4/27

The man's smile sparkles. He beams it to the studio audience, then throws his hands in the air as the show's intro music – a flamboyant remix of a trending pop song - kicks in. "Welcome, Welcome, Welcome Back! It's another episode of 'Tokyo Girls and Country Boys!'"

Thunderous applause and screams - mostly feminine - from the audience.

"I'm your host, Tatsuya Ota!"

"Ota! Ota!" Everyone screams.

The man laughs and bows his head. "Thank you, thank you. My adoring fans. Always willing to chant my name, despite my never actually doing anything." The crowd laughs. He lets them, then holds up a single finger. Silence reigns.

"Now then, I think we should begin! You all know the rules. We will introduce three boys from the country and three girls from Tokyo. Then you, yes, you, the audience, will vote. You will pair one guy with one of the girls, and those two will go on a date! And hopefully, we get to see some sparks fly!"

Whispers spread amongst the crowd.

"Now, now, don't go getting excited just yet!" Ota shouts. Everyone laughs. It is, in fact, the same laugh as before.

"It's time to introduce our first guy!" He swings around in his chair and motions to one of the armchairs behind him. "Tell us who you are, Akira Kurusu!"

The spotlight refocuses. Akira Kurusu smiles out at the crowd. He nods and holds up his fingers in a 'V.' "Hello," he says, loud and clear. "My name is Akira Kurusu. I'm seventeen years old. I just moved to Tokyo from the country. I attend Shujin Academy. My ideal girlfriend would be someone who speaks her mind, is cute, and is goal-oriented." He stands and bows. "Please treat me well with your voting!"

The crowd laughs.

That same laugh.

Akira sits down. Ota chuckles and smiles warmly at him. "A fantastic introduction, Kurusu!"

"Thank you, sir!"

"But, I have to ask a question if you don't mind."

"Of course," Akira says. "Please, ask away."

"Why are you lying to us?"

The crowd is silent.

Akira blinks. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Why are you lying to us?" Ota asks. His smile is no longer warm. It is a cheap plastic thing, glued on a dummy. "Why are you lying to us?"

Akira shakes his head. He looks out at the audience. He can't see any of their faces. They are silent, still silhouettes. "I'm not lying."

"Why are you lying to us?"

He looks back at Ota. The man's skin is too smooth. It has no pores. "What am I lying about?" He asks. His breath is coming quicker now. His heartbeat too.

Ota's head tilts to the side, farther than a human head can tilt. "Who are you, Kurusu?"

"I'm Akira Kurusu. I'm seventeen years old. I just moved to Tokyo-"

"Why are you lying to us?"

"-from the country. I attend Shujin Academy. My ideal-"

"Who are you?"

"-girlfriend would be someone who speaks her mind, is cute-"

"Who are you?"

"-and is goal-oriented."

"Why are you lying to us?"

Akira looks out into the audience once more, but he cannot make anything out. "My name is Akira Kurusu. I'm seventeen years old. I just-"

"Who are you?" whatcan’tyoureyessee

"-moved to Tokyo from the country." He spots a camera operator. It is himself, Akira Kurusu. Only, this figure wears a sable overcoat, blood-red gloves on his hand, slick shoes. On his face - Akira's face - he wears an ivory mask.

Joker smiles at Akira. "Who are you, Akira?"

Akira wakes and sits up in bed. Sweat soaks his clothes.

Morgana lays curled alongside him, undisturbed.

Outside, the sun begins to rise.

#

"This is killin' me," Ryuji groans. "If the guy's had a change of heart, that's great. But at the least, I’d like to know if we killed the guy!"

The four thieves relax on Shujin’s rooftop. When the discarded lawn chairs are stood up and brought together, it's a surprisingly lovely spot.

Ann flicks through her phone. "Everyone's talking about his leave of absence, but no one thinks it's anything serious." She sticks out her tongue. "Bleh. A few are actually worried about him."

Morgana lays on his back, purring in the sunlight. "Don't get down, guys. We stole Kamoshida's Treasure. His Palace collapsed. He had a change of heart, I'm sure of it. We just have to wait."

“You’re ‘sure of it?’” Akira asks. “How?”

Morgana looks away. “I don’t know. I just am.”

Akira sighs and looks up at the sky. “That’d be the perfect ending to this month, wouldn’t it? Kamoshida, dead?” The others glance at him, odd expressions on their faces. “What with everything else that happened. The Personae, the train crash, Makoto and the Shadow I saw yesterday.”

