Joker scanned the giant hall from his perch on one of the great chandeliers. The floor was filled with shadows, but the team was holding their own. Compared to Palaces, the shadows in Jails were more numerous but generally less deliberate in their actions. It made for a more chaotic situation, but one he and the rest of his team were adapting to quickly.

"Panther! Mona!" Makoto called as she slid in by their side. "A new set of slimes appeared in the back left alcove."

"On it!" Ann called back, breaking away from the mob she was currently fighting with Ryuji and Haru. Morgana was not far behind.

Makoto took their place, doing a few donuts with Johanna to clear out the weaker enemies before switching to a hand-to-hand approach against the more fully-formed shadows.

The shadows swarmed.

Ren wasn't sure if he was imagining things, but it seemed like the shadows had been targeting Makoto ever since they entered the Jail that day. Shadows were generally opportunistic, but today, it seemed like they had a bias, albeit a slight one.

It didn't make sense. Makoto's nuclear skills weren't a particular threat to them, nor had she done anything to get Natsume's attention in the real world. Yet, the density of shadows around her seemed to only increase as the team progressed through Natsume's castle.

Joker leapt to the chandelier closest to her and took out his knife. It was time to even things out.

––––– ––––– –––––

"Hey, now that we've taken care of the Lock Keeper, why not just hang out here?" Ryuji leaned back into the firm cushions of one of the booths in the Jail's version of Gatorre Coffee. "No shadows. No cops."

"No atmosphere," Ann sighed. "These trauma whatevers are the most dismal places in the Jail."

Makoto had to agree. Shibuya Jail proper was somehow less disturbing than this coffee shop. Unfortunately it was also more dangerous. Though, if The Reaper were to show up here, he'd be right on top of them. Would they be able to escape to the real world fast enough?

"It doesn't help that this chain is rather dismal and soulless even in the real world," Haru gazed at the menu board, which was hanging from the ceiling above the register. "Joker, what do you think of these blends?"

Ren looked up at the board following Haru's direction. After examining it, he lowered his chin and merely shook his head.

"I agree," Haru stated with a pert nod. She smiled. "I'm going to do some research on the competition. Natsume-san's cognition seems quite strong."

"He must have spent a lot of time here, writing," Yusuke remarked. There was a sadness lingering in his tone. It had been coming and going ever since they learned of Natsume's plagiarism. "He clearly has a strong eye. If only he could funnel that into his work."

"Well I'm happy to stay indoors," said Futaba. She flopped onto the bench of the booth adjacent to Ryuji's. She was seated only a moment before laying all the way down. "Wake me when we're leaving."

"Oh no you don't," Ann grabbed the younger girl's arm and tugged. "I don't want to deal with the glow of your laptop all night. Let's go back to the camper. I'm starved."

Futaba sat up again. "Well, I am a little peckish."

She smirked as if she was making fun of something, but Makoto wasn't sure what.

"We can stay with Haru," Ren walked up next to Makoto, wrapping his arm around her back to indicate just who he meant by 'we.' "The rest of you can go back if you're hungry."

"But if you and Queen are here, who's makin' dinner?" Futaba whined.

"We won't be long," Ren gave a reassuring smile. "There are plenty of snacks to tide you over until we return."

"Not too many snacks," Makoto added. "You don't want to spoil-"

"Oh yeah, I have all those zunda things Joker and Mona got me!" Ann pumped her fist.

"I'm going too." Morgana's hands were on his utility belt. His chest, if you could call it that, seemed to be puffed up. Little pink ovals hovered in front of his cheeks.

Ann tugged at Ryuji. "Let's go."

"Fox?" Futaba stood up, holding her hands together behind her back. "Coming?"

Yusuke jerked, like he hadn't been paying attention. "Oh. Yes. I've seen my fill here."

Ann, Ryuji, Morgana, Futaba, and Yusuke exited, leaving Haru, Sophia, Ren, and Makoto.

"Sophia, why not come with me?" Haru motioned towards the counter. "I'll teach you about café design."

"Okay!"

Haru smiled at Makoto before leading their newest team member away from the booths.

While the gesture was nice, there really wasn't much privacy. Haru and Sophia were still quite close.

