Content Warning: Angry mob, brainwashing, cults

The next morning, Goro steeled himself to apologize to Suzui. He still thought she was more wrong than he was, and it offended his pride to be the first to apologize. Still, he'd spent the previous day being cold-shouldered by seemingly every girl in school (the boys noticed and some openly laughed about it, while others shot him better-you-than-me looks). That wasn't an experience he was eager to repeat.

Suzui was waiting for him at the gates, as usual. Surprising; he'd been imagining tracking her down and fighting through a mob of angry girls to get to her.

"Morning," she said as he approached. He nodded and returned the greeting.

There was a moment of awkward silence while Goro willed himself to speak. It would have been so much easier if he was lying, trying to fool her. But he wasn't, and so the words stuck in his throat.

Suzui said, "Listen, I wanted to say that I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. I totally lost my cool. You didn't deserve that."

Goro shook his head. "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. I didn't mean to."

Suzui smiled and let him take her books as they walked towards the school entrance. "Whew! That's a load off! Hey, you want to come with me to Dome Town this weekend? I'm going to invite my BFF."

He agreed at once. Why not? For once, there was nothing hanging over his head but homework. He even had some money in his pocket, since he had a part-time job and no rent to pay. He could just relax like a normal kid. True, being normal was kind of a comedown from building himself into a near-deity in the Metaverse, but it wasn't terrible. Not terrible at all.

Saturday morning, Ann Takamaki and Ryuji Sakamoto were wrapping up a jog around the park. As they did some cooldown stretches, they checked a fitness app they'd both downloaded.

"I'm not gonna give you too much crap about these numbers," said Ryuji, grinning like an idiot. "After all, I have more experience."

"Psh. You run faster, but you're not so consistent. I could keep going all day, you'd wash out after a lap or two."

Ryuji laughed. "Ha! Yeah, maybe if we were running to a crepe shop."

Ann's eyes flashed dangerously, but her phone buzzed before she could come up with a retort. Looking at the phone, she blew out her annoyance in a puff of breath. "Oh, hey. Do you have some time this afternoon? Shiho wants to get together at Dome Town. She's been going on and on about this upperclassman at her new school. He's coming too - she wants me to meet him."

Ann rolled her eyes, but inside her heart was fluttering. She was glad Shiho had managed to make at least one new friend...and maybe he was cute?

"Why? I mean, I know Suzui but we weren't really friends."

Ann gave him a stern look. "So you can keep Dreamboat-senpai busy while we girls talk. Come on, be a wingman!"

"That's not what that means," Ryuji groaned, but he already knew he was going to do the favor for Ann.

They decided to head home for showers and then meet up at the Dome Town arcade. There, they quickly found Shiho watching a boy play some kind of VR sword fighting game. He had a headset on, but his fencing moves seemed strangely familiar. Ann's feeling of unease grew until he took off the headset, and….

"You!" she gasped.

Goro Akechi blinked at her. "Takamaki? And Sakamoto?" he said blankly.

"You all...know each other?" said Shiho.

"We sure do," Ryuji growled, instinctively balling his fists.

"What are you doing with my best friend, Akechi?" said Ann severely. "If this is some kind of trick, I swear…."

The hostility didn't faze him. He stroked his chin and was silent for a moment.

"Ah," he said at last. "Let me see if I have this right. Suzui, the school you transferred out of was Shujin Academy. You didn't tell anyone because you didn't want them to associate you with the scandal there. Yes?"

"How did you know?" Shiho gasped, astonished. "I mean, you're right, but how...?"

"Just putting the pieces together. Actually, I'm a bit embarrassed I didn't figure it out sooner," he said.

"You really didn't know?" said Ann doubtfully, looking at Shiho.

Akechi shook his head. "She transferred into my school. That's all."

"Is there...some issue between you all?" Shiho asked.

"No," said Ann and Akechi, at the same time that Ryuji said, "Yes."

"You can go if you want, Ryuji," said Ann. "Otherwise, make nice like you promised."

