I want to apologize for how long the last chapter took-forgot about the holiday. On the other hand, I did spend the weekend writing an M-rated one shot sequel, should there be any interest.
December 13
"You can't quit!" Morgana paced the length of the attic before rounding on him. "What about the Phantom Thieves? The justice you were going to bring?"
"I'm not quitting." Akira shoved his hands in his pockets. He had been dreading this conversation since the day in the church. "But if I could have been so wrong about Akechi, what else could I be wrong about? You were the one warning me about taking Handa's heart without permission!"
"Without Ms. Niijima's permission when she had specifically told you not to do it! What's gotten into you?"
Guilt, the grace of a good confession, realizing how empty revenge is, how close I came to being another Akechi, take your pick. "Look, I just can't do it anymore. Once we break this conspiracy and bring Shido to justice, I'm sticking to helping people with mental illnesses and talking Shadows into changing their own hearts. I want to put some good in the world, not just take evil out of it."
"And Mementos? We still haven't reached the bottom." Morgana's tone was angry, but his tail swished slowly back and forth and his head was bowed like it was when he was sad. Interesting. Akira had told Morgana first not only because he was his best friend, but because he had the least to gain from them changing the hearts of evil people. Hell, if he hadn't decided the Thieves were actually his friends, he probably would have stayed gone and looked for someone else to help him figure out who and what he was.
Oh. Akira slid off the bed and knelt to look Morgana in the eye. "You're my best friend. I'll help you reach the depths of Mementos if it takes the rest of our lives." He stretched out his hand.
Morgana stepped forward and allowed Akira to give him the short, gentle strokes that he liked best. He purred. "So you're not throwing me over because of Ms. Niijima?"
Akira stopped. "What?"
Morgana looked almost embarrassed. "She works for bunch of people who wouldn't like us even if the world wasn't rotten and only puts up with what you do because of Shido. Both of your faces light up whenever you see each other. You buy her flowers every time I turn around, and now you come back from talking with her and say you don't want to still hearts anymore. You are besotted. More than besotted."
"That's not why I want to quit, but yeah, I'm in love with her." The church had shattered either desire or will to deny it. Sae had seen him break the other day. Not just physically like during and after the interrogation when he had still been so sure of himself despite everything, but really break. No flash, no brilliance, nothing that someone like her would find attractive, but she had stayed. She had held him. He had discarded all his masks and still felt safe. "But you and me, that's not going to change for anybody."
"I… I can't even talk to her. You've got this huge part of your life and all I can do is overhear. I always figured that if you fell for somebody, it'd be one of the girls."
"I don't think we get a choice about these things." He scooped Morgana into his lap and scratched him under the chin and behind the ears, did everything he could think of to show Morgana he loved him without getting mushy. He was right about one thing. Sae occupied an ambiguous place within the Thieves, one of them but without their powers. Someone grateful for those he could save but someone always aware of how close she had come to losing some essential part of herself or even her life. "Maybe once things calm down a little, the three of us can brainstorm something."
The shopkeeper's bell rang, and Morgana nuzzled him. "Speaking of your girlfriend...let's do some stargazing."
Akira descended the stairs to meet the Niijima sisters, and stared. Makoto wore the dark blue coat and dark shirt she always wore when it was cold, but Sae... She had exchanged her black blazer and turtleneck for a violet sweater, intricately-patterned, leather gloves that were so dark that they were almost black, a matching scarf, and a long overcoat. Her hair was loose, and she looked younger, lighter. A small smile played across her lips. "What's the matter? Never seen someone dressed for winter nights before?"
"You look different." His brain ground to a halt as her smile deepened, and even Makoto was hiding a laugh behind her hand. "Nice different." Oh, wonderful. He was supposed to be teaching her about meteors and he could barely string a sentence together. Nice. Hot. Gorgeous. Exquisite. I want to run my fingers through your hair and kiss you just like this. On second thought, maybe it was a good thing that the words wouldn't come.
"Truly suave, my friend. You will have her swooning at your eloquence."
Heat spread across Akira's face as a small laugh escaped Makoto. "I'm just used to the blazer is all!"
"Stop teasing him, Morgana," Makoto said, but she was still laughing.
Sae looked between the three of them. "Should I be grateful that I can't understand that?"
