Persona 5: Daywatch

by Ganheim

Akira is banished to Tokyo by his own father. What begins as a near-suicidal quest for vengeance becomes a desperate attempt to turn the pieces of his life into an honest whole. Aided by clever strategists and opposed by supernatural puppeteers, one lost boy's quest for something greater clashes those who would think themselves gods over men, and demons within. AU elements.

72. July 6th, Half Moon

Persona 5: Daywatch

Wednesday, 6 July 2016
After School
Shujin, Gym

Rain pounded on the windows as the first and most determined wave of escapees fled the classrooms. Most students took their time, fishing around in their school satchels for collapsible umbrellas. Akira looked over to Ann and spotted her glance at the only seat behind him. A beat occurred just long enough for her eyes to meet the class representative's before she looked away at the same time as he did, Mishima's chair scraping on the wood flooring.

Mishima turned over an assignment sheet and pulled out a notebook.

Ann slipped a folded umbrella out of her desk and shouldered her satchel, though she snuck a peek at the class rep.

Akira wasn't sure who they were tied up by more—Shiho or each other—but this problem just kept eating away at both. It was time for drastic action. He cleared his throat and waved her down. With her attention, Akira gave a rough pat to the representative's shoulder. "Hey, there's an emergency I need you on."

Mishima looked at the transfer student as much as he could to avoid the model coming to a stop next to him. "What's up?"

Gesturing to the model and representative, Akira took a step for the door. "C'mon, hurry." If his old bastard taught him anything, it was that the first rule of command was confidence. If you don't give people room to argue or question you, most will obey without a peep. Worry showed on Ann's face and a distracted annoyance on Mishima's, but at his insistence they followed him down to the sheltered nook.

With the rain pounding down, any students out of their classrooms would be rushing for home or work. Just a handful of students raced down the covered walkway, the rain coming down at an angle left most of the walkway wet. Since the angle of the rain drenched the walkway to the vending machine nook, Akira had to pop open his blue umbrella. Being the 'two person' variety, it was plenty for him to escort the pair the short distance needed, and also gave him the pretext to take Ann's umbrella as they dashed into the corner of the courtyard.

Ann's eyes scanned him as he shook out his umbrella. "So what's the big emergency?"

Turning to the three of them, Akira set the satchel with the team leader on the table. "This is an intervention. It's not right to just let my friends go around with a big problem."

Mishima's gaze started to look shifty before he ventured to speak. "I don't understand."

Akira pointed a hand at the bench against the dry wall of the nook. "It's you two." Both of his fellow 2-D students stiffened, but as soon as they glanced at each other, they both looked like it was only the pouring rain which kept them from running for the hills. "C'mon, guys. You both trusted me enough to come to me with what happened to you the day I first went to Nijubashi Square."

They both gave him flat, uncomprehending stares. Mishima's left eyebrow disappeared under his dark bangs.

Akira slapped his free hand against his forehead. "Right. That was later. Makoto just joined… we all went down to Gun About. Probably the first time we all trained there together." He glanced at the class rep. "I mean… all of us… you know."

With remarkable synchronicity, Ann and Mishima both glanced at each other, blushed, then jerked their gaze back to the transfer student and went, "Oh!" Now they both looked as if weighing the option of bolting into the rain.

Akira pointed them both at the dry bench. "C'mon, guys. It's been over a month, and you both look like you swallowed knives each time you look at each other. You're my friends. Probably the first people I really, really don't want to see hurting. Nobody's gone out of their way for me like you guys have. I'm still pretty new at this whole being a good friend, and I was hoping you two would figure it out. But that hasn't happened. So I'm making sure that happens today." He glanced at the class rep. "Sounds from your stories like you had a breakdown and kissed her."

Their blushes doubled in size and intensity. Ann recovered from the stammering just enough to blurt, "No, it was me! It's my fault!"

Akira rubbed his forehead. "Ayayaie." He stepped forward, grabbing them both by the arms to push them past the table and at the bench. They both yielded ground, but neither sat. "Guys, was it an accident or not?"

Ann stared out at the rain, but her blush grew.

