"So, I assume all of you know about the separation of powers? There are three branches in our government," Ushimaru said in front of the blackboard, scribbling notes in white chalk. Rem looked at Ushimaru, a bored expression on her face as he continued to drone on about the separation of powers between the government branches of Japan.

"The National Diet is legislative, the Cabinet is executive, and the Supreme Court is the judiciary," Ushimaru continued speaking, explaining the separation of powers. "This division of power provides checks and balances, which ensures no one branch becomes unstoppable."

"Have you made up your mind?" a familiar high-pitched voice asked causing Rem to recoil slightly as she found Morgana hiding in her desk next to her textbooks. "No matter how much thinking you do, there's only one option. You'd be better off just listening to me."

Rem stared at Morgana before lifting her hand and flicking him on the nose with a dainty finger-flick.

"Ow!"

"Don't talk," she hushed, she ignored his cry of pain that had been elicited from his flick.

"Hm?" Ushimaru cocked his head looking around with a suspicious look in his eyes, "Did I just hear a cat just now?"

Morgana meowed in discomfort as Rem shoved him back into the underside of her desk against her textbooks in an effort to hide him Ushimaru shrugged and continued on with the Social Studies lesson.

Rem felt as her phone buzzed in her pocket, the message bank showing that it was Ryuji texting her during the middle of class.

Rem: I'm in the middle of class. Could you please do this another time?

Ryuji: Who cares about that? More importantly, what's the plan with Kamoshida?

Ryuji: We just go along with what the cat says?

Ryuji: The damn furball…

"If only he knew I was reading this too…" Morgana muttered, his blue eyes scanning the phone screen before Rem tucked it away in her blazer pocket with a shake of her head.

Smash!

Bang!

"M-MROW?!"

Rem jumped at the loud noise that erupted behind her suddenly, Morgana yowling in surprise as well.

No one had noticed Morgana, too busy looking at Kurusu's now shattered desk, half of which was embedded into the wall or looking at the now open classroom door which from the force it had been shunted open had left cracks on the hallway windows adjacent to it.

"Was that Kurusu-san?"

"He just sprinted out of the classroom crazy fast!"

"Anyone see where he went?"

"What…" Ushimaru growled as he took in the sight of Kurusu's wall-embedded desk and the almost broken glass windows of the hallway interior, "…is the meaning of this! All of you back in your seats! Who last saw where Kurusu-san went?!"

His words went unheeded, however, as a student in the front corner stood up violently. "Hey… What's that…!?" he shouted, pointing outside the hallway window and outside the window opposite the hallway.

Rem watched as several more student stood up, craning their necks to look.

"Enough! This is a classroom!" Ushimaru yelled but continued to go on ignored.

"Wait… She's going to jump!"

Rem shot up from her seat the moment she'd heard those words. Several more students stood up in shock as well.

"Suzui…?" she heard Mishima mutter, her memory abruptly flashing to the black-haired girl that had told her to ignore the rumours about her. Ann's friend who the blonde had been worried for the previous day at the subway. She was so nice and now… she was going to jump? Commit suicide?

"Shiho…?" In front of her, Ann shot up as well.

The students began to mutter as Ushimaru tried to get the classroom under control.

"For real?!"

"Huh? No way! Is she going to commit suicide?"

"It's Suzui! Shiho Suzui!"

Ann ran out of the classroom, Rem hot on her heels as she tore herself from her desk to look outside of the hallway windows. Looking out the window Rem could see Shiho standing at the exterior of the safety wire fence on the rooftop, her body tense.

Abruptly she looked behind her, almost in shock but her foot stepped forward and all too suddenly she was falling.

Ann gasped in horror.

Students gaped and gasped as they watched Shiho fall.

Rem saw someone jump over the safety wire fence and manage to grasp Shiho's hand at the last second. The person grabbed Shiho, the black-haired volleyball member dangling from his grasp, the only thing stopping her from falling down to the courtyard below.

Holding the metal wire fence to support his balance and at the same time hold Shiho was Akira Kurusu, the transfer student who'd just moments ago burst out of the classroom like a bat out of hell. Rem could see Akira's mouth move while he shook his head, trying to bring her back to safety.

