Chapter Text

The old back allies of Yongen hadn’t changed one bit since Akira’s departure. The same people stood outside speaking to each other and the same faded signs still swung above the small stores dotting the surrounding area. On any other day Akira would be drinking in the atmosphere and enjoying his return to his old haunt.



Akira stalked through the back allies as the high sun beat down on him. The sweltering heat had already done a number on the retired Phantom Thief. The top several buttons of his shirt had been undone, and sweat stains lined his once pristine white shirt.



Morgana had escaped Akira’s bag, which had become closer to an oven, and had taken refuge on his shoulder. What little relief this provided the small cat was offset by his jet black fur.



Akira grabbed the collar of his shirt and attempted to fan his torso, but it had little effect. He checked on Morgana and found the poor cat had resorted to fanning himself with his tiny paw. He wanted to laugh, but nothing seemed particularly funny at this moment.



The journey from Kyoto to Tokyo had been a longer one than either of them had remembered. The trip was made worse when the A/C on the train broke down, trapping the two of them inside a life-size toaster. They had both been so excited to see the other thieves, but now Akira had some other worries.



“Crap…” Akira ran his hand through his hair as he looked down at his current state, “I can’t let Futaba see me like this.” He tried to straighten his increasingly wrinkled shirt, but he looked as disgusting as he had a moment before, hell he thought he looked even worse.



“Futaba!? How can you think about Futaba at a time like this?” Morgana moaned pitifully, “How am I going to be able to look Lady Ann in the eye when I look like this…” Akira looked at his friend and frowned. He looked exactly the same as always except for how exhausted he looked. If anything, he was going to get more attention because of his weak state. Akira on the other hand looked like a drowned rat. “Besides Sojiro and I are the only ones who know you two are dating. I doubt she will even want to be near you anyway.” If that was the cat’s way of cheering him up he was doing a piss poor job of it.



They finally arrived at the door to Leblanc. He would have allowed himself a moment to enjoy the feeling of being home once again, but the allure of cool air against his body was far too tempting. Without a moment of fan fair, Akira pushed open the door.



The Café had changed slightly since he lived there. For once it was actually lively, there were a decent amount of people sitting at each booth, all having hushed conversations between themselves. The air still smelled of roasted coffee and mixed spices, a smell that had once permeated everything Akira had ever owned. The floors had recently been mopped and the tables had all been freshly wiped.



“Well look what the cat dragged in. Literally.” A deep voice carried over the rest of the noise and Akira turned to meet the owner’s gaze.



Sojiro Sakura stood behind the bar, leaning down with arms keeping him propped up. He smiled behind his thin frames and he still had the same confidence oozing out of every inch of his body. His face turned to a frown however, when he got a better look at Akira.



“What happened to you? You look like someone threw you in a crock pot.” Akira reached up and pinched a strand of his hair as he tried not to think about his appearance too much.



“The A/C on the train went out a few minutes into the trip.” Sojiro’s eyes widened with surprise and understanding.



“Ah well. I suppose it can’t be helped then. Everyone is already upstairs waiting for you.” Sojiro gave him a sympathetic smile. He may have been less than enthusiastic about Akira’s relationship with his daughter, but Akira always got the feeling that he was hoping for things to work out. It was a confusing situation, but he was glad for the sympathy regardless.



Akira nodded at Sojiro and made his way to the stairs in the back. As he reached the bottom he could already hear the voices of his friends carrying softly down from the attic. He smiled as he ascended the short stairway and he tried to hide as much of his horrible appearance as possible.



“DUDE HE’S HERE!” Ryuji’s voice shattered the calm atmosphere as Akira rounded the final step.



Akira’s old room was exactly how he remembered it. His small bed was made up in the corner, and the desk had been recently cleaned off. The bookshelf remained empty since he had cleared it earlier this year. His friends had pulled out the table and had set out several chairs around it.



Ryuji sat on the couch while Ann stood beside him leaning against the small table that had once housed Akira’s old CRT TV. Yusuke and Haru had pulled up a small workbench and were sitting with their backs turned towards Akira, though they each had their heads turned back so that they could see him. Finally, Makoto and Futaba had found their home in two fold up chairs opposite of the couch. An empty fold out chair had been set at the other end of the room.



The room erupted into a din of noise as they all shouted out their welcomes, but Akira missed most of them as his eyes met Futaba’s. She smiled sweetly at him and he gave her a warm smile in return. He wanted to pull her into his arms, but even if he didn’t look like he had been roasted over an open fire, they had both decided to keep things a secret for now.



Futaba had always been shy about their relationship and the two of them were worried about what would happen to the group dynamic if everyone knew. Akira suddenly had a vision of Ryuji giving him a long-winded speech about betrayal while Yusuke attempted to convince him that he needed a nude painting of them together.



“Dude come sit over-“ Ryuji was pointing at the open spot next to him on the couch when Ann unceremoniously dropped down next to Ryuji and Akira swore he saw her jab her elbow into his stomach.



“Why don’t you sit in the open chair at the head of the table?” Akira smiled weakly, unsure of what just happened, and made his way over to his newly chosen seat. As he did Morgan softly leapt onto the table and made his way over to Ann. Akira dropped his bag onto the floor before taking his seat. As he began to relax Futaba pulled her chair closer and gave him a worried look.



“You two look horrible, what happened?” It looked like everyone had wanted to ask the same question as they were all suddenly looking between Akira and the collapsed cat on the table. Akira recounted his tale once more and his friends cringed as he tried to fan himself once more. A brief silence passed as he finished his tale.



“Well you are here now and we have the A/C running hard, so I’m sure you will be back to normal in no time.” Makoto’s attempts to lift his spirts were kind, but he found the cool air to be a much better motivator.



“I think you would make for a perfect painting.” Yusuke’s hands were held up and had Akira framed between his fingers. “The Struggles of Man.” Akira hated to admit it, but he had missed Yusuke’s oddly positive outlook on things.



“Some things never change.” Ann smiled as she leaned onto the table. Haru giggled as Yusuke seemed to be unmoved by the rest of the group’s groans.



“Man forget all that! Akira is back! We should be celebrating.” Ryuji practically stood out of his seat as he spoke.



“He’s right. We’ve all been looking forward to being together again.” Haru’s call to action was slightly undercut by her continuous fight against the giggles.



“Actually, I have a bit of an idea about all that.” Morgana seemed to have finally been able to pull himself out of his funk as he was now wrapped in a ball with his head resting on his paws. “We’ve found some very interesting information that we think you will all want to hear.” Morgana turned to look at Akira.



Akira’s gut reaction was to correct Morgana. When had ‘we’ ever worked on anything? It had been Akira who had done all of the research after all. Akira’s eyes wondered to Ann however and he sighed. His friend was simply trying to show off and who was he to judge him for that. After all he… Akira gave a sidelong look at Futaba and allowed himself a small smile. Yeah it wasn’t like he didn’t want to show off as well.



“Ever since we left Morgana and I have been working on a new mission. Operation: Morgana is Human.” Akira let the words sink in as everyone’s gaze turned to him and then back to the cat.



“Um did you hit your head man?” Ryuji gave Akira a confused look, “Morgana is a cat.” Morgana’s eyes narrowed, but apparently Akira’s feline friend was too tired to act on his rage. Akira shook his head before he continued.



“Well sure he is a cat for now, but I started to wonder, what if there was something about the Metaverse that we didn’t know? I mean think about it, before it disappeared there was still a lot of things that we only had conjectured about.”



“I think I see where you are going. What if there was something that could change Morgana into a person and it existed within the Metaverse. It’s a good theory, but the Metaverse is gone. Even if it did exist it doesn’t anymore.” Makoto’s chin was firmly resting in her hand as she spoke, an old habit of hers.



“True enough, but I think Akira has a point. We didn’t know everything about the Metaverse so how can we be sure it has been completely destroyed?” Akira was surprised, but happy, to see that Yusuke was already on his wavelength about this.



“Woah! Inari can be surprisingly intelligent!” Futaba’s words rang with sudden shock as she stared wide eyed at the resident artist.



“What do you mean surprisingly!?” Yusuke huffed as he stared at his nemesis.



“Anyway why don’t we let Akira continue?” Ann had raised her voice as she tried to gain control of the room. Akira nodded at her before continuing.



“Yusuke had the right of it. We don’t even know when the Metaverse was created or if there were other ways to get in the Metaverse. Morgana was able to leave it without the phone app so there must be another way in and out right?”



“Um that’s a good thought, but where do we even start looking?” Haru’s voice was a bit louder than Akira remembered. Apparently, she had gained some confidence while he had been away.



