TheCharredDragon
Tis the Hour to Reload
Chapter 40: Bank On It
It was just a day. They had taken longer with investigting some of their other missions before, so spending the entire day investigating yesterday wasn't new. But the fact that they had only gotten confirmation about the activities taking place from one day of investigating did little to ease his worries. Seeing Aki be frustrated and despondent didn't help matters either, especially when one of the students they questioned, Nishiyama-san, was someone she remembered from the cleanup. True, they weren't friends, but Aki felt she should've noticed something was wrong nonetheless.
If they didn't make any tangible progress, then they wouldn't have much time, if at all, to infiltrate the Palace. Or worse, they couldn't get to the Palace at all before the deadline. If they couldn't do that, then that meant Niijima would give those recordings to the police and if those recordings reached the police then they would be arrested and if they were arrested then—
"Don't worry, Big Bro, we can do this," Aki said, crashing his train of thought as they waited for the others to arrive at HQ.
"What makes you think that?" he couldn't help but ask.
"... I was thinking that, if we really don't make any progress the whole week...we could get Akechi's help?"
"What?!"
"Shh, Mona! Someone could hear you!"
Ren stared at his sister with narrowed eyes. Though he really shouldn't be surprised, asking for the detective's help was really pushing their luck.
"He won't snitch on us," Aki said, practically reading his mind.
"And how are you so sure? Everyone's safety is at risk here. I..." He sighed. "...I don't want to them to pay for any miscalculation we make."
"Exactly," Mona said. "He's hunting us after all."
"It's because he's hunting us I think that. He cares about justice. So he'll help us."
"But how are you going to make it so that he doesn't figure us out?"
"I'll think of something."
"You can't just think on the spot for something like this!"
"What did I say about being quiet?!" Aki said, whisper-shouting.
So Ren said, before either of them could get loud, "Last resort."
"Huh?" they said.
"It will be our last resort. And only if we can make sure to have him not be suspicious of us when we ask, okay?"
He just hoped that they wouldn't have to resort to that.
Still, Aki's eyes brightened as she said, "Okay!"
"I can't believe you're agreeing to this..."
"I'm still annoyed you took back your 'perfect gentleman' compliments about Akechi you know... That's not fair."
"Well, neither is he with deeming us threats to society!"
"It's not his fault he doesn't know all the details!"
Thankfully, he didn't need to interfere with their arguement. At that point, Ann and Ryuji arrived, soon followed by Yusuke, and so they could start scouring Shibuya for leads, with Aki and him assigned to Central Street.
Though Aki was immediately displeased when they ran into a "familiar" face.
"Oh. Hey. Here to lecture us again, Miss Prez?"
The girl flinched but said, seemingly unfazed, "Are you investigating here with your friends today?"
"Yeah, what's it to you?"
"... I hope something comes out of it," she said. "I'm counting on you."
Aki scoffed and walked away. Ren caught up with her just as she said under her breath,
"Of course you do. You let others do your dirty work..."
Ren gave her a brief shoulder squeeze in comfort and concern. Aki reciprocated and squeezed his hand before they both let each other go. With that, they began their search. Thankfully, unlike yesterday, they made more useful progress, even if it wasn't much in the grand scheme of things. They found a way to identify those who were a part of the mafia thanks to info from a homeless man named Yohei Kiritani, who told them they spoke in code and some of the words the used for it. And then they found out that they tended to hang out in back alleys. So that was where they found themselves. But...
Aki groaned after ten minutes had passed in the alley leading to Protein Lovers.
"You'd think we'd find them by now, but noooooo... Of course not."
"Maybe it's because you look like a delinquent and are scaring them off?" Ren said, half-jest, half-serious.
"Ha ha, very funny."
"Well, we're short on time, so let's try it. Mind hiding for a while, Akira?" Mona said.
"What?! Mona! For real?!"
"It's better than nothing...?" Ren said.
Aki grumbled again but said, "All right all right...let's give it a go..."
Just as she moved to hide herself though...
"Hello."
...Niijima arrived.
Aki gave her a sour look. "What do you want now? We're busy."
"Oh? Then you've made progress in finding the boss?"
"A little, no thanks to you."
Niijima flinched and Aki looked ready to attack further so Ren said,
"We're trying to find some of the members, but so far they've been elusive even though we're in their usual routes."
"I see..."
Aki huffed and looked away for a moment...and then perked up as a man approached them and said,
"Hey, you three got some time? I got a great job for you. It's real easy. Guess you could call it a delivery job."
Niijima had a victorious smile as she said, "It seems we didn't have to look very hard in the end."
Ren was sure Aki was complaining mentally about the "timely" appearance of the sleazy man from the unamused look on her face.
"You're high schoolers, yeah? Don't you want something more than just your allowance?"
Ren and Aki shared a look and his sister gestured for him to take the lead, so he nodded in acceptance. However, before he could act on it, in the time they "discussed", Niijima had said,
"By delivery, do you mean that of suspicious materials?"
They tensed and stared as they tried not to shout.
"Heh, you're a funny girl."
"So, you won't answer me? Then I was right..."
"Eh?" the suspicious man said before stalking right up to Niijima's face. "What's up with you, anyways? Why're you askin' all these questions, huh—hey!"
Ren and Aki moved between the man and Niijima.
"Ya wanna mess wi' us, wise guy?" His sister cracked her knuckles.
Ren shifted into his battle stance and put his hand in his pocket to bluff a weapon.
"... It was all a joke. Why would I get worked up over some dumb kids?"
"Wanna find out?"
"Hmph. Nah. Anyways, I can't hang. Seeya."
But then Niijima said, "U-Um, if you don't want to deal with us, we could always see your boss ourselves."
Ren barely managed from flinching as he felt Aki share his frustration while she kept up her delinquent front.
"You're really gonna say that knowing who he is?" the sleazy man said. "Heh, no way I believe that."
Ren felt Niijima shift behind him, reacting to the man's words. He and Aki just continued staring him down.
The man scoffed again. "Well I'm outta here. You guys are annoyin' me."
With that, he finally left, and the first thing Niijima said was,
"I'm pretty sure he's part of the mafia we're looking for."
Aki whirled around and glared. "'We're looking for'? Don't include yourself in this, Miss Prez, when we're the ones doing the looking and you're the one that made him go away."
The brunette was disconcerted from Aki's words, but only for a moment.
"Even if I didn't, I think...you should find proof before you do that," she said. "I tried to trick him into saying something for that but he dodged all the traps I was laying down."
"Wait, that's your idea of laying a trap?"
"It wasn't bad. For all we knew, we could've ruined their setup," Ren said.
"But those traps were so obvious!"
Now Niijima was annoyed. "What would you have done then?"
"Pretend to be interested, duh! Then he'd give us details thinkin' we are," Aki said.
He glared at her. "Nooo, we would've followed him until we found some base of operations, or even other mafia members."
"Come on, Big Bro, you know we would get info quicker if I became a worker. We don't know how good our sneak skills are here."
"And then what? Your 'double agent plan' could make our situation worse. Mama and Dad might end up getting death threats if we're not careful."
Aki had the decency to flinch. "Okay, you got a point there... But that's what the heart changin's for! The sooner we get the info, the sooner we can steal the boss's heart!"
Ren sighed. "I would very much prefer to not have my little sister as bait."
"It'll be fine!"
"No."
"Oh come on!"
"Um..."
"Huh? Oh. Right...you're still here," Aki said at the reminder.
Niijima had an awkward expression as she seemed to want to speak up, but was unsure how to with what just happened. So Ren said,
"Is there anything you want to say, Niijima?"
It worked. The brunette recomposed herself and said... "I just wanted to say...thanks for standing up for me."
He and his little sister glanced at each other in surprise, his own more pleased while hers was annoyed.
"It was no problem."
"We're not heartless, Miss Prez."
The older girl seemed taken aback by this as she reeled and stared for a moment.
"Well then, I-I'm going to go now," she said, then left unceremoniously.
