Persona 5: Daywatch

Wednesday, 24 August 2016
Morning
Inokashira Park

Ryuji huffed sharp, even breaths in and out as he pushed through his day's practice. The heat wave pressed down on him, but also discouraged most people and gave him a much more empty park where he could push his limits. It wasn't as good as having a running buddy, but Makoto wasn't interested and Akira still looked off his game at the end of dart night. Sometimes he really wished Akira picked up on Ann's hints and was banging her, at least the problem would've been sorted out by now.

Breath in, breath out. There is no heat.

The path fell behind him, the world a phantom he left behind by sheer grit.

He slowed to a stop for a water break. The smell of pork and toasted sesame seeds infiltrated his nose. A new food cart vendor? He followed his nose to one of the busier paths under a willow tree and found a wrinkled woman with knobby fingers at a grill cart. Then his phone on his upper-arm-wrap buzzed. Ryuji waved the next pedestrian ahead and stepped aside.

Akira messaged the Phantom Thief group chat. [Morgana: Enough rest time has passed, people need to know even the smaller problems aren't too small for us. Who's ready for Mementos today?]

Futaba texted, [Ready flag up!]

Ryuji tapped away. [Working out, but all I'd need to do is shower and meet you at Mementos.] He frowned at the way auto-correct changed 'Mementos' to 'Memory'. As if the guys didn't give him grief for getting words wrong once in a while already.

[I've caught up on student council paperwork,] Makoto sent.

No sign of Ann, but her ID wasn't lit up. Maybe working?

Hifumi's ID lit up. [My session with the physical trainer doesn't end until 14:00.]

Wow. The leggiest girl in the Phantom thieves was still in the chat while Akira was in, she hadn't done that since Saturday.

Akira texted, [Morgana: Then is everybody good to rally at Station Square, 14:30?]

Three dots danced next to Akira's ID. Hifumi's went dark as she logged off, and the dots disappeared from Akira's ID.

Afternoon
Chiyoda, Togo Home

Legs sore from the day of intense workout, Hifumi paced down the street lined with manicured hedges and decorated property walls giving the homes a measure of privacy. She turned the corner to her home and froze. A police car sat in front of her house, with a black car parked along the street behind it. She fished in her purse for her phone, worry overriding the embarrassment that had been keeping her from the rest of the Phantom Thieves. The group chat had been quiet since Ann's text at lunch, apologizing for being at a shoot for her agency today, followed by a supply shopping list by Akira with some questions and suggestions from the others. [There's a police cruiser in front of my house.]

Makoto texted, [Akira and I are cooking. We'll be there in ten.]

As she got closer, she could hear Antalas barking from the back yard. Hifumi hiked her purse further up her shoulder and dashed around the driveway to the back of the house. The garage was closed, but she could hear the husky's paws scratching at the back porch as he raced from one window to the next. She punched in the code to the gate and slipped through.

Antalas dashed to her side, woofed up at her as if to ask what was going on, then spun to the back door and resumed barking.

She checked one of the security apps on her phone, but there was no sign of unauthorized entry to the house. Knowing her key fob would work from her pocket, she left it and opened the back door.

Antalas' barking jumped in intensity and he shot at the door, letting loose a more threatening bark than she'd heard from him in months.

"Hifumi?" Mitsuyo's voice called from the dining room. "Leave him outside so he doesn't cause trouble."

Her heart leaping in her chest, Hifumi had just enough presence of mind to push Antalas outside before closing the back door and dashing to the dining room. "Mother, you're up!" It took her a beat to process the policeman in blue, and two men in suits at the table next to her. A scattering of papers littered the table between them.

One of the suited men gave her a dismissive nod. "It's all right, Togo-chan. These policemen aren't pressing charges against the rest of the Togo household."

It took Hifumi a beat to recognize that voice as one of Mother's lawyers, though she'd only heard him over the phone before. "What's going on? What are police doing here?"

Mother looked up, the light makeup not quite hiding some puffiness around her eyes. "Please, just a moment." She stood and reached out to her daughter. "I'm so sorry, Hifumi. I hoped to have questions and plans finished before you returned home. But I had to make it right."

Hifumi returned the rare hug from Mother. A red flag rose in her mind at Mother's mention of plans, because that was so much Mother. "What are you talking about? Mom, what are all of them doing here?"

