24 Hours 3: The Reckoning

A few days later.

- 9:00 PM -

"Igor!"

Akira furiously kicked at the jail cell door in the velvet room.

"Quiet at once, inmate! Do you forget who you're talking to!?" Caroline shouted. She appeared angry as she glared at Akira but her expression was riddled with confusion. She had never seen Akira like this. She swung her baton and ran it across the cell bars, creating quite the racket.

"Now now, Caroline, he's upset about something, I would like to hear him out," Igor said with a brief wave of his hand.

"But-" Caroline began, but decided it was better to listen to Igor and back off. She huffed and turned her back to Akira with her arms crossed.

"Now, what ales you?" Igor asked. "It's unusual to see you so riled up."

Akira knuckles whitened as he grasped the bars of his cell. "You know damn well what the problem is," he shot back. "You know what you've done."

Igor shrugged and intertwined his fingers together, crossing his legs. "My only goal is to assist you in your journey to rehabilitation."

"Say 'rehabilitation' one more time and I'll shove a thesaurus up your ass," Akira angrily let go of the bars before giving them a harsh kick. He could see Caroline was struggling to keep her composer. She was shaking with anger. Akira pointed an accusing finger at Igor. "You brought her into this. After I so actively worked to keep her away, you come in and drag her into danger!"

"Sadayo Kawakami made her own decision. I simply gave her the tools to make that decision," Igor said, his grin never faltering. "She knows the dangers of the meta verse yet she actively chose to enter it on her own free will. There was no 'dragging' as you would seem to think."

Akira kicked the cell bars again. "You didn't give her tools you gave her the god damn key to the gates of hell," he exclaimed. "You knew full well her curiosity would bring her here! That was not your decision to make!"

"And who's was it? Yours?" Igor seemed to be very amused by this back and forth. "That woman is old enough to decide what she wants and she wanted to see the world you tantalized her with."

"She's defenseless!" Akira retorted. "She has no way of facing the dangers of this world!"

"And yet you stand here, wasting your time debating with me," Igor said, his impossibly wide grin only growing with amusement. "She's still out there, you know."

"Where. Is. she." Akira demanded, grasping the cell bars again.

"Think for a moment, you'll figure it out," Igor said.

- 5:00 PM -

Akira found himself sitting at the bar in Leblanc. It was just after opening hours so the cafe was quiet. The only sound came from the shuffling on the other side of the bar as Sadayo quietly brewed a cup of coffee.

She looked over at Akira to see the boy was staring at her. "Aren't you suppose to be reading?" she asked. His gaze made her feel a little self conscious and she instinctively ran her fingers through her hair.

"Hm? Oh," Akira was clearly lost in thought. Her voice had snapped him back to reality. "I was just entranced by your work," he said, clearing his throat and reluctantly turning his gaze back to his book.

Sadayo blushed at his comment and continued her work. "You're just amused by this stupid maid outfit…" She was in fact, wearing the outfit from her previous job.

"I mean, you make a cute maid, no doubt about it," Akira said as she tried to keep his focus on the book. "I think I prefer your regular look though. I never really understood why you wore the maid outfit after you quit your job."

Sadayo sighed. "It's just a cautionary thing. It'd be suspicious if someone saw me coming here dressed regularly."

"Yeah, coming here dressed as a maid definitely draws a better picture."

"I-" Sadayo stopped, she didn't really know how to respond to that at first. "People won't recognize me."

Akira chuckled and turned the page of his book. "I would think that the maid outfit would draw more attention to you, if anything," he commented. "And it's not really going to hide your identity, it's not like you wear a mask."

Pursing her lips, Sadayo huffed. "Fine, I'll stop coming as a maid," though she was pouting, she felt a wave of relief. Wearing the maid outfit wasn't particularly comfortable or functional and it only drudged up bad memories

Morgana's ears perked up a little, he was laying on the counter, curled up tightly next to where Akira was reading. "I kind of liked the maid outfit," he said.

Akira smacked him on the top of the head with this book, earning a disgruntled meow from Morgana. "Don't abuse the cat, honey," Sadayo said.

"He's saying weird things," Akira said as Morgana began to scamper away. He turned and looked in Morgana's direction "Just stick with Ann."

"With Ann?" Kawakami asked, looking up from the coffee she was making with a curiously raised brow.

Akira turned back to his book. "Yeah, Morgana has a strange cat crush on her," he said nonchalantly.

"Akira!" Morgana exclaimed. "That's suppose to be a secret!"

"It's not a secret."

"What? Yes it is!"

Akira closed his book and looked over to Morgana. "It's not, Ryuji jokes about it all the time when you aren't around."

"WHAT!? I'll show him a thing or two next time I-"

Of course, to Sadayo, it appeared that Morgana was only meowing and purring furiously. She couldn't understand anything he was saying. Morgana appeared upset before hurrying upstairs to Akira's bedroom. "God that was weird," she murmured. The coffee she had been making was just about finished. She pulled out two small cups and a pair of saucers before pouring the coffee.

