12/15- After school
"Shit... shit... shit... shit..."
These thoughts raced through Sae Niijima's mind as she power walked through the backstreets of Yongen-jaya, she had hoped her message had reached Akira and that he had done the smart thing and called everyone (and she meant, everyone) to Café Leblanc, because they were nearly out of time. Him and the others being able to mastermind his own death to avoid ruin was pure genius and she had to smile at her own sister for helping to craft such a complex, yet successful plan of action against their foes.
She nearly bumped into an old couple, quickly swerving to the side of them, she took a turn towards Leblanc.
But that wasn't enough.
They had to act now, otherwise they were all doomed.
Reaching the familiar site of Café Leblanc, Sae smiled to herself and opened the door.
The sound of the door opening drew all eyes towards Sae Niijima, judging by the fact the sign had been turned to closed, they knew it couldn't be any normal customer and the series of texts Sae had sent her sister were followed precisely by the look of things.
Makoto, tell Akira to get everyone and I mean everyone, who knows about the true identity of the Phantom Thieves into Café LeBlanc in the next hour
Makoto had read the text with widened eyes and faced Akira directly as the rest of the group leaned in closer.
"What is it?" Ryuji eventually asked, "What did your sister want Makoto?"
Makoto gulped and typed a reply.
Okay, are you coming to Leblanc too?
The reply was instant.
Yes, this is serious, tell nobody to leave, I'm already heading over
"Makoto?" Ryuji persisted.
The student council president sighed and turned to face Akira.
"My sister wanted... she wants me to tell you, that everybody who might know who the Phantom Thieves are, need to be in Leblanc in the next hour".
There was a short silence.
"What?" he eventually asked.
"Everyone who knows" Makoto repeated.
"I thought it was just you guys, me and your sister who knew about this" Sojiro piped up, the aged café owner was listening intently to their conversation.
"There are more" Akira admitted quietly.
"More!?" Haru and Sojiro inquired at the same time.
"Well... we know Mishima's one..." Ann mumbled.
"Mishima?" Haru inquired once again "Whose...?"
"He's the admin of the Phansite" Ann explained "He clocked on it was us pretty early on, but hasn't told anyone, as for the others... Akira" she said turning to face him.
"They haven't and promised not to tell anyone either" he admitted.
"Don't you think it would have been wise to let us know about this?" Makoto inquired sharply "Even if they didn't intend to tell anyone, if the police or anyone else found out their identities, they could have been interrogated and tortured into revealing the fact you are still alive or the identity of the rest of us".
There was damning silence in the café at Makoto's analysis.
"I didn't think it was anything to worry about" Akira finally admitted "Besides... they've been helping us..."
"Helping, don't you have any idea how reckless you've been!?" Sojiro demanded, an angry bite in his voice "Keeping these secrets from your teammates, letting people run loose who know who you are!? Don't you realise how high the stakes are here! THIS ISN'T A GAME!" He suddenly bellowed, causing many of the Phantom Thieves to jump.
Akira didn't look at him, but was on his phone, already sending off the first texts to his partners in crime.
"The weapons, medicines and items we've obtained and tactics we've learned in battle is mostly thanks to these people" he eventually responded "I didn't want anyone to worry about this, we had enough on our plates already and the people who know, fully support us and have proven themselves trustworthy, remember the bounty placed on our heads?"
There was silence at this.
"How much was it? 30 million yen? These people knew about that, they knew what they could have profited by handing us over and yet they didn't" he muttered, before he looked up from his phone, (the last text message being sent) he faced Sojiro and muttered "I know better than anyone else that this isn't a game, but I haven't just told or confided in anybody about our secret. I trust these people more than you realise and I believe they trust me too".
"Enough that they'll all come running at once, at your call?" Sojiro challenged.
A short hesitation and then a defiant "Yes" from Akira.
Sojiro sighed but didn't pursue the topic any further.
"But still dude... trust and all that stuff..." Ryuji muttered.
"I'm sorry I didn't share this information" Akira replied "I trust all of you as well, I just didn't want to overcomplicate matters".
"Akira..." Makoto moaned, she knew how cool and quietly confident he was and his words now had almost and very nearly almost convinced her that everything would be fine and he had made the right choice in keeping these people a secret from the rest of them. Yet she found she couldn't agree with this.
"Everything about our plans and schemes has been... overcomplicated in a way" she muttered "As our leader I'm disappointed that you felt the need to keep this from us, yes..." she began, as she could seem him about to protest against her point "I can understand you took time and effort to gain the trust and support of these people and that their support has helped us more than we can realise, but in future they'll be no more secrets, we need to be up to date on everything, understood?".
