7-3

Akira enters Untouchable and finds Kaoru behind the counter, a faraway look on his face, absently fondling a model pistol. The sign had read 'Closed,' but Akira had found the door unlocked. Kaoru glances up at him, and Akira reels at how young he is. Thirteen, yes. But thirteen and shy, quiet, with Iwai for a father. For all the gruff man's best intentions, it could not have been comfortable having him as a parent.

"We're clo-" Kaoru starts, then bothers to focus and says, "Oh. Hi, Akira."

"Hey, Kaoru," Akira replies, and because he's suddenly at a loss for words, an idiotic placeholder leaves his mouth. "How's it going?" He cringes.

Kaoru looks unfazed, save for a flicker around the mouth. Then, he shrugs. "Fine. I guess. Found out my mom was a prostitute and drug addict that didn't want me. My dad's not my real dad but a former yakuza enforcer who tried to blackmail some rich kid a few weeks ago and now is going to turn himself in and leave me on my own. So, yeah. Fine. I guess."

Akira feels for the boy, he does, but the Joker part of his mind is already unraveling the boy's short outburst. So, Iwai didn't tell him about the Phantom Thieves. And while Akira is a bit put off that the man lied to his son, a stronger part of him is relieved. Should I tell him? Akira wonders.

No, snaps a voice in his mind that sounds an awful lot like his father. What if Kaoru decides to bargain with the police? Propositions that they release his father for the identity of the leader of the Phantom Thieves?

What if I coached him? Akira thinks. Helped him with what to say? Could we get Iwai released by pretending to give the police the identity of the Phantom Thieves, but lead them on a wild goose chase?

His father's voice laughs at him. His mental Joker shakes his head. You'd be relying on the cunning of a thirteen-year-old boy, who - thus far - has displayed none. Even if you could somehow convince the police to let Iwai go, what would that get us? It would expose our connection to him.

He'd be no use to you, his father rejoins.

Akira silences this thought trail. There was a sad, scared boy in front of him, and Akira needed to deal with that first. "Do you want to go get some food?" Akira asks.

"Not hungry," Kaoru mutters. His face twists into a scowl. "He told me that you knew about it. That he told you all this stuff. He told you, but he didn't tell me."

Akira tries to organize his thoughts before he speaks. "Kaoru, your dad only told me everything yesterday, and-"

"He's not my dad," Kaoru snaps. He hurls the model gun against the wall, where he likely expected it to shatter. Instead, the plastic smacks the wall and bounces off to land in a sad little pile on the floor. "I don't know my dad. My dad was some other yakuza scumbag who sold my stupid mother drugs!"

Yikes, thinks Akira. Just take him out for a soda, that had been what Iwai asked of him. It sounded to Akira that Kaoru would benefit from a lot more from therapy than a few carbonated drinks. "Okay, I'll call him Iwai, then," Akira says, and takes a step closer to Kaoru. "And like I said, he only told me all this yesterday. About you and your mom."

"But you knew about his yakuza history, right?" Kaoru demands. "I know he told you about that."

"Yeah, he did," Akira replies. He steals a few more paces closer to Kaoru. "And I think I know why he didn't tell you about it."

Kaoru looks at him, pain writ across his face. "Why?"

Akira finds it simple, to tell the truth now. "Because it's scary, Kaoru. It's really, really scary. I've met some yakuza in the last few weeks. Your fath - Iwai - didn't want you to experience any of that."

"Does that mean he was scary? Violent and horrible, like them?" Kaoru asks.

Akira wishes he could backpedal a bit, but instead says, "No, he's not. He knows how to fight and about illegal operations. He does. But he also left all of that behind so he could raise you. He walked away from that. And I think that says a lot about him."

I'm sorry, the note had said. I can't do this.

"You know," Akira says before he can stop himself. "My father, my actual father, left my mom on the day I was born." Kaoru's eyes widen, but he says nothing. "He couldn't even bother to meet me on my birthday. But Iwai..." and Akira takes a chance, "your dad, uprooted his entire life to take care of you. He walked away from the yakuza, and all for a baby that wasn't even his." Akira shrugs. "I'll admit, Kaoru. I'm jealous."

