Futaba happened to have an HDMI cable, and so she could plug her laptop to the TV and play cartoon episodes from completely legal streaming sites. Joker ordered some noodles for everyone and the three plus cat ended up kicking back until the sun set.

"So wait," Akechi said, as the end credits of a finale movie rolled in, "we're supposed to feel sorry for that short guy now because he had a mean big brother? Why couldn't they make him just… apologize without throwing in a disposable hate sink?"

"Yeah, the other kids would probably accept the apology," Futaba remarked, petting Morgana. "It's not like he killed someone's mom or something."

Akechi noticed the jab but couldn't care less. "Exactly!"

"Maybe he did," Joker shrugged. "We didn't see any parents around, did we?" His phone beeped. "Ooh, my friend brought the card reader back." He got up from the couch and marched to the exit. "Be back in a bit!" he proclaimed, slamming the door behind himself.

The detective looked at Futaba. "When he comes back, how long will it take for you to copy the data to my phone?"

"Two minutes tops."

Akechi smiled. "You're invaluable."

The girl glanced at him, still unable to compute the honest smile on his face. "Are you fine with me making cracks about my mom's death?"

"Yes."

"I mean, I got pretty miffed about your… your thoughts, I shouldn't be pushing more things to that branch."

"I really appreciate that you're worried about it. I don't deserve it-"

"Say you don't deserve something again and you'll regret it." Futaba adjusted her glasses.

The detective looked at her, with an expression that could be described as 'was that a challenge?'. "I do not deserve your wo-"

"Morgana, bite him."

"Wha- ow!"

Futaba scratched the cat behind his ear. "It's not about what you deserve, it's about what you need. And what you need right now is people that aren't hostile to you and won't let your karma meter dip too low."

Akechi lifted his finger, with Morgana still attached to it. "And a cat bite, apparently."

"Uhm not uh khut," the cat protested.

The detective shook him off. "But anyway, on some level, I appreciate the jokes about my sins. They break the tension. If I had to think about… everything I've done up to this point with a completely straight face, I would've gone mad."

The girl smiled. "You're welcome, rootkit. Should I put up something else?"

"I really shouldn't stall any longer." He got up. "I'm going to get dressed for the mission."

Akechi was standing in front of the mirror, inspecting his disguise.

He liked formal wear. He loved suits, ties, vests, button-up shirts. That was one of the few things of his carefully constructed public image that he enjoyed wholeheartedly. When people thought "Goro Akechi", the next thought was "sharply-dressed". That meant literally nobody would recognize him in a dark grey tracksuit, flat cap and sneakers. The shopping trip to Akihabara proved beyond doubt that if he dressed like that, ruffled his hair and borrowed Joker's aesthetic glasses again, he'd be unrecognizable.

The door beeped and the devil himself entered the house, with his sports bag in tow. "Missed me?" If this was a sitcom, there would be hooting and whistling from the audience. But since it isn't, there was only Futaba grabbing the bag and Akechi's phone and returning to her room with her laptop.

"Indeed I did," the detective said. "I need to re-zero the firearm."

"Or maybe you just can't hit anything at non-point-blank range," the brunette chuckled, taking off his glasses with one hand and reaching for something with the other. "Here, and you can borrow my gloves too."

"Lovely." Akechi took off his brown gloves and replaced it with brunette's black ones.

"By the way, tomorrow there might be a Phantom Thieves' meeting here," Joker went on. "Chihaya, my friend, mentioned something about an asshole middle-manager lashing out, but couldn't get his full name. She's going to return there tomorrow to try and get it out of him."

"Can I confess something?"

"I left my collar in the dryer, but go on."

Akechi took a deep breath. "You're… annoying as hell. I'm absurdly envious of how you manage to remain casual considering…" he gestured vaguely at everything around.

"Well, there was that time I snapped at you when we went shopping, but that was early on," Joker pointed out. "There were kinks in characterization to iron out."

"Can I continue?"

"Of course. I assume there's a 'but' coming."

"Correct. You're annoying, but… you've dragged me out of a certain death from what was, without a doubt, the lowest, the stupidest and the most shameful point of my life."

Futaba slammed the door to her bedroom open. "Rootkit, your phone! The app's on the home screen."

"Thank you." Annoyed at being interrupted, he took it from her hand, and put it in his pocket next to the SSD. "You have saved me," he continued, "and for that alone, both you as individuals and the Phantom Thieves of Hearts as a group have my loyalty, for what little it is worth." He adjusted the glasses and grabbed the doorknob. "I will not disappoint you today. Crow, out."

Joker put his arm on his shoulder. "Stay safe."

"I will."

And with that said, Goro Akechi left the flat. After waiting for a moment, just in case he left something behind, Joker and Futaba turned around and marched to Futaba's bedroom.

"Do you trust him?"