Akira watched quietly as she prepared the coffee and slid it down the counter towards him. She made her way around the counter and sat down on the stool beside him.

There was a small buzzing sound, causing Akira to reach into his pocket and pull out his phone. He glanced in Sadayo's direction, remembering the last time he had checked his phone next to her had not gone over too well. She was taking a sip of her coffee but hissed as she realized how hot it was.

She turned to look in Akira's direction. "What?" she asked. Akira just shook his head and checked his phone. The Phantom Thieves chat was active as Ann and Ryuji bickered back and forth about something.

"What's that about?" Sadayo asked, glancing at the phone curiously. Akira seemed fairly disinterested in the conversation in the chat.

Akira stuffed the phone back in his pocket. "Oh they're just talking about Mementos," he said. He realized that she wouldn't know what he was talking about. "It's a place in the meta verse. It's a palace for everyone's hearts."

"Everyone's?" She asked curiously.

Akira picked up his cup of coffee and blew on it softly before taking a sip. It was smooth and delicious, Sadayo had become quite good at making the stuff. "Yeah, it takes the form of a subway system. That's where we went to change the hearts of the couple that were harassing you for money."

Sadayo was very interested in this, but she knew better than to ask Akira to take her there at this point. "And um… what was it called again?" she asked.

"Mementos," Akira replied simply.

"Mementos…" Sadayo repeated softly.

- 9:02 PM -

"Dammit!" Akira kicked the bars of his cell in the velvet room. This was all his fault. Sadayo had been acting funny the rest of the night that they spent together. Usually she was reluctant to go but tonight she had practically flown out of the door to go home. If it hadn't been for the quick peck on the cheek that she had given him before leaving, Akira would have thought she was upset with him about something.

"You have…" he muttered softly. "You have to tell me where she is…"

Grin never wavering, Igor put his hand to his ear. "What was that?"

"Tell me where she is!" Akira shook the bars. "Mementos is… Mementos is huge… possibly endless…"

A low grumble came from Igor, as if he were contemplating whether he wanted to tell Akira or not. "I believe she's within the Path of Akzeriyyuth," he said, stroking his chin. "I wonder how she got down that far… perhaps she was taken there by a shadow or-"

His sentence was cut short as he realized Akira had already left. "Oh… that's a bit rude," he murmured.

"Shall I punish him next time he shows his face here?" Caroline asked quickly.

Igor waved it off. "No, no. I believe involving Sadayo Kawakami was punishment enough."

- 7:00 PM -

Sadayo pulled out her phone and checked her surroundings, as if to check and see if Akira was watching her. She found herself sitting on a bench in the underground subway station. It was late, so the stop was empty at the moment.

She stared at a bright red app that appeared on her phone, and it stared back. It was indisputably the app Akira used to travel to the meta verse. She had seen it on his phone before. She was a bit more than surprised to find that it had appeared on her phone as well.

At first, she thought it would be best if she told Akira about it, but the more that she thought about it, she realized he would likely freak out. He had been insistent from the beginning that she wasn't going to get anywhere close to the meta verse. Any time she brought up the idea he became visibly upset.

She had tried the app several times but it didn't seem to respond to most things that she said, only giving the occasional "no candidates found" response. So she knew she needed some sort of keyword to activate it.

"Mementos… Mementos…" she murmured to word quietly as if she might possibly forget. It echoed in her head. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She had everything she needed, why was she hesitating? She wanted to see this meta verse so badly and now it was at her fingertips.

She knew why. This wasn't how she wanted to go. She wanted Akira to be with her, she didn't want to go in alone. She had seen first hand what could happen to someone in the meta verse . Akira almost bled to death one night because of the danger there.

She bit her bottom lip. What if she couldn't figure out how to leave what if she was trapped there?

Sadayo took another deep breath. If Akira and Ryuji were able to figure it all out, so could she. The thought of Akira made her flinch, she could only hope that he wouldn't be too angry about this.

"Whatever, I'm an adult and he's teenager. He can't tell me what to do," she muttered to herself. Saying it aloud didn't make her feel any better. She couldn't make the butterflies in her stomach go away. "If he can risk his life in some crazy meta verse place, so can I."

With one last deep breath, she activated the app and spoke, "Mementos."

…

"Candidate found."

- 9:30 PM -

"Akira! Are you actually insane!?"

Akira and Morgana stood at the starting point of Mementos.

"I don't have a choice, Morgana," Akira said, already heading to go deeper into the palace. "If you don't want to come, I won't hold it against you. But I have to go."

"Going into Mementos alone is practically suicide!" Morgana exclaimed, following after him. "We have to call the others."

"There's no time!" Akira was picking up his pace. "Gathering the Phantom Thieves right now could take an hour, maybe more. Sadayo is in there alone and defenseless! She could be-!"

Akira staggered, as if he had just gotten the wind knocked out of him. He leaned against the nearby wall for support. A sudden haunting realization had just washed over him., something he hadn't had time to think about earlier. "Oh god… I don't know how long she's been in here… she could be…"

Morgana climbed up onto Akira and grabbed both his cheeks and stretched his face. "No! We're not talking like that!" Morgana insisted "Kawakami is strong! She knows a thing or two about survival."

