Ren said, starting to laugh as well. He was struggling to keep it together as he added, "Let's get the bacon and skidaddle!"

"Well... We came to fight a money grubbing fly and now we're fighting a robot piggy bank. This has just turned into a series of un-porcince-ite events." Makoto joked back, Ren pausing mid Persona summoning to double over with laughter as Ann, Ryuji, Yusuke, and Morgana jumped to action, either deciding to ignore Makoto's joke or not entirely getting it. Makoto summoned her Persona and sat down on Johanna as she commented, "Come on Joker, pull it together. I thought you'd be able to handle that little pun..."

Ren's laughter slowly died down as he jokingly motioned to Makoto with his knife. "That was a good one... But I will get you, Queen. I am going to be the one to break you with a joke."

"I'd like to see you try." Makoto said, revving up Johanna before pushing off. Ren shook his head as he watched Makoto drive off, then ran to join the fight.

Ren summoned a Persona and unleashed a Physical attack. Makoto launched a Nuclear attack on the piggy bank, then rolled to the ground once Johanna disappeared and popped up beside Ren. Ren glanced over at Makoto, finally managing to get his laughter completely under control, and asked, "Can you tell if we're making any damage?"

Makoto shook her head. "No... There's just a lot going in with that thing."

Ann ran over to Makoto and Ren and said, "That stupid pig is impenetrable!"

"Were you punks talkin' shit about my Piggytron? If you were... Imma tear yeh all to shreds!" Shadow Kaneshiro yelled, flying out of the Piggytron. "Go Piggytron! Super VIP Form!"

"Super VIP Form?" Ren asked, lightly laughing as Shadow Kaneshiro climbed on top of the Piggytron and started running on it so it could spin. "Oh no..."

"It transformed!? Don't tell me it's gonna roll on us!" Morgana asked in shock.

"Scatter!" Ann yelled, everyone but Ren and Makoto going their separate directions.

Makoto summoned her Persona, then looked over at Ren as Shadow Kaneshiro aim the Piggytron at them. "Get on!"

"Can I sit on that?" Ren asked, staring down at Johanna.

"No idea... But now is the time to test that theory." Makoto said as Shadow Kaneshiro started running towards them.

Ren's eyes widened as he jumped onto Johanna and wrapped his arms around Makoto's waist. Makoto pulled away in the knick of time and angled Johanna towards the wall. As she and Ren did a loop around the Piggytron, Makoto commented, "We can't keep fighting like this, especially if he's going to keep doing attacks like that."

"Agreed, but how are we gonna fight that big pig?" Ren asked.

Makoto studied the giant pig and asked, "How much damage do you think we did to Kaneshiro?"

"I think we're close to taking him down, which is why he went into Piggytron."

"Right... But like Panther said, that thing is impenetrable..."

Ren stared at Piggytron, his eyes narrowing as he suggested, "What if we use his greed against him?"

"Meaning?"

"We have a lot of valuable items on us. We could throw one out, watch him go for it, and then jump him."

"That could work... What would you say our most valuable item is?"

Ren thought for a moment. "Probably the Balm of Life... It revives someone who passes out during battle."

"Okay... When we get in front of Piggytron, you jump off and I'll go tell the plan to everyone else."

"Right."

Makoto drove past Piggytron as Ren jumped off. Makoto did a quick loop over to the rest of the Phantom Thieves. Ryuji looked over at Makoto and asked, "Everything good?"

"Joker and I came up with a plan. He's offering Shadow Kaneshiro a Balm of Life. Once he jumps out of Piggytron, we jump him and finish him off."

Ryuji smiled. "Hell yeah! Now we're talking!"

"You and Joker make a good team." Morgana commented.

Makoto shrugged. "Just using Kaneshiro's behavior against him. It's not rocket science."

"Let's get ready!" Ann said, everyone running over to Ren.

When Ren said that they got closer, he tossed one of the Balms of Life in front of him. The Balm rolled onto the ground and spun to a stop, the lid glinting in the light. The Piggytron stopped moving, everyone going still. After a few seconds of stillness, Shadow Kaneshiro flew out of Piggytron and over to the Balm of Life to pick it up. Everyone took a few steps back, then Makoto yelled, "ALL OUT ATTACK!"

Everyone surged forward at once, moving like one body, as they started hitting Shadow Kaneshiro as hard as they could. Eventually, Shadow Kaneshiro managed to worm his way out of the huddle and back into Piggytron, but by that point Piggytron was also on it's last leg. Piggytron crumbled to the floor and spun forward, spilling out a bunch of gold bars and Shadow Kaneshiro. Makoto glanced over at Ren and asked, "Did we do it?"

"I think so..." Ren agreed as Shadow Kaneshiro clung onto the gold bars as tight as he could.

"I'm not gonna let anyone have it... This is my money." Shadow Kaneshiro said quietly.

"You stole it all from innocent people!" Makoto argued.

"Fine... I'll call off the debt..." Shadow Kaneshiro said meekly... Like a child who was being told off.

"'Fine'?" Ryuji asked. "You're still soundin' pretty condescendin'."

"You're right... I'm a poor, ugly... Idiot... How am I supposed to live a normal life like this...? It's all because of our society! Weak people can't live a healthy life, no matter what they do!" Shadow Kaneshiro attempted to argue, but he didn't sound convincing. "I'm a victim too, you know!? Yeah, none of this is my fault!"

"The more you talk, the more pathetic you sound." Yusuke said, saying what everyone was thinking.

"I just wanted a place where I could belong! You get that, don't you!?"

"Oh bullshit!" Ann argued. "All you did was surround yourself with people you could use, solely for some easy money!"

"And you think you're the only one who's gotta deal with bein' labeled?" Ryuji asked, taking a few steps forward. "Me and all these other guys... We're all fightin' against that!"

Ren nodded. "If you truly wanted a place where you could belong, you wouldn't have tried to abuse and extort everyone around you."

"But don't worry," Makoto said, tilting her head as she stared daggers at Shadow Kaneshiro. "You'll finally have a place you belong. Somewhere you can make amends for the rest of your life."

"We're gonna do something about that distorted heart of yours..." Ryuji added, crossing his arms across his chest. "Free of charge."

Shadow Kaneshiro paused, then turned around and sat on top of the gold bars, arms crossed in front of him. He was starting to fade away, going see-through as the gold shimmered behind him. He looked much calmer than he had been a few moments before. Makoto studied him suspiciously. Something was... Off. Yusuke didn't seem to notice as he added, "I'm glad you understand. Now hurry up and return to the real Kaneshiro."

"Seriously? You guys don't have any tact. Especially with that incredible power..." Shadow Kaneshiro spat at them. "These Palaces could net you loads of cash! You could do whatever you wanted to people's hearts!"

"We're not like you!" Ryuji countered.

"Where do you find meaning in that naive sense of justice...? You know, there's already someone out there taking full advantage of what Palaces have to offer..."

"What..." Makoto asked suspiciously, glancing over at Ren. "Do you...?"

Ren shook his head. He looked just as shocked as she and everyone else were. "No..."

"I'll let you in on a little something..." Shadow Kaneshiro said, a smirk on his face. "There's a criminal using other people's Palaces to accomplish whatever they damn well please. They don't care about consequences. Psychotic breakdowns, mental shutdowns... Anything goes."

Yusuke took a hesitant step forward. "Is that... The same person Madarame's Shadow spoke of...? The one wearing the black mask?"

"Spill it! Who're you talkin' about!?" Ryuji demanded.

Shadow Kaneshiro snickered as his form turned more tangible and see-through. "Don't even bother. You are nothing compared to them... Better be careful. A chance encounter with them could prove fatal..."

Shadow Kaneshiro glowed bright white light, and in an instant, he was gone. Makoto looked over at Morgana, expecting him to answer. "You guys had heard about another person like us before?"

"Sorta... From Madarame's Shadow." Ren explained as Morgana ignored Makoto's question and walked over to the Treasure. "We thought he was just panicking after we beat him up... An attempt to make us not steal his heart. Now though..."

"This changes things." Ann agreed, finishing Ren's thought.

Everything around them started crumbling to the ground, Makoto jumping. Yusuke yelled over the loud destruction, "We can think about that later! Grab the Treasure; there's no time!"

"In that case, we should probably take the biggest one." Makoto said, watching as Morgana cozied up to the largest gold bar, rubbing against it and loudly purring, exactly like a cat marking his territory. "Are... Are we sure..."

"He... Does that every time." Ren admitted as he shook his head no, quietly answering the question Makoto was trying to ask without being rude.

"Mrrrrrrooooooow!" Morgana screeched, rubbing his face into the gold bar. "T-Treasure..."

"Every time...?" Makoto asked anxiously.

"Every time... It's kinda concerning..." Ryuji confirmed.

"This is soooooo coooooool! Wowwweee, being a human is greattttttt!" Morgana continued, obvious to the Palace crumbling around him. "It's... It's... It's... Shiny shiny golddd!"

Morgana turned around and pounced towards Ann, clutching her head in his arms. Makoto jumped as Ryuji ran forward to help Ann get Morgana off of her. Makoto held her hands over her mouth as she said, "OH MY GOD!"

"HRGH!?" Ann screeched through Morgana's fur. Ryuji worked Ann, grabbing onto Morgana's body as Ann grabbed onto Morgana's tiny paws that were stuck in her pigtails. "L-Leff ho off mee!"

Ann and Ryuji managed to yank Morgana off, Ryuji holding onto Morgana's body. Once he was completely off, Ryuji took a few steps back and yelled, "YEET!"

Ryuji through Morgana a good ten feet away, and once Morgana hit the ground, he turned into the van Makoto had seen on the way out the first time they came in here. Ann's pigtails looked messy now, strands of hair were either completely pulled out or were half in and creating bubbles close to her head, but at least she didn't look injured. Morgana angrily said, "You shouldn't throw animals, damnit!"

"Enough already!" Ann said exhaustedly. "Let's get it in, everyone! Hurry!"

Ren looked over at Makoto and said, "Queen, you get in the driver's seat so we can pull away! The rest of us will get the gold bar in the car!"

"How... How do I drive this thing?" Makoto asked nervously as the other four went to pick up the giant gold bar. "I've never exactly driven a Morgana before, guys!"

"You just move the stick shift into drive and floor it! No keys or anything!" Ren said as the other four got into position.

Makoto climbed inside and sat down in the driver's seat, trying to get acclimated to the strange situation. After a few minutes of Makoto hearing some shuffling in the back seat, the other four climbed into the car. Ann took the front seat next to Makoto, the three boys taking the bench directly behind Makoto. As he closed the door, Ryuji said, "Okay, we're good!"

"So... Now I just... Pull the lever?" Makoto asked as Ren leaned forward to try and help her.

"Yup. Pull it and gun it."

Makoto laughed to herself. "This is easier than driving a real car..."

Makoto moved the shift stick into drive and moved forward, pressing on the gas as she angled them to a hole on the side of the bank they had made during the fight. As Makoto flew through the hole at top speed, Morgana commented, "Wait... THERE'S NO ROAD AGAIN!"

"SOMEONE PRESS THE EXIT BUTTON!" Ann screeched as the entire van went into freefall.

"I got it!" Yusuke yelled, taking out his phone and pressing the button as the whole van started screaming.

The world distorted around them, but when the distortion cleared, they had fallen right in the middle of the sidewalk in the Shibuya Scramble. Ren slowly got up, then offered a hand to Makoto. "Need some help?"

"Yeah..." Makoto said, taking Ren's hand.

"Owwww..." Ann whined as everyone slowly got up.

"I think I cracked my ass..." Ryuji groaned.

"Ann, are you alright!?" Yusuke asked as he jumped up. "Is yours cracked as well?"

"Of course not!" Ann argued, a little offended.

"Isn't it supposed to be though...?" Makoto asked cautiously.

"Ugh, that's not what I mean!"

"Can we stop talking about whether our asses are cracked or not?" Ren asked, putting a kabash on the weird conversation Ryuji inadvertently started. "Is everyone okay?"

Ann looked around, her eyes going wide. "Oh my God, people are staring at us..."

Makoto looked around. Ann wasn't lying. They had drawn quite the crowd. She wondered what they all saw, or what they all thought had happened. Makoto turned her attention to everyone else, not seeing any clear injuries. "Thank goodness nobody was hurt."

Ryuji looked over at the crosswalk, his eyes widening. "Um... I wouldn't say nobody..."

The group of five followed Ryuji's gaze and saw Morgana laying in the middle of the sidewalk, a gold briefcase resting on top of his head. Ren sighed, "Oh no... That briefcase..."

"It appears to have been the cause of Morgana's demise..." Yusuke stated.

"Isn't that Kaneshiro's...?" Ryuji quietly asked.

"Oh, is that his Treasure?" Makoto asked.

"I think so..." Ren agreed.

Ann looked over at the stop light, noticing what color it was. Ann rapidly started hitting Ren's arm. "Hey, the light's red! Hurry up and go get Mona before he gets ran over!"

"Okay, okay!" Ren said, running into the crosswalk. He quickly scooped up Morgana as Makoto grabbed the briefcase, everyone running after them.

Once the group safely got over to Hachiko Square, Makoto handed Yusuke her school bag. "You mind carrying this?"

"Why...?" Yusuke asked cautiously.

"You're the only one here without a school bag since you left it in your dorm and out of everyone here, I look like the most likely person to carry around a briefcase."

"Right... Valid." Yusuke said as he grabbed Makoto's school bag and flung it on his shoulder.

Ren cradled Morgana in his arms as he lightly started stirring, making small cat noises. Makoto studied the gold briefcase in her hands as she commented, "Where should we open it...? That's what we do now, right?"

"We could try karaoke." Ann said cautiously. "We might be able to squeeze in happy hour price if we leave now."

"We'd have security cameras to worry about there." Makoto stated.

"Oh yeah... Didn't think about that."

"Oh, I got the perfect place." Ryuji said, a smirk on his face.

Ren looked slightly annoyed, Ann quickly catching on to what Ryuji was saying. "Oh right! Totally forgot about that!"

"I was just in the mood for some coffee too." Yusuke said, the three staring at Ren.

"I'm confused... Where are we going?" Makoto asked.

Ren sighed, knowing he was out voted. He looked over at Makoto as he asked, "You ever been to Yongen-Jaya before?"

Chapter Text

Five months ago...

Ren woke up the next morning to his phone ringing. He answered the phone without even looking at the Caller ID. "Hello?"

"Hey... It's Makoto... I didn't wake you up, did I?"

"No, of course not." Ren said, doing his best not to sound tired. "What's up?"

"There's something I feel like I should tell you..." Makoto said cautiously. "Kaneshiro contacted me this morning. He's calling off the debt."

"Kaneshiro?" Morgana asked, overhearing a little bit of what Makoto said from his spot next to Ren on the bed.

"Hold on... I'm putting you on speaker so Morgana can be a part of the conversation." Ren said, moving his phone away from his ear and held it in between him and Morgana. "Kaneshiro's calling off the debt?"

"That's what he told me, anyway." Makoto confirmed. "It seems he's disposed of all the photographs as well. And... Um... My sister and her team have taken him into custody early this morning as well."

"What!?" Ren and Morgana asked in unison.

"It appears they did not want him to... Disappear, if you know what I mean."

"His group was called a mafia, after all... I wouldn't put silencing him past them." Morgana agreed.

"Does this mean we were successful in changing his heart?" Makoto said hopefully.

"It's... Too early to tell, but it's very likely." Ren answered.

"I see... What about those psychotic breakdowns that Kaneshiro mentioned?"

"Not sure... But I assume he was talking about the incidents that have been all over the news lately." Morgana said, not sounding too sure. "It may be related to the other person who has been entering Palaces."

"True..." Makoto agreed. "That said, all we can do is wait until Kaneshiro's change of heart becomes clear to us. Thank you."

"No problem. Anything else?"

"Not about Kaneshiro... Do you mind taking yourself off speaker? I kinda just want to talk to you."

Ren glanced over at Morgana and shrugged as he took his phone off speaker. "Sorry Mona."

"Are you off speaker?" Makoto asked, a little more quiet.

"Yeah."

"Well... As I'm sure you already know... I've been ordered by Principal Kobayakowa to look for the Phantom Thieves."

"Is he onto us? Do you know that?"

"He still has no clue, but we can't let our guard down. Just... Try not to stand out for a while, okay?"

"And... How would you suggest I do that? People are gonna talk about me no matter what."

"Um... Could you... Potentially... Um... Meet me at the student council room after school?" Makoto squeaked out.

"I'm not in trouble, am I?"

"No, it's just... When Ryuji and I hung them up, he... Mentioned you helping the others with something and... I was going to ask you to help me out with... Something..."

"Vague... What's the something?"

"Meet me at the student council room and find out. My sister is in the kitchen having a quick breakfast before going back to deal with Kaneshiro. I don't want to risk her overhearing me."

"Student council room? After school today?"

"Yeah."

"Great. I'll see you then."

"Okay... Bye."

"Bye." Ren said as he hung up the phone.

Morgana's eyes narrowed. "Why does she want to see you after school?"

"I'll find out." Ren said, getting out from his bed so he could go get dressed for school.

Chapter Text

Five months ago...

Makoto sat at the table in the student council room, staring down at her notebook as she absentmindedly took notes. All student council meetings were pretty much the same. Requests from Principal Kobayakowa, budget requests from different student organizations, updates, things like that.

"Hey Niijima-san," One of the kids in the room said, "A few students came to us about something while you were busy this week that should probably be brought to your attention."

Makoto took a deep breath, setting down her notebook. "Is this about the drug muling in Shibuya? Or the Phantom Theives?"

"No... Actually. Something else." One of the other kids said awkwardly. "We've been... Getting reports about some of our students in Shinjuku."

Makoto paused, looking over. "What kinds of reports?"

"One was two teenage boys... We're assuming that it was teenage boys since one of them was wearing the Shujin uniform and the other was wearing normal clothes, but one of them went into a bar and the other went into some sort of drag situation."

Ren and Ryuji. Why did one of them wear their uniform? Makoto prompted, "And the other report?"

"A female student walking into a cafe in Shinjuku."

That... Makoto didn't know about. Makoto tilted her head and asked, "Do we have any more information about either situation?"

"Not much."

"... So no idea who they are?"

"No. What should we do? Shinjuku is pretty dangerous... Even more dangerous than Shibuya is at the moment."

Makoto thought for a moment, then said, "I'll ask my sister if she knows anything about it."

"And if she doesn't? What then? Do we send out a notice?"

"Hold off on that for the moment. Wait until the next meeting. I should have an update by then." Makoto said, everyone nervously nodding their heads.

The rest of the meeting went on as normal, and as soon as she got out, Makoto got out her phone and dialed Ren's number. After a few seconds, Ren said, "What's up, Makoto?"

"Are you busy tonight?"

"No... Why?"

"I figured out the next place I want to go... And since it's Saturday, I think that today is the best day to go due to the fact that we don't have school tomorrow."

"Okay... Where are you thinking, Makoto?"

"... News about you and Ryuji going to Shinjuku finally made it to the student council."

"... You want to go to Shinjuku?"

"Y-Yeah..." Makoto stuttered as she exited the school building. "Look, I know it's dangerous, but we just got a report about a girl from our school in Shinjuku and I'm kinda concerned and I really don't want to go by myself-"

"If you went by yourself, I would track you down and then I would kill you for doing something stupid... Again." Ren interrupted. "Meet at six in Shibuya and then head over? That sound like a plan?"

"Yeah. That sounds good."

"Make sure you're not wearing your school uniform."

"... Is there a certain dress code I should be aware of?"

"... Not suspicious?"

"... Noted."

"I'll see you then."

"See you then." Makoto said as she hung up her phone.

Makoto made it back to her apartment as fast as she could. Unsurprisingly, Sae wasn't home, but Makoto honestly didn't even notice as she made her way to her room. Makoto closed her door and walked over to her dresser to grab some casual clothes. As Makoto dug around for something to wear, she found a simple light blue sundress that she was sure belonged to her mother. She didn't know why she had it, she thought that Sae had taken everything that once belonged to their mother, but maybe this dress somehow got misplaced.

Deciding to ask Sae about it the next time she saw her, Makoto set the blue sundress off to the side and grabbed her white button down dress and a black tank top. She quickly got dressed and got out her casual black loafers to put on once she got out to the hallway, then checked the time on her phone. Seeing that she had a little bit of time, Makoto set an alarm and got out some of her homework to get a head start.

The second her alarm went off, Makoto closed her notebook, grabbed a bag to stuff her wallet and phone inside, grabbed her loafers and headed out.

Makoto walked towards the Teikyu building once she got outside, trying to calm down her nerves. Her father had always told her not to go to Shinjuku and Sae had continued telling her that in more detail after their father's death. The fact that she was technically going against both of their wishes... It was enough to up her anxiety.

Makoto saw Ren waiting by the Hachiko Statue, texting on his phone. He was wearing a pair of loose fitting blue jeans, a pair of sneakers, a black T-shirt, and a short sleeved white collared shirt over it. He looked exhausted, not noticing what was going on around him. His eyes looked darker than normal... Like he was trying to figure out some annoyance in his life. Makoto started feeling bad for calling him. As Makoto got closer, Ren plastered a smile on his face and put away his phone. "I was worried you got distracted while studying. I was just about to call you."

"I set an alarm." Makoto stated.

"Ah. Ready to go?" Ren asked. Makoto nodded, following Ren over to the train line that would take them to Shinjuku.

As they walked, Makoto asked, "I owe you dinner... After this."

"What?" Ren asked.

"Dinner... I owe you." Makoto said, Ren giving her a confused look. "Or at least a coffee... You look a little dead right now, to be honest."

"... Sorry." Ren apologized. "I didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

"Everything okay?" Makoto asked, her voice soft.

Ren nodded. "Yeah... Everything's fine. You don't need to worry."

"Ren..."

"I'm good. I might be a little... Testy, but I'll survive. I'm fine."

"You say that... But you don't look it." Makoto said, Ren giving her a frustrated look. "I'll drop it, just know that you can talk to me about whatever. I want to be as much of an ear for your troubles as you are for mine."

Ren nodded. "Okay... If I need to talk, I'll keep that in mind."

Ren and Makoto remained silent as they got on the train, Makoto giving Ren a few reassuring smiles if they happened to lock eyes.

The train pulled into the Shinjuku station, the two grabbing their things and heading out to the street. As they got closer to the main part of the red light district, Makoto commented as she looked at the crowds of people walking in between other large crowds that were gathered, "There are so many people here... I guess this really is the biggest red light district in Asia, huh?"

"Would make sense." Ren agreed.

"Apparently, this place was a hotbed for criminals and illegal immigrants before they installed survelliance cameras..." Makoto said, remembering a little bit of what she read in her father's police notebook. "I heard there were quite a few brothels here as well."

"You are... Very well informed." Ren commented. "... Stay close to me, okay?"

Makoto smiled, taking a small step closer to Ren. "I heard a great deal about it from my father. This is the first time I've actually been here myself though. Regardless, it's become a lot safer than it used to be. Of course, the survelliance cameras played a substantial role in that... But it was mainly thanks to police efforts to clean up the area after..."

Makoto trailed off. She looked over to the side, slightly distracted. It couldn't have been that far from where she was currently standing where it happened. Ren looked over, a little concerned, as he asked, "After what?"

"Doesn't matter." Makoto lied. "Regardless, there's no way to eradicate crime entirely. It seems the operations nowadays are simply better hidden. Seeing is believing though, right? Let's have a look around."

Ren nodded, falling in line with Makoto as they started walking towards the busiest part of the red light district. Makoto paused, grabbing onto Ren's arm. Ren asked, "Getting cold feet, your Majesty?"

"Walk a few steps behind me." Makoto said, forcing Ren to stop as she took a few steps forward.

"What? Why?" Ren asked.

"I... Want to know what it's like to walk by myself." Makoto partially lied. She did want to know what it was like to walk around the red light district by herself, but she also wanted to know what it was like to walk the same streets her father did. It was almost like she was following in his footsteps, tracking down a case. If this was going to be her first time in Shinjuku ever, not just after her father died, she didn't want to be walking with someone else. "Please? I don't feel comfortable walking alone, but having someone there-"

"I get it. I will be a few feet behind you," Ren said, taking a step back. "But the very second you get into something dangerous, I am grabbing your arm and I am dragging you out of there. Do I make myself clear?"

Makoto nodded. "Crystal."

Ren kept his word, not that Makoto was expecting he wouldn't. A few guys had tried to talk to her, most of them she just ignored, until the fifth guy in a row wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "I bet a cute girl like you would want an easy job where you can wear cute outfits."

"No thank you." Makoto said bluntly.

"Ya sure? I bet I have a cute pink number in there you could wear for a try out right now." The man said, forcibly guiding Makoto into a store.

"I'm not really a pink person." Makoto said, trying to force her way out of his death grip.

"Well, we don't just have pink. We also have green and purple and bl-"

Ren tightly gripped onto Makoto's arm and yanked her out of the man's grip as he loudly said, "She told you she's not interested, buddy!"

Ren didn't look back as he continued dragging Makoto away, Makoto practically running after him to keep up. When Ren finally let go of Makoto, she asked, "Did we lose him?"

"I think we did. You good?"

Makoto nodded. "Yup. I'm good... God, he was so persistent!"

"He was probably a scout for hostesses since he mentioned how 'cute girls like you must like to be paid to wear cute dresses'." Ren commented.

Makoto rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, he pegged the wrong girl for that."

"... Because you don't like wearing dresses?" Ren asked, focusing on Makoto's white dress.

"You've clearly never seen pictures of my sister. She caused quite the uproar when she became a public prosecutor because of how pretty she is."

"No, I have." Ren said quickly. "I kinda... Googled your sister after you mentioned her."

"So you've seen how pretty she is."

"Yeah..." Ren agreed. He suddenly looked a little uncomfortable, avoiding eye contact and staring at the ground. "But... Um... Well..."

"I know what you're going to say. I already know that people think my sister is prettier than me. Everyone tells me that all the time... Yet another way of how I don't live up to expectations."

"That's not what I was going to say."

"It... Wasn't?"

"No. I actually think that you're the prettier sister."

"... Why?" Makoto asked, giving Ren a confused look. "Are you just saying that? Is there an actual reason?"

Ren shrugged. "Well... I've always had a thing for brunettes... Literally all of my fictional childhood crushes were brunettes."

"So I'm your type?"

"I didn't say that." Ren said, backtracking.

"Sure sounds like you did."

"I... I mean..." Ren said, starting to blush. "I can't exactly deny that you're pretty... The same way I can't deny that Ann is pretty... And if I had to choose between you and your older sister... I'd choose you. Simple as that."

"Right..." Makoto said, laughing to herself. "Thanks for rescuing me back there, by the way. You're my knight in shining armor."

"Anytime. I know you can handle yourself, but-"

"It's comforting to have someone have my back." Makoto interrupted. "I think you just have a knack for helping me out."

Ren laughed as he saw the Priestess tarot card appear over Makoto's head in  blue flame. Another rank up in their friendship. "I guess I do."

"That aside, even though this is a shopping district, I haven't seen any students wearing their school uniforms around here." Makoto said, nodding her head once. "Should we head back, or-"

"Don't speak too soon." Ren interrupted.

Makoto followed Ren's gaze and turned around, seeing a girl wearing a Shujin uniform walk up, entering a sketchy looking cafe. Makoto studied the girl, realizing that she recognized the straight black hair that was held up in a side pony with a pastel pink scrunchie. "I think I know her."

"You do?"

"Yeah... I used to be in the same class as her... Eiko... Eiko something." Makoto answered. She studied the building Eiko had just walked into. "I wonder what she's doing working at the After School Salon..."

"Yeah, what kind of a place is that?" Ren asked.

"I don't know, but it seems suspicious." Makoto decided. "I guess I'll just have to ask her about it... And I want you there as a witness."

"Alright... How about Monday? That way, you can use Sunday to formulate questions." Ren suggested.

Makoto nodded. "Sounds good... Now I seriously owe you food. Want to go get some Big Bang Burger in Shibuya?"

Ren smiled and nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

Chapter Text

Five months ago...

"I gotta go visit Shiho tonight." Ann said, checking her phone as she and Ren left their classroom Monday after school.

"How's she doing?"

"She's doing good. She's gotten to the point where she can lift up her body. She's figuring out how to walk again in physical therapy."

"That's good. I'm glad to hear she's doing better." Ren said as they got to the stairs. Ann paused, noticing that Ren was going up. Ren explained, "I'm meeting Makoto in the student council room. I'm helping her with something."

"Is it important?"

"I'm helping her talk to this girl we saw in Shinjuku. It's a long story."

"Oh, you've been to Shinjuku with her?" Ann asked with a small smirk.

"She wants to know what normal people our age do for fun so she can be better at helping us out. It's actually really fun hanging out with her. The other day, she got so invested in Gun About that she literally started shrieking when she fired off the gun." Ren said, laughing to himself. "It was actually pretty cute how invested she got."

"I can see what's happening and you don't have a clue." Ann teasingly sang to Ren. "You're falling in love and here's the bottom line, the original trio is down to two."

Ren rolled his eyes. "I am not falling in love with Makoto Niijima."

"Oh you most certainly are!" Ann argued.

"And what would you know about that? It's not like you've ever been in a romantic relationship."

"True, but you can't hide anything from me. Just admit it, she has you wrapped around her tiny little finger."

Ren rolled his eyes again. "Goodbye Ann... Give Suzui my best."

"Oh, I will... See you around loverboy."

"I'm gonna kill you one of these days."

"I'd like to see you try." Ann said teasingly as she turned on her heel and walked downstairs.

Ren walked up to the student council room, Makoto waiting for him upstairs. Makoto looked up, taking a deep breath. "You ready?"

Ren nodded. "Yup. Let's talk to Eiko."

"Okay... You go sit in there while I go find her homeroom teacher and call her up here." Makoto said as Ren opened the door to the student council room and sat down at the table. Ren set his backpack off to the side, staring at the crocheted panda. Nanako had missed their Sunday phone call yesterday. The small panda now just seemed like a cruel joke.

After maybe ten minutes, Makoto came back into the student council room and wordlessly sat down in the chair next to Ren, getting out her panda pencil case and a notebook to potentially take notes. Maybe two minutes after Makoto came in, the same girl they had seen in Shinjuku walked inside. "You wanted to see me, Niijima-san?"

"Takao-san, thank you for coming. Could you sit for a moment?" Makoto asked politely.

"Whatever." Eiko said, rolling her eyes as she sat down in the chair across from Makoto, scrolling on her phone.

Makoto glanced over at Ren uneasily, Ren motioning for Makoto to keep going. Makoto cleared her throat and said, "Eiko Takao-san, you've been spending time in the red light district, haven't you? Both myself and Ren-kun here saw you there. Based on where you were heading, we assume you're working at a store called the After School Salon. How is it, working there?"

Eiko looked up from her phone, then set it off to the side. "Whaddya mean? It's just a normal cafe. They make me wear a costume and stuff, but that's it. Oh, and I don't hafta do anything weird, if you know what I mean. It's all totally legal."

"So you're sure nothing strange is going on?" Makoto asked. "I'm just making sure you're safe, you know?"

"I'm sure. The worst I get is some weird old guys gawking at me."

"I see... Beyond that though, why are you working there?" Makoto asked. She hesitanted before asking the next question. "How's your financial situation?"

"Uh, fine?" Eiko said, almost like she was confused about how to answer that. "I mean, I can just ask my parents for cash whenever I want, but they'd totally bug me about what I'm buying if I did that. That's why I work at the salon. I get some good spending money, plus the guys who come in there, like, mega pamper me."

"O-Oh, I see."

"It's nice having people treat you like you're special, y'know?" Eiko said, sighing heavily. "I'm sure an honor student like you gets that all the time though. Anyways, are you gonna tell on me? You even brought a witness today..."

"I'm just here as a fellow concerned student." Ren said as Eiko's eyes flicked between him and Makoto.

"Aren't you that transfer student with the criminal record?"

"Does that really matter?" Ren asked.

"I guess not..." Eiko said cautiously. She shook her head with a realization. "Hold up, doesn't this mean you two were in Shinjuku together? What's up with that, Miss Prez? Going on a secret date with your boyfriend with a criminal record?"

"Oh, we're not-" Ren attempted to argue.

"You think that me and Ren-" Makoto said, nervously looking over at Ren. This was not what she had planned.

"Why would we-"

"Me and him? You have to be-"

"Look, you have the wrong idea. We're just friends." Ren said, finally managing to get his thoughts in order.

"Right! It was nothing more than an errand I asked him to accompany me on!" Makoto said quickly. "Just... Don't mind him. We don't plan on telling anyone... Just make sure you're a little more clever about walking around Shinjuku in your uniform."

"Ohhh, I get it. It's like we're protecting each other's secrets." Eiko said, smirking at Makoto in pride. "You know, you're a real bad ass, Miss Prez... Willingly being seen around a criminal and all... Going on dates with him-"

"I told you that's not how it is!" Makoto interrupted. "We both have! I was just worried you were getting wrapped up in some shady business and I asked him to be here for support!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Eiko said, rolling her eyes. Her eyes landed on the pencil case sitting beside Makoto's things. "By the way... I was wondering... Is that a Buchimaru-kun pencil case?"

Makoto glanced down at her pencil case and nodded. "Yeah... You know Buchimaru-kun?"

Eiko's eyes drifted over to the panda dangling from Ren's bag. "And is that Buchimaru-kun too?"

"No?" Ren said, not entirely understanding what Buchimaru-kun was. He thought it was just a random name Makoto gave the panda stuffed animal she won at the arcade. "It was just a gift from a friend."

"I had like, a ton of Buchi stuff back when I was a kid! What a blast from the past!" Eiko said excitedly. Then she looked at the pencil case a little more closely. "Wait, why is it so beat up?"

Ren glanced over at the pencil case. It was pretty beat up. There were some small tears in it that were repaired with black thread. It even looked like there was some stains on the white parts of the pencil case. Stains from the pencil lead itself and various other stains that looked like crayon wax. Makoto's face turned red as she said, "Well, it was given to me when I was still in elementary school... I'd like to buy a new one, but they're stopped selling Buchimaru-kun merchandise... Or it's incredibly hard to find."

"OMG, this is so hilarious! The student council president has an adorable pencil case? My image of you has done, like, a complete 360 today!"

"Isn't that just a full circle?" Makoto asked.

"I dunno, I'm just real surprised. You don't really look like the kinda person who'd be into that stuff. I mean, I always thought you were kinda like a robot, but I guess I just had to get to know you better." Eiko said, Makoto's eyes widening in disbelief. "Hey, why don't we trade phone numbers? I really want to talk to you more about Buchimaru-kun and your... Boyfriend."

"O-Oh, um... O-Okay..." Makoto said, mindlessly getting into her phone to exchange numbers with Eiko. Then she realized the last bit of what Eiko said. "Wait, he's not my boyfriend."

"Aaand saved!" Eiko said, then checked the time on her phone. "Oh shoot, it's this late already? I've gotta get to work! I'll send you tons of pics of my Buchimaru-kun collection later though! Bye byeeee!"

Eiko excitedly got out of her chair and left the student council room. Makoto looked over at Ren. "What just happened?"

"I think you just made a friend?" Ren said uneasily.

"She was all over the place."

"She was like Ann on steroids." Ren said jokingly, then noticed that Makoto seemed slightly annoyed. "Are you okay?"

"Honestly, I'm a little shocked. She thought I was a robot."

"Beep boop." Ren said teasingly.

"Don't tease me! I'm being serious!"

"I know... But you heard how ridiculous I just sounded, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Last I checked, you don't talk in beeps and boops." Ren countered. "You're the furthest thing from a robot, Makoto."

"You sure about that? I kinda feel like I have been... I mean, I've just been operating the way people have wanted me to... Like a robot." Makoto said, crossing her arms. "I believe that what Takao-san said about me is how others think as well. I thought I had changed after the incident with Kaneshiro, but perhaps it wasn't enough..."

"You've changed plenty, Makoto. You don't need to stress out about it."

"Oh yeah? How much have I changed?"

"Well, for one, you don't have as much of a stick up your ass..." Ren said, Makoto giving him an unenthused look. "What I mean is that you're starting to have fun in the world around you. You're still one track minded and I appreciate that about you, but you aren't just laser focused in on studying and pleasing everyone around you. You're figuring out what you want."

"Well, I guess that's what nice about meeting someone so distant from myself." Makoto admitted. "I'm going to try looking at things a little differently from now on. And... Well, I think that will help me break out of my shell. I hope you're ready. I'm going to show you how useful an honor student can be."

"I already know you're useful." Ren reminded Makoto. "But I'm excited to see what you got."

Makoto nodded as Ren noticed the Priestess tarot card flash above her head. "I'll be speaking with Takao-san more since I have her contact information. I'll try and clear up the fact that you and I aren't dating."

"I doubt she'd listen."

"Regardless, I'll let you know if anything important happens." Makoto said as the two got their bags and walked out of the student council room. As Makoto turned to the library, she waved goodbye to Ren and said, "See you later!"

"See ya!" Ren said as he walked downstairs.

Ren managed to make it onto the train and back over to Yongen-Jaya, peacefully enjoying the air once he got out of the train. As Ren was about to open up the door to walk inside of Leblanc, he heard his phone ring. Ren got out his phone, half expecting it to be Nanako, but then saw that Makoto was calling. Ren answered the phone and put it up to his ear. "News already?"

"No, I just wanted to thank you again for sitting in with me today. It really helped."

"Anytime."

"I got a message from Takao-san earlier. Turns out, she has quite the Buchimaru-kun collection. She even sent me a link to a bunch of Buchimaru emoticons, so expect me to be using and abusing them in the group chat."

"I would expect nothing less." Ren said, smiling to himself. "Well, it sounds like you guys are getting along."

"Yeah... I guess you're right. I didn't expect to bond over something like this though. I'm pretty shocked, to be honest... Though despite what she says, I'm still a little worried about that store she works at."

"Me too." Ren agreed.

"I'll try a little harder to get through to her about that. I might come to you for more advice later. Right now, I'm gonna let you go. I really just called to thank you again."

"Don't mention it. Might wanna do your homework. We do have finals coming up."

"Same goes for you, okay?"

"I was planning on it."

"Good. Talk to you later."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Chapter Text

Four months ago...

"Hey Mako-chan!" Haru said happily as Makoto walked up to the root and waved hello. "How have you been? I haven't seen you for a while!"

"I'm doing better." Makoto admitted as she sat down at the makeshift table with her lunch. "I'm finishing up that report Principal Kobayakowa wants me to write."

"Oh?" Haru asked, wiping off her hands as she walked over to her own school bag, grabbed some hand sanitizer, and then grabbed her lunch. "What are you writing? Did you figure out who they are?"

"I think I've come to the realization that I should write what I think as opposed to what other people want me to write." Makoto explained. "Let's just say that Principal Kobayakowa isn't going to like what I'm going to write."

Haru smirked a little. "Good. He shouldn't be making you do this to begin with. When are you handing him the paper?"

"Next week. That's when the due date is."

"Do you want someone to be there for emotional support?" Haru asked. "I can stand right outside the door while you do it."

"You'd do that?"

"Of course! Besides, I really want to see that jerk knocked down a peg or two." Haru grumbled. "Serves him right, pushing his responsibilities onto other people..."

"Sounds like you have issues with him too..." Makoto said as she took a bite out of the sandwich she made that morning. "More than what he did to me, anyway."

Haru sighed, grabbing her normal bottle of tea out of her bag. "My father has this thing where he wants me to fight my own battles, but at the same time he wants me to be subservient and do what he says without complaint."

"Okay..."

"I was severely bullied here in our first year." Haru admitted. "Nobody liked how soft spoken I was or the fact that I knew a lot about plants... So I got bullied for it like there was no tomorrow. I tried telling the principal, but he said he wouldn't do anything unless my father thought it was a problem, so I tried talking to my father, and he said I had to take care of it myself."

"That's horrible... When I got made fun of, my father went immediately to the school."

Haru shrugged. "Well, as a result, most people in my class avoided me like the plague. Even though all that has been over for a while, the ringleader of the kids bullying me had to move out to Tatsumi Port Island since their parents got transferred, I don't really have a lot of friends... It's just me and my plants... The way everyone intended, I suppose."

"Well... You're not alone... Not anymore, anyway." Makoto said quickly. "I don't really have a lot of friends either, at least, not many friends my age. I honestly think most people are intimidated by me, so I only really have friends that are younger than me, and even that's a more recent thing."

Haru laughed. "Us outcasts have to stick together, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Makoto agreed. She felt her phone vibrate, pulling it out and seeing an email about the last practice test she did for college entrance exams over the weekend.

Haru glanced up and asked, "What's up?"

"I got my scores from the last practice test I did for the entrance exams."

"Oh? What's you get?" Haru asked excitedly.

Makoto scanned the test, her eyes narrowing. "I... I scored lowered than usual."

"What? How'd you score lower?" Haru asked.

"I... I don't know." Makoto admitted as she started at her phone screen. Her phone vibrated again, and she saw a text from Eiko. She clicked on the text, seeing that Eiko sent her links for recommended hand creams. Makoto went back to her text scores and said, "I can't let Sae know. She's only going to get angry with me."

"I'm so sorry." Haru said sympathetically. "How long ago did you take the test?"

"A few weeks ago..."

"So right in the middle of all the Kobayakowa stuff?"

"Yeah..."

"Maybe the stress from that caused you to score lower than usual?"

"I don't know... I just know that I need to get my score back up so that it's perfect by the time we get to the actual thing in January. I need to get into a good university."

"Well, I'm sure you'll get into a good university regardless." Haru said supportively. "What do you want to go to university for?"

"My default answer was always law, but now... I'm not really sure." Makoto admitted, grabbing a water bottle from her bag and taking a sip. "What do you want to go to university for?"

"Well, I've always wanted to go into agriculture and horticulture, but I'm not going to university."

"What? Why not?"

"My father doesn't want me to and since he'd be the one paying, I don't really have a choice. He has other plans for me that don't require a university degree."

"Why don't you just go against his wishes? Even if he has other plans for you, it's not going to be easy to make yourself known in the world without a college degree... That's what my sister always says, anyway."

"It's not that easy. Even though I wish it was, it isn't."

"Isn't that the truth about literally everything?" Makoto said sarcastically, then saw another text from Eiko on her phone. Makoto sighed, swipping on her phone to leave the message on unread. "Absolutely nothing is that easy..."

"Are you dealing with a different type of trouble of your own?" Haru asked.

"Not exactly... More student council stuff." Makoto admitted, noticing the time on her phone. "Lunch is almost over. We should start heading back to our classes."

