Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Four-Point Start

Also known as "set position"; the pose which runners must assume at the starting call.

Osaka freakin’ rules. There’s gonna be so much food to try out here. Too bad we’ve got work to do, Ryuji laments. Maybe after this mess is taken care of, they can finally make a stop on this road trip that doesn’t involve taking down a corrupt adult.

Everyone piles out of the RV and gathers around their leader as he fields another phone call with Ichinose. Ren seems to have gotten used to it, but Ryuji’s still off-put by how upbeat and cheery she sounds all the damn time. Maybe she’s just an oddball by nature, but something about it just doesn’t sit right with him—especially considering the situation they’re in—but whatever, at least she’s being a huge help. No use looking a gift horse in the mouth right now.

After the call ends, everyone pairs up to start investigating (and do a little sightseeing in the meantime; sue him for trying to fit in some fun, despite it all).

Ryuji tags along with Haru and tries not to be too aware of the impression that this unlikely combination is probably leaving with the crowds of people wandering the shopping arcade. He’s pretty sure that he looks less like a friend and more like a hired guard or, more likely and far worse, a punk trying to scam the nice young lady beside him. She glances up at him, then starts to giggle.

“Ryuji, you’re scowling!” Her candidness stuns the creases out of his brow and softens his face into something more worried.

“My bad! Force of habit!” He’s suddenly, somehow, even more self-conscious than he already was. “...I wasn’t scaring you, was I?”

“Oh, you’ll have to try much harder than that,” she says airily, “you aren’t quite as intimidating as you think you are!”

Ryuji doesn’t really know what to say to that. He’s a little offended; he takes some pride in the effort he puts into lookin' like a guy that you wouldn’t wanna screw around with! But, he’s also a little relieved. How the heck does she do that?

While he’s lost in thought about Haru and her weird ability to pacify him by stumping the hell out of him, her eyes dart around a few times before looking up at him again. “You know…I never had the chance to thank you, for stepping between myself and Natsume-san back in Sendai.”

Ryuji, shocked that she’s even bringing this up now, sheepishly rubs the back of his neck and bows at her slightly. “It was nothin’.”

“I’ll have to politely disagree with you on that.” Ryuji blinks back at her in confusion, and Haru hums before elaborating.

“I feel very safe when I’m with you and the others,” she takes a beat to hook her arm into the crook of Ryuji’s elbow, watching in amusement as he jolts in surprise at the sudden contact, then continues, “which is a luxury I didn’t have for a very long time. Those thoughtless acts of kindness that may come easily to you mean so much to me. I can’t tell you how grateful I am to have such dependable friends.”

Ryuji mulls that over for a moment, considers her and everything he knows of what she has gone through, as he slows down to match her pace. “I guess I can kinda understand the feeling. Well, as long as I'm around, I won't let any of you guys be in danger. So don't worry about stuff like getting hassled by gross, entitled dudes anymore. You just say the word, and I'll be first in line to help you knock ‘em flat!” He flashes her a lopsided smile and flexes his free arm for emphasis, much to her merriment, and is rewarded with the sound of Haru’s gentle laughter for his efforts.

“Wow, I’m so lucky to have such a valiant knight protecting me!”

They come to a stop in front of a large theater, and Haru finally releases his arm as her attention is caught by the entrance to the building. In the corner of his own vision, Ryuji can see Ren wandering around in the distance, and waves him over. He turns back to his companion.

“Ryuji, what do you know about Osaka’s rich theater history?”

The pair bid a quick farewell to their leader, watching Morgana slip away into his bag as Ren pulls his phone from his pocket to fall into a covert conversation with Sophia.

“Well, that was a delightful digression!” Haru turns on her heel to face him suddenly; he can see that an idea has popped into her head and braces himself for more shenanigans.

“While we’re in this area, would you mind spending just a bit more time with me before we meet with the others? I’d like to try some Osaka-style sushi from one of the stands here; I’ve heard good things online, and I’m curious if they have something that I can add to my cooking repertoire!”

Now we’re talkin’. Ryuji may be slightly worn out from having to play the straight man in their impromptu comedy act with Ren, but he’s always up for more food. And, for what it’s worth, Haru is really hard to say no to anyway. She has him wrapped around her dainty little finger, and he knows it. Whether she knows this is a different story, but if she does, she sure as hell doesn’t hold back when it comes to pulling Ryuji along to any fleeting fancy that enters her mind.

He nods eagerly and follows her to the food stand in question. Their short walk goes without incident, and Haru treats him to a small plate of sushi; she informs him of the ingredients and the assembly of each piece in great detail—apparently, it’s a method iconic to the prefecture—and it tastes amazing. They stand off to the side of the main walkway, next to an unmanned shop so as not to be overheard as their conversation steers toward work.

“You know, our chat earlier got me thinking about our target.” Ryuji gives Haru his full attention while continuing to munch on his food. “I’m not sure how to feel about his motive; I think I have an idea for why he's doing this, but it's only a theory, and I’d like some opinions.”

“And you want mine? I’m not sure if I'm your best choice for smart insights here, you're better off takin’ this up with someone like Ren or Makoto. Hell, Zenkichi is an actual detective. You got plenty of options.”

“You might be right about that, but I think that your perspective is a valuable one, too. I’ll probably check in with Mako-chan and the others as well, but for now, your input would be appreciated.”

“...Alright, shoot.”

“What are your thoughts on ‘free will’?”

If he’s honest, he hasn't really given it much thought at all. He knows on a basic level that it's something people need, it's something that he even fought gods tooth-and-nail alongside his friends to maintain back in December. But the concept is just too nebulous for him to articulate. He flounders for a while before he decides that this is all a little beyond him right now; he just knows that he can’t sit still if something or someone is coming for humanity’s freedom. He isn’t sure of what it means to him specifically, only that it’d feel off to him if society didn't have free will. Ryuji relays each thought to Haru as it pops into his head.

“I suppose that’s very like you! So you don’t have a tangible idea of what it means to you, but generally, if the situation feels wrong, you’ll act based on your instincts?”

“Yeah, I tend to follow my gut, I guess.”

“...If that’s the case, you’ve got a wonderfully noble heart. Unfortunately, there aren't many people who react to injustice as quickly or as fiercely as you can.”

