A New Route

by Nevermore-the-Dragon-Sings

Something strange happens after Sayori is deleted. Now she's fallen into a new environment with no clue how she's gotten there. Luckily, a seemingly harmless detective has her back. Soon a new mystery arises, connections are made, and Sayori has to decide. Who should she trust? Unfortunately, not everything is as it seems.

56. Chapter 55

There is an important author's note at the end. We implore you to read it.

Sayori and Goro both stood across from each other in the detective's apartment. It was expected to be a quick discussion, so neither of them wanted to get comfortable. Goro had a small notepad with him, in case notes needed to be taken for future reference.

"So… Basically when Makoto calls me, you want me to say yes immediately?" Goro asked. He was thankful he had made the decision to cancel other public appearances until further notice, as his schedule was now wide open.

"Exactly," Sayori replied. "I have to work in the library for the majority of the festival, so I wouldn't be able to make it seem like I invited you on a date or anything like that. If you're coming as a guest for a panel, it would make sense for you to walk around on your own and scope things out… if you need to do that?"

"That does sound reasonable. Though if I showed up specifically for that panel, people will probably bombard me with questions whenever I am in more public areas," the detective thought aloud. "But think nothing of it! I'm used to dealing with large crowds of fans, even at their most annoying."

Sayori nodded. "Now that just means we need to figure out a way for all of us to meet in private. We couldn't meet up in the library where I'll be working at. It will be an area open to the public, so anyone could walk in on us discussing things like the Metaverse, and the Phantom Thieves…" Not to mention, it would be difficult to convince Mai to leave for an extended period of time…

"I think I have a plan for that," Goro said. He was suddenly smirking, proud of what he had come up with. "It is a bit dependent on timing, but we could use the panel I will be speaking at to our advantage."

Sayori listened to him explain his plan, and couldn't help but release a tired sigh at the end. "This is just so you can mess with your fans. Isn't it?"

"Precisely."

Sayori smiled at the honesty. "I'll do my best to help with that part of the plan, too. That will probably be the easy part."

"Are you still uncertain about being able to convince everyone to let me join your group?" Goro asked with a frown. "Sayori, I wouldn't ask you to do anything if I didn't know you could do it."

The girl shook her head, bowing a tiny bit as she processed the compliment. "I know that, and I know I'm the best person for this job… but it doesn't stop me from feeling anxious."

"I'm glad you can at least give yourself that credit," the detective said with a smile. "I couldn't tell you how to accomplish it, so I'm leaving the task in your hands."

"I understand, and… I'll do my best."

"Now," Goro said, clasping his hands together, "I heard recently that the police gave all of the Shujin students interviews. This is rather worrying. With Sae-san mobilizing the police, this is probably a sign that action will be taken soon."

Sayori felt herself grow pale as her heart beat seemed to increase. "They commented on how I spend time with Haru and Yusuke… I'm definitely on their radar… We all are!"

"You are," Goro confirmed. "Again, don't trust any stranger. Is there anything else of note about your interrogation?"

"N-no. He asked me questions that I expected to hear… like how my name was on the Phansite, and how I had that one encounter with Kamoshida," Sayori said, causing Goro to nod in consideration.

"That does sound reasonable… Still, that's worrying in its own right," the detective said, mostly to himself. If it was revealed to Shido and his conspiracy that Sayori was a phantom thief, that would lead to disaster.

"I'll do my best to pass off as normal," Sayori said, looking down sadly as the detective thought to himself. "A lot of girls were Kamoshida's prey, and the Phansite has a bunch of requests on it… Not to mention the group I hang out with could be completely coincidental…"

"That won't matter in the end," Goro stated, feeling frustrated at a new issue that had come to mind. "With how this investigation is going, and with who is controlling the outcome, evidence won't matter."

"It will matter if we have anything to say about it," Sayori shot back with determination. "Goro, stop thinking about the what-ifs, because we're going to steal Sae's Treasure. Don't focus on how things will turn out if we don't, and put that big brain of yours towards finding your mysterious messenger!"

"I…" the detective was about to argue, but then shook his head. If there was one good thing about this situation, it was that Sayori seemed a lot more driven than she had been before. He wanted to keep things that way for when things finally solved themselves, as the mystery messenger had put it. So instead he let a small smile slip onto his features. "You're right, Sayori."

"Of course I am," the girl said with her head raised proudly. She put her hands on her hips and posed like some anime heroine, giving Goro a confident grin. "This is going to work!"

"I appreciate your faith in my plan." The detective said, grinning back.

The two chatted for a little while longer, before deciding to each go their respective ways. Sayori grabbed her backpack and gave a small wave goodbye, before running to make sure she made it onto the right subway. Goro didn't have much to do, so he put his focus into figuring out the finer details of how he might spend the culture festival, all while waiting for Makoto to call or text him so that he could accept the invitation.

---

The next afternoon, Goro decided he had finally had enough of staying inside the apartment. He no longer had to fear running into Sayori or her friends, so he decided he would visit Leblanc. Lately, he had been missing the coffee, tea, and other quality meals that he couldn't get with his lackluster culinary skills.

Though it was a bad sign for Sojiro's business, Goro was glad to find that the cafe was empty of customers. He had been wanting to talk to Sojiro about what they always ended up talking about when they were alone. It was cruel of him to listen to the man speak so nostalgically of Wakaba Isshiki, but it did always eventually lead to topics about the detective's own mother.

"...That woman was smart, too. Whenever I visited Wakaba's research lab, I would make everyone there coffee. Your mother would offer to serve everyone… Little did I know how everyone saw the situation. She never claimed credit for the coffee, but by giving it to everyone, they all felt they owed her. At the very least, she made everyone like her more, and by doing this she would get small privileges. It was small stuff like longer breaks, but still…" Sojiro suddenly chuckled. "Of course, Wakaba never fell for it, but she did find it amusing. It was also a bit of a social experiment to them. Like one time, this one guy I knew came with me, and your mother-"

Sojiro was suddenly interrupted by the ringing of the bell above the door. One of his regular customers had arrived, seating himself at a booth and asking for his regular order. Goro noticed that Sojiro seemed slightly annoyed by the customer's presence, though it was hard to tell if that customer was just generally annoying, or if he was upset about getting interrupted.

"I'm turning off the TV if one of your interviews comes on," Sojiro said lowly. "That guy is a real 'trend follower' and I don't want to deal with the headache that would come with him recognizing you." He turned away from the detective and began making the customer's order, not waiting for Goro's response.

I don't want to deal with that headache, either, the boy thought to himself, taking a sip of his coffee and replaying Sojiro's story in his mind. He almost didn't hear the bell ring a second time. However, he was glad he did, as he turned to face Akira, who seemed surprised that the detective was here. Without really thinking, Goro said, "Welcome home," not expecting a response.

"Honey, I'm home," Akira replied, causing the detective to internally choke, though at this point he knew he should expect such responses from Akira.

"You're back awfully late," the detective remarked, determined not to lose his composure. He turned to Sojiro as if they hadn't already been in a conversation. ""How has business been for you lately?"

"Take a look around," Sojiro replied sarcastically, searching for something underneath the counter. "...Is the Niijima lady doing well?"

Goro shook his head, knowing very well that Sae was not doing well. "Unfortunately, we haven't seen each other lately. We had a… difference of opinion." That was the biggest understatement the detective had ever said. Sae wanted nothing to do with him right now.

"What are your thoughts, Representative Shido?"

Goro resisted the urge to tense up as the TV blared these words across the small cafe. On second thought, I would much rather prefer the headache of being recognized… The detective barely saw Sojiro raise an eyebrow at the television. The man's reaction stuck out to him for some reason, but before he could pursue the thought, Shido's voice invaded his ears and made him grit his teeth.

"It doesn't surprise me that people say our country is lethargic. We've let these Phantom Thieves run amok," Shido spoke, voice silky like a venomous snake.

Akira rubbed his forehead with his fingers, as if trying to massage away a headache. Goro wanted to do the same. Of all the times he had to hear Shido's voice, why right now? The detective wanted to tune the man's voice out, but was unable to, for the sake of his own principles.

"And because they've targeted only prominent figures, our government leaders have been hesitant to act, " Shido continued on, every single word making a tear in Goro's sanity slightly bigger. "I apologize for any concern they may have caused and will henceforth search for an apt countermeasure."

"That politician's really honorable. I like how quick he says he's gonna do everything," an annoying customer chimed in, clapping to the man's words. Somehow, this was even worse to the detective, who had to bite his tongue while forcing a calm smile onto his face. His face and body were completely lax, but everything on the inside was far from it.

"This is an important undertaking, and one I intend to confront with every asset available to selfish criminals enacting this 'social reform' are in fact the ones most deserving of reformation. Answering to the interest of the people as hastily as possible is my natural duty as a politician."

"Man, this guy is admirable," the annoying customer said. Once again, he was clapping.

The detective set his cup back on his plate, before hiding his hands out of sight. They were either shaking with rage, or clenched into very tight fists at this point. The detective didn't want to look down and see, instead focusing on the source of his rage, all with a calm smile painted on.

"Rampant political scandals, thieves on the loose… As sad as it is, this is the state of our nation. We must resolve this problem, and I assure the people of this noble country that I will do just that."

"What're you standing there staring off into space for? You're creeping me out," Sojiro said, looking at Akira. Goro almost thought Sojiro was talking to him, until he noticed Akira staring off into nowhere with a thoughtful, yet troubled, look.

"It's nothing," the boy finally said.

"I'm not worried or anything. You're just blocking the store entrance," Sojiro responded, even though no one had accused him of that.

"That politician is honest and carries an overwhelming amount of charisma," the annoying customer claimed. "It feels like a trustworthy leader for Japan has finally come forth."

Goro chuckled at that, sanity already low. That's the point! You think he's honest because he's charismatic. I'm surprised you aren't clapping for him again, you idiotic, gullible, piece of tra-

"Sorry, wasn't listening," Sojiro said, interrupting the detective's train of thought. Somehow, no one had noticed his lapse of sanity, or perhaps Sojiro had, and was trying to keep attention off of him?

Goro schooled his expression into one of minor disappointment. That seemed like the best way to recover right now. "'Criminals,' hm…? Well, that must be how he sees it. However, that is ignorant of their true nature."

Akira looked up in alarm. This could be yet another conversation that might clue them in on exactly what Goro Akechi knew of the Phantom Thieves. "You on the Thieves' side?" he asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Hm…" Goro looked back at the annoying customer. Going as far as confirming it might have unfortunate consequences. In front of other people, he had to keep up appearances. Luckily, Akira seemed to realize exactly what he was looking at, so hopefully the detective's next words wouldn't be too misleading. "It may be somewhat of a stretch to say I'm 'on their side.' Though, I have plenty of reasons to give them 'the benefit of the doubt.'" Saying those words brought a bittersweet taste to his mouth, so he drank some more of his tea to get rid of it. "If this Okumura incident was not the Phantom Thieves… If they only change the hearts of criminals… Then even though they can't be considered 'innocent'... Perhaps our goals are not so different from each other."

"You have a conflict of interest, from what I heard," Akira said casually, slipping onto one of the chairs next to Goro. The customer that both Sojiro and Goro had deemed as annoying had thankfully been paying no mind to their conversation after Sojiro shut him down.

The detective gave a dry laugh in response. Of course, he supposed it was expected at this point that he would only ever bring that up. Even if the claim held some water, that definitely wasn't all there was to it. "Try not to let that information get out, though. I've already gotten into trouble for it. Anything else would make me look unprofessional."

Akira nodded, and thankfully the other customer left soon after that. Sojiro turned off the TV, also not wanting to deal with anymore interviews. The quiet did remind Goro why he liked Leblanc so much. Even annoyances could be easily disregarded and smoothed over because of the cafe's calming atmosphere. Even with interviews from his father showing up on the small television, the small establishment felt untouched by the cruelties of the outside world. It was probably the last safe place he had. At least, it was the last one that he could freely come to.

"I knew there was something special about you, ever since the first time we met," Goro began, not quite sure who he was talking to, or even if he was saying it out loud at this point. But Akira was listening intently, giving him his full attention. "I feel as though I could tell you anything during our conversations."

Akira nodded, and seemed to zone out for a moment. Goro dismissed the detail, and tried to enjoy the peace and quiet for a few more minutes. He shouldn't stay here longer than necessary. There were always things he needed to be doing.

"You don't really come here that much," Akira noted. "At least, you used to come here more often. Sometimes you were alone, and sometimes it was with Sayori… I can't help but think you're lonely."

Why are we talking about this now? A familiar voice said, sounding like a demon. The detective felt as though it were wrapping its hands around his neck, making him take a sharp intake of air before continuing to speak.