This helped Akira, he began to collect himself again. "You're right. She's strong. She's strong…"

"I don't like our chances with just the two of us going in… but it's better than going by yourself," Morgana commented, we should try to avoid confrontation with enemy shadows if possible.''

Akira nodded in agreement. "Thanks, Morgana," he said with a grateful smile. In a suddenly puff of smoke, Morgana transformed into a bus.

"Thank me after we find her- with sushi. Thank me with sushi."

- 7:10 PM -

"What the hell?"

Hours earlier, Sadayo Kawakami stood where Akira and Morgana had when first entering mementos.

"Oh my god…"

The place was haunting. It felt unreal, unnatural. It was pulsing like a heartbeat, as if the tunnels themselves were alive. Red veins ran along the walls with an ominous red aura, a chilling wind blew through the corridor.

"Oh my god oh my god oh my god-"

Despite the haunting chill that sent shivers down Kawakami's spine. Something called to her, as if something wanted her to come deeper.

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod-"

It was real. It was all real. All those things that Akira described, all the things that he said that sounded like disillusions and lunacy, she was seeing it with her own eyes. This was the embodiment of the hearts of the populace.

She began to journey deeper. What was she doing? She had promised herself that she would just peek and then go back. Her mind screamed for her not to go any farther and yet every fiber of her being wanted to venture forward. What did this world have to offer? She needed to see these shadows Akira spoke about.

Sadayo rounded the corner and her wish came true a small creature that looked like a jack-o'-lantern floated about holding a small lantern. In her sudden surprise she yelped with a start before quickly retreating behind the corner, covering her mouth with her hands.

She could hear the little creature shifting about and grumbling something. Closing her eyes and holding her breath, Sadayo wanted to run but her legs had suddenly stiffened and couldn't move. What if that was the monster that had hurt Akira so bad? She could hear it coming closer. Why didn't she think to bring a weapon? Sadayo found herself defenseless. She wanted to run but she just couldn't.

The shuffling drew closer.

The woman's eyes began to water. Why hadn't she just listened to Akira? She knew she was way in over her head. Now she was about to be taken out by a-

The creature rounded the corner. The two's eyes met and they both shouted with surprise. The jack-o'-lantern lunged forward and rammed up against Sadayo, knocking her to the ground. She let out a scream and struggled as she scratched it's face, causing it to shout in pain.

They struggled and rolled around on the ground, Sadayo hoping she could stagger it just long enough for her to get a running start. But before she got her chance the shadow raised it's hand with the lantern before bringing it down on Sadayo.

The impact against her head made her vision flash white and she lost of sense of direction and her surroundings as pain shot through her skull. As soon as her vision returned from white, it immediately began to fade to black. "Akira…" she murmured as she began to slip from consciousness. "Help…"

- 11:00 PM -

"I want to kill her."

"Idiot, there have been assholes running around with crazy strong personas."

"And?"

"And I'm not risking hers coming out when you try to kill her."

"She might not even have one."

"That's not a chance I'm willing to take."

"I can handle it. A Jack-o'-Lantern knocked her out… a Jack-o'-Lantern!"

"Last time I attacked a human, I had to beg for my life and they took all my gold. No way I'm going through that again."

Sadayo's vision was blurry as she slowly opened her eyes. Her head was pounding and she couldn't focus her vision as what appeared to be shapeless blobs danced before her.

"She's harmless, she practically wet her pants before."

"Just shut up, man. Let the big guys take care of her. I don't want any trouble."

She felt herself pressed a cold surface. Her body was leaned up against a hard wall. She blinked several times as her vision cleared. two creatures had their backs facing her. One was a strong looking ram with two large horns and the other was a man with wings.

"You mean I carried her all this way just to not kill her?" The ram creature asked.

As the two creatures argued, Sadayo put her hand to her pounding head and was surprised to feel warm, sticky blood left on her hand. The spot where she had been hit was bleeding. She began to look around and quickly noticed she had little to no options. Behind her was a dead end and in front of her the two shadows stood in her way.

She winced as she quietly picked herself up. She was missing a shoe but her purse was surprisingly still slung over her shoulder. Other than the pain of her pounding head, she felt okay. She didn't even have scratches from her kerfuffle with the Jack-o'-Lanturn.

Still trying to regain her balance, she had one hand against the wall to keep her propped up, her other hand dug through her purse. She quietly stepped towards the two creatures. Fear gripped her tighter and tighter with each step closer to them.

"Can I at least give her a nibble?" The ram asked.

"Absolutely not," the winged man replied.

"Hey-" Sadayo began. The two shadow jumped with a start and whipped around to turn to Sadayo, only to be met with pepper spray to the face. The spray was something Sadayo always kept handy in case she met a real creep during her time as a maid.

The shadows cried out in pain.

"AAGGGH! IT BURNS!"

"THAT'S CHEATING!"

