-sorry this chapter is so dialogue-heavy! ughh it still turned out kinda short but i wanted to kinda get this out of the way, i have plans i wanna get to ;3c-

"There's something I need to tell you."

Akira was looking him right in the eyes, holding his hands across a table in Leblanc, gently, always gently.

The day had gone as usual- wake up, wait for him at school, and come to Leblanc. Though, usual was a stretch of a word; he'd been busy lately, unable to spend as much time with him as he'd have liked to- busy with studying, he always said, even late into the night. It was that, or spending time with his friends, going out to eat or, again, studying. That didn't keep his mind from immediately racing to the worst. (He's breaking up with you, he's cheating on you, he's been expelled and he has to leave you behind again. The latter seemed most plausible, and he hated it. He had heard of the trouble he'd been getting into, lately, had the expulsion come sooner than expected?)

"It's nothing bad," he quickly assured, "just...something I've been debating revealing, for a little while now. It's a bit...farfetched. And I don't blame you if you don't believe me when I say this. It's about what has been keeping me so busy, this past while."

That soothed him some. (Only some.)

The words that came from his mouth were something Kennith wouldn't forget. They were something fate wouldn't let him forget.

"You know...the Phantom Thieves? You've heard the rumors?" After a silent, tense nod, Akira let out a soft breath, and squeezed his hands. His voice was low, and he leaned in as he spoke. "I am a Phantom Thief."

There was a pause. Kennith's voice sounded foreign to him when he spoke.

"...You're serious?" It wasn't said in a mocking manner, it was more inquisitive. Not so much skeptical as in disbelief.

"Mm. Ann and Ryuji; they are, too. As well as my cat, which will have to be explained later, it's too much for here." Another pause. He felt Akira fiddling with his fingers, nervous.

"So...all those nights you were studying..?"

"Meetings. Though I was studying, other times- exams are coming up, after all."

"And...you're telling me this...why?"

A warm smile graced his features, his serious expression softening. "Well...you are my boyfriend, after all. If there's anyone I'm going to tell first, it would be you. You deserve to know where I vanish off to, don't you?" A beat. "If you...believe me, that is." This was punctuated by Akira again gently tightening his grip, stiffening, seemingly in fear of what he might say.

After a moment, Kennith let out a sigh, letting his head drop down. "Y'know..." he hummed, "That's just crazy enough that I kind of believe you." He paused, and added on, "Now I can't...say I entirely believe you, not until I see proof for myself. But...God, that look on your face tells me that even if you're lying, it's not anything meant to harm me."

Akira sighed gently, relieved. "I don't think I'd be able to prove it unless you had the Meta-Nav, but..."

Kennith looked up immediately, tilting his head. "The what?" Akira hushed him, and he nodded, softly apologizing. "Sorry- the what?"

"The Meta-Nav. It's an app that lets you enter the Metaverse, which is where we sort of...do our thing, for lack of a better quick explanation. It just sort of appears on your phone, usually." He paused. "You don't...have it, do you?"

Kennith shrugged and made a soft "I dunno" noise, and let go of Akira's hands to rummage in his pockets for his phone. He handed it over, as if scared to look. "You tell me, I don't know what it looks like-" (He had a feeling, though.)

Akira scrolled quietly, and went wide-eyed. "You do..!" A smile lit up his face, his eyes shining. "That's good, then..! Some small proof, since like you said, don't believe it 'til you see it."

He nudged the phone back across the table, retrieving his own. He silently searched something, and turned the screen to him, looking almost proud of himself. It seemed like a...forum? "This is the, uh...Phan-Site, as the founder put it. You can read on us and things we do here! Just...be sure not to say anything, about knowing that it's me." Kennith nodded, taking it all in. "We actually managed something recently! You remember the teacher I told you about, Kamoshida?" Another nod. The name held more weight, now, with what he had heard on the news. "He was our first, and so far, only...heist, maybe? I think that could be a good word."

Kennith was entirely silent. His expression was blank, but behind his eyes, gears were turning wildly, trying to process all of this. He simply let out a sigh, eventually, and just kind of...gave up. Time for questions.

