JUNE 1ST (WEDNESDAY 6/01)(AFTER SCHOOL)

The next day, Akira and I decided to go to a café in Shibuya. We ordered some sweet tea and cake and began to chat. We were having a really good time, talking about school, our previous mission and a few other things. As Akira went on about the places he visited with Ryuji, my eyes drifted to a building; Shibuya Adoption Center. My mind tried to pick up on my old memories there, but no matter how hard I tried, nothing came up.

"Rika!", Akira called while waving his hand in front of my face. I blinked a few times and turned to him.

"Hm?"

"You've been staring for a whole two minutes now. What's wrong?"

"I'm... just trying to remember."

"... Hey, the kids there are having a bake sale!", Akira pointed to banners hanging near the doors. It showed that the kids were raising money for funds. "Wanna go check it out?"

"Hm... Sure, why not?", I shrugged. We paid for our food and left for the building. We went inside and followed one of the staff members to the main hall where the children played. They had set up hand made stalls with baked goods on each. All of the stuff was being sold for about 1,000 Yen per piece.

"Whoa, this is a lot!"

"These kids must be pretty determined to do all this.", I muttered as we both made our way around the stalls. We bought a bunch of baked goodies, all of them smelling surprisingly good and they were all packaged in cute wrapping paper and folded notes stuck to them. Almost all the adults were throwing the packaging away, which I could see the kids looking at sadly. "Let's keep the packaging..."

"I mean, it is pretty cute. I wouldn't throw this away!", Akira smiled as we made our way outside. Just as we were about to leave, I accidently bumped into someone while looking around."Oh, I'm sorry--!!", I almost gasped when I saw the person's face; it was Miss Komachi Furusawa, my old child caregiver when I was still in the orphanage. I suddenly started to remember her back then. She used to have shoulder length dark hair, glowing skin, intense dark brown eyes, and she was always dressed to a t. Now, her hair was fully white and in a bun. Her eyes were much more dull, needing glasses as well. Her skin was slightly sagging, but somehow held its glow. She was dressed in a green dress with a flower decal. "M-Miss Furusawa..."

"... Do I know you? Are you a new worker?", Miss Furusawa asked. Her voice was as stern as ever. It made me shake, for some reason...

"No... I used to be a kid here."

"Ah, I see. You found a family. Good, good. I'm glad. I see you've bought the children's goods. They volunteered to do all this, didn't allow any of the staff to lift a finger. Such angels...", somehow, her voice didn't convey any... love for the kids. It felt shallow. "Anyway, I hope you have a good day. God bless the weak...", with that, Miss Furusawa left. I blinked rapidly and muttered the last sentence under my breathe.

"Rika...? Are you okay?", Akira shook me slightly, causing me to jolt.

"I-I'm fine. Let's go outside... There are some benches there. We can eat the goods there.", with that, Akira and I made our way outside. Akira seemed a little worried, but stayed silent.

- LATER -

As we ate our breads and cookies, I stared at the folded notes on the plastic wrapping. "Wanna read them?", Akira asked, watching me.

"... Sure.", I put my cookie down and unfolded my note. At the words on the note... I froze.

"What? You look like you saw a ghost..."

"W-What... What the hell is this!?", I shouted, getting up and pacing in front of Akira with bulging eyes.

"H-Hey, what's going on!?"

"Read it!"

"O-Okay... "Hello. We need your help. Miss Furusawa, the president of this establishment, has decided to sell us children to some company to work for them. We don't want to go, but she is forcing us... She plans on selling us on June 4th. We don't have families, so she doesn't plan on telling anyone. She told a bunch of adults who visited that it was a vacation to help change our moods, but that wasn't what she told us. Please help us, tell the police or something... -- Thank you." ... What!?"

"Those kids are going to be thrown into child labor!"

"That is beyond illegal..."

"Not surprised..."

"What do you mean?"

"I remember her... Miss Furusawa..."

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(3RD POV)(SHIBUYA ADOPTION CENTER)

A young Rika has been in the adoption center for about a day now. She was given a small room that looked like it hadn't been cleaned for a solid year. Just as she started unpacking, a young woman walked into her room.

"Hello, little girl... My name is Komachi Furusawa. You will address me as Miss Furusawa only. Do I make myself clear?"

"... Uh-huh."

"Good. No--"

"Will my mom and dad come back for me...?"

"You ungrateful child...!", with a yell, the woman slapped Rika across the face. She yelped and fell to the ground in pain. "You have been given a roof to sit under, children to play with, a life bestowed upon you by the Lord himself and you choose to turn him away!?", the girl started whimpering and sniffling. "Go wash yourself and meet the children in the hall. You all will be cooking for yourselves and the staff. It better be good or else you'll be washing the floors until late in the night.", Miss Furusawa soon left, leaving the girl in her room to shake and cry in shock and pain.