Heaviness settled across Mother's frame as she squeezed the girl close for a beat. "I wouldn't be a good person, much less good mother, if I didn't pay for the wrongs I've done. There are so many things I need to do." She squeezed the girl a moment longer, then let her go. "And you deserve a better role model. Please read my letter to Shinpei when they let him out of the clinic. It's on the vanity in our bedroom." She turned to the police. "Could we finish this at the station? My daughter had nothing to do with my actions. I was the one who orchestrated everything."

The policeman in blue glanced to the suited man yet to be identified, who gave a nod. The uniformed policeman stood and gestured to the door. "We'll have to hold you separately from the general population until protective custody can be organized."

"General population? Protective custody?" Pain stabbed at her skull as she fought off realization. She blinked back tears. "No. Mother, I just got you back! You can't go!"

The front doorbell rang and Antalas burst into renewed barking. Mother sighed. "Could you send whoever it is away?"

Hifumi paced to the front to head off whatever new dimension this disaster of a day was spinning into. She opened the door to a rolling wave of summer heat. Akira stood beyond, breathing hard, sweat beading across his face. She hadn't even asked for him and he ran all the way here.

They looked across the threshold at each other and it took a beat before she felt tears trailing down her cheeks. A heartbeat later, he jumped in and threw his strong arms around her.

Too soon after, Mother came around the turn in the hall. Her sullen despondence melted into a hardened glare and she stormed closer. "You get away from my daughter!"

Leaving an arm around Akira to steady herself, Hifumi turned to the head of the house. Her heart changed, why was she still harping on him? "Mother! Aki's done nothing but help me!"

Resolve unwavering, Mother took a firm step closer and she spoke over the barking, "You don't know him. Assault… runaway… violence against his family…" Her piercing gaze fell on the sweating boy. "You'll hurt her. And I will end you for it."

"He wouldn't!"

Mother's lawyer came up next to her. "Togo-san, we already have to deal with enough charges."

Mother's glare held on the transfer student. "You aren't worthy of my daughter."

She felt Akira flinch at her words, and his arm fell from her waist. He took in a brief breath before he forced himself to stand straighter. "No, ma'am. I'm not. She's smarter than me, more spiritually attuned, has a more honorable family." He swallowed. "But when she calls, I can't help but answer."

"Togo-san?" the uniformed policeman said as he came to a stop next to Mother. "The interview must be finished, either here or at the station. The Kaneshiro task force has a lot of ground to cover."

A pained look crossed Mother's face before she looked from Akira to the officer. "I understand."

"Well, I don't!" Hifumi shouted. She wiped at the tears trailing down her face.

Mother's lawyer took a step closer, maddening pity in his eyes. "Your mother is pleading guilty to fraud, conspiracy to commit assault, and several other charges in exchange for her testimony against Kaneshiro's money laundering operation."

Mother reached out and rested a gentle hand on Hifumi's shoulder. The firm control and detailed plans the strategist knew her for mixed with shining in her eyes she'd never seen before. "I'm sorry. But this is a fate I wrote for myself when I treated you and other children like pawns." Her hand squeezed before she stepped around, then walked past Makoto just coming up to the porch. The police and lawyer followed her out.

Makoto stepped in, closing the door behind her as cars started outside, commiseration writ across her face. "This is an outcome we all knew was—"

Hifumi spun around though Akira held her back as she exploded, "I wanted my family back, not gone!"

Akira nudged her around and held her through her sobbing. After what felt like an eternity, she straightened up – though didn't step back from his arms. "Could you get her some water?"

Hifumi's independence warred with a growing exhaustion. She couldn't deny it anymore – Mother was gone. Would be for a long time. Hifumi had all the independence she wanted and more. Letting a breath out, she leaned against Akira and gave Makoto directions to the kitchen. "Why does life have to be so clear after the fact?"

He rubbed a hand at the small of her back. "You're regretting changing your mother's heart?"

She wanted to say yes, but Dihya rumbled within. "Something was coming to a head. I wouldn't have survived under her for much longer, she was getting worse. It's losing her… or not being able to mend our relationship that I think I regret most. I didn't even get to properly introduce you." She brushed her fingers against the string dangling from her hair knot. "Did I tell you when I started wearing this?"

"Your mother gave it to you during… some kind of celebration," Akira answered.

"Children's Day," she said, tightening the arm still around him. "I was starting to go with Papa to his shogi tournaments, which could take me pretty far from Tokyo, and she wanted me to have a good luck charm to remember our better days together." She began to tremble from another round of crying clawing its way out of her.

Akira tightened his arms around her and waited with a patience she hadn't earned.

