Chapter Twenty-Three
The Golden Peacock

Tuesday, May 17th

During homeroom, Kawakami announced that they would be having their first PE class with Iwasaki later that day. There were a few whispers amongst the class, some hoping she wouldn't be like Kamoshida, others sure someone on the faculty searched her history thoroughly. Which made sense, after the news coverage that Kamoshida garners, somehow Chiyo sincerely doubted that Kobayakawa would risk something else happening.

As Kawakami tried to silence the class, Chiyo spotted Ann seated in front of her with her shoulders hunched and her lands in her lap. Preemptively, Chiyo reached for her phone before it alerted her of the text.

Ann: I contacted Kitagawa-kun about modeling for him.
Ann: Still waiting for his response.
Ryuji: Thanks!
Ann: I really have no idea what I'm supposed to do as an art model though…
Chiyo: Isn't it like posing for a photo just holding still for an hour or so?
Ryuji: Look, you don't gotta go all out for this.
Ryuji: You're only doing it so you can get dirt on Madarame, remember?
Ann: That is true.
Ann: It sounded like Kitagawa-kun wants this to be a private picture of his though…
Chiyo: As in Madarame won't know he's working on it?
Ann: I think so.
Chiyo: Suspicious...

Ann: Well, I guess I'll let you guys know when he contacts me again.

Later that day Chiyo and Ann stuck together as their class prepared for PE. Chiyo had replaced her scrunchie with a regular elastic hair tie and tied her hair back into a full, generic ponytail. There were whispers from the other girls as they changed. The air felt a little heavier, like the reality of going back to the gym had just hit them. A few of their classmates had said they were initially feeling okay about Iwasaki, but now that they were about to go to class…

When they finally set foot into the gym, the tension in the air was so thick one needed a knife to cut through it. More than a few were startled when the sounds of skin hitting skin echoed across the gym. "Alright everyone, as a reminder my name is Rio Iwasaki," the young woman greeted. For class, Iwasaki had taken off her track jacket and rolled her pant legs up past her ankles. "Today we're going to start with a few warm-ups, a few quick soccer drills, and see if we can get at least one match in. Everyone line up, make sure everyone around you has enough room."

She lead them through a series of stretches. For Chiyo, it was the same as it was at her old school. Getting into various positions while wearing sneakers was always awkward when she was so used to going without. The school-issued pants always felt like the seams would burst if she went all out with the splits.

After stretching, Iwasaki set up a line of orange cones about three feet apart from each other. They were to dribble the soccer ball between the cones and back for the next person in line.

Chiyo waited in line in front of Ann as they watched their classmates dribble around the cones. "Keep your eye on the ball, Ezura-kun!" Iwasaki cheered, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "You're doing great! Watch how you dribble, keep your chin up, you'll get it!"

"Is it just me," Chiyo began, half-turning towards Ann, "or is Iwasaki-sensei trying too hard to appear approachable?"

"Oh, yeah, she's definitely trying too hard," Ann said without hesitating. "But it's not like I don't understand why, though. It's gotta suck being a predecessor for a teacher like Kamoshida. And on your first time as a teacher, too."

Chiyo looked back at Iwasaki, still exuberating the energy that might have fit in better with an elementary school PE class. In the end, Chiyo had to agree, Iwasaki was in such an awkward position being a first-time teacher but also coming right off the heels of a monster.

Almost as soon as class was let out for the day, Ann sent Chiyo and Ryuji a simple message

Ann: Meet me in the courtyard.

Ryuji was already there by the vending machines by the time Chiyo and Ann caught up. After checking for any teachers or students, they let Morgana walk around before he settled himself upon the table. "I got a response from Kitagawa-kun," Ann said at length. "He said he wants me to come over after school today."

"Perfect! Probably dropped all his plans just to get you over there," joked Ryuji.

"We need to find out from Kitagawa-kun if what we saw in the Palace was true… That doesn't really sound easy after his outburst yesterday."

Instantly, Morgana's ears twitched. He looked across the courtyard intently. "Watch what you say," he said in a hushed tone. "It's that student council president."

