Chapter Text
June, 2017. Sumaru City.
Amano Maya, freelance writer and investigator, wasn't one to 'let things go'. She didn't leave information on the doorstop, and let it get swept away without first checking every angle. And one of the angles that she had been checking came in the form of Tokyo, 2016. The day where the Phantom Thieves allegedly 'saved Christmas'.
She hadn't been particularly following the Phantom Thieves. A few cursory browses of the site, a few glances at theories on forums and newspapers, but nothing huge. But that Christmas had struck something. All of the talks of gigantic demon lords and eldritch beings and horrors taking center stage bugged her. She needed to find out more about those thieves, and so she had stayed up longer than usual, attempting to figure out everything. Her dark hair clung to her face. Her eyes reddened and glued to her computer screen as she sat at a table, typing away furiously, the only thing keeping her sleep from catching her was the click of the keyboard keys.
She heard footsteps coming downstairs. She waved them up. "I'll be going to bed in a minute, baby. I just need to finish this."
Suou Katsuya was one of the top police detectives of Sumaru City, and being a detective, could easily tell when he was being lied to. "You've fallen down another rabbit hole again. You're way too close to your computer screen. You'll go blind."
"I need to learn everything I can, Katsuya. Nobody knows a thing about their methods, or even what they look like. The closest source was the one time the leader of the thieves had been arrested, but the information is locked up so tightly that I might as well have not found it in the first place. Not even a real name has been leaked to the public. Do you know how long I looked just for a mugshot? And it's of some kid- it could easily be fake!" She rubbed her head, frustrated.
Katsuya frowned. "Maya..."
She turned around, giving him a soft smile. "I know, I know. Positive thinking. This kid could very well be one of the 'Phantom Thieves'."
He walked up next to her, leaning against the back of her chair. "Besides, we're approaching this like normal people. When something weird happens, what are the chances that shadows, demons, and/or Personas are involved?"
"...All of it."
"So, instead of speculating from afar, why don't we take a trip to Tokyo? We're technically going to be on the job." He smiled at her. She smiled back, before giving him a peck on the lips.
"I love you, Suou." She ran a hand through his hair.
"Good. We can get packed after you get some sleep. It's three in the morning." He stood up, yawning, before lumbering his way back to bed.
Maya stared at the screen for a moment, before scrawling down some names and locations. One of which she knew she was going to lend a visit to. Prosecutor-turned-Defense Attorney Sae Niijima. She closed the laptop, before following Katsuya. She just hoped the prosecutor was nice.
---
Sae Niijima was not nice.
Katsuya looked over at Maya, who's facial expression seemed to have shifted into her 'business smile' rather than her 'friendly smile'. It wasn't extremely obvious to the untrained eye, but the tenseness around her lips and the fact that her hands, while clasped in a fairly innocuous and feminine position, were also clasped tight enough to effortlessly choke someone's neck-
Yeah, Maya was reaching her wits end of 'positive thinking' for this one. It was like her unstoppable positivity struck an immovable wall.
Niijima-san, we're just requesting to look at a few files involving the Phantom Thief cases. I know they're heavily classified, but you see, I'm working on this story about strange events in Tokyo-"
Sae raised her hand, signalling Maya to stop. "I'm very sorry, Amano-san. I wish I could help you, but the Phantom Thief case has been cold and locked down for the past few months. The confession from Ren Amamiya-"
"Do you think we could meet Amamiya-kun?" The writer asked, quickly. There seemed to be a bit of worry in Sae's expression for just a moment, before it turned as stony and cold as always.
"I'm afraid not. He's left the city, gone back to live with his parents and then go to university. If you were only here a few months ago, then we could talk." She shook her head, feigning disappointment. Maya finally frowned. Katsuya sighed.
"Well, we're very sorry for wasting your time. Still, it's very much an honor to meet you." Katsuya quickly added, slowly melting the growing tension.
"I've heard some things about you, Suou-san. The pleasure is mine. Now, if you don't mind, I need to-"
"Sis!"
A voice rang out, young, as a girl with brown hair styled into a bob rushed past them. "I'm going to be heading to LeBlanc to catch up with Ren-kun for a bit! Do you want me to bring him a message from you?" She turned around, catching the mortified expression on her sisters face, the widening grin on the reporter's face, and the slight smirk form on the detective's face. "...Did I say something I shouldn't have?"
