A thief, a cat and a prosecutor walk into a bar. Left to her own devices, Makoto starts to wonder.

[10/01, The Present Day - Evening]

A lone teenager walked at a sedate pace across the streets of Asia's biggest red light district. After passing by several crossings, twists and turns, dodging suspicious characters and ignoring insistent sellers, the boy arrived at his destination.

Ren Amamiya was both relieved and conflicted that she chose to meet him at an establishment that he had some familiarity with. The Crossroads, a place that was special to him, since this is where he asked Makoto out.

'I'll be your study partner.'

A bittersweet smile crossed his lips. Tonight, he could not let his guard down. Too much was at stake.

He swiftly stopped by the bar and greeted Lala-chan, who smiled back at him.

"Evening, Lala-chan. I have to meet someone here tonight. She wants me to order a non-alcoholic drink." He said, following a certain someone's instructions and signals to the letter.

Lala-chan looks surprised. Then, she pursed her lips and signaled for him to come with her.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Amamiya-kun."

Ren merely threw her a reassuring smile and followed. She led him to one of the private areas usually reserved for the high paying customers. It was secluded and discreet enough, and they were mostly alone.

There, sitting across from him with a cold, sneering look was Makoto's elder sister, Sae Niijima.

Well, damn. Up close, the woman was certainly drop dead gorgeous.

However, the severe expression and her rotten personality made her come across as one of the ugliest people he have ever met in his life.

The prosecutor's gaze immediately zeroed on him. Lala-chan soon left, and Ren sat down.

Ren had crossed paths with Sae a couple of times before whenever she dropped by Leblanc for a cup of coffee, and that one unsavory time she came to threaten to charge Sojiro with domestic abuse. Not the best first impressions.

She knew who he was by face, and judging by her narrowing gaze, she already connected the dots.

"You're that boy Sojiro Sakura has taken in for the year, aren't you? The one with a criminal record."

He held back a scowl.

"You work fast, ma'am. But yes, I am. Ren Amamiya at your service." He spoke evenly.

She maintained a poker face, but Ren knew she was analyzing him.

"And Morgana?"

He opened his bag to let the cat out.

"I'm here."

She nodded in greeting. Then she turned to the boy with a hard glare.

"Let's begin."

'This woman doesn't waste any time, does she?'

Ren decided to not play around either.

"As I told you, I'm the one known as Joker and I lead the team. Your sister is my second in command, and Morgana is our resident metaverse expert and mentor."

"And it's just the three of you?" She asked, narrowing her gaze in suspicion.

Ren let a mocking smile grace upon his lips. "For now, let's say yes."

"And you think being evasive is gonna endear you to me?" She questioned sharply.

But Ren stood his ground. "I'm not trying to pull anything here ma'am, but you have to see where I'm coming from. Before I give you sensitive information, we need to clear up a lot of issues first."

"Fine, suit yourself then. But you better tell me the whole truth, you hear me?"

"Of course, Niijima-san. I'm here to make sure you understand that we had nothing to do at all with the mental shutdown cases." Ren spoke seriously.

Sae raised an eyebrow. "And how do you plan to achieve that feat in the first place?"

"By reasoning with you. Morgana has told me he has already ran by you the concepts behind the metaverse?" Ren questioned with an inquisitive gaze.

Sae stared back at him and then ran a hand through her hair. "Yes. It finally helped me make sense of what cognitive psience is about. I'm still in disbelief, but I think I will come to terms with the information soon."

"Good, then it means you understand the mechanism behind mental shutdowns and change of hearts."

"That's right."

"In that case, I'm gonna propose to you a question. Think really deep. What connections would the Thieves have with the mental shutdowns?"

She narrowed her eyes, but stayed silent.

He continued. "We have no motives, and our operations didn't really start until a few months ago by pure chance, when I arrived in town. The mental shutdowns were already happening for years by then."

"This doesn't necessarily mean you weren't involved somehow, after." She argued back.

"Again, what would our motives be? Your sister, Morgana and I have no interest in hurting people, nor do we have any personal connections to the victims of the shutdowns. We are thieves, yes, but we're not villains. We steal hearts, we don't commit murders."

