Rem leaned against the railing of the Shibuya station overpass while Ryuji slumped to the floor, off to the side Ann joined them with a bottle of mineral water. "So… how'd it all go on your end? Didn't he ask the two of you to be his models and whatnot?" Ryuji asked Rem and Ann as he took out his phone and began to scroll through the Phan-Site, the two having been with Yusuke after all while he'd been by himself.

"I still can't believe that…" Rem shook her head in disgruntlement and the slightest bit of embarrassment. "He just led us around, the paintings were nice and all but I think Ann ended up getting more out of it than I did."

"Mhmm, we managed to even get his contact information and the address of Madarame's atelier," Ann nodded taking a sip from her water.

Ryuji's head shot up as he looked at Ann in surprise. "You two got what now?!" Ryuji almost shouted but managed to keep his voice down in the bustling Shibuya station. Rem and Ann looked at him in confusion as he pushed his phone forward and proffered the screen to the two.

"Here, look at this," Ryuji said as they moved closer to take a look at one of the messages on the Phan-Site. "This post feels like it's about Madarame."

"'A master of the Japanese arts is plagiarizing his pupil's work. Only his public face is shown on TV. His treatment of the pupils who live with him are awful. He teaches nothing and bosses them around. He treats them inhumanely on top of disciplining them like a dog…'" Ann murmured as she read the post, her bright blue eyes widening the longer she continued to read.

"Plagiarism… and abuse on top of that…" Rem muttered, her expression troubled as she reconciled the elderly man and the description of the post. "Nakanohara's shadow… he asked to change the heart of a person called Madarame, didn't he?" she asked.

"Mhmm…" Morgana affirmed, popping his head out of her bag and finally joining the conversation. "This is definitely way too much of a coincidence for it not to be talking about Madarame."

"I wonder if Kitagawa-kun posted this…" Ann murmured in displeasure, chewing her lip as she mulled over the new information. "He is a pupil of Madarame's after all…"

Ryuji shrugged. "Who knows? It's anonymous and all," Ryuji said as he placed his phone back into his pocket. "But, that guy, Kitagawa, he gave his contact info and address, right? Maybe we can pay him a visit tomorrow or somethin' right after school?"

Rem and Ann stiffened simultaneously as they recalled the modelling offer the teen had given them.

"I'd rather die," Rem instantly refused.

"Huh?! You want us to model, tomorrow!? Th-This is way too sudden…" Ann stammered slightly at being placed under pressure.

"The heck is up with you two?" Ryuji felt taken aback as he looked at the two polar opposite refusal, one a stammering mess while the other looked like she was trying to burn a hole through the ground with her mind. "We're just gonna go and talk to Kitagawa, ain't we?" he looked at them.

Rem seemed to somehow release a large amount of tension from her body, her tight shoulders drooping at Ryuji's words. "Oh, that's what you meant…" Ann shook her head, her stutter disappearing as she similarly realised what Ryuji had been implying.

"The heck was up with you, though?" Ryuji quirked an eyebrow at Rem's odd reaction to visiting Kitagawa.

"Rem hasn't been all too keen on being near, Kitagawa… you should have seen her earlier…" Morgana grimaced speaking up, recalling the tenseness of her whole body in Yusuke's presence. While Ann had been more than comfortable and fluttering about like a social butterfly, Rem was the complete opposite in such a social setting, very much out of her comfort zone.

A small realisation dawned on Ryuji as a stupid smirk split his face. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that! Didn't you almost punch the guy in the face like two minutes after we met him?" he asked with a grin.

Rem gave him a glare. "I thought he was going to ask the both of us out at the same time," she muttered, her glare turning dark. "If he tries anything this time though…"

Morgana and Ryuji both shivered as was their duty as a male in front of a scorned woman.

"Dude… Rem can be super scary sometimes…" Ryuji murmured, Morgana nodding in agreement. "Makes me want to see that Kitagawa do something stupid though…"

Morgana nodded in agreement once more.

"So, turns out Doctor Maruki can actually teach classes along with being a counsellor," Rem commented as the four Phantom Thieves rode the train the following day in the afternoon from Aoyama-Itchome to Shibuya after school had ended.

"What the heck would that guy even teach?" Ryuji questioned as he hung onto one of the handles dangling from the ceiling of the train to keep himself balanced.

