2025-08-14: Last Chance

• Log: Last Chance
• Cast: Umie Akabane, Katsuya Suou
• Where: Meiji Shrine Grounds
• OOC Date: August 14, 2025
• IC Date: June 25, 2012
• Summary: Umie manages to get in touch with Katsuya, in order to catch him up on details on the Old Maid case. After Umie gives him one last chance to turn away, Katsuya finds out just enough to realize how deep this rabbit hole might go, but not much further.

---

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    "Katsuya-san, do you have any idea how hard it is to find your number?" mildly complains the voice on the other end, when Katsuya answers a call from a new number. "It's Umie."

    These are Umie's first words to Katsuya since managing to get ahold of him a few days later.

    "I have information for you about that case. Uh, what number was it? #601, 501? Old Maid case. Could we meet soon? Preferably Shibuya, though that part's not going to matter much except for bus fare reasons."

    And, like Umie's preferred tactic, they say a lot and yet so little, all at the same time.

    The way she talks, it's as if nothing had happened. She talked like that in the middle of Mementos as well, however; it's not much of a hint.

    Well, there is *one* clue: she's not calling from her regular phone, and she cared enough to try to track his number down.

    The June rain pours down as Katsuya exits into the busy streets of Shibuya. As promised, Umie is close by in her rain jacket and a yellow umbrella. She's already approaching, but her manner is slightly subdued, perhaps an effect of the dreary weather.

    "Thanks for coming," she starts. "We'll need someplace anonymous. Or, I could show you the place."

    She tilts her head downwards, rain pelting the plastic of her umbrella. "... Where I was attacked, I mean. Sorry, I didn't want to say that over the phone. The Old Maid came after me, this time." Her expression is solemn at the grave, no hint of a dark joke or prank despite no apparent injury on her. "Sorry to spring it on you like this."

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.

    There are those moments that even Katsuya has to admit are the exciting parts of police work. The pieces had come together thanks to the break he'd made in the case from the CCTV footage from the bakery Yeo-san had named. Without question, he'd been able to ID the culprit of the murder in the apartment of the Takagi building in Hirasaka Ward. An arrest had been made; the man had confessed after interrogation.

    And then, of course, there had been paperwork. There had been a lot of paperwork. Somewhere in the mix of all that -- between obtaining the footage and the paperwork after the confession -- there had been an attempted arson at Hirasaka. Tsubasa Seki had left a flurry of profanity-laded voice messages on his phone. Officially, there had been no such thing as another Joker attack, but...

    There'd been another arson attack just the other day. No one had been killed, but, the young woman who had attempted to stop it had gone to the hospital. As a police detective, it had been easy to find out her name.

    So he'd called her. The call had gone to voicemail.
    He'd received a message from someone else, instead.

    And by the time he went to the hospital, Umie had been released. The wounds were not that serious, it seemed.

    "Akabane-kun?! Where are you?" If he sounds alarmed or startled, perhaps he can be forgiven, this time. "I heard you were in a-- what? About #501? Shibuya? But--"

    It had been hard to get a word in edgewise. Indeed, it had reminded him quite a bit of talking to Tatsuya...

    So what else could he have done? Of course, he went, even in the rain.

    She doesn't look as if she was badly hurt. In fact, she doesn't look hurt at all. Another benefit to a Persona, he supposes, looking her over critically. "I had heard you were in an arson incident." He pauses, just long enough. "Was it--"

    Umie confirms his suspicions and his eyes harden. "That's... you're lucky to be alive, Akabane-kun." As is he, from his own encounter, technically speaking. "Is that what you mean by 'information'? Did you..." He hesitates. It's monstrous, almost, to ask it. But he has to, if he's to crack this case wide open. "...Did you learn something? During the attack, that is."

    He fidgets with the grip on his own umbrella in the rain. "I agree. Somewhere anonymous is best."

    Palaces. Mementos. The NWO, a shadowy organization. The Dark Hour. Yakuza acting openly in Hirasaka. The Joker Killer. ...And the power of rumors. What has this world come to? Was it always...?
    But first and foremost, he has to get answers.

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    There's still a line one could follow from the Umie of a few years ago, and the Umie standing there today. Depending on how much Katsuya saw, he'd know that Umie was a dedicated enough tutor, even if she was bought in by Tatsuya's unexpectedly sillier traits, like his impressions. She seemed to enjoy coming over, after a while, and was sad when her senior year meant it might be coming to a close, with universities and the like on the horizon. Did she have an effect on Tatsuya's grades? That, in the end, would've depended on how Tatsuya applied himself.

