Akira hears Ohya ask him something, but his eyes remain fixed on Sae and Akechi. The former gives him a sour look, while the latter regards him with a warm smile. The warm, dim light of LeBlanc washes over him, and he feels his heart in his throat.

A hand lands on his shoulder. "Hey," Ohya snaps into his ear. "Don't ignore me."

Sojiro gives her a quick nod, but he's not smiling. "Ohya."

"Boss," Ohya replies, a hint of a smirk in her voice. She doesn't follow up with one of her usual quips, and Akira imagines she can read the room enough to know something's wrong.

Sae turns her gaze from him, and Akira feels his paralysis dissipate. "As I was saying-" She begins.

"I've told you this before," Sojiro cuts in. "And I'm tired of talking about it. Especially in front of strangers." He nods towards Akechi.

"Akechi is my colleague in this," Sae counters.

"And when he gets on his next TV Special, is he going to talk about it?" Sojiro asks.

Akira turns back to Ohya. Just keep calm, he thinks. Just keep moving. "I, uh, need to-"

Ohya's mouth drops open. "Holy smokes. You're Goro Akechi."

Akechi's shoulders slump a bit, and he slides away from the bar. "Excuse me, Niijima-san. Perhaps it would be best if I weren't present for this conversation." Sae waves her hand dismissively, and he takes a few steps towards them. "Why, yes, I am. It's nice to meet you..." He trails off, as he bows.

"Ichiko Ohya," she replies. "I'm a journalist for..." She halts for a moment, then says, "I'm a journalist."

"Would you mind joining me?" He asks, and gestures to a booth far enough away from Sojiro and Sae. He smiles. "Keep me company while they converse?"

Akira gives a shaky nod, and all three take a seat. "Who is that?" Ohya asks, nodding towards Sae. "A cop, like you?"

"Well, I'm not a police officer," Akechi replies, and shrugs. "Just a type of consultant. She, on the other hand, is a Public Prosecutor. She has some questions regarding an acquaintaince of Sakura-san."

"What kind of acquaintance?"

Akechi grins at her. "Are you asking as a reporter?"

She shrugs. "You got me." She nudges Akira's shoulder. "You didn't tell me you knew the Detective Prince."

"Well, I-"

"We met by accident," Akechi explains. "We ran into each other when his school took a trip to a television studio I happened to be at." He chuckles. "It's quite the surpise, finding you here. I'd no idea you knew Sojiro Sakura. Small world, no?"

Akira glances at Sae. "Tell me about it."

Akechi turns to follow his gaze, then leans towards Akira, cupping his hand around his mouth. "By the way, I'm rooting for you, Akira."

He blinks. "Rooting for me? For what?" His mind goes back over everything he knows about Goro Akechi. Was this a reference to something he should know?

Akechi nods. "Absolutely. You and Makoto. You're a thing, yes? Sae isn't pleased, but I think her sister should have someone in her life. Other than Sae, of course."

Akira blushes and feels like an idiot.

"Oh ho, what's this?" Ohya asks, resting an elbow on Akira's shoulder. "Cuz, you've got yourself a girlfriend?"

Akechi's lips purse. "I didn't realize you two were related."

"We're not," Akira says, and pushes his glasses up to rub his eyes. "She just says that to get a rise out of me. And Makoto and I aren't really anything. We're just friends." He lowers his hand. "Wait, how do you know about that?" He looks at Sae. "Did she tell you?" Akechi nods. Akira manages not to groan.

Akechi's smile grows fixed. "Well, you'll forgive me, but from what I read, it seems you may be more than just friends. I read the Kamoshida file. I know what he tried to do to her, and I know you intervened. Very heroic."

"Wait," Ohya says. "What's this about?"

"It's nothing," Akira snaps.

Akechi shakes his head. "It's not nothing. Suguru Kamoshida had cornered Makoto - Sae's sister - and Akira pulled the fire alarm in an effort to rescue her."

That's in a file? Hurting him had been the least of Kamoshida's offenses, as far as Akira was concerned.

"He apparently injured Akira quite severely," Akechi mumbles, and then his face falls. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. It was inappropriate."

Ohya turns to Akira. "Are you joking? You never told me that guy assaulted you."

"Yeah, well," Akira says, trying to think up an explanation. He decides to go with the truth. "It was embarassing. Why would I want to talk about it?"

"Regardless," Akechi puts in, quickly. "Kamoshida is rotting in jail. Where he belongs." His face scrunches up a bit. "Thanks, I suppose, to the Phantom Thieves."

Akira's senses jumpstart. "That's true."

He looks at Ohya. "I thought I'd heard your name before. You published that article earlier today. The Phantom Thieves have made their comeback." He turns to Akira. "I suppose then that you'd already heard."