Sae could see some sense in his words. All the mental shutdown and psychotic breakdown victims ranged from innocent bystanders up to people connected to important factions in government and corporations.

A high school girl that lived under her own care, a boy already on thin ice due to his probation and a cat would have nothing to gain from it.

"Alright, I can see the validity of your words." She relented.

"Thank you. Can I trust you to not sell us out to your superiors until we give you more proof of our justice?"

Even though she has her suspicions regarding the director of the SIU and would definitely not report any of this conversation to him, Sae pondered what exactly she would do with the information she was going to be provided with.

This entire time she had been hitting huge dead ends. Without knowledge of the metaverse though, there was no way she could have solved these cases.

She was set to fail from the start.

'The scales were tipped unfavorably.'

But now she had an in. She could tip the scale back in her favor. All she had to do is to see how far this went, and whether or not the thieves were telling the truth about being innocent.

'Remember thy justice.'

She couldn't rush this. Now she had all the time in the world to figure it out.

As hurt and as betrayed as she felt about Makoto's involvement, she still had to look out for her. She wasn't going to throw her sister out to the sharks.

"Very well. You have yourself a deal."

The boy nodded gratefully, and Morgana flicked his tail happily.

Sae took a deep breath. "Tell me all about the Phantom Thieves' heists."

Ren looked determined.

"I'll tell you everything you need to know."

Sae had sent her a message an hour ago.

[Sis: I'm going to come home late tonight. Don't worry about me, I'll eat something while I'm out.

[Sis: I've left you some money on the kitchen counter in case you wish to order something for dinner.

[Sis: Just try to rest and call me if you need anything.

Makoto was staring at the phone in incredulity. She thought her sister was going to at least try to change.

For a split second, the brunette feared her sister was preparing to arrest Ren and the others, hence why she was staying late at work.

But then, a voice eerily similar to Anat echoed on her head: What about the other two texts? They sounded caring.

Besides, Sae barely knew anything about her life, her friends.

Maybe Makoto was overthinking and projecting, perhaps Sae just had to catch up at work against her own will.

She started biting her own nails.

Ren looked at the prosecutor and adjusted his glasses.

"Before we jump into each case, I need to clear up one fact first. My criminal record." He said.

"Yes, do tell me. You are on probation because of an assault. What happened?" Sae prompted him to continue.

"Believe it or not, I was coming back home from a late group study, when I saw a man forcing himself on a woman." Ren paused, looking very uncomfortable. "I didn't even register what I was doing, I just reacted."

He ran a hand through his fluffy hair. " I tried to help the woman away from the man, but he was too drunk and fell down by himself, hurting his head. He threatened to sue me and the next thing I knew the police arrived. I was ready to tell them what that man was doing, but it turns out they chose his side."

Ren sighed "The woman sided with the man as well, and lied to the cops, telling them I assaulted them both. She did it under duress, of course. But still, because of her testimony, I was hauled to the police station."

It was quite clear the boy in front of her was visibly upset. She could guess as to why.

"In all honesty, the entire situation was surreal, and all I know is that I was just thrown to the dogs before I could blink. I had a hard time in juvie for a couple of weeks, but then all of a sudden, I was out."

He shuddered, looking haunted. "They said I would be on probation here in Tokyo, and that I need to keep my head down because if I don't behave, it's back to juvie for me." He finished his tale.

The prosecutor looked pensive after hearing his side of the story. She knew what he was talking about.

Her job required a 99.9% resolution rate regardless if the sentences were just or not. She tried her best to mitigate injustice at first, but in recent years, pressure from her superiors made her cave in and do unethical things to keep her job.

It was no wonder she developed a palace. She lost sight of her sense of justice.

Ignoring her inner turmoil, she decided to press for more information. "What about the man? Do you know anything about him or who he was?"

"Nothing, it was as if they wanted to keep his identity under wraps. All I know is that he was probably some rich douchebag."

'As I expected.'

"I see. If what you're telling me is the truth, then you are innocent."

"Yes, I swear it."