    All in all, Umie was a normal high schooler, who always tried to dodge too many questions, who covered her arms in the middle of the hottest months-- well, okay, those are definitely traits Umie always have had. Her dyed hair and fingernails, however... those would be new.

    Who's to say some of Tatsuya's own fire didn't rub off on the young woman?

    "... yeah." Umie nods her head, then, thinking better of it, adds a soft, but sardonic reply of, ".... It wasn't fun." Understatement is a word that could be used here.

    She's lucky to be alive. This, Umie seems to agree with, her head bowing down. "... Yeah. It was.... very, very close. I was..."

    She lets it pass, letting her breath out as she looks around. "Sorry for the shortness. It's been a rough few days. Probably was for you too, though."

    Tatsuya wanted to keep Katsuya out of all of this, but right now, she could really use a Katsuya. Besides, she can't contact Tatsuya without her 'real' phone. Is it bad, to admit to that, after she promised Tatsuya she'd try to keep Katsuya safely out of things?

    She'd just told Tatsuya she was helping him, and then, she goes and gets attacked.

    "... The Underground Mall. There's a few areas that are low traffic. There's also the shrine, but with the rain..."

    But the rain's been doing a good job of obscuring their conversation already.

    "Up to you," she says, finally letting him be in control, rather than be the one bouncing him around with her short replies.

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.

    It would have been good if she had any effect on his grades. While he's not able to keep as close tabs on them as he once was, he's nonetheless aware that Tatsuya's scores are... not as good as they could be. With how much school he's missed, they're almost certainly worse now. Katsuya already knows that his brother's prone to skipping class, but the latest bout truly takes the cake...!

    But that's neither here nor there with Akabane's confession that she'd been attacked by Joker. He almost wants to ask about the high school, the question is on the tip of his tongue, but Umie, when she mentions that they should find someplace more secretive than this, prompts him to hold his peace.

    "In a manner of speaking," he says to her, regarding the last couple of days. He pauses.

    "Did... something else happen?"
    Of course, he can only remain silent so long.

    "The Underground Mall? Hmm. It's been some time since I've been there. At this hour..." He glances off down the street, then nods. "Yes, even with the rain, it could be congested there. The shrine may be better. I do not think many people would go there in the rain." He... hopes, at least.

    "Please, lead the way."

    He's not just being polite. He hasn't been around this part of Shibuya in a while, and there's an embarrassing chance he could get lost.

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    'Did something else happen'?

    ".... Kasugayama High did," Umie says, after a moment of deliberation. "He--"

    They should save it for later, she realizes.

    "O-oh, uh." Umie looks momentarily surprised. "... Right. Shibuya's kind of overwhelming."

    ONE AWKWARD SHORT BUS RIDE LATER

    It is still raining, but at the very least, it's quiet, save for a few grumbling tourists and some elderly couples. Katsuya's instincts were correct.

    It may be his imagination, but Umie looks slightly uncomfortable, as they enter through the gates. Between the rain and the subject matter on both their minds, it's not hard to imagine reasons, should be do so. ".... Let's go this way, the shrine grounds'll be busier," she says, suddenly, moving through a side path.

    ....

    "...." After a bit of walking, Umie finally looks around. "... I..."

    Pause. "..... I think we're lost," she admits, under her breath. It would have been easier if they had just went closer to the shrine, where there'd be more buildings to duck under, but no, she instead suffered a hit to her dignity, and is lacking in her usual playfulness or carefree tone to make up or mask for it. "Oh, wait!"

    Ducking under a small shelter, Umie lowers her umbrella and flicks off the rain.

    At least she wastes no time, now. "Strega's involved with the Joker Killer. Likely because they have similar goals. They were there, at Kasugayama." The next words of 'Tatsuya was there' are on her mouth. Katsuya's detective senses may spot it, in the minute movements of her mouth, her posture. Even now, she's still hiding something.

    "I'm not sure you heard about them, but. They have a similar setup to the Joker Curse. Just, a website. Strega, that is. They knew we were coming."

    Tatsuya and his bike were exploded into the air, yet somehow, he survived, and she helped him.

    "I never saw Old Maid there, but he--" Ah. ".... we beat them back, and... there was... something in the basement."

    No. Don't think about it. You'll go into a trance, like you did with Akechi.

    "His face."