Kaoru takes his glasses off his face and rubs his eyes. He looks ready to cry but hasn't begun yet. "Sorry about your dad. It looks like we're the same now, though."

"No," Akira says, shaking his head. "We're not. Your dad might be going away, but it's not like he's vanishing from your life completely. He may not be here, but you've still got him. That's something, Kaoru. He does care about you; he does love you. It'll be hard for a while, but you'll see him again."

There is silence from the voice in his mind that sounds like Akira's father.

"But, okay," Kaoru sniffles. "If he did leave all this bad stuff behind, then why did he try and blackmail that rich kid? I don't get it. What was he doing there?"

And, thankfully, Akira had anticipated this question. It was an obvious one, after all. "Your dad explained it to me. There's this yakuza boss at work in Shibuya, who's trying to make a power move in your dad's old gang. He's expecting old and retired members to help him with that. If they refuse, he threatens their families or businesses. I think, and I don't mean to scare you, Kaoru, I think your dad did this to protect you. If he hadn't, who knows what this guy would've done?"

A lot of emotions flit across Kaoru's face. "I'm not scared of-"

"Don't," Akira tells him. "Don't say you're not scared. Because you should be scared of this guy. Your dad was scared. That's why he did what he did."

"Then why can't we tell the police?" Kaoru asks. "Why can't we tell them that this guy forced my dad to blackmail the rich kid?"

Akira shrugs. "There's no evidence. And if we did, how long until the yakuza guy finds out? How long until he takes revenge?"

Kaoru pales a bit. Geez, Akira thinks. I should lighten up a bit. But could he? Kaoru needed to both understand why his father did what he did, and how dangerous it would be to go to the police.

Except, you're not telling him the truth, Joker mutters in his mind. Yes, Kaneshiro threatened Kaoru. Yes, Iwai gave you to Kaneshiro to protect Kaoru. But the reason Iwai's going to go to prison, right now, is because of you. Dress it up however you like, but that's the truth.

And Akira thinks, That's why this can't be in vain.

Kaoru says nothing for a time. Then, "This isn't fair."

"No, it's not," Akira agrees.

Kaoru is silent, then looks up in astonishment. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. "I know what I can do!" He fiddles with the screen and holds it up for Akira to see. It's the PhanSite. A lump rises in Akira's throat. "You've heard of the Phantom Thieves. I'll ask them to get my dad out of trouble. They can do anything."

Akira turns his face away from Kaoru, because he can't look at him when he says, "I think the Phantom Thieves can only steal hearts, Kaoru. They can't," and he pauses to gather his thoughts. "They don't just break people out of prison."

"No, that's not what I mean," Kaoru replies, eagerly typing away his request. "I'm saying we can get the Phantom Thieves to steal the heart of the guy who forced my dad to do the blackmail! Get it? Then, when he confesses, it'll prove that my dad was innocent, that this yakuza jerk made him do it! The police will have to let him go, then."

Uh oh, Akira thinks. "Look, Kaoru," Akira begins, casting about desperately for something to say. "I think I heard a rumor that they're already going against this guy. Besides, you need the name of your target." He shrugs. "And neither of us have it."

Kaoru frowns. "Damn. You're right. I forgot. But like you said, if they do want to steal his heart, maybe they already know his name. I'll put in a request either way. Maybe they'll read it. If they get this guy to confess his crimes, it should still work out for my dad, anyway."

And what happens, Joker asks, when Kaneshiro confesses his crimes and forcing Iwai to blackmail Sugimura isn't among them?

Kaneshiro was blackmailing Iwai, Akira thinks. That's how I got involved in the first place.

But, his father points out, that has nothing to do with Sugimura. If you don't get Kaneshiro to take the blame for Iwai blackmailing Sugimura, Iwai will stay in jail.

"Akira?" Kaoru asks. Akira blinks and realizes he's been staring straight ahead for a few moments.

