5/20
The lunch bell rings.
When Ann turns to him, it is slow, as if she's unsure whether she even should. It has been another silent, awkward day in class. "Hey," she says, but won't meet his eyes.
"Yeah?" Akira asks. He is far removed from the relief of seeing her step out, safe, from Madarame's office.
"Want to go see our scores?"
The announcement had come earlier, accompanied by the typical chorus of groans and heads collapsing onto desks. Akira does not answer for a while. He wants to say several things. What he says instead is, "Sure," and stands.
The two file out of the room, several hands worth of distance between them. A procession of students marches its way towards the stairwell, their faces a majority mix of indifference and fear. A few look excited. Stomping his way against this tide, is Ryuji.
Ann steps in front of him, and crosses her arms. "Where are you going?"
"Huh?" He asks, glancing from her to Akira, and back again. "N-nowhere."
"Uh-huh," she says, eyes narrowing. "You just don't want to see how you did on your tests."
He opens his mouth in what looks to be protest, then his face falls. "Yeah, so?"
Ann's softens. "I'm sure you didn't do that bad. We're going to go look ourselves, come with us."
"No thanks," Ryuji replies, eyes falling to the floor. "It's cool."
Akira steps forward and lays a hand on Ryuji's shoulder. "You've got to look eventually, right? I'm sure I didn't do that great either."
Ryuji frowns. "What're you talking about, man? You're like, super smart."
Akira chuckles, and lowers his arm. "Yeah, and I spent the night before Thursday's test in a bar getting grilled by Ohya and Lala-chan. I wasn't exactly in the best shape."
A grin cracks Ryuji's face. "I guess we all had shit on our minds."
"Yeah," Ann says, stepping up alongside them. "So, come on. Rip the bandage off, right? It's not like my scores are going to be awesome."
Ryuji capitulates with a nod and turns into the mass of students. Akira sticks his hands in his pockets and walks beside him. He feels relief to have a buffer between himself and Ann, then feels guilt over it being Ryuji. By the time they reach Shujin's first floor, he's shoved the thoughts aside.
The board with the test scores is swarmed, and the noise is a white cacophony of whispers, shouts of excitement, and moans of things not excitement.
Stricken with sudden bravery, Ryuji shoves his way through the crowd, Akira and Ann following in his wake. When he reaches the front, his eyes skim the board, and he lets out a small groan. "Damn..."
Akira closes the distance between them, and finds his friend's name at the bottom of the list. Or rather, second to last.
"H-hey," Ann says, and pats the blonde boy on his shoulder. "You're not dead last. That's... something."
"Yeah, it's real awesome," Ryuji replies, and points to the name right above his. "This guy's been out with pneumonia for the last month. So the guy who doesn't even come to school still does better than me." He shakes his head and steps back into the crowd. A few others glance toward him, barely contained smiles on their faces. Akira throws a few scowls their way before they straighten their looks out. Assholes.
"Alright," Ryuji says, forcing some brightness into his voice. "Let's see what you guys got!"
The three move to Akira and Ann's respective board. Ann gets there first, and finds her name almost immediately. "Okay," she says, nodding. "Not bad." She's smack dab in the middle, Akira sees. His eyes hover around her name, searching for his own. He can't find it.
Then he feels an elbow jabbing into his shoulder, again and again. "Ow, what?" He asks Ryuji.
The boy's eyes are wide, and his mouth is hanging open. "Dude," he says, and points. Akira follows his finger and sees his name.
Number... seven?
"Dude, dude, dude!" Ryuji says, and starts slapping Akira's shoulder. "Top ten, man! Top freakin' ten! That's freakin' awesome! Freakin' incredible!" The louder he gets, the more eyeballs turn to them. The surrounding student conversations die down, and louder whispers pick up their slack.
"...got lucky..."
"...way he did that well..."
"...blackmailed the teachers, no other way..."
He hears these things, and feels his mood blacken, but then Ryuji throws his arm around Akira's shoulders and laughs, and Akira looks at his friend, and suddenly the voices around him seem very small and very far away.
Akira smiles. "Alright man," he says, with a soft chuckle. "Calm down."
