Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Futaba is capital B Bored. What is she supposed to do when all her friends are at school?

She’s messing around on Nightcord when a notification that her friend Nocturne is online pops up. 

Alibaba: woah nocturne delinquent arc? don’t u have class.

Nocturne: It’s music class, I don’t need to pay attention.

Oh yeah, that makes sense. Futaba and Nocturne were in the same guild for months and since Futaba had still been nervous around people, she doxxed all her guild mates before sending them invites to do raids, so she knows Nocturne’s a singer and his dad’s like, an uber-famous musician.

Nocturne: Is everything alright, you haven’t been online in awhile

Alibaba: Oh yeah, everything’s fine, just been busy

Alibaba: wanna log on to ISO and grind some materials? the new boss is dropping soon

Nocturne: Sure, Mermaid said she needs a better staff.

Alibaba: sweet sweet k be on in a sec

She meets up with Nocturne’s character in the plaza and together they head to a mid-level dungeon to grind materials that they’ll have to give to an NPC to unlock the quest that will cause the enemies that drop the material they need to spawn.

Nocturne: So how come you’re not in class, do you take online classes?

Nocturne: Sorry was that too much?

Alibaba: nah dw 

Alibaba: my situation is weird I do credit-based stuff and then finished all my work in March 

Nocturne: Wow you must be a genius

Alibaba: u didn’t know that already >:3?

Nocturne: I think I’d be lonely if I didn’t see my friends every day.

Nocturne: My father actually wanted me to go to Kosei but I convinced him to let me go here because my brother goes here.

Nocturne: well family friend but he’s pretty much my big brother I’ve known him my whole life.

Ah there it is, Nocturne motormouth mode, activated. He usually starts quiet and then really gets going.

Alibaba: I think u dodged a bullet lol. I have it on good authority Kosei sux

She has to remember to look into their finances to figure out what exactly the relationship with Madarame there was.

Nocturne: lucky me

Alibaba: I might go to school eventually but I gotta work on bein a n33t

Alibaba: I can sorta see the appeal of normal school but,,, my bedroom,,, it calls me

Nocturne: well if you ever go to Kamikou I can introduce you to a bunch of people

Alibaba: Actually I might take a page outta ur book

Alibaba: Follow my family friend to school

Alibaba: ‘cept he’s not a family friend he’s a kid my dad took in bc no one else would and he didn’t know I existed until last month lol

Alibaba: He’s cool tho, helpin’ me with trying stuff.

Nocturne: if you’re trying to get out more, you can come to one of nii-san’s shows if you don’t mind meeting up IRL. I get a free pass. 

Alibaba: oh thx but no I am not a high enough lvl for that yet. 

Nocturne: I see. It’s a shame, nii-san’s shows are great. They did one based on Thorpe The Musician awhile ago, it’s brilliant

Alibaba: Maybe they can start doing livestreams, then I could catch it.

Nocturne: OOOH

Nocturne: Great idea I’ll pass it along.

They’re pretty in the vibe of it when Futaba’s phone pings.

Or rather, Ren’s phone pings. Futaba put a script in that let her know when Mishima passes along a PhanSite request so she can get info on the person ahead of time.

Mishima: Holy shit look at this! A singer abusing his boyfriend.

Usually Mishima just sends the details in his text, but this time he sends a link to the post itself, and Futaba can immediately see why. 

There’s a bunch of photos of this orange-haired guy yelling at his boyfriend who’s clearly having a panic attack, grabbing his arm and shoulder in a way that sends all kinds of red flags, and finally a video of the target punching his boyfriend in the face.

But what’s worse is Futaba knows the boyfriend. It’s clearly Nocturne.

Futaba hops back into the chat.

Alibaba: so hows ur boyfriend doing?

She knows Nocturne talks about his boyfriend all the time, but he’s never said anything that stuck out to her as bad.

Nocturne: I thought you hated when I talk about him too much

Nocturne: “we get it you’re a horny bastard in a relationship can we move on”?

Alibaba: yeah but now it’s weird u don’t talk abt him n e more. I got used to it lol

Nocturne: Things are fine, we just had another fight.

Alibaba: oh? u fight?

Nocturne: More than I’d like. He’s been so strict about practice and training recently. Getting up at 3am for a run, singing after school until night time, stuff like that 

Holy shit, Nocturne’s boyfriend is forcing him to practice from dawn til dusk? 

Alibaba: no wonder u game during class, u don’t have time 4 n e thing else.

Nocturne: I keep asking him to take a break but he says no.

What the hell? Nocturne’s like one of the nicest guys ever, he doesn’t deserve this!

Futaba starts running keywords, no way is she going to allow this.

-

Akito Shinonome, Vivid Street, Wasteland.

When she heard that Mishima had found them a new target, Haru wasn’t expecting it to be a teen two years younger than her with a full-blown Palace.

From what she can tell the Phantom Thieves don’t usually work on two palaces at the same time, and since the effects of stealing her father’s treasure haven’t manifested yet, technically they’re still focused on him, but Futaba-chan’s pretty gung-ho about it, since apparently this is her online friend getting abused by his boyfriend, so they all agree it’s worth canceling other plans for today to check out the Palace.

The second they enter they’re immediately already in their thief outfits which is not great, as she understands it. It means he’s very defensive. Everything around them is dead and gray, like nothing will ever grow there. Haru aches seeing the dead, almost petrified trees.

Something whirrs past overhead. 

“Look out, a camera!” Joker shouts.

The camera circles around them, and they all tense up.

“There’s no place to hide,” Queen says, “we’ll have to be careful. It seems like Shinonome is watching us.”

“This Shinonome guy seems kinda paranoid,” Skull says.

“Or he’s always monitoring everything,” Panther suggests.

“C’mon! Let’s find his treasure already!” Oracle says. “We gotta help Nocturne!” 

Mona transforms into his bus form and they start driving around, but it’s not too long before some coyotes appear. 

“Hey Fox, think you can talk to them?” Skull asks.

“But they’re coyotes, not foxes,” Fox says.

“Yeah but it’s pretty similar, maybe you can relate to each other.”

“Actually,” Queen points out, “coyotes prey on foxes in the wild.”

Fox smirks. “Well then, I’ll be expecting you to protect me from my predators, Skull.

Mona rams into them like they would in Mementos, but it isn’t long before they're overwhelmed.

“We have to fall back!” Queen shouts.

“There’s a safe space over there!” Oracle announces. 

“I’ll clear a path!” Joker says. “On my mark, go!”

Joker switches personas and unleashes an almighty attack, clearing a path through the coyotes and letting everyone sprint through.

The coyotes keep nipping at their heels until they arrive in a lush forest surrounding a large tree that looks completely out of place in the wasteland. Dandelions pop up everywhere, making this by far the most colorful spot.

“Is this like a safe room?” Makoto asks.

“No, it’s just a nicer spot,” Oracle says.

“The coyotes don’t seem to want to come here,” Fox notes.

Suddenly, they hear a soft birdsong coming from the tree, and soon enough a white dove comes out from the branches.

It comes toward them, but it doesn’t seem to have any hostile intent.

It finally lands on Skull’s shoulder and lets out a gentle chirp.

“This bird seems a little strange…” Queen says.

“I think it’s a cognition!” Oracle replies. “Maybe we should try interacting with it!”

“Cognition, huh?” Joker says. “What’s your name?”

The bird suddenly flies off of Skull’s shoulder and grabs a stick off the ground, writing a character into the sand.

“Your name is Winter?” Skull says.

“It’s not finished, dumbass.” Mona replies.

It sketches out another character, and then it puts the stick down.

“To…ya? Your name is Toya?” Oracle says.

The bird gives a soft chirp and nods its head.

“…Toya Aoyagi’s Nocturne’s real name. I think this is the cognition of Shinonome’s boyfriend.”

At the mention of Shinonome’s name, Cognitive Aoyagi immediately snaps to attention and starts looking around before letting out a couple of distressed chirps.

He leaps off the ground, flying around the tree before letting out even more distressed chirps.

“What are you looking for?” Oracle asks.

Cognitive Aoyagi dives to the ground and picks up the stick again, writing out a couple more characters in the sand.

“Aki…to. Akito. You’re looking for Akito Shinonome?”

Cognitive Aoyagi chirps affirmatively again, before flying back up, but he doesn’t fly away.

“…I believe he’s asking for our help.” Fox says.

Cognitive Aoyagi lets out a soft affirmative chirp.

“He’s just going to lead us right to Shinonome?” Queen says. “This seems a little too convenient. It could be a trap.”

“It’s still our only lead at the moment. Better than wandering around in this desert with the coyotes.” Joker says. “Let’s follow him for now, but be ready for anything.”

Cognitive Aoyagi lets out a happy chirp before flying forward, but they hang behind him just slightly.

“This guy really just thinks of his boyfriend like his pet bird?” Panther says. “That’s disgusting!”

“Yeah, and the moment we mentioned Shinonome he immediately turned into an obedient little pet looking for his master. This guy makes me sick. Who the hell thinks of their partner like that?” Skull adds.

Haru can’t help but agree. She still remembers her own father’s cognition of Sugimura, a powerful, predatory robot who got turned on by teenage brides. Just the thought makes her shiver. She doesn’t know how Sugimura would view her, but it probably wouldn’t be that different from this. A pretty little songbird kept for his entertainment.

Shinonome must be awful.

Cognitive Aoyagi lets out a questioning chirp before flying back towards them. 

“Sorry, we’re coming.” Joker says.

As he flies, Cognitive Aoyagi sings a song Haru can’t place but certainly doesn’t sound the same as any birdsong she’s heard. He leads them to a less… barren part of the wasteland, in the sense that there are destroyed contraptions and shelters everywhere. It means they have a way to sneak around and avoid the cameras and shadows at least.

There’s a blast of hot, dusty wind so hard that it pushes them back and they scurry behind a shelter.

“Damn I’m so jealous of Oracle’s goggles right now,” Skull says.

“Shh! I hear something,” Queen whispers.

