Begin!
~Normal POV
Amazingly enough, they still had time left in the day after returning to the camper. They needed to discuss this lead right away. Ango Natsume may very well be the man they were looking for, and every precaution needed to be taken to ensure they were right about it first. According to Sophia, the Jail seemed to encompass much of the city, making this quite a larger operation than Alice's.
"I just did a search on Ango Natsume…" Futaba said, looking at her laptop. "It says he's the grandson of a renowned Japanese author, Sogo Natsume. Currently, he's a successful light novel author. He kicked off his career with his debut work Prince of Nightmares, which won the grand prize in the Soukaisha Awards. It's selling stupidly well. It sold a million copies alone."
"A million!?" Ann gasped.
"And that's taking into account that we know people are buying them in bulk." Akira said, dryly. "I know book fandoms can get crazy, don't get me wrong, but that's abnormal behavior even for them. I'd say knowing that detail, it doesn't sound like it qualifies as a best seller."
"That's true, debuts almost never hit numbers like that, even really good ones," Futaba agreed. "It's highly suspect…"
"I checked social media, and this whole thing is kinda bizarre…" Makoto added.
"Speaking from experience, I can tell you that in my 17 years on this earth, much of which has been spent in several different book fandoms myself, nothing you're about to say will surprise me," Akira replied, crossing his arms expectantly.
"There's a rumor that some people got beat within an inch of their lives just because they were sorta dressed like Natsume's characters," Futaba said.
"...Ok, that one's new…" Akira said, quietly.
"That's right," Makoto said, "And the worst part is, no one stepped in to stop them. In fact, the attackers were praised for what they did."
"These are likely the same kinds of people who defiled Masamune's statue with flyers," Yusuke remarked, disdainfully. "They clearly lack self-restraint."
"It looks like there's about 100 threads created about this dude every day…" Futaba said, "They're all positive, too. Not only that, but all these IP addresses are from Sendai."
"So, he's definitely our guy then," Ryuji asked.
"I'm getting pretty convinced but we need more proof first," Akira said, thoughtfully. "Maybe we could pick up a copy of his book and see what it's like. For all we know, he could actually be good at his craft. I'm sure it won't be hard to find. Tomorrow we'll go into town and see what we can learn. But remember, we're guests in this city, try not to draw attention to yourselves."
"What about Hasegawa?" Makoto asked. "If we find that Natsume is indeed our Monarch, then it might be best to contact him about the change of heart cases here."
Akira sighed in resignation. "Let's get our proof first. It's not like he needs to be involved for us to do our job. Anyway, let's get ready for bed and worry about it in the morning."
~...
Ann and Futaba went off to the nearest bathhouse to their campsite. After soaking together for a while, they went back to the locker rooms to change.
"Makoto missed out…" Ann said, fussing with her hair. "Why didn't she come with us?"
"She's helping Akira give Morgana his bath," Futaba answered.
"Oh, yeah, that's a two person job for sure. Where'd Haru go?"
Futaba giggled evilly. "I saw her drag Ryuji off somewhere to take advantage of the romantic mood-lighting before bed. She probably also wanted to thank him for standing up to Natsume for her."
"Ah. Say no more. I get it."
"You and Akira are the same way, aren't ya?"
Ann looked back at her indignantly. "What I do with my boyfriend is my business. Is that a problem?"
"Nah." Futaba said, cleaning her glasses after she finished getting dressed. "I'm just messing with you. I distinctly recall on the night we took Alice's heart, Mona showed up at my window saying Akira kicked him out… He only does that when you come over…"
"It was our anniversary!" Ann replied, blushing. "We wanted to spend alone time together, and we were kinda busy all day, so that was our only chance!"
"Aww, did you have a good night?"
"Shut it, ya little perv, I'm not answering that question!"
"I'm just making sure our leader's treating you right. As if he ever wouldn't… Mona took it well enough, though."