Ryuji and Ann stare at one another, then look back at Akira. “What do you mean, dude?”

Akira sighs. “With everything going on yesterday, I didn’t get a chance to tell you guys.” He mentions the Shadow he saw in the bathroom and how he’d seen another marching through the halls of Shujin several days ago. “But Morgana couldn’t see it, and Ann couldn’t see or hear the one from the other day.”

“No,” Ann says. “I definitely didn’t see anything like that.”

“It makes no sense,” Morgana says. “You shouldn’t be able to see a Shadow here, because we’re not in the Metaverse. And if there was one there, why couldn’t I see it?”

Ryuji makes a small “Hmph,” noise, a thoughtful look on his face. Everyone turns to look at him.

“What’s wrong, Ryuji?” Ann asks.

“It’s probably nothing,” Ryuji says. “But all this talk about seeing Shadows at the school’s got me wondering. Akira, remember that day when I waited for you? You were studying with the Prez, and then we went to get some food?”

“Sure,” Akira replies. “We talked about all that exercise stuff.”

“Right,” Ryuji nods. “Well, before all that, when you were still in the library, I got a little bored, so I took a stroll around the school. Most of the other students were gone, so I had the halls mostly to myself. I could’ve sworn I heard something like those footsteps you were describing.”

Akira stiffens. “Seriously?”

Ann’s eyes widen. “Wow, really?”

Ryuji nods. “Yeah. I thought they were coming from the direction of the gym. I had no idea what they were, so I went looking for them. They were steady, just like the footsteps you described hearing, but then they just stopped. I don’t know, I figured it was something wrong with the school’s A/C unit or something, so I didn’t think about it anymore. That’s why I didn’t say anything.”

Morgana looks unconvinced. “Maybe it was the A/C unit, Ryuji. You don’t know.”

“Take it easy,” Ryuji counters. “I didn’t say it was a Shadow. I just heard something that – when I think about it now – sounded a lot like how those Shadows walked in Kamoshida’s Castle.”

If Ryuji did hear a Shadow, Akira thinks. What does that mean?

“Well, I haven’t heard anything like that,” Ann says. “Or seen anything. What about you, Morgana?”

“No,” Morgana insists. “And I still say it shouldn’t be possible. We’ve all been on edge lately, and Akira, you’ve had a lot of stuff happen to you recently. Maybe this is what that Doctor was talking about.”

“You saying I need a therapist?” Akira asks, a small smile on his face.

The cat smiles back. “Couldn’t hurt.”

“All jokes aside,” Akira says. “Maybe you’re right. Doctor Maruki did say that my brain was more active than usual. But I don’t know why that would let me see Shadows outside the Metaverse.” No one can provide much in the way of answers, and the four lapse into silence. After a time, Akira finally says, “Well, there shouldn’t be any more Shadows, anyway. Kamoshida’s Palace collapsed.”

“Yeah,” Ann says, then looks at Akira. “Hey, Akira? I’ve meant to ask you about something.”

“About what?” Akira asks.

She shrugs. “Like, the whole story with you. The stuff that happened to you before you got to Tokyo. I mean, I saw your record and stuff online, but that's obviously not the whole story."

Akira straightens. "I didn't tell you?"

Ryuji beams. "He told me."

“Me too,” Morgana says.

"No one asked you guys," Ann says, with a pout on her face. She looks back at Akira. "If it's okay with you, would you mind telling me about what happened?"

Akira shrugs. "Sure, I don't mind."

He tells his story, and everyone makes the same protestations. Even Ryuji and Morgana, who have heard all this before, get mad all over again. Ann shakes her head, and then a voice says, "Whoa. So that's what happened."

Everyone jumps. "Who's there?" Ann shouts, dropping into a poor approximation of a fighting stance.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Open-palmed hands poke out from behind the roof's entrance. Mishima steps out from behind, his eyes on the ground, face pale. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to eavesdrop."

"Damn, dude!" Ryuji shouts. "Are you a freakin' ninja? How long have you been there?"

Mishima lowers his hands and nods towards the door. "I came up a little while ago. I was about to announce myself, but then Kurusu started talking about his past, and I would've felt bad about interrupting." He blinks and stares at Morgana. "Is that a cat?"

"Don't worry," Morgana says. "He can't understand me. He hasn't been to the Metaverse."

"He's Akira's," Ryuji says.

"What're you doing here?" Ann asks.

"Um," Mishima says. "I just, well, the thing is..." He gulps, stiffens, and bows. "I'm very sorry!"

The four look at each other. "Who're you bowing to?" Akira asks.

"All of you. I'm very, very sorry! For everything." He lifts his head and looks at Ann. "I'm sorry, Takamaki. I knew what Kamoshida was doing. I knew how bad he was, and I never did anything about it. And because I kept my mouth shut, all that horrible stuff happened to Suzui." He looks at Akira. "And I'm sorry I put your stuff online. Kamoshida made me do it, but if I were braver, I wouldn't have. Then, no one would know about you, and you wouldn't have to listen to everyone bad mouth you all the time." He looks at Ryuji. "And I'm sorry to you too, Sakamoto. If I'd come forward when you'd first pressured me, then maybe Suzui wouldn't have jumped. Maybe she'd be fine now." He lowers his head and keeps his body stiff and bent.

Ann is the first to speak. "It's okay," she says with a sigh. "I mean, I knew what he was like too. And I didn't do anything either."

Ryuji clears his throat. "Yeah. I've known what he was like since last year. But it's not like I stopped him or anything. If I'd done something back then, something else, then maybe we wouldn't be here."

Akira nods. "You're a victim too. Don't forget that."

"But still," Mishima says. "There must've been something I could've done. But I never did. I'm sorry."

Ryuji smiles. "C'mon dude, stop bowing. People keep doing that to me lately, and it's making me uncomfortable."

Mishima straightens, and his eyes are red-rimmed as if he's about to cry, but no tears fall. "I just wanted you all to know."

"Hey," Ann says. "How'd you know we were up here anyway?"

Mishima's face turns red. "Well, I've been building up the courage to say this all day. So when school ended, I sort of followed you guys up here. I'd been standing outside that door for a while." He sighs. "Not like my apology means anything. We're still going to get expelled for all this."

Ryuji chuckles. "I wouldn't worry too much about it. Certain 'parties' have dealt with Kamoshida."

"Shut up, you idiot!" Morgana yowls. Ann and Akira turn their glares on him.

"What?" He asks.

Despite their solitude, Mishima whispers his next words. "Are you talking about the Phantom Thieves of Hearts?"

Ann belts out a laugh. "Like, the what?"

Mishima frowns. "Oh, come on. You know what I mean. There was that Calling Card yesterday and everything. I thought it was just a prank. Is that what you're talking about, Sakamoto?"

Ryuji shrugs. "Maybe." Morgana juts out a paw and slashes him across the back of his hand. "Ow! What the hell, Mona?"

"Stop blabbing," Morgana shouts.

"I didn't blab!" He blinks and looks up at Mishima, who watches him with furrowed brows. "I mean, uh, bad cat."

Akira sighs and stands. "Yuuki," he says. Mishima's eyes widen at the sound of his name. He steps up to him and rests a hand on his shoulder. "I forgive you. For posting my information online."

"Y-you do?"

Akira nods and smiles. "Kamoshida forced you to do it. I know you'd have never done it otherwise. As for the expulsion?" He lowers his hand and shrugs. "At least if we get kicked out, we all get kicked out together. Plenty of free time to hang out. I've wanted to check out some Tokyo arcades."

Mishima smiles. "I could show you those."

Ryuji and Ann glance at each other. Both shrug.

"Cool," Akira says. "So don't worry, alright? Everything will be fine, one way or another."

"O-okay," Mishima says, grinning. "I'll, uh, leave you guys alone now. Thank you for forgiving me!" He bows once more, turns, and heads out the door.

Akira frowns and sits back down.

"You really gonna hang out with Mishima?" Ryuji asks.

Akira shrugs. "I don't know. I'm still pretty pissed. I mean, he posted all my stuff online."

Ann blinks. "You just said you forgave him."

"Well, he wasn't going to leave otherwise. And we didn't want him to keep asking about the Phantom Thieves."

"Man," Ryuji says. He chuckles, but there's an uneasy edge to it. "That's kinda cold."

Akira remembers his dream.

Who are you?

He shrugs.

Ann's phone vibrates. She takes it out and purses her lips. "Oh."

"What's up?" Ryuji asks.

