With his friends' and All Might's confrontation out of the way, Izuku found himself truly able to devote himself to changing Futaba's heart. During the mornings, he would work on the beach—usually with a friend or two stopping by to help and get some free weight training while they were at it—and the afternoons were dedicated to raiding the tomb inside his friend's heart.

It felt like ages, but, after only nine days after joining the Phantom Thieves for this one mission, they'd reached the top of the pyramid and were ready to send the calling card.

Well… almost ready.

The red card was wrinkling in Izuku's grip, but he found it hard to care as he stood outside of Futaba's bedroom door, the last literally and metaphorical wall between them and changing her heart. His chest aching, he knocked on her door.

His phone buzzed.

What is it? Did you do it?

Izuku took a deep breath. "Futaba!" he called out through the door. "We've gone as far as we can into your heart, but there's a barrier between us and our goal. So we can get rid of this barrier… you need to open the door."

What? No, why?

You should have told me you were coming here!

"It has to do with your cognition!" Makoto replied. "As long as you see this door as impenetrable, we won't be able to steal your heart."

"We can't change your heart otherwise. Please open the door, Futaba!" Ann added.

I'm not mentally prepared!

"Get ready right now, then," Akira told the door.

It's too sudden.

"Futaba, the other you in your heart told us that you need to open this door," Izuku said. "And… you want to open this door too, right?"

The other… me?

"That's correct," Yusuke said with a nod. "We're attempting to uphold our promise, but you are the one keeping us from our goal. It is time to face your fears, Futaba Sakura."

And the door cracked open.

Izuku led the way inside Futaba's tiny room. It was barely big enough to fit all of them; they had to constantly kick trash bags so they could go further into the room. Against one wall was the bed, and opposite was an impressive computer set up. Technical books lined the walls—psychology, physiology, medical science, coding… all looking heavily worn. The ground crunched under his feet, and lifting up his foot, Izuku could see little grains of sand imbedded in his shoe sole. The sand covered the floor in a fine layer.

But no one was inside.

Ryuji scratched the back of his neck. "So, uh… where is she?"

Something moved in the closet.

Yusuke shook her head. "She'll shut herself in until the bitter end."

"She needs to come out of there," Morgana said. "If we were in the Metaverse right now, a fence or something probably appeared around the treasure. She needs to come out."

Izuku plead, "Futaba. Please come out of the closet."

"T-This makes no sense!" Izuku blinked. That was the first time he'd ever heard his friend's voice. "Explain yourselves right now!"

"We need to change your cognition," Izuku explained. "You see the world as one of isolating loneliness. You don't think anyone can reach you, and that's reflected in your heart. That cognition is the thing that stopping us from saving you; without that change, we can't steal your heart."

"I doubt she'll understand…" Makoto tried to start.

"What your saying is, my cognition is being a hinderance, keeping you away from the core of my cognitive world."

Ryuji elbowed Makoto. "Seems like she got it just fine."

"So, can you open the door?"

"I-I want to! It's just… scary."

Izuku placed a hand on her closet door. "I know. And you're really brave for reaching out for help, Futaba."

A sniffle. "Y-You really think so?"

"I know so. I bet there's tons of people who want the same thing as you, who want to get better but don't know how, but didn't consider having the Phantom Thieves steal their hearts. You're really smart and brave, and I'm so proud to have you as my best friend."

The door cracked open. "You mean it?"

He could hear Morgana whisper behind them, "Shouldn't we be grilling her for what she knows about the Metaverse?"

Akira replied, "Not the time."

Izuku forced himself to tune everyone else out. "Of course I mean it. You're the first friend I've had since I was four—it's only because of you that I was able to make friends with everyone else! And then you risked yourself just to find out what was going on with me… Only mom's done something like that before." He rubbed his eyes before he could start bawling. "We're all really excited to meet you, Futaba."

The closet was quiet for a few moments. Did he not say enough? Did he put too much pressure on her? Should he have reassured her more? What if she didn't want to be friends anymore—

The door slid open with a BANG as Futaba jumped out, arms spread and nearly bowling over Izuku. She was shaking. "T-There! Now steal it!"

The rest of the thieves could only stare at her in shock.

"…What's gotten into you all of a sudden?" Ryuji asked.

"C-Come on! Hurry it up!"

Makoto rubbed her head. "We did come to steal your heart, but it's not really done right here at this moment… All you really had to do was open that closet door." She coughed. "I'm sorry we made you jump to conclusions. You don't have to be like that…"

Futaba's arms lowered a fraction. "I-I see…"

And she returned to the closet in shame.

"…Wh-What's the meaning of this!? D-Did you guys trick me?"

"No! Please listen! There's a reason we had to do this!"

Morgana sat on his back legs. "She's aware of the cognitive world, but it seems she doesn't understand how a change of heart occurs."

Izuku cocked an eyebrow. "And you guys did?"

Makoto and Ryuji explained how they went to the Metaverse: the smartphone app. Izuku had noticed it after falling into Bakugou's Palace. He found it unsettling—if there was an app, someone had to create it. And as far as he knew, they were the only ones going in and out of the Metaverse.

Then Futaba asked the titular question: "Can you take me with you?"

"You don't have a way to defend yourself in the cognitive world," Izuku told her. "Unless your quirk…?"

"No… Manifestation doesn't work like that."

"Manifestation?" Akira asked.

"It allows me to summon random objects, but I've never been able to choose what I summon. B-Besides, it's been on the fritz ever since mom died! Now I can only summon one thing."

"What is it?"

"T-The sand, duh. Where did you think it came from?"

Izuku shared a wide-eyed look with Akira. He'd known about Manifestation's 'glitch' before—Futaba had complained about it over text messages—but now that he knew about the Metaverse… Considering that Futaba's Palace was a pyramid in the desert he couldn't help but think… He shook his head. That was something to consider after stealing her heart. He had to stay focused now.

"It's not just the danger," Makoto pointed out. "We've never had someone go into their own cognitive world before. It could be fine, but…"

"You'd have no way of knowing if it would cause a mental collapse… Fine. I'll leave it to you then."

"Good!" Ryuji adjusted his arm. "And you better not forget about our promise, all right?"

Everyone started to walk from the room. Izuku stayed outside the closet for a moment before pulling out the calling card. He slid it between the cracks. "Read this when we're gone, okay? It's important for us to be able to steal your heart."

She took the card from his hand. "I will. Good luck?"

"I'll see you on the other side." Izuku followed his friends out of the room and into the Metaverse.

They had a heart to steal.