Sadayo wasted no time to run past them as they both fell to the floor. "Oh my god oh my god oh my god!" She huffed as she ran. "I can't believe that worked I can't believe that worked I can't believe that worked-"

Her escape was cut short as she rounded the corner and ran into the back of another shadow, causing her to fall back to her seat. The shadow, who never even flinched upon impact, slowly turned around to look at her. It was a strange looking creature with the body of a snake, but the torso and head of a man, he had a deadly looking spear in his hand.

Sadayo didn't hesitate to give him the spray.

*Psssssst*

The creature didn't even blink.

"U-um, s-sorry!" Sadayo said as she tried to scramble away. She got to her feet and began running the other way, but yelp in surprise as the spear flew over her head and landed, wedged into the ground just in front of her.

She turned around and screamed as she saw the shadow slithering towards her. The shadow grabbed her and whirled around, slamming her against the wall.

Sadayo gasped as the wind was knocked out of her and pain shot through her body. She crumpled to the floor. As she tried to pick herself up the shadow grabbed her by the hair and put his spear to her neck. Sadayo wriggled and squirmed and tried to escape his grip but this only caused pain to shoot through her head as her hair was pulled.

"Pathetic, what are you doing this deep in Mementos?" The shadow asked. Sadayo couldn't find it in herself to respond, her eyes watering as the pain and fear sunk in.

"P-… Please…"

"Sorry… this isn't personal."

He stabbed the spear forward, Sadayo grabbed it with both her hands and tried to push it back. They struggled as they pushed the spear in opposite directions, Sadayo only able to match it's strength by using both her hands.

The cold tip tickled her skin.

"S-stop!"

The tip move about in the struggle, scratching against her skin. Sadayo cried out as her shirt was torn and her skin was pierced.

The blade entered her torso.

Sadayo's eyes widened as she felt her body go cold. She still struggled with the shadow as he tried to push the spear in deeper.

"If… you… kill… me…" Sadayo huffed as she fought, "Joker won't rest… until… you're dead…"

The struggle suddenly stopped. The shadow's voice shook, "Joker?"

Gun shots blasted and echoed through the empty corridors as several bullets flew into the shadow's body. The shadow hissed and slithered away from Sadayo as he took a defensive stance. Sadayo collapsed backwards, leaning against the wall of the corridor again.

"Morgana, it's all you!"

Powerful blasts of wind slammed against the shadow as it cried out in pain before it evaporated into dust. Frantic footsteps could be heard. Everything was happening so fast Sadayo barely had time to process it.

She turned towards the sound of the footsteps to see Akira dressed in strange attire running toward her. He had a mask on but he frantically took it off and threw it to the side as he fell to his knees and slid on the ground right up to her.

"Sadayo! Are you-" His breathing the heavy and frantic as his worried gaze darted around and his hands patted her down as he looked for injuries. His heart sunk as he saw her head wound and the wound from the spear. "Morgana!" He voice was cracking as he shouted. He reached out and wrapped his arms around Sadayo tightly, burying his face in the crook of her neck.

"A… Akira,' Sadayo said softly. "You found me…"

The boy's eyes were watering, Sadayo could feel the hot tears on her skin. Kawakami had never seen him cry before. "I thought…" his voice still cracking. "I thought I never would…"

"Akira… I'm so sorry…" Sadayo whispered. "I should have listened… I should have…"

He released his hold on her and put his finger to her lips. "Shh, no… this was my fault," he said. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve "If I had just agreed to show you the meta verse, you wouldn't have had to go in alone to see it."

"You were right… it was dangerous… I was just blinded by my curiosity," Sadayo told him, a lump in her throat made if hard to speak. Her eyes began to water as well.

Akira wiped away her tears with his thumb. Sadayo's breath quivered, but she felt relieved. She felt safe.

A weird looking feline creature with a large, round head scampered up to them. "Hello, Ms. Kawakami," he said. "You probably don't recognize me in this very handsome form, but I'm Morgana."

Kawakami blinked several times in confusion. But after the day she had been having, she decided not to question it. "Hello Morgana," she replied.

"He's going to give you that healing magic I've told you about," Akira said, grasping Sadayo's hand in his. "It should patch up your wounds without a problem."

"Did you say 'should,' Akira?" Morgana asked. "That would imply there's a chance this wouldn't go without a hitch. Everyone knows I'm a master of my craft."

Sadayo smiled gently. Suddenly all those one sided conversations she had seen Akira have with Morgana made more sense. The little cat had quite a bit of sass.

Akira's grip on Sadayo's hand tightened as Morgana began his spell. "You're going to be okay," Akira told her. "It's going to be okay…"

"I think she went this way!"

"I'll kill that bitch when I find her!"

Everyone's heads turned in the direction of voices that could be heard echoing down the corridor. "More shadows," Morgana simply stated.

Kawakami's heart skipped a beat as she realized the two shadows that had captured her had likely recovered. "Are they talking about you?" Akira asked, looking to Sadayo. He could feel her hand shaking in his.