That marked the end of their search as they agreed in the chat to gather at a karaoke tomorrow, the even more sensitive nature of their mission needing a more private place. That, and it would be their improvised HQ for now, since Niijima knew where they were stationed.
Akechi had hoped for another peaceful relaxation period at Leblanc when he went to the café that afternoon, managing to have free time for the day. He had also hoped to see Akira again and see if she had no other plans. But when he entered the rustic building, the first year was nowhere in sight.
"Looking for Akira?" the owner said.
"Oh, no, I'm just here to relax with some coffee."
For some reason, Sakura-san didn't look convinced and it annoyed Akechi somewhat seeing as he wasn't sure what about his actions seemed suspicious to the man...not that he would voice it.
So to divert his own attention, Akechi got what he originally came here for: a meal and a drink. And it wasn't long until he got the other reason.
"We're back," Akira said as she pulled down her mask.
"Welcome home," Akechi said, smiling unconsciously.
At least he was smiling, until he noticed that, even though Akira returned his smile, it was dimmer than usual.
"Hey Akechi! I didn't think I'd see you here."
He frowned.
What happened to make Akira-chan so upset...?!
"Is something wrong?" he said.
"Ah, uh, well..." Akira said, unsure as she looked at everything except him.
Before Akechi could question her hesitance, Amamiya-kun's phone rang and both he and Akira tensed for a brief moment. Whoever it was, though they weren't too thrilled over the call, they likely had a suspicion the identity as after Akira asked for him to pause, Amamiya-kun answered,
"Yes, Niijima? Is there something else you needed?"
Niijima?
"I could take a guess who was calling me considering what happened today. Like how I can guess on how you got my number."
That little BITCH!
Akechi was very tempted to frown. But he refrained himself, even though he very much didn't like what he was hearing.
"What? That you got it?"
And then Amamiya-kun's stoic look finally broke as he seemed astonished at whatever he heard. Akira grew curious but didn't speak up as her brother said, to his surprise,
"As I said, it's no problem."
With that, Amamiya-kun hung up and Akira asked,
"So? Why'd she call?"
"She just wanted to thank us for earlier," he said, though Akechi had the feeling he had more to say with the look he gave his sister.
Akira in turn looked unimpressed.
"For real?"
"For real."
She groaned, and with the lull, Akechi took this opportunity to say,
"Is it safe to assume this Niijima-san is the reason you were upset earlier?"
Akira chuckled sheepishly. "Yeah...pretty much... Guess the cat's outta the bag, huh?"
"What's this about—yeow!"
Amamiya-kun was back to being blank faced as he "subtly" silenced their cat companion with a violent shrug.
Then he said, "Yes. We're doing a favor for her, but we're not doing so good."
Akira nodded a bit too enthusiastically. "Yeah. Basically that."
So that meant that, whatever it was, it was likely Phantom Thief business. But that was even more concerning...
He shot her a flat look. "A favor?"
...and also very unconvincing, considering somehow Nijiima was involved.
"Yes. And we're quite exhausted from that, so please excuse us."
And so the Amamiya siblings went up the stairs to their room, though not without one last apologetic look from Akira as she said,
"Sorry, Akechi. Wish we could hang out. Let's do it next time, all right?"
"I'll hold you to it then."
Akira smiled, but it still wasn't its usual brightness. "Good. Oh, and don't worry, Akechi. We got this. See ya next time!"
It took everything he had to not get mad, to not clench his fists, and to not gnash his teeth. Instead, as he always did, he put it under a veneer before he finished his coffee and curry.
"Thank you for the meal," he said, paid for it and left Leblanc.
Once again, there was nothing he could do...nothing he could do without exposing his knowledge and ruining his years long plan.
Akira grumbled. While she had been pleasantly surprised that Niijima had thanked them for rescuing her and apologized for getting their phone numbers without their permission yesterday...Akira was still mad. It was that girl's fault all of this started in the first place.
Not to mention she still wasn't over her using Akechi's words against them.
It was one thing to accept a good point from a friend. She didn't need to hear it, or be reminded of what Akechi thought of them, from a stranger, and an antagonistic one at that.
So when she sensed someone coming up in her peripheral, she wasn't in the mood for them.
With their luck, it was probably Niijima.
If Akira was going to see that annoying brunette one more time she—she—she wasn't sure what she'd do, but she'd do something and—
"Still having trouble with Niijima-san's favor?"
Akira was startled but then smiled.
"Hey Akechi! You're a sight for sore eyes." Even if she couldn't spend too much time with him at the moment, just like yesterday.
Her friend gave her a questioning look before he shook it off with an amused one.
"Well, I'm glad to hear my appearance has cheered you, but you haven't answered my question."
"Oh right." She sighed. "Yeah, pretty much."
"The topic is quite obscure so it's hard finding sources," Ren said.
"Hmm... I see... Then perhaps you should try Jinbocho for physical sources instead of using the internet."
"It's not that kind of topic..."
"Oh? Then what kind is it?"
Oh shit. She just gave a slight slip. Stupid Miss Prez, stressin' me out and slipping stuff...
She was glad her brother covered for her.
"It's more looking into an event that doesn't have many details about it."
"Ah... Then my suggestion still stands," Akechi said. "Some places keep old issues of newspapers and magazines so perhaps you can find what you're looking for there."
"Okay, Akechi. We'll keep that in mind."
The subway announcer then, well, announced the arrival of their train and eventually they went their seperate ways. But that was pretty much the only noticeable levity as afternoon came and after everyone shared info on their findings yesterday, Ryuji said,
"Aw, for real?! We didn't get anything?!"
"Not much, anyway..."
So it was no surprise Ryuji suggested that they ask Niijima to change target.
"No," Ren said, harsh.
"But...all we gotta do is show our justice to satisfy her, right?"
"And ignore this criminal?"
Ryuji flinched. "No! Course not. But if this boss's got a Palace, which they prolly do, then we only got about one week to do it. So we can do it later, right? After we prove ourselves to Miss Prez."
Any sternness left her brother as he said, sulkily, "I know, but..."
"That mafia's targeting kids! We can't just accept that!" Ann said, determined. "It doesn't matter who the target came from anymore."
"Ann's right," Yusuke said.
Ren nodded, expression back to resolute.
Ignoring the awful wails that the people next door thought constituted as singing, Akira said,
"Yeah, no way I wanna give up."
"Akechi will be further convinced if we succeed in this difficult performance."
"All right...but..."
"It all comes down to intel in the end."
They collectively groaned.
"There has to be someone that has what we need."
"Yeah, like a super hacker..." Fantôme smiled knowingly. "Or a sleuth." "...or even a journalist."
"We don't got either of those though..."
"No wait! We do!"
"Huh?" They all stared at Ann.
"What about that journalist?"
"You mean the one we met at Madarame's house?"
"Oh yeah! Don't you got her card?"
Ren nodded. "Back at Leblanc."
"Then let's go for it."
"She was scoopin' for news on Madarame's rumors, so there's a good chance she might got what we need."
"There's no other way anyway."
So with that, her brother contacted Ichiko Ohya, who worked for a pretty major publication. Of course, they didn't receive a reply right away, even to the next day. The rest of the team were understandably anxious about it. Luckily for them, Yusuke managed to get more info on the burglary ring Ren said that Mishima informed him about a while ago, so now they had a name and thus a distraction. However, when her brother asked if she wanted to come along with them to Mementos, she told him she'd catch up if she could.
There was someone she wanted to talk to after the reminders of "trash" yesterday.
"Hey, Haru-senpai, you here?"
"Oh, Akira-chan! I'm glad to see you."
"Eh heh...sorry for takin' so long to tell ya, but those onions you gave me were real good. I would've told you sooner...but I realized that I didn't get your number."
"Oh right! I forgot to about that... But that makes me all the more glad you took the time to tell me." Then she said with an amused look, "Though would the thing keeping you busy wouldn't happen to be anything to do with what you did on TV?"
"Wait what? You saw the interview, didn't you...?"
Haru-senpai giggled. "Yes. I'm not surprised you did that though. That was something I think you would do."
"Gee, thanks for the glowing opinion, Senpai."