He looks at Ann, and sees her face twisted up into a smile, but a misshapen one.
He remembers another young woman's face, all gnarled up.
"You must be, like, a super genius or something," Ryuji states, still elated.
No, Akira thinks. I just had a good tutor.
#
The atelier was a bust. Akira and Ohya had planted themselves across from it for an hour. No one had entered. No one had left. They'd taken a peek inside, but found more of the same. Shit conditions and threadbare furniture.
"Let's bounce," Ohya had said.
"Where?"
"I've got a hunch."
He hadn't had a chance to run the atelier through the MetaNav, so he'd texted Ryuji the address on the burner, and requested he follow up. Then, he'd schlepped along after Ohya.
She hadn't elaborated on her hunch, but they'd boarded a train heading for Tokyo Bay, much to Akira's puzzlement.
Their trip lasts that awkward time between too long and just long enough. They ride the line with the beleaguered salarymen and women, eyes glued to screens, or their newspapers, or just plain shut. Ohya keeps quiet for the duration, and Akira sits beside her, uncomfortable in the strange silence between the two of them.
He wonders, for instance, if she knows he has turned his phone off for today's excursion. Knowing Ohya can see his GPS is troubling, and he had racked his brain all night trying to figure out a way of limiting her knowledge of his activities. Then he realized he could just keep his phone off. He used the burner for Phantom Thief business anyway.
They ride, and as they go, people rise from their seats and leave, as quietly as they'd sat. When enough people are gone, Akira leans towards Ohya and asks, "Are you going to tell me what this hunch of yours is, or am I going to have to guess again?"
Ohya blinks, as if coming out of a daze, and gives him a smile. She pulls her phone out, holds it up and points to another red pin on the GPS. "We're going here," she says.
"What's that?" He asks. "Another house Madarame owns?"
She shakes her head. "Not quite." She says no more, until a short while later, when they've arrived at the bay, exited the train, and are marching away from the station.
"Ahhhh," Ohya exclaims, after taking a deep breath. "Smell that sea air!"
"Smells like fish," Akira replies. "Not so great, fish."
Ohya lets out a sigh. "You must be really fun to hang out with in ordinary circumstances."
Akira ignores her and takes in his surroundings. "It's nothing but warehouses and... uh, warehouses."
She nods. "Yep. No houses here. Not in this district anyway. We're heading to Natsuki Storage."
"What's Natsuki Storage?"
She lifts her phone back up. "This little dot on the map."
"What's it got to do with Madarame?"
"Glad you asked."
"This is like, the third time I've asked."
"Quiet. Now then, when you first hacked Madarame's phone for me-"
"You never said thanks by the way."
"Hey! I'm paying you back by taking you along! You should be the one thanking me. Anyway, after Madarame's phone was hacked, I told you I narrowed down the suspicious locations based on places he visited frequently. But, after I got home last night, it dawned on me I had also ruled out places he'd been infrequently."
"What'd you mean?"
"I mean, that Madarame visits Natsuki Storage once every five to six weeks."
"I'm assuming Natsuki Storage is a storage facility."
Ohya claps her hands. "You're getting smarter all the time."
Akira feels his face flush and he glances away. "Shut up."
"But you're right. It's simple. No different from an apartment or safe deposit box. You rent a room, get a key, and pay your rent once a month. No one can go in but you."
Akira mulls this over. "What does Madarame need with a storage facility?"
Ohya nods, and her smirk turns mischievous. "Annndddd?"
Akira stares at the concrete he stands on. "And why would he need a storage facility way out in Tokyo Bay? There's got to be others closer to him."
"Exactly," Ohya says. "What's he got that he has to keep in a storage facility, out in Tokyo Bay? What's he hiding? I did a little digging on Natsuki Storage, last night. I couldn't find much on them. Their website looks like it was built in the nineties and-"
"Kind of like your outfit," Akira mutters.
Ohya glares at him. "Are you done?" He shrugs. "And their phone number just rang and rang when I called it."
