Persona 5: The Phantom Files

by sithlorde1988

Will cover the events of Persona 5 Royal, with the sequel set to cover Strikers. What happens when in addition to Ren being sentenced to go live in the care of Sojiro Sakura for a year after being sued for assault, his younger brother is also ordered to go and oversee him? How will this extra character change things? Read to find out! More info in chapter 1! ALL CHAPTERS NOW EDITED

40. House Raid? Traumatized Oracle part 4

A/N: sithlorde1988 here, with another chapter of Persona 5- The Phantom Files! Wow, here we are on chapter 40, and still going strong.

At this pace, I think it's fairly safe to say this story will probably set a high bar for the rest of my stories to match for both chapter length and word count, since as of the most recent posted chapter of this story, (which as of the time of typing this start-of-chapter A/N, everything up to chapter 29 is now uploaded for Phantom Files) Phantom Files, despite still having one less chapter uploaded than Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Hacker's Memory-The Amasawa Files (my only COMPLETE multi-chapter story still up on my profile since i had one other fic fully finished but it got deleted with plans for a rewrite that never actually happened. If I think of it, I might do that rewrite at some point later on, but we'll see what happens), Phantom Files has Amasawa Files beaten on word count by about 55,000 words.

And not only that, but Phantom Files still has one more chapter to upload before it matches Amasawa Files on chapter count, so it'll probably beat it on word count by quite a lot more. That said, thanks to everyone who's favorited/followed this story thus far, the support means so much to me since it shows that people actually are enjoying the story, which is good to see, since I'm aware that trying to do an adaptation of Persona 5 in particular is something of an ambitious undertaking, but one I felt like challenging myself with to see how far I've come as a writer and if my skills are still refined and polished despite the multiple semi-forced hiatuses I've had to contend with over the years for various reasons.

So I'm happy people enjoy my work, even if only one person consistently reviews this story. That one reviewer alone gives me motivation to keep this story going. Granted, I do have other ongoing projects that I work on while doing this, but for now they're on something of a back burner of sorts while I work on this story. But they too will be finished in time, even if no one leaves reviews on those stories. But enough of my prattling, let's do the disclaimer!

Disclaimer: sithlorde1988 does not own the Persona series in any way, shape, or form (barring the OC Kusa/Draconis, who he made and thus does own, as well as any other OCs that might appear in Phantom Files, which are also made and owned by him unless otherwise stated) and the actual ownership credit belongs to Sega, Atlus and Koei Tecmo so all credit to them!

With all that done and said, on with chapter 40!

Chapter 40: Summer Vacation begins! Secret of the Sakura Family? Traumatized Oracle part 4

(In the backstreets of Yongen-Jaya, with Ren and Morgana)

As Ren and Morgana nodded, they started gathering info on Futaba, starting with an elderly man fairly near to where they'd come into Yongen-Jaya. Ren looked at the man and spoke up, smiling as he spoke.

"Excuse me sir, would you happen to know anything of someone who goes by the name of Futaba Sakura?" Ren asked the elderly man, who tapped his chin in thought while he spoke up.

"Futaba? Futaba...Yes, I know that name. Pretty sure I've heard it somewhere before. Ah yes, I remember now! That was the name of the teacher I had a crush on back when I was in elementary school!" The man said as Ren and Morgana winced, the latter speaking up uncertainly.

"Yeah, let's go ask someone else, Ren." Morgana said as Ren nodded but turned to the elderly man and spoke up.

"I see. Thank you for your time and information, sir." Ren said politely as he walked off. Ren then decided to ask around at the second-hand shop, seeing the owner inside and speaking up to get his attention.

"Good afternoon, sir. I was wondering if you might have a moment to chat? I had a question for you." Ren said to the manager, who turned to face him while he spoke up.

"Hm? Can I help you?" The manager asked as Ren nodded while speaking up.

"I hope so. I was hoping you could tell me what, if anything, you know of an individual called Futaba Sakura." Ren said to the second-hand shop manager, who frowned while stroking his chin in thought as he spoke up.

"Futaba? Hmmm...We do get the occasional young'un coming and poking around. However, I'm afraid I've not been as diligent as I should be about knowing them by name. Sorry about that, young man. I hope that was somewhat helpful, at least." The manager said as Ren nodded politely.

"Yes sir, it was. Thanks for your time and information." Ren said politely as he and Morgana left, moving a ways away so as not to be in earshot of the manager as the not-cat spoke up.

"Oof, no luck here either, huh? Let's go ask some other people." Morgana said to Ren, who nodded and kept looking for info. Ren noticed a man standing out in front of Takemi's clinic and decided to speak to him, walking over to him and speaking up.

"Excuse me, sir? Would you happen to know anything about a Futaba Sakura, by chance?" Ren asked the man, who blinked as he looked at Ren while speaking up.

"Futaba? No. No, I'm afraid I don't know who that could be. Sorry about that." The man said as Ren nodded and thanked the man before walking off as Morgana spoke up.

"It happens. Let's ask some other people, just to be safe." Morgana said to Ren, who nodded and kept moving. Ren then saw a passing shopper and spoke to him.

"Sir? Would you know anything about a Futaba Sakura?" Ren asked the shopper, who frowned at Ren before he spoke up.

"Futaba? Who knows? By the way, do you eat a lot?" The shopper asked Ren, who frowned at the question while he spoke up.

"Uh, not really, no. I'm a high-school student on a limited budget, so I don't exactly have the luxury of large and lavish meals all the time. That said, why do you ask?" Ren said to the shopper who blinked but kept speaking.

"No? That's surprising. Anyways, if it's just you and him, then you've been eating enough for two, right? You must have quite the appetite. Wait, what? You're telling me you don't actually eat that much? Maybe it's Boss who eats a lot then." The shopper said in surprise as Ren blinked at this but thanked the shopper for his information before moving out of earshot as Morgana spoke up.

"That was interesting. Though not necessarily informative, per se. Oh well, let's ask some other people, too." Morgana said as Ren nodded and kept moving. Ren then saw a wise-looking elderly man and walked over to him before politely clearing his throat while speaking up.

"Excuse me, sir? Would you know anything about a Futaba Sakura, by any chance?" Ren asked the wise-looking elderly man who blinked before he spoke up.

"Futaba? Who's that? I don't think I know anybody by that name, young man. Hm, but wouldn't this Futaba get angry if they find out you're snooping on them though?" The elderly man asked Ren, who winced as he nodded.

"Good point, sir. And even if she doesn't, her friend probably would, and he's already really protective of her." Ren said as he thanked the man and walked out of earshot as Morgana winced and spoke up.

"You're not wrong about Kusa's protective streak, Ren. Let's hope he's not too livid when he finds out we're digging for info on Futaba, since a livid Kusa is not a fun Kusa. Either way, let's keep asking more people about her. There's likely not that many left, but it's worth a try, right?" Morgana said as Ren nodded and kept moving. Once Ren got over towards the front entryway of the Sakura house, he saw a deliveryman near the front porch and decided to ask him, walking over and clearing his throat as he spoke up.

"Pardon me, sir? Would you know anything about a Futaba Sakura by chance?" Ren asked, careful to keep his voice down so only the deliveryman and Morgana could hear, and not be heard by anyone inside the nearby house. The deliveryman turned to face Ren as he spoke up.

"Futaba? Hmm, nope, don't know anyone like that. I come to Sakura-kun's often to make deliveries, but I've never seen who you're talking about." The deliveryman said as Ren nodded and thanked the man, walking off elsewhere as Morgana spoke up.

"Well, that went nowhere. Let's ask some other people, too." Morgana said to Ren, who blinked but nodded as he kept moving, wondering where he might've missed someone, before spotting a lady standing outside of Leblanc and speaking to her cautiously, taking care not to let his voice be heard by Sojiro inside the cafe.

"Excuse me, ma'am? Would you happen to know anything about a Futaba Sakura, by chance?" Ren asked the lady, who turned to face Ren and blinked at the question while she spoke up in a surprised tone of voice.

"Sakura-kun's single, right? I thought he didn't have any children." The lady said as Ren thanked her before walking off as Morgana spoke up.

"So, up until now, our biggest lead seems to be that the chief buys a lot of food, far more than enough for one person living alone." Morgana said as Ren spoke up.

"True, but to be fair, Kusa's been staying there for most of the past week, so that could also account for the increase in food purchasing." Ren suggested as Morgana spoke up.

"Perhaps, but I don't think Kusa eats all that much, so I still say that lead is suspect, plus we know he's friends with Futaba. For now, let's check out all the shops where you can buy food!" Morgana said as Ren nodded reluctantly and kept moving, heading towards the nearby supermarket, which to Ren's awareness was the only place in the area to buy food at. Morgana spoke up as the two reached the supermarket, doing a closed-eye grin while he spoke.

"This place is close to Leblanc, so we might be able to learn something here!" Morgana said as Ren nodded and headed inside where a male employee greeted him as he went in.

"Hey there, welcome!" The employee said to Ren who smiled and spoke up.

"Thank you, sir. Sorry for the random question, but would you happen to know anything about a Futaba Sakura by any chance?" Ren asked the employee who stroked his chin before he spoke up.

"Hmm...Futaba? Over at Sakura-kun's? I haven't heard anything...Sorry. Come again!" The employee said as Ren thanked the man and left. Once outside, Morgana frowned before he spoke up in a tone that was mixed annoyed and disappointed.

"Hrm, we didn't find anything on Futaba. I think our only option now is to go home and ask the chief directly." Morgana said as Ren spoke up.

"OR, we can wait until tomorrow when Kusa gets back from his stay at the Sakura house and ask him, since he knows Futaba as well and would probably know of her as well." Ren said making Morgana blink but nod as the not-cat spoke up.

"That IS an option, but I think we should try the chief first. Chances are, as her dad, he might know stuff about her that Kusa doesn't." Morgana said as Ren nodded and headed back to Leblanc...

(Back at Leblanc, with Ren, Morgana, and Sojiro)

Sojiro sighed as a platinum-blonde woman stared him down across the counter before speaking up as the door to Leblanc opened and Ren walked in.

"You read the letter, did you not?" The woman asked Sojiro, who huffed and spoke up.

"So, you're the one who tipped him off about Futaba. You really shouldn't have done that. I have no intention of talking to you about Wakaba." Sojiro said accusingly to the woman, who frowned in confusion as she spoke up, ignoring the gasp that Ren gave at what she said to Sojiro next while she spoke.

"Tipped off? What are you talking about? If you're referring to your daughter, didn't you say that one of the young men staying with you befriended her? Could it not be possible that the aforementioned young man is the one who did the tipoff which you're accusing me of!? That said, back to the matter at hand. Your parental authority will have to be suspended. I take it you're okay with that outcome?" The woman asked Sojiro, who frowned and spoke up.

"First of all, I know Kusa's told Ren about Futaba, but I don't think he tipped Ren off about her situation. I trust him to have discretion with what he tells people. That said, what!?" Sojiro said in shock as the woman smirked and spoke up, ignoring the gaping teenager and not-cat while she spoke.

"Considering the state of your daughter and your family overall, there are no points in your favor. Would you like to take this to domestic court? Our chances of victory are roughly 99.9% though. With these suspicions of abuse, there's no way you could avoid having your custody revoked." The woman said as both Ren and Sojiro sputtered at her accusations of abuse, before the latter huffed and spoke up in a livid-sounding tone.

"You're going that far!? I told you, I don't know a damn thing about it!" Sojiro snapped as the woman frowned and spoke up once more.

"We're extremely serious about this. As long as there's a possibility that cognitive psience can be linked to psychotic breakdowns..." The woman said, trailing off at that point as she saw Ren in the entryway, while Sojiro sputtered and spoke up, sounding distinctly unhappy as he spoke.

"Tch...Fine, you win." Sojiro said reluctantly, not wanting to concede to this woman, but also not wanting to risk losing Futaba either. The woman smiled happily as she spoke up.

"Thank you. I will contact you at a later date." The woman said as Sojiro huffed and spoke up.

"I doubt you'll find anything you want to hear, though." Sojiro said to the woman, who nodded while speaking up with a slight smile on her face.

"That's fine. It will be up to us to decide whether the information you give us is useful or not. Next time I come here, it will just be for a nice cup of coffee." The woman said as her smile got slightly larger and less forced as she walked past Ren and left, not hearing Sojiro as he yelled after her.

"AND STAY OUT! Ugh, that woman is real good at pissing people off. To be honest, I'm just as glad I left Kusa at the house to keep an eye on Futaba. Otherwise, I'd have probably had to keep him from tearing into that woman just now." Sojiro said huffily as he noticed Ren looking at him and sighed before speaking up.

"Ugh, what's with that look? You got something to say?" Sojiro said to Ren, who blinked but nodded before he spoke up.

"Actually, yes, I do have something to say, Sakura-kun. I'd ask what that was, but given what I heard I can kind of guess what she meant. I think what I instead want to ask is, what did she mean by custody? That is, if you don't mind me asking such a personal question, Sakura-kun." Ren said as Sojiro frowned before speaking up in a flat tone.

"This doesn't involve you." Sojiro said bluntly as Ren nodded his understanding before speaking up.

"I realize that, Sakura-kun. However, if it involves Futaba, who I know is apparently your daughter thanks to Kusa, though I had to basically corner him into telling me after accidentally eavesdropping on one of his phone calls to her when I came home about a month and a half ago. I suppose the most prevalent thing I can ask here is, is Futaba okay? That woman sounded like she was threatening her, and as she's a friend of Kusa's, I don't take kindly to people threatening Futaba.

And I know Kusa would've been heated with her. I don't think it'd be an understatement to say we'd probably both have had to hold him back from chasing her out of Leblanc. We both know how protective Kusa is of Futaba, or Taba as he's taken to calling her for short. Just to be clear, and so I'm not just assuming, Futaba IS your daughter, correct?" Ren said to Sojiro in as polite and considerate a tone as he could muster. Sojiro frowned at the question and spoke up angrily.

"That's enough! I appreciate that Kusa is concerned for her, and is trying to be there for Futaba. But you, on the other hand? As far as I know, you have no such reasons to be worried, even if she IS friends with your brother. Now, just behave yourself and keep going to school, if you don't want me to throw you out of here. I won't toss out Kusa, since not only is he a good kid, but Futaba's taken an unusually quick liking to him, which is rare for her, since she usually doesn't open up to others that easily.

But for some reason, she seems to have taken a shine to Kusa, to the point she's actually friends with him, if not more. You got that, Ren? If so, lock the store up. I'm going home." Sojiro said as he abruptly left without a word and before Ren could reply to him, leaving him and Morgana to exchange shocked looks as the not-cat spoke up.

"Well, that basically confirms that Futaba Sakura IS the Futaba Kusa is friends with. But it sounds like she's got her own problems. More so, our conjecture that Alibaba is connected to Leblanc, and potentially to Kusa indirectly, seems to have a pretty solid foundation. Oh, and didn't they mention 'cognitive' something?" Morgana asked as Ren nodded while Morgana kept speaking.

"I wonder what the chief's hiding. We really can't press him on the subject though, especially after he basically threatened to kick you out of Leblanc." Morgana said as Ren nodded and headed upstairs, at which point his phone went off to signify a group chat with Ryuji, Ann, Kusa, Yusuke, and Makoto, with Ryuji sending the first response.

"Yo, how'd it go? You find out anything about Futaba Sakura?" Ryuji sent as Ann and Kusa sent responses close together, Ann's coming through first.

"I've been wondering about that too!" Ann sent as Kusa's response came through.

"Wait, are you lot STILL trying to get information about Taba out of Sakura-kun!? Are you all mental!? You do realize that you could get at least Ren kicked out of Leblanc if you press too hard, right!? And given the temper Sakura-kun was in when he came home, I wouldn't be surprised if that was at least partially your fault Ren. Granted, I did get him to tell me some of what was bothering him, and that broad's lucky I wasn't there, otherwise I'd have had some VERY choice words for her about even THINKING that Sakura-kun had even a single mean bone in his body, much less that he'd be capable of something as horrendous and unthinkable as abusing Taba!

Sakura-kun thinks the world of her! Sure, she's not his biological daughter, but he loves her as if she were his own. So I seriously doubt that he'd ever so much as lay a hand on her other than to comfort her. Hmph! Also, if you lot can stay out of trouble until then, I'm due to return to Leblanc tomorrow afternoon. So hopefully you all can stay out of trouble until then? I'd rather not have to cut my time with Taba short just because Ren and Ryuji can't stop getting themselves into trouble. Not to mention it must be stressful for poor Morgana, having to try to keep Ren in line through all of this." Kusa sent as Ren sent a response.

"Ha freaking ha, Kusa. All I did was stand there and listen to that bitch threaten Sakura-kun. I might have raised his ire by asking about Futaba afterwards, but that was at Morgana's insistence, since no one in the neighborhood had any real info about Futaba, other than one guy who said he noticed Sakura-kun bringing back more groceries than usual recently. That said, I'll fill you guys in tomorrow at the hideout. You as well, if you can make it Kusa." Ren sent as Ryuji sent a response.

"Whoa-ho!" Ryuji said as Yusuke sent a response.

"So you did learn something. Fine work." Yusuke sent as Ann sent a response.

"I knew we could count on you!" Ann sent as Makoto sent a response.

"Ren-kun, thank you. Also, if that 'bitch' as you described her had platinum-blonde hair and red eyes, that was probably my older sister Sae, who I'll thank you NOT to call a bitch, even if she has been acting rather rude and unprofessional of late to people. That said, all right, let's all meet up tomorrow." Makoto sent as Kusa sent a response.

"Again, I'm heading back to Leblanc tomorrow afternoon, so we'll see if I can fit it in around that. Maybe once I'm done settling back in, I'll meet you guys at the hideout." Kusa sent as Ren put his phone away. After some consideration, Ren decided to spend his evening crafting infiltration tools, figuring that there was probably going to be another Palace on the fairly near horizon so being prepared was as good a plan as any. Ren then opted to make 4 Lockpicks. Morgana smiled as he looked at Ren before speaking up.

"Good work! You're definitely getting better, Ren. I can tell just by looking at the way you work and the expression in your eyes as you work." Morgana said as Ren nodded and pumped a fist as his Proficiency increased. Morgana smiled at Ren and kept speaking.

"Well then! It's getting late, so let's head to bed. After all, we want to be well rested for when we fill the others in tomorrow, not to mention Kusa's coming home." Morgana said, sounding surprisingly excited, though Ren just figured it was the idea of Kusa's imminent return to Leblanc that had the not-cat so excited, since even if Morgana wouldn't admit to it, Ren knew that the not-cat really missed Kusa while he was gone. As Ren and Morgana got ready for bed, the former idly wondered how Kusa's night was going...

(Meanwhile, at the Sakura house, in the living room on the hide-a-bed with Futaba and Kusa)

"Really? The others are asking about me already!? That was fast. I mean, I had a feeling they would, but I half-expected them to hesitate more for some reason?" Futaba said in surprise as Kusa smiled and spoke up.

"If this was under normal circumstances, perhaps you'd be right. But you have to realize Taba, Ren and the others were called out by a hacktivist group! So they have to try and find a way to deal with Medjed before shit goes south not only for them, but possibly all of Japan. So of course they're going to eagerly leap on any lead they can get.

Especially if said lead might also get them assistance in taking down Medjed, who is a very real threat to the Phantom Thieves as a whole. And between you and me, you're more than capable of taking them down, Taba. I believe in you. However, I do worry that Ren's over-eagerness might get him, and possibly me as well, tossed out of Leblanc if Ren's not careful about pressing Sojiro for information." Kusa said as Futaba smiled and spoke up.

"Not gonna happen, Kusa! I don't think you realize it, but Sojiro is very grateful to you for being my friend, so I think he'd be willing to give more tolerance and latitude than most, but even that might have its' limits. Still, he's not about to throw you out, if only because he knows how good you've been. And that's not only good for me, but also to me. So I wouldn't worry too much, Kusa. However, what does suck is that this is our last night to spend together for a bit, since you're due to return to Leblanc tomorrow. I was hoping you'd get to stay for at least a bit longer, but probably not gonna happen." Futaba said as Kusa smiled, looking into Futaba's eyes as he spoke up reassuringly.

"Never say never, Taba. For all we know, Sojro could decide to ask me to stay a few more days for whatever reason. But even if not, I'm just down the street and can be here in no time flat, assuming I'm at Leblanc and not away for whatever reason. So never doubt I can be here quickly if you need me to be." Kusa said comfortingly to Futaba, who smiled happily while leaning into Kusa as he wrapped an arm around her protectively, smiling at how comfortable Futaba was with him as the two watched TV together before Futaba spoke up once more.

"Good point. But I know I can't keep you to myself forever. After all, summer vacation or no summer vacation, you have people to keep in contact with." Futaba said as Kusa nodded, before smiling as he spoke up.

"That's true, but for the most part, nothing is more important to me than you. Granted, I might make exceptions to that for Ren and Sojiro, and maybe the rest of my friends, but anyone else? If you need something, they can take a number and get in line, and I'll get to them when I get to them." Kusa said sagely as he gently held Futaba close and relaxed as he watched TV with her, the two enjoying each other's company and closeness for the time being, unaware of Sojiro discreetly observing the two from a distance, a pleased smile on his face as he saw the very happy and content look on Futaba's face while she let Kusa hold her close to him...

(The following afternoon, at the hideout with Ryuji, Makoto, Yusuke, Ren, Morgana, and Ann)

"A woman was threatening Boss?" Makoto said in shock as Ren and Morgana finished relating what they'd seen the day before to the others, the not-cat nodding as he spoke up.

