Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Sumire!!!”

That was the last thing she heard and remembered before she woke up in the middle of the road. As she took in her surroundings, she heard an engine approach behind her, turning around to see a car barrelling toward her at a high speed.

“Aah!” The girl put her hands up and shut her eyes as she tried to block the impact of the car. However, she heard the engine pass by as if she was only standing near, but not in front of the car. Opening her eyes, she noticed that the car passed through her as she turned around to see it speeding away from her. She looked down at herself and noticed no damage to her body. In fact, it was completely transparent.

“Am- am I a ghost?”

Almost as if to answer her question, she began to float as she passed her hand through the nearby traffic light. Her eyes widened in amazement as she moved freely through the world around her. 

As she flew around, she tried to remember what happened that made her a ghost, only to be met with the same word she heard as she woke up in the street.

Sumire.

Was someone calling to her? Was this her name? If it was, then hopefully someone she talks to would be able to recognize her.

“Hey, do you know where I-“

But before she could finish, the person she was trying to talk to walked right past her, she tried asking someone else, only for them to walk right through her this time.

“Oh right… ghost.”

She concluded that if she was going to figure out where she is and what’s going on, she’d have to find that out for herself.

2 weeks since she woke up, the girl floated around this city, which she learned was Tokyo in Japan. As she floated around in the large area people called the Crossing, she heard a voice call out to her from behind.

"Oh, excuse me!"

She turned around to see a tall boy with frizzy raven hair looking directly at her.

Akira exited the subway, not interacting with anyone as he rushed aboveground. The constant sounds of the city causing him to hang his head low. An immediately noticeable difference from his countryside home.

“So I need to get to… where again?” Akira thought as he pulled out his phone. Tokyo was incredibly different from the countryside where he lived, the constant sounds of footsteps and voices taking his eyes away from his phone, something that he'd have to learn to ignore if he needed his navigation app to get around. However, there was an odd app on his screen that he didn't remember installing. It was red with a black eye drawn on it, a star replacing the pupil.

Akira tried to delete the app but accidentally tapped on it. When it did nothing, he attempted to tap it again only to look up and notice that the world around him was brought to a halt.

“Is this some elaborate prank?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Akira noticed a slight amount of movement in the center of the crossing and turned toward it. A blue flame flickered in the middle of a crowd before erupting into a pillar, somehow not burning the frozen people around him.

Akira was frozen into place as he watched the pillar of flame coalesce into a humanoid figure, wings on its back while wearing a red fiery smile. Suddenly, Akira saw his own face in the face of the figure, before the fire disappeared and the crowds moved on, oblivious to what Akira just saw.

Suddenly, Akira found himself nearly walking into a brown-haired girl with glasses.

“Oh, excuse me!” 

The girl turned around and floated away before she suddenly realized she was being addressed. Floating back, she asked, “Wait, were you talking to me?”

“Sorry, I’m new here and I need to fin- wait… are you… floating?”

This girl, whoever she was, continued to look at him in disbelief as she landed in front of him.

“How are you talking to me? I haven’t been able to talk to anyone for the past two weeks!”

“Why?” Akira tilted his head. Oddly, no one seemed to have noticed the girl in front of him despite the fact that she floated not too long ago.

Akira’s blood ran cold as the girl shrugged and casually said, “I think I’m supposed to be dead.”

“...You think you’re dead? Are you a ghost?”

“I don’t know what else I could be, so I guess yes?”

Akira noticed someone approach him, walking through the girl in front of him. 

“So she is a ghost, then…” Akira was snapped out of his external thoughts by the stranger, wearing a concerned expression, beginning to talk to him.

“Excuse me, but are you ok? You looked like you were talking to yourself.”

The stranger had a look of concern in his eyes, a far cry from the looks of disdain and hatred he got from the people at home.

“No, it’s nothing,” Akira waved off the stranger. “I was just… thinking about someone.”

“Just… take care of yourself. I wish the same could be said of my daughter…” The stranger trailed off before he shook his head. The man reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a small business card, the name on it reading ‘Shinichi Yoshizawa’. “Here’s my contact information if you ever need someone to talk to. I wish you the best, young man.”

Akira smiled as he said, “You too, Yoshizawa-san.”

The two waved to each other and the man named Yoshizawa left as Akira turned back to the girl, who seemed to be clutching her head.

“Hey, come with me.” Akira motioned for her to come with him to a more secluded corner of the square.

That man… Why did he look familiar?

As he walked through her, she got a sudden headache (Could ghosts get headaches? The more you know.) She saw the frizzy-haired boy talking to the man, but she didn’t hear anything they said due to her headache.

After the man left, the girl looked up to see the boy motion toward her to follow him. They went into a corner where they wouldn’t be disturbed as the ringing in her head went away.

“What’s your name? I’m Akira Kurusu.” The boy began to reach out to hold her shoulder, but remembered that she was a ghost and left his hand hanging.

“My name is Sumire… I think.”

“You think?”

Sumire shook her head. “That’s the thing. I don’t remember anything from my past, like who I was or what I did, or even the people I knew. But the man who just talked to you… I think he triggered some sort of memory in me, but... I swear I remembered something from him! I just… I lost it somehow…”

Akira held up a business card between two fingers as he smirked, “I have his contact information, so if you ever need to meet him, I can find an excuse to talk with him.

Sumire beamed.

Akira had a contemplative expression on his face as he began, “Well, you have nowhere else you know you can go, I’m apparently the only one who can see you, and you somehow briefly remembered something about your past life when you were with me, so maybe you can come with me. I’m going over to live with someone and-” Akira paused as he pulled out his phone with a look of shock. “Oh crap, I’m going to be late! Hey, do you by any chance know where Sojiro Sakura lives?”

Sumire put a finger on her chin, trying to recall anywhere she heard or saw the name “Sakura.” 

“No, I don’t. Do you know anything about him?”

“I heard something about him working at a cafe called Leblanc. Do you know where that is?”

Sumire thought for a while as she thought to all the times she flew through areas with coffee, and remembered an odd cafe in Yongen-Jaya that served curry which was called Leblanc.

“Yeah, I remember a cafe called Leblanc… If I remember correctly it’s in the backstreets of Yongen-Jaya.”

“Thanks, Sumire. Lead the way. Tokyo is huge compared to my hometown.”

Akira got off the train, looking back to see Sumire letting go of the pole. Despite her ghostly state, she somehow didn’t get left behind by the train. Akira decided not to question it as Sumire floated by him, guiding him to the cafe. They walked through a bunch of backstreets before they stopped in front of a red door in one of the more secluded back roads.

“So this is Leblanc, huh…” Akira stared up at the awning with ‘Leblanc Coffee & Curry’ written in black letters. “Sumire, where-”

Akira looked around to see that Sumire was nowhere to be found. As he waited by the door, he saw Sumire float back to where he was.

“Sorry! I was just looking around for Sakura’s house. I think I found it.”

“Let’s keep going then, Sumire.”

While the two were walking towards the house, Sumire asked Akira about his past. As he explained his situation to her, she clenched her fists in anger.

“And your parents wouldn’t even get you a lawyer?” Sumire gasped. To her knowledge, parents usually supported their kids through thick and thin. Why did Akira’s abandon him when he needed them?

“They tried, but the ones that were available were too expensive. The trial made it not even matter, though. The politician that sued me seemed to have a hand in everything, meaning the trial was pretty much just for show.” Akira shrugged.

Sumire seemed to have an outburst, which Akira almost hushed before realizing that no one would have heard her anyways. “What a jerk! I may not know what my morals used to be but I can assure you now that you did the right thing.”

A warm smile seemed to creep onto Akira’s face for the first time since his arrest. “Thanks for giving me support about this, especially now.” 

They stopped in front of the house Sumire believed Sojiro Sakura lived in. Reading the nameplate, Sumire observed, “The nameplate here says ‘Sakura’; it looks like this is his house.”

Wordlessly, Akira reached out and pressed the doorbell next to the front gate.

*Ding*

*Dong*

…

“Is he not here?” Akira asked Sumire, who just shrugged in response. To their right, they heard a deliveryman approaching holding a medium-sized package.

“No one’s home… Sakura-san is usually at his cafe at this time though… I’ll do my other deliveries first and loop back here.”

As the delivery truck drove off, Akira looked towards Sumire and said, “Well, guess we were right the first time. Let’s go back.”

The short walk back was quiet unlike their walk to the Sakura residence. Eventually, Akira found himself standing back in front of the door. Taking a deep breath, he turned the handle as a bell chimed.

“Alright, that’s the last of the stuff. Whew…” Akira pushed his box of stuff into the shelf by the stairs. There was some dust still floating in the air from his cleaning attempt in the attic above Leblanc, surrounding Sumire in an almost fantastical way.

After introducing himself to Sojiro Sakura, he was brought up the stairs to a dusty attic with a bed in the corner, being told that this would be his home for the entirety of his probation. With a bit of searching in the closet downstairs, Akira grabbed some cleaning supplies and got to work, Sumire helping to find places to clean Akira wouldn’t be able to see otherwise. After two hours of cleaning, Akira collapsed on his bed, leaving the cleaning supplies by the stairs. A pair of footsteps grew louder as Sojiro poked his head out from the stairwell.

“What the heck? I heard you making all sorts of noise up here, but I thought you were just talking to someone on your phone, not cleaning. The place doesn’t look too bad, but who were you talking to anyway?”

Akira had to make something up. If he said he was talking to a ghost girl he met earlier today he might get thrown into a mental hospital instead of out onto the streets.

“Just a… a friend of mine…”

“Well go to bed. We have to meet up with the principal of Shujin tomorrow, and I bet you have nothing better to do. Well, see ya kid.”

With a smug smirk, Sojiro went back down the stairs, leaving the cafe with a faint jingle from the bell on the door. Sumire looked at the clock and gasped lightly.

“It’s pretty late. Looks like you’ve been cleaning for a while.”

Akira nodded and moved towards the bed, but froze and turned towards Sumire.

“...Um... How are we gonna manage our um… sleeping arrangements...?” Akira had a light blush on his face, not expecting to have to sleep with anyone tonight, let alone the ghost of a girl.

Sumire shrugged and floated around the room. “I can’t really make another mattress appear out of thin air, and I imagine sleeping together would be a bit awkward, so…” She paused before her eyes met the well-dusted couch next to Akira’s bed. “I guess I’ll sleep here.” She took off her glasses and put them on the table, lying down on said couch.

Akira was trying to process the absurdity of how Sumire’s glasses sat on the table while she was able to lay on the couch before shaking it off as some bogus ghost physics that wouldn’t make sense to him in the long run. Sumire curled up on the cushions as Akira put on his loungewear and got in bed. 

“You know…” Sumire began. “All this time I’ve just been floating around with nowhere to go. I just slept wherever I could, usually on the sidewalk. It feels weird having somewhere soft to rest now, even if it’s just some dusty old couch.”

Akira grinned as he looked towards Sumire. “We’ve both been through a lot, huh?”

After a brief pause, Akira thought out loud:

“I wonder what Shujin’s like.”

School. Sumire did sometimes think about what her school life was like. Would they see some of her old friends? Do they still think about her? Did she even have friends back when she was alive? Those questions would have to wait until later. For now, tomorrow would be the beginning of a new life, or rather, afterlife, for her.

Akira pulled out his phone to look at the time and set an alarm for tomorrow. He noticed the red app he thought he removed earlier today and scrunched his eyebrows in confusion.

“Wait, maybe Sumire might know something about this. It definitely doesn’t look like a normal app, and I met her after I used it, so…”

Akira’s thoughts trailed off as he looked towards Sumire. “Hey Sumire, do you re-”

He saw Sumire was fast asleep, her shoulders rising and falling as the soft sound of her breathing barely reached his ears. Akira set his alarm, turned off his phone, and drifted off to sleep.

“Poor girl. She probably hasn’t slept this well in a while.”

Chapter Text

Akira’s eyes shot open as he took in his surroundings.

”Whew, I’m still in Leblanc… What was that dream?”

For some reason, he had an incredibly weird dream. He woke up in a strange prison with piano music playing throughout the room, a long-nosed old man sitting in front of the bars at a desk. Two twin wardens stood guard outside his cell door, one with a baton, and the other with a clipboard.

The old man was odd, talking about things like “ruin” and “rehabilitation.” Whatever it meant, Akira dismissed it as just a dream, and nothing to be too concerned about. Looking around, he noticed that Sumire was nowhere to be seen.

“Was yesterday just a dream? There’s so much weird stuff going on I can barely tell what’s real and what isn’t anymore...”

Akira changed into more casual clothes, still trying to process what happened yesterday and figure out if he was hallucinating.

As he headed downstairs, he noticed the sign was still flipped to “Closed,” Sojiro nowhere to be found. Instead, Sumire was at one of the cafe tables, looking intently at the crossword puzzle sitting there. When Akira’s feet touched the bottom floor, Sumire looked up and gave a happy smile, Akira returning it both in happiness to see his new friend again and in relief that he wouldn’t be scheduled for a visit to the psychiatrist anytime soon.

“Morning, Akira!” Sumire floated over, leaving the crossword. “I was bored waiting for you to wake up, so I decided to check out the cafe. This place is great! Did you know that they have-“

“Akira! Are you coming or what?” Sojiro’s voice rang out from the other side of the door.

“Oh yeah, I have orientation today. Do you wanna come with us?”

“Sure! Got nothing better to do!”

Akira left the cafe, Sumire floating through the door. He got into the passenger seat of the car, drawing the seatbelt. He turned around to see Sumire float through the door of the car, settling on the chair. Before Sojiro got in, Akira opened his mouth to tell Sumire to buckle up before remembering that, as a ghost, she likely had no need for self-preservation, and closed it wordlessly.

Sojiro stomped out the remains of his cigarette and got in, starting up the car and driving onto the highway to Shujin. While they were on the ride, Sumire felt oddly restless and even slightly excited, but she couldn’t tell why. Soon, they pulled up to the white buildings that made up Shujin Academy, Akira’s school for the next school year.

Sojiro tapped his fingers on the steering wheel impatiently. Cars were laid out all along the road in front of them. Akira tapped his foot restlessly as Sumire shifted around slightly in her seat, changing positions every now and then. Thanks to the constant silence, Sojiro turned on the radio as some music began playing. Eventually, it switched to the news as the traffic jam continued to stretch in front of them while they waited to move forward another few meters before stopping again.

“The mental shutdown rampage has caused many accidents in the past few months, most recently a subway accident which has significantly delayed the schedules…”

Sojiro turned off the radio with a mix of sadness and frustration on his face, while Sumire looked out the window out of boredom.

“...Another accident? So that’s why it’s so crowded.” Sojiro sighed deeply, the next words making Sumire freeze.

“In fact, there was a real sad one just last month… It happened before you came here. If I remember right, the girl that passed away was only 15. Her parents have gotta be just…”

If her heart were still beating, it probably would’ve stopped.

Sojiro shook his head while Sumire processed what he said, the sounds of the engines and honking fading as Sumire’s thoughts raced.

“Last month? Before Akira came? A girl around 15 years old? Was that my…?”

Akira looked back at Sumire, who was oddly quiet and now wore a thoughtful expression, clearly lost in thought. He processed what Sojiro just said, and the possibility it presented in his mind stunned him.

Sumire seemed to come to the same conclusion, and the two shared a knowing look. Once they got out of the traffic jam, both of them knew they had to discuss the accident to see what they could figure out.

The ride was silent on the way home…

The jingle of the bell echoed in the empty cafe, the dark sky contrasting with the soft glow of the lights.

“Jeez, I couldn’t even open the store today…” He turned to Akira. “Keep your head down, got it? Any incidents and I’m kicking you to the curb.” Sojiro had a hard look while he glared at Akira, who shied away from it.

Suddenly, Sojiro grabbed Akira’s hand and slapped a small hard object into his palm. It felt like leather, and when Akira looked at it, it was a small journal.

“Keep a record of your daily activities. I have to report to your probation officer once a month, and just talking to you in the morning and evening while you’re in the cafe isn’t good enough.” 

Akira nodded and turned to see Sumire waiting at the far booth, seemingly lost in thought since she was staring vacantly at the coffee beans on the shelf behind the counter. Sojiro’s phone buzzed, and his expression significantly softened as he picked up.

“Yeah?”

A pause.

“Don’t worry, I’m heading back. Hey! Today isn’t a busy day and you know that. Got it. Uh huh.”

Sojiro sighed and pocketed his phone, turning towards the door. “I gotta head out. Remember, anything leaves the cafe and the same will happen to you.”

As the door shut behind him, Akira turned to Sumire, in the same position she was before Sojiro took the call.

“Sumire?”

She jolted in her seat, thankfully. Akira could only imagine how hard it would’ve been to snap Sumire out of it considering he couldn’t touch her.

“Wah! Uh, sorry, Akira, did you need something?”

“Are you okay?” Akira slid into the booth seat next to Sumire, hoping no one would walk by and see him talking to what would amount to thin air. Sumire looked in her lap, not responding as she seemed to tear up slightly.

“Yeah…” She was quiet, almost inaudible. Akira turned towards her and tried to give her a reassuring smile.

“Come on. Can you tell me what’s on your mind?”

Silence. Sumire fidgeted a bit while Akira leaned in a bit further.

“Sumire? Please, tell me. I think I have an idea of what this is about, but if you’re quiet I can’t help.”

“...accident…”

“Hm?”

“...It’s the accident…”

“I figured it was along those lines…” Akira ran his hand through his hair and tried to comfort Sumire. “You think Sojiro was talking about your accident? He didn’t mean to hurt you...”

“I know. It’s just that there are so many accidents, but why am I the only ghost? Is it some divine punishment? Did I do something wrong? I think and I think and I can’t tell if this is supposed to be because I was a failure of a person when I was alive or if something went wrong but-” Akira put a finger to her lips, cutting her off despite his hand not touching her.

“Sumire. It is weird that you’re the only ghost we’ve seen in Tokyo, but you definitely weren’t a bad person. Calm down, please. Let’s try to figure this out.”

Akira pulled out his phone and typed in ‘Sumire death’, filtering results from within the last month.

No results found.

He scrunched his eyebrows together before furiously typing out a slightly different search.

‘Sumire dies’

No results found.

‘Sumire killed’

No results found.

‘Sumire deceased’

No results found.

‘Sumire passes away’

No results found.

‘R.I.P. Sumire’

No results found.

Akira drew in a breath, hoping for this last prompt to turn up some information.

‘Sumire car accident’

  No results found.

He slouched in his seat, letting his phone drop to his side in his hand. He turned to Sumire, one last question on his mind.

“Do you remember your last name?” Sumire shook her head sadly, not knowing anything more than her name and the way she likely died.

Akira shook his head, setting an alarm before pocketing his phone. However, Sumire’s comment raised a few questions. Considering Sumire’s current state, he had to ask carefully.

“What do you remember?”

“Not much… I only remember a voice that sounded like mine. All I heard was ‘Sumire!’ before I woke up on the street.” Sumire’s shoulders sagged. “Whoever it was, I’m pretty sure they were calling to me before I died. They must have cared about me, but… now I’m here. I don’t remember them, or anyone who cared or still cares about me. I know you can see me, but I still feel alone sometimes. I might’ve even been forgotten by them. Why am I even here?…”

“Then we’re both in the same boat.”

Sumire looked up, confused. Akira gave her a pained smile before reminiscing. “I told you about my parents, right? They couldn’t care for me when I needed it.” She nodded slowly, Akira continuing with his story. “When I got out of jail, it was worse. People avoided me like the plague. Everyone refused to get close to me, and all I saw in their eyes when they looked at me was with fear or disdain. Honestly, I’m afraid. I’m afraid I’ll be alone again, that just being here and having someone to talk to is just a pipe dream.”

“Hey, Akira? I’ll still help you, as much as I can. We’re both alone, but we can push each other forwards. You help me, and I’ll help you.” Sumire moved to attempt to put her hand on Akira’s, hoping to reassure him, even if it went through him as usual.

Akira’s eyes moistened, the pent up emotions in him breaking the dam. “I… thanks, Sumire…”

Sumire floated out of her seat, heading upstairs. “Come on. We have a long day at school tomorrow. I think we both need some rest from this.”

“Yeah…” Akira got up, a few tears sitting on the lenses of his glasses. “Let’s sleep…”

Akira went upstairs and changed, motioning for Sumire to come up afterwards. After the two took off their glasses and got ready to sleep, Akira pulled out his phone to check his subway route before his eyes landed on the mysterious red-and-black app.

“Hey, Sumire?”

“Mmm…?” Sumire lifted her head from the couch and looked towards him.

“Does this app look familiar to you? We met only a bit after I saw this, so you might be connected to it somehow…”

Sumire floated over and examined it carefully, her expression puzzled before she shook her head.

“No, it doesn’t. It is creepy though… maybe you should delete it.”

Akira dragged it to the bin icon on his screen again. “I tried it before but it came back. If it keeps happening, I might need to get it checked out.”

“Ok… G’night, Akira.” Sumire turned on her side before her eyes shut, her soft breathing once again filling the room.

“She has to have some reason for being a ghost… Why am I the only one who can see her?” Akira’s eyes began to close while he thought to himself, “Is she meant to be like a guardian angel for me? I barely know who she is, so that can’t be it…”

He looked towards Sumire, sleeping soundly while his eyelids grew heavier and heavier.

“I remember a movie I watched on Halloween once… don’t ghosts have some unfinished business or something before they move on? It’d be hard for her since she has amnesia… Whoever was calling Sumire before she died, I hope they’re okay. She’s a nice girl… they must’ve been devastated at her loss.”

Sleep overtook Akira once more, his eyes shutting as his breathing matched Sumire’s.

Chapter Text

Akira opened his eyes groggily, his room a complete blur until it refocused seconds later with a bit of eye-rubbing. He turned his head to the side and saw Sumire looking at the books on the shelf, skimming through the spines and reading the titles almost longingly. He looked at her before pulling away the blankets and got up, the shuffling of the sheets alerting her that he was awake. She smiled at him.

"Morning sleepyhead."

Akira chuckled at the joke, his voice still husky and groggy. Sumire was clearly trying to boost their moods after their discussion yesterday. Akira's feet creaked against the floorboards as he stood up from his mattress and started to lean towards his box of clothing.

"I’m not the one who wakes up early."

Sumire huffed and circled around Akira as he dug for his uniform. "Well, I slept in the middle of Tokyo for two weeks. Don’t blame me for having a weird sleep schedule after all of that!"

Akira got dressed, Sumire stretching a bit as she turned around before Akira passed her in his Shujin uniform. The pair went downstairs, greeted by the smell of freshly-brewed coffee and Leblanc’s signature curry. Sojiro was behind the counter, filling out a crossword in the local newspaper.

"At least now I can call somewhere home. Hopefully my sleep cycle evens out soon…" She sighed out and watched as Akira began eating his curry with vigor, not wanting to reach school late. He began sipping his coffee while Sojiro picked up the plate. Finishing his breakfast, he slung his bag over his shoulder before walking out the door, flipping the sign to "Open" before heading to the station. Sumire began speaking to him. 

"Ready for your first day of school?"

"Ready as I’ll ever be. Just don’t bother me during lessons; I’d rather not get sent to a psychiatric hospital for trying to explain you to my teacher if I end up looking your way too much."

"Sure." She chuckled.

While the two headed to the station, Akira noticed that Sumire was walking next to him instead of floating nearby. While they stood around waiting for the train, Akira thought about their conversation yesterday and came to a realization.

"You know, if the girl in the accident was you, maybe someone close to you left your name anonymous for some reason."

"It’s possible." Sumire shrugged before the two saw the train pull into the station. The two shuffled in, a space available for Sumire to stand by Akira despite being intangible. The subway TVs blared with the latest news, one about the recent subway accidents. Sumire stared at the screens and frowned before realizing she was being left behind. She quickly chased after Akira and thought to herself.

"There are so many accidents… How come I can’t find any info on mine?"

The amount of space she had eventually shrunk, and she was forced to float above everyone’s heads to avoid feeling too cramped.

"Jeez, there’s so many people in that small space…"

After a transfer and another train ride, the two reached Aoyama-Itchome Station. Looking up at the clouds, Sumire remembered something she needed to ask Akira. She put her face in front of Akira and threw a question at him. "Did you remember to bring an umbrella? It looks like it’s going to rain."

Akira mentally facepalmed and sighed. "I knew I forgot something…"

He was running for a while, trying to cover himself with his bag before he spotted an awning. After hiding from the rain, he started to dry himself off before someone ran up next to him, wearing the standard girls’ uniform under a white hoodie with a pattern of a green four-leaf clover on it. The girl took off her hoodie, revealing platinum blonde pigtails, light blue eyes, and pink lips.

"A foreigner, huh?" Akira mused to himself, staring at the girl in front of him and analyzing her features.

She squeezed some water out of her hair, mumbling to herself, annoyed at the sudden downpour.

"I hate the rain…" She gazed out towards the street, cherry blossom petals fluttering with the water before flowing down the sidewalk like boats on a stream. She noticed Akira’s gaze and her eyes met his before looking upwards slightly. She extended her arm over to the top of his head and picked off a cherry blossom petal.

"Sorry about that. You had something stuck to your head."

Akira just nodded with wide eyes and quickly turned his face away from her. Sumire giggled lightly, seeing Akira unsure of how to respond. "Are you staring at her? Do you have your eyes on somebody already?"

Akira was about to respond, stopping when he remembered the girl next to him. He pulled out his phone and held it up to his cheek, acting like he was taking a call. Unknowingly, his ear tapped on the red eyeball app which had once again reinstalled itself on his phone. "What? Of course not..."

Soon after, a white sedan pulled up and the window rolled down. A tall man sat in the driver’s seat and leaned over, calling out, "Hey, Takamaki! Need a ride? The rain doesn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon."

"O-oh, okay…" The girl named Takamaki put her hoodie back on and dashed to the car, opening the door and sliding into the passenger seat.

The man turned to Akira next. "How about you? Want one yourself?"

He was about to accept before Sumire dashed in front of him, shaking her head. "Let’s not."

"No thanks. I think I’ll be fine." He waved off the offer, trying to be polite about it.

"Suit yourself. Hopefully you don’t end up late to school!" He rolled up the window and drove off. Before it closed, however, Akira noticed that Takamaki had a sad or tense look on her face before it was obscured by his reflection on the car’s window and the two drove off.

"Y’know, I’d be an excellent wingman since no one can see me—" Sumire was interrupted by someone running through her.

"Damn, screw that pervy teacher…" Akira lowered his phone to look at the source of the new voice, a boy with clearly dyed blonde hair panting as he stood in front of Sumire. His clothing was drenched in water and he wrapped his hands around the cloth and squeezed it out, a waterfall of rain water sloshing onto the floor.

"Pervy?" Sumire tilted her head. "I got a menacing feeling from him when he offered you a ride, but I thought I was just being paranoid."

"…Pervy teacher?" Akira absent-mindedly repeated.

"Tch, yeah. Asshole thinks he can do whatever he wants. No one gives a damn even when he does shit for no reason— hey… you ain’t gonna rat me out to Kamoshida, are ya?"

"Who’s Kamoshida?" Akira’s phone vibrated. Candidate found.

"Eh, see if I— Wait, you don’t know who Kamoshida is? You’re a Shujin student, right?" The blonde boy looked at Akira’s collar. "A second-year, huh… same as me. Never seen you around though. ‘Sup with that?"

Sumire spoke up, staying behind the boy for now, "He’s a bit vulgar, but I think we can trust him."

Akira nodded. "I transferred to Shujin a few days ago. It’s my first day." Location found. Input Distortion.

The boy visibly relaxed with that bit of information. "Oh, makes sense why you don’t know. Bastard acts like he’s the king of a castle or some—"

Distortion found. Beginning Navigation.

"Rgh—!"

Akira followed the blonde boy through the alleyway, massaging his temples. Sumire clutched her forehead, staggering behind him. They all had a cloud of exhaustion hanging over their heads. Sumire muttered to Akira, "Hey… do you feel lightheaded too?"

Akira could only nod before he bumped into the boy in front of him, who abruptly stopped. 

"The eff?! The hell happened to the school?!" The blonde yelled out wide-eyed, taken aback at the building that stood where he claimed Shujin Academy was. In front of them, standing proudly as if it was always there, was a medieval-style castle with pink clouds circling the spire that rose up to the sky.

Sumire thought it looked good, but she didn’t remember the school looking like this during some of her occasional floats around the city. She and Akira shared a look. He blinked as a realization came to his mind.

"Hold on. If this app is related to this castle and probably Sumire, does that mean…"

"Hey, man. What’re you lookin’ at there?" The other Shujin student called out. Akira’s gaze shot to him and back to where Sumire was.

"Do… you see anyone there? Or is it just me?"

He squinted and shrugged. "I dunno what you’re talkin’ about, dude. C’mon, I’ll try to see what the eff is goin’ on here."

Akira and Sumire looked at each other before following him into the castle. An ominous atmosphere settled over them as the castle momentarily distorted to reveal the more normal school building before reverting back to the castle.

He blinked before chasing after the boy, who seemed to be stopped in front of a figure wearing a suit of armor and a turquoise full-face mask.

"The heck!?" The boy shouted at the suit of armor towering over them.

Sumire chuckled when she looked at the armored being in front of her and threw Akira a look. "Are you sure you put on the right uniform this morning?" She jabbed at him. Akira spared her a glance before turning back to the guard. It was confusing and odd.

At first they thought it was just some weird school tradition Shujin had, but judging from this rowdy guy’s reaction, since he had been here the year before, that clearly wasn’t the case.

"Okay, did I miss a memo?" The boy questioned. He walked up closer to inspect the large metal body. "Is that armor even real?" He knocked on the chestplate. The sound it made was as metallic as could be.

"Hey! Earth to…” He stopped to raise an eyebrow at the blue mask below the helmet. “…whoever you are!”

Another guard waltzed into the hall to the vulgar boy's left. Sumire stittered to Akira. "U-uh… I-I think it's time we leave…"

"We have to go…" Akira said, urging him to go and run out the door.

"Never mind, this shit's real." The boy responded to him. They both kicked up their legs and started running for the exit only for another guard to pop out of seemingly nowhere.

"Ugh, what's with these guys?!" The blonde boy growled out. Akira clenched his fist in his hand as Sumire panicked. The soldiers encased them in a circle.

She could only watch in horror as the two were knocked out and dragged into a cell. But for some reason, she felt pain course through her translucent body as Akira was beaten up, almost as if she was the one getting beaten up herself. She followed the guards to make sure he’d be okay.

"…Hey. Hey! Wake up!"

Akira's eyes fluttered open, the back of his head aching as he pushed himself off of the dingy prison bed with his scuffed hands. "Sumire…?" He muttered out.

"Huh? Who?"

Akira looked up to see the blonde boy in front of him and quickly swatted away what he had said.

"I meant— I meant suuu…” he quickly thought of something that sounded similar. “suum-something's wrong. Very, very wrong…" Akira muttered. They were in a jail cell. A dirty and gross one at that.

"You all right?" The boy asked him.

"I'm all right as I'll ever be… The back of my head hurts…"

"That makes two of us, and I doubt this is all some dream… Ugh, what's goin' on?!" The student said, stomping his foot on the ground and running his fingers through his short hair. He walked to the bars of the cell and started yelling, banging on the bars as hard as he can. "Okay, you got your laughs out, very funny, now someone get us out!"

While the boy was yelling, Sumire popped in through from another cell, her head leaping out of the wall. Akira startled for a bit before settling. "Akira! Are you alright? They took you two to some kind of basement dungeon…"

"I’m okay, but wherever we are, I don’t think it’s the school anymore… Or even remotely close to one," he whispered out, his hands clenched onto the rotten wood of the bed he was sat on. The cell was damp and heavy, the sound of running water rushing outside of their cell.

Sumire sputtered and fumbled with her words while Akira tried searching the cell. "I don’t even remember what school was like and I agree with you!"

They froze when they heard a heart-wrenching scream. Akira could feel his heart pound in his chest, threatening to burst out. The other boy looked back over with sweat covering his face and an anxious expression. "Th-the hell was that!?"

Sumire dove into the wall and bolted to see where the sound came from. Akira and the vulgar student clenched onto the bars, hearing the continuous please and screams scarily close to them.

"Whoa…" The boy's hands gripped so tight onto the bars that his forearms started to shake. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa…! You shittin' me, right?"

Sumire flew in front of the two and spoke to them, her face pale and sickly. "I— I think you a-already know what's happening."

"Oh god…" Akira said underneath his breath. What was going to happen? Sumire flipped her head to the right of her and flinched away into the cell.

"Someone's coming…!" She whispered out. Akira bit his lip and the other kid backed away from the cell door.

"This is real bad! C'mon, help me look around or somethin'!"

While Akira and the blonde teen looked inside the cell, Sumire tried to scan the general area outside for any sign of a key or anything that could free them. The figures got closer and closer to the cell.

It was no doubt the same guy she had seen offer Akira a ride earlier that day, but now in a rather… strange outfit to say the least. He was wearing a crown on top of his head with a pink speedo. A red cape was wrapped around his shoulders, but other than that, he was wearing virtually nothing. He was surrounded by the large soldiers with a stern yet cocky expression painting his face.

"Wow, he really is a pervert isn’t he…?" She scoffed, stepping back over to the cell. The man (Kamoshida, was it?) and the guards made it outside of the cell, but a soldier approached first.

"Be glad that your punishment has been decided upon. Your charge is 'unlawful entry.' Thus, you will be sentenced to death."

"What?!" The boy exclaimed.

"Here he comes…" Sumire whispered to Akira. Akira kept his eyes on the spaces between the bars.

"No one's allowed to do as they please in my castle."

"Huh? Wait… Is that you, Kamoshida?" The boy asked, his hands shaking against the bars. Bright yellow eyes looked down at his figure and scoffed.

"I thought it was some petty thief, but to think it'd be you, Sakamoto… Are you trying to disobey me again? It looks like you haven't learned your lesson at all, huh?" Kamoshida grinned. "And you brought a friend this time… because you can't do anything for yourself."

"This ain't funny, you asshole!" The person who they now knew as Sakamoto hissed. Kamoshida boomed at him, pressing his face closer to the cell.

"Is that how you speak to a king?! It seems you don't understand the position you're in at all. Not only did you sneak into my castle, you committed the crime of insulting me— the king. The punishment for that is death."

"Are you crazy? Death? For what?" Akira yelled at the man. Kamoshida snarled at him.

"Shut up, you damn kid! It's time for an execution! Take the blonde one out!" Kamoshida raised his arm and the guards stormed in.

"Hey! Stop it!" Akira screamed as the guards pushed him back. Sakamoto was surrounded by the guards, and what happened next wasn't a pretty sight. Sakamoto quickly butted into a guard and tried to escape with Akira, but they didn't make it out.

Sumire screamed when Sakamoto was jabbed straight in the stomach, his knees locking and slamming straight to the floor.

Sumire winced at the scene in front of her, nervously tugging on her sleeves. It wasn’t pretty after that either. The boy in front of Sumire and Akira was helplessly beaten right in front of their eyes.

She wished she could do something about this, but she knew that there was nothing she could do. She felt even more hopeless than the ones actually being attacked by the residents of the castle.

"Hmph. Where’d all your energy from earlier go?" Kamoshida snarled at the blonde-haired boy after spitting on his face. The boy was bruised and battered, trying to use his legs to push himself away. It didn't do much as one of the guards picked him up by his collar and tossed him onto the hard stone flooring.

He let out a pained gasp and grit his teeth. He didn't even have enough strength to curl in on himself from the pain. Kamoshida stepped close to Sakamoto's body and hissed out to him. "A peasant like you isn’t worth beating. I'll have you killed right now."

Akira grit his teeth, trying to push by the wall of guards. He shouted at the man with fury, "What are you doing?!"

Kamoshida turned his face over to Akira and grinned at him, getting closer and closer to his face as he taunted him. "Hm? What? Don't you dare tell me you don’t know who I am."

Akira kept a stern expression in front of the man. Kamoshida looked more pissed off than ever. "That look in your eye irritates me…!"

Akira grunted as his back hit the wall from Kamoshida's feet digging into his stomach and sending him flying. Sumire gasped out, feeling a slight tinge on her belly. Before Akira could regain his composure, Kamoshida shouted out an order, "Hold him there! After the peasant, it's his turn to die."

Sumire looked in fear and anxiety as Akira tried running out, gasping out when large and cold hands slammed him back onto the wall. He thrashed and grunted, but nothing worked. Sumire… She couldn't do anything but watch.

As Kamoshida laughed and the boy begged for his life, Akira grit his teeth. A voice, voices. They were telling him that this was unjust and unfair…

"What’s the matter? Are you simply going to watch?" Akira's eyes widened and looked over at Sumire. She wasn't speaking. Of course she wasn't; this was a masculine voice! But he still didn't know where it was coming from.

"D-did you hear something?" Sumire asked him. Akira realized that she was hearing it also. It made him feel even more confused. This voice, this voice filled with confidence was speaking to them. "Are you forsaking them to save yourself? Death awaits him if you do nothing. Are you going to leave her alone once more?"

"Were your previous decisions a mistake then?"

"No… No it wasn't…" He gritted out, staring over at the scene in front of him. He didn't want to feel helpless, he didn't want to see that terrified and startled expression on Sumire's face—!

"Very well, I have heeded your resolve. Vow to me!" The voice commanded him. Akira started shaking and twisting his body to get out of the guard's grasp. Escape. Save them. That was the only thing he was thinking of.

"I am thou, thou art I…"

Pain stabbed him straight through the head, and Sumire felt the effects of it also. Her hands went up to her head and she dug her fingers into her hair, hissing out in pain. It wasn’t as bad as Akira's, but it still felt like needles were piercing into every pore in her body.

"Thou who art willing to perform all sacrilegious acts for the sake of thine own justice!"

"Call upon my name, and release thy rage!"

Akira screams out in agony, feeling nothing but piercing heat spread through his body. Hot and cold— He didn't know what this feeling was. Sumire cried out, wrapping her arms around her body, her legs dropping onto the floor.

"Show the strength of thy will to ascertain all on thine own, though thou be chained to Hell itself!"

Akira brought his head up, and glared at Shadow Kamoshida. Drool dribbled down his lip and chin, pinpointed straight onto the man. Kamoshida grinned as he pointed his finger with all of his might, commanding his guards.

"Execute him!"

"That’s enough!"

Kamoshida slowly turned his head back to look at the burning glare of Akira. "What was that…?" The man questioned. The guard holding Sakamoto up by the neck let go of him. Sakamoto cried out when his body flopped onto the floor like a ragdoll.

"You desire to be killed that much…? Fine!"

Akira saw Kamoshida gesture to a guard and before he could even react, he felt something smash against his face. Akira's glasses shattered, falling onto the floor in a crooked mess. Sumire covered her mouth with her hands and gasped. "Akira!"

He's forced up onto the wall, two spears crossing against his neck. His eyes are clamped shut, and air of dread surrounding Sumire. No… this couldn't be it…!

And it wasn't.

Sumire looked to Akira, who had a mysterious mask on his face. She had a feeling she wouldn’t be the only one of the two with supernatural abilities soon, but most importantly, she was glad he was safe.

She didn’t know how, but despite it not being hers, she felt that surge of power flow through her veins. She clenched her fists as she watched Akira reach up to his face and tear it off. Blood splattered against the ground and painted his face. When he opened his eyes, they were scarily yellow, just like Kamoshida's.

He was engulfed in blue flames, a menacing red grin replacing his face as it seeped off of him, revealing a new outfit. Sumire whistled at the look, a grey tailcoat flowing behind him. Golden buttons decorated his waistcoat underneath, gleaming from the fire surrounding him. Akira was petrifying, freezing Kamoshida as he whimpered. Chains wrapped around his body and quick swish of his hands sent everyone clattering.

Behind Akira was a tall figure clad in a black and red suit, golden chains and buttons falling from his outfit. Horns protruded from his "face" and his claws flexed in front of him. A large top hat was set on top his head and it didn't match with his evil grin. Sakamoto looked up with wide eyes, setting his eyes on the creature behind Akira.

"Wha… What the…?"

The mysterious demon laughed. "I am the pillager of twilight— 'Arsène'!"

Arsène flexed their wings out and hovered over all of them. Sumire could only look at the demon with sparkling eyes.

"I am the rebel's soul that resides within you. If you so desire, I shall consider granting you the power to break through this crisis."

Akira immediately requested his power. He watched as the guards Kamoshida sent after him turned from a suit of armor to a few pumpkins with lanterns in their hand.

What was this? All of a sudden Akira had cosmic power?

He didn't know what he was doing, basing everything off of instinct. He raised a hand to his face and called out a random word that came to mind.

"Eiha!" Akira cried out, trying to make use of his limited space in this cell. Something was boiling underneath one of the creatures before it reached out and engulfed it in a mixture of red and black. It screamed out in agony and was dusted away. The other creature was not happy.

It jumped in close, flashing in front of Akira's eyes. Akira quickly kicked up his left leg and slammed it straight into the wall. A huge cracked dent formed in the place the creature slammed into. It yelped out on impact before slumping and fading away. Akira was breathing heavily. This surge of power felt invigorating and refreshing… He felt like a new person.

Kamoshida disliked this, but Sakamoto took his revenge by butting his shoulder into the man as they made their escape outside of the cell.

"What… What was that?" Sumire asked him when Akira's clothing shifted back to normal, glasses propped up neatly on his face. 

"I have no idea…!"

"You bastards!" Kamoshida boomed. Sakamoto yelped in shock. They immediately started fleeing from the cell in fear of getting caught by more guards. As they started running, Sakamoto questioned him, "No idea about what? Anyways, let's just scram—!"

Akira cleared his throat and began running at a faster pace. He heard a loud plop into the water and it was most likely they were keys that Sakamoto had picked up. He panted and kept up with Akira's pace easily.

"Forget it, you didn’t see any of that," Akira muttered out, his fists clenched as his feet tapped against the damp and wet flooring. Sakamoto followed behind and kept talking to him about it.

"Oh I saw that all right! That was awesome! What in the world was that?!"

Sumire hummed, easily following alongside them as they were met with a dead end. The only way to cross was by jumping over the raging stream of water. "So he saw that— what did he call it? 'Arsène'? So he saw this 'Arsène' thing but not me? This just keeps getting stranger…"

She didn’t have to worry about the jumps across the moat since she could float, but she was a little worried when the boy named Sakamoto almost fell off of a crate one time.

They kept hidden from the hordes of guards looking for them, their breathing stilling behind wooden crates. They peered out and got a look of them.

"There's two of them over there. You need to leave as soon as you can!" Sumire instructed him. Akira nodded and bolted for the stairs next to them with Sakamoto in tow only to realize that this wasn't the exit. But they did find something more amazing than an exit.

"…Hey, you there. Blondie! Frizzy Hair! Look over here!"

They turned their head over to the cell next to them and spotted a… feline? It was bipedal and it had a belt wrapped around its waist. It also had a yellow handkerchief around its neck.

"What is this thing?!" Sakamoto exclaimed. Sumire phased into the cell and peered around the cat creature before heading back to Akira's side.

"I… This is so odd…!" She whispered out. The strange creature whimpered to them, its paws wrapping around the cell bars.

"You're not soldiers of this castle, right?! Get me out of here! Look, they key's right there!" The creature pointed to the left of himself, and the thieves looked to their right to see a rusted key.

"We're trying to get the hell out of here! I mean, you obviously look like an enemy too!"

"I'm locked up here, so how can I be your enemy?! Help me out! If you aren't going to do that, then at least block that torch, Frizzy Hair!" The cat complained to him, rubbing his eyes and turning his face away from the place Sumire was standing. "My eyes hurt…!"

"…There's no torch here…?" Akira was confused. Torch? What torch?

"There isn't a torch? Huh, I guess there isn't… Wait, but then where's the photobleaching coming from?" The cat asked. Sakamoto pursed his lips and looked at him with confusion and alarm.

"Photo whating? Is this a lie so we can get you outta here?!"

"It's called photo bleaching. It’s like a light effect that stays in your eyes for a bit if you stare at something bright," Akira explained to him.

"Well— that makes about as much sense as this cat thing!"

"I am NOT a cat!" The creature hissed through the bars. Sakamoto leaned his face closer down to its level.

"Sure does look like a cat to me…" Sakamoto growled. Sakamoto's anger came to a halt when they heard stomping behind them. He quickly pulled out his phone and started scrolling through his apps to see if any of them worked.

"Shit, there's still no service. Ain't there any way to contact someone outside?!" Akira looked at his own phone, holding the same results as Sakamoto.

"We better hurry, Akira…! I think they're catching up!" Sumire uttered nervously.

"I'm not a cat, my name is Morgana! Look! I know where the exit is! If you let me out, I'll take you there! You don't want to get caught and executed, right?" Morgana tried to persuade them. Akira huffed out and trailed his eye across the key.

"Can you really help us? You better not be lying…"

"I'm not lying. I never go back on my word, just please let me out!" It pleaded with Akira. He heard the footsteps getting closer and Sumire urged him on. "Just get him out!"

Akira groaned and it slowly progressed into a yell as he quickly snatched it into his hands and unlocked the door. Morgana walked out of the caged listlessly and stretched its body parts.

Sakamoto quickly yelled at it to hurry it up or it'd be shoved back in the cage. The creature's fur bristled and he quickly showed them how to put down the drawbridge. Akira put his hand inside the mouth of Kamoshida's statue and pushed it down, and the wooden bridge came toppling down.

"How were we supposed to know to do that?!" Sakamoto complained to the creature. Morgana crossed his arms and quickly jumped onto the bridge.

"Hmph, amateur. Come on, let's keep going!"

"This Morgana is pretty interesting, don't you think?" Sumire questioned. Akira whispered out an answer to her as they crossed, "They're a lot more than interesting at this point…"

They ran to the other side, but Sakamoto tripped on himself and cussed in fear, scooting himself backwards. "AAAH! Shit… Shit, it's them!"

Akira's clothes disappeared in a blue flicker and what reappeared were the clothes that surrounded him from when they escaped Kamoshida.

"Tch… You amateur!"

Morgana jumped off of Sakamoto’s shoulder and stood up to the guard with a slightly annoyed face. "Stay still!" He turned his head to Akira, who had just realized his clothes had turned. "Hey, you! You could fight, right? Let's go!"

Morgana flicked his ears and puffed his chest out as he screamed out.

"Come, Zorro!"

Sakamoto screeched in the background as a buff and tall figure appeared with a sword in its hand. It had a belt wrapped around it's waist with the letter Z on it, a cape flying behind its masculine body. Morgana stamped his feet in the ground and gave a toothy grin when Sakamoto stammered out.

"Y-you got one of those things too?!"

Sumire was confused too. “Then why can’t he see me? This just keeps getting weirder.”

Akira rushed next to Morgana and instinctively put a hand up to his mask. Sumire swallowed her saliva as she watched the guard split into weird mush.

"Hmph, we will promptly shut them up!"

Akira clenched his teeth and threw off his mask and stared at the two demons floating in front of him. It was one of those pumpkin things from earlier and a demon with a concerning form.

"Come, Arsène!"

Sumire frowned when she saw both of them with their magical demons behind them. "So Morgana has one also, but they can't see me? What do those things have that I don't?"  

Akira launches a blast of swirling chaos over to the demon, torching it up in injuries. Morgana smirked at him.

"Hmph, I knew you were an amateur." Morgana smiled, pulling out an obscenely large sword compared to its height. "This is how you fight!"

"Zorro!" Morgana calls out. Zorro(?) appears behind Morgana and zips his sword out, swinging it back and forth to form a Z. Sending a burst of wind flying at the pumpkin creature, knocking it straight onto the ground. It tumbled against the flooring as Morgana smirked.

"Strike an enemy's weakness to knock them down! Use that opening to strike again!" Morgana yelled to Akira. Morgana quickly started running over to his next target with his blade. "That's the basic of basics! Remember it well!"

Morgana sliced straight through the pumpkin and watched as the demon flew straight towards Morgana, its foot extended. They kicked right past Morgana and buried their foot into the concrete next to him, missing their attack. The demon grunted out in surprise and Morgana lifted his eyebrows up, his eyes widening in shock before concentrating again.

"Your turn, Frizzy Hair!" Morgana called out. Akira outstretched his knife and bolted towards the demon. It dodged the first swipe of his knife and retaliated with a swing of his foot, spinning it's entire body around to gain momentum.

"Agh—!" Akira quickly held his hands out, and a knife materialized in his hand, the blade parried the long claws coming straight for his throat. He felt his knees shake from how strong the demon pushed his shoes against the ground; his heels had scraped backwards against the concrete.

”Where did you- how did you- what?!” Sumire stuttered.

He grit his teeth and grunted, tensing his arms to boost the demon away from him. His grip strengthened on the new knife and he was blindingly fast, diving his weapon straight into the Shadow. He breathed heavily when it faded into black dust and floated away into the air.

"Well, I guess that’s one thing. I can't exactly shoot out gusts of wind, summon knives out of nowhere or… whatever Arsène seems to be doing." Sumire hummed. "I don’t understand it…"

"That was weird," Morgana spoke to them, "they're usually a lot more focused when they attack. They were slacking that time. Huh… Anyways, your Persona is pretty powerful."

"Persona? Y'mean that thing that comes outta you guys all dramatic-like?" Sakamoto asked after pulling himself off of the floor.

"Yes. You saw how Frizzy Hair here ripped off his mask when he summoned it, right? Well, everybody wears a mask deep within their heart. By removing that…"

Akira gasped and shuddered at the warm feeling trailing down his back, seeing the flash of blue before it disappeared in the blink of an eye. His school uniform replaced the costume he just had on.

"Huh? He turned back to normal…" Sakamoto uttered.

"Hm, it looks like you don't have full control over your power yet. The transformation shouldn't normally dissolve like that.”

”What do you mean ‘full control’?!”

"Rrgh, that's enough!" Sakamoto scratched the back of his neck with a snarl on his face. "This crap doesn't make any sense!"

"Can't you just sit still and listen for once, Blondie?!" Morgana yelled at him. Sakamoto grit his teeth and spat back at him. Sumire laughed nervously at the interaction in front of her.

"Don't call me Blondie! My name's Ryuji…"

"Actually, there's no time for me to lecture you!" Morgana shook his head and groaned. "You wanna escape this place in one piece, right? Let's go! Oh, but before that— take these. Use them carefully, okay?"

"…Medicine? I guess it'll help you out." Sumire told him.

"Thanks, Morgana…" Akira said, taking the packets and shoving it into his bag. Morgana smirked. "Come on, we should hurry. It's not much farther to the exit."

Akira didn't know much about the castle, but Morhana apparently did. Sumire was glad she didn't get exhausted from walking around, and the sound of rushing water got further and further from them.

"Hold on a sec!" Ryuji called out right before they crossed the bridge. Akira skidded to a stop and turned to look behind him. Ryuji was staring at a cell with a male inside, wearing a white and red shirt with matching pants.

"Huh, what is it?" Akira asked. Ryuji bit his lip and walked closer to the cage. The boy was sprawled out on the floor, completely unconscious. "I feel like I've seen what this dude's wearin' before… Agghhh, dammit! I'm too flustered! I can't remember anything right now!"

"Come on, let's go!" Morgana urged them on. Ryuji turned over to Morgana and yelled at him, "Hold on, dammit!"

"What is it? We need to go, fast!"

"But, egh, who are these guys?"

"Do you really think you have time to worry about other people right now?! Besides, they're—"

"There!" Morgana was interrupted, the bridge in front of them pouring down. A guard hobbled onto it and stood there menacingly.

"You should've listened to me…!" Morgana hissed to Ryuji impatiently.

"Let's hurry up and deal with it." Akira said, his clothes fluttering into his costume again. The feeling of goosebumps trailing up his arms was oddly soothing to him.

"I'm glad you stick to your guns." Morgana smiled at him; they both tensed when the guard split into an enemy. "Looks like it's raring to go too!"

Akira held a hand to his mask and let Arsène fly above him. Akira snapped his fingers and a ball came crashing down at the feet of one of the feminine-looking creatures in front of them. They gasped in surprise, the look of utter fear painting their face before it consumed them, knocking them straight onto the floor. Akira quickly followed it up with another Eiha to the other girl, but she was expecting it.

The girl flew up high to avoid it and Akira grimaced when he missed it. Morgana chuckled at him and summoned his own Persona, his sword flying behind him. Show off… "Hahh! Amateur!"

Morgana let out a burst of wind at his feet, propelling him closer to the girl that avoided Akira's attack. She was about to scream, but Morgana cut it off quickly, summoning another gust of wind to do his bidding. It shot the girl straight down to the ground, breaking the floor underneath. Morgana quickly took the upper hand and stabbed it straight through the girl, their form disappearing in the blink of an eye.

"Go on, Frizzy Hair!"

"Give her a sucker punch! A left hook!" Sumire cheered him on. Akira whisper-yelled to her with gritted teeth, "Sumire…!"

Akira was already charging in and slammed the last creature with his foot straight into the floor. It turned into dust and was washed away by the wind.

"What, you don’t like the moral support?" Sumire asked him. Akira turned his head away from Sumire's direction and she gasped in fake offense. "Rude! I'm the best cheerleader!"

Akira snorted as his outfit turned back to normal as soon as the fight was over. He was thankful nobody noticed it. "All right! Let's get away before more show up!" Morgana told the two of them.

"Go, go, go! I hear more coming through!" Sumire yelled at Akira.

"Hold on, we can't just leave these guys here!" Ryuji fought back, still set on saving the people trapped in cages. Morgana shook his head, "You really don't get it, do you? Hrrughh… There's no time to explain. Look, I'm going. If you don't want to follow, be my guest!"

Ryuji followed reluctantly.

They arrived at the main area with checkered flooring. It looked to be the same place that they had originally entered in from before guards

"We're here!" Morgana told them. Ryuji panted and brushed away his sweat with his hand. "Finally! we're saved!"

Ryuji tried opening one of the doors, but it didn't budge. Ryuji’s eyes widened and he tried again, twisting the doorknob and pushing his shoulder against it.

"…It's not openin'! D'you trick us, you jerk?!"

"Don't jump to conclusions! Over here!" Morgana jumped and waved his arms. He ran through a door and Ryuji stuttered.

"H-hey, wait up!"

Sumire breathed out and went through the wall, following the three inside of the room. "We're really close to the outside. There's this vent here!"

"Where are we supposed to get out from here?! There aren't even any windows!"

"Ugh, amateur…" Morgana rolled his eyes. "This is the most basic of basics."

"A ventilation shaft, I'm assuming?" Akira pointed over to the ventilation, reiterating the same information that Sumire had given him.

"That's right! As I thought, you're a natural at this. It leads all the way outside." Morgana praised him. Akira laughed nervously and Sumire puffed her cheeks in envy from taking his credit.

"Haha… yeah…" Akira coughed, looking away from Sumire's prying gaze.

Ryuji rolled his arm back, stretching the muscle out. "I see… Then we just gotta get that metallic mesh off!"

Ryuji backed to the edge of the door and started running. "And a one, and a—"

He jumped up, his finger latching onto the frame. He felt it pull down, but he yelped and fell down. "Whoa—!"

"Owww…. Aw crap! The enemy didn't hear us, did they?" Ryuji groaned out while pushing himself off of the ground and rubbing his lower back. Sumire quickly phased through the wall and came back in with a thumbs up. "Seriously, we're finally gettin' outta here!"

"You should wait on celebrating until you actually get out. Now get going!" Morgana told them.

"But… what about you?"

"There's something that I still have to do," Morgana explained to Ryuji. "We're going our separate ways."

"Don't get caught again." Akira chided to Morgana. Morgana hissed at him.

"I'm not an amateur, unlike you guys. Be careful on your way out."

Akira smiled and watched as Ryuji made the first leap. Akira used the shelves like steps and crawled into the vent. Sumire was thankful that she didn’t have to go through the vent because it looked extremely uncomfortable.

Sumire stayed behind to make sure Morgana went along okay, but she overheard Morgana's words. A grin was on his face as the two of them were climbing through.

"Those two seem useful… Especially the frizzy-haired one, if my judgment's right…"

Sumire frowned and thought to herself. "What are you thinking, kitty?" Before going through the wall to meet with Akira and Ryuji.

"Hhaah… Hahhh… Did we make it?" Ryuji grunted. Akira looked around him and wiped the sweat off of his brow. It seemed… normal. It was sunny, with people walking along the stone brick flooring. They were the only odd ones out right now.

They looked up to the sky and sighed, a human-like yet mechanical voice ringing in their ears.

"You have returned to the real world. Welcome back."

Chapter Text

"It… It seems like we're back, according to the voice," Sumire told Akira as he pulled out his phone. Ryuji's eyebrows rose and he stared at the black-haired fellow.

"Huh? Returned? Does that mean we got away?"

"I assume so… I mean, look around us." Akira pointed, shoving his phone back into his pocket. "We also have reception again."

"Oh shit… You're right. Huh I… I guess we really did escape." Ryuji scratched behind his ear when he pulled out his phone. "What was that anyways? That castle, and Kamoshida, and that weird cat! The hell's goin' on?!"

Two police officers hobbled their way. One of them spoke with an aggressive tone, "What's with the yelling? Are you students of Shujin? Cutting classes, are we?"

"Uh oh…" Sumire trailed off to Akira. His hands were clammy when two officers approached him. How was he going to explain they were stuck in a castle for who knows how long? "Good luck here…"

"Huh? No! We were tryin' to get to school, and we ended up at this weird castle!"

"Nobody is going to believe that, Ryuji…!" Sumire screamed in her head.

"…What?" The officer responded. Sumire sighed and put a hand over her face in embarrassment. "I knew it…"

"Hand over your bag. You better not be doing any drugs."

"Kugh—! Ugh— Why would you think that?!"

Akira was staying dead silent up until that point where the more timid and kinder officer holding a bicycle spoke to him, "Are you his friend?"

"Uh… something like that," Akira responded plainly. The officer quipped. "Then you should go to school. Take him with you."

"B-be polite! Don't act suspicious!" Sumire ranted. Akira cleared his throat and straightened his posture. Sumire kept ragging on him. "Straighten up more!"

"Like I'm tryin' to say… I don't know what's goin' on—!"

"Yes, of course sir." Akira cut Ryuji off. Ryuji gaped at him when the boy gave him a strained smile. Ryuji grumbled and shut his trap.

"We passed by Shujin on our way here. There was nothing out of the ordinary about it." The aggressive officer crossed his arms and eyed Ryuji. Ryuji seethed in his hatred and anger, his lips in a pout with his eyebrows scrunched. "If you spout anymore nonsense, I'll contact your school. Is that what you want?"

"C'mon, say something…!" Ryuji begged him. Akira gave Ryuji a sideways glance and turned his back to the officers.

"Let's get going. I don't want to be late."

"That's not what I meant…"

Ryuji sputtered out in dismay when he realized he actually wasn't turning back to the officers. "W-wait a sec! Is that guy for real?! …Fine, I'm goin'!"

When they stepped outside of the gates, the sign was there sitting proudly with "Shujin Academy" written on it. It was normal. It wasn’t some castle like before; even Sumire was baffled.

"Is this for real…? I'm sure we came the same way… What's goin' on here…?"

"That's exactly what I wanted to ask you."

The school's counselor walked out to the both of them. Sumire flinched again. Yeah, they were in trouble. She looked over to Akira worriedly, but he had a relaxed and tame expression.

"How are you always so calm?" Sumire thought to herself.

"We received a call from the police."

"That damn cop snitched on us after all!" Ryuji fumed.

"It's rare not to see you alone." The counselor commented. "Where were you roaming around until this time?"

Ryuji replied stupidly, "Uhhh… a ca— a castle?"

"So you have no intention of giving an honest answer?" The counselor crossed his arms and looked at them with disdain.

"What's this about a 'castle'?"

Out walked a large man with a whistle wrapped around his neck. Kamoshida… It was Kamoshida.

"You seem so carefree, Sakamoto. Quite a difference from when you did morning practice for the track team."

"Shuddup! It's your fault that—"

"How dare you speak that way to Kamoshida-sensei!" The counselor screamed at Ryuji. Akira could see the hot steam leaving Ryuji from fow fed up he was. The counselor continued, "Hah… There's not much leeway left for you, you know?"

"He's the one that provoked me!"

"Do you really want to be expelled?! In any case, you'll have to explain yourself! Follow me!"

"What?! This is bullshit!" Ryuji complained. Kamoshida smiled at him from the stairs and looked over to the counselor next to him.

"Come now. I should have been more considerate, too. Let's just say that we were both to blame."

"Well, if you say so…" The counselor shrugged before looking back down the stairs to see a completely blank-faced student and another one with a snarl. "Still, you're coming with me. It's undeniable that you're extremely late."

"Fine…" Ryuji mumbled.

"By the way… you're that new transfer student, correct? Kurusu Akira?"

"Yeah, that's me." He responded while Ryuji walked up the stairs, throwing Kamoshida a mean glare before continuing up.

"…Have we met somewhere?" Kamoshida asked him. Sumire cringed. "Hey, Akira, I don’t really have a good feeling about this…"

"Well, he's a teacher, what else am I supposed to answer?" Akira whispered out to her before responding to Kamoshida's question. "I saw you earlier this morning with the girl in your car."

"That's right… I remember now," Kamoshida said. "...Well, I'll overlook this just for today. I'm sure you've heard from the principal, but cause any trouble and you'll be expelled. Understand?"

"…I understand."

"At any rate, hurry up and go to the faculty office. I'm sure Kawakami-sensei's tired of waiting." Kamoshida, turning to go inside of the building. He suddenly stopped and turned his head with a smile. "Good luck trying to enjoy your new school life."

"…Oh, yeah. Thanks." Akira said. Sumire shuddered and frowned at Akira as he stepped up the entrance way.

"I already don't like that man…"

"It isn't just you, Sumire." Akira said when he walked in. It was like any other school. People inside of it, lockers, rooms with sliding doors… It didn't have old decrepit cells, chandeliers, and a tyrant king.

Sumire moved a strand of her hair out of her face. "Well, this is it. For real this time… I hope."

When Akira tried to find the faculty office, numerous rumors floated around the school building.

"I heard he's an alcoholic! An underage drinker! He has a criminal record, so it isn't that far off."

"I heard that if you look at him wrong, he'll attack you with a knife…!"

"Yeah! He stabs you with one if you get too close to him."

"Huh? Wait, how? How did your record get leaked so fast? I thought it was school policy that they wouldn't leak it, they even said it during orientation…" Sumire pouted. "I can't believe they're making rumors when they don't even know you yet!"

"People love their gossip," he said, "my hometown had a huge case surrounding a bunch of rumors. It happened while I was little, so I don't remember the specifics of it."

"I heard he drives without a license!"

"These are… These rumors are insane!" Sumire thought to herself. They didn't even know Akira yet they were already slapping things onto him that weren't even true! "Who could've leaked his record?"

"I bet he does drugs. The hard stuff too."

"I heard from the grapevine that they dabbled in elephant tusk trafficking…"

"Okay, that one is the weirdest one I've heard so far…" She thought as Akira slid open the door to the faculty office and stepped inside. He walked in front of a woman in a yellow-striped shirt with a long denim skirt. She swiveled to meet him in the eyes.

Kawakami scolded him for being late and Akira said that he got lost. Well, it wasn't a lie. It's just that he got lost in a castle.

Kawakami introduced him to the class that kept spouting out the same rumors. Akira was slightly annoyed by them but he was mostly wondering how they spread so fast; especially his criminal record.

"Your seat will be… Hmm… Over there. The one that's open. Sorry, but can the people nearby please share your textbooks with him for today?"

"Ugh, this sucks…" Akira heard a student as he walked to his seat. While he walked there, he saw a familiar looking girl.

"…Lies." She whispered to him. Akira's eyes widened. It was the foreigner…

"Isn't that the girl from this morning?" Sumire questioned. Akira gave a slight nod and answered the flashy girl.

"…Nice to see you again."

He sat back at his seat and the class erupted with gossip again.

Conveniently, Kawakami placed Akira at a desk where another empty desk sat two spots behind the one Akira was going to be at. Being next to a metal cupboard and a little uneven compared to the other desks, it looked like it hadn’t even been used the year before. Akira did find it a little funny how there would be a ghost in his classroom for who knows how long and only he would know, but he could tell that Sumire was just happy to be included in some way.

"…Did you catch that? Do those two know each other? Eww… Does that mean he hit on her before transferring here?"

"That means she's cheating on him with Kamoshida-sensei. Then again, this is Takamaki-san we're talking about…"

"For real. That side of the room is totally awful."

Sumire sighed and spoke to Akira. "It seems there are a lot of rumors here, excluding you. Also, to say this side of the room is awful…"

Akira silently chuckled to himself and played with the strap of his bag. He looked back to Sumire for a second and listened to another student, telling them to rise.

"They don’t even know…"

Akira could've sworn that the hallway he had walked into from class distorted into a fancy castle corridor, but the mirage slowly shifted away. Sumire also saw it and patted herself on the cheeks.

"Hm? What's wrong?" Kawakami asked him.

"Is this a school?"

"Hahh, are you sure you're okay?" Kawakami sighed to him. "No" is what Akira wanted to say because he swore he just experienced a castle, but he wouldn't say that to his teacher. He was skating on thin ice as it was with the ghost girl next to him and everyone thinking he was just as much of a maniac as Ryuji.

"Also… It seems like people are already talking about you," it was like she had read his mind, "but I'm not the one who told them." And she knew that.

"I can’t even catch a break… Why do I have to deal with this?" The yellow-striped shirt teacher sighed. "You should head straight head home without stopping by anywhere. Sakura-san sounded pretty angry."

"Oh, and about Sakamoto-kun. Don't get involved—"

As soon as she said that, loud footsteps sprawled toward the two of them. The stance he walked with and his brightly colored hair were dead giveaways.

"Speak of the devil… What do you want? I heard the police caught you cutting classes today."

"Ugh… It was nothin'."

"And you haven't dyed your hair back to black either…"

"Sorry 'bout that."

Sumire snorted. He was not sorry.

"...I'll be waitin' on the rooftop." Ryuji muttered to him. Akira nodded and watched as Ryuji went up the stairs.

"See? That's why I don't want you getting involved. Understood?"

"Yeah." Akira told her, clearly not paying attention to what she was saying. Akira walked up the stairs after eavesdropping on Kamoshida and the principal's conversation. The principal was buttering the teacher up magnificently.

"Let's go and meet with Ryuji. Isn't the rooftop usually closed off?"

"Sumire, we're both categorized as delinquents. I doubt both of us really care anymore."

"I know, but still…"

When they got onto the rooftop, they all convinced themselves that what happened was a dream. It must've been one, right? A school turning into a castle, a teacher turning into a tyrant… It was just a fever dream. But it was even harder to believe that it was when Sumire saw it. It reminded him of how he felt when he met Sumire.

Akira laid in his bed that night and spoke with Sumire.

"Hey, Sumire…"

"Yeah?" She replied from the couch.

"Was that castle we wandered into this morning just a dream?"

Sumire stayed silent for a little. The coolness of April air inside of the basement made it freezing cold. Before she responded, Sumire sat up a little. "You thought I was a dream at first, but you still see me, right?"

"You're right. This app…" Akira muttered, staring at his phone. This malicious app that kept downloading onto his phone without any signs of stopping. "It looks like there's more to this than we thought."

"But that Ryuji kid saw the castle but he didn't see me. And there's that weird cat creature we saw, but he didn't see me either, even if they had those 'Persona' things… Are we missing something? Do you remember anything?"

Akira slumped his arm down and closed his eyes, humming out in thought. He tried to remember, it was right on the tip of his tongue…

Time seemed to stop when he remembered what Morgana had said.

"…If you aren't going to do that, then at least block that torch, Frizzy Hair!" The cat complained to him, rubbing his eyes and turning his face away from the place Sumire was standing. "My eyes hurt…!"

"…He was looking directly at you when he said that. Maybe he can see you? But not in the way I can." Akira noted.

Sumire smiled at the thought of being seen, even if it wasn't in the usual sense.

"Thank you, Akira. For giving me a bit of hope."

They slept that night, exhausted yet slightly ecstatic. Sumire had hope that maybe, just maybe, they had reached the tip of the iceberg with that strange app.

Chapter Text

Akira had another dream about that eerie, long-nosed man and the twin wardens. How strange, things were really getting weird and he didn’t like it. Regardless, he tried to think nothing of it and went to school, hoping to avoid any detours.

Like yesterday, Sumire followed him, staying close to his side despite the fact she could just float over the crowd. A few people had actually walked through her. She still couldn’t get used to the feeling. It was like being submerged in extremely cold water. When they got off the first train to change lines for Aoyama-Itchome, Sumire spied a redheaded girl who had a ponytail with a red ribbon. She called Akira’s name to catch his attention and pointed at her.

"She looks a lot like me…"

Akira scrutinized the girl from where they stood and was somewhat able to see the resemblance. They both realized she wore a Shujin uniform.

"Please, take my seat. My station's coming up," the girl offered to an elderly woman and stood up. The woman smiled and looked at her with kind eyes.

"Are ya sure? Then…"

Just as soon as she got up, a man moved into the seat, nearly pushing her to the side. Akira raised a brow at this while Sumire sputtered indignance. The girl looked back with wide eyes.

"Oh wow, what speed! I mean— Excuse me, that seat was for this lady…"

The man simply ignored her and dozed off much to everyone’s bewilderment. Sumire herself felt even more so offended by this rude act. She called out to Akira.

"That's so rude! Akira, you should say something!" she commanded.

Akira cleared his throat, making his presence known. "Want me to 'wake him up'?"

"Wh-Why did you go for that?!" Sumire argued with him.

The girl shook her head and smiled at him. "It's all right. I can understand his position as well," she explained and stared over at the man before shifting her head to the old lady. "I'm sorry I couldn't be of any help."

"It's all right, dearie. Don't you worry," the woman gave her a sweet smile. The girl shook her head and held out her hands.

"Please allow me to carry your luggage, at least."

"Thank you!" The lady said and eagerly passed over her bags into the girl's hands. "Ain't it heavy, though?"

"Not at all! I train plenty," she smiled and adjusted the weight in her hand. She carried it with ease and poise. Sumire couldn’t take her eyes off the girl. The way she stood and even the way she spoke so confidently… What was this feeling…?

They exited the train and Sumire trailed behind Akira when she suddenly felt the girl phase through her body. The feeling from earlier intensified and hurt even more.

Her head ached.

It was like when they met Yoshizawa-san the other day. She raised her hands to her temples and grimaced. Akira noticed her discomfort and looked at her with concern. However, he had to force a neutral expression when the girl from earlier walked up to him and bowed down respectfully.

“Thank you so much for earlier.”

Akira rubbed his nape, feigning ignorance. "With what?"

"For speaking up when I offered my seat on the train," she explained. "You're a second-year at Shujin Academy, correct? I'm a first-year there myself. Thanking you totally slipped my mind back on the train, and I didn't want to be rude to my senpai."

Akira flashed a gentle smile as he replied. “No worries.”

"Please, excuse me!"

She bowed again and ran off. Akira’s smile faded as he turned to address another problem. He quickly made his way over to Sumire and comforted her.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, yeah… I'm okay, Akira. But that girl… I think...!" She groaned and her balance wobbled. Akira tried to hold her up even though his hands went through her arms. “I… I remembered something…”

"Do you still have it?" Akira asked. Sumire tentatively nodded her head and responded, "Sort of, it's just a blurry image now. It's way too fuzzy to make anything out of…"

"Well, at least that’s some progress, right?" Akira smiled and attempted to pat her head. Even though he failed, Sumire smiled. They were getting closer, but it was also still too far. "Come on, we should head out. We’re gonna be late!"

They arrived at school. Sumire seemed excited for the new day, unlike Akira. She didn't remember the last time she had been to an actual class, if she did for that matter, but found it intriguing and listened attentively. Akira was slumped in his chair at the desk in front of her, barely processing the information as the teacher spoke.

"I'm the social studies teacher, Ushimaru-sensei. I'll be teaching you the rules of society this year.” He huffed haughtily and scrutinized the room. “Hmph… You all look like you've been spoiled growing up. Can't wait to see who disappoints me the most this year."

"He sure has some bold words," Sumire told Akira. Akira nodded and rolled his eraser around on the table, not paying attention to most of the material until his name was suddenly called.

"Hey, new kid! Tell me what the Devil's Dictionary defined the chief factor in the progress of the human race," Ushimaru-sensei demanded. Akira desperately side-eyed Sumire. She groaned and begrudgingly left her seat. She walked behind the teacher's desk to see an open textbook. She quickly scanned the pages that Ushimaru-sensei had out and went back to Akira.

"It's malefactors… You dumb cheat,” she scolded him as she plopped into her seat.

Akira rolled his eyes. "Sumire, I didn't even ask for your help…” He cleared his throat. “ Ahem, it's malefactors."

Ushimaru-sensei nodded. “Yes, that’s correct! Now then…” He continued on, but it became nothing more than murmuring to Akira again.

Sumire sputtered indignantly and hissed into his left ear, trying to get a reaction out of him and ruin his straight face. "Yes. You. Did."

Akira grumbled and kicked his foot out at Sumire. She yelped at the unpleasant feeling of something phasing through her body. Akira contained a snort, struggling to keep his attention on the teacher with a straight face.

Sumire crossed her arms and pouted. "Rude!"

"Thanks, Sumire," Akira whispered. Her sour expression went soft and she sighed, sitting back down in her seat and put an arm on the desk to support her head.

"I can't be mad at you…"

The bell rang, indicating the end of classes, so Akira and Sumire got up to leave. Akira stretched his arms out and yawned, but Sumire looked more alive than ever (funnily enough) . Akira didn't know if it was because she was always a cheery person or if she really enjoyed school, both of which he didn't understand.

Akira walked out the classroom with Sumire. She went on about the things she found interesting while Akira simply ignored her. As soon as they turned to go downstairs, they saw Kamoshida striding toward a particular blonde-haired girl.

"Hey there, Takamaki. Things have been pretty dangerous lately with all those accidents," Kamoshida said. Sumire's satisfied smile immediately disappeared when they saw the man approach Ann. Akira backed up a few steps and listened to the two of them interact, eavesdropping a distance away to avoid immediate detection.

"Sorry, I have a photoshoot today. It's for the special summer issue, so I can't afford to miss it," she said. She sounded on edge. Both Akira and Sumire could tell that was a horrible lie, but they knew why. Akira’s skin crawled at the tone Kamoshida used and Sumire was seething at his very presence alone. Dead or alive, she wanted to be nowhere near him.

“That’s a horrible lie,” Akira muttered and Sumire scolded him for it. “What? Sorry, but at least he can’t really do anything out here. Hopefully.”

She took some solace at his words. Still, she felt jumpy. They turned their attention back to them.

Kamoshida put a hand on Takamaki’s shoulder and she flinched. He looked at her with a plastered smile. "Hey, now… Being a model's fine and dandy, but don't work your pretty little self to the bone. You mentioned you weren't feeling well, right? Something about appendicitis?"

Both Akira and Sumire raised their brows at this.

Takamaki nodded and tightly clutched onto the strap of her bag. Anyone could tell how blatant those lies were. How long was this going on for? "Yes, I keep planning to go to the hospital, but I've been too busy… Sorry to worry you."

"You must be so lonely too. I feel bad for keeping your best friend at practice so often. Oh, and… be careful around that transfer student. He's got a criminal record, after all. If something were to happen to you…"

Both of them stiffened up at the mention of Akira’s record and the way he emphasized “so lonely.” Chills went up Akira's spine and Sumire felt cold. Takamaki was extremely tense, occasionally glancing away from Kamoshida as if she wanted to escape. "…Thank you. Please excuse me."

Kamoshida smiled and waved her off until she was out of sight. Behind her back, he frustratedly clenched his hand and walked off. "Tch…"

Sumire whispered to Akira, "We definitely need to be wary of him…"

"I think we need to be more than wary…"

They both walked out of the school and as soon as they came down the stairs, they heard a few footsteps and a nonchalant voice call out to them, or well, Akira in particular. "Yo."

They both turned around and saw Ryuji. Akira greeted him. "What's up?'

"I wanna talk about that castle from yesterday," Ryuji told him. "I tried tellin' myself it was all just a dream… but I couldn't do it. I can't act like nothing happened. It's all connected to that bastard Kamoshida, after all."

