- 𝐅𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐝 -

Chapter 17

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//𝐂𝐖: 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭//

Back at the station, the 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 station, Akechi let out a growl. This was definitely going to ruin their schedule, and he really couldn't allow himself to be late for the first meeting of the reunited Phantom Thieves. Heck, he didn't even know that this Yoshizawa girl was a part of them. Something about her always seemed strange.

He always hated sudden calls too. Especially if it was about something like 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴; Apparently some researcher about artificial intelligences had made a major discovery, and even created a perfect AI. If the detective remembered correctly, she named her creation 'Sophia'. The researcher, Kuon Ichinose, didn't want to make it public at first, but because of the current events she had decided to continue working on it after all. And now this person was 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴.

Goro couldn't believe it. Why would they let some random researcher help with investigating the case 𝘩𝘦 already closed. But Akira, on the other hand, was actually happy about it. Maybe they would realize that his death wasn't a suicide, but maybe they also just didn't really care. If Shido wouldn't have died, he knew that nobody would even make the efforts to think about his family.

So why would they think about him?

But it's not like they ever called him too. Maybe they also have already forgotten about him.

He then took another glance at his hands. They were still as transparent as before, and still as bruised and pale. Akira didn't know what to think about the whole situation. The world was reformed. The public was still shocked, but they seemed glad about knowing the truth. But he? He had just been forgotten. They even forgot about his 𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙥𝙨𝙚. But he was kind of glad that it was still 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘸 there. If there was no chance of him coming back, then Arsene would have never sent him back.

"Ahem.", a voice then called out, taking all the attention. The duo looked up as well, and met eyes with another quite familiar face. 𝘚𝘢𝘦 𝘕𝘪𝘪𝘫𝘪𝘮𝘢.

Akechi was also surprised, he also had a slight look of caution on his face. What if Sae 𝘥𝘪𝘥 find out the truth. "Sae-san-!"

But the prosecutor only looked troubled. The suicide was the topic of the day again, even though it has already been a month. Only now the people started to think about it more. The leader was a 𝘬𝘪𝘥. And nobody even thought about a funeral. It must have been especially hard for Niijima, since not only her sister who was apparently a PHANTOM THIEF had just returned home after so long, but she was also the last person to get to talk with Kurusu. She could've saved him, and she was very well aware of that.

"Sorry. I just need a cup of coffee...", the woman then let out a sigh. They didn't even give her one free day to reconnect with her younger sister, and now she had to be questioned again about every single thing Akira had said during the interrogation. She didn't understand why nobody had thought about any of this before. Why did Shido Masayoshi's death had to be the trigger of realization? They 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥'𝘷𝘦 thought about this sooner. She should've thought about this sooner. But nobody seemed to care about it. After all, they were still criminals at that point.

At least the school was generous enough to give the students one week to calm down. They even made Maruki, the therapist, come back for counseling. But luckily, the government finally let them go. The group didn't do anything wrong after all, so now they could finally live a life of peace again, 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤'𝘴 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵. Goro knew the whole Phantom Thief thing wasn't over yet. Because he already had the next job prepared for them. The one to end it all; The one who maybe could change Akira Kurusu's fate.

Sae waved bye to the detective, not bothering exchanging any words. He didn't even know if her heart had been changed or not, but from the look of it, she finally seemed reasonable again. Makoto must've told her everything. Everything but Akira's killer, hopefully.

"Akira.", he then said quietly, looking to the ghost next to him; "Wait here. I need to talk to someone, okay?"
For some reason his voice had this sound you would use to talk to a cat or a dog. Akira didn't know how to feel about that, but he obeyed at first.

....

But we all know that Akira can't stand still. So he decided to follow the detective after all. Very stealthy, as he would say. As he then found the room where the other had went to, he saw some man that he had never seen before.

"So, Hasegawa-san...", he then heard Akechi start off. Well, at least he knew the name now. "You've 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 been assigned to help..?"

Akira thought that bearded man must be quite serious, judging on the look on his face. Well, maybe those were just his wrinkles... But the wildcard had never been a person who judges others anyways.

"Yep. Since so many officers had been involved in that shit, they had to get arrested too. So now they took 𝘮𝘦 to help y'all", the man then replied. For some reason it made Akira cringe internally. He didn't expect him to talk like that, and it was somehow like he tried to be cool, which made it even more cringe.

Then they just talked about some law business, that bored Akira to the core. But he kept on listening and watching, maybe he could pick up something useful after all.

And he did.

"...So the relatives are going to visit tomorrow to talk to the people?"

"Yeah, from what I've heard. Must be hard for them as that kid's parents... Only finding out now."

"... Yeah. Thank you for the talk, Hasegawa-san."

The two then said their goodbyes, and Akechi headed towards the exit. He then spotted the Noiret at the door, apparently he was eavesdropping on the whole situation, and all he could do was sigh. There wasn't any way to stop Akira from being curious, so he just left, waiting for him to follow.

"We're going to be late, Goro.", Akira mumbled, reaching with his fragile hands to hold the detective's hand again. He enjoyed doing that, especially since the other couldn't stop him. But the other just hissed at him. "I KNOW..."

"Just sayinggg..."

"Let's just get going, please. I don't want to meet any more people on our way out---"

But of course they ran into someone else. 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥...