The next three chapters will be the "default" ending. For the alternative (single-chapter-long) RED ending, check out my profile.

By the time Sojiro returned home, it was dark outside.

"Mr Sakura?"

He pulled the key out of the front door lock and held the whole keyring in his hand for some added weight to a punch. "Mr Nishiyama, correct?"

"Yes." The goon stepped out of the shadow - it looked like he had been waiting for the barista by his house for a long time. "First of all," he raised his hands a bit, "I come in peace this time."

"Of course you do."

"I am sorry to bother you, but…" He paused for a moment, trying and failing to phrase it eloquently: "What the bloody hell happened today? With the red skies and the tower that split and this… thing floating above Tokyo until it didn't?"

"I know as much as you do."

He sighed. "Let me rephrase: were the Thieves involved?"

"Maybe?" he shrugged. "There was a mob cheering them on in Shibuya, from what I've heard."

The goon didn't reply to that at first, and Sojiro considered the conversation concluded, but then he blurted out "Shido turned himself in."

"…excuse me?"

"He slipped away, or," air quotes, "'slipped away' when this all had happened, and by the time people noticed, it was too late to stop him. Currently nobody has enough influence to get him to 'commit suicide' in custody, and it'd look suspicious in light of the article from today anyway. So, everyone shifted gears from finding your ward to bracing themselves for impact." Beat. "The Thieves won, is what I'm saying."

Sojiro decided this was the right moment to stop playing dumb. "And why should I believe you?"

"As cliche as it sounds, you shouldn't," the goon replied. "But this whole thing should collapse on itself in the next few days and make enough of a splash to prove it."

The barista crossed his arms. "If you wanted to tell me that, you could've just left a note in Leblanc when nobody was looking. Why approach me directly?"

"Curiosity. I hoped that you might know any more details about what happened today."

Sojiro briefly pondered what to say to that, and then went "I didn't ask for details. The gist is, there used to be a god that tried to enslave humanity, and the Thieves ended up killing him. Apparently he gave Goro and A-Ren their powers to begin with, but maybe I just misunderstood something."

After a moment to determine whether the barista was just pulling his leg, Nishiyama blurted out "…oh dear."

"My thoughts exactly."

Goro was drifting through darkness. He wasn't sure if he was dead or just unconscious, and there were no snarky palette swaps around to ask about it.

An unspecified amount of time later, a sound reached his ears. Rapid clicks and clacks, muffled by something, a thin wall perhaps. Those sounded familiar for some reason, like he had heard them somewhere before.

Then, pardon the pun, it clicked. It was a laptop keyboard.

He opened his eyes. After his vision refocused, he recognized the room he was in as his bedroom in the Ōta hideout. With some difficulty, he got up, marched to the door to the corridor and opened it. He expected something outlandish, proving that he's dreaming or hallucinating again, but alas, what greeted him was the same corridor he saw… wait, what time was it? There was daylight outside, what day was it?

He pulled out his phone from his trousers pocket. It was early morning, Tuesday, December 13th, and there were two messages waiting for him in the PT chat app. The older one was from "Boss" to the group chat, recapping a meeting he had an evening before with one of the goons that had kidnapped him. Apparently he had told him Shido was arrested and the end of this trainwreck was in sight. The newer one was a private message from "M".

hey

only now i noticed this thing sent to the phansite

quote

If you have Akechi nearby, tell him I'm sorry for everything. -MSh

endquote

Goro mulled over those messages for a moment. For all intents and purposes, he won. He had pictured that moment differently. For one, he had expected it to be much more satisfying.

The door to Futaba's bedroom opened and out came its inhabitant, carrying an empty soda bottle she wanted to replace with a full one. She noticed the detective and smiled. "Rootkit! You've logged back in!"

He couldn't help but be flustered by the fact that someone's happy to see him conscious. "I suppose. Did you see that message from Sojiro?"

"I'm making a note here: huge success," she sang. "We'll throw a party when Joker recovers."

"Recovers?" Goro shook off his lethargy in an instant. "What happened to him?"

"Control-C-control-V of your case, basically. He'll tell you the details when he wakes up."

The detective didn't feel like waiting - he marched up to Joker's bedroom door and knocked on it. "Akira?" Not waiting for a response, he entered. "Akira?" he repeated. "You awake?"

