I own nothing. Monika does.

"Are you sure you have everything?" Goro asked for the thirteenth time that morning. Sayori blearily rolled her eyes. She was honestly too tired and preoccupied with her own nervousness to put up with her boyfriend's fretting, especially when they both knew he was only asking because the real questions he wanted to ask simply couldn't be said.

"The time to ask me that would have been at the apartment," she replied, patting the seat of the moving cab they were sitting on. They couldn't check now anyway, because the old suitcase Goro had lent her was currently being stored in the trunk.

"I know that… You can never be too sure though," the detective said. In truth, he was looking for any excuse he possibly could to keep talking to her, for multiple reasons. The faraway look in Sayori's eyes as she thought about something that was troubling her was, for once, a smaller worry. It was no match for the inexplicable terror that he was trying so desperately to hide.

"I guess that's true," Sayori trailed off, thinking once more back to the distractions that plagued her. The strange, repeating dream she had been having for what seemed like an eternity would have been her main concern, had it not been for her most recent group project as a Phantom Thief.

All week they had been going into Mementos, fulfilling requests, determined not to slack off before they went on their school trip. The Phantom Thieves were now one of the media's main focuses, afterall. While this would normally be seen as a blessing, putting another pause in Sayori's troubling new habit of disappearing in a blink, it was made uncomfortable by the new questions Joker had decided to ask the Shadows during the Hold-Ups.

"Have you seen Black Mask?"

"What does Black Mask look like?"

"Who is Black Mask?"

On and on, each of them made Sayori more and more uneasy as her suspicions kept being pulled to the forefront of her mind. The criminal was supposed to be an enigma to her, just like it was for everyone else. Yet, everyday Sayori felt the probability of her terrifying theory getting higher. She wanted to think she was just being paranoid, but the water keeping her theory afloat was getting too high. Soon there would be too much proof that she would be forced to tell her comrades about it…

After a long time of wallowing in her worries, Sayori became more and more aware that the object of both her suspicions and her affections was sitting less than a foot away in the dirty taxi they shared. Sayori was about to leave for Hawaii, leaving him all alone. Even if it was for less than a week, the thought of leaving Goro by himself for so long was distressing enough to temporarily break her away from her worries about his intentions.

Even now, I'm leaving him alone! Sayori thought in horror. She had been ignoring him during the only time they would truly have together until the trip to Hawaii was over with. Looking at the uncomfortable, worried expression on Goro's face all but confirmed that he must be thinking the same thing. Putting barely any more thought into it, Sayori reached out and wrapped his hand tightly in her own.

The way the detective jumped slightly in surprise made Sayori think, just for a second, that he hadn't really been expecting it at all. He seemed to be brought out of a stupor. After a second to collect himself, Goro looked at their interlaced hands and then into Sayori's eyes. "What's this for?" he asked with a tight smile.

"We'll call everyday, just like we promised… So please don't get lonely and gloomy-gussy while I'm gone," Sayori said sweetly. She wasted no time in scooting over until there was hardly any space between them. Keeping the taxi driver in mind, Sayori gave Goro a fleeting kiss on the cheek and hugged his arm. It wasn't as cozy as she would have liked, but it was enough to fluster the poor boy.

"Sayori… The… That's not…" Goro was quick to silence himself. It was at times like these that he found it highly possible that Sayori just did these things to get him to confess the many secrets he had that he kept for her-for everyone's-safety. Still, this secret was one that he could not tell her. There were absolutely no circumstances he could think of where he would benefit from telling Sayori what he was going to do while she was gone.

"Goro… You don't have to lie to me… Or keep things from me," Sayori whispered, knowing only he would be able to hear it. The taxi driver didn't seem interested anyway, but if this could be a possible turning point for her theories and suspicions, it would do a lot more good to be quiet about it. At this point while she was definitely still frightened about what she might discover, there was still the small voice inside telling her to follow her heart, no matter how cliche it was. Maybe it's the dating simulator part talking or something, but it feels too real not to hold weight…

But I have to, because I don't want anyone else to hurt you, or trick you, or use you… I've already done enough of that… Goro thought guiltily to himself. Sayori was too sweet, too intoxicating, and definitely too addicting. Common sense should have told him a long time ago to cut her away before Shido did… before I did this to myself.

I dug my grave… so I may as well lay in it, the detective thought wryly to himself. He allowed himself to lean back, tilting his head to rest on the side of Sayori's own. He could feel her grip tightening as she relaxed her head too.

It was a nice way to relax and find comfort. For a brief moment Goro even found himself forgetting that in a few days, he was once again going to have to dirty his hands with the blood of yet another person.

Wash, rinse, and repeat. First Kobayakawa, and then Okumura, and then, finally, the SIU Director…

Although Sayori still felt happy and safe like the way they were now, the natural wariness that had taken root inside of her months ago made it easy not to get lost in the sensation of comfort. This was how she saw, even before the detective, that they were getting close to the airport. Through the front window she briefly saw a few street signs that listed nearby buildings of interest, and in the sky she could see planes getting bigger and bigger as they landed on the ground. The nervous pit in her stomach grew, because Sayori had never been on a plane before.

I face danger almost every day, and yet I'm afraid of getting on an airplane… It was silly, but still reasonable enough in Sayori's mind to warrant the nervous gulp, not to mention the sudden tense and sweaty palms that alerted Goro to her distress. She felt the warmth leave the side of her head as he sat up and stretched slightly, relieving muscles that had never been sore and blinking away the sleepiness that had never possessed him.

After a few seconds of this, Sayori felt him squeeze her hand to get her attention, and looked over. She immediately gaped in surprise, noticing his intense gaze that dissolved into a small smile. Even though he definitely wasn't tired, the worried creases that marred his skin in some areas suggested otherwise. The sight of it gripped Sayori with the insistent urge to know what could possibly make him so anguished. More than anything, she wanted to help carry his burdens just like he did for her.

"Sayori…" Goro began. From the way his breath hitched slightly, Sayori thought that he might be scared of something. The detective's eyes seemed to flick this way and that way, avoiding her eyes, as if there was something else that could give him a sign that he should dare speak.

But the only sign you should need is to see me… If you need help, I'll help you… She didn't know how she would do that, but she wanted- no, she needed to try.

After a few moments of deliberation, the detective finally seemed to make a decision. He looked deep into her eyes, unyielding and determined, and began again. "Sayori… Are you…"

Sayori felt her anticipation grow as he took his question slowly. She didn't even care as the taxi began to slow down near the entrance of the airport. He just needed to take one small step forward and she could find out what she needed to know. They trusted each other… So the simple act of confiding in her once again wouldn't be too difficult.

"Are you… sure you packed everything?"

Sayori's hopeful train of thought came to a halt just as the taxi finally stopped. The driver's words were not capable of processing in her head as she felt a sorrow that made her lip quiver. The only thing that kept her from actually crying was the defeated glance in Goro's eyes.

There was no need for her to be disappointed when he was already disappointed in himself.

Sayori repeated that to herself over and over again as she nodded, giving Goro a small smile of her own. A few minutes passed as the detective paid his fees to the driver, prompting him to pop the trunk open. Sayori flashed the man a polite smile as Goro, chivalrous as ever, opened the door of the cab and held out a hand. The two went over to the opened trunk and grabbed the girl's luggage.

Sayori felt, as she watched the taxi disappear among the numerous other cars that appeared in front of her, that she might be at an impasse. As always, she was moving towards the inevitable ending of the game she had been placed in, but it all felt pointless.

I've probably made more progress in my relationship with Goro than anyone else, but what point is there if I can't help him the way he's helped me out of trouble?

Only a moment of thinking this passed her by, before a warm weight in her hand banished those thoughts. Lacing his fingers through hers, Goro lead Sayori into the airport with a no-nonsense rhythm to his steps. He seemed to understand that for whatever reason, she was incredibly nervous, because after they made it into the building, he made sure that he matched her pace, making sure there was only a few inches of space between them at any given moment.

Of course, it should be obvious that at this point, the detective was taking these measures more for himself than for Sayori. Keeping her close, until she could get on her plane and far enough away, while Akechi was performing bitter work was a small form of comfort. He kept his eyes peeled for her classmates, or her teacher, making sure to keep Sayori moving quickly alongside him.

The sooner he was done here, the sooner the real preparations for his job this week could be fulfilled. In the past, these actions were normally completed over the course of one month, or maybe two. However, if he wanted to avoid the consequences of discovery that he feared the most, he had to complete all of it within a single week. Not to mention, the added work of finding a suitable place to put one of the final nails in the coffin. This was the certain item that made his right arm, currently carrying his briefcase, tremble and shake with the unspoken threat it held.

Sayori would be out of the country, safe and sound, while he set her team up for inevitable failure and destruction. Goro had no guarantee that she wouldn't be caught in the chaotic aftermath. The only promise that was made to him was that she would still be alive while he was staging these incidents.

But that's not enough… The taunting voice whispered. How can it be when she deserves so much more than this miserable life of yours can offer?"

The voice was familiar, soothing him like a lullaby despite what was actually being said. The absence of mind Goro felt in response made him miss the excited shouts that came from Sayori, only inches away from his ear. It wasn't until she nearly pulled his arm out of his socket trying to drag him forward that the detective got any bearing on what was going on.

"Futaba-chan, what are you doing here?" Sayori said ecstatically, bounding up to the ginger-haired girl.

Futaba, already skittish as a deer, jumped slightly at Sayori's sudden appearance. Leaning closer into Sojiro, who stood next to her in a white jacket and hat, she looked around warily before unzipping the dark blue bag on her shoulder. "We came to say goodbye."

Morgana popped his head out of the bag and turned his head in the direction of the other Phantom Thieves, who were only a few yards away, purchasing things like coffee thermoses and neck pillows for the long flight ahead. "We already saw them, but we'll probably all spend time together before you all get on the plane," the cat spoke. His ears drooped slightly. "I wish I could go with you guys."

"Don't be too teary-eyed and gloomy gussy, Mona," Futaba replied, suddenly chipper. She reached out a hand and pet the black cat on his head, despite his obvious resistance to the seemingly humiliating affection. "You and I get an entire week to spend time together, just you, and me, and Sojiro. It's going to be so much fun!" The girl adjusted her glasses and began listing a string of planned activities on her fingers. Most of the items listed had something to do with anime or video games.

Morgana was getting less and less enthusiastic, which was saying something. He had barely been happy about any of this in the first place afterall. He looked around Futaba's excited form, staring desperately at Sojiro, before also turning towards Sayori and Goro. "Please, if any of you have a merciful bone in your body, save me! Take me with you!"

"Pipe down, Morgana!" Sojiro spoke in response of the long whines the cat was releasing. "You're yowling is going to get us kicked out."

Morgana quieted at that, his ears drooping completely against the sides of his head as he looked at his front paws in sadness. "Sorry, Boss," he replied, even though Sojiro couldn't hear him.

"Yeah. Besides, this week isn't going to be no work and all play, Mona. We have important business as an adorable kitty and his loveable human companion," Futaba assured, flipping her hair in a dramatic imitation of a graceful actor on TV. The gesture had the opposite effect, falling over her face and getting caught in her glasses and mouth.

"What important business do you have? If you don't mind me asking," Goro suddenly chimed in. He looked imploringly at both of them, but despite being unaware that the detective could understand everything the cat said, Morgana kept his mouth stubbornly shut.

Futaba struggled to come up with something as she worked to untangle her hair from her black frames. "Uh…Hm… Sojiro?"

"She insists on having me take her to the doctor that lives near my cafe. Can't imagine why, honestly," Sojiro said with a sigh. "And she got permission to bring Morgana in as emotional support."

"I should have done that," Akira chimed in suddenly, leading his Shujin teammates to stand by the rest of the group. He chuckled slightly, noticing the awkward shift as Goro seemed to be conflicted between avoiding eye contact and keeping up his usual public persona with a practiced, confident smile.

"Boss," Makoto prompted with a casual-business like smile, along with stern, unyielding eyes hidden behind a pair of aviator sunglasses. "You said that you had something to say to these two, before the detective managed to slip away?"

"Right, thanks for reminding me," Sojiro said with his usual smirk, though there a slight strain in his voice. "Well, it seems evident by what all of these kids say that Sayori has you wrapped around her little finger-"

Goro sputtered and hacked, Sayori unable to help the giggle that escaped her. "I'd say that we're pretty much on equal ground, boss. It's just that Goro seems to crave attention like a dog barking at the door whenever I'm away for too long…" If she realized how much worse that sounded, it didn't quite process until Ryuji and Ann were using each other for support as their tears of laughter nearly blinded them.

Goro knelt his head in shame, having surrendered to the fact that he was doomed to be humiliated. He couldn't really be upset at Sayori for speaking the truth… But she could have at least phrased it better!

"Sa… You get needy too, Sayori," he mumbled in slight defense.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, Akechi-kun," Ann said good naturedly.

Sayori chose to cut off that conversation before it could go any further. "I'm sorry, Goro. I didn't mean to insult you. I just think you're really cute, like a puppy!" She held up a hand to stop any of her friends from making any snippy comment about that, still holding her smiling gaze with Goro. "Anyway, Boss. What were you saying?"

