"What the heck was that all about?" cried Takamaki, the moment Namikaze and Kitagawa were out of earshot. "Yusuke was trying to be nice-introducing us to his friend like that-and then you had to go and… and…"
"Eff it all up!" Sakamoto finished.
"Yeah!"
Goro scowled and massaged his forehead. They were right, after all. Kitagawa was trying to be nice. And in fact, Goro had fully intended to be nice in return—put a special effort in, even—but then Namikaze had been staring at Morgana and a wave of protective anger swept over him, wiping all good intentions from his mind. It wasn't even like Namikaze had a suspicious reason for doing it—as he'd so rightly pointed out, it was pretty unusual for people to carry cats around in bags, but now… Now he really had fucked it up, hadn't he?
Seemed that try as he might, he really couldn't escape his own inherent poisonousness. Another good intention wasted.
"Sorry," he muttered, though it was hard to say it. "He was rubbing me the wrong way."
"Ugh, now he's gonna think we were all totally rude to him with no reason," sighed Takamaki, puffing her cheeks out. "And Yusuke's going to be mad too."
"Eh, Yusuke will probably get over it," said Sakamoto, shrugging. "He doesn't seem like the type to hold a grudge."
"Maybe," sighed Takamaki.
It was at that moment the instigator of all this trouble decided to stick his nose into things again.
"Are we done now?" asked Morgana, impetuously, hopping out of the bag and onto the ground in front of them. "Never mind Yusuke's friend—what are we going to do about this situation?"
"You mean the other Metaverse-user, right?" asked Takamaki.
"Yes. Akechi, did you find anything?"
Goro sighed and folded his arms. They probably weren't going to take the news well. "Yes, I did. I spoke to Sae-san yesterday and from what she told me, I think it's highly likely that whoever this other Metaverse-user is, they're the one who's been causing all the strange incidents recently."
"Strange incidents, as in…?" asked Sakamoto.
Goro exhaled sharply and scowled at him. "Don't you watch the news? Haven't you heard about the strange uptick in people falling into unexplainable comas, completely changing their personalities or outright dropping dead lately? It's been on the police's radar for months, because all the people affected appear to have been guilty of some crime or other, but hadn't been arrested or investigated for it. Sae-san's made it into her own personal project to investigate."
"Wait so… this other Metaverse user's really been doing all that?" asked Takamaki, staring at him with wide eyes. "But there have been so many—how is that even…"
Goro had thought the same thing when he'd realised, but the more he thought about it the more it seemed to make sense…
"It's possible it's not just one person, but instead a group of people, like ours," he speculated. "Or perhaps it is just one person, but they've had years of practice. Either way, whoever it is we're up against, we need to be very careful."
"But why would they be targeting us?" asked Sakamoto, scowling. "I mean, if they're targeting criminals then we're basically on the same side, right?"
Goro raised a searing eyebrow. "Bearing in mind this is possibly the most dangerous serial killer on the planet you're talking about, Sakamoto-kun, would you still like to compare us to them?"
Sakamoto's face went pale. "Wait—serial killer? But—"
"Yes, they've changed people's hearts, but they've also killed people," Goro said sharply. "Lots of people. And rendered many more essentially brain-dead. I know we were toeing the line with Kamoshida, but the lengths to which this person is willing to go far outstretches us. It would be incredibly dangerous to underestimate them."
"How many people have they targeted so far?" asked Takamaki, quietly.
Goro sighed. "At least a hundred incidents are recorded in Sae-san's files. Possibly more, given the people who die are usually quite old and infirm anyway, and might not have been reported."
Takamaki's face was ashen. "So we were really in there with someone who's killed so many people?"
"Yes," said Goro. "And it's very likely they spotted us, given how much experience they have. Do you understand how serious this is now?"
The group went silent, everyone avoiding each other's eyes as they mulled over the extent of the trouble they were in.
"The only thing we really know about them is that they have a white mask," said Morgana, quietly. "We're practically helpless against them if they figure out who we are."
"Do you think they're really gonna come after us?" asked Sakamoto, scratching the back of his head. "I mean, sure, we aren't the same as them, but we aren't, like, actually criminals or anything."
Goro sighed. "Unfortunately we have no way of knowing. It may be that regardless of whether or not we've committed a crime, the threat of us knowing about the Metaverse would be too much for them to ignore. Someone who's incapacitated that many people wouldn't be keen to let their secret get out so easily."
"But we aren't gonna tell anyone!" Takamaki insisted. "Right?"
He wanted to. Whoever this person was, they were too dangerous to just let go, that much was for sure. But the fact of the matter was that if he told Sae-san about the Metaverse then she'd ask how he knew about it. And explaining that would inevitably reveal that he'd been part of a group that essentially brainwashed a man into total compliance. Losing his job would be the least of his worries at that point.
"No, we aren't," he admitted reluctantly. "But they aren't going to know that. And we certainly can't just ignore it."
"But what are we gonna do?" asked Sakamoto. "It's not like we can just track them down ourselves. And Yusuke knows nothing about it!"
"I'll inform Kitagawa-kun next time I see him," said Goro. And apologise for being rude to his friend. Not that they needed to know that. "As for the fact we can't track him… I know. It's difficult. But I'm going to put a lot of thought into the matter. Until then we're on standby until we find a way to track down White Mask or we discover another target."
"Okay," sighed Sakamoto.
"I'll see what I can find too," said Morgana, swishing his tail. "I know more about the Metaverse than you guys, so I might be able to find out more about him."
"So," said Takamaki, clapping her hands together, "now all that heavy stuff's out of the way, are we gonna get those crêpes or what?"
Goro sighed. He was not fond of crêpes, or indeed, any other sweet food-despite what he was forced to say in interviews—but he was too damned soft to correct Takamaki on the matter. Especially when he was already so tired.
"Fine," he said, opening his bag for Morgana to jump back in. "But I'm not paying for them."
"Okay, let's go!" said Takamaki, beginning to lead the way into Shibuya proper, with Sakamoto muttering grumpily behind them.
Despite his initial misgivings about them, he'd become quite fond of Takamaki and Sakamoto. Yes, they were loud, and yes, it was a pain being dragged around by them all hours of the day but… it wasn't as bad as he'd thought it would be. Of course, he'd never call them friends—he wasn't so stupid as to think they'd actually end up sticking around but… for now, it was alright.
He just had to focus on finding out more about this White Mask…