Tuesday 17th May
There were already police cars there when he arrived. The fury that had been burning within him since watching Yusuke's Shadow self-destruct in front of him rapidly turned to cold, soul-freezing despair.
He'd been too late. First too late to prevent Yusuke's death from occurring, and now too late to even grant him the dignity of an intact corpse. Madarame would not have let the police believe there was another suicide related to him—not at the height of his exhibition. He would have mangled Yusuke's corpse, tried to make it look like an accident, or a crime and… the police would have let him get away with it. Like they'd let him get away with the plagiarism, and all the other suicides. That was why Haruto had to end it. Had to end him.
Step one of the plan had failed, and he had failed one of his only friends for the last time. From now on there would be no more failure. Madarame would get what he deserved. And with the Metaverse on his side, then… Haruto would be able to grant him the justice he was so sorely missing in the real world.
He was already beginning to plan out what would be the most thematically appropriate death for a monster that used others like Madarame did when a voice drew him from his thoughts.
"Oh, Haruto, were you coming to visit me?"
At first, Haruto didn't fully register whose voice it was. After all, he was concentrating so intensely, but… when the voice's owner stepped around in front of him, he could no longer ignore it.
His heart dropped to somewhere around the level of his feet.
"Are you alright?" asked Yusuke, peering at him with very alive-looking eyes as he looked down at him. "You've gone very pale."
Before he was fully aware of what he was doing, Haruto found his hands reaching out to touch Yusuke's face-the strange unreality of the situation not quite hitting him. But as he touched Yusuke's skin, felt the warmth of a living, breathing being instead of the cold, dead corpse he'd been expecting, it finally dawned on him.
Yusuke wasn't dead.
He was… alive?
He was alive?
Yusuke reached up, clasping Haruto's hand with his own and staring at him with a very concerned expression on his face.
"Your hands are very cold, Haruto. Can you hear me? You don't look well at all…"
Yusuke continued, but as it so happened Haruto could not hear him, because he was fairly sure he was about to pass out. Buzzing had taken over his hearing, and black spots were beginning to consume his vision. This wasn't possible. None of this was possible. He'd seen Yusuke's Shadow disappear, seen it go screeching into the void-the only explanation could be… could be…
Thoughts escaped him as his vision blacked out, and everything seemed to fade into a consuming void of nothingness.
When he finally came to, he found himself staring at an oddly familiar ceiling.
"Oh, you're awake!" cried a voice from above him, and the next moment the ceiling was replaced by the face of a still alarmingly alive-looking Yusuke.
Part of him was stuck on the idea that all of this had to be some sort of cruel, impossible dream the universe was torturing him with, but then a warm hand pressed against his forehead, and finally he couldn't escape what he was seeing before him. Yusuke was really, definitely alive. Not hanging from the ceiling. Not lying cold on the floor. Alive. Somehow.
"You're still so cold," Yusuke said, his voice oddly shaky. "I wanted to call your parents but I'm afraid I don't know their phone numbers. Are you alright, Haruto? Did you hit your head? Madarame's already had a look at you, but he said it would be best just to ask why you passed out when you woke up."
Haruto shot upright as the full gravity of the situation hit him. He was in Madarame's house? He'd checked on him while he was unconscious? Already his vision was beginning to cloud with red at the idea that that monstrous piece of shit had had the audacity to pretend to care about him when Yusuke was right there—but… but. He needed to calm down. The worst had not yet come to pass. Yusuke was still alive (even though his Shadow was absolutely dead—how was that possible?) so he had no reason to go straight for Madarame's head. Yet.
He became vaguely aware Yusuke was grasping him tightly by the shoulders.
"Haruto, I really don't think you should be getting up that fast-you're clearly sick, and—"
"It's okay," said Haruto hoarsely, finally calm enough to speak again. "I'm… okay."
Yusuke didn't seem convinced, and Haruto couldn't really blame him-after all, from his point of view it must have seemed like Haruto had just been spacing out in front of his house, looked at him like he'd seen a ghost and then passed out. No wonder he was worried.
