Morgana really likes to bat at the toggles of our school uniform coats. This morning on the train he nearly fell off Ren's shoulder while trying to bat at one. I'm pretty sure some other passengers noticed him but fortunately no one said anything.

There's a horse-racing mobile game that's been popular at school in some circles. Ryuji brought it up at a team meeting today and suggested I could star in a mouse-racing game. Futaba tutted at him, saying he just doesn't "get it."

I guess it's a good thing that the frequent posters on the Phan-Site are there to watch us rather than taking matters into their own hands. Otherwise, innocent people could be targeted just because someone else shared their name. It's a bit frightening to think about.

Sometimes we get requests on the Phan-Site for people whose hearts aren't distorted. The posts are anonymous though so we can't check if the poster is the one who is actually distorted.

We've gotten some requests lately about AI scammers, but we're unable to do anything without a name. When we ask Futaba, she just looks at us like we're crazy and then tries to explain using words we don't understand. When we look confused she gets embarrassed and then hides in her room for day.

Ms. Kawakami was wearing a long cardigan over her usual knit and skirt outfit. She looked much more comfortable. She kept looking over to our side of the room though. I wonder if one of the students on this side was looking at her strangely.

Haru suggested we take a day trip somewhere with snow since we might not get any we can play in here. It would be a long day but doable, kind of like our beach trip. I did a lot of the planning for that one though. Will I be able to as a mouse?

It was announced that students who came in "reasonably" late yesterday due to the train outage are excused. Ann wondered if the ones who took longer might have entered the Metaverse. I'm not sure why she would think that, but Ren and Ryuji did not seem amused.

Ryuji was noticing that our popularity hasn't changed much on the Phan-Site. He seems rather torn. On one hand, he'd like us to be more popular. On the other, he can't take advantage of that popularity anyway.

Ren left me with Ryuji after school, saying he had errands to run. He usually takes me along and tug at his turtleneck if he forgets something. Ryuji told me that I wasn't going to get him to start his homework early. I hadn't even tried yet! (I wasn't sure how...)

Our school isn't particularly well-heated in the winter. Ms. Kawakami looks rather cold. I asked Ren why she doesn't wear layers. His eyes got big but then he quickly said he didn't know. Later I overheard him asking Ann what layers would be appropriate but he stopped when he saw I was there.

I wonder if we'll be Phantom Thieves forever. There seem to be no shortage of Palaces or requests and while we help some people, the distortions seem endless.

Despite the Phan-Site being mis-used before, we still check it for potential targets. It seems wrong to ignore pleas when we have this ability. Futaba is keeping an eye on it for signs of manipulation. Maybe that makes it okay?

So we went to Futaba's room after school. Futaba watched while Ann and Ren tried to show her how to better manage her things... though Ann sat down for a breather and neither Ann nor Futaba helped from that point on, only Ren. Futaba declared success after the room was clean.

Ann got the idea that Futaba should participate in New Years cleaning, even if a bit late. Boss and Ren and Morgana all said it was a bad idea and they haven't even seen Ann's place before. Clothes everywhere.

We finally did our first shrine visit after school, avoiding the weekend. It was a low-key affair. None of us dressed up. Being all together made it special though.

Happy new year! Ren and Boss are back to cleaning already, but I think at least Boss will turn in soon and maybe wake up early for the sunrise. Futaba is more awake than she was all day.

We've been up since early cleaning for the new year. I'm helping by grabbing small bits of trash that even Morgana can't reach. It's a little icky, but I like that I'm contributing. I'm not sure everyone will make it til midnight though. Futaba is already fading.

No requests. No Palace. It's kind of nice having a break at the end of the year, though hard to enjoy it completely when we all feel something is likely to happen soon... Though I think Ryuji is more stressed about school starting again. I just wish we could solve my predicament...

Though we're out of requests for now, we went to Mementos to see if things had changed. Our Santa suits are gone now. Don't tell anyone, but I kind of miss them, even with the bell...

We went back to Mementos a third time. Once again, we were in Santa suits. It was Christmas after all. We delivered the wrapped items. The shadows seemed really happy. They led us right to our targets!

Futaba and Ryuji got the idea that since Futaba is a reindeer, she should be out in front of Morgana as we drive through Mementos. Apparently the combination of genius and foolish is still foolish. Fortunately, Ren quickly nixed the idea since Futaba might fall off and get run over.

We went back to Mementos today with loads of 'gifts' for the shadows. As we suspected, we were still in our Santa suits. The gift-giving trick didn't work though. The first shadow complained they weren't real gifts because they weren't wrapped. Ann said we should just bring them coal instead.

We went to Mementos for some requests. Instead of our phantom thief outfits, we were all dressed in Santa outfits! ...except Futaba who had a reindeer outfit and Morgana who was a snowman. I had a little scarf with a bell. There were lots of bells. It didn't feel very stealthy.

Ryuji looked pretty worn out by the end of exams. Ann was worried he was going to faint. Futaba said she could see his soul exiting his mouth. I thought he would sleep once he got home, but somehow he's still up playing video games though. (At least, that's what Futaba says...)

Though Ren usually drops me off at Futaba's for exams, I've been going this time to cheer on Ryuji during lunch. Last time, I don't think I noticed how fast Ren's writing hand moves when he's 'in the zone.' Ryuji however... he stays up all night but doesn't study, the worst of both worlds.