"That's a very good observation," Goro all but confirmed. He looked down sadly, staring at his now empty cup. "I grew too used to her constant companionship, and now we have hit a wall. We talk more now, but it feels more distant than usual…"

"I've noticed Sayori has been acting strangely, too," Akira said, cringing at the memory of the girl's breakdown. "I'm not going to pry into what you guys talked about, of course. Though, I will say it's been having a negative effect on Sayori."

No shit, Sherlock. You went from fucking her brains out to being unable to even touch her within the span of a week.

Goro began to look ill. Hearing that was a knife in his chest. "Yeah… Judging from what I've seen, she hates me, doesn't she?" He could feel his hands shaking again, and clenched them into tight fists as a headache actually did begin to form, making his heartbeat loud in his ears.

"What? No," Akira shook his head. For a detective, Goro Akechi didn't seem that smart. "Sayori clearly loves you… You were joking just now, right? Please tell me you were."

He's mocking now…

"I should ask the same thing of you," Goro shot back, before sighing. "Things were so much easier before that… argument. Now, she always seems distressed when she's around me… Even when she doesn't, things are always cold between us… It's hard to describe."

"Well, it's easy for me to describe," Akira replied, pushing his glasses up in the way only someone like him could. Even though they were fake, the detective had the sudden urge to grab them off of his face and snap them in half.

Still the black-haired boy continued. "Both of you- especially Sayori- are just trying to cope with how you feel, and what you both have just learned about each other. I think Sayori wants things to be how they were before, too, but more than anything she wants to move forward…"

He's proud of this… He knows Sayori better than you… And you know why? The detective felt affronted and appalled, and turned to argue with Akira. He would prove he knew more than Akira, both to quell his own desire to excel, and to quiet the voice.

But Akira shot up a finger before Goro could even open up his mouth to speak. "Don't say something edgy like, 'I am only holding her back,' because it's stupid when you do that. I have no idea what happened between you two, and I'm not sure I want to, but you are making the assumption that it's reason enough for her emotions to do a complete flip. That's not how emotions work."

That's not how love works… maybe. But what of hate…?

"I think this is the most I've ever heard you speak," the detective commented flippantly. Still, Akira's words definitely did stick in his head, even as he tried to dismiss them as foolish. He had been assuming that since Sayori had enough reason to hate him, then she obviously must hate him, but that wasn't necessarily true…

She hates you. She's more faithful to a piece of attic trash than she is to you.

"Hey, Goro Akechi? Are you still in there?"

He's superior to you in every way, but you just accept it like she means nothing.

Fingers snapped in front of the detective's face, but he didn't even register it. His face had a default pleasant smile glued on, as he fought and lost a battle with the hateful voice.

You don't love Sayori… You hate Akira…

"Well, anyway," Goro said, suddenly standing up, "I figured I should let you know this before I leave. I have decided to accept Makoto's invitation to be the guest for Shujin's panel." He turned to Sojiro. "Thank you for the coffee and tea. It was delicious." He decided not to bring up the more personal thing that he was grateful for, but he was sure that the sentiment got across as Sojiro gave him a brief look and nod.

"Glad you liked it," the man said sincerely.

"I'm happy I got to see you, too," Goro said to Akira. "I haven't seen any of you for a while."

"Hopefully we can all hang out a bit at the culture festival," Akira suggested. "Though Sayori will be stuck in one place the entire time, so leaving her out would feel even more unfair."

"We'll see how everything goes," the detective said, finally ready to get going. "I'll be going now."

With that said, Goro quickly left the cafe, feeling a sense of dread at how thoroughly he had lost himself in there. That voice that he heard so often now had sunken teeth and claws into him, filling his head with thoughts he didn't want to have. A heavy weight fell over him, casting out the rays of light he thought he had finally found and making him wish he had never left the apartment.

Hopefully, now he had enough things to think about that could combat that darkness. Thoughts of a once clever woman happily going about a mundane life that was free from strife, and the possibility that the truth about him wasn't as hated as he originally assumed, and the closeness he now felt with another friend drifted in his mind, calmly repeating themselves and washing away all of the loneliness he had felt the past few days.

That woman is dead.

Sayori hates you.

You hate Akira.

---

The culture festival had finally arrived. Sayori woke up that first day with a sense of dread and excitement. The next couple of days would affect her future more than anyone would expect of such a mundane seeming event. It was the memory of making the plan to not let this moment go to waste that spurred her out of her cot and out into the world nearly an hour before Ann even woke up.

Sayori arrived at the school along with the really early birds waiting for the doors to the school to open. She breathed in the cold morning air, as the sky got slightly brighter. After about five minutes the doors were finally open, and Sayori rushed in with all of the other volunteering students to put the finishing touches on the festival.

Making the familiar walk to the library, Sayori set her backpack on the ground near the desk. It was filled with streamers and bags of balloons that she and Ann had purchased for this purpose. Since Mai had yet to arrive, the pink haired girl sat in the chair behind the checkout desk and began to make a mental map of how she wanted it to look. She was nowhere near as skilled as Yusuke, but she was proud of what she came up with.

"I have arrived!" A voice shouted, overdramatic as always. Sayori turned to see Mai standing in the doorway, her arms full of two articles of black and white clothing that Sayori hadn't quite identified. "I even brought our uniforms for today! Aren't you proud of me, Sayori?"

"Uniforms?" Sayori asked curiously, standing up and walking up to Mai. She took a bundle of clothing from the girl, unfolding it and holding it up by the sleeves. Upon seeing what she had just revealed, the girl blushed and shook her head. "No… we shouldn't be required to wear these! Only certain booths have-"

"It was the student council's orders?" Mai said unsurely, before shrugging and unfurling her own maid outfit, grinning as Sayori began to point out the flaws in that statement.

"Makoto never said anything about this to me, and I'm with her nearly every day! Not to mention, my class's booth spent a lot of money just to make their maid outfits look nice! Why would that be if we were required to wear these!?"

"Two words," Mai said simply, holding up two fingers to Sayori's face. "Lighten up." The girl waved the frilly fabric of her own dress in the girl's face. "I was just kiddin'. I saw these for rent somewhere and decided 'why the hell not?' Not to mention, the culture festival is a special occasion, so we should dress for the part!" Mai went over to Sayori's side and elbowed her playfully.

Sayori let out a long suffering sigh. "I'm not getting out of this… Am I?"

"Well, I guess you could not wear it, but then that would just make me look weird if you're dressed normally," Mai began to whine, leaning against Sayori and hugging her. "Don't leave me out! I paid good money to rent these!"

"They were rented…" Something about that made Sayori cringe, though she knew if they were rented, they would have been cleaned beforehand. Weighing her options, the girl finally looked at Mai with a stern look. "Let's decorate first."

"Atta girl!" Mai yelled, hugging Sayori tight before letting go and digging into the other girl's backpack. "Ohh, you got the sparkly stuff, too!"

"Yeah, I thought it would be really cute!" Sayori replied, smiling as she got out the supplies and laid them out on a nearby table. We also have all of those posters that each class worked on that we need to hang up.

"Yup!" Mai chirped. "This place is going to be like a little rest stop for everyone coming to the festival, so we need to make it as inviting as possible." She grabbed a silver roll of streamers and the roll of tape that was near the checkout area, and began to hang the streamers from the tops of bookshelves and windows.

Sighing, Sayori sat down and began to blow up balloons. The two only had a couple hours to get everything ready. Afterwards, the doors would open to all of the visitors for the festival. It would be rough over the next two days while she waited for Goro to confront her friends, as decorating would be the busiest she would probably be. After that, she would be free to think of whatever she needed to.

But Sayori didn't want to think about things that weren't happening yet, and she found herself trying to get lost in the distraction of decorating. She chatted with Mai as well, telling her about the newest friends she had made since they had last discussed it, and also any of the random things Mai managed to come up with.

Perhaps the girl knew she was looking for a distraction, because Sayori felt flooded with all of Mai's questions and comments, simply trying to comprehend the wild words she had come up with.

After nearly an hour and a half, the library finally looked ready for a celebration. Streamers of different colors were woven together and hung from the ceiling, windows, bookshelves, and even the edges of tables. Balloons were used to cover all of the areas where tape had been used to secure the streamers. Study tables had been cleared off, with brightly colored plastic tablecloths covering them. The computers that were normally used for studying had been granted access to a few downloadable games. After the culture festival, they would be deleted, of course.

All that was left to decorate were the two assistant librarians themselves. Mai grinned and held out the two outfits with a cocksure attitude. Sayori tried to stare her down, but eventually resigned herself to the girl's charisma. Besides, a small part of Sayori knew she would normally be more than willing to wear something like this. Despite how stressed she had been feeling lately, she felt she shouldn't pass up the opportunity.

"Alright, Mai, let's do this! Maid style!" Sayori shouted, posing like a magical girl for special effect.

""Super maid style!" Mai laughed. They both took the uniforms and went to the girl's bathroom down the hall to change.

A few minutes later, Sayori emerged from the bathroom, grinning happily as she waited for Mai to finish as well. The black and white dress clashed a bit with her blue and white shoes, but otherwise she thought it looked close to perfect. With that thought in mind, Sayori decided to go ahead to the library while Mai got her own dress on.

"Oh damn! Sayori is looking fine!" A familiar voice piped up as soon as the girl walked in.

Sayori jumped back in shock. "Ryuji?!" The blond was sitting closest to the library entrance, with the rest of her friends spread out in the library as well. Not to mention, they were all turning to look at her now that Ryuji had said something. Sayori blushed, smiled, and tried to wave away any of the embarrassing remarks that they had to say.

Yusuke was suddenly in the center of her vision, standing about five feet away and holding up his hands as he framed her up. "Very stylish… As always, such bold choices of apparel highlight your natural enthusiasm, Sayori!"

"Yusuke? I thought you had exams this morning?!"

"I was rescheduled to the afternoon at my school, so we all decided we would come in the morning instead."

Makoto looked at the girl in plain shock. "Sayori, why are you wearing that?" She looked away in embarrassment, trying to process why her friend might be wearing a maid uniform, even though she wasn't working with her own class's booth. Ann had mentioned the female students were wearing maid costumes for that… but it made absolutely no sense with Sayori's current duties!

"Um… well, Mai decided we should wear something special, since this is a special occasion." Sayori giggled nervously. "I was on the fence about it earlier, but I barely notice a difference between this and the clothes I normally wear…"

"Gosh, Sayori would be the best girl in a harem anime with that nonchalant attitude!" Futaba commented, looking up from the school computer she had seated herself at. The girl's eyes suddenly widened and she turned back to her computer screen with a silent squeak.

"Why are all of you here?" Mai asked, causing Sayori to jump once more. "We still have a few minutes until the school is open to the public." She walked up beside Sayori, wearing an identical uniform and a cocky grin on her face. "Oh, I see we have a few more people in the adopted hoard of friends."

"Pleased to meet you," Haru said, standing up and bowing.

Mai shook her head. "No need to be fancy. Friends of Sayori are friends of mine. I know Ann, Makoto, Ryuji, and Akira," Mai looked at Haru quizzically, "And I obviously know you, Haru Okumura. You were Sayori's roommate when all you lucky ducks went to Hawaii, right?"

"Oh, um… Yes, I am," Haru said, nodding her head nervously. She felt grateful that Mai wasn't going to point out her father's passing as another way she was known.

"And you…" Mai walked up to Yusuke and seemed to deeply inspect his slender form, "You're that guy from Kosei that Sayori had mentioned. Yusuke Kitagawa?"

"Yes, I am," Yusuke said, about to begin a very long speech about how her maid costume had inspired him artistically.

Before he could, Mai moved past him to Futaba, who was now hunched over the computer. "Who is this one? I've never seen you around school before… and Sayori has never mentioned you…"

"What?" Futaba turned to Sayori with a look of betrayal. "I thought I was your favorite!" She suddenly froze as Mai waited patiently for an answer. Blushing nervously, the girl pushed up her glasses and hurried to answer. "Sutaba Fakura… No, wait! Reverse that! F-Futaba… S-Sakura…" Embarrassed, the girl went back to looking at the school computer.

"Oh! Now I remember! You're coffee dad's kid!" Mai beamed, before moving away from the anxious girl. "Now that I'm updated on Sayori's friend situation, you all need to tell me why you're here so early."

"Well, we all felt sorry that Sayori wasn't going to be able to walk around with us today," Haru explained tentatively. She felt sad that she couldn't walk around with all of her friends. "We thought we could spend time with her in here for a little while, before we got in the way of others."

"Ah, I get it," Mai nodded, smirking at Sayori. The girl was watching the entire interaction silently, wondering how this was going to go. "I'm hurt none of you thought about me. I'm keepin' her plenty of company! And I get lonely, too!"

"We forgot," Akira said simply, causing Mai to shriek with laughter.

"As in you just forgot I existed?! That's fair. I don't see you guys enough these days," Mai stated, walking around to sit at her usual station at the checkout.

"I'm sorry," Sayori said with a pout. "Akira comes and gets books, and Makoto studies here all the time! I thought that would be enough!"

"Clearly not," Mai said, sticking her tongue out at Akira. "Maybe these genius outfits I picked out just drew them all here."

"Why would you, though?" Makoto asked, closing her eyes and sighing in exasperation.

Mai shrugged. "I dunno. I thought I heard the student council saying that all of the female volunteers had to wear them… Or maybe I was just imagining that…"

"Clearly, you were. I would have heard about it," Makoto said, massaging the bridge of her nose.

"The outfit is not even complete," Ann pointed out. "Sayori, you should have put your hair in pigtails! With your short hair, pigtails are so adorable!" The model stood up and went over to Sayori, dragging her over to the chairs and making her sit in one. The blonde sat in the chair behind her and got to work doing it herself. "Good thing we still have time before others start pouring in."

Everyone felt a bead of sweat at Ann's airheadedness, though from there, conversation became much more natural.

"Too bad we can't have snacks in here," Ryuji groaned, stretching out over two of the chairs. "That would definitely make this place more popular today."

"Well, Mai and I have tea in the backroom, but that's just us," Sayori said, looking down thoughtfully.

"All food has to be from the booths selling it, or in the cafeteria," Makoto explained sternly, causing Ryuji to groan and complain loudly.

"Stop with your grumpiness," Sayori chastised. "Mai and I are basically staying in here all day. You can go to those places whenever you want."

"True," Ryuji admitted, sitting up and stretching out his back. "Man, it doesn't feel right not havin' you with us."

"We'll get a short break in a couple of hours," Mai said, shrugging thoughtfully.

"That's hardly enough time to enjoy everything," Makoto said with her eyes closed sadly. "The student council should probably come up with better shifts for all of the students for next year."

"There's still the after party," Haru pointed out. "That will be a lot of fun, with dancing and student sharing!"

"That's all stuff that will happen tomorrow, though," Ann pointed out. "It seems like today is just going to be boring for you, Sayori."

"I'm sure I can make the most of it," Sayori replied with a reassuring smile. She stood up from her seat and tugged at the tight ponytails her hair was now fastened into. "Thank you, Ann. You did a really good job!"

While Ann smiled and gave a thumbs up, everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Yes, this catches the beauty of innocence and youth much better," Yusuke complimented, once again framing the girl up. "Though the environment for such attire could stand to better match up with it."

"Damn. Nobody has complimented me, yet," Mai said with a small pout, dramatically posing as she tried to catch the artist's attention.

"Maybe you don't stand out enough," Futaba commented idly. "Sayori's hair really pops, but yours is too normal… If Sayori is best girl in a harem anime… maybe you're the practice?" Futaba suddenly squeaked and blushed. "No… that also doesn't seem right. Urgh… whatever!"

Mai only laughed. "Somehow I knew that was the case. Maybe I should dye my hair, too."

"My hair's not-"

"Oh dear!" Haru shouted, suddenly jumping in surprise. "The school is opening to everyone else soon! We should get going!" The girl seemed to realize she was yelling, and bowed her head and began to murmur an apology.

"It's fine," Akira dismissed.

Morgana poked his head out of the boy's bag. He addressed everyone but Mai. "We shouldn't be taking up space in the library any longer. It's not just our meeting place, after all. Sayori, I hope we can spend time together later."

Sayori gave a small nod, so Mai wouldn't notice she was talking to a cat. "Have fun, you guys! Maybe get me a souvenir or some food if you can."

"Will do!" Ryuji replied with a grin. "We'll make sure to treat you tomorrow during your break."

The rest of the group all nodded and left one by one, saying their goodbyes. Sayori waved goodbye, before joining Mai behind the desk. Already, she could hear footsteps down the hall of other people coming their way.

"It shouldn't be any different from the normal librarian duties, Sayori," Mai assured.

"Yeah… I'll do my best," Sayori promised, though her mind was somewhere else. As people started coming into the library, Haru's mention of the after party, and student sharing, gave her yet another distraction to think about.

If I went, what would I say? She thought to herself, though she dismissed the idea. Goro would have talked to everyone by then, so I probably won't be able to go… And also, I'm not even sure I want to go.

---

If a normal, random person were to ask Goro Akechi why he was going to Shujin Academy's culture festival the day before his appearance on stage, he would say, "Why, it's to meet all of my lovely fans, of course," and then smile and autograph whatever this random person shoved in his face. On the other hand, if it were someone that he could trust with what lay behind his public princely persona, he would answer, "I have no clue. I'm honestly starting to realize that the thread I am hanging on by is actually quite thin."

Of course, since not many of that second set of people existed, the detective had to settle with begrudgingly thinking it every time one of the many teenagers in the hallway stopped him and asked him something stupid, pointless, or both, simply answering with that first response. He could remember a time in the not-so-distant past that he would have been fine with this. Sure, all of his fans were foolish neanderthals, but they would give him praise and compliments, and he had to take what he could get.

But now things were different, and having to smile and preen for everyone was draining what little good will he had left in his soul. I miss Sayori… that thought repeated itself on loop as he signed autographs for starstruck boy and girl alike, and as they asked him questions that should have been obvious.

Goro walked through many of the various school halls, attempting to find a more private spot to dodge the many annoying questions he was being bombarded with.

"Akechi-kun! Why did you say the Phantom Thieves aren't responsible for the mental shutdowns?"

"I'm afraid I cannot answer that," he replied, smiling politely as he began to walk slightly faster.

"Why are you on the Phantom Thieves' side now, Akechi-kun?!"

'I never said I was on their side," Goro answered, dodging the rather invasive fangirl by a centimeter.

"Akechi-kun! How-"

"Oh, would you look at the time! I have to go… somewhere."

"Ake-"

"I'm afraid I am slightly deaf in my left ear. Would you mind speaking up?" Goro politely lied, slipping around the corner just as the fan indistinguishable from the rest began to ask his question again. This is so tiring… I wish they would all go away.

Spotting a door slightly ajar, the detective quickly stepped into a dark room that smelled like lavender. Finding the light switch, Goro found himself in a closet full of cleaning supplies, sighing as he realized he was finally alone. Making sure it would be kept that way for the time being, he walked into a corner of the closet, away from view in the door, and switched the light back off.

"Well, this is pathetic," the detective said to himself. Such a rush of questions… I need to find a more abandoned area when I leave this pathetic hiding place…

As he sat there and waited for his anger and annoyance to subside, Goro decided to try the much more healthier habit of thinking happy thoughts. Though hard at first, he was able to think of something much more positive by twisting the earlier negative ones into something more positive. His annoyance with his fans, and "I miss Sayori" were eventually turned into the much more positive thought that, "Sayori is much smarter than any of my fans."

She had known for many months that he was Black Mask, and had kept that from him for just as long. The more he focused on that, the more he admired her for it… to put it elegantly. Honestly, a quiet part of him was saying he should feel bad about underestimating her, or thinking that she was simply naive. Another small part said he didn't deserve to think of her simply to calm his temper. However, the much larger part was much more concerned with a thought the detective never thought he would have.

Sayori is so hot when she's smart!

Of course, Sayori had always been smart before this, so the detective couldn't put together why he was only thinking this way now. Though, at the same time he didn't want to dwell on why. It was much more pleasant to think of the thought itself.

Sayori had always been cute, but he had to hesitantly admit he had a lot of fans that were attractive, and there were probably plenty that were book smart and street smart as well. Yet, Sayori was definitely different.

She tricked me into not suspecting her all these months. I have no idea if it was on purpose or not, but she's always acted so… innocent. Could it be that she's using acting skills similar to my own? It made sense. All this time she had presented herself as someone that was vulnerable, clueless, and innocent. Even though the detective had known Sayori was a Phantom Thief, and that she had seen him in her Palace, he had never thought to look deeper than that.

I've been blind this whole time, and it just makes me think more and more that it's so… how would Sakamoto describe it? Sexy? Yeah… That sounds right…

After a bit more pondering, Goro finally took notice that he definitely felt much more barely even remembered feeling aggravated, actually. His head felt strangely light. Upon realizing this, the detective turned the light in the closet back on and began to dust himself off. Once he was sure he was in prim and proper shape, he left the room.

To his relief, Goro found it less difficult to keep up his facade as a charming detective as he searched for a more abandoned part of the school. Though all the same, he found himself missing Sayori even more.

I wonder if she would be interested in spending time together sometime today? That thought entered his mind almost out of nowhere, as Akira's claims about Sayori's affections entered his mind. Though he was annoyed at the boy for telling him these things, as though Akira knew Sayori better than him, the detective silently admitted he had given the advice some thought. He wouldn't say that he was very optimistic about the possibility that Sayori didn't hate him, he was slightly hopeful.

---

Meanwhile, the rest of the Phantom Thieves decided to take a break and get something to eat. Ann, thinking quickly, decided to take them all to her class's booth. Maid Takoyaki had taken a lot of time, effort, and money to get ready. Ann was silently jealous of the maid costumes Mai had rented. They were probably cheaper, but definitely nicer than the ones her class had thrown together. She would have to remember to ask Mai where she had gotten them for next year's culture festival.

So far, the main complaint I'm getting from everyone is that a lot of the options on the menu aren't available, Ann thought to herself silently. More of their budget would have to go into the actual service next year, then. Making a mental note of this, Ann tuned back into the conversation.

"All of these rumors are bullshit," Ryuji grumbled.

"All I've heard are comments about how the Phantom Thieves are guilty, and that Goro Akechi is popular and right about everything," Futaba said, her head sinking onto the table in a depressed manner.

"It makes me question whether they even understand what he is saying," Yusuke wondered out loud. "After all, he says he doesn't think we are behind the mental shutdowns…"

"That just makes me wonder if we understand what he's trying to say," Makoto commented glumly. Everyone looked at her curiously, so she elaborated. "I know I shouldn't worry too much about it, but I can't help but think about how confident we were about our plans to tell him who we are… Yet, how can we be sure?"

Haru looked down thoughtfully. "Maybe we're just all being too hopeful that we can trust Goro… He spends so much time with our group, and so much time with Sayori, so it would be bad if we couldn't trust him with important things."

"We have to keep in mind that he's a detective…" Morgana said idly, popping his head out from Akira's bed. "While we can all hope he is our ally, if we forget that being opposed to the Phantom Thieves is a part of his job, we could set ourselves up for disaster."

"I feel bad talking about this when Sayori isn't here," Ann muttered, resting her head on her hands and sighing. "Now that we aren't discussing this to surprise her anymore, we should include her in these discussions."

Akira sat up and decided to change the topic, stretching out in his chair and jostling his backpack. Morgana growled a complaint but otherwise kept quiet. When he knew everyone was paying attention to him, Akira groaned. "Is the takoyaki ready yet?"

"So carefree…" Makoto commented with a sigh. "Though I guess he has a point. There's no point worrying about it now. I just have to do my best to get Goro's intel tomorrow."

Suddenly, a loud, single beep went off from within "Maid Takoyaki." A few minutes later, their waitress came out with a single dish in her hands. A bowl with several golden brown takoyaki, and a bright red one in the middle. Upon looking at the dish, the group felt their appetites die. The girl set it down on the table and gave them a forced smile.

"Thank you for the wait," the student maid said politely.

"Ooh, it's fresh made," Ann practically squealed, trying to look on the positive side of things.

"Lies! I heard a microwave go off!" Futaba declared.

"Well, it's not like I was expectin' crispy takoyaki at a school festival or anything," Ryuji declared, before giving the maid a dull look. "So, what makes this a 'Russian' takoyaki?"

"Could there be jam in it as a secret ingredient? That sounds quite delicious," Haru said happily, acting positively like Ann.

"Well… one of these is 'special," the student maid said, as though reciting a well-practiced line. With that, she walked back to the stand to resume "working."

"Uh, one of them's obviously red. That's gotta be the one," Morgana pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

"Dude, don't tell me the 'Russian' part means…" Ryuji went quiet in shock, as everyone quickly put together why one of them would be such a shiny shade of red.

"I have no idea if that's what they're going for, but it seems to be the case," Ann stated. "I wasn't in charge of the actual menu. I guess going for the obvious one is manly?"

"I-is that so?" Morgana stuttered, wondering what Ann would think if he were to eat the special one.

"I'd prefer the most beautifully shaped one… but all of them are misshapen," Yusuke said, looking down in sorrow.

