Chapter 13: Let's Go Eat at the Buffet
A/N: Bit of a short one this go around. BUt on the plus side, I feel like I'm finally settling into a groove of writing everyone so far.
Tuesday, 4/26/20XX, Afternoon
Jolyne was dead. She had to have been. It could have been any of number of things that killed her. A Shadow that got a lucky shot, skewered by the Shadow Kamoshida, turned into a doll by Matsumoto, or even something as simple as stepping into traffic at the wrong time. That was the only logical explanation she could think of, anyway, as she bit down into the juiciest piece of meat she had ever eaten in her life. "So good…" She groaned out from her seat in the Walton Hotel's buffet lounge, Ryuji and Ann to her left and right respectively, Morgana in the bag sitting next to her. On the table in front of them was a wide range of food, ranging from breakfast foods to desserts. Ryuji was tearing into a decently sized piece of beef, while Ann was voraciously devouring a piece of chocolate cake that looked richer than the hotel itself.
"Oh mnf, I colf shiur fureber!" Ryuji stated around a mouth full of food, and Jolyne swallowed her food.
"Hey, swallow." She scolded, and Ryuji chased his food down with water.
"Sorry. Man, I could stay here forever!" He stated. "This is the best stuff I've ever eaten!"
"Now I can see why Lady Ann chose this place." Morgana commented, and Ann nodded as she swallowed a bite of cake.
"Of course it's good. This place is famous for a reason." She commented, not even caring that her face was decorated with cake crumbs. "Oh hey, did you guys hear that the police arrested Kamoshida?"
"Music to my ears. Deserves a whole lot more than that, if you ask me." Jolyne said, cutting into a piece of ham.
"Sounds like you pawned that medal at just the right time. That Iwai guy would've probably figured out we had something to do with that." Morgana chimed in.
"Hey, it's not like we actually stole the thing. Real thing's still at Kamoshida's place, right?" Ryuji asked, and Morgana nodded.
"That's right, but how would we have explained that?"
"Eh, it all worked out, didn't it?" Jolyne responded.
"I'm not so sure. Apparently, they're going to be interviewing some people at school when we get back." The model spoke up, and Ryuji grimaced.
"Oh man, and they'll probably wanna talk to us too cuz of all those rumors people spread about us. Dangit…" He groaned out, before he grinned. "But it was worth it. We got people all pumped up about the Phantom Thieves!" With this, Jolyne and Ann looked at him curiously."
"Explain." Jolyne ordered, and Ryuji began digging into his jacket pocket and pulling out his phone.
"Let's see here, where was it…" He muttered out as his fingers began tapping his phone screen. "Here it is!" With that, Ryuji held his phone out towards his companions, who all leaned closer to see what he was showing them.
"'The Phantom Aficionado Website?'" Jolyne read aloud, seeing the stylized webpage displayed in front of them. The overall aesthetic of the website resembled the calling card that they had sent to Kamoshida, complete with the serial killer copy paste font.
"'Now I can keep going too.' 'Thank you for giving us hope.' 'Now I feel like I can come forward about what was done to me.'" Ann read, reading the comments on the page. "What is all this?"
"Popped up sometime last night. I searched 'Phantom Thieves' before I went to bed last night, and I found this.'" Ryuji replied. "People have been talking about how awesome it was that we took down Kamoshida and made him confess like that."
"Well that didn't take long at all. But how do they know it was us? Kamoshida didn't mention us at all yesterday." Jolyne asked.
"Apparently that Calling Card we posted got spread around. Through the news, online, people talking to their friends from Shujin…by the time Kamoshida actually confessed, people were already talking about us." Ryuji explained, and Ann smiled.
"You know, I started all this so I could solve my own problems, but actually hearing that we helped other people…it feels strange, y'know?"
"Oh, I know exactly what you mean. Like you feel all warm inside, right?" Ryuji replied.
"Hey, are you guys going to eat any of that?" Morgana asked, and Ann gasped.