Sae took a good look at the boy. His tale was compelling, and the same thing had happened to her grandfather. She swallowed drily, remembering the harsh words her cognition of her mother had imparted on her on the subject of justice.

"Thanks for clearing that up, then. I will hold judgment on that for now."

"That is fair.'' He replied simply, looking relieved that she was at least considering his story.

She pressed on.

"Your first target was Suguru Kamoshida back in April. Tell me all about it."

Ren nodded.

Sometimes in the past, Makoto had wondered what her sister would exactly be doing at work that made her stay so late to the point of almost sleeping in her office.

Was she ever so useless as a younger sister that Sae took work as preferable to family time?

She decided to distract herself. She needed to stop being a worrywart.

Uncle Katsuya would tell her to stop losing her sleep over it, or she'd get panda eyes. Uncle Tatsu would say that uncle Katsu used tinted glasses to hide his own.

Maybe they were onto something, thought Makoto as she stared into the mirror and saw her pale, bruised face, and the bag under her eyes.

Sae was likely just working really hard. Makoto was being stupid.

She wanted to believe it. Anything was better than accepting that Sae was avoiding her.

Hearing all about Suguru's Kamoshida's perversions made the silver haired woman want to drink alcohol. She only abstained because she would drive home.

Of course, Sae was apprised of all the gritty details of Kamoshida's change of heart and the extent of his crimes. She had access to the case file and aided the prosecutor in charge of his case in forming arguments for conviction.

But hearing from the perspective of a student that was there and saw the inside of his heart was another matter. And yet as reluctant as she might be with the whole change of heart thing, for this one case in particular she thought it was good that he got his due.

"So this is what happened. Did you really not know whether he'd live or not in that first change of heart?"

Morgana shook his head. "We couldn't tell. I told them the risks, but we could only hope for the best outcome."

"So you took a risk." She stated simply, following their reasoning.

Ren nodded.

"The thing with Kamoshida, Niijima-san, is that people saw his prestige and standing in society and despite feeling, maybe even knowing that he was a scumbag, they decided to avert their eyes so they could maintain the status quo." He spoke.

She knew he was right, because she saw it happen too many times in her line of work.

"We had to do something because everyone else that wasn't , cornered us into doing so." He finished with resolution in his voice.

"So you took action. I can understand that. I can even sympathize with the choice you made. Yet, ask yourself this. If Kamoshida had died instead, could you have lived with yourself?"

"In all honesty? Probably not. But you wanna know what I could certainly not live with?"

She tilted her head in a silent questioning gesture.

He stared at her eyes resolutely. "Knowing that if we did nothing, there wouldn't be just one Shiho Suzui, but many more." He took a deep breath.

"And I dare say that if we had acted sooner on that risk, Shiho wouldn't have suffered at all ."

Sae took some time to process his words. She had to give it to him, for a minor that was in hot water and in probation, this kid had a lot of resolution and conviction.

Her beloved fool of a father would've liked Amamiya-kun.

The stray thought shook her for a second, but she caught herself. "I see where you are coming from. In all honesty, I couldn't have cared less what happened to such a disgusting man."

She paused to gather her thoughts. Her eyes then hardened.

"Still, the fact that you kids had to confront the possibility of accidentally killing a man in a mental shutdown doesn't give me much confidence in your justice. Even if you didn't perform anything other than a change of heart, you know what kind of precedent that risk sets in, don't you?"

Ren sighed and adjusted his fake glasses. "Of course we do. But what I need you to understand, Ma'am, is that we don't take any of this as lightly as you seem to believe we do. We are not playing around with other people's lives."

"Is that so? Then tell me what happened with Madarame, and your thought process there." She challenged him.

Ren rose to it. "It all started when Panther felt like she was being stalked…"

Her phone buzzed several times. Messages, a lot of them.

Her heart sank when the preview window showed her the Phantom Chat and her friends sending her various DMs.

Makoto decided that watching whatever was on TV was a better form of entertainment. This way she could zone out and keep thinking how much her friends probably hated her with some background noise on.

