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i-w-p-chan · 7 years

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A Company of Three, Part 3

Fuyumi put her bag to the side and spread her school books and notebooks on the table in front of her.

She was seated at the table Akira had set up in Leblanc’s attic, waiting for Akechi’s arrival for their planned ‘study date’.

Akira was downstairs, preparing coffee for all three of them, and so Fuyumi took the chance to sigh forlornly and look around the attic in melancholy.

She didn’t need to look at her phone to or a calendar to check the date. It was the 16th of November, and their plan for Niijima Sae’s Palace was set to launch in a few days.

Fuyumi was dreading that day, the mere thought of it turning her body numb.

Their plan was risky and it put Akira in grave danger. In fact, if an unforeseen factor intruded, their plan could end up getting Akira killed. Fuyumi had no illusion as to why Akira called for a study date just for the three of them, and it warmed her as much as it tore at her that Akira wanted to spend some alone time with both Fuyumi and Akechi before she walked with her own two feet into the lion’s den.

Akechi didn’t know; it didn’t matter whether she suspected their group of being the Phantom Thieves of Hearts or not, she had no way of knowing what they were planning to do next.

(If something went wrong, Fuyumi was delegated the task of telling Akechi the truth. It made Fuyumi wish even more that nothing would go wrong with the plan.)

She snapped out of her thoughts and smoothed her expression when she heard the sound of footsteps climbing the stairs accompanied with quiet chatter. The first to appear at the stairs was Akira, somehow balancing three steaming cups of coffee in her hands, and behind her was Akechi, with a soft smile adorning her face.

The sight felt like a punch to Fuyumi’s gut.

“Kitagawa-chan,” Akechi greeted her, still with the same soft smile stretching her lips.

“Akechi-san.” Fuyumi inclined her head and gestured to the seat next to her, “Please, come sit here.”

Akechi didn’t even hesitate in complying and it made Fuyumi’s heart stutter in her chest.

After Akira put the cups down on the table, she turned to get a chair, but Fuyumi wasn’t having any of it.

“Akira,” She called out and beckoned her close. Akira quirked an eyebrow, but still walked over to Fuyumi, who grabbed her around the waist and tugged her to maneuver into the seat between her and Akechi before sliding closer to her, almost sandwiching her in the middle.

Akechi looked amused but she as well pressed herself closer to Akira, who muffled an amused laugh.

“Before we begin, Kitagawa-chan, there’s something I’d like to ask of you.”

“Hm?”

Akechi clasped her hands together in front of her and stared at them as if they were the most fascinating thing in the world (a statement Fuyumi was in agreement with), her cheeks coloring a faint shade of pink, “I was thinking, since you and Akira are already on first name basis, and so are both Akira and myself, I thought… would it be alright with you if I called you Fuyumi?”

Fuyumi blinked, ignoring the heat climbing up her neck, “Of course.”

Akechi’s smile widened and she turned o look at Fuyumi, “Well then, please call me Mitsuki, Fuyumi.”

Fuyumi chuckled, “Mitsuki,” She said, testing the name on her tongue and receiving a pleasing reaction from Mitsuki as the pink tinge to her cheeks darkened.

“I’m the luckiest girl on earth,” Akira murmured from her seat between them, the look in her eyes indecipherable, “I have the most gorgeous girlfriends in the world.”

Fuyumi let out a breathy laugh, “I can say the same thing.”

Mitsuki bashfully ducked her head, “And I agree with that.”

The pen fell from Mitsuki’s hand to the floor with a clatter, and she numbly scrambled to pick it up, her body going hot and cold as she heard the news about the leader of the Phantom Thieves committing suicide while in custody.

The announcer on the screen continued on, talking about the leader, “-a high school student-“ The screen shut off and Mitsuki turned to see officer Yamato holding the remote with a grumpy expression on her face.

“Great,” She groused, “Just… fucking great. Now we have teenagers in interrogation rooms somehow overpowering a fucking guard, stealing his gun and then shooting him before committing suicide? Fucking hell. And you!” Yamato turned to Mitsuki, “What the fuck is wrong with you, girlie? Snap out of it, we have a crime scene on our hands.” Yamato clasped a hand on Mitsuki’s shoulder and pulled her along, leaving the offices and heading in the direction of the crime scene, “What the ever loving fuck happened to you, miss speedster? I thought I’d find you already racing to the crime scene.”

