There was comfort in the glass and steel of the Kirijo Group offices. This world could be just as deadly as the Palaces, but the wars were fought with words and contracts, and Sae had been fighting with those her whole life. Akira fidgeted beside her. It was strange to see him nervous. He had been defiant even when broken and bleeding in the interrogation room. A swashbuckling figure out of myth, fighting the corrupt society around him even when it was insane to do so. Except he was just a good, tired young man who kept trying to make her smile. She glanced around to make sure they were alone and grabbed his hand. "It'll be all right," she whispered. "Deep breaths."

He took the deep breath as ordered. "Sorry. This really isn't my kind of place." He smiled at her. I'm glad you're here."

They stood like that for a long time. The warmth from his hand soaked through her, soothing the tension in her muscles. She ought to move. They had been dancing right up to the line of permissible intimacy since the day he had walked into her office, but... I like touching him, she realized. I like having one person who seems to actually like me for myself instead of fitting me in a little box. I like teasing and being teased. I like this.

His eyes were closed. Sae took a moment to study him. The way his hair fell almost but not quite in front of his eyes. The vein just barely visible against the pale skin of his neck. The scar on his temple. He really was indecently good-looking. Her roguish, charming, sad thief. There was something funny about that. To have the same person reawaken both her high-minded desire for justice and base lust. I want you. I want to put my hand on your cheek right now, watch your eyes blink open, and kiss you. Then take you back to the hotel and not come out until spring.

There was a sharp knock at the door, and Akira's eyes did blink open. He disentangled his hand from hers slowly and gently as a man in a dark suit approached. "Ms. Kirijo will see you now."

There were rumors about the Kirijo group, of course. Whispers around the water cooler even in the days that she had been a prosecutor. They were one step above the yakuza. They were yakuza. Those who displeased them disappeared without a trace. They conducted unfathomable, occult experiments. But it wasn't until Sae beheld Mitsuru Kirijo in the flesh that she considered that every word of those rumors might've been true.

The woman couldn't have been much younger than Sae herself. Her white blouse was exquisitely tailored, every strand of her red hair perfectly in place. So far nothing unexpected. But her posture…the way she held her pen? This was a woman born to the things Sae had scratched and clawed for. Her eyes were cold, if not cruel and seemed to be peeling her back layer by layer. Sae barely resisted the urge to cross her arms in defense.

"So, you are the Phantom," Mitsuru said without preamble. "I heard rumors about what happened in Tokyo. I look forward to hearing how many of them are true."

Sae and Akira looked at each other, and she took a step forward. "That depends on what sort of rumors you've heard," she said. "And what you're willing to tell us."

"You are the attorney? You know about Shadows and you haven't awakened? Strange. But I don't discuss Kirijo Group matters with outsiders."

Of course she didn't. "And are Shadows Kirijo Group matters? You built Gekkoukan High, and I've heard a few rumors of my own. A majority of the Apathy Syndrome cases seemed centered around the school. And something about a place called Tartarus that only appeared during something called the Dark Hour?"

Mitsuru's lips twisted into a half-smile. "Impressive. Let's dispense with the games, shall we? You already know that Personas and Shadows exist." She nodded to Akira. And if the reports I've read are true, you not only have a Persona, you are a Wild Card of considerable power. So, why have you come to me? I can't imagine the Phantom cares much for defending the world."

"I might surprise you. My friend's client has been accused of murder. We think Shadows are what's really responsible, but we need to prove they exist. Anything I tell the judges about what I did will be laughed out of court, but I'm betting you're up to your ears in records." He sounded so terribly warm and sincere. "I know it's a lot to ask, but he doesn't deserve to hang."

Sae had known it wouldn't be as simple as just asking, but she had been hoping for a long period of silence, something to show the chink in Mitsuru's armor, but her reply was as swift as a rapier strike. "You don't know what you're asking. You think knows something about Shadows because you tangled with them once during your little rage against the system? I've been fighting this war since I was a child. And I am telling you that there are things that the public not only shouldn't know, but they don't want to."

"So what? I'm supposed to just let a guy die thinking he's murdered his family?"

"You're supposed to let the authorities handle it."

"With you being the authority?" His eyes were hard.

"One of them. Being a Persona user is a tremendous responsibility. You should know that. I've spent my whole life doing this, knowing that the end of the world was just around the corner. Do you think those at the highest level of government don't know what's going on? You would do nothing but cause a panic."

"Nothing but save a life." Akira's voice was low and calm. "If you know anything about me, Ms. Kirijo, you know that I don't care much for authorities. What's the real problem? Afraid some of your dirty laundry might get aired to the public? I'm pretty good at airing laundry when I need to."

