Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There was a man in front of Sakura-san’s home. Maybe he’s Ren’s caretaker?

Ren approached him quietly, with his head down. He bowed to him before taking in his appearance. The other man looked young, with hair as unkempt as Ren’s own, while the orange sweater between his jacket and his shirt and tie didn’t seem all that professional to Ren. Nevertheless, the badge on his lapel made him narrow his eyes.

A police badge.

“Excuse me,” Ren said, speaking just loud enough to be understood and not a decibel higher, “are you Sakura-san?”

“Are you Ren Amamiya?” The officer, probably one ranked higher than the average patrolman given that he’s in plainclothes, asked in lieu of replying. Ren nodded, determined to interact with this guy as little as he had to. “Sakura-san is at his café, I was waiting for you so I could walk you there.” The officer proceeded to bow as well as he produced a police badge out of his pocket. “I’m Kuruto Ryuki, from the MPD. There’s… some things I’d like to talk to you about, but this isn’t the time or the place.”

Ren nodded again. He could already anticipate the laundry list of advice the officer would give him about his time in Tokyo, which would boil down to ‘don’t get in trouble’ and ‘don’t piss me off’, probably. He fought the urge to roll his eyes, he had no intention of doing either, but that would probably break the second rule, which he couldn’t afford to do. Silent acquiescence it was, then.

Officer Ryuki led the way through the streets of Yongen-jaya in a short walk towards a small shop in a back alley. Above it, in red, a sign reading ‘Café Leblanc’ hung. Officer Ryuki stood beside the door, looking at Ren expectantly in a silent sign for him to take the lead – so he could block the way out if Ren decided to flee.

With no options left, Ren walked up to the door and opened it; the bell inside rang announcing his arrival to the almost empty coffee shop. There were no patrons, but there was a man in an apron reading the news while sitting by the counter, whom Ren guessed must be Sakura-san.

“Ah, you’re here,” the man said as a greeting. “I’m Sojiro Sakura, your caretaker during your probation,” he explained. “Although, to be honest, that’s not really what’s on paper.”

Ren tilted his head. Sakura-san rubbed the back of his head awkwardly as he grumbled something under his breath, then Ryuki cleared his throat, garnering the attention of the other two men.

“I’ll explain it upstairs,” he said looking at Sakura-san, who took that as his cue to lead them both there.

The room upstairs looked like a repurposed storage room, if the bags of stuff in the corner were any indication, with a working desk and something akin to a bed in the back, close to the windows. The wooden floor looked like it had been recently cleaned, while the shelf had been partially filled with reading material. All in all, it wasn’t ideal, but better than what Ren had been expecting.

“You’ll be living here this year,” Sakura-san said once the three of them were done climbing the stairs. “If you have any complaints,” he turned to look at Officer Ryuki, “take them to him. He’s the one who asked me to take you in.”

“What do you mean?” Ren asked, turning to face the officer as well.

“It’s what I wanted to talk about,” Officer Ryuki began. “I… I was the one they assigned as your handler here, but I arranged for Sakura-san to take over that role.”

Ren frowned, but didn’t say a word. Officer Ryuki had more things to say, and knowing the details of his current situation should be his goal at that moment. Besides, learning he wouldn’t need to live in a cop’s house was good news, at least.

“I’ll leave you two to talk, one of my regulars will show up soon,” Sakura-san said as he took his leave. Ren broke eye contact with Officer Ryuki and started to walk around the room, absently looking at the furniture, pretending to plan where he’d store the things he had sent ahead of himself.

“Why did you do this?” Ren asked while picking up one of the books on the shelf, turning it around in his hand before opening it.

“Long story short,” Officer Ryuki sighed, “I just can’t take care of you like the court expects me to.” He moved to sit on the so-called bed and continued. “But I can’t just not be in touch with you. I want… I need to at least make sure you’re doing okay.”

“Because someone told you to?” Ren asked with some bite to his voice. Internally, he winced at his tone and how antagonistic he came across. He had to remain on Officer Ryuki’s good side if he wanted to go through this smoothly.

“No,” Officer Ryuki replied immediately, in a fierce tone. “I’m doing this because… because…” He hesitated. Ren lifted his eyes to look directly at Officer Ryuki’s, holding back his surprise at seeing he had heterochromia. The red eye in his left socket – probably a glass one with a story behind it that Ren had to admit made him the tiniest bit curious – stared at him with an indecipherable emotion. Ryuki’s voice trembled when he next spoke.

“Because you’re my cousin.”

“Since we are dealing with a convicted criminal, I must warn you,” Principal Kobayakawa said whilst keeping the fake friendly demeanor. It turned Ren’s stomach. “This school will not be as tolerant to ruffianism as your backwater town has been. One step out of line, and you might as well consider your future over.”

Ren gritted his teeth, but said nothing. He had expected that kind of behavior from the people in Tokyo, especially with how ‘friendly’ the cops that interrogated him were. Any denial of the charges against him was just him lying, any response that wasn’t a nod of acquiescence was reprimanded. It was honestly surprising that Officer Ryuki hadn’t said anything similar to him when they met.

“Excuse me, Kobayakawa-san,” the cop cut in with a frown, “have you read his school records up to that point? His grades aren’t stellar, but he has never had any issues with other students or staff.”

The teacher beside the principal, Kawakami-sensei, sighed – for the umpteenth time during that encounter – but said nothing. She simply turned her downcast eyes to her boss and awaited his response.

“Of course I have, officer,” the sitting man answered, “clearly, he must have kept a considerably busy schedule between his lawless acts and his academic duties. Keeping up appearances is part of a criminal’s life, after all.”

Officer Ryuki’s frown deepened, and Ren noticed from the corner of his eye that the man’s hand had curled into a fist. For a second, he allowed himself to relish the thought of Officer Ryuki decking the principal, before reminding himself that the man beside him was a police officer he barely knew. In fact, the only reason he might even be getting that worked up was due to their mothers being sisters. He wouldn’t stand up that fiercely for some stranger unrelated to him.

“I don’t think you understand, Kobayakawa-san,” Officer Ryuki pushed, voice dropping an octave as he smiled in a way that sent chills down Ren’s spine. “In my line of work, we need evidence before making that kind of claim. Yes, he was convicted for assault, but that is all he did as far as I know… and as far as you do, too.”

Ren had to hold himself back from making a face at that. He really wanted to shout now, to tell him exactly what had happened that night and how wrong he was to assume the reports had any kind of truth to them. But he couldn’t, could he? Officer Ryuki would place more stock on what some papers had written in them with no scrutiny than on the words of a ‘convicted criminal’.

“Officer Ryuki, what are you saying?” Principal Kobayakawa asked, with such an exaggerated expression of mock shock that made Ren’s stomach churn. “You don’t seriously think an upstanding student would suddenly change his lifestyle and attack someone out of the blue, do you? It’s absurd to think he doesn’t have a track record of some kind.”

“I could ask you the same,” Officer Ryuki rebuffed with an edge to his tone that made Ren more uncomfortable than anything the principal had said. His outrage seemed almost performative at this point. “You weren’t there for the incident, you weren’t there for his trial, you don’t know anything but what that piece of paper says.”

“Gentlemen, please” Kawakami-sensei said, probably the loudest she has been in the entire encounter, “aren’t you getting too heated? And right in front of the student, too.”

“Oh, you’re correct,” Principal Kobayakawa laughed, doing his best to not sound overly aggressive. “I apologize, making assumptions like that is unbecoming of me. Besides, my duty is to make sure he sees rehabilitation, not further him into that kind of life.”

Officer Ryuki nodded, but he didn’t look very convinced. For his part, Ren just stared at the student ID card he received a few minutes earlier, trying his best to look unaffected by the discussion. He wasn’t going to have a good year studying at Shujin, was he?

“Be that as it may, I expect you to not let that kind of assumption spread through the faculty,” he said, relaxing his stance but not dropping the accusatory tone.

“Of course, of course,” Principal Kobayakawa nodded, an act that was definitely performative, then he turned to look at Ren again, an indecipherable gleam in his eyes. “In fact, our volleyball team could be the perfect way to quash any preconceived notions. Our coach is an Olympic medalist, after all; should Kamoshida-kun put in a good word for him, that can be a very powerful tool.”

“I’ll think about signing up for the team when I’m more familiar with the school,” Ren said, speaking for the first time since he arrived at the school, “but I’m more interested in basketball.”

“Excellent!” Principal Kobayakawa smiled, returning to the overly friendly demeanor he had been displaying at first. “Joining our sports team will certainly help you build a positive reputation.”

“Anyways, I think that that is everything,” Officer Ryuki said, his tone now less aggressive. He tore his eyes away from the principal and looked at Ren directly. “Amamiya-kun, is there anything else you want to say?”

Ren shook his head. All he wanted at the moment was to leave that room, leave that school, and go lie down at Leblanc, and the sooner the better. The adults exchanged their parting pleasantries, and then, without another word, Ren left the school, following behind Officer Ryuki.

— Boy Wonder over there isn’t very happy about what you did, — Tama pointed out as the pair boarded the small limousine parked outside Shujin Academy. — I tracked his reactions during the conversation. He didn’t look pleased when you stood up for him. —

— What? Why? The principal was insulting him to his face! — Kuruto pointed out, indignant, watching as Amamiya silently took his seat and stared off in the distance through the window. — And if there was foul play in his trial, that’s all the more reason for him to get angry at the principal, not at me. —

— Have you not stopped to think that he doesn’t like you because you’re a cop? You know, the same institution that might have arrested an innocent teenager? — Tama’s voice was as dry as the Sahara, a tone that Kuruto hadn’t heard from her before. He could see her projection sitting beside Ren, looking at the teenager as she spoke. — Listen, you two just met yesterday and the first thing you did was show your badge, then you reveal you’re cousins and that you’re rich. You know you only didn’t get punched because you’re a cop, right? —

— Then what do I do? — Kuruto shouted internally, trying to school his expression as he looked in another direction to disguise any outward reaction.

— You try to connect to him, dumbass! Try starting a conversation or something. —

“So, uh… what do you think?” Kuruto asked, leaning forward. “Shujin has a pretty good curriculum, so you’re looking at some really good career choices.”

Amamiya turned to look at him, his eyes indecipherable behind those lenses of his. “It seems good for someone with money and no marks on their record.”

“Well… I…” Kuruto stammered, not expecting that answer, searching for the words to keep the conversation going. “I… used to study there myself. I was hoping they’d be more welcoming to you, but if you think it’s not for you…”

“Don’t bother,” Amamiya responded curtly, “you won’t find anyone else willing to take me as their student.”

Kuruto winced. If he needed to, he could ask Boss to pressure other schools into allowing Amamiya to study in them, but they would hardly be as welcoming as Shujin turned out to be, and that was a low bar already. That new principal, Kobayakawa, couldn’t be clearer about his disdain towards his newest student.

He didn’t know how to respond to that and, for a second, the drinks in the minibar looked very tempting. His gaze remained directed at one of the bottles for a few seconds before he shook his head slightly and looked back at Amamiya, whose eyes were once more aimed at the window. The traffic was starting to grow denser around them, much to Kuruto’s chagrin. He had hoped to take Amamiya to Yoyagi Park today, but that would have to be postponed.

“Is it always this packed?” Amamiya asked, not taking his eyes from the window.

“An accident has occurred,” Tama said through the speakers in the limo, voice unbefittingly robotic. “The heavy traffic is expected to last for an hour at least.”

“Well, there’s your answer,” Kuruto laughed awkwardly. “You’re not gonna have to deal with that if you choose to take the trains.”

“If I… ‘choose’?” Amamiya’s tone was more than simply inquisitive, it was disdainful.

“Yeah, I can get a car with a driving AI for you,” Kuruto admitted, and Tama’s projection facepalmed. Kuruto himself regretted the words the moment they were out of his mouth as Amamiya frowned. His mouth opened, but whatever words he had to say were choked back in. “Oh, uh… sorry, that… that might have come out like–”

— Like you’re trying to buy his affection, — Tama completed while Kuruto stumbled over his words, like the poorly sociable mess he was. — Was your mouth lonely without your foot in there? —

“A-anyways, what I mean is that you can trust me if you need anything,” Kuruto finally forced out of the mess of sounds his mouth was making. It didn’t seem to have had any effect, but Kuruto understood that gaining Amamiya’s trust was an uphill battle.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Amamiya chose to say and left it at that, which Kuruto considered taking as a small victory.

— Hey, Tama, let’s Wink Psync into him, — Kuruto decided. Maybe he’d find something to talk about if he knew what was going on in his cousin’s mind. And if nothing else, he’d at least get a deeper understanding of Amamiya. Maybe he’d find out what happened the night the young man was arrested, if he got lucky. The fact his statement was missing from the records was worrying.

