Spectra (Ryuji x OC)

22 • Futaba's Pyramid

7/24 Evening

"What...!? But why!?"

"That part she's never told me. I wanted to know what led her to believing that, but I decided not to rub salt in the wound. Then, a few months ago... she started getting real scared, even when nothing was happening. She'd say things like 'I hear voices' and 'mom is looking at me...'"

"Visual and auditory hallucinations..." Yusuke says. "Have you taken Futaba to a doctor?"

"I wanted to but she refused. Even when I had a doctor come, she locked herself away in her room. Since then, she's become what you'd call a shut in. She won't take a single step outside the house, or even try to see other people"

"What about you?"

"She doesn't even let me come in her room"

"That's pretty harsh," Ryuji says.

"Futaba is, well, a unique girl. She's so quick minded that conversations with her tend to jump from one topic to the next... it seems like she's always coming to conclusions in her head. There's a lot I don't get about her. So, yeah. Her situation is why I couldn't let you in my house"

"I understand," Akira tells him.

"What Futaba needs is a safe place where nobody will threaten her. Somewhere she can be at ease. That's why I won't do anything she doesn't want. I don't make her do anything she's unwilling to do either. Then again, I know that's no way for her to live. It's all I can do though"

"What does Futaba want?"

"I don't know. She just asks me for things that she wants, like food or these complicated books. Well, that's that. So can you just... leave her be?" Akira nods. "I'm gonna head back then. You all had better head home soon too"

"I feel awful for prying into his personal affairs," Makoto says once Sojiro was gone.

"No way in hell he's abusin' her," Ryuji says.

"The reason why Futaba wants her heart stolen must be related to what happened to her mother," Ann says.

"So she'd like to discard her feelings of pain, but can't do anything about it herself," Yusuke says.

"Will changing her heart really help her though?"

"If we can help her we may be able to stand up to Medjed"

"It's possible..." Akira says.

"Hold on a sec. Do we even know if she has a Palace?" Ryuji asks. "Let's check. The Futaba Sakura that lives at Sojiro Sakura's house. Is that gonna be enough?"

"Candidate found"

"She's got one...!"

"Hey, Morgana-where's Morgana?" Ann asks when Morgana didn't stick his head out of Akira's bag.

"I haven't seen him for some time," Yusuke tells her.

"So ever since we went inside Boss' house?" Makoto asks.