Deciding to try and raise the mood and move past the somber attitude, Haru asked, "Oh, aren't you all going to eat? I think I'll go for the special one." Call it selfish, but the girl wanted to have the most fun that she could. She was finally living her dream of going to the culture festival with true friends.

"Wait… Is she honestly going for it?" Makoto asked, evident shock and worry lacing her tone as her eyes widened.

"Do you wanna go for the red one?" Ryuji asked Akira, who in turn rolled his head to stretch his neck, before winking at the rest of the team.

"Think it'll be spicy?" He asked, accidentally sounding too blunt. Instead of impressing them, he had ended up only confusing them.

"Uh… well, yeah," Ryuji said blankly.

Everyone was too wrapped up in the debate about who would eat the special one, that they didn't notice their other friend walking up to them, a tired look on his face that was not very well hidden.

"Oh! Hi, everyone," Goro said, nearly cringing at how relieved he sounded. He walked over so that he was standing parallel to their table, smiling pleasantly at them as they gaped at his sudden appearance. "I see everyone is all here."

"Yup!" Futaba said, wiggling excitedly in her seat. "Well, except Sayori. She already told you she had to work though, right?"

"Indeed," the detective replied. He wavered a bit, off balance from the onslaught of fans he had met earlier.

"Not that we're not happy you're here…" Makoto began, glancing at everyone in concern. It was clear that they had all noticed his stumble. "But why are you here today, Goro? The panel isn't until tomorrow."

"Ah, I was checking out the venue, as I can't afford to make any mistakes in front of so many people," Goro explained, knowing just how true this particular statement was. "Also… to see all of my fans, of course!"

"Sure…" Akira drawled sarcastically.

"Of course, then they all began to bombard me with questions, so I decided to try finding a more deserted area to escape their onslaught," the detective was quick to remedy, shaking a bit in annoyance.

Haru looked at him in concern. "Is that why you're trembling so much? Would you like to sit down with us for a little bit?"

"Whoa," Futaba gasped. "I don't think I've ever related to you as much as I am now, Goro!"

"There's no need for that," Goro excused, suddenly aware he was giving off the wrong impression. "I should be used to being in the public's eye by now, so I assure you I can handle it."

"Well, still," Ann insisted, "Sit down with us! It's been too long since we all hung out like this."

Goro suddenly felt Ann and Makoto grabbing hold of both of his hands as they pulled him into a chair. They made sure to be gentle with their hold, but it gave the detective no illusion that he had the choice of rejecting their invitation.

"Now that you're sitting so close… Are you alright?" Yusuke asked in concern. "You look quite tired, with your eyes so dark and baggy."

"Oh? I assure you I am doing alright." Shit! I thought I did a decent job of covering those up this morning! Though worried once again that he was giving the Thieves the wrong idea, Goro soldiered on. "I don't sleep well at night at the best of times, honestly. It's a bad habit that I am not proud of."

"I understand," Makoto assured with a calm smile. "I study so much that I can never get to sleep before midnight on most days."

"For real, Miss Prez?" Ryuji asked with a teasing grin on his face.

Makoto glared and turned away from the blond. "What did I say about calling me 'Prez?'"

"Come on, Makoto!" Morgana spoke up. "Don't be like that. We're here to have fun."

"I apologize. I suppose I'm still not good at teasing," Makoto said, letting a smile slip onto her face.

Once again, Goro had to pretend not to understand the cat, and instead decided to rest his head on the table top instead. "Let me know if anyone passes by. I would rather not be caught in such an unprofessional position by strangers."

"You got it," Akira replied. With that, the group tried to find something to talk about. With the arrival of the detective, their topics of conversation had become rather limited.

"Perhaps Goro is simply more nocturnal," Yusuke idly commented, causing the detective to twitch slightly at the mention of his name. "He seems to be resting rather well right now."

"I always imagined him as a morning person," Haru giggled.

"With how long Sayori normally sleeps in, if he's not a morning person I wonder how they woke up in the morning at all," Ann commented, idly. "Oh, wait… He's probably not actually sleeping. Maybe I shouldn't bring Sayori up right now."

"I'm not," Goro spoke, causing the blonde to flinch. "Though it doesn't matter. The two of us are on better terms again."

"With that concern addressed, let's finally eat," Makoto said with a smile. "We waited all this time for the takoyaki to be ready, after all."

Goro honestly had no idea what came over him in the next moments. Was he simply too tired to properly function? Was it some new instinct that whenever any of this group said "us" that he counted himself? Whatever it was, he found himself reaching for the small food basket idly, not even bothering to ask or comment on his blatant theft of their snack.

"Oh shit! Not that one!" Before the detective's hand could wrap around the bright red piece of the meal, Ryuji grabbed him by the wrist and held his hand away from the meal, sighing in relief. It was as though he had been in a race against time to stop the detective from taking their food.

Blinking twice, and with his heart picking up pace at being grabbed so harshly, the detective yanked his arm away from Ryuji. To the detective's shock, the boy quickly released him upon realizing the tightness of his grip, instead moving to rub the back of his head with a sheepish smile.

However, the detective had already narrowed down why he had just been grabbed like that, and bowed his head in apology. "I'm sorry. I only just now realized I should have asked before taking your food."

"Nah, man. It's fine," Ryuji replied, frowning in turn. "You seem pretty tired, so I don't think it's a really big deal. I didn't hurt you or anything, right?"

"Hm? No, I am fine," the detective answered, frowning. His emotions felt rather erratic right now, with the fast beating of his heart and his hands shaking once more. Though he couldn't tell what exactly he felt, or why, anymore.

"Good!" Ryuji shouted, sighing in relief. "I bet Sayori would have had my ass if she found out I roughed you up… Though to be fair, I think it's better than what would have happened, otherwise."

"What would have happened?" the detective asked in confusion. All of the group suddenly seemed sheepish.

"We probably should have mentioned this earlier, but the only thing this stand had on their menu when we got here was the 'Russian Takoyaki,'" Ann began to explain.

"You may be asking, 'why is it called that?','' Futaba said, before giving a dramatic shrug. "The only answer we got was that one of them is 'special.'" The girl pointed dramatically at the bright red one.

The detective pieced together the dots and began to pale, realizing what he had almost done. "Oh… I see. Thank you for rescuing me, then."

"It even smells spicy from here!" Morgana groaned from within Akira's bag.

Ryuji pretended not to have heard the cat, grinning at the detective. "It was no big deal! I guess if I had let you eat it, you would definitely have woken up!"

Goro let himself chuckle in response. "I suppose that is true. I feel awake now, of course."

"That's a good thing, right?" Makoto asked, looking concerned as she examined the now noticeable dark circles under the detective's eyes.

"I'll be okay," Goro said, waving his hand as if to wave away all of the group's concern that was now directed at him.

Yusuke nodded first, though the blankness of his stare made it obvious the artist didn't believe the detective for a moment. "Of course. By the way, you can feel free to have my share of the takoyaki, if you are indeed hungry."

"That is a bad idea," Haru scolded, giving Yusuke a stern look. "Goro can have some if he wants, but not specifically your share, Yusuke!"

"Now that you're more aware of the situation, you can even take the special one if you really want it," Futaba offered, looking at Goro as if she was daring him to do it.

"I think I will pass for now," he replied, holding up his hand. "Though I have eaten many varieties of foods, and don't have many specific tastes, I can say for certainty that I don't like spicy stuff."

Meanwhile, Haru had practically forced Yusuke to take his share of the takoyaki, separating his portion onto a napkin with the final remarks that he needed to take care of himself and eat more. The artist looked rather embarrassed as Haru mothered him. Though he appreciated their concern for his well being, he felt ashamed they even had to look out for him that much.

"Anyway…" Haru said, voice suddenly sweet as sugar, and causing everyone to feel a slight chill in the air as they gave her their attention, "Goro, I know you don't want us to make a big deal out of it, but are you sure that there aren't any problems with your sleeping?" The girl seemed to have been put in a mother-hen mode of sorts, after her scolding of Yusuke. The stern tone in her voice suggested lying or dismissing the topic would be a bad idea.

Though I can't exactly say that I'm overcome with guilt every night now, to the point where I can only ever focus on all of the horrible things I've done for hours at a time, and by the time my brain decides to settle down the sun is starting to rise… No, no, no! Think about happier things!

"I suppose though I know Sayori and I are on better terms, I can't help but worry about her… Things like how she feels about me, and if I've hurt her in any way that I haven't realized yet. Also, since we are no longer living together, I have started to feel rather lonely in my apartment…" Those were all definitely thoughts he had at night these days, but that was only one aspect of his guilt-addled brain.

"I see…" Haru said, looking away and frowning sadly.

"She should be going on break soon," Makoto said idly, before her eyes suddenly lit up in realization. "You should take her somewhere for the culture festival when that happens!"

"Makoto's pretty excited, so it's gotta be a good idea," Ryuji added with a grin.

"I-I'm not sure she wants to see me right now," Goro admitted, shaking his head somberly. "Right now I am giving her space like she asked me to… after that fight."

"You aren't fighting anymore," Akira pointed out, looking at the detective pointedly. "The culture festival would be an ideal time to figure out her true feelings, like we discussed before."'

"You guys are still together, though, so I don't see how she could hate you," Ann said, crossing her arms and leaning against her chair.

Well, we're probably only together right now to make you more vulnerable to our deception, so I don't think normal standards apply here, Goro thought to himself bitterly.

"You're nervous," Yusuke commented, a sharp eye trained on the detective. "I suggest you abandon those insecurities and simply see for yourself how Sayori feels. I may sometimes misinterpret subjects of beauty, but I know my friend. Her affections for you remain unchanged."

"Whoa, that was wise emotional advice coming from you, Inari!" Futaba commented. "I agree with you! Not to mention, if Sayori got her heart broken because of a stupid trope like 'lack of communication,' I think I would actually cry my eyes out."

"I see you are all rather insistent about this…" Goro said hesitantly. The rest of the group nodded. Even Morgana popped his head out of Akira's bag to show the detective his support of the Phantom Thieves' idea. "I suppose I will pay her a visit while I am here. She is in the library, correct?"

Akira nodded. "We were going to pay her a visit after we finished eating, but you can go in our place."

"...Right," the detective said, hesitantly standing up. "Thank you for keeping me company, everyone. I hope I will see all of you at the panel tomorrow."

Makoto nodded. "I'm looking forward to it." Goro walked away after that. When the brunette was sure he was out of earshot, she leaned over to Akira with a worried frown. "I just remembered… Sayori is still going to be wearing that maid outfit, isn't she?"

"Exactly," Akira replied, pushing his glasses up his nose so that they caught the light on the ceiling.

---

Sayori was in the middle of reading a book, waiting for her phone to start vibrating to let her know her break had begun. Mai was also sufficiently distracted, looking at old additions of fashion magazines that the library hadn't replaced yet. The library had been much busier earlier, but there was now a lull in people as most had left, realizing it would be closed while the two library assistants went on break.

This book is so captivating! I think I've found a new favorite series, Sayori thought to herself, a small grin slipping onto her face. Her mind was buried so deeply into it that she knew she probably wouldn't even be aware of when her breaktime started. Her friends would have to snap her out of her trance when they came to get her.

Meanwhile, Mai wasn't nearly as distracted, flipping through the old magazines with a look of utter boredom. After finishing the one she was currently on, she flipped it shut and stretched her arms out. This is why it should be no surprise to anyone that Mai was the only one to notice when they got their last visitor before break time began.

Not looking, the girl combed her fingers through her black hair and sighed. "In about five minutes we're going to be closing temporarily, so you better do what it is you want very quickly."

Mai found it strange that she received no answer, so she finally glanced at their new guest. It took far more self control then she knew she was capable of not to burst out laughing at the sight before her.

Of course, Mai had met the detective before, but he had seemed so composed back then. That was the expected behavior of the highly regarded Second Coming of the Detective Prince. What was not expected behavior was the trance-like state she now found him in.

Goro Akechi was standing still as a statue, staring at Sayori with a look of…

That's definitely not just shock, Mai thought to herself with a smirk, noticing how red in the face the detective was. The poor kid has got it bad. I almost don't want to break this up.

Mai felt a sudden sorrow, knowing all too well that this scenario would have been perfect if it had been at an earlier time. She would bet anything that she could have convinced Sayori to do the weird maid-speak with the detective before the two had gotten into that mysterious argument. But now things would be so awkward, and that would be no fun!

"Well, there's nothin' I can do about it, now," Mai muttered to herself, before reaching out and tapping the blushing detective on the shoulder. The boy moved his head slightly to stare at her helplessly, though the girl knew better than to think any of that was because of herself. Without further delay, Mai pushed his shoulder, directing him towards Sayori. "Make this easier on me, please. We're about to go on break, so get your head out of the gutter for a second and talk to Sayori."

