Chapter 21: Everyone's Wrong But Me

Waiting for Ren to get home, Morgana paced a circle around Ren's room. Past the door. Up onto the desk, look out the window. Jump to the bookshelf, down to the floor, under the bed, past the closet, and back to the door. Around and around.

Finally, he heard the door open and Ren's voice announce, "I'm home" from downstairs. It was time. He slipped under the desk and waited for Ren to come upstairs.

Ren's footsteps were slow and dragging. Morgana winced, but he had to hope this would all be over soon. From his vantage point under the desk, Morgana watched Ren's shoes enter the room and his backpack hit the floor. The desk chair was in his way, but Morgana heard a thump as Ren flopped onto his futon for a nap. Still, he waited until Ren's breathing was regular before slipping out from under the desk.

Ren looked like he was out cold, so Morgana padded on silent paws over to his backpack, expertly rifling through it without disturbing anything. Not here. It's probably in his pocket, he thought.

That was slightly more difficult, but no problem for a master thief. Morgana crossed the room, avoiding the squeaky boards, and slunk up onto the bed next to Ren, never making a sound.

He delicately hooked Ren's pocket open with one claw, seeing his treasure at once: Ren's phone. Aha — paydirt!

Just then, Ren let loose a loud snore. Morgana retracted the claw and slithered back, out of the way, just in time for Ren's arm to miss him by a whisker. The arm settled over Ren's head. Morgana stayed still as a statue until Ren's breathing settled back down. Then he eased the phone out of Ren's pocket.

It would have been safer to take the phone away from the bed. But if Ren woke up, he'd have to explain himself. Better for Ren to think it accidentally fell out of his pocket.

Morgana knew the unlock pattern, having seen Ren make the motion dozens of times a day. He'd already planned exactly what he wanted to send. It had taken him a whole day to come up with a way to send for help without tipping off Ren — or even worse, Myojo.

After his talk with Jose about the silver threads, Morgana became convinced that Myojo was spying on everything that happened in this town — maybe even all of Japan. He didn't know how; finding that out was his next job. Meanwhile, though, he couldn't leave Ren unprotected while he investigated Myojo.

Before he sent out anything, he read through the most recent messages Ren had received from Akechi. An apology? Returning Shido's money? Helping Hifumi's dad? It made Morgana smile. Strange as it was, even as Ren had lost faith in Akechi, Morgana trusted him more than ever. Akechi would follow his own north star no matter what anybody else thought, and that was exactly what Ren needed right now.

And his last text: Thanks…but are you feeling okay? That meant Akechi had noticed that there was something wrong with Ren. In that case, Morgana felt sure, all he needed to do was stoke that spark into a flame.

And he knew just how to do it.

After school, Suzui asked Goro to walk her to the train.

"You're taking the train nowadays? I thought you had a car to pick you up," he said.

"I'm meeting Ann for some retail therapy," said Suzui, not sounding as happy as she usually did when she talked about Ann.

He was going to ask another question, but she was looking hard at a couple of vending machines in an alley. He tapped her shoulder to get her attention, and she jumped.

He withdrew his hand immediately. She apologized for being jumpy and rubbed at her forehead like she had a headache.

"What's this all about?" he asked.

"Don't laugh, but…I feel like someone's been watching me lately."

Goro didn't laugh. He had done plenty of following people when he worked for Shido, and it never ended well for the targets.

Suzui looked over at him. "Now I kind of wish you had laughed. You don't think I'm being paranoid?"

He shook his head. "Let's both keep an eye out, OK?"

She nodded.

To cheer her up, he joked, "Maybe it's someone who heard us at karaoke and wants revenge on behalf of music."

She tried and failed to stifle a smile. "Hey, if everyone feels ridiculous, then we're all in the same boat. You have to promise never to tell anyone this, but…"

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Oh no, none of that. What?"

"Swear not to tell."

Goro rolled his eyes and held up one hand. "I swear I will never tell a soul whatever it is you're about to divulge."

"OK. There's a reason I always ask Ann to go first. She's enthusiastic. And…no one feels self-conscious following her."

Goro choked back a laugh that would have been a bit too loud. "I see. She's not a hard act to follow."

Suzui shrugged in a you-said-it-not-me gesture. "If you tell her I said that, I'll deny it!"

Goro was about to assure her that he would never do such a thing, when he noticed a man approaching them. He was used to clocking strangers from his time following the Phantom Thieves, but Suzui was too caught up in their conversation to notice.