“Don’t I know it,” He sees the downcast look in Haru’s eyes and quickly follows up, “but that’s what we’re trying to change, ain’t it?”

Ryuji breathes an internal sigh of relief as her expression returns to a soft smile when she turns back to him.

“That’s right!”

“So, uh, what about Konoe got you thinkin’ about this? What’s ‘free will’ mean to you?”

“For me...hmm, I’d have to say that it’s the freedom to choose my own path. I spent so many years seen as a tool to further my father’s ambitions, as opposed to being seen as his child; after a while, the adults around me and in his social circle started to treat me as though I never had any autonomy in the first place…” Haru starts looking a bit mournful, but then interrupts her own reminiscence, “Well, not everyone, at least! I was so happy to cross paths with Mari-san again, she was always very considerate of me. Though, it’s a shame that it was under the circumstance of her being our target!” 

“But she seems like a decent lady when it comes down to it. Even if we had to change her heart, I’m glad you got another person in your corner, Haru.”

Haru smiles warmly at that. “Right! Ah, but I should answer your question before taking a trip down memory lane, shouldn’t I?” She angles her head slightly to the side and presses a finger to her temple, deep in thought.

“Ever since the EMMA service went down, I noticed more and more people walking around speaking as though they can’t make decisions for themselves without it…they sound so lost without the app operating properly. It’s unnerving, but it got me thinking about the times when I wasn’t allowed to voice my opinions or have a choice in matters without my father’s input, and then it clicked.”

Ryuji can almost see the connection she’s drawing, but it's just out of reach for him.

“I guess that the point I’m trying to make is…I’m familiar with the feeling of helplessness that comes from having your thoughts made completely irrelevant because all the decisions are being made by someone else. I personally couldn’t bear to live in a world like that again, but it feels like that’s the kind of world that Konoe and Owada are trying to create with EMMA.” 

He thinks he gets it now. “We won’t let that happen.”

“Of course!” Haru pumps her tiny fist in the air enthusiastically and proclaims, “The Phantom Thieves are here to take down any evildoers who oppose them!”

“Haha, hell yeah! Bad guys better watch their backs!”

After a few more minutes of idle chatting, they finish their food and Haru sends Ryuji off, saying that she’ll rejoin the group at their meeting spot momentarily; her thoughts of Hyodo had inspired her to look for a souvenir to send back to Sapporo. Ryuji ambles back over to Shinsekai, where he bumps into Ren talking to Sophia and Morgana in front of the weird Buddha-like statue that Ryuji already has forgotten the name of. The other members of their group gradually trickle into the intersection, just in time to overhear a large crowd of people begging this statue to get the EMMA app up and running again.

Chapter Text

Starting Fire

The signal at which the runner begins the trial.

This jail is an assault on the senses. It's objectively pretty cool, the hero-of-justice stuff, and it's all glittering steel and flashing neon lights, but the moment he peers through the seams, there’s nothing but a decaying city in the distance. The half-hearted set dressing is a loud and bright distraction, a cover-up for the fact that everything is in shambles underneath…Skull hates the way that thought rattles around in the back of his head, holding fragments of truth for things that have nothing to do with the guy they’re chasing down.

He realizes he’s fallen behind a bit, so he tears his eyes away from where the edges of the tarp flutter against the cold chrome of the jail walls and moves to catch up to the rest of the group.

The Phantom Thieves managed to collect the Prison Keep keys without much issue. With Wolf on the team now, there’s more than enough of them to get through any enemy in their way with time and energy to spare. Pops can really carry his weight too; he’s a freakin’ powerhouse and gets up to speed with the rest of the team in no time flat. Skull can’t help but feel a little proud of the guy for learning the ropes so fast.

As the team makes their way to board the airship, he fiddles with the clasp of the Madicce badge while he walks alongside Oracle, who is turning the old, busted Zephyrman figure over in her hands with a curious glint in her goggles.

Skull normally doesn’t have any gripes about being on the rear guard, but babysitting duty? As much as he likes Oracle, he would much rather be part of the action right now, instead of having no choice but to take in the sights of this place. There’s too much time for his mind to wander towards the hollow lifelessness of the jail when he’s not busy smacking around some Shadows. He’s starting to regret blasting through his stamina so quickly, but how can he let a chance to land a satisfying strike pass him by when so many of the enemies in here are weak to electricity?

He’s just making himself useful where he can.

“Hey. Hey. Hey, Skull. Check this out.”

He turns to see Oracle has contorted the figurine into an elaborate pose he’s seen once before in an action manga, shoving it in his face and dramatically saying, “The time has come to unleash the full power of my Stand.”

Oracle hops into a boxing stance and unleashes the most pitiful flurry of punches into his side, and he laughs so abruptly that he starts to choke.

“I think that’s the wrong reference to make with that sorta action figure!”

“But you only know Featherman, and even then you’re just a casual!” Ugh, why does she have to say it like it's a dirty word? “I’m better off making jokes that you’ll actually understand. You’re barely into toku! Zephyrman is too obscure for a beginner like you, I’m just catering to my audience.”

“Well, why don’t you bring my uncultured ass up to speed, then?” he fires back.

Her face lights up at being given the go-ahead to infodump at him about Zephyrman. “Ya mean it, Skull?”

He gives her a thumbs-up; he could use a reason to keep from having his own thoughts for a while, and this is as good a diversion as any.

Oracle wastes no time getting started on explaining the history of the genre, making sure he knows the difference between the various subgenres of tokusatsu before getting to her rundown of the themes and tropes of each one. Eventually, the team makes it to the airship, and they board with the guards none the wiser to their presence. When the coast is clear, they spread out to avoid suspicion, and Oracle picks up right where she left off.

“So as I said before, Zephryman was a lesser-known spinoff of Phoenix Ranger Featherman R, but it didn’t get much traction. There were a ton of other shows and anime airing around the same time to grab kids’ attention, and its timeslot wasn’t exactly ideal. Not a fault of the show though! It’s still good stuff if you ask me.”

“So what kinda stuff are we talkin’ here? Anything interesting?”

