I own nothing. Monika does.
It was only the beginning of their next visit to Futaba's Palace, and already the group of thieves had run into trouble. This trouble came in the form of a large golden coffin, which was frustratingly difficult to deal with. The grotesque hand that peeked out with the soul purpose of defeating them only added to their chagrin.
However, this only served to make the victory that followed all the more satisfying. As the shadow coffin faded into oblivion, Joker gestured for his team to follow. The others hurried after, keeping a vigilant eye out for any other foes.
"You did so well, Valiant," Panther quietly praised from their spot at the back of the group. "You held your own for so long. It's a shame it didn't last."
"Yeah," Valiant replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. "I'm really craving cheese because of that… I'm glad you guys ended the fight pretty quickly."
"Ah, don't mention it," Skull added from his own spot in the middle. "Let's just try not to get turned into mice again. You already fill up on pancakes most of the time anyway, Val."
"Oh, cut him some slack," The pink haired thief defended, though the smile on her face made it seem half hearted.
The group continued to quietly banter and tease as they made their way further into the Palace. It wasn't long until they came across something very interesting.
"What's this? Some kind of giant bow and arrow thing?" Skull asked as the Phantom Thieves observed the large structure.
"This is a stationary weapon back from the middle ages called a ballista," Queen explained.
"You even know about stuff like this, Queen?," Panther questioned in shock. "I guess that's pretty fitting for you."
"Why does this place even have a ballista?" Valiant asked curiously, stretching her arm out over the ledge they were on, but unable to touch the weapon from where it rested on its crooked perch. "There doesn't seem to be anything threatening around that's big enough to warrant this thing. If it's meant for smaller enemies, that bandit from earlier had no trouble stealing from this place, and we aren't either…"
"Well, we have had trouble," Fox mumbled. "Just none from the likes of this weapon."
"Well, there's an arrow in here," Queen gestured to the large wooden barrel, which held a massive, spear-like object. "But it seems to be broken. On top of that, it's slanted away."
The group pondered their findings before moving to a higher area to continue their inspection of the area. After once more hopping over broken bridges, climbing over ledges, and taking out a couple more shadows for good measure, they found something even more worthy of their attention.
The group inspected the green orb closely, as well as the room it was contained in. Fox seemed especially interested in the reflective properties of the contraption, while Queen took note of the walls that the light lead to. The stone seemed more crumbled the closer it got to the light, as if something had been trying to bash the wall in from the other side.
Continuing forward, the group found something incredible. It was something so tantalizing, so irresistible, so alluring, that no thief could ever pass up the opportunity to investigate further.
Joker eyed the bright orange button, the other thieves practically breathing down his neck as they hovered only inches away from the glowing stone. He began to reach out a tentative gloved hand, only for Queen to lightly object.
"Maybe we shouldn't…" the strategist warned. "It could be a trap of some kind."
"What kind of trap could it possibly be if it's this obvious?" Skull asked rhetorically, a smirk on his face.
"I suppose there is only one way to find out," Fox murmured after a moment. Everyone nodded, some, like Mona, very eagerly, while others, Queen, were far more hesitant. With the nods of confirmation, Joker wasted no time in pushing the large orange stone into the panel it rested on.
A sound akin to thunder pushing against wind echoed in their ears before a large crash caught the Phantom Thieves attention. The arrow from the ballista had created a large hole in the wall containing the room they had just been in. Now the light from the orb was spilling out and onto an emerald green gated doorway to the group's left.
They remained silent for a moment as they observed the effect of their actions, silently waiting for security to rise and for a swarm of shadows to appear.
When none came, Valiant glanced at the now lit doorway with a hesitant, but all the more hopeful smile.
"Come on… There has to be something…" Futaba muttered to herself, her fingers flying over the keyboard as she analyzed her screen's content. She continued this sad pattern of typing new words into a search engine, muttering to herself in frustration, and switching tabs in order to double check the Phansite to make sure the glaring anomaly was still there. After five minutes of no progress, she slammed her head against the desk in frustration.
It says this post was made months ago, and yet it's right there at the top of screen for some reason… It's as if someone wanted me to see it. It was an interesting theory. Though before she could jump to conclusions, Futaba had to make sure that something more believable wasn't going on here.