Ren had sent her those messages earlier, but didn't say whether or not their friends were aware of the situation. She assumed he told them for the sake of transparency.

She didn't know how to approach them, so she ignored them, not out of malice, but out of fear.

Now that she thinks about it, she can't exactly blame her sister if she was running away too. She wonders from which side of their family her and Sae inherited this from.

'I guess dad's, he was like that too.'

"You mean to tell me that Madarame had personal responsibility for Kitagawa's death?" She asked, horrified.

Morgana and the boy shared glances.

"He deliberately refused to assist her in those last moments, from what we gathered, and that was the last step required for her health to fail her".

That piece of information hit Sae pretty hard. She tried to mask it, but she was sure she was very transparent at that moment.

Sae and Makoto lost their mother to a terminal disease. She had the best care they could afford at the time, and they did everything they could for her, even going as far as getting into massive debt.

And they still lost her.

To think that Madarame would allow a woman that would've certainly lived, if only he aided her, die because of a painting of all fucking things was beyond despicable to her.

And to make it even more vile, the man had adopted the woman's son and raised the boy within the most disgusting and abusive conditions.

Just like with Akechi's situation, she couldn't bear to imagine Makoto in Yusuke Kitagawa's place.

"Miss Niijima? Are you alright?" Morgana's voice brought her back from her terrifying thoughts.

She swallowed dryly. "Yes, I'm fine."

Morgana started to fidget.

Ren was silent. Then, he looked at her empty glass of non-alcoholic drink and his face had sombered.

"Ma'am I believe you should order some water for yourself."

She was taken aback "Are you patronizing me now, boy?"

"Not at all. I just think you're really going to need it once I recount about the next target." He sighed as he removed the glasses from his eyes and rubbed them in tiredness.

Sae soon realized what he meant. She clenched her fists.

"Kaneshiro." She whispered with a hint of raw anger.

The boy and the cat's faces were telling her that she was not going to like this.

Her phone kept ringing, and Makoto was set on ignoring it when she saw the caller ID.

Then, due to vibrating nonstop, it slipped from the couch and fell to the ground. Makoto clumsily picked it up.

She realized too late that she accidentally touched the screen and ended up taking the call.

A very familiar voice spoke "Makoto?"

She swallowed. "A-Ann…"

A pause. Then a sigh. "I actually didn't really think you'd pick that up. So… How are you doing?"

Makoto winced. "I… I'm ok…"

Ann snorted, not buying into her words. "Wow. Ok, I swore I wasn't going to call you because Ren asked us to give you some space. But… I just wanted to check on you, I swear."

Makoto stayed quiet, holding back her tears. From the other side of the line, she could hear Ann letting out a heavy breath.

"So… How are you, REALLY?"

The brunette couldn't keep her anguish from bleeding out anymore. "I don't know… I-I'm sorry, I can't…" She let out, crying. "I'm so sorry!"

She tried to hold down her sobs, but she failed. Her phone almost slipped from her hands.

"Oh Makoto…" She heard Ann's trembling voice from the other side. "Hey, come on, don't cry, you're gonna make me cry too."

Makoto sobbed harder.

They stayed like that for a few moments, with Makoto crying her heart out and Ann gently comforting her on the other side of the line.

Junya Kaneshiro was not a man to be trifled with, and she learned that the hard way after her father died.

She learned from her sensei that her father was dead set on catching Kaneshiro and cleaning Shinjuku for good. Her father was an idealist like that.

Makoto was apparently as stupid and as idealistic as their dad. She rushed into a Mafia hideout.

She rushed into a Mafia hideout.

And worse, Sae knew it was her own fault, for sheltering Makoto from the real extent of the Kaneshiro threat to their family.

So in reality, that made Sae the stupidest of the three Nijiimas.

Amamiya looked concerned. so did Morgana.

"I can't believe this. Of all people for her to mess with, it had to be Kaneshiro." She seethed out.

"Ma'am, I don't think she had a choice. The principal put her up to it. She was trying her best, and she was isolated."

The boy looked regretful. "I didn't have a good time when she blackmailed us, but… I can understand her. I think, looking back, we were all a bit too hard on Makoto."

