Good Day Readers! Obviously, I do not own anything connected to the Persona series in general or Persona 5 specifically, I DO own Chiba Natsumi and Anais Ouvrard, along with Natsumi's immediate family members and the original Personas that will be showing up on occasion.
I would appreciate any responses that you have, please enjoy
Chapter 60: - Brief Respite
Ann hadn't slept well, even though she had been slightly exhausted after the hop pot party and the events from earlier in the day, it had taken a very long time for Ann to end up falling asleep, and even then, Ann was certain that she had only dozed. Of course, she wasn't ignorant of the cause behind why she had so much difficult having a decent night's sleep, Ann felt terrible about how she had treated Niijima, but that more because of how it had made Natsumi feel instead of actual guilt towards the accusation she had thrown at Niijima.
Now, Ann wasn't entirely sure if Niijima really wasn't involved with the knowledge of what Kamoshida had done, after all three years can change people in ways that those who knew them beforehand wouldn't be able to understand, if they can't see them during that time, Ann knew from experiences with her parents. But Natsumi was right, it was rather hypocritical of Ann to believe random rumours from people about others when she knew nothing about it, especially since she had been a victim of that very cruelty.
There wasn't any idea about how Ann could go about dealing with such a thing, so after a restless slumber, Ann had hauled herself out of bed and was currently wandering around Shibuya kind of aimlessly at an hour that was totally unreasonable for anyone to be awake at. Or least that was Ann's opinion, but it seemed Natsumi didn't agree as Ann saw the girl step out of the 777 convenience store with a heavy looking bag in hand.
"Hey, it's unlike you to be up this early," Natsumi greeted. She had paused briefly before the greeting and blinked her eyes several times, most likely making sure that Ann was indeed standing in front of her; once reassured of her clarity of sight, Natsumi walked up to the girl with Ann shuffling her feet slightly as her friend drew nearer.
"Yeah, well… I couldn't sleep" Ann admitted. Natsumi remained silent as she looked Ann over, Ann knew that Natsumi no doubt saw the dark circles under her eyes and the slightly dishevelled way that she no doubt looked; Ann wasn't sure how much Natsumi could read from her appearance, but the girl had a terrifying knack for pinpointing things others couldn't see for themselves.
"Walk with me then," Natsumi suggested. That had not been what Ann expected the girl to say but nevertheless, Ann immediately trailed after Natsumi who was calmly yet steadily walking away from the convenience store, yet with no seemingly set destination. "What's eating at you Ann-chan?" Natsumi asked. That had been what Ann expected Natsumi to ask and Ann felt it was probably best to clear the air as much as possible since Ann didn't feel like their conversation in Ren's room had been good enough.
"How I must have made you feel, talking so badly about your friend," Ann answered. Natsumi came to a stop and a sigh escaped her before the dark haired girl turned to look at her blonde friend, Ann saw that there wasn't any judgment in those eyes and instead she seemed concerned that Ann seemed hung up on the incident while Natsumi didn't seem to be thinking much of it.
"Former friend, we drifted apart remember," Natsumi reminded. Yeah, Ann remembered, but that reminder caused a terrible spike of something primordial to shoot through Ann as it roused terrible thoughts to her mind about things that hadn't happened yet; but things that could just as easily come true in only a matter of months.
"Still, it must have been terrible for you," Ann commented. Natsumi made no comment which caused Ann to look at the girl and found that her expression was something that Ann couldn't read, perhaps Natsumi didn't exactly know what she felt. "You know, you remind me a little of Shiho before we got to high school," Ann admitted. This caused Natsumi to look up at her with a different expression.
"How so?" Natsumi wondered. Natsumi proceeded to look at Ann with a curious glint shining within her green eyes, she even pivoted around so that Natsumi could face Ann while continuing their random stroll despite not being able to see where she was going; Ann was always amazed by Natsumi's abilities and wished she could carry herself with the same strength that Natsumi seemed to display so easily in spite of her tormented past.
