p class="MsoNormal"Sae Nijima let out a sigh as she looked down at the phone of the leader of the Phantom Thieves. Just what the hell had these kids gotten themselves wrapped up in? Tonight had just been one crazy revelation after another with the thieves leader's, Akira Kurusu, crazy testimony about how they managed to steal their targets' desires by using a world created by people's cognition. As well has her sister apparently being a member of said group, Goro Akechi somehow being the perpetrator behind the Mental Shutdowns and Psychotic Breakdowns, that there was a talking cat who could turn into a bus for some reason, and that now the said thieves needed her help since if she didn't cooperate it would cost their leader his life. As much trouble as the group of thieves had caused her the last several months, she certainly did not want any of them to die. They were all still just kids after all./p
p class="MsoNormal"Trying to push everything she had learned over the past couple of hours to the back of her mind, Sae scanned back over the messages she had received via Akira's phone through someone named Alibaba…? She was just going to ignore that for now and hope to get a proper explanation later since there were more pressing matters at hand. She had already shown Akechi the leader's phone, for whatever that did, so she now cautiously made her way back to the interrogation room. Upon arriving, she saw the guard that was stationed at the door earlier still standing there back straight with his hands behind his back. However, he didn't seem to be paying attention as he kept looking around and didn't even notice Sae until she was only a couple of feet away./p
p class="MsoNormal""Ah, Nijima-san," the guard greeted after finally spotting her. "Is something the matter? I thought you were finished with your interrogation."/p
p class="MsoNormal""No, everything is fine for now," Sae replied, "However, has anyone else shown up tonight after I left?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Um, no not anyone I can recall," the guard answered a bit confused./p
p class="MsoNormal""I see…" Sae half mumbled to herself. Despite Akechi having headed this way earlier it seems he never arrived so Akira should've avoided any confrontation with him, which was good especially if Akechi was one of the ones behind the Mental Shutdowns. Though how exactly she beat him here was beyond her…/p
p class="MsoNormal""Uh Nijima-san?" The guard asked interrupting Sae's thoughts, "Are you sure everything's alright?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Hm, I'm afraid it isn't actually," Sae said returning her attention back to the task at hand, "In fact I believe your very life may be in danger."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Upon hearing this the guard stared at her incredulously believing her to be joking at first, but after seeing her serious expression his initial thoughts seemed less than accurate. "Are you being serious here Nijima-san?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""I wouldn't lie about a something like this," Sae replied sternly while smiling internally to herself as it appeared that she got the guard to believe her. She needed a way to get a rid of the guard and this was the fastest thing she could think of, though she wasn't necessarily lying about his life being in danger. If Akechi really was the true culprit, he most likely wouldn't think twice about disposing of someone who would witness the death of his next potential victim. "I'd probably go into hiding for the next couple of days if I were you, no make that the next couple of weeks just to be safe. I'm still unclear of all the details, but it'd be best to avoid this group at all costs if you can."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I- yes…! But what about...!" The guard stuttered slightly directing his gaze to the interrogation room door./p
p class="MsoNormal""Don't worry, I'll make sure everything is taken care of," Sae assured him, hoping the guard would finally take the opportunity to leave./p
p class="MsoNormal""I-yes of course! Thank you Nijima-san!" The guard quickly bowed and hurriedly walked down the hallway with panic written all over his face. Sae waited a full minute after the guard was out of sight before letting out the breath she had been holding. She took one more careful glance down the hallway before turning the lock on the door and slowly pushing it open. Taking a quick look around, nothing appeared to have changed from when she was last in there. The table, the two chairs, the syringe discarded haphazardly on the floor, and the beaten figure of Akira Kurusu sitting slouched in his chair looking half-awake staring down at his bruised wrist. He didn't seem to notice her come in so she slowly made her way over to him and lightly shook his shoulder. "Kurusu-kun, are you still awake?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"It took a moment for him to respond and even then he didn't seem completely coherent. "Hm, Nijima-san?" He blearily looked up to the prosecutor standing at his side, "I'm assuming you being here means we got through to you?" He asked with a cocky grin on his face, though it seemed to waver a bit due to the exhausted look in his eyes./p
p class="MsoNormal""Something like that," Sae stated seriously not wanting to waste any more time than they already had, "Think you can stand?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""I should be able to…" Akira answered slowly as he cautiously pushed himself up from his seat despite it looking painful do so as he kept trying to suppress the grimace that threatened to form on his bruised face. He eventually managed to stand up, only to immediately fall over. Luckily, Sae was fast enough to catch him by his arm before he collided with the ground. "Easy there," Sae said trying to pull Akira back up into a standing position as carefully as possible, "You don't want to irritate your bruises more than you already have."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Right…" Akira blearily responded as he tried to stand up again along with her, only to almost fall over one more. Sae sighed. She then draped his arm over her shoulder as best as she could, given their height difference, so she could support some of his weight. "Is this better?" she asked./p