“Nothing too wild, it was a lot of the standard ‘Earth’s mightiest defender’ stuff, futuristic setting, fighting off aliens and other intergalactic threats to the planet, some environmentalist messages scattered around here and there, you know how it is.” He doesn’t, but he isn’t gonna let her in on that. “The big difference was that, even though it was spawned from a team-based show, Zephyrman worked totally alone.” Oracle starts to get a bit indignant, “I mean, he didn’t even get a secondary ranger like the heroes in the Rider series do! I always found that a little weird, actually. It kinda sucks when there’s nobody to act as a foil to the hero and keep him on his toes. Sometimes you just need that flavor!”

“I guess that’s sorta like Konoe and us, then? If we’re like a Featherman team, and he’s Zephryman, that is.”

“Yeah, now that you mention it...his ideology is like a bad knockoff of ours. He super missed the mark!” She does her best impression of a stage show narrator, “The Phantom Thieves exist to strike fear into the hearts of those who dare to prey on the weak! Heroes of the people, inspiring the downtrodden to fight back!”

Skull can’t stop the smile that overtakes his face at the sight of the big theatrics coming out of their little navigator. Oracle settles back down and starts looking somewhat contemplative—as far as he can tell past those enormous goggles, at least.

“That jerk is just indiscriminately ridding society of all hopes and ambitions, though. A world like that may technically be peaceful, but everyone pays the price in that scenario. They’d all just be brainwashed to blindly follow orders! Like getting a ‘law’ ending in a really grim RPG!” Oracle nods emphatically.

“Huh, I might’ve played some games like that before. I never get around to finishing them, but I think I usually end up on the ‘chaos’ routes.”

“Ohoho, we are gonna be discussing that later! I gotta hear about all the dumb ways you got your party wiped…I could give you tips on how to get the trickier demons on your side so you can have the right skillsets for those tough bosses, too!”

“Nuh-uh! All this otaku talk is gonna fry my poor ‘casual’ brain. Let’s just stick to the Zephyrman stuff, for now. We can do your crash course on games another day.”

“Fiiiiiine, but don’t forget!”

He throws his hands up in mock defeat. “Alright, alright!”

Skull glances out at the cityscape below them and realizes they’re getting close to the main tower, and looks up to Joker just in time to catch his signal for everyone to regroup. “Hey, it looks like we’re gonna be landing soon. Lemme get the Zephyrman footnotes.”

Oracle sees the signal too and starts to gather her equipment. “I think I hit you with everything I have, besides, I’m more of a Featherman gal myself! I’m a sucker for all that ‘power of friendship’ stuff,” a knowing grin creeps onto Oracle’s face, “and you strike me as a Rider kinda guy. Maybe it’s the red scarf! Hm. It’s too bad you don’t have a more bug-like mask, Skull. Or a motorcycle for a Persona, like Queen does. Ooh, hey, if you’re a Rider, then I better be your secondary! Promise!”

He reaches over and ruffles Oracle’s hair teasingly. “You sure you wouldn’t wanna be the hero, though?”

After disembarking the airship, the team hits a roadblock in the form of an avid crowd of fans waiting for some broadcast. With that marking the end of their exploration for the day, they exit the Metaverse and pull out their phones to stream “Great Akira’s Hero Show.” They discuss their next moves over a dinner of takoyaki, then go their separate ways to take a breather before turning in for the night.

Ryuji makes his way back inside the RV while the others head out to explore the town, and sees that Futaba is still tucked into her little loft, tapping away at her laptop with several books cracked open around her. She’s too engrossed in what she’s doing for conversation at the moment, so she reaches down to wave at him, and he slaps her hand back in a quick greeting before plopping himself down into the booth seat to catch up on the most recent issue of manga.

After a few more minutes of rapid clicking behind him, he hears Futaba close her laptop and tilts his head back to look up at her.

“‘Great Hero’, huh…That Konoe guy really thinks he’s hot shit!”

“Whoa, watch your language, short stuff! Ren and the Boss are gonna hate to hear you picking up my bad habits.”

Futaba sticks her tongue out at him and carries on, “That stupid hero show is still on my mind, all that talk about ‘steering the world in the right direction’…it's just like Inari was saying! He was starting to sound a lot like Shido!”

Ryuji was hoping to take his mind off of work-related things for an hour or so, but Futaba looks a little heated, like something urgent is trying to climb out of her, so he tosses his manga onto the table and says, “Yeah, I was thinkin’ that, too.”

“Right? All that stuff he was saying about us was totally outta line! We aren’t exactly shining beacons of morality, but his whole heroic act really gets on my nerves! He can’t paint us as villains when what he’s doing is way worse! At least we have each other to keep us all on the right track; he’s got nobody keeping his overinflated ego in check.” Futaba rolls over so that she can poke her head over the railing of the loft, hanging one arm down to gesture wildly as she continues her rant. “I’m still stuck on what we saw in his cognition of the Juoji Zoo back there. He clearly believes one-hundred percent in what he's doing, but what sort of clown thinks they’re protecting anyone by trapping them in a spiral of all the memories and thoughts that make them the most miserable? That’s like, the exact opposite of what a hero of justice would do!”

Futaba suddenly goes quiet, mouth pressed into a tight line as a thought occurs to her.

“Hey, are you good up there?” Ryuji offers.

“If the Jails can only exist if there’s a significant trauma to build itself around, wouldn’t that mean Konoe’s got one of his own?”

“Well, of course he has a Jail, we’ve literally been inside?”

“No, Captain Obvious, a trauma!” Futaba shoots him a dubious stare. “Are you even listening? If we follow the same pattern for all the Jails so far, his has to have come from trauma too, otherwise, it wouldn’t be able to exist.”

“We don’t know that for sure. Since he’s the one that made all this, maybe his is just different from the others?” To be honest, after being inside of the Jail, Ryuji is finding it next to impossible to acknowledge even a chance of sympathizing with Konoe. Not after he dragged the Phantom Thief name through the dirt, not after he sucked the life out of most of Japan, and sure as hell not after he roped Akane into his stupid mess.

Futaba tilts her head to the side in thought. “He said something on the broadcast about losing someone close to him.”

Ryuji wracks his memory in an effort to salvage bits of the interview he watched barely a few hours ago and comes up short. He’s a little too pissed off by Konoe’s whole deal to want to retain anything he says. “…Did he?”