"Right... Never enough hours in the day." Haru said sadly as she and Makoto started packing up their lunches.

Haru and Makoto walked back downstairs and parted ways, but instead of immediately heading back to her classroom, Makoto walked downstairs to the second years. She walked to the back door of Ren's classroom and saw Ren laughing at something Ryuji said as he, Ann, and Ryuji sat around Ren's desk. Ann was the first to notice Makoto, smiling and waving hello. Ren smiled when he saw Makoto, but then his smile fell slightly when he saw her face. Ren said something to Ryuji and Ann, then he walked over to Makoto. "Hey."

"Hey."

"Is everything okay? You look a little upset."

"I'm... Fine, just a lot going on."

"You doing anything after school?"

"No. Why?"

"I'm meeting Ryuji at the arcade in Shibuya so we can go to this monja place to do something for the track team, it's a really long story, but do you wanna meet at the student council room so we can talk about it on the train ride over?"

Makoto paused, feeling herself start to blush. "I... Was actually about to ask you about that myself, so that works out really well."

Ren smiled softly, lightly elbowing Makoto. "Hey, you and me being on the same wavelength is a good thing."

"Makes our plans more efficient."

"Exactly. See you after school?"

"Yup. See you... And make sure Ryuji makes it back to his classroom on time. We don't want to be suspicious."

"Will do. See you then." Makoto said, waving goodbye as she went back to her classroom.

Ren made his way back to Ryuji and Ann, sitting down at his desk. Ann smirked as she asked, "So... What was that about?"

"Stop it." Ren said, immediately knowing where Ann's mind was going. "Makoto just has something on her mind and she wants someone to talk to about it. We're meeting at the student council room, and then we're taking the train to Shibuya after school."

"You two do that often? Meet at the student council room?" Ryuji asked, tearing off a piece of his melon bun and taking a bite.

"About as regularly as I hang out with you guys after school." Ren said, noticing that Ryuji was studying him with a perplexed look on his face. "What?"

"Do you like... Have a crush on her or something?" Ryuji asked. "No shame if you do, I just didn't think that people like Makoto were your type."

"Oh for the love of-" Ren muttered to himself.

"AH HA! I KNEW IT WASN'T JUST ME!" Ann cheered.

"I do not have a crush on Makoto, guys..." Ren whined. "Just... Lay off."

"If you say so... I'm just surprised that Ann isn't your type." Ryuji commented. "I mean... She's hot."

Ann looked over at Ren, her eyes narrowing. "Do you agree with that statement?"

"It's not that you aren't my type," Ren said carefully. "I do find you extremely attractive. I think I'd have to be an idiot if I didn't find you attractive."

"I'm sensing a but here..."

"But I value you more as a friend than I do as someone I could be romantically involved with."

"So you value my friendship and don't see a romantic relationship brewing between us?"

"Exactly."

"Okay, but what does that say about you and Makoto?" Ryuji teased. "I mean, you were trying to become her friend before any of us were. You were the only one of us that gave her a chance and stuff..."

"That's true. I was there for most of it." Morgana said from Ren's desk, poking his head out slightly. "The late night phone calls, the constant reassurance, the green tea-"

"The green tea?" Ann interrupted. "What green tea?"

"Not important." Ren said exhaustedly, lifting up his glasses so he could rub his eyes. "Look, I'm not looking for a romantic relationship right now. My main goal here is survival. Survive the school year, get off probation, all that jazz. I can survive the year by making friends here since I don't think I have any left back home. The more friends I have, the easier it is for me to blend in. Besides, she looked really stressed out at the beginning of all this, so forgive me for trying to be a good person and make sure that she's doing okay mentally when literally everyone around her is putting extreme amounts of pressure on her to be perfect."

"What do you mean you don't think you have many back home?" Ryuji asked. "Weren't you on the phone with one a few weeks ago in front of me and Yusuke?"

"Yeah, well, something tells me that they aren't going to be calling any time soon." Ren said, his eyes glancing down at the crochet panda dangling from his bag. Ren took a deep breath, then said, "Makoto and I are friends, nothing more. End of story."

"You can say that as much as you want, but I think I know attraction when I see it, and you and Makoto are totally attracted to each other." Ann said, turning around and facing the front of the class as the bell rang.

Ryuji got out of his desk, then jokingly nudged Ren. "I'll meet you in Shibuya after your date with Makoto."

"It's not a date." Ren said exhaustedly as he readjusted how he was sitting in his seat. Ann simply laughed to herself, then pulled out her notebook as their next teacher walked into the room.

Chapter Text

Four months ago...

"So after food, train fare, phone bill, and basic hygine needs, art supplies is the next most important item on the list since you need art supplies so you can do art for your scholarship, correct?" Makoto said, glancing up from the paper she was working on to stare at Yusuke as he took a sip of his water.

Yusuke swallowed his water and nodded. "Correct."

"And then after that is clothes, shoes, and miscellaneous." Makoto said, quickly writing that down. "You get the same amount of money from Kosei every month, right?"

"Correct... Though I've been helping a few art galleries in the area correctly match up the past pupil to the painting, so I've been getting some money from various galleries that my paintings are being featured in to add to my disposable income. Any money coming in from my mother's name is going into a trust Madarame had set up for me to have access to when I turned eighteen... Not that I believe he would have let me have access to that trust, anyway." Yusuke admitted. "I'm also thinking about getting an after school job to give me some money as well."

"Well... Until that money gets added..." Makoto said, finishing her notes on the paper and slid it over to Yusuke. "That is your current budget list. I've allowed for some flexibility, but... Try to stick to it as much as you can."

"I will do my best." Yusuke said, carefully taking the piece of paper and sticking it in his bag. "It will be strange... Having to adapt to being cautious of money... Even having access to money is a little strange."

"Well, if you ever need help, just let me know." Makoto said with a small smile. "I'm always here to help."

"I appreciate it." Yusuke said, taking another sip of his water. "Are you adjusting okay? You know... To all this?"

"It's weird, I'll admit it." Makoto agreed. "Is the wait always this nerve-wracking?"

"It was with Madarame." Yusuke admitted. "And as much as I care about the others... I feel like they don't entirely understand, you know? They all experienced this at the same time. Even though I joined during the second time, they had already developed their own coping mechanisms. They tried to help me out as much as they can, but-"

"They're the originals and we're the new kids on the blocks?" Makoto guessed.

"Exactly. I know that they don't make it that way, but part of me feels like Ren, Ann, Ryuji, and Morgana just have this bond that anyone else who joins after them won't have any chance to match. I sort of feel like an outsider sometimes. It doesn't help that I don't go to the same school as everyone else."

"I know what you mean." Makoto agreed. "The four of them always have lunch together. I've invited them to join me in the student council room and Ann has invited me to join them in their classroom, but I feel kind of awkward walking down to the second year classrooms to join them for lunch, even if I'm just going down there to ask them a question. There's no doubt that all of us are going to have some strange bond because of this, but it doesn't change the fact that the original four have a much... Closer knit bond than the rest of us. They started this together, they'll end it together."

Yusuke nodded. He held out his water glass, tipping it towards Makoto. "Then how about you and I make our own bond?"

"What are you proposing?" Makoto asked, grabbing her cup of poorly made coffee in comparison to the coffee Ren made her the morning after setting up the calling cards on Central Street.

"For ourselves and any potential Phantom Thieves who will join later because it's starting to become a trend that someone else will probably join the next time we go to change someone's heart," Yusuke said, swirling his glass around once. "We agree that those of us in the second wave will be there for each other... No matter what. We'll help the other out with whatever is needed, no questions asked."

"We'll be there if the other needs to vent about whatever." Makoto added. "We'll be there to help them get through the hardships, especially since we know what it's like to have to deal with First Palace jitters when everyone else in the group has dealt with at least one Palace before."

"It seems we're in agreement."

"It seems so, Yusuke." Makoto said, clinking her coffee cup with Yusuke's water glass. The two took sips of their drinks in unison, then set their cups down. "How's your art going, by the way?"

"... It's going. Ren has been doing his best to help me get back into the swing of things after Madarame and someone called my most recent work soulless and devoid of passion, but it's hard to find the passion when you don't really have the motivation to do what you used to love."

"Preaching to the choir. I can't find the motivation to study right now." Makoto said exhaustedly. "I know that I need to, but it's hard to do that when you're questioning literally everything about yourself."

"I know. My floormates in the dorms have been trying to teach me random normal things during forced floor bonding Friday nights like card games and movies, but I don't entirely understand it." Yusuke admitted. "They keep giving me movies to watch, but I can't exactly watch them since I don't have a TV."

"What movies?" Makoto asked.

"The most recent one was suggested to me by this kid on my floor who's really into science... Atlantis... Atlantis something."

Makoto's eyes widened. "Atlantis: The Lost Empire?"

Yusuke snapped his fingers. "Yes! Exactly!"

"I own that movie!"

"You do?"

"Are you busy tonight? Any homework?"

"No. Why?"

"If you want, we can go over to my apartment and watch it. You'll even get a free meal out of it."

Yusuke excitedly slammed his hands down on the table. "You'll make me dinner!?"

"I can't guarantee that I'm the best chef to ever exist, but I'll make you dinner."

"Say no more! I will do anything for free food!"

"... Note to self, we need to come up with a clearer definition of 'anything'." Makoto said, laughing as she and Yusuke walked to the front to pay for their drinks.

As soon as they paid, Makoto lead the way back to her apartment, the two chit chatting the entire walk over. As soon as they got inside and took off their shoes, Yusuke looked at the stark white walls and dark furniture. "Wow... What a... Nice home."

"This is my sister's style, not mine." Makoto said, pausing in the hallway to the bedrooms. "Now that I'm thinking about it..."

Makoto walked over to her bedroom, Yusuke following close behind. She flicked on the lights as Yusuke inspected the bookshelves standing against the left wall of her bedroom, the warm toned lights casting a cozy glow around the small area. Yusuke commented, "Now this is what I imagined your area looking like... It honestly kind of reminds me of how cozy Leblanc is..."

"Really? I guess I need to spend more time in Leblanc then." Makoto decided, walking over to her closet. She grabbed the bag she had prepared on top of the box with her father's stuff, then handed it to Yusuke. "For you... Sorry they're pink."

"What is it?" Yusuke asked, starting to inspect the inside of the bag.

"Twin sized sheets for your bed at the dorms." Makoto said, Yusuke pausing. "Ya know, so you don't have to sleep on a naked mattress anymore. I got a bigger mattress, so those don't fit on my bed anymore."

"T-Thank you." Yusuke said, a little shocked as Makoto grabbed a movie box from her bookshelves and walked out of her room.

"It's like you said, us second wavers have to stick together." Makoto said as she watched Yusuke close her bedroom door. "Do you mind helping me with dinner? I can handle the actual cooking, but having someone help me chop up some vegetables would be nice."

"Of course. It's only fair I help out... Though I'm afraid the only knife I have a lot of experience with is a pallet knife... I don't think that really helps out in this situation."

"Did you not eat with knives a lot before now?"

"Not really... When we ate food in the shack, it was primarily soup, rice, and sandwiches, and if it was in public, it was typically sushi. If we couldn't eat it with our hands or some chopsticks, we typically didn't eat at all. I kinda know how to use a knife as long as it isn't too sharp..." Yusuke said, rolling up his sleeves to show Makoto a few small scars on his arms. "I got these the first few times I fought using my Persona. Using a katana is not as easy as it appears."

Makoto smiled as she set the movie down on the kitchen table, then walked over to the kitchen sink. She washed off her hands, then showed Yusuke her knuckles, which had a few red scratches and healing bruises on them. "I usually wrap up my hands before I do any aikido, especially if weapons are involved. I've been using concealer and foundation to hide my injuries while I'm at school."

"Does your sister know?"

Makoto nodded, walking over to the fridge. "When the bruises started forming, I told her I had to punch out some frustrations after school one day and forgot to bring my wrapping. She doesn't suspect a thing."

"Is she going to come home tonight?"

"I'm not sure. She and her team have been pretty busy with Kaneshiro ever since he turned himself in." Makoto said honestly, getting some vegetables out of the fridge and grabbing the cutting board from the cabinets. "She's rarely ever here anymore, so I've gotten used to being alone."

"Honestly... Same here. It's weird being alone for the first time in your life."

"You got that right." Makoto said, grabbing a knife from the drawers and set it on the cutting board. "If you cut yourself while cutting the veggies, we have a first aid kit in the kitchen."

"Good to know." Yusuke said, carefully grabbing the knife to start cutting the vegetables while Makoto started getting the rice cooker ready.

The two started making dinner, Makoto guiding Yusuke on how to cut the vegetables while she handled the harder things. Shortly after they were finished making dinner and were a good hour into the movie, Makoto heard the front door open. Sae walked into the apartment and said as she took off her shoes, "Makoto, I'm ho- What in the-"

"Hey Sis." Makoto interrupted, getting out of her seat on the couch as Yusuke waved hello.

"Nice to see you again, Niijima-san." Yusuke said politely before going back to the movie.

"Have you eaten yet? We have leftovers." Makoto said, going to make Sae a bowl regardless of what she said.

Sae followed Makoto into the kitchen and whispered, "Makoto, how do you know Kitagawa-kun?"

"He started going to my Sunday juku." Makoto lied. It was getting way easier to lie than she liked, but at least lying was easier than telling her sister that they were two of the Phantom Thieves. "The second years in his class there kind of avoid him, so we started eating lunch together."

"... He goes to your juku?"

Yusuke turned around and nodded. "Yes, Makoto has actually been helping me a lot. I'm afraid I fell behind on some of my studies due to Madarame wanting me to focus solely on art, so she's been helping me catch up. We were having a tutoring session before we decided to come back here to eat dinner and watch a movie. I hope my presence isn't troubling you. I truly appreciate what you did by getting the whole Madarame situation under control."

"N-No, you're not troubling me. I just didn't realize that you knew my sister, that's all."

"It's a recent friendship." Makoto said, offering Sae the bowl of rice, fried pork, and fried vegetables.

"Right. We only became friends a few weeks ago."

"Alright..."

"How was work?" Makoto asked, trying to change the subject.

"It was work... We've decided that it's safe for Kaneshiro to make a statement tomorrow, so we're going public with the arrest."

"You... You are?" Makoto asked, Yusuke tensing up slightly on the couch.

Sae nodded. "Hopefully any classmates of your's will be safe from that man and his people starting tomorrow. If you get asked any questions about the investigation-"

"Say nothing, I know." Makoto said as Sae took the bowl from her hands.

"I'm going to do some more work in my room. Thank you for dinner." Sae said as she started walking back to the bedrooms. She glanced over at Yusuke and said, "Make sure you get back to where your staying at a decent hour, okay? You have school tomorrow."

"Yes ma'am." Yusuke said, watching as Sae walked back into her bedroom.

Makoto walked back over to the couch and sat down next to Yusuke, giving him a perplexed look. She whispered, "Should I text the rest of the group?"

"I would." Yusuke said, watching as Makoto pulled out her phone to send a text.

"Does... Does that mean we did it?"

"I believe so... Yes." Yusuke quietly answered. "We'll know for sure tomorrow."

"Right... I guess we'll find out for certain tomorrow."

"I suppose so."

The movie finished about half an hour later and Makoto followed Yusuke to the front door. Yusuke smiled at Makoto and said, "Thank you again for dinner and helping me make the budget sheet. I truly appreciate it."

"Don't mention it, seriously. I was happy to help."

"We should do this again during summer break."

"Totally. I can show you my favorite Disney movie. I think you'd appreciate the art style."

"What movie?"

"Cinderella. It's all in Mary Blair's art style and it looks absolutely gorgeous."

"Then that'll be our next movie." Yusuke agreed. He made sure that he had everything he needed to go back to Kosei with, then nodded. "Alright, I'm out... We'll find out if the change of heart was successful tomorrow."

"Here's hoping... I just need to finish an essay for tomorrow." Makoto said, Yusuke giving her a confused look. "Long story I'm sure you know bits and pieces of."

Yusuke laughed. "Tell me how it goes later. I'll hear from you tomorrow."

"Talk to you tomorrow." Makoto said, waving goodbye as Yusuke left the apartment. As soon as the door was closed, Makoto walked into her bedroom, pulled out her notebook, and started writing her official essay to Principal Kobayakowa.

Chapter Text

Four months ago...

"Hell yeah! Kaneshiro totally confessed! You guys saw that press conference, yeah?" Ryuji asked as he, Ann, Ren, Morgana, and Yusuke gathered on the accessway in Shibuya.

"Kinda hard not to see it. It's been all over the news." Ren said, motioning to one of the TV above the accessway, which normally showed train schedules but now showed almost constant reminders of Kaneshiro's change of heart.

"I must admit, it's difficult to accept that the police are taking all of the credit for his arrest." Yusuke said nervously.

"People are going nuts about the Phantom Thieves on line though!" Ann said as she looked up from her phone. She turned her phone around and showed the other the Phansite, which was now loaded with requests and positive comments. "Just look at all this!"

"It's all comin' together for us!" Ryuji said happily.

"This is quite the turnaround. All of a sudden, people are expressing their long-standing beliefs in us." Yusuke added.

"I guess it's a good thing Makoto took care of the posting strategy for this calling card then, huh? Lot of people know about us now." Ren said with a pleased smile on his face.

"Pretty smart move on her part." Ryuji agreed, then looked around and realized Makoto wasn't there. "Where is our amazing Miss President, anyway?"

As if on cue, Ren's phone rang. He grabbed it out of his pocket, laughing when he saw that Makoto was the one calling him. "Speak of the devil..."

"Maybe she sensed us talking about her." Morgana jokingly commented.

Ren answered the phone, putting it on speaker. "Hey Makoto. What's up?"

"I just wanted to send in my apologies. I won't be able to join you guys today. I'm... I'm giving my final verdict about the Phantom Thieves to Principal Kobayakowa in a few minutes." Makoto said, sounding a little nervous.

"Kick his ass, Makoto!" Ann cheered.

"Use the Fists of Justice on him!" Ryuji echoed.

"The... The Fists of what?"

"Ignore them." Yusuke said, shooting Ryuji a playful, yet dirty look. "We're all rooting for you."

"We got your back, Makoto." Morgana agreed.

"Don't let him push you around. You're stronger than you realize. You got this." Ren added.

Makoto laughed, sounding way less paranoid. "Thanks guys... I appreciate it."

"Tell us how it goes later, okay?" Ann requested.

"I will." Makoto promised. "I gotta go, so I'll see you guys later. Bye!"

"Bye Makoto." Ren said, stuffing his phone in his pocket.

"You know... I heard that there was a special about us on that talk show we went on that field trip to." Ryuji commented. "Why don't the five of us go over to my house to celebrate?"

"I'm free." Yusuke said chipperly.

"Same here!" Ann agreed.

"It's decided, then. Lead the way, Ryuji!" Ren said, clapping his hands on Ryuji's shoulders while Ryuji turned around and lead the way down.

"Still... I'm worried about what Shadow Kaneshiro said at the end..." Yusuke commented.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned about that too." Ren agreed. "Especially since the police might be more aware of us now."

"Oh relax," Ryuji said exhaustedly. "There's no way the police are gonna be aware of that other world!"

"Still, we should be careful right now. Maybe plan a day we all go into Mementos once some of this all dies down." Ann added.

"I'd be down for that. We can figure out meeting stuff later." Ren said, taking a deep breath. "For now, let's just enjoy our victory before finals."

"Ugh, don't remind me." Ryuji said exhaustedly. "I hate finals, man!"

"I believe in what I wrote... 'The Phantom Thieves are just'." Makoto said bluntly.

"Have you figured out who they are?"

"No. I'm nowhere close." Makoto said, taking a deep breath. "However, after considering all the facts, I've concluded there are no errors in their acts or principles. Thus, upon deeming them to be on the side of justice, I have decided to end my investigation."

"But that's impossible!" Principal Kobayakowa argued. "I tasked you to find out who they are and to decide if they were just or not. I believe your father-"

"You do not, under any circumstances, get to bring my late father into this, especially since you and I both know he would be upset that you were entrusting a student to look into a dangerous drug smuggling operation and to look into an investigation that should have been left to the police. Besides, you and I both know that my father would agree with my judgement." Makoto interrupted, Principal Kobayakowa pausing mid sentence.

"But your judgement is impossible!"

"Impossible...? May I see the evidence you have that leads you to believe so?" Makoto asked, staring Principal Kobayakowa down.

Principal Kobayakowa huffed, leaning back in his chair. "And I was just speaking to the director of a prestigious college about your letter of recommendation too..."

"Oh no... After everything you have put me through this past month, you are not going to pull the blackmail card on me. I am done being your subservient puppet." Makoto said confidently. "Besides, there will be no need for that. I intend on getting into a good college on my own merit... Especially if you are just going to blackmail me into writing about what you want when the Phantom Thieves took down the mafia boss who was targeting your students for drug muling to begin with."

"E-Excuse me!?"

"You forced me to look into who was exorting your students on Central Street, so I did. Junya Kaneshiro was taking pictures of your students in questionable situations and then extorted them for money. He even tried to do the same thing to me once I got on his trail." Makoto said, Principal Kobayakowa's eyes widening. "I will not allow myself to be extorted for someone else's personal gain... Not again. The Phantom Thieves protected our students and saved them from more extortion. To me, that proves they are just."

"You... How dare you-"

"So here is how this is going to go," Makoto said calmly. "You are going to stop asking me to do jobs that clearly should be going to a qualified adult. I will still do my best as student council president. Anything you need from me, student council wise, I will be there. Anything else... Never again. I am not someone you can just push around by dangling a letter of recommendation above my head like a carrot. If you decide that you need to extort me or anyone else in this school for your own personal gain, I will be telling my sister everything you have been making me do... Something tells me that Sae will be extremely upset to hear about this if I ever decide to tell her about what you have put me through. I hope I have made myself clear, Principal Kobayakowa. I am formally resigning from your witch hunt from this moment onward."

Principal Kobayakowa stared at Makoto, absolutely dumbfounded, as Makoto took a step back and bowed. "Now, if you'll excuse me and my bluntness, Principal Kobayakowa, but I must get going. Have a wonderful rest of your day."

Makoto stood up and turned around, walking out of the room. Principal Kobayakowa protested, "Hey, we're not done here!"

"I believe we are." Makoto said, bowing for a second time before she left the office.

Haru was standing by the door, a big grin on her face. "I've... Recorded everything for my own amusement later! I heard it from outside the door! That was awesome! How do you feel?"

Makoto took a deep breath, then felt all the tension in her body release. "Like a huge weight as been lifted off my shoulders."

"We need to go celebrate this! This is huge!"

"Oh really?"

"The theater on Central Street is showing a rerun of Les Mis! I don't know if you're into musicals-"

"Are you kidding? I love musicals!"

"We should go then! The next showing is in an hour."

"Sounds like-" Makoto said, hearing Principal Kobayakowa talking to someone on the phone. Something sounded off in his voice... Like he was scared. Makoto looked over at Haru. "Are you still recording audio?"

Haru got out her phone, then nodded. "Yeah... Seems like I forgot to press the stop button... Oops."

"Hand me your phone." Makoto said quietly, holding out her hand.

Haru handed Makoto her phone and the two stood by the door into the office, listening to Principal Kobayakowa's half of the phone conversation. "Yes, I am making some progress. However, I have stumbled upon some difficulties... Still, why would someone as important as you be interested in a petty case like this?... N-No, that's not what I meant! I will investigate with all the resources available to me!... Of course, um, I should be able to let you know relatively soon... Yes, I will bring good news... Well then, thank you for your-... Damnit!"

Makoto and Haru took a few steps away from the door before Makoto stopped the recording and handed it back to Haru. "Think you can send that to me?"

"Yeah... Who was he talking to?"

"I don't know, but I think him forcing me to look into the Phantom Thieves has a lot more behind it than I originally thought..."

"Are we going to do a little investigating?" Haru asked excitedly as she forwarded the audio to Makoto.

"Maybe after finals." Makoto said, not wanting to get Haru any more involved than absolutely necessary. "Right now, we have a showing of Les Mis to catch."

"Right! Let's go!"

Chapter Text

Present day...

"Don't be ridiculous! This new ally you gained is Makoto!?" Sae argued, slamming the table as she stood up.

"I don't know. You're the judge here." Ren said, deciding it would be better not to answer.

"Just tell me the truth!"

"You already know the truth. I've been telling you nothing but the truth this entire time."

Sae grimaced as she sat back down. "That's preposterous... If what you say is true... Was Makoto also running from the police when you were arrested!?"

"Ask her yourself once you leave the interrogation room."

"Now that I think about it... She did start talking a lot about the investigation from summer onward... Makoto aside, though, you mentioned two other important details." Sae said, getting back on topic. "You said that Kaneshiro told you there was someone in a black mask running around in these so called Palaces and you also said that it seems that Principal Kobayakowa was somehow a player in all this... Those words could just be taken as you shifting blame to this other person, you know."

"I'm gonna sound like a broken record, but take it how you will." Ren said, starting to feel dizzy again. He was finally starting to feel the pain in his arms and legs. It was almost overwhelming.

"But why would you fabricate such an elaborate story and then shift the blame elsewhere?"

"I wouldn't."

"There are two possibilities. Either you've simply been trying to confuse me with your lies... Or everything you've stated is true. Have you been telling me the truth from the very start?"

"You guys caught me, remember? I have no reason to lie about the events and how they happened." Ren reminded Sae. "The only thing I do have a reason to lie about is my friends. I will never, ever, sell them out, no matter what kind of deal you may try to make with me."

"Does that mean you're placing your trust in me?" Sae asked. Ren just nodded. "Why?"

"Because a queen told me I could." Ren said, staring Sae down. "And the queen doesn't lie about stuff like that."

"Very well... No matter how absurd it may seem, I'll reevaluate my stance on believing you for now. In return, speak the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It's a fair deal... Is that acceptable?"

"Of course." Ren said, then saw a familiar tarot card hovering above Sae's head, except this one was one he had never seen until now... Le Jugement... The Judgement. Ren just had to laugh at the flaming blue tarot card. "Of fucking course this happens right now. Why wouldn't it? Why wouldn't this be happening right now? And you just had to be Judgement... How ironic is that?"

"What... What are you..." Sae asked, looking above her head and not seeing anything. "Are you okay? Are the drugs getting making you hallucinate? If you're hallucinating, then you-"

"No, no, I'm fine... This is just so cruel and unfunny that I have to laugh at the irony." Ren said, shaking his head in disappointment. "Anyway, where were we? Were you about to ask me to explain who the next person we targeted is?"

"Well... Yes, but it was them who targeted your group first, yes?" Sae asked, moving to the next part of her file. She turned the file around, showing Ren a green postcard that simply read @MedJed. "We have no pictures. Even their names and identities are unknown. If what you told me is true, then this 'Nav' thing you've mentioned wouldn't have worked in this case. How did you target them? Tell me everything."

"Well... You got one thing wrong here." Ren said, turning the file back around to Sae. "MedJed was part of the larger picture, yeah, but we never changed MedJed's heart... Technically speaking. We changed a MedJed but not that MedJed. MedJed wasn't technically our target, even though we took care of them later anyways."

"Then who was the target?"

"Well... That requires a bit more explanation..."

Four months ago...

Makoto lead Ryuji, Ann, and Yusuke into Leblanc Sunday evening. Ren looked over from the counter, starting to make Makoto's cup of coffee that he owed her. Ryuji waved hello and said, "'Sup? We're here to hang out!"

Ann playfully slapped Ryuji behind his neck. "That's not why we're here! We need to study for finals!"

"Where's Boss?" Yusuke asked as he looked at the counter and only saw Ren standing behind it. "Did he leave you in charge?"

"Yeah... He's been gone all day." Ren admitted as everyone took a seat in a booth. "Something about needing to go fix a printer because it wasn't cute...? I don't know."

"Did you hear that right?" Makoto asked as she got out her study materials.

"To be totally honest, I'm not entirely sure..." Ren admitted.

"So Makoto, you're totally gonna help us out if we have any questions, right?" Ryuji asked hopefully. "You're one of us, so you just have to help us out! We're in trouble if you don't help us, you know!"

Ren almost dropped a coffee mug, staring at Ryuji in shock. Makoto looked over at Ren in concern. "Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Y-Yeah, I-I'm fine." Ren said, sounding a little frazzled. "Ryuji, don't force Makoto to help if she doesn't want to."

"It's okay, Ren, I was planning on giving those of you at Shujin some tips anyway... I remember some of the harder questions they asked us last year."

"Oh thank God." Ann said, letting out a breath of relief.

Makoto looked around the cafe, taking a deep breath of freshly ground coffee beans. "I still can't believe you live here... It must be rough."

Ren shrugged. "Could be worse... Sojiro doesn't mind having a helping hand around the cafe."

"We're all sorta in the same boat... We all have someone we can't forgive because of their injustices towards the world." Ryuji said, glancing over at Makoto. "Do you have someone like that? Like... A heart you want to change or something?"

"... That's a secret I will never tell." Makoto said, staring down at the ground. She did, technically speaking, but it's not like she knew the man's name.

"So there is someone? You could just tell us. No need to be so cold with friends, after all."

Yusuke lightly kicked Ryuji's good leg. "She doesn't need to tell us if she doesn't want to."

"Can we just start studying now guys?" Makoto asked.

"Excellent idea." Ren said, walking over to Makoto with the coffee. "Your coffee, madam. And don't worry, I preadded in the salt."

Makoto smiled as she took the coffee from Ren. "Thank you."

Everyone sat down to start studying, even Yusuke despite the fact that he didn't go to the same school as everyone else. Makoto explained terms to everyone when questions popped up, but for the most part, she muttered to herself as they all studied. "Hmm... What was this term again? It's a phobia, so it's a fear..."

"Oh, that's fear of open spaces. You don't hear it too often." Ann said, glancing over at Makoto's paper. "Leave vocab to me... But don't trust me with grammar. I suck at grammar."

"Even if we study English, it's not like I'm gonna use it in the future..." Ryuji grumbled.

"You never know... You could need to use it." Ren said, tapping Ryuji's paper. "Keep studying."

"When it comes to you, your Japanese is questionable too." Morgana commented.

"No fighting while studying." Makoto and Ren said in unison before Ryuji had the chance to open his mouth, the two not even looking up from their notes.

"Okay Mom and Dad, sheesh." Ryuji commented before going back to his own notes.

After a few more minutes of everyone studying, an alarm on Makoto's phone went off. She grabbed her phone and turned off the alarm, then stretched her arms. "Okay guys... Break time."

"We get breaks?" Ann asked.

"Obviously. It's not healthy to constantly study all the time." Makoto said, setting her things off to the side as Ryuji excitedly closed his notebook.

"Okay, so, onto fun stuff, I've been doing some research," Ryuji said, a giant smile on his face. "I've been looking into firework festival stuff. It looks like there's a firework festival here in Tokyo a few days after finals end... The eighteenth, if I'm remembering correctly. We're still doing that for Makoto's welcome party, right?"

Ann nodded enthusiastically as she looked over at Makoto. "We can get ready at my house and then head over! You mentioned having a yukata, right?"

Makoto nodded. "Yeah. Want to figure out a time on the actual day?"

"We'll probably need a few hours-"

"May I join you two in wearing a yukata?" Yusuke asked, interrupting Ann and Makoto. "I have one that I don't have many opportunities to wear anymore."

"Of course! Maybe we should all wear yukata!" Ann suggested.

"I don't have a yukata." Ryuji admitted. "I've never really had a chance to buy one and renting one seems too expensive."

"I left mine back home since I figured I wouldn't have a need for one here." Ren admitted.

"Okay, but you two should still do something different if you aren't going to wear yukata." Ann said, tucking one of her feet under her body as she readjusted how she was sitting.

"I... Have a new pair of shorts I can wear?" Ryuji hesitantly suggested.

"I guess that works..." Ann said, glancing between Makoto and Ren. With a small smirk, Ann suggested, "Hey Ren, why don't you leave your glasses at home for the night?"

"What? That's a stupid idea... No offense." Makoto said quickly. "He kinda needs them to see, and if we're going to go see fireworks-"

"Actually, these aren't prescription glasses." Ren admitted, tapping his frames. "They're bluelight glasses. I wear them to make myself seem inconspicuous... You know, to not draw attention to myself..."

"Oh..."

"And you've seen me without my glasses, Ann. It's not like I have them on whole I'm tearing off my mask."

"Yeah, but that's only for, like, two seconds at a time. It's just to do something different for a longer period of time." Ann said, tilting her head as she smiled at Ren. "Come on... It'll be fun..."

Ren rolled his eyes. "Fine. I won't wear my glasses when we go to the fireworks festival."

"Yay!" Ann said, clapping her hands with joy.

Yusuke turned on the TV with the remote behind the counter, the news showing the same talk show Akechi was always on. Makoto rolled her eyes as the talk show host said, "And that was the follow-up report on the suspect Kaneshiro. Now, Akechi-san... This case is said to be the result of the Phantom Thieves' actions, but in actuality, is this true?"

"Considering how a calling card was scattered about, I believe there's no mistaking that." Akechi said calmly. "The question is what the Phantom Thieves actually did. If they tampered with a suspect's heart, it casts doubt on the authenticity of any confession."

"So then, by tampering with hearts, the Phantom Thieves are fabricating crimes that may or may not exist?"

"We can't deny the possibility. There's no doubt the Phantom Thieves are exposing hidden injustices in society. However, if this is done by sidestepping the law, their way of thinking is very dangerous."

"So, in a way, they're outlaws."

"Yes. They're no different than the criminals they target. This cannot be overlooked." Akechi concluded.

"I see..."

"'I see' my ass!" Ryuji said, the group focusing on their own conversation once again. "Why the hell're we bein' treated as the bad guys?"

"Just let them say whatever they want." Ann said flippantly. "More people are starting to understand that what we're doing is right, after all."

"When I'm walkin' around in town, I hear a lot more people talkin' about us too. And the forum's been full of hype! Do you think we made it big time?" Ryuji asked excitedly.

"Don't get pompous over dealing with some street thug." Morgana chided.

"Are we forgetting that that 'street thug' was a mafia boss?" Makoto asked. "I mean... I gotta admit, what we just did was pretty cool."

"Save it for after we deal with a bigger target." Morgana continued.

"We just gotta take down a bigger one, yeah?" Ryuji asked. "That was the plan from the start, anyways!"

"True... It may be best if we start thinking about it... Keep our eyes and ears open for someone to target once some of the mayhem after Kaneshiro dies down." Makoto agreed.

"I bet we'll find one in no time! The wind's blowin' in our direction and everything! I feel like we won't lose to anything right now."

"Well, we'll decide on that eventually. First, we need to overcome our exams." Makoto said as her alarm on her phone went off again. "And right on schedule. Another hour of studying before the next break."

"Man, I can't wait until the fireworks festival..." Ryuji said excitedly.

"Study comes first though. I won't let you off if you fail any of them. Do I make myself clear?" Makoto asked sternly as she turned off the alarm.

"Y-Yes ma'am." Ryuji stuttered.

Sojiro walked into Leblanc, jumping when he saw the cluster of teenagers. "Oh, right, you mentioned something about your friends coming over here to study..."

"Sorry that we're taking up so much space here, sir." Makoto said, politely bowing her head. "It was my idea to force them all to study."

Sojiro studied Makoto, his eyes narrowing. "You're a new one in the group... You came by last time."

Makoto nodded. "I'm Makoto Niijima... I believe we talked on the phone a few weeks ago. I'm Shujin's student council president."

Sojiro glanced over at Ren, then asked, "Is he giving you any trouble?"

"Nope... He's been a perfect angel." Makoto teased, Ren snorting. "Honestly, he's been helping me out a lot. You don't have to worry about him giving me any trouble."

"Well... Alright. I just came by to make sure everything went okay today while I was gone..." Sojiro said carefully.

Ren nodded. "Everything went fine. A few more regulars came in and left before the gang got here. I checked them out myself. Did you get that cute printer situation figured out?"

"What...?"

"Before you left, you were talking to someone on the phone about a printer not being cute enough or... Something." Ren reminded Sojiro. "Did you get that all figured out?"

"Oh... Right. Yeah, I got that taken care of. Thanks for watching the cafe while I was dealing with it."

"No problem."

"Remember to lock up after your friends leave, okay?"

"Will do."

"Have a good rest of your night, Boss!" Ann called after Sojiro as he left.

"You too, Ann-chan." Sojiro said with a smile, waving goodbye to everyone as he left Leblanc.

"Boss?" Makoto asked.

"It's what everyone calls him." Ren said, shrugging. "He's pretty chill once you get to know him."

"I see... But seriously, we need to return to studying."

"Wow, you're such a nerd." Ryuji said, rolling his eyes.

"A nerd who can beat you up. Remember that." Makoto said, tapping Ryuji's notebook. "Study. Now."

"Y-Yes Queen."

Chapter Text

Four months ago...

"Hey Ann, could you help me tie this thing?" Makoto asked as she held up the sash for her yukata.

"Of course!" Ann said, walking over to Makoto. Makoto handed Ann the sash, standing as straight as she could. "How do you think finals went?"

"I think they went fairly well. How do you think your finals went?"

"I think I passed..." Ann said hopefully. As Ann tied the sash, she said, "Sorry that we couldn't do this at my house. My parents just got home and they're having some dinner party-"

"It's okay. My apartment is closer to the meeting point with the guys anyway." Makoto said as Ann finished tying off the yellow sash. Makoto took a step back from Ann, then did a quick spin. "Does it look good?"

"Yeah. Does mine?" Ann asked, taking a quick spin to show off her bright blue yukata.

"Yeah, it looks fine." Makoto said quickly as she walked over to the small mirror in her bedroom and double checked that the light makeup she had put on looked okay.

"Are you doing something different with your hair?" Ann asked, walking over to her bag.

"Probably not. Why?"

"Well... I got some cute flower clips, and one of the ones I got doesn't actually go with my yukata." Ann said, grabbing two flower claw clips out of her bag. One was pretty big with deep blue and pink flowers while the other was much smaller, decorated with various orange and a different shade of pink that didn't match Ann's butterfly printed yukata. Ann held the smaller clip out to Makoto. "I thought you'd like it since the colors go better with your yukata."

"I... I'm not exactly the best at hair or... Anything. I only just figured out makeup this past year." Makoto said, taking the clip from Ann's hands. "There's a reason why I usually just go with a headband."

"Okay. Turn around again." Ann commanded. Makoto did as Ann said, handing the clip back to her as Ann set her own clip down on Makoto's bed. Ann managed to quickly braid two pieces of Makoto's hair, then twisted some of it against Makoto's head before clipping it in place with the flower clip. Ann smiled as Makoto turned her head to get a better look at the flower clip. "There... It's slightly more elaborate than what I'm going to do, but it looks cute!"

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it. I'll send you some tutorials on how to do short hair later." Ann said as she twisted her long blonde hair behind her head. She took her clip and made sure her hair was secure, the part of her hair that didn't fit into the clip dangling down in blonde curls. Ann grabbed her fabric purse off of Makoto's bed, double checking that her phone was inside, before she asked, "You got your purse?"

Makoto nodded, grabbing her purse off of her desk, feeling the weight of her phone inside. "Let's go."

Makoto and Ann walked back out to the living room and out to the passageway that separated the apartment from the hallway, grabbing their sandals. Sae walked in through the door, looking at Makoto and Ann suspiciously. "Makoto... What are you wearing?"

"A yukata..." Makoto said carefully, pushing some of her hair out of her face. "Ann and I are meeting some of our friends at the train station before we go to the fireworks festival."

"Isn't that Mom's yukata?"

"You don't mind... Do you?" Makoto asked nervously. "You said that I could always wear it if I want to-"

"No, it's okay." Sae said, giving Ann a quick once over. "Just make sure you're home at a decent hour, okay? I know that it's almost summer, but that doesn't mean you get to slack off."

"I know. I'll be back before the trains shut down for the night, promise." Makoto said, waving goodbye as she left the apartment.

"Nice meeting you!" Ann said politely as she followed Makoto out. "So that's your sister, huh?"

"Yup... That's Sae." Makoto confirmed.

"Don't let Sae ruin tonight. It's your welcome party, remember?" Ann said positively.

Makoto nodded. "Right. Let's have fun."

"Exactly."

Ann and Makoto walked to the train station and chit chatted about random things, keeping each other entertained. As they walked into the station, Makoto saw Ren, Ryuji, and Yusuke standing against a wall while two other girls in yukata annoyed Yusuke. Yusuke honestly looked more natural in a yukata than anything, the yukata a dark blue color that almost perfectly matched his hair. Ryuji looked pretty much the same except for the fact he was wearing what appeared to be a pair of khaki shorts that didn't look as worn down by time as the others. As promised though, Ren wasn't wearing his glasses, but he was wearing his normal casual clothes: jeans, tennis shoes, black T-shirt, and white collared shirt over it.

As Makoto and Ann walked over, they heard Yusuke say to the two girls bothering them, "You're disgracing your yukata. You should be more aware of your womanhood. Now leave us alone. We're waiting for two of our friends."

The two girls walked away, looking a little miffed at Yusuke's comment, as Ryuji argued, "Dude, how could you!?"

"Why don't you go after them then?" Ann asked as she and Makoto got closer.

Ryuji's eyes widened out of fear as Makoto added, "So those are the kinds of girls you like, Ryuji."

"Uh... Well... That's..." Ryuji stammered.

"You know, Yusuke is such a pretty boy, but he is really missing out because of what he says." Ann said bluntly as she noticed Ren studying Makoto out of the corner of her eye.

"I guess, but he's more likeable since he stays true to his ideals... Definitely more than somebody I know." Makoto retorted as she stared directly at Ryuji.

"I heard that Ryuji's pretty much failed his exams!" Morgana said chipperly as he poked his body out of Ren's brown bag.

"Oh?" Makoto asked, staring daggers into Ryuji's soul.

"Mona, you little shit." Ryuji said angrily.

"Hey, it's going to get crowded if we don't get going." Ann said, interrupting the brewing argument between Morgana and Ryuji.

"Agreed." Yusuke said, following Ann as she walked away.

Ryuji slinked behind, as if trying to get away from Makoto's wrath, while Ren and Makoto took up the back of the group. As they walked, Makoto whispered to Ren, "Did Ryuji really fail his exams?"

"He did better than he thinks he did." Ren answered. "He's not top of the class or anything like I am, but he didn't do horribly. He passed."

"You're top of the class?"

"Close. I'm in the top ten."

"Good job!"

"Thanks... And you look really pretty tonight, just in case nobody's told you that yet."