Akira thinks this over as they walk. Does he really need to do this? If the atelier is Madarame's Palace, then all they need are the keywords and they can steal Madarame's heart and be done with it. Did it matter what the old man kept in this place?
What if the atelier isn't the Palace? Was there someplace else that Madarame kept, or thought of, as his Palace? The atelier had been a dump, and Akira has a hard time believing anyone could think anything positive about it.
"Here we are," Ohya says, stopping outside a one-story building that extends far back towards the waterline. The words 'Natsuki Storage' are scrawled on the wall in black paint. A rusty looking chain-link fence bridges the distance between the building, and the two empty-looking warehouses it stands in the middle of. "Here's the plan," Ohya says. "We're going to go in there and pretend we want to rent a storage unit."
"I'm guessing we shouldn't say anything about Madarame?"
"Correct," Ohya says, nodding. "It's not like the bozo manning the front desk is going to have any idea who that is. They probably keep all their records in a filing cabinet and don't take them out except to ensure a client is paid up. Just let me do the talking."
"Sure," Akira replies, and follows as she steps inside.
The first thing Akira notices is the eyes of the man at the desk. They are not the eyes of a bozo. Akira feels them clawing over his skin like a rake, sizing him up. He's young, maybe in his mid-twenties, and dressed in a comfortable short-sleeved shirt, and jeans. A cigarette trails small patterns into the air around his slicked-back hair.
The office itself is small and dark and silent. A muted television screen playing a baseball game, and a beat-up looking lamp behind the desk are the only sources of light.
"Hi," Ohya says, but Akira notices an edge in her voice. She hadn't expected this either.
"Help you?" The young man asks, his voice low and raspy.
"My cousin and I are looking to rent a storage unit, and-"
"Full up."
Ohya blinks. "Excuse me?"
"I said, we're full up. Booked to capacity. No new clients. Besides, we only operate by referral."
Ohya's eyebrow cocks. "A storage facility that only takes referrals?"
"Doctors do it."
"How would I get a referral?"
He smiles a bit. "You'd have to know someone who could refer you."
Akira doesn't like this. There's something off about the man. Something off about the whole place. He has to believe that Ohya can sense that too, but the woman can't let go of something she's sunk her teeth into. "Do you know someone who could refer me?"
"Listen girl," the man says, and takes a drag of his cigarette before telling them what they need to listen to. "You're thinking about this all wrong. Even if you got a referral, we're full up."
"That's hard to believe, given that there's zero information about you online."
"That's why we got the referrals, and you found us alright." He looks over at Akira. "How come that one isn't talking?"
"He's not the talkative type," Ohya replies.
"What'd you know? That's my favorite type of person."
"Well, thanks for your help," Ohya mutters. "I don't suppose you'd know of any other place to look?"
"Not here."
"Right."
She turns and motions for Akira to follow. When they're outside, he turns to her and says, "Oh man."
"That was interesting," she says, mostly to herself.
"What about that was interesting?" Akira asks. "We didn't learn anything."
"I'd say we learned something very significant," Ohya says, a smile creeping its way back across her face. "We learned that Madarame likely keeps a storage unit at a facility run by the Yakuza."
Akira's eyes widen. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. "Yakuza?" He asks, and turns back towards the building's door, suddenly afraid the guy would be standing right behind him.
Ohya nods. "Oh yeah. Big time. Couldn't you tell?"
"No!"
"Oh. Well, look harder next time. Because that guy might as well have had 'Yakuza' tattooed on his forehead. Come on." She nods her head towards the street. "We've got to come up with a strategy."
"To find out if Madarame really has a storage unit there?" He asks.
She nods. "And what's inside it. If only we had some way of getting in there. Right now, it's just speculation."
Akira thinks about this, and smiles.
#
Ryuji yawns. "My feet hurt."
"Stop complaining" Morgana replies. "It's not like we're doing anything all that hard. Are we almost there?"
Ryuji glances at his phone. "Few more blocks."
"This atelier better be the Palace," Morgana mumbles.
"Tell me about it. This was a lot easier back when I discovered it was the school."
"Didn't you say you said a few words and the app on Akira's phone picked it up? I don't know if I'd count that as discovering anything."
