Chapter 45: Gula
[G]
Akechi grumbled at the din of people discussing around him. For the past several minutes, he had been attempting to discern what exactly was causing this tumult ever since he stepped out of his apartment building, but it was hard to do so when it all conflated into a cacophonous mess. He almost resorted to using his phone to see if the news had any hint to the cause when his vision caught sight of a familiar logo, plastered on the wall of a building as he got out of Shibuya Station to change lines.
He should've known the Phantom Thieves caused such an uproar.
But once he was before said calling card, his popularity granting him easy passage to it as the people wished to see his detective skills "in action", his mind halted and his breath caught.
Sir Junya Kaneshiro, the money-devouring sinner of gluttony. You indulge in scamming others with horrendous methods that target minors exclusively. And should anyone hinder your path, you mercilessly cast them aside.
We have decided to make you confess all your crimes with your own mouth.
We will take your distorted desires without fail.
From, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
That was what had been written on the card, as well as all the other cards plastered on not only the wall before him, but every other building in the vicinity. He wouldn't be surprised to hear these cards were actually all over Shibuya.
No no no no, are they all imbeciles?!
They were going after a god damn mafia boss. Did they know the consequences should they fail?
Damn it.
Naive dumbasses. Akira and her friend's are going to die there.
Oh no...this is serious trouble... We should make sure Akira-chan's safe.
Akechi nearly scoffed at the obvious conclusion, but he remembered he was being watched just in time to stop himself. After thanking the crowd for letting him through for his investigation, he excused himself, keeping up his trained smile all the while.
He was glad he had no work this afternoon, and he would make sure it remained that way.
He needed to get to the Palace before those idiots did.
(A)
Well, this just sucked.
She should've listened to the odd feeling she had when they reached the bottom of the elevator, like there was an extra presence ahead.
And who else greeted them but Shadow Kaneshiro, some cognitive thugs and...
"A safe?!" Mona oh so helpfully pointed out. "Tch. He changed the entire room so quickly... I guess this Palace isn't a bank for nothing "
But then again, things were never easy when it came to bosses.
So it was time to improvise again.
She met Joker's gaze. Her brother gestured towards Kaneshiro as the mafia boss neared them, before sweeping his eyes across the area. Understanding his objective, she nodded and moved to the front, Joker now behind her, but not too far back. Queen also understood Joker's silent order to distract the boss while he analyzed the room, so she signaled the rest to help Rogue while she and Mona assisted their leader.
"Greetings. Welcome to my private city bank," the evil purple sweet potato said.
"Well keep your greetin's, asshole, 'cause we don't need 'em."
"Oh, don't be like that. I'm just surprised you made it here. You must be quite lucky."
"Lucky?" Panther scoffed. "It has nothing to do with luck."
"Yeah! Your security's shit! And now we're gonna change your heart and make ya confess!" Skull said. "That'll save all those people who're sufferin' 'cause of your shitty actions. Even the police're struggling to deal with you, so this'll make the public believe in us too!"
"Those in power work the ones below them to the bone for money. Such is the hierarchy of this world. So just accept your fate as a source of my wealth!"
"We'll never agree to that!" Fox said, Rogue feeling a spike of rage from him.
"And hierarchy? You have to be out of your mind. Not everything works like this stupid 'hierarchy'," said Panther.
"That 'stupid hierarchy' was forced on me too, you know! All of it!" Kaneshiro said, stomping. "I went through shit until I crawled my way out of the dregs. Now it's my turn to profit on everyone else!"
"Still! Don't you think you're getting back at the wrong people?!" Panther said as Rogue felt Queen and Mona slowly move behind her.
"It doesn't matter whether you're clean or dirty! Only the clever come out on top! While everyone else has to eat their dust." The mafia boss sneered at Queen. "That's what happened to your father, and that's what'll happen to you."
And then Queen said, voice like steel, "No, it won't. I won't allow it."
Rogue and the others collectively stood still at her tone.