"Yeah, she was going on about domestic abuse and taking the case to court and stuff." Morgana said as Makoto frowned and stroked her chin in thought as she winced, making Ryuji look her in concern as he spoke up.

"Makoto? What's up?" Ryuji asked Makoto in concern, making her blink as she spoke up while turning to face Ryuji.

"Oh, it's nothing. So, to summarize what you told us Ren, Futaba is Boss' daughter, and he's abusing her?" Makoto asked, but before Ren could answer her, someone else who had chosen right when Makoto made her remark accusing Sojiro of abusing Futaba to show up did, and by both their narrowed eyes and the edge of their tone when they spoke up, they were far from amused or pleased with Makoto as they spoke up while approaching the others at that moment, frowning as they spoke.

"EXCUSE YOU!? Did you just accuse Boss of accusing Taba, Makoto!? HOW DARE YOU! I can say for a fact that Boss would NEVER so much as lay a hand on Taba! And I'll be damned if I'm going to have the first thing I hear on getting here be you basically casting aspersions on him like that! I don't care if your sister IS a big-shot prosecutor or not! A high-ranking position is NO excuse for being a bitch! And before you get on me, I'm just stating things as I see them.

From what Ren said, your sister was entirely in the wrong to approach Boss the way she did. And to be honest? She's lucky I wasn't there! Otherwise, I'd have probably chased her out of Leblanc myself! I don't care if she IS your older sister. I won't let ANYONE get away with threatening Taba, or those she cares about, no matter who they are! So kindly do NOT make such baseless accusations in front of me, Makoto! Apologies to the rest of you, but no way in effing hell am I letting that stand." Kusa said huffily, crossing his arms as he joined the others, a very pointed glare on his face as he looked at a wincing Makoto, who spoke up.

"That may be so, Kusa-kun. But regardless, surely you have to admit that none of us aside from you, and maybe both Ren and Morgana, know him that well. As such, f none of us knows Boss all that well, can any of us say with absolute, 100% certainty that Boss ISN'T the type of person to do that?" Makoto asked as both Ren and Kusa's jaws dropped, the former giving the latter a warning look as if to say 'calm down and let ME handle this.', before he spoke up, frowning at Makoto as he spoke.

"Like Kusa said, there's no way Boss would abuse anyone. He might be a bit of a gruff hardass at times, but he's a good man. So I agree with Kusa, he'd never abuse Futaba. Yell at her and scold her, maybe. But he'd never abuse her." Ren said. Kusa nodded approvingly, though when Makoto spoke up once more, Kusa's jaw dropped and his eyes narrowed mulishly at what she had to say.

"I'd like to believe so as well, but we don't have any conclusive evidence, do we?" Makoto said as Ryuji nodded and spoke up to voice his agreement.

"For real! While I believe Kusa and Ren, I also agree we need some hard evidence so we can be sure, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that he'd never hurt anyone." Ryuji said, ignoring the venomous glare aimed at him and Makoto by a livid Kusa as the two were saved by Ren's phone choosing that moment to go off.

"Oh, is that Alibaba!?" Morgana said, ignoring the wide-eyed look of shock on Kusa's face at the not-cat's mention of Futaba's online handle. Ren shrugged and checked his private chat, which sure enough was from Alibaba.

"I've given you a calling card, and even told you the target's name. You should be more than ready for this. Why aren't you doing it!? I told you I'd help you if you stole her heart. What seems to be the hold up? If I recall correctly, did I not also quite clearly warn you that I'd report your identity to the police if you didn't help me? Are you OK with that or something? I'm serious here, you know." Alibaba sent before Yusuke frowned and spoke up to get Ren's attention.

"What a selfish person." Yusuke said as Makoto spoke up.

"True, but they do seem to have information on us." Makoto said as Ryuji nodded and spoke up.

"Fair. Anyways, this Futaba Alibaba's talking about have a Palace? If so, we'll need keywords to get in. Try messaging them about 'em." Ryuji said as Ren nodded and sent a response, not seeing the worried look on Kusa's face while he sent the response.

'Taba, PLEASE tell me you're NOT being reckless and making brazen moves just because I had to return to Leblanc and thus couldn't help you keep up this pretense? Also, is she really going to make such a terrible bluff like that?' Kusa thought to himself in concern as Ren sent his response.

"Does this Futaba have a palace? If so, we need her keywords to get in. Basically, her name, a location, and what she thinks of that location as, or a distortion if that makes sense." Ren sent. Alibaba sent a response shortly afterwards.

"Keywords? What are you talking about? Are you just saying random stuff to dodge the issue?" Alibaba sent as Ann spoke up to get Ren's attention.

"What're we supposed to do about this?" Ann asked as Morgana spoke up, an idea coming to him while he spoke.

"We'd be able to figure out Alibaba's identity if we could just meet with them. Try asking them if there's any way we could meet up." Morgana said as Kusa spoke up.

"If Alibaba is who I think they are? I doubt that'll happen, Morgana-sensei. After all, if they're going to all this trouble to reach out like this anonymously, odds are they aren't the type to want to meet up in person, but it's worth a try I guess." Kusa said with a shrug, pointedly not looking at either Makoto or Ryuji as he spoke while Ren sent a response.

"I'm not trying to dodge the issue. We genuinely want to help you Alibaba, but we lack some key information that we need in order to be able to do so. Is there any way we can meet you so we could talk face-to-face? Maybe we can help you understand more about what we're doing that way?" Ren sent. Alibaba sent a response in surprise.

"Meet? With me? That will be difficult. I have my reasons for not being able to go out. That's why I'm contacting you like this, after all." Alibaba sent as Morgana blinked and spoke up.

"They can't go out!?" Morgana asked as Kusa nodded and spoke up.

"Exactly. Alibaba IS who I thought they were. Though what I want to know is why they think having their heart changed is a good idea?" Kusa said, mostly to himself, though Ren heard him and frowned, but before he could question what Kusa meant by that, Alibaba sent another response.

"Wait, I get it. You steal people's hearts directly. That might make things difficult. EXTREMELY difficult. One moment, I'm thinking...OK. It's a shame, but I'm calling this deal off. Stop looking into Futaba Sakura. Forget this ever happened. I won't report you to the police either, don't worry. Sorry for taking your time. Now, if you'll excuse me..." Alibaba sent, trailing off as Ren sent a response.

"Wait just a second! You don't get to just call things off like that, Alibaba! We want to help you, but you're the one making it difficult for us to do so! I get you have a hard time meeting with us, but what's so difficult about sending us some information like what Futaba thinks of her location as? For example, Kaneshiro thought of all of Shibuya as a bank. Does that help you understand what we're asking?" Ren sent as Alibaba sent a very terse response.

"I said the deal's off! We're never going to speak again. Don't expect me to contact you anymore either." Alibaba sent as Ren sent a terse response of his own.

"Oh hell no! You don't get to just basically strong-arm us into helping you out of nowhere, then just call things off with no explanation! We're not done here, Alibaba!" Ren sent, swearing under his breath as he got another error message, with both Ryuji and Kusa blinking at the language that Ren used as he spoke up.

"Fuck! Alibaba just cut us off!" Ren said in annoyance as Ann blinked and spoke up.

"Huh? Did they just shut the whole operation down?" Ann asked as Morgana frowned and spoke up.

"This doesn't make any sense. Not only can Alibaba not go out, but they won't let us meet Futaba either?" Morgana said as Kusa spoke warily.

"Actually, it kind of does. Let me ask you guys this. What if Alibaba was trying to have their own heart changed because they felt it was the only way to help them overcome their personal demons, but they were too scared and/or embarrassed to do so? And Ren, do you or do you not remember what I told you, back when I first filled you in on Futaba, about what her online name was?" Kusa asked Ren, who gasped in realization as he spoke up.

"You said her online handle was Alibaba, didn't you!?" Ren said, ignoring the gasps of surprise from Makoto, Ann, Ryuji, and Yusuke as Kusa nodded approvingly and spoke up.

"Correct. Alibaba is indeed Futaba's handle. I think from there you can kind of guess the rest of the puzzle on your own." Kusa said as Ryuji frowned before speaking up.

"Welp, either way, it's none of our business now. We can't contact them anymore." Ryuji said as Ann frowned and spoke up.

"But, what do we do about Medjed? We won't be able to get Alibaba to help us with them now." Ann said in concern before Ryuji spoke up, ignoring the annoyed glare his next remark got him from Kusa while he spoke.

"Maybe they were just prankin' us? They made that huge declaration, but they ain't done nothing since. I bet we got 'em freaked out." Ryuji said as Morgana frowned and spoke up.

"You mean they backed out because they're afraid we'll change their hearts?" Morgana asked as Kusa shook his head and spoke up.

"Perhaps, but I seriously doubt it. More likely, they're backing off for now so they can lull us into a false sense of security before they attack. Futaba told me a bit about how they operate while I was staying with her. Apparently they work from the shadows and try to strike when people least expect it, even after making big declarations. If anything, we've earned at best a reprieve from them. I fear the worst is still to come from them." Kusa said sagely. Ryuji spoke up, apparently ignoring what Kusa had said while he spoke.

"Yup. And now it'd just make 'em look lame if they came out and apologized!" Ryuji said confidently as Makoto spoke up, frowning while she spoke.

"But-" Makoto said as Ryuji cut across her by continuing to speak, ignoring the glares he got for doing so from Kusa and Makoto while he spoke.

"I guess with Alibaba and Medjed outta the picture, can we just say this case is closed?" Ryuji asked as Kusa frowned and spoke up.

"Hell no, we can't call this case closed, you idiot! Even if they're not acting now, that doesn't mean we've dealt with them. And as far as Alibaba goes? Even if they have in fact called the deal off, I feel as if we've not seen the last of them either." Kusa said ominously, making Makoto sigh and look at Kusa as she spoke up, her words making Kusa facefault in irritation and annoyance as Makoto spoke.

"As much as I don't like saying this, you do have a point, Ryuji. I guess it IS safe for us to relax a little." Makoto said as Ryuji grinned while he spoke up, ignoring the huffing Kusa as he spoke.

"Oh yeah, remember Kaneshiro's Treasure? Prepare to have your minds blown! We got one hundred and fifty thousand yen out of it!" Ryuji said as Ann blinked before smiling as she spoke up.

"Really!? That's awesome! We can really go all-out with that kind of money!" Ann said in surprise as Ryuji grinned and nodded while he spoke.

"Yeah! Let's make up for what happened at the fireworks festival! We gotta go eat something fittin' for the Phantom Thieves' worldwide debut!" Ryuji said as Ann did a closed-eye smile while she spoke up.

"Where would be good?" Ann asked as Ryuji smirked and spoke up with an idea, ignoring the groan his idea got from Kusa while he spoke.

"Ooh, how about sushi!? I could really go for some eel too!" Ryuji said as Yusuke nodded, smiling before he spoke up.

"The best method is to fill yourself on ginger before beginning to eat sushi. That is my master technique." Yusuke said as Makoto huffed and spoke up.

"You don't need to do that this time. Actually, definitely don't do it, okay?" Makoto said as Morgana grinned widely while he spoke up with a closed-eye grin.

"I'm all for sushi! You're okay with that too, right?" Morgana asked Ren, who frowned before he spoke up.

"I'm not against it, but if I recall correctly, Kusa's not really a seafood guy. As such, he likely won't be that for it, though I sense he also won't vote against it either necessarily. But if anyone else has any better ideas, I'm open to those as well." Ren said warily but diplomatically as Kusa huffed and spoke up in a dry yet annoyed tone, his voice raising slightly as he spoke due to his rising irritation with how the others were handling the whole Alibaba situation.

"Don't presume to think you can speak for me, Ren. However, you are correct that I won't vote against it since I know Morgana-sensei likes sushi. And unlike Ryuji and Makoto, I'm not so far consumed in my own stupid, naive and frankly asinine and moronic ideas as to dismiss a perfectly valid concern, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT WAS RAISED WHERE THEY COULD FREAKING HEAR!

That said, I actually care about my friends, so if Morgana really wants sushi, then I'll vote for it, since he's always got my back and deserves to get what he wants every so often." Kusa said huffily, crossing his arms as he looked away from the others, a livid look on his face as he crossed his arms, not seeing Ren and Ann both wince as they looked at Kusa. Morgana smirked and spoke up in an obstinate, determined tone that had Kusa glaring at Ryuji for suggesting sushi in the first place as Morgana spoke.

"Nope! I want sushi! Kusa even said he was okay with it, so that's basically a unanimous vote since Ren didn't vote against it." Morgana said as Ryuji grinned and spoke up.

"All right! We'll go tomorrow night!" Ryuji said, clearly not having heard Kusa's words at all, making Kusa frown at Ryuji but not say anything as the group dispersed for the evening at that point...

(Back at Leblanc with Kusa, Ren, and Morgana)

While Kusa set about getting his stuff settled back in after returning to Leblanc, Ren and Kusa's phones went off to signify a group chat with Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, and Makoto, with Makoto sending the first response.

"I wonder if all that Medjed business was just a prank. Now that I think about it calmly, it's strange that they haven't actually done anything yet. Also, I think Kusa might be right when he said earlier that we've probably not seen the last of either Medjed OR Alibaba. That said, if their goal is targeting the Phantom Thieves, they should want to be acting now, given our fame." Makoto sent as Kusa and Ann sent responses at that point, Kusa's coming through first.

"Thank you for at least acknowledging what I said before, Makoto. Even so, you haven't yet acknowledged the rest of your errors you made earlier. Still, it's better than nothing, I guess." Kusa sent dryly, making Morgana and Ren wince as they read the underlying snark in Kusa's reply while Ann's response came through.

"Huh. When you put it that way Makoto, it kinda makes me wonder too. Especially after they taunted us theatrically like that." Ann sent as Yusuke sent a response.

"Yes. However, it would be best to come up with a countermeasure regardless. For now though, we should cautiously enjoy the sushi. That is all we can do." Yusuke sent as Kusa sent a response.

"Good point, Yusuke. Even though I myself do not care for seafood, I'll at least go along to give you guys moral support. Besides, if I recall correctly, sushi places make decent rice bowls, so that's something I can try, if nothing else." Kusa sent as Ren winced while sending a response of his own.

"Agreed. Though I have to say, I feel like something's not right here." Ren sent. Ryuji sent a response at that point.

"I was thinking that too! I can't really put it into words though." Ryuji sent as Kusa sent a response, followed closely by Makoto.

"Ryuji, when have you EVER been able to put ANYTHING into words well?" Kusa sent bluntly as Makoto's response came through.

"I have no idea why you're in such a mood Kusa, but don't take it out on Ryuji! That said, Yusuke is right. I'm sorry for bringing this up. On the day before our celebration party too..." Makoto sent as Ann sent a response, followed closely by Kusa.

"Cheer up, Makoto! We'll be eating sushi like kings tomorrow!" Ann sent as Kusa's response came through.

"Kindly screw off, Makoto! And for the record? I'm 'in such a mood' as you put it, because of you, and to a lesser extent, Ryuji! Not that either of you would grasp that anyways. You'd rather be quick to believe the worst of really good people who don't deserve to be slandered, wouldn't you!? And Ryuji's too busy thinking with his little head to speak for himself, which is both not surprising and also quite sad.

At least I can say that Ann, Yusuke, Morgana, and Ren have more than a few ounces of effing tact between them!" Kusa sent irately, making Ren and Morgana both wince at how much venom and snark was discernible in the tone of Kusa's response as they read it, while Makoto's hand went over her mouth in shock at how much anger Kusa had directed at her, making her cry a bit. Yusuke then sent a response.

"Okay, that, umm, let's call it a rather pointed and heated outburst? Yes, that pointed and heated outburst from Kusa aside, I hope one person in particular is on their best behavior. I'll refrain from saying who though." Yusuke sent as Ryuji sent a response that had Kusa burst out laughing as he read it.

"You better not be talking about me!" Ryuji sent as Ren put his phone away, right as an irate Kusa came up the stairs and flopped down on the sofa with a huff before looking at Ren and Morgana as he spoke up in frustration.

"Sorry if my temper scared either of you, but the others have a rather pointed reality check coming if they expected me to just sit back and let those two slander Sakura-kun like that! He is a good man who doesn't deserve to be disrespected like that! And I thought Makoto was smarter than to instantly assume the worst! I can see Ryuji being a simple-minded dumbass who jumps to conclusions, because that's who he is, but not Makoto.

That being said, if anyone needs me, I'll be sending a private chat to calm down so I don't end up working myself into another fit over those two." Kusa said dryly as he pulled out his phone to private chat Futaba, not seeing Morgana and Ren both nod understandingly. Ren then looked at Morgana before speaking up.

"Hey, Morgana. Do you think Alibaba called off the deal because of something to do with Sakura-kun?" Ren asked Morgana who blinked at the question before speaking up.

"Hm? Do you think Alibaba calling off our deal has anything to do with the chief? It's so hard to tell what the truth of the situation is." Morgana said as Kusa sighed and put down his phone and looked at the two before he spoke up.

"All right, since I don't feel like watching you two repeatedly beat your metaphoric heads against an equally metaphoric brick wall trying to figure things out, let me explain something to you two. Futaba, who between us and as Ren should have hopefully realized by now is Alibaba, is also a very family-centric person. And given most of her family, from the little I've gotten out of her about them is either the equivalent of human trash, dead, or not sure how to help her, it stands to reason she'd be reluctant to trust others more than she has to.

So if she called off the deal, it's likely as a defense mechanism, which she often uses to avoid having to deal with people face to face. So don't be surprised if down the line, you get a message from Alibaba changing her mind again. Thar said, Futaba would want nothing more than to protect Sakura-kun anyway she can, since to her, he's the closest thing she has to a father figure, even if they're not blood related. And I don't blame her one bit for feeling that way, since as I've said several times by now, Boss is, despite being strict at times, a very good man." Kusa said simply as Morgana and Ren nodded, before the latter spoke up.

"Fair enough, Kusa. That makes a lot of sense, actually. And it also explains why you about tore Makoto's head off verbally in the chat earlier. That being said, why don't we play some video games since there's not much else to do tonight? I recall we still have one more level left on 'Star Forneus' to finish." Ren said as Kusa frowned before eventually nodding, a grin on his face while blue music notes went up over Kusa's head as he spoke up.

"That is true, Ren. We do have one level left to deal with. And I will admit that blasting some freaking intergalactic scumbags sounds quite effing cathartic right about now." Kusa said with a smirk as Ren smiled, setting up the game system and handing Kusa a controller while he fired up 'Star Forneus', seeing Kusa smile as the game started up and Morgana spoke up as he sat happily in Kusa's lap while speaking up.

"Okay, let's start up 'Star Forneus'." Morgana said as the game started, Kusa and Ren smiling as they started playing while Morgana spoke up to give commentary.

"We're finally on the last level...The art's getting creepy here. We've already beaten a lot of enemies, but be careful. The boss should be up ahead." Morgana said as on cue, the music changed and Morgana's eyes went wide as he looked at the screen before he kept speaking.

"Hey, wait! Whoa...Enemies just poured out of the holes in the background! You've come this far, you can't afford to lose now!" Morgana said as Ren nodded before he and Kusa quickly blasted through the enemy on-screen as Morgana nodded and spoke up.

"All right, you managed to survive. Is this really the end though? Huh!? The screen went all dark...Wh-Whoa! It's the last boss! Give this all you've got!" Morgana said as Ren and Kusa nodded, the latter grinning as he lightly cricked his neck before speaking up.

"Final boss, you say? Just sit back and watch the two of us work, Morgana-sensei! And final boss? BRING. IT. ON!" Kusa said eagerly as he and Ren gave the screen their full attention, blasting at the enemy with all their might, eventually cheering as the enemy started exploding on-screen, letting Ren and Kusa smirk and exchange a victorious fist-bump as Morgana nodded and spoke up.

"Oh! The boss is disappearing. I think that means we've won." Morgana said as the high-score screen came up for Ren and Kusa to enter their high-scores which they did as 'JOK' and 'DRA' respectively, after their respective Metaverse handles of Joker and Draconis. After that, Morgana smirked at the two as he spoke up.

"Whoa! You two beat Star Forneus!" Morgana said as Kusa nodded happily and spoke up, more blue music notes going up over his head while he spoke.

"Naturally. I believe I already told you, when it comes to shooting games? No one beats Ren and I when we work together, except that time we got upset in Gun About by that one player, The King. But that guy was on his own level! Even I can acknowledge that The King must have some serious skill to be able to beat us 2 on 1." Kusa said as Ren nodded and spoke up.

"That's true, Kusa. But I doubt we'll run into him while we're here." Ren said as Kusa shook his head and spoke up.

"Don't be so sure, brother. Or need I point out how crazy your luck can be? With that said, I'd be very much not surprised if we ended up running into the King at some point later on. " Kusa pointed out with a wry smirk as Morgana spoke up at that point.

"True. That said, you two managed to survive their aggressive attacks. I'd be willing to bet that Ren's Guts increased because of that." Morgana said as Ren's Guts got boosted up slightly from finishing 'Star Forneus'. Afterwards, Morgana kept speaking.

"Oh! Let's enjoy this ending!" Morgana said as Kusa nodded and spoke up.

"I agree. We earned this, so let's enjoy it." Kusa said as he gently petted the not-cat on the head with a smile, enjoying the sound of his purrs as the three watched the ending. Afterwards, Ren looked at the manual as Morgana read it over his shoulder while speaking up.