The wire fence bulged outwards beneath his hands, their combined weight causing the wire to warp and break beneath his grasp. Rem's breath caught in her throat as she watched as a patch of the wire fence tore free from beneath his grasp, the metal no longer able to sustain their weight and for a single moment, they were both free-falling.

Horrified screams rocked the hallways of Shujin Academy.

She watched as Akira grabbed Shiho mid-air, holding her close to him before angling the two of them so it would be him who hit the ground first.

The two hit the ground with a sickening thud.

"They fell!"

"Kurusu-san and Suzui-san! They both fell!"

"Are they okay?!"

"No… why? Shiho!" Ann looked at the two horrified before she ran down the stairs, barging past Rem with a shove.

Ryuji ran up to her, a shocked look on his face proving that he'd seen what'd just happened but was already getting ready to get a closer look at the situation. "We need to get goin' to the courtyard! C'mon!" he yelled over all of the commotions and made his way down the stairs, the two eventually through lots of pushing and shoving made their way into the courtyard through the practice building.

When the two arrived, they found the two on the ground, Shiho still in Akira's arms, a small divot of dirt surrounding the two from the force of their impact.

"Shiho!" Ann yelled as she rushed over to the two.

By some miracle, with a pained groan, Akira released his grasp on the girl allowing Ann to cradle her. Rem and Ryuji rushed to Akira's side as he tried to stagger his way to his feet but the injuries he'd sustained were evidently too much as he collapsed to his knees with weak ragged breaths.

Rem heard small cracks emanating from his knees, surprised her classmate hadn't even cried out in pain from his evidently broken kneecaps.

"Akira-senpai!" a voice cut through the crowd, a familiar head of red-hair passing everyone as the girl that had thanked Rem at the station rushed to Akira's side.

Akira gave the girl a weak brittle smile as she gently held him up-right against her chest, careful not to move him too much, his left side evidently injured by how he was cradling his ribs.

Student crowded around them, pulling out their phones and taking pictures of the two injured students. Someone must have called the ambulance because four men pushed through the crowd roughly, two stretchers between them. They placed the stretcher between the two injured students.

One of the paramedics noticed Akira, a look of shock and alarm overcoming his face for a moment as he stared. "Lay him down!" he shook his head before ordering loudly, his voice cutting through the chatter of the students. Both Akira and the red-haired girl looked at him surprised as he moved towards Akira, gently pushing him down by his shoulders and pulling up his shirt in front of everyone. Rem almost gagged as she saw his torso.

It wasn't the fact that his six-pack was on display. If anything, it was quite a nice sight. No, what made her gag was the horrendous looking injury on his torso, slightly visible was the fact he was missing a few ribs on his right side while his left side was covered in splotches of dark purple or outright bleeding skin from the impact he'd taken. Akira looked up at the paramedic a moment longer before recognition bloomed in his eyes.

"Hisegawa-san?" he asked in slight delirium, the paramedic gave a sigh of relief before pulling his shirt back down.

"You and saving women. I swear kid if this keeps up you'll be dead. If you'd landed on your left side you'd be drowning in your own blood," the paramedic joked morbidly, but the jest didn't reach his eyes as he got his colleague to help him place Akira on the stretcher.

Looking over at Shiho, Rem found her already on the stretcher and getting ready to be loaded up into the ambulance.

"What the hell's wrong with these people?!" Ryuji growled as he noticed other student continuing to take pictures and videos.

The paramedic that had been with Akira stood up and looked around. "We need someone to go with them… are there any teachers around?"

"I-I'm not in charge of thier class though…" a teacher stammered as eyes locked onto him, him being the nearest available teacher.

"W-We should leave this to principal Kobayakawa…" another teacher said hesitantly behind the first.

"S-Some teachers you are…" Akira coughed as he growled out before looking up at the paramedic, "Br-bring Sumire, I-I trust her more th-than the t-teachers..."

The red-haired girl gave Akira a hesitant look before looking at the paramedic and nodding.

"I'll go! I'll go with Shiho!" Ann yelled as she noticed that no other teacher would be willing and that another student would be going with them.

"Okay, we need to hurry and get them checked," the paramedic nodded.