"Uh… it seemed like stuff about the mind and all that?" Ann speculated, not having paid attention during class. "The… something about placentas?" Ann guessed, her brow furrowing while Ryuji stared at her dumbfounded.

"Ain't placentas that thing to do with babies?" Ryuji looked Ann with a disappointed look, Rem shaking her head at the two of them.

"Placentas are an organ the develop in the uterus during pregnancy. And Doctor Maruki, said Placebo… not placenta…" Rem murmured correcting them.

"…That sounds totally gross," Ryuji allowed a disgusted grimace to cover his face causing Rem to give him a dull look.

"And you wonder why I said you need to learn on how to talk to women…" Rem shook her head in displeasure. "The Placebo Effect that Doctor Maruki was talking about is when your perception can affect your mental and physical health by making things that you believe may help actually help you even if they can't," she explained garnering her a surprised look from both Ryuji and Ann.

"You were actually paying attention?" Ann asked surprised.

"Y'know… now that I think about it… you're actually pretty smart, aren't you? I thought maybe we'd add another one to our group…" Ryuji muttered, his face downcast.

Rem's eyes caught his and narrowed. "And what, exactly, are you trying to say?" she asked dangerously causing Ryuji to stiffen like a tree in his spot.

"Nothing!" he all but yelped earning him a small giggle as Ann watched two, Morgana poking his head out of Rem's bag to snicker as well. "What are you lookin' at?" Ryuji growled before actually realising that Morgana was out of the bag and they hadn't actually paid the pet fare.

"Shoot! We didn't pay the pet fare!" Ryuji cried as he scrambled to push Morgana back into Rem's back before anyone could take notice.

"Mrrph! I- mrrph am not a pet!" Morgana struggled against Ryuji's ministration valiantly but ultimately failed due to his status as a cat and therefore lacking any comparable strength to a human. "I am the one guiding you to your destination! If anything, you should be calling me 'master'!" Morgana yowled as he struggled back out of Rem's bag.

"You're getting a free ride," Rem corrected Morgana, uncaring as some passengers stared at Morgana but otherwise didn't care. that there was an animal on the train, simply assuming that they'd paid for its fare, "Ann's the one with the address to the atelier."

It seemed that fate had other plans for them as an innocent girl walked up to the trio plus cat. "Ooooh, kitty!" she hummed in delight, Morgana freezing on Rem's lap in her bag.

"Er, shoot…!" Ann quietly cursed, attention slowly being drawn to them. At this rate, they might draw the attention of a local train guard and they might ask for their pet ticket.

"Is that your pet, miss? I heard it meowing!" the little girl innocently asked Rem who looked down at her kindly.

"Actually, it's a stuffed animal," Rem denied, shaking her head.

"Yeah, it's just a toy," Ann tacked on quickly, "It meows when you press on its head."

Ryuji grew a grin, swiftly finding a way to get back at Morgana for snickering at him earlier. "You heard her, Rem," Ryuji said with an almost gleeful smile, "Press on its head."

"This is ridiculou-" Morgan froze mid-sentence as a dainty hand gently pressed down on his head causing him to bobble up and down once, his face frozen in surprise. "M-Mewww…" he instinctively mewled still stuck surprised.

The girls face lit up in delight as the 'toy' meowed. "Wowweeee! Again! Again!" she giggled cheerfully earning her a coo from Ann while Ryuji moved closer to Rem.

"Here, lemme!" Ryuji said with a demented grin on his face, his hand landing roughly on top of Morgana's head while Rem withdrew her own to watch what was surely going to be a catastrophic incident between the two. "It's button-mashin' time!" Ryuji crowed happily as he pushed up and down rapidly on Morgana's head, his head bobbling up and down as if it was on a spring.

"Mew… Mewowowowowowowow!" Morgana mewls ramped as Ryuji continued before eventually freezing with a retching sound that caused Ryuji to halt abruptly.

"Oh damn…" Ryuji swore but quiet enough that the little girl wouldn't be able to hear him.

From her seat, Rem gave Ryuji a stink eye due to the now green-faced cat sitting in her bag. Before Ryuji could do anything, Rem grabbed Morgana and hefted him up into his arms prior to him saying anything in response and sitting back down.