The man put himself directly in her path, and moved to block her when she tried to go around.

"What —" she began.

"Are you Shiho Suzui?" said the man.

She didn't respond, but took a cautious step backward.

"I know you are. I know what you did. You accused Suguru Kamoshida of rape, but you lied. You were his girlfriend."

Suzui was frozen to the spot, so Goro spoke up.

"I don't know where you got your information, but if you don't take it back to the rock you crawled out from, we're going to have a problem."

"Oh, white knight Akechi going to defend his girl? Forget it. She's a whore!"

"I don't know you. I've never done anything to you. Why…why would you say that?" Suzui managed to ask, her voice trembling.

"I heard it on Starlight Radio. They know aaaaaalllll about you," the man sneered. "They're gonna love it when I tell them how I confronted you!"

"That's gonna be hard with no teeth," Goro spat. "I'm giving you one last chance to get out of here."

The guy laughed, and like a spark to gasoline-soaked rags, set Goro's temper off. Forgetting that his freedom was very conditional at this particular moment, he wound up a major haymaker of the variety that usually pounded Shadows flat.

But before he could do anything else, Suzui beat him to the punch. Literally. She hit him with a lightning-fast jab straight in the mouth.

Astonished, the man held a hand up and spat something into it. "My tooth!" he wailed.

"Told you," said Goro. He grabbed the guy by the collar and yanked him close. "Now listen up. If any of the rest of you losers is thinking of 'confronting' a teenage girl on behalf of the man responsible for the worst days of her life…well, I was going to say you'll be going through me, but apparently you'll be going through both of us."

He tossed the man aside like trash. Suzui was still frozen, shocked by her own actions. Goro took her hand and tugged her along to get her feet moving.

"They'll probably say I'm your girlfriend now," she said miserably, after they had put a few blocks' distance between them and the creep.

"I don't care about that," Goro said. Then it occurred to him that she might care, and added, "Do you?"

"It's not that, it's just…I don't want people to get the wrong idea about me at all. Why do they have to make assumptions like that?"

"Narrative," said Goro, recalling something that Maeda-san had told him once, before a TV appearance. "Some people don't like the narrative that Kamoshida was a bad guy. So they have to make somebody else the bad guy. I really wonder how he found you, though. Even I didn't know about your involvement until Ann said you were from Shujin."

"Anybody who went to school there would know," Suzui said. Her voice was beginning to thicken the way it did before she started to cry. "Will this follow me forever?"

Goro wished he had something good to tell her, but he had too clear an idea of how people were to give her false hope. They stopped at a convenience store and got a bag of ice for her hand.

As they exited the shop, they were stopped by a pair of uniformed police officers.

"If it isn't the Detective Prince," said one of them. "Have we got a case for you. Seems somebody busted up this guy's face a few blocks back, just the way you came from. Don't suppose you saw anything?"

Goro ground his teeth. There were not a lot of good options here. He didn't want Suzui to have to go through being charged and having to defend herself, even if she was unlikely to face any penalty for it. On the other hand, he himself was on thin ice with the authorities, and he was a legal adult. The penalties were likely to be harsher for him.

"I…" Suzui began.

"I did it," Goro blurted out impulsively. "Look, that creep called my friend a whore. I wasn't going to let that go."

The cop looked skeptical. "Yeah? That's what he said, too, and a lot more colorful names to boot." He pointed at Suzui's hand. "Can't help noticing that it's her who's got the ice, though."

They were busted. Shiho and Goro looked at each other.

"He did call me…that," Suzui admitted. "And I was the one who punched him. Akechi-kun was just trying to protect me."

Stifling a laugh, the second cop said, "Looks like you didn't really need it. Try not to put us out of a job, okay, sweetheart?"

"No freebies next time," said the first cop disapprovingly.

With that, the cops walked off. Suzui heaved a huge sigh of relief and Goro patted her shoulder. They walked in silence the rest of the way to the train station.

Picking up her earlier train of thought, Suzui said as if she had made up her mind, "This can't follow me forever. There's got to be a way to end it. I can't believe I could just punch a guy and get away with it, though. Who knew?" she added thoughtfully.

Cautiously, Goro said, "I'm willing to help, although I'd rather not go to jail if I can avoid it."

"I didn't mean like that. I thought…" she paused. "Well, stay tuned. I'll let you know."

"Okay. Hey, I know I kidded you about it, but picking karaoke for team-building was…fun, actually."

