Dead.
No matter how many times he muttered it too himself, no matter how many times the scene replayed in his head, Ryuji simply couldn't accept this reailty. His mother had been slaughtered, his mother was dead.
The woman that had raised him, the woman that had cared for him his whole life, his saviour from the abusive sperm donor, that he dared called a father. It had been less than a day, and he always thought his life as Phantom Thief and his life as a rebellious, yet loving son towards his sole carer were completely seperate. Yet in the space of hours, she'd been dragged into his world, and failed to survive it.
Now what?
He'd awoken covered in dust, blood seeping from several cuts on his skin, yet they barely seemed to itch. Lost in grief, he'd remembered crying and screaming, pumping the ground with his fists, and ignoring the growing ache in his body. Ryuji knew, deep down, that he had to move. To find some sort of shelter, to get back to the group and get himself healed up.
But a stubborn part of him, kept the persona user locked in place.
If he had to face them, they'd sympthaise with him, give their condolences, and it would become real for him, he'd have to fight again. Accept that his mother was dead and simply move on.
No.
He didn't want that, he wanted to sit here, in this rubble strewn corridor, forever in a daze. Not accepting reailty.
Even during their most dire circumstances, Ryuji always had his mother to go back too, after a trip to Mementos, or after inflitrating a palace. He'd have a home, a family to return too, now there was nothing. He couldn't pump his fist in the air, or grin about how awesome and badass this all was, because too him, it no longer was. At all.
What was there to go back too?
What would happen to him, even if he escaped this palace, or no one else died, he had no future, nowhere to call home. His mother's death would be a shadow haunting him till the day he died.
Speaking of shadows, they were coming now, disgused as bulters, but their forms started to distort, into the black sludge Ryuji was accustomed too. They approached him, creatures snarling and hissing, detrimined to finish off what that damned snake had started.
Ryuji Sakamoto had fought so hard, with his mother gone and his exhausted body preventing him from even standing, he felt a strange peace envelop his form. Maybe dying like this wouldn't be so bad, maybe all the grief would go away with his life, after all if he couldn't beat that snake, he wasn't strong enough to survive this palace anyway.
"If I fought harder, mum would be alive..." he sobbed aloud, his tears falling onto the still ripped garments, that the snake's acid-like blood had torn through.
Then he thoughts wondered to the snake, sorrow turned to rage.
"She wouldn't have wanted you to die, not like this" came a deep resounding voice from behind Ryuji.
"I can't keep fighting! I just... can't..." Ryuji admitted, exhaustion and sorrow heavy in his tone, but the shadows themselves, didn't stop. They continued their merciless march towards the grieving boy, any second now and he'd be another causalty of this cruiser.
"If you can't, you'll never see them again." The voice announced, the air around him starting to sizzle with an electronic flare, "You'll never see her again".
Ryuji gulped, a familar face flashing through his mind. As it did, he saw the faces of the rest of his friends who were most likely, still fighting.
The shadow nearest him was thrown back, Ryuji was aware of the agony coursing through his veins, as he got to his feet, but he did so anyway.
"Be the rebel you were born to be! Avenge your mother! Protect your friends, that is the true spirit of your rebellion!" Seiten Taisei now roared, billowing behind the blonde-headed boy.
Ryuji took a few defiant steps forward, looking down at the shadows who charged at him.
"I'M NOT EFFIN, DYING NOW!" He bellowed, releasing another blast from his hands that sizzled and zapped the shadows of all their strength, until they exploded into nothingness. Ryuji, walked onwards, past the rubble and looked at the hole above him in the ceiling, one thought running through his frazzled mind.
"I'll make that fucker pay, if it's the last thing I do!"
"Akir... Joker's where!" Makoto thundered, attempting to lift herself from the bed, but her sister pushed her back down, when she saw Makoto's face crumple in pain.
"Take it easy!" she snapped, "You're in no state to do anything, you need more rest!"
"How I can rest sis, after hearing all that!?" Queen inquired.
It hadn't been easy to wake up, to find Sojiro passed out on the other bed, his back still a bloody mess, and with people noticeably absent. Queen looked at the downtrodden group and demanded an explantion, it didn't take long for Judge to also awaken from her exhausted slumber. Through Morgana's explantion, they were quick to piece together what had happened, in short they had managed to retrieve the first out of the five letters, at the cost of Nagisa's life, several injuries, their supplies dwindling drastically, and morale being dropped to low point. With no clear plan in mind, hoping that Joker would come back to sort them out.
