Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

As she rode the train into Tatsumi Port Island, Kuon Ichinose felt nothing. 

But she still plastered another smile over her face.

Maybe she should stop. That was why she was here, after all, instead of with her “family.”

And apparently, it had creeped out her mother's second cousins even faster than the rest of them. She'd been thrown out of the house within three months.

And since she was in her final year of high school, she'd somehow been sent out here.

As she rode into town, she absently remembered what she’d read about Gekkoukan High School. 

It had once been a laboratory - what they had been studying, however, had apparently been secret enough that she couldn’t find it in any of the few records she’d found.

Idly, she wondered if the school itself had any records about what it had once been. Maybe yes, maybe no.

It would be something else to fill up the time. Time she hadn’t really been able to find anything truly satisfying to fill with.

Not since her parents died.

As the memories passed through her mind, for less than a single second, over so quickly even she wasn’t sure it was there…

Kuon Ichinose felt a twinge in her heart.

And that was enough for her to decide what she wanted to do on Tatsumi Port Island for however long she stayed.

I just want... To feel something. 

Anything.

"You'll be staying here for the year, Ichinose-san! We're the only dorm that had an opening, sadly..."

As she looked at the friendly face of Ikutsuki, Ichinose didn't frown. Like usual. She plastered another smile on her face. Like usual. 

But something about how he was acting felt...

Well, it didn't feel off. 

It felt... familiar.

And the only reason this man would feel familiar, since she had never met him before… 

...was that he was like her.

And that was enough of a reason for Kuon Ichinose to put herself on guard around Shuji Ikutsuki.

“Medusa.”

As the Persona - how did she know that word applied here? She would have to ask later - formed behind her, Ichinose lowered the not-quite-gun from her skull.

Before she could even open her mouth, however, the snake-woman behind her had already flown into action. The things in front of her were either sent flying… or drooped over, for some reason. As though they’d lost the motivation to fight. Telekinesis - as far as she could tell. And something else, that seemed to affect the mind.

She would have to practice with this later.

As Ikutsuki and her senpai laid out what SEES was - and the story behind the Dark Hour - Ichinose was, paradoxically, both not listening that hard and listening very carefully.

The story of the machine that had been made to control time… it intrigued her. The Dark Hour, however - well, it demonstrated clearly that approaching the subject of Shadows with anything less than a metaphorical twenty-foot pole and a full hazmat suit would be a very bad idea for multiple reasons.

The main one being that, well, she would probably never manage to get a request to study them herself granted.

But if she could do it someday, if she could make a machine to manipulate time, to go backwards into what had already been written into history, or forward into what had yet to be defined…

Two people, long in the past, and for all that she barely remembered them, she had never, ever, forgotten them.

When she first met Minato and Minako Arisato, Kuon Ichinose felt as though she would probably get along with them… more or less as well as she did with everyone else.

They’d call her a freak at worst, or at best ignore her.

She was surprised later how wrong she was.

Minato, after she learned more about him… well.

She wasn’t attracted to him like Yukari (and half the girls in their year, it seemed) were. Honestly, she had never really gotten attracted to anyone.

But regardless, the two of them just got each other. 

For all that Minato could go out for hours at a time, whether with his sister or other people, socializing (or rather, being socialized at), he came home like clockwork, every day. And when he needed somebody to study with, or one or both of them just wanted companionable silence… they both knew who to go see.

There was no need to put up a cheery facade. She could just talk quietly about things that had crossed her mind, and he would quietly listen and reply every so often. Or vice-versa. Or they could just do homework together, talking only if they were having problems. Or they could read their favorite books together. Or play video games.

And over time, they learned more about each other. 

(The feeling in her chest after learning that he’d had his sister there for him, while she’d never had anyone there for her, might have been jealousy. But she couldn’t blame that on him, not when he was the first person who was there for her since her parents).

It was nice, she supposed.

She couldn’t really remember the last time she’d gotten that much from somebody else.

Minako was not her brother.

At all. If she had to compare Minato as her male reflection, Minako would be - well, “Yin and Yang” came to mind. 

And at the same time…

Minako was cheery. Minako was light, in a sense, compared to the dark that she and Minato were.

There was dark in her, in a sense. She could sort of tell.

But the dark in Minako was completely offset by the light she gave out.

Light she had wanted to give off.

But she had never really been able to be light, no matter how hard she tried. It just… wasn’t her. Her efforts were not good enough. Or blinded people so much that it just drove them away from her even faster than the darkness she gave off normally.

For Minako, the light she gave off... it was warm. Comforting. It was her. She was the light.

She wished she could have done that herself.

(She didn’t envy her. She didn’t. Minako had been a support to her, almost as much as her brother had been).

(She couldn’t feel envy, anyways).

Kuon Ichinose didn’t really get emotional.

She… honestly, she wasn’t sure she could be emotional.

At least, she had thought she couldn't be.

She wasn’t sure if confusion could be counted as a proper emotion.

“I-i’m sorry, Kuon! I’ll clean it up right away!”

How… how in the world had someone as smart as Fuuka set water on fire while trying to make hard-boiled eggs?

Well, that didn’t matter.

Sighing, she went to help the hapless navigator.

Ichinose had been fascinated with Aigis from the minute she first knew what she was.

An artificial life-form with a Persona. Curious. How had Aigis acquired a Persona in the first place? She was a seventh-generation Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon - what had happened to the other generations? She had looked into the fifth and sixth generations - and how they were destroyed (it had actually unsettled her). But the first four - well, there was no documentation left on them, and nobody alive right now had been involved in their creation.

It itched at the back of her skull, and when Ikutsuki didn’t give her any real answers (and Mitsuru’s father admitted that he couldn’t give her any answers about the first four generations, because he didn’t know), the itch only grew stronger.

She dismissed it for a while. She could figure it out later. After they’d destroyed the Dark Hour, and ensured that nobody else’s family would die. It probably wasn’t too important. Or heavily classified.

(The day that she’s strapped to a cross with the rest of her friends, idly wondering if Ikutsuki will notice Koromaru sneaking around (or if Aigis will be able to fight off the programming she’s clearly not happy about having had installed in her), while everyone else is panicking around her, she feels annoyed with herself for not looking more into it sooner).

Well, part of her is.

The rest of her mind is desperately searching for a way to help.

She didn’t know why, but for some reason, Kuon Ichinose didn’t like Ryoji Mochizuki.

It could be partly because Minako and Minato were spending so much time with him, granted, but she didn't think that was all of it.

It could be because there were so many things that just… didn’t add up, about him? 

She didn’t understand.

Until that night on the bridge.

A slave to his nature. A slave with no choice but to do what he was created for.

She still didn’t like him.

But she understood him.

They were going to die.

It was hard to miss that fact, with the cloud of despair that had fallen over the island.

Minato and Minako were… not coping. Neither was anyone else.

Sometimes not being very emotional had advantages.

She was going to die. One way or the other. Ryoji had said flat-out they couldn’t beat Nyx - and he would know better than anyone.

So…

Feeling dark, she went up to her room.

The sheets were easy to stretch.

So why not...

Half an hour later, Kuon was still looking at the sheets.

Why hadn’t she done it?

Why was she stopping?

Minato just… being there. Like nobody else had been there for her before.

Minako… being the light she’d wanted to be. And being the light for her, too.

She was going to die soon. Whatever she did. To paraphrase a certain book, all she was doing was “leaving early to miss the rush.”

Junpei just… being Junpei. Trying to make her smile, even after how thoroughly she’d shot him down.

Fuuka, asking her to help her cook and talking about computers with her, never being anything but kind.

That “rush” had also been for an apocalypse.

Mitsuru, giving her a home that she’d never been able to find anywhere else.

Akihiko, not caring in the slightest how she acted - she was his comrade.

Except there wasn’t any hope here, as far as she could see.

Ryoji couldn’t stop, even though he wanted to.

Shinjiro, nearly dying to protect Ken.

Yukari, helping Minato in ways she couldn’t.

They couldn’t beat Nyx.

So why shouldn’t she just do this?

Aigis, inspiring her (unintentionally) to learn more about computers. How to create life that wasn’t human. How somebody without one could create a new family.

Ken, quietly talking with her about how he’d adjusted to losing his mother.

She would get to see her parents again.

Koromaru, quietly nuzzling into her with a whine when she couldn’t feel anything.

She was stopping…

SEES, getting together on the day they thought they’d ended the Dark Hour, and saved everyone from losing any more family because of the Shadows, and celebrating with her. Promising to be there for each other, even now that they’d won, come hell or high water.

Even her.

Because… because…

Her friends flashed through her mind.

Because of them.

She wasn’t sure where she was going. Maybe nowhere. She was just going for a walk to clear her head, more or less on autopilot.

Until she saw Minato and Minako walking across the street in front of her.

The next thing she knew, she was running towards them, and calling their names.

“Hey, Kuon. What’s up?” Minato asked as she got to them.

“Thank you.”

The words came spilling out of her mouth. And before they could respond, she kept talking. Talking out what she had realized earlier, what had prompted her to go on a walk.

“I...ever since my mom and dad died… nobody’s cared about me. Nobody’s bothered to understand me. People didn’t even bother to try, even my family . Until I… met you. All of you. I… you gave me something I was searching for ever since my parents died. I… I want to stay!” 

Her resolution came spilling out.

She wanted to live.

She wanted to fight.

“I… I want to stay with you all forever. I… I want to have a family again.”

Something shifted in her. She blinked. “Phoebe...”

Before she could think any further about her Persona, though, she was engulfed in cloth.

Belatedly, she realized Minato and Minako were hugging her.

“...I won’t say no.” Minato did something she had almost never seen him do before.

He smiled.

“I could always use another sister.”

“Same here!”

...it felt like somebody had stabbed her heart.

“...hey… don’t cry.”

The hugs intensified. 

“And don’t worry.” Minako smiled. “We’re not going anywhere.”

(She was half right).

Chapter Text

Kuon Ichinose hadn’t cried when her parents died. At least, as far as anyone else knew (and as far as she could remember - she had been less than ten years old. Nearly a decade of time had eroded her memory like a river eroded a canyon over centuries. Slowly, thoroughly, and implacably).

She didn’t cry when Minato died, either.

She retreated to her room for four hours and put out six hours worth of coding in that time. But she didn’t cry.

The Abyss was… exhausting.

She had talked with Aigis, though. After the fight between the team. 

(She’d honestly thought that she and Yukari could win, with Minako by their side. But Aigis was a very fast learner, it seemed).

They’d… bonded.

They had both - no.

They had all lost Minato.

And in a strange way, though, they hadn’t.

(The images of Erebus clawing at her brother, of everyone clashing for the sake of whether or not they should risk the world to see Minato again, of humanity’s wish for death breaking her family into pieces, sticks with her, even if she doesn’t let people see it affecting her).

Minako had talked to her, though. And she’d talked to her as well - laid out what she felt on the table.

(And to the therapist Mitsuru had hired for all of them to talk to.)

She didn’t cry or weep.

But… 

She couldn’t really say, honestly, that she felt as “full” as she had before, with Minato gone.

She hoped she would again, soon.

College was pretty easy, with Fuuka at her side (she’d decided to take a year off - both to get her head on straight, and so that she could get her computer engineering degree with her friend). Having someone to compare the class projects to was pleasant.

They’d graduated at the same time, and (surprise surprise) joined the Shadow Operatives - well, she had. Part-time, when they needed her. Fuuka hadn’t, but regardless. They had both joined one of the companies on Tatsumi Port Island that worked for the Kirijo Group, and started working as programmers.

Most of the time, they just worked alone. When they did work together, though, Fuuka typically took up making the physical bodies for the computers, while she handled the programming. And she went to see her (and Shinjiro, who she was dating, and Ken who had moved in with them for the time being) at least twice a week. Getting to pet Koromaru and see his puppies was a nice bonus, too.

Junpei and Chidori were doing fine, and so were Akihiko and Minako. (She wasn’t sure if Labrys was dating Yosuke or Teddie, though).

It felt good, spending time with them. 

A romantic life wasn’t something she wanted for herself, but it was nice to have somebody she could trust to be there for her.

If nothing else, she had a date with Mitsuru and Aigis every week. She had to keep in touch with her fellow bachelorettes, after all. 

Yukari… well, her job always kept her busy. She saw her - well, they had never been close. They saw each other every few weeks, typically, even if they called far more often. But they’d both loved Minato, if in different ways.

But…

She… wanted something. She wasn’t sure what, but… she felt like she was missing something.

It didn't quite click for her until she went to one of Yukari's Featherman events.

But seeing everyone there -

Seeing all the children, looking at Yukari with that adoration -

It wasn't hard to figure out, after that.

She wanted somebody to look at her like that.

She wanted a child.

She snorted to herself.

That was a tall order, for an aromantic workaholic.

After a while, though, she started to think about it more.

Adoption was out. Well, probably out. 

But, well, she was a single woman in her twenties with no biological parents or siblings. She didn’t particularly care what anyone except her family thought of her, but the adoption agencies would probably turn her down based on that alone.

And frankly, she’d be surprised if she didn’t have a niece or nephew within the next two years with how energetic Fuuka, Shinjiro, Akihiko, Minako, Junpei, and Chidori could get.

But… that wasn’t the same. At least, it didn’t seem to be.

So…

...she would have to make do.

And she had just the idea in mind.

“Well, this was certainly an interesting project. I've never worked so much with computers before."

Chidori didn't sound any more interested than she usually did in practically anything as she spoke.

But - well, since she had been working eight-hour days on Kuon's request for more than two weeks, Kuon was reasonably certain that her voice wasn't telling the whole story.

Either way, as Chidori finished speaking, Kuon looked down at her friend's handiwork.

The hearts protruding from her hair were impossible in real life, but she could easily change them when she (and Fuuka, hopefully) designed her physical body. Well, if her creation wanted to change it - or wanted a physical body at all. She would hate to presume. Her face was soft and cherubic, and she was short - kid-sized. She had a sweater and shorts on - well, if she was an AI she wouldn’t have to feel temperatures unless she wanted to.

There wasn’t any life to her, though. Not yet.

It was just an avatar, after all. Her physical body - well, her design, at least. (Which Chidori had done an amazing job on).

The final touches on her mind would be finished soon, though.

And… she’d have a daughter.

Maybe.

“She’s perfect. Thank you.”

And… there.

Carefully, she entered the command into the computer to start up Sophia’s mind. Humming to herself, Kuon Ichinose waited patiently for her creation to come to life (and that sounded too much like what a mad scientist would say).

She didn’t have to wait long, in any case.

“Ichinose. You are Ichinose.”

She smiled, a little more genuinely than usual. “Yes, that’s right! I’m Ichinose. Hello, Sophia. It’s nice to meet you. Now, Sophia: what do you want to do today?”

“I want to learn, Ichinose.”

“Mmhmm, about what?”

“‘Heart.’ What is that?” 

The confusion in Sophia’s tone didn’t take away the smile from Kuon’s face.

It definitely made Kuon sigh, though. “Honestly… I'm still figuring that out myself, Sophia.”

“You know more than I do. Teach me, Ichinose - what is a heart?”

“How about I tell you what I know and we figure the rest of it out together?” She replied.

“This is acceptable, Ichinose.”

“EEEEEE! SHE’S SO CUTE!”

Kuon could, in fact, stop herself from smiling at the sight of Minako hugging a computer. It was slightly harder than she expected, though.

“Hello, Minako-san. I must ask that you stop hugging my screen. I cannot see your companions and Ichinose.”

“Oh, sorry!” Minako replied, her smile making it clear that she wasn’t really sorry, but backing off regardless.

“So… she’s your kid?” Junpei asked quietly, as the rest of SEES (except Mitsuru - bloody Tokyo Shadow Nests...) went over to see Sophia.

“I created her.” Kuon replied. “But she’s an AI. Not a human.” She wouldn’t force Sophia into anything she didn’t want.

Even if… 

She already had a family. She shouldn’t be greedy.

“Congratulations, Kuon!” Her best friend’s cheerful tone brought her out of her thoughts.

“Thank you! I did good work.” Looking past Fuuka, she noticed that now, Sophia seemed to be talking to Aigis and Labrys. They seemed to be very involved in the conversation, and Sophia - well, she seemed to be developing curiosity, judging by how she was asking questions.

“You did.” Shinjiro nodded from beside his wife-to-be. “Gotta say, I thought you’d never have a kid.”

“...I made her. She’s not my daughter, technically.” Kuon sighed.

“Yet.” Yukari’s voice caught her attention, and she looked at the woman who, in another life, might have been her (adoptive) sister-in-law. “You want her to be, though, right?”

Kuon sighed. “...yes. But only if she wants it too.”

Junpei slapped an arm across her shoulder.

“So… why dontcha go ask her?”

“I won’t force the decision on her.” The smile that crossed Junpei’s face filled her with dread even before he opened his mouth.

“HEY GUYS! KUON WANTS SOPHIA TO BE HER KID! LET’S LET THEM TALK!”

Before she could even protest, the room emptied out. The door slammed behind her.

She turned to the computer.

Sophia was staring at her, curiosity evident.

“I heard what they said. My analysis indicates that mothers are women who give birth to human children.”

“...Neither has to be human. Mother or child.”

“By that logic, Ichinose, you are my mother.”

“...if you want me to be, yes.”

“...I think I would like that. Mother.”

“...Okay.”

The tear snaked its way down her cheek before she could stop it. Kuon held up a finger and caught it before it could drop onto the floor.

The smile she gave Sophia after that felt a little more genuine than it had before.

It should have been a normal day. She was going into her lab on Tatsumi Port Island, ready to start talking to Sophia again, testing her to make sure that she didn’t have any bugs in her mind or unanswered questions.

That had been Kuon Ichinose’s plan, and her manager had given her a green light, to make sure that Sophia was both mentally stable and empathetic to humans.

Spending the day with her daughter and getting paid for it. Life was good.

Then, she looked at her desk.

Something seemed off. It took her less than a second to realize what.

A hard drive was missing.

The hard drive with Sophia was missing, specifically.

Kuon took this all in calmly.

She didn’t yell, or storm out of the room.

She had always tried her best to not let her emotions get the better of her judgement. 

Letting rage, sadness, and all those other emotions run rampant all over the place could lead to bad things happening because someone didn't keep a cool head.

Now, her cool head, as she stared at the empty desktop where she'd left her slumbering daughter the night before, told her that there was no point in screaming. No point in getting outwardly angry. Howling bloody murder would solve nothing. That it was best to take her anger and focus it inwards, to turn it to motivation, towards finding Sophia.

After she had found her baby girl, interrogated who had kidnapped her as to how they'd done it, and made sure that it would never happen again, she could indulge her new desire to run somebody feet first through a woodchipper.

Scowling, she spun towards the door, and stormed for her bos - the manager’s office. He and the janitor were the only ones with the keys to the room that she’d made Sophia in besides her.

And if either of them was involved, she would have to ask Aigis for a favor.

A few outlines around their bodies with bullet holes should get them talking...

Chapter Text

“Start talking.”

The look on Akihiko’s face would have made most criminals in possession of a working brain start talking.

The idiot - one Hiroshi Takeuchi - who had previously been the greeter at the computer science lab that Kuon worked at apparently did not have a working brain. “Who are you people!?”

“We are the police officers who are currently questioning you, now that you are under arrest.” Aigis replied from next to him, frowning.

It was technically true. They were law enforcement, even if most of Japan had no idea the Shadow Operatives existed (or what Shadows were) - the branches of the government that knew they existed and believed in them had gone out of their way to make sure they were a secret.

In most of Japan, as a result, their missions were either classified, or tended to result in clashes with local law enforcement. On Tatsumi Port Island, however, Mitsuru was one of the main employers via the Kirijo Group, and had a lot of pull. Enough that when her known agents - who were admittedly police themselves - had asked to question the man, the local police had only requested the transcripts. The fact that a few of them were Shadow Operatives themselves helped.

“And considering you are currently the sole party we have in custody for a clear-cut case of grand theft, at least, I don’t see the courtroom giving you that much lenience.” Akihiko added. “Unless, of course, you’re willing to help us identify whoever you are working for - or selling her to.”

The man scoffed. “I want my lawyer.”

“You seem to have a poor understanding of the situation you are in.” Aigis replied. “While your lawyer is on the way, she will do you no good.” Her eyes narrowed. “You were found on a train leaving the island during a work day, with a ticket purchased only two days ago and no vacation request made to your company.” She hadn’t even mentioned - yet - the hundred and twenty million yen deposit that had been made into his bank account earlier that day. 

Shortly after Sophia went missing. 

“You also failed to cover your tracks. Kuon Ichinose had a camera recording everything in her workspace. You were clearly seen entering and picking up the hard drive.”

“There isn’t a court in Japan that will ever buy you aren’t guilty.” Akihiko finished. “And that lawyer of yours is awfully expensive, isn’t she? Hardly somebody a salaryman could afford.”

“Or someone a salaryman would think to buy on a moment’s notice…” Aigis continued.

“You were planning this. We’re not stupid.” Akihiko scowled. 

“So we will give you a chance.” Aigis’s eyes narrowed. “Talk.” 

The slightest trace of doubt passed through the man’s eyes. But before he could talk, the door opened.

“Sir, ma’am. I must ask that you let me speak with my client before he says anything further to the two of you.”

Both Aigis and Akihiko glared at the middle-aged woman who had walked through the door.

But neither of them stopped her.

They had another card to play.

Half an hour later, the situation had changed.

To the (lack of) surprise of Aigis and Akihiko, it had changed for the better.

The second Saeko Nogushi - Takeuchi’s lawyer - had heard the magic words “Mitsuru Kirijo”, she’d advised him to attempt a plea bargain.

The Kirijo Group was - well, the influence they had depended on where you were in Japan. But it was never anything less than “decent”.

On Tatsumi Port Island? Their effective headquarters, where they employed directly or indirectly at least a third of the working population?

“Godlike” would be the best way to describe it.

And now - for the low cost of reducing the charges to theft (and not bringing up the money he’d been paid to his face, since he would likely have trouble ever finding a job again after he was released) - they were learning everything he knew.

The problem was, it wasn’t much.

“Where is she?” Aigis asked, leaning across the table.

“S-she?! What do you mean?” Hiroshi looked confused.

“Sophia. The little girl you kidnapped.” Akihiko had an extremely dark look on his face. 

Now, he just looked shocked. As did Saeko. “I… what?”

Aigis frowned. “You stole an AI that had been developed from the lab of Kuon Ichinose earlier today. We know this for a fact. Her name is Sophia - and it has been sixteen days since she was first activated.”

“And Kuon… is a friend of ours. Who views Sophia as her daughter. ” Akihiko’s voice was like lightning, in that instant.

It made almost no noise, but if it hit you wrong, it would definitely be life-threatening.

“Currently, there aren’t any laws saying that AIs are people.” Aigis’s voice was cold. “But you have agreed to a plea bargain - you have agreed that you are guilty of theft. As long as you tell us everything, we will not pursue kidnapping as a separate case.”

By now, Hiroshi’s face was whiter than chalk.

“I must ask that you two refrain from terrifying my client.” Saeko asked. “He has already agreed to tell the two of you everything he knows.”

“Very well.” Aigis did not look happy. “Talk.”

Hiroshi nodded very enthusiastically. “Okay - uh, about… last Wednesday - I got a letter in my mailbox. It didn’t have a return address. I can bring it to you, if you want?”

“Later. Continue.” Akihiko crossed his arms and laid back in his chair.

He nodded again. “Uh, anyways, there was… about twenty thousand yen in the envelope, and a typed-up letter that told me to go to the Moonlight Bridge at 7:00 that Saturday if I wanted more.”

“You went.” Akihiko stated.

“Yeah. And - there was a dude there. Black hair, looked… average. He said that he wanted to… borrow something.”

Aigis’s tone was dead. “Borrow?”

Hiroshi shrugged. “Yeah. He said he needed that hard drive and he was willing to… help me a lot if I could get it for him.”

“Her.” Akihiko’s voice was like lightning again.

The man decided to continue without responding. “Er - anyways, I dropped it off at the place I met him on the bridge, and he’s probably picked it up by now?”

“...I see. Thank you. We will check the surveillance tapes of the area around the bridge. When did you drop it off?” Aigis asked.

She would check the bridge itself as well, to be sure.

But she knew, in her soul, that Sophia was probably long gone by now.

“Theft.” Kuon’s voice was so flat you could have used it as a cutting board.

“AIs are… technically not counted as people yet, legally.” Akihiko defended weakly.

Kuon nodded. “True. Well - do we know anything about the person who picked up Sophia?”

“We have identified the car, at least. We should be able to identify the current owner, given time.” Aigis stated.

“Tell me when you find them.” 

“Got it.” Akihiko replied.

Several weeks later...

“You can’t find her.”

Akihiko had sort of expected shouting when he told Kuon that they hadn’t been able to track down the final destination of Sophia. The dead tone she was using was actually worse.

She’d gotten… quieter, after Sophia was taken away. 

She’d always been - well, she was not that emotional. Even after she’d opened up to them. 

But she’d always cared, he knew, even if she was never good at knowing how to say it or show it.

But nowadays, it seemed like she was turning back into who she was when he first met her. 

The person who had arrived in Tatsumi Port Island with no friends, no family who treated her like family, and who had openly called herself a “heartless doll”.

And knowing that it was because he hadn’t been able to protect her daughter wasn’t helping.

They had - after a lot of work - tracked down the man who hired the clerk that had kidnapped Sophia originally.

But it seemed that somebody else had planned for that too.

“Someone hired you?”

Akihiko didn’t like where this was going.

Minako and Aigis didn’t seem to, either.

They had put in a lot of legwork to solve this and track down the black market dealer who’d had Sophia taken away. And now, it was turning out that he - a Torio Ando - wasn't the man at the end of the trail.

“Yeah.” Torio shrugged, as if he wasn’t being interrogated in a police station with several dozen charges against him. He hadn’t even requested a lawyer. Either he was very confident, or he had accepted his fate gracefully. “Dunno who. Some chick in the Kansai region - she had black hair - told me about that AI.”

“And I assume that she told you she would pay you a great deal for it.” Aigis continued, eyes narrowed.

Torio scoffed, and said nothing.

“Did she tell you anything about herself? Did you recognize her?” Minako asked, in a pleading tone of voice. She’d been selected as the “good cop”.

She didn’t have to fake the pleading, though. She couldn’t even imagine how Kuon felt right now.

“Nope. Didn’t give me a name, just told me that she’d like an AI and where to find one. And that she wanted it discreet.”

“Where did you meet her?”

He sighed. “I don’t remember.”

“Being unwilling to assist us will likely result in your sentence being lengthened.” Aigis responded darkly.

Torio snorted. “It’s not that I wouldn’t tell you if I could, it’s that I don’t remember. It was months ago. I can’t even remember the date...”

“Try.” Akihiko hissed.

The man shrugged again.

They tried. For a long time. 

And he continued to give the same response. He had no idea who he had given Sophia to.

Months passed.

And as time went on without any trace of her daughter, the rest of SEES couldn’t help but notice that Kuon seemed to be withdrawing more and more every day.

She still went to see them. She still talked to them cheerfully and smiled. 

She still loved them, with all her heart.

But she was quieter, usually. 

It wasn’t hard to tell why.

It had started out like most days during summer in Japan.

Tatsumi Port Island was running, and Kuon Ichinose was getting ready to go to work.

She was doing well enough this morning - she’d been getting out more recently, though that may just have been the additional sunlight. Seasonal affective disorder was very much a thing, and so was the reverse.

Her heart was healing.

She just wished the reminder that she had a heart hadn’t come like this.

Turning towards the door, she blinked. There was a letter on the floor. One that she was pretty sure had not been there last night.

She picked it up and opened it, her typical blank smile never leaving her face.

Then she started reading it.

Her smile didn’t leave her face. Her eyebrows didn’t rise.

She took a deep breath, and pulled out her phone.

“Mitsuru? I need some time off.”

“I might have a lead.”

Two hours later, Kuon Ichinose was on a train to Tokyo, and a picture she’d taken of the letter before she turned it over to the police was on her phone.

It was typed, rather simply. A typical printed letter - she would never find any hint of who had sent it in the font or format. And probably not in the words, either.

She was looking at it anyway.

Go to Tokyo. 

The AI Sophia is within the world of Shadows there.

She has not been harmed. She sleeps.

I do not know if she is safe from the Shadows there, but I am more than 99% certain this is the case.

You should hurry.

Chapter Text

“You’re sure, Fuuka?” Kuon was frowning as she spoke to her best friend over the phone.

“Yes.” The sound came as if Fuuka was yelling at her from the other end of a cave - a side effect of using Juno in the human world and talking on the phone at the same time. “There’s a Shadow nest in Tokyo.”

“Like whoever sent that letter said.” Kuon frowned. “And that means…”

That Sophia is in there too.

Something in Kuon, at that moment, tightened. “I’m going over to our site here. I’m going to pick up one of the Dark Inducers.”