Kaneshiro laughed in the face of her threatening aura. "Of course it will! You're the same as him! Your father was weak and naïve and the strong and smart devour the weak and naïve! That is the natural order of things!"
"No, it isn't! The strong are supposed to protect and help the weak! Use their power responsibly! An order my father upheld! An order that people like you distort by devouring everyone in your way!"
Kaneshiro scoffed. "You damn brats. You think you know the world because of the shit you read online...but that makes you perfect prey."
"No, we're not. Not anymore."
"It's always the fools who say they won't be tricked, but in the end they're the ones who get tricked!" Kaneshiro said.
A hand splayed over her own and she glanced back to see it was her brother...
"Fools who have to pay for their foolishness."
...just as he said,
"Mimic."
"And if those fools don't learn, well, they have to—"
"Johanna!"
"—gah!"
All hell broke loose as everything exploded all at once.
Queen charged forward. Kaneshiro jumped out of the way. Rogue and Joker braced themselves back to back, her brother reaching out towards Mona. The cognitive thugs rushed forward. Mona grabbed onto Joker. Panther, Fox and Skull met the thugs' charge. She and her brother grappled onto the safe's door. Mona hopped off and began to try cracking it. Then Rogue and Joker jumped off the door and said,
"Jikokuten!"
"Anzu!"
Ice from the guardian and fire from the monster rained down on the screaming thugs, who scrambled away from them and the others by the time she and her brother landed. Some, however, still remained by Kaneshiro's side.
"Everyone! Hold them off until Mona opens the safe!"
They shouted in reply.
But just as they readied their Personas, Kaneshiro doubled over and...
"Aaaaaahhhhhh!"
"What the hell?!"
Rogue gaped.
What the hell indeed.
"Yeh pieces of shits. Goin' against me's a crime! It's time for ya all to go to hell!" said Kaneshiro, now literally bug-eyed with fly wings jutting out his back. "Time to roll out! Come! My guardian robot!"
"Wait wha—ack!"
Rogue stopped herself from stumbling along with the others as the ground shook. They turned to see the wall behind them rumble from opening to reveal...
"A PIG MECHA?!"
Indeed, a giant piggy bank stood before them, the snout of which would've squished Mona if he hadn't jumped off as it opened.
"Mona!"
She managed to catch the not-cat just as Kaneshiro flew into the snout-door, said door closing once the fly man was inside. With its pilot in place, the mecha whirred to life, its moving "bug eyes" actually multiple M61 Vulcans aiming to fire.
"It ain't a pig, yo! This is my Palace's swine-model defensive mechanoid, Piggytron!"
Who's the kid now?!
Here he was calling them idiots for being kids and yet he was acting like one. At least she knew she was rather childish sometimes and did her best to own up to it.
"Gyahahahaha! Ya ready ta die?!"
"Everyone! Dodge it!"
They jumped, ran or rolled as Kaneshiro shot missiles all over.
"Damn it! I didn't think he'd have something like this up his sleeve!" Mona said from his perch in her arms.
"Queen! Analysis!" Joker said.
"We'll need to keep our health up at all times! Don't bother with melee! It's too big to be affected! And keep our guard up! We don't know what else it can do!"
"Right! Rogue! Debuff then healer duty! Mona! Healer too! Everyone else! Use your Personas!"
"On it!"
"Roger!"
"Got ya!"
"Got it!"
"As you command!"
Once again, she put Mona down as she summoned Nigi Mitama and had sickly auras of blue, red and green envelop the giant pig in succession. After that, everyone whaled on it with their different elements, while she and the not-cat kept their health up. Unfortunately, none of them seemed to stun the mecha as it continued to fire shots from its eye Vulcans and launch missiles from its back. Rogue would've thought they weren't making any dent on the otherwise pristine looking pig if Mona hadn't said,
"Keep going everyone! Its health is going down!"
Then followed by Kaneshiro saying,
"Ya punks're really pissin' me off!"
"Only returnin' the favor, asshole!" she said.
"Oh yeah? Then when ya called Piggytron a pig, you meant me too?! Then imma tear ya ta shreds!"
