Phantom Thieves of Hope - A Danganronpa X Persona 5 Story.

Chapter 27: Gala of Obsession

Beneath the Mask (Rain) [Instrumental] - Persona 5

Kirie Akamatsu was doing everything she could to make sure Kaede's performance at the Tokyo Dome went ahead. With that in mind, Makoto realized, she had set the deadline for their twisted fine for the date after the event.

If they didn't steal her heart and change her ways by the day of the show, their lives as they knew it, would be over. To be frank, this situation was a lot more serious than with Haiji Towa and Fuhito Kirigiri.

Which made Makoto glad that with the new arrival of Mozart, they had an additional pair of hands.

Speaking of whom, Makoto just so happened to run into her outside the station, not too far away from Hope's Peak. Meeting up with her had been made a little difficult by the fact that she wasn't going to be able to meet them at school, but at the very least, Kirie hadn't banned Kaede from going out. He supposed that if people heard about it, they'd come to the conclusion that Kirie was locking Kaede away and forcing her to practice, and that was a scandal she was hoping to avoid.

It was raining, so he sought shelter under the walkway and watched her for a while. He saw that she was talking to two other girls with dark hair wearing different school uniforms. The girls chatted for a few minutes in what looked to be a serious conversation before both of them waved her goodbye. Kaede waved him over, having noticed him beforehand, and he joined her in her shelter.

"Friends of yours?" he inquired.

"Well...sort of..." Kaede hummed, "they're fellow students in the music industry. Performers like me."

"What were you talking about?" Makoto asked. Kaede sighed, clearly a little disgruntled.

"After hearing what my mother's evil self said in the other world, I was worried and a little curious," she said, "I mean when she said about the people she'd had to stomp through in order to get me my shot at the Tokyo Dome...I dunno, I guess I just wanted to see if they were ok..."

Makoto replayed that situation in his mind. It had indeed been a pretty terrifying confession, and the Shadow had been quite possibly the most sadistic person he'd ever had the DISPLEASURE of meeting...

"And...what happened to those people?" she asked, "the competition I mean? That you eliminated?"

This statement was concerning enough on its own, but the situation was made all the more tense when Kirie threw her head back and started cackling in the sky, lowering her head only to glare at the detective girl.

"Well...What ELSE would you do with BROKEN USELESS TRASH...!?"

To emphasize her point, she crushed her pipe in her hand. The Phantom Thieves were gradually getting more and more enraged the more of this woman's endeavors they heard, and the same was true for Kaede...

"I haven't known you for very long, Kaede-san," Makoto said, "but I've known you long enough to know you're very aware of people's feelings. I think that's a good thing about you."

"While I appreciate that, I'm afraid that's not really true...I live life on my own terms, but I tend to be ignorant of everyone else's if I deem my better judgment to be the way to go," she gripped her sleeve with a guilty face, "it's made me do stupid things and rope innocent people into it, and I wish I hadn't...But seeing what I saw back there made me realize that I can't be this selfish girl anymore..."

"You're giving yourself too little credit," Makoto assured her, "even if that's true, it could be a lot worse. Your better judgment CAN be often right, and you're NOT a bad person."