"My head… out of…" Goro suddenly blushed harder, and shook his head before opening up his mouth to dispel her "misconceptions." "I assure you that I wasn't-"

"Sure, sure… Whatever lets you sleep at night, man. Now move those feet and see if you can sweep your girlfriend off of hers." Mai shoved him a bit more, and the detective nearly fell on his face before catching himself. Standing up shakily, he turned to Sayori, who was still nose-deep in her book.

Goro cleared his throat softly, and watched as Sayori twitched slightly, before heaving a sigh. Marking her page and putting down her book, Sayori closed her eyes and tilted her face upward. "Mai, if you're ready I'm sorry I took so long. Just let me get my jac-"

Sayori suddenly cut herself off as she finally blinked and caught sight of the detective. Gasping, she scrambled to stand up and looked off to the side, only to find Mai gone. A small sign reading, "out to lunch," was standing tall and obvious in Sayori's line of vision. She… ditched me? That's not fair!"

As if responding to the audible gasp, Mai could be heard shouting from the hallway, "Not my circus, not my monkeys!" Then her voice faded completely.

Yes, I am! Sayori wanted to argue, but instead took a deep breath to swallow her discomfort and then turned towards Goro. "I'm sorry… I wasn't expecting to see you in here today!"

"No. I'm the one who should be apologizing. I should have trusted my instincts and left you alone," Goro said regretfully. He looked towards the doorway and sighed. "I'll leave, then…"

Those words unexpectedly caught Sayori's interest. "What made you change your mind about coming to see me?" The girl asked curiously.

"Um… well…" Goro considered his next words, remembering what Futaba had said earlier about a lack of communication. Now that he thought of it, had he ever mentioned his thoughts to Sayori? He supposed there was no time like the present.

"Well, your friends have it in their minds that since we aren't officially broken up, you must not completely hate me… Perhaps it was foolish of me to get my hopes up about that, though… The feelings you have for me should be obvious without needing to say them," Goro explained, letting a pleasant smile slip onto his features, as if trying to convince Sayori that this was just a pleasant little experiment he was pulling.

However, Sayori felt torn. He thinks that I hate him? That's not it at all! But… am I ever sure how I feel anymore? The girl hugged herself and sniffled, before shaking her head. The confusion and uncertainty she always felt was worse than it normally was. She didn't even know how she felt about the detective she had loved so much, anymore.

But if I'm certain of anything, it's that I don't hate him… and I don't want him to think that I do… That thought had been throbbing like a welt inside her mind, because it really would be so much easier to go about her business if she did hate him. There would be no uncertainty in her actions if she turned away from him and denied him.

Yet, now her hand trembled with so much confusion and fear as she raised it up in a stopping gesture, just in the detective's line of sight so that he stopped walking away from her. "Would… would you like to go somewhere…?" Sayori asked, stuttering and shaking uncontrollably.

"Ah…" Goro felt his heart skip a beat as Sayori looked at him with a pallid face. "I suppose I would… Do you have any place in mind?"

Sayori shook her head, before stepping out from behind the table and moving past him, towards the door. "Let's walk around and see if anything looks fun."

"Alright. I'll follow your lead," Goro responded, already knowing that the girl wasn't going to wait for him. Already, her attention had wandered around the area outside the library, seeing if anything caught her eye.

The girl walked past a VR set-up, a shooting game, and a dartboard. Sayori stopped only once, glancing up at a small haunted house that one class had put together, before shaking her head.

"Not even the haunted house… What exactly are you looking for, Sayori?" Goro asked curiously, sticking close to her and attempting to hide his face from random passersby.

Sayori sighed tiredly. "It's just… I know where my strengths lie, and I want to find something that I would be good at. A haunted house seemed like an ideal place, since I like to think I'm not easily scared by sideshow attractions like that… but then what would be the point?"

"What about the stands that we walked by, earlier?" Goro asked, already thinking back to the shooting game and the darts. "I could win something for you-"

"That's another thing… I want to find something that could explain how I'm feeling right now…" The girl looked embarrassed, bowing her head forward so that her hair hid her humiliated face from the detective's view. Shaking her head, Sayori smacked herself out of her brief moment. Turning away from the detective, she raised her chin up with a prideful smile. "Onward!"

After about five minutes of searching, Sayori finally found a stall she found suited to her standards. Looking at it, Goro had to agree that it was definitely up to the girl's speed. Littered with different colors of candy molds and several templates with small cutesy shapes, as well as an alarming number of thumbtacks, the katanuki stand looked like an arts-and-crafts station that would make any girl like Sayori happy.

For the second time that day, Goro felt himself be forced to sit down as Sayori directed him to a chair and then sat across from him. A bright pink mold was placed in front of her, while the detective received a red one.

"Oh, I think…! Hmm…" Sayori looked at the options on the template in earnest consideration, taking the matter of what she should carve very seriously. "Oh, all of these are so pretty! I can't decide!"

"I'm sure they'll let you make more than one," Goro pointed out, chuckling at her pout. "Though, I suppose we only have enough time to make one each."

"Yeah…" Sayori looked down in thought for a moment, before brightening up with a smile. "How about I make my own shape?"

The students watching over the stand all nodded in encouragement. They all seemed like the crafty types themselves. Their permission seemed to be enough for Sayori, who immediately picked up a thumbtack and began picking away at her candy.

Meanwhile, Goro was more methodical and patient as he examined the template options he had been presented with. As he glanced down at his bright red sheet of candy, and then back up at Sayori, who was solely focused on the task in front of her, the detective easily realized what he wanted to do. Quickly locating the correct shape on the template, he sighed to himself.

I really am becoming predictable, aren't I?

---

"I'm done!" Sayori cheered, sitting up and stretching her back out. One of the teens watching over the stand came over to congratulate her and examine her work, only for their smile to slowly fade as they took a couple steps back. Sayori didn't pay them any mind though, instead looking over at Goro, who was leaning over his work like it was a top secret project.

"How are you doing, Goro?" the girl whispered, noticing the detective seemed to tense with each little interruption. He's really taking this seriously…

"Almost… done!" Goro beamed with unhidden pride, incredibly proud of his work.

Sayori tried to see what he had made, only for the detective to quickly cover it with his hands. "You were done first, so you should show yours off, first!"

"Okay!" Sayori agreed, raising up her palms where her small craft was kept. Goro leaned over to look at it, smile only growing as he looked at the clumsily crafted animal shape. It seemed to be an animal, with two legs on the bottom protruding out the bottom, and two arms on the sides. The face had a few small holes in it for eyes and a mouth, and the shape of the head was lumpy and uneven.

The detective grinned. "That's an excellent bear, Sayori!"

Sayori's smile stiffened. "Um, it was supposed to be a fish." Pointing to the legs on the bottom, she pointed out its "tail," with the fins being what Goro had once assumed were arms.

"I see!" Goro said, his smile suddenly becoming nervous. With his earlier blunder, he no longer wanted to show off his own craft. "I see it now! It's a lovely fish!" Way to ruin the mood, detective!

"Thank you!" Sayori beamed, already forgetting about her fish/bear. "Show me yours now, Goro."

Now it was the detective's turn to freeze up, glancing at his carving nervously and wondering if it would be possible to eat it before Sayori had a chance to see it. However, he realized he didn't have the stubbornness to do something like that over something so meaningless. Especially not when Sayori looked so eager. With that realization, he uncovered his carving and waited for her response.

The small red candy had been carved into a basic bow shape. Two triangles with two corners attached to each other in the middle. It wasn't nearly as complicated as the other shapes on the template, but it had taken quite a lot of patience to keep it from cracking.

"Why were you trying to hide it from me? You did so well!" Sayori cheered, leaning over the detective's work as though he had just made some artistic masterpiece.

"Well, it is rather simple," Goro lied. "I felt embarrassed presenting it to you." In truth, he didn't want to overshadow Sayori's work. He had already insulted her once, after all.

"It's cute," Sayori defended. She reached a hand up and patted her own bow. "I think I know where you got the idea, too."

"Yes, I'm not very original," Goro said with a dry chuckle. "It was simply what I thought of with the color I received."

"Oh? My bow, and not your…" Sayori put her hand over her eyes, and mimed taking something off of it.

My mask? The detective nodded. "I would rather not have people asking me where my inspiration came from."

"I see…" Sayori quickly sat back down and smiled, before presenting Goro with her candy. "Do you want to trade or something? I mean, I guess this is sort of like a…" She didn't finish her sentence, but the detective knew what she was implying.

"This wasn't a date," Goro said somberly, shaking his head. "You were simply on break, and I asked you for your time. It wasn't anything more than that."

"Oh…" Sayori said in realization, smile dropping for a second before appearing again. She grabbed Goro's hand and put the craft on his palm. "Well, still… I want you to have mine. Now you can have two, since you're sooo sweet!" Her mouth tasted bitter with the obvious lie, but neither of them wanted to bring it up in front of so many people.

In resignation, the detective slipped both pieces into his jacket pocket. "Well, it would appear we are finished here. Your break is almost over, too."

"Oh… Yeah," Sayori looked down at the ground, thinking something over, before glancing back up. "Could you come back to the library with me for a few minutes? I want to talk with you."

Stomach in knots, Goro nodded. They both sat up from the small table, and after a moment of dusting candy shavings off of their clothes, they rushed back to the library.

When they arrived, Sayori looked around, and was relieved to see Mai hadn't returned, yet. Leading Goro over to a table near the back, she took a deep breath. Suddenly, she felt very tired. Upon her request, they both sat down at the table, and Sayori looked down ashamedly. She couldn't meet his eyes.

"Maybe this just goes to show you how twisted I am, but I don't hate you, Goro. I never could, even if I tried… But I also don't want to depend on you… I don't think I'm ever going home at this rate, so asking you to take responsibility for me now is just being unnecessarily cruel to you."

The detective nodded, thinking back to their conversation before they had found the stand. She had been looking for a specific thing to do, that she believed she would excel at. "I think I understand. You wanted to find something fun for us to do together, where you can take the lead. If I were to have… let's say, won you a prize by winning at darts, that would have made you feel too dependent on me?"

Sayori gave a small nod, still hiding her eyes from the detective. "Yes," she whispered, nearly as quiet as a mouse. "Now, leaning on you would just make me feel selfish… So I wanted to take the lead, and show you how I feel!"

"Alright," Goro nodded somberly. "Though, it's a shame we didn't have more time. I would have liked to go back there and give one of those shooting games a try… I'm beginning to regret having that snafu with you, as this would have been the perfect opportunity for another date."

"Don't regret it," Sayori said, smiling sadly. "I may feel sad to learn the truth, but it feels like a weight off of my shoulders to finally feel certain about something… even if it only led to more conflicting feelings…"

Goro frowned, wondering what the right thing was to do in this situation. "Would you like me to comfort you? Or would you rather sort this out for yourself?"

"I don't think I can handle getting comforted by you right now…" Sayori suddenly froze nervously. "That's not because I hate you! It's like I said earlier; I'm really not sure. I-"

"I didn't think that at all. I'm just relieved you don't hate me," the detective actually laughed at her stumbling over her own words, and Sayori blushed. It was something different from the small giggle or chuckle he normally let others hear. Though quiet, and obviously toned down, it sounded more like he was… free?

"I hope… that we can have another date, too," Sayori said with a sad smile. "I wish I could just forget all of this, and stop getting involved in all of these Palaces. Things felt so much better when they were simple. I only had one path ahead of me that I had to follow, and I knew to go in that direction. But now…" The girl choked up, and the detective shook his head.

"Think about what you're wishing for, Sayori. Sure, you could return to blissful ignorance, but your mind…!" Goro pointed at her forehead emphatically. "You would still want to die… Hell, perhaps you would be dead. I can't go on in a world where I knew you, only for you to off yourself a couple of months later."

"That's true…" Sayori nodded. "And I suppose… even though it gets tiring, my principles won't allow me to let people suffer. I guess I have to keep getting involved."

"I'm hoping that after we deal with my father, you can take a break. He's responsible for many injustices in this country. Taking him down will hopefully improve things for everyone," the detective gave a small sigh.

"Goro…" Sayori opened her mouth to speak once more, only to snap it closed and shake her head. "We're going to be working together a lot over the next couple of months, right?"

"Yes…":

"Then let's see how everything goes! Then maybe we can all enjoy a break… together!" Sayori looked downcast, with tears brimming in her eyes. It's the right thing to do… so just do it! With that final prod, she held out her hand to shake. "I look forward to working with you!"