"I remember one time in middle school, some of the kids and played a mean prank on me and I was trying to hold myself together to not cry. But then Shiho stormed over and yelled at them, I'd never seen her get so angry before. She'd scared those bullies so thoroughly that they never came near me again. You kind of reminded me of her when you yelled at me for hurting your friend," Ann explained. A wistful smile came onto her face, it had really been the first time that Ann had ever seen Shiho so mad, it might have been possible for her to spit fire in that moment.
"Huh. I never would have imagined," Natsumi commented. That was no surprise that Natsumi thought such a thing, Shiho was getting better, but it wouldn't be wrong to sort of think how the Shiho in the hospital was a shadow of her former self, but that was better than the corpse she had been like before the jump and even the corpse that she might have been had the jump ended differently.
"Yeah, the first time Shiho ever spoke to me was to tell me my paintings suck," Ann giggled out. It was a such a joyful memory for Ann to recall, something that buoyed her through the darkest times. "You're both fiercely protective of those you care about and are can be pretty blunt," Ann added on. That was part of what had drawn Ann to try and reach out to Natsumi at first, she just sensed that kindred-ness despite the lack of any actual communication. "Of course, you two couldn't be more different," Ann cheerfully claimed. That was something she had only learned after getting to know Natsumi. "Shiho was such an outgoing person, there wasn't much that got her down, she made it look so easy to smile every day and was always looking for new things to do. Especially when it came to her volleyball playing," Ann rambled. But Ann could feel the tears growing.
"Ann-chan?" Natsumi asked. She suddenly came over and settled a hand on Ann's shoulder, her eyes were hard but a hint of tension wove its' way through Natsumi's expression. "What's wrong?" Natsumi questioned. It seemed that Natsumi easily managed to see through the veneer that Ann was putting up in order to hide how she actually felt.
"I'm scared," Ann spoke. It was so hard to finally admit the thing that had been worrying Ann for so long, but there didn't seem to be a better time for this to come out. "I'm scared that when Shiho moves away, I won't be able to keep my friendship with her," Ann added on. Like you and Niijima were the unspoken words, because there was the serious evidence that it was a definite possibility for them to fall apart.
"That's possible," Natsumi agreed. A shivered raced its' way across Ann's bones at the calm way that Natsumi had spoken those words, however a hand grasped her arm and Ann looked up to see Natsumi standing there. "But I allowed my bond with Makoto to decay, I didn't even try and reach out to her. I don't think you have to worry about that so long as both you and Shiho keep reaching out to each other," Natsumi insisted. However, that brought another fear to the forefront of Ann's mind.
"But what if she doesn't want to keep being my friend?" Ann panicked. That was the thing that Ann had most feared, Shiho seemed to be acting fine and Ann was really trying to keep their connection; but what if once the physiotherapy was over then Shiho decided to cut their connection of, because she hated Ann for the suffering Shiho had to go through under Kamoshida while Ann remained ignorant of what she was going through.
"I… for all my eyes might have insight, I can't see the future. I don't know how Shiho might want to move forward with your bond. But I do know that if you don't try to keep connected to Shiho then you will lose her," Natsumi insisted. Ann looked at Natsumi who was worrying her lower lip as if she was really concerned about not being able to help Ann with her problems.
"Then, what should I do?" Ann wondered. She could practically feel the vibration of her heart against her ribs as she tried to stop the whirling storm of thoughts that was currently plaguing her mind; the scenarios had been haunting her nightmares for the past few weeks and it only seemed to be getting worse, especially since Ann now had concrete proof that distance could destroy her friendship with Shiho.
"Keep showing Shiho you care about her, don't give up because of what ifs and maybes. If Shiho is as blunt as you say then I'm sure she'll let you know if she doesn't want to be your friend anymore," Natsumi reassured. There was such a resolute tone behind her words that it managed to soothe Ann's racing heart and settle her seething mind.
"Thanks, Natsu-chan, I really needed to get that off my chest," Ann admitted. She always seemed to feel better after talking to Natsumi and Ren, they just seemed able to pinpoint the right thing to say to untangle the heavily knotted balls that lodged in her heart; Shiho had been the only one who could do that before, but Ann really wished she could return the favour to her friends, otherwise she was afraid of making the same mistakes that landed Shiho in the hospital after being unable to speak to her.