"Can it, cat," Ryuji mutters. "Let me have this."
They continue on, until Morgana mutters, "So, we need to talk."
"About what?" Ryuji asks, frowning. In his text, Akira had asked Ryuji to take Morgana along, but that didn't mean he had to like it. He checks himself. C'mon, he's not so bad. Okay, yeah, he's annoying as shit, but he's part of the team, so stop being a tool. He clears his throat and says, "What's up?"
"What'd you think?" Morgana hisses up at him, reminding Ryuji just why the cat is his least favorite friend. "The whole, 'Akira and Ann,' thing."
"Oh," Ryuji sighs. "That."
"Yes, that. We need to figure out how to fix things between them. Because it's bad."
"Wasn't so bad at the exhibit."
"Yeah, but that was during a mission. In case you haven't noticed, they're hardly talking. I don't know if they've even said anything to one another since the other day."
"They were talking today. When we got our grades." Although, when Ryuji reflects on it, they hadn't actually been talking to each other. They'd each been talking to him. And he'd been talking to both of them. He grimaces. "I think I see what you mean."
It shames him to admit it, but he'd been trying to ignore the whole thing since it had started. It hadn't felt like his business. That didn't mean he didn't have an opinion. He kicks a stray pebble on the sidewalk. "But what're we supposed to do about it? Ann's not gonna apologize anytime soon."
Morgana halts. "Wait, why would Lady Ann apologize?"
Ryuji feels his eyes widen as he turns back to the cat. "Huh? You think Akira should apologize?"
"Well," Morgana mutters. "Maybe not apologize, but I don't think Lady Ann should have to."
"Like hell she shouldn't!" Ryuji shouts, throwing his hands in the air. "She went ballistic! That whole, 'choose between me and Niijima-senpai' thing? That was nuts!"
"Wh-what'd you expect?" Morgana hisses. "Makoto totally messed with Shiho, and besides, she was investigating us! Akira was getting way too chummy with her."
Ryuji raises his hands in an exaggerated shrug. "Are we so sure she's even investigating us?"
"Geez, it's no wonder your grades are so low! I told you, genius, I stole her notebook. She referred to Akira as, 'the target,' and-"
"I never said she wasn't investigating us," Ryuji cuts in.
"Yes you did! You just did, like five seconds ago!"
"I meant," Ryuji shouts. "That we're not sure why she's doing it."
"Ugh, you are so stupid! I heard that conversation where-"
"You overheard a convo between the Principal and Makoto. You also said you only heard a part of it. It just seems to me, that we're so freaked out about the whole 'being investigated by the Student Council President,' thing, that we've haven't bothered to ask, why the freaking Student Council President would bother investigating us in the first place. No one's wondering what the full story is?"
"Everyone has been wondering that, Bonehead. But we can't afford to hope the full story is a good one. If Makoto was so innocent, why didn't she tell us right off the bat? Why'd she question Shiho?"
Ryuji nods. "I admit, that was pretty effed up. I don't know, okay? All I know is that Niijima-senpai apologized to me for something that I didn't even know she did, and it's kind of weird that someone who would do that, would turn out to be a bad guy. I mean, we spent all this time trying to throw her off, and we've got someone stealin' other peoples' art we should be focusing on. Doesn't it seem like our priorities are all out of whack?"
"We're focusing now, aren't we?" Morgana asks. "That's what we were just doing. But look, we're getting sidetracked. What's most important is figuring out how to fix things between Akira and Lady Ann. Personally, I think Akira should make the first move."
"No way, dude. Ann may have been feeling bad over what happened to Shiho, but she took it way too far. She should apologize first."
"Lady Ann shouldn't have to-"
"Oh my god, would you stop doing that?" Ryuji yells.
Morgana blinks. "Doing what?"
"The whole, 'Lady Ann' thing. Dude, we all know you're crushing on her."
"I-is it that obvious?" Morgana asks, eyes wide.
"It's pretty much a running joke at this point."
The cat stutters a few times before he manages, "Irrelevant! We need to get them to stop fighting! We need a plan!"
"A plan?" Ryuji asks. He stops and thinks. "Okay, how about we lock them in a room somewhere and don't let them leave until they hash everything out?"
Morgana stares up at Ryuji. "That's the dumbest plan I've ever heard."
"Do you have a better one?"
Morgana blinks, and is silent for a moment. "Where would, this, uh, room be?"
Ryuji shrugs. "I dunno. Could we do it at LeBlanc?"
Morgana shakes his head. "I don't think so. Sojiro probably wouldn't appreciate it. How about at school?"
"Where at school? It's like, a school. There are people around."
Morgana sighs. "I'm not sure I like this plan."
"We don't need to overcomplicate this shit and..." He trails off as he glances at his phone. "Hold up, dude. This is it."
They raise their eyes to the dilapidated building of rotting wood and rusted shutters standing before them.
"Damn," Ryuji says. "Don't know what I expected, but this place is a dump."
"No kidding," Morgana replies. "He's right to call it a shack. I'll check it out." Ryuji shakes his head.
"Wait a second, man. Let's settle this once and for all." He pulls up the Metaverse Nav on his phone and says, "Madarame. Atelier. Abuse."
"No result," the phone buzzes.
"Madarame. Atelier. Plagiarism."
"Match found," the phone replies.
Ryuji pumps his fist into the air. "Alright!"
He grins down at Morgana, and the cat smirks right back at him. "Awesome," the cat says. "We finally found it! Now all we need is the last keyword. So, just like Kamoshida's Castle, we need to know what Madarame thinks of this place."
Ryuji shrugs. "But that can't be too hard, right? I mean, he's an artist. He probably thinks of it as an art-like thing."
"An art-like thing?" Morgana asks.
"Come on, you know what I mean."
"Well, let's try it," Morgana says, and starts climbing up Ryuji's leg.
"What're you doin'?"
"Trying to get a better angle to talk to the Nav."
"By clawing my leg?"
"Stop complaining and set me on your shoulder then!"
Ryuji sighs, wraps his arm around Morgana and brings him up to perch on his left shoulder. "I don't know how Akira lives with you."
"Focus, Bonehead! Let's start guessing." Morgana pauses. "You said, 'art' places right? Makes sense." Morgana leans towards the phone and says, "Gallery."
No response. Ryuji stares at it, then stiffens. "Wait, can this thing not understand you?"
"Huh?" Morgana asks, eyes wide. "Are you kidding me?"
Ryuji shifts shoulder around and Morgana holds on for balance. "Well, aren't you just a cat over here? The Nav probably thinks you're just meowing."
"You're telling me I can't use the Nav? That... that sucks!"
"You don't even have a phone."
"It's the principle of the thing, Ryuji! The principle!"
"Alright man, chill the hell out! I don't make the rules."
"Yeah well, I'd like to have words with whoever does."
Ryuji considers reminding the cat that he probably once did know who made the rules, but keeps his mouth shut. No use making the cat feel bad.
"Gallery," Ryuji says, on behalf of the cat.
"No match found."
"Art show."
"No match found."
"Try... uh, exhibit."
"Exhibit!"
"No match found."
"This sucks," Ryuji grumbles. Then, he grins. "Oh, Mona, I got it!"
"Yeah?" Morgana asks.
"It's so obvious!" Ryuji cackles, then flourishes the phone once more. "Museum."
"No match found."
"What the hell?"
"Yeah, real obvious."
"What are you doing?" Comes a new voice.
Ryuji jumps and Morgana topples off and to the ground. He spins to find Yusuke standing alongside him, schoolbag gripped in one hand.
"Uh, nothin'. What's it look like I'm doing? What're you doing?"
"I'm journeying home. You look like you're shouting random words into your phone."
"N-no," Ryuji says, and glances down at Morgana. "We're just hanging out."
"You're just hanging out with your cat?"
Ryuji shrugs. "He ain't my cat. He's Akira's."
Yusuke cocks his head to the side. "Do you typically take Akira's cat on walks with you?"
"Moron," Morgana hisses.
"Yep," Ryuji replies. "What's so weird about taking your bro's cat for a walk?"
