Disclaimer: I do not own Persona 5 or any of its characters, only any original ones depicted here.

Chapter title comes from "Hungry Like the Wolf" – Duran Duran.

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Despite returning home at nearly 3:00 last night, Makoto got out of bed at 6:00, showered and dressed by 6:20, finished her breakfast at 6:45 and made it onto the Shibuya line by 7:00. Now it was 7:40 and she was removing her jacket as she booted up her office computer. The Criminal Affairs department wasn't bustling just yet, many officers still on their way over or just now waking up. She didn't mind; this was the best time for her to get her work done.

The Director had given her permission to start gathering intel immediately after she accepted the task, telling her to use the database as a start but to then use whatever methods outside of that to find the Phantom Thieves. The inspector was uneasy to think of what methods he could have meant…

Shaking the worry out of her head, Makoto hung her jacket on the back of her chair before sitting down. She logged into the desktop and clicked on the SIU Database icon and waited for it to load. When it finished, she clicked onto the search bar and typed 'Phantom Thieves' before hitting the enter key. A long list of results popped up then, spanning at least ten pages (it looked like it continued into even more, judging by the dots next to the last number). Cracking her knuckles, she got as comfortable as possible before clicking onto the first entry, housing a synopsis of who the gang was and what crimes had been charged against them.

The Phantom Thieves were a group of unknown individuals who had been active for the last four years, known for breaking into various places and stealing all sorts of objects from all kinds of people. What was common was that they always left a calling card behind. They always had the same design, red and black spirals in the background with their logo on one side and a message in white, blocky font for whoever their victim was. The cards would often address the target directly and demand for them to confess of their crimes or wrongdoings in exchange for the return of their possessions. Eventually, the victim would crack and turn themselves in to police or make a public statement; however, the gang would never return the stolen items. The SIU assumed they kept the goods for themselves, never seeing any records of the missing items being sold off anywhere, even in the black market.

One of the first suggestions was to obtain some sort of DNA from the cards but it was futile; it seemed like whoever made or handled the cards wore gloves to prevent detection. Because of this, the police could not figure out just how many individuals made up this group; it could have been anywhere from three to ten to thirty people.

Something that had always piqued Makoto's interest was that they had not been responsible for any deaths or injuries of their victims. Their aim never seemed to be to kill, only to expose the targets. At the most, some injuries were reported from security guards who tried to fend off the thieves. One would think being up close and personal would help but even they couldn't positively ID the criminals, often saying that they all wore masks to conceal themselves. A few officers had gotten specific descriptions of these masks and tried to track them down from various stores, in and out of the country, but to no avail.

It bugged the hell out of her how such a group would go as far as theft but never had any blood on their hands after all this time. It was almost as if they truly did not want to kill, only to make the victims acknowledge what they've done. To the inspector's dismay, the Phantom Thieves weren't viewed as negatively by the public like the police department did. Many citizens saw the gang as decent people who seemed to be confronting those who had too much power and abused others; something they believed that the police should be doing more often. She didn't blame the public for feeling this way but at the end of day, they were nothing but vigilantes. Crimes should be handled by the proper authorities, not by some thugs with an ego. They had no business getting involved in something that the SIU had under control.

'You say that but it took you seven months to get a search warrant on Kaneshiro while it took them three weeks to get him to squeal.'

Scowling at the haughty voice in her head, Makoto huffed to herself and continued reading the files. She hated the Phantom Thieves but her future rested on getting this case solved…she would barrel on but with major reluctance. They had been making fools of the department for years and she wasn't having it anymore; it was personal now.

After scrolling, reading and jotting down notes for four hours, the brunette felt her eyes stinging and forced herself to take a break. Scooting her chair back, she stood and stretched before grabbing her wallet from her purse, leaving her office to go to the lounge area. Along the way, she peeked at Mishima's computer to make sure he wasn't attempting to access classified information for an old case he worked on; the scolding he had gotten from her the last time was brutal and she didn't want to put the kid through that again. Makoto reached the lounge area and went to the vending machine, studying the options to see what kind of snack she wanted to go with her coffee. She had been deciding on a melon pan until a voice piped up from behind her.

