A/N As promised, here's this week's chapter after a brief one-week stop for Thanksgiving. Hope you all enjoyed the holiday if you're in the states, and if not, then all the same I hope you had a good week.

Without any further ado…

Disclaimer: I do not own Persona or any of its characters, and I make no money off of this

Chapter 10

July 18th—Yongen-Jaya: Café Leblanc, Evening…

The inside of the quant little café was deadly quiet, that is until the door slammed open and gave way to Futaba waving around a large teddy bear with a beaming smile plastered across her face.

"Sojiro!" she exclaimed, her voice filled with excitement.

Said cheerfulness was short lived upon realizing that the café was empty and the owner not present. Her shoulders dropped and her smile fell.

"Now that I think of it, this is around the time he usually makes dinner for us…" Futaba mused. Her lips formed a pout. "And I was so excited to show him the bear I won, too!"

"I?" Ren asked disbelievingly. "That's a weird way of saying 'Ren and Yu', don't you think?"

"Hey, Makoto helped," she replied matter-of-factly.

"And yet you didn't mention her either," Morgana stated.

Waving it off as needless details, bespectacled young woman turned to say her farewell for the night. However, a certain black-furred feline beat her to it.

"*yawn* I'm gonna turn in for tonight. I'm super worn out…" stated Morgana.

He slowly made his way up the stairs, yawning sporadically as he did so. His tiredness was understandable though, especially given the day's events.

"Well, I should be heading home now anyway. Sojiro is probably just about done making dinner by now," Futaba stated.

She started to make her way to the door, but was stopped by Ren casually calling out to her before she even had her hand on the knob.

"Oh, before you go, anything you wanted to share with me?" Ren inquired.

A noticeably confused Futaba turned and gave him an odd expression. Judging by how relaxed he appeared, Joker fully expected her to know what he was talking about. The truth was she had absolutely no idea, but she didn't want to just come out and say it.

"Uh… maybe?" Futaba answered in an unsure tone. He didn't respond and still stared at her expectantly. "Could ya give me a hint?"

"I was talking about that thing you swiped from the Metaverse earlier today," he clarified.

"Oooh, right! To be honest, I had almost forgotten about it," Futaba exclaimed. She went into her jacket pocket and yanked out the small metallic device. She chuckled awkwardly. "So, you saw that, huh…?"

"Of course."

"O-Okay, but hear me out!" shouted the young navigator defensively. "Based on where I found it, I think it's a transmission device. I don't know what it's connected to, but I do know that I'll find out a lot faster than the police will, which—"

"Is why you didn't give it to Naoto-san or Yu. And you couldn't tell them about it because Naoto-san would probably make sure it went to the police."

"Yes—yes, exactly. And I didn't tell any of the other Phantom Thieves because—"

"The less people that knew, the better your odds of sneaking it out, and also the less trouble anyone else would be in if you got caught."

"Y-Yeah. And I… well, I was gonna tell you at least, but I kinda forgot about it," Futaba admitted shyly.

Although it would have been somewhat out of character for Ren to be upset, it remained a very likely possibility that he was slightly disappointed in her for concealing the truth from him. As such, the surrogate daughter of the Sakura household braced herself for a small lecture on trusting him with anything, but to her mild surprise, none came.

If anything, it was the opposite. The gray-eyed young man looked at her with a proud, almost reassuring smile.

"Good luck then, we'll be counting on you," Ren stated.

"Huh? Oh, uh… Right! You can count on me for sure!"

A grateful Futaba nodded her head firmly before rushing off back to her home. It was clear from the excitement in her eyes that she intended to rush through dinner and go straight to work on the device, which made Ren chuckle reflexively.

'I just hope she doesn't burn herself out pulling an all-nighter,' thought Joker.

He immediately realized that his hope was in complete and total vein as she was likely planning to stay up well into the night irrespective of whether she would be working on the transmitter or not. After all, long nights of gaming were par for the course when it came to Futaba. At least her cause this particular night was a bit more noble.

Central Tokyo, Sansou Hotel: Naoto's Room

"Yes, thank you," Naoto said, a cheerful smile gracing her features. "That will be all. You've been of great help."

She hung up her phone and breathed a sigh of moderate relief. A broader picture was starting to become clearer and clearer with each passing call she made. The myriad threads that led to countless different theories started to dwindle down to only a choice few, and she had a hunch that by the end of the night, only one would remain.

Dead-set on continuing without rest, she looked at her notes containing a lengthy list of names so as to decide whom to contact next only to be broken from her train of thought by a knock on her door.

