2025-09-28: A Slow Burn
- Log: 2025-09-28 A Slow Burn
- Cast: Ren Amamiya, Makoto Niijima, Yusuke Kitagawa
- Where: Cafe Leblanc, Yongen-Jaya, Tokyo
- OOC Date: September 28, 2025
- IC Date: July 18, 2012
- Summary: While studying for finals coming up in the next week--or at least, while using that for a cover--Ren, Yusuke and Makoto discuss the arson at Aoba Park, Tsubasa Seki's near death--and the possibility that their own arson case might have been induced by someone else as a psychotic breakdown.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
It is not a good day in Aoba Park today. It was for a while, but then arson and attempted murders took place, and now there are cops and other emergency services swarming the place.
Ren, Yusuke, and Makoto aren't there anymore. They were there to take in the art exhibit, then later to protect Tsubasa Seki, but now the fight is over and Tsubasa is saved and they have made themselves scarce.
Yusuke suggested they talk about it. 'Have a meeting,' as he put it, technically. That seemed smart--a good idea for them to unpack what happened. But they also need to make themselves scarce, so after agreeing to go home for now and getting back together the next day, they split up and each make their way back to their respective homes.
Now it's Wednesday after classes. They're in Leblanc now, with the excuse to Sojiro that they're doing a study session for finals next week. With that excuse, the cover of textbooks and notebooks and pencils, and lowered voices, they can discuss. ...and, given Makoto, actually study. Ren could use the opportunity, frankly...
There's about a half hour of that before they come to their first 'break.' With a glance around to get reassurance that nobody in the store is paying attention to a trio of teenagers, Ren looks at Yusuke and Makoto. "So... how are you two holding up so far?"
They mean that for Makoto in particular--but they don't want her to feel like they're singling her out. Even so, she definitely had the most agonized reaction of the three of them to the believe that Tsubasa had been burned alive...
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
As far as Makoto's concerned, actually studying is both a great distraction and weirdly pensive. It's always easier to focus on this sort of thing then actually, well, talk about things. On the other hand, it also puts her in a more comfortable element, and having had a half hour of studying, offering assistance where she can, and Boss' coffee, Makoto has had some time to relax and settle.
Still, studying was the secondary reason for this little meeting, and Ren asks the pertinent questions. An automatic response nearly reaches Makoto's lips, but she stops herself. She's around friends. Not people who want to hear a particular answer. "...not great." Makoto says, making sure to keep her voice low enough to not be overheard. "I'm... really glad Tsubasa-kun is okay, but..." Makoto shakes her head. "...h- their own mother did that? And now they're under scrutiny despite being the victim?"
It's baffling to Makoto that this could have happened. Sure, lots of people don't have the best relationships with their parents but having them killed? That's insane. (Don't ask her to interrogate her own parental relationships too hard.)
"I'm not sure that that guy will stop. He might think he succeeded for now, but..." Makoto shakes her head. It's clear she's worried, and that she's lost on how to approach the situation. "Especially with them all the way out in Sumaru, and, well... the police response."
<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
In the wake of the Joker Killer's attack on Tsubasa Seki and his arson on Aoba Park, the Phantom Thieves fled the scene.
Now, they're holed up in Leblanc, a veritable fortress of textbooks and papers surrounding them. Yusuke has a sketchbook open, steadily being filled with recreations of the various pieces in the exhibition that were destroyed. They're imperfect - the distraction of the crisis they just went through has blurred them a little in his memory, but the attempt to recreate them, or at least honour their existence, is helping him organise his thoughts.
He should be studying, probably, but at least the thing his scholarship is most concerned about - his art block - has been broken open.
He puts down his pencil as Ren breaks the silence, looking up at his friends. In answer to Ren's question, he shrugs, quietly, letting Makoto speak first. "... I struggle to comprehend it, also," he admits to her. "... but from what Seki-san said, I suspect that there are unimaginable pressures on that family - and a cruel patriarch is something I can understand."
His eyes flick up to rest on the Sayuri in the corner, briefly.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Ren takes in Makoto with intense, thoughtful eyes. They understand and appreciate her honest answer--and they note how she corrects herself on Tsubasa's pronouns. Hard to know exactly what to make of that, but it's good to know she's making a sincere effort.