“C’mon, you gotta pay attention! He definitely did. If that’s the traumatic event, then he probably has a Birdcage we’re gonna have to take a look at. The question is, did he put himself in there, or did that politician do it? I can’t imagine why he’d do it to himself—I know exactly how much that sucks—but it’s a likely possibility.”

It all comes back to Ryuji in a flash of unbearable summer heat, sand trapped in unmentionable parts of his Pirate Armor, and determination to save the girl who was tormented into a corner by power-hungry adults. “Ugh, right. The pyramid.”

“Yup. But, even if he does have a Birdcage that’s like the others, it doesn’t change the fact that he put them through that, too. The Zoo confirmed that part, at least. I can’t forgive it! We are so gonna kick his butt!”

“That’s what I like to hear!”

Chapter Text

Stutter Step

A shortening of stride that decreases speed and momentum when approaching hurdles, which can cost the runner the race.

For once, he isn’t the one to open the door. Skull prides himself on being the sturdiest member in the group, but this time...his body screams at him not to take this one. He’s not sure he could deal with the physical pain and the pounding headache that comes with touching the Birdcage on top of everything else this Jail is doing to him. When Wolf volunteers to handle this before Joker can even open his mouth to give Skull the order that he just knows is coming, Skull counts his blessings, gives Wolf a half-hearted warning, and stays put.

Wolf steps forward and places a hand on the cage, howling in pain as his body seizes up before abruptly reeling back. The old man has his sympathies.

Then come the voices.

Skull’s always been willing to take any hits that he knows the other Thieves can’t, but after hearing all of that...he feels he made the right choice letting Wolf step up to the plate in his stead. If the clues are leading this investigation where he thinks it’s going, then he’s grateful for the break. It feels way too familiar, makes his heart thud loudly, makes the bile rise in his throat, as his mind races in ways he hoped would never happen again.

“Look, he fell over. How many times do I have to say it?”

“...You little shit! You see all this trouble you’re causing me?!”

The sound of fist meeting flesh stays with him, playing over and over with a degree of clarity that was never there, except that maybe it was, maybe it was the sort of vividness that could only exist in memory—but whose memory was it, really? It continues its merciless loop in the back of his mind when they exit the Metaverse and take a trip to meet Zenkichi at the gates of the former Konoe household. It echoes and drowns out the voices he should be listening to when Pops briefs them on the details of Konoe senior’s demise, and before he’s had the time to distinguish between what belongs to him and what doesn’t, they’re jumping right back into it to see the truth and meet the Lock Keeper.

The Phantom Thieves watch the scene unfolding before them in abject horror, bearing witness to the memory that haunts their target, searching for the keys that will help them understand and change the heart of Konoe Akira. Skull holds himself completely still, a pot mere seconds from boiling over as his fury bubbles up and throughout every fiber of his being. 

He understands this rage. Of course he does. It’d be an insult if anyone thought otherwise.

Worst of all, he feels sorry for Konoe, and for the path that rage took him down.

He slams his weapon full-force into the ground in his frustration as he summons Captain Kidd with a bellow ripped from some long-buried place within him.

This shit just ain’t right!

When Mona asks the group how they're holding up after the battle, Skull grits his teeth and viciously barks out an unconvincing “better than all right!”, prompting Panther to whip her head sharply in his direction.

Her concern is crystal clear, despite her features being partially obscured by the mask, and he instantly wishes he hadn’t opened his big friggin’ mouth.

The team solemnly exits the Birdcage and breaks for the night after a brief consultation over how to handle the calling card. Ryuji tries to make a quick getaway to go cool down in some alley on his own, but Ann grabs him by the arm and drags him bodily behind the RV faster than his mind can register what’s happening.

“Tell me what’s going on with you.”

“Dunno what you mean.”

“Ryuji, don’t dodge the question! You weren’t acting like your usual self during that fight earlier.” Ann heaves out a sigh. “Today was the first time I’ve seen you lose your temper like that since…well. You know.”

Oh yeah, he knows. “I really don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Too bad! I’m not gonna stand around and watch you get eaten alive by your own anger! Not again. I’m here for you this time!”

It’s the tone in her voice that makes him cave. He hates hearing her like this, it doesn’t fit her at all.

She sounds so…desperate.

“It’s just hittin’ close to home for me, alright? What he went through is too similar to…” He tapers off; the prospect of confronting the truth of the situation is still too much to bear. “Ann, what if I get caught up playin’ hero, and lose sight of what I’m supposed to be doing? I don’t wanna end up like him.”

“You won’t be anything like him.” She pauses and looks at him, bright blue eyes piercing and unshakable. “You’re not like any of them.”

The last part of her statement hangs heavily between them, as Ryuji realizes that Ann understands exactly how deep this wound goes and is determined to make him acknowledge that he’s bleeding from it.

“You don’t know that.”

Ann releases her iron grip on his wrist and leans against the side of the RV, worn out but calmer now. “Yeah, I do. I know you’re stronger than that. You’ve grown a lot.”

Doesn’t mean I can’t backslide, though. “Even if that’s true, you can’t be that sure, you saw how Konoe got the way he is now! He’s being just as oppressive and controlling as his shithead dad,” his voice drops, bitter and sardonic, “and isn’t that just how it goes?” 

Ann pinches the bridge of her nose and groans in mild aggravation. “I swear, you’re the least self-aware person I know, and that’s saying a lot. You don’t need me to tell you how totally impossible that’d be for someone like you, do you?”

The way she says it, like he’s missing something glaringly obvious, sets him off. “Fine then! If you’re so sure I’m not destined to flip my lid and fuck up royally, then what the hell are you comin’ to me for?” Ann winces slightly at his profanity, and he might’ve had the presence of mind to feel bad about it if he wasn’t so damn freaked out by what he saw today. “What are you even worried about, huh?”

“You, idiot! I’m worried about you!”

“How is that not the same thing?” Ryuji’s jaw is starting to ache from all the effort it’s taking to keep his voice down.

“It's different! I know that there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of you flying off the handle or hurting anyone the way those bastards did. And I know that the moment your emotions get the better of you, any sense of self-preservation you might have goes right out the window!” He opens his mouth, ready and raring to argue with her for real, but what Ann says next makes him deflate in an instant.

“I’m scared that you’re going to do something stupid and selfless…something that gets you hurt. Or worse.”

