Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It all starts with a cat. It's a little black cat with white socks on its paws and tail that just appears one day at school. Within the first week of April, the start of Shujin's school year, students begin talking about hearing a cat on campus. The teachers also talk about this cat, but no one is able to find or remove the cat from school grounds. It is easy for a student to run into it, but so far no teachers have been able to do the same. It's almost like the cat knows to avoid the staff. 

It is seen in many places: on the fence gates, perching on top of vending machines, sitting on the courtyard tables, and napping on windowsills. 

The first student to touch the cat is Takamaki Ann, on Monday, April 11; the second week of the school year. 

It has been a slightly rainy day, to the point where Ann had to hide under a store awning on the way to school since she forgot an umbrella. One unfortunate event led to the next, and she had to accept a ride with Kamoshida. The rain did clear by lunch period, and Ann found herself in one of the roofed courtyards, one that was hidden away from most other students. 

A soft meow catches Ann's attention, and the girl looks toward the noise. Just like the other students, she has also heard the rumors about the campus cat. And there it is. Sitting right on top of one of the blue vending machines is a black-haired cat staring directly at her. 

"Oh! Hello!" Ann greets it. She doesn't know why, but it feels like a sin not to say anything to it. The cat's eyes peer at her — wow, they really are blue, huh? — before it mewls and jumps from the vending machine's roof to one of the courtyard tables. 

It meows. 

Ann smiles softly, it is a really cute cat. "You like talking, don't you?" 

The animal turns it's head up and let's out another series of noises before flicking one of it's ears with a paw. Ann extends one hand out to it, like she remembers Shiho teaching her years ago. 

The cat stares at her hand. It feels like the animal is going to bite her but it gives a an aggressive sounding meow before bumping her hand with its head. 

Ann's eyes widen as she slowly runs her fingers behind it's ear, the cat leaning into the motions. "I thought everyone said you didn't like being pet?" 

It hisses, but doesn't pull away. She laughs. It's very vocal, like it hears someone speaking and can't help but talk back. The cat stays with her until Shiho rounds the corner. The dark-haired cat's ears flick upwards before it leaps off the table and into the bushes. 

Shiho blinks at where it disappeared. "Was that the rumored cat?" 

"I think so! Unless there's another cat on campus. C'mon, sit, sit, lunch isn't getting any longer." 

When Tuesday comes around, Ann finds it again in the same courtyard. But this time it doesn't run from Shiho. The animal peers at her from around Ann's bento box, and Ann swears it only reluctantly let Shiho pet it. 

"How do you think he got here?" Shiho questions as the cat perches itself on the far end of the table, lazily flicking its tail over the edge. 

Ann thinks. "Maybe someone from campus fed it so it kept coming back?" 

The cat meows, and Shiho's eyes flick towards it, humming. "I don't think he agrees with you." 

"Then, what do you think?" Ann watches as Shiho tilts her head, then raises one hand up to her chin.

"Is he lost?" It meows. "Maybe abandoned?" The cat interjects. "His family moved here?" A hiss. "Aw, look man, I'm trying my best here." 

Ann chokes on her drink, laughing as Shiho pouts at the cat. It's really like she's having a full on conversation with it. "What is this, twenty-one questions?" 

"Yes, but hardcore mode," Shiho says with a look of mock resolution. She points at the cat. "Sir, I will find out your secrets." 

It flicks it's tail. Meows. 

"I don't think it's amused." But Ann definitely is. 

The back and forth continues for the rest of lunch. And it is a back-and-forth, because the cat gets vocal whenever someone addresses it. They resolve to meet again after school, since Ann has duty today, and will finish around the time Shiho gets out of practice.

When after school activities end, it's Shiho who gets there first, dropping into one of the courtyard benches. She places her school bag on the table and freezes at the sound of a cat. 

"Welcome back!" Shiho nods her head at the black cat perched on the fencing. It meows back. "You really are chatty, you know?" It flicks it's head up with a hiss. "And mean." 

When Ann comes, they sit together and talk about anything that comes to mind. The new crêpe place in Shibuya, Ushimaru-Sensei nailing a student with chalk for sleeping, Ann's latest modeling gig. 

Ann pauses mid-story about one of her modeling partners when she notices Shiho's not as animated as she normally is. The other girl would normally make sarcastic comments about Mika. "Are you okay?" 

"I just—I haven't really been sleeping well. Too much to think about." Shiho's eyes shift down, over her clasped hands. "Nationals are coming up soon, and I keep thinking. Should I really be on the starting line up?"

The cat's ears flicker as it's head perks up. 

Ann frowns, staring at her friend. "Don't put yourself down like that, Shiho. I've seen how hard you work and how good your plays are. You're in the starter position because your skills are that good, be confidant in yourself!"

"Yeah...oh!" Shiho jumps as the cat launches itself next to her on the bench. It pads around before laying down with it's paws pressing on her legs. 

"See, even the cat agrees with me." While it is a little odd that it decides to accept pets from Shiho now, it is comforting. And the little animal near the other's leg brace gives Ann a perfect opportunity to bring up what Shiho kept skirting around for the past few days. 

"What about your leg? It looked really bad a few days ago." Oddly, the cat shifts away from the brace when she says that. 

Shiho shakes her head, running a few fingers through the cats fur. "It's fine, this kind of thing is normal when a meets coming up." 

It shouldn't be, though. Before Ann can voice anything, Mishima steps into the courtyard, saying that Kamoshida needs Shiho for something. Worry washes through her at the teacher's name. Ann wants to stop Shiho from going, but he wouldn't do anything to Shiho so long as Ann continues to do what he wants. If he hears that Ann stopped Shiho from going though? Ann doesn't want to know what he would do then.

When Shiho stands up to leave, the cat — who had been hissing at Mishima since he started talking — bites onto Shiho's blazer to stop her. Both of them stare at the animal, but it refuses to let go. 

"Hey, come on." Shiho slowly pulls her arm away from it, and the cat has to let go before it topples off the bench. 

The cat's ears flick back and it whines as Shiho leaves. In an odd moment of solidarity, Ann feels the same as the cat. Neither of them want her to go. 

When Wednesday comes around, they gain a new addition to their courtyard cat meetings: Sakamoto Ryuji. The teen had been skipping out on the volleyball rally and was laying on one of the benches when Shiho and Ann come during lunch period. 

Ryuji had been friends with the both of them since junior high. But after they came to Shujin and fell under Kamoshida's rule, the boy had withdrawn from everyone. Even still, he is a calm addition to their group. Their cat has also reluctantly accepted him, as it stares at him from across the courtyard. 

"It's cute, but I swear it's evil." Ryuji says, and the cat seems to take the comment personally. It hisses and bats at him whenever he tries to pet it, but it never attacks him, which they are all grateful for. 

They fall into a routine by Thursday. Every lunch period they would meet at the courtyard, talking with each other and their very vocal cat. 

On Friday, Shiho steps off the school rooftop. 

The entire school is in disarray, with students rushing down the steps to get to the courtyard and the teachers trying to herd them back into their classrooms. 

Nothing can stop Ann from shoving her way through the crowds to get to Shiho's broken body. And nothing can stop the rage she feels when Shiho whispers why, before the paramedics load her on a stretcher.

When Ann comes back to school after waiting hours in the emergency room, she doesn't know what to do. Even if she somehow managed to convince the police to do something about him, just going to jail wasn't enough. Not after what he did.

Ryuji and their cat feel the same, after she tells them through gritted teeth and clenched fists. She can only barely stop Ryuji from rushing upstairs and pushing Kamoshida out a window himself. 

Ann idly wonders if a knife to the man's throat would make him start begging for forgiveness he would never get. 

The cat lets out a mess of growls and hisses as it jumps over the courtyard fence, and Ann half-thinks it's going to find Kamoshida and claw his eyes out before she realizes it's storming out of the school. 

When Ann and Ryuji rush after it, everything shifts. Lightheadedness strikes at them, and the world swims before Ann realizes that the sky is red — when it very clearly shouldn't be — and the school is a castle — which it shouldn't be.

And there's a bobble-headed monster cat.

Which there shouldn't be. 

Ann points at it with a gaping mouth. Ryuji screams. The cat screams back and then Ann starts screaming too. 

"How did you—why did you— did I— but I couldn't have—what?" The cat monster's voice is high pitched, a cross between a child and slightly etherial and it makes Ann wonder if she somehow died in the past twenty-four hours without realizing it. Which she would highly prefer because it means that both this and Shiho being in the emergency room didn't happen. 

Then Ryuji screams again and Ann knows she's alive because her eardrums burst and she's ready to smother him into silence.

Ryuji stabs a finger at the thing, taking a step back like he's not sure if it will launch itself at him and bite his face off. "What the hell are you!?" 

"—Wha—I'm Morgana." The affronted look on the thing's face means that the words are suppose to clear something up. 

They don't. 

"Monster cat." 

"It's Morgana, and I'm not a cat!" The ears and lashing tail disagree, but Ann does not want to risk getting her face clawed off by saying it. 

The cat monster is their cat friend. They find this out after at least a twenty minute freak out from all sides, when Morgana gapes out that it didn't mean to drag them into the terrifying devil castle and that it just wants Kamoshida to pay. 

The words spark a laser focus from the both of them at Kamoshida's name. After a few demands from both of it's human friends, Morgana slowly explains what this place is. 

A pocket in a dimension of the human subconscious. The castle is Kamoshida's own mind distorted to high hell, and the reason he thinks he can do whatever he wants. How it's filled with monsters called shadows that defend the castle — palace — from intruders. How they can make Kamoshida confess to what he's done by taking the treasure from the depths of the pocket dimension. 

"You can't!" Morgana cries when Ryuji demands that they take the treasure right now. "It's dangerous, you two don't have a persona. I didn't even mean to bring you in. It's way to dangerous—you can die!" 

"We just get a persona thing then," Ryuji declares, staring down at Morgana. "How do we get it?" 

"You—it's not that easy!" Morgana throws it's paws into the air with a frustration the same as someone trying to explain why two plus two isn't five. "Your persona can only awaken when you reach a mental breaking point that forces you to rebel against society. You can't just buy one off a grocery shelf!" 

Ann considers this. "We just need a persona, and you'll let us take down Kamoshida?" Nothing would stop her from taking him down, from getting revenge for Shiho. If the cat wasn't their only way in, she wouldn't be trying to barter with it. 

"I mean, yes, but like I said it's not that easy—"

Ann turns around on her heel. "Fucking watch me." She walks right through the castle gates and rips a mask off her face with Carmen's voice edging her on. 

Ryuji's awakening comes later. As in, a whole half an hour later when they run into Kamoshida — his 'Shadow', with a capital 'S', as Morgana says. A being of this world with yellow eyes and the inner subconscious and desires of a person — in a church-like room with a statute of the bastard towering over them. 

It only takes a few words, but Ryuji collapses to the floor and rips the metal off his face to reveal his own persona, Captain Kidd. 

They fight until Morgana forces them out of the Metaverse with a look that mirrors Ann's parents when they find out she messed up something in their studio. With both of the blondes collapsed on the alley floor with a cat drilling them about the importance of safety with a plethora of meows, Ann's sure they make quite a sight. 

Once Morgana's sure they're thoroughly scolded, they decide to return again tomorrow. Oh, and the cat's now Ann's roommate, because her parents are away and the house is empty. On the walk back to the station, armed with a talking cat, they learn about how Morgana has amnesia, and doesn't remember it's — his — past. 

When they go into the castle again, it's a mess. The only good thing is that they now have codenames because using real names in the Metaverse can impact the palace rulers psyche. Ann doesn't understand it, but she trusts Morgana — Mona — so they do it. Ann's now Panther and Ryuji's Skull. 

Everything after codenames is a mess. They have no coordination in fighting. Skull keeps trying to rush out and bash shadows faces in like he's fueled on energy drinks and rage (which he is), and Panther has absolutely no defense and it's just a shitshow. It does not help that Skull often lets Mona's words go in one ear and then forgotten like his homework. 

Frustration between the party rises extremely quickly until Mona declares mandatory break time in a safe room. 

Things come to a head when Skull asks Mona why they never heard of people confessing and turning themselves in before. It's a valid question, Mona's been around in the Metaverse for supposedly a long time - given his knowledge. 

Mona's ear flicks, and he says, "That's 'cause I haven't changed any hearts." 

"Huh, why?" Skull's face twists in confusion. "You know all this stuff but you haven't changed any— wait—you knew about Kamoshida and you weren't going to change him!?"

Mona's fur stands on end. "Of course I wasn't! I don't have time to just parade around in people's minds!" 

"You were just going to let him keep abusing an' sexually assaulting people!? Let other messed up people do the same?" Skull jumps to his feet, rage coating his face and Panther feels the same fire under her. She wants to yell, to drill into the cat just like Skull is. But Carmen's voice is clear under the ashes and she's right.

This is not the time, nor the place for this.

Panther takes a page from Mona's book and says, "We're going to my house, now. And we're talking about this. Both of you, shut up and follow me."

Ann sits on her plush couch nursing a glass of water in her hands after having passed a soda bottle to Ryuji in the armchair. Ryuji pops open the cap and nearly chugs the entire bottle before he whips his head towards the cat on the kotatsu. 

"We're not in the castle anymore so talk, cat." 

Morgana bristles, and Ann sighs around her water. "Ryuji, I get you're frustrated but quit it. Fighting is the last thing we should do right now." 

Ann turns her head to Morgana and waits. 

"Destroying palaces and stealing treasures isn't what I need to do," Morgana says finally. His head is turned away, towards the pink-red rug next to the kotatsu "I've been in so many palaces it's just...yeah, humans get distorted and it's awful, I know but I didn't—don't— have time to just change every heart I go into." 

"Why?" Ryuji near throws his soda bottle on the side table. "You could'a stopped so much shit! You got this power to help people and you're doing nothin' with it!" 

"I told you, I don't have time! Even if I did, I'm not strong enough to take on palaces alone!" Morgana slams his paw onto the table, tail thrashing behind him. "Kamoshida's weak! One of the weakest palaces I've ever seen and I can't even fight him on my own. You think I could take on other palaces? I'd die!" 

Kamoshida's weak? They nearly died to him already but he's weak? 

