A/N As promised, here's the latest chapter. It's a mix of a bit of slice of life centered around RenxAnn and is a bit more plot-heavy towards the end, so I hope you all enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Persona, or any of its characters, and I make no money off of this.
Chapter 14
July 23rd – Tokyo: Upscale Apartment Building
Makoto sat quietly in the kitchen of her sister's apartment eating her breakfast, watching the morning news in an attempt to distract herself from the fact that her sister had still yet to actually leave her room.
She continued to steal glances at her door, unable to control herself in spite of her best efforts. It didn't matter that it was her day off, and it also didn't matter that it was only half an hour past when she'd normally get up in the morning. Sae Nijima never slept in; such was simply a law of the universe.
'Should I… go knock on her door?' Makoto wondered. She berated herself a split-second later. 'But what if she's still sleeping? Given everything that happened yesterday, of course she'd be tired! Ugh, but still though…!'
Thankfully Makoto's worries were metaphorically put to bed as it became clear that Sae had gotten out of her own. The crimson-eyed lawyer emerged from her room sporting her sleepwear, stifling a yawn as she entered the kitchen.
"Good morning," Sae greeted.
"Oh thank god…" Makoto whispered to herself in relief. She quickly perked up. "Morning, sis. I made breakfast, though at this point you may need to heat it up a bit."
"Thank you."
Her elder sister did just that and within minutes the two were seated at the kitchen table, reflexively watching the morning news together as the continued to eat.
"So, are you feeling okay?" Makoto asked conversationally.
"Just tired," Sae answered. Her lips curled into a scowl as she added, "I honestly can't recall feeling like this in my life, and I've had to work over thirty hours straight before."
"An Awakening will do that," giggled Makoto. "My advice is to go do some stretches. It'll help a lot to deal with the soreness and groggy feeling."
"I think I'll do just that."
Sae headed back to her room, likely for what would only end up being a few minutes. Makoto in turn opted to take their plates over to the sink and wash them so her sister would have one less thing to worry about. An abrupt knock on the door had her stopping mid-task.
'Who on earth could that be this early in the morning?' Makoto wondered, donning a confused expression. "Just a sec!"
Nevertheless, the brunette made her way to the door. She checked through the peephole, seeing that none other than Yu Narukami was on the other side. On reflex, she opened the door, surprise written all over her face.
"Good morning," Yu greeted pleasantly.
"Good morning," replied a still-confused Makoto. "Did I… miss a text or something?"
"Hm? Oh, no, not at all," he replied with a chuckle. "I had to stop by at the local courthouse and figured as long as I was in the area that I'd drop by to check on Sae to make sure she's doing okay. If now's not a good time, that's perfectly fine."
Had Makoto been in her right mind, she likely would have just told the silver-haired man that her sister was just getting out of bed. The circumstances, however, made her feel as if she were answering the door for her older sister's boyfriend. The awkwardness of the situation effectively drained her of every last brain cell.
"N-No, no! I, uh… come in, please," Makoto replied.
"Thanks."
Yu entered the apartment and took in the sight casually, finding it rather comfortable. Truthfully, he'd been curious about what the inside looked like all those years ago, which was understandable given he'd been as close as just outside the door.
Queen, for her part, was operating entirely on auto-pilot by that point. She closed the door gently and just stood in place, staring at the Wild Card user blankly as she did so.
"Makoto?" her sister's voice called out as she once again entered the living room. "Who was at the…?"
Sae almost immediately froze in place the second she'd entered the room, which was made a bit more awkward given that she was in the middle of an arm stretch and had virtually all of her midsection exposed. Yu wasn't much better, though that was understandable given he was looking at the silver-haired beauty wearing next to nothing. The end result was for both of them staring at one another like deer caught in headlights.
'…I'm so dead,' Makoto thought, quickly realizing her error in judgment.
After no less than half a minute of time standing completely still, Sae collected herself. To her credit, she maintained her composure splendidly, acting as if there wasn't an elephant in the room to be addressed whatsoever.
"I wasn't expecting to see you so early in the morning, Yu. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Sae asked.
"I was in the neighborhood and figured I'd come by to check up on you and see how you were feeling," he answered calmly.
"I-I'll leave you two alone!" Makoto awkwardly announced.
The brunette's base instincts as a younger sister all but screamed to blockade herself in her room for at least twenty-four hours. While she would of course never actually do that, the icy glare she felt from Sae's deep-red eyes certainly made her consider it.
"I'm fine, by the way," answered the silver-haired beauty upon her sister leaving her sight. "Tired, yes, but fine."
"That's good, I'm glad to hear it."
There was a lull in the conversation, though not an awkward one. Ultimately, Sae was the one to break it.
"Did you really come all this way just to ask me that?" Sae asked, unable to help the smirk forming on her lips. "Never mind, that was a stupid question. It's just like you to do something like that…"
"Is it?"
"Yes, very much so" she chuckled amusedly. "Still, since you're here, I feel the least I can offer you is a cup of coffee."
"As much as I'd like to…"
The ringing of his cellphone all but explained his presumed declining of the offer.
"Duty calls, I see," Sae mused.
"Yeah, seems so," Yu muttered. "I'll take a raincheck on that coffee though. It'll be my treat on account of how long it's been since the last time we went out for one together."
"I'll hold you to that," she replied, sporting a friendly smile.
Yu was gone within seconds, and in the aftermath of his departure, Sae buried her face into her hands. Her embarrassment, however, was understandable. She was still in her nightwear consisting of a pair of shorts and a tight-fitted t-shirt, had yet to shower, and had essentially gotten out of bed less than twenty minutes prior. By her standards, she felt like a mess.
That she managed to maintain her dignity at all was a small miracle and a testament to the sheer willpower she possessed.
All the while, Makoto took notice of the front door to the apartment closing and peeked her head out from within her own room.
"…did he leave?"
Sae's embarrassment vanished in an instant upon hearing Makoto's voice, and in its place came a rage so great that it seemed as if fire formed in the pit of her eyes. Faced with such a look, the brunette once again mulled over slowly retreating into her room and locking the door, but she knew based on past experience that doing so would only make things worse.
"Okay, you're mad," Makoto uttered, stating the obvious. "I-I just panicked, okay?! When I saw that it was Yu-san at the door, I just kinda invited him in. I didn't know what else to do!"
"Literally anything else would have been better," Sae all but growled. "And even if you were going to invite him in, giving me a heads up would have been nice!"
"It's not that bad, right?" Makoto replied, clearly intent on offering up some form of defense for her actions. "You look great as always, sis. I-It wasn't ideal, but—"
"Even if I…!"
In the moment the elder of the two took notice of Makoto's genuinely apologetic expression. It reminded her of a time when they were both far younger, right down to the way the brown-haired teen winced when she'd raised her tone. Whether the guilt Sae felt in the moment was inspired by past memories or whether it was a response to the moment itself didn't matter. She felt it all the same.