"Come let, I'll treat you to a crepe," Natsumi suggested. Ann pumped her fist into the air and gave a little jump, they walked over to the nearby shop and Natsumi purchased both of them – despite Ann attempting to stop her – they proceeded to walk away with Ann happily munching away on her chocolate favoured treat when her phone sudden buzzed. Ann finished it out with Natsumi doing the same thing.
Ryūji: Yo, I just checked the Phan-site.
Ryūji: There's some kinda thread on there looking for info about burglars using our name.
Ryūji: Sounds pretty lame to me.
Ann: Oh, I saw that too. They target restaurants, right?
Ann: I actually found a really interesting post on there.
Ann: 'My brother has suddenly started acting violent towards everyone'.
Ann: 'I might end up getting killed at this rate'.
Ann: 'I wonder if it's because he got caught up with all those weird people in Shibuya'.
Natsumi: That sounds concerning.
Ryūji: You think he means those burglars when he's talking about them 'weird people'?
Yusuke: It may be too soon to assume that.
Ann: The post said he started spending a bunch of money lately, too… isn't that kind of suspicious?
Ann: I wonder how many burglar groups there even are in Shibuya.
Ren: This is quite serious; we need to deal with it.
Yusuke: Although how exactly will we go about investigating?
Ann: We'll go to Shibuya in the middle of the night and catch them all red-handed!
Natsumi: No. That's too dangerous.
Ryūji: Yeah, the police'd totally nab us if we were out that late.
Yusuke: Hm, if they target restaurants…
Yusuke: Aha! What if we drew them to LeBlanc?
Ren: No!
Natsumi: Absolutely not!
Ryūji: What!?
Ann: Wouldn't that cause a lot of trouble for Boss?
Yusuke: 'LeBlanc Targeted!' it seems like a viable plan to me.
Ren: I already said no! This is a horrible idea.
Ren: Besides did you forget that you left Sayuri here.
Ren: Any attack would damage it.
Yusuke: Ah, I suppose I forgot.
Ryūji: How'd you forget something that important!?
Ann: Either way…
Ann: I don't really want more thieves to be posing as us in the future.
Ann: I wish there was some way we could make an example of these ones.
Yusuke: At the moment, our lack of info means we will just have to wait.
Natsumi: Do we know the name of the brother that post mentioned?
Natsumi: If he's acting so oddly, maybe there's a Shadow we could interrogate.
Ann: No, no name.
Yusuke: We can continue searching for more information whenever possible, though.
Ann: Yeah.
Ryūji: I'm gonna look for stuff to.
"Good grief, what are we going to do with Yusuke," Ann wondered. Seriously, to have convinced himself of a plan that involved luring criminals to Ren's home, which also happened to be a place important to Natsumi and held the Sayuri was pretty crazy; Natsumi let out an exasperated sigh before shaking her head in disbelief.
"The mind of an artist is a terrifying place to imagine even without a challenge," Natsumi commented. Ann couldn't resist the urge to laugh especially so hard that it felt like her sides threatened to end up slitting. "Anyway, I better get my shopping back home," Natsumi admitted. Ann managed to get her air back and gave her friend a wide smile.
"Yeah, I'm actually going to go Shiho," Ann decided. Natsumi had a relieved expression on her face and the two proceeded to part ways.
*Persona 5 Royal*
Ryūji was walking towards Natsumi's house for a set of exercises for his leg which he was actually looking forward to, but he also needed to vent a little about the current situation. So, he was tapping away on the Phantoms' Chat and personally sent off a message to the rest of the group to see if anyone had a fresh idea for them to tackle this brown-haired problem.
Ryūji: So whaddya wanna do about our next big target?
Yusuke: Well that's sudden.
Ryūji: Well after what that guy said, sitting around doing nothing just pisses me off!
Ann: You're talking about Akechi-kun, right? I know how you feel.
Yusuke: Ah, that high school detective.
Ryūji: He'd hafta shut up if we changed another person's heart.
Ren: I think Natsumi's idea of going after a known criminal is our best bet.
Natsumi: It would certainly prove we aren't cruel or manipulative.
Ann: But he did mention that the police are starting to mobilise.
Ann: Either way, I don't think we should leave Akechi-kun be.
Yusuke: This is the perfect time to meet and discuss what our strategy should be going forward.