    Stop it.

    Don't remember.

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.

    The look in Katsuya's eyes will say everything all at once. This is something he wants to know more about--

    But it's best to not talk about it here.

    If it's raining, it stands to reason there will be more people in the underground mall. Assuming they didn't just stay home to start with, of course, but there's only so many contingencies one can account for. Here at the shrine, as he suspected, it's releatively empty: some unhappy tourists, some older couples, but no one who seems suspicious to his eye. But, is she uncomfortable, somehow, being here...?

    They should go this way. "Of course." Obedient, Katsuya follows. Unfortunately...

    That means they both get lost. "Is this... still the shrine grounds, Akabane-kun?" he wonders aloud, just as lost as she is. "..."

    Fortunately, there's a shelter. "I haven't been here in a long time," he confesses as he shakes out his umbrella and ducks inside. Why would he, when there are more familiar shrines closer to home? "Strega?"

    He explains, after a pause, "I'm familiar with the name. It's come up on Darkside before. Yet..." He trails off, shaking his head. But light breaks over the mountain: "Wait. Weren't they the ones who were exploring Mementos? I recall reading a reply from someone who claimed to be with 'Strega'. Their method of entering Mementos is..."

    And weren't there rumors that this 'Strega' was connected with a certain whispered-of website? In this day and age, that things like that can exist--

    But maybe there's teeth to the rumor, if Umie is right about the story she's told him. They're working with the Joker Killer. Somehow. For some reason. Katsuya's reaction to this piece of news is abject shock. "They're-- what? But why would anyone--"

    And then she spins up the same story he's heard. "So... it's true, then. That story about 'Revenge Request'... Then, all together, they're a group that kills just because someone asks them to. Or pays them," he adds, thinking of the other component he's caught wind of regarding 'Revenge Request'. "What is this world coming to?" How can people just...

    Yet, he's not so caught up on the fall of modern society that he hasn't noticed that Umie seemed to, again, hold something back there.

    Or that she again, falters and her tale frays as she speaks to what else she saw at Kasugayama.

    "You didn't see 'him', but you saw something in the basement? What was it?"

    That look on her face.

    "His face? Whose face? #501?"

    Something's wrong.

    He stares at her as if trying to diagnose her by sight. "Akabane-kun? Are you alright?"

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    "Where else would it be?" Umie answers back over her shoulder. For a moment, she's like her old self, with that casual tone she took over the phone that insinuated Katsuya was just some hard to track down old friend, rather than a detective she needed to find.

    'I haven't been here in a long time.' "... I've never been here before," she admits. "I didn't think it'd be... so big."

    Katsuya mentions Strega exploring Mementos. ".... Well, that's a nasty surprise." The Phantom Thieves are not going to like that at all, but, how the heck is she going to let them know about that?! She groans. "I keep forgetting to check it," she says, disguising her frustration with another issue. "There's too much spam, and it never shows up right on my phone." Pause. "... I guess internet cafes it is."

    She's not sure how they're supposed to get to that Palace or whatever it is, or even--

    "Killing becomes easier when you don't have to think about it, or if someone does it for you." She hesitates, her earlier mood back to the stilted one she's been stuck in for most of their visit. "I have a feeling I know who called the Old Maid on me. I'm not even sure they really thought about it, since they've been trying to get me to accept their marriage proposal for over a year." Red-brown eyes peer up at Katsuya, from her angled head, a sardonic grin on her face. "I'm going to pretend like I don't know, because it'll frustrate him even more. Men like that... don't deserve a woman's attention."

    There's something a little too sharp about that smile, like it's finally pierced through the persona she's used to be polite to Katsuya.

    "I'm..."

    The sound of the rain pounds in her ears so loud it hurts.

    ".... not fine." That one word took a lot to say.

    In truth, if she hadn't already lost herself in front of Akechi, she wouldn't have known to try to prepare for it. "There was something in that basement that shouldn't be there. It was something else. Some people weren't able to even look at it without screaming or collapsing. Others weren't affected at all and tried to fight it. It collapsed in a bunch of black butterflies. It wasn't #501's, but someone else's, but the colors were... different."

    She steels herself. ".... I have one question."

    "... Would you go back to the way it was before, where you didn't know any of this? There'd still be murder, crime, and all the things you've seen, but there wouldn't be this, on top of it. No Persona. Your brother? Simply just rebelling. People like me? The people we've presented ourselves to be, either to fit in, or because we want feel like we're a part of that world too. Would you, Katsuya-san?" She turns her head to look fully at him now. "I promise, I won't judge you for your answer. Not unless you go really off track, because then... I'd have to reconsider if I really know what sort of person you are."

