Literally: Pulcinella's secret
Meaning: something that's de iure a secret but de facto is not
Rough English equivalent: open secret

Tuesday, January 3rd, Evening.

"-but you must admit there is indisputable beauty to them."

"Um, are we still talking about lobsters, Yusuke-san?"

The three… actually, I think I can call them Thieves at this point, so the Thieves got off the subway train back in Shibuya.

"You know you don't have to go with us to the weapon store, Yoshizawa?" Goro pointed out, as they marched up the stairs and through the ticket gates. "Go home, get some rest, tomorrow's a big day."

"If you say so," Sumire smiled. "We're going to Maruki-san's Palace, right?"

"Yes. We'll meet in front of it in the real world at…" He paused and thought about it. "Let's say noon. Get a lot of rest."

"Got it. See you two tomorrow!" she said, and then she marched in a different direction, as Goro and Yusuke left the station building.

"Now that she's out of earshot," the artist spoke up, as they marched towards Untouchable, "what do you honestly think about Yoshizawa?"

"As I said, she's satisfactory in the Metaverse," the detective replied. "She's weaker than either of us, but not weak enough to be a liability. And interestingly enough, specializes in Physical and Gun attacks, with no elemental weaknesses or resistances."

"Hm." Yusuke thought about it for a moment. "She might synergize well with my Ice-based spells. Don't Physical attacks hurt frozen adversaries more?"

Goro pulled out a folded brochure and flipped to the relevant page. "Yes, they do. 40 percent extra damage."

"…where did you get that?"

"From the Velvet Room."

The two turned a corner. "I wasn't aware they offered publications on the theory of fighting Shadows."

"Assistance can take many forms, Mr Kitagawa."

"Oh." Yusuke realized that in front of him was a blue cell door with Lavenza standing by it. "Good evening," he bowed.

She bowed back. "Greetings. I assume that you're helping Mr Akechi on his journey."

"You assume correctly. Though I am not without questions."

"Could you please fill him in while I do the shopping?" Goro asked her. She nodded in confirmation and he turned to the artist. "Katanas and assault rifles, do I remember correctly?" he asked and got another nod.


"…and then, when I am content with the sketch," Yusuke continued, "I prepare the painting supplies - short-handled brushes, since I am operating on a minuscule canvas, and-"

The door to Untouchable opened and out came Goro, carrying a large plastic bag. "Sorry, I'm back. Did she answer all your questions?"

"Yes," Lavenza replied, "and we have moved on to small-talk about the technicalities of skill card copying."

"I'm sure it was very interesting." He handed over the bag to the artist. "Since you're inclined towards Japanese weaponry, the assault rifle is based on a Type 89."

Yusuke inspected its contents. "Oh, I must try these out before tomorrow. Can we stop by Mementos for a moment?"

The blue door opened with a creak as the assistant moved aside. "Pick a level."

"Middle Kaitul, maybe?" the detective suggested. "Let's keep it shallow, I spent all my SP healing Yoshizawa and I only have a few energy bars on me."

"You're the leader, it's your call."

Goro looked around to see if they're not watched, before gesturing at the artist to quickly go through the passage. "Yes, about that…" Their surroundings changed and the Metaverse outfits materialized on them, and they kept walking. "You were a Phantom Thief longer than I was, so I guess it's your title now."

"I am of higher seniority, true, but you're more experienced overall," Yusuke countered, as they marched one level deeper, to where some actual monsters were. "I might offer feedback during skirmishes," they jumped from the platform to the ground, "and changing hearts of specific people requires a unanimous vote, but other than that, I'm convinced at this point you can be a well-balanced leader given the chance."

Of all the things, the detective didn't expect a compliment. "Th-thank you."

The artist spotted a Shadow in the distance and unsheathed his katana. "Also, if you put me in charge of our pooled funds, I will spend them all on art supplies, so please don't do that." Without missing a beat, he broke into a noiseless sprint, quiet enough that the target realized it's under attack only when a blade bisected him.

The thing dissolved, then reformed into two Yaksini, dual-wielding purple-skinned demons. "Heads up, it's strong against Ice," the detective remarked.

"But we're not here to freeze them," Yusuke smiled, then pulled out his assault rifle and fired a burst at one, then the other, and just like that, the fight was over. "I love it. You've made the right choice, Crow."

"We'll see how it fares when dealing with actual threats," he replied, marching up to pick up the loot - some coins and a small bag of iron dust. "Can I… can I be a bit personal?"

"Yes."

He glanced at him. "By 'personal', I mean 'talk about things from my wetwork period'."

"And by 'yes', I mean 'yes'."