With a deep, frustrated sigh, she relented, "Forget it. No sense in getting mad about it now."
"Again, I'm sorry," Makoto repeated.
"It's fine," she replied, her tone still giving off her clear annoyance. "In any event, I'll be taking a shower before you decided to invite anyone else into the apartment."
"I-I'm sorr—"
"And please stop apologizing. The less I have to think about this today, the better."
Yongen-Jaya: Cafe Leblanc
As was customary on all mornings, Joker sat at countertop eating his breakfast with Morgana, Futaba and Sojiro at hovering nearby. The morning news was on, though as per usual in recent history, it was simply a tremendous amount of fluff with virtually no real reporting to speak of.
"I wonder if Naoto-san had any luck with tracing the signal on the device Sae-san slipped onto the enemy leader…" Morgana offhandedly remarked.
"Only time will tell," said Ren. "At a bare minimum it should give us more locations to investigate in the Metaverse."
The response on the part of the bespectacled teen earned him a quirked brow from Sojiro, though such was only natural. From his perspective, Ren had just spoken out unprompted.
Ren took notice and quickly explained. "Mona brought something up about Phantom Thieves business."
"I keep forgetting he can talk…" Sojiro thought aloud. "I honestly wish I could understand him, if only just once."
"Meh, you're not missing a whole lot," Futaba jibbed, giving the feline a grin befitting the Devil himself.
"Hey!"
"Still though," she continued casually. "It could end up being a problem if our best option is to just run around a bunch of locations in the Metaverse looking for clues…"
"I know that look," stated Ren with a wry grin.
"If by that you mean to say I've hatched an idea, then yes."
"Care to lay it on me?"
"Nope!" Futaba replied teasingly. "You'll just have to wait for my plans to bear fruit."
"I look forward to it," he replied with a chuckle.
The Wild Card's phone began to buzz. Subsequently after reading the message he'd received, the teen then rose up from his chair, piquing the others' interest in the process.
"Got something to do?" asked Futaba.
"Yeah, so I need to get going. I'll see you guys later," Ren stated blankly.
"Hey, hold on a sec," Futaba said, giving the raven-haired teen a clear look of interest. "You're not gonna say what you're up to?"
Ren turned and gave the orange-haired prodigy about as friendly a smile as any, giving off the impression that he would happily sate her curiosity. However, in a fashion typical of him, it turned out to be quite the opposite.
"Nope," Ren answered.
Even the tone he'd used was a callback to Futaba's previous response. She in turn was stunned, though Sojiro clearly had gotten a kick out of it if his laughter was anything to go by.
"It's not as funny when you do it, ya know…" Futaba muttered.
"I disagree," Ren stated with a smirk. He then turned over towards the black-furred cat seated at the countertop. "C'mon, Morgana. I guarantee this is something you'll want to be there for."
Morgana, though clearly a bit surprised, didn't question his companion and made his way into what was affectionately referred to as 'the Mona bag'. The two were out of the shop within seconds and headed to the train station.
"…so," began Morgana, his tone nonchalant. "Mind telling me where we're going?"
"Just be patient. We'll get there soon enough," replied Joker.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"
"Immensely, yes."
"Okay, but whatever it is, you're being overly-cryptic about it is setting it up to be an overhyped failure," Morgana stated confidently.
"I doubt that," he chuckled.
Tokyo: Sanshou Hotel, Naoto's Room
The person that was possibly the greatest detective in modern Japan was currently in the midst of an unsolvable situation. Perhaps one that she couldn't solve with all of her intellectual might.
'How on earth do I deal with this situation…?' Naoto wondered.
She, of course, was referring to the redheaded idol known throughout the country as Rise Kujikawa. More specifically, the fact that said idol was in her room rambling on and on about Sae Nijima for thereabouts of twenty minutes at this point.
Truthfully Rise was just venting her feelings, so it was less of a conversation and more a one-sided therapy session. All the same, Naoto was attempting, and failing, to do any work in the interim.
Of course, she could have just told Rise she was busy instead of trying to passively give her clues, which had thus far been ineffective. Naoto, however, hadn't the heart to do it.
Not to Rise, at least. She was never any good at turning her away.
"Don't you think their first meeting is way too weird? Like, why is it so similar to how Yu and I met? It's basically just that, but with a stalker—"
"R-Rise," Naoto abruptly spoke up, all but sighing her friend's name. "I think you may be dwelling on this a bit too much. Regardless of whether Sae-san and Yu knew each other in the past, it doesn't mean there was or currently is anything between them. We have no corroborating evidence that would suggest as much."
The songstress seemed to be somewhat embarrassed by having something so simple pointed out to her. It was also just possible she'd realized how long she'd been ranting.
"…w-well, I guess not," she admitted.
As if planned by the gods themselves, a knock sounded on the door courtesy of the one and only Yu Narukami.
"Hey, Naoto, it's Yu."
"Rise, do you mind—"
"Not at all!" she chirped.
With a smile that would kill lesser men, Rise opened the door to greet Yu and usher him into the room. In spite of the pleasant greeting, he was still rather surprised to see her be the one to let him in.
"Oh, hey Rise," said Yu pleasantly. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
"N-No, not at all! Just a little talk between girls," Rise answered. "Come on in!"
"Thanks," he replied, quickly making his way towards his partner. "So, any luck with the tracker yet?"
"Not as of yet," answered Naoto.
"Well, that's too bad. Any word on those captured White Masks yet?" Yu inquired.
"I'm told they're still in an unstable condition, though potentially they may be cleared for questioning later today."
"I see. Well, I'll get out of your hair, I don't want to be a bother," Yu stated.
He made to leave the room. Though just prior to his departure, Naoto recalled there was one thing she wanted to ask.
"Before you leave," spoke Naoto, prompting the attorney to stop dead in his tracks. "I knocked on your door earlier today so we could discuss strategy, but it seemed you were already out. Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, everything's fine. I just went to the courthouse to drop off a few documents regarding the case against the White Masks," Yu answered.
"Ah, I see."
"Oh, and I also stopped over by Sae to check up on her. She seems to be doing good."
Little did the silver-haired lawyer know, but he'd just dropped the equivalent of an atomic bomb before departing the room altogether.
Naoto reflexively glared at her computer screen. Although she couldn't see Rise's expression, she didn't need to in order to know what was about to happen.
'I hate both myself for asking and Yu for being Yu,' Naoto thought.
Shibuya: Entertainment District
Ren and Morgana had braved a crowded subway and streetways to make it all the way into the heart of Shibuya. Given that they'd abruptly stopped under some kind of storefront, the feline drew the obvious conclusion.
"…so are we there yet?" asked Mona.
"Yep, this is the place," answered Ren.
The black-furred cat repositioned its head to get a better look at the sign, though thankfully it was large enough for him to easily read.
"Shibuya Karaoke Studios…?" Morgana recited, sounding as confused as he looked.
"It's like a regular karaoke studio but they give you larger rooms and a setup to allow for dancing," Ren explained.