Maybe Sayori is still seeming to have problems, and this was pinned at the top to get the Phantom Thieves attention…
But that was an even bigger contradiction, because Sayori was definitely a member of the Phantom Thieves. It wouldn't make sense for her to be so close to them if they hadn't done something so important for her.
Curiouser and curiouser… These things weren't even the beginning of what made Sayori an enigma inside of an enigma. There was proof enough of this coming from the multiple other things Futaba was perusing from her laptop. Sayori's school record went back as far as only a few months. This was incredibly odd, because Futaba, with her level of skill, should have been able to find records of even the smallest details of Sayori's preschool days.
That doesn't make me sound like a stalker at all, Futaba thought wryly to herself as she searched all of the social media sites she could think of. Yet even here, there was no evidence of Sayori Matsu.
It was as if she didn't even exist.
Sayori seems like the type of girl that would be all over social media, with some hipster blog about the newest book she read… So this doesn't make any sense… Futaba pushed her glasses up her nose, before sliding her hand over her forehead and through her bangs in exasperation. She was practically asleep sitting up at this point.
Normally, Futaba would have given up hours ago, simply called it quits and accepted fate that the only thing she would find on the mysterious pink-haired maiden was her appearance on the cover of a crappy gossip magazine, which listed the "hot" details of the mystery girl that was stealing the renowned Second Coming of the Detective Prince from his devoted fangirls.
But now Futaba was incredibly intrigued… much too intrigued to give up. If anything, she was growing an even more furious determination to prove that her skills were superior to whatever enigma that made Sayori's presence so bizarre.
In cases like these, it might be better to go right to the source, Futaba thought. She felt incredibly nervous at the thought of what this meant, but it wasn't like she had much of a choice.
Futaba began to close all of the useless tabs that had offered her nothing but more questions. Once that was done, she opened up the chat app on her computer and began making the necessary preparations. She would probably have to wait until late in the day, and keep an ear out for when Akira Kurusu returned to Leblanc.
So much to do… Hopefully she wouldn't be interrupted by the unreal sounds and sights that clung onto her like leeches.
The Phantom Thieves were quick to launch a closer examination of the door. The group jumped down from the ledge and made quick work of the shadow that blocked their path. To their immense pleasure, the large green doors slid open, tremors and dust spilling forth with the strain.
"So shining light upon the door is what caused it to unlock…" Fox observed with a pensive expression.
Panther became giddy after hearing that. "Wait, doesn't that mean we can open the door at the great stairs the same way!?"
"We'll probably have to do a bunch," Valiant guessed with a slight shrug. "Or maybe since that door is near the front of the Palace, we need to wait for the sun in this place to be at the right position."
"Is that your roundabout way of saying this won't be easy, or are you just saying whatever pops in your head that you think sounds cool?" Queen asked as she tapped her foot.
"Mostly the first one… I'm trying to get my mind off of the fact that I'm still incredibly nervous about rooting around in someone's tomb…"
"There aren't any corpses," Mona chimed in with a frown on his face.
"You don't know for certain that there won't be!" Valiant raised her voice in anguish, before slamming a hand over her mouth, mumbling an apology.
"Ah, don't be too sorry," Skull said with a nonchalant wave of his hand. "I yell all the time and it ain't a big deal."
"Uh… Actually it kind of is…"
"That's besides the point!" Skull replied a little too quickly. "Let's just see how far we can get, and forget the past few minutes of the conversation didn't happen."
The group was quick to agree, wanting to make as much ground as possible, and Joker began to once again lead the way.
"Joker…"
"What is it, Valiant?" The black haired thief asked as they waited to ambush the nearby guard dog.
"You didn't forget to write down what that stone tablet said, right?"
The leader smiled. "Even if I did forget to write it down, I have it all memorized." He pointed at his head in a mock gesture, causing the pink haired girl across from him to chuckle.
"How did you manage to memorize that?" Fox asked in amazement. "It was a rather long passage…"
"Oh, it's easy for me to remember stuff when it's associated with something funny," Joker replied with a shrug. "Being asked to write something down in my 'handy dandy notebook' is not something I hear everyday, honestly."
