Author's Note: I'm back! It's been a tough year. 'Nuff said?

Goro woke up after three days unconscious, feeling thirsty but otherwise fine. Sae drilled him relentlessly about how he was feeling until he made it very clear he was okay.

"Good!" she said, smiling with relief. "Then you can get right to work on what you missed in school."

She set a stack of school work in front of him. He looked at it warily. It wasn't that he disliked studying particularly, but his mind was firmly on other things. "Sae, I have a ton of questions…."

"About literature or math?"

"Um…. Now that I think of it, I am still a little tired…" he said, hoping to go back to his room where he could call Ren.

"I'll make coffee," said Sae brightly.

Goro considered whether he had the mental acuity to talk Sae out of this, then sighed and got to work.

Later on, after dinner, they called up Ren to discuss what had happened in the Metaverse.

Before Goro could tell him he was on speaker phone, Ren demanded, "Where have you been? I've been texting all day!"

"I missed three days of school. I've been catching up," said Goro.

"Are you kidding? With everything that happened -"

"How's your schoolwork going, Ren-kun?" said Sae sweetly.

They could hear an audible gulp over the phone. "Good?" he said.

"I'm glad to hear you're keeping your grades up," said Sae, her tone indicating that there might be trouble in Ren's future if she found out otherwise.

Goro stifled a laugh. "Anyway...we haven't had a chance to talk about what happened in the Metaverse after we went in the Velvet Room. What happened? How did I get back home?"

"One moment," said Sae. "Velvet Room?"

Goro and Ren explained that the Velvet Room was some kind of mental space they could both enter, which was why they both appeared to be catatonic when Sae found them.

"I'd like to hear about your experience with it, Amamiya," said Goro. "What can I expect?"

"I don't think I had the typical experience, if there is such a thing," said Ren. "But it was a place where I could hone my Personas, mainly. Igor and Lavenza are there to help you learn more about using and growing your power."

"Sounds like a good deal to me," said Goro. Maybe I have a chance to be the hero after all, he thought, though he was careful not to get his hopes up. "So what happened while I was unconscious?"

As Ren, Sae and Morgana filled him in about the battle with Shido and Sae's newborn Persona, Goro's jaw dropped lower and lower.

"You have a Persona?" he asked Sae. "I didn't even know adults could have them."

"So it would seem," she said. "I felt something when I touched your hand. Like a shock of electricity."

"That didn't happen with anybody else that I know of," said Ren. "Their Personas appeared when they were pushed to the edge. Mine showed up when I saw Kamoshida's Shadow attack Ryuji. I felt like I had to stop him. Like there was no way I could stand by and do nothing."

"That's how I felt too, when I saw the Shadows attack Goro," said Sae.

"Still, if you had to touch me…" Goro hesitated. "That's how I caused psychotic breakdowns in the Metaverse before. I had to find a person's Shadow and touch it physically."

"You did say you were unchaining hearts," Morgana pointed out. "And that same power affected you differently than it did Shadows."

"It affected regular people differently still," said Goro, following Morgana's logic. Perhaps his unique ability didn't have to end in psychosis after all.

"Does that mean I'm not 'regular people'?" asked Sae with a smile. Goro smiled back at her.

Ren said, "When I became good friends with someone, it was like their strength was added to mine. Maybe it's the other way around for Goro: he makes them stronger."

"Who said you could call me by my first name?" said Goro casually.

Ren made some flustered burbling sounds.

Goro smiled with amused satisfaction; he was curious whether Ren would blurt out their relationship status or try to hide it from Sae, and it was a rare opportunity to put him on the spot. Check, he thought.

He chuckled and said, "I'm kidding, of course. We're friends, aren't we? Anyway, from my observations, some people simply have stronger wills than others. That may be the difference between a person who creates a Shadow, one who creates a Persona, and one who walks naked into Wild Duck Burger."

"We think the Shido we saw was a cognition, not a Shadow," put in Ren. "The real Shido may not even be aware of how other people conceive of him."

"That doesn't sound like the Masayoshi Shido I know," said Goro darkly. "More likely he does know and this is some kind of power play. I wonder if I can talk to him. Could you arrange a meeting, Sae?"

