Begin!

~Normal POV

8/8 - Tuesday

After having to camp at a rest stop the previous night, they'd finally made it to Sapporo today. Just in time for Zenkichi's deadline too. Right away, their suspicions were confirmed by Sophia. There was indeed a Jail here. Now all they had to do was find the suspect Zenkichi mentioned. He didn't tell them to meet him anywhere just yet. Thus, after spending so many hours driving in the camper, they chose to stop at a nearby bathhouse to freshen up first. Makoto especially needed it. (She would never admit it, but all the driving was taking a toll on her physically.) Right now, the boys, minus Morgana, were relaxing in their side of the baths.

"Ahhh… now this is paradise…" Ryuji sighed, contentedly.

"I'll say. The heat has crept into my bones." Yusuke added.

"Really melts the stress away, huh?" Akira said.

"Damn right…" Ryuji replied. "Shame Mona didn't want to join us."

"Eh, he's scouting for intel," Akira said, dismissively. "Besides, he hates water. Giving him a regular bath is hard enough already…"

From the other side of the wall separating the men's baths from the women's, they could hear the girls talking loudly.

"Whoa! Ann, are those CGI?!" Futaba shouted.

Akira snorted at the comment; earning looks from Ryuji and Yusuke. "Sorry, it was the idea that she assumed Ann's weren't real. It's funny." He said, quietly.

"What cheat codes did you use to get those?" They heard Futaba add. "Dieting life-hacks? You're so skinny yet-"

"Will you shut up?" Ann shouted. "Go bother Haru- hers are no different!"

"Haru, not bad!" Futaba said, "You could knock someone flat!"

Akira and Yusuke turned to Ryuji with similar, silent, questioning looks. Ryuji didn't reply, he merely nodded.

"Futaba, I have a boyfriend-" They heard Haru say.

"I know!" Futaba interrupted. "And it ain't hard to see the perks that Ryuji likes best-" She added, jokingly.

"There's far more to it than that-!" Haru shouted.

"Same with you, Ann. Our leader is lucky to be dating a real model."

"Oh, totally, I'm living the dream…" Akira thought, smirking a bit.

"Futaba, be quiet." They heard Makoto say. "We're trying to relax here."

"You girls are so lucky. Meanwhile, I'm flat as a board!" Futaba said, before finally shutting up.

There was a pause before Yusuke said, quietly. "I'm adding that to the list of Things I Never Wanted to Hear Futaba Say…"

"I can imagine that's a long list," Akira said, chuckling. "In fact, I'm pretty sure I'd agree with everything on it."

~...

They met up outside once they'd finished refreshing themselves. Somehow the girls didn't seem to care that they'd been talking so loud. Perhaps they didn't think the boys could hear them. It didn't matter either way, since nobody would dare bring it up.

"Ahh, that bath was just what we needed," Haru said, contentedly. "Thanks for suggesting this place, Sophia!"

"No prob." Sophia chimed. "Glad I could be of service." Akira's phone started vibrating. "Akira, you have a call from Zenkichi."

Akira answered it. "Hello?"

"Greetings, you are now speaking to the long arm of the law!" Zenkichi said, cheerfully. "So, you guys in Sapporo yet?"

Akira rolled his eyes. "We've been here for an hour. We're camped in Odori Park."

"Alright, I'll meet you at camp this evening, I got some errands to run first."

Akira hung up. "Come on, let's wait at camp for him."

~...

Zenkichi met up with them right on schedule. He climbed into the camper to have their meeting.

"Ah, right on time." Akira said, "Also, 'long arm of the law?'"

"Don't give me that look," Zenkichi said, "It was a joke."

"Whatever. We're all here, there's a Jail in town, now who's the suspect," Akira asked, bluntly.

"Name's Mariko Hyodo," Zenkichi answered. "She's the mayor of Sapporo Central."

Needless to say, none of them were expecting that. "Our target's a mayor?!" Futaba shouted.

"No way!" Ann said, "Wouldn't that make her the most influential person in Sapporo?"

"How could someone like that be a Monarch," Yusuke asked.

"Because she's a politician, Yusuke," Akira said.

Yusuke blinked, realizing the error in what he'd said. "Ah. Right, your instincts about politicians have always been spot on."

"Instincts?" Zenkichi said, quizzically.

"Akira despises politicians," Ann explained.

To their surprise, Zenkichi chuckled at that. "Well, would you look at that, Kurusu. We finally have something we agree on!"

Akira ignored that remark. "So, how do you know she's the Monarch?"

"Because everybody's suddenly in love with her." Zenkichi answered. "Mayor Hyodo's approval rating now sits at a lofty 88%. She's gained fifty points in the last two months alone."

"Did you say fifty!?" Makoto said, shocked.

"So she got crazy popular outta nowhere?" Futaba asked.

"It's more than crazy, it's unheard of," Makoto added.