After a moment, Mishima found enough breath to stammer, "Yes!" His body tensed. "No!" His hands closed into fists and his eyes shone in the glittering lights. "I don't know."

Akira set his umbrella tip-down against the dry concrete, Ann's collapsible umbrella in the same hand still dripping. "I think I understand why family court judges drink." He shook his head and looked at the model. "Look, you're a lot of things, but an ambush predator is not one of them. I may not have been there to see the whole thing go down, but I'm pretty sure you didn't lure him in to steal him from his girlfriend. You both care too much about Shiho to do that."

Two tears slipped out of the corners of Mishima's eyes and he sat down in the general direction of the dry bench. Being a pace away, he hit the ground hard and fell against the soda machine.

Ann dove at him to help him back up. "Yuuki!"

Sniffing, the first tears slid down from his eyes. "How can you still try to be my friend after everything I've done? I don't deserve it."

Hifumi's quoted words spilled from Akira's lips as soon as the connection snapped in his brain. "Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Do not be so quick to mete out judgment." When his friends both looked at him, he shrugged. "One of the parishioners is as big a bookworm as me, just better read." He took them both by the arms again and led them closer to the bench. Neither sat. "Anyway, the point is we all get things we don't deserve. Shit we never should've had to step in. Gifts we never earned. We still have them." He waved the hand holding the umbrellas, a couple drops splattering the vending machine. "I mean, you didn't feed other girls to Kamoshida, did you?"

Mishima looked like he wanted to crumple, but the model refused to let him fall. "N-no. B-but that hardly makes—"

"Stop it, Yuuki!" Ann straightened, though from the tremble in her arms she couldn't have been far from breaking down herself. "You weren't there when Kamoshida called Kiriko-senpai to his office."

He stood straighter, bitterness thick in his gaze. "But I was for all those guys I called in. Even if all he ever did was beat people up like he did me, they didn't deserve that."

Ann's hands clenched on his. "Neither did you!"

Lips pressing thin, Akira couldn't decide whether or not he agreed.

"I still shouldn't have done it!" Mishima's eyes glistened. "I thought it would never stop and… some days I had so little left… when he didn't want to hit me, I called in some other guy for him." He clenched his dark eyes closed and heaved in a breath. "The only one I'd go into that office for was Shiho."

Ann's hands loosened so she could slide her grip up to his arms, her own watery gaze searching the representative's. "She wasn't the first one I saw leave campus when you went to her after coming out of Kamoshida's office."

Mishima turned his gaze away, but with her grip on his arms he still couldn't pull away. "You think I have the right to go back to her? After all the things I've done…" He glanced at her, but even before meeting her cerulean gaze his brown orbs turned down. "I haven't even made up for what I did to you."

Akira pressed his hand against the side of his head but kept his mouth clamped closed. The first thought to pass through his head sounded too much like Ryuji—plenty of guys in Shujin would kill for a kiss with Ann. She didn't mean it. And the more Akira watched, the less he thought the representative did, either. "No offense guys, but you're not master manipulators that could trick the other into… favors." He clasped the umbrellas behind his back and stepped closer. "Kamoshida hurt both of you, and the last thing either of you want to do is to spread the hurt around." His grey gaze bored into the representative still making the weakest pull away from Ann he'd ever seen. "You keep trying to talk about making up or paying back, holding that up as a shield to keep you from having to do what you did every day while Kamoshida was still here, threatening all of you. Going to Shiho and being her friend. Isn't that your duty? Shouldn't that be what moves you?" He took another step closer and pulled out his folded handkerchief, the deep red fabric a few shades darker than the gloves he bore in the Metaverse, handing it out to the class representative only just staying on his feet. "You used to treasure Shiho. Has that changed?"

"No!" both shouted. Ann blushed and let go to step back.

Mishima braced one arm against the vending machine. "I sent her to Kamoshida—"

"Because I told you the next time Kamoshida beat you, the damage would be permanent," Akira barked. He straightened his glasses. "My vision might not be that great, but I've got great ears. And a memory which won't let go. If you're at fault for what happened to Shiho when it wasn't your fists, where's my part of the blame?"