"Yeah, he's gotten a lot more comfortable with me and Akira being together. He's really matured-"
Futaba's phone went off with a message. "Oh, sorry one sec." She checked the message and cursed, "Ugh, damn it…"
Ann finished fixing her hair and gave her friend a concerned look. "What's wrong?"
Futaba squeaked, her cheeks turning pink, "Uh, nothing! Nothing at all!"
Futaba was not a great liar. Nor was she good at being subtle. At least outside of discreet hacking, subtly was not her strong suit.
"It doesn't sound like nothing," Ann said, slyly. "You can tell me; I can keep a secret."
Futaba pushed up her glasses and looked around sheepishly to ensure they were alone here. She knew Ann was true to her word. She trusted her friend, so maybe telling her this wouldn't turn out too badly.
"P-Promise you won't tell Sojiro…" She asked, softly.
"I won't." Ann said. Just from those words alone, she had a suspicion as to what the issue might be, but she'd rather hear it directly before making any guesses. "So, what's going on?"
Futaba took a deep breath and quickly unloaded the answer, speaking in a very panicked manner, as if she had to tell someone or she'd explode. "Ok, so recently I decided to start going to game tournaments, right? And there was this one that happened just over a month ago. It was being held after school that day so I was still in my uniform, and my friend Kana went with me- ya know for moral support. And anyway, long story short- I kinda… met someone there…" She finished, her face now bright red behind her glasses.
Ann gaped at her. "Oh… that's why you got so touchy about Sojiro telling us to protect you from guys… Well, what happened?"
"Nothing! Y-Yet, at least…" Futaba answered, fidgeting uncomfortably with her fingers. "He approached me because he recognized me from school. It turns out he's in my homeroom, but I never noticed because he doesn't sit near me… And ya know, I don't talk to my classmates, and they don't really talk to me… Um, he wanted to compliment me on how good I was in the match. So… we ended up sharing numbers and chat IDs so we can practice online together. And that's what the message I just got was. I forgot to tell him I'm on this trip with you guys, so he was wondering why I was AFK. I was upset cause I won't have time to chat with him while we're on the job…"
Ann smiled. "Aw, that's cute! What does he look like?"
Futaba searched her phone for a moment before showing her a picture of her, Kana, and her guy friend. He was a nice looking guy, had messy dark hair and green eyes covered by a pair of glasses; his features were sharp. (Having seen the anime posters Futaba keeps up in her room, it wasn't hard to see what attracted her about him; she liked her men tall and dorky.) "His name is Kazuo Haruka; I swear he's a really nice guy… But…"
"But you haven't told Boss about him yet, huh?" Ann said, conclusively.
Futaba groaned. "What am I supposed to say? He gets so touchy about the mere idea of guys getting close to me. One time, he even kicked a customer out for hitting on me while I was serving him. I… just don't want him to freak out and ban me from seeing Kazuo anymore… It's not like we're actually dating yet, but ya know…"
Ann nodded in understanding. "That is a scary thought." She gave her friend a comforting hug. "Boss cares about you, but he also knows that you're not a little girl anymore, even if he doesn't want to admit it. You're 16 now; you're totally old enough to start dating! Plus, Sojiro has nothing to worry about. Because… if this guy were to try anything stupid on you, he'd be too busy having to deal with a gang of very pissed off Phantom Thieves, who wouldn't let anything happen to their little navigator."
This made Futaba smile again. "I guess I do have a gang of bodyguards to back me up…"
"And you always will. So, when you're ready, I'd recommend telling Boss. When he gets upset, just remind him that you got us looking out for you."
Futaba felt her nerves ease from the words. She rather saw Ann like a sister-in-law; and seemed happy to get this info off her chest. "Um… don't tell the guys either… I'm not sure how they'll react."
"Your secret is safe with me." Ann then giggled. "I can hear it now. When you do eventually have to tell them, they'll probably go right up to him and ask 'Did you touch our little sister!'"