    She doubts he will, with either answer, in her mind.

    Because, he is, after all, the person who asked her if she was okay, even while he pursued his Justice. "This is your last chance, Katsuya-san."

</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.

    "I... see," he says at last, because the fact is, he really doesn't see. Where are they? Can they get back alright...? He's already worrying about it.

    But there's a shelter here now, and there's a private place for the two of them to talk, and-- well, he had been the one to suggest coming out here to avoid running into other people. Doesn't this fit the bill, even if they're a little bit lost (or maybe he's only one being a little bit lost)?

    "It is a popular destination for a reason," he explains to Umie. "At least, it would be under most circumstances. Even the rain hadn't entirely discouraged visitors." They're just far more unlikely to come around this path back here.

    So she hadn't known. "I see. It isn't... easy to access. I suspect it is like that on purpose," he tells her, shaking his head. "That, along with its subject matter... It's not a surprise that it has all sorts of people using it. I wonder what the webmaster is thinking."

    (What Baofu is thinking is that it's better to keep trouble where you can keep an eye on it and track it, rather than hidden where you cannot. But this is a sentiment likely lost on the idealistic young detective.)

    "I use an internet cafe myself," he tells her. His flip phone doesn't handle even the BBS very well. Of course, with all the messages and avenues to track (and not everything on Darkside is correct or true) it means that he's limited by time what he can find out.

    His shoulders sag as she speaks about Strega, and what drives people to use its 'services'. "Even so, to kill someone, and do it through another to keep their hands clean..." Umie goes on, explaining that she thinks she knows who called Joker to deal with 'her'. "Marriage proposal...?" He's looking at her with widened eyes, as if he's taken aback by the very concept. "But you are not of age-- er," Katsuya hedges, trying to do some mental math on the fly. To him, Umie was still a teenager since that's how old she'd been when he'd last had any significant interaction with her. But time, alas, marches on. Umie is not a teenager anymore-- cannot be a teenager anymore, he realizes. "...I see, so you are no longer a..."

    Is he embarrassed now?

    What she's said, though, sinks in. "Wait. He... decided to organize your death because you would not agree to marry him? --What sort of man would...!" He'd been vaguely embarrassed moments before. Now he looks almost animate by his anger as it takes the wheel, his body tensing as if preparing for immediate action. It almost seems like if it were a feasible course of action, he would run right out of here and hunt down the person she thinks was responsible. "How despicable! Anyone who would commit such a crime for those reasons-- they have no place in our society!"

    But she's spaced out soon after as she explains about Kasugayama (the same that Tsubasa had called him regarding) and she says that she's...

    ...not fine.

    "Do you need to sit down? I can call someone," he says, already fishing out her phone.

    But she explains what it is that what she'd seen in the basement. It had been something that shouldn't have existed, something that couldn't be looked upon without the mind screaming and rejecting it wholesale. Something that...

    She has a question for him.

    "Akabane-san?"

    And it's the sort of question that leaves him utterly speechless in its wake. Would he go back? Could he go back, if it were possible? "That is..." he voices at last, touching his fingers to his glasses. "..."

    It's a difficult question, isn't it? Wouldn't it be better to have the world he's known all his life. Wouldn't it be better to know what tomorrow held. Wouldn't it be better for everything to be in its place, exactly where it was supposed to be, like ingredients and tools set out ahead of meal preparation?

    "Knowing what I know now..." He straightens, turning towards her. "To turn away now would be rejecting 'reality'. The world is different than I thought it was. I admit it, I would prefer it if it were not like this. But to close my eyes and pretend... no, I cannot do that. There are too many things that need to be done, besides. I cannot allow #501's killings to continue."

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    "... I guess so... It's... peaceful here. Didn't know shrines could be that way." The Alaya Shrine had always felt strange to her, as harmless as it should have been. This one, meanwhile, is 'just' a noticable landmark.

    She didn't feel like itching the back of her right hand here. Maybe, if they had gone into the shrine ground proper, it'd be a different story.

    It feels... safe here. Is it because of Katsuya, the rain, or where they are, or a combination?

    "Maybe if they'd just update it to a better format," Umie grumbles obliviously, on the topic of the BBS. "Seriously, what websites look like that nowadays?" Maybe, in some ways, Umie still is, and still thinks like, a teenager, especially when inexperience rears its ugly head with confidence trailing fast behind.