What kind of logic is that?!
"Go, Piggytron! Super VIP form!"
"Oh you've gotta be kidding me!"
I hate super robot physics right now!
"Everyone! Dodge or brace!"
The pig flew up with its rocket legs then dropped. Normally Rogue would've laughed at the pathetic sight of its sudden drop and Kaneshiro crawling out of it, but that was stopped when he started rolling on the big ball that was the Piggytron, circus performer style.
"Shit!"
Before any of them could do anything, it rolled, and all Rogue could do was brace herself.
She choked on a scream as the pressure stopped her from breathing, or even seeing.
And then it passed and she gasped, gulping down as much air as she could, doing her best to ignore the soreness that was so heavy that she didn't even have the brain power to think about it.
Thankfully, healing was able to get rid of most of that, so soon she stood again, though panting. She saw the rest of the team were now distracting the pig, directed by Queen, while Joker and Mona rushed to her.
"Rogue! Are you all right?!" her brother said once at her side, checking for injuries.
She huffed in amusement as she said, "Never better..." But then she turned serious. "We gotta find a way to stop that stupid pig from rollin' again."
"Hmm. Since he's outside when he does it...maybe we can distract him with an expensive item."
"Are you sure he'll fall for it?" Joker said.
"I'm sure! He's a money monger. There's no way he's going to ignore it."
"Then we're going to need to pick an expensive item, stat."
A scream from Fox turned their attention back to the fight.
"I'll deal with the pickin'! You two go!"
One brief look at her then Joker nodded before he said,
"Mona. Let's go."
"On it!"
And they went into action.
Rogue went through her inventory as she ran to the spot that was farthest away from Kaneshiro and her team. The more she did though, the more she worried she might not have anything close...but then she was going through the energy restoring items and remembered the Snuff Soul. Considering Kaneshiro was a mafia boss, drugs would be valuable to him, and this was probably the closest they had to illegal drugs. Rogue just hoped her logic would work.
She threw it away and then ran towards the others.
"Hmm? What is that?! It's got the shine of somethin' pricey!"
Yes!
"Go collect it, Piggytron! R-Right away!"
The pig mecha turned away from them and sucked it in.
"Hey! He's open!" Skull said.
"Jikokuten! Give us power!" Joker said, enveloping them all in bright red auras. "Everyone! Attack!"
Rogue smirked. "Hell yeah!"
"Persona!" they all said.
And yet, despite the all out assault on the pig going on for a good bit while the mafia boss mused about money and women, the mecha still showed no signs of breaking. The only thing making her hopeful was Kanehsiro going,
"Damnit! How dare you hurt my Piggyrron so much! My Piggytron's gonna lose? No, that's impossible! I won't let you!"
"Rogue! Distract!" Joker said.
"Got it!"
She ran off to do a repeat while the others went opposite of her. But instead of the pig flying up and falling...
"See how ya can take this!"
"Gyack!"
...it farted purple smoke.
"What the h—e—ghk—urgck...?!"
Her throat tightened. Her breath left. And her lungs desperately tried to get it back.
No, no, no, no no no no no!
She was having an attack. She was having an attack in the middle of a boss battle. She needed her inhaler. She needed to—
"Hahahaha! Can't even speak with how scary my Piggytron is, huh? Gyaahahaha!"
—Rogue wheezed and stared.
There, before her eyes, was death itself. It loomed over her, the thing up in the air, ready to envelop her, just like—just like—
"Akira? Akira?! No...no! Please no! Please hold on!"
—no, no, no, she didn't want to die. She refused to die. She needed to get her inhaler. She didn't want her loved ones to cry.
But her body refused to move at the sight of the reaper coming for her, darkness seeping into her vision as her strength was sapped with each failed breath. There was no chance she could avoid the oncoming specter, ready to send her to the other side.
And then she felt someone tackle and lift her into their arms, just as a THUD shook the room.
Who...?