"Oh... Thank you." Makoto said, starting to blush. She studied Ren's face, realizing just how dark his eyes were, before nodding. "You don't look that bad without your glasses."

Ren rolled his eyes and laughed. "Gee, thanks."

The group of five joined the crowd on street level, staring up at the sky. The fireworks started shooting off in a big boom, Ren pulling out his phone to take some pictures. Ann tried jumping a little to get a better look over the crowd and past the tall buildings, but when she gave up, she got out her phone and put it into selfie mode. "Guys, say cheese!"

The group of five smiled for the picture, Morgana climbing out of Ren's bag a little so he could be in the picture as well. Ann put her phone away again and the five enjoyed the fireworks in the sky. After a few more minutes, Ann shook her head. Yusuke looked over and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I think I just felt water." Ann stated.

Makoto felt something drop on her head, patting her head to feel if it was something physical. When she didn't feel anything, Makoto heard Morgana hiss from Ren's bag. One after another, raindrops started falling from the sky. Before any of them knew it, they were soaking wet. Ren pointed to an awning in front of a Triple Seven and said, "Shelter!"

The group of five ran over, trying to protect themselves from the elements. Ryuji looked at the pouring rain in front of them and said, "Well... This certainly wasn't the plan..."

"At least the fireworks are still going...?" Makoto said, trying to be positive as two older men walked over to the part of the awning beside them, a few more fireworks shooting into the sky. Ren glanced over at Makoto, noticing the two older men. Without another word, Ren walked over to Makoto, leaned over her, and rested his arm above her head. Makoto gave Ren a confused look before she asked, starting to feel oddly anxious, "Ren, what are you-"

"Act like you're trying to look at the fireworks around my shoulder." Ren interrupted. "Those two guys over there are starting to look over at you because you're soaking wet and your yukata is white. I'm trying to make it look like I'm your boyfriend so they leave you alone."

"Oh... I didn't notice." Makoto said, acting like she was trying to find some fireworks since they had stopped firing off. "Thanks."

"No problem. Oddly enough, I had to do this a lot back home." Ren admitted with a small smile.

"I can't believe we're getting rained out." Ann pouted as she started squeezing the rainwater out of her yukata.

"We don't know that yet." Ryuji said, his eyes drifting down to Ann's legs.

"Attention everyone, due to flash flooding, the fireworks festival is getting canceled. We are sorry for the inconvenience." A female voice said, the announcement almost drowned out from the thunderstorm.

"Well... Now we do." Yusuke said, following Ryuji's gaze.

"Ryuji, Yusuke, stop staring at Ann like that." Ren said, keeping his gaze on Makoto. He felt some shifting in his bag as he added, "You too, Morgana."

"Yeah guys, seriously... Knock it off." Makoto said, pushing some of Ren's hair out of his face since it was starting to drip water. Ren gave Makoto a confused look as Makoto laughed and said, "I'd think you wanna see..."

"God, you guys are a bunch of pervs." Ann grumbled.

"Well, I'm sorry that I got a little distracted while seeing your legs." Ryuji countered.

"Then be a gentleman and buy me a towel." Ann argued.

Makoto looked around Ren, noticing a girl wearing a pink yukata getting into a black car. Makoto lightly pushed Ren out of the way, Ren laughing slightly, as Makoto realized who the girl was. "HARU!"

Haru looked up, excitedly waving hello. She turned to the man standing behind her, who was carrying a giant black umbrella, and then grabbed the umbrella. Haru ran across the street and over to Makoto. "Hey Mako-chan! I didn't know you were going to be here!"

"I didn't know about you either!" Makoto said, then turned to everyone else. "Guys, this is my friend Haru. Haru, these are the second years I'm friends with; Yusuke, Ryuji, Ann, and Ren."

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you." Haru said, then motioned to her car. "Do you all need a lift home? I have room in my car."

"I think we're fine, but thank you for offering." Ren said, protectively putting an arm around Makoto since the two guys from earlier were looking back over at them.

Haru gave Makoto a confused look, but Makoto nodded her head over to the two guys as discreetly as possible. Haru's eyes widened as she nodded her head. "You and I definitely need to make plans later this summer."

Makoto smiled and nodded. "Definitely. We can text about it later."

Haru nodded, the person in the driver's seat of the black car honking. "I really have to go, but I'll talk to you later."

"Talk to you later. Bye!"

"Bye!" Haru said, waving goodbye to everyone before turning around and walking back to the car.

"So that's the friend who overheard Kobayakowa's conversation with you?" Ren asked, everyone turning to make a semi circle.

"Yeah, that's her." Makoto confirmed. "I think Haru can be trusted... At the very least, I don't think she'll do anything rash."

"Good. If you trust her, then I do too." Ann said.

Ryuji nodded. "Definitely."

"She seems nice." Yusuke commented.

"On a more serious note, now that this thing is canceled, what do we want to do?" Ryuji asked. "Do we just want to disband for the day?"

"Not much of a welcome party that way..." Ann commented.

"Ryuji, didn't you bring your Switch to Leblanc earlier?" Ren asked.

"Yeah... Why?"

"You got Smash? I have mine at Leblanc too." Ren asked. "We could all go a few rounds on that to keep the party going."

"I'd be down for that." Ryuji said, looking at everyone else for approval.

"I want dry clothes..." Ann whined.

"I have some giant sweatshirts you and Makoto can put on while your yukatas dry a little... And you too, Yusuke... That is, if you guys are wearing clothes under your yukatas." Ren suggested.

"Of course I am." Makoto said, slightly offended. "I'm wearing a white tank top and white bike shorts under this."

"I'm wearing a tank top and shorts under mine." Ann added.

"I just have basketball shorts on under this." Yusuke said, water starting to drip from his own yukata.

"How about we get some snacks and stuff from here first?" Ryuji asked. "Dip into the group fund slightly?"

"If that's something everyone can agree on..." Ren said, looking at everyone else.

"Good plan!" Ann said, giving Ren a thumbs up of approval.

"I've never played Smash before..." Makoto admitted.

"Neither have I." Yusuke added.

"We'll give you guys a tutorial." Ryuji said, nodding in approval. "So we headin' back to Leblanc to play some Smash Bros?"

"Let's get our snacks first!" Ren said, opening the door to Triple Seven to let everyone in.

Everyone walked inside, staring at the crowd of people standing around and the long line by the cash register. Ann sighed. "I guess we weren't the only ones who had the idea to go in here..."

"Okay... Let's split up." Ren decided, noticing the two men from outside also walk inside the store. Ren put a protective arm around Makoto again as he said, "Makoto and I will grab some drinks, Ryuji, you and Ann go find snacks of various savory-ness and sweetness, and Yusuke, you save us a spot in line."

"Yeah... Honey Bunches..." Ann said awkwardly as she took Ryuji's hand. "Let's go find some snacks..."

"Why did those guys fron outside follow us in?" Ryuji muttered, Makoto taking a step closer to Ren upon hearing that. "It can't be a coincidence, right?"

"Just in case, stay in pairs." Yusuke said, heading over to the line. "We are not getting harassed today."

"You're not the one who currently has to worry about harassment." Makoto muttered as she and Ren headed towards the back of the Triple Seven. As soon as they were far enough away, Makoto said, "Thanks Ren, seriously."

"No problem. These guys are unusually persistent. I usually just have to do something couple-like once with Nanako to get guys like that to go away." Ren commented.

Makoto opened up one of the fridges, then asked, "What don't you have at Leblanc?"

"Soda, mainly. If somebody wants coffee or water, I can handle that." Ren said, getting out his phone to check his own notes. "I have what sodas everyone likes on my phone... Um... Okay... Ryuji likes Pepsi, Ann likes Cherry Coke, Yusuke has never had soda before, so we better get him a spread, and... I don't have your favorite soda..."

"Because I haven't told you my favorite soda yet." Makoto said, grabbing a few bottles of Pepsi and Cherry Coke.

"Well, what is your favorite soda... Babe?" Ren said, noticing that one of the guys from the front was standing an aisle away from them. "If you had to choose one, what would it be?"

"Well... If you know me so well, Babe, why don't you take a guess?" Makoto jokingly challenged.

Ren walked up behind Makoto, wrapping an arm around Makoto's stomach as he inspected his choices. Makoto tensed up slightly, but managed to tilt her head up and smile at Ren. Ren simply squeezed Makoto tighter and said, "If I had to guess... I'd say..."

Ren got up on his tippy toes and leaned over Makoto without letting her go, grabbing a plastic bottle of Dr. Pepper. "Dr. Pepper seems like a pretty good bet."

"You'd be right." Makoto agreed.

"Yes!" Ren cheered, noticing that the guy from earlier was finally walking away. Ren quickly let go of Makoto's stomach, his face turning bright red. "I am so sorry about that... I would have asked for consent if-"

"It's okay. It finally got that guy to leave." Makoto interrupted, grabbing the bottle of Dr. Pepper from Ren. "Seriously though, I like Dr. Pepper."

"Noted." Ren said, grabbing a few more bottles. "I'm a Dr. Pepper person too. Let's make sure to grab a few more random flavors for Yusuke to try."

"Sounds like a plan." Makoto said.

The two grabbed a few other random flavors that at least one other person in the group would drink if Yusuke didn't, then regrouped with Yusuke in line. Ann and Ryuji came by a few minutes later, arms loaded with snacks. Ann asked, "Did that guy finally leave you alone?"

"Yeah... Eventually." Makoto admitted. "Did one of them follow you around too?"

"Yeah... Didn't leave until I yelled at them to 'leave my girlfriend alone'." Ryuji said exhaustedly. "Do I honestly come off like that?"

"No... You aren't that creepy." Ann said, glancing over at Yusuke. "Yusuke definitely came off that way originally though."

"You really did." Ren agreed.

"I'm... Learning?" Yusuke said, trying to be helpful.

Once they made it to the front of the line, Ren paid for their stockpile of snacks and drinks. As soon as everything was paid for, everyone took a bag and made a beeline for the train station.

Sojiro was wiping off the counter when the teenagers walked inside. Sojiro looked over and cringed. "Did you guys get caught in the rain?"

Ren nodded. "We decided to come back here after the fireworks festival got canceled."

Sojiro sighed as everyone set their bags down on the counter. "You kids taking over the cafe since it's closing for the night?"

"If you don't mind." Makoto said nervously. "We're planning on playing Smash Bros so that the night isn't a complete waste."

"Do those of you wearing yukatas want me to put them in the dryer to get them dry?" Sojiro suggested. "Do I need to bring over dry clothes for you kids to change into?"

"I have enough clothes for everyone upstairs." Ren said quickly.

"And could you?" Ann asked as politely as she could. "I know I'd appreciate having a dry yukata at the end of the night."

"Me too." Makoto added. She bowed to Sojiro. "Thank you in advance, Mr. Sakura."

"You can just call me Boss, Niijima-chan. It's what everyone calls me." Sojiro said quickly. "Everyone, go get changed."

"Ladies first." Ren said, Ann and Makoto following him upstairs. Ren dug into one of the cardboard boxes by the stairs, grabbing a giant solid red hoodie and tossed it to Ann. "I think this one will be big enough for you, Ann."

"Great." Ann said, taking a few steps back from Makoto and Ren.

Ren dug around a little more, then tossed a pastel yellow crewneck sweatshirt to Makoto. "I think this one should work."

"Thank you." Makoto said, standing in line with Ann.

Ren did a little more digging around, then found a much larger black sweatshirt. "Okay... Yusuke can have this one... And Ryuji is spending the night here, so he and I can just put on our pajamas when you two are done."

"Great." Ann said, glancing over at Ryuji's things and the Switch that was set up by the TV. "You gonna grab the Switches and get out of here?"

"Right." Ren said, grabbing Ryuji's Switch and quickly unplugged the docking station for his Switch. "I leave you two to change while I figure out how to connect my Switch to the TV downstairs."

"Aye aye, captain!" Makoto said jokingly as Ren left. As soon as he was downstairs, Makoto managed to quickly untie her yukata and took it off, inspecting her white tank top and bike shorts. "It seems like my under stuff didn't get wet."

"Same here." Ann agreed. She slipped on the red hoodie as Makoto put on the yellow crew neck. Ann paused, tilting her head. "Hold on... 'Yasogami Dance Team'..."

"What?" Makoto asked.

"That's what it says on the back of your sweatshirt." Ann said, starting to smirk. She said in a sing-song voice as she grabbed her yukata and walked back downstairs, "Oh Ren..."

"Yeah?" Ren asked from beside the TV, Ryuji passing the two girls to go upstairs and change into his pajamas. Yusuke had already taken off his yukata and put on the black sweatshirt from Ren, his yukata in Sojiro's arms.

"Were you on the dance team at your old high school?" Ann asked teasingly.

Ren paused, slowly looking over at Ann and Makoto. "I handed Makoto the dance team sweatshirt, didn't I?"

"Yeah... You did." Makoto admitted, handing Sojiro her yukata. "Thank you again, Boss."

"Yeah, thanks again." Ann said, handing her yukata to Sojiro as well before going back to Ren. "You were on the dance team? Seriously?"

"I'll let you kids unpack that while I go put these in my dryer." Sojiro said with a smile before turning around and leaving Leblanc.

"Yeah, I was..." Ren said, his face turning bright red. "Playing music has never exactly been my thing, but dancing to it... I've always been pretty decent at that."

"That's so cool!" Ann said excitedly as Ryuji walked back down, Ren successfully connecting the Switch and pulling up the online game room.

Ren glanced over at Ryuji and said, "Think you can get that all set up so that we can play together on both screens?"

Ryuji nodded, grabbing the four charged controllers from Ren. "You can count on me, dude!"

"Awesome, I'll be back." Ren said, walking back upstairs. He grabbed his phone charger and set it off to the side, then pulled out his phone. Deciding to test his luck, Ren went to his chat history with Nanako, then sent the picture he had taken of the fireworks before the rain and captioned it Went to a fireworks festival today... Thinking of you. before pressing send. He barely had enough time to change out of his wet clothes and into his dry ones before he heard his phone ringing. Seeing Nanako's ID and prepping for the worst, Ren answered and said, "Hel-"

"You missed our last call." Nanako interrupted.

"... What?" Ren asked.

"Our last call. You missed it."

"I... I didn't think you'd want to hear from me again given... You know..."

"Yosuke was a jerk, Ren. He has what my big bro and I call 'foot in mouth syndrome'. He doesn't think before he speaks. Dad reemed him a new one. Of course I still want to hear from you! You're my best friend!" Nanako argued. "That is never going to change."

"I'm sorry, Nana... I wanted to call, I just... I didn't want to cause you or Dojima-san any more strife because of me."

"You could never do that, you idiot." Nanako said sternly. "You have some serious catching up to do with me."

"I know, I know."

"So you went to a fireworks festival today?"

"Yeah, but it got rained out. It was nothing like an Inaba fireworks festival, let me tell ya. No snack booths or game booths around or anything." Ren summed up. "The friends I went with are actually downstairs right now. We're about to play some Smash Bros."

"... The friends you went with?"

"Yeah... I told you I made some friends here, right?"

"Y-Yeah, you did, I just... I forgot." Nanako said awkwardly. "Um... I have news..."

"Oh?"

"Dance team is going to a competition in Tokyo this summer. Maybe we can meet up?"

Ren smiled. "I'd really like that, Nana."

"Really?" Nanako asked excitedly.

"Yeah, I would."

"I'll text you the details then!"

"Okay." Ren said, relieved that the awkwardness that had grown between them seemed to have broken slightly.

"Do you remember when you were like... Ten and you had that dream you were a playable character in Smash Bros?"

"I still have that dream, thank you very much. Bayonetta is my mom and Kirby looks up to me." Ren said quickly as Nanako laughed.

"Are you guys doing online private lobby?"

"Yeah. Why? You wanna join us?"

"If you don't mind... I can only play so many rounds with my dad before beating him gets really boring..."

"Hey, just for the record, I owned your cousin in Melee back in the day." Ryotaro Dojima's voice said in the background.

"But this isn't Melee, Dad!" Nanako argued. "Ren, please, I am dying for a challenge."

"Hold on a sec..." Ren said, grabbing his phone charger and walking back downstairs. Makoto and Yusuke were already set up on Ren's Switch, Ryuji walking them through a quick tutorial on how to play while Ann chatted with Morgana by Ryuji's small set up. "Hey guys, I have my friend from back home on the phone... Is it okay if she joins our private lobby? Nanako is apparently desperate for a challenge since her dad isn't that hard to beat."

"I take offense to that, Ren!" Ryotaro said in the background.

"I don't mind." Ryuji said quickly.

"Neither do I!" Ann said chipperly.

"I'm about to get creamed anyway, so go for it." Makoto said, Yusuke nodding to agree.

"Nanako, you're in." Ren said, plugging in his phone charger in the wall and charging his phone. He put Nanako on speaker and turned his volume all the way up.

"Awesome!" Nanako said chipperly. Ren rattled off the game code to Nanako, then joined on his own Switch with Makoto and Yusuke while Ann joined in on Ryuji's. Once everyone had created name cards and accounts, Nanako said, "Okay, we have Ann as Kirby, Ryuji as King K. Rool, Makoto as Link, Yusuke as Marth, Ren as Cloud, no surprise there, me as Sonic... Wait, who's Alibaba? The one playing the orange Inkling."

"What?" Ren asked, looking at their small lobby. There, at the bottom of their group, was someone named Alibaba playing as the orange Inkling from Splatoon. "I have no idea..."

"I mean... This game is in the early days..." Ryuji said nervously. "Maybe Alibaba is just a glitch in the system?"

"Well, let's try playing, I guess..." Ren said, everyone pressing the ready button.

The match started, and everyone did their best to play the game. Ren started going after Alibaba, whoever they were, but unfortunately Alibaba went after Makoto. After the third time Makoto got killed and was permanently out of the game, Makoto set her controller in her lap. "I figured I'd be the first one out, but..."

"Not because of someone we didn't know killing you." Yusuke agreed, noticing that Alibaba was going after him next. "Hey, wait a minute!"

After a few more seconds, Yusuke was also permanently out of the game. "Well... That was unceremonious..."

One by one, everyone started dropping like flies due to Alibaba until Ren was the last one left standing. Nanako cheered from the phone, "TAKE ALIBABA DOWN, REN!"

"Yeah! Take 'em down!" Ryuji agreed, everyone else in the room starting to cheer. Even Morgana started cheering, even though he was extremely confused about what was going on.

Ren managed to hold his own for a while, but after two more minutes of fighting, Ren also wound up losing to Alibaba. "What the-"

"Let's try switching lobbies." Nanako suggested.

"Yeah... Good idea. Hold on, let me..." Ryuji said, exiting out of their old lobby and creating a new one. Ryuji read the lobby code out loud for Nanako after Ren's game area got in, but sure enough, Alibaba followed them into the next game. "Okay, what is going on here?"

"I think we all need to combine our forces to defeat Alibaba. We do not target each other until Alibaba is gone." Ren decided. "Maybe if we defeat them, they will leave."

Makoto excitedly looked over at Ren. She whispered so Nanako couldn't hear, "All Out Attack time?"

Ren nodded. "All Out Attack time."

"Yes!" Makoto quietly cheered.

That's what everyone did for the next two hours. All six worked together to try and attack Alibaba, whoever they were, while Morgana cheered everyone on. After the seventh game where Alibaba absolutely creamed everyone, Ann set her controller down and said, "I give up... Whoever Alibaba is, they are a beast."

"Yeah, agreed." Ryuji said, setting his controller next to Ann's. "We could get some tips from them."

Sojiro walked back inside of Leblanc carrying the now freshly dried yukatas. "Did you get the game thing working?"

"Yeah, we did... Though we're a little confused." Ren admitted.

"Confused? About what?"

"Some person named Alibaba managed to hack their way into our game." Yusuke said, setting down his controller.

Sojiro paused, staring at Yusuke in confusion. "Ali... Alibaba?"

"Yeah, they're right-" Makoto said, looking back at the game screen. Alibaba was gone. Now it was just the five humans in person and Nanako over the phone. "Well... They were right there... I'm not going crazy, right?"

"Definitely not crazy." Nanako agreed. "I remember seeing Alibaba's name."

"Sojiro... Are you good?" Ren asked gently.

Sojiro cleared his throat and set the yukatas down on the table. "Yeah, I'm good. You kids better get to bed. Don't you have one more week before vacation officially starts?"

"Right. We do." Makoto agreed.

"Ugh, I hate our school sometimes." Ryuji complained as Makoto, Ann, and Yusuke went to grab their things.

Ren walked over to his phone, picking it up. "Despite the Alibaba thing... I had fun."

"So did I." Nanako agreed. "It was almost like old times... Except with a larger audience."

"Yeah... Almost, but not quite." Ren said, seeing the Journey tarot card flash above the phone charger. This rank up made sense. "I gotta let you go, Nana, but I miss you."

"I miss you too. I really miss you. I'll send you the details about the dance competition later, okay?"

"Sounds good. Talk to you later."

"Bye."

"Bye." Ren said, hanging up the phone.

"Do you want us to change out of the sweatshirts now, or-" Ann started to ask.

"Just give them back to me the next time you see me, okay?" Ren asked.

"Alright... See you later." Makoto said as she waved goodbye.

Everyone said their goodbyes as Makoto, Ann, and Yusuke left Leblanc. As Ren unhooked his Switch, he looked over at Sojiro and saw how confused he looked. He could have sworn he heard Sojiro muttering, "I know she's good, but how did she...?"

"Are you sure everything is okay?" Ren asked.

Sojiro paused mid mutter, then nodded. "Yeah. Everything's fine. You and Ryuji just get to bed at a decent hour, you hear?"

"Yes Boss!" Ryuji said, saluting Sojiro as he left Leblanc. As Ren walked over to flip the sign and lock the door, Ryuji commented, "That was really weird. Did it seem like Boss knew something to you?"

"A little, yeah." Ren agreed. "We might have to do some investigating of our own."

"Well, we can start doing that after school is officially out for the summer." Morgana said, sitting on the table. "You two really need to go to sleep."

"Oh whatever Mona." Ren said teasingly, placing his hand on Morgana's face and shaking him slightly. "Let's just go upstairs, Ryuji."

Chapter Text

Four months ago...

"I can't believe we have to come to school just for summer vacation to begin later this week." Ryuji pouted as he and Ren walked into the school.

"It could be worse." Ren said cautiously. "Think about it... We get all this hullabaloo at the school done with, then we have a whole month of relaxing with nothing to do. Think of the fun we'll have."

"It's the one thing I'm looking forward to." Ryuji admitted. "I think Ann is planning for the backyard camping trip thing to be the day Shujin lets out for the summer, so there's that, and then there's whatever chaos we can find ourselves in."

"It'll be weird... Not being in Inaba for summer..." Ren admitted.

"You have a lot of fun back in the country?"

"This is going to sound so rural, but there is this creek small river small pond thing out in the woods near Inaba that pretty much ever kid in town goes swimming in at least once during the summer. Like... It's so deep that we jump off of this cliff by the top of this body of water and we jump in. Besides that, Nanako and I usually rode our bikes to the next town over to go see a movie or something."

"Do you... Want us to go find a creek to go swimming in or something?" Ryuji asked jokingly. "I don't think we have many around here."

"No, I can survive a summer without the creek... It's just kinda weird that I won't jump off the cliff this year, ya know?" Ren commented. "I mean... It's like this really weird tradition we have in Inaba. Like... I don't know why we have that tradition or how it started, but it's this big thing back home."

"Well... We'll just have to make our own traditions here." Ryuji decided as he and Ren climbed the stairs to their classroom. "We'll figure it out once the school year is done... Maybe since Makoto has her license, we can convince her to drive so we can go on a small road trip or something?"

Ren smiled. "That'd be fun."

"See? You can have just as much fun in Tokyo that you can have in Inaba... Wherever Inaba is." Ryuji said, clapping Ren's shoulder. "I'm gonna go to class, but mark my words, Amamiya, you are going to have the best summer out here in Tokyo."

Ren laughed, shaking his head. "Thanks for the reassurance, man. I'll see you at lunch."

"Do we want to try eating with Makoto today?" Ryuji asked.

"I'd be down. I'll ask Ann." Ren said, walking into his classroom.

"Cool!"

Ren made his way to his seat, a few clusters of students hovering over phones. As Ren sat down, Ann turned around and asked, "Have you seen it yet?"

"Seen what yet?" Ren asked, getting his phone out of his pocket.

"The MedJed announcement." Ann said bluntly.

"The what?" Ren said, about to press the search engine on his phone when he saw an unread message. He paused, going to his messages. His eyes narrowed in confusion as he saw a text chain with someone he didn't know.

Alibaba: 8:02 AM
You may want to take a look at this.
Click Link Here

"What the..." Ren muttered to himself.

"What?" Ann asked.

"You remember when you, me, Ryuji, Makoto, Yusuke, and Nanako were playing Smash Bros the other day and someone named Alibaba crashed our game?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I think I just got a message from them."

"What?" Ann asked, grabbing Ren's phone from his hand. She scanned the message, then asked, "How in the world..."

"I have no idea." Ren admitted.

Ann clicked the link, then handed the phone back to Ren. "Well, regardless, Alibaba sent you what I was talking about."

"Okay... Very sketchy..." Ren said, grabbing his phone back from Ann. His eyes narrowed as he saw the English text on the screen, then he just handed it back to Ann. "Okay person who is really good at reading English... Translate please."

Ann rolled her eyes, taking back Ren's phone. "'To the Phantom Thieves causing an uproar in Japan: Do not speak of your false justice. We do not need the spread of such falsehood. We are the true executors of justice. However, we are magnanimous. We will give you an opportunity to repent your ways. If you agree to a change of heart, we will accept you as our own. If you reject our offer, the hammer of justice will find you. We are MedJed. We are unseen. We will eliminate evil.'. That's what it says. It got posted while we were dealing with Alibaba and the Smash Bros thing."

"You guys are talking about the MedJed thing too, huh?" Mishima asked as he walked over to Ann and Ren, hovering between their two desks. "Not that I'm all that surprised..."

Ren's eyes narrowed. "You're online a lot handling the Phansite... What do you know?"

"MedJed started out as hackers of justice, but now they only look out for their own self-interests. That's honestly all I know. I was going to text you about it once I managed to get more information, Amamiya-kun." Mishima admitted.

"Great." Ann muttered.

"Nobody is really sure about who actually belongs to MedJed, so names won't help in this case." Mishima added. "But hey... It looks like this won't be a boring summer. The Phantom Thieves are about to make their world debut!"

"Should be... Interesting." Ren agreed as Mishima walked back to his desk.

Ann sighed, getting out her own phone and seeing a text from Makoto. "Makoto texted in the group chat. She's calling another emergency meeting during lunch today and we're going to call Yusuke in."

"I was going to suggest that anyway." Ren admitted. "Ryuji and I were planning on asking you if you wanted to have lunch in the student council room with her anyway."

"I'm down... Why haven't we been doing that anyway?" Ann asked. "Makoto is surprisingly chill past the uptight student council president exterior."

"Ann-"

"I just made a general comment. Makoto and I are good now." Ann interrupted. "I meant that comment with love."

Ren rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay, I get it."

"Good." Ann agreed. "I'll text her to confirm our attendance."

Chapter Text

Four months ago...

"So this is Mementos?" Makoto asked, looking around at the dark red subway station. She took a deep breath, trying to figure out what, exactly, she was seeing. All she felt was a sense of overwhelming dread. "This is... Way creepier than I was expecting..."

"It only gets creepier from here, trust us." Ann commented.

"Yay..." Makoto said sarcastically.

"You guys go on ahead and go deeper in. Our first target is in the second layer." Ren said quickly. "I'm gonna give Queen a briefing on how we do Mementos missions."

"You got it." Ryuji said, giving the two a thumbs up. Ryuji, Yusuke, and Ann started walking away as Ryuji called, "Come on, Mona. Don't make me come back there and grab you."

Morgana nervously looked between Makoto and Ren. "Which one of you is driving today?"

"I'll drive... You know... Since I'm the only one of us who has a driver's license." Makoto said, Ren nodding to agree.

"I'll be up front with her to make sure she knows how to properly handle you." Ren added as Morgana walked away.

As soon as Morgana was out of earshot, Makoto left out a relieved sigh. "Thank you... This place is just really creepy..."

"Do you not do well with spooks?"

"Not really... My dad did his best to keep me away from anything deemed scary while growing up." Makoto hesitantly admitted. "So... Mementos missions."

"Right. These are much simpler than Palaces. Think of this as light pruning. We're taking care of the distorted desire before it officially becomes a Palace. The name being on the Phansite operates as the calling card, so all we really have to do is go up to the person's Shadow, defeat the Shadow in battle, and then take the start of a Treasure."

"Okay... Sounds pretty self explanatory..." Makoto muttered.

"I... Really got you separated from everyone to talk about the thing from last night."

"I figured as much." Makoto admitted. "I did overhear some things that my sister kept saying, but I don't know what it all means."

"Lay it on me."

"She kept muttering to herself to complain about the 'stupid cafe man' not giving her any information about some woman named Wakaba Isshiki and how she was going to use Isshiki-chan to force Sakura-san to give her the answers she wanted." Makoto summed up. "Do you know about a Wakaba Isshiki? Or even about an Isshiki-chan?"

Ren shook his head. "No... Neither name rings a bell. Sojiro doesn't really talk much about his life outside of Leblanc... Though maybe..."

"What?"

"Okay... The last time I saw him was a few weeks ago... But there was this guy coming around Leblanc to ask Sojiro for money. Sojiro told me he was an old acquaintance who was short on cash, but... Some things didn't line up."

"Like what?" Makoto asked, getting out her notebook to take notes.

"Well, first off, the guy mentioned that Sojiro used to work in the government."

"The government?"

"He didn't say why or what branch, but for some reason, Sojiro left his government job and started running Leblanc." Ren said, starting to pace in a small circle. "Then after the guy left, Sojiro said something like 'I'd kick him out if he wasn't related to her'... He told me to ignore it at the time, but now... I just have more questions, especially given other weird things that don't line up."

"Like that weird printer comment from when we studied in Leblanc before finals?" Makoto guessed.

"Right. He's told me he's a flirt and he hates having a guy's number in his phone, so I assume he's talking to girl whenever someone calls him, but... Why would he feel the need to go smooth over some girl's disappointment about a printer? And your sister seems to know of a connection to some woman named Wakaba Isshiki and someone called Isshiki-chan... Logic says that Wakaba and Isshiki-chan are two different people, but who are they?"

"Boss hasn't mentioned any of that to you?"

"Again, he's secretive about his life outside of Leblanc... But then again..." Ren said, thinking out loud to himself. "Why am I in Leblanc?"

Makoto gave Ren a confused look. "Because you got framed for assault, remember? Kinda the whole reason why you had to move out to Tokyo for the school year."

"Of course I remember that. What I mean is why am I in Leblanc when Sojiro is supposedly living alone in his two story house?"

"Wait... His house is two stories?" Makoto asked.

Ren nodded. "So... After the court decided that I was guilty of assault and I got expelled from Yasogami, my parents originally tried to keep me as close as they could. When no other high schools in the area would take me, they started widening their search. Even Gekkoukan High School on Tatsumi Port Island wouldn't take me, which is saying something since Gekkoukan and Yasogami have a really good relationship. Yasogami always goes to Tatsumi Port Island for the second year school trip, Gekkoukan always comes to Inaba for a combined sports camp every year, that sort of thing. Well, then my parents started looking at places all the way across the country. Shujin was the first one to accept me despite my record."

"And you didn't have family in Tokyo who could take you in, so you moved in with Sojiro?" Makoto assumed.

"Not... Not exactly. My mom's side of the family... They're all from Sapporo. That was the second place we originally tried, but no school over there accepted me either. My dad's old college roommate who he considers his brother, my Uncle Katsuya, he usually lives in Tokyo and he was who I was originally going to live with while on probation, but Uncle Katsuya got emergency transferred to Kyoto for the whole year. I couldn't exactly stay in his apartment without an adult there since that was part of the terms for my probation, so my dad mentioned the situation to one of his coworkers, that coworker talked to their friend in Tokyo, and that friend in Tokyo just so happened to be one of Sojiro's regulars."

Makoto slowly nodded. "So that regular convinced Sojiro to take you in for the year?"

"Right. Well, fast forward to me getting here. I have the address for Sojiro's house so I go to his house, only to find out he isn't there. The delivery guy tells me that he's probably at Leblanc. I don't think twice about it. Leblanc is around the corner from his house, so I walk over. Sojiro talks to me after some of his regulars leave, and then he tells me that he's going to have me live in Leblanc because he didn't have a lot of space in his house." Ren concluded. "Obviously, I didn't argue with it because I was happy to have a place to stay, but..."

"How can he not have space for you in his two story house that he is the only one living in... To your knowledge." Makoto commented. "Why have a felon associated with your place of business when your home presumably has the room?"

"Exactly. Maybe all this stuff with your sister and whoever Wakaba and Isshiki-chan are is connected to why I'm living in Leblanc and the guy who keeps coming around to ask Sojiro for money?" Ren suggested. "I don't know... Thanks for spying on your sister for me."

"Don't mention it." Makoto said, closing her notebook with a satisfying snap and stuffed that along with the pen she was writing with back in her pocket. Makoto comfortingly patted Ren on the shoulder. "We're going to figure this out, I promise."

Ren smiled, grabbing Makoto's hand off of his shoulder and held it for a minute. "Thanks Makoto."

"I thought we weren't supposed to call each other by our real names while we're in our Phantom Thieves outfits." Makoto said jokingly.

"Nobody else has to know I broke the rules." Ren said, lightly rubbing his thumb against Makoto's wrist. "Our little secret."

Makoto felt herself start to blush, letting go of Ren's hand. "We should... Probably catch up with the others."

"Yeah... The others." Ren said, shaking his head. "Just make sure you stay with the group when we get out of the Mona bus, okay? I'll make sure nothing sneaks up on you."

"We're going to have to leave the bus?" Makoto asked anxiously.

"Well... It's not like we can use our Personas inside of Morgana." Ren said, laughing as he and Makoto climbing into the front seat of Morgana in van form.

"What took you guys so long?" Ann asked. "We were starting to get a little worried."

"I had Joker go over everything a few times so I had accurate information in my notebook." Makoto lied. "I wanted my notes to be detailed and accurate."

"Okay... Remember that Mona can sense when our targets are on a floor, so the strategy here, especially for these first few levels, is to find the exit to the next floor down as fast as possible. Once Mona senses something, he'll mention it, and then we stick around on that floor until we find the target." Ren said, trying to act like he had told Makoto about that.

"Right." Makoto agreed, putting Morgana into drive before pulling away.

Makoto didn't know how long she was driving around Mementos, but at some point in between the fourth and fifth target, she heard a familiar song start to play over the Spotify account Ren had somehow managed to link to Morgana. As Makoto quietly started singing Satisfied from Hamilton to herself, Yusuke asked, "Is this one of the songs you added to the playlist, Queen?"

"Yeah... I tried to add some variety with the musicals I added." Makoto said, a little embarrassed as she quietly kept singing. "I have never been the same, intelligent eyes in a hunger-pang frame. And when you said 'Hi', I forgot my dang name, set my heart aflame, every part aflame, this is not a game."

"You strike me as a woman who has never been satisfied." Ren interjected from the passenger seat, Ryuji and Ann giving each other confused looks from the back seat.

Makoto shared their confusion as she continued with the song, "I'm sure you don't know what you mean. You forget yourself."

"You're like me." Ren said, teasingly poking Makoto. "I'm never satisfied."

"Is that right?" Makoto asked, glancing over at Ren and seeing the victorious smirk on his face.

"I have never been satisfied." Ren said, lightly proding Makoto to continue.

"My name is Angelica Schuyler."

"Alexander Hamilton."

"Where's your family from?"

"Unimportant, there's a million things I haven't done so just you wait, just you wait."

As Makoto and Ren kept singing the song, much to the confusion of everyone else in the van, Ann whispered to Ryuji and Yusuke, "When did Joker learn this?"

"I have no idea." Ryuji answered.

"Well, that's frightening, speaking as though you two and Mona spend the most time with him." Yusuke commented.

"He's penniless, he's flying by the seat of his pants!" Makoto and Ren cheered from the front seat.

Yusuke cringed at the sight before looking back over at Ann and Ryuji. "So... Joker-"

"Oh yeah... Though he won't admit it to us." Ryuji agreed.

"And Queen-"

"Probably... Or he is just so discreet at it that neither of them realize what's going on... Despite both Skull and I telling Joker what's going on a few times." Ann interrupted.

"Okay, so I am reading the situation correctly. Noted."

"Okay... Here's the dealio," Ryuji said, staring at Ann and Yusuke. "Why don't we just pretend that we don't know what's going on with them? We let them do their thing and they tell us when they're ready."

"Sounds good to me... But I get every right to tease Joker to my heart's content about this since I am the only one in this van that is in his class." Ann said, jokingly pointing between Ryuji and Yusuke.

"That seems fair." Yusuke commented.

"That seems more than fair." Ryuji corrected. "You're the main one who gets to deal with all this, so... Valid."

Satisfied ended and transitioned into True Story by Rise Kujikawa as Makoto took her eyes off the road for a split second to give Ren a confused smile. "I didn't know you knew Hamilton."

"So maybe I've been doing a little studying since we usually have sing alongs in the Mona bus." Ren said, Makoto starting to laugh in disbelief. "It's as you said, the rhythmic rapping of Hamilton is really good study music."

"I know, right? It helps you keep a really good pace!"

"Exactly!"

"Princess treatment." Ann coughed into her hand. Ren turned around to glare at Ann, Makoto not paying any attention. Ann cleared her throat and said with a smile, "Sorry... I had something in my throat."

Ren rolled his eyes as he looked back at the road ahead of them. "Okay... I think we're coming up on this next target... After this we have two more, and then we're done."

"Do we wanna head to Leblanc for some coffee after this?" Morgana suggested.

"I'd be down for some coffee." Makoto said, drumming her fingers against the steering wheel.

"Me too!" Ann said happily.

"I'll take a hot coco..." Ryuji said awkwardly. "I just don't want to be up until all hours of the night because of coffee."

"I have been wanting to visit my mother's painting this week... I am in as well." Yusuke agreed.

"Okay, then it's decided. We'll get these two targets wrapped up, and then we'll head over to Leblanc." Ren said, nodding his head once as he listened to Makoto quietly start to sing True Story under her breath.

Chapter Text

Four months ago...

Makoto walked into Ann's backyard with her overnight bag, watching as Yusuke helped Ann pitch a second tent. "Hey..."

Ann smiled. "Hey! Welcome to my backyard!"

"Two tents?" Makoto asked.

"One for me, Ryuji, Ren, and Morgana, and the other is for you and Ann." Yusuke explained.

"Ah." Makoto said, walking over to the tent that was already set up, seeing an air mattress and two sleeping bags already inside. She looked over at Ann. "Our's, I'm assuming?"

"Yup." Ann confirmed. Makoto set her bag inside, taking out the Buchimaru-kun stuffed animal she had won from the arcade with Ren, holding it in her arms. Ann's eyes widened when she saw the stuffed panda. "Oh my God, that is so cute!"

"I won it at the arcade after the Kaneshiro stuff. Ren took me so I could figure out how to connect to people my own age." Makoto admitted.

"I love it! Buchimaru-kun, right?"

"Yup."

"Awesome!"

"Did you manage to get the information you were looking for?" Yusuke asked as he finished pitching the tent and Ann pushed in another air mattress.

Makoto nodded. "Yeah... I think it confirms my theory."

"Is your theory bad?" Ann asked.

"Not necessarily... Just kinda... Out there." Makoto admitted. "It'll make me sound like a conspiracy theorist."

"Just how far out there is this theory...?" Ann asked, growing concerned.

"... Depends on how well you guys follow my logic."

"Oh no..." Yusuke commented.

"At least I'm acknowledging that my theory sounds insane given the information we have." Makoto said defensively. "My theory has a preface, if you will."

"If your theory has a preface, then we're all doomed." Ryuji said sarcastically as he walked into the backyard carrying a few bags of food. "I brought snacks."

"Are Ren and Morgana not with you?" Ann asked, noticing that Ren wasn't with him.

"Ren texted a few minutes ago... Something about getting held up at Leblanc and just leaving now." Ryuji said, setting his overnight bag down on the patio. "He mentioned filling us in when he gets here."

"He did remember our... Kindling for the fire, right?" Ann asked, trying not to laugh since she remembered they were using the fake money from Kaneshiro's bank to keep the fire going.

"That's what he said."

"Oh God... I bet it's my sister again." Makoto grumbled. "What is she doing now?"

"Well... We'll find out when Ren gets here, I guess." Ann said, looking over at the firepit up on the patio. "Hey Makoto, Ryuji, can you guys set up the fire pit? We have firestarter by the logs, but we need to actually get the logs into the fire pit. I'll set up the movie screen after I blow up this last air mattress."

Makoto and Ryuji nodded, going to set up everything by the fire pit. After another thirty minutes, Ren walked into the backyard, carrying a guitar case, his usual messenger bag, and an overnight bag. Ren set down the guitar case as he said, "Sorry we're late... Shit hit the fan at Leblanc."

"Hold on, before you say anything, let's get the fire going so we can make dinner. I have hotdogs and hotdog supplies in the house." Ann said, walking back into her home to grab everything.

Makoto studied the guitar case as she asked, "You did bring the kindling, right?"

Ren nodded as he set down his other two bags, Morgana climbing out of one. Morgana said, "We figured sneaking it here in something else would be way less suspicious."

Ren nodded, opening up his guitar case to reveal a well used acoustic guitar. He went to one of the pockets on the inside of the lid, pulling out stack after stack of fake money. "I told Sojiro I was bringing my guitar here so I could practice."

"I didn't know you played guitar, man!" Ryuji said, studying the guitar as Yusuke walked over.

"I'm not that good." Ren admitted. "Nanako made me learn an instrument with her so we had more excuses to hang out growing up. I stopped a few years ago."

"You and Nanako seem close..." Makoto said, grabbing Buchimaru-kun from the set of couches and clutching it again.

"We are... Were... Still are... Things are kinda complicated right now." Ren admitted. "The day we played Smash Bros was the first time we had talked in weeks since the time we talked before that didn't exactly go well."

"I'm sorry, dude." Ryuji said sympathetically.