Ryuji lets out a noise, tearing his eyes away and searing a glare into the wall. Ann knows that he's also aware none of them can take on Kamoshida's palace alone. 

"If you don't have time, then why help us?" Ann asks around her water. The cat had spent a full two weeks at Shujin, doing seemingly nothing. But with the addition of the Metaverse, Ann doesn't know if he really was doing something during that time. Either way, it doesn't make sense that he would act now if he is on a time limit for something else. 

Morgana turns his blue eyes to her, full of the same determination and anger that Ann feels herself. "Shiho. I won't let him get away with what he did to her." The cat's eyes darts towards Ryuji's leg but he doesn't say anything. 

"Damn right, we won't." Ryuji growls. "He's going down." 

Morgana's ears twitch and his face flickers. "We need to deal with Kamoshida as quickly as we can." 

"Your time limit," Ann guesses. Knowing Morgana, he values safety and wouldn't want them rushing into danger without preparing. If he's still pushing for speed, that's the only thing she can think of. When Morgana nods, she knows she's right. "How long do you have? And why?"

"I—don't know." Morgana's ears press against his head. "You both already know that I don't remember a lot. Almost a year ago I woke up in the Metaverse without any memories. I just—I only knew I needed to find something. I...I thought I needed to go to this country town but there weren't any palaces there. I found a trace of a palace that passed through so I followed that and I found this huge ship but whatever I was looking for wasn't there anymore. I took too long." 

Morgana shakes his head, a mix between frustration and desperation coating his face. "All I know is that I need to find it before it's too late. I don't know how long I have or what happens if I fail. I-I've been to so many palaces but I couldn't find anything until Kamoshida's palace. It's not there anymore, but it was. It wasn't recent, but I don't know how long ago it was."

"That's why you were at Shujin?" Ryuji stares at Morgana from across the room before messing a hand through his hair. "Shit, dude. A whole year?" 

Morgana nods, and Ann can see the stress all over his body. It's weird to see in a cat, but it's clear all the same. Ann can't even imagine that, the only thing he knows is that he needs to find something, no idea where or how, and that if he doesn't — or doesn't fast enough — something awful would happen. The stress of each thing just stacking constantly. How the cat hasn't collapsed somewhere yet, she doesn't know. Morgana's mental strength has to be extremely strong. 

"I thought I could find something in Kamoshida's palace. Maybe to track it. I—" Morgana's face screws in an odd mix of displeasure and embarrassment. "I almost got caught in the dungeons a week ago from not being careful enough. I couldn't sneak in any further alone, it just wasn't safe. Then Shiho—" he shakes his head. "We're going to steal his treasure, so we'll get deep into his palace. I might find something when we do." 

"And we got your back when you look." Morgana turns wide eyes to Ryuji. The other boy looks just as determined as his awakening. "You help us take down Kamoshida, and we can cover you if you find something." 

"And after Kamoshida..." Ann says slowly. None of them know what will happen after they steal his heart. "When everything's over, you still have a place here. And if you need help looking through other palaces, I mean, more eyes are better than one, right?" 

"You two..." Morgana's eyes start watering as he gazes between the two of them. "You would really—we don't even know each other and you know I have my own agenda and..."

"That don' matter," Ryuji cuts him off, leaning forward over the kotatsu. "You got us, we got you. Got it?" 

"Bold words for someone who was ready to throw hands earlier," Ann teases.

She watches as Ryuji jolts back and stutters, "Th-That's different! He was actin' like he didn't care. How was I suppose to know he got a world crises?"

With their newfound friendship and promise, the team goes back into the palace the next day. 

Fighting through the castle is hard, harder than anything they've done before. It's a struggle to get from one safe room to the next, and the puzzles are their own hell. Panther has never been good at puzzles and mind games, Skull and Mona aren't much better. Their only saving grace is how Mona can sense important cognitive objects, and Skull tries to piece things around with his video game knowledge. Even while they have a semi-working system down, it still takes hours to get through puzzles. Of all of them, Ann would say that the locking bars with the specific lever mechanic orders and the swinging axes are the worst puzzles in the palace. 

Not even counting the puzzles, fighting through shadows is a constant prayer to God, because they never know what will happen. Sure, Mona can sense when shadows are near and if they're massively stronger than the team or not (if the shadow was, they would take other paths or wait for hours to avoid it) but there's no telling what's inside a disguised shadow. 

Every time a they attack a shadow (which is already awful because they have no way to get close to one to rip off their masks like Mona suggests they do) they have to hope it's something weak to fire, electricity, wind, or bullets. Maybe melee too, but rarely any shadows are weak to that. Their personas have no type coverage. It's like playing Pokémon where they're fighting enemies with opposite type coverage that can knock them on their asses any second. 

The entire palace is an ordeal, and they do the best they can to adapt to it. Every day, Ryuji, Ann, and Mona take on the palace for hours until they find the next safe room or until they find the solution to the next puzzle. After, they go back to Ann's house and rest while marking the map Mona found full of as many notes and anecdotes as possible. (Ann can't even count how many vents they lost until they decided to mark them on the map). 

They still keep an eye out for anything that could help Mona, but so far they haven't found anything. In fact, Mona even says that the further they go into the palace, the less he senses it's traces. Whatever it is he's looking for, it never went deep into Kamoshida's palace, if at all. 

And along with all of their work in the Metaverse, they still have to deal with real world obligations and classes. Seeing the other volleyball students still wandering around covered in bandages is an ever burning fuel under them. 

The rumors in the school continue as well, and Ann does hear talks about how the student council president skips school on one day — the twenty third — along with another student from her grade, the Okumura heiress. At first, Ann is worried that Kamoshida might have done something to them, despite their standing in the school, but both of them come back to school just fine the next day. 

Still, they did manage to make it through. It takes just under two weeks, and a lot of trial and error and scaling the side of the towers, as well as multiple trips from Ryuji to Untouchables for upgraded gear, and from Ann to the pharmacists and stores for healing items, but they made it!

Kamoshida's treasure is some swirling cloud of...well, colors in a room full of gold and jewels. Mona assures that the treasure will appear when they send a calling card in the real world — which Ann is only a little worried about because how would that work without them getting caught? — but Mona's also against sending out a card yet because they're in no way strong enough to risk full security measures of a calling card effect. 

Because apparently, sending a calling card doesn't just materialize the treasure, it also puts the entire palace on lock down and every single shadow in the castle is supercharged. Which means they can die any second. So obviously, both Skull and Panther agree with Mona that they need to train the hell out of themselves before sending the calling card. 

The day of finding the treasure room, when they're all winding down in Ann's living room, Morgana speaks up. "It's not just the shadows we need to worry about." 

Because of course it isn't. Of course Kamoshida's palace isn't going to make anything easy for them because it hasn't for the past almost-two weeks. 

"Palace rulers will do anything to protect their treasure, so when we send out the calling card, Kamoshida will also be there." 

"You mean we gotta get past supercharged shadows and Kamoshida? More worried about the shadows, Kamoshida can't do anythin' himself." 

"No, that—" Morgana shakes his head, and the worry he has makes Ann worry too. "Just like shadows look like guards before they unmask, Kamoshida is the same. He hasn't unmasked yet."

"You're saying..." Ann stares at the cat, hoping to God that what she's thinking isn't true. "That we're going to have to fight a monster-like Kamoshida along with supercharged shadows?"

"Ah, no." Both Ann and Ryuji breathe out sighs of relief—"Kamoshida isn't the type of person to want help from others or trust others to help him so we'd only need to fight him." 

"That ain't any better, Mona!" 

"And we only have one shot when the card goes out."

Ryuji groans. "We're going to die." 

It really, really isn't good. So they train the hell out of the next few days, only stopping to rest for a few minutes in safe rooms before going out again. It's like those anime training montages where the protagonist gets strong after hellish training, except they're not the protagonists and they only feel like their limbs are going to fall off. But they are getting stronger, and soon they're able to fight even the shadows they avoided before. 

The days pass by until it's the twenty ninth, and they've gotten to the point where they aren't getting any stronger from the shadows in the palace. All of their personas have learned new abilities and strengths too, reaching moderate level magic skills and a few more healing skills — in Mona and Panther's cases — and buffing skills for Skull. 

They start making the calling card. Or Ryuji does, Ann finds that out as she comes back with a bag full of medications and healing supplies from multiple pharmacists around Shibuya, Shinjuku, and Aoyama-Itchome. He's sitting under the kotatsu in her living room, surrounded by at least two stacks of red and black cards. 

Ann silently mourns her printer.

The next day, Ryuji and Morgana sneak into Shujin before the school opens and the calling cards are posted on every billboard. 

It's immensely gratifying to see Kamoshida's face twist as he finds them in the morning.

They leave as soon as classes end, slipping into the palace under Morgana's Metaverse-traveling ability. 

The palace is vastly different than they're used to.

"Mona, I don't like this. Is it supposed to look like this?" The sky over the castle — which is normally a vibrant pink — is now shining a bright, bright red. It casts eerie shadows everywhere and Panther feels like the cold is chilling her through her Metaverse attire. 

Mona bobs his large head, gazing around with wide eyes. "Yeah, that's definitely the calling card affect. Wow, it's really strong though. It's like he's broadcasting his hostility to the entirety of Aoyama-Itchome." 

"Which means the card worked right? See, I told you to trust me." 

"It was still awful," Panther pins a look at Skull. Neither of them are artsy in the slightest and it clearly shows. 

"Come on, we don't have a lot of time." As always, Mona is right. The three of them make their way to the throne room, sneaking around shadows so strong they were radiating red auras. They take their time, as much as they can, not allowing any stamina to be wasted before their inevitable fight. 

The throne room is empty when they get there, and the treasure is floating in the treasury. It's a crown. Panther doesn't know what she expects, but the sight of the jeweled monstrosity isn't even surprising to her. 

Mona going stir-crazy over the sight of it and acting like an actual cat on catnip? That's surprising, but they're not going to talk about it right now. Besides Skull's comments. But that's still technically not talking about it. 

They don't make it out of the throne room. There was a small portion of hope that they'd be able to make it at least half way through the palace, maybe to the open entrance-courtyard before getting stopped. Of course, they're not lucky. 

Kamoshida, in all of his disgusting glory, transforms into a towering naked monstrosity with a cup of human legs and his treasure plastered to his head. Panther thought the dick chariot and the demon-toilet shadows were bad, but of course Kamoshida has them beat.

Everything is fast from there. They whittle down the Shadow like they practiced, throwing out debuffs and magic attacks. But just as Mona had said, nothing with palace rulers is easy, because Kamoshida starts eating the legs from his chalice and they now have another problem on their hands. 

Multiple problems, actually. Because he heals from eating ass and he now has chained gremlins at his feet shooting out balls at high velocity. 

Because of course he would. 

They employ their tried-and-true tactic of Skull taking a frontal position and blocking the assault with his pipe-bat because Panther and Mona are certified glass cannons and cannot take a hit for the life of them. Panther throws out power-amped fire attacks (thanks to Skull) at the gremlins while Mona keeps Panther's flames fanned with his wind and Skull's health up.

They also have to destroy the healing chalice, which is an experience. It takes at least fifteen minutes of soul-depleting magic attacks, lording comments from Kamoshida, and frustration - all for Skull to give up and smash the thing in with his pipe. 

It works. 

Panther doesn't know why she's surprised. 

With the chalice destroyed to bits and the chained dogs in ashes, everything's looking up. Until it isn't, and Kamoshida has a final move which includes a meteorite striking them. 

Panther coughs through the dust clouds, panicked eyes catching Mona pulling Skull's collapsed figure behind a pillar. Fear courses through her as she ducks behind the wall with them, ignoring the exhaustion and calling Carmen to help Mona in healing. Panther and Mona were lucky, having enough time to roll out of the way and only hit with the aftermath. But Skull was in the frontline defending them. 

He didn't have that time. 

Panther pulls away as Mona finishes healing and Skull shudders awake with a groan. Carmen comes forth again, lighting the banners and rugs on fire to keep the screen of smoke between them and the Shadow alive. 

"We need to get his treasure away from him," Mona says as Skull sits up, rubbing at his head. 

"Yeah, okay—ow— how we do that?" 

"If we had more people, having someone sneak off to shoot it down would be best but..." Mona trails off, and Panther understands. There's only three of them, two of them being people Kamoshida knows and actively pays attention to. Mona is the only one he doesn't know. Even if Mona is just an unknown, he would still be keeping an eye on the cat just from the appearance alone. 

"Your wind?" Panther suggests. It's the only thing she can think of. None of their guns are strong enough to knock the crown down from the distance between them and it. And they can't get close to bat it off.

Mona nods, face creasing in worry, and Panther remembers that they only have one shot at this. Only one try at stealing the treasure and forcing Kamoshida to confess. Just one try, and they're solely relying on Mona's wind magic. 

Panther takes a breath, and they step back into the throne room proper. Panther and Skull distract him, throwing out lightning and fire despite the growing headaches. Skull whips out his gun as Mona tries to knock the crown off, and it wobbles but not much more than that. 

After the third gust of wind, Kamoshida catches on and starts blocking the meager wind with a single hand. 

There's no way to knock it down. 

"This is bullshit!" Skull shoots his gun again, nailing the Shadow in his raised arm. They can't knock the crown off, not with only three members that are all known by Kamoshida. And not when he already knows to protect it from their continued attacks. 

Panther feels her willpower sinking. Even with all of their training, even with one of the weakest Shadows Mona has seen, they're still going to lose. "Mona, any Hail Mary's?"

"I-I don't—" The cat struggles through visible mental exhaustion before his head and ears snap up like a homing beacon. Only a moment later, Panther feels it too. Something dark and oppressive curling through the air. It's prickling at her body and her heart is pounding. It feels like death— "Get down!"

Panther hits the ground. She falls so quickly her knees ache. She hears Skull cry out from her left, as something bright flashes above them. Metal, brick, and concrete giving off thundering creaks and cracking. Panic causes Panther head to come up and her eyes to shot towards her teammate. 

Skull's lying on his back, staring with wide-eyes at Kamoshida's Shadow. Panther whips towards the monstrosity, breath catching in her throat because he's crownless. And that's not the most shocking thing. 