"Listen," Akira says, and forces a smile onto his face. "Come with me, yeah? Let's get some food, and then we're going to go see Takemi-san."

Whatever elation Kaoru felt over his plan to free Iwai leaves his face then, and his shoulders droop a bit forward. He does not bother to ask why they'll be going to visit Takemi, but he nods. The boy isn't stupid, after all.

Akira holds the door open for him as they both step out into the alley, and without any delay or ceremony, Kaoru takes a small key from his pocket and locks the door to Untouchable.

#

Kaoru had been up all night, which was not surprising, and so after they'd gotten a meal and made their way to Takemi's clinic, the boy had fallen asleep in one of the exam rooms.

Akira found himself alone with Takemi, out in the waiting room, sitting side by side in the uncomfortable chairs. "Wow," Akira says.

"Yeah," Takemi says.

It takes Akira a moment before he can say something else. "Iwai asked me to guilt you into helping. But it looks like he already did that."

Takemi scoffs but says nothing.

"So," Akira continues. "Are you going to do it?"

"I don't know the first thing about raising a child. Let alone a full-grown teenager I've only known a handful of days." She crosses her arms and scowls at the floor. "What the hell am I supposed to do, shit, tell him?"

"It won't be that bad," Akira tells her, with a shrug. "After all, he can't be any worse than me."

Takemi glares at him. "Was that supposed to be a joke?"

"Yes."

"So, you think this is funny?"

Akira shakes his head. He has yet to smile. There's something hard in his eyes Takemi cannot recall seeing before. "I don't think this is funny." He looks down at the floor. "I don't think this is funny at all. It's my fault, Tae. Blackmailing Sugimura was my plan. Kaoru's father is going to jail because of me." He leans back in his chair. "I should've listened to you."

"Which time?" Takemi asks, not unsympathetically but unable to resist the jab.

"When you refused to get me the chloroform. I should've listened. But instead, I just barreled ahead and got Iwai involved, and sure, it's not like he didn't get anything out of it but if everything goes right, I'll be free and clear of Kaneshiro and Iwai will still be in jail." Akira is quiet for a moment. "I spoke with the others after we stole Sugimura's heart. We won't be physically harming our targets anymore."

"That's something, I suppose," Takemi mutters.

"I'm sorry," he tells her. "I'm sorry this has got dumped on you. I'm sorry my mistakes have uprooted your life like this."

Takemi is struck by a sudden urge to reach out and put her arm around his shoulder as she did on that day - so long ago - when he shook like a leaf in her exam room. She refrains and instead sighs and rubs the bridge of her nose with her fingers, squinting her eyes shut. "Honestly, Akira. Thinking about Kaoru and Munehisa has exhausted the hell out of me, and I'm too tired to be furious with you right now, even though I have every right to be." She slides a little lower in her seat. "For the time being, Kaoru can stay with me. I'll see if there's a better option, like a program or something. If there is... well, we'll see." She looks at him. "What are you going to do?"

Akira takes out his phone and checks the time. Then, he stands up. "Iwai asked me to help with Kaoru, and I intend to. Whatever you need, let me know."

Takemi is about to say something about how presumptuous it is for a teenager to say this, but when he looks at her, she again sees something different in his eyes. Something harder and maybe a bit colder, and she finds she cannot quip at this.

"I need to go now," he continues. "But if I can come back later tonight and check on him, I will. I can't guarantee it. Kaneshiro might need me for something. I'll let you know." He starts towards the door and pauses when his hand is about to push it open. "Thank you, and again, I'm sorry."

Then, he's gone.

#

When Ryuji and Yusuke arrive, they carry between them a large markerboard covered in red lines and gibberish. In one corner, there appears to be a crude drawing of a cat piloting a helicopter. "Clear us some room," Ryuji demands, at the same time Yusuke cries, "Make way! Make way!"

The other Phantom Thieves, and Makoto, watch with confusion as the boys set up the board in a place where all can see.

"What is this?" Morgana asks, tilting his head to the side.

