Chapter 17
Life Goes On
"We begin today's coverage with an update on the seemingly random attack in Singapore that left the island city-state in the grips of terror almost two days and left more than two dozen people injured and several with life-threatening injuries. No known terrorist groups have claimed responsibility for the attack, but it has been reported that the city's official tourism webpage was seemingly hacked. Before the site was taken down earlier today, authorities found what appeared to be a countdown timer set for 8 weeks from now with concerns that this unknown group is planning to make another attack during Halloween festivities in tourist hotspots in Asia. Due to the wide range of nationalities involved in the incident, the Singaporean government is working in full cooperation with INTERPOL as well as law enforcement agents from Japan, India, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States to apprehend those responsible."
"Talk about a crappy ending to your summer vacation," Sojiro muttered as he served Futaba, Morgana, and Akira their breakfast.
"No kidding," Futaba replied taking a sip of her orange juice.
It had been a week since they returned from Singapore, with the entire team agreeing to lie low until they were sure Futaba had gotten rid of any evidence of their involvement. Thankfully, whatever metaverse pocket that opened up in the city had also fried most of CCTV cameras, leaving only a few dozen eyewitness reports that couldn't be corroborated.
Or so they hoped.
"You ever get in touch with you dad?" Sojiro asked Akira, before taking the seat across from them in the booth.
Akira shook his head, pulling out his phone to make sure he hadn't missed anything. He had called his dad several times a day since they had returned but got sent to voicemail each time. When he talked to his mom, she states that he had been busy with work and hadn't been home much but would have him call as soon as possible.
After Singapore, he decided to not tell her about the voicemail, worrying that his mom would jump headfirst into trouble and make the situation worse. Just as he was prone to do.
"Should we go pay your mom and dad a visit?"
Akira shook his head again.
"As much as I want to, Sae says we need to lie low. If we head out there, we won't know what we're walking into."
"Do you think its all connected somehow? Two phone calls, one before the attack and another the day after." Morgana began.
"Meeting with Igor again, your nightmares…Akechi coming back." Futaba said softly grabbing her boyfriend's hand.
"There's no doubt in my mind its connected. The question is how. I've been replaying what happened over and over and over and I can't piece it together." Akira sighed, taking his glasses off and pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Whatever is going on, we'll figure it out. Together." Futaba told him, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Don't think that everyone you met here forgot about you just because you've been gone for a while, this city belongs to the Phantom Thieves. You have plenty of allies all across Tokyo. You're not the only one who's ready for a fight." Sojiro added.
"Plus we've have been in more dire straits than this. All we can do it wait for Futaba's decryption program to do its job, then we make our move." Morgana said with a smirk before taking a big bite of his curry.
"In other news, The British Museum in London remains closed after a security breach almost led to the theft of a priceless Egyptian artifact on loan from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. It is due to be moved back to Cairo at the end of the year in time for the opening of the new Grand Egyptian Museum but after the attempted theft, the Egyptian Department of Antiquities is asking for that the artifact be returned as soon as possible. We reached out to the Director of the British Museum for a statement, but they declined to comment due to the ongoing police investigation."
"Ok, that's enough news for today," Sojiro said, getting up, grabbing the tv remote from the counter, and hitting the off switch before sitting back down in the booth as Akira and Futaba's phones buzzed.
…
Ann: How's the decryption coming along Futaba?
Futaba: Slow but steady. It's gonna be another couple days before I can start sifting through everything that's on the computer. That in itself will take a lot of time, cant predict how much either :/
Ryuji: Just do your best Taba, we know you'll come through. You always do.
Futaba: Aw thanks Skull, wish you had this much faith in me back when Medjed was still running amok.
Ryuji: :$
Sumire: Considering how easily she blackmailed you all, I'm amazed you ever doubted her capabilities!
Futaba: See Violet gets it :D
Ryuji: Hey I wasn't the only one who was nervous!