She only nodded. "I-I… the pepper spray…" He gestured in the direction of her small spray that she had dropped during her encounter with the stronger shadow.

"I'll be right back," Akira said before he hastily jumped to his feet and sprinted down the corridor in the direction of the voices, where Sadayo had originally came from. He rounded the corner and out of sight.

"Hey, it's another one! Can I kill this-"

Silence.

- 12:00 AM -

Sadayo Kawakami had heard many of Akira's strange tales about the meta verse. It sounded like something out of a comic book. But even hearing all these things and now finally seeing it for herself, watching his cat transform into a motor vehicle had become the strangest thing she had encountered yet. She was laying in the back of the van with Akira, her head resting in his lap.

They were tucked away in a dark corner, as Sadayo recovered from what had happened. After her previous throw down with the shadow from before, she wasn't quite mentally prepared to go back out there.

"You're strong," Akira told her. "You held your own against it for so long with no persona to help you… Naga is a strong shadow."

Sadayo held her hand to her torso where she had been stabbed. There wasn't even a scar there anymore thank's to Morgana's healing magic. She bit her bottom lip, she was probably going to have nightmares of that encounter for the rest of her life.

She instinctively held her hand over where she had been injured. It didn't hurt but the fact that it had healed so quickly was messing with her mind. Akira could feel her shaking as he gently ran his hand through her hair. "Let's go home," he said,

Sadayo rolled on her side and buried her face in his torso. She wasn't ready to get moving yet. They all sat there in silence for a while, Kawakami was trying to muster up the courage to stop hiding her face in Akira's stomach and face whatever they might encounter.

Akira watched as Sadayo instinctively reached down and her fingertips brushed against where she had been stabbed. There was a large rip in her yellow, long sleeve shirt that she always wore. Akira took her hand and guided it away from where her injury was. "Hey, you're alright," he told her. "You're safe."

In the distance there was the sound of rattling. Sadayo could feel Akira's body tense up immediately.

"Akira…" Morgana said.

The rattling continued. As the seconds passed, the faint sound became clearer and clearer. The was as if chains were grinding together, making Sadayo's hair stand on end.

"Shit," Akira spoke as he quickly got up from the seat and quickly made his way to the front of the van and sat in the driver's seat. "We've been here too long, we gotta get out of here."

The rattling grew louder. Akira slammed the gas and Morgana abruptly lunged forward. "Shit, shit, shit, shit-" Akira grumbled. A still shaken Sadayo climbed over the front seat and climbed her way to the passenger's seat. "W-what is it?"

"The reaper," Akira began. He spun the steering wheel causing Morgana to skid around the corner. "One of the toughest things you'll find here. Even with a full team we couldn't take it down."

"It comes after us if we stay in one place for too long," Morgana chimed in, his voice hiccuping as he ran over bumps along the path. "If it finds us, we're-"

There was a sudden roar as something slammed into Morgana from the side, causing him to slam into the wall of the corridor. Kawakami's eyes widened as she saw a large, eerie shadow looming over them. It held two very long revolvers in either hand and the chains that loomed around it's body rattling together.

Akira was quick to jump out of the van. "Morgana, get Sadayo out of here!" he exclaimed, pulling out his pistol and shooting the reaper several times.

"But Akira-!" Morgana began.

"Do not bullshit with me right now, Morgana!" Akira practically scream back. The fierce authority in his voice send a chill down Sadayo's spine. Morgana's wheels kicked up dust as they spun in place momentary before friction finally kicked in and he sped forward with full force.

"Morgana! W-we can't leave him back there with that thing!" Sadayo exclaimed as she grabbed hold of the steering wheel, sticking her head out the window to look back at Akira. She watched as the Reaper effortlessly picked him up and threw him into the wall, kicking up a huge cloud of dust.

"Sorry Ms. Kawakami but Akira- h-hey!" Morgana's statement was quickly interrupted as Sadayo scooted over to the drivers seat and slammed on the breaks and spun the steering wheel causing Morgana to make an abrupt U-turn. She slammed on the gas and the wheels kicked up a cloud of dirt before they sped forward at top speed towards the reaper.

The shadow pointed it's revolver at Akira's head and began to pull the trigger before Morgana slammed into it. Sadayo opened the door to the van. "Get in the van!"

Akira staggered as he stood up. "I told you to get out of here, I'll hold it-"

"Akira, I swear to god, get in the damn van!" Sadayo screamed, her voice cracking. She reached out and grabbed him by his trench coat and pulled him into the van with every ounce of strength she had. Morgana didn't hesitate to charge ahead at full speed away from the Reaper. The shadow let out a bloodcurdling roar and gave chase after them.

Sadayo took the steering wheel again and made a sharp turn around the corner. Akira popped out of the window of the van and fired his gun at the Reaper several times, nailing it in the forehead and causing it to stagger. This bought them several seconds to lose it.

"To the left! If we go through the exit we'll get to a safe zone!" Akira exclaimed. Sadayo spun the wheel without hesitation and slammed the break to come to a stop. They jumped from the van and Morgana changed back to his cartoonish cat form and they dashed towards the exit, leaving the screams of the Reaper behind them.