— Understood, — she replied. Kuruto braced himself for the wave of distortion that would envelop his vision as Tama shot out the EMP. — Psyncing now. —

Blue flames illuminated the darkness and chains floated and writhed in the air as a face formed amidst the fire. Whatever features it had couldn’t be made out entirely, except for the glowing, frightening yellow irises and the toothy grin of someone who had faced Hell and decided that was its home.

“I am thou,” it said, but its lips did not move, its teeth did not part. The chains grew more and more restless, as if the creature was yanking on them.

“Thy justice that cannot be leashed forever, thy rage that cannot be laid to rest until those who dare do wrong taste despair,” it continued. “Yet, it’s not the time. Our pact shall be forged soon enough.”

The demonic visage laughed. A deep, eerie sound that would make even the most reckless hesitate. A cackle that made the chains rattle, as if they feared the very thing they held onto.

And then, there was nothing.

— What… — Kuruto started, trying his best to keep his face neutral despite the chills running through him. — What in the world was that? —

— Don’t ask me, — Tama said, sounding equally as rattled by the vision. She stopped projecting herself in Kuruto’s sight, leaving only the young man visible to him.— I think you’ll have to win him over the old fashioned way. —

Kuruto sighed. ‘Unsociable’ didn’t even begin to describe himself, but the same was true for ‘stubborn’. The awkward air inside the limo stopped him from trying to continue the conversation, but it wouldn’t outlast Kuruto’s will to get close to his family now that he had one again. A chance for them to talk would come up soon, Kuruto was sure, he just has to not squander it.

“Date-san,” Ryuki called out as Kaname left Pewter’s lab. He was tired; the day had really taken a toll on him. Kaname frowned in concern and sympathy the moment he saw his underling’s face. He wondered for a second what Aiba would tell him to do, but she was with Mizuki tonight, so it fell on him to decide.

Not that he’d ever consider anything but hearing Ryuki out.

“Ryuki,” Kaname answered. “Did something happen to your cousin?”

— You could say that, — Tama transmitted over to him. — The principal was less than pleasant towards Amamiya, and Ryuki wasn’t winning any points with him either. —

“That about sums it up,” Ryuki spoke up, raising his voice slightly. “I–I don’t know what to do,” he admitted.

Kaname frowned silently, then motioned for Ryuki to follow him as he led the way to Boss’ office. As they walked, Ryuki and Tama took turns explaining the meeting with the principal of Shujin Academy, how disdainful he was towards him, and how Amamiya didn’t particularly like Ryuki standing up for him. By the time they were finished telling the story, there was a steaming mug of coffee on the hands of both men, courtesy of Boss’ coffee maker.

“Getting him to trust you won’t be an easy feat,” Kaname said after taking a gulp of his coffee. His tone was somber as he tried to formulate his thoughts. “Hell, after what happened to him back home, he might never trust you.”

Ryuki winced, but nodded. “Yeah, I realize that. But…” he looked up at Kaname, “I want to at least try, you know?”

“Of course,” Kaname nodded. “There’s really no easy way to deal with this situation,” he continued, “teenagers aren’t the easiest to handle at the best of times, and Amamiya isn’t in the best of times.

“If you think his school won’t treat him kindly, talk to him. He might not open up, but at least assure him that you’re in his corner.” Kaname paused again, taking another gulp of his coffee as he thought. “And even if he doesn’t believe you, we’ll keep trying.”

— That reminds me, — Tama interjected, — I have finished the analysis of the evidence submitted for Amamiya’s case. —

“What did you find?” Ryuki asked with an indescribable emotion in his voice,) something torn between hope and despair, right eye wide while his left one jumped out of its socket to land on top of his free hand. Kaname downed the rest of his coffee as he moved to look at the computer screen on Boss’ desk.

“There isn’t really a lot of evidence,” Tama explained while Ryuki placed her on top of the desk. “In fact, all we have are his fingerprints on the alleged victim’s jacket and a witness testimony. In fact, neither the victim’s nor the defendant’s statements are included in the records.”

Kaname felt his blood begin to boil. That meant one thing, and one thing only. “Foul play,” he growled, his hand curling into a fist. “This whole damn thing was rigged from the start.”

Ryuki let out a growl as he punched the desk, staring at the screen displaying documents highlighted by Tama. Amamiya’s photograph was at the top, his eyes dull, doubtlessly a result of the hours of interrogation. Kaname narrowed his eyes as he looked at the screen.

“What can we do about this?” Ryuki asked, his voice throaty; he practically growled the words out.

“Not much, unfortunately,” Tama replied dejectedly. “The case is outside our jurisdiction and whoever pushed for this to happen can and will do it again if we try to get it relitigated.” She turned to look at Ryuki, the iris in her eyeball looking almost apologetic. “The file also mentions a lack of video footage of the incident, because the location had no cameras. There’s nothing I can do to produce new evidence to try and overturn the verdict.”

“Fuck,” Kaname said out loud, face controting into a rage-filled scowl as Ryuki scrolled down to read the documents. “And on top of all that, his parents practically kicked him out the second they could.” It made Kaname’s blood boil inside his veins in a way he hadn’t felt in over twelve years, the same fire that fueled Falco flaming to life once again.

He took a deep breath, trying to stamp out the flames. Those days were past him, and he would do things the proper way – not necessarily the lawful way, but no more making himself judge, jury, and executioner.

“So now what!?” Ryuki’s face reflected his own rage in a similar way, the same kind of indignation that Kaname felt. “How do I gain his trust when I can’t go after the asshole that did this to him?”

“Right now, we can’t do much,” Tama answered, clearly worried for her partner. She walked up to Ryuki’s hand, holding it with both her arms and looking at his face. Kaname silently envied them, wishing he had Aiba or Hitomi there with him at that moment. For him, it’d still take a few hours before he could reach out to them and vent. Tama let go of the hand she was holding. “Ryuki, there’s a call for you.”

“Who is it?” he said, still tense.

“Boss. I think she wants you to take on a case, but…” Tama let the unfinished sentence hang in the air. If Ryuki felt like he wasn’t in the mental state to investigate, all he had to do was say the word.

“What about Amamiya?” Ryuki asked as he let out a sigh. “I might not be able to keep in touch with him if I’m knee deep in a case.”

“Isn’t that why you asked Boss to find someone to stay with him?” Kaname interjected. It was an unfortunate coincidence he himself was busy with a case when Ryuki got the news about his cousin, but he had trusted Boss enough to find someone who could take good care of the kid. He placed a hand on Ryuki’s shoulder. “He’ll be fine. And you need to take your mind off of this for now. Things won’t suddenly fall apart if you stay away for a few days.”

“All right, then,” Ryuki said. “Answer it, Tama.”

— God, I want to smash his teeth in, — Mizuki complained in the open channel, prompting Ryuki to smile placatingly. — And don’t you dare start talking about ‘internal conflict in the police,’ I know that I can’t do it with so many cameras around. —

— I wasn’t going to, — Ryuki replied. — Akechi also rubbed me the wrong way. —

— Wait, really? — Mizuki turned to actually look at Ryuki, grateful that neither ABIS agent was in sight of the cameras at the moment; they were all too preoccupied with the Second Detective Prince (what an insult to Shirogane) giving a statement about his relationship with the officers from the ‘obscure department’ to bother. — I always thought you were a goody-two-shoes. —

— Oh, he is, — Tama replied before Ryuki could. — But Akechi didn’t do anything meaningful for the investigation. Hell, he was floundering at the most basic things. —

— What, you think he’s playing pretend? — Mizuki asked, snorting out loud. She turned to look at Akechi, the pile of fake modesty and carefully crafted smiles. His voice, ever so soft and just the right tone of pleasing, kept extolling the virtues of his investigation partners for this case. — You think he’s landed this job because of some powerful relative or something? —

— You’re not one to talk, Mizuki, — Ryuki countered, with a soft smile that made his exasperation clear. — But yeah, I think there’s more to how he became a detective than meets the eye. —

“And of course, I couldn’t have made half the progress I did on this case without their help,” Akechi said, motioning to the pair of agents off-camera, which – much to Mizuki’s chagrin – brought the journalists’ attention over to them. “On top of their personalities making working together very easy, Agent Date and Agent Ryuki are quite the capable investigators!”

Mizuki could see the knife hidden in Akechi’s smile when the camera cut to her.

— Can I hit him with my pipe? —

— When we’re done here, — Ryuki answered with an audible sigh as he stepped up towards the microphones being shoved in their faces. The mass of journalists leaned forward, almost aggressively pushing each other out of their way. — I’ll deal with them. You’d probably get some uncomfortable questions if you tried. —

— Like if you and Akechi are sleeping together, — Tama teased with a chuckle. Mizuki almost made a face at that, but held herself back lest her expression end up being memed across the internet.

“Officer Ryuki, Officer Ryuki!” one of the reporters reached out. “Is it true that your department dissects bodies?”

“We leave the autopsies up to the coroners!” Ryuki chortled as the crowd paused slightly. The rumors about ABIS, ever since it went public, were usually very absurd. Mizuki did kind of enjoy browsing the internet for the more unhinged ones, but she had to admit seeing an actual reporter saying those words surprised her.

— Just what the fuck is wrong with these people? — she asked.

— The serious press already got their statements from the higher-ups, — Tama explained, sounding suddenly very exhausted. — These are the gutter tabloids; they’re here to get pictures of the pretty boy and dig up some gossip about ABIS. —

— And the best way to deal with them is to make fun of them, — Ryuki finished for her. Mizuki could see how he narrowed his eyes slightly as he smiled. Who knew the sad drunk with terrible taste in men actually had a funny bone? Maybe she should take on more cases with him in the future.

“What about the rumors that you put your suspects through unnecessary stress?” Another one tried, slightly less eager to get an answer.

“You mean interrogations?” Ryuki answered in the same friendly tone Akechi was using earlier, further disarming the group of journalists that started to turn their attention back to the Detective Prince. “They’re bound to be stressful, but we never did anything beyond asking questions. Anyone else?”

“W–well,” Akechi stepped up beside Ryuki, with a slight frown in his face, “I’m sure everyone is curious about ABIS, but I think we should focus on the case we just solved. I’ll be happy to explain our findings.”

That pulled the rest of the crowd back towards him, asking questions about his ‘contributions’ to the investigations while Ryuki quietly stepped back towards Mizuki, visibly pleased with himself. They looked at the crowd, who were clearly far more comfortable around him than her.

— He’s their sweetheart, isn’t he? — Mizuki commented. — Look at how in their element they are. —

— Not much we can do about that, — Ryuki sighed. — Besides, he did contribute with the mental shutdown cases. I just don’t get why the higher-ups forced us to work together like that. Not even Boss can get the files on him. —

— Ryuki, — Tama called, concern lacing her voice. — I think you need to hear this. —

— Did something happen? — The agents asked at the same time. Ryuki’s expression in particular was one of deeper worry than Mizuki’s own. — Is it about Amamiya? — he followed up.

Mizuki was only aware of the basics about Ryuki’s cousin’s situation: he was arrested, sentenced to a year of probation, and Ryuki was supposed to take care of him. Nevertheless, she was worried about both of them. Ryuki had never been the healthiest mentally. Who knows how he’d react if something happened to his cousin, after everyone else he’d lost?

— Yes, tangentially, — Tama explained in a tone that said ‘brace yourself for bad news’. — An ambulance has been called to Shujin Academy. The report states a student tried to commit suicide. —

— What? — Ryuki shouted in the communications channel, already starting to make his way around the press and towards the exit. — Was it– —

— No, he’s fine, — Tama said quickly. — It was a female student. But the entire school saw her jump, including Amamiya… —

— You go talk to him, — Mizuki affirmed, her single eye matching watching him rush across the exit doors. Before he left entirely, he turned around and nodded at her.

God, what an awful day this was turning out to be.

When Ren got to his room in Leblanc, the first thing that happened was him being tackled into a hug. The second one was him pushing Officer Ryuki away from himself, utterly enraged, but he couldn’t keep that up. He was utterly exhausted from all the things that happened today: between Ann’s awakening and Shiho’s…

Yeah, he just wanted some rest.

“What do you want?” Ren asked, no, he spat out towards the policeman. He clutched the strap of the bag holding Morgana, the cat jumped out and went to sit on the ledge of the stairs, fully alert to the upcoming discussion.

“I heard about what happened at Shujin,” he answered, daring to sound concerned about what had happened. “I… I wanted to make sure you were alright.”

“Did you now?” Ren crossed his arms as he walked past Officer Ryuki to sit on his poor excuse for a bed. Head up, looking at him directly. “Like you did in the car last Sunday?”

“What?” Officer Ryuki was taken aback by that. He looked like he had expected Ren to give into the hug, or to keep his head low like when they first met.

Well, he was in for a surprise tonight. Ren had no more energy to deal with a cop’s bullshit. Cousin dearest should have picked a better day to remember he had a family.