Despite the circumstances, Akira felt himself smile at her.
"Understood, captain".
"Wow, Queen really gave you a grilling there Joker" Morgana pointed out unhelpfully, his voice as smug as ever.
"and did you know about this too, Morgana?" Makoto said, turning to where the cat was perched on a nearby stool "Seeing as you accompanied Akira here almost everywhere, surely you had an inkling of this as well?"
"Oh crap" Morgana uttered "I err... I wasn't too sure, I... I..."
"Sounds guilty to me" Ryuji said.
"Hey, shut it!" Morgana snapped.
"You don't realise how strange you all look, yelling and talking to a cat" Sojiro pointed out.
"If you could understood how smug this thing is, you'd yell at it too, boss!" Ryuji (ironically) yelled.
"I'm a human, not a thing! How dare you..." Morgana began to rant, as he and Ryuji got into another one of their shouting matches, while Haru, Ann and Futaba moved in to settle the dispute, (Ann eventually losing her cool and joining in with the yelling, Haru simply giving up and Futaba grinning to ear to ear and yelling random words into the fray). This left Akira to look down at his texts, Makoto watched him closely, while Yusuke was busy (for whatever reason) framing the chaotic scene in front of him with his fingers and humming to himself.
Tae Takemi was the first to arrive.
Seeing as she was a stone's throw from the café, it would make sense for her to arrive first. The argument between Ryuji and Morgana was still in full swing, when the sound of the door opening ceased all their arguments and an unusual silence befell them all, compared the chaos merely seconds beforehand.
"Oh... hello" Takemi eventually said, looking around at them all, "So... um what's all this about then? Some secret Phantom Thieves meeting?"
"Well that would be about right Doc" Sojiro said.
"What, you're a phantom thief too old man?" Takemi muttered, her eyes widening.
"Me, no!" Sojiro exclaimed "I couldn't keep with these kids anyway, I just happened to find out about them".
"Makes sense seeing how you are the legal guardian to their leader" Takemi said, before she shrugged her shoulders and looked at the group in front of her "So, this is the famous group of the Phantom Thieves, a few Shujin students and a cat?"
"I'm actually from Kosei High" Yusuke pointed out.
Takemi rolled her eyes.
"Right, very subtle" and without so much as another word, she took the stool next to the one Morgana had occupied "You mentioned the Phantom Thieves in your message Akira, so what's up? I knew something serious had to have happened for you to text me out of the blue, for me to close my clinic, bring plenty of medicine over and meet up in LeBlanc"
"Something serious has happened, did you bring the medicine?" Akira inquired.
"Of course" Takemi replied, gesturing inside her handbag which looked bloated with the stuff "You know sleeping with me, was a great way to earn my trust in gaining these original remedies".
Makoto felt her face turn pink, as Akira's went red at her blunt suggestion, if the café was quiet beforehand, right now it was full with stunned white noise.
"That's... Akira! Did you... Did you honestly...!?" Makoto began to seethe, however before he could deny it, Takemi was already laughing for everyone to see.
"Ah, so you do have a girlfriend, how cute"
"She's not my... Makoto we didn't... well not we, we... but me and Doctor Takemi..."
"You called me Tae beforehand"
"No, Akira, I... listen, doctor Takemi he's not my boyfriend, I just... well..." Makoto spluttered.
Tae Takemi continued to laugh at them for around another minute, before her chuckles subsided.
"Okay, okay, I've had my fun. But why'd you want us to meet up now, and why did you want me to bring so many meds?"
"You'll see" Akira muttered.
Tae turned to speak to Sojiro on the whole matter, seeing as more people who be arriving, he was already preparing a feast and drinks for everyone, with Tae making her request first. As everyone else got back to discussing matters, Makoto leant in close to Akira in a voice that couldn't be overheard by the others.
"So you've picked up on it as well" Makoto muttered, her tone serious having recovered from the previous embarrassment "But are they ready for this Akira? if what I think is happening is actually happening..."
"They'll have to be ready and we'll need all the supplies we can get".
"We don't even know what Shido sees the diet building as yet..."
"We have to find out tonight then, or the game is truly over".
Makoto gulped, she could try and pry about it all she wanted, but both herself and Akira had already deciphered the conclusion about Sae's texts.
and it wasn't good news at all.
"So what's the scoop!?"
Ichiko Ohya strolled into LeBlanc as if she did so everyday, the place smelt of tobacco, coffee beans and had a general homely aura too it, it took her eyes seconds to adjust to how crowded it was, she spotted Akira straight away along with the same two blonde's that had been present with him outside Madarame's shack.
"So... you guys are the Phantom Thieves?" she inquired right away, looking around at the group, more Shujin students she didn't recognise, a cat, the café owner and a doctor in a black jacket, fishnet leggings and a choker round her neck, a goth girl through and through and one Ohya faintly recognised.
"Hey, your the Journalist who was outside Madarame's place!" The blonde boy yelled directly at her.
"and you were the kids with Akira here" Ohya replied "Greetings by the way, so what's the situation? I read Phantom Thieves meeting in the text you sent me and had to rush on over, so... what's the deal?"
"Take a seat and I'll explain" Akira told her "I guess it's good for introductions sake, everyone this is Ohya, she's a Journalist whose been helping us from behind the scenes, Ohya, as you can probably tell, we're the Phantom thieves".
"What a ragtag group!" Ohya muttered, her eyes wide and excited "God, this will make the scoop of my career, is that what this is? Are you all going public with your identities! Am I...?"
"Slow down" Akira told her "You remember your partner, the one you found was alive but in a bad way"
Ohya's eyes instantly darkened.
"Kayo, yeah" she muttered "What about...?"
"You wanted evidence that what happened to her was related to Shido, right?"
"Yeah" she muttered again, "Wait, are you saying...?"
"Are goals are going to align here, but all you need to know for now, is that we're going to steal the heart of Masayoshida Shido and make him confess his crimes".
"HELL YEAH!" Ohya bellowed so loudly, that Takemi nearly dropped the cup of coffee she was holding "Ever since Kayo, I just knew there was something wrong with Shido, but the guy is untouchable and beloved by everybody! It really pisses me off! To know the Phantom thieves are targeting him... it's just... like the perfect target! Taking out someone who would otherwise be above the law and have everyone on their side..."
"Well that's what we do!" Ryuji bellowed "Feels pretty good, don't it?"
"You can say that again kid" Ohya mused.
"As much as I appreciate all the support in the room, maybe we should keep it down" Takemi muttered "What if someone happens to be listening in, or if someone walks in?"
"Store's officially closed" Sojiro said, gesturing at the sign on the door.
"Won't look like it if everyone's crammed in here" Takemi pointed out.
"It's quiet at this time anyhow" Sojiro muttered.
"It's quiet all the time" Ryuji pointed out.
"Hey! Do you want this curry or not!?" Sojiro snapped.
"Oh yeah... sorry boss" Ryuji muttered, cheeks red, as Sojiro returned to his curry, he was about to ask Akira how many more were expected, so he knew how much curry to make. But he saw Futaba eyeing the stuff from the corner of his eye, smiling to himself he simply decided to make an excess amount, even if there was too much for everyone Futaba would probably end up eating it as she did love the stuff. Not that Sojiro could blame her and despite the circumstances this might have been a great chance to advertise the very best of his culinary ability, or simply give everyone something to look forward too in the "serious meeting".
Another chime at the door, drew his attention as he turned to see an middle aged man standing there in a business sort of sorts, followed closely by a woman with flowing blonde locks and lilac eyes, all attention was drawn from the brewing conversation between Phantom Thieves and their supporters towards the two new arrivals.
"Akira, it is great to see you once again!" the man said in a warm and welcoming tone.
"You too" Akira said "Guys for all of you who don't know this is Toranosuke Yoshida..."
"You mean, No Good Tora!" Ohya piped up before she could stop herself.
Yoshida flinched slightly, but allowed himself to smile.
"Well I should have expected..."
"I heard differently actually, I heard you are an actual, credible, politician" Takemi muttered, which really did help ease the smile on Yoshida's face "Sorry about the not-so warm welcome Yoshida" Takemi finished, casting a glare Ohya's way.
"Well, what else was I supposed to say!?" Ohya snarled at the bored-looking doctor "Besides aren't you the plague?"
"Aren't you misinformed?" Takemi snapped back "If you'd done your research, you'd know that Yoshida here was falsely framed for his past blunders, as was I with the director at the hospital I was expelled from, admitting to his mistakes regarding a certain medicine".
Ohya went for a witty retort, but found that her mind had gone blank.
"Now, now let's not fight" Yoshida said (Ohya was glad for his interference) "We are all in this together and have all been helped by the Phantom Thieves, so when Akira messaged me to come here and that it was important, I couldn't refuse the offer".
"Neither could I" the fortune teller agreed with him "Oh my apologies, hello everyone" she muttered, suddenly turning to face everyone else "My name is Chihaya Mifune, Akira here helped me regain confidence in myself and helped change the heart of the chairman of the organisation I used to be associated with".
"Same thing happened to me, considering a certain someone who was making my life very difficult" Ohya replied.
"Me three" Takemi added "While I'm sure everyone here appreciates the actions you took for us Akira, it did make it way too obvious you were Phantom Thieves, as you were the only one who knew our situations and whose hearts needed changing".
"I understand that, but it was the only course of action to take" Akira said "Besides I trusted you all, should you have found out".
"Or you are all just terrible at keeping secrets" Takemi noted "Seeing as this many people know and more are to come".
Akira paled slightly at this, as Makoto shook her head slightly "I'm honestly happy seeing how many people we helped, but chasing down those targets in Mementos, we knew who we were helping out, but not to the extent they could clock on our identities..."
"Makoto..."
"We have to be more careful from now on, seriously Akira" she said, her dark eyes boring into his own.
"But if we both know what's coming, then... what's the point of that anymore?" he inquired.
She sighed.
"As Morgana would say, don't do anything reckless..."
"...had no idea where Leblanc was located" Chihaya was telling them all, she was sat in another booth, next to Yoshida "But as I wondered the back streets I bumped into Yoshida here and we found it together, I couldn't believe we were both connected by the phantom thieves"
"Something about Akira and the way he handled situations we found ourselves in reminded me of the Phantom thieves and how they would behave" Yoshida mused, "Eventually I put two and two together and realised why Akira would want speaking skills from washed up, No Good Tora, I don't know how my teachings have helped the phantom thieves but I am glad they have done so".
"I'm sure Akira put them to good use old man" Futaba mused "After all he negotiates with shadows unlike anyone else, and persuades them too..."
"Shadows?" Yoshida inquired before he smiled and shook his head "I assure I'll know all the details later, but my word what a crazy situation I'm in, to be hearing all of this".
"I like all of this, everyone here seems so friendly" Haru chimed "But I must agree with what Makoto said earlier, we need to advise more caution in the future, wouldn't you all agree?"
"Well as much as his actions did help, it did make it obvious" Chihaya stated nervously casting a glance over at Akira.
"and as much as I agree with what the Phantom Thieves are doing, part of the trend made me slightly uncomfortable" Yoshida admitted "Rather than changing the hearts of those that needed to be changed, the public demanded change and Okumura ended up the victim of that".
"and then we were turned into the scapegoats for that!" Ryuji snapped.
"But you didn't actually kill Okumura, did you?" Ohya asked cautiously.
"Of course not!" Ann piped up hotly "We changed the hearts of scumbags, but we are not murderers! We got tricked by Shido and Akechi".
"I suppose it adds up" Ohya muttered "You wouldn't change the hearts of so many criminals and then just out of the blue decide to start killing them, it makes no sense".
"Yet the public have lapped it up" Takemi snapped "Anything their beloved Shido says, simply has to be true and his negative stance of the Phantom thieves has made him massively popular".
"and you also mentioned Akechi just then" Ohya muttered "As in Goro Akechi? The high school detective? The one who also held negative views of the Phantom thieves?"
"The very same" Akira muttered "But that will be explained later no doubt, all you need to know is, is that he is dangerous and he betrayed us".
"So... he was one of you at some point!?" Ohya asked.
"Something like that"
"Oooohhhh this is simply tooooooo juicy!" Ohya raved, "I can't believe all of this!"
"Neither can we" Haru muttered.
"But didn't Akechi side with the Phantom thieves regarding the death of your father?" Yoshida said to Haru.
"Yes, but we believe that was a simply a ruse to gain our trust" Haru explained to him.
"Despicable" Yoshida snarled "To use somebody's own death like that for a personal gain, but then again in the political world, the numerous strange accidents and incidents that have been occurring certainly seem to benefit Shido in tearing down the current Government and replacing it with his new vision."
"That's what we figured out" Makoto said "Everything links back to Shido"
As she said this the door to Leblanc opened once again and a shy girl, dressed in the blue robes of Kosei High walked slowly into Leblanc.
"Goodness" she breathed "I wasn't expecting so many people to be here".
"Hi Hifumi" Akira said, standing up to greet her "Everyone this is Hifumi Togo, she's here also as a supporter of the phantom thieves".
"It's a pleasure to meet you all" Hifumi said, bowing to them all, "Oh hello Yusuke" she said noticing the boy who went to the same school as her "I wasn't expecting to see you here, so... are you a phantom thief too?"
"Indeed" Yusuke replied "I hope your mother is treating you better, she didn't take kindly to us stealing her heart, suffice to say fighting her proved very difficult".