"Oh my god, I totally forgot! This place has a time limit!" She exclaimed as she bolted up out of her seat. Ryuji's eyes widened.
"Wait, seriously?!"
"Yeah, we only have an hour." Jolyne chimed in.
"Why didn't you tell us?!"
"Because as soon as I gave them the money, you two ran off before I could say anything." She responded, and checked the time on her phone. "Let's see, we only have…about 45 minutes left." Ann and Ryuji's eyes both widened.
"Wait, for real?! How am I supposed to finish all the beef dishes in this place?!" Ryuji complained.
"I-I can't leave here until I eat my way through the entire dessert menu…!" Ann muttered out, and ran off, while Ryuji turned to Jolyne and Morgana.
"You two look after our stuff! We'll get some stuff for you two!"
"But-" Before Jolyne could protest, Ryuji ran off towards the buffet tables. Several minutes later, the two had returned, and Jolyne looked over the spread they had returned with. Several varieties of beef, several cakes, danishes, Crepes…just about everything that the two had said they would get. The only problem? That was all they had gotten.
"Oh man, it just melts in my mouth…" Ryuji squeaked out as he tore into a beef dish, while Ann was demolishing a plate of crepes.
"Ughhhhh, it's so good!" She groaned out around her food, and Jolyne and Morgana just watched.
"So he's a meathead in more ways than one, and she's all about the cake. It's like they're only thinking with their stomachs…" Morgana lamented, and Jolyne would've agreed, but seeing the happy expressions on her friends' faces (especially Ann's, but you didn't see that here), the transfer student just couldn't bring herself to complain with the not-cat.
"So where's our share?" Jolyne asked, causing both of them to turn to her with apologetic looks on their face.
"So, uh, about that…"
"As soon as I saw that sweets table, I just couldn't think of anything else. Before I knew it, my hands were already full." Ann apologized, and Ryuji just nodded in agreement. "Here, you two can have, uh…." Ann's eyes frantically scanned the table, before she settled on a plate on Ryuji's ends. "Here, have these beans!" Ryuji took the hint, and frantically nodded.
"Yeah, help yourselves!"
"Beans?! Are you serious?!" Morgana protested, and Ann glanced at the plate.
"A bunch of different stuff got mixed in…but it should still be good!"
"Good grief, you two…" Jolyne sighed out, and Morgana was livid.
"You two don't know the first thing about fine dining! We'll show you! Come on, Jolyne!" This was more of an order than anything else, and Jolyne just nodded in agreement. If she didn't go along with this, Morgana'd just complain about it for who knows how long.
"You two watch our stuff. We'll be back in a minute." Jolyne said, but the two fellow humans didn't seem to hear her, as they had already started to dig back into their food. Grabbing her bag and putting it under her shoulder, Jolyne almost found herself speechless as she looked at all the different options.
"So many options…I can understand why this place is so famous." Morgana said from his position in her bag. "I say our first priority should be fish!"
"Seems like a good enough place to start. Personally, I'm hoping to try a little of everything." Jolyne replied, heading over to where the seafood station. She could practically hear Morgana drooling as they approached it, but as she got their plate and prepared to load up the plate…
"My dear, did you hear about that dreadful news at Shujin?" a haughty, sophisticated voice said, causing Jolyne's ears to perk up.
"Ah, yes. That teacher who was caught performing indecent acts upon his students, correct? Shameful, really. That school should have never hired such an unsavory individual." The man's companion said, and Jolyne pursed her lips as she began loading her plate with fish.
"That's it, that's-hey! Don't overdo it!" Morgana shouted, bringing Jolyne down to Earth. "What's wrong? You just spaced out." He asked, and Jolyne gestured towards the two people behind her.
"Those people were talking about Kamoshida." She answered, and his ears perked up.
"Really? Hm, I guess we shouldn't be surprised. An incident like that is sure to draw a lot of attention." He replied, and Jolyne looked around the buffet. All over the place, people were huddled together, talking with one another.