Hifumi didn't want to disengage from his warm support, but her legs felt like noodles. "Can we take this to the dining room? I need to sit down."

Akira's arms tightened around her. "Too much for one day?"

She gestured around the corner to the dining hall, and held an arm around his shoulders to keep from slipping to the floor. "Today was leg day and I think I overestimated myself." Once there, despite wanting to stay in his warm embrace, Hifumi settled into a chair. When she noticed Makoto standing there with a glass of water, Hifumi wiped at her eyes. "I must apologize to you both. No, to all of you—"

"Enough," Makoto said with firm authority. "There's no need to hold a formal front to us. We're all friends in the same boat." She stepped forward to offer the half-full glass. "I'm scared about what will happen to Big Sis once we can reach her Shadow, too."

Overcome with concern, Hifumi reached out to clasp the class president's hands holding the glass. "Oh, Makoto-san, I'm so sorry that we've been neglecting you. Has she hurt you?"

Makoto released the glass with one hand to take one of Hifumi's. Smiling as she shook her head, she pushed the glass at the other girl. "I'm fine, thanks to all of you. She is so hyper-focused on her work she isn't even home most days." She released the glass to the shogi player's hands, then clasped hers over Hifumi's. "Right now, you are the one we're all worried about."

Hifumi let loose a laugh sounding more of nervousness than relief, but couldn't help but feel buoyed up by the two Phantom Thieves who came running. "You are too much." She wiped at her face. "I must look a mess right now."

Akira offered her a beige, folded handkerchief and took the chair next to hers. "Still beautiful to me."

"Um…" Makoto's eyes flicked to Akira. "I was going to recommend you explain about your mother, but if you two are already fine talking, I'll just head out." She headed for the dining room door.

Lowering his arm, Akira raised a palm to wipe his forehead, his cheeks flushed red.

Hifumi scanned his growing hunch and way his stormy grey eyes wouldn't meet hers. She put a hand on his cheek to angle his face to her. "Did your mother wrong you, as well?"

His eyes, on hers for just a moment, flicked away. "This isn't about my—"

"Yes it is," Makoto said, stepping back in. "The events of your life with your mother shaped who you are. Don't let them shape an unhappy future just because she was selfish. Whatever happened Saturday affected us enough that Futaba, Ann, and Yusuke contacted me." She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Do you want me to go—?"

"No, Inaba was the worst of my mother and you already saw that," Akira said, gesturing a hand to another chair.

"What do you mean?" Hifumi looked back and forth, which took more effort now that the others sat on either side of her. Envy stoked the sense of heat in her belly that Makoto knew secrets about Akira which she didn't. "How did you see his mother?"

Makoto clasped her hands on the table. "Hifumi, do you remember some of the memory-exhibits in your mother's Palace?" She waited for a nod. "Some of them earlier in the Palace had video screens like you might see at a higher-end museum. They'd kind of… pull you in and you experience a brief clip of the palace ruler's memory. There were more of that… draw-you-in kind and none of the static museum-display types in Futaba's Palace. One of the cognitions shot Akira, and put him into a trap where instead of reliving a brief moment in the Palace Ruler's memory, it forced him to relive moments in his memory that correlated with the Palace Ruler's pain – her mother. Well, for this trap, his mother. I had to… enter that trap. It took me several memories before I could get him to perceive me, then several more before he remembered we were all Phantom Thieves and he was stuck in a trap instead of back in that moment of his life." Makoto cringed. "You see… Akira's mother had a fixation with, um…"

"Hedonism," Akira snapped. "Let's call it what it is. She drank like a fish, spent every weekend partying it up somewhere else, and fucked any man who caught her eye. Hell, that was her job when she met my old man. She chose it."

Hifumi stared down at her hands in her lap, twisting as if she could wrestle her self-disgust. "No wonder you found me odious."

"Odious?"

The air felt thinner and her neck itched, but Hifumi forced her hands to stay in her lap. "I've had seven boyfriends before, I'm no different than—"

Akira took her hand with his. "Hifumi, who wouldn't want you? You're as kind as the canonized Saints, and as beautiful as you are smart."

That heat pooling inside decided to move to her face and she took her hand from his. "I'm not nearly so smart as I… was made to appear. I've had a lot of time to think. Since Mother pointed it out, my opponents often made mistakes that no strategically honed mind would fall into. If I was really so smart, I would have acknowledged it before. That just makes me arrogant."