Sae rubbed her temples. "...You're fine, Makoto. Just- you two, please don't cause any trouble."
Katsuya took Maya's arm, directing the both of them to quickly bow in unison, before leading her out the door. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Niijima-san. Have a good day!"
As soon as they stepped outside into the warm July air, Maya gripped Katsuya by the shoulders. "Did you feel that! That resonating chill in your soul?" Katsuya nodded.
"It was faint, but it was there. That girl had a Persona. Dormant, but there, like it's being locked away or suppressed." He nodded. "LeBlanc's, huh? It might be worth checking out. Let's wait, before we actually visit. Maybe scope the place today, and then visit tomorrow."
Maya pulled out a camera, winking. "Way ahead of you, babe! Let's do this!"
---
A day later, the two of them stood outside LeBlanc, Maya seeming deep in thought, thumbing through some notes and photos. "I think I have a plan." She said, with a small frown on her face. Katsuya stared at her, raising an eyebrow.
"You had a plan when we left the hotel." He replied, sliding a lighter out of his pocket.
"Yeah, but a Part 2 of a plan, in case Part 1 is a bust." She mumbled, continuing to flip through the pages.
"Please tell me it isn't 'hold up the cafe'." Katsuya groaned, lighting his cigarette.
"So, sudden news, looks like I don't have another plan, but hand me one of those." She held her hand out, without looking.
Katsuya stared at her with mild confusion, but shrugged and handed her one of his cigarettes. She wasn't one for smoking, but they hadn't worked together this long without trust. She snagged it, twisting it around in her fingers for a moment, before looking over to Katsuya, her lips curling into a smile. "Let's do this."
"Good cop, bad cop?"
She pinched his cheek, giggling. "What are we, amateurs? Just stick with the plan."
---
LeBlanc was quiet. And then the door flung open. A man and a woman strolled inside, standing in front of the entrance as the door slowly creaked closed. Emphasis on slowly, as the woman less-than-subtly used her heel to slam the door shut. "You really need to oil that thing. Or get new hinges. I know a door guy and-"
Sojiro was quick to interrupt. "Are you going to buy anything? We close in about an hour."
Sakura Sojiro. Owner of LeBlanc. Highly irritable, and apparently the temporary guardian of Ren Amamiya.
Katsuya adjusted his shades, shaking his head calmly. "We got coffee earlier. Hopefully we're not holding up any customer traffic." He made a slight gesture to the very empty cafe. The owner's brow furrowed.
"So, what do you want?"
Maya clasped her hands together, "So glad you asked! Me and my partner here are investigating the whole 'Phantom Thief' debacle that happened about a year ago? A few months ago, technically, but who's counting? We are, we're counting." Sojiro sighed. Maya continued. "So, we've been doing a bit of searching, and lo and behold, we found a common denominator, yay! Katsuya- Katsuya-, pull out the slide, Katsuya-san!" She excitedly slapped his shoulder a bit as he reached into a bag with a long sigh, pulling out a piece of paper that had the words 'Common Denominator' in rainbow bubble letters.
"I wish you picked something more professional, Maya." Katsuya remarked, nervously.
"Well, we all can't afford Copic markers! Sometimes you need to make do with stuff you find at the convenience store."
"Please, just get this over with." Sojiro grunted.
"Right! So, me and my incredibly attractive companion found a common denominator-" She gestured at Katsuya again. He slowly flourished the paper once more. "-and found one 'Ren Amamiya'. Have you heard of Amamiya?" She pulled out the cigarette, placing it vertically on the table, holding it steady with the tip of her finger.
A roll of the eyes. "You wouldn't be talking to me unless I did. Yes, I housed the kid for a little bit while he was here on parole."
She flicked the cigarette across the counter, watching as it lamely skidded to a halt in front of Sojiro, before holding a hand up to her mouth, gasping. "Parole? We have a little criminal on our hands, don't we?" She saw Sojiro's eye twitch. That definietly struck a nerve. "Anyways, as soon as our little crime-boy arrived in Tokyo, weird things started happening. Mental shutdowns up the wazoo! People dying, people changing hearts, and an upstart group claiming all the credit. Katsuya-"
He pulled out another sheet of paper. A picture of Ren's mugshot with hastily drawn devil horns and a speech bubble that read "Me love crimes! <3". Katsuya groaned, Sojiro looked like he wanted to die.