"It's not the name I was confused by!" Mona stated pointedly. "I mean: Why are we here?"
Before Joker could even muster a response, an energetic Ann Takamaki was rushing towards them, a shopping bag in hand. That sight alone had Morgana completely pacified within a millisecond. She approached waving at them, smiling brightly all the while.
"I had to stop somewhere beforehand, sorry if you were waiting long!" Ann stated apologetically.
"Don't be," assured Ren, offering a friendly expression. "We just got here actually. I hope you don't mind that I brought Mona, I figured it wouldn't be bad if only he knew."
While previously on cloud-nine, Morgana came crashing back down to earth upon hearing Joker speak. His choice of words and his tone immediately had his blood pressure elevated to heights never-before reached. He felt a sense of déjà vu as if this very situation were a nightmare he'd experienced on-and-off in the past.
"W-What wouldn't be bad if only I knew?!" Morgana asked, trying his best, though failing miserably, to keep the panic from infecting his tone.
Seeing the two share a casual glance in response only elevated his nerves.
"You want to tell him or should I?" Ren asked.
"I got this one," Ann replied with a smile.
The feline was a split-second away from having a heart attack. He couldn't help but think that one of his top-three greatest fears was about to be realized before his very eyes.
"I'm auditioning as a backup dancer for Rise's concert. She floated it by me when we met her at the new mall," Ann stated, prompting the cat to immediately freeze in place. "Ren offered to help me practice, so that's why we're here. I did ask him not to tell anyone though since I'm not even sure I'll get the part…"
"I'm sure you will," Ren stated firmly.
"Mind if I borrow some of that confidence?" Ann joked.
"I don't think you need to," he shot back.
"Wait, wait, wait…" Morgana uttered, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. "You two are just here to… dance?"
"Yeah, pretty much," Ann replied. "But keep it a secret just for now, okay?"
A wave of relief like no other washed over the feline, quickly brightening his mood.
"My lips are sealed!" Morgana proudly declared.
"Thanks, I appreciate it," she replied with a giggle, patting his head softly as she did so.
"Even if he did, I don't think it'd be that big of a deal for everyone to know," Ren pointed out.
"Actually, I think they'd be super encouraging, and well… that's kinda the problem," Ann replied. She bashfully rubbed the back of her head, explaining, "I'd feel kinda bummed out if they ended up being so supportive only for me not to get it, ya know?"
"You say that, but I'd bet anything you're a great dancer," Ren stated, his typical air of nonchalant confidence showing in full force. "C'mon, let's head in."
"I called in advance to set up a room, so we should be able to get the key at one of the automated kiosks."
It took virtually no time at all for the trio to make their way into the studio room. Said room was a good bit larger than they'd expected. Several sets of speakers lined the ceilings and the corners while at the center was a decent-size stage overlooking a set of booths.
"…how much did you pay for this room exactly?" Ren asked warily.
"It was actually pretty cheap," Ann replied. She took out her phone and double-checked just to be sure. "Yeah, only 5,000 yen for the hour and an option for another hour at half the cost. I'm just as surprised as you are."
"Well, on that note…"
Joker wasted no time at all situating himself at one of the booths in front of the stage and making himself comfortable. It was obvious what he intended to do.
"W-Wait, just like that?" Ann uttered in surprise. "No warm ups, no tips—nothing?"
"Better to just dive right into it, right?" Ren answered. "C'mon, show me what you got."
Clearly somewhat nervous, she placed the bag that had been in her hand down inside one of the booths in the corner of the room, after which she made her way over towards the tablet that acted as a song-selection device.
It took little time for Ann to find a song she wanted to dance to, though even then her finger lingered on the selection. She took a deep breath, calming her nerves and steeling her resolve before she clicked on the track and headed toward center-stage. In what would turn out to be a nice touch, the lights automatically dimmed above the booths and brightened on the stage, quite literally leaving her as the center of attention.
The blonde's movements, admittedly, started off rather plain, though once the beat picked up, so too did she. Each step she took breathed passion an energy, having very few 'awkward' motions in her dancing. She did seem to have a natural emphasis on her hips and legs, much to the enjoyment of Morgana who couldn't even so much as blink lest he miss a second of the performance. Joker, however, watched with his signature blank expression, making it virtually impossible to tell quite what he thought of it.
After a few minutes passed and the song was at an end, Ann smiled triumphantly, clearly satisfied with her performance. She wiped a bead of sweat off of her temple, all the while the lights returned to their natural state throughout the room.
"So? Whatcha think?" Ann asked.
"Y-You were fantastic!" Morgana immediately exclaimed. "An absolute knockout as expected, Lady Ann!"
"Aw, thanks Mona," she cooed pleasantly. "Although I did expect that from you no matter how I did. What did you think, Ren? Pretty good, right?"
"Well…" Ren trailed off.
Though it was near-impossible to tell what he was actually thinking, it was obvious to the aspiring model that he wasn't exactly blown away. Given that his was the only feedback in the room he could trust, it did have her a bit worried.
"T-That bad?" Ann uttered, almost nervously.
"No, not at all," Ren quickly stated. "How can I put it…? It's not as smooth as it should be, maybe? Or fluid?"
"…that kinda sounds like a nice way of saying I just wasn't good," Ann pointed out.
It seemed that Ren was having difficulty in determining how he should phrase his feedback. Ultimately, he took off his glasses and placed them on the table before getting up and walking towards the stage.
"Why don't I just show you? It'll be easier to explain after," Ren stated.
"Huh?" uttered Ann in shock. "Since when do you dance? You know what, never mind. The stage is all yours."
The two had swapped positions, placing the infamous leader of the Phantom Thieves center-stage. He held a calm aura, exuding confidence and charisma as if he was already telling those watching they were in for a show. In a flash, the lights brightened and the song track started, being something far jazzier by contrast to what Ann had previously chosen.
It was beyond clear from the start how immense Ren's skill was when it came to dancing. Every movement he made happened rapidly and so cleanly that you hardly even noticing him in transition from step-to-step. From head to toe, his limbs moved at such a quick pace that it was mind-boggling he hadn't lost his balance.
As eye-catching as the moves themselves were, more captivating still was the aura that continued to amplify around him as he danced. Each of his motions came with confidence that was so self-assured that it bordered on arrogance, albeit in a charming way. He was clearly aware of how captivating his performance was, and he didn't care who knew it.
'H-Holy shit! How is he this good?!' Ann thought. Her heart was racing from just watching his every step, her eyes simply unable to look away. 'Hold on, is he… this feels a lot like I'm looking at Joker right now…'
The way Ren moved with such effortless style certainly brought the imagery of his alter-ego in the Metaverse. Still, to see it on display like this was truly something to behold.
Once the track was nearing its end, he donned a finishing pose complete with a devilish, almost flirty smile he directed at the audience. Ann felt her face heat up in response, being thankful that there wasn't any chance he'd notice given the dimmed lights over her head.
