I own nothing. Monika does.
At the police station, Goro Akechi was typing away furiously on his work computer. The furrow in his eyebrows, and his mouth, now nothing more than a thin line, clear indicators of his frustration. Anyone at the station other than Sae would have guessed that it was simply because he was making little progress catching the Phantom Thieves. However, Sae was a bit more understanding. That is, if you could call "thinking the famous and renowned Second Coming of the Detective Prince to be an idiotic bag of hormones and unimportant issues" understanding.
"Trouble in paradise?" Sae asked, peeking over the detective's shoulder to see multiple tabs open. This included, but was not limited to, a site that sold high quality bikes (and bike parts), yet another missing kids/teenagers website with the search engine full of increasingly desperate keywords, and an unreliable medical website which held the current diagnosis that Goro Akechi had a permanent concussion from being dropped on his head as a baby. Sae wouldn't be surprised if that were accurate.
"I thought she fell off my bike!" Goro shouted, the last part coming out as a yelp akin to a fox with its paw caught in a trap. He pulled on his hair tightly, beginning what was sure to be another overdramatic mope. "But then it turned out she was right behind me all along, and I almost made us crash for no reason. I could have sworn she let go, and the bike even felt lighter, but she was still right there!"
Sae looked down at the detective in concerned silence, her eyes widening just barely. Setting down her recently obtained coffee, she awkwardly patted the boy on the shoulder. "There, there," she said, in what she knew to be a pathetically monotone voice.
Despite the horrible composition of her attempt at comfort, the detective relished in it, taking several deep breaths. Sayori is definitely better at this, but I'll take what I can get, Goro Akechi thought wryly to himself. He would keep that thought to himself, because Sae offered the much needed opportunity for a subject change.
"The coffee smells lovely Sae-san. I'm sorry I haven't been doing as much as I could to help you with the Phantom Thieves by the way…"
Sae blinked slowly, once, twice, and finally a third time, before finally shrugging it off. Her comforting tactic had worked! Not that she was surprised, of course. It always worked with Makoto, afterall. Turning her mind from her success at comforting the teenager, Sae picked up the coffee and took another sip, only to grimace at the taste.
"Thank you, though it's not much in comparison to the kind I normally have," the woman replied regretfully. "And don't worry, it's not like I expect much from you in this state."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means you're being a typical teenager. You should be proud. You're a real boy now!"
Goro scowled. "I'm not Pinocchio!" he replied with no small amount of venom in his voice. He crossed his arms and pouted, turning back to his computer. "If you only came here to insult me, I'd suggest you consider taking a walk… a long walk, preferably off of a short pier." He began furiously typing once again, his mind already drifting away from the work he was supposed to be doing.
Sae sighed, rolling her eyes. "Believe it or not, I actually do need your help with something. It's about a case I believe you solved some time ago…"
Goro turned, suddenly interested. The self-absorbed bastard. "What about it?"
Running her hand through her silver hair, the woman bit back any remarks she could have made in that light. She needed his insight afterall. Getting out the cream colored file folder, Sae felt her frown turn into an even deeper frown. It was the kind of frown she could only associate with the time she had had to tell Makoto that their father had lied about their dog going to a butterfly farm.
Pushing off the unimportant thought, Sae quickly opened the file folder and spread the contents over the desk, making sure to spread it over Goro's keyboard. No distractions could be allowed. The silver haired woman was already observing the detective closely, watching for anything that could give her a direction to go in.
As expected, the detective recognized the case almost instantly. Eyes squeezed shut, Goro Akechi had to fight off a pained grimace. A few minutes passed, until he finally schooled his features into impassiveness. This is a professional environment. Don't let personal feelings, or personal involvement, get in the way…
"Sae-san, I investigated this case, but I barely had a hand in solving it," Goro tried to excuse himself, pushing his chair out from his desk. However, Sae beat him to the punch, using her body to block his progress. The hapless teenager was now trapped at his desk.
"Wakaba Isshiki's case is a tragic one, and I can understand your hesitation… But we can't afford to beat around the bush with so much at stake," Sae said, voice heavy with insistence.
