(So, uh...hi.
I'm...I know I've said I'm really sorry about being late before I've posted like, every chapter, but now I am very, very sorry about being so late with this. Life got...rather busy, and this was a very difficult chapter to write for a number of reasons.
Regardless, here you are! Just under 5,000 words of plot advancement and inner monologue, because...well, I hope that's what you wanted.
I'll do my best to not take so long on the next one. I promise.
As a preemptive: More chat in this chapter, and I had to remove some links because doesn't like them. Find this story on AO3 for the full version with embedded images!
As always, feel free to follow me on Tumblr at aflirtingaccident or philwritesstuff. Also, send me messages or asks, if you like! I'm nice. I swear.)
Naoto-san,
Regarding your requests: matters concerning the politics and connections of the Kirijo Group are obviously confidential, and though we are friends, I am of course unable to comply with your request. I sincerely apologize, but rules are rules, and security matters are no joke.
Good luck with your investigation.
Yours,
Mitsuru Kirijo
P.S. While I understand what you asked for is time critical, I prefer physical correspondence whenever possible. I have taken the liberty to order a wax seal and some starting stationary to your current address. I will inform you when it ships - such things take time and care to properly fabricate and assemble.
P.P.S In addition, please come by the office next time you are in the area for tea. We must catch up.
If Goro Akechi had such a crude thing as a shit list, Naoto Shirogane would definitely be on it.
From the moment she had arrived in Tokyo, Akechi had kept an eye on her - she was, perhaps even moreso than the Phantom Thieves, the one person who could unravel his plans. She was clever, perceptive, and had well-earned the title of "Detective Prince". Her exploits were not quite the stuff of legend, but her reputation was, and so Goro made very sure to play the clever, amicable detective whenever she was around.
It was thus unfortunate that her mere presence angered him. She was the wunderkind from the boonies of Japan, a sob story ready to be told and retold and used as the opening act of some movie eventually made on her life. It was a perfect story of someone who had overcome all manner of hardships and setbacks to take the world by storm and serve as an example for the future youth. Even her nickname was a sign of royalty, a moniker she had adopted to bring her fame and fortune.
What made Goro sick was that she had done it first .
The story he told of his own past was much like hers, as much as he wished it wasn't. They had similar upbringings, similar sparks of genius, similar desires to ferret out the injustice of the world. It should have been his story, his origin, his underdog rise to fame and glory, but since he came after she did, all he was was the copycat. The new Detective Prince. The second coming.
In doing second, he had lost the novelty of originality, and with it, some of the attention and rewards he very well deserved. Nonsensically, she had chosen to reject all of the fame and fortune that came with it. All the benefits that came from her position and her reputation, and she threw them all out. The level of change that she could make if she just accepted a higher position, turned her reputation and personage into a media darling…
But she refused all of them. No interviews, except when informing the press of a case closure. No appearances, no talk shows, no radio programs, no nothing. No marketability.
And yet, the people adored her.
She was now no longer the newsmaker she once was, having settled comfortably into a university program and a consulting job for the police - at least, consulting until she could join them. She was, if you asked Goro, irrelevant. Her time had come and gone. The Inaba murders were done with, and she was supposed to fade from the spotlight for whoever came next.
Yet the moment the media got wind of Naoto Shirogane showing up to hunt the Phantom Thieves, she was the talk of the country once more. With it came an implied message, Goro felt - one that plainly stated he was not good enough.
She was the true detective prince, and she was here to do what he could not.
Thinking back, it made him more than sick. It made him furious. He was Goro Akechi, the brightest detective in the entire country. He had solved unsolvable cases, he had caught uncatchable killers. He had built his reputation from the ground up, with a little help from the criminals themselves. The Phantom Thieves were an opportunity, one he was not willing to let slip by - it was, undoubtedly, going to be his career-defining catch on his path for revenge against his scumbag of a father.
And then she came along, stealing all of his thunder. Not only did she take away the headlines shortly after his own arrival, but as the Thieves grew in popularity, her media silence worked in her favor. For all his posturing and pretty words, people didn't want to hear that he was against them, that they were still breaking the law and acting as vigilantes. As his own rep had fallen, hers had risen. The calls for appearances stopped coming...and he was fairly sure they were going to her instead, despite her refusal of them.
