The next day…
"… Good morning, Arisato-kun." greeted Makoto awkwardly to Minato once she saw him after he wake up and did his usual morning routine of cleaning himself up, put on his school uniform and get his bag.
"Good morning, Niijima-san." greeted Minato as he glance at Makoto with the same blank look that he did on her yesterday.
"Look, about yesterday, I…" said Makoto.
"It's fine so let's put it behind us, alright, Niijima-san?" said Minato firmly to Makoto.
"… Alright." said Makoto as she nodded at Minato.
"Good. Come on, we should head for Shujin now." said Minato before both he and Makoto left the apartment, make their way toward the subway station and they saw Akira standing near a wall with Morgana inside his bag with Ken standing in front of both Akira and Morgana among the citizens after they came down into the station and both Minato and Makoto make their way toward Ken first (while both Akira and Morgana noticed and watched them in silence).
"Good morning, Ken." greeted Minato happily to Ken.
"Good morning, Amada-kun." greeted Makoto politely to Ken.
"Oh. Good morning, Minato-san and Niijima-san." greeted Ken as he glance and smiled at both Minato and Makoto.
"How are you finding and doing in Shujin Academy and being in student council so far, Ken?" asked Minato.
"So far so good, at least." replied Ken.
"I see. Glad to know that and excuse me, I'm going to say hi and good morning to another of my friend and his cat over there, Ken, Niijima-san." said Minato as he tilted his head at both Akira and Morgana.
"Yeah sure, Minato-san." said Ken as he nodded at Minato before he and Makoto watched Minato turned and make his way toward both Akira and Morgana.
"Good morning, Kurusu-kun and Morgana." greeted Minato politely to both Akira and Morgana.
"Good morning, Arisato-senpai." greeted Akira politely back to Minato.
"Morning." greeted Morgana politely to Minato as well.
"Yeah. Oh, looks like our train has arrived so shall we all head in?" said Minato as he, Akira and Morgana (and also Ken and Makoto) saw the arrival of their train before it stopped in the station, opened it's doors then they head in with the other passengers and soon found themselves being split apart and almost squished together among the other passengers around them inside the crowded train after it leave the station before they heard some people standing nearby them started talking.
"I wish I had money. I'd kill for a real breakfast…" said a broke-ass college student.
"What about "Big Bang Burger"? The one on Central Street is holding a contest right now. The Big Bang challenge or whatever." said an energetic college student to the broke-ass college student. "If you went there at night to eat it, you can eat for only 500 yen."
"Hm, the Big Bang challenge at Big Bang Burger in Central Street in Shibuya for only 500 yen at night? Sounds interesting for me to try out but I'd have to ask permission from Sae-san to go out at night first." thought Minato to himself.
"Of course you will since it's a cheap challenge and would make your black hole of a stomach happy, Minato." sighed Pharos.
"Why thank you for saying that to me, Pahros." said Minato in a deadpan tone of voice back at Pharos.
"You gotta eat one of their giant burgers though, right? How can anyone actually finish that? Still… 500 yen is a steal." said the broke-ass college student before he and the other college student stopped talking.
"A huge burger, huh? Interesting. Why don't you go and try the challenge out, Akira?" said Morgana.
"Maybe one of the nights I will go to Central Street to try it out, Morgana." said Akira as he smirked at Morgana.
"Kurusu-kun, if you do go to Central Street to try it out at night, is it alright if I come along with you because I'm interested in the challenge too." said Minato.
"Sure. I've no problem in you coming with me, Arisato-senpai." said Akira as he nodded at Minato before the train which they, Morgana, Ken and Makoto are in arrived and stopped in Aoyama-Itchome station, opened it's doors and Minato, Akira, Morgana, Ken and Makoto got off the train with the other passengers. After they got off the train, they make their way out of the station toward Shujin Academy, entered the school and split up to head toward their different classrooms.
XXXX
Inside the classroom…
"Good morning, class." greeted Kanakubo-sensei to the students (who greeted in unison back to him) after he came into the classroom. "Before we begin today's lesson, know that I don't want any of you to start talking, whispering and gossiping about Kamoshida, our Ex PE teacher and his crimes that will disrupt today's lesson, understand?" said Kanakubo-sensei as he glance sternly at each of the students (who quickly nodded in nervous agreement at their teacher while Minato quickly look down to hide the smug smirk on his face).
"Excellent. Well then, let's begin." said Kanakubo-sensei as he nodded in approval at the students before he began teaching today's lesson to the students.
XXXX
Meanwhile, in another class…
"Like all of you heard last week, gym class is cancelled today. Instead, I'm supposed to give you all some guidance. The gist is, don't any of you go around talking about the incident. That's all. The police are still investigating Kamoshida-sensei, so I can't say anything myself." sighed Kawakami-sensei quite heavily and with a slightly tired look on her face to her students. "As a teacher though, I'm ashamed for not having noticed that a student was suffering like that… I'm not defending him, but as a colleague, he just seemed like… well, a normal person. Honestly, it still doesn't feel real. I guess people can have multiple sides to them…"
"The teachers have it rough, huh…?" whisper Morgana pityingly to Akira.
"Yeah, they do, sometimes." Akira whisper sadly back to Morgana.
