The Phantom Thieves of Hearts Pt. 4

Chapter 11: We All Change

Int. Tokyo Metropolitan Hiroo Hospital – Continuous

The Phantom Thieves and Shiho are standing in the hallway of the hospital, outside of Kawakami's room. They all have looks of despair and disappointment on their faces, especially Akira, who is taking what Kawakami said to heart.

Ann Takamaki: I-I've never seen Ms. Kawakami like that, before. She almost seemed like a completely different person. She actually seems...worse than before we decided to help her out. Our mistake...did all of this.

Yusuke Kitagawa: As if the poor woman didn't wrestle with enough guilt, before.

Shiho Suzui: I'm scared, to be honest. What if she has another anxiety attack because of all the new stress and guilt? She's still recovering from the last one. There's no guarantee that she'll survive another one.

Ryuji Sakamoto: Damn it. This is bullshit!

Shiho Suzui: Um, he mentioned something about a mistake, Ann. W-what did you mean by that, exactly? Did something happen when you tried to complete Ms. Kawakami's request?

Ann Takamaki: Yeah, you could say that. We ran into the girl, who's been stealing requests from the Phansite and doing them on her own. She ended up doing something that resulted in what happened to the grandparents, to put it in terms you would understand, Shiho. The girl has no idea how much damage she's done to Kawakami.

Makoto Niijima: She probably does and just doesn't care.

Shiho Suzui: I see. So...it isn't your guys' fault, really. It's hers. That makes sense, I guess. I should have known you guys would have never done anything that would cause harm to somebody else, especially Ms. Kawakami.

Akira Kurusu: No, it is our fault. If we hadn't failed to stop her, then this wouldn't have happened. Plus, what Ms. Kawakami said about me...all of it...was true.

Makoto Niijima: Akira...

Akira Kurusu: Ever since I arrived at Shujin...nothing but bad things have happened to those around me including some of you. I...dragged each and every one of you into this stupid Metaverse bullshit. None of you would even know about it and be constantly risking your lives if it wasn't for me. You would all be living normal student lives and would, more importantly, be safe. Hell, that's not all. Mishima wouldn't be dead. Makoto wouldn't have been scarred. Shiho would never have tried to take her own life. Yusuke wouldn't have had to lose his master. I've been so focused on all of the good that I've been doing in the Phantom Thieves, that I never stopped to consider all of the bad that's come out of it too. Maybe, it would have been better if you guys had never met me? If I had never come here, in the first place. If Jermaine and I hadn't gotten involved in someone else's business.

Akira's eyers widen, upon realizing his mistake of uttering his deceased best friend's name. The others look at him, compassionately.

Makoto Niijima: Akira, I know how much guilt you feel over what happened to your friend and it breaks my heart that you had to go through something like that but...what happened to him wasn't your fault. You mentioned that the both of you decided to confront that man, who was harassing that woman, that day...in fact, from what you told me, it was his idea to.

Akira smiles, sadly, in rememberance.

Akira Kurusu: Yeah, it was his idea. He was always reckless and a hell of a lot braver than I was.

Ryuji Sakamoto: What the hell do you mean? You're hella brave!

Akira shakes his head in disagreement.