On one occasion, he thought about taking her out. One trip to the Metaverse, and that was all it would take. One shot, one dead Shadow, and she would be out of his way forever - and the Phantom Thieves would take the blame. Who else would want her dead, if not the very people she was hunting?
As the case progressed, and he saw her brilliance for himself, he decided against it. Truth be told, he still wasn't sure who the Thieves were. He had suspicions, of course, but no concrete suspects, and he wasn't one to jump the gun without solid evidence. In the long run, it was better to let her do all the hard work, dropping hints as needed, until she uncovered them. When that happened, it would be all too easy for him to swoop in, take care of her, and steal all the credit while lamenting that he sadly could not prevent their final kill.
So he bided his time. He watched as she puzzled through it, making impressive logical leaps. He fed her tidbits sometimes, disguising them as his own musings - or Sae's, on occasion. He withstood all the insults and jeers the public and media threw at him, knowing that it would all turn around someday. All he had to do was wait.
When he killed Okumura, his waiting was done, his fortune reverse. The Thieves were wanted criminals once more, and Akechi - who had quietly stood by his opinion the entire time - was back in the favored position. The calls came once more. His supporters returned in droves, trusting him to find them.
And yet, they still trusted her. Her perpetual silence had worked in her advantage - it was easy to forgive an opinion that nobody knew she had. As he noticed his stature rising once again, he figured it was time to begin the endgame.
He chose his words in the media carefully. He didn't want to act as though she was less capable - it would not do him well to badmouth a fellow Detective Prince, after all - but he did slide in a few words of a potential competition, a rivalry between them. Detective Prince vs Detective Prince, both racing the other to secure the Thieves and save Japan from their murderous rampage.
The media, as expected, ate it up.
Websites began having polls on who would win. Naoto, as planned, declined all media invitations, leaving only Akechi to take them and speak on them. He spoke of her with only glowing praise and respect, some of it genuine, for doing so only stoked the rivalry. It was friendly, he maintained, even if he never outright said they were competing. It was two detectives testing their skills, benefiting the other.
It was just the thing he needed to stay in the spotlight while the case developed.
When Naoto released her video calling out the Phantom Thieves, the media waited with bated breath. Would this act of sacrifice doom her to a confession of her misdeeds? Did she even have any misdeeds to confess? Akechi had never considered exposing her like that - not, at least, while she was still useful. He hadn't found anything to expose her over, after all, so why would he risk torpedoing her? The move Naoto took surprised him - he had sensed a small rebellious streak within her, but nothing so bold as her deciding to paint a target on her own back.
He, like everyone else, waited. While he waited, he thought. How could he handle this? What did he need to do to move forward? She was still too much of a wild card, unpredictable in her abilities. Sae was already under the Director's thumb, but Naoto remained free. He hoped it would only be a matter of time before she broke, but had to plan for otherwise.
Naoto Shirogane had to be handled, one way or another. The best way to do that was to find out what she knew. And the best way to do that was to propose an alliance between them, an exchange of information. When he had all he needed, he would strike, leaving the Thieves caught and Naoto braindead - or better, insane and untrustworthy.
The competition between the Detective Princes was about to get much more interesting.
Naoto's challenge to the Phantom Thieves did not go unnoticed.
This had the unfortunate side effect of publicly undermining their credibility, at least for a bit - they eventually released a statement on the PhanSite saying that while they appreciated the opportunity, Naoto had done no crime worthy of having her heart stolen, and so she was judged as innocent.
Had the general public known Naoto had instead joined the Phantom Thieves, the headlines would've been quite different. Naoto was thankful they were not. She never did like the attention, unless it was useful to her.
It was on Friday morning of that same week that Akechi approached her while she was enjoying some coffee and a bagel, reading a news article. With a slight, closed-lipped grin, he sat down across from her, setting his briefcase down beside him. "I see you're alive and well this morning, Shirogane-san. The Phantom Thieves were true to their word, then?"
She offered him a gentle smile in return, setting down her phone. "I have no real skeletons in my closet, Akechi-san. My gender is old news by this point, and I have nothing else to hide." Or, nothing that anyone can discover, at least.