Futaba broke down in a fit of giggles. "You're really bad at doing Akira's voice!"
"It was worth a try! Come on, we got an early day tomorrow; let's head back to camp."
~...
8/1 - Tuesday
Immediately after they woke up, the gang split up to search the local shops for information. The situation appeared very similar to Alice. People were spending unusual amounts of money on the book and all merch related to it. But the most useful thing they'd learned was that Natsume would be doing a book signing at a department store today. This was a perfect chance to get closer to him without raising suspicion. The store was already crowded with adoring fans when they arrived. And their "target" was seated at a table, signing books leisurely for anyone who approached. He seemed to favor the women in the crowd, but didn't explicitly turn away any male fans.
"Sheesh, that smug bastard is being promoted all over the place…" Ryuji grumbled. "I feel like I'm going insane…"
"That's quite the crowd for a book signing…" Makoto commented.
"Ugh… there's so many people… I think I'm gonna throw up…" Futaba whined, shaking with nerves.
Akira patted her shoulder comfortingly. "It's alright, we're here for you."
They overheard two women in the crowd talking to Natsume at his table. One apparently bought 50 copies of his book, and the other tried to show her up by buying 100. Natsume was flattered by the support saying he wanted his work to reach as many people as possible. Some other gossipy fans talked about how he was allegedly writing for a sick girl in a hospital to give her strength. That didn't sound accurate to his character that they'd seen so far. Once the signing was over and the crowd left, they stayed in the store to deliberate on this. (For some reason Yusuke momentarily disappeared from the group.)
"I expected as much, but he is very popular," Haru said.
"Do you think that bit about the girl in the hospital is for real?" Ann asked.
"Dude didn't seem the type," Ryuji answered.
Yusuke returned to the group at this point; reading through a book silently.
"He didn't say anything about a keyword either," Morgana pointed out.
"Either he's not our Monarch, or he's being careful after the news about Alice," Haru said.
"If he is the Monarch then maybe everyone here has already had their heart changed…" Makoto said, worriedly.
"Unlikely." Akira replied. "I heard a couple people saying they think he's just a fad, and that there are other authors out there."
"Hey, Inari, what are you reading," Futaba asked.
Yusuke looked up from the book. "Ah, sorry. I went ahead and purchased Prince of Nightmares. It's the only way to check whether the content is truly deserving of the praise."
"Good call." Akira said, "How is it?"
Yusuke furrowed his brow in thought. "I'm not terribly well versed in the literary arts, myself. I think you would be better qualified to judge, but I shall put it in the best terms I can. For any creative work, one should be able to feel some sense of its creator's passion. No matter how crude, or unrefined the work may be, there should always be a sort of spark present to those engaging with it. Simply put, I feel nothing from reading this book. The sentences are formed well enough, but what's there is shockingly hollow. It's as if these words have been taken from someone else and given the most bare-minimum coat of paint possible…"
As he spoke, Futaba took a glance at the open pages in his hand. "Oh wow, this line here is lifted from an anime from two years ago. The words got changed a bit, but it's definitely it. Sneaky. I think I've seen this one before too. And this one! Sheesh, this one too! Is this whole book just a bunch of stuff he ripped off and strung together? If the original writers or their fans ever saw this, there'd be a freaking riot online…"
"We did hear that some writer deleted all her social media accounts because she kept getting ignored about someone stealing her work…" Akira said.
Yusuke put the book away in his pocket. "Perhaps this is the cause. I can't possibly fathom how such a fraudulent piece of work garnered this much praise. That is, unless the fans had their Desires stolen."
"I'm thinking we gotta accept it at this point, which means we have to get that keyword somehow," Akira said. "Makoto, get in touch with inspector pain in the ass and tell him to get here as soon as possible. Until then, we wait."
Everyone else started walking ahead to leave the store. "Akira…?" Yusuke said, quietly; making the two of them stay behind.
"What's up?"