Goro stared at it for a few moments, feeling himself space out. Sayori's hand felt so… formal. It was alien to him that they could end up in this scenario. But at the same time, her hand was reaching out for his, and he would only damn himself if he didn't take it. Knowing this, he took her hand and gave it a shake, wanting to hold it tightly but settled for being tender.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Goro said softly, releasing her hand and standing up from his chair. He quickly left the library, trading a glance with Mai Mori, who had finally trotted back into the library like some hyper horse. The girl gave him a brief wink and a nod, before pretending to lock her lips and throw away the key. The detective only scoffed, before leaving the library completely.

"Well, that was rude…" Mai sighed. "And what the hell was that about taking a break together? And working with each other? Is that just some sort of code…?" The girl mumbled to herself, before shaking her head furiously. "Actually, I'm not going to think about it."

Having gotten that out, Mai looked up to apologize to Sayori for saying mean things about her boyfriend, only to realize that the girl seemed to be in her own little world. She seemed to be focused on something deeply, not paying attention to any of her surroundings as she sat back down with a look of determination.

Mai blinked a couple of times, combing through her hair. Deciding to give her friend an even longer break, Mai took down the "out to lunch" sign and sat down in her normal spot. The rest of the day passed like any other time the two girls had spent in the library.

---

Sayori slipped into the auditorium with Mai just as the doors closed. They found seats in the audience, not far from where Haru and Futaba were sitting, but far enough away that Sayori was certain they couldn't see what she was doing. Sayori glanced up to the side, noticing the rest of her friends, minus Makoto, standing on the second floor viewing area of the auditorium. They were far enough away, as well. Not to mention, Mai had found them seats in the middle of an entire group of students dressed as maids. It worked as complete camouflage.

One last time, Sayori checked her phone to make sure it was adequately charged. She couldn't take any chances that she would fail in this plan. All day, she had been thinking of what she might say to make sure the Phantom Thieves would be thoroughly convinced.

"Sayori, relax," Mai whispered, just as the girls around them began to scream obnoxiously. "You're not the one going up on stage, after all." Sayori nodded, though her guts continued to twist inside of her as she watched Goro walk up to the podium. Makoto walked up to stand beside the podium, holding a microphone in her hand, as well as a small list of questions.

"Well then, we will now begin today's panel," Makoto began, her voice silencing the cheers for a moment. "Our guest of honor is Goro Akechi." The cheering began again, before dying down again.

"I feel kind of bad, considering how many people have gathered…" Goro spoke into the podium microphone, sounding hesitant and shy. "I'm sure you all would've been happier to have a singer or a mascot appear, wouldn't you say?"

"We'd appreciate it if you could tell us about your experiences with the notorious Phantom Thieves," Makoto said, not having time to engage in idle chit chat. "It'd be wonderful if you could let us hear more about your actual investigative process."

"I'm not used to being the one interrogated… So please go easy on me," Goro joked, giving a small wink to the audience.

Beside Sayori, Mai snickered. Whatever the girl had to say next, Sayori made sure to block it out. I just have to wait for my signal, she thought to herself, over and over. She glanced over at all of her friends, who each wondered how much Goro knew. They were completely unaware that they would be getting more than they bargained for.

A few more minutes passed, with Goro answering each of Makoto's questions in the most vague ways possible, though still giving enough to satisfy the audience. All the while, Sayori's hands trembled. It would happen soon, wouldn't it? Sayori had to wonder just what Goro was planning to say before he finally was ready for her to play her part.

"... Thank you for answering that question," Makoto said with a small smile, before getting to what each of the thieves really wanted to know. "By the way, it seems you've denied a correlation between the Phantom Thieves and the killings…Why the sudden change? Until now, haven't you upheld your stance that the Phantom Thieves are dangerous? How are you so positive that they haven't committed murder?"

If only she could have heard what happened between Sae and I not that long ago… That woman probably thinks I'm secretly on their side already, Goro thought to himself sadly, though he knew his face betrayed nothing. He had spotted Sayori when she had first walked in, as she had purposefully been one of the last to enter the auditorium. It was almost time.

But first, he was going to have some fun.

The detective gave a light chuckle. "Aren't you a little too comfortable interrogating people? Why, it's as if you're a prosecutor."

"Ah, excuse me. This is something I've personally been interested in, so I couldn't help it…" Makoto said, feigning embarrassment. "But won't you tell us? What reason is there that you'd claim their innocence when you previously stated they were unjust?"

"Every stolen heart that we know of belonged to true criminals, including Okumura…" Goro began, explaining the most basic part of why it was wrong. Copy cats were always slightly different, after all. "Why, then, was he the only one who needed to be killed?"

"Why is that?" Makoto pressed.

"I must admit… I couldn't deduce a reason," Goro took a deep breath. This was where it would all depend on timing. He had to get the Phantom Thieves' attention now. "That's why I believe that case should be thought of as if a different party is responsible. And if- this is all hypothetical, mind you. If the Phantom Thieves are the ones I know of, I can't possibly imagine they would kill anyone."

All of the Phantom Thieves were murmuring to themselves in shock. Sayori felt her uncertainty grow. Goro had explained what he planned to say, but it still felt so unnecessary in front of all these people. Beside her, Mai shook her head. "He's totally trolling everyone. Your man has more bite than I thought, Sayori."

"Your comment just now… Does this mean the police have already identified who they are?" Makoto asked, keeping her tone calm, though the urgency was clear in her tone.

"Oh, no. The police haven't gotten that far yet," Goro explained. "But I have my own conclusions about the true identities of the Phantom Thieves."

Makoto remained silent after that, thinking to herself about this new information. They had all been right, afterall. Goro must know who they are. But they had also assumed he was on their side. Was that really true?

"You're not going to ask me who they are?" Goro asked casually, and Makoto could barely stop herself from glaring.This performance will hopefully convince Shido of my loyalty, as well. It feels like something I would do if I were planning to trick them, but the move is reversed.

"... It may have repercussions on the investigation. Are you sure you can share that with us?" Makoto asked, returning his obvious challenge.

"It's only my personal opinion, so announcing that here wouldn't pose a problem," Goro said, as if to downplay what would end up being fact. "However… There is a possibility that everyone present will hear the truth before the police or media."

"That's quite the confidence you have," Makoto commented, before steeling her nerves. "If you're so certain… then very well."

"I'd like to ask you then: Who do you think the Phantom Thieves are, Akechi-san?"

Goro smiled, then gave the slightest nod of his head.

That's my signal! Sayori slipped her phone into her lap and turned it on.

"They're people most of you might know of. The identity of the Phantom Thieves are-"

Goro felt glad he had changed Sayori's ringtone for this exact purpose. The default ringtone he normally had for calls regarding business blared from his pocket, and he silently congratulated the girl on her timing. "Oh, it's mine. I apologize for the interruption, but I can't turn off my phone due to my job. Would you mind if I step away for about… ten minutes or so?"

Makoto nodded, before turning to the audience. "I'm terribly sorry, everyone, but we'll be taking a break. We'll resume the panel in ten minutes.

Getting the phone out of his pocket, he grinned as he answered the call and pretended to say yes to a mandatory meeting of some sort. Sayori had her phone's bright screen hidden underneath her skirt, with the call turned silent. She had followed his instructions to the letter, and he felt so thankful for that. "Please don't troll me online for this interruption, OK?"

"Well, now I have to," Maid said with a smirk, causing Sayori to cringe. The audience laughed as Goro bowed. He quickly hung up the call to give Sayori time to put her device away. Holding up the screen to hide that fact, he walked up to Makoto.

"Is there a room I may use?" Goro asked her.

Makoto nodded with a slight hum. "The PE faculty office should work."

Goro gave a nod in return, before walking closer and speaking his next words in a low voice. "I want you to come, too. Everyone else will come, as well."

"Everyone else?" Makoto asked, before her eyes widened in realization. "Do you need me to get all of them?"

"No. Sayori is taking care of it," Goro said, smiling as Makoto's phone chimed. Sayori had sent a message to the chat, as she had promised to do. The girl would have to gather them all up quickly, after all. "There's something the two of us need to discuss with all of you."

Both of them? Makoto thought, looking out to see Sayori. The girl didn't seem to be paying attention, instead being wrapped up in a conversation with Mai. "Did you set this up?"

"I'm afraid so… But I believe it was necessary," Goro said somberly, before turning away. "We only have ten minutes, you know. I'll see all of you there." With that, he walked away. He couldn't help but smirk when he was behind the curtain. It was all necessary, and he was treating this with as much seriousness as he could, but the satisfying feeling of messing with the foolish audience was too obvious to ignore. He wanted to have a little more fun before things got serious.

---

Once again, Sayori was the last to enter. This time, she was practically shoving everyone in ahead of her. They all looked extremely nervous, not knowing exactly what was about to happen. Sure, they had suspicions that Goro knew earlier, but right now they weren't sure what he was about to do. Sayori could only hope they would do a good idea explaining themselves.

When all of the Phantom Thief members were finally in the room, Sayori looked up and down the hallway outside the door, before shutting it tightly. She then turned around and walked over to stand beside Goro. The detective had his hands behind his back, and judging from his unnaturally blank face, it was easy for Sayori to understand that he was trying to fight back his nerves.

All of us are nervous, Sayori wanted to say, but instead settled for scooting a bit closer to the boy. Not quite that they were touching, but enough that he was aware. They only had ten minutes, and Sayori felt as if the ticking clock in the corner of the room matched up with her heart beat. What would happen to her, and everyone else, if their conversation failed in the next ten minutes. But… Goro said ten minutes was all he needed. That's not all, he's trusting me to back him up… I can't let any of them down!

"What did you two want to discuss with us?" Makoto asked, giving Sayori a stern glare.

Sayori felt herself gulp, knowing either way that she was in for it later. Hopefully Makoto would be merciful. Since the brunette was looking at her, Sayori tried to start speaking. "Well, uh-"

"I know that all of you are the Phantom Thieves," Goro interrupted, his tone strict and forceful. He stood up and let his hands relax to his sides. Sayori was relieved that they no longer seemed to be shaking.

All of the Phantom Thieves traded a surprised glance with each other. He's admitting he knows?! Despite all of the clues, none of them had ever expected the detective to be the one to confront them.

"What proof do you have?" Akira spoke up, challenging the detective.

Though he had no physical proof, Goro smiled. Thank you for asking. "All of you are able to go to a strange other world, where the scenery changes. When you steal hearts, your attire changes, and you gain access to a special power…"

Ryuji's jaw went slack, before he stomped his foot and growled. "Nice story! Where'd ya come up with that?!"

"It's a funny thing. I actually have access to that world as well. I have that exact same ability. I have also witnessed you in that other world, acting as the Phantom Thieves a number of times," Goro shot back casually. He glanced to the side and noticed Sayori looking down at her shoes. This was where he was going to have to fudge the truth a little. They had gone over what he would say, but Sayori was still uncomfortable with the idea of supporting these lies.

"You… have the same power? You can go into the Metaverse?" Ann questioned, her voice faint as she shook slightly. No one was even trying to deny it, too shocked at this revelation. Ryuji and Akira were standing closest to Ann, so they put their hands on her shoulder in comfort.

"How long have you known?" Yusuke growled, demanding an answer. "What does Sayori have to do with this confrontation of yours?"

The detective sighed slightly, before glancing at Sayori. The girl looked up into his eyes, shaking a bit as she knew what he was about to say. However, in the end she nodded her consent once more. With that, Goro looked up and felt his own face go slack and blank. "I found all of this out around June. A strange app was downloaded onto my phone without my consent. After several attempts to delete it, it activated on its own… And took me into Sayori's Palace." Goro nodded over to Sayori, "she also got pulled in with me."

"Sayori…?" Haru asked, her voice small and suddenly afraid. She knew Sayori had a Palace, and had been told all of the details about it, but never this.

"Is this true?" Futaba whispered. Goro had really known for that long? She glanced to her side and noticed Akira had stiffened.

"I assume since you know about us, the two of you went in on the exact same day we did, and then never again?" Akira asked, his head spinning in circles as he tried to comprehend this information.

"Yes. That is exactly it," Goro confirmed. The detective felt himself once again start to tremble as he remembered that exact day. "When I first found out that Sayori was posted on the Phansite, I agonized for quite some time over what I should do. I wanted desperately to help her ease the darkness lurking inside her, and while I was mumbling about that, this app suddenly activated and pulled me into that other world."

Morgana suddenly popped up out of Akira's bag. "So you've been able to understand me for a long time, then?"

Goro nodded. "I'm glad to properly meet you."

Morgana nodded. "Likewise," though there was a somber look on his face.