'Ah, that must be Yu,' Naoto mused.

The esteemed detective felt a somewhat goofy grin tug at her lips at the thought. She very quickly did all that she could to repress it on account of not wanting to look like an idiot if she could at all help it. In truth her enthusiasm was hard to contain given that now she had an opportunity to share her near-concrete theory with her partner based on what she'd found out throughout the day.

She got up to actually answer the door. Stopping just short of it, the blue-eyed beauty peered into the bathroom to ensure that her hair was not out of sorts. She toyed with it ever-so-slightly before making her way to the door itself.

"I'm glad you're here, Yu, I was just…"

Naoto paused immediately after realizing that she was, in fact, not addressing the aforementioned lawyer. Rise stood just outside her doorway clearly trying to stifle an amused laugh, a fact that embarrassed her thoroughly. She made a mental note to always check through the peephole from that point onward as she'd now made the same mistake at least three separate times.

"Sorry to disappoint, but it's just me," Rise replied with a good-natured chuckle. "The rest of us are all going downstairs for some drinks. Yu offered to come get you, but I insisted."

"I-Is that so?" Naoto uttered, almost nervously. Clearing her throat, she replied, "Though I appreciate the offer and would certainly like to join you all, I'm a bit tied up at the moment."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Next time, then."

Although the conversation seemed to be at an end, the redheaded idol did not take her leave. It became clear to Naoto after a few short seconds that she had something else that she wanted to discuss, and thus what came next was no surprise.

"Can we… talk for a second?" Rise asked.

A brief nod in response was all that was given before the two entered the room. They quickly made their way to the nearest seats in a manner that most would see as overly stiff for such long-time friends.

A tense, awkward feeling soon gripped the air even before a word had been uttered. The serious expression that Rise was directing towards Naoto didn't make things any better.

"I'll just come out and say it," began Rise firmly. "I just want you to know that I'm going after Yu with all I've got."

The declaration was not entirely a surprising one. Granted, Naoto had never actually heard Rise say those words outright, and though it certainly took courage for her to do so, she was beyond confused as to why she would say it to her of all people.

"Um… I'm not entirely sure what to say," admitted the detective.

"You don't have to say anything really. I just wanted to give you a warning in advance," Rise stated. Her expression shifted to one of sympathy. "And let's not have there be any bad blood, okay? No matter what happens."

Her choice of words quickly allowed Naoto to understand the reason for the current conversation.

"…w-wait, are you implying that I—"

"Would like Yu to take you on the bedroom rollercoaster? Yes, yes I am."

Rise's answer came without hesitation and said in a tone as if it were simply a fact of the universe. Needless to say, Naoto was immediately flustered by both the accusation and the phrasing used.

"That was a very unnecessary metaphor and a step further than I would have alluded to!" Naoto all but shouted, her cheeks reddened. "But why would you think that I… w-with him…? I told you before, I don't—"

"Pfft," Rise scoffed, her arms now crossed and her eyes narrowed. "Come on, Naoto, don't act like you can't understand why I'd think something like that."

She was about to protest though found herself unable to do so. Even she herself understood the degree to which Yu Narukami was able to throw her off of her game. He was probably the only person who could wrap her around his finger and make her seem like an ordinary girl.

The truth of the matter was she didn't like to dwell on exactly why that was the case, nor did she ever think very long on just how she felt about the aforementioned gray-haired enigma. However, in this instance, she felt obligated to at least speak what she felt was the truth.

"Look," Naoto began calmly, meeting her friend's ever-serious gaze. "The truth is that I don't intend to pursue romance at all, even with Yu. Any worries of 'toe-stepping' are needless, of that I can assure you."

There was a brief lull, but it ended with a sigh of relief courtesy of Rise. She slumped back in her chair, unequivocally thankful that she'd received the answer she had. Truthfully, she couldn't tell if Naoto was lying or not, but it would have been unlike her to do so in this specific scenario. Then even if she was,

"Clearly you're relieved," said Naoto with a chuckle. A smile formed on her lips as she stated, "And for the record, I'll be rooting for you."

"You have no idea how happy I am to hear that," Rise replied, mirroring her friend's smile with one of her own.

"I can imagine," Naoto said.

"I don't really think you can," Rise joked.

Yet again the redhead lingered, much to the detective's confusion. Judging by her body language, it seemed she had something else she wanted to discuss but was unsure if she should say it.

"Was there something else…?" Naoto asked curiously.