Across from her, the leader of the Phantom Thieves looked at her with a cold expression. "And I feel like her home life contributed to much of her recklessness back then. And now, as well."

"What is that supposed to mean?" She asked, not liking his tone.

"I think you know exactly what I mean."

Sae immediately crossed her arms and went defensive. "That is none of your business."

The boy let out a frustrated huff. "Excuse me, but I think it is. Makoto is… She is very important to me. And you clearly have been treating her in a less than ideal way.

"Be careful there, boy." She warned in a seething tone. "You don't know the first thing about me."

His looks hardened. "On the contrary madam, I know enough."

Sae almost growled at his posture. The nerve!

"Why you little-"

"I am going to be honest, Niijima-san. My opinion of you as a person has always been quite low. The little that I know of Makoto's home life doesn't paint me a good picture of you. And the way you treated Sojiro also put you on my shit list." He interrupted her, uncaring of her opinion.

For a second, she faltered. Sae felt genuinely ashamed remembering her absurd and corrupt threats to the Sakura family.

He wasn't wrong about how she treated Makoto either.

But still, who gave him the right to say these things to her?

She gritted her teeth, and slammed her hand on the table. "Who the hell do you think you are!? You are not in my shoes, so who gives you the right to judge me!?"

Ren maintained his composure, seemingly uncaring if the other patrons were curious about their interactions.

"I am just telling you what I think. If this is bothering you, if this is hurting you, I couldn't care less. You hurt Sojiro and Futaba. And you hurt Makoto infinitely more."

"Ren…" Morgana whispered, nervous with the sudden turn of events.

Sae seethed in silence, her posture tense and openly hostile.

"If you really cared about your sister, you wouldn't have treated her as less than the dirt on your shoes. For months."

The woman clenched her fists. She wanted to yell at him, but-

'He isn't wrong.'

He continued. "Makoto bottles everything up. She pretends she is fine and that she is strong, but you can just feel the weight on her shoulders. For days, I have been pleading with her to tell me if there was anything going on, but she insisted she was fine."

The boy sighed. "She must've been fretting over you having a palace, feeling scared and alone. You have no idea how much you mean to Makoto. You don't realize the power you hold over her."

The woman pursued her lips. In the dark crevices of her mind, she could hear Leviathan's faint chuckles. Her persona clearly agreed with Amamiya's assessment.

'Thou were unjust.'

"Amamiya, you don't know what I have been through."

"And I probably wouldn't care because it still wouldn't justify your actions. But, go on, tell me anyway."

She looked away uncomfortably.

"Well?" He prompted, trying to goad her into responding.

'There is no way I'm gonna justify myself to this brat.'

"Look, it doesn't matter. Let's get back on track. Tell me what happened next."

Ren threw her a disgusted look. In response, she glared back.

Makoto was having an intense conversation on the phone.

"-And now I'm just so afraid of what is going to happen, and she hasn't come back home yet. I'm terrified she is looking into all of us as we speak." Said Makoto, her voice clouded with worry.

On the other side of the line, Ann hummed to herself. "I wouldn't worry about that. Maybe she is just working late."

"I can't not worry! I just ruined all our lives with my stupidity! What if-"

"Hey." Ann interrupted gently. "Nothing bad is going to happen. If it did, we wouldn't be talking with each other on the phone. We'd both be in a cell right now." She finished, patiently.

"But what if–"

"Makoto, I'm gonna sound like a total bitch, but you gotta stop worrying about the consequences now , when you should've thought this through before."

Makoto lost her voice for a second, ashamed.

"I – I know…" She replied timidly.

She could almost feel Ann facepalming on the other side. "Hey, I'm not here to pile more blame on your shoulders or anything, what I mean to say is that you need to chill, what is done is done. Besides, she is your sister. I'm sure you guys can sort it out, especially now that she has a persona and isn't distorted anymore."

"But she's avoiding me!"

"Makoto, you were avoiding us too!"

Makoto's wounded puppy voice was back. "I know, I know, but I was afraid of you guys hating me. And you would be right to. What I did was stupid, and selfish… I know I broke everyone's trust, and I'm so sorry for that!"