“Are you really that dumb?” Ren demanded with an unamused guffaw. He leveled Officer Ryuki with a glare and a derisive smirk. “Do you really think I believe for a second that you care? You spent the entire week away at your ‘mystery department’ and only show up now because something important happened.”

“That’s–”

“And don’t even get me started on the fact that you were the one who enrolled me at Shujin,” Ren continued, he was not about to give Officer Ryuki any reprieve now that he began. “Are you gonna tell me you don’t know? Don’t know that there’s a fucking rapist teaching at that school? Suzui-san jumped the day after being called to his office. And she wasn’t the first.”

Officer Ryuki stumbled back, his eyes wide. His mouth opened as though to try to explain himself, to defend himself from the indefensible. The words died in his throat, unsaid, as they should be. Silently, Ren acknowledged that maybe it was a good thing he didn’t have to share a roof with that man.

“I…” Officer Ryuki stammered out at last, “I have no excuse. I should have been more diligent in checking the school for any possible incidents.” He bowed, which slightly shocked Ren, but only just slightly. It was too late for an apology and they both knew it. “But I can assure you, I won’t rest until I give that teacher exactly what he deserves.”

“As if you could,” Ren snorted. “Even if you’re telling the truth, Kobayakawa has been bribing the police for years. Suguru Kamoshida is untouchable unless he confesses. In fact, isn’t that how you got that rich, by taking bribes? I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“I would never!” Officer Ryuki shouted, irate. His eyes were wide in shock and anger. Ren knew he struck a chord, but he wasn’t about to back down. “You don’t know me,” the older man continued, “you have no idea who I am, you don’t get to spout bullshit about me. I’m trying to help you, if you just give me a damn chance, but you’re just too bitter and stubborn!”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Ren stood, raising his voice, “am I supposed to not be bitter after I’ve already been arrested for helping someone and pissing off the wrong person? Because I didn’t get the fucking memo on that!”

“I’m not saying that! I don't want you to pretend like that!” Officer Ryuki’s voice broke, his lips trembled as his hands curled into fists. Ren could see something sparkling in the corners of his eye. “God, you’re the first relative I’ve met in twelve years! I don’t want to lose you too!”

That gave Ren pause, and for a moment he let his eyes widen. He adjusted his glasses on his face as he considered his next words, silently taking in the sight of Officer Ryuki huffing as he let out some tears. Finally, he sat back down and spoke. “What do you mean?”

“I… I was seventeen,” Officer Ryuki said amidst quiet sobbing. “My brother, he… he died. Right in front of me. A truck ran over half of his body, and crushed it completely. I–I had his blood on me. He was all I had. We’d lost our parents years ago.”

Ren silently listened to Ryuki’s story after that. Becoming a policeman had been his brother, Yukuto’s, dream, which he had held on to after he died. He’s somehow lost his eye after being recruited for ABIS. Everything he’d done for the past 13 years had been for the sake of a ghost. Ren swallowed as Ryuki explained the six years of alcoholism he dealt with because of a case he’d failed to solve, a murderer he’d failed to catch.

“I… I betrayed the man I love that day, and I saw him die,” he said. “It was only six years later that I found some closure. And now… now you’re here,” he finished awkwardly.

Morgana jumped off the ledge and onto the floor, running past Ryuki and towards Ren. He leapt on top of the bed, landing beside his teammate, while Ren absently started petting him.

“What do you think, Joker?” Morgana asked, tone serious and very concerned.

“I… I need some time alone,” Ren confessed aloud. Ryuki nodded. “It’s just… a lot has happened lately, and I need some time to process things.”

“It’s okay,” Ryuki said in a soft tone, himself exhausted from the confrontation. “And about what I said earlier, about catching the teacher who did that… I mean it. I’ll find a way to make him pay, I swear it.”

Ren chortled, falling back on the bed and staring at the ceiling, his hand not once leaving Morgana’s head. “I told you, you can’t. Good luck trying, though.”

Ren only listened as Ryuki’s footsteps echoed across the floor, before heading down the stairs. Ren lay there for a while in utter silence, wondering where he could go from here.

Chapter Text

“I heard your shouting match last night,” Sakura-san said when Ren finally decided to climb down the stairs to go to school. Ren winced. Of course he had, they’d been screaming at each other during business hours, any clients that had been there at the time would have got an earful of Ren’s and Ryuki’s lives.

“Sorry,” Ren said, head low, as he walked past the restaurant owner.

“Hold on a second,” Sakura-san called out, “I made some curry for you.”

Ren paused, looked at the plate of curry and coffee cup on the counter and then at Sakura-san. His confusion was written in his expression from the way the other man sighed and motioned for him to sit down, walking around the counter to sit on the chair beside Ren’s.

“Is there something you want to talk about?” Ren asked, uncomfortably taking a sip of the coffee on the counter. Morgana jumped out of his bag and climbed on top of one of the tables, seemingly asleep, but really just choosing to stay out of that conversation.

“Yeah, I do.” Sakura-san looked at the curry left untouched so far on the counter, his gaze betraying an emotion that Ren couldn’t quite place. “I figure I should at least tell you why I agreed to taking you in.”

“That’s because Ryuki-san can’t, right?” Ren asked, the conversation from last night still fresh enough in his mind that he could remember the exact words he used, the finer details of his expression as he cried, the sobs as he talked about how the alcohol turned out to be his consolation for those six years. “Because of his drinking problem.”

“Yeah, but there’s something else,” Sakura-san said, turning to look at Ren, a serious look on his face. “I didn’t really know him until we met to arrange things. I agreed to it because…” Sakura-san swallowed, “I owed an old friend – his boss – a favor.”

“His boss? You mean…” Ren let the words trail off, unsure of how to describe the boss of a policeman involved in the previously secret department of the MPD that took the country by storm.

“The commander of ABIS,” Sakura-san nodded. “Shizue Kuranushi, an old friend from when I did government work. It was a surprise to find out where she ended up after so long, but I know her well enough to say that she knows who to keep by her side.”

“So… you’re vouching for Ryuki-san,” Ren tilted his head, at last taking a spoonful of the curry in front of him.

“Not really,” Sakura-san answered. “I don’t know him like she does; but if anyone can vouch for him, it’s her.”

“Then why are you telling me this?” Ren adjusted his glasses, continuing to eat and drink at a steady pace. Sakura-san didn’t strike Ren as the kind to have many friends in the first place, let alone get so invested in the lives of others. Ren considered the possibility of him trying to put in a good word for the person who’s paying for Ren’s stay at Leblanc, but that didn’t make much sense either.

“Because you need to know who’s around you,” Sakura-san answered before letting out a sigh. “Your life here’s gonna be an uphill battle, and knowing the people who are supposed to be helping you is important.”

“I trust my friends,” Ren said immediately, turning to look at Sakura-san with a frown. “We’re pretty much outcasts at school, so we only have one another to rely on.”

“They must be a good bunch, then,” Sojiro said with a smile that Ren hadn’t seen on his face in the admittedly short time he’d known him. It suited him. “I’ll try to get in touch with Shizue again; the least she can do is introduce herself to you, after shoving some troubled kid on my lap.”

Ren smiled as well, taking in some more of his curry and coffee. “It almost sounds like you enjoy having me here,” he chuckled.

“With the money I’m getting I wouldn’t dare to complain,” Sakura-san let out a guffaw while standing up from his seat. “But I’m not about to let you stay here without at least helping around. You’re gonna have plenty of time to learn how to make a nice brew.”

Ren smiled slightly and decided to finish his food, remembering that Ryuji wanted to help him prepare to infiltrate Kamoshida’s castle over the weekend; show him spots to buy weapons and help search for places to stock up on medicine and other stuff.

“The Chief sounds like he’s warming up to you, Joker,” Morgana said from his spot while Ren chewed on the last of his rice. “Maybe you should help him around with the shop some time?”

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to take the cat to school?” Sakura-san continued, rounding the counter again and taking Ren’s dishes to the back.

“He’s smart,” Ren diverted, beconing Morgana to jump into his bag. “He walks around the neighborhood while I’m in class and waits for me to leave. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he’s a dog.”

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!” Morgana practically shouted, making Ren laugh.

“Suit yourself, then,” Sakura-san shrugged. “Just make sure you don’t get in trouble. And please, flip the sign outside to open when you leave, will you?”

Hideo’s weekend hadn’t been the most relaxing, to say the least. Between handling outraged parents, keeping the police at bay, dealing with him and making sure the paperwork for the criminal kid was filed correctly, Hideo Kobayakawa had had a very stressful weekend indeed.

And it looked like this week was about to start on the wrong foot, too. Namely, the foot of that police officer, Ryuki if memory served, storming into his office.

“I have questions for you, Kobayakawa-san,” he said, and something about his expression made the few hairs Hideo still had in his body stand on end. If Officer Ryuki had been angry when Hideo gave that little criminal brat a stern talking to, now, he looked properly furious.

“Concerning what?” Hideo replied with a smile, though he already knew the answer. There was no way he could buy this one off, but he didn’t get this far in life on money alone. “I imagine you refer to…” Hideo searched for the kid’s name in his mind. “… Amamiya-kun, correct?”

“No.” Officer Ryuki leaned over, placing both hands on top of the desk and staring at Hideo’s eyes with his own – weirdly bicolored – ones. “I want to know about Shiho Suzui’s attempted suicide.”

“Oh, that,” Hideo said, dropping the smile for a more appropriate expression of concern. “I assure you, we are taking steps to avoid a repeat of last Friday’s tragedy. We can never truly know what goes on through the minds of others, can we? If I knew just what had happened maybe I–”

“Spare me the crocodile tears,” Officer Ryuki cut Hideo off while reaching into his pocket. “I just had to glance at your volleyball team to know just what’s wrong. Hell, one of your students was very clear: Suguru Kamoshida called Suzui to his office the day before she jumped.”

“What are you insinuating?” Hideo frowned, lowering his voice as he leveled Officer Ryuki with a glare of his own. “I’ll have you know that I care for my faculty as much as I do for my students. If you wish to accuse one of them on the basis of hearsay and coincidences instead of evidence, you better think again.”

“Are you threatening a policeman?”

“And do you have a warrant to barge into my office asking impertinent questions like that?”

Officer Ryuki stood back, facing Hideo silently and with barely concealed rage. A shame this man chose to side with a disgraced child, he could have been a good asset for Hideo to carve a name for himself. Nevertheless, it was time for the coup de grace.

“I thought so,” Hideo continued the verbal assault. “Being associated with the ‘mystery department’ everyone is so excited about is not grounds for this kind of disrespect, Officer Ryuki. If you wish to insist on the matter, make sure to go through the official pathways first.”

“You…” Officer Ryuki growled, and for a second Hideo feared for his life. Still, he had the advantage in that situation, which helped him keep his wits about him.

“But seeing as there is nothing in this school that could justify a police investigation, I suppose you won’t be able to,” Hideo finished with a smile. “I imagine it must be frustrating for an officer of the law to know something like that happened in my school, so as a token of sympathy, I won’t report you.”

“What?” The other man recoiled, shocked at Hideo’s placating – and very much condescending – tone. “You wouldn’t.”

“I recommend against testing me, Officer Ryuki.” Hideo waved his hand dismissively as he reached into one of his drawers to pick some paperwork he had to deal with that day. “So please, for your sake, leave now before I actually take offense from your behavior.”

Officer Ryuki growled one last time, mumbling something Hideo didn’t care to ask about. His patience for the man’s antics was already at its limit and the less they had to talk, the better. Hideo simply watched from the corner of his eye as his newest headache turned around and left, slamming the door closed on his way out.

Hideo sighed, fully looking up from his papers and at the door. That was the first time he dealt with a policeman like that, one that so obviously couldn’t be bought off. He picked up his phone, rapidly scrolling through his contacts as he thought. ABIS was a dangerous group if they had someone like Officer Ryuki in their ranks; even more so if he was not the only one of their ranks like that.

Hideo found the contact he was searching for, his finger hovering over the call button. The familiar name of one of dietman Masayoshi Shido’s subordinates stared at him.

He pressed it.

“This is Kitaniji,” the sharp voice of the ever so industrious secretary to the dietman answered the call in that unchanging professional demeanor. “What is your business?”

“An ABIS cop is looking into my school,” Hideo said immediately, not bothering with the usual niceties he’d attempt to exchange. “I managed to drive him off for now, but I don’t think he’ll give up easily.”

“Noted,” he replied, typing quickly and audibly as she spoke. “What else should we know about him?”

“He’s the legal guardian of one…” what was the kid’s name, again? “Ren Amamiya. Kid with a criminal record, he’s on probation this year.”

“Very well, I’ll take this up with Shido-san,” he said as the typing ceased. “For now, don’t do anything to step on Amamiya’s toes and await further instructions. This situation requires a surgical approach, understand?”