She's absolutely right, though. "It's monstrous," they agree quietly. "And absolute bullshit." Their eyes narrow. "Just because they were convicted of arson in another case, they're trying to pin this on them again." They avert their now tense eyes and mutter bitterly, "Typical lazy cops. They don't care about justice; they just want a solve on their records."
But Makoto raises another good point. Ren looks back at her, then at Yusuke. His focus might be on recreating the art pieces that were lost during the blaze, and honestly, Ren commends him for it. People poured their heart and soul and pain into those pieces. They should find some honor, and who better to do that than Yusuke?
"Yeah," they murmur to Yusuke, following his gaze to the Sayuri. "It's... hard to know what someone else's family situation is like. I hope they're somewhere safe right now--no, I'm sure they are. That Ogre wouldn't leave without making sure of it."
That Ogre--the one who fought alongside Fox in Sumaru a while back. She'd asked Joker to pass on her thanks to him for it, and Ren had done so shortly thereafter. Yusuke ought to know she appreciates him. But...
"So how do the two of you know them?" Ren wonders. "I met them... after school, one day. Them and their Boss, Ichika Kawase."
This is true, even if it leaves out a lot of details.
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
Makoto frowns a bit as Ren talks about 'typical, lazy cops'. He's not even wrong in this case, but it sits ill with her. Of course there are bad cops, and Sis would often go on about officers that contaminated scenes or evidence, but being confronted with the wider scale of it all is causing her some real cognitive dissonance. "I guess we don't have to worry about people like Sis getting the right idea, at least."
It's Yusuke that mentions the pressures on the family. Things she and Tsubasa didn't get into, last week, the fairly surface level conversation that happened. Makoto frowns again, focusing on herself. It's not like she can blame Tsubasa for that, with how aggressive she'd been, and Tsubasa having good reason to be wary.
Makoto looks over at Yusuke when he mentions the things he can understand in their situation. "...Madarame?" She asks, a little indelicately as she notices her friends eyes track to the painting in the corner. She doesn't actually know the story of the Sayuri, she assumed it was something that had been part of the cafe. Clearly she was wrong about that too.
"I didn't realize things were that bad with their family. Her parents seemed... normal, I guess?" Not that Makoto is sure she has the best frame of reference for normal.
The fact that Ren seems to know the Ogre as well, and is so sure they'd make sure Tsubasa was safe is a reassurance, at least. She'd sent a text, but given the situation more reassurances are useful. Another question, from Ren this time. Makoto's instinct is to deflect again, but, well... what's there to deflect. They saw how distressed Makoto was.
"We were friends in middle school," Makoto says, her eyes not meeting Ren's at the moment. "We were pretty close back then, up until..." She pauses. How much of this was her story to tell? How much do Ren and Yusuke know? "The fire." Makoto settles on, after a moment. "They had to leave Shujin after that. I didn't expect to see them again, until a few days ago."
Makoto gets another pensive look, tapping her pencil against her notebook. "I... kind of have some new suspicions about that too."
Goro Akechi has arrived from Aoba - Main.
<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
Yusuke visibly steels himself, before looking away from his mother's last work - but still not quite at either Ren or Makoto - perhaps eye contact is too much for him on top of talking about this. "When Madarame had other pupils, shortly before they left he would tell the rest of us that they were trouble - trying to steal, or sabotage, our own work. Sometimes, some of our work had disappeared shortly before he told us this. In that way, he would use us to isolate that person, and we would freeze them out if we were approached.
"... Until it was just me." He looks at his pencil, thoughtfully. "Looking back on it now... All of that has a disquieting new context. It's... not hard for me to believe that Seki-san's father could create that same kind of hostility in his domain."
He looks up at Ren. "And then, of course, I saw Takamaki-san at the park, and the rest..." He waves a hand, idly.
Ren asks how the two of them met Tsubasa, and Yusuke chuckles. "I took a trip into Aoba to explore the art scene, and stumbled across them at the bus stop. They weren't waiting - they were making a mark on the seat, carving a rose in the bench with an old pen."
"It was really good, especially given the lack of proper tools," he says, completely (of course) skipping over the terrible vandalism in favour of "Seki-san has some real talent. Things were a little... fraught, at first, but we did manage to talk a little in spite of that."