Ann's voice got muffled for a second. It seemed that she screamed into her pillow in frustration from what Makoto discerned in the background noise.

She quickly got back on the line. "Girl, stop! Look, we don't hate you! We care about you. Repeat with me!"

Makoto dumbly repeated 'I am loved by my friends' after Ann, but it sounded awkward coming from her.

"Also, you seriously need to stop with the self loathing thing. It's not gonna do you or us any good. Just try to think, not overthink. You're our team's brain for a reason." She pleaded, frustration mixed with concern.

The younger Niijima grunted. "I guess you're right. It's just… I don't know if at this moment I can trust my sister or not." She said in a pained voice. "I love her and everything but…"

Makoto stayed silent, unsure of what to even say. She was just so lost and confused.

Ann decided to pick up the conversation again.

"Honestly, it sounds really shitty of her to leave for work without actually trying to properly talk to you. But we really don't know what her reasoning is, so for now it's wait and see, and try to have an honest convo when she is back."

Makoto sighed. "I guess so…"

"So, After Kaneshiro, there was the Medjed situation. I admit that the whole thing was absurd and ridiculous. Their threats escalated to really stupid levels."

Ren let out an annoyed snort. "You know, that was around when you came to threaten Sojiro."

Sae groaned, then sported a regretful look. "Right. That was callous and wrong of me. I'm sorry for that…"

Ren raised an eyebrow. "It's not to me that you owe that apology to."

She winced. "Alright. I guess I need to approach the Sakuras and ask for their forgiveness at one point."

"Good. What you did at that time was absurdly out of line, so I'm definitely gonna hold you to that. Also, maybe consider throwing an apology or ten to Makoto, too."

Deciding to ignore his barbs, she threw him a cold look and pressed him on. "What. Happened. Next?"

He gritted his teeth. She didn't back down.

Morgana sighed and decided to intervene. "Guys, not the time."

After another tense silence and seeing Morgana's pleading look, Ren shook his head. "Fine. Are you familiar with the name 'Alibaba?'"

"Hey, just to change the subject a bit, but… Futaba and the others are super worried about you, you know?"

"Oh… Of course… But, aren't you guys angry with me?" Makoto asked, dreading the answer.

"Me personally? I am devastated that you didn't tell us because we'd totally support you, but I really don't wanna repeat this for like, ten times again, so it's cool. You're totes fine in my books." She said exasperatedly.

"Sorry…" The brunette winced.

Ann sighed in response, then seemed to consider what to say next.

"Well, Ryuji and Futaba have pestered me all day, they're not angry at all, just worried. Yusuke is Yusuke but I think he is concerned too. Haru… Well, she has barely said anything. And I really don't know her that well, so… Yeah, I don't know if it is a good or a bad thing."

Makoto felt worry creep up her spine. "What do you think I should do? I know I can't ignore everyone forever…"

"I don't know. Maybe just go to the group chat and talk with everyone there?"

"But… Isn't that pure cowardice? I feel like I should grovel at everyone's feet, face to face, not explain myself over a chat."

Ann groaned. "Makoto, it doesn't matter what is ideal or whatever… Just go and clean the wound before it festers. They will listen."

"Um, are you sure?"

"Positive. Let's give it a whirl!"

After hearing about the pyramid heist, the prosecutor took some time to sort through her thoughts.

The tragic story of Futaba, and her mother Wakaba, absolutely crushed her spirit. How could someone just put on a child the burden of their mother's death?

Just to cover up a murder and get away?

How is that right? Who gives them the right to do something so… So despicable?

When her own mother died, Sae was 10 years old. Her sister was 3. What if they told her that her mother's death was her own fault?

Or Makoto's?

And what if Katsuya and Tatsuya weren't the amazing uncles that they were, but abusive, like Futaba's own uncle?

Sae felt some genuine bile rise up her throat. She had threatened to take Futaba away from Sojiro Sakura.

She threatened to accuse an innocent man of abuse. Over some worthless information that he actually didn't have.