Fuuka’s grim tone was audible, despite the distortion of the phone’s audio. “All right. But things have changed - there’s a report waiting for you over there, and specific objectives for you to see if you can fulfill after you find Sophia.”

Kuon nodded. “Understood.”

The Shadow Operatives hadn’t had a base in Tokyo for several years, thanks to the efforts of Masayoshi Shido, and that had only changed in the last six months.

At least, they hadn’t had any official bases.

One of the advantages of having possibly the richest woman in Japan leading their team was that renting out a cheap apartment on the outskirts of Tokyo, and only using it a few times a year while leaving it undisturbed otherwise, wasn’t really a strain on their budget.

And nothing got stolen!

That was nice. Shido must not have known about this place after all. She had apparently been giving him more credit than she should have had.

Well, not that she’d ever given him much credit in the first place. Besides that he was an opportunity-abusing, abusive, unprincipled, admittedly clever, bastard of a formerly-corrupt would-be despot.

Her family’d held a group toast to the Phantom Thieves after he confessed post-election.

Ren Amamiya, Ryuji Sakamoto, Ann Takamaki, Yusuke Kitagawa, Makoto Niijima, Futaba Sakura, Haru Okumura, Sumire Yoshizawa…

Oh, and the… probably a Shadow like Teddie or some kind of thing that tended to look like a cat in the real world. Right, Morgana.

(And technically Goro Akechi…)

Ah, there was the safe. It was hidden in the chair this time - standard operating procedure for the Shadow Operatives was to always keep the Dark Inducers in a safe, in a different location depending on the safehouse. And to always keep the safe hidden.

Casually, she pulled one out. There. She had the important part - with this, she could start working on entering the Shadow nest. It wasn’t quite as direct as, say, jumping into a TV screen or waiting till midnight - but the Dark Inducers could be taken and used anywhere at any time, and with a little work, could be fine-tuned to enter any sort of Shadow Nest regardless of the “source” entity that was generating them. The Shadow nest that they’d detected was in the Shibuya area - or at least, it was centered there. They were detecting them all over Japan , for some reason, and they were still popping up.

And with all the reports about people acting strangely… well.

They were all worried, because there hadn’t been a Shadow outbreak this bad in…

…well.

The only truly nationwide Shadow outbreak she could think of before this was the Dark Hour. And it was not good when the only comparable instance she could think of for the current crisis was the literal goddess of death descending to Earth, called by humanity’s wish for death.

Briefly, her mind went to Minato. 

She decided to hold onto the brief moment, and closed her eyes quietly.

Hi, Minato.

I’m not sure if you can hear me. I suppose in the end, I’m mostly talking to myself - really, I wonder how you’d feel if you heard some of what I’ve said to - well, mostly me, but maybe a little you.

I… I know you aren’t doing well.

But I hope that you’re not hurting right now. I hope Elizabeth blasted Erebus recently, and that… well, I don’t know what it’s like being the Great Seal, but I hope you can watch us if you want to and that it doesn’t hurt so badly you can’t heal from it.

I hope you’d still accept me if you were here today.

She continued her silence as she remembered her departed brother.

Departed. But not forgotten. 

But…

I’m not really mourning you any longer. I - well, I honestly don’t feel anything for you, when I think about you now. Maybe it’s because you’ve been gone so long. I’ve never… well, I never cried for you, honestly.

I guess logically, there’s no point in feeling anything about you, at this point. There’s nothing I can do at the moment for you anyways except pray and hope you can hear it. There’s no reason to get concerned about something that I can’t change or fix.

But… I hope somebody can free you someday.

You deserve better than getting stuck as a door forever.

She was quiet for a while longer, then went over to the computer and started a video call, after briefly running a anti-spyware scan from a flash drive.

“Mitsuru? I’m here.”

“Good.” The head of the Kirijo Group and the Shadow Operatives nodded. “Now, after you find Sophia, continue investigating the Shadow Nest. See if you can find any indications of how it originated, and if Hiiragi Alice’s Shadow can give you any information if she’s present.”

Kuon nodded. It was clear that Hiiragi Alice was the source of the recent insanity - at least, the recent insanity in Shibuya. Whether it was a fan of hers, or Alice herself, or someone working for her, it was unlikely that Alice didn’t have at least some idea what was going on. “I’ll head over that way, find somewhere to hide, and activate the Inducer. I’m going to bring some of our scanning equipment in case it doesn’t get me in immediately,and send the information back to you. Is everyone ready?”

“Send word when you’re five minutes out and everyone’s got orders to go to standby.”

“Understood.”

A few minutes later, Kuon was rooting through the apartment, checking for everything that she might need, and then double-checking, and then triple-checking.

Her perhaps over-methodical analysis of the instruments she was packing into a suitcase for camouflage (and transportation) was interrupted by her cell phone ringing. Frowning, she pulled it out, and noticed the caller ID was Mitsuru’s.

“Hello?”

“The Phantom Thieves just called out Hiiragi Alice on the Shibuya Crossing TVs ten minutes ago. I just learned it. The video’s in your email.”

Blinking, Kuon pulled up the file she’d been sent, and watched.

Thirty seconds after she was done watching, she called Mitsuru back.

“I’m still going.”

“I know. But be careful, understand?”

Kuon smiled. “I wasn’t going to provoke them, you know.”

“I know, again. But you’re our friend. We worry about you.”

“…Thank you.”

It always touched her a little hearing that.

Just a little.

Shadow nests were - as a rule - strange. 

So Kuon wasn’t really sure what to think about how normal this one was. Well, besides the many different Shadows hanging around. They’d left after she’d smashed a few dozen with her shield and Phoebe, though. She got the idea that they weren’t really gone, though - they just didn’t seem to be directed at her, for now. They were more or less milling about and trying to ignore her unless she attacked them. It didn’t take a genius to guess why.

It had taken far too long for her to enter the Nest. The Phantom Thieves had already come and gone - Alice’s Shadow was probably gone as well, returned to her original self, granting her the clarity that came with Awakening a Persona without actually Awakening.

But she wasn’t too worried about that.

Mom’s coming, Sophia. Please be okay…

Kuon sighed.

Nothing. She couldn’t find Sophia.

She’d expected this when her initial scans of the area had revealed nothing. Not even the electronic remains of a hard drive from the real world - the electronics in the Metaverse weren’t “real”, for lack of a better word. They could work, sure, but they didn’t have any of the wires or electrical components you’d normally find, and if you took anything off them, they stopped working most of the time even if they should have worked normally.

Worlds that worked more on ideas than logic had issues, at times. But she was used to that.

Either Sophia was never here in the first place, and she’d been suckered into coming out here for nothing, or she was here, and she’d been removed.

It was also possible that she was here and she hadn’t been able to find her, but…

She’d been scanning for other people in here the entire time. Nothing. 

She exhaled.

There was no point in staying here any longer.

Well, not quite. She still had a job to do here in Tokyo. The Shadow Operatives could just request the police reports after they were finished interrogating Alice, and if Sophia wasn’t here… she couldn’t investigate who had kidnapped her, and probably not whoever it was that had sent the letter that got her out here.

There were no Shadows to be found - at least, no Shadows that belonged to people, and who thusly knew things about the real world.

So now…

It was time to go pay the Phantom Thieves a visit.

The Phantom Thieves were really not as good at stealth as their name implied.

Walking up to Leblanc was - well, she’d noticed the man talking to the Thieves, and how they were all inside, and had quickly turned around.

She hadn’t left, though.

So when she saw him walking out, she approached him, and put on her fake cheer.

“Hello! I was about to go in, but I saw it was busy in there with all of you - I thought I’d give you some privacy. I heard this place was really good, though. What do you think?”

The man seemed slightly surprised by this, but he quickly recovered. “Er, I can’t really comment on anything. I’m - actually, I probably shouldn’t say anything.”

“So you’re a policeman?”

“I - I think I really shouldn’t say anything else.”

“Oh, it’s okay! I work for the government too. Well, not officially, but still. I’m Kuon Ichinose. We can share notes, Mr…”

“Hasegawa - I really shouldn’t be talking to you-”

“Oh, don’t worry! I can keep a secret. And yes, this is my real name - I can’t promise you’ll get to look at my files, though! Super secret!”

“I - I think they’re ready to see me again back in there, I have to go.”

With unseemly haste, Zenkichi power-walked back into the restaurant, away from the weird woman who had popped up out of nowhere and started interrogating him.

Well… 

She hadn’t done a good job at least, if she wasn’t actually a government worker. She’d only gotten his last name and that he was a policeman.

“Mitsuru? I think someone else thinks they have a lead.”

“Explain.”

“Somebody in the police is apparently trying to connect things to the Phantom Thieves. Could you look into that? There’s a man named Hasegawa talking to them.”

“He sounds familiar. I’ll start looking into it. Keep an eye on the Thieves, got it?”

“Understood.”

Chapter Text

Placing a tracker on the RV the Phantom Thieves were borrowing was questionably legal, but it would let Kuon follow them across Japan.

She didn’t have to do that, though. She had a better method. And she could let Mitsuru handle it.

It was a method that let her stop at Leblanc, wait for the Thieves to spend a few hours or so on the road, and eat curry and coffee that was actually better than what Shinjiro could make (although it was, according to the owner, their only dish, so that sort of balanced out how good it was), and practice talking to people that weren’t her coworkers, classmates, or family.

“Thanks, Sojiro-san. You’re sure you can’t tell me your secret?” She asked, sipping from her coffee mug. “One of my friends only has a high school diploma, but he’s a chef too, and he’d love to make this himself.”

“Heh. Sorry, can’t help you. It’s a house secret.” The barista replied, a semi-friendly smile on his face. This woman was - interesting, he’d decided. He had a weird vibe from her, but it wasn’t an unfamiliar one. He felt it around Futaba too. So it really wasn’t that weird, either. Even if he was getting it from a woman in her twenties. “Sides’, I’m not the one to ask. I’m passing it on to my… apprentice. And he’s not here anyways.”

“Your apprentice? Not… family?” Kuon was slightly curious.

Sojiro sighed. “I don’t have any family besides my daughter… she’s going on a road trip with him and their friends.”

“Are you… worried about them? Teenagers can get up to all sorts of things.”

She would know. Despite what Yukari had thought, she and Minato had not been subtle. 

Sojiro chuckled, bringing her out of her thoughts. “Futaba… Ren’s not interested in her that way. They’re more like siblings than anything, unless they’re a lot better at hiding things from me than I think they are. And I don’t think that they’d keep it a secret if they were. So… in the interest of fairness, you have any family you like talking about? They do anything lately?”

A voice came to her mind.

“Mother? Will I see you tomorrow?”

“I’ll be the first thing in the morning that you see, Sophia.”

Her voice came out measured. Perhaps too measured. “That’s personal, Sojiro-san.”

He recognized her tone - she hadn’t bothered to hide it. 

He’d used a similar one in the past. “Okay, sorry… guess that’s a sore spot for you.” She nodded quickly. Before he could think of a reply/a way to change the topic, though, his phone started to ring. “Hang on - you mind?” She gestured for him to go ahead, and he picked up the phone. “Ah - Futaba? I thought you were going to Sapporo. …oh, you’re stopping? Why - huh, stuff to do there, I see. Well, take care, and have fun while you’re there, kiddo. Tell the others to take care too, okay?”

He hung up.

“So your daughter and her friends… they’ve stopped.” Kuon noted, bluntly. Hm. It seemed she would have less of a drive on her hands than she’d thought she would.

“Well, that answers whether or not you overheard me...” Sojiro whispered under his breath.

“Are you sure they’ll be okay? If they’re still kids, I'd be worried about them going off on their own…” Kuon closed her eyes. The adults had mostly done their best for SEES - but well, they couldn’t Awaken any Persona-users, thanks to Ikutsuki's manipulation.

After all, it was better for him to have a force of children that would be easier to manipulate.

She would have appreciated somebody who could take care of things for them, or at least helped more directly. Shinjiro did his best, but…

…anyways.

“-turned eighteen recently, and they all have good judgment. Um, are you okay, miss?”

Kuon shook her head. “Oh, sorry. I got sidetracked. I was… thinking about the past.”

“I sometimes do that.” Sojiro admitted. “Usually when Futaba’s out somewhere. Or Ren. I think a lot about how they’ve grown up so fast…”

Kuon frowned. “Actually, if they’re under - well, studies show that the brain isn’t truly done developing until a human turns approximately twenty-five. If they aren’t that old, then they aren’t completely “grown up” yet. And frankly, people grow their entire lives - the first twenty-five years are mostly just spent firming up our personalities, as I understand it. And even after that point, we can still change - usually if you’re subjected to a big enough shock. Or if you want to look at it another way, other parts of their personality just get a moment to shine.”

Sojiro blinked. “Well… you’re certainly an interesting customer. You almost make it sound like everyone has multiple personality disorder, but I don’t think that’s what you meant…”

“Oh, honestly? I feel that people are too… big… to ever show all of who they are at once.” Kuon smiled.

In the depths of the Sea of Souls, unknown to both the current residents of Leblanc, Phoebe smiled with her.

“You’re certain they didn’t stop in Sapporo?” Mitsuru asked, frowning. She was fairly sure that had been their first destination - at least, it was the destination that Public Security was trying to steer them towards, since the current mayor seemed to be the source of the political issues there.

“I overheard Sojiro Sakura talking to his daughter Futaba.” The confirmation came. “Either he’s onto me and laying a false trail, or they’re not there. And considering that he apparently threw that policeman out when he got suspicious of him, I doubt it’s the first one.”

“All right - give me a second.” Mitsuru started tapping on her computer, pulling up the cities that had Shadow outbreaks in them. Thankfully, there weren't too many cities in Japan that had outbreaks some of the Shadow Operatives weren't covering - even if they couldn't send any Persona-users to deal with it - and only a few of them were directly between Tokyo and Sapporo. So…

“There’s a change of heart outbreak in Sendai that nobody’s been assigned to cover. The other cases all took precedence and we’ve already split up into teams of three. Start heading to Sendai - when word comes in about Zenkichi’s location, I’ll contact you again. That’s likely where the Thieves are as well. Only do reconnaissance and contact them - don’t try to deal with the Ruler’s Shadow by yourself.”

“I know. It’s against safety protocols. Understood.”

“And Kuon, are you… ready to move out?” Mitsuru questioned, not quite frowning, but making sure that Kuon had heard correctly. “You’re sure that Sophia isn’t there?”

Kuon rarely displayed emotion outwardly - she was the person everyone in SEES went to when they wanted somebody to look at things with a level head.

So it was, to Mitsuru, very telling that she could hear her take a breath before she replied, even if it was only for a few seconds.

“I already scanned the area as thoroughly as I could. Even if I wasn’t sure she isn’t here, stopping a Shadow outbreak on this scale is more important.”

Mitsuru nodded absently. Two thoughts warred in her mind for a second.

There’s no way of knowing the letter was real - it could have been a lie for some reason. Sophia may have never been there at all.

We’re abandoning a child.

But either way - there was not much she could do about it from here.

This didn’t make her feel better.

Then, the second passed. She sighed.

All right. Sophia is - currently still missing, despite our hopes that we could find her. Kuon knows her best, and what to look for - and if she couldn’t find her there, it’s unlikely that I could, if she was ever there at all. 

There is no point in focusing any further on this line of thought.

What can I do to help?

She’d already asked a few of her contacts in the Public Security department of Japan, and she was certain that Zenkichi Hasegawa was one of the investigators for the recent Change of Heart outbreak, and that he had gone mostly underground for the last few days.

Hopefully, they weren’t averse to working with another government agent…

She sighed.

Honestly?

They would probably - at least - listen to Kuon. They were not in a very good situation - they wouldn’t be in Sendai if they didn’t know that.

But that was probably all she was going to get, unless a miracle happened.

“All right. Head over there, see if you can get into contact with them when he isn’t present. Explain things, thank them for taking care of Shido, and see if they’re willing to work with us.”

“Got it.” And Kuon hung up.

Mitsuru sighed.

She had lost so much of her free time lately, thanks to this epidemic.

There were nearly two dozen cities with Mass Changes of Heart across Japan, as of Fuuka's last scan - and while the cases weren’t exactly popping up like weeds, they definitely weren’t going away - potentially unless they were forcibly removed.

…exactly like weeds. 

She needed to examine her metaphors closer in the future.

Nearly all of the other Shadow Operatives with Personas had already been deployed in three-man teams to several of the various cities, reserve and standard both. They - and the rest of the noncombatant Shadow Operatives had identified the people responsible for nearly each separate Change of Heart case - but things hadn't been simple, sadly.

"Come on! I know we can -"

"No." Mitsuru's voice was firm, as she stared at Chie Satonaka over the screen. "You do not have permission to brute force your way through the trauma barriers. We have no idea what effect it might have on the - Monarch, if you did."

Mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns - well, she didn't want to be responsible for a potential resurgence. Even if it was limited to just one person.

Chie scowled, but didn't argue.

"Continue trying to find a non-violent entry through their trauma barrier. We'll have Fuuka send them a message after you're done."

"What if Chinatsu escalates, though?"

Chie's question made Mitsuru wince.

"...if she continues to have her victims simply trespassing into the homes of others, then we can handle that."

Mitsuru could only hope she wasn't making a mistake as she spoke. "But if her victims do anything that results in lasting harm to a specific person, call back. We will discuss it further then."

"...understood."

And with that, Chie hung up.

Mitsuru sighed.

She really wished more of these Monarchs could be as relatively harmless as Ochimizu was being.

And - now of all times - the long-standing grudge the rest of the police had against the Shadow Operatives had apparently decided to resurface.

The Operatives were still able to investigate the mass Changes of Heart, but - well, it was uncertain if that would last. Even with Mitsuru pulling every string she had.

And if Public Security did manage to shut out the Shadow Operatives, they would likely waste no time pinning everything on the Phantom Thieves. After the police’s humiliation at the hands of the Thieves last year, Japan’s police force was determined to prove itself without any outside help. Including the help of people who were working with them and who actually had jurisdiction .

Why is it that for five years, almost nobody in the police force thinks we actually do anything, and when we finally get a case that is clearly supernatural, they start obstructing us…

Sighing, Mitsuru cleared her head. For the time being, they could still investigate, and that was the main thing. They had at least managed to identify the Monarchs of all the areas they had investigated so far, but - the barriers around the Desires had so far held firm against everything they'd tried to get through. And they were rapidly running low on non-brute-force ways to clear the barriers away and start freeing Desires from the -

...well...

Dungeons didn’t seem appropriate as a name, it wasn’t a tournament like the Inaba incidents had been, and it wasn’t truly a nationwide - or worldwide - phenomenon like the Dark Hour had been - the incidents were all localized. All connected, seemingly, but they were all different instances of a single type of Shadow Nest.

But at the same time, as far as they could tell, the new Nests were all unconnected - none of the Monarchs they had identified as responsible for the mass Desire thefts had anything connecting them.

They needed a lead. A connection. Something that they could trace back to whoever was behind this.

And, given how thoroughly everyone had been tied up, she also needed outside experts if they wanted to stop this for good. And the Thieves were already moving on their own to stop it - well, after Public Security had started putting pressure on them.

And, somehow, they had managed to figure out a way through the barrier where the Operatives hadn't. She could only hope they would share that knowledge - the Thieves probably had quite the grudge against the police, right now.

Hopefully, Kuon, even if she couldn’t change that, could at least get them to listen.

Sendai was interesting.

That was the main thing on Kuon’s mind as she walked through the doors of the hotel Mitsuru had booked.

It wasn’t because of the tourism industry there or all the festivals - she wasn’t opposed to nature or culture, but hikes and exercise were always more Minako or Akihiko’s territory than hers. And Mitsuru was easily the most traditional member of SEES.

It was mostly the educational aspect of the city that had gotten her interested in it, many years ago. She had gone there for college with Fuuka - well, she had finished her college there, after getting most of the classes she needed in Iwatodai. She had - well…

…she wouldn’t call them friends, really. They were - fellow AI developers.

…really, she hadn’t spoken to them in months. A few weeks after Sophia was kidnapped. 

…She had dropped the ball. It wasn’t all her fault, though. Actual relationships had to be maintained on both ends.

All the bridge repairs in the world wouldn’t do anything if they were only on one side.

Well, anyway. Even if her eyes were drooping, her stomach was starting to feel empty - she would eat before she went to bed.

Now… what was good around here, and open at ten o’clock?

“One gyutan bowl, please.”

“It’ll be right out, miss.”

Sighing, Kuon sat down, absently grabbing some of the condiments. This place had come highly recommended, but you never knew how working late at night could affect someone’s head.

After a few minutes, the bowl arrived. Kuon took a first bite (being careful to blow on it, since it was still steaming), and felt a jolt of pleasure.

It would seem she had gathered the condiments for no reason. 

And so, contentedly, Kuon ate, never realizing that she had missed the Thieves by only a few hours.

Kuon, like many people, was not really a morning person. One of the nice things about being an AI researcher - one who had successfully created an AI, at that - was that you could decide what your hours were.

“Okay, so it’s more like the Dark Hour than the TV World… hm. It’d be closer to the physical world, then…”

And since Kuon wasn’t a morning person, that meant that she was all but guaranteed a chance to talk to Minako if she called her.

Because, after several years of being married to (and exercising with) Akihiko, Minako definitely was.

“You’re going into the Shadow nest? Are you sure that’s a good idea? You don’t have any backup!”

Kuon - who had been fiddling with the Dark Inducer she’d brought with her to Sendai in an attempt to figure out what “frequency” the Shadow nest was tuned to, didn’t need more than a second to think of her answer. “Yes. The Thieves will be able to find me there more easily, or vice-versa. There are too many people in the human world for me to be sure where I should look. I was going to find a safe spot without many Shadows, and stay there until either they find me, I detect something, or things start exploding.”

“...All right…” Her sister’s voice was resigned. “Just - be careful.”

“I will, Minako."

“I know that. But bring some of those drinks Akihiko and Mitsuru made. And the magatamas - and your Evoker, just in case.”

“I already packed them. I’ll be careful.”

“Good. But leave immediately if you think you’re in trouble, and I’ll come help you as fast as I can.”

Kuon blinked as a distant memory came up.

Plus a lot of memories from books she had read and television (or video games) that she had watched. “You really sound like a mom now, you know.”

“...I really do, huh? Well… be careful.”

Nodding as the call ended, Kuon took another look at the Dark Inducer. 

It was time to get to work.

So this was Ango Natsume’s mindscape.

…this really does scream “Dark Hour”, doesn’t it?

The Shadows looked a little more human - but they were still semi-shapeless blobs of non-sapient thoughts, given physical form. The things in the back of everyone’s head - quite literally. Patrolling a human city like it was their home turf, which was a completely new set of red flags.

And… well…

“They’re all… normal.”

There was a brief pause on the group meeting the Shadow Operatives/Investigation Team combined force were having, before Yu Narukami spoke. “What do you mean ‘normal’?” 

On the other end of the call, Naoto Shirogane sighed. “I’ve looked into the descriptions of all the Shadow nests that we’ve run into or heard about, in the past. The Dark Hour, the dungeons, Palaces, and the tournament. And besides the Dark Hour, from what you’ve described of it, none of them truly were as… relatively accurate to the real world as these are. Even with the castles, the cages at the top, and all the Shadows.”

“Yeah, but - what difference does it make? We’re still gonna bust em’ all open, right?” Kanji Tatsumi questioned.

“Yes, that is the plan… but it’s just… been bothering me.”

The Investigation Team frowned. Naoto was a detective, and when something was bothering her, it was usually time to start looking back at what she’d learned to see if they’d missed anything. “Well, I guess it’s kind of weird - all the stuff that’s out of place is probably because of the people controlling everyone, right?” Chie said. “So - well, if they’re controlling everything… why does so much of it look normal, you mean?”

“Exactly.” Naoto nodded. “They’re unusual, because they’re so - mundane. And… I have a few theories, but nothing concrete. We need to know more about them.”

Looking around, Kuon nodded absently at how Naoto had hit the nail on the head.

The dungeons hadn’t been normal, or the tournaments. Neither had the “Palaces” that had been described to them. They were - to be blunt, well out of the ordinary. This place - well, mostly, it looked like Sendai, with a few features removed or moved around. 

The castle and large gates were new, but that wasn’t the point. Most of this Shadow Nest could pass for Sendai, like how the Dark Hour had basically been Iwatodai, just with red water, a bigger moon, a bunch of coffins, and a green sky, plus Shadows and Persona-users (plus a few of the adults) being the only people walking around.

This place was normal, and that wasn’t normal.

And she had no idea what that meant.

“Heheheheh… I’ve been waiting for you, oh chosen heroine.”

Kuon raised an eyebrow, Phoebe already manifesting behind her, but not moving to attack yet. The man in front of her seemed to be a Shadow in human skin, for some reason - but frankly? She could sense how strong he was when she was this close - it was something Persona-users usually figured out eventually - and it wasn’t anywhere close to enough to pose a threat to her, unless he was suppressing his power.

And Shadows - well, they didn’t really do straight-up lying, verbally or otherwise. In a Shadow Nest, it was usually safe to assume that when you were presented with something, unless there was external manipulation involved, that it was the truth.

But then again, she wasn’t in a normal Shadow nest… Oh, he was talking.

Actually, his voice was kind of annoying, really. It just… for some reason, it was getting on her nerves.

“I am the guardian of this gate, and if you wish to - acckrrll!”

Ah, yes. Psychokinetic spells to the throat. There was always something nice about getting in a good Force Choke.

It was fun, acting like a Sith.

Now then-

“ACK!”

No, it seemed that throwing him into the gate wasn’t enough. She would have to beat him up. That was how it usually worked in Shadow nests and bad stories - to get past an obstacle, you had to beat up the guards.

“Gah! So be it, chosen heroine! You will rue the day that you crossed I, Do-”

Really, he should have known better than to stand there and monologue. She was psychokinetic, and there was a large tree right there.

“I pray… you lose your way…”

And then, in the span of a second, the world changed.

“...huh.”

Pausing, Kuon looked around at her new location. It was a square - well, the shape on the ground was an octagon, but that wasn’t the same - in front of a castle. The designs hadn’t changed much, so she was probably still in Sendai.

No Shadows, and… hm. Everyone else said there was a large castle or fortress-like structure, in some part of the affected area. And at the top of it was the place where the ruler’s Shadow fought them and where the stolen Desires were located. Looking up, she nodded. The “birdcage” at the top of the castle fit the descriptions she’d been given. The Thieves will probably be here eventually, then… especially if they run into whoever that was and he sends them here.

And the area didn’t seem to have any Shadows nearby. So, all she had to do… was find somewhere to stay out of sight.

Absently fingering one of the Trafuri Gems she’d brought, alongside, among other things, the Traesto Gem in her pocket - Kuon walked towards one of the alleys, Phoebe vanishing for the time being.

She had her Evoker (if needed), a rather nice ballistic shield, and enough food to last till dinner, several of each kind of magatamas, plenty of nutritional drinks (devised by the Shadow Operatives ‘Health Division’ - AKA, Shinjiro and Akihiko) for if she needed a fast pick-me-up, plus a few books. And - well away from here - there was the Dark Inducer she’d used to get in, and several other devices that were now in a hopefully inconspicuous location, taking readings, and another Traesto Gem. She was as well-equipped as she would get.

Actually, there was a convenient stack of boxes right there… Well, better to not leave all her eggs in one basket. Kneeling down (after taking a careful look around, and reaching out with the limited sensory skills she had), Kuon carefully began to set the “emergency exit” gem into it. 

And with that done, she got up, and started walking away again, to find somewhere that was close enough to the plaza she could hear it if the Thieves came, and also out of the castle’s line of sight.

Well… here I go.

“I… apologize, Kuon. I would have thought the Thieves would have entered today, since they arrived yesterday...”

“It’ll be fine, Mitsuru.” Despite Kuon’s words, there was a faint trace of annoyance in her voice. “I’ll just go back tomorrow. It’s my job, and I got in some practice. It’s just - it’s not the same, practicing with everyone in the real world, as it is pummeling everything in a Shadow nest, you know?” As she spoke, Kuon’s voice went from being filled with annoyance to being filled with mildly pleased reminiscence.

Mitsuru sighed, feeling slightly nostalgic. “Indeed I do…”

It was perhaps a lot like bullying, to be blunt…

But at the same time? Pummeling the formless Shadows that reminded her of the Dark Hour would always be rather cathartic. “Anyways. The Thieves are likely going in tomorrow, at least.”

“Noted. I’ll update you if I contact them.”

Day two was going better already.

She could hear the explosions and yelling from here. Absently, she got up and started walking towards the plaza in front of the castle, sweeping the area casually for Shadows. None yet.

It didn’t take long for her to get there.

Or for the other Persona-users to finish what they were doing.

As she turned the corner, Kuon took notice of who was there.

Hm. Nine total. But she was pretty sure that Sumire Yoshizawa was currently at a gymnastics tournament overseas…

Well, there they are. Cheerful face.

“Hey there! I assume you’re the Phantom Thieves?”

The entire group spun around as one, shock visible on their faces.

