All His Masks: A Persona 5 Fanfiction

Chapter Three

        The thieves sat in silence for a moment as the fact that their leader really did have a palace fully sunk in. They didn't even understand how he, a persona user, could at all. 
        Futaba cleared her throat and tilted her phone forward a bit. "So, are we going in, or...?" 
        Makoto smoothed out her skirt, shaking her head. "I think we should wait until we gather more information. Most importantly, we need to know our time limit, so we can utilize our time efficiently."
        Futaba nodded in agreement and put her phone down again. She seemed to be waiting for someone to argue, as they sometimes would do. However, when no one did, she spoke up again.
        "Morgana. Do you think Sojiro would know anything?"
        "Possibly." Morgana swiftly jumped up onto the coffee table looked around at the others. "Akira doesn't talk to him much either anymore, but I sometimes notice that they're talking about something on the down-low when Akira is helping him in the shop. I can't pick out much from their conversations, though."
        Haru raised a hand to play with her curly hair as she gave her input. "Maybe we should go speak with Sakura-san. He might know something even you don't, since he's Akira's guardian."
        "We shouldn't all go at once. That would likely raise suspicion and worry Sakura-san, which could drive him to tell Akira," Yusuke interjected. "If Sakura-san could understand Morgana, I'd suggest to send him, but that's not a possibility."
        Ann folded her arms and shot a playful glance in Ryuji's direction. "Don't send Ryuji. He'll probably end up finding a way to tell Akira everything about all this."
        "Shut it! You wouldn't do any better! You couldn't keep a secret from him if your life depended on it," Ryuji argued, jabbing a finger at her as she raised her hands in a jokingly defensive way. Makoto sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, shaking her head as if she were disappointed.
        "Anyways, why don't we just have a few of us go?" Ann suggested, lowering her hands to rest idly in her lap as Ryuji scoffed and leaned back into his chair.
        "Why not just have Makoto 'n Haru do it? Boss trusts you guys since you're the older ones of the group. Plus, you're the only ones who really just go there without someone else asking," Ryuji recommended, having quickly brushed off his quarrel with Ann just moments ago.
        Haru nodded at the suggestion. "I'm alright with that, as long as Mako-chan is."
        "I"m okay with it too." Makoto brushed her hair behind her ear, as if she were just a bit nervous to carry this out. "Why don't we go up right now? Truthfully, I'd like to get this done quickly." 

        If each and every one of the Phantom Thieves in that room were looked at for just a minute, it would become evident that she wasn't the only one who was on edge about this. They all seemed a bit restless, and rightfully so. They had just found out that Akira, the one person least expected to develop a palace, now had a palace. He was such a reliable person, and it was unexpected to learn that he had some form of distorted desires. They wanted to know how and why he now had one, and they wanted to save their friend fast, no matter the costs. But how would they do that? Could they even deal with a palace without Akira, one of the most important facets of their group? They had never done it before, but they had to now. Who knows what could happen to Akira if they just didn't?