After the two were out of earshot of any of the other officers, Yamato leaned close to hiss in her ear, “Listen here, ouji. We need you with your wits about you. I heard from keibu that there is pressure from the higher ups to close the case without looking into it, but he managed to wrangle them to accept letting the department do an investigation for the sake of appearances.” What Yamato said pushed Mitsuki’s brain into overdrive, and her teeth clenched at the reminder of the corruption festering in the police force; she had to fight down a sneer- if the higher ups were pushing to pass it off as suicide…

She squared her shoulders as she walked with purpose, heading to the interrogation rooms, next to her and matching her pace was Yamato with a satisfied gleam in her eyes, “Now this is more like it.”

“Well then, keiji, shall we?”

“We shall.”

The area around the crime scene was surprisingly devoid of personnel, even the door to the interrogation room wasn’t taped.

The atmosphere in the room weighed down on her as she entered, the malice combined with triumphant, smug glee permeated the room thickly enough that Mitsuki could taste it at the back of her tongue.

The first thing that grabbed her attention was the look of blood and tape indicating the position of the two corpses that were supposed to have been found in the room, “Did they clean up and hide the corpses?” Or had they switched rooms?

“Nope,” Yamato almost sang out, her eyes sharp as she leafed through the file in her hands, “Fun fact no. #1: after Niijima Sae left the place, and both before and after the crime scene was discovered, no one came around. While the homicide-suicide was reported, there is no record of who discovered the bodies.

“Fun fact no. #2: no one even touched the place before our team came to do a preliminary investigation. No sign of the corpses, blood, or any attempt to hide away the evidence. Look here.” Yamato handed Mitsuki a group of photos, which she looked through, a scowl forming on her forehead when she saw the photos of syringes discarded on the ground.

“These were taken in this room?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“That means this is the correct interrogation room and no one lied about the place at least,” Mitsuki murmured to herself, “Continue, officer.”

“Fun fact no. #3: the guard who was posted here around the time of the crime is actually still alive. Keibu is getting his testimony as we speak.

“Fun fact no. #4: there is no body in the morgue yet there is already a death certificate issued. And boy would the name on it piss you off.”

Yamato was right; the name did piss her off.

“You know what, keiji? I think the best way to respond to this bullshit is by faking another death certificate to counter the one already issued. It’s time I dirtied my hands, too.”

Yamato’s grin showed off way too may teeth, “I’ll call our coroner.”

“And I need to have a talk with Sae-san.”

Akira sagged against Fuyumi’s side for a moment before she stood straight on her own. The fight against Shido’s Shadow had been grueling and Akira couldn’t wait to get back to Leblanc.

Fuyumi wrapped a comforting arm around Akira’s shoulders, “You should go rest,” She murmured into Akira’s ear, “And then tomorrow we’ll met up again and go have a long, overdue talk with Mitsuki about this. She deserves to know.”

Akira nodded, “We’ll meet up tomorrow at Leblanc?”

“Yes.” Fuyumi pressed a kiss to Akira’s head before retracting her arm and turning to go on her way to Kosei’s dorms.

Futaba and Morgana took the chance to attach themselves to Akira, “Come on! Let’s go!” Futaba urged her, “Sojiro has curry waiting for us and I hunger!”

“Alright, alright.” Akira chuckled as she pulled Futaba with her to head to Leblanc, Morgana contentedly curled up inside her bag.

The sight that met them made their hearts stop in their chests.

“S-Sojiro?” Futaba called out, her wide eyes surveying the mess in the café, “Sojiro!”

Akira had half a mind to turn around and go- go where?

Her body turned cold, she didn’t know where to even begin looking.

The door to Leblanc opened and both Akira and Futaba whirled around to see Sojiro enter. Accompanied by Mitsuki.

Sojiro grumbled when he saw the mess, “Did they have to go this far?”

Mitsuki sighed, “It’s rather tasteless.”

“Sojiro!” Futaba flung herself at Sojiro, who blinked in shock as he grabbed her.

“Akira,” Mitsuki whispered as she strode towards Akira before she grabbed her from the front of her clothes and pulled her into a messy kiss, “Don’t you dare do something like this again,” Mitsuki hissed, her face within an inch of Akira’s. Akira had to admit: the angry look on Mitsuki’s face was hot as hell.

“Yeah, Fuyumi had a similar reaction.”

Mitsuki sighed and slumped against Akira, “You’re going to be the death of me someday.”

“Let’s just hope that day would be far, far away.” Akira brought her hand to card through Mitsuki’s bangs, “I’m greedy and I want your company for more to come.”

Mitsuki chuckled lowly before she pulled away slightly to get her phone out, “I need to talk to Fuyumi.”

Akira pressed a kiss to Mitsuki’s cheek, “You should. She’d been worried about why you haven’t contacted her during these past couple of weeks.”