He stares at her blankly, struggling to process just what she means by that. Get himself hurt? How? What does that have to do with anything?

Why does that matter?

“When something needs to get done, you’ll do it without asking questions, and without thinking of the risks…and you only get more reckless when you aren’t thinking clearly! Do you have any idea how terrifying it is to keep watching you throw yourself into the line of fire, even when we know that you can handle it?”

“If someone’s gotta bite the bullet, better that it be me than anyone else. I’m not gonna apologize for doing whatever I can to protect you guys—”

“And I’m not asking you to! All I’m asking is that you keep your head on straight and don’t do anything crazy trying to prove that you’re the good guy that I already know you are.” Ann looks as though she wants to grab him by the shoulders and shake him violently until he understands. “You don’t have anything to prove to us—we all know that when you get worked up, it's because you care. Because you can’t stand around and do nothing when someone is suffering, and you’ll give more than what you’ve got to shield us from pain, no matter what.”

She lets her body sink against the side of the RV until she’s seated on her heels, exhausted, arms wrapped around her knees. “I know that better than anyone else.”

Ryuji watches her silently. What is he trying to prove? To who?

He thought he was past all this, dammit!

“You won’t end up like Konoe, or even your father. Even if you think you will, I won’t let you.”

At a loss, he can’t think of anything to do but join her on the ground. “You aren’t gonna budge on that, huh?”

She turns her head to smile at him, despite the small tears forming at the corners of her eyes. “Not a chance.”

He needs to say something, anything, to lift this atmosphere. “You really ain’t cute when you’re cryin’.” Terrible, but it does the trick.

Ann shoves him in retaliation. “Oh, shut up!”

He tries to tease her again, get her attention away from him as far as he can throw it, but Ann reaches for Ryuji’s hand and squeezes it with all her might. He returns the gesture.

“Don’t let his past get to you, Ryuji. Don’t forget that the whole team’s here for you, too! The only person left to convince that you’re a hero is you.”

Chapter Text

Tailwind

A wind blowing the same direction in which the runner is headed.

Calling cards are his area of expertise, actually, and he has to admit that he’s a little disappointed at being hands-off on their final one, what with it being delegated to the newest member of the Phantom Thieves. Ryuji reluctantly agrees with Ren, Ann, and Morgana that it's for the best though; there’s just too much that Konoe needs to hear from Zenkichi himself, and Ryuji can’t guarantee that all his personal baggage won’t come flooding out if he gets too involved in the process.

But, Ryuji can at least go see what he’s up to.

He steps into the RV to see Zenkichi sitting at the table, hard at work glaring daggers at a blank calling card with a pen and legal pad in his hand.

“Havin’ some trouble over there, pops?”

“O-oh! Sakamoto-kun!” Ryuji fights to hold back the laugh that almost jumps out of him at seeing how badly he startled the poor guy out of his thoughts. Zenkichi looks down at his notepad before setting it on the table and slumping back in his chair, exhausted.

“Haha…I can’t say I know what I’m doing here. I’ve studied all of the previous calling cards, front and back, when I was investigating you all and going over the case file. But now that I’m the one writing the message, well…it’s all escaped me! I’ve got no clue how you guys do this.” 

“You’re in luck, old man; you’re lookin’ at the guy who worked on all of ‘em, from the very start! Well, except for a couple of special cases…Futaba wrote her own, but that one wasn’t public anyway. Whatever, you get the point! Yusuke always handles the visuals and cleans up the final wording, but the vibe? That’s all me!”

Ryuji can’t resist puffing up over the way Zenkichi looks a little impressed by that.

“How interesting.” A sly smile pulls at the corner of Zenkichi’s mouth. “If Kitagawa-kun wasn’t around yet for those, that explains why the first cards looked so improvised. I always wondered why they were so different from the later ones.”

“H-hey! That card was damn good for a first try! It did the job just fine, you jerk!”

Zenkichi can’t even pretend to suppress his mirth as Ryuji sputters in embarrassment. “I suppose I shouldn’t be laughing! At least you were able to muster up the resolve to do that much. I can’t even get started.”

“The first one took me a while too. It’s uh…pretty overwhelming.”

“…It is, isn’t it? Feels a little late in the game to say it, but I think being put in this position made me realize how much you kids have gone through.” Zenkichi looks wryly at the blank card in front of him. “I’ve always thought so, but we adults have really been dropping the ball if a bunch of teenagers have to resort to doing this kind of thing.”

He doesn’t know how he should react to that. Zenkichi is right, but Ryuji also knows that there are adults suffering at the hands of those in power, too; he’s seen it more than enough times at this point. Doesn’t stop him from agreeing with Zenkichi, though.

“Hahaha, I appreciate that honesty! Tell me something. Does it always feel this personal?”

Ryuji sits down across from him and leans into the corner of the booth, arms crossed. “Every damn time.”

“What do you all usually do to get the ball rolling on these? I’ve got to admit, I’m curious about how this went for past heists.”

“I ain’t sure what it was like for everyone else, but I always think about what kinda things the people they’re takin’ advantage of would wanna tell ‘em.”

“I see… Then last year, that first card, that was what you wanted to tell the target himself, wasn’t it?”

“...Yeah. It was the same for the others on that front, though. At least one of us always had some personal beef with one of the targets.”

Zenkichi takes a pause at that, mumbling to himself as he recalls what those early cards looked like—the phrasing, the anger, the determination. Ryuji is somewhat astonished that Zenkichi really seems to get what they were going for. The old man has a surprisingly clear picture of what he should be doing, even being as out of his depth as he says he is.

“Sakamoto-kun…what do you think Akane would want to say?”

“D-don’t ask me! She’s your kid, after all. Wouldn’t you know better than me?”

“Well, I’m not too sure about that!” Despite his jovial tone, Zenkichi looks wistful. “You all probably have a better idea of what she’s going through than I ever could. I’m a pathetic excuse for a parent.”

“I mean, you could be doin’ better, but there’s way worse out there,” Ryuji mumbles absently.

“I suppose you’re right about that. Just thinking about what Konoe’s father put him through, I can’t help but be a little bit glad that I’m not screwing this up as badly as those sorts of monsters. Terrible of me, I know, but it is what it is.”