"Pretty good, right? That's just the beginning. Wait till you see what kinds of embarrassing things I have planned! I mean, team-building things."

Goro smiled at her joke. "Sure, sure. Next I suppose you'll want us to dress up in our favorite mascot costumes and do a human pyramid in the middle of Shibuya."

"Ooh, good one. You're a natural at this," Suzui said.

"It's basically trauma-bonding, right?"

"Akechi-kun, don't be the cheap knockoff of the name-brand you."

"How long have you been holding onto that one?"

"Weeks," she admitted with a laugh.

Goro felt a stream of buzzes in his pocket. Happy to have cheered Suzui up, he pulled out his phone and checked the messages. It was Ren. He had sent five numbers, each one its own message, just…1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Frowning, Goro opened number 5. There was nothing more to the message, but Goro saw that it was a reply to something he'd sent weeks before. A song called "If My Friends Could See Me Now." He snorted at that.

He was still fighting with Ren, in theory anyway, but the enticement of a puzzle was more than he could resist. As he opened the messages, he found that all five messages consisted of a reply to one of his own messages — each one a song that he had sent to Ren.

He thought through all the ways the songs might be related. They were all jazz songs, but aside from that…they were written in different decades, by different composers, in different styles.

Then he slowed himself down and realized he might be over-complicating things. The song titles were all in English. Maybe they spelled out some kind of message?

Opening up a notepad, he placed them in order according to the numbers that had come with them:

1. Say it with Music
2. Things Ain't What They Used To Be
3. Stormy Weather
4. Black Orpheus
5. If My Friends Could See Me Now

For a moment he thought they were all American, but not quite…Black Orpheus originated in a Brazilian film, a retelling of a Greek myth. Like Izanagi in Japanese folklore, Orpheus had descended into the Underworld to save his lost love, braving a number of horrors only to lose her again at the last moment. Say it with music, he thought. Taken all together, this mini-mixtape seemed like nothing less than a cry for help.

He chose his reply song carefully, hoping it wasn't too obvious: Miles Davis's rendition of "Someday My Prince Will Come."

"Suzui," said Goro slowly, as her train pulled into the station. "How would you feel about taking a weekend trip to the country…right now?"

By the time he got to his usual train stop, Goro was completely convinced that the strange quintet of songs was a message and that Ren was in trouble. But "right now" turned out to take a lot longer than he had anticipated.

Suzui was on board for an unplanned trip, but Sae had to be convinced. And once Sae agreed to go on the trip, she insisted on telling Makoto and the Phantom Thieves first.

Sae found out from Makoto that the Phantom Thieves all happened to be meeting at Le Blanc that evening, which made for a convenient location to talk things over. That was why, instead of heading out to the countryside immediately and getting there with plenty of evening left, Goro was on his way to Yongen-Jaya. Meanwhile, he chewed over whether he could just tell them he didn't need their help, or whether he'd have to use some kind of finesse.

The sign on the coffee shop door was turned to "Closed," but the handle was unlocked. Takamaki, Togo, and Sae were already there. Goro and Suzui were the last to join the group. Besides the remains of the Phantom Thieves — Makoto, Ryuji, Yusuke, Haru, and Futaba —

Sojiro Sakura was also there, behind the counter as always. Goro eyed him and asked cautiously, "Are we all on the same page here?"

Futaba said, "I filled him in. About everything."

The word everything floated between Goro, Futaba, and Sojiro for a second before Ryuji broke in. Goro had never been so happy to hear him talk.

Ryuji said, "So, you heard from Ren. Why you and not any of us?"

"None of you have heard from him?" Goro asked.

Heads shook all around the room. Goro clenched his jaw, more convinced than ever that there was something terribly wrong. Ren wouldn't just ghost all these people, his best friends.

"Well, what did he say?" asked Haru anxiously.

"He sent me a list of song titles. They're in English, so I'll translate them."

He gave them the list, in order. When he was done, he paused and waited for them to demand to come along on the imminent rescue.

After a moment, Yusuke said, "Then…you believe that to be some kind of code?"

"Yes. These are all songs that I sent to Ren, sent back to me in a particular order. There's no reason I can think of that he would do that, besides sending a coded message."

"And he would only do that if he were under duress," Futaba completed his thought. "I see."

"But, tomorrow…" said Makoto.

"Do you all have plans or something?" Goro demanded. "Doesn't this worry any of you?"

"Of course it does," said Haru, frowning. "But Shido is holding a press conference tomorrow. I got this in the mail today, along with two VIP passes." She handed him a card.