Haruto reached up and gently removed Yusuke's hands from his shoulders, swinging his legs over the side of the couch to sit up properly. "I'm sorry for freaking you out, I've just… had a very difficult day." A twinge of pain shot through his foot, almost as if to remind him exactly how difficult things were. "It's nothing, really."
"Are you sure?" asked Yusuke. "If you're sick then you should rest at home—you were so cold when I carried you in I was worried that you'd…"
Died? How ironic. More importantly though, Yusuke had carried him in? He hoped no one he knew had seen it. He'd never live it down if it got back to Futaba. But that was beside the point—he had more important things to worry about.
"Hey, Yusuke, did anything… happen today?" he asked, trying to sound as unsuspicious as possible, but acutely aware he was probably failing.
"Happen?" asked Yusuke. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, it's nothing," said Haruto, quickly brandishing a nervous smile. "I just had this… strange sense something terrible was going to happen, if you know what I mean?"
"Ah, is that why you came here?" asked Yusuke.
"Sort of," said Haruto. "When I saw you it shocked me so much I just… got overwhelmed, I suppose."
"You thought something bad had happened to me?" asked Yusuke, his eyes widening.
"Yes it was like… some kind of nightmare, I suppose," said Haruto, desperately hoping Yusuke would buy his explanation. "I was so sure you were…"
He could feel his throat choking up at the memory—Yusuke's Shadow screaming at him, descending into dust… Tears were pricking his eyes. Dammit—he had no reason to cry! Yusuke was clearly alive so… why couldn't he keep it together? He wiped furiously at his eyes, trying to blink back the tears that were threatening to overwhelm him.
"Haruto…" muttered Yusuke.
He sounded so depressed. Ugh—Haruto was supposed to be helping him, not the other way around! He'd really screwed this all up, hadn't he?
But the next moment thin arms were wrapping around him, as Yusuke pulled him into a tight hug. Haruto returned it almost unconsciously—it was… so strange—Yusuke was still breathing and yet… he was defying Haruto's very understanding of the nature of how Shadows worked. But perhaps now wasn't the time to linger on that. Yusuke was still alive—that was all that mattered. He wasn't too late to save him. Not yet.
He was still shaking slightly as Yusuke released him, staring at him with anxious eyes.
"Thank you," whispered Haruto, as loudly as his sore throat would allow. "I don't know why I got it into my head but… it all just seemed… so real."
"I understand," said Yusuke. He didn't, not fully but… Haruto could appreciate the effort he was clearly putting in. "It's difficult when such disturbing thoughts consume you. But I am alright. And nothing bad's happened. I promise."
He didn't seem to be lying.
Haruto was beginning to get a twitching ache in the centre of his skull which indicated the start of what would surely be the worst headache he'd had in a long time. Perhaps… he'd had enough of this today. Between discovering the doors in Mementos were beginning to open and freaking out that Yusuke might be dead, all of his energy seemed to have been spent.
"I need to go home," he said tiredly, forcing himself to get up from the couch. "I think I just need to… rest for a bit. I've been too stressed out lately."
"You shouldn't push yourself so hard, Haruto," said Yusuke, supporting him as he struggled to keep his balance. "You're going to make yourself very ill if you don't take enough breaks, you know."
Strong words from the boy who spent so long absorbed in his art projects he forgot to eat but… Haruto knew what he was getting at.
"I appreciate the concern," he said. "But I'll get back home okay, I promise."
"Are you sure?" asked Yusuke, doubtfully.
"One hundred percent," said Haruto. "I always keep my promises."
"I'll hold you to that," said Yusuke, smiling. "Let me walk you to the train station, at least—I don't want you collapsing on your way home, after all."
Haruto wasn't sure how long he spent asleep after he got home and all but collapsed onto his bed. All he knew was that one minute he'd been lying flat on his back with the sun still filtering through his windows, the next he awoke to moonlight creating a bright patch on the floor.
His head felt a little like it was about to explode.
He closed his eyes, and the pain diminished slightly as he tried to put together all that had happened. Firstly, the Metaverse interlopers had managed to get at least one door open in Mementos. That did not bode well in any sense—even if, thinking about it—they might have just done it because they didn't possess the same meta-reality-warping powers Haruto did, rather than outright malice.
