Chapter Text
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Dear dior,
My ankle still hurts. I iced it last night or whatever but I fell asleep during that. Maybe I fucked it, idk, but this does mean we have to wait longer to nab Akechi…
I think I’ve got a plan.
——
Despite the Phantom Thieves of Hearts operating on strict deadlines, everyone takes their sweet time getting to Leblanc. I’m not getting any younger… or dead-er. Futaba’s the last to come in, despite literally living around the block, and with that Morgana starts the meeting.
“Alright, listen up! For those who aren’t aware,” He looks at Yusuke, “LUCA’s got a plan to get more manpower in the Metaverse, and to get more info on Shido. Unfortunately, it’s the ludicrous idea of kidnapping our… favorite traitor. LUCA, care to explain why you wanna kidnap Akechi, again?”
I twitch at his name, but I stand (as normally as I can). “…We’re all aware of how much I hate this guy, right?” I’m met with a collective nod, and a quiet “for real”. “Basically, I’m trying to get back my investment. I spent like thousands of yen on his fucking supplies— because these model guns are NOT cheap, even if I strike a deal with Iwai— and we all spent, like, five hours in Mementos trying to make sure this guy wasn’t gonna just die, right? Do we remember that?”
“Akechi saved me once. Super weird thinking about it now…” Sighs Ryuji.
I nod to him, “Yeah, I know. But hey, he owes us! Both for our time and my money! And I know, I know, it was the plan for him to betray us and everything, but I was robbed! And also beaten senseless by cops. I have a feeling he told them to do that. So, I think it's only fair.”
They all kind of look at me like I’m nuts. “Isn’t that a little… excessive..?” Haru almost whispers.
“What’s excessive is him just killing people because someone told him to.”
Ann perks up, “Do you think he’s who Madarame was talking about?”
“I don’t just think it, I’m sure of it. He’s a hired gun, working for Shido, and that’s why Okumura happened to have his mental shutdown the same time Akechi just happened to be nearby. He’s the one causing the mental shutdowns.”
“And you want him… for our team?” Yusuke blinks.
“We have ways of keeping him in check…” Futaba giggles from her seat with an evil look.
Makoto seems to notice that we match. “What are you going to do?”
“He had me fashion a small bomb.” The room nearly erupts, but Futaba raises a hand. “It won’t kill anybody! Except maybe Akechi. He does anything unsavory, and bang!”
“You guys are starting to sound like the people we’re trying to stop…”
“No no no, it’s not lethal.” I turn to Futaba, kind of desperate. “We’re just gonna tell him it is, right?”
“Why’d you have me make a bomb if you don’t want it to blow? It’s not even done yet.”
“It’s NOT?! You said it was!”
“Yeah, so you’d get off my ass. I guess I gotta cancel that C4 order…”
“Oh my— anyway. No. The worst it would do is burn him.”
“Are we giving him a glorified shock collar?” Morgana’s sick of my shit.
“Uh… yeah. Kinda.”
“Okay, dude, I hate Akechi about as much as you do,” Ryuji braces for my reaction, “But is all this necessary? I mean, I’m all for it, but you said yourself that we shouldn’t take unnecessary risks.”
“Uh… I mean, I’m honestly getting this extreme about it for the sake of my own amusement. Which is fucked up, but uh… I really think he’d do the same. Treat others how you’d wanna be treated or whatever.”
“So we ambush him?” Makoto looks expectant. “I want you to know that if we do something like that, there is absolutely no going back. If he squeals, we’re all through.”
“Well, they say keep your enemies close, yeah? Keeping him at arms length means he’s easily disarmable. Besides, I’ll practically be his warden, and I’ve got a pretty good basis for how to keep him in line.” Speaking of wardens, I should ask Caroline and Justine for advice.
“This is ridiculous…” She sighs.
“So… we doin’ it?” Ryuji cocks his head.
“I mean, decision’s gotta be unanimous…”
And everyone looks at me. This is the hardest part.
“All in favor?” I raise my hand. Ryuji’s shoots up shortly after mine, then Futaba’s, then Yusuke raises his— though he seems unsure. Ann raises hers after some deliberation, Haru after her, and with a sigh, Makoto agrees as well. Morgana is still scowling away.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this…” He hisses. “It’s settled. So, what’s the plan, Joker?”
——
Shockingly, that went well. I think a lot of the agreement came from a place of wanting to appease me, but I’ll show them it was a worthwhile endeavor.
We just have to start getting him ready soon.
——
///
I know what I saw. He was alive, goddamnit. I don’t know how he crawled up out of the morgue, or how he found where I live, but one thing’s for certain; he is alive. I’ve been on edge ever since. I don’t want to imagine what will happen to me if Shido learns I failed. Maybe he knew me too well. We both had tricks up our sleeves. I’d almost rather believe it was a ghost than to think I’d be outwitted by that bastard. How could this happen to me??
To state the obvious, my day has been awful. I banged my foot into my coffee table quite aggressively, so I’ve had a terrible limp since this morning, and I’m halfway tempted to blame him. Work is normal, I guess that’s fine. I’m just in a terrible mood. You try failing to kill someone at point-blank, see how great it feels. Damned JUSTICE… I hate that his name is JUSTICE. And why is it in all caps? “Case closed. This is how your justice ends.” That was meant to be the last thing he ever heard, and it has his stupid name in it. It absolutely ruins the whole thing. Well, it’s ruined anyway because he’s alive. Perhaps undead. Who knows what the power of Persona can do to the dead? Either way, I’ve failed. I think I’ll go to the jazz club tonight… I can see why people would want to get drunk in times like this, I’d much rather be inebriated than—…
I see a cat run into my view. Black fur, patches of white on the paws and muzzle. A yellow collar… and intensely blue eyes.
“Morgana?”
He huffs and runs from me. He spends his time in Kichijoji, huh? I start to give chase, and I’m rudely reminded of my table-induced injury as I nearly tumble to the ground with the first step. I watch him scamper off. Yet another failure to add to my rapidly growing list. Goddamnit… tomorrow will be better. I’ll be ready then.
I should probably do something about this limp before then though, I’m starting to get concerned.
\\\
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moving the table WORKED lmfao I’m saving that
——
“Hey!” I hear from my window. Morgana slips in and closes the window behind him. “It’s cold out there!! Never make me walk on that frigid pavement again!”
“Oh shut it! I carry you around all the time, it won’t kill you to walk around.”
“It will!” He leaps to my bed, circling my left.
“It’s either tough it out, or I’m putting you in the little cat boots.”
“Ew, no! That’s humiliating. Lady Ann would never take me seriously like that!”
I gag exaggeratedly, and he swats at my hand. “Anyway, did you find him?”
“I did. He tried to catch up to me, but he nearly ate it on the sidewalk.”
“He did??” That’d be so funny to have on camera…
“Yeah. He looked pretty pissed, too. I think he’ll play right into our hands yet again. Are we doing this again tomorrow?”
“I think we should strike while the iron is hot. If we keep up the fruitless chase, I feel like he’ll either give it up, or try to get animal control on a stray cat in the area. Either way, we’d lose him.”
“Hm… I guess you’re right. And I assume you already told everyone this was the plan without consulting me?” I nod. “Riiiight… you owe me a ton of sushi for this.”