Ryuji narrowed his eyes at Akechi, who was poker-faced as always.

"Well...let's walk around and see what there is to do!" said Ann cheerfully. Akechi or no, this was a rare opportunity to see Shiho and she didn't intend to waste it.

She grabbed Shiho's arm and wheeled her out of the arcade, leaving the guys to figure things out themselves.

"Is it really okay to leave them back there?" asked Shiho.

"If they get in a fight, I'm betting on Ryuji," said Ann.

"No way. Akechi-san would wipe the floor with him. You have no idea how strong his arms are."

"Whaaaaaaat," said Ann, raising her eyebrows. "What do you know about his arms? Tell me everything."

Shiho and Ann giggled and looked back at the boys.

Ryuji was glaring daggers at Akechi, who was doing his best to pretend Ryuji wasn't there.

Eventually, the tension got to Akechi and he said, "Look. If you have something to say to me, say it."

"'Kay. Ann might have forgiven you already, but I sure haven't forgotten what you did to our friends. How come you're not in jail?"

Akechi sighed. "It's a long story."

"What, you just laying low and pretending you had nothing to do with Shido? How about I call the cops right now?"

"Do it. They don't care. I've tried," said Akechi.

Ryuji stopped walking and turned to face him. "Ren had to do his time and you get off clean?" he said incredulously. "Man, you really piss me off. You're not better than the rest of us, you pompous douchebag!"

"I'm better than you," said Akechi icily. "How do you even stay in a school like Shujin? Do they give scholarships for idiots?"

"You wanna throw down?" Ryuji yelled.

"Shut up, you goon. We aren't going to have a fistfight right here in Dome Town." Akechi flicked his eyes over towards the midway, where the girls were waiting in line for ice cream. "I know. Why don't we have a friendly competition?"

"What kind of competition?" said Ryuji suspiciously.

"Well, we each brought a girl here...not on a date, but still. It's traditional to win her some kind of prize, right? We'll see who can get the best one."

"You want to compete at the carnival games…? Huh. Yeah, all right. You're on!"

As they made their way through the midway, they found they were fairly evenly matched. Akechi was more skilled at games like darts and shooting, but Ryuji had more raw power and excelled at games like batting and pitching.

Eventually they found a boxing game that required both strength and timing, and agreed that would be a good competition. After several rounds, though, their scores were almost a dead heat.

Ryuji wiped sweat from his brow and said, "I gotta say...I knew you had some fight in ya, but I'm pretty impressed."

Akechi shrugged. "It's easy. I just visualize Shido's face on the bag and it inspires me to pound it into hamburger."

Maybe because of the combination of heat and endorphins, that struck Ryuji as hilarious and he started laughing.

"What's so funny?" said Akechi, annoyed.

"Ah, it's funny that we both picture the same thing. I mean, I have my own dumbass dad but same diff. Plus I actually did kick your dad's ass, so I already know what that's like."

"That's right, you did, didn't you? I admit I'm curious about that. What happened?"

"Ha! Let's go a few more rounds and I'll tell ya all about it."

Ann and Shiho, meanwhile, got their ice cream and drifted around aimlessly, eating and chatting. Ann knew she couldn't not tell Shiho about Akechi, but she wasn't looking forward to breaking her heart. Maybe it could wait until the end of the day.

They went on a roller coaster - not a great idea right after the ice cream - then sang karaoke and bought the terrible recording as a souvenir. They browsed in a gift shop and watched little kids climbing around on a playground set.

Ryuji and Akechi caught up to them around the kiddie area, each holding an armful of stuffed animals.

"What the heck is this?" said Ann.

"We won these for you," said Ryuji proudly. "Except for this one, this is mine." He extracted a plush guitar from the pile and gave the rest to Ann.

Shiho giggled. "Is this what you two have been up to? How many are there? Hmm...you know, if you each had a couple more, you could exchange them for one big one."

"You can exchange them?" said Akechi with great interest.

"Sure, just take them over to the arcade. That's where they keep all the big prizes."