"Yeah, we actually ran into him earlier," Akira said absentmindedly. Sumire was about to scold him for it until Ryuji brought up the slip of the tongue.

"We?"

“Shit,” Akira internally chided himself. "I meant I. Sorry, slip of the tongue. He was being really creepy."

Ryuji seemed to buy that and nodded. "Typical of that damn teacher… Hell, he ain't even a teacher, he's a demon. That's why I wanna find out what's up with that place, no matter what. You even saw what that asshole was like, aren't you curious? I mean— you're the only one I can rely on for this stuff so… you in?" He looked into Akira with a stern, focused expression, but the look in his eyes betrayed a sort of desperation.

Sumire didn’t like the idea and pleaded. " Akira, we don't have to go back there, right? I mean— that was probably just a dream anyways! Yeah! A dream! That’s it! Absolutely none of that happened and we should most definitely be getting home now! Don’t want to upset Sakura-san again, right?"

"Sure. What's next? I guess I can't really sleep easy knowing a place like that exists…"

"Akira!" Sumire yelled at him, attempting to pound her fists against his back and kept spouting out how this wasn't a good idea. "Look, I know you're a helpless adrenaline junkie and you try to hold it back but come on! You could die in there!"

Akira ignored her nagging and constant pleas to keep him safe. He instead listened to Ryuji who was now grinning from ear to ear. "Nice! Okay, glad we're in this together. I think we should just try and retrace our steps from yesterday."

"Sounds good to me," Akira told him. Sumire swooped herself in front of him and pleaded one more time.

"Akira, please rethink this decision! I’ve already died, but you still can! You might get hurt in there!"

Akira looked at Sumire and sighed before looking back at Ryuji. Sumire had a hopeful smile on her face that he would change his mind, but he said the exact opposite.

"I’m really sorry, but I want to go back there no matter what, too. I can't rest easy knowing that somebody like that is in our school. It's not safe for any of us… I want to uncover the things he's done," Akira said. Sumire crossed her arms and disapproved of his decision, whereas Ryuji could barely contain his excitement through his grin.

"From that answer, I'd say you're even more pumped up than me! C'mon, you're walkin' to the station, right? Let's go together. Lemme know if you see any weird buildings along the way."

"Roger that, Ryuji."

They walked around the area multiple times, trying to figure out what they were doing wrong. They were going along the same path, but it was the same every single time. They'd always end up at the school gates instead of a castle.

"Huh? We're at school… There wasn't anything out of place along the way, right? I didn't see no castle either…" Ryuji looked at the school building with slumped shoulders. He grit his teeth. "…We must've made a wrong turn somewhere. Let's try again."

They tried another time. And then another. Then another and another and another and another… The school was empty. Nobody was coming in. Nobody was coming out. Just two delinquents and a ghost loitering outside. Ryuji leaned against the wall by the gates and sighed. "Is it smaller than we think it is? What do you think?"

"I mean, it's probably moved. It's magic, so that must've been it!" Sumire told Akira, hopeful they would give up.

"Have you checked your phone yet?" Akira asked Ryuji. The blond gave a questioning look, but complied anyway.

"Nope, nothin' there. Why am I checkin' again…? I already did it last time, but I didn't see anything like it around here…"

"Yes…!" Sumire pumped her fist triumphantly. "Great, search over! Now we can go back to Leblanc and—"

"Huh? Phone… Hey, that reminds me— didn't you have a navigation app thingy on back then?" Ryuji asked.

Sumire's expression crumbled and she groaned. "Dang it!"

Akira smiled and cocked his head to the side innocently. "Navigation app? Well, now that you say that… There's this red-eye thing. It's been here since I've come here."

"Are you for real?! C'mon dude, lemme see it!"

Akira passed the phone over to Ryuji's rough hands cautiously and he tapped on the app. He cheered out in success. "It is a navigation app! Aw man, I'm such a genius! I knew 'cause it said 'returned to the real world' and shit like that when we came outta that freaky castle. Let's try usin' it! There's even your search history!"

"Please, don't do it…" Sumire whined.

"Please, go ahead.” Akira smiled. Sumire turned to Akira and continued to whine, but Akira didn't spare her a glance. He just smiled without a care in the world.

Kamoshida… Shujin Academy… Pervert… Castle…

Beginning navigation.

"There we go!" Ryuji smiled. "…Then, we went in a certain direction and—"

Sumire gasps at the sudden change of temperature. What was going on? Why did it get so much colder suddenly? Akira also felt the atmosphere shift and frantically looked around. It threw him off guard. Ryuji crooked up his eyebrows and adjusted his grip on Akira's phone.

"Hey, what're you— Huh? What the hell?!"

The phone in Ryuji's hand flickered black and red. There was a large, foreboding eye in the center of it.

Their vision went wavy as a sudden headache struck all of them. Dark waves of red and black came from the phone, consuming their vision until it went dark. They heard this weird, distorted sound ring around them. When they could see again, they saw that the all too familiar castle replaced Shujin Academy.

"Look! It's the castle from yesterday!" Ryuji ran up to the main door and laughed triumphantly. "We made it back… That means what happened yesterday was for real too…” He suddenly frowned and looked over at his companion only to be surprised. “Yeargh! Wait, those clothes!"

"He just noticed…?" Sumire sighed. Akira raised a brow and looked down at himself. He inspected his new attire with wide eyes. Sumire looked at him with disbelief. "Wait, you didn't realize either?!"

"That happened last time too, huh?! What's with that outfit?!" Ryuji pointed at him.

The clothes didn’t feel bad. In fact, it was extremely comfortable. It felt nice, breathable, and he was able to move around easily. That and it looked good, at least, that’s what he thought.

He gave Ryuji a devious smirk and adjusted one of his gloves. "Not bad, huh? You jelly?"

"I-I ain’t jealous!" Ryuji stuttered back. Sumire snorted and walked around Akira, inspecting his clothes. "Huh! It doesn't look that bad after all! It suits you!"

"What's goin' on here?! This makes no 'effin sense at all…!" Ryuji shouted. A familiar, high-pitched voice called out to them. They snapped their heads towards the source and there it was, the monster cat.

"Hey! Stop making a commotion, you'll put the Shadows on guard," Morgana warned them.

Ryuji's eyes widened and he gasped out quietly. "Ah… You?!"

"The Shadows started acting up, so I came here wondering what it could be… To think you two would come back to the entrance when you barely managed to escape." Morgana huffed. "You two are idiots…"

"It's us three! And no, we aren't idiots!" Sumire said before cautiously looking back at Akira and cleared her throat. "Okay, at least I'm not an idiot!"

"You're on the same level as us…" Akira whispered to Sumire, but Morgana picked it up and misinterpreted the message.

"Shut up! I am not on the same levels as you morons! I had a reason, Frizzy Hair!" Morgana hissed. Ryuji shook his head and cut through their conversation.

"Anyway, what is this place? …Is it the school?" Ryuji asked Morgana. Morgana nodded and his tail followed his movements. "That's right."

"But it's a castle!" Ryuji argued.

"This castle IS the school... But only to this castle's ruler."

"The castle's ruler?" Ryuji scratched the back of his head. Akira turned his head over to the school-castle and stared at the brick walls. Only to this castle's ruler…?

"I think you called him Kamoshida? It's how his distorted heart views the school."

"Kamoshida… Distorted…?" Ryuji echoed. Akira could see the information being processed in his head like calculus. He continued to think and think, but he ultimately came up with nothing . "Explain it in a way that makes sense!"

Morgana let out a long, annoyed groan. "Ugghhh, I shouldn't have expected a moron like you to get it easily…"

"What did you say?!"

"Are they just doomed to fight forever…?" Sumire thought as she watched the kitty and the blond ape bark at each other. "I don't get it either—"

A shrill scream that just about shook the castle boomed from its dark and gloomy bowels. The sky seemed to grow redder with that scream. It wasn’t the first time it happened either. Akira tensed up as he felt a chill like electricity go up his spine. Sumire suddenly felt chilly and wrapped her arms around her body. "E-eep—!"

"Wh-What was that?!" Ryuji cried out. Morgana was unfazed by the scream as if it were a daily occurrence.

"It must be the slaves captive here."

Ryuji looked down on him with wide eyes. "For real?!"

Another scream bellowed. Akira grimaced while Ryuji was freaking out, gripping his hair and frantically pacing around nervously. "Oh, shit… It's for real! Wait, we saw other guys held captive here yesterday, I'm pretty sure they're from our school!"

"Most likely on Kamoshida's orders," Morgana said. "It's nothing out of the ordinary; it's like that every day here. What's more, you two escaped yesterday. He must've lost his temper quite a bit."

Ryuji stomped his foot into the ground and grit his teeth, his fists beginning to go red. "That son of a bitch!"

"Ryuji?"

"This is bullshit!" He charged straight for the door and slammed his body against it in a fit of rage. Sumire yelped in surprise at Ryuji’s abrasiveness. He yelled with all his might. "You hear me, Kamoshida?!"

"Doing that isn't going to open it, you know…" Morgana's words fell on deaf ears. "Still, it seems you have your reasons."

The pissed Ryuji whipped around and walked back over to Morgana. "Hey, Monamona!"

Morgana scowled. "It's Morgana!"

"Do you know where those voices are comin' from?" Ryuji asked. Morgana sighed defeatedly.

"You want me to take you to them?" Morgana looked over at Akira. "…Well, I guess I could guide you there. But only if he comes with us."

"Umm…" Sumire eyed Akira and they shared a look. "As much as I think we shouldn't… we have to, don't we?"

Akira was indifferent to Sumire’s hesitance. "I don't really have any other options, but I wouldn't have said no either way. I'll go."

"It's settled then! I also get to have a look at your powers!" Morgana cackled.

Ryuji walked up to Akira and slung his arm over his shoulder. "For real?! Thanks, man. You don't know how much this means to me…"

Akira grinned and pushed his arm off. "Don't thank me. I can't handle people like Kamoshida either… I don’t like him at all."

"We really do get along well, eh?" Ryuji smiled. Sumire giggled and followed Morgana as he called to the two boys.

"All right, let's do this. Follow me— Wait a second…" Morgana stopped himself and looked straight at Sumire. She froze and waved her hands with a hopeful smile, wondering if Morgana could finally see her. "You still have that weird light around you?" Sumire immediately deflated.

"So I'm still just a light…" she sighed dejectedly.

"Weird light? What're you talkin' about? I don't see any light… Are you sure we can trust you? You might be a little…" Ryuji raised a finger to his head and twirled it around.

"I'm not crazy! That light was there last time, too! I've seen the Shadows look away from or at it, so it has to mean that they see it. We can use it as an excellent battle tactic to distract them!"

"M'kay, I meant the crazy thing as a joke at first but seriously, what the hell are you talkin' about…?"

"Like most things in this world, it's probably too complicated for you to understand."

"Why you damn—!"

"Let's just get to business," Akira said as he slapped a gloved hand over Ryuji's mouth. "I assume we have a lot to learn?"

"Plenty to learn. Almost too much since you're an amateur," Morgana quipped, "but you'll be a pro by the time I teach you everything."

"Isn't that always the goal for everything when you're teaching something?" Sumire muttered to Akira.

"I'd assume so." Akira answered and Sumire was confused by who it was directed to.

Morgana pointed to the area they escaped from last time. A wide vent that led from the inside to the outside. Morgana smirked. "Not barging in through the entrance is one of the basics of phantom thievery."

"How're we supposed to know about that stuff…?"

Sumire shook her head. “That’s honestly a no-brainer.”

"I'll make sure to teach you as we go. Come on, follow me!" Morgana disappeared into the shaft and Ryuji awkwardly muttered to him.

"So, uh… sorry for draggin' you into all of this… But I just can't forgive that bastard Kamoshida doin' whatever the hell he wants!"

Akira gave him a reassuring nod. “Don’t worry about it, I feel the same.”

Akira jumped up and latched onto the edge of the vent. Sumire phased through the wall and made it onto the other side with ease. Ryuji came out of the hole a few seconds later with dust covering his uniform and caking his hair.

“That was easier than I thought.” Sumire said as Akira rolled his eyes.

“Easy for you to say.”

Akira, Sumire, and Ryuji then followed Morgana out of the room into the main halls. The scenery was as gaudy and vulgar as ever. A huge portrait of Kamoshida in all his glory was hung up on a wall. Sumire’s attention was drawn to it and as she got close she could feel a cold draft coming from it.

“Damn, what is this place?” Ryuji asked as he and everyone else saw an image of the school flash for just a moment. “The eff?”

“Seems to be the main lobby. Would make sense since the door is literally there,” Akira surmised, looking back at the main doors.

“There’s something strange about that painting…” Sumire commented.

“We’ll find out after we investigate,” Akira whispered to her as they then continued down to the dungeons.

“Come on, this way!” Morgana said as he led the ragtag team further down.

The four made their way downstairs to reach the dungeon area they last escaped from, only to find themselves blocked by a patrolling shadow, blocking their path. To avoid being detected, they hid behind the barred door, outside of its line of sight.

Morgana scowled. “Shoot… I had a feeling there would be guards here. It looks like we’re gonna have to start fighting our way forward.”

“F-For Real…?” Ryuji muttered through a worried expression.

Morgana seemed to roll his eyes pointedly. “Oh boy. I’ll just have to teach the basics of battle now for now. You’d better not forget all of this.” He then looked up to Akira, garnering his attention. “It’s better to ambush enemies instead of rushing in headlong. Attack from behind whenever you can and rip their masks off to momentarily break the control the Palace Ruler has over them. If you succeed, your opponent will be caught off guard, allowing us to jump in for a preemptive attack.” He looked at Akira as if he expected him to try it. He was a bit reserved about it, but at the same time it was kind of exciting.

Ryuji nodded. “So, we wanna get the jump on ‘em and make the first strike… Okay, got it!”

Morgana gave him the side-eye. “Eh, you know you’re just going to be watching, right? You don’t have a Persona, but anyway, let’s go.”

Sumire gasped and watched in anxious anticipation as Akira poised up to attack. “Wait, are they really going to try and jump that Shadow?”

Akira, although he felt his nerves tightening. It was intimidating for sure, but it was kind of exciting in a somewhat twisted way. Like, he could die, but he had a Persona. The other Shadows weren’t that bad to deal with.

So he snuck behind the oblivious Shadow. Once he was in range, he springed up with athleticism that would’ve surprised him if he weren’t caught up in the moment. Latching onto the burlesque knight’s shoulders, he pried his hands into the edges of the mask. With a sharp yank and a cry, the mask tore off.

“Show me your true form!”

Sumire was flabbergasted by the display. In particular, the way Akira was able to pounce upon the enemy with such athleticism. It surprised her as much as it captivated her.

“Is he normally this acrobatic!?”

With a flourish, Akira tossed the mask aside and leaped down from the Shadow’s shoulders which had transmogrified into its true forms. One of which in particular was a lanky, impish creature that lounged in the air, equipped with a very phallic attachment. A floating Jack O’Lantern covered in patchwork rags and a witch hat and a seductive-looking fairy at its side.

“Now’s our chance to strike, GO!”

“Arsène! Eiha!”

“Zorro! Garu!”

Akira tore off his mask and summoned Arsène. Remembering the prior encounter, he focused an attack on the fairy which had successfully knocked it down in a torrent of black and red energy. As the self-proclaimed natural, Morgana jumped forward and summoned his Persona which let loose a torrent of wind energy targeted at the pumpkin. With both Shadows destroyed, one remained.

However, the last Shadow was most definitely the toughest between the three, almost unfazed by both Akira’s and Morgana’s attacks. The Shadow seemed to taunt them, floating around, striking and retreating right after. Sumire couldn’t help but feel frustrated as she watched Akira and Morgana somewhat struggle against the new Shadow. She looked down at Ryuji who was initially whooping, but was now anxious. She was leaning around him despite the fact she wouldn’t be able to touch him. He couldn’t see her either so he wouldn’t know.

"I'm not crazy! That light was there last time, too! I've seen the Shadows look away from or at it, so it has to mean that they see it. We can use it as an excellent battle tactic to distract them!"

See… Morgana was able to see her somewhat. She remembered what Morgana said. An idea popped up in her head.

“Akira! Let me help!”

Akira stepped back from an attack, but didn’t process what she said until she’d already rushed past him. He stared with wide eyes and nearly reached out for her. She came right up to the Shadow, waving, flailing around, whatever to catch its attention. It seemed to work when it annoyedly swatted at her without success.

Morgana saw Sumire and how the Shadow was reacting to her. “Huh… It’s like that light has a mind of its own.”

“What light do you keep talking about?” Ryuji asked from the sidelines, curiously watching the Shadow swat at nothing. Morgana pointed to where Sumire was.

“The light that’s floating right there!” he exclaimed somewhat frustratedly.

“I don’t see any light there! Have you gone crazy from how long you were locked up in here?”

Morgana scowled. “Why you--?!” He shook his head and pointed at Akira. “Hey you! It’s wide open, so go get it by surprise!”

Akira nodded and charged forward. He unsheathed his knife. Having finally realized the light wouldn’t go away, the Shadow saw Akira coming and in a panic, swung blindly towards him. Akira slid under it and pivoted on his feet and crouched to jump. Before the Shadow could turn around, Akira sprang up and slashed upward, slicing it. The Shadow let out a distorted cry and evaporated into a dark mess, leaving nothing behind like the rest.

“Alright, let’s keep moving,” Akira announced. He then noticed Sumire was off-balance, so he asked out of concern. “You alright?”

Sumire nodded slightly. “Y-Yeah. A bit dizzy, but I’ll manage.”

Morgana then called out Akira and Ryuji as he sensed something. “I sense a weird, but relaxing feeling.” As Ryuji was about to ask, they were alerted by the loud approach of more Shadows, so he pushed them into the room he was referring to.

They were pushed into what Morgana called a safe room, a room in which the Palace Ruler’s control over is limited due to the weaker distortion. When they entered, the distortion cleared up a bit, the atmosphere felt much less oppressive and for a moment, they saw what they thought to be a classroom. Morgana explained how Kamoshida’s view of the classroom wasn't as distorted, so he had less influence there in the cognitive world.

According to him, this realm was a reality which Kamoshida’s, or the ruler’s, heart projected. Meaning Kamoshida saw the school as his very own castle he ruled over because his heart made it so within this reality. Morgana called these worlds Palaces, a realm in which one’s distorted desires materialized.

He then addressed Akira’s question, his change of clothes. In short, he explained that it manifested due to his rebellious willpower which protected one from the distortions of the world. It reflects the image of rebellion the person holds. While Akira and Sumire were able to get a better picture of the situation, Ryuji was left with working out the math.

Ryuji grimaced. “Urgh! I’m so fed up with all of this!” he shouted. He then jabbed a finger towards Morgana. “I’m more curious about you than his clothes! What the hell are you anyways!?”

Morgana immediately tensed up. “I’m a human! I’m an honest-to-god human!”

Ryuji vigorously shook his head. “No! You aren’t! You’re obviously more like a cat! You can’t lie about being a human while looking like that!”

“He really is more like a cat than a human…” Sumire muttered. Akira heard her (only he could anyway) and thought to approach the subject in a much more civil manner than Ryuji.

“So, Morgana,” he began calmly, “I’ve been meaning to ask, but… Why are you a cat? No offense.” Morgana seemed to have calmed down a bit while Ryuji on the side was still visibly flustered and confused.

“That’s… well… It’s because I lost my true form, I think,“ Morgana said somewhat dejectedly.

“Whaddaya mean ‘I think,’ shouldn’t you know?” Ryuji interjected.

Akira shared a worried glance with Sumire. This was definitely a familiar subject, a very familiar one, so Sumire gave it much thought.

“Basically, I lost my memories of when I had my true form.”

“Welcome to the club…” Sumire muttered as she sighed deeply.

Morgana suddenly perked up. “But! I do know how to regain my true form. The reason why I snuck into this castle was for a preliminary investigation of those means.” Sumire perked up at this too.

“But?”

“Well… I ended up getting caught though…” He then scowled. “Besides, I’ve been tortured by Kamoshida too! I’m gonna make him pay for sure!”

Ryuji shook his head. “What is this, a comic book? This is seriously crazy.”

Morgana threw a grin at Akira. “If we’re gonna keep going, we should hurry along. I’ll be counting on your skills this time too, rookie. Got it?” He nodded. So they got ready to leave the room.

Sumire peered over at Morgana, a hopeful feeling like a warm spark ignited in her. Just maybe, whatever plan he had to get his own memories back would in turn help her.

“Oh, wait! I just remembered something!” Ryuji exclaimed as he rummaged into his bag to pull out a gun, a Tkachev it was called. Everyone in the room immediately perked up in surprise. “I brought this just in case! It’s a model gun though, so it only makes sounds!”

Morgana frowned. “That’s a toy!”

Sumire stared with a bewildered look. “...How did he get that past school security?” Akira handed her an equally surprised glance and shrugged.

Ryuji’s excitement didn’t go down. “But it looks totally real, so it’ll at least fake ‘em out. I brought some medicine too. Y’know what they say, ‘Providin’ is pre… uh... something.’ Yeah? Yeah?”

Akira shook his head, whether it’d be from surprise or disapproval or even both. “Did… Did you bring that into school and hide it the whole day?”

Ryuji shrugged with an indifferent look. “Yea? It wasn’t that hard. Nobody pays attention to me because Kamoshida has me labeled as a delinquent.”

Morgana shook his head. “So you were planning this from the start…”

Sumire palmed her face. “Good grief. He’s gonna cause more trouble if he keeps this up…”

Akira sighed. “Well, if all else fails, I guess we can use it to scare the Shadows away.”

“Well, fine. If you’re ready to go, we’ll resume the infiltration,” Morgana announced.

The group resumed the infiltration, waiting for the patrolling Shadows to go away. Once they felt they were gone, Morgana snuck out, and seeing there were no Shadows around he gave the signal for the others to go. They snuck further into the castle, avoiding whatever Shadows they could until they came to a tight corridor making this one Shadow more difficult to sneak around. At Morgana’s suggestion, they decided to try out the model gun.

Akira stepped out and aimed for the Shadow’s head. “Here goes nothing!”

Akira pulled the trigger. A bright flash and a loud thack came from the gun, much to everyone else’s shock. Morgana had a confident smirk, while Ryuji and Sumire watched with wide eyes.

Akira never held a gun in his life, the arcade models in shooting games notwithstanding. The recoil of the gun took him off guard to say the least, it was practically jerking his arm back and forth so he had to realign his aim between shots. The flashing and loud sounds forced Akira to flinch and cover his ears each time he fired.

Did it hurt? A little. Was it terrifying? Yes. Was it exhilarating? YES!!

It felt absolutely incredible. Akira, or anyone for that matter, couldn’t figure out what forms the Shadow had transmogrified when the first bullet shattered its mask. Akira just saw some silhouettes and fired at them.

All enemies were eliminated in a flash. Akira stood there in utter awe. His breath was bated and his arm was trembling. He actually fired a real gun… Was it a real gun? Wasn’t it a model? That aside, a smile shakily formed on his face.

Ryuji stood up from behind cover with Sumire behind him, equally shocked. “Did that toy gun just fire real bullets?!”

Morgana yowled with excitement. “Amazing!”

“W-Well, I’ll be damned,” Akira said, his voice shaky and breathy.

Morgana nodded in approval. “This is pretty interesting.”

Unfortunately, as the group still stood out in the open, a Shadow walked in on them, alerting some other guards. Ryuji immediately ducked under cover as the other three got ready for battle.

“We got company!” Morgana exclaimed.

“Let’s go!” Akira exclaimed.

The Shadow immediately transmogrified into another set of those fairies and pumpkins. Before the Shadows got any real chance to act, Akira and Morgana immediately targeted their elemental weaknesses despite getting the jump on them. Both Shadows were swept up by the attacks and were knocked down.

“Frizzy Hair!” Morgana shouted. “Remember the special technique I told you about?”

Akira shared a knowing glance. “Wanna do it now?”

“Yes! Let’s go!”

Akira and Morgana charged at the Shadows and assaulted them repeatedly in a flurry of quick attacks. Not even Sumire and Ryuji were able to tell who was who as they darted around the room as nothing but dark blurs. With a flourish, Akira ended the assault as he landed and tugged his gloves back. Sumire came behind him, peering over his right shoulder and waved.

“The show’s over!”

“Good night everyone!”

“Training Hall of Love? What the hell does that mean?” Ryuji asked, reading the tasteless banner above the doors.

That’s what the room they came up to was called apparently. The pink ambiance only served to make the atmosphere all the more disturbing. Regardless, the team pushed ahead, only to be met with a sight that made them all feel perturbed, angry, and sick.

“What the hell…” Akira muttered out as they witnessed the horror inside the cages; volleyball players, specifically males, were being tortured. From being whipped by guards, forced to sprint until over-exhaustion, and battered by volleyballs fired from a cannon.

Sumire floated through the bars to observe the volleyball members closer. She found herself purposefully keeping her distance from the dangerous contraptions before reminding herself she was dead anyway. With that thought put to rest, she flew up to one of the members that were being tortured. She cringed and felt cold when she got a good look at his face. It was bloodied and bruised. Tears were rolling down his face. It looked like his form was literally about to shatter like glass any moment.

She looked down at her own clothes, a tracksuit. She frowned as the many possibilities of what her living life was like ran through her mind. Was she an athlete like them? If so, then did she do the same things as them? Did she undergo the same treatment as them?

She was abruptly pulled from her thoughts when she heard a bang and shouting. She looked up and saw Ryuji with his fist slammed against a metal bar, his face contorted into a scornful scowl.

“This is bullshit!” he yelled. He was pissed beyond belief once Morgana had finished explaining how cognitions worked. How the abused players here reflected how the real Kamoshida might be torturing the volleyball team like this.

Akira nodded solemnly. “I get what you mean.” He sighed deeply. “This is too far gone.”

“Seriously, no service? And no camera too?!” Ryuji growled as he whipped out his phone, only to find it useless. “Fine then! I’ll have to memorize their faces instead!”

“Hurry it up or else we’ll get caught.”

So that’s what he did. Ryuji quickly ran from each cage to the next, scanning each volleyball member as acutely as he could. Sumire caught up to them. Akira noticed how downtrodden she was. He wanted to address it, but realized Morgana and Ryuji were still around, so he settled on a comforting smile when she finally noticed he was looking. She smiled back weakly.

Ryuji announced he was done with memorizing everyone’s faces and they all decided to retreat. Unfortunately, Kamoshida was waiting for them in the main hall. The man himself and several other guards behind him blocked their only escape route. One of which was much larger and donned a golden sheen, unlike the two other lesser Shadows.

Kamoshida scowled at the mere sight of them, despite apparently expecting them coming this way. “To think there were more thieves running around, but you knaves again? You got nowhere to run now.”

“It’s over, Kamoshida!” Ryuji shouted. “You’re done for once we tell everyone about what you’re doing!”

Kamoshida gave a twisted grin. “It seems it’s true when they say ‘barking dogs seldom bite.’ Especially you, the ‘Track Traitor,’ who acted in violence, ending his teammates’ dreams.”

Ryuji was visibly affected by this. He grunted and recoiled at the name. The rest of the group eyed him curiously.

“Track Traitor?” Sumire asked.

“The hell are you talking about?” Akira asked pointedly, glaring down at Kamoshida.

Kamoshida laughed as though it were the best joke he’s heard and he looked down upon Ryuji. “What a surprise. So you’re accompanying him without knowing anything at all? He betrayed his teammates and crushed their dreams, yet he carries on carefree as ever!”

“Sh-Shut up….” Ryuji cried out weakly, but Kamoshida carried on, seemingly pleased with Ryuji’s dismay as his wicked grin grew wider.

“He had all the glory in the sport. He was too proud of his own achievements that he caused the track team to disband because he attacked me.”

“You didn’t like our team! You’ve been beating us to shit!” Ryuji’s voice cracked as he stepped forward on a shaky leg.

“Akira,” Sumire called out. She had a scowl on her face. Akira nodded.

Kamoshida let out a mock sigh. “What a tragedy… You blindly trusted this fool, and he’s led you right to your death.” The smile faded as he turned his back to them and walked away. “Hurry up and dispose of them. I can’t stand their stench.”

The Shadows transmogrified into a group of dark, twin-horned horses. They surrounded Akira and Morgana, who braced themselves for battle. Sumire flew in to distract the Shadows, but to no avail as they were tunnel-visioned on the Persona-users. The three horses were able to overpower them, draining them of most of their energy and knocking them down to the ground in no more than two good blows. Sumire let out a scream as Akira was knocked onto the floor, helpless.

The Shadows brayed triumphantly. Kamoshida walked over and stepped on Morgana, the remaining Shadow that hadn’t transformed, the guard captain it seemed, held Akira down. Sumire felt a dull, uncomfortable sensation in her own back. Ignoring it, she floated around, trying to garner the Shadows’ attention without success.

“Oh, you son of a b- MROW!” Morgana yelped as Kamoshida stepped on him.

“What’s wrong? Not gonna try fighting like your friends here? That is, if they consider you as a friend.” Kamoshida taunted.

Ryuji grimaced. “You’re goddamn wrong! It wasn’t my fault the track team broke,” he said weakly.

Kamoshida turned his attention to him with a sinister grin. “Do you want me to teach you a lesson again? Maybe your other leg needs some more tender, loving care… if you get what I mean.”

Sumire’s eyes widened in horror as she realized the implication. Akira and Morgana realized this too. Morgana gave Ryuji a pitying glance, while Akira glared at Kamoshida.

“He broke his leg!?” Sumire exclaimed.

“So that’s why…” Morgana said.

“R-Ryuji…” Akira grunted as the weight of the Shadow guard began to crush him.

“I... I’m gonna lose again...” Ryuji said dejectedly. He fell to his knees and slammed his fists against the ground as he let out a cry. “Dammit!”

Kamoshida cackled. “That’s right. Just give up, and watch your precious pawns die in your pathetic little effort to dethrone me!” 

Sumire grew more desperate as her movements became much more disorganized than usual. She frantically flailed her arms in front of the Shadows. She spun around, flipped through the air, anything her body was able to do in an attempt to garner their attention. But the Shadows completely ignored her fruitless efforts.

The Shadow standing atop of Akira spoke haughtily. “You think that annoying lightbulb will do anything?”

“What lightbulb are you talking about? Just kill that mop-headed brat already.”

Sumire knelt to Ryuji with desperation. Despite him not being able to explicitly communicate with him, she tried to encourage him anyway.

“Come on Ryuji! Do something! I know you have it in you! Get back up, don’t lose to that jerk! You’re better than him!”

Akira grunted, struggling to pick his head up under the Shadow’s foot. With all he could, he yelled out to Ryuji.

“Ryuji, don’t give into what this bastard says! You’re better than him!” Akira shouted. The Shadow dug its foot deeper into his back. He grimaced and let out a strained yell. He clenched his fist and looked up to Ryuji with a fierce gaze. “If you want what’s yours, then you must take it back!”

Ryuji fell silent as a wry smile formed on his face. “Heh… You’re right… I lost everything because of this bastard…” He got up to his feet and glared down at Kamoshida, who so nonchalantly glared back with a smile. “But what I did doesn’t excuse you for what you did to the track team.”

“Oh please, what can you do? Anything you do to me won’t matter and neither will what I do to you afterwards, the school will just write it off as ‘self-defense’ anyway.”

“Shut up! Just shut up! Too bad for you I see you for the real scumbag you are! Kamoshida!” He stepped forward, Kamoshida ordered his guards to stop him. Ryuji growled and jabbed a finger toward him pointedly. “Stop lookin’ down on me with that stupid smile on your face!”

You made me wait quite a while.

All of a sudden, Ryuji’s eyes turned gold and his face scrunched up in agony. A voice echoed, one that only he and Sumire heard. His ears began to ring and agonizing pain split through his head.

“No way… Another one?” Sumire said aloud.

Chapter Text

Everyone watched Ryuji make his stand, when suddenly, his body jerked. His eyes developed a golden sheen. He let out a choked scream and gripped his head.

You seek power, correct? Then let us form a pact.

 His knees buckled underneath his feet and he collapsed to the ground.

Since your name has been disgraced already, why not hoist and flag and wreak havoc...?

He screamed wildly as he writhed on the floor.

The "other you" who exists within desires it thus.

His sweat and drool dripped on the red carpet, staining it.

I am thou, thou art I... 

There is no turning back...

The skull of rebellion is your flag henceforth! 

Ryuji’s body felt like it was literally on fire. The screaming and writhing stopped as a steel skull-shaped masked materialized on his face in a burst of blue flame. He glared into Kamoshida’s taunting gold eyes.

“Hmph, what can you of all people do?” the guard captain Shadow scoffed. “Cower in fear and watch your friends’ last living moments!” It looked down on Akira and raised its sword and was about to cleave down until…

Deaf to the Shadow’s words, Ryuji got up and pried his fingers under the mask. He could feel his skin tearing, but he grit through the pain. He just knew that he had to tear it off. He continued to pull with all his might until the mask ripped away, revealing his bloodied face as he let out an agonized scream. The mask disintegrated as a tornado of blue flame erupted around him. The force of the explosion pushed Kamoshida and the guard captain off Akira and Morgana.

“Ugh... This one as well!?”

Ryuji never felt so free in his life. It was like a huge weight was lifted off his chest and he felt utterly unstoppable. He picked his head up with a toothy grin and cracked his knuckles, proudly donning his new attire. His Persona, Captain Kidd, hovered over him.

“Right on... Wassup Persona... This is effin’ amazing!”

Sumire felt hopeful. “YES! If Ryuji has a Persona too… then does that mean he can…?”

“Now that I got this power, it’s time for some payback!”

Akira and Morgana immediately got up to their feet and stood by Ryuji’s side, ready to fight.

Akira smirked. “Alright, time to take back what was yours!”

Ryuji nodded. “Yo, I’m ready. Bring it!”

The agitated Shadow transmogrified into a form that was not so dissimilar from its masked form. Except it rode upon an immense, black steed and its armor had a crimson sheen.

Ryuji pointed at the Shadow. “Blast him away! Captain Kidd!”

“What troublemakers that bother our glorious King Kamoshida with trifle matters, I will personally see to it that you are all eliminated!”

“That bastard’s cognition ain’t changin’, right? Then I'll just keep acting like the troublemaker that I am! Let’s take em’ down, Captain Kidd!”

The horses from earlier galloped by the Shadow’s side and braced themselves to fight. Unlike last time, the team had much-needed space to take advantage of. With a flourish, both Akira and Morgana summoned their Persona and attacked. They all focused on different enemies as Sumire went and tried getting up into the bigger Shadow’s face, distracting it with much more success.

Captain Kidd fired a blast of electricity from its arm cannon. The attack knocked down the twin-horned horse. Noticing this, Akira shouted for him to do it again.

“Ryuji! Do that again on the same types!” he shouted. Ryuji responded with a gleeful yell and pointed at another Shadow.

“Aw, hell yeah! Fire at ‘em again!” Multiple Zio spells were fired at the other Shadows, knocking them down and before they could even think about recovering, the group focused all their attacks on the boss Shadow. Sumire stepped aside and watched as the group surrounded the knocked-down Shadows. “Eat this!”

“I serve the great King Kamoshida!” The Shadow cried as it lay on the floor. “So how did I lose?!”

“That just proves that he’s not worth protecting if he just lets you lose to us!” Ryuji shouted. “Alright, let’s have at ‘em!”

The group initiated another All-Out Attack, destroying the Shadows. Ryuji failed to land on his feet, but immediately got up and dramatically posed with his hand held out in the shape of horns as the Shadows disintegrated.

“That’s all she wrote!”

Sumire cheered for the group, passing a glance at Akira who looked back at her with a smile. Then their attention was on Kamoshida.

Ryuji dropped his pose and panted with his hands on his knees. “Ya… Ya see that, Kamoshida?! Now it really is over for you!”

“Tch. Don’t get all cocky because you’re one of them now. All I needed was more moral support.”

Kamoshida gave off a sultry grin and extended his arm out to his side, his gaze looking that way. Everyone’s gazes were drawn to the direction he pointed at and were met with an incredible view. A scantily clad Takamaki strutted her way over to Kamoshida and hugged close to him while caressing his chest.Ryuji’s jaw unhinged itself from disbelief. “Wha- Takamaki?!”

Meanwhile, Morgana’s eyes were practically in the shape of hearts and he mewled loudly. “What a meow-velous and beautiful girl!”

Sumire stared down at Morgana with disdain. “Was that a pun? Now is NOT the time Morgana!” Then she pointed at Kamoshida. “And you! You’re absolutely disgusting!”

Akira shook his head. “Something seems really off about this situation…” 

Morgana snapped out of his trance. “It seems this girl isn’t the real one.”

“Oh yeah, thanks for telling us Mr. ‘what a meow-velous and beautiful girl’!”

Kamoshida laughed. “Are you jealous? Well I’m not surprised. Girls aren’t attracted to problematic punks like you guys.”

Sumire’s face was blood red at this point. “No! Women aren’t drawn to full-blown egotistical scumbags like you! Akira!” Akira stared at Sumire with an astonished look. “Kick his ass, I can’t stand another damn second around this creep!”

“Guards! Get rid of them this instant!”

Morgana shouted. “We’re outnumbered! Let’s scram before we get surrounded!”

Sumire shook her head and aggressively waved her arms at Kamoshida. “No, you aren’t outnumbered! There’s three of you and only like, three guards! Keep fighting!”

Ryuji scowled and stared at Morgana in disbelief. “Hold up, so we ain’t gonna do anythin’ and hightail it outta— Wh- hey!”

Akira grabbed Ryuji by the arm and dragged him away. “Just shut up and go! I’m not letting anybody die here!”

Ryuji looked back at Kamoshida, who looked down on them with a menacing grin. He wanted to argue back, but bit his tongue when he saw several Shadows pursuing them.

“Ngh…Fine, whatever!” He took a deep breath and proceeded to shout at the stop of his lungs. “Heed my words you bastard, this won’t be the last time I’m here! We’ll expose you for what you really are, no matter what! You better be ready for us!”

Sumire flew after them. “But you guys could… Ugh, nevermind, let’s just get outta here. I’m tired.”

The group ran to the foyer’s left side, where they escaped through the broken ventilation shaft. It was almost like Kamoshida let them escape, much to the apparent chagrin of Ryuji and Sumire. They all heard Kamoshida cackling. It was like his voice came from all directions around them.

“I was beginning to get bored of torturing the same slaves I have here. Come at me whenever you want, if you don’t care about what happens to your lives!”

The group safely made it outside. The sounds of iron footsteps coming after them ceased. It really was like Kamoshida was taunting them. The team gave themselves a moment outside the gates to recuperate.

Ryuji panted. “Anyways!” He motioned his hands toward his new clothes. “I don’t remember changin’ into this!”

Sumire snickered. “You look like a thug.”

Akira gave Sumire the side-eye. He checked out his clothes and nodded approvingly. “It looks good on you.”

Ryuji smirked, patting his own chest. “Heh, you’re right. It doesn’t look as half as bad as yours though.”

Sumire frowned and was about to say something, but Akira had already retorted. “I retract my statement.”

Morgana chimed in excitedly. “Anyhow! Now that you’ve got a Persona yourself, can you see that light around frizzy hair now?”

“He has a name, you know!” Sumire shouted.

Akira cleared his throat. “You can just call me Akira.”

Ryuji stared at Akira for a good few seconds and everyone seemed hopeful. Akira and Morgana stared at Ryuji intently. Sumire waved at him with a bright smile on her face. Then Ryuji shook his head.

“Nope, I still got no idea what you guys are talkin’ about…”

Morgana sighed with his arms crossed. “Guess there’s more to that thing than I previously thought.”

Sumire frowned dejectedly. “O-Oh…. He can’t see me, huh? Ghost or light, I guess I’m still invisible to Ryuji.”

Akira would’ve reached out to pat her shoulder, but he’d just be patting the air. This disappointed the rest of them. It really did seem like there was more to seeing a ghost than just having those powers.

“Wait,” Ryuji said suddenly. “Oh crap! We just pissed off Kamoshida here! What if he knows about us entering this place!”

Just as Morgana was about to talk, Akira raised his hand. “Hold on, did the real Kamoshida remember what happened last time?” Ryuji stopped for a moment and shook his head. “We’re probably safe then.”

Morgana nodded. “Yep, you’re quite perceptive. Yes, you guys should be off the hook…” Morgana paused briefly before continuing on. When he continued, Sumire just so happened to speak at the same time. “For now, at least.”

“Exactly what I said!”

Ryuji shrugged. “Welp! I’m beat. How ‘bout we head back home and investigate more next time?”

Morgana on the other hand, seemed shocked at this. “You’re going to up and leave, even though you’re already part of my master plan?”

Ryuji looked at him confused. “I don’t remember being a part of any plan...?”

“Is the plan about finding your true form?” Akira asked.

Morgana’s ears perked up excitedly. “Yes! At least you seem t-”

Akira smiled. “Maybe next time, kitty cat.” He crouched down and rubbed his head, much to Morgana’s displeasure. He then stepped away and took his phone out to leave. “I’ll definitely help you once I have the time! I just have a lot going on right now. I’ll be back soon.”

Sumire followed after him, waving at Morgana. “Don’t worry, kitty! We’ll be back to help soon enough!”

“What?! Hey! What the hell?! Why are you wrapping this up like everything’s all hunky-dory?! And I’m not a cat!!!”

Ryuji jogged after Akira, waving at Morgana. “See ya around, cat!”

The three left Morgana behind, disappearing from the cognitive world. He stared at where they previously were with a bewildered expression.

”I’m not a cat! I… I can’t be…”

You have returned to the Real World. Welcome back.

“Thank God we’re back,” Ryuji sighed. He leaned against the wall in the alley. His head hung back. “So tired… I’m gonna sleep like a rock when I get home…”

Akira sighed. “Yeah, same.” He subtly eyed a drowsy Sumire.

“I wanna go home…” she whined.

Ryuji suddenly straightened up excitedly with a toothy grin on his face. “But damn, if what we saw was for real, this is gonna get good! I got their faces memorized. Now we just gotta get one of ‘em to fess up.” He faced Akira with a determined look. “So… wanna help me look for those guys or any witnesses?”

Sumire piped up. “Sounds difficult.”

Akira gave her a knowing glance and then turned to Ryuji. “Sure, we’ll— I mean, I’ll help.”

Ryuji grinned. “Now that’s what I’m talking about!” And just as quickly his excited expression fell. “Hey, so… If you’re thinkin’ of layin’ low ‘cause you got a record, don’t. Everyone already knows. They totally got you pegged as a criminal.”

Akira shook his head. “I’ve heard quite a lot more than just my ‘criminal record.’ How do these people even come up with this stuff.” Akira sighed and rubbed his forehead. “How did my record get out in the first place?”

Ryuji scowled and scuffed his shoe against the ground. “Kamoshida opened his damn mouth!”

Sumire stared at Ryuji in disbelief. “A gym teacher has that much authority?!”

Akira sighed and scratched his head.” From what we’ve just seen, I'm honestly not surprised.”

Ryuji nodded. “Yeah, nobody but him could’ve leaked it that fast. Doesn’t matter who it is; that asshole just wrecks things he doesn’t agree with, just like he did with me!” He sighed and put his hands into his pockets. “Nobody’ll take me seriously. Still, all those rumors could be for real, and after seein’ Kamoshida’s distorted heart thing in person, there’s no way I can just sit back!”

Akira nodded. “Yeah, agreed.”

Ryuji smiled and put his hand on Akira’s shoulder. “Thanks, I’m countin’ on you! I'm hyped about this too!”

All of a sudden, Sumire’s vision flashed. It didn’t seem to affect her other than just catching her off guard. There was a very faint voice speaking in her head. She felt warm and couldn’t help but smile a little. She thought that this was a good sign.

The Chariot Arcana...

“He’s a great guy! Something’s telling me you two are gonna go far!” Sumire piped up.

Come to think of it, Akira thought he heard something. Something in his head was telling him that his bond with Ryuji had only just begun. He smiled and gave her a knowing nod.

“So,” Ryuji started, ”wanna grab a bite somewhere?

Akira nodded. “Sure. Today took a lot out of me!”

Sumire pouted. ”Hmph, lucky you can still eat,” She then giggled and smirked at him. “Kidding! You go and enjoy yourselves, not that I can get hungry anyway…” Her quip made Akira chuckle, which Ryuji found somewhat strange.

“What’s so funny?” he asked.

 Akira shook his head. “Ah, nothing, just a dumb thought. So what’s on the menu?”

“Meat, man!” Ryuji said excitedly.

“Ah, as expected from a guy,” Sumire remarked.

“Plus, I totally gotta hear about your past!”

 “Oh boy…” Sumire sighed. “That old story again.”

Ryuji brought Akira to a beef bowl shop located along Central Street in Shibuya. They sat down and placed their orders. Akira was wrapping up his story by the time they started eating.

Akira sighed. “And that’s how it all went down…”

Ryuji put down his bowl and slammed his fist on the counter. “THE HELL, MAN?! HOW MUCH SHITTIER CAN THAT ASSHOLE GET!?”

Akira looked around to see Ryuji had garnered attention with his outburst. “Dude, calm down. I get how you feel, but it’s already happened and can’t be undone.”

Ryuji grunted. “Still, that sucks! I just wanna punch that dick in the face so bad! And your parents wouldn’t even get you a lawyer?”

“That’s what I said!” Sumire said. Akira responded the same way he did to Sumire the day they met.

Ryuji sighed. “We’re more similar than I thought, huh? I guess it’s how we’re treated like a pain in the ass by the people around us, like we don’t belong.”

Akira nodded. “I know that feeling. Kamoshida made you an outcast. I hoped for a clean slate when I got here, but you know what happened. So we’re pretty much on the same page.”

“Yeah. I mean, we all got something to live for, right?”

She knew he couldn’t see her, but Sumire felt Ryuji was talking about her as well. It wasn’t easy to feel like you belonged in the world when you realized it took you out of it so early on in your life. They all didn’t belong in some shape or form. They were a ragtag team of two delinquents and a ghost, even if one of the delinquents couldn’t see the spirit.

“It’s rush hour on the subways. I suggest you kill some time before headin’ home.”

Sumire nodded. “He’s right. Two weeks can really give you a feel for how the town works.”

Akira was already done with his food by the time they moved on from the previous topic. He placed his bowl down and let out a satisfied sigh. Ryuji stared at him surprised.

“Wait, you’re already done?!”

Akira chuckled. “What can I say? Fighting takes a lot out of me!”

Ryuji returned the laugh. “You gonna take another to go? There’s still tons of ginger here.”

The two continued to make small talk. Sumire watched contentedly, occasionally making her own interjections despite Ryuji not being able to hear her. Akira acknowledged her with a glance or a nod, sometimes even relaying her thoughts as his own to Ryuji. For the first time since she woke up, she felt like she was living a completely normal life with two other friends. 

The group left the restaurant with some leftover beef bowl, content smiles on everyone’s faces. Akira had finally made a (living) friend in Tokyo. As they walked to the station, Ryuji began talking.

“So about taking down Kamoshida…”

“Ryuji, not so loud,” Akira said.

“Whoops! My bad.”

“So much for secrecy.”

It was late by the time Akira finally arrived at Leblanc. He knew Sojiro would probably have a few questions waiting for him and he was right to think so. As soon as he stepped in, Sojiro turned to him with a stern glare and asked if he actually went to school today.

“Eh, as long as you’re not getting into trouble, I don’t really care. Just in case you’ve forgotten, your life is not a free one right now. You’ll be gone as soon as you start causing problems.”

With that, Sojiro turned his focus back to his crossword puzzle. Akira’s phone buzzed and he took it out of his pocket. Sumire peered over his shoulder to see who it was from; it was from Ryuji.

Ryuji: 

-Can you see this?

Sumire smirked. “Tell him ‘Nope’.”

Akira snickered. “Not a bad idea.”

Akira:

-Nah.

Ryuji: 

-You SO can!

Sumire burst out laughing. Akira himself couldn’t contain a snicker, earning a look from Sojiro.

Ryuji:

-I’m gonna be counting on you tomorrow.

“What about?” Sumire suggested, trying to stifle any further laughing.

Akira:

-What about?

Ryuji:

-C’mon, don’t play dumb…

Sumire wound up snorting.

Sojiro picked his head up. "Who are you texting? You seem to be having fun with whoever it is.”

Akira smiled at him. “I made a friend in class today.”

Sojiro was indifferent, but hummed in acknowledgment. “That’s nice. Just stay away from bad influences, okay?”

“You got it, boss!” Akira said with a thumbs up.

“A world embodying somebody’s desires…”

Sumire laid on the couch, lost in thought. The Metaverse, what a strange thing. She wondered, what were the limits of the Metaverse? Is it limited to just one person? Why does it exist in the first place? What did they, or perhaps more so, she have to do with it?

She was pulled from her thoughts when she heard Akira mutter, “He has it now?”

Ryuji: 

-I don’t even remember installing it!

Akira: 

-Don’t bother trying to delete it. It’ll just keep coming back.

Ryuji:

-That’s creepy, man. What is this thing?

Akira:

-I dunno. But whatever it is, it’s gonna be useful in case we have to use that world again.

Ryuji:

-Agreed. Gonna count on ya tomorrow! We’ll meet after the volleyball rally.

Akira:

-Volleyball rally?

Ryuji:

-Eh, it’s more like ‘Kamoshida stroking his ego’ Day.

Akira:

-Sounds about right. See ya.

When Akira put away his phone, Sumire spoke up. “Guess we’ve gone too far to back down now. Good night, Akira.

Akira yawned. “Good night, Sumire.”

He was back in the Velvet Room. Igor rambled about bonds and rehabilitation again. Nothing new at this point, but then he said something interesting.

“In other words, they are bonds with those who have been robbed of their places to belong, such as that mysterious ghost with no memory of her past.”

Akira’s head perked up, refocusing his full attention to Igor. “You mean Sumire? You know about her?

“The truth is, she is a factor not even I could have seen coming. But if your bond with her grows strong enough, she could become an exemplary help to your rehabilitation.”

“It seems as though even the deceased can assist you,” Justine said.

“And the best part, inmate? Ghosts don’t have schedules! So you can try to increase your bond with her whenever you want! Even if it makes you look sad and lonely to any other person!” Caroline quipped.

Akira sighed. “That’s true. At least I have Ryuji now. He’s been nice to me.”

Igor continued to ramble on about bonds. Akira wound up establishing one with Igor, which admittedly wasn’t what he expected. With everything said and done, Akira lay down on his bed.

“So the residents of the Velvet Room know about Sumire…

Chapter Text

Sumire didn’t seem all too different from the other students that day. That is, If one ignored the fact she wore an obviously different tracksuit. Not that anyone would know. As she waited outside by the men’s restroom door, she twirled her hair around her finger. Akira came out of the bathroom changed into his P.E uniform, consisting of red and white colors in contrast to Sumire’s black and yellow.

Akira looked at her with a smile. “You ready to go?”

Sumire rolled her eyes. “To see Kamoshida stroke his ego or go expose him?”

“Yes.”

“Who’re you talkin’ to?” Ryuji suddenly appeared.

Akira looked around like he was looking for an excuse. “Oh, um… Just talking to myself, about the plan, y’know?” He chuckled nervously.

Ryuji’s face lit up. “Hell yeah! We’re gonna expose that d-bag!”

The group went to the gym where the volleyball rally took place. The student team was unsurprisingly being obliterated by the adult team, especially with Kamoshida on the court.

“Look at his stupid smile,” Ryuji began. “Can’t believe he’s getting away with all of that.”

As Sumire watched, she suddenly got an idea.

“Wait, I’m a ghost!” Sumire exclaimed. “Akira, do you think I can possess him?”

Akira shrugged with a small, cheeky grin.

She went up to Kamoshida and dove straight through him. She yelped as she tripped over. She grumbled to herself at the attempt as she picked herself up.

Akira sighed. “Not even a slight chill? Lame…”

“Pssh, right?” Ryuji said.

Akira thought to himself. “Aw, man. Why do the ghosts in movies get all of these cool powers while she’s just stuck with basic levitating and going through walls? Guess it can’t be that easy…”

Sumire unknowingly found herself agreeing.

When she looked up, she saw a certain blond-haired girl amongst the sea of darker colors. She appeared aloof, perhaps somewhat forlorn. Her eyes were focused on anywhere but the court. She then thought about that cognition they saw in the Palace.

How could he look at someone like that?

Sumire flew over to Akira.

“Hey, look over there. Remember her?” Sumire asked, pointing toward Takamaki.

“Hm? Oh, it’s that girl.”

“Who?” Ryuji asked until he saw who Akira was referring to. “Oh, sticks out like a sore thumb, huh?”

Suddenly, gasps rang throughout the court. Akira, Sumire, and Ryuji looked up to see a student on the playing team fall backward, having been spiked in the face. Sumire ran over to see a blue-haired student lying on the ground before groaning at who she saw come up to him. Kamoshida went over to him with “concern” and passed him to another student to take to the nurse’s office.

The ball rolled over to Ryuji, who picked up and threw back into the court. “He’ll pay soon enough…”

When the rally ended, Akira and Ryuji split up to find any volleyball team members they could. They were able to find the volleyball members quickly, thanks to Sumire. While finding them was the easy part, getting them to talk was useless. Akira and Ryuji failed to get any of the victims to speak. They agreed to meet back in the courtyard.

“Mishima…” Sumire mused aloud. “Isn’t he in your class?”

“Really? Don’t remember a Mishima…” Akira said. “Oh, he has bandages all over his face, right?”

Sumire nodded. “Yes, that’s him.” She saw somebody approach from behind Akira. “Hey, behind you.” Akira turned around and saw Takamaki.

“Were you talking to someone?” she asked. “I want to talk to you for a sec if that’s okay.”

Akira glanced at Sumire. “Sure, what’s up?”

“It’ll be quick,” she said. “Anyway, what’s with you? Like, how you were late the other day was a lie and all. There’s that weird rumor about you too.”

“Well, uh…”

Before he could think to say anything, Ryuji announced his presence. “Whaddya want with him?”

“Right back at you, you’re not even in our class,” Takamaki retorted. “Anyway, what’re you planning on doing to Mr. Kamoshida?”

Ryuji seemed to be stunned for a moment. “Huh? I see… I getcha.” He crossed his arms and glowered at her. “You’re all buddy-buddy with Kamoshida after all. If you found out what he’s been doin’ behind your back, you’d dump him right away.”

“Behind my back…?” Takamaki echoed under her breath. “Anyway, people are already talking about you two. I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, but no one’s gonna help you. I’m warning you, just in case. That’s all.” With that said, she left.

“Well, these two clearly have some beef with each o-” Sumire began until she was interrupted.

“Why’s she gotta be so aggressive all the time?” Ryuji grumbled, scuffing his shoe against the ground.

“Case in point,” she said.

Akira shrugged. “You seem pretty familiar with her,” he pointed out, addressing Ryuji.

“Huh? Nah, we just went to the same middle school,” he stated dismissively. “Anyway, did ya get anything?”

“Middle school… I wonder what that was like.” Sumire thought to herself.

Akira nodded. “Yeah, actually. Mishima, something about him getting ‘special coaching or something’.”

Ryuji raised a brow. “‘Special coaching,’ huh? True, I always see the guy covered in bruises. Let’s go talk to him before he leaves then.”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

Sumire silently watched from the couch as Akira plopped onto his bed and let out a deep sigh. He stared absentmindedly into the ceiling as he recounted the day’s events.

I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, but no one’s gonna help you. I’m warning you, just in case. That’s all.

Akira was trying to wrap his head around the situation.

“Nobody, huh?”

There’s no point… Proving that he’s physically abusing us… is meaningless.

Akira sighed. “Dammit, why does nobody want change?”

Sumire looked towards him. “Akira? Are you okay?”

Akira took a deep breath and breathed out heavily. “Just… frustrated is all.

Sumire was about to say something when Akira got a notification. Both of them immediately knew it was Ryuji.

Ryuji: 

—Hey, this don’t make any damn sense. The principal, the parents, literally everyone knows about the abuse! So why ain’t anyone speaking up?

Akira:

—Nobody wants change. They’re afraid to speak up. Kamoshida and volleyball gives the school its damn clout.

Ryuji:

—Even so, this ain’t right at all! And that follower of his doesn’t give one single shit… 

“Takamaki?” Akira mused aloud.

“Don’t know who else he could be referring to,” Sumire said.

“Fair enough.”

Akira:

—Takamaki?

Ryuji:

—Yeah, you should know her. What a bunch of bullshit! I ain’t giving up, just you watch!

Akira:

—I hear you. We’ll figure something out tomorrow.

With that conversation done, Akira set aside his phone and Sumire went back to the couch. They decided to just go to sleep and try to work it out with Ryuji tomorrow.

At noon that day during school, Akira’s phone buzzed. Sumire floated out of her seat over to Akira’s side.

Ryuji:

—So… about the witnesses.

Akira:

—Dude, pay attention to class.

“I could tell you the same thing,” Sumire commented. Akira shot her a quick glare before going back to texting. “What? I’m just saying.”

Ryuji:

—C’mon, just hear me out! I was thinking we could get something outta Takamaki, right?

Akira:

—You really think that’s possible?

Ryuji:

—Just hold up, I thought about that too. Takamaki’s BFFs with a starter on the team, her name’s Suzui. I tried talking to her, but I got nothing. That’s why we should have Takamaki talk to her.

Akira:

—Ryuji.

A moment of awkward silence passed with Akira intently staring at his phone and Sumire trying not to laugh.

Ryuji:

—Shit. Sorry, lemme see what else I can come up with.

Akira and Ryuji had agreed to meet at the usual spot after-school to discuss what to do. On the way there, Akira thought about their next course of action and wound up lagging behind Sumire a bit.

Suddenly, Sumire stopped. “Hey, look.”

Akira snapped out of his thoughts and looked at who Sumire was pointing at. He recognized the girl; he saw her talking to Takamaki the other day and assumed that could be Suzui. Sumire and Akira looked at each other before nodding and Akira approached her.

Suzui looked sullen. Her head perked up at the sound of footsteps coming up to her and stopping. She turned around to see Akira. “I’m sorry, were you trying to get by?”

“Uh… no, it’s my fault. I wasn’t looking where I was going.” He noticed the bruise above her eye and his stomach sank. “Are you okay?”

Suzui flinched and brushed her bangs like she tried to hide the bruise under them. “Um, well… Actually, could you be that student from class D?” she asked.

Akira paused for a brief moment before hesitantly nodding. “I… Y-yeah, I am…“

“Um, this might not be any of my business, but don’t let the rumors get to you, okay?”

“Yeah, I know…” Akira sighed. His eyes wandered away and met Sumire’s consoling ones.

“Akira, she’ll understand,” she said.

“Good, that’d be for the best,” Suzui said. “My best friend is often misunderstood too…” Her eyes widened. “ Ah, I didn’t mean to drag on like that. Anyway, I have to go practice. I’ll see you around.”

As Suzui ran off, Akira tried reaching out to her. “Wait…” He pursed his lips and sighed. He looked at Sumire. “Sorry, I know, it’s just…”

Sumire sighed. “Akira… It’s okay. Let’s go see Ryuji for now.”

“Yeah…”

They went out into the courtyard and approached Ryuji, who seemed annoyed.

Akira cleared his throat. “Uh, hey… Did you find someone?”

“Is that what it looks like?” Ryuji grumbled. He slammed his fist against the vending machine, which caused both Akira and Sumire to flinch. “All of ‘em kept sayin’ the same shit Mishima was talkin’ about! Kamoshida had to have told ‘em somethin’. At this rate… We’ll have to go to him directly…”

“And how would we go about doing that?” Akira asked.

“Yeah… How…?” Ryuji echoed.

Sumire hummed as she thought. “Can’t you call the cops or something?”

“No… The cops wouldn’t believe us…” Akira mumbled.

“How about a sneak attack?” she suggested, to which Akira raised a brow. “Actually, nevermind…”

Ryuji frowned. “There’s that thing again, what’re ya talkin’ about?”

“I…” Akira looked for an excuse and remembered the Metaverse. “Hold up, have you ever wanted to overthrow a king?” he asked with a smirk.

“Huh? Wait… Would that—”

“I finally found you…”

Akira and Ryuji are confused by the voice. Sumire immediately looks toward the direction of the voice to see a cat.

The voice was high-pitched and vaguely familiar. Akira and Ryuji both looked around. Sumire looked behind them, where she thought the source of the voice was and saw a black cat marching toward them.

“Um…! Is that cat…?!” she gasped.

The cat jumped onto the table and raised its head indignantly. “Don’t think you can get away with not paying me back for helping you. How dare you, up and leaving me the other day!”

Akira had a surprised expression, recognizing the voice. “Wait, hold on! Is that you, Morgana—”

“The cat’s talkin’?!” Ryuji exclaimed.

Morgana glared at Ryuji. “I am not a cat! This just happened when I came to this world! You two gave a lot of trouble trying to find you.”

Ryuji was then confused. “Wait, you came to our world?” He gasped. “Wait! Does that mean you’ve got a phone?”

Sumire floated around Morgana. Noticing her, he annoyedly swatted at her. “Where would he keep one? I don’t think I see any pockets.”

Akira raised his hand. “Hold on!” he said firmly, grabbing everyone’s attention. “All that aside, I think we have more important matters to discuss.” He looked at Morgana. “How you got here aside, why did you come here?”

Morgana calmed down and groomed himself. “Going straight for the main point, huh? I like that. Anyway, I heard you two were having some trouble. Akira here has the right idea… I could tell you a thing or two—”

Ryuji’s eyes suddenly widened. “Ack! Quiet down!”

Everyone looks where he was looking to see members of the Disciplinary Committee outside looking for a cat. A cat specifically, meaning they didn’t hear Morgana speak any real words.

Everyone quieted down and looked at what got Ryuji on edge. Not too far from them, two members of the Disciplinary Committee were searching for a cat apparently. What was particular about this was that they specified a cat even though Morgana was able to speak.

Ryuji was confused. “Hold up, so only us two can understand what you’re sayin’?”

“Looks like it,” Morgana said casually.

“Anyway, if what you’re sayin’ is for real, then tell us more. Although this definitely ain’t the best place.” He grabbed Morgana by the collar, who yowled with displeasure. He thrust him toward a bewildered Akira. “Here, stick it in your bag for now and follow me.”

“Wait, what?!” Akira exclaimed.

Morgana struggled within Ryuji’s grasp. “Hey! How dare you treat me like an animal!” he yowled indignantly.

Sumire facepalmed. “Oh, brother…” she sighed.

“Change of heart, huh? And the risk of him dying…” Akira mused.

“Do you think it’s worth the risk?” Sumire pondered. “I mean, as much as I hate him, I don’t want to wish death on anyone because… y’know. I mean, what if we run into him as a ghost or something?”

Akira stared at her. “Not very assuring… But yeah, fair enough. As Ryuji said, we wouldn’t be any better than him if we killed him. Anyway, it’s a surprise Morgana can come here. Dunno why I’m even remotely surprised he looks like a regular cat.”

Sumire nodded. “That reminds me, before we met, I tried sleeping with a group of stray cats for a night. It was nice for what it was, but it was way too loud and there was the occasional dead animal, so I had to move out.”

Akira chuckled. “Maybe you were a cat person in your life?”

“Maybe, I did that since I was pretty much like a stray cat back then anyway. No home, no acknowledgement by people, and sleeping wherever I could.”

As they changed trains for Yongen-Jaya, they heard someone angrily shouting, drawing their attention to Takamaki. She was on the phone, arguing with someone. Both of them stopped and heard the ongoing conversation.

“Wait, what?! That’s not what you promised! And you call yourself a teacher?! This has nothing to do with Shiho!” she bellowed. Teacher? Akira and Sumire shared a look. It had to be Kamoshida. Then she looked stunned and her arm dropped. She crouched down, tucking her head into herself. “Shiho’s starting position…”

Akira looked at Sumire. “Do you think that was…”

“I definitely hope not, but maybe you should go talk to her…” 

Akira exhaled and approached Takamaki. “Hey, are you-”

Takamaki shot up, startled. “Wh- Were you listening?” she asked pointedly.

Akira flinched. ”Ah, um… Not intentionally sorry…” 

Takamaki scoffed. “Haven’t you heard of privacy?” She pushed her irritation away with a deep sigh.” “No, sorry I… Just forget this ever happened.” She ran into the train station.

Akira instantly bolted right after her. “Wait, hold on!”

“Akira! Wait up!” Sumire shouted as she flew after him.

It was difficult trying to weave through all the people taking the commute. Nevertheless, he was able to keep her in sight, mostly thanks to how her hair stuck out. He caught up to her leaning against a column, presumably thinking that she got away from him. When Akira came up to her and called her name, she snapped her head at him, annoyed.

“Stop following me! Just leave me alone!” she shouted with a scowl.

Akira took a step back and raised his hands. “Hey, just calm down. It’s okay. If you really want me to leave, then I’ll just go, but something’s definitely wrong.”

She leaned against the column, wiped her forehead and let out an exasperated sigh. “I- Just leave me alone, I…” She slid down the column, covering her tear-streaked face. “Why... What the heck…?”

Akira warily looked around to see some bystanders observing. He kneeled down and gently tapped her shoulder. “C’mon, let’s head somewhere safe.”

Admittedly, he didn’t know too much about Tokyo yet. He just took her far from the station which wound them up at the central street and they went into the first building Akira thought to enter, a Big Bang Burger restaurant. They sat opposite from each other while Sumire sat next to Takamaki in the booth since there wasn’t anywhere else. It was a little cramped for her, but she could manage.

“On the phone, that was Kamoshida, wasn’t it?” Akira stated.

Takamaki forced herself to form eye-contact with Akira. “So you heard every last word then… You heard the rumors, haven’t you?” She stared ahead despondently, fingering the napkin on her side of the table.

“About Mr. Kamoshida. Everyone says we’re getting it on, but that’s so not true. That was him on the other line… I avoided giving him my number for the longest time… He told me to go to his place after this. You know what that means.” She crumpled the napkin in a tight grip. “If I turn him down, he said he’d take my friend off as a regular on the team. I’ve been telling myself this is all for Shiho’s sake… I can’t take it anymore.” Her voice was cracking. “I’ve had enough of this! I hate him! But still, Shiho’s my best friend. She’s all I have left at that sorry excuse of a school! Tell me, what am I supposed to do?”

Akira listened silently, doing his best to maintain eye-contact. He wanted to say something, but the words seemed to be stuck in his throat. It was frustrating. He clawed his pants tightly, having nothing to say.

Takamaki wiped a tear from her face. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. It’s not your problem…” She sighed, covering her forehead with a hand. “What… What am I saying? I’ve barely even talked to you before…”

Akira sheepishly rubbed his nape. “Well, uh… Sorry for…”

Takamaki shook her head. “No, it’s fine… Are you really a bad person? I’ve heard people talk about you, but I’m just not seeing it.”

Akira chuckled. “Well, what can I say? I’m bad to the bone.”

Sumire facepalmed.

Takamaki laughed wryly. “Is that supposed to be a joke?” She frowned. “I kinda had a feeling the rumors were just exaggerations… Actually, Shiho mentioned you, when school ended that day. She told me to at least give you a chance like she did for me. I couldn’t say no to her. If anything, I’d be a total hypocrite if I did. So... Like you were there for me, you have someone on your side now, so lighten up.”

Akira rolled his eyes. “I wasn’t the one breaking down just now,” he said with a hint of snark.

Takamaki winced. “Okay, fair enough… But ouch…”

Sumire glared at Akira,

“Um, uh… Sorry…” he apologized in a whisper.

Takamaki giggled. “C’mon, I said to lighten up!” She sighed. “Still, I wish he’d just change his mind… Like, forget about me, and everything… As if something like that would ever happen.”

Akira smirked. “I thought you said to lighten up. Who knows what could happen?”

Takamaki returned a small grin. “I wasn’t asking for a serious response, but I do feel a bit better now.” She slid out of the booth, taking her drink with her. “I’m gonna head home now. Don’t tell anyone what I told you, okay?”

“Could tell you the same,” Akira quipped.

“Hah, fair enough. Don’t worry about me, I’ll think of something. Well… Thanks.” Akira silently watched as she left, but was surprised she suddenly turned around. “It’s Ann by the way, Takamaki Ann. You can just call me Ann.” With that, she left.

“Takamaki Ann… She sure is something, isn’t she?”

Akira nodded. “Yeah, shouldering all that burden on her own.”

Sumire smiled. “All the more reason to take Kamoshida down, right?”

Akira frowned. “Yeah… Let’s get out of here.”

“Hey, Akira?” Sumire called. Akira stopped and looked back. Talking to a ghost in the dark streets of Yongen-Jaya, it would’ve been a bit creepy. Would’ve been .

“What’s up?”

“Do you think I had any friends? I mean, I sure hope I did, but… What do you think they were like?”

Akira frowned. “Where’s this coming from? Not like I can tell you.”

Sumire sighed. “I’m just worried about Shiho, that’s all. After all that’s happened so far, I’m worried about my own friends, if I had any. Who knows what my friends are doing? Are they okay? I just… want to know because… y’know… seeing as I was probably an athlete.”

“I see… As much as I’d like to give you a real answer, I can’t really say much, huh?”

Sumire shook her head. “That’s fine. I know you can’t. I just needed to let that out, so thanks. Thanks for being there.”

Akira shook his head. “Nah, thank YOU for being there. Honestly, with all the crap that’s gone down, I think I’d have lost my mind by now if I didn’t have you or Ryuji. Hell, even Ann now. Actually, speaking of Shiho, having you there made it so much easier to talk to her, so thanks for that.”

Sumire smiled softly. “I see… Thank you.”

“No, thank- You know what? I’m not starting that.”

They both laughed, with Akira reaching for Sumire’s head, who flinched away. Not that what he wanted to do would’ve worked. They still got a good laugh out of it too, though.

Akira nodded. “Hm, maybe I was right about you being a guardian angel.”

Sumire stared at him confused. “What?”

Akira waved his hand dismissively. “Just a dumb thing I thought about just after meeting you, don’t take it seriously… or not. Anyway, we’ll save them. I know we will. If any of your friends are suffering, then all the more reason to take down corrupt people like Kamoshida, right?”

Chapter Text

“Uh, Akira?” Sumire began. ”You got something in your desk.”

Akira looked down with a quirked brow and his eyes widened when he looked inside. Lounging inside his desk was Morgana, who was intently staring at Sumire.

Morgana shook his head and looked away. “I’ve been in this form for too long...” he thought to himself. “Anyway, have you made up your mind yet?” he asked Akira.

“What the hell are you doing here?!” Akira exclaimed in a hushed tone.

Ushimaru turned around. “Hm? Is that a cat I hear?”

Akira panicked and slid his hand into his pocket and shuffled it to pretend to silence his phone. “Uh, sorry! it’s just my phone!”

Ushimaru scoffed. ”Well, shut it off before I take it! Kids these days.”

Akira felt his phone vibrate against his hand. No other timing could’ve been more perfect. He rolled his eyes as he immediately knew who it was.

Ryuji:

—Damn it, I can’t think of any other way…

Akira:

—Dude, class.

Ryuji:

—Ugh… Whatever. Do we just gotta go along with what the damn furball says?

Morgana sighed. ”If he only knew I’m reading this too…”

“If he only knew who else was reading that,” Sumire muttered.

Great, now he had two amnesiacs who were able to look at his texts without consequence. He sighed and put his phone away. So much for privacy… 

“Is that… Suzui? Wait, she’s going to jump!”

Wait, jump? Akira’s skin went pale and he could feel his stomach drop. In front of him, Ann immediately jumped out of her seat and dashed out the classroom.

“Shiho...?!”

“No way…!” Akira screamed internally as he scrambled after everyone else out of the classroom.

Sumire flew up to the rooftop and saw Shiho whose eyes looked dead, defeated. She was past the fence, her balance teetering on the edge of the roof. Sumire could feel a chill go through her..

“Don’t!” Sumire screamed, but deep down she knew it was fruitless. She was going to jump, and she couldn’t do anything but watch because of her spectral form. Then like a flood, thoughts ran rampant through her head, going back to the faint memory of her death.

“Sumire!”

The way they called out to her, the fear and dread in that person’s voice… Were they trying to stop her from doing something? Were they as close as Ann and Shiho were?

Did she…?

She tried to tear herself away from the thought. She turned her back to the roof and descended down to Akira’s side.

Akira looked up at the rooftop and spotted Shiho standing at the edge. He then looked at Ann whose face was filled with dread. There was a pleading look in her eyes.

Then the hall was filled with a cacophony of shouting and screaming. Akira looked out the window and saw her plummet to the ground. He felt his throat constrict, his chest tighten, and he took an unsteady step back. He whipped his face back toward Ann.

“Shiho!” she screamed. “Why…?” She shoved past Akira and ran downstairs.

“Akira!” Ryuji ran up to him seemingly out of breath. “Holy shit… Did you see that?!”

Akira blinked then shook his head. “Y-Yeah… We gotta get out there.”

“C’mon, let’s go!”

They barely manage to shove their way to the courtyard. Paramedics had already arrived by the time they got there. The crowd present were taking pictures of the scene much to the pair’s disdain.

“What the hell is wrong with everyone?” Akira muttered.

Ryuji scoffed. “Damn right…” Ryuji overheard and saw Mishima panic and run away. He frowned at how suspicious that looked. He alerted Akira. ”Hey, didja see that? He’s gotta know somethin’.”

Akira nodded. ”Definitely. Let’s go after him.”

“Yeah, we’re gonna make him talk this time.”

They chased after Mishima, finding him cowering in a corner. They both interrogated him, but he kept resisting like last time. Akira could feel his patience slipping.

He had a dark hunch, one he hoped wouldn’t be true. However, deep down, he knew it was a possibility it was.

“I-I told you, I don’t know!” Mishima exclaimed

Akira sighed. “Hey, listen. Didn’t you see what just happened? Tell us, what do you know?” Mishima continued to stay silent. Akira’s patience was dissipating fast. He heaved a stressed groan and his time became accusatory. “It was Kamoshida, wasn’t it? Can’t you see he’s gone far enough? Tell us! We can make things change!” he shouted.

Mishima yelped. “S-She was called out by Mr. Kamoshida! Whenever he’s in a bad mood, he’d nominate someone and hit them…” The information rolled off Mishima’s tongue, but as he went on his grimace intensified and he slowed down. “But Mr. Kamoshida seemed more irritated than usual that day, so it must’ve been worse than usual…”

Akira’s face darkened. It seemed his hunch was unfortunately correct. His hands shakily balled into fists, his nails digging into his palms. On the other hand, Ryuji exploded; he slammed his fist against the locker next to Mishima’s face. The boy looked up at him in fear and Akira stared at him dumbfounded.

“That son of a bitch!” Ryuji screamed.

“Sakamoto?!” Mishima exclaimed, running after him. “Hold on!”

Akira’s anger drained away as Ryuji ran past him. “Wait! Dammit, Ryuji!” The damn idiot was going to get himself in trouble. Akira scowled and went to run after them, but stopped when he managed to hear Sumire weakly call out to him.

“Akira… Please…”

Akira’s scowl disappeared when he turned to her. “Sumire? Are you okay?”

Sumire was sitting on the floor, tightly hugging her own legs. “Please… Stay. I can’t take this anymore…”

Akira shook his head. “But Ryuji!”

Sumire looked up at him with a desperate gaze. “Akira, please don’t do anything stupid. I don’t want you to get in trouble!”

Akira scowled. “That’s exactly it! Ryuji’s gonna do something stupid and get himself screwed!”

“But don’t make things worse for yourself!”

“Sumire…  Damn it, I don’t have time for this!”

“Akira!”

He ignored her and caught up to Mishima. Deep down, he felt horrible, but he had to keep Ryuji from doing something stupid.

“Kurusu?” Mishima asked. “What… Nevermind. Sakamoto is probably headed for the PE faculty office.”

They headed directly to the PE office. They could hear Ryuji shouting even from the hallway. Suddenly, they heard a loud crash and Akira tensed up.

Dammit, was he too late?

“Ryuji!” Akira shouted.

He bursted into the PE faculty office. Ryuji stared at him stunned. Kamoshida looked at him and Mishima with a scowl of detest.

“Oh, great. More vermin…” Kamoshida muttered.

