I own nothing. Monika does.

"Sayori, are you alright?"

Sayori was startled from her daydream. She glanced at Goro, who had a concerned look in his studying gaze. She wondered if he had been trying to get her attention for a while. The guilt from the knowledge that she may have been ignoring him was a brief respite from her constant worry. Now should be the time she spent with her roommate. This would probably start to become the only time of day where she didn't need to be nervous about what her new lifestyle would bring her.

"Yeah… I'm fine. Just lost in thought," Sayori's reply lacked its normal optimism. She realized her mistake when she noticed the detective side of her roommate was showing. However, the girl refused to let Goro's piercing gaze make her squirm. "I… I mean… I'm great! I just have a lot going on right now! You know… with school… and homework… and all of the other normal things girls my age have to go through!" Sayori said with forced excitement. I probably sound as fake as those people from the TV station.

However, her jaw dropped in shock when Goro once again seemed to not notice her obvious lie. With a short, curt nod, the detective retreated into the kitchen to get their dinner. Sayori risked a small sigh of relief. Even though she tried to tell herself she wasn't lying, just not saying everything that she could say, the guilt still seemed so suffocating. Still, what exactly could she say?

"Sayori… I thought we were closer than this," Goro set the food down. Sayori looked up in panic. What was he trying to say? She did her best to train her expression into a plain sense of confusion. The detective sat down and began eating is own meal. His pained expression made Sayori's breath catch.

"What do you mean? Of course we're close! You're the closest friend I've had since this entire mess started," Sayori replied, trying to cheer him up. The somber look he gave her seemed to freeze her very core.

"How can I believe that when you won't even tell me what is very clearly bothering you? Sayori, I'm not blind… You had the exact look on your face that you had when your old gym teacher…" Unable to continue, the detective buried his face in his hands. Sayori felt sick. How could she have been so naive?

"I'm… sorry, Goro," she whispered, "I guess things have just been so strange for me lately, I never really stopped to consider how my problems could be affecting the people around me." She slumped in her seat. There were things she couldn't tell him, but maybe…

"Hey… I think I know where I made a mistake in all of this. Still, I need to know for sure… Can I ask you a question?" Sayori noticed Goro peek out from behind his hands, giving a short nod. Good, she had gotten his attention.

"Okay… here goes nothing… Do you, by any chance, know what it means to live for yourself?"

Sayori watched as a troubled expression appeared on the detective's face. The girl watched as the detective pondered the question for what seemed like eternity. Finally, he looked up at her. Sayori held her breath as he held her gaze. "I… don't know, Sayori. Why do you ask?"

"Oh," Sayori tried not to sound disappointed. "It's just something I heard back in that weird place. I'm still not quite sure what it means, either. Still, I don't think my original definition works for it now. I thought it had something to do with being independent. If that's even the case… I don't think living for yourself is worth it, if I make the people around me distressed."

"That makes sense," Goro's expression told Sayori that he didn't think that it made sense at all.

"I'm glad you think so. I have one more question, if you don't mind."

"Ask away." Was it just Sayori, or was her roommate being sarcastic?

"My friends invited me to hang out with them in Shibuya… Is there a certain time you would like me to be back?" Sayori held her breath. It was a sneaky question, but she needed to go no matter what.

"Sayori… I'm not your dad. You can stay out as long as you want. Just, stay safe. I've heard some troubling things about that place lately, especially at work," Goro Akechi looked up from his hands to find Sayori giving him a rather pitiful look.

"I'll stay by my friends the entire time… and I'll be back before you even realize I'm gone!" Sayori said, crossing her heart for good measure. She knew she probably sounded like a whiny teenager, but she didn't know what else to do.

"You have to promise to be careful and not talk to anyone other than your friends. If you get in trouble… Well, let's just say that you shouldn't get in trouble, for everyone's sake," The detective replied. Sayori couldn't help but notice that although the detective had his usual charming smile, there was a slightly darker tone to his voice. She decided not to think too hard about it, leaving the apartment before her roommate could change his mind.

"I promise! I'll see in a little bit!"

Sayori thought it rather stupid that everyone had liked the idea of splitting up. Hadn't horror movies, dramas about rock bands, and Scooby-Doo taught them anything? It was always a bad idea to split up! Not to mention, it was becoming even more difficult to keep her promise now. Perhaps I can find other friends to hang around with around here.

However, Mai wasn't here now. Sayori couldn't help but brood about how the afternoon had made this a very frustrating day. Luckily, Akira at least seemed to be making progress in the investigation. That wasn't enough for Sayori. She needed to prove to herself that she could be an asset to this team. It was time to use some critical thinking skills.

Now, if I were targeting teens for help with illegal activities, where would I spend my time? Sayori looked at her surroundings, taking note of the teenage girls milling about to window shop. Bingo.

Sayori chose a clothing store nearest to the alleyways. As she wandered close to the corner of the store, tilting her eyes and replacing her normal bright smile with a bored frown, she knew she looked like a typical disinterested teen. In other words, she was much more approachable than a bright eyed girl that looked like she carried a whistle on her person. If she was lucky, then one of the people Makoto wanted to find would walk right up to her. She just needed to find someone would fall for her bait.