"I wonder…" She said to herself, and began walking from table to table, putting food on her plate as she travelled from table to table. It turns out, a former Olympic gold medalist confessing to abusing his students drew a fair amount of attention around the upper crust of Tokyo society. Everywhere she went, people were talking about Kamoshida and his confession, about how it 'signalled the end of society', about how they hoped it didn't distract from the mental shutdown incidents that had been plaguing the city, about the strange muggings that had been plaguing Inokashira Park…and a fair amount of chatter about the Phantom Thieves. About how they may or may not exist, about how they may have coerced Kamoshida into confessing his sins…and about how they had helped people. How about that… Jolyne thought to herself as she sat back down, drawing Ryuji's attention.
"Woah. Guess you really wanted to try everything, huh?" He asked, and she looked at him with a narrowed brow.
"Hm?" He just gestured to her plate, and Jolyne finally noticed what she had down. While listening to all the people talking about Kamoshida and the Phantom Thieves, Jolyne had just gone on autopilot, unconsciously piling things onto her plate without any rhyme or reason. The result was a plate loaded high with food, various items mixing together. "Uh oh…"
"I tried…" A weak, sad voice said, and Jolyne looked down to see Morgana sticking his head out. His eyes were downcast, his ears folded downwards in sadness. "I tried to warn you, that there was no room left, but you wouldn't listen…" He mumbled out, and sniffled. "My fish…" Shit. Jolyne frantically turned to her plate, eyes quickly scanning over the pile of food, before she noticed something. Using her fork, the transfer student carefully removed a piece of salmon from the bottom, scraping off a bit of potato.
"Here, is this fine?" She asked, and as soon as Morgana saw the salmon, his eyes lit up as life flowed back into him.
"Perfect! Gimme!"
"Alright, just don't get it all over my bag." Jolyne said, taking an empy plate off the table, placing the Salmon on it, and setting it in front of Morgana. Without a word, he began tearing into it. Jolyne slightly smiled at the sight, before she turned back to the plate.
"I may have overdone it a little…" She muttered out, Ryuji nodding in agreement.
"I'll say. I'd offer to help you out, but…" He gestured to the plates of meat that still surrounded him. "I dunno how we're gonna eat all this in half an hour…" Ryuji muttered out, and they cast a look at Ann, who was practically shoveling cakes into her mouth, not even acknowledging that Jolyne was back.
"Oh, this one has cream cheese! But I wanna eat the one with white chocolate too…" Ann muttered around her food, though her friends heard something that sounded like "mmmrdmrm mmrdrm."
"Hey, calories." Ryuji warned, and that seemed to cut through Ann's cake induced trance, as her crystal blue eyes glared at him from across the table.
"Hrn!" She tried to say, and took a drink from her cup of water. "Hey! I can say the same about your arteries, Meat Boy!"
"Hey, I'm an athlete. I need protein!" Ryuji shot back, and that's when Ann noticed the pile of food on Jolyne's plate.
"Whoa, talk about over doing it! Did you just shovel food?" Ann asked.
"I kinda got distracted."
"By what?"
"Who cares? We only got a little over half an hour left, right?" Ryuji pointed out, and Jolyne glanced at her phone clock.
"Yeah, that's right."
"Then let's talk later. For now, let's dig in!" And with that, the Phantom Thieves begun to dig into the large amount of food before them. At first, it seemed like they were making good time, but as time went on, that began to change. No matter how much the three ate, the amount of food on the table didn't shrink. It just kept going on and on, and as the clock ticked, the space in their stomachs began to shrink. But just when the task seemed impossible, the Phantom Thieves pushed through, and 25 minutes later, all the plates on the table were mostly cleaned out;
"Ughhhhhh…" Jolyne groaned out, clutching her stomach as she sunk into her chair.
"So…full…" Ryuji managed to say, in a similar state himself.
