5/2

Akira wakes from unintelligible nightmares to a clear sky. Morgana sleeps soundly alongside him. He reaches out, scratches the cat's head, and proceeds with his routine.

He stretches.

He packs his books.

He sheds his pajamas.

He dons his school clothes.

He buttons his uniform.

He ties his shoes.

He keeps his mind as clear as he can, free of errant thoughts revolving around black bile and Phantom Thievery.

Sojiro comes upstairs. His usually rigid face is now deflated into a mix between worry and confusion.

"Maybe it'd be better if you stayed home today," he says.

Akira frowns. Takemi had walked him home the night before, and had pulled Sojiro to the side and explained the situation as best she understood. The man had been appropriately shocked, and even more so to learn later, through the nightly news, that the deceased was one, Yukio Kan, an up-and-coming politician in the 'New Dawn' segment of the Diet. Putting a name to the face had done little to quell Akira's tensions, especially since the official cause of death had yet to be declared. Instead, a vague 'complications' had been thrown out, as if that explained everything.

Morgana, awake, hops off the bed and puts a paw on Akira's foot. "I think you should listen to him."

Sojiro tries to smile. "See? Even Prince is worried about you."

Akira kneels and presents his open bag to Morgana. "Thanks, but I'm okay." His friend stares at him for a few moments, before climbing into his carrier.

Sojiro shakes his head. "Kid, you saw a man die last night." He takes a step forward. "Last week a bunch of kids kicked the hell out of you, and two weeks before that you were involved in a train crash. For God's sake, any one of those things would be enough to traumatize someone. If you're okay, then I'm the Emperor."

Akira smiles and stands. "I didn't think you were that old," he says.

"Dammit, Akira," Sojiro growls. "Stop messing around! This is serious. People aren't supposed to just brush these things off."

"I thought you wanted me in school."

"Don't be petulant," Sojiro replies, and shrugs. "You've got most of this week off anyway, right? What's another day? I can keep the cafe closed. You can stay up here. Sleep. Whatever."

"I..." Akira starts, then trails off. His gaze falls upon the couch and stays there. "I want to see my friends."

Sojiro's eyebrows rise. "You've got friends?"

Unbidden, the corners of Akira's mouth twitch upward. "You don't have to sound surprised."

Sojiro crosses his arms. "Well, with the way you cart that cat around, I figured he was your only friend."

Morgana pops his head out of the bag and meows. Akira reaches out a finger and strokes his ear. "I have a few more."

The older man shuts his eyes, a weary look writ across his face, and lets out a sigh. "Fine," he says. "What do I know? You want to go to school, I won't stop you." He jabs one, solitary, stern finger into Akira's face. "But Takemi is a heck of a lot smarter than me. She's a doctor. And she says you need to talk to someone. Like a therapist."

Akira meets his eyes and sees no leeway there. "Alright," he says. "I'll look for a therapist, okay?"

"Do more than look, Akira," Sojiro says, but then he moves to the side. "Breakfast is on the counter."

"Thanks," Akira says, and walks past him.

Sojiro follows him downstairs, and when Akira sets himself up onto the bar's stool, he says, "And if you need anything today, you better damn well call me."

"Understood," Akira says, and begins to eat.

#

Lunchtime arrives and finds Akira, Ann and Morgana on Shujin's roof.

"Ugh," Morgana groans, from where he lays in the sunlight. "What's taking Bonehead so long? I thought you texted him before lunch even started."

"I did," Akira says with a shrug. "I don't know where he is."

Ann lays sprawled in one of the lawn chairs. "This sssssucks," she moans. "If they're giving us the rest of the week off, why'd we even have to be here today?"

"Who knows?" Akira says, checking his phone to see if Ryuji has replied. "Probably some dumb administrative reason."

Ann sits up, straight and wide-eyed. "Oh! Did you hear? Apparently, some guy totally died at the hotel last night, right after we left. Isn't that freaky?"

Akira swallows. "Yeah," he says, slowly. He'd been intending on waiting until Ryuji arrived to discuss this. "About that..."

"Yo!" Comes a voice from the roof's entrance. All three thieves look and find Ryuji, hand raised in greeting, a broad smirk on his face. Behind him stands Mishima, lips pressed together in a tight white line, eyes darting from one teen to another.