"I do," the brunette pulled out his phone, "I just want all my bases covered." He opened Futaba's chat application and tapped the crown symbol. How's the getaway car?

Parked in front of the hotel. I see Crow has left the building. Someone's following him, I assume.

Of course, Joker typed.

After what was the longest commute of his life, Akechi found himself in front of the skyscraper. The lights in most offices were turned off, including the one he was interested in. He pulled out his phone and noticed a new icon on the home screen. He tapped it, and was shown a welcome blurb:

SESAME v2.22. By AliBaba. All lefts reversed.

A few combinations of numbers and letters - though weirdly enough, only A to F - appeared on the screen. Next to each was a button labelled "Replay credentials". The detective casually strolled to the front door and put his phone to the card reader while pressing one of the buttons. The LED on the flashed green and the device beeped in confirmation. The door unlocked, and he entered.

From there, he moved on autopilot. Stairs to the correct floor, marching down the empty carpeted corridor until stumbling upon the door with a plaque reading "Masayoshi Shido, Diet Member, United Future Party" on it. The lights on the corridor were off, and he didn't hear anyone in the vicinity, so he pulled out some tools he prepared beforehand and went to lockpicking. This took a few minutes longer than he wanted, since he decided to manipulate the pins using his right hand - using his dominant left would've narrowed the suspect list a bit too much if someone had noticed him. But, finally, the door opened, and he got inside.

He turned the light on. The office was just as he remembered: a desk, a chair by it, a couch and a coffee table for guests. And no other ways besides the door to enter it, since the air vents were closed, and the window was way too high. Akechi quietly turned back to the door and opened it and, as expected, a cat tumbled inside.

"Meow?"

"And a meow to you too, Mor- um, Mona," the detective smiled. "Come in, nobody's here but us."

The cat did as ordered and Akechi closed the door behind him. "You're taking being followed on a solo mission remarkably well."

"I basically gave my phone to Oracle so she could bug it," he replied. "Just because I said I'm loyal to you doesn't mean I expect unconditional trust. Heck, I would be worried if you didn't try and watch me."

Back in the hideout, Joker, Makoto and Futaba went pale.

"Should we abandon ship?" Makoto asked.

"Not yet." Joker muttered.

"But why did you reveal you know you're bugged and followed?" Morgana's voice came out of the speakers.

"Simple," Akechi replied. "Joker needs both eyes - that's you - and ears - that's my bugged phone - to confirm beyond doubt that I'm not doing anything shady. You'd have difficulty entering the office and watching me, leaving doubts about my loyalty."

"And now we're doubting that you'll follow orders without someone watching you," Makoto muttered.

"And now we're doubting that you'll follow orders without someone watching you," Morgana repeated.

"So, nothing changes in that regard," the detective replied.

"How quickly can we pack ourselves and run?" Joker muttered.

"Ten seconds to unplug and pack everything on my side," Futaba replied.

"We stay for now then." His phone buzzed, and he picked up the call. "Hello?"

"Um, hey," Ryuji spoke up on the other side. "I was messing around with the new app from Futaba, and why are you and Akechi in different cities?"

"He's doing some PT work for us," Joker replied. "Don't worry, he's still watched. And listened to."

After a quick raking, the lock in the desk's drawer gave in. Akechi opened it and pulled out everything in it. Multiple folders, brochures and loose documents.

"We're photographing everything and letting Joker's press contact sort it out." Akechi muttered, sitting down and pulling out his phone.

The next few minutes went by in silence. Take photograph of page, make sure it's clear enough when zoomed in, if it is, move the paper to a separate pile, face down, so that at the end they could all return to the drawer in the same order, repeat. Things were going smoothly - smoothly enough that I'm actually padding to convey the noticeable length of time that went into Akechi's copier impression.

And then the two noticed a notebook, smaller in sheet area than all the other papers.

"Huh. Joker has a similar one for his journal," Morgana remarked. "I wonder what's inside."

"Dear Diary, today I lied to the people of Japan that I respect them. Again. Idiots." The detective chuckled to himself, then opened the notebook and felt like someone stabbed him in the back.

It was a list of names. Some of them written in pencil, then in ballpoint pen, and others just pencilled in. Almost all of them crossed out, on the first page and the few that followed. Akechi attempted to read all of them, but his eyes glazed over after he processed one from the first page of the list:

Wakaba Isshiki.

"It's…" he flipped the pages, "it's a list of people Shido wanted dead. A list of… everyone I killed." After a very long pause, he put it down. "I'm sorry," he whispered, to no one in particular. "For what little it is worth."

Akechi returned to photographing documents, more mechanically than he had been a moment ago. Morgana opened the notebook, out of morbid curiosity, and flipped to the last filled out page. "'The leader of the Phantom Thieves.' No real names. And there's no one but Joker here."