Ohya smirks at this. "Nice to be recognized."

"Mind telling me your source?" Akechi asks, chuckling.

"Jouralists don't-"

"Reveal them, I know," Akechi replies. He wears a well-intentioned defeated look. "Oh well."

"Been a while since they've done anything," Akira says, with a shrug. He doesn't like that Akechi knows Ohya now.

"The manager of a convenience store, and a small time thief. The former apparently confessed in front of his employees and went online to proclaim his crimes to the world, while the latter turned himself and his gang into police. It's interesting, isn't it?"

"What'd you mean?" Akira asks.

"Well, both targets received their Calling Cards today. These individuals may not be as prominent as the latest target, Madarame, but I don't believe the Phantom Thieves have done something like this before. Two targets in one day. You could say they're accelerating." He drums his gloved fingers over the tabletop. "It makes me wonder at their method."

"Any theories?" Ohya asks.

Akechi rests his chin on his hand. Well, Madarame's dead, so we can't get much information out of him. Kamoshida isn't much help. A few have tried to squeeze more information from him, but he doesn't seem to know much. Or anything, really." He shrugs. "At this point, I'd consider a kind of hypnosis, maybe. Perhaps the Phantom Thieves are catching these people unawares and doing some hocus-pocus to them. That's difficult to prove, of
course."

Akira makes a show of relaxing in his seat. "Why's that?"

"We live in a society that depends upon cameras, but it can be very difficult to determine the whereabouts of specific individuals at specific times. We can, for instance, know that Madarame was at the art studio for a certain period of time, but we can't know precisely who he interacted with. If someone walked into that studio and did something to him, it would be difficult to know unless a witness came forward."

"Sounds like you're stuck."

"Not necessarily," Akechi says. "Just a bit frustrated. There are still plenty of avenues we can pursue. For instance, these two individuals who have had their hearts changed, we should be able to interview them and determine if anything peculiar happened."

"Like, this hocus pocus hypnosis?" Ohya asks.

Akechi nods. "That. Other things too. I'm curious, do you have a theory?"

Ohya shrugs. "I dunno. I figured it could be something like mass hysteria or something. The act of receiving a Calling Card convinces you that your heart has changed. Something like that."

"Interesting," Akechi replies. "But I somehow doubt that. If there was no triggering factor, it stands to reason that at least some individuals who received Calling Cards wouldn't experience a change of heart. But so far, the Phantom Thieves seem to have a success rate of one hundred percent." He laughs. "Then again, no one is infallible or perfect. Save for God, and I doubt He's helping the Phantom Thieves."

Akira doesn't manage to mask his surprise. "I didn't realize you were religious."

Akechi waves his hands through the air. "Oh, I'm not. I'm really not. I just sometimes wonder about our place in everything, that's all." His face falls. "When you have this job, you sadly see a lot of depravity. The police treat me like a child sometimes, and try to keep me away from the worst of it, but it seeps through. Sometimes, I wonder what kind of
God would allow the world to be this way, you know?"

"I haven't ever really thought about that," Akira says. "My family... I'm not religious."

Akechi gives a bashful smile. "I probably sound like a cliché, talking about 'Why God, why?' It just keeps me up some nights. It's one of those thoughts that you keep circling and circling."

"Geez," Ohya mutters. "Kids your age should be out chasing girls, not having an existential crisis."

"Is that why you don't like the Phantom Thieves?" Akira asks, ignoring her. "Because you think they're playing God?"

"You know, I never considered that. It's possible. I know what you're opinion is, since you're so close to the events at Shujin, but do you ever consider what the Phantom Thieves to be doing ever morally questionable? If they overwrite people's personalities, they're essentially brainwashing them, yes?"

"Again," Akira says. "I think it comes down to options. You talk about how they brainwash people, but a lot of the victims of these people had no options. Some of Madarame's students killed themselves. To shrug and say, 'The Phantom Thieves shouldn't change Madarame's heart because it's wrong to do that to someone,' ignores the fact that if they didn't, he wouldn't have changed, and he would've kept on abusing people."

"So would you argue that the ends justify the means?"

Akira freezes. It feels like he's only just had this conversation. "I think it's easy to ask that when you don't have any skin in the game."

Ohya laughs. "I think that's the most eloquent I've ever seen you, cuz."

Akechi spreads his hands and gives him an embarrassed smile. "Sorry. I feel like I've offended you, and that wasn't my intention."

Akira shrugs. "It's okay. I just... you saw what Kamoshida did to people. It isn't really fair to ask me if I think what the Phantom Thieves did was wrong, because I was so close to everything that happened."

Akechi's brow rises just a fraction. "Of course."

"Akechi," comes Sae's voice. She's notlooking at them, but engaged in a harsh staring contest with Sojiro. "We should go."