Ren held that same pose for just a few moments more after the lights had come back on, unable to prevent his inner-showoff from making an appearance.
"W-Woah, oh my god!" Morgana shouted. "I… I wish I had hands so I could clap! J-Joker, that was…! That was so…!"
"It was incredible!" Ann exclaimed, finishing the feline's sentence.
"Why thank you," he replied, running hand through his hair in a casual manner as he exited the stage.
"No need to be so humble," Morgana uttered sarcastically. "Still, after dancing like that, I think you've more than earned a quick ego-trip."
"Like he needs an excuse," Ann remarked with a wry grin.
"Hey, I did that for you, ya know," Ren shot back, sporting a smirk of his own. "Do you kind of get what I was talking about earlier?"
The blonde appeared to think on it for a time. It was clear to her that he wanted to illustrate how fluidity of motion as important, but from her perspective that did her little good.
"Well, you moved super smoothly," Ann began, still clearly puzzled. "And… ugh, sorry, I'm not sure I get it. I-I mean I do, but I don't… sorta? Were you trying to show me how making my dance moves flow better was the key?"
"Yeah, pretty much," answered Ren. "I don't get why you're acting confused though. You clearly seemed to understand, so—"
"No, I get it. I just don't see how I'm supposed to replicate that so easily…" Ann stated. The frustration in her tone was somewhat obvious, and more obvious still was that it was directed at herself. She looked to Joker, asking, "How often do you dance, by the way?"
"Hardly ever, that I think about it…"
"No way!" Ann replied in abject disbelief. "You really expect me to believe that you're that good without practicing a lot?"
The plain look she received in response had more or less answered her question. It annoyed her beyond belief that it seemed he was telling the truth, but voicing it wouldn't get her anywhere.
"W-Well, fine, whatever," she uttered dismissively. "Then what's your secret?"
"Honestly, it's all in the head."
"You mean like what's on your mind when you're dancing?" Ann reasoned. She received a nod in response. "So then… what do you think about while you dance?"
"Mostly triangles, X's, squares, circles, and touchpad arrows."
"Is that supposed to be a joke…?" Ann asked with a deadpanned expression, her eyes half-lidded.
"…sure, let's go with that."
"Will you take this seriously?!" Ann huffed.
"You know, it's funny you ask. I think the issue is that you're taking this too seriously," Ren answered in an even tone. He hummed in thought for a short time, cupping his chin all the while and staring the blond analytically. "Yeah, definitely. When I was watching you dance, I felt like you were thinking too much."
"How do you mean?" asked Ann curiously. "Like I'm focusing too much on my movements?"
"I think so, yeah. Dancing, at least to me, is all about doing and feeling rather than thinking," Ren explained. "I expected you of all people would be great at that. If there's anyone I know that's great at feeling and doing instead of thinking, it's you."
Though it seemed as if the raven-haired teen was attempting to give a her a compliment, his close friend didn't seem to take it that way.
"W-Wait, if you say it like that, you make it sound like I never think before doing anything…" Ann uttered.
In response, Ren didn't say so much as a word. He stared at her blankly as she awaited a response that never came, his only movements being a few brief blinks of his eyes. She almost immediately smacked his shoulder, her cheeks red from embarrassment.
"I don't always do stuff without thinking!" She shouted in protest. "Is that seriously your perception of me?!"
"Well…"
"I'll cry! Don't think I won't!"
"Oh come on, I was only joking," Ren answered, unable to hold back a slight bit of laughter.
In response, the blonde huffed and averted her gaze. It seemed as if she was about to chastise him further, though the abrupt sound of a song's beginnings echoed from the speakers before she could. She looked at Ren, confusion written all over her face given that she didn't even see him go over to select a song.
The enigmatic teen was staring back at her with a leading smirk, mischief written in his dark-gray eyes all the while. He softly grabbed her wrist without warning, pulling her towards the stage.
"C'mon, the next song's up," Ren uttered.
"Wait, hold on…!" Ann exclaimed.
The shock of the moment left her totally unprepared when they did reach the stage. Ren was at her side, clearly waiting for the song's beat to kick up.
'She couldn't look more like a deer caught in headlights if she tried,' thought Ren, unable to stifle a chuckle. Nevertheless, he wasn't cruel enough to let her stand in place as she was. "Remember, don't think, just do."
The teen's words seemed to bring Ann out of her stupor, though she was still far from prepared to start dancing on demand. He however had no such issues and started moving the second the first chords started to drop.
Ann took a singular deep breath, attempting to clear her mind as best as she could before she too started to bust out her moves.
The two were clearly in their comfort zones, each moving with the fluidity of a river and the style to match their eloquent motions. They went back and forth as if competing with one another in a playful manner, doing so with bright smiles plastered from ear to ear.
It wasn't until they began to dance together, though, that sparks truly started to fly.
In one of the instances where it had become Ren's 'turn', so to speak, he extended his hand towards her with magnetic confidence. Reflexively, Ann took it, even playfully spinning as he pulled her close.
They moved in near-perfect harmony, which while impressive, paled in comparison to the aura that seemed to engulf the dancefloor. Passion and energy exuded from the stage in such abundance that even a blind man would have taken notice.
Morgana could only watch in the audience, captivated by the performance if his unblinking eyes and wagging tail were anything to go by. Words alone couldn't quite do the sight justice.
When the music finally stopped, the two dancers twirled apart, keeping a single hand locked to the other's so as to not come off balance. Both were sweating noticeably in the wake of the performance, each breathing heavily for a time in what could only be a testament to the effort and passion they'd put forth.
Neither of them said a word for quite some time. As their breathing continued to calm, the simply stared into one another's eyes, their hands still linked. In the moment though, it was unlikely they knew they even realized what they were doing. The performance had clearly left them zoned out.
It wasn't until Morgana offered a gushing exclamation that they broke out of their trance.
"Woah, you two were amazing! You really lit up the stage!"
"Yeah, I'll say. I mean, I felt that for crying out loud. That was really something else…" Ann said though strained breath. "I didn't think I could ever really dance like that so easily."
"There wasn't a doubt in my mind," Ren answered. "Which was why I set that song to play in advance. Sorry if I surprised you, I just figured it had to be sudden for it to work."
"…I knew it," Ann uttered, clearly finding humor in the aftermath of what most would call an 'ambush'. "I guess I should've expected as much though. It's so like you to do something like that."
By this point the two were finally conscious of the fact that they still held their finishing pose from the joint dance number. Ann's eyes casually glossed over to their joined hands, which in turn alerted her partner as well.
"S-Sorry, kinda got lost in the moment," Ren apologized, retracting his hand.
Somewhat awkwardly, he made his way back over to the booth before finding and putting his glasses back on. The fact that he'd done so quickly captured his blond friend's curiosity.
"What is it?" Ren asked evenly, noticing Ann's curious expression.
"Oh, uh… it's nothing," she replied.
Abruptly, a phone started to ring in the corner of the room—being the one that the room came with. Ren walked over and answered.