"I…can't eat anymore…" Ann was hunched over, clutching her stomach and staring at the sweets that were still in front of her. "You betrayed me…I'll never forgive you…"
"The way you guys put all that food away was kinda scary…" Morgana commented, and Ryuji simply let out a belch, before his stomach began to loudly gurgle.
"Oh man, that ain't good…I think I need a bathroom…" The false blonde grumbled out, and Jolyne's stomach began to make a similar noise.
"Hurggg…carry me…" The transfer student groaned, and two finely dressed people walked by, casting a glance at their table.
"Oh my, look at that table. It's almost impressive."
"The poor dears. They must not be able to eat such fine food often. I can only imagine what their parents must be like…" As soon as they said that, Ryuji shot them booth a sneering glare.
"What was tha-urp! Oh man, we don't got time for this…" He groaned out, and Jolyne just weakly nodded.
"You guys go ahead…I'm just gonna…sit here and not move for a bit." Ann said, and with that, the first two Phantom Thieves began their epic quest to find the bathroom.
It did not go as planned. It turns out, the day they had chosen for their feast had been right in the middle of the Hotel's remodeling of the bathrooms by the buffet. Much to the chagrin of Ryuji and Jolyne, this meant that they would have to travel back up to the first floor. The two then proceeded to make mad dash for the lobby, their stomachs tossing and turning, and it almost seemed like they wouldn't make it…
"Whew. Talk about a close one…" Jolyne huffed out as they approached the elevator, having narrowly answered nature's call.
"I'll say. Man, I feel 5 kilograms lighter after all that…" Ryuji said, and his brow furrowed as he stared at the elevator. "Uh….what floor was that restaurant on again?"
"Let's see, we had to come up here, so it's gotta be on one of the lower floors, so let's…hey!" Jolyne exclaimed as she was roughly shoved aside by a man in a suit, before Ryuji was pushed aside as well.
"Hey! What's the big idea?" Ryuji demanded, and the man in the suit barely gave them a glance as several other men in suits came up behind him, and they seemed to be surrounding a bald man in a goatee with orange tinted glasses.
"What's the progress on the case?" The man asked to one of the men flanking him, who nervously swallowed.
"W-well, sir, we've hit a few roadblocks…" He said, and the bald man scowled.
"Well then, pick up the pace, will you?" He ordered. "My time is too precious to be wasted by incompetent fools such as yourself, and-"
"Hey!" Ryuji said with a raised voice, drawing the glare of the man in the glasses.
"It appears that the customer base has changed since the last time I was here. Are they running a daycare now?" He asked, his voice dripping with venom. This, combined with the glare levelled at him, caused Ryuji to dryly swallow, and struggle to find the right words. "Well, what is it? Spit it out, boy."
"You gonna apologize to my friend here?" Jolyne spoke up, and he turned his glare towards her. For a moment, something about him seemed familiar, and Jolyne could have sworn she also saw a faint flicker of recognition behind those orange tinted glasses.
"Apologize for what? I'm simply minding my business." Goatee said, his voice soaked in condescension.
"We were here first. You and your goons pushed us out of the way." Jolyne replied, not shirking away from Goatee's glare. As soon as she said that, the man just scoffed.
"You were simply in my way. I have far more important matters to worry about than the whims of children." He replied, and Jolyne scowled.
"Sir, we don't have time for this…" His aide pleaded, but Goatee ignored him, and instead stared directly at Jolyne.
"A word of advice, children. From now on, mind your own business, and stay out of the way of those who run things." As soon as he said that, things began to click in Jolyne's head. That voice, that same arrogant tone…she began thinking back to that night in Nagasaki…
When the elevator chimed, and the doors opened. "Run along now, and remember what I said." Goatee said, and they began to enter the elevator, though not before one of Goatee's goons roughly shoved Ryuji.
"Hey!" Ryuji jeered, but he didn't say anything, just watching as the doors shut. "Man, what an asshole. Just who the hell does that guy think he is? Can't stand shitty adults like that." He said, and turned to Jolyne. "Could you believe that…hey, you ok?"