Ann sighed, looking ten years older in the dark under a sheltered nook battered by the rain. "You came in at the tail end of everything, Akira. She was my best friend since middle school. I should have known." She clasped her hands behind her back, her eyes on the rain splattering the concrete at the edge of the nook. "When you know a person that long, you pick up on things she's not saying. Hell, I knew something was going on with Mishima, and Kamoshida and I only knew him since he started coming to Shiho's games. I should've known that bastard was prepared to do something to her to get to me." Cringing, she turned towards the class rep. "I was why he hurt her, not you."

Akira massaged his temples. "Ann, weren't we in his mind at the time? There literally wasn't anything you could have done." He threw his hands in the air, making sure to keep a grip on the umbrellas. "Hell, I was directly responsible for you being in the Metaverse instead of there for him to make whatever nasty calls he'd been bombarding you with."

Ann shivered, her hands fidgeting behind her back. "You didn't even know what the Nav was at the time, Akira. You didn't exactly hide your surprise."

"Then why's the same reason that makes it not my fault, your fault?"

Now Ann's hands came to her side, bunched in tight fists. "Because she was my friend. I cared about her more than anything!"

"So did I!" Akira shouted.

All three blinked in the relative silence beneath the pounding rain. The wind gusted, bringing splattering rain closer and chill wind blowing through the trio.

Akira took off his glasses and leaned against the vending machine. "She was the first girl in my life to give me a smile, remember? Listened to my dream." He wiped the lenses on his jacket, then settled his glasses back on. "That's who she was." He set the umbrellas on the table and stepped closet to grab Mishima's arm. "That's why you can't stop thinking about her." Then Ann's. "Or you. I think you weren't ready for her not to be right here, so you were looking for Shiho in him. And her."

For the first time in a long while, both met his grey eyes.

Akira held up his hands. "I know your type, Mishima. You think things've gotta be balanced before you can move out." He lowered his hands. "News flash: it's never balanced. Being raised by doctors, I can even give you a specific example. Your legs aren't even the exact same height. Average people might have one a couple millimeters longer, and that's just from being born. Life just throws more things on both sides of any equation you try to make. Yeah, things are never going to be the same with Shiho, but no shit. Next year's not going to be the same as last year. You take it a day at a time, not theoretical years future and assumed years past." He paused for a breath. "Weren't you there for Shiho when Shujin was too much for her?"

Mishima's breath came faster. "S-she was the one who was there for me." The tears ran in rivulets. He sat, almost missing the bench again before Ann caught him and directed him back. Ugly sobs wracked him for long minutes before he lost the strength for them. "She was the one who made my life worth living." He wiped at the tears, but more kept coming. "You don't understand, my life was worth less than nothing before I met her. I was just that dumb nerd in the corner people would make fun of because I was too scared to speak up." A sob cracked his voice and it took him several moments to get his breathing under control. "She was so m-much larger than life, she even filled mine."

Akira sat down on the armrest of the bench and plopped his hand down on the class rep's shoulder. "What if she relied on you, same as you drew courage from her?"

"Yeah," Ann added, squeezing the boy's other shoulder. "Even Shiho's mother had a harder time without you there to help balance it out. Things were always tense there before you came along."

Mishima's face flushed and he gave a self-deprecating smile. "Y… You really think so?"

Akira nodded. "Father Sugiyama told me the most virtuous people are the ones most aware of their own vices."

Ann clasped her hands in her lap. "But that doesn't mean we don't rely on you, Yuu-kun. It's not like any of the other Phantom Thieves are any good with computers," she said with a forced chuckle.

Haggard, the class representative looked between the two of them. "I'm really sorry, guys."

Akira swatted the back of the rep's head. "Stop sayin' that. Go out and do."

Mishima stood. Despite the shaking of his hands, he drew in a breath. "You're right." He turned and faced Ann straight on. "I can't let another day go by, or I'll be the same Yuuki who let that happen. No, worse—I'll backslide and become that stupid, powerless loser who only met Shiho by accident." He gave a deep bow. "Thanks."