Ryuji jerks slightly in his seat, realizing that Konoe's father wasn’t the person he was thinking of when he responded to Zenkichi. He reaches under the table to stop the leg he didn’t know he was bouncing. “Yeah, that.”

Zenkichi examines Ryuji curiously before dropping the topic. “Look at me, getting comforted by a punk not even half my age! I shouldn’t be wallowing at a critical time like this; I’ve got to get brainstorming on this thing. I hope you don’t mind sticking around for a while. I could use the help of an ‘expert’ such as yourself.”

Ryuji nods. “Alright. Just don’t expect much.”

After Ryuji fills in some of the gaps in Zenkichi’s knowledge regarding the Phantom Thieves’ past exploits, several pages of the legal pad are filled with notes and small charts jotted down in near-incomprehensible scrawl. Ryuji briefly wonders if maybe he shouldn’t be giving a cop this much information about their year of criminal activity, but decides that it should be fine. Zenkichi is one of them now—and besides, it’s kind of nice to have an adult seriously listen to him, for once.

As things veer back towards their current target and his atrocities, Ryuji starts to close off a bit in an effort to not get too worked up again. Unfortunately for him, this detail is not lost on the good detective.

“You look as though you’ve got something on your mind, Sakamoto-kun. You might not trust me enough to confide in me, and I think that's only fair, but if you want someone to hear you out, I’ll listen. I owe you kids a lot, after all.”

“It’s not a big deal. I just gotta get over myself and focus on the job.”

“Oh, the number of times I've told myself that one!”

“Dude, get off my case! …I’m fine, okay? I’ll figure somethin’ out.”

Zenkichi relents, but only a little. “I see. I won’t pry for details, but if you’ve got anything to say to Konoe, I can promise you that I’ll keep it in mind when I finally get around to getting this card written up.” He waves the blank card at Ryuji in a loose motion before tossing it back to the table and flipping to a fresh page of his notepad. 

“Hmmm.” This is a bad idea, Ryuji thinks. But getting his two cents in for the card is too tempting to pass up. “Well, since you’re offerin’...I’ll bite.”

Zenkichi adjusts his glasses and picks up his pen, ready for Ryuji to give Konoe a piece of his mind.

Akira Konoe is a real jackass. He made the Phantom Thieves his scapegoats and bastardized their methods to turn everyone into a mindless mob that can only follow his orders. He trapped a mourning child in her own mind, to capture her heroes and probably leave them for dead there. No matter what his dad put him through, it’s no excuse for robbing the public of its free will, or for imprisoning a bunch of other traumatized people inside effed-up brain jails to maintain control over society. Of course, Ryuji doesn’t really blame him for killing his father; that was self-defense. If he didn’t have his mom around to protect him, he might’ve even done the same.

Zenkichi’s hand suddenly stills. He looks up from his notes and studies Ryuji intently as he continues his tirade.

Konoe was pushed into a corner as a kid and never really left it. But he’s gotta freakin’ grow up and take responsibility for how his need to save everyone isn’t doing the good that he thinks it is! And maybe Akane was right, maybe the Phantom Thieves can’t save everyone, but that doesn’t mean that Ryuji can stop trying, he has to keep moving forward. The team can still—

He cuts the rest of that thought off before it can complete itself. “Actually, you can ignore most of that, I started rantin’ for a bit there.”

“I don’t mind all that much, and besides, it was very informative.” Zenkichi’s phrasing belies a deeper understanding that sails right over Ryuji’s head. He eyes Zenkichi suspiciously before getting back to the topic at hand.

“Alright, I think I gave you all the useful info I’ve got, so I’ll stop distractin’ you. When you get right down to it, I think the best thing to do is trust your gut and write what you know. After that, it kinda…well…it just comes naturally, I guess?” This is not coming out nearly as encouraging as Ryuji had hoped it would. “Agh, forget it! You got this, Pops.”

Zenkichi chuckles lightly as he watches Ryuji run out of steam and get frustrated about it. “Write what I know, and what I think he needs to hear…alright, copy that. You know, you’ve been a great help, Sakamoto-kun.”

“...Good to hear it.”

He starts to stand, but Zenkichi waves him closer before giving him a meaningful pat on the back. What a weird gesture. It’s oddly reassuring. Is it fatherly? Ryuji doesn’t know, but he could probably get used to this kinda thing.

“Don’t lose sight of your target, kid.”

He freezes up at hearing his own line get thrown back at him, shaken by the thought that this adult he’s known for hardly a month considered some offhand thing that Ryuji said to be important enough to remember. When was the last time that happened? He takes a second to pull himself together before punching Zenkichi in the shoulder playfully.

“Man, it’s waaaay less cool when you say it, you damn geezer!” He watches as his newest comrade recoils dramatically and grips his shoulder while wailing through barely-stifled laughter.

“Agh! How could you be so cruel, punching a senior citizen like this? Don’t you know how brittle my elderly bones are?” It’s completely ridiculous, and a much-needed breather after the conversation they were having.

Ryuji laughs too, rolling his eyes before hopping out of the RV and into the early evening air.

Chapter Text

Interlude: Sit and Kick

Also known as a "sprint finish"; an increase to maximum speed during the final moments of a race.

Skull’s feeling pretty robbed that he can’t find fighting a giant freakin’ robot as badass as it is in the moment.

He catches his own reflection in the Zephyrus Mech, distorted and unpleasant like he’s looking at himself through a funhouse mirror, and he is overcome by the immediate urge to smash it in. He gets a little more pissed off that his first impulse is to break shit, destroy it beyond all recognition, but…somehow, it also feels like the right thing to do.

And that’s what’s important, isn’t it?

Skull swings his club back as far as his arms will allow him—he doesn’t need to call the Captain yet; this strike’s just for him—and lets loose.

Chapter Text

A Photo Finish

Ryuji, unsurprisingly, has to cover Yusuke’s ticket to the top of Tenboto. He spent nearly half an hour helping him desperately scrounge around in his bags and clothes for the last bits of his contest winnings, all the while exasperatedly trying to convince Yusuke that he would handle it, you can look for the money later, let's just get going. By the time Yusuke had conceded and they texted their leader to see if he wanted to get in on another boys’ night, Ren and the cat had already gone with the girls, leaving Ryuji alone to accompany his broke ass to the observation deck. 