"I'm sorry to hear that" Hifumi said silently "But it seemed you emerged victorious because my mother's heart has changed drastically and now she is treating me much better..."
"Togo... ah yes the famous female shogi player..." Ohya began.
"Don't start" Takemi warned.
"I wasn't, I just going to point out, that..."
"Yes my mother fixed matches in my favour, but I have been trying to rebuild my reputation from scratch" Hifumi explained, a cold bite in her tone "But that's behind us and I want to move on, I don't mean to be rude, but you appear to be a member of the press and I've had bad run in's with the press..."
"Loads of people have, not like we're upstanding citizens or anything" Ohya muttered, before she switched her attention towards Sojiro , "Hey boss, you got any alcohol you can pour into this coffee?"
"No" he replied flatly.
"Damn it, this is gonna draaaaagggggggg!" Ohya moaned.
It had barely been five minutes since Hifumi had arrived and taken a seat next to Yusuke and Futaba that the door opened and Mishima ran in, Akira was quite surprised owing to his enthusiasm he expected Mishima to be the first to arrive, yet here he was, with as much as excitement and restless energy as Akira was expecting.
"Holy hell, is everyone here a Phantom Thief!? Mishima exclaimed.
"Hey come on man, the door's open, not so loud" Ryuji informed him.
"You have no idea how hypocritical that sounds coming from you" Makoto pointed out.
"Hey at least his learned something" Ann teased, punching Ryuji's arm lightly "Isn't that right Ryuji!?"
"Ah, Shuddup!" Ryuji snapped, as Sojiro closed the door and Mishima apologised for his outburst.
"Sorry, but isn't this just the freakin' best! The phantom thieves and all their supporters gathered for a super secret meeting!"
"Mishima..."
"I mean, I guess we're all going for the big target now! That's why we're all here! Finally I don't have to be on the side anymore! I can seriously kick some ass...!"
"Mishima, this meeting is going to be serious" Akira said cutting through him.
"Right, serious, I can do serious..." Mishima trailed off, in a voice that suggested he certainly couldn't do serious.
"So... is this a friend of your's or something?" Takemi asked.
"Oh, I'm sorry I forgot to introduce myself!" Mishima said his words tumbling out of his mouth at a million miles an hour "I'm Yuuki Mishima the official admin for the Phansite!"
He was meant to sound impressive, at least he did in his own head.
"Okay cool" was all Takemi said, as Mishima's face dropped.
"Erm... yeah it's great too meet you all..." however before he could finish the door was opened once again.
"Hi, I got your text and realised it must have been something serious..."
"Yes it was, hello Kawakami"
Their homeroom teacher smiled back at him, however she couldn't get another word in, before Ryuji bellowed, "MISS KAWAKAMI! YOU KNOW WE'RE PHANTOM THIEVES!"
"Well obviously otherwise I wouldn't be here" Kawakami snapped.
"Wait, our homeroom teacher knows this!?" Ann inquired of Akira.
"Yes"
"Our-homeroom-teacher" Ann muttered in disbelief.
"Yes"
"Dude, a teacher" Ryuji piped up.
"Our homeroom teacher" Ann added.
"What's wrong with you two?" Akira eventually asked, when they wouldn't stop gawping.
"No way, no way is this happening, this is just... too weird!" Ann exclaimed.
"After everything you've seen in the metaverse, you think this draws the line of... too weird?" Akira pointed out.
"I don't know!" Ann snapped "It's just... we were in class all this time and she knew about us being Phantom Thieves..."
"Well I only guessed, but I figured that if Akira was one, it was highly likely you were too Takamaki and you Sakamoto, but you too Okumura and Niijima!? This is quite a surprise for me too"
"Yes, but I guess this makes some sense, after all we did the change the hearts of that couple who were extorting you for money" Makoto noted "But I'm curious, how did you two become so close?"
"Kawakami offered me private tutoring sessions while she worked two jobs" Akira improvised on the spot "After some time, she began to vent her frustrations too me, I listened and began to trust her and she began to trust me and it just went from there..." Kawakami smiled at him for coming up with this, it wasn't technically a lie as she did work two jobs. But she didn't want the strangers in this room to know she worked as a maid, she wasn't entirely sure that would make the best first impression.
"So you're the homeroom teacher, interesting" Takemi noted.
"Yes, I'm Sadayo Kawakami, a pleasure to meet all of you" she said in her pre-used "maid" voice, which Akira quietly rolled his eyes at.
"Tae Takemi" the doctor began as the others began to introduce themselves to the teacher, who eventually took a seat in the booth opposite of Chihaya and Yoshida.
"So... is this everyone?" Kawakami asked.