“Of course, Kitaniji-san,” Hideo nodded. “But, uh, one of my faculty members has a personal grudge against him. He is planning to expel Amamiya in the upcoming assembly.”

“I believe I wasn’t clear,” Kitaniji said with an icy edge to his voice that made Hideo wince over the phone. “Until a course of action is charted, Amamiya is untouchable, am I clear?”

“Y-yes, of course. I will relay that to Kamoshida-kun.”

“Good,” Kitaniji finished, hanging up the call. Hideo put the phone down on his desk, staring at the papers he had pulled up earlier.

His life wasn’t getting easier anytime soon. Maybe he should drink tonight.

“Man, this place is a drag,” Skull said as he stretched his good leg, reclining a bit on one of the seats available in the safe room. “How close are we to that bastard’s treasure anyways? It feels like we’ve been doing this for ages.”

“We’re close enough that you can stop complaining, Skull,” Mona replied in a derisive tone. Joker thought it wasn’t exactly needed, but Skull didn’t seem to mind. “If our map is right, we’ll reach the throne room soon.”

“And then we’ll make Kamoshida pay,” Panther concluded in a voice that gave the other three pause. Mona in particular looked the most shaken by her words, but he quickly recomposed himself, nodded and carried on.

“I’m hoping we won’t have to fight Kamoshida’s Shadow directly,” he explained, “but I don’t think that’ll be the case. I can’t be sure of things until we see the treasure, but I think we’ll have to do something very risky.”

“Risky how?” Skull asked, almost nonchalantly. “I’m all for bashing Kamoshida’s face in.”

“Simply put, we’ll have to tell Kamoshida in the real world that we’re coming for his treasure in his palace,” Mona said, making Skull and Joker pin him down with shared glares. “His real world self doesn’t have to understand it, but his Shadow will and security in the Palace will skyrocket. He might even try to take us on directly.”

“He can bring it,” Panther said, resolute. “I’m not afraid of him.”

“I’m with her,” Skull said after a moment. “I’ve been meaning to punch that bastard since we started this. Besides, there’s nothing else we can do, right?”

Mona nodded. “There isn’t. Not even that ABIS agent can lay a hand on Kamoshida as things are right now.”

“Hold on,” Panther cut in, looking at Mona, and then at Joker. “You know an ABIS agent? Since when did you know one?”

Joker shrugged, taking a seat with a sigh. He knew he’d have to talk to the others about it eventually, especially once the police inevitably started poking and prodding at the school with Ryuki not far behind. If there’s one thing Joker had learned from that disaster of a conversation, it was that his cousin was an intensely stubborn man who would not let the Shujin case go.

If only he had been in Inaba that night.

“He’s my cousin,” Joker explained, “though we didn’t know each other until after I came to Tokyo. I didn’t know he was with ABIS until he showed up on the news.” He leaned back on his chair, looking around at the others, who leaned towards him with interest. “I’m supposed to be living with him on paper, but he’s not really equipped to have another person living with him.”

“Wait, he kicked you out?” Skull almost shouted as he stood up.

“No, nothing like that!” Joker quickly assured them. “I’m staying with a friend of his, he’s also covering my expenses here in Tokyo and he drops by to visit constantly.” Although he hasn’t visited since last Friday, but that was not something Joker needed to mention to the others.

“So, does he know about…” Panther started, not able to bring herself to finish the sentence. Not that she needed to.

“Yeah, he wanted to talk about it; see if he could do anything to help.” Joker removed his mask, placing it on the table in front of him, but not letting go. “I blew up on him that night and he blew up back. We haven’t really been on the best terms since, but…”

“But we think he might actually be trying to help,” Mona finished for Joker, walking up to the leader of their group. “At least, I don’t think he was lying when he said he’d look into it. The problem is, the school has put a lot of work into protecting Kamoshida, so I doubt even he can do anything meaningful against that man.”

“So the cops are useless,” Skull concluded, throwing his shoulder back, “nothing new there. Still, it’s wild that your cousin is with ABIS, of all people.”

“Changing Kamoshida’s heart is still our only option,” Mona restated with a sigh, “it’s the only way we have to make sure Kamoshida pays for his crimes, and besides, if we don’t do it soon then Joker and Skull will be expelled.”

“Hold on there,” Skull interjected, sitting beside Joker, “won’t we be in trouble if the police get on our trail? If we have to give some kind of warning to Kamoshida, it’ll come up on their investigation, and at that point it won’t matter if Kamoshida confessed or whether Joker’s cousin is shit.”

“You underestimate me, Skull,” Mona said confidently, jumping in place with a grin. “I already have the perfect plan in place: we’ll send an anonymous calling card while Joker gets close to Officer Ryuki to keep track of what the investigation will uncover. That way, we’ll be able to do our thing and make sure to stay under the police’s radar.”

“What?” Joker exclaimed, his mask disappearing in a burst of flames and reappearing on his face.

“Dude, you don’t just ask someone to make up just like that after a fight!” Skull exclaimed equally as surprised. “You didn’t even ask if Joker’s fine with it!”

“I said too much,” Mona mumbled, almost inaudible. “Listen, I’m not gonna force you guys to cozy up to him if you really don’t want to, but you can’t deny that being on friendly terms with him will be to our advantage.”

“Still, it’s not right to make Joker try to befriend a cop after the shit he went through,” Skull insisted, stomping on the floor. “It’s like asking Panther here to join the volleyball team after we kick Kamoshida’s ass! There’s no way that’s a good idea!”

“Hey, leave me out of this!” Panther shot back.

“And do you have anything better to suggest, Skull?” Mona said with an edge to his voice. “There’s no way the police won’t catch us if we’re not careful, and you and Joker have hardly been subtle about trying to oust Kamoshida.”

“At least we’ve been doing something. What did you do to help, huh?” Skull continued, seemingly unbothered by the snide remark. “Oh wait, you got captured before you even could do anything!”

“That’s enough!” Joker shouted. Everyone else in the room turned to look at him, with some level of surprise in their faces. “I’ll do it.”

“Joker!” Skull sounded disappointed. Joker simply shook his head.

“I was already planning on making up with him, anyways. The fact there’s an incentive to be on good terms with him just speeds things up,” he explained.

Skull clicked his tongue, but nodded. Mona smiled triumphantly while Panther just looked at Joker with an indecipherable gaze.

“Good, now let’s get back to the infiltration. We’ve spent too long here already.”

Kuruto stepped inside Café Leblanc with a level of apprehension he had not felt since the Half-Body Serial Killings had wrapped up two months ago. He tried his best to not let it show, to act natural, but he wasn’t sure he was succeeding.

Amamiya had wanted to talk to him, and he had nothing to show for his progress on the Shujin investigation.

“Ryuki-san,” Amamiya called from behind the counter. He was wearing an apron on top of his clothes, his glasses looked fogged up as he placed two steaming cups on the counter. “You came,” he said.

“Was I… not supposed to?” Kuruto asked, standing as if stuck in place as the door swung shut behind him. “I thought you had messaged me to come.”

“No, no. I did,” Amamiya assured him. “I was just worried you wouldn’t come. After what happened last week, I thought–”

“It’s alright,” Kuruto cut him off, “I was wrong to think you’d open up to me if I kept dancing around the issue, and I clearly didn’t look into Shujin as thoroughly as I should have.” Kuruto bowed. “I’m truly sorry, I should have been more diligent in my work and more mindful of your feelings.” When he raised himself, Kuruto could see the shocked expression on Amamiya’s face, which he quickly schooled.

“I should apologize too,” he said. “I basically spat in your face when you were trying to help me. I said things about you that just couldn’t be true.”

“It’s okay, it’s only natural you’d react like that after what happened,” Kuruto told his cousin. “I managed to get the files on your conviction. They didn’t even take your statement, let alone give you a fair trial. I can’t expect you to trust me after going through that, given my profession.”

— Indeed, — Tama concurred, — if we want to make up to Amamiya, there’s only one way to do it. —

“Amamiya-kun, I promise you: I won’t stop until that injustice is corrected,” Kuruto finished, smiling warmly towards the young man. “And I’ll make sure Kamoshida pays for what he did to that student.”

— Ryuki, — Tama said in a suddenly more serious tone, — his temperature rose when you mentioned Kamoshida. —

— I suppose it would. It must be a sensitive subject for him, — Kuruto replied, trying to placate her. — Kamoshida is still a threat to him and the rest of the school; it makes sense he’d feel worried. —

“Thank you, Ryuki-san,” Amamiya said with some indescribable emotion. “It’s, um, good to know someone cares.”

— His temperature didn’t rise when you mentioned his false conviction, though, — Tama counter-argued. Her tone wasn’t accusative, it was closer to a curiosity with some hints of worry underneath. — I think we should try Wink Psyncing again. There’s something he’s not telling us. —

“I made some coffee for us,” Amamiya continued, turning back and talking in a more joyful tone than before, “there’s something else I wanna talk about.” Kuruto nodded, moving to take his seat on the counter while Amaiya took his spot behind it.

— No, — Kuruto told her, — I would rather not do it this time. —

— Why not? — Tama asked, clearly surprised, but Kuruto knew her well enough to know she wouldn’t push the issue now that he’s made his decision. — Doesn’t it make you at least curious? He’s still keeping secrets from you. —

— I’m trying to earn his trust here, — Kuruto explained while taking a sip of his coffee, — I’m not going to go prodding into his mind without a good reason, not anymore. If he wants to hide something from me, I’ll just work to make him trust me enough to tell me. —

— I understand, — Tama said, falling quiet again.

“So,” he said aloud, putting his cup back on the counter, “what is it that you want to talk about? I just can’t give you love advice, I’ve been told I have terrible taste in men.” The joke felt a bit awkward to say, but it got a chuckle out of Amamiya, so he decided it was good enough. “But seriously, I’m curious.”

“It’s about ABIS,” Amamiya said, straining to keep his tone casual. “I wanna know what you do there,” he admitted. Kuruto had been expecting to have to answer that question at some point, but it came way earlier than he expected.

“That’s… a difficult thing to answer,” Kuruto confessed. “I can’t tell you everything, but there’s one thing I can tell you,” he said with a smirk, trying his best to mimic Date’s as he pointed at Tama. “You see my eye here? The red one? It’s a highly advanced prosthetic. I can see through it and it has some cool features like X-ray and night vision modes.”

— Thank you for the compliment, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t reveal sensitive information about me just like that, — Tama huffed. — I am a lady who likes to entice people through mystery, you know? —

— I’ll keep that in mind in the future. —

“Wait, really?” Amamiya asked, quickly placing his own coffee on the counter. “I thought those were still in experimental stages!”

“ABIS gets plenty of ‘experimental’ tech,” Kuruto confirmed, “if my Boss allows, I wouldn’t mind taking you there for a visit someday. We do get plenty already thanks to all the people we’ve met over the years.”

“Is that a promise?” Amamiya smirked back, hand on his chin. The smug look suited him; he looked way better than with his head low. “I’ll hold you to that, officer. Are you sure you want to invite a convicted criminal to see all your secrets?”

“Eh, you wouldn’t be the worst guest we’ve ever had down there, you’re better than a literal cultist,” Kuruto chuckled. “Yes, it’s a promise, I’ll show you around ABIS someday, but you have to promise me something.”

“Name it,” his cousin said.

“If you ever need help with something, you’ll ask for it,” Kuruto smiled, holding out a hand.

Amamiya gripped his hand, giving it a firm shake. He laughed, “You have yourself a deal.”

Chapter Text

The constant trading of blows back and forth was getting tiresome, more so than in any other fight the group had dealt with before. Kamoshida’s Shadow, Asmodeus, was easily the single strongest enemy in his castle. Mona wasn’t surprised by that as, being the one who spawned this place and commanded the other Shadows, it was only natural that he was the most powerful.

He watched silently, waiting for an opportunity to move while the other three battled the monster. Their attacks were wearing down Asmodeus slowly, chipping away at him bit by bit as they used everything in their arsenal just trying to stay afloat.

“Come on, just give me a chance,” Mona grumbled as he watched from the mezzanine. Asmodeus had a difficult time moving due to his size; while the throne room might be spacious for the average-sized, he occupied so much space that even turning around was difficult without damaging the room. Unfortunately for Mona, though, he also had no qualms about doing just that.

Joker jumped away from the flying debris, summoning one of the new Personas that he got from who-knows-where before the fight. Mona couldn’t catch his shouting, but he saw what it did. Joker jumped right when Skull cast a Zio on one of the walls, sending a sizable chunk of it flying towards their leader, who didn’t waste time bashing it towards Asmodeus’ head, knocking the crown a bit while the giant Shadow tried to regain his bearings.

Mona leapt off of his spot, knocking the giant crown Asomodeus had been trying to protect off of his head.