“The placard here reads that this character’s name is ‘Benzaimaru’...it seems that he’s the mascot of this place.”

Ryuji pulls his phone from his pocket to do a quick search online. “Huh, says here that people pray to him for luck with money.” He nudges Yusuke in the arm with his elbow. “Well, you better clap your hands together and get to it, Inari. Nobody needs that more than you. And, much as I’d love to, I can’t keep lettin’ you dip into my trip funds or we’re both gonna be shit outta luck.”

Yusuke tosses him a dirty look but walks towards the statue nonetheless, and Ryuji trails behind him. He should pray to the thing too while he’s at it; knowing Yusuke’s spending habits, any money he gains through divine intervention is gonna be lost immediately, and he’ll be right back to shoving his hands into Ryuji’s pockets without warning—damn, he really lets Yusuke get too comfortable with him, doesn’t he? Whenever Ryuji gives him an inch, he sure does take a mile. Best to be prepared for the inevitability of the artist’s ever-growing tab…not that Ryuji’s actually been keeping track. He’s never really been good with math, after all.

He puts his hands together alongside Yusuke and prays for his friend’s next winning piece to score him a hefty prize package. 

When he’s done, he opens his eyes to glance at Yusuke, observing quietly until he finishes his own prayer and meets Ryuji’s eyes. Ryuji gestures towards the panoramic window with a tilt of his head before turning away, and Yusuke gets the message, his mirror image joining Ryuji’s in the faint reflection of the glass. While chatting and taking in the view of the city they just saved with their friends, Yusuke’s stomach whines indignantly, and Ryuji huffs out a long-suffering sigh.

“Let’s go grab a bite to eat before the party later. My treat.”

“You have my gratitude! I was hoping to get another taste of the authentic Osaka street fare once more before leaving. Who knows when I’ll have another opportunity such as this!”

“I mean, hopefully at least once a year. We’re makin’ roadtripping a Phantom Thief tradition, without a doubt!” Ryuji screws his eyebrows together and frowns as something occurs to him. “Oh, but that means I gotta get a license soon too, we can’t have Makoto doin’ all the heavy lifting, and we definitely can’t have another incident with Speed Racer at the wheel.”

Yusuke grimaces at the memory of Haru’s driving. “I surely couldn’t survive another trial so gruesome. Once was…more than enough. You’d best get to studying as soon as possible—we'll need another reliable driver for the sake of my poor stomach. I’ve heard that driving tests are quite difficult, and you don’t exactly have a stellar record when it comes to exams.”

The nerve of this guy! Ryuji lightly slaps Yusuke in the abdomen with the back of his hand, “Hey! You sure have me doin’ a whole lot ‘for the sake of your poor stomach’! And quit talkin’ like you’re not gonna be takin’ the test with me!”

Yusuke recoils slightly, but begins to laugh heartily at Ryuji’s grumbling, which only makes Ryuji more annoyed with him.

“Dammit, you really piss me off sometimes! You’re lucky that I like hangin’ out with you.”

Yusuke’s laughter tapers off into something warm. Fond.

“Quite the good fortune I have, in that case!”

It's not a long walk back to the shopping arcade, and when the pair sit down on the stools beside the kushikatsu stall with their freshly-fried food in hand, Yusuke begins to speak.

“It's so good to see you back in fine form, Ryuji.”

“The hell are you talkin’ about?”

“I can’t say that I know the particulars of it, but it looked to me as though everything regarding Konoe was taking its toll on you. Am I mistaken?”

Damn Yusuke for being so observant. “You got me there.”

“Then I’m sure you’re relieved that the whole ordeal is over. I know I certainly am, and I don’t have personal experiences quite like that.” He gives Ryuji a sideways glance, expression thoughtful, “However, it’s a different story for you, isn’t it? Should you need someone to talk to, I am happy to lend an ear.”

“No, it’s—” Ryuji stops himself short. “Yeah, uh, actually, that’d be—I’d like that.” Yusuke looks momentarily surprised, then pleased, that Ryuji is taking him up on his offer.

“Then please, don’t hold back.”

“I dunno, some of the things he went through, and what he was tryin’ to do...not gonna lie, man, it was messin’ me up pretty bad. I talked to Ann about it—well, more like she hauled my ass off to give me an earful—but once we were through havin’ it out at each other, I didn’t have it in me to weigh her down with all the heavy stuff.”

“That being…?”

“What his dad did to him.”

Yusuke’s eyebrows shoot up for a fraction of a second before returning to their usual composed, neutral line. “I know that I’m the one who asked, but I wasn’t expecting that you’d be so forthright…I had been led to believe that this was an incredibly sore subject.”

“Oh, trust me, it still is, so don’t push it!” Ryuji says, pointing his pork skewer in Yusuke’s direction to punctuate himself before taking a bite of the meat. “But I think I’m in a decent enough mood for it now. Kickin’ Konoe’s ass kinda took a bit of the edge off…and, man-to-man, you’re prolly the only one in our group that might know what it feels like.”

Yusuke lifts his gaze towards the sky and inhales deeply. “...To be haunted by the shadows of our fathers’ misdeeds, you mean?”

“Yeah, exactly.” Ryuji stares holes into a random spot on the ground until he musters up the courage to ask, “Yusuke, are you ever scared that you’re gonna turn out like Madarame?”

“If I’m being truthful, I often used to wonder if becoming one's own father was an unavoidable tragedy. Though, each time I found myself thinking of my own capacity to succumb to the same avarice he was consumed by, I’d remind myself that I have some guiding lights to keep me from that fate.” He turns to give Ryuji a meaningful look. “But what about you?”

“After seeing how things played out for Konoe, I can’t stop thinkin’ about it. I really thought I’d changed, but all the crap I’ve been bottlin’ up came out just as raw as it was back then. The fact that, even after everything, I barely have a handle on my temper was a real slap in the face.” Ryuji hunches over in his seat, ashamed. “I still need to apologize to Ann, I…sorta yelled at her the other night, even though she was only tryin’ to look out for me. I went too far.”

“Ah, but there lies the proof of things, wouldn’t you say?”

“The what?” As always, Yusuke is responding to a conversation that both is and isn’t quite there, leaving Ryuji behind in a wake of confusion.