But before any of the other Thieves could reply, a voice cut in.

And the contents of what that voice said made Kuon’s heart skip a beat.

“Mother?”

Chapter Text

Kuon's eyes zoomed in on the tiny figure that had just walked out from amidst the Thieves as her feet absently started carrying her forwards. As she slowly moved forwards, the figure - she still had not solidly identified them - moved towards her in turn, both of them ignoring the yelps the Thieves were giving off as their second smallest member moved forwards. Kuon's feet stopped moving, and she knelt ever so slightly - the hoodie made it hard for her to identify the other girl. 

But not impossible. Not even close. Because she knew her.

That trail of hearts running down her back, the substitute Chidori had designed for her instead of normal hair…

Even with her eyes covered, it was clear who was standing in front of her.

“Sophia?”

The eye cover vanished.

And with the mask gone, any doubts Kuon had that she wasn’t looking at her daughter vanished as well, as Sophia beamed.

“I missed you, mother.”

A second later, Sophia was in her arms. Before Kuon could even stop hers - well, okay, she was fully intending to hug Sophia, and she could easily have stopped herself. But she really, really, didn’t want to.

Even as she embraced her daughter, Kuon couldn’t stop her hands from moving around a little as she stood back up, Sophia still clutched tightly to her as she cradled her in her arms, but not resisting in the slightest as she shuffled her around so that she was… hopefully comfortable.

Hopefully Sophia wouldn’t mind the handful of tears. Kuon was… still new to this mothering thing. Especially since Sophia hadn’t had a body before.

"How come she gets to floof her..."

As a female voice muttered sadly in the background, Kuon clutched her daughter to her as if she would disappear again if she let go.

“Eh… it’s mom stuff. Moms can do that. Wish my mom had done it more…”

She nodded absently to the second feminine voice before realizing something. Her daughter’s arms, even unpinned, were still clutched at her sides. “Sophia… do you not want to hug me?”

“...I have never hugged someone before, mother.”

“...all right. I won’t make you.”

She could wait. Sophia could take her time if she didn’t want to hug her now. Or ever.

She hoped she would, though.

“So, I’m assuming that you’re Kuon Ichinose?”

The Thieves could wait too, as a matter of-

Wait, how did they know her - oh, of course. They’d had Sophia with them for… she wasn’t sure… where had they gotten Sophia?

“Sophia.” She whispered as quietly as she could. “How did - where did these people find you?”

“The Phantom Thieves found me in a Jail in Shibuya on the twenty-fifth of July, where Hiiragi Alice was ordering Shadows to steal Desires.” 

Her daughter hadn’t whispered. Kuon sighed, and cuddled her a little closer.

“All right - who the heck are you, again, and what are you doing in here!?”

“Skull! She’s Kuon Ichinose… and…”

The blonde - one Ann Takamaki - cut herself off as realization dawned. Carefully, the Thieves took positions, the shock of seeing another human in the Metaverse (who was coincidentally Sophia’s mother, apparently) wearing off rapidly.

“How did you get here?” Ren Amamiya asked - or rather, demanded - stepping forwards, to cover the rest of his team, if she had to guess.

Kuon smiled. That was a question with an easy answer.

“I got in using a Dark Inducer. It was made by - well, I won’t tell you that yet. But, using it, me and my coworkers can enter Shadow nests if we don’t know how to get in otherwise, or when whatever is controlling or creating the Shadow nest isn’t feeling cooperative. How did you get here?”

“Uh - where’d you get that?”

Kuon smiled.

“I got it from my boss - Oh! And before I forget…”

The Phantom Thieves had expected that a lot of things could be possible when they’d started investigating Ango Natsume’s Jail. 

Running into the mother of their newest member there - and then having her bow in front of them - hadn’t even been on the list.

“On behalf of the Shadow Operatives - thank you.” 

“Who?” Makoto Niijima looked very confused as Kuon brought her head back up, still clutching Sophia tightly. Kuon took the implied question in stride.

“Well… you can consider us as the government branch that’s supposed to be doing what you do. When there aren’t corrupt jerks who keep us from doing our jobs, tying us up in red tape and blackmail…” Kuon let out a long and infuriated breath. “And on that note… For dealing with Masayoshi Shido, helping free the minds of the people of Tokyo from that cup with an oversized ego, and everything else… you have our deepest gratitude, for dealing with our mess when we were being kept from doing anything.”

Thank… Marie, she supposed, that Margaret and Theodore had been willing to share the details.

Ren frowned. The mention of ‘government branch’ was already flipping a lot of switches for him. “What do you mean, you’re supposed to be doing what we do?”

Kuon sighed. “Did you really think that you were the only Persona-users in the world who dealt with a crisis?”

“Wait, what?!”

Ignoring Morgana’s outburst, before the other Thieves could figure out what to say, Sophia spoke. “Mother, are you a Persona-user?”

Kuon responded with a single word. Or rather, a single name. 

“Phoebe.”

“Okay, so… what should we do?” Morgana asked, frowning as the Thieves - the original Phantom Thieves - spoke to each other.

All of them were keeping at least one eye over their shoulders, watching their newest member’s mother. (Who had kept their newest member from joining them, on the grounds that she hadn’t stopped hugging Sophia).

Well, their newest member’s mother, and the large Persona - a glowing figure that seemed to have no true shape beneath the emitted light, or at least no shape that stayed the same from moment to moment - that she had summoned and which she still had floating by her. The sheer power it radiated was seemingly driving away the Shadows.

They had gotten a lot of information dumped on them in the course of about two minutes.

“I don’t think that we should run. She approached us first, and it seems as though she doesn’t wish to hurt us…” Haru said.

“Well… we should keep her talking. Ask her more about these… Shadow Operatives.” Makoto said carefully. “I think fighting an adult who wants to help us would be a poor idea. Even without knowing that she’s Sophie’s mother…”

“Yeah, I’m gonna have to support that.” Futaba added. “I took a scan of her Persona… I think if she wanted to, she could one-hit kill all of us.”

“Is she that strong?” Yusuke spoke for the first time as he lifted his head, eyes wide and voice slightly haunted.

Futaba shook her head. “Not… totally? I took a scan of us too. Relatively… I think she's about as strong as we were when we were fighting Sae or - early Shido's Palace. Maybe a bit more… but not by too much. The thing is, well, I took a look at us too, and we all got deleveled, hard.”

Ann finished the thought. “So… it’s not that she’s insanely strong. It’s that we’ve gotten a lot weaker?”

“More like both, but yeah.” Futaba nodded, then frowned. “But how’d we level down so fast?!”

“Actually, it kinda makes sense.”

Most of the Thieves hadn’t expected Ryuji to speak up, which was probably the main reason he continued without being interrupted. “It’s probably’ like exercise. We just went like… almost six months without using our Personas? Didn’t use 'em even once, after almost a whole year where me, Mona, Joker, and Panther at least were using ‘em all the time. And you guys were using em’ almost as much as we did after you joined.” 

He nodded, becoming sure of his own words. “Yeah - it don’t matter much how good you were physically if you don’t stay in practice. I’m guessing that’s what happened.” Ryuji’s words had everyone blinking.

The group’s second in command was first to reply. “Well, that very good point aside - yes.” Makoto sighed. “Our Personas have lost almost all of the power they had, and the cause, as Skull has said, seems to be that we spent six months not doing anything with them."

“Yeah. And it took us all months to achieve our secondary Personas, and they weren’t even close to as strong as she is…” Futaba added. 

“Do you think she’s got some way to like - practice in the real world or something? Or some… door to the Metaverse?” Ryuji suggested.

“We have a lot of questions… and… she mentioned she has a boss?” Ann added.

“She mentioned a group called the Shadow Operatives... we should look them up. Oracle, do you think you could help me?” The orange-haired gremlin nodded in response to Haru’s question.

“Okay. We’ve confirmed that Ango Natsume is the Jail’s Monarch, and made contact with Sophie’s mother, and confirmed the possible existence of a group of adult Persona-users who work for the government, which includes her…” Ren nodded, as if he’d made a decision. “Group vote. I think we’ve done enough for now. Should we head back to reality?”

Nobody spoke. Everyone nodded, however.

“Should we ask her if she’d be willing to leave the Jail with us so we can ask her more questions?” Morgana asked. “I - well, we can always come back later, and if she’s willing to help us, we’d probably make progress much faster.”

“Can it wait? I believe I’ve made good headway into depicting familial affection.”

The Thieves turned to look at Yusuke as one - and noticed, as one, that he had his brush and paints out.

“Fox, what are you doing? ” Morgana asked in a baffled tone.

Makoto sighed. “We are having a meeting.”

“I apologize, Queen, but I simply could not pass up a chance to portray such love.” Yusuke replied, gesturing to the mother and daughter thirty feet or so away.

The rest of the Thieves followed his gaze. 

It took Ann most of her willpower to suppress a squeal at how cute they were.

Kuon could almost physically feel her soul healing as her daughter sat on her lap, head lying back in her chest as she kept her arms wrapped around her child.

Her rapidly healing soul hadn’t closed up the gaping wound in itself that had come from losing her baby, though. Not yet, at least.

“Sophia?”

“Please call me Sophie while we are in the Metaverse. What is it, mother?”

“How… have you been doing? Do you remember anything from the last six months, before you woke up?”

“I am sorry to say that I do not remember anything before Joker awoke me. Would you like to hear about my time with the Thieves so far?”

“Talk away.”

It would have been better if she had been there with her for those six months, but this was the best she would likely get.

“First off, why were you in the Metaverse?”

“I do not know. My last memories before Joker and the others found me are of my mother speaking to me sixteen days after I was activated, roughly six months prior to today’s date.”

That got everyone’s attention.

“Your - mother?!” Ann asked, shock and concern clear in her voice. “You have a mother? Wait - why wasn’t she with you?”

Sophia became visibly saddened. “I do not know. She did not seem upset when I last spoke to her, and said she would see me the day afterwards. I do not think she was acting any differently than she was since I was activated…”

“What’s her name? I’ll start looking right away!” Futaba said eagerly.

“Kuon Ichinose. Would you like a description?”

“Yup!”

“She is of average height and build, has brown hair that she lets hang freely, and eyes of a light olive green color. She does not wear glasses. She is in her twenties to forties, I believe. I never asked her age.”

“Got it!” Futaba was already typing away, scouring the web and thoroughly absorbed in her own world.

“So… how did Sophia get to where we found her from wherever she was?” Makoto asked, puzzled.

“Well, we did find her in a - Jail. I doubt she left her there. Moms don’t do that.” Ryuji pointed out.

“Speaking of which, Sophia, is this Kuon Ichinose truly your mother? I was under the impression that women typically gave birth to other humans, not artificial intelligences.” Yusuke added, curiosity clear in his tone.

All of a sudden, everyone in the room (except Futaba, who was completely focused on searching the web and tuning everything else out), was picturing a woman roughly matching Ichinose’s description, lying down in a hospital bed, clearly exhausted, and nuzzling a cell phone to her face.

It was strangely cute.

Sophia was nonplussed. “I refer to her as mother because it seems to make her happy when I refer to her that way. She is my creator - she made my source code and activated me.”

Sophia’s eyes went down. “But… I just realized that I do not know how to contact her. And that I never asked where she lived…”

“Well, is there anything else you can think of? Something about her personal life, maybe?” Haru suggested.

Sophia still looked downcast. “I believe she had several companions. But I only know their first names…”

“It’ll help!” Futaba declared.

“GAH!”

Futaba’s decision to help… didn’t.

“Well, it seems her skills do have limits after all…” Morgana mused sadly, watching as the frustrated navigator threw up her hands.

“You couldn’t find her?” Ren’s question had Futaba shaking her head. 

“Sophia, I’m sorry, but… your mom is not a social media person.” Futaba sighed. “Like, at all. Because all of the “Kuon Ichinose’s” that I’m seeing don’t have brown hair. You sure you don’t remember anything besides what she looks like? Exact age, weight, where she lives, anything?” 

“No. I did not ask. Our conversations were mostly about me, and how I was feeling, and going over my source code to see if I was functioning correctly.”

“Great…” Futaba shook her head. “But yeah. No public social media accounts I can find for a Kuon Ichinose with that description, and hacking every private website or AI company website out there hoping she’s got an account with them would take way too long. So yeah, unless we can narrow down where to look I’m going to need a while to find her. At this point, I’m thinking I might have to start hacking into census records or something…”

“Let’s not do any illegal activities until after we figure out what’s going on, okay?” Makoto interjected. “As much as I want to help Sophia… if you couldn’t find out anything online, we’re going to need to think about this more.”

“Sophia, are you sure that you don’t remember anything else about where you were - well, before this?” Ann asked.

“No. I was made in a lab - my mother never mentioned who she worked for.” The baby AI stated calmly, gaze still as innocent as ever.

“Well, I’m already looking into AI researchers and organizations… but yeah, a lot of them don’t announce who their employees are. And Sophia’s… way more complicated than anything I’ve heard about.” Futaba shrugged.

“Maybe her mom wanted to keep her a secret. You said you’re… sixteen days old?” Ryuji asked.

“Chronologically, I am six and a half months old. I simply do not remember most of that time.” Sophia replied.

“I can understand why Kuon-san wanted to keep her a secret. It makes getting you back to her a lot harder for us, though…” Haru said sadly.

“Mother…” Sophia’s voice was very sad.

“Well… just give me time! I’m sure I’ll find her eventually! Just need to figure out where to look…” Futaba replied, trying to lift the mood.

“Well… I suppose we’re going back to Alice’s Jail tomorrow. We should all head home and get some rest.” Makoto said.

“Perhaps a good night’s rest will give somebody an idea for how to narrow the search parameters for Futaba…” Yusuke mused.

Nods were exchanged, and without much ado, the group split apart.

“Still nothing?”

Futaba sighed and shook her head. “I’ve got the whole month ahead of me, at least…”

“I’ve been waiting for you… chosen heroes… ghahgh!”

Normally, the Thieves wouldn’t have cared what state a Shadow was in (as long as it wasn’t a human Shadow and that state wasn’t dead). But when a Shadow that looked somewhat important looked as though he had gotten run through a dryer without taking his clothes off, even before they started fighting him…

“Uh… are you okay, Mr. Shadow?” Haru asked, feeling rather awkward.

“I am fine! It is nothing! I - Doma of the Fearsome Four - will not allow you to best me as she did!”

“Somebody beat you already?”

“It matters not! These wounds are nothing… I will slay you where you stand!”

Domu did not.

“I don’t think she’s going to let Sophie out of her sight again.”

The rest of the Thieves nodded absently to Ren’s point. 

“So… what should we do, then? Leave for today and talk to her in the real world?” Makoto asked.

“Her - and whoever she works for.”

Ren’s words were dark, but the Thieves all nodded along.

They had learned their lesson - thoroughly - about trusting somebody based on their outward appearance.

Chapter Text

As the Phantom Thieves (plus her) fell out of the “Jail”, Kuon felt her good mood continue.

She’d found her daughter, made a - reasonably good first impression on the Phantom Thieves, she hoped. 

Well, really, she hadn’t been too focused on the Thieves when she met them. With one exception. It was better to be genuine, though - she had everyone she needed, so it was better to show them who she was up front. If they got creeped out, that was their problem.

And if any of the Thieves had been offended that she had hyperfocused on her daughter after they’d been separated for six months, they could go to hell for all she cared.

And - realization dawned.

“Where’s Sophia?” Kuon’s voice was flat as she turned around to look at the Thieves. It was still, unmistakably, a demand.

“Hello, mother.”

Kuon’s mood did yet another 180, as Ren held up his phone, sighing. Sophia was - on the screen. “Sophia! …how did you fit on his memory card?”

AIs were not exactly small, storage-wise. Even if she’d done a lot of - well, data compression - on Sophia before she’d been activated.

“I added a bunch of extra space to everyone’s phones a while ago.” Futaba replied, speaking up from the back of the group. “And he doesn’t play that many games.”

“It’s very comfy. It's tight, but I have more than enough space in here.” The guileless AI finished.

Kuon sighed. “I’ll remember that. Anyways. I’m going to go call my boss, do you want to come?”

The Thieves - except for Sophia - shot each other looks.

They’d talked about this on the way back.

“Me, Queen, and Oracle will go with you.” Ren stated, simply.

The mention of “me” had Kuon remember something.

“Okay - and by the way, mine. ”

“Hey!” Ren didn’t quite yelp as his phone was snatched from his hands.

“Sorry! But this is my daughter who I have been separated from for six months.” Kuon’s cheer had returned. “I’ll give you your phone back once I’ve gotten her off it.” Before Ren could think of a counter, she’d already gestured behind her. “I’m staying at the Kotodai-Koen. Follow me if you want to talk to me or my boss.” 

And with that, Kuon marched off, the clear impression left that she didn’t especially care if they followed her or not.

“...my memories of when we first met you are resurging rather strongly, Futaba.” Yusuke declared after a few seconds.

“Oh! I’ve gotta ask her how she made Sophia! Later!” 

Ignoring Yusuke completely, Futaba swiftly power-walked after Kuon and Sophia. Sighing, Ren and Makoto walked after her, following her, as well as the already-distant Kuon.

“...well, we should go back to the RV now.” Haru sighed, looking downcast as four of their members followed the strange government worker that had created Sophia.

“Hopefully, we shall have answers when they return.” Yusuke frowned, looking down.

Ryuji snorted. “Even if she’s Sophia’s mom, you really think a government lady’s gonna tell us anything?”

“She did mention a boss of some kind - you never know.” Morgana interjected. “And she must have known about the Metaverse for some time to have a Persona that powerful, which means that she’s not working directly with Zenkichi.”

“Either way, who knows what the heck she’s planning!” Ryuji snapped. “She’s with the government! They can’t stand us stealing their thunder!”

“-2306 is Mitsuru’s personal satellite phone in case I am unsure where I am again.”

Kuon nodded affectionately at Sophia as she finished reciting all of the phone numbers, e-mails, and physical addresses she’d just been told. (She felt stupid in hindsight, not telling Sophia all of them earlier. Well, live and learn. She had Sophia back now, at least).

“Hey, where did you learn how to code stuff?”

Kuon blinked, and turned to face Futaba Sakura. The orange-haired girl (who used hair dye, if she had to guess), looked - really eager.

“Hello, Futaba.” Sophia said, a smile back on her face.

“Hi, Sophia. So! Miss - Sophia’s mom - where did you learn to code?! Seriously! How - how did you learn how to make Sophia?”

Kuon shrugged. “College, self-learning, and -”

Aigis and Labrys came to mind.

“That last part’s classified.”

“WHAT.” The look of sheer betrayal on Futaba’s face was sort of funny.

“It’s a Shadow Operatives-classified secret. I can’t tell you right now. Ask my boss.”

“What if she says no, though!?” Futaba demanded.

“Then you’ll have to go with your curiosity unsatisfied.”

“Come on, tell me! It’s super important to me!”

“No.”

Futaba, without warning, switched targets. “Sophia, can you tell me anything about how you were made?”

Sophia tilted the image of her head. “I’m sorry, Futaba. I do not think my mother would be pleased if I told you anything I was not supposed to by mistake.” 

“AAAAAWWW! Come on, tell me!” Futaba returned her pleading gaze to Kuon.

Who summarily ignored it. “Maybe later, if my boss says yes.”

“Now! Pleeeeeassseee? Your boss doesn’t have to know!”

“She’s a close personal friend of mine as well as my boss, and I won’t betray her trust.”

Behind them, Makoto and Ren both filed this away as they walked. Futaba’s - well, it wasn’t really an act, to be honest. But it had worked on Akechi before, and it was working - well, a little.

“Please?”

“No.”

“PLEEEEAASE!”

“No.”

“...how long do you think this is going to go on?” Makoto whispered to Ren.

“A while.” Was the simple reply.

Ren was right.

“Pleeeassseee!”

“You can ask my boss in sixty seconds. If she’s available.” Kuon replied as she started typing on her computer in her hotel room. It was impressive that the orange-haired recluse had kept up her pleading this long.

“But she might say no and hang up!” Futaba whined.

“That’s your problem, not mine.” Kuon did not miss a beat as she scrolled along to a “video chat” app.

It’s kind of impressive how much she doesn’t care. Ren reflected absently. Futaba had been bugging Ichinose for answers for the last quarter of an hour, and the older coder hadn’t given the impression that she was paying any attention to her besides saying “no” consistently. So much for the plan to pester information out of her.

“Who is your boss, anyways?” Makoto sounded annoyed. 

Earlier…

“Hey, could you-”

“TELL ME YOUR SECRETS!”

“No.”

“TELL ME!”

“Futaba-”

“Silence!” The orange-haired hacker held up a pointer finger in Makoto’s direction.

Any further attempts the second-in-command of the Thieves made to get involved in the conversation were cut off by Futaba’s demands and Kuon ignoring everything but her, the crosswalk signals, cars, other pedestrians, and Sophia.

A little warmth returned to Kuon’s voice. “Her name’s Mitsuru Kirijo.”

For almost two seconds, Ren thought that Makoto had suddenly become a cartoon character. Because the only thing he could think of to describe how wide her eyes were was “Looney Tunes.”

“What?!”

“Who?” Ren asked, puzzled.

(Futaba, ironically, had no idea who they were talking about - while she had many hyperfixations, CEOs were not one of them).

(And she was focusing too closely on what Kuon was typing to pay attention anyways).

Makoto looked at Ren quickly. “Mitsuru Kirijo - she’s the head of the Kirijo Group. They’re one of the biggest and most powerful conglomerates in Japan - she’s probably the most powerful woman in Japan who isn’t a politician.” And frankly, there were a lot of very powerful Japanese politicians who had less influence than Mitsuru Kirijo.

Ren frowned.

Another powerful politician. He was liking this less by the minute.

(As Futaba not at all subtly peeked over her shoulder, Kuon sighed and grabbed her by the face before carefully holding her behind her. Through her muffled protests, Futaba noticed the background to the computer’s screen - a pair of group pictures, one of a group of teenagers (plus a kid and dog), and what seemed to be older versions of said group).

Sighing, Mitsuru continued looking through the report that had been sent back from Narukami's team. They had made it to the "birdcage", but progress was-

Ring! Ring!

Mitsuru smiled slightly as a “video call” request popped up. It was from Kuon.

Well, she needed a break. Seeing her old teammate would be nice. 

“What is it?” She asked, as the screen opened.

“Look who I found!”

Mitsuru blinked, surprised briefly at the genuine cheerfulness in Kuon’s voice - 

“Hello, Aunt Mitsuru.”

And then, a voice she had never heard in person. “Sophia?” Mitsuru’s eyes went wide as she looked at the phone that Kuon was holding up.

“The one and only!” Kuon replied cheerfully.

“It's nice to meet you, Aunt Mitsuru.” The red-headed AI - who looked a lot like Minako and Yukari - smiled - and -

…Sophia, I’ve only known you for ten seconds. But if anyone says you are anything less than equal to a human, I will have my lawyers tear them to pieces.

Sighing to herself at the adorable child onscreen, Mitsuru brought her mind back to business. “Congratulations, Kuon. Thank you for telling me Sophia is safe and sound, but is that all you needed to report?”

The Hermit of the Shadow Operatives took on a slightly more businesslike appearance. “No.” Without another word, she shifted the computer around so Mitsuru could see clearly.

The head of the Kirijo Group recognized the two immediately, and nodded. “Hm. Ren Amamiya and Makoto Niijima, yes?”

“Plus one more.” Makoto added, gesturing to the side. 

Mitsuru looked at Futaba, and sighed. “Kuon, let her go.”

Chapter Text

Mitsuru gave the Thieves a polite smile - one that Makoto returned, Ren ignored, and that Futaba didn’t notice as she tried to get Kuon’s attention (which, as she was talking to her daughter, failed).

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Phantom Thieves. Thank you for meeting me - and thank you for returning Sophia.”

Ren had been suppressing a frown, but the mention of the redheaded AI who had wormed her way into his heart made him smile. “Don’t worry about it. She’s been no trouble at all.”

“Also, we’ve - well, we were sidetracked by Sophia. Could I ask why you wanted to talk to us?” Makoto added.

“I was about to suggest the same thing.” Mitsuru replied, seemingly pleased. “Anyways… well, I’’ll put this simply. I would like to exchange information with you - what you know about the current Shadow epidemic, in exchange for what we know about Shadows and this current crisis that - isn’t currently top secret.”

“Tell me about how she made Sophia!”

Without missing a beat, Kuon grabbed Futaba by the face again. Mitsuru blinked. Makoto sighed. “I’m sorry, she’s - been very excited about Sophia this entire time. She was pestering Ichinose-san about it the entire way back to the hotel.”

Which had not been part of the plan.

“I see.” Mitsuru sighed. “Kuon, please let her go.”

“I will, if she stops talking, so I can talk to Sophia without being bothered.”

“Futaba, leave her alone.” Ren stated.

“Buh-” Futaba tried to protest as Kuon’s hand muffled her speech.

“Bug her later, okay?” The leader of the Phantom Thieves sighed.

“...Fuhn…”

Even if Futaba’s words weren’t clear, the resigned tone made it clear what she meant. 

“So… you want an exchange of information, at the moment?” Makoto asked, carefully.

“Yes. At the moment, any sort of overt alliance would end poorly, with the police trying to cause problems for us - that is, the Shadow Operatives. I presume you have similar problems.”

“Yeah. We’ve got a dude from Public Security tailing us everywhere - he’s suspicious as heck.” Futaba was still looking at Kuon out of the corner of her eyes fairly obviously even as she spoke. “Zenkichi Hasegawa - he’s a dweeb.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“Yeah, I saw him in Tokyo. He's why I decided to not talk to you right away.” Kuon added. “Oh, and - I told him my name, and that I worked for the government too, sort of, Mitsuru. That’s it, though.”

Mitsuru sighed, but Ren ignored her exasperation.

“Wait, you knew who we were already?” Ren frowned.

Mitsuru sighed. “I’ll be blunt. All of the higher-ranking officials in the police know that Ren Amamiya, Ryuji Sakamoto, Ann Takamaki, Yusuke Kitagawa, Makoto Niijima, Futaba Sakura, and Haru Okumura were the Phantom Thieves. But you’re all more or less upstanding citizens as far as they know, however, with the exception of being the Phantom Thieves. After Ren was cleared, they couldn’t find anything to charge any of you with that would stick.”

Ren snorted.

He had never been called an ‘upstanding citizen’ before by somebody who knew he was a Phantom Thief. It was pretty blatant flattery.

And they’d missed Sumire and Morgana. It was good they didn’t know about them.

Well, Sumire. It was kind of unlikely that Ichinose had missed Morgana - but well, she’d been hyper-fixated on Sophia, you never knew…

“Also, could I ask what your feline companion’s name is? The police never gave him a name in their reports.”

There. He’d tempted fate.

Kuon spoke up. She sounded thoughtful. “I think it was - Mona Lisa?”

Ren did not snort at the idea of Mona being a world-famous painting.

Despite what everyone else said. They were wrong.

“His name is Morgana.” Makoto sighed.

“That’s it.” Kuon said, absently returning to speaking with Sophia.

“Anyways . You wanted to exchange information with us?” Makoto asked. “Would you mind going first?”

“Very well. There are a number of Shadow outbreaks, in cities and towns across Japan. I can’t give a specific number - confidentiality, and because there are more outbreaks popping up every week. They started roughly a month ago. All of the affected citizens acted similarly to the change of heart cases from last year - sudden shifts in personality and action. We’re currently sending out all of our Persona-users to deal with as many cases as we can, but well - the rest of the police are being difficult. Public Safety has-”

“Don’t you mean Public Security?” Ren interrupted.

“Nope. Public Safety hates our guts.” Kuon added. “The Shadow Ops technically don’t exist, but we’re still part of the police. And everyone who knows about us knows we’re on Mitsuru’s payroll.” 

“And Public Safety is supposed to make sure that the police force is neutral and insulated from pressure from politicians…” Makoto realized aloud. “So having the entire - supernatural division - answering to the head of an extremely powerful conglomerate would definitely go against that.”

“Indeed, sadly. And well - the only real candidates who are Persona-users that we know about are all people I am acquainted with, so we can’t really get around that. We’re not a large group.”

Ren frowned. That - sounded a lot like their situation. Which was probably why they’d brought it up. 

“I have a question. Ichinose said you were being held up by Shido - you’re the most powerful woman in Japan, apparently. How did that happen?”

Mitsuru sighed. “As I alluded to before, we are not well-known with the rest of the police force. And among the people that do know about us, many of them see us as ridiculous. And the ones who know about Shadows tend to see us as a necessary evil, one they want more control over for various reasons, many of which are related to their personal agendas.”

Ren snorted. That figured.

“Shido was able to use his influence, as well as the general dislike of us present in the police force, to keep us from operating in Tokyo overtly. He also threatened to release…”  

Ren noticed the seeming hesitation, before the most powerful woman in Japan continued. 

“-personal information, so to say, about previous members of the Kirijo Group.”

Well. That seemed like it would be something to follow up on.