Mishima pointed at Kamoshida. “Wh-What you did… wasn’t coaching!” he stuttered. “I can only imagine what you did to her…”

“You lot keep going on and on about claims you have no proof of,” Kamoshida growled. “Even if it is as you say it is, what can you do? We just received a call from the hospital. Suzui’s in a coma and her chances of recovery are slim… How could someone like that make a statement?” he jeered at them with a mocking grin. Akira glowered at him, but remained silent. Ryuji on the other hand...

Ryuji grit his teeth and raised a fist. “You goddamn dirty son of a—” He swung at Kamoshida, but was stopped by Akira. Ryuji glared at him with confusion. “Wh—?”

Akira shook his head. “Ryuji, it’s not worth it.”

“But—!”

Kamoshida smirked at them. “Know your place, trash will always be trash. Damn waste of time, everyone present here will be expelled; I’m reporting all of you at the next board meeting.”

Everyone gave Kamoshida bewildered stares. He couldn’t do that! Could he? Kamoshida nonchalantly sat back down, not bothering to look at them anymore. He cackled loudly.

“Wh— you can’t do that!” Mishima tried to argue.

“Who the hell is gonna listen to you? Don’t act like you’re innocent, you’re the one who leaked his record, right? Now get out of my sight.”

“Mishima…?” Akira stared at Mishima with a disbelieving stare.

He was the reason why everyone knew about his record… It’s not as if it wouldn’t have come out anyway, with or without Mishima’s hand. Still, he still felt angry.

Mishima tried to defend himself, but Akira left the office without saying a word much to Kamoshida’s amusement. He leaned against the wall and sighed, pressing his hand against his head.

“K-Kurusu,” Mishima began. “I’m sorry… I had no other—”

Akira inhaled sharply. “It’s… fine,” he exhaled. “Just leave me alone…”

Mishima tried to say something, but he decided it was better to leave. He didn’t have the courage to say anything else. Ryuji looked at Akira with concern.

“Yo, are you—”

“No, I’m not okay dammit… I just…” He sighed. “Forget about it. I’ll see you at the usual spot.”

“Wha… Okay, dude.”

Even after what happened, classes continued. Akira trudged to his seat and found that Sumire was absent. He found himself staring at the empty seat every so often. At the end of the day, Akira was the first to arrive in the courtyard. He wasn’t sure if he could face her after leaving her when she was obviously vulnerable. He felt like an idiot. He sat silently on a bench with his gaze downcast.

He felt something settle down next to him. He didn’t have to look at who just sat next to him. It made his heart sink lower when he realized who it was.

“Akira…”

“Sumire…” Akira sighed. “I’m sorry for running off like that.”

Sumire awkwardly shifted. “It’s okay…” She had another question in mind that she was partly fearful to ask. Akira must’ve realized because he gave her a soft look. “Are you really getting expelled?”

Akira’s eyes widened. “Wait, how did you know?!”

“So it is true…” Sumire muttered.

Neither of them knew what else to say to each other. Akira incessantly tapped his foot against the ground. The silence was starting to get unbearable. He tried to say something, but Ryuji came, so instead, he got up.

“Hey, the cat here yet?” Ryuji asked. He had a determined look and Akira did his best to mirror him.

“I’m NOT a cat!” Morgana yowled as he jumped up onto the table.

“Whatever!” Ryuji exclaimed indignantly. “We gotta hurry and beat the shit outta that asshole!”

“We’re not beating him up. We’re simply stealing his distorted desires,” Morgana stated plainly.

“Beating him up, making him feel guilty, same thing.” Sumire muttered. Her legs and arms were crossed and she had a grim stare. Akira gave her a sympathetic glance. “You’ve made up your mind, right?”

Akira steeled himself and looked back at Morgana. “Yeah, we can’t let him do what he wants anymore. So, Morgana, have you ever done anything like this before?

“When did I ever say that?” Morgana responded nonchalantly. Akira gave him a blank stare whereas Ryuji stared with his jaw dropped.

“So you were just pretendin’ to know?!” Ryuji exclaimed.

Sumire frowned. “Yeah, how do you know of all this?”

“Is it true you’re getting expelled?” They heard Ann ask suddenly, catching them off-guard.” “Everyone’s talking about it…”

Akira glanced at Sumire with surprise. He shouldn’t have been surprised that news of it spread like wildfire, but it was strange he didn’t hear anything about it. However, what Ann said next surprised them all even further.

“If you’re going to deal with Kamoshida let me in on it too,” she said with a serious look in her eyes. “I can’t just sit back and do nothing after what happened to Shiho!”

Except they couldn’t allow it.

“Ann, I get how you feel, but—” Akira tried to explain, but he was abruptly cut off by Ryuji.

“Don’t butt your head into this, it ain’t got anything to do with you,” he said harshly.

Akira stared at him. “Ryuji—”

“But it does!” Ann argued back. “Shiho is—”

“I said don’t get in our way!” Ryuji shouted, causing Akira and Ann to flinch. Ann stared at Ryuji dumbstruck, but then she gave him an exasperated glare before running off.

Akira sighed. “Ryuji…”

“What?” Ryuji asked. “We can’t take her to a place like that!”

“Still, that was pretty harsh,” Morgana agreed. “I hope she doesn’t do anything too crazy. Women can be much bolder than men at times.”

Akira heard Sumire grunt, so he looked back at her. For a moment he saw the slightest hint of an amused grin.

“The moment we cross over, we’ll treat each other like phantom thieves, so I hope you’re ready,” Morgana said. Akira and Ryuji gave him questioning looks. “Those who covertly sneak in and stylishly steal treasure! That is what we become!”

“You could just say ‘superheroes’, but sure, be fancy with it.” Sumire stated dryly.

Ryuji grinned. “Huh, sounds pretty badass! Anyway, we just gotta say his name and ‘castle’ and bizarro world we go, is that right?”

He excitedly inputted the information into the Navigator. When he activated it, Sumire heard a surprised yell come from behind them. She turned around and saw Ann hiding around the corner.

“Uh, Akira, look.”

Akira turned around and saw where she was pointing at. “Ann?!”

Ryuji jumped at the mention and frantically looked around. “Wait what? What about Takamaki?!”

Before they could do anything however, all five of them were in the Metaverse, at the gate to Kamoshida’s castle. The three Persona-users and ghost stared at a very perplexed Ann.

“Takamaki?! Why the hell’re you here?!” Ryuji exclaimed.

Ann gave the blond a bewildered stare, scanning his outfit from top to bottom. “Wait… Sakamoto?” Then she noticed Akira next to him who was also wearing some kind of costume. “And is that you, Akira?! What’s going on?! Where are we?! And what’s with the weird get-up?!”

Akira sighed and pressed a hand to his forehead. “Oh boy… Morgana, do you think she was dragged along with us when we transitioned?” he asked the cat, but he noticed him staring off into space, mesmerized. “Morgana?” He waved his hand in front of his face, snapping him out of his trance.

“O-Oh!” He attempted to compose himself, clearing his throat and crossing his arms. “W-Well… If multiple people can enter with the user, it stands to reason that it’ll pull anyone nearby.”

That’s definitely going to be a problem in the future,” Sumire commented and Akira agreed with her. They were going to have to be much more careful the next time they came back.

“For real...?” Ryuji sighed. “A-Anyway, you gotta leave!”

Ann frowned. “What? No! I’m not leaving! This place is related to Kamoshida, right? So take me with you!”

“Keep it down you two, the Shadows are going to find us if you cause a scene,” Morgana chided.

“Probably wouldn’t be the first time,” Sumire said.

Ann stared at Morgana, bewildered by his form. “Wh— No way! Did that thing just talk!? Oh my god it’s a monster cat!”

Morgana stared, slack-jawed. “Monster…?”

“You guys better explain what’s going on here! I’m not going to leave until you do!”

Ryuji sighed. “Looks like we gotta force her. But… how’re we supposed to do that?”

Sumire rolled her eyes. “You know you can just take her back to where you guys entered…”

Akira rubbed his nape. “I feel bad, but… Let’s just take her back to where we came in.”

“O-Oh, yeah, that’s right,” Ryuji responded. “Can you lend me a hand?”

“Yeah, on it.” He began to walk toward Ann alongside Ryuji. “Sorry, but it’s way too dangerous here.”

“What’re you—” she tried to argue back, but she found herself dragged by the two. She squirmed, attempting to break free of their grasps to no avail. “Wh— Hey! Let me go!”

“We’ll explain after everything’s over! But you gotta leave,” Ryuji said.

“You guys seriously—! Ah!?”

They were able to get Ann out of the Metaverse and came back to be briefly lectured by the cat. It was a no-brainer, but Akira knew it’d be bad if they were to make another mistake like this.

Morgana shook his head. “You guys need to be more careful when you use that app from now on.”

“Yeah yeah, we know…” Ryuji said dismissively.

“You really should’ve checked the tools you used. I was just watching and I know more about it than you two!”

Ryuji groaned. “Ah shuddup… Geez, Takamaki found out about it right as we were startin’ off.”

Akira nodded. “We’re gonna have to deal with this fast.”

Morgana’s scowl dissipated, replaced by a dreamy smile. “That girl’s name is Ann Takamaki, right? Lady Ann…”

Sumire glared at him. “Morgana, no. Don’t you dare.”

He shook his head, snapping out of it. “The shadows know that we’re here now, so you two better brace yourselves. We’re counting on you Joker!”

Akira pointed to himself, confused. “Me? What’s with the nickname?”

“Don’t refer to it in such a lame way! It’s a code name. What kind of stupid phantom thief would use their real name!? I know I’m not down for that! There’s no telling what kind of effect yelling out our real names will have on the Palace... It’s just a precaution.”

“But didn’t you say that the real one won’t know what we did in here?” Sumire commented.

Akira looked at her and shrugged. “I dunno, does it have something to do with his psyche or something?”

Morgana nodded. “Kinda. Like I said, it’s a precaution.”

Ryuji cleared his throat and pointed at Akira. “So, uh, why's he Joker?”

Sumire smirked. “Yeah, aren’t you the funny one?” Akira snorted at the snide remark, prompting a confused stare from Ryuji and Morgana.

“Eh? What’s so funny?” Ryuji asked.

Akira waved his hand. “Nothing. Just a dumb thought.”

“Well, it’s because he’s our trump card when it comes to fighting strength!” Morgana said.

Akira brought a hand to his mouth in contemplation. “Hm… I haven’t really done anything that different compared to you two.” He put down his hand, smirking. “But I like it.”

“Alright! It’s settled then, your code name is now Joker!”

“It’s surprisingly fitting.” Sumire said.

Morgana turned to Ryuji. “Alright, Ryuji it’s your turn. Let’s see… You’ll be… ‘Thug’.”

Sumire and Akira snickered whereas Ryuji frowned.

“Are you tryna pick a fight cat!? I’ll choose it myself!” He stared off into the air and tapped his foot. “Hm... When it comes to me, I’d say it’s gotta be this mask. I kinda like it honestly. What if we named me after this?"

Morgana sighed. “Fine… How about ‘Skull’ then?"

Ryuji smiled and pumped his fist. “Ooh! That sounds awesome! Alright, I’m Skull!”

Sumire was incorporeal, but she couldn’t help but wonder; she curiously pressed her hand against her forehead. It felt firm at least, there wasn’t anything unusual about it whatsoever.

“All that’s left is you, Morgana,” Akira said.

“How ‘bout ‘Mona’?” Skull suggested.

Sumire rolled her eyes. “Real creative there ‘Skull’.”

“Well, if he’s okay with it. You two go on ahead.” He then gave Sumire a glance. “I… have to think for a moment.”

Morgana nodded. “We’ll stay close by in case you need us then.”

Morgana and Ryuji left him be and waited by the vent. If there were potential consequences for using their real names, Akira didn’t want to know what would happen if he made any mention of Sumire.

“Hm? Something wrong Aki— Joker?”

“I’m just thinking, we should probably give you a codename too. Just calling you ‘the light’ is… y’know.”

Sumire hummed. “Makes sense to me, but between you and me, I think the kitty just wants us to have cool superhero names.” She said with a smile.

Akira shrugged, returning the smile. “Maybe. Anyway, how does ‘Spooky’ sound to you?”

Sumire shook her head. “That sounds way too kiddish.”

“Fair point… Then, how about Spectre?”

“That’s good, but I still think we can do better. A good nickname should work on multiple levels.”

Akira sighed. “Well then, do you have any better ideas?”

“Let me think…” She thought for a moment, tapping her finger against her chin. “I got it! How about Spirit?”

“Spirit…” Akira echoed as he grinned. “I like it. I get the whole ghost thing, but what did you mean by ‘multiple levels’?”

“Well not only am I a ghost, I’m also not seen with the rest of you, but still with them ‘in spirit’.”

“Huh, that’s actually pretty clever! Welcome to the team, Spirit!” Akira frowned, suddenly feeling the guilt of what happened before catching up to him. “By the way… I’m sorry about—”

Sumire immediately squashed him, looking at him sternly. “Akira, it’s ok. Just forget about it. I mean, we’re already here, aren’t we?” She tried to give him a reassuring smile which worked for the most part.

He cleared his throat and forced a smile.“A-Alright… Let’s go, Spirit.”

Akira caught up to the others and they began their infiltration. It was obvious the Palace was on much higher alert than before. Morgana made a suggestion when they came up to their first Shadow. Without a word, Akira snuck up to the Shadow and unmasked it, unveiling a lone fairy.

“Alright! It’s a weak one, knock it down Joker!” Morgana explained.

“Arsene, Eiha!” Joker barked, calling forth his Persona.

The fairy was swept up in the curse attack and plummeted to the floor with a shirek. On Morgana’s call, everyone immediately surrounded the downed Shadow with their guns drawn at it. The fairy, recovered from its daze, looked around perplexed.

“Wait! Please don’t kill me!” she cried.

Morgana spoke up. “See here? When they’re cornered like this, we can probably talk to them like so. Anyhow, cough up anything you’ve got! Be it money or items!”

“Huh? You’ll let me go if I give you something?” The fairy seemed to be surprised, but then a disappointed look fell on her face. “Actually… I don’t have anything on me…”

Morgana appeared surprised at this. Wait, what? Uhhh… If that’s the case, then I guess it’s time for you to go to hell.” he said nonchalantly.

“W-Wait! Can’t we work something out?”

“Wait a minute.” Sumire chimed in and Akira looked at her. “Let’s hear her out, something tells me we can make a deal with her.”

Akira nodded toward Sumire and then looked at the fairy. “Fine. Make it fast.”

“R-Really? Thanks!” the fairy exclaimed excitedly. “Oh, um… What’s the deal with that light?” she asked, staring toward Sumire much to Ryuji’s confusion and frustration.

“Seriously?!” he groaned. “Great… first you guys, and now the Shadows can see it, but I still can’t!”

“Actually, the Shadows have been able to see it, but whatever.” Akira thought to himself. “C’mon, hurry up. We’re in a hurry, y’know?” He began to tap his foot impatiently causing the fairy to become jumpy.

“Hold on! Can you just please let me go?” she pleaded. “I won’t speak a word about this. Promise!”

Akira paused for a minute, deliberating on the thought, before finally sighing. “Fine, I’ll let you go… to hell.

Ryuji’s nose scrunched up. “Okay, dude. That was kinda cringe.”

The fairy stared at Akira, dumbfounded. “Sorry, but I agree with blondie. Was that really the best one-liner you could come up with? Although, I guess we’re the same,’ she said as her gaze wandered off. “Maybe if you weren’t holding me at gunpoint, we could get along really well. “ She sighed with a despondent smile.

“Dude, the hell’s it goin’ on about?’ Ryuji muttered.

Without warning, the fairy’s body began to glow light blue. Everyone steeled themselves, however, the fairy also seemed confused by the new development.

“What the? What’s going on?!” Morgana exclaimed.

“I feel…! That’s right…” The fairy slowly fluttered upward with a small smile that didn’t show anything malicious. “I don’t just belong to King Kamoshida. I’m an existence that drifts about in the sea of humanity’s souls… My name is Pixie! From now on, I’ll live inside your heart.”

“The heck does that mean? Wait, is she joining the team? When did we agree to this?!” Sumire exclaimed.

Before anyone could react, the fairy’s body faded into a bright blue ball of light. The faint shape of Joker’s mask could be seen in the light. It flew straight toward Akira’s face and he took a startled step back. However, the mask disappeared when it reached him and a warm feeling welled up in his chest.

“Hm, it’s pretty spacious in here.” Akira heard Pixie’s voice ring out in his mind which was certainly something he didn’t expect. Then again, everyone just witnessed him absorb a Shadow; if that’s what happened… “And what’s up with the brown-haired chick there?”

Huh, so they could see her. That’s interesting.

“What the hell was that about?” Ryuji asked with wide eyes. Akira snapped out of his trance and blinked at Ryuji, stupefied.

He shook his head. “I… I caught it I guess…”

“You okay?” Sumire asked.

“Nothing feels off, I think…”

Their attention was suddenly brought to the sound of metal clanking toward their direction. A Shadow appeared around the door and immediately transmogrified into two twin-horned beasts. Everyone braced for battle, and just as Ryuji was about to call on Captain Kidd, Akira could hear Pixie’s voice call out to him.

“Call my name whenever you need me…”

“Come forth… Pixie!”

Much to everyone’s shock and amazement, the Shadow from earlier emerged from Akira’s mask. She launched an electric attack at the opposing Shadows, crippling them. Without room for comments, Akira rushed forward to finish the Shadows off and everyone promptly followed behind.

Sumire thought she saw Pixie curiously looking at her before she returned to Akira’s mask. She was then distracted by the group’s all-out-attack before she could give it more thought.

“Even I've never seen anyone pull that off!” Morgana exclaimed. “First, there’s that weird light and now you can use multiple Personas?! What else can you do?

“How many other people with Personas do you know?” Sumire quipped.

“Do you know any other Persona users besides us?” Akira asked.

Morgana shook his head. “No, but only one heart can exist per person, so naturally a person should only have one Persona!”

Akira shrugged and smirked. “What can I say? I’m a man of many masks.”

“Ok, Shake Beer. No need to get all deep.” Ryuji said.

“You mean Shakespeare?”

Sumire sighed. “This whole castle is just one big metaphor.”

“You sure are full of surprises, Joker,” Morgana said. “This ability makes for an amazing boon!”

The team traversed further into the Palace. Akira was able to recruit more Personas along the way. They found a particularly suspicious door, but there didn’t seem to be any way to get in, so they left it alone. What was most peculiar however… 

“Looks like I’m not the only spook-hee thing here-ho!”

“Why she float?”

Much to Akira’s dismay and his teammates’ confusion, the Shadows seemed to become cognizant of Sumire’s true form when he successfully turned them into his masks. They decided to take a short rest at the next safe room they found. Ryuji wanted to ask, but Akira excused himself, leaving the two of them in the safe room.

“Think they’re trying to trick us?” Ryuji asked Morgana.

“How should I know? I’ve never seen anything like this before!”

Ryuji frowned, disappointed in the answer, but relented. “By the way, how’re we supposed to steal that Treasure thing?”

“Don’t be so hasty, we need to secure an infiltration route. Otherwise a path to the Treasure. Although, in all honesty, we might need a little more manpower to accomplish this.”

“Hey, you said you lost your memories and all, but somehow you still know about this kinda stuff? It’s pretty suspicious if you ask me.”

The door opened and Akira entered. “Eh, he’s been fine so far.” he said nonchalantly.

“Dude, you’re way too relaxed.” Ryuji said which Akira scoffed at, but he didn’t seem to notice it. “I mean, what if it’s just some stray cat in the end?”

“I heard that!”

“By the way, what were ya doin’ out—”

“Still, why was the princess in such an odd place?” The voice of a Shadow echoed throughout the halls.

The group quieted down and remained close to the door, listening to the conversation outside. Morgana decided to investigate with Sumire following suit while Akira and Ryuji stayed behind. Morgana snuck around the passing Shadows and backtracked through the halls which had already been cleared of other Shadows. However, he did notice the light that always accompanied Akira following him.

“Why’s it following me?” Morgana pondered aloud.

“I…” Sumire began, but she couldn’t come up with any solid answer, as if it mattered. “…don’t know.”

Shrugging it off, Morgana continued further until the sound of armor clacking came closer. He hid around the corner that led back to the central hall and saw a Shadow hauling Ann, who was frantically struggling, hauled over its shoulder.

“Lady Ann!” he exclaimed in a hushed tone.

Sumire sighed. “Oh boy… this is going to be a recurring thing, isn’t it?”

He immediately scampered back to the safe room with Sumire following behind. Meanwhile…

Morgana slid out of the safe room with Sumire following after him. Akira thought about following, but figured that he’d be fine, so he said nothing and waved them off.

“And yet another question unanswered…“ Ryuji sighed. “All this shit’s bizarre and all—the castle and navigation app thing—but Morgana’s got’em all beat.”

“Hey, codenames,” Akira chided sarcastically.

“Ah, crap! Sorry!” Ryuji apologized and he scratched his head. “What was I again…? Oh right, Skull!”

Akira smiled. “And I’m Joker. Hopefully you can remember.”

“Of course— Hol’ up, are you patriotizin’ me or somethin’?”

“Maybe.” Akira shrugged. “It’s ‘patronize’, by the way.”

“Sure sure. Patriot pardon. Tomato potato.” Ryuji said indifferently and Akira rolled his eyes. “By the way,” Ryuji continued, “speaking of unanswered questions, what do the Shadows mean about a brown-haired—”

Morgana burst through the doors with a panicked expression, with Sumire following suit. “Guys!” he exclaimed.

“Oh, come on!!”

“Hey, focus!” Morgana snapped. “Your friend, Lady Ann! She’s been taken by Shadows!” he exclaimed, shocking both Akira and Ryuji.

“Effin’ what?!” Ryuji exclaimed. “Didn’t we send her home earlier?!”

“Wait, if she somehow has the app…” Akira mused, trying to push down his panic. “I can’t see why she’d have it, but it’s the only thing I can think of.”

Ryuji’s shoulders slumped and his mouth hung open as he came to a realization. “Oh shit… Don’t tell me it got on hers like mine?! Dammit, we gotta rescue her!”

Akira and Ryuji followed Morgana which was mostly backtracking, but they all eventually heard Ann shouting at her captors. They followed her voice to the locked door they found earlier which they now seemed to be able to enter.

With Akira now in the lead, he pushed the door open and led the team inside. They walked in on a grotesque scene, various, indiscernible cognitions of the girls strewn all over the floor, moaning all sorts of obscenities.

“What the hell…?” Akira muttered.

“Woah man, this is effed up…” Ryuji said, seething through his clenched fists. “This seriously how he sees all the girls on the volleyball team?!”

Morgana pointed a paw away from the scene and called out to them. “Hey! Over there!”

They turned their heads toward a group of Shadows, including the Shadow of Kamoshida himself with his cognition of Ann, huddled around something. Ann was tied to a cross, trying to avoid the Shadow’s lascivious gaze.

“Takamaki!” Ryuji shouted.

Kamoshida’s face scrunched up with displeasure. “Just when I was about to start enjoying myself,” he grumbled.

Ann stared up at them. “Akira?! Sakamoto?! What’s the deal with this guy?!”

“How many times are you rats gonna keep coming back?” Kamoshida turned to leer at Ann, causing her to flinch. “I get it, you’re just like those petty thieves. You came because you’re pissed at me, is that right? But… Ah, I always forget that chick’s name… It’s your fault she jumped, you know.”

“No! Ann! Don’t listen to his bullshit!” Akira shouted, scowling at Kamoshida.

“You were so reluctant to throw yourself onto me that I had her take your place.”

Ann glared at Kamoshida. “You bastard!” she shrieked, but then a Shadow took a step toward her and her face lit up with panic.

“No!” Ryuji cried and he began running toward them.

“Son of a bitch!” Akira followed after him.

However, the two Shadows standing on opposite sides of her raised their swords to her neck. Akira and Ryuji immediately stopped in their tracks, glaring at the Shadows.

“One more step and I’ll have her killed on the spot!” Kamoshida barked. “Just sit back and enjoy the dismemberment show.” He turned to Ann with a perverse grin. “Maybe I’ll start with her clothes…”

“Dammit! What’re we gonna do?!” Ryuji cried out frustratedly.

One of the Shadows began closing in on her. She watched in fear as the sword came closer to her, her body instinctively reeling back as far as it could to avoid it, but she knew it was fruitless. Her body eased up as a dejected look fell upon her face.

“Is this… my punishment for what happened to Shiho?” She choked out a sob as an image of her friend flashed into her mind. Kamoshida seemed to take pleasure in her dismay, but his words were a buzz to her. “Shiho… I’m so sorry…”

“Damn it,” Akira muttered, frantically thinking of a course of action until he looked at Sumire. ”Spirit, go!”

“Spirit?” Morgana asked.

“Oh right, that’s me!” Sumire exclaimed.

Sumire flew in front of Ann, successfully catching the guards off-guard. The large one that was approaching Ann stepped back, baring its sword at the light in front of it.

“Wh-What is this thing?”

“What is what? Get on with it already!”

Akira let out a sigh of relief. “Alright, good…” He took a deep breath and put on a stern expression. “Ann, are you really going to listen to what this bastard says?” he shouted, surprising Ann. “Will you let him get away with what he did to your best friend? Get angry! Don’t let this scum walk all over you like that!”

That’s right… This was Kamoshida’s fault, he was the one to blame, not her own self. She felt stupid for even thinking that. He had used her like a toy and she was sick of it. It started within her chest, her body began to feel warm and the temperature steadily escalated.

“You’re right…” Ann laughed wryly. “Just what was I thinking? Letting this piece of shit toy with me…”

Kamoshida scowled at her. “It’s like I always say, slaves should just behave and—“

Ann glowered at him with burning rage, causing him to take a scared step back. “Shut. Up. I’ve had enough. You pissed me off you son of a bitch!” she shrieked.

My… it’s taken far too long.

The heat she felt in her flared up all of a sudden, causing her to let out a sharp gasp. Her body began to convulse wildly, the only thing keeping her in place being the cross which she was bound to.

Sumire smiled to herself and returned to Akira who had a knowing smirk.

“Hey, did anyone order extra firepower?” she asked.

Akira chuckled in response. “Alright, it’s showtime everyone.”

“Are you effin’ kiddin’ me right now?!” Ryuji yelped.

Tell me… Who is going to avenge her if you don’t?

Forgiving him was never the option…

Such is the scream of the other you that dwells within.

I am thou, thou art I… 

We can finally forge a contract.

Her body forcibly lurched forward one last time before going limp. The sweltering heat inside her felt hotter than before, but not painfully so. It felt hotter than any flame she’s ever come to close proximity to and yet she found great exhilaration in it.

“I hear you… Carmen,” she whispered breathlessly. She whipped her head up and a red feline mask appeared on her face from a burst of blue flames. “You’re right. No more holding back!”

There you go… Nothing can be solved by restraining yourself.

Understand? Then I’ll gladly lend you my strength.

She broke free of her restraints one by one. When she was free, by instinct, she tore off the mask and with a scream, her body was consumed in a torrent of blue fire.

She emerged from the fire in a red latex suit. Her Persona, Carmen, stood tall behind her.

Without any sort of warning, she ran up to a Shadow and kicked its sword out its hand. She then ran toward Kamoshida and leaped up and caught the sword out of the air, and slashed down at her doppelgänger. The cognition of Ann faded away with a distorted screech.

She stood up, dropped the sword and walked towards Kamoshida with a threatening glower. He backed up with an anxious expression and a Shadow guard stood in front of him.

“You know what? I’m not some cheap girl you can toy with, you scumbag,” she said. “You stole everything from Shiho… You destroyed her… Now it’s your turn! I will rob you of everything!”

“How dare you!” the Shadow barked. “Enough of your insolence!”

The Shadows dissipated into red and black puddles that converged into one. The Shadows combined to produce a single, powerful Shadow, despite the ridiculous form it took, much to Sumire’s amusement.

“No, I’ve had enough of you. No one’s gonna stop me now. Let’s go Carmen!”

“How dare you deny King Kamoshida’s love?!” the Shadow roared. “You shall pay for this insolence with your life!” The air around the Shadow became frigid.

“Love? Don’t make me laugh; that dirtbag only sees women as sexual outlets! Give’em hell, Carmen!”

Ice began forming around the area, but Ann responded against the attack with fire. The room lit up with flames as balls of fire were thrown at the Shadow, which seemed to be weak to the element.

The others watched in amazement as she single-handedly overwhelmed the Shadow. However, the Shadow didn’t take the hits without resistance.

“She’s not letting it breathe!” Morgana said in awe.

The Shadow finally lashed out, a ball of ice began forming in front of her. She leaped back and brandished a whip which she began using to attack. As the Shadow prepared another attack, Akira stepped into the fray.

“Jack O’Lantern!” The Persona appeared and launched a ball of fire at the Shadow from behind which successfully knocked it down. “Ann! Let’s finish it off quick! Skull, Mona!”

Everyone responded together and initiated an all-out-attack on the Shadow. Ann finished off the attack with a pose.

“A beautiful rose has thorns!”

“ Oh shit… ” Kamoshida muttered as he watched the team decimate his guard.

The group turned their attention to the fearful Kamoshida. He turned tail and fled. Ann tried to chase after him, but the high from the awakening died down. A level of exhaustion she’s never felt before weighed her down.

“Yeah, you better run!” Sumire shouted.

“Wait…!” Ann shouted, but her knee buckled under her as she let out exhausted breaths.

Akira looked at her with concern and knelt down beside her. ”Ann, are you—“

“Are you okay, Lady Ann?” Morgana interrupted.

Ann gave him a bemused stare. ”Lady… Ann?” She then seemed to take notice of her surroundings as she frantically looked around. ”Wait, is this thing alive? How can it talk? Is it real? What’s going on?!”

“That’s what we wanna know!” Ryuji exclaimed. “How the hell didja come back here?!”

“H-How am I supposed to know…?!” she stammered. She tried to stand up, but fell over toward her side. Akira immediately caught her by the arm.

“Hey, woah, take it easy.” He looked up at Ryuji. “Ryuji, come here and help me get her up. We gotta get outta here, right Mona?”

“C’mon, seriously? We were just gettin’ fired up and you had to…” Ryuji groaned. He crossed his arms and tapped his foot in an impatient manner, but he ultimately relented. “Rgh, whatever, c’mere.”

The team returned to the real world and decided to discuss in the subway rather than in front of the school. It was beginning to get late after all.

“Have you calmed down, Lady Ann?” Morgana asked.

“Yep… This is becoming a recurring thing…” Sumire sighed.

“Uh… Morgana, right? I really am talking to a cat…  Oh wait, you’re not a cat, right?”

“Nope, I’m one-hundred percent human!”

“No, he definitely is a cat. For now, at least.” Sumire quipped.

Nobody but Akira acknowledged her, but she ignored it.

“Based on what you told me… Can we actually make him confess his crimes?” Ann asked.

“Well, only one way to find out,” Akira said. “Even we’re not sure, but it’s pretty much the only option we have left at this point.”

Ann contemplated for a moment before responding resolutely. “In that case, let me in. If we don’t stop him, he’ll just keep doing what he does like nothing’s ever happened.” Her eyes narrowed and her fists balled up tightly. “I want to make him pay for what he’s done to Shiho…”

“Hey, what should we do?” Ryuji asked. “I guess there ain’t anythin’ stopping her from goin’ in on her own if we turn her down…”

“It’d be nice to have another girl on the team.” Sumire said.

Akira gave her a subtle grin before turning to Ann with a smile. While the extra manpower was needed and greatly appreciated, that wasn’t the only reason he let her join.

The three of them were the outcasts of Shujin Academy. Not to mention Kamoshida hurt them all in some shape or form, regardless if Ann or Ryuji had it worse than Akira. It felt wrong to blow her off.

“Welcome to the team.”

I am Thou, Thou art I...

Thou hast acquired a new vow…
The Lovers Arcana has been revealed to thee...

“She’s captured my heart…” Morgana sighed dreamily.

Sumire groaned and attempted to give him a light smack on the head. “Alright, that’s enough you hopeless romantic.” She knew she couldn’t touch him, but she knew he could see her.

Morgana flinched as the light got close to his face. “Hey, what’s that light got against me?”

“Huh? Light?” Ann asked.

Ryuji sighed. “I’m just as confused as you are about it,” he said

Ann didn’t bother to question it further. “Well, just lemme know when you guys are headed back in—“ She stopped as she realized she’d have to give them her contact. “Wait, we don’t have each other’s info, do we? Here, give me your chat ID. I’ll be counting on you guys then.”

The group exchanged their IDs with Ann. Akira put it into the back of his mind to create a group chat later. With that done, Ann bid farewell to them as her train came.

“See you guys tomorrow,” she said with a wave and walked away. The smitten Morgana gazed at her, ignoring the odd looks he received from his comrades.

“What a kind girl… So considerate, and she’s willing to cast herself into the jaws of death to achieve her goal… She cares—“

Ryuji groaned. “Okay, we get it!” he exclaimed. ”Anyhow, we should have a place for the group to quickly meet up.” He hummed as he thought. In just a few seconds his face lit up as he made his suggestion. “The school roof maybe?”

Akira nodded. “That’s pretty smart. Morgana?”

“Yes, that should work as the perfect hideout. And since I can’t contact you from within the Metaverse… I’m personally nominating you to take care of me. You should feel honored.”

“Sorry, that slot’s taken!” Sumire said. Though it was mainly a joke, it was partly because she thought Sojiro wouldn’t allow it. Akira thought so too.

“Yeah, I don’t know,” Akira said. ”I’m kinda… Ryuji?” he asked hopefully.

Ryuji shook his head. “There’s no way I can at my place.”

Akira relented with a sigh. “Well, I’ll see how it goes. Anyway, looks like we have a plan.”

An excited grin broke across Ryuji’s face. “Alright! Now that we have our hideout, let’s meet up there tomorrow, yeah? See ya, dude!”

“At least it’s someone who can kinda see me,” Sumire said.

Akira placed his bag on his bed and Morgana came out. He looked around the place and his face scrunched up with displeasure.

“What the… What’s with this place? Is this some kind of abandoned shed or something?”

“Hey, what’s going on up here—” Akira whipped around at the sound of Sojiro’s voice and stared at him. “Ugh, why did you bring it here?

“I… met it on the way to school. It kept following me there and back and well, here we are.”

“Aw, come on. This is a restaurant business,” Sojiro said, but the harsh expression he had softened. “However, it might keep you on good behavior if you have to take care of it…” he muttered to himself. “Well, you’ve been talking to yourself for a while, so I guess you could use a pet to keep yourself company. Taking care of it is entirely on you, and make sure it stays on its best behavior, got it?”

On that note, Sojiro left them be. On the one hand, Akira was happy that Sojiro was willing to accommodate. On the other…

“Now there’s two of them… Privacy’s not gonna be a thing here, is it…?” he thought to himself.

“It’s kind of a surprise he’s allowing it,” Morgana said. “Then again, I do just sound like a regular cat to normal people.”

“At least people can see you…” Sumire muttered.

Sojiro came back up with a plate of fish and placed it in front of Morgana. “Seriously, it had to keep calling in that cute little voice… By the way, what’re you calling it?”

“Mr. Windy!” Sumire exclaimed, causing Akira to crack a wide grin. He cleared his throat, trying to wipe the smile off his face and gave Sojiro Morgana’s actual name. Sumire playfully pouted.

“Morgana? I was hoping I’d get to name it…” Sojiro sighed. “Anyway, make sure you wash that dish.” After that, Sojiro left for the night.

“Huh, wonder what he had in mind,” Sumire pondered.

“By the way…” Morgana began, “remember when you guys asked me before what I am? I’m honestly not too sure myself. I think the Metaverse’s distortions made me this way… I had to have been human. I mean, why else would a cat be able to talk like this?”

“Plausible,” Sumire quipped sarcastically. “I mean, we’ve seen a teacher practically naked in another world whose minions are a bunch of fairies, jack-o’-lanterns, goats… I mean, who knows what else is there? Succubuses? Or would it be succubi…? Succubeese? What’s the plural of succubus? Anyway, a talking cat who’s actually human is so far fetched,” she finished with a roll of her eyes.

Akira was struggling to not burst out laughing. Morgana noticed this and scowled at him. “Hey! Take this seriously!”

“S-Sorry. Just had a dumb thought,” Akira said. “Anyway, continue.”

Morgana didn’t appear convinced, but he continued. “And I have a pretty good idea on how to get them back too. That’s why I was in the castle in the first place.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it. We have your back,” Akira said.

Morgana perked up happily. “Glad to hear it. You’re really dependable, y’know? Don’t worry, this partnership won’t be for nothing. It’ll be a give and take relationship. I’ll teach you all about the craftsmanship and utilization of infiltration tools, how does that sound?”

“Alright, we have a deal.”

“Good! That light is going to get pretty annoying, but I’ll manage.”

“I look forward to seeing what else you’re capable of!” Morgana exclaimed.

I am Thou, Thou art I...

Thou hast acquired a new vow…
The Magician Arcana has been revealed to thee...

Sumire felt it was nice to have someone who’s aware of her presence living with them. Even if she’s just a light to him.

Later that night, Akira decided to change and go to bed. Morgana, in the meantime, looked at Sumire intently, pondering what she was.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. Is it some sort of bless attack gone rogue? That doesn’t make sense. Some kind of lost Shadow or cognition? No, that probably makes even less sense…”

Meanwhile, as Akira was getting settled, he received messages from Ann.

Ann:

—You saved me and I didn’t thank you properly, so thanks.

Akira:

—It’s fine, but Ryuji was there too, y’know?

Ann:

—I just thanked him a moment ago. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know at least. See you tomorrow.

Akira:

—By the way, we agreed on the rooftop being our hideout. Be there after school. So yeah, see you tomorrow.

He put his phone away and as he laid on his bed, he watched Morgana and Sumire staring at each other. Two enigmas, each curious about the other. He knew that if he was going to have to explain Sumire to anyone at some point, it would be the mysterious cat-like being who just so happened to walk into their lives.

Chapter Text

Morgana was sound asleep on Akira’s chest. Akira didn’t mind at first, but he began to regret it shortly after. He wondered how he was going to introduce Morgana to Sumire.

He wasn’t the only one still awake. Sumire, she laid on the couch, staring into the ceiling as the feeling of doubt burrowed a hole into her chest. A part of her worried for Akira, he already had his own problems but was willing to help others despite that. She wondered if she was even worth helping seeing as she was… dead.

She gave Akira a glance, who she thought should’ve been asleep, but she met his eyes. They both awkwardly stared at each other for a moment.

“You’re still up?” Akira asked in a projected whisper, trying not to wake Morgana up.

“And you are?” Sumire responded.

He shrugged. “Just thinking, y’know, how to tell Morgana since he can see you, somewhat. Anyway, what’s going on?”

Sumire stared up at the ceiling despondently. “Now that you have Morgana… do you still… you know…”

“I don’t follow…?”

She sighed. “Well, it’s just that Morgana is living with you now, and people can actually interact with him. I know they can’t hear him but still, and he also has amnesia like me… I was wondering if you still needed me around with him here.”

“Sumire, of course I still want you around!”

“But why?” she asked. “I’m just… well, a ghost, and Morgana’s… a cat but at least he’s alive…”

“Hey, slow down. I’m not the type of person that ignores whoever’s in need, that especially includes you. That’s why I’m doing this whole Palace thing in the first place! People need help—you need help.”

“Akira…” she sighed. “You really don’t know when to quit, do you?”

“Trust me, as long as I’m here, I’m sure we’ll figure out who you were!”

“Thank you, Akira…”

Sumire’s worries were put at ease and she smiled. She felt warm, it was just like with the other thieves, but more intense this time around. It felt… good.

I am thou, thou art I…

Thou hast acquired a new vow.

It shall become the wings of rebellion

That breaketh thy chains of captivity.

With the birth of the Charity Persona,

I have obtained the winds of blessing that

Shall lead to freedom and new power…

“You know what? I think I know how to do it now; I’ll introduce you tomorrow,” Akira said, petting the sleeping Morgana.

“Fatty Tuna…” Morgana mumbled, causing Akira and Sumire to giggle.

Sumire yawned. “We should call it a night. We had a long day today.”

“Yeah. Good night, Sumire.”

“Good night, Akira.”

Akira sat up, yawned, and stretched his arms up. He looked over at Sumire, surprised to see she was still asleep. Usually, she’d be up before him around this time. First time for everything he supposed. He was about to say something, but Morgana was already up and stretching.

“Goooood morning, Akira!” Morgana yowled. “Ready to go?”

Akira still eyed Sumire. She appeared so peaceful, her body(?) free of any tension as she breathed steadily. He recalled their talk last night and he smiled warmly.

Akira nodded. “Yeah. I’ll go get breakfast.”

Akira went down after changing, Morgana jumped down after him. Sojiro was staring absentmindedly at the television with the news channel buzzing. He already had a warm plate of curry set on the table for him, so Akira sat down and began eating. He was pretty sure curry was going to be his staple breakfast for the rest of the year now.

While it was incredibly good, he teased the thought of growing tired of it. Not that it seemed likely to happen anytime soon. That thought aside, what to get for lunch? Jam bread again? He decided he needed a job… 

The clank of a plate brought Akira’s attention toward Sojiro placing a plate of fish on the floor for Morgana who happily lapped up his meal. Akira blankly stared at him, his head buzzed, but he didn’t know why.

“Something wrong?” Morgana asked, Akira now realized he was staring back at him.

Akira blinked, wondering how long he was staring. He shook his head and turned his head back forward. “I feel like I’m forgetting something…”

Meanwhile, upstairs… Sumire felt blissfully refreshed as she got up and stretched. She turned to Akira’s bed to wake him up only to find he and Morgana were gone. Did she oversleep?

Morgana could’ve woken him up way before she woke up. She wondered why Akira didn’t wake her up. Right… Morgana. Speaking of, she recalled their talk last night and smiled, feeling good about the day ahead. She descended through the floor into the stool next to Akira who was just finishing up his food.

“Oh, there it is. The light’s been pretty dim this morning.”

Akira grinned at her. “Smooth.” He glanced at Sojiro who seemed distracted by the news. That was if he was even paying attention to it. “Good morning.”

“Good morning, Akira,” she said. She rested her elbow on the counter, propping her chin in her hand. She eyed Morgana then back to Akira. “When are you going to tell him?”

“Tell him wha—” His eyes widened. “Oh… right.” So that’s what he was forgetting, he felt bad for forgetting, but he didn’t reveal that. “I’m thinking about how to do it. Maybe tonight.” He got up, thanked Sojiro, and opened his bag to let Morgana in. “Alright, let’s go!”

Ryuji:

—So, we’re still gonna meet at the hideout, yeah?

Akira:

—…

Ryuji:

—Ugh, you don’t gotta say it, but you can’t actually tell me you’re listening to all this crap.

Ann:

—Yeah, but none of it is really sticking today… 

Akira:

—Honestly, yeah… The hideout is on the roof by the way.

Ann:

—Wait, we can still go up there?

Akira:

—Apparently. See you all there after school.

Ryuji:

—Awesome!

“Hey, Kurusu!” Ushimaru’s voice boomed, causing Akira to jump in his seat. “You! Pay attention! Is that how you listen when someone’s talking to you?!

“Akira, duck!” Sumire exclaimed.

The room temperature seemed to drop when he met Ushimaru’s fierce gaze with wide eyes. As though time slowed down, the old man slowly reeled his arm back, a piece of chalk in hand. A chill went up Akira’s spine as he felt a murderous intent…!

Ushimaru lurched his arm forward, like a marksman, aiming for the target on Akira’s head. The bullet whizzed through the air, en route toward its mark, but thanks to Sumire’s foresight he was able to just barely avoid taking the bullet to the head. He ducked and immediately lost track of the projectile. He could feel his hair rustle ever so slightly as it grazed the top of his head.

There was a loud yelp behind him followed by a thump . He shakily turned around and saw his fallen classmate out cold on the floor. He then turned back to Ushimaru’s scowl with tentative, fear-stricken eyes.

Ushimaru scoffed. “You better pay attention or that could be you!” He then acquired a new piece of chalk and continued the lesson.

Akira let out a distressed sigh and discreetly mouthed thanks to Sumire.

Still shaken from the prior experience, Akira pushed open the door to the rooftop. Ryuji had already sat in one of the seats, waiting for him and Ann. Upon hearing the door open, Ryuji looked toward Akira with a grin and beckoned him over. Not too long after, Ann appeared.

“So then, what’s the plan? The board meeting ain’t until the 2nd, so what’re we gonna do? We goin’ in now or what?” Ryuji asked.

Sumire hummed in thought as she leaned next to Akira. “Let’s see, May 2nd… so that gives us… two weeks until the meeting. That’s more than enough time to explore a castle! Right?”

“Yeah, what are we gonna do? I mean, we’re gonna infiltrate the Palace yeah, but how? What’s the plan?” Akira asked.

Morgana, who was sitting on a desk next to Ann piped up. “That’s right, we can’t just go in headlong. We’ll need to make proper preparations first; we’re gonna need some new equipment and medical supplies.”

“The equipment I get, but why waste money on healin’ shit? Can’t your Persona heal? Akira too, right?” Ryuji asked.

Morgana frowned and shook his head. “I can’t heal you guys indefinitely! It takes energy to summon a Persona, so medicine will help reduce unnecessary strain.”

“Oh, right… My bad.” Ryuji sheepishly rubbed his nape, but he then immediately grinned. “Anyway, I know this cool ass place to buy equipment n’ shit from! It’s where I got Akira’s gun!”

“Hey, Akira, I’m pretty sure there’s a clinic around home,” Sumire said.

“Right, and leave the medicine to me, I know a place,” Akira said.

Ryuji stood up excitedly and palmed his fist. “Alright, so it’s settled! Shit, hol’ up, Ann’s gonna need a code name, don’t she? She’s got that tail and stuff, so whaddya think, Akira?”

“Code name…?” Ann asked. “Oh right, I think I heard you guys calling each other by those.”

“Yeah! So I’m Skull, Akira’s Joker, and Morgana’s… well, Mona…” Ryuji said, followed by Sumire adding her own name which only Akira heard. “Anyway, as I was sayin’, with that outfit n’ all… I’m thinking… Sexy Cat.”

Ann’s nose crinkled with displeasure and she frowned at him. “Um… No way I’m gonna be called ‘Sexy Cat’!”

“Kitty Woman,” Sumire said.

Akira stroked his chin. “No… I can’t think of any good ones. Morgana didn’t take any cat-related names.”

“For good reason!” the cat in question yowled.

“Yeah, so Catgirl’s on the table if you want it.”

“Being called ‘Cat’ sounds way too kiddish…” Ann trailed off before perking up. “How about Panther since it sort of sounds ferocious, don’t you guys think?”

“If ya wanna go ‘ferocious’ then what about ‘Cougar’?” Ryuji suggested nonchalantly.

Ann glared at him. “Ryuji, can you stop being a perv for like five minutes?!”

Ryuji stared at her with wide eyes, taken aback as he retorted, “Wh— It’s a genuine suggestion! What’s so freakin’ perverted about a ‘cougar’?!”

Sumire palmed her head and let out an exasperated sigh. “Hoo boy, should I even explain?” From the corner of her eye, she saw Akira looking at her blankly. She stared back at him with a bemused stare. “I… have decided I won’t.” She groaned. “Ugh, can we adjourn the meeting?”

Akira shrugged and turned to everyone else. “Alright guys, if nobody else has anything to add then let’s get going. I’ll get the medicine, and as for the equipment… Ryuji?”

“Yeah!” The blond in question exclaimed with an eager grin. “As I was sayin’ before there’s this cool place in Shibuya. We’re off tomorrow, so if you’re not busy why don’t you guys come with?”

“Sure, it could be fun.”

Ann frowned. “Sorry… I already made plans to see Shiho in the hospital…”

Ryuji’s grin vanished as he gave her a sympathetic look. “O-Oh… Gotcha…” A brief moment of silence passed over the group until Ryuji mustered a reassuring smile. “Well, don’t worry about it, we got this.”

“Yeah, it’s no big deal,” Akira said, also offering a smile.

Ann smiled at them. “Thanks, guys.” She turned around and slid off the desk. “I’ll see you on Monday then.”

“Here’s the place,” Sumire announced. She, Akira, and Morgana stood in front of a building that was conveniently near Leblanc.

“‘Takemi Medical Clinic’, huh?” Akira read the sign aloud. “It looks unassuming. Do you think they’ll let us buy medicine without any good reason?”

“I doubt it.” Morgana said,” it’s not like we can tell the truth, so can you think of anything to say?

“Why don’t you tell them you’ve been feeling lethargic or something?” Sumire suggested, “I think exams are coming around the corner, so that should make it more convincing.”

“The ol’ sleep-deprived student card, huh? Well, it’s the only shot we have,” Akira said.

Morgana looked at Akira, probably with a raised brow if he were able to in his form. “Uh… Akira? Why does it seem like you’re talking to the light?”

“Huh? Oh, uh… Right, about that… I’ll tell you after Sakura-san closes up,” Akira said dismissively. “Let’s just get the medicine for now.”

Akira entered the building alongside Sumire, and Morgana ducked into his bag. He stepped into the waiting room, a bored dark-blue haired woman sat behind the reception, her eyes half-lidded as she worked through whatever paperwork behind the window. In such a small place, he assumed she ran the clinic, Dr. Takemi.

“Um, excuse me?” Akira said.

Takemi tilted her head up. “Oh, you look new, is this your first visit? So, what do you need?”

Akira cleared his throat. “Uh… I’ve been feeling really lethargic.”

She looked at him from head to toe. Akira shifted under her scrutinizing gaze, nervousness welling in his chest. However, she didn’t question him. “Alright. Please head to the exam room,” she said. Akira held in a sigh as she stood up and walked away. He and Sumire entered the door that led into the exam room. He met her there and sat on a stool in front of her. “So, tell me more. How do you feel?”

“So, lately, I haven’t been resting soundly, I’m getting headaches… It’s been killing my motivation to do much and it’s really showing in my grades…” he said dully, making sure to drag his words now and then, but not too long when he did. Sumire nodded, impressed with his acting.

Takemi nodded, jotting notes. “I see, in your case, it’s most likely due to stress. I’m going to prescribe you some pain relievers…” She trailed off, tapping her pen on her lower lip. “Actually, I need to restock on those… Let’s go with sleeping pills instead. Sleep is the best medicine anyway.”

Akira tried to hide his frown. “That’s not good enough. I need pain killers,” he stated.

Takemi’s eyes narrowed, causing him to suck in a breath. “Right… And I bet you need a year-long supply too. I’m not as dumb as I look. You’re here because of the rumors, aren’t you?” she asked. Akira looked at her confused, but before he could say anything she continued. “Whatever, fine, I’ll prescribe you medicine, but only those that will recover your health. It’s your own responsibility to take care of yourself, with that said, stop by anytime.”

Akira and Sumire stared at her surprised, but they shook it off and bought medicine without question. Akira’s wallet rapidly lost weight much to his dismay. He really needed a job fast… After paying for the medicine, they decided to head home.

“That was… easier than I thought it’d be, to be honest,” Akira noted, “well, now we’ve got a supplier for medicine. Now we just need new equipment.”

“You’re going to see Ryuji tomorrow, right?” Sumire asked.

“Oh yeah, that’s right.”

As they passed by the second-hand shop, Morgana popped his head out of the bag. “Hey, can we stop by the shop run by that old man? I wanna see if he has any materials we can use.”

“What for?” Akira asked.

“Infiltration tools of course! I think it’s about time I teach you how to make them.”

After buying some materials from the second-hand shop nearby, they returned home where Sojiro curtly welcomed Akira back. Akira immediately went upstairs and cleaned off the desk in the back corner of the room as per Morgana’s instructions.

With all of the extra junk taken off of it, he dusted off the desk. The dust stung his throat and eyes, he turned his head away, wafting the air and coughing. Sumire who stood too close coughed and stepped away. Hold on… did ghosts have lungs…?

“Ack—! Wait why am I coughing?” she wheezed.

Akira cleared his throat. “G-Ghost rules are weird, I swear—”

“What’re you talking about?” Morgana, who was smartly a distance from the dusty desk.

“N-Nothing, I’ll explain afterward.” He picked up the bag of materials and dumped its contents all over it, he then sat in the seat. “Now then, teach me.”

Without question, Morgana leaped up and began picking out the materials for a lockpick. Except, it was more like he had to push and drag things around to do so, and finally the lesson began. Akira followed his instructions as acutely as he could. It was certainly a process that quickly made his uncalloused hands sore. He had messed up the first time, but they made sure to buy a bit extra (rip money) and Akira was able to succeed on the second try. It wasn’t the best, Akira knew, but Morgana assured him it was good enough. Sumire, who was sitting on his bed, clapped which did make him feel good.

After cleaning and organizing the leftover material for future use, Akira met Sumire’s eyes. She nodded toward him; it was finally time to introduce her to Morgana. He drew in a deep breath and exhaled before turning to Morgana whose curious gaze met his.

“Morgana,” he began, “there’s someone I’d like you to meet.” He slid his chair back and motioned toward Sumire, who to Morgana was a light resting on the bed.

Morgana eyed it and chuckled wryly. “Who? The weird light?”

With a dead-serious look, he nodded. “Yes actually. That’s exactly who I wanted to introduce you to.”

Morgana’s eyes widened. “Wait, you’re serious? You know why it’s there? What is that thing?”

“First of all, she’s not an ‘it’. It’s a bit hard to explain, but anyway, you know how it looked like I was just talking to myself? Well, this is Sumire. She’s a ghost. I figured I’d tell you about her since you’re both living with me,” he said as Sumire waved at him, unbeknownst to Morgana.

Morgana flicked his tail around his body. “O-Oh, the light is sentient— er… Right, she’s not just a light. Wait, so she’s a ghost?! Oh boy. Okay, I am so sorry I called you annoying yesterday. I had no idea you actually had feelings!”

Sumire crossed her leg and her arms. “Great first impression,” she said with an eye-roll.

“She says hi,” Akira stated dryly.

“You can talk to it too?” Morgana asked.

“‘Her’, and that’s the thing, it seems like I’m the only one who can hear her and see her true form, whereas you and the Shadows just see her as some… well, a light.

“I see… so she’s been joining our infiltration attempts then? It seems like she’ll be useful in the Metaverse,” Morgana said.

“We even came up with a codename for her earlier,” Akira said. “Say hello to Spirit!”

“So that’s what that was! Spirit... I like it!”

“Oh yeah, one more thing. Could you please not tell Ryuji or Ann about her? I don’t want any of them to think I have an imaginary friend or something and you’re just going along with it. The only reason why I’m telling you is because the three of us are living together, so it only felt right. It’s not like you could tell anyone else anyway.”

“Well, as long as she’s helping us out, that’s fine by me! By the way, when did you first meet?”

“When I was moving here, at the crossing in Shibuya. It’s also when I first got the Metanav, I think… She doesn’t seem to remember anything like she has amnesia.”

“So she’s lost her memories too…” Morgana thought, “and she appeared when Akira first found the navigator, and the Shadows and I can sort of see her… If she’s somehow connected to the Metaverse, then maybe she’ll regain her memories within the depths of Mementos too…”

“Wow…” Akira said. Frankly, he pictured it to be some shady, back alley place in one way or another, but it seemed to be a cool place.

“Right?!” Ryuji excitedly exclaimed. “By the way, you know anything about guns n’ shit?”

Akira shrugged. “I know the difference between a pistol and a sniper rifle, that’s about it though. Why don’t we ask for recommendations?” He pointed toward the surly man lounging behind the counter, absentmindedly flipping through some sort of magazine. “Excuse me, do you recommend anything?”

The man shrugged dismissively without a second glance. “I dunno. Just buy whatever looks interestin’ to you.”

“Ugh, some customer service,” Ryuji muttered indignantly.

Annoyance spread across the man’s face, he set his magazine aside and stared Ryuji down. “Fine, whaddya want? An automatic? A revolver?”

“Uh… Automatic?” Ryuji asked. “Hol’ up, why’re we talkin’ about cars now?!”

Sumire wandered around the shop, checking out the arrangement of weapons. Akira watched as Ryuji bickered—albeit a one-sided argument—and eventually decided to wander off to look around. He walked over to Sumire who seemed rather engrossed in the display of weapons.

“Hey, Akira!” she called out. “Check this one out! This one looks cool, don’t you think?”

Akira looked at the gun she had her eyes on. He picked it off the rack and analyzed it—an SMG he figured. He glanced at Ryuji who was shouting at the shop owner.

“I’m not a freakin’ casual! I bought shit here from last week!”

Akira looked at the gun again. “Hm, yeah… You think Ryuji will like this?”

Sumire shrugged. “Eh, maybe Ann will like it. I can only imagine Ryuji using something more bombastic, like a shotgun or something.”

“I can see that,” he said. “Alright then, Morgana and I already have our weapons, so I think that’ll be it. Let’s see if he has anything else.” He placed the model gun back on the rack and walked over to the counter where the man went back to lounging and Ryuji was grumbling to himself. Akira knocked on the glass to which the man gave him a cursory look. “So, do you have anything realistic? Something like a shotgun and SMG would be cool.”

The man perked up. “Oh? You’re a lot more interesting than blondie here. Alright, I’ll go see what’s in the back.” He got up and walked to somewhere in the back of the shop.

Ryuji stared at him in disbelief. “H-Huh—?! What the eff’, dude?!” he cried. Akira gave him a questioning look. “Don’t ask…” He shoved his hand and fished out a wad of yen. “Just take it, make sure you get me somethin’ good.”

At that instance, the man came back out with two model guns and placed them on the counter. The group looked at the guns with intrigue and excitement.

“You shoulda told me you’re an enthusiast,” he said. “I’m always up for helpin’ fresh faces, so for now you’re just gettin’ the starter pack. Now then… a Remington Model 870 and M1928A1 Thompson, or just simply a Tommy.”

“Hah…? Wh-What didya say…?” Ryuji stuttered.

The man tallied their due fee which Akira tentatively paid for. Despite the five-thousand yen Ryuji pitched in, his wallet continued to further bleed.

“Don’t go wavin’ them around in public, hide them in a bag or somethin’ if you’re outside,” he said. His gaze then hardened. “Oh, and don’t let the fuzz catch wind of ya having ‘em. Don’t need them comin’ around here.”

“Uh, yeah! Eff’ the police n’ all that! R-Right…?” Ryuji awkwardly said, his voice trailed off.

Akira cleared his throat. “Uh… Ahem, thank you, we’ll be on our way now.”

“No problem,” the man said. “I’ll show you some more stuff if ya come back. The name’s Iwai, pleasure doin’ business with ya, kid.”

They left the store and parted ways with the elated Ryuji at the station. When they reached home, Sojiro hadn’t bothered to ask what was in the bag, much to Akira’s surprise.

“So, what’d you get?” Morgana asked, now that they were in privacy since he had been hidden inside Akira’s bag.

Akira placed the bag’s contents onto the desk one after the other. “Got Ryuji a shotgun and Ann a Tommy…” He suddenly pulled out a camo pattern cat sweater. “And I even got you a cute little sweater!”

“Yeah, those will be usefu— wait what?!”

“Yeah, Sumire picked that one out.”

“Hey! Don’t pin the blame on me just because he can’t hear me!” she exclaimed, swatting at Akira angrily.

“Don’t worry,” Akira said, trying to calm his giggling. “She helped out with the selection and budgeting process too.”

“She truly is a Phantom Thief, huh?” Morgana commented. “We’re only getting stronger from here on!”

“That’s right, kitty!” Sumire cheered.

“She says thanks,” Akira said. “Anyhow, how the heck are we gonna take our weapons?”

Just carrying the bag around in school was risky enough. They didn’t want to just leave it in the alleyway where their entry point into the Palace was. No telling who would happen to stumble upon it. The group decided that they’d leave them on the roof.

They went to bed a bit earlier that night, eager to finally infiltrate the Palace at last. Akira laid on his bed, recounting all the events up until now. It was just about a week and so much had happened already. He stumbled upon a ghost girl, some weird app that led to an alternate reality in their perverted coach’s heart, and a talking cat. It was all bizarre, that’s for sure, but there were some perks. He already made some good friends despite his infamy at Shujin Academy. He smiled fondly at the thought, but he frowned to himself when he realized it wasn’t all good.

“I need a job…”

Chapter Text

Monday. It meant the start of a new long and monotonous work week for adults and students. Monotonous for anyone except for the outcasts of Shujin Academy, the cat who swears he’s human, and the ghost girl who sits at the empty seat.

Akira walked to school as usual with Morgana in his bag and Sumire right at his side. He held a bag containing their equipment for Palace infiltration.

“Today’s the big day,” Akira said quietly. Eyeing his surroundings. Of course, students around them were whispering and avoiding him as though he were the plague, which wasn’t too surprising anymore. He didn’t really care all too much.

“Yo!” Ryuji called out. Akira turned his head toward the cheery blond with a smile. Ryuji ran up to him and walked comfortably next to him. He eyed the bag Akira held curiously. “Didya bring the goods?”

“All in here!” Akira answered.

Ryuji’s toothy grin grew as he let out a cheer of excitement. “Man, I’m so effin’ psyched for this!” He looked ahead and frowned, up ahead was Kamoshida standing at the school gates greeting students with a photo-perfect grin. “Aw hell…”

Both boys’ shoulders tensed. Akira tried to maintain a stoic and neutral mask whereas Ryuji barely hid his discomfort. Morgana peered his eye through the little hole from the zipper not being closed all the way. Sumire held her hands behind her back and glanced at Akira’s impassive face.

“Good morning! C’mon, hurry up and get to class!” Kamoshida greeted each student jovially, but that was an act of course. When his eyes landed upon the two delinquents his lips formed a subtle frown. “Good morning…”

“Kamoshida,” Ryuji stated curtly. Akira pursed his lips and tilted his head down, avoiding Kamoshida’s eyes, but he could still feel the man’s spiteful gaze trying to bore a hole into him. They tried to briskly pass by Kamoshida when he blocked their way with a jeer.

“You two can stay quiet all you want, but it won’t even matter in the long run.”

Ryuji let out a “tch” as he whipped his head toward Kamoshida with a scowl. “Son of a—” He stopped mid-sentence and glanced at Akira before sighing to calm himself. “Y’know what? It ain’t worth it. C’mon, let’s go.”

They tried to walk around Kamoshida but he simply stepped to the side to block them.

“Hey, what’s in the bag you got there?”

Akira defensively took a step back and moved his hand holding the bag behind him as he glanced up at Kamoshida’s face. His fingers of his free hand curled into his palm. Sumire gave him a worried glance while Ryuji stepped between him and Kamoshida.

“Supplies. Supplies for a project,” Akira said.

“Is that so? Mind if I take a look?” Kamoshida asked firmly. He tried to reach for it, but they stepped back as Ryuji got in the way of his grasp.

“Y’heard him,” Ryuji growled, “it’s just supplies, so if you’ll be excusin’ us, we’ll be gettin’ to class like ‘good boys’.”

Kamoshida scowled. “You two better not be planning anything funny. Now give me the—”

“It’s just supplies dammit! Stop tryna hound us ya big bastard!”

Kamoshida stepped in front of Ryuji, his size towering over the much smaller high schooler. Akira took a nervous step back while Ryuji’s glower didn’t falter. While he tried not to appear fazed, he took a cautious step backward.

“Now listen here,” Kamoshida snarled, “you better watch your back, Sakamoto, do I need to remind you—”

“Mr. Kamoshida?” A familiar voice called out. The group turned their heads toward the confused Ann, or at least she tried to look confused. “What’s going on?” she asked as naively she could make herself seem.

Everyone but Kamoshida was able to tell she was putting up an act. His scowl softened and smiled gently—it came out as more lecherous and condescending if anything.

“Ah, Takamaki, there you are,” he said. “Don’t worry your pretty little self and get to class, alright? I just need to teach these two trouble makers a lesson.” He waved her away and turned back to the boys.

“W-Wait!” she stuttered. Kamoshida gave her a confused glance. “Um… Uh…”

Sumire glanced and the shaken Akira. He was staring down at the ground. His breathing became quick and shallow as his fingers twitched. She felt something sting in her chest; she felt sour at her own helplessness.

“Akira? Are you okay?” she asked carefully. His breathing calmed down when he heard her. There was a sense of relief that washed over her when she noticed this. However, the main issue still persisted. Glancing back at the stuttering Ann and bickering Ryuji and Kamoshida, she came up with an idea. “Akira, I need you to say this…”

“H-Hey, Ann?” he called out. She looked over at him, he lifted his bag up for her to see. “I have what we need for our group project, y’know? That one?” Ann initially blinked at him confused, but then her eyes widened with recognition.

“Group project?” Kamoshida asked. “What’s he talking about?”

Ann nervously chuckled. “O-Oh, right! That project! R-Right, I didn’t forget, man, you’re so reliable Akira!”

Akira released a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. Sumire cringed at Ann’s poor acting, though she knew whether Kamoshida bought it or not didn’t matter. He had an image to maintain after all.

“I effin’ told ya!” Ryuji exclaimed.

“So you did…” Kamoshida muttered. “Don’t mind me then, but Sakamoto? You better watch your tongue when talking to an adult, got it?”

Ryuji scoffed and scuffed his shoe against the pavement. “Yeah, when ya start understandin’ how much of a bitch you are…” he muttered.

“What was that?”

“H-Hey, we’re gonna be late,” Akira said.

“Tch, fine, get to your classrooms and nowhere else, got it?”

The three students wordlessly went inside. A few other students who noticed the conflict continued to their classrooms, whispering and gossiping to each other. Akira looked around the place with his lips in a slight frown. His breathing remained a bit ragged. He felt a hand gently squeeze his shoulder and turn to face Ann who had a concerned expression.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, man,” Ryuji added, “you good? You were really out of it there.”

“I’m worried too,” Morgana said, his voice muffled within the bag. He tried to stick his head out of the opening Akira left for him to peer out of. Akira looked into his bag, seeing his worried face.

Akira sighed exasperatedly. “I’m… fine. Just…” He was interrupted by Ann who tried to give him a comforting squeeze on his arm. “I’m, sorry you had to see that…”

“Man, don’t be like that, you’re our friend too, y’know?” Ryuji said, rubbing the back of his head. “Eff’, man I just… Look, we got your back too.”

Akira drew in a shaky breath and wiped under his eye with his thumb. It felt moist. When he looked at it, there was a stain. “Th-Thanks guys…”

“Aw, c’mere,” Ann said, embracing him. He reciprocated the act as Ryuji patted his back.

Ryuji nervously chuckled as he looked away and rubbed his nape. “C’mon, this is embarrassin’, we’re not exactly in private, y’know? But yeah, don’t worry about it dude.”

Sumire smiled, she felt a warmth in her chest. She unwittingly reached up to touch his shoulder only to be reminded of her condition. Upon this, she frowned as a twinge of bitterness writhed in her heart. She shook her head, chiding herself.

“You’re just being selfish, Sumire.”

“I’d hate to ruin the moment, but don’t you all have classes to get to?” Morgana quipped. Everyone parted and Akira giggled, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

“R-Right. Thanks everyone,” he said. He raised the bag he’s holding. “I’ll hide these on the roof, we’ll take them into the Palace after school.”

Ryuji gave off a toothy grin and palmed his fist. “Alright! I can’t freakin’ wait!”

“We’re gonna get back at Kamoshida, once and for all,” Ann said with a fiery look in her eyes. Although the fierceness vanished right after. “Um… What’s in the bag anyway?”

“It’s all our weapons n’ shit.”

Her eyes widened. “You seriously brought those here?!”

“Well, Ryuji brought a pistol to school so…” Morgana chimed in.

“He what?!”

“Anyway!” He abruptly turned away and marched away from the group. “Just take the friggin’ things where ya gotta and get to class already!”

“I never thought Ryuji would be so eager to get to class.” Morgana snickered.

“Shadup!” he exclaimed. Akira began to chortle and everyone turned toward him with confused looks. “Huh? What’s so funny?”

Akira cleared his throat, trying to stifle anymore laughing as he wiped a tear from his eye. “N-Nothing, you guys are great, really. Thanks…”

Ann and Ryuji stared at each other, until Ryuji shrugged and grinned with Ann smiling soon after. The bitterness Sumire felt vanished as she too smiled alongside everyone, once again forgetting they weren’t aware of her presence.

They all parted for their classes, except for Akira, who went straight to the roof and placed the bag under the desks they usually hang around. There was a warm smile on his lips. He hummed to himself softly as he placed the bag down with Sumire at his side.

“How are you doing now?” Sumire asked.

“I’m doing better now, still a bit shaken honestly, but better… Thanks,” he said. He stood up as he continued to hum a few more notes. Sumire didn’t know if it was a song, let alone anything she realized, but she liked the tune. “Oh, and thanks for the save back there.”

“Yeah… Those two really care about you, don’t they?” she asked to which Akira nodded affirmatively as he kept humming. “What are you humming by the way? Is it a song?”

“Oh, that,” he responded, scratching the back of his head. “Yeah, it’s called Memories of You. Is there anything you like?”

“No… not that I’d remember.”

“Ah, right…”

Sumire sighed. “Memories… You said you’d help me find them, right?”

“Of course!”

“I thought so... Sorry if I seemed doubtful there, but I believe you.” She giggled a little. “Once your mind is set on something, you’re set to see it through, aren’t you? Thank you again.”

Morgana popped out of Akira’s bag, eyeing the two of them curiously. “What are you two talking about now? You’re gonna be late for class.”

“Oh crap, right. Thanks,” Akira said. He looked at Sumire. “And thank you for being around. I care about you a lot, you know?”

Sumire blinked at him before cracking a smile. “I care about you too. Anyway, better listen to the cat and get to class now!”

“Okay okay, I hear you.”

Akira made his way to class, just barely before homeroom ended. Kawakami briefly greeted him and continued on with whatever she was saying to the class. He went to sit in his seat, when he sat down Ann turned around to him.

“Where did you put it?” she asked.

“On the roof. We’ll get it after school.”

Ann raised a brow. “I mean, that doesn’t exactly make me comfortable, but it’s better than anywhere else I guess.”

“Well, that wraps up the homeroom period,” Kawakami announced. She not so subtly cleared her throat and directed her gaze toward Akira. “Kurusu-kun, a word with you please?”

Ann gave him a concerned look, but all he could do was respond with a shrug. He got up to follow Kawakami, ignoring the whispers of his peers. Sumire followed after him while Morgana stayed where he was, only giving Akira a cursory glance.

They didn’t state it to each other, but they could only guess that Kamoshida mentioned something to her. It made them both uneasy, although nothing else significant occurred. Speaking of whom, when they reached the guidance office with Kawakami, the devil himself appeared along with the girl with the ribbon in her hair from the station a while back.

Akira’s gaze was averted to the side, looking down at the ground. Sumire frowned, she reached for his shoulder, wanting to comfort him. She knew it was a vain attempt at physical contact, but perhaps she just wanted to reassure herself—give herself a sense of doing something.

She tried to grasp his shoulder. She didn’t know it, but Akira felt something bristle against him. He looked up at Sumire who then tried to give him a comforting smile.

“Thank you again,” the girl said, garnering Akira’s attention.

“Oh, you know this guy, Yoshizawa?” Kamoshida asked. Though subtle his brows creased slightly and his eyes narrowed a little, betraying disapproval.

Yoshizawa… Akira recognized the name somehow. He just didn’t recall where he heard it.

“Yes, he lent me a helping hand earlier.”

He shook his head. “I recommend you steer clear from the likes of him if you have any consideration for your future,” he said. Akira frowned and Sumire glared at him. “Remember the discussion we just had? There are a number of students in this school you shouldn’t get involved with. This one’s at the top of the list.

Yoshizawa stared at him with wide eyes. “Oh, the delinquent transfer student…?”

“Sorry to interrupt,” Kawakami began, “but I need to use the guidance office.”

Kamoshida gave her a grin. “Oh, pardon me.” He looked toward Yoshizwa. “We should get going too—don’t want to get in the way of guiding this delinquent and all.” He began to walk away from them, maliciously glaring at Akira who kept his gaze averted.

“Please excuse us,” Yoshizawa said.

She bowed politely and followed after Kamoshida. She ended up walking straight through Sumire; when she walked through her, Sumire’s vision flashed and a sharp pain shot through her head just like those other times.

This one hurt even worse than the other times it happened. However, the vision she was seeing this time around was much clearer, but it still wasn’t easy to make out. Although, she did see…  that girl smiling at her? She couldn’t remember the colors that well, but it looked like she was wearing the same outfit as her.

Was she?

“Sumire?” Akira asked, but she didn’t respond. She clutched her head with both hands and winced.

“Kurusu-kun?” Kawakami asked and he whipped his head toward her. She stared at him with a bemused look. “What’s the matter?”

His eyes darted from left to right—from Kawakami to Sumire who was now crouched down. He wanted to stick with Sumire, but he knew that wouldn’t bode well. With a resigned sigh, he turned to Kawakami.

“N-Nothing,” he said, his voice cracked. Kawakami raised a brow, but didn’t bother to press on it further, so she led him into the office where she sat across from him at the table in the middle of the room.

“I’m going to get straight to the point: did something happen between you and Mr. Kamoshida?” she asked as soon as they sat down.

“No…” Akira said. His leg bounced incessantly underneath the table; they could hear the repeated tapping of his foot against the floor. His head stayed down, his head was turned slightly toward the door. Kawakami continued speaking, but he didn’t pay attention to what she was saying. Instead, his focus was on Sumire.

Kawakami cleared her throat, causing him to wince slightly, but his attention was back on her. He lifted his head slightly. “Are you paying attention, Kurusu-kun?” she asked.

“Um…”

“Well, whatever. Mr. Kamoshida has a real close eye on you. Apparently, you’ve been involved with Sakamoto-kun. You seem quite acquainted with Yoshizawa-san as well… Maybe you’re just naturally drawn to athletes?” she deadpanned. “Sorry, bad joke. That’s all I wanted to discuss. You’re free to go.”

With that said and done, Akira immediately got up to check up on Sumire. He opened the door to see her in the same spot she was before, but she was standing up again. Her brows knit together as she frowned, as though she were in deep concentration.

“Sumire?” Akira asked.

Sumire jerked her head toward Akira with wide, repeatedly blinking eyes. Akira looked in her direction with a tilt of his head, confusion mixed with worry strewn across his face. Sumire finally snapped out of her stupor-like state and she flushed with embarrassment.

“Oh, uh…” she stammered. “That girl…”

“You remembered something?”

“Yeah, but this one was different… It’s confusing, but she… I think she was someone important in my life…”

“I’ll… see if I can talk to her whenever the chance comes up.”

Sumire nodded in response. The two decided to get back to class where the next teacher was just about to walk in. Nothing of note happened throughout the day. There were a few whispers about an honors student, but nothing substantial came up.

Regardless, with the end of the school day meant it was finally time for their first Palace infiltration as a collective group. They agreed to meet at the entrypoint—the alleyway in front of the school. Akira retrieved the thankfully undisturbed bag from the roof.

“Looks like everyone’s here!” Akira announced.

Ryuji palmed his fist with an excited grin on his face. “Hell yeah! Let’s bust in there and rock shit!”

“Basically, we just have to go in there and steal the treasure from Kamoshida, right?” Ann asked. Her eyes were narrowed. “We’ll make him pay…”

“I’m sure we will,” Morgana chimed in, “and I’m happy you’re all so eager, but we should pace ourselves. Be sure to remember our deadline is May 2nd.”

“Are we in favor of going in today?” Akira asked. Everyone looked at each other with determination in their eyes before focusing on Akira. Everyone nodded together, so Akira opened up the Metaverse Navigator. “Alright, it’s showtime everyone!”

With the press of a button, the robotic voice announced the beginning of navigation. The world shifted around them as the view of the front of the school began to morph. Akira felt a warmth in his chest, he could feel his collection of Persona rousing within him, Arsène especially. Blue flames danced around him momentarily as he then found himself in his rebellion outfit. A grin permeated across his face.

The sensation was never going to get old.

They all began moving toward the vent to enter the castle, but Akira was suddenly stopped by Morgana.

“Hey Joker, can I speak to you for a moment?” Morgana asked as he glanced at Sumire. “It’s about…”

Akira looked at Sumire who seemed interested in what Morgana had to say regarding her. “Sure,” he said. He then addressed the blonds curiously looking at them. “You guys can go on ahead.”

