Sojiro was opening the cafe for the day, when he felt something scratching his pant leg.

"Morgana?" he glanced down.

"Mrow!"

"You… do realize I can't understand you, right? If you're Morgana, meow three times."

"Meow, meow, meeee-ow."

Relieved, Sojiro opened the door and let the cat in. He jumped on one of the booth tables, and the barista sat by it.

"Are they safe?"

Morgana nodded, then poked Sojiro's chest with his paw.

"Me? Well, the goons came back, but only asked about that detective guy. I truthfully told them he got his curry to go and left, probably to the subway station. Then they just left. I thought about messaging Futaba, but I'm scared the police might intercept the message."

Morgana's subsequent purr almost sounded like "hmmmm". Sojiro pulled his phone out and opened the notepad app. "Can you type?" he put it on the table.

The cat swiped his paw on the screen a few times. when did they come back

"Around 9:30, I think. An hour and a half or so after Haru left with that other guy."

so after shidos heart was stolen. they prolly had nothing to gain by harming you

"I guess so." Sojiro stood up. "Thanks for keeping me posted. Tell the kids they should stay in hiding for a few more days, just in case." He patted him on the head. "And tell them to get you some nice fatty tuna for everything you do for them."

"And he really told you to get you some tuna?" Joker muttered, still half-asleep.

"I might have paraphrased a bit."

"Eh, you deserve something nice for getting to Yongen and back here to get him up to speed." he yawned, then turned away from him. "But… now… more sleep…"

His phone bleeped. He glanced at the screen and noticed an IM notification. It was a message from Futaba.

He's awake! And doing something!

Who?

Askechi! He's doing something in the living room, and I do not trust him one bit.

"As-kechi?" Morgana muttered. "Oh, like 'Akechi' and 'sketchy'! I get it!"

"Or she pressed two buttons at once." Joker rubbed his eyes and got up from the bed. "Still, why the hell is he up so early…" He put a pocket knife in his PJs' back pocket, just in case, and got out of his bedroom, followed by the cat.

The TV set was on, and news channel could be heard playing alongside some quiet clutter. Joker took a few quiet steps. "Akechi? You there?"

Suddenly, a loud hiss. Morgana recoiled and hid behind Joker. Akechi peeked from the room. "Yeah?" He appeared to have ditched the suit jacket in favour of an undershirt.

The brunette recognized the sound. "You're frying something there, aren't you?"

"Yup. I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'll just make breakfast for everyone."

"Awesome!"

Akechi rolled his eyes. "Cut the forced pleasantries."

"No, no, it really is awesome. I can't cook anything other than rice and curry, you'll bring some variety to the table." Joker walked into the room. "Whatcha got there, ace detective?"

"A stack of pancakes," he pointed at a plate on the counter. "Put whatever you want on them." He took a bite out of an already rolled-up one, lying on a separate plate. "Ahm puhrshul to," he swallowed, "I'm partial to strawberry jam myself."

"I'm gonna prepare some for Futaba. She'll probably eat in her room," Joker said, getting leftover curry sauce from the fridge.

"Is it because of me?" Akechi said, jiggling the frying pan to loosen up the pancake-in-the-making on it. "I can go back to my bedroom."

"No… well, not all of it." He put the sauce in the microwave and pressed the "+30s" button. "She's just not good with people."

"Because I killed her mom."

"To be fair, it's mostly because Shido faked a suicide note blaming Futaba for that and had a bunch of goons tell her it's all her fault."

"Which wouldn't have happened if you hadn't killed her."

"Morgana, please."

Akechi sighed. "Gentlemen, dancing around the issue will not do anyone any favours. I'll bring her her portions and try to… talk to her. Or something along those lines." The microwave beeped. "What timing." He pulled out the sauce, poured it on the topmost pancake, and rolled it up. "Joker, please finish off the remaining batter. Morgana, could you offer me your assistance?"

The cat lifted his head. "What 'assistance' do you expect?"

"Scream at me if I cross a line."

"I can do that."

Akechi took a plated pancake, grabbed some cutlery from the drier, and marched to the bedroom door.

"Futaba?" he asked, knocking gently. "I brought you breakfast."

"With my approval!" Joker added from the kitchen.

After a pause, the door was unlocked from the other side, and Futaba opened it. "If he approves, come in."

The room was dark, with no lights on and blinds pulled all the way down. The only thing illuminating it was the screen of the geek's laptop. Futaba watched, with a scowl on her face, as Akechi placed the plate on her desk, next to it, and next to that - a sharp knife. "Here, you can stab me if you want."

"Akechi!" Morgana screamed.

Futaba looked at him quizzically. "Why should I do that?"

"Well, vengeance. For your mother. Wakaba Isshiki, correct?"

The girl picked up the knife and inspected it. It was five inches long, in a relatively good shape, well-sharpened. "This is a joke, isn't it?"

