Chapter 12: Sacrifice
"Junya Kaneshiro, mob boss. Take it away Akira, what do you have?" Yu's voice from the kitchen brought the group to order and got everyone settled in to listen to what Akira had to say about their current target.
"According to Iwai, Kaneshiro is a new player in the game." Akira said, remembering what the former Yakuza member said. "And he likes money. Likes money a lot. Makes enough that he can make some moves against some of the other businesses of the families without getting his backers to pull their support."
"So what? We think that's his distortion?" Ryuji asked from the couch.
"How would we go about that? I mean, for Kamoshida it was that he thought the school was a Castle." Ann said a bit concerned.
"Perhaps one of his businesses that brings in money?" Yusuke offered as a thought.
"There's too many to begin trying to guess." Naoto said. "When you've worked enough crime cases, you hear about all manner of crimes and ways criminals make money. Gambling is mostly illegal, so criminal elements will instead have you win prizes that you can then go next door to turn in for actual money."
Makoto frowned a moment. "Should… should we maybe try and go find one of these recruiters?" she asked.
"Absolutely not." Akira said quickly. "I don't want us anywhere near Kaneshiro. He's not going to be against making a kid disappear to put a message out to everyone else. And you, Makoto, and Naoto would be prime merchandise for him to make his own if he could." Akira wanted to stomp that idea out as hard as he could.
Yu came from the kitchen with a tray of coffee. "You're all thinking too complicated." he said. He took his spot beside Naoto and took a cup of coffee, drinking a little bit of it. It had become a sort of ritual, to get some coffee into their systems after school and before they went into the Metaverse.
"How do you mean?" Ryuji asked, sitting forward a bit to add cream and sugar to his own.
Yu drank a bit more coffee. "A bank." The phone on the center of the table beeped, the distortion field getting filled out for the Metanav.
"A bank?" Ann asked. "But… isn't he a criminal?"
Yu shrugged his shoulders a bit. "One could argue that a bank is one of history's greatest scams of all time." He said. He pulled out another yen coin and tossed it over to Ryuji. "I've loaned you some money. I now expect it back, plus interest at a rate that could inflate the amount you owe to almost twice as much over the lifetime of the loan. Oh, and given the size of the loan, you'll be indebted to me for most of your adult life."
Akira winced at the rather blunt assessment that Yu gave. Ryuji tossed the coin back as though it burned him. "Okay, I can see why a crime boss would have the distortion of a bank. Plus, there's a lot of money flowing into a bank, not so much flowing out."
"That's right. And if he's greedy, he's going to want the most money flowing in. And a good businessman knows that some money has to flow out in order for even more to flow in." Yu said.
Makoto gave a wince then. "I have heard some of the students saying they found this nice paying job, but then things take a turn. I haven't been able to get anything concrete though."
"Well, then let's go change his heart. Where would his Palace be? Should we hit the streets, find his location?" Ryuji asked.
"For the last time, absolutely not!" Akira said loudly. "We need to play this smarter!"
Ryuji winced. "Sorry, my bad." At least he sounded contrite about it.
"Again, you're complicating things Ryuji." Yu said. "What area does a bank usually operate in?"
Naoto smiled. "Of course." she said. "Nothing would satisfy his twisted desires but the entire city." The information filled in on the Metanav and everyone was looking it over.
"Wait, the entire city is his palace?" Ann asked loudly. "How are we ever going to find it?"
Akira was of a similar mindset. "We'll just have to put the work in. In the Metaverse we actually have armor and can fight back, out here we take a bullet to the chest that's pretty much it. I'm more comfortable taking the fight to the bastard in the Metaverse rather than out here."
"So are we prepared then?" Yusuke asked.
"Just two other things." Akira said. He grabbed his bag and pulled it forward. From it, he produced the brown paper bag and slid them over to Makoto. "Your gear. Welcome to the Phantom Thieves."
"Oh yeah?" Ryuji asked excited. "Whatcha get?"
"This guy always seems to know what to get." Ann said, motioning over to Akira.
From the bag, Makoto pulled out the replica of the Colt Diamondback and held it out. "It's heavy." she said. "But… it's reassuring." She looked in the bag again and pulled out a pair of brass knuckles as well. "Huh… Guess all that Aikido training won't really work in the Metaverse, but these should do nicely. What else is there to discuss Akira?"
Akira inhaled a moment and closed his eyes. He hated breaking his promises. Especially one to Sojiro who had done nothing but good for him. But, he thought it might save a girl's life. He exhaled slowly. "I found another Palace owner." he said.
"Really? Who?" Ryuji asked sounding excited.