"Ah, Nijima-san! I'm surprised to see you out of your office!"

Cringing at who was addressing her, she quickly schooled her face into a cordial expression before turning around to see Goro Akechi standing there, a smile on his pretty face. "Hello Akechi-san."

"You're actually taking a break? What a miracle!"

A sardonic smile formed on her lips. "Yes, well, I'm not a robot, I do need to eat every once in a while."

Akechi's head tilted, his grin widening. "Well, you could have fooled me. I always see you working more than resting, you know."

"Well, we can't all be natural prodigies like you, Akechi-san."

If he heard the mild envy in her tone, he ignored it. "Hmm…either way, it's always important to step away for a minute and get a breather, even for hard workers like you."

"Indeed." Makoto wondered whether he intentionally meant to sound condescending when saying things like that. Not wanting to seem entirely dismissive of the detective, she nodded at the plastic bag in his hand. "Pancakes again?"

The man's cheeks reddened at her observation, his free hand coming up to scratch the back of his neck. "Haha, of course…I know I should get something different for brunch but every time I go into Saint Royale, the smell gets to me. I always tell the workers to make sure I try something new but apparently I can be very stubborn when it comes to pancakes."

Makoto shrugged. "If it works for you, why not stick with it?"

Akechi's eyes widened in approval as he nodded. "Exactly! Nice to know that you see my point of view, Nijima-san."

Barely holding back the roll of her eyes, she nodded back. "Mhm. I should leave you to your food. Have a nice day, Akechi-san."

"Same to you, Nijima-san."

With those words, the prodigal detective went to go sit down and enjoy his pancakes while Makoto decided to go for the melon pan. She grabbed her snack and poured herself a cup of coffee before heading back to her office, setting her food down. Sitting down and opening the wrapper, the woman munched on her pastry while grumbling to herself about her encounter with Akechi.

To say she wasn't fond of the guy was an understatement. The only good thing she could say about him was that they both despised the Phantom Thieves equally and wanted nothing more than to take them down.

He had been in the force for less time than she had and yet he was on the same level as her in regard to position. Many had flouted him as a prodigy, having entered the force while he was still in high school and resolving many cases that even the most seasoned investigators could not crack. Surprisingly, instead of taking the offer to gain a higher position immediately, he had chosen to step down and attend a regular college after graduation. Once he had graduated and took some personal time though, he reentered the force but started from the bottom once more. Within three years, he had obtained the position of Chief Detective.

He resided in the Detective Division of the SIU but their cases often crossed over with the Criminal Affairs department, meaning she had to work with him often. She couldn't deny the man's talent and charisma but something about him always rubbed her the wrong way. His smiles and compliments seemed disingenuous to her, especially like the one just now in the lounge area. They always had a backhanded feel to them, almost as if he knew he was better than the majority of the workers in this building. It felt like the Detective Prince was a front to who he really was, a mask he wore to get everyone's guard down and gain their affections.

A shiver went down her spine at wondering why he would even go so far to do such a thing.

'Makoto, you're letting him live in your head rent-free, get it together. You've got a case to solve, no time to stew in your envy.'

Nodding to her inner voice, Makoto quickly finished her food and coffee before cleaning off her hands, getting back to reading more about the loathsome group.

~•~•~•~

By the time she left the office, Makoto's shoulders felt like they were carrying cement blocks. Her eyes were dry and sensitive, squinting when she stepped outside despite the setting sun. It was a quarter past 5 and the streets were packed with bodies and vehicles, most people ready to go home after a long day of school or work. In these instances, the woman would not be one of them but ever since the time she passed out from exhaustion during one of her and Eiko's outings, her friend made her swear to ease up a bit on the long hours. Her mind had screamed at her to ignore the plea but the tear-stained cheeks of the upset woman made her mouth form words that brought a relieved smile to her face.