"May I ask your opinion on something? You are better suited to answer such a question than me, but why do you think Natsume wrote this novel?"
Akira thought for a moment. That was an out of nowhere question. "Well… the authors I like wrote because they enjoyed telling the stories they crafted. Sorry, a lot of my favorite authors are long dead, but the passion is always there for everyone who picks up their works. But Natsume… he doesn't seem like that. He appears to be focused more on fame."
"Hm…" Yusuke said, thoughtfully. "No… somehow I don't believe that's the case. No matter how much praise your work receives, if it was built on the backs of others… then you cannot truly call that praise your own… Those compliments will surely ring empty. Anyone in the arts should know this."
"Feeling a little relatable, huh?" Akira said, gently.
"I'm afraid I must admit… yes." Yusuke answered, softly. "That is why I don't understand. What was he thinking when he wrote this novel?"
Akira shrugged. "I couldn't say. We might find our answer in the Jail, though." The two started to follow the others outside. "Remember, if you ever need to talk, I'm here, man."
Yusuke smiled a bit from his concern. "Of course… Theo."
~...
Most of the day was spent sightseeing around Sendai while waiting for Zenkichi to arrive. He didn't show up until the evening. Once he met up with them at their campsite, they brought him into the car to explain the situation in more detail.
"Pretty nice ride you got here," The inspector commented, admiring the camper's interior. "I gotta say I didn't expect Sendai to be on the agenda. How'd you know there was a Jail here?"
"I smelled it." Sophia said, simply. (It occurred to them that they still hadn't explained to Zenkichi what exactly she was, but it didn't matter at the moment. He seemed unbothered by her voice sounding from Akira's phone.)
Zenkichi showed visible confusion from that statement, but Makoto changed the subject. "Don't worry about it. What have you learned so far?" She asked.
"Ah, right. Ango Natsume; he's suspicious alright. His book's been selling like crazy, but only here in Sendai." Zenkichi answered. "Most of the other stuff I've heard lines up with what you've told me. I did some asking around on my way to the park and this is what I found. Everyone in Natsume's fanclub becomes friends with him through EMMA. And once that happens, they start buying his book any and every chance they get. Some go into debt because of it."
"I'm calling that proof if I've ever seen it." Akira said, bluntly. "But that leaves the problem of getting the keyword so we can do our job…"
Zenkichi smirked proudly. "That's where I come in. You'd better thank me for this later, Kurusu-"
"Stop stroking your inflated ego and get on with it," Akira interrupted.
"Natsume is holding a party in town tonight, in celebration of Prince of Nightmares passing over a million in sales. And…" Zenkichi pulled a pile of papers out of his pocket and tossed them onto the table. "Oh, look at that, I just happen to have enough invitations for all of you! How considerate of me."
"So… we're crashing a party," Ann said, quizzically.
"Sounds fun as hell." Ryuji commented. "Don't ya think, Akira?"
Akira was busy looking through the papers suspiciously. "...Where the hell did you get these on such short notice?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Zenkichi replied, chuckling. "Better to keep you in the dark. But let's just say I know a guy. So… What do you think? Glad we struck a deal now?"
"You got lucky… twice." Akira said, firmly. "But keep up the good work. Appears you do have your uses after all, inspector." He then passed around the invites.
"Yeah, nice job, gramps!" Futaba said, brightly.
Zenkichi sighed. "You can call me by name, ya know…"
"Don't take it so hard, gramps," Sophia added. This only made Zenkichi more exasperated.
~...
Despite the formal nature of the party, casual attire was permitted. At least they didn't have to worry about getting dressed up. (That would have been more of a pain since none of them had appropriate attire for such a cause.) Upon arriving, they noticed the party was surprisingly less crowded than Natsume's other venues. Currently, their target was on a stage giving a welcoming speech to his guests. They chose to stand far from the stage; he was likely to recognize Haru and Ryuji otherwise…
"Thank you all very much for coming today." Ango said, proudly. "This is just a small token of my appreciation. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy yourselves."
