This choice: The two barely dodge Kawakami, but the shockwave knocks them elsewhere. • Go Back... (Minor spoiler for Ryuji's Confidant)
His brain (or instinct to survive, at least) finally kicking in, Ryuji sprinted to Yusuke, who was already running but not as fast as the former track star could, and shoved him out of the way just before Kawakami's massive rear made contact with the couch. Unfortunately, they were small and light enough that this didn't mean their problems were over. The force of Kawakami's impact made a shockwave that sent the two thieves flying in different directions. Ryuji landed safely in the middle of the cushion Kawakami wasn't sitting on, but Yusuke wasn't as lucky, and found himself hanging onto the edge of the couch for dear life.
"YUSUKE!" Ryuji yelled, running to his imperiled teammate as fast as he could. "HOLD, ON, MAN! I'M COMIN'!"
"Ryuji..." Yusuke grunted, trying to climb. "I... can't... get..."
Disaster struck as Kawakami shifted slightly, leaning over to concentrate on a particularly stubborn coffee ring. This small movement created enough of a disturbance to shift the cushions beneath her, causing Yusuke to lose his grip and fall towards the floor.
"FOOOX!" Ryuji cried, the adrenaline and stress of the situation causing him to reflexively use Yusuke's code name. He tripped and fell, his weak leg that Kamoshida broke so long ago acting up after so much running. "No... NO! DAMN IT!" He propped himself up and looked up at Kawakami, still focused on her cleaning and oblivious to the terrors she was causing. "HEY! KAWAKAMI! LOOK AT ME!" Ryuji forced himself to stand as he limped towards his titanic teacher. "YOU THINK BEING THE ONLY GOOD TEACHER AT THAT SHIT SCHOOL GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO KILL MY FRIEND?! LOOK AT ME YOU BITCH!"
Kawakami sat back on the couch, looking at the table. Apparently not satisfied with its current level of cleanliness, she went back to it, still blissfully unaware of the tiny student cursing her out from the seat next to her. Ryuji collapsed onto his back.
"Maybe he's not dead," Ryuji said to himself. "I mean, we're Phantom Thieves, right? We've been through way worse!" He watched Kawakami continue to fastidiously scrub the table, occasionally stopping to spray it with cleaner. "Shit, I think Mona was on that table..."
While the other thieves, formerly human size, were now the size of relatively small ants, Morgana, who was the size of a small cat before the gas attack, was currently much smaller. So small in fact, that even though she was focusing intently on the coffee table, it was physically impossible for Kawakami to see him. Given her zero tolerance policy for bugs after reading the fake note downstairs, this fact was probably saving Morgana's life. This was of little solace to Morgana right now, though, as he was having to use every bit of agility and skill he possessed as a master thief to dodge the boulder-sized droplets of cleaning solution, to say nothing of the massive cloth he was constantly running from. After quite a few close scrapes, he made his way to the wooden edge of the table. It was free of stains, and hopefully held no interest to Joker's giant and fastidious servant. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he took in the situation.
"Geez... I'm used to having to look up at everyone, but this..." Morgana panted. "She can't see me at all! Probably can't hear me either, though she'd just hear meows if she could. My only hope is to find the others..." He looked up at the giant maid one last time. "Then I'm going to slap Joker for hiring her as a maid."
"When we survive this, I'm going to slap you," Ann said as she, Akira, and Futaba made their way to the couch. "Just in case that wasn't clear."
"Ann," Akira said, his kindness beginning to wear thin. "Can we please not talk about this while we're in mortal peril?"
"You hired a sketchy maid service and specifically requested our homeroom teacher! You need to be punished for this somehow!"
"What do you call this whole experience we're dealing with right now?!"
"I mean JUST you! Specifically!"
At that moment, Yusuke plummeted from the sky and landed on Akira.
"There we go! I'm good now!" Ann said with a chipper smile. Then she realized what just happened. "YUSUKE-KUN! Are you okay?!"
"Ugh... hello, Ann-San, Akira-San..." Yusuke grunted. "Your teacher's here..."
"Yes she is, Yusuke," Akira said. "Can you get off of me?"
"I don't believe so..." replied Yusuke. "I am in an impressive amount of pain." Fishing some high level medicine he bought from Takemi out of his pocket, he sprayed it on Yusuke, then rolled the gangly artist off of him. "Ah, thank you Akira-san. I am invigorated. Truly, that doctor friend of yours works wonders."
"Yeah, well, I only keep so many in my pockets, so let's be careful. The rest are in my school bag, which does us no good now," Akira sighed and looked up at Kawakami, now done scrubbing the table and taking a small break, checking her phone. "If only my phone weren't charging when this happened. I could just call her."
"Of COURSE you have her number," Ann grumbled.
"Well, nothing for it," Akira said. "Come on, guys, let's climb up the couch. This might be our best chance of contacting her."
As they started to climb, Kawakami sent a text to Akira, asking if there was any update on Futaba's condition. Miles away in Inokashima Koen, this would be the final message Akira's phone would ever display before a gloved hand threw it into the lake.   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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