"-So, we think he may be involved with the Phantom Thieves! I mean, him and one other. We met a young girl, Niijima Makoto? Turns out she's got the potential for having a Perso-" Katsuya lightly elbowed her. "-She's got the potential of being a person of interest! That's what I meant to say!"
She walked up to the bar, leaning against it. "Come on, come on, Sakura-chan. Just give us a teensy bit of information, please?" Her hands danced across the counter, before snatching him by the apron. Despite her annoyingly infectious smile, it almost seemed as if the rooms temperature had dropped a few degrees. She giggled, pulling him closer. "I'll do anything... who knows, you might need a 'Missus Sakura' in your life, and luckily I'm into men with receding hairli-"
"Listen. I'm done with this whole... thing! This is ridiculous. I don't know about the 'Phantom Thieves', Ren is just some innocent kid, and I don't know shit about Personas!" Sojiro boomed, pushing Maya away. She stumbled backwards, catching herself, before she started laughing, holding her arm up towards Katsuya for a high-five.
"We are so good." She said, folding her arms across her chest.
"You're right about that." Katsuya replied, adjusting his shades.
Sojiro stared for a moment. "Wh... what?"
Maya shrugged, chuckling to herself. "Sorry for putting on a show like that, Sakura-san. From the information we gathered, it'd be easy to get you to slip up if you were irritated. And also from the information we gathered you were irritated by the following things: People talking too much, people loitering around the shop, people touching your things, people getting too close, people breathing, people in general." Maya winked. "Come on, I'm a top investigative journalist! I wouldn't dream of actually thinking marker drawings and inappropriate offers are professional. I'd have gotten fired by now. I just needed to act as irritating as possible in order to speed along the process! Besides, you're the one that wanted to 'get it over with' as soon as possible."
Katsuya lit a cigarette, taking a drag. "All we really needed was you to admit you knew about Personas. We had planted the idea of us being aware of them earlier in the conversation, and if you were familiar, you would have subconsciously picked up on the bait."
"Again, very sorry about my behavior, and I'm sure Ren is a good kid, that's not usual, but we are going to need you to call over Amamiya-kun and any friends he might have that are involved. And trust us, we're the good guys- this is more of a personal investigation. Not a formal one, so none of this will be turned into the police."
"We're just looking into people like us. We've done a few looks into some other occurrences in Inaba, and with organizations with the Kirijo group. This one has this had the largest social impact." Her entire tone seemed to have changed, the weight of her gaze making Sojiro seem much smaller than before, when she was just rambling vapidly. She whipped out a few photos. The kids, all entering and exiting the cafe. "These are the thieves, right? I would have expected them to be older, but I'm very familiar with how determined and dangerous teenagers can be when they're on a mission." She glanced back at Katsuya, who simply nodded.
Katsuya's head perked up, as he looked towards the stairs of the cafe. Maya hadn't even noticed them, they were so hidden in the back. "Speaking of teenagers, I don't think we need to call Amamiya-kun." He said, calmly, his point accented by the slow padding of footsteps downstairs.
The kid was lanky, hunched over as a cat trotted down past him. The mugshot made him look much more intimidating, although maybe the glasses softened his features a bit. Maya held up her fingers, framing him between them as if she was taking a picture. "Yeah, he's got it. Although, something's bugging me..."
Katsuya folded his arms. "What is it?"
"We should only be getting one 'ping' from this guys soul, but something... something is making me feel like there's more."
Ren finally spoke up. His voice was lower than expected. It demanded attention, showed a great deal of confidence for someone who seemed to be trying their damnedest to look underestimating. It reminded them of Tatsuya, almost. "...That's Morgana, my cat."
There was a pause, as the two adults exchanged glances, before simultaneously taking a surprised step backwards.
"What?!"
"Morgana has a Persona. He taught me how to use my own." He elaborated, in which the cat responded with a satisfied purr. Maya's gaze shifted over to Katsuya, who had been staring at the cat ever since it had trotted in.
He flushed, fiddling with his shades. "He- Morgana? Looks soft... Anyways, Amamiya. If you wouldn't mind calling in the rest of your thieving friends, we have some questions."
The boy shared a look with the cat, as the feline seemed to meow what almost sounded like an affirmation, nodding it's head. Ren pulled out his phone, typing before sliding it back in his pocket. "...Morgana has an 'okay' feeling about you guys, and I guess I do too. They'll be here soon."
And with that, he sat down at the bar like the little mob-boss he was, crossed his legs, and waited.