Akira's shoulders droop. "Hey," he says.

"What took you so long?" Ann asks, a pout on her face. Morgana nods, but remains silent.

"I was chattin' with this guy," Ryuji says, and pats Mishima on the shoulder. "Turns out, we had a lot to talk about."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ann asks.

But then Mishima, who looks to be quivering, shoots past Ryuji and blurts out, "Are you guys really the Phantom Thieves?"

Silence.

Then, everyone speaks at once.

"Like, what?" Ann asks, her voice high. "No way!"

"Of course not," Akira says.

"What'd you say, Ryuji?" Morgana yowls.

"Guys," Ryuji says, shrugging, the grin still stapled onto his face. "I already told him."

"What?" Morgana hisses.

"Ryuji!" Ann screams.

"Why?" Akira asks, straightening. His heart starts to beat faster. He feels his skin flush. What if he puts it online? He already put all my other shit online. He'll put this there too!

"Guys, chill!" Ryuji says, patting the air with his hands. He walks up behind Mishima and throws and arm around his shoulder. "Mishima here, is the creator of the PhanSite."

Three sets of eyes turn toward Mishima, but no one speaks until Akira asks, "How do you know?"

"Eh?" Ryuji replies, his smile shaking just a bit. "What'd you mean?"

"He just walked up to you and said, 'I'm the guy who made the PhanSite, are you a Phantom Thief?' How do you know he's not lying?"

"Uhh, well," Ryuji says, paling. He removes his arm from Mishima. "You see-"

Mishima takes another step forward. "I'm not lying!" He pulls his phone from his pocket. "Here, I'll prove it to you!" He begins to type something into his phone, face scrunched up in concentration. "Everyone check the PhanSite's front page in thirty seconds, I'm logging in as the admin and I'll type a random string of numbers there."

The silent thirty seconds seems to last a lot longer, but after the allotted time, Akira sees, as promised, a random set of numbers posted by 'Admin' on the front page of their new site.

"There, you see?" Mishima asks, a newly minted grin on his face. "I told you!" No one says anything. His smile falters and he reddens. "So, um, look. The reason I made this site was so I could support you guys! I'm like, your number one fan, and I felt that more people should know about you."

"Why?" Akira asks.

"W-why?" Mishima replies.

"Guys," Ryuji says, stepping forward. "Have you seen the site? I mean, have you really taken a look at it? People are requesting our help!"

"Seriously?" Ann asks, and lowers her gaze back to her phone.

"Uh-huh," Mishima puts in. "A lot of people heard about how you got Kamoshida to confess. I mean, they talked about it on the news, how he was abusing us and everything. But the news also mentioned the Phantom Thieves and the calling card. I'm sure most people think it's just a joke, but there are a lot of people out there that believe in you!"

"Yeah," Akira says. "A full two percent."

"That's better than zero! And if you guys start fulfilling the requests on the site, and proving that you're real, that number will skyrocket!"

Akira glances down at Morgana and whispers, "What'd you make of all this?"

The cat purrs and hops up into Akira's lap. "I don't like how Ryuji just spilled the beans, but if we can become a part of the public subconscious... well, I'm all for it."

"Why?" Akira asks.

"I'll explain later," Morgana whispers.

"Think about it," Ryuji says, his grin back in force. "All those other big time groups, like Medjed and Tatterdemalion, people know them. If we're gonna compete with those guys, we've got to become household names, just like them!"

"Compete?" Akira asks, jaw set, hands clenched into fists.

Ryuji rolls his eyes. "You know what I mean."

"No, I don't."

Ryuji groans. "How are we gonna change the hearts of bad guys, and how are we gonna help people, if they don't even know we exist? We're not robbing museums or banks! If someone's in trouble, just like Shiho or Mishima were with Kamoshida, how will they know they can ask us for help, if they don't even believe in us, or have a place where they can reach us?"

Ann frowns. "I guess that makes sense."

Mishima nods. "Right? So, let me tell you some more about this site." Akira sits and listens to the boy rattle off various terms and features. The words flow in one ear, and dance out the other. He keeps his mouth shut, choosing instead to move his jaw around in slow, clocklike circles. His hands have yet to unclench.