---

"I remember she always made *us* work for them. Back then, she was just a caregiver, but now that she is the president... She has the power to dump them, or in their words "transfer", the kids anywhere!"

"This is unforgivable... You think she might have a Palace?", Akira whispered. I blinked then went into deep thought.

"... She might.", at that, Akira pulled out his phone.

"Alright... her name is...?"

"Komachi Furusawa. The place would be Shibuya Adoption Center... but what would be the distortion?"

"Well, it has to be something close to her. What do you remember from her?"

"...... She's religious. I remember she almost always mentioned a God or a Lord. So any religious place would be our best bet."

"Hm... How about a temple...? Nah, doesn't fit."

"A garden? Like the garden of Eden?"

"No hit."

"Mosque?"

"Nope."

"A church?"

"No dice."

"Ugh, this isn't working..."

"Keep going, we might find something!", I kept thinking before something hit me.

"A cathedral...!"

"Oh! I-It's a hit!", with Akira's comment, we were send to the Metaverse. Our clothes turned into the Phantom thief attire, confirming we were already a threat. As I looked up at the Palace we were sent to, my jaw dropped.

"Damn, my head hurts... I never get used to it. Anyways, where did w-- Whoa...", Joker seemed to have seen the Palace as well, as he was struck silent. The Palace was actually a unnaturally large cathedral. It was made of grey and white concrete, the pillars and spiers standing tall, the glass matching the building colors. The sky was covered in dark clouds, already starting to rain heavily. The cold rain snapped me out of my daze as I grabbed Akira to try and leave. Just then, we noticed a group of children in the rain, cleaning while chanting.

(Children)

"May God bless the weak... May God bless the weak... May God bless the weak... May God bless the weak...", the sight made me remember the work that I had to do.

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(3RD POV)(SHIBUYA ADOPTION CENTER)

Rika and Miss Furusawa stood before the huge parking lot. It was very dirty and it was raining heavily. The caregiver had an umbrella on her, but she left Rika in the rain.

"W-What do you want me to do?", Rika asked. Miss Furusawa gave her basket filled with cleaning supplies.

"I want you to clean the parking lot. We can't have visitors seeing this place in such a disgusting state..."

"I... have to do it alone?"

"No one in this world will help you with anything. You will learn this now and you will scrub this parking lot clean! Do you understand?"

"Y-Yes..."

"Yes what?"

"Yes, Miss Furusawa..."

"Good. May God bless the weak.", the caregiver left the girl outside, the rain soaking her clothes and hair.

"... May God bless the weak..."

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"We have to tell the others about this.", Akira stated as he grabbed my hand and quickly took us out of the Palace to the overworld. I sighed heavily and sat down on the bench.

"We have 3 days to stop this... Do we have enough time?"

"I think so. The Phantom Thieves wi--"

"No, we can't have the others get into this."

"What..? Why?"

"Think about it. You just finished Madarame's business and the change of heart hasn't even shown itself. If you guys jump into this too, that will be way too much attention on you guys... I want to go alone."

"That's suicide and you know it."

"I... I know you want to help me, Akira. But I can't drag the others into this mess too."

"Well... How about we help, but the change of heart will be orchestrated by you? The public will think it's the Phantom Spy this time around, and we will still be able to help you out! Come on, Rika... I can't just let you go there alone..."

"But--"

"No buts, Rika. I care about you way too much to just let you take the Cathedral all on your own."

"... Fine. I'll let you take care of telling the others. We go tomorrow to secure the route and send my calling card. The day after, we'll steal the Treasure."

"Got it. I'll be leaving then... You'll be okay on your own, right?"

"Yeah, I just need to distract myself a bit... My head is spinning from all that.", Akira left soon after. I sighed and shrugged to myself.

I guess I should unwind until tomorrow.

I decided to hang out with Ryuji. Ryuji and I went to the courtyard at school to chat.

"So, I called Nakaoka and Takeishi over here. I'm gonna tell 'em what that bastard Yamauchi is up to.", Ryuji explained.

"Sorry to say but I doubt they'll believe you, Ryuji. You need proof."

"Hehehe... You prolly didn't realize, but I recorded Yamauchi's whole convo back at the monja shop! I'm a genius, I know."

"Oh? Wow, you thought this through. I'm proud of you.", I smirked. Ryuji blushed slightly with a prideful grin.

"A-Anyways, uh... I might need some backup here. Can you stick around?"