“Actually, I’ve already got a starting place for us. I started by looking for other strange instances that have occurred over the last few years. I came across a few potential leads, but nothing substantial. My most promising lead was a collection of incidents that happened several years back on Tatsumi Port Island, but I couldn’t link any of them.” Akira shook his head in frustration. He had done a lot of research on that particular lead, but anytime he felt like he was closing in on a solid theory the evidence he needed just wasn’t there. It was honestly like someone had gone through and deleted all the connecting information, but anytime he thought of it that way he just felt paranoid.



“I wish you would have asked for my help…” Futaba pouted as she looked at him. He had considered asking for her help, but she had seemed so busy recently and her foray back to school seemed to have been exhausting her. He wanted to be her strength, not a constant source of problems. Plus he didn’t want her to get involved, especially with his other problem still dangling over his head.



“I would have, but I wanted to have something substantial before I came to any of you with this theory.” He gave her a weak smile, but he knew he would have to make it up to her somehow. Maybe after everyone left he could give her some much needed attention… FOCUS! He ran his hand through his hair in an attempt to get his mind back on track. Usually Akira could lock on to whatever he needed to and focus on it until his task was complete. When Futaba was involved however, his mind tended to betray him.



“I agree with Futaba. You could have asked any of us to help. You know we would have done anything we could to aid you.” Makoto gave him a stern look and Akira couldn’t help but pull on a strand of his hair.



“I understand how you feel, but like I said this was all just a theory. I wanted to make sure I had something to back it up before I brought it up. I promise to keep you guys informed from now on.” He gave the group an apologetic look.



“Man it’s not like it’s a big deal or anything. I know you guys wish you were part of this, but that’s just who Akira is. We can give him crap later because I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have brought this up if the story was going to end with: I didn’t find shit.” Ryuji had always had a way with words. Akira chuckled at his friend and silently thanked him for motioning him to continue. There was a reason that Akira thought of Ryuji as one of his closest friends.



“Like I was saying, every lead a dead end. That is until I found several articles about a strange set of murders a few years back.” That caught everyone’s attention. “I started looking into it simply because anything strange could have something to do with the Metaverse, but I found something far more interesting.” Akira could feel the corner of his mouth turn up into a smirk. “This took place five years ago in a small town called Inaba.”



“That names sounds familiar for some reason…” Ryuji scratched his nose and furrowed his brow.



“It all started when two women were found hanging from some powerlines. It was a strange set of circumstances especially since neither victim had any evidence as to how they were killed. What followed was a string of disappearances over the course of several months.”



“Hey wait, this does sound familiar.” Ann was lightly biting her thumb as she was trying to grasp at some thread, but Akira could see her memory was currently failing her.



“Now disappearances are one thing, but the strangest thing is that every single person that went missing suddenly showed back up perfectly fine a few days or weeks later. Then there are some accounts that these kids started seeing each other on a regular basis.” Makoto’s eyes lit up and she stared wide eyed at Akira before glancing around the room. Akira pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he watched the gears in Makoto’s brain begin to spin at top speed.



“It wasn’t just the Metaverse we didn’t completely understand…” Makoto’s voice surprised the rest of the group and they quickly turned back towards her. “They were Persona users!” There was a stunned silence as Makoto came to the same conclusion Akira had.



“Woah! If there are other Persona users they could know a different way into the Metaverse!” Futaba’s feet almost slipped off her chair as she failed to contain her excitement.



“Exactly.” Akira rested his head into his hand as he tried not to be too smug. “The best part about all this though, was that I was able to find the names of these people. Yukiko Amagi, Kanji Tatsumi, Rise Kujikawa-“



“RISE KUJIKAWA!” Both Ann and Ryuji yelled the name in tandem as Ryuji was suddenly standing.



“The actress and singer! Dude she is so hot!” Ryuji pumped his fist in the air and Akira had to stop himself from laughing. “Dude I knew I had heard this story before! It was big news when she quit and left for Inaba!”



“I own all her music! She is so cool!” Ann’s eyes were practically sparkling. “I found ever piece of information I could on her as I got more into my modeling career!”



“Perhaps we should let Akira finish?” Haru smiled as she stared at the two fans. Yusuke however, seemed to be enjoying himself as he framed the two of them within his fingers.



“I should do a painting of you two. Your passion is remarkable.” Yusuke had a very calm smile across his face as he considered his new proposal.



“Wha-what!? No way you are putting me in the same painting as Ryuji. “



“Hey what is that supposed to mean.” Ryuji stared down at Ann as she turned away. Akira could have sword he saw Ann’s cheeks turn pink.