Eventually, the boy leaves. The four thieves are left upon the rooftop and from Akira's perspective, everyone seems convinced the PhanSite is a fantastic idea. "Ryuji," he says, his voice low.

"What's up, dude?"

Keep it together. "The next time you're going to tell someone about us," and he looks up into his friend's eyes. Whatever Ryuji sees there pales him by another shade. "Please ask us, first."

"Yeah, seriously," Ann says, nodding. "I know Mishima is harmless and all, but revealing ourselves should be something we all decide to do."

"Absolutely, Lady Ann," Morgana says. He narrows his eyes at the blonde boy. "You could've blown our entire operation!"

"Alright, alright," Ryuji mumbles, rubbing the back of his head. "My bad, okay? It's just, he came to me and told me he was the one that made the PhanSite. Isn't that kind of a big risk, too? If we weren't the Phantom Thieves, he'd have just revealed himself to us as the administrator for their website."

Ann frowns and sighs. "Well, whatever. It is what it is. Just check with us next time, okay?" Ryuji nods and offers more affirmations. Then, Ann continues, "But, I've been looking through these Requests, and some of them are kind of scary."

"What'd you mean?" Akira asks, taking out his own phone.

"I mean, people are posting the full names of the people whose hearts they want us to change. Isn't that kind of messed up?"

Akira finds his way to the site and begins to flip through them. "Yeah, but a lot of these are petty. This one girl wants us to change her mom's heart because, 'she won't let me do anything fun,' and this one is asking us to change his brother's, because he keeps 'looking at my stuff.'"

"What'd you expect?" Morgana asks. "The majority of people who know about us would be Shujin students, it makes sense that the users would be primarily composed of them."

"Whoa," Ann says, eyes widening.

"What's up?" Ryuji asks.

"There's one here that's a bit freaky." She clears her throat and begins to read. "'A few weeks ago, I broke up with my boyfriend. Ever since then, I can't get it out of my head that he's been stalking me. Whenever I go outside, especially at night, I get the sense that he's right behind me. At first, I could brush it off, but now it's really starting to scare me. I don't know what to do, and the police say they can't help unless he actually threatens me, but what if it's too late by then? Please, change his heart Phantom Thieves! His name is Nakanohara Natsuhiko."

"Damn, that is scary," Ryuji says.

Morgana stretches out his paws. "If we don't do something, this girl could be in some serious trouble."

"Yeah," Ann says, putting away her phone. "If that guy keeps it up, he may eventually get violent."

"Well, wait a second," Akira says. "Don't we have to confirm that he has a Palace, before we can change his heart?"

A small chuckling sound emanates from Morgana. "I was hoping you'd ask about that. The truth is, no. We can change this Natsuhiko guy's heart, without him having a Palace."

"For real?" Ryuji asks, sitting up. "How?"

"Allow me to explain, Mementos," the cat says.

#

Ryuji pauses, the chopsticks halfway to his mouth. "Wait, for real?"

Akira nods.

School is out. It is now Golden Week, and the Phantom Thieves have a plan.

But.

But Akira could not keep it inside, and so after classes had ended, he'd asked Ryuji and Ann – and naturally, Morgana – to the diner in Shibuya. He tells them what occurred after they left the hotel.

The two blondes sit across from him, and Morgana is curled up on top of his bag, a sad look on his face.

Ann blinks, and reaches into her school bag.

"So, like, he freakin' died? Right in front of you?"

"Yeah," Akira says. Ann continues to rummage around in her bag. "He started puking all this black stuff and it leaked from his eyes and nose and… it was awful."

Ryuji sets his chopsticks back down, food forgotten. "Holy shit. Dude, are you okay?"

Ann pulls out a wad of school paper from her bag.

"I think so," Akira says. "I mean, I wasn't at the time, but now… I think I'm alright."

Ann works the papers into a roll. Then she stands, leans over the table, raises the freshly-made cylinder, and brings it down onto Akira's head.

"Ow," he says, more surprised than hurt. It is paper, after all.