Things weren’t too difficult from then on. Asmodeus’ lost all will to fight when he realized the crown had fallen and rolled out of his reach. He was too dazed to defend himself from the barrage that the Phantom Thieves were unleashing on him. At that point, it was certain: victory was theirs.

Asmodeus had been so weakened that he couldn’t hold onto his form anymore, reverting to the gross king in underwear that ruled over Shujin Academy. He sat there, not even bothering to get up even as Skull went to collect his Treasure.

“Yo, I think we’re done here,” Skull said, panting a bit. He slowly approached Shadow Kamoshida, who finally acknowledged they were there and began to crawl away. He wasn’t fast enough. “How does it feel to be the one getting beat down, for once, huh?” Skull asked, picking the man up by his robes with one hand and throwing the crown at Joker with the other.

“Please, spare me,” Kamoshida groaned, “you already have my crown, there’s nothing else you want from me.”

“Wrong,” Panther growled, walking up to the two men. “There’s still one thing I want you to do.”

Skull dropped him back on the floor, then spat on him. Panther stopped before Shadow Kamoshida with a scowl as he trembled. His mouth started to move, but no sound came out. Panther summoned Carmen. Kamoshida flinched, but he had nowhere else to run.

“I want you to pay for what you did to Shiho,” she continued, her eyes not once leaving the Shadow’s, “and you will live the rest of your life knowing just how much of a pathetic, worthless disgrace to the world you are. You will confess to everything you did, and rot away.”

She dismissed Carmen, kicking Kamoshida in the gut. He flew a couple meters back, towards Mona’s feet. He struggled to raise himself enough to look at the trio while Mona ran towards them. “F–fine. I–I’ll do that,” he staggered, “I have no choice anymore.” Kamoshida faced the group, the incarnation of failure, before fully raising himself. “I guess that other guy will be in for a surprise.”

“What?” Mona asked in disbelief. “What other guy?”

Light began to shine around Kamoshida, his expression turning to a dejected form of smugness as he spoke. “So, you didn’t know about him. The masked man who told me you were going for the kill,” he explained. “He came and went before I could ask him anything else.”

“Th–there’s another person with access to the Metaverse?” Mona said aloud, disbelief lacing his voice. “How come you guys didn’t tell me?!”

“Dude, we didn’t know either!” Skull retorted, looking down at him. “There wasn’t anyone on the roof when we came here, I checked every time!”

“What else do you know?” Panther turned to Kamoshida with a threatening edge to her voice. “What did he look like?”

“Black clothes and black mask,” Kamoshida answered immediately, “but that’s everything I know about him. There’s nothing else that I can do, besides going back to my real self now,” he finished. Panther looked like she wanted to say something else, but she didn’t get the chance to before the Shadow disappeared entirely.

Immediately, the cracks on the walls that came from their fight started to grow after that, spreading to the floor and the ceiling as chunks of the castle began to fall around them. “No time to think about it,” Joker shouted, pulling Skull towards him as they began to run, “we gotta get out of here!”

The castle had morphed with the change in cognition, the labyrinthine halls and corridors turning into a single straightforward path. Mona saw some Shadows running for their lives as well, most of them too slow to avoid being crushed by the falling rubble. Eventually, a light appeared on the other side of the corridor, and Mona could sense that it was the exit. He took one last second to check that Joker was holding onto Kamoshida’s crown before they leapt towards it.

To say the damp ally was a welcome sight after all that chaos would be an understatement. Even as the others were checking themselves over for injuries, Mona could tell there were none. With a sigh, Lady Ann was the first to speak.

“It’s over,” she started, laughing a bit, “we did it!”

“Hell yeah we did!” Ryuji concurred, turning towards Ren. “Hang on, weren’t you supposed to be holdin’ a crown?”

“It turned into this when I got here,” Ren said, sounding only slightly confused as he raised the Olympic medal he was holding. “I guess that’s another part of the Metaverse’s weirdness.”

Mona sighed. That’s another thing he had to explain. He didn’t mind it this time, though. He knew he had struck gold making a deal with these guys.

Mizuki stopped outside the place highlighted in her AI-Sight, looking at the unassuming storefront she had come to see. The small sign reading ‘Café Leblanc’ above the door was the indication that she was at the right place.

— Date, Mizuki, we have arrived, — Aiba informed them nevertheless. The thought of meeting a friend of Boss’ other than Date and whom she didn’t have blackmail on was too exciting, to let her get annoyed. — I have scanned the location, none of the people there match Amamiya’s body type. Should we go back? —

“After coming all the way here?” Mizuki pouted, glaring at the reflection of her left eye on the glass. “The least we can do is try their coffee! Besides, don’t tell me you’re not curious to meet Boss’ friend.”

“I agree,” Date nodded, “Boss never talked about knowing this guy before. I want to meet him and see if the kid’s got a good guardian.”

— Very well, — Aiba said, — there is also something else I’d like to check myself. Something about this café… bothers me. Just give me some time before I announce my conclusions. —

After that, they stepped into the café, Date tailing behind Mizuki as she took in the place. It was small, just large enough for one person to navigate, but any more than two people standing up would make it difficult to move about. There were stairs that, Mizuki concluded, led to the attic where Ryuki’s cousin lived. There might be windows up above, but in the café itself, the only exit was the door behind her.

— How’s that for an analysis of the place? — She silently asked her eyeball partner.

— Not bad, — Aiba commended, though she didn’t sound impressed by it, — but I would add that the ceiling is high enough that someone of your athletic capability could climb on the tables or the counter and easily outmaneuver an opponent that relies on the seemingly cramped space. —

— Hell yeah, — she smiled. The other patrons had raised their heads to look at the new arrivals when the bell rang, but quickly returned to their business. Mizuki could still catch some people staring at the eyepatch Date had on, though. The man behind the counter looked old enough to be a friend of Date’s, so he probably was the café owner they were looking for.

— Sakura, Sojiro, — Aiba provided, — 52. Records indicate he used to work for the Education, Science and Technology Ministry, but he quit around two years ago. I was unable to find out about any of the work he did. —

“Welcome,” Sakura said while Mizuki and Date took some seats by the counter, “what will you have?”

“I’ll have the house blend,” Date answered, his eye taking in the menu options. “Kuranushi-san said you’re good with the beans.”

Sakura didn’t give any outward reaction to the casual mention of Boss’ name. Probably because it was fairly obvious they were connected to ABIS given Mizuki’s left eye was yellow, and Date’s eyepatch covered the same eye. If he had met Ryuki already – which he must have at this point – he would at least know what the common thread between them is.

“What about you, miss?” He turned to Mizuki.

“I’ll have the same,” she said, then added after a moment of thought, “and some of that curry that’s on the menu, too. I’m curious.”

“Very well, it’ll be ready in a couple minutes,” Sakura nodded, then turned around and started to work. Mizuki watched him for a few minutes, as he turned around and selected the beans with the precision of someone who had done so several hundred times in the past. The process was captivating.

— Mizuki, — Date called via their connection, — you might want to pay attention to the TV now. —

She groaned mentally, but tore her eyes away from the man preparing their coffee and took a look at the television on top of a shelf in the corner. It showed a photo of some buff guy that seemed vaguely familiar to her, but she couldn’t remember where she saw him. Was he a celebrity of some kind?

“… Suguru Kamoshida was an Olympic gold medalist. His good athletics records and academic background landed him a position as a teacher at Shujin Academy, an elite high school known for having several high class people among its alumni and current students…”

Sakura paused for a second and looked at the TV. He caught himself and went back to preparing the coffee and curry, but Mizuki knew his mind was now caught up in listening to the news.

“Isn’t that where Amamiya studies?” Mizuki asked out loud, too caught up in surprise to use the comms.

— Yes, — Aiba answered, — Boss and Ryuki arranged for him to be transferred there because of its elite status. —

“… Yesterday, Kamoshida has confessed to and was arrested on charges of rape and several other kinds of abuse. Our reporters found out that, two weeks ago, a female student attempted suicide by jumping off the school’s roof. Although she survived, it’s unclear whether she will wake up or if she’ll ever fully recover from her injuries.”

“What an awful state of affairs,” one of the patrons sitting by the tables, an elderly lady with a foreign accent, said, “we can’t even trust our children to their educators anymore.”

Sakura’s mouth was a grim line, his lips pressed against each other as he didn’t even try to hide his frown. It was with that face that he handed over Mizuki’s and Date’s orders, limiting himself to say “enjoy” through gritted teeth. Mizuki couldn’t say she didn’t share the sentiment, it took a lot of willpower to avoid crushing the cup in her hands.

Suddenly, she didn’t feel quite so curious about the food anymore.

— Does Ryuki know about this? — Mizuki asked, her tone way colder than the food in front of her. — Has anyone told him already? —

— He knew about the crimes, — Aiba answered, just as shocked by the news. — I was with Date when they discussed what to do. But for Kamoshida to confess suddenly like that… it’s unheard of. —

— And what happens now? —

Date finally drank his coffee. One long gulp that did away with most of the cup’s contents. He glared at the TV, absorbing every detail of Kamoshida’s face. — There’ll be an investigation into the school now, — he explained, — even if the staff were covering for him, even if the police were being bribed to look the other way, they can’t hide anymore. —

— It’s the optimal outcome, — Aiba summarized. — The criminal suddenly admitted his guilt, and the school is now under scrutiny. All investigative work that needs to be done will merely be for the sake of his upcoming trial. —

“Looks like I’ll be closing up early today,” Sakura said, observing the door. “Do you want me to box up your food?” he asked Mizuki.

“Yeah, I…” she searched for the words to say next, “I’ll just heat it up at home.”

“Ryuki, are you okay?” Boss asked, for once sitting on her chair. She looked tired, like she’d pulled an all-nighter, but her expression betrayed mostly worry for Kuruto. “Tama must have told you about what happened at Shujin. About Kamoshida confessing to abuse.”

“Yeah, she did,” Kuruto sighed. The news of Kamoshida’s confession had caught him completely off-guard since all evidence against him was swept under the rug by the school. “It’s just… I just think it’s unusual. It’s almost as if he suddenly became a different person.”

“Ryuki, you don’t think–”

“No, of course not!” Kuruto was quick to add, raising his hands in a placating gesture. “But after what Amamiya told me about the school, about Kamoshida, I just can’t help but think it’s entirely out of character for him to confess like that. And so far, well, right now, there’s no evidence he didn’t go to Kabasaki.”

“ABIS has packed that warehouse tighter than sardines with all those cameras and motion detectors,” Tama reminded them as she jumped onto the desk, “if he had gone there, we’d know.”

“She’s right, Ryuki,” Boss added, turning back to her computer with an impatient glare aimed at it, “whatever happened to him, it has nothing to do with that.”

“You’re right, I might be too on edge about this,” Kuruto admitted with another sigh, heading to sit down in his usual chair, “but it just doesn’t sit right. I can’t wrap my head around it.”

“With how you looked when you broke into that sad egg of a principal’s office, I was almost sure you were gonna tear him in half,” Tama commented in an almost gossipy tone. “He probably thought the same, too.”

“WHAT?!” Boss shouted, standing up while slamming her hands on the desk. Tama jumped a bit from the impact.

— Why did you tell her that?! — Kuruto chastised Tama, making sure to keep it to their silent communications channel. — Boss wasn’t supposed to know about it! —

— She already did, dumbass, — Tama replied, glaring at him with a look that said ‘I’m not dealing with this’. — Besides, do you really think she’d be mad about it? It’s probably something she saw on her computer. Let me check, — she added, turning to look at Boss. Kuruto heard her gasp a few seconds later.

“What is it?” Kuruto couldn’t contain himself after that.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Boss continued, seemingly not noticing Kuruto’s question. “What the fuck is going on here?!”

“Don’t ask me!” Tama immediately replied, sounding just as shocked as Boss did.

“What happened?” Kuruto insisted, standing up from his seat. Boss finally acknowledged him, beckoning her underling to look at the computer screen. Kuruto quickly walked around the desk, Boss taking a short step to the side to make space for him to take a look.

The only thing that caught Kuruto’s eye was the ‘access denied’ message box that covered the familiar screen of the MPD’s case files database. That made him frown as it all clicked. Given the nature of ABIS, there shouldn’t be much they didn’t have access to, so a case so sensitive that even they couldn’t look into the files was… worrying.

“I was trying to get the files on Kamoshida’s arrest,” Boss clarified, “it should be easy because his case is small potatoes. A scandal at a high school isn’t something the MPD would be worried about leaking. Instead, this happened.” She motioned with one hand towards the screen. Her voice indicated the shock had worn off, but the indignation was still clear.

“ABIS has existed for eighteen years, yet it’s the first time this kind of case has been kept out of our hands,” Tama elaborated. “Hold on, I’ll try to dig up more about this,” she added while Boss and Kuruto turned to face one another, as if asking ‘now what’ to each other. Kuruto decided it was as good a time as any to voice what he had wanted to for a while now.