     "I'm not saying it's the reality of things," Umie replies as she rubs her neck, to Katsuya's seeming disillusionment. "Just... what it feels like." He'd have no way of knowing why she'd think such things.

    It's better he doesn't know about that.

    'But you are not of age-- er.' Umie looks up at Katsuya with a flat expression for a brief moment, but thinks better of it a moment later, spotting his embarrassment. She could never understand exactly why Tatsuya disliked his brother so much, in moments like these. Maybe it's just how brothers are?

    "He had been dogging me a while before that," Umie says, on the topic of her 'fiancee'. "Promises of helping me get through college, all sorts of things. I tried not talking about it when I was tutoring your brother, but... sometimes, it slipped out." And in those moments, she felt a strange envy of Tatsuya. To not care what other people thought... he'd have to deal with the conseqeuences of it, to be sure, but she...

    No one asked her what she wanted in her life. It may have been the best thing that happened to her, to become so fed up with it all that she fled it.

    "No, don't call anyone." Umie holds up a hand, the small bell on the red charm bracelet around her wrist making a small chime. "... But thank you. To hear you get angry..." She looks up at Katsuya now, with a wry smile, as if thinking on an injoke only she would know about. "A detective with a sense of Justice..." Would would have thought such a thing existed, she had joked, to Akechi, when he mentioned the same thing about himself. "As for the rest."
    
    It's a rhetorical question; to completely nullify a person's memories and persona seem like something out of a nightmare, even if it would potentially grant someone peace. The time to decide is before the information is granted, and the blow is struck.

    There's something like a warm respect hiding in Umie's gaze; even if she expected he'd say something like it, it doesn't lessen the weight his words have. ".... Alright," she murmurs, looking down.

    She lets the raindrops become louder, the pelting water ricochetting off the muddy ground onto her sneakers.

    "It had the face of your brother, but your brother... was standing in front of it. It was like looking through the inverse of an old film reel; it was Takkun's face, but it was wrong."

    She takes in a breath. "... Takkun wants you to keep out of this because it's something way out of anyone's ability to understand. But I know that ignorance doesn't keep someone from getting hurt. It just makes it worse, in fact. I could see you taking a similar course of action he did that day, at Kasugayama High. 'People are in danger, I need to help them, no matter what.'" It's not as simple as that; Tatsuya had connections to students in that basement that she still needs to understand for herself. "He'd hate to hear it, but the truth is, you two have a lot in common."

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.

    "Hmm," Katsuya muses, watching the rain as it drips over the overhanging rooftop edge, "I suppose, this sort of peace is what they were built to attempt to capture. Peace and quiet helps people connect with the spiritual world."

    Fortunately, on this sort of topic, he doesn't attempt to expound and go on.

    "Is that so?" he asks, of the website's format. "I wouldn't know. I don't use the internet for very much outside of work and research." And cat photos, but he's not about to admit that casually. "Well, and those boards now, too. It's... astonishing, that there are people who can spend so much of their time online." He's really behind the technological curve, isn't he? But one would probably be able to determine that just by looking at his phone.

    She explains further about her 'fiance', though it seems to do little to smother the righteous anger that Katsuya appears to be experiencing on her behalf. In fact, it seems to be doing the opposite. "How appalling," he says, staring out into the falling curtains of rain. "To act like that, in this day and age... aren't we supposed to be a civilized nation?" But she thanks him, in the middle of that further expression of anger and he looks back at her, surprised and... a little embarrassed? He immediately looks away from her again and fidgets with his glasses as if they were the most important thing in the world. "It's... it's only how people ought to be," he says in response, feeling awfully put on the spot by her comment. "..."

    There is a silence then, after he asks her if she needs help. After she asks him if he'd go back to knowing nothing, if he could. After he gives her his answer. The sound of the rain on the roof, on the paving stones, in the puddles that have formed seems to wrap the entire world in its embrace.

    Then, Umie tells him what she'd seen in the basement of Kasugayama High School.

    The thing in the basement had... his brother's face.

    "...What?"

    His brother wants to keep him out of this.

    Katsuya's turned towards her, bewildered. Uncomprehending. "My brother's face? But why? And... he's wrapped up in this, too? Akabane-san, what's going on? Is this why-- is this why he hasn't come home?"

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    "It's a changing world," Umie says, looking out into the rain. "But who's to say we just never noticed it before?" The statement applies to more than just BBS boards and computers. There's been things Katsuya had to tell her, for instance, and now... she's been running around and telling everyone. Like Persona games, or Evokers.

    "A man's pride is a terrible thing to damage, Katsuya-san." There's further context that isn't fair to give in a conversation already wrought with things that would push most people to the edge. "Especially... if it's by a young woman who has no logical reason to reject him." A handsome, young, well-dressed man, with a stable, well-paying career, coming in to offer a girl a chance to become a princess... it's something out of a fairy tale, if you looked past what Umie saw.

    "Civilization decrees someone like me should be happy with that. It's the natural order of things, isn't it?" A low-key fury burns underneath the flat, cynical tone of her words. "But I'm the one who complicated it. Who *complicates* things. But it's not like I have proof. No one else attacked by the Joker Killer will, either. Maybe, that's the worse part about it, for those that survive--"

    And then she looks up from her cynical diatribe to see the usually serious and unflappable Katsuya fidgeting with his glasses. Is he... embarrassed, by her compliment?

    Surprise gives way to a hint of that terrible open-mouthed grin, the one that has terrorized Tatsuya just before she was about to do something embarrassing to him. It's the Badb in her that loves seeing those mundane, ordinary little cracks in life, while having little patience for the cracks she shows within herself. Alas, she doesn't have the Courage to tease him over it. (Yes, Katsuya's latent nii-san vibes are counteracting her gremlin vibes.)

    She looks down instead, trying to hold back that grin.

    As much as talking about Kasugayama High has allowed Umie to not talk about how she escaped the Joker Killer (especially since she's not willing to say anything about the Phantom Thieves unless she absolutely has to), it lead into an equally fraught position: the secrets Tatsuya carries, and well as the ones she does, and the few they share in common.

     "He's seeking answers, like you are." She looks back towards Katsuya then. "... But you're not going to get any, from him. However." She holds up a finger. "He seems willing to let me play the messenger between you and him... and I'm invested in keeping him safe too. Badb has some abilities that will come in handy, for that."

    Well, one ability, but Katsuya doesn't need to know that.

    "You've going to be able to move in circles he can't, and vice versa. I can't tell you much beyond what I just said; you'll have to be the detective from here on out. I'll support you where I can, but I'll also be supporting him, too." Pause. "..... once I figure out how to contact him without my real phone."

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.

    A man's pride...

    It's not that he's ignorant of such a thing. Indeed, he has his own pride, as a man. Still, he shakes his head. "Nevertheless, to stoop so low... that speaks poorly of the man in question," he insists, even as she goes on, explaining that a 'girl like her ought to have been grateful' for that sort of attention. Doesn't every girl want to be a princess and be taken care of by a man like that? "I... wouldn't know," is what he says to that, turning the matter over in his head and coming up empty-handed. "If you say it is so, then perhaps it is so. Yet... if that was something that the woman in question didn't want..."

    The fact is that there are men in this world who are wolves who prey on women. To force something on a woman that she didn't want-- he won't pretend he understands what it is that women want, or that he even 'understands women'. But coming at it from the direction of 'what is right' or 'what is just', shouldn't any person be allowed to decide?

    Even if he knows, realistically, that there are many things in this world that a person cannot decide for themselves. Rather, the choice is made for them, whatever it might be. In silence, he once more readjusts his sunglasses, his gaze averted still from Umie. "..."

    It's embarrassment.

    And the knowledge that he's treading unknown and dark waters.

    It might have remained like that, until she speaks of Kasugayama, of his brother, and what there lay in the basement.

    What's going on? What role is his brother playing in all this?

    She says outright that he won't get answers from her-- or likely, from his brother. Shock -- and indignation -- cross Katsuya's face. "He-- did he tell you to say that, Akabane-kun? Ridiculous... I'm his brother, and he thinks that he can hide things from me... You can tell him that he can either explain himself, or come home. Our mother and father are worried sick about him." She says that she'll try to keep him safe, and it's not as if he doesn't believe her! Her Persona has a particular talent in that vein.

    But even so.

    He folds his arms across his chest and frowns. "So this is the game he wants to play... what in the world have you gotten mixed up in, Tatsuya?" he wonders aloud. "Is it the New World Order...?"

    Katsuya pauses.

