"We talk to Sakurai back at the school festival in Shujin, she was actin' like she just realized Mona could talk. But we already saw her drop a mega hit about it way earlier." said Ryuji.

XXXX

Flashback…

"Ooh, I know a place! I wanna go to that huge pancake-looking place we passed by on the way here!"

"Huh? Did I make a mistake? I thought I heard you Shujin students talk about delicious pancakes… Whoops, my bad… I did it again!"

Flashback ends…

XXXX

"Oh dear. Such a careless mistake you did in front of them a few months ago, "Junko Sakurai." thought Samson in amusement in his mind.

"Mona was the only one who was talkin' about a pancake… That meant Sakurai'd already been in the Metaverse by then!" said Ryuji with a scowling look on his face.

"And since she was lying to us about that, we assumed she had a hidden motive behind contacting us." said Ann.

"It seemed odd upon further thought. Her reaction to my pancake comment was an honest one, after all." said Morgana.

"We got very lucky. We were nearly fooled by her clumsy journalist act…" said Keiko.

"Yeah. I'm glad that you and your first new friends weren't fooled by her, Keiko-chan." said Goro softly to Keiko.

"She did approach us when we found ourselves in the worst trouble yet." said Morgana.

"That why we asked Futaba-chan to wiretap her phone. Well, to be more exact, Akechi-kun did help her out by letting her checked out and played with his phone first before she move on to checked out and played with Sakurai's phone." said Haru.

"I pretended to be interested in checking the phone out, but I was actually planting my app into Junko's phone. Big Sis boyfriend did help me out a little at first and my heart was pounding while I was doing it though." said Futaba.

"Even a hyper journalist could never have imagined a program being installed so quickly. Futaba's quirky nature proved to be a great help." said Yusuke.

"That was just an act! After a few days of listening, this confirmed her betrayal." Said Futaba as she take out her phone, find and press the voice recording app on it before she put the phone down for them to hear it.

"…Then, I'll guide the police into her Palace and have them catch the Phantom Thieves in the act. That would be the only way to arrest them, given their methods. I'll deal with them after that. Let me see…We could say she stole the guard's gun and committed suicide during her imprisonment… How about that? Public security questioning will occur on the first day…and with that room, my task will be simple." Said Junko's cold and confident voice from Futaba's phone.

"Is this for real…?" said Sojiro with a disbelief look on his face.

"Sure is from what Futaba showed and played for us to hear, Sakura-san." said Samson.

"Yes, the guard will be one of ours. We'll have to eliminate him after to prevent any witnesses and to destroy the evidence though…" said Junko's voice.

"So they planned to get rid of that guard from the beginning…" said Sae as she think back about the security guard standing outside the interrogation room.

"Well then, I will make the arrangements and inform our "allies" that it's time for them to take that Caelum wench into their custody since she's the new and current host of Lythalia the day after the arrest… and thus, the dangerous criminal responsible for the mass mental shutdowns shall end her own life. When she does, you will become a hero who saved Japan from evil. As will I, the brilliant journalist girl who uncovered the brutal truth of the Phantom Thieves way better than Ace Detective Goro Akechi, of course." said Junko's voice before Futaba turned off the voice recording app and put her phone back into her jacket pocket.

"I knew she was acting strangely, but to think she was this far gone…" said Sae.

"She's no brilliant journalist… Sakurai is the perpetrator behind the mental shutdown crimes." said Haru with a cold look on her face.

"On top of that, there's someone else commanding Sakurai… Someone with great authority… so great that they can order an assassination in a police station. That's why we had to make a move before they did." said Makoto as she, Keith and the others all glance and nodded at Sojiro.

"I see…" said Sojiro.

"We baited Sakurai into Sis's palace, making her dispose of our leader's fake but think she killed Keiko-chan with some help from Akechi-kun and you, of course." said Makoto as she glance at Sae now.

"Can you elaborate on that in more detail? What exactly happened in my cognitive world?" asked Sae curiously to Makoto.

"Well, you might not like what we're going to tell you, Sae-san." said Keith with a guilty look on his face.

"We're sorry for using you without your permission. Your palace had all the conditions we needed…" said Haru, looking guilty as well.

"What conditions?" said Sae with a confused look on her face.

"First, we required a place inside the cognitive world that was the same as in reality." said Makoto.

"That place's based on the real world, after all. Anywhere that's not warped looks just like normal." said Ryuji.

"That's why nobody but the person uses the Nav ever realises that they're in the Metaverse." said Ann.

"Back with Kamoshida, we came in from the station without even noticin', remember, Keiko babe?" said Ryuji as he glance at Keiko.

"Oh yeah… I remember Kamoshida and what he make us go through… We didn't know about it back then, but it was something else, Ryuji-kun." said Keiko as she nodded at Ryuji. "Plus Kamoshida is one of the most terrible person I've met and I'm glad that we change his heart, made him confess his crimes and put him in prison." thought Keiko in relief in her mind about what they did to Kamoshida.

"Please refrain from calling Keiko babe, Sakamoto-kun." said Goro slightly jealously at Ryuji.

"R-Right, I got it. Anyway, you totally can't tell the difference if there ain't any distortions around." said Ryuji.

"We had already investigated Niijima-san's Palace when Makoto brought this suggestion to us." said Yusuke.

"I was seriously impressed by that suggestion. To be honest, I didn't quite understand it, but I went along with it." said Morgana with an impressed look on his face at Makoto.

"Yeah, I agreed. It's a great idea from Makoto." said Keiko with a nod of her head.

"Yeah, it's good we have her heading up our operations, Madame Keiko." said Morgana as he glance and nodded back at Keiko.

"Makoto is normally so calm as well… but once her mind is set, she gets oddly impulsive." said Yusuke with an amused look on his face.

"Yeah. That's the part of you that I like and love about, Makoto." said Keith lovingly to Makoto (which make her blush a little).

"T-Thanks, Keith. Well, I did have a bit of trouble in finding out and knowing how Junko Sakurai does things and I also did have a bit of a rivalry forming with Akechi-kun but not anymore after Keiko-san trust and fell in love with Akechi-kun, who also trust and love Keiko-san back and soon I began to trust Akechi-kun too. But I just couldn't contain myself anymore when you become a target, Sis. The reason I joined the phantom thieves was to heal your heart, after all." said Makoto concernly to Sae.

"My own achievements were all that mattered to me… I was desperate. I wasn't myself at all. I'm sorry I couldn't see that." said Sae sadly and apologetically to Makoto.

"That goes for the both of us." said Makoto slightly happily to Sae.

"Such a beautiful sisterly love between the two Niijima women." thought Samson with a smile on his face.

"We heard from Mako-chan that you were going to do the interrogation, Niijima-san." said Haru.

"That's right and regarding it's location… I take it you used the data from my laptop?" said Sae slightly sternly to Makoto.

"I'm sorry." said Makoto apologetically to Sae.

"Niijima-san, please don't be mad and scolded her for doing it." said Keith calmly to Sae.

"… It's fine and go on." said Sae reassuringly to Keith before she told Makoto to resumed her explanation.

"There were two things we were able to confirm while we were checking the Metaverse. First, our clothes didn't change when we were down in the interrogation room. Second, the scenery and details outside of the Palace proper were the same as in the new world." said Makoto.

"Once we heard that from Makoto, we secretly went to check it out without Sakurai knowing and Akechi-kun already know and keep us posted to do the rest of the work like to have Junko close to him when they go to the police station." said Ann.

"There was also one more thing we absolutely needed to make this work… A perfect cognitive replica of Keiko-chan in the Metaverse interrogation room." said Makoto as she glance at Keiko.

"Since she had yet to be caught though, there obviously wouldn't be anyone in that room." said Yusuke.

"Once we see the casino guests and police officers, we were convinced this would work. They look no different from actual living people." said Makoto.

"Yeah. Sae-san's palace might be the only palace that has normal-looking replica of people in it." thought Keith in his mind.

"After that, we just had to work our way into the Palace like usual while keepin' Sakurai in the dark." said Ryuji.