It was a very rough landing upon exiting Kaneshiro's Palace. "Gah! You guys are so careless!" Morgana began…and then something landed on his head. "Eh…Meowww….."

As for the others, they just happened to suddenly appear within a crowd of people, who were all staring at them. "That was…unpleasant…" Hifumi groaned while standing up, rubbing her back.

"Is everyone okay…?" Ren asked while standing nonchalantly.

"Owww…." Ann whined.

"Agh…I think I cracked my ass…" Ryuji sighed.

Yusuke hurried to his feet, staring directly at Ann. "Ann, are you alright!? Is yours cracked as well!?"

Ann couldn't help but blush at that crude question. "Of course not…!"

Hifumi's eyes widened and she just pointed at Yusuke. "Yusuke…! You can't just ask about a woman's rear is…!?"

"Isn't it supposed to be though…?" Makoto mumbled.

"Never mind…" Hifumi gave up.

"That's not what I meant…!" Ann spoke in a flustered manner. "More importantly, it's dangerous for us to just charge out like that…" And then she noticed all of the eyes on them. "Ah…! Everyone's staring at us…!" Luckily nobody was aware of what happened…but even if they did keep to themselves, it was pretty strange to see a group of teenagers like this.

"Er…" Hifumi rubbed her arm awkwardly.

Makoto was trying hard to ignore the onlookers. "At least nobody was hurt…"

Ryuji looked out onto the street, rubbing the back of his head. "Uhhh…I wouldn't say nobody." There was Morgana, knocked out by the golden briefcase that fell on his head. "Hey, ain't that briefcase…?"

"It appears to have been the cause of Morgana's demise." Yusuke said casually.

"Don't speak like he's dead…" Hifumi sighed.

"No, that ain't it!" Ryuji shook his head. "I meant ain't that Kaneshiro's Treasure!"

"I think we can speak about this after we get him off the street?" Ren said. The light was red, so they went ahead to pick Morgana off the street, while Ryuji took the briefcase.

"Where should we open it?" Makoto asked.

"How about Karaoke?" Ann suggested.

Makoto shook her head. "We'd have security cameras to worry about there." Not the best place to open up a golden briefcase.

"I got the perfect place!" Ryuji said with a grin.

"Oh, that's right!" Ann knew where he meant.

"I was just in the mood for some coffee, too." Yusuke nodded.

"…?" Hifumi blinked, staring at Makoto. She didn't have any idea where they were talkinga bout.

"And we have to fix Morgana up." Ann crouched down. Morgana was finally standing up after being knocked out for a few moments.

"So…warm…" Morgana groaned.

.

.

The group went to Leblanc; more specifically, Ren's room upstairs. Ann and Hifumi sat on the crouch, while Ann tended to Morgana's injuries with some peroxide; Ren pulled up the table and a few chairs while he and Yusuke tried to figure out the combination to the briefcase, while Ryuji was chilling in the corner with a magazine. "This place is oddly calming…" Makoto remarked, taking in the atmosphere of Ren's room.

"I didn't know you could turn the attic of a café into a room…" Hifumi said. But she did feel the same way; something about this place was just calming.

"That's what I said when I first got here. It felt like he was just putting me away…" Ren remarked.

"Have you learned anything new?" Makoto asked Yusuke.

"It's sealed by a rotary lock." Yusuke sighed. He was trying, but unable to make any progress at all. "We need the combination to open it."

Meoooooough!" Morgana groaned as Ann dabbed lightly over his worst injury. Everyone glanced his way before focusing on Makoto approaching the briefcase.

Leaning over, Makoto flipped the numbers a few times before opening the briefcase slightly with a victorious, smug grin, while the others just stared in shock and awe."I knew it."

"…H…How did you do that…?" Hifumi asked.

"I saw him open and close it a number of times, after all. So I just memorized the combination." Makoto said casually.

"…Well, that's…scary." Ryuji said. "But cool too!"

"Agh, that burns." Morgana whined, turning around to face the briefcase. "Hey, hurry up and open it!" And Makoto did…everyone was greeted with a briefcase full of money, causing them all to let out an amazed sound.