Yusuke: As amusing as this tangent has become, I have been meaning to ask how Haru is doing. I know she was officially discharged from the hospital this morning.
Haru: I'm feeling great! The doctors said they haven't seen anything like it before but this is the Metaverse we're talking about after all.
Ann: You have a point there.
Akira raised an eyebrow noticing that Makoto hadn't chimed in and typed out a message.
What's your assessment Queen?
It took three and a half minutes for her to compose a reply.
Makoto: She seems a lot better. She was quite lethargic the first few days but she got her strength back pretty quickly once we got back to Japan.
Yusuke: What a relief
Sumire: Agreed! I'm happy to hear you're feeling better Haru!
Haru: Thank you! I'm sorry that you had to come to Singapore on such short notice. I know you're busy.
Sumire: It's quite alright! I'm just glad you're ok! Say, now that I'm back in town-
Akira's phone buzzed, showing him a separate message from Makoto. As he opened it, Futaba craned her neck to see it too.
Makoto: I know she says she's ok and she seems ok, but I'm worried.
Why's that?
Makoto: She's hasn't been acting like herself.
Makoto: The other day she was telling me about Okumura Foods wanted to expand onto the US mainland and how it could bring a lot of extra revenue. She started going on about how she could use her holiday bonus to fly us anywhere in the world.
Makoto: But in the past, she could never be bothered to care about the Big Bang Burger brand. She's gone on lunch dates with me to avoid the monthly meetings. Plus there's her holiday bonus, she's always turned it down and distributed it amongst her staff.
Maybe she just wants to spend more time with you? She did almost die…that kind of stuff tends to bring your life into perspective…trust me on that
Makoto:…You make a good point.
Makoto: It's just…this all feels so surreal. Like its too good to be true.
I know the feeling, but I don't think Haru is the one you need to be worried about, spend some time with her. I think that will help you relax until its time for us to counterattack.
Makoto: Right. That would probably be for the best, thank you, Akira.
Don't mention it :)
He swapped back to the group chat, scrolling past the flurry of messages he missed, and focusing on the most recent one.
Ryuji: Futaba, Akira! Sumire, Olivia, and I are going out for ramen bowls! You guys wanna tag along?
As much as we'd love to, we have plans today.
Futaba: It's mom's birthday today, so we're gonna go visit her.
Ryuji: Aw crap I forgot that was today. Well don't forget to tell her we said hi and that you're getting stronger! Last time we ran you shaved 20 seconds off your mile time!
Futaba: I will, thanks Skull! Whelp, we have to get going! Talk to you guys later!
Ryuji: You're welcome! :)
Ryuji: Makoto, you wanna join us?
Makoto: I have plans today, perhaps another time.
Sumire: Hopefully, we can all get together soon!
Haru: Agreed! Bye, everyone!
Yusuke: Farwell
Ann: See ya!
…
Makoto looked up at the punching bag, turning on her music before she pocketed her phone and started her workout. She started slow and steady, with simple combinations. All according to the regimen she had laid out for herself months ago.
Then her thoughts shifted back to Singapore.
To that night at the art museum, dancing with Haru without a care in the world.
To Akechi, and how he almost took all that away.
Her punches started hitting harder and faster, the music she was listening to faded away, replaced with the sound of her heart hammering against her chest.
She let her guard down.
That would not happen again.
She felt her arms tiring but she pushed herself past her limit and kept up her attack.
She had to be ready.
She couldn't let the others down.
They looked up to her.
She was Queen, the master tactician of the Phantom Thieves.
If they didn't stop Akechi, more people got get hurt.
Maybe even killed.
Her phone pulsed in her pocket, letting her know it was time to end her set. She delivered several more powerful blows before throwing one last strike to the center of the punching bag, yelling as the punch connected.
"HIYA!"
Her cry echoed through the gym, drawing the worried gaze of several other people as Makoto put her hands on her hips, only now realizing how winded she was.
She had been slacking ever since Akira left.