"It wasn't because of her, it was because of this other guy who was there when I called. I didn't really feel comfortable calling after that conversation... I think it's part of why she wanted to play Smash Bros with us... To subtley say that things were okay between us without outright saying it, you know?" Ren said awkwardly. "Love Nanako to death, but as much as I hate admitting it, our relationship changed when I got arrested. There's going to be this stigma following me around back home and as long as she's associated with me, she's also going to have that stigma... And more. She acts like she doesn't mind, but... I don't know."

"She wouldn't be a real friend if she didn't stick by your side during all this." Makoto interjected. "She cares about you, that much is obvious based on her instance to call you every week."

"That's what she said when I left."

"Then she sounds like a real friend." Yusuke said sternly. "Hopefully we all get to meet her one day."

"I'm sure she'd love to meet you guys... And that you'd all get along pretty well." Ren said with a small smile. "Honestly, with the amount of chaos she brings with her, she fits in here like a pea in a pod."

"Of course she does!" Ryuji said quickly. "Nobody can be normal and be friends with you. It's like a prerequisite of being your friend is being a little quirky."

"Ooh, prerequisite. Nice use of vocab, Ryuji." Makoto said approvingly.

"Okay... I got everything food wise... Let's get this fire started!" Ann said happily as she walked back out to the backyard.

Everyone got the fire ready, Ren stuffing a few stacks of fake money at the bottom of the logs so that they had a good fire to burn from. As Ryuji started the fire and Ann passed out the skewers for everyone to roast their hotdogs on, Ann asked, "So I know Makoto said that she got her information, but what about you two? Did either you or Morgana get any information from Yongen-Jaya?"

Ren shook his head. "I'd love to say we did, but we didn't. We went into Yongen-Jaya after school the day after the last time we met and asked around. I asked some of Sojiro's regulars when Sojiro left me along for long enough. Morgana even left Leblanc a few times and asked the neighborhood cats since we recently changed the heart of that one lady in Yongen-Jaya who was kidnapping all the cats and naming them Snowball."

"Nothing?" Yusuke guessed.

Morgana sadly nodded, curling up on the couch by the back doors in between Ren and Ann. "Zip. Zilch. Zero. Nada. Niente. Nobody knows anyone named Futaba Sakura."

"... That's probably because they know about Futaba Isshiki." Makoto hesitantly admitted.

"Wait, what?" Ryuji asked.

"Okay... Keep in mind... I'm not proud of what I did." Makoto said quickly. "I kinda sorta looked at my sister's work laptop the other day while she was in the bath..."

"You what?" Ren asked.

"I didn't mess with anything on it, so she should be none the wiser. I just stared at what she had pulled up."

"And... What did she have pulled up?" Ryuji asked.

Makoto got out her phone and went to her gallery, clicking on a picture and showing it to everyone else. "I know that the picture is kinda blurry, but she had Wakaba Isshiki's obituary pulled up."

"Her... Her obituary?" Ann asked nervously.

"I skimmed it over since I didn't want to get caught, but it said that Wakaba was survived by her daughter Futaba."

"Isshiki-chan..." Ren muttered.

"Exactly."

"Makoto... Did you know?"

"Know what?"

"Did you know that your sister was going to stop by Leblanc and accuse Sojiro of abuse?"

Everyone froze, Ryuji almost dropping his hotdog on the ground. Makoto blinked a few times before asking, "She did what!?"

"It's why we were late." Morgana explained, lifting up his head to stare at Makoto. "We were getting everything ready to come here, stuffing the fake money in the guitar case, getting clothes together, when all of a sudden, we hear screaming downstairs. Ren and I both run down and we see Sojiro and your sister arguing with each other. Your sister says something about Sojiro not being a good guardian to Isshiki-chan, Sojiro starts arguing back about how he's trying his best, your sister says that she'll get Sojiro's parental rights stripped away for mistreating Isshiki-chan, it was a big mess."

"It's why we were so late getting here." Ren said, continuing the story. "I was trying to stop the fight. By some miracle, it only took twenty minutes for your sister to leave. As soon as she was gone, I tried to make sure Sojiro was okay, but I guess he took that as me prying about what was going on, so he yelled at me to leave him alone. I got the rest of my stuff together, reminded him I was spending the night camping here, and then left."

"Ren, I swear, I didn't know anything about that. Sae doesn't talk to me about work because 'I'm a child and a child wouldn't understand'." Makoto said quickly. "If I had know, I would have tried to stop her. I am so sorry. What she did was out of line."

"No kidding." Ryuji agreed. "And making up that lie about Boss... Not cool."

Ann nodded. "I know I don't know him that well, but Kamoshida, Boss is not. He doesn't seem like the type of person who would abuse anyone."

"Because he isn't." Yusuke agreed. "After we convinced him to let me stay with Ren for the night, Boss said that I could stay for longer if I needed to. Someone who's abusing a kid wouldn't do that for someone else in need."

"I know I haven't known him as long as you all have, but it's like you guys have already said, he doesn't seem like the type of person who would ever consider doing that." Makoto said, glancing over at Ren. "Though... Our opinion here really doesn't matter. You're the one who knows him best."

"He would never do that." Ren said sternly as he turned his hotdog in the fire. "Sure, Sojiro can be strict and he likes things being done a certain way, especially when it comes to coffee and curry, but outright hurting someone? No way. He may not have been too thrilled when I came to live with him, but he's never been cruel. He... He's like Nanako's dad, Ryotaro. Rough around the edges, but he cares about people deeply. He just occasionally struggles with how to show it."

"So it seems like we're all in agreement." Morgana said, everyone nodding. "Boss isn't an abuser."

"But how does that fit into this whole... MedJed and Alibaba and Futaba Sakura mess?" Ryuji asked exhaustedly. "It's like we're back at square one."

"Not exactly... If my theory is correct." Makoto admitted.

"Your conspiracy theory?" Ann asked.

"Yeah... I am about to sound insane." Makoto said as a preface before looking back over at Ren. "Can you pull up the last messages you got from Alibaba?"

"Okay...?" Ren said, going to his text messages. "Last thing they sent was 'Us? Meet in person? No... That's impossible... We can't meet up. I'm calling the deal off. Just forget about it. I'll still deal with MedJed, but you don't have to change her heart.'."

"We all have that in our minds, right?" Makoto asked. Everyone in the circle nodded. "Okay... So I'm going to ask all of you a series of questions... The same questions I asked myself when Alibaba first sent these questions."

"Alright..." Ren said, wondering where Makoto was going with this.

"Why can't Alibaba meet us? Why would Alibaba ask us to change Futaba Sakura's heart? How did Alibaba drop off that calling card outside of Sojiro Sakura's house? Why would we even be on Alibaba's radar? How did they find out about us? How did they keep joining our Smash Bros game? Why isn't Ren staying inside the Sakura house? How in the world is Sojiro connected to Wakaba Isshiki? Why would Alibaba reach out to Ren specifically? Why does my sister keep pestering Sojiro about Wakaba Isshiki?"

"That's a lot of questions." Ann commented.

"All of those questions have the same answer... Which is why I'm going to sound like a conspiracy theorist."

"They... They all have the same answer...?" Yusuke asked.

"Yes... Futaba Isshiki is Futaba Sakura and Futaba Sakura is Alibaba." Makoto stated bluntly.

Ryuji almost dropped his hotdog in the fire. "That is... How the hell..."

"Hear me out..." Makoto said nervously. "Ren, you mentioned that the guy who keeps pestering Sojiro for money said that he used to work in the government."

"Correct." Ren said, wondering where Makoto was going with this.

"Well, I Googled Wakaba Isshiki. She was a scientist, I'm not entirely sure about her field, but she was unmarried and she was government contracted. We've already established that Wakaba had a daughter, Futaba. Who do we know who worked in the government and left for one reason or another?"

"Sojiro."

"Maybe, just maybe, Sojiro knew Wakaba Isshiki from his time working for the government and after her passing, he adopted little Futaba Isshiki, making her Futaba Sakura. If he knew Wakaba, he probably knew her research, and if my sister is looking into Wakaba's research, Sojiro probably stands as the last person left alive who knows all the details."

"Well, why can't she just go find Wakaba's old papers? They have old journals online that probably have them posted, right?" Ann asked.

"I looked into that too... I can't find her research anywhere. I even searched questionable illegal websites. Nothing about her research popped up."

"That... Is extremely sketchy." Ren commented.

"Anyway, if we go with the theory that Futaba Sakura is both Wakaba Isshiki's daughter and Alibaba, everything else starts to make sense." Makoto continued. "We've already addressed why Sae keeps pressing Sojiro for information and how Sojiro is potentially connected to Wakaba Isshiki."

"Okay... What about everything else?"

"Let's start with the easiest to answer to the hardest. First, how did Alibaba deliver the calling card in the envelope?"

"... She walked out of her house and put the envelope in the mailbox herself. That's why it doesn't have a return address or an address of any kind." Ren realized.

"Correct. Next, why reach out to Ren specifically?"

"Because I also live with Sojiro."

"Why do you not live in the Sakura house?"

"... Because Sojiro doesn't want a bad influence on his daughter?" Ren guessed.

"Does Sojiro ever bring anything back and forth between Leblanc and home?"

"Besides himself? He told me when I first moved in that he brought the shelf in my room from his home... And he sometimes takes the whole coffee maker back to his house to give it a deep clean every few weeks."

"Okay, then that answers the next question."

"Which is?" Yusuke asked.

"Well, we know that Alibaba is a skilled hacker. How does Alibaba know that we're all the Phantom Thieves? How did they get into our Smash game?"

"... I'm still lost." Ann stated.

"Well... Maybe... Just maybe... Before Sojiro brought that shelf to Leblanc and during one of the deep cleans, Alibaba... Set up a few audio bugs on those things? That way, she can still know what's going on around Leblanc and not be there in person." Makoto suggested. "You kept saying the code to get into the private lobby out loud. It wasn't over text, so while Alibaba hacking your phone is always a possibility-"

"It'd make more sense if they were able to hear all of our conversations from the get go, especially since I had Nanako on speaker during the Smash Bros game. It's not like we hide anything while we're talking up in my room."

"Exactly."

"And that also explains why we would even be on Alibaba's radar."

"Good... And that leaves the last two questions. Why would Alibaba ask us to change Futaba Sakura's heart and why can't Alibaba meet us?"

"Well... Given the fact that nobody from Yongen-Jaya has heard of Futaba and nobody has seen anyone but Sojiro actually leave the property, including the neighborhood cats, I'd say it's because Futaba probably hasn't left Boss's house since Wakaba's passing." Morgana reasoned out. "As for why Futaba would want us to change her own heart... Maybe it has to do with her grief over her mother."

"Woah woah woah, are you saying that Futaba is evil?" Ryuji asked.

Morgana shook his head as Ren got up from his spot by the fire to grab a hotdog bun. "While it primarily is desires that get twisted due to malicious reasons, the Metaverse and Mementos deal with someone's worldview that gets twisted for some unknown reason. It just so happens that a lot of those desires get twisted for horrible reasons. Futaba's worldview could potentially be so twisted about... Whatever that she can't leave Sojiro's house and has become a shut in. To reference what you said earlier, being evil isn't a prerequisite to having a Palace or a Shadow."

"... She's kinda scary..." Ann commented. "Figuring all this out... Hacking..."

"I wouldn't say she's scary," Yusuke said, on the defense. "I'd say she's calling out for help in the only way she knows how. I know I didn't know how to ask for help during the Madarame situation."

"And you all saw me during the whole Kaneshiro thing." Makoto added. "I'm still not used to having people there to help. Is she going about it in the best way? Probably not. She's kinda threatening us, but she's asking for help. If she does have a Palace, we need to take that into consideration."

Ann looked over at Ren and said, "What do you think? This is your turf."

"I think that before we even check if she has a Palace, we need to talk to her and ask why she wants us to change her heart." Ren said calmly. "She hasn't reopened the chat log for me to type in, so I think the only way we can talk to her now is if we go to Sojiro's house ourselves."

"Are... Are you suggesting that we break into Boss's house?" Ann asked.

"I don't like the plan either, but at this point, what choice do we have?" Ren countered. "I know that she said that the deal is off, but... There is just something really weird about this whole situation, and the only way we can get to the bottom of it is by going into the belly of the beast, so to speak."

"... If it's the only way." Ryuji said bluntly.

"Yeah... The only way." Ann agreed.

"Boss will find it in him to forgive us." Yusuke said, bowing his head.

"We can figure out how we're going to frame it in case we get caught tomorrow." Makoto decided.

"So we're all in agreement? We're going to go into Boss's house to figure out what's going on?" Morgana asked for confirmation. Everyone else slowly nodded, everyone in agreement. "Then that's what we'll do... Boss forgive us."

Everyone seemed to release some tension after that. Before anyone really knew it, everyone was laughing and cracking jokes, enjoying their food and drinks. Ren even played a few songs for everyone on his guitar. They lightly made fun of him for missing a few notes here and there, but eventually everyone got dressed in their pajamas so that they'd be ready to go to bed.

As Ann, Ryuji, Yusuke, and Morgana sat down in the grass while Ann played Lilo and Stitch on the projector, Makoto grabbed two skewers and a paper plate with graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows on them. Makoto sat down next to Ren on the couch, Ren watching the movie from afar. Makoto held out one of the skewers to Ren and asked, "S'more peace offering?"

Ren took the skewer and asked, "Peace offering for what?"

"The whole... Sae versus Sojiro thing." Makoto elaborated. "I swear I didn't know anything-"

"I know. I didn't mean to make it seem like I didn't trust you. I do, it was just a really scary situation." Ren said, grabbing one of the marshmallows from the plate and stabbing it on his skewer.

"Still, I'm sorry. I don't know what's gotten into my sister recently." Makoto said, grabbing her marshmallow and stabbing it on her skewer before sticking it in the flames. "This whole situation... I'm just so... I just wanna..."

"I know." Ren interjected, sticking his marshmallow into the fire beside her. "It frustrates me too. I hate being so... So helpless about all this. I want to help Sojiro, but... I don't know how. I don't know what, exactly, your sister is accusing Sojiro of doing to Futaba, but... But I know he wouldn't hurt her. Even if I don't know Futaba, Sojiro wouldn't hurt anyone."

"I know. Sae has never been like this... Manipulating someone to get what she wants. I don't know what's going on with her, but..." Makoto said, trailing off as she stared into the fire.

"Hold on..." Ren said, getting out his phone. "I have a bad idea."

"How bad?"

"How would you feel about me calling Akechi and asking him to help keep your sister in line?" Ren asked.

"You have Akechi's phone number?" Makoto asked. "Why?"

"Another long story... Like most things in my life." Ren said, sighing heavily. "Do you trust me?"

"Of course I do." Makoto said, watching as Ren dialed Akechi's phone number and put the phone on speaker.

After a few seconds, Makoto heard Akechi's voice say, "This is Goro Akechi speaking. How can I help you?"

"Hey Akechi... It's Ren. Ren Amamiya." Ren said, glancing over at Makoto. "I'm here with Makoto Niijima. We have a favor to ask."

"... Makoto Niijima?" Akechi asked.

"Yeah... Hi Akechi." Makoto said exhaustedly.

"I didn't know you knew her too, Ren."

"She's my friend. Look, you see Makoto's sister on a fairly regular basis, right?"

"Yes... Why?"

"Could you..." Makoto struggled to ask, then took a deep breath. "Could you start trying to stop my sister from making any more stupid decisions?"

"Oh no... What has Sae-san done now?"

"Most recently? We don't know what she's looking into, but she verbally attacked Sojiro Sakura, the guy I'm staying with, and called him a horrible father, and threatened to take away his parental rights if he didn't answer Sae's questions. She also accused him of abuse."

"Oh my word... Is this because of Wakaba Isshiki?"

"She keeps using Isshiki-chan as leverage against him, so we believe so." Makoto admitted. "Sae doesn't listen to me because she doesn't think I'll understand... She respects you. Can you please try and make sure she doesn't go back to Leblanc and start another fight with Mr. Sakura?"

"I'll see what I can do, but... I don't know if she'll listen to me either. Ever since this mental shutdown business started... Sae-san has changed."

"Any help is appreciated, man. I just had to break up a fight between them today and... I don't want to do that again." Ren said exhaustedly.

"I'll try my best. Keep me updated if you two get it under control on your end... That is, if Makoto can get over her good girl push over act and fight for herself. I'm not worried about you, Ren."

"... What did you just say about Makoto?" Ren said carefully.

"It's fine." Makoto said exhaustedly.

"No it isn't. What did you just say?"

"I'm just saying that Makoto doesn't know how to stand up for herself against authority figures. I can try and keep Sae-san in line while she's at work, but at home, I don't think I necessarily trust Makoto to keep her in line as much as you clearly do." Akechi carefully argued.

"Makoto does know how to stand up for herself, she just also knows how to pick her battles. When it comes down to it, she makes the right, calculated choices. Are you going to help keep Sae in line, yes or no?"

"I'll... I'll do my best." Akechi said, as if caught off guard by Ren's anger.

"Okay. I'll talk to you later. Goodbye Goro." Ren said, hanging up the phone. He glanced over at Makoto angrily. "Is he always like that towards you?"

"Just about..." Makoto admitted. "Why do you think I had the nervous breakdown during all the Kaneshiro stuff. It all just... Piled up."

"If I wasn't passingly friendly with him... I would hurt him on your behalf."

"Why? I'm used to it."

"Because you are much more capable than he or your sister give you credit for, Makoto." Ren said, sounding a little frustrated. As Makoto crossed her arms across her dark blue T-shirt, Ren continued, "I'm sorry... That sounded a little aggressive. What I meant is that you are able to do and understand much more than anybody else in your life gives you credit for. You're making calculated moves... You're not a push over or anything. You know how to play the game and you know how to win. Calculated risk and calculated gambles. I hate that he's talking about you that way."

"Nobody's ever been that defensive about me before." Makoto commented. "I'm... Not entirely used to that."

"Well, get used to it." Ren said, shrugging. "I'm going to be defending you for the rest of our lives."

"... Thanks." Makoto said, feeling her face turn red.

"I'd do that anytime."

"I know."

"Hey, when you two are done making s'mores, are you guys going to join us?" Ann asked, turning around to look at Ren and Makoto with a small smirk on her face. "David, Nani, Lilo, and Stitch are about to go surfing."

"We'll be down there in a second." Ren called, then glanced over at Makoto. "I've seen Lilo and Stitch a million times. It's my favorite Disney movie."

"Really?" Makoto asked, pulling her marshmallow out of the fire, then quickly made her s'more. "I haven't seen it too many times... Never owned it growing up."

"Really? What's your favorite Disney movie then?"

"Cinderella. I've managed to convince Yusuke to watch it the next time we hang out."

"Cinderella? Really?" Ren asked as he pulled his own marshmallow out of the fire.

"Why so surprised?"

"I figured you would like Beauty and the Beast over Cinderella."

Makoto rolled her eyes. "It's not that I don't like Beauty and the Beast, in the grand scheme of things Belle is my third favorite Disney Princess-"

Ren started laughing. "You have a list?"

"Yes, I do." Makoto said defiantly. "I've just always liked Cinderella's kindness and her determination to always put others above herself."

"Then have you seen Cinderella 3: A Twist in Time?"

"No... What is that? Did Disney make more Cinderella movies?"

"Yeah... Technically, it's direct to DVD, but it's probably the best one of those. If I can find it at Scarlett's, maybe we can have a movie night over the summer." Ren suggested.

"I'd enjoy that." Makoto said with a smile.

"Ren... Makoto..." Ryuji said, turning his head around.

"Yeah, yeah, we're coming." Ren said, quickly putting his s'more together. Ren stood up, offering a hand to Makoto. "Need help getting up from the couch?"

Makoto laughed, grabbing Ren's hand as he helped hoist her up to her feet. "A little help couldn't hurt every once in a while."

Chapter Text

Present day...

"I... I didn't think..." Sae said, almost at a loss for words.

"What? You didn't think what you did has an effect on others?" Ren asked bluntly.

"Well... Well, I knew, I just didn't think that you and Makoto had asked Akechi-kun-"

"You were out of control, Sae. Everyone saw it." Ren interrupted. "I don't hate you. I understand that you have a job to do and all that, but there's a difference between having a job to do and trying to manipulate a situation for your own personal gain. I know that better than anyone."

Sae took a deep breath, then defensively said, "I was just trying to get information about Wakaba Isshiki-"

"What do you think I've been giving you this whole time?" Ren asked.

"What?"

"Everything the Phantom Thieves do... Going into Palaces, stealing Treasure, that's what Wakaba Isshiki's research was." Ren elaborated. "She was hired on by the government years ago, right?"

Sae nodded. "After the LMB Festival where members of Kanamin Kitchen and Rise Kujikawa went missing for a few days, yes."

"Figured as much. I have a friend who was there."

"Wakaba Isshiki was hired on to figure out what what, exactly, happened."

"Yeah... Essentially, what I've been telling you is what happened. This is what her research is on. Maybe instead of arguing with Mr. Sakura and threatening him, you should have been trying to figure out why all of her research went missing. You were barking up the wrong tree."

"And... Alibaba... I'm assuming they were the one who told you all this?"

"Yes... After we stole their heart."

"Alright... I'll believe this... For now." Sae said, Ren noticing the Judgement tarot card flaming above her head. "Keep talking. How did you manage to steal Alibaba's heart?"

"Well... Like most things, our first step to that started on a rainy day..."

Four months ago...

"Okay... How are we going to do get into Boss's house?" Ryuji asked. The group had decided to go to a relatively cheap sushi bar for lunch since everyone had slept in, Ren arguing for it by saying it'd come out of the group funds.

"Very carefully." Ann said bluntly as she grabbed a piece of sushi with her chopsticks.

"During the day while Sojiro is at Leblanc would probably be best." Ren answered. "We just need an excuse for if we get caught, that's the thing."

"Well... I have an idea..." Makoto admitted.

"What?"

"Hey Morgana-"

"No." Morgana said quietly from Ren's bag.

Makoto sighed. "But Morgana-"

"We are not giving Boss my fatty tuna."

"What if both Ren and I got leftovers? That way, you still get your fatty tuna and we have an excuse slash a 'we're sorry we're snooping into your personal life' gift." Makoto reasoned, then looked over at Ren. "Will we have enough yen for that?"

Ren opened his mouth to speak, but unfortunately for everyone, Ryuji beat him to the punch. "Of course we do! We have dough to spare from being the Phantom Thieves."

"Ryuji!" Ann hissed as everyone at the part of the bar next to the group stared at him in shock.

"Um... Phan... Phan... Fantastic!" Makoto said in a panic as she stared at the man behind the sushi bar. "This sushi is absolutely fantastic! So delicious!"

"Yeah! The fish is so fresh!" Ann agreed.

That seemed to cause everyone to ignore them, a few people griping about the Phantom Thieves, as Yusuke stared at Ryuji is disapproval. "You seriously need to learn to watch what you say."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry." Ryuji apologized.

"And we should have enough money for that... Actually, that's not a bad plan." Ren said with approval. "Good job."

"Slight good news though..." Ann said, everyone looking down the row at her. "I couldn't sleep well last night, so I did some searching on the Nav... Sojiro doesn't have one."

"Oh thank God." Ren said, releasing some tension in his back.

"Well, that's a really good sign." Makoto said hopefully.

"Yeah... So we know he's not twisted." Ryuji agreed. "But... Still doesn't answer what's really going on."

"We'll find out soon enough." Yusuke said.

Ren got the bill after getting two orders of sushi, Makoto deciding to carry Morgana's fatty tuna. Everyone grabbed their things and headed to the station to go to Yongen-Jaya, talking amongst themselves until Makoto heard a familiar voice say, "Well... Isn't this an interesting group. Prosecutor Niijima's little sister, three Shujin Academy students, and an ex-pupil of Madarame."

Makoto turned around and saw Akechi walking towards them, taking a deep breath. She had to fight every urge in her body not to tug on Akechi's light brown hair just to get that snug look off his face. "Hello Akechi. How are you?"

"I'm doing well. Hello again, Ren. Sorry about last night, you two."

Ann and Ryuji gave Ren a confused look as Ren said, "Apology accepted. What are you doing here?"

"I'm about to head to a meeting. I've officially joined the task team to find the Phantom Thieves, so they're giving us an update. We're trying to find them before MedJed's cleansing of Japan." Akechi explained as he started walking with the group. "Where are you all headed?"

"Back to Leblanc in Yongen-Jaya." Ann answered. "We're just hanging out today."

"Are you like... Allowed to give us any information about what the task team thinks the Phantom Thieves are like?" Ryuji asked.

"Well, this is all based on my own deductions, but my profiling has lead me to believe they are a group of juveniles. They have a relative amount of free time after school and a hideout to slip away to. Considering Kamoshida was their first target, they began work in late April." Akechi said as he quickly surveyed the group. "In a way... All I've just said coincides with the group you have here."

"Well, sorry to disappoint, but we're just a bunch of normal high school kids." Ryuji said, shrugging.

"Well, I didn't say I was suspicious of you." Akechi retorted snarkily. That retort only made Makoto want to punch him more.

"Probably a good thing. Ryuji is a Phantom Thief, after all." Ren said with almost no emotion, everyone looking at him as if he was insane.

"No I'm not!" Ryuji denied as Makoto elbowed Ren in annoyance.

Akechi just laughed. "You and your practical jokes, Amamiya. You always keep me on my toes and you always rise above my expectations... You're a supporter of the Phantom Thieves. What do you think they'd do because of the whole MedJed situation?"

"Retaliate."

"Of course you'd say that..." Akechi said, shaking his head. "Well, let's hope that their either do that or that I find them and expose their identities before the cleanse."

"Here's hoping. See you later." Ren said, watching as Akechi walked towards a different part of the station. "And that, everyone, is why we become friends with a detective."

"Did you really have to call Ryuji out though?" Yusuke asked.

"Ya know... He does it to himself all the time, I don't even notice when I do it anymore."

"That's just cold." Ryuji commented.

"Honestly, it's what you get for the sushi thing." Ann said, tilting her head to the side.

"Come on. Let's keep going." Ren said, everyone walking towards the station that would take them to Yongen-Jaya.

Everyone boarded the train, Ann, Yusuke, and Ren sitting down while Ryuji and Makoto opted to stand. As the train pulled out of the station, Makoto looked out the window and saw the darkening grey sky outside. "Looks like it's about to rain."

"Hopefully we can make it to the Sakura house before it starts downpouring." Ryuji said, Ann nodding.

"I really don't want to get rained on again." Ann commented.

"It wasn't so bad..." Yusuke said, turning his head so he could stare at the sky.

"Yes it was. You don't know what's like to get wet without your consent." Morgana protested from Ren's bag.

"Such a fickle cat." Ren muttered.

"I am not a cat!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know."

Ann walked through the gate and walked over to the front door, easily sliding it open. "Neither is the front door."

"And the lights are on upstairs." Ryuji added, pointing to the faint blue light coming from one of the upstairs windows.

"Okay... Either someone is home, someone broke into the house, or Sojiro seriously needs to start locking things up." Ren commented as everyone walked through the front gate. "No wonder he asked me to start locking up Leblanc before I go to bed."

"Well, we better head inside." Ryuji said, looking up at the sky as thunder went off in the distance. "It's definitely going to rain soon."

Everyone filed into the house as Makoto said out loud, "Pardon the intrusion... Alibaba, are you here?"

Morgana poked his head out of the bag and looked around. "I hear the TV. Either someone is home, or the robbers are just enjoying whatever programs Boss has on his TV."

"Should we head in further?" Ann suggested, staring at the dark hallway in front of them. "Maybe... Maybe Boss isn't at Leblanc. Maybe he was watching TV and passed out or something?"

"In the middle of the day? On a rainy day? When Leblanc is the busiest?" Ren asked, almost questioning Ann.

"... It could happen." Ann said defensively.

"Well... We're not going to figure anything about by standing in the entry way." Yusuke said, walking ahead of the group and into the dark hallway.

"Yusuke, wait!" Makoto said anxiously as Ren, Ryuji, and Ann followed close behind.

Everyone walked further in, staying close together. After a few seconds, the power clicked off. Somewhere above them, someone screamed, which made Makoto freeze in her spot. Makoto nervously asked, "So... So everyone else heard that scream, right?"

"Yeah... We heard it." Ryuji confirmed.

"What was that?" Ann asked, looking over at Morgana.

Morgana looked a little offended. "How would I know!?"

Makoto heard some thumping upstairs, jumping back and crashing into Ren. Ren looked around after steadying both himself and Makoto and said, "Okay... That's probably Alibaba... No need to panic."

"Maybe... Maybe this was a bad idea." Ann said nervously. "Maybe we should come back when it isn't about to rain."

"Good idea... I'm getting creeped out." Ryuji said, he and Yusuke turning around to leave, both looking uneasy.

Ren turned around to leave, then noticed that Makoto wasn't moving. She was just staring straight ahead, a terrified look on her face. Ren offered Makoto his arm and asked, "Do you want to hold onto my arm until we get out?"

Makoto nodded, gripping Ren's arm like her life depended on it as he lead her out. As the group kept walking out, Yusuke suddenly paused. Ann asked, "Yusuke... What are you doing...?"

"I... I'm sensing someone's presence... Who isn't one of us." Yusuke stated.

Morgana's eyes widened. "Is it Alibaba... Futaba... You guys know who I'm talking about!"

Makoto somehow managed to grip onto Ren tighter as she felt something sneak up behind her. She slowly turned her head and saw a small, human shaped figure with brightly dyed orange hair with a few knots in it, glasses not showing any eyes. Makoto shrieked and fell on the ground, her to go box of sushi falling off to the side, scooting away form the figure. The figure just screamed back and ran upstairs. Ren turned his head and saw the tail end of the figures hair, then quickly turned his attention back to Makoto, who was frantically muttering, "Sis, I'm so sorry! Please forgive me! I didn't mean any harm! Please save me from that demon!"

"Hey, calm down." Ren said, kneeling down on the ground beside Makoto and setting his to go box of sushi off to the side. "You're good. I think we just saw Futaba. You're good. Nothing is going to hurt you. I'm right here."

Makoto seemed to calm down slightly, one of her hands latching onto Ren's arm. Ann whipped her head around and asked, "You guys saw Futaba!?"

"Where?" Ryuji asked.

"Up... Upstairs." Makoto struggled to say out loud, Ren guiding her through a few small breathing exercises to calm her.

"Take a deep breath... Count to five, then release." Ren said quietly as Makoto kept trying to calm herself down. "Keep your eyes on me."

Makoto did as Ren said, keeping her eyes on him as she tried to slow her breathing. Ren just stared right back, muttering reassurances under his breath. His glasses were sliding down his nose, Makoto deciding to focus on how Ren's eyes looked more silver at the moment than they did black.

"Futaba, is everything okay!?" Makoto heard Sojiro yell somewhere in the distance.

"Oh shit, it's Boss!" Ryuji said, he, Ann, and Yusuke hiding around the corner.

Sojiro burst into the house, staring at Ren and Makoto's shapes. "Who the hell are you!? Don't you dare move."

Sojiro grabbed a flashlight from the cabinet by the front door, turning it on and shining it on Ren and Makoto. "Do I even... Wait a minute, what are you two doing in my house!?"

"Gate." Makoto said, grabbing her to go box and standing up abruptly.

"R-Right." Ren agreed, grabbing his own to go box and standing up, Sojiro keeping his flashlight trained on the two. "We came back from getting sushi and we got you some to go, but you weren't in Leblanc, so we thought you were home-"

"But when we came across your home, which I'm sure is quite lovely when it's lit up, both the front gate and the front door were open, so we got concerned that someone had broken in, especially since nobody answered when we pressed the doorbell-" Makoto continued.

"So we came in, just to make sure no robbers were here, but then the power went off and we started hearing noises-"

"Wait... You two were-" Sojiro attempted to ask.

"Not just them." Ann said, grabbing onto Ryuji and Yusuke before dragging them out of their hiding spot. Sojiro turned his flashlight onto the trio, Ryuji awkwardly waving hello, as Ann said, "All five of us came in here after sushi..."

"Something with orange hair freaked me out, so I started panicking and Ren tried to calm me down and then you showed up." Makoto concluded.

Sojiro sighed. "Not something... Someone."

"Who?" Yusuke asked.

Sojiro sighed, lowering his head. "Head to Leblanc. I'll explain everything there."

Everyone slowly left, Ren helping Makoto get back on her feet. As the two walked out, Ren handed Sojiro his to go box. "We're really sorry... We were just really worried about you."

Sojiro sighed, grabbing the sushi. "It's fine. Thanks for thinking of me."

Makoto and Ren walked out of Sojiro's house and over to Leblanc. Ann was sitting in one of the booths and Ryuji and Yusuke had taken two seats at the counter. As Makoto walked in, Ryuji commented, "I never thought you could get that scared, Makoto."

Makoto glared at Ryuji, Ryuji instantly shrinking up in his seat. Sojiro walked through the door a few seconds later, walking past Ren and Makoto to sit in the stool in the center of their cluster. He took a deep breath and said, "I never should have kept this a secret from you, Ren... Where do I start? That orange haired girl is my daughter, Futaba. I adopted her about two years ago. Futaba's mother and I knew each other long before Futaba was born."

"Wakaba Isshiki, right?" Makoto asked. Sojiro looked over at her in shock as Makoto bowed her head. "My older sister is that public prosecutor who keeps coming here to antagonize you. When Ren told me about what she did, I started snooping in my sister's things to figure out why. I'm so sorry about my sister's behavior. She doesn't usually do that."

"It's alright. Wakaba was... A bit of a weird one, but for some reason, the two of us got along. She was sharp-witted, somewhat stern, a little socially inept, but always carefree... She was a truly great woman." Sojiro said, smiling to himself as if he was remembering a fond memory. "Futaba is a lot like her in so many ways. When something piqued Wakaba's interest, that'd be all she focused on. She'd always work deep into the night to get whatever she was working on done. I thought that after having Futaba, she'd change, but not so much. If anything, Futaba accidentally encouraged her to keep doing it. At one point, I think Futaba was seven or so, Futaba got so hyperfixated on Ancient Egypt, of all things, that Wakaba decided to work extremely late into the night just to create some extra lessons about Ancient Egypt for Futaba's own amusement. She always took good care of Futaba."

"Working and watching a kid though must've been rough." Ann said sympathetically. "Wakaba was a single mom... Right?"

Sojiro gave Ann a confused look as she sheepishly said, "Makoto kinda... Looked at her sister's files when she found out she was starting targeting you for all this."

Sojiro looked back at Makoto as Makoto said, "I... I didn't like what Ren had told me she said, so I did my best to gather some intel of my own. I kinda told everyone else what I found out."

"It's okay. Wakaba was a single mom... But I've always thought of Futaba as my own daughter. I mean, I've known Futaba since the day she was born. That's why when Wakaba died... It came so suddenly. I wasn't prepared to take in a kid so suddenly... So Futaba went to the people Wakaba never wanted her to go to since I hadn't legally adopted Futaba yet. But I guess raising Futaba was tough on Wakaba in more ways than one..." Sojiro said, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "You could tell that Wakaba adored Futaba. They were a happy, loving family. They didn't need Futaba's biological father... Whoever he is... Which is why it came as a shock when Wakaba killed herself."

"Wakaba killed herself?" Ryuji repeated, slinking down in his chair.

Sojiro grimly nodded. "She jumped right into moving traffic... Right in front of Futaba. A lot happened after Wakaba's death. Futaba got passed along from one member of Wakaba's family to another, each one treating her worse than the last... Until she came to me within the past two years or so. The adoption process was relatively easy, especially since nobody in Wakaba's family even wanted to claim Futaba... Claim her and keep her in their home, anyway."

"That man... The one who came here to ask for money..." Ren interrupted.

"That's Wakaba's brother and Futaba's uncle, yes." Sojiro continued. "I keep trying to give Futaba space... She was so depressed when she finally got to me... I wanted to give her time to properly heal from everything she's been through. I wanted that same little girl who would always pester me with random fun facts back, and I was willing to do anything to get her back. I kept talking to her, letting her know that I wasn't going to leave her or hurt her, and she started opening up, bit by bit. That's... Around when I found out that Futaba blames herself for her mother's death."

"She... She what?" Yusuke asked quietly.

"Why?" Makoto asked. She didn't read about that during her light skimming...

"That's the one thing she never told me. I wanted to know, but I didn't want to rub salt in the wound. Then, a few months ago, she started getting really scared, even though nothing was happening. She'd say things like 'I hear voices' and 'Mom is looking at me'."

"Visual and auditory hallucinations... Have you taken Futaba to the doctor?" Yusuke asked. He glanced over at Makoto, extremely concerned.

"I wanted to, but she refused. Even when the doctor came to the house, she'd lock herself away in her room. Since then, she's become what you'd call a shut-in. She won't take a single step outside the house or even try and see other people." Sojiro said, looking over at Ren. "It's why I didn't want you to sleep in the house. I thought that having you live there... It'd simply be too much for her to handle at one time."

"What about you?" Ren asked. "Does she let you in?"

"She won't even let me inside her room anymore." Sojiro said, pushing back his hair with both hands, making it more messy than Ren had ever seen it.

"That's... Pretty harsh." Ryuji said carefully.

"As I said, Futaba is a unique girl. She's so quick-minded that conversations with her tend to jump from one topic to the next. It seems like she's always drawing conclusions in her head. There's a lot that I don't get about her, I admit that, but at the same time... I miss my daughter and I just want her to be okay." Sojiro said, sounding like he was about to cry. He managed to collect himself before he continued, "So... Yeah. Her situation is why I couldn't let you into the house."

"Don't worry about it." Ren interjected.

"What she needs is a safe place where nobody will threaten her. Somewhere she can feel at ease. That's why I won't make her do anything she doesn't want to do or is unwilling to do. Then again, I know that's no way for her to live. It's all I can do though." Sojiro said as he stood up from the stool.

"And... What does Futaba want?" Makoto asked.

"I'm... Not entirely sure. She just asks me for things she wants, like food and these complicated books I have no hope at understanding. Can you kids just... Promise me that you'll leave her be? She doesn't deserve any more pain." Sojiro said, taking a deep breath.

"We promise." Ren said, glancing at everyone else and seeing the same determined look on their faces. There was no way they were leaving this alone.

"Okay... I'm out then. Make sure you lock up when they leave." Sojiro said, turning around and walking out of Leblanc.

Ren looked over at everyone uneasily. "So?"

"Ain't no way in hell he is abusing that girl." Ryuji said sternly, which everyone seemed to agree was the silent summary of their conversation. "I know what abusers look like. Hell, my father was an abuser before he left me and my mom. Sojiro almost cried when he was telling us about Futaba. He cares about her. There is no way in hell that he would ever do anything to purposely hurt that girl."

Makoto nodded. "I almost feel bad for forcing Boss's hand with this..."

"Wakaba's suicide must be why Futaba wants us to change her heart." Ann realized.

"But we still haven't tested one thing," Ren said, looking at everyone. "Does Futaba even have a Palace?"

Ryuji sighed, getting out his phone and pulling up the Nav. "Okay... Person... Futaba Sakura... Location... I'm assuming Sojiro Sakura's house."

"Candidate found." The Nav said, everyone in the room freezing.

"So she does have a Palace..." Ren muttered.

"I would too if I was under the impression that I was the cause of my mother's death." Yusuke said bluntly.

"Right, of course, but... She actually has a Palace."

"All we need is what she thinks of Sojiro's house as, and we're in." Ann commented.

"And we're sure we want to do this, right?" Makoto asked. "Are we sure we want to actively go against Boss's wishes and talk to Futaba?"

"Makoto... You said so yourself." Yusuke said cautiously. "She asked us to change her heart herself. I don't think this is a matter of if we're going to do it... I think this is a matter of when."

Ann nodded. "You think so too, right Morgana?"

The room fell silent, waiting for Morgana's response. When he didn't respond after ten seconds, Ann asked, "Um... Morgana...?"

Ren got his bag off of his shoulder and looked inside. Empty. "He isn't here."

"Then where is he?" Makoto asked. "When did we lose him?"

"Will all of you relax?" Morgana asked, walking down the stairs that led up to Ren's attic. "I'm fine. Not like you guys were even worrying about where I was."

"We got a little distracted." Ryuji said defensively.

"Where were you?" Makoto asked, bending down to pick Morgana off of the ground.

"In Futaba's room. I followed her in after you accidentally scared her." Morgana stated. "Ren left the window by his bed open, so I climbed back in through that."

"Oh crap! It's gonna rain!" Ren said, quickly running up to his room to close the window.

"Oh, then we should prob-" Ann started to say.

Morgana shook his head. "No need. You were right, Makoto. She has this place bugged. I heard Boss's entire explanation. She's even hacked into Ren's text logs too."

"Yes!" Makoto cheered, instinctually squeezing Morgana tighter. Morgana made a strangled sound, Makoto panicking and releasing him slightly. "Sorry Morgana..."

"For being an excellent hacker, I didn't think she'd be so young." Morgana commented.

"Wait, how young is she?" Ryuji asked.

"The oldest I'd say she is is maybe a year under you, Ren, Lady Ann, and Yusuke... I can't really tell, though. She's really small."

"Small as in height or small as in..." Yusuke said, motioning to himself.

"Small as in malnourished, yes. I know Boss said that he's feeding her every day, but... Either she's gone a year without proper food or she's much younger than you guys." Morgana elaborated as Ren walked back downstairs. "I do not know how she managed to run away so quickly when she looks like she's made of sticks and bones."

"So... Are we doing this?" Ryuji asked. "Are we officially stealing Futaba Sakura's heart?"

Ann stood up, putting her hand in the center of their small circle. "Nobody deserves to feel like they're to blame for misfortune."

Ryuji nodded, standing up and putting his hand on top of Ann's. "She's been treated too poorly by everyone else in the world around her."

"Maybe this will help get rid of those hallucinations Boss mentioned." Yusuke said, doing the same as Ann and Ryuji.

Morgana climbed out of Makoto's arms as she put a hand in. "To help her actually grieve properly."

"Lady Ann, put in a hand for me." Morgana asked, Ann placing her second hand on top of Makoto's. "Because she asked us to."

Everyone glanced over at Ren as he stared at the circle of hands. Makoto smirked a little and said, "We're waiting for you, Joker. All or nothing, right?"

Ren's mouth curled into a smile as he placed his hand on top of Ann's, completing the circle. "To get Boss his daughter back."

"So we're all in agreement? We're doing this?" Ryuji asked excitedly.

"We are." Ren confirmed, everyone smiling to themselves.

"Hell yeah!" Ryuji cheered, everyone lifting their hands out of the circle in unison. "When are we gonna start this?"

"How about tomorrow after the school assembly?" Ann suggested. "We can head over to the passageway and then head over here since a lot of us will be leaving school at the same time."