Yusuke: Let us gather at the hideout tomorrow.
Ren: Good idea, we do need to talk.
Ryūji slipped his phone away and proceeded to jog towards Natsumi's house, luckily the girl was waiting for him and she lead him towards the dojo which still amazed him even after seeing it. Luckily Natsumi focused him by explaining that she wanted him to do some leg exercises then do some laps around the dojo after stretching in-between. Ryūji had already warmed up before hand, so he quickly grabbed a resistance band.
The blonde haired boy worked through each of the exercises, carefully listening to the special timer that Natsumi had managed to get a hold of to monitor both work periods and rest periods so he didn't skimp or indulge on either side. He worked as hard as he could in order to get his legs as strong as possible, he never wanted to put the team in danger by falling the way he did in Kamoshida's Palace.
"Ryūji, I'm curious as to why you didn't see a physiotherapist after what happened to your leg." Natsumi admitted. That caused Ryūji to flinch despite the stretches he was now doing, in truth he would have loved to have gone to someone to talk about his leg and get it check out properly after Kamoshida had gone as far as to break it, but it wasn't a matter of what he wanted to do more about what could be actually done.
"I can't, they're way too expensive for me and mum to afford," Ryūji answered. His mum worked her whole body to the bone just to ensure she could provide for the two of them, with his scholarship out the window there was no way for him to get anything that could help with him getting better; all that money needed to go where it belonged which was food and bills.
"Still, you should consider it, there's only so much that I can do with Takemi-sensei's advice since she's a regular doctor," Natsumi insisted. But hearing her say something like that, it lit a rage in him that seemed to blaze brightly and he couldn't help the balling of his fists that was caused by the words that Natsumi had spoken.
"But how!?" Ryūji snapped. He stopped doing his stretches and leapt to his feet, towering over the sitting girl, but that was the instant Ryūji realised what he had done and he stumbled back several steps while feeling his blood rush from his face. "Oh shit, sorry Natsumi. I didn't mean to get angry at you," Ryūji apologised.
"It's fine Ryūji, I know you didn't mean it," Natsumi soothed. Ryūji really wondered just how calm she could be after having one of her friends snap at her like he did, but she seemed genuinely unconcerned about it. "I know I'm probably pushing too hard, but… I can't help but think something is holding you back, more than the money issue," Natsumi admitted. That wasn't something he wanted to consider but it was something he already knew the answer to.
"Yeah, it probably is," Ryūji revealed. It wasn't something he'd thought about often, especially now a days since he got involved with the Phantoms, but it had come back to him. "I ran into Nakaoka and Takeishi not too long ago, erm they're some of the track team members. Anyway, they pretty much blamed me for the track team getting disbanded and… they're not really wrong," Ryūji explained. His expression turned down as he curled his hands into fists at the thought.
"No, they are wrong," Natsumi insisted. The cool hardness in Natsumi's voice was enough to make Ryūji lift his head up to look at her and he paused upon seeing how steely her eyes were. "You know that Kamoshida was just using you to get rid of what he didn't want," Natsumi reminded. It was unfortunately the truth, but that still didn't erase the fact that if he hadn't lashed out then maybe things would have been different for the track team.
"Yeah, I know that, but at the same time, I think that maybe… maybe I don't deserve to get better, not at least back then I did," Ryūji admitted. It was something he hadn't ever expressed before, not even to his mum or Ren; but Natsumi's steady piercing gaze almost make it seem like she could coax out the secrets you kept hidden. "I was so angry at Kamoshida… and at myself, I wanted to take that bastard out but I just ended up causing everyone pain. All 'cause I tried to fit in," Ryūji added on.
The timer blared and Ryūji quickly got to moving, he jogged as steadily as he could around the exercise room before slowly getting faster and faster after he completed each lap. He tried to keep his breathing steady, deep breaths through the nose and exhaling through the mouth like he was trained. Eventually the timer blared again and Ryūji steadily slowed himself down instead of stopping immediately. Once stopped, he began to do some stretches.
"Fit in, to what Ryūji?" Natsumi asked. Ryūji stopped the stretches and looked at the weapon's master who had a curious expression on her face as she looked ta him, there was no doubt he would need to explain the thing that he had said to her; in a way Natsumi had always been an outsider… all of them where actually. The only other people who were equally outsiders were Mishima, the red-headed first year everyone was smack talkin' for no reason, Niiijma – despite how much he disliked her, he saw it – and that fluffy haired third year. All the rest had some where they could belong in some way.
"Society I guess, the school and what everyone expects," Ryūji explained. It was something he was just coming to understand, losing the track team had hurt… really bad; it was still a persistent dull ache now, but back then it felt like something irreplaceable had been torn away from him. It was only his mum's enduring love and the sorrow he'd seen on her face that day that had encouraged him to keep moving forward, he might have lashed out in anger but now, Ryūji was just looking for a place to belong for the people who could accept him for all of him, flaws and charms.
"Fit in and lose yourself or stay true to your heart and be cast out, those certainly are tough choices," Natsumi admitted. The phrasing caused a tremble to run down Ryūji's spine as it seemed quite the terrible thing to have to confront; but the blonde punk realised that the expression on Natsumi's was pained and there was no doubt about what had caused that pain now that he knew her history.
"You tried to fit in, to what your bastard uncle wanted out of you," Ryūji realised. It was pretty sickening to hear that Natsumi had actually tried to conform to someone's expectations of her, Ryūji had always figured that Natsumi was completely honest and fiercely independent, but it seemed he was learning new things about Natsumi every time he talked to her; though at least she was free now.
"Pretty much, but I couldn't take it anymore," Natsumi agreed. Ryūji didn't blame her, how soul crushing it must have been to be force into a mould and expected to fit without any way to say no to it. "I actually rather admired you, you know," Natsumi revealed. Those words however, caused Ryūji to miss his footing and he ended up tumbling to his backside while fixing wide brown eyes on Natsumi who looked ready to spring up to move towards him.
"Huh? For real!?" Ryūji exclaimed. He was pretty shocked to hear those words coming from Natsumi who didn't really seem to really have a reason for having any kind of admiration in him, after all what was there to admire about Ryūji who – in his own opinion – was a good for nothin' punk with a short temper and a worse mouth.
"Yes. It was after the track team was disbanded, I took notice of how things were changing and then one day I happened to see you. Your hair was already blonde by them and I actually though it suited you better than your natural black hair. Yet despite how angry you were acting or anything, I never saw a Shadow of you down in Mementos. Shadows are caused by hiding things which means that despite how you were acting there was nothing you were hiding. You were being true to yourself in every way," Natsumi explained. Ryūji pulled himself properly upright.
"Huh? That's er… wow I didn't realise that," Ryūji admitted. He thought for sure he was one mistake away from creating a Shadow but to know that no such thing ever manifested prior to Awakening Captain Kidd was a surprise, but one that he rather liked; to know he was being true to himself even in some small way was a rather great feeling.
"There's a lot of great things about our culture, but I also think we could do relaxing, even just a little for the sake of our future," Natsumi admitted. Ryūji proceeded to look at the girl who had a gaze on her face that made it seem like she wasn't really seeing what was around her and instead seemed to be something else.
"How do you think Natsumi?" Ryūji wondered. It was always kind of amazing to hear the way Natsumi's mind worked, it was like she just had a different mindset to the rest of them, like she just knew things that none of the rest of them were even considering; though judging by the slightly pained expression on her face it was clearly not a good way that she had come by this mindset of hers.
"My uncle is… connected, so I hear things," Natsumi admitted. Seriously, just the mention of that garbage made Ryūji's blood boil; Ouvrard, Madarame and Kamoshida doing this kind of stuff pissed him off, but it was much worse when it was family that did this shit. Made the memories of Ryūji' bastard father come back stronger; he didn't want to wish that kind of experience on anyone.
"You know, if he wasn't such a shitty bastard, I'd suggest talking to him about Ren's record," Ryūji admitted. The mere mentioning of those words left an extremely bitter taste in his mouth which not even the LeBlanc coffee could overcome, heck Ryūji would consider drinking it just to get rid of the vile taste. "But I feel sick at the thought of you being near him after what he did to you," Ryūji added on. A quick look at Natsumi showed that she didn't like the thought of her uncle being close to her either.
"Believe me Ryūji, I've considered it, but he isn't the kind of person who'd do that without expecting some kind of repayment. And I think Ren would be mad if I sold myself for his sake," Natsumi admitted. Yeah, that uncle was scum, Ryūji already had that figured out but if he wasn't even going to try and help one of his niece's friends without wanting some kind of payment… well Ryūji hoped this bastard didn't have kids because they were probably screwed in the head.
"Yeah, Ren's definitely the self-sacrificin' kind of guy," Ryūji agreed. Ren was always so concerned with everyone else around him that it actually made Ryūji worry, sure the guy seemed like an open book, but Ryūji didn't actually know much about Ren's life back in his home town; however, the blonde punk didn't know how to talk to him about it without sounding weird or forced.
They got back to the training and eventually Ryūji came to a halt with a rather satisfied feeling pulsing through his body which was a wonderful feeling that he always ended up getting after an exercise, something that felt like his body was light and bouncy while his mind seemed so much clearer, as if bad thoughts or cobwebs had been dusted out leaving feeling better. After getting a quick clean and change then having some water, Ryūji was ready to leave with Natsumi seeing him out.
"Hey er, Natsumi," Ryūji called. He turned around to look at the girl and she proceeded to do the same with a curious expression on her face at whatever Ryūji had suddenly stopped to ask her. "How do you feel about ramen?" Ryūji asked. The curious expression was quickly replaced by a curl of her lips and pinched expression that clearly showed she was disgusted by the mere thought and it caused a heavy weight to suddenly appear in Ryūji's stomach.
"I don't like the instant stuff, but from a professional the few I've had are quite delicious," Natsumi admitted. That would explain the disgusted expression she had on her face despite it having relaxed after her mind turned to the better stuff, Ryūji didn't really like the instant stuff either something about the taste was just off; but if she liked the stuff made by a master then Ryūji was in luck since that's definitely what Ogikubo was.
"Cool, next time we meet up I'll treat you to some awesome ramen," Ryūji decided. She deserved it for putting up with him, with a quick wave Ryūji ducked out the door and started looking through what he could possibly make without running off for ramen, no matter how good it sounded to actually head for Ogikubo right now.
*Persona 5 Royal*
Morgana padded along to Natsumi's house, she had wanted to speak to him about some information that she had learned and Morgana could only assume that it had to do with their unusual little investigation. Morgana knew that they'd need to keep collecting Arcana information but hopefully Natsumi's research into the origin of the word would give them a better insight into exactly what they were looking at.
"Good evening, Morgana," Natsumi greeted. He leapt in through the window and how the meal Natsumi set up for him, he quite enjoyed being able to come here and enjoy a nice relaxing meal before getting down to business; especially since Natsumi was starting up her laptop which implied that she likely wanted to show up something or reference something for whatever discussion she wished to have.
"Good evening to you to Natsumi," Morgana returned. He leapt over to the desk and heartily devoured the food as Natsumi calmly waited for him to finish up. "What did you want to talk about Natsumi?" Morgana asked. It was finally time to broach the subject that had brought him here tonight, his tail idly flicked back and forth as he spoke his question.
"Well, first of all I've learned that Akechi resonates with the Justice Arcana," Natsumi revealed. Morgana's eyes widened at those words as it was certainly some knew information that they didn't have before, Morgana wondered how Natsumi was able to detect these connections, but it could be that she really just didn't know.
"Interesting," Morgana mused. They were at least one person closer to identifying all of the people who were linked to the Arcana, hopefully they could be able to find out who all the others were; Natsumi briefly tapped away at her laptop before turning back to him, which allowed Morgana to focus on the fact that this was only one thing. "What else have you learned," Morgana probed.
"I checked the etymology of Arcana and its' origin seems to come from the Latin word arcanus which actually means secret, it's also actually a plural word with the singular being arcanum. It seems to be relating to hidden things or mysteries," Natsumi explained. But the more that Natsumi spoke, the more that Morgana would probably have furrowed his eyebrows if he had been in his human form.
"But the Arcana on Shadows aren't hidden, I can see them quite easily actually," Morgana acknowledged. Morgana felt that this definitely wasn't the answer that they were looking for especially since the definition was counter to what he knew about searching for the Arcana; Natsumi tapped way at her laptop, clearly searching for something that might be able to help their efforts.
"That's true. And now that I know what to look for, I can actually get a sense for them myself," Natsumi admitted. Morgana puffed up a little, feeling proud that this investigation had sharpened Natsumi's senses enough for her to be able to determine things if he could not be there to help her or they never encountered the same Shadow. "So, when the origin of the word gave me nothing, I just typed Arcana into the search and this was one of the first hits I ended up getting," Natsumi added on. Natsumi twisted her laptop around to show what had puzzled Natsumi and it confused Morgana just as much.
"Major Arcana… what's that?" Morgana asked. It was rather odd, it held the same word but what was the Major part, why was it considered such? Natsumi spun her laptop back around and quickly started to work on her laptop, clearly knowing how to answer Morgana's question given the focused look on her face instead of the puzzlement he might have expected; Natsumi was brilliant at pre-empting things which certainly made their investigation easier.
"The Major Arcana are apparently one half, kind of, of a Tarot Deck. Now Tarot is apparently used in fortune-telling so I don't know what the connection must be, but I did find something interesting that warrants looking into this," Natsumi explained. Morgana tilted his head to the side as Natsumi tapped away on her laptop before spinning the screen so that Morgana could look at what she found and his eyes widened in shock at the list that Natsumi presented to him.
"Hold on, a lot of these are the Arcana we've already identified!" Morgana exclaimed. Fool, Magician, Emperor, Lovers, Chariot, Death, Hierophant, Hermit, Devil, Priestess, Star, Moon, and Strength. There were many more that Morgana hadn't seen yet, but it was a sure sign of just how on the right track they were coming.
"Yeah, I was surprised to. Now Faith, Councillor and Voyage are absent from this list which means I can't be sure of their connection, but I think this shows the Arcana of the Shadows and the Major Arcana of the Tarot are connected in some manner," Natsumi explained. Even with those three excluded, it was such a shock to see that the Tarot had such an intricate connection to this little mystery of theirs.
"So, we need to understand these Tarot cards more… but how do we go about doing that?" Morgana wondered. It seemed that this was a brilliant deduction done by Natsumi, but simply knowing of this connection was not enough for them to have real answers, the actual meaning behind these cards were likely very important to them getting some answers.
"I already tried looking into it a bit more, but… I couldn't wrap my head around it. After all, the meanings are a bit up to interpretation," Natsumi revealed. She rubbed at the temples of her head as if to ward off a headache; if he could have then Morgana would have frowned since it seemed like they had hit a roadblock despite Natsumi's best efforts. Morgana moved over and gently butted his head against one of her arms, only relenting when Natsumi started stroking his head.
"Which means we need an expert on the Tarot," Morgana decided. That was something that they desperately needed if they wanted to understand what the connection between the slightly less mysterious Arcana, themselves and the Shadows, whatever the meanings where behind these Arcana then this was their best bet at getting some answers. His words caused Natsumi's fingers to stop trailing along his spine.
"Morgana, I hate to be a downer… but where are you going to find a fortune-teller in Tokyo?" Natsumi questioned. A frown was on her lips which implied that Natsumi was truly concerned about the possibility that they might not be able to find someone; but Morgana wasn't going to give up, they were so tantalisingly close to answers that Morgana was determined to keep pushing forward.
"Never underestimate the resourcefulness of a Phantom Thief!" Morgana proudly declared. He was sure that they'd be able to find something, perhaps if he kept following Ren around whenever he went out would lead him to encounter someone who understood the Tarot; whether that be simply traveling to different places or his own wandering when he left Ren to talk to his friends or other associates, perhaps even the news could help him out with finding someone.
"Alright Morgana, I'll leave this in your capable paws. Just don't do anything too crazy, you're our best healer and only Wind wielder so losing you would be a serious blow to us, especially since you're our thieving expert," Natsumi requested. Morgana felt like preening at the compliment that Natsumi was paying towards him; he just hoped that he'd be able to follow through with his declaration of finding answers.
"Of course, Natsumi," Morgana agreed.