Yusuke thinks this over. "Nothing, I suppose." Then, his eyes narrow in suspicion. "But, just what are you doing here?"
"I told you, dude. Taking my friend's cat for some exercise."
"Outside my abode?"
Ryuji's mind spins. "This is your place? I had no idea. It's, uh..." he glances back at the atelier. "A building. Definitely a building."
Morgana leans forward until his face is against the sidewalk. "We're the worse thieves ever."
Yusuke studies Ryuji for a moment, then nods. "Indeed, it is a building. Are you perhaps making a comment about the ornamentation of architecture, and how all human dwelling constructions are, in fact, the same, and that it is only our perceptions and the fact that we are held hostage by our cultural attributes that distinguishes them from one another?"
Ryuji says nothing for a long time. Then, he says, "Yes."
Yusuke frowns and makes a small, "hmm,' noise. "Perhaps you are not as foolish as I once believed."
Ryuji feels his face fall. "Thanks." Another idea pops into his head. "Hey man, it's kinda hot out here. Could we like, come inside real quick and get some water? My cat is thirsty."
Morgana looks up at him, a twinkle in his eye.
Yusuke looks down at Morgana and says, "I thought you said this was your friend's cat?"
Ryuji rolls his eyes. "My cat, Akira's cat, what the hell's the difference? I'm dying out here, bro."
But Yusuke shakes his head. "I'm afraid not. I feel a sense of trepidation, like that which rises within me before the muse strikes. I must retire to my drawing room and prepare to receive it."
"Oh," Ryuji says, as Yusuke turns away. "Well, uh, good luck with that, whatever it is."
"And best of luck to you in exercising that cat," Yusuke says, over his shoulder. The boy retreats to the atelier, opens the door, and vanishes inside.
Ryuji looks down at Morgana. "That guy is really weird."
#
Morgana and Ryuji had tried a few more words, but the MetaNav had only chanted, on and on, "No Match Found."
Frustrated, they had left. Morgana had returned to LeBlanc at approximately the same time as Akira, and the boy had gone upstairs, changed into some darker clothes, and told Morgana to get into his bag.
"Where are we going?" Morgana had asked.
"Infiltration mission," Akira had replied.
Now, they stand outside Natsuki Storage, the sun having just set, the city lights springing up around them. Morgana eyes the chain-link fence, and runs his eyes along the side of the building, looking for his entry point.
"You can do this, right?" Akira asks, nerves suddenly seeping into his voice.
Morgana smiles up at him. "No problem. Get inside. Find where they keep their list of clients, and confirm Madarame's storage unit. Then, get access."
"If you can," Akira says. "If it gets too crazy in there, just get out."
"Oh please," Morgana protests. "I can handle it just fine."
Akira nods. "Okay then." He bends down and lifts Morgana off the ground, and hefts him up towards the top of the fence. Morgana reaches out, sets his paws between two holes, and grips. "Got it?" Akira asks.
"Got it," Morgana replies, and steadily climbs the rest of his way up to the top. "Piece of cake."
"Good luck, Morgana," Akira replies. "Be careful."
Morgana gets to the top, thankfully absent any kind of barbed wire, and hefts himself over and drops to the ground. He lands softly and runs for the shadow of the building.
It was a pleasant surprise that Akira had wanted to do this, and that he'd been so excited about it. Finally starting to act like a thief, Morgana thinks, then remembers that he's the one who's actually sneaking into the building.
It's been hard the last few weeks. Ever since Kamoshida's fall, really. The fighting, the anxiety, the lack of purpose. But now, with Madarame firmly in their sights, they can really drill down and focus. Get back to their jobs.
He finds what appears to be a service entrance around the back of the building. He hops up and jiggles the handle with his paw, but it's locked. Sighing, the cat brandishes a claw and sticks it in the lock. Minutes of nothing pass, but Morgana keeps his focus. This is his time to shine, after all.