"Well, I…" Rise trailed off. She shook her head, clearly ridding it of whatever she was thinking of asking. "Never mind, it's nothing. I'll head down to meet everyone. Again, sorry you have work."

"It's perfectly alright. And please tell everyone I said to enjoy themselves," Naoto replied. Her expression shifted to a frown for a brief moment. "A-Although keep Yu away from hard liquor."

A soft bit of laughter could be heard as the idol made her way towards the door. She was gone within seconds, leaving the detective to her work.

Central Tokyo: Sansou Hotel, Main Bar Area…

Rise entered the bar area and was almost immediately seen by her friends who waved to her from a nearby table situated by the far side of the room near a set of windows overlooking an indoor garden. She quickly made her way over to them, taking a seat next to none other than Yu.

"I take it Naoto couldn't make it?" Yukiko reasoned, disappointment evident in her tone.

"Work stuff," Rise explained simply.

"I should probably check if she needs any help," Yu thought aloud.

The young attorney took out his phone and was ready to send a message to his colleague. He was stopped, however, by a message he'd just received from Naoto herself telling him to not worry and enjoy the night.

"…looks like she's way ahead of me," Yu said with a chuckle as he put his phone away.

"Naoto did mention she wanted all of us to have a good time, so that doesn't surprise me," Rise mentioned. With a wry grin, she added, "Although she also said to keep Yu away from hard liquor."

"Unless we all feel like playing the king's game," Chie joked.

"Please, god no," Kanji practically begged. He reflexively shivered at the memory of the previous time they had played said game on their school trip. There was not enough therapy in the world to help him move past that experience.

"Don't act like you didn't enjoy it," Teddie said, his voice almost teasing.

The brunette stifled the urge to vomit and pounded his chest to force down whatever was trying to come out.

"I dunno, I wouldn't mind the king's game," cooed Rise, playfully cozying up to the shoulder of gray-eyed man at her side. "At least if it meant I could get to see Yu without a shirt again."

"Well, that was nice."

"Y-Yukiko!"

"What?" she asked, looking innocently at Chie in response. "And if I remember correctly, you—"

"Hoo-kay," interjected Yosuke, lightly banging his hands on the table to preemptively end the conversation. "I'm gonna need a few drinks in me before we talk anymore about that class trip. I'll buy us all a round, so who wants what?"

Each of the order requests sounded off, Chie and Yukiko asking for a daiquiri, Kanji and Yu requesting a beer, Teddie trying to order but being denied. The only one that

"Hmm, I feel like having a screwdriver. Extra vodka," Rise stated cheerfully.

Her request was the only one that drew a few raised eyebrows, and naturally so.

"You sure about that?" Kanji asked.

"Hm? Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"Uh, maybe because you weight less than a feather and that's hard alcohol?"

"Oh shut it, Moronji. I can handle my liquor just fine," she protested with eyes narrowed.

Although the utterance of his much-hated nickname caused a vein to pop in his forehead, the tall young man didn't offer any further criticism. As the night went on, it would become apparent that he should have.

Shibuya Residential Area: Takamaki Household

Ann sat in her room excitedly logging into her computer with a beaming smile spread from ear to ear. She pulled out her phone and double-checked that this was the agreed upon date and time. Once she had, she wasted no time at all opening the video chat application on her laptop.

Practically a split-second after she initiated the call, none other than Shiho Suzui made her appearance on her monitor, flashing a bright and cheerful smile of her own.

"Good to see you, Ann!" Shiho exclaimed, clearly elated upon seeing her best friend once again even if it was over a webcam. "Can you hear me okay?"

"Yep! And you can hear me okay too, right?"

"All good on my end," Shiho replied. The brunette then adopted a guilty smile, going on to say, "It may have only been a few weeks since we've been able to talk like this, but it feels like a lot longer. Sorry for that…"

"Oh, c'mon, don't apologize," chided Ann. "You were on vacation with your parents, right? What's there to be sorry about? Plus, we messaged each other, I dunno, like at least fifty times a day or something?"

"Hehe, it was most certainly not fifty," Shiho retorted. "It was up there though."

"I even feel kinda bad for messaging you as much as I did…" Ann admitted, sounding a bit guilty.

"To be fair, it seems like a lot of interesting things have been happening lately," Shiho countered.

That was not something Ann had a proper counter to. Whether it was in the real world or the Metaverse, life had recently been anything but uninteresting.

"By the way, what is Rise Kujikawa like in person?" inquired Shiho.

"She's super nice, and we actually really hit it off! You'd like her, she's really easy to talk to," Ann replied.