"Just waiting for one more" Akira replied, looking down at his phone. He hadn't had time to check it with people constantly coming into the café, but in the span of around half an hour, almost everyone had turned up at his call. Some had texted back they were on their way, some (like Takemi) asked why in their texts but despite not receiving an answer had come along regardless. Akira noted that Iwai hadn't replied to his message, but the gun store owner had seen it, so he could only hope he turned up shortly, then he'd have everybody gathered.
...15 minutes later, Iwai had still not shown himself, Akira was beginning to get worried now, Sae's message had been sent in urgency and considering the circumstances they found themselves within, no warning could go unheard, if what he and Makoto suspected was true then it was more than likely that everybody needed to be present.
Or else it spelled danger and even death for everyone involved.
"...okay let me get my head around this..." Ohya was saying (clearly Akira's unease hadn't spread to everyone yet) "...The phantom thieves consists of five Shujin students, one shut in hacker, an art student from Kosei high and a cat and on top of that, the support group consists of a Blacklisted doctor, disgraced politician, a low life paparazzi, yours truly, a literal phanboy, a discredited high school shogi prodigy, the phantom thieves own homeroom teacher, a once fraudulent fortune teller and the owner of this café".
"That makes us sound worse than we actually are!" Mishima protested.
"Just pointing out the facts kid" Ohya said "I mean... what's next, a criminal!? Because that'll be the cherry on the top of this cake, just bring in a member of the Yakuza and we are sorted here folks!"
and as if by magic it was at this exact moment that Munehisa Iwai decided to make his presence known.
"Yo" he grumbled, shuffling into the store, his hat covering his eyes and Akira was surprised to see he had brought Kaoru along as well, the fourteen year old adopted son of Iwai smiled at them timidly, but he seemed to grow more confident and step out of his father's shadow when he saw Akira among the sea of strangers.
"Hey, I can't believe it! Dad told me, you guys are the phantom thieves, right!?"
Akira's eyes found Iwai's who simply sighed.
"Look, you know the kid's smart, he figured it out and after you sent that message too me and why I'd suddenly close the store to run for your assistance, he kept askin' and I didn't think it would do much harm to tell him the truth" Iwai said "Besides you were the one who told me to be honest with my son".
"Yes but not about this!" Akira wanted to scream back at him, instead he kept his mouth shut... he supposed it wasn't too bad, Kaoru seemed trustworthy and had mentioned admiring the Phantom thieves beforehand.
"So whose this then?" Ohya inquired "Our beloved Yakuza member of the team?"
Iwai's face reddened.
"Hey! What have you been tellin' em!?" the former Yakuza member snapped harshly at Akira "I don't appreciate you spreadin' the news I was once Yakuza".
"I didn't" Akira responded lamely "But you just did".
Iwai blinked.
"What, seriously you are Yakuza?" Ohya asked, her mouth falling open "I was just joking... but wow..."
"Oh for fuck's sake..." Iwai snapped, as Sojiro turned around and openly groaned at Iwai.
"I'm not too sure I feel comfortable having a member of Yakuza in my café" he said bluntly, before he turned to Akira "I don't mind you making connections around this city, but isn't this a step too far?"
"See what I mean Kaoru?" Iwai informed his son "This is why bein' the son of someone like me, won't help you out in life..."
"Dad, I've already told you I don't care about that" Kaoru responded "and neither should any of you" he continued "So what if my Dad was Yakuza? He's not a bad guy and what's the difference between him and the current group of people here, the phantom thieves, who are considered criminals anyway by the majority of the general public?"
There was an impressed silence at his passionate words, in which Iwai himself had to smile and chuckle to himself, in those moments he couldn't be more proud of his bespectacled son.
"Well... well..." Yoshida said at last "I highly doubt you can be a bad person if you've raised a fine young man like that, come, sit with us. There's a lot I'm sure we all wish to know about each other, starting with your name"
"Iwai" the gun store owner replied duly "and this here's my son Kaoru"
Kaoru waved at the friendly politician as Iwai looked around "So, this is the rest of the Phantom thieves and the support group, eh kid?" he quizzed of Akira "I was expecting... more shady looking folk, considering all the model guns and objects you brought from me"
"Disappointed?" Akira inquired, but before Iwai could answer he ploughed onwards "Anyway did you get what I asked for?"
"Yes, that's why we were late, it would look suspicious takin' all this on the train so we walked here" Iwai said, as he pointed at bag strapped firmly on his back and the one his son was holding "I dunno why you needed so much kid, but I brought what I could... can't believe I just went off your text though. But something about it told me this was serious, you're the not the one that usually requests things out of me, or too meet up..."