Goro Akechi fought the urge to scowl. You don't understand anything, not about me, and especially not about what's at stake. The teenager swallowed those words, and any other incriminating thoughts and feelings. He needed to play the part for now.
"Why exactly do you need help reviewing a case that was so easily closed?" Goro asked curiously, although he already had suspicions as to why. Sae could be interested in the dead woman's missing research…
It could give her insight on how the Phantom Thieves function, but it was impossible for Sae to know of any help he could give for something like that…
"Well… two people that knew Wakaba caught my attention recently, as well as the person living with them. But they refuse to answer any of my questions," Sae said in frustration, crossing her arms with a huff.
Goro Akechi felt his already stiff smile freeze on his face. This…
This was absolutely unacceptable!
He put his hands on his head, deep in thought. This had always been something he had wanted to begrudgingly wash his hands of. He had specifically told that stupid, vile, horrendous man that he wanted no more involvement with anything to do with Wakaba Isshiki…
However, Sae didn't know that.
Afterall, Sae couldn't know he was the cause of Wakaba's death, couldn't know the pity he felt for himself for being so ignorant of everything about that woman. That woman… had been the first of many, and his superiors had done that on purpose. They had made his first hit something they knew would strike a nerve within him. Wakaba may have been the lead researcher on cognitive psience, but those people understood something Sae couldn't understand.
Sae didn't understand that to make him stick around for the long haul, you had to make him feel like there wasn't any other option open to him.
That thought lead him in many different directions, most of which he knew he didn't have the time, or right, to be investigating.
So with one final sigh of resignation, Goro Akechi looked back up to the silver-haired woman before him. His smile relaxed, his game face was on.
"Tell me about these people that interest you so much, Sae-san. If they have any involvement with the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, we'll sniff it right out!" He looked down at the small case file of a case that had been too easily closed. He stared straight at the few detailed papers, filled with unsolved questions that he already knew the answers too.
But most importantly, he looked unflinchingly at the pictures of the ghosts, living or dead, that he had been responsible for making.
"I wonder if this is a good idea, afterall…"
Not for the first time, the orange haired girl nearly backed out of her plan entirely. Drumming her fingers along the length of her desk, the girl stared at the bright computer screen in the darkly lit room.
One thing was for sure, if she hadn't already needed glasses before, she most certainly did now.
One thing that wasn't for certain… Should she go this extra mile?
The leader of the Phantom Thieves had already gotten her first string of messages, and she had many more to send to him, but would that be enough?
She supposed there was no way of knowing, since she hadn't allowed him to text back with his own response. Still, he needed to know she was serious, and that he wasn't the only one she knew about.
As she prepared the sidestep to her plan, she couldn't help but feel like one of the dastardly villains from the shows she watched, and released a mini cackle for good measure. Before it could become a full blown one, she heard a knock at the door.
"Futaba?"
Futaba stiffened, becoming quiet and shy. What time was it again? She thought she had had a little more time until Sojiro normally came home to give her lunch… Food he could be using for something else…
I have doubts that it will really happen, so that's why I'm doing this, Futaba thought, banishing the hesitation for a few moments longer. Chances were that even with the anonymity that communicating solely through chats provided, she was still probably going to chicken out at the last second.
"Futaba? You know I can tell you're awake… Your computer is always so bright… Are you hungry?" Sojiro waited for a response. He wasn't going to come in if she didn't let him. Normally that knowledge would have made her feel lonely and guilty, but for now she needed that privacy.
Sojiro definitely wouldn't approve of this plan if he found out.
Futaba waited in silence for a few more moments, until finally she heard a sigh.
"Your new Featherman bed set is supposed to arrive tomorrow… Good night, Futaba."
The sounds of retreating steps were heard outside her door. Futaba counted the steps, knowing exactly when they should start to fade out. Sojiro had once pulled a mean trick on her, lightening his steps until it sounded like he was back in his room, when he was really standing outside her own.
Futaba had only fallen for that once, and she had vowed that it would never happen again.