"That's good to hear, but I'll admit I'm a bit jealous. You two seem to get along so well from what you've told me."

It was clear that Shiho had meant her words to be taken as a playful joke, but it was received as anything but.

"H-Hold on, you're still my best friend! No matter what I…!"

Her energetic response was cut short as she noticed Shiho's laughter echoing from the other end of their virtual chat. It was at that point she finally realized that her previous remark was meant in jest.

"You're so cute, Ann," Shiho stated cheerfully, eliciting a small blush of embarrassment from the blonde.

"G-Geez, will you stop teasing me?" Ann muttered bashfully.

"Speaking of you being embarrassed, how are things with Ren?" Shiho inquired offhandedly.

The blush that had only lightly shown on Ann's face deepened visibly. She averted her eyes, groaning inwardly as her best friend in the entire world giggled at her reaction.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist. I really am curious though," Shiho stated. With a raised brow, she continued, "I'm particularly curious about what happened a few days ago. I'll be honest, your messages had me a bit worried…"

At first Ann hadn't the slightest idea what the black-haired beauty was referring to. However, she quickly realized that she was referring to the trip Ren and her had taken to the new mall, the recollection of which had her slumping down in her chair almost immediately.

Noticing this, Shiho frowned, asking, "Was it really that bad?"

"No, not really. I'm just being overly-dramatic… sort of," replied Ann. Knowing she wouldn't get away with such a vague response, she opted to elaborate further. "When we got to the new mall, it was unreal how crowded it was. Someone even rammed into me and I almost went straight to the ground! Ren stopped me from falling and offered to let me latch onto his arm so that I wouldn't get trampled or something on the way to my shoot."

"Ren-kun is smoother than I thought," Shiho remarked teasingly.

"Right?! I was so surprised that—w-wait, that's not my point," Ann stated, attempting to get her thoughts back on track. "Anyway, he was a little too comfortable letting me latch on to him like that, and at some point, he explained that it's because he does it with Futaba all the time. My confidence hit rock bottom in no-time flat…"

"Remind me again what the relationship between Ren-kun and Futaba-chan is?"

The blonde was prepared to answer instantly, but a second of consideration made her realize it wasn't exactly a simply-described relationship. She soon found an apt way to phrase it though.

"She's his not-sister and he's her not-brother," Ann replied.

"…so then you're upset because he sees you as his 'not-sister', and that's… bad?" Shiho asked, clearly confused.

"I don't mean it literally!" Ann exclaimed. Realizing that her best friend wouldn't understand the minutia of the non-sibling's relationship, she opted to make it a bit clearer. "Futaba is basically his sister. They're not related by blood, but he acts all 'big brother' whenever they're out and about."

"Ooh, so that's why she's his not-sister," Shiho mused, finally understanding her quirky friend's logic. Thinking on it further, she asked, "So then would Sakura-san be his not-father?"

"Huh, yeah, I guess so," Ann mused, cupping her chin in consideration.

"Sorry, that was somewhat off-topic," chuckled Shiho. "Still, it isn't as if you know for sure how he feels about you one way or another."

"You can say that again," Ann replied.

The blonde gave off a frustrated groan and slumped in her chair, quickly drawing her friends worry.

"Again, that bad?" Shiho pressed, albeit with a small sense of hesitation.

"Shiho, I'll be honest, sometimes I feel like breaking through a brick wall with a pillow would be easier than guessing what's on Ren's mind at any point in time," Ann stated. She crossed her arms and scowled almost involuntarily. "You have no idea how frustrating that is to deal with."

"I feel as if it's only ever frustrating if you have feelings for someone like that though…"

Her friend could only groan again in response.

"The heart wants what the hearts wants, I suppose," Shiho said, unable to stifle a giggle. She gathered herself to move onto a more serious note. "Things aren't still as awkward as they were when he came back to Tokyo, I hope?"

Ann couldn't help but burry her face in her hands out of sheer embarrassment in response. Her face reddened just at the recollection of that specific period of time, though Shiho took it differently altogether and called out to her with urgency.

"A-Ann? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," answered the blonde quietly.

She kept her face hidden but allowed her eyes to peer through the gaps in her fingers. Were it not for the fact that she was concerned, Shiho likely would've found it rather amusing.

"And are you going to explain, or…?"

"Sorry, things have been fine for a while, it's just that the less I think about back then, the better," Ann replied. "I-I mean, I just couldn't stop making an idiot out of myself almost every time we hung out for like three weeks! Ugh, I'm pretty sure I'd rather be dead than relive all that again!"