"Huh, according to this, the manual says if you send in the password you see after the ending, you get a prize? This is a promotion from years ago, though. There's probably no point in doing it now. But I guess it wouldn't hurt to write it down anyway. Maybe some antique game stores are into that kind of thing?" Morgana said as Ren shrugged, writing down the password and getting the 'Shooting Card' for his efforts. Kusa then smirked as he spoke up.

"That's a good point, Morgana-sensei. Either way, I know this for sure. Ain't no one able to stop me and Ren when we work together!" Kusa said happily, grinning as blue music notes appeared over his head, though like the other notes that had gone up over his head that night, they weren't sparkling like the last ones had been. Ren still counted it as progress, though. Morgana nodded as he spoke up.

"True. Oh shoot, it's getting kinda late though. Let's head to sleep soon you two, okay?" Morgana asked as Ren and Kusa nodded, both getting into their pajamas and getting settled in for the night, the latter smiling as Morgana padded over and hopped up onto the sofa and curled up happily on Kusa's chest, happy to be able to lay with him again.

"Ah, this is much better. I didn't think I'd miss this so much, to be honest. I'm glad you're home, Kusa." Morgana said happily between purrs as Kusa spoke up.

"I'm happy to be home too, Morgana-sensei. Hanging out with Taba for a week was incredible, but it's true what they say about there being no place like home." Kusa said happily, carefully draping an arm happily around Morgana as he laid down, the three of them eventually dozing off for the night...

(The following morning, at an unknown location with Sae and Akechi)

"You seem quite busy, Sae-san. I take it you're stuck in the middle of everything?" Akechi asked Sae conversationally, smiling slightly at her while he spoke. Sae shook her head with a huff before speaking up with a frown, her tone making her feelings quite clear while she spoke.

"The Phantom Thieves made a mockery of us when they brought down Kaneshiro. And to make matters worse, Medjed, who has been dormant for some time now, just declared war on them. How much more can they screw us over!?" Sae said as Akechi gave her a closed-eye grin as he spoke up, clearly trying to cheer up Sae as he spoke.

"Stress is bad for the skin, you know." Akechi joked as Sae huffed and spoke up, clearly not in the mood for jokes as she spoke.

"Did you come all this way to be sarcastic?" Sae asked Akechi dryly as Akechi shook his head before speaking up.

"Not at all. How about you listen to my deductions for a change of pace? You may think it absurd, but don't you think the case you are pursuing, and the actions of the Phantom Thieves, overlap somehow?" Akechi said to Sae who frowned as she spoke up, both impressed with Akechi's theory and confused as to where it'd come from while she spoke.

"What are you basing this off of?" Sae asked Akechi who smiled before speaking up.

"The one point of commonality across all cases is how those involved have an unforeseen change of heart." Akechi said as Sae nodded but spoke up in a blunt tone.

"I've suspected that myself, but those suspicions are unfounded." Sae said as Akechi nodded and spoke up.

"I told you at the beginning that this was only a deduction. These 'just' Phantom Thieves are riling up the public. However, that is a disguise. Their true goal is terrorist actions by way of psychotic breakdown...Is that too much?" Akechi asked as Sae looked at him in a mix of surprise, intrigue and even pride as she spoke up.

"There's nothing at the moment that falsifies that claim. Have you mentioned this to the police?" Sae asked Akechi, who shook his head and gave another closed-eye grin as he spoke up once more.

"I'd never tell them such things. The only value they have to me is in their mobility and organizational capabilities." Akechi said as Sae turned to face him before smiling as she spoke up.

"Hm, it seems having you lend me a hand has paid off." Sae said as Akechi smiled before he spoke up.

"I'm glad to hear that. What about your case, Sae-san? Did you learn anything from the guardian of that mental shutdown victim's daughter?" Akechi asked as Sae sighed and spoke up in a disappointed tone.

"Nothing at all." Sae said as Akechi nodded while continuing to speak.

"I see. Now, what should my next action be for our victory?" Akechi asked as Sae spoke up quickly and decisively.

"Handle the Phantom Thieves. Without ANY remorse. Use ANY means necessary to win. That's how I would deal with them." Sae said coldly but bluntly as Akechi chuckled, giving Sae another closed-eye grin as he spoke up, amused by Sae's response while he spoke.

"Heh, very well." Akechi said as Sae frowned before speaking up, a thought occurring to her while she spoke.

"This seems to be fun for you. Are you on to something?" Sae asked Akechi, who shook his head while speaking up.

"No, not at all. Well then, to OUR victory." Akechi said as he walked off, leaving Sae to frown as she watched the ace detective leave, before she went back to her musings...

(Around that same time, at Leblanc with Ren, Kusa and Morgana)

"All right then, time for sushi! The place is in Ginza, right? Do we take the usual train from Shibuya?" Morgana asked Ren, who shrugged as his map was marked with the location of the 'Ginza Sushi Bar' so he could go there later. Kusa then spoke up.

"Probably, but let's get going so we can meet the others there." Kusa said as Ren nodded and the three went to meet the others at the restaurant...

(A short time later, at the Ginza Sushi Bar with Ann, Ryuji, Morgana, Ren, Makoto, Yusuke, and Kusa)

"Man, the flounder is outta this world! That texture..." Ryuji said happily as the group enjoyed their food, even Kusa having ordered a rice bowl to sample, and looking quite pleased with his choice. Yusuke frowned before he spoke up, his face showing slight concern while he spoke.

"I-I don't see any prices listed here..." Yusuke said as Kusa spoke up after swallowing his current bite, shrugging while he spoke up.

"Egh, as long as it doesn't go over like 50,000 yen or so, we should be fine since I don't think we're trying to burn through our whole budget here." Kusa said as Ryuji nodded and spoke up between bites.

"Exactly! It's called market price! Don't worry 'bout it, we've got the cash!" Ryuji said as Ann spoke up, even while she almost seemed to moan while she ate, making Ren and Kusa exchange shocked looks, wondering if what they'd heard about some meals being treated as 'orgasmic experiences' was true or not. Ann ignored the two while she spoke.

"Mmm, sooo gooooood!" Ann said as Morgana spoke up from inside Ren's bag.

"Hey! Is the fatty tuna ready yet?" Morgana asked as Ryuji glared at the not-cat before speaking up.

"Hold your horses. And don't talk!" Ryuji rebuked the not-cat. Kusa frowned at this and spoke up on Morgana's behalf.

"OI! Don't tell him not to talk, Ryuji! I'll give you that he could stand to learn patience, but it's a free effing country! As such, he can talk if he wants to, provided he keeps his voice down." Kusa dryly chastised Ryuji, getting a grateful smile from Morgana for his efforts. Ryuji huffed and spoke up.

"Whatever. Just trying to be smart for once." Ryuji said as Makoto spoke up to avoid an argument between Ryuji and Kusa.

"By the way, Ren-kun, is Boss really the kind of person who would abuse someone?" Makoto asked as Kusa frowned and spoke up, turning to give Makoto a very pointed glare while he spoke, not amused in the slightest by Makoto's question. As he did this, both Ren and Morgana winced at the pissed-off look on Kusa's face.

"SERIOUSLY!? Are you STILL on about that, Makoto!? What part of 'Boss is a good man and cares a great deal about Futaba' don't you understand!? Dammit Makoto, you might be more thick-headed than Ryuji at times, and I didn't think that was possible!" Kusa said huffily, turning away from Makoto and focusing on his rice bowl so he didn't have to look at Makoto, ignoring the winces that Ann, Yusuke, Ren, and Morgana exchanged at Kusa's outburst. Surprisingly, Ryuji spoke up in Kusa's defense.

"That again? I vouched for you yesterday because it is possible, but for real, Kusa's right. Boss would never do that. He's a good guy." Ryuji said, making Kusa look at Ryuji in surprise, not expecting Ryuji to agree with him, and being caught even more by surprise when Makoto spoke up once more.

"I'm sorry for bringing up such a painful subject, but I can't get it off my mind, especially if it means he could find himself in court. Contrary to what Kusa might think, I do care if something happens to Boss over this. And even he has to admit, no possibility can be definitively ruled out with 100% certainty. That said, what kind of person is he? Do you really believe he'd do such a thing?" Makoto said. Kusa turned to glare at Makoto and Ren saw the look in his eyes that promised a very stern, and likely very strongly-worded rebuke, and spoke up to cut Kusa off before he could savagely tear Makoto apart verbally.

"No chance. I agree with Kusa, Boss may be strict at times, but he does it because he cares! Even Ryuji can see that." Ren said, getting a grateful, if wan, smile from Kusa for his efforts. Yusuke nodded before speaking up.

"Hm..." Yusuke said as Ryuji spoke up, his words making Kusa's head swivel to face Ryuji in a mix of horror, shock and surprise as he heard what Ryuji had to say.

"If it's really true about the abuse, he'd be a no-good jerk pretending to be a guardian." Ryuji said as Kusa swallowed and spoke up, the look in his eyes being one of rage and frustration that made Ren, Ann, Yusuke, and Morgana all wince as they saw it aimed at Ryuji and Makoto while Kusa spoke.

"First of all, Ryuji, both you AND Makoto can shut your lying, slanderous mouths right the eff now! The only reason I'm not throwing hands right now is because one, we're in the middle of a public place. Two, Makoto is a lady, and both Ren and I were raised to never even think about getting violent on a lady/woman. And three, because I know you're both speaking from a place of concern. But I guarantee you, Sakura-kun is NOT an abusive man!

Ask Ren, and he'll vouch for me when I say what I'm about to say. If I thought that was the case, would I have left Futaba there with him!? Hell no! I'd have stayed there with her to keep her safe! Contrary to what you two might think, I do care about Futaba's well being. But I care about Boss too, since he's been nothing but good to me and Ren, even if he is a bit of a hardass to Ren most of the time. But I'm quite sure he only does that because he cares about us, but doesn't want us to know that." Kusa said, gasping as Morgana spoke up, not expecting to hear what came out of the not-cat's mouth next.

"Maybe the chief is the one who needs a change of heart, instead of Futaba?" Morgana said as Kusa huffed and glared at the not-cat with a slightly betrayed expression on his face before speaking up in frustration, his eyes narrowed dangerously as he spoke up.

"Oh, come on! WHAT THE HELL!? You too, Morgana-sensei!? Are Ann and Yusuke the only ones here besides myself and Ren who give half an effing shit about Boss and Futaba!?" Kusa huffed. Ann spoke up, and Kusa looked at her warily as she spoke, hoping she wasn't about to pile onto Sojiro as well.

"Hold on a sec! About that...I actually got curious after our conversation, and checked his name in the Nav." Ann said as Makoto spoke up.

"Sounds to me like there wasn't a hit." Makoto said, ignoring the glare Kusa shot her as Ann nodded and spoke up.

"Right. Anything beyond this is his family's problem. We probably shouldn't get any more involved." Ann said as Ryuji spoke up, his words making Kusa glad he wasn't eating since he might've choked on his rice at what Ryuji said next.

"Wait, you think Alibaba could be Boss's ex-wife!? He musta cheated on her, and that's where Futaba came from." Ryuji asked as Ren, Ann, Makoto, and Yusuke blinked at this while Kusa spoke up, frowning at Ryuji before he spoke up in a very dry and very annoyed tone.

"I'm sorry, WHAT!? Did you seriously just ask that question, Ryuji? Does Boss look like the type of man who'd have a kid with a relative!? Because I can confirm that Alibaba is actually related to Boss, since SHE is who I thought SHE was. I can't believe your mind went to incest, of all things, Ryuji. Jeez!" Kusa said huffily. Ann nodded her agreement with Kusa as she spoke up.

"Agreed, Kusa. It's very doubtful that Alibaba is Boss' ex-wife." Ann said as Makoto shook her head at Ryuji as she spoke up.

"I agree. Your imagination has run rampant, Ryuji." Makoto said as Yusuke nodded before speaking up.

"How foolish." Yusuke said as the group went back to their food, Kusa ignoring everyone except Ann, Yusuke and Ren as he ate. Yusuke eventually spoke up once more.

"Still, this is delicious. I've never experienced anything quite like it before." Yusuke said as the others nodded before Ryuji spoke up, only for almost everyone else's eyes to go wide at what Ryuji said next.

"Man, and this is all thanks to us being the Phantom Thieves-" Ryuji said, but the rest of his sentence was cut off by a chorus of quietly hissed 'RYUJI!'s coming from Ren, Kusa, Morgana, and Yusuke, while Ann and Makoto gave Ryuji pointed looks making him wince as he spoke up.

"Oh, crap!" Ryuji said as Makoto floundered to cover up Ryuji's slip of the tongue.

"U-Ummm...Ph-Phan..." Makoto said as Kusa spoke up in a dry yet deadpan tone, seeing the guy working the counter looking at the group in surprise.

"Phan-freaking-tastic! This food is amazing!" Kusa said, easily covering up Ryuji's slip of the tongue effortlessly, shooting Ryuji a 'shut the eff up!' glance as Makoto nodded and played along while she spoke up.

"What he said! Fantastic! This sushi is delicious!" Makoto said as Ann nodded and spoke up while giving Kusa a grateful look for his quick thinking in covering up Ryuji's slip of the tongue.

"Y-Yeah! The fish is SO fresh!" Ann said as an arrogant woman from the other side of the bar spoke up.

"Hmph! Everywhere we go, we hear about these Phantom Thieves." The arrogant woman said as the haughty man next to her nodded and also spoke up.

"What rubbish." The haughty man said as the attention was diverted from the group, at which point Ann glared at Ryuji and spoke up with a frown.

"Think about where we are, Ryuji!" Ann said pointedly to a wincing Ryuji as Kusa nodded and spoke up.

"For real, Ann! I know Ryuji doesn't have the most brains of us all, but I'd hope he at least has common sense enough to know when NOT to be shooting his fool mouth off, ESPECIALLY after how close we came to getting into trouble the last time he did so!? We're just lucky Makoto here is cool and didn't bust us on that occasion. Thanks by the way for that, Makoto. I know I gave you crap back then, but I was just trying to look out for the group's best interests." Kusa said conversationally as Ryuji winced and spoke up, not pleased by the venom and annoyance in Kusa's voice as he apologetically spoke up.

"Sorry, it just kinda slipped..." Ryuji said as Kusa huffed and spoke up.

"Just kinda slipped, you say? That'd be like if I'd accidentally punched Akechi in the face, or if Ann had accidentally knocked you out the time she open-palm smacked you." Kusa deadpanned, huffing in annoyance. Makoto saw the look on Kusa's face and winced as she spoke up.

"My apologies for bringing up Boss again. We should just enjoy the food." Makoto said as the group left, but as they made to hop the train to the hideout, they were stopped by someone calling Makoto's name from behind, turning to all groan, aside from Ren who smiled, at who they saw coming, as it was in fact the very detective Kusa had just been mentioning.

"Niijima-san! What are you doing here?" Akechi asked as the group turned to face him, Kusa smirking eagerly as he saw a chance to leech his anger on someone who deserved it as he spoke up in a tone that was a mix of amused and dry.

"Probably the same thing you are, Akechi-kun. Likely trying to get home after a good meal. After all, it's been pretty chaotic of late, has it not? Darn that Medjed to heck anyways!" Kusa said huffily, enjoying getting to mock Akechi. Makoto blinked as she spoke up in surprise.

"Akechi-kun." Makoto said as Ryuji frowned and spoke up, his tone one of disdain, making Kusa smile slightly at Ryuji while he spoke up.

"Akechi?" Ryuji asked as Akechi nodded and looked at the group as he spoke up.

"You're the ones from the TV station. Could it be that you're friends of Niijima-san?" Akechi asked as Kusa nodded and spoke up.

"Yeah. She might be a bit high-strung at times, but she's a good person despite that. Not that you'd know that very well, Akechi-kun, since I can't help but notice that this is only the second time you've been seen speaking to Makoto." Kusa said dryly, ignoring the gentle but pointed nudge Ren's foot gave his leg as he spoke. Yusuke turned around and frowned as he spoke up.

"Do you guys know this guy?" Yusuke asked, making Kusa laugh before he nodded and spoke up to answer Yusuke's question.

"Unfortunately, we do. Akechi-san here is a friend of Ren's who he meets up with for debates on occasion. I think you might recognize him more as the subject of that painting I had you draw up for Ryuji's birthday, Yusuke. Speaking of, did you ever hang that on your bedroom wall, Ryuji? I know you got a kick out of it." Kusa said to Ryuji, who blinked in confusion before grinning and nodding as he spoke up, both Kusa and Ryuji ignoring the politely confused look on Akechi's face while Ryuji spoke.

"Oh right, that. Yep, it's up on my wall! I didn't think a painting of Akechi-kun could be so effing awesome, but this one definitely is." Ryuji said. Akechi turned to Yusuke and gave him a closed-eye grin as he spoke up.

"It's nice to meet you. My name is Akechi. Glad to make your acquaintance, Yusuke Kitagawa." Akechi said, as Yusuke frowned in apprehension before speaking up, not seeing the approving nod Kusa gave him for his reaction while he spoke.

"How do you know my name?" Yusuke asked as Akechi did another closed eye grin while he spoke up.

"Well, because I'm a psychic, of course. Haha, I'm only joking. In truth, I'm a rookie detective. You're a former pupil of Madarame, right? I have actually just recently joined the investigation team looking into the Phantom Thieves. Did you see that Medjed has declared war on them?" Akechi asked the group, who all blinked at this in shock. Ryuji and Kusa both turned to face Akechi at once, speaking up in unintentional unison.

"WAR!?" Kusa and Ryuji both yelped in shock, before laughing at their synchronicity. Akechi nodded, pleased he knew something the group didn't, before speaking up with a frown, looking at the group in surprise while he spoke.

"Their website was updated just a moment ago." Akechi said as Ryuji gaped at this and spoke up once more.

"FOR REAL!?" Ryuji asked as both he and Ann checked their phones, Ryuji groaning as he spoke up once more.

"Gah, English again..." Ryuji said. Ann spoke up with a frown.

"I got this, Ryuji. Wait, WHAT!?" Ann said, her eyes going wide in shock as she read the website, making Ryuji and Kusa look over in her direction as the former of the two spoke up.

"What's it say!?" Ryuji asked Ann, looking over her shoulder to try and read the page as Akechi spoke up with a frown.

"Hm? Why do you seem so agitated?" Akechi asked as Kusa gave Akechi a dry stare as he spoke up.

"Because he and Ann are fans of the Phantom Thieves, Akechi-kun. And if I'm allowed to be quite honest with you? So are myself, Ren, and Yusuke as well. Makoto is a bit on the fence, but I think she's a fan too. I think you're the only one here, if not the only one in this city, NOT to be a fan of the Phantom Thieves. Wasn't there that rumor that your fanbase dropped you on a dime like a bad habit once you spoke out against the Phantom Thieves?" Kusa asked Akechi, who frowned in confusion while Ann spoke up.

"Oh, um, yeah, what Kusa said! We're all members of the Phandom, even Makoto! Though she's a fairly recent convert!" Ann said, mouthing 'play along!' to Makoto. Ryuji nodded as he spoke up.

"She's, uh, a huge fan of the Phantom Thieves. A total nutjob for 'em." Ryuji said as Akechi sported a closed-eye grin as he spoke up.

"Hm, I don't know how wise it is to be a fan of groups like them." Akechi said as Kusa gave Akechi a stink eye as he spoke up.

"A group like 'them', you say? And what exactly does that mean, pray tell Akechi-kun!?" Kusa said, giving Akechi a warning glare, privately hoping that Akechi gave him a reason to punch him. Makoto frowned and spoke up, seeing Kusa ready to fight Akechi, and cut in.

"What is with these comments?" Makoto asked Akechi pointedly, who cleared his throat and spoke up more.

"My apologies. I didn't mean to butt in on your conversation. But I must say, this is an interesting group. Prosecutor Niijima's sister, an ex-pupil of Madarame, and a few Shujin Academy students..." Akechi said as Kusa dryly spoke up, the next thing out of his mouth a remark that made Ryuji chuckle appreciatively at the roast contained within.

"And the one across from them right now? One hell of a self-sure, overconfident, egotistic jackass who also happens to be a detective whose fans are all wasting no time in turning on him." Kusa said bluntly, smirking at the annoyed look on Akechi's face. Akechi shrugged and spoke up.

"You're entitled to your opinion, Amamiya-kun the younger. That said, it seems you're all connected to the Phantom Thieves. Perhaps you have better intel than I do." Akechi said before turning to face Ren as he kept speaking.

"Ah, yes. I wanted to ask you something, Amamiya-kun the elder. Regarding this whole Medjed commotion that's been going on lately, tell me this. If you were one of the Phantom Thieves, what would you do?" Akechi asked as Kusa spoke up at that point.

"Before or after you had your heart changed by them, Akechi-kun?" Kusa joked as Ryuji smirked and fist-bumped Kusa for his joke as Ren frowned and spoke up.

"Ignore Kusa, Akechi-kun. He's just in an extra-snarky mood today. To your question Akechi-kun, I'd honestly probably try to find a way to retaliate. Granted, if I couldn't find one, it wouldn't be a deal breaker because to be honest, who really cares what some cowardly hackers think? If they were truly on the side of justice, they wouldn't need to hide in the shadows like cowards." Ren said as Ryuji smirked and fist-bumped Ren next. Akechi chuckled at Ren's response and spoke up with a smile on his face.

"Unsurprising. I suppose you aren't interested in such gossip anyways, considering your circumstances." Akechi said as Kusa spoke up.

"Depends on what the gossip is. For example, Ren follows the gossip about your declining popularity faithfully, as well as any gossip about a certain red-headed honors student he and I both know. I think you know the one I mean too, Akechi-kun, since we had lunch with her the other day." Kusa said facetiously as Ryuji spoke up.

