Makoto sits and stares at the pages before her.

From what feels like very far away, a voice say, "...should handle the permissions required for the swimming club."

Another voice. "Doesn't the newspaper club have, like, two members?"

"Club's a club, we need to honor their requests as best we can, and..."

Makoto lifts her phone off the table and peeks at the time. "Alright," she says, putting as much benevolent authority into her voice as she can. "I think we've covered enough ground for today. Let's wrap it up."

The rest of her administration falls into silence, and steal glances at one another. Her Treasurer is brave enough to speak first. "Um, Niijima-san, are you sure? It's kind of early."

She smiles at him. "True, but we've all been working hard. It won't hurt to postpone these discussions until our next meeting."

Her Secretary, his pencil tapping away against the desk, asks, "This isn't a trick, is it?"

Makoto blinks. "A trick?"

"Yeah, I mean, you're not going to have us leave, and then chew us out for leaving early, are you?"

Makoto's smile suddenly feels very grating. "Would I do a thing like that?"

Silence.

She lays her hands atop one another, and pretends she's smothering each of them with a pillow. "This is not a trick. We've all been working very hard. Let's take a break. You're all excused for the day."

There is a single beat of nothing, where even the air seems to hang still, and then they begin to pack. They shove their books into their bags with abandon. A few continue to glance her way, anticipating danger.

Is this really the impression I give off? She wonders, and cannot decide if this makes her a bit sad. Then, they are standing, and one by one, file out of the room as fast as decorum allows.

And then Makoto is alone.

And then there is a knock on the door.

And a pause.

And then another knock.

Makoto stands, makes her way to the door, and knocks on it, herself, twice.

Another pause.

Then, from outside, knock.

She opens the door, and finds Haru beaming at her. "All set?" The girl asks.

"Of course," Makoto replies.

She steps aside, and Haru shuffles in and drops her book bag on the table. "Shall we begin?"

Makoto grins, and opens her own bag.

In a short time, the student council room is transformed into the headquarters for 'Operation Catch the phantom thieves or Something Less Drastic.'

The marker board is ornamented with surveillance photos, taken with her smartphone, and printed at home, detailing the suspected Phantom Thieves engaged in various activities, such as standing in the school, standing outside the school, and sitting in a diner. Over the top of the board, Makoto has written, 'The Cat is the Key.'

The table is covered with a map of Tokyo, dotted with notations. Locations like Niijima apartment, Shujin, Untouchable, and Shibuya Underground, are marked in red.

A large file with 'Evidence' written across it is sprawled open, with two piles, one of which contains notes and turns of phrase Makoto can remember Jessikah using in the past, and the other is composed of doodles Haru put together of Makoto and Jessikah holding hands.

Makoto has questioned the need for this latter 'evidence,' but Haru has stressed its importance.

"Where did we leave off last time?" Makoto asks.

"We were discussing Shiomi-chans possible role in... I think you called it, 'information conveyance,'" Haru replies, sitting at the table as though she were in class.

"Right," Makoto says, and turns back to the board. "I'm thinking there must be some kind of small camera. Maybe it's linked to Jessikah's phone?"

Haru frowns. "I guess that's an option. But it doesn't explain how she can get the to do things, like steal your notebook. I still say it's because she's-"

"Please don't say it," Makoto cuts in.

Haru ignores her. "Magic."

Makoto sighs. "Haru, we've been over this. There's no way the cat is magic."

Haru rolls her eyes. "How do the Phantom Thieves change hearts then? You spoke to Daisuke. No one came anywhere close to him that day. All he got was the calling card. What if the Phantom Thieves of Hearts are magic? Then their cat could be magic too."

"Jessikah isn't magic. And I'm still not entirely convinced they can 'steal hearts.'"

"She-" Haru starts.

"Don't say it!" Makoto blurts.

"-stole yours, didn't she?" Haru's smile is huge and she throws her head back, giggling.

Makoto feels her cheeks redden. "You know, that gets less funny every time you say it."

Haru shakes her head. "No, it doesn't. It really doesn't."

Her jocularity is infectious, and Makoto can't help but smile and fantasize about certain things for just a moment, before she brings herself back to business. "Well, anyway, it was good thinking. Getting Jessikah to agree to give you Morgana for a day. That'll give us time to examine him."

Haru frowns at that. "You're not going to run tests on him, are you?. I don't want to see him hurt."

Makoto shakes her head. "Of course not. I just want to check his collar. His fur. There's got to be some evidence, some explanation for how that cat does the things it does."