She had to get back into shape, fast.
She felt a hand come to rest on her shoulder and recoiled from the touch, raising her guard as she spun around only to see Haru wearing a sports bra and her leggings with her hands raised in the air.
"It's me it's me!" She said quickly.
Makoto took a shaky breath and dropped her guard, taking a step forward and grabbing Haru's hands.
"I'm so so sorry, I didn't realize..."
Haru pulled her into a hug.
"It's ok, I know you're still on edge after everything that's happened.
"Thank you," Makoto whispered, trying to hug her girlfriend even tighter.
"Are you sure you're feeling better?" She asked as they broke off the hug.
"I promise I'm ok…you trust the doctors, don't you?"
Makoto sighed.
"I do, I guess I'm still just a bundle of nerves. Thank you for being patient with me."
"It's no trouble at all," Haru assured her before planting a quick kiss on her forehead.
"Shall we head to the ellipticals?"
Makoto nodded after a brief delay, having noticed someone from across the gym was watching them with interest. A woman with short black hair, bright red lipstick with a camera hanging from her neck, and a pair of sunglasses sitting atop her head.
She discreetly raised the camera and snapped a picture before going about her business, taking her phone out as she walked out of the gym.
…
"Happy Birthday Mom!" Futaba said to the headstone as Akira and Morgana silently laid out a blanket at the foot of the grave while Sojiro set the picnic basket down and started unpacking its contents.
"So a lot's happened since we last talked. After you…came back. Technically came back anyway. Although I guess in Maruki's world you never left. Anyway, we won't dwell on that. Today supposed to be a happy day." She continued.
"To start things off, Akira's back at Leblanc! He came down after Dad had a heart attack and ended up staying here. Mona turned into a human…somehow oh and I think he's got a crush on some mystery girl from his past. So that's exciting! He's growing up so fast it's kinda crazy. Oh and speaking of growing up, I'm starting high school in a few weeks! I got fitted for my uniform a few days ago and it should be arriving in the mail any day now. Akira and I will be classmates for these last two semesters of his third year which means everyone will be able to watch him graduate!"
"Let's see what else…" She said she sat down next to the headstone, pulling out her phone and looking at her promise list that she had saved to her notepad app.
"Oh, I managed to track down your research, well what's left of it anyway. Turns out Shido didn't get rid of all of it. I'm starting to understand the cognitive world like you and Maruki did. It really is amazing. It makes me wonder how it could be used to help people. Like how my friends helped me. To be honest I'm not sure how it would all work or if it would even be possible…but if anyone can find a way forward, it's me."
She sighed as she pocketed her phone.
"Also…Akechi is back. I don't know how, and I don't know why but he's back and I don't know how to feel. I know what he did to you…to our family but part of me wishes that we could help him somehow. I feel like, after everything we've done as the Phantom Thieves, he's the one that we failed to save. Part of me will always wonder if there's anything that we could have done differently. Maybe there's something we can do this time although I'll be honest, I'm not super optimistic about our chances."
She pulled her legs up to her chest, resting her chin on her knees.
"Lastly there's Akira and me. Or rather something I've realized about Akira and me. It happened after…um…after a night in Singapore. Akira is always so kind and supportive. I'm so lucky to have him as my partner in crime. I wake up every morning so excited to spend another day with him. A day in a life that we fought so hard for, and even now we're still fighting. I guess what I'm trying to say is that…one day…I want to marry him. He's the one…and even if it was only for a little bit, I'm so happy you got to meet him. He liked you, and I think you liked him too."
Futaba wiped a tear from her cheek before putting a hand on her mother's headstone before resting her head against it.
"Love you, mom. Happy Birthday." She said quietly, voice full of emotion before she stood up and walked over to rejoin the rest of her family for lunch.
…
After they got home, Futaba found her boyfriend in the attic at his work desk, muttering to himself as he tinkered with his grappling hook.