Akira had to stomp on that. "This isn't like the last two or this one!" he snapped a bit.
Ryuji recoiled slightly from the statement. "Sorry." he said contrite.
Akira sighed. "Her name is Futaba Sakura, and her Palace is a tomb. My understanding is she probably blames herself for her mother's death."
"Wakaba Isshiki." Naoto said from her spot at the table.
"Yeah. Boss said she's his adoptive daughter and that Futaba was present when some people came in and read Wakaba's suicide note." Akira didn't like the idea of having two Palace operations going at the same time, but they needed to be informed, especially if they could save Futaba.
"You're concerned about what she views her Palace as." Yu said.
"I don't know how old she is, but she can't be that old if she was still living with her mom two years ago." Akira said.
"Fourteen." Naoto said. The surprise on Akira's face must of shown. "I am a detective, and quite the skilled one at that." She said none too humbly for a moment. "Once you gave me a name to work with, it was relatively easy to look into details. Especially since it was considered a closed case. The crime scene pictures were…" Naoto grimaced. "Unpleasant."
Akira could only imagine. Sojiro had said the woman had jumped into traffic, not where or in front of what. Even imagine just a broken, mangled body wasn't pleasant to think about. If she was hit by something with a bit more mass, going a bit faster… Unpleasant wouldn't even begin to describe it.
"So should we split up?" Ann asked.
"No," Yu said firmly. "Splitting the group would do us no favors. Palaces are dangerous enough as is." He said. "We're already stretching the issue by splitting into three groups. More people will help as we'll be able to watch each others' backs, but if a healer goes down and no one is there to help them because they are in another Palace, people can and will get hurt more."
Akira nodded his head. "He's right. Even though we have two backup healers now, and I can heal too, I'd rather us not get split apart. Futaba's Palace will come next. I've been in contact with her though, she's a gifted person when it comes to electronics, so it was going to be a matter of time before she contacted us."
"Are you sure that's wise?" Yusuke asked cautiously. "You have been taking a number of risks Akira."
"I'm taking calculated risks, yes." Akira admitted. "But they're to try and handle problems before they pop up. Do we need to cover anything else?" he asked. He didn't really think it was the time to be going over his methods. The others might disagree, but there was work to be done. "Right then, let's get going." Akira said and stood up. The others did as well and went to grab their things, Yu let them store them at his house for a while, but everyone understood the fact that if they needed to they would have to take their gear home with them.
Akira was the one to activate the app with Kaneshiro's information, and after the world distorted around them, he was surprised to see everyone already decked out in their Phantom Thief attire. It would seem that Kaneshiro put some stock into the rumors of them going around, and they were already deemed a threat.
"Woah…" Ryuji said, taking in Makoto's form.
"It would seem Queen was an apt codename." Yusuke said, also taking in the visage of their newest member.
Akira gave a whistle. "Focus. Save the commentary for when we're in Mementos. I don't know how big of a break we're going to get while we're here. Fool's home seems like a safe house, but that we're already in our outfits means we're already being considered threats. Let's go outside and see what there is to see."
The group headed outside, Naoto and Yu bringing up the rear as they tended to do. Akira took point, with most the group regarding him as the official leader. Only Naoto and Yu didn't, but they knew their job as being backup was just as important.
"Hey… look at the people…" Ann said softly.
All the people, walking ATM machines. It disgusted Akira. But honestly, he wasn't that surprised. Worse, he could see some that were very clearly broken apart in the alleyways. Victims that had died? Akira didn't know but it was pissing him off.
"Where do you think we can find this bank?" Makoto asked, stepping up in line with him. "It'd have to be something everyone in this distorted world would recognize right?"
"Yeah… about that." Yu said from the back. "How's that for recognizable?" He pointed his sword towards… Akira and the others turned to follow the sword and even Akira couldn't help but gape at the incredulity of what he was seeing.
Between Kamoshida's and Madarame's Palaces, he should have been better prepared. But Akira couldn't but stare. It was a flying bank like building, acting like a giant vacuum and drawing something in. After a moment, he was able to determine it was money, it even pulled from one of the ATM machine people.
"Mona, is there anything you can do? Some special transformation or gadget?" Ryuji asked.
"I can turn into a bus, not a rocket!" Morgana snapped a bit. Like the comment made any sense in a normal way.
Akira saw Yu scanning the buildings, glancing around. "Thoughts Fool?" he asked.
"I can use a few of the Persona with wings to glide for a brief distance, but… There's nothing high enough to use." Akira was afraid of that. "But I might have figured out an alternative. I just don't like it." If Yu didn't like it, Akira didn't.
Anything that bothered Yu and Naoto who were the more experienced of their group and the backup bothered Akira.
"What's the plan Senpai?" Naoto asked.
Akira watched Yu grimace. "Well… a bank needs customers right? And we're new to the area the bank operates in? So we make him come to us, as customers."
Akira figured out what it was that Yu didn't like. If they did this the way that Yu was talking about, it would tip security off and there was no telling what they were going to run across when they came into Kaneshiro's Palace in a heightened state of security. "Do it." Akira said, resigning himself to a difficult Palace.
Yu stepped forward away from the group and inhaled. "I need a loan." He said loudly and firmly.
It was like a switch was flipped on the floating bank in the sky. It had been mostly meandering about the place, but then it began to drift towards them. It stopped some distance away before a long ramp was extended out to land on the concrete. The entire group stood back from Yu, staring up at the bank.
"Joker, do you mind if I take over as lead?" Yu asked.
Akira nodded his head. "I'll follow your lead." The other Phantom Thieves nodded their heads, quickly determining that they too would follow Yu's lead.
"Mona, turn into a bus. We're not walking this ramp up. Scientist, you're up front with me. Queen, Joker take the left and right sides of the middle seat, wind the windows down and have your guns ready. Fox, you're standing in the middle, pop the top hatch and be ready. Skull, Panther, sorry but you're sitting in the back. Your guns aren't really meant for range or accuracy." Yu's orders came quick and concise. No doubt the older teen was thinking of a number of scenarios and not liking a single one of them.
Akira wasn't liking a single one himself.
But by taking Morgana up, they would at least all be going up at once instead of Yu starting to go up and the rest of them getting stranded.
Morgana quickly turned into a bus and everyone followed Yu's words. Ryuji and Ann slipped into the backseat, though Ryuji notably got his shotgun ready, checking the shells he had in it. Naoto took the front seat and wound the window down, pulling her revolver out. Yusuke had the most precarious of positions, having to stand on the middle of the seat, though he put one foot on the back of the front seat as well to help stabilize himself as he scanned the area with the assault rifle.
Yu started Morgana up as soon as everyone was in, Morgana giving a purr sound. "Hey, you're really good at that. Nice and gentle." The levity of the situation was brought up a bit as everyone chuckled at Morgana's statement. Even Yu chuckled a bit but started to drive the bus up the ramp, shifting gears with a smoothness that Akira was slightly envious of.
"Where'd you learn to drive a stick so well?" Akira asked. He couldn't help it. If Morgana had been an automatic, he likely wouldn't have had such difficulty learning.
"My dad's car is a stick." Yu said. "It's a good skill to have. If it wasn't more dangerous, I'd have you guys learn how to ride a motorcycle as well in Mementos. But…" Yu grimaced. "Even being careful I skidded on the asphalt twice while learning how to ride."
Akira grimaced at that. "I'd like to learn, but I'm not sure I want to learn that badly." he said.
"Mementos might be the best place to do so Senpai, what with us being able to use the Dia line of spells." Naoto said. There were a few groans at the idea, but then again, it was another useful skill to have. "Was it really that difficult from a scooter?" she asked.
"Our scooters were built with some semblance of balance in mind." Yu said. "Not for speed. They're built for stability and have a limit to how fast they can go. While a motorcycle does have a built in chip limiting their top speed, it is still factors higher than how fast a scooter can go."
Akira decided to pipe up then. "Scooters?" he asked, a bit amused.
"You don't need to take more than a written test at the age of sixteen to get a license for a 50cc scooter." Yu said. "And they helped us get around during our time in Inaba, including a beach trip, which sad to say Scientist did not accompany us on. But they made going to the Amagi Inn easier quite a few times."
Naoto tilted her cap down slightly. "You and I did make a number of trips to the hotsprings and talked through the wall, didn't we Senpai?"
The trip up to the bank was thankfully uneventful and they all maneuvered out of the bus. Morgana transformed back once they were all out and stretched himself out a little bit. Akira looked to Yu a moment, wondering if he still wanted to take the lead.
"I can keep taking lead if you'd like." Yu said offered, apparently reading Akira's look.
"It's not a problem with me." Akira said. In fact, it could be a welcomed break, taking orders from someone else. While they both acknowledged that they were among the best for giving orders for their respective teams, they both hadn't asked for leadership and just had it thrust on them.
That wasn't to say that Akira didn't think Makoto and Yusuke couldn't take lead if something happened to him. It was the same with Yu and having Yosuke and Naoto to trust to take the reins if something happened.