“Um… Is somethin’ wrong?” Ryuji asked. Akira shook his head, so he didn’t push further. “Oh, okay then. Let’s go, A— uh… Pa-Panther.”

“What’s up?” Akira asked once the blonds were out of earshot.

“About Spirit,” Morgana began, “I’m just wondering about what she can do. It’s apparent the Shadows can see her—she’s even distracted them on several occasions before, but I was wondering if she could potentially do anything else.”

Seeing Akira glance at her, Sumire began to think. “I mean, I can do ghost things, I guess… Phase through walls and stuff like that. Possession’s kinda out of the question though,” she said.

“Well, she can phase through walls, so she has that going for her,” Akira relayed.

Morgana hummed as he thought. “That’ll be useful for sure, but back to the matter of Shadow’s being able to see her… She might need to be careful when we’re sneaking around…”

“Right…” Sumire began, “I mean, I can just fly over them or something? Hide in walls? It could be fun.” The prospect of sneaking around, though potentially dangerous, was a bit exciting to her. It made her feel included in the group’s activities in a sort of way.

“Sounds like you have it easy…” Akira muttered. “Eh, she’ll be fine.” He shrugged.

“If you say so,” Morgana said. He then grinned at Sumire. “I’m looking forward to seeing what you can do, Spirit!”

“You got it kitty!”

Though he couldn’t see it, Sumire flashed a cheeky grin at him and held her hand up in a peace sign. Akira snorted at her antics which left Morgana confused.

“What?” he asked.

“N-Nothing!” he said quickly, waving his hand in the air dismissively. “Let’s not keep Skull and Panther waiting any longer.”

Shrugging it off, Morgana went to catch up to Ryuji and Ann. Akira was about to follow when a blue light flashed, causing him to shield his face with his arm. He looked to his side and saw a blue cell door seemingly leading to nowhere. Justine stood next to the door as it opened on its own.

“My master would like to have a word with you,” she said plainly.

Sumire saw Akira cover his face with his arm for seemingly no apparent reason. “Akira?” she asked.

He looked at her with a small smile. “Sorry, I’m gonna be right back.”

“Going where?” She saw him walking forward then stopping for no reason. “Akira?” She walked in front of him and looked at him in the face. He just stood there, standing completely still and staring straight ahead. She waved her hand in front of his face but got no reaction. Then she noticed he wasn’t even blinking, which was something she wished she hadn’t noticed. It didn’t seem like he’d snap out of his stupor-like state.

“The prisoner has returned,” Caroline announced.

“Well done; it seems you have remembered my words,” Igor began, “you truly make it worth rehabilitating you.”

“Thanks? But I’m not sure what you’re getting at,” Akira said.

Igor chuckled. “Worry not, I’m not attempting to withhold information from you. Once your rehabilitation has progressed further, only then its essence will be explained to you. However, I wish to introduce you to the aid we are providing.”

“And this aid is…?”

“Naturally, due to your potential in wielding the wild card, you can handle more than one Persona. Thus, it is important to nurture your ability… We will be executing your Persona to create new personalities.”

“Execution?” That was when Akira noticed two guillotines, each set up to each of Igor’s sides. Akira’s grip around the bars of the cell door tightened and his foot began to tap against the ground. “Wait, since when were those there? Hold on, you meant…?”

“Do not be alarmed. Personas are personalities that exist within you, thus, you will only be discarding old personalities to have them be reborn as new ones.”

“Discarding my old personalities…?” he murmured. He tilted his head down and his eyes aimlessly searched the floor. What did that mean exactly? He was confused by this new information; would he be erasing a part of himself then? So then those Shadows, or now Personas, are a part of him?

“Do not fret, they are merely facets of your true self.”

“Still…”

“Listen, inmate,” Caroline began sharply, “you’d best take whatever help we’re supplying you for your rehabilitation. This is your future we’re talking about!”

Akira didn’t hear her, however, as he pondered about his ability. He had found it peculiar how he was able to take in Shadows as his Persona, but didn’t give it too much thought about that.

“Akira?”

He blinked and found himself back in the Palace. He stared back at Sumire who was looking at him with a confused and worried expression. Now that he thought about it, he wasn’t sure how he was going to explain what happened. He fingered his bangs, but before he could say anything, Morgana with Ryuji and Ann following behind him walked up to him with worried looks.

“Something wrong?” Morgana asked. “You were just standing around all of a sudden.”

Oh, so to them it just looked like he was standing around. Looks like he didn’t have to explain much after all.

“Nothing, sorry to worry you guys,” he said. “I was just… thinking about the mission. I tend to do that sometimes.”

“I see,” Morgana said. It seemed like they were convinced much to Akira’s relief. “Anyway, it’s time we start now. Let’s first head into the safe room on the first floor of the west building.”

“Safe room…?” Ann asked.

“Don’t worry about it, it’ll make sense when we get there,” Ryuji said. “But man, do we really gotta go all the way there again? Guess we hafta…”

“Actually, we don’t have to!” Morgana said.

“Huh? What’re ya talkin’ about?”

“Just listen. Joker, can you pull up the Metaverse Navigator?”

“Huh? Sure,” he said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

He looked at the app and saw there was a list for the safe rooms they previously entered. He pressed on the button that was labelled: West Building 1F. They all felt a shift in the atmosphere not at all different from whenever they enter the Metaverse. Then they found themselves in that very safe room much to everyone’s surprise.

“H-Huh? When did we get here?!” Ryuji exclaimed, frantically looking around. The room briefly shifted to the view of a Shujin classroom.

“I knew it! We can use the Meta Nav to travel between safe rooms, that’ll make things so much easier from here!” Morgana exclaimed proudly.

“What is this place?” Ann asked.

“It’s a gap in cognition. A safe room if you will. Basically, it’s spaces where the Palace ruler’s cognition has the least influence on, so in this case the classrooms in your school.”

“I see… So I guess we can hide out here?”

“Basically, yeah. And as we just found out, it looks like we can move between safe rooms.”

“Alright, so if that’s all then is everyone ready for infiltration?” Akira interjected and everyone nodded resolutely. He cracked the door open in case there were Shadows patrolling nearby. Seeing there was none, he turned back into the room with a smile and said, “Alright, let’s go!”

As soon as they got out of the safe room, they turned left toward the next room at the end of the hall. They entered a mess hall for soldiers, they assumed. A lone guard patrolled the area, walking back and forth through the area they had to pass through in order to progress. They hid behind the pillar and watched the guard walk back and forth.

“Why don’t we just smash it? I mean, there’s more of us,” Ryuji suggested, but Ann passed him a stern look.

“This isn’t some movie like we can just beat up everything we come across!” she said.

“I’d say more of a video game, but I digress.”

Akira couldn’t help but crack a grin as he tried to look for an opening. He thought he saw one, so he asked Morgana.

“Hey, do you think we can sneak around it?”

“Maybe,” he mused. “But with a large group like ours, it’s going to be a bit narrow. Although, I really don’t want to unnecessarily expend energy…”

“I mean… Ann—er… Panther could use some combat experience?”

“It’s your call.” Morgana shrugged.

Akira rationalized that this could’ve made for a good warm up. Or maybe he could recruit a new Persona. A confident smirk slowly grew on his face as he then turned to Sumire.

“Spirit?”

She grinned back at him and stepped out in the open. When the Shadow turned around to see her, it raised its sword and shield before precariously approaching her. As soon as the Shadow was just about in front of them, Joker used her body as a sort of cover as he quickly stepped out and jumped onto the Shadow.

“Show me your true form!” Akira ripped the mask away and jumped off as the Shadow turned into three Jack-O’Lanterns. “Mona! You know what to do!”

“Right!” he shouted as he bounded out of cover. “Zorro! Garu!” 

His Persona burst forth and sliced the air. Green streams of energy flew towards the Shadows. It hit one, but the others hastily dodged the attack.

“Akira, give me your hand!” Before Akira could ask, Morgana was already up to him so he hastily put out an open hand. Morgana jumped up and high-fived him. Akira’s eyes widened as he felt a sudden surge of energy shoot up his arm and throughout his body.

“Waoh, what the heck is this?”

“To put it simply, it’s called a ‘Baton Pass’! Strike your enemy’s weakness and you’ll enter a charged state I call ‘One More’! You can pass the energy to someone else and build up the power by consecutively hitting weaknesses!”

Akira could only assume the Metaverse and cognition had to do with it. The Jack-O’Lantern he was dealing with hurled a fireball at him and he dodged with a backflip. He raised his hand to his face and reached into his heart where he could feel and hear the excited clamors of his Personas. He grinned as he knew which one was perfect. He tore off his mask and called on: “Bicorn!” The Persona was summoned onto the battlefield and with a loud bray. He successfully attacked a different Jack-O’Lantern with wind magic and was crippled instantly. He could feel the energy in him swell. It was exhilarating.

“Ryuji!” Akira shouted and the blond in question turned up to him. “Up high!” With a grin, Ryuji high-fived him and Akira felt the energy leave his body almost instantaneously.

“Taggin’ in! Take this!” Ryuji shouted as he swatted the last Shadow with his pipe. With a grin he leaped back and fired at it with his shotgun, immediately destroying it.

“Nice hit! Now pass it to Panther!” Morgana exclaimed.

“Up to you!” Ryuji shouted as he high-fived her.

“Got it!” she shouted as she then raised her hand up to her face. “Carmen! Incinerate them!”

“Hol’ up, aren’t they—”

Carmen appeared behind her and launched a maelstrom of fire at the downed Jack-O’Lanterns. The boys stared in awe at the destructive power of the attack as the Shadows, though resistant to fire magic normally, were annihilated. 

“Holy shit… This pass thingamawatchacallit as freakin’ badass!” he hollered excitedly. “We absolutely rocked shit! That was freakin’ epic!”

Akira laughed as he pumped his fist up. “Heck yeah! We didn’t give them a chance!”

Even Ann joined in on the banter. “You guys were amazing out there!”

Morgana crossed his arms, but he had a satisfied grin on his face as well. “Heh, good going team. Just remember things are gonna get a lot tougher from here on.”

Everyone hid behind the several dozen armchairs that decorated the hall in which a single guard patrolled. They figured it was much easier to sneak around it rather than to waste stamina like Morgana recommended, but Akira had to wonder how it didn’t catch them. Sumire on the other hand… 

“Good stuff team!” she exclaimed.

“You were just floating up there,” Akira muttered.

“Hah? Didja say somethin’, Akira?” Ryuji asked.

“N-No, nothing.”

The group entered into the next room. There was something on a table that was surrounded by metal bars in the center of the room. Sumire simply phased through the bars to see what was on the table. It turned out to be a map of the castle, she then told Akira.

“So, does anyone have any idea how to get in there?” Morgana asked.

Everyone wandered around and tried to look for a way in. Their attention was on two ram heads placed on adjacent pillars. Chains hung from each mouth with a hoop at its end, and their eyes glowed red. They decided to pull on it to see what would happen, but nothing did. With a frown, Akira squinted and looked around.

“Ugh…” Akira groaned. His head began to hurt for some reason and he winced. Everyone looked at him with concern.

“Joker? Are you okay?” Ann asked.

When he opened his eyes, the room looked darker for some reason and it looked like he was looking through a fisheye lens. He could feel his senses sharpening. Every part of him felt more sensitive.

“What the…?” he muttered to himself, not noticing his teammates. His attention was brought toward the ground where there were footprints subtly glowing blue. He pointed at them. “Do you guys see that? Those footprints?”

“Footprints?” Ryuji echoed. Everyone looked where Akira was staring at, but they didn’t see anything. “What’re ya talkin’ about man?”

“Those footprints,” he repeated and pointed toward the ground. He turned around to see more footprints behind them. It looked like they led to the ram head. He then began following the footprints going forward. Everyone, though confused, followed him without question to see what he’d do. The footprints led to another ram head that was subtly glowing, so he pulled on the chain to see what’d happen. The ram’s eyes stopped glowing red and the metal bars around the map raised.

“Woah… How the hell didja figure that out,” Ryuji commented. Akira felt good about himself.

“That wasn’t that hard of a puzzle looking at it,” Sumire said as she then cracked a grin. “I hope Kamoshida’s defense isn’t this easy. Actually, please let them continue to be this easy.” Akira snorted at her snarky remark. “Still though, what did you mean by footprints? I didn’t see anything.”

Akira opened his mouth, but decided not to say anything. He just merely shrugged. Sumire raised a brow, but stayed silent. He sure as hell was a special guy. She shrugged and strode alongside him toward the table with the map on it.

“The hell is this?” Ryuji asked as he stared down at the table. He picked it up and scrutinized it before his eyes lit up. “Oh! Is this a map of the castle or somethin’?”

“Looks like it,” Morgana said as he nodded approvingly. “This will definitely make securing the treasure route much easier.” he then frowned. “Although… It looks like it’s just a portion of the castle.”

Akira frowned. “That’s frustrating, but I’m sure we’ll find it.” Ryuji passed him the map and he gleaned through it before putting it into his coat. “Anyway! Let’s keep going!”

“So… uh… How the hell are we supposed to continue now?” Ryuji asked as he looked up. The bottom of the spiral stairs were broken unfortunately and there didn’t seem to be any clear path up. He frowned and scuffed the floor.

“Do we have to go back and find another way?” Ann asked.

“Look up there,” Morgana said, pointing at a ram head decorating the stair railing. It had a hoop in its mouth.

“Huh? What’re we supposed to do?” Ryuji asked. “Toss a rope over it and climb up?”

Morgana grinned. “Thieves do things a bit more stylishly,” he said as he reached into his pouch to pull out some sort of contraption. “Joker, give me your arm.” Akira did as he was told. Morgana fastened the device around his wrist.

“What’s this?” Akira asked.

“A grappling hook. You can use it to zip to hard to reach places stylishly!” he said proudly. “Though, I only had time to make one so we’ll have to grab onto him.”

“You what?!” Ryuji shouted.

“C’mon, try it out! Alright, hold on tight everyone!”

When everyone grabbed on to him, he shot his hand out toward the bust and a hook whizzed out and latched onto the hook. Everyone screamed in terror as they were pulled upwards.

“HOLY SHIT!!”

Sumire blankly stared up at them flying up to the stairs before the realization hit her. “Oh, right. Ghost,” she muttered to herself as she flew up to them.

Akira had an elated grin on his face whereas Ryuji and Panther were shaken. He saw her rise up to them and chuckled which she then returned.

“N-Never again!” Ann stuttered.

Ryuji keeled over, his breath and legs were shaky. “Holy shit… Oh shit, I need to breathe… Effin’ Jesus…”

In the next few rooms of the palace, Akira noticed a few particular books on various bookshelves throughout that looked out of place thanks to his new ability. The writing in them wasn’t in any language anyone understood, but the imagery in it was…uncomfortable to say the least, but nonetheless, he held onto them for safe keeping. Though it was definitely hard to keep track of any items during battle. It wasn’t until they found the castle’s musty library that things started to become clear.

“This definitely seems fishy. Probably has something to do with those weird books Joker picked up.” Morgana pointed out.

“Ah, I see. The old ‘bookshelf puzzle’ cliche,” Sumire smugly remarked, to which Akira raised an eyebrow over. As he was searching for whatever spot on the shelf was missing, one set of books happened to catch Ryuji’s eye.

“These’re the names of the volleyball team members! Wait, what the hell!? All of the titles are boys from our school!”

Morgana, being the shorter one, found the S section of that side of the room. Sumire noticed he was trying to hold a straight face as he read what he found.

“There’s one here for Skull! ‘Ryuji Sakamoto: The Vulgar Ape’.” And he pretty much got the exact reaction he wanted, though he did get a slight static shock on his fur. Even behind that mask, you could still see his fury.

“That bastard! Who the hell does he think he is!?”

“Well we certainly know who he thinks you are,” Sumire quipped. She then looked at Akira, who was running his hand through the spines.

“Where’s mine…oh, here it is. ‘Akira Kurusu: The Criminal Scum’, huh? Figures…”

“‘Effin asshole…” Ryuji mumbled to himself. It wasn’t as thick as most of the other books, most likely because Kamoshida didn’t know Akira as well as the other students, but still, now Akira wished he could read it just to see what exactly he thinks about him. Similarly, on the other side of the room, Ann found a bookcase containing the names of the female students. Naturally noticing her and Shiho’s names, but that’s when Sumire realized something.

“Female students…wait, what was that girl’s name again? Yoshi…Yoshi-something. It’s a Y!”

She quickly flew over to Ann and started examining the bottom shelf. Finally finding the Y’s, her search led her to a book that only said “Yoshizawa”, it was worth a shot, but her efforts were in vain for one reason or another. As she stared at the book, her hope diminishing knowing that even if Akira did look at it, they wouldn’t get any answers, Morgana walked over to her.

“Hey, Spirit,” he asked. “You can go through walls, right? You should probably go take a look behind the bookcase to make sure the coast is clear before we go any further.”

Oh right, she had a mission to do. Going over to the shelf where Akira was about to insert the last book into, he realized what she was doing. He paused as he watched her stick her head through the wall. When she came out of the wall, the look on her face was not a pleasant one. It was easy to tell that she didn’t like what she saw.

“You’re not gonna like this…”

“What’s the holdup?” Ryuji asked impatiently. Knowing that this was likely the only way to progress, he reluctantly resumed, and just like that. The back wall opened to reveal…

“It’s all pictures of Suzui? The hell is this room!?”

A sudden burst of heat flared throughout the room that all of the guys felt. Even Sumire could feel a slight sense of warmth come towards herself, and they all knew that that wasn’t coming from all of the candles and torches surrounding the room. Noticing Ann’s hand balling into a fist, Akira placed his hand between her shoulder and one of her twintails, almost jerking his hand away with how hot his glove got.

“Are you ok? We can forget we ever saw this.”

Ann took a deep breath, and the room began to cool down. Morgana and Ryuji simultaneously wiped their brows.

“Yeah, I’m okay...Thanks, and no need to forget about it. If anything, I feel even more motivated to do this now.”

And with a newly completed map found in the room, the group continued onward.

After multiple rooms, a couple of battles with some pretty ballistic shadows and finding a few hidden goodies along the way, the group was a little beat, but still pressed on. But something about the next room seemed to tick off Morgana.

“Hold on, this place is huge, and yet there are no guards? That seems suspicious…”

“But the treasure’s up ahead, right?” Ryuji asked.

“That’s what the map says at least.” Akira answered, Sumire double checking.

It was clear that Morgana was hesitant. Being the main healer, he was likely the most exhausted out of the group. “I guess that’s true…What do you think, Joker?”

Akira nodded at Sumire, and she proceeded to examine the room for any signs of a hidden guard or anything of the sort, checking under every bench and across the aisle.

“The coast is clear!” She yelled.

“Sure. At this point, what’s the worst that can happen?” Akira was confident in his stance, but that statement made Sumire give him quite the look.

“You know, most people get the worst that can happen right after they say stuff like that.”

The team was then greeted by a brief flickering of the gym. Despite things like the benches and candles sticking around during it, there was no mistaking it. But after the flickering was over, their attention was brought to the end of the aisle, where a giant stone statue of Kamoshida. Naturally, everyone was disgusted. Especially Ryuji.

“I get it, the gym’s some kinda holy place for him. He’s a god there.”

“It’s obvious, but still sickening,” Akira noted.

There was that heat flare again. They knew what that meant. “I can’t believe he can think like that! Especially after what he did to Shiho!”

And with the combined tiny shock startling Akira, things were getting pretty intense for him, even without a battle going on. “God, that bastard makes me so freakin’ sick! Just you wait, Kamoshida!”

This was getting a little too much for him. Sumire even had to ask if he was ok out of panic since he was caught in the middle of it all, and Morgana’s fur was sticking up. He had to do something about it.

“Save the rage for the battle, guys. The sooner we find that treasure, the better. No use getting so worked up over a statue.”

The intense mix of elements subsided, and Akira breathed a sigh of relief.

“I guess you’re right. Damn, this guy really gets on my nerves sometimes!”

“Yeah, thanks. I needed that after all this.”

The moment was short lived though, as a voice suddenly came through an unknown direction.

“I see… So you’re the ones who tampered with the library.”

“I knew we should’ve set that room back!” Morgana was facepalming when he realized their mistake. It was pretty clear once the guard turned into some armored angel that this wasn’t going to be easy.

“I told you this would happen! Well, we don’t have a choice, let’s take it down!”

Things started off strong, with the various benches throughout the room serving as great cover for the team. Sumire jumped and dove from bench to bench in order to trick the knight as to where they were. But since they were attacking from a distance, it was quickly made apparent that Ryuji and Ann’s attacks weren’t doing much, and combined with the increasing weariness from all of the previous battles, things weren’t looking good. Despite all of that though, Sumire did her best to protect everyone, but it seemed that even incorporeal beings had their physical limits.

“Damn, this guy’s relentless! At least it’s aim sucks for the most part.”

“You’re welcome, Ryuji!” Sumire panted. With all of the slashes from it’s sword cutting up the benches, the available cover was getting scarcer.

“This is bad! C’mon, Spirit, give us a bit more time!” Morgana was healing when he could, but because of that, he wasn’t doing as much damage as he could. Even Ann had to pitch in with the healing at times. Meanwhile, Akira was frantically switching between Personas, trying to find something that could work, something that could find some type of weakness. As he was flipping through his arsenal, he didn’t notice Sumire flying past him, causing him to take a direct hit as he got himself a face full of armor.

“Joker!”

Those familiar blue and black chains only meant one thing. He was in the Velvet Room. But why? The last thing Akira remembered was seeing Sumire’s back and a bunch of gold flying at him.

“The Inmate has come to.” Justine’s soothing voice welcomed him.

“What happened to my friends? And why am I here now?!” It was pretty clear that Akira did not know what was going on.

“It would seem you need our assistance. You better be grateful, Inmate!” And there was Caroline, snarky as ever.

“Help? How?” His attention turned to Igor, that stare all too familiar to him at this point.

“The you of reality has been knocked unconscious by a powerful blow. Your friends unfortunately seem to be in dire straits.”

The look on Akira’s face had a slight bit of anger on it after hearing Igor be his usual cryptic self. “Then send me back! I need to help them!”

And yet, he still kept that eerie smile he always had on, no matter what was going on. He didn’t even make eye contact with him as he spoke. “Patience. As we said, we would provide you with whatever assistance we can for your rehabilitation. It is time we introduce the process of fusion.”

“Fusion?” Akira asked before remembering about the guillotines next to Caroline and Justine.

“Through the method of execution, you discard your old identities to create a far more powerful personality.” Igor explained. There was that fear of losing himself coming back.

“Execution? What’ll happen to my old Personas then?” There were a lot of uncomfortable thoughts coming once he asked that question. Was he still himself whenever he used a new Persona? He hadn’t even been paying attention to that during battle. How much of himself could he lose? Were the others noticing any changes in him? And most importantly, which one was his true self? As if on cue, his first, and admittedly, his favorite Persona, despite how weak he seemed compared to his more powerful Personas, Arséne, manifested in front of him.

“Fret not. I am thou, thou art I. Should we part at this moment, I shall always be at your side.”

That last part was very reassuring. Of course the answer to that thought-provoking question would be the first one he ever got.

“Allow me to hear your resolve once more. Will you idly stand by when your friends are in danger? What is your decision, my trickster?”

That part was easy to answer, but hard to say out loud.

“I… want to help my friends and others that need my help.”

He seemed satisfied with that answer, at least as much as he could look with those flames in his face.

“That’s our trickster. Remember, I am Arsène—the other you that exists within. Though we may part now, I shall always be with you forevermore.”

And that was all he said before taking a bow and disappearing into a sparkling puff of smoke.

“Alright, that was sweet, now can we move on with the fusion now?” Classic Caroline.

“Sure. I’m ready now.”

Akira watched as Arséne and a random Persona he wasn’t really using that often were thrown into the guillotine by the twins. Despite Arséne’s prior speech, it wasn’t easy watching them be cut up. The fusion resulted in a blue goblin-like creature in a golden pot named Agathion. So this is what he sacrificed his favorite Persona for. But before he could even get a “Thank you, Arsène.” out, a bright light filled the room.

“Akira? Akira! Please get up!”

“Huh? Spirit?”

When he woke up, he saw Sumire floating above him with tears in her eyes.

“Akira! Oh thank goodness you’re awake!”

She accidentally let herself fall to the floor right through him, really jolting Akira awake. Both of them got up as Akira looked over to his side to see the others still fighting the shadow that knocked him out. The room was practically destroyed with all of the rubble laying around. It did look like the shadow was getting weaker though, even if everyone was only using their basic weapons to attack. Akira summoned the newest addition to his collection of masks, and called out a single attack.

“Lunge!”

Surrounded by an orange aura, he launched himself at full force towards the enemy, much to the surprise of everyone else in the room, almost slamming into Ryuji in the process. As the dust settled, all that remained was a bunch of bricks on the ground, and a very dizzy Akira. Once his sight readjusted, he was met with a divebomb of a hug from Ann.

“Joker! Ow.” Maybe landing on him while he was on a pile of old bricks wasn’t the best idea.

“See, what did I tell you? He’s tough!” It seemed that Morgana was healing him with what little vigor he had left.

“Don’t lie, I saw you shed a tear too. Noticed while Panther was going all ham on the shadow.” Ryuji bragged.

“I’m ok guys, really. Though maybe we should call things here for the day.”

Sumire popped her head out from the remains of the benches as Ann helped Akira up.

“Well done, Joker.”

That’s when they heard some banging from behind the rubble. Sumire quickly went in to notice some guards trying to bust down the rubble. After escaping to the nearest safe room, Akira activated the same teleportation point near the entrance of the palace that they started at. The return to the real world was satisfying before everyone said their goodbyes.

“Bye guys!”

“Same time soon?”

Sumire and Morgana made the exact same face to Akira, knowing that the boy needed at least one day to rest before going back in.

“Yeah, just give me a day or two to rest, ok?”

Once his friends were out of the alley, Morgana had a few choice words for Akira.

“You’re lucky I still had some fight left in me. You should be careful not to overexert yourself in the future!”

“Well it was Sumire’s fault the shadow bumped into me!” Akira excused.

“Oh no, don’t you pin the blame on me! I was just doing my part in that battle!” Sumire quipped. It did sting a little on the inside that Akira was sort of right. But that was when Akira turned it around.

“Then again, if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have pulled off that amazing finishing blow.”

Akira could sense a bit of a giggle in her as she said something vaguely familiar to him.

“That’s our Joker.”

Chapter Text

Akira’s arms made a decent enough pillow on his desk as his mind raced through with plans for the next time he’d go into the palace.

“Maybe I could get some rubber gloves in case Ryuji accidentally shocks anyone. Doesn’t my outfit already have gloves, though?”

Most people who would notice his posture might’ve assumed that he was about to fall asleep, but with everything on his mind, he was anything but tired. The only reason he was even able to answer questions on a worksheet was thanks to Sumire checking the teacher’s answer sheets and Morgana actually listening in on the lesson to give Akira more detailed explanations.

“You there! Take a look at this.”

“I gotta remember Ann can heal too. Can’t keep relying on Morga-oh!”

And then there were the times he was called on by a teacher. Always a bit of an alarm whenever he was lost in thought.

“Between A and B, which line is longer?”

That was her cue, Akira quickly looked over his paper as Sumire flew over to the teacher’s desk. But as she was trying to find the question the class was on, Akira rotated the worksheet and already had an answer.

“Same length,” he mumbled.

“What was that?”

“Oh. They’re the same length.”

And as soon as his praise was given, his head went right back down to his arms.

“Never mind, I guess.” Sumire said as she went back to her seat. Being in the seat behind Akira’s made it easy for Morgana to see her from the small window of Akira’s desk shelf, even if it was hard to cooperate with only one being able to hear the other. They both stared at each other thinking the same thing.

“We need to talk to him about this.”

The bell for the end of the school day had rung, and Akira was already on his phone texting the group chat before Sumire interrupted him mid-text.

“You wanna go there two days in a row? Don’t you have anything better to do with your time?”

“What’s she saying?” Morgana whispered from inside Akira’s bag.

“I don’t think she wants us to go to the palace today.” Akira answered while slowly putting his phone back in his pocket.

“Well she’s got a point.” Morgana agreed. “After what happened yesterday, you deserve a break.”

“But-“

“We have plenty of time before your expulsion. Besides, we’ve never had a day where you just have fun by yourself. I can tell you’ve been thinking about talking to the others all day.”

“How would you know?” Akira asked. It didn’t seem like he knew what they wanted him to do.

“You were literally mumbling about what you wanted to say during the next team meeting to yourself during lunch!” Morgana pointed out.

“I was?”

“This bag isn’t soundproof, you know. Sumire, you agree with me, right?”

Sumire jumped and crossed her arms as she transitioned into a float while nodding her head. “Yeah, you were.”

All he could see was the little ball of light shaking up and down, but he knew that she agreed.

“See? She heard it too!”

“And don’t think we didn’t notice that you borrowed a book from the library about your own Persona!” Sumire remarked. It was clear that Akira had to try to reason with these two on his back.

“Alright,” Akira admitted. “Maybe I have been a little too focused on the palace lately, but isn’t this supposed to be a mission? You know, something we can’t hold back on?”

“That may be true,” Morgana answered. “But it’s important to know when you’re overexerting yourself. It’s not healthy to be constantly taking such a beating every day.”

“Heck, you’re lucky I didn’t see any of you shed a single drop of blood yet!” Sumire continued.

Before he could try to give any kind of excuse, Akira paused in the middle of the sidewalk and realized he was even taking the slow route to the subway.

“Okay…but if you two think I should take a break so badly, what would you recommend I do instead?” He knew that with two amnesiacs who both wandered around the city for weeks before they came into his life, together they might come up with something he could do.

“You’re living in one of the biggest cities in Japan for a year! And from what I was seeing, that attic of yours was looking pretty empty.” Morgana exclaimed. “Besides, you wouldn’t want all of that cash you got from shadows to go to waste, would you?”

Whenever Akira thought about shadows giving money, it always made him question what they use it for. Splitting the money shadows dropped after every battle between the three of them was always a pain to do sometimes. It was a good thing that, despite the camera and cell services being out in the Metaverse, at least the calculator app worked. Even if they didn’t drop much, Akira’s share was still enough pocket change to where he could put off getting a job for now. Though now he started wondering what Ryuji and Ann were going to do with their third of the money. He got out his phone and looked for any nearby shops. After enough scrolling, he settled on an underground mall in Shibuya.

“There’s gotta be something there that I’ll like…”

“No, seriously, how does she do that?” Oh yeah, he never really did explain Sumire’s weird ability to be transported by vehicles to Morgana yet.

“We have no idea.”

As they arrived at the mall, Akira was greeted with a cosmetics store that’s smell wasn’t very pleasant to him. Not the best thing to start off with, but it was only the first store. A sports store. Something that seemed more Ryuji’s style than Akira’s. A couple of accessory shops, which he thought was probably not useful unless he somehow got a girlfriend here. It was nice to look at until Morgana interrupted him.

“Wait, we could actually use those!”

Akira was dumbfounded at that sentence. “Morgana, those are just wristbands and rings.”

“That might be what you see on the surface, but have you ever noticed that people who tend to wear those stuff seem tougher than they actually look?”

He got a “Maybe?” from Sumire at least. As for Akira, he was a bit more judgmental.

“I guess, but what does that have to do with anything?”

“Well it gets into people’s heads, and what happens when an idea gets into people’s heads?”

“It drives them crazy?” Sumire guessed sarcastically.

“It affects the Metaverse in some way?”

“Exactly!” Morgana answered. “So if we get some of these, it might increase certain attributes in battle!”

Sumire went over to check the prices of the wristbands.

“Eh, they’re cheap. Why not?”

So Akira agreed to buy some. “Sure, but that jewelry is way too over our budget.”

After buying whatever Morgana said was worth getting for each member of the team, Akira found a clothing store with some ugly designs that caused him to chuckle whenever Sumire would float above the worst ones to look like she was wearing it. A flower shop there caught Akira’s interest.

“This cactus could really tie the room together, but could we fit it in the bag? I don’t wanna ruin it.”

“And have it prick me in there? I don’t think so.” Morgana yelled. “I already have enough things in this bag poking at my butt! Use the other pockets for once! They’re there for a reason.

“Fair enough, I’ll try to remember that.”

There was a nice little fan he got. It may have only been April, but with the warmer weather coming in, he figured it would be useful. At an antique records shop, Akira noticed something he didn’t expect to find.

At first, Sumire was confused. “You don’t even have a record player! What are you gonna do with one of these?”

“I saw a video online about this one! This is a steal!” Akira started whispering to lower awareness. “These things go for a fortune to collectors!”

Morgana was impressed by this realization. “Ah, good eye! You really know this kind of stuff, do you?”

Akira shrugged as he made his way to the counter. “It passes the time.”

With only a small dent made in his wallet, and even a potential increase in funds than what he started with, Morgana had an idea.

“If you’re not gonna buy anything else here, I can go look at the stores in the station. Maybe they have something else there?”

“I guess so, but make sure to come back as soon as you’re finished looking or if you find anything I might like.” Akira told him.

As Morgana hopped out of Akira’s bag and ran off towards the crowd of shoppers at the mall, Akira turned around to find a familiar pair of blonde twintails that stood out to him and Sumire.

“Akira, is that-?”

And Akira was already off to see her.

“Ann! Hey Ann!” He was already yelling and waving at her before skidding to a stop in front of her.

“Akira! Didn’t expect to see you here!”

“Yeah, well, Morgana said we should take a breather from the whole palace thing and maybe spend some of the money we got. Speaking of which, what did you do with yours?”

“Huh, I was wondering why you didn’t text us today. Anyway, that’s actually why I was here! Let’s see…I got some perfume and lipstick at the cosmetics shop, there was this great outfit on sale that I was trying to buy earlier, but never really had the funds for, so thanks for that!”

Akira could only give an embarrassed laugh at the comment, considering the ones he saw.

“Hehe, I’m glad we could help.”

Akira and Sumire hoped that Ann bought the only good looking outfit there.

“And I was just about to get a snack here!”

Now that Akira thought about it, it’d be nice to catch up with her.

“You know what? I’ve been looking for something to do here. We could chat if you want to.”

“Sure! Just let me get something real quick!”

As Ann went into the supermarket, Akira went to the corner of the mall to sit with Sumire. He put his bag down and sat with his knees up.

“So do you think she’s doing better?”

“I don’t know. I’ll have to ask her. At least that’ll give me a conversation topic.” Akira’s head sunk into his shirt more.

Somehow Sumire knew exactly why he did that. “You’re always worried about her, aren’t you?”

“How can I not be? She’s a nice girl. She didn’t deserve all of this.”

Sumire turned her head and gave Akira a confident smile. “But she’s one of us now, and we’re gonna give her what she deserves.”

Akira’s head popped back up, giving a more gentle smile. “Yeah, she’s pretty strong for going through this much.” He then turned his attention to the supermarket’s sliding door. “Oh, there she is.”

With a speedy jump springing him back up on his feet, he put his back to the corner and waved at Ann, who came back with a spoon and a small bowl with a spongy green pastry inside. The color put Akira off before he asked what it was.

“It’s an uji matcha flan. It’s basically mashed up tea put into pudding. It’s so good! Want some?” Ann turned her spoon towards Akira before he put his hand up, refusing for now. As Ann started munching on the flan, Akira decided to break the ice.

“Anyway, what have you been up to lately?”

“Nothing much, really.” But Ann’s tone indicated otherwise. Akira knew something was up.

“You sure? You look like you have something on your mind.”

“No, really, it’s okay! Besides, it’s kind of a personal thing. I don’t wanna trouble you with it.”

Akira was firm on his stance. “Look, as the leader, it’s kinda my job to make sure everyone’s okay. You saw how much you were steaming yesterday.”

“Yeah, sorry if that made you uncomfortable. It’s just that earlier today, I went to visit Shiho at the hospital.”

“Oh yeah, how is she?

Ann sulked back on the wall, giving a tiny gulp. “Well she’s fine, but she said she was sorry for not telling me about what Kamoshida was doing to her. Though I guess it’s kinda my fault too, so I apologized to her too.” She pulled the cup to her chest. “I should’ve realized how much trouble she was in. Maybe she would’ve been ok if I was there for her.”

Akira was immediately reminded of that time Sumire helped to give him the confidence he needed to tell Shiho about his situation.

“This might not be any of my business, but don’t let the rumors get to you, okay?

“Yeah, I know…”

“Akira, she’ll understand.”

“Good, that’d be for the best. My best friend is often misunderstood too…”

It really was thanks to her being there that he didn’t just walk past her.

“You couldn’t have known. People tend to bottle up their feelings all the time. She’s a strong girl for having that much durability.”

“Yeah, she is pretty great, isn’t she?” As she took another bite of the flan, Akira noticed Ann…blushing? “I’m glad I finally got to tell her everything I couldn’t bring myself to say before.”

Akira couldn’t agree more. “Yeah, I know this whole situation is stressful for you. I mean, I just made my first friends here in Tokyo, and yet I feel like I’ve known them my entire life, so seeing someone you actually have known your entire life suffering like this…it’s hard to handle.”

Conversations about Shiho were never easy for Sumire, knowing she could very easily have had many parallels to her. But the way Ann seemed to describe it, it made her happy that she wouldn’t end up like herself. As Ann went to throw out her cup, Sumire came in to comment.

“Someone she knew her entire life, huh? I can’t imagine how hard that’s gotta be. That’s some real dedication to each other.”

“They really care about each other, don’t they?” Akira breathed a sigh of relief before Ann came back.

She had an interesting thought on her mind. “Thinking about it now, even if I hadn’t slept with Kamoshida, he wouldn’t risk losing a game by benching one of his best players over some girl. He cares too much about his reputation for that. Probably should’ve told him that.”

Akira had a good rebuttal for it, though. “Can’t really blame yourself for it. The whole power dynamic thing can often get to people’s heads.”

“I really fell for that, didn’t I? Remember that phone call you caught me having the last time we talked like this?”

Akira sighed. “Yep, you were in a pretty rough spot.”

“I was a little surprised how pushy you were about it. Guess your whole ‘It’s the leader’s job to make sure everyone’s ok’ thing applied even before I joined the team!”

“Well I wanted to help, and me and Ryuji needed some info. But hey, it led to you joining the team!”

“No, I joined the team because I was curious about what you two were doing and got kidnapped for it!” Ann teased.

“Okay, that too,” Akira agreed, feeling a little embarrassed by that memory. “But you rebelled, got your Persona, and burned everything to bits, so I’d say it worked out in the end.”

“I can tell Ryuji’s rubbing off on you. By the way, Personas are the power of the heart, right?” Ann questioned.

That brought back some bad memories from the previous day. “I don’t exactly know what they are for myself, and I have multiple of them. Someone…actually, Morgana told me they’re like a part of your personality.” He didn’t think she, or anyone else, could understand the Velvet Room. It was a secret almost as unbelievable as Sumire.

“Well, whatever they are, I want to strengthen my heart to help people. Like we’re going to do when we change Kamoshida’s heart, right?”

“Well, if that cat is right, of course we are.”

“Heh, I’m feeling a little stronger already.”

"The power of the heart, huh?" Sumire placed her hand on her chest. She was unable to feel any kind of heartbeat, but after a few seconds, she started to feel that warm feeling again. A sense of motivation and hope. It was the second time she felt it as she and Akira resonated with Ann.

Ann took out her phone to check the time. “Oh, my train arrives in 5, did you want anything?”

Now that Akira thought about it, he was feeling a little hungry during their conversation.

“Sure. Don’t know what I want, though…”

“Oh my gosh, you gotta try the castella here! It’s one of my favorites!” Ann squealed. “I’ll go get you one!”

Akira stopped her before she went back into the supermarket. “I can pay for it, you know. I’ll admit, I only barely found some use for my money here. I got a record that was worth much more than I bought it for. I also bought a fan and a bunch of wri-“

“Nope! This one’s on me!” And Ann was already on her way in. Akira could only stare in confusion as Sumire slid next to him sighing.

“She’s perfect for Shiho, isn’t she?”

“That’s for sure. We really should talk to her once she gets out of the hospital. She could use the extra care.”

“If I died the way she attempted to, then I can’t let someone else suffer the same fate as me.” Sumire affirmed.

Ann came out of the store holding a paper bag and gave it to Akira.

“There you go! One slice of castella!”

Akira hesitated to grab it, knowing he probably could’ve bought it himself. “Thanks, though now I owe you one.”

“Don’t worry about it! It was only fifteen hundred yen. Anyway, see you later!” Ann surprised Akira with a hug and after a few seconds, she ran off to the station. Akira couldn’t stop smiling. Sumire had to snap him out of it.

“That girl really trusts you, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah, she’s nice.”

But right as Akira got over that feeling of pure joy, he suddenly felt his bag become slightly heavier…

“So, did you get anything else?”

Morgana suddenly popped his head out from inside, making Akira jump in surprise, almost dropping the castella before regaining his composure.

“Don’t scare me like that!”

“Besides, that’s my job!” Sumire joked.

“I was just finishing up and happened to find you two here.” Morgana explained.

“Did you find anything interesting here?”

“Nah, just some weird magazines and a bunch of job applications. I found some snacks there you might like, but I saw you getting something here, so I guess you’re already planning on filling up right now.”

Remembering the castella, Akira decided to give Morgana some payback “Oh! You’ll never guess who we saw here.”

“Oh, really? Who?”

“Lady Ann.” Akira teased, knowing it would rile him up.

“And I missed her?! Man, we gotta stop by this place more often!” Akira and Sumire both got a good laugh out of that.

“Well anyway, I was a bit hungry, so she bought me a slice of castella.” Akira took the slice out of the paper bag it came in and took a bite.

Ann was right. After living on curry, rice, and school-bought bread for a while, it was nice to try something sweet for once. It was warm and soft to taste, just flat out deliciousness all around, leading to a very satisfied Akira, feeling that he spent his day well.

Sumire felt a similar pleasure, it wasn’t like the feeling she got any other time she watched Akira eat something, where it was more of a happy feeling that made her content with not being able to eat. This one was more…cozy. Like eating something you haven’t tasted in years, and thinking how it was just as good as it was back then than it was now. But as soon as that euphoria had hit its peak…

“Sumire?”

“What’s wrong with her?” Morgana asked, slightly panicked.

“She sometimes has these little headaches where she briefly remembers something from her past, but before, it only happened when someone walked through her. I don’t know what we did to trigger that one, though.”

It was at that time that Sumire’s headache stopped. She recovered from the shock somewhat faster than the past three times it happened.

“What did you see?” Akira asked as soon as she opened her eyes.

Quickly recounting the memory, Sumire was able to recall some key details. “It was that girl with the ponytail again! But she looked a lot younger. Probably something from a long time ago. But I think she was eating some of that castella stuff too. It kinda looked like we were at some kind of birthday party. I couldn’t really tell if it was her birthday or mine, but she looked happy.” Sumire explained. The fact that she could point out some very vivid details got Akira to look very determined.

“That’s great. I have a feeling we’ll have a pretty good idea about what that was once we talk to her. Also, I caught Morgana up to speed with your memory headaches. He might know something about these.”

“Yeah, from what he told me, they sound like some sort of phantom memories.” Morgana said those last two words in a weirdly smug way, catching the two off guard. Akira broke the question.

“Why did you say it like that?”

“They say that dreams could potentially be visions of a past life, right? Well, last night, I dreamt that I was a dashing young man trying to win over the girl of my dreams! Probably meant to represent my life as a human, I assume.”

“All I dreamed about last night was doing parkour in the middle of Shibuya with super speed.” Akira had a tiny smile on his face as he remembered that dream.

“Okay, maybe not all dreams, but you get my point.”

“That still doesn’t answer your question.” Sumire sighed.

With that weird little conversation out of the way, Akira was about to head home for the day, but right when he got to the station, he spotted the red-haired girl from the day before from the corner of his eye.

“Sumire, look!” He pointed at the redhead. “It’s her!”

“Maybe you can talk to her, hurry up!” Sumire yelped back.

“Who’s her-wha!” Morgana bounced around the bag before regaining his balance in Akira’s bag as he ran off towards her. The crowd was a hassle to move through. Akira would’ve lost her if not for Sumire floating above her as a reference point. They saw her get on the train, but before Akira could even get a single “Hey” in, the doors of the train closed. The girl noticed Akira and simply smiled and waved at him as the train left, with Akira slowly waving back. Sumire floated down to the floor and landed on her knees. She was still able to feel the texture of the tiled floor as her legs scraped on it.

“I thought we finally had something going there... That girl’s pretty much our only hope of finding out who I was, isn’t it?”

Akira sat up on a nearby bench and lightly “patted” her shoulder. Sumire looked back at him and noticed his understanding expression. She got up and sat next to him on the bench, placing her head in her hands. In order to take up the spot where she was sitting, Akira placed his bag on Sumire’s other side. Morgana popped his head out, and Sumire started to mimic patting his head.

“I guess she is.” Akira answered. “But it’s okay. She goes to Shujin, so I’m sure we’ll have plenty of other chances to talk to her.”

Akira suddenly felt a chill through his spine as he felt Sumire attempting to hug him. It wasn’t much, but she found some comfort in it knowing Akira understood what she was going for. In a similar manner, he proceeded to pretend to pat her head. To anyone else, it might’ve looked like a boy was just randomly smiling while putting his hand up, and his pet cat curiously watching. But to the ones sitting on that bench, it was a comforting moment while wondering about their unknown future.

Chapter Text

As the middle of the week began for the residents of Leblanc’s attic, Akira looked over the side of his bed to see Morgana stretching on the floor.

“Oh, hey. You toss and turn a lot! I almost fell off the bed last night!”

Akira, despite being in the process of getting up, still had a hint of embarrassment in his voice.

“Yeah, I probably should’ve warned you about that. Man, we really need to get you your own bed.”

“Well you still have some spare cash left over from yesterday, so at least that’s something you can do with it.” That was when Morgana looked over at the couch, and a moment of realization came to him. “Now that I think about it, why does the ghost get to sleep there? Isn’t she incorporeal?”

“I guess so.” Akira yawned. “But she gets pretty uncomfortable when someone or something goes through her.”

As Akira got off his bed, a higher-pitched yawn came from the other side of the room. Akira remembered something she said to him the day he met Morgana.

“Morning sleepyhead.”

Sumire giggled at the joke, taking her back to those simpler days. She really had gotten used to living with those two.

“Morning, boys. Did you finish the extra grappling hooks yesterday?”

With Morgana hopping in the bag, Akira was reminded of the night before. “Oh yeah, you knocked out last night! I saw you levitating above the couch as you breathed.”

“Is she asking about the grappling hooks?” Morgana questioned, his voice slightly muffled as he made room for himself inside the bag. “If so, we did finish them. By the way, Sumire, your light form tends to dim whenever you sleep.”

Sumire whispered something to Akira as he packed some supplies for both school and the Metaverse. It was quite a struggle to squeeze all of that stuff into each and every pocket that didn’t already have almost two feet worth of fur inside of it. He’d ironically ended up spending more money on the supplies than he did at the mall.

“She said she’d make a good night light. Also, you did not need to whisper that.”

The two caught Morgana letting out a small chuckle before he composed himself.

“Alright, new weapons?”

“Check.”

“Healing items?”

“Check.”

“Maps?”

“Check.”

“Confidence in the fact that we’re going to revolutionize your school’s history as we know it?”

“Check!”

“Okay then, we’re good to go!”

Right as Akira exited the cafe, Sumire overheard something on the news channel Sojiro had on the TV, not wanting to end up like last time, she ran through the door to warn Akira.

“Sorry, just saw the forecast back at the cafe. You might want to get an umbrella.”

“Oh, thanks!”

He quickly ran back into the cafe, which did confuse Sojiro, but he thought nothing of it.

By the first period, Akira already had his phone out. He was eagerly texting the group chat about his excitement towards finishing up the palace.

Akira:

-Alright, so I got these wrist bands that Morgana said could make us stronger somehow, loaded ourselves with healing items to make sure last time doesn’t happen again, and you two are gonna love the new battle tactics I thought of!

Ryuji:

-SLOW DOWN!!!

-but also go on

Akira:

-We made more grappling hooks for you 2 last night.

Ryuji:

-THANK. EFFING. GOD.

Akira quickly looked up from his desk to check if the teacher was watching. Lucky for both him and Ann, the teachers almost never paid attention unless a specific student was called on.

Akira:

-And you know how everything on our phones that isn’t service or cameras works?

Ann:

-Saved us a lot of trouble. We are NOT doing math in a twisted version of the school.

He thought he heard a snort and looked above his desk. He noticed Ann look behind herself to see him, Akira waved at her, Ann waving back before turning back around.

Akira:

-Anyway, I took a picture of the maps and marked everything to make sure I know where we’re going.

Ann:

-Sounds like you got it all figured out then!

“Mr. Hiruta!” Akira heard, startling him to quickly put his phone behind Morgana in a panic, only to look at where the call came from, realizing it was just Sumire giving him a smug look. Morgana asked if it was something she said as he handed Akira his phone back, who was facepalming with his other hand.

Ryuji:

-and i thought had a big grudge against kamoshita

Ann:

-KAMOSHITA

Akira couldn’t even respond back as he had to hold in his laughter.

Rain was always a weird feeling to Sumire. The water droplets always went through her, as usual, but her clothes still felt damp for some reason, and it still felt like the droplets were briefly touching her skin. It was soothing in a way. It was a feeling that no one who was alive could ever experience. Despite all of that, she preferred to be under the balcony with Akira and the rest of them.

“It doesn’t look like this rain’s gonna let up…” Ann said, sighing.

Akira was trying to make sure everything was safe under the balcony. It was a bit thin for his liking, so he sorted out the weapons while also trying to make sure none of them got wet.

“Ok…Ann’s, Ryuji’s, mine, Morgana’s…oh yeah, how far are we?” Akira asked, handing the map to Morgana.

“Well we’re actually pretty close to being done. It looks like we only have a few rooms left to go through before we reach the treasure.”

“Sweet!” Ryuji cheered. “We might be done with this so much sooner!”

“Don’t get too cocky.” Morgana warned. “I don’t think any of us want a repeat of last time, right?”

Despite Morgana’s quips usually being aimed towards Ryuji, during this one, he looked at Akira as he said it. Once Akira finished sorting out the weapons, he had sat down on the doormat next to Ann. Lost in thought, he leaned his head onto Ann’s leg. Not accounting for his height, he accidentally landed on her waist. Before he could get his head off of it, Ann quickly stepped away from him, causing him to fall over. Noticing this, Morgana tried to do the same thing, only to get the same response.

“Uh, Akira?” Ryuji said after hearing Akira react in pain to his head hitting the ground. “You good? Anyway, what did you two do yesterday?” He asked, trying to break the tension.

Akira got up, eager to tell him about what happened. “Well, Morgana recommended I go on a shopping trip, and I found Ann as I was checking out the stores, and she got me this amazing castella before she went home!”

Ryuji put his hand to his chin, he started having his suspicions about what Akira was doing. “Oh. Do you two have a thing going on?”

“Wait, do you?” Morgana asked the moment that sentence was finished. Akira froze in place.

“We don’t!” Akira and Ann said in unison, with Ann’s being a little more aggressive.

“Sorry, sorry. Just asking.” That didn’t seem to get Ann off his case.

Akira's face transitioned into a suspiciously smug smirk. “Besides, I think I already figured out who Ann has her eyes for…”

Ann stomped her foot on the ground and put her hand on her hip. “Don’t even try to guess!”

“You never said you don’t have one at all!” Ryuji teased.

Meanwhile, Sumire was lost in thought the whole time. Morgana’s comment affected her much more than Akira.

“I can’t let that happen again.”

Different strategies ran through her head as to how to utilize her unique abilities to their advantage.

“If I can run them into a wall…maybe we can corner it?”

“Spirit, you coming?” A whisper broke through her thoughts. It looked like Akira and the rest of them had already left, and Morgana was sent to keep an eye on her. Without a spoken word (not that Morgana would hear any from her), she flew down through the school floors and into the alleyway.

The castle was as foreboding as ever, and everyone knew that things wouldn’t end up like last time. Akira looked to his side to see Justine at the entrance, beckoning him to come inside. He told the others that he wanted some time to do a sort of “mental exercise” before he started. A lazy excuse, but they surprisingly bought it. While Sumire and Morgana hung out on one side of the bridge keeping Akira company, Ryuji and Ann had some interesting thoughts about what was going on.

“Ok, so the light Mona sees, I think he and Joker have been referring to it as Spirit or something. What do you think it is?” Ryuji asked, sitting next to a nearby barrel.

“I dunno, I guess it would explain why he talks to himself sometimes.” Suddenly, a good theory popped into Ann’s head. “Wait, this place is some kind of mindscape dimension where everything someone thinks comes to life, right?”

“I guess?”

“Yeah, it’s like in a movie! Well I thought that maybe it’s an imaginary friend!”

Ryuji tried to work out the logic, and it made a little bit of sense to him. “That kinda works. Didn’t think a guy like him would have one, though.”

“Well, life’s been tough on him since he came here. He may be stoic at times, but you can’t help but feel that he's still got a bit of a kid in him, and I can't help but find that… cool.” Ann started to reminisce about her childhood. “I mean, I remember when I had my own imaginary friends before I met Shiho.”

This got Ryuji’s attention, quickly asking, “Hold on, you gotta tell me what they were like!”

Ann brushed it off just as fast. “Nah, they were pretty dumb anyway. Got anything embarrassing about your childhood you want to get back at me with? It’s only fair, you know.”

Ryuji took a deep breath in. He knew he was never going to live this down, but he might as well tell someone. “When I first started track, I ran like a cartoon character.”

“Arms to the side, neck forward, back bent?” Somehow Ann knew exactly what he meant. Ryuji begrudgingly conceded, causing Ann to laugh.

“Pfft! Yeah, that sounds exactly like something you’d do!”

Akira’s eyes suddenly gained life again, and he felt very relaxed, yet determined.

“Alright, guys. I’m ready!”

While Akira was entering which safe room he wanted to go to, Ann quickly turned behind her with an apologetic expression.

“No offense, Caheet.”

Along the way, the group found a nifty skull-shaped item apparently called a Will Seed. Ryuji compared its texture to a potato, much to Akira’s amusement. It’s appearance in the palace made Akira curious enough to want to find some more trinkets within the castle’s depths. Exploring it sometimes became fun to him, and even more fun to Sumire, who was practically zipping to and from each and every wall in case there was something hidden inside, even examining treasure chests to see if what was inside was worth using a lockpick on. What wasn’t fun, however, was the amount of stairs they all had to climb. Sometimes it was lucky being able to hover.

“Can’t you just…use your wind magic…to bring an updraft up these stairs?” Ryuji asked Morgana as he huffed, holding onto the railing just to keep himself standing.

“While that would look cool, you gotta remember that we need to preserve every bit of vitality we can today.”

Just then, a cool breeze wiped over everyone. They were finally outdoors again. With a relatively low level of security from the looks of it. It felt right to take a small break here to rest their weary legs. Sometimes Sumire would pop her head out of the building to see how much progress they were making, which would help with Akira’s motivation, so when he went over to a nearby fence to see just how high up they were, the wind in his face made him realize just how it felt to be someone flying around on the side of a large structure.

“Quite the view, isn’t it?” Sumire commented, noticing the strangely normal view of the entire city, not unlike the average skyscraper. Well, apart from the red sky, pink clouds, and gigantic moon, that was. “I don’t wanna brag, but the views I get after all your climbing look a lot clearer without all of those towers in the way.”

“I don’t wanna interrupt your moment, but take a look at this!” Ryuji pointed to the large tower looming over them.

Morgana took out the map to examine it. “That matches up with the map. There’s no doubt that’s the tower we’re headed for.”

“So the treasure’s up there!” Ann sounded excited about getting close to their finish line.

“Which means we’re almost done!” Sumire cheered.

“Alright! So what’s our entrance looking like?” With Ryuji’s additional question, it was easy to tell that everyone was itching to get in there. Peeking up behind a nearby fence (With Morgana needing to ride on Akira’s shoulder), the rooftop was filled with a bunch of crates scattered around the area, with a gazebo in the middle. But most importantly, there were also a bunch of guards whose looks told Akira that they were not the kind of enemies they should be fighting.

“Oh come on, I thought we were home free at this point!” Ryuji complained, almost too loudly, causing Akira to shush him.

“Like we could’ve just waltzed in here.” Ann whispered.

Morgana was careful to remind them of their current strategy. “Remember, if we want to get through the rest of the palace today, stealth should be our number one priority.”

Ann pondered over the area for a moment. “Those boxes make it look like an entire maze. I guess it would be nice cover, but we’re bound to get cornered at some point.”

The rest of their break was spent figuring out strategies in order to get past all of the guards.

“I think I got something!” Ryuji having the first idea was definitely not what anybody expected, but it was something. “So Joker and Mona made us those extra grappling hooks, right? We use those to get to the top of that open house thing or whatever it is…”

“A gazebo.”

“Right, right, thanks Panther. Anyway, we get up there and… actually we’d still have to get down eventually… and the guards might see us there… dang it, I thought I was on to something!”

“Wait, hold that thought!” Morgana muttered. “If we can then latch it on to one of the flagpoles, I think we’d be safe and get even higher up! Yeah! Even if you only came up with half of a plan, I think it can work!”

“Hey, half of a plan is better than no plan!”

“Guys, we still need a way to actually get to the gazebo,” Akira noted.

Noticing the giant moon in the background, Sumire had already been considering how bright she really appeared to shadows when she heard this. “They did call me a torch when we first came here... and just like that, the memory gave her an idea.

“Joker, I can get a bird’s eye view of the area. I’ll give you directions, and you get the others to follow.”

“I like it!”

“Oh, you got something, Joker?” Ann overheard him. He already had the perfect excuse. “Just go in a single file line and back up when needed. You guys just follow me.” He then whispered the real plan to Morgana.

“It’s the best we got. I think we can do it.”

Camouflaging herself as simple moonlight, Sumire took a peek at the maze below her. Those on the ground were crouched down, waiting to begin. As they went, Sumire realized she needed to turn herself along with them in order to avoid a “My left or your left?” situation. There were a few close calls, but once they made it to the gazebo, it was smooth sailing, though everyone was still trying to get the hang of using a grappling hook. Ryuji might’ve stumbled a few times by aiming a little lower than he should’ve, and Ann almost lost her balance, but they were still much higher than anticipated. They were rewarded with an even better view of the city. One that even Sumire hadn’t seen yet. At the end of it all, Ryuji only had one thing to ask.

“I know our phones don’t work here, but could we at least bring some walkie-talkies next time?”

“What the hell is that?”

When Sumire popped her head back into the room, he gave Akira the same look she always did when something bad was in the next room. But this one was different from usual.

“I can’t even describe what was in there! It’s literally something you need to see for yourself to understand!”

Akira pushed the door open with a combination of hesitance and curiosity, and he realized that no matter how many times he thought he’d seen all it had to offer, there was always something new the castle would throw at him. In this room the floor pulsed up and down in rectangular chunks, and there was a small moat in the corner where a purple magma-like substance flowed through.

“We must be getting close.”

“What’s even going on here?!” Ann exclaimed.

“Joker’s right. The closer we get to the treasure, the more distorted a palace will look.” Morgana explained.

Right as Akira was about to touch one of the walls to examine it, Ryuji pulled him away.

“Woah woah woah woah woah, hold on. Those things are purple and blocky, and we got a moat with soda-flavored lava or whatever it is. Have you seen ANY form of entertainment? That stuff’s clearly poison!…Right, Mona?”

“The walls I know are safe. I’ve used those for cover plenty of times. The goo on the other hand…I’m not so sure.” The confidence in the former statement was a stark contrast from the complete lack thereof in the latter.

“We should probably still test it to make sure it’s safe. Anyone got anything they don’t need?” Ann suggested.

Akira looked through his stuff to see if he could find anything worth dropping in there. He found a single broken pencil he forgot he even had. Akira figured it’d be the best test subject for the goo, and everyone else agreed.

“Welp, there it goes.”

Everyone watched as the pencil slowly sank into the goo. It didn’t look like it was dissolving or burning up or anything of the sort. It was more like quicksand if anything. “Slowly” was the keyword though, and once it got to the point where only the eraser was sticking out, Sumire thought of a way to further examine the situation.

“Want me to go in there and check on it?”

Akira’s response was a simple shrug of his shoulders, as if to say “Go ahead. I can’t stop you.”

But as soon as her arm made contact with the mysterious substance, something was off to her. Every other time she touched something solid, she’d only go through it if she wanted to. Otherwise, she was able to feel its texture and pressure on herself, even if she wasn’t able to interact with it. But now…

“It’s solid?”

It was like trying to push through a giant roasted marshmallow. It was squishy, and after enough wriggling, she managed to push herself through. Inside, the pencil was still there. Nothing seemed to have happened to it, but after a few seconds, Akira started tugging on his collar.

“Is it just me, or does anyone else feel this room getting warmer?”

“Sorry, did I lose control again?” Ann apologized. “I noticed those mannequin-shaped pillars, and I was feeling a little riled up about it.”

“No, it’s not you. Something’s-aah!” A stinging pain came simultaneously to Sumire and Akira. Sumire immediately flew out of the moat and caught her “breath”.

“It hurt me. I don’t know how… but it actually hurt to be in there. How am I even feeling pain?!”

“We should get out of this room for now. We’ll save it for the near future. Besides, I think I know where the other Will Seeds are.”

As the group walked out of the room, Ryuji and Ann coincidentally both placed their hands on Akira’s shoulders. It was awkward at first, but still comforting.

“You okay, man?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Can I speak now?” Ryuji whispered, feeling a little out of it. He wanted to go full force on enemies so badly, but knew that with how many shadows were in the room, that wouldn’t be a viable strategy at all.

“Yes.”

“So we got three skull-shaped thingies that sort of stapled themselves together when we got ‘em all. Does that mean they’re conjoined triplets?”

“Wha-“ Morgana was speechless at that comment. He had to pause to think about it before answering. “I guess? But that’s not what they are, nor is it what they’re used for!”

While Morgana was trying to figure out the reasoning behind Ryuji’s question, Sumire was sliding across the ceiling of the room, patiently waiting for the next shadow to succumb to her tricks.

“Is this what haunting is? I guess it’s kinda like the inside of Kamoshida’s brain. Maybe that’s where the term comes from. Huh, the more you know...”

She then looked down to see multiple giant axes swinging below her. Before she could even get to Akira to warn him as usual, he found him jumping in shock at the entrance, thankfully safe thanks to Ann pulling him by the collar.

“Phew, that was close!”

“Giant swinging axes, a classic security measure for dungeons like this.” Morgana pointed out. “Your tail would be mincemeat if you tried to force yourself through.”

“Well they are metal,” Ryuji noticed. “Panther’s got fire powers, why don’t we just have her burn it down?”

“I don’t think we want this whole castle to burn down. A for effort though.” Ann complimented in response.

In the meantime, Akira was playing around with the mouth of the Kamoshida bust next to the room. It was suspiciously flexible. Sumire came to Akira’s side to check on him.

“Can’t find any way around it. There’s a platform with a treasure chest on the side, but that’s way too far of a jump. What are you doing with that anyway?”

“I don’t know, but it’s fun.” Akira mumbled some mocking phrases when Morgana turned around to see him.

“Aha! I knew something like that should be around here!”

“This bust with a funny mouth?” And then it dawned on Akira. He didn’t even realize that that mouth was there for a reason. Morgana climbed on his shoulder to show him.

“Look inside.”

When he did, he noticed that inside the mouth were some pipes that lead down somewhere. Diving into the floor, Sumire saw all kinds of rods connecting the statue to the axes. Inside the eye holes were some weirdly shaped holes.

“There’s definitely some kind of key that goes inside of the eyes.”

“C’mon, we got superpowers! Let’s use them for something other than fighting!” Ryuji proceeded to slam the bust on its head, giving it a shock through his fist. Unfortunately, this only made the axes move faster. “Well, that backfired.”

“Guess we gotta do it the intended way.” Ann disappointingly accepted. “Where would it be, though?”

“I checked every wall, no sign of a hidden room with a key in it. Such a shame too, would’ve been a really clever place to hide it. Can’t these things teleport?”

Akira looked toward the staircase, recalling the army of shadows in the prior room they had to sneak past.

“Look guys, I know we’ve been trying to do as few battles as possible today, but chances are, one of the shadows in that room downstairs has it.”

“But there’s so many of them even in that one room!” Ryuji complained.

Morgana thought to himself before asking “Did any of those knights look different from the others?”

The other three fidgeted in silence until Akira spoke up. “I think we were kinda too focused on the whole ‘focus on stealth’ thing to really pay attention to that stuff.”

While Morgana groaned, something came to Sumire. “I do remember one that had gold armor!”

Akira wiped his brow in relief, and whispered it to Morgana.

“Alright, I have a feeling it’ll be pretty easy to spot anyway. Plus, I figured out a way for us to grab the key without needing to alert the other shadows!” Morgana then whispered his own plan to Akira, and gestured for Sumire to listen in too.

Everyone proceeded to go downstairs and found the golden knight. Ryuji hid next to a bust, Ann behind the staircase, and Akira behind those same distorted pillars.

The pillar’s texture was rugged, poking at Akira’s gloves, yet it also had some smoothness between the more pointy parts. It felt similar to a fountain.

Sumire smugly walked on the air in front of the knight’s face. She cheekily sat on top of its shield and smirked at it. “So, you doing anything tonight?”

Annoyed, the knight flailed it’s sword at Sumire in an attempt to shoo her away like a flyswatter. While it was distracted, Morgana went up to it’s leg armor and did a small hop, snatching the key without the knight noticing. Ryuji fist pumped while Morgana gave a thumbs up. The group booked it to the scythes, leaving the knight to stop and continue patrolling the room. Akira inserted the eye into one of the sockets, and yet nothing happened.

“Guess we need the other one too.”

“I’m getting at least a week’s worth of exercise in today…” Ann groaned.

Their search eventually led them to a room where, immediately from the entrance, they had a bunch of shadows at the bottom of the staircase ripe for the picking. Watching the distorted pillars rise and fall, Sumire was able to get a front row seat to their behaviors. Morgana attempted to poke his head out from the legs of the taller team members.

“Ok, any guys with gold armor here?”

“Yeah. There’s just one problem.” Ryuji whispered.

“What’s that?”

“They’re all in gold armor!”

Indeed, each one of the soldiers below was identical from the last, it was clear that this wouldn’t be as easy as before.

Morgana quickly rethought his prior strategy. “We can’t just pickpocket all of them. Looks like we’ll need to actually fight to figure out which one’s the leader. Luckily, I can see a safe room downstairs.”

Sumire proceeded to lead the shadows guarding the safe room out of the room. Disappearing into the walls of the safe room. But because of how close they were to it, Akira knew that they might come back. So to make sure they weren’t surprised by anything the moment they came out, he volunteered to be on lookout duty. As he sat outside next to the door, Sumire poked her head out of the wall to check on him.

“Feeling comfy out here?”

“A little.” Akira sighed. “But I can’t stop thinking about what happened while you were in that moat. You told me it hurt you, right?”

“Oh yeah. I didn’t even know I could feel pain!”

There was a melancholy energy in the air. It always did feel like that in a place born out of lust, but this was a different kind of melancholy.

“But why did I feel it?” Akira questioned. His hand pushed through his hair and then rubbed around it. “Is our pain… shared or something like that? I don’t remember seeing you hurting whenever I got hit in battle.”

Sumire felt a lightbulb appear over her head, she looked back on their first day in the palace.

“Wait a minute. Back when those first two guards attacked you and Skull, I felt like I was the one getting beaten up myself. Maybe not as much as you did, but it still hurt.”

To both of them, it was hard to look back on that moment. Akira was still a normal guy back then.

“So it’s not just a one-way street. But if you don’t feel it as badly as I do, then maybe that’s why you don’t feel it when normal attacks hurt me. I’ll still be careful for you, though. Ok, Spirit?”

“Thanks, Joker.” She said before placing her hand through his. He knew what she was going for, and that gave him something to plan around his fighting style. Akira couldn’t help but smile at his incorporeal roommate.

There was still no sign of the shadows returning to that location, so they went back inside. When they got there, they noticed a sheet of notebook paper on the table with some doodles drawn on it, presumably a spare provided by either Ryuji or Ann. When Morgana noticed the two enter, he picked up the sheet and showed it to them.

“Ok, so I realized that we don’t have to take out all of them. We just need to find out which one is their leader once they expose their true selves, pickpocket that one, then make a run for it.” He then whispered “Spirit’s the line in the center.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Akira confirmed.

“Everybody ready?”

“Yeah!”

“Right behind you!”

Weapons in hand, everyone hid in place to surround the closest shadows to the doorway. Akira made a finger gun motion with his hand. Ryuji shrugged, confused as to what that symbol meant. Akira tried to mimic the action of breaking the mask with his hands, but it didn’t seem like the message got across to anyone. He then mouthed “Just go…”, and right then and there, everyone jumped an individual shadow, alerting the entire army. Incubuses, vampire women, and almost naked angels filled the room. It was a whole ensemble of different creatures. The first Persona Akira summoned was the one he thought he lost. Good ol’ Arsene. As curse energy spread out from across his wings, Akira mumbled to himself, “Thank you, compendium!”

It was good to have his favorite back.

“Take out the weaker ones first! We’ll have more space to work with!” Morgana called while firing his slingshot past an Incubus’s head, using a wind spell to boomerang it back.

“What?”

“The little ones!”

Since they hadn’t engaged in battle due to all of the stealth done today, an evasive, aggressive fighting style was present in the room. Or at least, that’s what they were trying to do, if you could call running away from anything that looked too big or hordes and attacking anything that was alone a “strategy”. They did occasionally land a hit or two on the bigger ones with a bullet, but then it would alert them, and it was back to evasion. At least mostly avoiding battles meant that they didn’t feel any burnout.

Akira was admittedly rusty with Arsene, but being what he is at his core, it all came rushing back to him, though he was getting struck left and right on his blind spots, and while the blows were devastating, they weren’t as deadly as he would’ve thought. His wrist started to feel tight. Looking at it, he noticed the arm band he purchased the other day. They made the right call buying those. He would’ve been done for if it wasn’t for those.

As good as it felt to use Arsene, this was serious. He decided it was time to switch Personas, scrolling through his mind like flipping pages in a magazine until he found the one he wanted.

“BICORN!”

Charging up a Garu attack, a cold breeze surrounded him before it launched towards his targets, it felt really satisfying to him. The wind in his face, the thrill of combat, the-

“Joker!”

He was so distracted by that satisfaction that he didn’t have time to react to the stab of a vampire’s flaming tail. The woman giggled as Akira clutched his chest. Sumire, who was coming in from helping Morgana by giving his blind spots, called out to him.

“Hey, don’t forget to patch yourself up.”

Akira called out Pixie, and his body started to relax more.

“Focus, Akira…focus Joker.”

Looking around the room to see if he needed to switch yet, he spotted Ryuji backed into a corner, struggling to keep up with the shadows. Sending his healing power to him, he was thanked afterwards, and saw Ann run past him.

“Remember to baton pass, guys!” Morgana yelled to them. Hearing this, Ann threw a fireball at the vampire who attacked Akira, but it barely even flinched. It’s wings went ablaze and charged forward. Out of pure instinct, Ann held up her whip from both ends to block it, resulting in the vampire ramming into it before being flung back like a slingshot. Seeing his chance as it hit the wall, Akira brought out Bicorn once more as it started to prepare for another tackle. Using his own Lunge, the two shot towards each other. Akira took some serious recoil, but he managed to blast through her. He had to lie down for a few seconds before he got back up. He saw Ann healing him, and behind her, an angel charging up some kind of bright energy ball.

“Panther, behind you!” He shouted. Ann looked behind herself. Pulling out her gun, she spun on a dime with her heels, her trigger finger faster than the angels' reaction to her turning to face them, shooting them down before they could fire off their attacks. She finished her turn with a small wink, as if to say it was nothing, and made a beeline for Akira, who held his hand out for her from behind a pillar, to which Ann reached out her own.

“Tag tag tag tag!” Ann yelled in a panic. She almost missed Akira’s hand because of how shaky it was. But their baton pass managed to connect, and they could both feel the battle coming into their favor. Akira and Ann both threw out their respective magic attacks at an Incubus, the result being the wind pushing the fireball even faster. It tried to fly away, but the fireball got to it before it even had the chance to dodge. The two attackers looked at each other with big grins on their faces. With it being Akira’s turn to pass, he looked for Ryuji.

Sumire watched as Akira ran towards Ryuji. During the fight, she was helping out whoever was missing hits or needed some help luring an enemy towards them. Seeing Ryuji or Ann grin when she got them to land particularly strong hits thanks to her made her feel good about herself. When both her and Akira found who they were looking for, Ryuji was facing a multitude of angels. While he mostly managed to hold his own, his footing seemed to get a bit shaky after taking some hits, spurring her into action. Even a single hit would take him out at this point, yet no matter how hard she tried, the angels wouldn’t take note of her presence.

While Ann was coming to heal him, and Akira, now with Arsene, to boost his power, Sumire took a closer look at the angels. She wondered what was hindering her capabilities, Sumire decided to get a closer look at the angels, flying right in front of them. The angels held their ground, not reacting to her presence as they continued to attack, zooming past her. As the angels flew, Sumire followed, getting another look at their faces, where she saw streaks of black across their eyes. That was when she realized that they were wearing headbands that obscured their vision. Thinking about what this meant, Sumire hesitated a bit, realizing that her abilities had their limits if they were facing an opponent that seemingly didn't need their vision to attack. Wondering what this meant for her, Sumire's mind started to entertain the idea that she might not have as much of a use as she thought she had. But just as quickly as her mood diminished, her determination fired up as hard as Ann’s Agi attack. There were still other enemies in the room that she could “fight”, and she wasn’t about to let her teammates down. Checking her surroundings, she noticed some Incubuses soaring towards Ryuji, taking advantage of his preoccupied state. Taking her chance, she flew into their line of sight, blinding them and making them cry out in surprise, grabbing Ryuji's attention. He swung his pipe behind him, knocking them to the ground. Akira managed to finish off the angels behind them.

“Nice save, Skull!” He said to him before giving him a high five. It wasn’t meant for a baton pass, but for a genuine compliment.

Checking if there was anything left, Akira saw a bullet whoosh by him, only catching a glimpse of an Angel before it disintegrated, and heard Morgana cackle behind it’s ashes. Seeing him turn around to face an Incubus and a vampire, Akira went to Morgana to assist him.

Side by side, Akira and Morgana were firing attacks left and right, but it felt like the shadows just kept coming.

"Damn, at this rate, we'll be overrun!" Morgana huffed, leaning onto Akira's leg a bit as he checked his surroundings. Looking for something that could pass as the leader, Morgana didn't find anything. "Hold a sec," he said, as green energy surrounded him, making Akira look at him. In a second, Morgana shot up into the air, leaving behind the small tornado that launched him up by Akira's feet. While high up, Morgana spotted three shadows that they hadn’t seen before on top of a flight of stairs, silently watching the fight below. When he got down, he asked Akira about their presence.

“Those horse riding guys have been awfully quiet this whole fight. Think one of ‘em’s got it?” Morgana asked, pointing towards the three mounted shadows.

Akira’s vision managed to lock onto the shadows Morgana was talking about. The silhouette of everything in the area was immediately distinguishable, and a particular red aura was piercing through the armor of one of them.

“Yes it is. The one on the left. Spirit, you ready?”

“Oh! Ready as I’ll ever be!”

Catching sight of their chase, the two other riders charged at them, swords pointed forward. Akira and Morgana darted to their sides while Sumire stood in front of them. Her brightness caused the knights to fly right past them, and they slammed straight into a wall. Since they were charging at such speeds, bits of wall flew everywhere after they hit it. A piece of debris from their impact hit Akira’s shoulder, forcing them to slow down to let Morgana heal it before standing in front of the last rider.

Sumire flew up to the corner of the room that trapped the riders in the wall, catching up with Akira and Morgana. Her sudden appearance startled the rider’s horse, causing it to go haywire. The knight swung its spear rapidly at Sumire which, while intimidating at first, only humiliated the attacker as it realized the futility of its attacks.

“Can’t kill what’s already dead, can ya?”

Coming in to attack, Akira felt the heat radiating from the knight’s body. He stood his ground and waited for Morgana to be close enough to make their move.

The horse continued to buck, unable to deal with the sparkling light before it’s eyes, eventually causing the horned shadow to fall off. Right as the knight was about to launch his fireball, Akira called out Silky to put it to sleep. Swiftly coming in from a strong gale, Morgana grabbed the remaining eyeball-shaped key, and he and Akira ran back to the center of the room. Morgana called out to everyone, “We got what we came for, let’s move!” And with that, the group successfully escaped the room, eager to finally stop the obstacle in their path. It wasn’t without its difficulties, and they needed to rest up before continuing their mission.

Now that they entered the safe room, a collective sigh escaped everyone's lips. Walking into the center of the room, Akira brought out the medicine he bought from Takemi, as well as a first aid kit Ryuji bought earlier, and spread them across the table. They were proving their worth in dealing with smaller injuries, patching up aches and bruises to not take away any energy from using their healing skills. 

“I’ll be honest, we could’ve done better.” Morgana said, pressing a small bandage against his shoulder to cover a small cut.

“Hey, we got the key, right? Isn’t that all that matters in the end?” Ryuji huffed, lifting his shirt to get a look at his injuries.

“Do you wanna get to the treasure today or not?”Morgana snapped, feeling his body for more injuries. “We may have gotten through battle relatively well for a bunch of first-timers, but you’re in for a rude awakening if you think that was good enough. We gotta think about the bigger picture, for what’s waiting at the end.”

Letting Morgana’s words sink in, Akira took the map out, looking at what was left to explore. The Treasure really was only a few rooms away, and he was starting to realize how close they really were. It would be all over soon. Starting to feel the heat, as well as some excitement, Akira took his coat off to cool down a bit when he noticed that there was a small scar on his shoulder where the debris had hit him. It could have been the adrenaline from the battle, but it was smaller than he seemed to remember, when it mysteriously started to shrink. “Hey Mona,” he asked, pulling everyone’s attention to him. “Is it me, or is this injury shrinking?” Climbing up to get a better look, Morgana examined the injury, placing his paw on the edge. Everyone held their breath as they waited for a response, before the scar shrank a bit more. “It’s fine,” he said, jumping off Akira's shoulder and landing on the table. “It’s a side effect of healing in the Metaverse. It nullifies some of the pain and repairs some of the damage, but it’s not a fix-all. Bigger injuries will take a bit to disappear completely, by next week, it’ll be like it was never even there.”

“Really?” Ryuji asked, a small amount of hope in his voice and eyes as he looked to Ann, as a look of understanding crossed between them. Rolling his pant leg up, a long, narrow, hard to see line ran along Ryuji’s leg, one where Akira squinted a bit to actually see it. With a quick Dia, the two of them, but Ryuji especially, looked at his leg, waiting for the line to shrink.

Remembering why he was here, Morgana’s ears drooped as he got off the table, putting a paw on Ryuji’s leg.“It…doesn’t really work on injuries given outside of the Metaverse.” He said, unable to look at Ryuji as disappointment ran across his face. “Stuff like that’s outside of my area of expertise.”

Feeling the atmosphere had suddenly gotten darker, Ann grabbed some ointment from the table and rubbed some on her hands. “At least it can’t get worse,” she said, placing a hand on Ryuji’s leg. Taking small comfort in what she said, Ryuji let her rub his leg. But as nice as the small comfort was, it was short lived. “Ow,” he flinched, pulling his leg back. “Bad spot,” he hissed. 

“Sorry!” Ann said, pulling her hand back. Seeing that it was an accident, Ryuji put his leg back out, letting Ann resume with a gentler touch. Akira was about to ask Ryuji what was wrong before pausing when Ann continued. It was easy to tell that the two had known each other for much longer than he had.

Akira’s eyes wandered upward, and he noticed Sumire slowly floating upwards. Her belly up as she simply laid down on the air. She felt at peace with herself, even if it did look a little funny from below. That gave Akira and Morgana a good laugh, and once she was about to hit the ceiling, she turned over and flew down to Akira.

“So, are we ready to get back out there or what?”

The next few rooms involved quite a bit of climbing. Still a little worn out from their fight, there was always a case of someone needing to grab onto another person’s hand in order to reach a high cliff.

“Come on, Skull, I swear this is the last one!” Akira called.

“That’s what you said about the last three statues! Wait, is this part actual cloth?” Ryuji noticed.

Ann couldn’t help but sigh at the boys. “You just noticed that now?”

While walking on the balcony of a bigger room than the rest, there was an annoyed grumbly voice coming from downstairs.

“You runts can’t even keep two simple keys from those grubby little hands of theirs. Do you know how long it took me to install those scythes?”

There was no mistaking it. That was the voice of the king himself. Reaching the edge of the balcony, they looked down to see that they were in the throne room of the castle. If they were this high up, the treasure couldn’t be far behind.

“I’m sure they did all they could, milord. Their dust proved they fought a valiant battle.” A nearby soldier reported.

“Well it clearly wasn’t valiant enough! I rule this castle for who knows how long, and suddenly these intruders start messing up the place! I raise security, and yet none of them notice!”

Kamoshida’s anger gave some much needed silent laughter to the group before entering the back door. Akira whispered to the group “You guys go on ahead. I got an idea.”.

“Don’t do anything you’ll regret.” Morgana warned, slipping into the opening between the door.

Once he was gone. Akira whispered his plan to Sumire, and she began to enact it. She carefully put herself in the middle of the guards in the throne room. Her ability took effect, and soon enough, every helmet was turned towards Sumire.

“Something buggin’ ya?” Kamoshida yelled.

“S-sorry boss. I almost lost myself for a moment.”

Kamoshida facepalmed, annoyed by the seeming idiocy of his troops. Sumire then made her way towards the door while a single guard was still focused on her. Seeing it take notice of Akira, he waved at the soldier before slipping away.

“B-Boss, I swear! One of the thieves, he was right there!” The guard shouted with a shocked look on his face. Kamoshida turned his head towards the door behind him, with nothing in sight.

“Quit pulling my leg! You two, take him to the treadmill, max speed!”

“Yes, sir!” Two other soldiers said before picking up the ‘prankster’.

“But Boss!”

“That’s ‘your majesty’ to you!”

Just one room left according to the map, and opening the large pair of doors in front of them, the team was met with a room filled with coins, and floating above a pot, a weird light not too dissimilar to how Morgana saw Sumire.

“Is this it?” Ann asked about the light.

“Yup! That’s what we were looking for! The treasure itself!” Morgana triumphantly answered.

Ryuji flopped onto the pile of coins, arms spread out, it was like he knew true inner peace. “We’re finally done!”

Akira attempted to grab the enigmatic object in front of him, only to be met with thin air. “It’s not working. Is there something like a password system or something for this?”

“At this rate, probably.” Ryuji added, still lying face up on the ground. Sumire tried to grab it herself, but could only feel a slight ribbon-like texture to it. Yet another thing she could just barely touch, but never hold.

“Yeah, I probably should’ve explained this before we got here. It’s just a desire right now, so it’s not exactly a physical object just yet.” Morgana proceeded to explain how to get ahold of the glimmering spot, requiring some kind of warning to grab the attention of the real version of the ruler.

And that grabbed Ryuji’s attention. He sprung up from the ground “Ah, so something like a calling card? I can totally see a Phantom Thief doing that!”

“You’ve only been one for about a week.” Sumire pointed out. A moot point, but still something she needed to say.

“And lucky for us, there’s a safe room right next to this place, so that’s convenient for us! We can just teleport it here, and carry it out!” Morgana declared. With how much he knew about this place, the teens wondered how long he had been going through these palaces.

The ambience of the rain told them that they were back in the real world. Through the clouds, they could see that the sky was a navy blue color.

Ryuji let out a large yawn. “How long were we there anyway?” Pulling his phone out to check, his eyes nearly popped out when he saw that it was already evening. “Two and a half hours!?” 

Morgana shook his head. “These things take a lot of time, you know.”

Through all of the buildings looming over her that she would occasionally fly to the top to, Sumire could spot the moon between the clouds in the distance. “We really did a lot today, huh?”

Akira checked his phone to see if that much time had passed. It was getting late, but not too late. There was still time for them to do one more thing before they had to head home for the day, and the sound of Ryuji’s stomach told him exactly what they should do.

“Ugh, and I’m starving! If I had known we were gonna be there for that long, I would’ve brought something like a pack of sliced apples or an energy bar or something like that.”

That got him some looks from the others.

“Hey, don’t judge me for my taste in snacks.”

Sumire remembered that as she made her way down, she noticed the vending machines next to the school. She told Akira that they could get something from there for everyone the next time they go to the palace.

“There’s a diner not too far away from here.” Morgana thought out loud.

Ann considered the offer. “I guess it would also give us some time to wait out the rain…wait how do you know that?”

“I used to rummage through their dumpster on occasion. Sometimes I thought I found something really shiny in there, but it was always something like a bottle cap or a paper clip or something like that.”

The mention of him rummaging through dumpsters gave Sumire a pause, pulling on some memories from when she was alone, taking a closer look at Morgana’s ‘real world’ form. As it dawned on her, she locked with him, shouting “It was you!”

“What? Akira asked, looking at the two of them as he thought about their statements.

“I’ll tell you once we eat.” Morgana and Sumire said in unison.

Hesitating to respond, Akira changed the subject, going through his phone. “A-anyway, I’ll tell Sojiro I’m having dinner with friends.”

After they had finished ordering, Ryuji let out a big yawn.

“Man, why do I always feel so worn out whenever I come back from there?

“Your body just isn’t adjusted to the whiplash of hopping between dimensions. You’ll get used to it with time. It should wear off after a good night’s sleep.” Morgana murmured from inside of Akira’s bag. The zipper was barely open to allow for some breathing room, as well as an entrance to put food in.

Akira’s head was resting on the table, looking at Sumire, who was mimicking his movement on an invisible chair at the end of the table. It worked  as an effective way of sitting when there wasn’t room for her, especially with four people taking up all the seats in the booth, though there were times where she did long for something cushiony to sit on.

“Akira?” Ann asked, making him perk his head up. “So you’re the new guy here, right? Have you ever been to Tokyo before you transferred?”

Eager to answer, Akira remembered some foggy memories of his own. “I know I came here once or twice as a kid. I remember getting some kind of toy there that I’m sure I still have in my room somewhere, but I don’t really remember much from it.”

“Damn, so you’ve just been walkin’ around the whole city aimlessly?” Ryuji reacted.

“Well I have a map of course, but it was pretty hard to navigate. But I had some help from someone who knew her way around the place,” he answered, winking at Sumire. Her eyes lit up, the euphoria she had at the tiniest nod to her was indescribable. “Anyway, Ann. You told me you moved here when you were a kid, right?”

“Yeah?”

“What was your first time here like?”

Ann’s face drooped when she thought about that. “Oh god, that brings up a lot of weird memories. I didn’t really like the move at first, so I just kinda dragged my feet on the ground to go as slow as possible to delay ourselves.” Her somber face slowly shifted as a small smile formed, trying to hold back a laugh. “But it made this annoying sound on the sidewalk, and I almost didn’t cross the street in time because I was so slow! My parents have never let me forget that ever since!”

Ryuji tried to cut in, “Hey, I was young when I moved here too, you know.” He said, a cheeky tone in his voice.

“La-dy-Ann! Ow.” Trying to enter the conversation, Akira’s bag fell on the floor as Morgana jolted forward, attempting to stick his head out.  Before Akira picked the bag back up. Sumire got out of her “chair” to check if he was ok. Morgana, though blinded a little by her appearance lighting up the space around him, gave her a gentle smile, thankful for the concern. Him falling thankfully wasn’t enough to cause any stir, but that window of time when it happened was stressful.

“That’s not something I could believe in a million years.” Morgana complimented once the bag was back on the bench. “Your movement during battle today had this elegance and grace while still moving at an amazing pace and-“ Sumire went in front of his face and stared directly into his face to interrupt him. Just giving a straight ‘No,’ as a response.

“Ah,” he blinked, the light from Sumire making him stop.“Please don’t make this a regular thing.” Morgana whispered.

The memory of that battle got Akira yapping. “Oh man, the way you threw those fireballs, you looked like you had a second gun on your arm like a robot or something like that.”

“Yeah, I think pyrokinesis really suits me, you know?”

“Pyrokiwhat now?” Ryuji asked, cutting into the conversation.

“Fire powers.” Ann answered, already looking at Ryuji as if she knew he was going to ask.

“Well, aside from that, Akira, I don’t wanna be rude or anything, but I think you’re giving a little too much-“ Before he could get his point across, the food arrived, and everyone moved on before they could  hear him out. As they ate, Sumire could only float next to Akira as she watched him eat. She saw a bit of concern in his eyes that told her that something was bothering him.

“Too much what?” she thought to herself, taking a glance at Ryuji before focusing back to Akira.

As they ate, everyone thought that they were rather hungry with how quickly they ate.

“Geez! Do these two always eat this fast?!” Sumire reacted.

As if he was listening, Morgana said right back, “Sumire, I don’t know if you’re watching this, but if we ever go out to eat with the rest of the team, we’re going to need a bigger menu.”

“Well that was quick.” Akira pointed out while looking at everyone’s plates. “I was hoping we’d be able to at least talk for a little bit while waiting for someone to finish.”

“Dude, come on. It’d be awkward if we just dined and dashed now. We have more than enough time to chat before we call it a night.”

Akira tried to think of a conversation topic, he was about to say something to Ann before Sumire called out to him. “Wanna know how I might have met Morgana?”

Akira looked at Ryuji and Ann, already distracted by each other’s voices. He figured he might as well listen in.

“So you did more with those cats besides sleeping with them?” Akira asked.

Sumire pressed her hand against her forehead as she recalled the experience. “You don’t know how many there are in this city. I saw and followed so many I’m starting to think it’s becoming a problem. One of them looked just like Morgana, and looking back, that one did always seem craftier than the others…”

They couldn’t see it, but Morgana was doing the same thing Sumire did from inside the bag with his paw. “That would explain so much.”

Just like before, Sumire had some conversation topics for Akira to translate for. With Ann here  though, she found herself having a lot more to say. Sometimes Akira would disguise her questions as things that a “Friend of his at his old school wanted to know.”, other times, Sumire would ask things like “Hold on, are you taller than both of them?”

“No way, I’m not buyin’ it.” Ryuji denied, though the question interested Ann, and soon enough, the two were out of their seats, backs pressed against each other. It was a tiny difference, but much to Ryuji’s dismay, and Sumire’s amusement, Akira was in fact taller.

“Oh come on!”

“Ryuji, even after I go home, you will never hear the end of this.”

“I’m at least taller than Ann, right?” He looked at her and goaded her. Ann hesitated before getting up. Once they were back to back, Ann took a quick step forward before the conclusion was drawn. Sumire even checked to see how she compared. She was the shortest out of all of them, but she tried to float to make herself look taller in front of them. Looking behind her, Akira seemed to smirk at her, knowing what she was trying to do. The blondes sat back in their booth, and Ryuji wiped his brow.

“Thank god I’m the shortest one here.”

“But you’re still the shortest male here.” Morgana teased, somehow forgetting himself, or so it seemed.

“Hey, it’s not my fault! Akira’s just tall for his age!”

“Hey, 175 is nothing to scoff at.” Akira proclaimed, putting his hand on his chest. “My growth spurt was something people were always talking to me about. Even if my eye level changing took a bit to get used to.”

It wasn’t enough to trigger a full on memory phase or whatever Morgana called it, but Sumire did feel some form of irritation in her head when that line about growth spurts was mentioned. When she snapped out of it, Sumire noticed that Akira was talking to Ann again, so she listened in.

Akira had been focusing on her for most of the time they were there. He’d occasionally make quick comments toward something Morgana, Ryuji, or even herself would say, but Ann seemed to be his go to person for interaction. She had a lot to say, and Sumire could see the appeal in her. They were so invested in talking to each other, that Ryuji had to step in and show Ann the time on his phone.

“Oh my gosh, really? Oh man, I’m sorry to cut it short, but it’s getting really late.” It looked like they talked longer than they ate.

“Sir? Sir? Are you three ordering again?” Their waiter called to Akira, snapping him out of his invested mood.

“N-no. I’m not.”

As they got up to go, Akira was bummed that they had to go. As they walked out of the restaurant, Ryuji recapped what they needed to do.

“So, we doing the grand finale of this whole ‘saving the school’ thing soon?” Ryuji asked, looking at Akira for confirmation.

“I’ll text the group chat when I’m ready.” Akira nodded.

“Sweet. Just say the word, and I’ll make my plans. Catch ya on the flipside, guys.” And with that, Ryuji was quickly out of sight. Taking Ryuji’s lead, Ann started to leave as well. Turning around to go, Akira ran up from behind and gave her a hug. He gave her a quick smile, the face looking back at him didn’t. Ann made a light yelp, as she squirmed  to get out of his embrace. She glared at him once she got out, intimidating Akira and making him pause before he could press on any further. She grunted and stormed off with her hands as fists, stomping as she walked.

“Akira?” Sumire said calmly, placing her fingers on Akira’s shoulder.

Akira was frozen in place. He had never been more confused at something a friend of his did.

“Sorry…?”

Chapter Text

The cheery attitude from the previous morning was noticeably missing while Akira got ready for school. He didn’t say a word to his roommates beyond a quick ‘Good morning.’

Sumire tried to ask him what was wrong, but was only met with an ‘It’s nothing.’

Trying to lighten Akira’s mood, Morgana asked him about something he thought Akira would be willing to answer. He climbed over to the desk to get at least close to eye level with him. “So uh… you ready to send out the calling card?” He tilted his head, and there were a few seconds of silence before Akira just responded with “Maybe after school”, not even looking at Morgana as continued his morning.

There was a strange silence in Sumire and Morgana, as neither of them had ever seen Akira this distant towards them before. His morning routine was much slower than usual; taking a moment between putting on each piece of clothing when he got dressed, and eating breakfast even slower. If Sumire wasn’t checking the clock while Akira ate, he probably wouldn’t have even gotten on the subway in time.

When he got to his desk at school, Akira tried to look at the girl sitting at the desk in front of him, though his eyes darted around the room trying to turn his focus to anything else, making him fidget all day. His hands wrapped around his head as it laid down on the desk. His glasses pushed up against his nose, even almost nodding off at times during class. This prompted Sumire to help him more often than usual. Every time he got confused on a question, Sumire would fly around the room to find the answer, to the point where she eventually decided it was best for her to stay at the teacher’s podium and tell him the answers from there.

At lunch, he almost always sat with his fellow team members, but today was the first day in a while where he sat alone. Sumire and Morgana tried to get him to bring up anything for conversation. Whether that be what to write in the Calling Card or what his upcoming schedule was going to be like, but all they could get from him after he was done eating were simple responses like “Yeah.”, “I don’t know.”, or “Maybe.” before going back to watching other students hang out with their friends from the corner of the cafeteria.

The school day was almost over; one more period, and Akira could do…something. Anything that got him out of the building would be fine. Sumire floated over Akira and “laid down” on his back as his chin lay on his desk. Despite her looking upside down at his face, Akira hadn’t even noticed his friend’s attempt to comfort him, even when she let out a tiny laugh after her glasses fell off somehow. Before he knew it, the final bell had already rung, and right as Akira was getting up, with Sumire pushing herself back up to get her glasses, he felt his phone vibrate. Checking to see what it was, it was a text from Ryuji.

Ryuji:

-Hey man, I saw you at lunch. You ok?

Akira:

-Yeah, just needed some time to myself.

Ryuji:

-Guessing that’s a no on the CC?

Akira:

-I know we don’t have that much time left. I just need a break from superhero stuff from time to time. Is that ok with you? I promise we’ll try to set it up tomorrow.

Ryuji:

-I get it. If you’re looking for something to do on your break, I’ve been meaning to try to get my muscles fresh ever since we first started doing this whole palace operation. Could always use a partner.

His eyes lit up with the first generally positive emotion he felt that day. “Huh, Ryuji wants to train with me?” Akira repeated to himself, right, he almost forgot that there was still some student that wanted to be with him.

Sliding his phone into his pocket, Akira tried to get up, when Sumire flew in front of him. Immediately looking to the side, his eyes darted around to avoid eye contact when she turned her head to follow.

Sumire floated a few inches off the ground to align with his eye level as he instinctively looked at her. She put her hands above his shoulders and waited for Akira to calm down before speaking to him. “Come on, Akira. I get that you haven’t been in the best mood lately, but I think it would be nice if we hung out with Ryuji for a bit. What do you say?”

Like a second parent encouraging what the other was saying, Morgana chimed in.

“He went through the trouble of inviting you, so why not listen to what he has to say?”

Akira opened his mouth to say something, but he stopped himself. Both of them were right, even if he wanted to take a break today, that didn’t mean he shouldn’t try to turn his mood around. He could make this work, and it might get him to stop focusing on what happened last evening so much. Pulling his phone out, Akira slung his bag over his shoulder, walking out of the classroom as he quickly fired off a text.

Akira:

-Eh, got nothing better to do. I’ll come.

Ryuji:

-sweet. meet me at the courtyard in your gym uniform

With a quick nod to himself, Akira was about to put his phone away when another text came from someone else. Looking at the sender, Akira didn’t even want to read what it was when he saw who it came from. He immediately put his phone back in his pocket without hesitation and walked faster, leaving a message from Ann unread.

While waiting for Akira to change, Sumire and Morgana sat next to each other outside the changing room door. Both of them figured it could be a good time for a game of charades.

“You’re worried about him too, aren’t you?” Morgana started. Sumire answered by floating up and down to try to simulate nodding her head.

“I think it’s about what happened with Lady Ann.”

“Good thing he picked up on that.” Sumire thought. She was relieved she wouldn’t have to try to tell Morgana that. But the mention of Ann reminded her that she was just as confused about her actions as Akira was. What were girls her age even like? If there was ever a time she wanted to recall a memory of her school life, it was now.

“She’s been through a lot. I kinda understand why he decided to do that. I have noticed she was pretty close to him lately before all of that happened.” Morgana interrupted her thought process.

His more miffed frown was a dead giveaway that he may or may not be jealous about that. Even if that crush was way too obvious, Sumire could still tell Morgana cared about Ann as a person.

“I wish you could hear me, because I’d want to tell you that we’re going to make sure to help Akira understand what’s going on!” She tried floating up to the changing room door and bouncing intensely to show her confidence.

“Yeah, he’ll be out soon, and when he does, I think I know what we should do.” Morgana seemed to reply. Sumire could only hope he at least got the gist of it.

As if on cue, Akira came out of the changing room, dressed in his tracksuit and ready to hang out with Ryuji. But before he went, Morgana asked an important question.

“Do you want us to just leave it to you and Ryuji for now?”

Akira paused for a few seconds before he answered. “That would be nice. Thanks, guys.”

As Morgana and Sumire parted ways with Akira once they left the building, Morgana looked towards Sumire and asked something from her. “Keep an eye on him, alright?” Sumire nodded. It wouldn’t be easy, but this was for Akira.

Staying a safe distance behind him, she watched him meet up with Ryuji at the schoolyard. She picked a vantage point from the roof of the passageway, where Akira would hopefully not look. It gave her a good view of the two jogging together. She noticed Akira wipe some sweat off of his forehead with his sleeve, no thanks to his jacket combining with the late spring heat to make for an uncomfortably hot run. Conversely, Ryuji didn’t even bother to touch it. When they finally stopped to rest, Akira was sitting against the wall, almost lying down as Ryuji stretched.

“Ya know, this place used to be my secret training spot back when I was on the track team.” Ryuji remembered. “Though after I was kicked off, I mostly just come here to get my mind off of whatever was bothering me on some days.”

Watching his friend relaxing on the floor, he told him, “If you want, you can come with me next time that happens. I won’t judge.” It looked like Sumire found herself a new place to think about her afterlife.

Even while he was staring off into space, Akira gave Ryuji a thumbs up, and with his brief reminder of the upcoming calling card. “Considering what we’re about to do, we’ll probably be doing that a lot,” he said, head still facing up as he fumbled around for his water bottle.

“Yeah,” Ryuji said, finding Akira’s and tossing it toward him, taking a drink from his own. “That reminds me, ever since I got my Persona, my motivation to try running again has done a complete 180. Like, I’m fighting random monsters trying to save this entire school from an evil teacher! I can’t keep putting off getting back on a proper workout schedule after that bombshell! Superheroes like that are supposed to be crazy muscular, right?” Ryuji asked, flexing his arms as if to show off his own muscles. “Plus, aren’t lightning powers usually associated with people who can, you know, go fast?”

“I guess.” Akira replied without much thought, as his attention was elsewhere. He thought he heard someone giggling, and looked around the area to see who was there. After seeing nothing, he turned his attention back to Ryuji, “You use brute force more than anything. If you can bulk up, that would definitely help.”

“That’s what I’m saying!” Ryuji shouted, making Akira flinch at his enthusiasm. “I’m this team’s powerhouse. I gotta start doing my part there! And you do too, don’t start slacking on your whole ‘Jack of all trades’ thing you got goin’ on.”

“Right.” Akira’s mind went to the others as well. Morgana was their healer, Sumire was the unseen supporter, and…

“Hey, remember how Morgana said that what we wear affects how hard we hurt in the Metaverse?”

“Yeah?”

“You think these tracksuits would make us faster? If we get in our heads, we might be stronger too!”

While that was a good idea in theory, Akira had to shoot it down. “Our outfits change in there anyway, I don’t think it matters.”

Ryuji turned his head downward as he kicked up some dirt. “Dang it, you’re right.”

But Sumire was always wearing a tracksuit. “Am I faster in the Metaverse?” Sure, she was pretty agile in combat, but even when she twirled in the air in the real world, her movements were just as fluid. Maybe the joy she got from floating was a remnant of her time as an athlete?

After that time she spent zoning out, Akira and Ryuji were close to finishing their second lap. Akira’s jog had pretty much become a slow walk at that point. Judging from Ryuji’s expression, it didn’t look like he minded.

“Damn, I forgot how good it felt to actually do a run that wasn’t way beyond my skill limit! Once we get rid of Kamoshida, his replacement better be a whole lot nicer!”

Akira realized that, due to the pile of other things about Kamoshida that either he did or they needed to do to him, the supposed leader of the operation hadn’t even considered what was going to happen to their PE classes once that slimy being (hopefully) got arrested. “Oh yeah, wonder who that’ll be.”

“Whoever it is will have some big shoes to fill.” Ryuji thought out loud. “Before everything went to shit, Shujin was practically known for their track team! Then Kamoshida got our old coach fired and well, you saw what it looked like in there.”

The image of the grinders flashed towards Sumire as she remembered what she had seen in the Palace. Why did she get close to them? The looks on the athletes faces, despite them not being the real ones, were still fresh in her mind. She had been so consumed by her thoughts that she was almost on the ground before she looked to see that Akira was below her, and she flailed her arms and legs to float back up before he could catch a glimpse of her.

Ryuji continued, “You know, you’re not the only one who sees me as the brute force type. Every class always has that one student who’s the…whatever the opposite of a teacher’s pet is,” he said, his tone hinting at where his thoughts were going. “And take a wild guess who that guy was on the track team once you-know-who took over.” His leg was bouncing incessantly at the memory.

Akira sighed, whether it was from fatigue or sympathy was anyone’s guess. “That’s rough. I never had a teacher that bad at my old school.” Akira ruffled his hand through his hair. “Most that would happen to me is that a teacher would yell at me a bit more often than most of the other students, and then my mom would scold them in an angry phone call until they treated me fairly.”

“You’re lucky both of your parents were nice to you about the whole probation situation. I wouldn’t be caught dead if that happened to me.”

Akira turned towards Ryuji, looking into his eyes. It was clear that he had something to say, but hesitated. Akira didn't mind, he was more than willing to wait. Or at least he wanted to. 

With how long the boys were silent for, Sumire was starting to get bored. She turned around to leave and find Morgana when Ryuji spoke up.

“You know what? I’m not gonna sugarcoat it. But promise me you won’t tell anyone else about this, okay? I’m trusting you.”

Sumire couldn’t resist. She’d already invaded Akira’s secret conversations before, what’s one more going to do?

Noticing Ryuji’s lowered eyebrows, Akira figured that he didn’t want to bottle up whatever those thoughts were.

“I promise.”

Ryuji took a deep breath. “Okay, so back then, if my time even went a little under the average, Kamoshida would admit to the whole team that my uh…a big secret of mine. I don’t like to talk about it.” Maybe he was doing a bit of sugarcoating, but Akira nodded his head in understanding.

“I don’t even know how he found out about that crap!” Ryuji continued, his voice beginning to raise in volume. “And you probably figured this out from my little light show at that statue, but my temper isn’t exactly the best, so what do I do? I go up and deck the guy!” He yelled, throwing his arms up. “And I think we both know where that led me.”

“Do you want to call it for today?” Akira felt the need to ask before any potential after-school program students heard his rant.

Ryuji put his arms down and let out a deep sigh. “Yeah, I’m pooped anyway.”

While the boys were sitting in front of the fence, Sumire laid on the other side, feeling the spring leaves around her on the ground. She started sinking into the floor (quite literally) when Ryuji continued his rant, albeit in a calmer tone.

“I really used to like that team, y’know. But after that incident, I overheard some of their newer members treating me like some kind of boogeyman.”

“Well-“ Akira began, but he stopped in the middle of his speech when he saw a peculiar-looking pile of what looked like dirt collapse into the floor. “Sorry, I thought I saw someone. Anyway, look on the bright side, if you didn’t do that, you probably never would’ve met me or have been able to get your revenge.”

Ryuji’s eyebrows raised as he started to smile. “Yeah, we’re getting our sweet revenge on that jerk.” With that burst of enthusiasm, Ryuji catapulted himself up and brought out his hand to pick Akira up. Sumire’s face beamed as she watched the boys do a handshake. Just like with Ann a few days ago, a second burst of cheeriness flowed in her non-beating heart from Ryuji’s enthusiasm and confidence.

“For you, me, and Ann!” Ryuji said with pride. “Up top!” But when he held his hand up for a high five, Akira put his hands in his pockets. The light that was in his eyes a minute ago had faded.

Putting his hand down, Ryuji needed to make sure. “Hey, you okay, man? You’ve been pretty quiet lately.”

At first, Akira stayed silent. He couldn’t tell Ann’s closest team member about what happened yesterday if he still didn’t know why things had happened as they did. That was when it hit him, if anyone could figure out why she got mad at him, it would be Ryuji.

Akira put his head down as he began to explain. “So yesterday, when you left after the restaurant, I tried to give Ann a hug goodbye, but she pushed me away and stormed off. You know her pretty well, I was wondering if you could help me figure out how to sort things out with her. Sorry if that’s bothering you.”

Ryuji struggled to find the words to say to Akira, but he saw Akira’s face get a more worried expression the longer he took. Once he pieced together the whole story in his head, he spoke to Akira softly for the first time. “Look, man, I get what you were goin’ for, but some people just aren’t into that kinda stuff. You do remember why she’s fighting with us, right?”

Akira thought long and hard before giving his answer. “Right, for Shiho’s sake. She’s the only friend she’s had since middle school, I can see why she would be distrusting of newer friends.”

Pausing at the answer, Ryuji thought about how he should respond. While Akira was correct in his judgement, that was not the reason why she reacted as she did. “It’s not just her. Don’t forget how she even got into this mess in the first place.”

Trying to think what that was, Akira thought back to his first conversation with Ann. The first time she told him about Shiho.

“About Mr. Kamoshida. Everyone says we’re getting it on, but that’s so not true. That was him on the other line… I avoided giving him my number for the longest time… He told me to go to his place after this. You know what that means.”

Opening his mouth without a sound, Akira looked off in shock as everything finally clicked to him. Ann was still a few days away from being completely safe from her biggest threat, why wouldn’t she still be cautious around him? They had only known each other for a little over a week after all.

“Oh…oh god that makes way too much sense.” Akira plopped down onto the floor to think. His chin rested in his palms, and his fingers on his ears.

It opened a slew of questions to him about how he’d been as a leader. Was he relying too much on Sumire to keep track of things, Morgana was the one teaching everyone, why wasn’t he the leader?

All of those thoughts were interrupted by the faint sound of Ryuji’s voice.

“Hey, it’s not your fault. It took me years to understand that girl.”

Looking above the frames of his glasses, Akira saw Ryuji was squatting down in front of him, holding a hand out to help him back up.

“Just talk to her about it. We’ve gotten too far at this point for her to give up on you now.”

Seeing Ryuji’s smile was all Akira needed to get a confidence boost.

“I think I know what to do. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Walking over to the school’s entrance, Akira spotted Sumire waiting for him.

“Were you waiting here the entire time?” he asked, making Sumire jump in surprise.“Of course not!” she said, slowly floating down as she thought of a lie. “I get bored easily! I was uh…well you see, Morgana just…” She paused for less than a second before catching herself. “ …and I just finished our walk, and he’s at home right now, so he sent me to check up on you!” By the time she was finished speaking, her body was halfway under the sidewalk.

Akira couldn’t help but laugh at Sumire’s obvious lie, and as they were walking home, she was happy to see that at least some determined light had returned to his eyes.

It was so dark, Akira almost couldn’t see the black-furred Morgana and transparent Sumire sleeping when he was pulling out his phone. Turning it on, it’s extreme brightness flashed in his eyes, causing him to lower the setting while his free hand covered his face. Checking his text messages, there of course was the one he had ignored from Ann.

Ann:

-Hey, sorry about what happened last night. I kind of overreacted there.

Akira had a headache, most likely from staying up so late, he thought. But he couldn’t leave Ann hanging any longer, so he started typing away.

Akira:

-I think I’m the one who needs to apologize. I’ve never exactly been the best at knowing someone’s limits.

He put his phone into sleep mode, hoping to see Ann’s response the next morning. He then placed it upright on the shelf, plugged into it’s charger. Akira closed his eyes before seeing a bright light next to him. His head turned like an owl’s at the light coming from his phone. Picking it up, there it was. Ann’s response.

Ann:

-That’s fine. We just need to figure some things out.

Akira had never been more happy to see those three dots signifying she was still in the process of texting him.

Ann:

-I’ll admit, I might’ve been relying on you as a shield too much these past few days. You’re kinda saving me and my best friend’s life here, so that’s probably why.

Akira:

-Don’t mention it. It’s nice having a girl to talk to that isn’t any kind of girlfriend or crush or whatever.

Ann:

-Oh, that would explain it. I’ve been getting startled by things behind me a lot more recently. It can be pretty scary at times.

-Can you keep that in mind, please?

Akira’s eyes started to droop, but the gentle smile on his face just wouldn’t go away.

Akira:

-Of course.

Ann:

-Thanks. Hopefully I’ll get less worried about it after all this superhero stuff.

-But next time, if you want to 

Akira opened his mouth for a silent yawn. He needed to end this conversation for now.

Akira:

-Got it. It’s getting late, I’ll see you tomorrow.

Ann:

-Oh wow, I lost track of time. Sorry if I kept you up too late. Good night!

Akira:

-Good night.

He barely had enough energy to put his phone back on the shelf before drifting off with his roommates.

When Sumire rubbed her eyes awake, she was greeted with the sight of Akira speeding through his morning routine. She was just in time to see Akira almost pick up the wrong pair of glasses before they phased through his hand. His plate was licked clean within minutes (much to Sojiro’s dismay), and there was a skip in his walk to the subway. It was just how a Friday morning should be.

“Well you sure are excited today, aren’t you?” She told her friend.

“Yup!” Akira responded, cheery as ever. “I’ve settled on it. We’re planning the Calling Card today! I’ve already texted the team about it.” 

“Would it kill you to slow down?” Morgana asked sickly, “I’m gonna lose my breakfast if you keep shaking this thing!”

Akira was surprisingly alert at school that day. Sumire barely needed to help to the point where she almost fell asleep waiting for Akira to ask for it. Whenever Akira had free time, he was speedily texting the group chat about his ideas for their big show.

Ryuji:

-save the juicy stuff for the rooftop man im not reading all that

Ann:

-Akira do you want me to explain it to him?

“No.” Akira answered verbally. He turned his head towards Ann right as she did the same to him.

Akira’s troupe had several minutes after the bell rang before the others came to the rooftop. A hypothetical sweat rolled down Sumire’s forehead when Akira was repeating his ideas to himself.

“‘Sincerely, your worst nightmare.’ No, that's too vague. ‘you know who we are’, not vague enough…” He pondered while pacing around the roof.

“You were excited about this the moment Morgana brought it up, didn’t you?” Sumire asked, assuming that was the case.

“Yup!” Akira answered before quickly repeating the prior statements, adding on, “Sounds good on paper though…”

“I knew you’d love this part,” Morgana said with a stretch, grinning as he watched Akira’s enthusiasm

Seeing Ann come in, Akira paused his monologue to give her a high five. When Ryuji came in not long after, his mouth was already running as the door swung open.

“So I noticed a little plot hole in this part of the plan. Why didn’t we do this in the first place?”

“That treasure isn’t gonna stay physical forever (Morgana explained while looking at his paw like a watch). From my understanding, we’ll have about 24 hours before it disappears.” 

“And there go my weekend plans…”

Ann got up from her seat with a stomp. “I dunno about you, but I think this is going to be the greatest weekend of my entire life.”

Watching the rest of the team banter in anticipation, Sumire flew over to Akira’s ear and asked “Are ya gonna tell them your idea for the message or…?”

Akira shook his head rapidly and focused himself. “Right, okay guys, as for what we’re going to put on the card, I figured-“

“DIBS! I call dibs on writing the card!” Ryuji interrupted, making Akira jump from his loud volume before his head drooped.

“That fast?!” Sumire wailed.

Looking towards Ryuji, Ann grinned and gave a cheeky smile. “Come on, I wanna be involved too! You do remember why I’m fighting with you, right?”

“Uh…” Ryuji took a step back, caught by his own words.

While Ryuji and Ann were playfully arguing, Sumire pondered to herself, and once she figured it out…

“Why don’t we just all write it together?”

Ryuji and Ann stared at Akira in confusion once he repeated the question to them.

“Well if we did that, then we…” He hesitated, feeling their gazes lock on onto him. To them, it looked like a simple pause in Akira’s thoughts, but if they looked at what was next to him, they would’ve seen Morgana’s smile.

“We’d make it harder to figure out who wrote it!” Akira said confidently, quickly glancing over to Sumire, who smiled at her friend and gave a thumbs up.

“Akira’s right.” Morgana continued, picking up where Akira left off. “If we went through the palace together, then we’re finishing it that way too.”

Ann proceeded to dig through her bag to pull out some red poster sheets.

“By the way, while you two were out jogging, I managed to snag these from an arts and crafts store. Would these work?” She asked.

Morgana clapped his paws together and pointed at her. “Yes, that’s perfect! Our battle begins tomorrow!”

“I can’t wait!” Sumire cheered.

Ryuji scratched the back of his head while his eyes looked away from the others. “I’ll be honest, I could probably use the help writing this thing anyway. There’s so much I want to say and I’ll need you all to narrow it down.”

As Ann spread the poster sheet down, everyone got to work on the messages, Ryuji put down some little doodles to add to the “shock factor” before Morgana dismissed some to make it seem realistic. Sumire even pitched in with writing that none of them would have come up with before.

The group was back together, closer than ever before. Shujin Academy was in for a big surprise the next day.

Chapter Text

Sumire wasn’t at her desk today, but it was for a good reason.

She was patiently sitting in the hallway, waiting for someone to notice the multitude of printed copies of the Calling Card posted on the bulletin board. Watching students pass by without so much as giving them a glance made her groan in frustration.

First period went on forever, but eventually, right before second period began, Sumire heard the words she’d been waiting to hear.

“Huh? What’s this?”

One curious student saw those bright red squares. Then another appeared, and another, and another. Soon enough, an entire class’s worth of students had gathered around her team’s work.

Akira and his friends walked by the scene of their actions, with Sumire cheering at Akira from above the crowd. They didn’t stay for very long to avoid drawing too much attention to themselves, but there were smiles on their faces as they saw the recognition it was getting.

By the time the school day was almost over, there were still a fair amount of students fawning over the top hat logo Ryuji drew, conspiracy theories going around about who was the culprit.

“That was the most fun I’ve had on a project since elementary school!” Ryuji yelled a bit too loudly while stretching, the others quickly shushing him.

“You’re lucky the crowd’s louder than you.” Morgana whispered, peeking out of his bag to look at Ryuji.

Twirling a pigtail, Ann looked at the bulletin board, a frown on her face. “Looking back, maybe I could’ve put a bit more thought into my part. I sounded like an online rant essay.”

“I don’t wanna brag or anything, but it’s not like they’re listening, I just wanna say that I nailed verbalizing how I felt about what I saw there.” Sumire said with pride, putting a hand to her chest.

“You were a bit direct about the booby trap metaphors…” Akira mumbled.

As they walked out of the building, one of them overheard a student say, ‘What’s with this weird logo?’

Sumire facepalmed when she remembered who drew it, “Ok, looking back, we probably should’ve hired a professional artist to make that.”

But they all dashed back into the school when they heard the voice they were waiting to hear say, “Hey, what’s got everyone so distracted here?!”

They needed to see his reaction, even if everyone else scattered away like rats when he slammed his fist on the wall.

For Suguru Kamoshida,
The utter bastard of lust of the seven deadly sins.

We know how shitty you are, and that you put your twisted desires on students that can’t fight back. So tomorrow, we will make you confess your sins. This will be done in a way which you won’t expect.

Every innocent person you’ve manipulated should get revenge for what you’ve done. Hope you’re happy that everyone now knows that that girl’s near-death experience was by your hands.

No one’s spoken up about this yet, which is why we’re here to stand up for the little guys. It’s time things changed here at this school, and no public service announcement will compare to our actions.

Anyone who has made an attempt got trapped in this castle you call a school. This prison that you send your “subjects” to for things as simple as justifiably rejecting your rigorous excuses for training. 

You’ve put these kids through hell with all of these excessive workouts they have to go through. Don’t even get us started on the lack of hydration that doesn’t suit your complete lack of common sense.

We hope you’re ready to get your heart stolen. It’s what you deserve.

Sincerely, The Phantom Thieves of Hearts

Turning towards the group, the real Kamoshida wasn’t enough to intimidate them anymore, though maybe a slight glance to the side from Ryuji and Ann.

“Did you two do this?” He yelled at them, putting his face right in front of Akira’s.

Akira put his hand on his hip and shrugged. “Trust me, if we did do all of this, you’d have already figured it out by now.” Then, as smug as he possibly could, he scratched his chin and followed up with, “That being said, there is probably a very good reason why whoever put all of that there is holding a grudge against you.”

“Trying to backtalk, huh?” Kamoshida scowled. “Ugh, May 2nd can’t come soon enough…the sooner you get expelled, the sooner I don’t have to deal with your little quips.”

“Yeah, we’ll see about that.” Sumire said with a hint of nervousness, and as if that wasn’t uncomfortable enough, the hallway went dark around her. Neither Akira, Morgana, or anyone else was around, but Kamoshida’s shadow stood right where the original was.

His booming voice made her cover her ears. “Is that so? Then come… Steal it if you can!”

“Sumire…Sumire?” The faint sound of Akira’s concerned voice made her lift her hands from her ears, with no one in the hallways but the two of them and Morgana.

“Was that another memory?”

“No…” Sumire said with worry behind her glasses. “This was…very different.”

Explaining it to Morgana, he looked down, the gears turning in his head as he thought about what Sumire had described. “If I were to guess, I would say that the Palace Ruler has read the message, which means that his Treasure should be tangible now. Maybe the shift in his mentality briefly pulled you into the Metaverse so you could see it happen.”

Recovering from the shock, Sumire put her fists on her hips, and Akira had never seen more determination in her eyes.

“Alright, I’m ready. Let’s get that treasure.”

Today was, according to Morgana at least, the last day they’d be seeing this castle. Satisfactory grins were on everyone’s faces thinking about how far they had come in this adventure, with all of the memories it brought to the newly christened Phantom Thieves, as well as how it brought them all together.

The source of their biggest problem was coming to an end.

“Oh, just a reminder, this will only work today, right?” Ryuji checked with Morgana.

“Yup.” He confirmed, holding up a paw. “I doubt anyone would fall for the same stunt twice. So if anyone has any regrets before we end this once and for all, speak now, or forever hold your peace.”

Sumire swore she saw sparks fly off of Ann’s heels when she assumed a running ready stance and said, “Then we’re either gonna take that treasure, or die trying.”

Akira cringed at that line, considering who had heard that, yet Sumire was already staring at Akira’s pocket, waiting for him to pull it out and take them where they needed to be.

Akira set his supply bag down in the safe room, taking out whatever the team thought they would’ve needed for the journey ahead.

“Okay, so I think we should definitely bring the bands… split the medicine between the four of us, though the revival bead, I only have one of them, so I’ll hold onto it for now, and if anyone needs it, I’ll give it to someone else if I’m busy… and as for anything else, I’ll just leave it in here so we can pick it up later!”

“Crap, I forgot!” Morgana screeched.

“What is it now?” Ryuji impatiently asked.

“We won’t be able to do that. The moment the treasure is taken out of the castle, it’ll fall apart!”

Sumire raised her voice at that! “You’re telling us that now?!” She hovered in place after she finished.

“Then, what do we do about our supplies?” Ann questioned. “It’s not like we can carry everything in our pockets during battle. My outfit doesn’t even have that many pockets!”

Akira pondered to himself before coming up with an idea. “I’ll leave it at the end of whatever room we’re in at the time, and then pick it up on the way out when it starts to fall. Will that work?”

“Hmm…” Morgana put a paw to his chin. “I guess so.”

“Great!” Ryuji yelled before chugging down a soda can Akira bought from the vending machine as a power-boosting snack. “Let’s get outta here already! I’m itching to go!”

Sumire was already going through the door as he said so.

The second they exited the safe room, an explosive alarm went off in the palace, likely due to the calling card. The other thieves simply covered their ears with their hands, but Akira pulled his hands into his sleeves, and tried to cover them with as much of his jacket as he could, and they went back into the safe room as soon as they could.

“Dude, you ok?” Ryuji desperately asked.

“Sorry, sorry! I just…wow, and I thought the earthquake drills in elementary school were hard…”

Ann and Sumire sat down at Akira’s sides, and Morgana on his head as Ryuji rummaged through his things to pull out a pair of headphones.

“Here, this should drown out the noise enough. You can keep ‘em. I don’t even use these things anymore anyway.”

Putting them on, and attempting to walk into the vulnerable palace again, the alarms were faint in noise, yet his friend’s voices were clear enough. He held out his hand towards Ryuji for a handshake as thanks.

“No problem, man. I needed an excuse to get rid of those things, anyway.”

“You look ridiculous.” Sumire chuckled, Akira gently smiling back.

Seeing that the door to the throne room was open, they hesitated upon seeing that it was empty.

“Okay, I swear we locked it.” Ryuji said curiously. “Who was the last one out of the room last time?”

“I believe it was… Mona?” Ann cautiously guessed.

“I remember seeing Joker close the door.” He responded.

Akira began looking through his memories. “Did I…?”

“You did, don’t worry, I remember.” Sumire answered for him.

“Yeah, I remember now.”

Morgana put a paw to his head, keeping in mind everyone’s info. “So someone must’ve opened it for us for some reason… Keep your guard up, okay guys?”

So they kept their eyes on the prize, that prize being the giant crown the size of a person in that final room.

Morgana was immediately enamored by it, drawn to it like a…well…cat to catnip as he leapt onto it. 

“Hey, no. Bad cat! Bad! Focus here!” Sumire shouted, flying in front of Morgana in an attempt to blind him combined with the light the crown was already emitting.

Akira tried to pull him off, but Morgana’s claws just dug deeper into the crown. It took some yelling from Ryuji to finally get Morgana to come to his senses.

“Sorry, sorry. Got a little distracted back there.” He apologized, scratching the back of his bulbous head. “But hey, it’s a human desire, I was obsessed with it, see where I’m going with this?”

“I’m pretty sure any being would see something big and shiny and get distracted by it.” Sumire snarked.

“Especially cats.” Akira said through his teeth, snickering with Sumire after saying so.

“What was that?” Morgana asked in an angered tone, hand already on his sheath.

Ryuji walked between them with his hands up. “I dunno what he’s saying, but I think he’s onto something there with the whole cat thing.”

“I’m not a-“

“Anyways, back to the whole giant crown thing.” Ryuji changed the subject. “I’m kinda shocked there’s no giant final guard dog we gotta sneak past in order to get this thing outta here.”

“Maybe the challenge is carrying the thing.” Ann half-joked. “I mean, look at the size of that thing! That’s gotta weigh at least a ton!”

Akira went over to the crown and tried to pull it off of what could only be an invisible pedestal. “Well, it’s not gonna lift itself.” It barely budged. “Okay guys, on three!”

It took a ton of effort from the three who were able to grab it to even keep it off the ground, let alone push it off the pile of coins.

“Wow…three persona users…two awakenings…and my first successful heist…all in less than a month.” Morgana puffed his chest, putting in as much effort as his small body would allow. “I am…so glad I met you guys…especially…so that we could actually…move this!”

Not even the warmth in Sumire’s undead heart from that statement could satisfy her own desire to help add a fifth pair of arms to the crown.

“Go, go, let’s go, Ka…” Whatever that noise was, it was quickly drowned out by all of the grunting everyone was doing as well as the sliding of solid gold scraping against the floor.

“Panther…I don’t care what you’re saying, but cheering us on is not going to help this heart change any faster!” Ryuji huffed. They weren’t even at the safe room at this point, and had only made it out of the throne room.

“That…wasn’t me!” Ann cried.

“Joker!” Sumire called out before, out of nowhere, an unknown projectile blasted towards them. It knocked the crown into the air, causing it to roll when it landed on the ground, and was effortlessly lifted by, well, who else could it be?

“I’ll be taking that, thank you very much!”

The crown shrunk to the size of a normal one and teleported itself to Shadow Kamoshida’s hand.

“Oh come on!” Ryuji yelled at the top of his lungs.

“I’ll admit, I’m surprised all of you made it this far into my kingdom. Most subjects don’t last this long.”

The ears on Ann’s mask went ablaze. “You dick!” She screamed before conjuring a fireball and hurling it towards the crown, but the moment it made contact, pink circles briefly flashed in front between the projectile and its target, and the flames disappeared.

“Ah, getting a little feisty, aren’t you, babe? Well good thing I like playing rough.”

In his free hand, the caped doppelgänger spawned a flaming volleyball with purple flames emitting from it. He proceeded to toss it into the air and spike it towards Ryuji and Ann. Akira and Morgana managed the dive in opposite directions, but Sumire caught the full blast. However, being incorporeal, the most she got was a bunch of wind in her face, hair, and glasses. When she finally opened her eyes again, Ryuji and Ann’s bodies were lying on the floor, struggling to get up. Sumire frantically looked all around her, and saw two familiar silhouettes rushing towards the blonds.

“You okay?” Akira and Morgana asked in unison.

“I’ve taken worse hits from him.” Ryuji responded weakly.

Akira quickly flipped through his headspace to find a Persona that could heal while Morgana already began healing the others.

“I knew you lot were going to be coming to this room the moment you tripped the alarms. I mean, where else would you be headed?”

They hated to admit it, but he was right. The trap was right there, they noticed it, and did nothing about it to accommodate. Sumire flew right towards him to try and get him to drop the crown, but despite her best efforts, the shadow continued his monologue.

“I should’ve figured those knaves were too shrimpy to stop you. It’s been a while since I’ve needed to actually try to keep someone in line.”

Sumire was pulling her hair at this point, but Ann began to stand up again.

“Oh I’ve been in line. I’ve been in your line ever since I got into this damn school!”

“And we’ve stepped off of that line!” Ryuji said, bringing his knee up.

“Oh no, two students rebelling against me.” Shadow Kamoshida mocked with monotone sarcasm. “It’s a shame I only have literally every other student and teacher on my side!”

“Because they fear you.” Akira grumbled loud enough for him to hear.

“And why wouldn’t they? I mean, the principal loves me, students outside the volleyball team hear the legends, and let’s not forget about that girl we all know and love. What was her name again? Shiko or something?”

All it took was a single spark to ignite that fire.

“Her name… was Shiho Suzui… and she had more integrity than anyone you tried to get your filthy little hands on!”

Ann’s body became engulfed in a flaming orange aura. It was a miracle the carpet she was standing on hadn’t set the whole castle ablaze. Ryuji had to jump away from her with how hot the air around her was getting.

“Ever since I got this power. I’ve only had one use in mind for it. To stop YOU. To finally, after all this time, destroy every idea in your head that you can do whatever you want! You may call this a kingdom, but deep down, it’s nothing more than a playground to you.”

Ann conjured her whip and smacked it on the ground, but the sparks only appeared for a second before being absorbed into the rest of her scorching body.

“So Kamoshida… no, whoever you think you are. You may be a demon, but I’m going to personally bring you to hell!”

Even Sumire had to wipe her brow from her unexplainable sweat. She may have been literally on fire, but that was Ann’s greatest burn.

But Kamoshida was engulfed in his own type of aura. While still red, it wasn’t anywhere near similar to the fire that enveloped Ann. This had black and pink over it as well.

“Aw, you wanna play the heroine, dontcha?” Shadow Kamoshida taunted as the crown shrunk and floated on top of his head. “Then let me show you what true hell is.”

Sumire chuckled as she saw the crown shrink. “Well when you do, you just made our job easier!”

She may have spoken too soon though, as Shadow Kamoshida encased both himself and the cognitive Ann in a black and red cocoon that became larger and larger. The Phantom Thieves’ eyes widened in shock when they saw what burst out of it. A big pink demon, just like Ann had said, with a large trophy resting in front of him.

“How’s this for demonic, eh?”

Akira’s fearfully clenched teeth changed to a snarky grin before he said the first one-liner that came to mind.

“It suits you perfectly.”

Right away, two latches on the sides of the throne room opened up and launched a swarm of volleyballs, the four chained metal humanoid figures in front of Shadow Kamoshida proceeded to spike them straight into the team.

“Okay, ow.” Ryuji rubbed his forehead. “That should not have hurt as bad as it did.”

But the projectiles didn’t stop there, they kept bouncing around the room, seemingly homing in on their masked targets. Everyone kept darting between pillars and friends in order to avoid them, with Akira and Sumire hiding behind a pillar with Morgana.

“Where do we even start hitting him?!” Sumire panicked, hyperventilating.

After Akira relayed the question to him, Morgana came up with a plan in mere seconds. “We don’t need to take him out. We just need that crown!

“And as for the balls?!”

Akira poked his head behind the pillar to see Ann creating a fire spout next to her, blocking some balls that bounced off the wall. As they flew into the stream and popped, Akira’s eyes lit up.

“That’s it!”

It looked like Ryuji noticed too, he attempted to zap some of the spherical assault too. He missed a few times, but he eventually took a few out with a bolt.

Morgana went in for a test on his own of this new strategy, and it wasn’t long before Akira joined in, using Jack-O-Lantern’s Agi to replicate Ann’s initial strategy.

It had been going well, with Sumire able to call attention to what they should focus on, taking advantage of her immunity to the oncoming fire to pick the best spots to scout. That, and the Thieves way of dealing with said onslaught, the monster watching it all was getting visibly angered.

“Come on! That routine took us weeks to practice and you couldn’t even get that right?!” He slammed his fist on the ground.

In his distraction, Ryuji was able to get a strong hit in by swinging the hull of Captain Kidd’s ship upwards onto his chin, pushing back his head. While it didn’t loosen the crown, the damage was noticeable.

“Hah! Take that you-“ Ryuji started to taunt, getting cut off as the giant shadow used the force from the attack to slam his tongue onto the ground, shaking, no, warping the area beneath everyone’s feet. The carpet rose so fast that Sumire saw Ryuji bounce into the air, his landing on the ground cushioned only by Morgana’s Garu .

“Thanks, man. But could you have done that a little sooner?” he grunted, pushing himself off the ground.

“Would you rather I let you fall on your fa-SKULL LOOK OUT!”

Turning her attention to Ryuji, Sumire hadn’t noticed that the warped carpet flung some stray volleyballs from the earlier attack had begun bouncing around the room again. When Shadow Kamoshida commanded the metal soldiers beneath him to strike more, Sumire knew what she needed to do.

Being between the legs of the monster was not an ideal spot to be in, but Sumire knew it was necessary, and her signature blinding technique worked. One of the soldiers missed, its ball hitting the chalice next to it, making a small crack appear on its side.

With a demonic scowl, his trident (though really it was more of an oversized fork) stuck to the ground.

“That’s it.”

“You found something, Spirit?” Akira asked as he commanded Bicorn.

“The… the cup thingy with the women in it! He’s protecting it!”

Morgana realized it as well when he saw one of the models inside land in a large, toothy mouth.

“Everyone, aim your attacks at that trophy!”

With her whip, Ann was able to hit the golden cup without getting too close to it. She froze in fear though when she felt something wet drop on top of her. She looked up and saw her worst nightmare above, staring directly at her.

“Panther.”

Looking behind herself, she saw Akira, who spoke to her as calmly as he could.

“Just focus on me for now. Pull back when you need to.”

She nodded, running back towards Akira for a baton pass, making it back before a tongue could graze her.

While Kamoshida’s tongue was grossly sweeping itself across the floor, a few spit bubbles forming in it’s wake, Sumire felt an intense breeze in her hair, needing to hold onto her glasses to make sure they didn’t fall off. As her glasses rested in place, Ryuji charged past her in a Lunge, diving head first into the trophy. The trophy barely budged, but the recoil was enough to knock Ryuji backwards, far enough that it took a bit to get back up.

“What were you thinking?!” Morgana yelled as he healed Ryuji. “We shouldn’t be experimenting during a climactic battle.”

Before the spell had finished, a giant knife slammed into the ground behind Morgana, yipping as it made him stop healing. While it was still shaking from sticking into the ground, Morgana and Ryuji made a beeline for cover.

“Did you seriously think that would work?” Shadow Kamoshida bellowed. “This thing’s made of cold, hard, one billion karat gold, baby!”

He was about to take another “snack” from the cup when some green and black dust flew towards his spirally eyes.

“It worked…” Akira’s voice came from beneath, making Kamoshida look down. As the fork stabbed all around him, Akira flinched every time, even though none of them hit.

What did hit, however, was another volleyball straight to Kamoshida’s face.

“Over here!” Sumire called as she waved to the soldiers. Whenever a hatch opened to bring out a new batch of volleyballs, Sumire would wave at the one closest to Kamosida like an orchestra conductor and land a shot at him.

One such shot knocked the shadow’s chin onto the glass in one of his hands. A freezing shock sent shivers down Sumire’s spine as his tongue flailed around to lick his lips. At her angle, it felt like the liquid she didn’t ever want to know what it specifically was was about to drop onto her before all of it landed in his mouth. An aura the same color as the liquid flourished around him.

“I have no idea! What that is! But it’s def! Not good!” Ryuji panted, his thoughts cutting off as he dodged and shot at the trophy between every breath.

Akira quickly downed a can he saved in his pocket before giving Ryuji a command.

“Skull, gimme a boost.”

“Which one was that again?” He asked.

“Tarukaja.”

“Right, that one.”

Akira and Sumire’s eyes sparked with vigor as Ryuji empowered them. He dashed forward, and, with only a little bit of damage as a projectile hit him in the back, started slashing at the goblet in front of him.

The attack caused numerous scratches to appear on the yellow mug. In a frenzy of rage from how often it was being hit, Kamoshida used one of his arms to take a swing on the ground, exposing the cup and leaving it wide open.One more well placed shot from Morgana, and it bursted into swiftly disappearing shards.

“That was from the nationals!” The gym teacher roared. “Do you realize who I am?!”

“A pedophile with a god complex?” Sumire snarked, floating up to his face to make sure he heard it. He didn’t, but it felt good anyway.

“Oh, we know.” Akira said, gun pointed as close to his head as he could from his height. “But do you realize who we are?”

Shing!

Bang!

Thwack!

Swoosh!

His weak point exposed, Kamoshida wasn’t able to recover and block in time before being bombarded with an onslaught of attacks from everyone, with Sumire doing one more fake hit for good measure.

After taking all of the hits, Shadow Kamoshida’s head drooped, fury in his eyes as he looked at everyone before picking it back up. Grabbing it with his hands, it made an unsettling cracking sound as it rested back on his shoulders.

“You kids were probably too young to see this back in the day, so lucky you! I’ve been waiting to do it all over again.” The so-called king taunted, rolling his head on his neck as he did so. He put a long, slender finger to his mouth and whistled, as if for a dog. “Blue hair, get the big boy out here!”

On cue, an exact replica of Mishima (albeit with a ton more bruises than the original) handed his ruler a giant volleyball much bigger than the ones spiked by the minions before.

“Guys, we talked about this.” Morgana warned. “It’s not the real one! It’s just a cognition!”

The beat-up boy began to throw the ball up high into the air, and the castle's ceiling warped to the height of a skyscraper. Shadow Kamoshida jumped as the ceiling further away, shocking everyone as he moved his body in a way that conflicted with his size. Then, like a meteor, he spiked the ball so hard it lit ablaze.

“BRACE YOURSELF!” Sumire screamed as she processed what was coming to them.

But how could they possibly be able to survive such a strike? Sumire wondered. The blast was bigger than the first one he threw, and that was before he transformed! It was big enough to destroy the entire castle if it could!

When it struck the ground, all Sumire could see was a flash of white and Yuuki’s doppelgänger being sent flying back.

She closed her eyes to avoid the light, and when she opened them, Akira, Ryuji, and Ann were all covering themselves, fully expecting to go the way of herself.

Morgana, on the other hand, was flying in the air, a wind strike he cast trying to stop his fall before landing on the ground on his belly, tail twitching in pain.

“Mona!”

“Useless, useless, useless! Couldn’t he have sent it a little higher this time?!” Kamoshida shouted, his big, bulging eyes lit up as well as they could, a black light bulb might’ve unfortunately gone off in his head. “Of course. How could I forget my most loyal servant?”

“Loyal servant?” Sumire thought for a moment. There was only one woman they hadn’t seen a direct cognitive double of that could’ve been the answer, and Sumire was too late, unable to say anything as she arrived onto the scene.

“Shiho?” Ann squeaked, frozen in fear, her jaw agape. She couldn’t hear the constant “Panther” that came from Akira and Ryuji, desperately trying to get her to snap out of her stupor. She closed her eyes before feeling a gloved hand on her shoulder. The size of it meant that it wasn’t her former captor, and she slowly opened her eyes again to see Ryuji next to her, and Akira calling out to her.

“Focus on healing Morgana.” Akira recommended. “You don’t have to fight her.”

“Right.” Ann nodded as Akira handed her the revival bead, and she popped it into Morgana’s mouth. His eyes became half-open, mumbling a “Lady Panther?” From between his whiskers.

“Mona, important question.” Ryuji said with his head right over the feline. “Will attacking her have any effect on the real one?”

Shaking his head awake, Morgana looked around, spotting the cognitive Shiho in front of him. “Oh, uh, no, no it won’t.” he answered, getting back to his feet.

“Then I won’t have any regrets doing this.” Ryuji said a bit too smugly. Despite that, he closed his eyes as he commanded a Swift Strike, looking away as Captain Kidd did his thing.

No one wanted to see what would happen, averting their gaze, but when they heard a cry, they opened their eyes, and Shiho was gone. Only some floating black dust remained where she had once stood.

“If you are wrong about that,” Morgana flinched when Ann gave him a cold (ironic) stare. “I will never forgive you.”

“Sorry…” Sumire quietly apologized for the comment.

“Eh, who needs her anyway?” The perverted king boasted. “I think we all know what happens when you want something done immediately.”

Akira stared directly at the crown. Why was he so big? Their grand prize was right there, glued onto that giant mound of long curly hair (no, he wasn’t jealous of it… at least he took solace in knowing that his hair was fluffier), and Sumire was right next to it, stumped on what she could do now that everything that she could affect was gone. 

Watching Sumire move, Akira noticed something as she backed up, seemingly unaware of it as her lower body phased right through it.

“Wait… is that a terrace next to her?”

“Skull, how good is your throwing arm?”

“Pretty good, why?”

It didn’t take long for Akira to explain his plan, taking a glance at Morgana before they almost got pinned between utensils.

“Yeah, I can do it, good idea,” Ryuji smirked, lining up behind Morgana.

“Good idea, but what?!” Morgana asked, unaware of the thoughts and shared smirk between the boys.

“Throw me instead.” Ann objected, the carpet below her feet turning black with soot.

“No, he’ll notice you,” Akira said, shaking his head as he focused on Morgana.

“Wait, what!?” Morgana shouted, dodging a jab from the fork as Kamoshida reminded everyone of his presence, seemingly enjoying the small squabble between them.

“Ugh…” Morgana facepalmed. “If you’re really confident this will work…”

Akira ran alongside Ann, ready to cover for her if things got too overwhelming, and the pervert took the bait. Despite his chameleon-esque eyes mostly looking in different directions, both of them turned for Ann. Seeing his chance, Ryuji grabbed Morgana under his shoulders and pulled his arm back for the wind up. Sumire flew onto a spot on the balcony where the mittened missile should land.

Ryuji took a deep breath and almost let out a massive yell as he ran, before Morgana shushed him. “Don’t yell anything, he’ll hear you!”

“Right, right, sorry.”

The best he could do was think it in his head as he threw Morgana as hard as he could, a black blur flying past Kamoshida’s head.

A draft was placed just below his feet to lessen the impact and noise of his landing, even taking a little pose with his hands in the air as he landed  next to Sumire.

“Nice form! Ten out of ten!” She clapped, the rating of one’s landing coming almost too naturally to her.

Seeing that Morgana had safely landed, Ryuji ran back to the others to find Ann healing Akira, a sizable welt forming from a leg sweep attack he had taken. Seeing that a second one was coming, Ryuji slammed his pipe down, catching the leg mid sweep. A cross between a cry and a whimper came out of Shadow Kamoshida, words spewing out of no value. They were all lies anyway boasting about how great he was and this shouldn’t be happening.

“Steady… steady…” Morgana whispered to himself as he aimed at the crown. He fired once, but despite the target’s size, its erratic movements caused his balls from his slingshot to miss.

“Dang it.”

Sumire bounced when he fired, wondering what she could do. Looking around, she saw the chandelier above Kamoshida’s head, and her own lightbulb went off. Floating in front of the crown, Sumire followed it based on where Akira, Ann, and Ryuji were beneath it.

“Use me as a crosshair!” She shouted to Akira, getting him to look at her.

“Oh!” Morgana realized the intent when he saw Akira’s smile and Sumire’s waveringlocation. “Thanks, Spirit!”

Pulling back as hard as he could, Morgana’s eyes focused on where Sumire’s light was, making it far easier for him to aim. His paw let go of the rubber, and the small iron ball flew.

A direct hit to the middle of the crown, knocking it clean off of Kamoshida’s head, and just for good measure, he shot another ball to the back of his head.

And he fell.

Akira snatched the crown off of the ground as Sumire and Morgana came back to him. What was left of Kamoshida dissipated and turned back into the swimsuit wearing and more humanoid version they knew and hated. Ann and Ryuji had him cornered against a door to a balcony.

“You know, for an athlete, you’re terrible at running away.” Ann finally taunted back.

“You’ve always been the one screaming at me.” Kamoshida said in an uncharacteristically melancholy tone. “Should’a known the day would come when you’d use that screaming against me.”

“Feels great to be in the vulnerable position, doesn’t it?” Sumire looked closely, and saw the faint outline of Carmen behind Ann. “Between an attacker and a ledge. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Yeah, I bet it does.”

Everyone stepped back as Ann’s hands lit like fiery gauntlets. This was her moment, not theirs.

“Hey, no hard feelings, right?”

A plume of flames came towards him, barely missing.

“That’s what you say to the girl who’s life you ruined?!”

“Yeah, yeah. You got me, you win. In fact, just kill me already. The loser should be deposed. That’s what you want, right? Not like the real me will be alive to see your victory.”

All it took was that one slip-up for Ann to make her decision.

“I would love nothing more than to kill you right here and now. But…” The flames finally died down. “I want Shiho to see your defeat too.”

“What?”

“I’d be satisfied… but she wouldn’t.” Ann explained. “I know she’d want to see your stupid, ugly face admit everything you did to her in front of the entire school.”

Kamoshida hung his head low and sighed. “Gotta say, out of any princess I’ve done this whole song and dance with, you really were the smartest out of all of them for that alone.”

“Thanks for telling us how to spare you!” Sumire waved towards the peasant as he started… glowing? Next thing they knew, Kamoshida’s shadow was gone.

Suddenly, the ground beneath everyone’s feet began to indicate an earthquake, or something similar, going on. Just like Morgana said, the palace was crumbling down.

“Mona, now is NOT the time to be cleaning yourself!” Sumire yelled as Akira grabbed his bag, sweeping an arm down to scoop Mona up.

Sumire dashed through every falling brick and set piece, all of it clogging up her vision, but as long as she was moving forward, and could see Akira and the others through it all. She could barely even make out Morgana changing into his quadrupedal real world form as he lept out of Akira’s hands.

She flew just as fast as she ran, which thankfully meant keeping an eye out for anyone being left behind in the rubble, such as when Ryuji tripped, which thankfully didn’t eat up too much time.

By the time they were back on the first floor, Akira was about to run towards the way he came in before Sumire spotted someplace else.

“That wall just caved in! It’s faster!”

And on a dime, Akira turned around, his vision focused on the purple sky the tunnel made visible.

Almost there, just one more jump for everyone to make. Sumire kicked her legs frantically during the final stretch, as if a second wind came to her. Did she need to? She wasn’t sure, what was sure was that the moment she passed through the exit of the building the palace’s impending destruction created, a white light flashed in front of her, with only the black ripple effect she’d gotten used to to assure her that she had made it.

The destination has been deleted. Thank you for your time within this palace.

“It’s gone.” Ryuji noticed.

“Wait… where’s the crown?” Morgana asked in a light panic.

Akira checked inside of his bag for anything that felt like a crown. Nothing of that size was present, but there was something that felt metallic that wasn’t there before, Akira pulled it out to reveal…

“A medal?”

“It’s another metaphor thing.” Morgana explained, a sigh of relief upon seeing something was in the bag. “Still, that means it worked.”

It was over. They finally made it. Panting from all of the running, they simply sat in that alleyway for  a few minutes for a well-earned rest. When the group got up to leave, Ann had tears noticeable from her red face, she held out her arms and closed her eyes before Ryuji went in for a hug. Ann opened her eyes and goaded Akira to join in. Hesitant at first, he accepted Ann’s offer, and wrapped his arms around her and Ryuji.

“Thank you, guys. Thank you for everything.”

It felt like they hugged for even longer than they sat.

And it was extremely noticeable to the one who couldn’t, but so wished that she could be there for her.

Chapter Text

Day after day, Akira and Sumire waited for any sign of Kamoshida’s supposed change of heart. Whether they were hanging out with Ryuji, Ann, or anyone else Akira happened to befriend, neither of them could get that idea of freedom off of their mind.

Those thoughts had only gotten worse once it was announced that Kamoshida would be out of school until “further notice”. Just what was that man planning?

Worst of all, while Kamoshida was out, nobody had even brought up Akira and Ryuji’s expulsion deadline. Had the former king called it off, or was there something more sinister afoot? Only time could tell according to Morgana, but that time never brought much hope.

But a good thing that time did was allow the three of them to bond. It allowed them to figure out a system by which the three of them could communicate without drawing suspicion.

The warming, yet still cold air of the first night of May rushed into Leblanc once Akira opened the door. He had just come back from a recent “check-up” to see Sojiro turn his head to look at him.

“Hey, kid.”

“Hey, Boss.” Akira greeted, continuing to walk as he looked at Sojiro.

Feeling a small rubbing jolt on his leg as he climbed the stairs, Akira waited until his belly was on his bed to check the group chat.

Ryuji:

-Guys, no matter what happens tomorrow, I just want to say I had a lot of fun back at that castle.

Ann:

-“Fun” isn’t the word I’d use.

Akira:

-It was an interesting experience at least.

“I wouldn’t have learned a lot about my existence had we not gone there.”

Akira tilted his head to the side to see Sumire with her elbows on his bed with her legs floating above the floor.

“Go to your couch.” He playfully fake-pushed her away, resulting in Sumire faking a response, and her hands landed on the floor and her torso rotated, flipping through the wall with a perfect cartwheel. Akira covered his mouth in shock before Sumire came back in.

“Just joking around!”

Akira turned back to his phone. “You jerk…” He told her in a playful way.

Akira:

-By the way, what’s your take on Kamoshida’s break? Think it’s a good sign?

Ryuji:

-It’s gotta be. It happened the day after the castle got deleted.

Ann:

-Wasn’t the day after we did that a weekend?

Akira:

-I checked the calendar. Yup.

Ryuji:

-Okay, announced the next SCHOOL day after deleting the castle!

-Also if he died we def would've known by now.

Ann:

-Fair point. Just making sure.

Akira:

-Speaking of us not killing him, any updates on Shiho?

Ann:

-Nothing different from last time.

-Can we drop this, please please?

Akira:

-Sure. Don’t have to tell us twice.

Ann:

-Sorry

Ryuji:

-Yeah, I’m calling it for the night, too.

Akira:

-If you need anything, just talk to us, alright?

Ann:

-I know, don’t worry. Night, guys.

Akira:

Good night, Ann.

Ryuji:

-Night.

Turning off his phone, Akria looked at Morgana, who was lying down in the kitty bed next to Akira’s, using his paws as a makeshift pillow, as he started to speak.

“It’ll work. We did everything we could’ve done.”

There was silence after that, the city sounds of trains and the odd pedistrian causing anything resembling noise. At least, not until the quadruped spoke again.

“You believe me, right?” His high, but soft voice asked.

“It’s easier to believe than anything else that’s happened, that’s for sure.” Akira said, his eyes closed, but his voice was as active as ever.

“Okay… just asking.” A slow purring sound filled the room shortly after.

So Akira laid still, expecting sleep to come to him soon. Time passed like any other waking moment, so his mind decided to take a walk. But it didn’t take long before his desired hope of continuing his honest school life quickly started to fade.

He hadn’t lied to Morgana, but he danced around the answer.

“Sumire?”

“Hm?” A muffled voice perked.

“Are you still awake?”

“Yeah…” That was the sound of a girl who didn’t want to think about it too much.

“Hypothetically, if it didn’t work, and I was sent to jail…” His voice trailed off before he could continue, the sound of sirens echoing in his mind.

“Akira.” Her voice started to groggle. “Please… don’t think about it too much. I want it to work.”

“Me too, but…”

“Just… trust him, okay?” Was Sumire like this because she was tired, or because she didn’t want to think about it?

Soon, actual tiredness blessed Akira with its appearance, leaving him to ponder asone more line from Sumire made its way to his ears.

“We’ll think about it when that happens. Let’s stay calm for tonight.”

Akira did just that. “Good night, Sumire…”

“Sweet dreams, Akira.”

Getting off at the last station, Akira walked slowly on his way to school, not even noticing how slow he was until multiple students passed him by.

“Hurry up, you’re gonna be late!” Morgana told him, shaking the bag.

“Right, right.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll meet up with Ann and Ryuji soon.” Sumire reassured him, putting a hand above his shoulder.

“I know…” Akira murmured with his head low.

First period didn’t even finish when a sudden assembly was called. Akira flinched when the bell rang, but if the entire school was coming, that meant Ryuji and Ann would be there. So he got out with his supernatural companions and walked with his class to the gymnasium.

Fortunately, the two blonds among the sea of black and brown hair signified to Akira that two of them were right next to each other, and he comfortably slotted himself between them.

“Is this about the CC?” Akira asked in the chorus of murmuring.

“Nah, I think it’s about…” Ryuji looked away, then glanced at Akira with his hand next to his mouth. “You know…” he whispered.

“It’s a PSA about Shiho.” Ann finished for him. “They do this every time an incident like that happens.” She dragged her foot along the ground in place.

The principal made his way onto the microphone, and sure enough, he began talking about the events that had occurred the day Ann joined their team. Akira had already drowned out whatever he was saying, the man’s words becoming a blur to him.

“You can sit this one out, Sumire…” He mumbled during a segment about school spirit or whatever.

