The Phantom Meeting.

Ren woke up, rubbing his eyes to clear the sleep from them. He wasn't sure what he had dreamt, but he remembered it being somewhat unpleasant. Ever since his last meeting with Igor, his nights had been filled with these strange, unsettling dreams that vanished the moment he woke up, leaving only a headache when he tried to remember them.

At the very least, as he stretched out, he couldn't help but feel as if all his tension had disappeared. When he saw the small note that Kawakami had left behind, he couldn't help but smile.

Moving across his room, he spent a few minutes carefully watering the flowers around him, seeing as their vibrant colors lit up the room. Once he was sure they were taken care of, he left to go to Ann's house, their new meeting spot.

On the way there, he couldn't help but smile as he saw a familiar pair of ponytails trying to sneak behind him, but he still pretended not to notice her.

"Boo!" Ann jumped out from behind a nearby wall, her face lighting up with a mischievous grin. Her expression shifted to a playful pout when he didn't react immediately.

"Ah!" Ren jumped back a few seconds later, pretending to be scared and causing her to giggle. "How can someone this pretty exist? It's unnatural!"

Ann blushed slightly, playfully hitting him on the shoulder as she began to walk with him.

"It's embarrassing if you say stuff like that in public…" She said, trying to hide her smile but failing miserably as she began to walk next to him.

She had been getting a few snacks for them to have in while they met up, so she was carrying heavy bags that Ren took over.

As they arrived, they saw Shiho, Ryuji, and Makoto talking to each other.

"Ah, I let myself in with the spare key. Hope you didn't mind." Shiho said as she waved hello to both of them.

The next ones to walk in were Takemi with Futaba and Mona. The trio had begun to look into the flowers from Mementos, and from the looks of it, they were having fun together.

"Alright, everyone's here." Ren said as Yusuke joined the group. "Let's begin."

Clearing her throat, Futaba was the first one to speak.

"I've managed to get into the police database with my virus." Futaba began, pushing up her glasses. "But it's mostly useless. Everything important is probably in paper files. Freaking Japan and their freaking obsession with their stupid fax machines."

Takemi couldn't help but sigh as she nodded.

"It's already hard enough dealing with medical paper trails. I can't imagine what it's like in a government office."

"So what? The only real way to continue would be with Okumura, right? It's not like we have a way to sneak in. I'm sure even Mona would get caught if he tried to sneak in." Ryuji added while scratching his hair.

"Yeah, I went to the office one day, and there is no way I can get in without drawing too much attention. There are people there at all hours of the day. There might be a couple of windows for me to sneak in, but I doubt I could get much." Mona reported, going over everything he knew.

"Well.." Ann began, looking at Makoto, who nodded.

"We have my sister. We haven't reached out to her ever since Kaneshiro, and that was mainly to act as a warning. Now that we have changed Madarame's heart, we can reach out to her again."

"For real? You think your sister would spy for us?" Ryuji asked with some surprise.

"She definitely will." Ren answered, catching the attention of the group. "We can dangle the biggest bait of all in front of her. We know the SIU director is corrupt…"

"You're planning on offering the position to her." Makoto muttered, a slight look of discomfort crossing her face as she hesitated before clenching her fists and nodding. "You're right. That would definitely work on her."

"Isn't it a bit too risky? I don't know much about Sae, but she is trying to catch us, isn't she?" Takemi asked. She had been filled in on all the information, but she still wasn't too familiar with everything.

"There is no real way to track it back to us." Futaba interjected. "I made sure of it. She would be sent in an endless loop even if she hired a team of hackers. So as long as we don't reveal ourselves in another way, we should be safe."

"Still… are you sure about this? We could just continue with Okumura's palace. I'm sure we would be able to find more information through him." Ann suggested.

"No, we need more information on the Antisocial Force." Ren said, his voice steady. "We have been following the trail, but if we take too long, we are only putting ourselves at more risk. Remember, we are not only fighting them but also the will of the people."

"The will of the people?" Yusuke asked.

"Yes, the people behind the Antisocial Force must have a lot of influence and must be researching the Metaverse. We have already proven that the collective unconscious can be manipulated. If they use that to their advantage, we might end up fighting an impossible fight."

The room became a bit tense as they heard him. They were all lost in thought, and after a few moments, Makoto spoke up.

"I trust in my sister. I believe she would be able to gather information without gathering suspicion on her. She is smart, even smarter than I am. She is the type of woman who can get anything she sets her mind to."

All the Thieves began to think once again, with Ryuji asking.

"Is there nothing you can hack? You already got your fingers in their data, no?"

Futaba became frustrated as she heard him.

"I can't hack paper."

They discussed their plans for a few more minutes, considering every possibility. But Ren's warning still played in their mind. What would happen if their enemy found a way to take full control of the collective unconscious? They would be shit out of luck.

