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Goro woke up and discovered he was alone in his bed.
It was a disappointing realization. He curled, trying to chase the sudden feeling of loneliness away.
Even if he had panicked yesterday when he woke up next to Akira, he had to admit that the feeling of having someone close to you as soon as you woke up was extremely comforting.
Maybe even too comforting, Goro thought, as he pushed the covers away. It was dangerous to indulge his base desires too much.
His mother was right to warn him. It seemed he was doomed to repeat her mistakes.
Goro made himself tea, strongly regretting he had left all the food he bought yesterday at Leblanc. His fridge barely had anything, since his planned grocery shopping was interrupted by an impromptu chase that resulted in him and Akira almost being killed by a Reaper.
And here he thought Shido’s untimely calls were the worst reason to miss a meal.
He gave up and pulled an instant ramen cup out of a cupboard.
As he waited for the water to boil he considered what he should do about Akira.
Yesterday he had been acting off due to an emotional high from surviving almost being killed… and just maybe from having the burden of lying to Phantom Thieves lifted from his shoulders. Sure, the upcoming days would not be easy on Goro, but now that he felt more comfortable admitting that he might actually like Akira and his motley crew things, were simpler. Certainly not perfect, but he could feel the tension that made him feel so high-strung since the beginning of fall lessen.
And yes, he could admit it to himself now. He really liked Akira. Goro wanted him to keep living and being his selfless and dumb self.
Even if the very realization of how invested in Akira he was still scared Goro to death.
He needed to figure out how to handle this. If he kept acting on his feelings, someone would get hurt—either him or Akira. Goro couldn’t allow that to happen. It was nice to have some semblance of normality, but this wasn’t the time to indulge it. They couldn’t get distracted, not with how high the stakes were.
Still, Goro knew he probably wouldn’t be able to keep himself in check for too long. Even if it scared him, he kept being attracted to Akira like a moth to the flame. There was only so long he could push off the inevitable.
After they defeat Shido. Yes, he should be able to control himself until then. After that he will do it. He will give himself to Akira.
So if he gets thrown away like his mother was, then at least it will be after he had taken care of Shido. Yes, better take care of all important matters while he still can.
After all, it was possible he would burn up in the flame just like his mother did.
*
Akira: Are you okay?
Akira: Goro
Akira: Are you there?
Akira: If you don’t reply soon I will go to your apartment
Goro: I’m alright
Akira: !!!!!!!!
Akira He lives
Akira: I was worried
Akira: Yesterday you left rather abruptly
Goro: I’m sorry if I startled you. There was just… so much happening during the last two days
Goro: I just
Goro: I need more time to process everything
Akira: I see
Goro: I apologize for yesterday, back then it really hit me what I had been doing and I… I just panicked. I usually don’t do things so spontaneously...
Akira: It’s okay
Akira: It’s my fault too, I should have realized things were going too fast for you
Akira: Sorry
Goro: Don’t worry about it. I think I just need some more time to figure out my feelings.
Goro: I don’t want to rush into a relationship with you only to later realize it was out of some misguided feeling of guilt.
Akira: I really don’t think it was guilt
Goro: Me neither, but my feelings are a mess. Just give me some time. I promise I will give you an answer once I figured everything out.
Goro: This whole mess with Shido also isn’t helping me calm down
Akira: I get it. On that note, do you have time tomorrow? I convinced the team to try and clear some of Sae’s Palace with you
*
“Man, I still can’t get used to the fact that Akechi is supposed to actually be on our side,” Sakamoto complained loudly, just as Goro approached their group.
“And I can’t get used to how much of an idiot who talks too loud in a public space you are,” Goro hissed, as he forcefully bumped into his shoulder.
“A-Akechi?!” Sakamoto yelped, because he was apparently too caught in his complaining to check if Goro wasn’t around. He seemed too shocked to even try to retaliate.
“This is what you get for badmouthing people,” Takamaki pointed out with a sigh.
“But he deserves it!” Sakamoto protested.
Goro shook his head.
“You deserve a working brain, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be.”
Akira actually snorted at that quip.
“Sorry,” he apologized quickly, trying to placate Sakamoto who now looked betrayed. “We should get moving, we are starting to draw attention.”
Akira activated the app, transporting them all to Sae’s Palace.
Goro watched as the courthouse dissolved before their eyes giving way to the giant casino. As they finished their jump, Goro realized all eyes were on him.
“What?!” he asked with more bite than intended.
“Uhhhh, I thought you would look different somehow,” Sakamoto admitted. “Like dunno, your outfit would suddenly change or something.”
Goro wasn’t sure whether he should feel offended or impressed that Sakamoto’s wild shot wasn’t that far from the truth.
“Actually, I hoped for that. Could you show them your other outfit, Crow?” Akira asked. He had already assumed his mask of Joker, the fearless leader, which meant this wasn’t really a request as much as an order.
Still, Goro wasn’t about to just blindly follow the lead.
“Do I have to?” he replied, trying to ignore Phantom Thieves' surprised voices.
“Can you use your other persona without changing your outfit?” Joker asked instead.
Goro gritted his teeth, suddenly understanding what Akira wanted. This wasn’t about Goro coming clean as much as Akira expecting him to pull his weight in battles now that his presence made them lose a team member. Akira wanted to prove to the Phantom Thieves that Goro really was worth that much. Goro wasn’t thrilled about the prospect of revealing all his cards just like that, but he knew it was necessary.
He sighed, closed his eyes and snapped his fingers to help himself visualize the change.
He knew he succeeded, because suddenly he heard loud gasps.
And then Sakura and Sakamoto burst out laughing.
“You weren’t joking, Joker! He really looks like a villain from Featherman!” Sakura managed to say between her chuckles.
“What the hell, dude! Why do you have so many belts?!” Sakamoto said, clearly finding Goro’s outfit hilarious.
“I guess, his codename does fit after all,” Niijima mused out loud.
Kitagawa had a distant look on his face that meant Goro’s outfit must have been deemed worthy of aesthetic consideration.
...this was going to be a long Palace trip.
“What was that about another persona?” Niijima asked, giving Goro and Akira a questioning look. Goro wasn’t surprised that she caught that. Morgana and Sakura already knew, because they heard Akira’s summary of their battle, but for the rest of the team it would be a revelation.
“Loki,” Goro called, deciding that there was no point in putting off the inevitable. He felt the familiar persona manifest behind him. With it came the familiar rush of power, the feeling that he could achieve anything. As always it felt almost intoxicating.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to be able to openly use Loki now.
“Your persona looks creepy. What’s with all the stripes?” Sakamoto asked.
Goro crossed his arms defensively. He didn’t need to answer. His persona had a giant flaming sword. That alone was enough to make Sakamoto’s opinions invalid.
“I couldn’t believe it when I heard it, but you really have another persona,” Morgana said, sounding genuinely impressed. Goro felt nice at the praise, but at the same time some part of him felt like rejecting it.
“It’s not that special; Joker collects them like they are capsule toys,” Goro pointed out.
“Even then, you are the only other person who can summon more than one persona,” Niijima said. “I wonder if we could find some sort of connection.”
“Crow is just special,” Akira said easily, as if it was that obvious.
If Morgana’s praise made Goro’s insides twist a little, then Akira’s words made them outright melt.
“No sense thinking about it now. We have a Palace to conquer,” Morgana pointed out. Goro was grateful for that. He snapped his fingers once more returning to his prince outfit.
“Awww, why did you change it?” Sakura said, sounding disappointed. “It somehow made you look as dumb as your white outfit, but in an entirely different way.”
“You and your pyjama onesie have no place lecturing me on fashion, Oracle,” Goro said, not looking at her.
“Exactly, we will sit together in the terrible fashion choices corner,” Sakura continued. “It won’t be so bad.”
“No, it will be terrible. We will have to share it with Skull,” Goro pointed out.
“Hey!” Sakamoto shouted behind them, but Sakura only giggled at that.
Maybe this foray into the dungeon wouldn’t be that bad.
*
“A battle arena and a labyrinth, huh,” Morgana said, as their group debated what to do next. They had breezed through the unexplored part of the Members Floor and finally moved to the High Limit Lobby. They found the access point to the Manager’s Floor where they suspected the Treasure was kept, but they needed more coins to be able to lower a bridge leading there.
“The entry fee for the battle arena is beyond our capabilities. We will have to do the labyrinth to earn enough coins,” Niijima pointed out.
“Are we all going to try?” Takamaki asked.
“No, we shouldn’t risk going with a big team,” Akira said, before Goro could suggest the same thing. “You’ve seen the name, House of Darkness. Moving in darkness with a big group will slow us down. We should choose four people so we can deal with hostile shadows, but have the rest stay at the entrance.”
“I’m guessing you already have people in mind,” Niijima said.
“I want to take Mona and Crow. And for the fourth person either you or Panther,” Akira explained.
“Why do you want Mona?” Kitagawa asked, confused.
“Why are you surprised about that?!” Morgana protested.
“No, that makes sense. Joker is right in suspecting that there might be an element of verticality to prevent guests from winning. Mona would give us an advantage when it comes to finding passages placed below the average adult’s height,” Niijima explained.
“But why should Crow go with them?!” Sakamoto asked.
“Because he has the best persona coverage right after Joker. It goes without saying that from a purely strategic standpoint, he’s our second strongest member,” Niijima explained patiently.
Goro didn’t expect such a calm analysis from her. He knew she and Okumura got along. She definitely had reasons to hate him for forcing her out of the team.
...oh, who was he kidding? She had many more reasons than that to hate him.
“Panther, would you mind if I am the one to go?” Niijima asked, turning towards Takamaki.
“Not at all, but are you sure?”
She nodded, making her determination clear.
“Then Crow, Mona, and Queen, follow me,” Joker called. The three of them followed their leader into the darkness.
*
“This fucking sucks,” Goro said out loud.
“Language,” Niijima scolded him reflexively.
“The situation won’t get better if I say, I guess we have encountered some unexpected difficulties by getting separated from Joker and Mona while fighting shadows and now we have to bide our time on this broken pillar, because we can’t take on the shadows swarming below us without risking our lives, like this is an interview. I get nothing out of it. But when I say that this fucking sucks, it at least feels a bit cathartic,” Goro explained, having nothing better to do.
Niijima was silent for a moment.
“I wasn’t trying to scold you,” she finally said. “I guess I’m just… unused to you acting like that.”
“You can say you don’t trust me, you know,” Goro pointed out. “I’m well aware of how annoying it is for you to have to work with me.”
Niijima made a loud sigh.
“That isn’t what I’m talking about. You never acted directly before and now suddenly you are being confrontational about everything,” she said, clutching her head as if Goro’s behaviour was giving her a headache. “I never imagined your personality was like that.”
Goro found a broken rock and was seriously considering chucking it at one of the shadows moving below them. It would be dangerous, but also very satisfying if he managed to land a hit.
“You don’t have to tell me. There’s a reason why I make sure people are under the illusion that the worst thing about me is that I’m naive and inflexible,” he said as he stood up. His butt was starting to hurt from sitting on the uneven stone.
“You know I’m not trying to pick a fight?” Niijima asked, clearly exasperated.
“I know you’ve been beating around the bush an awful lot,” Goro pointed out. “Just spit it out.”
Niijima looked down on the shadows below them, as if she could glean something from their erratic movements.
“Tell me, did you involve my sister in this mess on purpose?” she asked.
Goro was silent for a moment. Way to choose a difficult and awkward topic, Niijima.
“It’s more complicated than that,” he admitted, slowly.
“We have a lot of time,” Niijima pointed out, still looking at the swarming shadows.
It was hard to argue with that.
“She got involved the second she chose to become a prosecutor,” Goro explained. “Shido’s conspiracy has deep roots. The SIU’s director sits in his pocket. They would have probably involved Sae in some way with or without me in the picture,” he admitted.
“But you were the one who told them about her Palace, weren’t you?” Niijima pointed out, throwing him an accusatory glance.
Goro felt irritated, but it wasn’t like he couldn’t understand her feelings. From Niijima’s point of view, he was the one who put her older sister in danger.
“Yes, I did,” Goro admitted, crossing his arms. “They wanted me to provide a target for the Phantom Thieves. Not that I don’t suspect they had been purposefully putting pressure on Sae… or maybe it was just regular sexism at work. Who knows, most of those guys act like total scumbags with and without a reason.”
Niijima once more went silent.
“Don’t you feel bad about it?” she finally asked.
It wasn’t a question he expected, so it took Goro a moment to even wrap his head around it.
“I didn’t feel bad about it when I proposed to use her Palace. After all, she wouldn’t really lose anything. Since she would be the one investigating the Phantom Thieves, Shido would make sure she stayed safe, because her death could be taken as the Phantom Thieves retaliation and damage his image. I also knew that the Phantom Thieves would make sure to be careful, since her little sister is a part of the group. I was aware Sae wouldn’t gain anything, because she would be pulled out of the investigation as soon as Joker was captured, but that would be it. Definitely better than what awaits the SIU director, since I already got orders to get rid of him as soon as I’m done with Joker.”
Even in the deep darkness, Goro could tell Niijima had tensed up.
“Are you going to do it?” she asked, her voice steely.
It was a really good question. Goro hadn’t thought that far, more focused on making sure that Akira survived the upcoming capture. The SIU director’s well-being was extremely low on his priority list.
“I have to. I might be able to trick the Conspiracy when it comes to Joker’s death, but the SIU director is different. I can’t just convince him to pretend to be dead. If I don’t offer up a corpse I will be judged as useless and disposed of. My own survival hinges on his death,” Goro explained.
It was a strange feeling to put it into words like that. Goro always knew it—that ever since he agreed to work with Shido, his life was only extended by each corpse he offered to his deranged father. However, he never really thought of just how messed up it was until he had to explain it to Niijima.
“Are you sure they will kill you?” she asked, clearly disbelieving. Goro was almost jealous of that naivety which he had lost a long time ago.
If he hadn’t possessed it in the past, would he have still made the same choices? If he knew just how bloody the path to his revenge would become, would he…?
No point thinking about it. That naive boy no longer existed. He had already been crushed by this far too cruel world.
“Not if I’m useful. So don’t push your goody-shoes act on me. As I said, you are free to sell me out to the police once this is over, but unless Shido is taken down, I’m a loose end,” he said strongly.
He stared at the darkness surrounding them. A darkness so deep it felt like it could swallow him whole.
“And if I learned anything about Shido, it’s that he got so far by severing all loose ends, so they can’t be traced back to him,” he explained ominously.
That was right, Goro had already been cut off once when he was a child. He couldn’t let his usefulness run out now.
Not until his and Akira’s vengeance was achieved.
“You didn’t answer my previous question,” Niijima said suddenly, interrupting his dark thoughts.
“Which question?” Goro asked, confused.
“I asked you if you feel bad about involving my sister in this, but you only mentioned how you felt about it in the past. I want to know how you feel about it now.”
Goro thought of Sae. She was his coworker and one of the few people who understood how difficult it was to be a high school detective. He remembered how she sometimes invited him to eat sushi.
“I don’t know,” he admitted.
This time, Niijima didn’t push for an answer.
*
Goro was grateful that Niijima didn’t voice any strange sentiments to Joker. Goro did answer her questions honestly, because he trusted she wouldn’t misuse the information he gave her, but it was still a relief.
“Maybe we should have taken Oracle, after all?” Morgana muttered, sounding clearly miserable. He was riding on Joker’s shoulders for now. It seemed that Akira was in a bit too much rush to find Goro and Niijima, which resulted in him forcing Morgana to run much faster than he could with his stubby legs.
“I don’t think she would be able to help much. She wasn’t able to scout anything from outside. The odds are there are some protections in place against navigators like her,” Goro pointed out.
Akira nodded.
“I’d rather not put her in danger,” he admitted. “The four of us should be enough to clear this.”
To be fair, they made progress. They found a way to a more well-lit part of the labyrinth and were now traversing it.
“They probably want to let our eyes readjust to light again, before we are forced into more darkness,” Niijima muttered, clearly frustrated.
“Don’t worry, we will manage,” Akira reassured her. It wasn’t a baseless promise. It seemed that Joker could see in darkness even better than Mona, which proved beyond a shred of doubt that he was in fact a cat pretending to be human.
Goro should probably try to pet him at one point and see if he starts purring.
