The Phantom Thieves Disappear

The 9th Member

Author's Note: The fanfic is around the point when [SPOILER WARNING] Akechi is revealed to be the traitor and "kills" Akira in the interrogation room. This of course was actually a part of Phantom Thieves' plan to get Sae on their side and keep their leader in hiding for now. And where this story really starts is when the group is explaining how their plan, but I decided to change the story from that point on. Also, all of the confidants are max out in this story: so the team members have their final personas and Joker has Arsene and the most powerful personas of the arcanas outside of his teammates. Enjoy!
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Today is November 21, when the leader of the Phantom Thieves is pronounced dead: At least to most of the public anyway. Akira is actually alive and well thanks to the master plan created by the entire team. As soon as he enters Leblanc, he is greeted by his teammates, Sae, and Sojiro who are all relieved to see him alive. And as he settles in, they all decided to tell the prosecutor and café owner how their plan came to be.

(Play video at '1:42:16' now)

"We wanted to make out enemy believe that the leader of the Phantom Thieves was dead." Makoto says.

"What?" Sojiro asked confused

"What we did was make that enemy kill his fake in the Metaverse." She replies

As soon as she said that, the café door was open to reveal the newcomer: the "traitor" Goro Akechi

"AKECHI!?" Sae asked in surprise and shock.

"Hmm, I expected you to react that way Sae-san." Akechi replies calmly, then turns to Akira. "How are you feeling, by the way Akira?"

"Well, I'm still breathing. That's a relief." Akira answered. "But I will say this, my heart did stop when you came in the room like that."

Akechi then smiled brightly. "Then it's safe to say that we both were splendid in our performances."

"H-hold on a sec!" Sojiro quickly responses. "Enemy? Fake? Performances? What're you guys talking about...?"

"Oh, I'm the traitor." Akechi bluntly replies.

"Huh?" Sojiro response, still confused.

"Akechi had play the role of a double crosser, so that the true mastermind believes that he was still working for him" Yusuke explains.

"I see. So you guys were going up against someone else." The café owner replies, beginning to understand.

"And now you're a double agent for this team." Sae stated.

Akechi nods.

"You deliberately made me think that you were working against me, didn't you? You could have just told me, you know." The prosecutor then asks him.

"Sorry about that, Sae-san. There was no time to explain our plan to you beforehand, and we needed my betrayal of the Phantom Thieves to look 100% convincing. Besides, you wouldn't have believed me." The detective explained.

"True." She replies

"And he gave us the chance to strike back and think ten steps ahead." Ann says confidently.

Sojiro grumbles and scratches his head in confusion. "God, I can't keep up with any of this stuff. So, how were you guys able to trust him?"

"Simple, I told them the entire truth." Akechi responded.

"The cases of the mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns, the fake Medjed attack, Kunikazu Okumura's death: It was all because of the true mastermind." Ann explained.