"What is it?"
"It's the front desk," replied Ren. "They want to know if we need another hour."
"I think I'm good actually. Thanks to you, I think I've got a good idea of how I should be practicing," Ann replied.
"I'll tell them no then."
He did so a moment later, and upon hanging up the phone and turning back around, he was met with the sight of Ann holding out the bag that she'd been carrying since they met up a short while ago.
"It's a gift," she simply explained. "Call it a thanks for helping me out today. It's nothing special, but you'll definitely love it!"
Ren took the bag from her hand and reached in, pulling out a black t-shirt that had a zero on its chest, in the middle of which was a large print of the word 'DANCE'. Though simple in design, he couldn't help but smile. It suited both his tastes and style perfectly.
"I knew you'd like it," Ann remarked, clearly pleased with herself.
"And you were right," Ren stated, placing it back in the shopping bag. Still, he had one burning question on his mind. "By the way… how'd you know I was going to be able to help you out in the first place?"
"Call it my feminine intuition," she answered with a teasing smile. "Although I admit I didn't think I'd make so much progress right off the bat. Where your confidence in my dancing came from, I have no idea."
The raven-haired thief of hearts seemed to think on exactly that for a few seconds' time.
"Honestly, I couldn't tell ya. It's weird to say this, but somewhere deep down I just knew you were a good dancer…"
While their conversation would have undoubtedly continued, a message on each of their phones sounded off in tandem. That, of course, meant only one thing, and as such they rushed to see what the message was.
"Futaba wants us to head over to Leblanc?" Ann wondered aloud. She turned to their group's leader. "Any idea what this is about?"
"I had a feeling she was planning something, but I'll be honest when I say I have no idea what," Ren replied. "Guess there's only one way to find out."
"Lead the way."
Yongen-Jaya: Café Leblanc, Some Time Later…
The Trickster and Panther entered the café to a sight they hadn't quite been expecting. Sojiro stood behind the counter pinching the bridge of his nose meanwhile Yusuke simply sat in one of the corner booths in a statuesque fashion.
They shared a concerned glance with one another, wondering in unison what one earth was happening.
"Ah, welcome," greeted Yusuke pleasantly.
"Dammit, this thing is so…!"
The teen's rage-filled groaning echoed from all the way upstairs. Ann and Ren were naturally a bit concerned, though Yusuke acted as if it were perfectly natural.
"Futaba's doing some sort of hacking upstairs," Sojiro explained.
"And judging by the sound of it, things aren't exactly going well…" Ann thought aloud.
"Seemingly not, no," Yusuke stated, his voice as calm as ever.
"Is that why you're down here?" Ren asked.
"To a degree, yes. I was attempting to provide what I believed to be useful feedback, but then I was asked to leave due to 'drowning out her mojo'," Yusuke replied. His general demeanor suggested he felt the request was perfectly reasonable, though he quickly confirmed as much. "I complied because naturally, as an artist, I can sympathize with the need for one's environment to be a specific way to maximize creativity."
The English translation of course was that he'd said something he probably shouldn't have and was then sent downstairs. Neither of his teammates present had the energy or desire to press on what exactly it was.
"Uh-huh…" muttered Ann.
The blue-eyed teen turned to Joker as if to wordlessly ask if they should head upstairs. He nodded in response and the two started off towards the staircase. They did stop just next to Fox, however, to bring him along.
"Come on, Yusuke. Let's head up," Ren invited. "I'm sure her 'mojo' will be just fine."
"Hmm… well, I do trust your creative judgment more so than most," he muttered in consideration. "Very well."
"Son of a—"
"Are you sure it's safe to go upstairs right now?" Ann questioned.
"This is nothing new. She gets like this whenever she meets a real challenge," Sojiro stated.
His words quickly caught Joker's attention. He'd never heard of Futaba encountering anywhere near a 'challenge' before. He quickly headed up the stairs, his other two Phantom Thief companions following close behind.
Upstairs…
Futaba glared heavily at her laptop's screen, her fingers seemingly moving at a pace beyond even the speed of light. Her eyes darted back and forth across the monitor like a ping-pong ball, a passionate fire emanating from them all the while.
Her fingers abruptly stopped moving as she leaned back in her chair, scowling as she did so.
"Ugh, no luck again…!" She seethed.
"It's okay, Futaba. You know this isn't something you have to do here and now," Makoto said in an attempt to reassure her.
"Yeah, I mean, if it's just that tough, no reason to stress about it right now," Ryuji mused.
Off to the side, sitting on the couch, Noir fidgeted somewhat.
"M-Maybe I should go downstairs with Yusuke-kun after all."
"There's no need for that, Haru," Futaba said. "Besides, we've already established your curse with technology doesn't extend to people around you."
"Still though…"
"Why are you two seriously acting like Haru's cursed or something…?"
"Oh, we're talking about Haru's curse?" Ren asked as he entered from the stairwell.
All eyes quickly turned to their leader and the remaining members of their team. Most everyone reacted with friendly smiles, though Queen could only sigh on account of his choice of words.
"You too?" asked Makoto with a sigh. "She's quite self-conscious of that, you know."
"I appreciate your concern, Mako-chan," said Haru pleasantly. "However, my curse is very much real."
"I have two broken laptops of hers as evidence of that," Futaba stated.
"And speaking of computers…" Ren began, walking up to the orange-haired teen to take a peek at her computer's screen. "What exactly are you up to?"
"Currently, I'm trying to hack into the servers of the Jeanie app," Futaba replied. Seeing the raised brow on behalf of their leader, she elaborated. "You remember how I said there was a signal being sent to that device we snagged earlier, right? We know it was part of a network of device that was siphoning data from the Jeanie app servers, but we just couldn't find the receiving signal. So…"
"You're hacking the Jeanie servers to see if you can reverse-trace any intruding signal," Ren guessed.
"Bingo," stated the orange-haired teen with a proud glint in her eyes. "Once I'm in, I should be able to do exactly that."
"Although you've as of yet been unsuccessful in hacking the database," Yusuke blankly remarked.
"Dude, do you want to get kicked out again?" Ryuji asked, shaking his head at his friend's ignorance.
"Meh, whether he's here or not doesn't matter anymore. I've got Ren, and he'll bring all the luck I need!" Futaba exclaimed confidently. "Now sit tight!"
The hacker went to work once again, though as she did so Joker noticed something oddly peculiar.
"Hey, Futaba…" Ren began. "Why are you only using your laptop? I thought you mentioned you only used it as a sub-processor when you hack into difficult systems."
"Nice memory," she complimented with a smirk. "And while this is a bit more difficult than I had thought, I'm too stubborn to give up on the challenge now. And incidentally…"
With the final few clicks, it seemed that the young prodigy had gained the access she had so sorely coveted up until that point. She chuckled mischievously, a bit of pride showing in her eyes.
"We're in!" Futaba uttered.
"Damn, guess Ren really does bring the luck," Ryuji said with a chuckle.