Sure enough, Niijima was at the doors, speaking to Mishima. "Yikes," Ryuji muttered under her breath. "She got a hold of Mishima today? It'd suck if she noticed us. Let's split up and meet at the train station, mkay?"

"Yeah, that sounds like a decent idea," agreed Ann. She pointed a finger at Ryuji and Chiyo. "Neither of you better bail on this. I'm not doing this on my own."

"Don't worry, Lady Ann," Morgana said leaping off the table. "I'll make sure Chiyo doesn't dawdle too much."

"Don't forget who's carrying you around," snarked Chiyo.

Chiyo paid a quick visit to the school library. After she got herself set up to check out a book, she pretended to scan a shelf for a couple of minutes before she grabbed something random off the shelf. It wasn't until she got it checked out that she realized was 'The Gentleman Thief.'

Whoops...

She headed straight out of Shujin before Niijima had the chance to find her. Ryuji was already at the catwalk, crouched down like an unassuming thug looking at his phone. He stood back up when he saw Chiyo catch up to him. "We finally landed a big target," he said. "But where's Ann? We can't do this without her."

"I know, sorry." Ann strolled up to them, her eyes cast downward. "I was thinking about some things and didn't notice how much time had passed."

"Thinkin' about what?"

"Don't you think Kitagawa-kun has to be protecting Madarame? I mean they live together, so he'd have to be aware of Madarame's true nature. The only reason I can think of him doing that is that Madarame has something on him…"

"Well, he did say that Madarame took him in," Chiyo said uneasily. "Which kind of makes it worse if he really is abusing his pupils."

"Isn't that why we wanted to check it out anyway?" asked Ryuji. "We agreed yesterday to try and get him to explain."

"I know that, but I still feel uneasy about this whole situation," sighed Ann.

"Sounds like it's a pretty uneasy situation in general," Chiyo shrugged. "But we saw how many pupils he had, that's... still a pretty bad look."

"Y-Yeah. Yeah. And if Madarame really is as bad as we think, Kitagawa-kun might be better off without him. Alright. I'm prepared."

"Whaddya mean prepared? Prepared for what?" He turned his gaze towards Chiyo. "Something seem different about her to you?"

"I mean, one way or another, we're kind of manipulating Kitagawa-kun," murmured Chiyo.

"He did seem really happy when I agreed to be his model," Ann added rubbing the back of her neck. "But I'm also prepared for that. Once he finishes drawing and gets a little friendlier, we should bring up Madarame."

They were able to get themselves a seat on the train. Sitting shoulder to shoulder with Chiyo between Ryuji and Ann. All three of them were feeling a little uneasy, Kitagawa's relation to Madarame being the elephant in the room. If the man truly did take him in, getting him to talk about what goes on behind the public eye wasn't going to be easy.

Chiyo got the library book out from her bag. She turned it over in her hand twice, there was a fading picture of a dapper man in a black top hat on the cover. She hadn't really been planning on reading it when she checked it out, she only stopped at the library to kill a little time and put distance between herself and Ann and Ryuji.

Absently, Chiyo opened to the table of contentnts, the first batch of titles she saw was 'The Arrest of Arsène Lupin,' 'Arsène Lupin in Prison,' and 'The Escape of Arsène Lupin.'

Arsène?

She opened to the first page proper and read the first few pages about a ship sailing to America, with a jewel thief on board. Bernard d'Andrèzy was leading the ship's guest into searching for the thief when Ryuji got Chiyo's attention as their stop came.

Kitagawa had a particularly nasty glare for Chiyo and Ryuji when he realized they had come along with Ann. Chiyo was beginning to suspect it was a glare reserved for the two of them. Kitagawa's gaze only softened ever so slightly when Ann told him that she asked Ryuji and Chiyo to come, then apologized for not informing Kitagawa about it.

The room Kitagawa brought them to was small, but not overly cramped. Organized was probably the best word for it. Kitagawa had his paints organized at a desk by the wall, an easel with a blank canvas set up, with a couple of spares in the corner of the room. In the open was a stool for Ann to occupy, while Chiyo and Ryuji made themselves comfortable at a couple of spare stools by the wall.