Her giggling got worse at that. "I mean that as a compliment, of course."
"Yeah yeah, if you say so..." she said. "Still. I coulda easily told ya at school. So...maybe I could help ya garden for bein' late?"
"You don't have to."
"But I wanna." Though, she said, "Uh, just as long as it won't trigger my asthma."
Haru-senpai smiled. "Okay."
Because of that, after they finally exchanged contact info, Akira mostly helped with the soil of the plants, adding fertilizer, helping with repotting some of them and watering. At least until Haru-senpai received a text.
Her senpai frowned as soon as she read it.
"Something wrong, Senpai?" Akira said.
The auburn girl quickly rid of her frown with a smile and said, "Oh, it's nothing. I just need to go now. Do you mind cleaning up for me?"
Akira was tempted to press. But if Haru-senpai really was in a hurry, this wasn't the time. So she just said,
"Sure, Senpai."
"Thank you. Good-bye, Akira-chan."
She watched her leave until she was out of sight before she sighed and then did what she promised. By the time she finished, there was still some daylight left, so she made her way to Mementos.
"Oh, you guys are here," Rogue said when she teleported to the farthest Nav warp point.
"Oh, hey Rogue! You're late. We already defeated the head of the burglar ring," Mona said.
"Then why're you still here?"
"We thought we'd grind a bit for stuff since we're here."
"We're taking a break from that right now though," Panther said.
"Huh. All right." It was then she noticed. "Where 're Joker and Fox?"
"Huh? I don't know. But they said they wouldn't be far."
"Hmm. I'm gonna go look for 'em."
It turned out to be a good thing she did that as she found the two being assaulted by a horde of slimes. Not that they were difficult, but still.
"What are you guys doin' on your own?"
"We were looking for inspiration," her brother said.
"Eh? Inspi—oh." She remembered Fox's favor. "But why here?"
"Because Fox wanted to see the contents of a heart."
"Yes. I had wanted to understand the heart and this was the place Joker suggested to do so."
She gave her brother an incredulous look. On one hand, a mental world was the most direct way to go about answerring that, but they both knew that Mementos was distorted. This wasn't the whole of a heart. From the knowing smile he gave her though, Joker realized it, yet still went through with it.
"It was the most direct way I could think of," her brother said.
Rogue sighed. Of course. But if that was the case...
"Then how about our Personas, then?"
"Our Personas?"
"Mona says they're our will of rebellion. That means they're from our hearts."
"Ah, yes...that could work as well. But perhaps for after my current piece. I have already have my inspiration thanks to you," Fox said, directing the last bit to Joker.
He smiled. "Of course. Anytime you need my help."
"Hey, don't forget about me."
Joker laughed. "And Rogue of course."
"... You're like Theo," Fox said out of nowhere.
"Who?" she said.
"I was referring to Van Gogh's brother, Theo."
"Uh, okay..."
"Van Gogh did not achieve fame in his lifetime, but found an admirer and supporter in his brother."
They chuckled.
"Of course we care, Fox," Rogue said.
"We're your friends. You'll always have our support," Joker said.
"It's...still something I'm not quite used to. There aren't many willing to deal with my...eccentricities."
Rogue wasn't surprised about that sad fact.
So, of course, her brother made a joke out of it.
"Well, we're both pretty eccentric ourselves, so we have plenty of experience dealing with it," said Joker with a smirk.
She rolled her eyes...and played along. "Oy, you're the one who's more eccentric than me, drama queen."
He gasped. "You wound me, dear sister!" he said, grasping his chest in mock hurt after a quick grateful smile.
At least until Fox noticed the blank card that had been "dropped" by the slimes that was in Joker's other hand. Thanks to that, they found out they could make skill cards with his art prowess. With that, Fox had the idea of making a deal "like the thieves they were", where they would provide him assitance while he copied skill cards. When they agreed, once again, a new Confidant was formed for them both.
I am thou, thou art I. Thou hast acquired a new vow. It shall be the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity. With the birth of the Emperor Persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power.
At that point, they had been away long enough that the rest of the team had looked for and found them. Since it had gotten late, they decided to stop grinding the Mementos and take their leave.
That turned out to be a good thing as Ohya-san had contacted her brother when they got back.
The Crossroads Bar, Shinjuku.
That had been the place Ohya-san wished to meetup tonight and he had flinched at the name. Aki wanted him to not go and offered to take his place, much to the confusion of Mona. Ren insisted he was fine. He needed to go since he was the one who arranged the meeting after all. It would be rude and it wouldn't really set a good impression on the journalist. He could deal with a bit of discomfort from smelling...some alcoholic drinks.
So Aki instead insisted on coming along and that was what they did.
And Ryuji, after they updated everyone else about the situation.
"What the?! Why are you in your uniform, Ryuji?!"
Unfortunately, unlike during a "certain operation", Ryuji didn't change out of his uniform.
"No choice. I didn't have the time to go home."
"Ugh..."
Ren sighed. "We'll just have to work with it."
"Well, don't blame me if we end up caught," Mona said.
"C'mon, it'll be—"
"Don't. Say it. Let's just go..."
"All right. Follow my lead. I know the way!"
Before long, they found themselves in the very bright and bustling ward of Shinjuku. It was about what he expected. Advertisement for all sorts of joints everywhere, hosts trying to get people into them, police patrolling—one of which almost "caught" them—and...
"Excuse me!"
...little odd, and questionable, stalls here and there.
"What?" Aki said.
"For the blond one, I sense impending woman troubles," the woman said. "Or...perhaps it's something else?"
Aki snickered. "What? Is he gonna get swarmed by girls or somethin'?"
"Wha—hey. Why you sayin' that like it's a bad thing."
"You could die of suffocation for one."
"In any case, horrible disaster is coming for you! Please allow me to examine your future further!"
"What?! For real?!"
"Yes. I suggest you get your fortune told. What I say will surely come to pass!"
"Ugh... More of this shit? Sorry, but we're in a hurry. An' I don't believe in that stuff anyway."
"I see... My apologies," the presumed fortume teller said to his surprise. "But if you change your mind, I'll be waiting here in this spot at night. May your fortunes be well."
Ren expected her to be insistent. Instead, though she, of course, still suggested her services since it was her business, she was rather polite about it. So they easily left her and found themselves at last at Crossroads Bar. This time though, Ryuji waited outside. That one brush with the police was enough for the day.
As soon as they went in, Ren's cringed at the smell of alcohol and memories of his mother. Thankfully, he was distracted from any such reminiscing as he was greeted by a tall woman that Ohya-san called "Lala-chan", who he admittedly took a bit of liking to when she said,
"Ooh, you picked up a real young one this time... Just don't let a minor drink alcohol, okay?"
"Don't worry, we ain't here for that," Aki said for him before glancing at him with worry.
He gave her a grateful and reassuring smile. Then he said,
"May we get to business, Ohya-san?"
"Straight to the point, eh?"
"That's more my sister's job."
"Hey!"
"Lala-chan! I'm going to borrow the seats in the back," Ohya-san said. "Go on back there. I'll treat ya to some water."
Thankfully, it didn't take long for the journalist to catch up. But up close, Ohya-san smelled just as bad as his mother did and now a part of Ren was regretting coming here. But he had Aki by his side and he had insisted, so he would push through.
Understandably, the first thing Ohya-san did when she sat down was to laugh and say,
"What a surprise. I thought you were joking, yet here you are."
"We don't joke about this kind of stuff," Aki said.
"And I respect that bravery. So I'll listen to what you have to say. Well, what do you want to know?"
"The one who controls Shibuya," he said.
That wiped off the drunken smile from the woman's face.
"Oh... Why that?"
"We need it."
"Hmm... Well, I do happen to know something about that. I could tell you, but..."
"But?"
She took a drink. "Do you know the Phantom Thieves of Hearts? You know, that case the public has been focused on lately."
"Yes."
"I was pursuing the issue of people randomly entering the shut-down state, but I'm lacking intel... That's why I'm currently looking for new material to write about. So, do you have any info on these Phantom Thieves?"
