They pad over and read, then nod. "Got it," they meow.

"Okay."

He clears the message out, then dials Akira's phone.

She picks up from at the end of the block. "Hey, Boss."

"Hey kid. All done, come on back."

Akira walks back into Leblanc and takes back her seat at the bar.

She looks over at Morgana. "So, what's the passphrase?"

"It was 'The purple fox wears a coat'. He made me read it on his phone, too."

"You made Morgana read it on your phone. The passphrase was 'the purple fox wears a coat.'"

"Tell it to me straight, kid. Are you a magical girl?"

She laughs. "No, I don't think so. I don't know why Morgana's like this, nor do I think they know — their memory's pretty blurry — and they haven't given me a quest to save the world or anything. They seem to just be a person, like you or I. Victim of a magical accident? Experiment gone sideways? I have no idea. All I know is that they seem to be a decent sort — they tagged along on my shopping trip with Ann — and right now they don't have a place to stay. I thought about pretending they were a cat, but they're a person, so they deserve to be treated like one."

Ugh, now she's remembering her dreams. She really could be a magical girl, couldn't she. But right now, she's got to focus on keeping things safe for her and Sakura-san, and that means keeping him out of this.

"You're tangentially mixed up in corruption at your school, you have a talking cat-shaped person as a friend, and you've got a tragic backstory, kid. Can't blame me for asking, can you?"

He plates the curry and passes it to her.

"No, it's a very reasonable question."

She takes a spoonful of the curry, tries it, and thinks.

She wants to keep Sakura-san out of this. She really does. But he's practically already guessed it, and when Kamoshida has a sudden change of heart it'll probably be obvious something magical has happened. Sakura-san will put two and two together and then it'll be clear she's lied to him. And if she dies in the castle he deserves to know what happened to her.

Better to get out in front of it. Sakura-san doesn't seem like he'd actually stop her, now that he's suggested it.

She thinks for another long, long moment. Should she ask Ryuji and Ann first? 

No, she's already made the mistake by introducing Morgana. Better to simply explain.

"... It's not like magical girl magic. I can't do anything obvious in this world other than talk to Morgana, but I can go to another world where people's - thoughts and wants, I guess - are real physical things. I don't have powers there yet but I know people who do. Morgana's one of them, so is another student from the school called Ryuji. The gym teacher's desires are so large and distorted that on the site of the school in the other world there's a castle where he's the king. I stumbled into it along with Ann and Ryuji and rescued Morgana from its dungeons."

She looks over at Morgana. "Morgana thinks there might be a way to get the gym teacher to confess to his crimes by taking something from the castle in the other world, something that represents how his thoughts are twisted. Ann and Ryuji know about this option, so they've made a plan together with Morgana to go steal the treasure and make the gym teacher confess. It's dangerous, but right now I think the best thing I can do is to be there for them and help."

He sets down the pot he was washing.

"That was supposed to be a joke."

Walks around to the other side of the bar. Sits down heavily.

And sighs.

"But neither of us were really joking, were we? And you said 'yet' about the powers, so. There's a chance you're going to get powers, and you probably have some mystic destiny crap going on, all while you're just trying to get your life back on track past this probation."

He shakes his head.

"You sure don't have it easy, do you, kid?"

"Tell me about it. It has been such a fucking day."

Honestly she really could use someone to complain to. The big secret's out, she might as well...

"I spent a couple hours escaping from the castle after being grabbed by the gym teacher's guards and then had to run like hell to get to class on time. I'm lucky that time spent in the other world doesn't seem to count here. The gym teacher who was king in the castle caressed my cheek like something out of a bad soap opera. I stole a sword and had to fight for my life with it. Stabbed something that looked like a person but wasn't. It's all good to watch magical adventures on TV, but doing it personally kind of sucks." 

He shakes his head. "Sounds like a mess. I'm not cut out for all that magical hero stuff, kid, and I wish you and your friends didn't have to do it either. If you kids need someplace to meet, though, you can hang out in your room upstairs as long as you don't make a mess. Just try to keep all this magical nonsense from getting you into trouble again, okay?"

Akira can't help it, she laughs. 

"Thanks a lot, Boss. You've been - incredibly reasonable, honestly. I'll do my best to stay out of trouble. Obviously I don't know what bullshit my mystic destiny or whatever might throw at me, but I'll do my best to keep my nose clean. I've been thinking about you and not wanting to let you down this whole time."

She exhales. "Mind if I come do some prep work in the kitchen with you once I finish this curry? It'll help so much to do something that's just completely normal."

He laughs and nods. "Sure, kid. We can do that."

Then she'll focus on her curry, and get to work in the kitchen afterward.

Sojiro teaches her some more of the basics of how to make better coffee than Akira's ever had before coming to Leblanc.

Honestly, it's hugely calming to just brew a good cup of coffee. 

Once she feels calm and centered again, she thanks Boss and goes back upstairs to her room to study. She still needs to keep her grades up.

Morgana comes upstairs with her, sitting on the end of her bed.

"Well," she says to Morgana. "That went... honestly way better than I'd hoped. It kind of got away from me at the end there but I don't regret it."

"I'm impressed how well both of you handled it. He's a good person. It'll help a lot to have somewhere safe everyone can meet, too."

"Yeah, I agree. Hopefully everything goes well."

She looks over at Morgana.

It is weird to pet a cat who is a person. She's just going to set that aside for now and come back to it later. 

For now she thinks she wants to study something normal and then sleep.

And soon enough it's the morning of Tuesday the twelfth of April.