"Doesn't he though?" Yusuke commented.
"Guys, shush," chastised Makoto. "I'm sure Futaba needs peace and quiet to remain focused."
"Actually, not really," she stated. "Getting in is usually the hardest part. Now I just have to do a trace on the information we know they were pulling, and…"
Within seconds, the orange-haired hacker pumped her fist in joy. Clearly, she'd managed to do exactly as she had hoped, which came as a source of relief for all of her teammates present.
"Yes! Yes!" Futaba cheered, her fingers moving tenaciously along her keyboard. "It's being sent to multiple locations, but I would bet money we could cross this with the locations from Naoto-san's tracker and we should have ourselves a winner."
All that needed to be done was to simply download the information and be done with it. The progress bar showed up, though tragically it seemed to freeze within seconds thereafter.
A puzzled Futaba looked over the download with furrowed brows, unable to make heads or tails as to why it had suddenly frozen up on her. It wasn't limited to the download either; everything from the mouse to her keyboard no longer had any effect on the screen.
"W-What the hell?!" Futaba exclaimed.
"What happened?" Ryuji inquired.
"My screen just… it just froze!" Futaba replied.
Said screen continued to be unresponsive for a time. However, eventually a chat window forcible appeared from the corner, much to her and everyone else's surprise. It was just herself and a user with the tag 'Jinn'.
"What kind of a name is that…?" Futaba wondered aloud.
"It's another name for a genie," Ren explained.
"Oh, right!" Ann exclaimed offhandedly. "I remember we went over that in our world history class. I think its… Arabic, right?"
"Nerds," Ryuji muttered through a fake cough.
He quickly received a glare from Queen.
"I would advise you to take a page out of their book and pay at least some attention in class."
"Well who or whatever he is, I can't kick him out," Futaba stated, distress clear in her tone. "It's like he's got total control of my system somehow…!"
Jinn: Impressive you actually managed to worm your way into our system. What might you have been looking for?
"Yeah, like I'm gonna tell you that…" Futaba grumbled.
Jinn: Not going to talk? Fine, have it your way.
It was then that the laptop's screen started to unfreeze, though Futaba herself clearly had nothing to do with it. In a frustrated panic she tried to wrest control of the device back from the unwanted guest, but to no avail.
"What's he doing?" Ren inquired, voicing the collective question on the minds of his other teammates.
"Anything he wants, at this point," Futaba uttered with narrowed eyes. "Still, it should take him a while to go through my scripts at this point to figure out how I got in and what I was doing. If I head back to the house now and hop on my desktop, I can maybe…"
Jinn: Well, this is certainly interesting. At this point, I almost want to thank you for breaking into our system.
The anonymous individual's choice of words quickly had her attention. Even by her most conservative estimates, there should have been no chance he was able to gather what he needed so quickly.
"There's… there's no way this guy was that fast."
Jinn: You have my thanks for alerting me to this hole in our system. Still, I can't assume you wanted this data for harmless reasons. I won't report you to the authorities, however. Consider yourself lucky since this will seem like just a slap on the wrist by comparison.
"Come again?" Futaba uttered confusedly.
She was about to actually type a response in the hopes of either figuring out what he'd meant and/or to try and reason with the person on the opposite end of the screen. Clearly, he had other plans, as a loud clanking sound started to echo from within the laptop itself.
The screen started to buzz with static, ultimately becoming completely blank as a loud pop could be heard and sparks could be seen flying out of the device's back. A stunned Futaba could only watch in stunned, abject horror as the laptop was torn to pieces from the inside out.
Her teammates looked at her with concerned expressions, each knowing that what had just happened likely caused some serious psychological damage. They stayed quiet, waiting and hoping to get a response from her before they said anything.
Their hand was forced after several minutes passed without the orange-haired teen so much as moving, let alone speaking.
"Futaba…?" Ren asked warily.
A lone tear streamed from the corner of her eye, all the while she pounded the table on which her laptop sat with everything she had.
"That asshole just fried my computer!" Futaba shouted in disbelief. She grasped the sides of the monitor with tender care. "My baby, my beautiful baby! What did that horrible person do to you?!"
Her raven-haired brother figure placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as she continued to sob in sprints. He couldn't' help but sympathize, knowing exactly how much hard work and effort went into making that laptop what it was.
"H-Hey, cheer up, Futaba," Ann said, attempting to sound as comforting as she could.
"Oh, I'll cheer up alright…" Futaba muttered. She perked up, her eyes holding a red-hot rage within them. "I'll cheer up just as soon as I get that information from Jeanie's server. Then, I'm gonna make that asshat pay for destroying my baby. I'm gonna get him back for every single yen of the hundred and fifty-thousand he owes!"
"A-A hundred and fifty-thousand yen?!" Ryuji shouted in surprise. "The hell is it made of? Gold?!"
"The cost is not the issue," Yusuke calmly interjected. "You cannot attach monetary value to something that has such deep personal meaning. Your loss shall be avenged, Futaba. Although I admit we may be rather useless in helping you exact your revenge…"
As weird as he could be, the aspiring artist understood more than anyone else the emotional value of things. His words of comfort came straight from the heart, and even if it was Yusuke that was giving them, the orange-haired teen couldn't help but smile in response.
"T-Thanks, Yusuke. It's the thought that counts," Futaba replied.
"Is there anything the rest of us can do?" Makoto inquired. "Maybe Naoto-san or Yu-san could—"
"At this point, even if they could, I think Futaba would refuse out of pride," Ren stated. He smiled confidently as he looked to the teen in question. "And I have a feeling she'll get us what we need."
"Count on it," she replied with conviction. "I'll have to get to my desktop asap though, otherwise it's likely that guy will shut down the White Masks intrusion and we'll be SOL. But don't worry, we'll have the info we need before the clock hits midnight, or my name's not Futaba Sakura!"
Yongen-Jaya: Sakura Household, Futaba's Room, Shortly Thereafter…
Once again, the Phantom Thief's resident hacker went to work trying to breach the Jeanie servers while her teammates stood at her side prepared to offer whatever support they could.
"I'm in again," Futaba announced, a determined look in her eyes as she prepared for the inevitable. "Looks like we're in luck. They haven't closed out the hole in their server just yet. Still, now that I'm in…"
Just as she'd expected, the enigmatic Jinn went to work attempting to wiggle their way into her desktop's systems in much the same way they had prior. The young prodigy couldn't help but smirk amply at the incursion.
"Oh no you don't, not this time!" Futaba whispered to herself.
What proceeded was a battle of code the likes of which very few people could have appreciated or comprehended, and sadly those that surrounded her were not any such people. The remainder of the Phantom Thieves just watched as she clicked away, unsure of exactly who had the advantage.
Ryuji turned to Ren, asking, "So, uh… any idea what's goin' on right now?"
"Just coding stuff," he replied, shrugging his shoulders. "So I've got no idea."
"Good, at least I'm not the only one," Ryuji stated.
"That makes three of us…" Ann chimed in. "I'm too afraid of distracting her to ask how it's going."
Haru started to inch away as if doing so would somehow grant Futaba extra luck in the hacking bout, though Makoto quickly grabbed her wrist and stopped her before she moved so much as a step. She could only chuckle nervously in response.
"I mean, it couldn't hurt, right?" Haru asked.
"For the last time, Haru, you're not cursed," Makoto chided.
"You say that, but…"
Abruptly, Futaba released a tired sigh, drawing everyone's attention. Thankfully, it didn't seem that she'd been beaten as of yet given that she was still typing away at break-neck speeds.
"Everything okay?" Ren asked.
"Yes and no," she replied begrudgingly. "I hate to admit it, but whoever this Jinn guy is, he's one tough nut to crack. To think someone like this even exists is just…"
"Does that mean we're SOL?" Ryuji muttered with a grimace.
"No, definitely not. It's just that the way things are playing out, it feels like we could go on fighting like this forever," Futaba replied. "But by this point I know the skill of the person I'm dealing with, so he probably knows that already. The question is what he'll do about it…"
She expected an open line of communication to be set up, and moments later she was proven correct. Another chat window forced its way open on her computer, though unlike prior she still maintained absolute control of her system.
Jinn: You're a quick learner. I'm impressed.
"Ah, the parlay commences," Futaba thought aloud. "Now for the username, and…"
Alibaba: You're not too shabby yourself. I take it you know as well as I do that this'll never end?
Jinn: I disagree.
Futaba's glared heavily at the screen, her left eye twitching as her rage started to build. She read that statement with the underlying arrogance it was clearly intended to possess and she was more than ready to give him a piece of her mind.
Jinn: However, the truth is I have bigger problems to deal with right now. Whatever leak you were digging into, I can't seem to close.
Alibaba: That seems like a whole lot of not my problem.
Jinn: It is if you want the data you were searching for.
"Ah…" Futaba muttered to herself.
"What?" asked Ren.
"This one's an extortionist," Futaba replied.
"A what now?" Ryuji uttered confusedly.
"An extortionist is someone that strongarms people in order to get what they want," Makoto explained.
"Sooo… what does he want?" Ann wondered aloud.
"My help," Futaba answered. She cracked her fingers and her neck, putting herself in the zone before she would ultimately respond to the person on the other side of the computer. "Sorry, guys, but this will probably take a while. I'll get that file, trust me, but it's gonna take some serious work."
"…meaning we should probably head out," Ren mused.
The rest of everyone silently agreed and quickly cleared the room, though they bid their farewells beforehand all the same. When the door finally closed and all was quiet, a zoned-in Futaba Sakura was ready to strike a bargain with the fellow coder.
Alibaba: Let's skip to the part where I ask how I know I can trust you?
Jinn: Let's skip to the part where I mention I can report you to the authorities for your own illegal incursion if you don't.
Alibaba: Let's skip to the part where you stop being such a massive ******* *** ****
The presence of the star symbols had Futaba looking at her screen in disbelief.
"…who the hell censors curse words by default in 2016?" she uttered in disbelief.
Jinn: I'm surprised that someone as infamous as you is such a child. Then again, maybe I shouldn't be.
Alibaba: **** you.
Jinn: Charming. Truly charming.
Alibaba: What was "charming" was you blowing up my laptop! Who DOES something like that?!
Jinn: Is that seriously why you're being so belligerent?
Alibaba: And if it is, what of it?
Jinn: Look, do you need the information or not?
Alibaba: Swear to me you'll actually give it to me if I help you, and we've got a deal. And of course, if you lie, I will track you down and make your life a living hell. MORE so than I was already planning.
Jinn: You continue to be remarkably charming, do you know that?
Futaba felt a white-hot rage start to build from her very core.
"This guy is such a pretentious, condescending…" she growled.
Jinn: Nevertheless, we have a deal.
Alibaba: Then let's get started. And try to keep up with me.
Jinn: You took the words right out of my keyboard.
Tokyo: Shibuya District Precinct, Some Time Later…
A lone suited man sat at a table in the center of an interrogation room. He made virtually no sound whatsoever but was nevertheless visibly nervous. Abruptly, the door opened courtesy of an officer, giving way to a blue-haired woman who wasted no time in taking a seat directly across from him.
Naoto eyed the man briefly, seeing nothing particularly eye-catching about his appearance. Black hair and brown eyes, and a complexion typical of a Japanese male in their early thirties.
"Ryu Takaheshi: age thirty-two, height one hundred seventy-seven centimeters, and a suspected affiliate of the Yamaguchi Yakuza. Stop me if anything I've said is incorrect?" Naoto spoke.
The man remained stubbornly silent, averting his eyes in evident disgust. That he was being so uncooperative only made the detective all the more intent on pressing on.
"You're in quite a lucky position, you know. You're other two comrades we've apprehended have yet to be cleared for questioning, meaning you are in the best position to give up useful information in exchange for a favorable sentence," Naoto went on. She proceeded to place around a dozen or so photos, mostly of young women, out on the table for the man to observe. "Now, do you recognize any of these individuals?"
Naoto was attempting to apply a rather standard technique: baiting a belligerent suspect into taking the fall for a number of his group's crimes. Even if he wouldn't answer questions directly, he'd likely jump at the opportunity to make himself as useful as possible by acting like a sponge for charges so that others wouldn't take the fall, and in turn Naoto would gain the benefit of knowing just who the White Masks had actually kidnapped. It would also be a dead giveaway that even if the man wouldn't talk, he at least had the information she wanted.
It hardly surprised her that he took a good, long look at the photos, however the way he was looking at them did. He seemed to be going over them in the hope's that it would jog his own memory. Sadly for the both of them, it seemed that the photos failed to do so.
"L-Look, I ain't got nothin', okay?" he muttered in response. "I don't recognize any o' these people."
"Perfectly fine," Naoto replied dispassionately. "Then perhaps instead you might tell us where the kidnapped victims are being held?"
"Like I said, I don't know—"
"Where is the White Masks base of operations?"
"White Masks? I don't—"
"What is their overall goal? What is it that your group hopes to achieve?"
"I—"
"And why is it that you decided to join them?"
"Will you shut up about the White Masks already? I don't even know who the fuck they are!" He shouted angrily.
In the wake of his outburst, Naoto was entirely unphased. Seeing her ever-calm, steely expression seemed to actually intimidate the gangster, who quelled his growing rage and frustration on instinct.
"Then what do you know?" Naoto calmly pressed.
"I… I just…!" he stammered, pinching the bridge of his nose. He sighed heavily, pausing for a time to gather his thoughts. "I know you won't believe me, but at this point I don't give a rat's ass. I don't know anything about no White Masks. The last thing I remember is hanging out on the town with a few of my boys, and then the next thing I know, I'm wakin' up in a hospital bed surrounded by cops. I don't know nothin' about no kidnappings, I don't know nothin' about no White Masks, and I don't know nothin' about who they are and what they want. If I did, I'd tell ya, but I don't, so tough shit."