"Barely," Joker groaned, eyes closed. "Ugh. Everything hurts…"

"Good, that means you're still alive."

He flashed a smile, sitting up with some difficulty. "What did I miss? Y'know, after I passed out."

"Y dissolved and the Treasure manifested in his place," Futaba explained. "We grabbed it, were transported back to Shibuya, and things reverted back to normal, With you two in sleep mode, we retreated to Untouchable, Makoto got her car, and we brought you back here, to Ōta."

"And what happened between me passing out and him doing the same?" Goro piped in.

"Well," Joker stretched the last consonant a bit, "I might have… gotten empowered by humanity's collective hope, rewritten reality a bit, summoned a powerful Persona and blown Yaldy's head clean off."

The detective sighed. "Of course you did."

"Someone's jelly again?" Futaba grinned.

"No, it's just…"

"Wobble wobble?"

"It's not a matter of- oh, whatever. You won, congratulations." He spun on his heel. "I'm gonna go back and rest some mo-"

"We won." Joker interrupted him. "And you're a part of that 'we' too."

Goro did another one-eighty turn. "Ah yes, my unconscious body must have filled you with so much determination as you won the battle."

"You helped distract Yaldy so the others could cut his healing vein thingies," he countered, "and before that, in the Velvet Room, you Eigaon'd a god so hard he had to retreat immediately." A pause. "What I'm saying is-"

Someone knocked on the front door.

With impressive speed and noiselessness, Goro retreated to his room, grabbed a cane, and came back to the front door. He glanced through the peephole to check who's on the other side, and then, having deemed them nonthreatening, unlocked and opened the door. "What are you doing here?"

"And a good morning to you too." Sae glanced at the weapon in his hand. "Who, exactly, were you expecting?"

"Nobody, that's the thing." He lowered his cane. "Come in. You weren't followed by anyone, were you?"

"I don't think so," she replied, entering.

"Hello, miss Niijima!" Futaba greeted her.

"Hey, kid. How's Akira?"

"Alive, just in pain," he walked out of his room. "Hey Sae, I assume you aren't here for curry. What happened?"

"It's something that I would rather not discuss in the corridor."

"Fair. I'd rather sit down myself." He gestured towards the living room, and the four placed themselves by the dining table.

Sae tented her fingers. "First of all… thank you. You've saved the world. Or just Japan, which is still impressive."

"With an opening like that, you're about to ask us for a favour, aren't you?" Goro crossed his arms.

The prosecutor shot him a glance in response before continuing: "Are you aware that Shido turned himself in?"

"Yeah, dad messaged us about that," Futaba replied. "One of the kidnapper goons told him that in person yesterday evening."

Sae sighed. "Alright, full disclosure: I was assigned to this case. In huge part because, ahem, my heart got changed and the higher-ups believe me to be the most upstanding prosecutor at the moment because of that."

"A well-earned big break," Joker smiled.

He got another sigh from the prosecutor in response. "Here's a part that might interest you - all the documents related to your… let's charitably call it an interrogation-"

The leader twitched just a bit.

"-disappeared, and everyone that was there pretends no such things happened. I was out to lunch, those other two guys that were there can confirm it," she said in a low voice. "Are you so stressed that you're seeing things, Niijima?"

"Nobody wants credit for playing with syringes?" Goro let out a fake gasp. "Colour me shocked." Sae glared at him. "It wasn't my idea, I'm allowed to say it's pointless cruelty."

"You would've said that even if it was your idea," Futaba pointed out.

"Well, yea-"

"Anyway," the prosecutor went on, "there's a silver lining to this: no paper trail means no trace of Akira as the leader of the Phantom Thieves. And since the people involved in this mess, me included, aren't willing to admit they know things that incriminate them, you and your friends should remain unbothered by the justice system."

"Woo," Joker briefly flashed a V-sign. "I'll be more excited about this when things stop hurting."

"Which leaves us with one last loose end to wrap up." Sae sighed yet again, then turned to Goro. "Let's not beat around the bush: when are you going to turn yourself in?"

Cue silence. The atmosphere turned tense in record time. "Excuse me," Joker spoke up after a moment, "I must have misheard."