"Of course.", just then, Takeishi came by and Nakaoka seemed to trail behind without the other boy noticing.

(Takeishi -- Nakaoka)

"What do you want, Sakamoto?"

"... Takeishi?"

"Nakaoka!? Wh-What the hell!? Are you guys gonna gang up on me!?"

"Dude, chill. I just wanna talk. Listen. This here is what's really goin' on with the track team.", Ryuji pulled out his phone and let the two listen to the recording he got.

---
It'll be a rebirth of a team that found themselves in the depths of despair... The public will love it...... And the best part is, not only are Takeishi's parents loaded, but his mother's the president of the PTA. ...... But until then, he can show the others the value of obedience.
---

"This has to be a joke... Yamauchi said he's make me the captain..."

"Is this real...?"

"It's Yamauchi's voice, ain't it? And on top of that, shit's gone down just like he said.", Ryuji stated.

"...... Yamauchi's right. I don't have talent... I'm not like you guys. I ran so damn hard, but you two were always so far ahead... How's a guy like me supposed to succeed? How am I supposed to be proud of myself!?"

"Proud...?"

"My dad always talks about how proud he is of his son... He told everyone I'd get a track scholarship like he did... That I'd follow in his footsteps as a second-generation Taisei grad... That's why I listened to Yamauchi. He said if I was the captain, he'd write me a great letter of rec..."

"...So you trusted what he was sayin' about Nakaoka 'cause of stupid crap like that?" (A/N: Ryuji is the master of tact, obvi XD still love him though.)

"Sh-Shut up! What does a thug like you know!? You couldn't know how I feel... Nobody does!"

"Like hell I don't know! How long were we runnin' together, huh!? I went through all sorts of shit with you!"

"Sakamoto..."

"Who're you livin' your life for? Your parents? Teachers? Society? Maybe you should stop tryin' to live for them, and just try livin' for yourself. You think you gotta betray people to be proud? "

"W-Well, I..."

"If that's seriously what you think, you're wrong! Nakaoka. You knew something was up with Yamauchi too, didn't you? I mean, the bastard's never been interested in track before... But you kept quiet. You knew he was walkin' all over you, and you just let him do it."

"...Yeah. I was afraid... Without Yamauchi, we still wouldn't have a team... or a place to belong."

"...You missed runnin' that bad? Y'know... it ain't so scary not havin' a place you belong. You can kinda be free that way. If anything, I'm more scared of bein' a crappy person. I mean, I used to be like you guys... afraid, lyin' to myself... That is, before I met her.", Ryuji turned to me for a bit and smiled. I felt myself smile as well, but I looked down quickly and rubbed my face to try and hide it. "I don't wanna insult you guys or nothin', but I know you're prolly real pissed about all this... So... if you wanna hit me or something, go ahead. I'm ready."

"In that case..."

"If you insist.", with that, Takeishi took a swing at Ryuji, hitting him in the face.

"Hey!! What the hell was that for!?", I yelled, standing in front of Ryuji.

"He said it was OK, right?"

"Oh yeah, take him literally, why don't you? Take a fucking swing at an abuse victim, make yourself feel better, yeah?", I yelled sarcastically.

"I-I... you're right. Look, dude, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, sorry man..."

"Rika...", Ryuji muttered, surprised at the shit I just gave them. The two guys apologized to Ryuji, then to each other, before leaving Ryuji and I by ourselves. "You saw that, right? That was some serious violence!"

"Just don't ask people to punch you, okay?"

"Heh, yeah, I won't."

"... Things turned out for the best."

"Yeah, they're prolly feelin' way better now. I think they're gonna be just fine together... Thanks."

"All I did was watch... and stop those two from kicking your ass."

"For real though... you were a big help. You were pushin' me to be cool that whole time. It's kinda like I was doin' a sprint... and you were runnin' next to me."

"Hm, you weren't really cool though~", I shrugged with a smirk.

"Brutal! Just forget about the punch I took to the face, Ok!?", with that, we both started laughing together.

.'¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯'.
| ~ CONFIDANT RANK UP! ~ |
| ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ |
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| CONFIDENT: RYUJI SAKAMOTO |
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| CHARIOT ARCANA: RANK UP (RANK 8) |
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| NEW ABILITY: ENDURE |
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| Chance to withstand an otherwise fatal attack with 1 HP |
| remaining. |
| |
'.__________________________________________________________________________.'

"I think my mouth's bleedin', so we'll hafta eat some other time. Later!", after bidding Ryuji goodbye, I went to Big Bang Burger and had one of their challenge burgers because I hadn't eaten since after school. After that, I went to bed early to prepare for tomorrow.

CHAPTER 30, END!