"Wait!" Ann suddenly cut in. "If Sayori got pulled in with you, then…"

Sayori straightened up and nodded. "It's all true. When I was in my Palace, I ran into him and escaped with him when my Palace began to collapse…"

Yusuke's eyes widened in realization. "That's why you ran off so quickly after our battle with your Shadow?"

Sayori nodded again, before bowing her head. "I'm sorry I never told you guys. I wasn't sure who to trust, so I decided to only trust myself with all of these secrets. I felt… so scared, and now I'm ashamed of how much I kept from all of you…" The girl took a deep breath, before shaking her head. "You guys can yell and scold me all you want later, but for right now please listen to what Goro has to say."

"Sayori…" Makoto said sadly, knowing all too well the shame she was talking about. Clenching and unclenching her fists, the girl turned to the detective. "What else do you have to say?"

"The other thing of note that happened in Sayori's Palace was that I awoke to my own special power," Goro explained. "Thinking of how much I wanted to help Sayori, and the truth that I still needed to find… I thought to myself that I couldn't let Sayori go on living, thinking that she was only a burden. I had to help her, and anyone else trapped like she was. The next thing I knew, a strange voice filled my head, and I awoke to my Persona, fighting off the Shadows I had been cornered by." The tale of his Persona awakening was cobbled together with lies and truths. He hadn't awakened to Robin Hood during that Palace, of course, but beyond that, he only wanted to save Sayori. Thoughts of her pain, and how cruel it was that she had to live with it, alone in her head for so long…He felt filled with determination even now.

"I see…" Akira said slowly, considering the story deeply. "What happened after that Palace?" He asked.

"I had to manage the situation," Goro explained. "I told Sayori to forget all about that other world, and not to tell a single soul about it… Then there was the matter of Sae-san, wanting to ask Sayori questions about her change of heart. I was unable to follow you into Kaneshiro's Palace while I was dealing with situations in the outside world. However, I soon came to realize that Sayori was still acting as a Phantom Thief when Kaneshiro had a change of heart. It took me only a little while longer to realize she had a very specific group of friends that she hung out with… They had to be the Thieves that I was investigating."

"After Medjed was defeated, you started spending time with us," Futaba pointed out in realization. "Wait… you said you couldn't follow us into Kaneshiro's Palace. But after that…" The young girl looked at the detective in horror, only to receive a nod as her suspicions were confirmed. "Ew! You were stalking the Phantom Thieves inside of my Palace?! What the heck?!"

"I learned of your situation from Sae-san, and Sayori also mentioned at this time that she was helping a friend recover. But aside from that, what's more important is that I followed you all into Okumura's Palace. This is the main reason I need to speak with you all," Goro looked at them all intensely, seeing in the corner of his eye that Sayori had straightened up. This was where it really all counted. "I had an encounter with his killer."

Everyone gasped, and Haru cried out, before walking up to him and staring him down. "Who were they?! What did they look like?!" Goro backed away slightly, knowing that he needed to be cautious around Haru, especially.

"Sadly, I do not know that. They were obscuring themselves, and when I went to take a closer look, they fled," Goro lied. "However, it is imperative that I discover their identity, otherwise the Phantom Thieves of Hearts will be blamed for Okumura's murder."

"What…?" Makoto asked, eyes widening in shock. She looked down, perhaps dreading the answers he had to give.

"They're going to make me out as my father's murderer?" Haru asked, looking ready to weep.

"Obviously, I cannot overlook this," Goro said resolutely. "Though I do not completely agree with what you do, all you do is reform people. None of you are murderers… Which is why I want to join your team and fix this mess."

"Huh?" Ryuji looked shocked, then confused. "That was a quick 180…" He murmured to Ann, who nodded in agreement.

"Why do you want to work with us so suddenly?" Yusuke asked, giving the detective a skeptical frown. "I do not see any way being on our team could stop us from getting arrested."

"There is someone's heart that I want changed. By doing this, your arrest could be delayed at worst," Goro explained. "At best, with a little more work put into it, we could relieve all of you of suspicion and solve the mystery behind this masked murderer."

Everyone still looked hesitant, so the detective explained further. "You've heard that Sae-san is the one spearheading the investigation about you Phantom Thieves, correct? The higher-ups are concerned only with settling the case. They want to capture the culprits behind the psychotic breakdown incidents and end the commotion. Those are the ones putting pressure on Sae-san. I can only imagine her impatience."

"What of evidence that we did it? How do they intend on proving it?" Yusuke asked.

"Even if there is no objective explanation to the method, it's over once causality is established. Sae-san can't make rational judgements at the moment. If she were to be cornered… well, she may even make up a confession," Goro summarized, watching as the group continued to be stricken with shock.

"Sis… she'd really…?" Makoto seemed hurt by the mere possibility. Out of the corner of his eye, Goro noticed Sayori try to reach out to the girl, only for the brunette to shift out of her reach. Guilt pulled his mouth into an obvious frown, instead of the neutral grim look he had been using. With his interference, Sayori had broken her teammate's trust.

"So, they're gonna make it all our fault!? Just cause they feel like it!?" Ryuji shouted angrily, stamping his foot on the ground.

"But we've never killed anyone!" Ann protested, lunging out in anger. "...Yet we're still going to be arrested?"

"As I said, this is a mistake I cannot allow. Innocents should not take the fall for the actions of a murderer. My justice won't allow that," Goro continued. "You'll be found guilty for a very serious crime, if you are caught. I cannot allow that to happen, no matter what."

"Goro…?" Sayori asked. This… wasn't part of what we discussed. Is he making this part up as he goes?

"All of this is just my proposal for what to do. There is no deal here. This is my request to the Phantom Thieves, and I hope you'll consider answering it," Goro finished, before turning to Sayori. The girl nodded in understanding. It was her turn to do the talking. She stepped up so she was slightly in front of the detective, like a lawyer preparing to defend their client.

Everyone else in the room also exchanged looks, wondering how to take this. Sure, they had suspicions that he knew before, but could they really trust this sudden change in behavior? All of them felt caught between a rock and a hard place. In the end, Futaba leaned over towards Akira.

"What should we do?" She asked in a loud whisper.

However, Akira was still thinking over the whole conversation. Everything that the detective had told them seemed to make sense, but there was the lingering feeling in his gut that something was wrong with it. After nearly half a year since his probation had begun, he had come to learn that his gut was the only thing he could completely trust. With that realization, he looked up with a somber frown. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't accept this… You can tell us the name of who you want targeted, and we'll consider it, but you can't come with us."

Sayori gulped. Akira was the leader, and this kind of decision needed to be unanimous. She had to shift his decision before anyone else. With that thought, she nodded to herself and stepped a bit closer in Akira's direction. "Please reconsider…He's being truthful about his intentions to save us. He's told you the truth! I can confirm-"

"That's the problem," Akira interrupted. "Why didn't you ever tell any of us that you knew that he knew!?"

"I only saw him that one time in my Palace. Since it was only that once, I didn't think he would go back, since he nearly got hurt in there," Sayori explained. "After the two of us escaped, he told me that we needed to forget about the Metaverse, and to never try to enter it… I broke my promise to him, and I thought I was getting away with it, because he never said anything about that place, except for when Sae wanted to question me."

"You still should have told us that he was in your Palace," Akira scolded, before dragging a hand down his face. "What a mess. Are there any other secrets you haven't told us?"

Sayori felt her face grow tight as tears threatened to spill over. Why am I so scared of trusting people I claim to care about so much…? Keeping these things to herself only hurt them in the end, and damaged her relationship with them.

But for all of their sakes, I need to fix that right now, Sayori thought to herself, taking a deep breath and looking back up at Akira. She could feel Goro's eyes staring into her back, depending on her abilities. This was the job he had given her, yet she could feel him wanting to help and intervene.

"The only secrets I have left are the ones that all girls have," Sayori said, knowing that the only secret she had was better left unsaid no matter what. No one needed to know the truth about their reality, after all. "And you're right. I am so sorry… I was scared of what would happen, and I kept all these things to myself, thinking that I could handle them on my own. I swear it won't happen again!"

Akira barely seemed to acknowledge the words, though he was still paying attention to what she had to say, so perhaps that was a good sign. Taking whatever encouragement she could get, Sayori continued to try actually persuading him, again. "Even back then, Goro was on our side. At least, he had no intention of ratting us out."

"What do you mean?" Yusuke asked, none of the usual warmth in his voice.

"When Sae-san wanted to question me, Goro told me a month in advance… He told me that I had to lie to her, and not mention a single thing about the Metaverse. At the time, he claimed it was because she would think we were both crazy, but now I know that wasn't true at all. He didn't want any clues getting out that could be incriminating later," Sayori said firmly. "Goro was protecting us!"

"You mean he was protecting you," Ann pointed out, causing Sayori to cringe and shrink back. "He didn't even know us back then."

"That may be true…" Sayori admitted. "He may have only cared about me, but the fact still stands that to protect me, he had to protect all of us! When he finally met all of you, he wasn't trying to incriminate any of you. All he was doing was spending time with us."

"How do you know for sure that he wasn't just trying to dig up dirt on us the entire time?" Haru asked, looking down sadly. "Until now, when he needed something from us, he avoided telling us that he knew…"

"Yeah… But he's been on the side of the law to the public this entire time. Think about it! If he were caught talking about what we did as Phantom Thieves in public, that would draw suspicion. By making himself out to be clueless, he limited those topics of conversation," Sayori defended. She took a breath and looked at the clock, realizing nervously how little time she had left.

"Please, you guys! Just a little while ago you all thought Goro was trustworthy enough to invite him to Haru's welcome party and tell him all about us!" Sayori pleaded, almost desperate.

"That was before Okumura dropped dead!" Ryuji yelled, causing Sayori to jump back. She bumped into Goro, who quickly steadied her against him so she wouldn't cause both of them to crash into something. Haru and Futaba also jumped back, both hiding behind Akira. The blond noticed and growled. "Dammit! I didn't mean to… This is such bullshit!"

"It's fine…" Sayori gently took Goro's hands off of her shoulders. "You guys are worried about who you can trust right now… I'm scared, too." She closed her eyes, feeling a small headache forming. All she wanted right now was a nap. "None of us have any idea what to do about this situation we've found ourselves in, and Goro just offered us a solution. He can take care of himself in the Metaverse, and he can guide us through what needs to be done to free ourselves of suspicion!"

Akira stared at her intently for a few moments, scrutinizing her. The girl was stubbornly defending Goro Akechi's plan like it was the only solution, when Akira had offered a compromise earlier. What was so important about the detective actually being present with them? The Phantom Thieves could investigate and perform infiltrations just fine as they were. The boy wasn't sure why, but now his gut was telling him that he needed to find out the reason this was happening. To do that…

"Alright, fine," Akira said with a sigh. "I'm on board with this." He watched as Sayori nearly cried with relief, which wasn't a good sign. He looked away from the girl to see Goro also sighing and smiling. He, too, seemed genuinely relieved that he had agreed.

"However, I have a condition. Not to mention, we need to hear what everyone else thinks," Akira stated, causing Sayori to visibly pale. The girl looked over at everyone desperately. Starting to tremble, she didn't even protest when Goro held her hand in his own.

Ann averted her eyes, thinking it over for herself. "Sayori, it's… really hard to trust anything you say right now." The girl closed her eyes for a second and leaned forward, before leaning back up and sighing. "At the same time… It makes sense for you to act that way. Both of us are a bit airheaded, so I think I can relate to worrying about how everyone will act if you told them a secret like that…" Finally, she smiled and nodded her head. "I'm okay with it for now, but I've got my eye on you!" Ann stated, pointing at Goro harshly.

Ryuji frowned and sighed, bowing his head dramatically. "This is all so messed up. It's still hard for me to believe it's all for real… Gives me a headache just thinkin' about it. I don't know how we'll be able to handle this on our own." He suddenly looked up, giving the detective a stern look. "You know what we're lookin' for, so I'm fine with you bein' with us. You had better pull your weight, though."

Morgana was silent in Akira's bag, before peeking out and eying the detective warily. "...Alright. I'm okay with this." He sunk back into the bag before anyone could ask him for his further opinion, though Akira felt the cat rub against the side of his hip before growing still.

Yusuke sat down on one of the chairs in the room, looking nearly identical to The Thinker as he clasped his hands and weighed what he would decide. "Sayori… It honestly hurts that you don't trust us with these things. I think… 'what is it that I am doing wrong?'" The artist shook his head, a pained expression forming on his face. "I am… glad you admitted to your mistake. If this is truly what you think will help us in the end… I will go along with this."