"Are those your terms?"
"Hmm... Something like that..." she said, then went on to explain she remembered their uniform and hoped to have exclusive coverage from a victim of Kamoshida, the first target of the Phantom Thieves.
Ann was definitely not on the table, or Shiho. Preferably, Ren didn't want any of the victims being interviewed, but...they needed the info, so he had to think of someone. Ryuji was out, considering it was loose lips that led to this situation in the first place. So that left...
"I know someone."
Aki looked at him, worried again, probably wondering about who he was thinking of. So he traced Mishima's name on the back of her hand, placating her.
"It's a deal then. Send me your friend's contact info."
He...wished she hadn't said that. He didn't want to give contact info without permission that, considering Niijima had just done the same with him and Aki, but a deal's a deal, so he nodded.
For some reason though, Ohya-san started musing about how both the shut downs and the heart changes seemed supernatural. Their breaths were held as both he and Aki stopped giving any tells to the speculation. Thankfully, she stopped, apologizing for her musings and, luckily, said,
"Now then. We can't exactly consider this as upfront payment but... Junya Kaneshiro. I think he's the guy you're probably looking for."
"Yes!" Aki cheered quietly.
"You should check him out further if you're curious...but I'm not responsible for what happens next!"
"Don't worry. We wouldn't want you to be."
"Hmm. If you say so..." Then Ohya-san was back to being an excited drunk as she said, "Lala-chan, can I get a refill for this kid?"
"No. We gotta go. See ya!" Aki said, Ren glad for her blunt nature having her drag him out of the bar and into...not exactly fresh air, but he would take it.
After regrouping with Ryuji, their friend checked the name on the Nav and they got a hit. With that established, they were about to leave when, once again, frequenters of Shinjuku came up to them...or rather, came after Ryuji.
"Ooh, you're right! He really would be a natural! But, a graphic tee with plaid pants? Ugh, kill me now," one said.
"Woah! Who the hell are they?!"
"Oh Hell has nothing to do with it, honey. I'm Angel—straight out of heaven."
"And I'm Julian. Julie, if you're feeling saucy."
Ren couldn't help but chuckle at Ryuji's bad luck today. At least until Angel-san said,
"What a cutie! You'd never guess he was into the drag scene... Let's show him the ropes!"
"Woah woah woah! Hold the phone! What makes you think that?" Aki said.
"I think you're misunderstanding," he said, confused.
"Oh! Are these your friends? Don't worry. You don't have to defend him and deny it! We saw him peeking in Crossroads!"
Quick, before they could drag their friend off, Ren said, "Oh no, we were there just to meet someone named Ohya-san."
That startled the two and seemingly calmed the excitement to their curiosity.
"Oh? You know her?" Julian-san said, sounding as if he did.
"Kinda. Do you know her?" Aki said.
"She and Lala-chan go way back, and we know Lala-chan so we know her," Angel-san said. "So that's why your friend was looking at Crossroads?"
"Uh yeah. I wanted go in with 'em, but I'm still wearin' my uniform, so I just...stayed outside."
"I see... Well, sorry for getting carried away in our excitement," Angel-san said.
Julian-san sighed. "And here I thought we would have a new hopeful to teach..."
"It's understandable," Ren said, knowing what it was like to get carried away with something one loved.
"Maybe next time try not to come on 'em so strongly so that you don't freak 'em out?" Aki said.
They chuckled.
"We'll do our best."
Then Julian-san said, "Though I hope Ohya didn't bother you either. She can be quite a lot when she's drunk."
"And ask a lot of questions. Like, girl, give us some breathing room."
"No, she wasn't so bad." "Compared to your mother, that is."
"I'm guessin' Lala-chan bein' there helped though," Aki said. "She was remindin' her to not give us drinks."
The two laughed and smiled.
"Yes, you would be right."
"She's quite the drinker."
"You can say that again."
Another shared laughed, this time with Aki in the mix and Ren smiled at the sight. But this time they got interrupted by an awkward,
"Uh, hey...since we got that cleared. We gotta go before it gets late."
"Oh yes! That wouldn't be good! Run along dearies! You should go before the more dangerous wolves come prowling!"
"Farewell! It's been a pleasure to meet you!"
"See ya!"
"Good-bye, Angel-san, Julian-san."
And they finally left Shinjuku, no one else stopping them, and he could finally rest from that trip.
Well, not before being vague with Mishima about what Ohya-san was like and why she was asking for him, making him think he was going to go on a date.
As far as his sleepy and mentally exhausted mind was concerned, it was pretty funny.
It was afternoon and they were guessing keywords once again.
The kind of distortion was easy enough to guess. Ren had said "bank" and the Nav registered it. Now all they had to do was guess where this distortion was happening...which wasn't as easy. If they went with the logic of "bank", then that meant he got his money from his victims, and his victims were all over the area.
As Ryuji so eloquently put it.
"Oh come on! How many people do you think he's taking advantage of in all of Shibuya?!"
"Results found."
"Wait what?!"
Never mind. It turned out to be just as easy.
After they discussed whether or not they should transport into the Metaverse in a crowd of people, they decided to go. And what greeted them reminded her of a dystopian sci-fi film.
Contrasting with the color of real life Shibuya, the sky glowed a sickly green and was shrouded in black clouds, tinting everything in a drear light as money flew around like confetti. And instead of bustling people of different types and styles...
"What are those?!"
...walked animated ATMs with arms and legs around the streets.
"You gotta be kiddin' me... This is Kaneshiro's cognition of people?" Rogue scoffed. "Of course it is..."
He was a mafia boss after all. As beffiting of him, Mona noted that his distortion was so strong that it's affecting all of Shibuya instead of a building in it, unlike the previous Palaces. So for now, they needed to find the Palace proper, and well...
"A-Ah! Please forgive me! I-I don't have any more! I'm telling you, not even one yen!"
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuggghhhhh..."
"It's no use... It's all over... I'll end up just like them..."
...they found not only breaking down ATMs, but collapsed ones too. Thankfully, the newest one they encountered seemed relatively lucid. So Joker asked gently,
"What happened?"
"Can't you tell...? I've fallen... I've fallen so far... From a place where Kaneshiro leaves no tracks..."
"Leave no tracks?"
"What could that mean...?"
"Hey, you gotta tell us more than—"
"I'm...too tired... Please...let me rest..."
The ATM clanged as it collapsed. Joker and Rogue flinced at the sight.
"It doesn't look like this one's going to say anything," Mona said.
"You think?!"
Before either of her or her brother could berate Mona's callousness, Skull said,
"Wish we got more info though..."
"Yeah, what does he mean by 'leaves no tracks'?"
"Yes. He could mean that literally or figuratively after all."
Rogue took a deep, calming breath before she said, "Literally? What do you mean by literally?"
"Well, it said it's 'fallen'. Of course, it could be figurative, but there's still the literal aspect of him falling. Sometimes we should consider things like that in this world after all..."
"Literally fallen...?" Joker said, deliberately, before his gaze followed the money flying around.
Or at least she thought it was flying around until her brother turned, looked up and said,
"I think I found where Kaneshiro is."
And they all followed suit.
"Are you kidding me?!"
There was a giant, flying, bank, sucking up all the money of the city and the ATMs.
"Up in the air... No wonder we couldn't find it," Fox said.
"But how are we going to get up there?"
"Hey, Mona," Rogue said. "Can ya turn into a helicopter or plane or something?"
"No...just a bus."
Rogue sighed. "Shoulda known..."
It wasn't like there was a cognition for literal cat helicopters.
"You're useless!" Skull said. "C'mon, don't you have some kinda secret gadget or somethin?!"
"Shut it! I'm not some robot cat! I mean, I'm not a cat at all!"
"This may be the limit of what we can do today."
"Yeah. We looked all over the place before we even thought about lookin' up."
"It's always looking up that gets people, isn't it?" Joker, well, joked.
"But we gotta find a way up there..." Skull said.
Panther said, "Then let's think about it some more tomorrow, okay?"
And so the Phantom Thieves left the dystopian Shibuya for the day.
