Chapter 43: The Emperor
Ω • Ω • Ω
•Makoto•
She'd found nothing. Nothing! Huffing and storming her way down Central Street, Makoto cleared a path easily, people took one look at the girl whose red eyes were blazing like fire and did their best to clear out of her way.
From what texts Sakamoto-kun was sending along, it seemed like the others weren't having much luck either… save for Starr-kun, who had messaged his fellow thieves about a pair of men who could possibly be mafia, but he wasn't sure about.
Currently, she was following a lead that Kitagawa-kun had dug up, something about 'snow tomorrow' which obviously made no sense, and the alleyways of Central Street. Never mind that she'd gone up and down these alleys who knew how many times now, but—
"Starr-kun. I see you're following the lead Kitagawa-kun mentioned?" Starr-kun turned around in surprise, before it melted into indifference.
"Howdy, Niijima-senpai. I figured it was the best one we had at the moment. Snow in June is clearly code."
"Of course. But for what?"
"Obviously for some good old-fashioned, pure white Cocaína Colombiana," he spoke with… Some accent. When she didn't react he sighed. "Well, nothing's going on here, so—"
"Hey, you two got some time? I have a great job for you." She turned and saw a man who looked as though he were in his twenties wearing some button-up shirt with black and white patterns walk up to them. "It's real easy. Guess you could call it a delivery job."
A smile spread across her face as she turned to Starr-kun. "It seems we didn't have to look very hard in the end." He shot her a look that she couldn't quite understand, but he looked angry for some reason.
"You're high-schoolers, yeah? Don't you want something more than just your allowances?"
Starr-kun's face shifted rapidly back into a smile. "W-Well, I don't know. Um, what would we be—"
"Hm, by delivery, do you mean that of suspicious materials?"
"Ghk!"
The mafia member narrowed his eyes, but just let out a laugh. "You're a funny girl. So, kid, you interes—?"
"So, you won't answer me? Then I was right…"
"Senpai, what are you talking about?" While the suspicious man was looking at her, Starr-kun's eyes were practically blazing, and he was making slashing motions across his throat. But it was alright, she had this in the bag.
"What's up with you, anyways? Why're you asking me all these questions, huh?
"I simply want to know if what you're getting me into is illegal in any way. Is that a problem?"
"Now you listen here—" He stepped closer, and for a moment she got ready to defend herself, but suddenly Starr-kun was there. She hadn't seen him move at all, so she wasn't sure how he did it, probably too distracted by the sleazy man.
"Back off. Or I'll call the cops."
Surprisingly, the man did back away, scoffing. "...It was all a joke. Why would I get so worked up over some dumb kids? Anyways, I can't hang. See ya!"
He was leaving?! No! They didn't have any information! "U-Um, if you don't want to deal with us, we could always go see your boss ourselves."
"You're really gonna say that, knowing who he is? Heh, no way I believe that. Well, I'm outta here. You guys are annoying me."
When he was out of the alley, she nodded and turned to Starr-kun. "I'm pretty sure he's part of the mafia we're looking for."
Her kouhai said nothing at first, just breathing in slowly, then exhaling loudly. "...No shit, dumbass."
"E-Excuse—?"
"What the hell was that?!" He rounded on her, face contorted in anger. "Niijima, That was our first real lead, and you badger him into leaving! What the fuck were you thinking?!"
"I tried to trick him into saying something, but he dodged all the traps I was laying down!"
"Traps?!" Starr-kun turned away from her and screamed into his fist to muffle his voice. "Jesus, those were not traps! A blind man could have seen those from a mile away! Were you trying to make him think we were undercover officers or something?!"
"I-I! I just—" She took a breath. "I was… I don't know. I was doing my best to get something out of him."
"And your best is making you look real useless here, Prez. I had that under control until you decided to butt in! Damn it… I should not have let you help us. Just leave this investigation to us." He scowled and shoved past her, leaving her to stand there, gobsmacked.
"But…" He didn't wait for her to finish, and soon she was alone in the alleyway. Was… he right? Was she just making this investigation harder for the Phantom Thieves? If she really did get in the way there, and if she did so again, they might not be able to help save the students and everyone else being blackmailed. "No…" She clenched her fists and squeezed her eyes closed, before leaving as well. She should… probably head home for the day.