With that said, Joker burst from his hiding spot and pounced on the dog. Easily ripping off the stone plate which covered its face.
This fight lasted only slightly longer than the last one. Valiant, Skull, and Panther waited on the sidelines for this one, their skills not needed for this particular fight.
"Do you guys think it would be a good idea if I put this shield to more use?" Valiant asked as she swung it around lightly on her arm.
"What, are you gonna bash someone on the head with it?" Skull asked jokingly.
"Probably not, the sword Joker got for me is plenty. Maybe when I'm holding it on my arm, I could try to shove the shadow away with the edge?" Valiant asked blankly as she observed Fox slicing a shadow in half.
"You're suddenly a lot more thoughtful than you have been lately," Panther commented with a happy smile. "You've seemed a lot more stressed out these past couple of weeks, so I'm surprised going into a Palace right now isn't making it worse."
As Queen rammed into the remainder of the shadow, utterly obliterating it and putting an end to the fight, Valiant smiled back. "I'm just happy to be getting this over with. Then we can have the rest of the summer to enjoy in peace…"
In truth, there was a lot more to Sayori's chipper attitude, but even if she was willing to elaborate on it, they had to keep moving.
After searching the next level of floors for little bit, the thieves managed to find an answer to the riddle of the stone tablet. The green orb that shone brightly in Anubis's hand would definitely be useful, and so they quickly made haste in taking it.
They fought through the a few of the shadows that manifested from the sarcophaguses, and manages to sneak by others. The Phantom Thieves were on fire as they tore through the enemies. After this bitter work was done, they managed to find yet another shining orb.
After a while, they arrived at a platform facing the great stairs from before. On the platform rested a mechanism, not unlike the one used to open the large green door. A quick search of the platform lead them to two pedestals, each with an orb-sized cavity at the top. It was easy to guess what they had to do next.
They all watched with satisfaction as the light from the golden mechanism shone on the great entrance. With that done, the Phantom Thieves continued on their merry, yet extremely serious and cautious, way. They would check on the door, and then find a safe place and discuss what to do next.
"I need to find more opportunities to talk with Sayori if I want to get a proper meeting with the rest of the Phantom Thieves," Akechi muttered to himself. "She's been absent too often these past few days, doing who knows what in the Metaverse with them."
The apartment was developing a rather lonely feeling these past few days, which was not how either of them had imagined the summer to be. If this had been in the past, it would have been normal for Goro, but now he found himself in an awkward state of desperately wishing for Sayori's company.
Why shouldn't you be on edge? Last time Sayori was confirmed to have gone to a Palace, she nearly got herself in trouble with the Mafia. Not to mention what happened the first time…
The detective shook his head furiously, wanting to banish the thought from his head of what might be happening right now. The Palace they were going to belonged to a teenage girl, not someone dangerous like Kaneshiro. Sayori would be fine. He should stay out of the affairs of the Phantom Thieves anyway, at least in the Metaverse. The disasters that could happen if he got caught too early were innumerable. The constant tug-of-war between his priorities had already caused him too much grief.
But I'm sick of being left alone… I thought that after what happened that night, I wouldn't ever have to go through that experience again…
Of course… Even though he had refused to dwell on it for the past few days, he would never be able to let go so easily. Sayori had been concerned for a friend, and with an incredibly good reason.
Leaving Goro Akechi home alone to deal with the raging storm outside.
Cut it out! You don't get to feel this way when you brought all of this suffering on everyone!
He had told himself that over and over again, but despite all of his efforts at self deprecation, he was selfishly holding onto these things. The mantra he had learned over the years was losing its effect.
Despite how many people had said those things to him, and despite how many times he repeated these to himself, it was impossible to get rid of the words that had stubbornly clung onto him.
Goro Akechi had thought them gone all these years, but they were making themselves stubbornly present in his mind once more. It was maddening, how much he wished he could have been able to remember these things sooner.
She would say the most confusing things. On that last day, she seemed almost resigned, and I had never seen her so blunt. She was determined to be happy for me that day, yet that same determination was filled with desperation…
If Akechi was good at acting like a normal, pleasant person, than his mother had been a legend. Normally, she would have dropped the act as soon as she stepped through the door of their old one room apartment, but for that last day, she had kept it firmly in place. It had been such a relief to see her without that constant look of despair and self pity, that he had never stopped to consider what it meant until it was too late.