"Why would it be?"

"Because wounding a person, no matter what they did to me or my friends, will cause me even more trauma, you rootkit!" She slammed the knife down, startling the cat.

"I am not talking about wounding me."

"Again, line crossed." Morgana said, aware neither party is listening to him at that point.

The girl needed a moment to process the sentence. "So… wait, you mean…"

"Killing me. Yes."

The cat gave up. Futaba looked at the detective, confused - it was either a prolonged joke on his part, or apparently underneath the charming celebrity facade he was somehow the less socially developed one. "Can we… talk for a bit?"

The geek sat down on the chair and gestured at her bed for Akechi to do the same. Morgana placed himself on the bed as well.

"Okay, me being a not-killer aside, do you know how much blood would you leave if I stabbed you here?" she pointed out. "It's impractical."

"We can get something arrang-ow!" He gave the cat an angry glare. "What was that for?"

Morgana let go of his hand. "For not listening when I scream at you." He hissed.

"I'm gonna ask a big question:" the geek piped up, "do you really… jeez, this sounds weird said out loud… do you really want to die? I mean, even if this isjust a bit, it's concerning, but do you really want to call shutdown -h now?"

"Yes."

"Elaborate."

He raised an eyebrow. "What is there to elaborate on? I'm a murderer, there is no point to my existence, I feel guilty… I think, and I thought giving you a stab at revenge was a good way to go." Futaba gave him a side-eye. "I swear, that pun was unintentional."

"You think you feel guilty?" the cat asked.

Akechi paused and averted the two's gazes. "I'm not sure. Maybe it's my shriveled conscience acting up when confronted with banal reminders of my victims - like, say, the curry or your PTSD - or maybe I'm just mad at myself for following that stupid impractical plan to take Shido down for as long as I did, considering you've done that with less effort and less dead people."

"Yeah, you don't think things through," Futaba said, glancing at the knife on her desk. "I was in a similar spot, you know. Guilt-wise."

"Because of me."

"Let's not think about that for now," she said, her tone turning, for lack of a better description, clinically cold. "As I said, I know that feeling. Garbage and guilt piling up and the voices in your head screaming at you…"

"I- I'm not that off the deep end," Akechi said. True, there was something in his head telling him it is all your fault on loop, but it was less of a voice and more of a nagging thought that wouldn't go away. "L-look, if it's difficult for you-"

"Let. Me. Finish." She took a breath to calm herself down. "I still didn't reach the important part."

A pause followed, as Akechi considered himself unworthy to ask the obvious question. "Which is?" Morgana finally spoke up.

"I stuck around, if barely," she said. "I got help from the Phantom Thieves, who dealt with my distorted desire to die. Joker later helped me with some lingering problems that remained. And I helped them in turn with my," she adjusted her glasses with a cocky smirk, "slightly-above-average computer skills."

"Quick question," Akechi turned to Morgana, "you can't just… do the Metaverse magic to me like you did to her, can you?"

"Nope, sorry," Morgana remarked. "Persona users don't have Palaces or Shadows. Futaba developed a Persona after we infiltrated hers."

"Of course, it can't be too easy," he mumbled.

"Anyway, that's my TL;DR: stick around." she said. "Maybe things will get better, maybe after ruining almost everything you might give the world something unique, something yours specifically. Or maybe you won't, 'cause you're a rootkit," she shrugged. "But you need to be there to see it. And personally, you doing something right for once will make me more satisfied than you bleeding on my bed sheets." She glanced at the plate. "Now, what health item did you bring me here?"

"A pancake with leftover curry sauce." She chuckled for some reason at the word 'pancake'. "I couldn't sleep, so I made breakfast for everyone."

"That's why you were messing around in the kitchen, huh? You scared me, y'know."

"A-a-apologies."

"Thanks for the food though, I appreciate it." She grabbed a fork and used it to cut off a bite-sized chunk, and the flustered Akechi considered that his exit cue. He politely bowed and backed towards the door. He grabbed the doorknob, turned it, and waited a second to allow the eavesdropping Joker to move out of the way.

"This was a private conversation," he scowled.

"I know, but I'm concerned for both of you," the brunette replied. "By the way, Futaba: if Sojiro saw you there, he would've shed a single proud tear!" he said to the girl in the room.

"And then lie about that afterwards," the girl added, between bites.

"If I can be honest," the detective said, "I'm surprised nobody suggested I should turn myself in yet."

"So that you can get drugged and tortured by some goons beyond accountability?" Joker scowled. "To quote my dear friend Ryuji Sakamoto: 'Fuck that'."

"Sorry for that, by the way."

"Hey, I got out alive, so-"

He was interrupted by a barely audible knock on the door. Everyone tensed up, not expecting a guest for obvious reasons. Joker quietly walked to the entrance and glanced through the peephole.

"What on earth…" He unlocked and opened the door. "Haru? What are you doing here?"