Ryuji and Akechi looked at each other. Ryuji grabbed the plushies back from Ann, giving her the guitar to hold onto. Then they both ran off.

Ann and Shiho headed over to a stage where performances of all kinds happened all day long. A juggler was up now. As they sat in the bleacher seats, Ann decided it was finally time.

"Shiho, I have to ask you something. About Akechi."

"Isn't he amazing?" Shiho gushed, before Ann could say another word. "The first day we met he was like a prince in a fairy tale!"

"A detective prince?" said Ann, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, I know. About that - "

"You think I'm being ditzy!" said Shiho with a gasp. "That's why I didn't tell you who it was."

"No, that's not it at all. It's just, uh...you know he's different when he's not on the TV?"

"Of course I know that," said Shiho sternly. "We spend all day together. Plus, I know you. I know you're different than you are in the magazines."

"Hey! I'm always me," Ann protested. Shiho gave her a deeply skeptical look. "More or less...Anyway, that's not exactly what I meant."

"What exactly did you mean, then?"

"Akechi is...spoken for."

Shiho froze. "Spoken for? He has a girlfriend? He's never talked about a girlfriend."

"More like a soulmate," said Ann.

"You're kidding. How in the world do you know that?"

"Because I dated said soulmate when he lived in Tokyo," said Ann wistfully. "Sorry to say, but your streak of crushing on unavailable guys is still going."

Shiho's eyes got bigger and bigger until Ann thought they might float away like a couple of balloons. Her expression of shock was so perfect Ann couldn't resist a little giggle...which quickly turned into a snort-laugh. Shiho started too and before long they were laughing together just like the old days.

Ryuji and Akechi came back as Ann and Shiho were wiping away tears. Ryuji was carrying an enormous teddy bear piggyback. He sat it down on the bleachers next to Ann.

"Not bad, huh?" he said.

"We combined all our prizes. Except that," said Akechi, rolling his eyes at Ryuji's guitar.

"Wow," said Shiho, smiling happily. "I can't believe you two won that thing in just a day. Our heroes."

"Llllllaaaaaaadies," said Ryuji with a big cheesy grin.

"It's getting late," said Akechi, glancing at his watch. "Want to call it a day?"

"Oh, one more ride," said Shiho. "Maybe we can bring Kuma-san along with us."

Akechi frowned but didn't say anything. Ryuji hoisted the bear onto his back again, and they headed off to see if there was a ride with a short line.

The ride with the shortest line turned out to be a roller coaster where the entrance was up a flight of stairs. Shiho hesitated briefly, but gamely started tramping up the stairs behind Ryuji and Ann. As she climbed the steps, she could feel her legs getting heavier and her vision begin to swim. She wavered a little and gave a short cry.

Ann turned around just in time to see Shiho collapse backwards down the stairs, but she didn't have time to scream - Akechi was right behind Shiho and caught her easily.

"Sakamoto!" called Akechi. "See that building over there with the red flag on it? That's the medical building. Run over there and get some help!"

Ryuji didn't hesitate. He took a quick look at the situation and vaulted off the staircase, hitting the ground in a roll that turned into a sprint. Meanwhile, Akechi scooped up Shiho and carried her down the stairs.

"That was nuts!" said Ann, following closely. "I can't believe how lucky it was that you were behind her."

"It wasn't luck," said Akechi grimly. "I stayed behind her just in case. And I found the medical building before I even met up with you today."

"Why?" asked Ann, astonished.

"It's not the first time this has happened. She needs some help getting around, she just doesn't want to admit it."

Two paramedics jogged up with a stretcher. Akechi laid Shiho down and the paramedics carried her to the medical building, Akechi and Ann trailing after.

They found Shiho lying on a curtained-off bed where it was cool and dim, a nice change from the overwhelming humidity outside. She had already woken up and was sipping some ice water.

"I did it again," she said, as soon as she saw Akechi.

"We have got to stop meeting like this," he said lightly.

