Haru sits and listens.
"Haru, darling, I know things got heated between us the other night. But I'm sorry. You have to know that. I was never going to hurt you, but I got so worked up and worried over not knowing where you were, that I sort of lost it. Heh, sorry. I don't mean to make light of what I did. Please, just come back, okay? I miss you. Everyone's worried about you. Call me and tell me where you are, okay? Call me. Tell me where you are."
Beep.
"Next Message."
"This is getting old, Haru. It's been long enough. Maybe your family doesn't care how this will look, but mine certainly will. If you don't come out of whatever hole you're hiding in, this is going to go very, very badly, got it? Call me. Enough games. Act like an adult. Be a big girl. Call me the second you get this."
Beep.
"Next Message."
"Do you think this is a joke? Do you think this is the kind of thing you can just do? I warned you that night. I told you what would happen if you pulled this kind of shit. Stop being a fucking baby, and tell me where you are."
Beep.
"Next Message."
"Hey, Haru. Listen, I want you to ignore that last message. I didn't mean to blow up like that. But if you don't tell me where you are, things are going to get bad. So just call me, yeah? Call me and tell me where you are, and I'll come pick you up and we can pretend this whole thing never happened. We're going to be married, remember? Ha. How's it going to look if I don't know where my bride-to-be is? Right? Right? Call me."
Beep.
"Next Message."
"Cunt. Cunt. Cunt. Cunt. Cunt. Cunt. Cunt! Cunt! CUNT! CUNT! CUNT! CUNT! CUNT! CUNT!"
Beep.
Haru lowers the phone. She doesn't need to listen to the next message. Or the one after it. Or the one after that. She gets the gist.
Makoto had a few errands to run in her capacity as President, so she'd left Haru in the Student Council room.
Saturday afternoon was a time students typically hung out, fresh to the weekend.
Haru was spending it hidden away from her fiancé.
Once her hands stop shaking, she opens the Nav app.
She flips through the appropriate buttons.
She recalls what Jesiskah had told them about how it worked.
A place. His Palace would be a place special to him.
For Kamoshida, it was the school.
For Madarame, it was his museum.
For Sugimura, it would be...
"Summer home."
Nothing.
" Brothel"
Nothing.
Haru claws through her mind. What else was there? She knows all these things about Sugimura. How could she expect the Phantom Thieves to change his heart? If she couldn't think of the keywords, how were they supposed to?
Was there any other place he liked to go? It seemed all he ever did was drive around in that stupid, oversized car of his and-
"Car," Haru says, as the door opens.
"Match Found."
Haru looks into the eyes of Makoto, who stares back at her.
"It's his car?" Haru says confused
" A car is his Palace?" Makoto says
Makoto shuts the door, and takes a seat across from her. "You want to ask Jessikah and the others for help?"
She wets her lips with her tongue, and tastes a faint hint of sweat. "I don't know what else to do."
"Sugimura may be rich, but he's very dumb. If we let the police hear those messages, I'm sure they'll help."
"But-"
"This is my fault, Haru," Makoto says, smile gone.
"Mako-chan, you're letting me live with you, and-"
"But we both know that's only a temporary solution. I think its our best course of action."
Haru looks down at her phone. She suspects Makoto is right.
What would happen if she asked the Phantom Thieves for help now? She knows they would help, but how long would it take?
There are so many, 'That's the thing about Tokyo's,' that the phrase is little more than a cliché.
But clichés only become clichés because they're so used.
And really, that is the thing about Tokyo. It's so big and so congested and so packed with people and cars and neon and noise that you can hide just about anywhere.
Sugimura watches the two girls step onto the block. He watches walk down the sidewalk, oblivious, lost in whatever pleasant conversation they're having. He watches them enter Niijima's building.
His car is parked in an alley across the street. The black behemoth would stick out to anyone who bothered to think about it.
But hey, that's the thing about Tokyo.
At the sight of Haru, Sugimura keeps his cool.
Relatively speaking.
He doesn't bolt out of the car. He doesn't charge her. Doesn't lambast her in front of the whole world.
The Niijimas would make too much noise if he did something like that.
He has his plan.
The little bitch thinks she can just wander off and disrespect him?
He'll show her.
He'll show everyone.
Soon enough, Haru Okumura will be the pliable, obedient little wife he was promised.