"…Blerghhh!" Morgana failed to hold in the contents of his stomach and vomited little streams of cat-puke onto Ryuji's blazer, him quickly trying to pull Morgana off but failing as Morgana hooked his claws into Ryuji's yellow undershirt.

The little girl giggled even more. "Ahaha, that's so funny! I want to hear it again!"

"I just threw up in my mouth…" Morgana moaned piteously stuck with nausea.

"Your mouth? Most of it's on me!" Ryuji groaned in disgust, looking at the small rivulets of cat puke clinging to his favourite yellow ZOMG shirt, chunks of pink and green from what seemed to be Morgana's breakfast mixed in with the milky-yellow colour of cat bile.

The train intercoms blared to life.

The next stop is Shibuya. Shibuya. Doors will open on the left side

"Oh, this is our stop!" Ann announced to the little girl apologetically. "Well, see you later! Bye-bye!" she waved, the little girl waving back at the three of them enthusiastically in response.

"Mm-hm! Bye-bye!" she said her farewell before trotting away.

"Oh, dear god, I need to go to the bathroom and clean myself before I puke…" Ryuji threw Morgana back to Rem who simply lifted the open mouth of her book bag allowing Morgana to fly right on in while he clutched his mouth turning green, trying not to vomit himself.

When the train doors open, he made a running beeline for the restrooms.

"Why'd you let him do that to meeee?" Morgana cried as he popped out of the open mouth of Rem's bag, feeling better now that he'd divested the contents of his stomach onto Ryuji.

"Consequences, Morgana. Consequences," was Rem's simple answer as Ryuji came back, his shirt soaked but also having erased any evidence of Morgana's breakfast.

"Okay… what line do we gotta transfer to...?" Ryuji moaned as he began the process of wringing his shirt of any excess water. Ann withdrew her phone from her blazer.

"Well, it doesn't look like there are any stations close by to Kitagawa-kun's address…" Ann murmured as she placed the address into a navigation app, no trainlines connecting anywhere close to it. "If anything, this is the closest station," Ann showed her phone.

"Ugh, are you kidding me?! We gotta walk the rest of the way?" Ryuji grumbled. "What kinda phantom thief takes the train and then walks to their destination?!"

"Ones that students with no jobs or a driving license," Rem pointed out causing Ryuji to slump and glare at her.

"That's… true…" he grumbled once more before straightening back up and looking at an. "Right, where do we gotta go?"

"It's supposedly a shack, but this neighbourhood he lives in… it's a residential area between Shibuya and Yongen-Jaya… pretty wealthy place too," Ann muttered earning her a reside eyebrow from both Rem and Morgana.

"Are you sure?" Morgana asked hopping from Rem's bag onto Ann's shoulder to look over at her phone. True to her word, Madarame's shack was indeed between Shibuya and Yongen but managed to somehow stay away from any other station beside the two in their respective areas.

"It says here that the fastest route is to get to the station square and the go to Central Street! Let's move!" Ann pointed in the direction of Shibuya Square before trotting off, Morgana perched on her shoulder.

With a weary sigh, Ryuji followed after Ann with Rem trailing quietly behind him as the three eventually arrived at Shibuya Square quickly moving over to Central Street.

"It's meant to be in a residential area past Central Street," Ann said looking at her phone map, "We'll have to a walk a bit though."

Rem shrugged helplessly, "Might as well get going before it gets dark."

"This place looks like a stiff breeze could blow the whole thing down," Rem commented as she looked at what could most definitely be called a shack. It looked like a normal house except with the sole factor that rather than being made out of cement or bricks compared to all of the other lovely looking houses around it, the entire structure was composed of rusted and corrugated patches of cheap sheet metal.

"You sure this is it?" Ryuji asked doubtfully, something that Rem couldn't help but nod to. This place didn't seem like it should've been able to pass even a basic health and safety inspection by its landlord or even a health investigator.

Ann double-checked her phone, the maps, and the address that Yusuke had supplied her with. "We're at the right address…" she muttered before looking at the house and noticing the door plate, "The door plate does say 'Madarame.".

Ryuji cast another doubtful eye over the dilapidated building. "Uhhh… you can go and ring the bell."

"Me?" Ann squeaked out, "The walls won't collapse when I do, will they?"

"I wouldn't try knocking on the door," Rem advised helpfully.