"That's good news, then. I'd hate to have to investigate you." He delivered the line with a small chuckle, which Naoto appreciated, while figuring that he already had. She had, after all, done the same for him. "Though, I find it curious. You don't seem like the kind to throw yourself into the line of fire so easily."
Naoto's smile grew mysterious. "To be fair, Akechi-san, we're hardly close friends. I hesitate to call us more than acquaintances - not out of malice, just simple fact. Still, you've raised a valid point."
She sat up more in her chair, getting comfortable. "You're familiar with the Inaba murders?" He nodded. "During the course of that investigation, I discovered the pattern that the alleged killer was using, in the form of people who had recently appeared on television. Knowing that, I appeared on it myself, knowing that he would come for me. Waiting for him to strike wasn't an option, and after discovering this part of his methodology, I took it upon myself to force his hand.
"We know the Phantom Thieves methodology, to a point. We know their kinds of targets. I wanted to force them into the open, see if getting them to come after me would reveal things we don't already know. Unfortunately…"
"...they didn't take the bait," Akechi finished, nodding. "So we're back where we started. In that case, Shirogane-san, I have a suggestion. We've been working this case separately, but you and I both know that we're running short on time. Why not work together?"
Oh, finally. Naoto had been waiting for this kind of suggestion, even moreso since being enlightened on the Phantom Thieves' suspicion on Akechi. Overtly, he had done little, save be smug and superior about his own suspicions when Okumura had been killed, but they mentioned one incident above all else - a conversation where he seemed to hear Morgana speak.
'It's not all the proof we need, but we're pretty sure he knows more than he lets on,' Makoto said. 'If he's as smart as everyone thinks, he must be onto us in some way.'
It helped that Naoto had been getting a stronger vibe from Akechi ever since Okumura's murder. His ambition had been clear to her when they had first met, but Akechi had contained it, hidden it behind his smiles and self-deprecating jokes. Now, with his stance on the Thieves seemingly vindicated, he was more ambitious than ever, taking little care to hide his desire to bring the Thieves to justice.
It was the motivation for such ambition that made Naoto curious. Every detective wanted to be good, but few of them wanted to be famous. The best ones, Naoto found, were those who funneled their ambitions into a desire for change, a fuel for their natural sense of justice. They didn't want to be known so much as recognized for their reputation, which would help them to gain favors and access. Akechi, though, wanted to be famous. He wanted to be known, to be admired and praised.
He had an ego, and an ego was a dangerous thing for those who worked on the side of the law.
This team up was thus the perfect opportunity to get to the bottom of all of this. Either Akechi did know more than he let on, or his incident with the Thieves was some kind of strange coincidence. In any case, Naoto would get access to his case files, research, and hopefully, private thoughts on the matter. It was a win-win.
She smiled at him and nodded. "Of course, Akechi-san. Truth be told, I was starting to consider the idea myself, but I had thought you to simply be too busy with other cases and your personal life. How about we meet up after lunch and figure out what we both know?"
Akechi rose with a nod. "Sounds good. I look forward to seeing what you've discovered - with both of us after them, they won't be hidden for long." He picked up his briefcase, adjusted his tie, gave her a short nod in goodbye, then turned and strode away.
Naoto watched him leave, and the moment he rounded the corner, she picked up her phone and opened up her messaging app.
Naoto: ARE U FREE AFTER SCHOOL
Akira: yeah, we've got time before we head into mementos. why?
Naoto: NEED 2 SPEAK WITH U ABT AKECHI
Akira: whatever he said, i didn't do it.
Naoto: WHAT?
Akira: nm. yeah i'm free. meet at leblanc's after school's done for the day, we can talk before mementos.
Naoto: OK
Akira: also hey naoto
Akira: why do you text like that?
Naoto: LIKE WHAT
Akira: all caps, abbreviations
Naoto: EFFICIENCY AND CLARITY
Ryuji: shes gotta be fuckin with us
Yusuke: I am inclined to agree.
Makoto: I don't know, I can see her point. Capital letters are distinct. Everyone knows abbreviations by now.
Akira: i'm just gonna start not using vowels.
Futaba: 1'/\/\ 601|\|6 b4| 2 |-|4r|)0r3 1337
Haru: I'm so lost…
Ann: I'm blocking all of you. (¬_¬)
Ann: Except Haru and Makoto.
