Several hours later, in Yongen-Jaya…
"Alright, we're in Yongen-Jaya now and how's Keiko Amamiya, Akechi-kun?" asked Sae as she briefly turned her head to glance concernly at the exhausted and injured form of Keiko in Goro's arms while she's driving.
"She's still exhausted and injured badly due to what those older detectives did to her and what Sakurai nearly did to her, what do you think, Sae-san?" snapped Goro as he glared at Sae.
"Hey, enough with that attitude of yours, Akechi-kun! You should be glad and grateful that I took the trouble to bring you and Amamiya-san straight here from the police station in secret…" said Sae as she glared back at Goro.
"I'm exhausted and Sae-san arguing with Goro is making me feel a bit worse… and it feels like my consciousness is fading away…" thought Keiko tiredly in her mind.
"Hey, Keiko…" said Goro worriedly to Keiko.
"…Hey, are you alright? Akechi-kun, try to keep her awake and conscious until we reach our destination." said Sae.
"Yeah, I know. Hey, can you hear me, Keiko?" said Goro concernly to Keiko.
"Goro… Sae-san… Could this be the effect of the drug wearing off? More of the memories I thought were gone are starting to come back into my mind…" thought Keiko as she starts to remember even more of her missing memories.
XXXX
Flashback…
"… Are you listening, Keiko?" said Makoto as she glance at Keiko.
"Yes, I'm listening." said Keiko as she nodded at Makoto.
"Good because we need to talk about how to get ourselves out of this grim situation." said Morgana.
"Right. Futaba's monitoring of Sakurai's phone has finally confirmed it… She did indeed have an ulterior motive." said Makoto.
"Yeah, and luckily she doesn't know about me spying on her and her "allies" yet, everyone." said Goro reassuringly to them.
"Yeah, at least for now, Akechi-san." said Aglaia with a relief look on her face.
"It's on a completely different level than just that." said Ryuji.
"Not only was she trying to frame us, but she and possibly those "allies" of her are the true culprits behind not just the mental shutdowns but also the psychotic breakdowns… and her being "Junko Sakurai", a journalist who's taking pictures and seeking and publishing truths into newspapers is nothing more than a big farce to cover and hide who she truly is thanks to the reports that Goro found and showed to Keiko, Mallory and Morgana who showed the reports to us after they've seen and read it. Her offer to assist us was simply a ploy to frame the Phantom Thieves… and kill off Keiko. If we go into Sis's Palace as she suggests, we'll likely be met by a large ambush of police forces." said Makoto grimly to them.
"To think Junko Sakurai… no, whoever she is would be this far gone… I know now what it means to feel a chill down my spine. Furthermore, she wishes to bring a police squad from reality straight into the Palace…" said Yusuke with a cold look on his face.
"Just how is it possible for her to do it?" said Keith with a confused look on his face.
"If the 14 of us can enter at once, it's not inconceivable to think a much larger group is possible. She may even be able to bring in vehicles or other special pieces of equipment at best or her "allies" at worse because Futaba also found out that her "allies" is targeting and wanting to capture and have Mallory in their custody for some unknown reason." said Makoto as she, Keiko and the others all glance at Mallory.
"Whatever their reason is for targeting and capturing Maly, I won't… I mean, we won't let them just take her like that." said Akira as he raised and put and closed his left hand reassuringly over Mallory's right hand.
"Akira…" said Mallory as she glance and smiled affectionately at Akira.
"That's terrible and how nice for you to hear and know that Akira-kun cared about you that much, Maly." thought Keiko worriedly in her mind at "Junko" plan for them then happily at both Mallory and Akira.
"So this really was just a huge setup to shift the blame onto us…" said Ann with a worry look on her face.
"Since we saw "Junko" reveal herself as "Witch", she made us go after Okumura, then once we triggered the change of heart, she killed him…" said Morgana with an angry look on his face.
"And she even told us that she had seen the true culprit… but it was her and her "allies" creating a fake illusion enemy just to mess with us and make us think that it's not them the entire time!" snapped Haru, angry as well.
"Yeah, we know and calm down, Haru." said Jason as he raised and put his right arm around Haru's shoulders to pull her in for a hug to calm her down.
