Sunday, 16 October 20XX, Early Morning

Cafe Leblanc, Yongen-Jaya

In the waxing light of a Sunday morning, Ren Amamiya awoke to the sound of his smartphone chiming. It was an incoming text message from Yuuki Mishima, which he read through bleary eyes.

MISHIMA: Good morning Ren-kun! I've got a juicy Mementos scoop for ya from the Phan-site!

REN: OK, what's up?

MISHIMA: There's this shady nightclub owner in Shinjuku who's been recruiting dancers with promises of high-paying gigs,

MISHIMA: only to force them to wear really skimpy costumes, steal a huge portion of their pay,

MISHIMA: and threaten to blackball them, or worse, if they try to quit.

MISHIMA: His name's Takashi Aramaki and he runs a place called the Shag Pad.

MISHIMA: I think he might even be yakuza too.

MISHIMA: I got Ohya-chan to confirm it for me.

MISHIMA: btw Futaba owes me BIG time.

REN: It's for the greater good, Mishima.

REN: After what happened with Okumura, even little targets like these could really help restore people's trust in the Phantom Thieves.

REN: I'll track him down for you.

Once satisfied that Mishima was done chatting for the moment, Ren changed and walked down the stairs, where he met Sojiro and Futaba for breakfast. Now that she was side-by-side with the leader of the Phantom Thieves, Futaba was antsy to get started on saving her friend Atsuko. Sojiro was not yet privy to the fact that the youths under his custody were Phantom Thieves, so instead of talking, and without waiting for either of them to finish their curry, Futaba held her phone under the counter and began her own text-chat with Ren.

FUTABA: so, Joker…

"You know, you're sitting right next to me," Ren argued in person.

FUTABA: Phantom Thieves talk

REN: Oh sorry.

FUTABA: do you think we could go to Mementos today?

REN: What for?

FUTABA: there's this new friend I made, but she got mixed up with this nasty nightclub owner

FUTABA: I really wanna change his heart

REN: I think Mishima just texted me about him.

REN: Takashi Aramaki, right?

FUTABA: that's him

FUTABA: NPC-kun really did us a solid, eh?

REN: lol

REN: Mementos, you say? I think I can manage that.

REN: Good idea to keep our skills sharp before for our next Palace mission.

REN: By the way, Futaba, this friend of yours…

REN: Where did you meet her? Was it someone online, or…?

FUTABA: actually, I'd rather wait and tell you more when we all meet up

REN: Alright, Futaba. I'll call up the gang.

FUTABA: …

REN: AFTER I'm done breakfast.

Sojiro hadn't been reading what the two youngsters were texting about, but he felt the need to ask, "Hey, what are you guys doing, texting when you're sitting right next to each other?"

"You know Futaba," bluffed Ren.

"And you were making such good progress, too…" Sojiro muttered, although he found it easier just to leave the matter be.

Within an hour of finishing breakfast, Ren had summoned all of the Phantom Thieves to their hideout in Leblanc's attic. Ann was the first to meet them, followed by Ryuji, Makoto Niijima, Haru Okumura, and lastly Yusuke Kitagawa, whose lateness was due to him getting off the train at the next-earlier station and walking the rest of the way. This wasn't the first time this had happened, and as before, he explained that he was trying to save on train fare. "You know, Yusuke," Makoto admonished him, "it's only an extra thirty yen."

"Yeah, bro!" added Ryuji. "If you gotta bum a ride off us, just let us know. I can spot ya the change!"

"Enough already." The voice that said this came from among their feet. It was Morgana, in cat form, who leaped up the sofa and onto the table everyone was crowded around. Ren gave him an appreciative pat down the back of his neck. Purring contentedly, he continued, "So, Joker, what did you bring us all here for?"

"Actually," interrupted Futaba, "it was my idea. There's someone I'd really like us to go after in Mementos. But before we do… there's something else I have to tell you." She stood up beside Ann and rested a hand atop her shoulder, for physical and emotional support. "Ann and I… We've been taking belly dancing lessons."

