Thanks for all the feedback I've gotten so far! I have a request if you have the time when you review. I'm still trying to find my voice for most of the cast, so if you feel like a certain character is weak or not portrayed quite correctly, I'd love to hear any suggestions if you have them. If you don't, or don't want to review, that's okay too! Thank you.
The back of Akira's collar stuck to his neck due to sweat, only minorly comforted by the warm breeze wafting through the window. He spun his phone in his hand slowly, lost in thought over the upcoming summer vacation and Futaba Sakura.
Makoto sat nearby, going over calculus equations that were likely to be on college entrance exams, occasionally glancing over to her phone that she set on the table. Ann was fingering through a fashion magazine with one hand, her other twirling the end of one of her pigtails absentmindedly. Yusuke ate each of his Calbee shrimp snacks in the exact same way, with precise bites down its length, like Akira saw chipmunks eating on web videos.
Ryuji leaned dangerously back in his chair, one of his feet against the table Akira set up when his friends came over. He was reading on his phone, scrolling with his thumb rapidly, seemingly disinterested in whatever he was reading.
Morgana left them several minutes earlier to attempt to sneak into Sojiro's house. Every attempt to talk to to Futaba, whether it be by talking at her through her door or slipping pieces of paper under the crack in the bottom, had been unsuccessful. After attempting to sneak in with sushi for Sojiro as a front and Sojiro's later explanation of Futaba's past, she had shut them out completely. It seemed that she no longer desired to have her heart stolen, and hours spent over the MetaNav with the looming threat of Medjed in everyone's minds had left them at an impasse.
They had a name. They had a location. They just didn't have the right keyword.
It was Morgana's suggestion they look for another target in the meantime, someone so big that it'd maybe scare Medjed and cause them to back off. There was also the option of finding someone that actually belonged to Medjed and stealing their heart, but that was even more unlikely, especially without Futaba's help.
"What about this one..." Ryuji said slowly, but then sighed. "Nevermind. There's no name."
Makoto placed her pen down on top of the workbook, leaning back on the couch and closing her eyes with a groan. "Even if someone has a name there, Ryuji, I doubt they're going to have a heart distorted enough to have their own palace."
"Just tryin' to find ideas," Ryuji muttered.
Akira didn't blame him. They hadn't checked the Phan-Site in a couple of weeks, too occupied with exams, Medjed and Futaba. He would have checked it himself, too, but Akira was having trouble finding motivation to do anything during the heat wave. With a yawn, he set his phone down on the table and then rested his head against the cool plastic.
"This one's got a name!" It was only a second of relief before Ryuji spoke again. "And it's got a lot of comments, too...sheesh. She's not very popular."
As Akira lifted his head from the table, Ryuji had his phone closer to his face, eyes squinted, as if he was trying to make out some of the characters. "I can't read her last name completely though. To-something...hey, Makoto-"
"Let me see," Ann said in annoyance, reaching over to snatch the phone out of Ryuji's hands. She paused as she read the screen of his phone, and Makoto curiously leaned over to look at it as well. Yusuke turned around in his seat to now face the table, bringing out his own phone.
"You couldn't read that?" Makoto asked suspiciously. "It's Togo."
"I forgot the second character!" Ryuji exclaimed defensively. "Read the comments, though."
"I'm sick of her smug face at school," Ann read out loud. Makoto seemed concerned, continuing to read silently off Ryuji's phone. "She's not as good as she thinks she is...She only wants to become famous and is using Shogi as an excuse...I can't believe she is riding off her Father's-"
"This girl goes to my school," Yusuke interrupted, now staring at his phone, delicately scrolling with his pointer finger. Ryuji grabbed his phone back from Ann, hissing for Ann to use her own phone instead of using his. "Hifumi Togo...she caused quite the uproar recently."
Makoto nodded, picking her phone up off the table. "I could tell based on the comments. It's true that she was bribing others in order to win Shogi matches, then?"
Yusuke was quiet for several seconds, continuing to read through the comments before responding. "That seems to be the case. She agreed to be banned from Shogi tournaments for the rest of the year as punishment, but I believe most felt that the punishment wasn't enough."
Makoto was reading something on her phone now, but when Akira leaned over to take a look, he could tell that it wasn't the Phan-Site, but instead a news article.