- 1:00 AM -

Akira fell to the subway floor, Morgana landed on his head and bounced to the floor, Sadayo Kawakami fell on top of Akira. All three of them groaned in union. They managed to return to the real world in the subway station where Sadayo had initially activated the app to enter Mementos. Luckily this late into the night there weren't many people around and they weren't drawing anyone's attention.

All three were quick to get up and brush themselves off, collectively letting out a sigh of relief. The usual stink of the subway station had a welcoming familiarity to Sadayo.

The adrenaline rush suddenly subsided and all the energy she had left her body. Her knees buckled and her vision lost focus a little. She fell forward but Akira was quick to catch her in his arms. "Sadayo, are you alright?" Akira asked worriedly.

Putting one hand on her head and another on Akira's shoulder, Sadayo pushed herself back up. "Yeah, just a little light headed…" she murmured.

Akira looked down at Morgana, who had reverted back to his real world cat form. "You can head on home, Morgana," Akira said. "I'll take Sadayo home."

Morgana, who had been licking himself, stood back up and stretched. "Okay, but you still owe me sushi," he reminded Akira as he began to stroll away. "And don't think that I'll forget."

Sadayo watched as Morgana trotted up the subway stairs. "I can understand him…" she murmured.

Akira was about to respond, but they were interrupted by the sound of the subway train coming into the station. A gust of wind rustled their hair as the train slowed to a stop and the doors opened for them to enter. With Sadayo still in Akira's arms, they somewhat awkwardly enter the train car and Akira sat Sadayo down in the nearest seat.

The two sat in silence as the doors closed and the subway began to move forward. Sadayo rested her head on Akira's shoulder.

"How did you know I was in trouble?" Sadayo asked quietly.

Akira's chest puffed as he huffed in slight amusement. "Well, you were acting strange at the cafe before you left," he explained as he dug through his pocket and pulled out his phone. "And you weren't responding to any of my texts, usually that time of day you always respond immediately," he turned on his phone and opened up his message's app. Sadayo could see the several text messages he had sent to her a while after she had entered the meta verse.

"Was I really that obvious at the cafe?" She asked him, she took his free hand in her and intertwined their fingers.

A smile crept up on Akira's face. "We both know you aren't very good at hiding things," he told her. He thought back to when she had told him that she was working for as a maid for her nonexistent sick sister. She looked so ashamed that she wasn't being honest that she couldn't look in his direction as she had spoke. Over time, Akira had picked up on Kawakami's quirks. She twirled her hair around her finger when she was nervous and the smile she would put on wasn't her usual genuine one.

"Hey," Akira said suddenly, he was gently running his fingers through Sadayo's hair. "Thanks for saving me back there."

Sadayo looked up at him with confusion. "The Reaper," Akira reminded her. "I was never going to be able to take it down all on my own. You came back for me."

Sadayo placed her head back on his shoulder. "That was pretty scary," she said, rubbing her arm with her hand. "I thought we were all going to die."

The clacking of the subway train on the tracks was melodic and usually put her to sleep, but today it reminded her of Mementos. While Sadayo hadn't seen any subway cars in the meta verse, the faint clacking was always there in the background. It was haunting, like an oncoming train that she couldn't avoid.

As her grasp on her hand tightened, Akira gave her a worried look. "Akira," Sadayo murmured quietly.

A gentle hum of acknowledgement came from Akira.

"Stay with me tonight…" she said softly.

- 3:00 AM -

Akira laid in Sadayo's bed staring at the ceiling. He had kicked off his shoes and flopped down on the bed, and hadn't moved in quite some time. Sadayo was in the shower, the sound of running water could be heard down the hall, muffled through the walls.

I almost lost her.

The image of that shadow pinning Sadayo to the wall as his spear pierced her torso was etched in Akira's mind. Akira thanked his lucky star that the pointed tip hadn't struck anything vital, else Morgana's healing magic may not have saved her. He held up his hand, her blood still lined the creases of his palm. He clenched his fist shut until his knuckles turned white. He wanted to kill that shadow again. He wanted to make it pay for the pain it had caused.

Igor's fault… this is all Igor's fault…

The thought kept running through his head but he wasn't buying it. It was like Igor said, Sadayo made her choice. She could have told him about the app but she knew exactly what he would say and do. She went into the meta verse on her own because she knew Akira would try to stop her.

Akira wanted to be angry at her but he knew that he would have done the exact same thing, except he wouldn't have been smart enough to take pepper spray and would have died.

He rolled his head to gaze towards the door and down the hall. The shower was still going. He knew that women typically took longer showers but Sadayo had been there for almost an hour.

He slowly picked himself up out of the bed and made his way down the hall. He stood on the other side of the door for a moment, he didn't hear anything shuffling or movement, just the sound of running water.

"S-… Sadayo?" He asked, lightly tapping on the door.

There was no sound in response, just the continuing sound of running water. Akira looked around awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "Are you okay?" he asked, gently resting his hand on the door. There was still no answer.