"I didn't use real names. And murdering everyone involved would have made too big a splash." Pause. "Or maybe I was so full of myself that I thought the group will collapse after Joker bites the dust." Another pause. "Or maybe I just like you all, I don't know, don't ask me to apply logic to my past actions. There was none."

The cat looked at the bottom of the page and tilted his head. "I think you should see that."

"I'm busy. Read it out loud."

"Me reading it won't get it across."

Akechi rolled his eyes, irritated, then took the notebook from the cat. "Sae Niijima. Pencilled in, not crossed out."

"Below."

His eye shifted downwards. "Akechi. In pen. Underlined." He glanced at Morgana. "We've already established well enough he wanted me dead the moment I stop being useful."

The cat glanced back. "I feel there's something symbolic about you being on this list."

"If you say something about me being a victim like the others, I will get up and throw myself out of the window," he growled. The phone buzzed in his hand. "Two text messages. Joker says Don't do that. and Oracle says dont do that!."

"Your own victims tell you to stay alive," Morgana muttered. "It has to mean something."

"Mona…" he rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger, "I'll buy you a big can of tuna if you remain silent until we get on the train."

The cat nodded, and the detective returned to photographing documents.

"So, my sister's a 'maybe' in Shido's little death note," Makoto muttered. "Lovely."

"What can he even do now that Akechi's on our side?"

"Kill her in the real world?"

The brunette facepalmed. "Sorry. I keep forgetting you can do things outside the Metaverse."

"Well, up until now we operated mostly inside it." Futaba remarked.

"That's... worrying, you know."

"What do you mean?"

"It's awfully convenient that the Phantom Thieves were able to solve every problem so far with Metaverse access, isn't it? Like," he glanced at Makoto, "no offense, a schoolmate bumbles into a three-million-yen debt with a yakuza boss? Steal his heart, so he confesses to his crimes and leaves her alone."

"Sorry for that, again."

"An anonymous hacker group threatens to expose you?" Joker went on. "Oh look, your guardian's daughter is a master h4x0r who can be helped by heart-stealing. By the way, Futaba, you're invaluable."

She smiled proudly.

"A celebrity detective wants to get you arrested and fake your suicide in custody? The last palace has a copy of the interrogation room, so you can let him shoot your cognitive double and convince the prosecutor to help you escape!" He sprung up. "And that only barely worked because I got drugged off my ass and remembered there was a plan at the last moment!"

"You're riling yourself up," Makoto remarked, politely yet firmly. "Deep breaths."

Joker slowly inhaled, then exhaled, then inhaled again. "What I'm saying is, we're lucky. " He sat down. "And that luck will run out at some point, if it didn't already."

"I wouldn't go as far as to call us lucky," Makoto remarked. "Futaba and you are now in hiding, for starters."

"We're alive, sane, and capable of fighting back," Joker countered.

"And it seems we managed to convert Rootkit to our colours," Futaba added.

"Uppercase R," the brunette muttered. "Is that now an official nickname?"

Futaba shrugged. "I guess?"

Meanwhile, on Akechi's side, things went fine.

Shocking, I know.

He took photographs of every document he could get his gloves on, returned everything to its place, and relocked every unlocked lock before leaving, uninterrupted. Morgana watched him the whole time, patiently, and noticed no suspicious behaviour that'd suggest he's a mole.

After they were done, the detective and the cat left the building and marched towards the station, taking the scenic route and making sure they aren't followed. On the way, Akechi stopped by a corner shop and bought two cans of tuna for the cat, as promised. When they got on the train, he found a seat and Morgana placed himself on his knees. The train took off, and Morgana finally spoke up:

"Well, that worked."

"Uh huh," Akechi muttered.

"Worst case scenario, we got nothing out of that, but we also didn't got captured or anything. Best case scenario - dirt on Shido!"

He nodded in response. The two didn't speak for a minute or so before Akechi opened his mouth: "Can I… pet you?"

"Yes, but gently," he replied. "No button mashing."

"What?"

"Long story."

Akechi ended up rubbing Morgana's head and scratching him behind the ears all the way to Otorii - and it was fun. Finally, the train rolled onto the station, and the duo got off and marched to the hotel. When they turned a corner, they noticed a familiar face by the hotel entrance, staring into the distance, wearing a trenchcoat over her usual attire.

"Haru?" Morgana asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, hey," she waved at them. "I wanted to talk to Akechi in private."

"Who, that detective kid?" Akechi said, then chuckled to himself. "What about?"

"In private."

"Oh, okay." The detective pulled out his phone and put it in the cat's mouth. "Go upstairs, I'll join you later." Morgana nodded and went ahead, let into the building by Akechi, who turned to the girl. "Okay, what did you want to talk about?"

"Could we go somewhere more private? There are laundromats in the basements, for example."

"Alright, you either want to sleep with me or kill me. If the former, no, and if the la… tter…" He paused, as Haru reached into the coat and pulled out a very familiar-looking handgun. "…yeah, laundromat sounds okay."