Of course, back then she didn't mean to actually follow up on those threats. At best, it was a mere coercion tactic. And she really wouldn't, because it also would be a waste of resources.

However, If she had gone through with her stupid threats, she would have actually doomed Futaba to a life of real, abject suffering.

'It would be such a monstrosity… Mother's cognition was right all along.'

"Niijima-san?" A childish voice called out.

Morgana was up close, looking concerned. It seemed that he noticed her unease and regret.

Amamiya had his arms crossed, his posture stiff. He continued to glare at her.

'Of course he is angry… The way I treated the people that took him in was just…'

"I… I truly have no words." She said, voice full of regret.

"So you can feel, huh? Glad to see you show some humanity."

Sae gritted her teeth. Why was he pushing her so hard?

'Isn't he justified though?'

She shouldn't fall to the baits of a stupid teenager, though. His anger was warranted, but he didn't know her.

He was nothing to her. Why should she care?

'He is Makoto's friend.'

"What do you want me to say? That everything that you told me so far was a good time?" She sarcastically asked.

"I'm not expecting anything from someone like you. I am here only for Makoto and my team's sake. Their futures and safety are my responsibility. Unlike some people, I take my duties seriously."

"Ren, I think that's a bit too much…" She heard Morgana muttering, clearly nervous of her retaliation.

"Why, Morgana? We shouldn't be intimidated. Whether or not she throws us to the sharks, that's on her, not us. If she wants to be corrupt, then she is free to do so. I stand by my principles."

Sae wanted to scream in outrage. Dealing with Amamiya was like dealing with her dad.

That unfailing stubbornness and moral compass…

"What the hell do you want from me?" She asked, seething.

"I just want you to know what happened. Is that not what you asked?" He goaded her.

Sae stared at him for a long time. His attitude at the start was calm and collected, but as time passed and as they interacted, he clearly couldn't hold back his disdain for her.

All because of Makoto. He clearly cared for her.

Way more than what was probably warranted from just a friend.

Narrowing her eyes, Sae contemplated the possibility. Was her sister somehow involved with this boy?

He tried again. "What? Nothing to say?"

After a few seconds, she relaxed her posture and expression to a neutral, calm stance and mask.

"I see now." She said, her tone shifting to mocking.

The boy looked taken aback, surprised with her change of tactics.

"You clearly care very much for your friends… And my sister."

"I…"

"Isn't that why you are baiting me? You want to take away all the attention from your companions. If nothing you say gets through me, at least you can accomplish something in the end."

He looked away.

"You want to be the target. The one to take the fall. To be the martyr for your little band."

Gritting his teeth, Ren returned his fierce gaze towards her.

"But relax boy. Nobody is getting arrested, and I sure as hell would rather die than throw my own sister to the mercy of an asshole like my boss."

Amamiya studied her face, as if trying to spot some sort of deception.

She continued. "Now, it stands to reason that Futaba Sakura is one of you. And she awakened a persona. No amount of glossing over details could keep that away from me."

Ren and Morgana looked at each other, alarmed.

"But again, relax. Despite my own… Despicable threats to the Sakura family, I never really intended to follow up on those. Yet, it was a completely immoral scare tactic on my part, and for that… I am truly, truly sorry."

At her words, the leader of the Phantom Thieves relaxed slightly.

But not entirely.

"It was more than despicable. I hope you now understand that with all the things Futaba actually went through after her mother's death, even some threats were enough to be damaging."

"I understand it perfectly, Amamiya. I have lost a mother as a child too." She said, mustering all the sincerity she had in her, despite her seriousness.

Ren stayed silent, but she took that as a positive answer.

Morgana flicked his tail around with nervous energy as she set her gaze on him instead.

"So it is as you said, Morgana. Not every place ruler is always a monster. It could be a distortion for any reason, whatsoever. It just has to be big enough."

The cat nodded.

"Very well. That does put some concerns out of my mind. So Futaba dealt with the Medjed threat. Afterwards, your team laid low for quite a while."

Ren let out a tired breath. "We did. We performed some side missions and minor requests, but it was summer, and we wanted to relax for a bit."

