Author's Notes: Anyone else struggling with school work? I just finished my summer class and still need to register for what will HOPEFULLY be my graduating year at the local university. But covid has been throwing monkey wrenches into everything. Well, enjoy Chapter 3.

Chapter 3

Upon waking up, Akira could feel the weight of the world on him.

He REALLY didn't want to go to school today.

Those whispers, those looks. It reminded him so much of the early days of his charges.

It made him question his sense of justice.

After all, if this was his justice for saving someone, what awaited him if he kept his nose clean?

Contemplation aside, realizing what time it was, he got himself ready to meet the day, even if he didn't want to.

Upon getting downstairs he noted that there was a single man sitting in one of the booths drinking some coffee whilst Sojiro stood behind his bar and was reading a newspaper.

Said man was wearing some kind of sash that had some writing on it. Probably some sort of politician trying to make an impression.

"Sojiro-san, are you sure I couldn't talk you into being my advisor? You worked with a lot of these folks in your day, I could use some help in reading them."

"One, I told it's 'Boss', and two, no, I'm sorry but I'd rather not get involved in politics. Too messy. Besides, I'm getting up there in my years. I'm surprised to see you still campaigning, no offense."

"None taken old friend. And who might this be? A new charge of some sort?"

"Something like that. It's not my place to say much else on. Another cup?"

"No thanks Sojiro-san. The one was delicious, as was the curry, as always of course. I'll be on my way though. The both of you have a good day."

The man then pulled out his wallet and left a few bills on the table for his payment before walking out.

Noting that Akira was giving him a questioning look, Sojiro spoke, "He's an old friend from my days before I ran this place. That's all your getting from me kid. Now hurry up, your curry's in the fridge if you want to take it with you."

Akira merely quietly took the container he found in the fridge with his name on it (he'd have to find some way to thank Sojiro for this later), and went took off.

Upon exiting the door, he bumped into someone though.

"Oops, my apologies sir, I was just leaving and didn't see you approaching," Akira began, hoping to mitigate anything, till the other man responded.

"Oh no, don't worry about it, I'm just trying to find my way around here is all. Do you recommend this place? I hear the coffee is delicious."

Akira didn't know what it was, but for some reason, he didn't feel threatened by the man. It was almost like he was something else. Something that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

The other man in question stood a bit taller than him, wearing a simple white button up and a dark grey/bordering black, jacket and a bowl like haircut with grey(?) hair. He seemed odd, but he was at least polite, so Akira replied.

"Oh absolutely, and I recommend the curry for that matter as well. If you'll excuse me sir, I really must be going," and with that he took off.

As soon as Akira was out of sight though, rather than entering the café, the man stood off to the side, pulled out his cell phone and made a call.

"Hey partner, how's Tokyo?"

"I think I just met an active Wild Card. Teddie's right's Yosuke. I don't know what, but something is REALLY wrong about it. Not to mention that I got a call from Mitsuru last night as well just as I was getting in and settling in at a local hotel. She and her group got some kind of massive reading from Tokyo. "

"Wow! Well, anything you can make out now? Need an extra set of hands?"

"I'm thinking I might want the whole team for this one. Something's…off."

"OOH! OOH! Is that Senpai!? Tell him me and Ai-senpai have a surprise for him when he gets home!"

The grey haired man had to stifle a rather sharp nosebleed at the images he conjured up from what he overheard.

"I'm not going to repeat that but I assume you heard. Anyways, Teddie found out the TV world is active again and went in to investigate, along with Kanji, Chie and Naoto. They'll have some news within the hour. I'll ask Yukiko to reach out and see if she can get us some accommodations in Tokyo."

"Good, see about getting some equipment together just in case, if something does happen, I don't want us to be unarmed."

"Will do…Hey, so your uncle doesn't want you to know, but given what's going on, I figured you'd like to know…Adachi was apparently let out from prison yesterday."

"WHAT!?"

At this point, the grey haired man stepped away from the café door and stood off to the side, against the walls of the neighboring buildings.

"Yeah, no reason apparently was given, but from what your uncle said, some guy in a suit went in, and came out with Adachi in tow."

"Any idea where they went?"

"Right here in fact, Narukami-san."

The grey-haired man stopped and looked to his side and saw standing there in alleyway was none other the subject of his current conversation.

"Yu? Yu? Was that who I think it was!?"