She walked over to the foot of his bed and sat down, kicking her shoes off before pulling her legs up onto the bed.
"Akira." She said softly.
He didn't acknowledge her.
"Akira." She said again, a little more firmly. He turned to glace at her and she held up her arms to embrace him.
"C' mere, let me love you."
He stood up and walked over to her before he plopped down onto his bed, allowing her to lay down on top and nuzzle into his chest as he played with her hair.
"I know you're scared and confused and worried. I am too but this isn't our first rodeo. There was Kamoshida, Madarame, Kanashiro, Okumura, Shido, Maruki, even me. We've pulled through every time. It was never pretty, and nothing ever went exactly according to plan but we took it one day at a time and that's what we'll do now."
"You're right…its just hard to sit here and do nothing except wait. It's frustrating."
"I know what you mean." She said, looking up at him, resting her chin on his chest as it steadily rose and fell.
"What do you need?"
Akira sighed. "Wish I knew."
"Well, I need to help you relax. Any games you wanna play?"
"Eh not really, I don't feel like sitting still for long periods of time. Even now I'm feeling antsy. Like I need to get up and go do something, anything."
"Not in the mood for video games eh? You really are wound up."
"I'm sorry."
"You don't need to apologize. I wanna help, I just need to figure out how…Oh! Maybe a walk around Akihabara would help or we can go somewhere else. It doesn't have to be Akihabara."
"Akihabara would be fine but we have to wait for Mona and Sojiro to get back from the store." He told her taking off his glasses and shutting his eyes, rolling onto his side as his girlfriend clung to him.
Futaba cupped her boyfriend's face with her hands, gently stroking his cheek with her thumb before her other hand found its way into the tangled frizzy mess that was his hair, she ran her fingers through it, occasionally stopping to scratch his scalp with her fingernails as she did so.
With all the affection he was receiving, Futaba smiled softly as her boyfriend visibly deflated. All the stress and tension leaving his form in an instant. She planted a kiss on his forehead and started humming a song, hoping she could get him to take a short catnap with her before everyone returned.
Then she saw one of his eyelids crack open.
"Taba?" He asked, his gentle smile not leaving his face.
"Yes, my love?" She said, giving him a quick kiss.
He raised an eyebrow.
"Are you humming Your Reality from Doki Doki Literature Club?"
"What's wrong with that? It's a cute song, as long as you ignore the uh the-"
"The terrifying mind fuck that precedes it?" He finished.
Futaba snickered before she beamed at him.
"Exactly!"
Akira chuckled, shaking his head before rolling onto his back. Futaba giggled she climbed back on top of him, determined to keep showering him in affection as they kept talking.
"You know that news report from this morning got me thinking. We should go to Egypt one day." She told him, taking off her glasses and setting them aside.
"Think so?" Akira asked her.
"Yeah, just you and me. We can go to Cairo and Luxor, maybe even Alexandria."
"I would love that." He said as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Let's do it! Let me take a look at flights, I'm curious how long it would take to Egypt from here." She said, sitting up and pulling out her phone only to notice Akira lovingly staring at her.
Her cheeks flushed as she put her phone down on his chest.
"What?" She asked.
"Nothing, just thinking about traveling the world with you. I can imagine it now." He explained, looking at his window and framing it with his fingers like how Yusuke does when he was committing something to memory for his paintings.
"Sailing down the Nile, the pyramids passing in the distance." He began, panning over to capture Futaba, who was smiling at him, her cheeks bright red. "The adventure of a lifetime with a beautiful girl."
"You're so cheesy." She said, playfully rolling her eyes before picking up her phone and checking the time before turning and gently lobbing her phone onto the work desk before she pushed her boyfriend back onto the bed, running her index finger down his chest before putting both hands on her hips.
"Lucky for you, I love cheese." She said with a wink before she started taking her shirt off, her midriff exposed for no more than five seconds before she heard the bell for Leblanc's door and stopped dead in her tracks, her shirt covering just her head.