"There's going to be a storm tonight. You can play in the puddles tomorrow, after it's done."
He never really knew what to think of his last day with his mother. Had she known even then what she was going to do that night? Had she dropped any hints he was supposed to have picked up on? That last day, she had committed herself to the same routine, but she did so with a natural looking smile on her face, quietly humming a tune to herself that he recognized as something she often played on her instrument.
Until it was time for bed. It was already storming outside, and Goro had found it incredibly hard to sleep. His mother stayed by his bedside for a long time, looking at him with something his tired mind could never process. Eventually, when he had almost drifted off, his mother assumed he had finally fallen asleep.
"I'm happy… to have been able to be with you for so long. But… I guess I've had enough. I've lost…"
Whatever she said after that was never heard. The thunder was too loud. She left and never came back home.
Goro Akechi thought back on all of these things, and once again wondered if he had misinterpreted it. Still, there was no point in him dwelling on it. It no longer mattered. Even if it was better to think of it a different way… It was too late to do anything about it.
But now things were also incredibly different. Sayori was here. At least for now, it was his responsibility to make sure she was alright. Until she went home, he had a commitment. Sayori wasn't allowed to end up like his mother.
He had another commitment, one that he wasn't willing to give up on. By now it would probably be too dangerous for him to abandon it anyway. He also had to avenge his mother, and make up for all of the years he had suffered after that night.
He wanted to lift Sayori up, but he had to drag Shido down. Those two priorities took center stage in his mind, a conflict that had haunted him for months.
I wonder… Which one will win in the end?
"Alright. I think it's safe to say we've made enough progress for today," Joker announced as the group rested in their recently found safe room. "We'll come back later, maybe tomorrow, to continue."
There was a collective sigh of relief as the group prepared to leave. The next time they came here would be to work their way through the corridor. There was a definite excitement in the air at they all congratulated each other on their work for the day.
Once they made it to the real world, Sayori waved goodbye to everyone and headed for the subway. Despite her excitement, she was way too exhausted to walk like she normally did. Not to mention, it gave her time to come up with excuses.
Goro seemed to buy her vague story about helping a friend, but there were limits to what he would believe before he would start asking troubling questions. Not to mention, he needed to meet her friends and be convinced of their innocence if this cycle was going to stop.
His comment from the group's earlier meeting made Sayori nervous. Maybe he was just kidding around, when he said that her friend group matched his profile of the Phantom Thieves, but there was still another glaring issue.
Morgana did say you needed to hear him talk in the Metaverse in order to hear him in this place, right? If that is the case, Goro shouldn't have been able to hear what Morgana said… And it didn't seem like he did either… Of course, that didn't stop Sayori from doubting. Morgana knew a lot, but there was always a chance he was wrong.
Sayori continued to ponder these things on the way home, at the same time feeling incredibly lucky that she managed to find a seat.
"Did you have fun with your friends?" Goro asked as soon as Sayori entered the apartment.
A bit put off by his unusually chipper nature, Sayori simply nodded and smiled. She shook herself out of her surprise and went to sit beside her roommate. As soon as she took a seat on the couch, she was greeted by the smell of fast food and couldn't help but quietly groan.
"I almost miss the pancakes…"
"Well, my cooking skills are rather limited. I only really know how to make breakfast foods," the detective replied sheepishly.
"Is that why I came home yesterday to see you eating cereal for dinner?" Sayori asked with a knowing smile.
"Partly yes, but also because I still have yet to get my next paycheck," he countered. "And also, you made me spend money on those hats, which I haven't seen since you visited your friends yesterday." Who am I kidding? They could have been eaten by a shadow or something ridiculous like that.
"Excuses, excuses. You know what… I'll make dinner tomorrow, lazy bones," Sayori said enthusiastically, much to Goro's chagrin.
"You don't need to trouble yourself with that, Sayori," he tilted his head and smiled. "We could go out instead.
"But you just said you don't have enough money to buy groceries," Sayori replied with a confidant smile. "Besides, by watching you cook, I learn a lot…"
"About making breakfast." The detective countered. He rubbed his chin, deep in thought. "If you learn so much, then I'll cook, and you can watch. I'll make pancakes if you miss them."