    "Oh, your phone. It should be with the police. I would be surprised if it weren't at the local station." He pauses. "Which... would be whatever one was closest to the one where you were attacked." The young man who had found her phone had assured him he was turning it in to the police as soon as he could.

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    'Yet... if that was something that the woman in question didn't want...'

    ".... And that is the real question that should be asked, even if the roles were reversed," Umie says, rounding back to support Katsuya's argument against her own.

    And yet, when she leads Katsuya waist deep into that chaotic water, telling him enough to want to push forward, Umie leaves him, with no further answers.

    "He told me to keep you out of this," Umie answers, simply, expression calm as she crosses her arms. "I told him I'd do what I could. But I can't leave you hanging; you'll likely find out as much about what I said through asking witnesses yourself. I just saved you a step."

    But that big brother concern is out, and with it comes that open-mouthed smile on Umie's lips, a sign of something mischievous being afoot. "Ghh.... I'm so jealous. Takkun really does have such a sweet older brother, huh..." Be thankful she doesn't pinch your cheeks, Katsuya.

    She doesn't say the part where Tatsuya admitted his guilt to her, about how he 'destroyed' his brother's dreams. There are things family do for each other, especially brothers. But nothing Tatsuya has done, even lately, would make such a statement necessary. What dream did he destroy?

    Is it a mystery that she should even try to uncover, or let it remain hidden? It's not something Umie can fix, only try to understand.

    Could she, even?

    Umie looks up. "I'll have to grab it soon then..--!" The name floated by her so subtly that it took a second for her process it beyond the comment about her phone. She had made the comment about the NWO before, almost too casually.

    ".... They're trying to see if there's anyone else like you in the police force, you know." She frowns. "That guy's still due to meet up with me soon."

    Despite proudly admitting she had refused away a 'NWO agent' to Tatsuya earlier (and in the future, Joker), reality will catch up. "I doubt he's going to give me more time because I've had a hectic month."

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.

    In the end, it loops back around to his initial argument. "That's exactly what I meant," he insists, and even if he hasn't necessarily gone at it from exactly all the precise egalitarian angles, that's what his point boils down to. All people are people, in spite of whatever differences they have. Or at least, that's how it had ought to be, in the eyes of the law.

    Tatsuya had told Umie to keep him out of this.

    "He... what? And you're--"

    Not leaving him hanging, precisely. She's just trying to give him a few hints while not exactly breaking her promise to his brother. "But he could be in trouble..." Katsuya starts, trailing out as he gazes over at Umie and her unrelenting mien. Ultimately, all he can do is sigh. "Fine. I understand. You made a promise to him, and you intend to keep it. But, please, Akabane-kun, if he gets in over his head, call me at once. And, tell him to call our parents." Even if he tries to lie to his father (he could never) that Tatsuya is safe, there isn't a world that exists where their father would accept that at face value. Not even one.

    Umie gushes over his big brother instincts, though. "Is it-- that strange?" Katsuya asks her, straightening on the spot where he stands and seeming quite ill-at-ease. "To be concerned about my younger brother..."

    His pride as a man probably couldn't take it if she pinched his cheeks. He'd probably just die on the spot to spare himself the shame.

    "Good. It sounds like it was still working. You'll only need to prove your identity," he says, nodding. Katsuya, an idealist, can't conceive of a world where someone would say they're taking the phone to the police and also had done anything 'uncouth' with the device in question.

    Before, he'd only had the initials Umie had mentioned to him. 'NWO'. It hadn't been difficult to unwind what that had stood for. A secret organization within Japan, which, it was rumored, had even infiltrated the government. It couldn't be. And yet...

    "Who is?" he asks, not quite threading the needle of the person Umie means. "Which man is that?"

    Detective of the year, folks.

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    "I told you what I saw, as a witness myself."

    But not everything. For that, Katsuya will have to do his own research.

    "... I can't tell you anything beyond that, because I don't know." Because she knows she'll lapse, like she did with Akechi. She can't risk that happening again.

    'But he could be in trouble...'

    Umie isn't unsympathetic; the way her eyes crease, as well as her frown, say as such. She's not the same rebellious teenager as Tatsuya, even if her call may have reminded Katsuya of some of his cadence.

    But she's resolute that this is the correct course, for more than one reason.
    
    "He has a Persona too, Katsuya-san." A powerful one, she wishes she could add, but doesn't. "But I promise, if it's something where we're over our heads, or if it's something where he's doing something extremely stupid, I'll call you in. In case of the latter, I'll take a particular joy in doing it." (Umie, is that supposed to make Katsuya feel better?)