Makoto mentions the fire, and Yusuke's expression turns to a worried scowl. "They explained it to me." His gaze grows distant for a moment. "I asked them what it was... like, going through it, and they said one moment they were at Nakajima-san's desk, and the next moment they were being dragged out of the fire. They were diagnosed as having suffered a psychotic breakdown."
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Ren catches that frown of Makoto's--and, too late, they remember that her late father was a cop. "Sorry," he says quickly, then nods at her comment about her sister to let the matter drop.
Her naming Madarame directly maybe is indelicate, but they're friends. Sometimes it's good to have people around that you can just speak directly to. Ren doesn't speak for Yusuke in the matter, though; he can explain or not explain as much as he wishes to her. They tick their mechanical pencil between their fingers--tiktiktiktik forward, tiktiktiktik back, with an astonishingly smooth undulation--that they don't even look at, because they're looking at Yusuke. They nod once when Yusuke meets their gaze.
"History," they agree. Both what happened next--and what happened before. Still, if Yusuke's right and Tsubasa's parents are anything like what Madarame was for him... that's all the more reason to worry.
Ren lowers their own gaze when Makoto says she thought their parents were 'normal.' Sometimes--maybe even a lot of times--when a family seems 'normal,' that 'normalcy' is just a cover-up for deeper dysfunction, they want to say. But considering Makoto seems to have some of her own family-related pain, they choose to refrain. They were already indelicate themself once this conversation.
Instead, they look back at her, and this time it's her turn not to meet their eyes. "I see," they say neutrally. They do know about 'the fire,' and their unsurprised, unconfused look may tell Makoto as much. It's not until Yusuke confirms that he knows about it too that they nod. "Same. They, uh..." They rub the back of their neck. "They were mad at first that Shujin took me in when I have a criminal record, but I explained things to them back and we're friends now."
A gross oversimplification, but it'll do. Especially when Yusuke has a much more endearing story to tell. They smile to hear of the carved rose and Yusuke's enthusiastic endorsement of their art. "I bet. They're rough on the surface, but underneath that, they're incredibly strong and kind." Even if Tsubasa would no doubt claim otherwise.
No, that confusion comes when Makoto mentions 'new suspicions.' "What do you mean?" But Yusuke brings up their diagnosis as he relates their description of the arson, and...
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Ren does relax a bit at Makoto's response. Naive... Well, yeah. But... "It's not really a bad thing to be naive about. It means you had good experiences with them growing up. That's how it should be," they reply in an attempt to be encouraging. The naivete about Madarame, though... Well, Makoto wasn't there for that. That can't be helped. Yusuke has some choice words about him, and they say enough. Ren can only give them both a grim nod of agreement.
At least we reclaimed it, Yusuke says. Ren follows his gaze to the true Sayuri, with the baby cradled in her arms. "Yeah."
They hold back a little laugh at Makoto's description of her school image; they don't hold back at Yusuke's point about Tsubasa's artistic motivation. "I can definitely see them rebelling," they reply. "They've got that spirit."
This could have been an epiphany. It is not. Will of Rebellion is like that.
It's kind of funny to hear that Tsubasa was the one helping Makoto study and not the other way around, though. Ren's eyes are wide in curiosity and wonder as they tap their pencil on their notebook. It fades into a certain gloom at Makoto's logical conclusion on why. The description of their family... Yeah. It sounds 'normal,' all right. And Ren has experience in a 'normal' family that hates those who act 'abnormal'--even if they at least never suffered any physical abuse. They wonder if they would've had a worse time if they'd had a younger or older sibling to be compared to...
No, that's not a helpful thought. They push it aside and focus on what Makoto says. "Passive, huh... That doesn't sound like the type who'd call a serial killer on their own child." Ren glances away. "Then again, maybe that's exactly the type. Get rid of a 'problem' without ever getting her own hands dirty."
Their eyes narrow as Makoto confirms it. "A psychotic breakdown..." they murmur, touching a hand to their chin. "I hear what you're saying. It sounds weird to me, too. But why would they get targeted like that? Is that something someone can make someone else have?" Yusuke suggests some reasons for the former, which gets him a slow, thoughtful nod, but the latter is still unclear. They lower their voice. "It wouldn't shock me if it is, considering what we can do, but we should look into if that's even possible first before we start trying to come up with suspects."