As the class representative scrambled off, Morgana popped his head out of the satchel. "Haha! The Phantom Thieves are so amazing, we don't even need the Metaverse to steal distortion."

Ann jumped, then placed her hand over her heart. "I forgot you were there, Morgana."

Akira sat down on the bench proper. "Who's to say they won't find darkness there again? Yuuki-san himself said his problem before Shiho was thinking his life had no value in itself."

Morgana crossed one paw over the other and looked up at them. "The way I see it, all we can do is take away one distortion. After that, what people become is for them to decide. If they get distorted again and start hurting other people, then we'll go again. That's why Akechi was wrong about us. We're not like tyrants who want to control everything about how people live."

She gave a nod to the transfer student. "Thanks for today, though. I tried to talk to Yuu-kun a few times, but always half-assed it. Every time he found an excuse to focus on something else, I took the out too." She leaned back on the bench. "I never really thought about looking for Shiho in him. He's right, though. Shiho's heart was so big, she could make yours feel bigger just by being around. I want to be like that, too." She stood up to grab her umbrella, but paused there. "I just wish I knew quite how she did it." She shook her head and stepped out, popping open the umbrella.

Wednesday, 6 July 2016
Early Evening
Yongen, Leblanc

Akira picked up his cup of coffee, the brown liquid inside long since gone cold in his studies with the artist. Still, its bitterness brought a feeling of sharpness back to his awareness. He drained the last gulp. Books and papers spread across the booth table in the semi-orderly studies. Academics used to be a refuge in which nobody bothered 'the lab freak', so figuring out how to engage in group study was hard on its own. Math being the main topic today left him that much more burnt out at having to rely on Hifumi's notes. After a deep breath in and out, Akira began packing. "I'm calling it quits today, Yusuke."

Yusuke nodded. "Thank you for your insights." He scribbled something down, then moved to another page. "For someone who claims to dislike mathematics, you seemed as apt as any of my fellow students."

Akira slipped his satchel on his shoulder, needing far less muscle than usual with the team leader staying behind. "I'm gonna go on a walk."

He retrieved his umbrella from the peg against the wall sheltering what little genkan the business had, opened it, then stepped out into the faltering rain. With the weather, there wasn't any point taking the train to Inokashira or one of the other parks. "Maybe some preparation for our next dive in Mementos."

Velvet Room

Akira leaned both forearms against the barred door between he and the inner room of the panopticon where the twins stood. With Igor absent, the space seemed calmer. Getting Agathion back also filled in a strange sense of a small void inside him he hadn't quite understood was there until the Persona's return.

Justine gave a faint nod and turned a page on her busy clipboard. "Your diligence is commendable, Inmate. You just may reach rehabilitation after all."

Akira straightened enough to mime a backhand with his left, adding a smack sound effect with his mouth. "Thanks. You always know how to build a guy up."

Caroline waggled her baton at him. "Having the will to work is a minimum, Inmate."

He shot her a smirk, and was rewarded with her hand clenching tight on her baton.

Justine glanced up. "This is for your benefit, Inmate. Still, you have progressed since our last meeting. Sharing your power with another person is an indication of the bonds of faith you are developing. I would warn you these tasks only increase in difficulty, but that wouldn't dissuade you, would it?"

Akira let his smirk grow.

Her face betrayed nothing but cold attentiveness. "Your attitude leaves vast room for improvement, but your will to carry on is admirable enough."

Akira lifted up on his toes to try to get a vantage point on the clipboard. "What's on that list, anyway?"

Caroline slammed her electrified baton on the bars, sending sparks zipping. "You're not here for questions, you're here for penal labor. Your responses should be 'Yes, Ma'am' and 'No, Ma'am'."

He flipped her off.

Justine cleared her throat. "We are acting beyond the minimum requirements of our duty as wardens to assist you, Inmate."

Akira and the wannabe-warden with hair buns straightened. He crossed his arms. "Given you're supposed to be 'rehabilitating' me, it seems to me like this is all obligated."

Caroline raised her baton, but refrained from striking the bars. "It's your rehabilitation, so you're the one with the burden of action."