On the wind there’s a voice. It’s hard to make out, but Haru can still figure out the words.

Spend your life? That's but the minimum. If you want your dreams to come true, that's the bare minimum you have to be willing to pay.

Cognitive Aoyagi seems upset, burrowing himself into Oracle’s arm for shelter against the wind.

“Are these Shinonome’s thoughts?” Joker mutters. 

Each individual piece also needs to be polished to perfection.

Why are you even here if you don't have any hopes or dreams?

We'll show them. They'll know what it feels like when the dogs bite back.

This might make you mad, but that makes me happy. Seeing you like this gets me more motivated

The wind stops and they’re able to move forward a bit.

“If Shinonome’s spouting that kinda shit to Nocturne to get him to work hard—” Oracle says, shaking.

“Don’t worry, that’s why we’re here,” Skull says, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“Fox? Is something wrong?” Panther asks. 

Fox’s eyes snap upwards as if he only just realized they were there. “Sorry, something was bothering me.”

“What’s up?” Skull asks.

“Some of those things simply reminded me of Madarame,” Fox says, “but not all of them. I can’t quite explain it.”

“More proof we need to get this guy good!” Mona says. “I can smell the Treasure somewhere, but I can’t narrow down the direction.”

“Then we’ll just keep following Nocturne,” Oracle says. “Right buddy?”

Cognitive Aoyagi nods and takes off again.

“Are you sure you’re ok, Fox?” Haru asks. He was quite upset by her father’s palace as well.

“I’m fine, Noir, let’s not keep the others waiting.”

The further out they get from the tree where they found Cognitive Aoyagi, the more dead and destroyed everything seems to become. Every so often the harsh gusts of wind will blow by, most of them being in the same voice as before, but in one case a different voice that’s softer and clearer.

I just wasn’t good enough. If only I sang a little better, you wouldn’t have had to hear that.

“Was that… Aoyagi-kun?” Haru asks. Cognitive Aoyagi chirps sadly and seems to nod.

“Don’t worry Nocturne! We’ll make sure he doesn’t make you feel that way again,” Oracle says.

“Remember, it’s not good to get attached to cognitions,” Morgana says. “They’re more a part of the Palace Ruler’s heart than they are the person.”

“Yeah but still!” Oracle says. “Ugh I’m so mad at myself for not seeing this happen! Nocturne talks about his boyfriend all the time and I missed all this! O-or maybe it happened while I was really depressed and we weren’t talking as much. Either way if I had paid attention I would have noticed!”

“It’s not your fault, Oracle,” Panther says. “Sometimes people just don’t talk about their problems. But we can help now, that’s what’s important.”

“I know that logically,” Oracle says, “it’s just— wait! More shadows!”

They scatter hiding in the debris as a group of coyote-Shadows stalk by.

Joker holds his hand up and then nods to Noir, Fox, and Panther. Haru grips her axe in anticipation for the leader of the pack to turn around.

Joker leaps onto it’s back and rips off the mask, and they immediately have the advantage on the group of Hua Po and Makami. Joker switches Personas to knock down the Makami with an electric attack, then passes it off to Yusuke who blasts the first Hua Po with ice, who passes it to Haru to shoot the last Hua Po and lead them into an all out attack

The battle’s over quickly, but there’s no time to rest when Haru hears Queen shouting. She turns and sees more shadows have shown up again, attacking the rest of the team.

Instantly Haru pulls out Milady to blast away the shadows and helps Queen up, but just like before, more and more keep coming.

“What is with these things?” Skull gasps, clearly already running low on stamina.

“Oracle, tell me there’s another tree somewhere?” Joker asks.

“I’m looking!”

One of the shadows lunges at Oracle, but Cognitive Aoyagi flies down and tries to scratch at it. 

“Nocturne!” Oracle cries, but she’s too late as the coyote swipes at Cognitive Aoyagi, slamming the bird onto the ground, blood staining his white wings.

“No!” Suddenly someone Haru doesn’t recognize rushes forward brandishing a large stick and swats at the coyote. “GO AWAY!”

The boy locks eyes with the largest coyote and basically tackles it to the ground, biting and scratching at it until it finally backs off, and the rest follow suit. He gets up and turns towards them, barely giving Haru enough time to recognize the telltale golden eyes of a shadow before rushing over to Cognitive Aoyagi.

“Toya?! What are you doing here?” The shadow, who must be Shinonome, says. “You have to stop this, you always get hurt…”

Cognitive Aoyagi tweets weakly.

“You shouldn’t be here! Why do you always have to try to do this?” Shadow Shinonome says.

“Oi!” Skull says, and Shadow Shinonome finally seems to notice them.

He’s wearing clothes suited to the desert, a short cloak and flowing linen pants.

“Who are you?” Shadow Shinonome asks, pulling Cognitive Aoyagi to his chest protectively. “Leave!” he practically growls, revealing sharpened canines.

“No way! We’re not leaving until we’ve helped Nocturne!” Oracle shouts.

“Help… Nocturne?” Shadow Shinonome blinks. “You mean Toya?”

“Yeah, we know what you’ve been doing to your boyfriend ya piece of shit!” Skull says.

“You’re… thieves… and you’re here to help Toya?” Shadow Shinonome says, eyes furrowed. He closes them and seems to think about something. 

Then he holds Cognitive Aoyagi out to them. “Ok then, help him.”

Everyone shares a confused look, but Joker steps forward to heal Cognitive Aoyagi’s wounds.

Cognitive Aoyagi pops back up as if nothing happened and chirps happily. He turns back to Shadow Shinonome and tilts his head.

“Go. You should go with them. You just saw what happened. You got hurt ‘cause of me. It’ll happen again.”

“Huh?” Panther whispers. “He seems, sorry about it?”

“Maybe he doesn’t wanna hurt Aoyagi, he just… does?” Skull suggests. “Like anger issues or something.”

“If you really care then tell us where your treasure is,” Oracle says.

Shadow Shinonome looks down at Cognitive Aoyagi.

“Oh of course! That’s why I could always smell the treasure but not tell if we were getting closer!” Mona says, “Cognitive Aoyagi is the treasure.”

“How come we can see him then?” Queen asks.

“He must always be worried about Aoyagi leaving him,” Mona explains.

“C’mon Toya, go with them. It’ll be better, right?”

Cognitive Aoyagi fluffs his feathers angrily.

“Toya, please , I just want—“

Suddenly the wind starts to pick up again, this time centered around Cognitive Aoyagi.

“What are you doing?” Haru gasps, protecting her eyes from the sand.

“I’m not doing anything!” Shadow Shinonome yells.

Haru buries the end of her axe in the ground, and Skull, Mona, and Fox do the same, allowing all of them something to hold onto as a blast of frigid air blows everyone else away.

Oracle manages to catch the others in Necronomicon’s tentacles.

Cognitive Aoyagi has turned from a bird to a young man with massive angel wings.

“I’m not leaving Akito!” Cognitive Aoyagi says.

“The hell? I thought he wanted us to change his heart?” Skull gasps.

“Maybe he’s conflicted about it?” Mona says as the wind dies down leaving them room to attack.

“I love Akito! We’re meant to be together!” Cognitive Aoyagi says.

“Ugh, he sounds just like the Panther in Kamoshida’s Palace,” Skull mutters. “This Shinonome guy is getting on my nerves.”

Cognitive Aoyagi attacks again, but Fox jumps in front of them to take the brunt of the icy blast. “Then let’s beat that rubbish mentality into submission and change his heart!” 

Haru nods. 

“Guys!” Oracle’s voice rings in her head. “You’re in the eye of the storm, we can’t get closer.”

“Ok, we’re on it!” Mona says. “Don’t worry.”

“I’ll try to keep his focus on me,” Fox says. “You all attack from the side.”

They all nod and Fox charges forward to take in Cognitive Aoyagi head on.

While they’re distracted, Haru grabs her rocket launcher and takes aim, knocking down Cognitive Aoyagi.

Skull and Mona jump on him from there and soon enough Cognitive Aoyagi is back to his bird form, and the whirlwind is gone.

The others catch back up with them.

“Where’d Shadow Shinonome go?” Queen asks.

“I’m not sure,” Mona says. “But let’s get out of here before things get uglier.”

Oracle gently picks up Cognitive Aoyagi.

“Sorry about this Nocturne, but things will get better after this. I promise.”

~

Toya can’t figure out why Akito’s been off all day. It’s like his mind has been somewhere else completely. Akito’s noticed it too, and he’s clearly frustrated by it.

“C’mon,” Toya says, “let’s try Aun No Beats.”

That’s something they can do in their sleep. Usually at least, but they finish the number and it’s clear something is unequivocally wrong .

“Shinonome, what are you doing?” Tono-san gasps. “We don’t have time for you to mess around.”

“Sorry, I’m just off today,” Akito sighs.

“Well, what is it? You can’t even do Aun No Beats justice!”

“Did something happen, Akito-kun?” Kohane asks. 

“Yeah, I think I know what’s wrong.” Akito takes a deep breath and looks around WEEKEND GARAGE. “It’s probably because I don’t love Toya anymore.”

Chapter Text

“Oh! Hey, Alibaba!”

Futaba takes a deep breath and waves over the two people in front of her. She can do this. Yeah it’s her first irl meet up with Mermaid and Nocturne, but like she knows them! 

And they’re at the arcade, so they can just play games and not actually have to make — ugh — small talk .

And Ren and Ryuji are a phone call away if she needs back up!

And besides it’s not regular ‘ol Futaba Sakura going to a meet up, she’s Oracle on a mission to check up on one of their targets. 

Ooh that one works best. She’s on a mission .

“I mean we’re in-person, we can use our names!” Futaba says. “I’m Futaba Sakura.”

“Nice to meet you Sakura-san,” Mermaid says. “I’m Mermaid, which you could… probably guess. Erm, b-but my name is Nene Kusanagi and this is Toya Aoyagi.”