"Probably." Akira strode forward, and looked around for some—any—change of subject. He clapped his hands together. "So neither of you have seen a meteor shower before, right?"
"Just pictures in the textbook," Makoto said.
"Well, it will really get going around nine or ten o'clock. The moon will obscure the view, but we should be able to see a few meteors. Don't worry about keeping your eyes on Gemini. The meteors just appear to radiate from there. You'll be able to see them from anywhere in the sky."
Makoto's smile was warm instead of amused. "You really love this stuff, don't you?"
"I do. I wanted to spend my life studying it once upon a time." He twined his fingers with Sae and squeezed and was rewarded with a pleasant pinkness in her cheeks. "And I've been reminded that I still can."
Morgana looked at them. "I think I'm beginning to understand," he said softly. Then, a little louder. "Come on, you besotted idiots. I want to see this meteor shower thing."
Akira pulled away and glared at Morgana. Oh yes, he wanted to kiss Sae right there, make her gasp, and be so insufferably cute about it that Morgana would shut up forever lest he get cat diabetes. He didn't. He wasn't Kaneshiro or Handa, taking what he couldn't have and jeopardizing the career Sae had worked so hard to build. Especially when she was the only one with the ability and will to prosecute Shido. They could give presents, hold hands, hug, even caress as long as they didn't call it dating and kept within the rules. Like particles that changed just by being observed, their romance hinged on what couldn't be said. In six months, it would be all right, but in six months he would be sent home.
Home. This is my home. "Let's go."
Sae must have brought him to the café in her car, but he didn't remember it. It was a sleek, black town car built more for reliability than speed or performance, but the seats smelled of real leather. Not as nice as what he had seen from some of their targets but definitely a vehicle for someone on the cusp of having true wealth and power.
Makoto took Morgana in her arms. "Let's take the back seat. More room to stretch out." She just looked at Akira with that smug student council president look that had made him want to punch her the first time they met. Why did even bother? At least Sae was looking just as flustered as he felt. He slid into the passenger seat all the same. If he couldn't have everything he wanted, at least he was a thief good at stealing more than the world was willing to give him.
"So," Morgana said after a long moment, "since our lives are in Ms. Niijima's hands yet again for the duration of the trip, I want to know more about her. Hobbies, star sign, favorite color?"
Akira translated. "Purple, Capricorn, and it seems that my hobby is trying not to have a heart attack because the supernatural has wormed its way into my life." She softened. "Not that it's been all bad. Tell me, does Okumura really use a grenade launcher? And did Kitagawa really spend your entire vacation trying to paint lobsters?"
"Yep." And so the conversation went as he, Morgana, and Makoto told Sae all the stories of the year that Akira had been forced to omit the first time. Walking Futaba around Shujin (Sae had winced almost imperceptibly), learning to play Gun About from Oda ("Wait, you learned how to use guns from an arcade game?") and traveling with Yusuke into Mementos to capture both the darkness and nobility of the human heart. Akira rested his hand on her knee. "The Metaverse isn't always scary."
The narrow streets and cramped buildings of the city gave way to the rice fields and trees of the country. The tension in Akira's back eased. This had been his life once upon a time, and he could feel some of the outer layers he had acquired since the arrest slough off like dead skin. A little less jaded thief, a little more eager scholar.
Akira had picked a grassy hillock a kilometer outside the nearest town as their viewing spot. He helped Sae and Makoto lug the blankets from the trunk of the car and spread them out. The cold was sharp against his cheeks, but the winds were still and the sky was as clear as any junior astronomer could ask for. He sat, legs sprawled out, Morgana cradled in his lap and Sae and Makoto on either side of him.
He had forgotten how beautiful and bright the night sky could be without light pollution to mar it. Thousands upon thousands of stars bringing light from millions of kilometers away using nothing more than electromagnetism and the receptors in his eye. He watched as Sae, who must have stars before, but clearly not for a long time, stared. Not as dramatic as the Metaverse, but there were flashes of the sublime in the mundane if you knew where to look.
Even Makoto seemed impressed. "This is way better than Waikiki."
Something wistful flickered across Sae's face. "I imagine that trip was good for more than a recommendation from the school." She looked at Akira. "You're the professor. Explain to me what I'm looking at. Why is there a meteor shower tonight?"