"So no one's sent out a party to search for the others!?" Queen snapped.
"Well, we can't afford to be spilt up!" Hifumi reasoned, "If we stay put and wait, we can regroup and discuss our next course of action!"
"But we can't rely on Joker, like I said before." Noir muttered.
Sae sighed.
"If we had some sort of communication, this wouldn't have happened." she muttered, "The most pratical thing to do, would have been to have all the persona users face this snake. If we had some sort of communication, we could have ran to help rather than sit in here, not doing anything."
"The room was blocked off!" Chihaya squeaked, "Even if we had communication, what could have anyone here, actually done?"
"We could have tried to break in, use our persona's, or done anything." Fox muttered, a downcast look, lining his face.
"Don't start all this." Sae said instantly, "What's done is done, we can't blame ourselves what happened. What we need to do, is to stop it from happening again."
"and how do we do that!?" Iwai muttered sourly.
"Well, if we're going to spilt up... won't we need communication, like some sort of walkie talkie or something?" Kawakami muttered nervously, looking around at the others. "I mean, if people have to stay here, and others have to go off to find these letters, we could keep the devices on us, and call for assistance if we need it."
"and if the safe room is attacked by Akechi, we can use it for the same purpose!" Morgana exclaimed, "Nice thinking, homeroom teacher!"
"Thanks!" Kawakami beamed, rather pleased with herself, before her face descended into a scowl, "and what do you mean, homeroom teacher? What have I been teaching you?"
"Remember, I was in Joker's bag during lessons, I sat through your lectures as well."
"Oh, this just gets, weirder and weirder the more I think about it," Kawakami groaned.
"Putting all that aside," Judge muttered, to move the conversation onwards, "That is a good idea, we'll need communication devices, if we are going to continue traversing this palace."
"But, electric things don't work in here." Morgana reminded her, "Rememeber Ohya's camera, and your phones won't work either."
"I gathered that, but isn't that app on your phones, so won't it be on our's now?" Sae inquired.
Morgana nodded.
"Yeah, our phones can help us get into palaces, but we can't use them to communicate or call each other while inside palace, I explained this earlier."
Sae sighed, hitting a roadblock there.
"But... models of devices work." Takemi pointed out, looking over at Iwai, "Isn't that right gun-boy?"
Iwai grunted.
"Whaddaya gettin' that!?" he snapped.
"Well... with your collection of toys, surely you have..."
"I do!" Iwai snapped, "and I'm already slapping myself for not bringing em' along. I should've known..."
"Don't beat yourself up." Sae reminded them, but Iwai in particular, "Even if you had model, walkie talkie's or phones. Shido's men will have probably ransacked your store by now, and confiscated them. They know how palaces work, they wouldn't leave them lying around".
Another defeated sigh escaped from the group. Until Iwai spoke up again.
"I have a hidden stash." he muttered. "I doubt they found that."
Sae sighed once again.
"Now you're just looking for false hope," she muttered, "What are you suggesting anyway? That you go back into the real world, grab the walkie talkies, or whatever you've got, and skip on back here?"
"Pretty much," Iwai muttered.
"Do I even need to tell you, how impossible that is?"
Iwai shrugged.
"So what, we just sit here and wait again!? You just said, we can't make the same mistakes again, we need to take action!" Iwai thundered.
"Then let's try and settle this without such reckless plans," a sleepish, looking, Yoshida said, trying to pacify the heated Untouchables owner.
"Do you have an idea then?" Chihaya asked.
"These shadows, must be in communication somehow." he said, before jabbing his finger at where Ooe's shadow was still tied and bound in the corner. Still out of it, the disgraced snake of a politican didn't move a muscle, yet that didn't stop the look of distaste that lined Yoshida's face when glaring at his political rival.
"When he wakes up, we'll get the information out of him, about how they communicate." Yoshida said, "You are a public prosecutor aren't you, Judge? Surely you'd have the skills to get it out of him?"
"That sounds like a plan," Judge muttered, her eyes brightened.
"Listen, this all sounds great." Morgana interjected, "and I'm sure you could get it out of him Judge. But there's every chance he'll lie too us. Send us on a wild goose chase, besides, how can we trust that any form of communication that Shido has developed in his own palace, to work to our advantage?"
"The resturant passes, certainly worked to our advantage." Yoshida reminded him.