"There's a shoot in town, and one of the other girls just dropped out last minute. They want to know if I can come by and fill in for her."

Morgana's jaw drops. "You're a model, Lady Ann?"

She nods and grins. "Mmhmm. I should get going."

"This, uh, this 'shoot' as you call it," Morgana says. "It's probably pretty far away, right?"

She shakes her head. "No. It's only a few blocks. I won't even have to take the subway to get there."

"I see," Morgana says.

"Later guys, text me if anything comes up."

"See ya," Ryuji says.

"Bye," Akira says.

Ann opens the door and disappears through it. Morgana stares at the door for a few moments. "I'm gonna go scope out the neighborhood for a while." He turns back to Akira. "I'll meet up with you later." Then he darts away.

"Weird," Ryuji says, and then his face brightens. "Oh, I forgot to tell you, I started putting together that workout plan I was telling you about."

"Oh yeah?"

Ryuji stands, fists clenched. "No time like the present, right? Come on, let's get started!"

"Right now?" Akira asks. He hadn't planned on getting any exercise in today.

Ryuji nods. "I can't sit around waiting, dude. I gotta move! You're with me, right?"

Akira smiles and stands. "Okay. Let's do it."

#

The two boys make several circuits around the school before they collapse in a heap against the gym's outside wall. "Man," Ryuji groans. "I'm really outta shape."

Akira takes a few deep breaths. "It's crazy, how much fitter we are in the Metaverse."

"I know, right? That's the reason I want to do this. So we can be even tougher over there." He frowns. "But, I guess that's kind of pointless now."

"What'd you mean?"

Ryuji shrugs. "If Kamoshida's heart changed, is there a point to going back there? His Palace collapsed, so can we even go back?"

Akira pulls out his phone. "That app is still here."

Ryuji nods. "Yeah, it's on my phone too. I haven't tried it out since yesterday, though. Too nervous." He chuckles. Then, his face grows somber. "I have to level with you about something, dude."

Akira, his breath finally returning to normal, says, "What's up?"

"Remember yesterday, when we were running out of the Palace, and I fell?"

Akira nods. It had been a quick thing, just a short trip. Ryuji might've been on the ground for no more than a second or two. Then he had pushed himself back up and kept going.

"Well, I didn't trip. It was my leg. The one Kamoshida broke. Ever since we started going to the Palace, it's been acting up."

"Like, hurting?" Akira asks. Ryuji nods. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't want people to worry about me. I didn't want to be a burden. Ninety-nine percent of the time, I was fine. Even when it hurt, I could stomach it, you know? But when we were full-on sprinting out of there, towards the Safe Room and the exit? It just gave out for a second. I nearly pissed myself." He pauses. "You know how, sometimes, you have a really big thought, all at once, a lot faster than you'd be able to speak it?"

"I think so," Akira says, then nods. "No, I know what you mean. Like, when you look at someone, and you immediately know something about them."

"Yeah, kinda. Well, when I fell, I remember thinking, 'This is it. Kamoshida's gonna get me after all.'"

Akira leans forward and folds his hands together. "To be honest, when you fell, I was scared too."

"For real?"

Akira nods. "I don't really remember what I thought, but I don't think I could think anything at that point. I just really didn't want to die, and I didn't want any of you guys to die either."

Ryuji smirks. "Then I guess it's a good thing I didn't."

Akira smiles, but he doesn't feel anything behind it.

"So, that's another reason why I wanted to do this today." Ryuji reaches down and starts to massage his leg. "I want to get stronger. I want to be able to run again without having to worry about my leg giving out, like yesterday." He frowns and averts his eyes. "So, if it's cool with you, could you help me with that? Training is easier when you've got someone to do it with."

Akira grins. "Of course."

#

"So," Akira asks as they near LeBlanc. "How was Ann's shoot?"

Morgana squirms from inside the bag. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Right.”

He speaks, but his mind is elsewhere. He's barely had any time to process the Palace's collapse. Or seeing Shadows in the real world. Or his dream. He can still see himself, as Joker, smirking over at him from behind the camera. Who are you?

And what did the collapse of Kamoshida's Palace mean? Were they done with the Metaverse now? Had the man changed?

He opens the door to LeBlanc and steps inside. It is early enough that the cafe is still open, but there are no present customers.

Sojiro stands behind the counter, an old paperback propped open on the bar, and when he sees Akira, he flips the book closed without marking his place and moves off towards the kitchen.