The air around the Shadow's head is sizzling with red and black energy, crackling like wisps of flames. The entire banister and balcony on the left side of the hall is torn to shreds. Wood and carpets bubbling and dripping down to the marble of the throne room. 

"What the 'eff?" Skull gasps out, pushing himself to his feet. "What the 'eff was that?"

The Shadow's own look of shock is mixed with rage as he sees the devastation. He opens his mouth and roars, "Who did that! What disgusting rat would damage my castle like this!? I'll have your head for—my crown! No, no, no—where is it? What have you done?" 

They watch as the Shadow delves into hysterics, body shrinking and twisting in on itself. It's bulbous head whips about trying to find the treasure. Whatever's left of the treasure. Shit, they needed to steal that!  

In a matter of seconds, Kamoshida's body reverts entirely. No longer a naked demon-like bobble head, he looks human again - back in that disgusting thong and red cape. 

Skull stumbles up, startling Panther as he yanks his gun from the ground and rushes forward. Right, right! This is their chance, they can't worry about whatever the hell the beam of death is right now. 

Panther grabs her own gun, pointing the muzzle at Kamoshida aside Skull. It's just a normal hold up—wait where's..? 

"Oi, Mona!" Panther whips her head around to their pseudo-leader slash technician slash cat-teacher. He's hasn't moved an inch, eyes locked onto the upper banister across from the gaping hole in the castle. Panther checks on Kamoshida again — still sniveling on the ground — before chancing a look towards the balcony. 

It's just darkness and shadows. Not enemy shadows but plain casted shadows. There's nothing there. 

"Mona, stop standing there and do something!"

The cat jolts, wide blue eyes tearing away from the banister. "R-right!" Slingshot in hand (paw?), he joins the two of them. A searing look on his face as he stares down Kamoshida. "Hand over your treasure, and we'll let you live." 

Panther's eyes flick towards Mona. The treasure had to of been obliterated. There's no way that it still...

The Shadow confirms her thought, "It's gone—It's gone, please."

"Is it really?" Mona presses. "You wouldn't let it get destroyed so easily. After all, it is precious, isn't it? No one could ever destroy it." 

"It's not..? You—no. Y-you're right." Kamoshida lifts his head, eyes widening with some kind of realization behind them. Skull and Panther take a moment to look at each other. Skull shrugs with a confused frown. "A rat could never destroy it."

Panther doesn't say how the rat he's talking about very clearly punted a hole into half of his castle, or how it very obviously did, in fact, destroy his crown. 

"Yes, of course. It is invulnerable, after all." Mona cocks his slingshot. "But you're not. Hand it over unless you want to be bleeding out in your own throne room." 

"No— No, you can't have it! I won't let anyone have it!" Kamoshida stumbles to his feet, arms wrapping heavily around the air distorting in front of him. "Guards! Guards!" 

"Ah— what the— Captian Kidd!" Skull trips back as armored shadows erupt between them and the palace ruler. Panther throws off a few shots at them, breaking their masks as Skull and Mona rip the forming shadows apart with their personas. "I thought you said we wouldn't have to deal with shadows for this!"

"The fight was over before he summoned them, so I was right." Mona shrugs unapologetically, with the same aura of a smug teenager. Which is odd to think of Mona and 'teenager' in the same sentence. He either feels too young and childish or too old: older than them.

"You little—" 

Panther catches Kamoshida standing at the edge of the hole, clutching a miniature-sized version of his treasure in his arms. His panicked eyes flitting through the hole and to the ground, and all Panther feels is rage. 

"Scared?" The pedophile jolts, head swiveling around towards them, towards her. "Right now, you're seeing the same view Shiho did. I'm sure she was scared too, but she had no choice but to jump."

The scene that haunts her nightmares flashes through her eyes again. Shiho standing past the fence, dead eyes and takes a step—

Carmen flares into existence behind her, fire arching into open air. "What will you do? Will you jump? Or would you rather die here?"

Part of her wants him to jump. To experience the same thing. To be broken and destroyed. But Panther knows he won't, he's always been a coward. It doesn't surprise her when he turns to groveling, to begging for forgiveness. 

None of her anger is appeased, not when he rolls his crown towards them. Not when he's groveling in fear under Carmen's fire. And not when he places his head to the ground as disappears.

That anger will never be curbed. 

Then the castle starts crumbling, and they're filled with another type of panic. The walls are tearing like they're at a demolition site, cracks spreading everywhere. 

"Shit, oh shit — we gotta go!" Skull jolts towards the door, crown clutched in his hands. Panther goes to follow him, but she catches Mona frozen again, staring up at the same banister, not even acknowledging the world crumbling to pieces around them. 

"Mona, come on!" Panther rushes towards the cat, scooping him up and running.  

Claws latch onto her arms, stabbing into her gloves and Panther stifles a cry as she dodges a falling rock. Mona's fighting, tearing and hissing and clawing like he wants to go back and die in the throne room.  

It has to be another weird thing like how he acted with the treasure. It has to be, and Panther isn't going to let go and lose one of her friends. Not again. 

The palace crumbles to ashes as they fall out of the Metaverse.

Chapter Text

"Holy shit, man. I haven't run that quick in so long..." Ryuji doubles over, one hand bracing himself on the alley wall. He heaves out another breath before forcing himself up and whirling around. "Ann, Monamona, you g—what the hell?"

Ann winces as Ryuji sees her. She knows her arms look awful, they feel awful, gross, sticky and stinging. Ann doesn't even want to see how bad they are, but she knows that they're not good just from the blood dripping on the ground.

"What the shit—what happened to you?"

"Um, Morgana did." Ann slowly shifts her arms, wincing at the stinging radiating up her limbs. The black-haired cat just lays there, not having moved an inch since they tumbled out of the Metaverse. "I think it's like how he went crazy over the treasure. He didn't want to leave."

"No, hold on, we'll talk about that later." Ryuji pulls off his jacket, manhandling Morgana out of her aching arms and rolled into his jacket with a warily cautious look on his face. The cat doesn't move or protest to being burrito-wrapped, and it's mildly terrifying to see him so subdued.

Ryuji lays the jacket-wrapped cat onto his school bag before pulling Ann's own jacket off and checking over her arms. Ann doesn't let herself look at them as Ryuji carefully cleans them off, applies medicine, and wraps them. For someone who doesn't use healing supplies often, he's surprisingly good at using their Metaverse gear.

Only when Ryuji pulls back to gather the cat in his arms again, does Ann look down at her bandage-wrapped arms. They span all the way from her wrists to just over her elbows, the wraps on her left arm going up near her shoulder.

Awful. Ann wouldn't be surprised if they scarred. She's going to need to research more into non-scarring medicines and how to make sure they heal correctly if she ever wants to have her arms on camera anymore. Not to mention the shoots she had to reschedule due to the palace excursions - she is going to have to wear long sleeves for the summer editions. Her agent is not going to be happy. 

Despite this, Ann doesn't regret a thing. If she left Morgana in the palace, he would have died and that was never an option.

Slowly, they make their way to Shibuya and back to Ann's home. Both of them keep an eye on Morgana, worry only growing when he doesn't even twitch a paw.

"Think if I dump him over, he'll say something?" Ryuji ponders while hovering the Morgana-burrito over her couch. Ann huffs, not giving the comment an answer since she knows the other wouldn't toss their friend.

Just as she thought, Ryuji unrolls Morgana from his jacket, and the cat is left on his side on one of the cushions. His dull blue eyes staring at the backrest.

Ann and Ryuji exchange glances, a mutual agreement to wait it out. Ryuji sends off a text to his mother that he's staying the night and Ann brings some of their spare blankets into the living room and dumps them on the floor. A few hours later, they find themselves buried under blankets and the kotatsu, watching the latest Featherman R movie while Ann runs her fingers through Morgana's fur.

Halfway through the movie, Morgana starts to stir and Ryuji lunges towards the remote to pause the movie in the middle of Black monologuing at Red. "Mona, you with us?"

"Ryuji?" The cat mumbles.

"Yeah, man. You okay? What happened back there?"

Their friend turns over in her arms, and Ann adjusts the blanket around him. He speaks in the most desolate voice, even more broken than Kamoshida when his crown was destroyed. "It's gone."

Ann blinks, worried and confused. Is he talking about the palace? It couldn't be the treasure, Ann knows Ryuji stuffed it in his pocket when they were in the alleyway. "What's gone?" She asks gently.

"What I was looking for, it's gone. They're gone." He sniffles, and Ryuji panics to grab a tissue box before fumbling his eyes between the fabric and the cat like he wasn't sure Morgana could even use it. "They were there—they helped us, and the palace collapsed on them."

Ryuji gives up and holds a tissue in front of Morgana's face to dry his damp fur. Ann shifts him lightly to make it easier for Ryuji. "The — uh, the death beam? You were looking for the death beam?"

Morgana burrows his head into the blankets and goes silent again.

"Hey, don't worry," Ann tries, because whatever Morgana is searching for, it has experience in the Metaverse that far exceeds theirs. "You said you found it's — their — tracks in other palaces, right? Like that ship? That means they can travel between palaces like you can, right?"

"Yeah! Yeah, man!" Ryuji jumps in. "If you knew the palace was goin' down, so did they! And you pulled us out even when you weren't paying attention to us so like Ann said, they gotta know how to get out safe too!"

Morgana slowly raises his head, ears lifting up as he considers their words. He takes a breath and slowly nods. "Ye-yeah. Yeah, that has to be right. I-I still feel like I need to find them so they couldn't have died—they couldn't have."

"Yeah, that's the spirit, man!" Ryuji cheers. "We just gotta go into the Metaverse again and keep looking. We'll find them."

"Not tonight," Ann states the obvious, because it clearly needs to be said. "We will soon, but we all nearly died and I'm demanding mandatory movie night. And I refuse to take the trains to a new palace in the middle of the night."

Morgana nods in her armful of blankets. "Of course! My head hurts way too much to go back into the Metaverse now. I wouldn't even be able to track them with this headache..."

Ann wordlessly slips him a weaker dose of cat medicine she bought from the pet store a week ago. "Did seeing them help you remember anything?"

Morgana wilts, and Ann already has her answer. "No, I— well, I know that I'm not looking for a thing anymore. They're definitely something living. I know I saw red eyes, so they couldn't be a person's Shadow. Maybe a wandering shadow?"

Ryuji settles in against the pillows again when Morgana seems more steady. "Could it be another persona user?"

The cat shakes his head. "No, that...I don't think so. Persona users have this aura. Like, a veil between them and the Metaverse. Physically, that's your Metaverse clothes. Remember how I said it protects you from distortions?"

When the both of them nod, Morgana continues. "Persona users have strong protective veils, and they didn't have that. I mean, they definitely had something similar, since most wandering shadows have a small protective layer to stop them from becoming one of the palace shadows..."

Curious, Ann asks, "What exactly is a wandering shadow?"

"All shadows come from Mementos and the Sea of Souls," Morgana's tail flicks as he says terms that should make sense, but really don't. Morgana seems to catch this, and quickly elaborates. "All shadows come from the human subconscious, a place separate from palaces."

That makes slightly more sense.

"A wandering shadow is something that travels from Mementos and into palaces. Normally, they're attracted to distortions and get drawn there. If they stay there for too long, the wandering shadow will slowly forget that they came from Mementos, and essentially get brainwashed into the palaces' distortions. They change from a wandering shadow to a palace shadow — like the ones we fought in Kamoshida's palace — and they lose their protective veils."

"Oooookay, and in Japanese now?"

Morgana pins Ryuji with a look of a disappointed parent. "Wandering shadows are shadows that don't listen to palace rulers, and can leave palaces."

Ryuji brightens in understanding. The cat sighs. "So that thing was a shadow? It took out half the castle! What even was that, Mona? Can we do that?"

"Uh, no." The bland statement has Ryuji wilting. "That was curse magic, like those winged shadows used. Not the small fairy ones, but the ones with tails."

"The demon-like ones that kept brainwashing Ryuji?" Ann asks, because that did happen. Ryuji huffs next to her.

"Yes! Those." Morgana nods his furry head. "Whatever attack that was in the throne room was a massive curse attack. Considering you both use electric and fire magic, respectively - it's not possible for you to do an attack like that. Maybe a supercharged version of your own elemental mastery, but not like they did."

"No death ray? Laaaaame," Ryuji drawls before he jolts up, startling Ann. "Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. Those flying bitches can do the death ray!?"

"They were waaaaay too weak for that," Morgana disagrees, his face twisting in displeasure with his whiskers twitching. Ann wants to laugh at the human-like look on its face. "Comparing those shadows to the wandering shadow is like comparing a water balloon to a gun."

"Those are nothing alike!"

"Exactly!"

Ann watches as the two glare at each other just for the sake of glaring. Before they delve into another spat, Ann asks something that she's been wondering ever since they brought up the ray of death again. "Mona, how did Kamoshida get the treasure back after? Because there's no way it would have survived that."

"The treasure?" Morgana perks up, then panics. He jolts to his feet and trips over his blanket confines until Ann steadies him with a yelp. "What happened to the treasure?"

"Oh? That." Ryuji pulls the medal from his pocket. The medal that had been Kamoshida's crown in the palace. They had worried about it when they first realized, but Morgana was far more important. Still, Ryuji presents the medal with flourish. "Bing!"

The cat heaves a breath of relief and collapses back down. "Oh, good. Good. If you guys left it behind it..." he shakes his head. Given his reaction, this is the treasure and they don't have to worry about the weird transformation anymore. Morgana tilts his head back to look at Ann. "How'd it unbreak? Since Kamoshida didn't see it get creamed, I played into his psyche on how no one can destroy his stuff and he did the rest for me."

"So, 'cause he didn't see it get vaporized, you brainwashed him into thinking it didn't get vaporized?" Ryuji pockets the medal again.

"Yep!"

"Brutal, but good job, cat."

"I am not a cat!" And there goes that heartwarming moment of friendship and comradeship.

Everything slows down after that. Now that they're not rushing their way through the depths of their gym teacher's heart anymore, they actually have free time. Neither of them know what to do with it anymore.

Ryuji starts physically training again, going out on runs since he can't sit still after the days of constant fighting. Ann continues to visit Shiho in the hospital while smuggling Morgana in through her bookbag.

Everything feels astronomically slow.

