Chapter Text
04/12
One Day Ago – Kitagawa Residence
Despite the house being in shambles on the inside, it wasn’t barred from living in. Yusuke Kitagawa’s kidnapping was sudden. There were no warnings or anything predicting what would happen. The police searched for hours for any piece of evidence as to where Yusuke went or who even took him for that matter. One person wasn’t willing to give up their search for the artist however.
“Damnit Inari, where did you go?” a woman with orange bangs and circle glasses is searching on a computer for anything that could give her the answers needed to locate Yusuke.
“Can’t even track your phone because you dropped it. I don’t see anything on the radar. There were no strange figures on the cameras in the exhibit. This is why I wanted to get security cameras for the house! But noooooo, you wanted to spend our money on some ugly shade of green. This is ALSO why I told you to not go talk shit about that cult on a public broadcast. You practically CALLED THEM OUT Inari! Ugh. Get it together. You’re Futaba Sakura. With an electronic device, you’re unstoppable!”
Futaba Sakura at one point used to be nothing more than a guilt-ridden hermit with social issues. She refused to open her door to anyone, even her own dad. It was her encounter with the Phantom Thieves that changed her forever. She gained a more positive outlook on life and finally made friends. She herself would become a Phantom Thief. However, there was one person in the Phantom Thieves that Futaba bonded with more than the leader himself. That was Yusuke. Both were dense about the feelings of love before Futaba confronted the Fox of the Phantom Thieves years after the events in Tokyo about her feelings. The amount of relief she felt when Yusuke admitted to feeling the same way was indescribable.
But now, she couldn’t find him anywhere even with the skills she had on a computer. It was helpless. In a rare occasion, Futaba felt frustration and hopelessness crawl into her mind again from being powerless.
“DAMNIT!” The red head screamed as she threw her laptop across the kitchen. “It’s no use. He’s basically wiped from the map. It’s as if he’s in another dimension.”
“May I make a suggestion?” A voice came from Futaba’s phone, startling her.
“AGH!” She shouted. “Sophia! Stop deciding to enter a conversation to startle people! Hmph!”
Sophia became the companion of the Phantom Thieves years after their encounter with the rogue AI known as EMMA. She’s a private app however, only present on the devices of the Phantom Thieves. It was Sophia herself who suggested this, as she learned of the corruption humanity can partake in, and only wanted to be its companion. Her suggestion was to only install her as a chip in the phones of each Phantom Thief member. That way she could assist the Phantom Thieves with their needs and not worry about being used by others for twisted desires.
“Why don’t you use the distortion detector on your computer? You said yourself it was like Yusuke-san was in another dimension. What if he actually is?”
Futaba’s eyes lit up. “Another dimension…THAT’S IT! He’s in the Metaverse! That’s gotta be it! Thanks a bunch Sophie! You da best!” Futaba became excited again, speaking in the demeanor of a child despite being an adult at this point.
“I am humanity’s companion. It is simply my job.” Sophia replied.
Futaba created a software specifically for detecting distortions in locations of Japan. If the public’s desires were strong enough in a location, a public cognition would be created. The software would detect this and establish the location as a possible Metaverse location. The events regarding the Monarchs and EMMA left the Phantom Thieves paranoid. No matter what they did, shadows would always exist.
She grabbed her computer and began to run the software. She would have to find a word that described the desires of the public within Hokkaido.
“Okay let’s see. What word would the desires of the public be summed up as? Perhaps rumors?”
No Match Detected
“What about the Afterlife? That elevator rumor showed up in an article recently.”
No Match Detected
“Crap. Okay think Futaba, THINK. With the recent kidnappings and with that cult running around, mixed with the elevator rumor, the city’s sounding pretty chaotic…Is it Chaos?”
Match Detected, Distortion Linked
Futaba jumped up from the chair she was sitting in.
“It’s another world! YES! That’s gotta be where Inari is!”
Sophie decided to chime in again out of concern.
“Futaba-san, this isn’t the Metaverse…”
“Huh? What do you mean? It showed up on the radar.”
“I’m getting signals from the location. It’s…dark. There’s something very wrong with it.”
“Does it have a name? Normally the cognitions we explore have titles. What’s it called?”
“It’s the Latin phrase Terra Chaos. It means “The Land of Chaos”.”
“Spooky.” Futaba said in a joking matter. Her best friend might be in there, but she still tended to shed light on most situations.
“I would advise contacting the others before engaging. You are not equipped to properly fight shadows Futaba-san.”
The red head groans “I knoooow. Who would even be able to show up? Even with Inari possibly in danger they all have their lives. Their busy and all that.”