"A way out of our dilemma," Yusuke exclaims. "Last night, Ryuji and I worked on this. Tirelessly, I might add. We believe we have figured out a way in which to ensure Akira need not turn himself in."

Ryuji rubs his hands together, a mischievous grin on his face. "Hell yeah. We got it all mapped out. See," and he points to one scribbled sentence Akira cannot read. "First, we'll-"

"Before we begin," Yusuke interrupts. "We should clarify something first." He turns to Akira and asks, "Do you have a relationship with anyone in the British embassy with which you could realistically claim asylum?"

"No," Akira replies.

"Ah," Yusuke says, and turns to Ryuji. "Plan B, then."

"Oh my god," Ann whispers and buries her head in her hands.

Ryuji nods at Yusuke, and gestures towards the board. "I've got one word for you, Akira." He pauses dramatically, then says, "Submarines."

"Okay," Akira replies and raises his hand. "Yusuke, Ryuji, thank you very much. I appreciate you guys working on this. But it's not necessary."

Yusuke and Ryuji glance at one another. "It's not?" Ryuji asks. "For real?"

Akira shakes his head.

Yusuke's shoulders slump. "Oh, thank god."

Akira tells them about his meeting with Iwai. He tells them about his encounter with Kaoru.

"That's..." Haru begins before trailing off. No one else says anything for a time.

"Hold on," Ryuji tells them, smiling. "What about what Kaoru said? If we got Kaneshiro to admit to blackmailing Iwai, we could-"

Akira explains this to him as well. "Iwai blackmailing Sugimura had nothing to do with Kaneshiro."

"Right, but..." Ryuji takes a moment, frowns, and says, "Shit, you're right."

"What?" Ann asks.

"We can't pin this crime on Kaneshiro," Akira says. "When we get him to confess, he needs to confess to crimes he had a hand in."

"Wouldn't it make sense to have Kaneshiro take the fall for Iwai?" Yusuke asks. "It would rescue our ally, and we know Kaneshiro is a villain."

"Slippery slope, dude," Ryuji says.

Akira nods. Although, he thinks. Could we do that, even if we wanted to? A sudden sick feeling rose in Akira's stomach. Did changing a heart just mean that the target confessed to their sins? Or did stealing the Treasure open them up to more possibilities? He casts his mind back to try and recall what they specifically told previous Shadows before their confession. Ann had told Kamoshida to confess. Yusuke had demanded the same of Madarame. Haru had told Sugimura to leave her alone, but he'd died before they could see his reaction to the change of heart. Akira looks at Makoto and sees a frown on her face. He wonders if she's thinking along the same lines. He'd need to talk about this with Morgana later, but for now, Akira files the information away. They have a lot to discuss today, regardless.

"So, Iwai will really go to jail?" Haru asks.

"Unfortunately, yes," Akira says. "And that'll cause a problem later for Kaoru."

"How so?" Morgana asks. Haru translates for Makoto, almost without noticing.

Makoto clears her throat. "If Kaoru believes Kaneshiro forced Iwai to blackmail Sugimura, then when Kaneshiro confesses, Kaoru will wonder why he isn't confessing to that specific crime."

"Kaoru put in a request on the PhanSite. He won't forget, so we'll need some way of handling that fallout." Why bother doing anything? Joker whispers. The only thing the Phantom Thieves promise is to get criminals to confess their sins. If Kaoru isn't satisfied, what can he do? Complain? It's not like we have a Customer Service department. Go to his father and ask? Iwai wouldn't reveal our connection. It'd get him in even more trouble, and he doesn't think Kaoru can keep his mouth shut. I doubt the boy would go to Kaneshiro and ask him about it. They could keep quiet about the whole thing and let the world keep on spinning.

But that seems cruel to Akira. We could tell him the truth. Eventually, Akira thinks.

You'd trust that boy? His father asks.

"Look," Akira says, as the others continue their discussion. "The fallout with Kaoru is contingent on our changing Kaneshiro's heart in the first place. We still don't know what his Palace manifests as, so that's priority number one." He takes out his phone and checks his calendar. "Exams start in a week, and I don't think we want Kaneshiro hanging around any longer. So, let's get this wrapped up."