"Sorry to disappoint you Akechi, but we're just normal high-school kids." Ryuji said as Kusa nodded before smirking at Ryuji as he spoke up with a grin.

"I agree with the high-school kids bit, but I dunno if I'd use the word normal for you, Ryuji. I mean, who keeps talking about being a phantom thief in public places if they're normal? Am I right, guys?" Kusa said teasingly as Ryuji punched Kusa playfully on the arm and spoke up, grinning while he nodded to signify that he took no offense from Kusa's slight dig at him while he spoke.

"Shut up, Kusa. Also, if anything, we wanna hear what YOU gotta say, Mister Detective." Ryuji said to Akechi, who smirked as he spoke up.

"If you say so. My profiling of the Phantom Thieves has led me to believe they are a group of juveniles. They have a relative amount of free time after school and a hideout to slip away to. Furthermore, considering Kamoshida was their first target, it seems they began activity around April. In a way, all I've just said about the Phantom Thieves coincides with the group you have here." Akechi said, a frown now on his face as he looked at the group. Ryuji huffed as he spoke up.

"What, you gonna report us?" Ryuji asked as Akechi smirked and spoke up.

"I didn't say I was being suspicious of you." Akechi said as Ren and Kusa smirked, exchanged a nod, and then Ren spoke up.

"Maybe you should be suspicious of Ryuji. After all, he's always talking about how he's a phantom thief." Ren joked as Kusa laughed heartily at Ren's joke and spoke up with a smirk on his face as he jerked a thumb towards Ryuji.

"Good one, Ren! Ryuji, a phantom thief? He has the heart to be sure, but don't you think his grades aren't exactly up to snuff with those of a thief?" Kusa said jokingly. Ryuji's mouth gaped as he spoke up in shock, missing the signs that Kusa and Ren were trolling Akechi as he spoke up.

"M-Me!? You're sidin' with him!?" Ryuji asked in shock as Kusa groaned, resisting the urge to facefault at Ryuji missing a chance to troll Akechi, who gave Ren a closed-eye grin as he spoke up.

"I wasn't anticipating that response. You always find a way to rise above my expectations. You really are an intriguing one. I lack your calm mannerisms, but don't you think my deduction is an interesting one?" Akechi asked as Kusa huffed and spoke up.

"Mm-hmm, sure, interesting. It's about as interesting as watching paint dry while sitting around inside on a summer day." Kusa deadpanned, as Ryuji laughed while Ren lightly swatted Kusa on the arm reprovingly and spoke up.

"Kusa! Be nice to him. He's just trying to show interest in our group, you know." Ren said, though his tone made it clear he wasn't that angry at Kusa. Akechi chuckled, giving Ren a surprisingly coy wink as he spoke up, his words making both Yusuke and Kusa shiver in foreboding as they heard what Akechi had to say.

"I bet we'd make a great team if we worked together. Heh heh!" Akechi said. Ryuji frowned as he spoke up.

"WHAT!? The hell're you sayin'!?" Ryuji asked as Kusa nodded approvingly to Ryuji's reaction before speaking up.

"Yeah, what Ryuji said. We won't rule out working with you Akechi-kun, if it should prove necessary. However, that being said, I wouldn't get your hopes up too high on that happening, since the waiting list to work with us is fairly long. And the last time I checked on said waiting list, I recall seeing that there were about 50 of your former groupies on that list in front of you, and then half of Shujin. So it's a bit of a long wait.

But maybe someday it'll happen. Keep up the faith, Akechi-kun!" Kusa said in a mock-cheerful tone while giving Akechi a coy smirk that had Ryuji slapping his good knee, and Morgana rolling around in Ren's bag, while they were both laughing at Kusa's wit as well as at the confused look on Akechi's face. Meanwhile Akechi, for his part, just blinked, shrugged and spoke up, choosing to ignore Kusa's shot at him while he spoke.

"I'll take that as a 'maybe'? Either way, this has been a valuable point of reference for me. I hope to see you all again." Akechi said as he turned around and left, after which Ann frowned and spoke up.

"Ugh, what was that about?" Ann asked as Yusuke spoke up.

"Do you think he's ascertained our true identities?" Yusuke asked as Kusa laughed and spoke up, jerking a thumb towards Ryuji while he spoke.

"I doubt that very much, Yusuke. If this utter buffoon over here constantly advertising how he's a thief in public places hasn't tipped Akechi off to us, nothing probably will. Also Ryuji, are you really THAT dense that you missed a valuable chance to help massively troll Akechi!? Luckily for me, Ren picked up on my cue and played along, or I'd have ended up looking both idiotic, and very likely crazy. Thanks for that assist, by the way, Ren." Kusa said as Ren nodded approvingly.

"No problem, Kusa." Ren said as Ryuji spoke up.

"Ohh, oops. Anyways, nah, couldn't be. Right?" Ryuji said. Makoto frowned as she spoke up.

"I'd like to say that it's simply me overthinking this, but it may be best to be cautious from now on." Makoto said as Kusa huffed and spoke up.

"Agreed. Nice to see your common sense has finally caught back up to you, Makoto. Sorry for almost tearing your head off verbally both earlier and in the text chat last night. But maybe now you realize that I don't put up with people dissing those I care about." Kusa said flatly as Makoto nodded before speaking up.

"Good point. Also, we shouldn't forget that Alibaba was able to discover who we are." Makoto said as Ren smirked at a wincing Kusa and spoke up.

"If I'm right, I think we can thank Kusa here for that. Though to be fair, he was probably cornered into it by what I'm figuring is his future girlfriend." Ren said teasingly as Kusa's face blushed bright red at Ren's reference to his complicated feelings for Futaba and spoke up.

"OI! Shut your instigating mouth, Ren! I'd like to see YOU cope if that'd been YOU and Yoshizawa had cornered you with reason to believe she knew about us. I doubt you'd fare much better than me." Kusa said huffily. Yusuke nodded as he spoke up to change the subject.

"Heh, it's always amusing to see you two banter back and forth, Ren and Kusa. But let's get back on topic. That being said, I'd agree that what you said is true, Makoto. But it's not as though he had tangible evidence to prove that discovery. Just keep acting normally." Yusuke said as Ann pulled her phone out and spoke up.

"Fair, but more importantly, things are getting serious with Medjed!" Ann said as Ryuji blinked in recollection as he spoke up.

"Oh, yeah! What'd they write!?" Ryuji asked Ann who frowned as she spoke up.

"Here, I'll read it. 'We are disappointed in the people of Japan and their belief in the Phantom Thieves' false justice. Hence, we shall proceed with our plan to cleanse Japan. This process will commence on August 21st. As a result, the Japanese economy shall suffer devastating damages-'." Ann said as Ryuji spoke up to interrupt her mid-sentence, unintentionally voicing Kusa's thoughts with his next question.

"For real?" Ryuji asked as Kusa huffed and spoke up, an unimpressed frown on his face at the date that Medjed had picked for their cleanse.

"I agree, Ryuji! Out of ALL the days to choose for their planned 'cleanse', WHY in all things good, holy and fluffy did they have to choose my effing birthday!? I mean I did predict it might be usurped by something chaotic, but this was NOT what I was thinking of!" Kusa said huffily as Makoto frowned and spoke up.

"We can worry about that later, Kusa. Keep going, Ann." Makoto said. Ann nodded as she spoke up to continue reading.

"Right, where was I? Ah yes, here we are. 'However, we are magnanimous. We will give the Phantom Thieves one final opportunity to repent. As proof of this repentance, we demand that they reveal their identities to the public. We will attack if these demands remain unmet. The future of Japan rests with the Phantom Thieves. We are Medjed. We are unseen. We will eliminate evil.' And that's what it says." Ann said as Kusa swore before speaking up.

"That sounds like bullshit to me. 'We will eliminate evil', my effing ass! The day they actually eliminate evil is the day Ren beats me at a strategy or shooter game. In other words, never gonna happen. No offense to you, Ren." Kusa said dryly. Ren shrugged and spoke up, not really able to refute Kusa's point, nor wanting to with the mood Kusa was in.

"None taken, Kusa." Ren said as Ryuji gulped and spoke up fearfully.

"Oof, sounds bad..." Ryuji said as Yusuke spoke up.

"In other words, if we don't unmask ourselves, Medjed will attack Japan, correct? It seems they are quite the attention-seekers." Yusuke said. Kusa laughed and nodded his agreement to Yusuke's assessment of the situation before he spoke up.

"True. If not for the fact he likely wouldn't have been accepted by them, I'd wonder if Akechi-kun was part of Medjed. He's got the attention seeking part down well enough." Kusa said as Ren huffed at Kusa taking a cheap shot at Akechi before he spoke up.

"I doubt Akechi-kun is in Medjed, Kusa. For one thing, he doesn't strike me as computer-savvy enough for it." Ren said as Ann spoke up.

"Fair. What are we gonna do about this?" Ann asked as Makoto spoke up.

"If only we could get in contact with Alibaba." Makoto said as Kusa spoke up with a frown.

"True, but I seem to recall that Alibaba said they were done with us the last time they contacted us." Kusa said as Ryuji nodded and spoke up,

"Right. At this point, our only clues are Boss, and Futaba. Anyways, it's too damn hot out here. Why don't we go to Leblanc? We can talk more over there." Ryuji said as the others nodded and headed to Leblanc...

(A short time later, at Leblanc with Ren, Morgana, Yusuke, Ryuji, Makoto, Kusa, and Ann)

"We went through all sortsa options on our way here, but...Looks like we got no choice but to ask for Alibaba's help." Ryuji said as Kusa spoke up.

"Assuming they'll help us. I believe I recall they said the deal was off?" Kusa said. Ann nodded as she spoke up.

"That's true, but I think if we promise to help them, they might change their mind. The question is, how do we get in contact with them?" Ann asked as Yusuke spoke up.

"Kusa's right, Alibaba cut off all contact with us after that misunderstanding." Yusuke said as Kusa spoke up again.

"True, though before that they only contacted us through Ren. I wonder..." Kusa said, trailing off as he stroked his chin in thought as an idea came to him. Yusuke spoke up.

"Then again, if we manage to steal Futaba's heart, they may attempt to reach out to us once more." Yusuke said as Morgana frowned and spoke up.

"But we don't have any clues on what her keywords are." Morgana said as Kusa huffed and spoke up.

"'We'? You say that like you speak for all of us, Morgana-sensei. Or need I remind you that this Futaba you're speaking of is my friend. And yes, before any of you has a chance to tease me about it, I do have feelings for her, even if I'm waiting for her to be ready for a relationship before confessing them to her. And she did approach me asking about how to arrange a change of heart for herself. I know she's going through a lot of emotional baggage, and some deep trauma, but I think she would benefit from a change of heart, if we can figure out her keywords, though I think I can already answer the 'who' and 'where' rather easily for us." Kusa said sagely. Ryuji swore as he spoke up.

"Dammit, Alibaba! Where the hell are you!?" Ryuji asked as Makoto gasped in realization, having figured something out when Kusa spoke up while she spoke up.

"Actually he, or more accurately SHE, might be closer than we think." Makoto said as Kusa smiled approvingly at Makoto, seeing that she was finally figuring it out. Ryuji blinked in confusion as he spoke up.

"Huh?" Ryuji asked as Makoto kept speaking.

"Hypothetically speaking, even if we stole Futaba's heart, how would Alibaba know that the deed has been done? Would she truly be able to discern that just from cell phone messages?" Makoto said as Morgana frowned and spoke up in confusion.

"You mean he'd have to meet her in person?" Morgana asked as Makoto shook her head and spoke up.

"Alibaba was able to deliver the calling card here. On top of that, she can check on Futaba's condition. However, according to the circumstances she put forth, she's unable to meet with us. This leads me to believe that it would be bad for her if we were to see the two of them together. It seems to me, that Alibaba? May in fact be Futaba herself." Makoto said as Kusa fake-gasped and spoke up.

"No way! For real? I never would've thought of that." Kusa said in feignedsurprise, ignoring the eye rolls that he got from Morgana and Ren for his efforts. Ryuji gasped and spoke up.

"FOR REAL!?" Ryuji asked as Yusuke spoke up, his expression incredulous and surprised as he spoke.

"So she's asking that we steal her own heart?" Yusuke asked as Ann spoke up.

"Maybe she wants us to save her from the scars of her abuse? That would be hard to ask directly." Ann said as Kusa spoke up.

"Honestly? No, I think it's moreso she wants us to save her from the ghosts of her past. I haven't gotten a lot out of her as yet, but she has told me she's not had an easy past. Before she came to live with Boss, she lived with some real scumbags. Most of her family would just hurl emotional insults at her and pass her from one house to the next, until she got to her uncle, who she lived with before she came to live with Boss.

Now, that guy is really his own type of effed up. The man made her sleep on the effing floor! And on top of that? He wouldn't even let her bathe! That's sick and inhumane! And on top of that, it turns out that said uncle was actually that asshat who shoved me out of the way the other night when I got back to Leblanc. As if I needed more reason to want to kick that guy's ass if I see him again." Kusa said huffily. Makoto nodded and spoke up.

"I see. In that case, I'd like to meet with Boss. He lives nearby, right?" Makoto asked as Ren and Kusa winced and Ren spoke up.

"We know where Boss' house is, but I get a feeling Kusa would skin me if I led you guys there without Boss' say-so first." Ren said as Kusa nodded.

"Damn friggin' straight I would! And as it is, I dunno that I'd want Makoto to meet Boss, unless it was so he could put her stupid ass in her place about her misguided beliefs that he would EVER so much as raise a hand to Futaba aggressively. And then, she managed to make Ryuji and even Morgana-sensei echo those beliefs! Luckily, they both recanted rather quickly, so I'm not mad at them. As for Makoto? I'm not sure how long I'll be mad at her for over this, but it's gonna be a bit." Kusa said with a frown. Ryuji nodded and spoke up.

"I agree with Kusa. Plus, it's real late though. What're we gonna tell Boss when we get there?" Ryuji asked. Makoto frowned before she spoke up, having an idea.

"We'll say this take-out sushi is a gift for him." Makoto said as Morgana whined and spoke up.

"But, my fatty tuna!" Morgana said as Kusa frowned, fixing the whining not-cat with a stern, disapproving glare while he spoke up.

"Consider that your punishment for doubting Boss, Morgana-sensei. Never doubt Boss, or Coffee Daddy as Ren and I once code named him, again. He is a great man." Kusa said bluntly. Ann nodded her agreement.

"What Kusa said! No complaining, since you decided to jump on the 'Anti-Boss' bandwagon back there! Honestly, why was it only myself, Ren, and Yusuke who seemed to agree with Kusa when he defended Boss?" Ann asked huffily. Makoto spoke up with a frown.

"Let's all go together." Makoto said as Kusa frowned and spoke up, turning so that his glare was fixed on Makoto while he spoke.

"What part of 'it's late right now' aren't you getting, Makoto!? Besides, who's to say Boss is even at home? He does go shopping from time to time and leaves Futaba alone, though said occasions are far and few between. And I don't know if I want you there, unless it's to see for yourself that you were wrong." Kusa said flatly. Makoto spoke up, surprisingly unfazed by the glare Kusa was giving her as she spoke up.

"Whatever you say, Kusa. Anyways, Boss may get the wrong idea of Ren-kun and I show up alone." Makoto said as Kusa frowned and spoke up.

"And he won't have the wrong idea if all of us show up together!?" Kusa said incredulously before seeing the others getting up to head over to the Sakura house. Kusa sighed and got up to follow after throwing his hands up in the air in annoyance.

"Ugh, FINE! I want it on the record, though, that I say this is a terrible idea! And so help me, if any of you scares Futaba, you won't want to see what I'll do to you." Kusa snapped as he reluctantly huffed and followed the others out the door...

(A short time later, outside the Sakura house)

Kusa huffed, not wanting to be part of this, as the doorbell was rung by Yusuke, making Makoto frown when there was no response, eventually speaking up.

"Nobody is answering." Makoto said as Kusa frowned at her comment and spoke up in an annoyed yet blunt tone.

"Maybe they're in bed. Ever think of that!?" Kusa snapped bluntly. Makoto frowned and spoke up, starting to get annoyed with Kusa's constant snarking at her.

"If they were in bed, then why would the lights be on, Kusa-kun? I don't think Boss goes to bed with his porch lights on?" Makoto pointed out. Ryuji frowned and spoke up.

"Maybe Kusa's right, and Boss is out while Futaba is nappin'." Ryuji said as Kusa nodded his agreement of Ryuji's statement before speaking up.

"That is possible, Ryuji. Futaba does tend to take naps at odd times sometimes, so I could see her being in the middle of a nap right now." Kusa said as Ann spoke up.

"Even Boss would've woken up with how many times we've rung this doorbell." Ann said as Kusa shook his head emphatically before speaking up again.

"Not if they have their TVs on for background noise, which I know for a fact they both do that, since I did the same thing myself while I was staying there." Kusa said sagely. Morgana spoke up with a frown.

"I would think Futaba would have answered by now if she were here too." Morgana said as Kusa huffed and spoke up.

"Again, not if she can't hear the doorbell! Which is possible, given that I know for a fact she sleeps with her TV on for background noise. That, and when she sleeps, she's a deep sleeper. She literally slept through Boss cramming vitamins into her mouth so she'd get nutrients while she slept once." Kusa said knowingly. Yusuke blinked as the gate opened when he pushed it.

"Ah, the gate is unlocked." Yusuke said as Kusa frowned and spoke up.

"That IS odd. Boss never leaves that unlocked usually. Maybe he forgot this time?" Kusa said, actually surprised by the gate being unlocked. Ryuji spoke up, his words actually impressing Kusa with how wise and considerate they sounded.

"Dude, you can't go openin' other people's stuff like that." Ryuji said as Kusa grinned and fist-bumped Ryuji while speaking up.

"Truth, man! Besides, who waltzes into someone's home uninvited?" Kusa asked as Makoto frowned and spoke up.

"Fair point. And Kusa? I get you're annoyed at me and Ryuji, but can you at least try to not constantly snap at us? Also, this might be hard for you to do, but look. The door seems to be slightly opened as well." Makoto said, pointing towards the door, where Kusa looked and gaped, the snarky comment he'd been about to make about annoying people who don't know the meaning of privacy dying on his lips as he saw that the door was indeed slightly open, leading him to frown and speak up.

"Wait, what!? Boss never leaves that open. What in all the various hells!? That's actually a bit odd. Maybe he just forgot." Kusa said as Makoto spoke up.

"True, yet I wonder why. That's rather careless..." Makoto said. Kusa frowned and spoke up.

"Again, he probably forgot. Either way, that's NOT an invitation to go inside. If anything, we'll wait for him to get home and speak to him then. If he wants us to come in, he can invite us in himself." Kusa said firmly. At that point a thunderclap boomed out overhead, making the group wince as Makoto spoke up.

"Whoa, it sounds like it's going to rain. We should get inside!" Morgana said as Kusa frowned and nodded.

"True. Though we can do that at Leblanc, and not inside Boss' house." Kusa insisted. Makoto stroked her chin in thought before she looked at Ren and spoke up.

"Do you think that's okay?" Makoto asked, ignoring Kusa's insistence on heading back. Ryuji shrugged and spoke up.

"Eh, I dunno. Prolly?" Ryuji said as Makoto nodded before speaking up.

"My apologies, Boss!" Makoto said as the group made to go inside, with Kusa swearing under his breath as he spoke up while following the group inside.

"Why are you all such stubborn effing fools!? Ugh, fine! Have it your own way, but mark my words! It's on your own heads if we get in trouble over this!" Kusa huffed as he followed the others inside. Once in the house, the others looked around as Makoto called out.

"Hello, sir?" Makoto called out as Kusa rolled his eyes, discreetly pulling out his phone to send Futaba a private chat.

"Hey, apologies for the intrusion. But apparently my friends have it in their idiotic heads, with the exceptions of Ren, Ann, and Yusuke, that your dad is not only a bad guy, but that he abuses you. I spent all day trying to dissuade them of that idea, but to no avail. So don't panic if you hear yelling out here. That's just Makoto and the others getting out of the rain, despite my insistence they do so at Leblanc. Hopefully you're all right, Taba." Kusa sent as he got a quick response from Futaba.

"You're here, Kusa!? You do realize Sojiro's not home right now, right? He went to the store. Please tell me your friends are at least not loud and rowdy? I was thinking of taking a nap." Futaba sent as Kusa winced and sent a response.

"Unfortunately, not so. Ryuji is quite loud when he wants to be, and Morgana is also rather loud. Yusuke is just mostly harmless and eccentric, whereas Ann is just perky and quirky. As for Ren and Makoto, they're smart but persistent. Almost TOO persistent at times. But they're all harmless, even if I did have to keep myself from snapping at Makoto earlier for her slanderous remarks about your father." Kusa sent as Makoto looked at Ren and spoke up.

"He's not out, is he?" Makoto asked as Ren shrugged, before Kusa huffed and spoke up.

"Yes, Makoto, he's out shopping. Taba sent me a private chat to ask why there was so much shouting. Apparently she wanted to have a nap, but between the thunder, and you and Ryuji, she couldn't do so. Luckily, she doesn't seem to mind you being here, so it's not the worst thing that you basically invited yourselves in. I, at least, have carte blanche from Boss himself to come here whenever I like, within reason." Kusa said smugly. Makoto shrugged at Kusa's response and spoke up.

"Fair enough. You know, now that I'm taking a closer look at this place, I see that the door ahead is open, and I can hear the TV." Makoto said as Kusa spoke up.