They continue going to school, doing homework and sitting through classes. The gym period has a substitute, since Kamoshida has been missing since their calling card. Morgana curbs their worry about that, and continues reassuring them that their heist did work, and this is just the result of that.

They aren't entirely convinced.

As for Ann's arms, they slowly start to heal as the days pass. Ann takes meticulous care of them, and while she wouldn't entirely mind having a few scars left over since it would forever be a reminder of saving Morgana from the palace collapse and Kamoshida's downfall — she still knows any damage to her body is an impact on her career.

Morgana found out about the damage on the second night after the fight, since she had been wearing long sleeves and jackets to cover the bandages. That was a long night of tearful apologies as Ann tried to convince him that it wasn't his fault, and he was only panicked over trying to save someone else and acted on instinct. He only backs down when Ann said she would have acted the same if someone tried to stop her from saving Shiho.

Morgana resolves himself to her recovery and keeps a strict schedule on medicine and bandaging, which Ann mirrors.

Sometime through the week, Morgana brings up Mementos again. A palace in Shibuya that the wandering shadow might have escaped to during the fall of Kamoshida's palace.

They decide to investigate the palace once Panther's arms heal fully.

Then the second of May comes around, and Kamoshida bursts in through the gym doors during their school wide assembly. Grief and horror coating his face as he confesses everything.

The sight is immensely gratifying to all of them when he's ushered into the back of a police car, and they never have to see him again.

The recovery period continues through golden week, and after about two weeks the majority of Ann's wounds are completely healed. There are a few more lines on her arms waiting to heal, but for the most part she's completely ready to delve into the Metaverse again.

So delve they do.

Mementos, they learn, truly is the palace of human subconscious, just like Mona had said. It holds hundreds of shadows and human Shadows as well, but all of the human Shadows stay hidden without calling cards.

Mementos is also horrifyingly creepy and straight out of a horror movie. It takes over the subway system in glowing red, pulsing veins and vines that Panther is worried that they'll come alive. There's also the whispers and the clicking and cranking of trains that they never see the sources of. And the shadows look like hulking blobbed monstrosities.

Panther really prefers the guards over these, these are just disgusting.

The Mementos trip also turns out to be a complete bust since Mona doesn't feel any traces of the wandering shadow, but that doesn't seem to surprise the cat since he follows the comment with: "but I've never felt them in Mementos."

That sparks a whole debate with Skull on why they're even in the creepy underground death tunnels in the first place.

The answer? Because Mona didn't sense the wandering shadow in Kamoshida's palace when it was right above them. So clearly it has to have some kind of stealth ability that hides it from pursuers.

Oh, and don't forget that Mementos is also important to Mona in some other way that he's not sure of, but he had benched that thought months ago when he had put his full focus on the wandering shadow.

At least they get some training in, however mediocre it is. The shadows in the upper floors aren't strong at all and it proves barely a workout. More like a light stroll, really.

After their trip, they regroup back at Ann's to debate if finding another palace is the best outcome. Ann clicks on the TV as she starts redoing what's left of her bandages, shoo'ing off Ryuji when he tries to help.

She's done this every day for two weeks she doesn't need help, thank you!

"Hey, what's going on?" Ann tilts her head at Morgana's confused voice. He's staring at the muted television, the two broadcasters locked in solemn discussion. A brief image of Kamoshida's trial disappears from the screen.

Ryuji presses unmute.

"—nds me of the tragedy last year." The male newscaster's voice projects from the speakers.

"It does, a little." The female caster agrees to a part of the conversation they missed, her face pinching in distress. "There were paranormal aspects around both incidents, but moreso with the Kurusu junior." Oh, Ann thinks.

"Yes, we'd like to remind everyone watching that if they have any new information come to light about the tragedy to contact your local station or the investigation team assigned to the case."

"Oh, man." Ryuji shudders when the ad break airs, dropping his head into his hands. "Just when I thought ma' forgot about it, too."

Ann's eyes stay on the television screen, the memories and stress from last year now fresh in her mind. The constant phone calls she heard from her parents in the living room, the hysterical voices on the other line.

"What? What tragedy, what happened?"

It's amazing how Morgana spent so much time in the human subconscious, and yet doesn't know about it. He should, especially if he was there last year.

"It was a freak disappearance, straight out of a horror show." Ryuji reaches forward to mute the TV, slumping into the couch. "A first year just vanished into thin air one day. Vanished. No one ever saw him again."

"But don't people disappear all the time..?" Morgana asks softly, eyes wide as he stares at Ryuji. Like he couldn't comprehend why this was a tragedy. "Was he kidnapped?"

"That's the thing, Mona." The cat's head swerves to Ann as she places the roll of bandages to the side. "We don't mean he got kidnapped or taken somewhere. He vanished. There was security footage of him walking home and then he was gone between two frames."

"It freaked out everyone in Japan, and parents got super overprotective, like my ma'," Ryuji chimes in, a haunted look on his face. "It's like a ghost story, man. This kid — our age — just vanishes when the cameras go static. And the worst thing is we know he saw somethin' cause you could see he freaked before he disappeared."

Ann remembers. She remembers it so well because it stayed on the TV for a full month after the fact. And even after, her parents kept playing it to try and find out something, anything to explain what happened. 

She remembers waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of the television playing. Curious, Ann had crawled out of bed, through the hallway and into the family room. Her mother and father bent over the the kotatsu with faces twisted and desperate. "Why is there nothing?" her father had hissed as the television froze over the white and black static of the video. Her mother covered her face, as voices cried through their home phone that Ann will always remember. She would have stayed frozen there, taking in the words of the Kurusu seniors if her mother hadn't turned her head and she saw Ann hovering by the wall. "Oh, Ann. Sweetie, what are you doing up?" 

"He called the police, you know." It wasn't a commonly known fact. Most people only knew about the security footage from the residential neighborhood. Ann only knew about the call because her parents and the Kurusu family were close friends and business partners. She did tell Ryuji, a year ago. "Seconds before he disappeared, he called 119. The operators and investigation team couldn't even make sense of the call before it cut."

"I remember that." Ryuji nods, heaving a sigh. "You know 'cause of your parents right? God, they were more protective than ma' when it happened."

Morgana jumps onto the armrest. "Did you know him, Lady Ann?"

She shakes her head. Shibuya to Kurashiki is a long trip, one she never wanted to take when she was younger. A full nine hour round trip, four and a half just to get there. Being that far away from Shiho and Ryuji was something she never wanted to do, so Ann only heard stories from her parents when they came back. She wonders what would have happened if she went, if she did know the boy before he vanished, outside of the stories she heard through her parents phone calls.

"No, only my parents did." Ann answers the question her friend asked. "My parents worked with his, and they had these business gatherings every other month with all these other big corporation owners. My parents didn't know him either, since they often had a crowd around them and Kurusu hated those parties so they didn't want to unintentionally drag him into talking with people."

April twenty third. Three weeks ago marks a year since he disappeared.

"Oh," The realization hits Ann late. "That must be why Okumura wasn't in school a few weeks ago. She was friends with Kurusu from the gatherings."

"She was? God, that sucks." Eloquent as ever, but Ann understands the sentiment entirely.

"That's...that's awful. I didn't hear any of this, not even in Mementos." Morgana's ears fold down. "They never found anything? No one was there? Nothing from the other cameras?"

"No," Ann mumbles. If they had found anything, she would have known. The voices of the boy's parents — their hysterical crying and terrified words, the begging to just have their baby back, safe and alive— it's something that Ann would never be able to forget.

The room goes silent, only broken by Ryuji's phone buzzing ten minutes later. "It's my ma', she saw the broadcast and wants me back home."

Wordlessly, they wave him off as he leaves.

The days after the broadcast are spent trying to forget the broadcast. Ryuji tries convincing his mom that it's still safe for him to go outside while Ann starts back up with her modeling job. The three of them continue delving into Mementos, traveling deeper with each trip.

Morgana still hasn't found any traces of the wandering shadow. He declares that he's going to find a weak palace that they can destroy to hopefully lure out the wandering shadow again.

Morgana decides to delve into the Metaverse while Ryuji and Ann are at school. He rides the subway to Shujin, staring at the academy from the fencing as his two teammates go inside. It's eerie, the empty hole Kamoshida's castle left behind. He was so used to feeling the malice curling just under the fabric of reality, like it was peering out from behind a single thin curtain that its absence is...Morgana isn't sure. The Metaverse itself feels empty here, only Mementos' endless presence remains. Is it supposed...to feel this empty? 

Morgana's eyes drift to the fence gate as the disciplinary teacher closes it. It doesn't make sense. The whole purpose of taking a treasure is supposed to remove the distortions, to wake the Palace owners to their own psyche and to fix those Metaverse pockets. So why does it feel like something's missing now? Morgana's never been one to distrust his own instincts, not when they were the only thing guiding him for the past year, but they only reacted to them. 

He digs his claws into the fencing, blue eyes staring at the empty hole behind the curtain of the Metaverse, remembering the tall reaching vibrant castle towers. Who was that? The feeling Morgana had before that curse energy, it was so familiar. He remembers how terrified he was, both Panther and Skull relying on him when he was too weak to do a single thing. That palace ruler, he was like nothing Morgana had ever seen before. But the shadow - calling them a Shadow really didn't settle well with him. It was so much more than just a wandering Shadow, but what else could he call them? 

Morgana shakes his head, jumping down from the fence, paws landing on the walkway. He lets his heart carry him in the direction of the closest palace as he thinks. It really felt like that shadow could sense how Morgana was feeling in that moment. The fear of losing Panther and Skull, of not being able to avenge Shiho, of being the one to lead both of his teammates to death. The air started crackling just after those thoughts, that massive pool of curse energy. How could something have that much power? The amount of death in the air, it felt on par with the Reaper. 

And those red eyes, they were nothing like anything from the Metaverse. They didn't belong to a shadow, Morgana was sure of it. The human-cat flicks his ears as he steps into the boundaries of another palace. A quick glance around shows no one, and Morgana steps into the palace. Shadows can have odd eye colors, they're beings of the Sea of Souls, of course they can look mythical. But persona users and Shadows are the only beings that can have eyes that glow. It represents their strength in both worlds, how either their bodies or their power remains in both the Metaverse and the real world. 

Blue eyes take in the palace, a cathedral. The marble spiraling towers stretching into the sky, oddly reminiscent of Kamoshida's castle. It's desolate, not a single trace of them. But the air vibrates and pricks at his fur, it's far too powerful for them, so he weaves through the curtain and steps back into the real world and continues on. Beings of power in the Metaverse only have yellow eyes. Well, yellow or gold. Gold has always been a representation of power to humans. But red? No creature should have glowing red eyes, what was that even supposed to mean? 

He's heard about red eyes being related to devils and demons in mythology, but it's more common for their eyes to be pure black. And even still, Kamoshida had many shadows that took the form of demons, none of them had red eyes, and none of them glowed. 

Neither Ryuji or Ann had any strong feelings about the shadow, or if they did they haven't said anything. Neither of them were frozen solid at their presence like Morgana was. The second that curse energy crackled in the air and vaporized the treasure and half the castle, Morgana could only see that shadow. Those glowing red eyes narrowed on Kamoshida from the upper banister, it's silhouette a mix between human and something else. He remembers how they ducked back into the shadows of the banister, before their eyes jolted towards Morgana; like they knew he had seen them. 

He couldn't breathe. It's you. When Morgana saw those eyes clearly, he just knew that this was what he was searching for. Who are you? What are you? They were like an animal, but he knew they weren't. Like a shadow, but he knew they weren't. A paradox. Morgana's own soul hummed so brightly, Zorro's presence wanting to reach out to them. In that moment, only that being was important. So important that he even forgot what they were in the palace for in the first place. 

Morgana sighs, ducking out of another powerful palace -- a factory -- and continues on. He felt more alive in those moments than he ever had before. Than Morgana ever remembers he was. He even acted differently with Kamoshida. Morgana may be callous sometimes, but he's never been like...that. Whatever that creature is, he's more important to Morgana than just his memories. It's almost like he's life itself. Or...more important than life? That would explain why Morgana didn't care when the palace started crumbling in on itself. He just wanted to see if the being was still there, still watching. 

They were. Their glowing red eyes were the first thing he saw when he turned around. Curious, wary, surprise, cautious, Morgana didn't know what they were feeling, just that they were feeling something. Those eyes were expressive but, Morgana wasn't able to tell. Were they proud? A part of him wanted them to be. He didn't know why, but he wanted it. He wanted to stay there, to keep watching the other, even when the palace fell. 

They kept watching, even as Panther pulled Morgana out. Morgana's...thankful that she did, he'd never forgive himself if he was the reason that Panther and Skull couldn't get out of the collapse. But this part in his soul wishes he stayed, wishes he was never away from the creature. Wishes, that he could feel whole again. 

Morgana stops near the street, taking a heavy breath in. Ryuji and Ann were right, and somewhere in his soul, Morgana knew this too. Even with the palace collapse, they were definitely alright. He needs to stop thinking about this, he has a mission. And Morgana can't forget a mission again. He refuses to get so caught in his own emotions that he puts his teammates in danger again. Wherever that shadow is, they will find each other again. Morgana's sure of it. 

I need to find a suitable palace. Morgana gazes around. He's been through most of Aoyama Itchome before, while he had a different mission then, he still remembers how powerful most of them were. Nothing in this area would be suitable. He turns on his paws and walks back to the station. Shibuya has a lot of palaces, surly there has to be at least one. He remembers a few palaces that were automatic no's, like that space station, trading center, and floating bank. Most Shibuya palaces were too strong, while some had clear entrance restrictions. It has to be someone with power, but only weak connections. 

Morgana weaves through the legs of other passengers as he steps onto the train and begins a seven hour search through Shibuya. 

The days pass slowly like this. It's a little empty without Morgana around at and after school. Ann makes it a point to message Ryuji whenever their little friend comes home. Sometimes, it's in the late hours of the day, when the sun has already set. She asks, one day, how many palaces there are for him to be out so long every day. The cat only gives a haunted look back and says, "you really don't want to know" before collapsing into sleep. 

When the fourteenth of May comes around, Ryuji confronts a stalker and said stalker begs Ann to model for him. They get tickets to an art show, and the stalker fucks right off. Yes, it does happen in that order.