Makoto: 3
Haru: 33
Akira: wait ann did you get another girlfriend
Ann: That's not what I meant!
Haru: I mean...I wouldn't say no…
Ann: I'm not having this conversation right now! ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)
"What do you wanna know about Goro Akechi?"
Naoto was sitting on the couch up in Akira's room. Akira himself was seated on the bed, Morgana close by. They were both looking at Naoto, who was thinking about her answer, hand on her chin. She'd long-since shucked her jacket and loosened her tie, the work day over.
"He approached me offering to pool our resources so we can catch the Phantom Thieves together. I find his timing not unusual, given what just happened, but I wonder if there's an ulterior motive. Something just bothers me about him, and I want to know what you think of him before I get too deep into it."
Akira sighed, slouching more. Morgana looked at Naoto, tail swishing. "We know he knows something," the not-cat said. "We just don't know what. It's possible he's using you to get to us, even if he doesn't know you're part of the team - you said yourself that you've been suspecting us for months. No way he hasn't done the same."
"But why wait?" Naoto fired the question back at Morgana. "If he knows, or even suspects, why does he wait? What does he have to gain by doing so? Catching you would be the biggest case of his career. It would get him any position in the country. The police will go along with whatever he says, eager as they are to have someone behind bars."
"I don't think it's just the fame he wants," Akira said quietly. "I think there's something more. It almost feels like he's trying to prove something, the way he used to talk about finding us on TV. Is that just a strong sense of justice?"
She tilted her head from side to side, making a 'sort of' gesture. "I felt the same way as he did about you. Any good detective has that desire to see wrongdoers punished for their crimes. Still, you might be right. There must be something more. Makoto said before that you all suspect him of knowing more than he lets on, correct? What prompted that?"
So Akira told her the full details of their first meeting at the TV station, of him seemingly hearing Morgana. Naoto reacted to that with a raised eyebrow, and her mind tried to process the implications. If he heard Morgana speak, that meant he was in the Metaverse. It meant he knew how it worked...and, potentially, that he could use it as the Thieves did.
Does he have a Persona?
"I've seen him a few more times. We've...become friends, I guess. He's different then. Quieter, more personal. I think…" He sighed, then shrugged. "I don't know. I do know that he's not who he appears to be. He's hiding something. Maybe a lot of things."
"Or maybe just one really big thing," Morgana added.
Akira smiled at him. "Or one really big thing," he repeated. "He's thoughtful and observant, but I sometimes the mask slips. He's talked about his dad before, who abandoned him, and his mother, who died right after. He clawed his way up from so little."
"Yes, I read as much. I...can somewhat relate," Naoto mused. "My grandfather was a good man, and Akechi had no such comfort."
There was silence for a moment as the three pondered what this all meant, where it could go. "What are you going to do?" Akira asked, breaking the moment.
"I'm going to do what I do best, Akira. I'm going to reach out to the truth in all of this and grasp it as best I can. There is a something much larger at work here, and I believe that Akechi is in the center of it - willingly or otherwise." She stood up and stretched, picking up her jacket and briefcase. "We're meeting soon to go to this...Mementos place, correct?"
Akira nodded. "Yeah, in a while. I'll add you to the group chat we have. It's how we keep track of things."
"A group chat, eh?" Naoto asked with a sly smile. "Knowing you all, I'm sure it's for more than just that. I'll go get some coffee and wait downstairs. Get me on your way out."
[NAOTO SHIROGANE has been added to chat NASTY CRIMEBOYS]
Akira: okay, she's here
Akira: everybody say hi
Yusuke: Greetings, Detective Shirogane.
Naoto: IM ONLY 20 U KNO
Naoto: IM NOT THAT MUCH OLDER THAN U
Futaba: speak for yourself. 20's super old. you're ancient.
Futaba: is your persona a wheelchair?
Futaba: makoto's got the makotorcycle, i have a ufo, it's not totally out of line
Naoto: I DONT THINK MY PERSONA IS A WHEELCHAIR
Ryuji: awww
Ryuji: lame
Ann: Hey Naoto! :3c
Naoto: HELLO
Makoto: Hello Naoto! Glad you could join us.
Haru: hello naoto!
