"Generating evidence is bad. But if our goal is to help people, then popularity might actually have some useful effects. It might encourage others to come forward. And getting deeper into Mementos might help with our investigations..."

Joker frowns. "I think it might be best to try and get a grip on Mishima. Not necessarily bring him in all the way, but get him into a situation we like where he's unlikely to talk. Giving him what he wants might be one way to do that."

She looks over at Ann. "Does Mishima have any notable weaknesses that you know of?"

"You should ask Shiho, she's the one who was on the volleyball team with him."

"Point taken. Shiho?"

"As best I can tell, he wants to be included in things. Feels like an outcast, gets bullied and called a zero a lot. Seems like he wants to be cool. Hard to say for sure, though. Neither of us was really putting much effort into really expressing ourselves, with Kamoshida around."

That snaps Akira into front. 

"— yeah," she says with a little wince. "I can understand that."

Akira touches her forehead, sighs. "I don't want to use him. He's a victim too. Better we be actual allies. I just don't know what that looks like."

"You could always try talking to him? Getting more information doesn't seem bad."

"Yeah, should be safe to just talk to him, babe." Ryuji wraps an arm around Akira and squeezes her.

"From what you've told us, he seems to really like the idea of the Thieves. Maybe make it clear that if he likes what we're doing, there are precautions he can take to make it safer for us to do it?", Shiho asks.

"Alright." Akira pinches the bridge of her nose. "Was there a third item to deal with? I think there was but it's slipping my mind."

"I think you were thinking of the airsoft guns." 

Ann glances over at Sojiro's back, but shakes her head after a moment. "It's all been dealt with."

"Good. Good. That's good."

Shiho grabs Akira's hands. "Akira, sweetie, none of what's left is something you have to handle tonight. You need a break."

Akira exhales and holds Shiho's hands for a long moment.

"You're right. We'll figure it out tomorrow. We should break up the meeting. The important stuff's been dealt with."

Shiho squeezes Akira's hands and nods. "Good girl."

Ryuji squeezes Akira and kisses her cheek. "Yeah, we can deal with the rest tomorrow afternoon. Meet here after school?"

Akira flushes a little at the kiss, despite her exhaustion. 

"Probably smart, yeah. Thank you all for coming."

Ann looks Akira right in the eyes. "Take care of yourself, okay? You're important to all of us."

Akira takes a breath as if to argue, then sees everyone's expressions and deflates. 

"Yeah. You're right. You're all right."

She squeezes Shiho's hands back and nestles a little more into Ryuji. 

"We'll figure this out."

"We will," Ryuji nods.

"Together," Shiho agrees.

Ryuji gets up after giving Akira one last squeeze, carrying his and Ann's plates and mugs over to the bar. "That curry and cocoa was amazin', Boss."

"Glad to hear it," Sojiro replies. He takes the dishes and sets them in the sink, starting to wash the plates. "You're a good bunch of kids, looking after each other like that."

"Akira's got a tendency to run herself ragged when there's something important to be done," Ann says. "She's strong though. She led us to beat Kamoshida, and she'll help Futaba too. And the rest of us will make sure she comes back in one piece."

Ann turns in her plate as well. "And yeah, that curry was delish."

Akira gets up from the table, and suddenly she looks very, very tired. Her posture droops, and her footing is a little unsteady. 

"Alright," she says. "Thank you all for coming. I'm going to go crash in bed. Please get home safe, all of you."

Ryuji gives her a big hug and kisses her cheek. "Rest easy, babe. I'll see you tomorrow."