Ann stares at the back of the blue-haired man as he saunters off like he just accomplished his life long dream of world domination. Ryuji peers down at the two offending tickets in his hand, looks towards Morgana hovering over his shoulder and asks, "So we're ripping these up and never talking about it again, right?"

"Yes, get rid of them!" Morgana tries to accomplish this using his claws. Ann quickly saves the innocent tickets by plucking them out of her friend's hands before her other friend can scatter them to pieces on the pavement.

"What did the tickets ever do to you? Don't you have any class! It's Madarame, he's a master artist!"

"Master, my butt!" Morgana jabs a paw where Kitagawa — the earlier mentioned stalker — vanished in the subway crowd. "His student's a creep!"

Ann would thank Morgana for defending her if it wasn't at the cost of tickets worth hundreds of thousands of yen. "Come on, please? I actually like art."

"You can't even draw!"

That is a low blow and Ann jabs him in the side for it with her nails. Ryuji screeches as he backs away from her.

Yes, she is going to the art exhibit that she was given tickets to by a creepy stalker. And she's taking her uncultured art-hating friends with her because they need to understand how beautiful some of the artists paintings are.

Ann makes this very clear to them after she hides the tickets from both of the boy's eyes, and they slowly realize none of their arguments are going to sway her.

Ann cheers when they finally agree. They're going to the exhibit!

April 23. 

Makoto steps off the subway into the Kurashiki station. For a country town station, it's surprisingly clean compared to the Shibuya lines. She supposes this makes sense, since country towns wouldn't have hundreds of people taking the station at all times like Shibuya. So this is where Haru spent so much time in junior high? There aren't even that many officers, Makoto can only spot one. How Haru could have convinced her family that it was okay to be here without guards in the past is amazing. 

"Haru?" Makoto rests her hand on her friend's shoulder. "How are you feeling?" 

"It's the same as it was back then." The girl places her hand over Makoto's, eyes drifting over the clean underground walls and few people walking through. "It's the exact same. I don't know why I thought it would have been different." 

"What do you want to do?" Makoto will help Haru however she needs to. Even if she wants to go back to Shibuya and they have to ride the five hour train back, Makoto wouldn't say a word.

"I want to see Haeri-san and Kiyo-san." Makoto doesn't know what she would do if Sae disappeared one day, how she would ever be able to live without knowing if her sister was okay. But here Haru is, dealing with that pain everyday but still holding her head high. Haru shifts, her short auburn hair gliding over Makoto's hand before Haru pulls their clasped hands down. She smiles. "I know it's a long trip, thank you so much for coming, Mako-chan." 

"Of course," Makoto squeezes her hand. "I promised you I would. You're more important to me than school, you know that." 

Haru giggles, but it doesn't sound the same as usual. Makoto doesn't know why it would. "That doesn't change that I'm thankful. Come on, you haven't been to Kurashiki before. I'll show you the way." 

They walk through the small station, past the card readers and into the open air. It's quiet. The wind rustles through the tree leaves as the sun shines down on them. The little picnic tables nestled around the station, and Makoto sees a few college students laughing through a nearby cafe window. Kurashiki is beautiful, and Makoto sees why Haru loves it here. She's always liked quiet places where everything feels secluded and private. It's why Makoto signed off on her using the rooftop for Gardening club, even if those two second years have started hanging out there at lunch. Haru only shook her head when Makoto asked her if she should stop them entering that space. They have to have some reason too, Mako-chan, she had said. 

"It's beautiful," Makoto voices as they leave the townspace and walk through the trees. Haru has a small smile on her face, one that makes her look so soft as she runs the fingers of her left hand through the hanging branches. 

"Isn't it?" Haru releases a leaf so she doesn't pull it from the tree. "Ai-chan and I used to walk here all the time. He always said that it's amazing how little people walk through the forest path." 

Makoto watches as Haru gazes through the trees, catching the moment her mouth opens. "Oh!" She tugs Makoto forward a step through their joined hands. Makoto follows her eyes, and she sees a patch of flowers sparkling through the shade. Light pinks, vibrant fuchsias, baby blues, and a single bright red. "I can't believe they're still here." 

Something about the composition is familiar. It's clear that they weren't grown naturally, like the colors were grown in a premeditated way. Still, the flowers fit the scenery. Like they had always belonged there. Makoto tilts her head towards Haru, the girl's face bright. "Did you plant them?" Makoto normally only sees Haru grow vegetables, but they definitely seem to have some of her touch. 

"Yes!" Haru nods, her short hair bobbing with her. "We planted one every time we faced something hard." She steps off the path, and Makoto follows her through the leaves and into a crouch as Haru runs her fingers over a fuchsia petal. "When I was having a bad day, Ai-chan brought me here. He said I should grow something, so that whenever I was feeling the same way I could come here and see what can come from something bad." 

"Really?" Makoto looks over the flowers again. There's at least twenty. Did Kurusu suggest it because Haru likes gardening? "That was sweet of him." 

"He was so callous about it, actually." Haru laughs, then pauses as her head ticks up. "Oh! Not about me, he was never callous about me. It was more...he was so irritated with what happened that it just came out that way." She turns back to the flowers, now feeling a leaf from a blue flower. "It wasn't just me. Ai-chan started planting them too. I don't think he ever did it for himself, I never saw any new flowers whenever I came here." 

"Did it help?" Makoto peers at Haru. "Planting them?" 

"Yes," Haru smiles. "Seeing that something this beautiful made me think of how insignificant those feelings were then." She raises her head, then pauses at the tiny bright red flower, surrounded by wide pink blooms of carnations. She stares and stares, and Makoto waits as the minutes drags on. 

Cautiously, Makoto asks, "Are you alright?" 

"Ai-chan planted that flower." Makoto pause at her voice, it's slow and eerily empty for her. Makoto looks towards the red flower, then back again. 

"Is there something wrong with it?" 

"I should have stopped him from planting that one." Haru stands, a frown etched on her face. Why? The flower may be small, but it's still beautiful, peaking out just through the carnations. Makoto voices this as she stands, but Haru only gives one last look at the flower before walking back to the path. "It's a cyclamen," she says before she disappears past the trees. 

Haru says it like the flower itself is a curse. Makoto doesn't know flower language, she's never been particularly good at it like Haru is, but the way she said it: that flower must have some bad connotations with it. Didn't Haru teach Kurusu flower language? If the flower has a bad meaning, then why did he plant it? 

Makoto shakes her head and pushes herself to her feet. Casting a last glance at the flowerbeds, she hurries back to the path and threads her fingers through Haru's hand again. They walk through the forest path in silence. The dirt scuffs under their shoes as they walk, and Haru pauses when they escape the canopy of leaves. An open lake washes through the open meadow. Makoto gaps as the crystal clear water sparkling under the sunlight as light currents wash against the grass. Something like this was hidden in the forest? How was this not more well known? 

Haru sniffles. Makoto's blood runs cold when she turns and sees tears running from Haru's brown eyes. "Oh, Haru." Makoto pulls Haru to her and holds her as she cries. 

They stay at the lake for hours. It's only once Makoto's sure that school hours have passed that Haru's ready to leave. She leads them through another forest path and back into the town. Brown and blue uniforms color the streets as other high and junior high students wander around. 

Haru stops before a house. It's larger than a traditional Japanese house, yet it still feels comfy. Not like those large homes that feel so pristine that no one lives there like Haru's does. Makoto follows Haru up walkway through untrimmed grass and watches as Haru's hand hovers over the door. Makoto squeezes her hand. 

Haru knocks. 

There are sounds in the house. The lock clicks, and the door opens. A middle aged woman stands in the frame, her long curly black hair cascades down her back. It's oddly frizzy and unkept for someone of her standing. Her brown eyes soften as she sees them. 

"Oh, Haru. It's been too long, sweetie." Makoto lets go as Haru steps forward into the woman's open arms. She cuddles Haru close until the girl steps back with a start. 

"Oh! Haeri-san, this is Niijima Makoto. Mako-chan, Kurusu Yulier." 

Makoto lowers into a bow at the introduction. "I apologize for coming unannounced, Kurusu-san." 

"Mako-chan? Ah, please don't worry, Haru's told me about you. Please, come in, both of you." She steps aside, inviting them inside. "And call me Haeri, dear." 

Makoto steps inside after Haru, tugging off her shoes. Just like outside, it's homey. Picture frames coat the hallway wall, and everything looks lived in. Nothing pristine or newly bought. This is where Haru stayed so often, where her and Kurusu spent so much time with each other. Where they became family. 

Makoto's eyes catch a particular picture. Kurusu and Haru sitting together on the couch that she sees at the other side of the room. Both of them are grinning widely as Kurusu's latched around Haru's left arm. They both look so young. Haru's previously long hair was braided tight around her head, giving the impression of the short cut she has now. Makoto sees Kurusu's parents behind the couch. Haeri-san's hair is sophistically braided similarly to Haru's, and the wicked little grin on her face as she stares at her husband expectantly. That husband is staring down in aghast at his son. 

Makoto has no idea what the reason for the man's reaction, but in the picture immediately under that one, there's no trace of the expression at all. They're all smiling happily, there. Haru looks so carefree in a way that Makoto hasn't seen since a year ago, when she broke down as she told Makoto about Kurusu's disappearance. 

"You can head upstairs, dear. Take your time." Haru nods gratefully, and leads Makoto up the steps. "Oh, and Haru?" 

Haru tilts her head back, staring behind Makoto. "Yes?" 

"I think you should take Morgana with you." Makoto feels Haru's breathing stutter through their hands. She looks back at Kurusu's mother, and Makoto sees a soft kind of steel there through her red-rimmed eyes. 

"Haeri-san?" 

She smiles. "Until Akira comes back, please. I know how much he means to both of you." 

Haru sucks in a breath, then turns on her heel and rushes up the steps. Makoto watches as she stops before a door, and grasps the knob carefully between her fingers. The door is pushed open, and Haru breathes before walking in. 

It's pristine. Unlike the rest of the home, the entire room is maintained and untouched. Not a single spec of dust on the desk or the bookshelf. A notebook and a first year's textbook resting on the desk. 

Haru is sitting on the made bed, over the black and red covers. She's running her fingers over a black animal. A cute stuffed cat, and it reminds her a little of Bucchimaru with it's white paws and tail tip. Carefully, Haru picks up the stuffed cat, it's paws dangling in the air before she cuddles it to her chest with a hitched breath. 

"Is this...Morgana?" Makoto guesses, taking a cautious seat next to Haru. She doesn't want to mess with anything, paying special care not to kick the rug as she sits. 

"Morgana." Haru nods, burring her face into it's faux fur. "Mona-chan for short." Makoto leans against her, placing a hand over the other's knee. Haru collapses into her side. "Ai-chan found him on his birthday, but Ai-chan's terrible at claw machines, so I got Mona-chan for him. He's always been with us." 

Makoto wraps her arms around Haru, eyes catching on a vase of wilted flowers on the desk. The only instance of imperfection in the room. They were flowers that Makoto could recognize, ones that Haru always has in her own room. Camellias and astilbes. 

The flowers are now wilted brown, she thinks they used to be pink. 

Chapter Text

Yuuki stumbles through the door of the newspaper room. Akemi, the leader of the newspaper club, slams her notebook down when the door closes behind him.

"Mishima!" She grins wide. "I was beginning to think you forgot about me!"

"What?" Yuuki stutters out. "I would never - I just got held up in class and then Hotaru didn't want to do his clean up duties and—"

"Mishima," Akemi frowns. "You know you can't keep letting them boss you around like that."

But he deserves it. After letting everything happen to Suzui and the other volleyball club members. For not being able to do anything to help them. For standing with Kamoshida and not against him.

He deserves it.

Akemi sighs. "Just, try to stand up for yourself, okay?"

Yuuki nods, even though he knows he won't. He thinks Akemi knows this too. She doesn't say anything either way.

Yuuki met Akemi not too long ago, only a week after Kamoshida confessed on the stage. She had been asking around for information on Kamoshida, found Yuuki, and well, they both found out of their mutual like of the Phantom Thieves and things spiraled from there.

Akemi also found out that Yuuki was good at information gathering, since he was so unassuming to the other students. She immediately started asking him to help her with some of her articles and well, Yuuki agreed.

He wants to be useful to at least one person.

"Oh! Oh! I found this!" Akemi backtracks, pulling a heavy book from one of the printing tables. She holds it out to him. Coding for Dummies: 101.

Yuuki's eyes widen as he looks up at her.

"You mentioned before that you wanted to learn it, and well I found it when I was shopping and thought of you." Akemi smiles, brushing a strand of hair from her glasses. "You need your fun stuff too. Live a little, man."

"You... bought this for me?" She's so kind. She's always been so nice, regardless of what happens—

"Aw, don't cry." Akemi says. "Look okay, you go home and read your nerd textbook. And tell me about it later, 'kay?"

Yuuki hugs the book to his chest and nods. He keeps it close all through the subway ride and back to his apartment in Shibuya.

He only mentioned coding in passing, when he said that he wanted to do something to help the Phantom Thieves. To show that he was thankful for what they did, and to help them help others.

Yuuki sits at his desk, turning his computer on, along with the radio beside it. He flips open the textbook to the first page.

The newscasters mention the Phantom Thieves, and Yuuki pauses, looking up in time to hear them then mention the Kurusu tragedy.

"There were paranormal aspects around both incidents," the female caster says. 

Yuuki stares. He's always known Kurusu's disappearance was paranormal. He's always been sensitive to things like that. So why did he not consider that the Phantom Thieves could be paranormal too?

Yuuki opens up a bookmarked tab, the video of Kurusu's disappearance playing again. He considers the newscasters.

"Could they really be...connected?"

Ann likes art. She's not good at making it, her school attempts often resulted in her teacher asking if it's meant to be abstract - no, it was a bunny. Ann's just not meant to make art. That doesn't meant that she can't appreciate it.

Appreciate, she does. Every painting on display is different from the last, different styles and subjects and scenery. It's like Madarame dips his brush in every possible style just to try it.

"What's even fun about this?" Ryuji mutters beside her, leering at a painting of Inokashira park. It's definitely one of her favorites, depicting a bright deepening sunrise, while the water from the lake reflect the starscape of the night prior. It's beautiful, and Ann feels like it's trying to show two different worlds simultaneously. The brightness and activity of the day and the solemn calmness of the night.