“Boss, I want to join the Shujin investigation,” he declared. She nodded, though with a frown, and let him continue. “I should have looked into Shujin more thoroughly a long time ago. It’s my fault that that girl jumped, and I know that the school is scrambling to hide evidence of other kinds of wrongdoing. It’s only fair that I get to look into it.”

Boss stared at him for a few seconds, then sighed. “I don’t think I can.” She looked at Tama, sitting back down on her chair. Kuruto wanted to protest, but he knew she would explain her reasoning, so he held his tongue. “If I can’t look at the case files, there’s a good chance ABIS is being deliberately kept off the case.”

“But why?” Kuruto asked.

“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” Tama said, “and I think I’ve got it.”

As Boss started to read what Tama had pulled up on the screen, Kuruto took that as his cue to place her back into his eye socket.

“So, what did you find?” he said while blinking a few times to adjust to having a left eye again.

“The SIU has taken over the case,” she explained, and Ryuki could pinpoint the second when Boss’ eyes narrowed. “They’re arguing the sudden change in behavior is similar enough to a psychotic breakdown that they need to look into it before ascertaining if it’s under their jurisdiction.”

“Those bastards,” Boss said with a snarl, “is there anything we can do?”

“Legally? I don’t think so,” Tama continued. “We can lend someone to the SIU and have them leak the investigation to us, though.”

“I’ll do it,” Kuruto offered immediately, “Tama and I can share what we find out without anyone noticing.”

“You realize you won’t be able to legally Psync with anyone if you do that, right? Are you sure?” Boss asked, already pulling up the paperwork in her computer for the process. “Not to mention, you’ll be risking your badge. Again.”

Kuruto nodded, his voice firm and resolute. “If I don’t do everything I can in this case, I might as well quit the force.”

“Alright,” Boss nodded back. “I’ll be counting on you.”

It was halfway through their celebrative buffet that Ren wondered: did Ryuki eat at places like that often? He had the money, to be sure, if Ren’s monthly allowance of one million yen was anything to go by. Then again, besides the limo, he didn’t seem to be the kind to lead a life of luxury.

More specifically, it was during the time Ryuji had been busy in the bathroom. His thoughts wandered, from his policeman cousin to the school that he used to go to, and that Ren himself now attended. He couldn’t help but ask himself, what now? It had barely been a month since he arrived in Tokyo and his school was soon going to be under police scrutiny. Worst case scenario, they’d find out about the group’s involvement in making Kamoshida confess and arrest him again.

With Ren lost in thought, he didn’t initially notice a group of suited men walking out of one of the conference rooms on that floor right as Ryuji left the restroom. Then he saw the man’s face. He could never forget that face, the face of the man who’d landed him in this hell.

“Dude, you feelin’ okay, you look pale,” Ryuji said as the duo walked back, joined by a small contingent of other people headed towards the elevators.

“I’m fine,” Ren whispered back, practically forcing the words out as he did his best to look straight ahead. “I’ll talk about it later.”

“And what about that incident, any new developments?” The bastard criminal attempted rapist leader of the business group asked one of the cronies tailing him. His voice was unconcerned, but Ren could detect a hint of a threatening edge to it. “I take it that the issues that we discovered have been dealt with?”

“Yes, sir. Everything is progressing smoothly,” the man’s lackey replied, “ABIS has lent one of their men to look into our matters, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

Ren continued to keep his eyes down and away from that man as he took in their conversation. How he could be so unbothered even while talking about having problems with the MPD in public was beyond him.

“Good,” the man in tinted glasses continued, at last sparing a glance at the other people around him. “Next time, make sure to arrange a meeting at a better place. The patronage here has become too unsightly.”

“Yes, sir,” the nervous man nodded right as the elevator arrived. Immediately, the group parted so their bald leader could walk in first, followed by the rest of his group. Before the doors closed, Ren’s eyes briefly met those of the man who ruined his life, but not an ounce of recognition could be found in them.

A few minutes later, Ren and Ryuji were back at the table with Ann and Morgana, enjoying their meals, but his mind was elsewhere. It was reassuring to know they’d stick together, however; that they’d keep using their newfound powers to help people who had been in a similar situation as their own, but the encounter had him too rattled to fully concentrate on the lighter mood. So much for a celebration.

It was perhaps because he was so distraught that he didn’t notice their time had run out and they had to leave, practically chased out by security the second time was up. They exchanged some parting words before Ryuji let out a curse as they walked through the hotel’s parking lot.

“Shit, I forgot the time. There’s no way I can get back home in time now,” he said. Ann tilted her head in confusion. He groaned. “It’s complicated, I’m just trying not to worry my mom.”

“I can get you a ride,” Ren said, already dialing up Ryuki’s number. He wasn’t about to hear any of his protests, tuning them out as he waited for Ryuki to pick up. It didn’t even have a chance to ring before Ryuki answered the call.

“Yes, Amamiya-kun?” His cousin said, as cordial as ever.

“Ryuki-san, could you give my friend a ride?” Ren asked, loud enough to make it clear to his friend that insisting on the matter was futile. “We’re at this fancy hotel that is a fair bit away from his place, so I figured you could help.”

“Sure!” was the immediate response. “I think these hotels have some cars with driving AIs in them, just head to the exit and I’ll get one of them for your friend.” Ryuki explained, which Ren relayed to the others. “Are you sure you don’t want a ride yourself, Amamiya-kun?”

“I’m fine,” Ren said, cracking a small smile. “Thanks for worrying, though.”

“Alright,” Ryuki sighed, then, after a few moments, continued, “It's done. Your friend should receive an input prompt on his phone once he enters the car, just to confirm where he wants to be dropped off.”

“Thanks, Ryuki-san,” Ren finished, turning to Ryuji with a smug smile on his lips as he pocketed his phone again. All they had to do was wait for a bit, now.

“Isn’t renting these cars expensive?” Ann asked, looking up from her own phone, which displayed a quick Elgoog search. “And I mean, really expensive.”

“Ryuki-san keeps six million yen in his pocket for the sake of a pun,” Ren shrugged, “this is nothing for him. Besides, if he’s gonna be nice to me, might as well get some use out of the money he’s offering.”

“Damn,” Ann said with wide eyes, “ABIS must pay well, then.”

“I can’t even hope to pay him back, can I?” Ryuji added dejectedly as the car he was supposed to take arrived. He stared at it for a few seconds before opening the door. “I guess I’ve got no choice, then. I’ll see you guys at school.”

Yuuki was nervous. Well, more nervous than usual. The police had started looking into Kamoshida’s abuse; a bunch of them were already questioning other members of the volleyball team, while the ones who looked to be leading the investigation chatted with Principal Kobayakawa.

Part of the reason he was nervous was the fact he’d finally have to speak up against Kamoshida, finally describe what that man had done to him throughout the last year. The bigger source of his nervousness was because Yuuki would have to admit to having done Kamoshida’s bidding ever since classes started this year.

Have to admit he had leaked Amamiya’s criminal record and helped create the rumors about him.

It didn’t escape Yuuki how some of the girls who had been called to be interviewed by the police officers left the student council room crying. It felt like a stab straight into his heart, remembering how he had to be the one to tell them whenever Kamoshida had wanted to ‘talk’.

“Yuuki Mishima?” The officer who had been interviewing people had a tired look on his face, no doubt because of just how many awful stories he had heard from the students. Yuuki, who had been waiting with a few other students in one of the classrooms, stood up. It was his turn.

The officer motioned for him to take a seat, while another took a swig out of his water bottle. The policeman that had called him in whispered something in the other’s ear, something Yuuki couldn’t catch. Whatever it was, it made the taller, visibly older man leave the room.

The remaining officer took his seat in front of Yuuki, who tried his best to avoid looking the man in the eye. Instead, he focused on the camera set up beside the desk between the two men, it was aimed at Yuuki, but something about the angle didn’t sit right with him. The way it was set up, the lens was aiming down at his body, rather than his face.

“Mishima-kun,” the officer began, speaking softly to Yuuki. “I’m Kuruto Ryuki, and I’m investigating this case with the SIU. We’ll be recording your statement, but your face won’t be shown, alright?”

Yuuki nodded, still avoiding eye contact with Officer Ryuki. His hands were in his lap, curled into fists, the nails almost digging into his skin. What should Yuuki talk about first? How did he join the volleyball team? The first time Kamoshida started torturing him under the guise of coaching? Honestly, he was considering not speaking at all.

“The SIU thinks Kamoshida’s confession was the product of something similar to a psychotic breakdown,” Officer Ryuki continued, but his voice seemed almost strained, as if he was struggling to get the words out, “so whatever you can tell me about his behavior before that confession, and if anything unusual happened just before then, would be a great help.”

“W–what?” Yuki asked, finally raising his head. “I thought this was part of the investigation into Kamoshida’s crimes,” he said with a frown. What possible connection could there be between Kamoshida and the psychotic breakdown cases, after all? Yuuki hadn’t kept up with the news on those, but it didn’t seem to match what he knew about them.

“It’s a part of the procedure,” Officer Ryuki elaborated, his tone still friendly, but with that same metaphorical gritting of teeth. “We’re trying to find out if some kind of external factor made Kamoshida confess, just to be sure it’s not a false arrest.”

Yuuki’s frown deepened, now paired with a growing sense of distrust. Were the police aiming to get Kamoshida off the hook, even after his confession? But then, why? As far as cases went, it was a fairly low-profile one, and Kamoshida couldn’t possibly be important enough to make the police want to save his skin, could he?

Officer Ryuki stood, reaching towards the camera. He pressed a few buttons before laying it back on the tripod.

“I turned it off,” Officer Ryuki explained in a low voice and rushed words. “Listen, you were the one seen the most around Kamoshida, I need you to help me. Kobayakawa is buying off the SIU as we speak, and I think they're planning to cover something up about Kamoshida’s confession, but I don’t know what.”

“A–aren’t you with them?” Yuki stammered out.

“It’s a long story, and I don’t have time to explain,” Officer Ryuki answered, sitting back down. “We have a few minutes before the other guy comes back, so we have to be quick. Was there anything unusual or out of place about Kamoshida in the days before his confession?”

“W–well, he took a sudden leave of absence a couple days before the school assembly,” Yuki said, trying to remember.“There were r–rumors that Principal Kobayakawa had visited him a couple times during that, but other than that…”

Officer Ryuki nodded, as encouragement for him to keep talking. Yuuki couldn’t fully bring himself to mention the events after Shiho’s suicide attempt, to talk about Sakamoto, Amamiya and himself confronting Kamoshida over it and the strange look the other two had in their eyes when they left. It just chilled him to think about that day.

“…There was that weird calling card in the notice board, the day before Kamoshida took his leave,” Yuuki finished.

“A calling card?” Officer Ryuki asked, tilting his head.

“Y–yeah,” Yuuki nodded, feeling slightly more confident in talking about that. “S–someone posted a bunch of them all over the school saying they’d make Kamoshida confess. I didn’t see his reaction to it myself, though.”

“It’s okay, that helps a lot,” Officer Ryuki said with a small smile. Then his eyes widened and he quickly stood up, walking towards the door. “You should go now. The other guy is coming. I’ll tell him you didn’t have anything new to say.”

“A–alright,” Yuuki nodded, standing up quickly. Before he could leave, however, the door opened and the older officer who had been in the room before walked in. He looked pleased with himself as he looked down at Yuuki.

“Are you finished with him?” He turned to Officer Ryuki as he spoke. “The higher-ups at the Principal’s office want to talk to you.”

Officer Ryuki simply nodded, motioning for Yuuki to step out before he followed. They both went in separate directions, silently, as the next student was called in. Yuuki thought some more about what he had said, about the calling card and how it was written. Something about the art style.

He knew he had to make it up to Amamiya somehow, and he was starting to have an idea of just how to do that.

Chapter Text

It wasn’t often that Kuruto walked into Leblanc and saw Amamiya there before him. If anything, the reverse was true. Seeing his cousin so focused on the books scattered on top of the café’s table made Kuruto smile briefly, recalling his own days of intense study sessions with his brother – though Yukuto would more often than not avoid even thinking about studying until the last couple days before exams.

Sakura-san turned to look at Kuruto, alerted of his arrival by the bell above the door. The two adults exchanged a quick “good evening” that made Amamiya look up and put down his pencil. The pair of dark eyes behind the lenses he wore had some emotion in them, the kind he saw in the mirror every morning when dealing with a roadblock in a case.

Maybe Amamiya wasn’t as dedicated to his studying as Kuruto thought.

“Is something the matter?” Kuruto asked aloud, sparing a quick glance to Sakura-san taking off his apron in the kitchen area.