Yu nodded his head. "Pass me two thermos of coffee." He said. Akira dug into his pack and passed them over. Yu passed one over to Naoto. They usually only had six to work with, so having Yu ask for two definitely cut into their reserves. Akira watched Yu reach into his pack and pull out some ripe, tiny tomatoes in a plastic baggy. He passed it over to Naoto.
The sleuth raised an eyebrow. "Are we planning an assault Senpai? I didn't even realize you had tiny soul tomatoes." She said.
"Been growing them in the window sill." Yu said. He stepped up in front of everyone. "Right then, we don't know if we'll be able to get back up a second time, so the infiltration has to be done in one go." That surprised Akira. "As with when we usually send out calling cards, I'm sure the ruler of this Palace will leave the ramp down for the infiltration as we're directly challenging him. But claiming to be a customer won't work a second time."
"Can we do an entire infiltration in one go?" Makoto asked.
"We've never tried." Morgana said. "I have two cans of soda."
Everyone began to open their packs, listing off what they had. In total, they had sixteen cans of various drinks, four thermos of coffee, and one container of curry. They were going to be run ragged in Akira's opinion. Especially since Yu and Naoto had taken two thermos of coffee.
Yu however wasn't done. "I know we haven't done this before, and it's rather unorthodox. But Scientist and I will take point. All of you are the emergency team in case things go sour. Make no mistake, things will be dangerous. We're going in loud, and we're blowing through every Shadow that gets in our path. Stay about a room behind us in the shadows. Security is going to go through the roof near immediately."
"This isn't what being a Phantom Thief is about." Morgana grimaced. Akira didn't necessarily blame him. So far, they had worked on the prospect of stealth. This entire plan was throwing that out the window.
"Perhaps not." Yu agreed. "But the fact of the matter is we need to do it. None of us can fly, Joker and I can't summon Persona capable of carrying everyone at once, and it'd be foolish to split up. We have no idea how fast this bank is, or what other defenses it has. So we need to make the Infiltration in one go, and Scientist and I are the best suited for it. We're the strongest here, our Persona re-energize us."
Logically, it all made sense. But Akira still didn't like it. He removed his mask and rubbed his face before putting the mask back on. "You'll be careful right?" he asked. He couldn't exactly stop Yu from doing it either.
"Of course. It's why I asked for some of the coffee." Yu said. The older teen looked to Naoto. "You up for this?" he asked.
She checked her revolver, making sure everything was correct. She then nodded her head. "I've got your back, always." she said.
Yu looked over to Akira. "Think you can find us a way inside that's not the front door?"
Akira nodded and inhaled, slowly exhaling. He made his way around the area before he came to the statue. He bent down and began to push, the statue slowly grinding backwards. Ryuji, Yu, and Yusuke scrambled over to help move it back easier. "How's this?" he asked.
Yu nodded his head. "It'll do."
Take Your Time
Yu slid to his knees, sliding along the tiled floor as he brought his sword out and cut the Shadow's legs out from under it. The fireball that had sailed over his head passed too close for comfort. Naoto's revolver boomed out a retort scattering the Shadow before it had the chance to fall completely from having its legs cut out.
Perhaps charging into the bank and saying that he and Naoto would be infiltrating the entire thing by themselves was a bit of a hasty plan, but it had to be done. Yu had not been wrong in saying that they were the best ones suited to doing it. He had not been wrong in saying they had no idea the defenses that Shadow Kaneshiro would have in place upon their return if they decided to leave. There were just too many variables with a flying Palace to take into account.
They got in once, they had to make it count. In truth, Yu didn't even know if when they sent the calling card if it would be possible for them to get back in either. But they had to take the chance. They had come too far not to.
Now if only the Shadows weren't so damned resistant to physical damage.
"How you doing?" Yu asked as Naoto came up from her spot.
"A little winded and could use a breather at the next safe room." She said. She checked her rounds. "Also, running low on speed loaders. Hoping your idea will work."
Yu nodded his head. "Can't hurt to try." His idea was that if the cognition never saw Naoto run out of speed loaders, then they couldn't tell how much ammo she had. It was why she was putting them back into the pouch she usually carried the full ones in.
They began to move at a more sedate pace, Yu letting Naoto catch her breath a little bit. He knew it was dangerous, but it would be more dangerous if she couldn't breathe.
"Why did you push a bit harder to be the lead for this?" Naoto asked as she reached into her pack. Yu watched as she popped a tiny tomato into her mouth and started chewing.
