Makoto awakens, Morgana talks, Ren listens, and Sae questions.

[10/01, The Present Day]

She was alone in a dark, quiet, cold place. Faint, unintelligible whispers were reaching her ears and she felt the chill of that place crawl up her spine, freezing her from the inside out.

Then, she felt a warm sense of safety blanketing her.

She could hear the voices getting louder.

"She will soon be as good as new." An unfamiliar voice spoke, echoing in the void.

"Thank you." Another responded, this one more familiar.

Useless.

"Makoto?"

A few moments later, she opened her eyes. She was in an unfamiliar room, and could feel a mild sense of confusion lacing her thoughts. She tried to sit up but felt slightly dizzy and a little achy.

"Hey, easy there." That voice soothed her out.

Makoto blinked. Was that…?

"S-sis?"

Her sister rushed to her side to help stabilize her balance, and was rubbing comforting circles on her back. Makoto closed her eyes and leaned on her elder sister.

"Here, let's get you settled again. Should I call the nurse?"

The younger Niijima shook her head. "No, it's ok, I… What happened? The last thing I remember was-"

Sae beat her to the punch. "Not here. We can talk about this later. Right now, my concern is making sure you are healed enough to come home."

"Oh…" She hadn't heard this much concern and attention in Sae's voice for a long time now.The brunette's eyes stung, but she forced the incoming tears down.

"Alright sis…"

Sae sat back down on her chair. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore… Hurts a bit when I move, but I think I will be okay."

"Good." Her sister replied.

They remained in an awkward silence for a little bit, then Sae got up from her chair. "I'm going to speak to the doctors to see about getting you discharged. For now, just rest up."

The prosecutor left to do her task. Now that she was a bit more alert, Makoto realized she felt absolutely awful and devastated .

She had ruined things. Makoto didn't know how her sister took her awakening, or how they managed to escape the palace. The others were also unaware of what happened.

The girl shut her eyes tightly.
'This is all my fault.'

She was broken out of her self loathing by a nurse and her sister walking back inside the room.

The nurse greeted her with a kind smile. "Hello Niijima-chan, let's check you over, then get you out of that bed. Alright?"

On the other side of town, Morgana just exited the train station and went on his way to Leblanc.

The cafe was deserted at that early hour, with Boss nowhere in sight. It meant that he and Ren could have this conversation alone without a chance of Futaba bursting in on it.

Skipping over the steps and reaching the attic, he spotted Ren sprawled on his bed. Morgana rushed to him and jumped on his chest.

"Wake up loser, it's code red!"

After being prescribed some pain medicine and other care instructions, Makoto was discharged from the hospital. The drive home was quiet, neither of the sisters knowing what to say to the other.

The younger girl seemed downcast, for obvious reasons. Sae was feeling on edge, but tried to keep her frustrations down.

"We're almost home. I called Shujin and told them you won't be at school for a few days next week."

This jolted Makoto out of her misery. "But I am fine now! I have council duties and I need to keep up with my studies!"

Sae scoffed. "You could pass entrance exams tomorrow if you wanted, I have seen your grades. Don't worry about it, rest."

"I don't wanna sit around at home, doing nothing, feeling useless!" Makoto let out, shocking them both into silence.

A few seconds later, the girl fidgeted, as if regretting her outburst. "Sorry."

Sae just sighed. "...It's okay."

Makoto seemed like she wanted to say more in response, but deflated instead.

A feeling of helplessness and awkwardness sat within them both, but whereas Makoto was doing a poor job of hiding her unease, Sae put on her usual neutral mask.

Ren was drinking his morning coffee while shooting dark looks at Morgana, who was devouring his food. Couldn't he have woken him up a little more gently?

Sporting a bump on his left forehead from when he got startled out of bed and accidentally hit it, Ren looked at Morgana expectantly.

"This better be good. For once, I was having a dream that didn't involve a long nosed dude and a pair of grade schoolers bullying my ass off."

Morgana blinked.

"And this one was a good dream, I tell you." Ren's mouth curled in a goofy smile.

The not-cat shuddered. "I'm not gonna ask. Besides, I'm here to report on that mission."