Nocturne— or Aoyagi— looks Inari pale, but she can’t be sure if that’s normal for him so she doesn’t say anything.

“Nice to meet you, Sakura-san,” Aoyagi says.

Then they all stare at each other awkwardly.

“S-so uh what games do you like?” Futaba asks.

“Rhythm games!” Kusanagi says. “Let’s do that.”

God video games are so much easier than talking to people. Kusanagi and Aoyagi are really good at them too, and they all get so caught up in trying to beat each other’s records that they don’t even notice an hour’s passed.

That is, until they get to the Puyo Puyo machine and Aoyagi starts sobbing. “At least you won’t leave me, Lemres.”

“Uhh, Aoyagi?” Futaba asks.

Kusanagi frowns. “Oh no, let’s go get something to eat.” She pulls Aoyagi up and Futaba follows to the smoothie stand.

They order and then grab seats at a bench. They sorta just sit there until Kusanagi’s phone starts buzzing.

“Rui, I swear to God something better not be on fire,” Kusanagi mutters before turning to them. “Sorry, I’ll be back, I just gotta take this.”

“Yeah sure!” Futaba says, and now she’s alone with Aoyagi, who’s just kinda staring at his phone dejectedly looking at pictures of himself and Shinonome.

Futaba takes a big gulp of her smoothie. Right! Mission time! Go Oracle Go!

“So, that your boyfriend?” Futaba asks.

“No.”

“Eh?”

Aoyagi sighs. “He dumped me.”

“Whoa, for real?”

“Yeah,” Aoyagi says. “I’m sorry, Sakura-san. I think Kusanagi invited you out because you were the only one who doesn’t already know and she thought I needed a distraction.”

“Well, I mean, I don’t mind if you wanna talk about it,” Fuataba says. If she knows Aoyagi, he’ll start infodumping immediately.

“Ok so what happened was—“

~

The microphone slips out of Toya’s hand, clattering to the ground and starting to spit feedback. 

It’s like he’s been drenched in ice water. It’s so cold, his entire body is cold. 

“You… Akito, this isn’t funny.” Toya says. 

It’s a joke. It has to be a stupid joke, Akito just went a little too far and any second now he’s going to burst out laughing. 

But then Akito averts his eyes.

“How is it that when you look at me like that, I don’t feel a damn thing?” He mutters, mostly to himself but loud enough that everyone heard it. 

Toya’s hands are shaking… no, his entire body is shaking. 

“You’re joking. Tell me you’re joking, Akito. Please, tell me you’re joking!” 

Akito finally says something to him. 

“Toya, it’s… it’s not you, it’s me.”

“Are you really using that line on me right now?!” Toya snaps back. 

“I know, I know! But it really isn’t you! I still want to be friends, and I still want to be partners—”

“You do not get to use that fucking word!” Tono-san cuts in, and Akito glares at him. 

“Will you stay out of this?! This doesn’t fucking involve you!”

Toya runs through every possible scenario in his head, and they all lead back to one conclusion. 

“You… this is because of what I told you, isn’t it? You’ve been acting strange since then.” Toya says, feeling the shaking only intensify. 

“Of course that’s not it, Toya.” Akito says, his voice softening slightly, but not to the familiar softness that Akito reserves… or reserved for him. 

“Then what?! Tell me the truth! No one just falls out of love like that! Say it to my face, Akito!”

Akito looks away again, and that’s all the confirmation Toya needs. 

His legs finally give out under him, and he’s on the floor, clutching himself as hard as he can, but there’s no centering effect. There’s not enough pressure, not enough warmth, it’s not working—

“You won’t tell me because I’m right, aren’t I?” Toya whispers. “Why didn’t I listen to myself? Why did I tell you? I knew this was going to happen!”

Akito seems to have been stunned silent, and Toya just sits there, alone. 

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Tsukasa-nii bursts in, with the rest of Wonderlands×Showtime not far behind.

“I knew something was wrong.” Tsukasa-nii mutters, before wrapping his arms around Toya without a second thought. “What happened, my love?” 

Akito averts his eyes completely from the scene in front of him, and Toya lets out a bitter laugh. 

“Why don’t you tell him, Akito?”

“Tell me what?” Tsukasa-nii says. “Akito, what is he talking about?”

Akito stays silent. 

“Tell him, goddamn it!” Toya snaps. “Tell him that you broke up with me because I told you that I tried to kill myself!”

The entire café goes silent. Tsukasa-nii’s grip on him gets tighter, and he doesn’t even need to look up to know that he’s glaring at Akito. 

“…Akito, you what?” An says. 

Akito still doesn’t respond. 

“You son of a bitch!” Tono-san growls out, and Okazaki-san and his group have to hold him back from coming at Akito. “That’s your partner! You’re supposed to stand by him even when it gets tough! If you can’t do that, you never deserved to be his partner in the first place!”

Akito finally opens his mouth, but before he can say anything, he’s cut off by Kohane shooting him an icy glare. 

She paces forward a few steps until she’s standing between them. 

And then she backhands Akito. Hard.

“How dare you?” She says, her voice laced with cold venom. “How dare you leave Toya-kun because of something like that?” 

Akito opens his mouth again, but Mita cuts him off. 

“…I can’t believe I ever liked someone like you. I can’t believe I begged to join your team.”

“It’s not his team anymore.” An says. “Get out, Akito. You’re not welcome here anymore.”

Akito looks genuinely shocked, and he tries to say something again, but Kamishiro-senpai puts a hand on his shoulder. 

“You heard her, Akito-kun. Get out.” 

“Wha—?!”

“That’s my brother-in-law you just messed with. Get out before I send my drones after you.”

“All of you will have to get in line.” Tsukasa-nii literally growls. “Because if I ever see you again, trust me, you’re not going to like what happens.”

Akito seems to realize that he’s lost the support of the entire street and then some, so he spins on his heel and leaves the café.

Even Otori-san looks genuinely angry, but she doesn’t say a word. She just keeps her eyes trained on Toya. 

“…That was so not Wonderhoy☆.” She mutters. 

Okazaki-san finally lets Tono-san go, before turning to everyone else. 

“Fuck him. We don’t need him anyway. Toya-kun, you can do better than that piece of garbage.”

“He’s right.” An says. “We’ll do it without him. We’ll go higher, and we’ll go higher, and he couldn’t take us down if he tried. So, come on. Let’s take a couple of days off and then show him up at the next battle event he enters.”

Tsukasa-senpai puts on a fake smile that just barely masks the sheer anger on his face. 

“They’re right. You can do so much better than him.”

“Absolutely.” Kamishiro-senpai says. “With your looks and personality, guys and girls will be lining up for you.”

“But they won’t be Akito…” Toya mutters. 

“That sounds like a win.” Kusanagi says. “There are plenty of decent people out there that wouldn’t ditch you over something like this.”

“Yeah!” Otori-san says. “You should be with someone that makes you feel all kirakira dokidoki wonderhoy☆!”

“And Akito always made me feel like that…” Toya mumbles, and Otori-san deflates slightly. 

The chaos and anger has finally drained him completely, and now everything just… aches. He’s tired. So tired. 

So he leans into the comfortable warmth around him and lets himself drift off. Maybe it was all a bad dream. Maybe he’ll wake up and everything will be fine.

~

“And I haven’t seen him since then,” Aoyagi says. “I just— I know that if someone doesn’t love you back, it isn’t such a crime, but I feel like someone’s ripped out my heart and crushed it in front of me.”

Futaba grasps for the right words, something Ren would say. “I… I know getting out of abusive relationships can be rough, I have a friend who—“

“Abusive?” Aoyagi asks. “I’d never call him abusive. An insensitive jerk, but never abusive.”

“Right, uh.” Futaba swallows. “Aoyagi, I already know. I’ve seen the pictures online, you don’t—“

“I genuinely have no clue what you’re talking about.”

Futaba sighs and opens the comment on the PhanSite. “Here.”

Aoyagi looks at it for several very tense seconds.

“This is all out of context.”

“What?”

“Ok these photos, where he’s yelling at me because I was having a panic attack? He was yelling at the guy who caused it, who’s been edited out. And this one where he’s grabbing my arm? It’s because I’d skipped breakfast and I was about to fall over.”

“And the video?”

“Ok he did punch me, after I deliberately provoked him by insulting everything he cares about because— look that’s a long story but basically none of this is true! Up until I told him, Akito was the sweetest boyfriend ever!”

“B-but you said he was forcing you to practice all the time!”

Aoyagi blinks. “I meant he practices all the time, and I’m worried he’s going to work himself to death . And— ok I don’t know what this is but it’s probably nonsense too.”

Futaba looks and sees a new comment from the original poster.

Shinonome just dumped his boyfriend and is already on to a new guy? Hell they were probs already together. When are the Phantom Thieves gonna change his heart?!

“Oh I know this is bullshit,” Futaba says.

Beneath the comment is a snapshot of Shinonome with Inari of all people.

“That’s my friend,” Futaba explains. “There’s no way he’s with Shinonome, we all hated him. Plus like. It would take Inari forever to figure out someone was asking him out and when he did find out he wouldn’t shut up about it.”

Aoyagi is deathly quiet and has a dark look in his eyes. “Did the Phantom Thieves do something to Akito?”

“Um, well I mean I wouldn’t know it’s not like I know them—“

“Sakura-san, you’re clearly familiar with the PhanSite and you tried to confirm with me the veracity of this comment. You’re an admin for the site, aren’t you?”

“Damn, you figured me out.” Futaba says. “The Phantom Thieves really helped when I was at my lowest moment. I’d have killed myself without them.”

“Well because of them I think I’m going to kill myself so that probably evens out.”

Futaba snaps her head up. “What?!”

“My older brother stopped me from killing myself, and he told me to live my life my way. Eight days later I met Akito and he gave my life meaning, something to strive for. He’s been there for me through everything, even when I wanted to do something stupid I knew I’d regret! Tsukasa-nii saved my life and Akito gave it meaning! And now he doesn’t love me anymore because the Phantom Thieves did something to him because they couldn’t be bothered to check their sources.”