Ryuji, who had not been paying them his complete attention, exclaimed "..Huh? For real!?"

"Yeah, dummy, you were with us when we told you!", Ann snapped

"Oh, right, that. You don't gotta be so mean about it…"

Morgana leant his feline body forward in Ann's direction as he chimed in, "No way! You're a belly dancer, Lady Ann? That's sooo cool! I can't wait to see what sort of lovely costumes you- hey!"

Before the cat's comments got too pervy, Ren gave him a firm tap on his head. "That's enough, Mona-kun," he warned. "Don't make me 'button-mash' you." That swiftly shut up Morgana, who remembered all too well the time a child thought he was some sort of toy that meowed when his head was touched, and Ren subjected him to a flurry of sharp pats just to mess with him.

Turning her attitude on a dime, Ann smiled and explained how they each discovered baladi: Ann through her part-time modelling career, and Futaba through her love of ancient Egypt and her need to keep herself sane in the wake of her mother's death. She also mentioned their teacher, Maiko, and how she had many years of first-hand experience from living in Egypt.

Makoto listened to their brief tales attentively. When they finished, she told them, "Those are some very interesting reasons for trying out belly dance. Futaba, I'm glad you were able to discover something to cope through all your trauma. And Ann, I've also heard how belly dance is gaining popularity just as a form of exercise. I think it's wonderful how you've found a workout programme that you're both enjoying."

Futaba began to blush at all the praise being heaped upon her. "You mean… you're not mad 'cause you think we're just learning to show off our bodies for thirsty men?"

"Oh no, perish the thought!", Makoto gently insisted, "We all know you better than that! There's nothing wrong with a woman presenting herself in such a manner, within reason. If they weren't allowed to act sexy when they so choose, that would be just as restrictive as if they were forced into sexual situations they're not comfortable with."

"She's right, you know," added Ann. "When I work as a model, most of the time I've got no problem wearing swimsuits or other stuff like that. I know that it's a safe environment, and I always have a choice in whether I take the job or not. But when someone like Kamoshida tries to make me do stuff like that, well, that's when I just gotta say 'no'."

"Well put, Ann! In the end, that's how I would define feminism: women should be able to assert their feminine spirit as they desire, without feeling that they're supposed to because of what other men wish." Makoto paused, taking confidence in the way her friends nodded in agreement. "Then again, this kind of dancing could also help to build your self-confidence, if you do ever decide to land a man."

Or woman, Ann thought. The feelings she harboured for her best friend, Shiho Suzui, were growing ever more complex with each stage of her recovery. But she thought better of derailing the conversation at hand, for the moment. For now, she responded with, "Ooh, that's a really good point, Mako-chan! In fact, our teacher told us that belly dance isn't meant to be sexy, but that it just sorta… happens, you know?"

Makoto nodded. "I think I know what you mean. That reminds me of what they teach us in aikido. You have these kids who join, thinking they'll learn how to beat people up, but they're taught not to start fights with the skills they learn. It's more about the discipline they build through their training."

"Except we don't have to worry about breaking our hands on boards or anything like that," joked Futaba. She was met with scattered giggling for her efforts.

"Um…" asked Haru, "by chance, you wouldn't be taking your classes at the Yongen-Jaya Dance Studio, would you?"

"Yes, why?", Futaba answered.

"Wonderful! I take ballet lessons there myself!"

"I should've known…" Now that she brought it up, Futaba did recall seeing a girl like her when she and Ann signed up for their own class, although it had been before she was formally introduced to Haru. "That's really neat, Haru-chan!"

"Thanks! If I may ask, what is belly dancing like? What skills do you have to learn?"

"Well, if I had to describe it… Our teacher told us that the most important skill is being able to isolate all the parts of your body. In other words, it should look like your arms, shoulders, chest, lower body, and legs are all moving separately from one another, so your motions look all fluid and stuff. Apart from that, the legs do a lot of the work. When we shake our hips, that's actually our knees bending to lift and lower our legs. Am I making sense so far?"