"I thought it would just be you coming, Takamaki-san," Kitagawa said through thinly veiled irritability.

"Wouldn't you get nervous too, if it was just the two of us?" asked Ann. She might have meant to come across as innocent, but.

"See, our school's the one all over the news over the abusive, sexually harassing PE teacher," Chiyo said, her voice a couple of octaves higher than normal and unusually airy. "Everyone's been a little shaken up over it and we've been traveling in groups as a result."

What was she doing with her voice?!

"Oh, yes!" Ann added. "I was totally scared when I found out. I've been too scared through even Shibuya on my own since."

"I… see…" Kitagawa said stiltedly, his brow arched tight together in thought. Wait, had he not heard of the Shujin scandal?

"Meaning, don't try anything perverted, 'kay?" Ryuji added, not missing a beat.

"Stop making such odd assumptions," Kitagawa said irritably. "I have absolutely no interest in her as someone of the opposite sex."

Ann's head tilted to the side. "Huh?"

"Is there a problem?"

"No, not really…"

She sat herself down on the stool. After she thought about it for a moment, Ann crossed her legs and rested her chin in her palm. Something that would have gotten approval at one of her photoshoots. "Alright then," Kitagawa sat down in front of his canvas, "let's get started."

A silence fell upon them as soon as Kitagawa's pencil touched the canvas. His hand moved fluidly across the surface as gentle as a bird's wings. Chiyo, who couldn't draw if her life depended on it, quickly found herself mesmerized by the motion.

"So…" Ann began, breaking the silence. Her eyes traveled towards Kitagawa, who was still staring at the canvas intently. "Kitagawa-kun?"

No reaction.

"Hey, you hear her?" Ryuji asked, somewhat irritably.

Still, Kitagawa had his attention on the canvas. The shack could have collapsed around them, and he likely wouldn't have noticed. "I don't think we'll be getting anywhere for a while," Chiyo said under her breath.

"This isn't what we planned!" Morgana snapped. He was still nestled in Chiyo's bag at her feet, his head poking out creating a slightly comical effect. "We were gonna catch him off guard and make him spill his beans, weren't we?"

"In concept yes, but probably not that aggressively."

"Not like we could've known this was gonna happen," murmured Ryuji. Sighing, he tilted his head back. "Guess we just gotta wait 'til he's done… What fuckin' pain in the ass…"

"Perhaps I should try going outside this room," offered Morgana,

Chiyo unzipped her bag. "Don't get caught."

"Heh, who do you think you're talking to?"

"Someone who was in a cell when we first met."

"One time, and I was outnumbered."

"Not that hard to be outnumbered when you're a zero," murmured Ryuji.

"I heard that!"

"After all the crack shots you've taken at me, good."

"Just go before Kitagawa-kun finally hears us," hissed Chiyo.

With the grace of a real cat, Morgana effortlessly climbed out of Chiyo's bag. She did notice the fur bristling along the back of his neck as he trotted to the blue and white checkered sliding door. He nuzzled his head against it a few times before he managed to slide it open wide enough to slip through.

"Now what?" Ryuji asked under his breath.

"I guess we wait." Chiyo reached into her bag and pulled out 'The Gentleman Thief' from her bag. She flipped the tome open to where she left a sheet of paper to mark it.

Morgana traveled down the hallways, fairly bland and rather gloomy. Hard to believe a renowned painter lived here, plagiarist or not.

Coming to the end of the hall, Morgana came across a two-way intersection. Something gold caught the corner of his eye. To his left was a blue door with a peacock with golden feathers, and a massive padlock keeping it closed.

Odd that the door was so flashy when the rest of the house was kind of bland. And the hefty lock… usually when someone has a lock that extravagant, someone had something to hide. Fascinating…

The Arrest of Arsène Lupin ended with the revelation that d'Andrèzy was Lupin. He had stolen the jewels from the woman he was courting as d'Andrèzy and hidden them in his camera. The woman had knowingly thrown her jewels into the water as Lupin was taken away.

"Are you done?" Ryuji's voice brought Chiyo back to reality.