"Or we could just cut out the middle man and meet here in Leblanc." Makoto suggested.

Ryuji snapped one of his fingers and pointed at Makoto. "That. I like that idea."

"Okay, then it's decided." Morgana said chipperly. "The mission to change Futaba Sakura's heart starts tomorrow. You all better be ready to go."

Chapter Text

Four months ago...

Ryuji fell in line with Ann and Ren as the three left the school building. As he caught up, Ryuji asked, "Are we waiting for Makoto at the station?"

Ren nodded. "Yeah, but given the fact third years are on the first floor, she's probably meeting us there."

"Right... Third year privilege." Ann remembered. Ann glanced over at Ren and asked, "How are you feeling... Ya know, about all this craziness?"

"I'm handling it." Ren said carefully. "I don't know... I want to help Futaba, but... It feels like every time I try to help people, it all goes horribly, horribly wrong."

Ann sighed. "We're going to make sure this doesn't go horribly wrong, Ren. We are not going to screw up things with you and Boss."

"Definitely not." Ryuji agreed.

The trio walked into the train station, noticing that Makoto was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. She looked up at everyone else, straightening her back as they met her at the bottom. "It's go time. I texted Yusuke that we're leaving school now. He's headed over to Shibuya as we speak for the transfer over."

"Great." Ren said, nodding his head as he followed Makoto over to the train.

"So what's the plan once we get over to Yongen-Jaya?" Ryuji asked.

"... We go into Boss's house again..." Makoto admitted hesitantly as the train pulled into the Ayoyama-Ichotome station.

"Are you becoming comfortable with breaking and entering...?" Ann asked while the cluster of people they were with walked onto the train.

"No... Look, I don't want to do it either, but given the fact that Futaba still hasn't reopened the chat log for us to communicate with her via Ren, we have to ask her in person what she thinks of Sojiro's house as." Makoto explained.

"And afterwards?" Ren asked.

"... We go from there."

"... That's it?" Ryuji asked. "That's all you have planned?"

"Hey, as far as I'm aware, this is uncharted territory, right Morgana?" Makoto asked, crossing her arms and slightly pouting as she sat down in the train.

Morgana poked his head out of Ren's bag slightly. "Right. We've never had someone ask for us to change their heart before, and given how... Unstable Futaba's mind seems to be according to Boss... Anything could happen there. We need to be extra careful."

"Exactly. Excuse me for exercising a little caution in my planning this time around." Makoto said snarkily.

"I'm sure it'll be fine." Ryuji said flippantly.

"But caution is always a good thing." Ren added. "We'll figure out where we go from getting the distortion."

"Aye aye leader sir." Ryuji said, jokingly saluting Ren.

When the train pulled into Shibuya station, the group walked out and started crossing over. Yusuke joined the rest of the group from the outdoor crossover and asked, "So... How was the assembly?"

"Boring and pointless." Ryuji said exhaustedly. He said in a mocking voice, "'Hey kids, you know how our school has been in the news a lot lately because of the Phantom Thieves? Here's a list of things to not do during summer vacation.'. It was so dumb!"

"Well, at least we don't have school for a month." Ann said positively, stretching her arms. "We don't have to worry about stupid teachers for a while, anyway. And then, after we get back, we only have a few days of school before we go on the school trip!"

"Which... By the way..." Ryuji said, looking over at Ren. "Are you allowed to go on the school trip? You know, with your probation being a thing or something?"

Ren nodded. "The school worked it out with the court. I'm allowed to go on the school trip as long as I don't get in trouble, and since we stopped Kamoshida from getting you, me, and Mishima expelled, I get to go."

"You're allowed to leave the country?" Makoto asked.

"Woah... Leave the country?" Ren asked in confusion as the group boarded the train to Yongen-Jaya. "You mean we're not taking a train out of town?"

Ryuji, Makoto, and Ann all looked at each other in confusion as Ann said, "Um... No? Where did your old school go for the school trip?"

"Tatsumi Port Island." Ren said, the three looking at each other in confusion. "Ya know... It's an island... It has a school there... They have a relationship with my old school... I mentioned this to you, Makoto."

"You did... But you weren't kidding when you said that Yasogami had a really good relationship with Gekkoukan." Makoto agreed.

"Yeah... That's a country thing." Ann decided. "Didn't you guys go to some place in Florida last year, Makoto?"

Makoto nodded. "Yeah... Though I didn't get to enjoy Key West much. Sae wanted me to keep studying even though we were literally on the beach... All I remember from my school trip is me curled up under an umbrella with my textbooks spread out in front of me on the beach. I think I got horribly sunburnt from tbat trip..."

"Woah... You guys actually left the country?" Ren asked in shock.

"We're leaving the country too, dude." Ryuji said bluntly. "We're going to Hawaii."

"We're going where?"

"Hawaii... You know... Another island?"

"I know what Hawaii is, Ryuji... I've just never heard of leaving the country for a school trip."

"Well, maybe that's just a country thing." Yusuke interjected. "Kosei is going on our school trip after summer break too, and we're going to some place in America called Los Angeles."

"I... I guess so... Just like the camping trip is an Inaba thing too." Ren said uneasily.

"The camping trip?" Ann asked.

"We like the outdoors in Inaba, okay? Yasogami always has a mandatory camping trip every year for the whole school." Ren said defensively. "The closest we got to that here was the Inokashira Park clean up. I was fully expecting that we'd have to make our own food for that. I didn't think one of the teachers would be making our food, much less that teacher being Maruki."

"Speaking of Maruki," Morgana said, glancing between Ann and Ryuji. "You two have seen Maruki at least once, right? You know that Shujin is requiring you guys to see him."

"I have... Against my will." Ryuji grumbled.

"It was actually really nice to be able to talk him about all the Shiho stuff." Ann admitted.

"I think I should talk to him. I do have his number for emergencies, after all..." Makoto commented to herself.

"That might be a good idea." Ren agreed. "He and I have actually been talking about how I've been coping with my record and stuff. It's kind of comforting."

"I'll keep it in mind." Makoto said, nodding her head.

The train pulled into Yongen-Jaya and as soon as the train rolled to a stop, everyone got off and headed to Sojiro's house. Yusuke tried the gate again, trying to push it open. When the gate didn't budge, Yusuke commented, "He's gotten smarter. The gate is locked."

"Leave it to me." Morgana said as Ren got him out of his bag and awkwardly held the cat-like creature out so Morgana could face the lock.

As Morgana stuck his claws into the lock, Makoto asked, "Hold on, you can pick locks?"

"I'm pretty good at it." Morgana admitted, tilting his head as he stared at the lock. "Especially when we're in the Metaverse."

"The paws make it a little more difficult." Ann said, shrugging as Morgana managed to pop the gate open. Everyone walked in and headed over to the front door, sliding it open with ease.

"Ren, put me down." Morgana commanded. Ren did as Morgana said, gently setting him down on the ground. Morgana looked up and said, "Come on. I know what room is Futaba's."

Everyone followed Morgana through the house, up the stairs and stopping in front of a door with yellow caution tape in front of it and a 'Do Not Enter' sign at eye level. Morgana looked back up at everyone and said, "Here we are."

"Okay, who should-" Ann started to ask.

Makoto knocked on the door and carefully said, "Futaba-chan... It's the Phantom Thieves. Specifically, I'm the one who screamed in your face yesterday out of fear, but the others are here too... Sorry about that, by the way. Listen, you don't have to talk to us verbally. You can just keep texting Ren. We just have a few questions for you."

Ren felt his phone vibrate, pulling it out of his pocket. Ren read the message, then read out loud, "'What are you doing here? I said that the deal was off.'."

"We want to learn more about you. If we don't do so, we can't steal your heart... That is, if you still want us to." Makoto said carefully.

Ren glanced down at his phone again, watching the chat bubbles form. "'OK. Fire away, I guess.'."

"Ren, the one who lives in Leblanc, he will be the main one speaking to you. Chat messages are fine."

"Yo, why are we having Ren do this?" Ryuji asked.

"Because she's been talking to him the most. She's probably more comfortable with him than with any of us since it feels like she knows him better due to the bugs in Leblanc." Makoto explained, motioning to Ren. "Fire away, Ren."

Ren took a deep breath, then said, "Hey... Futaba. What's it like living here with Sojiro? In my experience, Sojiro can be a lot, but... I don't know what he's like as an adopted father."

As Futaba responded, Makoto took Ren's phone and quietly decided to read it out to the rest of the group. "'Sojiro is great, but... It's too painful here.'."

"Why don't... Why don't you leave the house?" Ren decided to ask.

Makoto scanned the texts, feeling more guilt. "'I can't leave this place. I'm going to die here. How much longer is this going to take?'."

"... Die...?" Yusuke asked, a terrified look on his face.

"Just one more question Futaba, I promise." Ren said, trying to think. "Why do you think you can't leave here and that you're going to die here?"

Makoto scanned the next text messages, almost horrified as she read them outloud. "'This place is my tomb. I've accepted my fate.'."

"Tomb? Is that it?" Ann asked.

"Thank you for the help, Futaba. We'll get onto changing your heart, I promise." Ren said, looking down at his school bag. Deciding to part with it for now, Ren took the crocheted panda off of his bag and set it down at the crack of the door. "When we leave, open your door and grab something from the ground. I'm leaving something of mine here with you. It... It means a lot to me. It's a final reminder of my friend back home. I'll get it back from you after we change your heart."

"Try entering tomb." Morgana instructed as Ryuji got out his phone.

"Okay... 'Futaba Sakura... Sojiro Sakura's house... Tomb'." Ryuji said, then pressed the enter button.

"Candidate found. Beginning navigation." The Nav said as the world distorted around the Phantom Thieves.

"Ryuji, why did you activate it here!?" Morgana chided as everything around them seemed to fade away.

Present day...

"Futaba Sakura had a Palace?" Sae asked, staring at Ren in shock. "Hold on, while MedJed was targeting you, you chose to deal with someone completely unrelated to them?"

"You did hear the part about Futaba being a hacker and being Alibaba, right? We change Futaba's heart, we deal with MedJed. It was a professional courtesy." Ren said exhaustedly.

"But she said she would do it regardless. You didn't need to change her heart."

Ren took a deep breath. "Look... I doubt you'd get it, but after my parents shipped me off to Tokyo... That was that. They hadn't bothered to call to check in on me at that point... They still haven't. Sojiro... Despite how complicated our relationship was at that point, he was the closest thing I had to a family member. You didn't see how distraught he was about knowing that Futaba needed help and not being able to help her. When you care about someone... You do whatever you can to help them, even if you don't think you have the time or the ability to do so. Out of all the things I learned from Sojiro, that is the most important. I had to help, and that was the best way I knew how."

Sae avoided eye contact as she stared down at her files. "What you've said about the Sakura family falls in line with our investigation. It appears you aren't feeding us a false testimony."

"Why would I?" Ren asked. "Are you finally listening to me?"

Sae snorted. "If you're lucid enough for jabs, you can get back to your story. It's still unclear to us how the Phantom Thieves dealt with MedJed since their identity is unknown. If you tell me something coherent, I may be a little more willing to believe you."

Ren tried to keep himself from smirking as he saw the Judgement tarot card shine above Sae's head. Sae continued, "Still, to think the Phantom Thieves would have their hideout in the home of Wakaba Isshiki's daughter. What a coincidence... No, it's fate, I suppose."

"Like most things in my life, I guess." Ren admitted.

"Continue with your story."

"Well... Let's just say that despite Futaba asking us to change her heart, she didn't make it easy..."

Four months ago...

When the distortion faded, Ren felt the heat on his back. He put his hand over his eyes, realizing that they were all standing in the middle of a desert. As Ren studied everyone else, he realized they were all still in their school uniforms, not in their Phantom Thief outfits. Yusuke was the first one to speak out of shock. "It's a desert."

Ryuji sighed. "Yeah... We can see that."

"It's an Egyptian desert." Ann realized, everyone turning to look at her. "What? Boss did say she had an interest in Ancient Egypt as a kid."

"So by tomb, it probably means-" Ren started to figure out.

"An Egyptian tomb. A pyramid." Makoto said, pointing to a sparkling light in the distance. Ren's eyes narrowed as he saw a sandy pyramid reaching into the blue sky. "We need to get over there."

"It's too far and too hot." Ryuji whined, looking over at Morgana. "Cat bus?"

Morgana sighed, taking a few steps back. "Oh fine..."

Ann looked down and realized what Ren had realized right away. "Wait... We're all still in our school uniforms."

"Well... Futaba did ask us to do this." Ren reminded Ann. "It'd be weird if she saw us as a threat."

"Right..." Ann muttered.

"Why'd you activate it right then and there, Ryuji!? That was dangerous!" Morgana argued as he landed back down on the ground in van form. "We could've accidentally pulled Futaba in, and who knows what could happen if the Palace ruler comes inside their own Palace."

"Dibs on sitting beside Makoto!" Ann said, ignoring Morgana's comment as she sped over to the passenger's side seat of the van.

"You're right, you're right, I'm sorry." Ryuji grumbled. "I got a little excited. I'll do better next time."

"It's okay man. Now we know better for next time." Ren said supportively as the three guys climbed into the back of the van.

Makoto tried turning on the air conditioning, only to be dismayed that it was also hot. She immediately shut it off. "Okay... Looks like we're going over without AC. The air is way too hot."

"At least this is better than sitting out in the heat." Ann whined as she buckled her seatbelt.

"Not that it's beating much." Ren added.

"This place is so... Bleak." Makoto commented as she put Morgana into drive. "It's the opposite of Kaneshiro's Palace."

"It's... Kind of peaceful, in a way." Yusuke said nervously.

"But it's also far away from civilization." Ann added. "She must really want to keep people out..."

"Or keep those who could cause her any harm away." Ryuji said, staring at the vast yellow desert in front of them as the pyramid came closer into view. "Her Palace is so far away... It's like she doesn't want to let anyone in again."

"But at the same time," Morgana said, the inside of the van starting to feel stuff. "The pyramid is clear to see. It has a shiny beacon at the very top. She wants people to notice her, but she also doesn't want anyone to get too close."

"Contradiction on top of contradiction." Ren muttered.

Ann started using her collared shirt as a sort of fan, closing her eyes and tilting her head up. "What do you guys think are the chances of the pyramid being cooler on the inside?"

"Extremely high, actually." Makoto said as she kept her eyes glued on the pyramid. "Some pyramids, like the Great Pyramid of Giza, had an extremely early form of air conditioning. They had these pressurized passages that would take liquid water, turn it into a fog, and the fog would evaporate and make natural air conditioning. Pyramids can usually stay at about twenty degrees Celsius year round, but it could sometimes get even colder."

"And... You know... Sojiro's house is air conditioned so Futaba's cognition of her tomb is that it's cold compared to the summer heat." Ren added snarkily from behind Makoto.

Makoto rolled her eyes. "My early form of air conditioning thing sounded cooler, especially since we know she has a lot of knowledge about Ancient Egypt."

Ren laughed as Ryuji said, "Yeah... Sure."

Ren elbowed Ryuji's chest as Ryuji protested, "Dude, what did I do?"

Makoto pulled up to the pyramid a few minutes later, everyone climbing out of Morgana. As Morgana transformed back into his normal Metaverse self, Ann repeated, "God, it is so hot!"

"Mona... Why couldn't you make your AC work?" Ryuji asked exhaustedly.

"It was the best I could do!" Morgana said defensively.

"You know... Sometimes, you can be so half assed."

"Do you want to fight, punk?"

"No fighting." Ren interrupted. "Heat makes tempers run high... We are not fighting right now."

"Sorry..." Ryuji apologized.

"My bad..."

"Okay... Now let's head in." Ren said, hanging towards the back of the group. After a moment of staring at everyone, he realized that almost all of their backs were soaking wet with sweat. His eyes zeroed in on Makoto and Ann, the sweat making their white uniform shirts almost completely see-through. As Ren realized what the pastel pink strap on Ann's back and the pastel blue strap on Makoto's back were, Ren quickly ran in front of them and said, "Mona, Skull, Fox, you three take the lead."

"Why are we-" Yusuke started to ask, turning around so he could look at Ren.

"Go. Panther, Queen, and I will be right behind you." Ren said, forcing Yusuke to turn around and walk forward.

"Why is he-" Makoto started to ask, then looked over at Ann and saw parts of her bra though her shirt. Makoto pointed at Ann and said, "Panther, you-"

"Right back at ya." Ann said, pointing at Makoto's shoulder.

Makoto glanced down at her chest and saw part of her blue bra as Ren said while looking straight ahead, "I swear, I only saw both of your back bra straps and that's it. That's why I made the three of them go ahead. Just stay behind me until either the sweat dries or we inevitably get forced into our Phantom Thieves gear."

Ann smiled. "Thanks Joker."

"Yeah... Thanks." Makoto said, using a hand to lightly pat Ren on the shoulder.

As Ann, Ren, and Makoto caught up to the rest of the group, Makoto heard Yusuke say, "You know... There is a sort of beauty to this pyramid. It perfectly conforms to the golden ratio."

"I wonder if this really is just a tomb." Makoto wondered. "I mean... There are theories that pyramids were used to revive the dead. Obviously, we can't revive Wakaba, but..."

"I guess we'll see." Ren said as everyone started walking up the steps to the entrance.

Ryuji opened the front doors, looking down at his clothes in confusion. "We still haven't changed... This almost feels too easy."

"Don't let your guard down." Morgana added. "Who knows what could happen in here?"

The whole group made their way to the next set of stairs, staring at the doors at the top in confusion. Ren lightly nudged Morgana with his foot. "The Treasure is up there, right?"

"Feels like it, yeah." Morgana confirmed.

"Let's keep walking then." Ren decided.

Everyone kept walking up the stairs, Makoto staring at the passages to either side. It felt weird that they weren't exploring... Like they were missing something important.

Before the last flight of stairs to reach the doors to the Treasure, a small girl with straight orange hair blocked their path. She was wearing some sort of Egyptian garb, a linen skirt, linen top, gold jewelry adorning her head and body. There was a crown resting on her head with a center dragon like creature tilting up to the sky and behind her black glasses were exhausted looking gold eyes. Ryuji asked out loud, "Hey... Is this...?"

"It is." Morgana confirmed. "This is Futaba's Shadow."

"She looks more... Human than I was expecting." Makoto commented.

"Kamoshida kinda looked like this too." Ren said simply. "At least she isn't abusing a volleyball team."

Ryuji took a few steps closer to Shadow Futaba, the Shadow herself taking one anxious step back. "Hey... Is the Treasure up ahead?"

"It's doubtful that you wouldn't know where it is." Makoto said gently.

"... Are you going to say something?" Ryuji asked aggressively when the Shadow didn't respond for a long time, Shadow Futaba taking another step back.

"Don't be like that." Ann said, stepping to the side slightly. "I'm sorry about that, Futaba-chan. You don't need to be scared of us. We're here to help. We just need you to tell us where your Treasure is."

After another period of Shadow Futaba not responding, Yusuke sighed and said, "This is going nowhere."

"Do we just leave her then...?" Ryuji asked.

"Oh shut up!" Ann chided.

"Those who plunder my tomb, why have you come?" Shadow Futaba asked quietly.

"What are you talking about?" Ryuji asked. "You want us to steal it, right?"

"If you believe you can steal it, then try as you might." Shadow Futaba said, taking another step back from the group.

"Well, that's rather defiant sounding." Morgana commented.

"... Is this that 'tsundere' thing my classmates keep telling me about?" Yusuke asked.

"No, buddy, I don't think Shadow Futaba is being a tsundere." Ren said, almost not believe the words coming out of his mouth.

"Considering the state that my Palace is in, there is no way that you can steal it by yourselves." Shadow Futaba said bluntly.

All of a sudden, the group heard various voices all around them, a symphony of pain. The walls around them started rattling. Yusuke looked around in concern. "What are these voices?"

Shadow Futaba collapsed on the ground, holding her hands over her ears. Makoto heard more voices, except one word was more clear than the others. "... 'Murderer'...?"

Makoto looked back over at Shadow Futaba, seeing pure anguish on her face. Makoto stepped in front of Shadow Futaba and said, "We want to help you, but what's going on with these voices?"

"... Just stay away from me. I'll wind up hurting you too." Shadow Futaba muttered.

"... What?" Makoto asked, a little confused and unsure if she had heard Shadow Futaba right.

"JUST STAY AWAY!" Shadow Futaba cried before disappearing into black smoke. Makoto saw blue flames engulf her, and when she looked down, she saw her Phantom Thief out. Makoto quickly stood up and turned around, seeing everyone else's Phantom Thief outfits as well.

"She sees us as a threat now!" Yusuke said nervously as a loud screech sounded above them. "What's going on?"

A large, glowing green boulder dropped in front of the door to the Treasure and started rolling towards them. Morgana started running away as he yelled, "We can figure that out later! For now, run!"

Everyone started running down the stairs and back the way they came. They managed to make it down the stairs and to a safe ledged off area as the boulder sailed above them and into the quicksand a few feet in front. Ren nervously laughed and said, "I never want to live out Raiders of the Lost Arc again..."

"You never want to live out what?" Yusuke asked, looking over at Ren in confusion.

"We seriously need to catch you up on pop culture." Ren said, then looked over at the side. Makoto looked back towards the top of the stairs, seeing a large green door close in front of them and block their way. Ren nodded once and said, "I think we leave for today and regroup tomorrow with a plan."

"Right." Morgana said, spying the front door to the tomb. "There's the exit."

Once they were safely out of the pyramid, Ann pressed the exit button and the group stood in the alleyway to Sojiro's house. Makoto took a deep breath, getting out her phone. "MedJed is threatening to cleanse Japan on August twenty first. That means our deadline should be at least two days prior, so August nineteenth. We need to help Futaba before she can help us."

"Right." Ren said, taking out his phone. "Sojiro has me playing my guitar outside of Leblanc from noon to two tomorrow. I say we meet at Leblanc at 2:30 and then head back in there."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Ann answered.

"Same here." Ryuji confirmed.

"I can make that work." Yusuke said, nodding his head once.

"Okay... Then that's what we'll do. Now let's go get some rest and figure out what we're doing." Ren said, picking up Morgana from the ground. "We'll see you guys tomorrow."

"See ya." Makoto said, waving goodbye.

"You all better be on time." Morgana halfway threatened as Ren walked away.

Ann and Ryuji went ahead to the train station, and as Makoto went to join them, Yusuke said, "I'd like to call a second wave meeting."

Makoto paused, turning around. "Everything okay?"

"Futaba talking to Ren so we could get her keyword... Her Palace... It kind of reminds me of myself." Yusuke admitted. "I know it sounds weird, but it's loaded with contradictions and-"

"It reminded me of myself too." Makoto interrupted. "I get it, don't worry."

"So it isn't just me?" Yusuke asked.

Makoto shook her head. "No... Not just you. That's why we have to do our best to help her."

Yusuke nodded. "We're going to help her. We're going to figure out how this all got so twisted for her."

"Yes we are. We're gonna do it as a team." Makoto said confidently.

Yusuke nodded again. "That's... That's all I wanted."

"If you need to talk it out again, call me, okay?" Makoto said with a small smile.

"Will do."

Chapter Text

Four months ago...

"That would look so cute on you!" Eiko said happily as she saw Makoto holding up a dress while they were thrift shopping.

The dress itself was pretty simple. It was dark blue with thick straps. The top looked like it was skin tight compared to the loose skirt. Makoto carefully put the dress back. "Not my style."

"If you say so." Eiko said, shrugging as she looked at one of the other dresses on the racks. "You could wear it on our double date."

"On our what?" Makoto asked, giving Eiko a confused look.

"Did I forget to tell you?"

"... Forget to tell me what, Eiko?"

"So... You know my boyfriend Tsukasa?" Eiko asked, pushing her black hair behind her back with a nervous smile on her face.

Makoto sighed. Tsukasa had been their most recent topic of conversation. From what Eiko had told her, Tsukasa was a host at a different club than the one she worked at in Shinjuku. Makoto didn't know Tsukasa's age, but from what Makoto had been able to deduce, Eiko was head over heels for the guy. The whole situation just felt really sketchy to Makoto. "How could I not? You talk about him constantly."

"Well... I managed to convince him to do a double date with me, you, and your boyfriend."

Makoto sighed, shaking her head in disappointment. "Eiko... I told you, Ren and I aren't dating."

"Oh come on, you don't need to lie to me." Eiko said, rolling her eyes. "I see the way you look at him. You're in love."

"No I'm not." Makoto denied again. "I've told you over and over again that Ren is not my boyfriend."

"Oh please." Eiko said in disbelief. "Just admit it, Makoto. You're in love with the guy... Not that I blame you. He is pretty cute and easy on the eyes. I just never thought that country boy felons would be your thing."

"I'm not in love with him." Makoto denied for what felt like the tenth time that week.

"But are you going to deny that he's cute?"

"Yes, Ren is cute... And nice and considerate and protective and smart and funny, but that doesn't mean that I'm in love with the guy." Makoto said, listing off Ren's best qualities. "We aren't dating. Besides, I'm pretty sure I'm not his type anyway. Why would he be into someone like me?"

Eiko thought for a moment, then said, "Well, regardless, I organized a double date for us on Friday and I guess I forgot to tell you. To calm your mind, you can even think of it as an excuse to check out Tsukasa for yourself. Think you can make it work with your boyfriend?"

"He is not my-" Makoto started to protest, then took a deep breath. "I'll see what I can do."

"Yay!" Eiko said, excitedly running around the rack of clothes and hugging Makoto. "Thank you! You won't regret it, I promise!"

Makoto laughed nervously, looking through the rest of the clothes with Eiko before she heard her phone alarm go off. Makoto checked the time, then nodded. "I have to go now. Double booked."

"Okay." Eiko said, waving goodbye to Makoto. "See you on Friday?"

"Yeah... See you on Friday..." Makoto said awkwardly.

Makoto quickly left the thrift shop and started heading to Yongen-Jaya, her mind starting to race with how she was going to explain this to Ren.

As soon as Makoto got to Yongen-Jaya, she checked her messages to see if everyone was at Leblanc or in front of Sojiro's house. When she saw that Ann had texted they were waiting outside the house, Makoto quickly made her way there. Ann saw her first, as usual, and waved hello. "Hey! You make it here okay?"

Makoto just nodded, glancing over at Ren with a determined look on her face. Ren noticed, tilting his head in confusion. "Makoto... Is everything good...?"

Makoto nodded again, getting her phone out and going to the navigation app. She put in the information for Futaba's Palace and pressed enter without saying anything, Ryuji and Ann sharing a confused look. Once they were in, Makoto grabbed onto Ren's wrist before he had the chance to walk away and dragged him to the outer part of the sandy area that was sitting in front of the giant pyramid. Ann looked over and said, "What are you two-"

"Be there in a minute!" Makoto interrupted. "I'm dealing with a crisis and I need to talk to Joker!"

Ryuji looked over at the other four and said, "What... What are we..."

Morgana got an evil smirk on his face. "Who wants to eavesdrop?"

Yusuke sighed. "Why? They deserve their privacy."

"Oh come on," Ann protested as Ryuji got down as low as he could and followed Morgana over to some debris that was close enough to Makoto and Ren that they'd be able to hear their conversation without being spotted. "Live a little! Aren't you curious about what's going on?"

"A little..." Yusuke admitted. "But we shouldn't-"

"Exactly! We'll just hide behind the debris! They won't even know!" Ann said, dragging Yusuke with her as they joined Morgana and Ryuji.

"Queen, seriously, are you good?" Ren asked.

"You and I are being forced to go on a double date with Eiko and her boyfriend on Friday." Makoto said bluntly.

Ren's eyes widened under his mask. "We are being forced to go on a what with who on Friday!?"

"Okay... So you know Eiko." Makoto said, sitting down on one of the wooden steps that lead up a sand drift, clearly over the whole situation.

"Yes, I know Eiko."

"Okay, well, before heading to Yongen-Jaya to do this," Makoto said, motioning to the air around them. "I was hanging out with Eiko."

"Right..." Ren said, starting to pace.

"Well... Over text, she keeps mentioning her boyfriend, Tsukasa."

"Is he a high school student...?"

"... He's a host at a club in Shinjuku."

"That's what I thought." Ren said, holding his head in his hands as he paced.

"I'm not gonna sugar coat it... Tsukasa seems super sketchy. Like... I have no idea how old this guy even is, but after the whole Kamoshida thing-"

"That's valid."

"Well, we're hanging out today, and she mentions that she's scheduled a double date with herself, Tsukasa, me, and you-"

"You have told her that we're not actually dating, right?"

"Multiple times. Over text. And in person. She isn't listening. She is oddly persistent about the whole thing."

"Reminds me of another third year I know." Ren said, Makoto giving him an unenthused look. "I'm sorry... Have you tried telling Eiko-"

"Of course I have! Every time she sends me pictures of their dates, every time she gushes about him calling her 'princess'-"

"Ew... Gross... Pardon me while I gag." Ren said, turning his head to the side and making quiet gagging noises.

"Yes! Thank you! That was my reaction!" Makoto said, motioning to Ren. "Every single time I tell her to maybe take it slow, she keeps telling me that not all hosts are bad and that she isn't going to listen to someone who would 'totally flunk a test on love'. Tests about love aren't even a thing, and even if they were, I most certainly wouldn't fail!"

"I know, I know, you're very good at taking tests." Ren said, trying to calm Makoto down slightly, though he did think it was a little cute to see her get so worked up about something as stupid as a test on love.

Makoto sighed, resting her head in her hands. "Sorry... Eiko just has me so worked up. I know I don't have any evidence at all that Tsukasa is a bad guy, but at the same... I don't know."

"It does sound a little suspicious." Ren agreed.

Makoto's eyes widened. "It does? I'm not going crazy?"

"No, you aren't... Not about this, anyway." Ren said, taking a deep breath. Ren thought about their options, and the longer he thought about being Makoto's fake boyfriend, the more he realized that he didn't exactly hate the idea of dating her. Ren pushed that thought to the side and said, "I'll do it."

"... What?"

"I'll be your fake boyfriend. No forcing or bribery needed."

"Really?"

Ren nodded, once again questioning how this became his life. "I will be your fake boyfriend for this double date with Eiko. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned about this Tsukasa guy too."

"Thank you!" Makoto said, jumping up and quickly hugging Ren. Ren staggered back in shock as Makoto tightened her arms around Ren's chest. "Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome." Ren said, laughing as he patted Makoto's back. "Though you may want to stop hugging me since the rest of the group will see that."

"Right." Makoto said, releasing Ren from the hug. Makoto looked over in the direction they had walked over from, expecting to see Ann smirking at them, but didn't see anything. "Wait... Where did they go?"

Ren looked over and realized that the group was gone, calming his breathing as he sensed four energies hiding behind a large boulder and debris pile. Ren asked out loud, "All four of you, come out from behind the boulder or I will not hesitate to summon Arséne and cast a curse spell on the rock."

Yusuke quickly scrambled out and protested, "Panther didn't give me a choice, I'm sorry!"

"What the heck, Fox!?" Ann said as she climbed out from behind the boulder. "Way to throw me under the bus!"

"We were just curious about what was going on." Ryuji said defensively as he and Morgana came back from the rock.

Morgana looked above Makoto's head and saw a blue tarot card above her as she shyly tried to hide behind Ren. "Um... What's floating above Queen's head...?"

"What are you talking about?" Ann asked as Ren's eyes widened, flicking between Morgana and Makoto.

"Yeah... Are you being weird again?" Ryuji asked, giving Morgana a confused look.

Ren pointed to the tarot card and asked, "Mona, you can see that right there?"

"Yeah... Though I don't know why everyone else can't see it..."

"See what?" Makoto asked, trying to look above her head to find what Morgana and Ren were referring to, but not finding anything.

"Your confidant tarot card..." Ren admitted, his face turning red with embarrassment. "You all have one, but they only appear when our relationship ranks up, which I guess our relationship just did... And I don't really know why you can see it either, Mona... Or why you couldn't see it back in our main reality..."

"... What the heck are you talking about?" Ryuji asked.

"Okay... So... Part of the reason why I can handle different Personas is because of the relationships I have with the people around me, and the stronger the relationship, the stronger the Persona. Personas are separated into different... Tarot arcanas, and each of you are a different arcana." Ren explained.

"We are?" Yusuke asked.

"Yeah... You're the Empreor arcana..." Ren admitted, then motioned to everyone. "Panther is the Lovers arcana, Skull is the Chariot arcana, Mona is the Magician arcana, and Queen is the Priestess arcana. I see those tarot cards whenever something happens that causes our relationship to strengthen... I don't entirely understand it."

"And if you don't trust it, then how are we-" Ann started to ask.

"Look, just trust me on this. It's really hard to explain... A man with a really long nose told me about it... Mona, you believe me, right?"

"I mean... I did see the card... I don't know why I saw the card and no one else did, but I saw the card." Morgana said nervously.

"A man with a really long nose...?" Yusuke asked, looking between Ann, Ryuji, and Makoto.

Ann looked over at Ren in concern. "Are you doing okay? Have you like... Been getting a good night's sleep?"

"Yes I have," Ren said defensively. "Though sleeping doesn't help much since he shows up there too and I get beat up by these twin ten year olds a lot!"

"Twin... Ten year olds?" Ryuji asked, Morgana joining in the rest of the group's confused looks.

"... It's official everyone. My fake boyfriend is a loon." Makoto said jokingly to break the silence, patting Ren's shoulder as she walked towards everyone else. Ann, Ryuji, and Yusuke parted to let Makoto through as Ren stared at Makoto in disbelief. Ren looked slightly annoyed, but overall just accepted the comment. Makoto continued, not turning back to stare at everyone else, "Let's figure out how to steal that Treasure, huh? First step is getting in!"

Ren sighed, following Makoto as everyone else studied the two like a tennis match. "Let's head through the front and see if we can figure out how to get past that blockade."

"Sounds good!" Makoto said, climbing up the stairs to the front door of the pyramid. When she realized nobody was coming, Makoto turned around and yelled, "Aren't you guys coming?"

"Well... Are we going, Leader?" Ann asked with a smirk.

Ren's face turned bright red with embarrassment as he said, "Just go, guys..."

Chapter Text

Four months ago...

"Okay... Here we are... How do we get in?" Ryuji asked as everyone stared at the big green door that was blocking their path.

Makoto looked around, noticing a faint green glow coming from the ceiling. She looked behind them, noticing a faint green beam coming from the ceiling. Makoto pointed to the beam and said, "I think that's keeping the door closed. We need to figure out how to get up there."

"Johanna?" Ren suggested.

"Can't. Too many angles in this room." Makoto said, an idea coming to mind. She walked over to Yusuke and asked, "How much control do you have over your Persona?"

"Why...?" Yusuke asked nervously.

"I have an idea, but I need Goemon in order to enact it." Makoto said, crossing her arms. "I just want to try something."

"Okay..." Yusuke said, taking a few steps back and tearing off his mask.

Morgana's eyes narrowed. "Queen... What are you planning?"

Makoto looked up at Goemon, waving hello. "Hi... Goemon... I need help with something real quick. Do you mind?"

Goemon stared at Makoto, then nodded once. Makoto pointed to the large pipe in Goemon's hands. "Can you lower your kiseru for me? I'd like to climb on top of it."

Goemon looked over at Yusuke to make sure it was okay, and Yusuke nodded. Goemon turned back to Makoto and lowered the pipe, tilting the bladed bottom to help Makoto climb up. Makoto placed her foot on the blade, smiling to herself as she managed to climb onto the pipe, hanging on to the hole smoke would come out of with one hand. Ann's eyes widened. "We can touch our Personas?"

"I mean... If Queen and I can physically sit down on Johanna, then why wouldn't we be able to do this?" Ren asked, motioning to Makoto and Goemon.

Makoto used a free hand to point to the green light. "Think you can lift me up there?"

Goemon nodded, slowly lifting up the pipe to the area with the glowing green light. Once she was close enough to the hole, Makoto climbed onto the pipe and climbed onto the ledge.

Makoto looked around at the green light, seeing a dark black screen and a set of stairs off to the side. As Makoto studied the black screen and the faint green light emanating from the control console at the bottom, she heard a girl's voice faintly say, "I gotta cover it up, gotta cover it up... Too similar, way too similar... I don't deserve-"

"Well, that's one way to get up here." Makoto heard the same voice say in her ear. Makoto jumped back with a high pitched shriek, her heart racing, as she saw Shadow Futaba standing beside her, hands behind her back as she studied Makoto.

Makoto took a few deep breaths as she said, "I am so sorry... You scared me."

"QUEEN, IS EVERYTHING OKAY?" Ren yelled from the ground.

Makoto turned towards the ledge and yelled, "YEAH, I'M GOOD!"

"I wouldn't have gone up that way, but you definitely thought outside the box." Shadow Futaba continued as she started to walk around Makoto, intently studying her. "You're the smart one of the group, aren't you?"

"I... Guess you could say that." Makoto said carefully.

"I doubt that Inari over there would be able to do that for everyone though." Shadow Futaba said, turning and letting the white skirt of her outfit twirl around her legs as she stopped in front of Makoto.

Makoto's eyes narrowed. "Inari...?"

"The fox looking guy." Shadow Futaba reiterated. Her gaze drifted towards the wall blocking the Phantom Thieves path as she said, "That door will probably stay closed forever... Unless you go get back what's stolen."

"What do you mean?" Makoto asked.

"Thieves are very common in this tomb. Your group is not the first and I doubt you will be the last. A group of thieves recently stole something from here that belongs to the pharaoh." Shadow Futaba said, looking up at Makoto. Morgana was right... Futaba was pretty small if her Shadow was any indication of reality. "They reside in the town about five kilometers from our current location. If you bring back what they stole, I will give you a reward. I will even tell you how to proceed."

"Do you have any more information?" Makoto asked. "Like who the bandit is? What was stolen?"

"You will learn all you need to upon arrival." Shadow Futaba said, extending a hand. A few stones from the side wall came out, glowing the same faint green. "I am choosing to trust you, Queen. We're not so different, you and I."

Makoto nodded. "Yeah... We're not. We'll be back, promise."

"We shall see." Shadow Futaba said as she watched Makoto climb back down.

As Makoto walked back down, she felt the stone beneath her shake as the stone went back into the wall. Makoto started falling back towards the ground, Ren running over. As Makoto fell, she looked up and saw Shadow Futaba staring down at her, an apologetic look on her face. Ren managed to slightly run up the wall and jump up, catching Makoto on the way down. Makoto made another high pitched squeak as Ren asked in a panicked voice, "Are you okay!?"

Makoto nodded, managing to climb out of Ren's arms. "Yup... But we need to go on a side quest."

"What?" Ryuji asked, giving Makoto a confused look.

"Shadow Futaba was up there." Makoto said, motioning to the ledge she was just on. "She offered to help us if we did her a favor."

"After she tried to kill you?" Ann asked judgementally.

Makoto sighed, stretching her arms above her head. "This is going to sound weird, but I seriously doubt she did that on purpose."

"Why?" Morgana asked.

"Well... It's like that saying; hurt people hurt people." Makoto explained. "Sometimes, when you're in a lot of pain, like how Futaba-chan is over her mother, you accidentally take your feelings out on the people around you. I know I took out my sadness over my father on those around me. I think the same thing is happening here. I don't think she's meaning to cause harm. I think she's causing harm despite her best intentions."

Yusuke nodded. "I did the same thing to you guys during the Madarame incident."

Ren glanced over at Makoto. "What's that deal she mentioned?"

"A different thief stole something from here. She said that if we got what that thief stole, she'd give us a reward and tell us how to proceed."

"... Where did the thief go?" Ann asked.

"To a town about five kilometers away from here."

"There's a town here!?" Ryuji asked in shock.

"Apparently."

"Did she like... Say what was stolen?"

"She said we'd have all the information we needed once we got there." Makoto said, everyone looking uneasy. Makoto sighed. "Look, I am fully aware that this isn't the best idea, but it's the only guidance we have to figure this place out. I saw some stairs up there that lead to that ledge, but I have no idea where those stairs lead. Maybe Shadow Futaba's guidance will help us figure out where those stairs are."

"... You do make a point." Ren said, shaking his head. "Mona, you think you can go van when we go outside so we can find this town?"

Morgana nodded. "Yeah, I can do that."

"Okay... Let's go." Ren said, everyone heading out of the cool pyramid and getting hit with the hot desert air.

Morgana walked to the empty area of sand right in front of the pyramid entrance as Makoto walked up the sand dune. She covered her eyes to shade them from the desert sun, seeing some small buildings in the distance. Ren walked up the dune beside her as Makoto said, "That has to be the town Shadow Futaba was talking about."

"Are you okay?" Ren asked quietly.

"I'm fine. We should get going." Makoto said, turning around to walk back down the dune.

Ren reached over and grabbed Makoto's arm. Makoto looked over as Ren said, "It scared me when you started falling. I thought you were going to get hurt."

Makoto let out a single laugh as she asked, "Taking the fake boyfriend role seriously already?"

"Makoto..." Ren said carefully, trying to choose his words wisely. Makoto's eyes widened slightly as Ren finally said, "Are you sure your okay? I didn't hurt you when I caught you or anything?"

Makoto paused, slightly realizing what was going on. Something Makoto had realized the longer she spent time with Ren was that he never got too close to anyone. He'd grab people to get them away from danger, he'd give people side hugs on occasion, but the last time Ren had technically saved someone from outright danger, he had gotten accused of assault. It was almost like he wanted to get close to people, but also keep them at a distance. Makoto used her other hand to pat Ren's shoulder and quietly said, "I'm fine, I promise. Thanks for catching me, Ren."

"And you're sure?"

"The second I feel something as small as a bruise on my pinkie toe, I'll tell you. Promise." Makoto said gently as Ren finally let go of her arm. As Makoto walked back down the dune, she smiled and said, "Come on! We gotta go to a fictional town in a Palace to steal back a random unidentified object from a thief."

Ren laughed, shaking his head as he followed Makoto down the hill. "Yeah... Let's go do the thing..."

Makoto climbed into the driver's seat of the Morgana van as Ren climbed into the back, then drove to the town. As soon as they got there, Makoto noticed that the town looked old and run down. There were some broken windows, boarded up buildings, abandoned stalls.

Everyone got out of the Morgana van and started walking around, trying to look for any signs of life. Morgana commented, "The mood of this town is just... Strange. I can't sense anything here."

Ren paused as they walked past a building that looked eerily familiar. A brown building with some dying plants sitting on the ledges, a torn awning dangling above the building. It took Ren a few seconds, but when he peered inside the glass windows of the front door, he recognized the building. "This is Leblanc..."