"Yes, Futaba-chan." Haru listened to her friend's description with a dreamy look in her eyes. "You make it sound so graceful. I may just try it out for myself!"

Futaba blushed further. "Aww… Thanks, Haru."

"I would also be interested in witnessing what your dance is like," Yusuke chimed in. "If I'm not mistaken, the art of belly dance has its origins in the Middle East, correct?"

"Pretty much. Egypt and Turkey, to be exact." With this, Futaba shifted into full-on otaku mode as she explained the differences between the major styles of raqs baladi, raqs sharqi, and oryantal dans, which differed in the showiness of their moves and costumes. "What we're learning is more like raqs sharqi, which literally means 'Eastern dance', but our teacher likes to call it 'baladi' for some reason. You think she would know better, but I've gotta admit, it's convenient and even sounds cool."

"That was quite informative, Futaba," Yusuke responded, following along better than anyone else present could boast. "You know, I myself have drawn inspiration from the art and literature of the Arabian world on previous occasions. Did you know there was a character in the tale of 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves' named Morgiana?"

"Did you say Morgana?" mewed the eponymous cat.

"Not quite, Mona. Morgiana-" he pronounced it with a hard 'j' sound "-was a clever slave girl who went behind her master's back to assist the hero. Not unlike our own Phantom Thieves and our approach to justice."

"Coolio…" said Futaba. She was, of course, familiar with that and many other stories from the One Thousand and One Nights canon, since she had previously used "Alibaba" as her hacker alias.

"Quite so. I am also familiar with the Orientalist paintings of the nineteenth-century French Romantic period. I shan't say I haven't been enticed by their alluring depictions of odalisques, but at the same time, I have grown to question their authenticity."

The esoteric eloquence with which Yusuke painted his verbal images left everyone confused, most of all Ryuji. "Umm… dude? What the eff are you talking about?"

"Ah, forgive me. I was referring to old pictures of harem women."

Futaba, who filled in the blanks with her own vocabulary, added, "And you're saying you think they're sexy, but problematic? As in, 'hashtag' problematic?"

"You could put it that way. While I would not deny people the pleasure of enjoying works like those on a base level, I myself desire knowledge of the true experience behind them. And the same can be said of your dancing. Would either of you two be averse to giving us a small demonstration of your abilities?"

"What?" Ann asked, before suddenly remembering her promise to Ryuji. "Oh, of course! I'd love to! Futaba, what do you think?"

"Sure! I think you're all ready."

"Hold up," interjected Ryuji, "we ain't heard from Ren-Ren yet. I mean, we all gotta agree on something before we do it, right?" After all, their unanimous-decision rule was created by Ryuji himself.

"You're right." As Futaba had her own nascent affections for Ren, she found it difficult to find the right words and speak them out loud, but she managed to ask, "Ren… what do you think about us doing… you know… belly dance?"

Their leader was at a temporary loss for words. The other thieves waited patiently yet eagerly as Joker collected his thoughts. "Well… I knew almost nothing about belly dancing before talking with you guys. I haven't even seen it in person myself; just in a couple of movies and anime. And I'm not gonna lie, I was kind of interested in those scenes for more… obvious reasons." He gave a raise of his eyebrows in Ryuji's direction, and was met with a knowing grin. "I certainly wouldn't have imagined anybody I knew trying out that sort of thing. But hearing that you've both started doing it, I'm starting to think there's more to it than just looking hot. And I'd love to find out what that is."

Ren got up and talked towards Futaba. She tensed up inside, but when all he did was give her a light hug, she returned the embrace as he spoke on, "Futaba-chan, you've come a long way since we first met you. Meeting new people, discovering the outside world, and now you're trying out new hobbies like this… I'm proud of you. As long as you're okay with doing this, and I'm sure you are, then you have all my support." He gently patted the top of her head, a gesture which she had not received since her mother was alive. The warm, fuzzy memories this brought back caused her to clench her friend even tighter.