It certainly didn't help that Shiho started to laugh. It was clear that the brunette was trying to get herself under control out of respect for her friend, but she failed miserably in doing so. Ann could only stare at her screen in disbelief.

"S-Shiho, what the hell?!" Ann exclaimed.

"Sorry, s-sorry," she replied wiping away a tear as her laughter finally subsided. "Though you have to admit, in hindsight it was all pretty funny."

"Easy for you to say!" She shouted indignantly.

"Oh come on, don't be like that," Shiho cooed.

Her sweet and friendly smile very clearly had the aspiring model wrapped around her finger in an instant. Even in spite of her best efforts to appear upset, she could hardly maintain it after a mere glance at Shiho's expression.

"…you're lucky I love you so much," Ann pouted.

"I count it as a blessing every day," Shiho replied good-naturedly. "And it isn't like I don't sympathize. Realizing you like someone after all that time can't be easy."

"True that. It felt like there was some kind of massive change happening and I just didn't know what to do…" Ann muttered, almost amusedly. "I just needed to realize nothing had really changed. I'd only realized exactly how I'd felt for quite a while."

"Are you going to tell Ren anytime soon?" Shiho asked.

"…things are kinda crazy right now," Ann replied with a nervous chuckle.

It sounded like a horrible excuse to avoid the inevitable, and in most cases it likely would have been. However, if dealing with serial kidnappers meddling in otherworldly powers didn't count as 'crazy', then nothing did. Shiho was well aware of that, and as a result couldn't really offer a counter.

"I gathered that," Shiho giggled. Her expression became a bit sterner as she added, "But you know, before it was that he was just moving back and catching back up with school, and now it's these white-masked people… I'm just saying if you wait too long, the opportunity will pass you by."

The twin-tailed model offered no protest. After all, Shiho had been completely right.

"…yeah, I know," Ann stated somberly.

"And I'll be rooting for you all the way."

"Thanks, Shiho."

A touching moment of silence ensued, though how could it not? It filled Ann's heart with courage and joy to know she had a friend like Shiho, and moments like these made her grateful that even though they were miles apart, they could still share a connection like they did.

Shiho felt much the same way. However, there was something she had been bottling up for some time that she just couldn't help but say.

"…the funniest was that time you almost went into the men's changing area at a store because you accidently touched his hand and wanted to get away," Shiho offhandedly stated. "That or when you fell off the pier while you were fishing because you hugged him after a big catch and jumped away the second you realized what you were doing."

Ann almost immediately grabbed the nearest pillow and buried her head in it. With any luck, she would suffocate and pass out before her mind went to vividly recall either of those two events.

"You're so adorable, Ann," Shiho cooed.

Central Tokyo, Sansou Hotel: Main Bar Area, Some Time Later…

As the night had gone on, everyone at the table kept their own consumption to a few rounds, clearly not wanting their next mornings to be a living hell. It seemed that Rise, on the other hand, did not share their concern. After no less than five rounds of drinks, it was clear that the esteemed popstar was, for lack of a better word, shit-faced.

"—and thaha brdafradah hadah," Rise slurred.

She looked at Yu intently as if what she'd just said was supposed to mean something. Although slightly buzzed himself, the young attorney was by no means plastered enough to comprehend such a clearly transcendent form of drunken language. He just stared at her blankly and nodded his head in an attempt to placate her. It seemed to work as she patted his chest and started giggling into his shoulder immediately thereafter.

"Handle it just fine, huh?" Kanji muttered.

"Hey!" exclaimed the redhead, turning an accusatory finger towards him. "You… you… Pffy, hahaha…!"

"Aw, no fair! What's so funny? C'moon, tell me!" Yukiko drunkenly pressed.

"O-Okay, so you're you… b-but he's also Yu…!"

She burst out laughing not a second later, and to the annoyance of the more sober members of the group present, Yukiko joined in. Even Chie started to snicker, though she was trying her level best to hold herself back as evident by the hand she held against her mouth.

"What the—you too?!" a shocked Yosuke exclaimed.

"Pfft, haha…! I-I know, I know! I hate myself too, but…! H-Hahahaha!"

It was at that point that the three men present shared a look as if entering a temporary telepathic conversation. As one mind, they concluded that cadets Kujikawa, Satonaka, and Amagi were so far out of orbit they may as well have been on Mars.

"…I think we've had enough," said Yu, placing his drink on the tables surface. He looked over to the clearly drunken idol that was now clinging to his arm as if it were a pillow. "C'mon, let's get you to bed."