Justine turned another page on her clipboard. "We ask you harbor a Kin-Ki with Sukukaja before we grant you your next boon."

Caroline waggled that damn baton of hers. "It's not like life's just gonna hand you success."

"I will bury you," echoed within his skull.

Akira gripped the bars, and let out a breath, the effort of standing up too much for just a moment. "I know that better than either of you may know."

The stunted girl in a silly costume looked up from her clipboard, and for a moment he swore he saw a wobble in her golden gaze. Then it was gone, and she kept reading from the hand-penned paper.

Late Evening
Velvet Room

Akira wiped his chin and stood up from the steel toilet. His legs shook under him, but he refused to relax with those two weirdos right there, watching. Despite gaining the Apsaras he'd already seen in the museum, and a twin-swordswoman reminding him of a couple enemies in the bank, he didn't have either the energy or stomach contents to keep going. He paced to the bars and took a firm grip on them to help stay steady. "S-so, anything I should look out for down on that list?"

Justine turned the page. "Your bond with the holder of the Magician is too weak to complete the next stage of our requests." A narrowness entered her one eye and she turned one page, then to the next and read for a moment before flipping everything back straight. "And you are in danger of reversing the holder of Death. Be earnest and show integrity, or you risk undoing the progress you have made."

Caroline tapped her baton against her shoulder. "Any weakling Personas you want to leave in The Pit so we can beat some semblance of strength into them?"

Akira closed his eyes and focused. Nekomata was agile enough to get into position, but never seemed to hit hard enough to help Makoto or Ryuji. And when that electrified pressure plate tripped, it felt like every organ in his body fried. Opening his eyes, he saw the ninja-esque female with an iron mouthguard crouched out there between the twins. Taking one last, long breath, he stood and brought his hand to his brow, palm out in a snarky salute.

Thursday, 7 July 2016
After School
Shujin, Class 2-D

Finished packing, Akira set his satchel on the seat to give the team leader the opportunity to slink out of the desk. His phone vibrated and he heard a buzzing from Mishima as well. Ann should still be heading to her job, so he set the satchel down and sat to check the chat.

Yusuke's ID sat at the top of the Phantom Thief chat. [Kosei's finals are over at last. Would any care to partake in an excursion to the Ueno Modern Art Museum to unwind?]

Ryuji followed up. [Hard pass.]

If the artist had free time, that might mean another Kosei student would be available. Akira shifted over to a private chat with Hifumi. [Good afternoon. I heard Kosei's finals are over. Would you like to do anything?]

It took a while before her ID lit up and she responded, [I'm really tired. I was going to sit down to a book and go to bed early today.]

Akira let out a breath which seemed to take half his life with it. [Okay. Have a good day, then.]

[Maybe a rain check? Sorry.]

His shoulders hunched. [Don't be, Togo-san. It's not your fault tests are tiring.] So much for seeing her and getting his record out into the open. Akira closed that text line and returned to the Phantom Thief chat, his enthusiasm drained. [Sorry, Yusuke. I think I'm just going to study at Shujin.]

Makoto sent, [Good for you, Yusuke-kun. Tests are a major milestone at Shujin.]

Ryuji popped up again. [So what's Kosei like? It have a bunch of weird guys like you?]

[Ryuji!] Makoto shot back.

From the desk behind him, Yuuki finished packing his books. A moment later, he texted, [We did read quite a bit about it while investigating Madarame. I understand it has an extensive fine arts program?]

[Indeed,] Yusuke replied. It took several more seconds before he seemed to realize the others were waiting for elaboration. [It has music and ceramics as well, though painting is what drew Madarame's attention.]

Three dots winked next to Yuuki's ID. [Any other interesting students?]

Yusuke replied, [I would have said they are all interesting, though I have noticed one in particular over the past two weeks. Togo Hifumi. She is known for participation in the professional shogi circuit. I have heard some claim she is trying to become an idol, but that does not make sense for someone who keeps to herself.]

Three dots appeared next to Ryuji's name, but Yuuki beat him to the reply. [I didn't know she went to Kosei. I heard about a Togo model in the newspaper club. She's been dubbed the Venus of Shogi by magazines and television all over the city.]