"H-How much is that…?" Ren asked, leaning over.

"I believe each stack is one million yen…" Yusuke said. But his eyes narrowed. Something about this…didn't seem right. For someone who threw money away despite needing it, he could tell something was wrong here… "Hm…?"

Ann looked over the stacks, counting them over. "One, two three…uh…guys…there's 30 of them in here!?"

"What!?" Hifumi's green eyes went wide.

"Even if we split this between all of us…that's at least 4 million…" Makoto was so in shock, her voice couldn't help but be low.

"4 million…" Hifumi repeated.

"Holy shit…" Ryuji's lips curved into the widest grin ever. The things he could do with that kind of money! "It's going to be deluxe pork soup combo from here on out!"

"You've got to think bigger than that…" Morgana rolled his eyes. Leave it to Ryuji to think so small.

"…I hate to bring down the excited news…" Yusuke began. "But…does this money look real to you?"

"Oh, don't say that…" Ren began to sweat. He didn't like the implications of Yusuke's words. Nobody did…so they reluctantly did a double take at the money inside the case. The immediate reaction? They wished they hadn't.

Upon closer inspection…they were just bills with Shadow Kaneshiro's face on them. "Children's Bank!?" Ann shouted. The money was useless.

Ryuji stumbled over his words. "F-For real!?" This couldn't be happening! All that money…

"I guess…this is a representation of how everything he did was to make himself seem tough?" Makoto said.

"NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooo…" Ryuji was defeated. He couldn't believe this happened.

"So much for the spoils of war. This is truly a wound that cuts deep…" Hifumi sank back into her seat.

Well…so much for their prize. "But hey…!" Ann began, leaning back to sit. "At least it feels like we totes busted this case, right?"

"Was that a pun?" Hifumi looked at Ann.

"Er…what do you mean?" Makoto was just confused. "Is busting a case good or bad?"

"Both!" Ann responded with a jubilant grin.

Makoto was silent for a moment before she just had a giggling fit that soon turned into full laughter. "To think the reward for the Phantom Thieves is feeling they've 'totes busted the case'! Ahaha…how funny…!"

"Our work sounds less impressive when you put it that way." Ren remarked.

"It does feel pretty good, though…" Hifumi admitted, playing with the red ribbon in her hair.

Yusuke stared at the golden brief case before a thought came to mind. "Hold on…even though the contents are but trash, the case itself is quite nice."

"Okay then let's sell it!" Ryuji said, leaping onto that chance as fast as he could. "Glad we got that settled!"

"I've never seen a more desperate maneuver…" Hifumi couldn't help but snicker, though.

"By the way, Morgana," Yusuke turned to the cat sitting on the table. "Have any of your memories returned?"

To that question, Morgana looked down. "No…not at all."

"C'mon," Ryuji said. "Did that hit to the head make you forget even more?"

"Easy for you to say," Morgana grumbled. "You're not the one that lost your memories."

"You have amnesia?" Makoto felt a bit bad for that.

"Sort of. He does remember looking for Treasures though." Ann pointed out.

"I hope your memories come back soon." Makoto told Morgana. "But what happens next…?"

"First, we wait for Kaneshiro to have his change of heart." Morgana said.

"…How long does that usually take?" Hifumi asked, hands in her lap.

"That depends." Ren said. "When we took Kamoshida's Treasure, he wasn't present at school for like a week after…then during an assembly he just appeared and confessed everything."

"Something similar happened with Madarame." Yusuke added his piece. "He was considerably inactive for a while until his press conference."

"So it takes a few days at the very least, I see…" Hifumi gathered that pretty easily. "That's interesting to note…"

"Ah, it's gonna be big this time! People are gonna make a huge deal out of it for sure!" Ryuji grinned.

"…Hey, remember what Kaneshiro said back there? About the criminal in the Metaverse?" Ann couldn't let that go. Madarame said something similar…

"Yes, I recall…" Yusuke nodded. There was an unsettling silence…

"No point mullin' over it now." Ryuji ultimately said…and surprisingly, he was right. There wasn't a lot they could do about this at this point in time. "We should prolly just lie low until the change of heart."