Kitagawa's shoulders were slacked, he had begun to breathe as though someone just up and punched him in the stomach. "It's no good…."

It was a faint sketch, but Chiyo thought it was looking rather nice. A rough sketch of Ann as she was. Though, perhaps Kitagawa wasn't just going for 'nice.'

"I'm sorry," Ann murmured after she rotated her shoulders. "Am I the problem?"

Kitagawa shook his head. "No, not at all. It's just… I'm having trouble staying focused today. I'm sorry, but we'll have to resume this another time…"

"Oh hell no!" Ryuji's voice broke as he snapped. "How many hours do you think you made us wait?!"

Chiyo could have sworn she felt physical pain as she dropped her forehead into her waiting palm. So much for subtlety and tact. "Ohmigod…"

She dared to look up at Kitagawa. He was both irritated and confused. Chiyo couldn't say she was surprised.

"I'm sorry…" Ann stood up, her face was as pained as Chiyo's. "We had another reason for seeing you today…"

"It's about those rumors regarding your sensei," Ryuji said, a bit more calmly this time around.

"This again?" Kitagawa stood up.

"That painting I saw at the exhibit," Ann began tentatively. "You're the one who actually painted it, right?"

Almost immediately, Kitagawa looked away, his head angled to hide his eyes in the shadows. Another physical tell. And thankfully, it wasn't just Chiyo who caught the tell. "I knew it," murmured Ann.

"Your sensei's seriously messed up," Ryuji said firmly. "He just thinks of his pupils as tools. That's why he doesn't give a damn whether he steals their work or physically beats them. I'll make this clear, there's o point in hidin' this from us."

Shaking his head, Kitagawa started chuckling. A deep sound that made Chiyo wonder if he was about to break out into a yelling rant. Thankfully he simply said calmly, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You couldn't go against him, could you?" Ann asked gently. "I'm sure we can help you out though…"

"Stop it!" Kitagawa finally snapped. His chest heaved and his eyes were wide. "It's as you all say. We're… our sensei's 'artwork.'"

The Shujin trio all stared at him with raised brows. Ann was the first to open her mouth to speak, but she was swiftly cut off by Kitagawa, who held a hand up. "Do not misunderstand me. I offered my ideas to him myself. As such, it can't be called plagiarism. Sensei is simply suffering from artist's block right now."

Ryuji crossed his arms over his chest. "Dude, still… Ain't there other ways to get around that?" Kitagawa flinched again, an act that did not go unnoticed by Ryuji. "Then why're you stickin' around?! All his other pupils ran away! Aren't you the only one left?!"

"And what's wrong with a pupil helping out his master?!" snapped Kitagawa. His body started trembling. "There are no victims here! Stop pushing your self-centered righteousness on me!"

"What about his other pupils?" Chiyo asked. "At least some of them ought to have careers of their own, right? I've never heard of them getting anywhere, not even mediocrity. That looks kind of bad no matter how you look at it."

Kitagawa rounded his glare upon Chiyo. Despite the furrowed brow, Chiyo could see the slight twitch in his jaw and how the rage he was trying to give off did not quite meet his eyes. There was no fire, no rage, just numbness. Slowly, Kitagawa's face relaxed, almost as though he were about ready to give up. "I'm supporting Sense as his pupil. Where's the wrong in that?"

"There isn't normally… But if there are livelihoods at stake… Are you really okay with the way things a-"

"That's enough!" Sitting back down, Kitagawa fixed a fresh glare upon the three. "Don't ever come here again… If you do, I'll sue you for causing a disturbance."

"Damn brat! I'll sue!"

Chiyo's throat felt a little tight, she could feel her pulse quicken. She forced herself to swallow and calm herself down. Ryuji, whether he intended to or not, provided a decent distraction. "Hold up! We're not done talkin' here!"

"Then you leave me with no choice…" Kitagawa reached into his pocket for his phone.

"Hey!"

"Ryuji…" Chiyo whispered pitifully.