Yu felt a little amused embarrassment at the truth. It would figure that Naoto would see that his reasons hadn't been entirely honest. Oh, he wasn't wrong in his assement, but it hadn't been everything. Really, he had been hoping for an excuse. "Can I confide in you a bit?" he asked.
"Always." Naoto said, as though he asked if the sky was blue. It was just a simple fact, that Yu could always confide in Naoto and she wouldn't judge him for it.
Yu pushed the button on the elevator and waited for it a moment. "If there was one crime I wanted to commit, it was rob a bank." he said. He smiled in amusement at the shocked look on Naoto's face. And it was easy to see why she was shocked. He was dating, and madly in love with, a detective and he was related to another detective. He was usually an upstanding guy, quite straight laced. He tried to help people.
And he just admitted that he wanted to rob a bank.
"C-come again?" Naoto asked, blinking a bit.
"I've always wanted to rob a bank." Yu admitted and shrugged his shoulders. "It would never happen, I don't have the sort of connections to make it go off without a hitch, plus, I'd be more worried about keeping people alive. But it was just a little… morally dark fantasy." He said. "Perfect bank heist, just hitting the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group… Just millions of yen for the taking. Done quietly, quickly, wouldn't have to work another day in my life."
Naoto shook her head. "You do realize they have state of the art security." she said.
"I know." Yu did. "But come on, what about you?" He asked as he stepped into the elevator. The rest of the Phantom Thieves would take it back down once they were downstairs. "Ever have a crime you wanted to commit? Just something to fantasize about but know it'd never come to fruition?" A little daydreaming was hardly anything bad after all.
Naoto tilted her capt down as she blushed. "There were two things." she mumbled.
"What were they? I won't judge." Yu wouldn't. His girlfriend could say she wanted to kill someone and he wouldn't judge. Everyone had those days. Hell, before King Moron's death, he had been practically fantasizing about it. It was meant to be that, just a little fantasy.
Not necessarily innocent, but it was there.
King Moron's death had seriously put a damper on it. Yu spent some time feeling bad about fantasizing about it. Even an asshole like Kinshiro Morooka didn't deserve that.
Naoto smiled a bit. "Counterfeiting." she said. "Much safer than bank robbing. Could even argue it is easier. A more high brow crime if you will."
Yu chuckled a little bit. Figures that his girlfriend, coming from a prestigious name, would go for a higher brow crime.
"Of course, I also know all the laws against counterfeiting, the penalties involved. And like you, I don't have any of the resources and my own morals would never allow it." Naoto shook her head. "My parents would be so ashamed, my grandfather's heart might not be able to take it if I were to be a criminal in that regard, being so selfish like that."
"Nothing wrong with being a little selfish." Yu said. "But you're right, bank robbing and counterfeiting. Neither one of us could handle the shame that it would bring. And neither one of us would ever do it. Our morals are too on the side of the law." He paused a moment, hitting the up button as he stepped out of the elevator. "What was the other one?" he asked.
"Piracy." Naoto said. "As in Golden Age Piracy."
Yu couldn't suppress the amused snort. He pictured Naoto with one of those giant, over the top, ostentatious for the sake of being ostentatious pirate hats. "You'd make a fine captain."
"Except I don't know the first thing about ships or navigating the seas." Naoto said. "It's not been a skill I've needed, so I haven't had to pick it up. It's much like skiing in that regard, except skiing…"
Yu frowned a moment, remembering the ski trip and the closeness they had shared in that supply shed. He almost punched Yosuke in the mouth for insinuating that they were making up the blizzard. After all they had been through, and they really thought they were going to go do something like that? Even still… "I still owe you a ski trip where it's just the two of us." he said softly.
Naoto blushed a bit, even as they moved along. "Yes." she said softly. "Yes you do. I'm surprised you still want to." she admitted.
"Why wouldn't I want to?" Yu asked, turning to look at Naoto.
"Well…" Naoto shifted a bit. "I really didn't have any ability in skiing when you worked with me the second day, then there was the whole incident saving Marie."
Yu shifted his sword into his left hand a moment and he reached out to take Naoto's hand. He gave it a squeeze, watching her blush. "I told you before, I love spending time with you. It doesn't matter what we do. We could go skiing and I can help you learn, we can stay at your apartment snuggled up under a kotatsu, or we could be shopping for watch parts while you're talking about the technicals of them. I love spending time with you."
"Get them!"
Yu growled in frustration and turned. He slapped himself with a Heat Riser and Mind Charge without even waiting on Naoto and dashed forward, cutting through the Shadow to summon up some physically resistant ones. "I was having a moment!" he snarled before dropping a Megidolaon onto the shadows.