"I see. Well then, I thank you for your time."
With that, the blue-haired young woman left the room. The Yakuza in turn just looked on at her retreating form right until the door closed, his mouth agape. He looked around the room confused, obviously not expecting the question to end so abruptly.
Behind the tinted glass observing the room, Yu stood in place waiting for Naoto to arrive. Moments later, she did, appearing far more concerned than he'd hoped she would be.
"I take it then that you think he's telling the truth," Yu reasoned.
"I'm almost certain he is," replied Naoto. "That makes him exactly the same as the others."
The implications of that were not lost to the young lawyer, who couldn't help but scowl.
"And you think that's really possible?" Yu asked.
"It's difficult to say," she admitted. "There are any number of possibilities. However, the one I fear above all else is that this man was quite literally not in control of his own actions."
"Then the White Masks…" Yu trailed off.
"Could very well be people robbed of their own free will. It's very possible, yes," Naoto solemnly stated. "The three we have in custody are all known affiliates of Yakuza groups. There's no telling if other far more innocent people may have befallen the same fate."
"But if that were the case, why would they even need to kidnap people in the first place?" posited Yu.
It was a fair question. After all, if the White Masks somehow had the ability to take over the cognitive ability of another individual entirely, why stoop to kidnapping? Even more so than that, why bother staying in the Metaverse whatsoever? Why not simply take over the world and accomplish whatever your heart's desire may be?
"Clearly there are limitations on its scope or scale," Naoto reasoned, offering the first of only two plausible explanations that made any sense to her. "Either that, or whomever is behind all this has some sort of strange moral code by which they go about their business. Presumably, that person is this 'Shadow' we previously met."
In either case, it meant the stakes for stopping the White Masks—stopping Shadow— had just gone up astronomically. Whether by fate or fortune, Naoto received a text that would move them towards exactly that.
Checking the sender, she muttered, "It's from Futaba-san. She's saying to be ready with the data I've collected from the tracking device and that she hopes to have something to help with a breakthrough."
"Then let's hope she pulls through."
Yongen-Jaya: Sakura Household
From within the confines of her room, Futaba all but slammed her forehead on the surface of her desk, groaning annoyedly all the while. It was rare for her to ever lose her energy and drive in the moment like this, but the situation seemed to call for it.
Even though she would only ever begrudgingly admit it, Jinn had proven to be a pro in every sense of the word. The fact that Futaba hated him notwithstanding, his skill was more than she'd ever encountered before. Theoretically, as a duo they should have been unstoppable, and yet even with their combined wit and will, they'd gotten nowhere.
Jinn: I'm starting to think that we won't be able to fix this on our end…
Alibaba: Wait! No! We can still try!
Futaba desperately typed her response, still hellbent on getting what she came for even in spite of her weakened will. In her mind, failure wasn't an option.
Jinn: I admire your spirit, but I don't think this is a job for myself or Alibaba.
Just as she was about to type back, a file transfer notification popped up. She stopped in place, waiting for reality to sink back in.
"Wait, is this…" Futaba muttered.
When the transfer was complete, she cautiously scanned it before opening it and skimming through, finding that it had been the exact data that she had been looking for. She was nearly at a loss for words.
Jinn: Obviously, I never gave that to you.
Alibaba: Mind explaining why you did?
Jinn: Because from what I've seen, this is more something up the Phantom Thieves' alley, no?
"Cocky coder says what now…?" Futaba said, confusion written all over her face.
Jinn: I apologize for reading a few of the chat logs stored on your other computer, but the truth is I couldn't let you have the information you were after without knowing why you wanted it. What I saw… was something beyond my wildest imagination.
Alibaba: Hang on, you got my chat history? How?! There's a kill switch if the encryption gets broken!
Jinn: I'm also sorry for our system's shortcomings and for my own ineptitude. I'd never dreamt in a million years something like this could happen… but regret and remorse don't change anything. I will place my faith in you and the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. You don't need to worry about interference from my end, so please… fix this mess.
Futaba could read through the sincerity of the words typed. It had her smiling ever-so-slightly as a result.
"Huh, so I guess he has some humility after all…" she said to herself.
Jinn: Ah, to actually answer your question. Your code needs work, that's how. Enjoy your evening.
With that, the chat window closed and Jinn had vanished as abruptly as he had appeared. Futaba on the other hand, was livid upon reading his last stamen.
"Oh hell no! You did not just smack-talk my coding and run!"
In her annoyance, she nearly started to shake one of her own monitors, though she took a deep breath and calmed herself before it went that far.
With a frustrated sigh, she slumped back down into her chair.
"Huh, so this is what it feels like to get your ass handed to you on a silver platter, huh…?" Futaba wondered aloud. Her eyes narrowed reflexively. "That he was able to get past my encryption and the kill switch is almost unreal. And even then, the two of us together weren't able to close the hole in Jeanie's network, so the White Masks must have someone even better than us."
For someone who prided herself on her ability in the way that Futaba did, the day's recent events had been nothing short of a massive wake-up call.
"I have to keep working to get better and better, no matter what," Futaba thought aloud.
Still, all in all, she'd gotten exactly what she wanted. All that was left was to see if it was what she hoped for it to be.
What would come after, there was no way of knowing.
A/N That's this week's chapter, and as always, next chapter will land next week. Hope you all enjoyed, and I'll see ya next time!
Explanations:
What's Next: Basically, it will be the beginning of the end of the White Mask arc.
Sae and Makoto: My intent here is to make them work better as sisters. To me they clearly love each other but their relationship and interactions are stiff and overly minimal most of the time, and obviously after Sae's Palace in P5, there's a bit of reunion they begin to have as sisters/family. I wanted to continue that arc of them really becoming close to one another in a meaningful way and to make that rather central to their personal stories.
Persona Dancing Star Night: Obviously, there are a number of easter eggs in this chapter that relate to this game, from Ren having the suspicion that Ann is a good dancer to his own ability to dance. Here are a few of the easter eggs explained:
1) X's, circles, triangles joke – Yes, this is a reference to the PlayStation controls for the dancing games. Just wanted to explain the joke in case people didn't get it.
2) Ann's Gift to Ren – The shirt is Ren's shirt from the dancing game for reference.
Haru's Curse: For those of you that are unaware, this is also sort of a reference to the dancing game. It's stated there that Haru is weak to technology, so of course her friend group would joke about it when it's relevant
Futaba vs. Jinn: I wanted to at least offer some perspective that Futaba, while a phenomenal and capable hacker, is not the end-all-be-all of the computer world. I wanted to show she's not always capable of anything and everything just to keep her on her toes and offer a bit more of a humbling and motivating factor to her character. This isn't a nerf necessarily to her ability, it's just to say there were other people who are as good if not better, and since Futaba is young and doesn't experience 'defeat' very often, she tends to be cocky and that backfires in situations when two people are on equal footing in any arena of life.