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There was, technically, nothing concerning about not immediately responding to text messages.
It did strike Yosuke as odd when Souji still hadn’t responded to a message about concerns for college that, most other days, his partner would have managed to quell almost immediately by the next morning. But it wasn’t too worrying, really, since both their graduations had only just passed, and the likelihood of Souji just being a bit too busy to get back to him that instant was high.
And Rise was, minimally, pretty confused when questions about possibly meeting up during the break went ignored for two days. It really wasn’t like her senpai to just not answer; he’d usually at least find a way to say ‘no’ kindly. But it was always possible he felt bad about turning her down, and was having trouble finding the words for once to express as much.
Naoto had similar requests, though he obscured them in the reasonable excuse of hoping to ask Souji’s thoughts on a recent case he’d been working on, go ignored for three days, which did give him some pause. It was certainly out of character for him, in the least. But Naoto was reasonable enough to assume that the request was likely lost in a mess of post-graduation responsibilities for now.
Kanji noticed that his question if the plush ‘graduation bear’ (of the non-Teddie variety) he had mailed Souji as a gift had arrived went unanswered for four days, but he honestly assumed that probably just meant no. Senpai didn’t need to waste time telling him so every day until it came or anything.
Yukiko was a little miffed that her suggestion to plan a team graduation party wasn’t even read for five days. She’d even made arrangements with her mother to possibly block off part of the inn for such an event, so it was at least worth considering. She complained about the radio silence to Chie, but was too annoyed to realize that was a bit concerning.
Chie believed the complaints, since for some reason Souji wasn’t replying to numerous requests, that eventually got a little pleading, to train and spar with her some before academy started so she would stay sharp. She’d think after six days he’d at least turn her down, but there was nothing!
It wasn’t until that sixth day, though, that she finally processed that that… was a lot of days to not respond to numerous messages, actually.
Finally, after seven whole days of Souji not responding to any of Teddie’s daily morning greetings, periodic “hi sensei :)”s throughout the days, or good night “i love you”s, the bear promptly messaged every other former member of the Investigation Team to inform them all of their leader’s obvious and tragic passing.
This message was also sent to said leader, in spite of his apparent demise.
In response to this, Souji finally sent them all the same response:
Sorry for not answering, I was a bit caught up in something. I can explain at the usual place tomorrow?
Even if anyone had had anything scheduled for the next day, they’d all been so concerned in the wake of Teddie’s meltdown that everyone found themselves at the same table in Junes’s food court as usual that morning regardless. Luckily, for the sake of everyone’s now frazzled nerves, their leader had gotten there earlier than anyone else, waiting for their arrival in the spot.
While most of the team did their best to play that off as something they felt very casual about, and not a huge source of relief after all six of them came to the realization that their friend had been missing for a week and no one had suspected anything, Teddie was not one for such subtleties even when he wasn’t an absolute mess.
By the time he and Yosuke got there, a little late after getting caught up with a coworker trying to ask about pay, he absolutely fell into the mess classification. Yosuke didn’t even get a chance to properly wave to his partner, sitting on the far side of the table, before Teddie had nearly knocked that table over from barreling across the top of it, thankfully stopping his dive short of knocking Souji over as he clung to him, crying into his chest.
“Senseeeeiii…. I thought we’d lost youuu… Forev-bear and ev-bear!”
While everyone groaned a bit at both the display and awful pun (though they would have to admit both would have somehow been worse had he been in costume), Souji took it in stride, patting Teddie’s hair comfortingly with one hand as the other arm wrapped around his shoulders.
Yosuke didn’t miss the vaguely haunted expression in his partner’s eyes at the pun, though, even if it was quickly replaced with regret.
“I’m sorry for worrying you so much. I would have messaged back sooner, but Kirijo-san said it could be a risk to… ‘broadcast my movements,’ were her words.”
Teddie only nodded at the words, solemn and teary and so kindly understanding of the circumstances. Meanwhile, everyone else gaped at the admission of the cause of Souji’s absence.
“You were with Mitsuru-san that whole time?! Doing what??!” Yosuke’s voice veered into a near panic as he abandoned the idea of sitting, instead leaning over the table Teddie was still laid over to get closer himself.
“Was there an emergency? Did you need us for a fight?” Naoto was more pragmatic even as he also leaned forwards, rising to his feet as well as a second thought occurred to him. “Is there a fight right now we are needed at?
Before the idea could take hold enough in everyone’s imagination beyond the initial alarm, Souji’s hands flew up, letting go of Teddie only to make a strong motion of denial.
“No, nothing like that. Anything that was happening has been settled, and it wasn’t exactly a fight to begin with. Just a.. Circumstance,” he looked to be considering his words closely, before finally nodding to himself in determination. Confidence returned to his tone as he smiled, pleased with what he had to say.
“The short of it is that I’ve joined the Shadow Operatives.”
Even if what he had to say was obviously more than anyone could have possibly expected.
The table went silent for a moment. A moment, for the words to sink in. A moment, before an explosion of voices.
“What?!”
“Senpai, why didn’t you tell us before?!”
“Didn’t you already pick out a college?”
”Was that always a post-graduation option?!?”
While the symphony of questions were blurted out around him, Souji carefully stood up, pulling Teddie off the table and detaching him from his side, placing the bear in the seat next to him. The eruption didn’t come to an end until he was sitting back down himself, more comfortable and prepared to explain.
“First off, this isn’t instead of college. Kirijo-san made that much very clear,” Both Yosuke and Kanji briefly looked disappointed, though Yosuke had enough shame to cover up the reaction with a cough. “Paying for classes is one of the ways I’m being compensated, actually…”
Yosuke’s fake cough became very real at the further clarification, going into a full fit.
“How is it you came back in contact with Mitsuru-san to begin with? Was this your plan to begin with? Or,” Naoto’s expression hardened as he spoke, and even before he continued, Yosuke froze as the same thought occurred to him. “Did she seek you out personally? Since you’ve finally graduated.”
There was nothing particularly accusatory in the questions, but Naoto’s narrowed eyes said enough without harsh words.
“No to both of those last questions,” Souji shut down the line of thought as he raked his fingers through his bangs, settling to dig into his scalp as he leaned forwards, placing an elbow on the table. “I did call her myself, but I hadn’t planned to until Sho asked me to.”
Despite being a second grand reveal Souji said utterly too casually, there was not a race to question the apparent reemergence of one of the more formidable threats they had faced as a team. The table instead went quiet, not even the sound of other Junes shoppers there to fill the air first thing in the morning.
Naoto pinched the bridge of his nose.
“... And were you in contact with him before this request?”
The hand not being used to prop Souji up traced meandering circles on the table’s surface that he seemed more interested in looking at than meeting the young detective, or anyone else, in the eye.
“I… may have been in contact with him since about a month after that Golden Week.”
Somehow, this wasn’t a third grand reveal, and didn’t gain an eruption or deafening silence. It was not particularly surprising at all, that their leader had been serious back then about reaching out to Sho as desperately as he’d always reached towards anything that mattered to him, from the truth to the happy ending they all earned, to even their own hands. Souji was too determined, and too kind, to assume anything else.
“But he wasn’t ready yet, to talk to Kirijo-san—”
“To turn himself in?” Yosuke finished helpfully.
“To address everything on the table,” Souji deflected and completed his own thought. “But since I had time after graduation, he agreed to talk to her with me. And… her maid took away my phone when we went to meet with them.”
Kanji, in an attempt to be polite about it, raised his hand, though he started speaking immediately upon doing so.
“Why can’t ya broadcast your movements during a conversation? And how’d that take a whole week?”
Naoto’s frown suggested he already knew the answer as he built off Kanji’s questions.
“Is Public Safety still a concern?”
The hand tangled in Souji’s hair lowered to motion a vague shrug.
“She said they’re not an active threat right now, but Kirijo-san was pretty adamant that they could be if they caught wind of Sho’s identity or presence. So we were being pretty careful about everything… we didn’t want him to get arrested for real before we came to an agreement.”
Chie crossed her arms, trying to seem very serious in her own doubt and confusion.
“And that agreement was?”
Throughout the whole conversation, Rise had been pursing her lips in thought. At Chie’s question, that was interrupted with a sigh. If anyone could reason out the contents of a contract, it’d be her, and she was pretty confident in her assumption.
“Did you agree to join to protect him? That’d be a pretty good deal on their end, since you’re so strong, Senpai.”
The last statement was voiced as one of her usual compliments, but the undertone was concerned at best, and suspicious at worst.
Yosuke’s face darkened, even as Souji tilted his head to the side in consideration and continued.
“Yes, but… no. Having Sho sign on as a full-time agent to make up for everything was the main compromise with or without me, but no one was certain on the logistics of that until I said I’d join too, since he trusts me more than them. I’m still going to school, and we still probably won’t get field missions outside of emergencies for now. It just made the most sense.”
For nearly everyone, that was enough of an answer in itself. What had sounded like a major change in plans had just been Souji being himself: kind and giving until the end, dependable for his friends when they need him. Outside their comfortable realm of high school, that was just going to look different than it used to, and could look kinda extreme sometimes. Maybe that was just what growing up would be like.
Everyone seemed satisfied, enough so for the conversation to drift elsewhere, to plans that had to have been put on hold while he had been missing and what the team wanted to do now that he was in town and not needed back with the Operatives for at least a few days barring an emergency. It wasn’t long before everyone was convinced that moving the meeting to the Amagi Inn for a new celebration was the best course of action.
Everyone had seemed satisfied, as they rose from their spots around the table to leave in a crowd of chatter and excitement.
Everyone had seemed satisfied, except that Yosuke had stopped midstep even as the others moved forwards, and Souji didn’t move from his own spot after standing to hear him out, already expecting the upcoming conversation.
Souji was good at reading people, especially his friends. Especially his partner. And he knew that the side glances, the forced laughs, and the tight smile of unease that Yosuke hadn’t been able to shake meant he had more to say.
“... And you’re sure you’re happy with this?” Any jovial energy left over from the presence of their friends drained away once Yosuke turned, staring back at Souji seriously. “I know Mitsuru-san talked a big game about not wanting to depend on us too much before, but—”
That was about what he had expected, too. It was a reasonable doubt to have, after all, that the head of a huge corporation that had used persona users to their own benefits before would continue to do so. Yosuke was always smart enough to see straight to potential problems like that, and a good enough friend to not be willing to stand by if they were happening.
“She didn’t pressure me into it,” the former leader interrupted the concerned words firmly. “She was just as worried about that as before. This was my choice.”
The sound of the others’ voices were still audible, even as they started to leave the food court, echoing off in the distance as they started to descend from the rooftop. Their laughter still sounded off nearby even as Yosuke continued to stare, searching for any hole in his story, any chance that things weren’t quite as clean as they seemed. Searching for even the mere possibility that powerful forces were trying to take advantage of his best friend.
There were no cracks in Souji’s resolve, though, as he stared back with equal intensity.
“I want to help Kirijo-san,” he confirmed again. He could have stopped there, for that much was true, and that much was enough. She didn’t force him to help, because he wanted to help. But that wouldn’t be enough for Yosuke right now, so Souji continued with the same serious tone. “I want to help her teammates. I want to help her friends— our friends. I want to help Labrys, and I want to help Sho , and I want to help anyone who shadows could hurt in the future. I can do that with the Shadow Operatives.”
That serious voice, which started soft and personal, got stronger as he continued, as he listed things he wanted to, and felt he needed to, fight for, stepping closer to Yosuke in the process. By the end, he was standing directly in front of him, only inches between them.
In the process of that movement, neither had dropped their gazes, though Yosuke’s eyes had certainly widened significantly as it became obvious how close Souji would get.
Then Souji’s eyes slid closed, and he smiled.
“I don’t need to be forced to keep reaching for what’s right, Partner. So you don’t have to worry.”
Souji couldn’t see Yosuke as the last of his skeptical air faded away into bafflement, left gaping at his friend. It wasn’t long, though, until that too left, a peal of laughter taking it’s place.
“Of course you don’t. I shouldn’t have been worried, you know what you’re doing,” Beaming, he clapped his best friend on the shoulder. “Even if it did sound like she was tricking you into glorified Sho-sitting at first.”
“I’ll be doing a lot more good than just that,” Souji’s reopened eyes seemed to be nearly shining in excitement of what the future could hold, even as they wrinkled up under the intensity of his smile. “Besides, I like spending time with Sho, even when I technically ‘have’ to.”
Rolling his eyes, Yosuke shifted his hold to instead circle Souji’s shoulders, reaching out to grasp the opposite side as his friend continued, his voice a little softer and a touch mischievous.
“... And it’ll probably be a little closer to Sho- wrangling most of the time, anyway.”
What could Yosuke do, but laugh again as he squeezed his friend against his side?
“Well, we’ve definitely dealt with worse. You think Mitsuru-san would comp my school costs too if I helped out at all? I could pretend to like puns for an afternoon for that kinda money.”
It almost felt like old times, the two falling into a casual banter as they finally left the food court, catching up with the others just in time to stop Teddie from having another meltdown once he realized Souji wasn’t with them anymore. But there was a different air, now, moving into the future.
It was like always, though, that they would all make sure to do so together, even if sometimes that would be a week late due to extenuating circumstances.