Futaba flinches. “I-I’m sorry I just— I thought you were hurting and I wanted to help and—“

Aoyagi immediately softens. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry Sakura-san, I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that, I know it’s not your fault.”

“N-no, you’re right, you should be mad,” Futaba says. “I-I’ll talk to the Phantom Thieves. They’ll fix it.”

“Can they do that?”

“T-totally! I mean they can change a heart once, why can’t they change it back?”

That’s… probably a thing they can do? 

“Please don’t give me empty hope, Sakura-san,” Aoyagi says. “I don’t think my heart can take it.”

Futaba stands up. “I’ll make sure this gets fixed.” She doesn’t care if she has to dig into the very depths of her mother’s research to figure out what to do, her goal was to help her friend, and she’s going to do that.

“Tell Kusanagi I’m sorry for leaving! See you soon!”

Futaba will fix this if it kills her.

~

Yusuke spots a flash of orange in the courtyard and half expects Futaba to be there for some reason, but instead it’s just Shinonome.

Which is probably stranger, upon further consideration

He’s practicing some sort of dance move and though it looks fine to Yusuke, he can recognize the frustration of a perfectionist who can’t overcome a small flaw.

Watching him, Yusuke can’t help but remember the words in Shinonome’s palace.

Spend your life? That's but the minimum. If you want your dreams to come true, that's the bare minimum you have to be willing to pay.

Each individual piece also needs to be polished to perfection.

They’re exactly the kind of things Madarame would say, but Yusuke can’t figure out what’s bothering him about it.

Maybe now’s the chance to try to understand Shinonome better.

Shinonome messes up his step, and Yusuke approaches him.

“Would you like something to eat?” Yusuke asks. “As frustrating as it is, it usually does help when you’re stuck on something.”

“Who’re you?”

“I was simply observing you. Do you go here?”

“No,” Shinonome says. “Not yet, at least.”

“Are you transferring?”

“My mom thinks I should, my school’s kinda hostile to me right now.”

“Ah. I can’t promise Kosei’s better,” Yusuke says.

“They’re mad for a specific reason,” Akito says. “I broke up with my boyfriend and everyone loves him so, yeah.”

“Oh. Well, if you transfer, I’m Yusuke Kitagawa, I’m in the fine arts program.”

“I’m Akito Shinonome. Yes, son of that Shinonome.”

“Oh you mean Shinei Shinonome?” Yusuke asks. “He gave my senpai’s work critique so harsh she spent the next week staying up late to fix the flaw.”

Shinonome sighs. “Yeah, that sounds like my dad. Is she still doing art?”

“No, she quit years ago.”

“Please tell me it wasn’t because of my dad.”

Yusuke chuckles. “No, it was because of my father, actually. Or adoptive father, at least.”

Shinonome squints. “Wait… are you talking about that Madarame guy?”

“I see you’ve heard of him.”

“Oh my god, following that story was the only reason my dad and my sister even talked to each other for three weeks,” Shinonome says.

“I’m glad it helped someone.”

Shinonome straightens. “Shit, sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“I’m not offended.”

“I still shouldn’t have… fuck, what is wrong with me?”

“It’s probably because you’re hungry,” Yusuke says. “If I had to guess you haven’t eaten in… 14 hours.”

“Ok, how’d you do that?”

“Yesterday you were in the throes of practice until around midnight when you suddenly realized it was late and you had to eat something, so you grabbed whatever was in the fridge and then instantly fell asleep. Then you woke up and didn’t want to waste time so you just left without eating breakfast.”

Shinonome narrows his eyes. “Are you stalking me or something?”

“No, that’s just what I did last night.”

Shinonome sighs and sits down, and Yusuke gives him an extra fork for the curry.

“Ah, isn’t it the best curry you’ve ever had?” Yusuke asks.

“Nah, WEEKEND GARAGE has the best,” Shinonome says, “not that I’ll be having it again any time soon.”

“What happened, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“My ex-boyfriend thinks I dumped him because he told me a really personal secret and now everyone thinks I’m a jerk.”

Yusuke pauses mid-bite. If people are that defensive of Aoyagi, surely people would have noticed Shinonome abusing him before, right?

“Have you tried explaining yourself?” 

Shinonome shrugs. “I wish I could, but it’s not like I have anything to say. I just woke up one day, and all of a sudden, looking at Toya didn’t make me feel anything.” Shinonome lets out a sharp laugh. “‘Course everyone’s mad at me, I’d be mad too. I don’t know what’s wrong. Toya said it, no one just falls outta love like that, and here I am, looking at the guy who could brighten my day with a sleepy, coffee-deprived pout, and feeling nothing.”

Shinonome leans down to check his bag and his notebook falls out, opened to a page covered in sketches of a dove. 

Yusuke picks it up to take a closer look, and he’s struck by the sheer resemblance it has to Cognitive Aoyagi. 

“What is this?” Yusuke asks. 

Shinonome shrugs, taking his notebook back. 

“I don’t know why, but recently I’ve been struck by the urge to draw that same bird over and over. And the more I do it, the more hollow I feel.”

“Does the bird remind you of anyone?” 

Shinonome takes a second to think. 

“…I guess birds have always reminded me of Toya?” Shinonome says, scratching the back of his head. “It’s like… how do I explain it… god, Toya’s better at this than I am. It was always the way he described himself. As a caged songbird that’s learning how to fly free.”

“Caged songbird?” Yusuke asks, and Shinonome sighs. 

“When Toya was young, his old man forced him to play classical music. He used to enjoy it, but he was getting pushed so hard to the point where he ended up hating it. Couldn’t even listen to it without having a panic attack. When he was thirteen, he finally told his dad to fuck off and ended up quitting. He broke out of his cage, and then he appeared in front of me. I didn’t realize it until two years later, but I fell in love the moment I heard his voice. His voice made me feel… complete. Like it was made to be with mine. I always thought Toya would be one of those beautiful birds, like a dove. So beautiful and free… and yet he still chose to stay with a fuck-up like me. No matter what. He… he loves me too damn much for his own good. And I keep getting him hurt. His father hates me, and gets pissed at him for associating with me. Other singers say I’m dragging him down, and he could do so much better. And he still just… stays with me. Even if the world turns against him, he’ll still be with me. No matter how much he’d be better off without me. Well, not anymore, I guess. Even all this talking about him, I still don’t feel a thing. If anything, I feel even more hollow. Like there’s a piece of me that’s missing.”

Shinonome absentmindedly starts sketching out another one of those doves, and Yusuke freezes. 

The songbird was… Aoyagi’s description of himself?

And Aoyagi’s the one who wanted to stay, even when Shinonome thinks he’d be better off without him?

“Y’know,” Shinonme says absently, “The last time we sorta broke up I wrote my masterpiece, and now? Just nothing.”

Yusuke frowns. That doesn’t sound like someone who’d been abusing their boyfriend and had a change of heart. It sounds like… something, but not that.

“What was the song?” 

Shinonome sings some of it, and Yusuke instantly recognizes it as the song Cognitive Aoyagi was singing, and the lyrics…

“That sounds like a love song,” Yusuke says.

“It is. Or at least it was. Now? Nothing. I feel… empty. Hollowed out. I’m never going to write anything like it again.”

“Is your ex why you started pursuing music in the first place?” 

“No, that was something else. RAD WEEKEND.”

Yusuke instantly recognizes the reverent tone in Shinonome’s voice. “That’s your Sayuri, then?”

“Sayuri?”

“A painting. Ever since I was a child, I’ve wanted to make something of the same quality. Even at some of my lowest points, looking towards it as inspiration helped me move forward.”

Shinonome nods. “Yeah, yeah! You get it! RAD WEEKEND kick started my life! It showed me life was meaningless if you didn’t have a goal in reach. RAD WEEKEND was a music event I saw as a kid and it blew me away. I wanted to put on an event to surpass it, and I got so much shit from the older singers. But I didn’t care, it was like, why are you even here if you didn’t have a dream to strive for? Why are you knocking me for it?”

Older singers… something clicks for Yusuke.

“RAD WEEKEND sounds impressive. It will take a lot of work to surpass it, seems like you’d need everything to be perfect.”

“Yeah, it’s why I’m working so hard to get better,” Shinonome says. “I’m the weak link in my group… or I was, since I got kicked out.” 

The energy Shinonome had when speaking about RAD WEEKEND leaves him.

“Did someone tell you that? A mentor or something?” Yusuke asks.

“Ha! I’d hardly call Tono a mentor,” Shinonome says. “Rival’s more like it. When he first showed up he trounced us, then told me I’d never surpass RAD WEEKEND because I wasn’t as good as my friends, and then when I worked my ass off to prove him wrong, gave the best performance of my life, he was all ‘oh you’re fired up! That’s cute!’ And then crushed me again . If my friends hadn’t bailed me out…” Shinonome trails off. “Anyway, after that we actually started working with Tono, because he’s a prick but he’s a talented prick working towards the same goal as us. And we were good before—“

“The breakup.”

“Yeah.”

Something churns in the pit of Yusuke’s stomach. Those weren’t organic thoughts from Shinonome, they were things he’d internalized and mostly directed at himself.

He should have known, Yusuke himself did the same with Madarame.

“So your relationship with your boyfriend, it was good?” Yusuke asks. “You never yelled at him or got violent or anything like that?”

Shinonome gets an offended look in his eyes. “Are you kidding? Yeah, Toya and I’d fight but mostly that was him calling me an idiot! I’d never hurt him! I-I punched him in the face once and I haven’t stopped apologizing since! I’d never hurt Toya! That’s why I broke up with him in the first place. If I don’t love him anymore, then I don’t want to lead him on!”

Humans are less reliable than shadows in the sense that humans will lie, but Yusuke can hear the earnestness in Shinonome’s voice. Besides if he had been abusing Aoyagi, he wouldn’t lose all affection for the latter, he’d be apologizing and begging forgiveness like their other targets.