"What?" Ryuji asked.

Ren turned around, walking across the small alleyway and saw the entrance to another familiar sight. "And this the bathhouse..."

"So... So this is supposed to represent Yongen-Jaya?" Yusuke asked, motioning to everything around them.

"... That makes sense." Ann decided. "I mean... Yongen-Jaya is all that Futaba-chan really knows about Tokyo, right?"

"Then why is this so far away from the pyramid?" Ryuji countered. "Her room isn't that far away from Yongen-Jaya. Hell, her room is in Yongen-Jaya."

"It may as well be. Futaba's isolated herself so much that she's creating distance between herself and Yongen-Jaya. She doesn't really know what the world around her is like." Makoto added.

Ann looked over to the side, seeing a man wearing white linen clothes standing at the end of their alleyway, a gold bottle with something tied around it dangling from his belt. Ann pointed it the man and said, "Hey... Is that the thief?"

"Who're you callin' a thief?" The thief asked. "I'm just a trader! If anything, you guys look like the thieves!"

"Definitely." Makoto decided, taking a few steps forward. "Hey... Whatcha got around your belt?"

The thief paused for a second, then ran down an alleyway to the left. Makoto looked over at Yusuke and said, "Fox-"

"Let's go." Yusuke said, running after Makoto.

"Everyone spread out! Try to direct him to Boss's house!" Makoto said, leading Yusuke over to Sojiro's house.

"What's the plan?" Yusuke asked.

"Can you take off your tail?" Makoto asked as Ren ran to act as a road block ten feet away.

"Um... Yes." Yusuke said, finding the clip to his tail and handing the white fuzzy tail to Makoto.

"Awesome. You hold onto one end." Makoto said, Yusuke nodding and holding onto the end of the tail in his hands tightly. Makoto looked over at Ren, who was staring at them in confusion. "Can you tell us when he's coming?"

"What are you planning, Queen?" Ren asked, a little entertained.

"You'll see." Makoto said, waving Ren away.

Ren shook his head, staring ahead. He saw the thief turn down the alleyway as he nodded his head once. Makoto gave Ren a thumbs up as she grabbed the tail again. Makoto took a deep breath, and as she saw the thief turn into the small front yard of Sojiro's house, Makoto looked over at Yusuke and said, "Now!"

Yusuke nodded, lifting up the tail in unison with Makoto. The thief tripped over the tail and stumbled long enough for Makoto to stand up. The thief tried punching Makoto, Makoto using her hands to block his punches as Ann, Ryuji, and Morgana caught up. When she saw an opening, Makoto grabbed onto the thief's arm. She twisted his arm, then kneeled down on the ground and spun. As Makoto spun, the thief stumbled with her, flipping over her shoulder and landing on his back. Ryuji's jaw dropped as Yusuke got out his katana and pointed it at the thief. "What in the-"

"Stay down." Yusuke commanded, the thief staring down at the tip of Yusuke's sword in horror.

"O-Okay..." The thief stuttered.

Makoto held out her hand. "Give us what you stole from the pharaoh's tomb."

The thief nodded, getting the bottle with the paper off of his belt and holding it out to Makoto. Makoto took the bottle and nodded to Yusuke. Yusuke put his katana back in it's sheath and took a step back. Makoto stepped back with Yusuke and motioned to the outside of the gate. "You're free to go now."

"O-Okay..." The thief said anxiously as he scrambled away.

Yusuke clipped his tail back on, then held out his fist. Makoto fist bumped Yusuke back as Ryuji asked, "I'm sorry Queen... But what the hell was that!?"

Makoto gave Ryuji a confused look as she asked, "I did tell you guys that I'm trained in aikido, right?"

"Yeah..."

"That was aikido. My dad had me take it for fun bonding time. Aikido is all about redirecting someone's energy, and that's what I did to that thief." Makoto said, shrugging. "I redirected his energy and caused him to fall."

"... What was so important that Shadow Futaba had us steal back?" Ann asked.

Makoto turned the bottle in her hands, turning it upside down. Orange liquid poured out, turning the sand orange. "Orange dye, it looks like."

"... We came all this way for orange dye?" Morgana asked. "Seriously?"

Yusuke grabbed the bottle from Makoto, untying the piece of twine holding the papyrus to the bottle. Once the twine was off, he grabbed the paper, turning it over. Yusuke tilted his head in confusion as he said, "Not just orange dye... This picture was attached."

"A picture?" Ren asked, walking around Yusuke to peer over his shoulder. In Yusuke's hands was what looked like an old portrait of Sojiro walking down the street with a woman with a blunt black bob, bangs, and black glasses, holding hands with a much smaller girl with short black hair, bangs, and black glasses. The little girl was honestly a carbon copy of the older woman in the picture.

Makoto leaned over, her eyes widening as she saw the picture. "That woman... That's Wakaba Isshiki. I recognize her picture from the obituary."

"So that makes the little girl..." Yusuke trailed off, everyone knowing what he was going to say without saying it.

Makoto nodded, taking the picture back from Yusuke. "Well... Let's give this back to Futaba's Shadow."

Ren nodded. "Let's go."

Chapter Text

Four months ago...

"There's the stairs!" Makoto said excitedly as she ran over to the stairs in question.

Ren started at the papyrus map, then nodded. "Yup. Those should take us up to the ledge."

"Let's go then!" Ann said excitedly as she ran after Makoto.

Everyone followed the two girls up the stairs, Makoto's eyes locking onto the screen she had seen earlier. Ann followed Makoto to the screen, the screen blinking to life. Ann stared at the jumbled up picture on the screen, her eyes widening. "It's a puzzle..."

"I love puzzles..." Makoto said, noting a few buttons on the control center. Makoto pressed the left arrow shaped button, the green box on the screen moving to the upper left corner of the screen. Testing her luck, she pressed the check mark button, the open circle button. The upper left corner rotated, Makoto smiling. "So it's this kind of puzzle..."

Ryuji looked around the room, hearing the odd whispering Makoto had heard earlier. "What the heck?"

"What is that?" Ren asked.

Makoto shrugged as she kept moving the puzzle pieces, Ann whispering some things to Makoto to help. "My assumption is that this is kind of like Kaneshiro's bank lock when we put in those codes. The whispering is Futaba's thoughts."

"Okay... Then what..." Ryuji asked, staring at the digital puzzle as Makoto put the last piece into place.

"I have to cover it up, I just have to." Futaba's voice said, a faint green light pulsing from the puzzle. The picture itself was of Shadow Futaba bent over a sink, half of her hair black and the other half bright orange. "I don't deserve to look like her... Not after killing her."

Yusuke studied the picture, then said, "There's a lot of panic coming from this picture... Lots of pain and grief."

Makoto nodded as Ann said, "I'm getting a lot of that too... It kinda feels like the edge of an anxiety attack, you know?"

"Yeah... I kinda feel anxious standing here... Like I want to jump off a ledge or something." Ryuji agreed.

Ren held out the papyrus map and flipped it over, studying the picture. Futaba really did look like a smaller version of Wakaba... Looking between the papyrus and the screen. Ren felt something different from everyone else while he stared at the picture... Shame. He knew that all too well given his own situation. It's part of why he was so hesitant to reach out to his own parents when they haven't reached out to him. "For whatever reason, she feels like she shouldn't look like her mom. She's trying to hide as much of her resemblance to her mom as she can..."

"Yeah... I did the same thing when my dad died. I still kinda do." Makoto agreed. "Both my sister and I do, to be completely honest."

"What do you mean?" Ren asked in confusion.

"I take after my dad more than my mom. He and I both had really faint freckles. After he died... I just didn't want to look at them, so I started covering them up with foundation. I still do since Sae kinda insists on it. Sae herself takes after our mom... Though I don't remember her. For as long as I can remember, Sae's always dyed her hair silver. She told me that it's because she couldn't stand to have a constant reminder of the past when she needed to move forward." Makoto explained. "It's like this... Weird little habit Sae and I just keep doing... Masking our parents so we have an excuse not to talk about them and cause more pain. I get where she's coming from."

Morgana walked over to the side, noting the blocks off to the edge to make the staircase. "Hey... Those stairs Queen fell down are back again."

"I'm sure it'll be fine this time." Makoto said, walking past Morgana. She looked down, seeing the quicksand pit. As Makoto noticed some columns down below for the group to jump across, the green door opened up, showing another door at the top of the next part of the stairs. "Pathway has opened up. We can keep moving forward."

Makoto started jumping down the stairs, Morgana following behind. Everyone followed behind shortly after, carefully taking the columns so they didn't fall back in. Once they climbed the stairs to the next door, Ryuji asked, "Okay... What now?"

"Well... There's a safe room here..." Morgana said carefully, motioning to the right as Makoto looked up. "We could go there and regroup."

Makoto pointed up, seeing another familiar ledge with a green light coming from it. "There. It's the same thing we just did."

"That's probably how this is going to go." Ann realized. "Find our way up there, solve the puzzle, the puzzle shifts the light to the door, and the door opens."

"We should have three more doors." Makoto said, looking over at the doors to the left. "That must be where we need to go."

Ren nodded. "Yeah... Let's divide into groups of two. Group one to lead the way, group two to be back up, and group three to be backup for group two."

Ryuji nodded, looking over at Morgana. "Group three?"

"Sure. I can slum it in the back with you."

Ryuji glared at Morgana. "What do you mean by 'slumming it in the back'?"

Ann sighed as she looked over at Yusuke. "Group two?"

Yusuke nodded. "Group two."

"I guess that leaves me and you for Group One." Makoto stated, glancing over at Ren.

Ren nodded, a small smirk on his face. "Yeah... I guess it does."

Everyone started creeping through the long hallways until Ren saw Shadow Futaba standing a good hundred feet away. She said something quietly, then walked down the hall. Ren took a few steps forward and asked, "Futaba, where are you-"

Makoto looked down at the ground and saw some holes coming up, reaching up and grabbing Ren by the collar of his coat. Ren felt his body get yoinked back as large spikes came out of the ground. Makoto sighed once Ren stood up straighter. "Pyramids have booby traps. We need to figure out how to turn it off."

"Of course this thing has booby traps..." Ryuji muttered in the back.

As Makoto studied the map and guided everyone in the opposite direction to find something to turn off the booby trap, Ren asked, "So... You have freckles...?"

Makoto looked over at Ren in confusion. "Yeah... What about it?"

"I bet you'd look pretty cute with freckles, just saying." Ren said with a small smirk.

Makoto rolled her eyes as she crouched against a wall, trying to hide from a Shadow passing by. Ren stood against the wall to hide as well, slightly leaning above Makoto so he could see around the corner. "I doubt anyone would even notice if I stopped putting foundation over my freckles. They're faint, even when I'm not trying to hide them."

"Oh really? You don't think I'd be able to figure it out?"

"No... Not really."

"Alright... How about we make it a bet?" Ren suggested.

"How in the world would we make my freckles a bet?"

"You choose a day... Any random day that you know you'll see me... To not wear foundation. You don't tell me what day, you just do it. If I see a difference before we stop hanging out, then you stop wearing foundation over your freckles more often than not."

"And if you don't see a difference?"

"I'm pretty sure-"

"But if you don't?"

"Then we'll figure out what my punishment for not seeing a difference is later." Ren said, lightly nudging Makoto. "Sound like a plan?"

"Sure..." Makoto said hesitantly.

The group ran around for another hour, moving around gems and avoiding traps set up around the Palace as they tried to figure out where they were going. Eventually, the group made their way to the next puzzle, Makoto and Ann walking over to the screen as the puzzle. The three guys and Morgana studied Ann and Makoto as they muttered to each other back and forth while Makoto rotated the pieces and put them in the right places.

Once the puzzle was completed, Makoto took a step back and studied the screen. Is was a picture of Shadow Futaba with black hair, sitting on a throne as three men read something off of a piece of papyrus. Morgana asked, "What are we looking at?"

"It's... A bunch of men reading something to a crying child." Yusuke commented. "Emotions are oft depicted in an artist's work... There is serious pain harbored here... Not like the panic and grief we felt earlier... This is deeper... More intense, almost."

"'I should never have had Futaba'." A male voice said, everyone pausing. "'She was always such a bother.' It seems you caused your mother quite a bit of trouble, Futaba-chan. She must have had some kind of maternity neurosis."

The pyramid trembled again, the green light shifting and aiming it's light on the next door. As the door went away, Ann asked, "What did we just hear?"

"... I think we just heard Wakaba's suicide note." Makoto stated.

"... Maternity neurosis?" Ryuji asked.

"Postpartum depression, most likely." Makoto elaborated.

"No wonder she thinks that she's the reason her mother killed herself..." Morgana said nervously. "Wakaba literally spelled it out in her suicide note."

"Still... That is the shittiest thing to do to a kid of that's really how things went down..." Ryuji commented.

"This is just horrible..." Yusuke stated. "I can only imagine..."

"I'm calling bullshit." Ren stated. "That... All this... Based on what Sojiro told us... Why would Wakaba blame Futaba?"

"What do you mean?" Ann asked.

"He told us that Wakaba stayed up until late in the night to make Ancient Egypt themed lessons for Futaba when she had that hyperfixation. It sounds like she really loved her. It looks like she really loved her." Ren said, seeing the map slightly poking out of one of Makoto's pockets. "This suicide note... It doesn't sound like Wakaba loved Futaba. This is conflicting what Sojiro told us about her."

"... You're right." Ryuji agreed. "This... All this... It sounds off."

Makoto looked over to the side, seeing some ledges they could all jump down. "Come on. We have another door to get down, and I have a feeling we're doing the same thing."

The group moved in to the next area, starting to walk around. Eventually, as the group rounded a corner, they saw Shadow Futaba standing in front of them, an annoyed expression on her face. "You're late. What took so long!?"

Ryuji rolled his eyes. "Sorry that we're dealing with your booby traps!"

Shadow Futaba looked even more annoyed now, looking over at Makoto. "Follow me if you wish to continue... That is, if you want to continue in a timely manner."

The group hesitantly followed behind Shadow Futaba, but when they got close enough, another boulder rolled down the ramp. As the group started running away from the glowing green rock, Ren exhaustedly said, "Not this Raiders of the Lost Ark bullshit again!"

"Not the time for a joke, Joker!" Everyone except Ren said in unison as they pressed their bodies up against the wall to avoid the boulder.

"Okay... Now we have to figure out how to turn that off." Makoto stated, noticing a series of ledges for them to climb up.

"Yeah... No shit." Ann commented, also noticing the ledge and starting to climb up.

Everyone followed Makoto and Ann's leads, following the hallways. Eventually, the group got to a larger room with glowing holographic orbs hovering above different stone slabs. Ren noticed another familiar glow green slab, leaving the group and walking over. Makoto and Ryuji followed as Ann, Morgana, and Yusuke studied the holographic orbs. Ren's eyes narrowed as he read the slab. "B10101."

"What in the binary?" Ryuji asked.

Makoto turned to look at the orbs from where they were standing, noticing that one of the glowing orbs was blue while the others were white. "That's not binary."

"Isn't binary ones and zeroes though?" Ryuji asked.

"Yes, but that's not what that means."

"Okay smart-ass, then what does it mean?" Ryuji asked, his tone of voice making it seem like he was saying smart-ass affectionately.

Makoto kept eye contact with Ryuji as she got out her small notebook that she designated as her Metaverse notebook and pen and handed it to Ryuji. "I don't know smart-ass, why don't you write that down for me and find out?"

Ryuji sighed, grabbing Makoto's notebook and pen, flipping to the next available empty page and wrote down the code. Ryuji looked over at Ren and asked, "You not gonna stop your fake girlfriend?"

"And risk getting killed before the first date when she has figured out something that the rest of us don't?" Ren asked. "No way."

Makoto noticed that Ryuji was done writing down the message, deciding to grab his wrist and drag him down to the main level where Yusuke, Ann, and Morgana were. Ann watched in confusion as Makoto stopped in front of the blue holographic orb. Ryuji stopped beside Makoto, Ren watching in awe, as Makoto commanded Ryuji by saying, "As I point to an orb, read off what you wrote down."

"Um... Okay...?" Ryuji said uneasily as Makoto pointed to the blue orb. "B."

Makoto nodded, taking a step in front of the white orb, noticing a button in front of all of the other orbs. Ryuji saying, "One...?"

"Right." Makoto confirmed. She moved over to the next orb. "And this one?"

"Zero." Ryuji said, watching as Makoto pressed the button and turned off the orb. "Wait... They turn off!?"

"Of course they turn off, Skull!" Makoto argued as Ren started cackling, clutching his chest as he laughed. "I can't seriously be the only one here with some common sense, can I!?"

"Well... Well how was I supposed to know that?" Ryuji said defensively. "It looked like binary, so I assumed it was binary."

"And that's probably what it's meant to represent, but it seemed like a pretty obvious clue to what was a puzzle in this room." Makoto motioned to one of the holograms again. "The holograms kinda look like those boulders that keep trying to Raiders of the Lost Ark us. My bet is that if we solve the hologram puzzle, we'll be able to stop the boulders and keep going."

"That's a pretty fair assessment." Morgana agreed, somewhat hesitant. "Let's keep going along then."

Makoto and Ryuji put in the rest of the code, Ren pressing the button beside the panel with the code. As soon as he pressed the button, the boulders started moving down at a much faster rate. Ann looked over at Ren. "What did you do, Joker!?"

"I just pressed the button!" Ren argued, pressing the button again. As soon as the button was pressed, the boulders started getting released at an even faster rate.

"Dude, you're gonna break it!" Ryuji argued.

An idea coming to mind, Makoto said, "Keep pressing it!"

"You want me to what?" Ren asked in confusion.

"Keep pressing the button!" Makoto said, getting her notebook back from Ryuji and climbing up on the ledge.

"Is that real-" Morgana asked nervously.

"Okay." Ren interrupted, pressing the button in quick succession.

The boulder just kept moving faster and faster, the whole area shaking. Makoto watched as the boulders crashed into the opposite wall and got obliterated. Yusuke yelled, kneeling down on the stairs up to the button in an attempt to steady himself, "HOW DO WE GET THIS TO STOP!?"

Panicking, Ren jumped and kicked the button, splitting the rock slab it was a part of in two. As Makoto jumped over the now still boulder and walked up to a different panel that had another code on it for that same room. Morgana looked over at Ren in horror and asked, "Did you really just break that rock?"

"I panicked!" Ren said defensively as Makoto jumped down and started fiddling with the glowing holographic orbs, now a second row with a glowing red one behind her. "Queen, what are you doing?"

Makoto paused, motioning to the other door inside the room. "We want to get the next Will Seed, right?"

"Well... Yeah..." Ryuji agreed.

"Once the boulders stopped moving due to you breaking the control panel Joker, good job the way, I saw another code panel. I jumped to the top from the boulders, got the code, and now I'm putting it in. My bet is that putting in this code causes the door to where the Will Seed is to open." Makoto explained.

"How... How'd you know that!?" Morgana asked in disbelief.

"Including this section we're currently in, we have two sections left and two Will Seeds. I made an assumption." Makoto explained. "Is my assumption wrong, Mona?"

"Well... No, I was going to suggest that we get the Will Seed before we leave, but-"

"Way to go, Queen!" Ryuji interrupted, walking up to Makoto and giving her a high five. "Way to use that big ole noggin of yours!"

"Yeah, that's awesome!" Ann agreed.

"We shouldn't expect any less." Yusuke said, smiling at Makoto.

"Let's get that Will Seed, then keep going." Ren said, everyone but Morgana walking over to join Makoto. When Ren noticed, he turned around and saw Morgana staring at them, an uneasy look on his face. "Mona, you okay?"

Morgana seemed to shake off whatever he was thinking, then nodded and walked over. "I'm fine. Let's just keep going."

Everyone put in the last of the inputs and grabbed the Will Seed, then climbed over the boulders to keep going. The group walked up the stairs, Ann smiling as she saw the screen and said, "Another puzzle!"

"I don't know if we should be happy about that, but sure." Morgana said nervously.

Makoto and Ann started solving the next puzzle, the two conferring with each other as the puzzle got solved. Once it got solved, Makoto took a step back. It showed Shadow Futaba again, except it also showed Wakaba seemingly jumping in front of a moving car. Makoto watched in horror as she heard the voices around them angrily say, "F-Futaba... Y-You... A-Areeeee...."

Makoto heard a car screech, starting to shake as she heard a much younger voice yell, "M-Mom...? MOM! SOMEONE, PLEASE, MY MOM-"

As the doorway opened behind them, Yusuke asked, "Did... Did we just see..."

"I think we did." Ann said nervously. "Oh my God... Boss wasn't..."

Ren glanced over at Makoto, seeing the panic on her face, and said, "Come on guys, let's keep going."

As everyone jumped down, Yusuke a little more shaken up than Ann, Ryuji, or Morgana combined, Ren grabbed Makoto's hand to stop her. Makoto didn't even resist. Ren quietly asked, "Are you okay? That was kind of..."

Makoto nodded, not meeting Ren's eyes.

Ren paused, removing his hand from Makoto's and asked, "Are you lying to save face?"

Makoto hesitated, but nodded again.

"Do you need a minute?"

Makoto shook her head.

"Okay... I trust you. If you need to talk, just tap me on the arm three times in a row. I'll tell Mona and Skull to take over being the front so that we have some privacy in the front. Sound like a plan?"

Makoto nodded her head again, moving forward and rejoining everyone else on the level below. Everyone moved their way through the Palace, Ren carefully watching Makoto to make sure she was okay as they made their way through.

Eventually, once they got to the final puzzle room, Makoto and Ann quickly solved the puzzle. When they were done, Makoto took a step back and saw a younger version of Futaba pulling on the bottom of Wakaba's shirt. Futaba's innocent sounding voice said, "Mom... I'm... I'm tired of eating dinner alone all the time. It's always just convenience store bentos... I wanna go somewhere! Take me on a trip!"

"Oh God... She just wanted to spend more time with her mom..." Ryuji commented.

"Don't be so selfish!" Wakaba chided. "You know I'm working hard to support you, right!? Ugh!"

The door opened up, Ann taking a deep breath. "Okay... I think we're back to where we were before the first of many boulders."

"Right." Morgana agreed, everyone starting to climb down to the last door.

As soon as they ran over, Makoto realized that the door looked similar to Futaba's bedroom door. Shadow Futaba materialized in front of them, a satisfied smile on her face. "You've all made it this far... I'm honestly really surprised about that."

"Um... Thank you?" Ren said uneasily.

"Beyond that door lies the Pharaoh's Chamber." Shadow Futaba explained.

"Meaning the Treasure is through there?" Ryuji guessed.

"Correct." Shadow Futaba agreed. "However... You need my permission to enter. Without it... You'll never be able to get in."

"Okay... So open it for us." Ann said, motioning to the door. "It's right there."

"Not her permission, Panther." Yusuke corrected. "Futaba's permission. The real Futaba."

"Oh... Right, this is a Madarame and the forgery room door situation." Ann realized.

"... What?" Makoto asked.

"Futaba has to open her bedroom door to let us in herself before we can keep going." Morgana summed up, a triumphant smirk on his face.

"Considering that you made it all the way here, you may be able to do it... Good luck." Shadow Futaba said as she disappeared again.

"So... We should return for now?" Ann suggested.

Ren nodded. "Let's start trying to convince Futaba to let us in tomorrow."

"Meet same time as today?" Ryuji asked.

"Sounds like a plan." Morgana said as everyone started walking out.

Makoto fell towards the back with Yusuke, Yusuke quietly asking, "Are you doing okay? You seemed really freaked out after that one memory thing... Whatever it was."

"Yeah... Um... It just kinda reminded me of my dad, that's all." Makoto quietly admitted. "We're gonna change her heart and alleviate her pain."

Yusuke nodded. "Right. We'll figure out how to get in... Somehow."

Chapter Text

Four months ago...

"Okay... We're going in now?" Ann asked nervously as she looked around at the rest of the group.

Ren nodded. "Yeah... Let's go."

Everyone walked into the Sakura house and up the stairs, pausing in front of Futaba's door. Morgana looked around at everyone and asked, "So... Who's knocking? Or are we just going to awkwardly stand out here?"

Makoto sighed, knocking on the door. "Futaba... It's us again... Hi."

When Futaba didn't immediately answer, Makoto added, "You can speak to us through Ren again, just... Please answer. We know you're in there."

Ren felt his phone vibrate, getting it out of his pocket and reading off the message. "'You should've told me you were going to come here.'."

"We're really sorry about that... But... Um... In order to steal your heart, you need to let us into your bedroom. I know that sounds strange, but it's the only way." Makoto said calmly.

"Well... That's one way to phrase it..." Ann commented.

"'I'm not mentally prepared! This is too sudden!'." Ren read out loud, taking a deep breath as he stared at the door. "I know that this seems really scary, Futaba. I get it. I was really scared when I had to move here because of my sentence. But... Something I've realized is that I just overstressed it in my head. This seems scary now, but it won't be scary later."

"The other you within your heart told us that you had to open the door." Makoto said calmly.

Ren's eyes narrowed as he stared at his phone screen. "'The other me...?'."

"Right." Ryuji confirmed. "Look... It's really complicated to explain, we'd be more than willing to explain it to you after we change your heart, but I think that deep down, you want to let people in, you're just scared to give your past history, which is totally understandable."

"If you want us to come in on a different day, we totally can." Ann added. "Just text Ren what you want to do. The ball is in your court."

"That's right. We're not going to force you to do something you don't want to do." Yusuke agreed. "We'll be out here waiting for your decision."

Everyone stood around the door, waiting for Futaba to text Ren back for multiple minutes. Makoto heard some rummaging going around the inside of the room. Eventually, Ren's phone vibrated again. Ren took a deep breath as he read outloud, "'Alright... I'll open the door now.'."

"And you're going to walk up to the door and open it yourself, yes?" Yusuke asked.

Ren stared at Futaba's next message, then sighed. "Yes Futaba, you have to do it yourself."

Makoto heard a little more rummaging, but then the door slowly creeked open. Ryuji nodded his head once. "Alright... Let's head in."

The group slowly headed into Futaba's bedroom. The room was a mess, trash bags stacked against the wall, newspaper on the ground, multiple computer monitors all on and blinking to life. Makoto wandered over to Futaba's desk, reading the stacks of books that were set off to the side. "Medical science, information technology, biology, psychology... These are all technical books."

"She keeps herself cooped up in a room like this all the time...?" Ann asked, looking around the room.

Ren looked around the room as well while Morgana laid down on Futaba's bed, realizing that the one thing that they had come into Futaba's room for was missing. "Guys... Where's Futaba?"

The group looked around for a second, then heard a bump in the closet next to them and a high pitched voice say, "Ow..."

Yusuke sighed, hanging his head in shame. "A shut in til the bitter end."

"Hey Futaba..." Makoto said, pushing her way past Ren to get closer to the closet door. "We need to physically see you in order for this to work."

"Okay... So why'd you guys have me let you in here?" Futaba asked, her voice full of anxiety.

"She speaks..." Ryuji muttered.

"We needed to change your cognition so that we can actually steal your heart... Though a barrier may have formed around the Treasure now that you went into the closet." Makoto said, her eyes flicking down to Morgana, seeing him nod with approval.

"Makoto, I doubt that she'd-" Ren started to say nervously.

"So basically, my cognition is being a hindrance, keeping you away from the core of my cognitive world?" Futaba interrupted.

Ren blinked a few times. "Y-Yeah... Exactly."

"How do you know about that?" Makoto asked.

"Um... Well..." Futaba said, almost like she was debating her answer.

Deciding to change the subject, Ryuji asked, "So... Why'd you call yourself Alibaba and confuse everything?"

"I was... Embarrassed."

"Asking someone for help is never that easy..." Ann added. "Wait... Didn't Boss mention something about cognitive whatever?"

"Cognitive psience." Futaba corrected. "It's less scientific, more supernatural."

"Was that what your mom was working on?" Ren asked.

"Yeah... I read a lot of her papers growing up. I can't find them anywhere anymore, but I read them so often I have them committed to memory."

Makoto sat down at the edge of Futaba's bed, taking a deep breath. "Futaba... I know that this is really scary, but you aren't alone."

"What would you know about that?" Futaba asked.

"Well... You looked into my background." Makoto said, taking a deep breath. "You know that my dad died in a hit and run. It... It wasn't due to suicide, but... I've never really gotten the chance to talk about it before... Always covering up the parts of him I loved because the reminder that he isn't there before is just way too painful."

"And as for the abuse Boss mentioned," Yusuke said, walking a little closer to Makoto as Ann, Ryuji, Ren, and Morgana stared at Makoto in concern. "Madarame abused me as well, I'm just now coming to grasp with all that. I doubt that I will ever be able to imagine what you went through before going into Boss's care, but... I get it. I barely trust anyone as is... Except for everyone in this room with us."

"Support is something a lot of us have never really had before..." Ryuji said, making the decision to sit down on the ground. "I've basically been abused my whole life... By my dad before he left me and my mom... By Kamoshida when I was still on the track team... It's been hard finding my place in the world and finding people I can depend on... That is, until I met these guys. They all helped me figure out how to move on with my life... In more ways than one."

"What we're all trying to say, Futaba," Ren said, Ann nodding in agreement. "Is that if you ever want to talk about anything, need someone to depend on... We're right here outside your closet door."

"If you want us to come back a different day, we can." Ann repeated. "We meant what we said about the ball for this being in your court."

"Look... Futaba..." Ren said after a moment of silence from Futaba's end. "We... We talked about this in your Palace, but... Something is off about how you remember your mother's death. Are you... Are you sure you actually killed her?"

"What are you doing, you moron?" Ryuji hissed.

"Did she really have maternity neurosis or untreated post patrum depression? The version of her we saw there and the version Sojiro told us are completely different." Ren said, Futaba grumbling in her closet. "We want to be able to hear the truth from your mouth. Maybe by changing your heart, we'll all be able to figure that out together."

"My... My mom... The one who killed her was..." Futaba stuttered out.

"She may not be able to remember because of how distorted her heart is." Morgana commented.

Ann sadly smiled at the door, her eyes filling with tears. "I am so sorry, Futaba-chan. You do not deserve to be treated this way by the rest of the world."

"We all went through a lot ourselves, as I'm sure you've been able to figure out on your own. We just want to make sure you're gonna be okay. I'm sorry if I upset you." Ren apologized.

Suddenly, the closet slid open and Futaba jumped out, wearing black pajamas and a pair of headphones. Her glasses were sliding down her nose and her arms were outstretched. Makoto, Ren, Ann, Ryuji, Yusuke, and Morgana all stared at Futaba in concern as she said, "Th-There! Now steal it!"

"What has gotten into you all of a sudden?" Ryuji asked as he stood back up.

"Hurry up!" Futaba commanded, avoiding eye contact as much as she can.

"We did come here to steal your heart, but we can't exactly do that at this very moment..." Makoto said cautiously. "All you really had to do was open the closet door..."

Futaba's arms immediately dropped. She looked up at everyone, an unamused look on her face, as she took a step back into the closet and closed the door once again. Ren's eyes widened. "No no no no no!"

"Did you guys trick me? I thought we were having a good heart to heart!" Futaba whined.

"No, we didn't trick you!" Ren said, looking over at Ryuji and Yusuke. "The calling card, guys."

"How much do you know about the cognitive world, Futaba?" Ann asked as Ryuji pulled the calling card out of his pocket.

"I know that it exists... But I don't know how to get there."

"Interesting... Very interesting..." Morgana commented.

"And you guys know how to get there?" Futaba asked.

"Yeah." Makoto answered.

"How?"

"Via an app on our phones." Yusuke answered.

Futaba paused. "An app...?"

"Yes... By entering required information into the app, we can go into the cognitive world."

"A name, a place, and a distortion." Makoto added.

"So in this case, Futaba Sakura, Sojiro Sakura's house, and-" Ryuji started to say.

"Ryuji!" Ann chided.

"You... Don't just so happen to have this app... Right?" Ren asked hopefully.

"... No..." Futaba said hesitantly. "But... Can you take me with you?"

"I... Don't think so. It's kinda dangerous to go in if you aren't like us... Speaking from experience." Makoto said nervously.

"Just leave it to us... And read this." Ryuji said, sliding the calling card into the closet.

"... Right now?" Futaba asked.

"If you want."

"I... I can't exactly see in the closet... It's too dark and I didn't bring my phone in here with me."

"As we leave the room then." Ren said carefully as Ann opened the door to Futaba's bedroom again and walked out, Yusuke following close behind.

"I'll make sure she reads it. You guys go ahead." Morgana said, Ryuji nodding and leaving the room.

"We'll see you on the other side, Futaba." Makoto said calmly as she walked outside of the bedroom.

As Ren started to walk outside, he heard Futaba say, "Hey Ren..."

"Yeah?" Ren asked.

"If you... If you want your panda back... It's beside my Neo Featherman Rangers figures."

Ren shook his head even though he knew she wouldn't be able to see him. "We haven't changed your heart back. I said I'd take it back after we changed your heart."

Ren left the bedroom and closed the door, smiling at everyone. "Okay... Let's get in there and change her heart."

The group ran inside, Ren pressing the button to go up once they realized it was an elevator. Everyone managed to work their way through, fighting the occasional Shadow, until they made it to a dark and quiet room. Morgana stated once he saw a sarcophagus, "Okay... The Treasure is in there."

"Let's get in and get out before we have to fight something." Ann stated as she walked over.

Ann didn't even get a chance to touch the sarcophagus before she heard a voice scream, "FUUUUTAAAAABAAAA!"

Everyone froze, looking at one another. Ryuji nervously asked, "What was that...?"

"YOU WORTHLESS CHILD!" The voice screamed again. Ren covered his head as the top of the pyramid got smashed open by a large brown fuzzy... Thing he didn't immediately recognize.

Everyone covered their eyes from the blinding sun as something large flew above them. Makoto squinted her eyes behind her mask, seeing a large cat with wings flying above them, the head of a familiar woman glaring at them. "Holy crap... Guys... That's-"

"Wakaba... Or at least, it's Futaba's cognition of her mother." Morgana interrupted.

"She's not going down without a fight, is she?" Yusuke guessed.

"Probably not." Makoto agreed.

"Everyone, spread out!" Ren commanded, Ann, Ryuji, Yusuke, and Makoto immediately following his lead. "Start trying to hit her with whatever we got! Mona, see if you can figure out when she's going to attack so we can guard!"

"... Right!" Morgana said, running a few feet away from the rest of the group.

Everyone threw out whatever attack they could think of, but either nothing stuck or Cognitive Wakaba was always too far out of range. Eventually, Cognitive Wakaba flew right into the sun, too high for any of them to see. Ren looked over at Morgana and asked, "Mona, you got any clue on what she's doing?"

"I... I'd assume that she's going to slam her body down and attack!" Morgana said nervously.

"You don't know!?" Ryuji asked angrily.

"She's too far away! It's harder to get a read on her from here!" Morgana argued back. "I'm doing my best here!"

Cognitive Wakaba slammed her body back down on the pyramid, sending the Phantom Thieves flying. Makoto landed on her back at the edge of the pyramid, glancing over and seeing a now familiar head of orange hair spying on the situation from a far. "Futaba!?"

Ren landed beside Makoto, glancing over at Futaba in shock. "What the hell are you doing here!?"

"I had to see this for myself!" Futaba argued.

"I thought you said you didn't have the app!"

"Obviously, I lied!" Futaba said, quickly scrambling over to Makoto and Ren to help them up. "What is going on!? Aren't you guys supposed to be stealing my heart?"

"We're trying to, but your mom is making it kind of difficult!" Ren answered.

"What are you-"

"FUUUUTAAAAABAAAA!" Cognitive Wakaba roared again. Futaba looked up at the sky, seeing the cognitive version of her mother. Futaba's eyes widened and she went scarily still. "YOU KILLED ME! YOU DESERVE TO DIIIIIIIE!"

Cognitive Wakaba flew right for Futaba, going into a dive. Makoto stood in front of Futaba to protect her as Ren summoned Atropos to block the attack. Futaba managed to stammer, "What... What is..."

Chapter Text

Four months ago...

Ren awkwardly stood in front of the cafe in Shibuya, staring at his phone and waiting for Makoto. Makoto came walking up carrying her purse, wearing arguably the most casual outfit Ren had ever seen her in; a pair of denim shorts, a white Neo Featherman shirt, a blue and red plaid shirt as a jacket, and sneakers. Makoto sighed as she walked up, pushing the hair that had fallen out of her messy ponytail behind her ear. "Sorry I'm late... I got distracted doing laundry and I lost track of time."

"It's okay." Ren said quickly. "You ready to pretend to be dating?"

"No... But we have to." Makoto said nervously.

Ren sighed, reaching his hand down to grab Makoto's. "Well... Let's go in... Babe."

"Please never call me Babe again..."

"Okay... I felt just as uncomfortable saying that." Ren agreed as they walked inside the cafe, hand in hand.

Eiko spotted Makoto and Ren, getting out of her side of the booth and walking up to greet them. "Hey, you two made it!"

"Yeah... We did." Makoto said, letting go of Ren's hand to give Eiko a quick hug.

"Come on over! Tsukasa is already in the booth!" Eiko said, leading Makoto and Ren over to the booth.

Tsukasa just looked sleazy on first glance. His reddish brown hair had so much product in it that it looked hard and spikey, his red collared shirt unbuttoned under his slightly wrinkly white suit. As Makoto and Ren walked over, Tsukasa said, "Yo, my name's Tsukasa. You must be the Makoto that Princess told me about."

"That I am..." Makoto said, glancing over at Ren to try and signal him into the booth.

Ren motioned to the booth. "Ladies first. I insist."

"Alright... Thank you." Makoto said, sliding into the booth and taking off her purse as Ren slid in next to her.

"So I heard that you're the student council prez, Makoto-chan?" Tsukasa asked.

"Yeah, I am." Makoto answered.

"Man, I totally wish I could be one of your council members." Tsukasa commented.

"Um... Well..." Makoto said awkwardly.

Ren protectively put an arm around Makoto as he added, "Yeah, she's pretty great."

Tsukasa looked over at Ren, not intimidated in the slightest. "You her boyfriend, Four Eyes? The one with the record?"

Ren shrugged. "What can I say? Mako and I just clicked."

Makoto tensed up slightly when she heard Ren say Mako, but he didn't seem to notice. Tsukasa studied the two and asked, "Are you two sure you're dating? It's like your love level has hit rock bottom."

"Love comes in many different forms." Ren answered as removed his arm from around Makoto's shoulders.

"Exactly. We don't really like being... Super clingy to each other." Makoto added.

"They just started dating. Give them time." Eiko interjected.

"I guess you guys just don't get any affection like us." Tsukasa decided. Eiko nodded to agree as Tsukasa turned his attention away from Ren and Makoto. "Did you do something different today, Babe? I don't remember you looking this sexy..."

Eiko gushed about how sweet Tsukasa was while Ren and Makoto shared uncomfortable glances. The one actual couple at the table kept exchanging comments like that for several minutes, both Ren and Makoto operating as fhe awkward third wheel, until Eiko started getting up from the table and said, "I'll be back. I'm gonna go to the bathroom."

"Okay Princess." Tsukasa said as Eiko walked away. Once Eiko was gone, Tsukasa got out his phone and looked over at Makoto. "So why'd you really agree to this?"

Makoto took a deep breath and asked, "Are you serious about pursuing a relationship with Eiko?"

"And there's her true colors!" Tsukasa commented.

"I just want to make sure you're good for her." Makoto stated.

"You really care about your friends, don't you? It's like I always say, friends're like... Super important and stuff." Tsukasa said, unlocking his phone. "And a friend of my girlfriend is a friend of mine. Can I have your digits?"

"You can have mine instead." Ren said for Makoto, getting out his own phone.

"I didn't ask for your number. I asked for her's."

"And it's a dangerous world out there, especially for women. You're a man she doesn't entirely know. You understand my concern, don't you?" Ren challenged.

"Eiko already gave me her number anyway, Four Eyes, so it's not like I don't already have it. I was just asking for a courtesy."

"Eiko what!?" Makoto asked.

"It's no big deal..."

Makoto shook off the comment, her skin starting to crawl, as she asked, "You aren't taking Eiko into the club, are you?"

"Are you suspecting me of doing something bad? I would never dream of it." Tsukasa said defensively. "It's damn shame people think us host're just flirts. My love with Eiko is as pure as snow. Don't twist the story."

"Okay, I'm back." Eiko announced as she slid back into the booth next to Tsukasa. She studied both Ren and Makoto's faces as she asked, "Is something wrong?"

"I was just getting to know your little friend here, Princess." Tsukasa said positively. He checked the time on his phone, then nodded. "I gotta get to work, so I should probably get going."

"Wait really?" Eiko said, getting out her phone and checking the time. "Oh shoot, I gotta go too! Sorry to call this lunch so short!"

"It's okay." Makoto said quickly. "I'm the one who got distracted with laundry to begin with."

"I'll talk to you later, okay?" Eiko said as Tsukasa got out of the booth, the two heading over to the cashier to pay.

"Bye..." Makoto said as she looked over at Ren. "... Did Eiko seriously give her boyfriend my number...?"

"Yeah... She did." Ren agreed, getting out of the booth and sitting across from Makoto on the other side of the table. "I don't like that... That's a really dangerous situation for a 'friend' to place you in."

"I didn't like it either." Makoto admitted. "I just hope he isn't taking advantage of her... No matter what I think, I don't have any proof... And Eiko seems happy... Am I just... Getting in the way of their happiness by asking all these questions?"

"Do you want my honest opinion?"

"Yeah..."

"I think you need to trust yourself out here in the real world as much as you do in the Metaverse." Ren admitted.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean... You figured out literally everything in Futaba's Palace. You planned everything perfectly... Much to Morgana's annoyance. We usually talk plans out with everyone else-"

"I need to work on that... I'm used to working by myself in just about everything." Makoto admitted. "Sorry..."

"It's okay. We all kinda got wrapped up in the moment." Ren continued. "But despite not talking about the plans with anyone else, you always have faith in what you're planning. You trust your instincts in there. If you trusted your instincts out here even half as much as you do in there, you'd be pretty unstoppable."

Makoto grabbed her water cup, taking a sip of water. "I know that it's just a hunch... But my father always stressed how important is was to trust hunches."

Makoto felt her phone vibrate, getting it out and seeing a text from Tsukasa. "Oh my God, he's already texting me."

Ren leaned over the table, seeing the mess of emojis and abbreviations that made up Tsukasa's texts. "What is that even supposed to say...?"