With the lack of air leaving her barely lucid, she could only faintly hear her savior say something along the lines of "idiot" and feel a sense of familiarity from a Confidant bond before she felt them rummage through her jacket.
Next thing she knew, she felt the familiar shape of her inhaler against her mouth. On instinct, she breathed in just as the person pressed the button. And immediately she felt a wave of relief, her nose greedily gulping in air. But before she could do much else, another smell wafted up her nose.
"What the he—?!" she said, confused as to why they were having her smell something so soon after an asthma attack, but then...
...Rogue groaned at the sudden tiredness.
No way... A sle...ep...spe...ll...?
And the darkness ended up swallowing her in the end.
But unlike the one that could've happened before, this one she woke up from, thanks to her brother shaking her.
"Aki! Please wake up!"
"Ugh...! Big Bro...?"
Joker sighed in relief. "You're okay..."
"Yeah yeah, I'm fine...ugh...what's goin' on?" Rogue said as she sat up.
She was glad to see her brother smirking despite her getting knocked out. "We're almost done wi—" An explosion and failing machinery echoed. "—right on cue."
They turned to see the pig mecha smoking and falling over as a tumbling fly escaped and said,
"Wha—hey! My Piggytron!"
"Oh, you're gonna get it now!" Skull said.
"No, you busters are! I'm gonna deal with you myself—through the power of cash!"
"WHAT?!"
"How the hell's this dealin' with us yourself?!"
Using his money like summoning catalysts, several literal golden gates appeared around him before they "opened" and faded to reveal four large burly shield guards, and four flying staff guards.
"Yo, wassup! I've paid these guys off and now they're gonna clean you up! Ya like that?!" Kaneshiro said. "They're super duper powerful! And super duper fly! Heheheh... A totally invincible wall!"
Joker cursed under his breath.
"Lemme guess. It's probably literal?"
"If my hunch is right, yes."
"Great."
And as if to prove the point, Skull had Captain Kidd attack with a lightning bolt from his arm canon, but the burly guards used their shields to negate it.
"What the?!"
"They blocked it?!"
"C'moooon, I told you they're an invincible wall, right? Welcome to the power of cash! Booyah!"
"Okay, that's it."
He really thought cash was going make him strong? He really thought his "workers" would do their best just with money alone?
Well if that had been the case, they wouldn't have made it this far.
So she was going to beat them the same way they did to all his other workers.
But of course, Joker was worried and said, admonishingly, "Rogue..."
"Don't worry, Big Bro... I'm pretty much fine."
"But..."
She knew. She knew he was worried since she hadn't been doing well in this fight. Hell, she didn't even remember how'd she avoid the giant pig crushing her, though she assumed her brother saved her.
However...
"If they're guards, then probably they're the same as the others!" Rogue said, tearing her mask. "Anzu! Give 'em their break!"
"Tremble mongrels, for your end is nigh!" the Sumerian monster said before rushing at each and every guard.
The burly ones with shields blocked the attack like the ones before, leaving only the flying baton wielding ones to get hurt.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Skull said, him and the others having now regrouped with them. "That's not gonna do anything!"
"No, wait...look!" Mona said.
Rogue smirked as Anzu returned to her.
The winds he stirred, imbued with the sands of one of his components, Sandman, had put a majority of the guards to sleep...which included all the shield guards.
"I see. They're just like the Shadows we faced while securing a route. They're easily affected by sleep because Kaneshiro overworks them," Queen said.
"That means we can deal with Kaneshiro!" Panther said, happy.
Joker smiled with pride. "Yes, we can." Then he turned serious as he said, "Panther! Rogue! Fox! Sleep duty! Mona! Healer! The rest! With me!"
They all shouted their affirmatives and with that weakness discovered, though there were a few revivals needed to be done in the process thanks to how hard the guards hit, they were able to deal with them not too long afterwards, leaving Kaneshiro all by his lonesome.
"W-What?! How'd ya do that?!" the fly boss said.
"Because unlike you..." Queen said, holding her mask. "...we actually help each other do our best."
"Ha! Still holdin' on to those stupid dreams! Then see if ya can take all my cash!"
