Persona 5: Daywatch

Monday, 16 May 2016
After School
Halls of Shujin

The student population thinned, few people noticed Akira's departure from the library. Adjusting his school satchel's straps, he trotted down the stairs, his eyes on his phone as he scoured the internet for news on Tosa Kotomi. Not one place mentioned her by name, and the toll was starting to wear at him. At least if people were talking about her in specific, he would have one place to worry about. Lacking that, every drug deal and back alley beating left the question of whether it was her. Could he have stopped it?

A pressed blue uniform swelled into Akira's view behind his phone. Grabbing the rail, he halted his downward momentum just before he crashed into the blue-garbed man preceding Kawakami up the stairwell, but dropped his phone in the process.

Straightening his ironed uniform, the cop stared into Akira's eyes. "You know where Chouno-sensei is?"

Akira dashed to retrieve his phone, then pointed down the hall. "Uh… I would guess the faculty office. Second floor."

The police officer grumped, but turned around without another word. "Ma'am," he nodded to Kawakami before stepping around her.

His homeroom and literature teacher narrowed her eyes. "There you are." Her brown eyes searched his. "Are you all right?"

Akira felt his heart seize and his hands go cold. He dipped into that familiar feeling of anger. It didn't take away the burning in his chest, but did stop the trembling in his hands. "You needed to speak with me, Kawakami-sensei?"

The teacher held the railing like she feared she'd fall without it. "Niijima said she can't find a report of a lost item, so she needs you to fill in the paperwork so they can start the official process."

Akira's eyebrow rose and he closed the web browser. "Niijima-san…?"

Kawakami crossed her arms, brow furrowing. "Really? The student council president. She'll be in her room next to—"

"The library on the third floor," he finished, having noticed it when returning his book on musculoskeletal structure.

"Right." She let out a heavy breath, turned, and trotted down to the second floor.

Morgana poked his head out of Akira's satchel. "Isn't she that girl with the braided headband? Who's been following you around since you yelled at the librarian?"

Akira let out long sigh. "Crap. I was afraid she was getting wise." He headed to the student council room, thankful at least only she was there rather than a panel of her cronies.

Niijima looked up from her seat in front of a laptop on a single folding table, another folded up against the wall next to the chairs. "Ah, there you are, Kurusu—"

"My name is Akira," he snapped, fists clenching. "I do not go by Kurusu."

Niijima blinked, a moment of confusion passing through before she composed herself and gestured to a chair on the opposite side of the table. "Well, if we could sit down for a bit?"

Akira took the indicated chair, his hackles rising, and set his school bag onto the other chair beside him. "What's this all about? I didn't report anything lost to the school." He glared at the table. "Except maybe my dignity." He straightened his glasses. "What would Miss Brown-Noser want with one of us plebians?"

Morgana glared at him from the hidden confines of the school satchel. "Joker."

Her eyelid twitched. She folded up her computer and set it on the chair next to her so she could clasp her hands and look him in the eye. "Why don't we get straight to the point? Kamoshida-sens—"

"Rapists have no right to be called sensei," Akira spat.

Niijima's hands balled, but she kept her eyes and body calm. "The charges haven't—"

Akira rose, fists banging the table in his anger, Shiho's broken body in his mind's eye. "Suzui-san threw herself off the roof, and he confessed. Are you really going to sit there and defend him even after everything that came out? After all the girls he violated? After all the lives he crushed?"

Her eyes clenched and her head turned aside for a moment. Niijima drew in a breath, straightened, and looked as calm as ever before she looked Akira in the eyes. "This just highlights how strange it is for Kamoshida to have done all those terrible things, only to come to school one day, confess, and resign." Her eyes narrowed. "It's been the talk of Shujin Academy, but it seems like you are the only person unsurprised."

Sitting, Akira clasped his hands on his lap and tried to project a calm front despite his pounding heart.

"Would you kindly tell me the truth behind the Phantom Thieves?"

From his concealment in the bag, Morgana quailed. "You were right, she knows!"

Akira maintained steady breath. He lied to the police before, he can lie to one little girl. "Didn't that calling card he left say there was only one phantom thief?"

"It wasn't clear." Niijima let a victorious smirk play over her mouth. She pulled out her phone and navigated to a file, then tapped play.

Akira's voice floated out. "Damn. No Palace."

Ryuji groaned. "Man, what kind of Phantom Thieves can't come up with a good guy to heist? We're never gonna get famous at this rate."

Ann's voice came next. "We're doing this to give hope to the helpless, Ryuji."

Niijima stopped the recording and brushed her hair back, her smirk spreading. "Now what could such a strange conversation mean?"

Still in bag, Morgana said, "This is bad. Very bad."

Eyes narrowing, Niijima turned a look like a cutting laser on the transfer student. "How did you do it? Blackmail? Hypnosis?"