Akira takes a seat on his usual barstool and sets his bag down alongside him. Morgana poises himself, then leaps onto the stool next to Akira's, his little head coming up just over the bar. Sojiro returns from the kitchen with two plates in hand. He wordlessly deposits one, covered in curry, in front of Akira and places the other - this one with a few pieces of cheaper, but by no means poor quality, tuna - in front of Morgana, who meows just like a cat should and digs in.

Sojiro absently reaches out and strokes Prince's head as Akira says, "Thank you," and digs in.

This had been their routine the last few days. Akira isn't quite sure what prompted it to start. One day, after visiting the Palace, he'd returned to LeBlanc and found himself too tired to climb his stairs. He'd collapsed onto one of the barstools, and a few moments later, Sojiro had put some food in front of him. It hadn't taken long for Morgana to take advantage of the charity, and despite Sojiro's insistence that the cat not frequent the restaurant, the older man didn't seem to mind.

Sojiro waves away Akira's thanks and settles across from the two with his arms folded across his chest. "How's school?" Sojiro asks. "Still a pain?"

Akira shrugs. "Not so bad. Made some friends."

"The cat doesn't count," Sojiro replies with a slight smirk.

Akira suppresses a smile of his own. He still cannot get over the way Sojiro treated him when he first arrived. However, all the physical beatings Akira had taken recently seemed to have warmed the man up to him somewhat. Akira, at least, hadn't gotten into any trouble since Sojiro's last warning. No trouble in this dimension, anyway.

"Been thinking," Sojiro says, as if the thought had just popped up into his mind, and he didn't care one way or the other about it. "Maybe you should think about getting a job. You know, some nighttime thing."

Akira blinks. It has been effortless to set Sojiro off in the past, so Akira thinks before he speaks. "Uh, yeah. I could do something like that." Why not? He thinks. With Kamoshida's Palace gone, I've got the time. "Know of any openings?"

"You're a teenager," Sojiro points out. "There's a ton of places that higher kids like you."

Morgana nibbles on his food and says, "Bringing in extra cash would help our future endeavors."

Akira wants to ask about that but says nothing. He picks up some food with his fork and says, before eating it, "I'll start looking tomorrow. Tokyo's a big place. You're right. I'm sure there's something."

Sojiro nods, looking a little disoriented as if he'd expected Akira to put up more resistance. The meal continues in silence until Sojiro asks, "So, have you spoken to your mother recently?"

Akira feels his pulse skyrocket. He becomes very aware of all the physical sensations, sitting in the chair, holding the fork, smelling the food, as if his brain has decided it would instead focus on all that than anything Sojiro just said.

Morgana pauses eating and looks up at Akira, then seems to remember he's supposed to be a cat and dips his head back down towards his plate.

"No," Akira replies. "I haven't."

"Don't you think you should?" Sojiro asks.

Akira feels something in him go cold. "No," he says. "I don't."

Don't piss off Sojiro, a part of his brain warns him.

Fuck him and his questions, another, angrier part that sounds an awful lot like Joker snaps.

"Have you two spoken at all since you came here?" Sojiro asks.

"No," Akira replies. "And she could've called me, but she hasn't. Not exactly surprising."

"Alright," Sojiro says, holding up his hands. "I won't ask about it anymore. It's just, you never know how long you have with the people you love. So you shouldn't waste any of that time being angry with them."

Akira steadies his breathing and looks Sojiro in the eye. "Sakura-san, I really do appreciate you letting me stay here. I still don't know how you're connected to my mother, but it was great of you to take me in. And I understand what you're saying. I do. But I don't have a good relationship with my parents. And I don't like talking about them, either of them. So please, I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you, but please don't bring them up."

Sojiro regards Akira for a moment, then nods. "Okay. I apologize. Though, for the record, I don't know jack about your father."

Akira cannot stop the bitter words that pour forth. "Then I'm envious."

The meal finishes in silence, and Akira and Morgana return to Akira's room.

"What's up with your Mom and Dad?" Morgana asks.

Akira rounds on him, and when the cat shrinks back, Akira has to calm himself down physically. "I'm sorry, Morgana. I didn't mean to scare you. But I meant what I said to Sojiro. Please don't bring up my family, and please don't mention them to the others."

Morgana agrees, and Akira decides to start on his homework.