Unfortunately, Goro’s mind quickly went to the gutter when he tried to visualize petting Akira. Given his horniness, Akria would definitely suggest some inappropriate petting spots. And getting a collar for himself.
This line of thought was very promptly abandoned. Goro had to keep himself decent around the Phantom Thieves. While some of them seemed to know about Akira’s crush on his would-be assassin, most of them were blissfully unaware. Goro didn’t blame Akira for not mentioning that. It would definitely undercut his already shaky position as a leader even more.
Morgana and Sakura were the ones who Goro was almost certain knew the truth. Morgana was always missing when Akira tried to make a move, which suggested that the cat was in the know. Meanwhile, Sakura was the only other person who had seen their chat logs, and Goro had no doubt that she was fully aware of just how damning they were. When she talked with Goro about Featherman, she listed all her favourite ships, and the majority of them weren’t straight. There was no way she hadn’t put two and two together.
Goro also strongly suspected that Takamaki was in the know. The evidence was circumstantial, but pretty strong. Akira apparently approached her in July and admitted to keeping in contact with Goro. There was only one thing he could be seeking from her—love advice. Nobody else in their team could fill that niche. And it would certainly explain why Takamaki kept Akira’s secret even after it came to light that Goro was planning to kill him.
So two people and a cat. Sakamoto, Kitagawa, and Niijima were the ones who didn’t know. And Okumura, of course, but she didn’t count at this point. Goro was determined to keep it a secret before those three. Kitagawa probably wouldn’t mind, but he was also very likely to unintentionally spill the truth at some point. Meanwhile, Sakamoto and Niijima would probably be outright disapproving.
Niijima, because she was the only sensible person in the group, so she would rightfully suspect that Akira was thinking with his dick rather than his head. And Sakamoto, because he stuffed himself so deeply into the closet it was a miracle he hadn’t found Narnia yet.
Yeah, Goro definitely didn’t want to open that can of worms now.
*
The last stretch of the labyrinth was the worst, not because it was more difficult, but because the fatigue had started to set in at that point.
When the four of them emerged from the labyrinth, they pretty much fell onto the floor.
“You look like you’ve seen hell,” Kitagawa commented.
“Hell is comfy in comparison,” Goro replied, with Morgana sprawled over him. He didn’t even have the energy to protest.
Niijima was the only one of them still standing, though it was obvious she was pushing herself to do so.
“While we were gone, have you gathered the information?” she asked.
“Yeah, but I really don’t think this is happening today. You look like zombies,” Sakura said. “I feel like you really could use some rest.”
“Let’s stop here for today,” Akira agreed.
Goro ended up carrying Morgana to the entrance.
*
It was the first time Goro returned from the Metaverse with something heavy and warm wrapped around his neck.
“It seems Mona found his new favourite spot,” Sakura said with a smirk.
Morgana said nothing. Goro couldn’t see the cat too well when he was literally wrapped around his neck, but it felt like Mona didn’t even register the joke.
“You guys go ahead, I want to discuss something with Akechi,” Morgana finally said, visibly surprising everyone.
“Are you sure? I mean, are you going to be alright?” Sakamoto asked, clearly worried about the cat.
“Are you going to stay the night?” Akira asked calmly, completely ignoring Sakamoto.
“Can I stay the night?” Morgana repeated the question, sounding excited at the prospect.
Goro wondered. The honest truth was he didn’t mind Morgana. He was probably the easiest person… cat… to talk to right after Akira. Goro instinctively tried to think of some reason to not bring Morgana with him, but they were all empty excuses. Maybe except for one…
“Can you use a human toilet?”
“Of course, I can manage with a human toilet!” Mona shouted in indignation.
“Then, yeah,” Goro said. It felt somehow nice to invite someone. Other than Akira’s unannounced visit that one time, nobody ever came to Goro’s apartment.
“Is this really okay?” Sakamoto repeated, clearly distraught. Goro didn’t realize he was so overly invested in the cat.
“It’s fine,” Niijima said. “Akechi isn’t dumb enough to harm Morgana.”
“While as we can see, Joker is very quick to forgive murder attempts on his own life, I am very sure he would carry a grudge over a similar attempt on Morgana until his death,” Goro pointed out.
It was only when he was answered with deafening silence that Goro realized that wasn’t the best joke to make.
“I… I’m sure Mona will be fine in his hands,” Akira said, visibly struggling to clear the heavy mood Goro created.
“Yeah, I’m sure Goro will learn what chill is after some quality cat time,” Sakura added with overt familiarity.
“I’m not a cat!” Morgana protested, shouting right next to Goro’s ear. It caused him to jump in surprise and lose his footing. He barely managed to steady himself, securing Morgana with one hand.
“Are you trying to kill us both, you damn furball?!” he hissed.
“You are the one who should watch out! You just said it yourself that Akira won’t forgive you if I die!” Morgana retorted, still wrapped around Goro’s neck.
“I’m watching out so much I saved your dumb owner from death more than once. And literally had you crying on my shoulder after I saved him from that stupid burger! Don’t think I forgot that!”
“All you did was awkwardly pretend you couldn’t hear me!” Morgana protested clearly embarrassed.
The rest of the Phantom Thieves watched in stunned silence.
“Is it just me or is their relationship awfully similar to how Ryuji and Morgana act?” Kitagawa pointed out.
“Thanks for voicing that in my place,” Takamaki said.
“What?! This is nothing like how I act towards Morgana!” Sakamoto protested, but his words were met with silence.
“Fuck this, I’m going home!” Goro said, taking Morgana off his neck and stuffing him under his coat. He would need to smuggle him through the metro station, so it was better to hide Morgana now. Goro turned toward Akira. “Call me when you decide on another day for our next Palace visit.”
Akira seemed to want to say something, but Goro had already turned around and power walked away from his complicated feelings, carrying a talking cat hidden under his jacket.
“Make sure to buy sushi on the way back,” Morgana piped up, clearly more concerned with the prospect of dinner than the awkward atmosphere Goro created.
Goro made a long suffering sigh, as he considered his route back home.
*
“I used to think you were terrible, you know,” Morgana muttered from above the empty sushi box. He was currently licking his paw for the remains of soy sauce. “I was surprised when I discovered I can always count on you when sushi is involved. While it was only from a convenience store, I appreciate the one you bought for me a few days ago.”
Goro just nodded from where he was lying on the sofa. He was wearing that dumb BAD BOY shirt and Akira’s hoodie, as well as some loose pants.
If Morgana was a human Goro would probably put more work into how he was looking, but Morgana for some reason didn’t trigger his overwhelming need to appear prim and proper. Even if he was currently acting more loose when it came to his language, Goro still felt a need to look nice before other humans.
Maybe it was just a remnant of his unhappy past. He hated when he was called dirty when he was a kid. Ugly, dirty bastard.
Goro covered his face. He had no idea what expression he was making, but he didn’t want Morgana to see.
“Are you asleep, Akechi?” Morgana called from the table.
“No, just thinking,” he replied. Luckily, his voice came out unaffected.
“Say, can I ask you one thing? I know this might be insensitive, but it’s something I wanted to ask,” Morgana said. Goro could tell the cat was serious.
Well, he figured Morgana had to have some reason to want to come. And the possibilities were pretty limited.
Guess he had a good shoulder to cry on after all.
“You already invited yourself to my house, you can just ask it at this point,” he muttered, as he turned to lay on his side, facing Morgana.
“Say, do you love Akira?” Morgana asked. His voice sounded exactly like that of a child trying to figure out feelings.
Goro closed his eyes. Maybe he should have pretended to be asleep after all.
“Can you promise that you won’t tell anyone what we are going to discuss?” he asked instead.
“Promise!” Morgana said quickly. “I won’t even tell Akira! This is for my own sake, after all.”
That was curious. Goro didn’t really know what Morgana did outside of being the Phantom Thieves’ mascot. It always felt like he was somehow attached to Akira, like an external manifestation of his inner cat.
Goro sighed, guess he could indulge himself.
“I guess I do. I mean, I almost died to save him. If that isn’t love, then I have no idea what is,” he admitted. There was also the whole aspect of wanting to do things to Akira that definitely overstepped the bounds of regular friendship, but Goro wasn’t about to mention that. He had no idea if anyone had a talk with Morgana and Goro wasn’t about to foolishly volunteer himself into one.