"Hifumi Togo, a second year at Kosei High School and an upcoming competitive Shogi player, has been banned from all upcoming tournaments for the remainder of the year due to bribery and cheating," Makoto read from the article aloud, and everyone looked up from their phones to listen to her. "A meeting with the Japan Shogi Association will take place early next month to discuss additional punishments and a possible lifetime ban for Miss Togo. Nicknamed the Venus of Shogi among fans, she has also recently gained popularity due to photo shoots and interviews in various magazine publications."
"Ohhhh," Ann said, her eyes widening in realization. "I thought the name Hifumi seemed familiar...there must have been an interview with her in one of the magazines I keep up with, or something. I think it described her as 'the ideal Japanese beauty'..." She then rolled her eyes, slumping against the couch.
"Sounds like it's going to sort itself out, then," Ryuji said, in slight disappointment. "If she's going to get a lifetime ban, what good would stealing her heart do?"
"She could move on," Akira spoke up. "To something else."
"To what, though?" Ann asked. "Sure, if she's wanting to become a model or something, bribery could continue there, but that's kind of natural in the modelling world...no one would blink an eye."
"It would still be dishonest," Yusuke said, placing his phone in his lap and returning to the snacks. "And I don't believe she has shown any remorse to this situation."
Makoto was still reading the article. Akira picked up his phone off the table and opened up the Phan-Site, to find the original request post himself and comments. As he scrolled down to try and locate it, Makoto began to read from the article again.
"Miss Togo is the daughter of famous rank nine Shogi player Junichi Togo, who unexpectedly retired two years ago due to ill health," Makoto read aloud to the group. "In recent interviews she stated her desire to push for and eventually gain qualification for the usually male exclusive fourth dan ranking. This sparked some controversy over the division of male and female professionals in Shogi, and discussions over whether the separate leagues should be combined. However, due to the recent anonymous tip regarding Miss Togo's bribery and cheating, most Shogi commentators agree that any future career in the sport seems unlikely."
Everyone was silent as Makoto finished reading the article, seeming to consider its words at the end. Akira was nearing the end of the Phan-Site's page when he was able to find the request to steal Hifumi's heart.
Hifumi Togo. She bribes others with money to lose matches so she can advance her Shogi career. She is a selfish person who needs to stop and won't admit to her ways without stealing her heart. Please steal their heart.
Akira frowned, and he read the request again. Something felt off about it, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly what. He heard another sigh from Makoto, a groan from Ryuji, and the shuffling of chairs.
"Well, I'm goin' to go-"
"Already, Ryuji?"
Morgana finally had returned, jumping onto the middle of the table and looking around at the group. Ryuji stopped mid-motion, as he was stretching his arms above his head, and with an exaggerated breath plopped down back into his set. "Like you found anythin' out about Futaba, Morgana."
"Not at all, but that doesn't mean we should be complacent!" Morgana scolded, turning his head to look at everyone, who appeared defeated. "We should look for our next target, to scare Medjed!"
"We know, Morgana," Ann said. "We were discussing someone just now."
"Who?" Morgana asked curiously, perking up at this information.
"She's a student at my school," Yusuke told Morgana. "She's been caught cheating in professional Shogi, and someone requested for her heart to be stolen on the Phan-Site."
Morgana deflated at this. "That's it? Someone cheating at Shogi?"
"There's a lot of comments on it!" Ryuji yelled. "People on the Phan-Site want us to steal her heart!"
"We shouldn't be wasting our time on someone in Mementos at the moment!" Morgana argued, now standing on all fours.
"To be fair," Makoto spoke up, cupping her chin in her hand with a thoughtful expression. "We haven't even checked her name in the MetaNav yet. She could be in Mementos, but she could also have a Palace."
"Why don't we check then?" Ann suggested, now sitting up straight. "If she doesn't have a Palace, but is in Mementos, we can just add it to the targets list. If she isn't a hit at all, we're arguing over nothing."
Morgana perked up at this. "An excellent suggestion, Lady Ann!"
Makoto returned to her phone and brought up the MetaNav. She looked over at Akira while it loaded, who was still staring at the request on the Phan-Site. His head tilted slightly, and the frown on his face was rather pronounced.
"Something bothering you?" Makoto asked.