Jaw falling open, Ryuji stared at Chiyo, her eyes cast downward, hiding beneath the shadow of her glasses. Wasn't this the same girl who flat out told Kamoshida no when he gave her an ultimatum? Wasn't she able to call his bluff back then? Why wasn't she doing the same with Kitagawa?

"Wait, Kitagawa-kun!" Ann said frantically. "Let's calm down and talk about this…"

Kitagawa looked up from his phone. Chiyo could feel her skin begin to prick with goosebumps as everyone in the room remained silent. "I won't report you," Kitagawa said at length. "Unless Takamaki-san continues being my model."

Ann's head list to the side. He was still on that? "But you said that it wasn't working out…"

"That's because I was unconsciously being modest for your sake. However, I have nothing to worry about anymore. If you're willing to bare everything to me…"

"Wait, what?"

"I will put my heart and soul into creating the best nude painting ever!"

"WHAT?!" shouted Ryuji.

"Nude?!" Ann echoed at the same time.

The worst part was that it was difficult to tell if Kitagawa could see Ann's discomfort in the notion or not. "To think I'd be able to create a nude painting with my most ideal model!"

"Oh my god…" Chiyo murmured, resting her head in her palm again.

"Of course, you two won't be allowed in, and I ask that you forget about our discussion today, as well. If I don't submit a new piece to Sensei soon, there will be some… inconveniences."

"And resorting to sexual extortion is the answer?!"

"Will you stop-"

"You want someone to get naked in exchange for cooperation. You can call a dog a cat all you want, but it won't keep it from barking."

"Oh, god, why are things sudden escalating like this?!" Ann snapped, hugging herself tightly.

"Because those are my terms," Kitagawa said plainly, "and from where I stand, I'm the one holding the cards. Don't bite the hand that's feeding you, to build off an analogy." Chiyo flinched slightly. "Sensei is out during the afternoon while the art exhibit is on, so I can use this place freely… I should buy more art supplies…"

"Will you give me a second here?!" snapped Ann.

"Of course, I'm willing to wait. I'll make time according to your plans. But, please come before the exhibit ends."

"No! That's not what I mean! Why are you not listening?!"

"Sensei will be returning home soon. We're done for today. Takamaki-san, I'll be waiting for you to contact me."

"No-no-no! We are not done talking here!"

"Hey," Ryuji whispered, turning towards Chiyo. Kitagawa ignored them in favor of putting his supplies away. "What'd we do?"

"We get out of here," Chiyo whispered.

"Yeah… Dammit, he got us good this time."

"Don't give up so easily!" Ann snapped desperately.

"We're not," Chiyo assured her. "We're just making sure we don't make the hole we're in any deeper."

The blonde released an exaggerated sigh, slowly nodding in agreement. Ryuji sighed through his nose as Chiyo grabbed her bag. She finally noticed the ink smears from her pen on the side of her hand. Ryuji was the one to make it to the door first. As soon as he slid it open, he nearly leaped out of his skin. Morgana was outside waiting, and Ryuji had completely forgotten about him.

The cat tilted his head to the side briefly. "So, is she done being a model?"

The tinkering amongst Kitagawa's paints and pencils stopped abruptly. He turned his head ever so slightly. "A cat?"

Chiyo dove past Ryuji and snatched Morgana by the scruff off his neck. To Morgana's credit, he tried to keep his mouth shut as Chiyo dropped him into her bag. "Windows-must-be-open-there's-pollen-out-must-have-allergies," she said as quickly as she could before she turned towards the door out.

"Yeah, that must be it!" Ryuji added following after her.

"'Tis the season!" Ann finished. "We'll show ourselves out."

When Ann slid the door closed, Kitagawa stared forward, going over everything he did after school. Did he leave the window open?

Outside of the artier, Ann marched across the street with Chiyo and Ryuji following close behind her. As soon as the three of them made it to the sidewalk, she whirled around. "He's totally out of his mind! I'm gonna have to pose nude if this keeps up!"

"How dare that Yusuke," Morgana growled from Chiyo's bag.