“I’ll head on home,” Sakura-san declared as he put on his jacket and hat, rounding the counter while Kuruto moved to take a seat in front of Amamiya. “Make sure to lock the place up when you’re finished.”

Amamiya nodded towards Sakura-san, who huffed slightly and left. The two cousins, now sitting alone in the café, looked at each other with a weird sense of awkwardness that Kuruto thought they should have overcome already, but the nagging feeling that Amamiya was still keeping secrets from him persisted.

Before Kuruto could make any attempts at breaking the ice, Amamiya sighed and took off his glasses, placing them on top of the table. Morgana, his cat, mewled as if questioning that decision but Amamiya paid it no heed.

— I thought so, — Tama commented. — His glasses are fake, he only started wearing them after his arrest. —

— Really? I hadn’t noticed, — Kuruto answered in a slightly surprised tone. Amamiya’s eyes, not covered by the lenses, betrayed even more clearly the fact he was struggling with something and unable to come up with an answer. The newfound knowledge about his glasses only added to Kuruto’s sense of suspicion around Amamiya.

“Ryuki-san,” Amamiya started. His tone wasn’t hesitant, but there was still some nervousness in it. “What would you do if someone who needs help doesn’t want to be helped?”

Kuruto didn’t even hesitate.

“I help them anyway,” he said, “even if it makes them hate me, even if it costs me my life. I’m not going to sit by and watch as someone keeps letting themselves get hurt over and over because of pride or not wanting to be a burden or whatever dumb excuse they have.” He placed a hand on his scarred shoulder. Even now he could remember the burning pain of the laser tearing through his flesh. “I’d rather be shot.”

Amamiya frowned at that last part, but didn’t say anything. He simply stared at Kuruto with a pensive expression, as if considering what the words he just heard. His mouth remained little more than a thin line for several seconds, Morgana jumped up on the table and looked from one to the other, as if studying them.

“I’ve met someone like that recently,” Amamiya recounted at last. “A boy my age. His… mentor isn’t a good person, but he doesn’t want to admit that. And he got so defensive he threatened to call the police on us if we insisted.” He sighed, rubbing his fingers against his forehead. “I don’t know if helping him while he’s like that will do him any good.”

“Opening his eyes is a way to help,” Kuruto thought aloud, “making him face his mentor’s misdeeds head-on instead of dodging the issue. You can only ignore the truth for so long before it comes back to bite you.”

Kuruto’s words seemed to have struck a chord. Amamiya’s eyes widened as he seemed to come to some sort of realization. Kuruto let himself smile slightly at that. It felt good to help his cousin, to have someone outside ABIS whom he could call family on some level. Amamiya took out his journal, quickly jotting something in it, before starting to pack up his books.

“Thank you, Ryuki-san,” he said, “this helps a lot. I know exactly what to do now.”

— Look at you, giving advice as if you have your own life together! — Tama chuckled, but the undertone of pride was there. It made Kuruto’s smile widen slightly. — But still, this kid has a talent for getting in trouble, doesn’t he? He’s gonna pick a fight with this mentor guy pretty soon. —

— And I’ll be by his side when that happens, — Kuruto thought back, letting the young man guide him to the door. Morgana’s loud meowing in the background kept all of Kuruto’s attention from wandering. — Talk about a jealous cat, — he swerved the conversation with a mental chuckle, — we get away from it for a few seconds and it starts yelling at us to come back. —

“Thank you for dropping by tonight, Ryuki-san. I really owe you,” Amamiya said before Kuruto stepped outside.

“It was nothing,” Kuruto turned around, rubbing the back of his head. “I hope you get through to that boy.” His expression sombered. “I still haven’t made up for my mistakes with Shujin. I still need to make up to you for that.” He sighed, fighting to not look downcast. “I’m sorry that hasn’t wrapped up already.”

Amamiya’s own smile disappeared just as quickly, with his frown making an unwelcome return. It wasn’t the same troubled frown of not knowing what to do, though. It was one Kuruto recognized in Date-san and the others at ABIS whenever he brought up his feelings about the Half-Body Serial Killings. He did it again, didn’t he? He had decided he had to take responsibility for things that weren’t that black and white.

“It’s fine,” Amamiya said, his tone with an edge that Kuruto couldn’t quite identify, “what matters is that Kamoshida has been arrested and can’t hurt anyone anymore.”

“Right,” Kuruto nodded, then looked at the streets around him. The lights of nighttime kept the alley illuminated while people came and went through the main street in Yongen-jaya. It wasn’t exactly late, but some stores were already closing for the night. Kuruto took that as his cue to leave. He turned back to Amamiya, and they exchanged some parting words before he headed back to his car.

— There’s one thing that bothers me about Leblanc, — Tama said as Kuruto leisurely walked through the street. — I wanted to be more certain about things before bringing it up, but I haven’t been able to find anything more about it. —

— What is it? — Kuruto asked, turning around the corner.

— There’s a number of listening devices scattered throughout the building, — she explained in a carefully neutral tone while displaying a model of Leblanc. A number of spots were highlighted in red, including, most concerningly, areas in the attic where Amamiya lives. — It doesn’t make sense for it to be a simple matter of security, two cameras would suffice for that. —

— You think someone is spying on Leblanc? — Kuruto thought while nodding to a passing lady.

— It’s a distinct possibility, but not really a sensible one. Sakura-san may have done government work, but he’s hardly worth going through all this trouble just because of that, — she pondered, changing the displayed image to a model of Sojiro Sakura. — In fact, the only person I can think of who could do that is Sakura-san himself, but I can’t fathom why. —

— Maybe… he’s spying on Amamiya? — Kuruto threw out. He didn’t personally believe that, didn’t want to believe it, but it was a possibility. As he finally approached his limousine at the end of the street, which Tama unlocked remotely.

— We just don’t have enough info, — she said, effectively concluding their conversation. — It’s probably nothing serious, anyways. — Her tone put a lid on the topic as Kuruto took his seat. He agreed with the sentiment, and it wasn’t his business regardless. — Do you want to eat out tonight? —

— Sure. —

“So, are we all ready?” Morgana asked, jumping into Ren’s bag. Yusuke looked the most nervous – understandably, Morgana thought – but was still the first to nod in confirmation. Ryuji and Lady Ann also gave their own signs of agreement while Ren adjusted his grip on the bag. “Good. We’ll head to the Palace’s entrance and then go into the Metaverse.”

That had been the plan, at least, but something made Ren stop in place before he could leave. Morgana’s body tensed up slightly as he looked around, finding a familiar pair of mismatched eyes with very unfortunate timing approaching them. Of all the bad luck, being spotted in a crowd by Officer Ryuki right as they were heading out for an incursion was a new low for them.

“Oh, hi, Amamiya!” Officer Ryuki greeted with a cheerful attitude once he was close enough for the crowd to not drown out his voice. An untrained eye might not notice it, but Morgana could tell that Ren was just as bothered by his cousin’s sudden appearance as he was himself. They’d have to navigate this situation quickly if they wanted to go to Madarame’s Palace as planned.

“Ryuki-san,” Ren greeted back, equally as upbeat. As the officer approached the group, Morgana turned around to see Ryuji and Lady Ann struggling to mask their displeasure while Yusuke looked simply confused by this turn of events. “Out working?” Ren asked with a slight tilt of his head.

“You could say that,” Officer Ryuki sighed. “Boss wanted me to run some errands, so here I am.” He rubbed the back of his head before looking over Ren’s shoulder, his eyes widening for a second as he seemed to finally acknowledge the other people in the area. “Oh, are these your friends?”

“Oh, right! You haven’t met them yet, have you?” Ren turned around, extending a hand to gesture towards them as he introduced them by name. “This is Ann Takamaki, Ryuji Sakamoto and Yusuke Kitagawa.”

Morgana couldn’t help but notice how Lady Ann and Ryuji didn’t seem very enthusiastic about greeting a police officer, limiting themselves to a simple wave and a grunt of acknowledgement, respectively. Yusuke, being unaware of who Officer Ryuki is, was the most cordial of the trio, saying a quick ‘nice to meet you’ with a short bow.

“Guys,” Ren continued, “this is my cousin, Officer Kuruto Ryuki from the MPD.” Said officer smiled awkwardly at the teenagers, whose glares didn’t wane. If anything, having it said out loud like that only made Lady Ann and Ryuji look more aggressive, while Yusuke looked taken aback. Morgana held back a wince at how awkwardly the interaction was going and couldn’t help but feel a hint of sympathy for the officer.

“Hey, uh…” Officer Ryuki paused, clearly looking for the words to try and make the others less disdainful of him. “Do you guys wanna meet A-Set?” He blurted out, and what was a mere discomfort Morgana felt at the situation turned into an urge to facepalm. ‘Subtle as a brick’ was an understatement. It was at these moments that Morgana questioned how Officer Ryuki and Ren could possibly be related.

Ren chuckled, as if to dismiss his cousin’s gaffe as a joke while Officer Ryuki’s face contorted into the pained expression of someone who knew they had made a fool of themselves. Amazingly, the embarrassing display seemed to make Ryuji and Lady Ann less aggressive towards him, if still a bit wary.

“Maybe some other time,” Ren said with a slight smile that betrayed his amusement, “you still have those errands to run, right? We have a… study session together planned right now as well, so it’s not like we could just go, right guys?”

“Y-yes!” Yusuke was the first to concur, “we had agreed to do it at my sensei’s house. In fact, I imagine he must be waiting for us already.”

“R-right,” Ryuji continued as Officer Ryuki’s brow furrowed. Did he think something was off about their story? “We, uh, should get going, before it gets late and I have to take another ride home.”

Officer Ryuki’s eyes widened in recognition. In Morgana’s opinion, it seemed a bit exaggerated. “Oh! I knew your name sounded familiar! You’re that Sakamoto-san, right? The one who took that ride from the hotel?”

“Y-yeah,” Ryuji said while rubbing the back of his head, “thanks for that, by the way. It probably didn’t come cheap.”

“Don’t worry,” Officer Ryuki reassured with a small smile, “money isn’t really an issue for me, I’m just glad I got to help you.” He then turned to look at the group as a whole, his posture and tone revealing – at least to Morgana – a sense of duty in what he would say next. “Ren has my number, so he can share it with you guys. If you need anything, just call me, okay?”

“We’ll keep that in mind,” Lady Ann said in a… not exactly amicable tone, but still much less aggressive than Morgana had expected she’d be at first. “We do seriously need to get going, though. There’s some important stuff we have to do.”

“R-right, I should also get back to work,” Officer Ryuki said with a chuckle while rubbing the back of his neck. “We can meet up some other time… and I’ll bring A-set along!” he joked. The group exchanged some more parting words after that, and watched as Officer Ryuki disappeared amidst the crowd again.

Once he was completely out of view, Ryuji let out a sigh of relief.

“Damn, that was awkward,” he commented as the Thieves began to make their own way to their objective. “You think he suspected anything?”

“Perhaps,” Yusuke noted, “though I doubt he has any reason to expect more than some mischief.”

“That’s true, but…” Lady Ann started, but sighed once she could not find the words to voice her concerns. “I don’t know, there’s just something odd about him. That red eye of his just makes me uncomfortable.”

“Guys, we can worry about that later,” Morgana finally intervened, “there’s nothing we can do about him right now, so let’s focus on our target, okay?”

The Thieves nodded, but the tension they felt was still palpable. Nothing to be done about that, unfortunately. Morgana could only hope it’d go away once they reached the Palace. They needed to be on their game for the Heist.

Shizue was starting to believe that there was some higher power that took pleasure in torturing her specifically. She threw her head back against the wall outside the interrogation room in frustration as she thought back to the weeping man inside. Ichiryusai Madarame was pathetic. Hardly even capable of confessing properly without becoming an unintelligible weeping mess every ten minutes.

The interrogation had gone on for two hours, now, littered with breaks so Madarame could recover enough of his composure to keep talking about what an awful human being he was. At this point, she was considering throwing him onto the Psync machine herself and taking the other spot just to get things over with, protocol be damned.

“God, I need a drink,” she said aloud in the empty hallway. Her daughter wouldn’t really let her get wasted because there was still the paperwork after Madarame’s confession to be dealt with. It was at times like these that Shizue wished they didn’t share a home anymore. She was quite sure her daughter felt the same way whenever she was put to work on a case.

Her musings were cut short when she heard a set of sharp footsteps echoing from the far end of the corridor. Shizue straightened herself up so as to not look like the exhaustion was catching up to her as the unknown arrival came closer. From beyond a sharp turn in the corridor came a young woman with light hair in a black suit and turtleneck.

The other woman’s gait was purposeful, fast yet steady. Their eyes locked onto one another as Shizue motioned to greet the stranger once the two of them were within talking distance.

“Good evening,” the stranger greeted back curtly. Her tone indicated that it was little more than a formality. “I take it you’re Commander Shizue Kuranushi?”