Makoto had a worried frown on her face as she thought to herself. "...I'm worried about Sis," she murmured. "If we're going to go to the Palace I think you're talking about, Goro…" The brunette closed her eyes and crossed her arms. "Okay… I imagine we'll need all of the help we can get. You can be on the team, but I won't tolerate any trickery!"

Futaba pushed her glasses up her nose, her eyes trained on her shoes. "I'll allow it, but only because there's a lot I have to ask you, detective!" She looked up and gave Goro a stern glare, the room's light flashing off her glasses. "You were in my Palace. That's like looking in my diary, you know! So I want more details on what you were up to behind the scenes."

Haru hugged herself, unable to look at anyone. "I agree with this, too. I have to bring justice to my father's killer! If Goro says he can help us with that, then he definitely needs to be there to help us!" She glanced around at everyone. "It's a selfish reason that I am saying yes, so I hope you all can accept my answer."

Sayori felt herself sinking slowly to the ground. On her knees, she glanced at the floor and felt tears come to her eyes. "I'm so glad… So happy… I promise I'll do better from now on. I won't let you guys down. I'll trust you…" A sob forced its way out of her throat. A gentle hand was placed on her shoulder, and she instinctively grabbed it, noticing that it was gloved and smiling to herself. It was hard to think about why she felt this way… but she was glad Goro was comforting her.

Goro smiled politely at the group. "I promise that I'll do my best to meet everyone's expectations."

"You haven't heard my condition, yet," Akira said, looking at the two of them sternly. Sayori felt her nerves grow as he made it clear that the two weren't completely out of the woods, yet. Stepping slightly towards the two, Akira crossed his arms. "Neither of you are allowed to be alone when you're in the Metaverse. Someone else on our team has to be with you at all times."

Sayori glanced at Goro, who only continued to smile and nod in agreement. "I am perfectly fine with that. This investigation is to save you all, anyway. You should be involved."

Sayori faked a smile and nodded in agreement. However, though they were showing easy agreement, both were very worried about how this might affect their investigation into who had been sending Goro messages.

Now that everything had been settled, Goro looked at Makoto apologetically. "Considering what i was about to say in front of the audience, it would probably be best to cancel that panel."

"I suppose you are right," Makoto replied with a tired sigh. "Did you really have to go that far?"

"You were the one who asked me."

"You prompted me!"

Akira stepped in between the two and shook his head. "Our ten minutes are up. The two of you go take care of that. We can all meet in Leblanc in a few days to further discuss what we need to do." With that, everyone was dismissed.

Sayori left the room last, wanting to apologize once more to Akira, only for the boy to give her a stern shake of his head. He and Morgana were the only other two still inside, and they looked as if they had no intention of leaving just yet.

Sighing, the girl turned back around, shutting the door to the office door behind her. Ahead of her, she could see that Futaba and Yusuke had decided to go home. Makoto and Goro were walking back to the auditorium to dismiss the audience. Ryuji had found Mishima and was currently talking with him about something. Turning slightly to her right, Sayori also saw Ann and Haru chatting with Mai, who had probably gone looking for Sayori during that ten minute intermission.

Goro, meanwhile, was finally back onstage. He had just excused himself, with Makoto explaining that one of their clubs would be taking over the rest of the panel time. He felt glad to be done with the panel. Though the confrontation with the Phantom Thieves had been stressful, the ending of this public showing was truly worth the effort.

"Let's have a big round of applause for today's guest, Goro Akechi," Makoto said, her voice devoid of excitement. The audience did what she requested, and the detective walked off with a small wave to the audience. However, once he was out of sight, behind the curtain, he flipped them off. The gesture was incredibly immature, but it filled him with a sense of giddiness.

That rush of dopamine in response to insulting his fans barely lasted a few seconds after he left the auditorium. Now that all of the unpleasant business had been taken care of, he finally felt free to look back on that entire meeting and review how it had gone.

Honestly, the only part that went right was that Sayori and I accomplished our goal… I didn't even realize how much of a strain this could put on her relationship with her friends… She looked like she was about to have a breakdown… Goro covered his face with his hand, wishing he had done things differently. If he had done something like blackmail the Phantom Thieves, the only person they would be distrustful of was him. Though he knew he had made the morally correct decision by persuading them instead, it wasn't worth the pit in his stomach that was forming from his guilt.

Sayori… I believe in you. You'll be able to regain your friends' trust… Though I still regret making you break it in the first place…

---

Sayori had just changed into her normal clothes, and was preparing to go back to Ann's, when Mai walked up to her with a grin on her face. The girl was now wearing her normal Shujin uniform, looking like she wanted to surprise Sayori. Sadly, Sayori wasn't in the mood for surprises.

"Guess what!" Mai said in a singsong voice, a smirk on her face as she walked to Sayori's side.

"No, I'm okay," Sayori murmured, her face looking uncharacteristically gloomy.

Mai looked taken aback, before she suddenly stood in front of Sayori and blocked her path. "Fine, I guess I'll tell you. Makoto, Ann, Haru, and I all decided to go to the after party together… And we want you to come, too."

"Oh…" Sayori sighed before forcing a cheerful grin onto her face. "Thanks for inviting me… But I feel a bit burnt out, Mai. I think I'm just going to go home and take a nap."

"Ann said you aren't allowed to go home without her when you're lookin' so depressed," Mai countered. "She's worried about you, y'know?"

"She shouldn't worry about me," Sayori said sadly. "Nobody should. I… I'm fine. It's just-"

Mai put a hand on Sayori's shoulder and patted her gently. "You don't have to do much if you don't want to. All of the girls just said that they were worried you thought they didn't like you anymore, so they said they wanted to spend time with you to say there were no hard feelings."

"... Alright," Sayori replied. She felt too tired to argue anymore. Not to mention, if the girls were worried about what she might do if she were left alone, then she might be in worse condition than she thought. "I'll go."

"Glad to hear it," Mai replied. She lightly grabbed Sayori by the hand and led her towards the gymnasium. Makoto, Haru, and Ann were waiting near the entrance, smiling gently at Sayori when they saw her.

Mai looked between them and Sayori, an uncomfortable frown forming on her face. "I don't know what happened since I last saw you all together, and I frankly don't want to." She rubbed her arm for a second, scanning the gymnasium. Spotting a group of dancing students, she grabbed Sayori by the hand once more and led her over, with the other three girls following close behind.

"We can't be wall flowers the entire time, so let's just have fun and dance!" Mai shouted, spinning and tapping her feet to the rhythm. So she did indeed move with the rhythm, it was clear she was not an expert. All of the other girls looked slightly embarrassed.

"I… only know ballet," Haru whispered quietly as she looked down at her feet.

"The best thing I could do is aikido forms…" Makoto said, shaking her head.

"I guess that's something you guys have going for you," Ann commented, before smiling over at Sayori. "She and I are clueless, aren't we?"

"Yeah…" Sayori said, looking away nervously. "I… don't know why I let myself be dragged over here."

"You guys are a bunch of spoilsports," Mai said, suddenly standing strict and stern. She put a hand to her forehead and shook her head. "Look. Put whatever stressed you out on the backburner for a bit. I know Sayori well enough to know that she'd normally be dancin' anyway, even if she literally had two left feet!"

The four girls all looked at eachother and found a small amount of confidence. They were no dancing club, and they were hardly coordinated, but by the time a student went over to announce the start of the Student Sharing Special, they had worn themselves out. They even had a few admirers sending them glances every now and then.

Or they're just laughing at us, Sayori thought to herself. Actually, I think I would prefer that. That thought came just as Ann came over to subtly block one particularly interested boy's sight from Sayori.

"Sorry, but she's off limits," Ann said with an airheaded smile. "The last guy that tried flirting with her ate sand."

That seemed to weird the kid out enough to leave, making Sayori giggle slightly.

"All right, who has something to say? Anyone, anyone!?" the student at the microphone suddenly asked.

"They're doing this again, this year?" Ann asked incredulously, looking at Makoto.

The brunette shrugged. "I guess so. This might be a good time to leave, now that I think about-"

"Oh no!" Haru interrupted, pointing at the stage. Makoto and Ann both looked to see Mai going up there, bringing a less-than-thrilled Sayori with her. "What is she doing?"

"Should we stop her?" Makoto asked, only for them to decide too late.

"My friend has somethin' to say!" Mai shouted, raising Sayori's hand up with her own.

"What? No, I don't," Sayori whisper-shouted to the librarian.

"Sure you do. Just go up there and say your name… and maybe someone you like? Actually, bad idea. Sayin' you like Akechi might have a negative effect on the audience… Ooh, wait! I have an idea!" Mai leaned over and whispered something into Sayori's ear. The girl paled a bit, but nodded in the end.

"Is she going to do it?" Ann asked, eyes wide in shock.

"What do you think she'll say?" Haru asked no one in particular.

The student at the microphone smiled as Sayori slowly walked over to the microphone. "What's your name?"

"I'm… Matsu…" Sayori said, sounding nervous. She squinted her eyes closed, trying to remember what exactly she was planning on saying.

"Ah, Matsu-san! What would you like to share with us, today?"

"Well…" Sayori said nervously. "It's a poem I wrote a really long time ago. It's been a super long time since I was able to share it with anybody, so I hope you all like it…"

"Ooh… I see! Well then, on with the show!"

Sayori closed her eyes, suddenly able to visualize the words. Taking a few seconds to make sure she would be able to recite the poem with the best quality, she opened her eyes and smiled cheerfully. "This poem is called, 'Dear Sunshine.'"

"The way you glow through my blinds in the morning

It makes me feel like you missed me.

Kissing my forehead to help me out of bed.

Making me rub the sleepy from my eyes.

Are you asking me to come out and play?

Are you trusting me to wish away a rainy day?

I look above. The sky is blue.

It's a secret, but I trust you, too.

If it wasn't for you, I could sleep forever.

But I'm not mad.

I want breakfast."

The audience was silent for a moment after Sayori finished, not knowing quite how to respond. Waiting for a response, Sayori gave a cheerful smile, looking naive enough that only her closest friends would try finding deeper meaning in the poem.

"What a unique poem!" the announcer said into his microphone. "Everyone, give a hand for Matsu-san!" The small audience complied, clapping as Sayori walked offstage, smiling and waving cheerfully.

When she was finally off of the stage, Haru, Ann, and Makoto walked over to her, giving her congratulations on her poem.

"That was an interesting poem you shared," Makoto said. "I didn't even know you were working on anything new."

"Oh, it wasn't really new. I wrote that when I first started writing poems," Sayori explained. "I've improved a lot since then, right?"

"Definitely!" Ann replied with an encouraging smile. "No offense, but that last line… Were you hungry when you wrote it?"

Sayori nodded shyly, causing all three of the other girls to giggle.

"It was an excellent performance," Haru said with a soft smile. "I can't help but feel there was a reason you decided to share it?'

"Oh, um… Not really," Sayori lied. "I was just taking Mai's suggestion to share a poem. Where is she anyway?"

"I think she left," Makoto said sadly. "She disappeared so suddenly. I don't even know when she went away…"

"I'm sure there's a good reason, though," Haru added.

"We should probably follow her lead, right?" Ann suggested. Everyone nodded in agreement, going their own separate ways for the rest of the day. Sayori followed behind Ann, silently thinking of the real reason she had chosen that poem.

It's a secret, but I trust you, too… There was so much Sayori wanted to convey to the people she cared about. Yet, for too long now, she had felt unable to do so. Ensnared in a web of information and lies that she didn't know what to do with, she had practically shut down. Yet, even Goro, along with the Thieves, had been outspoken with how much they cared about her.

Even now, the girl felt as if the only right thing to do was to hide her affections for Goro. She had pretended that they didn't exist, to the point that the detective had thought she hated him. It was an awful feeling, knowing she had just caused him and her friends so much misery and disappointment.

But… I think I'm taking a step in the right direction, Sayori thought to herself resolutely. Remembering the day before, and how she had spent time with her boyfriend and cleared up those feelings… It filled her with even more determination to convey those feelings further.

It might be difficult at first to be completely comfortable, but I'm done lying about this sort of stuff. It only hurts my friends… And it makes me hurt, too!

With that thought, the Shujin Academy Culture Festival came to a happy conclusion for Sayori.

Hello, all of our fans. This is Dream, the editor of this fanfic, with a bit of depressing news. Recently, it came to our attention that the cover art for this fanfic is potentially partially traced. While we are forever grateful for how well the cover art turned out, we cannot blindly support this if it turns out to be true. The cover art will remain for now, however, if it becomes known that it is definitively traced, we will be removing it from the fanfic and seeking alternatives. We hope that this information turns out to be false, and we ask you not to seek out the artist and harass them. However, we did not want to remain silent on this current issue. Let us hope for the best.

Yours,

Dream and Rebel