Chapter Text
"So, picking up from yesterday before we were interrupted, you said the person behind the mental shutdown case back in April was a politician? By the name of... Ooe, was it?"
Sae questioned Akira while her attention was directed at shuffling through her gathered testimony. "...Kurusu-kun?"
She looked up to discover the boy was staring off into space with a somber expression. Sae snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Hey, are you with me? I'll need every bit of information you have to build a case against Shido. That will require your full, undivided attention."
"...Right. I'm sorry." Akira began to wake from his stupor. "Where were we again?"
"Politician Ooe." Sae reiterated. "How was he responsible for the subway accident in April?"
"Right, Ooe. He conspired with Shido to take out a diplomat who sided with the current government. To do so, they triggered a mental shutdown in the engineer of the train said diplomat regularly rode on his commute." Akira explained. "In return for Shido's aid, Ooe would continue backing his campaign."
The questions continued for some time, Akira doing his best to stay focused and recall the events that transpired in Shido's palace. Upon checking her phone, Sae decided they had compiled enough testimony for today and began to organize her documents to leave. Before she stood up, however, she pondered why he seemed so... disheveled. Was he perhaps being mistreated by the correctional officers? He may be a Phantom Thief, but he's still a minor, he has rights. Sae gave him a concerned look before asking.
"...Hey?" Sae broke her usual more professional tone. "Are you okay? You seem... troubled."
Akira was quiet.
Not sensing a response any time soon, Sae made an assumption. "I know your situation isn't ideal, but please bear with-"
"Its not that." Akira interrupted. His normal composure lost to him in that momemt.
"...Then what is it?" Sae pushed further. She wondered why she was so concerned for his well being. Perhaps it was because he had been in solitary confinement for the past week, with only interrogations to break up the loneliness. Or perhaps it was because she felt obligated to see justice done and Akira's current state was a hindrance. ...Or maybe she actually cared about him.
"I..." Akira searched for the words, knowing to be careful with his selection when engaging the topic with the person sitting across from him. "I lied to someone, and I hurt her." He started. "I lied to her even though I love her. I just... I didn't want her to worry. Instead I just upset her and I'm terrified that I lost her because of it."
"...I see. This girl, she's your girlfriend?" Sae asked.
Akira nodded, afraid his voice would come out a bit too shaky.
Sae sighed, before pressing the boundaries between client and legal counsel once again.
"Perhaps I could... deliver a message?"
Akira looked at her with wide eyes. If it were anyone else he'd have jumped at the oppurtunity communicate with his girlfriend - to ask if she still loved him. But he couldn't, not with Sae. He couldn't tell her he was dating her sister; it wasnt his place to tell her. That is, if he even still had a place with Makoto.
"I-I... I couldn't possibly ask that of you. I need to live with the choices I've made. I promise not to let it get in the way of my testimony. I'm obligated to see this through as leader of the Phantom Thieves. So please... can we just call it a day?" Akira feigned exhaustion.
"...Very well. I'm sorry if I overstepped." Sae left without another word.
Upon arriving home, she was greeted by Makoto hurriedly wiping her face in kitchen.
"W-Welcome home sis. Dinner is almost ready."
Sae placed her things with a raised brow, then turned to face Makoto.
"Everything okay?" She gestured at her slightly puffy eyes.
Luckily Makoto had a response plan to such a question. Said response was the only reason she allowed herself to let it all out in the first place.
"Hm? Oh! I just got through cutting the onions for the curry." Then she remembered that in her teary eyed stupor she had forgotten to add onions, or even chop them in the first place. Sae was still too lost in thought to notice anyways.
What started as a small thought had become a nagging nuisance in her head. Why would Akira confide in her with his personal turmoil only to abruptly withdraw as soon as she proposed a sensible solution that would resolve his conundrum? For all he knew he had nothing left to lose, so wouldn't knowing definitively whether or not his girlfriend still cared for him help him regardless? And just why did she care so much about his personal affairs? That's the biggest question lingering in her mind.
Subconsciously she had taken these questions to the restroom to wash up before dinner. Lost in thought staring at her own quizzical expression in the mirror, she heard a knock at the door.
"Sis? Dinner is ready." Makoto informed her.
"I'll be right out." She replied.
She was welcomed by a familiar scent upon arriving to the table. Makoto had already made plates for the both of them, the sight of which solidified Sae's belief that this was the same curry Sojiro serves at Leblanc.
"Is this Leblanc curry?"
"It is." Makoto replied, pausing before deciding to continue. "Akira taught me the recipe. He had made it for us so many times while we were infiltrating palaces, so I asked him how he was able to procure so much of it without arousing suspicions from Boss. To my surprise, he said he made it himself."
"The leader of the Phantom Thieves... regularly prepared lunch for you all?" Sae asked with slight amusement in her voice.
"He did most of the time." Makoto involuntarily smiled. "...Sometimes I helped. Though... my curry isn't as good as his." She said between bites.
"You two must be good friends." Sae said with a smile.