Looking up to face Ann, he added, "The same goes to you, Ann-chan. I take it you've got more experience yourself, not just with dancing, but overall expressing your femininity and stuff. I just know that you'll be a wonderful role model for Futaba-chan."

Ann batted her eyes at the compliment, and flashed him a thumbs-up gesture. "You've got it, Joker!" she affirmed with renewed determination.

"I hate to break up this tender moment," Morgana interrupted, "but before we get ahead of ourselves, we came here to discuss a new target in Mementos."

"Oh! Sorry," Futaba apologised as she broke off the hug, "we were getting to that. Let me explain. There's this older girl in our class who's the best dancer among us. But she's been leaving early every class, and overall didn't seem so confident about herself. Ann did some detective work..."

"...With Ryuji's help…", Ann contributed.

Ryuji took the mention of his name as a cue to take over the briefing. "And she's working at this nightclub in Shinjuku. She was kinda belly dancing, but it was like… hotter and sexier."

"Basically, Atsuko's a stripper," Ann elaborated, starting to feel uncomfortable with the way Ryuji described it. "She was, like, almost completely naked on stage, and she didn't look happy about it." The other women of their group stared in concerned horror, whilst the men and Morgana gave a different sort of gaze, one that furtively inquired for more salubrious details. Their hopes were dashed when she continued, "On top of that, she said her manager's been holding most of the money she earns for himself. And if she tries to leave for another gig, they'll come after her somehow."

This was news even to Ryuji. "For real? Dude, that is so effed up…"

"She's not the only one." Futaba opened up Atsuko's Phan-Site post on her phone, which was now followed by multiple comments written by other girls under the same plight. Apparently, Atsuko's willingness to step forward, even if it was filtered through Futaba herself, gave others the courage to corroborate her claims. It gave her and Ann a quantum of hope to know that the desire to do good in the world, however small the deeds may be, were able to spread from person to person. As the Thieves read these comments, their own determination grew as well.

Ann continued the briefing. "Even I got an e-mail from this place offering me work as a belly dancer. Ryuji and I went over, just to see what it was like. I didn't take the job myself, but I got to see their manager in person, and, well… He's a total creep."

"We think he might even be Yakuza," added Ryuji. "No way to prove it, but it just kinda feels like it, ya know? Reminds me of Kaneshiro." All the Thieves who were in the party when they stole Kaneshiro's heart murmured in agreement.

"Yakuza or not," declared Ann, "we have to help our friend. She believes in belly dance being more than just sexy pandering, but she's being taken advantage of by somebody who doesn't see it that way, and I will never forgive him! Let's do this! Not just for her, but all those other ladies he's ensnared for who knows how long!"

"I'm with ya, Ann!" cheered Ryuji. "Let's bring the smack down on that d-bag and save those girls!"

"Alright, then," Morgana asked, "any objections?"

"Wait!" The cry of dissention came from Futaba. This shocked the other team members, since no one had ever objected to hunting down a Mementos target before. But she explained, "It's not about the target, but… didn't you guys want to see a dance demo from Ann and me?" Everyone murmured in agreement. "Well, I was thinking we might want to get it over with now, 'cause if we wait until we come back from the Metaverse, we'll be all tired out. Or at least Ann will…" she added, thinking about how she herself spent most of her exploration time cooped up within Necronomicon, her personal UFO Persona. Then again, she still had her own problems with staying awake sometimes…

"You've got a good point," agreed Ren. He considered the prospect of getting Kawakami to give them one of her maid massages, but thought better of taking advantage of her like that, not to mention getting her personally involved with so many of his other friends. Instead, he merely asked, "How long would it take for you to show us a sample?"

"Oh, not long. We've already got routines we're working on for our recital in a couple of weeks."

"A recital?" said Haru. "My, good luck!"