"Cute bra. That a new one?" Akira asked as Futaba huffed and pulled her shirt back on.
"Thank you and yes." She said, trying to tidy her hair as her gaze shot over to the staircase.
"They're back early."
Then they heard someone call out, the voice not belonging to Sojiro or Morgana.
"Hello? Anyone home?"
"Who's that?" Futaba whispered letting her boyfriend get up. "I thought we were supposed to be closed today."
"We are, but Mona might have forgotten to flip the sign when they left," Akira replied as he walked over to his desk and grabbed his dagger, tucking it into his waistband and putting his grappling hook on his wrist.
"But just in case…stay up here."
"No way! I'm coming with you." Futaba protested, picking up the giant shogi piece Hifumi had given Akira awhile back.
The two looked at each other before heading down the stairs, ready for the worst as the voices became more distinct and they saw the forms of the 7 people that were standing by the counter.
"Naoto you sure this is the right place?"
"I'm positive…granted we were not supposed to come in until tomorrow."
"Oh, now you tell us that."
"Well, we had to scout it out, considering the claim Nijimia-san made when she called me but now I'm starting to suspect this may have all been a wild goose chase."
Then they saw Akira and Futaba creeping down the stairs.
Akira found his gaze drawn to the silver-haired man standing ahead of the group. When they locked eyes, Akira felt like he was a magnet being forcibly pushed towards another magnet of opposite polarity, worrying that if they got any closer, they would both fly apart.
The visible discomfort on the man's face told him he felt the same way, but Akira still proceeded down the stairs, stopping at their base as his eyes narrowed.
"Who are you?" He demanded as Futaba puffed out her chest, lifting the giant shogi piece as if the intended to throw it at the first person who crossed her.
The silver-haired man put his hands up and walked forward a few feet.
"Sorry to intrude, but my name is Yu Narukami. I was told to come here and find a guy named Akira Kurusu. Do either of you know him? Is he a regular here?"
"You're lookin at him," Akira said after hesitating for a moment.
"Oh, that's great! You see we both share a mutual acquaintance. Black suit, long nose, drives a limo."
"Limo?" Futaba muttered.
"You know Igor?" Akira asked.
Yu nodded.
"He told me it'd be best if we meet, face to face. Apparently, there's a lot we need to talk about."
Akira turned to Futaba and nodded, which made her lower her guard, setting the shogi piece down on the stairs as her boyfriend let out a sigh of relief before grabbing his apron and putting it on.
Futaba put on a brave face and smiled at their guests.
"Sooooo you guys like coffee?"
…
Akira and Futaba talked with the Yu and the Investigation Team well after Mona and Sojiro had returned, learning of their exploits in the town of Inaba as well as the nature of the TV World while they explained to them their adventures as the Phantom Thieves of Hearts and the series of events that led up to the attack in Singapore.
Yu even told Akira of his visits to the Velvet Room, including one that happened a few weeks ago.
"Igor told me to come to Tokyo and find you and right after that Naoto told me that she got a call from someone named Makoto Nijima, said she had evidence about a ghost, or at least that's how Naoto described it," Yu explained.
"Specifically, it was evidence that shows Goro Akechi is, in fact, alive, when he has been presumed dead for quite some time," Naoto added.
"Oh yeah we have the guy's laptop, I'm in the process of cracking the thing wide open as we speak. You can take a look at it once I'm done with it. It should convince you that Akechi is alive." Futaba told her.
"He was responsible for the Singapore attack, we can attest to that," Akira said, crossing his arms.
"If my hypothesis is correct, his group may be behind other attacks as well," Naoto told him.
"Really?" Futaba asked, leaning forward.
Naoto nodded grimly.
"There was an incident similar to the London and Singapore attacks that happened here in Japan six weeks ago. A cargo plane transporting an Egyptian artifact was attacked when it was getting ready to depart. CCTV cameras somehow stopped functioning at the exact moment the attack started. Testimony from the survivors all describes the same phenomena, strange beings that materialized out of thin air and took the form of gods and monsters before they and the men and women that accompanied them vanished without a trace." She explained as her friends stared at her earnestly.