"You are being quieter than usual," Yusuke said as an observation.
"It's the request," Akira said. He looked up from his phone and around the room. "It seems off, but I can't tell why."
"I'll take a look in the moment," Makoto offered, as Ann and Ryuji both straightened up in their chairs in interest. "Let me see here...Hifumi Togo..." She typed into the phone rapidly with two fingers, then hit enter.
The MetaNav's voice was loud and clear in Akira's room. "No match found."
Ryuji deflated in his seat, while Yusuke raised an eyebrow. Ann crossed her legs and began to mess with one of her pigtails, and Morgana chuckled in satisfaction and sat himself down again in the middle of his table. Makoto and Akira's were the only expressions that remained the same, as Makoto gazed at the MetaNav thoughtfully and Akira reached up with his free hand to flatten some of his hair.
"What was wrong with the request, Akira?"
"Let me read it," Akira said, straightening up in his seat. "Hifumi Togo...she bribes others with money to lose matches so she can advance her Shogi career...she is a selfish person who needs to stop and won't admit to her ways without stealing her heart...Please steal their heart."
"What seems wrong with it?" Ryuji yawned. "Seems pretty standard to me."
"No," Makoto said, shaking her head. "Akira's right. There's something off about it...let me look at it."
She closed down the MetaNav on her phone and brought up the Phan-Site, scrolling rapidly until she reached the request. In the meantime, Ann and Yusuke seemed to be bringing up the request on their phones as well. Ryuji sighed and got up from his chair, now beginning to pace the room.
After close to a minute, Makoto spoke. "I know why it was bothering you...she bribes...she can...her Shogi career...she is...her ways...her heart... please steal their heart."
"What about it?" Ann asked. "I have to agree with Ryuji, it doesn't really seem strange to me."
"The entire request refers to Hifumi with either she or her," Makoto explained. "Right up until the end. Whoever wrote this switched to their when referring to her heart being stolen, it's more vague."
Yusuke looked up from his phone, his eyes widening. "Are you suggesting...?"
"It refers to two different people," Akira said. He turned off the screen on his phone, and set it back on the table. "She might not be the real target."
Ryuji stopped walking around the room, now seemingly interested in the conversation at hand. He wandered back over to his seat and sat himself down. Morgana seemed flabbergasted at this, his mouth hanging open, but the shine in his eyes told Akira that he was also intrigued.
"Who could it be, then...?" Ann pondered, still reading the request on her phone.
Makoto closed down the Phan-Site and brought up the article she read aloud earlier. She scrolled through it quickly, before coming to a stop on a paragraph towards the bottom. "Akira, try this name. Junichi Togo."
"Her father?" Yusuke questioned.
"It would make sense," Morgana said, seeming convinced. Akira picked his phone back up and turned on the MetaNav to type it in. "If she isn't the one responsible for setting up the cheating, we should start with those that are closest to her."
"How do you write it?" Akira asked, and he typed it in just the way Makoto told him.
The result was disappointing.
"No match found."
"Augh, this is too difficult," Ryuji complained, throwing his head back to stare at the ceiling. Ann rested her head against the table with a sigh. "Why give the wrong name for a request when she isn't who we're even supposed to be going after?"
Makoto's eyes appeared clouded, her brows drawn together. She put her hand to her chin with her free hand, while appearing to bring up a new web page from her phone with the other. Morgana had taken Ryuji's place in walking around the room, his head turned downward, staring at the floor. Akira watched as Makoto moved her chin to her pen and wrote something down in the margins, out of the way of her equations.
"Looks like you found something," Akira said.
"It's worth a shot," Makoto sighed. "But, I'm not hopeful...it's her mother's name."
"I sense this is going to be a dead end, no matter how hard we try," Yusuke said, leaning forward, causing some of his hair to fall in front of his face. "I could reach out to others that are at the dorms to see if I can find anything out."
No one responded. Makoto opened up the MetaNav app on her phone, and Akira kept an eye on her actions as she typed a name into the search field and hit enter.
The room around them changed, flashing a murky purple for a moment and then returning to normal. Makoto dropped her phone onto the table with a thud, and gazed at each face around her that stared at her in shock. Ann lifted her head from the table and shook her head in surprise, blinking rapidly.
"Candidate found."