Ren's entire demeanor got serious at his companion's words. He looked around knowing very well Futaba had bugged the place, so he motioned with his head for them to head upstairs.

After they got settled, Ren went right to business "Alright. What happened?"

Morgana looked visibly upset. "You're not going to like it."

Ren pinched his nose and sighed. "That bad, huh?"

"Enough that I had to do some damage control of my own." The cat spoke with a serious tone.

"Alright, hit me with it."

"You were right to worry. Last night, I was watching over Makoto's home when I noticed that there was a suspicious car parked not too far away from there. Inside it was Makoto's sister waiting to catch her sneaking away."

Ren already looked grave. Morgana was right, he didn't like where this was going.

"Queen decided that of all the days to sneak away, it was going to be last night. Her sister followed, and so did I." Morgana said somberly.

Ren's heart skipped a bit, dreading what he'd say next.

"Makoto's destination was the Courthouse."

"Oh Makoto…" Ren whispered. Morgana didn't even have to finish it. There could only be one kind of purpose for that visit.

Morgana continued. "I tried to prevent it, but I was too late. Queen brought us all into a palace. Her sister's palace, specifically."

Ren clenched his fist with worry. Morgana too looked upset.

"She was so focused on scouting the place on her own that she didn't notice us and charged ahead before I could stop her."

"Did Niijima-san spot you?"

The cat shook his head. "I hid away from her sister too, because I thought I could get to Queen first. That way she and I would've found a way to take her sister out of the Metaverse without implicating us."

The leader of the Phantom Thieves had several questions already brewing in his mind but he knew that he had to listen to the entire story first.

"Miss Niijima entered her own palace unimpeded, but I had to infiltrate it. The palace's shadows were much stronger than what we found in previous heists. I also didn't find either of them at first, but I found a cognitive version of Makoto, who looked much younger. Turns out, she was a very non-hostile, independent cognition. She helped me out."

Ren smiled at that small comfort. At least it meant the elder Niijima deep down cared for her sister. Hearing she was acting on her own was an intriguing concept, but Ren had to focus on Morgana for now.

"I found them after checking the security feed. Shadow Niijima had both sisters captured and was conducting some sort of trial. Guessing from what I watched, Sae Niijima was the accused, and Queen was being restrained by the shadows."

A wave of worry hit the leader of the Phantom Thieves.

Morgana paused and sighed. "I blew up my cover and tried to get to them. Some shadows got into my way, and I was almost a goner too but then the shadows disappeared, and I heard a scream."

The not cat looked at Ren's eyes. "Sae Niijima had awakened her persona, and that was probably the only reason we made out alive in time. Cognitive Makoto helped us out by showing us an escape route."

Ren looked at the ceiling, contemplating Morgana's words.

"We arrived in the real world, and we took Makoto to stay overnight at a hospital."

"What!? Is she alright!?" The boy asked, concerned for his girlfriend.

"According to her sister yesterday, yes. She went to check on Makoto this morning, they should be home soon."

The leader of the Phantom Thieves nodded, relieved to hear she was recovering.

"Miss Niijima invited me to her place and I gave her a crash course on the Metaverse. Thanks to the events of last night, she is aware that Makoto and I are Phantom Thieves, but doesn't know who or how many others there are in the team." The cat finished his tale.

Ren sighed and fiddled with his glasses. "It's a matter of time before she finds out."

In other words, they were screwed.

Makoto was his second in command, so she should've known that going inside a palace alone was a bad idea. Not only was he feeling disappointed and sad that Makoto thought she had to do this on her own, but he was also afraid of what it could mean for him and everyone else. She ended up compromising the team.

The cat seemed to think the same as Ren. "I know, she was reckless and I'm not very happy with her decisions either, but I would be a hypocrite if I berated her too much for it."

The boy stared at the wall, unsure of what to say to his companion.

"Hey, we might still have some room to work through this, though." Morgana said, noticing his friend was beginning to despair.

"How so?"

"Well for starters, I managed to secure a deal with Miss Niijima. She won't do anything with the information she has learned until she fully hears us out. Since she has a persona now, I think we can reason with her and prove that we have nothing to do with the mental shutdowns."