"No one sneeze or we'll blow this house down, okay?" Morgana joked only to receive a dull look from Rem at the obviously bad play at the reference to the three piglets. The four eventually made the decision to approach together, even at the risk of destroying the place by accident, with Ann leading the forefront and ringing the doorbell.

Who is it?

The words blared over the cheap house intercom, but it was more than able to deliver the familiar intonation of Yusuke's voice

Sensei is currently-

"Um… it's Takamaki and Amamiya from yesterday…" Ann interrupted him hesitantly causing him to take a noticeable pause.

I'll be right out!

Even from outside, they could hear him scramble around through the thin cheap metal.

"People really do live here…" Ryuji muttered disbelievingly.

The door was hunted open as Yusuke arrived slightly out of breath, taking note of the two girls. "Takamaki-san, Amamiya- you're here, as well?" Yusuke stopped through his greeting as he took note of Ryuji.

"Yo," Ryuji waved. "Sorry, but uh… we ain't here to talk about the modelling thing. We've got something we wanna ask you."

He paused for a moment before getting straight to the point. "Is it true Madarame's plagiarisin' stuff? He's abusin' people too, yeah?" he asked causing Rem to wince out the outright bluntness of his question, and she was right to do so as Kitagawa seemed outright offended by the question.

"Are you serious?" the blue-haired teen asked lowly.

"We read about it online," Ryuji moved forward and showed Yusuke the Phan-Site to which the teen took a short look at it before becoming increasingly more offended.

"This…?" Yusuke asked rhetorically as a peal of low laughter bubbled from within his chest. "That's laughable! Not only is the plagiarism preposterous, but abuse? He welcomes pupils into his own home! That is no act of violence; it is charity!" he rumbled, grey eyes narrowing at Ryuji.

"I'm the only one residing here and studying beneath him. I'm saying it's a lie, so it's beyond doubt," Yusuke denied vehemently.

"You might be lyin' about it!" Ryuji rebutted quickly.

Rem didn't miss the way the Yusuke winced and gave pause for the briefest of moments.

"That… that is utter rubbish," Yusuke denied once more. "I had no family when Sensei took me in and raised me into what you see now! If you continue to ridicule the man I owe my life to, you will rue this day!"

"Are you truly serious about that?" Rem couldn't help but question. It seemed though she wouldn't be getting an answer anytime soon as Madarame himself exited the shack.

"Yusuke? What's the matter? I heard you yelling," Madarame asked his pupil curiously while taking notice of the trio of students outside of his door.

"These people are slandering you with baseless rumours!" Yusuke explained, his voice still loud full of emotion.

"Forgive them, Yusuke…" Madarame shook his head gently, closing his eyes. "They must've heard some bad rumours and came in worry for their friend's safety. Do not worry yourself so much."

Yusuke seemed like he wanted to say something but instead turned his head, letting out a heavy exhale. "…Understood, Sensei," Yusuke relented allowing a small amiable grin to appear on Madarame's face.

"Well, I suppose a cranky old man such as myself may not be liked by everyone," Madarame supposed before looking at the three. "I'm sorry to have butt in on your conversation, but please understand that I do have neighbours around. Won't you please keep it down?" he requested before excusing himself, "Now, if you'll excuse me."

Within the moment, he'd turned around and without preamble walked back into the dilapidated shack.

Rem could see as Yusuke visibly warred with himself before bowing slightly. "That was discourteous of me… I'm sorry," he apologised causing Ryuji and Ann to sweat at the sudden change of attitude. A silence blew between the four before a small idea seemed to dawn on the blue-haired pupil.

"I have an idea. I think you'll be able to believe in Sensei if you saw that painting," Yusuke said, but almost to himself as he withdrew his phone motioning for the three to draw closer. "It's his maiden work as well as his most representative piece – it's title 'Sayuri'."

He splayed his phone to the three, displaying a truly breathtaking piece of artwork. It was of a woman wearing red with long brown hair tied into an over-the-shoulder ponytail gazing mysteriously into nothingness, a grey cloud obscuring anything beneath her torso. on the left-hand side of the painting, the title of 'Sayuri' was emblazoned in Japanese characters.

"…Sayuri?" Rem couldn't help but mutter, her brain working overtime on committing the breathtaking piece of artwork to memory while also simultaneously analysing it.