It's a wonder how someone like Madarame is able to make paintings like these.

It's even more of a wonder how Ryuji doesn't even sense anything from it.

Ann sighs. Ryuji's always been like this. If it was a video game concept art, he'd be all for it. But real art? No way. Ann eyes him disappointedly, "Is it at least pretty?"

"I mean, I guess? It's just Inokashira. Not even accurate."

Ann sniffs as Morgana pokes his head out from Ryuji's bag. He takes one look at the painting, face coated in half-interest and half-displeasure. The displeasure wins as he disappears into the bag again.

"I can't believe you two."

"I'm bored."

"Deal with it," Ann turns on her heel to keep looking. Ryuji groans as he trails after her. Ann flits between paintings when a flash of familiar blue catches her eyes. Kitagawa is planted across the room, peering at one of the portraits with a thoughtful gaze.

Ryuji groans again when the other man seems to feel their stares. He lights up so quick Ann thinks someone just plugged him into an outlet or something. The artist is at their small group of two-and-a-cat in seconds.

"You came!" His eyes catch to Ryuji, "...you came."

Ann wants to both laugh and cry as Ryuji glares at him. "I don't wanna be here either, man."

"My brother!" Ann chokes out when Kitagawa's attention goes back to her so curiously that it's like he's demanding to know why she has an entourage. "Him. My brother. We're related. I forced him here."

Ryuji looks like he'd rather jump into the Inokashira painting and drown in the star lake.

Kitagawa nods sagely. "Ah, yes. You both do have a familial aura around you..."

"That's terrifying." Ann elbows her new brother into silence.

The artist offers to show them around, and Ann readily agrees through Ryuji's protest. The more Ann sees of Kitagawa, the less creepy and stalkerish he is. Honestly, his character feels like it's a cross between a lack of social awareness and customs mixed with art-nerding.

Through his tour, the scenic paintings catch Ann's eyes the most. Seeing places she's been to through other lenses and depictions is breathtaking. An abstract painting stands out too her as well, which is odd because Ann never particularly likes those.

It makes sense when she sees this one, because wow. If there is ever a visual depiction for fury and sorrow, this is it. The harsh brushstrokes play a symphony of hardships. Anger and outrage in the deep reds and fast strokes, blending in to deep yet soft blacks and grays running like tears.

Kitagawa doesn't like that one. Ann can't imagine why his face twists sour when she answers his question of why she would want to look at that painting. It's so emotion filled, is her answer.

The artist guides them away from it quite quickly after that. The tour continues until they reach the end of the exhibit walls and Ryuji's quiet (shockingly!) whining behind them.

"Have you given thought on becoming my model?" Kitagawa tilts his head, begging with his eyes in the same way Ryuji does when he wants someone to play video games with him.

"Say no!" Morgana hisses from the confines of The Bag.

"I'll do it," Ann says, ignoring the baffled what!?'s from both of her companions.

"Truly?" Kitagawa brightens.

"I mean, your sense of art is really good. I can only really pick out feelings but you have the visual technical stuff too." Ann shrugs. "I guess what I'm trying to say is you're an obvious art nerd, so as long as it isn't anything weird, sure."

"Ann."

Kitagawa looks like Ann's just hung the moon. And the sun. Maybe the stars too. "Here - may I give you my contact? We can start planning immediately!"

They exchange numbers, already the best of friends.

"Ann."

"Oh, right. You." Ann drags her eyes over her blond teammate. She ignores his indignation at the obvious once-over and turns back to the artist. "Can Ryuji come too?"

Kitagawa visibly wilts. "Must he?"

"Unfortunately."

"I still can't believe you just accepted that!" Ryuji complains for the millionth-and-one'th time since she exchanged numbers with the Kosei student. They're currently walking down the far backstreets of Shibuya where Madarame and Kitagawa are supposed to live. Ann's not entirely sure if they're in the right place with all the worn down buildings, but they did check the GPS multiple times over.

"He's not that bad," Ann drawls. "You'd see that if you stopped thinking of him weird."

"Somethings not right about him, Lady Ann!" Morgana pulls himself onto Ryuji's shoulder, ignoring the boy's wince and hiss of claws!. "No one just approaches someone else for a creepy reason like that!"

"And this place is creepy, too," Ryuji mutters as he gazes around the broken neighborhood. Morgana's ears flick back as he sniffs the air, and Ann expects him to start commenting on the smell of the street too.

"Okay," Ann relents. "It is a little worn down."

Her phone beeps, and Ann looks a few houses down to one of the more...old looking ones. Ryuji follows her look, face twisting in disbelief. "It ain't that one."

The house looks like a broken down shed. Not to play on stereotypes, but the wind really would knock it over.

Ann checks her phone again. "It is." She mirrors his look of disbelief. "Maybe it's not so bad on the inside?"

Ryuji stares at the wooded monstrosity. "We're going to die."

"There's something here..." Morgana chimes in for the first time in minutes. He sniffs the air again.

"Yeah, the house of death." Ryuji waves his hands towards the house.

Morgana shakes his head. "No, I mean..." his ears flick again. "There's— that house. It's definitely a palace."

"What?" Both of them whirl towards the cat (or the best Ryuji can, with the animal on his shoulder).

"You can't be serious, that's a palace?"

"I know what a palace feels like! That's a palace!" The cat jabs a white paw at the door, then jolts and vanishes into Ryuji's bag when the door slides open.

"Ah," says the blue-haired artist who lives in the broken shed that's apparently a palace. "I thought I heard yelling. Hello, Takamaki. Takamaki's brother."

The two high schoolers exchange looks of pure, unadulterated panic before going into the shed to model for the maybe palace ruler.

Ryuji breathes before stepping inside the dark shed. "We're going to die."

They don't die, but they do sit in absolute silence for three hours where Ann has to stay completely still and Ryuji and Morgana are shifting on the side bench trying not to talk about the apparent palace. Ann reckons this is worse than dying, because that would at least be quick.

Kitagawa gives up after those three hours with the depressed words of I just cannot find the inspiration at this moment and sends them on their way with apologies.

Ann has to smack a hand over Ryuji's face to stop him from asking about the palace.

They find themselves in the small park across from the shed once freed, hiding under the small jungle gym like schoolchildren playing hide and seek. It's as good a place as any for Morgana to pull them into another reality.

The world shifts around them and Ann — Panther — gets an eyeful of the gaudiest looking building she's ever seen.

Panther has to voice it. "Oh, that's gross." 

"I want my sunglasses," Skull gags at the fiveish-story mall-like building that's covered completely in gold. And only gold.

"You don't even own sunglasses."

Skull doesn't deign that with a response as they all take in the sight. "This is Kitagawa's palace, huh? I told you he was weird."

"There's no way in hell this is Kitagawa's palace." Skull looks like he's about to argue this point and Panther shuts that down immediately. She claps her hands together and points her nails towards her teammate. "His palace — if he had one — wouldn't look gaudy."

"I think Panther's right on this one." Mona tilts his head up at the palace. Panther silently cheers and resolves to buy fish for him tonight. "He was an art geek at the exhibit the other day. I don't think his palace would be...gold."

"We don't even know the guy," Skull huffs in argument. "Fine, whatever. Let's just check it out."

Trying to get in the palace is much different than Kamoshida's. For one, there's no front gate to walk through; the only similar thing being the entranceway, but those doors have cognitions lined up all the way down the street. It takes climbing the wall with a parked bus, to scaling the side of the building, to find a few loose glass panels to an observatory-like room to get inside.

They drop in and are immediately greeted by plush blue carpets and painted walls. A stark contrast to the broken wood floorboards from the shed.

"Whaddyou think it is?" Skull wanders around the room, staring at the gold podiums. "Probably somethin' fancy."

"I...think it's a museum?" Mona mumbles, padding towards the doorway that leads further into the palace. "That, or some kind of exhibit or showroom."

Mona, their ever smart Metaverse expert, will always be correct about Metaverse things. They've learned this after the second bullshit puzzle in Kamoshida's palace. The two of them have silently assumed that this was due to how many palaces the cat has gone through over the year.

"Oh!" Skull and Panther whip towards the cat's voice. Instead of anything dangerous, he actually looks giddy, nearly jumping out of his nonexistent shoes. "It's a low-level palace! It's around the strength of Chemdah!"

Panther only barely recognizes that name as something from Mementos. Skull, however, only catches the first part. "You mean we can do this one?!"

Mona bobbles his head. "Yes! It's perfect! Oh, man, I've gone through so many and there was one right here—!"

"What are you waitin' for then?" Skull cheers, "Let's go!"

He brushes past the doorway and alarms start going off. Skull panics, head whipping back as Panther asks what the hell he just did before shadows spawn.

It was a laser sensor. In the doorway.

Panther silently cries that this is going to be worse than Kamoshida's palace.

They don't get that far in before they see paintings. The first thing Panther notices is that they're all the same style. She's never seen Kitagawa's art before, and Madarame's was a million different styles. Is there someone else living in the shed with them, or is this Kitagawa's style?

The second thing is that they're all portraits. Every single one is a person, young, middle-aged, old, but they're all people.

"Guys? Here!"

Panther follows Mona's call, weaving through the oddly positioned walls to find him. He's standing in front of a singular moving painting, and Panther freezes when she sees it.

Kitagawa. Poised, neat, and proper. Not a single bit of the excitement he's shown at the exhibit and towards Panther. Nor the reflux or any displeasure towards Skull. He doesn't look like a person.

"What the hell?" Skull gapes out behind her. "Is that Kitagawa? He doesn't even look like that!"

"It's a cognition," Mona says, and Panther fumbles around the word in her head. A cognition, just like the people standing in line out front. Just like the books, the cells, and her in Kamoshida's palace.

"Wh—but ain't those people?"

"Not...not always." Mona shakes his head, but he doesn't turn his eyes away from the cognition - the painting. "Palace rulers can see others as anything. Mice, flies, plants, ATM machines...anything goes."

Mona turns, emotions swirling behind his blue eyes. "The palace ruler doesn't see Kitagawa as a person, like Kamoshida did with Panther. He's just a painting."

Understanding hits Panther. She sucks in a breath, feeling Carmen's fire rising in her. "They see him as a possession."

There is only one person that could treat him that way. Only one that could have such control over him to even begin to think that. All of the other portraits — the cognitions — and every single different style that shouldn't be possible for someone to do. Something that he was famous for.

Madarame.

They go back to Ann's house after that, not without Ryuji arguing that they should stay and get through as much of the palace as they could, of course.

"Should we...bring Kitagawa with us?" Ann wonders, fingers picking at her sleeves in the living room. He deserves a chance to stand up for himself, to stand up to the person oppressing him. Just like Ann and Ryuji have.

"Hah? He's not even gonna believe that palaces exist, who would believe that?"

"I think Ryuji's right here," Morgana chimes in, tail flicking over the kotatsu. He ignores Ryuji's cheer as he continues. "Not just because of the Metaverse, but Kitagawa seems very loyal. Either that or Madarame has something on him. He has to see what Madarame is doing, but he hasn't done anything about it, and clearly stands up for him too..."

"But if we give him the option," Ann says. "It could...he might..."

Ryuji shifts in his seat. "He might change his mind?"

"Yes," Ann nods. The idea of anyone being some kind of possession for another, Ann hopes no one would ever stand for being used like that. "If he sees Madarame's palace, he might change his mind. Or he could awaken, like we did."

"I don't know..." Morgana frowns, ears falling. "People who grow up in situations like that, it's unlikely that they would ever break from it themselves."

Ann drops her sleeves, straightening and looking directly at Morgana. "Let me at least talk to him. Let me at least try."

She tries. Ann goes to Kitagawa's shed of a home alone the next day, knocking on the door and biting her cheek as it opens.

"Takamaki?"

"Hi, Kitagawa." Ann raises one of her hands in a little wave before she drops it. "Is Madarame here?"

The boy stills, eyes narrowing ever so slightly. "Why is that of importance?"

Ann shifts on her heels. "I wanted to talk to you about something, and private is best..."

Kitagawa stares, and Ann shuffles again before he opens the door wider, beckoning her in. "Sensei isn't here, at present."

"Oh, okay." Ann steps inside, exhaling. "Good."

Kitagawa turns (after staring more) and walks into the same room they used for the modeling attempt yesterday. He considers his stool, before sitting on the bench Ryuji had been on. Ann sits next to him.

She taps her feet against the wooden floor, Kitagawa silent next to her. "You know I go to Shujin, right? And how I model in magazines?"

Kitagawa hums. "Your uniform isn't like other academies. And you have mentioned your profession."

"Right," Ann nods. "Right, so, being a model naturally attracts attention, and it's not always the...the um, good kind." Ann shifts again, decidedly not looking at Kitagawa. The wood has a lot of grains in it, so her eyes follow the lines on the ground.

"I got the attention of a teacher." She says, finally. "He kept trying to talk to me, whenever he saw me. Offering to give me rides and he started talking about me, not like a lot, but like he was hinting at parts of my body. Then he starting talking about shoots I was doing, ones that hadn't been released yet."

Kitagawa shifts, and she knows he's looking at her. She doesn't look back. Not even when he inhales and starts— "Takamaki—" and stops again.

"I realized that he was getting my schedule from somewhere. He knew where I was, and what I was doing. I tried to tell him to back off, but he...he started threatening me with my friend." The wood grains trail all the way under the easel, Ann notices as she clenches her fingers. "He threatened me with her own work, her club, her team. Said that if I did what he wanted, he wouldn't do anything to her."

"A month ago," Ann continues, "he told me to go to his house at night."

"Takamaki."

"I didn't," Ann says quickly, spurred on by the uncharacteristic tightness of the other's voice. "I didn't go. He went after my friend instead. What he did to her..."

Ann sucks in a breath, ignoring the pressure behind her eyes. She has a point to saying all of this, she is not going to cry now. "That teacher was Kamoshida. You've heard of him, haven't you?"

Kitagawa is still beside her, but Ann still doesn't look. He breathes. "Shujin's Olympic gym teacher. He received a calling card from an unknown persons, and submitted himself to the police for abuse, sexual assault, and rape."