"Okay, first off- how do you do what you do? That...stealing hearts business, that I've heard about." It was all rumors that he'd heard spread around more than anything, passing whispers on the campus and things.

Akira paused, as if pondering how to respond. "Well...in the Metaverse, people who have incredibly twisted desires can manifest this thing called a Palace. It represents their cognition- how they see the world. Inside of it is a Treasure, which is the desires themselves, and that's the heart we're speaking of. Kamoshida's Palace was a castle, because that was how he saw the school. Does...that make sense?"

He nodded slowly, before shaking his head. "Okay. I'm going to go ahead and- and pretend like I understood most of what you just said to me," he mumbled, moving one hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. "And I'll...I'll do what I can to help, if anything."

"You can!" Akira chirped, lighting up. "You can give us intel, like another friend of mine, Mishima. He's the one who set up our Phan-Site. People report their problems there, and if there are especially bad ones, we go take care of them- though they don't...normally have a fully fledged Palace."

"I'm not even gonna bother asking how that works and just go with it," Kennith chuckled, his voice slightly strained and tired. Akira laughed softly, running a hand through his hair, his own smile looking drained of energy.

"I don't blame you. I still only barely understand it all." He lifted Kennith's hand and moved it to cup his cheek, closing his eyes and leaning into it, looking infinitely more tired. Kennith only just noticed the dark circles slowly deepening beneath his eyes. "Thank you for listening. I know it's all...crazy, and hard to understand, but I felt like...like I needed to tell you."

"Mm..." That was about all he could muster, for a moment. "...Are you okay with me telling Stephanie?"

Akira stiffened slightly. "I'd...prefer you didn't. Just because I haven't really met her yet, and I'm honestly not sure anyone would believe this unless it was coming from the source." Kennith nodded, understanding.

"Yeah, true...the only thing I'm still skeptical on is your cat." Morgana let out an indignant meow from inside his bag, almost seeming offended, and Akira laughed.

"I don't blame you. He was actually the one that was most hesitant to tell you about all this. We kinda outnumbered him in votes, though."

"See, that's what I'm talking about," he laughed, "it's a cat!"

"Oh! I should explain- uh...okay, so..." He paused again, thinking. "The Metaverse kind of runs on people's cognitions, which how they see the world. In the Metaverse, Morgana isn't a cat, because he doesn't see himself as one. We're working right now to kind of...figure out what's up with him. He thinks he's a human who lost his true form, and that's why he's able to talk there. Ryuji, Ann, and I can understand him outside the Metaverse, too- though to you, it all probably just sounds like senseless meowing." This was met with another angry-sounding meow, to which Akira just patted Morgana on the head.

Kennith nodded slowly. "Okay...that makes some sort of sense, I guess?" He sighed softly, allowing himself to just sit in silence with Akira for a moment. It was the first real moment of peace he'd felt that week.

"I think...I'm going to head home. You look absolutely wrecked, and I don't want to take any time that you could use for important things; you did mention you had exams coming." Kennith's voice was soft, not on purpose. He moved his hand to take Akira's again, and softly kissed his knuckles before standing. He leaned across to give him a chaste kiss goodbye, smiling again. "I'll see you later, okay? And I'll message if anything comes up. Love you."

"Love you too." Akira sounded far more tired than when they'd arrived back at Leblanc, but happy. He couldn't blame him for being tired, either- if all he'd said was true, it was bound to have had a strain on him. Not to mention, the toll of actually exposing all of this, as well as having to gather the courage to do so. Akira needed his rest, and some time alone, he was sure.

There was a weight in his stomach as he made his way home, and he had no idea why. He didn't feel bad, necessarily, not as far as he could tell, and he hadn't eaten anything off that day... Maybe it was the weather? Or the weight of all he'd just been told? He couldn't be sure.

As soon as he got home, he wriggled out of his binder - though he hadn't been wearing it long at all, but just to be safe - and fell into bed, resolving to try and sleep the feeling off. He sent a text to Stephanie, letting her know he'd probably be napping when she arrived home, and fell into a restless, dreamless sleep. He couldn't help a sinking feeling that this would only make it worse. (Though whether "it" was his physical or mental state, he wasn't entirely sure, yet.)