Mitsuru laughed, and Sae's stomach clenched. "How do you think you're going to do that? In this world, you're flesh and blood and our security is very good. If you think you can figure out how to beat a biometric lock, motion sensing technology, and defensive measures that you've never even heard of before your client's case goes to trial, you're welcome to try. "

Cold washed over Sae. Once more, someone was patting her on the head and telling her not to bother. Come to the expected conclusion, let those above her rule as they saw fit, and keep her head down. There was nothing she could do anyway. She stared at the window. Her reflection transformed. The Leviathan stared back at her with its eyeshadow like bruises. Why are you bothering? it asked with a smile. The game is rigged. The game is always rigged.

She blinked, and the reflection was gone.

"I promise you the Kirijo Group will look into this case and do what we can for Mr. Sato. Good day to you."

Sae let herself be ushered outside. She was aware she got into an elevator and that a button was pressed without quite knowing how she did it. The game is always rigged. Try to do good and you clashed with the powers of the world protecting themselves. Who was she to think she could bring this conspiracy to light?

Yes, that's right. Give in. I'm the real you after all.

SLAM! The sound of flesh on metal forced Sae back into the real world as Akira slammed his fist into the elevator wall. He spewed a litany of curses she hadn't even been aware he knew. "Who does she think she is?" He heaved. "She's hiding something! If I could just change her—" He looked at Sae, and his eyes focused as if seeing her for the first time. "No, almost crossed that line once. It doesn't matter anyway."

Change her heart. He means me. The image of the yellow-eyed thing in the mirror swam before her. Maybe it would've been kinder for the Phantom Thieves to have changed her heart. To scrape away this envy and helplessness that was always lurking. Being a good person was a choice, someone had said. It was more than that; it was a war fought hour by hour and day by day against temptation and always knowing that there were forces like the Kirijo Group that made your efforts come to nothing. And the shadows would still be there.

Sae took his hand again. His muscles were taut like a bowstring as he thrummed beneath her. "We'll just have to find another way."

"Yeah." He inhaled and leaned against her, warm but hard as steel. "I'll come up with a plan. I always come up with a plan."

The elevator door opened, but the man who entered couldn't have looked less like a Kirijo Group employee if he'd tried. He was about Mitsuru's age with short dark hair and stubble—and a baseball jersey. His eyes widened almost imperceptibly. Oh, that was right. She and Akira were standing closer together than colleagues should. A weight settled over and in her muscles. She was so tired. They would never see this man again. Let him think whatever the hell he wanted.

But he smiled at them and it was a warm, friendly smile. "You're the other Wild Card and the lawyer, right? I'm guessing that the meeting didn't go so well?"

She and Akira looked at each other. "How do you know about that?" Sae asked.

"I know a lot of things I'm not supposed to. Junpei Iori, at your service." He bowed with a flourish that was too extravagant to be entirely polite.

Iori. He had been a name in the file. One of the members of SEES at the time of the Apathy Syndrome. "You wanted another plan," Sae mouthed. Then, to Iori, "No, the meeting didn't go so well."

"Maybe you could help us?" There was no trace of Akira's pain in his voice now. If being a writer didn't pan out, he could always try acting. "My friend here has a client..."

Junpei's eyes widened as Akira told him what had happened. "You don't ask for small favors. I mean, I know what you're going through. Mitsuru's always been somebody who...plays her cards close to her chest. Ask her if the sky is blue, and she'll want a full dossier on you before she'll tell you. Maybe it really would be better to let us handle it. I promise we won't just sit on our tails and do nothing."

"When the Dark Hour happened, would you have left that to somebody else?" Akira asked softly. "Would Minato Arisato have?"

Junpei flinched. "Low blow man, low blow. Look, he's probably eighty percent of the reason Mitsuru's keeping her mouth shut. He was our Wild Card, and it didn't really work out too well for him."

"He died on graduation day. I'm sorry. But it wasn't a heart condition like the medical report said, was it?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"I fought the incarnation of the desire for control because he wanted to destroy the world. Try me."

Incarnation of the desire for control? That was new. Of course he and Akechi must've gotten their powers from somewhere, but she had assumed that the conspiracy rose no higher than Shido. Corrupt men she could deal with. They were talking about a god.

As if you needed another reminder that you're weak.

"Okay, maybe you would believe me. Our...ultimate enemy if you want to call it that was Nyx. Death. And the same stuff that gave Minato his powers meant he was the only one who could seal it away. And then there was crazy stuff involving a time loop and something worse almost happened and...did I mention that the girl I had a crush on died saving me from a death cult?"

Akira paled. "A cosmic war."

