#but back to this post... makoto plz... open up about your suffering.....

[papessedefer]

Ann frowns, shuffling her weight on her heels like a wellworn deck of cards. "Your sister's heart was... distorted. Did she ever... HURT you? Even just if it was... like... emotionally...?" (FOR SAD QUESTIONS MEME!)

The Tough Questions // @charismastatic

It was a loaded question, she thought. Above all else, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts punished those who mistreated others, whose foul deeds ruined lives and spread suffering. Of all their ‘villainous’ targets, the group’s desire to change her sister’s heart stemmed from a desperation to clear their names, and not to punish the wicked. It could even be said that Sae never truly hurt anyone, and had only been caught up in the Metaverse conspiracy by chance -- that the Phantom Thieves were ultimately selfish in targeting her. But, there was one person who suffered the most under the woman’s distorted gaze...

“..Does it really matter, Ann? In the end, she came around.” The subject was deeply personal to her. There was a chance that Sae had used her position as a prosecutor to forge evidence and wrongly convict innocents for the sake of victory, but that was an inherent flaw in the Japanese justice system, and not necessarily a problem exclusive to her sister. No, the only one who could prove that Sae had hurt others was Makoto herself. And, how could she..? Her sister was the only family she had left. She wanted to save her on her own -- to change her heart without telling the others... without infiltrating her Palace.

But, she couldn’t. The Niijima family’s greatest flaw was their pride... Their father died in pursuit of justice -- in order to uphold his pride as a police officer. Sae’s pride could not accept the sexist, cutthroat workplace she toiled away in. Her pride couldn’t accept a loss in that male-dominated profession. She had to win, no matter what. And Makoto... her pride left her quiet. She had known of the Palace within her own sister since the very moment she learned how to use the Meta-Nav. She had known for months that Sae was distorted, and yet she said nothing to her teammates, to the ones who trusted her. She wanted to save her sister on her own... but, she couldn’t.

The Priestess tensed, fingernails digging into her opposite wrist, clasped at her side as they were. Their previous targets had all hurt countless people, including some of her teammates. But, with Sae... only Makoto was truly victimized. It would have been beyond selfish to speak of it now, as if she were putting her own trauma on a pedestal above the dozens that Kamoshida had abused, above the students Madarame had neglected and used, above the hundreds of lives ruined by Kaneshiro and Okumura’s avarice. No, she would... bear this pain alone. “She found her justice again. That’s... all that matters.”