    "No, it's not strange." There's a small, wry little grin there as she looks out into the rain. "Like I said, I'm a little jealous."

    But not enough to keep that smile from being there.

    "Oh _thank god_." Umie's voice actually shows a bit of emotion here beyond some coy approximation. "I had my contact list backed up, but it was years old! Now I'll be able to make a backup~"

    'Who is?'

    "The..." Her voice drops in volume. "The bridge ninja guy, from Ebisu Beach." No, Umie didn't get a name. She didn't ask for one, either!! "But that's something I'll need to get more information on."

    And she breathes, closing her eyes. She had gone from speaking in stilted sentences to something closer to her normal self; she has Katsuya to thank for that, she knows.

    ".... I think... I want a few minutes. Just stay here, okay? If you don't have a place to be." Shinjiro had helped her out earlier, but Umie still wanted to be the senpai, despite him trying to senpai her.

    Now, she can just be Umie.

    "... Thank you, Katsuya-san, for agreeing to talk to me. And... for being the sort of person you are. Please don't let that change, okay? Even now that you'd seen a little bit of what's underneath that veil."

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.

    Of all the things that he could have reacted to, this one fact Umie reveals, he doesn't. "I thought so," he says, of his brother having a Persona. It stood to reason, with all he's learned, and the way that his brother is staying away from home: he must have gotten tangled up in something big and he doesn't want to ask for help from his family. That sounds like the little brother he knows, for better or for worse.

    Unfortunately, it's also a headache. Why is Tatsuya so stubborn?

    Katsuya fails to recognize that this stubbornness runs in the family.

    Of course, it does little to dampen the embarrassment that he feels when Umie says there's nothing wrong: he still feels called out! The fact that it's of note at all is...

    Fortunately, she doesn't seem to linger on the subject: small favors! Instead, the conversation moves along to her phone, and the matter of where it is and its current condition. "I was able to leave a voice message, so it stands to reason," he says, seemingly faintly bemused by her gratitude that the phone and her contact list are okay. Does she... not have her contacts backed up as a hard copy somewhere?
    (Somewhere, in a drawer, in very neat handwriting, Katsuya has a notebook where he's manually transcribed all the phone numbers he doesn't have memorized already.)

    But who's the 'he' of which she speaks? Umie's answer comes readily enough.

    "...I see," Katsuya says, his expression stony once more. That's a problem. He'll have to careful, if someone's asking after him like that. He could put someone else in danger. "I will keep that in mind. But, you said that he is 'meeting up with you again' soon. Will you be safe?" Would it be better if he came along? Or, if that person is pestering Umie about him, would that be too dangerous? And it isn't as if he can ask Ulala or Maya to go along. ...Would Baofu even agree to do it if he asked? Perhaps, from a 'distance'...

    He shakes his head at her question. "No, I don't have anywhere to be." Not right now, at least. Not with this kind of rain. And he has a lot to think about, so he might as well do it here.

    She thanks him. What can he do but nod? "I'm happy to have helped. I am glad you're alright, Akabane-kun. Please, be careful." In whatever she chooses to do next (especially with that bridge ninja guy). But, she's thankful for the sort of person he is? "I see... then..."

    Don't let that change.

    His gaze on the falling rain just beyond the shelter's overhang, he fidgets with his sunglasses again as if in thought, and says nothing.

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    At least Katsuya seems to know that much.

    Just how much of a force of nature Tatsuya's persona is, however...

    "... I'll think of something," Umie says, likely not helping Katsuya's concerns any. "If he wants information about you, and he can't find it in the NWO's files..." She groans. "I guess I could irritate him with a bunch of banal, boring sh---- things. Technically I would have done what he asked, right...?"

    Yes, Katsuya's field is that strong that she censors herself.

    Or, she could see what a little brother would say to such an agent--

    No. Tatsuya is not her personal bodyguard.

    "When the date comes closer, we'll talk. He probably won't attack and sooner, or any later. He didn't seem to be that kind of person." She smiles to herself. "Maybe, when that time comes, he should just ask you directly, like an adult."

    It feels like that happened months away, and since then, she's already sustained an attack on her life.

    She's also gained knowledge that a terrible end may be in her future. (She refuses to believe it.)

    And now she's listening to the sound of rain, smiling as she senses Katsuya fidgeting with his glasses again.

    .... Gh.... so unfair. How can both brothers be like this?!