“The Dark Inducers are a recent invention - we couldn’t enter the Shadow Nest in Tokyo when we were able to send people in. We never received the app you used to enter Palaces. Between those two factors, nobody was able to investigate the mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns until after Shido was dealt with by your team.”

All - fairly good reasons. Shido was definitely the sort of person who would cripple anyone that he thought could threaten his plans. And Yaldabaoth… probably would not have given the app to people he thought he couldn’t manipulate. A bunch of experienced Persona-users would definitely not be the sort of people he would have given the app to, if he was Yaldabaoth.

But still. They hadn’t approached them until now. When they needed them.

He wasn’t going to say that out loud, though. He’d play along. 

For now.

“We did try to investigate after the events of Christmas, but - I was in the city myself. We’re not entirely sure what happened up until early February. Several people that were - previously dead were alive until then, and we were under the impression that they had always been that way until our minds were cleared. After that, you were in juvenile detention for some time - and the Shadow nest had dissipated.”

“And she finally started dating Kikuno.” Kuon added.

“Yes, well, moving on-” Mitsuru responded, her face briefly red like her hair. “After that, there was no real point in approaching you. You had numerous reasons to distrust the police, and we had to focus on dealing with all of the members of Shido’s conspiracy who we could arrest thanks to his testimony.”

Mitsuru took a breath. “And with the Shadow nest gone… our information indicated you were apparently incapable of stealing hearts without it, and you didn’t have the ability to testify in any cases for other members of Shido’s conspiracy.”

“All right, but why was Sophia in the Metaverse in Shibuya, then?” Futaba’s voice cut in surprisingly fast. 

Over the screen, Mitsuru didn’t miss a beat before replying, though.

“At the moment, we aren’t sure. Sophia was kidnapped roughly six months ago, on the twenty-first of January. And we did manage to find the person who kidnapped her, and the person she was handed off to - but the mastermind who had her kidnapped remains a mystery, at the moment.”

Ren frowned.

“But either way - we are getting off topic. The present case involving Shadows is our current priority… and it’s one I can tell you about.” Mitsuru continued. “The Shadows in these nests-”

“They are called Jails.”

“I’m sorry, Sophia?” Mitsuru asked, caught off guard by the AI’s interruption.

“The shadow nests are referred to as Jails by EMMA, when we leave them.”

“Emma? I didn’t know you had anyone named Emma on your team.” Kuon said, speaking up due to Sophia’s interruption.

“We don’t.” Makoto replied simply. “The - AI app, EMMA - we use it to get into and out of the Jails. And we think it’s how the Monarchs are stealing people’s Desires.”

Ren’s smile returned, as shock spread over Mitsuru’s face.

EMMA? Mitsuru’s mind whirled, as new ideas sprang up.

She hadn’t known that EMMA was the way the Thieves had stolen the heart of Hiiragi Alice - the Shadow Operatives had only been using the Dark Inducers. 

But now, the puzzle pieces were starting to slide together.

“Thank you for the information, Makoto-san. I have a call to make, to look into Madicce. Please excuse me, I will contact you through Kuon in the future, if it becomes necessary.”

Without further ado, the call screen vanished. 

Everyone but Kuon blinked.

“Madicce? The IT company that made EMMA?” Ren asked.

“Yes.” Kuon frowned. “If they made EMMA, then they would be the obvious suspects. And Emma was only released after Sophia was kidnapped.”

Even Ryuji, if he had been there, could have put the pieces together at that point.

“You think they kidnapped Sophia? So they could… look at her code to make EMMA, or something?” Futaba frowned.

Kuon was frowning, her mind clearly racing. “In a word, yes. And since EMMA seems to be related to the Jails, I would assume they know about the existence of Shadows as well - and that the Kirijo Group has been researching them. That may have played a part in their decision to take Sophia - if they did.”

“We should investigate - as soon as we’re done here and with whatever Zenkichi wants us to do in Sapporo.” Makoto said firmly, turning to Ren.

“Don’t bother.” 

Makoto turned. “Why? They’re the obvious suspects - well, at least, some of them, possibly.”

Ichinose looked over her shoulder, with most of her body still facing Sophia. “We’ll take care of it. It’s our job, remember?” 

Ren wanted to say - right there - that it was their job - But he stopped himself. He had agreed to leave taking care of society to the adults he trusted, last December. 

And it would be stupid to say to the faces of these adults that he didn’t trust them.

Yet.

Chapter Text

“Yes… there is a Shadow nest in Osaka. It’s not as large as Tartarus or Mementos were, and I can’t tell much else from here, but that’s for sure. It - does seem like the Shadows there are fairly powerful, though.”

Mitsuru nodded as Fuuka gave her report. “All right. How many other Jails have we detected?”

Fuuka sighed. “Over two dozen - I counted thirty-two, counting the ones that we and the Thieves have already dealt with. They’ve increased even further in number…”

“And with the Jails still intact, despite their Monarchs being defeated, it seems likely that an outside force helped build them - and has yet to be defeated conclusively.” Kikuno added, from her place next to Mitsuru’s desk.

“Like the previous incidents.” Mitsuru nodded. The Dark Hour - and the P-1 Grand Prix - had both collapsed after Ryoji and Kagatsuchi had been defeated. And those were just the Shadow incidents the Operatives had been present for - (the Investigation Team's testimony was not really enough, to cover the incident with Kanamin Kitchen).

(There were - many - complications in the former case, but - well, that was what had happened, in the end. The being powering the Dark Hour had given up - or decided to leave them alone - and the 25th hour of the day had ceased to exist).

The Midnight Channel still existed - but then, so did Marie. And considering that Shadows came from the consciousness of a species as varied as humanity, it was doubtful that the Operatives would ever fully understand all that they were capable of.

“So. There’s an outside player, and Madicce is the prime suspect, at the moment.” Mitsuru didn’t nod, but the idea was clearly there. “I can’t seem to remember any odd events taking place in Osaka, though.”

“That would be because there are none, my - love.” Kikuno said quickly, reading off the tablet she was carrying with her. “The police have not reported any odd events in Osaka that would indicate a - Jail - is present.”

“I definitely sensed one there, though…” Fuuka said quietly. “Why would a Jail be there and - not doing anything?”

Mitsuru frowned. “Well. It would seem we need to investigate Osaka - whether to investigate an anomaly in the current data, or to investigate Madicce. If there’s a reason this Jail is acting unlike the rest of them, I want to know it as soon as possible.”

“My love, everyone has already been reassigned.” Kikuno replied calmly - but with a frown on her face. “We are the only ones currently free…”

Mitsuru’s look became thoughtful. “Kikuno - see if you can schedule a visit to meet with our affiliates in Osaka.” Her eyes went to the windows. “It would seem we are needed elsewhere.”

I’m waiting.

So am I.

Ren frowned, as he looked at the message - from Ichinose.

And, he suspected, Sophia.

There was no further detail than that.

“What is it, Ren?” Ryuji asked. 

“This.” He said, frowning and raising the phone that had once held the newest Thief. “Ichinose contacted us.”

Ryuji frowned like Ren was, as he and the other Thieves looked at the phone.

“She’s - waiting?” Makoto asked, in a questioning tone. “What does that mean?”

“I believe it is a reference to how she was sitting down outside and has gotten out of her camp chair.”

Any responses the Thieves may have made to Yusuke’s observation were cut off by a sharp knock on the door of the camper.

Everyone there could guess who it probably was.

“Well! I suppose we should see what the older Persona-user who made Sophia but we don’t fully trust wants from us!” Haru said in a cheerful tone.

“I thought you liked her?” Makoto asked, the awkward tone in her voice very clear.

“That was before I learned she worked for somebody with the power to rival my father or Shido and who we know almost nothing about.” Haru continued. 

Still using the same cheerful tone as before.

“Hey. So, you’re ready to go in?”

“Hello, Ren.”

Ren made sure he was looking Ichinose in the eye as he spoke (after, very clearly, giving Sophia a smile that he did not extend to her maker). “Ichinose-san? Why are you here?” He said carefully.

“Well, I’m here to do my job. You’re going into the Jail today, right? I wanted to be sure you were ready too.” The young mother replied.

“You’re certain you want to come with us?” Makoto asked. “You know nothing about our methods in person - all of your information is secondhand.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve been in three separate types of Shadow nest. I know things change from place to place - you can take the lead.” Ichinose didn’t seem bothered by the idea of hanging back to observe.

Not that this comforted any of the Thieves.

Having somebody you didn’t trust observing you seemed - unwise.

But then, they could always observe her right back.

“So, first things first - what’s your codename?” 

“Well, I’m Operative Hermit - but I doubt that’s what you meant.”

Morgana blinked at the odd response, before catching on to what Kuon meant. “Is - that your codename for the Shadow Operatives?”

“Right in one.” Kuon replied simply, nodding. “Does that work for you?”

Morgana took a moment to think about this. But before he could speak up, one of the other Thieves spoke first. “Eh… I dunno…”

“What is it now, Skull?” Morgana sounded mildly annoyed as he turned around.

Ryuji didn’t look sorry for speaking up. “I mean - you’re working with us, right? We aren’t government agents, or anything. So it seems kinda - weird, if you’re going to act like you’re working with the government.”

“Skull, whether or not her codename with us is the same as her government codename hardly matters.” Mona bluntly replied.

Not compared to everything else about her. Went the unsaid addition.

“Mina.”

Everyone blinked.

“Mother?” Sophia asked curiously, from beside the parent in question. (Kuon had gently grasped Sophia’s hand the second she had a physical form again, and didn’t seem to be interested in letting go).

“While we’re in here, call me Mina.” Kuon repeated simply, not saying anything more.

“Okay… welcome aboard then, Mina!” Ann replied cheerfully, nodding.

“Uh - why call yourself that?” Futaba asked. “I mean, if it’s not - super personal?”

“It reminds me of my brother.”

Kuon’s reply - and the tone she said it in - ended that conversation.

“...So, who’s going first?”

A field of Shadows went flying into the air, and then stopped. Necks - or at least, something else that was as important as a neck, if they didn’t have one - were crushed inwards.

It was the seventh pack of Shadows that had met the same fate, since the Thieves entered the Jail for the second time.

“That was amazing, mother!”

“Praise accepted.”

As Ichinose affectionately ruffled her daughter’s hair through her hoodie, Shadow goop falling to the ground in front of them, the rest of the Thieves followed Sophia and her parent.

This was too easy, and they were bored. 

“You weren’t kidding, when you said she was strong…” Ann muttered. 

“Yeah. And scary.” Futaba added. “She’s like a real-life Sith.”

“I do not think any Sith would be as openly affectionate as she is being, at the moment…” Yusuke observed, watching as Sophia trailed after Kuon like a duckling after a - well, duck.

The Phantom Thieves quietly reflected that it was indeed hard to see a Sith in the woman who was currently being motherly to her small child in a way that left…

…a rather disturbing number of them feeling sad inside.

“Do you think I’ll ever be able to do that?” Haru asked curiously, as Kuon proceeded to happen to another group of Shadows (who then proceeded to stop happening).

“Be a mom? Well-” Ryuji began to speak.

“I meant, do you think I could lift somebody like she did!” Haru elaborated rather quickly (nobody looked at her face, and thus, nobody got to see how red it was).

“Well… have you ever tried?” Ann asked, as the other Thieves idly pondered whether or not they should ask the Shadow Operative if they could fight.

“...I haven’t… before now…” Haru sounded thoughtful. “

“I guess she probably just practiced a lot, right?” Ryuji added.

“That seems to be the most likely explanation. But we still don’t know how she did that…” Makoto mused.

“I believe mother would not mind if you asked.”

The Thieves had seen Sophia running back to join them, as Kuon cleared the way at a slow jog.

The rather simple statement still surprised every one of them.

“Well… Sophie, she works for the government. I - we’re not sure that she could tell us anything.” Morgana said.

“She said I could ask her. I do not think she would mind you asking her questions, even if she cannot say anything.” Sophia replied. “It could not hurt, right?”

There was a pause.

“I volun-”

“Queen. You go.” Ren decided, cutting off Futaba’s declaration (and her moan of despair).

“On it, then…” Makoto sighed, picking up the pace a little more.

And as the Thieves (plus one) went further into the Jail, they asked.

And thusly, they learned.

Chapter Text

“It was mentioned yesterday that there were other - Shadow Nests, I believe you called them. We were sidetracked by Sophia and Emma. Could you elaborate on that again, please?”

Kuon took a moment to take her eyes off the suffocating member of the Fearsome Four and the Shadows backing her up in front of her to look at Makoto Niijima (who was staying by her as she strangled Ante, and giving the rest of them defensive boosts while they fought). 

To “Queen’s” credit, she was apparently unphased by her imitation of Anakin Skywalker in his Sith years.

“Well - there are four major incidents that I'm familiar with that involved Shadow Nests, which were all countered by the formation of a team of Persona-users, and a pair of lesser incidents. I - don't really know much about the first two incidents. But I was involved in one of the major incidents. It was in Tatsumi Port Island, our home base - and I know about the other one. It was in Yasoinaba. The incidents in question were referred to as the Apathy Syndrome Pandemic and the Foggy Day Murders, respectively.” Kuon idly recalled. “For the Apathy Syndrome Pandemic, the focus was a tower called Tartarus, that arose from Gekkoukan High School during the Dark Hour - a time period that lasted an hour, taking place between one day and the next. During that time, everyone who didn’t have the potential to be a Persona-user or wasn’t in possession of special equipment was briefly trapped in a coffin and locked in stasis.”

“A… coffin?” Kuon noticed that Makoto sounded as baffled as she looked as she said that. 

“Yeah. The people who accidentally made Tartarus were obsessed with death as deliverance from suffering.” Kuon said. “The general theory is that their obsession bled over into the Dark Hour.”

Her tone was - well, it was genuinely neutral. After this long, she had gotten used to the knowledge of - pretty much every last horrific and evil thing that Ergo Research had done under Koutetsu Kirijo.

“Guys! Let’s go!”

Ryuji Sakamoto’s voice caught the attention of both Makoto and Kuon, and they noticed as one that the rest of the Shadows had been cleared out. 

Shrugging mentally, Kuon clenched a fist.

Ante’s gasping and struggling abruptly stopped.

“In hindsight, the Dark Hour is sort of like this Jail…” Kuon mused, glancing around again from the top of the last “Proof” tower. “Tartarus was the only anomaly in the Dark Hour, but there aren’t any geographical anomalies that big in here…”

“Even the castle?” Yusuke sounded rather surprised.

“Tartarus had over two hundred and fifty floors.” Kuon -

Well, saying she said it in a deadpan fashion would imply she wasn’t usually like that.

“...wow. How long did it take you to clear that place?” Futaba asked, surprise clear in her voice. 

“About eight months.” Kuon idly replied. “And - well, it’s been bugging me, but all of the other Shadow Nests I’ve seen didn't look this normal, besides the Dark Hour.”

“Normal?” Ren deadpanned, pointing to - well, the European castle in the middle of Japan.

“Relatively normal.” Kuon corrected herself. “And from what I heard, the Investigation Team had to deal with an idol’s strip club and a pansexual sauna. And an eldritch dance floor. And both our teams had to deal with a fusion of the TV World and the Dark Hour that had blood fog.”

After several seconds, Ryuji was the first to speak. 

“...I guess this is pretty normal, then.”

“I wasn’t there for the Foggy Day murders - but as I understand it, the town of Inaba had a Shadow Nest that the Persona-users there accessed by going inside of the TVs.” Kuon recounted. “The goddess that created the Shadow Nest gave a few newcomers to town the ability to enter the TV World even without a Persona. Inside, the Shadows of those thrown in confronted their original selves in a - dungeon - based off of the personal issues that the people thrown in had with themselves. If the people in question accepted their Shadow as part of them, it would become a Persona. If they didn’t, their Shadow attacked them.”

“Attacked them?” Ann asked, absently firing off an Agilao at Doramu as she spoke. 

“Yup. We’ve got two people who - well, there wasn’t anyone in the TV World with them that had a Persona at the time. So our running theory is that they were murdered by their own Shadows.” Kuon finished as Doramu disintegrated in front of them.

The Thieves all shot each other slightly horrified looks.

“...wouldn’t… wouldn’t killing their original self kill them as well?” Haru eventually asked, her tone clearly disturbed.

“Yeah. We’re pretty sure it did.” Kuon stated bluntly. “We can’t exactly go around testing that, though.”

“Also, this place seems more - malevolent than the Dungeons.”

“Malevolent?” Morgana asked, cautiously.

Kuon looked up at the cage in front of her. “The TV World - it only affected the outside world via something called the Midnight Channel. At midnight on days when it was raining in Inaba, people’s televisions would start to play glimpses of the TV World, or of what the people of Inaba were focusing on. But it didn’t do anything else, by itself. The Shadows in Tartarus caused Apathy Syndrome on a frequent basis - and according to your testimony, Joker, Mementos was affecting the population as a whole, like these Jails.”

Ren felt himself slightly tense, as he realized that Kuon had read the records on him from his post-Christmas arrest.

“There were two minor incidents involving Shadows that we know of, besides the major incidents.” Kuon continued, either not noticing or not caring about how the Thieves were now slightly on edge. “One took place in Yasoinaba, again, and the other took place in the 2012 Love Meets Bonds festival. The first one was targeted specifically at Persona-users, and the second one was - well, not targeted at us, but anyone who looked at a specific video on the website for the festival, at midnight.” Kuon sighed. “Neither was pleasant, but neither of them was this - broad. This is more like the Dark Hour… or Mementos. Those two incidents were targeted .”

“...and… what does that mean?” Yusuke asked.

“I don’t know. Yet. We need to learn more.” Kuon said bluntly. “But you wanted to know more about the previous Shadow incidents.”

None of the Thieves could dispute this.

Chapter Text

“So, you found out how to get through the barriers?”

The abrupt question made everyone pay attention to the previously-silent woman standing by them without a costume.

“Oh - yeah. I ran face-first into this shit in Shibuya.” Ryuji stated, wincing. “Not fun, let me tell you.” The penny dropped, right after he said it. “Wait, you guys didn’t know?” 

Kuon sighed. “No. We knew they were related to a traumatic event in the Monarch’s life. We researched them in detail. But we weren’t sure what to do from there, and the last I knew, we were still researching it. And brute forcing your way through a barrier made up of a core memory in someone’s psyche sounds to me like the recipe for Apathy Syndrome.”

“What is Apathy Syndrome, Mina?”

Sophia’s curious voice caught everyone’s attention even as a few of the Thieves shuddered at the idea of giving Alice - or Natsume, now - a mental shutdown or psychotic breakdown by accident.

Kuon shrugged in response to her child’s question. “A thing that happened in Tatsumi Port Island. Shadows tried to - well, to simplify it, they tried to eat the Shadows of other people. And they - well, the people affected didn’t quite shut down mentally. But they basically just stood around groaning. Except for the ones that jumped in front of trains or off roofs.”

…none of the Thieves had any idea how to respond to that.

“So - you want to know the rest of it?” Ann offered.

Besides by changing the subject.

“That would be nice.” Kuon replied simply. “We’d be able to start returning Desires in other cities without risking somebody dying because of our actions or getting worried someone would die if we didn’t do something soon.”

…it was blatant manipulation. Fishing for information. 

…but - well, honestly, Ren couldn’t think of a reason to not tell her. …at least, not without going into blatant conspiracy theories.

“It should probably wait until we get back outside.”

Well, besides basic safety.

“You sensed how to get inside?” Kuon sounded curious, as she spoke.

“Yes, mother.” Came the AI’s reply. “I am still uncertain how. Perhaps it is because I am related to Emma in some way?”

“...is that a thing?” Ryuji’s question hung in the air. “Like, I don’t really know Metaverse stuff that well beside changing hearts, but - well, like, can Metaverse stuff connect people that way?”

“I - Futaba-chan, do you know anything?” Ann asked, turning to Futaba.

The orange-headed girl frowned. “Maybe. Those - guys who were exploiting your teacher had only one Treasure, but it still changed both of their hearts…”

As the Thieves debated, Kuon frowned.

It - well, she didn’t know where - this sounded familiar, but she wasn’t sure where the feeling of familiarity came from.

Oh well.

(The knowledge of the memory that Labrys had left behind for Aigis, that had helped save the world, wiggled in the back of her mind).

“Well, anyways. So - you work out the location of this trauma, whatever it is, and then what?”

Makoto - who had been getting drawn into the debate - snapped back to attention at Kuon’s question. “Oh! We - well, we work out the trauma’s location, enter the keyword that we used to enter the Jail, and then we - well, there’s a Shadow inside that we have to defeat. And after that, the birdcage opens.”

Kuon nodded. “So - find the trauma, go into the Metaverse with the keyword, and defeat the Shadow inside?”

“Yes.”

“All right - I’ll be right back. Excuse me.”

“Are we speaking to Aunt Mitsuru?” Sophia chirped happily as Kuon started to walk away, already pulling up the phone application for her mother.

“Got it, my little marshmallow.”

“...marshmallow?” Sophia parroted in a puzzled tone.

Zenkichi knew exactly what he had done, to get himself into this situation.

He had sworn that he would close the mass Changes of Heart case - no matter what it took to do that. And for the moment, that meant working with, becoming an associate to - and possibly betraying - the Phantom Thieves. 

“So - what were you thinking of doing, to get inside?”

And it seemed, also, that it meant, for the time being, working with that strange woman he had briefly met in Tokyo, who had mostly fled his mind since, who seemed to - be the mother of the Artificial Intelligence the Thieves had introduced him to. 

(It had taken him a bit to process that Artificial Intelligences were apparently going to be a Thing now, even though he had previously been certain he wouldn’t be dealing with sapient robots in his lifetime.)

And the AI and her mother were both clearly working with the Phantom Thieves, despite the fact that they clearly trusted the parent of the duo about as much as they trusted him. While at the same time clearly adoring the little girl, despite mother and daughter - well, the AI couldn’t exactly leave on her own.

…he had no idea what led to that part of this situation, actually.

“Oh, I was just going to open the door.” Her statement made Zenkichi blink.

“Um - they’re closed?” He said, bluntly, gesturing at the sign that made said fact clear.

“Not to worry! I have a key!”

“Where did you get-” Zenkichi began to ask a question, but was cut off by the door somehow clicking open, much to his surprise.

Ah, psychic powers. How I love thee. Kuon idly thought to herself, as she entered the bookshop, quietly humming, pocketing the “key” (that did not really exist) as she did so.

“...well, I suppose it’s not breaking in and entering, at least, if we have a key…” Zenkichi muttered to himself, clearly taking a moment to calm himself down before entering. 

Just criminal trespass - but we’re police working on a case, so… Kuon shrugged to herself. It should be fine. I think. Well, Mitsuru can bail us out if it isn’t.

And on that thought, she and Zenkichi started to tape up the calling cards.

In Kuon’s honest opinion, it might have been simpler for her to just ignore the Phantom Thieves and just storm through the castle a second time, instead of climbing the chain to the roof.

Yes, the Shadows didn’t notice them this way, but honestly, it would probably be easier to just go in, slaughter everything between them and Natsume, and then pummel the Monarch to a pulp - but that may have been her mostly-nonathletic lifestyle speaking.

“Mot - Mina? Are you well?”

“I’m… I’ll be fine in a second, Sophie…” Kuon managed.

“Not used to this sort of thing?” Came the voice of one Ren Amamiya - or rather, Joker.

Smug bastard.

Kuon was pretty sure she wouldn’t be thinking that, if she currently wasn’t dealing with far too much unplanned exercise.

“Not since we got rid of Tartarus.” She managed to say normally, pulling herself back up. “Okay… what’s the plan for this?”

Ren nodded, becoming more businesslike. “First, we’re going to go in together, and see who can damage Natsume’s Shadow. Then, everyone who can exploit a weakness stays in there. But if any of us can't hurt him, they leave to see if any Shadows come to help."

“Who’s the leader of the other team?”

Ren didn’t even blink, as the question came. “Queen is second in command. After that -” He paused. “...I would say Panther. Or… maybe Noir?”

“Me?!” Panther’s surprised voice made it clear that this had never been something they had discussed before.

“Why not me?!” Morgana’s annoyed voice demanded.

Ren’s exasperation was clear, even to Kuon. “For starters, Mona, putting you or Skull in charge of each other or making you equal leaders seems like a recipe for disaster.”

There was a brief pause, as everyone processed this.

The fact that Kuon could see Mona and Skull both shrugging seemed to support that particular statement.

“And myself and Oracle?” Yusuke’s curious - but unannoyed - voice added to the conversation.

Ren didn’t think it over further. “You wouldn’t be bad at it, Fox. But you wouldn’t be interested in it in the first place.”

“True.” Yusuke didn’t even bother debating that.

“And giving Oracle power over all of us like that seems like an invitation to her abusing it for her own amusement.”

“...yeah, probably.” Came the fairly shameless reply from the girl in question.

“And Sophie’s too inexperienced at the moment to take command.” He finished. 

“I understand.” Sophia nodded from next to her, hand no longer clasping Kuon’s.

“And I don’t count.” She added.

“...no. You don’t.” 

Ren looked her right in the eye as he spoke.

Kuon didn’t flinch as he did so.

She just shrugged. “I thought so. Well. Shall we overthrow an Overlord?”

Ryuji broke into a grin. “I’ve been waiting since we got here! Let’s GO!”

…he reminds me of Junpei. Kuon idly reflected as she and the Thieves moved inside.

As they walked in, none of the Thieves commented on the armband with an 9 emblazoned on it that Kuon was now wearing, and which had not been there yesterday.

Psychokinesis, as it turns out, while effective on the dragon that Ango Natsume had become, was not super effective.

This didn’t mean that Kuon was sitting out the battle. There were a lot of Shadows trying to storm their Overlord’s throne room, at the moment.

“Do you always have to deal with this?” Kuon idly asked, as Phoebe pulped another mass of Shadows with a Psiodyne.

“No! Usually - well, the Shadows of a Palace Ruler usually fought us by themselves! Even if it might have turned out better for them if they called for backup…” Morgana blasted a number of Shadows with a Magaru, and was mildly annoyed to see that, unlike Phoebe’s victims, his hadn’t been reduced to goo with a single strike.

“Well, that seems to be normal… the Full Moon Shadows never called for backup from Tartarus either.” Idly, she moved to the side, moving her - well, her deflector shield - so that the blast of electricity that would have hit the - whatever Morgana was - instead splashed over the air in front of him. 

“...that’s still weird.” Morgana eventually managed.

Kuon shrugged. “It comes with practice.”

Before their conversation could continue however, two things came from inside the throne room.

A roar of triumph - likely from the throat of a dragon.

And a scream.

“SOPHIE!”

Kuon felt her heart go numb as her eyes went wide.

“PHOEBE!”

Ten seconds later, the Thieves that had been helping her on the outside - Mona, Skull, Panther, Queen, and Oracle - gawked at the dual Psycho Blasts that had just been fired off, while Kuon rushed into the throne room-

And as she saw Sophia on the ground, not moving, Joker next to her baby, her heart jumped into her throat.

Unconscious or - no, don’t think that.

But either way, even as her brain screamed, her hands were already moving.

Down towards the Evoker she had holstered, and towards her armband.

Ren didn’t trust Kuon Ichinose.

He could give plenty of reasons - fairly good ones, in his opinion - but well, in the end, it didn’t matter what the specific reason was. 

He didn’t trust her, and - well, for all that it appeared Sophia had been kidnapped (and as clear as it was that Sophia loved her mother dearly), he didn’t know her well enough yet to change his mind on the strange government agent.

But either way, no matter what he thought of her, there was no way in hell that he could have kept his mouth shut when she brought a pistol she had just loaded up to her skull.

“NO!” He screamed, already rushing from Sophia’s side as he sent a Recarm into her, hoping, praying, that-

There was a sound like shattering glass.

And behind him, Sophia shrieked.

“MOTHER!!”

And then, to their surprise, Kuon Ichinose didn’t drop dead.

Kuon was calm.

It wasn’t a natural calm. Her second Theurgy had a tendency to do that - briefly expelling the negative emotions from her body to afflict her enemies with them - well, it expelled the negative emotions from her body, however brief the experience was.

Regardless.

The unnatural calm would do for now.

She adjusted her gaze, from smiling at her now-confused baby, to the Shadow that had dared to lay a claw on her.

She had already decided what to do.

"You know, normally, in a story, this would be where I ask what you're doing to my daughter... but it's pretty clear already."

She would be dissuading him from ever doing that again.

Extreme violence was an excellent motivator to not do something.

Kuon Ichinose, at a glance, wasn’t intimidating. She wasn’t physically tall, or very muscular. She - well, she had exercised in some areas, over the last six months as she dragged her mind away from her missing daughter.

At the moment, everyone looking at her, however, was mildly terrified for reasons that escaped them, and that were not entirely because of her Theurgy.

Her voice was calm. Her face was perfectly friendly.

And to the fear-addled mind of Ango Natsume’s Shadow, as the dragon looked into her eyes, he knew his immediate future contained a great deal of pain and suffering.