"This was the painting that inspired me to become an artist," Yusuke explained as the three continued to drink in the art piece.

Ann seemed to be the most taken by it. "It's so beautiful…" she couldn't help but murmur as she gazed upon the piece displayed on Yusuke's phone.

"I don't know all this fine-art stuff, but even I can tell that this is impressive…" Ryuji admitted with a similarly low murmur as he took in the piece.

"When I first saw the both of you, standing beside each other like two opposite beauties akin to the sun and moon, I felt the same powerful emotion as when I saw this painting…" Yusuke said, addressing Ann and Rem earning him twin stunned looks.

"Us?" Ann uttered taken aback while Rem felt a slight amount of heat draw to her cheeks at his words."I wish to pursue beauty such as this," Yusuke nodded calmly before bowing towards the two in an almost pleading manner, "And I believe that drawing the two of you together shall assist me in that pursuit. I implore both of you: please take my offer into serious consideration."

He stood back up and straightened himself with an apologetic look on his face. "I'm sorry that you took the time to come all this way, but I must assist Sensei today," he apologised, "I hope that we may have the chance to discuss this further at a later date. If you'll excuse me then."

He walked slowly back into the shack before closing the sliding door behind him leaving the three outside.

The four including Morgana stood over on the opposite side of the street with Madarame's shack still within full-view as they began to discuss their newly gather information.

"Those two… seem like nice guys, don't they?" Ryuji asked, feeling more than guilty at having accused them.

"Maybe the Madarame we heard about in Mementos is a different person?" Ann winced, feeling similarly guilty.

"No… I don't think it is…" Rem, however, shook her head causing the two of them to look at her with a strange look in their faces.

"Huh? Whaddya mean?" Ryuji asked in confusion.

Rem turned her head over her shoulder to look at the shack, a slightly disconcerted look on her face. "When you said that Kitagawa-san might have been lying… did either of you notice that he paused and stuttered for a bit?" Rem asked getting shocked looks from the both of them along with Morgana who was sitting on the railing that Ryuji was leaning against.

"Actually, now that you mention it… in the heat of the moment, guess I didn't really notice… but..." Ryuji murmured thinking back on it.

"You think Kitagawa-kun might have been lying?" Ann asked, pieces slowly slotting together.

"I do," Rem nodded. "Nakanohara's shadow asked us to change Madarame's heart and he did say that there was only one pupil remaining under him," Rem said while it finally dawned on the three.

"And Kitagawa said that he was the only one residing and studying under Madarame," Morgana nodded along as well. "The post earlier online did also say that Madarame has a public face so it's not too far of a jump to say that what we saw was it."

Rem nodded. "That's what I was thinking. I was thinking we could always use the Meta-Nav to-"

"Of course it's you…" a voice murmured tiredly, someone approaching the four causing Ryuji to slip to the ground as he jolted in surprise before losing his balance against the railing, Morgana falling along with him.

Rem and Ann whirled around, fighting instincts at the ready to-

"Akira?" Rem let out in surprise as she noticed the familiar frizzy black-haired teen standing there with a bag of groceries in his left hand along with a cool bag and a quizzical look on his face as he took in the strange fighting stances the two had fallen into.

"Rem. Takamaki-san. Sakamoto-kun. …Rem's cat," Akira greeted casually, a bored expression on his face as he looked at them individually before looking at Ryuji who was sprawled on the floor with Morgana on his chest.

"Kurusu-kun? What are you doing here?" Ann asked surprised, slowly withdrawing from her stance where she'd be using her whip, even if it wasn't on here at the moment.

"I could ask you the same thing," Akira rose a brow, "I live in the neighbourhood. I was coming home after buying some ingredients for dinner from the local butcher but I heard some shouting and I'd thought I'd check out what was causing such ruckus," he explained.

"You live 'round here?" Ryuji groaned as he stood back up. "Your parents must be loaded, cause ain't the houses around here stupid expensive?"

Rem noticed Akira wince. "Ryuji!" Rem hissed urgently causing said teen to look up and wince himself.

"Actually… I'm an orphan," Akira shook his head, a slightly sad look on his face. "I live with a housemate just a few blocks down the street. I believe you met him Takamaki-san back at Shibuya Private hospital during Suzui-san's incident," he inclined his head to the bushy pig-tailed blonde.