It wouldn't do well to work herself into an early grave but there was just so much that had to be done.

She had read all thirteen pages related to the Phantom Thieves' excursions, ranging from their first heist involving a politician embezzling campaign donations for private hot spring trips to their most recent one, an actress who was outed as being abusive towards her help, disadvantaged foreign women who had no choice but to work for her in order to make a living. She read multiple sections more than once. She read between the lines. She even got desperate and went onto anonymous gossip sites but nothing stood out to her. No hint of where the thieves could be hiding.

A curse had escaped her during a moment of peak frustration just as Mishima poked his head in to check on her. She had to quickly placate the rookie and assure him that he didn't need to worry, she had just accidentally deleted a document she was typing. Thankfully, he took the excuse and left (but not without offering to bring her back some more coffee).

One of the important details the Director had mentioned to her was that this was strictly a solo task; Makoto couldn't breathe a word of this to anyone else on the force. The amount of trust and freedom he was giving her was flattering but also terrifying. If this went right, she would get all the glory and her desired position would be close. If this went wrong, she could end up fired, publicly shamed or even dead.

She did not want to entertain any of those setbacks, especially that last one.

Walking among the crowds, Makoto eventually reached Central Street. Looking at her watch, she realized that she still had time to kill until her train arrived. Pursing her lips, she looked around in curiosity before her ruby eyes landed on the Scarlet video rental shop. They turned up as she headed towards the entrance. It had been ages since she curled up with a good movie at home, today felt like an appropriate day.

Stepping in the shop, she returned the shopkeeper's greeting before making a beeline for the martial arts section. Once she reached, the hardest part came; deciding which movie to watch. The inspector had seen a majority of these already but was she in the mood to go for a new one or stick with a known favorite?

As she was debating, a taller figure scooted past her to head towards the front of the shop. His bright blond hair caught her eye and despite herself, she couldn't help but follow him out of the corner of her eye. The man walked with a bit of a limp and slouched, giving off a lackadaisical air. His attire was also rather colorful, a violet hoodie on his torso and battered red hi-tops on his feet. He definitely didn't care about standing out.

Makoto looked away from him and focused on her movie selection, deciding on the classic Master of the Flying Guillotine and a new one called Triple Threat. She picked up the DVDs and headed to the checkout counter when she saw the blond man conversing with the shopkeeper, his leg bouncing impatiently as he nervously bit his lip. The owner typed on the computer next to him and scrolled with the mouse for a few seconds before sighing and shaking his head.

"Sorry son, it looks like I don't have that movie in stock at the moment."

The blond's leg bounced faster in response as he spoke. "F-For real? Well, when are you gonna get it back?"

More typing. "Hmm, looks like it was rented out last night so it could be anywhere from tonight to next Wednesday."

"Oh man, she's gonna kill me for not doin' this sooner! Thanks pops, 'ppreciate it."

The shopkeeper nodded and motioned Makoto to step forward as soon as the other stepped away from the counter. While she made small talk with the older man, she heard the blond talking to someone, presumably on the phone.

"Hey there. So, uh, bit of a problem…they don't have that movie you were lookin' for." A pause. "Huh? Oh, well, I didn't start lookin' until today-" The sound of yelling could be heard from the phone. "Calm down, damn! It's not the end of the world, why the hell did you need to see it right away anyways?!" More yelling. "We have so many movies to watch for-" Another pause. "Wh- Look, I know, I know, I'm an idiot for puttin' it off but I swear I'll check every day startin' tomorrow! The guy said it could come back on Wednesday the latest." Pause. "Jesus Christ, woman…look, if I get you that Swiss roll cake you always whine about, will you promise not to bite my head off?" A long pause and then a sigh of relief. "Alright, fine, deal. I'll be back to the hideout in a bit. Love ya." A string of grumbles and expletives left him, complaining about how she was going to drive him nuts one of these days.