Ann nods. "The people who stopped him, who got him to turn himself in, they're the Phantom Thieves." She takes a breath, and nods again. "They went into his head, saw exactly what he thought of everything and everyone. They saw how he thought he owned every student. How all of the girls were his personal concubines. How the boys were his punching bags and toys. They went into his mind, and took away everything that made him think he had the right to act that way."

Now, Ann looks. She turns her head towards the artist. His face is twisted, eyes pained but face pinched in confusion. "I promised myself that I would never let a person be used — hurt — like that by someone else. That's why I became a Phantom Thief. Kitagawa, I want to help you."

Kitagawa blinks, eyes fluttering rapidly as the words seem to catch up to him. He sucks in a breath, eyes darting to the door and back to her. "What are you saying?" He leans back, voice tight.

"I've seen what Madarame thinks, just like I've seen what Kamoshida thought." Ann's voice is quiet when she says this, but she knows he heard it. They're too close for him not to have heard. "I want—I'm going— to help you. But if you want to see for yourself, to stand up for yourself like we did—"

"You're a Phantom Thief." Kitagawa declares, eyes narrowing. "You want to change Sensei's mind just like that teacher? Sensei is nothing like him. He doesn't hurt me, he's a good person."

Despite the heat in the boy's eyes when he declares this, Ann only thinks of the painting. The clear, concrete proof otherwise.

"I don't know what he's done to you." Ann says, seeing clearly as his eyes narrow into a glare. She continues anyway, "but I know it isn't good. And I know it isn't right."

Kitagawa stands, a solid and quick motion. "You don't need to model for me anymore."

He's looking away from her, back and shoulders hiked. The same way Shiho looked whenever Ann asked her about her injuries— "Kitagawa?"

"Please leave."

Ann's mouth opens, and then closes. Something burns in her throat as she remembers something from an anime she watched with Ryuji and Shiho when they were younger. Some people don't want to be saved.

"Okay," Ann says, forcing herself to stand. She walks to the open door and turns her head. Kitagawa doesn't look at her. "But if you change your mind...you know how to contact me."

He doesn't say a word.

Ann turns and leaves.

The days pass, and the words don't leave Yusuke's mind. They stay with him as he stares at his easel without painting, as he sits in his desk at school, and as he lays on his futon at night.

I'm a Phantom Thief.

Yusuke has never had someone he was close to. Not even the other pupils Sensei had taken on. Even still, he knows that things like what Takamaki said shouldn't be said to strangers. And that's what they are: strangers. They only knew each other for a week, and barely sent even ten texts to each other.

I'm a Phantom Thief.

Yusuke had searched that name hours after Takamaki left. His phone displaying articles and videos about Kamoshida's arrest. He had clicked on one, watching as the ex-teacher had dropped to his knees on the school stadium, wailing as he confessed everything. He remembers hearing Takamaki's voice from off-screen, telling him not run from his guilt and not to kill himself.

I'm a Phantom Thief.

Takamaki is one of the ones behind Kamoshida's confession. She saw his thoughts, whatever that had meant. Supposedly, she's seen Sensei's too. What did she see? What does it even mean to see another's thoughts?

I'm a Phantom Thief.

He could have turned her in. The police are looking for anything that could explain Kamoshida's actions. Why would she say that? Why did she think she could? That Yusuke wouldn't tell the police what she's said?

Kitagawa, I want to help you.

Yusuke doesn't need help. Sensei does. That's why Yusuke's painting for him. Sensei is only in a slump right now and he's done so much for Yusuke, painting is Yusuke's only way to repay that.

Does thou truly believe that? Yusuke's own voice muses back, deep and echoing in his skull.

Sensei is his father. He's nothing like Kamoshida. He doesn't do anything like what that man tried to do to Takamaki, did do to others.

The voice hums as Yusuke stares and stares at his ceiling, some planks dipping in on themselves. Thou would have dismissed it, had thee truly thought that.

Stop it.

Miru Hito, it says. Thou should be honest with thyself. As the Femme Fatale's human has said, thou can see, if thou wishes to look.

See Sensei's thoughts. Can Takamaki really help Yusuke see them? Can Yusuke even...handle that? If what she's said is... if Sensei really is someone that's...

I believe it is finally time for thee. Open thy eyes. Find thy truth.

Yusuke takes a breath, and he takes his phone.

I believe we shall meet soon, Miru Hito.

Yusuke rings the intercom, and Takamaki swings the door open only moments later.

"Kitagawa!" Her smile dims when she sees his face, surly for the dark circles under his eyes, but she remains smiling nonetheless. "Here, come in. The others are already here."

He does, taking his shoes off before stepping into the home proper. Yusuke has never seen a home like this before. So well decorated, clean and building-like.

Takamaki's brother — Ryuji, he believes — is sitting under the kotatsu, and a cat is perched atop the table.

Yusuke's eyes drift from Ryuji to Takamaki. The others are here. Her brother must be a Phantom as well. "You both are Phantom Thieves? Is it just the two of you?"

The cat yowls, and Yusuke looks at it. It's quite well-groomed, compared to the other animals he's seen.

"Um, it's the three of us, actually." Takamaki says slowly.

"Three?" Yusuke does not see a third person.

"The cat." Ryuji says, and said cat yowls again. It's actually quite loud, perhaps louder than the ones near the atelier.  "He's also a Phantom."

Yusuke blinks. "Your cat? It can also see thoughts?"

"It—huh?" Ryuji blinks, head darting towards Takamaki. "Aight I got no idea what you said to him."

"I'll— I'll explain."

She does. The cat — Morgana, as she says — is a human that had their body taken (or changed?) from something in the place they go. The one where they can find out a person's thoughts. The place they go is in another dimension, one called the Metaverse where a person's desires and thoughts are displayed physically.

Ah, Yusuke thinks. That is what Takamaki meant when she said they see thoughts.

"You'll be able to understand Morgana if you go into the Metaverse," Takamaki explains.

They also explain how it's dangerous. How Sensei will not take idle to them being there. How there are monsters everywhere.

Morgana meows, and Takamaki asks, "Are you sure you still want to come with us?"

No. Yusuke doesn't want to see whatever place Sensei's mind has manifested. He doesn't want to see what his father thinks. But, he does need to.

He needs to see it for himself.

"I do," Yusuke nods his head. "Regardless of the dangers. What I had requested through my text has not changed. Please, show me that place."

The three take him back to the atelier, and when the world shifts around him, he's struck silent.

A museum, spread tall and embroidered in pure gold. An artist should not see things in terms of money and profit, in terms of gold, but in the world around them, and the world they show.

Is this world truly part of Sensei?

They guide him in — Panther, in her red zippered suit. Skull, in his pirate ensemble. And Mona, vaguely humanoid but still catlike — through the courtyard and into the museum proper.

It's not something Yusuke would ever want to paint. Everything is lavish to a vulgar extreme. There isn't a spec of beauty here.

Then he sees the paintings. Nakanohara, another student of Sensei - only a few years ago, image ripples inside a golden frame.

Everything in this world is a symbolism for something else. A painting, not a person.

It's symbolism.

Symbolism that Yusuke doesn't want to know.

Open thy eyes

Yusuke sees a painting of himself. It doesn't look like him, but he knows that it is meant to be him.

Find thy truth.

"Kit—" Panther's voice halts. Yusuke finds himself looking at her. Her lips twisted down under her mask. If this was before she had said a word of this place, of Sensei, he would have thought it looked like a beautiful painting. The sorrow, pity, pain on her face.

Yusuke wishes she wasn't looking at him like that.

He turns and keeps walking. Through the displays and further in. He can hear the three pairs of footsteps behind him, but they don't matter to him right now.

Is this truly what Sensei thinks?

It's not some kind of trick?

His ears prick, and Yusuke startles at the sound of Sensei's laugh. Yusuke has always been attune to sound, has always paid particular, obsessive attention to it.

The words that he speaks in the other room, twisted laughter towards the two guards standing before him. They bury into his heart deeper than any knife can.

I was never your child, was I, father?

In that pain, Yusuke finally understood that the voice he's been hearing, deep in his head for the past few days was himself. And their name is Goemon.

They go to Ann's house. Ryuji tried to talk to the other student when they were walking before Ann silenced him with a few waves of her hand. He had been in no way ready to talk to either of them, and she wasn't going to force that on him.

Just like when Morgana went mute after they lost the wandering shadow, the three of them give Kitagawa space. Well, as much as they can in Ann's living room. Ryuji flits through channels on the TV, eyebrows creased and lips down like he very much does not want to be watching anything and would much rather be talking and yelling.

Ann silently agrees with the sentiment, as she's curled on a side seat with Morgana perching on the armrest.

They wait. They wait until Kitagawa takes a breath and lifts his head. "So that's truly what Sensei thinks? What's inside his heart is that...that museum?"

The TV had went silent the second Kitagawa started speaking. Ryuji drops the remote onto the kotatsu. "I know it's effin' awful, but that's who he really is, man."

"Not always," Ann jumps in when she sees the artists' face fall. "He likely wasn't like that his whole life, but...it is how he is now."

"Yes, I...I cannot let myself avoid what is. I have made my promise to Goemon." Kitagawa squeezes his eyes shut and exhales. He raises his head to look at them. "You three, why do you care so much for this? For my...situation."

"Because it's shit how he's treatin' you!" Ryuji makes an aggressive looking motion with his hands that Ann knows is really just the other fishing for words. "You shouldn't have to live like that! People can't just be allowed to walk over others!"

"We've been controlled by someone before, too." Ann speaks up when Ryuji stops. She sees Kitagawa's eyes watching them, there’s understanding hidden there.

"You know what we can do," Morgana speaks, and Kitagawa's eyes dart to him. The cat pulls himself up, staring straight back. "We want to change Madarame's heart and make him confess his crimes. You have a persona, and you'd definitely be a lot of help if you wanted to..."

"For all of those whose future's and works were taken, I will bring him to justice." The declaration is as solid and cold as his own persona's element.

"Hell yeah!" Ryuji cheers. "Welcome to the team, man!"

"Thank you," Kitagawa nods his head in Ryuji's direction. "And... Morgana, was it? While you agree with them, I feel as though you have another reason."

Morgana's ears perk and he twists his head to her and Ryuji. If Kitagawa is going to be working with them, there's a chance they might run into the wandering shadow during Madarame's palace. And if he continues working with them after...he should know their main goal...

"Your secret, your choice, man," Ryuji shrugs. Silently, Ann nods.

Morgana turns back to face Kitagawa. "I've been traveling through the Metaverse to find something. Ryuji and Lady Ann are helping me, and we're trying to take down more palaces to get their attention."

Kitagawa tilts his head. Ryuji chimes in, "They can shoot a death ray."

He blinks at the electric user. Said electricity user sits there looking pleased with himself.

Morgana huffs. "We think they're a wandering shadow. A shadow that can travel between palaces. They're very strong and have powerful curse affinity."

"The death ray."

"Okay, yes, fine. The death ray."

Ann laughs, drawing their attention before Morgana can start swiping. "When we changed Kamoshida's heart, his palace changed. We think that drew the shadow's attention, and we're hoping that Madarame's palace will do something similar."

They let Morgana explain more about the Metaverse to Kitagawa, who nods eagerly, taking the knowledge in the same as Ryuji would with video game lore. They go over everything they can, from Morgana's missing memories to palaces and Mementos.

"Is that really safe, though?" Ann asks when they're discussing bringing Kitagawa into Mementos to train. They've barely scratched the surface of that palace, and it hardly seems like a good place to bring a new persona user.

"It'll be fine!" Morgana waves a paw. "Awakenings scale based on the location and the threat. Madarame's palace is on scale with Chemdah - Mementos' third path. So Kitagawa will definitely be fine in Qimranut and Aiyatsbus."

"Oh oh!" Ryuji leans forward in excitement "And whaddyou want your codename to be?"

Kitagawa hums. "Van Gogh?"

The speed that Ryuji shuts that down is near comical, his face scrunching in exasperation.

The artist sighs. "Would Fox suffice? I believe it fits with the simplicity of your names and it matches my aesthetic."

"Perfect, dude!"

They do go to Mementos. It winds up happening two days later when Morgana argues that they need to know the full extent of what Kitagawa's abilities and weaknesses are. Ann does agree that it would be best to know what would knock artist out before it actually happens — her own first experience with ice and Ryuji's with wind was awful.

The red pulsing walls greets them as they step into the Metaverse. Panther expects Fox to make some comments on it — because they all do — but she doesn't hear a word. Curious, Panther glances back to see Mona's ears standing straight up.

It puts her on edge. Mona's ears only look like that when he senses something. It takes barely a moment to realize Fox's attention is elsewhere too.

"Oh boy. Mona, Fox, what's happening?" Panther huffs, looking warily between the two team members. If they're about to get killed by something, Panther would very much like to know so they can leave.

Skull shuffles on his feet beside her, casting occasional glances into the shadowed tunnels of Mementos, like he's looking for whatever took their attention.

Fox hums, his eyes closed and pondering. He looks like he's in the middle of deep consideration, the same face he made when staring at the easel for three hours. "I am unsure. I believe I am hearing a melody? Is music common in this palace?"

Mona's head darts towards Fox, but Panther's more caught on what he said. The only thing she hears is groaning and the creaking from trains. Where is he hearing music?

"Mel'a what?" Skull digs his shoe into the ground, frowning. "I'm not hearing nothin'."

Is that what Mona's hearing? Some kind of music? Panther tilts her head to their guide. "Mona?"

"I'm hearing it too," Mona confirms her thought. But why? Why are only Mona and Fox hearing it? Okay, Mona makes sense, but why Fox?

The cat's eyes drift towards the walkway, one that Panther knows is supposed to lead to the surface, just off Shibuya Crossing. "Do you want to check it, Mona?"

Skull jolts next to her, head snapping from Mona to the exit. "Does this have something to do with the death ray?"

The wandering shadow? Is it the wandering shadow? But that still doesn't explain Fox's reaction...

Mona's eyes narrow, "I want to. No, I need to. Sorry, can we..?"

The only time Mona's ever said he needs something was when he was talking about the wandering shadow. Panther recognizes this, bobbing her head. "Of course, Mona. If you think this will help you, then we're all for it."