There was a thud and above they saw doors opening.
Oh for fuck's sake! How many money tricks does this douche have?!
"Guard!"
Though Rogue thought of dodging, she was glad she listened and braced herself as a torrent of gold rained down, from gold plated money to gold ingots to gold piggybanks. And as painful as that was, compared to that stupid pig mecha rolling her over, the rain had been nothing. Not only that, eventually...
tink tink tink...
"Gah! I ran outta cash..." the fly said, hunched over.
"Skull!"
"Yes Queen!"
The rider launched into the air while the thug charged. The fly noticed him coming and scrambled to get away, but Skull put his foot down on his chest.
"Heh, where you lookin'? Up here!"
Kaneshiro squealed.
Skull dodged just as the queen slammed him right into the ground.
"Wooooo! Go Queen!" Rogue said along with the others' cheers.
Too bad the cool finisher didn't actually finish him.
"No! I-I can't! If I don't have money...then I..."
"What the?! You're still not down?!" Skull said.
"Oh! I know—there's still money left inside Piggytron! Gotta get back in there!"
"Hey! Get back here!"
Now Rogue would've cursed and screamed at yet another "boss phase" they had to go through, but as soon as Kaneshiro went back in the mecha...
THUD.
Huh? Did something from the pig fall or something?
"Is that...?"
"Sparks?"
"Run!"
Rogue tensed in surprise before she followed after everyone.
"Wait—what's wrong, Piggytron?!"
And in answer, the pig mecha exploded in glorious movie style, with fire and smoke and lights and pieces flying everywhere.
"Gaaaaaaaah!"
With that, the pig spat its pilot back out...as well as a whole pile of gold bars.
They waited a bit to see if he still had any fight. He didn't seem to, however...
"Is he finished, Mona?" Joker said.
"He won't be fighting, that's for sure. He's back to normal."
Indeed he was. When they went closer, his eyes were no longer red and buggy. But he was still desperate to protect his Treasure, hugging the gold protectively as he said,
"I'm...not gonna let anyone have it... This is my money..."
"You stole it all from innocent people!"
"... Fine. I'll call off the debt."
"Fine? You're still soundin' pretty condescendin'."
"You're right... I'm a poor, ugly...idiot... How am I supposed to live a normal life like this? It's all because of our society! Weak people can't lead a happy life, no matter what they do! I'm a victim too, you know! None of this is my fault!"
"Oh shut up already."
"Indeed. The more you talk, the more pathetic you sound."
"I just wanted a place where I could belong! You get that, don't you?!
"Bullshit! All you did was surround yourself with people you could use, solely for some easy money!"
"And you think you're the only one who's gotta deal with bein' labeled? Me and these guys...we're all fightin' against that!"
"But don't worry. You'll finally have a place to belong. Somewhere you can make amends, for the rest of your life. Like my father would've done."
"We're gonna do somethin' 'bout that distorted heart of yours. Free of charge."
Rogue managed to withhold her amusement over Skull managing to deliver a pretty decent one-liner in her opinion, especially since that made Kaneshiro let go of the Treasure and just...lie against it.
"Yeah yeah, I know..."
"I'm glad you understand," Fox said. "Now hurry up and return to the real Kaneshiro."
But instead of doing that, the Shadow scoffed and actually dared to say, "Seriously? You guys don't have any tact. Especially with that incredible power..."
"You're not exactly a role model of that, so you don't get to tell us."
"But these Palaces could net you loads of cash! You could do whatever you wanted with people's hearts!"
"Well, we don't care about the Palaces like that."
"We're not like you!"
The mafia boss scoffed. "Where do you find meaning in that naïve sense of justice...?"
She scoffed back. "I don't care if it's dumb to other people," she said. "If someone needs help, I'm helpin'. 'Cause sometimes all ya need is one person's help."
"You wouldn't be here if you weren't treated that way by your beloved brother."
"I don't care if it's 'naïve'," Joker said, face blank but tone stern. "Caring about others and helping them as best as you can... That's the right thing to do."