That would certainly make the most sense, Arsène agreed.
Secondly, Yusuke's Shadow had exploded right in front of him in fiery agony, but Yusuke himself seemed to be fine. It was true that shutdowns where Shadows were destroyed could sometimes take a little while to take effect, but given the Shadow seemed to have extinguished itself, it didn't really make sense that nothing seemed to have happened to Yusuke to cause it.
And Haruto had been so sure he was dead—when he came up to the house and saw all those police cars…
Wait… what?
Why had there been police cars outside Madarame's house?
He quickly unlocked his phone and navigated to Yusuke's contact number.
Namikaze Haruto: Hi Yusuke
Namikaze Haruto: Are you still awake?
Kitagawa Yusuke: Yes, I am.
Kitagawa Yusuke: Is everything alright?
Namikaze Haruto: I would have brought it up while I was still at your house, but I was totally out of it, so—why were there police cars outside your house when I was waiting outside?
Namikaze Haruto: Ngl, it really didn't help the whole "something terrible's happened" vibe I was getting.
Kitagawa Yusuke: Ah. You remember that?
Namikaze Haruto: Vividly.
Kitagawa Yusuke: Madarame believed we had some trespassers in the house and called the police.
Trespassers? Didn't a man like Madarame have decent security? But perhaps not in that particular house… And even besides that, Yusuke's choice of words was interesting.
Namikaze Haruto: Believed?
Kitagawa Yusuke: It turns out he was incorrect.
Now that was definitely strange.
Namikaze Haruto: Oh dear. Seems I'm not the only one having paranoid superstitions today!
Kitagawa Yusuke: Apparently not, no. Are you alright, Haruto? Did you manage to get home safely?
Namikaze Haruto: I'm fine. Though I admit I crashed for about three hours after I got back. Also I have a terrible headache.
Kitagawa Yusuke: You should go to sleep!
Kitagawa Yusuke: It will do no one any good if you get sick from all this.
Namikaze Haruto: Okay Mom.
Kitagawa Yusuke: I wish I had your mother's phone number. Then I could inform her how ridiculous you're being.
Haruto was pretty sure his actual mother couldn't give less of a damn about how ridiculous he was being, but fortunately, he'd deleted her number off his phone some time ago, so Yusuke couldn't have it even if he trawledHaruto's phone for it.
Namikaze Haruto: I'm fine, Yusuke, don't worry about me.
Namikaze Haruto: I'll see you in class tomorrow.
Kitagawa Yusuke: You had best be there, Haruto.
Kitagawa Yusuke: I'll be very displeased if you aren't.
Namikaze Haruto: Hey, I told you—I never break my promises.
Kitagawa Yusuke: See you tomorrow, Haruto.
Namikaze Haruto: See you, Yusuke.
He clicked his phone off and groggily got up to change into his pajamas, Arsène hovering meaningfully nearby all the while.
Once he was changed he settled back into his bed, and laid back, closing his eyes before thinking, Well then, what do you think we should do?
Arsène, clearly waiting for acknowledgement, quickly responded.
Our utmost priority must be focusing on these Metaverse interlopers. We need to discover their identity as soon as possible.
You think they're involved in what happened to Yusuke's Shadow, right?
We do, said Arsène tetchily.
Think they're the ones who broke into Madarame's house?
I see no reason to doubt it. They're clearly reckless in the extreme, and they don't seem to fully comprehend what they're doing. Certainly it seems more likely that it was they who broke in, rather than some random thief.
And Yusuke's protecting them…
Certainly he seems reluctant to reveal the full extent of his connection to them.
So, we break into the Palace again tomorrow?
Yes. We should hide somewhere above the courtyard halfway through. If they have any hopes of stealing the Treasure they must pass through there.
Sounds like a plan.
It would be tiring, and he couldn't pretend he wasn't a little hurt by the fact Yusuke seemed to be so reluctant to tell him about them, but he surely had his reasons. At the moment, uncovering their true identities was the top priority. And he would do it. For Yusuke's sake, if nothing else.