Especially when the suspect Makoto suggests sure seems like he'd rather do a murder rather than use someone else to commit a crime to cover up a different crime. That suggests a lot of cold, calculating cunning, and the one in the black mask was more like a vicious, wild animal.
Interesting, he'd said. But that could've meant anything, and they know he's not Akechi now.
"If you're right, though... maybe we can get Justice for Seki-kun. Clear their name," Ren suggests, eyes steeling. "And stop things like that from happening to anyone else." Their hand clenches as they set their pencil down. "First things first, then. How do we prove it's possible? Morgana might know about this, but he also might not." Amnesia and all.
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
'Mother's masterpiece' is another piece that puts thing in perspective, and Makoto nods. "...I'm sorry, Kitagawa-kun." The idea of having one's parents work stolen and buried away feels... wrong. It seems Yusuke has a very clear understanding of what Tsubasa is going through. He even seems to lay out pretty well why Tsubasa might be engaging in vandalism. It give her food for though, falling silent at Yusuke's explanation.
Ren's comments too seem to give her pause. "...I suppose so." She says. How much of the worst parts of the world was she shielded from, compared to her friends?
"...that's just my impression, though. It's not like I actually knew them." A thought slowly occurs to her, though. "I wonder... If things have gotten so bad for Tsubasa-kun, is it possible that one of her parents might..." She pauses, lowering her voice and scanning the room to make sure no one is paying attention. "...have a palace?" The idea that it might be that easy to find so many so easily is a little worrying, but... Maybe that could help Tsubasa?
"I don't know," Makoto admits, "it's just a theory at this point. But... Kobayakawa, Kaneshiro... someone else was there. If we can do what we can do... maybe it's possible to change a heart for the worse?" Makoto's been thinking a little too hard about it, perhaps. She has been ever since she discovered the possibility.
Since her first experience with the Dark Hour.
"...I don't think we could manage that much, Amamiya-kun. Getting a conviction overturned is harder than getting a not guilty verdict in the first place, and..." She sighs. "On top of that, we'd need to legally prove that such a thing could happen." Makoto shakes her head. "...I don't know enough to know how to prove it. I read a little about Cognitive Psience, but I barely have a surface level understanding. If we knew more, maybe, but... I don't know how to go about it yet."
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Tsubasa's parents, have a Palace? Ren barely even needs to consider it. "If their mom's so distorted she'd call the Old Maid on her own child... or if that's something their father forced her to do... then it's definitely possible," they murmur, likewise continuing to keep their voice down. All they need to do is learn their names and they can speak them into the Meta-Nav to confirm it, just like they did with Kobayakawa. ...who still needs to be resolved. Not to mention finals coming up, which they're supposed to be studying for, still...
It's a good thing Ren has a journal he writes this stuff into. He's definitely forget at least half of it all if he didn't.
It is true that there are other people in the Palaces--lots more, way more than they'd given anyone credit. And when Makoto phrases it as she does, that change in perspective makes it much more convincing. "A change of heart in reverse... If that's what one of those psychotic breakdowns actually is, then... maybe you're right. All it'd take is someone convincing the Shadow to be even worse..." Their eyebrows furrow. "But... the doesn't fit with what we do. There wasn't a calling card or anything. Was there?"
It occurs to them that maybe there was, and it was burned out with the rest of City Hall. It's impossible to know, now. Makoto proves Ren's own naivete when it comes to the courts and sentences, too--or rather, their spark of wild hope. She's right, though. They learned that well. They bow their head, eyes hidden by the glare on their glasses. "...Good point."
As before, making sure it doesn't happen to anyone else continues to be all they can strive for. Those who've already been wrongly convicted remain prisoners of fate.
...They take a deep breath and pick their pencil up again. There's still something they can do for the future once they learn more. They can have hope for that, at least.
"Let's talk about it more with the others. We need to get everyone on the same page anyway," they say quietly. "Until then, let's take this one day at a time." They tap the tip of their pencil on their notebook page. They're all here, on the surface, to study; if the topic they want to discuss has been exhausted for the time being, they may as well get back to it. "All right?"