"Basically, you're looking at the debris from the breakup of a minor planet/asteroid. 3200 Phaeton, to be specific. We used to think that the showers were caused Earth pulling bits of debris from the object of origin, but it's more likely that it's from infrequent disintegration. Especially when the object in question is not a comet, like with Geminids. And—" Akira cut off as Makoto, Sae, and Morgana stared at him. He was doing it again. "I sound like Yusuke."
Morgana snickered. "Maybe the two of you can team up again for another painting."He looked at Sae. "Love by Starlight or something. You know, I used to think that the Phantom was what you were, but I'm starting to believe that it's just one of the things you can do. Is that why you want to scale back on the heart-stealing? So you can be the other parts of yourself?"
"Something like that. Sorry for the geeking out."
"Don't be sorry," Sae said. "It's been a very long time since I've been able to learn something for the sake of learning it instead of for a case." Her hand rested against his. "If I didn't want you to 'geek out,' I wouldn't have brought you here."
"Didn't you say the meteors could appear anywhere in the sky?" Makoto asked. "Maybe we'd have better luck if we split up and looked in different directions?" Akira couldn't quite tell in the darkness, but he thought she might have that knowing look back on her face. "Come on, Morgana."
Some days he wondered why they bothered playing by the rules. He scooted closer and put an arm around Sae. She sighed, light and pleased and leaned her head on his good shoulder. Akira held himself very still, enjoying the warmth through his shirt and afraid he would break the spell if he spoke. Sae was as beautiful in the moonlight as he'd thought she'd be, all silver. Her breath was quiet and even, peaceful.
"Did you talk to the others about the Metaverse?" she murmured, sounding sleepy.
"Just Morgana. I think he gets it a little, but I think he worries that he only has a place here as long as I'm the Phantom. Wish I knew how to tell him that I love him for being him and not for what he can do."
"Tell him that, if it's any comfort, I wish I could understand his world better. As much as you all try to explain, I'd trade it all for seeing it for five minutes and hearing him speak. As long as I didn't get attacked by Shadows. That I leave to you." She shifted to look up at him. "Are you really okay with not taking vengeance on the corrupt?. I'm not going to pretend I'll ever be comfortable with what you do, but don't give it up for me. Don't do anything just for me."
"I'm not. You remember how you said everything got clouded for you after your Dad died? I think things were starting to get clouded for me." And he would have no Shadow that those he loved could convince to see reason. "To tell you the truth, as long as I can help people and wear the great shirts and trenchcoat, I think I'm good." He smiled at her. "That'd be the nonnegotiable, Prosecutor: if you asked me to give up the dress shirt. I look pretty good in that world. Thieves have to be stylish."
"You could buy the shirt. Astronomers can be stylish too."
"And lawyers can rub shoulders with the supernatural. I think we both a lot more than we thought we were." He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. There had to be a way. No more having a life with Sae, astronomy, and his faith on one side and his friends and the Metaverse on the other. His life here would end in three months, but those three months should be undivided. "Futaba brought you into your Palace once. Would you be willing to go back, with me and Morgana?"
She pulled back slightly to look at him in surprise. "Would that be all right? The other me tried to kill you."
"I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be okay. You're the master of the Palace, and you know I'm not a threat. Leviathan shouldn't hurt us." He wondered what Sae's Shadow was like now, what exactly happened to the Shadows of good people that didn't become Personas. "It'd be a scientific expedition. Like going to the North Pole."
"Didn't people die doing that?" Sae took a deep breath. "I'm sick of needing a translator for Morgana, and I'm not going to be the coward I was before. Thing's are going to be crazy once you take Shido's heart, but maybe after things calm down...yes I'd like that very much. Her head returned to his shoulder, and her breath was warm on Akira's skin and made him shiver. "I trust you."
Akira stroked her hair and forced down the lump in his throat.
"Meteor!" Makoto called.
Then they were on their feet, racing just in time to see light streak across the sky. Bits of rock made beautiful by the atmosphere. Yes, beauty was everywhere if you had eyes to see. He had just forgotten that for a while. How could anything that made him remember be bad luck? "Some cultures actually wish on falling stars. Make a wish!"
"To find out who I am!"
"For Shido to be captured and to know if he wanted Dad dead."
"For us all to be safe." Sae looked at him. "And you? What do you wish for?"
To stay like this forever. Akira took her hand. "It's a secret."