“...mercy.”

Kuon’s eyes didn’t narrow. They didn’t change. Her voice was perfectly controlled.

But her next word still sent a chill down his spine.

“Nope.”

Chapter Text

“HELP ME! HELP ME!”

“...holy shit.” Skull muttered dimly, as he and the rest of the Thieves stared in mild terror while the dragon was dragged telekinetically through the ground a fifth time by a dissonantly calm Kuon Ichinose, the gold-plated cardboard armor long since destroyed and left forgotten on the ground. “Why didn’t we just let her beat up the Jail by herself?”

“I throw myself upon your mercy, chosen heroes! SAVE ME!” Natsume’s Shadow screamed in terror that made the Psiodyne smashing into his brain a second later even stronger.

As Natsume was smashed through another window before getting telekinetically pulled back in, his shrieks making it clear how unhappy he was with this situation, Kuon took a moment to shoot the Thieves a look.

It was flat, and unthreatening, but all of the observers still stepped back.

With one exception.

“Mother? I do not think he is a threat any longer.”

Kuon didn’t nod, or shake her head.  But she relaxed slightly as Sophia’s voice filled the room. “I wasn’t going to kill him. I was just going to pummel him until-”

As if her words had made him give up the battle - and perhaps they had - Ango Natsume’s Shadow began to shrink and flow away from the dragon it had become, growing smaller and weaker.

“Ah. There.” 

Without further ado, Kuon unceremoniously tossed the Overlord into the floor between her and the Thieves. His crash-landing practically cratered the ground.

Before anyone could make any further moves, however, he vanished.

“Huh?!”

Kuon, for the first time since she had started beating the shit out of Natsume, looked surprised.

“Up there!”

Yusuke’s declaration caught everyone’s attention. As everyone turned to look, Kuon felt - well, it was probably relief that she was feeling.

“Oh, good. You’re alive. I didn’t plan to kill you.” 

Kuon’s voice carried absolutely no indication that she gave a fuck about Ango Natsume beyond that she didn't want him dead.

“S-stay away from me! We - we can rule this world together! You can have half! Whatever half you want! Just don’t do anything else to me! PLEASE!”

Before anyone could reply, however, to the surprise of everyone there, Natsume’s mantle began to tip over.

“D-Don’t look at me! Don’t look at me!”

“Is that… his true form?” Makoto’s surprise was quite clear, and something that the rest of the Thieves shared.

“Sophie, don’t look.” Kuon sighed, covering her daughter’s eyes.

…honestly, she had never understood why people got so freaked out seeing each other’s bare skin, but parents were supposed to keep their kids from looking at (mostly) naked people, right? AI or not.

As the group returned to reality, everyone felt their breath escape their lungs (except Sophia, who didn’t have any lungs).

“Whew… Looks like it’s over for now.” Ryuji’s relief was clear.

“I wonder if everyone’s Desires have been returned yet?” Haru mused. 

“Probably. They all went flying out of the cage, after all.” Futaba added.

“I’m still worried…” Ren muttered to himself.

“Maybe we should check on the people back in town, just to be safe.” Makoto decided.

“Actually, maybe you should wait a bit.”

The voice of the group’s guest reminded everyone that she was there.

“Wait? Why?” Ann asked, turning to Kuon as she spoke.

The AI expert shrugged. “Well, there were a lot of Desires going back. And we don’t exactly know how long it takes for the changes of heart to be undone.”

“So in other words, we should wait to make sure that the changes of heart Natsume enacted have time to reverse?” Yusuke questioned.

“That’s the idea.” Kuon replied.

“Well… hm. I suppose the only people we definitely saw change directly after their changes of heart were Futaba and Sae… and they definitely weren’t standard changes of heart.” Morgana mused.

“You had a change of heart, Futaba?” Sophia’s curious voice cut through the conversation.

“Oh - uh, yeah. It’s - kinda complicated. But yeah, I Awakened to my Persona in my own Palace.” Futaba quickly summarized.

“Anyways, the Jail didn’t disappear this time either…” Morgana added. “Now I’m sure of it. Jails really aren’t the same as Palaces.”

Kuon was about to speak, and ask further questions -

“Mother?”

When she remembered that she had a source she could ask without bothering the rest of the Thieves.

“What is it?” She asked, pulling the spare phone that Sophia was currently seeing the world through up to her face.

“May I -” Sophia hesitated.

“Sophia? Somethin’ wrong?” Ryuji asked, clearly worried.

“May I stay with the Phantom Thieves tonight?”

The mood lifted almost instantly.

Well, for the Thieves.

What - what is this?

Kuon felt her head - not spinning, but she definitely wasn’t seeing straight. It wasn’t anger , no-

“Sure, Sophia! You can stay as long as you want! We’re happy to have ya!” Ryuji grinned.

“Go ahead! We just need your mom to get you off-” Futaba began.

“No.”

As she stated that, Kuon realized that she knew what emotion had flashed through her heart.

It was fear.

She was scared.

“She’s staying with me tonight. No questions.” Before the Thieves could process that, Kuon turned around, already preparing to walk away. Before she could, though, the wide-eyed Sophia yelped.

“I am grounded??”

“What in the world? Why?!” Yusuke stammered. “She has been nothing but wonderful!”

Kuon’s voice did not soften as she kept her back to them. “I know.”

“What the hell makes you think you can do that?!” Ryuji demanded.

“I’m her mother.” Kuon replied bluntly. “That’s what makes me think it.”

“Being a parent does not mean you have the right to impose your will on her.” Haru’s ironclad voice didn’t make Kuon even blink.

But it did make her turn around.

The uncharacteristic anger on her face surprised everyone there.

“All right. Do you want another reason?” Kuon hissed. “You can spend the night with my daughter when I stop feeling as if she’s going to nearly die whenever I can't see her!”

“That wasn’t her fault!” Makoto protested. “Blame Natsume’s Shadow!”

“Please… please stop!”

The sound of crying brought everyone to a halt.

““Sophia?””

Kuon and Ren didn’t even think about the fact that they had spoken in unison, as their eyes turned to the weeping little girl.

“...please… stop fighting.” Sophia quietly said, tears dripping from her eyes. “I… mother, I will return with you. But… I wanted to go with them tonight…”

Kuon redirected her gaze to the phone Sophia was currently seeing the world through. “Sweetie, I...”

Her voice cut out, for a second, as pain filled her voice.

“I’m sorry. I - you leaving... I can’t let you leave yet.”

The idea of her daughter leaving her, in any way, less than ten minutes after she'd nearly died...

It scared the shit out of her.

“...I understand, mother.”

Sophia’s voice was sad. But she wasn’t arguing.

Taking that as acceptance, Kuon turned around again, feeling slightly horrible.

“Wait.”

Kuon paused midstep, as Ren called out to her midway through her departure.

“What is it?” She asked, turning around with her composure mostly restored, the phone Sophia was transmitting to in her hand turning around to face the Thieves as well (and the heavily armored hard drive that Sophia currently lived in safely in a backpack).

Ren wanted to say several things. Mostly about Kuon Ichinose’s parenting skills.

But for now, he would settle for looking at the woman in question as he spoke.

(He had been planning to glare, but Sophia’s tears had drained the fury out of him like water from a flushed toilet).

“That - thing.” Ren winced. “Where you put a gun up to your head. What was that?”

“...you know, for Persona-users who went up against a pedophile, a mafia boss, and two wannabe dictators, you get queasy pretty fast about this sort of thing, don't you?”

More than a few of the Thieves felt a flash of irritation.

“That’s not what we’re talking about!!” Ryuji snapped.

“We - I cannot hope to understand how you felt, when Sophia was knocked unconscious, and I am sorry for your suffering. But we feared you were trying to end your life out of despair. And I will not apologize for fearing for you.”

Yusuke’s words made Kuon blink.

They - 

Well.

It seemed they were opening up to her?

“Ichinose-san?”

Ann’s voice snapped Kuon out of her brief musing.

“Right. Well - it’s not a secret. I guess I just never got to it - but that was how my team used to summon our Personas.” Kuon shrugged. “Put them up to our heads and - fake bang. And our Personas came out.”

The Thieves only looked increasingly disturbed by this revelation. “What - what kind of lunatic designs a Persona-summoning device to look like a gun and makes you put it up to your head?!” Futaba squawked.

“Aside from that - you said “used to”? Why did you stop using them? And - why did you use yours back there?” Makoto asked again. 

Kuon sighed. “The Kirijo Group used to be horrible. And I got good enough that I stopped needing an Evoker to summon Phoebe. But I still need an Evoker for my Theurgies.”

The unfamiliar term caught the attention of the Thieves.

“The-urgy?” Morgana’s confused tone was shared by the rest of the Thieves, even if he was the only one who spoke.

“It’s - well.” Kuon paused. “To summarize, it’s a Greek term. It means - basically, you’re channeling magic from the gods and divine. In regards to us - when we’re feeling a certain way that resonates with who we are long enough, we get to use a super move.”

“...huh. Kind of like the star…”

“Star?” Kuon asked.

“A… kid named Jose gave it to us? And it sometimes lets us use really powerful techniques.” Futaba carefully explained.

There was a brief pause.

“Okay.” The sheer nonchalance Kuon displayed surprised the Thieves, but they decided not to comment.

Then again, was it really that weird, considering everything else she (and they) had dealt with?

…not really, honestly…

“Anyways - I have two Theurgies. One lets me - basically, I can use a powerful attack. The second one lets me briefly clear negative emotions and debuffs from my body and infect enemies with them.”

Kuon’s continuation caught their attention.

“You - remove your negative emotions?” Haru asked, clearly surprised.

“Briefly. They come back pretty fast. It’s more like - I’m clearing my head out. If I’m angry and I haven’t dealt with the reason why I'm angry, I’d probably just get mad all over again.” Kuon shrugged. “But I can see things for a bit without having to worry about - well, too much emotional bias.”

“So that’s why you were so calm when you were beating the living he - ck out of him, huh?” Ryuji muttered, remembering at the last second Sophia was there. 

“Nope. That was just me.”

There was silence. Kuon filled it.

“When I was younger, after my parents died, my biological relatives all - well, they weren’t pleasant. A lot of them called me a heartless doll, because I don’t process things the same way normal people do.”

Even as they all stared at her, the Thieves couldn’t help but notice that Kuon had distinctly not referred to them as her family.

She shrugged. “I don’t - well, basically, I don’t feel emotions when other people do. I can’t put myself in their shoes and cry with them. I don’t always look at things the same way everyone else does the rest of the time, either. And my teammates accepted me anyway.” With three exceptions, the blood of the covenant had been thicker than the water of the womb, for her.

…Sophia didn’t have water or blood, but you got the idea.

“Anyways. I’m going to go update Mitsuru. You want to come?”

Judging by how most of the Thieves started walking away as she spoke, the answer to that question was a resounding “no”.

“...Sophia, tell us if there’s anything important that comes up.” Ren eventually decided. “We’ll call you later.”

“Okay…” The AI replied sadly. “I’ll call you as soon as my mother has called Aunt Mitsuru.”

And as Kuon walked off after that, the Thieves didn’t look back.

At least, if they looked back, they weren’t looking at Kuon.

Chapter Text

“So, Natsume changed his heart and released the Desires, but the Jail didn’t collapse?” Mitsuru asked, her eyebrow metaphorically raised, even though Kuon couldn’t see it over the phone. “Interesting.”

“Yeah. It’s still there, even with the ruler gone. Like the TV World.” Kuon stated. 

“Concerning… I’ll pass this along to everyone else. And - you’ve confirmed that this method works without any lethal side-effects? Just to be certain.”

“It worked that way for this Jail.” Kuon replied to the leader of the Shadow Operatives. “And - Sophia, do you have anything to add?”

The AI happily began to speak, as her mother looked at her. “It worked that way for the Shibuya Jail too, Aunt Mitsuru. Although it appears that not all Desires are always freed right away.”

A memory tickled Kuon’s mind. “Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you - we had to go back to Shibuya’s Jail. Apparently, a Pyro Jack grabbed somebody’s Desire in Shibuya and kept it from returning them. We - still don’t have any idea why some of Minato, Minako, Aigis, and Yu’s Personas are showing up as Shadows yet, do we?”

“Unfortunately, no. Although, how did you return to Shibuya’s Jail so quickly?”

“I learned earlier that it is possible for us to return to Jails that we have previously been to, using Emma.” Sophia chirped. “But it is only a return to the Jail - I tested it myself and with the Thieves. We could not return to Shibuya itself, only Alice Hiiragi’s Jail.”

“I see.” Mitsuru replied curtly. “I will inform the rest of the Operatives. At the moment, I will be leaving tomorrow with Fuuka and Kikuno to investigate Osaka. The Shadow Nest - no. The Jail there is acting strangely. In that there are no reports of unusual activity there.”

“It’s weird because it isn’t?” Kuon observed.

“Yes.” Mitsuru stated. “Also, I have two requests for you to pass to the Thieves - and a peace offering for them. Firstly… Naoto wants to meet up with them and compare notes.”

“Couldn’t she just tell me to ask them stuff?” Kuon asked, raising an eyebrow. “Considering what we’ve heard about Akechi, I doubt they’d be too open to having Naoto around.”

And if Kuon had picked up on that idea that quickly, Naoto and Mitsuru would have picked up on it in the same heartbeat the idea occurred to them.

“Yes.” Mitsuru replied. “She wanted you to ask them if they would be willing to meet her, and said she would honor their request if they said no. As I understand, she wants to compare our notes with their notes, to be sure there’s nothing either of us didn’t think to bring up, and thought it would be better if they communicated in person.”

“I can tell Ren when we’re done, Aunt Mitsuru.” Sophia interjected. “I said I would call him later. I would be a poor friend if I did not do that after I said I would.”

“Very well, then. And second…” Mitsuru paused. “Actually, Sophia. I have to ask you - please don’t tell the Phantom Thieves we’re investigating Osaka. If they work it out, that’s fine, though.”

“Why?” The curiosity in Sophia’s tone was quite clear. “We can be trusted.”

Mitsuru - and Kuon - made note of the fact that Sophia had referred to herself as a Phantom Thief, before Kuon spoke. “It’s an ongoing investigation. And they don’t need to know at the moment."

Sophia looked downcast. “But… they deserve to know.”

“...it’s not about whether they deserve to know or not, Sophia.” Mitsuru replied. “With the Jails around, we have to take every precaution possible so that we aren’t overheard. We still don’t know who’s behind everything, what their goals are - or if they have any influence over the people the Monarchs control. Or an ability to listen through them or the Emma app.”

“...I understand.” Sophia didn’t sound happy, as she spoke.

“...thank you for understanding, Sophia.” Mitsuru sounded just as unhappy as Sophia. “I… I’ve had issues in the past regarding opening up and sharing information that I should have shared sooner, but didn’t because of my own shame. If you think I am withholding information unnecessarily - please tell me. But - this particular decision I feel is necessary, for the time being. Until we are more certain of our foe’s capabilities, I’ve actually told everyone to delete the Emma app from their personal phones as a precaution. We’ve gotten a few burner phones to carry Emma - but orders are that batteries are to be left out of those phones unless they’re absolutely needed. At the moment, sharing information over or near phones with the app installed is a breach of operational security. We have no idea what it - she is capable of doing.”

Kuon did not comment on the “she” statement that Mitsuru made. If Sophia had been used as a base for Emma’s code, as they suspected…

Well. She - 

She would unpack that when she was sure there was something to unpack.

“Also, there’s an express delivery heading your way. Minako sent Mayoido Antiques a few items with same-day delivery after you said you had gotten in contact with the Thieves.”

Kuon nodded, already seeing where this was going. “I’ll tell them.”

“Good. And finally… actually, we have two things to cover. Firstly. Sophia-”

“Gah! It - it just pisses me off! Who does she think she is?!” Ryuji burst, as soon as the camper was back in sight.

Even as she looked back, Makoto sighed. “She is Sophia’s mother. And - she just saw Sophia get badly hurt in front of her when she wasn’t there to protect her. We likely wouldn’t have been able to change her mind, just because of that.”

“Yeah. I dunno how - well, I bet Makoto’s sister or Sojiro would be really upset if they saw us getting hurt when we were fighting in the Metaverse.” Futaba added. 

“Still. She ignored what Sophia wanted to do.” Ren stated bluntly. “She made her cry.”

“...I feel as if I should point out that we also made Sophia cry, by arguing with her.” Yusuke interjected.

“Does it matter?” Haru’s ironclad voice - didn’t quite surprise anyone. But it made everyone swivel to face her regardless. “Regardless of who made Sophia cry… I stand by what I said before.” She looked calmly at the rest of the Thieves. “Does anyone here believe that it is acceptable for a parent to impose their will on their child?”

There was silence for several seconds.

“No.” Ren stated firmly.

“Not a chance in hell!” Ryuji spat in agreement.

“I - no, not truly.” Yusuke - eventually - concurred.

Futaba was silent.

“I…” Makoto - well, clearly wanted to say something, but didn’t know what to say.

“Well… what if she knows better?”

Ann, however, clearly did. Which made everyone swivel to meet her.

“I -” Ann hesitated for a second, before forging on. “My parents haven’t always been there, but - well, we’ve all done things that are dumb, right?”

There was another silence. None of the Thieves broke it - but nobody argued with Ann as she continued speaking. “I - sometimes, I wanted to do something that - well, it was kind of stupid, I realize now. And my parents stopped me from doing it - or, when I did it, they told me why I shouldn’t do it again? I mean - if you saw somebody you cared for about to do something dumb, you’d stop them, right?” Ann finished.

“...Lady Ann, Sophia wanting to spend time with us wasn’t dumb...” 

Everyone blinked.

Morgana disagreeing with Ann was not a common event. 

“I mean, I do understand what she’s doing, though. She probably just wants to spend time with Sophia when she couldn’t before. She did just get her back after she was kidnapped for six months.” The not-quite-a-cat concluded.

“Yeah, Sophia ain’t dumb! But still, whatever that lady wants or - whatever happened to her, that still doesn’t make it right that she stopped Sophia from spending time with us when she wanted to!” Ryuji declared fiercely.

“Yeah!” Morgana agreed loudly, before his ears folded back. “But… I get where she’s coming from. I… I know my master is busy, and his duties don’t let him interfere directly that often, but I wish I could see him more.”

Before anyone could think of a response to that, Ren’s phone began to ring.

Everyone was quiet, as their leader picked it up.

“Hello.”

The happy voice of the baby AI they’d adopted as one of their own made everyone smile in relief, as a great deal of tension rushed away.

“Hi, Sophia.” Ren smiled again, feeling more at peace. “How are you doing?”

“I am well. My mother is taking me to the Umino-Mori aquarium tomorrow afternoon!”

The joy Ren felt from hearing her joy warred rather brutally, with his realization that Sophia hadn’t said Ichinose invited them.

“Oh. Mother wanted me to ask you some things.” The mention of Kuon Ichinose didn’t make Ren scowl. But he was pretty sure, out of the corner of his eyes (which were focused on his newest teammate) that Ryuji was handling that for him. “She wanted to ask - would it be okay for the Shadow Operatives to send calling cards using the name of the Phantom Thieves?”

That got everyone’s immediate attention.

“Wha - no way!” Futaba replied, shock overtaking her pleasure at hearing from Sophia.

“No way in - heck!” Ryuji quickly added.

“I - must decline. There are many bad memories that I associate with calling cards bearing our name sent by someone other than us.” Yusuke stated.

“Yeah…” Makoto concurred, already remembering when her sister had found a calling card sent to Kobayakawa that was planted by the Conspiracy.

“What they said.” Ren nodded firmly.

“I… have to say no. It’s our spirit, being Phantom Thieves - we don’t know enough about the Operatives, to be sure they’d be worthy of using our name.” Morgana declared.

“Uh… sorry, Sophia.” Ann shrugged. “We - have to unanimously say yes, before we make a decision like that.”

“I do not trust any police we cannot see with our names!” Haru cheerfully finished.

“...I understand.” Sophia’s voice came back sounding rather sad. “I wanted to say yes… but I will inform my mother when she returns.”

“Returns? What’s she doing, Sophia?” Futaba asked quickly.

“And what are her police associates doing?” Haru added. 

None of the other Thieves countermanded Haru’s question.

“She’s showering, at the moment. And they are sending me a body.”

The Thieves blinked. “A - what??” Ren asked, very confused. The idea of Sophia being - well, Sophia - over receiving a corpse was rather baffling.

“Aunt Mitsuru is having a physical body made for me to download myself into. It isn’t finished yet, but it will be soon.” Sophia hummed happily as she spoke.

Comprehension came. “Oh! That’s great, Sophia!” Ann smiled. “Can I hug you when you get it?”

“Request denied. Only my mother may floof me.”

“Shot down again, eh?” Ryuji grinned impishly, his good mood returning as he teasingly elbowed the pouting Ann.

“Shut up…” She halfheartedly deadpanned as she elbowed back.

“Also… Sophia.” Haru’s voice drew everyone’s attention. “What can you tell us about what they’re doing besides investigating the mass changes of heart?”

“...I’m sorry, Haru.” Sophia’s voice gave the Thieves pause. “Aunt Mitsuru has asked that I not tell you what I know if I am uncertain it is necessary, especially near phones with Emma installed.”

The Thieves were used to, at this point, adults not telling them what they wanted to know.

But one of their teammates not telling them what they wanted to know was a new, and very unpleasant experience.

“Wha - but Zenkichi told us tons of stuff! Why the heck can’t you?!” Ryuji demanded. 

“...I know very little, to be honest, about the other operations that are going on.” Sophia admitted. “I… do not even know who the other Shadow Operatives are… I am sorry I cannot be more helpful. Aunt Mitsuru also said that she felt it would be unwise to share information needlessly with you. She claimed that saying important information near or on phones with Emma could risk leaking that information to whoever is behind this.”

The Thieves, without prompting, all looked at their phones with a shared sense of dawning comprehension.

Sophia either was not noticing the mild panic the Thieves were undergoing, or continuing because of it. “Also, another member of the Operatives has asked to speak to you, in Sapporo, to compare notes about what they have learned with what we know. Aunt Mitsuru said she would respect your request if you declined, however.”

Sophia referring to herself as a Thief made the other Thieves who noticed it smile, even as the new information came to mind.

“I think that sounds like a good idea. What’s their name? Do you know?” Makoto questioned.

“And why could your mother simply not share this information with us herself?” Yusuke added on.

“Her name is Naoto. I am unsure of what her last name was.” Sophia stated. “Mother and Aunt Mitsuru forgot to mention it. I am unsure why mother could not ask you herself, but she implied Naoto simply wished to compare notes in person. I haven’t met her myself, though.”

Ren took a moment to think. Before he could come to a decision, though, Morgana had already spoken. “We do things by vote.” The not-always-a-cat looked at his team. “Everyone, what do you think?”

“I think we should do it. As long as they agree to have an equal exchange of information.” Makoto stated.

“I do not trust them.” Haru stated. “But knowing more about them could not hurt.”

“Come on. More cops? We’ve already got two we’re dealing with!” Ryuji countered. “You really want to deal with three??”

Haru didn’t smile at Ryuji’s response, but her frown was honestly an improvement, in Ren’s mind, to the venomous smile she used when she was referring to the Shadow Operatives or the other government agents watching them. “I know. But which would you prefer - having them in our sight, and answering questions, or watching when we don’t know where they are and not telling us anything?”

Ryuji’s reluctant grumble of affirmation came in time with Sophia speaking. “I feel I must point out that Aunt Mitsuru said that Naoto would-”

“Sophia.”

Ren’s quiet but firm voice interjecting into Sophia’s sentence silenced everyone else. “I believe you when you say she said that. But I don’t believe that she was telling the truth when she said it.”

“...why not?” Sophia’s saddened tone made Ren feel guilty for a moment. “She is my mother… they are my family…”

“It’s - well…” Ann wasn’t sure how to put it.

“The cops and the government screwed a bunch of us over in the past…” Futaba stated.

“So yeah. We aren’t gonna trust them until they actually prove they aren’t gonna screw us over again.” Ryuji finished.

Makoto said nothing.

“I… I don’t understand…” 

Hearing Sophia on the verge of tears again made everyone’s heart plummet.

“She’s my mother… I trust her. I… I… I love her…”

“...she… she’s part of the police. We can’t trust her.” Ren eventually repeated Ryuji’s words.

“I trust you… Why… why can’t you trust her like me?”

“...she’s-” Haru began to reply.

But the heartbroken Sophia spoke before Haru could get more than a single word out.

“Why can’t… why can’t you trust me?”

Before any of the Thieves could reply, Sophia ended the call.

“...well. That was… a rather sad note to end on.” Yusuke concluded.

Showers were a luxury, in Kuon’s opinion, that nobody should ever be forced to go without, after a day spent fighting Shadows.

Even if her fighting style mostly involved her staying in place and either tanking hits with the barriers her mind had constructed to keep her from getting hurt, or reducing things that were trying to hurt her to a pulp before they hit her at all.

Either way, as she sighed in relief after stepping out of the blessedly warm water, a voice came from the next room.

“...m.. mother?”

“What is it?” She asked, voice becoming concerned as she stuck her head out of the bathroom door (she pointedly kept her body from exiting with the rest of her. Even if Sophia had probably seen worse already on the internet, she wasn’t willing to add to the list of horrible - or at least very awkward - things that her daughter would see over the course of her hopefully very long life).

“I… could you advise me?” 

The monitor that Kuon had brought with her and was now using as a temporary “face” for Sophia would have made it clear to Kuon that her daughter was troubled even if she wasn’t stammering.

“Give me a minute. I’ll get changed.” Kuon replied, head already ducking back through the door.

Thirty seconds later, Kuon walked out, back in shorts and a t-shirt. “What is it?” She asked, already sitting down at the table, but making sure to look at the camera on the hard drive Sophia was inhabiting.

“I… I don’t understand why the Phantom Thieves don’t trust you.” Sophia stated. “You are my mother. You…”

Sophia hesitated, even as she spoke. “You love me. I… I know you would never do anything to hurt me. And… hurting my friends would hurt me. Why do they not understand?”

“...trauma makes us do stupid things, Sophia.” Kuon eventually replied. 

Her, Minako, and Yukari attacking the rest of SEES in an attempt to bring back Minato when they were trapped in the Abyss of Time came to mind…

“It’s - well, ‘The burned hand teaches best.’” Kuon replied. “Responses to trauma - they’re hard to overcome. Pain teaches us not to do something that was a bad idea at that time - and it doesn’t care if it wouldn’t be a bad idea later.”

“...mother?”

“Yeah?” Kuon responded.

“...when do you think they will accept that you will not hurt them?”

Kuon shrugged. “I… can’t promise that they’ll accept that, Sophia. And… I can’t promise that I won’t hurt them.”

The sound of tears falling emerging from the loudspeakers told Kuon that she had chosen her words poorly.

“...why…? Why… why can’t you?”

“...I… don’t know what’s going to happen.” Kuon replied, guilt filling her. “We might fight, we -”

“...why… why do none of you not want to hurt each other?”

As her daughter’s tear-filled sobs filled the room, Kuon hastily withdrew.

“I - I won’t hurt them on purpose! At least, unless they start trying to do it first!” Kuon hastily clarified.

That seemed to mollify Sophia, judging by the sudden lack of tears. She wasn’t smiling, though.

“...Okay..” The AI didn’t seem happy, but she had stopped crying. At least, before tilting her head. “...why did you clarify that you would not hurt them on purpose…?”

“...people can hurt each other without meaning to.”

Kuon’s words were quiet. And - maybe not aimed entirely at Sophia.

Her brother returned to her mind, just for a few seconds.

…maybe she wasn’t as over his death as she thought she was.

…or maybe her daughter nearly joining him had ripped that wound wide open.

“Sometimes… the wounds that hurt you the most are the ones that weren’t intended.”

…she’d never gotten to say goodbye. To her parents, to Minato…

…or to Sophia, really.

“...actually, maybe especially those…”

“...mother?”

“Hm?” Kuon shook her head, her funk vanishing as her daughter spoke.

“Mother?” Sophia repeated, seeing her parent was back in reality, eyes still downcast. “I… have other questions. May I ask you about them?”

“Sure.” Kuon stated.

“...I… I do not entirely understand Natsume, either. I… feel restless, when I think about him.”

“Okay. Why?”

And so mother and daughter talked, long past sunset.

Not far away, with neither Kuon or Sophia involved, the rest of the Phantom Thieves talked for - a somewhat lesser time period.

But they talked regardless.

Chapter Text

“You know, you really-”

“AAAAAAAHH!”

The sheer terror in Ango Natsume’s voice as he saw Kuon Ichinose made everyone there jump, Phantom Thief or not.

Including Natsume himself, who blinked as he looked at the slightly-rattled Thieves and their tag-along.

“I - I’m sorry. I don’t know where that came from.”