"I... I can't even... I might have to send a screenshot of this to Ann to translate... She's better at people than I am." Makoto said exhaustedly. "I think she's the only one we know who stands at chance at understanding this other language..."

"You're not wrong. There's so much going on with that, I don't even know where to start." Ren agreed. "Maybe you should block him...?"

"I can't... Not if I want to help Eiko and properly assess the situation." Makoto said, then glanced over at Ren. "Thanks for being here, Ren. I think I would have panicked if I was here with someone else."

"Anytime." Ren said with a small smile.

Ren and Makoto finished their meal and headed out, Makoto checking her phone and seeing a bunch of text messages from Ann, Ryuji, and Yusuke. "Oh shoot... Laundry's done, I gotta go."

"Right, you got some serious laundry to fold." Ren agreed as Makoto stuffed her phone back in her shorts. "See ya later?"

"Yeah, see ya! Keep me updated on the Futaba situation!" Makoto said as she quickly walked back to her apartment.

"Will do!" Ren called after Makoto.

Makoto quickly walked back, running into her apartment building and going up the elevator. Once she got to her floor, she saw Yusuke, Ryuji, and Ann all standing outside. "Sorry guys! I know I invited all of you over, but I got distracted at the fake date!"

"How did it go?" Yusuke asked as Makoto got out her apartment keys to unlock the door.

"It... Went. The best part was when the people who were on the double date with us left and we were by ourselves." Makoto admitted, unlocking the door. "Come on in... Make yourselves at home. I gotta get set up."

"'Set up'?" Ann asked as everyone took off their shoes. "What do you need to set up?"

"... You'll see." Makoto said, getting out her phone and handing it to Ann after going to her text chain with Tsukasa. "While I get set up, do you mind translating this for me?"

"Sure...? It is English?"

"It may as well be."

Ryuji peered over Ann's shoulder as Makoto went back to her bedroom to go grab something. Ryuji studied the text and asked, "Makoto, who the hell is texting you?"

"I... It's a really long story..." Makoto admitted, walking back into the room with a poster board stand and set it up in front of the TV. "Ren tried deciphering it too and we got nowhere."

"No kidding... This is almost unintelligible, even for me." Ann commented as she dug into her purse and pulled out a neon pink pen. "You mind getting me a piece of paper? It'll help me to write out what I'm seeing."

"Sure." Makoto said, grabbing a piece of notebook paper from her desk as she grabbed the giant poster board and a bed sheet from her room.

Makoto handed the notebook paper to Ann as she walked back over to her poster board stand, setting down the poster and draping the bed sheet over the top of the easel. Ann smiled, sitting down on the couch. "Thanks Makoto."

"No problem. Thanks in advance for translating that for me." Makoto said, grabbing the remote from the table to use as a pointer. "But I did call you guys over here for a purpose."

"... So we're not having a movie night without Ren and Morgana...?" Yusuke asked innocently. "What about Cinderella?"

"No, we are, I am just taking advantage of the fact that Ren is not here to bring this up since all usually hang out as a group." Makoto said, starting to pace in front of the poster board. "I would like to start this off by apologizing for getting ahead of myself in Futaba's Palace. I should have communicated my plans a little more."

"You're good." Ann said quickly.

"Yeah, totally. Just make sure you communicate the plans with us next time so we're all up to speed." Ryuji added.

"Second off, as we can all agree, Ren is our friend." Makoto stated.

"I don't think we can fight that fact." Ryuji commented.

"Well... What if I said I found out when Ren's birthday is?" Makoto asked.

Ann looked up from Makoto's phone, her eyes widening. "Did you?"

"August 10th."

"We need to do something!"

"But what can we do?" Yusuke asked. "I agree, we need to celebrate his birthday, but how can we celebrate it?"

Ryuji thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers. "He has been feeling kind of homesick recently just based on the fact that he keeps talking about summer back home... Why don't we try bringing a little bit of Inaba to Tokyo for his birthday?"

"That was my exact thought, Ryuji!" Makoto said happily, taking the bed sheet off to reveal the poster board decorated with various pictures and notes, the words on top reading Project Inaba. "I give you all... Project Inaba! Bringing a little bit of Inaba to Ren for his birthday!"

"Okay... How are we going do this?" Yusuke asked.

"This goes into four roles... Decorations, Distraction, Information, and Food." Makoto said, pointing her TV remote to the four different quadrants. "First up is Decorations."

"That would be my role, yes?" Yusuke guessed.

"So I was thinking that since Ann's house has the space..." Makoto admitted. "We could turn her backyard into Ren's favorite places in Inaba... According to his Instagram, anyway."

"How far back did you scroll on his Instagram?" Ryuji asked.

"Pretty far..." Makoto admitted. "I've limited it down to four places... Okina City, the Samegawa Flood Plain, the movie theater, and the forest."

"I have a lot of miscellaneous left over from this past month... If you send me some pictures, I can figure out how to make different decorations to represent each place. The movie theater should be the easiest, so..." Yusuke commented.

"I can do that. Second off, there's the Distraction." Makoto said, pointing her remote at Ryuji. "That's your job."

"Distract him long enough until the party gets set up, right?" Ryuji guessed. Makoto nodded. "Sounds easy enough... I'm way less suspicious than Ann is, at least."

"Hey!" Ann protested.

"Next up, if Morgana agrees, Information." Makoto continued. "As we know since we played Smash Bros with her, Nanako knows Ren better than we do."

"Right." Ann agreed.

"Well, through my own snooping on Ren's Instagram page, I found out that Yasogami's Dance Team, which Nanako is on this year, is coming to Tokyo for a competition next weekend. I also found Nanako's Instagram page. I sent her a message through Instagram. She's going to make a list of Ren's favorite dishes and bring it to the dance competition. I told her that 'one of us' is going to sneak into the dressing rooms and grab the list while she's on stage performing and Ren is sitting in the audience. She's even employing her dad to keep Ren out of the dressing rooms until we get the paper."

"And since Ren brings Morgana with him everywhere, he's the least suspicious person to get the paper."

"Since I have the address to the dance competition, I'll be waiting outside. Morgana will pass the paper off to me, and I'll take it to Food, aka Ann and myself, and the two of us will make the recipes Nanako gives us and also make a cake." Makoto said, staring at her poster board. "I don't think I'm forgetting anything..."

"I'm not the best at making like... Food food, but I can handle the birthday cake." Ann said supportively. "We can be each other's sous chefs!"

"That works for me!" Makoto said, glancing at the other two. "Does that work for you guys? Did I forget anything? Should I add anything? My plan was to go get the paper myself is Morgana doesn't agree. I never gave back the Yasogami Dance Team sweatshirt I borrowed from Ren, so if I put that on, nobody should question me being back there."

"I think it sounds fine." Yusuke said, giving Makoto a thumbs up. "I shall do my research and create the decorations!"

"We got this, guys! Let's do this!" Ryuji cheered, the rest of the apartment cheering with him.

Chapter Text

Four months ago...

"Hey!" Haru said excitedly as Makoto walked up to her.

"Hey! How's your summer been so far?" Makoto asked as she joined Haru, the two walking down the street.

"It's been fine." Haru said as she smoothed out the pastel purple sundress she was wearing. "Normal stuff for me, to be honest. Family function here, family function there. How's your summer been?"

"Busy... This is one of the first chances for downtime I've had for a while now." Makoto admitted.

"That busy?"

"My sister being out of control and having to deal with a bunch of drama." Makoto roughly summed up.

"Did that drama have to do with your boyfriend?"

"With my-" Makoto started to ask, then shook her head. "How do you know about my boyfriend?"

"Do you know Eiko Takao?"

"Yeah...?"

"She's kinda been putting on social media that you're dating that one second year with a criminal record and everyone's been sending me questions since they know you and I are friends."

"You gotta be kidding me..."

"Unfortunately no... I can show you the messages if you want."

Makoto sighed, hanging her head. "Ren and I aren't dating... Technically speaking."

"'Technically speaking'...?" Haru asked hesitantly. Makoto explained the entire situation to Haru as they walked into the thrift shop Makoto had gone to with Eiko a few days before. As Makoto wrapped up her explanation, Haru commented, "He does sound kinda sketchy..."

"Right? It's not just me?"

"Definitely not just you." Haru agreed. "I've heard stories about hosts in Shinjuku... How they trick young girls into into selling their bodies and stuff. Granted, most of that is back from when we were kids, but-"

"I know... I'm kinda familiar with the case."

"I'm concerned about her." Haru continued. "I've heard her family is a little like mine... Very hands off in terms of her. It doesn't sound like she really has anyone to look out for her, but at the same time... I hope I don't sound too mean when I say this, Mako-chan, but she really doesn't sound like a real friend towards you. A real friend wouldn't be spreading rumors about their other friend."

"It's okay."

"It really isn't." Haru said, shaking her head as she looked through the rack. "I mean, are you even interested in that second year?"

"I... Would be ignorant to deny that I didn't think he was attractive." Makoto admitted. "But even if I was interested in him like that, it wouldn't work out between us. I'm a third year, he's a second year. I'm going to go to college out here, he's going back to Inaba at the end of the year. You get the picture."

"I guess that's fair..." Haru commented, her eyes widening as she saw something on the rack. "This would look so cute on you!"

Makoto looked over, seeing that Haru was holding up the same blue dress Makoto had seen the last time she was in this thrift shop. "I don't know, Haru..."

"Come on! Try it on for my own amusement?" Haru asked.

Makoto sighed, instinctually knowing that Haru wouldn't drop it. "Fine..."

"Yay!" Haru said happily as Makoto grabbed the dress and walked over to the dressing room.

Makoto quickly changed into the dress, folding up her actual clothes and setting them off to the side. Makoto studied her reflection in the mirror in the corner of the dressing room for a second, deciding that she looked pretty enough in the dress, but it probably wasn't anything to write home about. Makoto walked out, doing a spin for Haru as Haru grinned from ear to ear. "Are you satisfied, Haru?"

"You look so pretty!" Haru said chipperly.

"Sure, but when would I actually wear this?"

"I don't know... On a date when you aren't fake dating anyone?" Haru suggested.

Makoto opened her mouth to protest, but then heard her phone ringing in the dressing room. "Hold on a sec..."

Makoto walked up to her phone, not recognizing the number, as she answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Um... I-Is this Queen? Or... Makoto Niijima?" A familiar voice asked on the other end.

"Yes, this is her. May I ask-"

"I-It's Futaba." Futaba interrupted. "Futaba Sakura."

Makoto blinked a few times. "Hi... Ren didn-"

"Ren doesn't know that I'm awake. Sojiro is kinda keeping it under wraps until I'm good enough to stay awake for more than a few hours at a time." Futaba explained. "Look... Um... Can you come over right now? And bring food? As much as I hate to admit it, I'm starting to get tired of my staple foods."

"Y-Yeah... I can... What do you want?"

"Where are you?"

"Kichijoji."

"Could you get me one of those pork bun thingys there?"

"Okay. I can do that. I'll see you soon, okay Futaba?"

"Okay. See you soon."

Makoto quickly got charged in her normal clothes, putting the dress back on the hanger and handing it to Haru as she walked out. "I am so sorry to cut this short, Haru... The crazy out of control drama that's been happening so far just had a recent development, so I have to go deal with that."

"It's okay." Haru said, taking the dress back from Makoto. "I'll see you later."

"See you later." Makoto said, waving goodbye as she left the store.

Makoto quickly got what Futaba had asked for and got on the train, heading her way to Yongen-Jaya, doing her best to keep the heat inside the bag she was holding the food in.

Curious, Futaba typed 'tomb' into the distortion box, then heard her phone say, "Candidate found. Beginning navigation."

The world around Futaba distorted as she found herself standing in the middle of a desert with a golden pyramid standing in front of her. Futaba looked around and asked herself, "What in the... Is this the world inside my heart?"

Futaba started walking up the stairs and into the pyramid, staring at the glowing green walls and the tan stone. Futaba approached a giant pit of quicksand, staring at the falling sand as glowing green platforms created a simple bridge to the other side. Futaba took a shocked step back, then steeled her nerves and kept walking forward.

Futaba walked up the stairs to the elevator, walking inside and pressing the up button. The elevator moved up, and when Futaba exited, she looked around at the bluish green walls showing neon green text. Futaba muttered to herself, "Never thought the inside of my heart would look like this..."

Futaba took a few steps forward, jumping back when she saw a giant portrait of herself sitting on a throne and staring at men in suits reading a piece of paper. The version of herself that she saw earlier in her room before the others came, the one wearing the Egyptian outfit, appeared in front of Futaba. She tilted her head and asked, "Do you remember?"

Futaba looked up at the picture, instinctually knowing what the picture in front of her was trying to depict. "This is the suicide note... The men in black suits read it right after Mom died..."

"Correct. Look at the next one." The Other Futaba said, motioning to portrait as it changed to a picture of her mother jumping in front of a car.

Futaba took a step back. "I... I don't want to see that."

"You must. What is it?"

"It... It's the moment Mom jumped in front of that car..."

"That's right... Now the next." The Other Futaba said as another picture dropped down, this time showing a much younger version of Futaba tugging on her mother's shirt.

Futaba fell on the ground, quickly backing away. "No... Why are you showing me this?"

"Don't run." The Other Futaba commanded. "I thought you made your mind up after you talked to the Phantom Thieves."

Futaba thought for a moment, closing her eyes so she could steady her thinking. She did... Technically speaking, anyway. She wanted them to change her heart. Was this how it was done...? "Okay... I'll look."

Futaba studied the picture, then nervously said, "It's me complaining... Mom scolded me for bothering her."

"Yes."

"I knew it..." Futaba said, her voice trembling. "It was me who killed Mom... I was a bad daughter... I weighed her down, and she hated me for it... It's just like I remember..."

"Are you sure?" The Other Futaba asked.

"Huh?" Futaba asked.

"Remember everything. Don't avert your eyes." The Other Futaba said sternly. "When did this happen?"

"Just a little before Mom died... I whined about wanting to go on a family  trip, but she scolded me and said no."

"Was that all she said?"

"Mom... Mom said, 'I'm too busy right now. I need to finish my cognitive research as soon as possible.'."

"And what did you do?"

"I threw a tantrum. I told her she thought her research was more important than I was. That's when she scolded me..."

"What did she say afterwards? There was more." The Other Futaba prodded.

Futaba thought for a moment, then asked, "Did she say... 'My research is almost over. Once it's finished, we can go wherever you like. I'm sorry I've left you alone for so long, Futaba. Please try to understand though. This research is really important. I need to complete it, even if it costs me my life.'? But... But wait... That doesn't make... Why would my mother say that if she-"

"Did she hate you?"

"She... She didn't...?" Futaba said uneasily. She looked up at the picture again, seeing that her mother's image was now smiling. "She... Smiled?"

Futaba's head erupted in pain as she curled into a ball on the ground. "Ow... My head... What even is the truth?"

"Your memory is..." The Other Futaba said as she faded away.

Futaba heard a loud scream coming from the doorway to the left, Futaba seeing sunlight streaming in through the door. "Huh...?"

Futaba... Come here. Nothing can harm you through this door... Futaba said, hearing a voice through the door, barely loud enough for her to hear.

Futaba paused, taking a few steps forward. "What is that...?"

Futaba walked through the doorway, crouching down behind a large rock until she could get a better view of the situation. All of a sudden, a girl wearing a blue and black outfit crashed into the half stone wall, almost cutting her cheek on one of the spikes on her shoulders. The girl looked over at Futaba, Futaba vaguely recognizing her as one of the people who was in her bedroom earlier... Makoto. Makoto gave Futaba a confused look. "Futaba!?"

Another figure crashed into the wall beside Makoto wearing a black trench coat and a black and white mask. Futaba assumed that this one was Ren as he asked, "What the hell are you doing here!?"

"I had to see this for myself!" Futaba argued anxiously.

"I thought you said you didn't have the app!" Ren fired back.

"Obviously, I lied!" Futaba said, quickly scrambling over to Makoto and Ren to help them up. As Makoto grabbed onto Futaba's hand to stand up, Futaba asked, "What is going on!? Aren't you guys supposed to be stealing my heart?"

"We're trying to, but your mom is making it kind of difficult!" Ren answered.

"What are you-"

"FUUUUTAAAAABAAAA!" Futaba looked up and saw some version of her mother, except her mother's head was on the body of a sphinx and she looked pissed. "YOU KILLED ME! YOU DESERVE TO DIIIIIIIE!"

Futaba stayed frozen as the sphinx version of her mother started to fly right towards her. Makoto quickly jumped in front of Futaba to protect her as Ren summoned some woman wearing a bunch of black and carrying a pair of scissors to seemingly block the attack. Futaba managed to stammer out in confusion, "What... What is..."

"That's how you think of your mother." Makoto summed up, turning her head to look over at Futaba.

"That's how I what!?" Futaba asked in a horror as she stared at her mother.

"That is how you remember your mother." Makoto rephrased, still trying to shield Futaba from what was going on around them. As Futaba tried to get a better look at this strange of her mother to figure out what was going on, Makoto asked, "Is this really how you want to remember her?"

"YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A DEMON WHO STOOD IN MY WAY! I WISH YOU WERE NEVER BORN!" Sphinx Wakaba sneered. Futaba fell down on the ground beside Makoto, pressing her headphones against her ears so that she didn't have to hear what her mother said. "THAT WAY, I COULD'VE ANNOUNCED MY RESULTS WITHOUT HAVING TO WASTE MY TIME ON YOU! I POUTED MY HEART AND SOUL INTO THAT RESEARCH! IT WOULD'VE BEEN THE DISCOVERY OF THE CENTURY!"

Futaba whimpered as Makoto knealt down beside her. Wakaba continued as she circled the Phantom Thieves, "YOU ARE GOING TO DIE, FUTABA! THERE'S NO MEANING TO YOUR LIFE! NO ONE NEEDS YOU!"

"... Nobody cares about me..." Futaba quietly said, moving her hands away from her headphones. All around her, she started hearing the voices of the men who had read her the suicide note and her family members, all yelling at her and blaming her for her mother's death.

"You know that's not true." Makoto quietly said. "What about Sojiro?"

Futaba paused, feeling her eyes widen. She remembered spending time with Sojiro and her mom, walking down the street together. He cared about her... He was one of the few people in her life that did after her mom died. And as for her mom... Futaba heard one of the voices say in her head, "I should have never had Futaba. She was always such a bother. It seems you caused your mother a great deal of trouble, Futaba-chan. She must've had some kind of maternity neurosis."

These are false memories... Futaba heard the voice from earlier say somewhere deeper in her head.

Futaba slowly lifted her head to stare at her mother and asked to herself, "A false memory...?"

"What was that?" Makoto asked, clearly concerned.

"You made your mother destroy all her research, Futaba-chan." Futaba heard another male voice say, another one of the men in suits that read her mom's suicide note.

"No... I can't... Why would she have..." Futaba realized, not able to fully form a sentence. She hadn't thought about it at the time, probably because she was shocked about seeing her mother die, but if her mother had told her that they would go on a trip after the research was done, why would her mother have destroyed her own work?

Without any warning, the Other Futaba appeared by the rocks Futaba had been hiding behind earlier. The cat creature thing's eyes widened from their spot maybe twenty feet away from her. "What is she doing here!?"

"Futaba Sakura... REMEMBER!" Other Futaba screamed at Futaba. Futaba looked over at the other version of herself, the rest of the chaos around her fading away to black. Without the Other Futaba opening her mouth, she said in the voice Futaba had heard earlier, "You're the reason she committed suicide. You were just getting in the way of her research. Why did you think it was suicide?"

Why did she think it was suicide? What kind of a question was that? Futaba thought to herself, "... I thought that because of the note..."

"Exactly." Other Futaba agreed. "The men in black suits read her suicide note to you, and what was written on it?"

"All of her complaints... About me."

"Yes... The shock and pain lead you to avert your eyes, but they kept reading it aloud in front of your relatives."

The whole world seemed to come back into focus as Futaba came to a realization... One that this other version of herself had come to a long time ago. Futaba said out loud, ignoring the confused looks from everyone else, "... She didn't jump. Mom collapsed."

Shadow Futaba smiled and nodded. "Correct... But who lead you to believe she did?"

Futaba thought for a moment. The longer she thought about the note, the more she realized it couldn't have been written by her mom. For one, the note was written in blue pen. Her mother never wrote in blue pen. It was black or nothing. Then there was the fact that the piece of paper the note was written on was a solid piece of white computer paper. Her mother never wrote on computer paper. Every note her mother had left her, every promise they had made, they were all written on loose leaf notebook paper in black pen. The people who had found the note were the same people who had read it off in the first place... The men in the black suits. They claimed that they had found in her mother's things, but... Realization dawned on Futaba. "The... The people who-"

"Exactly." Other Futaba interrupted. Futaba started to stand up, Makoto standing up with her to help keep Futaba steady. "They used you. They forged her suicide note and laid all the blame upon you! They trampled all over your young heart! Get mad! Don't forgive those rotten adults!"

"It was a complete and total lie!" Futaba angrily yelled, feeding off of the energy the other version of herself was giving. "They... They used me! They're the reason why-"

"And what are you going to do now that you have remembered the truth?" Shadow Futaba asked.

"I... Am going to make them pay." Futaba said, her fists clenching so hard together that she was starting to make her hands bleed. "I am never going to forgive those stupid, rotten adults! They never should have yelled at me like that and passed my mom's murder onto me! They'll regret the day they-"

"They will..." Other Futaba agreed as Futaba doubled over, clutching her head again.

"It's because I couldn't face myself... Or Mom's death... Even then, why did they have to yell at me like that!?" Futaba continued to think through the pain.

"What denies you is an illusion." The Other Futaba thought. "A curse put upon you by the heartless. You knew from the very beginning..."

"That's right... I knew, but I-" Futaba said out loud, still holding her head in pain.

"And yet, you cowered in fear."

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! THIS TIME, YOU'LL BE THE ONE TO DIE!" Cognitive Wakaba roared from the sky.

"Will you die as you are told? Who will you obey? Cursed words spat out by a seething illusion? Or the truth within your own soul?"

"NO I WON'T!" Futaba screamed as she stared up at the cognitive version of her mother. She wasn't dying... Not right now, anyway. She had to live, even if it was just to make sure nobody got away with her mother's death any longer. "I WON'T LET THESE DISTORTED LIES DECIEVE ME ANYMORE, AND I WON'T BE LEAD ASTRAY BY OTHER'S VOICES EITHER! I AM GOING TO TRUST MY OWN EYES TO FIGURE OUT THE TRUTH!"

The Other Futaba was suddenly behind Futaba's back, glowing a bright white light. As the light faded, Futaba looked up and saw a black and green UFO with a black gargoyle on top. She instinctually knew it's name... Necronomicon. A bunch of black tentacles appeared from the bottom Necronomicon, wrapping around Futaba's body and lifting her into the sky. The girl wearing the red leather cat suit asked in horror somewhere in the distance, "What in the hentai!?"

The inside of Necronomicon was dark for a moment, but then she heard the voice say, "Contract... I am thou, though art I... The forbidden wisdom has been revealed."

A few see-through screens popped to life around Futaba, Futaba realizing that she was floating in some type of green void. The voice continued, "No mysteries... No illusions shall decieve you any longer."

Somewhere outside the safety of Necronomicon, Futaba heard Ren scream, "Oh no... Sojiro is so going to kill me! FUTABA!?"

"I'm okay... I think." Futaba responded. She'd have plenty of time to figure out what this meant later. "Look, to be honest, I don't entirely understand what's going on right now, but what I do know is that that version of my mom has to go. Can you guys help me?"

The boy with the skull mask started laughing as he nodded his head and tightly grabbed his pipe. "Hell yeah!"

"Let's take down the sphinx!" The boy with the fox mask cheered, everyone else cheering in agreement.

Present day... Four months ago...

"And... That's pretty much it." Futaba concluded as she balled up her trash. "I think you know the rest from there."

"Futaba, that's horrible." Makoto sympathized. "Why did they-"

"I don't know, and I haven't been able to do any searching on my own. Sojiro kinda has me on semi-permanent bedrest at the moment. He doesn't want me on my computer for another few days, if even that."

"Do you know the details of your mother's research?"

"Yeah... I do... From what I remember, anyway. I've been doing my own research about it for years."

"Huh... Maybe this is connected..."

"Connected?"

"It's a long story that even I don't entirely know. You're better off asking Ren... And filling him in on this too."

"I know, and I will, I just... I guess some small part of me thought that you'd get it because of your dad, ya know?" Futaba answered uneasily. "I mean... Every time I tried to talk about my mom with her blood family, I was yelled at and told that I was to blame for everything being wrong, and now..."

"Yeah..." Makoto said cautiously. "To be honest, I don't really know how my dad plays into my own life right now... Everything is kinda messy. I'm trying to sort out my own thoughts."

Futaba nodded. "You and me both."

Makoto gave Futaba a small smile. "I... Don't know what you're planning on doing after that, but... Um... Are you-"

"You guys are planning on figuring out who that black mask guy is, right?" Futaba guessed, Makoto's eyes slightly widening. "I have audio bugs in Leblanc, remember?"

Makoto nodded. "That's part of why I think it might be connected, yes."

"I think I want in... Maybe it's why..." Futaba trailed off.

"Yusuke, the guy in the fox mask, he and I have a small group on the side. It's kind of like a support group thing since Ann, Ren, and Ryuji all joined at the same time. Do you want me to make a group chat with you in it? It can kind of... Work as a way to help you process everything and stuff..."

Futaba nodded. "I think I'd like that."

"Okay. Awesome."

"That number I called you from today is my actual phone number. You can use that for the group chat.

"I will..." Makoto said, digging around her purse and pulling out the notebook she brought into the Metaverse with her. Makoto set it down on Futaba's bed. "And here. On loan."

"What is it?" Futaba asked, turning the notebook over in her hands.

"It's the notebook I've been using to write down my understanding of everything since I joined. It has everything Morgana taught me, from different field strategies to different explanations for terminology we use. In truth, you Palace was only my second time working with the team and I have a lot to improve on. I'm kinda the new kid on the block." Makoto admitted. "They kind of make fun of my color coding note taking system."

Futaba's eyes widened as she looked through Makoto's notebook. Futaba practically squealed, "It's color coded!?"

"Yeah... It makes it easier for me to understand. There should be a color key on one of the first pages."

"Awesome! I'll be sure to study it when I can!"

Makoto laughed. "Just give it back to me the next time you see me in person, okay?"

"Yes ma'am!"

Makoto stood up, pushing Futaba's desk chair back to her computer. "I should probably get going before Sojiro comes home."

Futaba nodded. "Thanks for hearing me out."

"No problem. Talk to you later?"

"Yup. Later!" Futaba said, already diving into the notebook as Makoto left her room.

Chapter Text

Three months ago...

Ren strummed the last note on his guitar, then gathered his things and walked back into Leblanc. Ever since Sojiro had him start playing outside of Leblanc, the cafe had gotten surprisingly busy, almost comparing to the crowd on rainy days. Ren glanced over at the coffee bar where Sojiro was in the process of making three different coffee cups for the people sitting at the counter. Ren asked, "Do you need any help, Sojiro?"

Sojiro glanced over at Ren, giving him a small smile and shaking his head no. Ever since the first time they had gone into Sojiro's house and Sojiro explained Futaba's life story to them, Ren and Sojiro had developed some sort of understanding with each other. No more annoyed looks, no more hostility. It was almost like Sojiro suddenly liked having Ren in his home. "I can handle everything here. It's your summer too. Go see if one of your friends want to hang out."

"You sure? I don't mind."

"I'm sure. Go have fun."

Ren smiled back. "Thanks Sojiro."

Ren walked upstairs to his room and grabbed his phone, seeing an email from the movie rental shop in Shibuya. Smiling when he saw the email, he grabbed his phone and called Makoto. After a few seconds, Makoto picked up on the other end. "Hello?"

"Hey, do you have plans tonight?"

"No... Why?"

"You remember when I mentioned that one Cinderella movie Disney made?"

"Yeah... Why?"

"I just got an email from Scarlett's. They have a copy available to rent. If I rent it, do you wanna come over and watch it tonight?"

"Yeah, I'm down. I just have to meet Eiko for dinner at the Big Bang Burger on Central Street first."

"Eiko?"

"Yeah... She wanted to talk to me about something."

"Do you want me there, or do you think you can handle it by yourself?"

"I... I'd like you there."

"Okay. What time are you meeting Eiko?"

"In about an hour."

"Okay. I'll meet you in Shibuya in an hour." Ren said, hanging up his phone so he could properly put away his guitar.

Morgana crawled through the window to Ren's bedroom, jumping down onto Ren's bed. "You finish your set?"

"Yeah. It went fine." Ren said, clicking the locks on his guitar case and walking over to his bag. "Makoto is coming over tonight, so-"

"Oh, Makoto is coming over." Morgana interrupted sarcastically. "And what are you two going to do?"

"... Watch a movie." Ren said carefully. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let me guess, you want me to make myself scarce?"

"No, you're more than welcome to join us. I was letting you know so you aren't blindsided when she comes back with me." Ren said, noticing that some of Morgana's fur was sticking straight up. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I said I'm fine." Morgana repeated. "I'll see you when you get back."

Ren didn't know what else to say, so he just waved goodbye to Morgana, grabbed his bag, and walked out of Leblanc and to the train station.

Ren boarded the train, sitting down and popping in his earbuds as he listened to music. As the train went down the tracks, Ren felt his phone vibrate, seeing some texts from Nanako.

Nanako Dojima: 4:36 PM
I can't wait to see you this weekend!!! 🥳

Ren smiled at the text messages as he stuffed his phone back in his pocket. After a few more minutes, the train pulled into Shibuya station and Ren left, making his way over to Central Street.

When he got to the Big Bang Burger, Makoto was anxiously pacing in front of the entrance, muttering to herself. Ren nervously asked, "Makoto, are you okay?"

Makoto looked up and nodded. "Oh thank God... Eiko got here like... Five minutes ago, and I've been too scared to go inside."

"Take a deep breath." Ren said, Makoto taking the slowest breath she could muster. "You good now?"

"No... But let's go in..." Makoto said, grabbing Ren's hand and dragging him into Big Bang Burger.

Eiko looked up from her table and saw Ren, her smile falling. "Hey Makoto... I thought you were gonna be here alone."

"Mako and I are going on a date after this, so I decided to tag along. Hope you don't mind." Ren said quickly as Makoto lead him around the table to sit down.

"Anyway Eiko, what's up?" Makoto asked, staring at Ren as Ren noticed her tense up again.

"I really hate asking this, but... Um... I was wondering if you could lend me some cash." Eiko asked nervously.

"Cash? Why do you need cash?" Ren asked.

"It's nothing real major, but I need it, like... Right now. I'll pay you back though, honest. Please?" Eiko begged.

Makoto tilted her head as she commented, "You still aren't saying why you need the money... Did you get fired or something?"

"... Tsukasa dropped a really expensive bottle of sake at work, and the club is making him pay for it, but he needs help." Eiko admitted.

Makoto straightened her back, prepping for a bad response, as she said, "He's lying to you, Eiko. Don't give him any money."

"How would you know if he's lying?"

"He's already texted me to ask for money. I've been ignoring it for the most part because, quite frankly, I'm a little perturbed with him texting me so much-"

"He told me he asked you already, so I thought it'd be better if I asked in person." Eiko said quickly. "Look, I know he's not lying. I know that you're all weird about him being a host and stuff, but my Tsukasa isn't like that. He's really gentle and honest too. He even calls me Princess. I'm the only one he says that too, y'know. He says that it's 'cause I'm special."

"... Guys say a lot of things we don't mean." Ren said carefully. "Most of the time, we come out sounding like morons, and sometimes, we use our words to manipulate people by saying some sweet compliments to pretty girls."

"He's not manipulating me!" Eiko argued.

"He probably calls you Princess because he knows so many women and he doesn't want to bother remembering your name."

"You don't know what my relationship with him is really like... Neither of you do."

"You're right... We don't." Makoto said, taking another deep breath. "But just based on his general demeanor... I wouldn't give him any money, Eiko."

"You don't have any proof." Eiko countered. "You can't talk poorly about him without proof."

"Did you even ask anyone at work about this bottle?" Makoto asked.

"Well... No, because I trust him. Besides, he told me not to go crying to his boss about it because he's too prideful."

"That's sketchy." Ren stated.

Eiko slightly glared at Ren before turning her attention to Makoto. "Please Makoto? You're the only one I can trust with this... All of my other friends would rather focus on cram school and prepping for entrance exams over helping me... And who knows what my parents would say if I tried to ask them?"

Makoto sighed, lowering her head. Always the last choice for everything... "I think you should end your relationship with him. A real partner wouldn't be-"

"What do you mean!?"

"If you don't put a stop to this, he might try and drag you into some suspicious line of work-"

"He already got me a job. It's nothing weird though."

Ren sat up straighter as he asked, "What kind of job?"

"I'm just serving drinks at a bar to make up for the cost of the bottle. He said I'll be number one in no time. Maybe I'll keep doing it after I graduate from high school. I mean, it's not like I'm going to college anyway."

"Eiko, you can't just do whatever he says! He's trying to decieve you!"

"A smart person like you totally wouldn't understand what it's like. You're just gonna go to a good college, work for a fancy company, and then what? You're life is going to be totally boring! I mean, is that seriously how you want to live?" Eiko argued.

"I... I don't know." Makoto admitted. "But be that as it may, you should still stay away from him!"

Eiko's face fell. "So you're not going to help me either?"

"I'm sorry, Eiko, but no... I can't."

"You can't or you won't?" Eiko asked as she got her things together. "Forget it. I can make up the money if I let some customers take me out on dates."

"Don't do that." Ren said quickly. "That's even more dangerous."

"Eiko, Tsukasa has been asking me things about whether or not my sister and I live by ourselves and if I'm happy with my boyfriend. He is not serious about you." Makoto added.

"Don't give me that crap! He's just being nice and worrying about my friends!" Eiko argued.

"That's not being nice. That's being creepy." Ren interjected.

"Whatever... I'm leaving. I'm gonna be late for my shift at this rate..." Eiko said, slinging her purse on her shoulder. "You don't get to take away Tsukasa from me... You have the grades... The looks... The cool boyfriend... And yet you still want more. Tsukasa is all I have. You can't take him from me."

"I don't want him! He's been the one texting me!"

"I'd never forgive you if you stole him from me!" Eiko said, walking away from Ren and Makoto. "Goodbye Makoto."

"Asking for money from your high school girlfriend... That's not normal behavior." Ren commented. "Where are her parents during all this? Why haven't they put a stop to this?"

"They're well off and they focus what little attention they have on Eiko's multi-talented brother. Tsukasa actually gives her attention and..." Makoto said, starting to think to herself as Ren noticed her tarot card appear over her head. "Oh no... They didn't find them..."

"Didn't find who?"

"It doesn't matter... Do you me to order food for the movie so we can take it back to Leblanc?" Makoto asked, trying to change the subject.

"I'll pay-"

"Ren, I-"

"A gentlemen always pays. Let's go order food." Ren said, getting out of the booth. Makoto hesitated for a moment, but then followed Ren out of the booth and over to the cash register.

The two got their food and headed over to the rental place to rent the movie. The two then boarded the train and headed over to Yongen-Jaya, Makoto staying silent as they headed inside. The crowd from earlier had died down since Leblanc was now technically closed and Morgana was sleeping in one of the booths. As they walked upstairs, Ren asked, "Are you still thinking about Eiko?"

"Yeah..." Makoto admitted.

"You don't want to hear this and I really don't want to say it... But maybe you should cut your losses."

"I can't."

"I don't like the idea either, and I don't want her to be in danger, but she's not going to listen-"

"I have to help her."

"Because she's your-"

"Because she's the exact time of girl my father died trying to protect!" Makoto blurted out as a few tears started to fall. She froze, sitting down on Ren's bed as she set her food down on the foot of the bed next to her. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to-"

"What do you mean by that?" Ren asked, setting his food on the table beside the TV along with the rented DVD as he walked over to his bed and sat down beside Makoto. When Makoto didn't immediately start talking, Ren said, "You can talk about anything with me. I don't want you to stay silent, but I also don't want to force you to talk. If you want to talk about it, talk. If you don't, I'm here to be a shoulder."

"... I told you about how my father died, right?" Makoto asked hesitantly.

"A hit and run, right? You mentioned it while we were trying to get Futaba out of the closet."

"It... It wasn't just a hit and run." Makoto admitted, using the back of one of her hands to wipe away her tears. "He was investigating this one notorious gang in Shinjuku at the time of his death."

"... In Shinjuku?" Ren asked carefully.

"I didn't just want to go to Shinjuku to see what was going on with the whole Eiko situation... I wanted to see the place of Tokyo my father died trying to fix... The part of Tokyo he died trying to clean up. He was hit by an errant truck and died on impact. It was thought to be a horrible accident at first, but I heard my father's colleagues tell my sister at his funeral that it was probably an assassination from the gang my father was looking into... Not that she ever told me. I guess that's kind of what made it hurt more when she forced me to focus on my studies and to never talk about our father in front of her." Makoto elaborated. "It's suspected that the driver of the truck was hired by the gang my father was investigating, but nobody could ask him anything since he also died on impact. The only clue they found was that the driver had drugs in his system. After my father's death, the police centered their efforts into cleaning up Shinjuku, and it's better than it was back then, but... But I remember my father telling me the dangers of Shinjuku. He told me about the women he was trying to protect. Eiko fits the description of the gang's victims to a T... Depressed women in Shinjuku that can be taken advantage of for their loneliness and force them into horribly abusive situations. Once they're in crippling debt, the women are forced to sell their bodies to pay it off. There are other ways too, blackmail, illegal immigration, countless victims that my father was trying to save... I guess the Eiko situation is hitting a little too close to home."

"He sounds like he was a noble man." Ren said gently.

Makoto nodded. "He was... He really was... I keep getting reminded of him more and more often. He... He used to call me Mako, ya know."

"If that makes you uncomfortable-"

"I miss it... I guess I just wasn't expecting it to come from you." Makoto interrupted. "I think he really would have liked you."

"I'm nothing special... I'm just a guy who doesn't know how to keep his nose out of things that aren't his business." Ren admitted, starting to blush. "I mean... That's how Nanako and I became friends to begin with."

"What do you mean?"

"It was the day my family moved to Inaba... They told me to go play outside while they unpacked. I walk down the street and at our local shrine, I see these two kids about my age bullying this girl with brown pigtails."

"Nanako?"

"Right... Well, I didn't understand it at the time, but they were calling her a zombie. Ryotaro explained it to my later, but before I moved to Inaba, Nanako got kidnapped by some guy and since her dad is a detective, he tracked down the guy and accidentally got knocked a car crash with Nanako in the car. She got to a hospital and she apparently legally died for a minute or two. Nobody knows how it happened, but she came back to life after that minute or two. Everyone in the hospital and the adults in town called it a miracle, but because kids are mean, children called her zombie... They still do, even all these years later. Since I was new in town, I didn't know, and when I stood up for Nanako, I had made myself a weirdo too. It's been me and Nanako against the world ever since... Well... I guess now, it's just me against the world."

"You're not alone... You have us." Makoto said, reaching over and grabbing one of Ren's hands.

Ren smiled, squeezing her hand back. "Yeah... I have you and everyone else..."

"I still look up to my father... And I think Sae does too, to some degree. I mean... His death was what pushed her to become a prosecutor. As a kid, I was often lonely when he was at work, but seeing him tirelessly pursue case after case... It nothing short of admirable. It made me think I could do it too."

"Well... Why can't you?" Ren asked.

"What...?"

"Why can't you do what he did?"

"You mean besides the fact that it's dangerous?"

"Going into Palaces and killing Shadows is just as dangerous, and you do it with ease." Ren reminded Makoto.

Makoto laughed, shaking her head. "Come to think of it... There was one thing my father said to me all the time... 'The most important part of your life is how you choose to live it.'... I've been trying to figure out what I do ever since getting my Persona, but... I don't know."

"Well, if it means anything... I think you'd make a pretty good police officer, and that's saying something given the amount of police officers I've had to deal with."

Makoto laughed, looking back down at her lap. "You know... I've never gone into this much detail about my father with anyone before... Never really had the opportunity."

"I'm honored to be the first." Ren said with a small smile.

"And everything Eiko said... It struck a nerve. I just... I can't let her be a victim of what my father died to stop."

"Then don't. Investigate it on your own." Ren suggested. "I'll be the Watson to your Sherlock. Anything you need help with, I'll be there."

"You mean it? You'll help me figure out how to help Eiko?"

"Promise." Ren said with a small smile. "I'd help you out with just about anything."

"Even if I'm not your first choice to hang out with?"

"What are you talking about?" Ren asked, getting out his phone. He went to his phone app and showed it to Makoto. "When Sojiro said I didn't have to help out in the cafe after I finished playing my set outside, you were the first person I called."

"I was?" Makoto asked, taking Ren's phone and staring at his call list. "Huh... I was..."

"Did you not believe I wouldn't want to hang out with you?"

"No, it's not that... I'm just not entirely used to being someone's first choice when it comes to hanging out. Usually, I have to ask." Makoto said, getting out her own phone and going to her messages. "Which I guess is part of why I'm so unnerved about Tsukasa constantly texting me."

"Has he really been texting you that much?"

"At least ten times a day." Makoto said, handing Ren her phone.

Ren scrolled through Makoto's texts with Tsukasa... It was more like Tsukasa constantly texting Makoto and Makoto only texting back once or twice. Makoto's phone vibrated in Ren's hand when he saw a text from Eiko. "Hey... Eiko texted."

"I can-" Makoto started to say as Ren clicked on the message.

"'Sry I blew up on u, just kinda stressed out.'..." Ren read out loud, then saw the messages above the most recent one. "Hold on... 'U serious abt Ren-kun? Wanna hav a double wedding?'...?"

"I can explain." Makoto said, taking her phone back from Ren's hands.

"I mean... I'm game if you are..." Ren said teasingly. "Let's keep the fake relationship going."

"Stop it!" Makoto said, her face turning red as she lightly pushed Ren's shoulder. Ren laughed back, but then his smile dropped slightly as he focused his gaze on Makoto's face. Makoto's laugh turned anxious as she asked, "Why are you staring at me like that?"

Ren held up a finger and poked one of Makoto's cheeks. "You're not wearing concealer. I see your freckles."

Makoto sighed, shaking her head. "Darn it... You caught me."

"Ha! I was right!" Ren cheered. "You look really pretty with your freckles visible."

"What...?" Makoto asked.