{R}
It was just a day. They had taken longer with investigting some of their other missions before, so spending the entire day investigating yesterday wasn't new. But the fact that they had only gotten confirmation about the activities taking place from one day of investigating did little to ease his worries. Seeing Aki be frustrated and despondent didn't help matters either, especially when one of the students they questioned, Nishiyama-san, was someone she remembered from the cleanup. True, they weren't friends, but Aki felt she should've noticed something was wrong nonetheless.
If they didn't make any tangible progress, then they wouldn't have much time, if at all, to infiltrate the Palace. Or worse, they couldn't get to the Palace at all before the deadline. If they couldn't do that, then that meant Niijima would give those recordings to the police and if those recordings reached the police then they would be arrested and if they were arrested then—
"Don't worry, Big Bro, we can do this," Aki said, crashing his train of thought as they waited for the others to arrive at HQ.
"What makes you think that?" he couldn't help but ask.
"... I was thinking that, if we really don't make any progress the whole week...we could get Akechi's help?"
"What?!"
"Shh, Mona! Someone could hear you!"
Ren stared at his sister with narrowed eyes. Though he really shouldn't be surprised, asking for the detective's help was really pushing their luck.
"He won't snitch on us," Aki said, practically reading his mind.
"And how are you so sure? Everyone's safety is at risk here. I..." He sighed. "...I don't want to them to pay for any miscalculation we make."
"Exactly," Mona said. "He's hunting us after all."
"It's because he's hunting us I think that. He cares about justice. So he'll help us."
"But how are you going to make it so that he doesn't figure us out?"
"I'll think of something."
"You can't just think on the spot for something like this!"
"What did I say about being quiet?!" Aki said, whisper-shouting.
So Ren said, before either of them could get loud, "Last resort."
"Huh?" they said.
"It will be our last resort. And only if we can make sure to have him not be suspicious of us when we ask, okay?"
He just hoped that they wouldn't have to resort to that.
Still, Aki's eyes brightened as she said, "Okay!"
"I can't believe you're agreeing to this..."
"I'm still annoyed you took back your 'perfect gentleman' compliments about Akechi you know... That's not fair."
"Well, neither is he with deeming us threats to society!"
"It's not his fault he doesn't know all the details!"
Thankfully, he didn't need to interfere with their arguement. At that point, Ann and Ryuji arrived, soon followed by Yusuke, and so they could start scouring Shibuya for leads, with Aki and him assigned to Central Street.
Though Aki was immediately displeased when they ran into a "familiar" face.
"Oh. Hey. Here to lecture us again, Miss Prez?"
The girl flinched but said, seemingly unfazed, "Are you investigating here with your friends today?"
"Yeah, what's it to you?"
"... I hope something comes out of it," she said. "I'm counting on you."
Aki scoffed and walked away. Ren caught up with her just as she said under her breath,
"Of course you do. You let others do your dirty work..."
Ren gave her a brief shoulder squeeze in comfort and concern. Aki reciprocated and squeezed his hand before they both let each other go. With that, they began their search. Thankfully, unlike yesterday, they made more useful progress, even if it wasn't much in the grand scheme of things. They found a way to identify those who were a part of the mafia thanks to info from a homeless man named Yohei Kiritani, who told them they spoke in code and some of the words the used for it. And then they found out that they tended to hang out in back alleys. So that was where they found themselves. But...
Aki groaned after ten minutes had passed in the alley leading to Protein Lovers.
"You'd think we'd find them by now, but noooooo... Of course not."
"Maybe it's because you look like a delinquent and are scaring them off?" Ren said, half-jest, half-serious.
"Ha ha, very funny."
"Well, we're short on time, so let's try it. Mind hiding for a while, Akira?" Mona said.
"What?! Mona! For real?!"
"It's better than nothing...?" Ren said.
Aki grumbled again but said, "All right all right...let's give it a go..."
Just as she moved to hide herself though...
"Hello."
...Niijima arrived.
Aki gave her a sour look. "What do you want now? We're busy."
"Oh? Then you've made progress in finding the boss?"
"A little, no thanks to you."
Niijima flinched and Aki looked ready to attack further so Ren said,
"We're trying to find some of the members, but so far they've been elusive even though we're in their usual routes."
"I see..."
Aki huffed and looked away for a moment...and then perked up as a man approached them and said,
"Hey, you three got some time? I got a great job for you. It's real easy. Guess you could call it a delivery job."
Niijima had a victorious smile as she said, "It seems we didn't have to look very hard in the end."
Ren was sure Aki was complaining mentally about the "timely" appearance of the sleazy man from the unamused look on her face.
"You're high schoolers, yeah? Don't you want something more than just your allowance?"
Ren and Aki shared a look and his sister gestured for him to take the lead, so he nodded in acceptance. However, before he could act on it, in the time they "discussed", Niijima had said,
"By delivery, do you mean that of suspicious materials?"
They tensed and stared as they tried not to shout.
"Heh, you're a funny girl."
"So, you won't answer me? Then I was right..."
"Eh?" the suspicious man said before stalking right up to Niijima's face. "What's up with you, anyways? Why're you askin' all these questions, huh—hey!"
Ren and Aki moved between the man and Niijima.
"Ya wanna mess wi' us, wise guy?" His sister cracked her knuckles.
Ren shifted into his battle stance and put his hand in his pocket to bluff a weapon.
"... It was all a joke. Why would I get worked up over some dumb kids?"
"Wanna find out?"
"Hmph. Nah. Anyways, I can't hang. Seeya."
But then Niijima said, "U-Um, if you don't want to deal with us, we could always see your boss ourselves."
Ren barely managed from flinching as he felt Aki share his frustration while she kept up her delinquent front.
"You're really gonna say that knowing who he is?" the sleazy man said. "Heh, no way I believe that."
Ren felt Niijima shift behind him, reacting to the man's words. He and Aki just continued staring him down.
The man scoffed again. "Well I'm outta here. You guys are annoyin' me."
With that, he finally left, and the first thing Niijima said was,
"I'm pretty sure he's part of the mafia we're looking for."
Aki whirled around and glared. "'We're looking for'? Don't include yourself in this, Miss Prez, when we're the ones doing the looking and you're the one that made him go away."
The brunette was disconcerted from Aki's words, but only for a moment.
"Even if I didn't, I think...you should find proof before you do that," she said. "I tried to trick him into saying something for that but he dodged all the traps I was laying down."
"Wait, that's your idea of laying a trap?"
"It wasn't bad. For all we knew, we could've ruined their setup," Ren said.
"But those traps were so obvious!"
Now Niijima was annoyed. "What would you have done then?"
"Pretend to be interested, duh! Then he'd give us details thinkin' we are," Aki said.
He glared at her. "Nooo, we would've followed him until we found some base of operations, or even other mafia members."
"Come on, Big Bro, you know we would get info quicker if I became a worker. We don't know how good our sneak skills are here."
"And then what? Your 'double agent plan' could make our situation worse. Mama and Dad might end up getting death threats if we're not careful."
Aki had the decency to flinch. "Okay, you got a point there... But that's what the heart changin's for! The sooner we get the info, the sooner we can steal the boss's heart!"
Ren sighed. "I would very much prefer to not have my little sister as bait."
"It'll be fine!"
"No."
"Oh come on!"
"Um..."
"Huh? Oh. Right...you're still here," Aki said at the reminder.
Niijima had an awkward expression as she seemed to want to speak up, but was unsure how to with what just happened. So Ren said,
"Is there anything you want to say, Niijima?"
It worked. The brunette recomposed herself and said... "I just wanted to say...thanks for standing up for me."
He and his little sister glanced at each other in surprise, his own more pleased while hers was annoyed.
"It was no problem."
"We're not heartless, Miss Prez."
The older girl seemed taken aback by this as she reeled and stared for a moment.
"Well then, I-I'm going to go now," she said, then left unceremoniously.
That marked the end of their search as they agreed in the chat to gather at a karaoke tomorrow, the even more sensitive nature of their mission needing a more private place. That, and it would be their improvised HQ for now, since Niijima knew where they were stationed.