Ann leaned down closer to Shiho. She was injured but if Akira hadn't been there Ann knew she would've been in an even worse condition. "Shiho… why?" Ann asked pleadingly, taking the black-haired girl's hand in her own.

"Ann…?" Shiho looked at Ann with unfocused eyes, almost as if she was looking with her hearing, trying to figure out where Ann was based on her voice rather than using her eyesight. "I'm sorry. I… I can't take this… anymore…" she whispered hoarsely.

"Shiho?" Ann asked hesitantly as she placed her ear next to Shiho's lips, to be able to hear her words, no matter how weak they were. Rem could hear even over the din of students the horrified gasp that tore its way from Ann's throat, and more importantly, the words that followed.

"…Kamoshida?!" she whispered shocked as she looked down at Shiho. It seemed it had been too much for the girl as she quickly passed out.

Ann and Shiho were quickly piled into the back of one van while Akira and red-haired honour student were piled into the other, the four paramedics splitting between the two. The two ambulances quickly drove out from Shujin Academy's courtyard exit, leaving a gaggle of horrified students and useless teachers standing at the scene of an attempted suicide.

"Kamoshida…?" Ryuji whispered proving it hadn't only been Rem that had heard Ann's shocked whispered.

"Return to your classrooms at once!"

"Ah… hah…" Both Ryuji and Rem noticed Mishima let out scared pants before he scrambled away from the courtyard in the direction of the practice building.

"He knows what happened," Rem stated before she ran after Mishima, Ryuji hot on her tail. Students parted for her making it easy to catch up to Mishima. Eventually, he ran out of luck as he ran to the end of one of the hallways, no rooms to enter.

Even though they were the same height Rem placed her forearm against Mishima's throat and pinned him to a nearby set of lockers.

"Ah, that hurts!" Mishima cried out in pain.

"Then talk dammit!" Ryuji growled. "Why'd you run like that? Huh!?"

Mishima looked away.

"I didn't run…"

Rem was quickly growing sick of this. She grabbed him by his sweater and slammed him against the lockers. "Shiho tried to kill herself, and Kurusu-san got injured saving her! Lie one more time…" she dared, looking him in the eye, forcing him to look back.

"L-Leave me alone…" Mishima whimpered.

"Just tell us, man," Ryuji said as he placed a hand on Rem's shoulder pulling her away, the way her fists clenched and unclenched indicating she wasn't emotionally sound at the moment. Mishima dropped to the ground with Rem no longer holding him up against the lockers.

Mishima looked up at the two of them in despair but, eventually, he relented and his head sagged. "I'll tell you everything…" he whispered hoarsely.

Ryuji leaned forward while Rem stepped back, reigning in her already fragile temper.

"She was called out by Mr. Kamoshida!" Mishima shouted as he sank to his knees, pulling at his hair in either frustration or fear.

"Wait, what?!" Ryuji recoiled.

"I've been called by him a number of times too… to the PE Faculty room," Mishima admitted looking at them. "He'd nominate someone when he was in a bad mood… and hit them."

"He physically assaults his students… it's all true..." Rem's lip curled in disgust.

Mishima nodded downcast, "But yesterday, he called Suzui out of the blue. She didn't make any mistakes or anything… he was really irritated, so it must've been…"

Mishima bit back a gulp, "…worse than usual…"

Ryuji's eyes narrowed, "He didn't… that son of a bitch!"

Rem's temper was close to its limit. The two looked at each other and nodded.

It was time to pay the real Kamoshida a visit.

Ting-a-ling

A silver brow rose as wine red eyes bore into the red eyes of Goro Akechi. "Do you need to take it?" Sae asked as the eighteen-year-old withdrew his phone from his uniform pocket, his eyes narrowing as he took in the phone number.

"…Yes, please give me a moment Nijiima-san," Akechi asked after a moment's pause. Sae waved him off allowing him to move off to the corner of the SIU's reception area.

"Hello, this is Goro Akechi speaking," Akechi said. Sae watched as he listened to whoever was one the other side of the connection, his brow rising in surprise.

"Doctor Hisegawa?"