"You look really pretty... Not that you... Not that you never look pretty, but... Ya know... You just look really pretty today, that's all. Maybe you shouldn't cover up your freckles as often."

Makoto rolled her eyes and said, "Ya know... For someone so smooth and put together in the Metaverse... Not so much in the real world."

"Okay, okay, I get it." Ren said as he laughed again, taking off his glasses and setting them off to the side. "I managed to convince Sojiro to keep some sodas in the fridge downstairs. I'll go-"

"You get the movie set up. I'll go." Makoto said, getting off of Ren's bed. She needed to talk to Morgana about getting the paper from Nanako at the dance competition anyway. "I'm pretty sure I can figure out where the sodas are."

"Okay. I'll get the movie set up." Ren said, watching as Makoto walked downstairs.

As Makoto got to the bottom of the stairs, she paused, thinking about what just happened. As Makoto reflected, her eyes widened in slight horror. "Oh no..."

"Did something happen?" Ren asked nervously.

"Nope... Nothing happened. I'll be back with sodas." Makoto said as she kept walking.

Despite her best efforts to do the opposite, Makoto couldn't exactly deny it to herself any longer. She was falling for Ren Amamiya.

Chapter Text

Three months ago...

Ren walked into the dance competition, looking around for a familiar face. As Ren searched for Ryotaro, or really anybody on the Yasogami Dance Team, he heard an innocent sounding voice ask, "Amamiya-senpai, is that you?"

Ren turned around and saw Kasumi Yoshizawa, a first year at Shujin that he had become friends with outside of the Phantom Thieves. Her red hair was pulled back into her usual ponytail and red ribbon, wearing a blue blouse and white shorts. Ren smiled as he waved hello. "Hey Kasumi! I thought you were out of the country!"

"I'm only here temporarily. My father's birthday is coming up and he wanted to see me. He gave me a pass to come here though since one of my classmates in the Shujin Dance Club is competing today and my class decided to come here and support them... Though I seem to have lost my class." Kasumi admitted, rubbing the back of her neck. "What are you doing here?"

"My friend from back home is on my old high school's dance team and since we haven't seen each other in person since I moved out here, I decided to come cheer her on."

"Your friend? Just the one?"

"I'm not exactly that popular back home."

"Well, I find that hard to believe." Kasumi commented.

"Ren!" Ren heard a familiar voice say. He turned his head and saw Ryotaro Dojima waving him over. He looked the same... Not that Ren expected him to look different. The same old Ryotaro: graying hair, slight beard, dark clothes.

Ren looked back over at Kasumi and said, "That's the person I was looking for."

"I see..."

"Since you can't find your group, do you want to join us?"

"Sounds like I'd be having more fun with you than with my class anyway." Kasumi said as she started following Ren over to Ryotaro.

As Ren got over, Ryotaro smiled and Ren and pulled him into a hug. Ren laughed and asked, "What, you miss me, Mr. Dojima?"

"More than you realize, kid." Ryotaro said as Ren hugged him back. Ren noticed a few people around them giving them dirty looks, but he didn't care. When Ryotaro let him go, he nodded his head once. "It's great to see you in person and not just hear your voice over Nanako's phone."

"It's good to see you in person too." Ren agreed as he set his bag down on the ground.

Ryotaro peered behind Ren, noticing Kasumi as she waved hello. "You bring your little girlfriend to hard launch this to Nanako?"

"Oh, I'm not Amamiya-senpai's girlfriend. We just know each other from school." Kasumi said quickly.

"Nanako mentioned that you made friends..." Ryotaro commented.

"Yeah, I have. I would have invited all of them to come, but I don't think that Nanako's dance competition is a good first place to meet." Ren answered. "Kasumi lost her class since she's here to cheer on someone from my current school. Do you mind if she sits with us?"

"No... I mean, I got the space..." Ryotaro said, motioning to the four empty seats he seemed to be hiding. "Nanako's cousin and his wife were going to be joining us, but they both had some sort of work emergency and had to cancel last minute."

"Well, we can have fun by ourselves." Ren said as he sat down in the empty seat to Ryotaro right, Kasumi sitting down in the next seat.

"So how'd you meet Ren?" Ryotaro asked as he looked over at Kasumi.

"Right before the Inokashira Park clean up our school had." Kasumi explained. "These two older men in Shibuya were accosting me on the way to the trains and Amamiya-senpai stepped in to defend me."

Ryotaro sighed, shaking his head. "Kid, you never change."

"What can I say, I'm a creature of habit?" Ren asked, unsure of where to go from there.

"Well, that's certainly one way of putting it." Ryotaro agreed. "You'll probably get into more detail about it once Nanako is done with all this, but how's Tokyo treating you?"

"It's been fine. I had a rocky first couple weeks of school, but everything has sort of leveled out."

"Define rocky."

"Well... The whole Kamoshida thing."

Ryotaro's eyes widened. "That's your new school?"

"Yeah..."

"Oh God... No wonder it was rough..."

"Well, that, and his record got aired before he even technically started." Kasumi added.

"What?" Ryotaro asked.

"Yeah... Kamoshida blackmailed one of his volleyball players into telling the whole school about why I transferred in. I got it figured out though... More or less. School has been pretty quiet since then."

"Yeah... Sure."

"I'm serious!"

"I know, but I also know that you remind me of another teenage boy who was forced to transfer to a different school in his second year." Ryotaro commented. "Are you making more friends besides the one you brought here?"

"Yes, actually. I was hanging out with one of them since they had a whole... Photo shoot emergency thing they wanted me to see." Ren said defensively. "I've found my people. What can I say?"

"... You really are like him..." Ryotaro commented.

"Who are you even talking about?"

"Not important. Has the guy you been staying with been treating you well?"

"Yeah. Sojiro's been great. My friends and I actually recently helped him with a family issue." Ren said, Ryotaro sighing and tossing his head back in exhaustion. "What? Is it something I said?"

"Nothing... You wouldn't understand it anyway..." Ryotaro muttered to himself.

"How are things back in Inaba? Have they gotten better since... You know?"

"Well... You know what happens in small towns. People talk."

"I am so sorry-"

"It's not your fault."

"Technically speaking-"

"The only people to blame are the guy who framed you for assaulting him and the woman who he convinced to lie on his behalf." Ryotaro interrupted before Ren could blame himself. "You forget that I've known you since you were a little kid, Ren. I know you. I know what you're like. You are many, many things, but an aggressor is not one of those things."

"Mr. Dojima-"

"You're a protector. That's a much a part of you as my years of alcoholism are a part of me. You can't change who you are deep down. You just have to figure out how that works out in the real world." Ryotaro said calmly. "I know that you'll find your way eventually... Even if that means staying out here."

"What are you talking about?"

"Despite the circumstances for you being out here to begun with... I think this is the happiest I've ever seen you. You've always stood out like a sore thumb back in Inaba... And Nanako has too, for no fault of her own. Here, you actually seem to blend in... Well, you blend in for the most part. Our accent makes us stick out regardless. You being here just makes sense." Ryotaro said, then shook his head. "Ignore me. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. I'm not thinking straight."

"What was Amamiya-senpai like as a kid?" Kasumi asked innocently.

Ryotaro cautiously looked over at Ren. "Do I have your permission to, as Nanako says, put you on full blast?"

Ren laughed. "Go ahead."

Ryotaro started telling Kasumi stories about Ren as they waited for the competition to officially start. Once it did, the three quieted down and watched the competition.

Ren recognized Nanako almost immediately even though she didn't have her hair in her usual pigtails. Her brown hair was held in a bun at the nape of her neck and the sequins on her pink fringe two piece outfit were twinkling in the stage light. Ren got out his phone as the music started, taking a few pictures of Nanako as she started dancing to Shake It Off. She lightly fumbled a few moves, not that Ren was all that surprised. Nanako always danced for fun, not taking it too seriously.

During the bridge of the song, Nanako had a look on her face that essentially said that she knew she wasn't winning. She decided to freestyle the rest of the song, managing to point Ren out in the crowd for the 'and to the fella over there with the hella good hair' line. Ryotaro sighed, lowering his head. "Not again..."

"She mess up a lot?" Ren asked.

"Well... You know Nanako... She's only doing it for fun. Not taking is seriously."

"Yeah... That's Nana..." Ren agreed.

Yasogami High came on stage a few dances later and did their group dance, Ren loudly cheering them on. The dance competition wrapped up maybe an hour later at the awards ceremony, Ren and Ryotaro cheering even though Nanako didn't actually win anything.

As the group got up and Ren grabbed his bag again, Kasumi said, "I see my class, so I'm going to go. I had fun though."

"I did too. Good luck with training. I believe in you." Ren said, giving Kasumi a thumbs up as she walked away.

"Come on, let's go get her and go out to dinner. My treat." Ryotaro said, putting an arm around Ren and guiding Ren to the back.

It felt weird to Ren, being in the back dressing rooms without having to perform. He spotted Nanako packing up her makeup, her low bun now down and her long brown hair tied into two pigtails at the nape of her neck. Nanako looked up, seeing Ren as her brown eyes widened and her smile grew across her face. Nanako jumped up and ran over to Ren. "REN! I MISSED YOU!"

"Easy, easy, I'm here all night." Ren said, noticing that the other people in the room giving him an upset look... Like they weren't thrilled to see him after all this time.

"But still! I haven't seen you in person in forever!" Nanako argued as she squeezed Ren tightly. She looked up at Ren, Ren noticing some sparkly pink eyeshadow still on her eye lids. "I really missed you."

"I missed you too." Ren replied back. "You did good out there."

Nanako wrinkled her nose as she finally released Ren from the hug. "Don't lie. I know I messed up a few moves."

"You did good." Ren repeated.

"There's my kids back together!" Ryotaro said happily as he walked over. "You got everything together, Nanako? I want to start drilling Ren about his life out here."

"Yup! I got everything!" Nanako said chipperly, walking over and grabbing her things as she pulled on her yellow Yasogami Dance Team jacket.

"Where are we headed, Ren? You count as our Tokyo local right now." Ryotaro commented.

"Let's get to the train station. Central Street in Shibuya has a pretty good cafe we can eat in." Ren answered.

Nanako nodded. "Let's go!"

Ren lead Ryotaro and Nanako to the train station, feeling Morgana start to purr in his bag as they boarded the train. Nanako excitedly talked about her day to Ren as they were on the train, Ryotaro just smiling as he watched the two talk. As Nanako made some joke and Ren laughed, she looked over and saw her father smiling. "What are you smiling at, Dad?"

"Oh, nothing." Ryotaro said quickly. "Just thinking..."

Ren smiled back, somehow internally knowing what Ryotaro was thinking. Even after being separated for months, it was like no time had passed between Ren and Nanako.

Ren lead them to the cafe and the three sat down, Ryotaro smiling at Ren as he set his bag off to the side. "So... What are your friends like here? You do have more friends besides that one girl, right?"

Ren sighed and nodded. "Yes... I do."

Nanako rolled her eyes. "Dad, I told you about them."

"Yes, but I want to hear it straight from the horse's mouth. Now spill."

"Well... There's my new best friend Ryuji. He... If the people of Inaba are freaked by me now, they'd absolutely hate Ryuji." Ren explained, Nanako looking a bit annoyed at Ren's description of Ryuji.

"Is he that bad?"

"No, actually, he's a really good guy... Sometimes he doesn't think before he speaks, but he has a heart of gold. He kinda got the whole... Stigma thing, so he was the first friend I made at school. We're in two different classes, but he and I are really close. Then there's Ann, love her to death, she sits in front of me in class. I swear, sometimes she, Ryuji, and I all share the same brain cell, but she cares a lot about everyone and everything around her. She feels things intensely when nobody else does. She somehow has an even bigger heart than Ryuji, which is saying something since they are both two of the most passionate I know. Then there's Yusuke, he doesn't actually go to our school, but he's just as much a part of our group as anyone else is. He is the strangest guy you will ever meet in your entire life though. He will say the most out of pocket things you will ever hear in your entire life. He's extremely blunt and one track minded and he doesn't know much about the world around him due to being Madarame's pupil since birth, but how he sees the world around him and how he interprets things is extremely interesting. Finally... There's Makoto. She's a newer member of our group. The student council president of Shujin. She was kinda blackmailed into keeping an eye on me by our principal, but once we moved past that whole... Situation, she's blended in. She's incredibly smart, honestly she's a little too smart for her own good, she has a lot of grit and determination, she's funny and sarcastic, she's extremely beautiful, she keeps all of us in line-"

"Okay, we get it, you're in love with your girlfriend." Nanako interrupted, rolling her eyes. "No wonder you were trying to go easy on her during Smash Bros."

"What are you talking about? Makoto and I aren't dating... Technically speaking." Ren asked.

"'Technically speaking'?"

"I mean... She and I are fake dating, but that's because of something else entirely-"

"Is fake dating like... Foreplay for you two or something?" Ryotaro interrupted.

"Mr. Dojima!"

"What? It's a fair question!"

"It's a really long and complicated story..."

"But you're fake dating your friend in a totally platonic way?" Nanako asked in disbelief.

"Yes."

"Ren, I mean this with as much love as I can muster... I don't think you can fake date anyone in a platonic way." Nanako said, sounding a little harsh. "You agreed to do it because you have a crush on her."

"No I don't!" Ren denied. "And even if I did, I doubt she'd be interested in me."

"Oh shut up." Nanako commented. "Any girl would be an idiot not to be attracted to you. Who asked to do the fake relationship thing? Her or you?"

"Makoto did."

"Yeah, she's totally into you."

"No..."

"Yes, she is."

Ren sighed, shaking his head. "If she was into me, I'd ask her out."

"No you wouldn't, you liar." Nanako stated.

"Who would've thought you'd be able to get yourself a girlfriend despite the chaos of your record going on?" Ryotaro asked teasingly.

"Makoto Niijima is not my real girlfriend." Ren repeated.

"Oh, she has a last name now?" Ryotaro teased.

"I thought her full name would be Makoto Amamiya." Nanako added.

"I'm gonna kill you." Ren commented.

"You wouldn't kill me, your beloved best friend in the entire world!" Nanako said teasingly. "You love me too much!"

Ren, Ryotaro, and Nanako continued talking while they waited for their meal to come, Ryotaro asking Ren more questions about Tokyo.

As the three headed back to the train station, Nanako looked at Ren's bag and asked, "Where's your panda?"

"Oh... It's on my school bag. I forgot to change it over for the summer." Ren said, deciding to lie about where the panda was instead of telling Nanako the truth. The truth was getting harder and harder to explain the longer he kept acting as the leader of the Phantom Thieves.

"... Why are you even carrying a bag on you?"

"... Because my cat has abandonment issues...?" Ren said hesitantly.

"I am not a cat!" Morgana protested from the bag.

Nanako stared at the brown leather bag, sighing heavily. "Ren... There better not be a cat in that bag."

"... I wish I could tell you otherwise..." Ren admitted, opening his bag to show Nanako Morgana.

Nanako paused, studying Morgana as they walked. "That's... Weird, little guy... You match the description that... No, you couldn't have..."

"Nanako...?" Ren asked in concern as Morgana manged to use his paws to force the bag closed again.

"Oh, it's nothing... Probably my overactive imagination again. You know how it is." Nanako denied. "All I have left to say is that despite knowing things will never change between us, I like knowing that you have a few friends out here that care about you and vice versa... Even if you aren't admitting to yourself that you have romantic feelings for one of them."

Ren suspiciously stared at Nanako as he asked, "Why do I have a feeling that you know something I don't?"

Nanako shrugged. "I guess you'll never know."

Ren laughed to himself, hugging Nanako tightly. "I'm gonna miss you, Nana... I mean it."

"I miss you already." Nanako agreed, starting to tear up as she hugged Ren back. "You better not forget to call, okay? No matter what happens the next time we're on the call together. Otherwise, I'll be really upset."

"I won't forget, promise."

"Pinkie promise." Nanako commanded, holding out her right pinkie.

"Seriously? A pinkie promise? What are we, five?"

"Pinkie promise!" Nanako said, purposely making her voice deeper.

"Okay, okay." Ren said, laughing as he linked pinkies with Nanako. "I promise I'll call whenever I can."

"Good!" Nanako said, nodding her head once as she and Ren shook pinkies. "I'll see you around."

Ren nodded, seeing the tarot card floating above Nanako's head. It felt a little odd not seeing The Journey tarot card floating above a phone, but... It just fit with her. "See you around, Nana."

Chapter Text

Three months ago...

"Wish I coulda seen the look on Yamaguchi's face. I mean, the school can't ignore the PTA." Ryuji said as he took a bite of the ramen in front of him. "And as a result, the track team's back. Our old coach's fillin' in for now! Man, it serves that dick right! What a great feelin'! I think they might even go far in the meet."

Ren smiled, taking a bite of his own ramen. Of all the ways to spend his birthday, hanging out with Ryuji definitely wasn't the worst. He hadn't gotten any happy birthday texts from his parents, just from Nanako and her father, but just hanging out with Ryuji was all he needed. "We can't lose either, man."

"Hell yeah!" Ryuji agreed, looking down at his noodles. "Dude, your ramen is gonna get almost soggy! Hurry up and eat!"

Ren laughed as he kept eating his meal. Ryuji continued, "To be honest, I was kinda scared about confronting those guys straight up. I couldn't stand how much they hated me. It only just made me think of how stupid I was. Most of all, it made me remember how I lost my place with them."

"Well, you have a new place with us." Ren said supportively.

Ryuji nodded, taking another bite of his ramen noodles. "Look, you know this ain't like me, but I managed to change 'cause you were here helpin' me."

"I didn't do anything. All that changing was because of you, man."

"Yeah, but I got you all wrapped up in this shit and you stuck with me 'til the bitter end. You didn't abandon me... For once in my life, someone didn't abandon me. So... Thanks, man."

"What else are friends for?" Ren asked, clapping a hand on Ryuji's back.

"You're my best friend, dude. Anything you need, any time, any place, I will be there just like you were there for me."

"You don't need to like... Swear your undying loyalty to me, Ryuji. I already know that you'd do the same for me." Ren said, Ryuji starting to laugh. "What's so funny?"

"To think... This whole thing started because we were training for our... After school club." Ryuji said, actually watching his words for once. "Well... This didn't start with training for our after school club, but you get the idea."

"Yeah." Ren agreed. He held out a hand, waiting for Ryuji to clasp it back. "Best friends?"

"Partners in crime." Ryuji corrected, grasping Ren's hand. As Ren studied Ryuji, he realized that he was glowing the same blue that Ann and Yusuke had the last time Ren had hung out with them as well... Ryuji didn't seem to notice though. Ren would probably figure out what that meant later. Ryuji continued, "And like... Not in a romantic way. I don't know if you swing that way, I kinda do as a pansexual-"

"You're cute, but you're not my type." Ren interrupted.

"Wait, what?"

"I'm bi... Did I not tell you that?"

"No... That's so cool!" Ryuji said happily. "I'm glad that I'm not alone in the alphabet mafia anymore!"

Ren laughed, motioning to Ryuji's ramen with his chopsticks. "You said so yourself, dude! We have to keep eating!"

The two boys finished eating their food and left the ramen shop, Ren heard his phone vibrate at the same time Ryuji's vibrated. Ryuji pulled out his phone, read the text, then sighed. "Well shit..."

"What?" Ren asked.

"Ann is having some sort of... Fashion crisis...?" Ryuji said uneasily. "Apparently Shiho's birthday is coming up and Ann wants our opinion on these scarves she got Shiho for her birthday."

"Did she send pictures?"

"No... She wants us to head over to her house in person. You down?" Ryuji asked.

"I mean... I didn't have anything else planned for today." Ren commented. "Why not?"

"Okay... I'll let her know we're heading over." Ryuji said, texting Ann back on his phone as he and Ren walked towards the train station to head to Ann's house.

Ryuji and Ren kept talking about random things as they walked to Ann's house, mainly just entertaining themselves on their journey. When they finally got to Ann's house, Ren knocked on Ann's front door. As someone opened the door, Ann tossed a pink blanket on top of Ren's head. Ren felt someone who he presumed was Ryuji put his hands on his shoulders and move him forward. Ren asked, "Am I getting kidnapped right now?"

"Not exactly. You'll thank us later." Ryuji said from behind Ren, confirming that Ryuji was the one guiding Ren forward.

"This isn't a fashion emergency, is it?" Ren asked.

"Nope." Ann confirmed.

Somewhere in front of him, Ren heard Makoto's voice ask, "Did you guys really have to blind him?"

"Which one of us wanted to use the pow pows again?" Ann retorted.

"You did not just call these pow pows."

"Can we please stop arguing and get in position?" Yusuke's voice asked as Ren felt someone grab his bag with Morgana in it off of his shoulder.

"Makoto? Yusuke? What are you guys doing here?" Ren asked, desperately trying to figure out what was going on.

"Just keep the blanket on for a second." Morgana commanded by Ren's feet. After a few more seconds, Morgana said, "Okay, you can take it off now."

Ren hesitantly took off the blanket and saw Ann, Ryuji, Makoto, and Yusuke standing in front of him with party poppers, popping them off in front of him. As Ren looked around Ann's backyard and saw some familiar looking art pieces set up with a bunch of signs, then he realized that everyone was wearing party hats. The four said in unison, "Surprise! Happy birthday!"

"What... What is this?" Ren asked as he stared at everyone in confusion.

Makoto walked over to the art piece on the left, which was two large hills with a small river going through the center. As Ren investigated the river, he realized that it was filled with ice and cans of soda and that the river itself was a bunch of coolers without any lids. Makoto motioned to the hills and drinks and announced, "It's the Samegawa Flood Plain!"

Yusuke ran over to Makoto, getting down on one knee across from her and spreading out his arms to help Makoto show off what was presumably his art piece. "In miniature form!"

Ann walked over to a bunch of fake trees that were set up to the right, noticing that another river was set up on the ground and in the background, there seemed to be some sort of cliff shape. "It's the Inaba forest!"

"Including the cliff you guys jump off of whenever you go swimming in the creek!" Ryuji happily added as he joined Ann by the forest.

Yusuke jumped up and ran over to Ann and Ryuji, sprawling himself in the construction paper river at their feet as he motioned to the trees again and repeated, "In miniature form!"

"And the area where some of your favorite dishes from Inaba are that Makoto and I both made is-" Ann said as she walked over to a bunch of tables where she had set up a small buffet, a bunch of familiar paper buildings.

"Okina City..." Ren interrupted.

Yusuke energetically nodded, jumping up from the paper river and ran over to the other end of the food table, motioning to the food with wild arms. He was moving soon quickly that his dark blue party hat had fallen off of his head and was now resting around his neck. "In miniature form!"

"And finally, to settle down for the night when it gets dark," Morgana said, jumping onto the chairs set up in the middle section that were facing Ann's projector screen. "You get to choose the movie the local movie is showing!"

As Yusuke ran over to join Morgana, Ren asked, "Let me guess, Yusuke, in miniature form?"

"In not so miniature form. We wouldn't be able to sit in it if it was small." Yusuke corrected.

"Guys... Seriously, what is all this?" Ren asked.

"Well... We kinda figured out that you were starting to feel a little homesick for Inaba since you kept mentioning Inaba summers." Ann explained as she walked over with a yellow construction paper crown with different construction paper gems covered in glitter.

"I mean... A little..." Ren admitted.

"And since you told me that your pass code on your phone is your birthday after we found Futaba passed out, we decided that since you can't go back to Inaba until next school year, we were going to bring Inaba to you for your birthday." Makoto continued.

"You... You guys did all this for my birthday?" Ren asked as he looked around at everything in wonder. "My parents haven't even told me happy birthday..."

"Well, I wouldn't say we all did this." Ryuji corrected, walking over to Makoto and putting an arm around her. "This was primarily our advisor's idea."

"... Really?" Ren asked, staring at Makoto in shock.

Ann nodded. "Yup! She assigned all of our roles and we did everything to a T!"

"How... How did you know-"

"I may have done a little stalking of your Instagram." Makoto admitted. "I chose the places that showed up most frequently on there."

"And I recreated them to the best of my ability." Yusuke said, getting out of the chair and putting on his party hat properly. "I was drowning in reference pictures for this. It was Ann's idea to make the Samegawa Flood Plain coolers for drinks. Ryuji and I properly set up the forest and the movie theater before he left to go meet you. Makoto was the one who set up Okina City."

Ren walked over to Okina City, investigating the small buildings before looking at the food. "Itadaki... Gyukostu ramen... Little kaisendon... Pear ice cream... Little burgers... How did you guys know that I-"

"Makoto found Nanako's Instagram account and messaged her about it. Nanako made a list of recipes that you like and brought it to the dance competition." Morgana interrupted as Makoto walked over with a small party hat for him and put it on. "I snuck out of your bag during the competition, got the packet from Nanako's dance bag while they were doing their group dance, and then I ran out and handed the packet to Makoto before returning to your bag. I think a few of her teammates caught me and mentioned it to her, though..."

"She included a card for you, by the way." Makoto said, walking over to the final small table and grabbed a pink envelope. Makoto walked back over to Ren and handed the envelope to him.

Ren fiddled with the card as he stared at Makoto in confusion, her blushing face making her freckles more obvious. "You really did all this for me?"

"Well of course we did." Ann said, placing the crown on top of Ren's head, making it a little lopsided. "You're our friend, dummy."

"I really didn't do that much..." Makoto said nervously.

"Are you kidding? This was all your idea!" Ryuji countered.

"You have other birthday presents too." Ann said as she motioned to the table with a bunch of presents on it. "A lot of them are homemade, but we made them with love."

"You guys really didn't have to do all this..." Ren said quickly.

"Well, we did it anyway, so tough cookies." Ann stated.

"Do you wanna open up presents first or get food?" Ryuji asked.

"... Presents since it's still light out." Ren said, going over to the presents.

"Oh no, you sit down by the fire pit." Ann said, lightly pushing Ren over to the fire pit. "We'll bring the presents over to you."

Ren reluctantly sat down, sitting down on the couch. Ann and Ryuji brought over the presents one by one, Ren smiled as he opened them up. A colorful painting on a small canvas from Yusuke. A small stuffed figurine from Ann. A ramen bowl that Ryuji painted himself when he and his mom went to a paint your own pottery shop. When Ann handed Ren the bag from Makoto, Ren's eyes widened when he grabbed the bag from Makoto. "What did you do, get me books?"

Makoto awkwardly looked over to the side as he looked inside the red gift bag and saw three books inside. Ren grabbed the smallest of the three books, tilting his head as he read the cover. "Arséne Lupin: Gentleman Burglar."

"I... Figured you'd enjoy it." Makoto admitted. "Ya know... Since your original Persona's name is Arséne after the Maurice Leblanc character."

"I've never actually read the source material, so... Might be beneficial." Ren said, setting the book off to the side. He pulled out the next book, seeing what appeared to be a girl with a robotic foot. "Cinder..."

Ann looked at the cover and asked, "Makoto, what is this?"

"It's... A sci-fi retelling of Cinderella that's the start of a book series..." Makoto admitted, her face turning red again. Ren thought that she looked really cute while embarrassed. It was almost like her red blush was seeping into her red metallic party hat. "Cinderella is a cyborg and instead of losing her shoe, she loses her whole foot..."

"You're into this sort of thing?" Ryuji asked, a little surprised.

"... Cinder and Kai are a really cute couple, okay? I thought that you'd enjoy it since Cinder is a girl boss and you tend to really like girl bosses..." Makoto elaborated, her face becoming as red as a cherry tomato.

Ren laughed, grabbing the final book from the bag, reading the cover. "Les Mis... I've actually been wanting to read this one for a while now..."

"I recently finished reading it myself."

"Then when I finish these, we should talk about them... Including Arséne Lupin since I'm assuming you've read that too."

"I've always really liked Maurice Leblanc's works."

"I'll be sure to talk to you about them when I finish reading them." Ren said, starting to put them back in the bag, but then saw a slip of cardstock at the bottom. Ren pulled it out, laughing when he saw the hand drawn Buchimaru-kun bookmark. "And a Buchimaru-kun bookmark... Why am I not surprised?"

"Hey, I designed that myself." Makoto said defensively.

"I like it. Thank you... Seriously, thanks all of you. This is awesome." Ren said, looking at everyone with a smile on his face.

"You're welcome... Now where did we-" Ann started to ask.

"I left it by the Samegawa Flood Plain." Makoto said, getting out of her seat. "I'll go get it. You go get food. I can't promise that Ann and I made it exactly like it is back home... But at least you have a pretty good birthday cake, if we say so ourselves."

Ren laughed, getting up to get his food. As Ren made his plate, he watched as Makoto readjusted her red birthday hat as she grabbed a piece of paper. She studied the list, then looked over at Ren. "Okay, your movie choices for the night are Toy Story, Jurassic Park, Star Wars: A New Hope, or Ghostbusters."

Ren smiled. "Some of my favorite movies..."

"Well... Just the ones that I own." Ann said as she grabbed a plate for herself. "Your choice."

"... You know what? I'm in a Jurassic Park kind of mood." Ren decided.

Makoto nodded. "I'll go grab it from inside."

As Makoto passed, Ren said, "Makoto, you really didn't have to plan all this out for my birthday."

"Don't be ridiculous. Everyone deserves to have a birthday party." Makoto said with a gentle smile. "I'll be right back."

Ren watched as Makoto left, feeling himself smile as he grabbed his food. He didn't really understand why someone would go through this much effort for him, but he also knew he'd probably go through this much effort for her birthday too. As Ren pondered on that for a moment, he realized why he was so shocked, why he was almost constantly having thoughts about Makoto being cute and pretty. Once the realization hit him, Ren muttered to himself, "Fuck... I hate when Nanako is right."

Ann looked over at Ren, a knowing smirk on her face. Ren slowly looked over at her and quietly said, "Not a word, Takamaki... Not a fucking word."

Ann nodded, making a locking motion over her lips. "My lips are sealed."

Chapter Text

Three months ago...

Ren stared at his phone in concern when he saw that Makoto was calling him, answering the call and putting the phone up to his ear. "Hello?"

"I have a plan-"

"How frightening."

"On how to deal with the Eiko situation."

"Oh, that kind of plan."

"Are you free right now? I have it all mapped out."

"Should I be scared, Makoto?"

Makoto went silent for a few seconds. "Maybe slightly... My mapped out plan looks a little... Frightening."

"Text me your address. I'll be over ASAP." Ren said, already grabbing his bag as Morgana stated laying down on the ground.

"Okay. My friend Haru is also coming over because I need sounding boards."

"Alrighty. See you in a little bit." Ren said, hanging up the phone as he saw Makoto's text come in.

"What do you and Makoto do when I'm not there?" Morgana asked nervously.

"You don't wanna know, Mona. You really don't want to know." Ren said quickly. Ren paused, realizing that Morgana wasn't following him to go. "Why are you just laying there?"

"You usually don't want me coming with you when you hang out with other people." Morgana said bitterly.

Ren set down his bag, motioning to it. "Well... Right now, I do. Get in the bag."

"Why...?"

"Just... Just get in the bag, Morgana. Please." Ren begged. Given that he just realized he probably had romantic feelings for Makoto a few days ago, Ren really didn't want to be alone with her, even though she invited her friend there too. He didn't exactly want to explain that to Morgana though... It was a little embarrassing given everything.

Morgana sighed, knowing that he wasn't going to win. He got up and crawled into Ren's brown leather bag. "Oh fine, I'll come along."

"Thank you Mona."

"Yeah yeah. I can hear more about that later."

Ren and Morgana got on the train and headed to Shibuya. Once he got to a point where he didn't know where he was going, Ren got out his phone and put Makoto's address into Google Maps and started walking.

As Ren approached the nice looking apartment building, he stared at an expensive looking car that was parked a few feet to the right of the front door, seeing a sticker for some good company on the top of the windshield: Okumura Foods. Thinking nothing of it, Ren walked inside and got up to Makoto's floor.

Ren knocked on Makoto's front door and waited a few seconds. Makoto opened up the door, only wearing a pair of baggy black basketball shorts and a baggy navy blue T-shirt... She hadn't even changed out of her pajamas. Makoto grabbed Ren's arm and dragged him into the apartment, almost causing Ren to throw the bag with Morgana inside. "Come on! Haru's been here for like, ten minutes!"

"Slow down!" Ren said as Makoto dragged Ren into her bedroom and closed the door, shoving him onto her bed. Ren's head banged the wall beside her bed, Ren groaning as he took his bag off his shoulder. "You are so rough sometimes..."

"My head is spinning..." Morgana said as he slowly started crawling out of Ren's bag.

Makoto looked over at Ren in shock. "You brought Morgana?"

"He has attachment issues... You know this!" Ren protested as he looked over and saw Haru sitting beside him, arms folded over her lap and laying neatly on the skirt of her pink dress. Morgana simply glared at Ren since he had practically begged Morgana to come along. Ren ignored that as he smiled weakly ag Haru. "Hi Haru-senpai... Nice to see you again."

"Nice to see you again too, and you can just call me Haru." Haru said, reaching over Ren to scratch Morgana's ears. "Oh, you poor creature... You just got thrown around, didn't you?"

Morgana instantly fell down, laying down on his back and looking over at Haru with big eyes. "Yeah... Yeah I did... I feel dizzy..."

Ren snorted, placing his hand on top of Morgana's stomach, right underneath his front legs, and lightly pushed him across Makoto's bed and over to Haru. "I think he wants you to keep scratching him."

"I can do more than that." Haru said, picking Morgana up and holding him in her arms. "There you go... Oh, you're purring already! That's a new record!"

"Yes, yes, the cat is purring. We're all thrilled for the cat." Makoto said flippantly.

"I am not a cat! We've been through this!" Morgana argued.

"You are a chatty little kitty, aren't you?" Haru asked innocently. Morgana looked like he wanted to protest, but he couldn't since Haru couldn't exactly understand what he was really saying.

Ren looked around Makoto's room, seeing a mess of differently colored duct tape, black yarn, and papers protected with clear paper protectors. Ren took a deep breath and asked, "Makoto... What is all this?"

"Why I called you two here." Makoto said, turning around and looking at her work... Or to look at her work as best she could. Her paper/duct tape/yarn monstrosity spanned from her bedroom door, almost completely covered her book shelves and closet, and ended at her window. "I know that this kind of makes me look like a conspiracy theorist, but I think I've figured out what's going on."

"You've made the connection?" Ren nervously asked.

"I think so..." Makoto said, walking over to the center of her mess, pointing to a taped up framed picture of herself, Sae, and a man who Ren assumed was Makoto's father. "It's all connected. Everything I've been going through this year... It's all connected, and my dad is at the center of it."

"... Elaborate." Ren commanded calmly.

"Okay, so, before you got here, I gave Haru the rough basics of my father's death."

Ren glanced over at Haru. "Define rough basics?"

"All she told me was that her father died in a hit and run and that it was presumed to be an assassination." Haru answered.

"Okay, continue." Ren said, looking back over at Makoto.

"Okay, I looked through my father's notes and his old case files that Sae and I kept without realizing that they were case files," Makoto said, following one of the strings. "And I found out what the name of the crime organization that killed my father was called."

"Alright..."

"It's called Tobu." Makoto said, letting her fingers trace the yarn as she kept moving backwards. "Keep that in mind."

"Right..."

"Turns out, after my father's death, Tobu went into hiding once the police started cleaning up Shinjuku seriously." Makoto continued. She stopped over by her door where a printed out picture of the crest for Shujin Academy was waiting. "Then we get to Principal Kobayakowa forcing me to investigate the Phantom Thieves and that mafia that was extorting students."

"... Makoto... What does Kaneshiro have to do with this...?" Ren asked nervously.

"Kaneshiro? That mafia boss the Phantom Thieves changed the heart of?" Haru asked.

Makoto nodded. "Okay, remember when I was being reckless because my mind wasn't in the right place and I kinda got you, me, Ann, Ryuji, and Yusuke into debt with Kaneshiro?"

"You what?" Haru asked in shock.

"Yeah, I remember." Ren answered, verbally side stepping Haru's question.

"Okay... Do you remember Kaneshiro kept saying how if I didn't come up with the money, he'd sell me and my sister?"

"Why did you do that!? That's dangerous!" Haru chided.

Ren thought for a moment. The real Kaneshiro never said anything about that, but the cognitive one... "Yeah, I remember. So what?"

"My sister made copies of her files from the Kaneshiro case and I borrowed them."

"You 'borrowed' them, or you borrowed them?" Ren asked.

Makoto rolled her eyes as she tapped to one of the papers beside her that was in a plastic see-through cover. "I'm planning on giving them back. That's why I put a protective layer over them."

"Okay... Continue.."

"Her files say that the mafia Kaneshiro was a part of was called Tobu."

Haru's eyes widened. "The same Tobu that assassinated your father?"

Makoto nodded. "So that lead me to look further into my father's papers on Tobu, and I figured out their MO."

"I thought you already knew the MO from dealing with Kaneshiro." Ren reminded Makoto.

"Yes, but," Makoto said as she walked over to her window and pointed to what looked like a list of names. "I've specifically figured out the Shinjuku MO by mashing it up with the Kaneshiro MO."

"Okay... And what's the new MO... Whatever that is?" Haru asked.

"It stands for Modus Operandi. It's fancy Latin that means how someone does what they do." Ren interrupted as Makoto opened her mouth to answer. Makoto closed her mouth, staring at Ren in shock as he defensively said, "What? I pay attention to what you say."

"The Modus Operandi is having handsome young men who are a part of Tobu hit on younger women, they'll most likely be minors in Shinjuku who feel like their families don't love them, and then they'll love bomb them to the point where they'd do anything for the host, even if it means selling their bodies to help pay for some sort of debt. More likely than not, they'll be sold into human trafficking."

Haru nodded, realizing where Makoto was going with this. "You think that Tsukasa might be a part of Tobu, don't you?"

"Hence the conspiracy theorist comment..." Ren agreed.

"I know I don't have any concrete evidence that he's doing something bad, but... I just know that he's planning something sketchy with Eiko and that he wants to do the same to me too. I'm trusting my instincts on this one." Makoto said, glancing over at Ren as she said that.

"Well, that's great and all, but how are you gonna prove it, huh?" Morgana asked, snuggling a little closer to Haru.

Ren's eyes flicked over to Morgana for a second, then said, "You're still going to need more concrete evidence for this, Makoto. While this whole... Human trafficking board you made is great, I don't think you can show this to Eiko... Legally speaking, I don't even think Haru and I should be seeing this."

"Why do you think I called you two here? I'm going to need help getting the concrete evidence."

"And how do you want us to do that?" Haru asked.

"Hosts talk."

"What...?" Ren asked in confusion.

Makoto walked over to her desk and opened the top drawer, pulling out a blue notebook and held it up. "It's one of the things my father wrote about in here. Hosts are chatty. They love gossip, especially is one specific host is giving the other hosts a bad name. We go to Shinjuku, we talk to any hosts we see outside, we record our conversations and get some dirt on Tsukasa, then we show it to Eiko. Mic drop."

"Okay... And when do you want us to do this?" Haru asked.

"I was thinking during the second year's trip to Hawaii."

"No." Ren said quickly, shaking his head.

"What?" Makoto asked, sounding a little disappointed.

"You're not going to Shinjuku without me with you. I'm a second year, in case you forgot."

"I didn't. Haru and I can go together and you can bail us out of jail."

"I am not going to bail you out of jail."

"Some friend you are."

"I really don't want to pull this card, but you're a woman, Makoto. Yeah, your father's death helped to clean up Shinjuku, but even then it's not squeaky clean. You remember what happened when you and I went to Shinjuku the first time and I stayed a few feet away. I can only imagine what people would do if they saw two girls walking by themselves. It has bad idea written all over it." Ren explained.

"Not necessarily." Haru said, smiling as she got her face closer to Morgana's. "I can be pretty scary when I want to be..."

Ren looked over at Makoto and said, "If we're still around by the Hawaii trip, promise me you will not go there without me present."

"I can handle myself."

"I know that. Trust me, I am fully aware that you can handle yourself. That doesn't mean I can't worry."

Makoto sighed. "Why are you so concerned?"

Ren gave Makoto a confused look as he asked, "Am I not allowed to be concerned about you?"

Ren and Makoto stared at each other for a few seconds before Makoto sighed. "Fine... I promise I won't go there without you. Haru will be the one bailing us out of jail, then."

Haru smiled and nodded. "I can easily do that. If you two get arrested-"

"Which we won't because then I will get thrown into a juvenile detention center." Ren interrupted.

"I can easily post bail if need be." Haru said, setting Morgana off to the side as she stood up. "Now, you two seriously need to explain the full scope of the Kaneshiro thing to me, and for that, I am going to need tea."

"I'll show you where the tea bags are." Makoto said, walking out of her room.

Haru slightly cringed at the mention of tea bags, but then followed Makoto out. As they walked down the hallway, Haru whispered to Makoto, "That's the guy you can't be around by yourself? What happened to being his fake girlfriend? Are real emotions getting involved?"

"Shut up." Makoto said, Haru laughing as they walked into the kitchen.

Chapter Text

Three months ago...

Ren walked down to Leblanc on the morning of the twenty first, surprised that summer vacation had just seemed to go away quickly. Ren sat down at the counter when he saw Sojiro making some coffee. Sojiro noticed Ren's presence and said, "Hey..."

"How's Futaba?" Ren asked. The deadline for taking care of MedJed just kept getting closer and closer...

"Same as always." Sojiro said sadly. He poured some coffee into a cup that was sitting on a saucer, setting the whole cup in the empty seat next to Ren. Morgana ran downstairs, jumping into one of the other stools. Sojiro noticed that Ren looked a little confused as he explained, "Today's the anniversary of Wakaba's passing. I... Do this every year."

"Oh." Ren said simply, staring at the coffee cup. It was the first time Ren really got that Wakaba's memory was almost haunting Leblanc. He had started feeling her presence around the cafe more and more, but this was the first time he truly got it.

"Don't worry. I got one for you too." Sojiro said, producing a second cup and saucer for Ren.

"Thank you..." Ren said, watching as Sojiro poured the coffee into the small cup.

As Ren sipped on his coffee, Sojiro said, "I know I've mentioned this before, but Futaba reminds me so much of her mother. She's a smart girl. Doesn't just go with the flow either."

"I've gotten that impression from how you talk about her."

Sojiro's eyes fell on the coffee cup as he asked sadly, "Wakaba... Your work and your kid were so fulfilling for you... Why'd you have to die so suddenly?"

"... Has Prosecutor Niijima mentioned coming back here?" Ren asked.

"Once or twice, but she hasn't yet. Just... Make sure you don't do something to her that you'll eventually regret, okay?"

"Yes sir."