"Ah," Sojiro seemed to realize he could finally speak again. "Well, I heard that you get lonely, and since none of these kids are going to be here, I wanted to invite you to Leblanc. I relate to your struggle, so I was thinking you and I could share a drink… of coffee. It would be on the house." The man explained his thought process, sounding nervous and shy. However, known only to him, this was mostly an act for what he was really interested in. He wanted to get some information for a mystery that had boggled his mind for ages now.

"Oh, dammit! I'm missin' out on Boss's free coffee rounds," Ryuji whined. "This can't be for real! If he's gonna do this, you gotta take advantage of it!" Ryuji was suddenly intruding on Goro's personal bubble, only seconds away from grabbing hold of the detective's dress jacket in desperation. "Goro, man, you gotta try all of these flavors!"

The blond then began making a very long list of all of the so called "best flavors" on the menu, with the rest of the team chiming in with their own personal favorites. Futaba recommended curry. Akira recommended plain black coffee, also mentioning that Yusuke would recommend it too if he weren't already on a different flight. Makoto mentioned French Vanilla and Hazelnut, and Ann simply said to ask for whipped cream.

Sojiro sweated slightly, tipping the small brim of his hat over his head in an attempt to hide his eyes. "You kids are going to run me out of business. One coffee and one curry for free, and the detective has to pay for anything else he orders. Got it?" The man suddenly turned his withering gaze on Goro, who suddenly found himself shy. He gave a small nod as Sayori swung his arm around in a sudden burst of excitement.

"Where'd the free curry come from, Boss?" She asked. "You only mentioned coffee earlier."

"Uh… I heard Futaba say it just now, and I figured I should throw that in as well. Coffee and curry are the two most popular things I serve, afterall," The man said defensively, before he quickly composed himself and smiled slyly. "Who knows, maybe I could get some free advertising out of it." The man winked at the detective before finding a seat for himself near one of the closer walls. "You kids have a bit of fun before it's time for your flight to leave. I'll wait here for you, Futaba."

Futaba nodded, straightening her glasses, her mouth set in a grim line. "Mission accepted, Sojiro! Have fun in an airport is a go!"

She raised her arms up dramatically, only to notice everyone else leading Sayori to where Ms. Kawakami was waiting. They dropped off her bags at the luggage drop off, giving Sayori an opportunity to say hello to her classmates. After a few greetings, the group went about their business until it was time to go through security with the rest of the class.

"I still think you should have made your bags carry-ons," Goro said with a weak, exasperated smile.

"Who are you foolin,' detective? You can't be for real, thinkin' those giant suitcases belong anywhere on those tiny shelves," Ryuji gaped and guffawed.

"I've done a bit of traveling on planes in the past, Akechi-kun," Ann said. "As long as her luggage was marked, it will probably be fine."

"You did mark it. Right, Sayori?" Makoto asked, suddenly worried.

"Yeah, I tied one of Goro's patterned ties around the handle," Sayori clarified innocently.

The detective suddenly stopped. "You did what?! Which ones?!" He began to stress over the importance of his surprisingly big collection of ties. Never before had it become so obvious to him that he actually enjoyed something so mundane. It was a better hobby than others, at least.

"They were the ones that had a yellow banana pattern, and a green fish pattern," Sayori clarified.

"Oh. Nevermind then…"

Goro would have much preferred if that was where that particular conversation stopped, but the Phantom Thieves were now interested in this new information about their detective adversary.

"Do you have other fruits or animals?" Ann asked, tilting her head in a fake innocence meant to hide her cockiness.

Goro began to tentatively shake his head, when Sayori chimed in with her own answer.

"He has a monkey pattern to match the banana tie. And a bunch of kerchiefs with every food on the food pyramid."

"I need a picture of that!" Futaba declared. "I'd spam it all over the internet or something."

"Please don't joke about such things," Goro replied, suddenly nervous for his professional career.

Akira suddenly smirked. "Do you have anything flashy? Maybe with sequins or something."

Goro clapped his mouth shut and gave Sayori a pleading look. Luckily, she decided to show him mercy this time, giving him a nod of reassurance.

"Several then," Akira said with a chuckle, causing both of them to gape.

The group spent the next hour chatting idly. At one point Makoto stopped by a booth and insisted that all of the girls choose a book to read for the plane ride. Ann got a pile of magazines, Makoto chose a mystery novel for herself, and Sayori was convinced by Futaba to grab the first book to a manga series. At the last minute, Akira grabbed a book on Greek mythology, explaining that he had a newfound interest in it. He made sure to gesture one hand in Sayori's general direction, so everyone would have a better understanding of what he meant.

"Good plan, leader," Morgana commented. "You've read books on everyone but Sayori so far, afterall." The cat was lightly shoved back into the bag by Futaba, who grumbled slightly.

"It sucks to be you. Akira. You have such weird book mood swings. I don't understand how anyone can sit through reading Lovecraft when they only have a sudden impulse to read it," Futaba grumbled. Akira shrugged in response, before reaching into Futaba's bag and giving Morgana a teasing pet.

"We should get going," Akira spoke, causing what would have been complaints from the cat to turn into a small, grumbled goodbye.

"Yes, we should all get going before we miss the plane," Makoto agreed, dragging Ann and Ryuji to the rest of the students waiting to be accepted into the rest of the airport.

Akira gave Futaba a reassuring look. The young girl was shuffling her feet awkwardly, looking around the airport nervously. Akira patted the bag containing Morgana, giving Futaba a small smile. "You'll do just fine getting back to Sojiro on your own, Futaba. I know you can do it. If you need help, Morgana will be right here."

"I can also assist, if needed," Goro chimed in awkwardly, not feeling the weight of what he had just offered until Akira gave him a nod.

The ebony haired boy looked both left and right to avoid bumping into people, before making his way across to join the fray of Shujin uniforms.

"Bye!" Futaba shouted at the large group. Before anyone even knew what was going on, (even Futaba didn't really know) she latched onto Sayori in a surprisingly tight hug. "I'm staying like this before I give you two privacy, but really I'm going to be watching around that corner so I know when Akechi-kun can take me back to Sojiro." Futaba continued hugging a now giggling Sayori, before releasing her and walking off to do exactly what she just claimed.

Goro found himself being hugged by Sayori in a similar fashion. He lightly ran his fingers through her hair and considered taking off his gloves for a moment. Sayori would be far away for quite awhile. While that was for the best, he knew he would miss being side by side.

Sayori buried her head in his chest and breathed deeply, enjoying the smell of maple. "We'll call when I get to the hotel?"

"Yes," Goro confirmed. No other words were spoken after that. Even though they were in a crowded airport, filled with noisy people, they both found themselves enjoying the silence.

Finally, the two separated and Sayori ran to join her class. Kawakami was giving her an unimpressed look, heaving such a sigh that even Goro could see it from where he stood.

The detective released a sigh of his own. It was going to be an incredibly long week. Now that he had gained an extra dose of moral fiber, it was going to be even more exhausting. He nearly regretted agreeing to take Futaba to Sojiro, as plans for what to do when he got home until he could call Sayori were already organizing themselves in his head. It was a practiced system to him now. He had perfected it a long time ago.

He stood there, considering his options for what felt like an eternity. He didn't notice the odd stares people sent him as they maneuvered around him, nor did he notice Futaba looking at him in concern from her hiding place. He could only watch as the world moved forward without him, leaving him to rot in the disgusting quicksand pit of blood continued to suck him deeper in.

Struggling only makes me sink faster, Goro thought grimly. At the very least he could calmly wait for the end of this pit, which he called his plan, to come, and enjoy the things, the people, and the girl who all meant so much to him.

You could just wait for destruction… But is that truly the only option?

The voice again, annoyingly persistent, yet a lullaby all the same. But he had accepted the answer a long time ago. There was no one who wanted to help him. There was no one that could help him.

No one could save him from his own monsters, just as no one could save Kobayakawa.

Sayori felt lucky, having a better grasp on "reality," because the plane ride seemed to pass her by in a blink. It only seemed like a few minutes had passed on the plane, for perhaps it was only the passing of time until the real adventure in Hawaii began. Or perhaps the plane ride simply seemed to go by quickly because she slept through most of it. That was also a definite possibility.

Still, the moments she was aware of were not the most pleasant. The worst moment was probably when she had the feeling of waking up to an immense, painful pressure in her ears. Makoto and Ann, who had been sitting next to her, looked at her in concern when they noticed she was tearing up from the pain.

"My ears just popped. I'm fine," Sayori answered their concerns before the two girls could voice them.

"I hope you feel better when we land," Makoto said sympathetically from her seat by the window.

Ann patted Sayori's back in support. "I'm sure things will be fine…"

Sayori nodded, grimacing as the pain in her ear forced her to focus much more. Not much really happened on the plane after that, though. The time it took for them to finally arrive at Hawaii still somehow managed to pass by in a blur. The only thing Sayori really remembered of the time were the worries she felt about disappearing during the visit to Hawaii, and the urge to call Goro and check in on him. The anxiety seemed to get deeper and deeper with every minute that passed. It was hard to fathom how she could possibly become more worried for him than she already was, but somehow Sayori had proven herself wrong.

Her fears made her stomach lurch even more than it should have when the plane finally landed at their destination with a small bump on the ground. Sayori wondered, briefly, if she should make a stop at the bathroom in the plane before the class finally departed into the station. She felt as if she might vomit, and worried that the nervousness in her stomach was another sign of disappearing.

However, Kawakami was stubborn, insisting that they all stay in their seats until most of the other passengers had left the plane. Needless to say, it was a slow time getting off, and Sayori sadly found that her ears still ached as she listened to Kawakami giving room assignments.

"Hm… Matsu-chan, I find it strange that you somehow managed to get a room assignment with someone outside of your class, but I suppose that's what happens when you're one of the last people to sign up," the teacher said, a troubled expression on her face. "Still, it's better than sharing a room with one of the extra boys, like Sakamoto-kun."

At the mention of his name, Ryuji grew defensive. "Hey! She has an effing boyfriend! Besides, I figured I was with Akira!"

"As I said earlier, you have to stay with your class, at least." Kawakami looked at the room assignments and released a groan. "I have to spend some time getting room assignments settled. Feel free to look around, but stay out of trouble. You guys are representing Shujin Academy, and Japan, on this trip." She seemed incredibly bored saying the last sentence, as if she had been made to rehearse it many times. Nevertheless, the Phantom Thieves kept her words in mind as they split off from everyone else.

For some time, most of them marveled at how different the airport looked from the one in Japan. Sayori and Ann were probably the most accustomed to it. Ann had been once before, when she was a small child on vacation. She didn't remember much, but the airport brought about a sense of deja vu.

As for Sayori, she didn't really know why. All she could really fathom was that it had something to do with her heightened awareness, if that's even what she could really call it.

It wasn't long after looking around that Yusuke found them. Sayori felt some surprise that he and his class had become stuck here, but was excited all the same. He had mostly been busy with Akira and Ryuji during their last visit to the beach, so maybe now would be a better time to spend some time together outside of Phantom Thievery.

"We should all spend a day together," Sayori suggested to everyone. "We could even bring Futaba, Morgana, and Goro with us on the phone!"

"Well… I get the feeling that's not the best idea, with the new feature on the Phansite," Akira said sadly. "Something tells me that in the next few days we'll have a lot to discuss about what we should do next as Phantom Thieves when we go back to Japan."

Sayori pouted. "That's not really fair to us, since this is supposed to be a relaxing break for us."

"Well, the Phantom Thieves are famous now. We gotta think about it and plan for something big!" Ryuji exclaimed. "We can't let all of our new fans down when we just got them!"

Ann sighed. "Let's discuss this later, when we have some privacy." She gestured to the busy airport around them to emphasize her point.

Everyone agreed and began to wander idly around the airport. They all seemed to take the buddy system that Kawakami had established at the beginning of their trip very seriously, as Sayori never truly found herself alone. Perhaps that was just her friends' over protective nature when it came to her though.

After about ten minutes of this, Kawakami called everyone back to their meeting place. Shortly after, everyone claimed their luggage and hopped onto a bus waiting outside the airport for them. It was somehow even more cramped then when Morgana was a bus in the Metaverse, despite being twice the size.

Sayori looked out over the students in the bus, wondering which one would be her roommate. Unbeknownst to her, the girl was purposely trying to make herself small in her seat. Almost nobody even noticed she was there.

Goro Akechi waited impatiently outside of the school office. He had managed to school his new found nerves into a neutral expression, knowing anything out of the ordinary would set off a red flag. Still, that didn't quell his irritation at being ignored for so long despite the vast importance he now had concerning the Shujin principal's wellbeing. Yes, Kobayakawa didn't know that, but he should still be aware of the danger Akechi was all the same!

After an eternity passed of waiting for the man to let him in, he finally heard the heavyset man step out of the office and gesture for him to come in. Goro abruptly stood, suffocating the nerves that flapped around his stomach like irritated pigeons, and swallowing down the sudden urge to tell the man the truth about what he was really doing here. He walked into the room with his typical charming smile and stood in front of Kobayakawa's desk.