p class="MsoNormal""Yes… Thank you…" Akira replied looking away slightly embarrassed that he was having to rely on someone he only really got to know that night to just walk down the hallway, though given the current situation there wasn't anything he could do about it. "Sorry, it's just that my leg doesn't seem to want to work right now," he let out a forced chuckle in an attempt to lighten the mood. Though, it didn't do much as Sae could easily guess why his leg didn't want to work and instead decided to just silently lead him down the hallway as quickly as his bad leg allowed him. He was putting little to no weight on his right leg. Sae tried to support that side of him to the best of her ability, hoping it would help them move a little faster. Eventually, after about 10 minutes -even though it felt like several hours- of painfully trudging down hallways, up fire escapes and peering around corners, they successfully made it outside into the frigid November night. However, not wanting to risk Akira being seen, Sae cautiously moved him over to an alleyway and carefully leaned him up against a wall, and he was thankfully able to support his own weight against it./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm going to call a taxi," Sae stated pulling out her cell phone, "Just try to at least stay awake until I can get you home." Akira gave a small nod in response, trembling a bit as he tried his best to keep himself upright against the wall. Any strength he had to stay awake was quickly fading as he felt himself slide lower and lower down the wall. Noticing this Sae helped lower him to the ground as gently as she could having him sit on the ground with his back leaning against the wall. Akira gave a small nod as thanks while attempting to keep his eyes from shutting. They wait silently like that hoping the taxi will arrive soon, with Sae continuously looking around to make sure that there are no unwanted onlookers present. Once the cab makes its long-awaited arrival, Sae cautiously lifts Akira off the ground and guides him over to the vehicle. The action gets an odd look from the driver, but they decide it's better to look away and stay silent as Sae and Akira get into the back seat. Sae quickly gives the driver Leblanc's address once they enter the vehicle and they all drive off silently into the night./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"uAuthor Notes:/u/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Hey everyone, hoped you enjoyed what there is of the story so far. This is my first time posting fanfiction online so here's hoping it goes well. This mostly happened due a combination of boredom and trying work on my writing skills for some personal projects in the future. As well as me being a sucker for angst, because Atlus just gave everyone a gold mine over here with that part of the game. I'm sorry protag but you're going to suffer… again… Anyway, I'm not sure how long this story will be. Probably won't be too long, but who knows, I made get carried away and write way more than anyone ever needed hahaha… Well thank you to anyone that read this and I hope you'll look forward to more!/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"Trying to push everything she had learned over the past couple of hours to the back of her mind, Sae scanned back over the messages she had received via Akira's phone through someone named Alibaba…? She was just going to ignore that for now and hope to get a proper explanation later since there were more pressing matters at hand. She had already shown Akechi the leader's phone, for whatever that did, so she now cautiously made her way back to the interrogation room. Upon arriving, she saw the guard that was stationed at the door earlier still standing there back straight with his hands behind his back. However, he didn't seem to be paying attention as he kept looking around and didn't even notice Sae until she was only a couple of feet away./p
p class="MsoNormal""Ah, Nijima-san," the guard greeted after finally spotting her. "Is something the matter? I thought you were finished with your interrogation."/p
p class="MsoNormal""No, everything is fine for now," Sae replied, "However, has anyone else shown up tonight after I left?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Um, no not anyone I can recall," the guard answered a bit confused./p
p class="MsoNormal""I see…" Sae half mumbled to herself. Despite Akechi having headed this way earlier it seems he never arrived so Akira should've avoided any confrontation with him, which was good especially if Akechi was one of the ones behind the Mental Shutdowns. Though how exactly she beat him here was beyond her…/p
p class="MsoNormal""Uh Nijima-san?" The guard asked interrupting Sae's thoughts, "Are you sure everything's alright?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Hm, I'm afraid it isn't actually," Sae said returning her attention back to the task at hand, "In fact I believe your very life may be in danger."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Upon hearing this the guard stared at her incredulously believing her to be joking at first, but after seeing her serious expression his initial thoughts seemed less than accurate. "Are you being serious here Nijima-san?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""I wouldn't lie about a something like this," Sae replied sternly while smiling internally to herself as it appeared that she got the guard to believe her. She needed a way to get a rid of the guard and this was the fastest thing she could think of, though she wasn't necessarily lying about his life being in danger. If Akechi really was the true culprit, he most likely wouldn't think twice about disposing of someone who would witness the death of his next potential victim. "I'd probably go into hiding for the next couple of days if I were you, no make that the next couple of weeks just to be safe. I'm still unclear of all the details, but it'd be best to avoid this group at all costs if you can."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I- yes…! But what about...!" The guard stuttered slightly directing his gaze to the interrogation room door./p