It sounds like Aoyagi was really important to him, and supportive, and Shinonome loved him back. 

Yusuke’s stomach drops.

“Shinonome, what do you plan to do now?”

Shinonome shrugs. “Nothing else I can do. I’m going to focus on RAD WEEKEND. I may have been knocked back to 0 but that just means I need to work twice as hard to claw my way back up. I’ve had too much thrown at me to give up now.”

“It’s all you have, isn’t it?” Yusuke mutters, more to himself than anything.

“Yeah. So I’m gonna make it count.”

Yusuke does not like the look in Shinonome’s eyes. He’s sure if someone looked at him when he was still living with Madarame, they’d see the same look on Yusuke’s face as he told himself everything was fine, he just had to achieve his goal of making something like the Sayuri. The other pupils leaving, the concerned glances, going without food until he completed a piece, none of it mattered because he had a dream to focus on and he was going to achieve it.

That was the worst place Yusuke had ever been in his life.

He knows the words of a mere stranger aren’t going to sway Shinonome, so he simply asks:

“When do you have another show?”

“Huh?” Shinonome asks. “Are you interested in coming?”

“Yes.”

“I’m doing a show in Kichijoji in three days,” Shinonome says.

Meaning for the next three days, Shinonome will push and push himself until he breaks.

“I’ll see if I can make it, mind if I give you my phone number?”

They exchange numbers, and Shinonome seems more energetic.

“Thanks for the food,” he says. “I’m pumped, I’m going to get back to practice!” 

Yusuke bites his tongue. Shinonome is Icarus, and it seems Yusuke’s just directed him towards the sun.

~

Ren doesn’t know why Futaba immediately ran off or why Yusuke called an emergency meeting, but they’re both clearly on edge when everyone gathers in the attic.

“Ok so what’s up?” Ryuji asks.

Yusuke and Futaba immediately start talking over each other.

“We’ve made a grave mistake—“

“We fucked up! Bad!—“

“—We should never have changed Shinonome’s heart—”

“—All the pictures were out of context!—“

“—He’s completely alone now—”

“—And Aoyagi’s super upset because he and Shinonome were actually like super duper extra in love—”

“—He doesn’t have anything stopping him from indulging in his worst desires—”

“—And he’s already suicidal so—”

“I THINK HE COULD END UP DEAD!” they both finish.

The rest of the Phantom Thieves stare at each other.

“Could you two maybe repeat that?” Ren asks. “One at a time?”

“We’ve gotta change Shinonome’s heart back!” Futaba says.

“Change it… back?” Ann asks. “But wait, I thought he was abusive?”

Futaba shakes her head. “He wasn’t! I talked with Aoyagi, he said all the pictures are out of context, and I found the originals!” 

“Wait so… if he doesn’t have distorted desires, or at least not the type we thought he did, which desires did we steal?” Makoto asks.

“His affection for Aoyagi,” Yusuke explains, “and on top of that all his former friends are against him because he dumped Aoyagi and won’t defend himself, so he’s now completely focused on the goal of surpassing a legendary music event!”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

“Yes!” Yusuke says. “Imagine how I’d act if I was solely focused on art and nothing else! Not Phantom Thief work, not spending time with all of you, nothing!”

Haru frowns. “You’d… spend all your time making art?”

“And not leaving my dorm or eating or anything until a piece was done,” Yusuke explains. 

“That’d be terrible!” Haru gasps.

“Then add the fact that Shinonome is a dancer and singer too, he’s doing something physically demanding.”

“So you’re saying if left just with his desire to surpass this music event, he’s gonna work himself until he dies?” Ryuji asks. “Ain’t that a distorted desire too? Can’t we just steal that?”

“No!” Yusuke snaps. “You’d have to be some sort of philistine with no understanding of the good a creative pursuit can bring to think that removing the desire to create entirely would be better!”

“Yusuke. Calm down,” Ren says.

Yusuke lets out a breath. “I’m sorry, I can’t help but see myself at my worse looking at how Shinonome is now. You all are some of the most important things in my life, you saved me. The thought of suddenly losing all emotions towards you? Positive or negative? It’s distressing.”

“Sorry, man,” Ryuji says. 

“On top of that, Aoyagi’s suffering too,” Futaba says. “Imagine the person you love the most in the world suddenly stopped caring about you, and you have no idea why. That’s why we gotta change Shinonome’s heart back.”

Makoto nods. “I agree. If what they say is true, we never should have changed Shinonome’s heart in the first place. The right thing to do would be to change it back, not change it further.”

“But can we even do that?” Ann asks.

“We still have the treasure,” Ren says, pulling out the sleek, high-end microphone Cognitive Aoyagi had become once they left the Palace.

“But doesn’t the Palace disappear after we take the treasure?” Ann asks.

“Yeah but remember, Shinonome wasn’t distorted in the same way as our usual targets. The regular rules don’t apply. It sounds like he had two equally strong desires, so if Yusuke’s right, then the Palace could have been upheld by whatever’s causing him to pursue music.”

They all quickly take out their phones, and sure enough, Shinonome’s Palace is still registered.

“Shit,” Ryuji says. “I can’t believe we fucked up like this! Who the hell’s going on the PhanSite and just lying?!”

“It’s our fault for not checking,” Ann says. “We’ve gotten so used to the comments being reliable that we just made an assumption and saw everything in the Palace in the worst possible light. We were so stupid!”

“Hey, now’s not the time to beat ourselves up,” Ren says. “We can do that after we’ve returned the treasure.”

“Wait,” Ryuji says, “before we do, I have an idea.”

~

Toya walks to WEEKEND GARAGE, replaying the conversation with Sakura-san over and over again.

He’s so lost in his thoughts he doesn’t even notice the crowd in front of the door until he bumps into someone.

Toya looks up and sees Mita.

“What’s going on?” Toya asks.

“Calling cards! From the Phantom Thieves!” Mita says, “but they’re kinda weird.”

He hands one to Toya and the force their way into the cafe. There, Toya reads the card.

(Unbeknownst to him, Akito is reading the same card, which he found in his school bag.)

We have made a grave error in changing the heart of someone who does not deserve it. 

We have seen the turmoil caused by these actions and seek to rectify it as soon as possible.

Sir Akito Shinonome, wanderer of the Wasteland of Dejection, we will be returning your stolen desires to you.

Signed,

The Phantom Thieves Of Hearts .

Chapter Text

Tsukasa drops everything as soon as Shiraishi texts him and runs over to WEEKEND GARAGE.

“Where’s Toya?” he pants after throwing open the door.

“Tsukasa-senpai?” Toya asks, coming over. “What are you doing here?”

“I was worried you’d be upset.”

Toya frowns. “Senpai, I don’t know what you mean, everything’s great! I’m gonna get Akito back!”

Tsukasa throws a glance to Shiraishi, who’s busy throwing out the so-called calling cards she pulled off the wall. He glances over it and frowns.

“Toya, my love, it would be great if this was all some misunderstanding but I don’t want you to get your hopes up.”

“Senpai, you know Akito! You all know Akito! You were shocked by how he acted, a change of heart is the only explanation, and now they’re going to fix it!” Toya insists.

“U-um, change of heart?” Azusawa asks. “What—”

“The Phantom Thieves are a group of vigilantes who supposedly go around forcing corrupt people to change their ways,” Rui explains, making Tsukasa jump.

“Gah! Rui, when did you get here?”

“I followed you, though I don’t think any of us are as fast as you when you’re worried about Aoyagi-kun. Nene and Emu-kun are on their way too, Nene just got winded.”

“The Phantom Thieves have gotten people to act completely different,” Toya explains. “A corrupt teacher suddenly being remorseful, an artist who had successfully fooled everyone suddenly giving up his successful grift, they make people act weird all the time!”

“But they’ve never undone anything,” Rui says, “and why would they make Akito-kun break up with you?”

“Because they thought he was abusive,” Toya explains. “Someone spent a lot of time making him look bad on their website.” Toya pulls up the comment on the PhanSite.

Tsukasa frowns. “Toya, did you research this before the calling cards showed up?”

Toya looks down. “Yeah, a friend got me thinking about it.”

Tsukasa sighs and pulls him into a hug. “Toya, I wish you could just move on from him.”

“Why don’t you want Akito to go back to normal?” Toya asks. “Come on, I know you’re mad at him but you liked him! You should want it to be a Change of Heart!”

“If Akito came back to his senses, no one would be happier than me,” Tsukasa says. “Well, you would, but I’d be the second happiest person because you’d be happy, but I also know how much this will crush you if it turns out to just be some prank.”

Toya shakes his head. “Don’t worry about it, senpai. A good friend of mine gave me her word. I trust her.”

~

Immediately they’re faced with a problem when they enter Shinonome’s Palace again. Namely, they don’t have their thief outfits.

“Um, the hell?” Ryuji asks.

“Oh. Oh no,” Yusuke says. “He thinks we’re helping.”

“What?” Ann gasps.

“He’s scared of hurting Aoyagi, we helped take Aoyagi away, he thinks we helped Aoyagi and thus doesn’t see us as enemies.”

“Son of a bitch!” Futaba says. “And the calling card didn’t help?”

“It wasn’t a normal calling card,” Morgana points out. “I mean it was mostly a way to let everyone know we’d changed his heart in the first place. He probably didn’t believe it.”

“Luckily we shouldn’t need it for returning a treasure,” Makoto says. “Speaking of, Jo- Ren? Should we use codenames if we’re not in our outfits?”

“It feels weird to do that,” Haru says.

Makoto shakes her head. “A-anyway, the treasure?”

They don’t have bags or anything in the Metaverse, they just sorta pull the things they need out of their pockets or suits. Luckily, that works for Ren and he produces the microphone that had been cognitive Aoyagi from his pocket.

“Why isn’t he a bird anymore?” Ann asks.

“Maybe we need to bring him back to Shadow Shinonome?” Ren says. “Futaba, can you still use your Persona?”

“I can still feel it,” Futaba says, “but I don’t know how to get it out.”