"Yeah, if you want to put it like that." Junpei looked between them. "I'm just saying that you look like you got off pretty easy as far as the aftermath. You and your...friend can go back and try to put your lives in order and be happy." He swallowed, and his voice softened. "Mitsuru and Minato were dating. I don't think she ever got over it. She talks a big game about protecting the world, but I wouldn't wish this life on anyone. I'll see what I can do about your client, but just be careful, okay?"

The elevator deposited them at the ground floor, and they stumbled out. The sunlight seemed unnaturally harsh, bleaching the sidewalks like bones in the desert. A black butterfly darted to and fro. Akira took her arm, but Sae lacked the energy to pull away. Incarnations. Of death or the desire for death, of tyranny and control. Of envy. Things that could never really be beaten because they were branded on the human heart. "That's what you were facing?"

"How I spent my Christmas Eve." He was once more the pained, wounded thief. "Yaldabaoth nearly wiped us from existence. You can thank Yuki for us still being here."

"Christmas Eve?" Memories flashed before her mind. He had seemed exhausted that night when she had come to Café Le Blanc to tell him that he would have to turn himself in. She'd put it down to the stress of the last few months but he'd been through hell. Maybe literally "I'm sorry."

"You couldn't have known, and it wouldn't have made a difference if you had. Maybe that's the real thing that sets Wild Cards apart: we do what has to be done. I just wish I had been stronger. I could have made a real difference."

Oh. Sae wished suddenly, desperately that she was something other than what she was. Her mind was all sharp edges of argument with little room for tenderness. She ought to take him into her arms and stroke his hair and whisper soothing words. Instead, she put two fingers under his chin and turned his face to look them in the eye. "You saved me. That's not nothing."

"I was merely the facilitator." He gritted his teeth in a mockery of a smile. "But what if I told you I could have done more? That I could have burned away all this corruption. No more secretive corporations, no more police beating up a teenage kid. No more having to turn down what you really want because the rest of the world sees you as just a child or just a girl. What if I told you I could have made the world perfect, but I didn't?"

She swallowed. A perfect world. Once she would have laughed at the notion. Even those charged to seek justice were corrupt and good cops died in the line of duty. That was before Akira told her everything he had done and she had seen Shido confess to his crimes on live television. Now perfection was a glittering jewel that was forever visible and always just out of reach. "I would ask you what you would have had to do."

"Something I thought was horrible."

"Then I'm glad you didn't," she whispered. "You're a good man."

"I wish I believed you." He sighed. "Up for another distraction? I still owe you that drink."

It took them two tries to find a bar that served actual alcohol (something about a drunk-driving case and a power outage that sounded suspiciously like more Shadows), but eventually they ended up in an upscale pub not far from the local shrine. A few of the patrons glanced at them as they entered but quickly went back to their drinks. Sae couldn't remember the last time she had been out drinking with someone, but the warmth of the alcohol settled over her, loosening her muscles and filling her brain with a pleasant fuzziness. Sip by sip, Akira regained his color and his face softened. When she asked him about his book, his whole face lit up and they were off to the races as she learned more about constructing a fantasy culture than she thought she ever wanted to know.

"Of course, the commoners usually marry wherever they like, but the nobles, now that's a different story! All money and alliances. Which causes no end of trouble for our hero, naturally, being in love with the empress and all."

"Naturally."

"Forbidden love, this can never be, etc. etc." He gestured expansively, the wave of his hands seeming to take in every tragic love in the history of myth or melodrama. "Don't tell anybody, but I still haven't figured out how I'm going to get them their happy ending."

Something wild and irreverent welled up within her. Maybe it was the alcohol. Maybe it was some mischievous spirit bent on causing chaos. Maybe she was just tired. "Why doesn't the empress just make him whatever you call a mistress when it's a man. I mean, every king, emperor and their dog was sleeping around."

His eyes bulged as he choked down his drink. "Because I'm writing for impressionable teenagers," he squeaked. "Who are you and what have you done with Sae Niijima?"

She chuckled. "I am a lawyer. I specialize in finding solutions within the limits of the rules. Of course, if your hero isn't worth it…"

"Of course, he's worth it. He's the hero! Dashing, roguish thief on the outside, noble hero on the inside. Humble background, falsely accused."

Sounds like someone's projecting a little, she thought with a smile. "But why him and why her? Why out of all the millions upon millions of people it could be for either one of them, is this worth risking a kingdom for?"

He was quiet for a moment. "Because…because they're comfortable around each other. He doesn't mind that she has all this power and actually wants to help her instead of treating her like a spoiled dog, and he can be a little broken around her."