"Good afternoon, Akechi-san," the man said, a satisfied smile on his face as he looked at his future murderer with a startling confidence. Goro was confused as to why he had this reaction of all things. Kobayakawa seemed to think this was a time to be intimidating as well, as he gave the young detective an imperious look, fiddling with an inkwell on his desk, snapping the lid of it on and off with his thumb. It made a sickening "click" sound that resembled the rhythm of a heartbeat to Goro's ears.

Goro forced a smile onto his face, despite having no clue what was going on. He just had to find a good place to plant the fake evidence he had been given, and then he could be on his way, free to focus on the more impersonal parts of this operation.

Still, the detective had the distinct theory that that part might be harder than looking into this man's irritating face. Nothing sat right with Goro Akechi right now.

"I was sent here to check up on the progress you've been making on your end. It's very likely that the Phantom Thieves are your students after all," Akechi lied through his teeth, noticing that the principal seemed to pay very little attention to the framed photographs that sat on the cabinets behind him. They were layered with dust, covering most of the images until they were unrecognizable. But the detective could just make out the smiling faces of favored teachers, star pupils, and perhaps a family member or two. All of them were captured on camera, yet neglected and forgotten by the man in front of Goro.

Perhaps that would be a good place to put it. Kobayakawa wouldn't notice for awhile. And when it's found by authorities, it would make sense. This man has been very neglectful of his duties, as of late, considering everything that happened with Kamoshida…"

The observation was quick, yet detailed, so Goro hardly missed any of what Kobayakawa said next.

"...Think we both know the real reason you're here," the man said.

Goro found himself frozen, now worrying even more about why the man was so confident. Does he know I intend to kill him? Is he determined to tell the authorities? Has he already told them!? The reaction was quickly noticed by the man, who released a laugh that came straight from the gut.

"I assume he has already told you what I figured out. You're here to convince me not to, or bribe somehow. But I assure you right now that it won't work. She is my collateral. If you do anything I don't like, I'll ruin her, along with you," the principal once again seemed confident, but there was an edge to his voice as he sneered at Goro. The detective however, still felt confused.

Soon enough, the truth slowly dawned on him as he began to realize the exact words the man had used.

"She?"

"She."

"She!"

He almost didn't recognize the weak whisper that escaped him. Only truly realizing the mistake he had made in losing his calm when the small, "Sayori?" left his lips.

Kobayakawa nodded in smug confirmation. "Yes! That's exactly right. I have something I plan to do, and if you interfere I'll expel her and ruin her chances of getting her into a good school. I know someone as cold hearted as you probably doesn't care, but believe me, the job market has very high standards these days. Basically what I'm saying is, don't stand in my way."

The principal turned around in his chair and gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "Good day."

Goro sat in silence for a long minute as red seemed to cloud his vision. First, rage clouded his system, red hot. It boiled all of the blood in his body as it begged to be released on the man in front of him, right here and now.

He just couldn't even pretend to care about the people he was about to betray. What a dumbass… But even more so…

How dare he?

How dare this man have the gall to think he could use Sayori as blackmail?

How dare this insignificant man think he was important enough in this world to even attempt something so ludicrous against Goro Akechi?

Pathetic… the red hot rage inside of him burned his throat as he released something akin to a growl. This stupid man had no idea how he even went about things. He had no clue how easy it would be to simply shut him up for good. Akechi could ruin this man's whole career. It would only take one scandal framed on this incompetant principal.

Akechi found himself once again filled with the desire for revenge, throbbing inside his head and heart and choking out whatever light he had gained over such a long time of not being alone.

However, before he could do anything rash, he was hit with the sudden memory of Sayori, the one who had caused all of these new reactions in the first place.

She wouldn't want me to do something like what I'm about to do, because of her… Goro realized. He took a calming breath, before he finally decided on a solution. It's not on her behalf anyway…

Kobayakawa suddenly froze and shivered as Goro crept up behind him and spun the swivel chair so they were facing each other. The man's breathing became uneven as the detective closed in on his personal space, leering up at him.

"Don't make it anymore painful for yourself than it already has to be. I had my doubts about you before, but now I know exactly why Shido hired you in the first place, you insidious hornet. I'll make myself clear, don't make empty threats if you can't handle the consequences…"

The man shuddered as Goro leaned away.

"I don't want to kill you." Lies.

"Your business in the organization is none of my concern at this point." More lies.

"But if you threaten me like that again, I'll break both of your arms and make it look like you just had a clumsy accident on the stairwell. Afterall, you'll also be spouting nonsense about how I did it. You'll have brain damage." This was the truth, hidden in a lie.

Goro thought he made that warning clear. Maybe Kobayakawa would be smart enough to realize the true purpose of their meeting today. However, it didn't really concern him. He grabbed his briefcase and headed out of the office with a confident stride. He didn't know how he would think later. Maybe he would still want to try to spare this man's pathetic life, no matter how undeserved it was. But for now, he just wanted to go home, call Sayori, and perhaps get some sleep.

He was so focused on getting to the front entrance that he didn't notice the woman wheeling a large shelf in his path until she had already bumped into him. He wasn't hurt, but the brief confusion and shock he felt at being snapped out of the trance he had been in caused him to stumble as if he had been struck in the face.

He looked over the cart at the young woman who was currently grumbling unintelligibly to herself as she looked at the now scattered books on the ground. She seemed slightly familiar to the detective, though he couldn't tell how. Even so, he didn't have much of a chance to haphazard a guess, because she had finally gotten her bearings about her.

"I figured since all those students were on that trip, I'd have less traffic to get through. Big nope! Hope I didn't kill anyone under this thing," the woman jokingly said looked around the hall until she locked eyes with Goro. In only a second, her entire attitude seemed to change.

"The hell are you doin' here? He… You… The principal wasn't suppose to have meetings with anybody today!" The black haired woman gripped the handle of her cart, ignoring the books she had left on the floor in favor of leaving the hallway. She had a tense, nervous look on her face, and for a moment the detective worried that she might be a secretary of some sort.

Kobayakawa does have a Palace, so it would be fair to assume that he could take out any troubling behavior on a secretary that doesn't clear his schedule properly… The detective mused to himself. However, as he was about to push open the front doors of the building and leave this horrible school, he realized the error in his thinking.

How did she know I was here for a meeting with Kobayakawa? He turned around to ask the woman that question, only to find she had disappeared.

Well, that would normally be an immense concern to the murderous detective, but right now he found that he didn't really care. If this woman knew that Kobayakawa was probably about to get what was coming to him, then good for her. Goro was going back to bed.

Still, as he began walking to the underground walkways to reach the subway he needed to take, he took out his phone and couldn't help but feel pathetic. Sayori hadn't even been gone for a day and already his old apathy was returning. The detective wondered if he should wait for her to call, or if he could try right now.

No, that would be pathetic too. You're perfectly capable of seeing the worth of keeping Kobayakawa alive yourself, Goro told himself. Sure, the man was a fool who had crossed a line, but at the very least it was reasonable to assume that he didn't want Goro getting in the way of telling the authorities.

At the same time, that might only be part of a bigger plan. Shido had plenty of people to do his dirty work for him. Why would he need his most powerful assassin to take out a school principal who was getting cold feet? Yes, it would be a good way to frame the Phantom Thieves, but the plan was to do that with Okumura, in the eyes of the entire public, no less.

Kobayakawa has a Palace, and he already seems to think he's higher on the totem pole than he actually is… Maybe he has other reasons for doing this? If so, that would be an even bigger reason to take him out.

But I'm trying to save his life, Goro thought with a scowl. Whatever the plan is, the detective knew it didn't really matter as much as figuring out a method he could use. Now if only Goro could figure out a method that didn't involve just causing a psychotic breakdown instead of a mental shutdown. That would keep the principal's stupid plan from being achieved.

Whatever it is, I'll probably find out in his Palace, he decided. If I can't find a way out of this mess before then, which I probably won't. Goro knew very well that he was trapped. Kobayakawa wasn't getting away unscathed. Even if the man hadn't been ordered to an early death, Akechi would have given him hell anyway, for daring to drag Sayori directly into Shido's view.

I'll figure something out. I have to…

Sayori trudged to her hotel room with none of her usual energy. She was suffering from multiple afflictions, resulting from her long trip on a plane. Not only did her ears still ache so very painfully, but she was finding herself tired and possibly half crazy as she found herself giggling at the stupidest of things. One thing was clear even in her tired mind state; jet lag was in the realm of things she could experience, and it was absolute torture.

Finally stumbling over to her assigned room, Sayori found herself having to focus incredibly hard on the large metal numbers that hung on the door. When she was finally sure her mind wasn't playing tricks, she struggled with her small room key, trying several different positions to fit the key into the lock, and sometimes she couldn't even aim correctly and the key would scratch all around the door, missing the door knob by smaller and smaller margins until finally, finally, Sayori was able to turn the knob and enter the room.

Her roommate was not in the room now, but judging by the many suitcases that were laying around the bed farthest from the door, the girl had been here already. Sayori plopped her own suitcase onto her bed, grimacing when she realized how dusty it was. Goro obviously hadn't used the bag in a while. She wondered blearily what the time in Japan was right now. Or would that even matter in this game?

It had truly been a while since she had wondered about things like that. Perhaps it was simply because she had grown used to her surroundings. Still, just in case, Sayori quickly got out her phone in order to look up time zones, only to realize it had died some time ago.

It looks like I can't call him right now then, Sayori realized, hastily opening her suitcase to look for her charger. To her dismay, the items in her suitcase had gotten tangled up with each other somehow. With no other option, she began to dig around looking for a sign of the white cord, eventually throwing her other stuff onto her bed.

After a minute, Sayori finally spotted her charger, nestled safely in a bunch of socks that had gotten tangled into a knot. Getting it out, she began trying to untangle the knot, but to no avail. Every move she made only seemed to tighten the bunch, until eventually she cried out in frustration and threw the entire bundle to the ground in a huff. She turned away from the mess she had made with her arms crossed…

Only to realize her hotel roommate was standing in the doorway, watching the entire spectacle with a worried gaze. Sayori blushed heavily in embarrassment, uncrossing her arms and brushing off dust from her skirt, all in a valiant, but unsuccessful effort to make herself seem composed. Finally, she looked at the girl in front of her with a smile. "How much of that did you see?"

The girl played quietly with her fluffy auburn hair, trying to smile kindly in return. "I opened the door around the time you started throwing your things out of your suitcase. Um…" She looked down shyly. "As you probably already know, I'm Haru Okumura. You're Sayori Matsu, correct? Or do I need to call security?"

Haru tried to laugh at her own joke, but it quickly faded. "Anyway, I believe I could probably get that cord untangled, and you can use my charger if we have the same kind…" She quickly reached into the pocket sweater and withdrew a similar chord to Sayori's, only this one was black.

Sayori looked at Haru in astonishment, before she settled into a much more giddy grin than her previous smile. "That would be awesome! Thank you so much!" The pink haired girl quickly took the charger and plugged in her phone.

Haru shut the door and quickly crossed the room to where the sock knot lay on the ground. She was much more delicate and careful than Sayori, using her nimble fingers to slide into the small space between socks and loosen them. Taking a seat on her bed, Haru rolled up the charger and set it beside her, taking the time to properly organize and fold Sayori's socks. "Will this work?" she asked, setting the charger and socks on Sayori's bed.

The girl had since stuffed the rest of her belongings into her suitcase, not bothering to organize it again. She looked up and nodded in gratitude at the work Haru had done. It was then that Haru became aware that Sayori was wincing for an entirely different reason.

"Are you alright, Matsu-chan?"

"Yeah… My ears just popped a lot on the plane and it's just…"

"Say no more," Haru was once again on her feet, going over to one of her many, many bags. Quickly searching in the front pocket, she took out a small pack of pills and tossed it to Sayori. "The same thing happens to myself during long flights. You can have one of my pills to help."

Sayori once more grinned at Haru. "Wow, Okumura-chan! You're really coming to my rescue!" Quickly peeling away the silver covering on one of the pills, Sayori popped it into her mouth and sighed in relief. "You wouldn't happen to know what time it is in Japan right now, would you?"

Haru smiled. "According to what I heard in the hallway earlier, it would be around noon…"

"Perfect timing!" Sayori shouted, startling Haru. Sayori noticed the way the girl grimaced and cocked her head in concern. "Is something the matter, Okumura-chan?"

"I just don't like it when people yell so suddenly," Haru said, once again shy. She rubbed her arm, gripping the softness of the shoulder on her sweater.

"I'm sorry," Sayori said, making sure to be quieter. "I'll try to be more quiet."

Haru nodded sagely and got into a more comfortable position on her bed. "Thank you."

The two sat in a comfortable silence for a bit. Sayori waited patiently for her phone to charge and read her book in the meantime. Haru seemed interested in the plants that bloomed in a flower box outside the hotel window, but otherwise did nothing.