One of Sae's brows rose slightly, surprised that she actually recognised the name. If she remembered correctly, Hisegawa was the last name of one Haruto Hisegawa, one of Shibuya Private Hospital's best surgeons and general practitioner. This, of course, begged the question; what did a doctor such as Hisegawa have in common with Goro Akechi?

She continued watching out of the corner of her eye, her attention partially focused on her laptop as she saw Akechi's face draw into one of consternation and frustration, a gloved hand pinching the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes and took a breath.

"Shujin Academy, you said?"

Sae's head snapped up, all pretence of eavesdropping fell to the wayside as she realised whatever Akechi and Doctor Hisegawa involved Shujin Academy, the same academy her own sister went to. She closed her laptop, her vision laser-focused on Akechi.

If Akechi was bothered, he didn't say anything, rather he continued his conversation. "I'll be there as soon as possible, forward the bill to our address," Akechi nodded. "I can be there within the hour. Is anyone with him at the moment?"

Sae watched as his face drew from consternation into one of surprise.

"Yoshizawa-san?... And two others. Thank you for letting me know Hisegawa-san."

He shut his phone with the tap of the smartscreen and returned to her seat. "My apologies Niijima-san but I'm afraid I'm required elsewhere at the moment," he said with a carefully genial but fragile smile.

Sae looked at him. "Shujin Academy?" she asked, a tone of apprehension hidden within her words which was soon appeased by the shake of Akechi's head.

"Shibuya Private Hospital. There was an incident at Shujin Academy at 9:43 this morning, with two students being injured. Attempted suicide and suicide prevention," Akechi said promptly.

Sae's brows shot into her hairline as she stood up abruptly. "Suicide?!" she almost yelled but remembered that she was in the reception area of her work, instead choosing to hiss it out.

"Indeed," Akechi nodded as he packed up his own files and laptop before sliding them into his briefcase with ease.

Sae looked at him curiously, "So why are you going to the hospital rather than Shujin?"

Akechi gave her a look. "Because someone I care about was one of the two injured. As it would turn out, he was the one to prevent the suicide. Or at least he attempted to, instead, he's now suffering from even more injuries."

She quirked her head at the way he said 'even more' but instead let it slide, a different question forming in her head. "I wasn't aware that you knew anyone that went to Shujin?" she called out just as he picked up his briefcase and began making his way out of the building.

Akechi paused in his step.

"I wasn't aware either."

He left.

Sae sat down for a moment.

Pullin gout her phone and scrolling through her contact list, she tapped on a certain one bringing the smartphone to her ear.

"Makoto? I heard there was an attempted suicide at Shujin today."

Akira found himself once more in the white sterile rooms of Shibuya Private Hospital, with Sumire at his side again. He was even wearing a hospital gown again. The only difference was the Shiho and Ann had taken up the spot that Kasumi and Shinichi would normally have taken.

Hell, he was even in room 5-A of the Intensive Care Unit just like he'd been a month ago. That did bring up a question of his own though as he looked around, noting the lack of a second head of red-hair.

"H-Hey, Sumire… did Kasumi get moved to a different room?" he asked the red-haired girl, breaking from her pensive reverie.

"U-Um yes," Sumire nodded, looking at him startled by the sudden question. "She was moved to the long-term wing since she still needs to go through therapy to recover. The ligaments in her knees have healed properly and she's quickly gaining motor functions… Doctor Hisegawa said that she'll be released in three months if she continues to progress like this…"

The door to the room opened, three heads looking over as the stethoscope and white coat-wearing form of Doctor Hisegawa entered, two clipboards in his hands. "Actually, with the way Yoshizawa-san is progressing, she should be able to re-join the gymnastics scene by the end of summer break, so about two and a half months, perhaps two months if I'm being generous," Hisegawa said, having caught the tail end of their discussion. He entered and closed the door behind him.

"However, that's not here or there. What I'm here to discuss is about Suzui-san and Kurusu-kun," Hisegawa looked at the three, Ann shooting up with worry in her puffy blue eyes

"Is Shiho going to be alright?!"

Hisegawa held up a hand placatingly as he moved between the two beds. Taking out one of the clipboards and placing the other to the side, he flipped through the papers. "Before I explain, as part of doctor-patient confidentiality I need to understand the relationship between you and Suzui-san."

"I'm her best friend," Ann answered quickly, her hands balling against her black-and-white varsity jacket.

Hisegawa nodded. "That'll do. We've of course contacted her parents but since they can't be here at the moment, I'll brief you on Suzi-san's injuries and then her parents once they arrive."

He turned to Akira.

"Are you okay with Yoshizawa-san being briefed on your injuries? Akechi-san has been notified and is on his way."

Akira noticeably winced, earning him a concerned look from both Doctor Hisegawa and Sumire.

"Ah… Yes, I'm fine with Sumire being briefed so long as it's okay with her?" he asked looking over at Sumire. She tittered uncertainly for a moment before she looked at him in the eyes a firm resolve blooming within her red orbs.

"…Very well," Hisegawa sighed. "We'll begin with Suzui-san."

He moved over to the lightbox, and with a flick of a switch, it hummed to life a bright light flickering life beneath its surface. Hisegawa took out two x-ray scans from the clipboard, one of Suzui's upper and lower body.

"As procedure in a case like this, we took a quick x-ray scan," Hisegawa explained to Ann as she looked at the x-ray scans.

"What we've found cannot be shared outside of this room. To protect the confidentiality of Suzui-san, only she has the right to share it. This involves everyone in this room. Is that understood?" he asked, looking at Ann, Akira, and Sumire. Everyone took some time to digest his words, eventually nodding in acceptance.

He sighed and pointed to the one showing her upper body, "For as much as this was an attempted suicide incident, the injuries she sustained from the attempt aren't grievously harmful. Aside from severe bruising, some muscle sprain in her neck due to whiplash and a mild concussion, she's otherwise fine."

A severe look covered his face as he pointed to the lower-body x-ray. "This… dear fucking god, I hate to say this, but this cannot leave this room. As much as I want to tell the authorities, only Suzui-san can be the one to tell them otherwise it would be a severe breach in legal and medical practice," Hisegawa seemed to sag as he looked specifically at Ann.

A look of worry formed on Ann's face at his words but she eventually nodded.

He pointed to the area above the thighs but below the spine, taking out his flashlight he shined it so that a specific area was highlighted.

The pelvic area.

It was covered with some discolouration and slight hairline fractures.

Ann and Sumire both gasped horrified.

Hisegawa grimaced.

Akira could feel Ishtar shake in bubbling fury.

"As you can see, the discolouration of this area is indicative of severe bruising. There are also several fractures to her pelvic bone," Hisegawa grimaced once more in disgust as he tried to digest the facts. "From how large the fractures are, they seem to have been there and expanded over a period of time. Judging by the width between the fractures, most likely sometime within the last twenty-four hours," he looked over at Akira pleadingly.

"When you landed… was it you or Suzui-san that impacted the ground first?"

Akira closed his eyes as he leaned back into the bed. "I did…" Akira whispered quietly but it was like a gunshot in the silent hospital room.

Hisegawa let out a quiet sigh of despair.

"Judging from these injuries and the fact she was trying to commit attempted suicide, Suzui-san was most likely… sexually assaulted within the last twenty-four hours. No further examinations will be made for Suzui-san until she regains consciousness from this ordeal," he said professionally, but everyone awake in the room could tell that he was having difficulties of his own with processing the situation.

He looked up at Ann. "As much as I want to do the right thing and notify the authorities, even without the fact that I'm unable to due to doctor-patient confidentiality, I cannot in good conscience do so when Suzui-san has already been through so much. If she tried to commit suicide due to this, there's no telling what she may try to do if the truth were to run wild and she was to be questioned by the police," he implored seriously to the blonde girl.

It took a while, with many conflicting emotions warring in Ann's eyes before she nodded. "I understand…" she said quietly before she sat down, her hands grasping one of Suzui's.

Hisegawa rubbed his forehead to stave off the growing headache before he turned to the lightbox and removed the x-rays and placed them back on the clipboard. Withdrawing the other one, he removed two x-ray scan and placed it on the lightbox.

Akira winced as he saw the discolouration on the left side of his torso, along with the hairline fractures spreading from most of his ribs and even spreading to his spine. On the other x-ray scan, it showed that his kneecaps contained fracture lines.