“You speak as though your emotions blind you, yet here you are thinking of how those emotions are received—the impact of your actions on others. Have you ever considered that this is the very thing that separates you from the type of men that you despise?”

Ryuji gawks at him in surprise before slamming his mouth shut and mumbling, “...No, not really.”

“You could stand to regard yourself more positively, you know. Similar circumstances should not be enough of a reason to so severely fall to self-doubt! If only you held yourself in the same high esteem that I do, then you might not be so hard on yourself.”

Ryuji thinks there was a compliment in there, hiding, but he doesn’t have the time to find it as Yusuke barrels forward in his soliloquy.

“As far as I’ve seen, underneath that rough exterior, you’re about as soft and tender as the meat on this skewer." Wow, rude. Leave it to Yusuke to find a way to compare Ryuji to his food. "It’s difficult to imagine that you’d find yourself in a situation where you’d do anything that could even remotely be considered ruthless or self-absorbed. So I fail to understand why you disparage yourself by drawing comparisons between yourself and the likes of Konoe, or even your own father. It couldn’t be more clear to me that you aren’t cut from the same cloth.”

“But that’s not the issue! It’s the same thing I was trying to say before, we just don’t know that I’m not! Who’s to say that, if I got pushed far enough, I couldn’t turn out just as bad? All the Monarchs we’ve seen so far were in so much pain—even Konoe. And, as much as I hate to say it, I ended up feelin’ for him. I mean, how could I not? Don’t you? We both know what it’s like to be in that position, where it feels like no one believes you and no one is coming to help, and you’re doing whatever it takes just to survive it.” Ryuji looks up at Yusuke soberly, “You’re made of tougher stuff than me—I don’t know how you didn’t make Madarame suffer as much as you could when you had the chance. If my mom’s life was on the line, I can’t say that I’d be above murder. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to her. After seeing shit like that, I gotta wonder, am I actually any better than Konoe?”

“Perhaps I don’t know precisely what your feelings are on the matter, being that I was not afforded the time to be as close to my own mother as you are to yours, but it’s not a matter of being ‘better’. You simply aren’t the same people, and there’s no point in talking in hypotheticals about a situation that never came to pass, and never will.” Yusuke carefully regards Ryuji before continuing. “Not to mention, the choices we have already made speak volumes. When I finally found out that it was my own mother’s blood which stained Madarame’s hands and lined his pockets, much like Konoe, I thought to strike down the man who was once my father right where he stood. Following our defeat of his Shadow self, I thought to let him wither and waste away in his room before he could even confess to his crimes, starving him of the very care that he denied me for years. But I didn’t. And you didn’t kill Kamoshida when given the opportunity and the power to do so, despite the many unforgivable sins he had committed. We all saw the potential not only for revenge, but for justice. I think that makes all the difference.”

Ryuji flinches at Yusuke’s brutally self-assured delivery. “You really don’t pull your punches…”

“Not with you.”

“Okay, then, say we can ignore all that. But still, there’s just so many ways I could end up going down the wrong path. Ann straight-up told me that would be ‘totally impossible’, but—”

“Ann is absolutely right.”

“Oh come on, not you too! And here I was hopin’ you’d see where I was comin’ from with this.”

“On the contrary, I understand just what you mean. Suffice to say that you should have more faith in your friends, Ryuji! Do you really think we would idly stand back and allow you to lose your way?”

“...Since none of you guys ever cut me any slack, I guess not.”

Yusuke can only chuckle at how easily Ryuji gives in.

Ryuji leans back, tilting the front legs of the stool off of the ground with his weight. “Is it really that simple…?”, he mumbles to no one in particular, chewing contemplatively on the end of his now-empty bamboo skewer as Yusuke quietly finishes his own beside him. Suddenly, like lightning, Ryuji is struck by a thought.

“Y’know, when we first got here, Haru asked me what I thought about ‘free will’. I wasn’t sure then, but after really wrackin’ my brain about it, I think I have an answer for her now.”

“How fascinating; such an inquiry is to be expected of someone as insightful as Haru! I would love to hear the conclusion you’ve come to.”

“I’m startin’ to think that, for me, it's something like…bein’ able to choose to be a good person, no matter what life throws at you, and no matter what anyone else thinks of you for it.” 

Yusuke smiles faintly and closes his eyes in thought. “Hmm. That’s a very Ryuji-esque way of looking at things.” That tells Ryuji nothing. “I like it.” That, he can work with. “Well, do go on.”

“It feels like I’m constantly fightin’ not to be the destructive idiot that everyone sees me as, and it's a hell of a fight, but…that wouldn’t mean shit if I wasn’t the one makin’ that choice for myself!” 

Yusuke nods in understanding, and Ryuji gathers his thoughts before continuing.

“I don’t really care what society thinks of me anymore,” Liar! “but, I still can’t help but want to prove that I can be better, that I do have self-control, on my own terms. I just…want to become someone you guys can depend on.”

“From my perspective, I think you are succeeding. I’ll be the first to admit that you’re an incorrigible, impulsive brute at times—”

“Hey. If this is supposed to be a pep talk, it freakin’ sucks.” 

“—however,” Yusuke emphasizes each syllable in his irritation with Ryuji’s interruption before softening his demeanor to deliver the rest of the sentiment, “the swiftness with which you act upon your morals is one of your many admirable qualities. Your zealous nature is quite enviable, as well—sometimes, merely recalling the image of your passion is enough to set my heart racing in a thrilling rush of heat and emotion!”

Ryuji’s ears redden against his will. “Phrasing, man! You’ve gotta know how that sounds.”

Yusuke has the audacity to smirk at him before continuing. “Above all else, though, you are painfully, relentlessly kind. I couldn’t be more grateful for your role in everything that brought me here. You’re a valuable member of our team, and an irreplaceable friend of mine.” He bumps against Ryuji’s side and lingers there, awkwardly pressed shoulder-to-shoulder to him just for the sake of it. He’s a little moved by that; Yusuke isn’t one for initiating casual contact, after all. Well, not on purpose, at least.

Ryuji lets him stay like that for just a few seconds longer before swinging his arm around Yusuke’s neck and yanking him down to his level, gracelessly ending a peaceful moment by roughly knocking their heads together.

“Aww, thanks, dude! Didn’t know I meant that much to ya!”