[G]
Akechi had hoped for another peaceful relaxation period at Leblanc when he went to the café that afternoon, managing to have free time for the day. He had also hoped to see Akira again and see if she had no other plans. But when he entered the rustic building, the first year was nowhere in sight.
"Looking for Akira?" the owner said.
"Oh, no, I'm just here to relax with some coffee."
For some reason, Sakura-san didn't look convinced and it annoyed Akechi somewhat seeing as he wasn't sure what about his actions seemed suspicious to the man...not that he would voice it.
So to divert his own attention, Akechi got what he originally came here for: a meal and a drink. And it wasn't long until he got the other reason.
"We're back," Akira said as she pulled down her mask.
"Welcome home," Akechi said, smiling unconsciously.
At least he was smiling, until he noticed that, even though Akira returned his smile, it was dimmer than usual.
"Hey Akechi! I didn't think I'd see you here."
He frowned.
What happened to make Akira-chan so upset...?!
"Is something wrong?" he said.
"Ah, uh, well..." Akira said, unsure as she looked at everything except him.
Before Akechi could question her hesitance, Amamiya-kun's phone rang and both he and Akira tensed for a brief moment. Whoever it was, though they weren't too thrilled over the call, they likely had a suspicion the identity as after Akira asked for him to pause, Amamiya-kun answered,
"Yes, Niijima? Is there something else you needed?"
Niijima?
"I could take a guess who was calling me considering what happened today. Like how I can guess on how you got my number."
That little BITCH!
Akechi was very tempted to frown. But he refrained himself, even though he very much didn't like what he was hearing.
"What? That you got it?"
And then Amamiya-kun's stoic look finally broke as he seemed astonished at whatever he heard. Akira grew curious but didn't speak up as her brother said, to his surprise,
"As I said, it's no problem."
With that, Amamiya-kun hung up and Akira asked,
"So? Why'd she call?"
"She just wanted to thank us for earlier," he said, though Akechi had the feeling he had more to say with the look he gave his sister.
Akira in turn looked unimpressed.
"For real?"
"For real."
She groaned, and with the lull, Akechi took this opportunity to say,
"Is it safe to assume this Niijima-san is the reason you were upset earlier?"
Akira chuckled sheepishly. "Yeah...pretty much... Guess the cat's outta the bag, huh?"
"What's this about—yeow!"
Amamiya-kun was back to being blank faced as he "subtly" silenced their cat companion with a violent shrug.
Then he said, "Yes. We're doing a favor for her, but we're not doing so good."
Akira nodded a bit too enthusiastically. "Yeah. Basically that."
So that meant that, whatever it was, it was likely Phantom Thief business. But that was even more concerning...
He shot her a flat look. "A favor?"
...and also very unconvincing, considering somehow Nijiima was involved.
"Yes. And we're quite exhausted from that, so please excuse us."
And so the Amamiya siblings went up the stairs to their room, though not without one last apologetic look from Akira as she said,
"Sorry, Akechi. Wish we could hang out. Let's do it next time, all right?"
"I'll hold you to it then."
Akira smiled, but it still wasn't its usual brightness. "Good. Oh, and don't worry, Akechi. We got this. See ya next time!"
It took everything he had to not get mad, to not clench his fists, and to not gnash his teeth. Instead, as he always did, he put it under a veneer before he finished his coffee and curry.
"Thank you for the meal," he said, paid for it and left Leblanc.
Once again, there was nothing he could do...nothing he could do without exposing his knowledge and ruining his years long plan.
(A)
Akira grumbled. While she had been pleasantly surprised that Niijima had thanked them for rescuing her and apologized for getting their phone numbers without their permission yesterday...Akira was still mad. It was that girl's fault all of this started in the first place.
Not to mention she still wasn't over her using Akechi's words against them.
It was one thing to accept a good point from a friend. She didn't need to hear it, or be reminded of what Akechi thought of them, from a stranger, and an antagonistic one at that.
So when she sensed someone coming up in her peripheral, she wasn't in the mood for them.
With their luck, it was probably Niijima.
If Akira was going to see that annoying brunette one more time she—she—she wasn't sure what she'd do, but she'd do something and—
"Still having trouble with Niijima-san's favor?"
Akira was startled but then smiled.
"Hey Akechi! You're a sight for sore eyes." Even if she couldn't spend too much time with him at the moment, just like yesterday.
Her friend gave her a questioning look before he shook it off with an amused one.
"Well, I'm glad to hear my appearance has cheered you, but you haven't answered my question."
"Oh right." She sighed. "Yeah, pretty much."
"The topic is quite obscure so it's hard finding sources," Ren said.
"Hmm... I see... Then perhaps you should try Jinbocho for physical sources instead of using the internet."
"It's not that kind of topic..."
"Oh? Then what kind is it?"
Oh shit. She just gave a slight slip. Stupid Miss Prez, stressin' me out and slipping stuff...
She was glad her brother covered for her.
"It's more looking into an event that doesn't have many details about it."
"Ah... Then my suggestion still stands," Akechi said. "Some places keep old issues of newspapers and magazines so perhaps you can find what you're looking for there."
"Okay, Akechi. We'll keep that in mind."
The subway announcer then, well, announced the arrival of their train and eventually they went their seperate ways. But that was pretty much the only noticeable levity as afternoon came and after everyone shared info on their findings yesterday, Ryuji said,
"Aw, for real?! We didn't get anything?!"
"Not much, anyway..."
So it was no surprise Ryuji suggested that they ask Niijima to change target.
"No," Ren said, harsh.
"But...all we gotta do is show our justice to satisfy her, right?"
"And ignore this criminal?"
Ryuji flinched. "No! Course not. But if this boss's got a Palace, which they prolly do, then we only got about one week to do it. So we can do it later, right? After we prove ourselves to Miss Prez."
Any sternness left her brother as he said, sulkily, "I know, but..."
"That mafia's targeting kids! We can't just accept that!" Ann said, determined. "It doesn't matter who the target came from anymore."
"Ann's right," Yusuke said.
Ren nodded, expression back to resolute.
Ignoring the awful wails that the people next door thought constituted as singing, Akira said,
"Yeah, no way I wanna give up."
"Akechi will be further convinced if we succeed in this difficult performance."
"All right...but..."
"It all comes down to intel in the end."
They collectively groaned.
"There has to be someone that has what we need."
"Yeah, like a super hacker..." Fantôme smiled knowingly. "Or a sleuth." "...or even a journalist."
"We don't got either of those though..."
"No wait! We do!"
"Huh?" They all stared at Ann.
"What about that journalist?"
"You mean the one we met at Madarame's house?"
"Oh yeah! Don't you got her card?"
Ren nodded. "Back at Leblanc."
"Then let's go for it."
"She was scoopin' for news on Madarame's rumors, so there's a good chance she might got what we need."
"There's no other way anyway."
So with that, her brother contacted Ichiko Ohya, who worked for a pretty major publication. Of course, they didn't receive a reply right away, even to the next day. The rest of the team were understandably anxious about it. Luckily for them, Yusuke managed to get more info on the burglary ring Ren said that Mishima informed him about a while ago, so now they had a name and thus a distraction. However, when her brother asked if she wanted to come along with them to Mementos, she told him she'd catch up if she could.
There was someone she wanted to talk to after the reminders of "trash" yesterday.
"Hey, Haru-senpai, you here?"
"Oh, Akira-chan! I'm glad to see you."
"Eh heh...sorry for takin' so long to tell ya, but those onions you gave me were real good. I would've told you sooner...but I realized that I didn't get your number."
"Oh right! I forgot to about that... But that makes me all the more glad you took the time to tell me." Then she said with an amused look, "Though would the thing keeping you busy wouldn't happen to be anything to do with what you did on TV?"
"Wait what? You saw the interview, didn't you...?"
Haru-senpai giggled. "Yes. I'm not surprised you did that though. That was something I think you would do."
"Gee, thanks for the glowing opinion, Senpai."
Her giggling got worse at that. "I mean that as a compliment, of course."