Wow. Makoto needed a minute after that one. Ryuji the troublemaker saying he's gonna lie low. "I never thought I'd hear that coming from you." She said, but it was clearly all in jest.

"Ahaha…" Hifumi let out another small laugh, before tiredly slumping against the couch. "Agh…"

"Hey, are you okay?" Ann turned her attention to Hifumi.

"I'm alright…" Hifumi gave a tired smile. "That battle simply took a lot out of me. It seems as though I'm still struggling when it comes to using my powers. Exerting so much effort leaves me tired is all."

"Did you get that all out of your system?" Morgana turned to face Hifumi, more so bringing up the fact that she almost went too far with Shadow Kaneshiro. "We can't have you doing that again in the future."

Hifumi aware her actions were a bit too much. That's why she gave an apologetic bow from her position. "I'm very sorry for what I almost did. It was not my intention to go that far…I simply lost sight of myself in the moment." She admitted. "It won't happen again. I think it was only with him…"

"I understand." Makoto took a seat. "I wanted to punch him badly too. If the others have done this twice before with 100% success rate, then I have no doubt in my mind he will pay for what he's done."

"Yes, you're right…" Hifumi nodded.

"But you and Makoto were totally kickin' ass in that fight." Ryuji said. "I knew you two girls would be scary as hell to fight. Glad it wasn't me."

"Oh, I agree." Yusuke nodded. "They were very frightening taking every chance they could to pummel Kaneshiro's Shadow during that All Out Attack."

"Yeah, they were really into it. I don't think we needed to do much." Ren added. But with the way his glasses twinkled, he was clearly messing with them.

"Oh, come on…don't…do that." Makoto was a little embarrassed when Yusuke said it like that.

"I'm still honestly in a bit of shock that Morgana and turn into a bus." Hifumi admitted, looking towards Morgana. "You've taught the others the ropes and everything else, right? You really are an amazing Phantom Thief."

"Huh?" Morgana was taken aback for a moment. Truthfully, hearing Hifumi compliment him…did a bit more harm than good. As far as he was concerned, the fact that Hifumi and Makoto were able to grasp the basics so easily, on top of being proficient in combat…tactics. Navigation was the only thing he had left for him, but with Hifumi and Makoto making it clear their tactical prowess was rapidly surpassing his own…it made him feel more than inadequate. It felt like it was only a matter of time until they replaced everything he could do entirely. So it felt insulting when someone better than you said you were amazing, at least to Morgana. "Of course I'm amazing." Morgana said in a haughty tone. "You two are good, but you've still got a long way to go before you're on my level."

"Ah…" Hifumi blinked. Did she strike a nerve? It felt like she struck a nerve. "

"Don't worry, though. You're both way better than Ryuji." And of course, Morgana took a shot at Ryuji. Hifumi's comment ended up wounding his pride and ego, and Ryuji was an easy target for him to take it out on. "I have plenty of tricks up my sleeve you haven't seen yet."

"What the hell man!?" Ryuji was just sitting around, not even doing anything!

"…" Hifumi didn't say anything to that. But Morgana's words struck her because she felt a nugget of a lie within them.

"I should probably help you home, huh?" Ann said.

"That's really nice, but you know my mom doesn't like you…" Hifumi rubbed her arm.

"Yeah, but I'd feel better helping you when you're tired." Ann said, standing up while extending her hand to help Hifumi. "You can lean on me."

"Okay…" Hifumi wasn't going to say no. "I'm sure we'll all talk later."

"See you guys." Ren waved Hifumi and Ann off as they left for the train.

"….." Morgana just let out an annoyed meow as the two girls left. One that was noticed by…well, everyone.

.

.

The SIU Director was on the phone with someone in his office, a bit irritated with the other person on the line. "About my request. How long is it going to take? This incident happened you're supposed to be presiding over." The other person was giving an excuse, but the Director wasn't having any of it.

There was then a knock on his door. It was a public prosecutor. "Excuse me, sir? We need to speak with you at once regarding the phishing operation in Shibuya."