After an hour, Sayori set her book down and marked the page. She checked her phone, finding it was nearly fully charged. It was surprising, as it usually took a few hours to charge. Could Haru have a better charger or something? She wondered curiously. She quietly disconnected and rolled the black charger up, setting it on Haru's bedside table. The auburn haired girl seemed to have fallen asleep, her hands folded primly on her lap. Sayori couldn't help but compare her to a sleeping princess from a fairy tale.

It would not be a kiss from her significant other that would wake her up though. (If you could even call him that). No, it would be the simultaneous ringing of both her and Sayori's phones.

Haru looked around in alarm before quickly grabbing her own phone to see who was calling her. Sayori had already dove onto her bed to check her phone, noting with delight that it was Goro that was calling her. This was why she didn't notice the way Haru went pale upon seeing who was calling her.

Standing up, Haru waved to get Sayori's attention. "I really must take this. I'll go to our bathroom, so my phone call won't disturb yours." Without waiting for a response, Haru crossed the room in only three steps, nearly slamming the door closed.

Frowning, Sayori couldn't help but feel concerned by Haru's behavior. The girl had struck Sayori as shy and quiet, afterall. However, she couldn't dwell on those thoughts now, because her phone would hang up on the sixth ring. The girl quickly pressed the green answer button and held it up to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hello?" Sayori's voice came out slightly distorted over the phone, and Goro found himself wishing that calling wasn't necessary right now to talk, but thankful to hear her voice all the same.

"I know you were supposed to call first, but I got tired of waiting," Goro explained outright, feeling nervous for some reason. He sat on the normal couch in the apartment, thankful for the distraction from the many different documents and papers spread out before him on the coffee table.

"I'm sorry! I was going to call you earlier but my phone was dead," Sayori cried. A slight shifting sound could be heard, as Sayori presumably moved around.

"Sayori, Sayori," Goro chided with a slight smirk as he crossed his legs. "Always with your excuses." It was an accurate statement, and they both knew it. Sayori always had to make excuses so she could go do whatever it was she did with the Phantom Thieves. That was probably why Sayori was now getting offensive.

"It's not an excuse! I missed you a lot today, you silly detective. I was worried a lot too," Sayori said into the phone.

"Oh," Goro found himself speechless at that, a feeling of guilt churning his stomach.

"Oh," Goro said dumbly, making Sayori's smile turn into a grimace.

"It's not a big deal, Goro. I'm sorry if I made it seem like it was," She quickly said. She had shifted earlier in order to see the alarm clock on her own bedside table, so she knew it was about time for the rest of the class to get dinner. They would need to wrap up the conversation quickly.

"It's alright. I guess I just have a lot on my mind right now…" Goro replied. Sayori could hear him take a slightly shaky breath.

"I missed you too. I missed you a lot. I wish I could be there with you…"

Sayori frowned, wondering why Goro sounded so… distressed. "I'll be back next week, so you can imagine me right next to you over there. We'll call tomorrow too."

"No… I'd rather be over there, with you…"

"Is something wrong, Goro?" Sayori asked, incredibly worried. Was something going on over there? Should Sayori be over there right now? Could she even do anything?

It's nothing you need to worry about, Sayori. You're supposed to be enjoying yourself," Goro replied. The sound of paper being shuffled could be heard, and Sayori found herself wanting, more than anything, to see what he was doing right now.

"How can I-" Sayori began, but was immediately cut off.

"Please! Promise you'll have plenty of fun over there! Don't worry about me over here… I'm fine as long as I know you're happy," Goro sounded so desperate as he said these things. Sayori almost felt guilty for worrying.

But now wasn't the time to feel like that. Sayori felt herself frown as her face grew sterner. Taking a deep breath, she steadied her words before they left her mouth. "If I promise to have fun and not worry, then you have to promise you'll do something so I don't have to worry about you."

"... What do you have in mind?" Goro asked cautiously.

"Go to Leblanc. Maybe today, or maybe tomorrow… But please go. You need some company, and I trust Sojiro, Futaba, and Morgana to give you the company you need right now."

"Alright. If I have the time I'll stop by soon," Goro said with little hesitation.

Sayori found herself surprised with how easily he agreed. Could it be that he was getting close enough with everyone else? She smiled in excitement, for this would be very good news if it were true. Sayori once again glanced at the clock as Haru exited the bathroom, staring at her phone with a blank frown.

"Listen, Goro. It's almost time for everyone to go to dinner. Would you like to call at the same time tomorrow?"

"You can call me whenever you want, Sayori," Goro replied. "I…" There seemed to be something he wanted to say, but it seemed too stuck in his throat that he ended up just saying a quick "good night," before hanging up.

Sayori sighed to herself, amused but concerned about Goro. He was so awkward about anything to do with relationships. It was hard to believe how natural he acted about it most of the time.

She looked up and smiled at Haru, who smiled back lightly, averting her eyes. Sayori thought that perhaps she was thinking hard about something, but wasn't sure all the same. "Is something the matter, Okumura-chan?"

"Ye- I mean no. Everything is fine," Haru replied, finally slipping her phone into her sweater pocket. "Was that your… boyfriend?"

"Yeah, it's that obvious?" Sayori asked with a giggle.

Haru nodded shyly. "You sounded very fond of the person over the phone. I didn't mean to eavesdrop… It's just that the part I heard was… calming, I suppose."

Sayori grinned. "Well then I hope we were helpful to you, Okumura-chan. Who were you calling? Your boyfriend?"

Haru took a deep breath in through her nose, before breathing out through her mouth. She let a small smile appear on her face, nodding.

"I suppose they both had the same thought at the same time, then," Sayori remarked with a chuckle. "Goro wanted to check in with me, but I guess you could say he also needed me to check in on him."

"I think my… significant other, had very different thoughts in mind," Haru replied. "Shall we join everybody else?"

Sayori nodded, slipping on her shoes and holding open the door for Haru. "Yeah, I'm starving. Do you already have plans to sit beside someone, Okumura-chan?"

Haru walked through the door, briefly wondering if the polite gesture had some other intent behind it, and then felt guilty for thinking that. "No, I don't believe so…"

"You can sit with me and my friends, if you want," Sayori invited. "Just a warning, we're all kind of crazy fans of the Phantom Thieves. So if you hear Sakamoto mention them in a weird way, that's why."

Haru found a small smile slipping onto her face, wondering what Sayori could even mean by that. "I will keep that in mind." The two then began to walk down the hall, slowly warming up to each other.

"Kobayakawa, school… hospital?"

The Navigator rejected his keyword once more, and Goro Akechi couldn't help but groan. He knew each and every member of this conspiracy had a Palace, but it would be helpful if he had decided a long time ago to figure out just what they were. He had an entire list of crossed out keywords, and all he had left to do was figure out where exactly he needed to go.

With no words left on his list, the detective once again found himself having to go back to the drawing board. In hopes of coming back to look at this problem, he refocused on another part of the operation. The documents and papers were necessary to make sure that everything worked.

It should be no surprise that in his mental state, Goro wanted to rip all of them up.

"I want to be there for you?" Is that really the best I can say to her at this point? Have I really given up so thoroughly? He thought bitterly as he clicked his pen over and over again. He should be thinking of ways to stop this from resulting in Kobayakawa's murder. If he simply didn't do anything, somebody else would just kill the principal, and probably kill him too.

Or they could kill Sayori…

That thought scared him everytime he dared to think it. The detective hardly cared about himself, or Kobayakawa, but Sayori did not deserve such a fate. Anything not thought out carefully would be met with swift consequences. With the fear of such a thing, Goro found himself once again considering what the best supplies would be for him to bring to the Palace.

After awhile of writing down possible strategies, Akechi became frustrated. All of this would be useless, if he didn't know where he was even going! Maybe I could just say I couldn't find out what his keywords are?

But ignorance wouldn't be an excuse. In a huff, Goro stormed out of the apartment building. It wasn't until he was halfway down the stairs of the underground walkway that he realized where he was intending to go. He checked his pockets and was disappointed to find he did not have his wallet.

At least Sojiro said it was free, anyway.

With that in mind, Goro continued on his journey, strangely relieved to be away from the disturbances that lurked in his home and into the warm, refreshing feeling of Leblanc.

"Sojiro!" Futaba called from the stool where she was sitting. "He's here early!" In the corner of the cafe, Sojiro banged his head on the ceiling of the mini fridge at the sudden shout.

Goro found himself impressed that they knew he'd be coming. Was he so obviously lonely, or had Sayori called in advance? It didn't truly matter, though. Goro took a seat at one of the booths and waited for Sojiro to recover from his shock.

"We weren't expecting you for a few more days," Sojiro finally said. "Why don't you come sit up here? Futaba was just about to go anyway." He gestured to the front counter before turning around to get ready to cook.

"I was?" Futaba looked confused, before seeming to remember what Sojiro was talking about. He said something about having a private talk with him… Maybe I should stop by home and turn off the bugs in here. "Morgana, come on! We were about to call everybody, anyway."

"Wha-" Morgana yelped, before grumbling in irritation. If his arms could bend the correct way, he'd be crossing his arms. Futaba paid no mind to his protests, pushing the door open with a dramatic flourish, tipping her glasses to Goro and Sojiro the way one might tip their hat.

"I bid you adieu!" Futaba said, attempting to sound quickly left, carrying Morgana with her. He had begun to struggle, saying how he could watch what the two said without getting caught. Futaba ignored this, until finally neither Goro or Sojiro could hear them.

Sojiro sighed at the bizarre behavior. He really should just dismantle all of the bugs Futaba had hidden. Now that she wasn't as much of a shut-in, he could probably put his foot down for this one thing, at least. Still, she probably has as much right to hear this conversation as either of us have to have it.

"So what kind of coffee do you want?" He asked, causing Goro to jump. He had been too focused on the odd behavior of Futaba and Morgana. Sojiro couldn't help but chuckle.

"Um…" Going through the list in his head of the recommendations everyone had given him, Goro found that he couldn't decide. "I'm not usually one for surprises, but I'm not sure what to have…" He felt self conscious, until he noticed Sojiro taking the initiative to decide for him.

"You don't seem like the kind of guy who can handle the strong stuff, so I'll add some cream… Hm… Or I could just get you tea like last time…" Though it sounded as if Sojiro were talking to Goro, the detective thought that perhaps the man was talking to himself as he sorted through the bags of coffee beans he had.

"Tea would be good, though I'll probably feel bad about not trying any suggestions," Goro was quick to reply.

"Then how about I just give you both? Sound good?" Sojiro asked, finally finding the box of tea once again.

"I forgot to bring my wallet though, so I was planning on just relying on your offer of one free cup of coffee, and possibly curry," The detective explained.

Sojiro just chuckled. "Then let's agree to keep this between you and me. I need to use the rest of these tea bags anyway, before it goes to waste." When the detective finally nodded, Sojiro got to work boiling water and getting the coffee brewing.

"If you don't mind me asking, Sakura-san, why do you have a box if you don't use it often?" Goro asked curiously. Sojiro paused in his preparations, knowing very well that he had intended to bring up these points of conversation on his own for this conversation. It seemed the detective's curiosity was doing the work for him.

"I actually haven't used this in quite a few years now. A friend of a friend loved it a lot though. I know it was nothing personal, but she never liked coffee. So eventually, I just started getting boxes of this so I'd have something to give her," Sojiro began. "It was easy to make her feel left out, especially when my interests in the friend we had in common made me not pay as much attention to her."

Goro nodded to himself, taking in this information. Aside from the small worry that he was drinking tea that had gone bad a long time ago, he found it slightly concerning how vague Sojiro was being. "I see. Why haven't you used it then? Are you no longer friends?" The detective put his hands underneath his chin, staring idly at the kitchen behind the counter.

"I was honestly never sure if we were friends. She just stopped coming in one day, and I didn't see her after that," Sojiro wondered now if he could have seen her, if he had tried hard enough to look. "Wakaba and I were both upset about it, though. They were especially close, and now they're both gone." Sojiro felt pained, saying that, but he wasn't distracted enough by it to miss the way the detective seemed to freeze in realization. Not wanting to scare him off, Sojiro was quick to serve Goro his beverages. He got started on curry too, just in case that still wasn't enough to buy time.

"Still, I held on to the tea. Maybe I was hoping that one day she'd come back, Wakaba with her, and the three of us could go back to those days," Sojiro finished his explanation with a sigh. "It's honestly a bit of a selfish reason, because I want to do that to satisfy my own curiosity."

"It's not a selfish reason at all, Sakura-san," Goro assured, though he was mostly absent minded as he said it. He took a drink of his tea and barely even winced as it scorched his tongue. Gritting his teeth, he wondered if it would be too much to ask for a glass of water to sooth the pain, but decided against it in favor of spacing out.

"You remind me a lot of her, actually. I wonder why…" Sojiro said, pretending to be lost in deep thought, all the while observing how the detective reacted.

Goro was growing more and more panicked at the thought that Sojiro might realize who he was. What if he realized that this person they were talking about was actually Goro's mother? What if he realized the exact circumstances behind it? Would Sojiro think less of her, or less of him?