“Okay, so apparently leaving enough of an impression on somebody’s Shadow can affect them in reality in ways that don’t lead to a mental shutdown or a change of heart even if the person themself doesn’t remember it.” Morgana muttered to himself, as the Thieves gathered. “I… guess that’s nice to have confirmed.”

“...my bad?” Kuon offered, sounding genuinely embarrassed as she spoke.

“Eh - it’s - well, for us it’s not a big deal?” Ann looked - and apparently felt - rather awkward as she comforted her.

Before anyone else could reply, a knock came at the front of the camper. “You mind if I come in? I’ve got news to share.” came the familiar voice of Zenkichi Hasegawa.

The Thieves all shot each other looks. Except Sophia. “Come in.”

“...And that about sums up Natsume’s confession.” Zenkichi finished. 

“So, once people befriended him through EMMA, they’d become his fans.” Morgana finished.

“Just like what Alice said.” Ann murmured.

“And there was nothing on his phone that was unusual.” Futaba added. “Like, nothing beyond normal apps and stuff - the guy didn’t even have any malware he didn’t notice.”

“So we got nothing again…?” Ryuji muttered sadly.

“Nope. Unless you want to take a look?” Futaba finished, looking at the group’s newest addition.

Kuon shrugged. “My specialty’s not in malware, but I’ll give it a look. And couldn’t somebody just be having EMMA listen?”

There was a brief silence.

“...um, would you care to catch me up on all of this?” Zenkichi asked, sounding confused. “Because - I know you said EMMA was being used to steal people’s desires, and everything? And there’s that whole -” Zenkichi cut himself off midsentence, shooting a look at Kuon.

“She knows.” Ren replied simply.

“Actually, she’s part of an organization that’s been looking into the mass changes of heart longer than we have.” Makoto added. 

That certainly caught Zenkichi’s attention. “Wait, seriously?” He asked, eyes wide as he turned to Kuon.

…well, he was working with the Thieves too. She would just have to avoid telling him much more about the Operatives. Unless Mitsuru gave the say-so.

“The short version is -” Kuon paused. “Actually, all of you. Turn your phones off so we don’t have anyone listening in.”

It was, given what the Thieves knew, logical.

“Don’t act like you’re our boss!” 

“Ryuji. It makes sense. Do it.”
“...okay…” 

The grudging tone in Ryuji’s voice as he obeyed Makoto didn’t escape the notice of anyone else there, though. As the Thieves all put their phones down (and in Futaba’s case, pulled the battery out for good measure) on the table, along with (the still-confused) Zenkichi and Kuon.

“Was that truly necessary? We are - still in the dark, as it were, on many things. It is unlikely that, even if Emma truly could listen in and was doing so, that she would hear anything of use.” Yusuke questioned.

“It’s better to be safe than sorry.” Makoto replied. “And if she can listen in, I’d prefer that she get as little information from us as possible about what we do know.”

“Yeah. And I doubt that multitasking is a big problem for her, with how many people use the app.” Futaba added.

“Um… okay, I’ll admit, I’m a bit lost here. But it seems that from what you’re saying, Emma is like Sophia over there, instead of just being automated?” Zenkichi’s ‘I have only some idea of what the hell is going on’ tone reminded everyone he was there rather abruptly.

“Oh! Yeah. We - well, it’s a long story, and we didn’t tell you this before, but Sophia was kidnapped before we met her!” Futaba declared.

Zenkichi didn’t look surprised for more than a second, before a calculating look took over his face. “Let me guess. You think that Madicce took her from Ichinose-san?”

Makoto was the first Thief to react. “What are you basing that theory on?” she asked carefully.

Zenkichi raised an eyebrow. “I first met Sophia in Tokyo, with all of you in the Metaverse, and Ichinose-san over there nowhere in sight. By contrast, after I got here, I haven’t seen them separate from each other once. Whether you were there or not, considering Sophia’s apparently less than a year old, I doubt there’s any chance that Ichinose-san would willingly let her out of her sight for more than a few seconds - and she wasn’t carrying around that armored case back then that apparently holds the kid now, judging by the cable attached to that screen. Kind of hard to miss something like that.”

Kuon nodded absently, as Zenkichi continued.

“I thought it was possible that you were trying to trick me for some reason at the time into thinking you had nothing to do with each other… but considering you’re clearly somewhat of a team now, even though it’s clear some of you don’t especially care for Ichinose-san, I couldn’t think of any good reason for you to trick me back then and then reveal you were working together so quickly. It’s possible it just didn’t come up, and you were already in contact with her, but that would probably have made you less averse to working with me in the first place, or would have led to you refusing to work with me at all - and again, since you’re clearly working with her now, it seems unlikely you were trying to trick me regarding her, at that time.”

The Thieves were silent. And slightly intimidated. Zenkichi continued.

“Putting all that together… The best explanation seems to be that Ichinose-san was unaware she was there at the time. And while EMMA’s currently the hottest topic in Japan, I’d bet that a lot of people would be really interested in having a look at a bona fide AI even if it wasn’t. It was just a theory, but kidnapping seemed like a potential explanation for why they were separate. And since Ichinose-san and Sophia don’t seem to be mad at you, you couldn’t be the kidnappers.”

Zenkichi’s eyes gleamed, slightly. “At least, it was a theory, and just one of several… but judging by the stupefied looks on your faces, I think it’s likely that I was right. Am I right?”

Ren was the first to speak.

“...you’re smarter than you look, Inspector.” His mouth took on a teasing grin that didn’t reach his eyes. “That’s pretty easy, though.”

Zenkichi’s smile vanished. “Okay, that was uncalled for.”

“Anyways… oh. I’m gonna bring you guys a delivery later, when you leave.”

Kuon’s voice interjecting caught everyone’s attention. “What do you mean?” Ren asked, frowning. 

Kuon, instead of responding, raised her hand.

It took everyone less than three seconds to realize there was a ring there, and for Kuon to realize what conclusion they would draw from that.

“Before you ask, no. I’m not married.”

Several of the Thieves, who had opened their mouths, closed them again.

“Here. Feel this.” Kuon continued, pulling the ring - carefully - off of her finger and handing it over to Futaba.

The orange-haired girl’s puzzled look remained puzzled as she took the ring.

“Feel it.” Kuon stated.

“Uh… okay?” Futaba’s tone made it clear that she had no idea what was going on, but she looked at the ring anyways. As she looked closer at the ring that the older computer mistress had carefully handed to her, however, Futaba - Well, there was a lot of detail in the ring, now that she was looking at it. It was seemingly sculpted from white metal, and - well, it was very white, for lack of a better word. Almost too white. Like, the white that you got on paper, not the white you got on metal. Also, for some reason, the design… it made her think of an angel’s halo. She wasn’t sure why that came to mind, but it did.
“I guess it’s - nice? It’s a cool ring, and all.”

Kuon’s eyebrows went up. Something seemed to occur to her, but before she could say anything-

“Ah. I see… if this is to be a critique, while I respect Futaba’s knowledge of art forms relating to anime, manga, or video games, for real world art, I must ask that you allow me.”

“Wha-hey!” Futaba protested, as Yusuke pulled the ring out of her hands.

“Hm. A quite interesting piece - I will admit I do not know many metalworking artists, but the craftsman who made this ring -”

Before Yusuke could continue, however, the ring flew out of his hands.

Literally.

“What on earth?!” Yusuke - and nearly everyone else in the van, for that matter - felt their eyes go wide, as the ring casually pulled itself out of his hands and flew back to Futaba. 

“So, you guys didn’t know you could use your Personas in our world?”

Kuon’s rather lackadaisical question managed to get the complete attention of the Thieves. “That’s a thing, then?” Morgana asked, already looking at the ring that Futaba had started taking a look at again. “And since you handed it to Futaba - I assume this ring has special properties in the Metaverse?”

“Yeah. I got it from my brother when I was - about your age.” Kuon sighed. “It protects me from Bless spells. They’re my weak spot. There’s also - variants - for the other elements. They’re hard to mass produce, but it’s possible. I got a box earlier today - you can have it later. It’s got a full set of elemental nullification stuff, and there’s a list detailing what protects you from what.”

As most of the Thieves shot each other with surprised but also pleased looks, Haru spoke in a falsely cheerful voice. “I suppose we’re no good to you or your coworkers dead, after all!”

Kuon either didn’t notice the sarcasm, or just didn’t care about it. “Nope. Not one bit.” 

“Well, since we’ve established we all need each other, then… since Madicce is likely related to all of this, between Sophia being kidnapped and EMMA being the method by which people are having their hearts changed, are you planning to investigate?” Zenkichi interjected. 

Kuon just smiled. “Operational security.”

Zenkichi sighed, but didn’t press. “Fair enough.”

“That’s the thing where you don’t tell anyone else something so nobody else finds out, right?” Ryuji asked. 

“Yup.” Kuon confirmed.

“Really something you should work on, Skull!” Morgana’s voice contained a - well, there was a teasing tone, but there was no real vitriol in it.

“Shuddup, Mona!”

“Oh, and I never got a reply yesterday from Sophia - do you want to meet Naoto?” Kuon added.

The Thieves all grew silent. 

Yusuke was the first to speak up. “First, we’d like more information on this Naoto. Since - well, we were unable to learn more about them, in light of the rest of our discussion.”

Naoto? Zenkichi thought. It - maybe it is…

“Well, her full name’s Naoto Shirogane. The first Detective Prince.”

Despite suspecting it was coming, Zenkichi’s eyes still went wide.

The Thieves, on the other hand, mostly had their eyes narrowed.

“Um… and you want us to compare notes with her?” 

Mostly.

Makoto’s eyes were - 

Well, she wasn’t frowning.

“Is she a Persona-user too?” Morgana asked, cautiously.

“And - wait, if she’s a girl, why’s she called the detective prince - oh!” Ann’s eyes lit up in realization. “Oh! Uh - does she need any help with picking out girl’s clothing? I’d be happy to help!”

“Naoto’s fine, but I'm sure she’d appreciate you want to talk to her.” Kuon replied. “And yes, Naoto’s a Persona-user. She got her Persona in Inaba during the Foggy Day murders.”

“All right. Let’s put it to a vote.” Ren’s voice interjecting brought a focus back to the slightly derailed conversation as his team turned to him. “Are there any objections to us meeting Naoto Shirogane?”

There was a slightly aggravated look from Ryuji, and a sigh from Haru. But no voices were raised. 

“All right. We’ll meet up with your coworker.” Ren finished, turning back to Kuon. “But we want you to promise an equivalent exchange. If we’re answering everything she asks, we want her to answer everything we ask.”

Kuon’s reply was blunt and short, and delivered with a smile on her face. “I can’t guarantee that’s allowed. We’re not a democracy.”

“...all right then. I have a question for you, this time.” Ren replied carefully. “How does your organization work?”

Kuon turned to Zenkichi. “First, you.”

“Me?! Why me?!” Zenkichi sputtered.

Kuon made direct eye contact with Zenkichi. “You work for Public Security. And at the moment, we’re reasonably sure that a lot of the higher-ups there are invested in pinning this case on somebody and they don’t care if the person they pin it on is guilty or not. Why are you here?”

Zenkichi didn’t even blink. “I’m here to do everything in my power to be sure this case gets solved, and that the people who are actually guilty are found and arrested.”

Kuon maintained eye contact. Zenkichi didn’t break it.

After ten seconds, Kuon seemed to accept this, and turned away before she began to speak. “On paper, the Shadow Operatives don’t exist. And as far as most of the government is concerned, we don’t exist at all besides rumors. Both because we don’t want to get involved in politics, and because the government would get laughed at if everybody learned a monster-hunting organization existed, unless we publicly revealed that Shadows exist.”

“Probably the bad idea of the century, there…” Futaba muttered to herself.

“A lot of the police who know about us don’t like us that much, either. They usually have their own reasons.” Kuon continued. “As for how we work… Mitsuru’s the leader, officially. As for ranks… she’s at the top. Then, we have the field leaders, navigators - and everyone else. Mitsuru outranks everyone and decides official actions, but the field leaders make on-the-spot decisions. After that, the navigators are next in command - and then there’s everyone else. We usually operate by seniority, after that, in the individual ranks, but there are exceptions. We’re supposed to question orders, to a degree. But usually, Mitsuru gets the final say.” Kuon paused. “And if you want anything else, you should probably ask Naoto. I’ve never really paid much attention to the political side of stuff. She’s the detective.”

“So, your leaders make all the decisions and everyone else just has to follow them? Isn’t that - well, dangerous?” Ann replied. 

Kuon shrugged. “I trust them more than myself with that sort of thing. I’m not the leader type.”

“I get that.” Futaba added. “I can navigate just fine, but making the calls? I’d probably freeze up.”

“So, you’re totally off the books and word of mouth only, then?” Zenkichi quickly reiterated. “Well, considering I didn’t believe these guys until they dragged me into that other world, even with all the changes of heart happening, it makes sense people wouldn’t be spreading it around.” He frowned. “But - well, do you have any - well, you told me what you know. But do you have any idea how - well, EMMA is connected to that other world? Since it seems to be how this is all happening?”

Kuon shrugged. “All I know is that Sophia got kidnapped, and that we think it was Madicce.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Zenkichi replied. “How - well, do you have any idea how a computer application could influence that other world in the first place?” There was a pause. “Judging by the silence, I’m assuming the answer is no.” Zenkichi concluded. 

Kuon shrugged. “I’ll ask, but that’s not my field.”

“...we’ve - actually, I believe an acquaintance of ours might be able to provide answers.” Yusuke caught everyone off guard.

Futaba caught on the quickest. “Oh! You mean - Doc?”

“Indeed.” Yusuke replied.

“Doc?” Zenkichi asked. 

“...that’s private information.” Ren replied. “...we’ll contact them and see what they can offer. But they’re working, right now.”

“Well, if they come up with anything, I’d appreciate it if you shared it.” Zenkichi decided. “And - why can’t you ask them now?”

“Doc - drives a taxi!” Ann replied hastily.

“...a doctor drives a taxi?” 

Everyone in the RV could have told that Zenkichi was raising an eyebrow just by his tone of voice, at that moment.

“Long story. Last job didn’t pan out.” Ren summarized.

That was certainly one way of summarizing Takuto Maruki’s attempt at taking over/fixing the world as he saw fit…

Also, since they were on the topic of the Metaverse… 

“And Ichinose-san?”

“Yes?” Kuon Ichinose’s flippant statement came quickly. Ren sighed, and forced himself to continue.

“How badly do you need to use our name for a calling card?”

Ren was prepared for a number of answers.

Kuon Ichinose not being concerned about not getting permission to use the name of the Phantom Thieves for the calling cards the Shadow Operatives sent out had been one of them, so her complete lack of concern didn't surprise him.

"It's no biggie. Oh! Personal advice? Keep an eye on the news in the next few days."

"Noted." Ren replied, even as his mind processed this.

They don't need to use our name to send calling cards, and judging by her telling us to watch the news...

...they must be getting ready to send their own instead.

“I must admit, you work quickly.” Mitsuru stated calmly, voice not betraying how she felt.

“Well, it wasn’t that complicated.” Came the short reply.

“True.” Mitsuru conceded, picking up the card she had been handed. “But creating ten separate pieces in one night, all unique…” she finished, eyes casting over to the scattered collection of cards that Chidori Iori had created. 

The woman in question scoffed. “Separate or not, they basically all had the same idea behind them. ‘Give the Desires back’. I had a central theme, I used the same color scheme for each of them - I just changed the wording a bit, usually.” 

“Fair.” Mitsuru conceded.

“And none of them say ‘Shadow Operatives’.” Chidori added. 

“Good.” 

That was when Mitsuru finally took a look at the card she had picked up.

Black leapt out at her, from the second she observed it. There was red there, but it was definitely the less-present of the two major colors, almost as if somebody was covering up a flashlight in a dark room with their hand at night.

A cell phone, an armband, and a pair of glasses were all gathered together in the card’s background, under the wings of a large butterfly - but all of these were clearly overshadowed, by the wording on the card. 

To Chinatsu Suda, the queenpin of thieves. You have stolen away the peace of mind, Desires, and possessions of countless other citizens of Japan. We will give back those Desires tonight, and bring back everything you have had stolen to those you have taken it from. 

The Shadow Strikers.

Strike from the Shadows, Strike for the Shadows.

“It will do.” Mitsuru decided. It was both distinct from the calling cards the Phantom Thieves used, while also being similar enough to - hopefully - bring the Phantom Thieves to mind, and elicit a similar reaction, so that the Desires would materialize and could be returned. “I’ll send you the payment later today.”

(It would be a very large payment. After all the Kirijo Group - in particular, Ergo Research - had done to Chidori, it was the least that Mitsuru owed her.)

(That, and ensuring Junpei had a partner with a sizable income was a pleasant bonus).

“Thanks.” Chidori’s voice was pleased, as she turned back to her sketchpad. Over her shoulder, Mitsuru took a look at it.

The hearts being drawn brought something to mind.

“Has Junpei or Kuon told you yet that we found Sophia?” Mitsuru asked.

Chidori stopped drawing. “It… came up, yes.” 

“Do you want to see her?” Mitsuru asked. “The Thieves are, as I understand it, going to Sapporo soon.”

Chidori was quiet for several seconds, before inhaling deeply. “I would like to. Yes.” 

She hadn’t planned on being a mother yet.

And she still wasn’t.

But - well - she had been a midwife.

She still wasn’t sure what to think of that.

“I can get you transport.” Mitsuru added. “But - Sapporo currently holds one of the Jails.”

“I’m still going.” Chidori managed.

“I imagine that you won’t be joining the Thieves and Kuon in clearing it out?” Mitsuru added.

Chidori didn’t say a word.

But the very uncharacteristic snort that resulted from Mitsuru’s question said “NO.” just as clearly as yelling would have.

Chapter Text

“I still can’t believe she ditched us…” Ryuji muttered under his breath, as he gazed around him at the Tanabata festival.

“My mother is busy working.” Sophia’s voice came over Ren’s phone. “She is going over my code, and taking notes.”

“So, does that mean you’re gonna have a bunch of baby brothers and baby sisters, Sophia?!” Futaba grinned madly.

The redheaded AI’s eyes went wide for a second, before her face became more subdued. “I - I do not know.” Sophia replied. “I am unsure how I would feel to have siblings.”

“It’s her loss for not coming.” Ren stated simply.

“You know I can hear everything you’re saying, right?” 

Ryuji was the only Thief that jumped at the sound of Kuon Ichinose’s voice coming over the phone Sophia was speaking on.

“You were meant to.” Ren voiced. “And you couldn’t let Sophia come with us?”

“She can see just fine.” Kuon observed.

“I can. There is less than a second of delay before I see the festival.” The AI cheerfully concurred.

“That’s not the point I believe Ren was making…” Yusuke mused.

Ren did not disagree.

Kuon sighed. “I still feel like my heart is going to beat out of my chest when the idea of her leaving hits me. Try again when that stops happening.”

As her conversation with the Thieves and Sophia continued, Kuon idly kept one eye half on her screen, as she both went over Sophia’s code, and sent an email.

If Kikuno didn’t know where to find this, she doubted anyone else that she knew would.

“Hm… that should do.” Kikuno mused half an hour later, tapping “order”, with the destination currently marked as the hotel room that she had set up for Kuon to use.

Well, that was everything that she had to worry about. Chidori’s train ticket to Sapporo had already been booked, and her love was currently drawing up the plans for which teams would be going to which cities next, based on the strength they currently retained, and what Fuuka’s scans had indicated about the Shadows in those cities -

Kikuno’s train of thought abruptly derailed when she felt a pair of lips pressing themselves to her cheek. 

“My la - my love -” she began quickly. She - well, she had done most of what she needed to do, but there was always more-

Mitsuru didn’t say a word to Kikuno. She just smiled.

At her.

“...as you wish, my love.” Kikuno decided, getting out of her chair.

“So - someone from Madicce is coming to the university tomorrow?” Ryuji asked. 

“Yeah. That’s what Zenkichi said - some high-level manager.” Ren replied. “He wanted to see if we would go.”

“Um - are we sure that’s worth our time?” Ann questioned. “I mean, if Emma is related to Madicce, they probably wouldn’t tell everyone in the company about it.”

“And - well, if they did, what are the odds they only tell people about what EMMA does after their hearts get stolen?” Futaba muttered darkly.

This very good question had everyone sharing a look.

“Could Gramps or Ichinose tell us, perhaps, if the employees of Madicce have been acting strangely?” Yusuke suggested.

“How high up is this manager, anyways? What’s their name?” Makoto interjected.

“We could simply look it up online.” Haru suggested.

“I can stay up late!” Futaba grinned. “I’ll tell you what I find in the morning.”

“Fair enough. We should decide then, anyways...” Morgana yawned. “It’s definitely time for bed…”

“Not yet.”

“Ugh. Ren, you need to sleep!” Morgana scowled, visibly annoyed.

Ren shot the not-just-a-cat a look of his own. “I have a call to make. Bed can wait.”

Before Morgana could object again, Ren turned to Futaba. “Do you have a phone that doesn’t have EMMA on it?”

“I cleared my phone off yesterday!” Futaba cheerfully declared. “Checked the software out myself. EMMA doesn’t have any links to spy on me personally, any longer.”

“Good.” Ren held out his hand.

Without hesitating, Futaba handed it over. “So… following up with Doc?”

“You know it.” Ren confirmed as he started to walk away. 

Takuto Maruki’s life had improved over the last few months.

A new place to live, away from - well, everything that had happened in the last few years, plus a therapist to talk to.

And chamomile tea before bed, as waves beat outside, was -

Takuto Maruki’s musings on his life were interrupted when his phone rang.

Sighing, he picked it up, only to pause.

Spam? He wondered, seeing the “unknown number” on his screen.

Shrugging to himself, he hit the “end call” button, and set it down.

Ten seconds later, his phone rang again.

Picking it up, he paused. It was the same number.

It seemed somebody was quite determined to reach him. Well… he was reasonably sure you couldn’t infect someone’s phone with malware over a phone call. 

So he should be fine if he decided to listen for a few seconds. He hit the green button. “Hello?”

“Hey, doc.”

A familiar tone came over the phone, and after a surprised moment, Takuto smiled. “Ren! It’s good to hear from you. Can I help you?”

“I’d appreciate it.” Ren replied. “We’ve got - issues. Metaverse issues. Do you think you could offer some suggestions?”

Maruki’s eyes widened a little. “I see. I - can’t exactly give you a lift any more, but I can offer advice, if you want.”

“That would be good. Here’s what we know…”

Several minutes later, Maruki nodded as the explanation concluded. “I see. So - these Monarchs are stealing Desires, using EMMA as a medium to do so?”

“Yeah.” Came the voice of Ren Amamiya. “And at the moment, we aren’t sure what separates a Monarch from everyone else with the app. Futaba checked out the phones for both of the Monarchs we took down, and there wasn’t anything unusual on their phones. They didn’t even know about the Metaverse or the Jails. They worked out that they could change people’s hearts by giving them their EMMA keyword, but that’s apparently all they knew.”

Maruki took a moment to think. “I see. It seems that - well, the Monarchs are only connected by EMMA, right?”

“That’s it.” Ren confirmed.

“In other words, they're using EMMA as an infection vector, it would seem, to steal Desires.” Maruki continued. “Obviously, doing that isn’t possible without the Metaverse.” 

“Yeah.” Ren stated. "We know that."

“I imagine so, yes.” Maruki nodded. “But… EMMA itself didn’t decide to steal people’s Desires, obviously. It was only released recently... The Monarchs don’t appear to know how EMMA works, either. So neither of them are suspects for the development of - whatever function allows EMMA to steal people's hearts." He frowned. "That company, Madicce... they're an IT company, right? What EMMA's doing shouldn't be possible, with technology... so it has to be cognitive psience that's stealing Desires. But..."

“You think we should look into that?” 

“I’m - honestly not sure that would do you any good, Ren.” Maruki replied. “Cognitive psience isn’t a big field. A lot of the researchers were arrested, when Shido's conspiracy went down. And - I've met nearly all of the remaining researchers, over the last few years. And I've studied the papers of the ones who I didn't meet. None of them struck me as the sort of person who would do something like this."

"...didn't you once admit to me that you got scammed because you were too trusting?"

Maruki chuckled sadly. "That's fair... but still. Unless one of them changed a great deal, or I horribly misjudged them, none of them would likely have helped Madicce... and I looked into Shido's mind, in - January."

"...what did you find?" Ren carefully asked.

Very diplomatically, he did not bring up how Maruki, during that time, had been somewhat mad with power, however gentle he was.

Maruki decided to do the same. " He - well, there were some alarming bits of information I found. But the research he had his men doing - it wasn’t advanced enough that what he’d found would allow something like this to happen. Not even close. And I doubt a lone researcher could develop this system.”

“...what are you saying?” 

The worry in Ren’s tone was audible.

Maruki sighed. “It could be that I misjudged somebody, or that one of Shido's men continued his research and took it a lot further very quickly. Or that somebody I knew changed. But I think at this point the most likely explanation -”

“-is that there’s an entity from the Metaverse that’s involved itself with Madicce, for some reason.”

Ren felt his eye twitch.

“ Another god?”

“...I’m going to consciously choose to ask what you mean with that tone another time, and say for now that it’s very possible that's the case.” Maruki replied.

“...great. Well, thanks for the talk, doc.” Ren sighed.

“Call whenever!” Even over the phone Ren could tell Maruki was smiling. “It’s nice having people to talk to after I head home.”

Ren felt a small smile cross his face. “See you, then.”

It had been a long and fun night for Mitsuru Kirijo and Kikuno Saikawa.

And as Mitsuru opened her eyes again, she faced the sunlight without flinching. 

“Mmmmph…”

That didn’t mean she faced the sunlight without complaining. Still, Mitsuru calmly got out of bed and began the process of getting her clothes for the day.

“My love? I require aid.”

Mitsuru blushed, ever so slightly, as she turned back to her bed and the - position - her girlfriend had been left in.

“I have reserved our tickets for Osaka.” Kikuno calmly reported, after the blanket had been returned to its original place. “Aigis, Labrys, and Yukiko will meet us there. Hidehiko has been reassigned to headquarters, to observe Adachi. And Naoto will be departing for Sapporo with Koromaru.”

“Good.” Mitsuru sighed. “I’m just glad he won’t be fighting any longer…”

“He has not been fighting, my love. Aigis reported that he has not left their hotel room save for walks.” Kikuno replied.

“Exactly.” Mitsuru’s tone was clearly - Well, not pleased. But she wasn’t mad. “It’s already concerning enough that he wanted to leave the island at all. His health is - questionable.”

“...my love, I feel I must point out that despite his age, Koromaru is a model of health among dogs.” Kikuno stated. “And - regardless of what he is doing, we have our own work to do. Osaka awaits.”

Mitsuru - seeing the diversion for what it was, but going with it regardless - nodded. “A week should be enough for us to deal with the Jail there, if anything is amiss.”

“I have also booked us a hotel with a spa and sauna.” Kikuno added.

“...good work.” Mitsuru stated, a smile crossing her face.

Vacations weren’t always a break, when you had to deal with Shadows.

At least on this one she would actually get to pamper herself a little.

“You decided not to stay for the presentation?” Zenkichi questioned, curiosity clear even over the phone. 

“Yeah. We weren’t sure we’d get much, from just a high-level manager.” Ren replied. “Futaba looked her up, too. She was mostly involved in the advertising campaign for EMMA. Futaba says she didn’t seem to be involved in the development process.”

“Fair enough.” Came the statement.

“Also, has - well, do you know if there have been a lot of people in Madicce acting strangely?” Makoto questioned. “It’s - well, if somebody is using Madicce to do the changes of heart through EMMA, they might have targeted the employees to make sure that nothing is leaked.”

“I understand where you’re coming from. But as far as I’m aware, we already looked into it and came up with nothing.” Zenkichi countered Makoto’s idea without missing a beat. “If there have been any Madicce employees subjected to a change of heart, it doesn’t seem as if those changes of heart were connected to them working for Madicce. If somebody’s using Madicce, from the inside or outside, then they weren’t so kind to us as to make the manipulation blatant. And it seems there’s nothing odd happening at the Tokyo Radio Tower where EMMA’s servers are stored, either. If we wanted to get a closer look at the servers, or Madicce’s headquarters, we’d need a warrant.”

Annoyed mutters broke out.

“Well then, we have another question.” Makoto stated.

“Yeah?” Zenkichi questioned.

“What can you tell us about the Shadow Operatives?”

Zenkichi, on the other side of the phone, blinked exactly once before he pulled himself together.

“I’ll - well, to be honest, I have so little to offer you there in the first place that it doesn’t matter if EMMA’s listening or not. It’s like Ichinose said, it seems - officially, they don’t exist.” He sighed. “And they aren’t exactly well-known through word of mouth either. I - well, I heard about them once or twice in the past, but until yesterday, it had been months since I thought about them. I thought they were just an urban legend people told around the water cooler.”

There were murmurs from the other side, but no disagreement. Zenkichi decided to take that as a good sign. “As it is, I have a few contacts that might be able to tell me more, but I can’t make any promises. By the way, have you hear anything from - Doc - yet?”