"I'll call you back Yosuke…", and with that, he hung up his call and placed his cell phone in his pocket.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the leader of a bunch of brats playing at detective. It seems 5 years later, you brats still stick your noses in places you shouldn't."

Said man stood there looking almost exactly as Yu remembered him from years ago, only a slightly greying tint to his hair giving away any indication of age. On instinct, he reached for his sword, but remembered he was not armed.

Adachi however, pulled his suit off to the side slightly and showed his holstered gun.

"Now Narukami-san, I come in peace…for now. You and I should talk though," all the while, that mocking grin of his never leaving his face, as though daring Yu to try something.

Yu merely glared at the man before finally responding, "Fine Adachi. Let's talk. But let's go somewhere a bit more…public," after all, he didn't want to give Adachi any opening to use his gun just in case.

"Lead on then Narukami-san."

And with that Yu decided to head towards a local park he remembered that was lively with activity.

En Route to Shujin Academy

Akira had learned unfortunately that he was not the only student who commuted to Shujin by the subway. He had the displeasure of hearing a lot of gossip about him in the tight quarters of the subway cars, so upon getting to his stop, he made sure to hold back as much as possible before exiting so as to let the other get ahead of him without having to hear them.

He was doing everything in his power to get to school on time while still being late, to avoid all the talk.

Navigating the city proved difficult on foot though as he found himself trying to use a few alleyways as shortcuts…or so he thought. Until he came upon a peculiar sight.

A male student he met the other day, Ryuji if remembered properly, being beaten by other students.

"Fucking asshole!"

"We could've at least competed if you hadn't tried to attack Kamoshida!"

"What do you have to say for yourself!? Huh?! Speak up!"

All the while, they were beating him with punches, kicks, and a few bashes using his own crutches.

"Leave him alone!"

And it seems that of all people coming to Ryuji's rescue was the blonde girl he met the other day, Ann if he remembered.

"Shit, beat it! It's Kamoshida's bitch!"

And with that the three of them attacking Ryuji ran off, but not before the one using his crutches, dumped them into a nearby dumpster.

Gulping out of nervousness, Akira decided to approach the two.

"C'mon Ryuji I'm just trying to help you."

"And I told you I don't need help Takamaki!"

"Ryuji, a bunch of your old track buddies just tried to beat the shit out of you!"

"And you're among the last people I want help from Takamaki!"

IT was clear to Akira that there was something going on between the two. History?

"Dammit Ryuji! What happened to your stubbornness! What happened to the Ryuji who wasn't afraid to call Kamoshida on his bullshit!"

"He died Takamaki! He died when that bastard decided to make an example of me and broke my OTHER leg as well! You know what my future is?! No? Neither do I…Track was the one thing I had and now…I'll be lucky to ever do a light jog again thanks to that bastard! What have you done to stop him!"

"HEY!"

He couldn't stand whatever it was going on between the two of them, but it had to stop, and damn Akira if he couldn't keep himself out of it after seeing all that.

"Both of you quit it! Ryuji, I'm sure Ann's in just as much pain as you are! How do you think she feels having lost a friend!"

"Oh, I bet she didn't tell you though!"

"Tell me what?"

"Tell him Takamaki, or would you rather I did?!"

"I'm not…I wasn't…I'm…"

"She's Kamoshida's main squeeze. I bet she and Kamoshida were…"

The slap from yesterday was nothing compared to Ann's punch this time.

"stop it…" it started as a whisper

"STOP IT!" louder, followed by another punch.

"STOP IT!" punch "STOP IT!" punch "STOP IT!" punch "STOP IT!" punch…

Before she could land another punch, Akira managed to stop her and held her back from Ryuji, who as now lying there with a seemingly broken nose, a blackening eye and swollen lip.

"YOU DON'T KNOW SHIT RYUJI! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT'S LIKE, KAMOSHIDA LORDING OVER EVERYONE LIKE HE'S KING OF THE CASTLE AND ANY WOMAN HE WANTS IS HIS! DO YOU KNOW HOW IT FEELS TO BE LEERED AT BY THAT BASTARD!"

"beginning navigation"

Somehow no one heard the sound coming from Akira's phone, nor did they notice the environment around them shift suddenly.

"Look you two, I don't know what's going on, but we should get going. You two can settle this later."

They both seemed nice on their own but seemed to bring out the worst in each other. And the last thing Akira needed was to be late for school just because of these two.

Akira reached into the dumpster and retrieved the now smelly pair of crutches and handed them to Ryuji.