“Want me to see what they have for lunch?”

“Sure…” Akira’s eyelids started to lower and rise. If he could sleep standing up, he probably would. Sumire promptly floated through the walls to explore.

The hardest part about being able to go through walls was that you forgot the normal route to go anywhere. “A left, then a right” was merely a suggestion if you could just go forward without consequence. As she was searching for wherever the cafeteria was, there was a man in front of her. The same white shirt, the same curly hair, the same broad shoulders. No way it could’ve been him. But the way he walked was… different. He was slouching, and while Sumire couldn’t make it out from behind, the speed of said walk felt like a good sign. But the important part was warning Akira, and subsequently the others about his presence. Following his path, Sumire quickly learned where the man was headed.

The exact room the assembly was being held in.

“Akira, Akira!” Sumire called as she floated back through the walls.

“Huh?” Akira didn’t even remember how long the assembly had been going on for. Five minutes? Ten, three? Why was Sumire even gone again?

“I… I saw him!” She started panting.

“Saw who?” His eyes began to open faster, his mind alert to the room he was in.

As if on cue, the doors flung open, like someone at a wedding coming to yell “I object!”. The principal stopped talking, the murmuring came to a halt, and anything else that made noise was now completely silent.

There was Kamoshida. Standing in front of the doors. With the most heartbroken look on his face.

“I… have been reborn.” He muttered, his voice getting louder as he made his way to the stage, moving a surprised principle out of the way to take the stand.

Sumire blinked twice. “Yeah. It worked.”

Did the stunned look on every student’s face indicate the fear in their souls whenever they saw him? Was it surprise after Kamoshida had been absent for so long? Was it the fact that nobody normally says that?

The things he said like “I will confess everything I’ve done” felt like he was being controlled by some sort of truth serum, which in all honesty, they might as well have given him.

“Verbally assaulting students…”

“And?” Sumire tapped her foot with a hint of both smugness and impatience.

“Physically abusing my team…”

“And?”

“Sexually harassing female students…”

“And?”

“…the reason why a student under my care tried to kill herself…”

“That’ll do.”

Sumire couldn’t help but crack a satisfied smile. Looking to her side, she could see Akira doing the same. Ryuji also had a smug grin, but Ann was definitely holding it in.

“Don’t make it look too obvious it was you!” Morgana whispered. Despite his words, Akira’s could still easily be seen beaming with joy on the inside, especially when Kamoshida said he would rescind any threats that he made. The guy was crying like he was in a soap opera!

The whole thing felt genuine, but those students in the crowd who spent weeks slogging through the version of the school in another dimension knew the real reason why it took him until now to say all of that.

Everything culminated in Kamoshida telling everyone he was going to do what he made Shiho do.

Ann may not have been Ms. Fire Magic McGee in the real world, but it was never the inferno on the outside that caused her anger.

“No! You know better than that! You know there’s something worse!”

“Ann… you’re blowing cover.” Ryuji whispered through nervously gritted teeth.

Ann pushed him to the side. “Not now, Ryuji. This is personal.” She grumbled through gritted teeth.

“She’s right…” Kamoshida continued for her. “I did more to her than any of the other girls.”

So jail for him it was then.

Akira held his hand up facing Sumire, and she swung her hand for a high five. Giggles were had between the two as her hand swung past his.

Judging from the responses to the recent events, it seemed like every student was connecting the dots. The Phantom Thieves, their team, their efforts, the blood and tears they sweat, was being recognized by Akira’s peers. Something that could last a little longer now that Kamoshida’s telenovela caused the assembly to go into the period that would’ve followed, and went into the short amount of time between classes.

As students piled out, Ann walked over to the wall and sat down, sinking to the floor like a stone.

“Sorry, I just… need a minute to take this all in…”

Ryuji followed shortly after. “You and me both…” he said as he plopped to the ground.

It was only natural for Akira and Sumire to be the last ones, joining the two students sitting against the wall of the gym.

Ryuji leaned forward to look at the bag that held Morgana.

“So… we kinda just brainwashed him into sayin’ all that stuff, right?”

“A bit of an oversimplification of the whole thing, but I guess so.” Morgana answered.

“Okay, so don’t get me wrong, I’m really happy we did this, and I would do it again in a heartbeat if I could go back…” Ryuji’s head went back into the wall, arms crossed on his lap. “But isn’t brainwashing usually a bad thing?”

“Would you rather we didn’t?” Sumire pouted, doing the same.

“Yeah, you’re right, I was just makin’ sure.” Ryuji answered after the relay.

“Takamaki-san! Takamaki-san!” A voice called with rapid footsteps approaching them. Upon seeing the familiar mound of blue hair, Akira immediately turned his head in the other direction.

“First off, I just wanna say I am SO sorry for not saying anything about this earlier.” Yuuki apologized faster than anyone had talked before. “The rumors were getting out of control and I was so caught up in what he was doing to me that I didn’t even think about what you were going through and there’s probably a ton of other people who want to apologize on my beha-“

“Yuuki, Yuuki!” Ann stood up, putting her hands in front of the volleyball player to cut her off. “It’s okay, I get it. We were all pretty quiet about this. The point is, it’s over.”

“I guess I got to possess someone after all!” Sumire cheered, the light in her eyes as bright as what Morgana could see. As the two of them continued their apologies, Sumire’s mind drifted over to the clock on the gym wall.

“Oh crap! We’re late for next period!” She poked her finger through Akira’s back, whose head was pointed towards the ceiling.

Shivering at the feeling of something enter through his back, Akira seemed to snap to attention once he realized what it was. “Oh, right!” He said, looking at something that Sumire was pointing at. “Guys, we’re gonna be late.”

Yuuki looked at the same clock Sumire did. “Right, sorry, gotta go, I’ll make it up to you eventually!” Akira wiped his brow once Yuuki had left.

“Thanks.” Ann said to Akira. “I needed an excuse to end that.”

“Well, all’s well that ends well I guess.” Ryuji said as he got up. “See you on the roof after class, yeah?

“I’m telling Shiho about this first.” Ann said, getting up and walking with more force than she normally did. “She deserves it.”

Akira was already on his way out the door when he turned to wave at Ann. “Right, see you later, Ann!”

During that period’s lesson, he leaned back in his chair, put his hands behind his head, and stretched for a job well done.

It felt nice to be the popular kid, even if know one knew about it.

“You still got that medal?” Ryuji asked once he and Akira’s troupe got to the roof.

“Yup.” He went digging around in his bag for their prize and proof of victory, pulling it out to show to his friend.

Ryuji gave a thumbs up in response. “Nice.”

He was about to set it on the table, but Sumire stopped him, “Don’t just leave it out in the open in case someone comes here!”

“Right, right.” Akira said, hastily putting the medal away.

“I still can’t believe that actually happened.” Ryuji continued, kicking his feet up into the air, “I genuinely thought he was gonna die.”

“Well now we know that all we need to do is just not kill the shadow!” Morgana smiled as most as his feline features would allow.

“We’re lucky he slipped up with that whole ‘I won’t be alive to see your victory” shtick.” Sumire doing an impression of Shadow Kamoshida. “If he really wanted to die after confessing, he could’ve just let us kill him right then and there.”

“It was his last chance to get away…” Akira mumbled.

“Be sure to thank Ann for that later.” Sumire reminded him.

“I will, I will.” He scoffed as he pondered, a hand to his chin.

Just then, the roof door swung open, and out came Ann, panting as she slowed down in front of the boys (and girl).

“Sorry I’m late. Hospital security would not let up.” she huffed, catching her breath as everyone turned to face her.

“It’s cool.” Ryuji waved it off, planting his feet as he turned to face her. “How’s… Shiho, by the way?”

Silence filled the area for longer than it should’ve before Ann answered.

“Well… she finally woke up yesterday.” There was a pause before Ann lifted her head, face coming up to look at her friends. And her smile, while small, made Sumire breathe a sigh of relief.

“What did she say?” Ryuji asked on the edge of his seat.

“She…” Ann plopped down on the cold concrete beneath her. “Apologized like everyone else did. I told her it was all his fault.” Despite confirming everything, there were still a few tears in her eyes. “But… she’s going to transfer schools once she’s out of the hospital.”

Ryuji shifted to the back of his chair. “Damn… I never really talked to her much, but I’m gonna miss her.”

“She’s not moving far. It’s still in Tokyo.” It sounded like everyone had the same reaction as Ann.

“The sparing thing?” Sumire asked, turning to look at Akira.

“Oh, right,” Akira’s head perked up. “Ann, thanks for uh… not killing Kamoshida back there.”

“You’re welcome for that. We absolutely despise the guy, but having blood on my hands… didn’t feel right.”

“That’s our Lady Ann!” Morgana smiled with his fangs poking out.

Sumire floated in front of Morgana and stared at him. “Morgana.”

“Oh man.” Ryuji thought out loud. “Could you imagine how Shiho would’ve reacted if we actually killed him?”

“I don’t wanna think about it.”

“Fair, fair. Anyway… what now?

All eyes were on Morgana for whatever he was going to do once he got this far. “Sell the treasure, blow the money at a fancy restaurant, and gorge ourselves silly.” It was interesting how a cat came up with that. “Or at least that's what I wanted to do if I ever finished a palace.”

“How were you going to do that if Akira didn’t adopt you?”

“I dunno, I'd find a way.” Morgana’s head turned towards Ryuji like an owl. “What are you on your phone for?”

Without looking up, Ryuji answered, “Looking up the price of this medal online… wait, only thirty thousand? Really?”

“Ryuji, you still owe me some money a few years back, so I’m picking the place.” Ann said immediately.

“Oh thank god I was looking for an excuse for forever.” Ryuji sighed in relief, putting his phone away. “I was hoping you’d forget.”

“You what ?!”

Sumire couldn’t stop giggling at their bickering, getting a look from the other two. “Sorry, sorry,, I just love these two.” 

“As long as they have ramen, I’m down.”

“I’ll… look up the menu.” Ann whipped out her phone. “Also, can we do this on Children’s Day? I’m kinda busy the rest of Golden Week.”

“Sure, and we know where to sell the medal.” Morgana confirmed.

“Are you sure he won’t get suspicious of this?” Sumire worriedly pleaded.

“That guy’ll buy anything.” Akira said in response to both Morgana and Sumire. He was mindlessly scrolling through his texts until he realized. “Wait actually no that’s a good point we straight up stole this.” 

Even as a phantom thief, the ‘thief’ part must’ve slipped his mind.

“Don’t worry, we just duplicated it.” Morgana jumped off of the chair he was sitting in to stretch before he got ready to go. “The original isn’t stolen at all.”

Sumire was deep in thought even when everyone left, causing Akira to need to wait for her.

“That raises so many questions I don’t want the answers to…”

Akira’s head was down when he was walking home again. Once they were off the train, Sumire’s feet started to skip into a float.

“Anything on your mind?” Sumire raised, floating ahead of Akira to keep his eyes on her.

“Nothing… I just think I’m gonna miss Shiho more than Ryuji.”

“Really?” Morgana reacted, “I’ve never even met Shiho, so I don’t know what she’s like.”

“She was the first student who was actually nice to me.” Akira grumbled, thinking of the other students. “I want to thank her for that when I see her again.”

Sumire raised her hand. “I was there at the time, I can verify. She was so sweet to us…”

“Oh yeah, you were.” Akira’s head came back up.

“Well any friend of Lady Ann is a friend of mine.” Morgana sighed.

“Oh yeah Sumire hates it when you do that.” Akira quickly quipped when he noticed Sumire’s pouty look.

“Come on, you two…” Morgana sunk his head below the zipper pocket. “I can dream, can’t I?”

In the week leading up to the dinner party, the news about Kamoshida’s arrest kept coming and coming. While Morgana had asked earlier if Akira was ready to quote; “Revolutionize your school’s history as we know it”, he didn’t quite anticipate this much attention. Still, no matter how much Sojiro tried to ask, he only waved it off as him being confused about it since he was new.

The building was taller than the surrounding ones in the area. Sumire lost count after ten or so floors. With shiny black metal lining the sides of the building.

“We don’t belong here.” Sumire commented, frozen in the air. “At all.”

Akira pulled out his phone and opened the group chat with Ryuji and Ann in it.

“Akira? They’re right there.” Sumire pointed in front of Akira as he was typing “Where are y-”. Looking up from his phone, the blonds were right there waving at him.

“Oh.” And he ran over to them, Morgana grunting and wincing as the bag he was in shook. Akira held his hand out for a high five, only to lower it when he saw Ryuji holding his fist out for a fist bump, which Akira accepted. Ann, however, did go with Akira’s earlier gesture.

“I haven’t seen a single teenager walk in there!” Ryuji exclaimed. “I’m surprised we were even able to make a reservation.

“I have my ways.” Ann replied cheekily, darting her eyes to the side.

“So, you ready to feast?” Morgana coughed after recuperating from Akira’s run.

Ann pumped a fist. “I picked a buffet for a reason.”

Morgana shook the bag, making Akira almost lose his balance. “Awesome.”

With surprisingly no suspicion for their age or anything, they headed inside and took the elevator. Upon arriving at the dining hall, the room practically spelled out “expensive place that no high school student should have access to”. The brown, carpeted floor with diamond patterns were spotless, and there were golden trimmings on everything from the tables to the lamps. Fortunately for Morgana, some of the tables had couches instead of the normal wooden chairs, which Akira immediately requested they have once they got to the receptionist, and round one of their victory lap began.

Morgana informed Akira to not take too much at the first go, since it would likely make him pass out before he could even go for a second helping, so a simple fish dinner with a cantaloupe side would suffice for now. Of course, the fish was also for Morgana, and Akira knew they’d have to visit the seafood bar more than once.

During their first five minute stomach rest before going again, Ann, who had been the first to finish that one, was thus the first to talk.

“So we might get some… visitors at school soon.”

“Visitors?” Ryuji, the second to, (Akira was a slow eater) asked.

“Apparently this whole incident got big enough to get the police involved.”

“Damn it!” Ryuji slammed his fist on the table, making the plates around him hop as if to flinch with Morgana. “We’re gonna be outed for sure with all those rumors!” He slumped back in his seat and pulled out his phone. “It’s not all bad, though. We got a lot of fans from it.” He pushed his phone in Akira’s face, and Sumire started in awe at the bright colors and big fancy letters. “They even made a little website for us!”

“Phansite.com, eh?” Sumire read. The link was filled to the brim with thank you messages from various students’ online usernames towards the Phantom Thieves. The group she was a part of.

“Anyway, who’s ready for round two?” Ryuji interrupted her thoughts. “Oh crap!” The empty plates shook as he accidentally banged his elbow against the table, pausing with a hand on his booth. “Someone’s gotta stay to make sure no one takes anything.”

Akira raised his hand. “I got it.”

“What do you want?” Ann called as she left.

“Surprise me!” Then as soon as Ryuji and Ann were out of sight, he told his roommates, “I’ll be honest I only did that because I’m terrible at choosing from large menus at restaurants sometimes.” He scratched behind his ear and his eyes checked to see if the others were at the buffet. “Usually I just get ramen.”

“I can help with that!” Morgana chimed in.

“Me too!” Sumire yelled, bouncing off the booth. “Especially now that I know how it feels!”

Akira raised an eyebrow to that. When he told Morgana what she said, he too stared at his version of the ghost.

“How it feels?” Morgana repeated. “I thought you couldn’t eat.”

“Oh, um…” As Sumire thought about how to explain such a phenomenon, she adjusted her glasses, another of such things for a ghost. “I guess the best way to describe it is… whenever Akira eats, I don’t feel the taste of it, but still feel the… goodness of the food?” She could only shrug after that explanation.

“What about every other time I ate?” Akira interrogated.

Sumire began to count Akira’s previous meal variety on her fingers. “I dunno, I guess we’ve just gone numb to the constant curry, rice, and bread.”

“Does that man know how to make anything else?” Akira chuckled.

Morgana crouched down to think, and sprung like a Jack-in-the-box with an: “I got it!” (thank goodness restaurants were fairly conversational places)

“Remember how you told me that you can feel the damage Akira takes from shadows?”

“Remember when you stubbed your toe on the bottom of the bed?” Sumire crossed her arms to put her face in front of Akira’s. “It happens in the real world too.”

“Yeah, that too.” Morgana agreed. “What’s likely happening is that there’s some sort of link between your individual cognitions. You share pain, emotional satisfaction, and who knows what else?”

Akira put a hand to his head to think. “Oh my god we finally have an explanation for this stuff.” When he took his hand off his head, he picked up his bag and stared at Morgana. “Thank you so much for this.”

“No problem?” The mammal took a step back.

Ryuji and Ann eventually came back with multiple plates for Akira, Morgana, and they guessed Sumire too. Ryuji got some meat dishes that Akira happily scarfed down to the bone, throwing away the chunky parts for Morgana.

Ryuji swallowed his current bite of chicken leg to tell Akira, “Those are the best parts! What are you doing?”

“I just never liked ‘em. Even as a kid.” Akira answered as Morgana took the piece.

Akira waited until after that was done to eat the sweet desserts that Ann got for him. But before he finished up the meat, he did catch Ann stealing a strawberry from his cake slice.

“What? Don’t judge me!” Akira was able to translate from Ann’s muffled chewing.

Ryuji turned his head away from the group, covered his mouth with his hand, and whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear, “Calories.”

Ann swallowed the strawberry and got up from her seat with a miffed jolt. “I’m sorry, I just walked up the stairs of an entire castle multiple times last month! I think I can afford to cheat today!”

“Well you are the fire girl. They don’t call it burning calories for nothing!” Ryuji taunted as he pushed a plate towards Akira. “By the way, Mona, I got you some beans.”

Morgana looked up at the bowl above him. “Beans?”

“Beans.” Akira repeated.

“Beans.” Sumire continued.

“Beans.” Ann cheekily rounded out the group by pushing more beans towards the bowl Ryuji gave him.

“Okay, what is it with you all and beans?!” Morgana said, reluctantly taking a spoonful Akira fed him.

“There was a lot there.” Ann said as her hand went for another strawberry, but Akira saw her in time and she quickly pulled it back to her lap.

Round three. The final course. It was Akira’s turn, but with her newly discovered taste ability, Sumire was eager to see how different foods affected her, bouncing from stand to stand.

“Catfish, no, swordfish! A chocolate, vanilla, AND caramel fountain?!”

Akira could only imagine what a ghost on a sugar rush would be like.

“Get some whipped cream for me!” And Morgana was into it too.

“How is that ham so big?!”

“Remember, fatty, but not too fatty!”

“Get. As. Much. Rice. As. Possible.”

“Fried specifically!”

“Oh hey salad.”

As Sumire and Morgana kept making their requests, Akira had to frantically keep up with it all, nearly dropping some of the food in the process, needing to slow down just to keep things balanced.

But when he finally set that loaded plate down on the table with a loud clink , he was ready to chow down.

“Woah…” Ryuji stared at the food mountain Akira had created. “How’d you get so much on there?”

“It was his idea.” Akira huffed. He immediately began scarfing down the crispy rice Morgana suggested. The crunch felt like just the right balance of hard and soft. With flavor that put to shame anyway who called rice ‘bland’.

“If you don’t finish that, can I have some?” Ryuji and Ann asked in unison. “Jinx!” They did so again.

“Well, thanks to some people… ” Akira said, turning his head to Sumire, then Morgana. “I might need the help.”

Akira swore he heard Ryuji mumble “Plural?”

“Guess this our third round then.” Ann declared after swallowing the last of her second round cake.

It took a lot of effort, each of them splitting their portions evenly from each other, knowing each other’s food strengths and weaknesses. The plates piled up, the bowls stacked on top of each other, and a couple trips to refill their glasses of water later, they were done.

“Your belt must feel multiple sizes too small.” Sumire guessed as Akira laid back to recover from his near-food coma experience.

“I don’t have a belt… but I’ve had bigger meals in my life.”

“We EARNED this…” Ryuji was spread lying down across his booth, likely the closest to a coma.

Ann, cheery as when she started, foolishly went, “I’m getting fourths!”

“AFTER my bathroom break!” Ryuji butted in, already standing up.

“Can you take me too?” Morgana groaned.

“Fine, but if you miss your aim again I’m never letting you use a public restroom ever again.”

“Deal.”

“You know that feeling you get after vomiting where the taste in your mouth is really gross, but the rest of your body feels so good getting all of that out of you?” Ryuji rambled as he stumbled out of the bathroom.

“Never say anything that gross ever again.” Morgana too rocked within his fabric container.

Waiting at the elevator, upon it opening, Akira and Ryuji barely managed to squeeze by a rushing group of businessmen and their bald leader. Squished like the sardines that surprisingly weren’t a part of their dining experience, Ryuji uncomfortably shuffled around to try to get some arm room.

“Babies.” The bald man mumbled.

Akira felt Ryuji’s jacket push into him, and afterward him saying, “Hey, what gives?”

“It’s not worth it.” The leader towered over Akira and Ryuji, the former just barely making it to his nose. “The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we don’t have to deal with them.”

Looking at him, by some unknown instinct, Akira said the first thing that came to mind upon seeing him.

“Do I know you from somewhere?”

The distinguished man didn’t answer as the elevator door opened and they all piled out.

Seeing his hands in his pockets, Akira had to deal with Ryuji’s constant mumbling of swears.

Making their way back to their table, Ryuji put his head down on an empty plate as Ann went to go get her final round of desserts, coming back, she started to ramble about a story she had about a woman blaming Ann for making her drop her plate, only making Ryuji groan even more.

Akira exhaled with discontent as Ann finished up, “It’s too bad our wrap party has to end so soon.”

“Does it need to be our wrap party?” Ryuji remarked as his head lifted off of the plate, the bump near his table indicating crossed legs.

Akira leaned forward. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I mean, we’re essentially superheroes now, right?“ he began, “Why would we just stop after our first crime-fighting?”

“It was pretty fun…” Akira’s voice trailed off.

Ryuji’s eyes lit up as something must’ve sparked within him. “That’s what I’m saying, man! There’s gotta be other palaces out there! Other people getting abused! Other people who could use a change of heart! So why don’t we take up the superhero team business?”

“I’m listening…” Ann leaned forward.

Ryuji continued, putting his arm around Akira. “I can see it now… people will be talking about the legendary Phantom Thieves all over the city! Worldwide news articles about our adventures! Children looking up to us as their personal heroes! Fans talking about who their favorite member is! Doesn’t that sound fun?”

“…I’m into it.” Sumire nodded.

“That was one of my childhood dreams…” Ann seconded.

“Not like anyone else will ever have this kind of power.” Akira shrugged smugly. “Besides, you’ll need a good leader.”

“Can we do that thing teams usually do when they form with the hand chant thing?” Ryuji begged.

Akira already held his hand forward. “Sure.”

Ann walked over to where the boys were, and placed her hand on top of Akira and Ryuji’s, along with Morgana’s paw, and even Sumire’s gauzy hand.

“Three, two, one, diamotilefiphantothiehope!” Awkward giggles went throughout the newly christened team.

“Agh, our first team huddle and I totally forgot to agree on what to say.” Ryuji groaned.

Ann, who still had her hand up, said, “We’ll get used to it.”

“I will say though.” Morgana interrupted, “Whoever we go after next, I want the decision to be unanimous. If one of us doesn’t want to do it, none of us will.” Sumire came to the corner of his vision, and Morgana told her, “Yes, even you.”

“Good idea.” Ann lowered her hand and combed through her bangs with it. “I don’t think I could handle the pressure if I didn’t feel comfortable with one.”

“Hey, team picture for our founding?” Ryuji wiggled his phone in his hand. “I wanna remember this.”

“I see no objections.” Morgana stuck his head out of the bag just enough to get into frame. All of them posed once Ryuji turned off the flash. Hearing the clicking noise, they knew it was done, and got up to leave the buffet.

“I’ll send it to you guys later, ok?” Ryuji said once he began to part ways. “See ya!”

“That’d be great.” Sumire happily skipped off, with Akira following suit.

Sumire flopped her back onto Akira’s bed and gave a happy sigh. “That was so much fun.”

“I finally got to establish a team!” Morgana too jumped right next to Sumire. Akira sat down on the couch, Sumire’s normal sleeping spot, and checked his phone for any messages from his friends.

Ryuji:

-I cant wait to see what we do next! Im already coming up with ideas

Ann:

-I’m still trying to figure out who would be obsessed with us enough to make an entire website for us.

Akira:

-Probably a group effort from the volleyball students.

Ryuji

-Why does the poll ask people if they believe we exist?

-And at 6 percent?

Akira:

-Hey, a new record!

Ryuji:

-Why would people even use this site if they don’t believe in us? What are we, Santa Claus?

Ann:

-You were the one talking about kids looking up to us.

-Also, I can’t wait either.

Akira:

-That makes 3 of us.

“You having fun over there?” Akira heard Morgana’s voice from across the room. We need to make sure the Phantom Thieves is a name we can hang out hats on!

Sumire was quick to butt into that. “I don’t wear a hat, you don’t wear a hat, Akira doesn’t wear a hat. None of us wear hats!”

“Ryuji sent us the pics!” Akira yipped, dashing to his bed with the rest of his roommates.

“Let me see! Let me see!” Sumire pleaded, shooting her body up.

“Okay, okay. Gimme a second.” Akira turned the phone to Sumire the picture he had saved.

Everyone was there. Ryuji in the corner with his arm outstretched to hold the phone, Ann with a bit of cake left on her teeth, Morgana smiling directly towards the center with his big blue eyes, Akira looking the happiest he’d been in months…

And… a completely empty spot behind Akira.

Sumire’s feet lifted off of the ground while her head drooped downwards, her glasses almost falling off of her nose.

“Right… I should’ve figured that would happen.” Seeing Sumire dim, Morgana curled up next to the ghost.

“I was having so much fun hanging out with the others that I guess I just… forgot…” There was another very human thing Sumire was able to make that they found out that day. Tears.

“My life is over, isn’t it?”

“Sumire…” Akira placed his hand on hers, just as he always had. “You’re a good person.”

“I’m not even a person anymore…” The tears began to stick to her glasses, making them drip as they fell off.

Akira placed his hand behind her back as he took a few seconds to figure out what to say. “Do you remember why I came up with our communication system?”

Slower, the tears went. “So you didn’t have to pause every time I wanted to tell Morgana something?”

“So you could be included. Ghost or not, you’re still someone to me.”

Sumire took her glasses off and wiped the water from her face. She gave a sniffle and choked up, finally calming down with small breaths. “I know. Thanks for making me feel alive for once, Akira.”

Akira looked at Sumire with a new understanding. “No problem, Sumi.”

Warmth filled Sumire’s heart once more. The satisfaction of knowing Akira was treating her like any other person filled her with rebellion.

“I know how you feel, Sumire.” Morgana added once the fire calmed down. “We both desire to be treated like a human being.”

“You got that right.” Sumire gave a little chuckle.

“And if our desires are aligned… I don’t know how, but I want to get you to that desire almost… no, just as much as mine.”

Sumire lightly imitated patting Morgana on the head. “You’re a good kid, Morgana.”

“Sumire called you a kid.” Akira relayed.

“I am not!” Morgana got up. “I’m just as mature as you two!”

“Yeah you keep telling yourself that.” Sumire grinned, then yawned. “I think I’ll call it a night a little early. You can keep doing what you want.”

Akira recounted any nighttime routines he had picked up in the empty days before the confession. “I’ll probably do some last minute clean-up at the cafe, then maybe study. Then I’ll get to bed.”

“Fine by me. See you tomorrow, Akira.”

Watching Akira and Morgana go downstairs, Sumire felt her eyes droop slowly, lying herself down on Akira’s bed. She placed her glasses onto the windowsill next to her. With only her own breathing to keep her company alongside the sounds of the city, sleep eventually took the little ghost to dream.

It looked like Akira was the one getting the couch tonight.

Chapter Text

Regular food seemed to have lost most of its flavor to the Phantom Thieves after their outing to one of the best dining experiences (with some exceptions,) in their lives, except Sumire, who was having fun with her new taste synchronization ability, or at least that’s what Morgana called it.

“Still looking at that website, Ryuji?” Ann asked as the second one finished eating after him. “Don’t let those thank you messages get to your head.”

“I would…” Ryuji began, showing the phone to Ann, “But they turned it into a forum. The original message is still on the about page on the website, but right now it’s just people complainin’ about their friends being mean to them and stuff like that.”

Checking the site as he ate, Akira mindlessly scrolled through the various posts of a similar caliber.

“Wait, what’s that one?” Sumire asked, pointing to a comment that caught her eye. When Akira tapped on it, Sumire stared at it with squinted eyes.

“Just a fad? Kamoshida probably let his guilt get the better of them?!” Sumire yelled. “We went through all of that effort for this?!”

“Damn, they don’t even think we exist…” Akira mumbled to himself, swallowing a chunk of bread. “And the ones that do think stealing someone’s pen is as bad as being a pedophile.” he said as he kept on munching.

“Why do people even make accounts if they’re just going to complain like this?” Morgana asked, pushing against Akira’s bag as he stretched.

“Welcome to the internet, snow paws.” Ryuji answered.

“It’s only been up for a day.” Ann pointed out, placing her head in her hand while her elbow sat on the table. “We’ll get more people with real problems soon.” Despite her words trying to lighten the mood, her lowered eyes said how effective it was. “But what do we even do until then?”

“Same thing you did before all this went down, but still making sure you’re prepared for any sudden incidents.” Morgana told them.

“If either of you are available, we could always do that at the gym or something.” Ryuji suggested before getting up once the bell had rung.

“You up for it, Akira?” Sumire checked, floating above Akira.

“…I’ll think about it.”

The Phansite rabbit hole was deep. Akira wasn’t even sure how long he was scrolling once the final bell rang.

Looking around the classroom to make sure all of the students were gone, Akira gestured over to Sumire. “Look at this.”

The post was some sort of thread depicting an argument between two people about the placement of books in the school library seemingly only done for the sake of humor.

“What does this have to do with the Phantom Thieves?!” Sumire burst out laughing, rocking back and forth in the air.

Akira couldn’t stop giggling either with how long the thread was going for. “I think they’re just using it as a school chat for now.”

“Checking out the phansite?” A higher male voice called. Akira quickly put down his phone as he noticed someone had been watching him, with Sumire unable to warn him from being just as distracted at the posts as him. Turning his head to the right, Akira rolled his eyes to see that frizzy blue hair right in his face.

“Oh, it’s you.” He said to Mishima.

“Yep! And the creator of the site, thank you very much.” He scratched his hair behind his ears, just as Akira often did.

“Listen, I was just about to get up, so anything you want to say, get it out now.” Akira, despite clearly lying about that, tried to leave the room without any further inquiries.

He wasn’t even out of the maze of desks when Mishima asked, “You’re one of the Phantom Thieves, aren’t you?”

Sumire froze in the air, Morgana curled up in the desk, and Akira slowly rotated.

“Why would you assume that?” Akira hesitantly tried to save face.

“Well first off, if you are, I promise I won’t tell anybody. Anyway, this event that changes the entire school happens the same month you show up, you clearly have a vendetta against Kamoshida, and you straight up have a cat in your desk!” Mishima placed a hand on Akira’s desk as Morgana accidentally yelled “What?!”

“The only reason why nobody’s told any of the teachers about that last thing yet is because they think it’s the only thing keeping you sane in class.”

“And whose fault is that?” Akira asked with crossed arms, not even looking at Mishima.

“I mean, is he wrong?” Sumire shrugged, ignoring the frown Akira gave her.

“Well if you think I’m a Phantom Thief, why haven’t you ratted me out yet?” Akira questioned further, leaning on a different desk as he ignored Sumire. “You clearly don’t have a problem telling everyone about my personal life.”

“Listen, I know I did… a lot.” Mishima began, twiddling his thumbs. “Let me make this clear, I am not asking you to forgive me for any of that crap I did. I just want you to know that if there’s anything you want me to do to make it up to you, you can tell me.”

“Anything?”

“Within reason!” Mishima clarified, putting a hand out when he realized what he said.

“…I’ll think about it.” Akira scoffed.

“The point is, you saved my life, and I want to make sure you can save other people too. This isn’t just a one and done thing, right?”

“If there is anyone…” Akira answered ambiguously.

“I mean, that’s kinda why I turned it into a forum in the first place.” Mishima explained. “Should help you find someone to take down a lot quicker.” Typing something on his phone, he showed Akira a poll rating the likeliness of the Phantom Thieves’ existence.

“So right now, I’m trying to keep track of how many people on this site actually care about you guys. That way I can weed out the spammers and whatnot.”

“Woah, there’s that many users already?” Akira was dumbfounded at it.

“Not exactly. I put a likeliness slider on the poll from not at all to pretty much guaranteed, so that’s how the results are able to be that specific.” Mishima put it away and asked, “So, what do you think? Think I can help out?”

“Ugh, fine…” Akira groaned, thrusting his head backwards.

“Akira.” Sumire chidded, hands on her hips as she looked down.

Akira took a deep breath upon Sumire’s implied request to be nicer to Mishima. “Just… know that it’s gonna take a lot for you to make it up to me, okay?”

“Any way I can start?” Mishima asked, dragging his foot on the ground.

“Um…” With how much Akira wanted to get away from him, he hoped Sumire would give him any ideas.

“What if he made you an admin on the site?” Sumire suggested.

“…so I can make it easier to get better requests.” Akira added when explaining it.

“That’s… that’s a great idea!” Mishima’s eyes lit back up. “I could definitely use some help running the site, and having an actual member as an admin would help make things more authentic.”

“Hey, show some respect.” Akira taunted half-jokingly. “I’m the leader.”

“Akira…” Sumire pressed.

After exchanging numbers, Mishima texted Akira the admin passcode, giving Akira access to much more of the site. Despite the amount of pressing she had to do, the warmth Sumire felt was worth it.

The Moon Arcana…

Once Mishima was walking out of the classroom, he stopped at the doorway upon seeing Ryuji and Ann there.

“…How much of that did you hear?…” Mishima asked nervously, twiddling his fingers.

“Enough.” Ryuji answered nonchalantly.

Unfortunately for everyone else, the mental equation Mishima did in his head was solved before anyone had time to tell him otherwise. “Oh… you two are also…” as if sensing Ryuji and Ann’s worries, he blurted out, “Would you two like to be admins too? We could have a whole group chat and whatever else a website with multiple admins does…”

“We can discuss it later.” Ann reassured him. “For now, it’s probably best to go before you make things look too conspicuous.”

“R-right. Thanks guys!” Scurrying out of the room, Akira wiped his brow in relief when Mishima was out of the room.

“What a nice guy!” Sumire said with the most cheery yet rage-hidden expression Akira had ever heard.

Ryuji threw his hands in the air in disgust. “Welp. Cover’s blown, we’re dead, it was fun while it lasted!” He wailed.

Ann pushed her hands between the boys. “Hey, hey. Before we panic, we need to remember that he probably only found out because of how close he is with you and Shiho compared to the other students, so chances are, no one else is gonna get it.”

“And there’s always plan B,” Akira murmered under his breath, though no one heard him.

“And now that Akira’s an admin on the site, we can track potential targets a whole lot faster!” Morgana’s head popped up and smiled.

“So funny story about the next palace,” Ann brought up, tapping her finger on her cheek. “I’ve been looking up whip training videos online, and I didn’t know how violent these things can get!”

“Speaking of things that are gonna kill me, don’t we have an exam next week?” Ryuji asked.

“I’m on it.” Sumire said, dashing out of the room to find any kind of study guide for Akira before he even looked at her.

Morgana mewed. “With how much help you’re getting, don’t blame me if your grades start dropping without us…”

Struggling with the combined weight of both a cat and some study guides for the exam, Akira walked much slower down the street as Sumire floated above him.

“Why do you hate that guy so much?” She asked, looking down at Akira. “He was only trying to help.”

Akira was walking faster than before despite the weight, his eyes on the sidewalk. “It’s just… he’s part of the reason why we almost got expelled!” He shouted.

“What?”

“That’s right…” Akira sighed. “I left you alone that day.”

“Please don’t remind me…” Sumire requested.

Akira explained to Sumire what happened after their argument the day Shiho jumped. Once she learned the full story, Sumire’s legs came to the ground, and she gave Akira a somber look.

“Akira… do you really think he wanted to do any of that?”

“He didn’t even stop Shiho…” Akira grumbled.

“Because then he would’ve been next.” Sumire countered.

Akira’s hands tightened into fists. “That dick… even while he’s in jail he still finds a way to manipulate us!”

“I don’t wanna force you to, but there’s probably something you should tell your co-admin…”

“What are you, my mom?” Akira joked, loosening his hands.

Even still, Akira texted Mishima later that night about what he remembered, and in the middle of the night, Sumire, who randomly woke up sometime in the middle of the night for no particular reason, looked at Akira’s phone to see a certain notification pop up.

Yuuki: Hey, no need to apologize. I get why you were upset. But thanks anyway.

I was serious about the whole “Would Ryuji and Ann like to be admins too?” thing btw. If they don’t want to, they don’t have to. Just wanted to give you a heads up.

She smiled despite the light in her eyes, and fell back asleep shortly after.

“Fatal Woman” Akira answered in front of the class.

With exams coming up, Morgana asked Sumire before classes began to temporarily stop her cheating efforts in order to help Akira study. Akira looked behind himself to see Sumire kicking back in her seat, giving him a thumbs up. Akira returned the gesture, only for the guy with the green pencil case between them to awkwardly try to copy the action.

“Guess having such a legendary French thief as a Persona helped with your translation skills, huh?” Morgana cheekily complimented.

“Possibly, or maybe I had it in me the whole time.” Akira responded.

“Maybe we should stop helping you even after the exams?” Sumire suggested, a smug look on her face as Akira gulped.

“Let’s… we’ll get there when we get there.”

While the rest of the lesson almost managed to get out of Akira’s other ear, one thing Ms. Kawakami mentioned caught his attention.

“…Not to mention the wild, seductive dancer of opera, Carmen.”

“Hey, isn’t that the name of Ann’s-“ Sumire was cut off upon seeing Akira’s texting on the phone in his desk.

Akira: Hey, it’s you!

It took until the end of the listen for her to finally reply back.

Ann: Not an opera girl, sorry.

“Ugh.” Ryuji cried. “How many is that now, Mona?”

“That’s thirteen girls complaining about their boyfriends and seven variations of ‘my parents want me to clean my room’.” Morgana listed off, rolling his eyes as it was the third time Ryuji had asked him.

Akira had woken up that morning to numerous posts of random nonsensical comments on the poll Mishima had set up, most of which had nothing to do with the phantom thieves themselves.

“Being website admins suck…”

“Psst, Sumi.” Akira whispered. “Can you check the comments for a bit?”

“If I could use the touch screen, I could.” Sumire shrugged.

“Right, right. Morgana, could you do it?”

“Stupid paws…” Morgana complained as he struggled to use Akira’s phone.

“Do you have thumbs in the palaces?” Sumire asked him.

After a relay, Morgana answered, “Yeah, but it’s not like the Phan-Site would work there…”

“Oh! Here’s one!” Ann excitedly cheered and shoved her phone in Morgana’s face.

“With all due respect, Lady Ann…” Morgana began as he pushed Akira’s phone back to him. “That one would work, but we need a post with a specific name and location. It can’t just be ‘My best friend’ or ‘my younger sibling’.”

“You want us to dox people?” Ryuji stopped scrolling for a moment, a bewildered look in his eyes. “Isn’t that, like, illegal?”

“I prefer to call it ‘calling out the wicked’.”

“Wow, Morgana, you’re a real anarchist.” Akira let out a chuckle.

“Actually, now that I think about it, remember how long Kamoshida’s palace lasted?” Ryuji asked. “It took us almost the whole month! We should probably wait until exams are over to do any real thieving.”

“Since when did you become a planner?” Morgana uncharacteristically complimented. “I’m almost proud of you.”

“Close enough…” Sumire sighed, a small smile on her face, but her breath was cut short when the door opened gently and Morgana dove behind the plants. “Uh, who’s that?”

Seemingly to answer Sumire’s question, Ryuji rolled his eyes and said, “Oh, great. Here comes the fun police…”

“This place is off limits, you know.”

“Should I know who you are?” Akira asked, tightening his posture defensively as he looked the speaker up and down.

“Makoto Niijima, student council president.”

“We’re just chatting, nothing more.” Ryuji replied quickly, not even making eye contact.

“Between the new kid, the delinquent, and the victim?” Makoto’s eyebrows lowered with the sternness of a mother who was not mad, just disapointed.

“Plus a talking cat and a ghost.” Sumire added to herself.

“Well when you put it like that…” Ann twirled a pigtail around her finger.

“All of which are associated with the case that shook up the school?”

“About as much as any other student.” Akira deflected, trying in an attempt to throw her off.

“One of which got their record leaked by another one of said victims?”

“Funnily enough I was just talking about that with someone last night. That won’t hold up in court, though.” Akira replied sarcastically.

“Analogy wasted…” Makoto pinched the bridge of her nose. “This position will do that to you.”

“Then just leave us alone!” Ryuji snapped back.

“Fine, I’ll just read out what was given to me.” Makoto said, clearing her throat. “Following the attempted suicide of Shiho Suzui, access to the rooftop of the school shall be forbidden until the new fence is installed at a to-be-determined date.”

“Oh wow, Shujin actually caring about the well-being of their students?” Ann said with widened eyes. “That’s a first!” She added, barely hiding the frost in her tone.

“We’ll see how that goes then.” The student council president said as she took her leave.

“What a prick!” Sumire said the moment Makoto was out of earshot.

“Yeah… let’s try to avoid her as much as physically possible for now…” Morgana told everyone once he got out of the bushes.

“I swear, it’s always the ‘goody two-shoes’ students that get on your nerves the most!” Ryuji stomped in his seat. “But anyway, let’s get back to the point here. “How the hell are we gonna stick in people’s minds if these palaces are gonna take as long as Kamoshida’s? How many times are we gonna have to say ‘we’re taking our time, that’s not how it works’ on the website?!”

Morgana spoke the second after, as if he was waiting for someone to ask that question. “What if I told you we don’t need a palace to go to the Metaverse?”

“What do you mean?” Sumire asked, careful not to blind Morgana again.

“Just follow me to the subway. You guys are gonna love this…”

Chapter Text

“Morgana, I already told you, we’re never gonna find any post with a name on it if we keep getting this nonsense!” Ryuji complained to Morgana once they got to the station entrance. “Even if they did, they’re definitely not gonna be famous or evil enough to have a whole-ass palace!”

“You’re so lucky this street is so loud that nobody can hear you, moron!” Morgana piped back. “Listen, we don’t need anyone ‘famous or evil’, literally any random name on this site will do!”

“Akira, that one!” Sumire pointed to a post about someone complaining about being talked about behind their back online.

“Does this one work?” Akira asked, showing it to Morgana.

“That’s a username, it doesn’t count.”

“Dang it.” Sumire put her arms in her sleeves and crossed them within her tracksuit. Seeing Sumire so defeated, Akira thought hard about the best way to find the posts Morgana needed.

 Akira quickly typed something on his phone. “I got an idea.” he said, showing the others his screen.

Our Roommate Roroto is overrated tbh. -Mod Joker

“Woah, man. That is a HOT take.” Ryuji stared in disbelief.

“It’s one of my favorite movies, so I figured it’d make a good candidate.”

“But how is that going to…” Ann’s voice stopped upon seeing the live interaction count that only admins got to see.

The first Mod Joker L

I can’t believe you’d do this to my childhood

This is CLEARLY made by someone who doesn’t understand peak cinema

Ann’s jaw dropped when she read the numbers. “Wow! That’s the most commented post on the entire site!”

“Getting people to talk about their issues with others isn’t about hope or justice…” Akira began as he looked at the comments. “They’re too afraid to do that. It’s all about getting them talking.” Despite his disappointed tone, he looked more confident than ever.

“Wait, won’t that look bad on the Phantom Thieves?” Sumire worried, shaking as she brushed away her bangs.

“Some people like seeing opinions that go against the norm.” Akira scrolled down a bit more to show an example.

Finally, someone said it.

“See?”

Once the amount of comments slowed down, the three app-users went through each one aside from Akira’s post to determine the best target to go after.

“Okay, so looking at all of the names, I’d say the most likely candidate would be… this one!” Morgana pointed to a comment Ann had pinned. “Natsuhiko Nakanohara.”

“Okay… a government worker stalking his ex.” Ryuji said as he read the post. “Yeah, that’s pretty bad, but is it Kamoshida levels of bad?”

“Doesn’t matter.” Morgana shrugged it off. “Can you load up the Meta-Nav for me, please?”

“Hey, whatever happened to ‘If one of us doesn’t want to do it, none of us will. Yes, even you.’?” Ann criticized as Morgana attempted to type.

“We’re not doing his palace now, are we?!” Sumire shrieked.

“I’m just gonna show you what this is, and then we can decide if we wanna use it or not.” Morgana tried to imitate cracking his paws once Akira placed his phone in front of him. “Okay, M-E-M-E-N-T-O-S…”

Sumire spelled it out in her head. “Mementos?”

“And enter!”

The familiar transition effect occurred, telling the group that their next Metaverse adventure was about to begin…

Looking around, there was a general feeling of being let down. “Okay, everyone’s gone… now what?” Ann asked,voicing everyones’ feelings. Other than that detail, nothing seemed to have changed. “Also, why does it feel like the floor just doesn’t exist?”

“Now you know how I feel every day…” Sumire mumbled.

“I suppose they’re… down. Underground.” Morgana analyzed as he walked around the now-empty area. “I’ve never really been up here while it was activated.”

“Underground, you say?” Sumire burrowing into the ground and poked her head into the subway, and her eyes almost popped out of her head when she saw what was there.

A sprawling hall filled with red and black goo not unlike the moat that hurt her back in Kamoshida’s palace. Rails with tracks on them, yet no trains passed through.

“Woah…”

The shadows walked around aimlessly like animals in a zoo enclosure. She could practically hear the celebratory trumpets welcoming her to the area.

“Cool…”

Sumire felt like she could watch the “wildlife” for hours.

In the distance, Sumire could faintly hear Ann ask, “What even is this place?”, and Akira say “Oh, there’s the costumes.”, to which she floated back to the group on an entrance platform to hear Morgana’s explanation.

“Welcome, to Mementos.” Morgana presented.

Just as she heard them from overhead, Sumire mimicked the familiar tune from a movie she watched with Akira on one of their days waiting for Kamoshida’s change of heart.

“Really?” Akira angrily whispered.

“I dunno, it just felt appropriate.” Sumire shrugged.

“Palaces gotta come from somewhere, right?” Morgana continued.

“Evil people, right?” Ryuji guessed.

Morgana shook his head. “Distorted, not evil. Huge difference. Even then, nobody’s born evil, so until then, shadows just kinda live here until a palace is made.”

“And we can change those hearts before they can become palaces, right?” Ann finished for him.

Morgana’s ear perked up before going back to his usual sly tone. “Ah… good catch, Panther!”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Ryuji climbed down onto the tracks, dashing ahead of the rest of the team.

“Agh! Skull!” Sumire stomped her foot in midair.

“I wasn’t done yet!” Morgana shouted. “Your feet are gonna hurt from walking that distance.”

“Okay, fine…” Ryuji disappointingly walked back, putting his pipe on his shoulder. “What did you want?”

“Don’t you wanna go through this place in style?” Morgana’s eyes laid half-closed while facing everyone (though mainly Ann).

“Not really, but it’s not like we have any say in this.” As Sumire was saying that, Morgana proceeded to strike a multitude of superhero-esque poses, spinning around and getting up on the railing to continue whatever he was doing.

“Should we uh, ask…” Sumire asked as she poked through Akira’s shoulder, watching Morgana bounce around. “What’s he doing?”

“Just let him do it.” Akira told her as he dusted off the shoulder she touched, getting an offended look in return. “I think he’s having fun with it.”

Jumping off the railing, Morgana faceplanted on the floor with a thud that didn’t seem to hurt too much. Quickly recuperating after a couple of seconds, he did one more jump with a bit of a stumble. And in a puff of smoke, where Morgana once stood was a van, conveniently containing enough seats for even a ghost to fit into.

“Eh, eh? What do you think?” A digitized version of Morgana’s voice spoke through the radio, after he rolled the windows down, giving them all a look at his new body.

There was an awkward silence in the air as everyone just looked at Morgana, who wiggled his rearview mirrors like ears. “…Okay, what and why?” Ryuji questioned, breaking the silence.

“Same way you guys do it I guess.” Morgana said, turning to face everyone again.

Sumire put her hands on her ears as she tried to comprehend that statement. “Wait, but your Metaverse form… the bipedal one, the double transformation… what?!” Akira quickly asked the question for her.

“Okay, okay. I can explain. Apparently something happened that caused bus cats to be all the rage. I’m not complaining, though. It’s a great way to get around!”

Akira attempted to scratch his chin, but the leather of his glove made it difficult to do so, so he temporarily took it off, pondering what event Morgana could be referring to. It then came to him as he remembered the movie he mentioned on the Phan-Site.

“I always knew my knowledge of Our Roommate Roroto would come in handy someday!”

Ryuji butted in louder than usual. “And now that you’ve dissed everyone who likes that movie, I’m guessing that thing is fresh in everyone’s heads now!”

“Was it that influential on society?” Akira asked, almost sarcastically.

“I guess so.” Morgana probably would’ve shrugged if he still had limbs.

Ryuji raised his hand. “Gonna be completely honest here, I haven’t seen it.”

“You’ve never watched Our Roommate Roroto?!” Ann screamed, grabbing Ryuji by the collar to shake him. “That’s it, we’re setting up a watch party tonight!”

“So where does his voice come from?” Sumire got the need to ask as she floated around Morgana’s new form.

“Don’t question it.” Akira shrugged off as he swiftly entered the car just like Sojiro’s.

With Ryuji and Ann taking up the back seats, Akira and Sumire took the front.

“Why didn’t you tell us you can do this before?” Ann asked as she slid her hand on the cushions.

“It was never relevant.” Morgana answered as Akira felt the engine weirdly purr for some reason.

As usual, Sumire waited for the vehicle to start, closing her eyes expecting a nice tour of the Mementos. Her eyes peeked open upon hearing Akira say “Go!”

Yet she didn’t even feel the acceleration. Did cars work differently in the Metaverse? Was it because the car phased through her? Was her form just immune to the effect of movement?

No, it was because Morgana hadn’t even moved an inch yet.

“I’m worried about the driving abilities of today’s youth…” Morgana’s voice told them from a speaker next to the steering wheel.

“Saying that makes you seem like an old man,” Ryuji huffed, leaning his head against the front seat.

Floating out of the car, Sumire tried to figure out what was wrong with their ride. The wheels weren’t moving, and even as she floated under Morgana, all the mechanics underside looked to be in good condition, or at least as far as she knew about cars. There didn’t seem to be a lid to a potential gas tank, though it wasn’t like she wanted to know if gasoline was a thing he also had on hand, and under the hood, no engine. Just a deep abyss of black staring right back at her. “So you’re telling me you can magically turn into a car whenever you want, but driving on your own is where you cross the line?!” She questioned as she got back in.

“How did you get around here before you met us then?” Akira wondered as he shuffled in his seat, shifting his position.

Morgana’s headlights closed. “Very slowly…”

Akira lowered his head onto the steering wheel. “Welp, here goes nothing…”

“Wait, do you even have a license?” Ann panicked, frantically searching for a seatbelt.

Firmly grabbing the stick, Akira turned around to face her and said, “You don’t need a license to drive a cat.”

“I am NOT a-GYAH!”

Before Morgana could protest any further, Akira put the pedal to the metal, shooting down the hall before drifting around a corner. As they ran over the bumpy rails, Sumire felt her seat jumping through her butt, constantly switching between states of sitting and floating, with how her glasses pushed up against her nose, and the frames jutting between her eyes, she could barely even see where in Mementos they even were anymore.

“Hey, watch where you’re going! Look out for that pole! Look out for that wall! Look out for that-“ Morgana’s comments fell on deaf ears as Akira kept driving, only to crash directly into a Shadow. Sumire, the only one unbound by the limits of the ceiling, ejected out of the van, flying out onto the floor. She rubbed her cheek when she landed, soothing a nonexistent bruise. Behind her, the car had turned back into the Morgana they knew and loved, lying on the ground from the impact of falling out of air with everyone else. The Shadow Akira had rammed into, burst into three, surrounding the Phantom Thieves, one of which had a familiar disastrous aura.

“Just our luck.” Morgana moaned. “One of the Shadows we crash into is an exploding Shadow..”

With everyone on the ground, the shadows might as well have had the chance to do their own version of the all-out attack, as Ann could feel herself being catapulted by a Bicorn, and Ryuji at the mercy of a Pixie’s heel. The disaster Jack-O-Lantern charged up a large fireball while looming over Akira. Akira shuffled his legs, trying to bring his holster closer to his arms while he lay flat on the ground. Finally, he was able to bring out his gun just as the Jack’s fireball was about to be launched.

Morgana got up fast once he saw Akira about to pull the trigger. “Wait, don’t shoot it so close to u-“

But it was too late. Akira shot the disaster shadow, and it started to glow. Everyone, human, shadow, cat, and ghost alike, screamed in horror at what Akira had done.

The blast caused the shadows’ black dust to be splattered across the red walls, and Akira, Ryuji, and Morgana were flung into the same spot Ann was, leaving Sumire as the only one who wasn’t affected by Akira’s mistake.

“Everyone okay after that?” Akira asked as he picked up Morgana, dusting him off like a dirty child. He was met with a resounding “Yeah” from his ‘audience’.

“Next time, try to go a bit slower…” Morgana said as he struggled out of Akira’s arms and turned back into the car, still a bit shaken based on how his frame was shuddering. “I wouldn’t normally expect this kind of reckless behavior from you!”

“Okay, okay. I had my fun.” Akira assured him as everyone got back into the car, though he was slightly disappointed at the end of his joy ride.

Continuing on the tracks, Akira eventually got used to the terrain.

“So, how are we doing here on the path of Qimranut today?” Morgana asked in the tone of a tour guide.

“Path of whatwuhnot?” Ryuji attempted to pronounce, his head still recovering from being blown up.

“Hey, it was on the sign, don’t ask me.”

Checking his phone for the time, Akira opened the Metanav, confirming the name Morgana mentioned. “Yeah, here it is.” He showed Ryuji the spelling.

Regardless of Ryuji’s earlier comment, Morgana continued. “Anyway, if you look to your left, you should see a pair of rails curving onto the wall into a wavy red and black void.”

Turning her head, Sumire thought that it was a strange description. “That’s oddly specific.” There was only so much she could say when she was met with exactly what Morgana described. “What the?”

“These are what could be considered incubators that shadows hatch palaces from, and I believe this one should be Natsuhiko’s!”

“And what now?” Akira asked as he parked the car in front of said… “incubator.” “Do we destroy it from here?”

“Drive into it.”

Pausing to take in how quickly Morgana said that, Akira simply went, “If you say so.”

Driving a bit closer to it, the vehicle, along with everyone inside, was suddenly sucked into the vortex. 

Sumire was pulled in as well, for a brief moment. As Morgana got halfway through the entrance, she was taken out of the car. Avoiding the ground as if on instinct, Sumire flew through the void, trying to catch up with everyone else…

And it stung again. A pain she hadn’t felt since the gooey purple magma in Kamoshida’s palace. But she pushed through with all her spiritual might, and she was through.

“Joker, did your muscles cramp, or something?” She heard Ryuji say on the other side. “My leg does the same thing sometimes, so I know how it feels.”

“And four!” Akira finished his headcount once Sumire had popped into the room. “And yeah, it happens. Metaverse travel does stuff to you, you know?”

“‘kay, just makin’ sure.” Ryuji said, jerking his thumb towards the place where the rails seemed to end. “Come on, then. I wanna check this place out!”

“Yeah, yeah just gimme a bit.” Akira shook his head as Sumire floated back up, though it still took a while for his eyes to focus on her. “So… what happened back there, Spirit?”

“Fell out the car as we were getting sucked in.” Sumire answered as she dusted off her jacket. “Sorry if that hurt you.”

“It did sting a little bit, but not too much, so don't worry about it.” Before turning to follow the rest of their team, Akira looked up to meet Sumire in the eye. “Just be careful when we do this, okay? I know self-preservation isn’t something you should be worried about, but I do.”

“I’ll try my best.” With one last brush on her jacket, Sumire flew to her teammates.

Beyond the end of the tracks was an unfamiliar man, staring blankly at the Theives without moving.

Ann skidded to a stop when she remembered who it was. “Oh,” she said, turning around and still able to see the swirling vortex behind her. “That was fast.”

“Like I said, it’s just an incubator for a palace.” Morgana, who had turned back to normal on the way in, patted Ann’s leg in a hopeless attempt at affection, causing Sumire to frown at him. Morgana giggled, spitefully enjoying Sumire’s annoyance at this point.

“Do we still need to fight him for the treasure?” Akira asked his pet, staring right back at what must’ve been Natsuhiko’s shadow.

Morgana solemnly nodded. “Unfortunately, yes.”

Having a photo saved from the Phan-Site of the request, Akira approached the shadow, tapping his phone like a lawyer would a clipboard. “Alright, we got a special delivery for someone named Natsuhiko Nakanohara? It said ‘one heart changing for my stalker ex’?”

While Sumire was busy staring at Akira in utter disappointment, the shadow suddenly moved, as if they had tripped an activation alarm. being activated by an unknown force. “What are you, some kinda delivery boy?”

“Can it, bowl cut.” Ann snapped, her heel echoing throughout the room. “We’re here because you can’t leave someone else alone once it’s over!”

The shadow’s golden eyes widened, and he put a hand on his chest. “I’m sorry, I’m the one who can’t be left alone? You guys only heard half the story!”

“Yeah, yeah, save it for the website.” Akira took his hands to his face and wiggled his mask, ready to pick a Persona and make him pray.

“Website? What website?”

“The Phan-Site? The one we found out about you on?” Ryuji specified. “It’s kinda our thing.”

Sumire tilted her head, and Natsuhiko’s shadow tilted his the other way. This was confusing, how could he have not heard of this place when Akira’s post made it so popular?

“Guess I’ll check it out, then.” Shadow Natsuhiko smirked. “Once I take what’s rightfully mine!”

In a manner not too dissimilar to how Kamoshida transformed, Natsuhiko changed. Unlike Kamoshida’s big, hulking monstrosity of a form, he turned into a simple Imp-like shadow with the same bowl cut as him.

“See? Told you we were going to have to fight it.” Morgana shrugged with his sword point at the imp.

While still shaky from the previous battle, the thieves had enough time to recover, it seemingly wasn’t enough. Their reaction was slow when Natsuhiko’s Shadow pulled a giant sledgehammer out of thin air, swinging it towards anyone near him.

Morgana clanked his sword with the hammer, sneering at the imp’s fangs as he tried to find an opening. The shadow’s small size, however, allowed it to slip away, causing his hammer to sweep Morgana’s leg.

Natsuhiko taunted Morgana, giggling at him before stopping when he heard a crackling noise behind him. Ryuji had gotten behind him, posing with his arm held forward as Captain Kidd shot a Zio from the cannon on his arm. The shadow was knocked down, scrat as if it was confused about what happened. Seeing it down, Ryuji leapt forward along with the other thieves, minus Morgana. After jumping off of the shadow to finish the rush, Ryuji posed, dusting off his arm in relief. “Phew! Thought he had us that time!”

Yet the imp jumped right back up, still ready as if the rushdown barely even phased him.

“What?!” Ryuji cried. “That didn’t even make a scratch?!”

Shadow Natsuhiko leapt at Ryuji and swung, but his hammer was caught with Ryuji’s free hand before he could take any damage.

Reaching a hand out, Ryuji grabbed the ‘imp’ by the hair and watched it helplessly flail. “Yeah, not so tough now without your toy, huh?” He asked as he held the hammer in his hand, waving in front of him.

“Skull!” Ann cried, casting Tarunda onto the shadow.

The imp grinned, and before Ryuji could realize the flailing was a trick, got punched in the face, knocking him down. But thanks to Ann’s efforts, the hit didn’t do as much damage as it would’ve.

Picking his hammer back up, Natsuhiko sniffed with a nonexistent nose, and discovered the source of the colored aura around himself. He did a flip with his hammer, shooting his foot out to kick Ann. Before he could do that, Sumire popped out of the ground beneath him, her sudden appearance causing the shadow to lose his balance and fall onto the floor.

“UGH! Get that…ball thing outta here!” 

“Is he talking about Mona?” Ryuji asked as he got up.

Sumire flinched, realizing her mistake. “I think… he’s talking about me.”

Akira gritted his teeth. “Spirit, pull back for now!” he shouted, mind racing. Now Shadow selves could see Sumire? Why couldn’t Kamoshida’s? Worst part was that these shadows were different from the ones they fought before. Natsuhiko’s shadow was sentient. It was intelligent. Worst of all, since it was based on an actual person, whatever it said was believable.

Sumire nodded, floating away from Natsuhiko, and moved next to Morgana.

Choosing his next target, Natsuhiko swung at Akira’s chest, knocking him back, then jumping at Morgana with another swing. Both of them struggled to stay up, hands on knees as Natsuhiko laughed again. Ann healed Akira with Dia, as Morgana healed himself. Quickly moving to fire some shots at the little devil’s head. Once to knock his head back, then again on his back once he got behind him, and finally under his tiny legs to tip him over.

Remembering Ryuji’s earlier attack, Akira switched to Pixie, and launched his own Zio. The smaller shock was enough to get Natsuhiko on the floor, and he was met with another all-out attack.

Despite getting up, the Shadow struggled to stand. “Oh come on!” Ryuji shouted, slamming his pipe against the ground. “How much more are you gonna take!?”

Charging forward, Ryuji swung his pipe, bashing Shadow Natsuhiko upside the head, slamming him against the center of the back wall and getting his sweet revenge. Turning back into his humanoid form, Natsuhiko hunched over, clutching his chest.

“Woohoo! First request completed!” Ryuji whooped, hand raised for non-battle purposes, high-five that it was quickly reciprocated throughout the group in celebration.

“Aaaaah!” Ann squealed, shaking her hands. “We’ll be fighting our next big target in no-time!”

“Told you it’d work out!” Morgana jumped for joy.

“Can I touch the treasure before you get it?” Sumire asked Akira.

“Sure.”

“Big target?” Shadow Natsuhiko looked confused at the celebrating Phantom Thieves. “What are you guys talking about?”

“Just thinking about who could be next.” Akira scoffed, checking off the image of the request.

Seeing said image, the shadow paused Akira. “Wait, you guys change hearts, right?”

Preparing to leave, Morgana didn’t even look at Natsuhiko as he responded with, “Uh huh, why do you ask?”

“I really meant it when I said I wanted to check it out. Mind if I make a request here and now?” From his tone, he sounded weirdly genuine about it.

“Take notes if you want to do this one.” Sumire reminded Akira.

Akira got his phone out, ready to type it down. “Go ahead. No need for the site right now. I’ll admit, I was just being cocky earlier when I said to save it.”

“Alright.” The shadow hesitated, and after taking a deep breath (Did shadows need to breathe? First Sumire, now them?), he began. “You know the famous artist Madarame?”

“Name rings a bell.”

“The guy ruined my life. Took away everything I ever did for him without remorse. That’s why I clung onto her for so long.”

“Okay, famous artist… stole work… anything else?” Akira looked up from his phone.

“I know he hasn’t stopped yet. He might even be stabbing a poor kid in the back as I speak.” He began to tear up, another new thing about shadows that Sumire had in common with that they both probably shouldn’t be able to do.

Natsuhiko’s shadow disappeared, letting Sumire feel the small circular object the light held. While Akira watched as Sumire was enamored by its smoothness, Ryuji ran up and snatched the object, now intangible to Sumire’s hands.

“Yo! A pearl necklace!” He shouted, holding it for everyone to see. “Even the non-palace treasures can give us some serious dough!”

“We’re lucky then.” Morgana analyzed it once Ryuji gave it to Akira. “Must’ve been something from his ex, so this guy was very close to getting a Palace.”

“Isn’t that how treasures already work?”

“Yes, but earlier on in a Palace’s life cycle, the Treasure might not be anything personal to the ‘ruler’ at first. So expect to find stuff like lunch boxes, a houseplant, that water bottle that never leaves your room because you’re too lazy to pick it up off the floor…”

“Hey!” Akira yelled at his soon-to-be getaway vehicle once he realized he was likely talking about the current state of his room.

“He’s right, you know!” Sumire agreed, shaking her finger at him like a stern mother would.

“Not you too…” Akira grumbled.

“Are we going home now?” Ryuji groaned, thrusting his head backwards in his seat once they were on the tracks again.

“We’re still not done with the tour yet!” Morgana snapped.

Ann was poking at her suit, frowning as she did so. “When?”

“After this one last thing, I promise.”

“Okay… where is it?” Akira asked, pausing a few feet away from the former Palace incubator.

“Lower.”

“And where are the stairs to that?”

“No idea.”

“What do you mean ‘no idea’?!” Ryuji’s voice peaked.

“All these floors are randomly generated every time you leave!”

“Why?!”

“Because not everyone thinks about the same thing every day!” Morgana said, his wipers moving as if they were arms being spread out. “But the differing thoughts in individuals is the beauty of humanity, isn’t it?”

“Can also be a pain to deal with…” Sumire mumbled.

“So we’re just lost?” Akira yelled at the dashboard, treating that as Morgana’s eyes.

“These floors aren’t that big, don’t panic.”

Ryuji shook a fist. “There better be some safe rooms in this palace!”

Annoyed by all of this arguing, Sumire slammed her head onto the dashboard.

This was going to be a long drive…

A few battles later, and the group finally made it to the last stop on Morgana’s mementos tour. At first, it looked like they were just going down the escalator of any other platform.

“I’m just saying, if we all get run over, I’m blaming you.” Ryuji said.

Morgana held his paws out to let the thieves behold. “And here it is!

“It’s… just a wall.” Akira said nonchalantly as he tapped his foot, looking down at Morgana.

“And a beautiful wall at that!” Sumire added, examining the wall’s patterns. She stared at it, watching the lines shine in a crimson glow. “A pretty, colorful… solid wall…” Even the light bulb that appeared over Sumire’s head was red in color. “Joker, Mona! I think I know how to find out how to get past it!” She pointed at the wall, extending her arm out far so Morgana would notice her plan.

“Go ahead, Spirit.” Morgana accepted, crossing his paws. “I’ve never been able to get past it before.” He still couldn’t hear her, but he didn’t have to hear her to guess what she wanted.

Phasing through the supposed dead end, the conversations of the other thieves drowning out in the concrete layer behind Sumire. Surprisingly, she found more stairs, and headed down them. Upon reaching the bottom, the color of the area shifted to a calming blue hue.

More importantly, however, was the golden orb that appeared where the tracks resumed. Was this how Morgana saw her? Was it another ghost like her? Upon further inspection, the object was more like a bubble in nature, containing some golden flowers within it. Dandelions, buttercups, daffodils, whatever they were, it didn't matter. But its squishy form beckoned her in, to observe it. She couldn’t touch much, why would this be any different? It wasn’t every day flowers like this grew underground, after all.

But when her nose reached the tip of the bubble, it slid across her face. Startled by the physical sensation, Sumire jerked back, eyes wide as she stuck a finger out, and poked the bubble. It didn’t pop as she expected, which was unfortunate, since she wanted to know if the flowers within were physical to her too. She really wanted to feel something, and the rush of feeling it made her want more. But before she could investigate any further, Sumire’s ears picked up a worrying noise.

The sound of a different vehicle was approaching at an alarming speed. Did everyone else find a different way here, or worse?

When she came face to face with said vehicle, running back as far as possible to avoid reliving her possible death, the bright colors of the small car was impossible not to notice, especially with the balloons on top. It definitely wasn’t Morgana. Sumire expected a cutesy, but deadly shadow, but once the rather short unseen driver hopped out of the car with a squeaky sound from his boots, she found out it wasn’t. Rather, it was a boy with a simple egg-shaped head.

The boy seemed to stare at her with wonder in his eyes as bright as the flower-filled bubble next to her. She moved away from it, thinking the boy wanted the warm bubble she hugged earlier. But the boy’s eyes, and soon his head, and then his entire body, moved to follow Sumire around. He giggled, chasing her around. It was almost sweet of him. Sumire didn’t know who this was, but if he could see her, and he looked friendly, then how bad could this kid be?

“Woah!” A voice came from up the escalator. “You actually got it to open!”

“See, Mona? I told you she could do it.” That was Akira’s voice, and both Sumire and the egg-headed child looked to find the rest of the Phantom Thieves running down the stairs. They all skidded to a halt once she saw Sumire’s new friend.

“Wha- who’s this?!” Morgana asked, assuming an answer out of Sumire.

Sumire floated back to Akira’s side to watch the kid. “I don’t know. I just found him, and I think he can see me.”

She saw him pop the bubble, capturing its remains into a glass. He took a sip of it and smiled, looking like it tasted sweet. Turning to the thieves, he simply waved at them. “Hello.”

“Are you not gonna…” Morgana trailed off. “You’re not concerned by our presence?”

“No.” The boy shook his head, placing the glass into a custom made dishwasher in his car. “Weird things appear in this place all the time. A raccoon is as normal here as a shadow, and I should’ve figured humans were just an inevitability.”

“Raccoon?” Morgana stomped the ground, his tiny foot barely making any noise. “I am a phantom thief! Beats being called a cat I guess.”

“Kid’s got a point.” Ryuji noted. “Wait, are you not human?”

“Nope.” Jose pointed to his abnormal nose.

“You got a name?” Ryuji gritted his teeth in concern.

“Jose.”

“And what are you doing here?” Ann pressed softly.

“Getting flowers.”

“Did not know they could grow here.” Akira looked toward the ground, with only the rocks of the next Mementos area accompanying the darkness.

“Probably only in those magic bubbles, right?” Ann’s eyes widened at the cherubic nature of the boy’s cheeks.

“Mhm! And I met this pretty girl, too!”

“Aww! Thank you!” Ann squealed, going over to pat Jose on the head. “Your hair is so smooth.”

Sumire, however, had a different idea of who Jose meant by a pretty girl.

Morgana turned away, crossing his arms hiding his pouting from Ann. “Why don’t I get that?…” His ears stood on end when he felt a familiar hand on his head.

“Okay, you get one too.” Ann said to Morgana affectionately, causing the white part of his face to turn bright red.

“It’s for my human research.” Jose continued, holding in a laugh from Ann’s affection.

Ryuji’s head spun. “I don’t see the correlation.”

“It’s private.”

Ann got up from her petting session. “If I ever find some of those, I’ll save them for you, ok?”

“Ok!” Jose put his hands up, and Ann picked him up, placing him into his car.

“Thank you! See you later, pretty lady!”

But instead of Ann, just as Sumire predicted, he looked at her instead.

Thankfully, Akira noticed. “You two head to the entrance. I wanna interrogate this kid a bit more.”

“Roger!” Ryuji saluted. “We should keep an eye on him, just in case he tries anything funny.”

“Be gentle, ok?” Ann requested, tilting her head innocently at Akira. “He’s just a child.”

“I know, Panther. I know.”

Once Ann and Ryuji had teleported away, Akira sat down next to Jose’s car to talk to him.

“Okay, I want to confirm some things with you.” Once Jose nodded, Akira continued. “You can see this girl, right?”

Jose blinked twice, his mouth open in awe at the spectral wonder in front of him, and he nodded.

“This is Spirit.” Akira introduced. “She’s a ghost.”

Jose didn’t seem to understand, scratching his sideburns (or whatever they were) in response.

Akira paused to consider Sumire’s feelings. Seeing Akira’s quivering lips, Sumire told him, “You don’t need to sugarcoat it for me.”

“Okay, she’s a human who… died.”

“Oh! I didn’t know humans could persist after death!” Jose excitedly jumped for joy. “Nice to meet you, Spirit!”

“They usually don’t.” Sumire’s voice lowered, despite wanting to test to see if Jose could hear her.

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.” Morgana continued, his neck finally having a break when looking at someone closer to his size. “We’re hoping Mementos might be able to provide the answers we’re seeking about Spirit.”

“That makes sense!” Jose smiled, oblivious to the severity of the situation.

Akira crouched down, meeting Jose at eye level. “While we’re collecting flowers for you, would it be okay if we came here every so often to talk?”

“Sure! I’d love to know more about the nature of dead humans.” Jose’s words startled Sumire, causing her to panic in the air.

“I’m a little sensitive about it, so could you please be gentle about the subject?”

Jose brought his limbs into his oversized jacket. “Sorry, I didn’t know…”

Akira placed a hand on what he could find around Jose’s neck once his limbs came back out. “We’ll figure it out.”

“Here, I hope this can make it up to you.” Jose opened the trunk of his car, and handed a star shaped rock to Sumire. “I hope you like it, Spirit.”

The rock, however, fell through Sumire’s hand. “Oh, it seems humans lose their mass after death.”

“It’s not your fault, I’ve gotten used to it.” Sumire told him.

“Maybe you can wish to hold it? It is a star, after all?” Jose looked to be close to tears, causing Akira to hug him as an apology.

“It’s ok, Jose. I’ll hold onto it for her.”

“Thank you, mister… good job on that.”

Akira broke away from the hug and sighed. “Heh, see you later, Jose.” Once Jose had started his engine, Akira gave Jose a thumbs and said, “Good job, kiddo! You deserve it!”

Sumire swore she could see a tiny tear go down Jose’s face as he drove off onto the tracks.

Akira couldn’t sleep that night. His mind whirred with what happened between Natsuhiko and Jose. On top of all of that, as his repertoire of Personas grew, they started to become pretty chatty within his head. The headache hurt so bad. Throughout all of the chaos in his heart, a comfortingly familiar voice asked him an important question.

Is something the matter, trickster?

“Yeah…” Akira could never go wrong with good ol’ Arsene. “You remember how Pixie almost spilled the beans about Sumire?”

Hey! I was just curious!

That wasn’t the same voice. Mentally pushing Pixie out of the way, Akira continued. “You’re like the leader when it comes to my personas, right?”

That is an accurate description, yes.

“Could you please get the others to be a bit quieter when I’m trying to think to myself? You’re kinda the most comfortable to have when I’m like this.”

Of course. All you need to do is focus on the heart you want yourself to have at the time. Clear your mind of any additional thoughts clogging up your soul. This should leave only me able to speak to you.

Akira did just that, and suddenly, the voices of the other Personas began to drown out, fading into a distant whisper.

“Oh, and tell them not to say anything about Sumire when I’m using them, ok?”

I will do my best, dear trickster.

Finally, Akira had some peace and quiet at night, and he was safe with his heart in the right place.

Chapter Text

It was a Sunday. A day where Sumire could sleep in after the hard struggles of her afterlife, the sun shined through her window as she began to feel the light, one of the few things that could satisfy her skin, but it was quickly blocked out by a curly black mound.

“Sumire?” A comforting voice said as soon as she woke up.

“Hm?”

“I think we screwed up.”

Sumire rubbed her eyes and grabbed her glasses off the table. “Wha-what did we do?”

Akira practically shoved his phone through Sumire’s face. “Yuuki texted us.”

Sumire’s eyes shot open on seeing Akira’s mistake.

Yuuki: What did you do?!

Attached was a picture of the controversial opinion Akira had posted to bait their fans.

“What do we tell him?” Sumire jumped in a panic, staying in the air.

“Just tell him about me.” Morgana suggested, still in bed. “He already knows about us, maybe we can… no, right. Cameras don’t work in the Metaverse. Do we draw a reference?”

“You don’t have thumbs here, Sumire can’t hold a pencil, and I suck at drawing vehicles!” Akira shouted, scratching his hair with both hands. Then his phone buzzed again.

Yuuki: I’m not mad, I just wish you gave me a heads up that you were about to do this.

“This is bad, he might remove you from admin status!” Morgana sprung up into Akira’s comforting bag.

“Which wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world…” Akira pondered. “I think I deserve it honestly.” He joked.

“Akira…” Sumire groaned with a still tired grogginess.

“Ok, ok. I’ll say something.” Sumire and Morgana leapt up behind him to see what he would say, causing Akira to pull his phone closer to his face..

Akira: I swear I can explain this.

Yuuki: Don’t worry, I completely understand. We can talk about it over lunch at the diner. My treat!