"You, Kurusu-kun, as much as I wish to commend you for your actions, have only served to exacerbate your previously healing injuries and add some new ones on top," Hisegawa turned his attention to both Akira and Sumire.

"Thankfully, somehow, the degree to which they've added is only minor. Well, for your upper body," Hisegawa shone his flashlight on the ribs and spine portion of the x-ray. Some of the ribs on your left side have re-cracked from where they had healed while only your fourth, eighth and ninth ribs have suffered hairline fractures. There's also the addition of severe bruising on the length of your spine, so you'll need to be careful lest some of your discs compress."

"On the other hand, your knees took a tremendous amount of the impact, both kneecaps having fractured," he turned off his pocket flashlight with a click as he looked at Akira.

"If it was up to me, I wouldn't let you leave that bed for the next year," Hisegawa's expression was slightly lighter than it had been before, but there was a slight look of aggravation as he looked down at Akira's prone bed-ridden form.

"I understand that helping people is a good thing, but not at the expense at your own health," Hisegawa lectured. "Yoshizawa-san and Suzui-san were both saved because of you, yes, but at the rate your injuries are accumulating, it's likely you'll become permanently injured in the future should you continue to do such things."

Akira looked at Hisegawa with a lopsided slight delirious smirk. "T-To be fair, Kasumi and Sumire was a complete accident. Suzui-san... I c-couldn't just see her standing on the rooftop ready to jump and not do anything," Akira argued with shuddering breathes.

Hisegawa pinched his nose and took in a deep intake of air.

"Kid… you're lucky that for all that you've been injured, you honestly won't need to stay in the hospital for more than a day or two," Hisegawa sighed for the umpteenth time in the last hour as he let go of his nose and looked at the Akira. "I'll be prescribing some painkillers and supply some compression bandages so your ribs won't move around, but you'll be able to leave come either tomorrow or the day after. Your legs will be strained but if you don't do anything physically demanding, your kneecaps should heal completely over a period of time, likely a month at most."

"Just… don't do anything too physically demanding for the next month or two and you'll be right as rain," Hisegawa rubbed the back of his head, taking the x-ray scan down, and depositing both clipboards onto a holder on the wall.

"Suzui-san's injuries should heal within the month, and the concussion will subside in the next few days. As her friend, however, would I be able to ask you to keep an eye on her?" He looked over at Ann. "Following… that… it wouldn't be out of thought for Suzui-san to be heavily traumatized. Don't push her to tell you anything but if she wishes to confide in you, would you lend an open ear?" he asked.

"Of course!" Ann said swiftly, wiping at her puffy eyes.

"I'm glad to hear that," Hisegawa smiled. "I'll need to file away an injury report for Suzui-san and Kurusu-kun, so for the meantime until either Suzui-san's parents or Akechi-kun arrives, I'll need both of you to stay here."

He looked at both Ann and Sumire, the former nodding and the latter nodding as well after being broken out of her contemplative silence. Hisegawa gave one more smile before leaving.

The room fell quiet in an oppressive silence, a sombre air hanging through the room like a weighted blanket.

Akira exhaled as he leaned into the firm hospital bed, feeling his ribs rattling in his chest as he did so. He felt Ishtar relax within the depths of his mind now that Shiho was safe, but knowing that her injuries could have been worse had his Persona not unified and forced him into action left a seething wroth to float within the Lovers Arcana.

Eventually, Ishtar withdrew back into the recesses of his mind but not before casting a simple Dia to stop his ribs from rattling with every intake and exhale of air he took and another to mend his kneecaps.

"Akira-senpai…?" he looked up to find Sumire looking down at him from his side. "Does… Does Suzui-san's injury mean that…. Mr. Kamoshida…" she said before trailing off uncomfortably. Akira couldn't blame her. To find out that a teacher had raped a student which had almost led to her committing suicide wasn't an easy thing to hear.

He hadn't realised that Ann had known the extent and reason behind Shiho's injuries. But then again, given how he didn't recall ever seeing Hisegawa in his previous reality, Ann might not have been told that Shiho was raped.

Akira didn't believe she had in his previous reality, otherwise, she wouldn't have been so lenient on letting Kamoshida's shadow live. He wasn't sure if she would this time around.