“Anyway.” Akira pulled the room’s attention once more and he saw Ann give him a brief smile. “The last person is Naoto Shirogane.”



“The detective?” Makoto asked surprised and Akira nodded. “I think she’s worked with Sae a few times. If I remember correctly my sister is quite the fan.”



“I could see that.” Akira laughed, “Well after Naoto suddenly reappeared a little girl was kidnapped. Naoto and the others showed up at the hospital a few nights later with the girl. Then only a few weeks later Naoto delivered the murderer to the police.” Akira let that sink in as he watched the other thieves begin to catch up to where Makoto and were. “There are reports of others working with them, especially in an article that details a concert that Rise put on at the local Junes, but there was no mention of their names anywhere. It would make sense if there were others however, if you take the disappearances into account.”



“Then we have a way to learn more!” Haru was louder than normal and she held her left hand over her heart. “We should contact them and ask for more information!” Akira smiled partly because he had already done so, but also because they had finally gotten to the real reason he hadn’t told the rest of the thieves he was looking into this.



“Actually, I have already contacted Naoto.” The room was silent as they waited for him to continue, and excited air seemed to buzz around the room. “I should explain however, that I don’t think we can go to them for much more. Naoto did seem to know more than she was letting on but…”



“What’s wrong?” Futaba’s voice was soft and he could hear the hints of concern slipping into her words.



“The police are still keeping an eye on me.” A loud bang echoed through the room as Ryuji slammed his fist down on the table.



“WHAT! That’s bullshit!” Ann’s hand reached up and gently grasped his arm.



“Ryuji calm down!” She was clearly trying to mask her own anger as well. Despite her words her free hand was clenched and her knuckles were white.



“This is outrageous, we proved your innocence with the help of Nijima-san!” Yusuke was standing as well, but he was doing a much better job at handling his emotions.



Akira was about to speak when he felt his hand suddenly wrapped in something else. He turned to see Futaba’s small hand holding his. Her left hand was covering her mouth as she looked terrified. Akira sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He briefly wondered when he had picked up that particular habit.



“This is why I tried to keep you guys out of this until I knew it was worth it. I don’t want you guys to get caught up in my past reputation. That’s also why I don’t want to get these other Persona users involved. The more people that get into contact with me, the harder their lives become.” The other thieves remained quiet for a long time as Akira scratched his head.



“We can’t let this stop us now.” Morgana had pushed himself to his feet and was now standing in the center of the table. “Akira has already talked to Shirogane and we have a solid lead. We believe that if we go visit Inaba we may actually find a clue about how to make me human. We just need to keep our heads down and everything will be fine.”



Akira had said the same thing to Morgana earlier, but he had clearly forgotten his own advice the moment the others had gotten involved. He had never wanted to put the others in danger, but Morgana was right. If he didn’t want to put them in danger he never would have let any of them be Phantom Thieves in the first place, nor would he have contacted Naoto. It was their choice to get involved, and it’s not like he could stop them even if he wanted to.



“He’s right. As much as I wish they would stop following me, the only way to help Morgana is to keep pushing forward.” Akira nodded to himself as he re-affirmed his conviction. “I was thinking we could leave at the end of this week and go stay in Inaba for a few days. I know it’s sudden so if you guys can’t go I-“



“We’re going.” The words rang throughout the room as the retired thieves stared at their previous leader. Akira would be lying if he said that he wasn’t moved. He reached up and pulled another strand of his hair.



“Thanks guys. Well I guess we need to look for a place to stay once we get there. It’s going to be expensive with the train ride and the cost of the living. I’ve been working some odd jobs so I should be able to afford a few of us, but help would be appreciated.”



“Wait you have been working and investigating this? You have been keeping up with your studies, right?” There was an edge to Makoto’s voice and Akira could see bodily harm was in his future if he didn’t answer correctly.



“Yes, it’s just been a bit harder than normal. No need to worry, I’m still top of the class.”



“What the eff man! There is no way you can keep doing all these things and keep up with your grades.” Ryuji looked like he had suffered a serious betrayal.



“Just because you’re an idiot doesn’t mean everyone else has to be.” Ann almost choked on her glass of water as Ryuji stared down at the offending cat.



“You know maybe we should just go on a vacation and forget the cat here.” Morgana flicked his tail back and forth, looking rather uninterested at Ryuji’s comments.



To be completely honest, without Morgana, Akira’s grades would have slipped. He had been running himself pretty ragged over the last few months, and if Morgana hadn’t been hiding in his desk reminding him about test dates and quizzes, he would have let his grades drop for sure.