Makoto didn't mean to eavesdrop (the guy had a pretty loud voice, it was hard not to) but she was ready to go about her business until she had heard the word hideout. Maybe it was her frazzled nerves and her frenzy for a lead but something about that exchange seemed suspicious. But she could be overthinking things; it could have been an inside joke between friends…if they were under the age of eighteen. What normal person would use the word hideout so casually?

As her thoughts raced, she peeked at the stranger out of the corner of her eye once more and noticed him leaving the shop.

'I really should just mind my business…'

But the impulsiveness that reared its ugly head once in a blue moon forced her to trail the man after purchasing her DVDs. A large part of her brain was shrieking at her for doing something so reckless but dammit, she was desperate for something. If things happened to go south, at least she had some protection on her and her fists as backup.

The inspector said goodbye to the shopkeeper before shoving the DVDs into her purse, quickly walking back out to Central Street. She looked around the crowded area to track down her target, thinking she lost him until she spotted his purple hoodie. Her head whipped around to see him going into Untouchable, making Makoto's eyebrows knit.

It was a model gun shop run by a surly man, Munehisa Iwai. She had a few run-ins with him over the years due to his past as a Yakuza member and the legality of his business. There was nothing wrong with selling model guns but there were multiple rumors that he had sold actual weapons and allowed illegal items to be pawned off in his store secretly. She had fought for a search warrant multiple times to catch him in the act but the Director always rejected her requests, telling her it was a waste of time and resources. Suffice to say, Iwai was not someone who she should be showing her face to right now.

Makoto decided to hang back until the blond exited the shop and leaned against the Scarlet building, pulling her phone out and pretending to text someone while keeping an eye out. Her false front kept on for about ten minutes until the blond walked out, a paper bag now in his hand. Frowning, she wondered what was in there until he began walking quickly to the stairs to head underground. Pocketing her phone, she followed him, keeping at least six feet between them to stay inconspicuous. She fumbled out her keycard and scanned it before seeing where he was heading to now. Instead of going to any other shops, the man walked deep into the station before turning sharply and running down another set of stairs. Not expecting the sudden speed, Makoto picked up her pace and headed down said steps in time to see a train approaching. She swiftly headed to the farthest door to enter the same car as her target, praying that he wouldn't notice her. The doors opened, allowing everyone in. Makoto didn't bother with taking a seat, wanting to be alert when the man exited. The brunette stuck herself in the corner, taking care to keep her gaze forward in case he looked over this way; this was not an ideal place to get caught.

Gently swaying with the car, she relaxed against the wall and ignored the two schoolgirls chatting endlessly next to her for the sake of her sanity. After twenty minutes and three stops, the blond man got up from his seat and held onto one of the overhead handles. Makoto straightened up immediately, just in time for the speaker to blare in her ear.

"Yongen-Jaya. This is Yongen-Jaya."

As soon as the train stopped and the doors opened, the man zipped out with the crowd. Makoto trailed close behind him and followed him up the escalators until they reached the top. She practically sprinted to the side to make sure he didn't spot her; a sigh of relief came out when he turned the opposite direction and began walking away. Waiting for the six feet to come up, she continued her pursuit, feeling a little more on edge now.

She hadn't been to this neighborhood in years and it was relatively safe but who knew where this guy was going to be leading her to. She had to really watch her steps now if she wanted to make it home unscathed.

The sun had set further by now, peeking over the horizon and painting the clouds a burnt orange which stood out against the ombre sky, navy on one side while the other was a yellowish-hued baby blue. Makoto didn't really like traveling in the dark but she could use it to her advantage, staying in the shadows of buildings and shop signs to avoid detection. Her target continued walking further and further until the tight streets and huddled buildings spread out, allowing more space for pedestrians…if there were even as many as before. The woman frowned at this observation, wondering if there was a reason there weren't a large amount of people in this specific area of Yongen-Jaya. She couldn't recall anything from previous cases or office gossip though; best to keep her guard up, just in case.

