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It had seemed like such a good idea when she first thought of it, but now that she was standing in the Aoyama-Itchome train station… Yeah, Motoha was second guessing herself.
To put it simply, she let curiosity get the better of her.
She'd heard the rumours about the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. Rumours stating that their members were students at Shujin Academy. This theory had a lot of people split: on one hand, the first target of theirs was Suguru Kamoshida, the disgusting creep of a PE teacher so it would make sense that the perpetrators were people who had been wronged by him. But on the other hand, a lot of people thought that theory was a load of crap because how the hell were teenagers supposed to pull off something like that?
Motoha, however, had reason to believe those rumours. After all… She knew for a fact that teenagers could pull that off if they happened to have the means. And having met the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, she had conclusive proof that they were indeed teenagers who possessed such means.
So then, why was she here right now? Well, as previously stated, curiosity had gotten the better of her. Or rather… She had come hoping that the rumours were true because she really, really wanted to meet Panther.
Sure, they met up whenever Mementos was being weird and those strange mock palaces cropped up… But that was so inconsistent! And not to mention, there was only so much you could do in the metaverse… Motoha wanted to hang out with Panther like regular teenage girls and just do the normal, casual stuff like going out for food together or hanging out at the batting cages…
Still, though… Actually being outside of Shujin Academy made her feel a little… stupid? Creepy? Obsessive? She didn't really give much thought to how she might look to any passers-by and now she was starting to regret her decision…
She tried to play it cool and act as if she was waiting for a friend as she noticed more and more Shujin students looking at her as they walked past. Yup… Just someone from another school waiting for a friend of theirs outside the school gate… Nothing weird going on here…
It was moments like this that she wished she had Nagisa and his spacey brand of nonchalance to help them blend in. It was honestly impressive how much he managed to blend into the crowd at times, especially with his bright red hair. Although, when Motoha had mentioned that to him before, he wasn't sure whether to take that as a compliment or an insult.
Actually… Standing here and watching the flood of students passing by, a thought suddenly occurred to Motoha:
What exactly was she looking for?
When she came up with this idea, she just sort of assumed that she'd immediately recognise Panther but realistically? She didn't really know what she looked like. Whenever they met, they were both wearing masks… and there was no way in hell Panther wore anything like her thief Attire in her daily life… Motoha didn't know anything about her personal style. All she knew was that Panther had blonde hair and greenish-blue eyes…
"Maybe I should have thought this through a little more…" She grumbled to herself, running her fingers through her hair. There was a reason why they left all of the planning stuff to Riko and Lufel…
As she was cursing her own lack of foresight, Motoha's bag was suddenly nudged and her wallet went flying onto the ground.
"Oh, sorry about that. Didn't see you there." A soft voice spoke up as the person leaned down and picked up her wallet. As he stood up and handed it over to her, Motoha got a good look at him. Thick, fluffy black hair and deep black eyes unfortunately hidden behind a large pair of glasses.
"Oh, thanks! It was my bad, standing in the way like that…" She awkwardly apologised, hoping he wouldn't become suspicious of her school uniform.
"Nah, I wasn't really paying attention…" The boy glanced down after hearing a subtle jingling. He smiled and pointed down at Motoha's bag. "Cool keychains."
"Huh?" Motoha looked down to discover he was talking about her keychains of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts' logo and the Phantom Thieves of Desires' logo. "Oh, uh, thanks, haha! I just think they're really neat!"
The boy smiled with a nod, opening his mouth to speak but-
"Yo, Ren-Ren! Hurry up already!"
The two glanced over to see a blond boy further down the street beckoning the fluffy haired boy - incidentally named Ren - over to him.
Ren sighed with an amused smile before politely excusing himself from Motoha and jogging over to his friend. "Alright, alright, I'm coming already."
"Then move faster, dude! I'm starving and we've got a couple of bowls of ramen with our names on 'em!"
"Crazy how you say that when I could easily whip us up some curry without the restaurant wait time."
"Dude… You're my best friend and I would die for you, but you are literally insane if you think that curry is better than ramen."
"It is, though."
"Are you nuts?!"
Motoha couldn't help but laugh at the two's banter as they walked away towards the train station. The way they bounced off each other and the things they were talking about… That was definitely a conversation she'd expect to hear between Nagisa and Shun.
Since she had her wallet in her hands, Motoha figured she'd buy herself a drink from one of the vending machines in the area she was hiding in. She decided to go for something refreshing and bought a simple lemonade. As she took a sip, she leaned against the nearby wall and continued her surveillance of all of the passing Shujin students.
A fair bit of time had passed. There were still some students leaving the school, probably after talking to teachers or studying in the library, but there was still a fair bit of time until clubs wrapped up for the day.
Would Panther be in a club…? The thought of balancing a school club with all of their phantom thief activities sounded overwhelming to Motoha, but then again… Riko did take care of all her student council duties while being a phantom thief so she couldn't exactly rule out that possibility…
But still… The more time that passed, the dumber Motoha felt. How else was this supposed to go? Maybe this was why everyone told her to stop acting on instinct and think things through a little more.
She sighed and looked up to the sky. There weren't too many clouds today. A small group of birds soared past, probably having a nest on a windowsill of one of the tall buildings in the area. She caught a glimpse of a girl with fluffy hair carrying a large bag of something on the roof.
"Huh… Wonder what she's up to…" Motoha mumbled to herself. She wondered if their school roof had a little garden area like theirs did. That'd be neat... Ugh… Okay, now Motoha was really starting to regret her decision to come here… She could have spent this afternoon hanging out with friends but instead, she put too much trust into a random rumour she saw online and stood awkwardly outside a school where she knew no one.
A frustrated grumble rumbled through her throat as she turned her attention back to the street in front of her. "Five more minutes! If I don't someone like her in five minutes, I'm heading home!"
So with that resolve, Motoha planted her feet firmly and waited.
Five minutes came.
Five minutes went.
No sign of anyone with blonde hair.
A defeated sigh leaked out of Motoha's mouth. Welp… Looks like this was an afternoon completely wasted. She looked up again as a few clouds had formed in the sky. The fluffy haired girl on the roof was waving to someone Motoha couldn't see. Some students were leaning out of one of the classroom windows, clapping the excess chalk off of the blackboard cleaners.
Looking back down, Motoha noticed she only had a couple of mouthfuls of her lemonade left. She figured she might as well drink the rest now and chuck the bottle into the nearby bin and then she'd head on her way.
She chugged the remainder of her drink, the tart citrusy taste making her salivate as she drank. Once she finished, she replaced the lid and walked over to the nearby bin; just narrowly avoiding crashing into a red haired girl in a school jersey jogging past while saying goodbye to someone.
Motoha dropped the empty bottle into the bin and began her walk of shame to the station. She let out a deep sigh and muttered. "Why did I actually expect to see Panther here?"
Unnoticed by Motoha, the blonde girl walking behind her suddenly froze after hearing that single word.
'Did… she just say Panther…? No… No, there's no way… No one in the real world should… know… that…' She stared intensely at the girl in an unfamiliar uniform walking in front of her. Well, only one way to find out!
Ann hurriedly jogged over to the unknown girl and softly tapped her shoulder, trying to put on her best calm act as she spoke up. "Hii! Um… You seem to be lost… Can I help you with something?"
Motoha was stunned from suddenly being approached by a Shujin student. She hadn't prepared for this possibility at all! What was she supposed to say?!
"Oh, uh, no! I'm not lost! I was just, uh, waiting for someone! But they didn't turn up soooo yeah, I'll be heading home now. Sorry to trouble you!"
Ann tightened her grip on the girl's shoulder, desperate for more information. "Oh, no, it's no trouble at all! Who's this friend of yours? I might know if they're about or not!"
At this point, Motoha was sweating and trying her damnedest to come up with a believable lie. "Oh, uh… Well, it's a little embarrassing to admit but I dunno her real name…! She's an online friend."
"Ahhh, okay, what's her handle? I hear a lot of people talking so maybe I'll recognise it!"
"U-Uh… Well… Panther…?"
Ann just barely held back her reaction to that answer. So she did hear her correctly! Now how the hell did she know her code name?!
"Hmmm… Doesn't ring any bells… Maybe if you tell me where you met online, I could figure it out? I'm on a lot of sites!" Ann persisted, really hoping this girl would buy her acting.
Motoha panicked again. How the hell was she supposed to answer that?! You're telling her that she had to layer a lie on top of another lie?!
"U-Umm… I dunno, it's not all that popular so…"
"You never know! Go ahead!"
"… Mementos…?"
Ann was even more caught off guard now. Her code name was one thing, but how the hell did this girl know about Mementos?! She'd only know about that if she had access to-
Hold up a second.
Being able to travel to Mementos… Knowing Ann's code name… There was one group who would know those things but not her real identity… so who was…? Wait. Those deep blue eyes… and that choppy dark blonde hair… There's no way…
"Closer?" The code name left Ann's mouth without her meaning to say it.
Motoha froze.
How did she know that code name? Why did she react after hearing the word 'Mementos'? Just who exactly was-
"… Panther?!"
The two girls stood there, staring at each other with stunned expression before big, beaming smiles spread across their faces.
"No way! I actually found you!"
"What the heck are you doing here?!"
They both scrambled to say what was on their minds as she they excitedly hugged each other. Holding onto each other's arms, they slowly calmed down enough to actually have a conversation.
"How did you know to find me here?" Ann asked, worried that their cover might be blown.
Motoha awkwardly chuckled and scratched the back of her head. "To be honest… I didn't. I just came to check it out because of a rumour that the Phantom Thieves of Hearts were students here…"
"A rumour?"
"Yeah, because your first target was Kamoshida, some people believed you had to be students here. Oh! But don't worry! A lot of people don't buy it, so I think you're safe!"
Ann glanced off to the side. Now that she mentioned it, Makoto did raise her concerns that they may gain that sort of attention from the public. People digging into their origins was probably inevitable, considering how popular they were now… Although, that wasn't important right now as another question hit Ann.
"Wait, checking this place out? How long have you been coming here?!"
"O-Oh, I only stopped by today… I've been here since around the school day ended 'cause my school got let out early today because… a lot of stuff is happening right now." Motoha hurriedly explained, not wanting to come across as a creep when finally meeting Panther in the real world.
"Wow, if you've been here that long, you must've at least seen some of us! I mean, this is the only exit after all."
"Wait, you're telling me that I might have seen the other phantom thieves?!"
"I mean, not all of them… Fox and Crow go to different schools and Oracle doesn't go to school yet…"
"She doesn't…?"
"Nope, she's building up to it. She's hoping to enroll here next year."
"Huh… Well, I wish her luck! So who would I have seen?"
"Mmm… Basically anyone besides Makoto because she's busy with the student council."
"Makoto…?"
"Hm? Oh, right, uh, I meant Queen."
"Ohhh… Hey, wait! We haven't even told each other our names yet!" Motoha hurriedly exclaimed as that realisation hit her.
"Oh! You're totally right!" Ann gasped, wondering how that hadn't occurred to her earlier. She extended her hand towards Motoha.
"I'm Ann Takamaki."
Motoha extended her hand and grasped onto Ann's.
"I'm Motoha Arai."
With that introduction, Motoha energetically shook Ann's hand, earning her an amused giggle from the pigtail wearing girl. Yep, with that amount of pep, this girl was definitely Closer!
As they spoke, Motoha's stomach loudly rumbled. She shyly turned pink, realising that she hadn't eaten anything since lunch.
Ann laughed again before leaning closer. "Well then, Motoha-chan… You wanna go eat some crepes with me?"
"Really?!"
"Mm-hm! I was heading there anyway but it's way more fun with a friend!"
"Awesome! Thanks so much, Ann-chan! I can't even remember the last time I had crepes…"
"Really?! It's like a regular thing for me, to go get crepes with my best friend."
"Oh, I get that. I used to go out and get different treats with my best friend but she tends to be pretty busy with all her part-time jobs now."
"… 'All' her part-time jobs?"
"Oh, yeah… She's not the type that likes doing nothing and she had to go the hospital a while ago so I think she got all these jobs to keep herself occupied. I'm not worried, though, she's enjoying herself and Nagi-nyan works at a few places with her so I know she's doing okay."
"Nagi-nyan?" Ann snickered at the adorable nickname.
"Huh…? Oh! That's Nagisa- I-I mean, Wonder. Sorry… We're childhood friends so the nickname's just kinda stuck all these years later."
"That's so cute! I love that! It's kinda like how Ryuji called our leader 'Ren-Ren' or how Futaba calls Yusuke 'Inari'…"
"Wait… I heard 'Ren-Ren' earlier today… Are you saying that was Joker?!"
"See! I told you that you probably saw the others! If he got called Ren-Ren, then he was probably with Skull too!"
"I saw both of them and didn't realise?!"
"I told you that could have happened but you didn't believe me! Hell, you probably saw-…"
The two girls continued cheerfully chattered away to each other as they descended into the station, eager to become more acquainted with the other's regular self.