#doing mental gymnastics to excuse not telling his team about his suspicious new favorite person

[bitterseaproduction]

I don’t know how much this lines up with canon, but I love interpreting Joker as noticing the pancake thing and consciously suspecting Akechi from Day 1, then slowly talking himself out of confronting it as he gets to know him.

Rank 1: “Hmm, this guy’s suspicious, but also interesting. I can humor him while I feel it out.”

Rank 2: “I mean, he clearly has to be that Black Mask guy Madarame mentioned since he can hear Mona, but what does that mean? What was he doing? He’s so hard to parse.”

Rank 3-4: “…He isn’t NECESSARILY this Black Mask person. Maybe he overheard something in Momentos. It’s more likely he found that place than some random palace, right? And was Kaneshiro even talking about the same person? If there are at least 2 parties in the Metaverse, why not 3?”

Rank 5-6: “So, he ISN’T the Black Mask, right? He isn’t… Except, he has to be. BUT, even if he IS, how do I KNOW he’s out to get us? Unless he does something UNDENIABLY suspicious, there’s no reason to assume the worst—”

Akechi lies at the festival: “…Well, shit.”