Akira shrugged, but his hands clenched on his knees. "All I heard was a couple of phantom thief fans."

Niijima held fast, looking far too much like a practiced interrogator. Without a word, she scrolled forward on the recording and hit play.

Ryuji's voice floated out. "Maaan… I became a Phantom Thief ta fight Shadows and help people, not study."

"That would explain your class ranking," Akira's voice mocked before Niijima stopped the playback.

She looked up at him with a soft smile like the cat who ate the canary. "You really want to claim this doesn't prove anything? I've only been following you for a few days, and I believe you three are the Phantom Thieves." She paused to sweep her eyes over him, gauging his reaction. "What would the police think if I were to send this recording to them?"

Red haze shot into his vision. Snarling, Akira bashed the table up to one side and rushed her.

Shocked, Niijima stood from her chair. His fingers just grazed her throat when she snagged his outstretched hand and yanked to her right, throwing off his footing. She kicked him in the soft spot beneath his knee cap. Akira tumbled to the floor and she braced a knee into the small of his back.

Alliance Force, Assemble! sang out of his phone.

Remembering his encounter with her in an alley in Shibuya, Akira couldn't muster the energy to try to turn the tables. That, and she could easily break his arm. "Okay," he said into the prickly carpet, "I realize I may have deserved that. I may be a jackass, but… Kamoshida was trying to force sex out of Ann for maybe a year. And Ryuji… he just wanted to earn a track scholarship to help ease the burden on his single mother. Those two deserve chances they're not even being given."

Niijima's knee pressing into his kidney wavered a little.

Morgana stood from the bag, tail standing straight up. "Okay, everybody take things easy. We can't afford to make any mistakes here, Joker. If the police come for you, things would get bad fast."

After long seconds, Niijima straightened. Her knee still pressed into his back. "First, let me say one personal thing. I am not the snitch of Shujin. Or a teacher's pet. I work hard to get as far as I can and I am sick of people stacking their expectations up against me. Chouno, Arakawa, and you." She paused for a breath, her grip on his wrist tightening. "Can you prove to me the Phantom Thieves are about justice, not revenge?"

Morgana bared his teeth, tail twitching. "Of course we're just. We—"

"I think that will be rather hard," Akira said to the girl still braced on him, "with my face in the thinnest carpet ever manufactured by man."

She didn't make a clear sound, but he had the impression she frowned at him.

"Well," he said, smirking. "I know some girls like being on top, but you haven't even bought me dinner."

Niijima sighed, shifted off him, then retrieved her fallen phone and stood.

Wincing, Akira got up and righted the table, then his chair, and turned just enough to straighten the table to a right angle with the wall. He reached for his school satchel with Morgana still standing in it, but paused. "You… heard me make that comment about 'playing Russian roulette with a fully loaded gun' the day Suzui-san jumped, didn't you?"

Niijima sat down, posture composed and eyes straight on him. "I heard about you going after Kamoshida in his office, but it was you three meeting after. That and, as I said, you being the only one in Shujin who didn't seem at all surprised at Kamoshida's sudden change of heart. I admit, I happened to be in the right place to hear a few things. After I concluded you three were meeting on the rooftop, I hid my phone inside a desk on the roof and let it record your conversation."

Sitting in his chair, he clasped his hands on the table, looking more at Morgana than Niijima. "Before I agree to anything, I need assurances that you won't do anything to Ann or Ryuji. I… I never had a real chance to go legit, but they… They deserve a break."

Niijima's eyes bore into his. "Do this one thing and I'll consider it."

Morgana sighed, then said, "I don't think you have the leverage to keep Reaper and Lady Ann in the clear. This might be our only option."

Akira figured that would be the best he could get. "So… how?"

Niijima turned her head to face him and he found himself even less able to meet her gaze. "I want you to change someone's heart."

His narrowed eyes snapped to hers. "Who?"

Niijima sat back in her chair, self-satisfied. "Such certainty." The corners of her mouth turned up, the student council president looking as smug as ever. "So it is possible." She folded her hands on the table like him. "The mafia boss responsible for the blackmail and phishing scams in Shibuya." Her fists clench and eyes unfocus. "They target minors like Shujin students. They force us, my fellow students into their scams, their schemes, threaten their families, and destroy lives."

Akira took off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. "We can't pick up another target."

One of Niijima's eyebrows rose. "Excuse me?"

Morgana's ears twisted up and down as he thought. "We're running into brick walls looking for that drug kingpin. I don't see how it could hurt to add President Niijima's blackmailer to the list." His tail shot straight up and his eyes widened for just a moment. "He might even be the same one! It's not like organized crime sticks to only one crime."