It was clear that Ryuji didn't have much to say to Ann, but from the tears that seemed to be coming from his eyes, Akira suspected that maybe Ryuji knew more than Ann thought he did.

That train of thought though was interrupted once they came upon an odd sight.

"Uh guys, isn't Shujin supposed to be right here?"

Standing before the three was a large castle. Not only was the castle different, but the environment seemed off, almost tinted with a kind of red in the background.

Inaba, Junes

Yosuke hated being the messenger. It always brought about questions he'd rather not talk about to those who didn't know.

"What do you mean you all have to go to Tokyo and Yumi and I can't go!"

One such problem was explaining to two of Yu's girls that they wouldn't be joining them in this trip to Tokyo.

"Look, I'm sure he'd like you two to be there as well, but this trip is purely business. We're not even going to have time to do any relaxing while we're there."

Ai had been known as a bit spoiled back in high school, but now she was intimidating, being a model, she was stunning and often used that to her advantage, and sometimes it was scary.

Yumi, being an actress had a wide range of expressions to show her displeasure…but by far the scariest was her blank look that she was giving Yosuke right now.

"Look, if I tell you what's going on, will you two drop it?"

"Maybe," Yumi said in a calm even tone.

"Look, you all remember a few years ago when Nanako got kidnapped and the string of murders and other kidnappings were attributed to Adachi?"

A nod confirmed they were aware.

"Well Adachi got let out of prison and he showed up in Tokyo. All of us are heading over to do some intelligence gathering to see if he's any kind of threat."

"Why do you think he's a threat then? They got him once, just let the police do their job."

"That's the problem. When they took him to court, the only case they could get to stick was they he opened fire on us and that was only because they found his gun missing several bullets and couldn't find any casings. AS far as the courts are concerned, he was arrested for negligence on duty, not any of the actual charges brough against him. No one will believe how he did what he did, but we're the only one's who saw it and could prove it if needed. We want to make sure he doesn't try to pull this shit again."

Yumi and Ai just stood there silent. They knew that Yu was close to Nanako, and the incident several years ago drove Yu to the brink when she was kidnapped. To know that the one responsible for it all was walking free was admittedly unnerving.

"So why don't we come to help as well!?" Ai asked.

"Well….uh…"

"Because quite frankly, you two don't have much in the way of self-defense if needed."

And just like that, Naoto saves the day. Naoto came in, dressed in her usual all blue detective attire complete with hat, that would've otherwise given some people the impression she was a guy.

"What about Yukiko and Rise?! They don't have the kind of self defense training the rest of you do!"

Admittedly, Yosuke had a problem trying to explain that without mentioning the TV world.

"Yukiko is our business contact to get some lodgings there long-term as needed and Rise can use her idol influence to get us some admittedly, more risqué information if needed. Can either of you two provide some other much needed logistics, abilities or skills?" Again, Naoto saved the day.

Naoto hated it and so did Rise, but they found that some older men had a thing for idols and a night on the town and the right drinks and words, and information came spilling out. Only a handful of people knew that Rise was an informant for the police, and of those, every one of them had been vetted by Naoto, Rise and Yu, before allowing them to information she provided, or for her to take part in their operations.

Yumi and AI both looked ashamed of themselves, but Ai wasn't one to back down so easily "I still say this isn't fair! You, Chie, Rise, AND Yukiko are getting potentially whole months with Yu in Tokyo!"

"If it makes you feel any better, we all have some cover operations that will eat up a lot of time. Yosuke and Teddie will be helping a new Junes store during its grand opening period, Chie is doing her cop trial period with the Tokyo police, Kanji is tasked with being a bodyguard for a member of the Kirijo group in Tokyo, Yukiko will be helping other hotels in training their staff, I'll be working a few cases with the local police, Rise will be preparing a few shows and events, and Yu is doing his law apprenticeship with a local SIU attorney. Believe me, as much as we may want to spend time together, we all have covers so that we can spend time to investigate Adachi."

IT finally seemed like Ai had to back down.

however it did nothing to stop the waterworks that were coming from both her and Yumi.

"It-it-it just hurts, ok…It hurts that we can't be of the same kind of help that you guys are! It's not fair!"

Naoto blushed as she brought both Ai and Yumi in for a hug. She wasn't one for affection, but given their arrangement with Yu, she had learned to get along with the two of them, and also had to understand that there was still a bit of their lives that they had to keep secret from Yumi and Ai for hopefully their own safety.