"Thanks Morgana. I knew you were the right man for the mission. I didn't know it would be this bad, but I am glad it didn't turn out much worse." The boy said in response, sounding a little relieved.

Morgana tapped Ren's phone to bring his friend's attention to it. "We need to contact her and set up a meeting as soon as possible. Here-"

Morgana fiddled with his collar with an unnatural nimbleness for a cat, revealing a piece of paper with a number on it. "This is how we can contact her."

Ren adjusted his glasses. With his record, there was a chance things might go poorly between him and the prosecutor, but he had no choice. Morgana bought the team some time and he had to use it well.

'I hope this doesn't backfire on us.'

"Well, before we do that, I need to contact the team and set up a meeting to explain the situation. Me, yourself and Makoto will be in the line of fire now, but I must make sure everyone else will be safe if the worst happens."

"Agreed." The not-cat spoke, nodding solemnly.

Considering how to break this to the others without causing another rift in the group, Ren decided to just drag everyone into a new group chat, minus Makoto.

[Nasty Crime Boy added Bonehead, Ann T and 3 others to the chat.]

[Nasty Crime Boy renamed the chat to "Code Red"]

[Nasty Crime Boy: We have an emergency.

[Bonehead: what the eff man it's too damn early

[Ann T : Ryuji it's literally a school day, you should be up anyways

[Alibaba: I didn't even go to sleep lmao.

[Fursona User: Oh my what a coincidence. I did not fall asleep either. The urge to paint did not allow me.

[Alibaba: only you inari

[Haru Okumura: Good morning!

[Fursona User: Good morning senpai.

[Ann T : Morning Haru!

[Alibaba: \(-)/ Haruuuu

[Haru Okumura: Why is Mako-chan not in the group chat?

[Alibaba: Oh yeah lol I don't see her, are we gonna do something illicit or

[Alibaba: u just forgot to add her?

[Nasty Crime Boy: No, it's on purpose. She's the reason behind this chat.

[Nasty Crime Boy: Like I said, it's an emergency, and it involves her.

[Ann T : Oh no that sounds serious :(

[Bonehead: Dude

[Haru Okumura: What happened?

[Nasty Crime Boy: It's a long story and I prefer to tell everyone in person. Can you guys come straight to Leblanc after school?

[Bonehead: U bet man

[Haru Okumura: Yes, of course!

[Ann T : Sure thing

[Fursona User: I was looking forward to finally sleeping after school but I understand this is an emergency.

[Alibaba: Inari, just drink some coffee and u gonna be wired to draw more after rofl

[Alibaba: I'll be there too fam

[Bonehead: Yo, shouldn't we at least check on Makoto?

[Nasty Crime Boy: Please, don't contact her for now. You should respond if she gets in touch, but other than that, leave her be.

[Nasty Crime Boy: I need to discuss what happened with everyone present first. It's a long story.

[Ann T : omg Ren ure worrying me :(

[Nasty Crime Boy: I know, sorry. I promise I'll explain soon.

Sae helped Makoto out of the car and up the elevator. Once inside their home, Makoto got settled on their living room couch, and Sae went to retrieve her little sister's supply bag.

"Here, you had this with you last night."

"Thanks sis…" Her sister muttered, quietly.

The elder Niijima could see Makoto hesitating to unlock her phone, probably worried about something or someone.

'The other thieves, no doubt.' A traitorous part of her mind whispered bitterly.

"So… What happened after I passed out?" Makoto inquired.

Sae mulled over her question. "Your friend Morgana and my cognitive version of yourself helped us out of the palace."

The younger Niijima seemed taken aback. "Morgana? But how?"

"You tell me. He was already there by the time I finished awakening my persona."

Makoto's eyes widened. "Right, you have a persona now…"

"Yes."

Another awkward silence ensued. Makoto was looking more and more anxious, and Sae herself was not doing too well either.

Pushing down her own feelings in the matter, Sae decided to make an exit before she said something she regretted again. "I have to get to work. You'll be okay here on your own?"

The younger girl looked away, as if realizing her sister was trying to escape from her. "...Yes, don't worry about me."

Sae sighed. "Call me if you need anything."

She grabbed her keys. Just as she was making her way out and reaching for the front door, Makoto's voice stopped her.