“Can’t say no to free food.” Akira shrugged, revealing his reply to everyone.

“It’s a trap!” Sumire cried. “Free food is never free!”

“Calm down, Sumi.” Akira turned to her, shifting closer. “Let’s just hear what he has to say, and whatever happens, happens.”

“Okay…” Sumire huffed as her head drooped, getting up and floating down.

Yuuki was already at the table, and he beckoned Akira to come sit with him with a goofy grin. It lured Akira in, not knowing what he was about to say.

“Listen, I’m sorry for posting that. I just thought-“ he started, unsure what he was supposed to say.

“Don’t apologize!” Yuuki shouted, cutting Akira off before covering his mouth. He continued whispering. “You just saved someone’s life!”

“But the post?”

“I get why you did that. If you wanted me to delete the spam comments, you could’ve just asked!” Yuuki got even quieter when he asked, “You don’t actually hate Roroto, do you?”

Akira shook his head. “Not at all.”

Yuuki reclined in his booth, slamming his hand on the table. Akira flinched when his water shook. “Thank god you still have taste.”

The warmth Sumire felt at that moment, she couldn’t tell if it was from the thought that Akira was treating Yuuki a bit better than before, or if it was just the sweat rolling down his neck.

“So I came up with a sorting system to better figure out what posts are requests and what aren’t.” Yuuki continued, eyes closing for a second. “If you could get the other guys to help me on this, that’d be great. No obligation though.” Yuuki yawned .

“Do you wanna call it a day here?” Akira asks as Yuuki’s head’s already on the the table.

“Yeah.” he mumbled, eyes closed.

“That guy’s gonna get himself hurt more than before if he keeps this up…” Sumire said softly.

The next day, Sumire and Akira’s were with their friends at their usual post-school rooftop hangout.

“It’s quiet…” Ryuji said dramatically. “ Too quiet.”

“Feels the same volume as it always has to me.” Akira shrugged while scrolling through the Phan-Site.

“Yeah, but I mean it’s a different kind of quiet than usual. Less of an ‘if we say anything we’ll die’ quiet, and more of an ‘I’m so glad I don’t have to worry about dying’ kinda quiet.”

“You know what? He’s got a point.” Ann nodded.

“Still, a thank you would be nice.” Akira mumbled.

Sumire floated next to Akira. “They are thanking you in gossip. I promise.”

“Doesn’t give me that much-“ Akira stopped when he got a notification in the Phan-Site Admin group chat. A photo from Yuuki of a request submission for a blackmailing bully in the school with the caption. “So, what do you think?”

Ryuji’s eyes lit up as he stood. “It’s not Nakanohara bad, but that works!”

“I dunno…” Ann pondered as she read the caption. “Exams are coming up…”

“Come on,” Ryuji begged. “Can’t we just have one more Phantom Thief adventure before a busy week? I could use the dopamine right about now.”

“And I want to see Jose again.” Sumire pleaded. “If he’s studying humans, chances are he’ll find out something about me.”

“Eh, why not?” Akira shrugged. “Could be fun.”

“Lady Ann, we still need confirmation from you.” Morgana said, patting his paw on the table a few times.

Ann crossed her legs as she thought. “Well, I can’t exactly let that go, but I’m studying right after if I have the energy to, ok?”

“It’s just one target, don’t worry.” Akira reassured Ann, careful to step away from her. “I promise you’ll feel good enough to study when we get back. Me though, that’s still in the air.”

The chuckle Akira got out of Ann made him smile.

Upon entering Mementos, Akira checked his phone to remind himself of their progress. “Hey, Mona, the bench areas on those floors… you said they were like safe rooms, right?”

“Yup.”

“So can we teleport to them?”

Morgana, who was already in his car form, morphed out of it before anyone could get in. “I don’t see why we wouldn’t!”

So Akira tapped the icon for the last floor they entered, but as they were doing so, Sumire felt like the flash of light that sent them there was going up her nose.

“Achoo!”

“Bless you.” Akira said the moment they arrived. He paused for a second to take in what just happened. “Wait, are you okay?”

“Sorry, must be allergies…” Sumire apologized as she rubbed her nose.

“Allergies?” Akira repeated in confusion.

“That’s right!” Ann smacked her fist on her palm. “A lot of my classmates have been very sniffly lately. I kinda feel bad for them.”

“I knew Mementos was affected by the public’s cognition, but this is different…”

“How so?” Ryuji asked.

“Nothing, just thinking.” Morgana waved it off, winking to Sumire. “Point is, we’re gonna have some easier battles today.”

Morgana was proven right the moment they got in. Some shadows had fallen asleep in the middle of the rails, leading to an easier time driving past them with little worry. There was, however, a concern when they finally made it to Takanashi’s Shadow, who’s combat form heavily resembled popular merchandising mascot Jack Frost.

“Spirit, can you cover for me?” Morgana commanded as he missed a Lucky Punch.

“I-I’m comin’, Mona!” Sumire stumblingly turned around from Ryuji’s front. The tiny snowman was just about to land an icy version of Morgana’s attack when…

“Achoo!”

Sumire sneezed again, and the force of the sneeze was so great that she flung herself across the room.

“Spirit?”

Right as she was about to seemingly go through the walls of the pocket dimension and into who-knows-where…

“Achoo!”

She flew in the opposite direction. Akira, Morgana, and the shadow were all in awe at the glowing human-shaped bullet shooting around all over the place. Akira and Morgana both jumped when they saw Ann smacking the shadow with her whip, taking it down for the count.

“Ugh… they always come in twos…” Sumire sniffled as she recovered, now walking on the ground as if gravity was still affecting her.

Akira and Morgana silently agreed to talk about Sumire’s new problem after they completed their newest request.

As the Phantom Thieves decided to see how far they could go into Mementos with the remaining time they had left in the day, Ryuji shoved his mask against the window upon the sight of a familiar cyan car.

“Hey, it’s that kid we met the other day!”

“Jose’s here?” Sumire sniffed, her eyes too watery to see. Taking her glasses off and dried them with her shirt, sure enough, she saw Jose there, sitting in his car while writing some notes down.

“Oh! I’ve been meaning to talk to him. Can you two hold the fort down while me and Mona go talk to him?” Akira asked as he stopped the car.

“Can do, man!”

Reaching to open the car, Akira stopped when Ann shouted at him. “Wait! Don’t forget the flowers!”

“Right! Thanks, Panther!” Akira answered, reaching across into Morgana’s glove compartment, grabbing all of the flowers they put in there.

While Ryuji and Ann stood guard, Akira, Sumire, and Morgana walked over to Jose.

“Hey, little buddy!” Akira called to the boy.

Jose’s face lit up upon seeing his three new friends, and he ran up to Akira to hug his leg. He then looked towards Sumire, and he jumped at an attempt to catch her in midair. Sumire floated down, and Jose was in awe at how his hands didn’t seem to affect Sumire at all. To Sumire, the feeling of Jose touching her body, despite being able to see him, felt different compared to Akira.

After Akira handed him the flowers, Jose took note of the combined will seeds Akira had picked up from Kamoshida’s palace. As he began tinkering with it, he froze upon hearing Sumire sneeze once again.

“What’s wrong, Miss Spirit?” He cried, putting down his hammer.

Sumire, unable to use anything as a tissue (perhaps the flowers would work, but those were for Jose), wiped her nose with her sleeve. “Sorry, the pollen here is really getting to me somehow.”

Morgana paced around the platform. “That must mean you’re just as susceptible to common illnesses as a human.

“So I can’t even avoid getting sick while I’m dead ?!” Sumire complained.

Morgana jumped up to get Sumire’s attention. “No, no! I didn’t mean it like that! It’s stuff that’ll only happen if a majority of people in Tokyo are coming down with it!”

“Stupid pollen.” Sumire pouted as she turned away from Morgana.

“This does lead me to another theory about how your ghost stuff works.”

Sumire’s arms uncrossed as she looked at Morgana. “It does?”

“Yeah. You know how I can turn into a car because a lot of people associate cats with that movie Akira mentioned?”

Sumire squinted. “Go on…”

“What if your abilities rely on the public perception of ghosts? You can float, go through walls, and are unable to impact the physical world.”

Akira scratched his head, then tugged at his bangs. “I… actually like that theory!”

“Then why can’t I do any of the cool things like possessing and poltergeists and stuff?!” Sumire retorted in anger.

“Must not be as common of a consensus in the public’s eye.” Morgana shrugged. “For all they care, that’s just fiction.”

“Your car form is based on a fictional character!”

“You’d be surprised what merchandising can do to the public.”

Jose covered his ears as Morgana and Sumire argued. “Can I say something?”

“Go ahead, Jose.” Akira calmed him as he picked him up, allowing the others to do so as well.

“I think I know how to fix this, but please put me down, Mister Joker.”

Akira put Jose on the floor, and he took some of the flowers Akira had brought him, and arranged them into a circle. Jose pulled his hammer back, and with all of his might, slammed it into the center of the flowers, causing a miniature earthquake in the surrounding area.

“What did you do?!” Morgana shrieked, his fur standing on end.

“I hit one of Mementos’ pressure points!” Jose smiled proudly. “They’re very sensitive if you know where to hit them!”

“Pressure points?” Morgana scratched under his mask. “I didn’t know Mementos had those.” He scurried away from the car and called to the others. “Skull! Lady Panther! How are the shadows doing?”

A distant Ryuji answered, “There’s one right around the corner that’s been asleep since we got here. Panther and I tried everything we could, but it’s not budgin’.”

“We? Don’t throw me into this!” Ann retorted, and some bickering ensued from there.

Sumire waited a couple of seconds to take in Jose’s technique. A petal from one of the flowers flew in front of her face, and she sneezed again. “Eugh, gross! Is this that ectoplasm thing ghosts have?”

“Well that didn’t get rid of the pollen…” Morgana sighed as he stepped away from Sumire, leaving Ryuji and Ann to their own devices.

“Hmm…” Jose sat down, defeated. He watched the petal that caused Sumire to sneeze, and looked back up at her.

“The kitty said dead humans might operate on a similar cognitive pattern to Mementos, right?”

“Yes, I did…” Morgana pouted, clearly upset by what Jose just called him.

“Then I have one more idea. Can you come lower for a moment, Miss Spirit?”

Sumire floated down with her arms sagging. “I’ll try anything at this point…”

“Lower.” Jose said, and Sumire brought her legs into the ground. Her head now sat at Jose’s eye level.

“Now hold still.” Jose took his hammer, and Sumire closed her eyes and winced, bracing for impact. Jose bonked Sumire on the nose, and Sumire took a deep breath. After what felt like a whole minute of waiting, Sumire didn’t sneeze at all.

“I… feel great! I think that actually worked!”

“It did?” Jose asked.

“Yes! Thank you so much!” Sumire took her legs out of the ground and spun around Jose. “If this happens again, we know who to look for, ok?”

“You’re welcome, Miss!” Jose bounced around Sumire.

Akira took Jose’s hand and squatted down. “Alright, we gotta get going now. It was good chatting with you, alright, Jose?”

“Yeah. I hope I can see you again, Mister!”

Akira and Morgana ran back to Ryuji and Ann, Morgana turning back into his car form. Sumire looked back at Jose, unsure of his own wellness. “Yeah…I hope so too.”

Eventually, the group came to a wall similar to the one where Sumire met Jose.

“Ugh, again?!” Ryuji scowled, holding his head in his hands.

Without any orders or hesitation, Sumire went through it once again.

“It’s yellow.” Akira heard Sumire say from a distance.

“Huh?” He pressed his ear to the door, and Sumire continued.

“Not like a very bright yellow, kind of a dirty one. It’s also pretty windy here too! Lots of debris flying around, or maybe those are bats?”

“Uhuh…” Akira took his ear off the wall. After some time, Sumire popped back into the room.

“So how did you guys open it last time?”

Remembering that Sumire was with Jose when they explained it, Morgana repeated, “So my working hypothesis at first was that only humans could open those doors since I sure couldn’t last time I was there. This is humanity’s palace after all, but now that this one isn’t budging, that theory’s out the window.”

“So is this the end?” Ryuji hoped, sitting down to adjust his boots.

“No, of course it isn’t.” Morgana looked up at the markings above the wall. “The closer a distortion is to becoming a palace, the deeper into Mementos it is. So if stronger distortions are less susceptible to Phantom Thieves…”

“Then we’ll just have to be stronger!” Ryuji shouted. “Out of the way, guys!” Everyone obeyed, and Ryuji shot a larger bolt than usual at the wall. One it struck, they all looked at the damage caused, and it didn’t even look like the wall was scratched. “Welp, I’m out of ideas.”

“That’s… not what I meant.” Morgana continued, his fur still standing on end. “Anyway, right now, the only people who care about us is a single school, which is a minuscule part of society.”

It all clicked in Akira’s head. “So only famous people get to go deeper?”

“That’s what I’m thinking.”

“Finally, I get to cross that off my bucket list!” Akira pulled out his phone to check his notes for their trip. “But I guess that’s all for today, guys. Great work.”

“And I still have a few hours to study!” Ann cheered as she took out her own phone.

While the others were leaving, Sumire looked to the side and saw the platform ahead of them. A group of shadow people were getting on a subway train, and the train chugged away.

“Hey, Morgana?”

“Question;” Akira said to alert Morgana.

“Where do these trains go?”

“Deeper parts of Mementos I guess.” Morgana shrugged, turning into his car form for the final time today. “Maybe even down to the bottom. Probably a representation of their distortion getting stronger.”

“I see.” Sumire poked her head out the window once she got into Morgana, staring longingly at the platform.

“Whatever’s down there… I hope it has something for me.”

It was a thought she would have for the rest of the night.

On the first day of exams, Akira waited in the cafeteria for his name to be called for his testing. As he finished some bread he got as a pre-exam snack, Sumire rushed into the classroom panting. “Akira! I just found out something!”

“What?” Akira whispered.

“On the bulletin board. There’s gonna be an assembly on the last day of exams!”

“For what?”

“It didn’t say.” Sumire sulked. “All it said was ‘Mandatory assembly for all students May 13th!’ and nothing more.”

“Oh, thanks for the heads up, anyway.” Seconds later, Akira’s name was called, and he was guided into the room he would test in.

Sumire had promised Morgana that she would let Akira attempt a question on his own first before they helped him with the answer. Together, they (hopefully) aced the quiz and Akira was able to get home with little stress.

“Ugh… this is gonna take forever…” Akira complained as he sat on his bed.

“What are you complaining about? You have us practically doing the work for you!” Sumire asked as she reclined in the air like she had an invisible hammock.

“I know, but then I have nothing to do for an hour and I don’t even have my phone!” The springs underneath his mattress squeaked as he bounced. “It’s not like I can talk to either of you since it’d distract the other students.”

“Oh…” Morgana crawled onto Akira’s bed, curling up next to him. “Maybe we can try to bring you something to keep you occupied? Did you bring any toys to Tokyo?”

“No… it’s fine.” Akira sighed as he put his chin in his hand.

“Well, you can always squeeze my paw if you want.”

Before he could respond, Akira’s phone buzzed, receiving a text from Ann celebrating finishing the first day, and wanting to check up on the boys.

“If you’re gonna do that. Get off the bed so your body remembers that beds are for sleeping.” Morgana warned like a concerned parent.

“Fine…” Akira reluctantly wobbled over to the couch next to Sumire.

Ryuji was complaining as expected, and Akira responded with his struggles.

Ryuji: Oh yeah I got a ton of those. I’ll see if I can get you 1 tomorrow.

Akira: Thanks. You’re the best Ryuji.

Ryuji: Don’t mention it.

“See? I knew it’d work out!” Sumire said cheerily. Akira then yawned. “Are you ready for bed?”

“Yeah…”

Akira fell asleep smiling that night.

The second day passed by smoothly, as did the third. Ryuji even let Akira keep the stress ball he had given him. Once Akira’s timer was up for the final test, he got into the assembly room, thankfully in a seat next to Ann.

The principal was up there again, and Akira was ready for another snorefest.

“Ever since that specific incident…”

It was about Shiho again, he could see Ann tilt her head down, looking deep in thought. He didn’t blame her. While it was important for this incident to be discussed, hearing people go on about it after Kamoshida’s defeat wasn’t the best thing to hear.

“We believe the mental health of our student body is absolutely vital…”

Akira snickered along with Sumire and Ann. Akira stopped earlier than them, however.

“…So we’ve acquired the services of a therapist.”

“What?!” Akira yelped before being shushed by Ann.

Said therapist took the stage, and he was everything Akira had worried about. A lab coat, glasses (from that distance, he couldn’t tell if they were real or aesthetic like his), and a voice that sounded like he only got the job because some people find doctors hot, which some of these students did. Akira tugged at his collar, his eyes staring longingly at the exit sign in the gym.

“The school didn’t have a therapist before? They’re hiring one now? I thought I was doing so well…”

“Akira?” Sumire’s voice called.

“Not now.” Akira whispered.

“Akira?” Ann turned, a twintail brushing against Akira’s clenching fist.

“Not now.”

Akira stood uncomfortably still for the rest of the assembly. He didn’t even listen to the rest of it. His eyes kept on darting from Sumire to the therapist. But the length of time the assembly went on for helped, as he was eventually able to calm down and form a plan in his head on how to handle this.

After it was over, Ann asked Akira to come with her and Ryuji to the courtyard during the free period afterward.

After lying to them about needing to grab something, he looked at Sumire for the first time in an hour. “Sumire, come here, this is important.”

“I know, it’s bad.” Sumire hopped towards him. “What do we do?”

Akira put his hands up to grab Sumire’s shoulders, but quickly put them back in his pocket. “I’ll have more time at home to explain, but for now, just stay away from that therapist if I’m near him, ok?”

“Right.”

Knowing their new plan, Akira came back to Ryuji and Ann, Ryuji standing a lot straighter than usual.

“Gotta say, I am genuinely impressed that this school managed to have something resembling sympathy for us.”

“It’s just a publicity stunt.” Ann said as she rubbed her hand through one of her twintails. “Probably under pressure from the news.”

“And who’s fault is that?” Ryuji grinned. “I like this new therapist guy already.”

“Yeah he’s great.” Akira responded quickly. “Can we cha-“

Then Maruki appeared from the door.

“Hey, we were just talking about you!” Akira and Ryuji said in unison, the former finishing first. “Jinx!” Ryuji teased.

“Oh, you’re Kurusu-kun, right?” Maruki asked as Sumire ducked behind a fence.

“How do you know my name?” Akira half-jokingly asked.

“Hey, don’t freak out!” Maruki quivered, temporarily taking off his glasses and blinking rapidly. “I was told about you, Sakamoto, and Takamaki since you all had some uh… trouble last month. That’s kinda why I’m here.”

“Right, right.”

“That being said, I was sorta required by the school to have sessions with the three of you.”

Akira facepalmed upon hearing that, and Ryuji and Ann groaned. He could hear Sumire do the same in the distance.

“I know, I know, it’s a bit stressful your first time through.” Maruki sighed. “Everyone’s is. Trust me, you can see me as little as you can afterward. I promise.”

“Can you two go first, please?” Akira asked the other two. “Tell me how it is after.”

Ann raised her hand, leaving the other clutched to her chest. “I’ll do it.”

“I’ve got snacks you can have during the session if you want.”

There was a part in Akira’s stomach that told him that he should go first from that alone, but he lightly jabbed himself there before it could go to his head.

“That’s nice, but we gotta get to class. Our free period’s almost up.” Ryuji went back to slouching.

“Okay, I’ll be with you in the nurse’s office to whoever’s first!” Maruki waved, but Akira was already on his way back to class, Sumire returning to his side.

Back at class, there was a tiny conversation in the group chat that got Morgana’s attention.

Ryuji: Bless Ann. Taking one for the team.

Ann: I just needed it the most, ok?

That little thing got Akira smiling for the rest of the class.

Akira’s phone buzzed about a half hour after the school day was over.

Ann: Back.

Ryuji: How’d it go?

Ann: It was fine. Asked me some stuff about Shiho and Kamoshida. There were some weirder questions in there too, but nothing that was giving off any red flags.

Akira: You’re next, right, Ryuji?

Ryuji: Had something to do with ma today, we’re rescheduling to the 25th.

Morgana covered his ears at Akira’s groan. “Come on, Akira. It’s just gonna make you look more suspicious if you avoid it.”

“I know…” Akira flipped his bangs back. “But how am I supposed to seem… honest in front of him?”

“Akira, look at the guy.” Morgana deadpanned to Akira. “Does he act like the type of therapist to throw you into an asylum just because you talk to yourself sometimes? It only looks crazy to you since we’re both magical.”

“Hmm…” Akira pondered.

Sumire moved her hand over his hair. “Akira… look how you're acting right now. Ghost friend or not, I think you could use his services.”

“Honestly… That actually makes sense.” Akira’s frown began to disappear. “You know what? I’ll do it. Better to get it over with now than keep worrying.”

“That’s the Akira we know!” Sumire encouraged. “Think about it, mental training! If you make good use of this, it might aid in your Phantom Thief activities too!”

“Yeah!” Akira got out of his seat and towards the door. “But what are you two gonna do? I don’t want to bore you two just because you can’t be in the room with me.”

“Hey, Sumire.” Morgana called. “Wanna go for a walk with me while Akira’s in therapy?”

“That works!” Sumire nodded.

At Akira’s request, the two of them followed Akira to the nurse’s office, where a familiar girl stood by the door right next to Maruki.

“Yoshizawa?!” Sumire and Akira questioned in unison.

“Akira! Glad you could make it.” Maruki greeted cheerily. He took off his glasses to polish them, then stepped across from the girl to let them talk before Akira’s session.

“Oh, were you going to have a session here?” The girl asked.

“Not exactly by choice…” Akira said through his teeth as he scratched the back of his head.

“Don’t worry, you’ll love Dr. Maruki.” Yoshizawa smiled at Akira. That smile somehow made him believe what she was saying. “I’ve been seeing him since before he came to Shujin, and it’s been doing wonders for my mental health!”

“That’s… great.” Akira shrugged.

“That’s great, Yoshizawa-san, but please don’t scare him like that. I’ve been doing that enough to the poor guy.” Maruki pleaded to the redhead.

“Right, I should really get going anyway.” Yoshizawa dusted off her skirt and walked off. Before she left the room, she turned around to face Akira. “Listen, Senpai, I understand. I was just as nervous as you when I first met him. But after our first session…” Yoshizawa’s pause was unexpectedly long. “I grew to really like the guy. I’m sure you will too.”

Akira watched her walk off, and even after she was gone, he stared at the wall to the last corner she turned.

“Kurusu? Are you ready to get started?” Maruki asked, alerting him.

“Right, sorry, just give me a moment.” He walked over to his bag in order to let Morgana make his escape.

“Good luck, Akira. We’ll see you back at the cafe.” Morgana raised his paw out from his bag, and Akira gave it a high five before he went in.

Morgana must have been a little too sneaky though, as Sumire walked towards where she thought the exit was…

And went straight through Maruki, triggering another flash in her head.

She was already dead in this memory, and was being knocked right onto that familiar street.

“Am- am I a ghost?”

Sumire was sent back to reality. Maruki was gone, and the door was closed.

“No, no, no! Why now?” Sumire threw her fists against her head. “Morgana, where are you?”

All she did was fly forward, and through all of the walls of the school, she was able to find the entrance gate, where Morgana had been waiting for her.

“There you are!” The cat’s face lit up before that almost immediately light went away. “Why are you dimming? Is something wrong?”

“Ugh, why can’t I tell him?” Sumire thought hard about what to do, and out of all of the students walking out of the building, one stood out among them.

“The red-haired girl.” She flew towards her, and Morgana was left giving chase.

“Sumire? Where are you going?” Morgana ran past the school gates, following the light who was guiding him… somewhere. He eventually noticed that Sumire was going towards the girl they had seen earlier.

Sumire was only as fast of a flier as she could run on the ground, so when their target went underground, the two of them found themselves lost within the crowd. Sumire didn’t need to push through the crowd, but Morgana, being small and light, couldn’t see through all of the legs pushing against his fur at every turn.

The girl had gotten onto the train, and Sumire followed suit, but when the door closed she saw that Morgana hadn’t made it, and watched him become smaller as the train moved.

Sumire looked at the red-haired girl and sighed, walking through the door. She made her way through the tunnel and back onto the platform, where Morgana was waiting for her.

“I know you can’t hear me, Morgana, but I’m sorry.”

Akira walked into the room nervously at first, but being alone, he slowly loosened up.

“Come on, make yourself at home, you can have whatever you want in that bowl over there.” Maruki told him as he sat down.

Akira lounged on the other chair and put his arm around the pillow. Seeing a bag of potato chips, he immediately couldn’t help himself, and he quickly opened it up and began munching down.

“Alright, let’s see here…” Maruki took out a clip board and began writing down some notes.

“So you’re new here, right?”

“Uhuh.” Akira managed to say through his chewing.

“Okay, so you got put under a false charge for assault, transferred from Inaba, currently living with a family friend, and you’re on the spectrum…” He tapped his own against his head a few times before stopping. “I think I understand now. Has any of this been affecting you in terms of mood or anything?”

Akira swallowed everything that was currently in his mouth before giving his answer, which took a minute. “Not really. I’ve been fine.”

“Anything in this probation feeling too forced?”

Akira’s mind raced with an answer. “My caretaker’s a little strict. He’s not really that fond of me. We meet when he opens the cafe, he feeds me, and we don’t really talk to each other much any other time of the day. I just write whatever I did in a journal and show it to him.”

“I see…” Something about that made Maruki frown. Akira didn’t know what.

“Oh, water’s right there if you need it.”

“Thanks.”

Maruki allowed Akira an extra minute to take a breather from the earlier answer, which only made Akira’s hand dig deeper into the spot between the seat cushions.

“I will admit, you are way more mentally sound than I expected.” Maruki chuckled. “Most people wouldn’t last long in a reality like yours without breaking down even a little bit.”

“I tend to stay positive in a lot of bad situations.” Akira scrunched his body up on the chair. “It’s one of those things people always say about me.”

“How do you do it?” For once, Maruki’s expression looked genuine, and Akira nodded.

“I have a uh… generous support group.”

“Do you talk to your parents about this?”

“Can’t.” Akira sniffed. “There’s a no contact agreement as part of the probation.”

“That is brutal…” Maruki paused before his next question. “Other than… all of this, is there anything you’d want to change about your life if you could?”

“Bit of a weird question to ask.” Akira commented.

“You don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s fine. I don’t really have anything I really want at the moment. Even this whole probation thing, I’ve met a lot of good people in Tokyo.” Inside, he prayed Maruki didn’t ask further about that.

Yet somehow that of all things, just made Maruki give him the most confused look and jot something down. “You have a very unique mind… N-not that that’s bad or anything!” The brunet panicked before regaining his composure almost instantly. “It’s a really good mindset to have, just a much more… uncommon mindset to have.

“Anything else?” Akira asked once Maruki put away his pen.

“I’m not just a counselor, you know.” Maruki mentioned, looking at Akira with a smug grin.

“You’re not?”

“Yeah, I’m also a neurologist. It’s kinda why I took up therapy in the first place.”

“That makes sense.”

“I wanted to do research on what exactly makes hearts… tick, you know?”

Reminded of the Metaverse, Akira’s curiosity got the better of him.

“Go on…”

“Go on?” Maruki repeated.

“Yeah, what’s it about? I’m interested.”

“None of my other patients ever asked that before…” He tapped his pen on his chin before continuing. “You’ve got a very open mind. I could use that whenever I start rambling or anything.”

“Aren’t I supposed to be the one rambling to you ?” Akira asked, giggling.

“I guess so. We don’t have to make it a therapy thing. Could just be you and me, talking about my theories or whatever. Any time you want.”

“I dunno…”

“I’ll buy you more chips.”

For a moment, Akira would’ve been quick to refuse, but he paused after inhaling to say that, as Sumire’s words echoed in his mind.

“Think about it, mental training! If you make good use of this, it might aid in your Phantom Thief activities too!”

And he noticed he had already finished the entire bag.

“You got yourself a deal, doc.”

Somewhere, a certain ghost must’ve warmed up at that.

When Akira heard the bell ring in the cafe, Sojiro informed him that Morgana came to the door earlier, and let him in. When Akira asked how he knew Morgana was “lost” and if he panicked, Sojiro simply waved him off and said, “Eh, you know how cats always find their way back. You put out a bowl of food and they come running right back to ya.”

Yet when Akira got upstairs to greet Morgana and Sumire, Morgana insisted that the bowl was empty when he came back, so Akira fed him while he got ready for bed.

“You were there for a lot longer than I expected.” Morgana stretched once he was finished eating. “What took so long?”

Akira looked away from his roommates, staring at the wall with the potted plant on it. “Well it turned out he’s doing some research at the school and I agreed to help out.”

“Guess that means it must be working well, eh, Morgana?”

Akira smiled at Sumire. “Surprisingly, yeah. So what did you two do while I was gone?”

The happiness Sumire had earlier must have transferred itself to Akira. “Oh, right. We were going to tell you…”

“Tell me what?”

“While you were waiting for Maruki to come in… I had a memory trigger from him for some reason.”

Akira shook his head in disbelief. “What? What did you get from him?”

“That’s the thing!” Sumire shrieked. “It wasn’t anything from when I was alive. It came straight from the day I died, two weeks before I met you.”

“That’s weird…”

“After that, I tried to find Yoshizawa, but we… I got separated from Morgana.”

“I see.” Akira sat down next to Sumire and mock-patted her on the back. “Don’t worry, I’m sure she’ll show up at other times.”

“But she’s an entire year below you! It’s really rare for you two to show up in the same place.”

Akira thought, and tapped the couch so Sumire could face him. “Then tell you what? Next time we see her, I’ll be sure to ask her whatever we can.”

“Maybe we should start with her first name…” Sumire chuckled.

“That’s a good idea.”

“Alright, you two. I’m ready for bed.” Morgana clapped his paws together. “You got one more day of exams and we are not messing this up!”

Akira checked the time, only to be taken back by that and how dark it was outside. “Wow, it’s that late already?”

“I think I need the rest too.” Sumire yawned.

“Sure you do,” Akira joked. “You and your non-functioning organs need to preserve your brain activity or whatever else sleep does for people.”

Despite the comment, Sumire let out one more laugh. “Shut up, we know enough about how I work by now.” She said affectionately.

Sumire and Akira went to bed that night with newfound confidence. Akira’s in his mental health, and Sumire’s in finding Yoshizawa.

Chapter Text

The next day, Akira spotted Ryuji with bags under his eyes at the station.

“Geez, what happened to you?” he asked, twirling his bangs around his fingers as he stood next to him.

“Exams,” was all Ryuji could muster, yawning and nearly hitting someone as he stretched.

“Yeah, that’s fair.”

What was more surprising to them was when Ann arrived in a similar condition.

“Wait, what? Her too?” Sumire gawked.

The tired Ann greeted them with, “Exams,” answering before anyone asked.

“And that,” Morgana said, poking his head out, “ is exactly why I try to put you on a proper sleep schedule,” patting a paw on Akira’s nape. Akira swiped it off, taking the paw in his hand and lowering it back into his bag.

“What I would give to have my own Morgana…” Ann groaned, giving her first full sentence of the morning.

“You know, I could… ”

“Nope!” Sumire shouted lowering herself into Akira’s bag, placing her arms around Morgana’s head.

“Ugh…”

Ann randomly flinched as if her grogginess never existed. As Ann looked around, Sumire was quick to pull her arms away from Morgana.

When Sumire looked behind Akira’s shoulder, he asked, “Are you okay, Ann?”

Ann tugged at her hair. “I don’t know…”

“Listen, Ann.” Ryuji started, stepping behind the other blonde. “If anyone tries to pull something funny, we’ve got your back.”

“Thanks, but don’t worry about it.”

“Why wouldn’t we?” Morgana asked. “Your morale is a very important component of our team’s strategy!”

“You mean your strategy?” Sumire mumbled, looking towards where Ann faced. There, she spotted a boy with blue hair making a square with his fingers directly at the group, as if he was framing them

“Is it just me, or does it feel like something weird is about to happen?” Sumire asked as they got on the train.

“Huh?” Akira asked, being subtle enough to ask Sumire to clarify while arousing as little suspicion as possible.

“We usually only see one of our friends on the subway if we’re lucky; it’s almost never been all of us in the same place.”

Akira shrugged.

“There’s always a chance,” he said, unsure of what she was getting at. Akira’s eyes widened at Sumire. The thought permeated through his mind even when he got off the train, out of the station, and all throughout the trip to school. But his daydreaming was cut short by Sumire yelling in his ear.

“Akira, get Ann. We gotta go.”

“Huh?” Akira saw the blue-haired boy Sumire was looking at earlier, and sprinted towards Ann to stop him.

“Alright, what are you planning with-“

“Keep your hands off her and eff off!” Ryuji interrupted, already taking the bad cop position, hands on his hips

“I’m sorry. Was I being too forward?” the boy asked.

“Understatement of the century!” Ann shouted, grabbing the attention of a few onlookers.

“I see, all I wanted was to-“

Sumire was the first to notice a black limousine pull up to them, and an old man rolled down the window, talking about it being the stalker’s ‘passion’.

“Right on cue...” The boy wiped his bangs with an aloof expression. “Allow me to explain myself. I had seen you in the station earlier this morning, and I was struck with a burst of inspiration.”

“Yeah, that’s what they all say,” Ryuji yapped, ignoring the unforeseen boy.

“Listen, if you would just let me be my model for my next-“

“Wait… model?”

“Yes, model for my artwork. Was it not obvious from the start?”

Sumire looked all over the boy’s slender figure. Other than potentially being malnourished enough to fit into the ‘starving artist’ trope, she didn’t see it. “Art… that’s what this was all about?” She slouched. “Are artists usually this crazy?”

Akira subtly put his hands up in a confused response, and both of them heard some jealous mumbling coming from Morgana.

“Oh, you’re from Kosei!” Ryuji’s stance lightened just a bit upon recognizing his opponent’s uniform. “Yeah, that explains a lot.”

“Kosei?” Akira asked.

“Another school down the block. They’re all freaks over there, you get used to it.”

“I can assure you we are not freaks.” The group heard with a quiet passion. “Granted, I should have realized the foolish ones would misinterpret the intentions of a genius. I am Yusuke Kitagawa, pupil of Madarame-Sensei, and artist-in-training.”

“Foolish? Take a chill pill, man!” Ryuji said, stepping closer to him as Ann took a stepback.

“Mada…” Ann’s voice trailed off. “Oh… him .”

“Alright, you know the famous artist Madarame?”

“Name rings a bell.”

“The guy ruined my life. Took away everything I ever did for him without remorse. That’s why I clung onto her for so long.”

“Okay, famous artist… stole work… anything else?”

“I know he hasn’t stopped yet. He might even be stabbing a poor kid in the back as I speak.”

“Kamoshida two…” Sumire sneered. “That explains everything.”

By the time she was done having her (non-painful) flashback, Yusuke was giving out tickets to an art exhibition to Akira, Ryuji, and Ann before getting inside of the limousine.

“Are we really doing that?” Ryuji asked.

Ann clutched the ticket in her hand tightly. “Maybe…”

“Hey, free museum trip. That’s a win in my book.” Akira’s posture finally loosened up. “You okay, Ann?”

“Yeah, let’s just get to class…” Ann was completely silent the rest of the way there.

“She’s not okay.” Sumire winced, both of them jumped when Morgana took a deep breath, as if he had been underwater for a long time.

“You guys don’t know HOW hard it was to stay quiet during all of that! I should feel proud of myself for doing that!”

Sitting on the couch after making a new cup of coffee, Akira’s eyes scanned his roommates. “Be honest with me,” he started, looking at their faces. “Do you think I did well?”

“From what I remember? Yeah.” Morgana confirmed as he climbed onto the couch, sitting next to Akira’s lap as he patted his head.

“You’re welcome for catching the mistakes you might’ve made.” Sumire cheekily thanked.

“Thank you, Sumire.” Akira smiled at her, gesturing her in so they could all check out the Phan-Site together.

Morgana rolled his eyes. “Still no new posts?” He complained, looking as Akira scrolled past old requests. “At this point, people aren’t even going to care when we come back…”

Sumire reclined deeper into the couch left deep in thought. “There’s gotta be a way we can get people’s attention. Maybe hype them up for the next target.”

“I can make a post about it.” Akira suggested.

“We can’t say who it is!” Morgana reminded them, lying on his back. “That would essentially be a calling card!”

“I got it.” Akira said as he started typing. Once he was finished, he beckoned the two to come closer and read the admin post he made on the website.

Joker✓: We have noticed that the activity on this website is becoming slim. Rest assured, we are currently planning our next big target. However, if you still have a smaller request for a change of heart, please feel free to post and we will see to it as soon as possible as long as it follows the rules you can find on the sidebar.

“Rules on the sidebar?” Sumire repeated as she read the post. “When did you add that?”

“It was a couple weeks ago. I told Yuuki about the problem we were having, so he set up a page where people can see what qualifies as a necessary heart change.” Akira explained.

“Does it work?”

“Not always…” Akira sulked.

Morgana perked up, purring excitedly as a few comments were quickly left. “Still, that’s a great way to keep them interested! Should allow them to speculate before we strike!”

“See? I knew it’d work out.” Sumire said cheerily as she rubbed Morgana’s back.

Akira received a text from Ann a few minutes after, and went to his bed to continue the conversation, leaving Morgana and Sumire sitting next to each other.

“So… about that museum trip.” Morgana turned his head to Sumire. “You ready to see what it has to offer?”

“Not like I’d know what’s there.” Sumire looked aimlessly at the wall across from her.

Noticing Sumire dim, he nagged Sumire’s side. “C’mon, I’m sure you’ll have fun! Besides, you can float, so you can go up, down, all around and really get a different perspective on those works of art!”

“I guess. I’ll be sure to try that.”

When she lit up again, Morgana yawned as he laid down. “That’s our Spirit.” He was asleep not long after. Sumire was left to handle the cat before Akira went to pick him up and put him in bed.

“He’s probably just tired after how worked up he got about Yusuke trying to ‘steal Ann’ from him.” Sumire joked. The two giggled quietly as the night concluded for them.

It was as late as possible to still be considered ‘morning’, as Akira had taken gross advantage of the lack of school that day to give himself more time to wake up. On the way to the museum, Sumire’s fists tightened under the comfort of Akira’s umbrella.

“So, we’re checking out if Madarame has a palace as soon as possible, right?”

“Slow down, Sumi.” Akira waved his free hand past Sumire’s shoulder. “I get you’re excited, but we can’t discuss this without the others.”

“I know…” Sumire sulked. 

“And the sooner we get through his student, the better.” Morgana grumbled.

“Speaking of Yusuke, you remember what Natsuhiko said, right?” Sumire asked Akira.

“Yeah, I wonder if the two know each other…” Akira pondered as he tugged at his bangs again.

With their weekend time slot already filled by the museum trip, Akira was able to get to the museum fairly easily. Both of his companions, having come here for the first time that either could remember, looked around the area before Ryuji pressed down on Morgana’s head.

“Stay in there…”

“Good thing I don’t have to do any hiding!” she laughed, giving him a pat on the head.

“Lucky…”Morgana grumbled as Sumire teased him.

While Yusuke had arrived to greet them, Sumire had gone off on her own, trying to ‘appreciate the fine arts’ like Morgana recommended the previous night.

“This is… just a bunch of squares.” She said unimpressed before looking at the next painting. “Eh, that one’s kinda neat I guess.” She floated on her side to try and make something out, and squinted carefully, analyzing certain details. “Wait… nah, still the same thing.”

“Hey, is that him?” She heard Ryuji point out. He had found the same ponytail man from the previous day doing an interview with a tv reporter.

”There he is.” Sumire sneered at the man. As they heard more and more of Madarame’s information, such as how he got his inspiration, his motivations, and his lifestyle, Sumire grew more and more disgusted.

“Just look at him. Using the dumbest metaphors, trying to claim he doesn’t care about the things people like him only care about, looking much poorer than he really is…”

So disgusted in fact, that she didn’t even flinch when a crowd came running towards her. They were just bodies going through her, and all she needed to do was step forward to regain her view.

“Hey, stop pushin’! Ugh, we gotta bail!”

“Hey, ‘scuse me. Please, I gotta get my friend.”

“Ann’ll be fine!”

Sumire was snapped out of her disgust by the cries of her friends. “Akira? Ryuji?” Looking through the crowd, she saw Akira grow farther and farther from her sight, yet she could hear Morgana in the distance.

“Sumire… keep an eye on Lady Ann for me…”

“Right. Will do, Morgana!” All Sumire could do was hope Akira heard her.

Sumire looked around the rest of the area, unsure of where Ann or even Yusuke would be. Instead, she went straight to Madarame, who had been leaving the crowd that had formed earlier.

“Right, he’s his ‘teacher’!”

Unbeknownst to anyone, Sumire carefully followed Madarame over to a much less busy area of the museum, where Madarame had let her right to Yusuke and Ann.

“Just as planned.” Sumire grinned.

Unlike the boys, Ann seemed to be enjoying her time here, almost unable to take her eyes off when Madarame approached her, but just as soon as Madarame had arrived, he was already gone, but knowing Morgana’s request to her, she stayed with Ann and Yusuke.

“Wait, I know this one!” Ann squealed as she pointed to a specific painting. “I’m not that good at interpreting the meaning of art pieces, but I’m guessing Madarame must’ve been really mad when he made this one.”

Sumire saw Yusuke try to walk away from Ann, but stayed out where she was.

“Where are you going?” Ann asked.

“I never liked that one…” Yusuke said with a monotone voice.

“Hmm…” Sumire tapped her foot as she was deep in thought, not even noticing Ann had followed him.

She analyzed the paintings labeled to be made by Madarame. With no one able to stop her, she was able to get a much closer look at the details in each painting, just as Morgana had told her. Even if she didn’t know much about art, she could tell that styles and stroking methods were mostly different from painting to painting, and nodded once she was finished.

“I think I got it…” Her mind filled with her suspicions, she left Ann to her own devices while she went back to the hideout to find Akira.

Sumire had gotten lost on the way there, but eventually found Ryuji showing something on his phone to Akira.

“There you are!” Sumire cooed.

“Huh? Where’s Lady Ann?” Morgana asked upon seeing Sumire.

And speak of the devil…

“Why’d you leave without me!?”

Sumire wiped her brow hearing Ann behind her.

“What’d I miss?” Sumire asked as she dangled above the floor like a puppet as Ryuji was showing Ann a post that was too obviously Madarame.

“Plagiarism and… his students live with him?” Akira sat next to Ryuji to see it. “That’d certainly explain what Nakanohara was talking about.”

“Madarame’s a dad?” Sumire took control of her flight path, leading her to see that Ryuji already entered Madarame’s name in the Metanav.

“He’s certainly not a good one, that’s for sure.” Akira pouted as he crossed his arms and legs.

“Did Nakanohara post this?” Ryuji questioned as he put his phone back in his pocket.

“No, we got his request from his shadow, so he wouldn’t have felt the need to put it on the website.” Ann answered as she sat next to Ryuji, sandwiching him between her and Akira. “Could be Kitagawa, but he… we talked for a bit while I was there. I guess we could ask Natsuhiko for more info?”

“Blows our cover too easily.” Akira immediately shot down.

“Well we gotta do something!” Ryuji’s voice cracked. “I got two keywords already and I don’t even know where this shack is!”

“That’s another thing…” Ann murmured. “Kitagawa gave me his phone number and address. It’s the same shack.”

“Then great!” Ryuji cheered, pumping his fist. “We can go to that hunk of junk first thing after school tomorrow!”

“I never said I was doing the modeling!” Ann shouted at him.

Sumire slowly slid towards Akira’s ear and whispered through her teeth. “Maybe we should leave the rest of this conversation to these two.”

“Good idea.” Akira called, picking up Morgana. “Come on, buddy. We’re going home.”

“Hey, hey! We never called off the meeting!”

“As the leader, this qualifies as doing that.” Rather than on his back, Akira held the bag in front of him, Sumire patting Morgana’s head as they left.

“Oh yeah, I found something interesting while I was with Yusuke and Ann!” Sumire began once they had left the station.

“She’s talking about Ann.” Akira told Morgana, immediately making his bag shake.

“Anyway…” Sumire continued. “I was able to get a direct look at Madarame’s paintings since I obviously can’t get my fingerprints all over the art, and I saw that a lot of them looked completely different in the way they were painted,” Sumire’s eyes began to drift as she recounted her time at the museum. “Some had more lines than others, some of still had those little paint bubbles that always get stuck to art, one of them I could tell that each section was probably a different method!”

“Look at you, being a real Phantom Thief!” Morgana complimented. “Guess we know that the supposed way ‘Madarame’ paints is a bit suspicious… I told you this trip would be useful!” He began to laugh.

“Nice going, Sumire.” Akira smiled at her as they approached their cafe home.

“Please… never do that again…” Morgana gagged as he got off of the train with everyone else the following day.

“Whatever you do, do not tell him ‘time to button mash’ was my idea.” Sumire pleaded to Akira.

“I think I’m gonna hurl!”

“Then get outta the bag and do it there!” Ryuji yapped as he picked up Morgana and put him on the ground. “Besides, you need to walk more often when we don’t have to hide you.”

“I go out for walks sometimes!” Morgana dry heaved, glaring at Ryuji. “Where do you think I am when Akira’s with you guys?”

“I figured you just got a petsitter.” Ann answered.

“No offense, Lady Ann,” Morgana huffed, his stomach calming a little, “but I do not need to be babysat, thank you very much!”

“I’ll consider getting my guardian to do it.” Akira subtly smirked, his mind still on the fact that Maruki was teaching as a substitute that day.

After finishing her giggle, Ann told everyone, “Anyway, this should be the place.” She lowered her phone to see a two-story wooden house. “Plate says Madarame and everything.”

None of them moved, all of them staring at Ann. “Can you guys… come with me to the door?”

“Sure thing,” Akira said as he stepped behind Ann.

Hesitantly, Ann rang the doorbell, and as soon as Yusuke recognized the voice as hers from the speakers, he raced down to get the door.

“Takamaki-sa… you two are here as well?”

As Ryuji interrogated Yusuke about Madarame, Morgana stuck his paw out of the bag and beckoned Sumire to come to him. Sumire faced Akira’s bag, putting her ear close to it as Morgana was more quiet than he had even been in a palace.

“While he’s distracted, go in and see if you can find something criminating.”

“I’m gonna break into his house?” Sumire hissed.

“It’s not like you can go to jail!” Morgana retorted, his voice getting the tiniest bit louder, yet still muffled within the stitching of the bag. “Just do it!”

“Alright, I’ll do my best…” Sumire walked past Yusuke, spotting a room in the shack with plenty of art supplies. While she examined the room, Ryuji and Yusuke grew louder, their arguing making her lose her focus. Still, she pressed on, yet everything in the room looked relatively normal.

While the room was dark, she did spot one particular painting of… well it wasn’t exactly much of anything, moreso just some strokes that were probably made out of either practice or to try and find something to paint. Yet something about those strokes felt familiar, and the first thing that came to Sumire’s mind was…

“Wait, I know this one! I’m not that good at interpreting the meaning of art pieces, but I’m guessing Madarame must’ve been really mad when he made this one. Where are you going?”

“I never liked that one…”

Before Sumire could think further about it, she heard the creaking of stairs and flinched, her body unmoving as she saw Madarame himself walk down and to the doorway. Once he began talking to Yusuke, she breathed out a sigh of relief and continued searching until Madarame went away, to which her interest piqued from something Yusuke claimed.

“I have owed my life to him ever since I laid my eyes upon the Sayuri.”

“Which one was that again?” Sumire wondered. Her mind went back to the museum, but couldn’t remember much in terms of the painting’s names.

“The wha?” Ryuji conveniently asked.

“Yes!” Pumping her fist, Sumire floated in on Yusuke gushing about the history of the painting in question, with a picture of it on his phone.

“That’s gotta be in there somewhere!”

Sumire looked behind her and saw Akira watching as she checked for any secret rooms within the shack in the typical places one would activate such a place. Between the floorboards of the two-story house, inside walls, yet the treasure she seeked wasn’t in any of those locations. Just as quickly as her search had begun, Yusuke had finished talking to Ann, and went back inside as Sumire floated through the window back into Akira’s view.

“Nothing.” She pouted. “Did you guys get anything?”

“Do we have enough time for a palace visit?” Akira suggested to the others.

Morgana tapped Akira on the leg. “Still haven’t guessed the theme yet.”

“Right, like a prison.” Ryuji nonchalantly guessed. “Or a jail?”

“That’s the same thing!” Akira claimed.

“No they aren’t! Would you consider a farm and a silo the same thing?”

“What does that have to do with… You know what? I’m not even gonna continue this argument. We can look it up later.” Akira made a mental note in his head for later. “Point is, you’re thinking too far outside the box. He’s an artist, we were just at a museum, let’s go from there.”

Candidate found

“My point exactly.” Akira said as the palace began to appear, with him brushing the tassels of the coat of his phantom thief outfit once it appeared.

“We gotta find out how to change the settings on that thing from automatic to manual…” Morgana complained as he clutched his head as he returned to his bipedal form.

“Does the Metanav have a settings section?” Sumire asked. Akira checked through the very simplistic, yet stylized menus of the Metanav, with no settings function in sight.

“It’s a bit big for a museum, isn’t it?” Ann analyzed, looking straight up. Sumire tried to rise high enough to see the top, but she chickened out before she reached the clouds.

“That’s palaces for you!” Morgana shrugged.

“Okay, can you blame me for not associating ‘museum’ with ‘plagiarism’ or ‘abuse’?” Ryuji continued from earlier. “The castle thing made way more sense!”

“Nope! We are not continuing this argument!” Akira yelled as he walked off.

“It’s all about theming! It doesn’t have to be something exactly like what he’s doing.” Morgana answered for Akira.

While Sumire followed Akira, they found a seemingly endless line outside the front door of the museum, with the people in it barely moving an inch every minute.

Sumire floated above the crowd to try and find how far it went. “Did Madarame get the whole world in on his gigs?”

“Joker, can you go get Sumire for me?” Morgana asked his leader. Once Akira did, the group made their way over the wall surrounding the museum, ready to begin their next mission.

Chapter Text

Once on the wall, Morgana knocked his fist on top of it. “Is that solid gold ? This is a greedy man if I’ve ever seen one.”

With all of the guards focused on the front entrance, Akira was able to zip through the outdoor yard on the side of the museum. Ryuji, excited as ever for a second round of heart-stealing, was right by his side. Sumire followed slowly, eyeing Morgana as he stayed with his beloved Ann.

“The school was so big, so I could see a castle around that size. But that shack is so small…” Ann had slowed down her movements, nowhere near as energetic as before. “How can this museum be so big?”

“You know how they say ‘it’s what’s on the inside that counts’?” Morgana asked her. “This is the inside of Madarame’s ego.”

“I guess that makes sense…” As Ann caught up with Ryuji, Morgana stayed at the back to make sure they weren’t being followed by any shadow who saw Sumire.

“Spirit, is this place setting off any of your triggers?” Morgana whispered. “You should tell us now before it interrupts our mission.”

Sumire shook her head. “Sure is setting off someone’s, though.” She made her way over to Akira, who was examining an open skylight. “What’s with the holdup?”

“We don’t know what’s down there. Could be dangerous.”

“Well, I guess we need to find some other way in…” Ann hesitated, stepping away before Morgana pulled out a rope from who knew where.

“Don’t worry, I got that covered!”

“Oh…” Ann paused on her way down. “Well, then, sure.”

Akira’s voice lowered to a whisper. “Spirit, you think you can check to make sure?”

“On it, Joker!” 

Sumire made her way under the skylight, and looked around the floor from above, keeping her feet anchored to the roof. While there weren’t any shadows in the area, the room in question contained multiple paintings on the walls that warped in a slow, hypnotic fashion.

Could she hear Akira snickering from up there? She sucked her feet under the roof and flew back up to Akira with no hesitation. “The coast is clear.” She informed him.

“Are you sure?” Morgana raised an eyebrow at Akira.

“It should be.” Akira shrugged.

“If you say so…”

“Alright, let’s do this.” With Morgana’s rope tied to the heater, they made their way down to the first part of the Museum.

No one was too fazed by the paintings Sumire had seen. Well… all except Morgana. “Hmm…”

“Dude, we just saw these kinds of paintings back in Kamoshida’s.” Ryuji’s teeth clicked. “It’s not special anymore.”

“Yeah, but Kamoshida wasn’t an artist, so something like a painting would be more important to Madarame.” Morgana explained.

“I am genuinely surprised how much more sense this makes compared to Kamoshida’s.” Akira spoke quietly, arms behind his head.

Sumire shrugged. “Well I guess not all Palaces are created equally.” While the others merely glanced at the paintings before moving onto the next, Sumire had stared at the space between the paintings. There wasn’t anything in Madarame’s shack, why try again?

“Because this is a Palace.” Sumire reminded herself. “Anything could happen.”

So she stepped through the wall, and where no one could see, there were rooms hidden behind the paintings. Sumire gasped and covered her mouth at their contents. Each one contained a pile of bones slumped against an easel.

What did she even say? What did she even do ?

“Hey, I think we met this guy!” Ryuji yelled from outside the walls. Sumire closed her eyes and flew out of them, and tried to get those horrid sights off of her mind.

“What guy?” Akira asked him.

“You know, that… that guy who said the Madarame stuff!” Ryuji stuttered, presenting the painting to them. “C’mon, you all don’t recognize him? He was in Mementos and everything!”

“Oh, the one with the bowl cut?” Ann guessed. “I think I know who you’re talking about. What was his name again?”

“Let me take a look…” Akira pulled out his phone and scrolled through the Metanav’s history tab. “Natsuhiko Nakanohara…” He looked at the plaque in front of the painting. “Natsuhiko Nakanohara. Yeah, it’s the same guy, alright.”

“And… oh.”

“What is it, Panther?” Ryuji looked at her and saw a painting bigger than the rest. “Oh, there’s Yusuke. I was wonderin’ where he was.”

“He’s the one closest to the door, so if he’s last…” Akira looked behind him at the hall, counting in his head the amount of paintings he had seen prior. “Well, I guess he’s just the next in a line of many.”

“Welp, it’s not like there’s anything else of use to us here, let’s keep going.” Morgana proclaimed, and the rest of them followed. “Whenever the Shadows show up in this Palace could determine our current route.”

Sumire gulped when the others left. Her eyes were completely on Yusuke. “So he’s all Madarame has now, is he?” Sumire closed her eyes and walked through, she slowly peeked one open, but all she could see was the floor, so she opened both of her eyes, adjusting her glasses to make sure she was seeing it all correctly.

No bones. No corpse. Nothing but an empty patch of dirt where the tile eroded. Sumire took a deep breath. She was silent while she listened to Akira picking up a conveniently placed pamphlet in the next room. They came across a giant golden statue with an abstract shape. Akira walked by it, merely desiring to progress further. So he made his way to the door further, but the door was covered in black vines that stretched throughout the walls. Sumire took a step back, recognizing the substance the vines were made of. “You remember what happened with the moat, right?”

“I know, I’m not taking that risk.” Akira simply looked at the vines. Could he cut them with his knife? Perhaps Sumire could go under the vines and find a solution on the other side. Deciding on the former, he raised his knife, but before it could make any cuts, he heard Ann from in front of the statue.

“The rest of their lives? Not worth living?”

“What’s wrong?” He turned.

“Take a look at this.”

Akira analyzed the plaque in front of the statue, showing Madarame’s goals front and center.

Sumire gasped. “That’s why they all looked different back at the showcase!”

Ryuji threw his hands in the air, and tiny bolts burst out of them. “That’s it! We’re gonna get this guy! Why is Yusuke so damn dedicated to him?”

Ann paced around the room in a hurry, wiping her brow with a gloved hand. “If he takes out the students when he’s done with them, that means he kills Yusuke. I-If that happens, I just insulted a hostage and if Shiho knew that, I’d never hear the end of it-“

“Panther?”

“But he said he owes his life to Madarame, so maybe… ugh, I can’t do this!”

“Panther, are you okay?” Akira asked cautiously.

“We can’t do this.” she said in a shaky voice. “There’s no way he actually did all of this.”

“It’s literally right in front of us!” Ryuji yelled.

“Lady Panther, this isn’t like you.” Morgana hopped to her side, pressing up against her leg as she sat down. “Is something wrong?”

Sumire held her ears as the group conversed about Ann’s current state. 

“Joker, tell Panther to come over to the paintings.” Sumire firmly demanded.

“What?”

“I need to show her something.”

Akira sighed, but raised his shoulders after. “Alright, I’m trusting you.” He turned to his team members and called, “I sensed something in the other room. It might help with your dilemma.”

“Boy do we need that…” Ryuji groaned, a hand on his head.

Akira followed Sumire to one of the paintings, stopping at one she had placed herself in front of.

“Alright, I need you to pull this off of the wall.” She firmly stated.

“Joker, what are you doing?” Morgana screeched, and when Akira pulled the painting, everyone was stunned to see the driest pile of bones that was hidden behind.

“This is… far worse than I thought.” Ann’s voice trembled. “Forget Madarame, we need to save Yusuke.”

“Uh, we can do both .” Ryuji shrugged.

“And what if we’re too late to save him?” She shouted at him.

“Panther, I think we should call it a day.” Morgana said, tapping her leg. “You’re clearly not in the right state to continue.

“Yeah, you’re right…” Ann clutched over, a hand over her heart. “I think I want to go home.”

Akira checked the Metanav, and he raised an eyebrow at the time. “It’s getting late, too.” Sumire pointed out.

Morgana crossed his arms. “Then it’s settled. Our first priority tomorrow should be keeping Yusuke safe. Once we can be sure of that, we continue our exploits of this palace.”

“Damn it…” Ryuji mumbled, kicking his leg across the floor. “But if it’s for Panther’s mental health…”

Sumire took one last look at the pile of bones behind the painting, and she shook her head before returning to the entrance.

“Ryuji?” Ann asked once they returned to the place behind the shack. “Can I stay at your place tonight?”

“Ann, you know you’re always welcome.” Ryuji sighed, beckoning Ann over to come with him.

“I need you to slap me in the face if I even think about Madarame having a single good bone in his body.”

“Definitely’ll that in mind.”

Akira, Morgana, and Sumire watched as Ann put her arm around Ryuji as the two walked home.

“Do you think she’ll be okay?” Sumire asked with her feet on the floor. “She looked really stressed out back there.”

Akira looked at her with an equally concerned look. “If anyone can handle Ann at her worst, it’s Ryuji. Come on, we should get going too.”

Later that night, Akira was lying on what was normally Sumire’s sleeping spot. Sumire, on the other hand, was floating around the room, lying on her back as if she was on an invisible magic carpet.

“Sumire? You’re in that thinking-floating mood again?” Akira said, smiling as Sumire flipped over to float on her belly.

“I know, I’ve been thinking about my visions again.” She responded, kicking her legs in the air.

“Any new ideas?”

“Well, do you remember how I always worried my friend was suicidal like Shiho?” Her voice was soft, even if it didn’t need to be.

“Yeah, not exactly a good thought…” Akira moped. “I’m sure she’s still out there, though. Enough people have activated those visions to the point where it’d be devastating if it wasn’t.”

“Agreed. Now that I’ve met Yusuke, I thought of something else.” Sumire swam closer to Akira, hovering above him. “Maybe my friend is in trouble, but doesn’t know it yet, and that’s why I’m here.”

“For them?”

“You said ghosts often have some unfinished business, right?”

Akira hummed in agreement.

“I dunno, it sounds silly, but it feels nice to think that I’m here because there’s still something I need to do.”

Akira’s phone buzzed, with the unique jingle indicating that it was in the group chat. This one was from Ann.

Ann: Hey, I’ve been thinking it over, and I think I want to do the modeling with Yusuke.

“What?” Akira gasped. He hovered his finger over the keyboard, only to stop once he saw that Ryuji was typing.

Ryuji: Before you freak out, I already talked to her about it.

Ann: He told me I’d only be allowed to do it if both of you come with me.

“That does sound like something Ryuji would do…” Morgana murmured upon examining the text.

Sumire’s cheeks turned bright red at the thought of Akira and Ryuji witnessing the modeling session. “Okay, but… why?”

“I’ll ask her.” Akira assured Sumire, calming her down.

Akira: Why are you doing this anyway?

Ann: We need to keep a close eye on Yusuke. Maybe talk to him about how Madarame treats him.

Akira: That makes sense.

“Plus, if you two come with her, this means another chance at getting Yusuke to trust us.” Morgana continued. “And if we’re lucky, it affects Madarame’s Palace as well with Yusuke being his only remaining pupil, which means an easier time navigating for us!”

“Morgana, quiet down!” Sumire ironically yelled, slamming her hand downwards in front of him. “Anyway, while you two watch Ann and Yusuke, I’ll keep exploring the shack. There are a couple rooms I still haven’t checked yet since last time.”

“Excellent.” Akira nodded.

Ann: God I’m really dreading this palace…

Ryuji: Speaking of which, just a reminder that Ann is sleeping at my place. Good night, team. I’m proud of us.

Akira: Good night, guys.

Ann: Good night!

After Akira hung up, the residents of Leblanc got into their usual sleeping areas, with Sumire almost forgetting to take her glasses off.

“Is that what I looked like back in Kamoshida’s Palace?” Sumire asked Akira in bed.

She could see him smile under the covers.“Yes. You were absolutely terrified .”

“Huh, I feel bad for Ann now.”

“Well, that’s why she has Ryuji.” Akira shrugged. “Just like how you have me.”

Sumire let out a tiny giggle. “Thanks, Akira.”

Morgana then let out the biggest yawn they’d ever heard. “Alright, you heard Ryuji. Let’s get some rest now.”

“You’re not the boss of us!” Sumire teased.

Akira repeated that, and Morgana responded with, “I may not be, but your brains are.”

“Touché…” Akira said sleepily as pulled the covers back over himself.

Akira never found himself to be a light sleeper ever since he adjusted to living with Morgana, but the thought of Sumire’s sympathy stuck around long enough for him to become unable to catch a wink. Even Morgana had fallen asleep before him.

So when his phone buzzed and the brightness was low enough for him to see, he found that someone else must have been having the same problem.

Ryuji: Hey man, you still up?

Akira: Yeah, can’t sleep.

Ryuji: Can I video chat for a bit?

Akira: Ryuji, it’s a school night.

Ryuji: I swear it’s important.

Akira: Okay, but if Morgana yells at me for being tired tomorrow, I’m telling him it’s your fault.

Ryuji: Got it. Will start soon.

To make sure the ringtone didn’t wake anybody up, Akira picked up on the first frame of the jingle. He lowered his phone’s volume as much as possible, and was just barely able to see Ryuji’s face through the city lights coming through his room’s window.

“Hey, buddy. How’s it going?” Ryuji whispered, not that he was any good at it.

“Hi!” Akira smiled, hoping Ryuji could see it.

“So, about what happened to Ann, today-“

“Hold that thought.” Akira told him, as he noticed some bright hair draped across Ryuji’s waist. “Is that Ann with you, right now?”

Ann, sleeping like a baby, had her arm wrapped around Ryuji. She snored a little, too.

“Yup! Isn’t she adorable?” Ryuji teased.

“I’m surprised she trusts you in bed like that…” Upon a sudden realization, Akira pulled the camera directly to his nose. “Wait, are you two dating?!”

“Shh! And no, it’s nothing like that!”

“Sorry…”

“Can you keep a secret? I don’t want Ann knowing about this. Is Morgana asleep?”

Akira put his phone down, looking around his room, Morgana was curled up on his little pillow, and Sumire was lying face down on the couch. “Yeah, he is.”

“Okay, this isn’t really the first time Ann and I have done this sort of thing.” Ryuji began. “Ever since the whole business with Kamoshida went down, Ann’s been callin’ me week after week telling me how Shiho’s been. One day she asks if she can sleep at my place for the night. Her parents aren’t around often, and kept waking up from nightmares or whatever - I don’t remember.”

Akira let out a breath he held in for a while. “That girl has a rough life, doesn’t she?”

“The whole time she was there, I couldn’t stop thinkin’ about how scared she must be. Things have gotten a bit better lately, but now with Yusuke on her mind…”

The two boys sat in silence for a moment, staying in each other’s company. Even if they were multiple streets apart, just having his phone next to him caused Akira to imagine Ryuji and Ann right next to him, Morgana comfortably lying on Akira’s back, and Sumire, alive and well, with him.

Ryuji held his head. “Ugh, this is going to sound really weird…”

Akira shrugged as much as he could while on his stomach. “I’m down for whatever weird stuff you have to say.”

“Promise you won’t laugh?”

“I’d rather not wake up everyone in the neighborhood.”

“Okay…” Ryuji muted himself for a moment to mentally prepare himself. As he did so, Akira looked at the couch. Sumire’s light breathing, that soft sound that put him at enough of an ease to sleep earlier than he did before, wasn't there anymore. He didn’t expect a ghost to need to breathe anyway, but…

Maybe that’s why he couldn’t sleep.

Ryuji unmuted himself. “Alright, I’m ready. Ann is… probably the closest thing I have to a sister. Go ahead, laugh at me ‘friendzoning’ her or whatever. It was just a random thought I had and sometimes I do still think of her in a ‘wow she’s hot’ kinda way, so I dunno if that’s entirely accurate-“

“Shiho…” Ann wiggled in the bed as she clutched Ryuji tighter.

Akira closed his eyes and smiled. “I think it’s adorable.”

“Okay, you’re clearly too tired for this shit, and Ann might wake up if we talk more, so I’m just gonna hang up for the night, is that okay with you?” Ryuji asked.

“Mhm…” Akira said, Ryuji’s words barely registering in his head.”

“Alright, good night, bro.” Ryuji was gone from the screen within seconds, and with the last of his strength, Akira turned off his phone, flipped it over and drifted off.

Sumire never found herself to be a light sleeper ever since she adjusted to living with Akira, but the reminder of her own hesitance in Kamoshida’s Palace stuck around long enough for her to become unable to catch a wink. So when she heard Ryuji say those words over the phone, she didn’t know what to say to Akira.

Maybe they were more like Ann and Ryuji than she thought…

Needless to say, Morgana was not happy at how Akira sounded in the morning, scolding him like a child who thought they were the parent before Akira explained that he was discussing Ann’s safety with Ryuji, which got him to quiet down about it. Sumire wasn’t even awake, with Akira leaving a sticky note on the couch before he left saying, “Decided to let you sleep in this morning. You can meet me in class later.”

When Sumire woke up and saw the note, she reached over to pick it up before her head fell back down. “Heh, the joys of being incorporeal…”

Still, having never been separated from Akira on the way to school before, Sumire found a rather interesting way to make it to her friend, done by flying up through the roof of Leblanc and getting a bird’s eye view of the city, just as she did in Kamoshida’s Palace. Now able to see more of her surroundings, she made it in quicker than expected, though her sleeping in did cause her to miss Akira having lunch with his fellow team members.

“At least I won’t be ignored this time.” Sumire thought when she spotted Akira.

“Akira!” Sumire phased through the window, and Akira’s bouncy knee bumped into the bottom of his desk.

When Ushimaru asked what caused Akira to make such a noise, his tired expression allowed him to use the excuse of “I stayed up late last night watching a scary movie. I just remembered a scene from it.”

Ushimaru did nothing more than grumble, “Idiot…”

“He fell asleep during lunch.” Morgana whispered to Sumire upon noticing her presence.

“Why…” Akira moaned quietly.

“Well you clearly had a rough night.” Sumire chuckled, yawning herself.

During class, Akira tried hard to wake himself up, mainly by checking his phone for any texts.

Ann: Ngl a little worried about the modeling.

Akira: Can't be that hard just stay still

Ann: I’m not good at that.

Ryuji: This is for Yusuke, remember?

Ann: I know, I’m willing to do it for him.

Ryuji: Speaking o which is yusuke gonna allow us in? Sounds private

Ann: I have a backup plan for that.

Akira put his phone away before Ann could explain further. He watched Sumire help him cheat as he struggled to focus, his eyes showing little thoughts occurring in his head other than the recent text. This lack of awareness was only broken by the ringing of the bell reaching his ear, allowing him to end the school day going to the courtyard with the rest of his friends, with Ann bouncing like a jumping bean in excitement after receiving the confirmation that Yusuke was available that day. Not wanting to arouse suspicion from Makoto, the group was waiting at the subway station, looking for something to do during the hour before Yusuke was ready.

“Sumire, can you keep an eye on Ann? I think she’s lagging behind.” Akira asked as he walked with Ryuji.

“Right, will do.”

Ann had slowed down in her walk, looking down at the tiled floor beneath her. “I hope you’re okay, Ann…”

She beckoned over Morgana, who stared at Ann with his big eyes.

“Lady Ann, do you need something?”

“What?” Ryuji looked back at Ann, to which Sumire pumped her fist.

“Huh? Oh! Sorry!” Ann came running back to the boys, and her phone almost slipped out of her hands. “I’ve been thinking a lot about why Yusuke is just so… dependent on Madarame.”

“I said the same thing in the Palace!” Ryuji cried, getting a shush from everyone else.

“He should know all of this, shouldn’t he?” Akira added.

While the others discussed, Sumire floated against Akira’s back, pondering away from the others herself. “Hmm…” Sumire put herself in the situation, remembering how clingy Natsuhiko was, and the girl he clung on to. Could that have derived from Madarame?

“He’s alone.”

“What?” Akira paused his conversation to pat Morgana, alerting him to continue his thought while he listened to Sumire.

“There’s nowhere else he can go, so if Madarame’s gone, his life is done for.”

“That makes sense…” With one last glance at Sumire, he asked, “Want me to bring it up?”

“Yes please.”

“But he’s from Kosei, right?” Ryuji questioned after being told Sumire’s idea. “Don’t they have dorms and shit?”

“Let me check something…” Ann pulled out her phone and typed something in, then showed the other Phantom Thieves a post online complaining about the quality of Kosei’s dorms. “This was one of the first things that came up after searching Kosei.”

Sumire cringed after reading the mention of students needing to pay for supplies, heating, food, and other such living expenses. “Geez, no wonder why he likes that shack so much…”

“The shack!” Akira stood as he was alerted by Sumire’s words. “Ann, I think it’s almost time.”

“Oh, right!” Ann put her phone back in her pocket and led the way. “Come on, guys. Let’s not leave Yusuke waiting any longer!”

The plan was simple, once Akira was sure Yusuke was too distracted by his painting, Sumire and Morgana would go over and explore the rest of the house.

Yusuke was a little concerned when Akira and Ryuji showed up with Ann, but after clarifying that they were concerned due to Ann’s prior experiences, he understood, telling them that he wasn’t interested in women.

“Eh, don’t worry about it.” Ryuji said with his head held high. “We support you either way, right guys?”

Everyone else nodded, and Ann’s slightly-nervous twitches settled as much as they could when Yusuke began his initial sketches. 

Sumire adjusted her glasses while she waited. “He’s looking pretty distracted to me.”

“Not yet.” Akira whispered. “But close.”

A few more seconds passed, and Yusuke stopped his brush, staring at the canvas with an intent only a fellow artist would understand.

“Now.” Akira pointed his hand to the door.

“Alright, Spirit, you’re with me!” Morgana leapt out of the bag and out of the room, with Sumire following after him. After turning a corner, the two came to a very elegant looking door. A design resembling the feathers of a peacock was present on it.

“That’s a pretty big lock.” Morgana analyzed as he stretched. “I couldn’t even reach it if I jumped. Think you can see what’s over there, Sumire?”

“Can do!” Sumire wasted no time going through the door. Though the room was dark and musty, with her coughing as she entered, she blinked to get the dust out of her eyes, only to remember that… she didn’t need to. Her eyes were adjusting quickly to the darkness. With the room in a better view to her, Sumire saw a huge shelf to her right. When she took a closer look at the shelf, Morgana could hear a huge gasp come from the other side.

“Come on, Sumire. What’s over there?” Morgana whispered in a panicky tone.

“They’re… they’re all the Sayuri?!” Sumire screamed, she ran over to the door, doing exactly as instructed. With only her finger through the door, she began to write with her finger the word ‘Sayuri’. With the reflective texture of the door, it was easy for him to see.

“What about the Sayuri?” Morgana asked, and Sumire wrote the word ‘All’ above it before it faded like writing with steam on a mirror.

“What do you mean all of them?”

Sumire checked each one, finding something different about the individuals, whether it was a longer ponytail, bigger eyes, a different shade of red, and a multitude of other differences between them. “They’re replicas!”

Morgana tilted his head after Sumire went back and wrote the word ‘Replicas’.”

“Replicas? Why would Madarame have those lying around?”

“There’s gotta be more.” Sumire saw past the shelf. A single canvas covered by a purple sheet. Though she couldn’t pull it off to reveal its contents, she could press her face just deep enough to go through the sheet, but not through the painting underneath. “…Another Sayuri. Why is this one covered?”

In a poor attempt to describe what she had seen, Sumire wrote ‘Sayuri’ again, and attempted to draw an easel with a sheet covering it, and after enough charading shenanigans, Morgana finally understood what she had been trying to say. 

“Keep it in mind, Sumire.” Morgana reminded her as the drawing disappeared.

Sumire bounced out the door with a flexibility she could only question herself. “That went… better than I thought! Come on, Morgana, let’s get back to Akira.”

But when the two were coming back, Morgana pushed his back against the wall upon hearing Yusuke speak.

“The inspiration just isn’t coming to me.”

“Want me to try a different pose?” Ann asked him.

“No, it’s not that.” Yusuke looked away from her. “I admit, I often have trouble staying focused.”

Akira simply smiled at him. “Hey, it’s no problem. I often get like that at school too!

“But we have been sitting here, for like, fifteen minutes!” Ryuji shouted, getting a reaction from everyone, including Morgana and Sumire.

Akira pushed him, making Ryuji stumble backwards a step. “Come on, Ryuji, don’t be like that. I know for a fact you got like that when we studied together.”

“Yeah I know, why do you think I hate it so much?”

“Ryuji, what are you doing?!” Morgana gritted his teeth.

Ryuji took a deep breath, placed his hands together, and pointed them towards Yusuke. “Listen, you know, we know, let’s not beat around the bush. What the hell is going on with Madarame?”

Yusuke looked away, clutching his head and moaning.

“It’s nothing bad! We just want to make sure you’re okay.” Ann elaborated. “We really do mean well, I promise.”

“I’m fine. You have no need to worry.” Yusuke firmly stated.

“This is bad…” Morgana put his paw to his mouth as Yusuke tried to justify Madarame’s actions.

“Yusuke…” Sumire sighed. She poked her head out of the room, letting Akira see her.

“Sumire, what are you doing?”

Despite Morgana’s judgment, Sumire flew into the room, giving a small wave to Akira as she entered. She sat down next to Yusuke, eyeing him down. There almost looked to be tears down his face, so small the others weren’t seeing it.

“Huh?”

“Akira! I’ll explain later!” Sumire told him. “Point is, Madarame’s hiding something very big! We need him on our side now!”

“Sensei has treated me with nothing but the utmost respect and care! It should be considered an honor to work with him!” Yusuke yelled at them all.

“That still leaves everyone else…” Akira leaned in closer. “Didn’t they leave?”

“They made their choice, I made mine. We’re done here.” Yusuke shot a look at the boys. “ Especially you two.”

Ann felt her twintails shoot up. “Wait, you can’t kick them out!”

Yusuke leaned forward. “Why not?”

“Because they’re my…” She looked at Akira and Ryuji, who both shrugged. “Brothers!” She eventually decided. “They’re my brothers! And our parents would hate it if we got separated during one of these things. Safety in numbers and all.”

“There’s no way this is going to work…” Sumire thought to herself as she facepalmed. “You three barely even look related!”

As Ann innocently twirled her hair, Yusuke hung his head low in defeat. “I suppose I cannot argue with such sound logic. Very well then, they can stay.”

Ryuji wiped his brow quickly. “Phew! Thanks for the save… sis?” He added at the end.

“Just bare with me on this, okay?” Ann pleaded, giving out the most desperate grin.

“Bare with you…” Yusuke hummed to himself. “Bare with you, bare with you, that’s it!”

Morgana’s jaw dropped as far as it could, and Sumire flinched at the reminder of a cognitive Ann.