They looked at each other. Sae swallowed as the air grew thick and warm around them. Comfortable. That was what she wanted. Yes, he was attractive and sad and all those other things that were sending her hormones into open revolt. But sitting like this, laughing? How long has that been either? No, she didn't just want to keep him in a hotel until spring. She wanted moments like that morning on the train, simply having breakfast. Talking about his writing or her cases or whatever else and knowing that he cared.

So now you want a love affair? She could almost see the Leviathan's sneer. Can you imagine the gossip columns? "Attorney sleeping with sister's high school classmate." There are already too many 'll be lucky to get traffic cases. All for an infatuation that will fizzle out in a few weeks. Of course if you want to drive yourself insane beating your hand against the glass, I can't stop you.

"I thought I told you to shut up," she whispered.

"Sae, you okay?"

No, she wasn't. She was going to go mad with this voice in her head. Or worse, she was going to become what she was before. She didn't have the energy to keep fighting. "I—"

"Talking about your book, are you?" came the loud, slightly slurred voice of Professor King as he approached them. "You know, the lady does have a point. People with power really can do whatever they want as long as they have enough of it. It's not really my field, but take Catherine of Russia. Has her husband murdered, makes one of her lovers king of Poland, and is remembered as one of the greatest rulers of any country in a time when she was expected to do little more than pop out children."

"Right, the one with the horse."

"That is historical fantasy." He put what was probably supposed to be a friendly hand on Akira's shoulder. "What I'm saying is that the truly influential can do as they please. Give your hero enough power to crush whatever stands in his way."

"Power?"Akira's voice was strangled. "Where would he get that kind of power?"

"I'm sure an enterprising author like you can come up with something. I've certainly ran across a few in my research for that project I told you about." He cleared his throat. "'The hearts of man hold power greater than any spell.' That was inscribed on a memorial stone in ancient Sumeria."

Akira had said that he could have made the world perfect if only he had done something horrible. A bargain of some kind? Myths were chock full of deals with devils and evil spirits. And if these embodiments of the collective unconscious weren't gods, they were close enough that it didn't make a difference. "I think I've had enough. And I don't know about you, but I promised Makoto that I would get her a souvenir."

Akira blinked. "Right. I'll see you back on the train, Professor. Good luck with your research." He put a wad of bills down on the table and took Sae by the arm, leaving a red-faced and blinking Professor King behind.

"I need to be somewhere quiet," he said when they were outside.

Quiet sounded lovely. "Lead on." And by unspoken, mutual agreement they walked toward the shrine. There was no one else here at this hour, but the grounds looked well-maintained. Their only other company was a blue butterfly that hopped from one blade of grass to the next. Sae had considered herself a ruthlessly practical and materialistic person before the Phantom Thieves incident, only offering prayers at the shrine when her mother twisted her arm or Makoto begged her, but there was an aura of peace here that even she could feel. The whispers of Leviathan stilled and silent.

Akira plopped down on a bench. "He's right you know, about the power. I could have done so much more."

"You said you would have had to do something horrible. Some kind of deal?"

He nodded. "Yaldabaoth. He offered to let me keep my access to the collective unconscious if I would just leave him and his power alone. Considering he wanted to enslave humanity…the whole point of being a Phantom Thief was to be a freedom fighter. I was afraid of what I would become. But now I wonder…if I saved the world, why is it so broken?"

A different, better person would have had some comforting words for him. Sae had none. "I don't know. Maybe it's just unfair by nature." She took a step closer to him. "But anyone having that power for too long scares me. That's how it always started in the prosecutor's office: the power went to our heads. And you're too good to become a monster like I almost was."

He looked up at her, miserable. "You say that, but lately I've been wondering. I keep hearing this voice in my head, taunting me with everything I could have done. All the creeps I could have stopped, all the wrongs I could have righted. Telling me that I could force Mitsuru to do whatever I wanted. So I'm afraid I'm not the noble savior you think I am. Maybe I never was."

"Voice?" The ground shifted beneath her. He was hearing voices. Akira, the only person in the world besides Makoto she trusted to explain and guide her through this strange world was hearing voices. "You too?" she whispered.

His eyes widened and he hauled himself to his feet. "Too? Sae? What happened in the bar? I heard you tell someone to shut up and it didn't sound like you were talking to me."

Sae closed her eyes. He would think her insane or weak or depraved, that she was maddened by too much work. Maybe when he saw what kind of mess she really was, it would be for the best. "The Leviathan. In the mirror sometimes, sometimes just a voice. Telling me that I'm weak, I have no business running around chasing after the supernatural, life is unfair, etc. All perfectly true."

"I'd agree about the unfair part." He took his hands in hers. "But I will never think that you are weak or that you don't belong here."