"That's different, a walkie talkie developed by Shido could go both ways." Morgana muttered, "Look outside this safe room, you've already seen how he sees people. He doesn't trust them at all, but would use them to fulfill his own goals".
"Mona, may have a point." Fox noted, "To use what Shido's palace offers us, to access certain areas is benefical, but if he uses these devices to spy on us and if our plans are revealed. They'll foil us at every turn."
"How do we know they aren't already spying on us?" Kawakami muttered, looking around nervously.
"This is a safe room." Morgana reminded her, "It's an area of weaker congition, Shido doesn't control this place like he does with the rest of the ship. Besides, I've already scouted this area, and it's not bugged I can assure you."
"Yes, but if Akechi enters this room and finds Ooe and any other prisoners we take, he'll know what we're doing and report back to Shido anyway." Yoshida explained, "and even if he doesn't do that. He can check the seperate palaces of the others, and when he finds them gone..."
He finished there, an explantion beyond that point wasn't needed.
"Shido knows palaces better than anyone else we've encountered." Mona said, "I know it seems like the easy option to obtain communication devices from this ship. But I wouldn't trust anything produced here."
"Then we don't." Iwai said clearly, "I'll go alone and get us the supplies we needed in the first place."
"That's sucidial, and you know it is." Sae said plainly, "You're taking a massive risk, over a device that might not even be there."
"It's not just that" Tae said unexpectedly, "at this rate, our supplies won't last. We're burning through medicine and food. Listen, I'll head back with Gun-boy here, to grab the food and extra medicine we need, besides I have stronger medicines hidden away, that I'm sure we'll need."
"You're both crazy!" Hifumi exclaimed, "We lose one person, and now you're making a massive misplay, we need to wait, and make our next move carefully!"
"Like I said before," Tae reminded her, "Sometimes you have to make a move, or you won't win the game".
Hifumi shook her head.
"But this is just a stupid move," she muttered.
"So stupid, that I wouldn't expect it" came a new voice. In which all mouths opened to see Futaba was already up from her slumber, and was booting up her laptop.
"How long have you been up!?" Yoshida asked.
"A while now, just thought I'd listen in, get those updates..." Futaba explained, "But yeah, listening to all that, I think Gun boy and doctor girl, have a plan so crazy, it might just work."
"No offence, but I don't think you're the most qualified to talk about this." Judge said.
"Maybe I'm not..." Oracle muttered, "But, If I was the enemy, I'd be expecting something smarter from us. To charge right into their domian, would probably catch them off guard."
"We're going to need more than a probably, to inspire confidence," Hifumi muttered.
Futaba shrugged.
"It's all we've got," she said, "Course, I'd wait till Joker and the others get back, before we commit to any plan. It would be really stupid, to go ahead with a plan, designed to stop us from being vulernable by spiltting up. By being vulernable and spiltting up, before everyone was aware of the plan."
"It can wait," Iwai muttered, "But once Joker and the others make it back, I'm going, and you're not coming," he said to Takemi, "This is something I have to do alone."
"I'm not your son." Takemi said flatly, "I'm capable of making my own desicions gun-boy, besides if your walkie-talkie models are really gone, the whole mission is pointless. But getting more food and medicine is something we'll defiantly need and something we can defiantly get."
The tension between the pair increased in those moments.
"Kaoru, you'll come with me, and I'll get you somewhere safe," Iwai said, without even looking at the bespeactled boy, "I know you want to stay, but this is gettin' too dangerous".
"It's too dangerous in the real world and you know it dad!" Kaoru exclaimed, "Wherever I go. I'll be at risk, it's better if we stick together and stay here!"
"Kaoru!" Iwai growled.
"I'll keep saying no, and I'm not going back!" he argued.
"Listen Iwai..." Takemi said clearly, "Maybe you should let the kid stay here, it's dangerous, but the more I think about it. Could you really trust these contacts of your's to keep him safe?"
"Absoutley"
"Even if Shido starts offering some... massive cash prizes?"
Iwai was silent here, confirming his answer.
"Maybe, it doesn't have to come to that at all!" Kaoru piped up, "Dad, you don't have to go, we don't have to seperate at all! Futaba here is good with computers and stuff. I mean, I thought electric devices didn't work here, but she's got her laptop to work"
"Yep, speically desgined to adapt here in the congitive world, of course my persona helps!" she proclaimed proudly, "But erm... where are you going with this?"
"Well... couldn't you hack into any communication devices we get in here and make it work for us?" he asked hopefully.