"Sae. I'm sorry. This is all my fault."

Still holding the doorknob, the elder sister tensed.

"Makoto, we have a lot of things to talk about..." She started in a quiet voice.

"I know…" The other girl trailed off nervously.

Still frozen in her position, Sae continued. "But right now... Right now I only have one question. Why? Why did you join the Phantom Thieves?"

She turned. Makoto hung her head low, as if in shame.

At the lack of response, Sae lost her temper.

"Answer me!"

Hold judgment. It is not time yet.

At Leviathan's warning, the prosecutor backed away. Makoto was shaking like a leaf, on the verge of crying.

Control yourself.

"Dammit." Sae let out, frustrated.

She then hugged herself, feeling awful for yelling at her sister. "I'm sorry Mako. I didn't mean to yell at you. We don't have to talk about this right now."

Makoto continued to look upset. the younger girl was hurt, and had already been made a punching bag last night by Sae's own shadow. The older woman promised to herself she would stop taking it out on her baby sister, but was doing a poor job of managing her anger.

'Why is this so hard?'

Sae knew that she had to reassure her that everything was going to be fine.

She let out a deep breath, and tried again. "Look, I am not going to do anything about this situation. Not yet. Morgana and I made a deal, and for your sake, I will keep my word."

"Y-you will?" Makoto asked with a tinge of hope.

Sae looked offended that her sister wouldn't believe her right away, but she couldn't blame her after the disastrous night they both had endured.

"Yes. I promise."

Hearing these words, Makoto got up, and launched herself at Sae, hugging her tightly.

"Sis…" She cried out in apparent relief.

Sae just patted her on her head. "We'll talk more when I'm back from work. For now, rest."

Ren arrived at Leblanc after school, still feeling a little lost and sad because of Makoto.

Ever since Morgana told him what happened, his mind has been racing. He still couldn't fathom that his Makoto would do something so irresponsible, and put her, himself and the others at risk. She could've died in that place and he would never know, never get to say goodbye to her.

Even though their romantic relationship was very new and he had been afraid of scaring her off with his intense feelings, he knew that Makoto was it for him.

At the moment, however, he was feeling betrayed, a little angry and also scared of what would come next. He was already on thin ice due to his probation and a single misstep would ruin his and his friend's lives forever.

Ren had to salvage this, and hoped that Sae Niijima loved her own sister enough to help him achieve that.

He was shaken out of his confused musings as a flurry of bright orange and dark green burst into the attic.

"Yo, What is going on? What happened to Makoto!?" Futaba rushed her words out, looking scared.

Makoto and Futaba had grown closer since the older girl's caring nature broke down some of the hacker's barriers, giving her a role of honorary big sister to Futaba. Her concern for her was more than understandable.

"Hey, slow down. It's going to be okay." Ren soothed her. "I'll explain soon."

The bespectacled girl looked uneasy, but tried to relax at the boy's words. She sat down on Ren's bed and started petting Morgana, who had approached to comfort her.

One by one, the thieves arrived, feeling curious and concerned at their leader's secrecy. When Yusuke made his appearance, and everyone was settled, Ren and Morgana nodded to each other.

The leader of the Phantom Thieves got down to business.

"Alright team. Something happened last night, and it involved Makoto. More specifically, Makoto and something she has been bottling up for a while now…"

Going back to work so she could avoid Makoto was the worst decision that Sae Niijima made that morning.

She was acting out of sorts, listless, her head far away from her actual environment. Sae couldn't even properly pretend to be her work obsessed self any longer, or maintain a facade to avoid drawing unwanted attention. She was trying, of course, but it was very difficult.

A few people already noticed. A couple of her coworkers that greeted her with fake pleasantries didn't even wait for her to get out of hearing distance before dispensing gossip on her strange behavior that morning.

"I heard she was suspended by the director yesterday, what is she doing here?"

"She looks tense, you think she lost a case to someone else?"

"Maybe she got dumped on a date."

"What, Niijima? No way, she's a frigid bitch."

"I mean, she's hot. I think I can chat her up."

"Hah, keep dreaming!"

"Come on, I bet she plays hard to get but is pretty desperate. She ain't getting any."