“Is that all? I mean, is love just about wanting to die for someone?” Morgana asked.
Unfortunately, it seemed that Morgana wanted to have a more meaningful talk. Honestly, it was understandable why he’d rather have it with Goro than the other Phantom Thieves. Most of them didn’t have experience with love, and asking Akira about this might have been too awkward.
“No, but love is different for different people. As are the reasons why they fell in love. I only really admitted it to myself at that moment in the Metaverse. Akira had probably realized his feelings before that, but I have no idea what caused it for him.”
Goro sure hoped that for Akira that moment wasn’t when he had his life saved from Okumura’s burger. Goro didn’t consider himself a romantic, but he still wished it was a nicer memory than that.
“So, love doesn’t work the same for different people?” Morgana repeated.
“Isn’t it obvious? You must have seen for yourself that love between parents and children is never the same for two people. It’s the same for romantic love,” Goro pointed out.
Morgana lowered his head.
“I-I guess you are right. It’s so different for everyone. Akira’s parents never call him and he tries to act like it doesn’t affect him, but I can tell it does. Ann’s parents are often away, but they try to spend time with her whenever they are in Tokyo. And with Haru…” Morgana fell quiet, as he seemed to realize he had said too much.
“He was a shit, not a father,” Goro said, because if he was going to be honest he would be honest all the way through.
Morgana hissed, his fur raising.
“That’s… you shouldn’t say it like that…” he growled, but his fighting spirit seemed to leave him halfway through. “He was still her father.”
“So what? He planned to have his own daughter raped for his own gain. Someone like that doesn’t deserve to be called a father. He was a pathetic excuse of a dad too caught in his own scheming to realize his child was something more than a useful commodity to be sold to someone,” Goro said, rising from the sofa. “Do you think it would suddenly become okay if he went through a change of heart? Of course not. Haru Okumura might lie to herself that everything would have been fixed, but it wouldn’t be. She would still have to live with the knowledge that at some point her father almost sold her off.”
Morgana opened his mouth, but then closed it. It seemed like he was struggling with an idea.
“You… Did you sympathize with Haru?” Morgana asked slowly. It was obvious that they were balancing on the verge of a very unpleasant topic. Goro was surprised that Morgana was willing to continue. From what Goro knew he and Haru Okumura were pretty close.
Goro let himself fall back onto the sofa.
“I’m mostly surprised she’s still clinging to him. If I went through what she did, I would be glad that my piece of shit father got what was coming for him,” he admitted, turning his back to Morgana.
“But still… if you didn’t kill him—” Morgana started, but Goro wasn’t about to let the cat guilt-trip him. He once more pushed himself into a sitting position.
“Then what? He would die a few days later, because he was about to testify against Shido. If it wasn’t me, it would be one of Shido’s yakuza contacts. Or he would blackmail someone from his company into poisoning Okumura. It was inevitable. The moment Okumura decided to raise his position through illegitimate means, he had doomed himself!” Goro only realized he was shouting halfway through. He quickly tried to calm himself down.
He had bought a jammer some time ago, when he started to more routinely call Akira, to make sure Shido wouldn’t be able to use any spy devices against him. However, it would only protect him from electronics. If Goro shouted loud enough so that his neighbours could overhear him, no jammer would be able to save him from his own stupidity.
Morgana was silent for a moment.
“It’s really bothering you, huh,” he said. Goro hated the obvious pity in his eyes.
“I’m not bothered by his death!” Goro protested, gritting his teeth. He let himself once more fall on the sofa. “If there is one person I don’t regret killing, it would be him.”
“Why?” Morgana asked, still sitting on the table.
Goro opened his mouth, then closed it.
He knew why. It was obvious even to him. Morgana had almost stumbled upon the truth earlier.
Goro had sympathized with Haru Okumura. Embarrassingly deeply if he was honest with himself. He knew why. He understood the second he saw her cognition in Okumura’s palace.
“Remember that this conversation stays between us. I don’t want this going around. I… He reminded me of my own shitty father,” Goro finally admitted. He didn’t look at Morgana as he said that. Instead, he stared at the ceiling of his apartment. He sometimes wished the uncaring whiteness of it would swallow him, leaving behind all the ugly feelings.
A bigger person would be able to leave behind their rage and hatred, rather than let them influence all their choices.
No wonder Goro always felt so small when he watched Akira cling to his sense of justice. The lies he told himself fell apart so easily when he finally met someone he could compare himself with.
“Your father? But you said you were an orphan…” Morgana muttered, visibly confused.
“Yeah, that’s because to him we were just a nuisance. A brat born from a woman he never planned to wed? It would be nothing but trouble for him… So he abandoned the woman and continued to make a career. He achieved so much just by leaving one woman and a bastard child to starve. It’s kinda incredible in a way.” Goro chuckled loudly, his voice dropping to produce the ugly laughter he usually didn’t let out outside of Metaverse.
When he looked at him, Morgana’s ears were lowered.
“I see, so this is why you feel like that…” he muttered. “Like no one can understand.”
Goro wasn’t sure what to reply to that.
“You think that’s stupid,” Goro said out loud the first thing that came to his mind.
Morgana jumped at that, clearly startled.
“No… I mean, yes… I mean… If it’s stupid then I guess we are both stupid,” Morgana said, lowering his head. “I can’t say if my doubts make me more or less human at this point.”
“Humanity is very dumb. But at the same time, humans are the only creatures capable of realizing they are dumb. So if you think you are stupid that indeed makes you human,” Goro said. He wasn’t sure what this whole thing was about, but it seemed that Akira’s cat was doubting his humanity.
Not a problem Goro thought he would have to be involved in a few weeks ago.
Morgana laughed weakly.
“You are so weird. You act like you hate humanity, but at the same time you seem fond of all of its failings,” the cat said, raising his eyes. “It makes me feel like my own views on humanity have been far too narrow…”
“I hate humanity,” Goro confirmed quickly. “Nothing good comes out of it when humans gather. You must have seen for yourself in Palaces. Humans just keep getting others hurt due to their own selfish desires. And yet a humanity without desires wouldn’t be a humanity at all. We keep moving forward, brazenly, unsightly, obnoxiously, all so we can fulfill our selfish desires. It’s amusing in a way.”
“Then say, what would you think if I told you… I’m probably not human,” Morgana said. His voice was heavy, making Goro realize he was telling the truth.
“So that’s why you didn’t want this conversation to get back to Akira,” Goro realized. “You haven’t told him about your doubts.”
Morgana shook his head, confirming Goro’s suspicions.
“Not yet. I almost did after I rejoined the Phantom Thieves… I mean, you followed us. You must know about that.”
Goro nodded.
“I wasn’t around for all of it, but I have a general idea.”
“Yeah, back then I felt like I was contributing nothing to the team. And then Akira almost died, while I was unable to do anything to help him. If you weren’t around… And it made me feel like there was no point to me being on the team. So I tried to conquer Okumura’s Palace on my own and that was when I met Haru…. Anyway, while I admitted to them I was feeling like I wasn’t contributing enough to the team, I still haven’t told them about the other thing…”
Morgana’s voice grew distant. Goro sighed.
“Okay, you might not actually be a human caught in the cat's body… So what?” Goro said, leaning back.
“What do you mean, so what?” Morgana asked, visibly confused.
“What is the problem? I mean, you are clearly a cat at the moment, anyway. This doesn’t really change a thing for you, does it?” Goro said, as he pointed at Morgana.
Morgana lowered his ears.
“I mean, it’s true that I’m currently a cat, but…”
“But what? It doesn’t really matter who you are inside. Your goal is to become a human isn’t it? Then keep working on that and someday when you manage to achieve it, it won’t matter what you were born as. Everyone will see a human and assume that it’s what you've always been. Humans are easy to fool like that,” Goro explained, waving his hand at the end to emphasize his point.
“I get the feeling Akira would give me a completely different kind of speech on this,” Morgana admitted. Despite his words he looked less depressed than a moment before.
“Well, he’s not here. If you want his advice, go pester him,” Goro sneered from the sofa. “Honestly, they would probably say something like it doesn’t matter who you are, because we love you so much, our little Mona, but if you ask me that’s bullshit. Even if the Phantom Thieves won’t judge you, everyone else will. Life isn’t kind like that. That’s why you need to make the world believe you are what you want to be!”