“Futaba-san, you know Ren-san would stop “being busy” for matters such as this. He and Meowgana would certainly make it.” Sophia reassured Futaba.
“You’re right. Friends come first. I’ll call em.”
“Have patience Futaba-san. We’ll save Fox.”
“Damn straight.” Futaba replied before calling someone she considers the big brother she wishes she had growing up.
Tokyo – Okumura Food Headquarters
The Same Day
A tall, slim, young adult in a blazer and jeans with a taper fade haircut and glasses is waiting in the lobby of Okumura Food Headquarters to discuss his status with a product he is helping establish within the company. For the past five years, Okumura Foods has began to expand greatly outside of Japan, especially in their coffee brand.
“Okumura-san will see you now Amamiya-san.”
The man nods and walks through the halls of the building before making it to the head office of the owner of Okumura foods. Haru Okumura.
“Ren-san! It’s always a pleasure seeing you!”
“Likewise, Haru-san. How’s the sales for the new batch of seeds going?”
Ren Amamiya. The leader of the notorious Phantom Thieves. Also known as Joker. Ren had finally settled down after various Phantom Thieve requests. He was tired and wanted to live his life without having to worry about the Metaverse. Part of this was due to the lack of requests for the past seven years as well. He was now an employee at Okumura Foods, or rather a lead at the company alongside Haru Okumura, another member of the Phantom Thieves, or known as Noir.
“They’re going wonderful! Please have a seat, we need to discuss your progress on the coffee branch.”
Ren sat down in the chair in front of Haru’s desk and noticed two pictures on her desk she always had. One with all the Phantom Thieves and one with her father.
“Progress is going smoothly. We managed to figure out which seeds needed different ways of preparation and what goes well with each of them Once we get the ingredients precise, we should be able to start establishing the flavors for the coffee. I also hope that we can ship it as a preparation kit for customers to make themselves as well as in bottles.”
Haru nodded and grinned. “Excellent. That should help our sales tremendously! Thanks again Ren-san. I’m still surprised you accepted the offer years ago. I didn’t think you’d say yes to help establish a coffee brand within the company.”
“Anything to get Sojiro’s recipes out there. The man deserves praise. It’s the least I could do for the time he spent taking care of me.”
“Always thinking about others before yourself.” Haru chuckled “That’s what’s special about you Ren-san, you’re always putting your friends first. I imagine that’s what Makoto-san loves about you as well.”
“You could say that again.”
“How is she by the way?” Haru asked Ren.
"She's been doing alright. Just some days are more stressful than others for her. Being assigned to Shibuya of all places will do that to you. She's tough though, so she keeps telling me it's a "walk in the park" and such. I do worry for her sometimes, but I know she can handle herself. She wouldn't be part of the police if she couldn't"
"Absolutely! Tell Makoto I said Hi." Haru was smiling.
"I will. Thanks for asking about us Haru."
"Of course. Well that about wraps up everything I wanted to discuss. Is there anything else-
Ren’s phone began to ring before she could finish her sentence. He looked at the contact and was confused.
“Hmm. It’s Futaba. What could she want right now?”
He answers her call and she is straight forward and to the point.
“Hey Futaba, what’s-
“Ren! There’s a distortion over here in Hokkaido! It’s huge! Like nothing I’ve seen in my life! It’s like an open world from a game!”
“Whoa whoa whoa slow down. Okay we have another distortion. What’s up with it?”
Haru looks up after hearing the word distortion. She knew this wasn’t good.
“It’s corruption level is shooting up to the sky. The shadows here feel angry. Demonic even. But…that’s not all.”
“Futaba, what’s wrong?”
“Yusuke…has been kidnapped.”
Ren almost dropped his phone as his heart sank. No…
“Do you know where he went? What happened Futaba?”
“I don’t know what happened! All I know is he is in that world. They must’ve taken him there.”
Ren looked down and sighed. He knew the Phantom Thieves were all at points in their lives where they couldn’t just drop everything to be a Phantom Thief. But this was Yusuke, one of them. Their friend.
“Alright, I’ll be there by Tuesday. I don’t know who all will be able to come but we’ll save him.”
Futaba cheered “Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! Okay I’ll see you then bye!”
She hung up.
He looks up at Haru, whose eyes look determined and cold.
“I’m coming too. I’m sure Kenshi-san can run the company for a couple of days.
“Thank you Haru. I’ll get Morgana and we’ll head out to Hokkaido. I’ll let Makoto know we’re going on a business trip. She already has to deal with the crime in this city. I don’t want her to stress over anything else.”
