Begin

~Normal POV

8/26 - Saturday

The next morning, Zenkichi met back up with the gang at their camper's secret location. (After making doubly sure he wasn't followed.) Upon arriving, they told him they had waited for his arrival before they started their planning for Konoe's calling card.

"You guys are surprisingly particular…" Zenkichi commented.

"It's your first calling card, you deserve to be there for it," Ryuji reasoned.

"Well it's not like I haven't helped out with one already. It doesn't seem like that big a deal…"

"It's a big deal to us." Akira said, "So, we talked it over already, and… We decided that you should get to write the card."

Zenkichi gaped at him. "ME?! But I've never written one before!"

"It's easy, you just channel your fury," Akira replied.

"Yes, remember what Konoe did to Akane." Yusuke said, "You simply need to express your rage."

"Well- it's true he does have to answer to that…" Zenkichi said.

"We have other cards you can use as reference. And remember, it has to have his full name on it. It won't work otherwise," Akira reminded him. "And we only get one chance."

"How should we send it," Morgana asked.

"Hm, we need a place where we know Konoe will see it…" Ryuji said, contemplatively.

"Too bad we don't have the means for another news broadcast…" Akira said, "I'd have loved to stick it to him in person. But this is our last target… We need to go big. Something he and Osaka will never forget…" Everyone was quiet for a moment before Ann tapped Akira's shoulder to get his attention.

"I have an idea!" She said, brightly. She pointed up at the sky to a blimp with Madicce's logo on it that was circling the city.

Akira brought his gaze back down to her and smiled. "I love you."

"I know…" Ann replied, grinning playfully.

~...

Konoe was sitting in his office that evening doing more work on his computer. Today was such a quiet day. Nothing of any interest was happening. But that was to be expected. He already won after all. The Phantom Thieves were the only ones capable of stopping him and they were locked up in a Jail- heh, ironic when you think of it that way, he thought, amusedly. He typed away on his keyboard for another minute before finishing what he was working on.

He sighed and stood from his chair to stretch his limbs. He glanced out the large window to his left. Peaceful weather tonight… This summer they'd been remarkably lucky to not have any rain for the last few weeks… But right as the thought crossed his mind, something started falling from the sky. Was it… snowing? In August? No, that would be ridiculous. He approached the window to get a better look.

"No, that's not snow that's… What the hell!?"

Little red and black cards were falling from the sky all over the city. Even from this distance he could recognize what they were. And upon closer inspection of the sky, he saw they were being air-dropped from his company's blimp. Before he could process this, he heard distorted voices over the blimp's intercom.

"Testing, one two, one two… Ok, looks like we're live!"

"So, I just talk into this?"

"You're on, man, just say it!"

"Are you listening, Konoe? Toying with innocent lives, slandering us… You've been busy. But so have we. Now it's payback time. Ready or not, here we come!"

"To the villain who thinks he's a hero: Akira Konoe!"

"You stole the Desires of countless people…"

"And tonight we're taking them back!"

"The Phantom Thieves?! Impossible!" He pulled up his phone to check the news footage. Apparently, they'd also hijacked all the screens around the city because it only displayed a close up of the calling cards that were falling all from the sky. He read it aloud to himself.

To the criminal tyrant masquerading as a hero, Sir Akira Konoe

(All subsequent references will be shortened to Party A.) Party A has wronged multiple innocents by flaunting a false sense of justice and shifting the blame for the murder of one of his employees. On top of that, Party A is also guilty of wrongfully imprisoning a group of minors. Therefore, in addition to putting out a formal warrant of arrest for Party A's crimes. Tonight, the Phantom Thieves will commit some larceny of their own, and take back every Desire you've stolen.

"Is this some kind of joke?!" Konoe shouted. That calling card sounded nothing like anything they'd done before, that he knew of. But that wasn't what set him off. "EMMA! What the hell is going on?! I thought we trapped them in the Jail!"

"Unable to answer. Please ask a different question." EMMA chimed in response.

"A dif- Don't give me that, EMMA! I'm your master! Now answer me, damn it!"

"Unable to answer. Please ask a different question."

"God damn it!" Konoe screamed, tossing his phone to the ground in rage. "You think you can change my heart? You wretched little urchins… I won't be defeated so easily!"

"Taking back the Desires? You think you can steal from me? Fools… I am the very hero these people have been praying for. The Phantom Thieves are the evil that stands in the way of that. Come then! Let's see who changes who!"

~...

Zenkichi's calling card was a bit on the underwhelming side, but it served its purpose well. Next time they'll teach him to make a more appropriate one; to which he replied he hoped this was his only one. Upon making it back up to the birdcage again, they ran into Konoe's Shadow waiting for them there. By coincidence, this was their first proper interaction with him. He looked… exactly the same. The only difference was the glowing yellow eyes. Akira figured it was the same as Shido's Shadow: he truly believes himself to not be distorted so he doesn't appear so. Must be a thing with sinners of arrogance.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, ya goateed prick!" Ryuji shouted, to get his attention.

"We're here to straighten out that crooked heart of yours!" Ann added, angrily.

"Nice to finally meet you, Konoe. I'm Joker, we're the Phantom Thieves, and for what you did to our fan, us, and everyone else- we're here to kick your ass, and take back all those Desires you stole."

Konoe smirked. "So you've come. A warm welcome to the terrorists who toy with others' hearts in the name of their self-righteous justice, the infamous Phantom Thieves."

"As if you've any right to talk!" Yusuke shouted. "You who repeatedly takes control of whomever you please!"

"And you even tried to pass us off as a buncha killers," Futaba added, bitterly. "You're the real bad guy here!"

Konoe ignored these protests. "Hmph. It would appear you haven't realized just how similar we are. We're one in the same. We both detest this rotten society, and struggle day after day to combat it. With our power to change hearts, we strive to incite change among the masses."

"Don't kid yourself. There's no way you're the same as us." Makoto replied.

"We know all about your past. It must have been terrible for you, but still! What you're doing now makes you no better than a common criminal!" Haru said.

"I change hearts in order to exterminate the evils of this world." Konoe replied. "Are we not essentially the same? I'm simply introducing a system to keep things in order. And by creating Monarchs, I'm ensuring everything plays out according to plan."

"By robbing the innocent of their free will?" Akira asked, "By making everyone completely dependent on you and your bullshit, harmful A.I? The hell kinda plan are you talking about?"

"When the cognitive world revealed itself to me, I took it as an act of divine revelation." Konoe explained, smugly. "It was my birthright to change this godforsaken planet. With the cognitive world in my grasp, I could wipe all evil from the face of the earth. I would not waste such an incredible gift. But in order to see that dream realized, I needed a world that could be controlled. I needed a world that would allow me to erase even the smallest traces of evil from people's subconscious minds. To that end, I required something that could reach everyone and bring them into submission. Yes, it seems A.I was the solution to that problem. Thus, the next step was to acquire EMMA, and have her learn more about cognitive psience at the research lab in Okinawa. The end results were the Jails created by EMMA, unique cognitive worlds in which no heart, no matter how cold, could resist being changed."

"EMMA made the Jails?!" Ryuji shouted.

"Ah, shit-" Akira said, "I knew you having a Jail didn't make any fucking sense!"

"So that's why they're still standing even after we freed the Monarchs," Morgana said, his ears folding back in anger.

Konoe shrugged this off dismissively. "The Jails aren't perfect, mind you. A Jail's area of effect only covers roughly one city. Peculiar how such phenomenal power has such limited range. In order to change the hearts of all of humanity, I needed nothing short of an army of Monarchs. So I began gathering pawns. Powerless, lamenting puppets who felt as hopeless on this earth as I once did. And do you know what happens when you grant people like that the power to change hearts? They welcome their newfound power with open arms. And by using EMMA to guide them, keeping them under control was a menial task. With the Monarchs I'd personally selected, I could change the hearts of the festering rabble that calls this rotten place home. With the Monarchs at my command, I could change the hearts of anyone who dares step out of line. That was the endgame, Operation Oraculi." He scowled at them. "But you Phantom Thieves had to show up and ruin everything."

"So when we started taking down Jails, you got scared that your plan would fail." Morgana said, "That's why you used the police and turned Akane into a Monarch. It was all to stop us!"

"It's not too late." Konoe said, ignoring his comment. "I can still erase these obstacles and start over."

"Listen to us, ya arrogant bastard!" Akira shouted. "Your bullshit plan doesn't save anyone! You're just taking over the fucking world like a cartoon supervillain!"

This got Konoe to pause and eye him warily. "Joker, was it-? You're still so naive. But, eventually, even you will come to understand. Fight all you want, the most you can do is change the hearts of a scant few. Don't you see that my way is far more efficient?"

"So everything will be fine as long as you're the one making all the decisions?" Makoto asked, dryly. "Who do you think you are, some kind of god!?"

"You're just forcing your ideas on everyone else!" Ryuji added.

"What foolish logic." Konoe argued. "So when you change people's hearts it's right- but when someone else does it, it's wrong? I've built an entire infrastructure for changing hearts. What was impossible for you, I have made a reality. As a hero, I will reign over the whole world with infallible justice."

"You used Akane for this ridiculous plan of yours?!" Zenkichi shouted with rage. "She was just an innocent girl! Everyone you'd made into a Monarch had some form of trauma, but you treated them like tools, even toyed with their lives. You don't know the first thing about justice!"

Konoe paused thoughtfully for a moment before asking. "Then, do you believe you could have saved me? I see that most of you are younger than I thought you'd be, but let's say you had been around back then. Could you have saved me from my father? I had nowhere to run. I was just a scared helpless child left to suffer by himself. Well? Could you really have saved me? Even now, there are surely others being brought up in the same Hell that I was. And yet, you've done nothing to help them. You only destroy the evils you happen to come across, but you'll never save everyone. Me, however, I have the power to change the entire world. No one will ever have to suffer as I did ever again. And to do that, you need something beyond what the Phantom Thieves can offer. You need more than some childish heroic fantasy."

"But that's not justice!" Futaba screamed. "All you're doing is brainwashing everyone! You're taking away their freedom, who they are!"

"And what's the difference?!" Konoe snapped. "Both of us change the hearts of others against their will, so how am I any different from you?!"

"Don't you understand?" Sophia said, "For you, changing someone's heart means imprisoning them. But for the Phantom Thieves, it means setting them free. You may steal Desires like them, but the Phantom Thieves give people hope. Maybe you don't realize it. But I think, deep down, you know you're nothing like them."

Konoe narrowed his eyes angrily. "It seems there's little point in discussing this further. If we can't reach an understanding, then only one side can remain. It's time to decide which of us truly walks the path of justice!"

~...

"No… not yet… the hero can't be defeated like this. I'm the enforcer of justice!" Konoe had underestimated the strength of their teamwork.

"Snap out of it for fuck's sake." Akira said, bluntly.

"You would deny me, Joker!?" Konoe replied, "Our definitions of the word are one and the same!"

"Dude, even we don't know what justice really is." Ryuji admitted, "And we don't mean to say that what we're doing is always right, either."

"But we're definitely not just gonna sit back while you tell everyone what to do!" Ann added.

"It's true there are days when I wish to immerse myself in my work, and days when I'd rather be wandering around town…" Yusuke said, calmly. "There are also days when I wish simply to spend time with those close to me. To throw all of that away and do only what the person in front of you says… Why, at that point, you're nothing but a slave to fate."

"All you're doing is taking away people's rights to choose for themselves and denying them their freedom," Haru said.

"When it comes down to it, it's not different from what your father did to you." Makoto said, firmly. "Trampling upon the one thing that makes us human… That's the very evil you claim to hate!"

Konoe looked up at them in shock. "Are you saying… I'm the evil one?"

"We choose the roads we take." Morgana said, "We don't let anyone tie us down. And we do so because we want to walk our own paths our own way."

"But if I fall here…" Konoe protested. "Then, what will become of the world? There are no heroes… I'm the only one who can save it."

"Are you sure?" Sophia asked. "I've seen the Monarchs and the people whose hearts you changed. They didn't look very happy at all. I don't think you saved anyone doing what you did."

"You know, Konoe…" Zenkichi said, "The world is full of evil. And there's plenty of scum out there who seem well beyond redemption. But there are some like the Phantom Thieves who refuse to give up. And there are people out there who, thanks to these guys, finally got the courage to crawl their way out of the darkest depths of hell. People who managed to awaken the hero inside themselves. Isn't that how we'll make the world a better place? What you're trying to do will just erase those heroes, some before they even get their chance. Can anybody really know peace if they're forced to be stuck that way all the time?"

He was so busy with his little speech that he didn't notice the grateful looks his teammates were giving him. It was truly nice to hear him say such kind words about them.

"I'd be… erasing the heroes?" Konoe asked.

"Konoe, it's not the people who need saving." Zenkichi continued. "If anyone needs it, it's you. Ever since you killed your father all those years ago, all you've ever done is run away. Rotten as he was, having to live with the pain of killing your own flesh and blood, knowing that you could be caught at any moment… You were alone. And getting stronger was the only way you could protect yourself."

Konoe dropped his gaze in shame. "...You're right… I- I killed my father… And I lied to escape the punishment. I called it justice, hoping that there'd never come a day when I had to face the truth… But what I did back then… Was just… evil…"

"Then you know what you need to do, Konoe," Zenkichi urged. "The hero you keep inside needs to save you from that evil."

"The hero I keep inside…" Konoe said, quietly. "I need to save myself. Heh… I see now. It's been right there with me all along…" He reached up and removed his crown in the form of a Zephyrman style helmet. "Very well… I admit defeat. I'll confess my crimes and accept my punishment, whatever it may be. I'll destroy EMMA as well. You have my word. Phantom Thieves… if it's possible, I only ask that you please prove to the world… That I was defeated by the real heroes of this story… Ones with a true sense of justice…"

Akira approached him and replied. "We can do that… But know this Konoe, the Phantom Thieves are no heroes either. We protect the weak and oppose the strong, to give courage and hope, like a hero should. But at the end of the day… We're just a bunch of kids who got fucked over by rotten adults. And because of it, we made a vow to never let anyone else suffer the way we did."

Konoe looked surprised by his bluntness and said, "I see…"

"And to answer your question," Akira added. "If we had been there? We would have saved you."

Konoe smiled gratefully. "...Thank you." With that, his Shadow vanished.

~End of Chapter