“Nope nope nope! I’m gonna stop you right there! I draw the line at that , if that’s what you’re thinking!” Ann immediately denied.

“She’s had a, uh…” Akira sorted the words through his head. How was he supposed to explain that without…

“She just doesn’t like being nude around strangers, okay? Is that a hard concept to understand?”

Classic Ryuji, always looking out for him.

“It… it’s okay.” Yusuke stuttered, pacing around the room in a panic. “I can figure something else out.”

“I might be able to provide some ideas…” Sumire thought out loud. “Do you think he’d let us?”

Akira asked Yusuke, and Yusuke shook his head. “At this rate, I might just be desperate enough to succumb to that. You two are family for Ann after all. I guess it might not hurt to do so… this one time.”

“I mean he’s already plagiarizing offa you, nowhere to go but up from there.”

“… Does he always do this?” Yusuke asked, pointing at Ryuji.

“Ever since we were kids!” Ann chuckled nervously.

“Good talking with you, Yusuke!” Akira waved, leaving the room.

Ryuji left as quickly as he could, and the last thing Yusuke said to Ann before she left was, “…I like that one, however.”

Morgana let out a huge stretch the moment he came into Akira’s room. “Well, that went better than I expected.”

“But now for all he knows, you’re her brother now, so you better act like it!” Sumire reminded Akira.

“Right. By the way, what did you two find that you wanted to tell me about earlier?”

“Right, so remember when that journalist lady told you the Sayuri was stolen from him?”

“I thought I heard you snickering when she said that!” Akira smugly grinned at her.

“Yeah, that rumor is definitely a lie.” Sumire proceeded to explain the findings of her and Morgana’s search.

“What?” Akira tried to comprehend the reveal. “That… that’s amazing! Well, it’s not amazing , but if we can get Madarame to reveal that, it would be huge!”

“I can only imagine what that would be represented by in the Palace…” Morgana thought out loud. “Whatever it is, we should remember it as we go through that place.”

Akira’s phone buzzed, and he found himself scratching his head at the caller. “What would Yuuki want at this hour?”

While Sumire couldn’t hear Yuuki’s words, Akira’s reactions were enough to get her eyes open and ready.

“Nakanohara?!… I was actually just thinking about him earlier!… And I was planning to hang out with the other members there too!… Yeah that would be great! I’ll talk to him as soon as I can, bye.”

“What about Nakanohara?” Sumire asked, bouncing through the bed.

“He wants to talk to us tomorrow at the station.”

“Us as in you’re bringing me and Morgana but he’ll only see you, or us as in Ryuji and Ann? That’s a pretty important distinction when you say that word.”

“Well Ryuji and Ann will be close by then. I guess I could use some backup.” Akira opened up his phone and informed them of the upcoming events in the group chat.

Ryuji: Speaking of Madarame’s past students, apparently Kosei has its own forums…

Akira: You traitor.

Ryuji: I’m getting there!

He sent a link containing a thread on a previous student of Madarame. The thread seemingly came from a close friend of one of Madarame’s former pupils, who had apparently killed themself after trying to speak up about him.

“That explains those… things I saw in the Palace.” Sumire’s voice trembled, and she scratched her hair to calm herself down.

“How many victims were there?” Morgana wondered.”

“I can’t remember the amount. If this is true…” Akira fell on his bed. “I’m getting a bit too tired to think about this. We’ll discuss it with Natsuhiko later.”

“Hey, Akira?” Sumire began once she had already laid down for bed. “I need to ask you something.”

“Having some more late night thoughts again?”

“It’s basically a tradition for us at this point, huh?” Sumire giggled before she continued. “Anyway, do you think we were too hard on Yusuke today?”

Akira’s breathing was heavier for a moment, but shifted back to normal seconds later. “He wasn’t exactly being cooperative. I tried my best but… well, desperate times.”

“You can be really scary when you mean it, can’t you?”

Akira didn’t even flinch when answering. “If it’s to protect the ones I care about, why shouldn’t I? I mean, he almost made Ann go nude.”

“That’s true… I worry about that girl.” Sumire flicked a bit of hair in front of her. “Between Shiho and this student who might have actually killed themself… how often do people… no, don’t answer that for me.”

But Akira had already looked it up. 18 people per year.

“My point is, I don’t want anyone to go through what I’m going through. I guess that’s why I like being a Phantom Thief with you guys.”

“Keep that energy up in the palace then.” Akira yawned. “I’m sure we’ll have a lot more Shadows to distract soon.”

While it was a stressful night, Sumire went to bed with confidence. Yusuke was alive right now, and they were going to keep it that way.

Chapter Text

On the way to the subway, Sumire abruptly jumped in shock, causing Akira to ask what was wrong.

“Did Yuuki tell Natsuhiko you were a Phantom Thief?”

“Don’t worry, we had a plan.” Akira assured her. “He texted it to me during class.”

He met up with Ryuji and Ann later and ran towards them, skidding to a stop. “Am I late?”

“Nah, don’t worry.” Ryuji waved him off. “I’m sure he’ll be here soon.”

“Define ‘soon’...?” Ann asked him.

“I dunno, not enough time to grab something at the stands?”

“We’ll go with that…” Ann shrugged.

“I can see what Ryuji meant last night…” Sumire thought to herself, careful not to mention the conversation around Akira. “They’re from completely different countries, yet they look and act related!”

It only took a few minutes before they saw that familiar bowl cut in the distance.

“Hey, are you mod Joker?” Natsuhiko began.

Akira repeated the message Yuuki gave to him. “Well technically no, I’m his agent.”

“Phantom Thieves have agents?”

“Sort of. Each member of the Phantom Thieves has a close friend that they assign as their agent. We help proofread their posts to make sure they’re appropriate for the website, don’t accidentally give away who they are, and manage the website while they’re on missions and whatnot.”

“Okay, I think I understand now.”

“Wait… am I his agent?” Sumire realized before rethinking it. “Or would that be Morgana? Did we give Morgana an account?”

“So, what’s the business?” Ryuji started. “Must be important if you came all this way to see us.”

As expected, Natsuhiko requested to change Madarame’s heart, to which Akira told them that ‘Joker’ had told him the Phantom Thieves already had plans to do so after changing his heart. After thanking them for relaying the message, Natsuhiko said something oddly cryptic when asking about one of Madarame’s previous students.

“His name is Yusuke Kitagawa.”

“Name rings a bell from our conversations.”

“I would have taken him with me if I had the money, but even then… I think he owes Madarame too much to leave him.”

“That’s…” Akira stopped to think about his choice of words. “That’s exactly why I took this position.”

“Then let me give you one last request. If the Phantom Thieves ever meet up with Yusuke…” Natsuhiko turned around to leave before looking back at them. “Tell them his big brother said hi… and that’s he’s sorry.”

“We will…” Akira said somberly. “We will…”

“I never would have guessed him and Yusuke were that close…” Sumire said.

“Uhuh…”

“Madarame’s pupils would all sympathize with each other.” Morgana concluded.

“Well, second verse, same as the first.” Sumire bounced in the air lightly on her way to the hideout.

As he often did in Kamoshida’s Palace, once Akira had entered the Metaverse, he pulled out his phone to find the safe room, only to realize…

“Wait, we didn’t find a single safe room during that entire trip?”

“What?! Let me see that!” Sumire watched Akira scroll as far as he could. Sure enough, no safe rooms appeared. “Aw, man! Guess we’re walking all the way back…”

“You’re one to talk,” Akira joked. “You don’t even walk half the time!”

From Sumire’s perspective, it looked like Akira had looked at one of the walls, and for some reason asked Morgana to “Keep everyone busy while he organizes his Personas.”

“Is this how it feels to everyone else when he talks to me?” Deep down, Sumire made a mental note to ask him about that later.

It didn’t take long, only a few minutes before Akira was back to non-reality. Their route was the same as before at first. Going over the wall, going down the same rope as before, then into the room with all of the-

“Uh, Mona?” Ryuji tugged on his fur a little.

“Yeah?”

“What is this?” He presented the entrance to the next room, now connected to black infrared devices.

“They’re security lasers.”

“Yeah, I can see that. What’s it doing there?”

“I don’t think our meeting with Yusuke did any help to make Madarame less cautious of us.” Akira shrugged. “Combine that with Natsuhiko’s grudge, and we might need to have a larger guard this trip than I thought.”

While they spoke about what other potential dangers the Palace could have added, Sumire curiously walked through the lasers with no repercussions.

“As for these, you should be able to crawl under them.” Morgana finished. “As for me, I’m just glad my giant head can fit under it.”

“Like so?” Akira got to the back of the room to get a running start, and slid under the lasers so smoothly his heels could have cut butter.

“Impressive!” Sumire clapped. “Looking back, I probably should’ve just gone past the wall, but I was curious.”

“Or dove through the floor.” Akira added.

“Ooh! I’ll try that next time, that’ll look way cooler!”

Akira and Sumire watched Morgana get through with relative ease.

“If all three of us didn’t live together I’d bet Skull activates the alarms.”

“I think he can make it.” Sumire crossed her arms and leaned against the wall.

“If there’s one good thing about suffering under Kamoshida…” Ryuji began as he inched forward under the bars. “…It’s that I know now to never join the military as a career!”

“Told ya.” Sumire poked Morgana in the cheek as Akira told him her confidence.

While Ann went under, Ryuji whispered in a high voice, “Joker, I’m trying to sneak around, but I’m du-“

“Don’t finish that.” Ann interrupted as she took a deep breath near the end.

“And you doubted me .” Ryuji teased.

“Lady Panther has a slimmer build, it made sense.” Morgana explained.

“Still, that wasn’t so bad…” Akira’s voice trailed off when he noticed the rest of the room, covered in lasers. “We might be here a while.”

There were some footsteps around too, Morgana brought them to the corner, backed up against the wall. “If there’s a Shadow here, then there should be a path through these lasers so that they don’t accidentally trip them.”

“Then how do we get past all of that?” Ann whispered. “We can’t fight in here!”

Sumire made a motion that resembled cracking knuckles. “Leave it to me!” Coming back to her signature ‘shark fin’ technique, the Shadow followed her away from the Phantom Thieves, allowing them to slip by undetected. It took much longer than they would have liked, and they still had to crawl in certain sections, but at least there wasn’t a single risk to the security. There was, however, the lobby to worry about, where there were a couple guards in there, but no lasers in sight.

“I think we can afford a fight or two here.” Akira suggested.

“Be my guest.” Morgana allowed.

Ryuji, who had been shaking in his boots since finding out about the lasers, was given the honors of getting the first strike. He knocked the helmet off of the guard, spilling out a Night-Walking Warrior and two Girls of the Hanging Tree.

The warrior tossed its boomerang forward, going behind Akira, and Sumire stayed behind to track its trajectory. While the boomerang was flying, one of the girls launched a fireball on Morgana to distract them. Morgana leapt towards Ann, but the boomerang hit her in the back of head. Ryuji retaliated by bringing out Captain Kidd, slamming headfirst into the girl’s torso. She was pushed back behind her sister, and the other girl fluttered around Akira, flying past Sumire at breakneck speeds. Akira had to leap over various couches in the lobby in order to avoid her, but he was eventually cornered. The two were locked in a stalemate, with one the fairy’s hands grabbing the one where Akira held his knife, and Sumire came over to help him out, but…

“Just help the others, Spirit, I got this one.”

“Are you sure?” Sumire whimpered, but her question would soon be answered when Akira stopped pushing against his opponent, and pulled out his gun to shoot her to the ground, so Sumire flew away from the sight while Akira struck the final blow with his knife.

She came back to see that Morgana did need help. He was shooting at the warrior with his slingshot, but the shadow’s erratic movements dodged every bullet. He then took a battle ready stance, and lunged at Morgana with a fist held out.

Morgana was knocked back, but before the shadow could attack again, Sumire spun around the shadow, causing it to become dizzy. Morgana made a cheeky grin at Sumire’s appearance. He was finally able to land a clean Garu attack on the shadow, knocking it down.

At the same time, Ann tried to toss and Agi at the girl, but she spun her wings around and knocked the fireball right back at Ann. In retaliation, Ryuji fully unloaded his gun onto her, and with only one shadow left, Akira cornered it and added Mokoi to his team.

“Why does he look like Jammy?” Sumire giggled.

“They can hear you, you know.” Akira whispered.

With his new Persona in tow, Akira finally made it to where they had stopped prior. He made his way to the door at the back of the room with the statue.

“Now, before we decided to stop, I was going to try to cut these down so that it doesn’t hurt us.”

Sumire looked at the way Akira was holding his knife. “Wait, that thing is way too short. Your hands will get too close to the goo.”

“Oh, good catch. Now I’m actually kinda glad Panther stopped us.” Akira looked back at his team, scratching his head. “So should we use someone else’s weapon, or…”

“I got this!” Morgana came in. He pointed his sword at the vines and concentrated. Summoning Zorro, his Garu blades cut through the vines easily. “There we go!”

“Oh, thanks, Mona.”

“See? You don’t need to rely on yourself all the time!” Morgana said, patting Akira’s leg.

“I know, don’t worry.”

“Right…” Sumire nervously chuckled before they finally reached unknown territory. A couple of laser jumps later, and they found a new safe room.

“Phew!” Akira dumped the provisions pack he was saving for the moment onto the table! “I think we deserve a little break for our troubles!”

“Just don’t take too long.” Morgana reminded him. “We haven’t got all day!” He tapped the back of his head, still feeling that bump from the encounter with Mokoi.

“This Palace is definitely a lot more… refined than Kamoshida’s.” Sumire spoke quietly. “Guess that only makes the explicitly bleak stuff sting even more.”

Ryuji reclined in a chair that clearly wasn’t made for reclining and busted out a chip. “Here I thought this was going to be the exact same schtick as last time, then boom, this place becomes more of a gym than the gym teacher’s!”

“Keeps things interesting for me!” Morgana stretched. How his short limbs managed to reach above his giant head, Akira didn’t know. “Not everyone is distorted in the same way Kamoshida was.”

“ Good, ” Ann deadpanned.

Ryuji tried to apply a bandage to the burn Ann got from the battle. “Agh, you guys can heal yourselves, you know! Why do we even need these?”

“Gotta conserve those skills for later.” Akira informed him. “I know Morgana can do it just fine, but I don’t want him overexerting myself.”

The smaller thief laid down on the table, resting his limbs. “I… yeah I probably would’ve.”

“You gotta admit,” Akira began between munches on a cereal bar he found in the vending machine. “At least this palace is a whole lot cleaner.”

“Amen.” Sumire agreed. “I guess you truly don’t realize how much you can feel temperature until you find a Palace with air conditioning.”

Ann took another sip of water to wash down the vanilla chips she had, her body letting off a cool steam. “Alright, I think I’m good once I’m done with this thing. How about you guys?”

“I will in a minute.” Akira said as he went through all of his current belongings. “Just need to organize all of the new stuff we got… this one’s yours, Mona.”

“Ooh!” Morgana looked at the jagged edges on his new scimitar like a kid with a new toy. “I like this one!”

“You’re welcome!”

Sumire watched Akira apply some gauze to his arm. She rolled up her sleeve to see her own arm, cold and stiff. “Akira…”

“Really couldn’t thank Takemi enough…” She heard Akira sigh.

With everyone refreshed and ready to go, they headed out of the safe room to continue their infiltration.

“Dammit, it ain’t openin’!” Ryuji kicked the metal door that had been blocking the way to a computer room, which would no doubt have been able to give them some good intel.

“I can try to find the cables it’s connected to.” Sumire perked. “Maybe we can use that to disable the lock!”

“Hmm… good idea.” Akira nodded, and Sumire got to work looking through the walls while he scouted the room for any hidden valuables. There had been a lot of those that Morgana would point out for Akira to grab that were hidden in small containers throughout the palace. They would often contain things that Akira would either give as a souvenir, tell a member to sell for some extra spending money, or even an item to use in battle.

One such vase looked just like the rest, completely inconspicuous. He let Morgana climb up on his shoulder to grab it, seeing him raising his arms up like a child who wanted to be picked up. But while Morgana tried to break it, Sumire’s search for the door controls led her beneath the floor, where she had also found some wires connected to the stand the vase was on. She poked her head out of the ground like a meerkat, and saw Morgana’s foot right where the activation would be.

“Joker!” Sumire leapt in front of Akira, startling him and making him fall back, but it was too late. Morgana had already tripped the security, trapping everyone but the two of them. Akira’s foot was left right behind the lasers, and he pulled it back.

“Thanks…”

“I’m so sorry I didn’t warn you earlier!” Sumire cried. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah…” Akira got up and dusted himself off. “I’m sure I can find whatever’s controlling these.”

“You’re not going alone.” Sumire told him. “I got you into this mess, I’m coming with you.”

Thinking about his choice of words carefully, Akira said. “Guess I’ll just need to see how my usual tactics work with only one target for the Shadows around…”

Getting to the upper parts of the room was easy, but dropping down on Shadows for an ambush… well, with just him, there was a smaller room for error.

“Alright, here’s the plan.” Akira pointed towards one of the guards walking around. “You lure that one as close to the wall as possible, then keep it there, and we can attack.”

“Got it.” Sumire flew down and mimicked the guard’s movement patterns in a mocking tone. The shadow noticed and followed her to the spot right below Akira. Akira gave a thumbs up, and Sumire repeated the gesture to him. Akira dropped down and unmasked the Shadow, spilling out a single Rooftop Lion.

As always, Akira started with ol’ reliable, aka Arsene. He managed to knock down the shadow with an Eiha, but the moment he came in for a slice of his knife, his hand bounced off the hard skin of the lion.

“What?”

The lion got up from its position and pounced Akira. It scratched at him multiple times before Akira kicked it off of him, buying him time to switch to Cait Sith and cast Dia on himself. 

“It’s close enough to Mona… Spirit, cover for me!”

“On it!”

While Akira took in the healing energy, Sumire attached herself to the back wall like a spider. Being a cat, the lion shadow couldn’t resist trying to grab the light it saw on the wall. Though Sumire flinched when the first pounce knocked down a painting, but she darted around the place like a laser pointer in order to get its attention.

Recognizing its weakness, Akira snapped his fingers, going back to Arsene and firing another Eiha wisp from his fingers. The lion fell off of the wall, and this time, Akira finished it off with his gun.

“Phew!” Akira panted. “You never realize how much you rely on your team until your numbers are down.”

“We’re lucky it was only one shadow.” Sumire said. “Let’s focus on getting the others before we do any more battles.” She walked over to the wall she was hiding in to get the shadow’s attention earlier. “So when I was out there being a laser pointer, I found this button right here. I think it corresponds to the lasers over where the rest of the team is.”

“Odds are that could be the case with how close they are.” Akira pressed the button, and it changed color from red to blue.

“Did it do anything?”

Sumire flew over to see Ann having been the only one who left. “It looks like Panther was able to get out.” She yelled back.

“Just her?”

Sure enough, Ryuji and Morgana had still been waiting, with Ryuji trying to prevent his foot from falling asleep, and Morgana curled up on the ground.

“Yep.”

Akira held his head and groaned. “Why would there only be buttons for certain sides of the lasers?”

Sumire thought for an answer. “Mona said earlier that the switch is to let the guards know where they are… Maybe in case one of the guards gets stuck trying to catch someone?”

“I guess that would work.” Akira agreed. “That way they can let out the guard, but not the enemy… doesn’t make it any less annoying for me, though…”

“Still, let’s go pick her up.” Sumire said softly.

Ann was quiet whenever Akira looked around for the other buttons. Even after blowing up a disaster shadow that definitely should have alerted other shadows, she was uncharacteristically calm. She occasionally glanced at things that looked like they might be useful, but never brought it up to him.

“Ah, here it is!” Sumire called to Akira.

“Hm?” Akira realized he couldn’t see Sumire.

“I’m in the wall!” Akira followed the sound of Sumire’s voice before she popped out of a painting. “I found the mechanics of the button behind this wall!”

Akira went over to the side of the painting before Ann shouted, “Wait!”

“What is it?” Akira gasped.

“Remember what happened last time we pulled one of these paintings? We probably shouldn’t do it here.”

“I… have a good feeling about this one.” Akira explained. “You just need to trust me on this one, okay?”

“If you say so…”

Ann flinched when Akira pushed the painting, and let out a sigh of relief when the button appeared. Akira pressed it, and Ryuji was able to walk out, but according to Sumire…

“He’s… not moving for some reason.”

“Huh?”

Just as Sumire said, Ryuji hadn’t left the spot he was trapped in.

“…Yeah my foot fell asleep.” Ryuji admitted, trying to stomp said foot hard on the floor. “Just gimme a moment.” His foot dragged as he came towards them. “Ugh, why did it have to be that leg?…”

“Take your time.” Akira told him.

“I’ll go look for the last button.” Sumire informed Akira before flying off on her own past where Morgana was. She found a metal door that she could easily walk right through. There, she found a computer that must have been carelessly left on by one of the guards, containing the commands for the remaining lasers around Morgana, judging by the layout of the room on the screen. “Aha! There it is! Now how do I get them here?…” While she hid into the ceiling, she found a vent that just so happened to lead into the area the other Phantom Thieves were.

Ryuji got his foot awake by the time Sumire had reached Akira. She beckoned him over to the vents, where they had found exactly what Sumire had seen prior. Unfortunately, the command to turn the lasers off required a password.

“Well first off…” Akira typed in the word ‘Password’, and an error sound played.

“Really?” Sumire looked at him dumbfounded. “You know that only works in movies.”

“Listen, I had to try it.”

“For a brief moment, I saw the timeline where that worked.” Ryuji laughed.

“I’m sure it’s gotta be lying around here somewhere…” Akira said.

Ann pumped her fists. “Let’s corner a shadow and ask it for answers!”

“Not a bad idea…” Akira looked out the window to see two shadow guards having a conversation. “And I know just who to do this with…”

The group snuck into the corner behind the two shadows, waiting for Akira to give the signal to attack. Rather than do that, however, Akira instead decided to eavesdrop on them.”

“…So he told me to increase security measures. Had to change the password for the lasers and everything.”

“What was the password originally?”

“It used to just be Password with a capital P, but he told me to change it because it was too obvious.”

Akira winked to the other Phantom Thieves, with Sumire saying, “Alright, you win.”

“What’s the new one?”

“Hold on, let me show you.” The other shadow pulled out what looked to be… a calculator?

The shadow typed in a combination and showed the other shadow, and the two of them laughed and walked away.

“What were they talking about?” Ann whispered.

“Wait a minute…” Akira paused. He took the others back to the control room and pulled out his own phone. “Check this out.” He typed in a 01134 in the calculator app and turned the phone upside-down.

“What?” Ann stared at the combination, trying to comprehend what Akira was doing.

“I used to do stuff like this all the time when I was a kid, so if I put it into the computer…”

Ryuji pulled out his phone, randomly typing something down.

“What are you doing?” Ann tried to look, but Ryuji pulled it away.

“Changing my phone password.”

“Why?”

“…That was my phone’s password.”

The lasers were down, and Akira ran up to Morgana and picked him up.

“I am so sorry about that!” Morgana apologized as he got on top of Akira’s head.

“Don’t be, I let you do that. Really, you can thank Spirit for getting me out of the way when the lasers activated.”

“You’re welcome, Morgana!” Sumire bowed. “Now let’s see what we spent so much effort trying to get…” Sumire went inside the vase, and out popped a weak, but durable shadow that gave a huge payout once it was defeated.

“Man, where do shadows even get this money?!” Ryuji laughed. “Do they have little shadow banks or something?”

“Oh, you know, you drop a couple coins on the street, robbers try to get away, but fail, and you ever just drop something only for it to be gone?” Morgana explained. “That stuff usually winds up in the Metaverse.”

“That explains a lot…” Akira huffed.

 After checking another safe room, he spread his arms out and backed up, pushing the others away. A large hole was in the middle of the room, with only a single plank in the middle to use as a bridge.

“Please don’t tell me we need to jump…” Ryuji peeped.

“I mean, look at the shadow.” Morgana pointed to it. “It seems to be walking around just fine.

“Dude, have you seen how many of these things can float? It’s probably using some magic to trick us!”

“Maybe I can check the bottom?” Sumire pondered out loud. Akira gave him the go ahead, and she dove down to check what was in there. But to Akira, it looked like she disappeared the moment she went under. When Sumire popped back out she shook her body out, and said “Well, the ground here is made out of ground, that’s for sure.”

Akira pointed down, and Sumire looked around herself to see her torso was sunken into the floor. “Oh… you’re welcome then!” She gave a thumbs up to Akira before they continued.

“Did you expect them to look like eggplants?” Sumire asked Akira while he was holding the first will seed of the palace.

“I just expected them to look… different, that’s all.

They finally made it to the outdoor area of the museum, where a building with a much brighter shade of gold awaited them.

“That must be where the end is.” Morgana nodded.

But when they approached, they saw that the doors leading to it opened on their own, almost like it wanted them to be there…

Or maybe not, judging by the lasers that blocked the way forward.

“Okay, I know I’ve interrupted our progress early, but I genuinely think we’re stuck this time.” Ann said, checking the sides of the surrounding garden.

“I mean, they’re not that high.” Akira pointed out, standing near one to display the height difference. “We’re outside, so we definitely have options to get over them. Mona’s wind gusts, grappling hooks, I’m down to experiment.”

“We could, but there’s definitely a reason why these lasers are here.” Morgana analyzed.

Akira and Morgana both glanced at Sumire, who floated forward with her hands in her pockets. “Alright, I know when I’m needed.”

Sumire flew over the lasers and through the incoming door. Darting from lamp to lamp, she didn’t find anything too interesting in the following room. Mostly some typical lasers and security rooms she had seen prior. But the most noticeable thing here was the shadows. Red and raging, she remembered how the Phantom Thieves were treating each other back in the safe room. Through all the snacks, they were tending each other’s wounds. There was no way they were ready for whatever was here.

Upon getting back to the group, she saw how exhausted they must have been. When Morgana noticed her, he looked over to Akira.

Sumire sighed. “There are a lot of strong shadows there. I think that’s our cue to stop for now.”

“Joker? Come with me?” Morgana also beckoned Sumire over to the safe room.

“Any updates while I was gone?” Sumire asked them.

“I’m glad we didn’t go with any of my other plans.” Akira flipped back his hair in relief. “Turns out the door’s locked from the outside, so even if we tried those, we wouldn’t be able to get inside.”

“Speaking of which, did that door look familiar to you, Spirit?”

Sumire thought for a moment. “Remind me?”

“We saw it together.”

“The one with the Sayuri in it!”

“Yup, I got an idea of how we get in, but I’ll explain it to the rest of the group.”

“Works for me.” Sumire understood, and they returned to Ryuji and Ann and went back to the real world.

“So remember when I scouted out for evidence in Madarame’s shack?” Morgana asked them. “Well, using my own personal version of Joker’s third eye ability (he winked as he said that), I managed to find some pretty interesting stuff behind the real world equivalent to that door. We open the door in front of Madarame, we get access to the next part of the palace!”

“That…” Akira paused to think. “Makes sense from a relation perspective I think.”

“Sounds less complicated than most palace stuff.” Ryuji agreed.

“There’s one problem with that plan.” Ann realized. “We need to keep going with Yusuke’s modeling pleas.”

Akira paced around the area in front of the shack. “Well let’s review. Now me and Ryuji have to come because Yusuke thinks we’re Ann’s brothers. He likes Ann, hates Ryuji, and I’m pretty sure he’s neutral towards me. We told him we would help him with his art stuff with Ann as the subject. What do we got?”

Ryuji butted in with, “You and I gotta come up with an excuse to leave for a moment so we can get into the palace.”

“I can work with that.”

“And I’ll keep an eye on Yusuke and Ann in case he tries anything funny.” Sumire added. “Since I’ll be with Morgana, we can relay the ideas we promised to give Yusuke.”

“I don’t know how much time we’ll have until then…” Ryuji mumbled. “Can we do this tomorrow?”

“If Yusuke agrees to it.” Ann shrugged.

“Well if that’s the case, I’ll see you guys back here tomorrow.” Akira waved.

Once Akira got home, he received a text from Ann in the group chat.

Ann: Yusuke agreed to the deal.

Ann sent a picture in the chat of her text conversation with Yusuke.

Ann: We’re coming over tomorrow, right?

Ryuji: Yup

Ann: I have an idea to keep him busy.

Akira: Go on…

Ann: So I told him that I’d bring over some outfits I own to see if that gets his inspiration flowing, and he told me, “At this rate, I’ll take anything you have.” and I accidentally said “Everything?”

Ryuji: Oh i see it now

“What is she planning?” Sumire asked. But upon Akira asking…

Ann: I’ll tell you when we get there. Trust me, it’s hilarious.

“Whatever gets the job done.” Morgana shrugged.

Sumire was utterly confused the rest of the night, and Akira couldn’t help but share the same feeling with her.

Chapter Text

When Akira woke up the next morning, he reminded himself of the plan.

“Get Ann to distract Yusuke, wait until she gets Madarame to see the door, and then book it .”

“It’s gonna take a long time to get through all of those clothes.” Sumire recounted. “Knowing her, she’d only be halfway done by the time Madarame gets home.”

“I’m sure Ann knows what she’s doing.” Akira said as he grabbed his school bag.

“Do you think Madarame is going to question all of the stuff we’re doing with Ann?”

“Sumire, think about it.” Akira told her. “We’re looking at a super rich artist who steals the livelihoods of children. As far as he knows, we don’t even exist!”

“At best, Yusuke would have told him about his muse.” Morgana added. “I doubt he cares enough about you or Ryuji to bring up Ann’s ‘brothers’ in the conversation.”

Sumire’s voice got quieter with each word. “I know, but you know how much I worry about Ann.”

“We all do.” Akira admitted, voice lowered. “But we can’t treat her like she’s defenseless.”

“Right.” Sumire slapped her cheeks and took a deep breath. “Now let’s go.”

Unfortunately, the first wrench in Akira’s plan came before he even got to school.

The only heads up he got was an “Oh, crap,” from Sumire seconds before Yusuke was standing next to him.

“I thought you and your siblings couldn’t be left alone.”

Akira shrieked, making Morgana bounce. “Um, Yusuke! I completely forgot you used this line!”

“Uh huh. Care to tell me where Ryuji and Ann are?”

“Well…” Akira remembered the excuse Ryuji and him had planned for after school. Better use it now , he thought. “Well I have a part-time job over in the mall, and I had to check up on a few things there for after school. Ryuji and Ann are just up ahead.”

Akira trembled as Yusuke looked down upon him. Only now did he remember just how menacing Yusuke’s height made him.

Still, Yusuke calmed down, stating. “Ah, a resourceful one for your family. Always useful to have one of those around.”

“Yeah, that’s me.” Akira happily sighed. “I’m the oldest, so naturally, it’s kinda my job. I’m also getting a snack for them while I’m at it, so they’re probably already at school by now.”

“And I commend you for that.” Yusuke smiled. “Take care of them while you can.” He turned away before he and Akira separated. “You never know how long you’ll have them.”

Sumire gritted her teeth. “Is that a threat?”

Akira didn’t know how to respond to anything anyone said.

“He’s been through a lot…” Morgana mewed. “I just wish we could at least give him a ‘you’re welcome’ or something.”

Including that. Akira didn’t say a word until they got to Shujin.

The rain was harsher than any other day Akira had been in Tokyo. Akira had his face pressed against the window, watching the water stream down in waves. Sumire made her way to the other side, playfully waving at Akira as Ryuji recapped their plan to the others.

“I really hope that door stays open. This isn’t like a calling card thing where it only activates for a day, right?”

“Nope. He just needs to know that others are capable of opening it, and we’ll have it open for the rest of our infiltration.” Morgana answered.

Ryuji huffed. “Thank. God.” 

“That being said, you will need to turn off the security for Ann and I once you get through.”

“I can do that!” Sumire beamed, both literally and figuratively.

Morgana noticed Sumire peeking through the window. “No, not yet.” He giggled. “We need to make sure Ann is safe with this too. If I can get help finding a path to the authorities in case of an emergency… well, I’ve seen dogs and birds do it on TV. I’m sure I’ll have no problem!”

“Of course. That’s more important.” Sumire nodded. “Are you sure Akira will be alright without me, though?”

“Trust me, Ryuji is all I need!” Akira proclaimed, patting Ryuji on the shoulder.

“Aww! Thanks, man! You really didn’t have to say that, though.”

“Of course I did. We all have our roles in this plan, and your bulk provides the best backup out of any of us.” 

“Sure, whatever you say.” Ryuji affectionately scoffed. “Now let’s get moving.”

“What’s taking her so long?” Sumire pouted as the group waited by Ann’s doorstep. “I’d go in there and check, but at this point I think it would be rude!”

“Girls of her caliber tend to be… very heavy on the wardrobe.” Akira looked away from the door. “Never understood it since middle school.”

What nobody expected was when Ann finally opened the door, she was dragging a large sack that most would use for laundry… or burglary.

“Geez, Ann! How much did you put in that thing?!” Sumire shrieked.

“How are you even carrying that?!” Ryuji cried.

Ann snorted. “Come on, Ryuji. How do you think I stay in shape with what you’ve seen me eat?”

“It’s her spine we should be worried about.” Sumire mumbled to Akira.

“So, are we ready to dump all of this on Yusuke?” Ann asked, looking far too happy to be holding all of this stuff?

Akira shrugged. “If you can carry it.”

And she did. All the way to the shack. Even as Sumire stayed behind, nothing even fell out of it.

So one could only imagine Yusuke’s reaction when they finally got to his doorstep.

Yusuke stared at the sack in awe. “Oh. I see you came prepared.”

“Yup!” Said Ann. “We got enough outfits here to last you the whole day!”

“Well, I very much appreciate it. Come inside.” Yusuke’s head turned towards the bag. “…If you can fit it in, that is.”

Thankfully, it did, and once Ann got the thing into Yusuke’s studio (with some pushing done by Akira and Ryuji), she dumped all of the clothes onto the floor.

“Takamaki…! You really didn’t have to bring this… this many options!”

“Well I can’t let your slump go on forever! Pick whatever you like!”

“Okay…” Yusuke said nervously. “Keep in mind Sensei will be arriving in around twenty to thirty minutes, so we might not get to everything…”

“That’s fine by me!” Ann accepted. “I’m sure he won’t mind!”

Sumire looked in awe as Yusuke held each one. Eventually, Yusuke selected a frilly dress he showed interest in.

“Wow, I haven’t seen that one in years…” Ann commented.

“If we rip something like that up, think I can wear it?” Sumire asked Akira. He giggled, causing Yusuke to glance at him, and earning Akira a kitty punch from Morgana.

“But no, I don’t think that’s how it works.” Akira eventually answered.

“Anyway, I’m gonna go put this on now. See ya in a bit!” Once Ann exited the room, she asked Yusuke where the bathroom was. Afterwards, Ann was out of anyone’s earshot by this point.

Yusuke glared at the boys the entire time, Akira saw Ryuji fidgeting in his seat, knowing he must have been too scared to get up. Sumire whispered to Morgana. “Can we go to the door now?”

Morgana shielded his eyes using the walls from the bag, but shook his head in response.

“Takamaki? Are you okay in there?” Yusuke called toward the bathroom door.

“Yeah. I’m just making sure I got everything!” A few seconds later, Ann opened the sliding door, swishing the dress around. “Still fits!” She cried.

Morgana gave two pats on the crepe box Akira never bothered to throw away.

“Now!” Sumire called.

Akira pulled out his phone. “Sorry about this, hold on.” And Sumire mimicked the action with her hand.

“Mr. Kurusu! We need all hands on deck at the mall! Someone just vomited directly into the flowers!”

Akira facepalmed, letting out a bit of uncontrollable laughter. “Okay, okay. I’ll be there in a bit…”

“Is something the matter?” Yusuke asked, as he picked up a brush.

Akira got up. “Yeah, it’s nothing too bad. The mall needs me to help out with something. Gonna bring Ryuji along in case things take a while.” Akira helped Ryuji up. “Take care of our adorable baby sis for us, okay?”

“Hey!” Ann whined. “You never agreed to call me that!”

“Sorry, sorry. Won’t happen again, I promise.” Akira looked away. “Come on, Ryuji. Let’s go.”

Ryuji smirked back at Ann before he left, leaving Sumire and Morgana as Ann’s real defenders.

“Man, that was impressive!” Ryuji started when they got into the Palace. “That looked so believable! Did you actually call someone?”

“I practiced at home.”

“Woah.” Ryuji stretched once they got to the lasers from before. “Between you and me, I was dying to get out of that room! You really saved my skin there.”

The two of them were left alone, a rare moment for Akira. “I just hope Ann doesn’t take too long…”

“Well, Madarame’s old as hell!” Ryuji’s voice cracked. “Who knows what that guy does in his spare time? We can’t expect him to be constantly thinking about how to ruin the life of the next teen he gets his hands on 24/7! Even Kamoshida had hobbies!”

“He did?” Akira asked, getting down and sitting against a nearby shrub.

“Well, yeah. Back when I was on the track team, he went on vacation one time. Wouldn’t be surprised if he used the team’s funds to pay for it, and we had this sub that no one else really liked.”

“Maybe we should change his heart too.” Akira chuckled.

“It would be great, yeah, but I don’t even remember his name. Besides, it was a breath of fresh air for at least a week.” Ryuji sighed, sitting next to Akira and putting his chin in his hand. “According to the rumor mill, he might’ve been horse-riding or something wherever he was at the time.”

“That poor horse…” Akira jokingly sulked. “Oh yeah, speaking of which, do you think Ann will be okay with Yusuke…? Alone, I mean?”

“She’s fine. ‘sides, she’s got Morgana if things get dicey.”

“Right, right…” Akira’s eyes turned in Ryuji’s direction, but his head didn’t move. “You’re not even a bit worried about her?” After a moment, he amended, “I’m not saying she’s defenseless, of course. Madarame’s probably different from Kamoshida, but still, I hope he doesn’t try anything with Panther if he sees her. We had to come up with a lot of workarounds on the spot just so Yusuke wouldn’t make her strip.”

“Spirit can't exactly protect her, and I'd rather her not be alone with him and his victims, either." Akira mulled over in his head.

Ryuji’s head snapped towards Akira. “Are you worried about her then?”

“No, I’m just surprised you aren’t considering our conversation the other night.”

“Yeah, Ann can get tense at the slightest sign of manipulation, but if that girl knows one thing, it’s how to weasel her way out of a situation like that. Kamoshida made her get good at that real fast. So I’m confident she’ll make it out of there.” Ryuji shrugged. “I can’t go around babyin’ her just because of all she’s been through. You gotta trust her on their own.”

Right away, Akira remembered who else was left alone with Yusuke and Ann. “Yeah… I guess you’re right…”

“Left, left, right… Stop!… and he reset it again.” Sumire frowned, almost completely done with Morgana’s pitiful attempts to crack the lock.

“Well I’m sorry that one of us doesn’t have opposable thumbs, and the other can’t even touch a door!”

Ann approached them from behind as she prepared to get on her next outfit. “You’re still not done!?”

“We’re working on it!” Morgana yelled.

“Ann, what’s that?” Yusuke could be heard from the other end of the hall.

“Stupid ringtone! Just a prank from my brothers!” Ann deflected. “Keep it down.”

“Alright, alright…” Morgana fell off the doorknob and painted. “Alright, one more time…” as Ann went into the bathroom once more, Sumire, halfway through the wall and door, attempted to guide him once again.

“A little more to the right, and… you got it!”

“Huh?”

“You did it!” Sumire cheered, fluttering in the air. “Yes! That went way faster than I expected!”

“Oh! Nice!” Morgana hopped down in excitement. “Alright, Lady Ann.” He whispered this time. “We just gotta wait for Madarame to get here now.”

“Good. I’m running out of ways to encourage this.” Ann groaned before going back to Yusuke. With Morgana’s mission complete, he headed back to Ann’s bag with Sumire in tow.

Another outfit later, and Sumire was already fidgeting. “She’s taking an awfully long time to get to the point…” She said through her teeth.

Morgana noticed the jittery movements she was making, like the electricity Ryuji used crackling in the air. “We don’t know how long it’ll take for Madarame to get back. She’s clearly stalling for time.”

Ann noticed this as she headed out for the next one, so once she was inside, she yelled. “Hey, Yusuke? When is Madarame getting back?”

Yusuke perked up from his sketchbook, likely from writing some ideas down. “Um… it should be about… ten minutes or so.”

“Got it!”

Morgana dug his claws into the bottom of Akira’s bag. “That’s the perfect time for Lady Ann to strike! She should do it any second now…”

“Hey, Yusuke? What’s this?”

“See?”

Ann led Yusuke exactly where she needed him to go. In anticipation of the eventual reveal, Morgana snuck his way inside and closed the door before Yusuke could hear it.

“Oh, that’s just the storage room. Sensei never lets me in there.”

“Really? Well if me and my brothers are known for one thing, it’s getting into places we aren’t allowed to. I could help you see what’s inside if you want. Might even give you some good ideas.”

Yusuke blanched. “What?”

Morgana gritted his teeth. “You’re just gonna tell him?”

Sumire put a hand above Morgana’s back. “No, no. She’s got this. I see what she’s planning.”

“Fine, I get it.” Ann twirled one of her twintails. “All those good ideas going to waste… ideas your Sensei would love to see you realize… maybe even praise you for…”

Yusuke closed his eyes and shook his head. “Your… your tactics won’t work on me!” He cried. “Besides, I don’t even know where the key is!”

“Oh, really?” Ann smirked, pushing the door just a little bit. “Then why is it already open?”

“Huh?!”

The sweet sound of the slider door slithered in. “Yusuke, I’m back.”

This was it.

“A-Ah! Just a minute, Sensei-”

But it was already too late. Standing in the dark with it mostly covering the top of her face, Ann gave the most devious smirk she could as Madarame stood wide-eyed at her inside the room.

“Sensei, she tricked me!”

“She did WHAT?!”

But that only encouraged Ann to go further into the room. Yusuke and Madarame gave chase to Ann, but the room was completely dark.

Sumire put her hand on the wall. “Over here.” Her light guided Morgana to the light switch, which he quickly turned on before slinking behind the other paintings.

The light flashed Yusuke in the eyes, and once they adjusted he closed his eyes at first, pure disbelief painted on his face. “It’s… It‘s all the Sayuri?!”

“Always has been.” Ann said with her back turned to Yusuke and Madarame. There was little to no emotion in her voice. But her stance was all they needed to know about her plan. “Meet the real Madarame, Yusuke.”

Morgana saw Ann in front of the easel with a sheet over it, just as Sumire had said. “That’s the one, right?”

Sumire nodded.

“Alright, I’ll try to expose it while Lady Ann distracts Madarame.”

Morgana slid through the paintings with the smoothness of butter while Madarame kept attempting to convince Ann and Yusuke of a sob story with holes a mile wide. Very dramatically, Sumire would add. Mostly stuff about his artist block and his former students being the real harassers here. All lies, she knew.

“Ugh… I can’t find my way through here!”

Sumire gritted her teeth. “You’re a cat! That’s one of your whole things!” Morgana didn’t hear her, but she knew how he would respond. “Hm…”

She laid her body out like an umbrella above the copies, lighting the way for Morgana.

Morgana beamed. “Good thinking! Thanks, Sumire!”

He had gotten to the other side while Ann was breaking down Madarame’s lies.

“Don’t people who buy paintings generally have a keen eye for the fine arts?”

“What would you know?”

“I work in the fashion industry. It’s not the same, but we tend to be pretty experienced with detecting altered photos.”

The stage was set, prime for the big unveiling Sumire had been waiting for since she found their macguffin. Morgana dramatically pulled off the sheet, revealing the real Sayuri. Madarame’s excuses only got more and more flimsy by the second.

“This is the real Sayuri!”

“Case in point.” Ann added on.

There was just one little problem. There was no additional exit in the room, and Madarame already had his phone in his hand. “Well, I already reported you to the police before I even came into the room. Not much more I can do without getting in bigger trouble myself.”

Somehow the convenience of the police being so close ended up backfiring on them…

In a spur of the moment, Ann pushed Yusuke and Madarame out of the way, not looking back for a second.

“We don’t have time to mull over this, we gotta follow Lady Ann!” Morgana told Sumire.

“Ugh! What did we do?” Sumire yelled as she floated with a burst of speed, easily catching up to Ann, who was already pulling out her phone. Her, Sumire, and Morgana vanished into the Metaverse the moment she left the shack.

“Alright, the security’s down.” Ryuji panted after having just taken down a guard and skedaddled out of the inner sanctum. “Should we go back for Panther and Mona?”

“Nah, they’ll be here soon. Better to be closer to a Safe Room so we don’t have to go all the way back.” Akira scoffed.

Holding Morgana in her hands, Ann ran up to the boys in a cold sweat. “Sorry I’m late! Madarame was pushing me a lot, and we need to do this fast!” She put down Morgana, who made his way to Akira with Sumire, who looked very frightened.

“What happened?” Akira asked, glaring at her.

Ann twiddled her fingers, sweating as she did. “Well, I might’ve gotten caught up in some family drama, which definitely wasn’t part of the plan, and I tried to get out of there the moment Madarame saw me in the closet, but by the time I was out of the room, he already called the cops on me.”

“Damn it, Panther!” Ryuji shouted. “You gotta be more careful with these things!”

“I had to get out without anyone following me, and there was only one door in that room! I was cornered!”

“I get it, I get it…” Ryuji pinched his nose. “You’re so lucky you had Mona with you.”

“The security seems to be much higher than before, so we gotta get a move on!” Morgana hopped up to a nearby bush.

The group ran off, but even still, Akira couldn’t shake the feeling that Ann might have made a bigger mistake than she knew…

No, he had to trust her, just like Ryuji said. He had to…

The halls were suspiciously quiet - almost too quiet considering Morgana’s earlier statement about the security. Had they relocated elsewhere? Sumire even checked the next room in advance for any Shadows, and no. Nothing at all. That being said, she couldn’t help but notice that this room was eerily similar to the statue room from earlier.

“I guess Madarame’s room designs are just as unoriginal as his art.” Sumire chuckled to herself.

Yet when they tried to leave the room, a couple of Shadows showed up right by it out of nowhere.

“Nothing we haven’t dealt with before.” Akira huffed, unsheathing his knife. “Glad you and Panther saved your energy for this.”

“Oh I’m afraid it won’t be as simple as those other guards.” An older voice said behind them.

For the first time in what felt like too long since they found the palace, the group finally caught a glimpse at Madarame’s Shadow Self, who was completely decked out in golden clothes and had hair tied up like a paintbrush.

Ryuji rolled his eyes. “Wow, first a king, now a shogun?”

Sumire jumped and shouted, “That’s the same thing!”

“No they aren't.” Akira retorted.

“He’s clearly a shogun!” Ryuji argued, only to be interrupted by Shadow Madarame’s booming voice.

“I see you all must have had a lot of time to examine the exhibits. Unfortunately, your little museum tour is going to come to an end now.”

“We’re not going anywhere until-“

Ann’s shriek was interrupted by everyone being caught off-guard by a confused, “ Sensei …?!”

Sumire gasped at the sight of Yusuke stumbling into the room. There was a somewhat wild look on his face, which nobody could fault him for.

“What- Yusuke?! How did you get here?!” Ryuji yelled.

“I followed you here?” Yusuke shrugged like it was obvious. “I figured you must have been escaping, and I was concerned, so I…” He took a moment to look around the room. “What is this place, exactly?”

“Well now, I’m glad you asked.” Shadow Madarame giggled giddily. “This is my real abode. That pathetic shack was just there to avoid the paparazzi. You wouldn’t know how it is, what with yours truly being the famous one.”

Akira crossed his arms, looking at where Yusuke was staring earlier. “Certainly a bit of a grandiose place to live, that’s for sure.”

Shadow Madarame sneered and bowed gracefully. “Why, thank you!”

“I didn’t mean that as a compliment.”

Yusuke finally stood straight up, taking his arm off of the railing. “I know Takamaki pressed onto your lies constantly, but I still never got any definitive answers from you.”

“Uh, just a heads up, dude. This isn’t the real Madarame.” Ryuji called to him.

“Would it matter if I was real or not? I know the full story.”

“Ugh, can’t we just get him now?” Ryuji whined before his leg got tugged by Morgana.

“Remember when you tried that with Kamoshida? Just be patient.”

“Right, right…”

“One of the most important parts of the art industry is the theatrics! You must add meaning to your work, even if it’s not exactly the truth. Weave the narrative to your liking, and you’re the talk of the town!” He snorted derisively. “Nobody cares about the content of the art itself, though. They’re more interested in the story behind it! Why do you think so many famous art pieces are just a bunch of squares thrown together? It’s the narrative, clearly!”

Ryuji slouched his shoulders over and groaned. “You know, I said that when we were at the exhibition, but hearing it coming from your mouth, I see how stupid that sounds now.”

“Certainly explains why the scenery is one big sensory overload.” Sumire glared at the guards, trying to wane their patience thin. “This guy can’t come up with anything good if it isn’t fancy enough.”

Ann took a glance toward the statue, then back to Shadow Madarame. “That still doesn’t explain your glorified child labor!”

“Oh, that? It’s just another thing that doesn’t matter.  More people under my wing means more ideas, more ideas means more variety in the art I submit, and easily manipulatable children means even if they had a reason to want to fight back, they can’t! So it all works out in the end.”

“And you don’t even feel a bit of regret?” Ryuji asked him.

Shadow Madarame hummed in thought. “Yusuke’s been with me the longest out of anyone I’ve taken under my wing…” With a shake of his head, he answered, “ But no, not really.”

Yusuke tried to look Shadow Madarame in the eye one last time, but couldn’t. “The whole time? You were just… using me, this whole time?”

“Every hour of every day. Of course, now that you know my dark secret…” Shadow Madarame pointed a finger to where Yusuke stood. “I guess it’s time for me to find some new meat for the grinder. It’s quite a shame, however - I owe Kitagawa for my greatest era of life yet.”

“Sensei… what do you mean?”

Shadow Madarame didn’t respond. “Kitagawa goes first. The rest can die after him.”

An Embittered Blacksmith rose from the ground like a zombie, inching its way toward the frightened Yusuke, followed by a quartet of birdlike creatures Akira recognized as Koppa Tengu.

“Forget Madarame!” Morgana cried, hopping over to the enemies. “We need to protect Yusuke for now!”

Sumire dove into the scene, keeping the Shadows at bay if they so dared to approach Yusuke while the others. The pain in her head was immense. She had no idea who the people she saw in her mind were, nor the other girl with her, but this moment reminder so much of that moment, whatever it was. But she fought through that pain for their new friend.

“What are they doing?” she could hear Yusuke mumble. “They’re doing all of this for me? I don’t deserve it for being blind for so long…”

“Come on, Yusuke, don’t be like that!” Sumire wished Yusuke could hear her say that. She flew towards another Shadow, giving Morgana the perfect chance to knock it down with his new Lucky Punch skill.

“I shouldn’t be… I shouldn’t be saved by them… I’m only here BECAUSE OF HIM!”

“No, you ain’t!” Ryuji hollered at Yusuke, snapping the young man from his stupor. “You’re way more than your old man’s son! He’s not gonna be there to take care of you forever! Is that what you want? Your whole life under that bastard’s control?”

Yusuke went silent. “No… no, I don’t! Madarame…!”

Sumire knew that would get a Shadow’s attention, but then heard another booming voice - the quality of which she hadn’t expected to hear again.

“Have you finally come to your senses?”

“Joker, wait!” Sumire spoke. Akira turned towards her, only to see her sitting next to Yusuke, who was struggling to even lift himself off the ground, and a vulpine mask on his face. “I think he’s getting a Persona.”

Noticing Yusuke slump to his knees, Sumire yelped, alerting Akira. He followed her eyes to Yusuke and gasped, right as the largest Shadow swung its anvil towards Akira, knocking him in the gut. “Agh! Mona, Yusuke’s-“

“ How foolishly you averted your eyes from the truth. A deplorable imitation, indeed… it’s best you part from that aspect of yourself! ”

“- Awakening?” Morgana leapt off of the Shadow he had just knocked back with a burst of Garu. Only when he got down was he able to see Yusuke. “We need to protect him so he can awaken safely! Don’t let any Shadow near him until he’s done!”

“Right!” Akira and Sumire said in unison. While Akira attacked any Shadows on one side of Yusuke, Sumire floated around on the other, buying time for Akira to attack it before it got too close.

“The world is filled with both beauty and vice - it is time you teach people which is which!”

Sumire could hear the blood splattering across Yusuke’s face. “Just a little longer…” She hoped.

“Take your time, Yusuke.” Akira calmly whispered when he was able to catch a moment with Yusuke. He was careful not to fire his gun around him, only using Jack Frost to hit the Shadow’s weak spot. “We’ll take as long as you need.”

That was when Yusuke was finally able to rip the vulpine mask that had appeared on his face.

“GOEMON!”

Sumire felt the air grow cold. Far colder than Akira had anticipated his earlier attack to be. But that was because it wasn’t him who caused such a breeze.

Yusuke’s breath was visible to everyone. The burst of energy that came out of him temporarily froze the shadows around him, literally. Shadow Madarame snapped his fingers in order to break the ice on the Shadows with a sonic boom. 

Yet Yusuke didn’t even flinch at the Shadows approaching him. He stared blankly at them, letting his Persona pierce them with sharp icicles. One by one, every last one of the Koppa Tengu fell one.

“Should we do something about this?” Sumire asked Akira.

Despite being near everyone, Akira still shivered. “I think he’s got this…”

Regardless, Ryuji was able to assist Akira with defeating the last Shadow, grabbing it by the shoulders and keeping him still while Akira stabbed it.

Ryuji looked behind himself, and noticed that Shadow Madarame wasn’t where he was after Yusuke had awakened. “Wha- Oh come on! He got away!”

“Um, guys?” Ann pointed to Yusuke, whose eyes were completely white with fury. “What should we do about Yusuke?”

“I don’t know!” Morgana shrieked. “I didn’t think we’d even have another Persona user until now!”

Yusuke’s Persona had dissipated, but he was still surrounded by a frigid air. Ryuji went up to touch his arm, but pulled his hand back and blew on it. “Geez, that’s cold! Panther, help me warm up?”

Sumire hid behind Akira, shuddering herself as much as he was. “Joker, is he…”

“I don’t know…”

“I… might have an idea. But it’s going to be a bit rough.” Ann walked up to Yusuke, but didn’t do anything at first. “Don’t look, please.”

Sumire was the only witness to what she did. Ann went behind Yusuke and placed a hand on his back. “I’m sorry if this hurts!” Her hand glowed, and the storm around Yusuke dissipated. The poor boy slumped to the floor. “Okay, I’m done!” She whined. “Please tell me it worked!”

Akira, Ryuji, and Morgana came over to Yusuke, who was limp on the ground. However, Yusuke slowly opened his eyes again.

“What… happened?”

Ryuji attempted to explain as best he could. “Dude, I think you just caused a blizzard in the middle of the museum.”

Yusuke scowled at himself this time. “I remember… Madarame telling me everything he did, and then… I must’ve let my emotions get the better of me…”

“No, no! You did great !” Morgana assured him, putting one of his paws on his arm. “Standing up to corruption is the whole point of an awakening. You did exactly what you needed to do!”

Yusuke simply stared at Morgana, and Morgana looked confused. “You’re not surprised I look like a talking cat?”

Yusuke shook his head. “I’ve seen weirder today. Those bird-monsters, for example.”

Morgana beamed at Yusuke, and that assured the group that things should be easy to explain.

“But, if you don’t mind me asking one more question… just who are all of you, really?”

Ryuji just smiled, carefree and easygoing. “I bet you’ve heard some rumors by now. About the Phantom Thieves who steal hearts?”

Yusuke took a second. “You’re…?!”

Abruptly, more Shadow guards popped up. “Forget that talk of who we are for now,” Sumire hissed. “We’re going to be dead if we don’t get out of here!”

Evading the guards, the Phantom Thieves successfully took Yusuke out of the Metaverse and scuttled into Bikkuri Boy, one of the quieter restaurants in the area. Yusuke ate half the platter of Surprise Sandos like he hadn’t eaten in days, startling the entire team. He even had some of the ice cream Totem Pole and didn’t get any brain freeze! Morgana whispered to Sumire that he had his theories on why that was, but he needed more evidence to confirm it.

“I… really did not want to say any of that stuff to him. But it all came out so… so fast…” Yusuke wrapped his arms around himself, only allowing himself to be sitting next to Ann.

“It just sort of happens once you’re confronted like that.” Ann sympathized, yet scooched a comfortable distance away from him.

“Were you two close too?”

“Oh no, I hated him!” Ann laughed. “But that didn’t make it any less difficult.”

“Then you wouldn’t understand.”

The table was silent for a good moment.

“… I’m sorry to hear that things aren’t good with your dad.” Was all Akira could respond with.

“…Okay… with that out of the way, are there any other questions you have about the Phantom Thieves?” Ryuji cringed, breathing through his teeth.

“That being said… was that stuff about you three being siblings really true?”

Ryuji shrugged, shaking his head. “I guess you could call us a brotherhood of sorts. We kinda just made that up so you wouldn’t mind us bein’ around Ann since you hated us.”

“I figured…” Yusuke sulked.

“Wait, you knew we weren’t actually Ann’s brothers?” Akira peeped.

Ryuji slammed his fist on the table a little too hard, causing it to shake. “I told you it wouldn’t have worked!”

“I’m not stupid, or at least I thought I wasn’t.” Yusuke continued. “You all reminded me of a simpler time in my life. A time before Madarame, if you could believe it. Perhaps I simply wanted to go back to that time.”

“Well, you could always join us if you wanted.” Akira offered his hand out from the other side of the table. “We could use all the help we can get!”

“This is a big commitment, Akira. You know that, right?” Sumire reminded him.

Akira nodded as Yusuke took his hand.

“Of course. I want this cycle to die with me.”

“Hey, no one is dying on our watch!” Morgana shouted. “Not you, not Madarame, no one!”

“It won’t matter if you don’t stop him,” Yusuke warned them. “There have been other upstarts, I’m sure - none managed to get into that room before, but many have had legal action taken against him. I would be hard-pressed to believe you three will be any different.”

And with my record, that could easily mean…! “Crap!” Akira hissed.

“Well, that’s a deadline,” Ann grumbled. “We can do this, guys. I know we can!”

“Yeah!” Ryuji chimed in. “Especially if this guy here is gonna help.” He paused just before clapping Yusuke’s back. “…You’re up to change his heart, right?”

Yusuke took a shuddery breath - in, then out. The other four wondered how often he’d had to do that. “I don’t know if I want to… but I have to. I need to. It’s the most ethical thing I can think to do right now.”

None of the Phantom Thieves were gonna deny him this. “Then… welcome to the team, Yusuke.”

Akira ignored Sojiro beyond a quick hello when he got back to Leblanc, still focused on the potential consequences his record could bring in this situation.

Ryuji: so uh… should we address the legal stuff

Akira was silent as he read the text.

“We have more time than we did with Kamoshida,” Sumire floated against him, trying to lighten the mood. “I’m sure we can get through it in time. Plus we got a new member now. So, strength in numbers and all.”

“That doesn’t mean we should take things easy.” Morgana reminded her after Akira translated for him. “We have a lot of responsibility with a new member. There’s a lot to accommodate. Extra provisions, his lack of experience, helping him control himself in battle…”

Akira let Morgana out and scratched his chin. “You say that like he’ll be dead weight to us until then. He looked pretty strong there.”

“I guess he was…”

Akira pulled out his phone to continue the conversation.

Ann: Listen, I’m sorry. I panicked and accidentally brought another person into this mess. It’s all my fault.

“Technically it started as Morgana’s plan.” Sumire noted.

“That Ann elaborated on!” Morgana retorted.

Akira: We have enough time to change Madarame’s heart before then. Don’t lose hope.

Ryuji: we beat 1 palace. whats another?

Ann: Thanks guys, I really mean it.

“Hope, huh?” Sumire thought as she read Akira’s response. “I’ll do my best here too…”

Akira had a bit of studying to do that night, but Sumire let Morgana help him on that one. She was too busy thinking about Yusuke’s past.

“I’m definitely not Yusuke’s mother, that’s for sure. Still, I genuinely thought it was just going to be us five against the world. We’re going to need to start paying attention to any more Persona users… but the way Goemon protected him…”

She stopped. Akira had a bit more time before bed, so she told him, “Hey, I never got to tell you because we were busy dealing with Yusuke, but I had another memory flash by while we were protecting Yusuke.”

“Really now?” Akira’s head just barely got up from the bed. “What happened?”

“Well I was trying to lead the Shadows away from you, and I guess I had thoughts about protecting someone else when I was alive.”

Akira yawned, putting his head back down. “I guess it’s just in your nature.”

“You think so? You say that like I’m one of your Personas.”

“Sumire, you’re way more than a Persona…” He paused. “No offense, all of you.”

Sumire floated just a bit higher off the ground when he said that. “Stop it, you’re being too much right now!”

“Good night, everybody!” Akira joked, turning the light off.

“Alright, have a nice night, Akira.”

“More than a Persona, huh…?” Sumire liked that thought.

Chapter Text

Akira had to do a double take when he walked into school and saw everyone gathered at the billboard again.

“What’s going on…?”

He then got a text from Ann that simply said, “OMG I FORGOT!”

“Forgot what?” Akira wondered before finally catching a glimpse of the board.

After the bombshell of an experience that was Yusuke’s awakening, everyone had pretty much forgotten that the results of their exams were going out today. Thanks to the assistance of his roommates, Akira was practically top of his class.

“I don’t know if I deserve this…” he mumbled to himself.

“Don’t be such a worrywart!” Sumire assured him, hovering her hand above his back before dodging a student about to go through her. “We helped you study, and then backed you up when you needed it. As far as I’m concerned, you've earned that spot!”

Akira smiled even bigger after Morgana said, “Yeah, be proud of yourself, Akira! Besides, it’ll be a good morale booster for the team!”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right…” Akira remembered something. “Though we can’t say everyone on the team goes to this school anymore…”

“Shoot! You’re right!” Morgana whined, making Akira need to pull his bag up more. “That’s probably going to affect our schedules. We got a little over two weeks, so there should be enough time for our schedules to line up with his…”

“I’ll ask him later.” Akira told him.

But unfortunately, Akira wasn’t able to leave the building without running into someone, as he spotted someone in a familiar white lab coat waving at him.

“Oh, Kurusu! Do you need anything right now? I just refilled on chips!”

Akira recalled his offer to Maruki about their conversations concerning neurology. “All that Madarame stuff did take a heavy toll on us…”

“Yeah, had a bit of a busy week,” he said. “Guess I could make use of a talk with you at the moment.”

“That’d be great!” Maruki beamed. “You know where to find me if you need a moment to prepare.”

“I will. Thanks, doc.”

“Just take your time then…” Maruki winked before he left.

Akira made his way to the back of the school, letting Morgana out.

“Hey, do you wanna come with me this time?” Morgana asked Sumire. “It really isn’t good for you to be waiting around for Akira all the time.”

“Makes sense…” Sumire sighed. “I don’t know how I would be able to make it interesting though…” Akira opened his mouth, but Sumire interrupted him. “Don’t tell him I said that, please.”

“Well, you two have fun then.” Akira smiled before he and his roommates went their separate ways.

—

“So, how’s business?” Akira began, already munching down on the chips Maruki gave him.

“First off, I’d like to start by saying that Kamoshida’s actions impacted far more students than I initially imagined.”

“I’ll say.” Akira agreed, his body internally shuddering at the memory of his palace. “I was just as surprised as you were when I got here.”

“Most of them didn’t actually talk about him to me, weirdly enough.” Maruki pondered, his eyes briefly being taken off Akira. “Instead, it was your typical college pressure and romantic drama. The sort you see in most high schools.”

“Makes sense.” Akira nodded, gulping down another chip. “They didn’t say a lot about him before either. His arrest is still relatively recent, so the wounds are probably still fresh in their minds.”

“I thought the same thing.” Maruki agreed. “A few of them actually did speak up about Kamoshida though, so I’m happy about that.”

“Good for them.” Akira smiled. “Genuinely, that’s good.”

“Now as for the research stuff I mentioned last time…” Maruki pondered for a moment, looking away from Akira. “Now what did I want to say again?…”

“Do you need me to identify which two groups of shapes belong together?” Akira joked. “I’ve been told I’m pretty good at that from similar experiences I had as a first year.”

Maruki laughed, almost leaning out of his chair. “No, no, it’s nothing like that.” He recuperated and then continued. “What I’m really focused on right now is… how do I say this… pain felt in the heart.”

“Emotional trauma?”

“Something like that. Obviously we evolved pain receptors to get our bodies away from things that are dangerous, right?”

Akira raised an eyebrow. “Go on…”

“So, if that’s the case, why do we experience mental pain? Is that some evolutionary trait as well?”

Akira finally let out a chuckle. “Wow… getting existential real quick, eh, doc?”

“Not my intent. I just want to know what your interpretation is.”

“Hm…” Akira looked back on his experiences from his childhood up until now. The adventure that was Kamoshida’s palace, Sumire’s own issues as a metaphysical being, and even their own Personas. “If I had to guess, probably as a way to… I dunno, help us get away from bad influences in our lives? Like a manipulative friendship for example. It’s similar to fear in a way.”

“I can see that.” Maruki looked at Akira with a certain fondness behind his glasses. “You know, you’d make a good humanities major in the future.”

“Eh, it’s somewhere in my college plans.” Akira shrugged.

“Oh, what about a broken heart?” Maruki added. “Have you had experience with those?”

“Doc, look at me.” Akira began. “I’m seventeen years old, wear glasses purely for the aesthetic, and I have the fluffiest, curliest hair known to man. Of course I’ve been in a few relationships in my life.”

“And how did it feel when you two broke up?”

“Depends on how it ended. Sometimes it was me, sometimes it was her. Yeah, I’d get a little upset that it didn’t work out, but life moves on, and so do we. There are bigger problems in the world we gotta worry about.”

“I see… so you really need to try and avoid that as much as possible,” Maruki said, like it was obvious.

“Um… not really?” Akira shuffled back on the couch. “I mean, I’m thankful I had those experiences, and I’m the kind of guy who believes that everything happens for a reason, even if you don’t know it yet. Like look at me, I had the worst experience of my life, got sent to a city with people I didn’t know, living with some guy who admittedly doesn’t like me that much, and yet…” Akira took a deep breath. “I got to be a witness to one of the greatest scandals in recent memory, and I’ve made a few friends I wouldn’t have otherwise.”

“Mhm…” Maruki wrote something down on his clipboard.

“You good?”

“It’s nothing.” Maruki waved it off. “I’m just keeping this in mind for future sessions. You’re very unique compared to other students.”

“Story of my life!” Akira shrugged again, throwing up his hands dramatically. “So, are we doing that mental training next time?”

“Next time…” Maruki got up in a panic. “Oh crap!-I mean, agh… that was supposed to be today!”

“It’s okay!” Akira assured him. “We can do it next time, I promise!”

Maruki wiped his brow. “Oh, phew! Thanks for that. I didn’t forget our deal. It just… slipped my mind for a moment.”

“Sure it did…” Akira got up, ready to head back home to see his roommates. “I’ll hold you to that.”

Maruki gave one more smile before the two parted ways. “Good, I’ll need it.”

—

Sumire was awfully quiet once they hit the streets. It wasn’t like it mattered, however. “I just wish I could talk to you like the others…”

To Morgana, Sumire dimmed, and he sat down in a nearby alley. “Hey, is something wrong, Sumire?”

All Sumire could do was nod, sitting next to the kitty and put her knees to her face. “It really isn’t fair…”

“I guess you can’t really tell me, huh?” Morgana guessed. “There’s gotta be a way we can figure this out. Some kind of system for us…”

Sumire looked to the sky, watching some pigeons fly by. The bright spring sun beamed down towards her glasses. “Ah!” It blinded her for just a moment, and she had to take them off to rub her eyes.

“Woah! What was that?!” Morgana jumped, his fur standing on end. “You just glowed really brightly for a second!”

“Sorry, the sun was in my eyes…” Sumire apologized, getting up and putting her glasses back on her face. This only seemed to intrigue Morgana further, however, as he walked up towards her.

“Wait a minute… tap your glasses for me please?”

“What?” Sumire flinched.

“I swear, it’ll make sense.”

Sumire did as Morgana said, to which he then asked, “Okay, now hold them in front of your face.”

Sumire did as told, leaving a little beam of light onto the street from her perspective as well as Morgana’s.

“Woah…”

“Ya see that?” Morgana proclaimed. “Lucky for you, I’ve picked up a bit of morse code in my time as a Phantom Thief. If I can teach you how to make that light of yours shine on its own, I think we can make this work!”

Sumire smirked with a newfound sense of confidence. She laid down on the floor, letting Morgana sit next to her.

“Alright, just teach me what I need to do.” She said, attempting to write ‘TEACH ME’ on the floor with her finger.

“Hmm… don’t worry, I know what you’re saying.” Morgana assured her. “Now, first off…”

—

“Oh you’re back.” Sojiro looked behind the counter of Leblanc, seeing Akira opening the door. “You're home later than usual. Where were you?”

“Ah, just talking to the councillor a bit. Guess I lost track of time,” Akira explained, rubbing his head. “Actually, speaking of which… guess who got into the top five of my class's test results?”

“Seriously?!” Sojiro blinked with a look of surprise. “I didn’t pin you as a big studier. You sure you didn’t cheat?”

“I can confirm that I did not use my phone or write anything down on my hand.”

“Right, right, sure…~” Sojiro smirked, taking his statement as a joke. “Anyway, get changed, I got some more stuff to teach ya.”

“‘Kay.” Akira nodded. He made his way up the stairs to his room but was surprised when he saw no one was there.

‘Huh, guess they aren’t back yet? I wonder where they are…’ Akira thought as he went through his large box of clothes.

From behind his back, a familiar head of brown hair slowly phased through the roof and snuck up towards the distracted teen.

“A~~~KIRA!!!”

“AH!”

“Hey kid! What was that? You’re lucky there aren’t any customers here!” Sojiro yelled from downstairs.

“Sorry, Morgana just came through the window and surprised me” Akria apologized, while glaring at the giggling, ghost girl and not-cat.

“Hehehehe, you should have seen the look on your face!” Morgana snickered, coming down from the bleachers.

“Yeah yeah, laugh it up!” Akira rolled his eyes before realizing something. “Wait, Morgana, how did you know to hide when Sumire was going to scare me?”

Morgana and Sumire then looked at each other with smug looks before Sumire turned to Akira, “You’re gonna love this Akira, just listen.”

“Well… I, in a moment of sheer brilliance, had the idea of Sumire talking to me through Morse Code by having her shine that light I see her as in patterns! Pretty ingenious huh?” Morgana boasted, with a prideful smirk.

“Really? That’s great!” Akira beamed at the two. “Gotta admit, that’s a really good idea. Nice thinking outside the box. Mind showing me?”

“Hehe, sure thing!” Sumire grinned, before taking off her glasses and floating up to the light to shine it down on the ground and moving it away a few times in a certain pattern.

But when she finally finished, Morgana began hissing in fear. “WHAT! NO! I DON’T NEED TO GO TO THE VET! YOU CAN’T MAKE ME!”

Morgana dashed off to the other side of the room and hid, and Akira and Sumire just stared at him awkwardly.

“All I said was ‘I think you need some more petting time’.” Sumire blinked, completely confused.

“Yeah…I don’t think you figured this all out yet.”

A few minutes later, Morgana attempted to train Sumire in Morse Code more to work out those issues. Akira was working behind the counter while Sojiro read the paper waiting for the next customer.

“Alright…done, how’s this?” Akira asked, as he slid his freshly made cup of coffee towards Sojiro, who caught it before taking a sip.

“Hmm, actually not bad,” Sojiro mused, looking at the coffee. “Certainly not up to this place's standards, but you’re getting there.”

“Thanks… I guess?” Akira said as he began to clean up. “Who knows, maybe you’ll teach me how to make your curry.”

“Heh, don’t get ahead of yourself, that’s far into the future,” Sojiro snickered, putting his book near his face before the door opened “Ah welco-oh.”

"Been awhile, Sakura-san,” an older man greeted in a saccharine-sweet voice, before crossing his arms. “I heard about how you opened up a store, so here I am! Wouldn't have hurt to have told me, would it? Quite the nice location. Right next to the station and everything!”

“Your order, sir?” Sojiro crossed his arms and glared at the man.

"No small talk huh? Cold of you, Sakura-san. That smell…you're still making her curry, huh?" he noted, catching Akira's attention. "Guess you still haven't gotten over her, have ya?”

'Her?' Akira thought, with a raised eyebrow.

"What is your order, sir?" Sojiro repeated, getting even more annoyed.

"Oh come now, Sakura…you know what I want to talk about," he stated. Sojiro stared at him for a few moments before sighing.

"Hey kid, mind heading out to the bathhouse for a bit…or anywhere, really? I gotta settle this," Sojiro said, making Akira shudder.

"Are you sure?" he asked, only getting an unamused look on Sojiros face. "Yeah I get it, sure thing.”

Taking off his apron, Akira made his way upstairs to go grab his towel and any other items he would need.

“Geez, what’s going on down there? Never would’ve expected Sojiro to have that kind of history,” Sumire said, looking over at Akira.

“Well, someone just came into the Cafe to talk with Sojiro, and they seem to have some beef with each other. He asked me if I could go out, so I’m gonna take a bath,” Akira explained, while looking for his deodorant.

“Want us to listen to them? Sounds like there might be trouble…” Morgana asked, prompting Akira to pause for a moment.

‘Hmm, this could be a problem later, but…’ he thought, before shaking his head.

“This… feels like some private stuff we shouldn’t meddle in,” Sumire added.

“Normally I’d disagree.” Akira began, “But we've got other problems to deal with right now, and I highly doubt Sojiro would be willing to tell us who he is right now… we’ll put a pin in it for later.”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Morgana sighed.

With that, Akira left the cafe to take a bath, which prompted Morgana to look up at Sumire.

“So, I’m gonna go and listen, you wanna come?” Morgana asked, making a cheeky grin grow on Sumire’s face as she used her glasses to flash a code.

“... Well alright then, suit yourself.” Morgana shrugged while moving towards the stairs.

“Huh?! Wai- but I…DANG IT!” Sumire groaned, dashing after Morgana.

—

It had taken a little bit of getting used to for Akira to accommodate the addition of Yusuke to the Phantom Thieves. He knew in advance that an increased amount of Phantom Thieves would mean a slightly bigger dent in their funds, but to make up for that, only a couple trips to Madarame’s palace, and the shadows were already dropping more money than those in the Castle of Lust. Morgana suggested it was because Madarame was richer than Kamoshida.

“Hm… I know Yusuke’s a bit of a twig… should we stock up more on safe room rations?” Akira asked, eyeing the snacks within the underground mall.

“I’d argue you should do that more, twig or not!” Morgana replied. “I’d rather not spend more time in these palaces than we need to.”

“Right, right.” Akira nodded, remembering his earlier blunder in Kamoshida’s palace. “How’s Sumire doing on the accessories?”

“Hmm…” Morgana squinted his eyes towards the jewelry store, where Sumire had just phased out of the wall of the back side of the store. She then made a message for Morgana to see. “Blue… ring… for ice attacks? Yeah, that should help him control and power up his abilities…”

Akira gave Sumire a thumbs up, to which she proceeded to float over to the others.

“Okay, so I think we just need to take a quick trip to Iwai’s, and we should be good to go,” Akira confirmed with them. “I’ve been meaning to upgrade our weapons for a while anyway; this is  timeexcuse to do so.”

“What are you gonna say when he asks why we’re buying more weapons than usual?” Sumire added, eyeing Akira down.

“A new friend of mine wants to get into the business? Should be a pretty easy excuse.”

“Just making sure,” Sumire said, crossing her arms. “That excuse is only going to work for so long if this happens again.”

“We’ll wing it!” Akira scoffed. “That’s what we do. Adapt and overcome. Besides, what are the chances this happens twice?”

“Right!” Morgana cheered with a newfound confidence. “Yusuke’s awakening is a blessing in literal disguise, and we need to make sure he feels welcome on the team.”

Akira bought the ring Sumire had found earlier, clutching it in his hand with a smile.

With all of this in mind, he was sure Yusuke would prove to be as good of ally to the thieves as he was a new friend of theirs.