Sayori begrudgingly admitted defeat, before a light smile slipped onto her face. "Well, for now I guess it can't be helped. Give me some of that." She snatched the fast food bag off of the coffee table and grabbed small sandwich. "You've been getting Big Bang Burger a lot, honestly."
"Apparently, I'm being sponsored by it or something." The detective shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Some big marketing scheme, I guess."
Sayori smirked. "Maybe they're hoping the mystery girl from a crappy magazine will make an appearance with you."
"Oh right. I forgot that that was published today. Some tabloid tried to profit off of shortly after the fireworks festival, but I suppose they didn't get very far, since they didn't get anything other than a cellphone picture," The detective laughed. "Sae said a couple of days ago, that the more you look at that picture, the more it looks like you're just trying to save me from getting mugged."
"I think so too. Now that it's in a magazine, you think I'll get to go on TV with you?" Sayori asked with an innocent smile.
Goro began to choke on air, a reaction Sayori wasn't expecting from him.
He lightly pounded his chest with his fist, regaining his composure. "I think that's best avoided, Sayori. Anybody could search for information on you and find you on the Phantom Thieves website. What kind of gossip would that stir up then?" The moment he said that his eyes widened. "Though maybe more information on you could help me solve the case." He put a hand on his chin, thinking it over carefully. Sayori grew nervous.
"I was just joking, Goro. Even if it would help the case, I don't really like the idea of being in the public eye too much," Sayori attempted to dismiss the idea, already knowing that even if it weren't for the fact that she had to be discreet, the search for information would ultimately be fruitless.
"Sayori, I know you don't like it, but it's something to consider," the detective replied. "I definitely haven't been handling this case as well as I should have, but it's something I only trust myself to do."
Goro quickly became frustrated after that, and Sayori looked for a change in topic.
"I can understand why you wouldn't trust adults to handle this. After hearing everything you've been willing to say about your upbringing, I get the feeling you're doing what you think is right."
This was apparently the wrong thing to say, as Goro let out a bitter laugh. "I honestly don't know what is right. Or at the very least, if I do know, I've always ignored it. I think it's safe to say I've always only trusted myself. But even I never know if I'm being honest… even with myself."
"Oh, come on!" Sayori scolded, pinching his cheek. "What happened to that brave and proactive Detective Prince I saw this morning?" She hugged him tightly, opting to do that instead of pissing him off even more by revealing that she knew he was ticklish.
He should know by now that he can't hide stuff from me.
"He started moping because he's had the past few days off, but his housemate has been too busy for him," the detective tried to pout, but felt a bit ridiculous and smiled instead.
"I'm sorry, Goro. I'll try to make time to spend with you tomorrow," Sayori began to compromise. If they wanted to help Futaba, then she had to make sure Goro didn't get more suspicious.
"Or if it's not too much trouble, I could spend time with you and your friends," the detective suggested with an innocent smile.
"Uh- I… I'm still working out a day we can all meet," Sayori stuttered out her excuse. She took a deep breath, remembering the story she had come up with on the way here.
"I can understand that… Though I am technically your guardian. I don't exactly think it sounds very good on my part to let you spend almost your entire day with people I barely know anything about," Goro pointed out.
"That's true, but you're not just my guardian… You're my roommate, and also my boyfriend," Sayori said, attempting to derail the conversation. "And as a fellow teenager, I think it's also important for you to know that it makes people uncomfortable when you accuse them of being criminals in public."
"Oh…" the detective squeezed his eyes shut, annoyed at his own stupidity. "I suppose that would make anyone nervous. Perhaps I should find a way to apologize?"
"You can do that by waiting until they're ready to meet you," Sayori replied. "We'll think of something fun to do. I promise."
The two smiled at each other. They spent the rest of the evening relaxing together, and deciding what they wanted to buy on their next grocery run.
They each had a busy day in front of them, but for now, they were content to enjoy each other's company.
"Hey, I need to ask you something."
Sayori rubbed her eyes and grabbed her vibrating phone. Upon seeing the familiar symbol of Alibaba, she immediately opened her chat app and looked at the messages being sent to her.
