She had long been the source of strong emotions within him. However, Amamiya Ren wasn't used to it being so many at the same time.

Makoto clung to him, her arms wrapped around his right leg after her own gave way to her fear. He could feel her whole body trembling against him as she pleaded and apologized to whatever otherworldly entity she imagined was haunting this Jail.

His heart plunged seeing her so afraid.

At the same time, it was so. damn. cute. Ren was never as expressive as some people, at yet the edges of his mouth threatened to curve upward.

Finally, there was his own adrenaline, his own fear that this was going to give them aw-

"Uh wait..." Zenkichi was pointing at them by the time Ren turned to face him. "I didn't know you two were..."

Fuck.

Did they just get found out?

––––– ––––– –––––

Twenty-two days earlier...

Hasegawa Zenkichi let the corners of the file's pages riffle over his thumb. He'd read the whole thing front to back and back to front a couple times now.

Those SIU bastards.

He camped at their admin's desk all Monday for this?

Sure it was thick. Sure it was heavy. Each victim? Plenty of detail.

But the Phantom Thieves themselves?

Only the leader. A second year high school student at the time. Sure, it gave his full identity, the one kept from the public due to his age, but it was at a level of detail Zenkichi'd expect for a second tier witness in a boring case in a backwater precinct, not for the leader of the Phantom Thieves.

Not from the SIU.

An average high schooler from an average family didn't have the sway to do this. Something else was going on. Something rotten.

Not only that, there was absolutely nothing on the rest of his crew. Nothing.

Someone with skill had scrubbed the file. It seemed so normal, so logical, so complete... until he remembered the audacious stunt they pulled back in December. Then all of the omissions seemed to scream through the pages. Someone wrote this so the average reader wouldn't even think to ask the obvious.

The worst kind of bastard.

The kind of you have to admire.

Zenkichi took out a small bound notebook and a pen. Paging through the file, he copied whatever looked useful.

He'd have to fill in the gaps on his own.

––––– ––––– –––––

July 27th

"You okay?" Ren leaned over the booth divider, speaking quietly enough so that only Makoto would hear.

Ryuji's boasting about how they were going to show Alice filled the shop, followed by Ann's laughter and Haru's promise to show any shadows who came Futaba's way her axe. Futaba, along with Yusuke, were too focused on their second helpings of curry to add to the conversation.

Makoto still had her original plate, half-full, in front of her.

"Ah." She looked down and scooped up the next bite, like she had forgotten.

He watched her jaw cycle as she chewed, but before she even finished, she was already staring off into space.

"I'll keep this warm for you," he stood up, hand reaching for her plate. He nodded his head towards the counter. "Help me start cleaning?"

"Oh." She turned, finally making eye contact. "Right. Sure."

Makoto picked up Ann and Haru's empty plates as she followed him to Leblanc's kitchen. At his gesture, she left them soaking in the big sink by the fridge.

Ren switched on the heat lamp, putting the remains of Makoto's dinner under it. "What's up? Is there something wrong with the plan?"

"Hmmm," Her focus shifted away from him. "It's not that per se... It's just..."

"Just?"

She looked back up at him. "The last time we used you as a distraction-"

"Went according to plan." He cut off that line of reasoning.

So that's what was bothering Makoto. He held one of his wrists, rubbing along where the handcuffs had been. His skin had healed long ago, leaving no scar but the memory.

This wasn't the same though. He could handle it. The other teams, one to hack the gate and the other to take out the searchlights, were smaller than he would like already, he couldn't ask one of them to-

"No it didn't," she countered. "It wasn't the plan for them to-"

"There's no cops this time," he affirmed. "At least, not real ones. And the plan isn't to get captured either. First sign of trouble—for any of us—we flee back to a safe area. We'll be fine."

"There is a real one," Makoto replied. "More than one even."

She was talking about the investigator who had revealed his own coworker tailing them and then offered them a deal.

"I don't think he's involved," Ren thought back to their encounter with the drunk man earlier. It was dark, but, "The way he first looked us over... it was like he was seeing most of us for the first time"

"He might know more than he lets on." Makoto argued.

"He probably does." The last few times they had made deals with the authorities, they had considerably more information to go on. It was one of the many reasons they hadn't accepted his offer. "We'll see what Futaba can dig up tonight and change plans if we need to."

Makoto nodded.

"If he's behind this and wants to pin it on us, it's too early to make a move," Ren added. "There must be something bigger they've got planned."

"That's true..." She seemed to be coming around.

"And if he isn't behind this, he's still a cop, let's not give him any more information than we have to."

"Right." Makoto brought one of her hands in front of her lips. "We should probably remind everyone. We're being followed, assuming that wasn't just a setup to gain our trust. It'll be easy for him to gather our identities, but we need to be extra careful entering the Metaverse and mentioning Futaba's hacking."

"I want to keep us a secret too." He spoke it plainly, but he could tell from her face that she understood its importance.

"Oh." She looked down, pausing for a few moments before looking up again. "Is that even possible?"

"Most of the people we know wouldn't give up more to the police than they had to," Ren said. He pressed his lips together and inhaled through his nose. "And everyone at Shujin knows I went home. They might just assume. And, uh... I'd like to believe we're fairly discreet."

He scratched at the back of his neck.

Makoto's eyes shifted away again as a light pink color bloomed on her cheeks. "I suppose it might take them some time to dig up."

"Hopefully by then we'll have dealt with Alice's Jail. They'll lose interest after that."

An infiltration route seemed so close.

"I'm not so sure." Makoto let her arm drop to her side, her other arm crossing over and holding it just above her elbow as she shifted her weight. "We don't fully understand Jails, and... I don't think they'd send Public Security after us if it were just Alice."

"Maybe," he didn't want to admit she was probably right.

He clenched his fists at his side. It was frustrating enough that the police now knew the rest of the team. His trust in Sae-san's skills, the knowledge he was protecting his teammates... it had kept him going through January. Now, however...

Hasegawa hadn't threatened the whole team yet, just him. He probably didn't know what kind of leverage he had with just their identities. If he knew about Makoto, she'd be his first target, possibly Sae-san as well.

Ren forced his hands open. He wouldn't go down without a fight. "But then it's all the more important we don't give them anything."

Makoto sighed. "I know... it's just..."

He waited for her to finish.

"I was really looking forward to spending time together." Her head shrunk in as she said it. She bit her lip. "I-I know we have m-more pressing considerations and it's not-"

Ren wrapped Makoto in his arms, the breathy ghost of a chuckle following once he had her close. She was always so wrapped up in making the 'right' moves. Expressing these 'wrong' ones was still new to her. "Don't feel guilty. I'm disappointed too."

He felt her relax into his embrace.

He exhaled.

He needed this too.

"We'll find ways to sneak around them," he brought one of his hands up her back, stroking her hair. "We're Phantom Thieves after all..."

He felt her nod into his collarbone.

"Hey!" Futaba called out. "What are you two doing back there?"

Makoto stepped back instantly, her face during bright red as she looked side to side. Ren knew that she knew they were out of sight from where the others were seated, or at least, she did before they were interrupted. He wasn't sure whether to sympathize with Makoto's worries or just enjoy her wide-eyed, yet unfounded, horror at possibly being 'caught.'

"S-sorry!" she finally responded, calling back over her shoulder in the general direction of the others. "We were just discussing plans."

Ren tried to ignore the titters of the others. It wasn't like they had seen anything. They could imagine what they wanted.

"Reeeally?" Haru's grin wasn't visible from where they were, but he could hear it. "I thought we had it down."

"Really." Makoto smoothed down her pants as she stepped out of the kitchen alcove, having regained her composure. "We might be set for tomorrow, but Ren and I think we need a plan for dealing with the police from here on out too."

––––– ––––– –––––

It had been tempting to hang by the door to the café, listening, taking a peek from time to time, but Zenkichi knew it was too risky. If he wanted their cooperation, he couldn't get caught spying. Even if their awareness seemed surprisingly low, they were still the Phantom Thieves. They didn't become famous for nothing.

The low budget place within PubSec's allowable rate wasn't nearly as good for information gathering. Heck, it was barely good for writing up case notes. He had considered going back to his loaner desk at headquarters but he didn't want to look like an overachiever. He worked better without his colleagues' ire. Well, without too much of their ire.

He grinned.

Kaburagi was going to rip him one for burning that tail earlier.

At least he had gained quite a bit of intel despite the brevity of his meeting with the Phantom Thieves. For one thing, he had gotten eyes on the whole crew, minus the short one with the oversized helmet.

Some of them he recognized from the case files. The daughter of Okumura. The ward of Madarame. Looking into close contacts is 101 level stuff. They must have been scrutinized further and yet there was little about them in the reports. Was this all given a pass for the frame job orchestrated by Shido or was there something more?

Then there were the others. He didn't recognize them.

Maybe he would go down to headquarters after all.

––––– ––––– –––––

Makoto closed the door to Leblanc behind her. In the brief glance back she allowed herself, she could see Ren's fingers arc in a weak goodbye wave. She had hoped to stay later, but with their new plan she couldn't be seen leaving so late and apart from the rest of the team.

Even the few footsteps of distance between herself and the others might seem suspect. Being too obvious about searching for tails would too. Ren had asked all of them to avoid looking suspicious.

Though it was Ryuji she had first worried about, their loud teammate seemed to have already forgotten to be suspicious, much less look it.

Makoto raised two fingers, briefly bringing them near the closest pane in Leblanc's door before retracting them. It was short enough to seem like nothing, but to her it was an incantation. She couldn't press her fingers to her lips and then bring them to the glass, so until they were safe again, this phantom kiss would have to do.

Ren nodded, closing his eyes as his chin tipped down and opening them again to reveal a certain warmth.

Her message had been received.

––––– ––––– –––––

"Hey Ren," he took Sophia from the pocket of his pajama pants, having gotten used to her asking him things right before bed. He wondered if she stayed awake all night. Perhaps that's why she always wanted answers before he slept. She was so earnest about it, Morgana couldn't even complain. "What did you mean when you asked everyone to keep you and Makoto secret?"

The question took him by surprise, despite being natural given their deal.

"Makoto is my girlfriend," he tried to keep it simple. "But I don't want the police to know."

"Girlfriend. Hm." She raised her chin, like she was thinking. A few moments later, she faced forward again. "I see. So you and Makoto have a romantic or sexual relationship."

"Uh. Yeah." Ren's eyes shifted away. No doubt Sophia had looked up what those words meant, but he had no idea exactly how she had synthesized the results. He certainly wasn't ready to discuss some of the details with an ever-so-innocent AI.

Fortunately, her inquiry led her in a safer direction. "Why does it need to be a secret?"

"I want to protect her." The answer seemed so clear to him.

"A romantic relationship is special," Morgana added. "If the police knew about it, they might put more focus on Makoto."

"Special?" Sophia tilted her head.

Ren considered how it was special. A smile crept up his face and a warmth spread from his chest.

"It means he feels strongly about Makoto," said Morgana.

"But doesn't he feel strongly about all the Phantom Thieves?" Sophia continued.

"I do." They were all important to him. He felt strongly about each one. He enjoyed his time with them and wouldn't hesitate to come to their aid. So what was the difference? He raised his head, trying to put it to words. "I care about Makoto and enjoy being with her like the others, but there are parts of it that are heightened. I feel extra happy or extra relaxed. Sometimes I can't stop thinking about her when she's not around."

His explanation felt clumsy, like he hadn't really expressed all he felt.

So much was meant with a simple "I like her," but Sophia didn't have the context to understand it with just that.

"Oh." Her curiosity took a more sympathetic tone. "So keeping it a secret must make you sad."

"That right," he picked up a pair of movie tickets from the shelf. Ren smiled wistfully.

Dragon: Like a Yakuza, they read.

"But I'm not giving up on everything we planned," he smiled more broadly at Sophia, reassuring her, but mostly himself. His grip on the tickets tightened. "Makoto and I are going to make the most of this summer."

Author's Note: Ever notice that Sophie's part in the 'take down Alice's gate' plan is really tacked on? She is 'also' providing a distraction... elsewhere. She doesn't even appear in the cut scene. Maybe they put that together fairly early on and then had to make it work plot-wise later. I probably would have had her guarding the escape route as a backup and observing since she's not yet used to the team dynamics when they do something this big.

Anyway, I've been wrestling with what to do with my P5S shippy headcanons for a while and finally I'm satisfied with this framing. As a bonus, I get to also play with POV from a character who doesn't know as much as we do.

I'm hoping to keep this chill, aim for shorter chapters, allow myself to do other one-shots in between updates when I want, etc... something that suits the time constraints I have now. We'll see if it works out that way. :)