“Well, the shadows shouldn’t attack us if we’re considered friendly, right?” Ann asks.

“Plus we still have our weapons, we’re not completely defenseless,” Haru adds and boy is it an image seeing her pull her grenade launcher out of its usual hammerspace while still dressed like normal.

“Right, then we’ll make do,” Ren says. “We’ve got to fix this.”

Something buzzes past the corner of Futaba’s eye. “Hey, What’s that?”

“It’s one of those creepy cameras,” Ann says. 

“Joker, can we observe one?” Yusuke asks.

“Sure, why?”

“It’s simply that Shinonome is a performer. Last time we were here we assumed the cameras symbolized him watching everyone else, but it’s possible he’s the one who feels watched.”

“Oh, so you think if we look at the cameras we’ll find Shinonome!” Futaba says. “Not bad, Inari.”

“How are we going to get it, though?” Makoto asks.

“No, don’t worry, I’ve got it,” Ryuji says, picking up Morgana by the scruff of his neck. “Go long, Mona!”

“Wait wh-AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!” Morgana screams as Ryuji pitches him into the camera. “Seriously?!”

“Try and bust it so it’ll land! You can do that, can’t ya?”

“Of course but give me a little warning next time!” Morgana pulls out his sword and jams it into the part making the camera float in the air and it drops down. He jumps off into Ren’s arms right before the camera crashes, while Futaba heads over to examine it.

“Hmm, yeah I don’t think this was recording,” Futaba says. “But we can play back the film reel in it.”

Or at least she tries to, but it’s all a garbled mess.

“Damn. Back to square one,” Ryuji says.

“No,” Ren says. “The microphone, it’s glowing.”

Sure enough, it’s got a slight sheen to it.

“Let’s see if we can find more film reels, it seems to be a good start.”

“Wait! Everyone, I see some more over there,” Haru says. She runs over and grabs something in the sand, then brings over another reel.

This time when Futaba plugs it in, the image and sound is clear except for some parts.

It’s Shinonome and a group of other people after some sort of show.

“Man... I'm completely out of gas…” some guy in a purple hoodie says.

A girl with long hair that’s blue at the tips nods. “Same... Normally, we'd start cleaning up immediately, but let's take a quick break before we do.”

“Yeah... I'm not gonna lie, I don't think I've ever used up so much energy before,” an older guy with bleached hair ads.

A girl with a hat and pigtails nods. “ know what you mean. I always sang with everything I had until now, but…”

Suddenly the video gets garbled again

“❄︎□︎♎︎♋︎⍓︎ ♐︎♏︎●︎⧫︎ ♎︎♓︎♐︎♐︎♏︎❒︎♏︎■︎⧫︎ ♓︎⧫︎ ♐︎♏︎●︎⧫︎ ■︎♏︎⬥︎”

Then the video becomes clear again and it’s Shinonome talking.

“ So, what did you guys think...? How was today's "atmosphere"?”

Another guy with brown hair gives a smug smirk. “Hehe. You really need to ask?”

Shinonome gives a big smile. “Yeah, I guess I don't need to based on the look on your faces… We're still far from RAD WEEKEND... But we took a big step forward.”

Ren blinks at the video. “Wait, Ann, is that the dude who sits behind me in class? The dude in the purple hoodie.”

“Oh, green pencil case guy?” Ann asks. “Weird seeing him here. What’s his name again?”

Ren shrugs.

“That’s harsh dude,” Futaba says.

“It’s not like we ever talk, he mostly runs away when he sees me.”

“He’s probably intimidated since he can see what you do during class,” Morgana says. 

“You think he knows?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve made direct eye contact with him before, he definitely knows.”

“And he hasn’t sold us out? He really is a real one!” Ryuji says.

“Do you know his name?” Futaba asks.

“Nah but we did sit next to each other when we were first years and he shared lunch with me one time.”

“Mita-kun!” Makoto says suddenly. “He’s Kotaro Mita-kun. I knew I knew it. He just has an unfortunate habit of being a little forgettable.”

“So he’s an NPC,” Futaba says, “F in the chat.”

Yusuke and Haru share confused looks.

“Don’t worry about it,” Futaba says, “let’s just check the rest of these reels.”

They find another reel, and despite the garbled parts, they can make out Akito taking the blame for Mita for shutting off the power at an event with the girls from the other reel.

“Dick move on Mita’s part.” Ryuji says, “I get wanting to help your friends, but sabotaging the other group…”

“Love makes you so stupid things,” Ann says.

“Huh? Love?”

Ann sighs. “You’ll understand when you’re older.”

“The hell?”

As the reel continues, the girl with black hair confronts Shinonome-kun about the power and he causes the smaller girl to run off in tears and her partner follows.

“I know he’s not bad enough to warrant a change of heart,” Haru says, “but seems like he’s a bit of a jerk.”

“I think these are out of order,” Ren says. “Whatever happened, they clearly worked it out eventually.”

The next part is garbled again, then Shinonome says:

“Doesn't matter. I’m the reason he did it, and I hate excuses.”

More garbled speaking, and then the reel ends with Shinonome about to perform.

“I don’t get it,” Ryuji says. “He didn’t do it, and he didn’t ask Mita to do it, so why’s he taking the fall for it?”

“Maybe he doesn’t think anyone would believe him, so he doesn’t want to bother?” Ann says.

“No, I think it’s more like it doesn't matter if he knew Mita did it or not, it’s still his fault,” Makoto explains. “It’s how I felt when people accused me of knowing about Kamoshida and the volleyball team.”

Ann flinches slightly.

“I didn’t,” Makoto continues, “but I should have as Student Council President, so explaining just seemed like making excuses. It’s not like I wouldn't deserve the ire either way.”

“But you didn’t know! There’s a difference between knowing and turning a blind eye!” Ann says

“It’s just how I felt.”

“I wonder what his home life is like,” Morgana says. “It’s weird for a kid to be so focused on not making excuses or taking that much responsibility unless they’re already facing a lot of pressure to be responsible or something like that. No offense, Makoto.”

Makoto looks flustered. “I… suppose that’s true. It’s weird his parents haven't shown up at all, but at this point it’s all speculation. I think we've established we need to refrain from making assumptions based solely on the Palace.”

The next reel they find has the smug looking brunet finishing a performance that leaves Shinonome speechless.

Then the brunet turns to Shinonome.

“I talked at length about your teammates, but there’s one thing I left out.”

Yusuke gasps softly. “Shinonome told me about this.”

“Shinonome, you’re the least interesting of the bunch.”

“What?!” Shinonome gasps, but there was a spark of anger there before that’s left his eyes.

“I do believe that you’re a good team. You sing well and you put on good performances, but every single person who performed at RAD WEEKEND was a genius or even more than that. I’m sure you saw that too, no?

“I…”

“Performing well as a team is important, but I believe that each individual piece also needs to be polished to perfection. Now do you understand? Your teammates are all more talented than you realize and they may even become first-rate performers in their own right in time. But it’s too hard for me to believe you’ll be up there with them when the time comes.”

Morgana practically growls. “That jerk! Who’s he to say someone isn’t good enough to perform with his friends?!”

“Shinonome must think he’s correct on some level, since we heard those words before,” Ren says.

“If it were me, I’d start scratching,” Morgana says. “It’s awful enough to think those things, but to hear someone else say it…”

Ryuji pats Morgana on the head. “Hey, Mona it’s ok, alright?”

“Right! Of course! I-I’m fine,” Morgana says. “A great thief doesn’t let his own problems get in the way, I’m just saying, it makes sense it had a profound effect on Shinonome.”

“I agree with Morgana,” Yusuke says, looking really disturbed. “When Shinonome described this, it didn’t sound this harsh.”

“Well, they worked it out eventually since they ended up performing together, right?” Haru says.

“Sure, but I don’t think Shinonome ever really let go of it either,” Ren says.

“Makes sense,” Ryuji says. “I doubt you could have a Palace and not have a lot of baggage.”

The last reel they find is buried deep in the sand and completely beat up. Futaba’s not even sure it’ll play until they put it in the camera, and suddenly it’s projecting a 4k HD view.

A scene between Shinonome and Aoyagi.

“You won’t perform anymore?” Shinonome gasps. “What are you talking about? You know you aren’t any good with jokes, so stop messing around.”

“This isn't a joke,” Aoyagi says simply, carefully wrapping up a microphone cord and pointedly not looking Shinonome in the eyes.

“What’s wrong, did your old man say something?”

Aoyagi pauses, then seems to steel himself before turning to face Shinonome.

“This is my own decision. Our kind of music doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a bunch of kids making some noise.”

“Are you being serious right now?”

“You’re the one who said I wasn’t any good at making jokes.”

“That's going too far. Our music has no meaning? Try saying that again! I won’t take this, not even from you, Toya.”

Aoyagi turns to leave, and Shinonome grabs his arm.

“What are you gonna do if you quit anyway? Go crawling back and let your dad control you again after saying how much you hated things? How is that any more meaningful?!”

“...Let go of me,” Aoyagi says, stone-faced.

“Get back here! This conversation isn’t over, Toya!”

Aoyagi slaps Shinonome’s hand away.

“Don’t you think it’s about time you grew up and stopped chasing after some tiny event that no-one’s even heard of outside this town?” Aoyagi says with so much ice in his voice it sends a chill down Futaba’s spine.

“Why, you!”

Shinonome punches Aoyagi, and Aoyagi staggers back.

“Aoyagi told me about this, he says he was trying to provoke Shinonome,” Futaba says, but she probably didn't need to say anything judging on the looks on their faces. The video of Shinonome hitting Aoyagi is completely different with the actual context.

“Fine then, leave!” Shinonome shouts. “And never show your face around here again!”

He storms off, leaving Aoyagi behind.

“That was… quite the fight,” Haru says.

“Y-yeah, but um why is this one so clear?” Ann asks. 

“Probably because it’s a negative memory,” Ren says. “I think it’s safe to say Shinonome holds onto those very hard.”