"The whole time she was workin' with Akechi and Makoto's older sister as a fake journalist, she was really just some cold-hearted, homicidal maniac! C'mon, we gotta take that homicidal bitch Junko down! Isn't that recording that Futaba monitored from her phone enough proof to do it!?" said Ryuji with an angry look on his face.
"No, Sakurai is merely a tool. Her orders come from elsewhere… The grand mastermind behind this all. An unimaginable fiend that's as bad as her "allies" and capable of arranging the murder of a suspect inside of a police station…" said Makoto with a troubled look on her face.
"Unless we find out who that is, we will continue being targeted even if we defeat Sakurai… This might put our lives and Akechi's…" said Yusuke.
"But… What means do we have of learning her identity?" said Haru with a sad look on her face.
"I'm sure we'll find a way, Haru." said Jason.
"We'll have to make Sakurai say it… though once we do, that mastermind or her "allies" will likely eliminate us." said Yusuke with a worry look on his face.
"No…" gasp Aglaia with a fearful look on her face.
"I think that will be the case eventually regardless of whether or not we learn her true identity. The only reason it hasn't happened yet is because we're an easy target to blame for her crimes. If she, her "allies" and her mastermind realizes that's no longer possible and abandons the plan, she may opt to kill us immediately but keep Mallory alive for her "allies"." said Makoto.
"Dammit… So we don't got a choice but to go with that bitch's suggestion…" sighed Ryuji with a frustrated look on his face.
"But if we go into the Palace like we're told, Keiko will get arrested and then murdered by Junko while letting her "allies" captured and took custody of Mallory without any care for how Goro and Akira will feel in losing their beloved girlfriends…" said Ann as she and the others glance sadly and worriedly at both Keiko and Mallory.
"Palace… The Palace…" mumbled Futaba.
"… Actually, there's something I'd like to say regarding-" said Makoto before she got cut off by Futaba.
"Aha! We can use the Palace to our advantage!" said Futaba suddenly and excitedly to them (which surprised them).
"What? We can… how!?" said Keiko.
"Wh-What's this all of a sudden!?" said Ann.
"Yeah. What do you mean by that?" said Goro.
"There's a way… A way to get past Sakurai AND get the mastermind to lay off of us, all while learning her true identity." said Futaba confidently to them.
"Really!?" said Haru as she widened her eyes in surprise at Futaba.
"You gotta be kidding me!" said Ryuji.
"I see, how clever of you but what about Maly? You didn't mention on how she'll be able to avoid being captured by her "allies"…" said Keiko concernly to Futaba about Mallory.
"Unfortunate, I got nothing about her problem so… Anyway, if she wants to kill Big Sis Keiko, why not let her? That is, inside of a Palace…" suggested Futaba while also giving Mallory a sad and resigned look.
"I see. So it's an unavoidable fate for me, huh?" said Mallory with a sad smile on her face.
"Maly, don't say and be like that. I'm sure you'll be fine…" said Keiko reassuringly to Mallory.
"It's fine, Keiko. Worry more about yourself now." said Mallory as she smiled and patted Keiko's shoulder.
"Yes, we could have her kill the cognitive Keiko, all the while believing she killed the real one." said Makoto as she nodded at Futaba.
"Yeah, that's it!" said Futaba, nodding back at Makoto.
"It seems that's our only option. Listen close, everyone. I have a plan for how we can carry this operation out…" said Makoto as she began telling all of them of her plan while both Keiko and Akira glance sadly and worriedly at Mallory.
Flashback ends….
XXXX
Inside Leblanc…
"… Ever since the death of their teenage leader, the Phantom Thieves have fallen silent. However, the police intend on continuing this investigation until the case is fully solved." said the male newscaster on the TV standing on top of a wooden shelf inside the café with Sojiro watching the news with a worry look on his face while the short grey-haired, grey-eyed guy named Samson Sagan that help Akira earlier before bringing him straight to Doctor Takemi (a fair-skinned, short dark blue-haired, light magenta-eyed goth woman wearing a sleeveless and simple-looking, knee-length dark green dress with a long sleeve white labcoat over it and black high heels on her feet) and ask her to help Akira before paying her for it is currently sitting on one of the wooden stools as he sipped and enjoy a cup of black coffee.
"Keiko…" thought Sojiro worriedly in his mind at Keiko.
"More bad luck for the Phantom Thieves after the death of their leader, huh? Don't worry, I'm sure your young charge is completely fine and is on her way home right about now, Sojiro." said Samson casually and reassuringly to Sojiro.
"How can you say that about them and how would you know about whether my charge is fine or not…" snapped Sojiro as he glared at Samson (who smile calmly at him) before he got cut off by the sound of the door opening with the small bell chiming softly on the top of the door and he and Samson turned to look and saw a worry-looking Goro coming swiftly into the café while holding an unconscious, exhausted and injured-looking Keiko in a bridal-style carry in his arms with Sae (who's looking as worry as Goro) coming into the cafe behind them.
"Well, seems like Sojiro's right about the poor condition of his young charge but at least she's still alive after the ordeal she gone through…" thought Samson in his mind as he kept on looking at Keiko, Goro and Sae.
"Keiko…? She's alive!? But how, didn't the news on TV say that she's dead…" said Sojiro as he glance back and forth at Keiko in Goro's arms and at the news on TV.
"We'll explain everything once the others are all here, Sojiro-san. Right now I need to bring her up to her attic room to help patch some of the bruises on her body." said Goro concernly and slightly impatiently to Sojiro before he walked past Samson (and giving him a suspicious look), went up the stairs and into Keiko and Mallory's room, gently put Keiko down on her futon before he grab and bring over the first-aid kit box, open it and take out an ointment bottle and some cotton balls and bandages. "Please be alright and I hope that this ointment will help with lessening the bruises on you, Keiko." thought Goro concernly in his mind for Keiko as he soaked the ointment on the cotton ball and use it to rub the bruises on Keiko's face and on her arms and after he's done in rubbing the ointment on the bruises on Keiko's face and arms, he then proceed to wrap the bandages on some of the biggest and worse-looking bruises gently yet securely and which make Keiko regained her conscious and woke up.
"Ugh…" groaned Keiko with a pained look on her face.
"Oh, you're awake, Keiko! Thank goodness and take it easy…" said Goro in joy and relief at seeing Keiko woke up before he gently helped her get up into a sitting position.
"Hey and yeah, I know and did we managed to fool Junko with our plan and where are we now, Goro?" asked Keiko weakly to Goro.
"We're in Leblanc now, where it's safe for us for now and yeah, we did managed to fool her completely, Keiko." replied Goro reassuringly and happily to Keiko. "And also Sagan-san is here in Leblanc too, Keiko." added Goro suspiciously to Keiko about Samson.
"That's good to know for us and Sae-san but before you and Sae-san come to help me and before Junko "killed" me in that room, she told me that I'll lose Maly to those "Old Ones" allies of hers… Please tell me that Maly's fine and those "Old Ones" haven't get their hands on her and that her boyfriend Akira-kun is alright too and Samson-san is here?" said Keiko anxiously and worriedly to Goro about Mallory being caught and in the clutches of the "Old Ones" and about the well-being of Akira and about Samson in Leblanc.
"She did, huh? I'm sorry to say that I haven't see Caelum-san yet and I don't know whether she's lying just to rattled you up even more or she's telling the truth and Caelum-san's already…" said Goro unsurely to Keiko.
"I don't think Junko's lying because I don't see or sense any deceit on her face and from her way of talking and body language, which means that Maly's really… No, NOOOOO! Maly!" screamed Keiko in sorrow and despair for Mallory before she burst into tears and covered her face with her hands.
"Keiko! Please don't cry and calm down! Assuming that "Junko Sakurai" is telling you the truth and that her "allies" got their hands on Caelum-san, I'm sure she's still alive and hanging in there and waiting for you and Kurusu-kun and us to rescue and take her back from them! Please believe that and don't cry anymore and our friends are waiting downstairs for us, Keiko." said Goro sadly to Keiko as he swiftly wrapped his arms around Keiko to hug and console her.
"… Goro's right. I've to believe his words about Maly still alive and hanging in there and waiting for us to find and rescue her from the "Old Ones". Right now is no time for me to be crying and Goro and I need to see and talk with our friends about what we'll do next." thought Keiko in agreement in her mind with what Goro just said to her before she calm herself down, wipe her tears away with a white cloth before she slowly stood up from her futon with some help from Goro before they went downstairs to meet and talk with their friends, Sojiro, Sae and Samson.