"Yeah yeah, if you say so..." she said. "Still. I coulda easily told ya at school. So...maybe I could help ya garden for bein' late?"
"You don't have to."
"But I wanna." Though, she said, "Uh, just as long as it won't trigger my asthma."
Haru-senpai smiled. "Okay."
Because of that, after they finally exchanged contact info, Akira mostly helped with the soil of the plants, adding fertilizer, helping with repotting some of them and watering. At least until Haru-senpai received a text.
Her senpai frowned as soon as she read it.
"Something wrong, Senpai?" Akira said.
The auburn girl quickly rid of her frown with a smile and said, "Oh, it's nothing. I just need to go now. Do you mind cleaning up for me?"
Akira was tempted to press. But if Haru-senpai really was in a hurry, this wasn't the time. So she just said,
"Sure, Senpai."
"Thank you. Good-bye, Akira-chan."
She watched her leave until she was out of sight before she sighed and then did what she promised. By the time she finished, there was still some daylight left, so she made her way to Mementos.
"Oh, you guys are here," Rogue said when she teleported to the farthest Nav warp point.
"Oh, hey Rogue! You're late. We already defeated the head of the burglar ring," Mona said.
"Then why're you still here?"
"We thought we'd grind a bit for stuff since we're here."
"We're taking a break from that right now though," Panther said.
"Huh. All right." It was then she noticed. "Where 're Joker and Fox?"
"Huh? I don't know. But they said they wouldn't be far."
"Hmm. I'm gonna go look for 'em."
It turned out to be a good thing she did that as she found the two being assaulted by a horde of slimes. Not that they were difficult, but still.
"What are you guys doin' on your own?"
"We were looking for inspiration," her brother said.
"Eh? Inspi—oh." She remembered Fox's favor. "But why here?"
"Because Fox wanted to see the contents of a heart."
"Yes. I had wanted to understand the heart and this was the place Joker suggested to do so."
She gave her brother an incredulous look. On one hand, a mental world was the most direct way to go about answerring that, but they both knew that Mementos was distorted. This wasn't the whole of a heart. From the knowing smile he gave her though, Joker realized it, yet still went through with it.
"It was the most direct way I could think of," her brother said.
Rogue sighed. Of course. But if that was the case...
"Then how about our Personas, then?"
"Our Personas?"
"Mona says they're our will of rebellion. That means they're from our hearts."
"Ah, yes...that could work as well. But perhaps for after my current piece. I have already have my inspiration thanks to you," Fox said, directing the last bit to Joker.
He smiled. "Of course. Anytime you need my help."
"Hey, don't forget about me."
Joker laughed. "And Rogue of course."
"... You're like Theo," Fox said out of nowhere.
"Who?" she said.
"I was referring to Van Gogh's brother, Theo."
"Uh, okay..."
"Van Gogh did not achieve fame in his lifetime, but found an admirer and supporter in his brother."
They chuckled.
"Of course we care, Fox," Rogue said.
"We're your friends. You'll always have our support," Joker said.
"It's...still something I'm not quite used to. There aren't many willing to deal with my...eccentricities."
Rogue wasn't surprised about that sad fact.
So, of course, her brother made a joke out of it.
"Well, we're both pretty eccentric ourselves, so we have plenty of experience dealing with it," said Joker with a smirk.
She rolled her eyes...and played along. "Oy, you're the one who's more eccentric than me, drama queen."
He gasped. "You wound me, dear sister!" he said, grasping his chest in mock hurt after a quick grateful smile.
At least until Fox noticed the blank card that had been "dropped" by the slimes that was in Joker's other hand. Thanks to that, they found out they could make skill cards with his art prowess. With that, Fox had the idea of making a deal "like the thieves they were", where they would provide him assitance while he copied skill cards. When they agreed, once again, a new Confidant was formed for them both.
I am thou, thou art I. Thou hast acquired a new vow. It shall be the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity. With the birth of the Emperor Persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power.
At that point, they had been away long enough that the rest of the team had looked for and found them. Since it had gotten late, they decided to stop grinding the Mementos and take their leave.
That turned out to be a good thing as Ohya-san had contacted her brother when they got back.
{R}
The Crossroads Bar, Shinjuku.
That had been the place Ohya-san wished to meetup tonight and he had flinched at the name. Aki wanted him to not go and offered to take his place, much to the confusion of Mona. Ren insisted he was fine. He needed to go since he was the one who arranged the meeting after all. It would be rude and it wouldn't really set a good impression on the journalist. He could deal with a bit of discomfort from smelling...some alcoholic drinks.
So Aki instead insisted on coming along and that was what they did.
And Ryuji, after they updated everyone else about the situation.
"What the?! Why are you in your uniform, Ryuji?!"
Unfortunately, unlike during a "certain operation", Ryuji didn't change out of his uniform.
"No choice. I didn't have the time to go home."
"Ugh..."
Ren sighed. "We'll just have to work with it."
"Well, don't blame me if we end up caught," Mona said.
"C'mon, it'll be—"
"Don't. Say it. Let's just go..."
"All right. Follow my lead. I know the way!"
Before long, they found themselves in the very bright and bustling ward of Shinjuku. It was about what he expected. Advertisement for all sorts of joints everywhere, hosts trying to get people into them, police patrolling—one of which almost "caught" them—and...
"Excuse me!"
...little odd, and questionable, stalls here and there.
"What?" Aki said.
"For the blond one, I sense impending woman troubles," the woman said. "Or...perhaps it's something else?"
Aki snickered. "What? Is he gonna get swarmed by girls or somethin'?"
"Wha—hey. Why you sayin' that like it's a bad thing."
"You could die of suffocation for one."
"In any case, horrible disaster is coming for you! Please allow me to examine your future further!"
"What?! For real?!"
"Yes. I suggest you get your fortune told. What I say will surely come to pass!"
"Ugh... More of this shit? Sorry, but we're in a hurry. An' I don't believe in that stuff anyway."
"I see... My apologies," the presumed fortume teller said to his surprise. "But if you change your mind, I'll be waiting here in this spot at night. May your fortunes be well."
Ren expected her to be insistent. Instead, though she, of course, still suggested her services since it was her business, she was rather polite about it. So they easily left her and found themselves at last at Crossroads Bar. This time though, Ryuji waited outside. That one brush with the police was enough for the day.
As soon as they went in, Ren's cringed at the smell of alcohol and memories of his mother. Thankfully, he was distracted from any such reminiscing as he was greeted by a tall woman that Ohya-san called "Lala-chan", who he admittedly took a bit of liking to when she said,
"Ooh, you picked up a real young one this time... Just don't let a minor drink alcohol, okay?"
"Don't worry, we ain't here for that," Aki said for him before glancing at him with worry.
He gave her a grateful and reassuring smile. Then he said,
"May we get to business, Ohya-san?"
"Straight to the point, eh?"
"That's more my sister's job."
"Hey!"
"Lala-chan! I'm going to borrow the seats in the back," Ohya-san said. "Go on back there. I'll treat ya to some water."
Thankfully, it didn't take long for the journalist to catch up. But up close, Ohya-san smelled just as bad as his mother did and now a part of Ren was regretting coming here. But he had Aki by his side and he had insisted, so he would push through.
Understandably, the first thing Ohya-san did when she sat down was to laugh and say,
"What a surprise. I thought you were joking, yet here you are."
"We don't joke about this kind of stuff," Aki said.
"And I respect that bravery. So I'll listen to what you have to say. Well, what do you want to know?"
"The one who controls Shibuya," he said.
That wiped off the drunken smile from the woman's face.
"Oh... Why that?"
"We need it."
"Hmm... Well, I do happen to know something about that. I could tell you, but..."
"But?"
She took a drink. "Do you know the Phantom Thieves of Hearts? You know, that case the public has been focused on lately."
"Yes."
"I was pursuing the issue of people randomly entering the shut-down state, but I'm lacking intel... That's why I'm currently looking for new material to write about. So, do you have any info on these Phantom Thieves?"
"Are those your terms?"