"That's three attacks in rapid succession, two targeting Egyptian artifacts, that all have the same basic series of events at their core. It can't be a coincidence. They must have been committed by the same group."
"At first we checked to see if the TV world was involved in some way, but that led to a dead-end pretty quickly." Rise explained before taking a bite of her curry.
"I think whatever it is they're after, it has something to do with the cognitive world." Naoto continued.
"How do you know about that?" Akira asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I read the reports involving your case before we came here. Most of the reports were heavily redacted by officials who had connections to Masayoshi Shido but didn't end up going to prison. There were threads the police and I tried to pull on but we never got anything concrete, but you combine that with what's happened in Singapore, and now London, it all seems a little too convenient." Naoto finished, taking a sip of her coffee.
"I think they must be planning something using those, what did you call them earlier? Echoes of the metaverse for their own ends." Yu continued.
"Wait but how are they doing it though and why? I thought they said the Metaverse was destroyed after they took down that crazy psychiatrist?" Kanji asked.
"I'm so lost," Yosuke muttered, scratching the back of his head.
"Me too," Yukiko said with a sigh.
"I'm at a loss as well. I can't begin to fathom what they could be planning." Naoto said with a frown.
Akira glanced at his girlfriend, seeing that the gears were turning in her head.
"Well…they might be trying to rewrite cognition again like Maruki did. Think about it. The echoes of the metaverse, from what we saw, are small and localized to one place where cognition is strong. Places that are present in everyone's mind. Places like Tokyo Disneyland, Singapore, which just had a big surge in popularity because of an American made movie. London which is one of the most popular cities in the world. Rise-senpai, what do you think of when you think of London.
"Oh uh well Big Ben, and Buckingham Palace!"
"Right, now magnify that to a country. England for example. Teddie-senpai. Go!"
"When I think of England, I think of castles and dragons! I think of noble knight, clad in armor atop a gallant steed, racing to save his true love from-"
"Ok, Teddy I think she gets it." Chie interrupted before looking over to the redhead. "Go ahead Futaba-chan."
"Uh, thanks!" Futaba blurted before she continued.
"So all these places are present in our cognition, but even with the echoes of the metaverse, they are still like these puddles. They may be big puddles but they still puddles. There's only so much water in em. So, if you wanna rewrite cognition, you need to create a splash. A big splash, but what are you gonna need for a bigger splash?"
"More water," Yu said, nodding in understanding.
"So if the water is people's cognition, you would need to intensify people's conception of what reality is and what's possible?" Yosuke asked.
Futaba nodded.
"Yup! so how do you get more water. I'll tell you how you steal these artifacts from a place that is already ingrained in cognition. You make it the only thing people can talk about and then you take it to a place where there's an echo of the metaverse. A place where tourists aren't uncommon, where you can hide almost anywhere if you are smart enough. A place that we already associate with magic and mystery. A place where you can distort the world's cognition in one fell swoop and make a big enough splash to reshape reality to your parameters."
"A place like Egypt." Akira summarized.
"Exactly!" Futaba said, beaming at her boyfriend.
"You're pretty sharp Futaba-chan," Kanji said with a grin.
"Thanks!"
"Your mom would be very proud," Mona said with pride.
Akira grinned and shook his head before putting his arm around his girlfriend.
"Looks like we might be going to Egypt sooner than we thought."
Futaba scoffed.
"Why is it our fun dates and milestones either come before or after the apocalypse."
"Maybe we're cursed." Akira theorized.
"That's a possibility. Maybe one of our ancestors was a graverobber or something." Futaba wondered.
Naoto cleared her throat, drawing the pair back into the main conversation.
"Oh…sorry," Akira said apologetically.