Makoto wondered how stable the trauma cells were once the Lock Keeper had been defeated. The rest of the Shibuya Jail had proven persistent, but they hadn't considered returning to Alice's version of Shujin Academy. Though, even if the cell did collapse, they were near an exit. It wouldn't be like the Palaces where sometimes they weren't sure if they would make it…

"Care to sit down?" Ren motioned to one of the booths.

Makoto nodded.

The young couple slid into the booth. Ren braced his hand against the cushion behind Makoto.

"Come closer," he whispered.

Makoto complied, leaning the right side of her torso into his left and resting her head in the crook of his neck. He lifted his bracing hand, wrapping it around her waist. The arrangement had become natural to them in their many forays up to the Shujin roof over the past year. It was almost nostalgic.

She relaxed into him.

"It's not much, but at least there's this," he said. She had to agree. They couldn't do much in the tight confines of the trauma cell, but they could at least embrace each other, hold each other… it was much more than the outside world.

"Mmhmm," she murmured.

They stayed just like that.

Makoto let her mind wander. She mentally ran over the battles, the overall situation... They had accomplished much that day.

"Did you notice-" Ren stopped his question midway.

"Notice what?"

He looked around briefly before shaking his head. "I'll ask you after we leave this place."

––––– ––––– –––––

Hasegawa Zenkichi lowered his head as he entered the Porto backroom, the brim of his hat hiding most of his face. His hair was tucked up into it, leaving little in terms of recognizable features. The baggy coveralls of the janitorial service further obscured his form.

He was in luck that Porto's actual custodial contract didn't include Tuesdays and Thursdays. Otherwise, he'd have to come up with another plan.

Truth be told, he should have protested harder when the Phantom Thieves told him to distribute their calling cards. Getting all the necessary permissions along with this whole janitor getup had been tight, but doable, though he had to burn some goodwill with Kaburagi.

Well, he suppose that was nothing new.

The fact that this was a few signatures away from aiding and abetting was what really bothered him, but it might be worth it in the end if ingratiating himself with the Phantom Thieves was what he needed to crack the case.

Zenkichi picked up the box from the stockroom floor. It had been sent special delivery via the dark web. At least, that's how the Thieves had explained it.

Carrying the box out to the autograph table, he was pleased to see there was enough ambient light that he wouldn't have to use night vision goggles. Looking around, it seemed this would be an easy enough job. The store was mostly in shadow and he hadn't seen more than one person in the vicinity since he arrived.

He placed the box down on the table and opened it, revealing stacks of postcards and packages of adhesive putty. Kitagawa had promised it wouldn't cause lasting damage.

It was time to get pasting. The tediousness of the task gave him time to reflect on what he'd observed that day.

The Phantom Thieves had taken a while to get going in the morning. Only half of them were early risers and even once they all woke up, they scattered around the area, mostly doing their own thing. Maybe being cooped up in that camper motivated some leg-stretching or maybe whatever it was they were doing only worked at certain times of day.

They disappeared around midday. He caught sight of them again in the afternoon by this very shop and followed them to a chain café.

Curiously, when he entered the café after they'd left, the workers had no recollection of them being there. He supposed they could have given him the slip, but unlike back in Tokyo, they were unlikely to have prior knowledge of the area. So how did they pull off walking in and not being seen?

He was primed for one explanation. It involved another world.

At first he had written it off as a trick, then as some sort of hallucination, but over the past few days it was becoming easier to accept what he'd seen when they took him there… at least, what he could comprehend of it.

This acceptance... had he fallen victim to their strange change of heart ability?

The café workers too… could they have met the Phantom Thieves but simply had their memories erased as a form of change of heart? Could the Phantom Thieves change hearts with such surgical precision?

Zenkichi paused, postcard in hand, and shivered.

Just what was he helping them do?

...

He'd play along for now.

That's it. He wasn't starting to believe them necessarily. He just had to act the part to get what he wanted.

He went back to his mental log.

After the café incident, he proceeded to the campsite for their direct meeting. He wasn't far behind them, so he couldn't have missed much. When he got there, he ran right into a lost child. He began handling the situation before noticing the Phantom Thieves seemed to be approaching as well, consistent with their do-gooder act. Niijima took the lead with that too.

Zenkichi sighed as he affixed another postcard to the wall. He hadn't gotten much that day.

Patience.

A hallmark of good detective work. They were bound to slip up at some point. He just had to be watching when they did.

––––– ––––– –––––

Ren was getting used to getting up early with Ryuji and Yusuke. Morgana was getting used to sleeping soundly through the three boys changing, even with one of them slipping out from under him in the process.

"You know, it's quite amazing you're able to assemble yourself so quietly in the morning," Yusuke remarked as they walked towards the Date Masamune statue.

"I'm a Phantom Thief too y'know," Ryuji huffed. He turned away from the others and mumbled. "Plus, Ann's tryin'a sleep down there."

Ren wasn't sure if it was just the light shining through the cartilage, but Ryuji's ears looked redder than normal. He grinned to himself.

They walked quietly through the small wooded area between their campsite and the plaza. Makoto was waiting for them by the statue when they arrived.

"Good morning," she said, swallowing the last syllable into a high-pitched yawn and drawing herself in as her shoulders stretched forward.

So cute.

"Good morning!" Ryuji was already jogging in place.

"'Morning," Ren's greeting was more subdued.

Yusuke had already walked several meters past them and set up with pencil to paper. Ren wondered if he had even heard Makoto's greeting.

"Shall we get started?" asked Ryuji. "I found a great circuit online."

"Let's not overdo it," said Makoto. "We want to be well-rested to face Natsume."

"Aw," Ryuji protested. "We got time."

He was right. They were just waiting for the signal from Zenkichi. Porto didn't open for several hours and Natsume's signing was even later that day.

Was Makoto feeling drained from yesterday? Given all the planning the night before, Ren hadn't gotten a chance to bring up his suspicions.

He walked a little closer to her. "Hey, did you notice anything odd in the Jail yesterday?"

"No," she answered plainly. "At least, not anything odd in comparison to the last one."

Maybe it was just in his head.

"The shadows didn't seem to be acting differently?" he didn't want to bias her assessment.

"Not that I noticed," she furrowed her brow. "Why? Is there something wrong?"

"I'm not sure," he also didn't want to make her worry unnecessarily during a big battle, especially when he wasn't sure. "It's just a feeling."

Maybe he needed some additional investigation first.

––––– ––––– –––––

"I miss school," Ryuji's pupils disappeared under his eyelids as he sank deeper into the bath. Leaning his head back, the water framed his face along his jaw. Behind him, a large tile mural depicted a great zeyaki tree.

"How unexpected," Yusuke, whose shoulders were still above the water line, looked over to their friend.

"Dude, we've been fightin' nonstop for days. We just fought a dragon," Ryuji groaned. "How are you not beat?"

Ryuji had a point. School gave them regular down time.

Important down time.

He recalled meeting Makoto on the roof, resting his head on her crossed legs, and falling asleep while she combed her fingers through his smiled to himself.

Of course, back then it was more mental exhaustion than physical. Between limiting their Metaverse excursions to after school and having access to a professional masseuse, the physical exertion wasn't as bad. Here they were away from the suffocating judgment of their fellow students and the relentless string of existential threats aimed at him and his team. Sure, just thinking about being incarcerated again caused his stomach to knot, but at least that inspector and his organization represented a singular known threat, one they seemed to be managing for now.

But maybe all the physical exertion was dulling his senses...

"How can you possibly be tired?!" Yusuke looked legitimately surprised. "We've been so well fed!"

"For real? Does eatin' at all count as 'well fed' to you?" Ryuji lifted his head along with his volume. Fortunately, the bathhouse was mostly empty. "Y'know, nevermind."

Ryuji shook his head and retreated into the water.

Ren decided not to mention that Yusuke was not participating in their runs at dawn either, even if he was up at sunrise to sketch. There was no need to prolong the argument. He had something else he wanted to discuss.

"Hey, have either of you noticed that the shadows seem to be concentrating more on Makoto these past few days?"

Natsume had left her alone, but the shadows on the way there… It wasn't obvious, but something was going on.

"Can't say I've noticed," Yusuke shrugged.

"Me neither." Ryuji continued to be a floating face in the water. "Are you sure this sneakin' around thing isn't gettin' in your head?"

Ren clenched his jaw. His eyes narrowed slightly. Just because they didn't see it didn't mean it was all in his head. He was tempted to snap back, but said nothing.

He wasn't sure why he was so bothered.

Maybe it was the exhaustion.

Maybe Ryuji and Yusuke hadn't noticed because it was usually Makoto or himself keeping track of the full battlefield.

Well, Makoto, himself, and one other person.

Futaba.

He'd have to ask her.