We haven't been going out much because second term exams are coming up and Ryuji might really get held back unless he brings his grades up. I've been trying to make study guides with my free time. I'm getting better with the pencil but each character takes so long to write...

We went out to see some illuminations tonight. The shopping center we went to was promoting the sequel to that big Destiny movie with the bunny cop. They even had a Christmas tree with character-inspired ornaments like rabbits, foxes, and snakes. I didn't see any mice though.

Capybara cafés have been getting more and more popular here. Now Futaba is revisiting her idea of making Leblanc a cat café to more of a mixed animal one. She says if I eat enough, I can be the capybara 😡. Now she keeps trying to stuff me full of food. Haru too strangely, only just coffee beans.

We had some errands to run and Ann came along with us. We saw some advertisements for Black Friday sales. Ann explained to us the difference between Black Friday sales here and in the US. I guess we both have our shopping events. ...I hope we don't have to face those kinds of shoppers in a Palace.

We went to the Dream Christmas event by the Skytree. There's a Christmas Market, light shows, and storybook photo spots. Futaba wondered why storybook heroines always look like Ann. Ann says she prefers to be a cool villain, but she still got in the pegasus-drawn carriage for photos.

Mona has been up all night talking about how he would have done the heist and getaway of a certain museum in France. I don't think his ideas work in the real world but as I can only squeak in response, he just keeps talking at me...

Ren sometimes runs errands for a weird middle-aged man in a mask and glasses in an alley in Kichijoji. Some of the things he wants are limited, so I guess that's why he needs help. Ryuji suggested opening a wider service on the Phan-Site but Ren has to run around enough as it is.

We handled some requests today. The little boy there is always making drinks out of flowers, so Haru got curious and bullied him into letting her try. I think her eyes were literally glowing afterwards. She said she had ideas for her café but didn't remember them when we returned.

Ren called me ‘his little tactical nuke’ today while booping me on the nose. I’m not sure if I like it or not.

Sorry I haven't been posting much. I've been feeling a bit discouraged. I know we just have to keep searching and that I should be thankful for the few special safe rooms we've found, but it's hard to come back empty handed time and time again in between.

It was chilly tonight. Futaba commanded Yusuke to lend her his jacket, like a gentleman would in a romance novel. He took off his coat and stood behind her, letting it go to fall on her shoulders. She crumpled immediately, nearly flattened. I think she forgot to account for how much bigger he is...

I think Futaba was hoping that Morgana would be trapped in the costumes she created. That might work for a normal cat, but Morgana had no trouble escaping once she fell asleep. I wonder what she thought waking up to an empty lobster costume.

Oh I figured it out. I was just the distraction to wear out Morgana. She has so many more costumes for him, but he's too sleepy to fend her off. I would be smug but I'm too tired...

Ren is going to have so much cleaning to do. Futaba's floor is covered in felt scraps. I keep trying to drag a few to the trash, but before I get anywhere, it's time for another costume. I tried hiding but she's good at getting into tight spaces and Morgana is on her side.

Futaba suddenly got it into her head that she wanted to take a whole bunch of mouse-in-costume photos for social media. I'm not sure what this is for. I don't think she even has social media. Even though I'm more nocturnal these days, I just want to go to sleep...

When Ren is really showing off in Mementos, he has this haughty laugh that echoes through the tunnels. The shadows look really scared. I would be scared too if it wasn't him. 😊 Actually, being in his pocket while he does it, it's kind of fun the way his full chest vibrates.

Today Futaba said that I say so many misinterpretable things that I should become a streamer when I'm human again. I could tell Ren was trying to get her to stop talking. I'm not offended. I don't know what she means. Should I be offended?

We received requests about more personal bullying too so we've started investigating those. It's sad how many people take the bully's side. I thought most were avoiding being a target themselves, but Ryuji thinks many just like being on the 'winning' side. Can we steal the heart of mob mentality?

Lately we've gotten a lot of Phan-Site requests from creatives who are being bullied online. Futaba says its easy to use bots to scam or try to hurt people as they require no skill these days. She said she even sees them where she archives my posts, but she just reports them and they're removed.

The nursing home director has been calling in sick, so I think we were successful, but we won't know for sure until he either returns or makes a statement. Changes of heart seem to take differing time for different people. I guess even after it happens, they need some time to decide what to do.

Ren and Morgana are sleeping now. I should probably sleep too. I tired, but I just keep reading things on my phone. I've also been thinking about the special safe room, and how we don't have access to it anymore. Our experiments didn't yield anything. Will I be stuck like this forever?

Though Ren made it seem like a pretty easy fight, escaping the crumbling haunted house with all of the ghost fleeing at the same time wasn't as easy. Futaba had a great time though. (Ryuji carried her because she wasn't running fast enough.)

Stealing the treasure was fairly straightforward. The director's shadow was some sort of necromancer. Futaba, Morgana, and I all told Ren to use bless skills (well, mine came out as squeaks) but he overpowered the shadow with curse skills just to show off.

We managed to talk Futaba out of doing the entire first run without sound. She was hoping that some of the execs on the call would warn "You're on mute!" We convinced her they would just probably just disconnect.