"After all this time...after all the work you've done," said Ann. "It's not fair!"

Akechi pressed his lips together, resisting the urge to say something.

Shiho balled her fists up in frustration. "I hate…" she began, then stopped herself.

"Go ahead, Shiho. Get it all out," said Ann softly.

"I hate that I can't do normal things!" Shiho exclaimed, gripping the sheets tight. "I hate that I can't play volleyball anymore! I hate living in this broken-down, worthless body! And I hate that people keep telling me I'm fine when I'm not!"

Ann sat down on the bed and wrapped her arms around her best friend. "Shiho," she said softly, "Your body's not worthless. It's unbelievably strong and you can't tell me otherwise."

Akechi stepped outside the curtained area and took a breath, glad that there was someone else to deal with the tears this time.

He spotted Sakamoto, who had wandered in with that ridiculous bear.

"Suzui okay? I thought I'd go get the bear, otherwise...well, I didn't know what else to do," Ryuji admitted.

"Physically, she should feel better after some water and rest. Mentally...her problems are a lot more severe than I realized. If I'd known she came from Shujin, I would have guessed much sooner."

"Now you know why we hadda do something about that asshole Kamoshida. Who knows how many other girls he woulda left like that."

"Why didn't you kill him?" said Akechi.

Ryuji shrugged. "We let Ann decide. She thought he'd suffer more if he lived."

Akechi looked back towards Ann with a new respect. She could be ruthless after all.

Ann called over to Akechi and waved him back in. Ryuji patted him on the shoulder as he left, which was weird, but he didn't have time to think about it.

"I wanted to say something to both of you," said Suzui. "First of all, I wanted to tell you why I blew up at you before, Akechi-san. I was surprised - you've never spoken to me like that."

Goro nodded. "I know. I'll be more careful what I say from now on."

"No - I want you to tell me the truth. Please. I can handle it. And...I need to hear it."

Goro nodded, both relieved and surprised. Almost no one who had seen that side of his personality volunteered for more of it.

"Ann-chan," Suzui continued, "You've been so supportive and caring - I don't think I could have gotten through all this without you. This is really hard to say…."

Ann's brow wrinkled in confusion. "What is it? You can tell me anything, you know that."

Suzui took a deep breath. "It's...a lot of pressure."

"What is?"

"Recovery. I'm lucky to have so many people who care about me, I know that, it's just that everyone's expectations are so high. If I say I walked a whole block without help, they say I'll be able to run a 5k in no time." She shook her head sadly. "There are so many things I still can't do. May never be able to do. Out of everyone I know, Akechi-san was the only one who was willing to say so to my face. Thank you for that."

Suzui smiled at Goro. He felt strangely warm and realized he was blushing.

Ann looked horrified. "Oh, Shiho, I'm so, so -"

"Don't you dare say you're sorry," said Suzui sternly. "You've been the best friend I could ever have. You couldn't have known how I was feeling. I tried so hard to hide it."

The girls embraced and Goro slipped silently back out. Sakamoto was standing by the front window, peering out like a rubbernecking tourist.

"What's up?" said Goro, also looking.

"Dunno," said Sakamoto. "Everybody's running around for some reason."

A medic burst through the door with an arm around someone holding a compress over a freely bleeding head wound. Goro barely had time to wonder why they weren't carrying the person on a stretcher when a second medic came in carrying a shrieking woman firefighter-style.

"Hey you guys," shouted the second medic.

Goro and Ryuji looked at each other. "Us?" said Sakamoto.

"Yeah, you. Help me out here."

They followed the medic to one of the little curtained-off cubicles, where he directed them to hold the shrieking woman down on the bed. It was hard to tell, but she seemed to be talking about finding something.

As soon as the medic set her down, she bolted upright again. It took both Goro and Ryuji to hold her down while the medic injected a sedative.

"Make sure she doesn't go anywhere," the medic instructed, then dashed off again.

Still struggling and wild-eyed, the woman stared into Goro's face and hissed, "You have to find them. Find the children! They're here somewhere!"