"If I had to," she said reluctantly. "Will that really help?"

"He might lie, of course, but I think we need to know whether he's part of all this or just a bystander."

"Or worse, something the public wished into existence," said Morgana.

The others contemplated this idea gloomily.

They chatted a bit longer, then Sae wished Ren a good night and went to watch the news. Morgana announced loudly that he had things to do in another room. Goro took the phone into his bedroom and set it on the headboard. He and Ren were alone now.

"How are you feeling?" said Ren. "Now that you have your memories back, I mean."

"They're still kind of filtering back in," said Goro. "I saw a video of Shido on TV today and as soon as I heard his voice, it was like I was back there…."

"Like a PTSD flashback?"

"Aha ha, nothing so dramatic. I was surprised at first, but then...I remembered that there were things I liked about working for him."

Ren was silent. Goro scowled, suddenly feeling judged.

"I mean, I always hated him," Goro went on. "But I had to respect him, too. He had the whole country eating out of his hand, including a whole network of elites. If you were part of his circle, you were elite too. I guess I got used to that feeling."

"I get it," said Ren. "When the Phantom Thieves were popular, I felt like I was on top of the world. Coming down from that was like falling off a cliff. I was lucky to have my friends. I think I would've given up without them."

"Your friends weren't ready to kill you when you stopped being useful to them. I had no choice but to keep up appearances. That was when I came into Le Blanc a lot, remember?"

"Yeah," said Ren. "Did kicking my ass at chess make you feel any better?"

"As a matter of fact, it did," said Goro, chuckling.

"Send me a selfie," said Ren. "I want one of you smiling."

Goro switched to selfie mode and took a picture of himself with a confident smirk. "Now you," he said as he sent it.

Ren sent a picture of himself running his hand through his hair, lips pouted, eyes smoldering.

"Is that supposed to impress me?" said Goro coolly, as he downloaded the photo and made it his phone's background.

"That's just my opening move. It's your turn now," said Ren.

"You're on. Just you wait."

Returning to school after his "illness," Goro waited at the gates for Suzui, who waved at him energetically as she approached. "Are you feeling better?" she asked. "Your homeroom teacher said you were sick."

He nodded. "Yes, thanks. I'm feeling better now."

"It so happens I am too," she said cheerfully. She had kept her backpack on today, he noticed. "See? Getting stronger every day."

"You won't need me at all soon, huh?"

"Don't think you're getting rid of me that easily. While you were gone, the other girls and I got talking and they...kind of talked me into something."

"Oh?" Goro looked at her. She was fairly glowing with happiness.

"I want to form a volleyball team here! What do you think? I was hoping you would help."

He narrowed his eyes. Suzui still tired easily, leaned on him going up stairs, and had even fainted twice during her classes. Bright as she was acting now, he didn't think she'd look so good by the end of the day.

"I don't know. What does your doctor say?"

"She says it's fine if I think it is. And I do. I'm ready. I mean, all those prayers and paper cranes must be good for something," she added with a laugh.

"That's not medicine, Suzui. Of course people are going to tell you you'll be fine. It's not like they want to think you'll be disabled for life."

She laughed again, but it sounded forced. "I'm not disabled. I'm getting better."

Perhaps it was because he'd reabsorbed the more cynical part of himself, but he found the denial of her situation intensely annoying. It was like she was playing a trick on herself.

"Sure, but be realistic," he said. You can't form, captain, and coach a sports team. You can't even walk up a flight of stairs by yourself. It's too much."

"Nobody else says it's too much. All my other friends believe in me," she said, now scowling. "Maybe you're just jealous!"

"What?" he said, surprised and angered at her accusation.

"Yeah. You're upset because I'm getting better and I won't need you around." She was angry now, convincing herself the more she talked.

"That was just a joke!" he huffed. "Anyway, it looks like you don't need me already. You're living in a dream world."

"Fine! Maybe I'll see you around!"

"Fine!"

They parted ways unhappily.

She doesn't need me anymore. Good. I don't need her either. Our deal is done. That's exactly how things should be, thought Goro firmly.

But he had trouble concentrating the rest of the day.

After school, Sae was waiting for him at the gates.

"Good news," she said, when they were clear of the crowd of students. "The prosecutor's office has dropped all charges against you. Let's go get that ankle bracelet off you and get my car back."

"I'm not going to miss dragging that thing around," said Goro. "Still, I haven't given up on testifying against Shido."

"I know, but let's take it one step at a time. I asked if they would consider a confession in lieu of physical evidence. They said no."

"Since when does the prosecutor's office not love a good confession? That's preposterous." An image flashed into his mind of saying the same thing to Ren, back in January. His stomach twisted.

"Exactly my thought. I can come to only one conclusion."

"Masayoshi Shido is pulling strings for me," said Goro slowly. There was one other possibility he could think of. It could be that Maruki wasn't as reformed as he said he was. But he had no evidence that Maruki was involved and Shido was the better lead, so he set aside the thought.

"It's the only reason I can think of that they'd go so far as to lose evidence and reject a confession," said Sae. "You know Shido better than I do. Do you have any idea why he might be doing this?"

Goro shook his head. "Last I heard, he was planning to kill me to tie up loose ends."

"That's not really a consideration anymore, though."

"Not for Shido himself," said Goro thoughtfully. "But he did have a lot of associates. People who, er, requested my services."

"People who might also consider you a loose end," said Sae.

"Right. I kept a list, but that would be on my missing laptop."

They were silent for a few moments, focused on making their way through the crowded subway platform. Sae stewed over the problem before her. Could there be a way to reveal Shido's Metaverse crimes without implicating Goro in them? If not, was she ethically bound to protect her client against even his own wishes? And what about the danger posed by these "associates"?

"Sae?" said Goro after a while. "When you get your car back, can we take a quick trip to the Imperial Palace? Maybe just as the sun is setting?"

Jarred out of her thoughts, she said distractedly, "I suppose. Why?"

"I want to take a selfie there," he said with a grin.

When Goro got to Crossroads for his usual shift, Lala greeted him with a pout. "You didn't come to work yesterday. Didn't you think of poor Lala-chan, washing dishes all by herself with these nails? That's a crime against fabulousness."

She fanned out her fingers so Goro could admire her manicure - they were painted like little watermelons, striped green on top and red with black dots on the bottom.

"I'm very sorry, Lala-san," he said, playing along. "Of course I wouldn't want any harm to befall your nails."

"I knew you'd feel that way, sweetie. That's why I left the dishes for you." Lala fluttered her eyelashes at him.

He turned and saw a huge pile of glasses in the sink. The fragile dishes suddenly reminded him of Suzui. His whole body slumped as the memory of the fight with her came rushing back.

Ichiko Ohya, sitting in her usual spot at the bar, said, "Lala-chan, look what you did! You broke his soul, poor thing."

"His soul was like that when he got here!" Lala protested.

"No it wasn't. You broke it, you bought it," Ohya argued.

Lala made a "zip it" gesture at her and led Goro away, out of Ohya's earshot. "Seriously, honey, what's the matter?"

Goro sighed. "It's nothing big. I'm sorry to be so melodramatic."

"I should hope so. You know drama makes me want to set my wig on fire," Lala deadpanned.

Goro had to press his lips together to hold in a smile. "Okay. I had a fight with Suzui."

"That sweet girl you carry the books for? What about?"

"She thinks she's going to start a volleyball team. She can't do that."

"It's not my idea of a good time, but to each her own," said Lala, shrugging.

"She's still too weak. She can't handle the amount of exertion she already has, much less running a sports team. And then she had the nerve to say I'm mad because she's getting better. That's ridiculous!"

Lala frowned, which disconcerted Goro. His case was logical and built on firsthand observation. He was sure any responsible adult would agree with him.

"What exactly did you say to her?" said Lala suspiciously.

"I told her she can't captain a volleyball team if she can't even walk upstairs without help."

Lala covered her face in secondhand embarrassment. "You didn't. Oh no. Well, let's just skip over the part where you channeled the mean girl in a high school movie. Did she say she didn't want help?"

"That's not the point! She's going to get herself hurt! I was just telling her the truth," Goro snapped defensively, crossing his arms.

"From your point of view, sure. Did it occur to you that she might not think of herself as some pitiful little waif who can't do anything on her own?" Lala was now fanning herself sternly.

"Come on. That's not how I see her. I just...forgot myself," he muttered. "I'll apologize. Bring her some flowers or something. It'll be alright."

"Mmmm," said Lala disapprovingly.

"What now?" sighed Goro.

"You really care about this girl, yes? Well, now's the time to go beyond the superficial. Talk to her. Listen to her. Don't pull away. Pull towards." Lala opened her arms as if to hug him, then pulled her hands to her chest in illustration.

Goro nodded reluctantly. Lala was right - his instinct was always to distance himself when things got intense. Even with Ren, who drew him so magnetically.

"Alright. I'll try. Thanks, Lala-san."

"Don't mention it, honey. Sending love out into the world is its own reward." Lala let that sit for a beat, then tapped him on the nose with one of her new nails. "Now then. Those dishes aren't going to wash themselves."

On the way home after his shift, Goro thought about texting Ren. But they'd already spoken on the phone and texted a few times during the day...was it too much? Would it make him look clingy?

You are being clingy, idiot, he thought. He still wanted to hear from Ren, though.

Lala's words echoed in his mind, almost like she was there to contradict him. "Don't pull away. Pull towards," said his personal Cognitive Lala.

He wasn't the type to get all mushy, so his message was simple: Goodnight.

Ren texted back, Sweet dreams.

Goro smiled.

Makoto stopped her motorcycle a short way up the street from a little-used fire door. The door was propped open with a cinderblock, presumably for the convenience of the nurse who was leaning against the wall, smoking a cigarette.

She hopped off the bike and slipped toward the door as quietly as she could. Luckily for her, the night was dark and overcast. The yellow light from a single bulb cast a distinct pool of light around the door; everything else was deeply shadowed.

All her research into the mental shutdown cases led her here: St. Luke's International Hospital. She'd noticed a pattern: when it was mentioned what hospital the victims had been taken to, it was always St. Luke's. Digging deeper, she found that all of the victims were being treated here. Doing a little light undercover work (as a confused high schooler trying to find her aunt's room), she asked around the hospital and found that a "research ward" had been opened but that almost no one had seen it.

From there, it was child's play to come up with a plan to get inside. Well, if children staked out back alleys with binoculars and convenience store coffee.

The nurse finished his cigarette and stamped out the butt, then moved the cinderblock aside - he was quite muscular and picked it up in one hand like it was nothing - and went inside.

As the fire door swung shut, Makoto darted out from the shadows and grabbed it. Unfortunately, the nurse was wearing soft-soled shoes and she couldn't hear him move down the corridor. She forced herself to count to 60 so he had time to move away before she entered.

The door made a loud clunking sound as it closed and locked automatically behind her. Straight ahead was a corridor with a closed door at the end. Immediately to her left, she could see a stairwell.

Makoto focused on keeping her footsteps light as she descended the stairs. As she reached the bottom, her attention was caught by the door in front of her: it too was propped open, this time with a lighter. She grinned. Sometimes it's just too easy, she thought.

Then she paused.

Too easy.

She turned and started to run back up the stairs, but she was a second too slow. A pair of heavy hands grabbed her wrists and twisted her arms behind her.

From over her shoulder a low, husky voice said, "Tsk tsk tsk. Just because a door's open doesn't mean you have to walk through it."

The burly nurse started dragging her down the hall. Makoto flashed back to the time she'd been seized by Junya Kanashiro's gang and hauled in front of him. Strangely, remembering that terrifying moment steadied her a bit. You lived through that, she reminded herself. Now live through this.

She stopped struggling. There was no point anyway. His hands were like steel bands. Instead she tried to prepare herself for whatever was coming.

She didn't have long to wait; if this was the "research ward," it wasn't terribly large. They passed an elevator, the large size that could accommodate a gurney. Then a set of bathrooms on one side of the hall. On the other, a door with an unusually large lock. At the end of the hall were swinging doors.

The nurse - or more likely, hired guard - dragged her towards the door with the lock. He let her go with one hand to bang on the door. The other was easily large enough to keep hold of her wrists.

From the inside, Makoto could hear the sound of the lock turning. The door opened to reveal Dr. Takuto Maruki. His mouth opened and his eyes widened in a perfect parody of surprise.

"You two know each other," the guard observed. "Great. Let's all be friends." He shoved Makoto through the door and slammed it behind him.

Makoto quickly looked around. There was a bank of computers on one wall. Another wall was completely covered by bookshelves filled with books, tools, and sample jars. A gurney sat in the center of the room. At least it was made up with what looked like clean linens.

The guard shoved Makoto down onto the gurney and held her there with arms like tree trunks.

"What are you doing?" Maruki protested as Makoto fought, trying to wriggle free.

"Maybe nothing," shrugged the guard. He took a wicked-looking knife out of a hidden holster and held it to Makoto's throat. "Maybe something. Depends on her."

Makoto forced herself to stop moving. Her heart pounded in her ears and her chest heaved with shallow, panicked breaths. But she could at least hold her head still and avoid slicing her own throat open.

"Who are you?" the guard demanded.

"Um," said Makoto. Behind the guard, Maruki was shaking his head vigorously. "Murakami," she said, giving the name of the author of a book she was reading. "Makoto Murakami."

The guard narrowed his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

Over his shoulder, Dr. Maruki was flashing Makoto a "stop" sign - palm up, five fingers splayed out. What am I supposed to do? she thought frantically. I have to tell him something!

She hesitated, and the guard jabbed the knife into her throat, just enough to hurt. Maruki folded his index finger down and Makoto realized that he wasn't telling her to stop - he was counting down! She didn't know what he was waiting for, but she could hold out for another three seconds.

Maybe. Probably maybe.

"I'm supposed to start a part-time job here tomorrow. Guess I shouldn't have tried to come in the back way," said Makoto, voice shaking. Maruki folded his thumb in.

"Don't mess with me, girlie," growled the guard. "What are you, a journalist? Cop? Tell me!"

"Please! I'm not a journalist or a cop. I'm a...high school student," she said, fudging her age a little. "I'm trying to find out where my aunt was taken…."

As Makoto expounded on her imaginary aunt, Maruki glanced nervously around. Right on time according to his countdown, the guard's cell phone made a kind of alarm sound. He pulled it out, watched it for a few seconds, then put it back in his pocket and frowned at Makoto.

"How many friends did you bring?"

"Friends?" she said blankly.

"Never mind," said the guard, grinning cruelly. "It doesn't matter how many there are. I'll show 'em a good time. Doc, you're coming with me."

Over his shoulder, Maruki was pointing at a corner of the room behind Makoto. She couldn't see what was back there, but the gesture was clear. He put his hand down as the guard turned around.

"M-me?" said Maruki nervously. "What do you want me to do?"

"Not be alone with her," said the guard, voice cold. "Let's take a walk."

Wordlessly, Maruki followed the guard out, glancing back at Makoto and shooting his eyes pointedly towards the back wall. The guard slammed the huge door behind them, then the sound of beeping indicated that one of them had punched in a lock code. The keypad near the door turned red.

Telling herself there'd be time to panic later, Makoto hopped up and turned to see what Maruki had been pointing at. To most people, the back wall would simply have looked like a wall. But Phantom Thief Queen knew the minute she saw the vent that it would be large enough to fit into. She grinned and set to work getting the grate off.

Her mind raced as she hid the vent behind a bookshelf and crawled inside. With luck, the guard wouldn't notice the grate was missing for a few minutes.

I can't be that far from the outside, she thought. I didn't come that far in. So I need to angle towards the outside or I'll be stuck even further in the hospital.

Mentally recreating her trip inside, Makoto chose a branch of the vent that she thought was likely to lead outside. The thought occurred to her that Maruki might have led her into a maze intentionally, but that seemed unlikely. Whatever else he was up to, he wasn't on the same side as the guard.

I have to find a way to talk to him alone, she thought, as she crawled her way to freedom. The air was starting to smell fresher, which she took as a sign she was going the right way. Finally, she reached a grate through which she could hear street noise. She kicked at it, hoping the sound wouldn't carry as far as the lab, and after a few tries, knocked it out and scurried away.