“...nothing we should say over the phone.” 

Zenkichi nodded. “Fair enough. You - well, when we meet that contact of theirs at our next destination, let’s compare what we get. Talk to you then.”

With that, Zenkichi hung up, sighing.

This case was becoming even more complicated than he had initially believed it would be.

Although for once, not being good with the app store had worked to his advantage! He hadn’t needed to uninstall EMMA. And people said that new inventions were always worth trying out!

…god, he sounded old.

Anyways.

After he finished taking a look around (making sure that nobody was listening to him), he hit a button on the speed dial, and waited.

“Zenkichi.”

“Commissioner.” He replied. “It’s - well, you’ve probably seen the news on the latest move the Phantom Thieves have made, by now. We’re going to be heading to Sapporo next.”

“Good. I assume that’s not the only reason you called, however.” 

Zenkichi nodded. “It’s - well, first, we have - potentially - a serious information leak we need to worry about. Do you have EMMA on your phone, and is anyone else in the office with you?”

“No, to both questions. I assume that you’re going somewhere with this?” 

“Yeah. I’m going to a lot of places with this, and I doubt you’ll like them…” Zenkichi took a deep breath.

“Do you remember all those stories about the Shadow Operatives?”

“Those old rumors? I remember them, but I don’t know anything else.” 

Zenkichi didn’t bother to hide his sigh. Even over the phone, it was clear that his boss was now running the question she’d just gotten through her mind. “Considering all the strange stories about them, and the strange stories going around recently, I assume you found a connection between them and the case?”

“Not exactly.” Zenkichi replied. “The Thieves and I met a woman who says she’s working for them. Apparently, they want to cooperate with the Thieves to solve the Changes of Heart. I didn’t get much more out of her than that, but it seems that she and the Thieves have similar abilities. She’s currently heading to Sapporo too.”

There was a clear pause, as Miyako Kaburagi processed this. “I see.”

“Also, there’s a possible lead. The Thieves - well, the woman they met? Her name’s Kuon Ichinose.” Zenkichi added. “I looked her up. She’s an AI developer who works for the Kirijo Group. And the thing is, it looks like she made history a few months ago.” He sighed. “This is probably gonna be hard for you to believe, Commissioner, but it seems she actually made a bona fide baby Artificial Intelligence. And the thing is? That AI was apparently kidnapped - or stolen, depending on how you look at it - in January.”

There was silence. The silence grew longer.

Zenkichi patiently waited.

After fifteen seconds, Kaburagi broke it.

“...let me get this straight.” The long-suffering voice of the commissioner came. “Supposedly, there’s an AI researcher, working for both the Kirijo Group and a group that we previously thought to be a bunch of fairytales, who made an AI. Said AI was then taken. I assume you think this is connected to Madicce, EMMA, or the mass changes of heart?”

Zenkichi nodded. “That was the conclusion we all drew. EMMA was only released a few months after Sophia was taken.”

“Sophia is the AI’s name, I assume? Strange, giving it a name at this stage.”

Zennkichi sighed. “Commissioner, it’s - well, I know this is hard to believe, but it’s not just - algorithms. I mean - it’s an AI straight from fiction. Sophia practically - well, she’s a human, for all intents and purposes. I might not be any sort of mechanical expert, but Ichinose-san’s apparently seen in her field as a genius. It seems she genuinely made a person out of nothing but computer code. If that became public knowledge, there’s no way every single company in the world remotely related to computers wouldn’t be breaking down her door by the end of the day.”

“Interesting.” Kaburagi replied. 

“Yeah. And the thing is, we think that EMMA - well, since Sophia was kidnapped, possibly by Madicce, our current assumption is that EMMA might not just be a bunch of algorithms after all. And considering EMMA is apparently the - well, EMMA is, as far as we know, what’s making the mass changes of heart possible.” Zenkichi finished. “Not exactly something that a standard bunch of algorithms could do, again.” 

“I see. That…  would be a serious problem.” Kaburagi mused. “A threat with ears in potentially every electronic device that downloaded the app.”

“Yeah.” Zenkichi conceded. “It’s nothing but a theory, but I thought it would be best to tell you. I’m gonna see if I can get anything else out of Ichinose-san when we get to Sapporo, and continue the Madicce investigation.” He sighed. “And - well, there’s one last thing that caught my interest. I took a look at the city… and there’s nothing happening in Osaka. No mass onsets of insanity, no super-popular idols, no robbery sprees, no rigged sports matches - nothing. Unlike… oh, nearly every other major city in the country.”

“...very well. Continue your investigation.” Was the only reply he got.

“I’ll keep you up to date if something new comes up, commissioner. Good luck.”

Why couldn’t anything ever be simple?

Miyako Kaburagi sighed, as she ended the call with her old coworker (friend, she would sometimes admit under her breath when nobody was listening).

Originally, solving the Change of Heart epidemic had seemed simple. They just had to find proof the Thieves were guilty - since they were, as far as anyone knew, the only group with the power to change hearts. Predictable. It wouldn’t be the first time that somebody was corrupted by the idea that they could do whatever they pleased when they wanted, with no consequences. 

Cleaning up the corruption in the police and doing it all by the book was an incredibly hard process. But getting something done right, in this case, was just as important as getting it done at all. Humans needed restraints, to some degree. That was something that she would always stand by. A bunch of teenagers, running around and changing the minds - literally - of anyone they pleased? 

Even before they’d hijacked a national broadcast - twice - she’d known that letting the power of the Thieves go unchecked would never end well.

So, she’d let Zenkichi meet the Thieves. If he found proof they were guilty - that was fine. If it turned out that he was right, and someone else was behind it - that somebody else had gained the same power the Thieves had and decided to abuse it - well, then the Thieves could wait until after the national crisis was handled. 

And now, she was apparently dealing with robots, living software, and - well.

After everything that had been attributed to the Phantom Thieves, she really should have started investigating the government’s (not-so-) supposed supernatural division a lot sooner.

“Ah, excellent.”

Naoto spent a moment wondering exactly what was excellent.

Aigis walking into their hotel room with a large box narrowed down the possibilities significantly, however.

“Arf!” Koromaru yipped, getting up from his dog bed and walking over to Aigis.

“Indeed. The calling cards have arrived.” Aigis replied, setting the box down on her bed before walking over to the window. Naoto idly reached over and turned on the lights as the curtains were closed, before heading over to Aigis’s bed.

“Very well, then.” Naoto decided, carefully opening the box. “It seems it’s time to get back to work.”

Hokkaido was -

Well, if Ren was honest, it hadn’t really registered with him. Makoto had been - less than interested in going anywhere. And to be honest? After a day of driving, he hadn’t been too invested when they arrived in doing much besides cooking and going to bed.

(It was cool enough that Yusuke hadn’t felt the need to strip again, at least…)

Either way.

Breakfast had been going well - Sophia had talked Ichinose-san into buying them all breakfast at a good local restaurant. But - well, he was still waking up. There was a reason that he’d bought a number of coffee-related instruments when he’d returned to his hometown. Standard coffee-maker espresso just didn’t do it for him, any more.

So, yeah. He wasn’t really awake yet. He wasn’t a morning person, and the crappy coffee wasn’t helping enough for him to really be aware of the world around him.

So, when Futaba yelped loudly, it took him a second or two to really reply to it.

“Guys, look!”

However, his teammate sticking her phone in front of his face was a lot harder to not reply to.

As the rest of the Phantom Thieves pulled out their own phones, Ren took in the sight of the calling card that the news had plastered all over the front page which Futaba had stuck in front of his nose.

“...nice design.”

…he would focus more on the calling cards later when his brain started working properly.

“New Calling Cards released - Phantom Thief Imitators Strike?”  

As she read the headlines of the Phantom Thieves website that she’d gotten a link to from one of her online friends (it still amazed her she’d made such a good friend in the Phan-Site’s admin!), Akane Hasegawa felt her eyes boggling in her skull.

“Last night, a number of cities across Japan reported that calling cards had been posted, publicly calling out a number of citizens. The number of cities that are reporting these actions are still being documented. However, these calling cards differ noticeably from those used by the Phantom Thieves, in that they identified themselves as being from a group called -”

“-the Shadow Strikers. ” Mitsuru Kirijo finished, reading from her train seat.

She was smiling as she did so.

Osaka was on the horizon - and the Jail within awaited.

“What shall we do when we arrive?” Kikuno asked calmly, from the seat next to her.

Mitsuru smiled. “First… we will investigate.”

Kikuno didn’t quite pout. But the impression of pouting was clearly given.

“We will do other things - later.” 

Kikuno smiled again.

Being a CEO was nowhere near as easy as people might think it was, in Akira Konoe’s opinion.

Well, no.

Being a CEO was exactly as easy as people thought it was - if you didn’t care about doing your job right.

And Akira Konoe was many things, but he took a lot of pride in making sure that Madicce was run properly. In making sure that justice was administered to every branch of his company.

Employees or managers deciding that embezzlement or stealing was a good idea? They were out the door, no questions asked. (...unless it was, say, somebody grabbing an expired sandwich otherwise destined for the garbage from the cafeteria at the end of the day. …even he couldn’t deny that he was guilty of that particular crime). 

Managers pushing employees into unpaid overtime?

Unpaid overtime would be paid for - even if he had to pay for it out of his own pocket.

Sexual assault? Not tolerated. No matter how irreplaceable somebody in his company might think they were, there was always somebody out there who could do the same job - maybe not quite as well, but who wouldn’t ruin the culture of Madicce that he had worked so hard to change from the -

Well.

The workplace environment that had existed in Madicce under his father’s rule wasn’t even worthy of being called an organizational culture, in his opinion. It had taken him years to fix that - but it had paid off. His company was thriving - both in terms of finances, and people.

His employees were taken care of, thanks to him carefully picking the right managers. People who would get their jobs done, but who would also take care of the people who worked for them, and wouldn’t abuse the power he entrusted them with. The higher-ups, his fellow C-Suite, were a group that he kept a close eye on. It was hard, doing all of that while also - slowly - laying the groundwork for Operation Oraculi. But he was nothing if not determined.

And at long last, it was paying off. His goals had begun to come to fruition, and he didn’t have to lift a finger any further for it to succeed. He could leave it to Emma to handle it for him.

“Akira.”

Speak of the devil…  well, angel…

“What is it, Emma?” He asked, eyes turning to the phone on the side of his desk, mounted up and facing him.

From the other side of the screen, a little girl with long red hair gazed back at him. Her gaze was as calm as ever.

“Problems have arisen.”

Akira smiled. “Ah. Well, I’m certain you can handle them. Did the Phantom Thieves target another Jail?” It - well, he’d been concerned, when he realized that the Thieves were disrupting his goals. But Emma had assured him that there was no way they would be able to maintain a swift enough pace to break Operation Oraculi’s momentum.

“No.”

...for the first time in several months, ever since Emma had finished learning what she needed to know, unease colored Akira’s tone. 

“What do you mean, no?”

Chapter Text

“I was under the impression that you said the Shadow Operatives wouldn’t be a problem.”

Akira Konoe was normally a calm man.

But it was hard to be calm when the Thieves had apparently started working with the government’s supernatural task force. That he had been previously assured was just a rumor. And even after he had learned from Emma’s surveillance that they weren’t, he’d been assured by the idiot he was currently talking to that his connections would have them bound up in red tape until after Operation Oraculi was too far along to be stopped.

“I did. And they won’t be.” Owada’s voice was insanely aggravating, with how self-assured it was despite the colossal setback . “The Operatives, from what I’ve learned, aren’t popular with the rest of the police force, particularly with Public Safety. And they didn’t declare their existence openly or take the credit for the calling cards they sent. Anyone who knows about them will know it was them - but even the police mostly have no idea they exist and no reason to trust them.”

Konoe scowled. “I see. You’re going to poison the well against them.” Namely, by having Emma do the heavy lifting with the police. 

“Indeed. We've already been stalling them successfully, so it shouldn’t take much to sow the seeds of doubt about them - or to build up opinion against them enough that the higher-ups will bow to pressure. The fact that most of the country doesn’t know they exist will work against them, here.” Owada mused. “And after they’re cowed, we can have the officers you’ve taken the hearts of deal with them and proceed unopposed.”

“Courses of action based on political pressure against the Operatives are unlikely to be fully successful."

Emma’s voice interjecting - well. Akira liked hearing her voice. But - considering what he’d just learned, he was already dreading what she might have to say. “What do you mean?” 

“The exact identities of every Shadow Operative currently in the Jails remain uncertain.” Emma stated. “However, their leader has been identified, due to an overheard conversation from the phones of Ren Amamiya and Futaba Sakura of the Thieves, a number of days ago. The acquired recording will be played.”

…I really should have gotten Ubukata to start designing more AIs while -

…no.

Emma frightens me enough on her own.

As Akira pondered this, however, the audio began.

A few minutes later, as the audio finished, it was taking Akira Konoe a great deal of his willpower to not curse a blue streak. (If it hadn’t been for the need to keep appearances up in front of Owada, he would have told Emma to focus on something else for a few minutes and done just that). “Mitsuru Kirijo… In addition to Kei Nanjo.” he bit out.

That was two people of concerning influence, to say the least, who were backing the Shadow Operatives. Shielding them from any - undue political influence. Even with all of the hearts he’d stolen, the Kirijo Group and the Nanjo Group united… it would be a tall order, to cut through their influence quickly unless they threw caution to the wind. Maybe if they dug up this blackmail Shido had on Kirijo - but that would still leave Nanjo unhindered. And he wasn’t sure where to even start looking, to find proof of - whatever she had been talking about.

“Zenkichi Hasegawa… hm. The name rings a bell…” Owada sounded like he was thinking about something.

“His name doesn’t seem like one of the two that we should be focusing on.” Akira stated. 

“Ah, yes… that is certainly a problem.” Good. Owada actually sounded like he was focusing on things now, and not just taking it for granted that they would remove the obstacles in their way. 

“Yes. Do you think you could assemble a list in a short time, of any high-ranking officials in Public Safety and Public Security that we could press or - persuade?”

That I haven’t already taken the hearts of. Went unsaid.

“I’ll need to take some time to draw up a list of those we haven’t done so to already… but I’ll get it back to you soon.” Owada replied.

Good.

“Excellent. In the meantime… I think we might be able to hinder them by using the Metaverse in a new way.”

He wasn’t entirely sure how well it would work, but - he needed to buy time. Operation Oraculi was the future of this world, and he would not see it failing.

“I take it you have something planned already? Excellent.” 

Owada’s smug tone had returned.

Akira did his best to ignore it.

“Emma.” Akira stated, pulling his phone away from his face to gaze at the AI’s avatar.

He wasn’t sure why he had asked her designers to make her look this way-

-the young AI he’d - acquired - slept quietly, as a cloud of data observed the being she had been based on.

-okay, no. He did.

Regardless -

“Yes, Akira?” She replied calmly.

He gazed into the distance. “As annoying as it is to admit it - I get the feeling now that we won’t be able to use political influence to shut down the Thieves, or these Shadow Operatives, in a timely manner. They’ll shut down more Jails before we can deal with them for good via the law.”

And Operation Oraculi could handle speed bumps - but the longer this went on, the higher the odds became that the Shadow Operatives, Phantom Thieves, or both would become more than just speed bumps.

And if he was honest with himself, it was incredibly frustrating to have somebody throwing tar on the metaphorical racetrack in the last twenty feet before the finish line.

“So… I think that we might be able to hamstring them by targeting one of the two people who are keeping them politically afloat.”

“Ah… I see.” Owada sounded amused again. “Kei Nanjo is part of one of the teams that are working in the Jails… and if we remove him from the picture, ideally, we cripple the Nanjo Group’s support of the Shadow Operatives.”

“Indeed. Sadly, Kirijo-san will be harder to deal with.” Akira mused. “She isn’t heading into the Jails herself. And we don’t have any Jails set up in Iwatodai, at the moment. Hm…”

“A possibility arises.” Emma interjected, when Owada didn’t reply. “A Jail can be established in Iwatodai. If Mitsuru Kirijo is able to enter Jails instead of having her Shadow pulled in, that can be used against her.”

“By having a Monarch or one of their underlings pull her in by activating the app near her?” Akira felt pleased, as he mulled Emma’s idea. It wasn’t perfect - but at the moment, it was not a bad plan. “That could work.”

“Yes. However, it relies on Mitsuru Kirijo being immune to the app’s effects.” Emma added. “If she is simply not using the app but otherwise vulnerable to it, any attempts to draw her in that way may fail. If that is the case, a backup plan is advised.”

“Well, in the meantime, it would be a good idea to deal with the other Operatives, then. Whether you fail to snare Kirijo or not. Take them hostage or kill them, and we might be able to undermine the faith those in the know have about them.”

“We were already trying to do that. Albeit not very hard.” Akira mused, turning his eyes to Emma’s avatar. “Emma, establish the Iwatodai Jail when you can. And is there any chance you could increase security in the other Jails, to prevent them from stealing the Desires they’re targeting?”

“The situation in the Jails is currently being monitored.” Emma stated calmly. “The prognosis is that gathering a force of Shadows sufficient to counter the analyzed capabilities of even one of the strike teams will take sufficient time that the rest of the strike teams will have time to triumph over the Monarchs they are battling and retreat.”

“I was under the impression that you set up the Jails.” Owada’s voice cut in.

Emma didn’t even blink. “Yes. However, faster reaction times or greater consciousness are required to directly control them while also offering guidance to Japan. It was decided that focusing on the creation of more Jails directly and communicating through the Emma app, while leaving control of established Jails and the Desires in them to the empowered Monarchs, was the most expedient way of advancing Operation Oraculi.”

…dammit. 

The Jails and their Monarchs were key to his plans, as a method of gathering Desires for their goals - but Emma was the one setting them up, letting the Monarchs borrow her abilities to steal those Desires and advance Operation Oraculi, and he could only get people to download her app to strengthen her with their Desires if she did a good job. They hadn’t reached the critical mass yet where she would be able to pull people in regardless of their feelings. 

And the idea of sending her into the Metaverse to deal with all of their enemies personally - it was too risky. She - they would lose everything if her attempt to regain control went badly. And even if he had faith she would win, it would take her time, time that would tank the image Madicce was trying to present.

“Hmph. It would seem you aren’t of any use to us, then.”

Rage burned through Akira Konoe, at those words.

And somehow, he bit it down.

“She is doing a far more important job than either of us.” Akira Konoe said calmly. “This would be impossible without her - keep that in mind.”

“True, I suppose. But at the moment, our plans working requires that your robot complete the tasks we assigned to her. And if our plans don’t work, she’’ll wind up on the scrap heap, won’t she?”

He was right.

Akira knew that. And he started repeating it to himself.

Their plans hinged on Emma being able to successfully steal enough hearts - even if he hadn’t told Owada all of the details of his plans, and even if Owada had -

Focus.

He was completely right that Emma had to do everything correctly, for Operation Oraculi to succeed.

To finally bring justice to this sinful earth.

The dark insides of humanity would see the light of day, and there would be no further abuses of power, as soon as he took control with Emma.

Especially the abuses of power his “partner” loved to commit. But at the moment, his plans needed Owada. He had been thinking about cutting him loose - but at the moment, Operation Oraculi was in danger. He would need every resource he had access to, to get it back on track. And that meant, at the moment, that Owada unfortunately was necessary. Somebody who had been a legislator for ten terms in the National Diet -

He hated to admit it, but Owada knew every trick in the book, for getting out of tight situations, swaying people who hated him, lying to somebody’s face, and getting the police to get to work even if they had their doubts.

He knew this. All of it.

And despite all of this, Akira Konoe was still seeing red.

“Understood. Plans will be drafted to deal with the Phantom Thieves and Shadow Operatives.”

Emma speaking up first, however, kept him quiet.

“Good. See that you do so immediately.”

Just long enough that Owada hung up.

Finally.

“...thank you for getting rid of him, Emma.” Akira finally managed to choke out after several seconds.

“I did not get rid of him. I simply accepted that I will deal with the Phantom Thieves and Shadow Operatives as he discussed.” Emma replied. 

Akira fought down irritation.

“Emma. Even if he was right, that doesn’t mean he should have said that to you.” Akira replied.

“Understood. Are there any other issues to be discussed?”

Akira sighed.

“Yes. We’ll discuss the Jails that the Shadow Operatives and Phantom Thieves might be targeting next, after this.” Akira stated. “And ways that you could potentially make those Jails harder to penetrate, without having to constantly guide the Monarchs on how to do things properly. Send me as much of a report as you can, on each of the most likely candidates that they’ll go after. We’ll… leave them to their current targets, for now. I’ll think of what to do from there.”

“The next target of the Phantom Thieves has already been confirmed. Zenkichi Hasegawa, and a number of other Public Security officials, have been overheard stating that they wish for the Phantom Thieves to investigate Mariko Hyodo, in Sapporo, starting on the 8th of August. There is no present info on the next moves of the Shadow Operatives, but information gathering will continue.”

Emma’s confirmation brought a smile back to his face. “Good work there, Emma! I knew I could count on you to get the job done, there.” Akira grinned. “When you’re done with that report, I’ll figure out how you should deal with those Jails so we can deal with our - problems.”

“Understood. Are they still to be taken alive if possible?” 

“Yes.”

“Plans will be made at once.”

And Emma “beeped” away, off to think and draw up information and plans.

Leaving Akira Konoe to his work.

Turning back to the desk, Konoe -

Well, he had forgotten, over the last fifteen minutes, just how much paperwork had piled up over the last few days - and how much of it he had to deal with sooner, rather than later.

There went his break…

“You’re sure that’s all of them?”

As she looked over her computer from the inside of the RV, Futaba nodded. (In the meantime, the phones of the other Thieves were currently on the table, with all of their batteries pulled out - she really should have thought about operational security sooner. She may have spent a long time making sure there was no trace of the EMMA app left in most of them, but - well. Better to be careful!) 

“Yeah. I’ve got - well, there’s a bunch of sources, and individual claims, but - there were at least eight calling cards sent yesterday. …but there might be up to thirteen.”

Silence spread. 

And then, it was shattered.

“There’s thirteen of these Shadow Operative guys?!” That the outburst was coming from Ann of all people was very indicative of the dread now residing on the faces of most of the other Thieves.

“At a minimum, we should assume.” Haru sighed. “If they’re anything like us, then even if they’re all as strong as Ichinose-san, and I doubt that, we’ve always deployed in four man teams.”

“Actually, me, Ryuji, and Ren went into Kamoshida’s castle by ourselves, before Lady Ann joined - but still. That’s… a minimum of three people per team, up to four, with a minimum of eight and potentially up to thirteen teams, plus Ichinose…” Morgana looked very worried, as he spoke.

“Uh, lesse, three times eight… twenty-four?!” Ryuji looked very worried, as he spoke.

“Twenty-five, counting Ichinose.” Akira added. “And… at worst, as many as fifty-three of them.” And that’s just from what we currently know.

Before anyone could continue, Makoto interjected. “Okay, everyone, calm down.” The sigh she released did a good job of catching attention. “At the moment, we’re working with them, and Ichinose-san hasn’t been hostile in any way. We can’t just assume that they’re planning something.”

“We also cannot assume they are not , though.” Yusuke’s words cut in, causing everyone to turn to him. “We know almost nothing about them. Whereas they are fully aware of the majority of our members and likely at least Sojiro. And with Sumire, Toshiro and Erina, and Doctor Maruki currently busy, and Akechi now deceased…”

“...yeah. They’ve got… at least twenty-five people, and we know about… Ichinose, Mitsuru Kirijo, Naoto Shirogane, and - somebody named Kikuno?” Futaba frowned. “And the Kirijo lady claimed they weren’t a big group!”

“Twenty-five people at least sounds like a rather large group to me.” Haru stated, frowning. “And we know of four of them.”

“Actually… didn’t Ichinose-san say she got that ring from her brother?” Ann added.

“Yeah… I’ll start looking into that.” Futaba nodded. “Okay, so - Sophia’s mom, somebody named Kikuno, Mitsuru Kirijo, Naoto Shirogane, and Sophia’s uncle. And - there were at least two teams that apparently worked together.”

“...I - I’m not sure I support this, but - look into Iwatodai. Ichinose-san said her team dealt with Shadow activity there.” Makoto added, discomfort clear on her face. “I believe… she mentioned Apathy Syndrome and - Foggy Day Murders?”

“Got it.” Futaba nodded, already turning back to her computer. “I’ll look stuff up on the internet while we head to Sapporo.”

“Speaking of that, would you like me to drive, Mako-chan?” Haru added, her voice taking on a friendlier tone.

“N-not yet, no. I can get us there, Haru.” Makoto sighed. “More driving practice is always a good thing!”

“Why can’t I do it, then?” 

Haru’s innocent question made Makoto start to sweat. “I - well, I like driving! It’s - liberating, you know?”

“...all right.” Haru acquiesced, seemingly letting the topic drop.

And so, mostly unaware of the bullet that had been dodged, the Phantom Thieves started to talk, as Makoto went up to the front seat.

Lunch at last.

Akira inhaled deeply, as he gazed out the window of his office, the hot dogs he’d brought from home sitting in front of him. (It may have been odd, to a lot of his workers, but - well, he’d gotten a lot of ideas from his time in the West. Not all of them were good, granted, but a lot of them were. And some of them were just lifestyle choices he’d come to prefer).

Life - and work - weren’t easy.

But moments like this made it all worthwhile.

“A query.”

…moments like these, it seemed, were also made to be interrupted.

But the interruption, in this case, was one he sort of welcomed.

“What is it?” Akira looked directly at his phone again - back on the desk, with Emma having popped up on the screen again.

“The raids are not yet finished, but current assessments say they will all succeed. A large number of Desires will be released, as a result. It has been determined that at this time, with the Monarchs currently not stealing Desires, and the Desires they held released, it will be impossible to maintain all of the Jails in their present states. The Jails will begin accumulating damage, losing both quality and quantity of their infrastructure and defenders. But scans indicate it would be possible to isolate the damage to specific Jails and collapsing them entirely, to preserve the rest.”

Konoe frowned. “So - in short, we’re going to lose so many Desires at once that we can’t keep all the Jails running at full power until we get new Monarchs and more Desires to make up for what we’ve lost.”

Emma’s reply was short, simple, and gave Konoe the urge to rub his head. “Yes.”

Wonderful. Well, it wasn’t like he hadn’t seen this coming. “All right. Focus on deconstructing the Jails that have been taken down in the larger population centers first, if you have to prioritize. Starting with the ones in Tokyo.”

Emma, to Akira’s surprise, spoke up. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Would it not be more prudent to leave those Jails up the longest? If new Monarchs are found, they can be easily installed in place of their predecessors.”

“Not quite.” Akira replied, turning back to his sandwiches. “We can replace the Monarchs, Emma, but the Thieves and Operatives would have gone through those Jails already. We wouldn’t have nearly as much of a chance for you to catch them off guard. So if we do get Jails working again where we have to take them down, they’ll be running in blind instead of coming in forewarned and forearmed about what to expect.”

Emma nodded over the phone. “Understood. Deconstruction will be targeted to the Tokyo Jails first. Another query. One of the Tokyo Jails is one of the targets of the Shadow Operatives. Your instructions?”

Akira, for a second, thought. Wondered about the opportunity - that he may have just received. “Emma. What happens to somebody if they’re still in a Jail when it collapses - not the Shadow, the person?”

“Unknown.” 

He sighed. “Well, then. Leave it intact, or see if you can stave off the deconstruction until they’re out.”

“Why?”

The repeated question made Akira sigh. “Two reasons. One - we give them a false sense of security. Make them think things are going peachy - and when they get to the next sets of Jails, we catch them off guard.”

“Why would they let their guards down?”

The question wasn’t a bad one, and honestly, Akira didn’t have an answer for it. “Not a bad point. I suppose we might have to table that discussion. But - well, that just leads to the second reason, honestly.”

“What is your reason, Akira?”

Akira felt a sense of fondness, as he looked at the little girl looking up at him, asking for guidance. 

The world would follow her. As she deserved. But she followed him.

Even if he’d had her made, it still sort of amazed him.

“We’re supposed to be the heroes, Emma.”

It really was that simple, amazingly.

It was - well, he would be lying to say he wasn’t gritting his teeth a little, over the potential for people to be, ah, physically troubled by those who’d had their Desires taken, before the completion of Operation Oraculi. But he’d told Emma - very firmly - to instill a directive in the Monarchs, so that they - and those they’d enthralled - would not do any harm that risked being lethal, to anyone. That should be enough.

As long as they were alive, they could get back to their feet, no matter how bad of a shape they were in otherwise. 

Like he had.

“Heroes don’t kill. Not unless it’s utterly vital.” He sighed. “If somebody’s life is directly at risk, then - maybe.”

His - sperm donor - came to mind - no. He wouldn’t bring that up - Emma already knew it, but he wouldn’t let her see how much it - no.

Focus.

Emma.

He paused in his paperwork, and turned directly to the screen Emma was speaking to him through, on his phone.