"You're biased." She exhaled sharply. There was a time when she was very young that she had dreamed of something—someone—like him: a handsome young man who seemed to think she was amazing despite her abrasiveness and love for her career. What she had found was day after day of snide comments or worse. "Why couldn't you have come sooner? No, I mean why couldn't I be younger—no I mean why can't I—"

"Sae?" He disentangled one hand to brush his fingers across the line of her cheek. They were trembling. She shivered. Why couldn't she have this?

Because the world was unfair as Leviathan so helpfully reminded her. Tormenting her with what she couldn't have. And if she gave into the cynicism? Well, she still wouldn't have him. The game was rigged. The only way to win was to—

—was to cheat back. Just like a Phantom Thief. She shivered again, the edges of an idea forming. Not the idea of a good girl, but they had been tottering toward the line for ages. She was a lawyer; she found loopholes. "Akira," she asked. "Do you want to kiss me?" She was vaguely, distantly impressed that she got through that without stuttering.

Akira wasn't so lucky. His face turned red. "What? I—er, what?"

"I want you to. I've wanted you to since that day you walked into my office. I've tried to ignore it, but the voice keeps taunting me, telling me that I can't have you, that everyone and everything I care about would mock me or worse. But everyone isn't here. And I don't have the energy to fight anymore."

It had to be the least romantic proposition in the history of the world.

His other hand dropped away, and Sae knew that she had said the wrong thing. She had finally managed to repulse him. He had remembered that she was all sharp edges and no romance and it would be so much easier to find someone else. Or maybe she had misread him from the beginning, hormones and loneliness creating a fantasy world where someone like him could care for someone like her. Her face burned and her eyes stung. She took a step back. Better to leave now and salvage some dignity.

"Stay," he breathed, and she stopped.

He didn't kiss at all like Sae imagined he would. Gently, so gently she could barely feel it, he brushed his lips against hers. They were cool and dry and slightly chapped. Real. One hand tangled in her hair while the other came around her waist. He was still shaking. Fear? Of hurting her? It seemed silly. She wanted this. Something just for her, even if she couldn't keep it. She tilted her head to one side and parted her lips, trying to draw him in. She heard a little gasp, and then he was kissing her back, really kissing her. One hand roamed her back, tracing little patterns that stirred up something wild in her. She matched his movements as much her addled brain and half out of control body let her. Learning the shape of his muscles through his shirt.

They kissed again and again. Cheeks, jaws, eyelids: nothing seemed off-limits. He found a sensitive spot below her right ear that made her gasp and swear when he nibbled it. She paid him back by biting at the side of his neck. And…it felt good. Not just lust or relief or whatever else she had told herself she would feel. It felt good to do something he liked and know that he was trying just as hard to do the same for her. No dominance games, nothing exploitive. Partners.

But even that couldn't last forever. Sae pulled back. Both of them were breathing hard. His skin was flushed, his hair was a mess and—were those marks? She touched a blossom of reddened skin on his neck. She really ought to be embarrassed at her loss of control. She couldn't quite manage it. He guided her head to the crook of his neck; she had to hunch a little to fit. His hand was back in her hair, stroking and guiding errant strands into place. "Yes," he said at last, "I want to kiss you."

Sae laughed.

"Does it help, with Leviathan? It's a little quieter for me now."

She stilled. Her body felt heavy and warm, and pleasure fizzled over her. The Leviathan was silent for now. How much was endorphins and how much was giving in and how much was him was impossible to know, but for the first time since this began, she felt at peace. "It helps."

"Good." He wrapped a strand of hair around his fingers. "So what happens now?"

The question shocked her from her stupor. She shifted to look up at him; he was serious and worried with a little furrow between his brows. What happened now? She had only thought as far ahead as stealing one kiss. It wasn't as if they could go back to Tokyo and watch firework displays or whatever passed for a romantic evening these days.

But they weren't going to Tokyo. They were in Port Island. After that, they would go to Inaba. Two places where no one knew either of them and where they would likely never return. What did she care what perfect strangers thought of her when they had no power to hurt her? It looked like she would be able to cheat a little longer.

If that was what he wanted. "I'd like for this to continue." She tried to be matter-of-fact, but her voice sounded very small and very nervous. "I don't know what I can give you or for how long. Maybe this is just hormones. But for as long as we're here, I'd like to try. If that's all right."

"A fling, hm? I've never had one of those before." He laughed and it was genuine and how was she ever going to get anything done when everything he did made her feel giddy? "Stolen time?"

"Stolen time."

"Lucky for you then, Ms. Niijima. I'm still the best thief in the business."