"Well, there's only one way we stop Akechi and his group. We need to keep those artifacts out of their hands." Yu said, setting down his empty coffee mug.
"Sounds like you guys need a heist crew," Akira said with a smirk.
"As you can probably guess, heists are not our specialty," Yukiko said sheepishly.
Chie snickered.
"Yeah, Yosuke couldn't be stealthy if his life depended on it."
The long-haired man scoffed.
"Oh yeah right! like you would be any better in a heist."
"There they go again." Rise muttered.
Futaba saw Morgana and Ryuji replace Yosuke and Chie for a brief moment in her mind and she couldn't help but chuckle.
"Oh my god, there's two of them."
"What was that Futaba-chan?" Teddy asked attentively.
"Oh uh, nothin." She replied quickly.
"Well, this where things get tricky. We all have school starting up soon. We can't commit a ton of manpower to a heist that's thousands of miles away." Akira said, drumming his fingers on the tabletop.
"Plus, we don't strike a target without a unanimous vote from the team," Futaba added.
"Wait, really?" Kanji asked.
"Yeah…you guys don't vote on missions?" Mona asked.
"We just kinda went whenever Yu said we had to go…I think" Yosuke replied.
"No that sounds about right." Rise said with a nod.
"Should we have voted?" Chie asked.
"I think we should have voted now that I think about it," Yukiko said, putting a hand on her chin.
"We should make sure we are all in agreement before we even consider going to London. Futaba-chan's theory sounds plausible from what I understand about cognitive pscience, but I still have questions. Questions that may be answered when we finally get into Akechi-sans laptop. We should hold off on any major decision until then." Naoto said, earning nods from everyone present.
"Gotta say I kinda hope we get to team up. I read about how you guys took down Kanashiro. Pretty badass." Kanji said giving Akira, Mona, and Futaba a thumbs up.
"An impressive feat for sure," Naoto said, her serious expression finally giving way to one of admiration.
"I'm excited to meet everyone! I hope that if we do work together, we all get along!" Chie said with a smile before looking to Sojiro. "Oh and thank you for hosting us even though you guys were closed. The curry was delicious!"
"How much do we owe you?" Yousuke asked, only for Sojiro to raise a hand and shake his head.
"Friends of the Phantom Thieves eat free." He said with a smile, earning shocked gasps from the Investigation Team. They bombarded him with thanks you's before getting Akira and Futaba's chat ids before leaving.
Yu was the last out the door, looking at Akira closely for several seconds.
"Everything ok?" He asked the silver-haired man who just nodded.
"Yeah yeah it's just, I feel like I've seen you before. You and Futaba-chan."
"Really?" Futaba asked.
"Yeah, I can't place where though," Yu said before shaking his head.
"Anyway, it's not a big deal. It was nice meeting you guys. Don't be strangers ok? Heist or no, we'll be in Tokyo for a while. Us Persona users gotta stick together."
Akira smiled and nodded before Yu closed the door, leaving the pair with Sojiro, Mona, and a lot of dirty dishes as the group chat filled up with new messages.
Yu: Hello everyone!
Chie: Hey Ryuji! Your friend told me you need a ramen buddy! Wanna grab a bite sometime?
Sumire: …have we been hacked?
Ryuji: Ugh! Not again! I'm not doing this again!
Teddy: There's no need for alarm my friends!
Futaba: He's right, no need to panic guys!
Futaba: Hailing from the sleepy town of Inaba, I present to you the widescreen warriors, the champions of the truth, and our newest partners in crime, they're the one the only…
Akira: Everyone, meet the Investigation Team!
…
A.N- Another chapter in the books! I hope I have not confused anyone too much with this latest string of developments! For anyone concerned that this is gonna be a big messy crossover from now on, don't worry, the Investigation Team will be in and out of this story but they won't be in the spotlight all that often. They have a role to play of course but this is still the story of Akira, Futaba, and the Phantom Thieves first and foremost. I hope you all have a good rest of your week!
Until next time!