The Shadow chuckled. "You know, there's already someone out there taking full advantage of what Palaces have to offer..."
"What...?" Queen said, wide-eyed from horror.
Rogue flinched. Oh right. They hadn't told her about that.
The Shadow sneered. "I'll let you in on a little something...there's a criminal using other people's Palaces to do whatever they damn well please. They don't care about consequences, psychotic breakdowns, mental shutdowns... Anything goes."
Rogue felt everyone's emotions of various kinds spike, making her stagger a bit, especially one particularly strong mix of panic and rage that she couldn't quite pinpoint, but suspected was her brother from the general "direction" of the feelings.
"Is that...the same person Madarame's Shadow spoke of?"
"Spill it! Who're you talkin' about?!"
Kaneshiro sniggered. "Don't even bother...you're nothing compared to them..." he said. "Better be careful...a chance encounter with them could prove fatal..."
And to further troll them, it was then he decided to fade away and have the Palace crumble.
"Damn it! Of course it's just when we're findin' out more!"
"We can think about that later! Grab the Treasure! There's no time!"
"In that case we should take that large one, it's most likely the..." Queen said, slipping back to advisor mode. At least until she looked at the Treasure and turned confused. "Wait what?!"
"Meeeooooow...!"
"Why you meddlesome feline..."
"Not again! Mona!"
Before he could continue relishing in his euphoric state, Rogue grabbed his tail and flung him into the air, which made him transform and land as the Monamobile.
"You shouldn't throw animals, damn it!"
"And younshouldn't be havin' any fantasies right now, Mr. 'I Keep Forgetting Important Details for Last Second'!"
"Grr...fine!"
With that, Queen took the driver's seat and they grabbed the biggest piece of gold before she floored it, into the elevator, past the the vault lines, yet another lift, and finally through all the hallways and chairs until...
"Wait! There's no road!"
A moment felt like forever.
"Of fucking course."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
{R}
Thankfully, despite their exit that would befit a many slapstick cartoons, none of them were gravely injured.
"Owww..."
They were only "mildly" injured.
"I think I cracked my ass..." Ryuji said.
"Ann?! Are you all right?!" Yusuke said, shooting up. "Is yours cracked as well?!"
"Of course not!"
A thwack.
"Ah!" Yusuke said, flinching and rubbing the back of his head.
"Don't say that," Ren said, scowling.
But then Makoto said, "Isn't it supposed to be, though?"
"Ugh, that's not what I mean!"
"Indeed."
"How...'bout...helpin'...the one with 'cracked' lungs up then...?"
"Ah! Aki! Are you all right?!" he said, quickly pulling up his downed sister.
"Yeah, I'm...fine... Just...waaaaay more tired than I thought I'd be..." Aki said, leaning onto him.
While Ren supported her, Ann said, "Anyways, more importantly, it's dangerous for us to charge out like that! Eeeh! Everyone's staring at us!"
Aki panted. "Yeah...don't care...I'm dead tired..."
Ren chuckled while everyone else stared for a moment, unsure how to react, before they expressed their amusement over Aki's unpeturbed attitude.
"Thank goodness nobody was hurt."
"Uh...I wouldn't say 'nobody'..." Ryuji said, looking away.
Ren was confused until he and the others followed his gaze...
...to see a flattened Mona.
"Mona...?!" Aki said.
Ren made sure his sister could stand by herself before he went to fetch the non-feline himself. He sighed in relief. He was fine...
"So...warm..."
...for the most part.
However, it was clear the briefcase was Kaneshiro's Treasure, and with their sudden appearance, it was all the more reason to make scarce. It was initially suggested they head to a karaoke, but when Makoto pointed out the security cameras, it was clear there was only one place they could go to.
"This place is oddly charming," Makoto said after observing their room a bit.
Ren smirked. "You can call it a dump if you want, you know."
The brunett was astonished. "W-What? I wasn't thinking that at all."
Aki laughed from her spot against Ren's back, using him as support. "He's just makin' sure you're bein' honest, Makoto."