What if he already knows who you are? What if he knows what you did to Wakaba, your mother's only friend? That thought made his heart pound inside his chest, forcing him to take deep breaths as his hands shook.

This of course, was not what Sojiro had expected at all to happen. He had expected the detective to catch on to what he was trying to say, and take pride in the fact that he had figured out the old man's obvious hints. Maybe there would be a bit of nervousness, and maybe even crying. Sojiro was basically the surrogate father to an entire group of angsty, hormonal teenagers, so he figured it would be easy enough to handle.

But this was not what he had thought would happen at all. The teen in front of him was openy afraid of where this conversation was going. That was the official sign that now was the time to put a (temporary) halt on this operation. At the same time, his curiosity had now turned into plain concern. He had heard through Futaba and Akira that Goro Akechi was an orphan, with a dead mother and a deadbeat father that had never been around.

It seems like it's definitely more deep than that, Sojiro thought silently to himself, refilling the teen's half full teacup to the brim. From what he knew of the mother, Sojiro knew he couldn't place much blame on her. At least, he wasn't going to do that yet. However, based on previous comments Goro had made, the man knew enough to hope that if this father of his wasn't around, he would hopefully have enough decency to be lying dead in a ditch.

"Sorry. I guess I wasn't exactly being subtle was I?" Rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, Sojiro was quick to make amends. "You really do look a lot like her, though. It makes me kind of happy, in a sense. Like that hope of mine to see her and catch up is coming true." He knew it sounded lame, but he was doing his best.

Goro Akechi nodded tiredly. He was beginning to understand that it was a mistake to come here. Wakaba knew Sojiro, so it would make sense that the man would know his mother too.

This man knew both his mother and Wakaba Isshiki, and Goro was to blame for their deaths…

Akechi suddenly felt angry at this cruel twist of fate. Did all adults in this stupid country know each other? Did they all hate his existence? Was Kobayakawa going to walk in here next and reveal that he knew Akechi's mom too?

Can't I just go one day without being reminded of what I did to her, what I've done to everybody?

"I'm sorry, Sakura-san. I have to go. I… I have a lot of work to do," Goro pushed himself up from his seat, and headed towards the door.

"Don't apologize. It's my fault for sticking my nose in your business," Sojiro pushed the inner frustration he felt at himself down, going over to hold the door open for Goro.

"No… If you really do… did know her, then you deserve to hear about everything that you've been curious about for so long," Goro heard the tremble in his own voice as he sighed. "Maybe I'll tell you one day, but definitely not today. Even I don't know what was going through her head when she decided to…"

Sojiro understood. "If you do feel like telling me, feel free to stop by. I can't guarantee that you won't have to pay for your food next time, though."

"I'll keep that in mind," Goro said, leaving out the door and into the hot outside world. It was suffocating, but so much more relieving than being in that cafe, his brain becoming even more muddled than it was before.

However, there was one bright side. Even though his head wasn't clear at all, the distraction had taken his mind off of the problem of Kobayakawa's keywords. Now that he thought about it again, Goro suddenly had a very good answer to what they might be.

I can't believe I didn't think of it before! With the exciting revelation fresh in his mind, Goro began the journey back to his apartment.

Sayori adjusted her hat as the sun continued to move across the sky. Looking down the street as she moved away from the hotel door, she could see the rest of her friends waiting impatiently for her to join them so they could plan out what they would do that day. Thinking of this, she suddenly wondered if it was rude to keep them waiting so long. Still, she was sure they would understand when she explained what exactly had been holding her up.

"Are you sure that I have all of my sunscreen on?" Haru asked one last time, shaking the already half empty bottle as she readjusted the straps of her green swimsuit. Being so pale, it was easy to figure out that Haru would burn very easily in the hot sun. Sayori had volunteered to help make sure she wouldn't have to worry about it. This was also a relief to Haru for another reason, as she had been quite nervous at the prospect that a boy might offer to do it.

She must be worried about what her boyfriend would think. He must get super jealous… Sayori thought to herself. Haru had been tightlipped about the subject, so Sayori had ended up having to infer things for herself. Doing that turned out to be exhausting, and frankly not worth it. Aside from where it absolutely mattered, Haru was happy not to talk about it.

"Do you need any help, Matsu-chan?" Haru asked. "You're about as pale as me, and I don't want you to be in any pain." The girl was shy as she said this, or perhaps she was only averting her eyes so she wouldn't go blind from the sunlight reflecting off of Sayori's white dress.

"No, I'm fine," Sayori replied, taking her first step onto the sidewalk, heading towards the bench where her friends sat. "I sprayed some on before we left." She held up her own bottle of sunscreen to make a point, before tucking it back into her beach bag. "Besides, it might be nice to get a tan."

"If you say so…" Haru looked down sadly, causing Sayori to pause in her steps and look back at the girl.

She looks so lonely, Sayori thought to herself. Aside from never mentioning her boyfriend, Haru had never said anything about friends either. Sayori could only guess that this meant that none of her friends had gone on the trip. No… Sayori could only hope that this was the case, rather than the much worse alternative that Haru didn't have friends at all.

Haru looked around the tropical scene around them, unsure where to go or what to do. She had just gotten used to having Sayori as company. The pink haired girl seemed to have a natural skill to fit herself into a place and make it seem as if she had always been there. It was as if Sayori's absence simply wasn't natural. That must be why she has such good friends…

With no ideas on what to do, Haru decided to walk in the opposite direction of Sayori. It felt too awkward to simply walk past the chatting group. They had been friendly enough when she had sat with them during dinner, but still she had felt like an outsider…

"Haru, did you hear what I said?!" Sayori asked suddenly… right into Haru's ear.

"Ah!" Haru yelped, stumbling on a crack in the sidewalk. This would have sent her falling to the ground, had Sayori not had the good instinct to grab her arm and help to steady her.

"Usually I'm the clumsy one," Sayori commented good naturedly, before giving Haru a stern look. "Can you wait here? Makoto, Ann, and I weren't planning anything particular to do this morning, and the boys had their own plans, so I think it will be alright if I spend the morning with you. I need to let them know first though."

Haru was too stunned to do anything but nod. No sooner than that, Sayori was running over to her friends.

Watching from afar, Haru was able to observe the conversation. Sayori arrived and began to shout her sudden change in plans, waving her arms around like a frightened goose as she did so. It was so loud that Haru was able to hear a majority Sayori's words. Evidently, multiple people could hear, as they paused to give the girl odd looks as they passed by her.

Her friends only smiled, and occasionally rolled their eyes. Still, Haru could tell that there was good nature in everything the group did. After a firm nod of granted permission from what Haru could only assume was the leader of this friend group, Sayori bounced on her toes and cheered. Makoto Nijima said something, to which Sayori nodded in agreement to.

Before Haru knew it, Sayori was grabbing her wrist and leading her off down the beach, saying things with such excitement that it took several seconds to puzzle out what the girl was trying to convey.

"-So I get to go with you until exactly noon, and we're meeting at that exact bench that I was standing at! You saw it, right?! Ryuji and Akira ared meeting up with Yusuke, and maybe Mishima-kun. They said something about American girls being hot, but this is Hawaii so Japanese girls would be hot here too. I definitely feel hot!" Sayori said all this in a single breath. "Anyway, when we meet up, my friends and I are going to be calling a friend of ours that's still in Japan, because we have super-important-top-secret stuff to talk about. So I'm sorry, but you can't be there for that! Is that okay?"

Sayori seemed worried, and Haru quickly processed what was being said. After deliberating, Haru nodded. A breath of relief left Sayori, and she began talking normally. This in turn made Haru sigh in relief.

"I've known you only for a couple days, Matsu-chan. Are you usually so… rowdy?" Haru asked, slightly concerned that spending so long with the girl might turn out to be an exhausting mistake.

"No. At least, it's usually not so bad. But when we had breakfast at the hotel this morning, I thought the brown liquid in those pitchers was tea, but it turned out to be coffee! Once I started drinking it, I realized what it was, but I didn't want to waste the cup I had already poured. Asking somebody else to drink from the cup that I had already drank from would be super gross! So I drank the whole thing! Caffeine doesn't give me an immediate rush, but it's definitely kicked in now!" Sayori shivered slightly as the said effects made her spine tingle. She continued walking, thankfully keeping a firm grasp on Haru's hand.

A part of me worries that if she lets go, she'll fly away like a balloon with the air being let out of it, Haru thought to herself. "Is it safe to assume that this isn't a common occurrence?"

"I'm banned from drinking coffee! And you can tell why because I get super, super, super hyper! I talk a lot too. I don't mind though because I hate how coffee tastes! But it's super hard because my friend's guardian owns a…"

Haru tuned Sayori out as she began looking around for something to do. She remembered reading online that there were a few nice cafes and restaurants around the hotel they were staying at. The thought of giving Sayori anymore sugar made Haru almost physically sick. Not to mention, they had already eaten at the hotel anyway.

"We're in our swimsuits, so maybe we could go swimming?" Sayori suddenly asked, much more calmly than before. Haru looked over to see that Sayori was most definitely still hyped up on caffeine, but she had made an effort to calm herself down with a few deep breaths.

"Then we'll be all wet though. I was thinking we save that for later today…" Haru began her reply, before silently wondering to herself if it really mattered. The sun would dry them out anyway. After a second of further thought, her calm, reserved look turned into one of excitement. "Actually, maybe swimming around some would help you burn all of that extra energy."

Sayori smiled brightly, and all of a sudden Haru was struggling to keep up as Sayori charged for the nearby beach and the waiting ocean. With only a few seconds to spare, Haru managed to hold her breath just in time as she was pulled into the ocean.

They stayed in the water, swimming and splashing and disturbing the other beach goers with their erratic antics. This lasted for an hour, until Haru noticed that Sayori finally looked normal, and incredibly tired. They dragged themselves back onto the sand and lay there for a few minutes.

"I think this is the second time in my entire life I've gone to the beach," Sayori said, breathing heavily. "I should convince Goro to take us more often, before things get too busy for us again."

"Yeah… It's been a long time since I've been able to do anything like this," Haru responded, sounding equally tired, though she still buzzed with the adrenaline rush. It had been a long time, and Haru yearned to do as much as she could while she still had the chance. Sitting up, she looked at the still early morning sun and thought about what else there was to do.

"We have about three hours until I have to meet with everyone," Sayori commented. She looked over at Haru, noticing her thoughtful gaze, and remembered that around this time Ann and Makoto said that they would be coming to the beach for a free surfing lesson. An idea formed in her mind. "Hey, Haru," she called.

Haru tilted her head slightly in question, so Sayori continued. "There's a free surfing lesson that's starting soon. It will be at the other end of the beach…"

Haru nodded, smiling happily. "Let's go then, Matsu-chan."

The two hastily got up and began to run towards the line of surfboards they could see in the distance. Sayori sent a hasty text to Ann and Makoto to let them know they would be coming, and resumed her pace, noting that Haru was leaving her in the dust.

They arrived to find Makoto being instructed on the sand, an instructor making small adjustments to her stance. Ann stood on the sidelines, eating shaved ice and looking slightly bored. It was very clear that she had opted to watch Makoto learn, or wait until the instructor had more time to teach her. Either way, as soon as Ann saw Sayori arrive, it was clear that she was relieved to have the extra company.

"Sayori! You have to try this!" Ann marched forward and shoved the cup into the girl's hands. "I'm glad you decided to come. I need someone to talk to, because Makoto is too focused on the lesson that I think she forgot how to speak."

Sayori nodded along to the conversation, taking a bite of the treat. Her eyes widened, and she hummed in pleasure. "It's really good, Ann! Do you mind if Haru has a bite too?"

"Sure! You guys can help yourself, because I've already had two of those things since the lesson started," Ann assured. "It's still good, but there are other things I want to try."

Haru chose that moment to enter the conversation. "The lessons only started ten minutes ago…"

"She likes sweets a lot," Sayori explained with a giggle. Ann lightly smacked punched her in the arm, grinning.

After a few more minutes of friendly conversation, Sayori and Haru finally went to join the lessons. Haru had been paying attention to Makoto being taught, and so she had an easier time adjusting. Sayori was not so lucky, managing to lose her balance every few minutes no matter how she shifted around on the ground.

"Sayori, don't lean so much in that direction," Makoto advised from her own board. "If we were out on the water you'd fall off in a few seconds. You're already falling flat on your face."

"Thanks for the advice, Makoto," Sayori replied, before saying, under her breath, "and the vote of confidence."

"I heard that, you know." Sayori froze in response as Haru laughed at her expense. Makoto hopped off of her board and began to adjust Sayori's position herself. Soon enough, Makoto ended up taking over teaching for the actual instructor. She was very insistent, and refused to let either Haru or Sayori step off the surfboards until they were taught.

By the time they were finally ready to go surfing, they had twenty minutes to get to their meeting spot with the boys. Sayori was glad for it. Her body was sore all over, and her shoulders were probably sun burnt beyond recognition, for she had forgotten to reapply during the intensity of Makoto's teachings.

Makoto apologized frequently for this on their way to the meeting bench. Sayori didn't care about it all that much. The lessons were very helpful, and both her and Haru were confident that they could all go surfing tomorrow with little trouble.