Akechi gives Akira a, 'save me, please,' look and slides out of the booth. "Coming."

Sae turns to the door, then stops. "I'll I'm asking for is five minutes. Just five minutes to ask her about her mother's-"

"No," Sojiro growls out. "That was my answer before. That's my answer now. If you come back tomorrow, the answer will be the same. Next week. Next year. She's done with all that. We're done with all that."

Akechi walks up to Sae's side and Akira can just barely hear him say, "The woman with Akira is a reporter."

Akira doesn't see the look Sae gives him, but whatever it is makes him pale, and he takes a step back.

"If she changes her mind, you know how to contact me," Sae says. She heads for the door.

Once it shuts, Ohya blurts out, "People are weird. And that lady was rude."

Akira turns to Sojiro. "Would you mind telling me what that was about?"

Sojiro glares at him, face stern. Then, it droops a bit, and appears very, very tired. "Yeah, Akira. I would. Just... drop it, okay? Just don't ask about it. It's hard."

Akira stares at him, then nods. "Okay."

#

There are weights on his eyelids, holding them shut. Akira can feel himself slump forward, but can't do anything to stop it. His arms and legs hurt, his brain hurts, he's so damn tired and all he wants to do is sleep.

Morgana lays curled up on his bed behind him, having returned from depositing the key at Naoya's house.

He jerks his eyes open and stares down at the paper. The numbers questions swirl until they become nothing but dark streaks on the page. He starts to lower his head.

"Hey," Kawakami says, and rests a hand on his shoulder. "Come on. Wake up."

Akira means to reply, but only manages a strange muttering of noises. He hears Kawakami sigh, and the hand leaves his shoulder. Akira's head drops onto the desk, and he shuts his eyes.

Some time later, he's woken again by Kawakami's shaking. He jerks upwards, eyes wide, his brain trying to catch up with the rest of him.

"It's fine, it's fine," Kawakami says, backing away from him, hands raises defensively.

Akira looks up at her, and blinks the sleep away. "Sorry. I, uh, what time is it?"

She smiles a bit. "It's time for me to go. We didn't get much studying done. You fell asleep. I figured I'd let you."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to."

"That's alright. I was pretty tired too. I don't know how much I would've managed to teach you."

Akira stares down at his homework. "I'll work on this tomorrow. Maybe I can show up early on Monday, for you to review?"

Kawakami looks surprised. "That's responsible of you, Kurusu. Fine. I'll be there. Come to the office." Akira nods. "Are you okay?" She asks. "You were fine in class today, but you look completely exhausted."

Akira recalls the Mementos fights, the realization that Sakoda worked for Kaneshiro, and the arrival of Sae and Akechi. "A lot of stuff happened today," he replies. "That seems to happen a lot."

"You should get more sleep. You're young, but you need your rest. The older you get, the harder it'll be to function with less sleep, and if you get into a bad habit now, it'll be harder to shake when you're older."

Akira glances up at her, he can tell that beneath the makeup she wears, there's circles under her eyes as well. "You should probably take that advice too, Sensei."

She puts her hands on her hips. "Never mind about me. We're talking about you. I'm not sure what your extracurricular activities are, but you need to make sure you give yourself enough time for self-care. Working hard is important, but not at the expense of your health."

Akira nods and forces himself to stand. "I'll keep that in mind."

She frowns. "Akira, are you sure you're okay? You've seemed out of it the last few days."

He wears a smile on his face and nods again. "I'm fine. Really."

Morgana stirs and yawns, but doesn't open his eyes.

Kawakami smiles. "You know, I never figured you for a cat person. Was he your pet before you moved here? I never asked."

"No," Akira replies, remembering the story he told Sojiro. "He was a stray, and I started taking care of him, after I got here."

Kawakami's brow rises. "Interesting. It's kind of hard to imagine Sakura-san letting you keep a cat, given your situation."

Akira shrugs. "Sojiro's a big softie when it comes to him. He likes him."

"He's well trained, for a stray."

Akira has to laugh at this, and then shakes his head. "Well trained. Sure."

Silence descends on them. It grows awkward without Akira being able to tell why.

"Well," Kawakami says, quickly. "I guess I'll get going."

"Right," Akira says, following her to the stairs. "I'll be at school Monday morning. For the review."

"Right," Kawakami says, as she descends. "Make sure you are. I expect good things, Kurusu."

Akira just nods and says his goodbyes.

##

A/N: Happy Monday, everyone! Boy, did that game suck or what? Talk about lame.

We'll be wrapping up the month of June pretty soon. Kind of funny how long it's taken to get here. 3 months, 400K words. Pretty wild.

As always, thank you for reading Crimson! I truly do appreciate it.