p class="MsoNormal""Don't worry, I'll make sure everything is taken care of," Sae assured him, hoping the guard would finally take the opportunity to leave./p
p class="MsoNormal""I-yes of course! Thank you Nijima-san!" The guard quickly bowed and hurriedly walked down the hallway with panic written all over his face. Sae waited a full minute after the guard was out of sight before letting out the breath she had been holding. She took one more careful glance down the hallway before turning the lock on the door and slowly pushing it open. Taking a quick look around, nothing appeared to have changed from when she was last in there. The table, the two chairs, the syringe discarded haphazardly on the floor, and the beaten figure of Akira Kurusu sitting slouched in his chair looking half-awake staring down at his bruised wrist. He didn't seem to notice her come in so she slowly made her way over to him and lightly shook his shoulder. "Kurusu-kun, are you still awake?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"It took a moment for him to respond and even then he didn't seem completely coherent. "Hm, Nijima-san?" He blearily looked up to the prosecutor standing at his side, "I'm assuming you being here means we got through to you?" He asked with a cocky grin on his face, though it seemed to waver a bit due to the exhausted look in his eyes./p
p class="MsoNormal""Something like that," Sae stated seriously not wanting to waste any more time than they already had, "Think you can stand?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""I should be able to…" Akira answered slowly as he cautiously pushed himself up from his seat despite it looking painful do so as he kept trying to suppress the grimace that threatened to form on his bruised face. He eventually managed to stand up, only to immediately fall over. Luckily, Sae was fast enough to catch him by his arm before he collided with the ground. "Easy there," Sae said trying to pull Akira back up into a standing position as carefully as possible, "You don't want to irritate your bruises more than you already have."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Right…" Akira blearily responded as he tried to stand up again along with her, only to almost fall over one more. Sae sighed. She then draped his arm over her shoulder as best as she could, given their height difference, so she could support some of his weight. "Is this better?" she asked./p
p class="MsoNormal""Yes… Thank you…" Akira replied looking away slightly embarrassed that he was having to rely on someone he only really got to know that night to just walk down the hallway, though given the current situation there wasn't anything he could do about it. "Sorry, it's just that my leg doesn't seem to want to work right now," he let out a forced chuckle in an attempt to lighten the mood. Though, it didn't do much as Sae could easily guess why his leg didn't want to work and instead decided to just silently lead him down the hallway as quickly as his bad leg allowed him. He was putting little to no weight on his right leg. Sae tried to support that side of him to the best of her ability, hoping it would help them move a little faster. Eventually, after about 10 minutes -even though it felt like several hours- of painfully trudging down hallways, up fire escapes and peering around corners, they successfully made it outside into the frigid November night. However, not wanting to risk Akira being seen, Sae cautiously moved him over to an alleyway and carefully leaned him up against a wall, and he was thankfully able to support his own weight against it./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm going to call a taxi," Sae stated pulling out her cell phone, "Just try to at least stay awake until I can get you home." Akira gave a small nod in response, trembling a bit as he tried his best to keep himself upright against the wall. Any strength he had to stay awake was quickly fading as he felt himself slide lower and lower down the wall. Noticing this Sae helped lower him to the ground as gently as she could having him sit on the ground with his back leaning against the wall. Akira gave a small nod as thanks while attempting to keep his eyes from shutting. They wait silently like that hoping the taxi will arrive soon, with Sae continuously looking around to make sure that there are no unwanted onlookers present. Once the cab makes its long-awaited arrival, Sae cautiously lifts Akira off the ground and guides him over to the vehicle. The action gets an odd look from the driver, but they decide it's better to look away and stay silent as Sae and Akira get into the back seat. Sae quickly gives the driver Leblanc's address once they enter the vehicle and they all drive off silently into the night./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"uAuthor Notes:/u/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Hey everyone, hoped you enjoyed what there is of the story so far. This is my first time posting fanfiction online so here's hoping it goes well. This mostly happened due a combination of boredom and trying work on my writing skills for some personal projects in the future. As well as me being a sucker for angst, because Atlus just gave everyone a gold mine over here with that part of the game. I'm sorry protag but you're going to suffer… again… Anyway, I'm not sure how long this story will be. Probably won't be too long, but who knows, I made get carried away and write way more than anyone ever needed hahaha… Well thank you to anyone that read this and I hope you'll look forward to more!/strong/p