"Fine…" The Director sighed. "I hope you remember who gave you that position in the first place. Our other operative gave us a list of candidates without delay." A pause as the other person spoke. "Yes, of course. Please continue your investigation…"

.

.

After taking a train to Shibuya, Ann and Hifumi walked the rest of the way to her house. It wasn't too far outside the large city, but still a walk regardless. One Hifumi would have struggled with since she was rather exhausted. "Thanks for helping me, Ann. I'm more exhausted than I thought."

"It's not a problem, Hifumi." Ann said with a slight smile. "After what you told me before, I had a feeling a more intensive fight like that would probably drain you. Are you sure you're okay, though?"

"Mhm." Hifumi gave an affirmative nod. "Luckily I do not have anything planned for the rest of the day, or tomorrow aside from school. I do have another match coming up thanks to my mother, but I should be able to win."

"Of course you will. I'll be watching, too." Ann's smile widened.

"T-Thanks." Hifumi felt a pink tint dust her cheeks, but she managed her smile regardless. "Hey, so…I have a question. I didn't want to bring it up while near the others, but…did I upset Morgana? I felt like I said something I shouldn't have…"

Ann pursed her lips for a moment. "I don't think it was you specifically. I just think sometimes he feels like has to do more since he's not like the rest of us? Well…I don't know if that's true either. He says he's a human and is sure of it…so I guess being in an unfamiliar body is hard…?"

"I wonder…" Hifumi brought a hand to her chin while thinking. "I do think he's amazing since he can transform into a bus. I've always wanted to see how that happened in real life…"

Ann just giggled at that. Since public cognition of cats turning into buses was popular and the reason for it…there was a lot of irony here. "Hehe…I knew it was worth it keeping that a surprise."

Soon enough they arrived at Hifumi's house. Hifumi walked towards the door, but before opening, she looked back at Ann. "I'd…invite you in, but I don't know how my mother would react to that." She really wanted to, but she also didn't want her mother to cause a scene just by her inviting a friend over. "I've never really had the chance to invite a friend over…"

"It's okay." Ann held a soft smile. "Knowing that you want me over is enough for now. Maybe in the future she'll mellow out a bit?"

"I hope so…" Hifumi sighed. It seemed unlikely…but she did want to hold out for hope. She went to open the door, but it was opened for her. "Ah…Father…?"

Mitsurgi was standing at the door with a slight smile. "Welcome home, Hifumi. And you…must been Takamaki-san?"

"Ah…" Ann froze up for a moment and glanced at Hifumi. She was not expecting to have to meet the Father so soon…and she wasn't sure if Mitsurgi was going to be any more or less receptive to her than Mitsuyo was… "Hello…!"

Hifumi felt a little awkward too, but she soon settled into a slight smile. "This is my father."

"Hello. I am…" Mitsurugi coughed into his arms a few times, which made Hifumi's smile falter. "Sorry...I am Mitsurugi Togo. I've heard a lot of good things about you from my daughter. Thank you for being her friend."

Oh. That was…way better than what Ann was expecting. Any tension lingering in her body faded away at how nice Mitsurugi was. But she also noticed that Hifumi was concerned when her father started coughing…she wouldn't ask about that yet. "I-It's no problem! Hifumi's a really nice girl!"

"Heh…" Mitsurugi let out a faint chuckle. "I know my wife isn't your biggest fan so far, but I'm sure Mitsuyo will come around soon. Don't worry. I have a sixth sense for this."

"Mitsuyo Togo…" Ann repeated the name to herself, simply out of curiosity.

"Candidate Found."

"Huh?" Ann heard her phone go off. But instead of focusing on that for too long, she gave Mitsurugi and Hifumi a smile. "I should be going now I don't want to disturb anyone. Make sure to get some rest, okay, Hifumi?"

"Mhm. I'll see you later." Hifumi waved as Ann walked off.

Once a fair distance away, Ann checked her phone. That name was indeed a hit…which didn't make her feel very good. This was the reason Hifumi showed her the app to begin with. "Could it be…?"

.

.