Makoto sent, [Shogi? Like that strategist you were with at Jinbocho a couple weeks ago, Akira?]

Akira typed, [That's her, but she doesn't like being called Venus. She'd prefer to be known for her skill in shogi, which is legit. She said she'd like to play a game, if you're interested.]

[Maybe after finals. Big Sis has been getting suspicious and I want to have good grades to show her.]

Ryuji sprang in with, [You know a model? Dude, why didn't you tell us! Is she hot like Ann?]

Akira's face burned. She was, but the runner sounded a little too much like those stalkers with no sense of boundaries or respect.

Yusuke replied, [She does not tend to mix in with the general student population. To be honest, I only noticed her because she started spending lunch in the courtyard instead of on the roof, where I heard she usually ate and practiced shogi alone.]

Yuuki sent, [Sounds kind of sad, the way you put it. Being solitary like that all high school long.]

Akira sent, [I asked her to keep an eye on you. At first it was because we were zeroing in on Madarame and you were our only good lead. After we learned what happened to so many of Madarame's pupils, it was concern.]

[That is very kind of you,] Yusuke sent.

Ryuji jumped in again. [Dudes, you're missing the point. She's a model, right? How hot is she?]

Yuuki texted, [How did you meet her, to ask her to look out for Kitagawa-san?]

[We both go to Kanda Catholic Church.]

Ryuji replied with blazing speed, [We have to go check her out!]

Akira's jaw clenched. [Ryuji, if you bother us in Mass so you can hit on her, I won't wait for God to strike you down with a lightning bolt. I'll do it myself.]

[It's for the Phantom Thieves,] the track star shot out. [Shogi's a kind of battle, right? She's got to know all kinds of cool strategies.]

[That she does,] Akira confessed. [Remember that pincer attack we pulled off against the Nue in the Museum? I thought of that from one of our games where she struck on both sides. I still had pieces left, but it was over before turn twenty. Once I lost the flanks, she had control of almost the whole board. Same as that big fight against all those horse demon things in Kaneshiro's bank. I knew we had to take out the jumpers first because she's always sneaking her knights behind my defensive positions.]

Ryuji sent, [Then we'll all go check her out. Her strategies, I mean. But meeting the Venus of Shogi would be cool! No harm if we get to see first-hand how cute she is.]

Morgana gave the transfer student a knowing smirk. "Well, Ryuji does have a bit of a point. She is pretty cute."

Akira coughed.

Makoto sent, [You're not fooling anyone, Ryuji.]

Yuuki backed her up, [Churches are supposed to be holy places.]

Ryuji shot back, [Shouldn't you be defending Ann? Save some of the hot girls for me.]

Akira rolled his eyes. [On to a different subject. How's that reporter treating you?]

Three dots danced next to Yusuke's ID. [Reporter?]

Yuuki texted, [She still teases me all the time, but she's really got the whole investigative journalism thing down. She has… her own tools, but she's been teaching me to make better use of looking obsequious to navigate bureaucracy. Says I've got a knack.]

Deciding the team had nothing critical to discuss, Akira decided to sit down with some homework. [I'll be studying at the library. Send me a call if something important comes up.] He closed the chat and headed out. The fastest escapees already fled school grounds, most of the remaining students chatted in the halls or sauntered about. Once Akira reached the third floor, he spotted Makoto coming from the bathrooms.

She gave a nod and they met at the corner next to the broadcast room, slipping her phone into her skirt pocket. "Good afternoon. At least somebody isn't obsessed with appearances."

Akira shrugged. "I don't think Ryuji's as bad as he pretends sometimes. Besides, some people do take particular pleasure in going out and flaunting provocative dress for attention." His eyes locked on the a third year, leaning against the lockers, texting. He turned to look at her straight on. She seemed familiar, from back when he was in Shinjuku with Yuuki, but the girl wore short, eye-hurting pink skirt and suspenders then. He pointed, "Like her in Shinjuku's Kabukichou."