"I see. I wonder if I even had my palace back then." She muttered.

"We can't know for sure. You were probably a mementos match for some time. But I feel like your palace was a recent development. Makoto would have freaked out much earlier otherwise."

If it was such a recent development, then what happened to her?

What could have twisted her so quickly to develop a palace in the span of mere weeks?

"I don't think it matters." Ren said, interrupting her conflicting thoughts as if he had sensed them.

"You have a persona now. Possessing a palace doesn't necessarily mean that you were ready to commit mass murder."

"I thought you hated my guts?" She said, her eyebrows raising.

Ren smirked. "I do, but it's for a just reason. I'm not that petty."

Strangely enough, the corners of her own mouth twitched at his snarky response.

[Ann T The Ghost Robbers]

[Ann T: Guys

[Ann T: Makoto wants to chat with everyone here, to explain the situation herself.

[Haru Okumura: Of course.

[Ann T: If anyone interrupts with the usual group bs, I'm gonna kick your butts, you hear me?

[Bonehead: K

[Fursona User: I understand.

[Ann T: Makoto the floor is yours!

[Makoto Niijima: Hey guys

[Makoto Niijima: Sorry for not replying to everyone earlier…

[Alibaba: Makotooooo!

[Bonehead: Dude

[Bonehead: Man I cant believe u were that reckless lolololol

[Ann T: Ryuji what did I just say!?

[Ann T:

[Alibaba: K I muted him

[Ann T: Unmute him, I'm gonna give him an earful if he does it again.

[Ann T: And you did it too missy!

[Alibaba: Yooo don't whip me Panther I'm just an innocent bystander!

[Fursona User: How disrespectful, I want to hear what Senpai has to say.

[Haru Okumura: Everyone, please stop. Let's hear Makoto out.

[Makoto Niijima: It's okay.

[Makoto Niijima: I just wanted to apologize for everything. And to try to explain why I did what I did.

[Makoto Niijima: And I'll understand if you guys don't want me to be a part of the team afterwards.

[Makoto Niijima: Just, please, hear me out.

[Haru Okumura: Take your time.

[Makoto Niijima: Thank you, Haru.

[Makoto Niijima: When I joined the team, I found out my sister had a mementos match.

[Makoto Niijima: At the time, I didn't think much of it. I was still learning how to be a Phantom Thief and trying to make sure I was useful to the team.

[Makoto Niijima: I wanted to bring that up with everyone but then things kept escalating, especially after Futaba's palace.

[Makoto Niijima: And then, just before the Hawaii trip, I found out my sister had developed a palace…

[Alibaba: Oh no…

Makoto paused her typing to hold back a sniffle. The tears started coming.

[Makoto Niijima: I was meaning to talk to everyone about that when we returned, and ask for your help.

She stopped typing again, unsure what to say next.

[Fursona User: Why didn't you? You know we wouldn't say no.

[Makoto Niijima: I know, but things picked up again and Morgana stormed out on us.

[Makoto Niijima: And yeah, you guys know how things turned out. We're already busy with a palace, and…

[Haru Okumura: You did not want to overstep because of the situation with my father?

[Makoto Niijima: Yeah…

[Haru Okumura: I see.

[Fursona User: Why did you go inside her palace alone?

[Makoto Niijima: I swear it was only to scout it. I didn't want to break down in front of everyone when we inevitably went for it.

[Bonehead: Man, that's kinda dumb. Nobody would say bad stuff about you if you broke down in front of us.

[Ann T: I told you as much, we're your friends. We'd never think you weak!

[Fursona User: Agreed.

[Alibaba: Yeah you're the team mom

[Alibaba: I'd meme all day to cheer you up

[Makoto Niijima: You guys…

[Makoto Niijima: Anyways, that was my reasoning.

[Makoto Niijima: I understand if anyone has reservations about me and my role in the team after this breach of trust. I take full responsibility.

[Fursona User: I see…

[Haru Okumura: Very well.

Haru started to type and took her sweet time to formulate her words. Makoto felt a slight sense of dread overcoming her.

To be continued…