As much as Ren wanted to take it easy after stealing a Treasure, he didn't have that choice. Two very curious twins decided that they wanted to learn more about the world he was involved in. A such…Ren found himself at Big Bang Burger with Caroline and Justine, who were now trying to force him to do the Big Bang Challenge. "I can't take that challenge…" Ren repeated.

"Yes, I did overhear that the requirement for the challenge requires you to have bested the previous stages." Justine said. It made sense why Ren wouldn't be able to.

"I don't care!" Caroline exclaimed. "You're going to take that challenge one way or another! You'll beg if you have to! Do I make myself clear, Inmate?!"

Ren didn't have a choice. He was being pushed around by two kids. So he reluctantly had no choice but to take So a waitress came over and plopped down the gigantic burger on their table, causing the eyes of the Twins to widen. That burger was far larger than they could have anticipated. "Get ready! Your thirty minute Big Bang Challenge begins now!" The waitress said before leaving Ren off on his own.

"W…Wow…lucky you." Caroline said with a wide eye.

"That last burger was downright insignificant compared to this monstrosity…" Justine remarked.

"Perhaps the moniker implies one's stomach will explode like the Big Bang when they eat it?" Caroline suggested.

"I'm gonna explode." Ren sighed while placing his hands on the burger. He did not have the guts or any other ability to deal with this goliath of a burger.

"Failure to clean your plate will result in a grave punishment." Justine was making herself clear.

"Ugh…" Whining, Ren began to eat. He started off strong with a few bites…but he already began to slow down after about five.

"Are you slowing down already?" Caroline asked.

"Surely you can do better than that." Justine closed her eye.

"I can't do this…" Ren thought as he kept eating. It was clearly a bad idea to continue eating this burger, but he had to keep going. Unfortunately for him, his eyes were dying as he felt his stomach grow fuller and fuller.

"…Hey." Caroline nudged her twin. "Is it me, or are his eyes looking a little…dead?"

"…I fear he might just collapse." Justine nodded. "It appears this was truly too much for him to handle."

"Fine, I suppose we can bail him out." Caroline sighed. So much for that challenge.

Ren set the burger down and just collapsed on the spot while the Twins went to work. Today was a very long and he just didn't have the energy for it. "Ugh…thank you…" He groaned. His stomach was going to spend at least two days fully digesting that burger…

.

.

What a long, exhausting day. Good thing this was a non-school day, because he would have totally collapsed before he got home. But luckily he was finally able to relax and change into his sleepwear. His eyes were still kind of dead from eating so much, but at least he was going to sleep well tonight. "Ugh…"

"Wow. You look terrible." Morgana said.

"Nope…I'm fine…" Ren was lying on his back. If he lied on his stomach it may have been unpleasant.

Morgana just sat at the edge of the bed. "You know, that Kaneshiro was an evil stain on society. Same with Kamoshida…and Madarame too. They hurt and exploited others to satisfy their desires. But there were people who knew about this and didn't say anything…why were they so compliant with silence? Why didn't anyone help…?"

"…" Ren remained quiet for a moment. It was a simple question but the answer felt so… "They probably want to, but they can't. They're scared. Mishima was the same…"

"So they don't have courage…" Morgana looked down. "Humans are so weak…humans." Sighing, he decided to confide in Ren a little bit. "To tell you the truth, I remembered something when I touched the Treasure, but I tried to force myself to forget. I really may not be human after all…"

"I'm sure you are." Ren nodded.

"Talk about a lukewarm response…" Not exactly what Morgana wanted to hear right now. But he'd take what he can get and roll with it. "Now that I think about it…I gotta be human! I'm the core of the Phantom Thieves after all!"

"Hah…yeah." Ren nodded. "Don't lose faith in yourself."

"…Yeah." Morgana felt like those words rang a little hollow, considering his feelings about his place in the team at the moment. "Come on, it's not good for you to be up so late. Plus you look really bad. It's best if you try to sleep it off."

"Yeah, yeah…" Ren's eyes were already closing. If only he had one more day of rest after this…he felt like he could really use it. But he'd have to take what he could get for now, and hope he woke up with enough energy to take on the school day tomorrow. Phantom Thieves by night, regular student by day…perhaps the hardest part of it all after days like this.