The older girl didn't look so convinced, but took her mind off it as she said,
"Have you learned anything new?"
"It's sealed by a rotary lock. We'll need the combination to open it."
"We can always just bust it open. I can destroy the hinges real easy," Aki said.
"But that could destroy the Treasure inside," Ren said.
"Well, do you got a better idea?"
Before he could counter it, Makoto just went and opened it.
Makoto smirked and huffed. "... I knew it."
"What the hell?!"
"How did you get that...?"
"I simply memorized the code. I saw him open and close it many times."
"Wait wait wait...when exactly did you see that?!"
"Oh, when I...well, when I recklessly charged. Like I said, he opened and closed it many times before you came. He liked showing off his money."
Aki stared.
Ren stared.
Everyone else stared.
"Well, t-that's scary... But amazing too!"
"Oh, uh, thank you."
"A-Anyways, it's open, so let's open it!" Aki said, now leaning over his shoulder.
With that, Yusuke flipped the lid up and...
...Ren frowned.
While the others stared in amzament and were already discussing how to devide it, he, Aki and Yusuke were quiet. Ren shared a look with his sister. Then she said,
"Guys. Might wanna take a closer look."
"Ah, you noticed too?" said the team's artist. "I'm glad to know I wasn't wrong in my suspicions."
"Huh?"
Ann picked one of the stacks up and her eyes widened. "Children's Bank?!"
"Complete with his face on the bills," Aki said.
"I guess this represents...how everything he did was an act to seem tough?"
"Nooooooooooooooooo-ooooo-oooooo...!" Ryuji wailed.
"Well...at least we totes busted this case, right?"
Ren stilled.
Stared at Ann.
Then said,
"Six out of ten. Good first attempt at a pun but could use some work."
"What?! You're rating what I said?!"
"It was a joke, wasn't it? There's an art to it," Ren said with all the seriousness of an affronted gentleman.
Ann grumbled and glowered at him.
"What do you mean there's an art to jokes? You sure that ain't just you, Joker?"Ryuji said, distracted as he hoped he would be.
"Hey, comedy's harder than it looks," Aki said.
"Thank you, Aki."
"Oh come on! It can't be that hard!"
"Is that a challenge?"
Thankfully, before he had to break those two up, Makoto did so by simply asking,
"I don't understand. What do you mean? How is 'busting a case' a joke?"
"It wasn't!" Ann said.
"Then is busting a case good or bad?"
The blonde smiled. "Both!"
They all stilled.
And then...
"Snrk... Heh heh heh heh heh... Ahahahahahaha!"
Ren was startled for a moment, but soon he and his sister joined in Makoto's laughter.
Once they all stopped, the older girl said with an amused smile,
"To think the reward for the Phantom Thieves is the feeling of 'totes busted' the case..."
"Hold on a moment," Yusuke said. "Even though the contents are nothing more than trash, the case most likely isn't. I can tell it's gold."
"Oh good. 'Cause I was thinkin' that we'd sell that," Aki said. "And maybe keep the fake money for our thief tools or somethin''."
"Wha...? How's fake money gonna help with that?"
"I'll think of something."
Thankfully that possible digression was stopped before it could even begin.
"By the way, Morgana, have any of your memories returned?"
"Oh yeah. Did the Palace jog anythin'?"
The non-feline shook his head. "No, not at all..." he said with drooping ears.
"C'mon, did that hit to your head make ya forget even more?" Ryuji said.
Mona glared at him. "It's easy for you to say. You're not the one who lost his memories."
"Guys..." Ren said in warning.
Luckily, Makoto interrupted as she said, "You have amnesia?"
And then he realized they also forgot to tell her about that, along with the mysterious "Black Mask".
"Oh. Right. We didn't tell ya..."
"Something like that," Ann said. "He does remember searching for Treasures though."
"And has knowledge about the cognitive world, Personas, and how they work," he said.
"Hmm... I hope your memories return soon then."
"Yeah. Me too. Still rootin' for ya."