"Jerk!" She hisses, and hits him again. And again. "Jerk! Jerk!"

"Uh, Ann?" Ryuji asks, looking around at the room. Customers are beginning to stare. "What're you doing?"

"Why didn't you call us?" Ann asks. "Why did you go to school today? You should've stayed home! You should've gone to the doctor's or something!" Her brows are knitted together and her words are sharp. She whacks him on his head again.

"Stop," Akira says. He leans back in his seat and raises his hands, hoping to ward her off. "I went to Takemi's last night, right after."

"That doesn't explain why you didn't call us!" She swings again, and still somehow hits him.

"Lady Ann?" Morgana asks. "I think you've made your point."

"Like hell!" She spits. "Do you know what I did last night?"

Akira shakes his head. "What?"

"I watched my dramas until midnight! That's it. That's all I did. Why didn't you call me?" She thwacks him once more.

"I'm sorry," Akira says, shrinking away. "I promise, if someone ever dies in front of me again, I'll give you a call."

Ann drops back into her seat. The roll of papers sits in her lap. She dips her head forward, and when she speaks, her anger is gone. "Shiho jumped off a building, Akira."

Ryuji's expression softens. "Ann..."

Akira feels his throat go dry.

"It was the worst thing ever. I thought she was going to die. She was hurting that much and I didn't realize. Or maybe I did realize but I didn't say anything, I don't know!" She looks up at him, and Akira can see her eyes misting. "So, I'm never going through something like that. Not again. If something is happening to you, Akira, you have to tell me. I can't... I can't watch another friend jump." She stops speaking, and just sits there, looking at him. She sniffles, just a bit, but no tears fall from her eyes.

"Lady Ann," Morgana says, but nothing else.

Ryuji reaches out and rests a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, Ann. Cut him some slack. He was probably too freaked out."

Akira can't meet her eyes anymore, and lowers them to the tabletop. "I'm sorry, Ann. I really am."

She shakes her head. "Promise me that you'll talk to me about everything that's bothering you. Or, if you don't want to talk to me, talk to Ryuji. Or Morgana. Someone, Akira. There has to be someone."

He nods. "Okay."

She shakes her head, vehemently this time. "No. Say it. Say you promise."

A few seconds pass. Then, he says, "I promise."

"Good," she says, and wipes her sleeve across her face. "Oh, God. You're gonna make me cry, you jerk. And I'm so sick of doing that."

"Yo," Ryuji says, turning towards Akira. "But for real, you should probably talk to someone."

Akira smiles. "You're like, the third person who has told me that."

His eyes widen. "Well, it's true. That's some serious shit you saw!" He shakes his head. "Honestly, was it too much to ask for one day where we could just kick back and chill? I feel bad for you, man. We had an awesome meal, and then someone's head exploded right in front of you."

"Ryuji!" Ann growls.

But Akira laughs. "Yeah, it was pretty horrifying." He fixes Ryuji with a grin. "I almost pissed myself."

"Good thing you were in a bathroom, then," Ryuji replies, wearing a matching smile to Akira's. Then he starts to laugh as well.

The two boys continue this way for a few moments, as Ann watches them. "Honestly," she says, after a time. "I don't understand you two morons."

"That makes two of us," Morgana says, with a shake of his head.

##

A/N: Hey everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend! I spent the majority of mine in the car on two separate six hour journeys! Thank God for Audible! I want to thank everyone for their comments and whatnot about the last chapter. As I said, it went through a lot of revisions, but I'm glad many of you seemed to like it!

Now then, an update. As I've mentioned before, I'll be getting married soon and taking my honeymoon. Given that the week leading up to my wedding will most likely be busy as all hell, and that for the two weeks I'm on my honeymoon, I won't be doing much writing, I'm thinking that my break will begin on September 11, and probably stretch through the rest of the month of September. It stinks to take that big block of time off, but the reality of my situation is that even if I manage to do a lot of writing during that time frame, I don't know what my internet connection is going to be like. Plus, I'll be in completely different time zones which will probably really mess up my posting schedule. I'll keep you all up to speed the closer I get to the actual date.

Regardless, thank you very much for reading Crimson, and for all the wonderful other things you people do. I'll see ya soon!