The Children of Thieves

Beneath the Mask

A warning, this'll be the longest chapter yet. I hate writing confidant arcs. They're a lot harder than they look. Anyway, enjoy.

17 days to go:
After finding out from Yuta that Kyoei had been bedridden since the night before and assuring him that this was par for the course and that all they could do was wait, Cho decided to visit the gym in Shibuya again. She was once again left exhausted but not nearly as much as the last time she went. She returned home to find Ren getting ready to leave to give a speech. "Remember the deal we made?" he asked her. She told him she did and she joined him at Shibuya.
She stood next to him, holding a sign saying what Ren's speech was about while he talked about the increase in accidents that were occurring over the past few months. Some people were listening and nodding in agreement, while others were a little sceptical that Ren could do anything about it. But still, everything was going well until some men from the SIU stopped and started watching Ren's speech. When Ren noticed them, he froze for a bit. Cho noticed this and elbowed him slightly in his side. Ren shook his head and continued.
"What happened?" Cho asked him after the speech. They were now sitting a restaurant Ren used to work in when he was her age. Sorry," Ren replied, "I just have some bad memories associated with the SIU." "What kind of bad memories?" Cho asked. "Eat you food, it's going to get cold" Ren said quickly, tucking into his own. Cho noticed the change in subject, but decided not to push it. As they left the restaurant, Cho felt like she'd grown closer to her father.

16 days to go:
After school, Cho noticed she had a text from Yuta, telling her to meet with him at the presentation in Kyoei's house, as he had something he needed to tell her. Cho agreed and made her way there.
"Thank you for meeting me" he said to her when she arrived. "No problem," Cho replied, "What do you want to talk about?" Yuta sighed, then said, "Ever since I found out about what Kyoei has been doing with his students, I have found myself stumped as to what I should create." "What about that song you and I were working on?" Cho asked him. Yuta looked up at her. "I have finished it," he told her. "But I'm unsure if I want to present it as my completed work." Cho looked at him quizzically. "My work for school," Uta explained. "Not only did I need to have results in order to keep my tutelage with Kyoei, but I also need to present a piece at the end of each school term in order to get good marks. But like I said, I don't know if I want to present the one we were working on as my completed work, since it's been tainted by Kyoei's villainy." Yuta slumped in his chair.
"Maybe keep this piece as a backup," Cho suggested, "and I'll help you create another one. If we don't have one finished in time, you can just submit that and work on another." Yuta thought about Cho's proposition, then nodded his head. "That sounds like it would work." They shook hands on it and Cho felt herself grow closer to him as well. That night she watched a movie with Ren and Makoto before going to bed.

15 days to go:
Since it was a Sunday, Cho decided to pay a visit to Kurusi. But before she could, she got a notification from Sabato. Apparently there was a supermarket manager called Mitsuko Hoshizaki, who was taking company money and blaming it on the staff. Cho summoned the Thieves to the bike shed and explained the situation. They unanimously agreed that that couldn't go unpunished and decided to take him down. When they got there, they found out they could travel to the lower area. When they arrived there, they noticed how it was a completely different colour to the previous floor.
But as they approached Mona to begin their journey, Blackbird heard that voice call out again. "YES! YEEEES! COME TO ME TRICKSTER! YOU AND YOUR BRAT OF A FATHER WILL BE MINE! I SWEAR IT!" "BLACKBIRD!" Silver yelled, shaking her. Blackbird shook her head. "Are you alright?" he asked. "That's the second time that's happened." "I'm fine Silver, really" Blackbird reassured him.
They continued on their way through Mementos. Eventually, they came to Hoshizaki. He spotted them and rambled about how he deserves the money, and that his employees were useless shits anyway. But he quickly changed his tune when they beat the living daylights out of him. Once again, Blackbird noticed that Aoife was acting more aggressive than usual, but ignored it. After that, he apologised, saying he'd return the money and confess everything. And with that, he vanished, leaving behind a blank card. That night, when Cho got home, she didn't tell Makoto where she'd been. Instead, the two of them had another crossword race. Once again, Makoto won, but Cho was slowly closing the gap.