"Yes, that's the reaction I expected," she muttered to herself. "From what I understand of your motivation," she said out loud, "you didn't want Akechi to turn himself in because you didn't want him to 'commit suicide' in custody. I am now able to guarantee this won't happen, what's stopping you now?"

Joker opened his mouth, ready to defend his teammate and friend, but was interrupted by him: "Akira, don't bother. She has a point."

He groaned. "Goro, I don't have patience for your usual self-bashing."

"Good, because I will not for once," the detective reassured him. "As far as your goal of 'leaving me in a better state' goes, you've achieved it. Thanks to your efforts, I am a better person, but that doesn't absolve me from my crimes."

"But-"

"Stop," he interrupted him. "Just… stop. What do you expect will happen? How did you think this was going to end?"

"I don't need to be around for this." Sae stood up and marched to the door. "I owe the Thieves a lot, and I'm already involved in this personally, so if Akechi runs for the border, I won't put much effort into searching for him. If he doesn't…" she glanced at the detective, "...well, see you later." She left the flat, slamming the door behind herself.

"You heard her," Joker said.

"I did, and I'm not taking that offer," Goro replied. "Spending the rest of my life hiding sounds even less appealing than turning myself in." Pause. "You wouldn't even consider that suggestion if it was about Shido, or Okumura, or literally any other bad guy that fucked you over."

"I didn't see Shido repeatedly risking his life to atone for his sins."

"Because you didn't give him the opportunity," he countered. "Because you didn't save his pathetic life after he tried to kill you in a homisuicidal temper tantrum and didn't pat him on the head until he decided he actually likes your companionship." Sigh. "You forced… no, not forced, you nudged me towards the closest thing I'll get to a redemption, but it will not be complete if I won't turn myself in." Pause. "Let me have this last bit of agency in this. Please."

And then, silence. That awkward, heavy silence that happens when everyone wants to say something, anything, but they all know there are no right words in any language that could make the situation any better, any less painful.

And then, Joker embraced Goro, and Futaba swiftly followed.

As you might have noticed, the detective wasn't that keen on hugs. Those were usually done to him by pushy fangirls with no sense of personal space, something that he needed to tolerate long enough until the creeps were out of earshot. Which made the hug he was experiencing at the time notable by comparison: it felt reassuring. Comfortable. Nice.

He embraced both of them. Some tears might have been shed.

"Let's not…" Joker broke the silence, "let's not postpone the inevitable then." He finally released him. "Do what you find appropriate."

"We're gonna send you care packages," Futaba let him go.

Goro pulled out his phone and left it on the table. "I'm leaving this behind, just in case." He walked to the corridor and briefly disappeared in his room. "I have one handgun magazine left, I'm going to hand it over when surrendering," he said, emerging from it sticking said mag in his pocket. "Everything else, you can keep. I'm wearing the same size as Akira so it'd be a waste to throw the clothes away." One last awkward pause, before he sighed and walked to the front door. "I'm honored to be your friend, however fleeting and unearned that friendship was. Crow, out."

And then he left.

Joker and Futaba were sitting in silence for a short while before the geek went "So, what now?"

The leader pulled out his phone. "I'm gonna call a friend so that his friends will make sure they stay unbothered in arrest. I trust Sae, but I'd rather have my bases covered."

"Them?"

"Goro and his bastard dad," he elaborated. "I mean, Shido's a fucking twat that got me my criminal record in the first place but even he doesn't deserve the shit he put me thr-" It clicked. "Futaba, where's Morgana?"

The geek let out a weary sigh. "You won't like this."

"Off to a good start."

"He… ascended after finishing his quest, I guess. Got lifted into the sky by a beam of light. He told me to tell you two-" Realization flashed on her face. "I forgot to tell Rootkit!" She jumped off the chair and ran out of the flat, and found Goro kneeling in front of the devil himself, scratching him behind the ear.

"Take care of them for me, alright?" the detective said to the cat, then promptly marched to the staircase to not prolong the farewell.

Morgana walked to the befuddled geek. "He's turning himself in, huh? Didn't think he'd have it in him."

"What are you doing here?" she blurted out.

"After the whole ascension business, I woke up in the Leblanc attic, for some reason," he explained. "I guess you're stuck with me for some more time."

"I'm not complaining." Futaba crouched and pinched his cheek. "You should watch out though, Joker will probably hug you to death. And if he won't, I will."