"Shut up man, she'd humiliate you in front of the entire office then proceed to kiss the director's ass."

Sae merely clenched her teeth, then continued on her way, chin up, tossing stern looks at her coworkers. She knew that she probably deserved a few mean spirited comments, specially the ones regarding her work ethics and disregard for others. Still, it didn't mean she wanted to put up with the remaining sexist comments that followed up such criticisms.

Reaching the safety of her office and sitting down on her chair, Sae let out a relieved breath, and started to survey her paperwork tossed haphazardly across her desk. Most of them were cases her boss had been pestering her about before he abruptly dismissed her for the weekend.

'For no reason, too.'

She groaned, covering her face with her hands, not believing that she chose to come back to this bullshit at the first chance she got.

She knew that her co-workers were pretending to be nice to her, when in fact they talked about her behind her back. Besides that, her boss Ishikawa was a difficult man. He was hard to please and very temperamental behind his facade of a calm and collected man.

She expected to have a hard time going back to do her job as usual after everything that transpired in her palace. What she didn't expect was that this newfound clarity in her life would make her want to rip her hair out, let a few people know what she really thought of them, and then promptly hand in her resignation.

'I could, but I'm not a quitter.' She thought.

It was going to be a long day.

In all honesty, Sae was indeed suspended until monday, and she actually shouldn't be at the office, she knew that.

She should be at home with Makoto.

She should be making her baby sister some company, overseeing her recovery, clearing the air up and hearing her out, making sense of all that happened. But she wasn't.

Instead, Sae Niijima did what she always did best: Run from her problems. The silver haired woman hated that not even awakening to a persona could change her from being such a coward.

Her mind was a mess of emotions. Thrown off balance and confused, Sae was afraid to face the consequences of her "trial", even though she vowed to change.

She was still having a hard time accepting the fantastical aspects of the metaverse - as someone who was an intellectually gifted skeptic, the things explained by cognitive psience were still too insane to wrap her mind about.

Sae also didn't know how to feel about everything that happened. Makoto and herself betrayed each other. Makoto, by lying and joining the Phantom Thieves, leaving her sister to drown. And Sae for treating her sister like a nuisance, ignoring her uncles and everyone around her, then acting utterly corrupt.

Her mind kept running in circles, her emotions fluctuating. All in all, too much to unpack, and she needed time to process, time to take it all in, or else she could do something she'd regret in haste.

For now though, she had to pretend that nothing was amiss in front of the vultures she called coworkers.

You could hear a pin drop in the attic of Leblanc after the leader of the Phantom Thieves finished debriefing his companions.

"Wow that was… I don't know what to say…" Ann started, sounding unsure.

Yusuke shook his head. "I cannot believe someone as level headed as Makoto would do something so foolish…"

Ann sighed. "I mean, this is the same girl that rushed into a Mafia hideout, so...Yeah."

Ren winced, remembering the whole Kaneshiro fiasco. Another tense silence ensued.

Ryuji suddenly slammed his hand on the table, finally exploding. "This is bullshit man! What if her sister comes after us!?"

"Ryuji, calm down!" Ann glared at him, while gently hugging Futaba, who got startled at his outburst. Ryuji looked away ashamed and muttered a quiet 'sorry'.

Haru, who held the most eerie poker face, crossed her arms and let out an exasperated breath. "What are your thoughts, leader?"

Ren removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes to ease his discomfort. "I have to be blunt. What Makoto did was wrong, and will jeopardize the team's future if we don't work something out with her sister."

They all looked at each other, grave and disappointed.

"Fortunately for us, I don't believe all is lost. Morgana has a plan."

The not-cat looked at everyone, determined. "Yes. I secured a deal with the prosecutor lady. She will hear Joker, myself and Queen out. I'm hoping us three can convince her of our justice, and sway her to our side. Who knows, maybe we can even have another powerful ally in our ranks." He finished, awaiting the input of the others.

"That sounds like a gamble…" Haru spoke with uncertainty in her voice.

Futaba seemed to agree. "Yeah, and she also pretty much harassed Sojiro. That lady is kind of a bully. Even if she has a persona now, she seems like a tough nut to crack."

Yusuke hummed in apparent agreement, and Ann pursed her lips, contemplating.