It’s never a good sign when a stranger knows Shizue’s name. Nevertheless, she nodded. “And you would be?”

“Sae Niijima, prosecutor.” The name rang bells, but Shizue was sure she wouldn’t have the time to think much about that during this conversation. Judging from first impressions, Prosecutor Niijima wasn’t one to waste time with small talk. “I’m with the Special Investigation Unit; we’re taking over the case.”

Shizue held back a groan. Them again? In hindsight, it was obvious they’d come running. This case was exactly the same as Suguru Kamoshida’s. A sudden, untraceable change in behavior that made both men confess to crimes that they would otherwise never have been caught for. The one other similarity Shizue could find was the involvement of the self-proclaimed “Phantom Thieves of Hearts”, and that was only because Ryuki had been sending them updates…

Still, she couldn’t give the case away without a protest, even if token, to keep up appearances.

“This is absurd,” Shizue exclaimed, her expression carefully schooled into contained outrage that would often grace the faces of lower ranking officers whenever she had someone from ABIS overtake their investigations. “The SIU has been looking into the mental shutdown cases, this has nothing–”

“I will be the judge of that, Commander Kuranushi,” Niijima cut her off with clear disdain, “though if it’ll make you back down from protesting, I’ll tell you this much: we’ve established that these abrupt changes in personality and behavior are too similar to the psychotic breakdowns to be unrelated.”

“So you mean to say the ‘Phantom Thieves’ the news mentioned have been causing these breakdowns?” Shizue asked with a raised brow. She felt the itch to point out the holes in that hypothesis, but that would accomplish nothing besides making Niijima impatient. “And you say it like this is not the first incident of this kind.”

“It’s not,” Niijima admitted, scowling at her own blunder, “but now that the connection has been established, we won’t be sharing any details until the case is officially wrapped up.”

Which also meant ABIS wouldn’t be officially taking a look at any files that mention future incidents like Kamoshida’s or Madarame’s. Wonderful. The SIU’s insistence in withholding information from them was apparent, but the motives behind that secrecy were not. Shizue knew asking any more would be pointless, however.

“How unfortunate,” she sighed, feigning disappointment and backing out of the argument. “Nevertheless, in case you ever need help with the case, ABIS is always open to cooperate. We do have neurology specialists in our ranks, after all.”

“I appreciate the offer,” Niijima nodded curtly, hiding the smallest hint of satisfaction at Shizue’s answer. Too bad she knew how to look for it. “Now then, about what you’ve gathered from Madarame…”

“There’s not much to share,” she admitted. His confession was quite thorough, his numerous emotional breakdowns a few minutes after he started talking notwithstanding. “Plagiarism, fraud, and child neglect are the big crimes as far as I’ve heard from him. We also have to take a statement from his child, but that can be done easily later.”

“He hasn’t mentioned anything about the possible identities of those self-proclaimed thieves, then?” Niijima inquired, her gaze turning to the door to the interrogation room. “Well, that isn’t surprising, but it is awfully inconvenient.”

Shizue watched as she grabbed the door handle, preparing to walk in and proceed with the interrogation herself. She allowed herself a moment of schadenfreude at the prospect of the young prosecutor having to put up with the husk of a man inside and getting twice as frustrated by his incessant sobbing and the inevitable lack of progress.

“If that’s all, I suppose I’m not allowed in the room anymore?” Shizue said in lieu of any niceties that neither woman really wanted to exchange before parting ways.

“Indeed,” Niijima answered without looking back. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a case to look into.”

Ren watched the small crowd erupt in cheers as Goro Akechi walked into the stage before the cameras started rolling. The director’s countdown made the audience lower their voices again while Ryuji leaned in to whisper in Ren’s ear with a slightly bewildered expression.

“Are we supposed to know that guy?” he asked. “I don’t keep up with celebrity stuff, but they did call a student for this, right?”

The hosts got the interview underway before Ren could whisper his answer, beating him to it. “And in today’s ‘Hottest Meet and Greet’ section of our show, we bring back a person who’s been spurring attention for a long time already. Not only is he an asset to the police force while still a high school student, he worked a case with the ever mysterious Advanced Brain Investigation Squad! We’re here today with none other than Goro Akechi!” the hostess started. The audience again started cheering for Akechi once she finished.

“There you have it,” Ren whispered back to Ryuji, “I saw him give an interview with Ryuki-san after his last case.”

“With an introduction like that, I think I’ll have to work double to meet everyone’s expectations,” Akechi chuckled, “although my team-up with ABIS is hardly worth the praise. I’m just as much in the dark about them as everyone else.”

“So you mean that even you didn’t get to see their inner workings?” the male host followed up.

“Unfortunately, no. Even among the police, they’re a rather secretive bunch,” he sighed, “but if I get more opportunities to work with them, they might share their secrets with me. Although I’ll probably not be allowed to talk about them in public.”

“Am I crazy for thinking he’s trying to force himself into ABIS?” Ann whispered into Ren’s other ear. “It’s like he’s asking to be put into more cases with them.”

“There is one case in particular that I’ve been wondering about, actually,” Akechi continued, “it even seems to fall into ABIS’ area of expertise: the Phantom Thieves and the so-called ‘changes of heart’ they say to cause.”

“You’re referring to Madarame’s confession,” the hostess explained, and Ren tensed up along with Ryuji and Ann. “Do you think that confession was really spurred by this group?”

“I can’t say for sure,” Akechi answered, his face an inscrutable expression of polite contentment at sharing his thoughts, “there are so many unknowns about their methods, for one. I don’t think the police even acknowledge their existence, and my own unofficial intel doesn’t do much better.”

“So you’re saying they don’t exist?” she pressed.

“I’m saying I’d need more information to make a definite claim in the first place,” Akechi diverted and his expression turned serious all of a sudden, “all I can say is that if they do exist, we can’t take the threat they pose lightly.”

Ryuji clicked his tongue, and Ann’s glare would probably have killed Akechi more than once if it could, television and audience be damned. Ren’s skin buzzed, but he tried not to make a show of it. If there was anything he could tell, it was that Akechi’s words had weight among the public and could dictate how they should proceed.

“Oh, some harsh words there, Akechi-kun,” the male host leaned forward, his smile widening at the potential controversy. “Why do you say they ‘pose a threat’?”

“Just this year, ABIS stopped a major terrorist plot, didn’t they? Where a cult planned to drive every human on Earth to madness?” Akechi’s voice didn’t waver as he looked at the camera. “We can’t be sure that these Phantom Thieves aren’t using a similar method. And if it isn’t, then we’re dealing with a new and unknown threat, being used by unknown people for unclear motives. However noble you may think their intentions are, and even if their intentions are noble, the possibility of those methods falling in the wrong hands is too dangerous to ignore.”

“Dangerous my ass,” Ryuji whispered, indignant, “as if just anyone could do what we can. He doesn’t even know what he’s talking about!” He narrowed his eyes, fixated on Akechi’s face.

“An interesting assessment, Akechi-kun,” the hostess said as she got up and took a microphone from a nearby stand, “let’s see what our audience today has to say about it, shall we?” She walked towards the seats, looking for someone to question. Akechi’s smile returned as he looked at the people watching him and, for a second, Ren thought his eyes lingered at their group. His attention was torn away when a microphone was placed before him and the hostess asked him to stand up.

“And what about you, young man? What do you think about the Phantom Thieves’ methods?”

Ren swallowed. Ryuji and Ann looked at him clearly expecting a vicious rebuttal, one Ren just couldn’t provide without exposing them. He took the microphone with a slightly shaky hand that he hoped would be chalked up to being shown on TV and thought about his options.

“Since we don’t know anything about their methods,” he started, locking his gaze on Akechi, “then we don’t even know if somebody else could pull them off in the first place. As far as we know, these changes of heart are something only they can do.”

“So you think it’s some kind of superpower that only they have?” Akechi leaned in with clear interest in his face. “Then we might have to worry about their hands being the wrong ones in the first place. Who’s to say that they’re not putting on an act with the cases we’ve seen so far?”

“Who’s to say they are?” Ren shot back with an arched eyebrow. Akechi laughed politely.

“Touché.”

“Thank you for contributing, young man,” the hostess said, making a gesture to have the microphone back. “It’s refreshing to see the new generation putting their thoughts out in the open like this.”

“Indeed,” the male host continued, looking at the camera, “and this concludes today’s ‘Hottest Meet and Greet’. Make sure to stay tuned in for the local news after the commercials.”

Goro observed from the entrance to the studio as the small group dispersed to deal with whatever they had to before leaving entirely. While the chance of finally approaching the other people with Metaverse access was there, it’d be very difficult to not raise their suspicions. But he still had to choose: since they were probably leaving together, it’d be the best opportunity to measure them all up at once, wait for them to gather again, and then approach the group openly. Alternatively, he could go after Amamiya directly in a more private encounter and have him slightly less guarded; more likely to slip and talk about Kuruto Ryuki.

He walked in, heading towards the area with the vending machines that Amamiya was eyeing up. Having spared just one glance at the location, he was satisfied in knowing no one else was there.

“Unsure of what to get?” he said in lieu of greeting as he approached one of the machines. “I know they have some really good sparkling water around here. I wonder where they get it from, since I couldn’t find it anywhere else.”

Amamiya looked up at Goro with a small frown. He probably didn’t expect the guy with whom he had a short debate just a few minutes ago to be so friendly; Goro could already imagine the thought process: ‘being hostile to him will probably blow our cover’, he’d start, ‘plus, it’s not like he knows we are the Thieves. In fact, how much does he know? I should probably try to get close…’ and then he’d conclude with something along the lines of ‘I should be careful, since we disagreed during the show.’

“I’m not really a fan of carbonated stuff, but thanks,” Amamiya answered. “Taking a break from celebrity life?”

Goro nodded, the old plastic smile on his lips. “If you’re willing to let me. People usually ask me for a selfie or bury me in questions the moment they lay eyes on me.”

“I don’t envy you,” Amamiya chuckled. “Famous and working with ABIS? I think I’d be worried about people bugging my toilet.”

“That hasn’t happened yet,” Goro continued, inserting some coins into the machine before him, “though I don’t think someone would get away with it if they tried.” Shido wouldn’t let them. Some of Goro’s more obsessive fans are already in a body bag at the bottom of the Shibuya river because they got ahold of his email and sent a hello.

“Well, you never know,” Amamiya shrugged, “maybe the Thieves will try that now that you said you don’t like them,” he finished with a coy smile. “Looks like they’re pretty good at sneaking around, at least.”

“Being stealthy is easier than it sounds,” Goro countered. “You’d be surprised at how many times I’ve tailed suspects in public without being spotted.”

“Wouldn’t your fangirls squeal and blow your cover?”

“Some of them do, it’s just that the target doesn’t think I’m following them,” he shrugged. “I even have a chat with some of them sometimes.”

“Should I worry, o, great detective? Am I under scrutiny?” Amamiya asked with a dramatic motion, and Goro allowed himself a short laugh at the irony of asking that of him. He really had no idea.

“Not any more than anyone else at your school,” Goro admitted, getting a confused look from Amamiya. “The Phantom Thieves were responsible for Kamoshida’s confession as well, right? We spotted the connection a while ago.”

“So you know.” Amamiya’s expression turned more somber in an instant. “It’s… a rough subject. Kamoshida hurt a lot of people, myself and my friends included.”

“I can imagine,” was all Goro decided to say on the subject. He was about to move on when one of the other two Thieves arrived. The blonde girl, whose expression turned to a scowl once she saw him with Amamiya. Takamaki, if memory served.

“You’re Akechi-kun, right?” She asked, visibly forcing herself to remain friendly; she should ask Amamiya for some pointers on how to pull this off. Goro nodded with the same smile he gave Amamiya. “I can’t say I’m a fan, but I’m impressed. You know how to hold yourself in front of a camera.”

“Do you have any experience with that, uh…”

“Ann Takamaki,” she responded curtly. “And I do, yeah. I’m a model, so sometimes I also get to talk to a camera.”

“I’ll be sure to ask for some tips in the future, then,” Goro continued in the same saccharine tone. “But my free time here is really just about to run out; paperwork has no mercy on anyone, unfortunately.”

“Comes with the job,” Takamaki continues, still straining to maintain civility. “We also have to go soon, we’re just waiting for our friend.”

“Knowing him, he probably got lost on his way back…” a third voice, probably the cat in Amamiya’s bag – and isn’t it impressive Goro already grew used to it –, spoke up. “We should go look for him.”

“Well, I won’t try to hold you here more than you need to be,” Goro finished taking a short bow, then turning to Amamiya, “I hope we get to talk some more soon.”

Hopefully long enough to ‘coincidentally’ meet his cousin when he visited.

“Yes, I hope so, too.”