“Futaba, I do believe you can let go of his hand now.” Yusuke said absentmindedly as he slipped a small package of snacks from his pocket.



Akira looked down and saw that their hands were still intertwined with one another. Their eyes met and she almost jumped clear out of her chair, her hand shooting back to her chest.



“Shut up Inari! I was just trying to make him feel better is all!” Her face was a bright red as she clutched the offending hand against her body. Akira laughed as he looked around the room. He had forgotten what being around his friends had felt like. It felt like home.



_ _ _



“Don’t forget to prepare for the trip!” Makoto yelled out as Yusuke and Haru walked down the stairs, back into the café. Ryuji and Ann were gathering their things and preparing to leave as well. “We should meet here tomorrow morning. We have a lot to discuss about our new plans.”



“Dude we should get sushi tomorrow!” Ryuji had stopped grabbing his things as he looked around the room for approval.



“Um what does that have to do with our trip? Also, shouldn’t we be saving money?” Makoto shook her head and Ryuji frowned.



“Don’t worry I’m sure we will find some great food in Inaba.” Ann pat his back and Ryuji scratched the back of his head.



“Yeah I suppose so. Well we better get out of here. You coming Futaba?” Ryuji’s eyes met hers and Akira watched as her cheeks turned a bright shade of pink.



“Um I have a few things I want to talk to Akira about before I head home.” Her eyes dropped to the floor as her hands began to fidget.



“Oh? Yeah, I suppose there are a few things we could talk about before we head out. What did you have-“ Ann’s elbow was suddenly in Ryuji’s stomach. He doubled over as she wrapped her arm around his.



“Come on we’ll miss the train if we don’t hurry.” Ann started dragging Ryuji to the stair case.



“Actually I agree with Ryuji, I could still use some clarification on-“ Ann’s hand wrapped around Makoto’s and she began to drag the previous student council president down the stairs as well.



“Come on! We are going to be late. I’m sure they will tell us later if it’s important.” Akira swore he saw Ann wink at him before she disappeared downstairs.



“Well I guess that leaves just the three of us.” Akira said as he looked for Morgana. Their friend was nowhere to be found. “When did-“



Before Akira could finish his sentence, Futaba’s lips were on his. He had no clue when she had left her chair, but he didn’t really care. He pulled her close as he wrapped his arms around her back. She clumsily climbed onto his lap as they desperately tried to keep their lips connected. His hands slipped gently up her back and into her hair.



They stayed that way for some time before they finally separated. She rested her forehead as he brushed his hand across her cheek. Their heavy breathing was the only sound echoing in the room.



“So, did you miss me? I can’t tell.” Futaba giggled and she wrapped her arms around his neck.



“Well we can stay like this until you figure it out.” Futaba said sweetly.



“So… Ann knows. When did that happen?” Akira asked and he watched his girlfriend turn a bright red.



“Well I needed some advice about um…” Futaba buried her face into his shoulder. “I needed some advice about how to be sexy for you.” The words spilled out of her mouth and her grip tightened on him. Akira smiled and pat her head gently.



“So, you started asking questions and she put two and two together.” Futaba nodded but kept her face hidden. “Well you didn’t need to ask for advice. You are the sexiest woman I know.” He slid his hand under her chin and guided her up to his lips again. Her face was bright red, but she had a big smile spreading across her face. “Do you think we should tell the others? I mean we could actually hold hands if we did.”



“N-n-not yet…” Akira ran his hand across her cheek and smiled.



“If you say so.” He gently pressed his lips against hers and she melted into him.



_ _ _



Akira watched Futaba walk out of the café before he returned back upstairs. Morgana never did come back to the room, but the silence was welcome. The summer wind wafted into the room and Akira stretched. It was nice to be home again.



A loud ringing made Akria jump as his head started to swivel around. He finally realized the noise was coming from his pocket and he quickly pulled his phone out into the open air. An unknown number showed on his screen. Akira shrugged and let it go to voicemail. He started to change his clothes when the phone rang again.



Unknown Number – You should pick up Joker.



Akira didn’t have time to be surprised before his phone began to ring. He pinched a strand of hair in his fingers as he stared down at the phone.



“Damn it…” He had a feeling he knew who it was and he realized he had messed up. Akira slid his finger across the screen and lifted it to his ear.



“Good Evening Akira Kurusu. I think we should have a chat.”