Ryuji however, shrugged his shoulders. "Eff it, it's worth the try. I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but the cat is right, this might just save our asses if we pull it off!"

Morgana narrowed his eyes. "I'm not a cat! Besides, of course we are going to pull this off! Who do you think we are, numbskull!?

"Can it cat! I'm on your side, dammit!"

The two continued to bicker, unintentionally breaking the tense mood. Ann just rolled her eyes and proceeded to split the two apart.

"Alright, you two, knock it off!"

As the others continued to bicker, Ren pulled his phone out of his pocket.

Makoto thought she was going to die last night and couldn't bear the thought of lying to her sister in her final moments.

'But by telling her the truth, I threw my friends to the dogs.'

'I'm useless.'

She was glad Morgana was there, even if she had no idea how he found her secret out or how he managed to convince her sister to give them a chance.

Makoto had expected her sister to lock her and her friends away if she ever learned they were Phantom Thieves.

She wouldn't be able to live with herself if the others got caught because of her foolishness, especially Ren-kun, who would be hurt the most by her actions.

'Ren-kun must hate me now.'

'The others will hate me too.'

As if sensing Makoto's spiraling thoughts, her phone buzzed. She nervously unlocked her screen and read the message.

It was from Ren.

[Ren-kun: How are you feeling? Heard from Mona you had a rough night.

Makoto typed nervously.

[Makoto Niijima: You don't hate me?

[Ren-kun: What? no, of course not.

[Ren-kun: But I'm sad that you chose to deal with this all by yourself. What you did was extremely reckless.

[Makoto Niijima: I'm so sorry Ren, I know I don't deserve to be on the team after this.

[Ren-kun: Hold up, let me finish. I am disappointed with your actions, yes, but I don't hate you. I could never hate you, you're my girlfriend.

[Ren-kun: We just need to properly navigate this crisis.

[Makoto Niijima: I really don't deserve you…

[Ren-kun: Hey, none of that. We'll talk about this in depth later.

[Ren-kun: And you still didn't answer my question. How are you feeling?

[Makoto Niijima: I'm a little sore, but I'll live. Sis told me to take a few days off from school to rest up.

[Ren-kun: That's good. I gotta go now. Get well soon, ok? I love you 3

[Makoto Niijima: Ok, love you too… 3

She put her phone away, and then realized she had been crying the entire time she was texting Ren back. Whether she was crying out of fear or relief, she didn't know.

As soon as his friends left with promises to give Makoto some space and to wait for an update from him, Ren turned to Morgana.

"I think we should contact Niijima-san now and ask for a meeting this evening, just between us three."

Morgana looked surprised, then scratched his ear. "Hmm that's why you waited for everyone to go home?"

Ren nodded. "Yeah, while they need to be aware of the situation, they don't need to be in the direct line of fire. We can do this first meeting just to gauge her reaction. Worst comes to worst, it's just me caught in the fire."

Morgana huffed. "This is starting to become a mess with all the secrecy."

Ren just shrugged "It is what it is. I promise that if we pull this off, I will gather everyone, including the sisters, and air out everything in one go so that we can all reach an understanding."

"I really hope this doesn't backfire on us, Joker." Morgana said, resigned.

Sae was eventually summoned to director's Ishikawa's office.

She was kicked out again, of course. This time however, she decided to not fight against his orders, grabbed some papers and went to the parking lot, not paying any mind to the whispers that followed her departure.

Word had already spread in the office that the director was concerned for her wellbeing and reinforced her "time off" from work with a few more days into next week, something unusual for a government worker, especially in Japan.

'Concerned, my ass. He probably just wanted to do something without my scrutiny.' She thought, finally catching on to the director's suspicious behavior.

The prosecutor wanted to slap herself multiple times. She had been so obsessed and distorted these past few months that the director's deliberate choices and orders completely flew off her radar. Now that she has awakened, things have been clearer than ever.

The first thing she noted was that there was no way she could ever solve the cases without knowledge of the metaverse. Her rough understanding of cognitive psience, mentioned only due to Wakaba Isshiki's passing, would not be enough to uncover the actual involvement of the metaverse.

She was doomed to fail.