Ann nods. "Once we figure out what his Palace is, it shouldn't be too difficult to get in and out, not if it's all of Shibuya."

"That's correct," Yusuke puts in. "There will be plenty of access points, unlike Sugimura, so we need not worry too much about exfiltration."

"No more waking up underwater," Akira mutters. No one laughs. He turns to Ryuji. "You had an idea the other day, Ryuji. I think it might be time to act on it."

Ryuji blinks. "I did?"

Akira smiles. "The dictionary?"

"Oh yeah." Ryuji's eyes widen. "Oh yeah! Duh! We can use a dictionary to find the Palace!"

Morgana's jaw drops. "What? That's... that's not..."

"Cool?" Akira asks. He shrugs. "It's not. But it might be effective. Kaneshiro is getting worse by the day. I want to minimize my contact with him if I can. And who knows if Ali Baba will be able to get us any actionable intelligence regarding the Palace?"

Makoto crosses her arms. "The previous Palace keywords were rather simple, yes? 'Castle,' 'Factory,' 'Fortress?' Do you believe Kaneshiro's follows similarly?"

"Maybe," Akira says. "We'll divvy up the dictionary and start reading out words. We can do it right here; the app doesn't care where we match the keyword. There's no reason to do it in Shibuya until we're ready to enter."

"I like this idea," Yusuke puts in. "It's simple, but also very... not dangerous."

"Are we all on board with this?" Akira asks.

Morgana rolls his eyes. "Some thieves we are," he mutters, then says, "Yes, of course. If it keeps you away from that lunatic, I'm for it."

"Me too," Ann says. "Same reason as Mona."

Akira takes out his phone. "Let's start now."

The others agree.

It takes them three hours to find the keyword.

#

Sae sits in her office, reviewing a case file. Her eyes follow the words, but her mind drifts. This process is automatic to her. Sae knows she'll be able to recall the pertinent details in court tomorrow. She cannot help thinking of the meeting she held with Kagawa and Akechi the other day.

What was I thinking?

A vast conspiracy involving mental shutdowns, her father, and other 'explained' deaths? For years, she's satisfied her curiosity with a combination of following up on Wakaba Isshiki's orphaned daughter and discrete inquiries. She'd been careful. And then she'd just blurted everything out to a high school student and a cop past his prime. Had she been that desperate for help? Had she felt that alone that she needed to draw them into her orbit of crazy?

She shoves the folder away and shuts her eyes. "Dammit," she whispers. She thinks of the last argument she'd had with Makoto; about angry she'd gotten when Makoto hadn't immediately believed in this impossible scheme. Sae reaches up and rubs her temples. What the hell is going on with me?

If either Akechi or Kagawa went to her superiors, she could kiss her career goodbye. Would they? She didn't know. At the time, she didn't think they would, but now? She couldn't trust them. Not really.

Her phone rings. She snatches it up and snaps, "This is Niijima."

"Sae."

She straightens in her seat and glances at the clock on the wall. "Officer Kagawa. It's late."

"I know," he replies, and she can hear a faint hesitation in his voice. "And I'm sure you've got a busy day tomorrow, but I'm with someone I think you're going to want to talk to."

Something – and she can't say what – tells her this is important, and all thoughts of her court appointment vanish from her mind. "Who is it?"

"A man who's come forward with information about the kid in the Bay."

The kid in the Bay? Rin Sugimura?

"I see," Sae replies, even though she maybe doesn't.

"Yeah. You should come down to the station, Sae. He's got a fascinating story."