Goro suddenly stood up on the sofa, spreading his arms.
“Look at me! I’m a bastard child; if people ever had a semblance of an idea what I am, they would be disgusted to shake my hand. But they have no idea. I made them believe I am more than I really am. So they shake my hand, smile at me, and tell me what a great person I am. They tell themselves what a great upbringing I must have had. What honorable and loving parents I had. But it’s all lies that they tell themselves. What’s truly important isn’t about what you are, but what you make yourself appear as.”
Goro pointed at Morgana, a wide smile splitting his face. Morgana was looking at him, mesmerized.
“So what if you are a cat, right now? Even if the truth is that you were born as something less than a human, it won’t matter if you make the world believe you are more than that! Anyone can cry about how unfair their circumstances are. For people like us, wallowing in despair just doesn’t cut it. We need to claw our way out of the bottom and then tear into this world until it acknowledges us!”
Goro raised his hand, his finger pointing toward the sky.
“So don’t let anyone else stop you. You are what you make yourself to be! Even if the whole world tries to tell you to fuck off, show it a middle finger and keep fighting!” Halfway through his speech Akechi rearranged his fingers so a different one would be pointing towards the sky.
He kept smirking, the smile of a man who wouldn’t be stopped by anything.
That was right, even if the whole world turned against him, Goro Akechi would prevail. Even if his future looked like shit right now, he would succeed. He had already clawed his way from the bottom once.
He would traverse hell as many times as he needed in order to achieve his goals.
*
“You’d better not have done anything to Mona!” Sakamoto hissed, when Goro showed up.
Goro almost smiled at his anxious posture. Sakamoto was terrible at hiding his feelings. For all his posturing, he seemed to actually care about the cat.
“I’ve unleashed the most vile horrors on him,” Goro assured in a perfectly creepy voice.
Morgana’s head poked from underneath Goro’s coat.
“We ate sushi and watched Star Wars!” Morgana announced excitedly. He sounded like a child who had just returned from his first sleepover.
“Aaaaand they just had some fun. I told you you were worrying too much, Ryuji,” Takamaki said, shaking her head.
“I didn’t think we would be meeting so quickly for another Palace run. You sure we should be doing another one immediately, Akira?” Kitagawa said, turning towards their leader.
Akira nodded as he activated his app.
“If we clear the battle arena, we should be able to secure the route to the Treasure. Since only one person can challenge it anyway, I figured there was no harm in getting this done quickly,” Akira explained. “It’s better to open the route quickly in case Niijima’s Shadow prepared some nasty surprises for us on the last stretch.”
“Yeah, my sister can be… difficult like that,” Niijima admitted awkwardly.
“Wait, so you plan to solo the arena, Joker? Are you sure you will be fine after yesterday?” Takamaki asked, clearly concerned.
Their group made their way to the elevator, barely fitting into it.
“I need to agree with Panther. You didn’t have Mona yesterday to make sure you went to sleep at a human hour, are you sure you are okay?” Goro asked.
Akira opened his mouth, but then closed it. He looked thoughtful.
Goro didn’t think much of it until they left the elevator and Akira stopped before the entrance to the battle arena.
And then he dramatically fell to the floor.
Nobody reacted, mostly because the way he fell was obviously intentional.
“Actually, I think I can’t do it after all,” Joker announced, dramatically clenching his fist. “Crow, you go in my place.”
Goro slowly crouched before Akira.
“Joker,” he said gently, before his voice veered into condescension, “get your ass off the floor and go get those fucking coins. We don’t have all day.”
Akira blinked as if he hoped that Goro would change his mind, then sighed when he realized that looking pretty was not enough to sway Goro this time.
“Wow, and here I thought you would be happy I’m giving you a chance to show off!” Akira admitted, as he raised from his knees.
Goro scoffed.
“A chance to show off? Are you seriously trying to bait me into going into the arena instead of you?” he asked in exasperation.
Akira flashed him a smile which proved that yes, Akira was that shameless.
“I know, how about we make it a bet? Same stakes as when we played cards in the cafe. Whoever clears the challenge wins. You can go first, but if you decline I will go,” Akira suggested, making Goro’s thoughts come to a stop.
That was actually a tempting offer. A chance to ask Akira to do something embarrassing didn’t come everyday. Granted, he had a talent to get into such situations without anyone’s help, but still…
“He’s actually considering it,” Takamaki commented.
“I wonder what that bet is about,” Kitagawa muttered.
“Come on, Joker. Why do you want to get him into the arena that much? He’s obviously going to act all high and mighty about it if he wins,” Sakamoto protested.
For once Sakamoto was raising a good point. Goro could use more justified reasons to act with due superiority. This could actually be a good opportunity.
“I just thought it would be fun,” Akira admitted, as he shrugged.
Goro smirked to himself as he came to a decision.
“Fine then, I will go to the battle arena. But first I need to borrow Oracle for a moment,” he agreed, turning towards Sakura.
“Wait, me?” she asked, flustered.
“Yes, it will take just a moment. I need to ask you for a small favour,” he said, as he started to walk away from the group. Sakura followed him, but they both stopped in place a moment later.
“WAIT!” Niijima’s quick, but commanding shout made everyone pay attention. “What is that you can’t tell Oracle with everyone else around? I thought we were done keeping secrets.”
Goro made a loud sigh.
“There’s just a small precaution I want to take in case something goes wrong for me in the arena. Surely I’m allowed at least that much. I’m not going to take Oracle too far out of sight, if that’s what you are worried about,” he explained.
“I’d rather you explain to us what exactly you are planning to do,” Niijima said, not backing down.
Goro was barely keeping his temper in check. He clenched his first, trying to ground himself.
“Well, I want to have a moment alone with Oracle precisely because it’s not something I want to talk about in everyone’s presence. In case you haven’t figured that out by yourself,” Goro hissed.
“And I’m saying this precisely because—”
“Both of you stop!” Akira ordered them. Goro and Niijima immediately got silent.
“It’s fine, Queen. I think I understand what this is about,” Akira said, before turning towards Goro. “You are just afraid that because the matches are rigged, someone may steal something you have on yourself. Perhaps something personal or valuable. So you want to give it to Oracle for safekeeping.”
Goro sighed and nodded. Niijima still looked unconvinced, but before she could voice another protest, Sakura skipped towards Goro.
“It’s okay. Mona was with Crow for a whole night and nothing happened. We will just be gone for a moment, okay?” Sakura said.
Goro could tell she was clearly forcing herself to interrupt their argument. She was shaking a little and her smile was a bit too strained to be genuine.
This time it was Niijima who sighed.
“If you feel that way, then fine. But if you are gone for too long we will go look for you,” she compromised.
“Yeah, we will make sure not to stay out past bedtime,” Goro said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. He glanced at Sakura. “Let’s go, Oracle.”
She kept quiet, but the second they rounded the corner and disappeared from the sight of other Phantom Thieves, her curiosity exploded.
“Okay, so what’s the big secret? Is this something cool? Please, tell me this is something cool,” she said quickly.
“Well, I thought you would be a good person to ask to help me with this, since you helped start this little side project,” Goro admitted, pulling out a card from a hidden pocket in his outfit.
Sakura immediately recognized it.
“Wait, the first card we made? You’ve been using it?” she asked, while Goro leaned against the wall.
“Yes, I realized that Niijima’s Shadow might try to stop us by arbitrarily changing the amount of coins we need. So I started to collect some on this card as insurance against that.”
“Well, that’s smart,” she said with a nod, as she flipped the card in her hand. “So what do you need me for?”
“Joker guessed right about my intentions. I’d rather not take the card with me to the battle arena where it can get stolen or damaged. And I didn’t want to tell everyone about this, because the less people know about it, the lower the chance Niijima’s Shadow will realize we have two cards. That’s why I want you to hold onto it and bet all the money on that card on me winning the fight.”
Sakura flashed a smile. Goro finished explaining how she was supposed to withdraw more money after the match so they could have as much money on their card as possible.
“Got it! I will make sure to keep it safe!” she promised, hiding the card.
“We should get back before someone gets too worried,” Goro said, as he started to walk back. Sakura was silent as she followed him.
Their return caused a small uproar.