"What children? What are you talking about?"

"There's a secret bunker," said the woman. "They're in on it. They're all in on it. They're keeping them here somewhere. We have to check everywhere. It's the only way to expose the truth!"

"Who are 'we'?" asked Goro.

"Myojo's shining lights," said the woman fervently, eyes gleaming. "We follow the star. And we will defend Japan against all enemies, foreign and domestic."

"Cool. Super cool," said Ryuji, deeply unnerved. At least they didn't have to hold her down anymore; the sedative was working already and she had stopped struggling. She didn't look any less crazy, though.

Spotting Goro looking at his phone, Ryuji slapped his arm and said, "What the hell are you doing messing with your phone at a time like this?"

"Looking up Myojo, of course. He seems to be some kind of internet demagogue."

"That's…?" said Ryuji blankly.

"It's a person who stirs up shit like this," said Goro, putting his phone back in his pocket. He nodded at the increasing chaos; more medics were streaming past, bringing more injured people in.

Takamaki and Suzui came out of Suzui's cubicle and walked over to meet Ryuji and Goro.

"They told us they needed the bed," explained Suzui. "I'm feeling better, so…."

"What's going on?" asked Takamaki.

"Somebody is riling up the crowd outside," said Goro. "We should get out of here before it turns into a full-on riot."

The girls agreed and they all headed outside. Immediately, they could all sense that the mood had changed. The crowd was tense and angry now. Somebody was screaming about hidden children and a number of people were shouting in agreement. In just a few minutes, the amusement park had turned into a powder keg waiting for a spark.

A man in a suit started speaking into a microphone at a raised platform nearby. When he spoke, his voice boomed out of the PA system; he must be an employee of the park.

"Everyone, please remain calm," he said, his own nervousness making his voice shaky. "Dome Town wishes to express our concern for the accusations made, but assures all of you that we are not guilty of these heinous crimes. We ask you all to please calm down for the moment."

Shouts rose up from the crowd: "Lies!" "Where are the children!" "Myojo shines the light of justice!" "Myojo! Myojo! Myojo!"

Unfortunately, the employee's position near the entrance to the park had attracted more people to stand there, making it increasingly difficult to get out.

"Let's go," said Akechi sharply, jolting the others out of their astonishment. He jerked his head towards the entrance and started pushing through the crowd.

They made it to about the center of the crowd, where they could hear the rattled employee trying to reason with individual people. It wasn't going well.

He said into the microphone, "Dome Town knows nothing about the accusations, but will cooperate to the fullest extent we can."

"Prove it! Prove it! Prove it!" chanted the crowd. There were so many of them; many more than it seemed just a moment ago.

"Idiots," said Akechi. "How can he possibly prove a negative?"

"You're the idiot," said a nearby man, face contorted in anger. "Swallowing whatever the complicit media feeds you. Do your own research."

Out of official words to say, the employee pleaded into the mic, "Of course we aren't involved in child abuse! Nothing could be further from the truth. Please, everyone. Calm down and we will find a way to prove it to all your satisfaction."

All around, phones buzzed and dinged simultaneously. Many in the crowd - perhaps 40%, Goro estimated - took out their phones and looked at them.

Then all hell broke loose.

The crowd erupted in violence, shouting and surging towards the stage where the hapless Dome Town employee was standing. For the moment, he was high enough up that they couldn't reach him, but he also couldn't get down from the platform. He was trapped, surrounded.

"They're going to kill him!" Shiho cried.

In the blink of an eye, the scene blurred and changed. The sky went dark and the amusement-park crowd was suddenly dressed as soldiers. They were all masked, all identical.

"What the hell!" yelled Sakamoto. "Are you all seeing this too?"

"It's the Metaverse," said Goro at once. These must be the soldiers that Ren and Sae encountered before.

"Good job," said a child-like voice. "Sorry I had to bring you all here like this, but I was kind of in a hurry."

It was Jose. And for once, he looked worried.