Goro took a breath to calm down. "What did Green's Shadow look like?"

Yusuke raised an eyebrow. "Green's?"

"The newbie's." Pause. "The codename was her idea, for the record."

"Well, her Shadow resembled her, but had the usual golden irises, her hair was let down, and she-"

"-wore glasses," Goro finished.

"Oh." Pause. "I take that you have encountered her in your, cough, solo explorations."

"She was actively seeking me out." To say Yusuke was surprised by that revelation would be like saying the Tokyo Bay is a bit moist. "As in, she wandered around the level, not bothered by other mooks, and followed me when she noticed me."

"But… why?" he blurted out. "To what end?"

"So we could binge Featherman together, obviously," he snarked. "'Are you not here to kill? Strike me down, Black Mask! Do the world a favour!'" Goro pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. "Goddammit, she sounded the exact same but I didn't add two and two together until you mentioned the Thieves stole her heart in November." He sighed. "But you had helped her, so she's stable now, right?"

"I believe so."

"Good," he sounded a bit reassured. Just a bit. "You've tested your armaments, so let's call it quits."

The two turned around and marched towards the safe point in awkward silence, before the detective spoke up: "If I may ask… what was her problem? What was the cause of the distortion?"

Yusuke thought about the answer for a moment before replying: "It was a personal tragedy and let's leave it at that. If she remained a stranger or a passing acquaintance, or if she was a danger to herself and others, I wouldn't be secretive, but she is none of those things at the moment." The two climbed back on the platform. "Let her speak of it on her own terms, and in her own time."

"Yes, that's reasonable," Goro replied, as they went up the stairs. "Maruki revealed my wetwork to her without asking for permission and… things escalated from there. She'll talk about it when she wants to, and if she wants to." He turned to the assistant waiting by her door. "Top floor please, Lavenza."

The artist smirked. "Hopefully she won't do that as a part of a homisuicidal last stand."

"Har de har har." The two walked through the door and found themselves near the entrance. "…seriously though, I appreciate having you around."

Yusuke's smile persisted. "Likewise." He pulled out his phone. "Now, we've established the time of tomorrow's infiltration, but I don't know the place yet."

"A construction site in Odaiba. There used to be a stadium there, apparently."


"Oh, you're back," Sojiro greeted Goro as he entered the cafe. Wakaba, for some reason, was sitting by the counter, and both of them looked concerned. "Sit down, we need to talk."

"Of course." He pulled up a chair and sat just a bit away from his 'foster parents'. "Is there a problem?"

"It's about Mona," the researcher explained. "He went out early in the morning and didn't return yet."

"Sounds par for the course for him, truth be told."

"He usually comes back during the day to eat or nap," the barista elaborated. In retrospect, Goro thought, he should've realized sooner that the guy was a disguised cat. "He didn't do that today, and he won't return our calls."

"I think we should call the police," Wakaba said.

Pah, as if they'll care, the detective thought. "I don't believe they will take it seriously, considering Mona's relatively young, healthy, and was missing only for a few hours," he said out loud. "Let's wait until tomorrow."

The barista turned to the researcher. "I told you the same thing." He put his hand on her shoulder. "Look, he probably lost track of time and partied too hard. I'm sure he'll come back tomorrow with an amusing anecdote or two, and then we'll chew him out for making us worry about him. But for now, calm down."

Wakaba sighed. "Fine, fine." She glanced at Goro and their eyes met. "If he comes in the night, please text us, okay?"

"O-of course, of course." He slid off the chair and marched past them, uncomfortable. "Now excuse me, I'm going to head to bed."


The host returned back to bed, a glass of water in hand. A cat was lying on the side of it, staring with his big blue eyes.

"Still awake?"

"Yeah."

"You know, worrying yourself sick won't untangle this mess." The glass was put on the nightstand by the bed. "Chill out."

"Easy for you to say," he muttered. "You are not a cat that was somehow a human before and now can't go back home because everyone will be like 'wait, why are you a cat now?'"

The host scratched him behind his ear. "Look, we'll go to Leblanc tomorrow and poke around. If we noticed something's off, maybe Futaba or Goro also did. And maybe they know how that happened."

"Yeah, and maybe Goro knows where the hell is Akira."

"Look, it is suspicious, but I don't think it's foul play. On his end, at least."

"Who's, then?"

"I don't know." The host shrugged, then laid down next to the cat - a silver lining to this whole mess as far as he was concerned. "There's lots of things we don't know and I don't wanna jump to conclusions now." She glanced at her phone. "If only because it's 4 A-freaking-M." She covered herself up with a duvet and gave the cat one last headpat. "For now, nightie night, Mona."