Upon waking up the next morning, Near began describing his risky plan for confronting the phantom thieves to the team. "As I've told you all, I'd prefer to meet the phantom thieves alone. I believe they would trust me more if I came without the aid of the police by my side."

After listening to Near, everyone sat on their beds wondering how to process his words. Gevanni was the first to break the silence "Near, I understand you don't think that the phantom thieves are behind the mental shutdowns. That being said, they are still a dangerous group with an unknown power."

In response, Near said, "That's precisely why I don't want to show up with the police to make them even more anxious. The surveillance in the cafe can show you my interactions with them."

As he pointed to the hotel's TV screen that showed an empty attic room and a man cleaning behind the counter in the Leblanc cafe, he said

"If you're correct and things do indeed go south... We have it all here."

Near glanced at the clock and walked out "Remember everyone, the idea is to get them to trust me. So I ask once again that you don't interfere under any circumstances." With Near out of the hotel room, Gevanni said aloud to the rest of the team, "I sure hope he knows what he's doing."

Lidner replied, "Near can be a bit difficult sometimes, but he knows what he's doing."

After walking 20 minutes to his destination. Near spotted the suspect, Ren Amamiya, once he reached Shujin Academy's gates following the school's dismissal. Near quickly approached him. "Ren Amamiya, I would like to have a word with you if you don't mind."

The boy turned to see Near and nodded. When Near saw that he had his attention, he made one more request.

"In addition, I would appreciate it if you would bring your friends to the Leblanc cafe. I have some matters that I would like to address with you all."

Ren paused for a moment and nodded before heading for Shibuya Station.

Taking out his phone, Near called Gevanni. "I've successfully made contact with Amamiya. I'll be meeting with him and the rest of the thieves shortly." Gevanni replied, "Understood, we'll keep an eye on you." Near hung up and started his journey to Leblanc to meet the thieves.

As Near turned the corner to enter Leblanc he saw all of the suspects in question standing directly outside the front door. Makoto Niijima was the first to speak

"Before we go any further, may we ask exactly who you are and what you want with us?".

Near calmly responded, "I don't mind at all, my name is Near, however, I'm more commonly known as L."

The group looked in utter disbelief at Near's answer.

Yusuke muttered "L? As in the same detective L who caught Kira?"

In a calm manner, Makoto exhaled, "I see, my sister informed me that you had just arrived in town. I admit it's hard to believe you were able to locate our group this quickly though."

In a hesitant voice, Haru added, "We aren't the ones who killed my father."

Ryuji angrily said aloud "You can't arrest us, we're not the bad guys here damn it!".

Makoto calmly replied, "Don't worry everyone, I don't think he's here to arrest us. Look, he's by himself. If he wanted to arrest us, we would already have been surrounded."

Looking back at Near and the rest of the group, Makoto could still hardly believe it and wanted to gauge the situation a bit more.

"Sorry if we seem tense, but thanks to recent events... we're on edge thanks to the police. Do you mind if we talk inside?". Makoto asked

Near nodded and they made their way upstairs to the attic of Leblanc.

At the top of the stairs, Near began, "I completely understand your cautiousness, the police did come to your school today and interrogate everyone. As a side note, I can assure you that was not my doing. I admit I work apart from the Japanese police so you can rest assured they have no idea of your true identities."

Once in the attic, everyone found a seat so that they could hear what else Near had to say.

Near continued "I also don't believe you are the ones who murdered Okumura. I believe another party did that and is attempting to frame your group."

A smile spread over Ryuji's face. "Phew! That's a relief! So how can we help you catch the bastard who framed us?".

"Simple, first I'd like to know exactly how you all change hearts" Near replied.

The group looked around in confusion.

Ryuji spoke up, "Honestly I have a hard time explaining this. But I guess when we're starting something, we may as well start from the beginning. You wanna take a stab at it?" he said looking at Ren.

Ren nodded and began the tale of palaces, treasure, shadows, personas, and calling cards.

After Ren finished telling him, Near soaked in all of the information he had just been told.

"I see, so that's how you perform a change of heart. I honestly thought the calling card aspect was just for show but it appears it truly is necessary in order to materialize the treasure in someone's palace ."

Ryuji spoke up "Wow, you took all that in a lot better than any normal person would.".

Near replied, "Let's just say this isn't my first time dealing with the supernatural."

Near looked around the room and back to Ren. "With all that being said, I do believe we're missing a member. In your explanation, you said someone named Morgana was the one who taught you all about calling cards and personas, but there are only seven of you here."

"Oh!" Ann said aloud. "He's right there, he's sitting right next to your leg."

Near looked near his left foot to see a black cat looking up at him.

Makoto continued "We mentioned we transform in the metaverse, but even in a palace Morgana stays as a cat. We can all hear Morgana speak since we've been to the metaverse, but since you haven't, all you hear is a normal cat."

Near stared at Morgana some more and then back at the group.

"I see." Near replied.

"Wow you weren't kidding Ryuji, he accepted this way quicker than any of us did." Futaba said with an astonished look of surprise.

Near nodded to her. "Now that I know how a change of heart is performed I can try to look further into the culprit behind this."

As Near began to step out he stopped and turned to the group. "Oh and if you need to contact me-"

Near began to say until Futaba interrupted him. "Don't worry L, we can contact you and your team at your hotel."

Futaba calmly said as she smiled from behind her laptop."Sorry, but while Joker was explaining how to change a heart I couldn't help but find a wireless camera feed set up near us. I checked it out and I found that it heads back to a nearby hotel room." Futaba looked up directly into the camera lens and enthusiastically waved. "Hey everybody!".

Near looked towards the group "As Futaba so kindly pointed out, I admit we've had this place bugged since yesterday."

Yusuke stared at where Futaba had been looking "Ah yes, that is quite a wonderful angle to capture the beauty of this room."

"Leave it to inari to somehow make this even more uncomfortable." Futaba exhaustingly replied.

"With all that being said I'll take my leave, thank you for the information phantom thieves, I hope we can work together to catch the true culprit of this case," Near said as he began to walk down the stairs of the attic to leave Leblanc.

"Near before you go I have a question for you!" Ryuji said right as Near turned to go.

Near stopped before heading down and didnt turn around "Ask away."

"So, how exactly did Kira do all of that stuff? Could he use personas like us?"

Everyone groaned at the question.

Ann responded "Ryuji can you let him go in peace, please? He's probably sick of talking about Kira."

Near calmly replied "Kira did not, however similar to your powers he needed to fulfill a certain set of conditions before he could execute someone."

Makoto was the next to speak "I also have my own question."

Near continued to stay still as he waited to hear Makoto's question.

Makoto stared at Near to see his reaction "Do we have your word that you won't tell anyone in the police or any authorities about our identities?" everyone stared at Near intently to see his response.

"You have my word, as I told you earlier I'm working apart from them."

Near paused to see if anyone else had anything to say and finally headed out of Leblanc.

As Near left Yusuke spoke "Makoto why did you ask him that question, I thought it was clear he was on our side."

Makoto replied "It's not him I'm worried about. He didn't just say he's not going to inform the police, he said he doesnt work with them in general. Which can only mean one thing. He must suspect the real culprit is either working with the Japanese police or even worse, inside the Japanese police themselves. L thought it was safer to confront us alone then reveal our identities to the police."

Makoto stared at the floor, even worse this news could mean... sis could be in real danger from whoever is the one behind mental shutdowns.