"Y-yeah," Ann nodded, still surprised that their classmate had almost caught them.

"Wait… then how the heck did you afford to have a house here?" Ryuji asked but earned a sharp pain on his foot as Ann stomped down harshly on it.

"Ryuji!" Ann was the one to hiss at him this time.

"No, it's more than understandable," Akira shook his head in understanding. "I took a few odd jobs here and there to purchase a permanent residency here… however, if I may, you didn't answer my question earlier."

The three plus cat stiffened. "Don't say anything too incriminating!" Morgana hissed but stiffened as Akira's attention fell on him. The frizzy-haired teen waled over to him before a large hand fell onto Morgana's skull, scratching him just behind the ear.

"OOoooohhh… that feels good," Morgana hummed in delight, the three sweat dropping as they watched him suddenly get pampered.

"Your cat meows a lot, Rem," Akira commented as his free hand rummaged through his cool bag before pulling out a slice of fresh tuna and giving it to Morgana. "Here," Akira offered it, small stars shining in Morgana's blue orbs as he lunged for the fish.

"Tuna!"

"You three didn't answer my question," Akira turned his attention back at the three. "This is generally a very quiet neighbourhood so it tends to raise questions when someone starts a shouting match that can be heard from more than ten blocks away."

Ryuji and Ann began to sweat nervously causing Rem to take hold of the conversation before it got out of hand. "We came because Ann and I were offered a modelling offer," Rem explained simply, "There was a small argument on what we could expect if we took up the offer."

One of Akira's brows rose slightly as he stood back up with his bag of groceries, Morgana happily nibbling at the tuna that was given to him by Akira's feet. "That's more than understandable then. Please don't do anything that would reflect poorly on you since it would also reflect poorly in Sojiro-san," Akira said, Rem nodding at his words.

"Well, I've satisfied my curiosity for the day," Akira shrugged turning around in the direction of one of the streets. "Just please make sure that the next time you come around here, you're quiet. Noise carries in this area and I don't think you want any of your private conversations to be heard. Take care," Akira gave a backwards wave as he walked off.

It wasn't until he turned a few streets down and was out of sight did the three sans cat let out a sigh of relief.

"That was way too close," Ann murmured, exhaustion in her voice. Rem couldn't help but nod in agreement. She'd just been about to take out her phone and activate the Metaverse Navigator when he'd suddenly appeared.

"You're tellin' me," Ryuji groaned. "I swear the guy is frickin' everywhere…"
"What do you mean?" Rem couldn't help but raise a brow curiously, watching as Ryuji shrugged.

"Well… I saw him yesterday at the exhibition in Ueno. Madarame's one," Ryuji explained, Rem's eyes narrowing. Once was a coincidence but twice was suspicious.

"Do you think he might be following us?" Rem asked.

"Why the hell would he?" Ryuji asked taken aback but eventually shook his head. "And nah, don't think he was. I think he was on a date or somethin', he was with that red-haired girl that went with him in the ambulance."

Rem relaxed. Maybe it was just a coincidence. She did notice that Morgana had finished consuming his treat though. "I'm glad you're ready to join us," Rem snarked lightly as Morgana let out a satisfied burp but blue eyes narrowing.

"Hey! It's not my fault I was hungry! A certain monkey made me barf up my breakfast and lunch!" Morgana's eyes drifted toward Ryuji who's taken notice of Morgana's words.

"You wanna say that again cat?!" Ryuji snarled.

Bonk!

The two recoiled as Ann withdrew her hands from their chopping motion on their heads. "You two are being too loud! We just got told to be quiet, remember?" she scolded before remembering this wasn't the first time Kurusu had told them to not be loud. "Is this really what we're going to become known for with him?"

"It's better than being suspected for being the Phantom Thieves," Rem shrugged as she brought the group back on track. "As I was saying, we could always just use the Meta-Nav to see if Madarame has a hit."

"I'll be honest… I'd completely forgotten that was why we were here," Ryuji murmured as Rem pulled out her phone and opened the navigation app.

Result found

"You're shittin' me…" Ryuji let out in surprise as he and Ann moved over to Rem.