"And the way he said it," Ryuji imputed, his voice oddly hallow, "it's not gonna be semi, but full-on nude…"

"F-Fu-F-F-Full nudity?! Lady Ann's gonna-"

Chiyo cut him off, "Morgana, I'm pretty sure constantly talking about it isn't helping."

"But, you know, you won't have to worry about that if we make Madarame confess before the exhibit ends," Ryuji pointed out.

"But Kitagawa-kun think he owes his life to him." Ann's eyes cast downward. "Is there a need to make Madarame confess?"

"Madarame's no different from Kamoshida. That asshole's usin' Yusuke, who doesn't have parents. You're tellin' me we should just ignore how he's bein' treated horribly like the other pupils?"

Dejected, Ann sighed. "No. It is frustrating to leave this alone, even if Kitagawa-kun is fine with it himself."

"You can't leave it be because you've endured a lot yourself, with Kamoshida," Morgana said empathetically.

"Yeah…"

"Anyways," Ryuji cleared his throat, "we gotta go after this guy. Madarame's the kind of target we've been waitin' for. Let's help Yusuke come to his senses too…before he ends up like us."

"Right."

"Right," Chiyo added under her breath. The palm of her left hand started to feel cold, or maybe it was just her imagination.

"We need to look into Madarame more first," piped Morgana.

"There might be tones more stuff that hasn't been exposed yet, too," added Ryuji.

"It may become easier for us to investigate his Palace if he's preoccupied with his exhibit."

"Also, there's the thing about me modeling!" added Ann. She bit her lower lip, uncomfortably. "Kitagawa-kun said there'd be 'inconveniences' unless he submits a new piece."

'Inconveniences.' Chiyo's thought immediately went to one of the worst-case scenarios of physical violence. And then Kitagawa being thrown out onto the street.

"Does that mean the whole country's gonna see you nude?!" Ryuji asked tactfully.

"Not if we get this done fast!" Chiyo snapped. "We just finish the job before the exhibit ends."

"Let's start after school tomorrow. It'll be a pain in the ass if Miss President finds us on the rooftop again, so where to meet up…"

"How 'bout the walkway in Shibuya?" offered Ann. "It's close enough to Madarame's and we've been meeting up there lately anyway."

"It's off school grounds, so it'll work out," agreed Chiyo.

"Changing our hideout periodically, huh?" Morgana started purring and his tail wagged despite the bag restricting him. "That's a plan I don't mind backing."

"Hey, you kids mind talking for a sec?"

As Morgana ducked back into Chiyo's bag, the group half-turned to find a woman in her mid to late thirties walk up to them. Her black hair was done in a neat bob with blunt bangs. She had on a pair of sunglasses atop her head, a camera hanging down her front, and a purple fanny pack around her waist with a water bottle attached. She had on a black logo t-shirt over a white long-sleeved shirt, a pair of blue jeans, and a pair of black converse shoes.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Ryuji took a moment to scrutinize the woman. "Huh?"

"From the looks of things," the woman said, eyeing the trio, then mimicking Ryuji's stance, "you don't seem like the ordinary, stalking fans."

"Uh…" Ann shuffled her feet.

"Oh, sorry." The woman rested a hand on her hip. "I should've been more clear. I'm actually looking for people that know Madarame's pupils. There's this painting, 'Sayuri,' that was supposedly stolen some years back."

Chiyo echoed, "'Supposedly?'"

"Well, there's this rumor that it was taken by one of his pupils in retaliation for being abused. Have you heard anything about that?"

"First I'm hearing about it."

"Same here," added Ann.

"I see," sighed the woman. "There's no cause unless there's a victim, and if there's no proof of abuse, I can't write either. Looks like I'm back to square one. Sorry for taking your time." She reached into her pocket and handed Chiyo a card. "I'm a journalist. If you ever get any leads, mind contacting me here?"

"Uh, sure."

"See you then!" She walked off as blasé and abrupt as when she first arrived.

Chiyo looked down at the card, printed on it was a personal number and her work line under the name Ichiko Ohya.

The group split up for the day. Chiyo put Ohya's card in her wallet and made her way to Yongen. One trip to the convenience store, Chiyo returned to Leblanc with a few onigiri and a can of cat food, despite Morgana's protest.