"Ah, right. You see, Boss probably left the TV on, and that door leads to Futaba's room, which is probably open so she can listen to us. Which if I'm right, sorry for the unplanned intrusion on your house, Taba! These guys mean you no harm, even if the majority of them only have a small amount of collective tact to rub together between them." Kusa called out, as his phone went off, with a private chat from Futaba.

"Ha! Nice roast! I knew I was right to teach you how to roast, my dear apprentice. You make your master proud." Futaba sent, making Kusa quietly chuckle as he sent a response.

"But of course, Master Futaba! How could I not benefit greatly from your revered and grand wisdom, oh wise, profound, and beautiful oracle of the roasting arts?" Kusa sent facetiously, getting a response shortly after from a red-faced Futaba.

"Ha, ha. You're lucky you're so handsome, or I'd be annoyed with you for how corny that blatant bit of flirting at the end of your response was. That said, are your friends gonna be here long?" Futaba sent as Kusa sent a response.

"To tell you the truth? I have no clue. They said they wanted to speak to your dad, so I suppose it partly depends on when he gets back from the store. That said, I hope he sets Makoto in particular straight, since she's a complete and total dumbass for EVER thinking your dad would even think about hurting a precious Treasure like yourself, Taba." Kusa sent coyly. Ryuji frowned and spoke up.

"I hope he didn't pass out or something. I mean, Boss is kinda old, ain't he?" Ryuji said as Kusa frowned and punched him in the arm before speaking up to rebuke Ryuji.

"OI! RUDE! Don't disrespect a man in his own home, Ryuji! I don't effing care if that wasn't meant to be disrespectful or not. Sure, he's not as young as he once was, but I doubt he'd pass out. He's still pretty damned spry for his age, and could probably beat any one of us in a fight if he had to." Kusa said with a huff. His phone went off with a response at that point.

"Which one of your friends was that who just disrespected my dad!? I want a name! No one disrespects my dad like that in my house!" Futaba sent as Kusa winced and sent a response.

"Chill, Taba! That was Ryuji, and I already socked the effing moron and chewed him out for it. I got Sojiro's back, don't you worry." Kusa sent reassuringly. Ann then spoke up.

"I'm a bit worried. Should we go in and check on him?" Ann asked as Kusa huffed and spoke up, his temper simmering over a bit as he snapped out a response.

"Did you not hear me before? He's out shopping!" Kusa snapped before sighing and speaking up.

"Sorry, that was uncalled for of me. But still, being in Boss' house like this, even with Taba's sort of permission, has me on edge. Besides, we should be lucky Taba didn't have me kick us all out." Kusa said with a frown. Makoto spoke up, ignoring Kusa's remark.

"Please excuse us..." Makoto said as the group headed further into the house, towards the living room when a thunderclap sounded, causing Ann and Makoto to scream, along with another feminine scream that had Kusa frown as he darted off towards Futaba's room.

"A scream!? What was that!?" Makoto asked in confusion as the others shrugged, none of them noticing Kusa's disappearance as yet. Speaking of Kusa, he walked over towards Futaba's door and sent a private chat.

"It's all right, Taba. That was just thunder. No one's gonna hurt you. And those other screams were Ann and Makoto, who should be in the living room with Ren, Ryuji, Morgana, and Yusuke. You're safe, Taba. I'm right here, and nothing's gonna hurt you, at least not without getting the eff past me first!" Kusa sent resolutely as he heard Morgana snap at Makoto irately, making him blink.

"How should I know?" Morgana snapped at Makoto, making Kusa wince at Morgana's tone. His phone went off again to signify a response from Futaba.

"Did your brother bring his cat? I heard a rather irritated-sounding meow just now." Futaba sent as Kusa chuckled and sent a response.

"Yeah, that was just Morgana. Me and Ren found him in the street alone as a stray and took him in, and he's become something of a friend and almost brother to us, if that makes sense at all to you. Despite his attitude at times, Morgana is harmless, and a true gentleman. However, let me give you some free advice, Taba. If you ever get to meet Morgana, don't ever call him a cat where he can hear you, because he's a bit touchy about it.

Actually, if I'm being honest with you, Taba? I think whoever his previous owner was was abusive to him, but I can't prove it. So I try to show him all the affection and care I can manage." Kusa sent, as the door closed, making him wince as he guessed that Sojiro was home from the store, at the same time that he heard Makoto speak up.

"Did you hear that!?" Makoto asked the others. Kusa then winced as he heard Ann's voice speak up shrilly, knowing Futaba probably heard it as well.

"Let's get out of here, please? Can we just go?" Ann asked as Ryuji frowned at her and spoke up.

"What're you freakin' out for?" Ryuji asked Ann, who Kusa heard speaking up.

"I-I-I'm not freaking out!" Ann hissed as Morgana spoke up warily.

"Could it be Alibaba? I mean, Futaba?" Morgana asked as Ren spoke up.

"Probably not. If anything, it's probably either Kusa catching up to us, or it's Boss getting back from the store." Ren said sagely. The others nodded, and headed the other way, except for Makoto who winced and spoke up to Ren, making both Ren, and Kusa, who could hear her from around the corner, wince as she spoke up.

"Um, sorry, but...Can I hold your hand?" Makoto asked as both Ren and Kusa's eyes went wide in shock at Makoto's question.

"WHAT!?" Ren and Kusa both said in shock at the same time, the former shaking his head disapprovingly as Makoto instead wrapped her arms around him fearfully as she heard another door open, unaware that it was Kusa stepping into Futaba's room to calm her down after hearing her whimper from the thunderclap.

"Eek!" Makoto said as Morgana blinked at this, still being inside of Ren's bag as Yusuke spoke up.

"I can sense someone's presence." Yusuke said. Makoto winced and spoke up.

"Who is it? Who's there!?" Makoto asked fearfully. Makoto then whimpered as she spoke up.

"I can't take this anymore! I'm leaving!" Makoto said before she started sinking to the ground as she kept holding onto Ren, speaking up in horror.

"N-No...My legs won't move." Makoto said as at that moment a pair of hands went onto her shoulders and two different voices said, "BOO!" making both Makoto, and surprisingly so, Futaba, scream and bolt off in different directions, making Kusa frown and swear under his breath as he walked off, cursing Ryuji under his breath for scaring Futaba with deciding to also say it where Futaba could hear and ruining his plan to jump-scare Makoto as payback for her lies about Sojiro. Ann blinked as she had seen the head of red hair and glasses briefly over Makoto's shoulder before it'd vanished as quickly as it'd come.

"A-Alibaba! Futaba! Hey! C'mon, where are you!? You're a hacker, right? Just show yourself! " Ann asked as her phone went off, and she saw it was a private chat from Kusa.

"She's in her room, you fool! She was going to come out and say hi to you guys, until SOMEONE, who shall remain nameless, decided to scare her by yelling BOO when she was going to do it to prank Makoto for what she said about Boss. Luckily I calmed her down somewhat. But for real, quit yelling and go wait with the others in the living room! Sakura-kun should be home shortly. Futaba called him and he said he was just finishing up at the store.

So go sit in the living room. I'll be out once I finish calming her down. Oh, and on an unrelated note, can you punch Ryuji for me? I think he called you a coward when you asked to leave before? And I heard it through Futaba's wall before you ask. The walls here aren't as thick as they look, so sound travels easily around here, get it Makoto!?" Kusa sent to Ann irately, who winced as Makoto kept hugging Ren's leg and mumbling incoherently as she clung desperately to Ren.

"I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry! Pleasesavemesis..." Makoto mumbled incoherently as Sojiro's voice could be heard from outside. *1*

"Are you okay, Futaba!?" Sojiro called as he reached the front door, likely having heard Futaba's scream, making Kusa swear under his breath as he could hear anger in Sojiro's voice. Ryuji winced and spoke up as he recognized the voice.

"Crap, Boss is home!" Ryuji said as everyone bar Ren, whose leg was being held by an immobilized-with-fear Makoto, filed into the living room right as Sojiro's voice was heard again as he came inside.

"Who the hell are you!? Don't move!" Sojiro said defensively as Kusa winced at the tone and headed out to try and talk down Sojiro after telling Futaba to stay in her room until he texted her to come out, getting a nod from Futaba as he left the room. Sojiro frowned as he reached for the light switch to see who was standing in the hallway.

"You hear me!?" Sojiro said as he reached for the light switch as Kusa walked down the hall to try and talk down Sojiro, groaning as he saw Makoto clinging for dear life onto Ren's leg. Sojiro couldn't find the switch so he grabbed a nearby flashlight and turned it on, blinking as he recognized Ren and Makoto, the latter of whom whimpered incoherently again.

"I'msorryI'msorryI'msosorrySis...Somebodypleasesaveme..." Makoto whimpered as Sojiro blinked in shock as he recognized Ren and spoke up.

"You? What're you doing in my house?" Sojiro said as Kusa stepped into view and spoke up.

"Apparently, he and the others wanted to speak to you since SOMEONE, and by someone I mean Miss-Clinging-To-Ren's-Leg here, gave the others the oh so brilliant idea that you abuse Futaba, all because Ren here told them what he apparently heard some platinum-blonde bimbo saying to you the night before last. Personally, I think she's full of it since I know you'd never do any such thing, but apparently she was convinced it was fact and wanted to meet you to get the truth for herself.

Feel free to put the fear of God into her, if you want. I wouldn't blame you one bit, given what she said about you. Frankly, she's lucky I didn't do it. I was very close to it earlier. Not to mention, she and some of the others probably scared Futaba when she came out to see what was going on. Fortunately, I was able to talk her down, though she may or may not have sworn a vendetta against Makoto and Ryuji over what Makoto said about you." Kusa said by way of explanation, ignoring the glare he got from Makoto, who turned to face Sojiro nervously and spoke up.

"Ah..." Makoto said as Sojiro blinked on recognizing Makoto before he spoke up in surprise.

"Wait, you're..." Sojiro said as Makoto spoke up nervously, seeing the look on Sojiro's face and wanting to assuage him before he could get her or the others into trouble.

"Oh! G-Good...Evening, sir. We...didn't mean...to intrude..." Makoto said as Kusa groaned, muttering under his breath about judgmental, paranoid idiots as Sojiro spoke up.

"Niijima-san!" Sojiro said before turning to face Ren in a mix of shock and surprise, blinking at the sight of Makoto seemingly glued to Ren's leg, making him frown as he spoke up, an eyebrow raised skeptically while he spoke.

"Wait, are you two dating?" Sojiro asked Ren, only for Kusa to laugh as he spoke up, finding Sojiro's question rather amusing.

"Don't be silly, Sojiro. The only way Ren would even look twice at her would be if she were a bit younger, had red hair with a ponytail, and practiced gymnastics. Oh, and the fact that she's related to that chick who was at Leblanc a couple nights ago doesn't help her case any." Kusa said dryly. Makoto blinked before glaring at Kusa and speaking up, getting a tad fed up with his constant shots at her.

"W-We're just friends! AND SHUT UP KUSA! I know I'm not Yoshizawa-san!" Makoto snapped at Kusa, who laughed. Sojiro also chuckled as he spoke up.

"Friends nowadays get that close to each other?" Sojiro asked as Kusa spoke up, smirking in amusement at Ren and Makoto while he spoke.

"Apparently, they do when they panic. And I say this because Makoto here, even before she latched onto Ren's leg? I'm positive she was very clearly panicking before you got here from what I heard." Kusa said with a smirk. Makoto huffed as she got to her feet and spoke up in embarrassment.

"That's not it! This, um...Things happened...and..." Makoto said as Ren spoke up, giving Kusa a pointed glare while he spoke, which Kusa just chuckled at, knowing it was just for show, and that Ren was more mortified at the way that Kusa was mocking him while roasting Makoto.

"Ignoring the fact that Kusa is just being an instigating prick, he's not wrong. I have no romantic interest whatsoever in Makoto here. No offense, Makoto. You're a nice girl. Just I have my eyes on another girl already." Ren said honestly. Kusa shrugged as he spoke up, seemingly unfazed by Ren's words while he spoke.

"Eh, you're not wrong Ren." Kusa said as Ann, Yusuke, and Ryuji filed out of the living room to join Ren and Makoto, making Sojiro gasp as he spoke up.

"You kids are here too!?" Sojiro said as Kusa nodded and spoke up.

"Yep. The whole gang's here. Even little old Morgana is here, even if he's probably in Ren's bag." Kusa said as Morgana frowned at Kusa but Ann spoke up before Morgana could rebuke Kusa for treating him like a pet, even if he did it unintentionally.

"Um, we brought you some sushi, but nobody answered when we rang the bell...The door was unlocked too." Ann said as Kusa frowned at Ann bringing up the unlocked door while he spoke up.

"I keep saying, he probably forgot on accident! No one's perfect, Ann." Kusa said huffily. Sojiro nodded gratefully to Kusa as Ann kept speaking.

"We could hear the TV though, so we got worried you might have passed out or something, Boss" Ann said as Sojiro frowned in surprise as he spoke up.

"The door was unlocked?" Sojiro asked in surprise as Ann winced and spoke up.

"Yes." Ann said as Sojiro chuckled nervously before rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment and speaking up.

"I do that sometimes. Guess I'm getting old." Sojiro said as Kusa smirked at the others and spoke up.

"Told you so!" Kusa said simply before turning to Sojiro.

"You, old? Nonsense, Boss! You're still as spry as ever! A bit forgetful on occasion, but you're still plenty agile. And it's not a crime to be forgetful." Kusa said sagely. Makoto then spoke up, remembering why the group had come in the first place.

"Um, excuse me. There's something we'd like to ask." Makoto said as Kusa huffed and spoke up while giving Makoto a pointed look while he spoke.

"And that actually means we're asking him, NOT SLINGING SLANDEROUS LIES AT HIM, got it Makoto?" Kusa huffed before he could stop himself. Sojiro chuckled and spoke up.

"Easy, Kusa. I can defend myself. That said, hm? You wanna ask me?" Sojiro asked as Makoto spoke up, ignoring the muttered 'no shit, Sherlock!' from Kusa as she asked Sojiro her question, looking at Sojiro while she spoke.

"There's someone else living there, isn't there?" Makoto asked Sojiro, who sighed and nodded as he spoke up.

"Yeah. My daughter." Sojiro said as Makoto spoke up, ignoring the groan from Kusa at her continuing to pry into Sojiro's private business as she spoke.

"Could she be Futaba Sakura?" Makoto asked Sojiro, who glared at Ren and spoke up with a frown.

"You told Niijima-san too!?" Sojiro asked incredulously as Kusa huffed and spoke up.

"Not just her. He told all of them. I tried talking them out of coming here, but they wouldn't be deterred." Kusa said with a frown. Sojiro looked at Kusa before giving him a grateful nod as he spoke up.

"I see. Thank you for at least trying to look out for myself and Futaba, Kusa. At the very least, I can say that one of you is somewhat considerate of others." Sojiro said as Makoto spoke up, ignoring Sojiro's subtle dig on everyone present aside from himself and Kusa while she spoke.

"U-Um...is there any way we could meet with Futaba-san? I think we may have frightened her earlier, so we'd like to apologize if at all possible for scaring her." Makoto said as Kusa had to stamp down his initial impulse to deny her on the spot, knowing that wouldn't be fair to her, and that Futaba might actually want to eventually meet the others. Sojiro then spoke up, not seeing the hesitation in Kusa's eyes as he spoke.

"Welll...That's..." Sojiro said as Makoto spoke up again.

"Is she sick?" Makoto asked as Sojiro shook his head and spoke up.

"N-No, it's not like that." Sojiro said, before sighing as he realized telling the group in front of him about Futaba might be unavoidable. He then spoke up.

"I don't want you all getting the wrong idea. Ugh, I shouldn't have kept this a secret from you, Ren. You either, Kusa. But I figure Futaba will probably fill you in to some extent when she's ready." Sojiro said before Kusa gave Sojiro a curt nod of understanding while Sojiro was giving the group a 'come here' gesture as he kept speaking.

"Let's talk at my shop. She'll hear us if we stay here." Sojiro said to the group before turning to face Kusa directly as he kept speaking.

"Kusa, while I explain things to Ren and the rest of your friends, can you stay here and try to keep Futaba calmed down and relaxed for me? I think she'd be most receptive to it from you. Besides, you know most of what I'm about to tell these guys anyways, and I can fill you in on the rest later if needed. As such, would you be willing to keep Futaba company while I fill the others in?" Sojiro asked Kusa, who nodded agreeably and spoke up with a smile on his face while he spoke, making Ren and Ryuji both smirk at how obvious it was that Kusa was smitten with Futaba, even if he wouldn't admit to it, while he spoke.

"Absolutely, Boss. I would be honored to keep an eye on Taba for you while you fill this lot in. Oh, and feel free to really rub Makoto's nose in it when you explain how wrong she is. Maybe then she'll actually believe that you'd never so much as wish harm on anyone you care about, least of all Futaba." Kusa said huffily as Sojiro chuckled and nodded agrreably before he spoke up.

"Don't worry, I'll be sure to impress on her the wrongness of that belief when I fill them in." Sojiro said, getting an approving nod from Kusa before he led the others, minus Kusa who headed towards Futaba's room to comfort her, back to Leblanc...

(Back at Leblanc, with Sojiro, Yusuke, Ryuji, Ann, Ren, Morgana, and Makoto)

**Trigger Warnings for the following in this section: Suicide mentions, rough backstory, dark themes**

"Now, where do I start?" Sojiro asked the group in front of him. He then kept speaking up before any of them could speak up.

"Let's start at the beginning. Futaba's mother and I knew each other long before Futaba was born. Her mother was a bit of a weird one, but we got along well for some reason. She was sharp-witted, somewhat stern, a little socially inept, but always carefree. She truly was a great woman." Sojiro said as Makoto winced and spoke up.

"I see." Makoto said as Sojiro smiled and kept speaking up, sounding surprisingly eager to rehash his memories of Futaba's mother.

"When something piqued her interest, that'd be all she focused on. She always worked deep into the night. I thought that'd change after her kid was born, but having Futaba didn't do much. Even with that, she had always taken good care of her." Sojiro said as Ann winced and spoke up in a sympathetic tone of voice.

"Working and watching over a child at the same time sounds rough." Ann said as Sojiro nodded his agreement as he continued speaking.

"I guess raising Futaba alone turned out to be tough on her in more ways than one." Sojiro said as Ren winced and spoke up.

"Alone? Didn't Futaba have a father?" Ren asked uncertainly. Sojiro shook his head in the negative as he spoke up.

"There wasn't a father." Sojiro said as Yusuke gaped and spoke up, giving Sojiro a surprised look while he spoke.

"Do you mean what I think you mean, Boss?" Yusuke said uncertainly as Sojiro spoke up again, realizing what Yusuke had probably assumed and decided to correct his remark.

"Well, there probably WAS one. I didn't know about him, though. She never said a word about him, either. She was single when she gave birth to Futaba, and single when she raised her. They were an ordinary, loving family. You could really tell how much she cared for Futaba. Ugh. But one day she left, leaving Futaba behind." Sojiro said as Ren winced, getting an ominous sense of foreboding, not wanting to ask the unspoken question in the air, but knowing someone had to, so he asked anyways.

"She left? Did she die?" Ren asked warily. Sojiro looked at Ren in surprise, blinking at how perceptive he was as he spoke up.

"Yes. She committed suicide." Sojiro said as the others gasped while Ann spoke up.

"Suicide...!?" Ann asked in shock as Sojiro nodded and spoke up.

"Mm-hmm. Threw herself into the street, right in front of Futaba's eyes." Sojiro said as the others gasped, all looking horrified as Makoto spoke up regretfully.

"Shocking doesn't even begin to describe that." Makoto said as Ryuji nodded, frowning as he spoke up.

"That's gotta be devastating for a kid." Ryuji said as Sojiro nodded as he kept speaking.

"So true. Well, a lot happened after that, but I ended up taking custody of Futaba. First, she was so depressed that she shut herself away, to the extent that she wouldn't even talk to me." Sojiro said as Ann winced before reluctantly speaking up.

"Was that because she couldn't get over her mother's suicide?" Ann asked as Sojiro nodded as he kept speaking.

"Yep. I kept talking to her though, and she started opening up to me little by little. That's when I found out. Futaba, as it so happens, blames herself for her mother's death." Sojiro said as the others gasped as Ann spoke up in horror.

"WHAT!? But why!?" Ann asked as Sojiro shook his head and spoke up.

"Not sure. That part, she's never told me. I wanted to know what led her to end up believing that, but I decided not to rub salt in the wound. Then, a few months ago, things happened. She started getting real scared, even when nothing was happening. She'd say things like, 'I hear voices.' and 'Mom is looking at me'." Sojiro said as Yusuke winced and spoke up.

"Visual and auditory hallucinations. Have you taken Futaba to a doctor?" Yusuke asked as Sojiro sighed and shook his head as he spoke up.

"I wanted to, but she refused. Even when I had a doctor come, she locked herself away in her room. Since then, she's become what you'd call a shut-in. She won't take a single step outside the house, or even try to see other people." Sojiro said as Yusuke blinked and spoke up.

"What about you?" Yusuke asked as Sojiro shook his head and spoke up.

"She doesn't even let me come in her room. Yet, and this is the part that both shocks and confuses me, she lets Kusa go in there. I'm not sure what he did to get her to warm to him so quickly, but she's taken a real shine to the guy. I think even he was shocked at how quickly she warmed to him. Maybe it's the fact that she saw some part of herself in him, at least according to what Kusa said.

Or maybe it was the fact that he was the first one since me to really be gentle and understanding with her. For all I know, it might even be the fact that she had what I believe to be a rather instantaneous attraction to Kusa. Whatever the case, she was quick to let him in, not only to her room, but I believe also to her heart.

And Kusa, for his part, as far as I can tell, was similarly fast to warm to her. Since they started hanging out, he's become almost as protective of her as I am, which would probably be why he lashed out so harshly on you, Niijima-san, when you accused me of abusing Futaba. Which, to be fair? Without all the facts, I honestly can't fault you for thinking that, since it's an easy assumption to make. I think even Kusa realizes that, though his protectiveness of Futaba slightly blinds him to common sense at times.

He says he's just Futaba's friend, but I can tell those two are already both rather enamored with one another, even if both are refusing to admit it to themselves. If not now, I say it's just a matter of when, and not if, those two get together. And if that happens, he has not only my blessing to do so, but my approval as well. After all, anyone who can get Futaba to open up to them like that must be both amazing and incredible, making him okay in my book." Sojiro said as Ryuji huffed before speaking up.

"Or just straight-up lucky. That's possible as well. Also, that's pretty harsh." Ryuji said as Ren frowned at Ryuji and spoke up.

"Ryuji, hush! I think Kusa genuinely cares for her. You didn't see the hurt look in his eyes that night I teased him about being slow to move on her, Ryuji! I did. I think he wants her, but he's not trying to push her into anything until she expresses an interest in it, because he knows he can't put his own desires before what's best for Futaba. I think it might also be the fact he has experience with being a shut-in, having briefly been one himself when he was younger. So he can probably empathize with her, at least to a certain extent." Ren said as Sojiro nodded and spoke up.

"I'd believe that. That said, Futaba is, well, a unique girl. She's so quick-minded, most conversations with her tend to jump from one topic to the next. It seems like she's always coming to conclusions in her head. There's a lot I don't get about her." Sojiro said as Makoto winced and spoke up.

"Hmm, I see." Makoto said, seeming like she regretted her previous accusations at that point as Sojiro spoke up.

"So, yeah. Her situation is why I couldn't let you in my house. As it is, Kusa is exceedingly lucky that Futaba is okay enough with him that I can let him in. Of course, I think Futaba might be mad at me if I tried to keep him away at this point, but that's beside the point." Sojiro said as Ren smiled and nodded understandingly.

"Don't worry about it, Sakura-kun. I understand. I had a feeling you had a good reason for keeping it to yourself. I only let Makoto convince the group to try to go over there when she brought up the possibility that you could have been abusing Futaba, probably because I may have mentioned that lady threatening to take your custody away on the grounds of abuse, and whatever else she said to you, so I apologize for violating your privacy like that. That was both not cool, and absolutely not okay of me to do." Ren said regretfully. Sojiro smiled as he waved it off.

"It's fine, Ren. I get why you did it. You were just worried about Futaba, and I'm happy that you were so concerned for her, that you were willing to risk my wrath just to go over and check up on her, despite Kusa all but insisting you not do so, knowing it might not go well, both for you and for Futaba. What Futaba needs is a safe place where nobody will threaten her. Somewhere she can be at ease. And to be honest, I think she has that with Kusa. I don't think either of them know this yet, but while Kusa was staying over with us this past week, more than once I came home to find the two of them snuggled up on the hide-a-bed together, having passed out watching TV together.

And to be honest, judging from the content smile on Futaba's face, I think she feels quite at ease with Kusa, more than she realizes. And I think Kusa, for all that he claims to only be Futaba's friend, is similarly relaxed by her. I think those two are good for one another, since she seems to help keep him calm and level-headed, while he helps her to try and slowly ease out of her shell and try to start opening up to the world again, bit by bit.

So that's why I felt safe enough to let Kusa stay back and comfort Futaba, instead of having him come back with you guys. That's also why I won't do anything she doesn't want. I don't make her do anything she's unwilling to either. Then again, I know that's no way for her to live. It's all I can do, though, at least for now. Maybe one day, Kusa will manage to coax her out of her shell enough to actually start interacting with the world again, and she'll stop being so shut-in. But until then, I'm going to respect both her wishes and her boundaries, to the best of my ability." Sojiro said as Ren nodded before speaking up with a sage nod.

"I see. That's what you want, yes, but is that what Futaba wants? And I mean truly wants? Because I think we can all agree that Futaba's desires should come before all else, to a certain extent." Ren asked Sojiro cautiously. Sojiro shook his head.

"That's a good point, Ren. Unfortunately, I haven't the first clue of what Futaba wants. Maybe Kusa can figure it out somewhat, but only Futaba truly knows what Futaba wants. She just asks me for things that she wants, like food, or these complicated books. Well, that's that. So, can you just, I dunno, leave her be? I'm sure Kusa will talk her down from tonight, but I'd suggest you not head over there uninvited from now on. However, to be honest, I wouldn't hold out much hope on being invited anytime soon, if at all." Sojiro said as the others nodded, before Sojiro nodded and spoke up once more.

"Very well, I'm gonna head back then. Oh, but just a heads-up? Don't be surprised if Kusa ends up not coming back this way tonight. Sometimes, when he has to talk Futaba down, she ends up in an extra-cuddly mood, so Kusa literally wouldn't be able to get away from her even if he wanted to, not that I see him wanting to avoid cuddling Futaba." Sojiro said as Ren nodded understandingly as Sojiro looked at Yusuke, Ann, Ryuji, and Makoto before he spoke up once more.

"You all had better head home soon too." Sojiro said as he left to return back to the house, after which Makoto had a look on her face that suggested she felt like scum.

"I feel awful for prying into his personal affairs..." Makoto said as Ren spoke up.

"Luckily Kusa's not here, or he'd probably be saying something to the effect of 'and well you should' right about now." Ren said with a wince as Ryuji nodded agreeably and spoke up.

"Sounds like Kusa, for sure. That said, no way in hell Boss is abusin' her." Ryuji said as Ann frowned and spoke up.

"The reason Futaba wants her heart stolen must be related to what happened to her mother." Ann said as Yusuke winced and spoke up.

"So, she'd like to discard her feelings of pain, but can't do anything about it herself. If I had to guess, maybe this also has to do with the possibility she might be actually falling in love with Kusa. But I think that deep down, part of her is fighting it, making her feel like she's unworthy of him, which is totally not true in my opinion. From what Boss described, Futaba sounds like a wonderful person." Yusuke said as Ann nodded and spoke up, frowning as she spoke.

"Will changing her heart really help her, though?" Ann asked uncertainly as Ren spoke up.

"I don't know myself, but from what Kusa said to me, he not only thinks that it's risky, but that Futaba seems to think it's the only way for her to get over her past, or at least that's what she apparently told Kusa. But I dunno. I guess we'll have to wait and see." Ren said as the others nodded before Yusuke spoke up.

"If we can help her, we may be able to stand up to Medjed." Yusuke said as Ren nodded and spoke up.

"It is possible, but we'd need some clues still, like her distortion, and possibly her location, though Kusa seemed fairly certain that the who was 'Futaba Sakura' and the where was 'Sojiro Sakura's house'. We'd then just need her distortion." Ren said as Ryuji blinked and spoke up.

"Hold on a sec. Do we even know if she has a Palace?" Ryuji asked as Ren and Ann both groaned before the latter spoke up.

"Yes, she has a Palace! Do you not remember the night of that hot-pot party when Kusa yelled at Ren because his joking comment about Futaba having a Palace had the Meta-Nav come back with a positive result? I'm fairly sure that usually only happens when someone has a Palace." Ann said as Ryuji nodded.

"Oh, right. Let's check again, just to be sure that wasn't a malfunction of the Meta-Nav. Those happen occasionally, right?" Ryuji said as the others shrugged as Ren pulled out his phone as Ryuji kept speaking.

"So, we want, 'The Futaba Sakura that lives at Sojiro Sakura's house.' Is that gonna be enough?" Ryuji asked as the MetaNav answered Ryuji's question at that moment.

"Candidate found!" Ren's phone said as everyone present gasped and Yusuke spoke up, frowning as he spoke.

"What the..?" Yusuke said in shock as Ryuji spoke up in disbelief.

"So, it's true. She's really got one!" Ryuji said as Ann blinked in surprise and spoke up.

"Wait, so someone can have a Palace even if they're not evil?" Ann asked before blinking as she kept speaking.

"Huh, well I guess Kusa got what he wanted after all." Ann said as the others blinked at her in confusion, making her keep speaking.

"Remember in Kaneshiro's Palace, when he asked if it was possible for at least one Palace Ruler to not be a total scumbag? I know it was probably a rhetorical question, but looks like he got what he asked for with that. Hey, Morgana-" Ann said in surprise before blinking as she realized Morgana wasn't in Ren's bag.

"Wait, where's Morgana?" Ann asked as Yusuke frowned and spoke up.

"I haven't seen him for some time." Yusuke said as Makoto frowned and spoke up.

"So, ever since we went inside Boss's house?" Makoto asked as Ryuji spoke up, ignoring the frowns Ann and Ren gave him for what he said next.

"Yeah, he's prolly still somewhere around there. He'll be fine though. He's a cat, after all. However, the trains're probably gonna be shutting down for the night soon, so we should prolly be headin' home." Ryuji said as Makoto sighed and nodded her agreement as she spoke up.

"True. We do have to go to school in the morning, after all." Makoto said as Ann groaned in realization.

"Oh, right. The urgent assembly. Knowing Boss, he'll probably call Kusa off so he can spend more time with Futaba, though he could make Kusa go too." Ann said with a shrug. Yusuke frowned at the mention of an assembly as he spoke up.

"An assembly? What about?" Yusuke asked as Ann spoke up with a frown.

"Shujin has been garnering a lot of attention, ever since Medjed called out the Phantom Thieves. So, they need to remind us not to say arbitrary stuff online and add more fuel to the fire." Ann said as Ryuji huffed and spoke up to voice his opinion.

"Ugh, we gotta meet up for every goddamn little thing. Talk about a pain in the ass." Ryuji said as Ann winced and spoke up.

"I mean, it IS our fault." Ann said as Ren frowned and spoke up.

"Bullshit! It is not our fault! It's the faults of Kamoshida, Kobayakawa, and whoever else covered up for Kamoshida! We just did the school a service by changing that scumbag's heart! So screw anyone who thinks it's our fault!" Ren said as Ryuji grinned and fist-bumped Ren as he spoke up!

"Truth, man!" Ryuji said as Makoto spoke up.

"Calm down, you two. That said, attendance is still mandatory. Anyway, let's contact each other afterward." Makoto said as the others left for the night, leaving Ren alone in Leblanc...

**Trigger Warnings end**

(Around that same time, back at the Sakura household, inside Futaba's room with Futaba)

"No way in hell he's abusin' her." Ryuji could be heard saying through Futaba's computer screen as Ann's voice could be heard next.

"The reason why Futaba wants her heart stolen must be related to what happened to her mother." Ann could be heard saying as Yusuke was the next to be heard.

"So she'd like to discard her feelings of pain, but can't do anything about it herself. If I had to guess, maybe this also has to do with the possibility she might be actually falling in love with Kusa, but deep down part of her is fighting it, making her feel like she's unworthy of him, which is total rubbish in my opinion. From what Boss described, Futaba sounds like a wonderful person." Yusuke said, making Futaba gasp as she heard Yusuke's comment about her and Kusa, making her blink but ultimately ignore the idea of her possibly having feelings for Kusa for the moment, as Ann could be heard speaking once more.

"Will changing her heart really help her, though?" Ann asked as Yusuke was heard once more.

"If we can help her, we may be able to stand up to Medjed." Yusuke could be heard as Ryuji's voice was heard once more.

"Hold on a sec. Do we even know if she has a Palace? Let's check. 'The Futaba Sakura that lives at Sojiro Sakura's house.' Is that gonna be enough?" Ryuji could be heard saying as Futaba's phone chose that moment to go off with a private chat, making her frown as she looked at it. Not surprisingly, it was from Kusa.

"You okay in there, Taba? You've been really quiet the last few minutes. The others went back to Leblanc with Sojiro. I think he's going to fill them in on what he knows of you. And as for me, Sojiro left me here to keep you company, unless you'd rather be alone right now. I respect whatever decision you make." Kusa sent as Futaba smiled and sent a response.

"I don't mind if you come in and spend time with me, Kusa. I was just going over some stuff my bug picked up over at Leblanc. Apparently, the others are talking about me a lot, and just confirmed that I have a 'Palace', as I believe you called it. So if you want to come on in, feel free. Just bear in mind that there's not going to be a lot of space to sit, since I haven't exactly done a lot of cleaning recently." Futaba sent as Kusa sent a response.

"Fine with me, I don't mind either standing or sitting on the floor if there's not a lot of places to sit in there. Either way, I'll be in shortly." Kusa sent as a couple moments later, Futaba's door gently clicked open, quickly closing once more as Kusa slipped inside, unaware of the furry four-legged stowaway that had hidden in his shirt to sneak into Futaba's room with him. As he came in and sat down, he gently spoke up, somehow not feeling the not-cat slipping out from under his shirt to spy on him and Futaba while he spoke.

"Hey there, Taba. Going through some surveillance stuff with your computer?" Kusa asked conversationally as Futaba nodded before speaking up.

"Yes, good timing, Kusa. The others are just checking to see if I have a Palace. Come, sit and listen with me." Futaba said as Kusa nodded and sat next to Futaba to listen as Ryuji's voice could be heard over the computer's speakers via the bug.

"No way! She's got one!" Ryuji could be heard saying, as Ann could be heard speaking once more, though Kusa would gasp as he heard what Ann had to say.

"So someone can still have a Palace, even if they're not evil? Hey, Morgana-?" Ann said as Kusa swore before speaking up.

"No effing way! I asked about that rhetorically during Kaneshiro's Palace! I didn't mean it literally! But at least now I know not all Palace rulers are necessarily evil." Kusa said, before both he and Futaba jumped as they saw a black furry four-legged figure dash off from between Futaba's legs, heading back towards Leblanc, making Kusa frown as he spoke up.

"Morgana got in here?" Kusa asked himself in surprise as Futaba spoke up.

"Was that a cat? I didn't know your brother's cat was here?" Futaba said in shock as Kusa spoke up.

"Technically he's my cat too, Taba. But let me remind you that he doesn't think of himself as a cat. So we try not to call him such where he can hear. It's kind of a long story, to be honest." Kusa said as Futaba nodded before the two listened to the rest of the footage before Futaba smiled as she looked at Kusa and spoke up.

"Well, at least now your friend gets that Sojiro would never even think of abusing me. So that's a win. And I think we've pretty much convinced them to change my heart, so another win! Sorry if I scared you though by jumping when that cat, I think you called him Morgana, darted out of the room." Futaba said as Kusa smiled at Futaba before he spoke up understandingly, giving her a reassuring look while he spoke.

"Don't worry about it, Taba. I have no idea why he was in here to begin with, much less how he got in, but if I had to guess, he probably hid himself on me to get in here. I'll be sure to have words with him about that later, so don't worry about it. So, how're you holding up after earlier? I apologize once more for those fools inviting themselves over here. I did everything I could short of outright threatening them to dissuade them, but they insisted on coming here. Hopefully they didn't scare you too much." Kusa said to Futaba, who shook her head as she spoke up, looking at Kusa happily while she spoke.

"Nah, it's fine. If anything, I'm just glad you're here right now." Futaba said as she smiled at Kusa before speaking up.

"But anyways, that's enough surveillance for one night, yeah? I'd say let's cuddle on my bed and watch a movie, but it's both rather small and also unlikely to fit us both at the moment. So maybe we can go and set up the hide-a-bed for us to lay on so we can cuddle there?" Futaba said as Kusa smiled and nodded agreeably while he spoke up.

"Yeah, we can most definitely do that if you want Taba, provided Sojiro doesn't object. After all, he only told me to keep you company while he was over laying down the law with the others. He should be back soon." Kusa said as Futaba giggled and spoke up, smiling fondly at Kusa while she spoke.

"Silly Kusa. Sojiro wants what's best for me. And he knows that you're good for me, so I doubt he'll object too much to you remaining here overnight with me." Futaba said confidently as Kusa shrugged, not arguing with Futaba as he spoke up once more.

"If the lady says so, then who am I to argue with her? But you get to deal with him if he objects. He's your father figure, after all." Kusa said sagely as Futaba nodded. The two then went out to the living room and set up the hide-a-bed as they got comfortable on it and watched some TV. Sojiro eventually returned, not altogether surprised to see Kusa and Futaba snuggled together on the hide-a-bed watching TV, actually deciding to discreetly snap a photo of the two, actually getting a good picture of the two smiling contentedly as they relaxed in each other's hold while they watched TV, both unaware of Sojiro having snapped a photo of them.

Afterwards, Sojiro just smiled and retreated to his room, already having figured Kusa would probably end up staying the night if Futaba had her druthers about it, so he just went with it, since he'd already warned Ren not to expect Kusa to be back at Leblanc until probably tomorrow. After a while, Kusa smiled as he looked over to see Futaba dozing off on him, smiling as he gently laid her head on the pillow next to his, carefully settling into a laid-down position as he got comfortable for the evening with Futaba snuggling happily against him as the two of them dozed off together..

(At that same time, at Leblanc, with Ren)

Ren frowned as he realized Morgana was still gone, making him idly wonder where Morgana was. Eventually, Ren just decided to lay down for the night while he waited for Morgana to get back to Leblanc. As he got comfortable for the night, he heard a padding sound, smiling as he saw Morgana approach him, even as the not-cat spoke up with an unreadable look on his face.

"Were you just going to go to sleep without even wondering where I was? I take it the chief told you about Futaba, then you disbanded in relief for now." Morgana said as Ren nodded in surprise before speaking up.

"Yeah, that's...right? But how would you know that if you weren't here? And where even were you, if I'm allowed to ask?" Ren asked Morgana who chuckled as he spoke up.

"Hmph, you can't underestimate my intel-gathering skills, you know. I was checking out the chief's house. I didn't think our Alibaba would be so young..." Morgana said as Ren frowned.

"Of course she's young! She's about Kusa's age, after all. That aside, were you able to at all get an idea of what she's like?" Ren asked Morgana who nodded and spoke up.

"She had long hair and a pretty young-sounding voice. Well, I say young, but she's probably about the same age as you guys, but moreso Kusa and possibly Yoshizawa, so around a first-year, if that. She might even be a little younger than Kusa and Yoshizawa, but not by more than a couple of months, a half a year tops. Either way, at the very least? She's surely no amateur. She completely overheard your conversation with the chief, and she can hack into our chats too. *4*

Even if she can't take Medjed down directly, she might have some kind of lead on given how reticent and timid she seemed tonight, I think we can definitively conclude it was probably Kusa who dumped that calling card in the mailbox for you, on her request. Which fits, given how much even the chief can tell the two are clearly smitten with one another, even if neither will admit it to anyone, least of all themselves or each other." Morgana said as Ren spoke up.

"That's fair. What an odd girl." Ren said. Morgana nodded as he spoke up agreeably.

"Agreed. But in any case, we'll need to rely on Futaba to get closer to Medjed. Let's meet up again tomorrow. How about we do it in here? It's way too hot outside. Anyway, make sure you let everyone know." Morgana said to Ren, who nodded as he pulled his phone out to do just that...

(Flash forward to the interrogation room with Sae and Joker)

"Futaba Sakura!? She had one of these 'Palaces'? And your younger brother was able to get close to her when few others could do so? Actually, let's table that for now. While Medjed was targeting you, you chose to deal with someone completely unrelated to them?" Sae said to Joker, who nodded as he spoke up.

"Correct. After all, not much you can do against an unseen enemy, is there? Not to mention, better to deal with the target you know than the one you don't sometimes." Joker said sagely. Sae nodded understandingly before frowning as she spoke up.

"Then how was Medjed defeated if you never interacted with them? What you've said about the Sakura family generally falls in line with our investigation. It appears you aren't feeding us a false testimony." Sae said as Joker nodded and spoke up.

"Of course I'm not. What would I have to gain from lying to you?" Joker asked as politely as he could manage. Sae chuckled as she spoke up.

"Hmph, I see. If you're lucid enough for jabs, you can get back to your story. It's still unclear to us as to how the Phantom Thieves dealt with Medjed, since their identity is unknown. If you tell me something coherent, I might be a little more willing to believe you." Sae said to Joker, who nodded as he realized that it seemed as if Sae was starting to seriously listen to what he had to say, making him get a sense of a deepening bond with her, at which point the 'Judgment' card appeared in his mind's eye, the 'I' becoming a 'II' to signify that his Judgment Confidant link with Sae had reached Rank 2. However, as before, no new skills were gained from the rank up. Afterwards, Sae spoke up.

"Still, to think the Phantom Thieves would have their hideout in the home of Wakaba Isshiki's daughter. What a coincidence. No, perhaps it's fate. Regardless, we don't have time to waste. Continue on with your story." Sae said to Joker, who nodded and continued his story, knowing it was just getting to the intense parts...

(The next morning, on the walk to school with Ren, Morgana and Kusa)

"Seriously!? They're seriously holding an emergency meeting right when summer break is starting? I guess they need to set some rules when the world's eyes are on us because of the Phantom Thieves. Stuff like, 'Don't do anything that will hurt the school's reputation. Spend your summer break quietly'." A bag-eyed student said from nearby Ren who was listening in as the student's friend spoke up.