"Hmm... Something like that..." she said, then went on to explain she remembered their uniform and hoped to have exclusive coverage from a victim of Kamoshida, the first target of the Phantom Thieves.
Ann was definitely not on the table, or Shiho. Preferably, Ren didn't want any of the victims being interviewed, but...they needed the info, so he had to think of someone. Ryuji was out, considering it was loose lips that led to this situation in the first place. So that left...
"I know someone."
Aki looked at him, worried again, probably wondering about who he was thinking of. So he traced Mishima's name on the back of her hand, placating her.
"It's a deal then. Send me your friend's contact info."
He...wished she hadn't said that. He didn't want to give contact info without permission that, considering Niijima had just done the same with him and Aki, but a deal's a deal, so he nodded.
For some reason though, Ohya-san started musing about how both the shut downs and the heart changes seemed supernatural. Their breaths were held as both he and Aki stopped giving any tells to the speculation. Thankfully, she stopped, apologizing for her musings and, luckily, said,
"Now then. We can't exactly consider this as upfront payment but... Junya Kaneshiro. I think he's the guy you're probably looking for."
"Yes!" Aki cheered quietly.
"You should check him out further if you're curious...but I'm not responsible for what happens next!"
"Don't worry. We wouldn't want you to be."
"Hmm. If you say so..." Then Ohya-san was back to being an excited drunk as she said, "Lala-chan, can I get a refill for this kid?"
"No. We gotta go. See ya!" Aki said, Ren glad for her blunt nature having her drag him out of the bar and into...not exactly fresh air, but he would take it.
After regrouping with Ryuji, their friend checked the name on the Nav and they got a hit. With that established, they were about to leave when, once again, frequenters of Shinjuku came up to them...or rather, came after Ryuji.
"Ooh, you're right! He really would be a natural! But, a graphic tee with plaid pants? Ugh, kill me now," one said.
"Woah! Who the hell are they?!"
"Oh Hell has nothing to do with it, honey. I'm Angel—straight out of heaven."
"And I'm Julian. Julie, if you're feeling saucy."
Ren couldn't help but chuckle at Ryuji's bad luck today. At least until Angel-san said,
"What a cutie! You'd never guess he was into the drag scene... Let's show him the ropes!"
"Woah woah woah! Hold the phone! What makes you think that?" Aki said.
"I think you're misunderstanding," he said, confused.
"Oh! Are these your friends? Don't worry. You don't have to defend him and deny it! We saw him peeking in Crossroads!"
Quick, before they could drag their friend off, Ren said, "Oh no, we were there just to meet someone named Ohya-san."
That startled the two and seemingly calmed the excitement to their curiosity.
"Oh? You know her?" Julian-san said, sounding as if he did.
"Kinda. Do you know her?" Aki said.
"She and Lala-chan go way back, and we know Lala-chan so we know her," Angel-san said. "So that's why your friend was looking at Crossroads?"
"Uh yeah. I wanted go in with 'em, but I'm still wearin' my uniform, so I just...stayed outside."
"I see... Well, sorry for getting carried away in our excitement," Angel-san said.
Julian-san sighed. "And here I thought we would have a new hopeful to teach..."
"It's understandable," Ren said, knowing what it was like to get carried away with something one loved.
"Maybe next time try not to come on 'em so strongly so that you don't freak 'em out?" Aki said.
They chuckled.
"We'll do our best."
Then Julian-san said, "Though I hope Ohya didn't bother you either. She can be quite a lot when she's drunk."
"And ask a lot of questions. Like, girl, give us some breathing room."
"No, she wasn't so bad." "Compared to your mother, that is."
"I'm guessin' Lala-chan bein' there helped though," Aki said. "She was remindin' her to not give us drinks."
The two laughed and smiled.
"Yes, you would be right."
"She's quite the drinker."
"You can say that again."
Another shared laughed, this time with Aki in the mix and Ren smiled at the sight. But this time they got interrupted by an awkward,
"Uh, hey...since we got that cleared. We gotta go before it gets late."
"Oh yes! That wouldn't be good! Run along dearies! You should go before the more dangerous wolves come prowling!"
"Farewell! It's been a pleasure to meet you!"
"See ya!"
"Good-bye, Angel-san, Julian-san."
And they finally left Shinjuku, no one else stopping them, and he could finally rest from that trip.
Well, not before being vague with Mishima about what Ohya-san was like and why she was asking for him, making him think he was going to go on a date.
As far as his sleepy and mentally exhausted mind was concerned, it was pretty funny.
(A)
It was afternoon and they were guessing keywords once again.
The kind of distortion was easy enough to guess. Ren had said "bank" and the Nav registered it. Now all they had to do was guess where this distortion was happening...which wasn't as easy. If they went with the logic of "bank", then that meant he got his money from his victims, and his victims were all over the area.
As Ryuji so eloquently put it.
"Oh come on! How many people do you think he's taking advantage of in all of Shibuya?!"
"Results found."
"Wait what?!"
Never mind. It turned out to be just as easy.
After they discussed whether or not they should transport into the Metaverse in a crowd of people, they decided to go. And what greeted them reminded her of a dystopian sci-fi film.
Contrasting with the color of real life Shibuya, the sky glowed a sickly green and was shrouded in black clouds, tinting everything in a drear light as money flew around like confetti. And instead of bustling people of different types and styles...
"What are those?!"
...walked animated ATMs with arms and legs around the streets.
"You gotta be kiddin' me... This is Kaneshiro's cognition of people?" Rogue scoffed. "Of course it is..."
He was a mafia boss after all. As beffiting of him, Mona noted that his distortion was so strong that it's affecting all of Shibuya instead of a building in it, unlike the previous Palaces. So for now, they needed to find the Palace proper, and well...
"A-Ah! Please forgive me! I-I don't have any more! I'm telling you, not even one yen!"
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuggghhhhh..."
"It's no use... It's all over... I'll end up just like them..."
...they found not only breaking down ATMs, but collapsed ones too. Thankfully, the newest one they encountered seemed relatively lucid. So Joker asked gently,
"What happened?"
"Can't you tell...? I've fallen... I've fallen so far... From a place where Kaneshiro leaves no tracks..."
"Leave no tracks?"
"What could that mean...?"
"Hey, you gotta tell us more than—"
"I'm...too tired... Please...let me rest..."
The ATM clanged as it collapsed. Joker and Rogue flinced at the sight.
"It doesn't look like this one's going to say anything," Mona said.
"You think?!"
Before either of her or her brother could berate Mona's callousness, Skull said,
"Wish we got more info though..."
"Yeah, what does he mean by 'leaves no tracks'?"
"Yes. He could mean that literally or figuratively after all."
Rogue took a deep, calming breath before she said, "Literally? What do you mean by literally?"
"Well, it said it's 'fallen'. Of course, it could be figurative, but there's still the literal aspect of him falling. Sometimes we should consider things like that in this world after all..."
"Literally fallen...?" Joker said, deliberately, before his gaze followed the money flying around.
Or at least she thought it was flying around until her brother turned, looked up and said,
"I think I found where Kaneshiro is."
And they all followed suit.
"Are you kidding me?!"
There was a giant, flying, bank, sucking up all the money of the city and the ATMs.
"Up in the air... No wonder we couldn't find it," Fox said.
"But how are we going to get up there?"
"Hey, Mona," Rogue said. "Can ya turn into a helicopter or plane or something?"
"No...just a bus."
Rogue sighed. "Shoulda known..."
It wasn't like there was a cognition for literal cat helicopters.
"You're useless!" Skull said. "C'mon, don't you have some kinda secret gadget or somethin?!"
"Shut it! I'm not some robot cat! I mean, I'm not a cat at all!"
"This may be the limit of what we can do today."
"Yeah. We looked all over the place before we even thought about lookin' up."
"It's always looking up that gets people, isn't it?" Joker, well, joked.
"But we gotta find a way up there..." Skull said.
Panther said, "Then let's think about it some more tomorrow, okay?"
And so the Phantom Thieves left the dystopian Shibuya for the day.
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