And like that his problem was solved.
Naoto shook her head and walked up calmly. "We had best continue on Senpai. We can handle everything else later. And thank you." she said. She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.
Together the pair continued to make their way through the Palace. They had to back track at one point to a security booth in the main bank area, and then head back down to deal with the Shadow in the room they had just gotten one to vacate from. Then they had to find the pieces of a journal to find the solution to a logic based puzzle that moved a room that was shaped like a giant lock. It was quite the long shot of an infiltration, but between the two of them they managed to pull it off without to much of a hitch.
With their infiltration route secure, they all headed out of the bank and began to make their way down to ground level. They'd head to Yu's house and be back in the real world in just a few moments. And good thing too, everyone was tired. It was less being physically or mentally tired for Yu who had Izanagi-no-Okami working him through the fatigue, it was just more of a sense of tiredness. He was still alert, but he felt his mind drifting a bit.
The hitch came however, as they were getting out of Morgana. Naoto's Shadow appeared and pressed her back to Naoto's. "Reflection incoming! Yamato is in pain!" If Yamato was in pain, then there could only mean Naoto's Reflection was coming, and by splitting up, they saved their Persona from that pain.
They all went into an alert state, Yu tightening his hold on his blade. A snap of the fingers was all he heard before the explosion rocked them. He slammed into the concrete and scrambled up to his feet. The powerful Megidolaon spell had slammed into the middle of them, forcing them to split up. Makoto, still getting her bearings of combat, slammed hard into a parked car, slumping forward with a groan.
"Found you Senpai~." The sing song feminine voice sounded out and Yu turned to look.
Coming from where his house was… It was almost like a parody of who Naoto was. Her blue hair was long and straight, coming down to her waist. It was no longer the messy locks hidden up under a cap. The Reflection wore Naoto's face. But it held touches of makeup that Naoto would never wear. Her lips, painted a flattering red, were curled into a smile. And further deviating her from his Naoto was the outfit. It was a light blue dress with a short and swishy skirt. Her top was lower cut, showing a tasteful amount of cleavage, as though to emphasize the fact she had breasts. And she had on heels to give her a few more centimeters of height. There was a small bag on her back that seemed to go with the dress to some extent.
But more importantly was the revolver she held in her hand that was pointed towards Yu's Naoto.
"I'll be done in just a second, then we can get going. Okay?" She asked sweetly, batting her eyelashes at him. The sweet, almost innocent look on her face twisted to something ugly as she turned to look at the more boyish Naoto. She didn't hesitate, and pulled the trigger.
Naoto moved the bullet slamming into the concrete. It was so quick and sudden and unexpected, but everyone was quick to try and spring into readiness. Akira drew his gun and took two shots at the Reflection, moving to get into better cover. Not that it matter, the Reflection danced out of the way and turned, her shot clipping Akira in the shoulder, sending him down behind a car.
"Joker!" Yusuke shouted before he grabbed his katana and dashed forward. "I will put you to the sword!"
"Fox, no!" Yu shouted as he grabbed at his sword and got up.
The reflection smiled at Yusuke, as though his actions were amusing. She stepped back with a grace that shouldn't have been possible in her heels, but came with practiced ease nonetheless. The tri-colored swirl of light told Yu that she cast a Heat Riser upon herself. Yusuke's blade swung out in a manner that Yu had seen time and time again. But Naoto's reflection reached along her thigh, exposing flesh to Yu as she pulled out a stiletto dagger and parried the katana to the side.
And then plunged the blade into Yusuke's stomach.
The artist coughed with the force of the impact. Yu grabbed his own katana tighter and moved forward, even as the others moved to regroup. The Reflection grabbed Yusuke's arm and pulled him towards her while her foot came out and pushed against his leg, sending him tumbling past her. She began to move forward, ignoring the bleeding artist with the knife buried in his stomach.
Yu moved to intercept her, even as she ignored him and headed for Naoto who was trying to line up a clean shot. He ran through his mind about what he knew about Yamato. Curse and Holy skills would be reflected, and Fire spells would end up doing minimal damage. He swiped his hand out, feeling the surge of strength that came with Yoshitsune. He crossed the distance between them and brought his sword up.
And froze.
He… he couldn't. The reflection looked up to him with wide eyes, the same eyes he looked into every night before bed. Wide and frightened. And she gave the softest of sounds. "Senpai?" She sounded… scared. Yu could remember the way Naoto's Shadow had sounded, had sounded so broken at Naoto wanting to leave. He couldn't strike her.