She was happy her sister was able to make friends despite their circumstances, and even happier that she now felt comfortable discussing these things freely with her after months of secrets and being on edge. These thoughts were short lived once she remembered that the 'friend' in question was currently all alone in a confined cell after taking the fall for the rest of Phantom Thieves. All alone to torment himself over his girlfriend. Perhaps she should discuss the topic with Makoto?
After dinner, the two retreated to the couch where they told each other about their days. They had made it a goal of theirs to be more involved in each others' lives since the incident with Sae's palace and Sae's revelation of Makoto being a Phantom Thief.
There was only one secret between the two now, one Makoto had planned on telling her sister before Akira was arrested - that the two were in fact dating. They had planned to do it together, to face any admonishment together, and ask for Sae's blessings together. But now Makoto was alone. She couldn't possibly tell her sister without him by her side to give her strength.
Eventually the conversation got to Sae's previous meeting.
"So I met with Kurusu-kun at Juvenile Hall today." Sae said.
Makoto's attention was acutely focused on her sister. "H-How is he?" She cautiously asked.
"He... well, to be frank, he isn't doing too well." Sae explained. "All throughout his testimony he just sat there and stared off into space with a dull look in his eye."
"Has he been eating okay? Are they hurting him?!" Makoto suddenly burst out.
Sae was surprised by her sudden raised voice. "U-Uh... Yes? And no, there were no signs of abuse." Sae answered with a curious look on her face.
Makoto just looked down, trying to hide her red cheeks behind her bangs. "I-I see. Th-Thats... good..." She could hardly contain her embarrassment.
Sae looked at her before continuing. "I asked him what was troubling him, he said he was terrified."
Makoto's eyes shot back up. "Terrified?! Then no one is hurting him, but they ARE threatening him?!"
"What? No. Nobody is threatening him. Will you please calm down and let me finish?" Sae pleaded lest they'd be here all night.
"S-Sorry..." Makoto murmured with her face tilted down and hands tightly clenched in her lap.
Sae was beyond bewildered by Makoto's behavior, but continued nonetheless. "He said he's terrified because he fears that his girlfriend now resents him for lying to her. He said he never lied to her before, and only did so now as to not cause her any undue worries."
Makoto was dead silent.
"...Part of me feels to blame for his predicament." Sae suddenly admitted. "I was the one who suggested that he turn himself in to protect the rest of the Phantom Thieves-" She paused before looking at Makoto with guilt in her eyes. "...namely you."
Still Makoto was silent. She merely looked down while listening to her sister confess and trying her hardest to keep the tears currently forming in her eyes from escaping.
"If there's some way to help him with his quarrel, I wish to do it. Perhaps I could contact this girlfriend of his and deliver a message." Sae pondered the outcome for a moment. "...But then I suppose it might prove detrimental if it turns out she does in fact hate him now."
"She doesn't." Makoto found herself speaking before she even knew what to say or how to approach this. She looked up at Sae, her suppressed tears falling down her face. "I could never hate him."
Before Sae could react to or even process what Makoto had just said, Makoto looked down again, this time with her face in her palms as she began to softly weep. Sae meanwhile found herself moving closer to Makoto on the couch to do something that she hadn't done in a long time, much to her shame. She wrapped her arms around Makoto and pulled her into warm embrace as she continued to sob.
They sat like this for for a few minutes before Makoto pulled away and decided to properly explain herself to her sister.
"I-I'm sorry..." She started. "we were going to tell you eventually, but everything kept getting in the way. And then..." Makoto closed her eyes with a defeated expression. "...Christmas Eve happened. After that I just couldn't find it in me to tell you by myself. I needed him here with me. I STILL need him here with me." She looked Sae in the eyes. "...I love him."
Sae was feeling a flurry of mixed emotions. On one hand she was happy her sister was able to find someone she could share love with, and even more so that she told her about it. But as her guardian, she also felt the need to lecture her. She couldn't really do that though since becoming a Phantom Thief hasn't hurt her grades; nor was Akira the malicious horndog she believed all teenage boys to be. So she decided to just stay on the happier side of things, mostly for Makoto's sake.
"...Would you like me to deliver a message to your boyfriend?" Sae finally said.
Makoto just stared at her sister in amazement.
"H-Huh? You aren't mad?"
Sae sighed, disappointed that she had established herself as the enemy of happiness evidently.
"No, I'm not mad at you, Makoto. I'm not even mad at Kuru- at Akira-kun. I think you've both proven yourselves to be responsible young adults, so as long as it doesn't impact your studies... you have my blessings."
Makoto stared at her sister for perhaps an eternity in her head, but in reality for only a few seconds before practically throwing herself at her sister in a most undignified manner. She hugged her perhaps a little too tightly as she cried "Thank you!" into her shoulder repeatedly.
"Alright, alright, ALRIGHT! Stop squeezing me!" Sae gasped at the strength of her sister in that moment.
Makoto released her from her loving death grip before smiling bashfully. "S-Sorry!" she said.
"Goodness..." Sae groaned "you'll throw out my back before I can get your boyfriend out of Juvie."