"Aww, but I'm so comfy~," she cutely whined, snuggling further into his arm.

"Okay, tell you what, if you can get up out of your chair without falling over, we can stay just like this," Yu offered.

With confidence and determination showing on her reddened face, Rise released his arm and stood up from her chair. She tried to, at least, although she failed immediately and almost fell flat on her ass. The only reason she hadn't was because Yu was more than ready and caught her before helping her up onto her feet.

"…okay, bed it is," she relented.

"Yeah, probably a good idea," Yu chuckled. He held her close, ensuring that she didn't stumble and fall to the ground as they started to walk away. Turning back to the others, he said, "Make sure Yukiko and Chie get back to their rooms in one piece, okay?"

"Will do!" Yosuke replied.

The five members that remained at the table watched silently as the two made their way to the elevator. When the doors closed, they breathed a sigh of relief.

"Man, that girl had way too much to drink," Chie uttered, her voice a bit louder than she likely thought it to be. "After the first screwdriver she just switched to pure Vodka shots!"

"And she ain't even much of a drinker…" Kanji chimed in.

"Well, Yu's got it handled. He'll make sure she gets back to her bed safe and sound," Yosuke stated, confidence in his voice.

He made to finish off his definitively final drink of the night, though that proved to be a mistake shortly thereafter as Yukiko spoke up and nearly made him choke on it.

"Oh, he's gonna get her in bed alright."

"*cough* *cough* Y-Yukiko, seriously?! *cough*"

"Aw c'mooon, we're all thinkin' it," she replied with drunken self-assurance. "I mean didja see how all over him she was?"

"How is that any different from normal?" Kanji countered.

"It's exactly three and a half beers and a whole lot of vodka different from normal if ya ask me~."

Collectively, everyone's eyes shifted back over to the elevator and they began to entertain the possibility that Yukiko was right. Each held an unreadable expression that held a great deal of conflict to it.

"That's… probably not true, right?" spoke Kanji as if to himself.

"N-Nah, I mean, Rise might be totally gone, but Yu didn't seem drunk at all," Yosuke said, though his tone didn't match the confidence of his words. "He was at least walking fine…"

"Yu doesn't lose his balance when he gets drunk though," countered Chie. "Remember that one time we went to that club a few years back?"

"Oh yeah, that time he picked up like three girls on the dance floor."

"I mean yeah, but why mention that bit?"

"Because it makes him a hero."

"Okay, ew," Chie grimaced. "Getting back to my point, that was the last time we let him have hard liquor, right? He was super drunk and got really hung over the next day, but that whole night he had, like, perfect coordination!"

Now it was Yosuke's turn to have a drunken moment as he clearly lost track of whatever it was they were originally talking about.

"Okay, so why does that matter again?"

"Cause they're gonna bang, that's why," Yukiko said.

A few somewhat grossed out faces could be seen, which only made the heiress break out in a fit of laughter. Kanji, whose face was red but remained mostly unphased, just rolled his eyes.

"This better not turn into the story of the first time they do it," Chie groaned.

"…whatcha talkin' about?" Teddie abruptly inquired.

Eyes were drawn to the innocent bear for what had to be the first time the entire night, if only because these had been the first words that had actually left his mouth the whole time. Most shared an awkward look with each wondering who was going to take this one.

"About how Yu and Rise are gonna fu—"

A panicked Chie quickly slammed her hands over Yukiko's mouth before she had a chance to finish her sentence.

"That's enough out of you!"

As he was still confused, Teddie turned over to Kanji, holding an innocent smile that only someone with a childlike sense of wonder could have.

Averting his eyes, he responded, "I'll tell you when you're older."

Central Tokyo: Sansou Hotel, Rise's Room…

"Aaaand, bam!" Rise exclaimed.

The door to her room opened, causing her to proudly look over at Yu with a knowing expression.

"See?" she asked cockily. "I told you I could get it on my first try."

"And I'm just so proud," he answered in a voice laced with sarcasm. "Now c'mon, let's get you into bed."

They managed to make their way down the living room area and into the bedroom without incident. However, when they were just about at the bed itself, the redheaded beauty stumbled and sent both of them falling onto the surface of the blankets. They landed on their sides, practically face-to-face in the aftermath.

"You alright?" Yu asked almost immediately.

With a giggle, she replied, "Yes, of course, silly. I just slipped and even if the bed wasn't right here, I know you'd have just caught me anyway."