"Hey there, cutie. What's up?"

The plan had worked. At Sayori's side was a young, sniveling and snobbish sort of man. Even to Sayori's rather accepting tastes, he was unattractive. He smelled as if he hadn't bathed in days, and had the looks to match. His dress was unkempt, with a stained white school uniform shirt atop oversized pants held up only by suspenders. His voice was high-pitched and obnoxious, trying to sound cool while being completely incapable of it. Yet, something in Sayori told her that he was the one she was looking for.

"Hmm?"

"Oh, so you're the quiet kind, huh? Then I guess I'll cut right to the chase. My boss is offering premium part-time jobs, and he wanted me to come out and find potential employees. You look like you've got the skills!" he snorted.

"Oh? What's the work?"

"It's kinda like uh… being a delivery man! Yeah, that's about right. A deliveryman. The boss gives us envelopes, and we deliver them to buyers. It's easy work and good pay. Whaddaya say?" He said while giving his biggest, fakest smile possible.

"Envelopes, huh? What's in them?"

The man stepped closer, hushing his tone. "Now, listen here, lady. That's a trade secret. There are people who need to know, and you aren't one of them. Are you in, or not?"

"No, thank you. I already have a job, anyway."

"Heh, whatever." The man began to walk away, his voice turning far more whiny in tone. Sayori could pick out a bit of his mumbling, "Ugh, this job sucks… Damn you, Iida…"

She had her man. All there was left to do was to tail him. Perhaps he would lead her to straight to his boss.

The man made little attempt to disguise himself in the crowd. He walked absentmindedly through the streets, hands in his pockets, completely unaware that Sayori was following his every move. He joined a few other fellow students near an alley and began to chat. Sayori was about to listen in on their conversation when a familiar face caught her eye.

"Akira? What are you doing here?" Sayori whispered, harshly.

"Gathering intel. Speaking of which, you haven't been answering our messages. Where were you?"

"I was doing a stakeout in that clothing store over there. That guy in the glasses? He tried to sell me drugs! Plus, he mentioned the name Iida!"

"I know. I just had a little chat with him at school. That's why I'm out here," Akira whispered, his eyes fixed on the group.

"What!? So I went through all of that effort for nothing?" Sayori could barely keep her voice at a whisper with all of her anger building up.

"No, you just happened to get the same information as me. Don't beat yourself up about it."

Sayori pouted, accepting the fact that she had done a good job, but still grumpy about getting the same info as Akira.

"Wait a minute, didn't you know I talked to Iida already?"

"No, nobody told me."

"Oh, wait. You're not in our DM. That's why. Lemme fix that." Akira took out his phone, tapped a few times, and soon enough Sayori felt her phone vibrate. She could see from the message history that they had been investigating all day, and she had missed all of it.

Maybe this whole "proving myself to the team" thing wasn't such a good idea after all..

"Hey, uh, Sayori? Why don't you head home soon?" Akira kept looking at the group, but his face turned slightly more somber.

"Huh, why?"

"It's just, you're kinda, conspicuous, y'know? With the hair? The bow? The genki-ness? You did a good job today, I promise," Akira claimed, seemingly hiding something.

"What!? After all of that business with that obnoxious twit at the clothing store, and you want me to leave!?" whispered loudly, close to shrieking.

"Lower your voice. That 'obnoxious twit' is standing right in front of us," Akira cautioned.

One of the boys spoke up to the man from earlier. "Yo, Sidoh. Find anyone?"

"No… I tried talking to some dumb moody chick, but it didn't work…"

Dumb!? Sayori gripped the side of the wall.

"Huh. Well, get back out there and try again. This is what, your third failed attempt?"

"Yeah… Oh well… This is such a drag..."

One of the boys finally noticed Akira and Sayori, turning towards them. "Hey, what's up? Wanna see some unforgettable deals?"

"Actually, we're busy-"

Sidoh finally looked up from the sidewalk, with Sayori squarely in his sights. "Hey! You're that dumb moody chick!"

"Sayori… run."

The two of them sprinted away from the scene.

After a long day of intel gathering, the thieves finally had a name: Junya Kaneshiro. All they needed now were the two keywords. "A bank" was the first, fitting of someone who was clearly so motivated by greed. But the second, the location, would be slightly harder to figure out.

"His own hideout?"

"A real bank?"

"All of Shibuya."

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I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! If you did enjoy the chapter, please leave a review. Those are very helpful when writing, because you know what you're doing right, and what could use a little work. I'm thankful for all the people that have left reviews so far, but I would like to hear what everyone thinks. There are so many people who took time to Favorite and Follow it, I just want to know what you all are thinking as the story progresses, so my partner and I can continue to do a good job. Also, another Death Note reference was in this chapter, because the characters are finally dealing with the mafia! Google "Death Note Sidoh" if you need a laugh. Anyway, for those of you who have one, please enjoy your fall break! I'll see you next time.