Makoto patted the other girl's shoulder. "Hifumi, anyone can be fooled by the right gambit. And a lot of people won't pry into a flawed story that requires us to acknowledge faults in ourselves. I know that from personal experience. I was a member of Shujin's student council, but I was so afraid of being demerited, I didn't look into things even after several girls on the volleyball team left the school. I told myself I couldn't have done anything for Shiho-kun after we learned she was… assaulted by Kamoshida, but I knew. Suspected. The same thing happened to my student council rival, Kiriko-san, last year. I could have done something for her, but she had that magnetic personality that just pulled people in and I hated that she could do that. So I let her go to him, unwarned, and coasted into the student council president spot she would have beaten me in any fair election for."

Hifumi straightened in her chair. "I don't believe that. But even if you were that kind of Makoto, that's not the Makoto with Johanna here and now. You're strong and brave and I think you'd even go up against the Diet if you saw injustice there."

Makoto failed to fight down a shy smile. "Well, you aren't arrogant. You're one of the kindest, most humble people I know." Then her smile spread and those crimson eyes locked on Akira. "And that's been rubbing off on Akira, so let me be the first of us to say thank you for being a positive example he actually listens to."

Hifumi folded her hands in her lap to resist the urge to fidget in front of them. "You mentioned contact with glimpses of memories of Palace Rulers. What… did you see through Mother's eyes of myself and…?" It became too hard to keep her eyes on him and she swallowed against a tightness in her throat. "And my… other boyfriends?"

Makoto leaned against the table. "All of the ones I saw involving you were after you joined us."

Akira's face dusted with an adorable blush. "I… snuck in shortly after we first entered Futaba's palace. Ryuji and Morgana snuck in after me – the original plan was to scout on my own. Anyway, we found a fortified building where most of your mother's memories of you were. We saw you and Kazuo."

Hifumi closed her eyes, shame bringing heat to her face. Of course it would be the one most likely to look worst from the outside. He loved kissing almost as much as she did. "My last boyfriend before I started Kosei and Mother forbade me from dating. He didn't care for my taste in literature, but was so nice."

Akira stared down at his gloved hands, their steel grey like a reflection of his eyes.

Makoto stood and settled the chair back at the tall, western-style table. "I'll leave if you'd rather finish talking things out with just each other, but… would you two mind telling me what exactly happened on Saturday? I went straight home before the rest of you left the clinic."

Hifumi looked to him and they both blushed, then averted their gaze. "We… kissed."

Akira straightened on his chair. "You stuck your tongue in my mouth."

Makoto tilted her head. "You guys are already frenching?"

Eyes falling, Akira's blush went from a dusting on his cheeks to a solid coloration across his face. "Is that some kind of euphamism for sex?"

Despite the weighty aura of their conversation, Hifumi couldn't hold in her laughter. Makoto was the one who always said she felt ignorant of the wider world, the shogi player didn't think the adroit boy would be even less informed. Hifumi smothered her laughter when he retreated in his seat. "Akira, it's another word for french kissing. It's just a… passionate… kiss," she trailed off as she realized, she and Akira had never shared a decorous kiss. She bowed in her seat. "I'm sorry, Aki. It had been so long since I had a boyfriend, I went right back to where I left off."

Makoto shifted behind the shogi player.

Akira scowled at the class president. "Oh, don't act like you're some kind of expert."

Makoto covered her mouth too late to hide her smirk. "The student council did have a rather extensive supplementary briefing on the code of conduct, particularly what acts are considered appropriate while in school uniform and what are not. That just happened to be one." Makoto clasped her hands behind her back. "I just never really thought much about how valid it is to call an action appropriate or not until now, just whether it was prescribed. Well, it looks like the incident on Saturday is behind us, however you two decide to go about it. I have pasta soaking that I don't want to congeal into a single mass." She gave a brief bow and departed.

When the transfer student began to rise to follow, Hifumi grabbed his wrist. "Akira. I need to know the unvarnished truth." Her eyes searched him, taking the anxious pinch to his shoulder blades and clench of his jaw as she sorted through the many answers she wanted. "Purity is important to a lot of people and the fact that I couldn't give you my first kiss… You didn't push me away because… I was too much like your mother?"

"What?" He recoiled, which was a feat given he already sat down. "No!"

She didn't need Dihya to tell her he put out a big deception flag. "Then what?"

He glanced up and reached a gloved hand to her, but not all the way. "Hifumi, I wasn't afraid you'd be like my mother. I was afraid I was going to act like her." He let out a breath and braced against the table. "I was ready to tear your clothes off and fuck you in the street. That was how… out of it I was with the way you made me feel. And I've never done good things when I'm that…"

She reached out to rest a hand on his. "Vulnerable?"

"Not in control of myself?" he said, those stormy eyes down. At least he wasn't withdrawing from her touch.

Hifumi sorted through the myriad thoughts competing in her head. "Maybe we can treat this as a learning experience and try to take things slower in the future?" The air felt thick, and he hadn't responded. "I mean, as long as you still want there to be an… us?"

Her heart soared when his hand turned and squeezed hers.

Wednesday, 24 August 2016
Late Evening
Yongen, Leblanc Loft

Creaking reached his ears and Morgana sat up from his work replacing the homunculi wiped out by a single volley of Shadows. He didn't want to be seen crafting precision instruments, but also didn't want to stop until he had at least one for each Phantom Thief. Joker ascended the stairs, his hair still damp and his old clothes slung over a shoulder. The leader added a few finishing touches. This wouldn't be enough for all the Phantom Thieves, but would do for the vanguard team. "What a day! Another Palace Ruler's heart changed, and the impact of defeating Medjed is continuing to spread." With Nightrider recounting Phantom Thief fan pages even in other languages, that meant they were going to be noticed by people outside Japan.

Joker paced to the laundry basket and tossed his dirty clothes in, then changed into his threadbare summer sleeping clothes and knelt before the tiny poster of Mary holding the body of Jesus. The usual hunch of his shoulders wasn't here today, and his breaths came in a deeper, more steady rhythm than the team leader had seen in weeks.

The leader decided to give Joker a few minutes to pray. He popped into Oracle's room occasionally to check on the rest of the team, but had been dedicating his time to replacing homunculi so he wouldn't risk losing a Phantom Thief again. After Hawk texted the group about police in front of her house, Joker predictably bolted and Rider stayed just long enough to turn off the stove before Hawk's mother was carted away by the police and tears gave way to a conversation he felt guilty for listening in on. Once Joker crossed himself, Morgana asked, "So, what do you think of today?"

Joker stood, sent out a text, then plugged his phone in and set it down. "I've got a long road ahead of me. But I think… now I have a path to take. I have a place."

Morgana jumped onto the wide sill and paced across it, hopping past the blowing AC unit. "Having a place… it sounds so simple, but it means so much." He sat down to try to hide the twitching in the tip of his tail. "All of you have a history to ground you. Even you, as turbulent as it was. When we get close to a Treasure, sometimes I get… a feeling. Like hearing an echo of something long ago. When we were fighting Shadow Togo… I got this flash. Maybe a memory." He looked up, unable to hide the drooping to his ears or tail. "What if I'm not human?"

"Hm. You're right, I'm not sure you score high enough on the weirdness meter to be human."

"Don't be half-assed about this," Morgana snapped. "I'm the only one who can turn into a car. I can sniff out Treasures. I have more memories of dodging Shadows in Mementos than I do of grilled corn or gym class or shopping and all the things that you guys share."

Joker's phone buzzed, but he left it there to hold his stare with the team leader. "Morgana, you lost memories as a result of succumbing to some Palace Ruler's dominion before you awakened to your Persona. You get hungry and have favorites and struggle against imperious adults for a better tomorrow. If that's not human, I think most humans don't measure up. You even speak Japanese, how could that have happened if you were a cat?" He stretched an arm. "You remember when I nominated you to be our leader?"

Morgana wrapped his tail around his feet. "I remember nominating you. Then you reversed it."

"Because you're the one who made all this possible." Joker crossed his legs and turned to face the leader straight on. "You saved Ann and I – hell, including all the other times we've fought together you've saved everyone's butt a dozen times. You're reliable and even though your emotions fuel you, they don't consume you like mine do. You're always on the look out for corruption, but to scour it away and not nuke it from orbit like I would. You always keep hope, not just in our teammates but even in the scumbags whose hearts we're trying to change. You believed people could be better even before we did it the first time."

Morgana felt a smile despite himself. He puffed out his chest. "Well, somebody has to be the reliable one. Might as well be the Phantom Thieves' premier dashing gentleman." He hopped across Joker's knees, to the floor, then to the cushion serving as his bed on the bottom of the shelf. "Now go to sleep. We'll want to be at the top of our game when we go to Mementos for real tomorrow. We can consult Rider and Hawk then."