“So now what? Are there any more reels?” Ryuji asks.

“Wait, hold on,” Futaba says. “I think I know the order these go in. Clearly the one about the power outage is before they formed their group properly, because that girl’s hair is long and she has glasses. I think the fight happened next because they haven’t fought recently, then they were together by the scene with the smug-looking guy because he mentioned teammates , and then the one after the show where they’re all together.”

“And the completely ruined one?” Makoto asks.

“All the garbled videos, Aoyagi was missing in them,” Futaba says. “The only time it wasn't was the fight. So I think Aoyagi got erased from the footage except for the negative memories. Meaning, if my hunch is right, then the most garbled one would have to be when Shinonome and Aoyagi met.”

Futaba puts all the reels in what she believes is the correct order into the camera. Suddenly they start spinning and the camera projects an opening to another part of the Palace.

“There! We did it!” Fuataba says.

Yusuke frowns. “Were the videos of Aoyagi destroyed even before we took the treasure?”

“We can’t know for sure,” Morgana says. “Let’s just see about putting the treasure back and hope that fixes things.”

~

When they step through the portal projected by the camera, Yusuke takes a second to realize where they are.

It’s… Cognitive Aoyagi’s tree. And it’s been completely destroyed.

Yusuke feels sick to his stomach. What right did they have to come in and do this to Shinonome? Though… perhaps the bad taste in his mouth is coming from a more selfish place. 

“Everything must be perfect.”

It’s a mantra he’s heard over and over again, especially since he became the only pupil crafting artworks for Madarame. He’s strived to live up to that ideal, reached for that distant star of perfection, because he knows he’s not good enough yet. 

The others will compliment his work, but honestly, Yusuke was far from the most talented pupil learning under Madarame, and he always strove to catch up with them. 

“Yusuke?” Ren asks.

Yusuke jumps. “Sorry, I was simply lost in thought.”

“Are you ok?”

Yusuke sighs. “Between this and Okumura’s Palace, I fear I’ve been bringing my own issues into our thief work a lot lately.”

“That’s ok. It can help. Especially since you’re the only one who’s met Shinonome in person.”

“I find it… very fitting that a Palace built from someone’s desire for perfection is wasteland, I suppose. Especially in creative endeavors, it can feel like you’ve walked for miles and there’s still nothing, or that everything is out to get you, or one tiny mistake and you’ll lose everything. I think if I had realized all of this before, maybe we wouldn’t have assumed the worst about Shinonome and we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“You don’t have to blame yourself,” Ren says.

“But I was in the best position to understand. It’s not exactly the same, but I know that this RAD WEEKEND is to him what The Sayuri is to me. I know the hardship of trying to be recognized for your art. I could have understood but I didn’t.”

Ren doesn’t say anything, but pulls the microphone out of his pocket and hands it to Yusuke.

“I think you should hold onto this for now,” he says.

“Me? Why?”

“Because like you said, you understand Shinonome the best out of all of us. We’ve never had to return a treasure before, so if you can talk to him, then Cognitive Aoyagi’s probably safer with you.”

Yusuke nods. “Thank you. I won’t waste your faith in me.”

“I know you won’t.”

By the destroyed remains of Cognitive Aoyagi’s tree, there are tons of destroyed vehicles half buried in sand.

“What are these?” Ann asks.

“Literally? They seem to be all terrain vehicles for traversing the desert,” Makoto says. “Metaphorically… I’m not sure.”

“At least with all this debris we can sneak around more,” Morgana says.

They all nod.

“Ok everyone split up and look around, let us know if you find any clues,” Ren says.

Yusuke wanders over to something very large sticking out of the ground, but it’s buried deep and he can’t get at it. 

Suddenly he tenses. Eyes are on him. He turns around and spots a girl with brown hair and eyes staring at him.

“Who are you?” Yusuke asks cautiously.

“You’re another artist,” she says, sounding annoyed. 

“Yes. Do you know Shinonome?”

“Ugh, why do you want to talk to my stupid brother? He’s such a pain.”

“It’s critical,” Yusuke insists. “You're his sister? What’s your name?”

“Ena, and I don’t want to talk to you. Or anybody for that matter.”

“Ok, I’ll leave you alone if you help me find your brother.”

“I don’t know where he is. He’s causing problems, avoiding the others, probably.”

“Others?”

“Yeah they’re pretty mad. Anyway, it’s Akito’s problem, not mine. I don’t care what mess he’s gotten himself into.”

Yusuke frowns. Is Shinonome’s sister actually like this or is this just how he thinks of her? Shinonome clearly isn’t as distorted as their other targets, but given his insistence on taking responsibility for things that aren’t even his own fault, maybe it’s a smaller distortion.

“Shinonome-san, how do you feel about your brother?”

“What? I just said he’s annoying!”

“Well, still.”

“Ugh, he’s fine. He’s still my little brother, I guess. I gotta worry about him sometimes.”

“Then will you please help us?”

“I still have no clue where he is, he just sorta pops up when there’s trouble.”

With that, she disappears.

Well this is progress, presumably?

“I think I’ve got something!” Haru announces. 

Yusuke turns back to them, but feels something sink under his feet. 

He only has seconds to process that fact before a massive explosion shakes the ground and everything goes off.

Yusuke wakes up in some sort of shelter made from various different sand ships.

He frantically checks his pocket for Shinonome-san’s treasure and breathes a sigh of relief when it’s still there, undamaged. The main thing he has to worry about now is how did he get here and where are the others after that explosion.

Getting up, Yusuke finds he’s a little too tall for the shelter and has to duck. 

“What are you doing back here?”

Yusuke spins and catches the water pouch Shadow Shinonome-san throws toward him.

“We made a mistake,” Yusuke says, pulling out the microphone and handing it towards him. “You need this.”

Shadow Shinonome-san tenses like Yusuke pulled a weapon.

“No I don’t,” Shadow Shinonome-san hisses. “It’s better like this, I won’t get Toya hurt.”

“He is hurting,” Yusuke says. “He’s heartbroken.”

“He has his siblings and his friends, he’ll be fine. He doesn’t need a partner like me dragging him down.”

“Why did you want us to change your heart?” Yusuke asks. “Is that even what you really wanted?”

“I saw an opportunity and I took it. This… this is better for everyone.”

“But even now you’re thinking about Aoyagi. You care about him.”

“Of course I do, but he’s perfect and I’m a mess. I don’t want to hurt him. But I’m selfish and I want to be with him. So the best course of action is to not be selfish anymore.”

“That isn’t true,” Yusuke insists. “Being alone, only watching out for yourself, it can keep you from getting hurt in the short term, but eventually—“

“We’re all going to die eventually, I just need to make my mark before I do.” Shadow Shinonome-san heads towards the entrance. “I should go, the moon’s coming up.”

“The moon?”

“Yeah, it’s when–” Something shakes the side of the shelter. Then again, then again.

“Is something banging into the walls?”

“Go! Get out, now!”

Shadow Shinonome shoves Yusuke out the entrance just as a large blond wolf with pink tips on its fur destroys the shelter.

“What’s that?” Yusuke gasps.

“Tsukasa-senpai. We should run”

The two of them take off, with Cognitive Tsukasa-san chasing after them.

“Does he destroy your shelters often?”

“No, just recently because of Toya.”

“Then can you talk to him?”

Shadow Shinonome-san shakes his head. “It wouldn’t work. I can’t just tell them ‘I didn’t break up with Toya because he told me he tried to kill himself, I just happened to fall out of love with him right after that happened.’”

“Why not? It’s the truth.”

“But it sounds fake.”

“But you can explain yourself.”

“What’s the point if no one’s going to believe me? And Toya’s still going to be hurt anyway, so they’ll still be angry.”

“Do you have to succeed at everything before you do it?!”

“Yes?? What’s the point of doing something if you’re not going to try your best at it?”

Ok, Yusuke can’t really disagree with that sentiment. “Surely that doesn’t apply to trying to explain yourself, though? Why do you want Tsukasa-san to think you're a bad person?”

“I don’t want him or anyone to think that, I just can’t convince them otherwise!”

“...you said all your friends were mad at you, didn’t you.”

Sure enough, they get back to the remains of Cognitive Aoyagi’s tree and spot several more wolves hounding the other Phantom Thieves.

“Guys!” Yusuke shouts. He turns to Shadow Shinonome-san. “Please, just take Aoyagi back.”

“I told you, I’ll just hurt him!”

“And I already told you, you are hurting him!” Yusuke’s hands are shaking. His friends are in trouble, he has to get it through Shadow Shinonome-san’s head. “Are you really scared of hurting Aoyagi?”

“What?”

“Shinonome-san, listen to me. I know you want to help Aoyagi, but you’re clearly not.”

“RAD WEEKEND was never his dream. He doesn’t need to be tied down to me,” Shadow Shinonome-san says. “He already left once, what if he means it the next time.”

“...you’re scared of being hurt,” Yusuke realizes. “You’re scared that Tono-san is right, or that Aoyagi will leave you again and actually mean it this time, so you pushed him away and told yourself it was to protect him.”

“W-what?”

“Shinonome-san, listen to me. Art is much more solitary than music. I don’t perform in teams or put on shows. But even I know I wouldn’t be able to get anywhere without my friends. When I was alone and put all my focus into being the best I could be and creating something as great as The Sayuri, I tried to kill myself. You’re going down the same path and you need to stop .”

“I-I..”

“You’re punishing yourself and calling it responsibility and work ethic, and you need to stop this. Now.”

Yusuke feels his pocket warming up, and he pulls out the microphone again. 

The microphone glows brighter, and it suddenly transforms back into a white dove in Yusuke’s hand.

Cognitive Aoyagi lets out a loud chirp, and the wolves stop attacking almost instantly. 

The pack leader that Shadow Shinonome-san had called Tsukasa-san runs over to Yusuke, and Cognitive Aoyagi hops onto his nose and starts chirping at him. 