Ren smiled. "We also have a promise to keep."
Mona harrumphed. "Of course! A phantom thief never goes back on their word."
"So...what happens next?" Makoto said.
"We wait," Aki said.
Ren nodded. "When the heart change happens varies, but it's usually a week, give or take, for Palace rulers. So there isn't much else we can do to affect it now."
"It'll be big when it does happen this time. People're gonna make a huge deal about it for sure," Ryuji said, grinning.
Ann, however, frowned. "... Hey...what about what Kaneshiro said at the end? About that 'criminal' using the Metaverse?"
And the atmosphere turned somber at the reminder.
"Yes. I was bothered by that too," Yusuke said.
"I've been meaning to ask. Who is this black masked individual?" Makoto said.
"We don't know," Ren said.
"Didn't even see them yet. We just heard of 'em from Madarame and now Kaneshiro."
"They're most likely the one behind the mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns," Mona said.
"Does that mean they're...?"
"A Persona user? Most likely, if not a hundred percent."
Another layer of somberness weighed down the mood.
It certainly didn't help that this "Black Mask's" actions were exactly what Akechi was worried about with the Phantom Thieves.
Then Ryuji said, "No point in mullin' over it now. Let's wait and see how Kaneshiro's change of heart goes first. We should proly just lay low for a while."
And Makoto chuckled and said, "I never thought I'd hear those words come from you."
Aki smirked. "Hey, give 'im some slack. He's not that reckless."
"Hey! You're one to talk! You're as bad as me!"
"I agree," Ren said, pointedly looking at her.
Especially considering...what almost happened during the fight.
"At least I got a good reason for it!"
"You sayin' I don't?!"
And so Ren, Ann and Makoto broke the two before it could devolve into an actual argument, again. When that was taken care of, since everyone was gathered and tired, Ren offered to at least cook them all dinner. Makoto was surprised while everyone else was quick to accept and so, once again, they had an impromptu dinner party, and lively conversation and antics were had. During such instance of the latter, when Aki and Ryuji were having an arm wrestling contest for some reason, Ann and Mona cheering them on and Yusuke sketching it all, Ren said to Makoto,
"How are you feeling?"
"Hmm? What about?" she said, confused.
"I mean..." How should he put it... "...I know the change of heart hasn't happened yet and so Kaneshiro's not in jail now but...how do feel about that? When he's...he's the reason your father is dead..."
Makoto was silent for a while, the shouts and jostles now background noise.
"If you want to talk about it, of course. I just want to make sure you're okay."
The brunett smiled softly. "It's fine... I just..." She paused. "I think...while I think it's good that I...well, if the change of heart is successful of course, put a criminal that my father lost his life for in jail...I'm mostly just glad he's not going to hurt anyone anymore."
"I see... Well, I'm glad you're fine. But if there's anything else, I'm always open to listen."
"I'll keep that in mind. And...thank you for asking."
"I'm always happy to help."
Just then, a fist thudded on the table and Aki said,
"Woooooo! Take that!"
"Hey! It's three outta five! You haven't won yet!"
"Ha ha! Bring it on!"
That was then interrupted by both his and his sister's phones ringing.
"Huh?"
"Oh! Is that your parents calling?" Yusuke said.
"Parents?" Makoto said.
"Oh crap. Not again." Aki took out her phone in tandem with him. "Yeah, it's them."
"Hey, we can introduce them to Makoto!" Ann said.
Aki grinned. "Yeah! That's a great idea!"
"Oh come on!"
Ren chuckled. "Apologies Ryuji, but it looks like your arm wrestling will be put on hold."
They answered their phones.
"Hey Dad! Hey Mom! There's a new friend we want you to meet!"
And the chaos and antics were renewed as everyone shared stories about each other for Makoto until it was finally time for their friends to go home. But as night rolled and he and Aki took their baths, he made a mental note to check out that shogi master the chat talked about just yesterday when he could.
He needed to up his tactics if he didn't want another close call to happen to his sister, or any of his friends.