04/13 - Elsewhere
Inaba, Shopping District
“You looked like you needed this.” An older man wearing grey button up and a red tie handed a bottle of water to a younger police officer with brown hair in a bowl-shaped cut with the sides and back slightly longer than the front.
“Thank you Dojima-san. Augh I’m starting to understand why you get cranky at times. These people sometimes make me wanna tear my hear out!”
The old man started to laugh. “But that’s the special part about it. They may be annoying people. But they’re your annoying people. That’s your duty as an officer Hanamura, to protect everyone in this town, even the assholes.”
Chie began to laugh. Chie Hanamura had been a police officer for eight years at that point. It was part of the promise she made to Yu Narukami to protect the people of Inaba. Over time she became good friends with Ryotaro Dojima, now Inaba’s Police Commissioner, and Narukami’s uncle. She saw him as a great mentor to have on the force.
“Now that you’ve lightened up, you mind telling me where my nephew and Yosuke-san went?”
“Yu went to some place called Hokkaido to do a story on that weird cult with dog masks. He asked Yosuke to tag along so he wouldn’t be by himself in that big city.”
“I still can’t believe you and Yosuke managed to hit it off so well. You two were practically sworn enemies and now you two have been married for God knows how long now.”
Chie chuckled. “Yu told me when he and Kanji-san learned we were dating, they thought it was a sign of the apocalypse. But hey, feelings change with time and overtime we started to like one another some more.”
It was a pairing none of the Investigation Team saw coming. Yosuke Hanamura was a pervy, rude, and cocky transfer student from the city when he met Chie Satonaka. The two became rivals. There wasn’t a day where they didn’t argue about something, or Chie didn’t try to beat up Yosuke. But overtime after Yu left back in 2012. Something strange happened to Chie and Yosuke. They stopped fighting. Sure, they still had petty arguments every now and then, but they were talking to each other like normal people would. They were getting along. When Chie began to have feelings for Yosuke, she tried her best to deny them. Her? Falling for Yosuke? It was a myth, or so she thought. One day during their time as third years, Chie began to be picked on for her looks and her hobbies. It was hard for her. Yosuke noticed the boys that were picking on her talking about her again as they were leaving class. The things they said began to make Yosuke’s blood boil. He snapped at them and came to Chie’s defense. The boy didn’t realize what he was saying before it was too late. He had practically confessed his feelings for the tomboy. She heard the entire thing, and the rest is history. Chie doesn’t know why she loves that dork so much, all that matters to her is that she does.
“Well as long as you’re happy Officer Hanamura, then I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about.” Dojima responded as he noticed it got awfully quiet for around thirty seconds.
Chie’s phone began to ring as Dojima began to walk away, she noticed who was calling him. It was Narukami.
Yu? Yosuke hasn’t called in hours. Is everything alright?
The officer then answered the phone.
“Yo! Narukami! How’s it going? Is Yosuke with you? The dork hasn’t called me in a while. Wait why am I asking the questions, you’re the one who called. What’s up?”
“Chie. I need you to listen to me and I need you to not freak out or do anything to draw attention to yourself. Yosuke has been kidnapped.”
Everything around the tomboy stopped. All she could hear was Yosuke’s voice. For the first time in a long time, she got scared.
But she knew if Yu was telling her to do something, it was serious. Being an officer for years helped her emotional outbursts more than she likes to admit.
“Wh-What do you mean kidnapped?”
“This is my fault. I’m so sorry. I got caught up in trying to gather information on the Hounds of Chaos for my journal. I got too close. They followed me back to the hotel we were staying at and knocked me out. I don’t know why they decided to take Yosuke instead of me.”
“Save the apologies Narukami! I’ll be pissed at you later! What can we do about it?”
“It’s what I need you to do about it. Come to Hokkaido, specifically Sapporo. I know where Yosuke’s located.”
“Really? Where?”
“The cult talks about the elevator being their gateway to Chaos. Turns out they’re right. Chie, it’s like the TV World. I sensed Yosuke when I went there. I need your help.”
Chie relents but remembers her husband’s life is on the line.
“Okay, I’ll be there in a couple of days. Should I get Yukiko?”
“NO!” Yu shouted. “Chie these people are more dangerous than the public realize, I can’t risk them tracking her back here. They could put their hands on Kenta.”
“Okay okay! Sorry for asking. I’ll be there. Afterwards we’re saving Yosuke. Got it?!”
“Damn right we are. I’ll be waiting. Stay safe Officer.” Yu hangs up.
Chie walks up to Dojima. “Excuse me Dojima-san.”
The commissioner looks up “Yeah? Something up?”
“I’m gonna need a couple days off.”