“Are you okay, Oracle?” Niijima asked.
“Uhhh, sure. Why wouldn’t I be? Crow just wanted to discuss one thing,” she said. “It wasn’t anything bad and he had good reasons to want to talk with me in private.”
“Really?” Sakamoto asked, as if he couldn’t believe that Goro wasn’t filling his villain quota at every opportunity he got.
“Really, really. Nothing dastardly going on,” she assured.
That finally seemed to do the trick, making the team relax. As Goro started to walk towards the booth to apply as a challenger, Akira approached him.
“I will be watching you,” he whispered.
Goro could barely keep himself unaffected, as he saw Akira smirk meaningfully before walking away. Knowing that someone would be watching and honestly cheering him on was making Goro extremely excited.
He would do it, he decided. His own face split in a wide, feral grin.
Goro was an entertainer at heart and he would make sure to put on a very worthwhile show.
*
The arena surrounded by a fence, the raving crowd, the odds stacked against him—for the first time in a long while Goro felt like he was in his element.
It was this, this elation he always experienced when walking on the precipice. He could feel Loki buzzing excitedly in his mind, ready to tear into any foe foolish enough to face them.
“Now then, our gripping battle is finally here!” the announcer shouted. “One of the idiot members of the adult-defying thieves has come! Odds are 1.1 to the house, 23.0 to the Phantom Thieves!”
Goro smirked. Those were some great odds; if he wins, Oracle should collect quite a haul. It also meant that the game was definitely rigged, but that was fine. Goro had a lot experience in playing those.
“I just need to destroy it all,” he decided, his voice becoming thicker from the barely-contained bloodlust.
As the announcer finished his protracted introductions, an enemy spawned in the area.
Or rather enemies.
“Cheating right from the start? Are you that insecure about the results?!” he sneered, as he touched his mask. “Come, Robin!”
He didn’t need to use Loki. Not yet. Robin was better suited for taking out rabble like this.
“Mahamaon!” he called. He watched with satisfaction as one of the enemies perished in a flash of light, leaving Goro facing a lone opponent.
“Serves you right, trash!” he shouted, as the remaining Ganesh swung its club at him. Goro could only brace himself for the attack, blocking the brunt of it with his sword. He shifted his weight to escape from underneath the club.
As Goro regained his footing, he once more called on his persona.
“Kougaon!” he ordered, watching Ganesha stagger from the brunt of the light attack. It wasn’t enough to knock it off, but it was barely standing.
Goro charged towards it, reading his sword. Ganesh once more swung its club, but this time Goro easily dodged and slashed his enemy in retaliation.
Ganesha screeched before dissolving into smoke.
“Wow, he really can’t take a hint! The stupid Phantom Thief has won!” the announcer said, his voice sour.
“How weak do you think I am to fall down to those small fries?! They were so weak, I almost died from boredom! You would need to bring twenty before it actually presented some sort of challenge!” Goro shouted.
That seemed to shut up the announcer for a moment, while the crowd cheered. Goro spun the sword in his hand, just to rub in the salt even more.
“Don’t worry... all of you betting on the house, don’t worry,” the announcer said quickly, trying to sound reassuring. “The second round begins now.”
Five Rangda spawned in the arena.
Goro burst out laughing, his sneering voice audible despite the clamour the audience was making.
“You should have just killed yourself at the start, you know. This is far too easy.”
Rangda were tricky if you didn’t know about their ability to repel physical attacks, but at this point Goro encountered them a number of times. He knew exactly what their strengths and weaknesses were.
Goro considered once more using Mahamaon to lower the enemy numbers, but then he got a much more amusing idea.
He rushed forward as he touched his mask.
“Kougaon! Kougaon! Kougaon!” Before he even reached his enemies, three Rangda had already perished. One of the remaining two tried to lunge at Goro, but it dissolved from the fourth attack. Goro jumped through the smoke and cornered the final Rangda.
“Kougaon,” he said, mercilessly. The beast disappeared with a shriek as Robin Hood’s attack tore it apart.
Goro smiled at the public. He sure hoped they were enjoying the show. Goro thought of Akira watching him and smirked even wider.
“Bullshit! Why the hell aren’t you dying?! I bet on this!” the announcer complained, sounding like a spoiled brat.
“Come down here and face me, if you think killing me is that easy, you loser!” he shouted. The audience cheered, clearly enjoying the trash talk.
“Let’s see if you’ll keep that attitude until the end,” the announcer snarled. “Time for the final round!”
The biggest surprise was that this time it really was just one enemy.
One very big enemy.
“He’s huge!” a voice that sounded suspiciously like one of the Phantom Thieves reached him, but Goro didn’t have time to think about it.
Unlike the previous enemies, he had never encountered this one.
It looked strong with its huge frame and the giant hammer. It was like might personified—Goro somehow had no doubts that both its physical and magical attacks would be painful.
But even more than that…
Kill, kill, destroy, maim, shot, behead, stab, kill, kill…
Loki was more agitated than usual. Was the shadow he was facing also based in nordic mythology?
The enemy shouted loudly, as it raised its hammer, clearly charging its power.
“Kougaon!” Goro shouted, as Robin Hood executed its attack. There was no reaction that indicated a weakness to bless and Goro doubted an instant hit attack would work on the monster before him.
In which case there was no point in using Robin Hood in this fight, especially when Loki was showing even more bloodlust than usual.
“Come, Loki!” Goro called, as his outfit transformed into that of Black Mask.
Some people in the audience gasped, while others cheered seeing the transformation. Goro felt even more in his element now that he was donning the outfit he was more used to.
He expected the enemy to attack while he was changing, but the monster before him remained immobile. Its stance made it obvious that it was charging for a more powerful attack.
“Tetrakarn!” Goro ordered. Loki appeared, his laughter echoing through the arena and created a barrier around Goro. The enemy seemed to give Loki a hostile glance before bringing down its hammer. A powerful shockwave spread through the arena from the sheer power of the swing, aimed straight at Goro.
However, it was the shadow who roared in pain.
“He reflected the damage?!” the announcer shouted in disbelief, when the dust settled to reveal that Goro hadn’t been harmed. The barrier completely nullified the physical attack aimed at him.
“The game’s only starting,” Goro announced with a cruel smile. “Eigaon!”
The enemy staggered under the impact, but then reached its hand upwards.
A spell? Goro looked confused around, but there didn’t seem to have been any visible effect.
“Did it buff itself?” he muttered, taking some distance. Well, there was no reason to take an unnecessary risk. “Tetrakarn!”
He could feel that his reserves of magic were starting to run low. He smiled to himself. Now that was a battle. Sure, one-sided slaughter could be fun too, but Goro loved to prove himself against strong foes. The excitement of defeating such an enemy couldn’t be compared to anything.
Goro charged forward, confident in his defence and then—
Excruciating pain shot through Goro’s body. Static crackled in his ears, before he belatedly heard a deafening clap of thunder. His body fell limply forward from the sheer strength of the attack.
“Finally, he falls! Seriously, those thieves should know when to stop, am I right?!”
Goro ignored the background noise, as he forced himself to gather his strength. The attack was strong and Goro would be in trouble if it hit one more time, but that was a mistake he wasn’t likely to repeat. Next time he would set up the right barrier. Still—
“Hammer, thunder… I see, no wonder Loki is so lively today,” Goro muttered as he finally managed to stand up. The enemy hadn’t attacked him yet, instead it was charging another powerful magical attack.
Not finishing Goro when it had a chance would be its undoing.
Goro charged forward, closing the distance in a flash. The enemy seemed unprepared for the sudden change, clumsily blocking Goro’s attack with its giant hand.
“Desperation!” Goro shouted while using the momentum from his attack to launch himself into the air, flying right above the shadow. He could see it regain its stance and stretch its hand out, once more attempting to summon thunder.
If it hit, Goro would lose. The move he used just now severely weakened his defence in exchange for a powerful attack boost. Which also meant that if Goro was faster it would be his win.
Time seemed to slow. Goro could feel the static gathering in the air. The pressure of the incoming attack was almost unbearable, but Goro wouldn’t stop. Right here, right now, in this arena, nothing could stop him! He would be the winner!
“Laevatine!” he shouted, feeling Loki manifest behind him, his flaming sword raised ominously above the enemy. There was only one thing on both his and Loki’s mind at that moment.
“KILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!”
Loki swung his sword down, just as the enemy finished its spell.
A loud bang resounded through the arena, as both attacks hit at once. The shockwave made everyone in the audience block their faces to avoid being hit by a powerful gust of wind. Just for one second the result of the fight remained ambiguous.
And then the dust settled to reveal Goro, grinning widely, while one of his feet was firmly planted on the shoulder of his enemy.
“Hahahahahaha!” His laughter was full of joy and bloodlust. “Did you see that? I hope you had your fun, trash! Because this is the only show in this stupid casino that will ever be worth your money!”
Goro took the foot off the enemy. It still hadn’t dematerialized, probably hanging on its life with remains of its power.
Too bad there could be only one winner.
There was a sound of meat being cut off, as Goro’s lightsaber clearly cut off the opponent’s head. He quickly raised it, as it started to disappear, raising it as high as he could.
“I dedicate this victory to Joker! Did you enjoy the show, Leader?”
The loud applause that followed made Goro feel drunk.
As he felt the enemy’s head disintegrate in his hand and thought of praise he would get from the Joker, he could feel his pulse quicken with excitement.
He wished this moment of victory could last forever.
*
“What the hell was that?!” Sakamoto demanded, sounding like he wasn’t sure whether he should be angry or impressed.
“Me winning,” Goro said, not sure what Sakamoto’s problem was.
Sakamoto raised and lowered his hands as if he was struggling with words. Which definitely seemed to be the case.
“Why is your persona so effin powerful? This is practically cheating!” Sakamoto argued.
“Now, now. Crow only took part in this battle because Joker insisted,” Niijima pointed out. “Still, this was extremely reckless.”
“Oh, can it. Like Joker would be careful in my place. He would probably even add a backflip at the end just to look more impressive,” Goro said, accusingly.
Akira made a loud gasp.
“So that’s what was missing! Why didn’t you do a backflip?!” he said, faking indignation.
“I need to leave some signature moves for you, so you don’t start pouting,” Goro pointed out, but there was less snark than usual in his voice. The adrenaline was still pleasantly coursing through his body.
“Crow’s form has its distinct beauty. I think he’s right in pursuing it,” Kitagawa agreed.
“That was really cool,” Takamaki said, excitedly. “Especially that final move!”
“Yeah, though don’t ask me to use it often. It consumes a lot of magic,” Goro explained.
“Is that why you didn’t use it when fighting me?” Akira asked, once more sounding like a responsible leader.
“Yeah, if you dodged it, it would leave me wide open. So rather than risk it I focused on attacks that were more likely to hit,” he admitted. Akira nodded at that.
“Since we have enough coins to enter the Treasure Room, I propose we access it and then call it a day,” Niijima suggested, then she looked around as something occurred to her. “Where is Oracle?”
“Cooooming!” an enthusiastic voice called from behind them. They turned to see Sakura jogging towards them. “Sorry, I got caught in an argument with one of the NPCs in the audience.”
Everyone nodded, accepting the excuse at face value, but the discreet thumbsup that she gave to Goro suggested that she had completed her objective. Goro returned the gesture, which seemed to delight her.
Their group moved towards the passage leading to the Treasure. Goro looked at the giant balance which was taking most of the room, unable to push down the distaste. It reminded him a bit too much of the unnecessarily high class interior of Shido’s Palace.
Akira approached the machine and put the card inside of it.
“Authenticating the card… The required number of coins needed to activate the Bridge of Judgement is 100,000 coins,” the mechanical voice announced.
“We got that! Now let us through!” Sakamoto whined impatiently. Goro rolled his eyes.
“Oh my, it seems you worked hard to get so many coins,” a much less robotic voice said through the speaker. So Shadow Sae was closely monitoring their progress. As expected of Sae. She remained diligent even in her twisted form. “I never expected you would make it so far. I commend you on your effort.”
Her praise sounded fake, completely unlike the real Sae. Goro couldn’t wait for them to defeat this Shadow. Listening to her was just too frustrating.
“Bullshit!” Sakamoto hissed. It was probably the only time when Goro would find himself agreeing with him.
“However, you will never proceed to the manager’s floor ahead. You know why? Because from this moment forward, the amount of coins needed to cross the bridge will increase to 1,000,000 coins!” She laughed after the confirmation, as the electronic blip coming from the machine confirmed that the amount had been changed. The display on the screen confirmed her words.
“WHAT?!” Takamaki shouted in disbelief.
“That’s impossible!” Kitagawa said, his voice suggesting that the amount far exceeded his comprehension. Given how terrible he was at managing money, it was probably more than he could imagine.
“You finally understand? That’s the point! It was an impossible task from the beginning! Have fun gambling away your futures, kids! Because all that awaits you is despair! Only I will be victorious in this casino!”
The Phantom Thieves shouted several more protests. Akira was quiet. Goro smiled to himself; it was nice whenever his paranoia was validated. He glanced at Futaba; she was messing with her phone, but when she noticed his gaze, she nodded.
“Impossible? That’s not quite right. Didn’t you just say that as long as we have 1,000,000 coins, we can pass? That hardly sounds like an impossible task to me,” he said, stepping forward confidently.
“Wait, you know how to win that many?!” Sakamoto shouted, clearly perplexed. Sae went quiet, as did the majority of the thieves.
“I don’t just know. Please, do the honors, Oracle,” Goro called.
Oracle grinned, as she hit something on her phone. A drum roll began to play as she walked toward the console. She pulled out Goro’s card and pushed it into the machine.
“Card authorization complete. Your current total is 1,010,000. Do you wish to activate the Bridge of Judgement?”
“Hell yes!” Sakura shouted as she hit the button.
The coins started to spill onto the giant balance. Sakura exchanged a high five with Goro.
“Teamwork!” she shouted victoriously.
“Impossible… this can’t be…” Shadow Sae groaned, as the coins slowly but surely made the balance shift.
“Nothing is impossible if you work hard for it,” Goro replied with his pleasant voice. Shadow Sae made a frustrated noise in response.
“How did you do that, Oracle?” Kitagawa asked in awe.
“To be fair, I only joined for the final part. It was all Crow’s idea,” she admitted.
“Don’t sell yourself short, I only got the idea because you made two cards,” Goro said, feeling magnanimous.
“Anyway, Crow probably can’t wait to gloat about how smart he is to have figured this out, so I will let him take the stage to prove to everyone how much of a nerd he is,” Sakura said, puncturing Goro’s ego with a frightening precision. He gave her a look, but she just smirked at him. If Goro didn’t know better he would think she and Akira were an actual family, because their insufferableness was so similar it was hard to believe it wasn’t genetic.
He coughed into his hand and then started to explain his scheme with the second card. Everyone listened in impressed silence. It was Goro’s favourite kind of silence.
“It’s actually a little frightening how sharp you are, Crow. I’m glad you are on our side,” Morgana admitted. Goro beamed at him.
After that, their group crossed the now-lowered bridge to arrive at the room where the outline of Sae’s Treasure glittered on the pedestal.
The speaker crackled suddenly as they approached the pedestal.
“How uncouth of you to simply barge in here. Elegance is necessary for victory as well, you know. I provided you with so many entertaining games and you are still not satisfied. Very well, I’ve made preparations for that possibility. This will be a game of life and death from now on! No matter who I face, I shall not lose!”
With that final threat, Sae’s voice stopped transmitting through the speakers.
“Sis,” Niijima muttered, visibly uncomfortable. However, a moment later she regained herself and addressed everyone. “Our route is secured. All that’s left to do is send a calling card.”
“So sending a calling card will make the Treasure appear,” Goro said, looking at the strange glittering blob. If he hadn’t already seen such a blob turn into a Treasure in Okumura’s palace, he would probably assume the Phantom Thieves were pulling his leg.
“Yes, once the target is cognizant of danger, that cloudy thing will take a shape of their Treasure,” Morgana confirmed.
“How will that Treasure look?” Goro asked, unable to hold back his curiosity. Even though he had spent way more time raiding Palaces than the Phantom Thieves, this whole process was new to him. He had seen glimpses of it when he stalked them through Okumura’s Palace, but it was nice to hear about the process from the horse’s mouth.