A/N:

The initial drafts of this chapter involved Iwai's confession to Kagawa, and try as I might, I could not make that exchange enjoyable. The problem was, we - as readers - already knew what Iwai was going to say, and since we already knew what Kagawa didn't know, his reaction to Iwai's story was obvious. I dressed it up in various ways, even trying to turn it clandestine once Kagawa realized Iwai's story tied into Sae's theory about mental shutdowns. Recall too, that Iwai wouldn't know Akihiko Niijima's partner was Hideotoshi Kagawa, nor that Kagawa is in league with Makoto's elder sister, and thus he doesn't realize the full implications of telling these people about Kaneshiro's links to the mental shutdowns. In the end, I figured it would be more interesting from Sae's perspective, and as I didn't want this chapter to be overlong, I decided to keep it short and sweet. Plus, we get a brief flash of humanity from her, as she processes the implications of her spilling her theory to Kagawa and Akechi. Although, I wonder if anyone caught the cognitive dissonance going on?

Something else cut from this chapter, the moral argument of using Kaneshiro's confession to free Iwai. When I first conceived this, I thought it was a good idea, but when it came time to write it, I realized none of the PTs would actually take the position of utilizing mental shutdowns to get criminals to confess to crimes they didn't commit. Akira toys with the idea here, via the mental interactions he has with Joker and his father, but I could not get Ann, or Ryuji, or Yusuke, or Haru, or Makoto, or even Morgana to take up the argument of, "Well, Kaneshiro is a piece of shit, so who cares if we bend his mind to our will?" There are still fragments left in the chapter, where I think they still fit, but I decided to drop this for now. Besides, it was about as compelling a conversation as a bunch of college kids in a philosophy class.

Akira hearing his father's voice in his head isn't new, but Joker as an almost distinct third personality, is. I've wanted to do this for a while, but I think it works here due to the shift Akira has gone through. He almost lost it all, and it was only by the actions of his friend, a friend he must now willingly sacrifice, that he gets to keep playing the game. While he may not be monologuing extensively in this chapter, I think the addition of a separate Joker voice - while he's in the real world - goes a long way to demonstrate just how affected Akira is. You'll notice too, some of the shit Joker and Akira's father say is pretty heartless, but there's the rub. It's not Joker saying these things, and it's not his father saying these things, it's Akira's mind walking him through these scenarios. He can separate the voices as much as he wants, but deep down, he realizes that it's Akira Kurusu thinking about leaving Kaoru in the dark.

The Kaoru and Takemi scenes were to be a single scene, but that was too difficult to pull off. Kaoru's feelings went one way, and Takemi's went another, and having Akira in the middle trying to navigate felt too much like another episode of 'Akira Torture Simulator 2020,' and I'm trying to limit those. So, we got Kaoru and Akira leaving Untouchable for what may be the last time, and we get an exhausted Takemi observing Akira.

I realize some people might be perplexed by my decision to have the PTs use a dictionary to find Kaneshiro's final keyword, but given the close call that got them Sugimura's final keyword, and the absolute clusterfuck that was the infiltration and exfiltration of the last Palace, I figured this would be a good alternative. Makoto isn't wrong. The Palace keywords, as a rule, aren't incredibly sophisticated. Kamoshida's was 'Castle,' not 'Shell keep,' or 'motte-and-bailey,' etc. Sugimura's 'Fortress,' wasn't 'that level from Ground Zeroes' (although it was the inspiration). In the game, Futaba's Palace was 'Tomb,' not 'Knockoff Egyptian Tomb,' or 'trap-laden pyramid.' You get the idea. It stands to reason that you don't need to be that specific with what the Palace manifests as, so long as you get the genus right. The reason they didn't do this in-game was that it's not exciting, or rather, it's more dramatic for them to guess the keyword while physically present at the Palace so that you can start dungeon crawling again. In reality, it makes more sense to guess keywords a safe distance from the Palace, so you don't accidentally get tossed into the Metaverse and find yourself in over your head, which has happened to Haru twice. Because if you could spend a few hours just listing words, rather than risking life and limb to figure out the final keyword based on your interactions with the target, wouldn't you do that instead? Especially when you've got a team of six and a cat to speed up the guessing process?

And yes, I did deliberately leave out the keyword. It's a surprise!
Thanks so much for reading! I appreciate it and I hope to talk to you all soon!