Zenkichi nodded in agreement. "There's more. Last month, three city councilmen who opposed her bill admitted to corruption and resigned. Any remaining councilmen who opposed her suddenly became her most fervent advocates. Not to mention, the election's coming up. It's all too convenient. Rumor has it, Hyodo wants to expand her political influence to the national level. PubSec's been investigating that, but alas, we haven't run across any solid leads just yet." He glanced at Akira. "So, what do you make of all this?"

Akira responded in a flat, deadpanned tone. "A politician wanting everyone's approval, and controlling their council members via the Metaverse. Forgive me for not sounding shocked, inspector."

"As jaded and cynical as ever. You never fail to entertain me, Kurusu." Zenkichi said, smiling, "But I agree; it's clear that you'll have to get involved."

"Then we need her keyword to confirm it." Morgana said.

"That won't be a problem. She's already referenced EMMA several times in her speeches. Meaning there's a good chance she's been announcing her keyword in public. In fact, she's gonna be in Suzushino on the 10th making a speech. Since it's close to the election, the crowds may well be in the thousands."

"That's a grip…" Ryuji commented.

"If she is indeed changing people's hearts, then perhaps this is no surprise," Yusuke said.

Haru had remained very quiet this whole time. She looked to be deep in thought about something.

"Is something wrong, Haru?" Makoto asked.

"Hm? No, it's just… Mm. It's hard to explain." Haru replied. "Mariko Hyodo… The name seems familiar somehow…"

"Probably from the news," Ann said.

"Possibly…" Haru muttered, "Sorry. Let's put that aside for now."

"Whatever you do, don't try to contact her directly," Zenkichi warned. "It'll be a downright pain in the ass if she finds out we're onto her. Just enjoy your leisure time until the day of the speech. I'm saying this to keep you safe."

"Right, cause you care so much for our well-being," Akira said, rolling his eyes. "It's not like you only need us around to solve this case for you. Now, about what we got at the university." He explained how they made a deal with Ichinose.

"You made a deal with the inventor of EMMA?!" Zenkichi shouted. "How the hell did you get Mr. Trust Issues here to do that?!" He added, gesturing to Akira.

"It was my idea." Akira said, simply. "I didn't say it was a good one, but she might be useful."

"Kuon Ichinose…" Zenkichi said, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "Where have I heard that name before… Ah! Right, she was on my report. She's the one who wrote EMMA from scratch."

"Were you looking into her?" Ryuji asked.

"Into Madicce, actually. It wasn't long before her name popped up. 'The famous inventor who sold EMMA to Madicce.' Tell me, how'd you get cozy with someone like that?"

"Cozy is not the word I'd use in this situation…" Akira answered. (He didn't want to have to deal with the inspector laughing at them for getting overheard in public…)

"Yeah, it just kinda happened," Ann added.

"What matters is her familiarity with EMMA." Makoto said. "If anyone abuses it, she could help us find out who and why."

Zenkichi sighed. "Well, that makes sense. The report didn't make her out to be somebody dangerous. And while she does sound like a valuable source of info- I really want you guys to be more careful about this operation. I'm trusting you guys a lot by sharing all this classified intel. So I'd prefer if you don't go creating liabilities like this behind my back."

"We didn't have a fucking choice, inspector." Akira said, bluntly. "It was the only way to buy her silence. Besides, it won't happen again."

"Good." Zenkichi said, "Besides- shouldn't I be your go-to guy for help? Seeing you guys run off making confidants left and right makes me feel like a lonely old man!"

"...Are you trying to gain our trust or get attention?" Futaba asked.

"Gramps, we do shit on our own because your 'help' only gets us so far," Ryuji pointed out.

Zenkichi frowned at him. "What, it's not my fault I'm not an expert on all this cognitive mumbo-jumbo. And would it kill you to ditch the Gramps?! I'm as… fly as any one of you kids!"

There was a pause while everyone took in his silly attempt at acting cool. Zenkichi looked around at all their impassive faces with a bit of growing unease.

"At least say something!"

Everyone turned their gaze to Akira for such a request. The thief leader smirked. "There are so many things I could say… but they're all too easy…"

Zenkichi gave him an unamused look. "Alright, better idea. Kurusu, can you give me an honest compliment? Humor me, I just wanna see if you can actually do it."

Akira chuckled. "Ok." He racked his brain for a moment thinking about what he could say. "...Your glasses are nice."

Zenkichi blinked in genuine shock. He seriously hadn't expected a response, much less one that actually sounded honest. Hm. The only times he'd seen Kurusu being actually nice was when he saw him interact with his fellow thieves or sometimes with townspeople. Every other time, the kid was a mouthy brat.

"Ok, you proved me wrong…" Zenkichi said, getting up. "Maybe next time you'll start calling me by name."

"You got a long way to go before that happens, inspector." Akira replied.

Zenkichi went to exit the camper. Once he was outside, he thought about why Kurusu continued to call him by his title. It was better than Gramps, in fact, he was the only member of the team who never called him that. But something about the way he said, "inspector" seemed… Well, he couldn't really describe how it felt. All things considered, though, when the kid was nice… he didn't seem so bad…Only by a little bit… and he'd never say it aloud.

~End of Chapter