Makoto's eyes narrowed in that quick, 'I am filing this for later' look before stepping out to the library.

Akira followed, sorting in his mind through homework left to finish. The hubbub sprang up as soon as he slipped into the library after her, dashing his concentration. He stalked to one of the study cubbies in the back where it was a little quieter and set his school satchel down.

"What does the criminal think he's doing here?"

"I know, the library is supposed to be for legitimate students."

"I can't believe he didn't get expelled."

"Don't look at him, he's got a knife!"

Makoto slammed her history book closed, the thunderous sound passing through the library and drawing a hush through the small space. She stood up and turned on the dozen-plus-some students and planted her hands on her hips. "I have just about had enough of treating the library like the halls. This is supposed to be a place of quiet study. If I continue to hear loud, irrelevant banter again, I will be making reports directly to your homeroom teachers, where written demerits will follow." Her crimson eyes stopped on a girl with a pageboy haircut. "Do I make myself clear?"

A beat passed before the third-year girl lowered her eyes and shrank in on herself. With the chief rumor-monger cowed, all the rest of the students likewise stayed silent and tried to pretend to have their noses buried in books.

Akira shot Makoto a thankful nod and smile, and she responded with a smaller one of her own before she sat back down and opened her history.

Thursday, 7 July 2016
Evening
Shibuya, Untouchable

"Pleasure doin' business with ya," the shop owner said, leaning the gold picture frame and this week's trinkets out of view behind the counter.

Akira gave a quick count of the yen notes, then folded them over and stuffed them in his wallet and slipped it in his pocket. "Got any other work tonight?"

Iwai chuffed. "I've been sending out feelers, but nobody's taken the bait. I can't afford to jump in this without havin' an escape plan." He picked up his sporting goods magazine. "I'll send you a text when it's time."

Nodding, Akira shouldered the satchel with the team leader and meandered over to lean against the vending machine. He slipped his phone out, his hand navigating to Queen Togo by muscle memory, but he paused. She did say she would be too busy to go out, but would a call be too much of an imposition? [Good evening. I hope things have been going well for you today.]

Long seconds ticked by before Hifumi's ID lit up. [Good evening. Mother is at work already, but Papa is better than he has been in weeks. He even was up to sharing a game with me. It's the best day I've had in weeks.]

He felt a smile slip across his face. [How many turns did he last?]

Three dots pulsed next to her ID for a moment, then disappeared. A moment later, they pulsed again. [He was a professional years before I was born. He's the one who taught me how to play, Akira-kun. It might be years before I ever beat him at his own game.]

He hummed, wondering if she was chuckling on her side or annoyed with him. He looked back over her last sentence. 'Might be years'… and yet she still played without a moment's hesitation. Not many people lived with that kind of devotion, or determination. It was hard to imagine somebody so good at shogi that even Hifumi, who trounced him at every attempt, thought it would be years before she could beat him. [That sounds terrifying and exciting.]

[He was the one who taught me those conceptual visualizations. He makes EVERY game fun.]

Akira stepped around a rack of camouflage splotch clothing. [I should thank him then. Although I suspect your enthusiasm as a queen is your nature, just waiting for a chance to come out.] His thumbs tensed, but he couldn't make himself send a text about his record. Something that serious should be face-to-face.

Three dots winked next to Hifumi's ID for long moments. [Flatterer.] Butterflies fluttered in his stomach, but she sent, [Tomorrow's going to be a long day and I'm still feeling worn out from finals. Talk to you on the weekend.] Her ID dimmed as she logged off.

"Hey," Iwai piped up, peering over his magazine. "Don't just stand there staring off into space. You're creepin' me out."

Akira slipped his phone into his pocket. "Later."

AN: Hifumi's finally been outed to the Phantom Thieves at large. It is hard to take the story through original scenes that all feel both true to the original but also grow organically out of small variations, but that's why we all read fanfiction, right? It also gives me a new appreciation for writers that can take an AU and do a good job with it. Borrowing names are one thing, but being able to take all those recognizable tropes through a whole different blend? Shout-out to DaBossMan's exceptional work doing just that with Shuffled Deck.