"It's possible." Futaba wondered aloud, scratching her chin, "But... I have no idea what sort of viruses or malware Shido could have implanted on them. I could crack them, but I'd probably have to be montioring them constantly, to make sure return didn't control to Shido and whoever he has hacking for him."
"So it's hard, but possible?" Kaoru said.
Futaba nodded.
"Then, surely we should try that!" Noir exclaimed, "Why put more lives at risk, when we have that solution?"
"I dunno, I'd feel a lot more comfortable if I could use... fresher items. Things that haven't been tampered with." Oracle admitted, "If I had walkie talkie's that came directly from the outside, it would be easy to set up an effective communication system between everyone."
"Hang on..." Yoshida said, leaning over and looking at what Futaba was typing away at, "Isn't that a camera system on your screen! Are you...!?"
"It's not working, and that worries me." Futaba muttered, "I've been trying since we got here to hack the camera systems. Give us a better view of the whole palace itself so we could map it out better. But it looks like Shido knows what we're up to, because he's disabled all the camera systems and it's impossible to hack them."
"Even for you?" Fox asked.
"Yes, even for me, Inari." Oracle muttered in frustration, "That's what worries me about using any items we find on the ship, it's a huge risk using them, and the responsbility would be on me and..." she cast her eyes to where Sojiro lay beside her, guilt eating away at her, as the orange haired girl seemed unable to finish her sentence. Her tapping slowed to snail's pace, and then stopped.
"He did it too protect you" Yoshida muttered, reading her mind and placing a comforting hand on her skinny shoulder. She jumped at first, uncomfortable with this contact with a near stranger. However, she relaxed when she the warmth lining Yoshida's face, and saw he meant no harm.
"Don't feel any guilt, he wouldn't want you too," Yoshida muttered.
Futaba sighed, but felt a small smile worm itself back onto her face.
"Yeah, okay..." she mumbled.
"You know, I could use some of your comforting cards here Chihaya," Yoshida said to her warmly, trying to lighten the mood, "You saved Queen's life with them earlier, what do they say now? What's the best opition?"
"My cards got destroyed back there, I... I can't do anything now!" Chihaya exclaimed helplessly, "Right when we needed them as well."
"God, I just can't take this!" Kawakami groaned, "I feel like I'm in a horror film, when the characters make stupid decisions and you scream at the TV. Thinking, oh... if only they did that, rather than spilt up! It's like, we're making the same mistakes, and someone's screaming at us too stop, and use our common sense for once."
"and what choice should we make, with our common-sense?" Judge asked.
"I... I don't know..." Kawakami admitted to her shame, "Just going on a suicide mission back to the real world, using items that are clearly going to backfire on us, don't seem like very smart choices. But then again, we have do something, we have to establish some form of communication, or we'll just repeat the same mistake we made last time."
"That's true." Judge muttered, "Now Noir, Fox and Mona, you go out and find the others, bring them back here and we'll discuss our next move."
"But..." Fox began.
"Me and my sister here, are weakened, but not defenceless." she informed them, "We'll protect the safe room, should Akechi show his face. But it shouldn't take you long to find them, and they know where we are, they should be able to find their way back, but they may need help."
"and we'll help them," Noir said with detrimination. "We'll get the group back together."
"and we'll get through this palace and stop Shido."
"Someone... anyone...!" Shinya begged, tears streaming down his face, as he blindly stumbled through the crowded streets of Akihabara, the dizzying neon lights that had once felt so warm, were now sickening and glaring, they hurt his eyes and made everything blur into nothingness. Yet at this late hour, no matter who he appealed for help, they simply brushed him off or laughed at him.
"Go find yer' Mum, Kid!" one drunken man snapped.
That made him cry harder, as the events that had taken place only hours ago. It was surreal to Shinya, he'd been sitting in the living room. Watching TV, not really thinking about much, his bossy mother was fretting about him, like she always did. She could push him too far, he knew that. But he loved his mother, no matter how over-bearing she could be, or how she isolated him from others.
What happened next, was something straight out of the movie, and not a family friendly one, either.
There was an aggressive pounding at the door, his confused mother went to answer it. When the surreal sound of real bullets tore through the air, a second later, she lay dead on the ground. While a frozen Shinya, watching in horror, his heart threating to explode from his ribcage, could only gawp, as tears fell from his eyes.
"M-mum!" he trembled.