"It isn't fair" she confirmed. "But Yu does know you care. And I'm sure he wishes you could join us…but the best thing you could do to help him, is to go about business usual till everything settles down."

Yumi and Ai both let go of the hug, all of them blushing a bit from the action.

"Look, Naoto and I have some logistics to discuss about this. If it turns out we could use your help, we'll call you."

A confirming nod from both of them settled Yosuke's nerves. It was never pleasant dealing with them whenever a potential 'Yu-threat' was on the horizon.

As Ai and Yumi both finally left the store, Naoto pulled Yosuke along towards the back of the store.

"We need you to calm Teddie down. Something happened in the TV world."

"What, is he crying again? I told you, just take him to the ice cream parlor and get him a few topsicles and he'll be fine."

"No, it's something else. We were getting close to some kind of disturbance when he suddenly went catatonic for a minute and they ran back here screaming."

They arrived in an aisle in the electronics area, where crunched up on the floor laid a young blonde boy that could've easily been mistaken for a girl, and was holding his head and muttering to himself, with a frightened look on his face. Next to him stood a girl in a green jacket with light brown hair in a bob-like cut, and looking out at the of the aisle, was a punk looking young man, with a black jacket, and bleached blonde hair.

"Kanji's watching in case anyone comes by, and Chie's been trying to coax Teddie out of whatever this is. Any ideas Yosuke?"

Admittedly, Yosuke had never seen Teddie like this. Sure he was a scaredy cat, and a bit ignorant at times, but this was something else. Something had shaken Teddie to his core, and given that he was originally a shadow, that was saying something.

"I have and idea. Chie, if you could just sit him upright at least?"

Chie nodded and with some effort, got Teddie to at least sit up, but he was still in a disturbed state.

Taking a deep breath, Yosuke reared back an open hand, and slapped Teddie across the face.

Whatever was disturbing Teddie must have been disrupted because at that moment, Teddie seemed to become aware of his surroundings and the slap from Yosuke.

"OWOWOWOW! Yosuke, what was that for!? I didn't eat any of the free samples this time!"

"You don't remember what just happened?"

"Huh? Uh, no. Weren't me, Chie, Naoto and Kanji about to investigate the TV World?"

"Teddie…It's been an hour since you guys left. Something happened in there. You really don't remember?"

Teddie just shook his head, seemingly mystified by what just happened.

This did not comfort Yosuke in any way…

Kurusu Residence

Ren Kurusu really regretted his choice of residence. Near the edge of town, away from most prying eyes, and no surveillance of any kind for nearly a kilometer.

When he invited in his guest, he never imagined this scenario.

"Well Kurusu-san, it seems your investigation comes to an end here. You really should just have let things be."

He was backed up against his basement wall were most of his investigation materials were pinned, and was stricken nervous by this kid no older than his own son of all people, who had pinned at gunpoint.

"It really is a shame. From what I heard you were one of the best investigators of your time. Shido-san could've used someone like you. Unfortunately, it's for that reason as well that I must put you down. I can't have someone blabbing this secret, now can I?"

Said young man stood tall, with gloved hands and his crisp beige suit, beguiling his otherwise wild nature it seemed.

Goro Akechi, son of Masoyoshi Shido, it seems would be Ren's executioner.

"Look, Akechi-san, we can act together against your father. You have no reason to support him. You should be trying to take him down!"

"Yes, you're right. However, I want him the feel the fall from the top. So, I do have needs for him to succeed in his pursuit of Prime Minister."

In the moment of slight monologuing, Ren reached for his own holstered gun.

*BANG*

Only for Akechi to beat him to the shot.

Ren suddenly couldn't register any feeling in his arms and the dissipation of feeling from his legs. He didn't even register when he hit the ground, blood beginning to pool from under him.

"Please…I just wanted to…Akira…son…"

Akechi looked down onto the dying man and let loose a few more rounds in the mans back, silencing him for good.

"Well Kurusu-san, you sure were thorough. Not many people would've unearthed all these secrets…Going to have really clean this up to make sure there's nothing coming back to bite me.

And with that, Akechi set off to collect his spent bullets and set up for the house to catch fire later in the day.

By the end of the day, the coroner's office would only be able to identify Ren Kurusu by his dental records and ruled his death an accident.

Author's notes: This chapter took a while, and I'm still not happy with it. But, just to keep the story going I'm putting it up. Hope you all are enjoying this.

Please review.