Gently, Akira grasped the doorknob and was surprised to find it was unlocked. "I'm… I'm coming in…" he said. "Scream or something if that's a bad idea."

Still no answer.

He gently turned the knob and opened the door. A burst of humidity and mist swept past the opening door as he stepped into the bathroom. Sadayo's clothes were lazily strewn across the floor, and Akira's heart skipped a beat. Sadayo was curled up in a ball in the corner of the shower, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs, which pressed up against her chest and buried her face.

Akira instinctively averted his eyes, his withdrawn gaze falling on a large body towel that hung on a rack. He grabbed the towel and turned the shower faucet to stop the water. With the room suddenly stilled with silence, Akira could hear the very faint sobbing that came from Sadayo. The events of the day were starting to completely sink in.

He stepped into the shower, Sadayo didn't move or look up at him. Biting his bottom lip Akira began to drape the towel over her, crouching down and began to dry her hair. His hands shook as he draped the towel over her shoulders and wrapped it around her.

Sadayo finally looked up after Akira sat down in the shower next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her in closely. "It's okay," Akira whispered. "You're okay."

- 1:00 PM -

Akira's eyes slowly fluttered open. The bed he laid on shook a little, and the sound of groaning could be heard from the opposite side of the bed. He reached over the side of his bed to check his phone, letting out an audible sigh as he realized how late it was. He and Sadayo had been up late the previous night and sleep had not come easily to either of them.

The bed continued to wiggle and shake and Akira rolled over to see Sadayo was still asleep, now dressed in a loose tank top and sweatpants. She was tossing and turning, her face was twisted into an unpleasant expression and her groaning continued.

"Sadayo?" Akira asked, gently placing his hand on the woman's shoulder.

Sadayo's eyes shot open and she screamed before she decked Akira in the face. The impact sent him tumbling over the side of the bed and onto the floor.

…

Blinking several times in confusion, Sadayo flinched as pain shot through her hand. If her hand hurt this bad then Akira- "Oh my god," she scrambled to the side of the bed and peered over, looking down at Akira who was recovering from a daze. "A-Akira I'm so sorry," she got up and helped the boy to his feet.

Akira held his hand to his cheek, he wasn't expecting to get punched in the first place but he especially didn't expect Sadayo to pack so much of a punch. "Yeah, I've taken worse," he said, there was concern in his voice but it was direction towards Sadayo. "Were you having a nightmare?"

In the moment, Sadayo couldn't remember, the memory of her dreams were not something that often stuck around. But as she began to think, the image of the shadow holding her against the wall and stabbing her appeared clear in her mind. Her stomach twisted into a knot and she gagged, feeling like she might puke. Her hands instinctively placed where the wound would have been. It almost felt worse that there was no trace of the stab. It was as if it had never even happened in the first place.

Was last night just some weird sick dream? Doubt flashed through Sadayo's mind at first as the bizarre tale seemed so unreal, but the pain of being stabbed and the stench of Mementos were so deeply ingrained in her mind that there was no way it had been a dream.

"Sadayo?"

The woman snapped from her trance as Akira called her name. She looked over at him in confusion before flopping back down on the bed, burying her face in the sheets. Akira sat down next to her and gently rubbed her back.

"Are you going to be okay?" Akira asked with a concerned look.

Sadayo rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. "I'm just trying to wrap my head around last night. It was traumatizing but it doesn't feel real."

Akira noticed Sadayo's phone on the floor, it peaked out of the pocket of the now bloodstained skirt she had worn the day before. He reached over and picked up the phone, looking over at Sadayo. She didn't seem hesitant of him having her phone so he turned it on. The screen lit up and a home menu full of icons appeared.

"That bastard…" Akira muttered as he saw the bright red icon on the screen. "So you got the navigator app…" he said.

Sitting up, Kawakami scooted closer to Akira. "Yeah, it just appeared out of no where," she said.

"It always does," Akira muttered.

"Where does it come from?" she asked. "Is it a virus?"

Akira handed her the phone. "Would you believe me if I told you an old man with a giant nose that lives in the meta verse gives it to people?"

A huff of amusement came from Sadayo as she put her phone away. "At this point, yes," she admitted.

In that moment, a low grumble could be heard coming from Akira's stomach. "It's a bit past lunchtime," Sadayo said, checking the clock on her phone. "You want to get something?"

Akira grinned. "That sounds good," he told her. "We uh… we'll have to make an extra stop though."

- 2:00 PM -

"I want that one… and that one… and that one…"

Kawakami couldn't stop staring at Morgana as she watched the cat talk. He pointed his paw to different sushi's as they came past on a conveyer belt.

"And that one…"

Sadayo felt like a character in some silly children's movie where the main character finds out they have a magical pet that can talk. Sadayo had seen Morgana many times before when she had come over to visit Akira, whether it be as a maid or otherwise, yet now it was like new life had been breathed into Morgana. He was much more animated and expressive, and Sadayo couldn't place if this was new or if Morgana had always been like that, but now that she could hear his voice it brought his expressiveness more to life.