"Thanks, Haru-chan", Futaba said, bowing slightly in her direction. To Ren and the others, she added, "They're only a couple of minutes each. We have the music already on our phones."

Ren continued, "Do you need to change? I'm sure you can use the toilet downstairs."

"Thanks. I've got my workout clothes right here," she answered, indicating a plastic bag she had laid on the floor nearby. "You got yours, Ann?"

Ann nodded and patted her shoulder bag, where she had brought her own change of clothes. "I'm good. We'll be right back, guys," she said as she got up and headed downstairs, Futaba following closely.

When Futaba and Ann returned upstairs a minute later, now dressed in their sport bras and tights, their friends stared at them in appreciative awe. Of course they were used to them wearing skin-tight clothing in the Metaverse, but nothing prepared them for the way these particular outfits drew attention to their figures. As Morgana leapt into Ren's lap, he told Ann, "You look as ravishing as ever, Lady Ann!", earning himself a warning pat from his owner, who let up when he added, "Ah! …You too, Futaba!"

If the cat had meant anything perverted from his compliment, Futaba paid it no mind. "Aww, thanks Mona-chan!" she said sweetly. "How about, I'll go first?"

Ann nodded and sat down on the sofa with the other girls, while Futaba laid her phone on the table and queued up her performance song. "Keep the volume down," advised Makoto, "so we don't disturb the customers downstairs."

"I don't think I saw anyone besides Boss this early in the day," Ren corrected, "but that would be a good idea."

"Alright," Futaba agreed as she turned her phone's speaker volume down a couple of notches, and pressed play. Taking a spot in the loft's open space, she held her pose until the song's opening notes hit her ears and she sprung into motion. Ever since she started working with Maiko, Futaba had introduced new and improved elements into her dance routine. She followed up some of her hip-lift combos with a "baladi kick", allowing her to transition smoothly and stylishly into different steps, and thanks to her additional training, she was able to replace some of her shimmy bursts with more prolonged sequences. She still had yet to settle on specific arm and hand positions, but nobody present paid any mind to that aspect. On the contrary, they applauded her with gusto as soon as she struck her final pose.

Grinning broadly from all the positive attention, Futaba bowed and went over to Ann, giving her a high-five. "Baton Pass!", she called for effect.

"Now you're talkin'!", Ann joked in response. She rested her own phone on the table once Futaba picked hers back up, and set up the video she was rehearsing from. The music she used was faster and funkier than Futaba's selection, with sharp, energetic percussion. Her choreography took greater advantage of her own talents and, with plenty of hip pops, chest bumps, and shoulder shimmies, drew attention to her more fully-developed chest. She ended her dance in a pose where she leant forward at the waist, one hand coquettishly brushing some hair aside from her face, and her cleavage pushed toward her guests. Playing up the moment, she even blew a kiss to no one in particular. The applause she received was even wilder than with Futaba, especially from the boys. Ann took their attention in stride, returning it with a cheerful "Thank you, thank you!"

Ren was the first to share his thoughts to the two dancers. "Wow, that was amazing, both of you! It's like, you expressed different sides of belly dance, and I'm intrigued by both of them. Wonderful work! I look forward to seeing more from both of you!"

"Aww, thanks, Ren-kun!", Futaba said as she and Ann hugged him together.

"You're both welcome." Right now, Ren felt like the luckiest boy in the world. He basked in the moment as long as he could, but eventually his mind was clouded by reality. "So… are you guys ready to go now?"

"Ah!" Futaba suddenly broke off the hug. "Sorry. Just let me and Ann get changed, and we'll be ret-2-go!"

"Alright!" shouted Ryuji. "Watching you gals really fired me up!"

"Indeed," added Yusuke. "A display like yours deserves better than to be tainted by the chauvinistic demands of this Aramaki person. Truly, he deserves no forgiveness!"

"So, we're all ready?" asked Morgana. He was met by nods from everyone present. "Good. Then, all that's left is to take down the target in Mementos. Let's go!"