"Well, at least we know that Madarame has a hit… wait… is it saying he has a Palace?" Ann asked as she noticed the different display, rather than him showing up in Mementos, it was remarkably similar to the one they'd see when they were going to Kamoshida's castle.

"It would be safe to assume so. All we need to do now is figure out what the keywords are," Morgana nodded joining in, jumping onto Ryuji's shoulder and hanging over his head. The blonde looked up at him in annoyance but otherwise left him there.

"That could be freakin' anything though," Ryuji complained, slumping ridiculously with Morgana lounging atop his head.

"Not… necessarily…" Ann said, deep in thought before she moved closer to Rem. "Shack."

Location found

"How the heck did you get that on the first go?!" Ryuji yelped in shocked. Ann gave him a smug smile.

"I was watching the news last night and there was an interview with Madarame, he said that he lived in a shack so I figured it'd make sense that was what the location," she explained smugly.

Ryuji had a troubled look on his face as he rubbed his ribs. "Yeah… I know that interview alright… I was watchin' it live yesterday before I got mobbed by a bunch of crazy fans."

"Focus," Rem said lightly snapping her fingers. "We still need to figure out the keyword and what he thinks of this place," she said bringing them back to the present.

"Yeah, yeah," Ryuji muttered before taking a random guess, "I dunno, something about plaigarisin' or abuse or somethin'? That was on the Phan-Site post after all."

Keyword found

"Hehe, nice work Ryuji. Maybe you can actually be useful once in a while," Morgana back-handed complimented the human beneath him only to earn himself a flick on the nose.

"No insulting each other," Rem shook her head, "I swear it's like trying to play mediator between two grouchy old men."

Ann looked at her dully. "And you were telling us to focus…" she said causing Rem to look bashful.

"Ahem… we only need to find out what he thinks the shack to be for us to enter his Palace," Rem shook her head, her braid whipping behind her as she blushed lightly. "Either of you want to take a guess? You two got the last ones after all," Rem asked Ann and Ryuji, putting them on the spot.

"Why don't we start with castle?" Ann asked.

No candidate found

"I dunno, 'Prison', I guess…?" Ryuji hazarded but eventually shook his head, "Nah that wouldn't make sense…"

No candidate found

"Thought so… 'Jail'? 'Warehouse'? and 'Guidance Counselin' Office'? Heck, why not 'Farm'?" Ryuji spat out a bundle of guesses to no avail.

No candidate found

"Really? Nothin'?" Ryuji slumped dramatically.

"Should we come back another time?" Morgana asked hesitantly since they seemed to be getting nowhere fast.

"No… we should get this done as soon as possible otherwise Kitagawa-kun might suffer if Rem was right," Ann declined swiftly as she looked at the navigation app appraisingly. "A building that's related to artists… if we go from there, what could it be…? Do you have any ideas?" she asked looking at Rem.

Rem thought it over for a moment, thinking back to yesterday's exhibit

"Exhibit?"

No candidate found

"Huh… thought that would've been it," Ryuji remarked.

"No, I think she might be onto something," Ann shook her head. "Can you think of anything like an exhibit?" she asked Rem, her face drawn into one of concentration.

"What about a museum?" Rem hedged a guess.

Beginning navigation

Akira watched from the rooftop of his house, a spotter's scope in his hands as he looked on as the four disappeared from this layer of reality and into Madarame's Palace.

Truthfully, it'd been pure luck finding out that Madarame had lived so close to him, only just a few blocks away on a street he'd never frequented. After nearing three years, he'd completely forgotten Madarame's address and it was only thanks to him slipping into Madarame's palace on the way home from Leblanc yesterday did he even realise where his shack was.

Taking the time to tuck away the spotter scope into the long case containing a model sniper rifle that he'd acquired from Tsuda, he surged from his spot on the rooftop and cracked his back. "Guess I should be getting ready for dinner," Akira murmured as he re-entered his house and made his way downstairs to the kitchen.

It hadn't been an entire lie that he'd been coming back from the butcher and fish market, only that had been more than three hours ago. He'd already done a majority of what he'd needed to do regarding Madarame's maps before the three had entered, all made much easier since the Phantom Thieves had yet to trigger his alarms.

All he needed to do now was shadow their progress, but that could wait.

He pulled out his phone and dialled Goro.

"Akira?"

"Hey, how do you feel like sashimi tonight?"