"Yeah... but this is serious and you'll come to see soon enough why or those guns, melee weapons and protectors are needed". Akira informed him, as Iwai simply shrugged and went to sit next to his son.
"This is really it, isn't it?"
Makoto's voice was small, almost frightened, as Akira turned to her, he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"I promise you, we'll make this work, okay?" he muttered.
Makoto wanted to believe him, but she couldn't stop feeling uneasy.
Another chime.
Everybody looked up expecting to see Sae Niijima as she was the last person they were expecting, instead they were greeted with the site of an middle aged woman with a kindly face and dark brown eyes, who seemed at ease despite the full atmosphere of the café and the fact she was surrounded by strangers.
"Sorry, cafe's closed" Sojiro told her bluntly "We're having a erm... private, family celebration"
"Well then count me in!" she cheered "Because I'm part of this family too!"
"Err..." Sojiro turned to Akira for some reason as if he had the answer to deal with this strange woman, as everyone else fell quiet, afraid to give anything away about the Phantom Thieves to a possible intruder.
"Erm... sorry, this really is private" Akira said standing up to confront her "You..."
"Ah! You must be Akira, I've heard so much about you!" the woman mused.
"What... but how...!?"
His questions were solved within the next couple of seconds, as the woman beamed and her eyes went wide at the site of a certain someone.
"Oh, there you are Ryuji!"
All eyes found the blonde, who looked like he wanted to evaporate on the spot.
"M-mum" he eventually choked out "What are you doing here...?"
"I'm here for the Phantom Thieves meeting!" she said as if it were obvious.
Ryuji seemed to be in a complete state of disbelief as did everyone else, as mother gazed at son and he gazed right back, not blinking at all, he was sure he had misheard her.
"P-phantom thieves?" Ryuji eventually said, his mind gone blank.
"Yes son, Phantom Thieves" his mother said "I received a text from an unknown number telling me my son was in Leblanc café and that I needed to head over there immediately for a Phantom Thieves meeting".
"But... I'm not... we're not...!" Ryuji began.
"Oh son, quit the act, you're a terrible liar" she mused with a small smile "Ever since Kamoshida got that calling card, I just knew you were behind it. You were never one to sit down and simply take the abuse that horrible man threw at you and since then you've made me proud, son!" she said, her voice choking slightly "But I had no idea how to tell you... that I've always known. But the way you'd always talk about how great your friends were and how they looked out for you, I just knew you were in capable hands".
"Well... err... that's great mum. Really" Ryuji muttered, seemingly mortified by this revelation "But if you always knew... then weren't you... like worried out your mind or something?"
"Of course I worried!" she snapped, "Honestly, Ryuji do you have any idea how worried I was when that bounty was set upon your heads for 30 million yen? If I could figure out that you were a member than who else had figured it out? Then there was the news of your leader's supposed death and..." she sighed there.
"I had no idea when or how to tell you, I just couldn't do it" Ryuji's mother informed her son "But I wanted you to know, that you always have your mother's support and when that text came through, I just knew now was the time to come clean".
"I should be saying this, but how'd you think I could tell you I'm a fucking Phantom Thief!"
"Language!" she scolded.
"Sorry" he muttered "But mum, who knew, that you knew, that I was a Phantom Thief, who could have texted you and got your number and..."
"Sis" Makoto responded easily "She works in a public prosecutor's office it would have been easy for her to get your contact info, she must have texted you because she didn't want any loose ends, she probably assumed Ryuji had already told you and even if he hadn't it would have drew to you to Leblanc regardless".
"So I was needed here" Ryuji's mother said to her "That's a troubling thought, but anyway, It's high time I introduced myself, I'm Nagisa Sakamoto, Ryuji's mother! It's nice to finally meet you all, and ah... Takamaki! How you've grown since we last met, are you keeping Ryuji in line?"
"Of course Miss Sakamoto" Ann replied just as cheerfully "But I'm just curious... what has Ryuji been saying about all of us?"
"Oh he never stops!" Nagisa Sakamoto chimed.
"Mum!" Ryuji hissed, but it seemed to have little affect on her, as she took a seat and began to gossip away to Ann.
"Ohh you wouldn't believe it Ann, that Akira was so cool today... or... wow I met some cute rich girl whose super nice... I didn't know the student council president could be such a badass, yeah his a little crazy but that Yusuke is a total bro... or Ann's the same as ever but we've been getting along great lately..."
"Same as ever, huh?" Ann said with an evil smile in Ryuji's direction.