"Aye-yai-yai, I can't. I can't stay quiet with all this excitement going on. Medjed's statement was insane! 'People of Japan, you must not worship the Phantom Thieves,' they said. It could just be a joke. There's talk that this could lead to the biggest leak of private data to date. I wonder if they're gonna target another site or not. Also, I'm curious to see how the Phantom Thieves react." The worried student said as Ren heard a huff from next to him as he turned to see Kusa walking up, exchanging a nod with Kusa as he spoke up.

"Hmph, what a pair of sheep. I hate that they made attendance to this mandatory. I could much more easily be spending my morning still snuggled up to Futaba, which is likely to be much more fun than some assembly. But nooo, instead I have to come to this stupid assembly, which is probably just more of the principal prattling on about how we need to not say anything to cause trouble for the school. Hmph, this seriously blows." Kusa grumbled as Ren listened to the bag-eyed student as he spoke up.

"it's what I'm looking forward to most this summer. It'll be the perfect escape from exam studies. But the Phantom Thieves need to take action. They're the ones Medjed is after." The bag-eyed student said as Morgana poked his head out of Ren's bag to speak up.

"Hmm...This is bigger than I thought. We can't leave this be..." Morgana said as Kusa nodded his agreement before Ren spoke up.

"You're right, of course. But we should be smart about this, and not rush into anything." Ren said wisely. Kusa nodded his agreement and spoke up.

"Agreed. But let's also get this thrice-be-damned assembly done and over with so we can get back to Leblanc. I don't want to have to be at school longer than I have to be today." Kusa said as Morgana nodded and spoke up agreeably

"Yup! Let's get this assembly out of the way. We have our own business to attend to!" Morgana said as Kusa nodded before giving Morgana a stern look as he spoke up.

"Indeed. Don't let me forget after the assembly Morgana-sensei, you and I seriously need to have a discussion about a certain something you did last night. And don't deny it, you know exactly what I'm talking about, you naughty boy." Kusa said with a frown, making Ren look at him in confusion before he sighed and explained it to Ren.

"Basically, not only did he smuggle himself into Futaba's room without either her consent or mine, he also scared Futaba by darting out from between her legs where he was listening to the conversation you guys were having with Boss last night. You're lucky I convinced Taba that you were harmless, Morgana, just so you know. And for the record? If Taba had wanted to, she could've easily pitched a fit and then Sojiro might've made us get rid of you. Did you even consider THAT in your plan, Morgana!?" Kusa asked Morgana, who winced at being rebuked by Kusa and shook his head in the negative.

However before either Kusa or Morgna could say anything more, Ann chose that moment to walk up and unknowingly save the currently wincing not-cat from a further rebuke by Kusa.

"Oh hey, Ren and Kusa! Morning! Hm? Is there something over there?" Ann asked as Ren spoke up.

"Nah, was just listening to a couple of guys talking about Medjed and the Phantom Thieves." Ren said. Ann nodded and spoke up.

"Okay, fair enough! C'mon, let's go! We're gonna be late!" Ann said as Ren nodded, with him and Kusa following Ann to school...

(After the assembly, up in Ren and Kusa's room at Leblanc with Ryuji, Ren, Morgana, Makoto, Ann, Kusa, and Yusuke)

"Man, that assembly had me bored to tears." Ryuji said as Ann blinked, looking at Yusuke as she spoke up, noticing while she spoke that he was also wearing his school uniform.

"Huh? Did you have school too, Yusuke?" Ann asked Yusuke who shook his head and spoke up.

"No. I am merely doing laundry, and these were the only clothes I had to wear." Yusuke said as Ann winced and spoke up.

"You really should buy a couple more outfits." Ann said as Kusa chuckled and spoke up.

"Since when would Yusuke be able to do that, Ann!? With all respect to Yusuke, we all know most of his likely paltry budget usually is eaten up by food and/or art supplies." Kusa said sagely as Yusuke nodded sheepishly before Makoto frowned and spoke up.

"Come now, we didn't gather here to make small talk, now did we?" Makoto said as Kusa frowned at her and spoke up.

"No, you're right, we didn't. Nevertheless, you should consider yourself on thin ice with me after what you said about Boss and Futaba the other day, Makoto. The only reason I forgave you is because you were so sincere in your apology once you saw the truth for yourself. That, and Futaba didn't want me holding a grudge on you, so you should seriously be counting yourself fortunate that Taba's so kindhearted and forgiving." Kusa said bluntly, his voice both slightly frosty and dry but yet blunt and civil. Makoto nodded her understanding while she spoke up, realizing that she shouldn't expect too much of a friendly reception from Kusa for a while as she spoke.

"I understand, Kusa. Let's get to Alibaba's case." Makoto said as Morgana nodded and spoke up.

"Well then, I'll start. It looks like Futaba was listening in on Leblanc." Morgana said as Ann frowned and spoke up.

"But, why would she want to listen in on the cafe?" Ann asked Morgana, who did the feline equivalent of a shrug and spoke up. *2*

"I have no idea." Morgana said as Ryuji spoke up sagely, Kusa frowning as he heard what Ryuji had to say.

"It's just like Boss said. She's a tough nut to crack." Ryuji said as Kusa spoke up with a huff.

"I wouldn't go so far as to call her a tough nut, Ryuji. I'd say moreso that, if anything, she's a delicate but elegant enigma wrapped in a petite, fun-sized package. But I'll give you that she can be mysterious at times." Kusa said in a concessional tone to Ryuji. Makoto spoke up once more.

"In any case, her hacking skills will be absolutely necessary if we wish to stand up to Medjed. Going by what she has told us, we may even be able to identify who they are." Makoto said as Yusuke nodded and spoke up.

"We'll have to trust in her skills for now, then." Yusuke said as Ann spoke up with a look of confusion.

"True. But anyways, we found out that Futaba does in fact have a Palace, surprisingly. But, can someone who isn't evil even have one?" Ann asked as Morgana spoke up.

"That doesn't matter. A Palace is the materialization of distorted cognitions brought about by strong desires...That's all. It just so happens that a lot of warped people turn out evil." Morgana said as Makoto winced and spoke up.

"She's so young, though. The pain she's gone through must be the cause of her distortion." Makoto said as Ann spoke up.

"Maybe that has something to do with why she calls herself Alibaba." Ann said as Kusa chuckled and spoke up.

"Nah, she calls herself that just as a random online handle. No really mystical explanation for it past that, at least none that I could get out of Taba." Kusa said in amusement. Morgana nodded and spoke up.

"We'll take your word for it on that, Kusa. More to the point, according to the chief's story, Futaba has auditory and visual hallucinations, right?" Morgana asked as Kusa nodded, a concerned expression on his face as he frowned while speaking up.

"Unfortunately, this is indeed the case. I actually witnessed her having one while I was staying over there this past week. She fell asleep watching TV with me, and then I heard her muttering in her sleep about how she didn't do it and asking someone to save her. I got her to admit later that she was having a nightmare about the day she lost her mother. I think she blames herself because that's the only way her mind can cope and process things because it happened so suddenly, though I strongly disagree.

I think she was the victim of a mental shutdown, since from what Futaba herself said to me, it sounds like her mother collapsed after having a cognitive collapse, possibly as the result of someone destroying her cognitive self? To be honest, I wouldn't even be surprised if that son of a bitch who we've taken to calling Black Mask that both Kaneshiro AND Madarame have mentioned so far was somehow the one to do it.

Actually, now that I think about it more, I wonder if Black Mask could also somehow be connected to Morgana's missing memories as well, possibly making it so he's heard Morgana speak and enabling him to understand Morgana outside of the Metaverse?

If so, not only does that potentially narrow our suspect pool down a lot, considering what Ryuji, Ann, Ren, Morgana and myself went through the day of that social studies trip with a certain pancake-loving douche who calls himself a detective, but it also means that that's just more reason for me to want to find that scumbag and test my skills against them." Kusa said angrily. Morgana nodded as he kept speaking, giving Kusa an approving smile as he spoke, ignoring Ryuji chuckling at Kusa's not-so subtle dig at Akechi while he spoke.

"I agree, Kusa. There's even a chance that those are even related to some important memories that she's holding. It's hard to explain, but those memories may have been warped by the distortions." Morgana said as the others nodded while Ryuji spoke up.

"Right. So basically, we just gotta steal her Treasure, right?" Ryuji asked. Morgana nodded as he spoke up in a sage tone.

"Well, yeah. But naturally, we also have to make absolutely sure this change of heart goes smoothly. Because if not, it won't just be Futaba who suffers for it. Both Boss and Kusa, who are both rather close to Futaba, would also likely suffer if something were to have happened to her as a result of this." Morgana said as Kusa nodded warily before sighing as he spoke up.

"Agreed. I know it's necessary, but I must insist we take all due precautions to give us the best possible chance of making sure Taba's heart is safely changed. No one should have to suffer through what she has. As such, I apologize for snapping at both Makoto and Ryuji as harshly as I was the last couple of days. But hopefully now they realize that I pull no punches when it comes to protecting those I care about and/or have feelings for. And if I hear one word out of either Ren OR Ryuji to try and tease me about that, they won't like what I have to say afterwards! This is not a joking matter." Kusa said flatly. Ann smiled as she spoke up, seeing Kusa's worry and wanting to reassure him while she spoke.

"Chill, Kusa. We're taking this very seriously. We know you have a crush on Futaba, and want her to pull through this safely so you can finally confess your feelings to her when the time is right. So don't worry. That said, so do we all agree about taking on Futaba's Palace?" Ann said as Makoto frowned and spoke up, before Kusa could do more than sputter indignantly to Ann's comment about him having a crush on Futaba, which Makoto smiled at seeing the embarrassed look on Kusa's face before giggling in amusement as she spoke.

"Sorry for laughing at you like that Kusa-kun, but you have to admit that the idea of you being this worked up over your crush is kind of adorable. That said, she's ASKED us to do so. I don't think that part is an issue." Makoto said as Kusa spoke up, giving Makoto a deadpan look as he spoke.

"I don't mind you finding amusement at my expense a bit, Makoto. But to clarify what Ann asked, I think she moreso means do we have a unanimous decision on if WE want to do this or not? Granted, it's kind of obvious we have to, but we do still have to observe the formalities for the sake of doing things by the book. Surely you, of all people, can understand that, given your sister's job?" Kusa said bluntly as Makoto nodded, conceding that Kusa had a point as she spoke up.

"Fair enough. That said, if we heal Futaba's heart, it will not only help Boss, and to a point Kusa, but she can then assist us with Medjed. So I agree." Makoto said as Yusuke nodded and spoke up.

"I agree." Yusuke said as Kusa nodded and spoke up.

"Even though I have my misgivings about this, I agree. After all, I can't put my own fears and concerns over what's best for Taba. I realize that." Kusa said as Ryuji spoke up.

"I agree. Also, I've been wonderin' about how Boss said 'a lot happened' after Futaba's mom died too." Ryuji said as Morgana spoke up.

"Hold on a second. Our investigation of her Palace may not go like anything we've done up to this point." Morgana said as Ryuji blinked and spoke up.

"Why's that?" Ryuji asked as Kusa frowned and spoke up in a deadpan tone, making Ryuji and Ren chuckle at what he said next.

"Gee Ryuji, I have no idea. Oh wait, yes I do! Incidentally was your question about any reasons she might have, other than the fact she literally is inviting us into her Palace to change her heart, whereas we basically invited ourselves into the Palaces of Kaneshiro, Madarame, and even that asshat Kamoshida?" Kusa deadpanned as Morgana nodded and spoke up.

"Exactly, Kusa! This is an unusual situation. Also, having an individual ask you to steal their heart is an extremely irregular case. There's no telling what the Palace ruler's disposition will be like, or the distortion that'll be there. We may run into some unforeseen situations. Do you still want to go in?" Morgana asked Ren, who nodded as he spoke up.

"Naturally. Not only is she a close friend of Kusa's, and thus as good as one of us by extension, she's practically a little sister of sorts to me because of how close she is to Kusa, so of course I want to do this! So yeah, let's do it." Ren said as Kusa nodded his agreement as he spoke up while giving Ren a grateful fist-bump while he spoke.

"Well said, Ren! This isn't something we WANT to do, it's something we NEED to do. Not just for the sake of the Phantom Thieves' future, but because an innocent young lady, one who I honestly care for a great deal, even if I'm waiting for her to be in a better mental state before confessing my feelings to her, is suffering and trapped in her past. And only we have the power to do something about it. And what sort of friend, at the very least, would I be to her if I didn't do all in my power to give her the best possible shot at ending that suffering and misery!?

Yes, it might be risky, but doing nothing is just as risky, both because Medjed would possibly win and because who knows how long it would take for Taba to deteriorate if we did nothing. I know I've been an asshole to you guys lately, and I apologize for it, but hopefully you can see your way to still helping change Futaba's heart despite that?" Kusa said worriedly. Morgana nodded understandingly, as did the others when they heard Kusa's genuine feelings about the situation. Morgana smiled at Kusa's admission and spoke up.

"Was that so hard, Kusa? I had a feeling that was how you felt, though. That said, it's up to Ren, since he's our leader. But since I feel like he'd agree with it, I'm all right with helping your crush. Let's just make sure we're cautious." Morgana said as Ryuji nodded and spoke up.

"Well, let's get crackin' on those keywords, huh?" Ryuji said as the others nodded their agreement and Makoto nodded and spoke up.

"Thanks to Kusa, the ones we have at the moment are 'Futaba Sakura' and 'Sojiro Sakura's house'." Makoto said as Ryuji nodded and spoke up.

"Okay, so we have the 'who' and the 'where', so all that's left is the 'what', right?" Ryuji said as Yusuke nodded and spoke up.

"Let us try going to their house first." Yusuke said as Ann nodded and spoke up.

"Boss is busy running the cafe, isn't he? We should make sure he doesn't suspect anything." Ann said as the others, bar Ren, Kusa, and Morgana went downstairs as Morgana spoke up.

"Important memories, huh? I'll be able to remember everything if I turn back into a human, right?" Morgana said to Ren who shrugged and spoke up.

"I'd hope so. That's the theory we've been going off to this point, at any rate." Ren said. Morgana nodded and spoke up.

"That has to be the case. I...definitely want this mission to succeed. If we can retrieve Futaba's memories, then I'd bet we can get mine back, too..." Morgana said as Kusa nodded and spoke up.

"I agree, but for now, let's focus on making sure this Palace goes off without a hitch, yeah? After that, we can worry about your memories more intensely, Morgana-sensei." Kusa said flatly. Morgana nodded and spoke up.

"Fair point. In any case, it's not every day you stumble upon a hacker like her around. You really do have a gift, don't you?" Morgana asked Ren who shook his head in the negative and spoke up.

"While I do have a gift, I can't say that I did much this time. As much as I want to take credit here for finding our current target, this one's all on Kusa. He's the one who befriended her, after all. So if anything, he's the one who gets credit for bringing her to our attention. That said though, who knows?" Ren said sagely. Morgana nodded and spoke up.

"Regardless, you sure live up to my expectations." Morgana said as Ren nodded, feeling a firm resolve from the not-cat, as the 'Magician' card appeared in his mind's eye, the 'V' becoming a 'VI' to signify that his Magician Confidant link with Morgana had reached Rank 6. And as a result of the rank up, Morgana had enabled Ren to awaken to the understanding of how to craft Ace Tools, making him able to craft just about any infiltration tool he could think of, within reason. Afterwards, Morgana spoke up with a frown.

"Hey, they went on without us. Let's hurry and catch up to them!" Morgana said as Ren nodded, following after the others with Kusa and Morgana in tow...

(Outside of the Sakura household, with Ann, Morgana, Ren, Kusa, Makoto, Ryuji, and Yusuke)

"Now, the last keyword..." Makoto said as Ryuji spoke up.

"She's a shut-in, so we just gotta figure out 'what' she thinks her house is. If she can't get out, maybe a prison?" Ryuji suggested. Ren's MetaNav turned him down.

"Conditions have not been met." Ren's phone said as Makoto spoke up.

"Perhaps a labyrinth with an unknown exit?" Makoto suggested, with the same results as Ryuji's suggestion. Ann then spoke up.

"Hmm, maybe an oasis?" Ann suggested. She also was rebuffed. Yusuke then spoke up, his suggestion making Ren, Morgana and Kusa all go wide-eyed.

"Nothing so far. Hm, in that case, how about hell?" Yusuke suggested. Once more, the MetaNav turned him away, to the relief of Morgana, Ren, and Kusa. Ann sighed as she spoke up in frustration.

"Ugh, we don't have nearly enough clues." Ann said as Yusuke frowned and spoke up.

"If only we could ask her directly." Yusuke said as Kusa blinked, an idea coming to him while he warily spoke up.

"I dunno about directly on such short notice, but doesn't Ren still have some form of contact with Alibaba? Failing that, I can try to contact Taba through private chat and see if she answers." Kusa said as Ryuji nodded and spoke up.

"Actually, we can. C'mon, let's hop the fence and go see Futaba." Ryuji said. Makoto frowned and spoke up.

"But what will we say to get in?" Makoto said before Kusa spoke up, a frown of his own on his face as he gave a dry chuckle to Ryuji's idea while he spoke.

"More to the point, do you honestly think Boss is gonna make the mistake of leaving his door AND gate unlocked again?" Kusa said with a laugh. Ryuji shrugged and spoke up.

"Whaddya mean? We're sneakin' in." Ryuji said as Kusa's jaw dropped and he spoke up.

"What!? And how do you propose we sneak in!? Sure, we could likely hop the fence fairly easily if we leap from that planter behind Ann to the top of the gate and then over, but even then the door's prolly gonna be locked. So unless Morgana can pick a lock with only his paws, I don't think we're getting farther than over the fence." Kusa said as Ren spoke up, remembering a certain detail Kusa himself had told him, which had the result of Ren giving Kusa an amused smirk while he spoke.

"Don't be so sure about that, Kusa. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but didn't you yourself once mention to me how you have a back way you take that gets you right to Futaba's room?" Ren asked Kusa, who blinked at Ren bringing his direct entry point into Futaba's room up, but nodded approvingly before he spoke up in a wary tone.

"Yeah, but Sojiro had that way sealed off once he figured out I was using it, even though Taba unsealed it afterwards. Even so, I don't want to risk tipping Boss off about that path having been unsealed at all if it can be avoided." Kusa said as Makoto huffed at Ryuji before she spoke up.

"You HAVE to be joking! Like Kusa-kun just said, won't the door be locked for sure this time!?" Makoto asked as Morgana spoke up confidently, ignoring the annoyed glare Kusa gave him for what he said next while he spoke.

"I'll take care of that. Oh, and I figured out where Futaba's room was when I snuck in last night." Morgana said before Kusa frowned and spoke up, fixing the now-wincing not-cat with a pointed glare while he spoke.

"Oh yeah, speaking of which, that reminds me. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!? You nearly scared her half-to-death with that stunt, Morgana! At least warn me when you do that, so I can be able to ease her into it so she isn't so scared when you dart out from between her freaking legs like you did!" Kusa rebuked the wincing Morgana firmly but gently. Morgana winced and nodded as Makoto spoke up, having a thought occur to her that she felt the need to bring up while she spoke.

"What if we run into Boss, though? There's no way we'll be able to avoid his questions." Makoto said. Kusa winced and spoke up.

"I can't believe I'm about to say this, but that's where Ryuji comes in. He and Yusuke, and maybe you as well Makoto, can go up and play at being customers for long enough to distract Sojiro so that Ren, Morgana, myself, and maybe Ann can go in and speak to Futaba. I might not agree with this part, but if we're doing it, we're doing it right. And Futaba isn't QUITE up to huge crowds just yet.

I think though, she could potentially handle 2 or 3 people at once with her, not counting Morgana-sensei since with all apologies to him, his current form isn't necessarily human and thus wouldn't count as such with her." Kusa said sagely, ignoring the frown Morgana gave him for basically referencing his current form of a cat. Ann nodded as she spoke up with a smile, liking Kusa's idea.

"Yeah, he's at work now, so I think we should be fine. Still, Kusa's idea has some merit to it." Ann said. Ryuji smirked as he looked at Makoto and spoke up.

"Ohh, gettin' cold feet, Makoto? Don't worry, it'll be nothin'. We've gone through loads of shit like this already." Ryuji said as Kusa huffed before speaking up in a dry tone.

"Yeah, because helping an innocent young lady to ease her suffering is totally the same as making some warped-ass scumbags realize the truth of their effed-up actions, Ryuji." Kusa deadpanned, clearly offended by Ryuji comparing what the group was doing for Futaba to what they'd already done to the likes of Kaneshiro, Madarame and even Kamoshida. Makoto sighed as she spoke up with a nod, reluctantly conceding that Ryuji was probably right.

"Well, this is our only choice, right? I suppose Futaba did get in contact with Ren-kun, plus she has regular contact with Kusa-kun as well, so between those two we have at least some form of a line of contact with her. Perhaps she'll at least be willing to communicate with one of them?" Makoto suggested. Both Ren and Kusa reluctantly nodded. Makoto spoke up once more.

"Very well. Let's do this." Makoto said as the group went inside...

(In the hallway of the Sakura house with Ren, Kusa, Ryuji, Makoto, Yusuke, Morgana, and Ann)

"This is Futaba's room." Morgana said to the others as Makoto knocked on the bedroom door, which had a lot of yellow 'CAUTION' tape all over it, and spoke up.

"Futaba-chan? You're in there, right?" Makoto said as Kusa discreetly sent Futaba a private chat on his phone.