"Are you aware that the post about you on the Phansite, the one made months ago, is pinned to the top?"
"Huh," Sayori mumbled, shifting her other hand out from under the coverings. She quickly went to the website, only to feel rather confused. She quickly texted a reply.
"I'm not sure what you mean. I checked, and the comment about me wasn't at the top."
"What? But I've reloaded my page hundreds of times, and it's still there!" Alibaba replied. She seemed to be rather distressed, which worried Sayori.
"Are you alright?"
"It doesn't matter, anyway. You already know I'm losing it, so this shouldn't be a surprise. Thanks for telling me… I guess. I have stuff to do. Make sure you and your teammates fulfill our deal."
Sayori felt herself become agitated. Is she really going to text me at night, and then ditch again!? Feeling like she had had quite enough, Sayori sent out a few texts of her own. Afterall, nothing ventured meant nothing gained.
"If you can still read this, I would like to know why you wanted to text me about this, and why you didn't do it on our team's group chat. You've done it before, anyway."
"We want to help you, and getting to know you better could help."
"I want to help you, Futaba. Nobody deserves to go through all that you've gone through. If you ever feel like it, please talk to me."
"If it makes you feel better, I can talk about myself first. You seem to be curious."
Sayori was about to send more, but she didn't want to go overboard. Besides, the best way to help Futaba now was to be well rested for the next time they went to the Palace.
With nothing else to do, Sayori nestled under the light blanket. From where she lay, she could make out Goro's sleeping form from his open bedroom door.
Even as she felt herself drifting off, a deep sympathy swelled in the girl's heart.
Nobody deserves to go through any of this. Why do all of my friends have to shoulder so much pain?
It's not fair… It's not right…
"So you've come. Follow me." Futaba's Shadow took off down a hallway just as the thieves came up the stairs.
Valiant turned to follow her, only for Mona to block her path. The black cat creature seemed rather insistent as he hopped up and down, making a case for why not to follow her. "The last few times we interacted with her have only given us setback after setback. Right now, Futaba is too defensive, and will only continue to push us away the further we go."
"Mona is right," Joker nodded in agreement. "For now let's focus on opening up more doors."
Everyone seemed to think that was the better strategy in the long run, and even Valiant had to begrudgingly admit that it was the better option at the moment.
With that, everyone continued running up the stairs, intent on fulfilling their goal. They could only hope that whatever they found up there would be helpful in their infiltration.
And though they didn't bother voicing it out loud at the moment, they had all come to the silent agreement.
They wanted to learn more about Futaba Sakura.
"Sae-san, I require your assistance."
Sae looked up from her laptop, feeling a migraine forming as she made eye contact with the Goro Akechi. She sighed and quietly closed the lid, wondering what he could possibly want at a time like this.
"What is it, Akechi-kun? I'm in the middle of looking at the evidence I managed to gather…"
"That's rather convenient, because I was hoping I could take a second look at some of the information you have," Goro quickly replied, placing the file he had borrowed the other day back on her desk.
Sae raised her eyebrow at him. "Why should I?"
"I have a hunch."
The silver-haired woman grumbled and moaned. "Anything you look at is not allowed to leave this room. I want to hear whatever your little hunch is."
"That's just fine," Goro replied, sliding over to take a look at her laptop.
"If this turns out to be a waste of my time…" Sae grumbled to herself. She took a few deep breaths before turning to look at the detective. "What do you need to look at anyway?"
To Sae's confusion, the detective looked conflicted with what he was about to ask. He rubbed the back of his neck, and made sure his voice was steady. She wondered why now all of a sudden he seemed so nervous about it, when it was completely appropriate to ask these things in such a complicated case.
After a few long seconds, Sae grew impatient, and was about to rescind her offer, when finally, Goro Akechi spoke.
"I would like any information you have on Futaba Sakura, please."
I'm updating this late because I've had a slightly busy past couple of days. Now that summer has finally started, I hope to go back to uploading weekly for the time being. Anyway, what did you guys think? This was a fun chapter to write at the start of the summer. Also, happy late birthday to Goro Akechi! That's about all I have to say. Please read, review, and I'll see you guys next time.