And then she stepped into his range and grabbed his arm. It was twisted up and behind him as she moved around a stop sign. There was jingle of chains before a clicking sound as something was slapped to his wrist, and then she was doing the same to the other one. Yu jerked as she danced back, a smile on her face, the handcuffs securing his arms behind him because of the pole and being unable to move his arms up over his head. Damn it!
"I've missed you Senpai." Naoto's Reflection said sweetly and in a feminine tone. Not the one that she used with the Phantom Thieves or the rest of the Investigation Team, but the much higher one that Yu had only heard since Christmas when Naoto decided to trust him with her feminine side. She leaned in and touched his chest, kissing his chin in an oh so familiar manner.
"Get the hell away from him!" Naoto said, coming running forward.
That sweet, happy visage turned ugly once more as she frowned and turned to look at Yu's Naoto. She moved after her, bringing the revolver up and firing off another round at the sleuth. Naoto went into a roll, bringing her booted foot out to trip her Reflection, even as she moved to spring to her feet. The Reflection jumped over with a slight hop, and moved to fire at almost point blank range, but Naoto managed to grab the top of the gun, stopping the hammer from slamming into the round. The Detective Prince forced the gun skyward and let her hand slip so that the round fired harmlessly into the air. She then drove her fist into her Reflection's stomach.
The Reflection stumbled back, pulling a second knife from a second thigh holster. She barely looked, her revolver swinging out and catching Ryuji in the thigh as he made to race over to Akira, sending the sprinter sprawling to the ground, yelling in pain as he clutched his leg. She turned and slashed out with the knife at Naoto's Shadow, slicing the hand that was holding Naoto's revolver before she kicked the gun spinning away to the other side of the street.
And Yu was helpless to do anything. He jerked at the handcuffs again, tried to even bring his sword up to maybe do something, but he couldn't find the leverage.
The Reflection couldn't use her revolver with the proximity of Naoto and her Shadow, but she still had a second stiletto in her hand. She moved between the two, Naoto and her Shadow. While the stiletto was primarily made for stabbing, it was still adequate for slashing and she put it to use, slashing at Naoto. She even caught the Detective on the cheek, a line of crimson forming that began to spill down to Naoto's chin.
Naoto and her Shadow of course fought like they were the man they emulated for so long. Naoto threw punches that would have made a boxer proud. And they even connected with the Reflection, but with the Heat Riser still in effect, the effects of it was less than ideal. Naoto's Shadow came in with a hard kick that was dodged before the Reflection stepped in and plunged the second stiletto into the Shadow's leg. She cried out but clapped her hands onto the Reflection's wrist before giving a hard crack of her head. Her forehead busted into the forehead of the Reflection, with both recoiling, the Shadow limping from the stiletto in her leg.
Naoto moved in to tackle the recoiling Reflection and try to wrestle the revolver away, but the Reflection went down onto her back and rolled with Naoto putting her in an optimal position above the sleuth, the revolver coming up under Naoto's chin, with the hammer cocked back.
"Checkmate… I win~." The Reflection said in that same sing song way. Her finger began to squeeze down on the trigger. The Shadow had pulled the stiletto out of her leg and seemed ready to throw it, but paused at the predicament Naoto was in.
"Wait!" Yu shouted. Damn it. Morgana had gone to Akira and was too far away, the fight had been too close quarters for most of it, or else someone might have been able to get a spell off on the Reflection. Ann had gone to check on Yusuke who was critically injured.
Naoto's Reflection looked up at him with those eyes, quizzical and almost innocent again. "What is it Senpai?" she asked.
"Don't. Don't shoot. Please." Yu said softly, begging even. "Please don't shoot her." The gun never wavered. Yu licked his lips and managed to maneuver his arms enough to grab his cell phone, unlocking it. The last screen he was on was a message with Naoto. "It's not her you want, is it?" he asked. He began to type out another message, looking between the Reflection and his phone. "It's me. You could have slipped a knife in my ribs, but you didn't. You don't want her. Let her go and I'll come quietly."
"Senpai, no!" Naoto said loudly.
"Shut up!" The Reflection said harshly, digging the barrel of the gun into Naoto's jaw. At that range, with that caliber, there was no way Naoto would survive. She looked back up to Yu. "But if I eliminate her now, I'll still have you and we'll never have to worry about her interfering, Souji-kun." She said sweetly.
Souji? Yu had no idea who Souji was, but he knew if he didn't think of something, Naoto was going to die. "You kill her, I bite my tongue off." He said. He was even prepared to do it. He watched the smile wipe from her face. "You'll still lose. You may kill all of the others before they can escape, but you still lose."