"I'm not crazy!" Yusuke snapped at Ryuji "Nor am I your biological brother, I will take friends however as a more compelling word to describe our relationship"
"So, I'm looking cool huh?" Akira mused.
"and I'm badass" Makoto added.
"Why do I get just super nice?" Haru moaned.
"At least you get something! Hey where's my compliment!?" Futaba demanded.
"and mine!" Morgana screeched.
"Hey, can it cat!" Ryuji snapped back at it.
"Why is he yelling at the cat?" Takemi felt complied to ask Sojiro.
"Oh yeah, apparently the cat can talk"
Ohya who was listening in on all this, turned towards Morgana and muttered, "So... you can actually talk".
"Of course I can talk you alcoholic disgrace of a reporter!" Morgana snapped at her.
However all Ohya heard was some faint meow-ing.
"Oh your such a cutie!" Ohya mused, smiling at it.
"I think I'm going to need a long drink after all of this" Takemi said simply "Phantom Thieves, talking cats, ex-Yakuza members, homeroom teachers in on the secret, God whatever's next?"
As if some God had answered her question Sae Niijima had finally arrived.
"So... everyone's here" she muttered gazing around at the full café "Let's see" she did a quick head count as the café fell silent around her.
"Bang on 20 people here, yes this should work" she muttered, before her eyes found Nagisa's "Miss Sakamoto, I'm sorry I texted you out of the blue like that, you must have been confused, but I needed you at Café Leblanc, to ensure the safety of both yourself and your son".
"It's quite alright dear, I already clocked on he was a Phantom Thief" Nagisa told her sweetly.
"Well it was a gamble either way" Sae said "But I'm glad it paid off, I was considering contacting the rest of your parents of those I knew were Phantom Thieves, but..." she sighed there.
"Makoto only has me, Yusuke you are an orphan, Haru you recently lost your father, Ann your parents are aboard and should be fine for a while, Akira, your parents are also a distance away, Ryuji you are the only one who has a guardian close-by... and as Sojiro is already here for you Futaba, I only had to send one message, but..."
She turned to the others in the café.
"Just so we're clear I'm Sae Niijima, older sister of Makoto here and if any of you have any loved one's you care about, or who you think have any idea who the phantom thieves are, or your link towards them, you need to call them here instantly".
There was a short silence.
"My parents are nearby and my mother had a change of heart" Hifumi eventually said "But... with my father being ill and everything with the Shogi tournament I don't think they've made any connection to me being associated to the Phantom Thieves, even if I phoned them now, my mother finishes work late and my father would be unable to travel in his state".
"I'm sorry to hear that" Sae said "But what about your parents?" she asked of the only other high schooler in the room, Mishima.
"They haven't clocked on and they've gone aboard for the week, so it should be fine" Mishima reassured her.
"Okay good" she smiled, "Anyone else?"
There was silence from the other adults in the room.
"No wife, or mother?" she asked of Iwai and Kaoru.
They both shook their heads.
"No children?" she inquired of Yoshida "No family?"
"No" he replied.
"Any boyfriend or any siblings from you?"
"No, and nobody would have clocked on anyhow" Kawakami said.
"So we're all clear, everyone who needs to be here, is present" Sae muttered "Thank God, now we're altogether I can tell you what you probably already know... but the reason I called you all here in such haste, was because..."
She sighed.
"...we've been discovered, they'll come for us all tonight".
A/N: So you've probably noticed that Shinya isn't involved in this group and I'll go into detail about that later, but for now I hope you liked this messy introduction chapter of getting the entire gang together to take on Shido's palace.
I also suck at writing Japanese speech and all and I know there are probably a ton of errors when people should have called each other by first or last name, or used the correct -san or -senpai at the end of the name (again I'll try and improve on my research for that next chapter), but I hope it doesn't ruin the reading experience too much.
But for those of you that liked the chapter, feel free to drop a review and tell me what was good and what was bad! I have a ton of stuff planned for this and yes, later on down the line we are going to see the confidants wield their own persona's after an awakening and form a super team of sorts, but also know Shido's palace is going to be much more dangerous this time around then it was in-game, so the stakes are going to be as high as ever.
I also thought Ryuji's mother would make a fun addition to the team, while also being a sensible choice considering she wouldn't be caught and "questioned" by the police, anyway a lot more will come to light next chapter, about how the group was discovered and what they need to do next etc... but there's a lot to explain about how the metaverse works to 12 newcomers who'll be going there for the first time, so I hope the repeated exposition doesn't put you off but I'll try and keep as short as I can and focus on the character development and interactions.
Anyway, let me know what you think, hope you enjoyed!