Akemi Miyano grabbed one of Kazawa's ears with one hand, causing the dejected Kazawa to stagger from side to side.
"Shiho may have grown up in the organization and even have a code name… but she's a researcher, not mentally strong. If you scare her like this, something bad could happen!"
Knowing he was in the wrong, Kazawa lowered his head and didn't dare resist Akemi's actions, letting her pull him left and right.
He mumbled, "I was wrong, but I just showed her the alcohol sale flyer…"
"That's still not okay!" Akemi shouted.
"I'm sorry!" Kazawa immediately shut up and kept his head down in repentance.
Hoshikawa Teru, who had been sipping his drink leisurely, looked at Kazawa's sorry state for a while and slowly said, "Sister Akemi, it's fine. Kazawa didn't mean it. He just wanted to scare her…"
Hearing that, Akemi twisted his ear even harder. "This brat just wanted to embarrass Shiho! He didn't even tell me before pulling this!"
That wasn't persuasion—it was pouring oil on the fire!
Kazawa, his ear throbbing, glared at the grinning Hoshikawa Teru and continued to apologize. "I went too far, I'm sorry!"
Teru snickered a little longer before sneakily pulling out his phone to snap a picture of Kazawa squatting on the floor with his head in his hands. Only after Kazawa glared at him from the sound of the shutter did Teru offer some genuine advice: "Don't be too mad. Isn't Kazawa making amends? She should've dropped the idea of doing something extreme by now."
"If not for that, it wouldn't have ended with just a few smacks!" Akemi, having finally let go after tugging enough, gave Kazawa two light slaps on the head. "Now get off the floor and tell me your full plan. If you act alone again, I won't go easy on you."
Kazawa rubbed his flushed ears and face, which were covered in finger marks, glared once more at Hoshikawa Teru, and obediently sat down in the seat across from Akemi.
"I really didn't expect her reaction to be that intense." Kazawa sighed as he rubbed his face. "Well, that store has been sending flyers through couriers recently, so I just asked Mr. Amuro to deliver the package to that neighborhood…"
Akemi wrung her hands and paused, seemingly remembering something, before slowly speaking: "Shiho's life in the organization was always suffocating. She knows far more than I do and rarely talks about it in detail, to protect me. But I could see the pressure on her. She's very pessimistic about her own future. She's both afraid and disgusted by the organization. I don't know what she discovered… but it must be something serious."
Kazawa nodded, showing full understanding.
Even without Akemi explaining, he already knew all this from previous knowledge.
Haibara Ai had been trapped in pessimism and hopelessness for a long time, and even later in the story, those feelings never fully went away.
"I'm partly to blame too," Akemi said with a bitter smile. "I used to think I wouldn't survive, so I sent a goodbye email to Shiho using the same address she later used to contact you. Besides saying goodbye, I gave her the password to something left behind by my uncle and aunt."
Kazawa raised an eyebrow, looking interested.
Wow, even you wrote riddles?
Is puzzle-making some kind of passive skill for researchers? Like everyone must write at least one death message in their life?
Unaware of Kazawa's internal reaction, Akemi continued, "It was the core component of a small device my aunt and uncle developed. I'm not sure how it works, but I know the organization has placed my uncle and his colleagues under house arrest because of it and won't let them return to Japan."
"A small device? What exactly does it do?" Kazawa, whose mind had been wandering, immediately straightened up when he heard that.
This device might be the real reason Haibara Ai became so self-destructive.
She could be holding a crucial secret. Rather than risk exposure, she'd rather die.
"After seeing that strange dimension in the subway, I finally understood," Akemi said. "The device was originally meant to treat side effects of drug overuse. The organization abused so many of their experimental drugs that even their own codenamed members developed psychological problems. So they asked my uncle and aunt to develop a mental relief device.
"During testing, several participants reported seeing strange visions.
"Some saw bizarre illusions, but more commonly... they described a twisted space, filled with red, and a blinding vortex spinning before them." Akemi glanced at Kazawa, her expression complex. "...And distorted black railroad tracks stretching deep into the vortex."
Kazawa and Hoshikawa Teru were both visibly shaken.
Especially Kazawa—his tone changed completely.
"You're saying… my parents created a device that accidentally connected people's minds to their shadows?!" Kazawa was stunned. "What the hell did they invent?"
As he spoke, Kazawa slapped his forehead, suddenly feeling dizzy.
Two cognitive science researchers—possibly with latent powers—who'd never truly encountered the cognitive world or understood the Persona 5 worldview…
Had somehow, through purely scientific means, created a device that could force soul tunneling and allow people to glimpse another world?
Even in a merged cognitive-physical universe, this was insane.
The more he thought about it, the more Kazawa shivered.
If, upon arriving in this world and discovering his powers, he had dismissed the organization's involvement and simply chalked everything up to some Shido-like villain…
If he had recklessly used his Persona, sent warning letters randomly, and acted without caution…
Would the organization have uncovered his powers?
"Yes. It was only after I saw the other world that I realized what the organization was really after," Akemi said, her voice heavy with emotion. "They must have sensed something unusual in those 'illusions.'
"My uncle and aunt were quick to respond. Almost as soon as they got the test results, they began modifying the equipment. The original experiment was never replicated.
"They hid the replaced component inside a music box they gave to Shiho and sent me the code, hoping she'd give it to me at the first chance so I could take it away from the organization. But in the three years before their deaths, I only saw Shiho twice—and both times we were under tight surveillance. I imagine that when Shiho got my 'suicide note,' she must've retrieved the code and brought the item out with her this time."
After revealing this heavy secret, Akemi let out a long breath and slumped back into the recliner like she'd run out of strength.
Kazawa's throat bobbed as he swallowed several times, trying to digest what he'd just heard.
…There's no need for civilian tech to work this well. It's truly unnecessary.
And Mom, Dad—you were seriously grinding this whole time inside the organization?
Kazawa, who had previously doubted how thorough the organization was, now even felt they'd been too soft.
This whole family had done so much damage. It was a miracle that Kazawa had even made it out to Tokyo alive!