When the girl was satisfied that her privacy had been restored, she pushed her glasses up her nose and once again settled into a comfortable work rhythm. She was hungry, but she could wait until her work was finally done.
Her thoughts once again drifted to the idea that she was a supervillain, and she played around with the idea for a while, entertaining herself as she rapidly typed on her keyboard.
The dastardly villain, Alibaba, is up to her old schemes again. Her arch foes, The Phantom Thieves of Hearts, normally a thorn in her side, now have something that she could want. But how to best obtain it?
Their weakest link, the damsel in distress of the group, Sayori Matsu, might be fun to pick on…
AHA!
"AHA!" Futaba echoed her inner monologue, feeling quite satisfied with herself. She put the finishing touches on her newest little project. Now all she had to do was type a message…
But what to type?
Pushing up her glasses once again, as the naughty little thing had developed a habit of sliding down her face at the most annoying of times, Futaba muttered a bit to herself.
She thought she knew a lot of things about Sayori Matsu, much more than annoying, busybody, know-it-all teenagers. Futaba was a not-annoying, not-busybody, know-it-all teenager, afterall!
But one thing she hadn't known until recently was that the girl lived with a detective.
She needed to exercise caution, but also show Sayori that she was serious. That was the best way to show the leader of the Phantom Thieves that she meant business.
Yes, Sayori is most certainly the best way! The proof will be in the pudding! Proof was also in her computer files somewhere, but that could wait for another day…
With that in mind, Futaba began to type out her first message to the girl.
"I don't get it…"
Sayori looked down at the thermometer in her hands. Her temperature was normal, and everything else was normal too. She wasn't coughing, sneezing, puking. She didn't feel dizzy at all.
But Sayori definitely wasn't normal.
With nothing else to do, except wait for the inevitable, Sayori curled up on the apartment couch. Goro had let her stay home sick, thinking their disaster of a bike ride must have rattled her.
She was rattled, but not for the reasons he would think. It was a miracle that he hadn't noticed yet, if anything.
Should I tell him? Sayori shuddered at the thought. Oh no, wait, that wasn't why she was shuddering…
A sensation like a hiccup bubbled in the back of her throat, and Sayori attempted to gulp it down, but to no avail. Disappearing was only for a millisecond, but it was enough for the pink-haired girl to come back nearly in tears. That feeling was like being dumped into a freezing cold river, only to immediately be pulled back out.
No matter how many times it had happened over the last twenty-four hours, it was still a shock. Sayori hated every minute of it.
Not even my teammates would know what's going on… Sure, they would have a better chance of understanding than Goro probably would, but just barely.
"What can I even do?" Sayori asked to no one in particular. Was she going crazy? Was it all in her head? It wouldn't be the first time something in her head had caused her distress…
The girl sniffled. It felt so unfair that she had to go through this. But she didn't really know who she could blame! Aside from simply blaming herself, the only other option she could think of was to blame everyone but her, simply for not disappearing with her.
Sayori despised that option, and felt repulsed by herself for even coming up with it.
Maybe my body is finally catching up with my mind…
That quiet musing almost made her laugh out loud. It had been common knowledge for the past few months, the unrealness. Yet it had never troubled her in such a physical way before.
Still without a solution to her extraordinary dilemma (but then again, what else is new?), Sayori let her thoughts and actions drift farther and farther apart… almost like when her exam had blown out the school's window and sailed directly into a poor taxi driver's windshield.
Akira and Ann are never going to let that go, Sayori mused to herself with a small grin, remembering the way their jaws dropped, before they immediately dissolved into an obnoxious series of giggles and guffaws.
She laughed to herself for a few peaceful minutes, memories upon memories pouring into her brain. Akira, Ann, Ryuji, Morgana, Yusuke, Makoto, Goro… I love them all so much, no matter what.
It was only when she paused to catch her breath and rub the sleep from her eyes that she realized she had started crying. It wasn't the happy kind of crying either, the more she thought about it.
It especially isn't fair, that this unrealness has to invade my brain and ruin all things good and mostly normal.