"Is this…an engraved invitation?" Goro asked, turning it over in his hand. Even for Shido, that seemed ostentatious.

"I got one too," said Sae, taking it out of her purse. "With two VIP passes, just like yours."

Everyone started talking at once. Goro sat down at the bar, staring at the invitation. What did it mean? And how had Shido pulled this off? He couldn't think of any other criminal who was afforded an indulgence like this: a field trip out of prison so he could appear on TV. Was he really so beloved? Or worse, was he right when he said he was simply above the law?

Sojiro eventually quieted them all down with a loud whistle. "OK. We've got two things going on here. This press conference…and maybe a message from Ren."

"Akechi. Did it seem like Shido was up to something when you saw him?" Takamaki asked. All eyes turned to Goro, like a horror movie.

"You talked to Shido? Are you working for him again?" Haru demanded.

"No! Well…it's complicated," said Goro, and the Phantom Thieves all started chattering again.

"Shido kidnapped him," Sae clarified, which surprised them all into momentary blessed silence.

"So his rehabilitation is going great," said Ryuji, with a sarcastic thumbs-up.

Pointedly ignoring that, Goro continued, "He told me he's working with Dr. Maruki to find a cure for Mental Shutdown Syndrome. He was keeping it secret, but it doesn't surprise me that he'd go public eventually."

"He's the secret donor?" asked Makoto. She was so shocked she had to sit down.

"Maybe this is just a front for some new scheme," suggested Ryuji.

Exasperated, Goro said, "You all changed his heart. This is exactly what you wanted. Mission accomplished!"

"It still feels like a trap," said Sae. "I didn't think so when it was just me, but if Makoto got the same VIP passes…."

"The invitation was addressed to me," said Haru. "I thought nothing of it. I get all kinds of solicitations exactly like it."

"Plausible deniability. Is it possible some of Shido's associates might have a score to settle?" Sojiro suggested.

"Anything's possible," said Goro impatiently. "The important thing is that Ren is in trouble. It must be something so bad he can't even ask for help directly."

"I'd never leave my best bud hanging out to dry," said Ryuji, "but all we've got is your word and a bunch of songs."

Goro was about to argue with him and had to remind himself that he didn't actually want them tagging along.

"Excuse me," said Togo quietly. "But it seems to me we have quite enough people here to handle both situations. Five to see Amamiya-kun and make sure he's safe, and five to stay in Tokyo and monitor Shido-san's press conference."

"That…is a good point," said Makoto. "Either group might be able to use some reserve members, but we don't strictly need them."

"Better yet," said Sojiro, looking around the room, "How about you play it safe and just watch the press conference on TV?"

"Excellent idea," said Sae.

But Makoto was already shaking her head. "Granted this is more of a hunch than anything concrete, but I'm sure there's more to this than any of us know. I want to be there to see it for myself — and if anything goes wrong, we'll be there to stop it."

"Will you listen to yourself? You want to be there if things go wrong?" Sae objected.

"Who else is going to protect people if we don't?" Makoto fired back.

"Skipping class to see a politician talk is super lame, but I'm down to rumble anytime," said Ryuji, slamming his fist into his open palm for emphasis.

"All the more reason for us all to go together. We already have experience watching out for one another," said Yusuke evenly.

"When Inari's right, he's right," said Futaba.

Sojiro looked at Futaba with mingled annoyance and resignation. "Would it do any good to forbid you to go?"

"Nope."

Sojiro sighed and took a long drag from his cigarette. "Fine. Then I'll be your getaway driver in case things go south."

"Ann?" asked Makoto.

"I need her with me," said Goro immediately. If I end up leaving here down a person, I swear….

"It's nice to be wanted," said Takamaki with a wink at Makoto. "But I don't want to throw off the numbers, so I'll go with Akechi."

Makoto nodded. "Then we're agreed. Phantom Thieves, we'll check out the press conference tomorrow. Akechi —" her voice softened a bit from its brisk tone "—go bring Ren home."

"Consider it done," said Goro.

The matter seemed to be decided, so Goro went outside and waited for Sae. The others came out and headed straight for the train station, all except Makoto and Sae. Finally, Sae came out looking upset.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Makoto. She's so —" Sae bit off whatever she was going to say and started heading for the train stop.

"So…?" Goro prompted, following her. They walked in a silence for a moment while Sae collected herself.

"So much like him. Our father. He never backed down, either. Right up until the day he died," she said.

"He was a police officer," Goro recalled. "He was killed on the job?"

Sae nodded. "I've always been afraid Makoto would follow in his footsteps."

So that's why she and Makoto lived alone, thought Goro. "For what it's worth, I doubt this press conference is going to amount to much. We already know about the Mental Shutdown Ward, so what else could he say that would come as a surprise?"

They stopped at an intersection to get their bearings and a thought occurred to Goro. He took out his phone and checked the contact info Ren had sent him earlier. Yes — just as he thought, Dr. Takemi's clinic was just around the corner.

"Could we stop for just a few minutes? I want to pick up some medicine," he said to Sae.

She shrugged, still lost in thought, so they headed to Takemi's clinic.

Inside was a woman in a lab coat. Underneath, she was dressed like she was ready for a night out on the town, in a skimpy dress and studded leather collar.

Goro put on his polite face and asked, "Is Dr. Takemi in? My friend sent me…Ren Amamiya."

The woman raised her eyebrows. "Oh, did he? Another little guinea pig for me?"

Guinea pig? "He…uh, said you might have some special medicine?"

Dr. Takemi smiled mysteriously. "I might. As a matter of fact, I have a brand-new formulation just waiting for a test subject. How much time do you have?"

Goro sighed and looked at his watch. "How much time will it take?"

"It depends on how your body reacts. I'll need you to let me know how you feel at regular intervals afterward, as well."

Sae tapped Goro on the shoulder and said in his ear, "You aren't seriously considering this, are you?"

"Amamiya let you test out medicine on him?" Goro asked.

"He was an excellent guinea pig. I think he'd say I gave him fair value for his trouble. After all, he did keep coming back."

"Okay. Fine. Whatever." Over Sae's objections, Goro said, "If Ren did it, so can I. Just wait a few minutes and we'll catch the next train home, I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," said Takemi, opening the door to the back room.

Fifteen minutes later, Goro stumbled out of the back room clutching a little paper bag in his hand. Takemi ushered him out of the clinic, handing him over to Sae before locking the door behind them.

"That was hair-raising. Are you okay?" Sae asked, taking Goro's arm and leading him toward the train station.

"Fine be I medicine got. So worry don't much," said Goro, clutching the bag tighter. The sky and the ground seemed to have swapped places, but other than that, he felt fine.

On the train, Sae guided him to a seat, where he watched the ceiling revolve while she checked her phone.

When the ceiling and floor had stopped spinning and returned to their normal places, Goro looked down at his hands and the little paper bag that was his hard-won prize. Inside was an opaque medicine bottle. Instead of the standard pharmacy label, it said "DRINK ME" in an elaborate Gothic font. He opened the bottle and looked inside, wondering how many doses she had given him.

"One? That's it?!" he cried with outrage, dumping a tiny eyedropper out into his palm.

Just then, the train lurched and the dropper went flying out of his hand. But Goro's reflexes were almost superhumanly fast — he snatched it out of the air and carefully dropped it back into the bottle. Suddenly everything in the train looked crystal clear, realer than real.

"Feeling better?" asked Sae, looking at him sideways.

"Feeling…good, actually. Really good."

He looked up at the grip rings swinging from the ceiling and was seized with the impulse to do some pull-ups. So he did a set, while Sae picked up the medicine bottle and examined it.

"She could've put anything in this, you know," said Sae. "It could be straight methamphetamine."

Sitting back down, Goro argued, "There's not very much. I'm just going to hold onto it. Who knows when we might need it?"

"I hope it was worth it," said Sae, shaking her head.

"Me too."

As promised, Goro sent a text to Takemi letting her know that the immediate side effects had worn off and new ones had appeared. Then he turned his attention to the train schedule, checking to see if there was one he could still catch tonight.

"Takuto got one too," said Sae.

"What?" Goro asked absently, distracted by the train schedule.

"Dr. Maruki. He got one of these invitations to the press conference, too."

Goro shrugged. "If Shido's going public with the Mental Shutdown Ward, he might want the head physician to be there, maybe say a few words. Don't you think?"

"That would make sense, I suppose," Sae agreed reluctantly. "Maybe if he goes to the press conference, he can keep an eye on Makoto for me."

"I could go tonight. By myself. There's one more train out to Souzencho this evening."

Sae looked up from her phone and fixed him with one of her more piercing stares. "Goro-kun, I'm worried too. But think of it this way: if you're right and Ren is in trouble, going after him without any preparation is just reckless."

There was nothing he could say to that. She was right. But he didn't have to like it.