Akira: okay, so now that there's an adult in here, everyone has to be very serious, all of the time
Akira: no more memes
Akira: futaba
Futaba: good luck asshole, i'm behind seven proxies
Akira: i will come to your house and punch you if i must.
Yusuke: "Makotorcycle"?
Futaba: get with the program, inari
Yusuke: I'd rather not get with your terrible murder of language.
Naoto: THIS IS RLY SIMILAR 2 THE GROUP CHAT WITH THE I.T.
Naoto: UR ALL MEME TRASH
Makoto: We are not!
Akira: makoto
Akira: makoto i love you
Akira: but she is absolutely right
Haru: i still do not fully understand why we are all boys!
Yusuke: Is Makoto a boy too?
Makoto: Actually, before Naoto's gender came out, I pretended to be her while she was still a 'him'. So...does that count?
Akira: that's the most adorable shit i have ever heard.
Naoto: IM FLATTERED
Akira: even more adorable than your buchimaru-kun pencil case.
Naoto: U LIKE BUCHIMARU-KUN?
Makoto: Yes! I have an embarrassingly large amount of Buchimaru-kun things…
Naoto: ILL INTRODUCE U 2 KANJI
Naoto: HE LOVES THAT STUFF TOO
Naoto: HES ALSO LIKE 2M TALL AND CAN THROW A CAR
Ryuji: holy shit
Akira: i bet he gives the best piggyback rides.
Naoto: U HAVE NO IDEA
Yusuke: Is he single? Because if so…
Akira: babe you're not single.
Akira: but honestly? same.
Haru: if he is, i call dibs!
"So what does he know that you don't?"
The Phantom Thieves had gathered at Shibuya Station following work and school. Naoto was gently drumming her fingers on her leg, eager to get back into the swing of fighting Shadows. It had been some time since she had set foot into a place infested by humanity's collective demons, and she was hoping that her time spent away had not diminished her combat abilities at all.
Also, it was kind of fun.
"We didn't get that far," she said as she looked over at Makoto, giving the girl a small shrug. "Today, we recapped everything we both knew - the details of the kills up to now and what we know about the cognitive world. I'll have to spend more time with him to know more. With luck, I'll find out everything."
"Keep at it, then," Makoto said as she brushed a stray hair behind her ear. "We're running on borrowed time."
"And speaking of time, can we get started?" Yusuke said, standing and stretching, looking around at the group. "I do have to be home at a decent hour tonight."
Akira stood as well. "Everybody ready?" A chorus of nods followed, so he pulled out his phone and opened an app, tapping at the screen a few times. "In we go."
As Naoto watched, the world tinged purple and ripples of reality appeared in the air - they got wider, filling her vision, distorting anything and everything that she could see from their isolated corner of the station. As they moved through the air, the station changed in their wake, walls melting away and coming back...and looking very different when they did.
The world of Mementos was nothing short of disturbing. It was recognizably the subway station, but twisted and corrupted - patches of what some kind of black mold-like substance were splattered onto the signs, walls, and ceilings of the area, and a dark red glow suffused everything she could see. Ahead of them, broken escalators descended ominously into the depths, and from where they lead, Naoto heard the barely-audible - and somewhat terrifyingly familiar - clinking of chains.
The whole place felt wrong - it smelled old and stale, and there was a distinct sense of looking at the world through a dark, dour lens. Yet, everything seemed clearer than it ever did before - what colors there were were more vibrant and popped.
It took Naoto to moment to see that everyone was in different outfits.
As Naoto surveyed her newfound friends, they truly did look the part of phantom thieves - rebellious, the lot of them, and each in their own way. Akira looked like some kind of gentleman thief, with a long coat and a vest. Ann was a literal cat burglar, and Naoto could sympathize with her outfit - she seemed to have the same general build problem as Naoto did. Ryuji looked like a street punk. Haru was undoubtedly a noblewoman, likely French in origin. Yusuke was a whimsical, mystical fox from a folk tale. Makoto looked like a wrestler crossed with a knight. Futaba looked like she had come straight out of TRON.
Naoto gave a low whistle at the Thieves as they readied their various weapons and adjusted their new clothes. "Quite the crew you've got, Akira. I wish we'd gotten new outfits. All we got were some glasses."