He shook his mind free of those thoughts for the moment and looked at Sumire seemed to be uncomfortable at the thought that a teacher had done something so horrific to a student. He extended a hand and grasped Sumire's comfortingly.

"If Kamoshida ever approaches you, I want you to get as far away as possible or stay in sight among the students. If he ever calls you out, call your father, me or Goro immediately, okay? Never stay alone in the same room as him," he said looking Sumire in the eyes. A large amount of tension leaked out of her body as she looked at him.

"When I'm back at school and he's trying to talk to you alone, come and find me."

"O-Okay…" she squeezed his hand. Her eyes widened as she realised what she'd done before quickly letting as if her hand had been burned, her face a scarlet red.

"Um… Kurusu-san?"

Akira and Sumire both looked up, Ann having moved to Akira's bed sometime during the conversation.

"I-I wanted to say thank you… for saving Shiho…" Ann looked at him sincerely before bowing at the waist. Akira was briefly reminded of Shinichi doing the same thing a month ago.

"I couldn't just watch as she tried to kill herself…" Akira responded shaking his head as Ann looked at him, "I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I did nothing."

He wasn't going to try and downplay what he'd done. Doing so would be disrespectful to both Shiho and Ann.

Ann gave him a watery broken smile.

COLD

Akira's breath hitched.

"Still… I don't know what I would've done if Shiho had…" Ann's hands balled into fists. "Kamoshida's going to pay…" she whispered hoarsely, her eyes clenched shut.

Akira and Sumire said nothing.

Knock Knock

Their head swivelled to the door. The doorknob opened slowly as a figure in a brown coat admitted himself into the intensive care room. Goro Akechi slowly closed the door behind him with a quiet click.

He looked at the four in the room, before his eyes settled on Akira.

"Hello."

After giving his introductions, Goro watched as Sumire Yoshizawa scurried out of the room with her duty of looking over Akira finished, not before of course Goro thanked her.

Goro looked over at the blonde-girl wearing the Shujin uniform. "Excuse me, miss, but would you mind giving me and Akira some privacy for the time being? I have some things I wish to discuss with him at the moment," he asked politely. Out of the corner of his eyesight, he noticed a carefully folded male Shujin uniform.

The blonde looked like she was going to say something. Then she looked at his chest. Goro followed her line of sight and realised in his haste to leave the SIU building he'd forgotten to remove his badge stating he was part of the police precinct.

He slowly plucked it from his lapel and stowed it away in his coat pocket, deliberately looking the blonde in the eye as he did so.

"Takamaki-san… Goro most likely wishes to discuss my injuries and my… choice of school," Akira looked up from his bed, placatingly explaining why she should leave the room.

The blonde, Takamaki, still looked hesitant. "I'll be waiting just outside the door," she eventually relented, giving Goro one last look before she vacated the room.

With that out of the way…

"So… when exactly were you going to tell me that you were attending school?" Goro asked as he settled into the seat by Akira's side, setting his briefcase upright on the floor.

Akira shrugged. "When you came back from the precinct and found me lazing about in my uniform," he said but they both knew that wouldn't be a sufficient enough answer.

Akira sighed. "Let's stop this dance alright? I used some of my contacts to get me into a school to kill some time while my ribs healed. The principal there is well-known for rolling over for money. Is that enough?" Akira looked at him as lazily as he could.

Goro watched as his eyes flicked over to the wall between his bed and the other patient in the room, a pair of clipboards sitting innocently. He breathed in deeply, and closed his eyes before counting to three.

One.

Two.

Three.

Goro stood up and walked over between their beds and picked up the clipboards from the wall and began reading the injuries between the two.

The girl, a Shiho Suzui, was suffering from a mild concussion, muscle strain due to whiplash, and severe bruising from an unmentioned incident, most likely the attempted suicide that Hisegawa mentioned.

Goro rose a brow in disgust as he continued reading; Hisegawa added notes that there was also severe bruising around her thighs and buttocks while her hips and the pelvic area suffered from hairline fractures.

'Sexual assault leading into attempted suicide then,' Goro mentally analysed Suzui's diagnosis.

Estimated recovery time: Two months.

Estimated hospital time: One month.