They came in, men dressed in riot gear, guns held high. How unforuntate it was for Shinya he'd worn his cap with the words "Get smoked" on, because that's exactly what was happening to him right now. and this wasn't a game, blasting away at things on screen, had been a fun hobby for him. But an innocent one, where he had all the power against virtual enemies.
Now, real men were barking orders, piling into his house, with real guns trained on him.
He was going to die.
He didn't rememeber how fast he'd ran, or how he managed to move in the first place, all he knew is that he leapt out of his bedroom window onto the street below and had kept running since then. His mind was a jumbled mess, trying to justify or try and make sense of what had happened and why. He sat in that dark alley, pinching himself, while weeping, hoping this was all some terrible dream.
It wasn't. The city blared on as normal, people walked past in the busier streets minding their own business, while those faceless men had murdered his mother. They'd be hunting him as well, he knew that.
But why? What had he done?
He sat there, trying to rationalize everything, but the only thing that sprang to mind were the phantom thieves.
Shinya Oda had been a huge fan of them, even helping one of their assiocates, that Akira guy, with some sort of mission they had. He'd knew Akira was the real deal, because of that message he got from the phansite upon request. So he had a line of communication to the phantom thieves, however indirect it was.
He'd also watched the news, and knew about the fall of the Phantom Thieves. Apparently their leader had been slain, Shido had gained massive popularity, because he had always opposed the phantom thieves and he just so happened to be right. But the whole thing didn't sit right with Shinya, he held out hope. Despite not seeing that Akira guy in a while, he had to believe in the Phantom thieves, because he was hoping they could change his mother's heart.
Key word, was.
Now there was no home to return too, nothing to hope for.
He tried to think, if (as he had long suspected, but never said out-loud) that Akira guy was the leader of the Phantom Thieves, and he had been killed, then Shido's Government was going to wipe out any of his supporters.
But, even him!? A kid? and his mother had nothing to do with the Phantom Thieves, none of this was right!
But it was the only conclusion he could come too.
Shinya sat there, trying to process that fact, when he heard shuffling, and saw a group of hooded men at the end of the alley, they began to sprint towards him and Shinya felt himself running once again. His feet battered and bruised, as he hadn't had any-time to put any shoes on, during the flight from his house.
That's where he now found himself, weeping and terrified, through the neon maze of drunken, degenerates, of nightime Akihabara, he couldn't find anyone to help him, or spare him a thought for more than second.
"They're gonna get me! They're gonna get me...!" he kept thinking to himself, eyes darting around dramatically, looking for hooded men, or anyone threating... it was impossible to tell! But he couldn't stay here, he needed to find someone, he needed...!
"Oh dear, are you lost?"
Shinya was stopped by a kindly-looking red-headed girl, in a Shujin uniform, who looked down at him in concern.
Shinya froze then, he could have done a million things then, he could have told her everything that had happened, got her to call the police. Return to his home to verify everything that had happened, had indeed been true. He'd been so focused on running and hiding, he hadn't considered the obvious choice, to scream and attract attention, to tell people what had happened!
Yes, he had been asking for help, but from the wrong people, the answer should have been obvious from the get-go!
"R-r-r... robbers! They broke in and killed my mother and... and..." he blubbered.
"Armed robbery!" the girl exclaimed.
"What's going on here, Ma'am?" a police officer inquired, noticing the distressed child.
"This boy said his mother was killed in an armed robbery!" she exclaimed.
The police officer bent down on one knee to face the crying Shinya, he didn't look as kindly as the student, and had a steely gaze that gave Shinya the creeps. Briefly, the boy began to panic, if he was correct about the Government being the one's to conduct this massacre, then could the police be trusted? What if this was all a set-up and he'd fallen for it!
"What happened?" he asked.
"T-they, t-t-they came in... men in riot gear an-and they kill-killed... my mum..." Shinya wept.
"How many of them were there!?"
"I dunno... 7 or 8 I think..." Shinya said, trying to rememeber and trying (and failing) to keep his voice steady, he hoped to whatever God was listening that this officer was genuine, and not a servant for Shido.
"What's your adress, where did this happen?" The officer inquired.
Shinya gave his home address, the officer took a note and got onto a small radio he had. Shinya heard him clearly, he was dispatching a unit to his address, this man (despite how cold he looked) seemed to be the real deal. Shinya felt his panic subside slightly, the kindly girl was hugging him now, and a small crowd was curiously looking on.
"It's all fine folks, move along...!" the officer ordered.
"But where's he going to stay?" the girl asked.
"Do you have any relatives that live nearby?" the officer asked of him.
"No" Shinya said clearly, "and I don't... I don't want to go to any home..." he admitted, "I need to go to the police station... I... I... it's not safe... those robbers are coming for me!"
"What do you mean!?" the officer asked.
"I saw them in an alley, somewhere back there! I know it!" Shinya exclaimed, pointing wildly behind him, "They were dressed in hoodies and..."
"There are killers on the streets!" a man exclaimed, it was only then Shinya looked up, to see he'd drawn far more attention, then he would have liked, as a large crowd now surrounded him.
"I thought that kid was just... trickin' us for money or something..." a drunken man slurred.
"Why didn't anyone help the lad...!?" a woman snapped harshly.
"But... why would they want to hurt a kid like him?"
"Maybe something happened..."
"He could be lying, looking for attention. Problem child and all..."
"Get a grip! Look how pale the kid is, he's traumatized..."
So many voices and whispers, he felt sick once again, but he had to keep his composure, and let the police know everything he could. Hiding wouldn't get him anywhere, no-one was going to save him. He could only save himself and try and figure out was going on.
"Alright everyone, back up!" the officer said, as another officer seemingly materliazed out of nowehere, holding the crowds back, as he ushered people onwards. "Alright, c'mon kid, I'll walk you to the station, are you sure you...?"
"Yeah, I'll be okay." Shinya said, but his voice wobbled, and more tears fell from his eyes.
"I'll come with you, I can spare the time." The kind girl said.
"Ma'am you've done enough," the officer said, "We can take it from here."
"No, I just want to make sure he's okay." the girl said, "I can't just ignore this, I want to come along, please officer." she begged of him.
"Alright then" he eventually sighed. Shinya felt relieved because of this. He may have trusted this officer, but he still didn't fancy being alone with him. Having this girl here was extra safety for him. Surrounded by this many people, those robbers or whoever they were, weren't going to try and hunt him now, it would be too risky.
Never-the-less Shinya kept his guard up, as they walked along the crowded streets towards the nearest station.
"Do you have any friends I can call on your phone?" The girl asked suddenly.
"Oh, erm... no..." Shinya muttered sadly.
"There's got to be someone you can talk too." the girl said, "You can't go through this alone."
Even if Shinya had friends, or any family outside of his mother that he knew about (he barely ever remembered distant cousins and his father was a distant memory). Even if he had all the friends and family in the world, he wouldn't contact them, because if his theory was correct, they'd be in danger too.
"No... I... I just need to talk to the police..." Shinya muttered, before his eyes rested on the girl's uniform, "But you go to Shujin don't you? There was someone I spoke too who went there."
"Ooh, do I know them!?" she mused, with a bright smile.
"Guy called Akira, messy hair, glasses and all..." Shinya said.
"I know him," The girl said, "Everyone said he was a deliquent, but the few times I spoke to him, he seemed very kind. But, I haven't spoken too him much, I wish I got to know him better, if he was friendly too you."
"Yeah, he liked hanging out at the arcade here, and just talking to me," Shinya said, not going into too much detail, feeling more comfortable now and trying hard not to think of his mother's death or the imposing danger still lingering around him. This girl, (whoever she was) seemed to have a natural talent for making him feel better and taking his mind off things, by talking about the most mudane topics, but he appericated it. He needed a moment of relief and comfort at this surreal time.
"Well I hope he is okay, he had to leave school recently, family emergency and all..." the girl said, "Still, you said you liked hanging out at the arcade here, what was your favourite game?"
"Well, there was Gun's Out 4...!" Shinya began to rave, describing his achievements as the unbeatable "King".
"Sounds like your very talented!" the girl mused, after Shinya had exhausted the list of his favourite games, and how he'd beaten them. "I must sound rude to ask you this now, but what's your name?"
"Shinya" he said, "and you?"
"Kasumi!" she said, "Pleased too meet you Shinya, although I wish it was under better circumstances."
Shinya's eyes dropped, remembering the grim reality he had to face.
"If you don't want to go to the station..." the girl, (Kasumi) began.
"No, I have too," Shinya said, "This is going to sound crazy, but I think I know why, they came for me and my mom, it was because of the Phantom Thieves."
He didn't know why he was telling her all of this, but he needed to tell someone before he told the police. Just to see how crazy it sounded.
"The phantom thieves?" Kasumi inquired, "Why them? I thought their leader had been killed a few weeks ago..."
"Yes, but I was a big fan of them! and I... well..." he ushered for Kasumi to come closer, so the officer in front of them couldn't overhear them, "This sounds crazy, but when I spoke to that Akira guy, he said he knew the Phantom Thieves, and they changed something on the Phansite to convince me! I think because of that Shido's government, is trying too... well... y'know..." he pettered off there, realising how crazy that sounded. The look of bewilderment on Kasumi's face didn't help his confidence in his story either.
"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked, "I mean, I know it can be hard to rationalize, but armed robbers can do awful things... a friend of mine, had a finance that had a... a horrible run in with such people" Kasumi muttered.
"Maybe you're right, but I..." he sighed there, wondering if he really had been the victim of an armed robbery, and if his child-like mind was just looking for crazy theories to justify his grief and shock.
But then he remembered the men in the alley, armed robbers, wouldn't stalk him that far, would they?
"I saw them in the alley, though... I know it was them...even if they had different clothing..." Shinya muttered.
"But why go that far for you?" Kasumi asked, "I think you just had a run in, with some nasty thugs or something. Look, I know it's hard but..."
"I have to tell the police everything, even if it sounds crazy". Shinya said, "Isn't that right?"
Kasumi sighed.
"I guess so," she muttered, "But don't stress yourself, you've been enough already."
Shinya nodded.
"Why did you help me?" he asked suddenly, "No one else did, you were the only one to stop and notice me, why?"
"I couldn't just ignore you." Kasumi said, "Besides, I wasn't the only one, people stopped and showed concern for you and the officer here wants to help you."
"Only after you spoke to me," Shinya said, "Why?"
"People always ask that, when I do a nice thing." Kasumi said, "A friend of mine, always thought it was sad, that we live in a soicety, that always wonders why someone could be kind. It should just be expected, we should help each other and create a happier and safer soicety for everyone. That's what I believe, Shinya."
"You sound like my art teacher." Shinya muttered sourly, in which Kasumi had to laugh at.
"I suppose I have gone on," she mused, "Sorry for the lecture."
"Don't worry about it," Shinya replied.
They walked on in silence for a few more minutes after that, before Kasumi spoke up once again.
"Why did you admire the Phantom Thieves?" she asked.
"Why not!?" Shinya shot back, "They're flippin' awesome! First they got that teacher at your school! Then that massive fraud, Madarame! Then a mafia boss! Then an international hacking group! and... yeah even that CEO, but he didn't deserve to die... but it wasn't just them. They're were loads of stories of bad people seemingly changing their ways."
"Yes, that is true," Kasumi said.
"What, aren't you a fan?" Shinya asked, noticing her tone.
"I just think, soicety can't just rely on the Phantom Thieves to solve all of their problems," she muttered, "Personally I believe we can help other people to an extent. But if someone has a real problem only they can truly solve it."
"Well, I still think they're awesome, they help people who can't help themselves." Shinya reasoned.
"I believe everyone can help themselves, no matter what." Kasumi said, "You helped yourself escaping from those robbers, and thanks to you, we can make sure the men who did this to your mother, don't do this to anyone else."
Shinya nodded once again at that, but before he could discuss it further, the officer in front of them pointed ahead.
"Stations' just there, I can take it from here." he said to Kasumi.
"Oh no, I'll stay with him for a while. I can contact my parents and let them know I'll be running late," she said.
"You've really done enough..." the officer said.
"No, I can't leave untill I know Shinya here, is okay." she insisted.
The officer eyes widened, his steely gaze melting in those moments. Shinya could hardly blame the man, this Kasumi girl seemed like an angel in human form. In this officer's profession he probably didn't come across people as nice as her very often, so her insistence on helping the traumatized boy was admirable in his eyes.
"Very well then," he said with a smile, "Follow me, we'll have to ask you a lot of questions... Shinya wasn't it?"
"Yes, I have a lot to tell," Shinya replied, feeling more confident now, as they waited at the traffic lights, when they flashed red, the three of them proceeded towards the station.
Then it was all over.
Shinya was dead.
There was a screeching of tyre's, the black, unmarked car seemed to appear from nowhere, speeding down the busy street. Startling the onlookers, who screamed and pointed. The officer turned around and saw the car barreling towards him, it was clear it wasn't going to stop. He had less than seconds to get out of it's way, so he threw himself backwards, attempting to reach for the other two. His large hand latched onto Kasumi's shoulder, as she was pulled back.