Secondly, her boss had been overtly nudging her towards catching the phantom thieves at all costs, but in doing so, he switched her focus from the original shutdown cases. It made her wonder just how much that man really knew.

Putting everything into perspective, his actions were more than suspicious. He was making her ignore other evidence and connections that she has been working on for the past year or so. He even put her up with covering up some of that evidence.

And what was even more maddening, was the fact that she still didn't know just who she had been aiding and abetting when doing such cover ups. It made no sense, to the point of her previous obliviousness now seeming rather ridiculous. How does she just not know ?

Everything just sounded terribly convoluted, filled with conjectures and what ifs, driving her mad.

'If only Odawara-sensei was still here, then things wouldn't have gotten to this point.'

She was broken out of her conflicting thoughts by a notification coming from her phone. She unlocked the screen and saw an unfamiliar contact number.

[Unknown Number: Greetings Niijima-san. I am Joker. Pleased to make your acquaintance.

Her eyebrows raised, and her eyes narrowed, she tossed the folder with some work papers on the passenger seat through the window, then leaned against her car.

Sae swiftly replied, not caring whether she came off as rude.

[Sae Niijima: I trust that Morgana has explained the situation?

[Unknown Number: Of course, ma'am. We had a brief team meeting, and now we'd like to request a meeting to resolve this situation.

[Sae Niijima: Yes, I'd like that as well. Face to face, preferably. Bring Morgana as well.

[Sae Niijima: And before you jump to conclusions, the meeting will be on my terms.

[Sae Niijima: If you try to breach any of those terms, I am going to make your life very complicated. Is that clear?

[Unknown Number: Crystal. Send me the details and I will comply.

[Sae Niijima: Excellent. I will text you a follow up shortly.

[Sae Niijima: And one more thing. Do not mention any of this to Makoto.

[Unknown Number: I don't believe I hold the cards here, ma'am. I will do as you say.

She texted them the address of a bar in Shinjuku, then let out a tired sigh.

She had a can of worms to open regarding the Phantom Thieves, and her sister's involvement with them. She hopes that, for their sake, for Makoto's, for her own, that this Joker individual could prove to her that the Phantom Thieves have nothing to do with the mental shutdowns.

Life was great for one Goro Akechi. While his fans turned their backs on him thanks to his controversial opinions on the Phantom Thieves, his plans to dethrone his bastard father were going as perfectly calculated as he wanted them to be, running with exact measured precision.

In the meantime, he could enjoy some new treats, his food review blog could use more leads and visits.

'And I could certainly go for more pancakes.'

Goro was, of course, not so conceited to the point of thinking he was that perfect. On the contrary, he knew for a fact that every single detail of his life other than the disgusting tragedy of his birth and familial circumstances were carefully crafted to adhere to a certain vision.

The Second Detective Prince was as fake as one could be. Underneath that construct of a charismatic, bright and successful boy, lurked something ugly.

Something that had its fair share of rage, envy and callousness. He was willing to go far, too far, just to make Shido pay.

Goro was a byproduct of his mother's helplessness and the ruthlessness and selfishness of that man. Every single sin he had performed could only be traced back to Masayoshi Shido.

After all of this is said and done, he has no idea of what he will do. He was inclined to merely disappear via the metaverse.

'Well, problems for future Goro.'

For now though, he could admit. That attic trash Amamiya and his merry band of imbeciles had been a genuine surprise. He didn't expect to see their ranks expand so fast. They even roped that silly girl Okumura into their shenanigans.

Goro smiled, remembering the photo evidence he had of the Phantom Thieves entering Okumura's palace.

Now they just had to go for the final stretch. Once Okumura was dead, he could finally take the spotlight and puppeteer them into doing his bidding.

As he made his way out, Goro continued to fantasize about the glorious outcome of his plans. That is, until something made his steps falter.

Sae Niijima could be seen in the parking lot, leaning just outside her car. Now, normally, seeing her around was not uncommon. Niijima practically lived at her workplace.

Except, she seemed to be staring into her phone, with a tired and pensive face, none of her usual edge present. Goro hasn't ever seen her this lost in thought before.

He cautiously approached.

"Niijima-san, I'm surprised you're still out here. Didn't the director give you the weekend off?"