Once again, Sayori found that her imagination was being mean to her. She hugged one of the couch's newly purchased throw pillows to her chest, breathing in the already heavy scent of maple that came with being in Goro Akechi's apartment.
Before she could continue feeling sorry for herself, the pink-haired girl straightened the bow in her hair and resolved to occupy herself with something else. Getting out her phone, she sent a quick text.
"How's work, G? I'm booooored."
Sayori slipped her phone back into her pocket, knowing well that the detective probably wouldn't see her text until he was on his way home…
Only for it to vibrate a few seconds later!
That was fast! Sayori thought with a small smile, getting out her phone again. It made sense though. After the biking incident, Goro was sure to be having her on his mind…
Swiping her screen quickly, Sayori took no notice of the fact that the notification on her phone did not show Goro's name in the little text bubble.
No, that surprise came when she read the message she had received.
"Good afternoon!"
Sayori blinked in confusion, her brow furrowing slightly as she finally glanced at the nameless contact name at the top of the chat. This must be a wrong number, she figured, going to type out a reply…
Only to find that she couldn't.
"I know you must be rather confused, what with not being able to respond and all, but that isn't important right now. What is important is that-"
The message cut off suddenly, and Sayori tilted her head, even more confused than she was before, not to mention slightly concerned…
A new message popped up suddenly, and Sayori couldn't help but giggle.
"Urgh, I hit send too soon by accident!"
The laughter died in her throat the second the next text came.
"Anyway, the important thing is that I know your secrets!"
Sayori paled, not liking the fact that "secrets" was plural. She rubbed her arms, feeling a sudden chill. Goosebumps rose on her body, and for a second she feared she might disappear again.
"Don't worry too much, because I haven't a single care about these silly secrets of yours. I'm Alibaba by the way…"
If Sayori wasn't already really freaked out, she would have started to giggle again at the way this possible stalker person talked to her so casually. That thought calmed her down slightly, and she steeled herself as more messages popped.
"One secret I know about you… that is most important at the current moment… is that I know what you are."
Sayori felt her heart leap at that. Could this Alibaba fix what was happening to her?
"You're a Phantom Thief! This, along with a couple of other things, are bits of information I know you don't want getting out… Especially not to your roommate…"
Sayori's shoulders slumped. She didn't know what this Alibaba had on her, but it would be wise to err with caution. Just because they hadn't mentioned it, didn't mean that Alibaba wasn't aware like she was. Still, she couldn't help but feel disappointed that she didn't have a solution for her pressing problem. Officially resigning to the fact that to live was to suffer, Sayori released one final sigh before reading the rest of the messages Alibaba had spammed to her while she was having her little pity party.
"So don't tell him! Do tell your teammates!"
"Got it?!"
"Do tell the Phantom Thieves. Don't tell Goro Akechi!"
Sayori found herself nodding frantically, caught in the intensity she could imagine the sender of these messages having while they typed them out.
"Anyway, I'll keep in touch."
With that, the messages ended.
Sayori sat in silence for a few moments, wondering what exactly had just happened. Her friends had all been at school today, so any Phantom Thief related business that might have happened while she had been playing hooky at the apartment had alluded her.
If Alibaba thinks telling the others about her messages will mean something to them, then something must have happened. Maybe Alibaba contacted one of them? Sayori took a shuddering breath at the thought, startled by her moment of clarity in all of the recent confusion. If she was going to continue this train of thought, she'd bet all of her books that this had something to do with those Medjed guys…
And those Medjed guys had something to do with Goro…
Sayori gulped, her eyes widening. She was beginning to paint the beginnings of a picture in her mind, though what it was of, she had yet to find out. Maybe if Alibaba texted her back soon, she could try to ask about Goro. They had mentioned specifically in their texts not to tell him about anything, and yet…
Getting up, the girl sighed as she checked her phone. If not Alibaba, then she would have liked for Goro to text her. Maybe he could stop the flurries and flutters of the stubborn butterflies in her head and stomach. At least for now, Sayori could do something to cheer herself up.
Walking over to the small kitchen, Sayori rummaged through the pantry until she found the tea Goro said he reserved for "special occasions." It wasn't anything that a responsible teenager wouldn't drink, of course. In fact, it was the opposite of what one might find at a party or something of that nature.
No… A special occasion for Goro Akechi seemed to be an event where he especially needed to calm down with a simple cup of tea. What that event might be, with all of her recent thoughts and worried half theories, Sayori didn't think she'd like to find out.
With those fragments of worries, taking root, the girl blew a loose piece of hair out of her face with a sigh, grabbing the small pink box. It was nearing empty, and Sayori silently wondered when Goro had last had a cup of it, as she had had to dig through several boxes of other foods, only to find it by a box of, of course, pancake mix.
It's almost like he was hiding both from me. The thought caused her to chuckle. If there was one thing Sayori Matsu was not, aside from someone actually named Matsu, it was a good cook. She knew that, and had felt incredibly horrible, yet oddly flattered, when poor Goro had choked down the pancake dinner she had made for him.
Well, even an idiot can make tea, Sayori thought resolutely, setting the box on the stove. She would make a cup for her and Goro as well, and they were both going to love it!
The walk home was agony. He felt the weight of his briefcase cause a sag in his shoulders, and he barely managed to avoid dragging his feet.
To put it in the simplest terms, Goro Akechi was tired of almost everything.
He had a smile on his face, but on the inside he was screaming, and most likely crying. Yes, it was a well known fact to almost no one that Goro Akechi occasionally cried on the inside.
Oh, woe is me, he thought sardonically to himself. The day's events had made him feel like he had received a punch in the gut and a slap to the face, not necessarily in that order… Maybe at the same time, if he were being honest.
And it was all because of… of… He found himself hesitating, for the first time in a very long time. Whenever he normally thought of this particular event in his past, his mind would always flash to that man he hated so much. He would have pledged that the deeds the man had forced him to do would not be in vain. That he would get justice, for himself, and for the woman that… that Shido had wronged.
Just thinking that name caused bile to rise in his throat, but the detective wisely swallowed it down.
He simply didn't know any more. There were few things that he was sure of at this rate. Lately, everything had been whittling away at his confidence that he knew what he was doing, and that he wasn't a brain dead fool.
And now you're going to go home. You'll go home and continue to lie… to yourself, and to that naive little girl.
That thought would normally have caused him to grit his teeth, but he didn't want to do that as he crossed the busy street, full of people with phones and cameras…
Goro wanted to go home. Not to the home he currently had, where Sayori was probably napping on the couch, having calmed down on her day off, but to the home he once knew. The one with the play bridge… the one where he could run to at the end of the day and vent to his mother about how the newest bullies had pulled on his hair and called him rude names.
But thinking of home, of his mother was now tainted… tainted by the blood of others who cared about their children and only wanted the best for them.
Blood he had spilled.
Now instead of remembering her tight hugs, her whispered reassurances that his hair made him look charming, her promises of plum blossom tea, he could only remember the shadows.
All he could see were the wide eyes of his targets as he took them out without mercy.
All he could hear were their useless begs to be spared, their distorted, shadowy mouths trying to tell him different from what the boss ordered.
All Akechi could feel was the muted, satisfied smile he wore as he pulled the trigger.
All Goro could feel were the heaves of his chest on the only night he had allowed himself to cry, or to feel grief for those he had done away with. He didn't deserve to feel that way…
All day he had stared at the picture of Wakaba Isshiki, reminiscing and trying to avoid the feelings of despair that he thought he had grown immune to. But now all of the emotions were becoming raw, scratching and tearing and clawing at his chest.
The thoughts were overloading him so much, he barely felt himself bumping into a black haired woman on the street. The woman herself paused to complain, or perhaps to yell, but upon seeing him, only a silent, pensive hum came from her mouth. Arching her brow, the woman shook her head and continued on her path, pausing only once more to tie her hair up.
I almost expected her to be a fangirl with how she paused, Goro thought with a slight grin. Deciding not to dwell on that thought, or any other thought, he quickened his pace towards the apartment. Only a couple more blocks, and he could rest. It was likely he would collapse right on his bed.