Kasumi saw the car but didn't react in time, her whole body was frozen in fear. But she felt herself get pulled back, Shinya was slightly in front of her, she reacted too late, she didn't reach for him in time.
The next thing she knew, she had crashed onto the safety of the pavement, poor Shinya had no time to react. He didn't even turn have time to around, the police station in his vision was the last thing he saw, before everyone else heard the sickening splat of flesh on metal.
Dollops of his blood landed on the frozen Kasumi and the officer, the crowds around them all screamed in horror, as the car continued to drive onwards, what was left of Shinya Oda lay in the car's wake.
"N-n-n- no..." Kasumi trembled, everything felt cold. The world was spinning, the officer besides her was already screaming into his radio device, people were around her, shouting things, trying to help her, but she felt like they were all a world away. Because when Kasumi looked ahead of her, all she could see, was that dreadful scene, all over again.
Sumire, lying in a pool of blood.
"S-sumire!" Kasumi exclaimed.
That was the last thing she remembered before the world went black.
From a nearby alley, a mysterious man watched as the car sped off down the streets, he lowered his hoodie and smiled to himself.
"That was a close one," Goro Akechi thought to himself, it was his idea (after those idiots who called themselves professionals) had failed to kill a single child. He was the one who'd triggered that mental shutdown in that imbecille, who was a simple, disposable, henchmen for Shido. Making sure he had the car ready, knowing full well that kid would go to the police station. He wasn't going to chase the kid, but set up the perfect trap, to make sure he was caught before he could end up blabbing.
If it was down to Akechi, he would have let the child live. In fact, who would believe the ramblings of one boy? But Shido's orders were always direct and he was as petty as could be. No-doubt he'd twist this child's death into something else, maybe that terrorist group he mentioned before, a group the prime minster would destroy, to further bolster his popularity.
Akechi sighed, the men behind him were nothing more than lackey's sent by Shido to keep an eye on the genius detective. But Akechi was one step ahead of them all, he'd stay loyal to Shido for now and do his bidding, until the perfect time came to strike.
Despite his own preferences, on how he'd would have liked this mission to go. Akechi had covered everything cleanly. The man currently suffering a brainmelt from behind the wheel, would soon crash his car, with no answers they could interrogate out of him. Maybe more people than Shinya would die when they got into his path, but Akechi simply didn't care.
People had been dying, and were going to die no matter what happened.
All that mattered to him, right now.
Was revenge.
A/N: Okay another chapter for y'all! Now this chapter we introduced (and said goodbye too) Shinya. Now I know full well this death will recieve some backlash because for one, I've been hyping him up to appear for chapters and then kill him off in his first apperance, and two cause it's a child character and many will probably find this too bleak and depressing. Or simply see it as a shock death with no real purpose or thought behind it. But I will give my reasonings here, you are free to disagree with me though.
1) The cast was already bloated enough, while it would have been cool to see Shinya interact with the rest of the Phantom League, I planned ahead and saw there was no real plot for him or place in future chapters. Since Nagisa died this story has been getting much darker, and killing off a kid, should really hammer home, how twisted and sick Akechi and Shido really are. This isn't a fic where everyone is going to live, yes there are fun interactions between the characters, but at the end of the day, the stakes have been raised.
2) Now I know some will say well you're clearly planning to introduce Maruki and Kasumi (Sumire) so how can you say the cast is bloated if you've got room for those two? Well to be honest, this reason is personal for me, because I adored Kasumi and Maruki in Royale and we learnt a lot about them. I really like the theme of them seemingly being perfect, but if you look closer, that's not the case at all. In short we got to know them a lot better than Shinya. While I liked Shinya I didn't connect with him as much as I did with any other character, because he was introduced so late into the game. I know there's a lot too him, but he simply wasn't my favourite character.
3) The death serves the purpose of bringing Kasumi and Maruki into the picture (from ways you'll see later on) and also bringing a lot of conflict (as you will also see later on) this death will not go too waste I can assure you.
Anyway getting all that out of the way, I hope you liked the chapter, now to answer past reviews, thank you to SkellZero, fuyuki365 and Ulrich362, you were right, the worse is yet to come. and to answer darkmist111, yep Makoto and Akira is still the ship. Kasumi's great, but the romance between her and Akira is badly forced in royal and it put me off, (also personal opinon, Kasumi should have joined them in Shido's palace in game, only getting to play her in one palace was a crime).
Anyway, thanks again for reading, leave your questions or feedback and I'll be sure to answer, until next chapter, I'll see you then and happy hoildays!