Ω • Ω • Ω
•Akira•
He sat himself down in the diner, huffing to himself as he did. He was still pissed off from Niijima's actions earlier that day, and after some messages back and forth with his fellow thieves, they agreed to meet the next day at Karaoke to discuss what they'd found. For now, he'd gotten a message from Iwai about having some work to do, and with him needing to cool off, he agreed.
All he was supposed to do was sit there while Iwai talked with a guy in the next booth. Then, after Iwai gave a certain signal, he'd call him. Simple enough, and it didn't sound like it'd lead to anything illegal, so here he was, ordering a simple coffee while he waited.
Eventually, Iwai came in with some thuggish-looking man and they sat at the booth next to his. "A diner, huh? I thought only old farts come to places like this. You've really changed, Mune-san?"
Iwai chuckled, "Hey, don't knock this place. It's pretty decent, and cheap too."
"Ha, this comin' from the guy who beat the crap outta fifty rival gang members!"
"You don't need to exaggerate."
Even if it's an exaggeration, Iwai must be a dangerous man to have taken on multiple gang members in a fight.
'How many is the question.'
"Anyways, what'd you wanna talk about?"
"Oh, right. How's Tsuda-san doin'?"
"Same as always. Why, what's up?"
"Oh, nothin'. Just saw him 'round the other day."
"Hold up, didn't you two cut ties when you left the family? Why're you askin' about him now?"
"I mean, we were both young… I figured it's about time we bury the hatchet. I can't just go up n' talk to him though…"
"Oh, I getcha. You're still tryin' to uphold the ol' code of honor, huh? Okay, I'll tell him you wanna meet up!"
"No, you fool. I just wanna end up in the same place at the same time. It's gotta look like a coincidence."
"In that case, Shibaura might work… Y'know, since we're talkin' about redevelopin' it."
"Shibaura…" Iwai paused, then coughed. There was a moment of silence before he realized that must have been Iwai's signal. That, or it was just a real cough at a really bad time.
He shrugged and pulled out his phone, dialing the number as Iwai's thuggish acquaintance asked him "You sick or somethin'?"
"Nah, just a cold." Iwai's phone chose that moment to ring, and he picked it up quickly. He could hear Iwai's voice both behind him and through the phone as he began speaking. "Hello? Yeah, how's it goin'? …What? Your order's all wrong? My bad, I'll get back and take care of that straight away." He heard shuffling sounds, and then Iwai spoke again. "Sorry, I gotta run. Work shit. Let's talk some other time, yeah?"
"Mm, seeya." Iwai quickly walked away, but once he was out of the diner he could hear him shuffling around then raising the phone up to his ear. "Don't hang up. Did Masa call someone? Just stay quiet so I can hear what he's sayin'."
Akira raised an eyebrow, before pulling out some headphones and plugging them into his phone so he could look like he was listening to music while switching to speaker mode. He took another sip of his coffee (Too little acidity…) while Masa began talking to whoever was on the other end of the line.
"Tsuda-kun, it's Masa. Iwai was askin' about you. I did just like you told me though."
As he listened to Masa, he waved over a waitress with a smile. "Hi, could I get a refill, please? Thank you." He nodded in gratitude as she took his cup away, keeping one ear open as he listened to the conversation continue.
"Yeah, Iwai prolly heard about that deal of yours and now he's tryin' to squeeze some cash outta you. O-Oh, sorry! No, it's… Yes. Sorry… Yes. I understand."
The call continued for some time, while he thanked the waitress as she brought his refill over with a smile and a wink. Eventually, Masa ended the call and left, so Iwai finally spoke up from the other end of his call. "A deal? Sounds like there's some weird stuff goin' down."
"That all you need from me?"
"Yeah, you're all good for today. I'll have to thank you in person later."
"You can pay for the coffees I got to blend in."
Iwai scoffed. "At any rate, I honestly wasn't expectin' too much outta you. But it looks like you're gonna actually be some use to me. I'll be countin' on you, kid."
"Don't call me kid, that's my dad's thing," he smirked, though he knew it wasn't exactly visible on the other end of the call.
"Whatever you say, kid." He scoffed, but at the same time heard chains crashing as his bond deepened.
RANK UP!
Hanged Arcana, Weapons Dealer: Rank 2
"So… Yeah. Good work today. Bring that receipt over next time and I'll pay ya back. Well, later."
"Don't tell me there's a soft heart under that gruff exterior." It was Iwai's turn to scoff as the man hung up, and Akira chuckled as he finished his coffee, ordered the check, and then made his way home for the night.
He clearly has a criminal past… and perhaps some criminal activity now… but he does not seem truly unjust, does he?
Because he bought Master coffee? Apsaras questioned with a giggle.
Thisss whole 'he isss a criminal' thing isss rather ironic coming from the Leader of the Phantom Thievesss.
Ω • Ω • Ω
6/17, Friday
Steal the mafia boss's heart.
His morning started with another interview with Akechi at the train station before the school day slogged on. At one point he saw Niijima walking through the halls, but once their eyes met they both looked away and avoided each other.
Finally, the school day ended and he could join his friends in the karaoke bar. After paying for their time they sat down, ordered some drinks, and then went over any information they might have gained.
"Where's Niijima?" Ryuji asked.
"She won't be joining us today," he scoffed. "She ruined a perfectly good opportunity to grab some intel yesterday.
"Seriously? I knew we shouldn't have let her try and help," Ann crossed her arms.
"There's nothing we can do about it now," Yusuke sighed. "Instead, let us see if we learned anything worthwhile."
They didn't.
"Ugh, seriously?! Nothing?!" Ryuji was practically tearing his dye out as he groaned, while he crossed his arms and sighed.
"We won't learn anything at this rate…" his brooding was interrupted by what was either other people doing karaoke one room over, or the wailing of the damned.
"God, they suck…"
Ignoring Ann's mutter, Ryuji scratched his chest. "Man, we're goin' nowhere with this… can't we just get Niijima to change it up?"
"You mean… change our target?"
"We just gotta show our justice to satisfy her and get her off our backs, right? There are a ton of shitty adults in this world. It's not like it matters who we're goin' after. I know she's doin' this for the students, but we ain't gonna be able to help anyone at this rate…"
"But that mafia's stealing money from kids. We can't just accept that! I don't care if she's doing this to help the students or for her college applications, we agreed with her that at the very least this is a target that's gotta go down!"
"Ann's right. We want to give courage to the weak. Isn't this the perfect target to accomplish that goal?" Ann and Yusuke's speeches did make him smile a bit and nod in agreement, but the mood was ruined by more ghastly wailing. "They really have no talent…"
"I never thought it'd be this noisy if you weren't singin'… Anyways, I'm sure we'll shut Akechi up if we pull this off, but—"
"That's exactly why we should do it," Yusuke surprisingly cut in.
"It all comes down to intel in the end…" Morgana finally spoke, thinking out loud. "If we don't start finding tips on that front, we'll never get any further than this…"
"There has to be someone who has what we need."
"…Who the hell would?" He asked. "If anyone already knew who the boss of the operation is, they would have brought it to the police already, and they'd arrest them to show they're actually useful."
"But… I mean, no one in the world knowing who the guy is besides his own goons? That—!"
"Wait, that journalist!"
"Journalist…? Wait, the one that was staking out by Madarame's Shack?"
"Oh yeahhh, I completely forgot about her! Dude, didn't she give you her card?" Akira blinked and reached into his bag, rooting around, before finding it in a side pocket where he put most loose papers that didn't have a dedicated folder. "Why is your bag so organized?"
"Why isn't yours?" He shot back. "Let's see. 'Ichiko Ohya of the Maiasa Newspaper.'"
"That's a rather major publication," Yusuke pointed out.
"Think we can trust her?"
"There's no other way," Mona answered.
"Okay, let's contact her!"
"The question is if she'll even have any info. Morgana, you were there with me when we just happened to meet on that train platform, she reeked of booze."
"But if she's working for a major publisher, she's got to have some info, right?"
He sighed. "Alright, I'll shoot her an email."
"Great, let us know when she emails back." Ryuji leaned back in his seat. "So, what now? We discussed everything, yeah?"
"We've still got a lot of time left, but… should we just leave?"
Yusuke gasped at Ann. "How wasteful!"
Akira laughed. "Well, if we've got time left, why not actually do some karaoke?"
"I ain't too good at singing, dude."
"Too bad for you, then."
"Ooh, I want to do some karaoke!"
"Is this my chance to woo Lady Ann with my singing voice?" Morgana whispered to himself. Akira glanced down with a raised eyebrow, before turning back to the others.
"Alright, we're doing this then."
Yusuke hummed as he began selecting a song. "Exposing myself to other forms of art might be worthwhile."
"Come on, Ryuji, it'll be fun!" Ann smiled as Akira was already singing.
"Fiiiine."
"Fear's awake, anger beats loud, face reality
Never beat charity
The enemy you're fighting covers all society
Mommy's not here, gotta fight all night!"
Ω • Ω • Ω
"I will admit, I didn't expect that monkey to have a good singing voice," Morgana muttered.
"Ryuji's already got some pretty good range when he's talking, but the real benefit is that he wasn't afraid to belt the lyrics," he grinned back. "I don't know what he was talking about saying he wasn't that good. He had nothing on me, of course, but—" He was cut off as he received a phone call from an unknown number while walking back into the café. He assumed for a moment that it was Ohya. When he picked up the phone, it was someone completely different.
"Hello, Starr-kun? It's Niijima…"
"Oh. Hello. Did you need something?"
"I… wanted to apologize for the other day. I really did think I was helping, but I can see that I… didn't. And, I wanted to thank you for stepping in at the end to defend me."
"...Well, even if you pissed me off, I wasn't going to just watch you get attacked. I also apologize for calling you useless. You… were doing your best to help. How did you get my number, anyway?"
"Um… I wanted to apologize for that, too, I asked Sakamoto-kun for it, and I feel bad for going behind your back like that."
"It's fine. I'll just have to tear Ryu a new one for not telling me. Listen, we're… trying a different approach right now, and I'm waiting for a lead to hopefully get back to me. I'll let you know when we're all meeting again."
"Alright. Thank you. Have a good night, Starr-kun."
"You as well, Niijima-senpai."
"I heard a woman's voice… that a girl?"
"Sakura, don't you even start!"
Ω • Ω • Ω
6/18, Saturday
Steal the mafia boss's heart.
"Do you remember how I mentioned my need to understand the heart?" He stood with Yusuke in the underground walkway of Shibuya station, people-watching. Ohya hadn't gotten back to him just yet, so with nothing else to do, he met with the artist.
"I remember."
"Well, I'm having a hard time grasping it. How will I be able to reach the truth of pure beauty…? Akira, what should I paint to capture the contents of the heart?"
He thought for a moment, watching the flow of humanity as they made their way through the city. "...How about Mementos?"
"Ah… I see! Mementos!" Yusuke turned to him and grabbed his shoulders, shaking him back and forth. "The desire that emanates from that place is the root of humanity!"
"That it is," he spoke blankly, before reaching up to pry Yusuke's hands off his shoulders.
"Incredible! You honestly have a unique perspective on things. With that destination in mind, let us make haste!"
Akira raised an eyebrow. "Wait, what?" The next thing Joker knew they had ducked into the otherworldly realm, Mona leaving them to explore on their own since they wouldn't be descending deep enough to need the Mona bus.
They eventually found a sectioned-off part of Mementos that looked similar to where one of their targets would be waiting for them to change their heart. It was either an old lair of one of their targets or a newly forming one where another Shadow would soon be waiting. Fox hummed as he looked around, quickly beginning to sketch their surroundings, having slipped his mask off his face and perched it atop his head. "This distorted realm, teeming with Shadows… The physical embodiment of the desires of the human heart…"
"Hm." He didn't really pay attention to what Fox was saying, knowing that they had… two different kinds of intelligence. He wouldn't really be able to get a lot of what Yusuke was describing, as interesting as it could be.
"The same thing which brought forth the beauty of the 'Sayuri' can also create such morbid fabrications… But I actually find that aspect to be quite fascinating. The heart is akin to an abyss… Now, regarding the source of my slump… I actually have an idea. In that other dimension, I saw the perversion of Madarame's heart… At the moment, the art realm I had so much faith in was distorted by greed and unchecked desires."
'I thought we wrote 'vanity' on those cards?' He wondered to himself.
"That is when the true ugliness of the world became clear to me… And from that point forward, my brush has been stayed by crippling hesitation. Does pure beauty truly exist? And if so, can hands tainted by Madarame's depravity capture it? Considering such intense questions only served to distance me from reality. Doubt filled my mind. I struggled to find a reason to move my brush again. And honestly… I still have yet to discover a suitable answer."
"We'll find it eventually. I'll be right by your side along the way."
"Thank you, Joker."
Then, time passed. Fox continued his sketching, while he wandered back and forth behind him, balancing on the rails, practicing some moves, and trying to pull at the vines along the walls to see if they were capable of coming off. Time was going by agonizingly slow, and eventually, he had enough. "Hey, Fox."
"What's the matter? Have you been overcome by an urge to paint?"
"No, I'd rather we speed this along. You know what the Metaverse is like, even just standing around in here for long enough can put a weight on you. Spiritually, anyway." There, was that a polite enough way of saying 'hurry the fuck up'?
How rude.
I'm in agreement, I jussst wanna get going.
"Please, Do not rush me. I only need a little more time. Hm, the lingering uncertainty present in this place seems to be sharpening my senses… I feel a revelation approaching… Hm, yes…! Inspiration has struck! This must be it! Such brilliant composition! Ah, my heart races!"
At the same time, something else struck, as a group of Slimes erupted from ooze on the ground. "Shadows! Back up!"
Fox scowled. "Hmph, how inelegant!" He set his art supplies aside and reached up, slipping his mask back on his face. "You wish to carry out your distorted will, foolish shadow? I shall cut you down for interrupting my work!"
"Less monologuing, more battling!" He grinned and twirled his blade on a finger as he sprinted into the group. The Slimes surrounded him and began gurgling, before striking out at him all at once. "Hup!" He leaped into the air over their attacks before slashing down.
The lances of ooze they'd used to attack him were sliced off and dissolved, but there was plenty more ooze forming their bodies. He landed on one and grimaced as his shoes began sinking in, before leaping off and away. They gurgled and chased after him, but he just smirked and held a hand up. Fox sped past and slapped his hand, passing the baton, before throwing his arm out, Goemon flaring to life and unleashing a whirlwind of frost.
The Slimes began slowing before their semi-liquid bodies turned to blocks of ice. "Now— Fall!" Fox moved like a bullet, faster than even he could see, and appeared on the other side of the horde of slimes with his sword drawn. After a moment he sheathed it, and the Slimes shattered into thousands of pieces.
Fox backflipped out of the storm of ice, holding his hand out beneath him for him to smack as he sprinted under him. He smirked and ripped his mask free, summoning a Persona he'd created as soon as they were in Mementos, using some Personas he'd resummoned from the registry. "Orobas! Maragi!" The horse-man appeared beside him and let out a whinny, then his mouth opened wide and eyes flashed red, a sea of flame exploding out.
The flames became a cyclone that evaporated the remains of the slimes, and he sighed in satisfaction as the battle was finished quickly and efficiently. "That no challenge at all! Bring on next ones!" Orobas called. He just chuckled and called him back into a mask, while a skill card floated down from above— no, it was a blank card. Meanwhile, Fox walked over with his supplies in hand.
"It seems I've become too passionate. I'm glad you were here. You have my thanks."
"Well, we did all make a pact that if any of us were to go into Mementos, bring at least one other person. I'm happy to come along again if you need me to."
Fox smiled. "…You're like Theo."
He opened his mouth, but then smiled back in confusion. "I'm… unsure what you mean. Which Theo…?"
"I was referring to Van Gogh's brother, Theo. Van Gogh did not achieve fame in his lifetime, but found an admirer and supporter in his brother."
"I do admire your skill with the brush… and the sword, I suppose," he chuckled.
Fox laughed alongside him. "Well, there aren't many who are willing to deal with my… eccentricity."
"You're an odd one, but you're the Phantom Thieves oddball. Don't think you can get rid of us just by being a bit eccentric." He clapped Fox on the shoulder and they began walking to the exit.
"I will keep that in mind. Say, what is that card you're holding? Another skill card?"
"No, it's a blank one. The Slimes dropped it."
"Hm… would you mind giving it to me for a moment? Whenever I see blank paper, I have the urge to draw something on it."
"Sure, feel free. I have a couple of spare blanks."
He handed the paper over and Fox began sketching on it, barely paying attention to where they were going. Thankfully, it seemed that the rest of the Shadows on the floor were smart enough to realize the two Phantom Thieves were much too strong for them to even attempt to contend with, and fled at the sight of them.
"Hm. A satisfactory result. What do you think? Not bad, wouldn't you say?" The skill card looked similar to a Recarm one, just ever so slightly off since he was going by memory. "Soon enough, my slump will be a thing of—"
The card suddenly flashed, glowing for a moment. When it finished, it seemed more… real, somehow. The drawing on the card had shifted. "My picture… turned into a real skill card?"
"That's an amazing power," he spoke with wide eyes.
"Indeed… Joker, would you mind helping me further? If I can overcome this slump, I should be able to aid our group with this, by painting you skill cards for your various Personas. Perhaps even more so. Ah— why don't we act as the thieves we are and strike a deal?"
He smirked and offered his hand. "Sounds like a good idea to me. I'll be counting on you."
Fox grasped his hand, blood-red and ice-blue gloves meeting. "Yes. You can rely on me."
The ability to create and duplicate skill cards… truly, our ally is a talented thief. As Joker felt the trust of Fox through both their bond and the grip of his hand, chains shattered.
I am thou, thou art I…
Thou hast acquired a new vow.
It shall become the wings of rebellion
that breaketh thy chains of captivity.
With the birth of the Emperor Persona,
I have obtained the winds of blessing that
shall lead to freedom and new power…
Emperor Arcana, Yusuke Kitagawa: Rank 1
"In any event, I'm happy with what I've sketched for today… I'll finish it back at the dorm. I'll contact you once it's done."
He just smiled in response. "I can't wait."
Ω • Ω • Ω
His phone buzzed while he was in the middle of a set of push-ups. "Morgana?" He called, lowering himself again.
"One sec." He pushed up. "It's the journalist!"
"Really?" He lowered himself.
"Looks like she can meet up now! At… the Crossroads Bar…" He paused, before sighing and stopping before the completion of the set. He stood up and walked to his bed, wiping the sweat from his body with a towel and grabbing his phone to check it himself.
"That's short notice. It's in Shinjuku, huh? Want to be my escort?"
Morgana batted at him with a paw. "Seriously? Stop that. Send everyone a message and let them know what you're up to."
Chat Room: The Phantom Thieves
You— The reporter replied. She's asked to meet in Shinjuku.
Ryuji— Shinjuku at nite?
Yusuke— That sounds rather dangerous.
Ann— Where should we meet up?
Ryuji— W8 Ann itll B easir wit less of us
Yusuke— My apologies. I don't have the money to take the train there.
Ryuji— Then ur on stndby 2
Ryuji— Me & Aki will go!
Akira— Not sure why you're so worried about the number of us going, but alright.
Ann— Well, if Akira's going then at least there's no need to worry. We'll leave it to you!
Ryuji— Meet Shibuya then?
Akira— Yes, that sounds good.
Ann— Be careful you two!
Yusuke— I shall be sure to save money for situations such as this in the future.
He got up and grabbed a shirt, lifting his arm and sniffing. He… wasn't that bad. It was unlucky that he had been exercising when the message had come in, but there was nothing he could do about it now. This meeting was far more important.
Ω • Ω • Ω
"You're in your uniform?!"
Ryuji raised an eyebrow at Morgana. "Huh? No choice, I didn't have the time to go home. People won't notice the pants with this t-shirt over it anyway," he spoke while gesturing to his favorite 'No Mo' Rules' shirt.
"Lookin' good," he chuckled. Ryuji grinned back and they fist bumped as Morgana sighed.
"That's not the issue! Are you both idiots? I'm just saying now, I won't be to blame when you get caught by the cops."
"Don't worry about it! That place ain't so different from Shibuya. C'mon, I'll guide ya. If we're goin' to Shinjuku… we should prolly hop on the JL. Just get outta this building and then the ticket gate should be on the right. It's go time!"
"Is this going to be okay?" Morgana groaned. He just grinned and led them through the station, to the JL line, and soon enough they were on their way to Shinjuku. "It's too bad we have to pay the commuter fare just for this info, but hopefully it will be worth it."
"We can only hope."
When they finally reached Shinjuku and stepped into the bright streets, lit by dozens of electric signs, Ryuji laughed and looked around with wide eyes. "Whoa… Even at night, this place is bright as hell! I guess that's Shinjuku for ya!"
"With how you're acting, you'd think that you're the country bumpkin and not me," he grinned. Though, he wouldn't deny that he was gazing at the area with just as much awe.
"Stop looking around so much! You look like a couple of tourists."
"I-I was just tryin' to find that place we're lookin' for," Ryuji defended himself. "Crossroads Bar's right up ahead. I'm sure we'll get there if we keep goin' straight." They began walking, and all around them, they were surrounded by a stream of humanity. Well, Shibuya was about as crowded, but the area just had an energy to it.
A bar promoter stopped them as they walked past, a bright grin on his face. "Welcome to our izakaya! How 'bout some all-you-can-drink booze on the cheap? Wait, you two underage?"
"...Nnnnnno?"
"Oh? In that case, come in for an hour or two!"
"How'd you get caught up in this? Come on, ignore him!" He laughed at Morgana's rebuke as he and Ryuji continued through the district, more people calling out to them to try out their shops. On their way to the meeting spot, they may, or may not have, stopped into several shops to explore.
Especially the bookstore where he and Ryuji found more… adult books towards the back. It was just too bad that the employee wouldn't let them purchase any of them.
As he and Ryuji were laughing about the encounter and walking down the street, they were stopped by a patrolling officer. "You have a moment?"
"Ah, uh, yeah." They stopped and the officer looked between them.
"Are you students? You shouldn't be out this late."
He answered before Ryuji could blurt anything out. "Yes, but we're college students. Thank you for the concern, officer."
"Yup! We're adults, y'see."
"Is that so?" The officer almost seemed to believe them, before noticing the uniform pants Ryuji was wearing. "Wait a second… I've seen the pattern on those pants before. Maybe on the news… Oh yeah, it was on the segment about the teacher who was harassing kids!"
"Ahahah, yeah, that's right," he cut in. "He was a teacher at Shujin Academy. My bud's an alumnus, he's wearing them to show support for the kids who were hurt by the bastard."
"Oh yeah? Mind if I see your ID's then?"
Morgana sighed. "I told you that uniforms were a bad idea! Run for it!"
"Sure, here you go." He turned to reach for his wallet before grabbing Ryuji and sprinting away. "MOVE IT!"
"Wha—! Get back here!"
"Oh shit, oh shit!" Ryuji yelped as he sprinted after him, running up the winding streets, and even though it was a serious situation… both boys couldn't really help the laughter that bubbled up as they sprinted through Shinjuku with an officer on their heels, while Morgana groaned from his seat in Akira's bag.
Oh well. Hopefully, they'd manage to loop back around and get to that bar.
Alright, starting up the Emperor. Another fun Confidant, but more importantly, more snooping around for more mafiosos. Now, I just gotta say it, what the fuck was Makoto doing in that scene? I know she's supposed to be a bit dense and all in the beginning, but she still has common sense, right?
She even says the guy was 'dodging her traps' but holy shit, those were not traps. Even if I hadn't made Akira have some snarky, snappy outbursts and instead wrote him as an always calm sort, I don't know if I could have written him as staying calm there from that sheer dumbassery. Well, I could, but goddamn that sequence was dumb.
I probably could have changed it to make her less… dumb in the common sense area, but at the very least it was entertaining writing in another 'useless' as ammo for the endless barrage of flashbacks. I love P5/R as much as anyone, but even I can admit them having flashbacks to scenes that happened less than five minutes earlier is funny as hell.
Other than that, not much else to say. I had fun writing the brief karaoke section, and do wish we could have had that as a hangout with friends. Having Akira sing Mass Destruction is all for now, but maybe I'll do more in the future. I also like the idea of Ryuji having a surprisingly good singing voice since he has range and wouldn't be afraid to belt… but he's not afraid to belt so there are some auditory consequences.
Also, just realized every time I've used the 'at' symbol in the text messages, the website's deleted it because it just HATES even the idea of promoting a link or other website in your story. Now I've got to go back through every chapter where people have texted each other, and if they've used the symbol and it's been deleted, I've got to update it and replace it with just the word at. Goddamnit.
Also also, thank you for the suggestion, HiIExist! I have been planning some stuff with PSI and if any other characters would be getting it, such as Haru like you suggested, so I hope everyone's looking forward to what may or may not come of that, lol.
So, let me know what you think of the chapter, or just leave a 'nice,' both are always great to read. See y'all next time!