"It's Joker. In here, we use code names." He put on a wry smile and pointed at her. "And you're one to talk."
Confused, Naoto looked down and nearly jumped out of her new outfit in surprise. Gone was her gray suit and dress flats, replaced by black pants with white pinstripes and black laced-up combat boots. A tight black undershirt sat beneath a dark blue waistcoat and thigh-length overcoat, looking just like one stolen from Lupin III himself, but with a higher collar. A black belt with a bright gold buckle held it all together, something decidedly reminiscent of something from Phoenix Ranger Featherman R. A waist-length hooded blue cape rested atop the overcoat.
She held up her white gloved hands, surprised that she'd gotten some new clothes, just like the rest of them. It felt real, like anything else did to her, despite it having just materialized on her body.
"Can someone-" And Ann was already on it, holding up her phone to snap a photo after Naoto posed. She turned it around to show Naoto, who zoomed in and moved it around, checking her outfit out and smiling. "I look like some kind of comic book detective superhero crossover. But...no mask."
"Well, you already have a Persona, right?" Anne said, taking her phone back and stowing it...somewhere. "You don't really call yours by pulling it off. That's how we summon all of ours, so...you're a little different I guess."
"Symbolic." She felt around her neck and found some bunched-up loose cloth, a part of the shirt. Thinking about it, she slid it further up her face and it held fast, creating a mask that covered her nose and mouth. She reached back and flipped up the hood, adjusting it and pushing her hair back behind her to hide it inside the jacket. "Well?" she asked the Thieves, indicating her face. How do I look?"
Ryuji grinned and flashed her a thumbs up. "Lookin' good, detective. All you need now is a code name. As Joker said, we all got one. We'd be pretty bad thieves if we used out real names. I'm Skull. The rest of us are Panther, Queen, Mona, Fox, Noir, aaaaaand Oracle." He pointed out each team member in turn with their nickname.
Naoto nodded. Using a code name made sense, in a weird way, and they all had pretty cool ones. "Hmm. Does anyone have suggestions?" She went over some potentials in her head, but she wanted to hear from the others.
"Well, Ryuji had a good idea with the 'detective' nickname. How about Conan or Sherlock?" Makoto pitched out.
"Zenigata?" Ann added.
"Adler, if you want to go the Sherlock Holmes route," Yusuke said. "Perhaps Cape?"
"Anonymous," Futaba said, snickering.
Naoto shook her head. "At this point, I'm not much of a law-abiding detective. Joining with the people I'm supposed to be capturing? I'm culpable now. Fu-...she had the right idea," she said, indicating Futaba. "I am, for all intents and purposes, a vigilante."
"Well, how about that?" Morgana said. "Vigilante?"
She thought it over. It had a nice ring to it, as a base name. Descriptive. Stylish. Unique. "I like it, but that's too long, so let's go with Vigil." She patted around her body, trying to find her revolver - and sure enough, there it was in her shoulder holster. She also felt a few somethings on her waist - it seemed her ordinary belt had turned into a real life utility belt complete with pouches, and strapped to her right hip inside a holster was a collapsible baton. With a flick of her hands, she pulled it out and extended it, admiring it. "...do you all do much fighting?"
"Oh yeah, it's pretty hands on," Ryuji said, hefting a dumbbell-looking thing over his shoulder. "We tag-team with our Persona, fighting alongside 'em. Our advance team leads the way, and the reserves mop up whatever's left and jump in, in case the advance team is struggling."
"Speaking of which," Ann said as she turned back to Joker. There was no way she was comfortable in that get-up, Naoto mused. "Who's in the advance team today, Joker?"
"Let's give the newbie a shot," he said, adjusting his gloves. "Queen and Fox are with me as well. Mona, you're up."
Morgana flashed a wide grin. "Roger!"
And then Morgana turned into a bus.
(Looking back on it as she told Rise about it all later, Naoto realized that, subconsciously, it just kind of made sense that Morgana could turn into a bus.)
"Do...do we...are we just gonna…" While Naoto was sputtering, the rest of the Phantom Thieves were boarding, and Joker was sliding into the driver's seat. "Wait, do you even have a license?!"
"No, we're criminals," Ryuji answered unhelpfully.