Literally: sewn-on relatives
Meaning: someone treated like a part of the family despite the lack of biological connection
Rough English equivalent: family of choice

Saturday, January 7th, Daytime

Morgana walked into the Sakura house. Sojiro and Wakaba were at work, as expected – a silver lining to this mess, maybe she didn't talk to them yet and maybe he had an opportunity to talk her down in private.

"Futaba?"

No response, at least at first. Then, the sound of a plastic bowl dropping on the floor. It bounced a few times before rolling out into the corridor, bumping into a wall, and stopping after a few spins in place.

"Futaba?" he repeated, taking a step forward. Then, he narrowly dodged a cast-iron skillet swung at him. "Calm down!" he said, showing his palms defensively.

"Who the f-sack are you?!" she screamed, ready for a backhand strike. "What did you do with the real Morgana?!"

"I'm the real Morgana, I-"

"False!" she interrupted him. "Morgana is a cat!" She tried to attack again, but without the element of surprise the bishounen was able to easily disarm her.

"A cat that really wanted to be human," he explained, putting the pan in his off-hand. "Just like you really wanted to have your mom back." Beat. "Look, if it will make things easier to process, I can return to my real form for you."

After taking a moment to process the offer, she silently nodded, if only to see how that would go. Morgana snapped his fingers and turned into a cat in an instant. He smiled at her, and then got conked in the skull by the skillet falling from where his hand used to be. Futaba let out a brief chortle, which he considered worth the headache. She then picked him up from the ground, cradled him in her arms, and pinched his cheek. "Authentication successful. Now, tell me what on earth is going on."

Cue a recap, omitted here for brevity – you know these things already. As the cat continued talking, Futaba marched to her room and sat on her bed, keeping the cat on her knees and gently stroking his head and back. Her expression remained neutral, but she seemed relatively at peace.

"...we were worried you'd flip your lid at Goro, so I came to talk you down," he finished.

The nerd, having moved to scratching him behind his ear, needed a moment to process all the new information. And then, she responded with the one sentence he hoped she wouldn't use:

"And how, exactly, is this reality bad?"

He flipped on his back to look at her (and expose his tummy to scratchies). "It all hinges on the powers and judgement of one man. And I've already seen him torment an innocent girl with her biggest regret just to make a point."

"That… he could've just had a bad day," she countered, but the cat could tell she lost a chunk of her confidence.

"He's reshaping the world to his whim, he's not allowed to have 'bad days' anymore." Morgana sighed. "For all the power he wields now, Maruki is still human, with his own pet peeves and blind spots. It's not a problem with him, it's a problem with the supposedly perfect world hinging on something as imperfect as a human."

Futaba smirked. "Should we put a magic talking cat in charge?"

"Hell no. I would've gone mad with power in a week."

Silence followed, broken only by the faint sounds of belly-scratching. Morgana didn't mind that at first, but as the geek's hand continued moving to and fro, he realized she was stalling for time.

"So…" he finally said, "what happens now?"

Her hand froze. "What is supposed to happen?"

"I dunno, to be honest. But, as I said, Goro and the Yoshizawas are waiting for updates in Mementos."

Futaba remembered the case of "Kasumi" Yoshizawa from November – Akira had asked her to gather information on the sisters before they decided to steal her heart. "In the real world, Kasumi's dead and Goro's probably arrested and awaiting trial. At best."

"They both know this and are willing to sacrifice themselves."

"So I must do so as well?" she countered. "So I must unsubscribe from a life with two parents and zero PTSD because the guy in charge maybe will go nuts at some point?"

"If this reality persists until the end of the month, Maruki will be around for a very long time," Morgana replied. "It will be a matter of 'when' and not 'if'. And keep in mind this perfect life hinges on him not deciding to take it away for any reason. Like, say, to spite your new stepbrother."

Futaba's hand began moving again – petting a cat seemed comparatively uncomplicated, and since the cat was into it, didn't carry any ethical dilemmas with it. "He didn't seem like a revenge-by-proxy kinda guy when we talked."

"Will that remain true until the end of time?" he replied, "'Cause, again, this is the scale we must consider now." After a pause, he added: "I'll admit it: the real world is scary, random, and unfair. But you don't have to face it alone anymore."

She didn't respond to that.

"This is going nowhere." The cat jumped off her knees and landed on the floor by the door. "What should I tell them?"

"Nothing." She got up from her bed. "I'll talk to them myself."

"Oh, there's no need," Morgana changed back to a human and leaned against the door. "I can pass on whatever you want to say."

"Okay then." Futaba put up an innocent smile. "I will just stay here, completely unattended." She pulled out her cell phone. "By the way, I'm gonna call mom and dad and-"

The phone was yanked out of her hand.

"-ask if they want to order a pizza," she finished. "What do you think I want to do, if not talk to them without a man in the middle?"

"I don't know," he sighed. "I just… I don't want things to turn ugly."

"I'm a support class, you'll have host advantage in Mementos," the geek pointed out. "Things won't turn ugly if you won't turn them ugly."

Morgana put his left hand on his chest and raised his right one. "You have my word that we won't escalate." He moved out of the way, as Futaba walked out into the corridor. "And what are you going to tell them?"

"I don't know," she said, reaching for her winter boots. "But whatever it'll be, I want to tell that to their faces."

"The cables are new," Futaba remarked.

"All Maruki's doing." Morgana turned to Lavenza. "They didn't leave, did they?" He got a nod in response, and so he and the geek marched downstairs into the topmost level of Mementos proper. They saw Goro at the end of the tunnel, staring at something or someone around the corner. "Hey, Crow!"

He turned to the voice, noticed the duo, and gestured at someone out of the geek's line of sight. "Someone's here, hold fire." A quiet click of a revolver hammer, and a brief hiss of pain as a bullet bounced off of his skull.

"Boom, headshot!" Kasumi cheered.

"I said hold the goddamned fire!" Goro barked at them, irritated but not wounded.

"S-sorry!" Sumire apologized.

The detective turned back towards the newcomers and took a few steps to meet them halfway. Futaba squinted a bit – not that one could tell with her goggles covering her eyes – and realized she hadn't paid attention to a small detail the last time she saw Goro in his Metaverse outfit. "Rootkit."

"Oracle," he replied.

"No, your nametag." She pointed at the РУТКИТ on his chest. "It says 'Rootkit'."

"You speak Russian?" Morgana asked.

"No, I just learned the Cyryllic alphabet on a whim a few years ago," she elaborated. "And English loanwords are the backbone of tech vocabulary in every language."

"The Tron-lined chick is Oracle, huh?" Kasumi walked out from behind a corner. "I was way off with my hair colour guess." She outstretched her hand. "Hi, I'm Kasu-"

"No real names in the Metaverse," Sumire interrupted her, handing the revolver back to Goro. "Hi, again. I'm Green, and she's…" She turned to her sister. "Pick a codename for yourself, I guess."

She thought for a moment, before replying: "Stunt Double."

Sumire gasped in shock, then punched her in the shoulder. "That's not funny!"

"I know who you two are," Futaba pointed out. "I helped steal the alive one's heart in November."

"Ah, yes." The other twin's happy-go-lucky demeanor evaporated for a brief moment. "Thank you for that."

"Don't mention it." She turned to Goro. "Mona told me everything. Apparently Joker's spectating and you're the closest thing to a leader now."

"Kind of," he shrugged. "Things just… unfolded a certain way and nobody protested yet."

"Yeah, that's how Mona described it." She folded her arms behind her back. "And you're blocked off by some computer stuff."

"Well, we believe so right now," he elaborated. "I preferred to leave you undisturbed and approach, uh, M, after the third semester begins, but Green got impatient and broke you out." Sigh. "I suppose I should take responsibility for her actions as an acting leader. Please, accept my apology."

Silence followed. The two didn't feel brave enough to say anything more, walk away, or even look each other in the eye – not that their opaque lenses would let them – and so they stood, while the Yoshizawas and Morgana awaited some sort of breakthrough.

And then Kasumi decided to break the ice with a sledgehammer.

"You know," she turned to the geek, "woss-his-name was really vocal about how much he likes you as a lil' sister."

Futaba turned to her, and the detective made an angry zip-up-mouth gesture at the other twin. "Really?"

"Yeah!" she nodded. "How you were kind to him and he wants to protect you so nobody will hurt you anymore."

Goro glanced at Sumire. "Green, slit my throat again, please."

The lenses in geek's goggles inexplicably lit up. "What do you mean, 'again'?" she barked.

"Uh…" the gymnast inched away, "he got resurrected though?"

"I won't use a checksum, so listen carefully." Futaba marched up to Sumire, furious. "If you wish to use any piece of technology without it literally blowing up in your face:" She poked her in the chest to punctuate her threat. "You. Will Not. Hurt Him. Again. Acknowledged?!"

She replied with a scared nod.

"Please let her be, Oracle," Goro protested, trying to deescalate things for once. "She wasn't fully herself when that incident happened and I do not hold it against her."

Futaba pointed at her eyes, then at the gymnast, then backed away.

"Not gonna lie," Morgana remarked, "I didn't expect Oracle to go to bat for you so hard."

"Why?" she asked.

The detective looked at her from above his glasses. "…because I literally killed your mom."

She lifted her goggles up, so that she could underline her point with direct eye contact. "You were a pawn of higher powers, and you helped me and others take down said higher powers. When bad guys kidnapped my dad, you risked your life to save him. And besides…" she allowed herself a smirk, "vengeance against a guy that literally gave you a knife and told you to stab him isn't going to be fulfilling, now, is it?"

"That's a relief," Goro sighed. "You've already pulled a rug from underneath me in November." He pointed at the Yoshizawas. "Like I told Green and SD, being on your bad side is a scary prospect."

"So," Kasumi smiled, "I assume Oracle is back on board and all's well that ends well, right?"

In response, silence. To describe it as awkward would be to ignore an atmosphere of low-level dread that overcame everyone present – the concern that the other side wouldn't take opposition lightly. Finally, Futaba addressed the other twin: "If the Thieves beat Maruki, you're gonna re-die, SD. You cover it up with dark jokes, like Crow, but you're bothered by it, aren't you?"

"No," she replied, without hesitation. "I know it sounds weird, but I'm not scared or anything. Sumi… sorry, Green doesn't want this reality, and I don't want to force her to accept it just for my sake." She smiled at Goro and Morgana. "And I'm leaving her in good hands, aren't I?"

Futaba then turned to the detective. "And you? In the real world you're probably arrested, if not terminated to keep you quiet."

He suppressed an urge to make a dark joke and instead countered with: "And the ruler of this world holds a somewhat justified grudge against me. I'm damned either way. I'm used to that feeling already, truth be told."

Futaba responded with a long sigh. "I want to enjoy having a mom… but I don't want to fight any of you." A pause, to muster up all remaining courage. "I… I am not going to try and stop you, but I'm not going to help you either. I'm gonna spectate this match. Like Joker does." She stared at the floor. "I hope you can forgive me."

Goro tried to scream at the audacity of her asking him for forgiveness, but his tongue straight-up stopped working, so what came out was a series of bwahs and guhs, followed by him outstretching his arms in a nonverbal invitation for a hug – an invitation that Futaba took without hesitation.

"...we can still play games together, right?" she whispered.

He hugged her tighter in response.

"Wow, and she didn't get her nose broken."

Morgana and Goro responded with pointed stares.

"Guess I've run outta tact for the day," Kasumi muttered. "Again, I'm sorry for causing you all distress. Especially you, goggles."

"Don't hold it against them, Oracle," the detective pleaded. "They meant no ill will."

"I know, I know." Futaba turned around to face her, keeping one arm wrapped around Goro. "Let's say we're cool for now – it's not like you can do this to me again."

"I'll take it." Kasumi spun on her heel and started marching towards the exit. "Green, we're gonna amscray for now, let 'em have their sibling moment." After taking a few steps, she realized her sister didn't follow and turned back. "Green?"

Sumire was standing stiff as a board, staring intently at her shoes. The other four realized that and glanced at her in turn. "You…" she mumbled, "you aren't going to kick me out for this, are you?"

"No!" Goro replied, realizing the whole ordeal has done a number on the gymnast's already fragile ego. He glanced at the bishounen. "I mean, was anyone even planning to discharge her?"

"If we kicked people out for stuff like this, we'd lose half the team," he responded. "And that includes me."

"Seriously. Deploy auxiliary fans and chill," Futaba added.

For some reason, Sumire wasn't reassured. "Yes. Chill. We'll be in touch," she muttered, then marched away promptly. Kasumi kept up with her and the two left the Metaverse.

"It's a wash, but it wasn't that bad," the other twin said.

"Other than the fact that I ruined everything and you needed to clean up," Sumire growled.

"I didn't clean up anything, I just broke the ice a bit," Kasumi countered. "Come on, Sumi, like the nerd said – chill. The only person angry at you right now is yourself."

She didn't respond to that, just marching through the crowds with a dissatisfied frown, her sister trailing behind her.

"Do you want me to cut down on the dark jokes?"

"I want you to leave me alone."

Evening

Morgana heard footsteps on the staircase. He pushed the crafting materials out of sight, just in case, and turned his head to see Goro coming up the attic with a large non-specific thing in his hands. "Hey again. Futaba kicked your butt, didn't she?"

"We played on the same team, I pocketed her," he corrected. "It was a crit-explosive-fueled steamroll." With a satisfied chuckle, he placed the thing in his hands on the desk, in front of the bishounen. "And speaking of rolls, enjoy this token of my gratitude."

Morgana removed the packaging, revealing an enormous covered plastic tray with assorted sushi, and a small bowl of soy sauce on the side."You- you really didn't have to, you know."

"I owed you one, didn't I?" the detective replied. "If you hadn't talked to Futaba I'd probably have to sleep in Mementos tonight."

"Come on, don't be silly," he countered. "We're friends now, you'd do the same for me."

"I… probably wouldn't." Realization. "I mean, b-because my social skills are lacking. But I would bludgeon someone without hesitation if it meant helping you in some way."

Morgana smiled. "God, you're a murderous trainwreck."

Goro smiled back. "And you're a catty little shit with an overinflated ego."

"I'm a charming catty little shit." The bishounen grabbed a sushi roll from the tray and shoved it in his mouth. After chewing it a bit, he sputtered: "Yuh wunnuh-" He swallowed. "You want a bite? I look human but I still eat as much as a cat, I won't finish it by myself."

"Of course." The detective grabbed a pair of chopsticks lying on the side of the tray. "Can't let good food go to waste."