After the lessons Haru had politely excused herself. She wanted to get changed into dry clothes before lunch, and check to see if there was anything she needed to be aware of back home. She wondered idly what Sayori and her friends would be talking about, before scolding herself for being so nosy. Sayori had been right afterall. Her friends were all Phantom Thief fanatics. It made sense that they would want privacy if they were going to discuss controversial subjects like that. Though is it really so controversial now? Haru hadn't kept up with the recent developments regarding the mysterious group, but she was pretty sure most people liked them now. Haru wasn't sure what to make of them just yet. She had plenty of her own problems to deal with

All of that would change very soon, however, as the next step in a deadly plot was already being taken.

Sayori unknowingly experienced the next step, watching as her teammates began making short discussion about what they would do when they got home. It started out normally enough, with everyone talking about how their days had gone. Yusuke had become interested interested in Kakau, a traditional Hawaiian tattoo method, and had gleefully spouted information about the interesting designs and methods.

"I almost think I would like to get one for myself…" Yusuke pondered to himself.

Almost everyone seemed nervous at the thought of the tall, thin artist going through what sounded like an incredibly painful progress, and began thinking of ways to stall any hasty actions.

"Yusuke, didn't you say that only the person making the tattoo gets to pick the design?" Sayori asked cautiously.

"It's only natural that an artist would change their mind too easily about such a bold choice too," Makoto reasoned.

"Hm… I suppose those are accurate claims," Yusuke pondered. "Maybe I'll get one if I come back someday… That is, if I get the funds to do that."

"Maybe you could learn how to do it yourself?" Akira asked curiously.

"Inari with knives!" Futaba shouted over the phone. "I don't trust that at all!" Everyone heard her practically cackle to herself at the notion, and all of them seemed to deflate as Yusuke shifted into a determined stance.

"Yes! To capture the essence of people and their souls, and to help them be reborn stronger after making it through such a trial; that is my goal for this trip!" Yusuke would have run off right then to study the method, if it weren't for the fact that they still had business to discuss.

"Well, the results of that poll on the Phansite were pretty obvious, so it was closed early. The public wants our next target to be…" The sound of a drumroll played over the phone as Futaba looked at the results once more. "Kunikazu Okumura!"

"That's a familiar surname, right?" Ryuji gaped, cleaning out his ear with a finger as if to make sure he heard right. He straightened out and leaned towards the phone. "What's his damage?"

Morgana was suddenly heard over the phone. "He abuses his workers, giving them long, punishing work hours. His safety regulations are also almost nonexistent. He definitely deserves a change of heart if you ask me."

"I wonder if Haru knows anything about this…" Sayori said quietly, uncertainty weighing down on her. Another thought occurred to her as well, remembering the fact that they needed to be cautious. This all seems odd… That phone call I once overheard… Could there be something we're missing? The fact that there was a fake Medjed that had purposefully tried to bait them before made Sayori think, Could it be happening again?

Those thoughts continued to wear on Sayori's sunburnt shoulders. The rest of the day passed by very quickly, the group having lunch, enjoying the beach for a few hours, before finally having dinner and parting ways for the night.

And still… Sayori's thoughts plagued her. It was impossible to get any sleep while her mind was such a chaotic mess, and the burns on her shoulders certainly didn't make it any easier. She wondered if Haru was awake. She wondered if she should talk to her about what the Phansite said. But most importantly, Sayori wondered what she was supposed to do.

She had been gifted with this awareness, and she had no idea what she was supposed to do with it. No matter how much she tried to predict the outcome and help the people she cared about, she wasn't omniscient. Sayori didn't know what the future held. She couldn't know until it happened.

The only thing she was sure of, was that there was more that she could be doing to protect her friends, as was her self assigned duty. She still had a promise to fulfill, anyway. With that resolution in mind, Sayori silently apologized to Haru for interrupting her sleep, and grabbed her own phone from the nightstand.

The phone only rang for only a few seconds before Goro picked up.

"Is everything alright, Sayori?"

Goro was napping on the couch, or trying to nap, when the phone rang. In truth, it was only his body that was resting, while his brain was almost dutifully putting the finishing touches on his strategy for attack. He had found the words he needed, and from there it had been a smooth process to figure everything else out about his strategy for attack…

You still have a few more days to figure out what you can do… That reassurance seemed emptier the more he processed it. He snatched his phone off the coffee table, answering quickly when he saw that it was Sayori calling. "Is everything alright, Sayori?" The question wasn't as frantic or doting as it would normally be. Sayori was safe, and far away, while he figured out what to do, or at least what he could do.

"Yeah… I'm just having trouble falling asleep…" Sayori sounded hesitant and worried, but there was a hint of embarrassment under it all as well.

"Why is that?" Goro shifted into a sitting position, crossing his legs as he waited for Sayori's answer. He had some idea as to what it might be.

"I… I got a sunburn today… and it's hard to sleep with it…" Sayori answered, sounding sheepish. But at Goro's chuckle, she soon turned indignant. "It's not funny!"

"Please, Sayori… I promise I'm not laughing at you… I'm laughing with-" The detective broke out into another laugh, causing Sayori to huff in annoyance.

"Yeah… Keep it up. It's all fun and games until I get home. Then you'll have to take care of me and my whiny self!" Sayori whisper-shouted into the phone, reminding Goro that where she was, it was much later in the night. People would be asleep over there.

He was about to ask her, though he had to take the opportunity to win this little battle before he got too serious. "As far as I am concerned, I already take care of you… Besides, I think I like the prospect of helping with sunburns! I promise I'll be gentle!" He could practically see Sayori's blush as she started to stutter and mumble in embarrassment. Any attempts to help her in such ways always made her embarrassed, from tight jackets to help with injuries, if her tales of her few remaining memories were anything to go by, at least.

Still, now was hardly a time to be teasing her. She wouldn't be calling so late into the night if her sunburn was the only thing keeping her awake. What could he do from so far away to help with that? Thinking that, he cleared his throat, letting Sayori know that he was moving on. She quieted in response.

"So why are you really calling me, Sayori? Is something on your mind that's keeping you up so late?" Goro heard the sharp intake of breath. He waited for a few seconds as Sayori prepared what she wanted to say. To his surprise, she sounded cheerful when she began to speak, despite the obvious distress he had heard earlier.

"It's nothing, really! We both promised we'd call at least once a day. I didn't want to forget," Sayori was practically chirping now. If he didn't know her so well, Goro would have believed that everything was perfectly fine. Instead, he felt the exact opposite. Something was definitely wrong!

"I see… I don't believe that for a second, though," The detective purposefully made his voice sharper. He could hear Sayori sigh, nervous at the prospect of sharing what was so blatantly bothering her.

"I… Well… First, have you gone to Leblanc yet?" Sayori asked, obviously trying to deflect from the inevitable.

Still… It was a fair question. She at least deserved the liberty of having that answered. Running his fingers through his hair in slight exasperation, Goro quickly gathered his thoughts. He was hooked onto the original thought like a fish that had swallowed a hook. He refused to forget his original train of thought. "I did go. The coffee was good, and Sakura-san was decent enough company." Briefly, the detective thought of the uncomfortable subject matter their conversation had dwindled into and shuddered.

"Good… That makes me happy! What did you two talk about?" Sayori asked casually.

Goro Akechi was not fooled by this at all. Snapping to attention, he made sure to sound stern. "Sayori… Tell me now what is the matter or I'm hanging up! I won't speak to you until you get back from Hawaii!"

"Okay! Okay!" There was another brief pause as Sayori breathed deeply, trying to calm herself. "Okay… Have you seen the poll on the Phansite, yet?"

The detective grimaced. He hadn't seen the results, but he knew what they were going to be. There was no avoiding that outcome. It only served to put more pressure on him. The heaviness of what would happen in a few days crashed into him like a bull running at a red cape. "Yes, I have. If the Phantom Thieves do decide to go after Okumura, it will be easy to find them. The police would just have to keep tabs on him…" And then he'll die, and the Phantom Thieves will get blamed for it. Sayori is going to get blamed for it…

Sayori took a short breath, and Goro winced. It scared him for a second. A part of him thought that he had ignorantly said that last part out loud. But no… It was just Sayori being Sayori, worrying for everybody.

"What will happen… if they're caught?" There was fear and caution in her voice, and the detective found himself without a way to answer. He wanted to find a way to assure her. A part of him wished he could say that they wouldn't get caught, or that he would keep her safe. But none of that was true; none of it would make sense.

Goro Akechi was the Second Coming of the Detective Prince, trying to catch the Phantom Thieves. To assure Sayori that the Phantom Thieves would never get caught would tip her off. To say that he would keep her safe wasn't true. He couldn't keep her safe. As long as this situation persisted, Sayori wasn't safe.

"I… don't know," the lie came out easily, or perhaps there was some truth to it. The Phantom Thieves were an obvious threat to everything Shido was trying to do. If things stayed the same, the Phantom Thieves would die. But if things could change… what could even happen?

"Hm… Goro, you seem confused. Is something wrong?" Sayori asked gently.

Goro coughed into his hand, clearing his throat uncomfortably. "I'm concerned about the limited options I have at the moment. The problem I am faced with is difficult, and I only have so many options of what to do…" Kill Kobayakawa or not? If not, then how should I do it? What will the consequences be? How can I avoid them? What if I can't avoid them?

In the past, consequences wouldn't have mattered. He had no care for what happened to him. But this was different… So completely different… He didn't want anything to happen to Sayori, nor to the people she considered her friends. If something happened to her or them, and he never saw that smile again-

"What would happen?" A small whisper came over the phone, and Goro found himself freeze.

Of course he said that part out loud. The detective considered hanging up as shock wore off and panic set in. But that would only make things so much worse. Still, how could he answer? Goro sat still in his seat for many minutes, his body slowly becoming sore as he worked out a way to answer.

There was a small sigh from the other end, and Sayori said something first. "Goro… Do what you think has to be done… When I get back, I can help you! It's your choice to make, and it should be based on what you feel!" Sayori sounded so determined, and yet Goro knew… Things weren't as simple. This choice… if she knew what it was, she would say something completely different.

She would, right? Sayori would say to forget about her, because saving Kobayakawa's life is more important than her… But I can't just decide that! The detective let out an irritated groan, finally allowing himself to lean back on the couch, a feeling of heaviness weighing him down and suffocating him.

"I mean it, Goro! This is your choice. Make it based on what's most important to you, and you alone… And when I get back, I'll help you however I can… Please let me! I want… I don't want…" Unspoken words loomed heavily in those pauses, and the detective wondered what they could be.

"You're only saying that because you don't know what the choice is… And I can't tell you. I know that what you would say would be different though," Goro replied, his voice nonchalant as he continued thinking about her words.

"No… I promise…" Sayori yawned this time, and he found himself with a slight, fond smile.

"You're all tired out now, it seems. We can talk about this later…" Goro took his phone away from his ear, about to hang up, when something Sayori mumbled caught his ear.

"Please… need… I said…" Sayori was trying desperately to stay awake, mumbling incoherently all the while.

The detective found himself feeling guilty for this. She wouldn't sleep unless she got the answer she was looking for. Deciding to take mercy on her, he put the phone back by his head, and smiled, knowing full well that she couldn't see it.

"I'll think about it," he promised, immediately hanging up. With that done, Goro looked back down at the warrants on his desk and sighed. It was time to start preparing for the actual event it seemed. Standing up, the detective began to stand up and stretch. I'm not looking forward to it… Then again, I don't think I ever really have.

As Sayori fell into the comfortable hold of sleep, dropping her phone onto the floor as she shifted into a comfortable position in her state of rest, the girl on the other side allowed herself to finally make a sound.

It was small at first, testing the limits of how heavily Sayori slept. Soon, however, the sobs became louder and louder. Haru hugged her blankets tighter around her, muffling the sound so it wouldn't carry over to the other rooms.

Haru shook with the weight of conflict inside of her. Envy, bitter and hot inside of her, had stewed until her knuckles were white as she had listened to Sayori's conversation. She wished she could have that… the freedom to have such a conversation with someone who mattered to her, and to whom she mattered. But she couldn't, and it filled her with sadness at the situation, and anger at the ones who were enforcing that very situation.

But she couldn't be mad at Sayori. Though it was a reminder of something out of her reach, Haru had found it comforting to listen to the bits and pieces of conversation she could hear from Sayori's side of the call. The cheerful girl had been worried and afraid during parts of it, but all the same she hadn't needed to hide the feelings she had felt.

Haru had awoken upon first hearing the ringing of Sayori's phone, and had been unable to go to sleep afterwards. Listening to Sayori spell out her pains and worries to the patient ear on the other end of the line had been comforting. Haru couldn't avoid listening in.

She could just imagine it. She wished she could be the one in that situation. Briefly, she recalled the first time she had met Sugimura. He had seemed decent and had listened and had been kind, so Haru had agreed to get engaged. Then… his true colors had surfaced and Haru realized the trap she had fallen for, hook, line, and sinker.