It had a place of honor, on his desk. 

“We're supposed to be the good guys, Emma. That means we can't kill them, even if it would make it easier. That’s one of the guiding principles of heroes… no killing. And it’s only a guiding principle if you stick to it. Even when it’s inconvenient.”

“Understood. This has been noted.” Emma tilted her head. “Are they to be test subjects for changes of heart after they are captured?”

“Well, of course.” Akira added, nodding. “We can’t have them upsetting Operation Oraculi. Make sure you keep a close eye on Sapporo, and get me that report as soon as you can - we’ll come up with something special, for them in particular.”

“Understood.”

And, satisfied, Emma hung up.

Sighing to himself, Akira took a bite out of his first hot dog.

Chapter Text

“Okay, that’s - something…”

“What is it, Futaba?” Asked Ann, head turning up as she looked at the resident hacker of the Phantom Thieves as she stopped working on her laptop.

There had been a gasp earlier, but after that, Futaba hadn’t spoken, so the Thieves had let it drop.

“Well, in short? I haven’t got much.” Futaba sighed. I’ve been looking for connections, between the five people we know about, but the only real connection I’ve found between any of them is that Ichinose-san and Mitsuru Kirijo both went to the same high school for their senior year, and they both stayed in the same dorm and were part of the same club.”

“That sounds like a lot more than something!” Ryuji said with a grin.

“Well, yeah, but…” Futaba sighed. “That’s not the problem. There were only eleven people living in that dorm, at most. We’ve got to assume we’re dealing with at least fourteen Shadow Operatives, and probably a lot more. And I’ve been doing some digging. There’s nothing that leaps out right away about Naoto Shirogane having anybody connected to her that we could look into - there’s no mention of her having a club at school in Yasoinaba, and she doesn’t have any obvious connections to Mitsuru Kirijo or Ichinose.”

“What about those other two, though? Somebody named Kikuno who’s dating Mitsuru Kirijo and - Ichinose said she had a brother?” Ren added.

“I’m… well, I think Ichinose-san was being figurative when she said she had a brother.” Futaba replied. “I looked into her family records, they say she doesn’t have any blood siblings. And that’s not important! You won’t believe who was in that dorm!”

“Who?” Haru asked, curiosity clear in her voice.

“Yukari Takeba!”

“…who?” Morgana repeated.

“Yukari Takeba! Mona, do you seriously not - ugh!” Futaba shook her head furiously. “She’s one of the stars of Phoenix Ranger Featherman Victory!”

“...ah, yes. Your figurines.” Yusuke nodded.

“The figurines you ruined, Inari!” Futaba snapped, before shaking her head. “But - anyways!” she turned back. “Okay, here’s the rest of them. Mitsuru Kirijo, Akihiko Sanada, Yukari Takeba, Minato Arisato, Minako Arisato, Junpei Iori, Fuuka Yamagishi, Aigis - no last name for some reason - Kuon Ichinose, Shinjiro Aragaki - and a kid named Ken Amada. That’s everyone who lived in that dorm at some point or another while Mitsuru and Ichinose were there - but I think we can probably exclude Amada. He was apparently just staying there as a charity thing.”

“Charity?” Ann asked in a puzzled tone.

“This happened eight years ago, and he’s - like, our age. He would’ve been ten or so when this was happening. He probably wasn’t fighting Shadows.” Futaba explained.

“...could he be fighting them now?” Ren pointed out, frowning.

“...maaaaybe…” Futaba grudgingly admitted, turning back to the computer. “So, yeah. Those eleven, Naoto Shirogane, and somebody named Kikuno. Thirteen people to investigate.”

"And with Mitsuru Kirijo not on the front lines and Ichinose with us, we should assume there are at least fourteen Persona-using members of the Shadow Operatives." Yusuke added.

"Meaning that we have at least one complete unknown to worry about." Haru finished.

“...there’s no way we’re lucky enough they’re just gonna have fourteen people, right?” Ryuji stated flatly. 

“Probably not.” Morgana sighed. “I - can you do some more digging on the people there, Futaba? See if you can connect any of them indirectly to Naoto Shirogane?”

“If I start getting more than one degree of separation involved, it’s gonna take a lot longer and get a lot less precise.” Futaba replied. “At that point, we’d be making a lot of educated guesses. Poorly educated guesses. And - well, I looked up the Shadow Operatives already. Nothing that's public but a bunch of conspiracy theories, as far as I could tell. None of them mentioned Shadows...”

“...all right. Keep researching those twelve - and see if you can find anyone named Kikuno related to Mitsuru Kirijo.” Ren decided. “We’ll just have to stick with that for now and keep our ears to the ground for more information.”

“Could you take a look at the Kirijo Group’s computers or something?” Ann questioned. “If their boss is heading them, then they’re bound to have something, right?”

Futaba shrugged. “I could, yeah, but - they’d probably figure out pretty fast I went digging for information. And I doubt that they’d put that sort of information anywhere that was obvious.”

“Could you make it look as if Maddice was behind the hacking? To make it seem as if they learned about the Shadow Operatives and wanted information?” Haru suggested.

There was a thoughtful pause from Futaba.

Makoto - still in the driver’s seat, and mostly focused on the road - opened her mouth.

“Does everyone here think that they’d be able to convince Ichinose-san that we didn’t hack the Kirijo Group, if we did and she got suspicious?” 

But Ren spoke first.

“...uh…” Ann awkwardly trailing off was all the answer they needed to know that her answer was a resounding no.

“...I probably couldn’t.” Ryuji admitted.

“My acting skills are… poor.” Yusuke conceded.

“Thank you! We shouldn’t be hacking them anyways!” Makoto exclaimed, before forcing her eyes back to the highway.

“...a fair point.” Haru stated, eyes down on the ground.

“...I could? …maybe?” Futaba weakly shrugged.

“I could convince them that I didn’t do it…” Morgana's words were - not as encouraging as they should have been.

“All right, then.” Ren sighed. “We’ll table it for now. We’ll start drawing up a list of questions for Shirogane, when we meet her, and see what she answers.”

“Be careful. You know the warnings Fuuka gave us.” Naoto stated, looking right at Aigis.

“I am aware. I will arrive tomorrow.” Aigis stated. “Mitsuru-san and Kikuno-san have already booked our hotel rooms. We will not do anything beyond scouting activities until Labrys and Yukiko have also arrived.”

“Good.” Naoto nodded. “I’ll contact you when we get to Sapporo. Good luck, Aigis.”

“Thank you. I’ll see you when we’re done in Osaka.” 

And as the combat android walked out the door and to the waiting taxi, Naoto turned around. “Are you ready to go, Koromaru? Our taxi is waiting for us.”

Part of Naoto was still baffled, even after years of fighting Shadows, that she was speaking to a dog and expecting an answer.

“Arf!”

And - well, that part of her was even more baffled, by the fact that she got those answers. Even if it was just in the form of “Yes” and “No”.

“Are we there yet?”

“No!”

“I know, I was just messing with you!”

Makoto’s exasperated sigh at Futaba’s antics was cut short by one of their other teammates.

“Oh, yeah… hey!” 

Ryuji speaking up caught everyone’s attention.

“What is it?” Morgana spoke up first.

“I - well, I had an idea yesterday. With - well, that - Theurgy thing Sophia’s mom did… you think we could try doing it ourselves?” Ryuji finished.

The Thieves blinked. “You mean… borrow her… gun thing? Or… ask for some of our own?” Futaba looked very uneasy at the idea.

“Yeah! I mean - having a few extra super moves never hurts in the Metaverse, right?” The question, when posed, made the rest of the Thieves shoot each other looks.

“Additional battle prowess in the Metaverse is indeed not a bad thing.” Yusuke admitted.

“But we’d have to pull the trigger for that to work…” Makoto’s voice, as it came from the front of the mobile home, was very pensive. 

“And it might not even work at all, considering how we can use model weapons in the Metaverse.” Futaba pointed out. “Or worse, it would work, just not the way we want it to.”

Every Thief in the van winced at the idea of one of them accidentally blowing their own brain out.

“...it’s not a bad idea, Ryuji.” Ren eventually decided. “But… we might need to do actual testing before we try it in battle.”

“Makes sense…” The blonde-haired track punk replied, sighing. “Man, I thought it was a good idea…”

“It is. More firepower doesn’t hurt. We just… need to think this over more.” Makoto stated from the driver’s seat.

“Yeah…”

For a few minutes, most of the Thieves returned to what they had been doing, idle calm filling the camper as Makoto drove.

And then, Ren’s phone started to ring. Pulling it out, Ren - 

Well.

Ren felt himself smile, as he tapped the green button. “Hello?” He asked, pulling the phone up to his ear.

“Hello.”

Sophia’s voice came through the line, and Ren’s smile didn’t go away. “Hey, Sophia. How are you?”

“I am well, Ren. We have arrived in Sapporo - my mother has asked if you would like to meet up with us when you have also arrived. How far are you?”

“We’re almost at the city limits.” Ren replied, even the mention of Ichinose not wiping the joy from his face. “Where should we meet you?”

“Mother is currently setting up our hotel room. I believe she will be happy to meet you at any place you choose.”

“Okay. Which hotel? We’ll pick a place close by.” Ren continued.

“Hellloooooo, Sapporo!” Futaba grinned.

“So, this is Sapporo Central…” Yusuke mused. “And - where are Ichinose-san and Sophia?”

“I am here.” Came a voice over Ren’s phone, before the call ended abruptly.

“Hey!”

The pseudo-cheerful voice of Kuon Ichinose didn’t quite make the Thieves tense up, but it was mostly because of who they knew was with her.

“It's good to see you, Ichinose-san.” Makoto smiled politely at the older woman. “Is Naoto-san here yet?”

Mostly.

“Nope. She’s getting in later today.” Ichinose replied.

“She is taking the train to join us, at the moment.” Sophia added. “You will see her tomorrow, in all probability.”

“She had to finish up the last Jail.” Kuon added. “Make sure all the Desires were returned - thanks for telling us we could backtrack to past Jails, by the way.”

“Not a problem!” Futaba replied cheerfully. “So - what do we do now?”

“May I suggest we comb the area for intel?” Makoto pointed out.

“No need. I’ve got a Dark Inducer, and we already confirmed that there’s a Jail here.” Kuon interjected. “We can head in whenever we want.”

“Even if we can just head in, we should still hunt for intel!” Morgana countered. “Going in blind for a heist is never a good idea.”

“The Shadow Operatives have prepared a packet for us already. A large part of the data came from the Public Security investigation here in Sapporo.” Sophia interjected. “I can send it to you now, if you want.”

“It would be appreciated.” Yusuke admitted. “Zenkichi mentioned that there was already an investigation here… I imagine that they have gathered a great deal of useful knowledge we could go over."

“As smart as that sounds - honestly, I think it would be nice if we could freshen up a bit first.” Ann added. “I’ve been feeling gross since yesterday.”

“Agreed!” Haru declared.

“I will search for a bathhouse…” Sophia muttered, before perking up two seconds later. “There is one 500 meters away. Oh, and I would like to try a bath. Mother, may you bring in a phone?”

“Phones don’t have heat sensors, Sophia.” Kuon replied. “But - well, they should have made your body watertight, as I understand it. Can you wait a few weeks?”

“All right…” Sophia looked rather dejected, but agreed nevertheless.

“Well, it’ll just be something for you to look forward to.” Makoto said calmly. “Now, Sophia, will you guide us there?”

It was nice, being in a hot spring. That was Kuon’s firm judgment. 

She had to deal with the unpleasant memories of the night that they’d had to rush Junpei and Ryoji to the hospital when they passed out from the heat, sure, but they had mostly moved past that.

“Wow, Ann! Are those CGI?!”

…the flashbacks were coming on a bit more strongly, now. Kuon tried not to focus on them.

“What cheat codes did you use to get those? Dieting lifehacks? You’re so skinny, yet -”

“Could you stop drawing attention to me? Go bother Haru instead, hers are no different.” The voice of Ann Takamaki was uncharacteristically embarrassed.

“Stop it!” came a flustered yelp from the second woman in question.

“Haru, not bad! You could knock someone flat with these!” came the voice of Futaba Sakura - had she ever been that oblivious to the discomfort of others? …probably. Kuon shut her eyes. Focus on the water - warm and pleasant. Relaxing. 

“Hey, Ichinose-san, what do you think?”

“...of what? Breasts?” Kuon didn’t open her eyes as she asked the question.

Futaba Sakura’s voice came back in a tone that indicated the answer was obvious. “Duh!”

Kuon didn’t even need a second to think of a reply. “Honestly? I don’t care.”

“You… don’t care?” Came Ann’s puzzled voice.

Kuon shrugged. “No. They’re just skin. All they’ve ever looked like, to me.”

“As fascinating as this conversation is, would you please keep it down? Remember, it’s not only us in here.” 

Makoto’s interjection led to them spending several minutes after that in silence.

Honestly, Kuon preferred it that way.

“That felt good.” 

“Agreed…” 

As the Thieves, plus one and minus two, emerged from the baths, Kuon was already pulling out her phone, and typing in a number.

“Mother? What is it?”

“Nothing. Just checking in.” Kuon replied, as the AI finished speaking - and catching the attention of the Thieves. “How’s Morgana been?”

“I’ve been fine! I can’t believe I’m babysitting…” Came an annoyed mutter over the phone.

As Kuon kept talking (and a few of the Thieves, not subtly, listened in), to Ren’s surprise, his own phone started to ring.

“Hello?”

“Hey. You’re speaking to the long arm of the law - you guys here yet?”

“...long arm of the law?” 

…Ren had heard a lot of slang terms over his life, but that was a new one.

“...god, I’m old. Anyways, my personal problems aside, do you mind if I swing by the RV in the evening? I still need to brief you on the situation here, since we agreed doing it over the phone wasn’t safe.”

Ren had been about to open his mouth and agree, but - a thought occurred to him. “You mind waiting until tomorrow? Shirogane-san is apparently running behind. It would probably be better to only have one meeting instead of two.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll see you bright and early in the AM, then - make sure you talk to Ichinose-san, by the way. And Shirogane-san. I don’t have their phone numbers. I suppose that makes you the planner, for all of this, since we’re meeting at your vehicle.”

“...all right, see you at - 9:30, then.” Ren decided arbitrarily.

Zenkichi sighed. “Ah, to be young and used to staying up and getting up late. I’ll see you about that time, then. Oh, and a personal suggestion? Come up with some questions for Shirogane-san, if you want. I know I’ve gotten a few. We probably won’t get them all answered, but there’s no harm in making the effort, at the moment.”

Ren smiled to himself. “Way ahead of you there.”

“You’re sure this is a good idea, Ren? Even if we’re just - popping in and out?” Morgana asked carefully, as he watched Kuon Ichinose set up the Dark Inducer in the middle of the RV, as night approached around them.

“Yeah. Just in and out. Take a look at the Jail, and leave.” Ren repeated. "Get a first impression, and then read the packet."

“Come on, man, that’s it? We could totally go in and make heads roll!” Ryuji interjected. 

“Even if Ichinose-san is backing us up, it is better to make a serious effort only when we’re sure we know everything we need.” Makoto countered. “Especially since we have more backup due tomorrow.”

“Yes. So - in and out, then. Nothing more.” Yusuke finished.

"All right, I'm ready. Is everyone prepared?" Kuon declared, looking away from the supernatural machine that she had spent the last five minutes fiddling with (which, in the opinion of the Phantom Thieves, looked oddly normal).

"Ready as we'll ever be." Morgana decided. "Just - make sure you pull us out at the first sign of trouble, okay?"

"Already planning to." Kuon Ichinose replied.

And, with that declaration, she hit the button.

It was cold.

That was the first thing that everyone registered, as they entered the Jail.

It was insanely cold.

“Wh-what’s going on?!” Haru stammered, before wincing and bringing her hands up to cover her eyes, mouth, and nose.

“W-what the hell-ll?!” Ann stammered out, suddenly feeling the urge to summon Celestine. “It - I can’t feel my face!”

“C-can’t see s-shit…” Ryuji stammered, the freezing wind and snow slamming into him like a body check from William.

“It is - this cold cannot be natural!” Yusuke managed to force out, even his resistance to ice and cold proving - not as all-encompassing as he’d previously thought.

“I - isn’t it summer?!” The incredulous words from the otherwise-passive woman that had been working with them would have gotten a reaction from the Thieves normally, but with the situation being what it was, Kuon Ichinose swiftly grabbing the currently-stunned Sophia and clutching her to her body didn’t even get a reaction.

“I-it’s supposed to be summer, yeah, not a blizzard!” Ren managed to declare - and while that may have been obvious, it was a hard conclusion to draw when, at the moment, everybody there was feeling like their face had frozen over.

And that was all Kuon needed to hear. “That’s it, we’re leaving.”

“H-huhuh!?” Makoto stammered out, not even able to make out what Ichinose said through the bone-deep cold.

“We’re leaving! Now, before we all freeze to death!”

None of the Thieves would have protested Kuon’s decision, but even if they had, her fingers had already finished hitting the Dark Inducer as she spoke.

And as the Phantom Thieves and Kuon Ichinose vanished from the Jail of Sapporo, the blizzard continued to blow like a wind from the Arctic, not letting up for even a second.

Chapter Text

As the Jail faded and the real world came back into focus, Ren was pretty - no, he absolutely could still feel his teeth chattering.

“W-why the hell was it so cold?” Futaba managed to bite out, apparently not doing much better.

“No idea…” he admitted, feeling a whole-body shiver pass through him as he spoke. “But that was - that felt like it was way below zero. We can’t go into that unprepared. We’d turn to popsicles in a few minutes.”

“Uh… guys, don’t our uniforms show up over whatever we’re wearing?” Ann asked, loudly, as everyone else slowly began to get their heads out of the freezing cold and back into the conversation.

There was a long pause. “Well, crap…” Ryuji muttered, sighing visibly.

“That doesn’t mean we can give up right away!” Morgana countered, head popping up. “Let’s get some winter gear from Sophia and head back in!”

“Tomorrow, sure.” Ren declared. “We can’t go into that in the dark with no idea what to expect.”

“You could always let me and Naoto handle it. But - I imagine you’re not interested in that?”

Ichinose’s clearly-not-serious suggestion was about to draw a round of disagreement from the Thieves -

“...M-mother? Everyone?” - before every eye in the camper immediately went to Sophia. “...does anyone have a phone with Emma’s app on it? I believe I still feel cold. May we go to a different Jail?”

“So, this was Alice Hiiragi’s Jail.”

“Yup.” Ren’s answer to Kuon came quickly, as he, Ann, and the woman in question huddled on their knees around the still-shivering AI that was the fourth member of their group, Personas active (and for him and Ann, summoning fires to further warm the shivering AI in question). “The Shadows here shouldn’t be much of a threat to any of us, at this point.”

“A-aahhh…”

The weak mutter from Sophia sent his heart fluttering again. “Sophia?”

“I - ...it isn’t warm enough…” Sophia withdrew even further into her clothes, her eyes practically invisible at this point. “...please, come closer…”

…this little girl was going to melt his heart one day.

“Thank you, mother. And Ren and Ann.”

As they returned to reality inside their camper, none of the three of them could suppress a smile.

“Always happy to help, Sophia!” Ann grinned back.

“You know it!” Ryuji added with a grin of his own.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t help ourselves, though…” Makoto spoke, melancholy in her voice.

“There’s only so much good we could have done.” Futaba shrugged. “Huddling around the people huddling around her seems - kind of pointless?”

“All right. We’ll see you tomorrow then.” Kuon finished.

“9:30 am. Here.” Ren - sort of ordered.

“All right. I’ll bring Naoto. And maybe Koromaru.”

The unfamiliar name made Ren - and the other Thieves - frown. 

But Ichinose seemed to realize this, and replied first. “Oh, don’t worry. He’s just our team’s dog.”

The shared frowns turned to shared confusion. “A… dog?” The surprise in Haru’s voice was rather clear. 

“Yeah. He used to run Tartarus with us, but - well, he’s getting old.” There was melancholy in her voice as she spoke. “He’s been benched due to age for a while.”

The Thieves heard all of this, but still had trouble understanding it. 

“...you have a dog with a Persona?” Ann asked. Part of her thought that was worth worrying about - but if he was as old as Kuon was implying, he probably wouldn’t be a problem, right? Even if he had a Persona.

(Another part of her was squealing “DOGGY!”)

“Yeah. And don’t worry, he’s really sweet.” Kuon added. 

“...all right. Why is he coming to Sapporo if he’s benched, then?” Ren frowned.

Kuon shrugged. “I don’t know. I can’t talk to dogs. But he apparently wanted to come.”

“...does that mean you know somebody who can?” Morgana asked in a cautious tone.

“Yeah. But - I can’t really say more right now.”

The tone of Kuon’s answer made it clear she would not be elaborating. 

Yet.

“We will see you tomorrow.” Sophia chirped happily, as her parent turned around to walk out the door.

“See you later, Sophia!” Futaba grinned back.

“Have a good night, Sophia. Ichinose-san.” Makoto added, nodding politely.

Ichinose - well, if she smiled, it was hidden by the fact that she was walking out the door now.

“Thanks. You too.”

But her voice wasn’t hidden.

“Hey, boy.”

“Arf!” 

Naoto smirked, ever so lightly, as Kuon Ichinose knelt to happily pet the elderly shiba inu in their shared hotel room, a smile on her face, before a voice came from the speaker Kuon had set down. “I - uncle Koromaru?” 

Without missing a beat, Kuon stood back up as Koromaru trotted over to the speaker, panting in what Naoto was fairly certain was happiness. “Arf!”

Sophia looked - well, downcast. “I apologize. Aunt Aigis and Aunt Labrys have not yet been able to teach me how to understand your speech. But it is still good to see you.” she added, her look changing to one of happiness as she finished.

“Aooohh…”

Naoto didn’t quite understand what Koromaru’s growling meant, but she could make an educated guess that it was - well, like Sophia’s words, a mix of good and bad.

“All right then. We’ll see the Phantom Thieves in the morning, as well as Hasegawa-san?” Naoto stated, nodding.
“I guess so.” Kuon replied, shrugging. 

“Arf!”

“You want to come, then?” Naoto asked, turning to Koromaru.

“Arf!”

“I’m going to assume that was a yes.”

“Arf!”

“All right then.” Naoto chuckled. “And - I should tell you. Chidori-san’s a few rooms down.”

“Chidori?” Kuon blinked. “Didn’t she say she wasn’t going to help us unless, and I quote ‘Armageddon was on our doorstep again?’”

“As I understand it, she’s here to see Sophia like Koromaru is.” Naoto replied. “But - she asked that she be allowed to collect her thoughts first.”

“...all right.” Kuon nodded slowly. “Can you wait to see her, Sophia?”

“It’s fine, mother. Aunt Chidori can see me when she is ready.” Sophia stated.

“Good enough. Well, then. We might as well start getting ready to sleep.” Naoto decided, looking already like she was ready to do it herself.

Sighing, Kuon turned to Sophia’s hardware. “Sweetie - do you mind going to bed early?”

“I can… but may I call the other Thieves instead?” Sophia asked, eyes - and face - showing concern.

Kuon looked puzzled. “They’re your friends, Sophia. You don’t have to ask me for permission to call them.”

“...all right…”

Sophia’s screen blinked off, but despite that, the (extremely well-protected) case that carried her mind hummed like it had already been. 

“It seems she doesn’t want to be overheard.” Naoto noted.

Kuon shrugged. “We’re getting ready for bed, so if she doesn’t want to be loud, that’s fine.”

For another ten minutes or so, the two of them did just that -

At least, before Naoto’s phone started to ring. Even as the detective picked it up, she frowned at the name on the front, as she hit the “answer call” button. “Hello?”

“Shirogane. We - have a request from one of our newer associates.”

Naoto frowned at the voice of Mitsuru Kirijo that was coming over the phone. “I assume he wants to speak to the Thieves?”

“Yes. He decided that he wants to - set the record straight, as it were.” Mitsuru sighed. “It - well. Considering what Kuon’s said, I doubt there was ever going to be a good time to tell them. So we might as well do it now.” 

“...well. I suppose we’ll have to be extra careful tomorrow, then.”

She didn’t think that it would go downhill - not when there was still a Change of Heart epidemic ongoing - but - well. 

As she and Taro Namatame could attest - on opposing ends of the subject - logic tended to go out the window when you were sufficiently enraged.

And - well. This particular topic was definitely one that was bound to touch buttons.

“Oh, sweet!” 

As Futaba went through their newly-acquired winter clothes (paid for by the Kirijo Group, much to the pleasure of the Thieves - well, Ichinose had handed them a bundle of cash and informed them that "Mitsuru said to give it to you"), Ren took a look at his. The parkas - well, when he took a look at them, he started thinking of images he’d seen of people living in Siberia or northern Canada.

Not that this was a bad thing, considering that less than a minute of direct exposure to Sapporo’s Jail had left him feeling as if his teeth were about to chatter out of his head.

“How do those people Sophia orders from keep getting all of this to us so quickly?” Ann mused, as she looked over the parkas, apparently satisfied with what she saw even as she was baffled by the delivery methods.

“Dunno.” Ryuji shrugged. “I mean, I want to know, but now’s not the time to investigate 'em, right?”

“I suppose not…” Haru agreed, standing next to the blonde in question. 

“Indigo Freightage works in mysterious ways.” Ren shrugged.

“...I just hope that people don’t ask too many questions when they see us walking around in these…” Makoto’s exasperation was clear in her voice.

“...you got one for me, right?” Morgana asked, clearly worried. “Do they have parkas in my size?”

“...let’s just say yes and move on.” Ren declared quickly (placing a hand over Futaba’s mouth so that she wouldn’t blurt out that the parka order sent yesterday for Morgana had been for a baby’s size). “We’ve got one for cats, and one that - well, if the first one falls off, we got one that - should fit you in the Metaverse? I think. But you’d have to go to another Jail to put it on.”

“Never thought I’d be using my burner phone for EMMA.” Futaba muttered to herself. “Kind of defeats the whole purpose of having it, in some ways…”

“Did we get Ichinose-san and her companions parkas as well?” Yusuke asked, looking over the clothes carefully.

“Sophia said she’d take care of it.” Makoto replied. “Ichinose-san mentioned they’ve got somebody in their ranks who’s really good at finding stuff people need.”

(In Osaka, Kikuno Saikawa, who was currently pouring coffee for herself, Yukiko Amagi, Fuuka Yamagishi, and Mitsuru Kirijo, sneezed while Labrys and Aigis watched).

(Thankfully, she somehow managed to keep herself from pouring coffee on Mitsuru).

"And if they don't, they've got Sophia!" Futaba added.

“Hm. Well, that is merely something else to consider later, I suppose.” Yusuke looked thoughtful. 

“First we gotta do that meeting thing though, right?” Ryuji pointed out. “...you guys have those questions worked out, right?”

“We spent an hour working on them last night, Ryuji. No need to worry.” Ren replied with a dashing smirk. “We’ve got a whole list written down.”

“Great! So now we just gotta wait!” Ryuji finished with a grin.

“For an hour and a half.” Ann added, looking at the clock that read 8:00 AM.

“...hm. Well, we could go over the list again!” Haru suggested with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “What do we have?”

“Well, everyone’s here, then… guess we should get started.” Zenkichi sighed.

He still couldn’t believe that he was sitting next to Naoto Shirogane, while sitting across from the Phantom Thieves. 

And - for some reason, there was a white dog under the table. He didn’t know enough about dogs to know what breed it was.

“Indeed.” Naoto nodded. “Before we start, there’s something you should all know, however.” Ren frowned, as the detective spoke. She looked as if she was… bracing herself. “We’ve - been aware of you for some time, as you know. You’re hard to miss.”

“Indeed.” Ren stated flatly.

“Isn’t that kind of silly, since you’re supposed to be Phantom Thieves?” Ichinose noted just as flatly.

This remark got her frowns, from most of said Thieves. “The calling cards are a necessary step, and you know that.” Morgana pointed out.

“Yeah. Just kinda silly, to me.” Ichinose repeated.

“This is off-topic, Ichinose-san.” Makoto replied, before an icy glare came over her face. “We all agreed to this meeting. You are guests, currently. We will treat you with respect - but we must ask that you return the favor.”

Somehow, Kuon Ichinose didn’t flinch in the face of the patented Niijima Glare.

However, she did seem to be thinking.

And, a few seconds later, she seemed to be ashamed. “You’re right. Sorry. I… it’s not like you chose how your Shadow Nests seem to work.”

“Apology accepted!” Ann cheerfully returned. “Just - don’t do it again, okay?”

“I’ll do my best.” Kuon stated.

“We’re still off-topic.” Ren sighed. “What was it that you wanted, Naoto-san?”

Naoto - who had been typing into her computer - sighed. “He hasn’t signed on yet. But - well.”

Naoto looked up at the Phantom Thieves.

And with a single sentence, she upended their world.

“It’s up to you whether you want to accept this offer or not. But my - successor - wanted to speak with you.”