"I still can't forgive him!" Morgana growled as Chiyo placed a plate of cat food in front of him. "Demanding to paint Lady Ann nude, then claiming to report us to the police!"

Chiyo had to agree, though she didn't vocalize it. It felt like she had just gotten into a sense of comfort after everything with Kamoshida. But at the same time, she was willing to believe Kitagawa was getting desperate. But on the other hand, sexual extortion was sexual extortion. In short, Chiyo felt like was playing a mental game of ping-pong.

She eased herself back on her bed, so her back met with the wall. She munched on her rice ball all as Morgana munched on his cat food. At least he wasn't being picky.

If only they could contact another one of Madarame's pupils. They weren't getting anywhere with Kitagawa. And Chiyo wasn't confident that even if he was willing to share information, that he'd hold back on the worst stuff or even try to sugarcoat everything. He'd be an unreliable expositor. They needed someone willing to talk to them about the man's methods, someone who held a grudge against him.

Someone who held a grudge against Madarame….

In an instant, Chiyo's eyes snapped open, she nearly choked on unchewed rice. One of Madarame's other pupils? What about Nakanohara? If his Shadow-self was willing to blame Madarame for his predicament, maybe the real person would be willing to talk to them.

"Why didn't I think of it sooner?" Chiyo asked, snatching her phone off the half-wall.

"Think of what?" Morgana asked through a full mouth.

"Nakanohara. Kitagawa's not willing to discuss him with us, but we first heard about Madarame through Nakanohara's Shadow. Maybe he'll be willing to."

Ignoring her partially eating rice ball, Chiyo searched her contact info on her phone for Mishima's number. Her knee bounced against the mattress as she waited for Mishima to pick up. She got his voice mail and quickly realized, to her embarrassment, that it was only now that she learned that his name was Yuuki. "Hi, Mishima-kun? It's Chiyo Kusakabe from class," she said in her message. "I was wondering if you could do me a favor. On the Phan-site a woman wanted the Phantom Thieves to take the heart of Natsuhiko Nakanohara. Is it possible you could find his number, I'd like to speak with him. Thanks a lot, Mishima-kun, I'll see you at school."

Sighing, Chiyo put her phone back on the half-wall and finished her onigiri before she headed to the bathhouse. Chiyo was at the point where she was beginning to recognize the faces of her fellow regulars. Usually, it was just Chiyo and the two older ladies, but on occasion, she'd go in with a couple of middle-aged women. Tonight it was the middle-aged women, discussing their sons and how romance was apparently dead.

After Chiyo returned to Leblanc and changed into her sleep clothes, she headed upstairs, and her phone started to ring. Chiyo nearly bashed her face into half-wall in her dive to get it. "Hey, Kusakabe-san?" Mishima said from the other line. "Just returning your call."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. So, funny thing you mentioned Natsuhiko Nakanohara. He actually contacted me through the forums a few days ago. He said he wants to meet with the Phantom Thieves to discuss another person who needs a change of heart."

"Really?"

"It's quite the coincidence, but contacting Nakanohara shouldn't be that difficult. Though you're better off talking to him in person if you want specifics. All I know is his target is a terrible person… I just sent him a reply, and I'll arrange for him to meet you after school. I'll make sure to let you know about the details before then."

"All right. Thanks again, Mishima-kun."

"You're, uh… You're welcome, Kusakabe-san."

Chiyo ended the call, panting as though she had just run a marathon. She sent a text to Ann and Ryuji;

Chiyo: Hey, remember Nakanohara?
Chiyo: Mishima's arranging for us to speak with him.

Authors Note: I feel like I haven't update in weeks… Which I know isn't true. It's weird, I haven't even been that particularly busy lately either… Then again my home life has gotten kind of stressful lately.

I think the real tragic irony of Chiyo right now is that she recognizes that the way Madarame treats Yusuke isn't okay… but she's struggling to recognize and reconcile that the way Ryou treated her isn't okay either. She's able to recognize that as her mom, Ryou should have been on Chiyo's side during the arrest, so there's hope that she'll get there.