"OI! Sorry for the late warning, but you've got company Taba! Apparently the others ran into a bit of a snag while getting ready to change your heart. We have the 'who' which is you, and the 'where' which is you and Sojiro's house, but we don't have the 'what' or the distortion that you have of this house. For example, Junya Kaneshiro saw all of Shibuya as his bank, while Ichiryusai Madarame saw his shack/atelier as a museum, and Suguru Kamoshida saw Shujin Academy as his own castle." Kusa sent to Futaba. Morgana then spoke up.

"There's no answer..." Morgana said as Makoto knocked once more and spoke up.

"Futaba-chan? Are you there? I'm sorry for being startled and screaming yesterday. It was so dark that I got scared." Makoto said, only to get no reaction, though Kusa's phone did buzz with a private chat that he discreetly checked.

"Fair enough. Let me get woke up a bit since I was technically still asleep when that knocking woke me up. Has anyone ever told your friend Makoto that her voice is loud and annoying?" Futaba sent, making Kusa have to stifle a laugh at what Futaba had said about Makoto before sending a response.

"Sorry about Makoto. She means well, but for all that she's a good student council president, her people skills do unfortunately leave much to be desired." Kusa sent as Yusuke spoke up with a slight frown while he spoke.

"No reaction whatsoever." Yusuke said as Ryuji spoke up with a huff.

"Man, this is gonna be hard." Ryuji said, ignoring the wince that Kusa and Makoto exchanged at his word choice. Makoto then had an idea and knocked once more.

"You're listening, right Alibaba?" Makoto sent as Kusa's phone buzzed once more, prompting him to discreetly open the private chat to read the response Futaba had sent.

"She better stop knocking before I decide to call the deal off for real! That said, tell Ren to get his phone ready for a message from Alibaba." Futaba sent right as Ren's phone went off and he checked it as Makoto spoke up.

"Is it Alibaba?" Makoto asked Ren, who looked and nodded as he read the private chat with Alibaba.

"Why are you here, Ren Amamiya?" Alibaba sent as Morgana spoke up with a frown.

"Why's she only reacting to that name?" Morgana asked as Kusa spoke up with a shrug.

"No clue. If I had to guess though? I'd say maybe she views it as her real-life code name, sort of like the ones we have inside you-know-where." Kusa said to Morgana, who nodded as Makoto spoke up once more.

"You're Futaba Sakura, aren't you?" Makoto asked as Yusuke spoke up.

"She's not responding again." Yusuke said as Ann frowned and spoke up.

"Does she not like us saying her name?" Ann guessed as Kusa shook his head, chuckling as he spoke up.

"Maybe it's because it's Makoto?" Kusa suggested jokingly before he tried speaking up, ignoring the annoyed glare Makoto shot him as he spoke.

"Hey, Taba? If you can hear me, Ren here has some questions for you. You can just answer through chat if you'd rather do that. We just need to know this so we can go about changing your heart for you." Kusa said as gently as he could manage to sound. Morgana huffed and spoke up.

"We don't have time to dally around. We need her keyword before dealing with Alibaba's identity." Morgana said as Kusa huffed and spoke up.

"Learn some tact, Morgana! And you wonder why the ladies never show interest in you. Well, to be fair to you, they do at least show more interest in you than in Ryuji, but that's both beside the point and highly irrelevant to my point." Kusa said as Makoto spoke up once more, ignoring the indignant huffs from Morgana and Ryuji at Kusa's remark.

"We want to learn more about you. If we don't do so, we can't steal your heart. The reason why we came here is because we need the keyword to enter your Palace. That's why we want to talk to Futaba Sakura herself, and NOT Alibaba. You don't have to show yourself. Just answer some questions for us. Chat messages are fine." Makoto said as Ren's phone went off to signal a response in Ren's chat.

"OK." Alibaba sent as Makoto nodded and spoke up.

"All right then...Our leader, the guy who lives in Leblanc's attic, and the brother of the guy you hang out with a lot, wants to speak with you." Makoto said, ignoring the glare Kusa shot her for dragging him into her explanation as she spoke to Ren.

"We're counting on you, Ren-kun. Try and get a keyword out of her." Makoto said as Kusa spoke up.

"I'm on standby as well if you need to add me into the chat to make it a group chat since I can probably coax some answers out of her in a pinch." Kusa said as Ren nodded. But before he could reply, his phone went off once more. making him see it was a response from Alibaba. *3*

"What do you want to hear?" Alibaba sent as Ren sent a response.

"What is this house to you? I already know what this house looks like to you, and likely how it is living in here for you., but what is this place to you?" Ren sent. Alibaba sent a response, sounding confused.

"A house is a house." Alibaba sent as Makoto spoke up.

"Looks like you should ask something different." Makoto said as Ren nodded. Once more, Alibaba sent a response.

"What do you want to hear?" Alibaba sent. Ren sent another response.

"How is living in this house?" Ren sent. Alibaba sent a response at that point.

"It's painful..." Alibaba sent as Ren sent a response.

"Do you hate it?" Ren sent. Alibaba sent a response.

"I don't." Alibaba sent before re-sending her last response.

"It's painful." Alibaba sent as Ren sent a response.

"Why is that, if I'm allowed to ask?" Ren sent as Alibaba sent back a simple response.

"I don't know." Alibaba sent before once more resending her previous response.

"It's painful." Alibaba sent as Ren rolled his eyes and went with the last available option.

"Why not go out?" Ren sent as Alibaba sent a response.

"I can't leave this place. I'm going to die here." Alibaba sent as both Ann and Kusa gasped, the former speaking up in shock.

"Wha...Die?" Ann asked. Alibaba sent another response.

"Is this going to continue?" Alibaba sent as Ren sent another response.

"If you think you're going to die here, you should leave." Ren sent as Alibaba sent another response.

"That's impossible. This place is my tomb." Alibaba sent as Kusa frowned at this, sending a private chat of his own.

"You are most certainly NOT going to die in this house, and I will be damned if I let it be your effing tomb, Taba! Anything that tries to make it your tomb has to go through me, and probably even Sojiro, first!" Kusa sent vehemently, unsurprisingly being stunned by what Futaba had just sent as Ren put his phone down while Makoto spoke up.

"Tomb?" Makoto asked as Ryuji spoke up.

"You think that's it?" Ryuji asked. Morgana spoke up.

"Try entering 'tomb'." Morgana said as Kusa winced and spoke up.

"But not here! Who's to say the Nav wouldn't accidentally drag Taba in with us if we try it here and it does work?" Kusa pointed out. Unfortunately, Ryuji had already put in 'tomb', so his warning came far too late to stop Ryuji.

"Input accepted. Searching for route to destination." Ren's phone said as Morgana spoke up happily.

"We got it!" Morgana said as Ren's phone went off once more to signify a reply at the same that Kusa's did.

"Was that enough?" Alibaba sent to Ren as Makoto spoke up.

"Yes, it was plenty. You haven't forgotten your promise of helping us if we complete your request, right?" Makoto said. Alibaba replied once more to Ren.

"I haven't. We made a deal." Alibaba sent as Kusa checked his private chat.

"I'll do my best, Kusa. But I make no promises. After all, the voices keep telling me I'm a murderer and I should die for what I did. And it honestly gets hard to hear after a while." Futaba sent as Kusa winced and sent a response.

"Fair point. Just hang in there as long as you can. We got what we needed, so we're finally on our way to try and change your heart. Just hold on tight and wait for us to return, hopefully in success. But trust when I say we will do our very best to change your heart, Taba. You have my word on that!" Kusa sent as he heard Ryuji speak up.

"Well then, let's hurry up and go. Aaaand clicky." Ryuji said as he hit the button on Ren's phone to start the navigation. Morgana winced as he spoke up.

"Ryuji, you idiot! Don't activate it HERE!" Morgana said wide-eyed as the others gaped at what Ryuji did before they were all transported to the Metaverse...

(In a desert in the Metaverse with Joker, Skull, Mona, Draconis, Fox, Queen, and Panther)

"It's a desert." Fox said as Skull spoke up with a frown.

"Yeah, we see that." Skull said in annoyance. He then blinked as he spoke up.

"Wait, what the-? Our clothes are still the same?" Skull said as Draconis frowned and spoke up.

"Interesting. I don't think we've been perceived as threats just yet, if I had to venture a guess." Draconis said sagely. Mona nodded and spoke up.

"Good guess, Draconis. After all, Futaba herself is asking us to steal her heart. It'd be rather odd, therefore, if she saw us as a threat." Mona said as he kept speaking.

"If she doesn't see us as an enemy, then your clothes don't change. That's how it works. But, more importantly, I, and even Draconis, told you to be cautious, Skull! Why'd you activate it like that!?" Mona asked as Draconis huffed and spoke up, frowning before he spoke.

"So help me, if Skull's little stunt ends up somehow dragging the real Taba in here with us, I reserve the right to kick his ass for it when we get back to the real world." Draconis deadpanned, glaring at Skull as he spoke, making Skull wince before he spoke up.

"Is that why we ended up in a desert? Where's the tomb? It's so damn hot here." Skull said as Panther spoke up.

"Even though we entered right in front of her room, we didn't end up inside it." Panther said as Queen frowned and spoke up.

"She must really want to keep people away from her. I suppose Draconis-kun was just the lucky exception to the rule at this point." Queen said as Panther nodded and spoke up.

"I see." Panther said as Queen looked around before speaking up.

"What a bleak feeling this place has...It's the complete opposite of Kaneshiro's bank." Queen said as Skull spoke up with a moan.

"Let's hurry up and get goin'. Where's the Palace?" Skull asked as Mona looked around and frowned as he spoke up.

"Is it...that way?" Mona said, looking to the north of the group where the tip of something shiny was just visible from where the group was standing as Skull spoke up.

"Oh yeah, there's somethin' shiny." Skull said as Queen spoke up.

"Ah, a tomb in the desert...I see. Anyway, let's make our way there." Queen said as Panther gaped and spoke up.

"Isn't that kinda far?" Panther said as Skull frowned and spoke up.

"Are we gonna walk!?" Skull asked as Draconis stroked his chin before smirking as he gave Mona an unreadable look while he spoke.

"If we're walking on foot, perhaps. However, if we were to drive? Not necessarily. You hear that, Mona-sensei? It looks like your time to shine!" Draconis said with a smirk. Mona frowned as he glared at Skull before speaking, smiling at Draconis' suggestion while he spoke.

"Of course not! My paws will get burned! And good idea, Draconis! Mona! TRANSFOOOOORMMMM!" Mona said as he shifted into his Mona-bus form as Fox spoke up eagerly.

"I've been waiting for this." Fox said as Draconis spoke up.

"I'm sure you have. Bear in mind, it might be a bit of a tight fit, given there's seven of us, six of us if we don't count Mona since he's currently our ride, and I'm fairly sure the Mona-bus was designed to seat at most five." Draconis said. Mona nodded and spoke up.

"Technically, it was made with four people in mind, but your guess is close enough, Draconis. That said, I'll make sure to put the AC on full blast!" Mona said as Panther gave Mona a closed-eye smile as she spoke up happily.

"You're so considerate!" Panther said as Draconis smirked and nodded before speaking up.

"Isn't he, though? Maybe if some of us were more like him, they'd have better luck with the ladies, eh Skull?" Draconis said, smirking as he playfully teased Skull who huffed and spoke up in annoyance.

"Shuddup, Draconis!" Skull huffed as Mona chuckled nervously and spoke up.

"Hehe, r-right." Mona said as Skull pumped a fist happily and spoke up.

"All right, let's roll!" Skull said as Draconis smirked, winking slyly at Skull as he spoke.

"Considering Queen's probably gonna call dibs on driving, I suggest we let Skull have the shotgun seat so he can sit up front with Queen. Meanwhile, myself, Joker, Fox, and Panther can squeeze into the back of the Mona-bus together." Draconis suggested. Panther smirked childishly at Draconis as she stuck her tongue out at him while she spoke up, ignoring the unimpressed frown on Draconis' face while she spoke.

"Good idea, but too late! I have dibs already!" Panther said as the group filed into the Mona-bus where Panther and Queen complained of the heat, the former fanning herself by lifting her top up slightly to fan herself as she tried to cool off, in time for the latter to speak up in a dry tone.

"So, how're the guys?" Queen asked Panther who blinked, then turned around and frowned as she saw Skull clearly ogling her cleavage through her shirt, making her glare at Skull and growl as she leaned back to beat up the blonde-haired thief, an action that unfortunately for the others had the consequence of causing Joker, Draconis, and Fox to be flung around the back of the Mona-bus as a result, with both Joker and Fox ending up face-first in the seats, while it was Draconis who ended up with the misfortune of landing face-first on the floorboards, where he spoke up in confusion and disdain.

"Oof, well then, I'm not sure what I did to deserve that, but whatever it was? My bad!" Draconis said in a muffled tone as he pulled himself back onto his seat with the help of Fox and Joker, while Skull was laid back on the other side, still dazed from being beaten up by Panther. After a bit, the bus pulled to a stop at the pyramid as the group filed out of the bus which turned back into Mona as Panther spoke up.

"Ugh, it's so hot..." Panther said with a frown. Skull turned to glare at Mona as he spoke up.

"The AC ain't workin' at all! What the hell was that lukewarm air about!?" Skull asked Mona as Draconis spoke up.

"In Mona's defense, I think it WAS working. However, because the air's so humid here, there was very little cooling effect to be gained from it, so it's not really Mona's fault that the air in a desert is so humid that turning on an A/C almost makes the heat WORSE instead of BETTER." Draconis said with a frown. Mona nodded gratefully to Draconis before he spoke up.

"See!? Draconis gets it! That was the best I could do, so quit your yapping!" Mona said as Skull huffed and frowned at Mona as he spoke up.

"For real, you are SO half-assed!" Skull said as Draconis glared at Skull before he spoke up in an annoyed tone.

"Half-assed or not, he's still been way more help overall than you have. Sure, you've got better offensive capability, but Mona has far better versatility, so shut it. All of us are vital to this team in our own way." Draconis firmly but bluntly rebuked Skull. Mona frowned at Skull and spoke up.

"What was that!? You wanna fight, punk!?" Mona said angrily as Draconis spoke up once more.

"Simmer down, Mona-sensei. As much as I would probably get a laugh out of seeing you destroy Skull, we need to focus on the bigger picture, which in this case is finding Taba's Treasure so we can help her heal from her pain and suffering. And if we do that, I recall that she agreed to help us take out Medjed. After Medjed is dealt with, if you still want to kick Skull's ass, not only will I not object, I'll even help if you want me to." Draconis said sagely. Panther frowned as she spoke up, fixing Draconis with a disapproving glare while she spoke.

"Draconis! Don't encourage them! And Mona and Skull? Geez, shut up! It's hot, so don't make me MORE irritated!" Panther said as Queen frowned and spoke up.

"To think, her Palace would be a pyramid." Queen said as Draconis nodded and spoke up.

"To be fair, Queen? There are only so many forms a tomb could take, and I, for one, would rather it be a pyramid than a freaking morgue!" Draconis huffed as Skull spoke up.

"Hey, a pyramid is a tomb, right?" Skull asked as Draconis nodded and spoke up, using his button-up top to fan himself as the heat made his dark-green muscle shirt both cling tightly to his skin and emphasize his developing six-pack abs as a result, but also look more black than dark green as he spoke.

"Correct. Along with a pyramid, tombs can be in the form of a morgue, a graveyard, or a catacomb that I know of. And trust me when I say the pyramid is DEFINITELY the best of those options by far, since at least a pyramid is one place that you can escape from, somewhat!" Draconis remarked sagely. Fox nodded his agreement before speaking up.

"Yes, it's a pharaoh's tomb." Fox said as Queen spoke up with a nod.

"That's how it's mostly known. There are a variety of theories on it. For instance, it's even said to be a device for reviving the dead." Queen said as Fox and Draconis both gave her shocked looks, the latter's eyes widening as the former spoke up.

"Reviving the dead, hm?" Fox said as Draconis spoke up in horror, a thought of his own occurring to him while he spoke.

"I sincerely and fervently pray to all that is good and holy that you're wrong on this one, Queen. Since if you're right, I just had a huge realization on something that Taba could do to hinder us getting her treasure if you're right. After all, correct me on this if I'm wrong Fox, but didn't the Egyptians believe in having a guard posted over the tombs of their dead?" Draconis asked as Fox nodded his agreement and spoke up.

"Correct. Often, the Egyptians had sphinxes posted at the entrances to most tombs as a gatekeeper. Why do you...oh. OH!" Yusuke said, his eyes widening as realization of what Draconis was getting at reached him, along with Joker, who spoke up.

"You think we could be dealing with a potential specter of Futaba's mother, possibly in the form of a sphinx, at the end of this?" Joker suggested as Draconis nodded his agreement and spoke up.

"Exactly. And worse, it might be that said specter ends up the actual Palace ruler instead of Taba! It would explain the hallucinations she's been having way too well if that's the case." Draconis said in horror. Fox nodded as he spoke up.

"That is a fair concern, Draconis. Still, it's beautiful nonetheless...It's perfectly conformed to the golden ratio..." Fox said as he used his hands to make a picture frame in front of him as Skull huffed and spoke up.

"Hey, guys, can we go in already? I'm gonna melt." Skull asked as the group started heading forwards and Skull spoke up once more.

"Aw, man...Ughhh...So freakin' hot...C'mon, let's get inside..." Skull said as Joker nodded, the team staring at the entrance to the towering pyramid that awaited them, knowing that their next Palace, was just beginning...

END OF CHAPTER

A/N: HOLY. FREAKING. CRAP! I just checked, and before this end-of-chapter A/N, this chapter broke the 30k word mark! And here I thought only chapter 12 was going to pull that off! But I guess it just happens that way sometimes. Either way, as you probably guessed from the ending of the chapter, we have reached the beginnings of the fourth Palace at last! Only time will tell exactly how, if at all, this Palace deviates from the way it plays out in canon Royal. But I will confirm that there WILL be at least SOME changes to it. So look forward to seeing what those are in the coming chapters!

That said, thanks to those who have read to this point of the chapter! I appreciate the support! Feel free to leave a review with your thoughts/opinions/feedback/constructive criticism about the story (no flamers, please! Flamers will be ignored and possibly deleted!) or PM me with it, I appreciate the support and feedback either way! And until next chapter, sithlorde1988 out!

NOTES

*1*- I know, I know, I already made a reference to Fire Emblem: Three Houses in this story, but I couldn't resist making another here! For anyone reading this who's played that game, am I the only one who thinks that Makoto gives off a ton of Bernadetta energy at this moment? Ironically, Bernadetta, while being unbelivably adorable, is also the closest thing Three Houses would probably have to a Futaba stand-in, IMO.

*2*- Seriously, I don't think cats are capable of shrugging in real life, so I figure we had to throw up an equivalent here for our boy Morgana, since as a not-cat, he has to have something akin to a shrug for this instance because he just does, that and Morgana, some moments aside, is one of the better characters in Persona, IMO. I respect the opinion of anyone who disagrees, though, since he does have moments that make him legitimately unenjoyable and straight up uncool.

*3*- For anyone who grew up in the 90's/early 00's, does anyone else remember one of those simulator type games where you can use your responses to basically craft your own experience playing through the game? That was what this bit with Ren and Alibaba reminded me of, big time! But it was also kind of neat, since I could've technically listed all the responses as I typed the chapter, but this chapter is already long enough that I figured it wasn't worth it.

*4*- For reference, depending on if one counts Futaba's shut-in phase as her being held back multiple years of school or not, Futaba could either be around a half-year younger than Kusa and just under a year younger than Sumire, or she could be about a month older than Sumire, but a year behind her in school, and by extension a half-year older than Kusa.

However, given the many mentions in canon Royal of her starting high school AFTER the end of Royal, I'm inclined to say she's canonically the youngest of the Phantom Thieves by a bit less than a year, being 15 to Sumire and Kusa's 16, and Ren, Ann, Yusuke, and Ryuji's 17, plus the probable 18's of Makoto and Haru, and possibly also Akechi since his age compared to the others isn't made that clear.

Granted, it's very subtly suggested in canon Royal that Akechi might in fact be around Makoto and Haru's age, making me personally list him as around 16 and a half, maybe 17, and thus older than most of the Thieves. If someone wants to actually try to figure that out, they can feel free to tell me in the reviews if Futaba is in fact the youngest Phantom Thief or not, and/or where exactly Akechi sits in terms of how old he is among the Phantom Thieves, and I'll credit them for the info in a future A/N.

CONFIDANT RANKS AS OF THE END OF CHAPTER 40

FOOL (Igor/Prison Master) - Rank 6

MAGICIAN (Morgana/Mona) - Rank 6

PRIESTESS (Makoto/Queen) - Rank 2

EMPEROR (Yusuke/Fox) - Rank 4

HIEROPHANT (Sojiro/Boss/Coffee Daddy) - Rank 4

LOVERS (Ann/Panther) - Rank 5

CHARIOT (Ryuji/Skull) - Rank 5

JUSTICE (Akechi) - Rank 5

STRENGTH (Caroline and Justine/Twin Wardens) - Rank 5

DEATH (Takemi/Back-Alley Doctor) - Rank 6

TEMPERANCE (Kawakami) - Rank 2

STAR (Hifumi) - Rank 2

MOON (Mishima) - Rank 4

SUN (Yoshida/Man Of The People) - Rank 5

JUDGMENT (Sae/Prosecutor) - Rank 2

WORLD (Kusa/Draconis) - Rank 4

FAITH (Kasumi/Yoshizawa) - Rank 3

COUNCILLOR (Maruki) - Rank 5

YET TO BE UNLOCKED: DEVIL, FORTUNE, HANGED MAN, HERMIT, EMPRESS, TOWER