Haru, for the duration of her eavesdropping session, had been unable to resist imagining herself in Sayori's shoes. It was an alluring fantasy. One that Haru couldn't have. So instead she eventually shut her mind off to it, and listened to the conversation for what it was. Sayori and her boyfriend, talking to each other. Sayori's tired but bubbly voice, sounding warm even when she was worried, and the muffled, diligent responses from this Goro person had slowly become a rhythm that Haru found herself being lulled to sleep by.

And then they were done with their conversation, and Haru had nearly jolted awake. More than anything, she was happy for Sayori. She had someone that wasn't like Sugimura. Sayori deserved that, for being so kind to her, with no ulterior motive as far as Haru could tell.

But still, it hurt to hear them stop talking. The part of Haru that she so heavily repressed wanted to get up and shake Sayori awake; tell her to call Goro again and keep talking. It had been so peaceful…

Haru blinked, realizing how absolutely unhinged she sounded. Her sobs and cries became more and more silent, before stopping entirely. She wiped the tears from her eyes, taking shaky breath after shaky breath. Before long it was as if nothing had happened. With nothing better to do, Haru folded herself further into her sheets and began falling into her own sleep.

Before she did, however, a thought struck her. What was the poll Sayori mentioned on the Phan-Site?

Only a couple days later, Goro was making his final preparations. Today was the day. Sayori would be returning later that day, or early the next. She would also be on an airplane, unable to know what was going on until she was back. She would be disconnected, and unable to stop him, sadly.

But she would be out of Shido's grasp. This was his last day to kill Kobayakawa, so Shido would be getting antsy. If the man made any hasty decision, things would become unfortunate.

Knowing all these things kept Akechi calm as he dug through his desk drawers. Each one had a lock on them, because each of them held sensitive information, both for detective work and for his "revenge" work, which was the best he could call it. Taking out a key, he unlocked the bottom left drawer and pulled it all the way out. Hidden beneath the desk drawer was the floor. To be more accurate, loose floorboards.

Sticking his index finger into a knothole in the wood, Akechi pulled upward, revealing a metal box that has been carefully hidden and locked. Another key, and Akechi was pulling out the chest and withdrawing what he had been looking for.

The small gun reflected the bedroom's sparse lighting, and Akechi could tell just how dusty it was. Wrinkling his nose, he pulled a handkerchief out of his jacket's pocket and wiped it clean. Then came the work of actually preparing the gun for use. It was a short and simple process that had been perfected with its many uses.

The gun was clean and loaded, and Akechi opened his briefcase to slip it inside. Briefly, he stared at the surface of it, clean enough now that he could see his reflection in it. Goro stared back, wavering slightly as he blinked something out of his eyes. It was probably just dust.

Right as he packed it away however, the image shifted. Loki, then Robin Hood stared back now, before changing into… something else entirely.

Goro slammed the case shut and drew in a shaky breath. The hard part was over. Now he just had one more thing to do before he set out.

The matches were not nearly as well hidden. Stowed in the right, middle drawer, purposefully buried under pointless trinkets, the detective retrieved them easily. Returning to the living room, he grabbed all of the papers he had set out over the past week. Separating it into two piles, Akechi hid the ones he might need later in his drawers, before taking the rest of them to the bathroom, the only room without a smoke alarm.

The detective held his breath, lit a match, and caught the edge of the paper stack on fire. He held it above the toilet and let the ashes fill it up, turning the water into gray sludge. When the flame was nearly at his gloved fingers, he let the rest of the white paper fall into the toilet, flushing it quickly. The toilet never clogged when he did this, and fortunately it still didn't.

Evidence now gone, Akechi grabbed his briefcase and left the apartment, locking the door behind him. He got out of the building before he found himself finally having to consider everything that had been haunting him for the past few days. He was out in public now, and unable to physically panic. So instead he continued walking, aiming to get to the school so he could enter Kobayakawa's Palace.

When he was finally in the subway, Goro found that he couldn't take it anymore. Finding a secluded enough spot, he took out his phone, checking for any new notification. Finding none, the boy stabbed open his contacts. He was about to hit the call button and talk to Sayori again, when he realized just how foolish he was being.

I can't lose my nerve. I have to go into that Palace. If I get weak knees now and go crying to Sayori, I won't be able to get even that far… Goro realized this, and began to put his phone away, when another person called him.

Scowling upon recognizing the caller, Goro Akechi was tempted to just hang up. Instead, being the genius detective that he was, he answered the phone and made his most polite "Hello?" to the man that disgusted him the most.

"Kobayakawa isn't dead yet." Shido's curt greeting made Akechi's eye twitch in annoyance.

"Yes, I was just about to go into his Palace. The job will be done by the end of the day," It took all of his willpower not to simply hang up then and there, but he knew Shido well enough to know that the man wasn't done yet.

"Good. Since it might take you awhile, I took the liberty of sending some men to the airport. They can escort Sayori in your absence if need be," Shido, smug as ever, seemed to bask in the silence on Goro's end.

"I don't believe that will be necessar-" Goro began, but was cut off when his phone beeped. Shido had hung up on him with a very clear parting message.

Just breathe… Goro leaned against the wall. The center of his vision was fading to black, and he knew that if he didn't do something quickly he was going to pass out, which would only worsen his problems.

With no other solution coming immediately to mind, the detective took another desperate look at his contacts, selected one, and tried to control his breathing as the phone attempted to connect.

Over the past few days, the detective had felt the need to go to Leblanc once more. Sojiro had never dared to try to start another uncomfortable topic with him, for which he was grateful. However, he had insisted on giving Goro Leblanc's phone number. It wasn't much, but the detective found it was all he could think of.

Finally, after a few seconds that had passed like years, the call was answered. Futaba's timid voice came over the phone. "H-Hello?"

"Sakura-chan, it is Akechi. Can you put Sojiro on the phone?!"

"Yeah… Sure… Hang on," Futaba said, and then shouted into the background. There were some bumping sounds of the phone being clumsily moved, and Sojiro's nonchalant voice came through the phone speakers, carrying all the beauty of an angelic choir with it.

"What's up, detective?"

The detective would have cried if he didn't have such a limited time frame to do so. "Sakura-san! I need you to do something for me!"

"What is it? Is something wrong?" Sojiro sounded concerned, and Akechi began to knash his teeth in frustration. Time was of the essence.

"I need you to wait for Sayori at the airport. I don't know if I'll be able to make it in time to pick her up, and I need someone there." That was the most explanation Goro could find it in himself to give, and he found himself rolling his eyes when Sojiro didn't seem to comprehend what he said.

"What? You mean right now?"

"No! When it's time for everyone to get home. Maybe show up an hour earlier. You need to be ahead of everyone else waiting for people to come. When you see Sayori, explain what I've just said and insist that she stays with the group until I come to get her. And it has to be me! Not anyone else! Even if they say I sent them, they're lying," Goro finished, breathing heavily after talking for so long, waiting anxiously for Sojiro's answer.

"I'm definitely not getting an explanation for this… Am I? Wait. Don't answer that. I'll do it." Sojiro's sigh was incredibly loud over the phone, but Goro couldn't care less.

"Thank you," he said quickly, voice full of gratitude. He hung up before Sojiro could respond, boarding the subway he needed to take. The trip to Shujin would take about fifteen minutes, plus walking time. To Goro, however, each of those minutes would be like a knife, stabbing him over and over.

The airport in Hawaii was long and slow, and Sayori found herself all the more anxious as the minutes ticked away. She wrung her hands and looked around nervously at her friends. Yusuke's class was coming home with them, so they were all able to stay together for the way home. That was a small comfort, but the desperation to get on the plane and get home was still plain as day on her face.

The worst part was that she couldn't figure out why exactly she felt like this. Just last night, Sayori had assured both herself and Goro that she would help when she got home, so worrying about what was happening right then wasn't accomplishing anything. Still, the need to get back to Japan was practically pulling at her very bones, urging her forward in line as she got her ticket and went to the bag check.

"I feel like I shouldn't even be here," Sayori said out loud, alarming her friends.

"What do you mean by that?" Ann asked nervously.

"Wha…? Oh! Not like that! I mean, I feel like I shouldn't have gone on this trip," Sayori confessed.

"You're probably just home sick," Makoto said idly, checking herself for any metal items to put in the waiting bucket at the metal detector. "I started feeling that way halfway through this trip, so I got Sis some souvenirs."

That definitely wasn't right, though. While Hawaii was still strange to her, Sayori had been comfortable there the entire time. It had felt like a strange relief that she was speaking English with some of the other people in Hawaii. She was pretty sure she was saying the exact same things she always said, but being able to process that it was indeed English had helped her to relax, somehow. It was an odd feeling that Sayori could only attribute to something she couldn't yet understand about her unique situation.

Still, there would be no way to describe that to any of her teammates without sounding weird. At least, Sayori didn't think she could describe it accurately. So instead she just nodded. "Yeah… Maybe."

Once everyone had gotten through the metal detectors, they took a seat in the long line of seats, waiting to board. Knowing she didn't have much time left to decide, Sayori hesitantly took out her phone. One last call before she got on the plane would be alright…

Sayori hit the call button and waited for Goro to pick up.

…

…

…

Huh? It's late enough in the day that he should be awake over there… Did he sleep in? Sayori thought nervously. Looking around the airport, she noticed her friends, conversing casually and happily.

The Phantom Thieves had just finished a fun and relaxing vacation in Hawaii… Everyone was happy and having fun…

Something is happening over there… I need to be there… This happiness won't last…

Entering Kobayakawa's Palace was a disorienting experience. Despite having figured out the keywords, Goro had put off actually entering the Palace until the last minute. He wasn't like the Phantom Thieves, who had to plan out every single move they made to steal their target's heart. He just had to go in, kill the owner, and get out. So this, his first time entering, was a startling experience.

Kobayakawa's main distortion was apathy. He cared for no one other than himself and his Palace showed that. To call it a Palace would be too generous, for in the detective's eyes, the school that was the location of the principal's distorted desires hardly changed. The building itself was there, looking gray and washed out, wavering in his vision as though he were looking at it from under the water. Desire, the seed of sin, had only seemed to begin forming the Palace. Perhaps Kobayakawa's nature deemed it unnecessary to finish the actual building when Kobayakawa was the one who mattered most?

That was the detective's only theory as he ran up to the school doors and pulled, noticing that the ground he had run over had shrivelled and fallen away like ash upon contact. The doors were stubbornly locked, and Akechi realized he might have to find another way in.

However…

Stepping back slightly, Akechi looked at his black boots, removing his helmet so that the red tint wouldn't interfere. They were steel-toed, and the door itself was made of glass…

I need to get this done quickly, Akechi thought to himself, backing away from the door about ten paces. He took the time to look at the world around him. Mostly empty and devoid of life, even Shadows, half constructed buildings, paper-thin and weakly built made up the city. Above him, dark skies filled with gaseous exploding stars hovered over him. The air was thin, as if he were on top of a mountain, yet he felt heavy as the ash-ground continued to crunch like dried leaves under foot.

I didn't know what to expect when I figured out his keywords, but this is definitely not it, Goro thought idly. Taking deep breaths of air that seemed almost nonexistent, the detective took a running leap towards the glass doors of the school. The ground crackled and fell away after each step he took, and as he neared the door and swung his foot into them, Goro spared a glance down at the space below the brittle ground.

Wha… What? Before he had any chance to get a better look at what lurked underneath, the ground seemed to stretch and stitch itself together. With no time to waste as he felt the ground curling and crunching and sinking beneath him, Akechi stuck his arm through the hole he had made in the door, pressing a nearby rusted wheelchair button. Because it was from the inside, the push of the button made no alarm that someone was intruding on the school, but instead swung open to let the supposed person on in the school out of it, but instead let Goro Akechi in.

As soon as he ran in, the doors slammed shut, and Goro knew that he wouldn't be leaving until whatever he came here to do was done.

What am I going to do? What can I do? So urgently these thoughts pounded in his skull, like he had any room for doubt. The only thing he had to focus on right now was finding Kobayakawa.

It seemed as if just by thinking of finding the Palace's ruler, the Shadows had finally decided to confront the intruder. Multiple entities surrounded him, and the detective couldn't help but grimace at their appearances. Dirty and emaciated, they all appeared to only be children. They had hollow, black pools where human eyes would go, and a single red one tattooed on their foreheads. Blood dripped from their fingers, and they smiled as the intruder gagged at the stench they created. So neglected were they, that Goro could almost see through them to the creatures that would reveal themselves when he unmasked them.

"Let's finish this quickly. I don't have time to waste my efforts on the likes of you," Akechi snarled. He leaned forward and pounced on the nearest one, deciding to use one quick, but incredibly powerful hit on each of them. It wasted a lot of energy to have Loki come out and kill them all instantly, slicing them all into bits and leaving them to rot like the dead things they already were, but it was the quickest way to get to where he needed to be.

I imagine he'll be in his office, the theorizing detective raised a clawed glove to tap at his chin in consideration, only to realize he'd most likely need to keep his pace. It didn't matter that in the real world the office was on the first floor. Surely, there would be plenty of obstacles to getting there.