"And that one-"

Checking around to see if she was going crazy, Sadayo watched as people walked by, not paying any heed to the cat in Akira's lap, calling out every sushi dish that he wanted, and by every dish he wanted, he meant every dish that came by.

"And that one-"

"Alright, if you have any more, you're going to get yourself sick," Akira stopped Morgana.

"Yeah but obviously I'm going to save those for later," Morgana insisted, licking his paw as if to clean them before eating.

"I think we both know you won't be saving any of this for later," Akira told him. "Sadayo can you talk some sense into him?"

Blinking in confusion, Sadayo pointed to herself. Was Akira asking her to speak to the cat? "I- um- I-" she found herself stammering as the two watched her try to find her words. Morgana's eyes seemed to gaze deep into hers which only disoriented her more.

"I think she agrees with me," Akira said, taking the sushi Morgana had chosen before they began to walk away.

"What!? She didn't even say anything!" Morgana whined.

Watching them walk away, Sadayo pinched herself and slapped her cheeks a few times as if to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Seeing that she hadn't woken up in her bed, she proceeded to follow Akira, who was still bickering with Morgana. Now people were given him strange looks, though Sadayo could only assume that it was because he was very obviously talking to a cat. Akira seemed to be completely oblivious to them though, so Sadayo grabbed his arm and pulled him to a table where they all sat down. "You two are making a scene," she warned them.

Morgana excitedly pawed Akira's cheek. "She finally talked to me," he said. Sadayo very suddenly remembered she was going insane.

"How come I could never understand you before?" She decided to asked, Akira handed the first meal of sushi to Morgana before passing one to Sadayo and serving one to himself. "You used to sound like a regular cat."

Morgana also didn't hear her as he drooled over his sushi but a pat on the side from Akira snapped him back to reality. "Oh… we don't really know," he said nonchalantly. "Seems like once someone is exposed to the meta-verse, they have the ability to understand me."

"Morgana is our expert on how the meta-verse works but he can't really explain any of the science behind it," Akira explained.

Sadayo picked at her food. "I think the I've wrapped my head around the meta verse because the whole thing was weird," she said. "Like I was completely surrounded by this distorted world. But seeing your cat talk at the sushi place I eat at regularly is-"

"You'll get used to it, they always do," Morgana said, he had finished his sushi in the time between Sadayo starting and ending her statement. Akira handed over the next course. "Also, I'm not a cat."

Sadayo tilted her head in confusion and looked at Akira and then back at Morgana. "But you look like one…" she said.

"I'm just trapped in this form, someday I'll be human and have thumbs and go on dates with Ann."

Sadayo looked back at Akira. "So you weren't kidding about that yesterday," she said.

Akira couldn't hide the dumb smirk on his face. "Nope," he confirmed. "I haven't been kidding about anything."

"Wait so if you're human, how did you turn into a cat?" Sadayo asked.

"He also has amnesia," Akira was quick to clear up.

The talking cat from that was also supposedly human that could also turn into a van had amnesia and a crush on one of her students. Sadayo was never going to see Morgana as the innocent, cute, black cat again.

- 4:00 PM -

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Akira asked. "I wouldn't mind staying another night."

He, Sadayo, and Morgana had returned to her apartment, where they stood at the door to say goodbye for the day.

"It's okay, I wouldn't want to wake up to me hitting you again," Sadayo gave Akira an apologetic look. "Besides, Sojiro probably wouldn't be happy with you being absent two nights in a row."

"I think he'd be okay with it if he knew I was with a girl, which he does, may I remind you," Akira still hadn't been able to let that go, Sojiro made it particularly difficult with the teasing and the prying.

Sadayo giggled and gave Akira a smile. "I appreciate the thought, but I think I'll be fine," she said.

Akira reached out and grasped her right hand in both of his. "Don't… please don't go back," he said quietly. "I know that's hypocritical of me to ask but-"

"I get it," Sadayo cut him off. "I saw what was there, I saw what you could do in there that I can't, and I know you don't go in there alone." She clasped her free hand over his. "It was seriously stupid of me to try to go in there by myself."

"No," Akira told her. "No one can blame you for wanted to go and see the meta-verse for yourself. If I had just understood that sooner I would have just shown you myself, which would have been much safer." They had gone through this conversation a few times in the last twenty four hours.

Sadayo placed her hand gently on Akira's cheek. "Stop blaming yourself for everything," she said. "I'm an adult. I make my own decisions and have to deal with the consequences." She stood on her tip toes and kissed him on the lips.

She smiled at Morgana and reached out and scratched him behind his ears, earning a soft purr. "Thank you Morgana from coming to save me," she said, he didn't bother respond and rather continued to purr as she scratched him.

"Make sure you text me later and stay out of trouble," Sadayo told Akira as she reluctantly unlocked her door.

Akira smiled. "I can't promise the latter," he told her.

"Oh I know," Sadayo said as the lock clicked and the door opened. "I just need to tell you now so I can scold you later. I'm still your teacher after all."

Fin. See you in the next fic ~