“That depends on the person,” Takamaki chimed in. “For Kamoshida it was a medal. Madarame’s was a painting, and Kaneshiro’s was fake money.”
“Okumura’s was a plastic model,” Morgana added.
“I was the Treasure all along,” Sakura added, proudly.
“The most precious one we stole,” Akira agreed. Sakura grinned at him.
“So the Treasure is a thing that marked the beginning of the Palace ruler’s aspirations?” Goro asked, deciding to ignore the last part of the discussion. He would have all the time during the sleepless nights preceding Akira’s supposed execution to try to figure out how a person can become a Treasure.
“It could also be what caused their desires to swell,” Kitagawa added.
It made Goro wonder what Treasure would manifest for Sae.
What would be Shido’s? For a second he imagined a picture. An old framed picture that his mom kept of her and Shido. Goro didn’t get to keep it when he was taken to the orphanage, but he remembered it. He considered it for a second before completely dismissing the idea. It couldn’t be true. They were undesired. Shido’s only loves were power, wealth, and fame.
“I’m pretty sure… Sis’ Treasure is a police notebook,” Niijima said, answering the unspoken question.
“Your father’s?” Goro asked, remembering what he knew about the Niijima family.
“Yes,” Niijima confirmed. “She probably thinks Dad died because the police were using him. That’s why she believes that justice is meaningless, and that there’s no point in living a subservient life… His death was also what made her aspire to become a prosecutor and created her obsession with winning.”
Goro scoffed.
“Yet her obsession only led to her becoming a puppet for Shido and his cronies.”
Niijima glared at him, and for a second Goro feared she would actually smack him. Not that she had a chance winning in a one-on-one fight, but he had no doubts that getting socked by her would hurt like hell.
However, Niijima shook her head, as if ridding herself of her anger.
“I’m not going to excuse what she’s doing, but if the Treasure really is her notebook… Then everything she did… it would be because she loved Dad so much.”
Goro could feel an uncomfortable weight in his stomach as he thought on her words. A person driven to abandon justice due to their father disappearing from their life. No… It would be ridiculous to consider…
“I don’t blame her for going crazy. The law world is one giant battlefield where hopes and dreams about justice inevitably die.”
“You are certainly a prime example of that,” Niijima replied, unable to hide her sarcasm.
“My dreams died long before that, when I got acquainted with Japan’s foster care system. At least when it comes to working in criminal law you have some sort of a future,” Goro replied. “It might be shitty, but it’s a job where they pay you, and not some greedy family that will starve you because they only adopted you to rob you of the government-assigned money.”
The fight seemed to leave Niijima after that response. She seemed horrified to learn that.
Well, it probably wasn’t that surprising. She barely avoided getting acquainted with foster care herself, because her sister was old enough to take care of her.
“I think we should leave,” Akira decided, stepping in. “We are done here.”
Nobody argued with that assessment.
*
“So now we wait more than a week until we can send the calling card?” Takamaki asked as they rode the elevator.
“Yes, we must steal the Treasure on 19th November,” Goro confirmed.
“And what if we steal it earlier and completely avoid the trap?” Sakamoto asked.
“My guess is that Shido will frame some innocent student for being the Phantom Thieves’ leader and send yakuza to your doors to silence you,” Goro replied. Everyone gave him grim looks. “What? I don’t like the idea of having to pretend to blow Joker’s brains out, either. Unfortunately, it is our best bet to let him get captured and then pull him out of the lion's den so Shido falls into a false sense of security. If he has reasons to suspect Phantom Thieves are a threat, he won’t let his guard down.”
“He sounds like such a pain in the ass,” Sakamoto complained.
The loud ding signalled that the elevator had reached the lowest floor. As they left it, Goro realized that this would be a good chance.
“Actually, since it’s more than a week… Would you mind if I showed you Shido’s Palace sometime during the next few days?” he suggested.
“Wait, I thought only you and Akira would be doing that Palace,” Sakamoto muttered.
“The two of us will definitely be invading that Palace, but that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t use backup. That’s why I’m suggesting doing this before the Phantom Thieves are dissolved. I want to show that Palace to you so everyone can decide for themselves whether they want to take part or not. Since I’m recognized as Shido’s employee, I can show you around and you won’t even need to fight. Whether you decide to help us out or not after that will be up to you.”
“I think that sounds like a good idea,” Akira agreed.
“His Palace is a ship, right? I must say I am a bit interested in seeing it,” Takamaki admitted.
“It’s a cruise ship,” Goro specified.
“Okay, I definitely have to see it at least once. I never got to see one from up close,” she said, excited.
“We will decide on a date for that through the chat. For now, let’s get back,” Akira said, as he pulled out his phone. As he deactivated the Metaverse app, the world twisted back into the real one.
Everyone bid their goodbyes, leaving in small groups. If all of them left at once they would draw attention. Sakamoto and Takamaki left first. Then Niijima and Kitagawa. Goro, Akira, Sakura and Morgana were the last ones.
“Would you like me to walk you back?” Akira asked suddenly, tugging at his sleeve.
Goro blinked at him.
“What?”
“Do you want me to walk you home?” Akira repeated. It was… really sweet… Nobody his age ever offered to walk him home. And with Akira...
Goro pinched the bridge of his nose. No, he had to be strong against the temptation. If they ended up alone he might get caught in Akira’s pace again and make a mistake.
“It’s not a question of what I want. I can’t have anyone suspect my allegiance right now. I’m pretty sure I’m monitored at least to some extent,” Goro admitted. “If we make a mistake, I might not be able to save you.”
He could see Akira’s face fall.
“You are right, sorry. I don’t know why, but I suddenly felt worried about you,” Akira admitted.
“If that’s the case, I could go with him,” Morgana suggested, sticking his face out of Akira’s bag.
Goro wasn’t used to being worried about. It was an unfamiliar feeling.
“Thank you for the offer, but I promise I will be fine. I don’t need an escort,” he reassured them.
Nobody looked convinced, but at the same time, nobody argued with him. Goro threw them a hasty goodbye and then left.
Honestly, why were they even worried about him? He had a real gun hidden in his briefcase. If anyone tried to attack him, they would be the ones who would regret it. Shido would surely clean up any mess Goro caused right before such a big operation.
Goro shook his head. They were idiots, all of them. Stupid, caring idiots.
Despite that, Goro found himself hurrying home. As he left the metro station, he considered his route. He usually took a long route home so he could pass by the convenience store and buy himself dinner, but Akira pushed some leftovers on him while they were leaving the Palace, so he wasn’t in need of any food. Rather than that, he wanted to quickly return home.
There was a shortcut he had been regularly using a few months ago. It cut through small alleyways and a small, decrepit parking lot. It was a bit creepy, especially now after the sun had already set, but it would be the fastest route.
Goro nodded to himself as he dived into the labyrinth of small passageways between the buildings and alleyways. He ended up taking a wrong turn twice, but in the end he walked into the parking lot. Most of the cars in it looked like they hadn’t been used in years. Only a few of them looked like somebody was using them. Goro walked to the fence and then cursed as he realized that someone had repaired it. There used to be a huge hole in the fence that people used, but it wasn’t there anymore. Goro looked at the rest of the fence in hopes that there would be some other hole he could walk through, but it seemed the whole fence had been replaced.
Goro sighed, guess he won’t be able to use the shortcut. He will have to return and take the long route as usu—
The sound of footsteps made him stop halfway through the parking lot. Someone was coming from the only entrance to the parking lot. The figure was hidden in the shadows, but something about it felt familiar.
The person finally emerged from the alleyway. There were no lamps in the parking lot, but even then Goro recognized the person before him.
For a second he thought he had accidentally jumped into a Metaverse, because it was Haru Okumura wearing her Noir outfit and holding an axe in one hand. The weapon glistened ominously in the weak moonlight.
Goro wasn’t sure what to say. If he should say something. It was all just too bizarre. What was a heiress to a giant company doing, cosplaying in the old parking lot alone? How did she even end up here? It didn’t make sense. None of it made sense unless—
“I’m Beauty Thief,” the girl said as she purposefully moved forward. Goro found himself instinctively taking a step back.
Okumura narrowed her eyes as she raised her axe and pointed it at Goro. The world seemed to stop for a second as the two of them stared at each other, before Okumura broke the silence.
“I came here to kill you, Goro Akechi.”