Shadow Shinonome-san just stays where he is, and the pack leader gently approaches him. 

He bows his head slightly, and Cognitive Aoyagi takes off. He lands right on Shadow Shinonome-san’s shoulder, quickly fluffing himself up and gently pecking him on the cheek. 

Shadow Shinonome-san practically collapses back onto the tree, which is rapidly regrowing. 

Just a second after Shadow Shinonome-san collapses, Cognitive Aoyagi swoops off his shoulder to swiftly pick a dandelion and give it to him. 

Shadow Shinonome-san starts crying, and yet he looks… happy. Truly happy. 

“Toya… you’re…”

And in a flash, he plucks the songbird out of the air and holds him to his chest. 

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, I love you so much! You’re everything to me!”

Cognitive Tsukasa-san lets out a sharp bark, but Cognitive Aoyagi starts chirping again and the wolf backs off slightly. 

And then Cognitive Aoyagi turns to Shadow Shinonome-san and shifts in his grip just enough to start chirping at him. 

And Shadow Shinonome-san just laughs. 

“I know, I know. I’m an idiot who ruined the best thing that ever happened to me. I… I love you, partner. Can you ever forgive me?”

Cognitive Aoyagi flies out of Shadow Shinonome-san’s arms to perch on his shoulder and nuzzle his face, chirping softly all the while, and Shadow Shinonome’s smile only gets bigger. He reaches over to run his finger over Cognitive Aoyagi’s head, smiling all the while. 

“You’re too damn good for me, Toya.”

And suddenly, Cognitive Aoyagi is enveloped in a bluish light and appears as his humanoid form curled up in Shadow Shinonome’s lap. 

“I love you too, Akito.”

Cognitive Aoyagi reaches over to Cognitive Tsukasa-san, gently patting him on the snout. 

“It’s alright, Senpai. Everything’s fine now.”

Cognitive Tsukasa-san still looks suspicious, but after a second he barks and all the wolves switch from attack mode to simply laying around the meadow. 

Cognitive Aoyagi reaches over, running his long fingers down Shadow Shinonome-san’s cheek. 

“Don’t go alone, partner. Stay with us. With me.”

And Shadow Shinonome-san reaches out to thread his fingers with Cognitive Aoyagi’s. 

“You know I can’t say no to you.” He whispers, and Cognitive Aoyagi leans in to touch their foreheads together, laughing gently before turning back into a small bird and resting in the crook of Shadow Shinonome-san’s neck. 

And Shadow Shinonome-san just leans back against the tree, laughing softly.

The others run up and join them.

“Good job, Yusuke,” Ren says. “I knew you could do it.”

~

Toya goes out for some fresh air during their break. Tsukasa-senpai and the others have insisted on staying and hearing them practice and he needs a break from all their worried looks.

There’s a sound of footsteps and Toya turns sharply and spots a flash of orange duck into an alley.

“Akito?” Toya asks.

Sheepishly, Akito steps out. His hands are shaking and he seems slightly out of breath. “Shoulda known I can’t hide from you ears par- Toya.”

“Do you want something?”

“I—“ Akito shifts on the balls of his feet. 

“Since when do you get nervous?”

“Can you blame me? I’ve never ruined the best thing in my life before.”

Toya’s heart leaps into his throat. Does this mean—

“Toya, I-I’m so sorry!” Tears are starting to well up in his eyes. “I lost my fucking mind, I don’t know, I just know breaking up with you was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done and no amount of words can express how sorry I am. I love you. I love you so much. If you wanted the moon just tell me and I’ll gift wrap it for you. I love you so much and I should never have said any of that.”

Toya pulls him into a hug. “Hey it’s ok.”

“It’s not! I did the worst thing I could have possibly done,” Akito says, leaning on Toya’s shoulder “I betrayed my partner.”

“Akito…”

“Toya. I know I have no right to ask this if you, but would you please take me back? I’ll do anything to make it up to you.”

“You don’t have to do anything, of course I’ll take you back, partner.”

Akito just buries his face into Toya’s chest and sobs harder.

“You’re seriously taking him back that easily?!” An gasps. Toya looks up and sees everyone from the cafe has gathered and is watching them.

“He destroyed your partnership!” Tono-san says, fuming.

“I told you it was the Phantom Thieves!” Toya says, “well but also they fixed it.”

“Oh come on, maybe he just put those up himself to take the heat off him when he begged you to take him back,” Tono-san says.

Toya rolls his eyes. “How would he have even done that, everyone on this street was looking to fight him!”

“Maybe we should let him speak for himself?” Kamishiro-senpai says.

Akito doesn’t say anything, he’s still just leaning against Toya.

“Akito?” Toya asks. He shakes him. “Akito?!”

“Huh? What’s wrong?” Mita asks. 

“I think he passed out while standing up?” Toya says, still trying to shake him.

Eventually Akito’s eyes flutter awake. “Huh? Oh, hey Toya.”

“Akito, what have you been doing since we broke up?”

“Jus’ practice.”

Oh dear lord, Akito hasn’t had a decent night’s sleep or any sort of real rest.

“Can someone call an ambulance?”

“‘M fine.”

“Ok then stand up straight.”

Akito tries to push himself up off the wall and lasts a solid 2 seconds before stumbling again.

Toya catches him.

“See I stood up! I only skipped class to practice and practiced at night and—“

“I’m calling an ambulance,” Tsukasa-senpai says.

~

“Sorry we’re late!” Futaba says, dragging Yusuke behind her. 

She’s surprised Aoyagi invited her out again, and Yusuke was interested in seeing how Shinonome was doing, so they agreed to meet at Vivid Street and then head over to Phoenix Wonderland.

Aoyagi waves them over.

“Inari got distracted staring at the graffiti,” Futaba explains. 

“The contrast of such vulgar language rendered so elegantly—“

“Dude come on, it’s offline shitposting.”

“Futaba, graffiti is art derived from passion!”

“Passionately hating the Phantom Thieves.” Pretty much every other corner had been tagged with something along the lines of ‘fuck the Phantom Thieves.’

“I think that’s probably our fault,” Aoyagi says. “Vivid Street is defensive when it comes to our own and the breakup became news very quickly.”

“It’s annoying as all hell,” Shinonome says. “I can’t believe everyone’s really going around blaming the Phantom Thieves.”

Futaba blinks. “Wait, you don’t think it was the Phantom Thieves?”

“Um, no, they’re not real.”

“What do you think happened?” Yusuke asks.

“I let my insecurities get the better of me and did something stupid?” Shinonome says. “I’m not about to foist off responsibility for my mistakes on some urban legend.”

“That is an interesting view on the situation,” Yusuke says.

Shinonome rolls his eyes. “Ok, smart guy, let’s go.”

They head over to PXL, and Yusuke and Shinonome get ahead while Aoyagi and Futaba hang back.

As soon as they’re out of earshot, Aoyagi sighs. “I really wish he wouldn’t keep finding ways to blame himself,” he says.

“Sorry,” Futaba says, but Aoyagi shakes his head.

“That’s not a new thing, he’s always held himself to a high standard. I think he’s embarrassed it became such a big deal. He’d find a way to blame himself even if the Phantom Thieves dropped in and told him what happened.”

“Oh, then I’ll tell them not to break into his room,” Futaba says.

“Wait, were they going to?”

“No, I was trying to be funny.”

“Oh, I see.” Aoyagi says. “But speaking of the Phantom Thieves, dropping in on people, did they pay that PhanSite troll a visit?”

“Nah, I think this whole mess made them want to avoid jumping to the change of heart as much.” Futaba grins. “Instead, they let Alibaba handle them.”

“That look in your eyes gives me the feeling that’s much worse.” Aoyagi smiles. “Good.”

“TOOOOOYA!” A dude so loud he’d give Ryuji a run for his money meets them at the entrance to the park. “I’m so glad you could make it! Is this your friend Nene told me about?”

“Yes. Senpai, this is Futaba Sakura, Sakura-san, this is Tsukasa Tenma.”

“H-hey,” Futaba says. “N-nice to meet you.”

“Is this your first time here?” Tenma says with way too much energy for a normal person.

“Yeah…”

“Senpai, do you have the tickets?” Shinonome asks, thankfully getting Tenma’s attention off of Futaba.

“Yes! Thank you so much for coming Akito, and I’m so sorry again—”

“I heard you the last ten times, please stop,” Shinonome sighs.

“But it’s completely my fault for not realizing something was wrong!”

“Just stop, can we just stop talking about this whole thing?” Shinonome sighs. “I just want to go back to business as usual.”

Tenma opens his mouth, probably to apologize again, but Yusuke steps in. “If it’s at all possible, I’d love to see your set up close before the show. I’ve recently been looking into musicals as a source of inspiration after a friend and I went to see Mes Miserables.”

“Bah,” Tenma says. “If that’s your baseline, just wait, our shows blow that movie out of the water!”

Tenma turns around and leads the way, and the group follows.

Futaba takes her seat while Tenma gives Yusuke a tour of the backstage, but he eventually comes to join her.

“Where are the others?” Futaba asks.

“Catching up with some friends.”

“How does Shinonome seem?”

“He seems less tired than when I last saw him. I’m glad his friendships are still unscathed after all that.”

“Yeah.”

“Have you been thinking about how much worse that could have been?” Yusuke asks. “I keep running through the consequences if anything had gone wrong.”

“Dude, I have anxiety. Of course I’ve been stressing about it. I’ve been trying to gauge how Aoyagi’s doing without sounding like a weird stalker for weeks. But, you know, nothing we can do now I guess.”

“I suppose you’re right. We’ll have to be more careful in the future.”

“Yeah,” Futaba says. “At least we don’t have to worry with Okumura. It’s not like your source can get more vetted than literally stealing the info off a prosecutor’s laptop.”

“You’re right. Besides, his Palace… left much less to interpretation than Shinonome-san’s,” Yusuke says.

“Yeah, see! Relax! Enjoy the back to back amusement park trip! We’ll see if this place is better than Destinyland. Everything will be fine.”