Sae looked up upon hearing his voice. "I just dropped by to check a few things."

Akechi grunted in acknowledgement. She merely sighed.

"Are you alright? You seem… Tense." Goro asked with his usual tinge of fake concern.

Sae let out a humorless chuckle. "I'm feeling stressed out as always."

Then her countenance changed to a very strange look he didn't know the woman was capable of making.

"Although…" She started, trailing off.

Goro raised an eyebrow. "Although what ?"

"...Do you wonder if this case is ever gonna reach a conclusion at all? No matter where I look, no matter the leads I follow or the evidence that I get my hands on… It always feels like the goalpost is being moved away from my grasp. What is even the point of this whole investigation when I feel like I am being played for a fool?" She muttered bitterly.

Akechi let out a surprised gasp, this one genuine. "What an odd perspective, coming from you! It sounds like such an unexpected abrupt turn from your usual driven self."

She seemed to ignore his thinly veiled barb. "Well, perhaps it is, Akechi-kun. But I feel like, for the first time in my life, my eyes are being opened to the folly of this operation."

"Sae-san, I never took you for a defeatist." He stated, scandalized.

Sae scoffed. "I'm being a realist. But, regardless of my personal feelings, I will continue to do my work."

Goro nodded in acknowledgement. "Well, I'm glad to hear that. We can't let things like emotion and self doubt get in the way of our work, after all."

"True." She said neutrally, ignoring his obvious condescending attitude.

"And you, just wrapped up for the day?" She asked casually. Goro couldn't tell whether or not she was genuinely interested or just making polite conversation.

"Yes, I was just on my way to the train station, in fact."

"You want a ride?" She offered in that diplomatic way where in truth you hope the person says 'no' in response.

"I'll have to pass, I'm meeting up with a few friends."

Sae nodded. "Well, I won't hold you up much longer then. I'll see you in a few days."

She waved at him and got into her car, starting the engine. As soon as she left the parking lot, Goro's mask of pleasantry dropped instantly.

Niijima would never show that much weakness or doubts in front of a colleague. The woman had too much pride to display such vulnerabilities openly, especially to someone she arrogantly deemed a child.

'Something happened.'

Not wasting another time, the second Detective Prince discreetly made his way to a secluded spot, far away from anyone to risk bringing unwanted visitors.

'It's better to be safe than sorry.'

He brought up the metanav.

"Sae Niijima. Courthouse. Casino."

"Match not found. Destination has been deleted."

He froze, staring at his phone in disbelief, not processing what just happened.

Genuinely stupefied. Goro tried again.

"Sae Niijima. Courthouse. Casino."

"Match not found. Destination has been deleted."

His hands began to shake. He had to put a fist to his mouth to prevent himself from screaming.

His plans, his carefully laid plans. They were gone.

He NEEDED this palace. This was the last piece of the puzzle, his trump card to finally put Shido in his place.

But it was gone.

Gone.

He took in deep breaths.

What happened? It made no sense, a few days ago this palace was still in place.

Did Sae have a change of heart?

Did that little bitch Makoto finally grow enough spine to take on her sister's palace?

How? Sae didn't come to him or anyone else within the force about a calling card. The Phantom Thieves were too busy with Okumura's palace at the moment to take down Sae Niijima.

Unless…

Unless something else happened.

'No, that's too preposterous.

That foolish woman would never have enough guts to stumble upon the metaverse and awaken a persona.

That left a natural change of heart. It was possible. Unlikely, because she had a big distortion enough to form a palace, but not entirely impossible if the source of said distortion went away naturally in the real world.

Goro was seething. This development ruined everything. His entire endgame plan hinged on this palace existing.

They haven't even finished Okumura's palace, he was sure. After he kills the head of Big Bang Burger, the window of opportunity will be too narrow.

He'll have to seek another palace to lay down his entire trap once more. One that had a strategic position and a strong personal motivation for the Thieves to invest a heist in. Niijima would've been the perfect stage for his play in that regard.

But it was now gone.

Closing his eyes and taking deep breaths, Goro tried to calm himself down. He refused to back down. He'd have to improvise, but no matter what, he'd see his plan through.

We will see it through.

To be Continued…