Assemble the What Now? (Persona 5 x DCMK)

Chapter 8

Kaito's POV:

Shinichi and I arrive back to the apartment after that interrogation. The two of us slowly relax with Shinichi just sitting on the sofa and I preparing snacks and a drink. While putting the snacks down on the table in front of the couch, the beeping of the coffee machine echoes through the apartment, around the time the hot chocolate on the stove boils. I pour the drinks into our little personal mugs and walk carefully towards him. Noticing the aroma of the coffee, Shinichi grab his mug off of my grip as his warm smile shines into my comfort. It's nice to see him like that.

It feels fluffy. A warm atmosphere, a warm cup of hot chocolate, and a warm someone with me, it's relaxing.

"Kaito, if you're going to lean on me, at least put your mug down," Shinichi look down at me before I realize that it's the truth. My body is leaning towards him with my mug of hot cocoa tilted towards him. While fixing the angle of the mug, Shinichi takes away my mug and place it on the table in front of us. "If you're going to continue leaning, at least put it somewhere stable. I don't want any stains on my shirt."

Wait... When did that start?

Apparently, I am thinking out loud since he replies back, "What do you mean by 'that'?"

"You calling me 'Kaito' and not 'Kid'. We known each other's identity about a week ago."

"I... have no clue. I guess I've gotten used to it. Why? Do you prefer to be called something else?"

"Nah, you can call me 'Kaito'. Me calling you 'Kudou' and you calling me 'Kuroba' may be weird knowing that we are currently roommates and in a weird situation."

"True."

And then the room goes silent, but not a bad silence.

**********

That fluffy atmosphere shifts to an awkward silence of questioning what was happening.

"Anything at your side?" I asks Shinichi, amusing that there will be something at his side of the investigation.

He doesn't bothered to look at me. He sits in silence before replaying back, "I hit a few things. It may be small, but it something."

Making an end to this awkward silence, I reposition myself to sit at the other end of the sofa"What is it?"

"Masayoshi Shido, a politician running for a position in the Diet, is connected to most, or maybe all, of the psychotic breakdown and the Phantom Thieves."

"What made you jump to that conclusion?"

"First of all, it's because of the victims of the Phantom Thieves. I'm very sure that after their first case, they want to be known, so they went on to hit a bigger target, and what else more than the artist Madarame, who was currently on the rise of popularity due to his gallery. Madarame was gaining recognition in exchange to give his profits to Shido to support his campaign. Then, there's goes Kaneshiro, a mafia boss who was also giving money to Shido's campaign. I'm not too sure about Medjed, but for Okumura's case, he wanted to be in the political world, thus using Shido and his connections to become a politician. Those information align with Ren's observation about the black mask throughout his course as a phantom thief.

Second, those who suffered through a psychotic break down are somehow connected to Shido. For example, the principal of Shujin Kobayakawa went through a psychotic breakdown before his death. According to the police reports, he was told by the director of the SIU to investigate who were the Phantom Thieves that attends to their school. That order is most likely from Shido based of what the director sounded like when he answered the phone. It may be a leap, but I remembered a way to hack into someone else's phone and if he's in the recently contacted list, that is connected.

Lastly, there's Akechi Goro, a high school detective and who I'm assuming to be the man in the black mask. His debut as a detective started with a case of a psychotic breakdown. Compared to myself who has been exposed to murders at a young age, he had little to no experience related to solving crimes that anyone is aware of. Since his debut and the first psychotic breakdown is relatively close, it's safe to assume that he's the black mask Ren had been talking about."

"And how is he connected to Shido?"

"According to the police force, Shido is one of the only people who has a close relationship with him. If the scenario for the SIU is accurate, that leads to an idea of Goro doing the dirty work."

"..."

"... That's it."

"But you said 'a few things'. What were the other observation?"

"I don't have the rights to say such things. It's a private matter about the Phantom Thieves and I don't want to say it out loud. It may be a deduction, but that will mean to invade into their privacy without permission."

"Make sense." There is a moment of silence. Assuming the he won't be talking, I asks another question, "Anything else that you found out?"

"Besides the police thinking that I'm just a child playing detective and just there to toy with them, nope. It took me a while to look at those files."

After finishing up the snacks and our drinks, Shinichi turns on the laptop and search up a few things. Instead of being near to him, I walk into my room and lay on my bed. Thinking about how's everybody's doing in the real world, I drift off into slumber.

**********

Ren's POV:

After being interrogated by Kuroba and Kudou, I need to know who they are. All I know is their names and professions, and both I need to be wary about. Kudou is a detective in which is always bad news for someone who is known as a thief. Kuroba may not be a detective, but he isn't someone who can be shrug off; He clicks with Kudou too well and him not being a magician but to also be a phantom thief, he definitely someone we need to look out for.

I text Futaba to get some intel about those two. Minutes later, she texts back to me to see there is little to no information about them. They may have ID's, but those IDs are made a few days ago according to Futaba. Shivers runs down my spine as a thought is created; They're no joke about their profession, but they may not be all that trusting.

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Finally able to think of something but lazy to work on it, especially in Ren's perspective in this.

Also, if I don't update for the next chapter or omake, there may be a few reasons:

1. It's like every other chapter/omake where inspiration hits me later on in life and I just started working on it.

OR

​​​​​​​2. I'm dead because of a possible rumor of a possible school shooting on the day we get back to school (the day after MLK Day). If the rumor is true and I do/don't die on that day, it is going to be an eventful birthday. (Please be aware that school shootings isn't a joke to be taken lightly. I'm just putting it here for a possible reason.)