He left the stage and went to converse with the guests. The gang discreetly followed him to eavesdrop. One particular conversation seemed very promising. Natsume was talking to two men, one of which they overheard was his editor.
"Congratulations, Mr. Natsume, truly," The editor said.
"It's all thanks to everyone working so hard to push sales. All I did was write." Ango replied, sipping his drink modestly.
"It really is impressive how well you've done, considering the amount of competition there is these days," The other man with them commented. "I know we tried to promote you early on as the grandson of Sogo Natsume, but I never would have expected you to perform this well."
"The praise you've received is entirely due to your talent, Mr. Natsume." The editor added. "You're a shining star to readers and authors alike."
This comment made Akira roll his eyes. It wasn't fun listening to more people stroking this bastard's ego. Hopefully Natsume will slip out his keyword soon…
"My talent, you say?" Ango said, chuckling lightly. "Well now, I wouldn't go so far as to say that… The words on the page matter little. If something is worth talking about, the people will always flock to it. From there, all one needs to do is craft a little story into it and viola! For example, take that origin story of how I started writing because of some poor girl in the hospital…"
"Is that story true," One man asked.
Ango laughed again. "I'm afraid that's my little secret." This response, however, told them the answer quite openly. "Truth, fiction… Does anyone really care?"
This was starting to look like a lost cause. Natsume wasn't yielding his keyword to anyone here. Perhaps it was best to leave and try a different approach-
"You might recall Ichiryusai Madarame's confession on tv not too long ago. Surely, you remember." Ango continued, smiling in a carefree way.
Yusuke snapped his full attention to the conversation; quietly muttering about how the bastard should choose his next words carefully…
"His signature piece…" Ango kept going. "What was the name of it again?"
"Do you mean the Sayuri?" His editor asked.
"Ah, yes that's it. The Sayuri. That piece was certainly lauded as the pinnacle of beauty at the time." Ango said, "...But if you ask me, the only place it belongs now is the trash."
The gang had to hold back crying out in shock. "That dick…!" Ryuji muttered angrily.
"The trash?! How rude!" Haru said, quietly.
"He has no idea what was put into that painting…" Ann said, "Who does he think he is?!"
Yusuke had remained remarkably quiet, but there was a Hellfire in his eyes. He was usually very emotionally composed, and only truly snapped under extreme circumstances. Such as when he awakened to his Persona, Goemon. Or when he gave a certain hitman a thorough tongue-lashing for having the gall to insult Futaba, after she merely tried to reason with him like a human being. Yusuke wasn't often one to lose his cool. But in this instance, if he was about to, Akira would still say it was justified.
"Yusuke…" Akira said, warningly.
"I'm… alright." Yusuke replied, in a strained voice. "But please, allow me to handle this one. I promise I'll get the keyword from him."
"I think you just earned it… Be careful." Akira said, with concern. Yusuke merely nodded in response and left the group.
"Oh, this is gonna be good…" Futaba mumbled.
The gang watched as Yusuke approached Natsume calmly. "Pardon me for interrupting." He said, getting the author's attention. "I happen to be a big fan of yours, Natsume-san."
"Who are you?" The editor asked.
"Forgive me, I was hoping I might trouble you for an autograph…" Yusuke lied; with a convincing smile.
"Mr. Natsume is a busy man; you can trouble him later-"
"Come now, I'm sure one autograph won't hurt!" Ango said, cheerfully.
"Ah, you mean it? My thanks, Natsume-san! You're too kind!" Yusuke replied. He pulled out his purchased copy of Prince of Nightmares and allowed him to sign the inside cover. "To receive an autograph from the great Ango Natsume himself… This honor is truly more than I deserve."
"Nonsense!" Ango said, "Don't sell yourself short. It's readers like you who allow authors like me to keep writing." He finished smiling proudly.
"I see." Yusuke said, "That's a wonderful way to look at it. Oh right, do you by any chance use EMMA, Natsume-san?"
"Of course! With how convenient she is, how could I not?"
"If you don't mind, could you please add me to your friends list," Yusuke asked, in a fake sheepish tone. "It would be a privilege to be closer to one I respect so greatly…"
"Not at all," Ango answered," My fans and readers mean the world to me. The keyword is Prince of Nightmares."
Yusuke smiled gratefully. "Thank you very much. Expect a friend request from me sometime soon." He then dropped the smile and continued in a stiff tone. "Now there is one more thing… I overheard you and your entourage mention the Sayuri earlier… If I'm not mistaken you said it should be thrown out with the trash, as though it were some cheap attempt."
Ango chuckled. "Ah, so you heard that, did you? Is that what I said? Well, I take it someone of your taste agrees with me? In the end, that painting only held value because of whose name was attached to it. Madarame had-"
"The Sayuri was painted by my mother." Yusuke interrupted, firmly.
Ango completely froze up and silenced himself, staring at Yusuke in genuine shock.
"This may be unprofessional of me, but professionalism be damned…" Yusuke continued, glaring at the man now with pure disgust. "My mother painted the Sayuri at the cost of her own life. It was her final masterpiece. That painting was crafted with a love that simply cannot be found anywhere else. Don't you dare lump it in with that soulless drivel you cobbled together from authors far more talented than you!"
Ango continued staring, frozen in silence; while his editor tried to retort on his behalf. "Hey, you can't-!"
"I merely spoke the truth." Yusuke said, bluntly. "Now, if you'll excuse me…"
He returned to his friends. Seeing that they had what they came for, they left the party before anyone could try to stop them. As they did, they heard Ango speak again in a strained voice.
"Soulless drivel?! That little bastard… What the hell does he know!?"
~...
Once they were outside, Yusuke spoke again, in a quiet voice. "My apologies… I couldn't hold myself back… I suppose I still have much to learn…"
"Dude, the man insulted your mother," Ryuji said, simply. "I'm surprised you didn't say more! If somebody insults my mother, I can talk back for days…"
"Yeah, Yusuke, you did great." Ann said, supportively. "It was very impressive how you tricked him and stood up to him so easily."
"Well, I can't say my assessment of his book was entirely correct." Yusuke said, "Whatever someone feels from a work of art, no matter what that work may be, ultimately comes down to the individual."
"For what it's worth, we all loved seeing you stick it to that creep, Yusuke." Futaba said, warmly. "The look on his face was priceless!"
This seemed to ease Yusuke slightly. With their keyword in hand now, they had no choice but to call it a night. They started back towards the campsite. While everyone else walked on ahead, Sophia chimed to get Akira's attention.
"Akira? May I ask you something?"
He pulled out his phone to look at her. "Sure."
"Yusuke might have been acting calm just now, but… he seemed rather sad. Why is that?"
"Because he's an artist too." Akira answered.
"I see…" Sophia said, "So, when someone disrespects something important to you, it makes you more sad than angry?"
"It depends on the person. I get upset when people insult my hobbies. But for Yusuke, art is more than that. It's a deeply personal passion for him, and he wants to make a living out of it. There's always differences in the situation."
"At the very least, Yusuke seemed to feel that way…" Sophia said.
"He has every right to…" Akira replied, quietly.
"I think I'm starting to understand him a little better now." Sophia said, smiling. "Thank you for explaining that to me."
Akira put his phone away and went to follow the others back to camp. Tomorrow they were going to finally infiltrate the Jail and see what this Prince of Nightmares is really like.
~End of Chapter
Side note: I have that Yusuke and Natsume confrontation listed in my notes as "Yusuke commits actual fucking murder," and I think that sums it up very nicely. One of my favorite moments in the whole game, too. :)
Side note 2: I enjoy setting aside time for fun character interaction wherever possible. Hopefully, that doesn't bother you.