Jolyne had been staring at the ground, her mind racing as she began to put things together. Jolyne had never gotten a good look at his face, but there were certain ideas that she could remember vividly. That voice, that attitude like he was superior to everyone, and that glare…it was exactly the same as that night in Nagasaki. That night where everything started to go wrong. But that couldn't have been the man from that night, could it? What were the odds of that?
"Hey! Earth to Jolyne!" Ryuji said, snapping his fingers in front of his face and bringing her back to reality. "You ok?"
"Hm? Yeah, I'm…I'm fine." Jolyne said, trying to shake the thoughts out of her head. "C'mon, let's take the stairs."
"Alright. Man, can you believe that guy? Actin' like he was better than us…who the hell did he think he is?" Ryuji complained as they found the stairs. "Can't stand shitty ass adults like that. Runnin' around actin' like he owns the place…ask me, they're no better than Kamoshida."
"Uh huh. Yeah." Jolyne just nodded along as they descended the stairs, still churning over the encounter in her head as they arrived at the floor with the restaurant on it. As they approached Ann, they saw that Ann had put the bag with Morgana in it next to her, and that they were both looking at Ann's phone. Jolyne finally put the thoughts out of her head, and just sighed. "Good grief, he's incorrigible…" She muttered out, as Ann noticed them approaching.
"There you two are! I was starting to wonder if you'd gotten lost." She commented, and Ryuji just rolled his eyes.
"Hey, cut us a break. The bathrooms down here were outta order, so we had to go upstairs. Then we ran into some asshole." He explained, and Morgana sighed.
"You two didn't get into a fight, did you?"
"Hey, he pushed us first." Jolyne defended. "So what are you two doing?"
"Oh, we were just looking at that Phantom Aficionados thing Ryuji showed us earlier. It's actually kinda interesting."
"What, more comments?"
"Not just that. There's also a poll on there." She explained, holding the screen towards them.
POLL: Do you believe that the Phantom Thieves are real?
"Wait, 6%? Seriously?" Ryuji asked. "I know we can't actually prove that we made Kamoshida confess, but come on!"
"Are you really surprised? People are already rationalizing why he confessed when he did, like he did it because he felt guilty or wanted to do it on his terms." Morgana answered, and Ryuji sighed.
"Still…"
"That isn't all. There's also something called 'requests.'" As soon as Ann stated that, expressions of curiosity spread across their faces.
"Requests?" Jolyne asked, and Ann tapped the phone screen a couple of times.
"It's a part of the website. Apparently, you can submit the name of someone you want to have a change of heart." Ann explained as she navigated to the page, before showing it to them. Sure enough, there were pages of people making requests for who they wanted to have a change of heart.
" 'Please make my math teacher stop giving so much homework.' 'Make my mom stop being such a bitch.' 'Tell my boss to get off my ass.' Doesn't seem like much. Just a bunch of people wanting us to make life easier for them." Jolyne read. "Doesn't really seem like anyone with 'distorted desires.'"
"Yeah, that's most of it, but we found one that actually seems genuine. Let's see, where is it…" Ann said, and turned the phone back to herself.
"It was on the third page." Morgana advised, and soon enough, Ann's eyes lit up.
"Here we go! 'Dear Phantom Thieves. Recently, I broke up with my boyfriend. I thought he was fine with it, but the past few weeks, I've been seeing him all over the place, staring at me weirdly. His name is Natsuhiko Nakanohara, and he works as a bank teller. I'm worried he may try something soon, but the police don't believe me. I'm asking if you can please do something before he crosses a line.'" Ann read out loud. Jolyne was just staring at the table in front of them, while Ryuji had his hands clasped in front of him. "There are a few more like that. Of people just pleading to us to get them out of a bad situation. Like we're their only hope. I wish there was something we could do…" Ann said, and a light seemed to go on in Ryuji's head.
"Wait a minute…hey, Morgana, you said that Palace thing formed because Kamoshida's desires got outta hand, right?" Ryuji asked, and Morgana nodded.