"Magic," Haru whispers, and when Makoto glares at her, she says, "Have you thought about what you're going to say to Jessikah-chan?"

Makoto drops into a chair, with a heavy sigh. "Honestly? I'm more worried about what she's going to say to me. I keep running through these scenarios in my head, but I know it won't go the way I want it to." She smiles at her friend. "I'm terrified it's going to blow up in my face. Like it already did." She remembers the sensation of Takamaki's open palm against her cheek, the look on Jessikah's face. "I don't want to go through that again."

Haru nods. "I'll ask Jessikah for Mona-chan the next time I see her at work. Then, we'll get to the bottom of all this."

"You're right. I guess I'm-"

She is interrupted by a muffled buzz from her friend's bag. Haru smiles and pulls out her phone. When she looks at it, her eyes go wide.

"Oh," Haru says. "Oh."

"Something wrong?" Makoto asks.

"I need to, um, go. I'd forgotten I had a previous appointment."

"I see. Something for your father's company?"

Haru's nod is quick and sharp. "Something like that." She stands, lifts her bag and brushes a few stray hairs from her face. "I'm sorry, Mako-chan. Could we talk about this some more later? I really have to get going."

"Of course," Makoto tells her. "We can't really take another step forward until we've got Morgana, after all."

"R-right. You're absolutely right," Haru says as she speeds towards the door. She opens it, smiles once more at Makoto, and quickly blurts out, "Thanks! Bye!" Then, she shuts it.

Makoto stares up at the board. She can't shake the feeling in her gut. Her eyes drift down to the desk, and spy Haru's notebook on the table. Oh, she forgot that.

She snatches it up and stands. Haru had only left a few seconds ago, she should still be able to catch her. Besides, Makoto barely has room enough in her bag for all her schoolwork and her share of the investigation material.

Makoto exits their headquarters into the hall, making sure to lock the door after her. It wouldn't do for another student to walk in and discover just what the two girls were up to. Not seeing Haru, Makoto quickly makes her way to the stairwell and descends to the first floor. It's beginning to get late, and a number of students are either involved in club activities, or have left for the day, and so Makoto passes few of them in the halls.

She doesn't find Haru until she steps out of Shujin's front entrance, and looks down the steps leading to the school.

Haru is in the street just outside the gates. She is standing next to a limousine. An older man, perhaps in his twenties has his hand wrapped around one of her wrists. He wears an expensive white suit, and a sneer.

Makoto does not think. She barrels down the steps, a snarl of her own sketching itself across her face, and a strange feeling in her chest, like the revving of an engine. She utters something close to, "Get off her," but isn't quite, and then, her own hand is wrapped around the man's arm, and she's shoving.

The man yells, "Ah! What the-" at the same time Haru goes, "Mako-chan?"

Then, there is a great flurry of limbs, and the man ends up with his back against the limousine, groaning and rubbing his arm through his suit. Makoto's hands are up, and Haru's are on her arm. The girl is begging her, "Makoto, stop!"

The man straightens and glares at them both. "Who is this bitch, Haru?"

The venom in his voice takes her aback, but Makoto holds her ground. "I don't know who you are, but you'd better get out of here before I call the police."

Then, he tilts back his head, and laughs. "The police? Go ahead! I'll have you arrested for assault."

"Assault?" Makoto asks, and puts as much swagger into her voice as she can. "I don't think so. I saw you hurting my friend, and I-"

"I don't remember hurting her. We were having a nice chat, weren't we, Haru?" There is silence after that. "Weren't we, Haru?" He repeats.

"Y-yes," Haru replies. Makoto, for the first time, becomes aware pleading tone in her friend's voice. "Please, Mako-chan. Please, stop."

She doesn't want to take her eyes from him, but she can't help but turn to meet her friend's gaze. "Haru, what is going on? Who is this?"

The man makes a show of dusting off his suit. "She's never mentioned me, huh? Some friend."

Haru can only look at Makoto's eyes for a few moments, and then she averts them. "Please, Mako-chan. I'm fine, alright? Please, just stop."

"No," Makoto says. "What's going on?"

"I'm bored," the man says. "Haru, get in the car. I'm not asking again. And you," he says, and points at Makoto. "I'd better not see you again. Challenge me like that again, and I'll have the police on your ass so quick, you'll be behind bars before you can even blink."

"Haru," Makoto says, ignoring him. "Who is this?"

"He's-" Haru begins. "He's... I'll call you later!" And then Haru is stepping away from her and into the limousine. The man gives Makoto one last, disgusting smile, before following her inside. The door shuts.

The car drives away.

Makoto stands there, watching it go.