Finally, the blond stopped in front of a narrow, dilapidated building of medium height that looked like it used to be a warehouse. Makoto quickly tucked herself behind the corner of the noodle shop nearby and watched with bated breath as the man looked around before knocking on the door. In a minute, it opened slowly and just enough for him to squeeze in before quickly shutting.

'Hmm…the way he entered…it looked like he knocked a specific way plus there was a delay in answering the door…'

The brunette couldn't help the little smirk on her face.

'Makoto, your hunch just may have been accurate.'

Feeling a tingle of excitement at her progress, she scrambled her brain for just how she was going to get inside the warehouse. The front door was an obvious no-go and the only two windows on the front were guarded with iron bars. Makoto scanned the area, wondering if there was an unconventional way to get in; the last thing she wanted to do was go home after being so close.

Biting her lip, the inspector looked the building up and down from her perspective; alas, she couldn't find anything. Not ready to give up, she walked over to the opposite side and was pleased to find that there was an alleyway between it and the pharmacy next door. Walking down that way, she kept her gaze high to see if there was anything she could climb or jimmy open. A pleased sound escaped her lips when she saw a fire escape halfway down, sitting next to a few windows that were free of bars. The only problem was that it wasn't fully extended.

Humming to herself, Makoto could tell that her height wouldn't be enough for her to jump up and grab onto the ladder. Looking around, she searched for something sturdy to stand on. A metal garbage can sat next to the pharmacy's side door entrance, setting off a lightbulb in her head. She ran over to it and gently shook it, happy that it was currently empty. Dragging it over, she removed the lid and turned the can over before starting to climb on it. It wobbled a bit, not used to holding a human's weight but it stayed still enough for her to jump up and cling onto the rung. She used her upper body strength to head up the ladder until she was able to stand on the fire escape, wiping the bit of sweat that formed under her bangs. Eyeing the windows, she contemplated on which one she should enter; the first one was the least effort but there was a high chance the man or whoever let him in could be on this floor but the third one was higher up and there was a chance she could get stuck on that floor.

After mulling it over for a bit, Makoto decided to play it in the middle and use the second window as her entrance. Heading up one more flight of stairs, she reached it and studied it to figure out how to open it. She pressed her fingers on it and pushed it upwards, finding that it moved a millimeter.

'It's locked but it's not a strong one.'

Realizing that she'd need something to jimmy it open, Makoto groaned when she realized she had nothing nearby to do so; who the hell would leave a crowbar on a fire escape? That's when an idea came to her.

Rummaging in her purse, she pulled out the switchblade Eiko had gotten her for her twenty-second birthday (according to her friend, the look on her face when she unwrapped the bright pink and yellow paper to find the weapon was priceless). Flicking it open, the brunette wedged the blade into the crack as far as she could before beginning to wiggle it. The window resisted the motions, causing Makoto to grumble as she put more force into it. Still, it wouldn't give. Getting frustrated now, she put as much strength as she could and continued until she heard a 'crack' sound.

A sound of triumph escaped her mouth but was soon followed by a gasp when she realized the window wasn't the only thing to break.

'Son of a-'

Pulling the handle out, her jaw dropped when she saw the blade still stuck in the crack, broken clean off.

'You've got to be kidding me! Eiko is going to kill me!'

As awful as she felt that she broke her good friend's gift, this wasn't the time to think of how she was going to placate the dark-haired woman when she found about this mishap. Sighing with frustration, Makoto carefully slipped the blade out and tucked it in a side pocket in her purse, along with the handle. Slowly, she put her fingertips into the small gap of the window and inched it up until she had enough room to get in. Putting her right leg in, Makoto sat on the windowsill and ducked her head in, surveying the room first. Thankfully, no one was in here but a couple of lights had been left on, illuminating a few spots.

The room had a long metal table in the middle, strewn with papers and surrounded by a few folding chairs (five, to be exact) and a whiteboard with various drawings and words was on the wall adjacent to it. But something else soon caught her eye, causing her heart to skip a beat.

On the longer wall, straight across from where she was, was a large black banner with the Phantom Thieves' logo in the middle of it.

This was it.

This really was the hideout.

Makoto was in massive shock but soon enough, a giddiness overtook it when she realized what this meant for her. This godforsaken case could be solved. Her dream of becoming Police Commissioner was seeming like a reality now.

Despite no one being around, the woman composed herself, her face serious as stone. Bringing the rest of her body in, she stood for a few seconds to look and make sure there were no trip wires or traps on the ground. Satisfied with her inspection, Makoto walked further into the room to study the surroundings. The walls were a dark green, riddled with holes and scratch marks, while the floorboards were made of a dark wood. Now that she was closer to the table, she could see among those papers were manila folders, Polaroids, pens and pencils and a couple of ink splotches stained the metal surface. To her delight, there was a stack of calling cards on one of the corners, looking exactly like the ones the victims had received.

The woman picked one up and examined it, seeing that while the logo was on one side, the opposite had no text yet.

'So they have templates…that explains why they all look so identical.'

Putting it back down, she walked over to the whiteboard now, brows furrowing as she tried to make sense of the scribble. The name 'Higuchi Hitoshi' was written in bold letters on the top and a map printout was taped up on the left while a list was written to its right.

'Skull…Joker…Panther…are these code names?'

Keeping that as a mental note, Makoto continued looking over the board, eventually understanding what was going on. The gang's next target seemed to be this Hitoshi man and the map was of his house, marked up with areas to enter and where security cameras were located. The list consisted of items that needed to be stolen and who was designated to each one. There were four names total but this befuddled the inspector a bit. There were five chairs at this table, why wasn't the fifth person accounted for? She knew the Phantom Thieves definitely didn't have guests over on a regular basis.

On the bottom, red marker had written a date in bold; October 2nd.

'October 2nd? Could this be a deadline for them?'

That was only nine days away from today, which meant the criminals could strike at any moment to perform their heist.

Narrowing her garnet eyes, Makoto was tempted to say screw it and take pictures of all the evidence and the plot before leaving and exposing their whereabouts to the rest of the force. But she reigned in her anger as she remembered just why she was put to this task; the bigger enemy was Black Mask and they needed the Phantom Thieves' assistance to stop this murderer. She wouldn't want to face her boss either if she flubbed up this mission; her ass would be out the door within seconds of stepping foot inside.

Before she could continue with her moral dilemma, two familiar-sounding clicks went off behind her head, causing her to freeze.

'Oh shit.'

A recognizable voice spoke with iciness. "Put your fuckin' hands up and turn around."

A feminine voice joined with just as much venom. "And don't try anything funny or we will shoot you."

Swallowing hard, Makoto carefully complied, raising her hands up near her head.

She could have put up a fight. She could have disarmed them with her fists and knocked them out before escaping. Her gun was in her purse and she was quick to pull it out during danger. But the brunette knew how to choose her battles and cancelled those options.

She really did not feel like getting shot today; it's hard to finish a case when you're bleeding out on a warehouse floor.

~•~•~•~

Hey there! I cannot tell you how shocked I am that I started the second chapter so quickly after the first one but I hope this keeps up! I'm super excited about writing this all out and I have so many ideas that keep popping up in my head that I have to jot down for the future u

A huge thanks to everyone who read this, bookmarked, commented, left kudos, all that good shit! I know they say you should write for yourself but it's nice to see that others enjoy your writing and want to see what happens next; I hope you're all loving this so far!

Also! I'm putting together a little playlist in Spotify as I go along since all the chapter titles are going to be song lyrics. If you guys are interested in a link, let me know!

We've got a little more action going on this time plus Makoto got caught…wonder how it's gonna go down next chapter .3.

Reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated!