July 19th, 2016: Thursday
"I got his name and called you as soon as I could," Akira said, finishing recounting the tale of Oyamada storming into the clinic and demanding Takemi shut it down.
Ryuji Sakamoto leaned against the railing and let out a low whistle. "Sounds like a real piece of shit."
He rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced. "Why just me though? Why not call the rest of the group?"
Morgana popped out of Akira's bag and said, "As much as agreeing with Ryuji makes me physically ill, he has a point. If it's a Mementos request, the team should be here."
"Normally I'd agree," Akira said. "But everyone else is still recovering from Kaneshiro's Palace. I'd go alone if I could, but I have no idea how deep or dangerous it is. I need someone with me to watch my back.."
The corner of his lip ticked upward as he focused on Ryuji. "And it just so happen to I know someone who's always eager to start knocking heads for a good cause."
"You're damn right I am," Ryuji confirmed, nodding once. His shoulder slumped and he shook his head. "I don't know, though… Feels weird. Can't we just wait until everyone is rested?"
"Don't you think I've already tried to tell him that?" Morgana said. He pawed at Akira's face. "But this idiot is adamant that we go down tonight."
Akira tolerated the pawing for about one second before he removed the bag from his shoulder and placed it on the floor, heedless of Morgana's cries of dismay.
"All Oyamada cares for is glory and gold. As long as he can rake in the yen, he doesn't care who he hurts. For him, his position means his word is absolute. Miwa-chan died because he thought he could make a splash and a quick buck, and when that didn't happen he threw Takemi-san under the bus."
Akira took a breath. He needed to calm down, keep his anger in check. It wouldn't serve anyone for him to explode at his teammates.
He would save that for Oyamada's Shadow.
"I don't know how long Takemi-san has before forces outside our control force her hand. The longer we wait, the more likely it is that she'll just shut down the clinic. She's done a lot for us. I think it's time to return the favor."
Akira let out a deep sigh. "To be completely honest, this is a personal matter for me. She's… a friend. I don't like to see my friends hurting."
Both Ryuji and Morgana remained silent for a long moment. Akira knew he was asking a lot right now. The deeper you went into Mementos, the more dangerous it got. Any sane person would say no. Hell, he wasn't going to hold it against them if they did.
Thankfully, no one in the Phantom Thieves was in their right mind.
Ryuji cracked his neck. Morgana flexed his claws.
"When you put it like that..." Ryuji grinned, barring his canines. "...pretty hard to say no."
The Mona-Bus came to a stop after entering the swirling vortex of a distorted individual. As usual, there was only one entity in the center of the room. At a glance it looked nothing more like an old man in a suit with his back turned to them.
It only took an extra second to see the black smoke rising from his feet. There was no doubt in any of their minds; that was Oyamada's Shadow.
"There he is," Mona's voice called out. "How do you want to handle this, Joker?"
"Quickly." Joker opened the door and stepped out of the van. "Painfully."
Skull planted his feet on the twisted subway ground and lazily swung his barbed-wire bat in a circle. He grinned and looked over at the Shadow. "That's cold, Joker. Sounds like you're gonna enjoy this."
The Mona-Bus disappeared in a puff of smoke as plain-old-Mona stood in its place. He rested his scimitar on his shoulder and rubbed at his nose. "Just be sure to not let your anger get the better of you, Joker. He's a bit tougher than our usual affair, and one slip-up is all it would take."
Joker didn't respond. He moved towards Oyamada's Shadow without further comment. Skull and Mona shared a look, but Skull just shrugged it off and followed his leader.
All three began making their way towards the adversary, Joker taking the lead. The Shadow cackled and muttered to itself, "Everyone is trash…!"
It perked up and turned around, revealing those glowing yellow eyes and vacant expression. "You! You should all be begging me to examine you! I'm a man of wealth and power! Be grateful I have enough compassion to-!"
Normally, the order of operation was to let the Shadow vent before it transformed and then they would attack. Sometimes they'd try talking to it, and that might work, but it would usually end with them just beating down their opponent.
The Shadow would return to its human form, apologize, then dissipate and go back to whoever's heart it was from.
This time, Joker didn't stop his stride. He just kept walking, even as Skull and Mona stopped for the usual, and decked Oyamada right in the face as hard as he could.
Oyamada's Shadow was thrown back several feet, landing with a thud and clutching a broken nose oozing black blood. It hollowed in rage and pain, filling the space.
Behind Joker, Skull let out a subdued, "Dude…"
Unfettered, Joker silently motioned for the Shadow to get back on its feet with a gesture.
"You little brat!" Oyamada's Shadow clambered back to its feet and glared daggers at Joker. His eyes widened before his mouth twisted into a perverse smile. "You're that kid at Takemi's, aren't you? You know she was soooo depressed about that little girl dying. Has she quit being a doctor yet?"
It cackled with glee, clearly relishing the pain the real Oyamada was inflicting.
"She won't quit. She's stronger than that," Joker said firmly. He placed his fist in his palm and cracked his knuckles. "You on the other hand? Consider this your resignation."
"You-?! How dare you talk to your superior like that?!" Oyamada snarled and clutched its head. "I diagnose you with 'severe arrogance with no chance of recovery'! I better-!"
Another interruption, this time with a rock beaned directly into his forehead.
Joker looked back over his shoulder and saw Skull already prepared to lob another one, bouncing it up and down in his hand. He shrugged. "What? You said you wanted this done quick."
"How uncivilized," Mona bemoaned.
Oyamada howled again and didn't wait to transform this time. He exploded into a black mist and emerged as a baboon holding a book and wearing a top hat. It screamed at the three of them and waved its book around.
"Time to administer some medicine!" the Shadow cried out.
Three glowing orbs of purple light appeared above the three Phantom Thieves and Joker knew immediately what was coming. He leapt back as the Megido slammed into the ground, leaving a smoking crater where he once stood.
"Shit!" Skull cried out, diving forward to avoid the explosion meant for him.
Mona leapt forward, evading the attack with lightning fast speed.
Joker landed on his feet and gritted his teeth. This was a Thoth. He knew the normal ones he had seen throughout Futaba's Palace and Mementos were weak to Psychic skills, but he didn't have any on hand at the moment.
A stupid mistake. One he would make sure not to repeat in the future.
For now, he stuck with his go-to. He searched inward, deep inside of himself, and grabbed hold of his inner will. As always, it was there, eager to be let out.
He ripped his mask from his face and called out, "Arsene!"
The mask burst into flames and from the cinders came a large, red figure, with feathered wings and a large top-hat upon its head. A rictus grin was etched onto its horned face as it laughed and sent tendrils of dark energy towards Oyamada.
Thoth wasn't weak to the dark energy that was innate to Arsene, though neither was he resistant. It struck Oyamada square in the chest, sending it flying backwards and onto the floor.
Joker grinned. Arsene had come a long way since he had first acquired him, thanks to certain training and those Skill Cards they had kept finding throughout their adventures.
Skull scrambled to his feet and rushed forward. He called out, "Mona! Fastball Special!"
Mona let out a sigh. "I hate the Fastball Special!"
"I'll buy you sushi after!"
In a flash, Mona was right behind Skull. "One Fastball Special coming up!"
Skull skidded to a stop and ripped off his own mask, summoning a large, monkey-like Persona riding atop a cloud and wielding a large staff.
Seiten Taisei scooped up Mona with its free hand, reared back, and chucked the feline Phantom Thief at Oyamada's Shadow. As the ape-like shadow was getting to its feet, Mona turned himself into a flying buzzsaw and sliced straight through it.
Oyamada cried out in agony, but it could not reflect on its predicament for long. A lightning bolt crashed down on top of him, sending currents of electricity throughout him.
Skull pumped his fist as Seiten Taisei mimicked the gesture.
Oyamada was stunned, sacrificing a chance for his counterattack. A stroke of luck for them, as Joker and Skull exchanged a look. They both nodded and rushed the Shadow together.
They moved as one, a well-oiled machine. Whenever Joker landed an attack, Skull followed it up immediately with another. Neither called upon their Persona. They didn't need it.
A slash of the knife. A bludgeoning with a bat. Oyamada didn't stand a chance against them.
Out of nowhere, Mona leapt up atop Skull's head and used him as a trampoline, gaining more air. "Zoro!" he called out.
A larger, mustachioed man dressed in all black wielding a sword appeared. With a flick of his wrist, a large gust of wind crashed down on Oyamada, sending him to the floor.
"Hey!" Skull cried out, rubbing the top of his head. "That was ours!"
Mona landed in front of him and shrugged. He sneered, "It's called teamwork, Skull. Try not to cry about it."
"Vital signs… Dropping…" the Shadow groaned, getting to his feet.
Without warning, Arsene appeared in front of it, grabbed it by the head, and slammed it directly into the ground.
He didn't stop there. He lifted him up, and slammed his head down again. And again. And again and again and again.
Arsene disappeared in a burst of blue flames, replaced by Joker, standing over Oyamada's broken form. He lifted his boot and stomped directly onto the Shadow's head.
"Please… stop…" the Shadow pleaded. Joker stepped back as the Thoth disappeared into Oyamada's human form in the real world. The frail old man held up his hands. "I beg of you… Please have mercy!"
His pleads would go unanswered.
Joker grabbed him by the back of his suit collar, picked him up off the floor, and threw him against the wall. As Oyamada was rebounding off the wall, Joker wasted no time in slugging him across the face.
"Woah!" Skull exclaimed.
Mona stepped forward. "Joker?!"
Joker didn't let Oyamada fall to the ground, grabbing him by the tie, bringing him back up, and cracking him across the nose. Blood began dripping from his nostrils as he was grabbed by the lapels and slammed into the wall.
"Why?" Joker seethed. "You sent a little girl to die. You threw Takemi to the wolves for your failure. Why?"
"I… I want to help people… I promise. I truly want to take care of my patients." Oyamada let out a mirthless chuckle. "But I want to go down in history doing it. Is it so wrong to make an impact on the medical world?"
"Then do it on your own merits," Joker said, tightening his grip.
"That would be the proper thing to do," he admitted. "But the truth is… I'm a mediocre doctor at best. Those promotions only came from connections I had at the university. Oh, but Takemi, she was the best of us. She spearheaded a cure for an illness as rare as that. She had everything… everything I ever wanted…"
"That's what this was for?" Joker grit his teeth. "Jealousy?"
"Why should she have everything?!" Oyamada shouted. He stopped and laughed without mirth. "Yes… it was jealousy. So as the senior doctor, I tried to take all the credit for her new drug. She didn't care. She just wanted to save lives…"
"And because of you , the one person she wanted to save died."
"Yes…"
It would be so easy. To just move his hands over his neck, apply a little pressure, and turn. The snap would be satisfying. It would be a fitting fate for scum like him.
…But Takemi wouldn't want that. Whether he liked it or not, Akira wouldn't want it either. He just wasn't a killer.
So, he let Oyamada fall to the floor, and took a step back. The tension left him as he took a few deep breaths before he said, "You're going to return to yourself. You're going to confess your crimes. You're going to back off of Takemi. And every night, you're going to remember it was her that saved your life here tonight. Understand?"
Oyamada sat there, staring down at his shoes.
Joker turned and began walking away, barely noticing the stunned expressions on Skull and Mona's faces. "Let's go. We're done here."
"She's alive."
He stopped in his tracks, whipping around. "What did you say?"
"Takemi's patient… I thought she wouldn't recover, so I had her moved to hospice. Her parents wanted a second opinion and took her to a different hospital. It would've made us look bad, so I lied. She won't have much time left, but Takemi is an amazing doctor. She can save her."
Joker couldn't believe what he was hearing. Miwa-chan was alive?
In a flash, Oyamada disappeared, leaving behind a Skill Card slowly floating to the ground. It was quickly abandoned as Joker turned tail and practically sprinted for the exit.
"What the-?" Skull ran after him. "Dude, where are you going?!"
"Joker!" Mona called out.
"I need to tell Takemi," he said quickly, stopping in front of the red, swirling mass. "She has to know."
"It's the middle of the night, dude," Skull pointed out. "She's probably asleep or… not in the mood for visitors, I don't know!"
Mona slid in front of Joker, stopping his advance. "Listen, I know you want to help her, but let's not rush into anything. Say you do tell her Miwa is alive. Isn't she going to think that's suspicious? She's going to ask questions and she's going to figure out who we are. It's bad enough that Kawakami-sensei knows about us, but do you really want to add one more to the list?"
He was right, of course. They both were. Takemi needed time. Hell, he needed time. It wouldn't serve anyone to just barrel into her clinic half-cocked and ready to burst on adrenaline.
Didn't mean he had to like it.
Joker took a deep breath. "Damn it…"
Skull placed a hand on his shoulder. "It'll be okay, man. Everything'll work out in the end."
"But the longer we wait-"
"Hey, none of that shit," Skull demanded. "It'll be okay. I mean, we beat the bad guy, yeah? The rest is just, I dunno, clean up and shit."
"There is something wrong with the world when you start making sense, ape."
"Haha, screw you too."
As they walked towards the vortex,Skull leaned over and whispered, "Hey man, I gotta ask, but what was that about, man? I've never seen you fly off the handle like that before."
Joker spared him a glance. Morgana said nothing.
"I don't like seeing my friends hurt."
Skull nodded, satisfied with the answer. "Good to know you got my back if a shitbird like that comes after me."
That was the truth, Akira knew. His friends would never have to doubt that he'd be the first to leap to their defense.
But for all he knew it shouldn't be, he'd never be able to consider Tae as just a friend.
God.
He really was an idiot.