Mitsuki poked her gently in the side, almost causing her to wince, “And you should go rest, I heard from Sae-san what they did to you.”

“I’ll go with you,” Was what Mitsuki said to the Thieves after they decided to descend into the Depths of Mementos to steal the collective Treasure of the entire public.

Fuyumi pressed her lips together and frowned, “Mitsuki-“

“I know I can’t accompany you all the way, but please, at least let me go with you to the station?” Mitsuki looked at them with a stubborn set to her jaw.

“Alright,” Akira said, “But only to the station.”

And so, Mitsuki accompanied them to Shibuya’s train station, sending them all off with a ‘good luck’ before she turned around and left.

It was minutes later that Akira finally pulled up the MetaNav on her phone and activated it.

The Thieves all gave a collective sigh of relief when they were assured that Mitsuki had been too far to pull in accidentally with them.

“Let’s go.”

Fox had never entertained the idea of meeting Mitsuki’s Shadow self, let alone meet her in the Depths of Mementos.

A part of her felt that it should have been a natural thought- everyone had their own Shadows, after all, but it never crossed her mind before.

And yet here the Phantom Thieves were, standing face to face with Shadow Mitsuki.

“I’ve been expecting you,” Shadow Mitsuki said. And Fox found it intriguing how Shadow Mitsuki didn’t act differently from Mitsuki.

“You… have?” Noir asked hesitantly.

“Yes.” Shadow Mitsuki nodded, “My conscious self is aware of it, so it is only natural that I am as well.”

“That makes sense,” Queen said, “But, why are you here?”

“To guide you to where you’re headed,” Shadow Mitsuki replied, “You’re looking for the Treasure hidden in Mementos’ core. I can take you there.”

“You can?” Panther blinked in shock.

“Yes. I’ve been exploring this place for a couple of years now, so I know my way around. In fact…” Shadow Mitsuki trailed off and looked at Mona, “It won’t be my first time guiding someone. Even though it would be my first time guiding someone going inside instead of guiding them out.”

Mona’s eyes widened, “I… I remember you… We’ve met here. I…” Mona pressed a paw to his head.

“Don’t rush it,” Shadow Mitsuki sad, “The memories will come back on their own. And now, shall we?”

Shadow Mitsuki guided them like promised, even though she declined continuing the last leg of the journey.

“Whatever the Treasure is, I don’t like it, and I’d rather not spend any time in its presence more than I have to. Take care in there.” With that said, she pointed them towards the path that led to the Treasure.

Fox clenched her fist around the handle of her katana; it was their final heist, their last Treasure. Whatever came afterward, they would be prepared for it.

They… were not prepared for it.

Fuyumi stared blankly ahead of her where she stood in Shibuya along with the rest of the thieves, who were staring around them, uncomprehending.

“You’re back!” Mitsuki’s voice reached them and they turned to see her hurry towards them, “How did- I take it didn’t go as planned…”

Akira pressed her lips together in frustration.

“I don’t get it,” Makoto said, “Just what did the Grail do? Was it… Was it useless? Is there something else we should have done?”

That was when Futaba cried out in pain, clutching her head as she hunched over.

“Futaba-chan?” Ann called out before she cried out in pain as well.

The rest of the Thieves seemed to be struck with the same piercing headache, and Fuyumi raised a trembling hand to her forehead, tears gathering in her eyes from the pain. She could hear the rest of the Thieves’ pained and strained voices, among them was Mitsuki’s panicked voice.

“What’s… what’s going on? Should I call for a med-“ Mitsuki inhaled sharply then, cutting herself off, “Oh my god! Sakura-chan!”

Fuyumi turned her head to look in Futaba’s direction and fear gripped her heart and squeezed it tightly.

Futaba was… Futaba was disappearing, her body fading out of existence until she was no more.

Horror spread among the Thieves at the sight, magnified by seeing parts of their bodies fading out as well.

Fuyumi could barely focus on what was happening as she stared blankly at her arms, or rather, the faint images of her arms.

“Fuyumi! Stay with me!” Mitsuki’s terrified voice snapped her out of her daze and she looked at her.

The terror-stricken look on Mitsuki’s face sent a jolt through her body, “Mitsu-!”

With a snap, Fuyumi’s awareness vanished.

“FUYU-!”

End

Sorrynotsorry :D

#persona 5 #p5 #shuakekita #akechi goro #kurusu akira #kitagawa yusuke #sakura futaba #sakura sojiro #takamaki ann #niijima makoto #p5 morgana #morgana #a company of three

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