"Oh yeah, I just remembered something I learned about psychology. They say that humans have several different personalities hidden in their subconscious." explained Kawakami-sensei to the class.
"Different personalities…?" said Morgana as he glance thoughtfully at Akira.
"Oh, to be clear, I'm not talking about multiple personality disorder. These different personalities can be a different gender or a different age from you." Kawakami-sensei continue telling the class. "I mean, if any of you think about how gods and monsters in myths were first based on the human image… if any of you actually saw one of those personalities with your own eyes, it might look like a monster."
"Oho… Do you know what she mean by those words, Akira?" asked Morgana curiously to Akira.
"Yeah, what she just tell us sounds close to the Shadows that we encounter and fought in Kamoshida's Palace." replied Akira.
"Hm? You all seem more alert than usual. Did I say something wrong, Kurusu-kun?" asked Kawakami-sensei as she glance and smiled modestly at Akira.
"No, Kawakami-sensei. You didn't say anything wrong." replied Akira reassuringly to Kawakami-sensei.
"Well, I'm just saying what I've heard. It feels like I just now understood what I learned long ago." said Kawakami-sensei as she shrugged her shoulders.
"Subconscious personalities… It's a fascinating topic, and it has a lot to do with us. That teacher's surprisingly smart, huh?" whisper Morgana.
"Yeah, she is." Akira whisper back to Morgana before they fell silent and listen to her teaching quietly.
XXXX
Several hours later, lunchtime, near the stairwell…
"It ain't much, but we've been gettin' more postings on the Phantom Aficionado Website…" said Ryuji to Akira, Minato, Ann and Morgana as he look and told them about the postings on the website on his phone. "I want to make my friend apologize for not returning the stuff I lend him." Ugh, deal with that yourself!" said Ryuji as he rolled his eyes at that particular post.
"Wonder what Kanakubo-sensei is doing now?" said Akira.
"Probably doing what teachers usually do in their offices, Kurusu." Said Ryuji as he shrugged his shoulders.
"Hey, those girls…" said Ann when she noticed 2 girls walking out of their classroom and they decided to listen in on their conversation.
"You know that phantom thieves rumor about stealing Kamoshida's heart? I wonder if it's true." said the long-haired female student.
"It's got to be made up. Do you seriously believe they exist?" scoffed the short-haired female student skeptically to the long-haired student.
"But look at what happened to Kamoshida." argued the long-haired student.
"He probably just couldn't keep hiding it after that girl tried to kill herself." said the short-haired student callously to the long-haired student.
"Yeah, you might be right. I guess there's no way they really exist." sighed the long-haired student in agreement to the short-haired student.
"More importantly, it seriously sucks that our school is gonna be known for stuff like this!" complained the short-haired student.
"I wonder if it'll affect our college entrance…" said the long-haired student worriedly to the short-haired student before they stopped talking, turned and walked past Akira, his friends and Morgana without noticing them.
"How callous those girls are, talking about Suzui-san and about us like that." said Akira as he scowled at the 2 departing girls while Ann nodded in agreement with him.
"I know that feeling, Kurusu-kun. But just ignored them and their callous words to others." said Minato as he glance at Akira.
"That's prolly a normal reaction for now, but… they'll see soon enough!" said Ryuji as he shrugged his shoulders. "If we can take care of 2 or 3 more famous guys, people'll have to believe we exist." added Ryuji excitedly to them.
"In that case, why don't we do some more research and check the website a little bit more? Maybe we might find some big shots in it that Ryuji might missed." suggested Akira.
"That's a good idea from you, Kurusu-kun. Not bad at all." said Minato approvingly at Akira's suggestion.
"Thanks, Arisato-senpai." said Akira thankfully to Minato.
"I already did that a few times already on the website, Kurusu!" said Ryuji as he scowled at Akira.
"So about those big shots… we don't have any leads yet, right?" asked Ann as she crossed her arms. "Plus there's still that lingering rumor about you guys and Kanakubo-sensei threatening Kamoshida too…" added Ann morosely to them.
"Looks like you all just have to live normal, honest school life for the time being." said Morgana as he popped out of Akira's bag and glance quite sternly at them. "Still, make sure you all stay alert and prepared just in case anything comes up and make sure to let your teacher know about it too, alright?"
"Okay, we will, Morgana." said Akira as he nodded at Morgana.
"I'll continue to keep an eye out for info on any big shots that might be comin' around from my phone." said Ryuji eagerly while he nodded to Akira.
"I'll be roaming around the cities for any kinds of suspicious activity." said Minato.
"And I'll try to dig up some dirt online." added Ann as she smiled at Akira.
"We went and formed the Phantom Thieves group yesterday, but we can't even find a target…" said Ryuji as he put his phone back into his pants pocket and scratch his head in disappointment.
"There, there…" said Ann consolingly to Ryuji.
"Come on, Sakamoto-kun. Do you really expect to find a viable target this soon after we take and change Kamoshida's heart?" said Minato as he rolled his eyes at Ryuji.
"I guess you're right, Arisato-senpai. Sometimes things just don't go the way we want 'em to…" sighed Ryuji.
"Come on, you guys. Lunchtime is almost over, let's head back to class now." said Akira quietly to them and they nodded to him before they turned and went back into their different classrooms.