It was a shame that Kobayakawa viewed his school as still being a school. There were differences in aesthetic, sure, but it was almost uncanny how similar it looked to Shujin. It made it all the more easy to think through how exactly he could get to the principal's office.

Perhaps if I get in trouble, I'll simply get sent there… But no. Kobayakawa had his student council president do all of that for him. Even if she's not doing that anymore, who knows what his perception of that is. I'll end up just wasting my time… Still, he was planning on fighting his way through this place until he ended up where he needed to be, so getting sent to the principal's office would be a bonus. He thought about this, running through the dark, dingy halls, not taking any notice of how the wallpaper and paint curled and fluttered off the walls around him, leaving behind that same empty space he had seen before. The strange thing that hid in that nothingness watched him go, witnessing how he inadvertently destroyed the Palace that had never existed in the first place.

The supposed symbols in the Palace were getting more obvious as Akechi tore through the school, noticing the thinned out beings all looked so young, hanging around the lockers that lined the halls. They intercepted him with each step he took, and the detective began to understood as he heard their haughty, nonchalant voices. These were supposed to be the students of Shujin, and they were all fine examples of how well Kobayakawa took care of them. Not for the first time, he came to the conclusion that he should never have sent Sayori to this forsaken school. Two Palaces had appeared here, if he was to hazard a guess about Kamoshida, and she had nearly been assaulted by that same man.

I failed then… But I won't fail here, to keep her as safe as I can! That was the only positive thought he could think of as he continued to shred the Shadows around him. When that was done, he sprinted towards the office door, which was now finally in view, only to cringe and stumble as the hallway suddenly seemed to reverse, taking him in the opposite direction.

Is this one of the Palace's defense mechanisms? Akechi wondered, turning around to head in the proper direction. After getting only about three yards forward, the hallway spun once again. Knowing that this was only going to be an annoying pattern, the detective began heading in the direction the hallway was misdirecting him in. At worst, he would fall into a death trap, but he was moderately certain that he could beat that situation easily.

Surprisingly, he ran into no Shadows whatsoever, which made him suspicious as to what could possibly be on the other side of the hall. Could they be gathering somewhere at the end to overpower him? They wouldn't get far, of course, but it would be a noticeable detour.

As these paranoid thoughts entered his mind, Akechi didn't notice the plain door at the end of the hallway until he nearly slammed into it. Catching himself the second before, he backed away and noticed the sign right beside the door.

It was an uncharacteristically bright and sparkly poster, with multiple arrows pointing to the door beside it. Goro leaned in closer to examine it, and noticed then that it smelled funny. The scent was sweet, and as he wasted his precious time trying to identify it, he didn't notice the thing sneaking behind him, watching from the walls to see what would happen.

The detective gave one last frown, putting his hand on the doorknob, only to find that the room was locked when he tried to twist it. He frowned, kicking the wood, only to find that this was perhaps the only sturdy thing in the entire Palace. It only took a few more attempts at using brute strength and his own physical abilities for Akechi to bring out Loki. The Persona's attacks proved useless, and similar disappointing results occurred with Robin Hood.

I've wasted too much time here! I need to get going… Akechi huffed and gave a last indignant kick to the door, before turning around to find that the Palace had once again rearranged itself. Instead of the long stretch of hallway, one short one, and a staircase greeted him. At the end of the short hallway, a door with glowing red text above it glistened like a lighthouse on a stormy night. It was meant to be an exit, but exiting this hellhole before he finished what he came here to do would be suicide, and the murder of someone who in no possible way deserved to die.

With no other options, Akechi began up the long flight of stairs. Each of them sank under his weight, disappearing entirely when he stepped off of them, leaving behind only dust and splinters of wood. Without a doubt, this was not possibly the layout of the actual school. The longer he travelled, the more the detective noticed the pressing atmosphere around him. When he got to what must have been the twelfth turn of stairs, it felt vividly as if someone was grabbing him by his heart and squeezing him. The ringing in his head that alerted him to the powerful Shadows above him only made it worse.

When he finally saw a door at the top of the staircase, Goro was close to collapsing from the pain he was in. The parts of his brain that registered pain were begging him to retreat, but he was too close now to quit. With a sudden burst of energy, he ran up the stairs, taking two at a time, and slammed open the large metal door. Immediately the pain stopped, replaced by a slight pressure in his ears.

All he was really aware of here, on the school roof, was the immediate sense of danger that came with knowing that Kobayakawa's Shadow was near. Akechi took no notice of the exploding stars, nor of the creepy ambience that could be heard beyond the silence. Instead, he glared at the dark corners of the roof, looking for any signs of where the principal was. He wasn't going to bring out any Persona until he knew where to attack, but he did take the safety off of his pistol, knowing he was going to need to use it very soon.

The poor detective was unaware, unawakened, not knowing about the whispers all around him. He wasn't aware of the ones watching and waiting, some wanting desperately to be proven right, and the other already confident that they would be instead. Akechi noticed none of these things, instead hearing the heavy creaking noise of footsteps coming from the door he had just come out of. The stairs were not there, so the detective found himself speechless and pale as he tried to work out how noises were being made there. All he could do was wait noiselessly as the Shadow finally emerged from the doorway.

Kobayakawa's Shadow was the most polished thing in the entire Palace. Dressed in a dapper yellow pinstripe suit and sporting a silver bowler hat that covered his bald head, the Shadow looked at him with anger, his entire fat body tense with the emotions welling in him.

Akechi noticed the man's posture and nearly sighed in relief, straightening his own form to appear more confident. Somebody as smug as Kobayakawa had seemed at the meeting shouldn't look at him with such wide eyes. The Shadow knew why he was here, and was frightened by him. No amount of anger could hide that.

"You shouldn't be here!" Shadow Kobayakawa yelled at the assassin, quite clearly enraged. In response to his anger, nearly a dozen Shadows rose from the ground, backing the pathetic man up. Akechi could only sigh in disappointment. Those things couldn't stop him. He could easily use Loki and make them do his bidding instead.

"You know why I am here… There's no way that you couldn't," Akechi said coolly, his cold eyes never leaving the Shadow's face. Yes, they both knew why he was here. He was going to make his choice. All he had to do was stake his claim. "I'm here because you're going to give away information about our little team to the authorities… But the thing is, you're not going to incriminate yourself, either."

The Shadow grew tense at his words, and the detective smiled as he realized he had been right in his guess. Shido hadn't told him… Perhaps because he knew that he would figure it out on his own…Or perhaps this was the reason why.

"I wasn't sure before, but now that I am, I guess I have the ability to ask now." Akechi took one step forward, and was displeased when Kobayakawa didn't back away. Surely he was intimidated, right?

"You want to take over this little operation of his doing, simply because you're only invested in looking out for yourself," Akechi felt his blood boil. "Somehow you thought you were untouchable, and you created this entire mess that I have to clean up!" Taking his pistol out, he levelled it at the man's head, causing the Shadow to shudder.

"Even as an assassin you're worthless at your job. Just shoot already," Shadow Kobayakawa growled.

"Well, let's just say I no longer want to work for Shido, but let's keep that between us, alright? Honestly, I never have wanted to work for him," Akechi spoke, much to the Shadow's confusion.

"What the hell are you talking about!? Why are you working for him then?" Kobayakawa demanded.

"Revenge, of course! But I'm getting ahead of myself. The point is, I don't want to work for Shido, and neither do you. We're united in our interests, you see? So I'm willing to try to make a deal with you," Akechi put down his gun as the Shadow nodded, signalling for him to go on.

"How about instead of me killing you, you just go to sleep for awhile? Then when you wake up, the stage will be set for you to give your testimony and implicate Shido, but not yourself, and not me," the detective smirked, noticing that Shadow Kobayakawa seemed incredibly interested in what he had to say.

"My only condition is that after that point, I'm not involved in any Conspiracy business. You guys stop contacting me, and leave me alone," Akechi held out a hand, hoping for a handshake, despite knowing how desperate this entire attempt was.

It only took a few seconds for Kobayakawa's Shadow to grow enraged at the deal. "Why should I do something like that, you worthless brat!? If nobody is using a tool, then it becomes worthless! You'd just be left in the trash! You should want to work for me!" His ranting was emphasized as his body began to distend and grow, his suit ripping in several unmentionable places, his body becoming as grey and dirty as the surrounding Shadows.

These Shadows suddenly leapt forward, transforming into multiple different creatures. Akechi sighed in disappointment, summoning Loki and unleashing one wave after another of power. The power of his unchained heart was truly at the most powerful it had been in a long time. There were no distractions as the Shadows suddenly turned on each other and began destroying everything but him. Quite a few began to attack Kobayakawa, who looked like nothing more than a gray, faceless blob.

This is how it should be. You hate everything, and everything hates you. Unleash it all and be free from weakness… Loki had said these things to him at one point or another, and the sad part was that Goro Akechi found himself agreeing with those inner thoughts. He hated so many things about the cards life had dealt him, and he was finally able to take it out on someone. Kobayakawa thought of him as a tool, and maybe he was one, but he would serve his own purposes just as well as he would serve others.

More and more Shadows rallied to defend their master, and Akechi found himself grinning wildly as Loki continued to rain hellfire down on all of them. Before long there were only ten or so left, and his rational thought slowly returned to him. I must have said the wrong thing to appease Kobayakawa's apathetic state…

He got out his own saber, wanting to take these Shadows out quickly. However, before he could, one of them leapt straight towards him. He was tackled to the ground with equal amounts of savagery that he had been displaying before. Closing his eyes as the masked figure began to claw at his face, Akechi reached up a hand and slapped the offending force away. He got up to finish off the overly eager attacker, only to nearly choke when he saw who exactly Kobayakawa's cognition had formed this Shadow into.

It should come as no surprise that what he saw was an incredibly gray, incredibly frail Sayori rubbing at a scratch on her face. Once again, he was reminded of all of the threats that had been made recently. These threats against Sayori, which had no right existing, were holding him back from the freedom he now wanted more and more.

The Cognitive version of Sayori looked up at him with hurt in her eyes. "You split my lip," she said simply, her voice quivering, before bursting into tears. Cries of pain and anguish that sounded too real for his liking attacked Goro's ears, and he covered his ears with his hands to try to block it out, only for something else to begin repeating in his head. Shido's threats to kill her, Kobayakawa's threat to ruin her future, every single little word pounded and sparked in his head, until he couldn't even tell his left from his right anymore. Shadows surrounded him as Kobayakawa grinned in victory.

The detective took one last glance at this poorly done representation of Sayori, remembering the things she had said to him just the night before. She was a million miles away, and had explicitly told him to make whatever choice he felt would be right to make. She didn't want him to worry about her, but that was exactly what he had to do in order to make his choice correctly.

Her life or Kobayakawa's? The one worth more was obvious. He had known what he had to do for a long time, and he could figure out what to do. Right now, everything inside was telling him the choice to make right now. His mind, his heart, Loki, and even Robin Hood… Somehow they were all agreeing on one thing. They all knew… He knew… Sayori didn't deserve to inherit any kind of fear from the likes of Kobayakawa, or Shido.

Still, even as he raised the gun once more, he could feel eyes burning into his back. The eyes of those that he had already killed, Wakaba and his mother staring the hardest. In front of him he could practically see the hurt and betrayal in the eyes of the Phantom Thieves… In the eyes of Sayori.

But I have to do it… I know… that I have to do it right now! Akechi thought one last time, pulling the trigger before any other thoughts could invade. The bullet pierced Shadow Kobayakawa's head. The Shadows disappeared, Kobayakawa disappeared, the appalling vision of Sayori disappeared, and the Palace began to break apart, even more so than before.

But in this destruction and death, a strange feeling overtook Goro Akechi, disorienting him and causing him to fall to his knees. The previous pulls and twists in his mind were undone, and he realized the mistake he had made. There could have been another way… The detective nearly tore out his hair in his rage and frustration. The exploding stars in the sky above him suddenly began to spark as he released a feral sob, resting on the ground, which was quickly breaking apart. It split open right below his face, allowing him a brief glimpse into the nothing below.

Goro screamed and reeled back, blinking bright spots out of his vision. It had only been for a second, but he had looked into the void around this broken Palace. He had seen the bells and whistles and basic functions, and he understood all of it and none of it at the same time. The ambience had been loud in his ears, and the eyes that had been watching him burned him alive. Millions of pairs of eyes, witnessing his failure to grasp the truth. All of this happened in one second, and the very next the knowledge was gone, torn away from his thoughts and memories as easily as tearing a paper in half. All that was left was a faint remnant that he couldn't quite keep in his mind.

Goro Akechi lay the roof of the collapsing Palace, numb and unmoving as his brain desperately tried to process the unseeable. A part of him registered how likely it was for him to die if he didn't get out of there before the Palace collapsed. However, another part knew that this Palace couldn't hurt him, no matter how much it broke apart.

The facts were plain and simple. Kobayakawa had a Palace, Goro Akechi went into that Palace to kill him, and Goro Akechi succeeded.

That's all that anyone needs to know, after all.