The silver-eyed man attempted to get up from the bed but was prevented from doing so. Rise had gripped his torso tightly, and while at first he was somewhat surprised, the drunken playful look she was giving him only made him smirk.

"If it's all the same to you, I'd like to get up off the bed now," Yu stated.

"Nope!" Rise firmly answered. Still holding the same coy smile, she added, "If you want out, you're gonna need to earn it! Show me whatcha got!"

What followed was a short sequence of Yu trying to get the idol's hands quite literally off of him while she did her level best to prevent just that. It ended up being an almost playful bit of wrestling, which he oddly found himself enjoying.

His advantage in literal size and strength won the day though as he ultimately picked his own body up off the bed and managed to pin Rise down so that she could no longer latch onto him. In the heat of the moment, he didn't realize the position he'd put them in, but she was all too happy to point it out to him.

"I didn't know you were so bold," Rise teased.

"S-Sorry," Yu replied, blushing slightly at his apparent misstep.

The young man released the starlet's arms and attempted to distance himself. He, however, would fail yet again as Rise grabbed his forearms and yanked him down with such force that it actually caught him off guard.

Yu found his face a mere foot away from her own, and what his eyes were met with had him frozen in place. Her expression held such vulnerable innocence to it, but in her beautiful light brown eyes he could see a deep longing, or perhaps hunger. Even as her hands clasped behind his back, a clear indication that she did not want him to, nor would let him, move an inch, he found himself unable to act. He had been caught it the metaphorical spider's web, and he knew it.

A silence of an unknown nature gripped the airs of the room, and it did so for quite a bit of time given the intensity of the situation. The songstress, recognizing Yu's all-too-apparent stupor, was the one to break it.

"…you don't have to leave, you know," Rise said, her voice so pure and genuine that it boggled the mind.

Her words succeeded in breaking Yu out of his trance, evidenced by his eyes widening in surprise. It seemed that, for a split second, he was trying to figure out if she was serious, though he knew it didn't matter either way. His expression, almost ever-steady, gave off a fair bit of emotion in that short amount of time, but once it had settled and he returned to his normal self, it was quite clear how the encounter would end.

"If you're saying what I think you are, you know we can't. You're drunk, and—"

"What if I said I wasn't?"

Yu looked at her disbelievingly, recalling very clearly their entire trip up to the room in the first place. However, something about the way she was looking at him and how she spoke made him question that fact. He quickly thought up a way to test if this was true.

"Okay, so then answer me this: what's my name?" he inquired.

"What? You're Yu, obviously…" Rise answered.

A grin quickly formed on her lips and she started chuckling. She unclasped her hands from behind his back and tried to stifle her laughter to the best of her ability, although she was entirely unsuccessful. By the time she had gotten herself under control, Yu was standing by the doorway to the bedroom, giving her an amused expression.

"T-That was cheating!" Rise exclaimed.

"Sometimes I don't play fair," he said teasingly, albeit with a good-natured smile. "Good night, Rise. I'll swing by to check on you tomorrow morning, okay? Just make sure to drink some water and get some rest."

The popstar nodded her head begrudgingly and with that Yu took his leave. He was out of the door within seconds. No sooner than he was out the door did Rise slump her shoulders and released a heavy sigh.

"Still nothing, huh…?" Rise wondered aloud.

To say she felt frustrated and disappointed was putting it mildly. Thankfully her plan of attack was shrewd enough to give her a natural out: the excuse of being too drunk. All it took was her trademark flawless acting ability and a thankful resemblance of vodka to water in order to make it seem like she was far drunker than she was. She took a risk towards the end of revealing her hand, though it seemed Yu hadn't quite seen through her.

That being said, it still wounded her pride a bit that they were so close and he still showed restraint. She was almost positive that at this point in the night she would have gotten him to take the initiative.

"Actually, now that I think about it, I should've expected he wouldn't," Rise sighed to herself.

She probably should have assumed that on principal Yu would not want to hook up with her while she was 'drunk'. Now that she had the benefit of hindsight, she reasoned that perhaps two less trips to the bar to get 'vodka' were warranted.

Still, the night was far from a total failure. Just the memory of their faces and bodies being so close to one another made her cheeks red and her heart race. She turned on her side and curled up with one of the pillows, unable to hold back a girlish squeal.

'I wanted to kiss him at the very least,' Rise thought, clenching the pillow even tighter. 'I really, really wanted to! But…'

The truth was she had lost a bit of her nerve as she had made her move. She just couldn't bring herself to think straight after seeing him bare an expression she had never once seen him make before. Rise could still picture it now with perfect clarity, and it filled her with a sense of discomfort that really couldn't be well-put into words.