"Damn it, why can't I be happy?!" Naoto's Reflection screamed at him. "All I want is your love!"
Yu swallowed hard. Sometimes a sacrifice had to be made, and for Naoto he was prepared to sacrifice a lot, even his life if she went before him. He sent the message before he brought up the Metanav. The message wouldn't send until he left the Metaverse, but it was fine. "Let her go, and I'll come peacefully. I can even take us out of this world and into the real world." It would kill him to see Naoto die. And he didn't know if he could kill the Reflection, not when it wore the face of the woman he loved.
The revolver never waved from under Naoto's chin. "I know you're playing me." she said, almost angrily. The Reflection turned her head to look towards Akira who was holding his shoulder. She pulled her bag around without moving the gun. Naoto must have realized how close they were to losing each other because she didn't move in the slightest, even though it would have been the best possible time. She tossed something towards Akira. "Frizzy hair. Take Senpai's vest off."
Akira glanced towards the keyring on the ground and then over to Yu. Yu gave a nod. "Do it." he said.
Akira scowled but grabbed the keys and continued nursing his shoulder while he made his way over to Yu. There wasn't much distance between them, but Naoto's Reflection held the winning hand at the moment. Yu was trying to play a different game though. Yu rubbed his wrists when Akira let him go. He then took the vest off, making him much more vulnerable.
"Back away from him." The Reflection said. Akira obeyed and the Reflection looked to Yu. "Come to me Souji-kun." She said sweetly.
Yu's thoughts were on Naoto and only her. He saw her trying to quietly plead with him, to find any other solution. But he walked towards the pair and stood there. The Reflection swung the revolver from Naoto's chin to point at Yu's chest. There'd be no missing from that distance, and there was too big of a chance for a misfire to go off if Naoto tried something. Yu was staring down the barrel of a gun without any of his usual protections.
The Reflection got up and moved her bag to one shoulder, letting it hang almost like a purse before she tucked the gun inside, though it was obvious the gun was still pointed at Yu. She stepped in and cuddled his arm against her breasts, though he felt the hardness of the gun through the bag pressing into his ribs a little. "Let's go Souji-kun." she said, pressing her cheek to his bicep. "I promise, I'll have your love this time."
This time? Yu really didn't want to know why she was mistaking him for this Souji, but if it kept Naoto alive, he'd go with it. He led Naoto's Reflection over towards an alleyway and activated the Metanav to return them to the real world.
Thankfully they weren't seen returning, and he was about to put his plan to action and do something about the Reflection when she jabbed his side with the revolver again through the bag. "It's Adachi's. Please don't make me actually shoot you Senpai." Naoto's Reflection said sweetly.
Well shit. She had an actual gun. An actual gun with actual bullets. There went that idea. He inhaled a bit. He just had to hope. Hope and pray then. Naoto and the others wouldn't let him down. He swallowed thickly and forced himself to not go with his immediate instinct of trying to fight her. He didn't want to try his luck against a gun, not if Naoto could try and save him.
"Your cell phone please." She said, holding her hand out.
Souji looked to the dainty hand. It held none of the callouses that Naoto's had. The nails were even done, filed and trimmed nicely. He put his locked phone in her hand and watched her throw it against the ground hard, breaking it. She snuggled into his arm again. "It's just going to be us this time." She said happily and began to make him move forward.
Mindful of the revolver, Yu Narukami couldn't help but wonder what he had gotten himself into with his sacrifice.
Chapter End
A/N: I'm not happy with that fight scene. It wasn't my best work, but I can't figure out what I could do to make it better. But I wanted it to be hectic and violent, and more things than I can start to claim.
Naoto's Reflection. First, I want to thank Mrhawkprime. It was their idea that Naoto's Reflection was a sort of Femme Fatale type, and while I might not have showed that to the best of my abilities this chapter, I'm hoping it will be more clear in another chapter. Maybe. Second, I took the idea of the very innocent but real love between Naoto and Yu and perverted it. I don't think I need to explain the concept of a Yandere. Naoto's Reflection is psychotically obsessed with Yu, mistaking him for her world's Yu, or in that case Souji.
What happened to the Reflection's Souji is going to be depressing to write, but damned will I do it.
The difference in this was that Yu's Reflection was a braggart and an asshole. He didn't take the fight as serious as he should have. Naoto's Reflection came into the fight prepared, and she didn't dick about with things. She had a goal in mind, and was willing to do anything and go through anyone to get it done.
So… Naoto and the Phantom Thieves have no way to track Yu and Naoto's Reflection. Yu is a hostage of his own trap. Oh, and Yusuke took a knife to the gut.