When the lock clicks, Morgana has to stop himself from letting out a whoop of excitement, and drops back to the ground and into the shadows as the door creaks open. It reveals a room empty of people with some maintenance paraphernalia pushed up against the wall, a mop and water collector, a few sets of tools, spare lightbulbs. Beyond all this is another door, and when Morgana tries this one, he discovers it unlocked.
Morgana exits and finds himself at the tail end of a long, white hallway. Matching doors with numbers etched onto them line the hall, and attached to each door is a card reader. Damn, Morgana thinks. Even if he can determine which unit is Madarame's, he can't hack a card reader with his paw. Muttering curses, Morgana begins to trot down the hall, looking for wherever the records are kept.
A door marked, 'Records,' answers that. Simple enough, he thinks, and is ecstatic to find it unlocked, and unoccupied. The room is a typical office, with a desk and chair on the one end, and three sets of filing cabinets on the other. He darts over, opens the first draw and begins to rifle through the names. He doesn't recognize any of them.
The soft sound of footsteps echo from outside, and Morgana shuts the file he's looking through and sprints into the space between the desk, where he crouches in the shadows.
The door opens and a young man enters, cigarette between his lips. On his tail is another man, this one older, dressed in a business suit. The young man moves to the filing cabinet, opens one draw, and spends a few seconds searching. He pulls out a file, and turns to the man. "Well?"
The older man reaches into his pocket and withdraws a wad of bills. He extends them to the young man, who takes them, flips through them a few times, and nods. He moves to the desk, and Morgana tries to make himself smaller, but the man doesn't notice him. Morgana hears the rustling of paper from above him, and then the young man says, "You're all paid up. Feel free to go inside."
The older man nods, and exits. The younger man returns to the cabinet, returns the file, and follows.
Morgana sneaks back over to the cabinet and slides it open. He continues to go through the names, and when he can't find Madarame's, he goes to the next. And the next.
He searches through each name, but Madarame's name is nowhere to be found. Is there nothing here? Has this just been a waste of time? Then, his eyes fall on one name in particular. It catches his attention, but it isn't until he's passed it by that he thinks to go back and look. What's this?
With his jaw, he yanks the file out and opens it up. Unit 47. Paid in full. But it is the name that stands out to him. The more Morgana thinks about it, the more convinced he becomes. Madarame's name isn't in the filing cabinet.
With more difficulty than he will later admit, Morgana rolls the thin file up and puts it in his mouth. Then, he gingerly makes his way to the door, peers out, and ensured that the coast is clear, bolts for the back entrance. He dashes outside, around the bend, and sprints for the fence. Akira is waiting for him.
"What's that?" He asks, from the other side.
"'ere!" Morgana hisses and slides the file between the chain-link holes. "'eke it!"
Akira grabs the file and pulls it free, and Morgana starts to climb the fence. When he gets to the top, Akira reaches us his arms and Morgana jumps into them.
"You okay?" Akira asks.
"Just fine."
"What is this?" Akira asks, and holds the rolled up paper in his hand.
"Look at the name."
Akira does. His eyes widen. "Do you think...?"
"It can't be a coincidence, right?"
Akira nods, and stuffs the file into his bag. "We need to talk to Yusuke."
##
A/N: Happy New Year!
I'm back and so is Crimson, to kick 2018 off right.
Thank you so much for your patience, and for continuing to read and talk about Crimson in my absence. It delighted me to see that little 'Hit Counter' rising each day. Again, thank you!
A lot of you are probably wondering what the posting schedule will be like. Well, after a lot of consideration, I've decided to alternate weeks. What I mean is that, one week, I'll post MWF, and the following week, I'll post MF. Then, the week after that, I'll do MWF, and so on and so forth.
So, basically, for this week, I'll also post chapters on Wednesday and Friday. Next week, the week of the 8th, I'll post on Monday and Friday. This way, the pace remains consistent, but I've still got some wiggle room. Every month should churn out about 10 chapters or so. My final semester of grad school is coming up, so I may have to take some time off then, but I'll be sure to let you know.
An aside, I recently set up a Twitter. /DowdzWritesALot
Feel free to drop by and say 'Hello,' as I'm always happy to hear from you wonderful people.
And, as ever, thank you so much for reading! See you soon!