Akira swallowed against the bitter taste of the leader of the Phantom Thieves agreeing with the conniving girl in front of him. "A… friend of mine is an unwilling participant in the drug trade in Shibuya. The moment she stops doing business, they'll kill her and dump her in Tokyo Bay." He set his glasses back on. "I guess we could be looking for the same person." Gathering his fortitude, Akira looked her in the eye. "So what's his name?"

"Nobody knows."

Akira slapped his hands on the table. "Without a name, it's not even possible."

Morgana's tail returned to a rhythmic side-to-side swish. "I wonder if the police have anything."

Niijima crossed her arms. "The police know this is happening, but victims are threatened against testifying." Her hands closed into fists. "The police can't do anything. Somebody has to."

Akira spread his hands open on the table. "Even if this is the same dude, trying to go after the fraud and drug rings could get a lot more dangerous."

The movements of the tip of Morgana's tail took on a tenser twitch. "I think all of us together can do it. Kamoshida was pretty dangerous, too."

Akira worked a fist open and closed on the table. "We can't do it. Not nearly enough information. With Kamoshida, we knew who he was, where he was, and what he was doing. With this mafioso, all we know is what he's doing."

Morgana's ears folded back against his skull. "Then we consult the others. I think this could be a good opportunity. And if we say no, you've just got a pissed off girl with a recording of a Phantom Thief meeting."

Niijima paused to send an arched brow at Morgana, then crossed her arms and thought a moment. "I'll ask my sister."

Akira crossed his arms, eyes narrowing and flicking between the diminutive leader and student council president. "I'll have to bring it up at our next meeting."

"You have two weeks," she said, back to looking smug and in control.

He looked her in the eyes. "This sis of yours a cop?"

The student council president lowered her fin from her chin and met eyes with Akira. "She's a prosecutor."

Morgana's tail settled into smoother motion. "Good enough." He straightened, chest puffed out. "Now say something witty as a parthian shot."

Akira smirked and spared a glance to the cat. "Something witty."

Morgana bonked his head on the edge of the table.

Monday, 16 May 2016
After School
Shibuya Station

Disgorging from the train, Akira pushed his way out of the quagmire of people. Their hundred cacophonous conversations assaulted his ears and their unhurried, meandering pace forced him into a forest of elbows and awkward collisions. At last, he shoved out of the maze of concrete and tile. Free of the closed confines of the underground subway, the crowds of idiots streaming left and right in defiance of order continued.

Heart thudding in his chest and ears, Akira shoved his way through the plodding morons. Needing some kind of escape, he considered pulling up the Nav and waiting for the others in Mementos. Ann might remember he hated crowds, but he didn't trust Ryuji to think to check.

He pushed through the crowds to a concrete nook with a storm drain where they came out of Mementos last time. While the location wasn't invisible, it was easy to get to and from and out of the way enough that nobody paid any attention to it. Safe place to stand found, he looked through the crowd for any sign of blond, real or dyed. To his displeased surprise, several popped out of the crowd but all belonged to other people.

Morgana poked his head out of the bag. "You're gritting your teeth again."

"I am not!"

A passing woman slowed and gave him a raised-eyebrow look.

Once she left, Akira drew his phone and brought up the Nav for a Palace search. "Niijima Makoto."

It chirped a low tone at him. "Candidate not found."

Akira growled. "We need to get everyone together. That mysterious deadline became a hard line." [Double check to make sure you've got your gear for the meet at the nook where we came out of Station Square last time.]

Morgana stretched up to read over the transfer student's shoulder. "Leave off the particulars. In fact, until we know more, don't mention your school president at all. No point in poisoning the well. Especially if Miss President is directing us at the same mafioso we're already after. If we can make use of information she might be able to pass on to us, might as well use it for the betterment of society. Besides, didn't you say the hearts we changed might be in danger? She could help us with that."

Ryuji was the first to respond, [Sweet! I've been ready to go since Midterm Torture!]

[Ah!] Ann sent. [I left mine at home! I'll have to run there and back.]

Akira growled, but knew his anger wouldn't help her along any. It was probably safer for her to leave it home than risk being caught with it when she visited Shiho at the hospital. Closing the chat, he asked, "You really think that Niijima would help us? That we should trust her when she threatened to blackmail Ryuji? Ann?"

Sighing, Morgana shook his head. "Joker, I think we could make use of her. I know she didn't play nice, but don't we need some kind of a breakthrough to prevent a repeat of that dealer woman you've been reading about the past few days?"

"Shut up!"

A pair of salarymen paused mid-step and gave him curious looks before they spied his phone and disregarded him.

Morgana settled in the satchel. "Joker, I'm just saying we can still turn this to our advantage. It doesn't have to be yet another battle you pick up to fight alone. For now, what's actually changed?"

Keeping his tone low, Akira said, "We're on a two-week time limit."

