Chapter Text
It had started off as a simple, no-good joke.
Akira had suggested it to Ryuji the day that Ryuji awakened his persona. They were hanging out at Ore no Beko- the beef bowl place in Shibuya- when Akira had suggested it. Despite being fairly lost in his food, Ryuji looked… lost. Bothered. Akira still doesn’t know how to describe it, but there was just something about his… posture?
Well, it doesn’t matter right now, because past Akira seemingly thought it was soo important that he had to lighten the mood. And what did he do?
“Hey Ryuji, what if we became vloggers?”
It had started off as a simple, no-good joke.
Ryuji certainly didn’t think so.
Ryuji bought a camera in Akihabara the next day. It was good quality and fairly cheap (even though he had only haggled it down to ¥25,000 from its original price of ¥39,800!). They would be going into the palace in about three days, so they needed a plan! If they were going to be real vloggers, they needed a channel name! And, ooh, an editor! And a-
Ryuji sighed. He was in for a long day, wasn’t he?
4/15, FRIDAY
“I can’t believe that you actually got a camera. I was joking, you know-”
“Helloooooo world! My name’s uhh, Skull, and I’m with my buddy here! Say hi, buddy!”
Akira shifted awkwardly under the glare of the lens. He doesn’t think that Ryuji knew he was joking anymore. He understands that sometimes people can’t tell when he’s being sarcastic, but he thought it was pretty obvious when he requested they be damn vloggers.
“Skull? Seriously?”
Ryu- Skull, groaned, turning the camera back around to face himself. “I told you to say hi, not to diss my ‘effing name choices!”
Morgana jumped up a little too enthusiastically. “My name is… Mogan,” he said, pointing(?) to himself. He then pointed to Akira. “And that’s Joker!”
Joker rolled his eyes, though they were barely visible behind the mask. He laid his hand on Morgana’s head, who slightly melted into the touch. “So, you made my name Joker because you think I’m a joke? I see how it is.”
“Woahwoahwoah, wait, I didn’t say th-!”
???, ???
Sae sighed, for what felt like the 800th time since she entered that room. Just from taking one look at the kid, she was forcefully reminded that he was an actual kid. He was under 18, for christ’s sake! He looked small, and in pain (he looked as young as Makoto).
Kurusu might be the leader of the Phantom Thieves, but he’s still a child. She pushed those thoughts away to clear her mind of any distractions and slowly sorted her thoughts. He had just told her about a goddamn castle, and how his school had turned into one. She wouldn’t have believed it unless she saw the video proof, which she very much did.
She rubbed her palm on her knuckles and spoke.
“You say the school turned into an old castle? And there was a talking cat? Normally, I might say that you were overdosing from the drugs, but that obviously isn’t the case,” Sae says, taking a police-issued tablet and pulling up the Phantom Thieves’ ‘website.’ Under the videos tab, she filtered it by oldest to newest, clicking on the first result. “This was your first-ever video, the one that initially blew up and caused the Phantom Thieves to gain major support. I saw it myself, and there’s no denying what I saw was real, but how did you discover this?”
Kurusu stayed silent, slowly massaging his temples. Sae banged her hand on the table, startling him out of his trance.
“Tell me, Kurusu! How did you find this different universe!?”
His mouth stayed still and shut until the corners of his lips tilted upward. “W-What’s the title, of the, first v-video?”
Sae rolled her eyes, not needing a useless question like that at the moment, but still complying. At least the kid talked.
…
You see, sometimes, Sae’s mouth works faster than her brain.
“Okay fine, it’s ‘We became big booty bitches and-’ w-what?”
Akira’s small smile turned into a full-on grin. Sae flushed, realizing what he had just made her read.
“We became big booty bitches and changed a pervy teacher’s heart!”
Sae was, again, forcefully reminded that the leader of the Phantom Thieves, was in fact, a kid.