Goro switched over to Akira's.

Hairline fractures on the right-side of his ribs along with severe bruising and minor lacerations across the length of his back. The spine at risk of disc compression as the body healed. Minor opening of rib fractures for the left-side ribs. The fracturing of kneecaps.

Estimated recovery time: Normally one month, however, Kurusu-san has suffered similar injured previously.

Amended recovery time: Two months.

Estimated hospital time: One-to-two days. Compression wrap around ribs and no extenuating physical exercise.

Goro placed the clipboards the exact way he'd found them.

"So…." Akira started as Goro sat back down. "You have anything you want to say or yell at me?" he asked curiously.

Goro grunted despite the seriousness of the situation. "I'd ask Hisegawa-san to keep you bedridden till you're fully healed but we both know you're too stubborn for that, just… please stopping saving women. You're going to get yourself killed," Goro pleaded as his fingers pinched the bridge of his nose.

"It's not like I go around looking for women to save. They just happen to be extremely lucky," Akira snorted causing Goro to raise a brow.

"Or you're just really unlucky," Goro retorted without any heat, his mind going overdrive. "Are you okay?" he asked, concern leaking into his voice as he allowed the façade of the Detective Prince to drop.

Akira grinned, "Never been worse."

The two of them let out a bark of laughter.

"In all seriousness though, I've officially found out I'd rather jump off a three-story building rather than getting hit by a truck," Akira shook his head with a small deprecating grin tinged with the slightest amount of humour.

"I'd rather you'd not have been injured at all," Goro countered blandly.

"Aww, you do care!" Akira cooed despite the fact his ribs suggested he shouldn't have been able to. Then again, Goro knew his housemate was capable of, for some ungodly reason, withstanding a tremendous amount of pain.

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't," Goro shot back. The two sat in silence as the noon light shone through the room.

"Are you going to be looking into the suicide?" Akira eventually asked, his eyes settled on Suzui.

Goro didn't know. As a police detective, he couldn't legally do so until an official inquiry by Suzui was opened. Goro's mind whirled back to Akira mentioning the principal. If he remembered correctly, the Principal of Shujin was by some reason beyond him in Shido's pockets.

"What's the name of the Principal's name? The Principal of Shujin?" Goro asked, making it seem as if it was an innocently curious inquiry.

He couldn't do any official investigating, but he could do something else.

Akira gave him a long searching look.

"…Principal Kobayakawa."

"That will be enough," Goro nodded in thanks. After ensuring that Akira would be fine for the evening he vacated the room.

"Thank you for giving me some time alone with Akira. I've discussed everything necessary with him," he said to Takamaki and left before she could say a word.

The moment Goro arrived at home, following his return to the precinct and finishing his duties for the day, he set his briefcase down and pulled out his phone and looked at the time.

5:49

Good.

He had eleven minutes.

He opened his phone, scrolled to his contacts and called the one person he hated the most in the entirety of Japan.

"What do you want?" a voice asked roughly from the other side of the connection, Masayoshi Shido.

Goro took a deep breathe as Loki roiled beneath his skin. "Principal Kobayakawa of Shujin Academy. How important is he?"

"…Why do you care?"

Loki hissed and spat curses in the depth of his mind. "It's merely a personal matter," Goro said succinctly, struggling to control Loki for every second longer he talked to his bastard father.

Silence held the line for a minute.

"He's no one of importance in the grand scheme of things, but I can still find a use for him… as long as you don't kill him I don't care what happens to him."

The line disconnected.

Loki still roiled beneath his skin, but this time in joy. Robin Hood joined. Justice was going to be upheld.

Goro moved over to his desk and opened one of the drawers. Feeling around the bottom of the drawer he felt it drop slightly. With a careful gentleness, he pulled out the false bottom and withdrew a silenced pistol from its custom-made compartment. It was almost funny how that no matter how opposite his Persona were, they always agreed on any matter when it came to Akira.

"I think one of these days I'll have to give Kobayakawa a little visit."

Akechi allowed his façade as Shido's executioner to fall in place for a moment.

Loki and Robin Hood crowed.

With almost reverent care, he slid the pistol into his briefcase and snapped it shut with a click of its lock.