"But still going after the yakuza in Shibuya." Morgana scratched at his ear with a paw. "And you admitted yourself it might be the same guy. We might even be able to get more names from her. We might even be able to feed names to her. Those are more hearts to change and people to save."

The mental image of a bloodied Kotomi stuffed into a 200 liter drum flashed before his mind's eye. Sensing he'd have no argument the team leader couldn't easily counter, Akira pursed his lips and brought up an online shogi game to keep himself busy.

Three narrow victories later, Ryuji's voice called out, "Yo, bro!"

Akira looked up at the dyed blond grinning far too wide for such a crowded venue. He spat, "You're sure in a good mood."

Ryuji's expression cooled. "What's with you? Most peeps get recharged over the weekend. You miss out on sleep or somethin'?"

Akira finished his move and hit end turn, not liking where the formations were going. It looked like one of his games with Hifumi. Most of the time he felt better after a game with Hifumi, but Niijima's reminder of the yakuza and Tosa Kotomi left him feeling sick and on edge. That Niijima was sticking her nose in Phantom Thief business only made it worse, but until he could convince Morgana to drop her, it would be easier to keep Niijima to himself. "It's nothing."

Tilting his head for a couple long seconds, Ryuji shrugged, then leaned against the concrete wall next to the transfer student. "Well, we're both here. Ya think we can get movin' and have Ann meet us inside?"

Morgana's ears flattened against his skull. "No. We still haven't run into all the surprises Mementos has for us, and even if we fought every enemy we found, Ann could run into Shadows that crawled out of the dark after us."

Akira growled, but remembered the look in Ann's eyes when he tried to push them into advancing after the battle against Archangel. Glancing to his phone, he advanced another piece in his online shogi game and hit 'end turn'. "Fine. It took a while to get all the way down and back up last time anyway."

Morgana relaxed, his ears perking. "There might be a way to speed that up. I'll point it out to you when I see it."

Before the transfer student could respond, his phone buzzed with an incoming chat request. Mishima's ID stared back at him. [Hey. Are you guys busy?]

Akira pressed his back against a thick drainpipe in the concrete alcove. [We're not exactly hitting home runs with finding the name of that mafioso. You hear anything?]

[Nothing beyond the names I texted you yesterday, sorry. Ishikawa-san asked for some help. A couple classmates in the journalism club are being blackmailed.]

Akira blinked, then glanced out at the crowd. A sea of dark hair met his gaze. [I hope you have the blackmailer's name, because we've got our hands full with one stalled investigation.]

[Hashiko Aikiko. She lives in Minato-ku and hung out with Yamada before this blackmail thing popped up.]

Glancing up at his compatriots. "You guys think we can find another name while we're lookin' for Masahiro Tokisumi? Probably not connected to our don, but Mishima thinks it could do some good."

Ryuji shrugged. "If it's on the way, I don't care. 'Still need Ann to get here if we wanna ask her."

Morgana settled in perch on the transfer student's shoulder. "No reason why we can't search for several names in Mementos."

[We'll see what we can do,] Akira sent back. [By the way, have you been in to see Shiho since she was hospitalized?]

[How can I go see her now?]

Akira's smart phone clicked as he tapped out a message on its virtual keypad. [There's a train from the Aoyama-Itchome station that only takes forty-five minutes to get up to the hospital. Then you use your feet to walk for five minutes into the hospital and up to her room. Ann said Shiho's mother is there most days.]

[Was she okay?] Mishima texted. [How did she look?]

[She looked like she was worried about her daughter,] Akira sent back. He crossed his feet, brows furrowing as he tried to imagine what the class representative's game was. [Why haven't you gone to see her yet? Ann said she texted you the hospital room and address five times by now.]

[What right do I have to dig up all that pain again? I haven't even made up for letting Shi-chan go!] Mishima left the chat, giving the transfer student no time to come up with a response.

"Over here!" Ryuji shouted.

Blonde pigtails popped out of the crowd as Ann ran from the station. Stopping and bracing her hands on her knees, she panted for breath, her breasts straining against her shirt. "Sorry!"

Akira looked away, his face burning. "Yeah, okay. Whatever."

"Okay, everybody," Morgana said as he hopped out of Akira's satchel. "Before we go, Joker's contact found a blackmailer going after the journalism club members," the diminutive team leader finished.

"Candidate found."

Akira straightened. "Well, that confirms what Mishima suspected. Hashiko Aikiko is in Mementos."

"Right," Morgana nodded before looking back to the lady of the team. "Are you up for going after another n'er-do-well even if it isn't necessarily somebody pointing us to the yakuza leader?"

Ann nodded. "Anybody who's shitty enough to make an enemy of Yuuki made an enemy of me. Let's take her down."

Morgana smiled. "That's a unanimous. Okay everyone, into Mementos to track down Hashiko Aikiko."

AN: Thank you for reading and reviewing!