However, that tiresome day was not done screwing him over quite yet, as he opened the door only to be met with a distinct crash!
I wonder what she thought of the message, or if she's told the other ones yet…
I'll wait until later to see…
Sayori was on her way to the coffee table with two freshly brewed cups of tea when it happened once again.
That hiccup like feeling built up as she took one step forward, balancing one cup in each hand. The girl quivered in shock, splashing hot tea on herself in process. This started an unfortunate chain of reactions, resulting in Sayori somehow managing to trip on the flat floor, disappearing right before she collided with the ground.
Unfortunately, the tea cups did not disappear with her.
The white china smashed on the ground, Sayori reappearing right between the piles of scattered shards. Pain lanced through her hands, forearms, and a particularly painful spot on her left shin. Tears spilled down her cheeks, and Sayori closed her eyes, trying to block out the lightning and fire that had spread through her entire body.
The cuts hurt, but the knowledge that her stupid disappearing act had caused so much mess this time hurt much more.
She felt the quick steps on the ground before she heard Goro's worried yells, and barely had time to react before the detective was already doing so for her.
I'm such an idiot, she thought bitterly, remembering her earlier thoughts. It had taken her a long time to find those cups, and now she had gone and broken them!
"Sayori? What happened? I heard a crash, and suddenly you were on the floor!" Sayori's blood ran cold at that, feeling Goro's gloved hands pulling her onto her back, already trying to fix what she had broken.
Had he seen her disappear? The thought made Sayori begin to cry harder, causing Goro to misinterpret the situation.
"Do I need to take you to the hospital?" When she gave no reply, the detective inspected her injuries, coming to the conclusion that he could handle the injuries on his own. All he needed were some tweezers, some bandaids…
"I'm sorry."
"Sayori, you know there's no need to say that," Goro replied, tucking the last of the bandages back into his briefcase. "You didn't do anything wrong. We all have our clumsy moments sometimes…"
He glanced at the now heavily bandaged Sayori, who was looking down to her lap in shame. It made his heart ache, seeing her like this. The situation reminded him too much of their first night spent together, when she had been so much more broken and sad.
"If I were you, I'd be more worried about going to school looking like that tomorrow," Goro tried, attempting and failing miserably to joke.
"I just wanted to make tea, and not even that could go right," Sayori whimpered. The detective wasn't sure if she was talking to herself or to him, and it troubled him. He reached a hesitant hand out, patting her on an unbandaged part of her arm. He didn't want to upset her injuries, afterall. Though he knew for a fact that they could probably both use a hug right about now.
"What's wrong with me?" Sayori released a shaky sob, burying her head in her hands.
"Don't talk like that, Sayori. There's nothing wrong with you… Nothing at all…"
"But how could you know? You didn't' see me-"
"I saw perfectly well what happened, Sayori!" That had sounded like a shout, and Sayori looked up in mild fear to see Goro glaring with rage filled eyes, not at her, but at his own hands.
"I saw… perfectly well. There's nothing wrong with you, Sayori. Everything is going to be fine…"
Goro stood up from his stool, calmly putting his hands lightly on Sayori's shoulders. "Get some rest. We'll see if you're up for going to school in the morning. I might have to stay home with you if that's not the case." That last part came out as a chuckle, and the detective walked to the bathroom door before stopping.
"Thank you for trying, by the way. Plum blossom is my favorite."
It was late at night when Sayori's phone once again vibrated.
This time it was a message from Akira.
"Sorry if I'm waking you up, but all of us wanted you to enjoy your day off. But this is kind of urgent. Can you make it to the hideout tomorrow? If you can't, school or Leblanc might be fine. I think this is something we all need to discuss in person."
Sayori waited a few seconds in silence before another text was sent to her, confirming what she had already figured out for herself.
"This strange Alibaba person texted me. I'll tell you what they said when we meet up tomorrow."
Well, how did you like that? I had quite a bit of fun writing this chapter, so I hope you guys liked it too. Let me know what you guys think by leaving a review! I'll see you next time.