Right now, they at least knew that they stood a chance, so after going through every scenario, the group held a vote in which they all agreed in unison to send the message to Sae.

"Which opens up the next issue, which Palace we are going to target next." Ren continued, grabbing the attention of the group. "We need to begin preparing for Okumura's Palace, and we can't do that unless we go and see what we are dealing with personally. So we need to our first trip soon."

At this, Makoto seemed to perk up.

"However, the exams are coming in soon. I think we should wait until after the fireworks festival to dive into his Palace. I am well aware that time is of the essence, but if we rush and push ourselves into the next palace immediately, we might make mistakes we could have avoided otherwise."

"Exams? Man… I thought that after we became Thieves, we could forget all about that crap."

"No, Makoto has a point. We don't know what our future looks like. So we can't afford to throw away our futures right now by dropping out of school." Ren spoke, which caused a few reluctant nods from some in the group.

Shiho, who had kept mostly quiet until now, spoke up.

"We also need to keep doing Mementos requests. If what Ren said is true, then we need to make sure we don't get forgotten in the collective unconscious. As far as we know, we might be fighting a war to see who has the most influence."

Shiho's words brought another wave of discussion to the group. There were too many things to focus on, and even Takemi was beginning to look overwhelmed.

"I need to continue my research too… If I delay too long, then Miwa might pass away. I am so close, but I don't want to give her an untested drug. I am getting progress reports from the hospital, so I know I don't have to rush too much, but still…"

"There is also my work…" Ann began

"And our studies…" Makoto continued.

Just as it looked like the room was going to lose control, Ren clapped his hands.

"This is exactly why we have so many members, right? I know we all have our own responsibilities, but we can divide and conquer now. We proved as much during our last Palace."

Makoto, noticing the signal from Ren, cleared her throat as she continued.

"We all have our strengths, and we are a team. We can help rely on each other. I am hesitant to recruit more members when we only recently added two, but if we need to, we can search for more people to recruit." She continued, chuckling slightly to herself as she did. "I guess the Phantom Thieves are starting to become a true organization now."

Her words, however, seemed to remind her of something.

"What about the Kirijo group? Have they reached out again? Have you noticed Naoto again?"

The group turned to Ren, who could only shake his head. 

"Not yet. I am not quite sure what they are planning but don't worry about them for now. If I discover more about them, I will instantly inform all of you."

With those words, their meeting began to wind up. They still had a few more concerns, but Ren and Makoto were able to quickly team up as leaders and make plans that would fit with everyone's schedules.

As they left, they couldn't help but feel more prepared than ever. It had been an exhausting meeting, but they had been able to take a lot of their worries from their mind. They even knew what the short-term future looked like for them.

They would all be busy, but they would at least be able to split the responsibilities with each other.

Heading back home, Ren chuckled as he saw Mona jump on Takemi's bag. He had been spending more time with her than in Leblanc lately.

"I'm going to continue researching the flowers with Tae for a few more days. She's been analyzing my blood and comparing it to the samples she got, and I feel that we are close to something new." 

"Argh… Don't do too much without me." Futaba complained as she heard the two of them begin to plan their research. "I need to get the email done, but after I send it I should be able to run over to the clinic and help out."

"Now I am starting to get jealous." Ren joked as he exchanged a glance with Takemi, who was smiling as she began to look forward to their plans. "My doctor is being stolen from me."

Takemi chuckled as she heard him, rolling her eyes.

"Don't worry, you'll always be my guinea pig. I am going to need your help with the next facet of my research, so soon enough, I will call you up. For now, don't worry your pretty face."

Futaba, who had been chuckling along, decided to grab onto Ren's arm.

"Dibs. I need his help with something, too."

"Hm?" Takemi mused before chuckling. "Sure, but I'm only letting you borrow my guinea pig because of how helpful you are."

The usually quiet train rides and walks home were starting to become more lively, as even Futaba, who was usually reserved, was able to open up and discuss with Takemi. While their personalities were quite different, they were both an intellectual match, letting them connect with each other.

After separating from the trio, Ren made his way to Leblanc. There, he saw the lights still on, which raised his alarms. However, as he looked in through the glass door, he saw a blue-haired detective waiting for him.

~A/N~

Sorry for the slightly shorter chap/delay. I wasn't happy with how the original version turned out, so I went back and reworked the entire chap. It's actually entirely different from the first draft.

Also, I am planning on doing the first Phantom Diaries chap in about 2 or 3 chaps. So feel free to leave suggestions. I really like the ones I saw in the last chap. For those unfamiliar, they are small little segments, usually around 500 words, which focus on a different character or something happening around the world. So, it could be a segment focused on Haru, Sae, or the twins. I will probably make the diaries chap extra long, so drop as many suggestions as you like.