In his eyes, as they were locked onto her own, she saw remorse and regret. It may only have been fleeting, but their presence was unmistakable.

"Dammit!" Rise hissed, her fists reflexively balling. "I can never understand what he's thinking. What was that even supposed to mean?"

The more she thought on it, the more the redhead realized she had not the slightest idea as to what the source of those emotions could have been. However, her lack of understanding didn't stop a sinking feeling she could feel in the pit of her stomach.

Rise knew that she didn't know, and yet at her very core she could feel nothing but worry. It made no sense, and yet it was the second time she had the very same feeling. It was also certainly no coincidence that the prior instance was when he'd apologized to her for not getting in touch for such a long period of time.

"Maybe I'm just being crazy, but… I get the feeling he's not telling me something."

Yongen-Jaya: Sakura Household, Some Time Later…

"Maybe… this!"

With a hopeful look in her eyes, Futaba Sakura stared at her monitors eagerly awaiting the result of her latest attempt at cracking the metaphorical code behind the enigmatic transmitter. Her head hung a few seconds later when the results proved to be inconclusive.

She then made the mistake of looking at her taskbar, sighing disappointedly upon noticing the time. It was rare for her to be stonewalled once she'd gotten serious in anything computer-related, and yet for the past five hours twenty-one minutes and sixteen seconds, she had been just that.

The orange-haired genius didn't lack for motivation, however at this point she began to consider the possibility that mental fatigue was playing a roll in her lack of progress.

Her next attempt met with the same amount of success as all those prior—none whatsoever.

"Ugh, how can something so small be such a gigantic pain in the ass?" Futaba wondered aloud.

As she was almost at the end of her rope, on a whim she opted to look at a diagnostics program she'd been running on the background. Though it had taken much longer than she expected, that it was finally done marked at least some progress.

The results prompted her to quirk a curious brow. She went through the data at an inhuman pace, her expression unchanged.

"Is this right? No way, that'd be…"

A short few moments later, Futaba was able to confirm that her eyes did not deceive her. In her mind a plan to get to the bottom of the device's purpose had formed, and now all that remained was the legwork.

Metaverse: Unknown Location…

"Hm? What the…?"

A man in a white mask stared curiously at his monitoring station—being one of many in an area that was the very definition of a 'control room'. Several of his nearby comrades noticed his muttering from their nearby stations.

"Something wrong?"

"The device from Truck 42 seems to be active again."

"Already?"

"Unless my instruments are malfunctioning."

Several of the masked men came over and gave a cursory glance to confirm this was not the case. However, no confirmation needed to be given.

"It is not," a voice called out with calm authority.

The men present turned to see a rather tall and imposing figure approaching the monitoring area. He was dressed much like the rest of them, white mask and all, but all eyes were immediately on him as each of the other men went deathly silent as if their very course of their lives depended on the next words that would leave his mouth.

"Ready the men and proceed accordingly."

A/N There you have it. Next chapter will be next Friday as per usual, so look forward to it! It may end up being a shorter one as it'll be mostly setup, but we'll see. It'll depend on just how I want to pace it.

Explanations:

Futaba's Findings/Naoto's Theory: These two things will come to a head next chapter. Not really much else to say here since it's only a week-long wait.

Naoto's Feelings: This kinda goes back to what I said earlier about the true pairings vs. soft pairings. Ren and Yu are Ren and Yu, so of course there are quite a few people out there with crushes on them, and as far as Yu is concerned, I do see Naoto as one of those people. However, I also see Naoto as someone that is far more committed to her work and as a result doesn't think about it. Is that healthy? No, of course not, but it seems like something she would do

Ann and Shiho: I think these two are adorable together, really I do. I thought Shiho could have been an interesting character in the game itself, even if she wasn't a confidant herself. It would have been interesting to see her more incorporated in Ann's confidant, at least in a few ranks (like 1-2 more) but I digress. Shiho will be making appearances sporadically in this story as an FYI. I wanted to make her a bit more playful and less depressed here because again, I wanted to show she's doing far better than the clinically depressed and suicidal version of her you saw in the game for the first x-number of hours. That'll stick as more or less consistent going forward.

Rise: This is alluded to quite a bit at this point, but she feels something is slightly off when it comes to Yu at this point. It's difficult for her to properly put it into words because it is more of a gut feeling, and I'll leave it at that. Outside of that, she shines quite a bit in this chapter