"That's right."
"So, if anyone can have a palace, then that means they have a Shadow, and that means they can have a change of heart, right?" Ryuji asked, and Morgana looked shocked.
"Out of the three of them, he figured it out first? Never saw that coming…" He muttered, before recomposing himself. "That's right. By taking the Treasure of a person with distorted desires, then we also take away the source of those desires, causing a change of heart." He explained.
"Why bring this up now, Ryuji?" Jolyne asked.
"You guys have noticed it too, right? The way everyone's looking at us." He said, and Jolyne took a glance around. Sure enough, the extravagantly dressed people around them were staring at them, whispering to each other. She didn't need to use Stone Free to figure out what they were talking about.
"Yeah, so what? They've been looking at us like that ever sine we got here." Ann replied, and his clasped hands tightened.
"It didn't bother me when we got here, but after we ran into that guy by the elevators, it started really getting under my skin. Then when Ann started talking about that Phantom Official crap, I started thinkin'…what if we could change the hearts of people like that?" The former track star stated, causing Jolyne and Ann's eyes to widen.
"Ryuji, what are you saying?" Jolyne asked, and he nervously swallowed.
"I'm sayin'…I think we should continue being the Phantom Thieves." He stated, and the ambient noise of the restaurant faded away. There was dead silence around the table, as the other three stared at the false blonde. "Hear me out. We put all that work into changing Kamoshida's heart, but no one even believes in us. Plus, you saw how Mishima came up to us after the confession, and then Shiho thanked you yesterday…if it wasn't for us, they'd still be dealin' with all that crap. US, of all people!"
"I…kinda agree." Ann said, drawing their attention. "If I ignore the people going through the kind of stuff Shiho did, then I'd go back to that same person I was before, the one who didn't care about what happened to anyone else." She stated.
"Well, I guess that's true…" Morgana muttered, before he seemed to smirk. "You guys are under my tutelage. With me guiding you, there's nothing we can't accomplish as Phantom Thieves!"
"For once, weagree!" Ryuji exclaimed with a grin, and Jolyne stared at the table as she began to think.
She had never even considered that possibility. That the power that they all possessed would be able to help such a wide range of people, one that extended beyond their immediate vicinity. If Jolyne could stop what had happened to her friends, what had happened to her, from happening to other people…well, now that wasn't much of a choice, was it?
"Alright. I'm in." She stated, and Ryuji pumped his fist in the air.
"Alright!"
"Hey, keep it down! There are still people around!" Morgana scolded.
"So if we actually do this…that means we'll have to fight more of those Shadow things, doesn't it?" Ann asked, and Morgana nodded.
"That's right. That's unavoiadable."
"Eh, big deal. Those things aren't so tough." Ryuji said, and Morgana simply rolled his eyes.
"Sure, I'll let you keep thinking that." With that, his face straightened out into one of determination. "So, we're all agreed that this is the course of action we wish to take, right?"
"Hell yeah!"
"I'm in if you guys are."
"Fine by me."
"Heh. Even though you guys are just fledglings, we're a full blown organization now!" Morgana stated, and Ryuji grasped his knee with a grin.
"We're gonna take all those shitty adults by surprise, and leave our mark on the world!" Ryuji cheered, and Ann turned to Jolyne.
"Are you ok with being our leader?" She asked, causing the transfer student's eyes to widen.
"Wait, me?"
"Hey, no objections here. I can't do all that responsibility stuff, so I'm fine trusting you with it." Ryuji said.
"Hey, don't I get a say in this? Though since Lady Ann made the nomination…very well. I suppose you did lead us admirably through the Castle." Morgana stated, and Jolyne was speechless for a moment…before she began to smile.
"Alright, I accept." Jolyne said, looking at the friends that surrounded her. Before, they had all been outcasts. People with no place to fit in. But that wasn't true anymore. Now, they had all forged bonds with one another, bonds that would be tested by the trials and tribulations that were waiting for them. Now, they were something more.
Now, they were the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.