"Yeah, Mona! We wouldn't be in this place if it weren't for you." Skull is right, they can't even enter the Metaverse without Mona.

Fox tilts his head. "Does this have to do with Mona's missing memories? If so, I am more than willing to accept this detour."

The four of them cautiously make their way towards the surface, weaving further from the depths of Mementos. They've never gone outside of the station, and Panther notices that the walls turn slowly more and more normal as they travel. The red veins fading to white-grey walls, and the weird pulsing floor turning to cement.

That's when Panther starts hearing it. It really is some kind of music - no, more like singing. There isn't a hint of any instrumentals, and it's purely voice. Yet the voice makes up for the lack of background.

It's male, though Panther wouldn't have guessed it from the notes he's currently hitting. Panther doesn't know what this kind of music is supposed to be called, where there aren't any lyrics and it's just...voice. And the notes he's hitting, they're so high!

An a-cappella? Maybe?

It's oddly ethereal. Panther knows Carmen feels it too, since the persona is extremely attentive, so present that she almost hears Carmen's voice again.

"Wow..." Skull murmurs, weirdly quiet. Panther wouldn't be surprised if he's also feeling the same with Captain Kidd that Panther is.

The hymn's beautiful. Carmen readily agrees with this thought.

"What an astonishing vocal capacity..."

Mona darts through the gateway, out into the open. Panther stumbles after him, taking in the normal-looking Shibuya and the red Metaverse sky for a second before whipping towards the voice.

Right above the opening to Aoyama-Itchome's station line, on the roof of the building, is a person. Like someone with a death wish, he's laying down, somehow balanced, on the fenced railing of the roof. To make it even worse, he has one foot dangling off the side of the building and another propped on the railing. His arms aren't even holding on! One of them over his stomach and the other behind his head like some kind of pillow.

Even for the Metaverse, that's way too dangerous!

Panther barely takes in what he's wearing before she realizes he's a persona user. He's covered in a black winter jacket — which is a sin to be wearing in May — with the hood pulled far over his face, black gloves, and heeled boots.

If Panther ever needs more evidence of him being a persona user, the heels are enough. No sane person would wear heels in the Metaverse unless it comes with their persona.

Skull says something, and the persona-user's head snaps towards them, his voice vanishing mid-hymn. In one dizzying moment, Panther's heart leaps in her throat. The boy's elbow slips from the railing and he falls. Panther stifles a scream, Carmen just behind her mask at the sight of someone — just like Shiho — falling.

Panther barely calms her heart as the boy saves himself. His bright red eyes go wide under his hood before he manages to twist his left leg and wrist, turning the momentary free fall into a slide to get behind the railing.

Skull grabs Panther's arm as she takes a steading breath.

The persona-user's gloves curl around the lower bars of the railing. He's crouching against the ground to the point where she can only barely see his wary glowing red eyes locked on them.

Wait.

Glowing eyes?

Panther sucks in a breath. His eyes are glowing. They're definitely glowing red. The only kind of glowing eyes a persona-user can have is yellow. Yellow isn't red!

Then she remembers what Mona said, the day of Kamoshida's palace collapsing. The wandering shadow he was looking for, it had red eyes.

Was this..?

No— shadows don't look like people. They look like horrifying hulking monstrosities in Mementos, armored guards in Kamoshida's palace, and security in Madarame's.

Not...not a teenager.

"Your voice is like the tales of the Merpeople." Huh, what? Panther looks at the one who spoke: Fox. He's staring up at the...shadow? Person? With awe sparkling in his face.

The boy blinks, and the glowing eyes flicker. They really flicker, as in, they turn off. For a half second, they couldn't see anything under the top-half of the hood. Just pure darkness.

"Dude, what?"

Panther tries. She really tries to stop thinking that this shadow looks like teenager, like them. "Like...a siren call?" She hesitantly asks their new teammate. "An unexplainable urge to follow the song?"

At least, Carmen definitely edged her on to find the source of the song. The source which is the wandering shadow Mona is looking for. Who looks like a person.

Fox nods his head vigorously, eyes bright. "Yes! Exactly! I have never felt something like that before...I want to capture it on paper..."

The boy shrinks inward, ducking further behind the railing. Panther doesn't know what about Fox set him off, but it was definitely something.

"Uh, hey, dude?" Skull's voice echoes in the eerie silence of Mementos, and the boy's attention darts to him. The electric persona-user doesn't move from where he's holding onto Panther. It's odd to see him so cautious. "We're not gonna hurt you or nothin'. You don't gotta look like we're going to kill you."

Glowing red eyes stay locked, and Panther's reminded of all the cat videos Skull plays when he's teasing Mona about all of his cat-like tendencies. Slowly, the boy's eyes shift towards Fox, then her.

Carmen perks up curiously as Panther freezes in place. Blue eyes to red. It doesn't feel like a persons looking at her, it's almost like a Shadow. The same pressure from Kamoshida and Madarame, but the air isn't twisting with barely concealed threats.

What is he doing?

He's defensive. Definitely wary. But the pressure feels like...it's almost like he's daring her to do something. Panther doesn't know what she's supposed to do, or what she's not supposed to do.

The decision is taken from her as those eyes shift to their next — their final — target: Mona.

Panther shudders, slowly breathing out as Carmen's presence recedes lightly. She watches as the boy's body shifts (his first real movement since he fell) and he gives a slow blink, highlighted by his glowing eyes. Mona's ears perk.

Panther almost wants to ask if he did that because Mona looks like a cat and cats are notorious for calming after getting slow-blinked at. She doesn't. Because that's ludicrous.

His black fingers slowly unclench from the railing bars, and Panther can visibly see him unwinding. Without the pressure there, he really, really looks like just another teenager. How old even is he? He looks young but Panther can't really tell from this distance. Do shadows have ages?

"Are you a shadow?"

The creature looks at her, and Panther wants to slap herself. Why did she just ask that? She didn't mean to ask that—

He blinks, and tilts his head again. It's so innocent that Panther has trouble seeing how this thing could have obliterated half of Kamoshida's castle. Slowly, he looks up at the red Mementos sky, then back to her.

He shakes his head.

No? He's not a shadow? Why did it take so long to answer that, it was a simple question. But the acknowledgment does strike a cord in Panther. He can understand them! He definitely understands Japanese, and basic gestures like 'no'.

It's not much, but many shadows don't have any semblance of understanding under palace rule. Ah, but he said he wasn't a shadow...

"Do you have a persona, then?" Skull takes a few steps forward from her side. The boy's eyes follow the movements, his head shifting to keep Skull in view. Then, Panther sees his lips tug down from under the hood.

He doesn't answer. No shaking his head, no nothing. It's not like her question, where he pondered it before answering; this time it doesn't seem like he's going to give an answer. What's different about this question?

A few paces off, Mona breathes out a word. "...Trickster." 

Carmen snaps to attention as Mementos' air turns heavy. She nearly chokes even through Carmen's protection as the boy — the not-shadow — violently tears himself from the railing. Heels clack against the rooftop as he stumbles back. Those glowing red eyes blown wide and so, so bright.

Mona's stumbling back, and it slams into her that the cat's scared. Not just scared but a panicked scared. He jolts, reaching one paw forward in desperation, "Wait—!"

Panther's whips towards the creature, just in time to see tendrils of the Metaverse curl around him. Red eyes carrying the exact same fear as Mona's.

He's gone before they could comprehend it, vanishing completely in the folds of the Metaverse.

Shiho's fingers claw into her blanket as her parents speak. Their reddened eyes and worry pinching their faces.

"Everything will be alright," her mother says, her eyes ghosting over Shiho's hidden legs. Both covered in bandages and splints under her blanket.

It won't be, Shiho knows this. She wants it to be alright, but nothing will ever go back to the way it was. Shujin would never let her forget. Even when Ann and Ryuji had told her that that man was gone, and she would never see him again, he was still there.

If she went back to Shujin, she would see him in every hallway, and in every room. She would never forget, and neither will anyone else.

"I don't..." Shiho whispers, drawing the blanket closer. "I don't want to go back."

"Shiho?" Her mother whispers in a choked voice.

"I don't want to go back to Shujin." She hears both of her parents' breath hitch, breathing stuttering just like Shiho's. "I don't want to be here anymore. In Tokyo. I don't want to be anywhere where people know me. I don't..."

Her father reaches forward, his hand resting on hers. "You don't have to." She looks at him, his face set in stone, hard but not cold. Reassuring, in the way he always was. "You don't ever have to go back. We'll find someplace new, we'll move somewhere else."

Her mother settles at her other side. "Somewhere where no one knows you?"

"Somewhere quiet." Shiho closes her eyes, and nods. "Where I don't know anyone, and they don't know me." 

"Then we'll move," her mother assures. "Somewhere quiet. Like the countryside."

The countryside.

Shiho nods. She likes that.

Chapter Text

"Wait—!"

Empty air. Mona's reaching towards empty air that don't give off a single trace or scent of where the Trickster vanished.

The Trickster was terrified. Mona felt it, deep inside his own soul.

It's fading, but he still feels it now. His heart jackrabbiting in his chest, terror gripping at every part of his being. Phantom gasps for air and fingers scrapping against ground — then twisting into something soft and heavy and — nothing.

There's an empty hole where those feelings came from.

Mona's heart weeps at the loss. His soul feels torn, feels broken, feels shattered.

Trickster, his soul cries a name that he only now remembers. The name that came riding up from the depths of something Mona doesn't even know how to describe. The name that caused the Trickster so much terror.

In the void of his soul, the same voice that gave him the name begs: 

Help—

Haru collapses onto her bed, burying her face into her pillow.

"We can't keep pushing this back! And you can't keep waiting for that Kurusu boy to come back." Her father dropped his briefcase onto his desk, yanking out documents. "It's been a year, Haru. If there hasn't been a ransom, then the boy is dead."

Haru stared, her brown eyes wide. "How can you say that?" She's always known that her father was different from other parents, she's known ever since she met Haeri-san and Kiyo-san, but, "He was your—"

"He wasn't anything but an associate's son." Her father waved his hand, dismissive and callous. "I've been discussing the matter with the Sugimura family, and we've reached an agreement. You're to be married to their son in the spring. I trust you haven't forgotten anything from your bridal classes?"

"Father—!" She can't breathe. He can't be serious. He couldn't be.

He is. Haru should expect it by now, he's never acted like a father. Sometimes, she wonders if he's ever acted like a person.

Haru reaches out and buries her fingers into Mona's faux fur. Akira would know what to do. In all of his reckless glory, he would have made up some kind of ridiculous plan that somehow pulls through. A laugh slips from her throat as she remembers about the most ludicrous plan he's ever pulled off for her, two years ago.

"What if we got married?" Haru choked on air, nearly doubling over the thriller novel Haeri-san lent her as she tried to get her breathing under control. "Wow, okay. Mildly offensive."

Haru whipped towards Akira, her long hair nearly getting in her eyes. He's wrapped in the heavy red blanket Haru gave him for Christmas, holding her first year high school's history book in his hands. He's also staring at her like she just called one of his best stunts mediocre.

"What if we what?"

Akira blinked, his silver eyes peering at her like he's the one confused here. He opened his mouth, then closed it again. Then his eyes go wide and he choked. "Wait hold on—ew—no. Not like that."

"Ai-chan."

Akira fumbled with her textbook, dropping it on his bed like a game of hot potato and lunged for his IPad. "Not that I don't think you're a catch, I swear. I meant like—you know those manga I read where the protagonist is all 'my life is shit, my partner is abusive, my parents are abusive' then dies, goes back in time, and revenge plans everything?"

Yes. She knew that. Akira, despite his nature and upbringing, loved romance novels and definitely got some of his vindictive nature from them.

"So like, your dad's an ass — don't correct me, we both know it's true — and is trying to marry you off but you don't want to — obviously — so I was thinking of ways to get around it and—"

"You want us to get married," Haru cut him off.

"Contractual," Akira corrected, twisting his IPad around to show one of the novels he's told her about before. One where the protagonist reached out to a powerful family and used that power to topple down everything that wronged them. "Okumura already makes jabs about it since you come here so often and we're comfortable with each other and I'm a Kurusu, so he wouldn't really question it. And it would only be until you graduate because he can't control you anymore by then."

"Ai-chan," Haru strangled out, staring at her pseudo-little-brother, whose now covering the bottom of his face with his IPad and looking away. "Don't all of those contract marriages actually end up real in your mangas?"

"Because they're romance novels," Akira mumbled, then lifted his head up as haughtily as a third-year junior high student can. "This is me, offering to help my older sister; not me offering any—" he waved his hand, face twisting minutely "—rated M."

"You did not just say that."

"'M not repeating it."

Haru stared at him, and continued staring, waiting for him to break character and declare it all a joke. But she knew he's not going to, because he's entirely, a hundred percent serious. A contractual marriage for just under three years, until she's graduated, eighteen, and her father can't arrange a permanent marriage for her.

"You're...entirely sure you want to do that?"

"Of course." Akira lowered his IPad, blinking steel grey eyes at her. "Haru, you're my closest friend and you're already family. If you wanted me to act like an absolute idiot on national television, I would do it." His lips quirked up and his eyes took on a playful gleam. "And I've already told you how much I want to round-house kick your father. I feel like this qualifies."

Haru laughed. She couldn't help it, it was just so Ai-chan. The image of him marching up to her father and kicking him on the back of his head was also so comical. Akira snickered beside her, like the little hellion he was.

"You can do anything for me, but you can't beat a claw machine."

"Wow." Akira's face fell in the heaviest betrayal she's ever seen from him. "I give you a vow of my undying loyalty to you, and you do me like this?" Haru snickers, and her little brother huffed.

"What about your parents?" Haru closed the novel in her lap and placed it aside. If they're coming up with some life-altering plan, then she needed to give it a show of her full attention. "I don't think Haeri-san or Kiyo-san would agree to you being in an arranged marriage."

"I can deal with them," Akira declared. "If I was able to convince them to let me into stunting, then I can convince them this."

Haru laughed again. "I still don't know how you managed that."

Akira winked back, the image of a cocky teenager who could probably make the world turn at his own words. Haru shook her head with a smile, reaching out to ruffle his hair. Akira ducked with a yelp, yanking his blanket up as a makeshift shield.

"Then, how do you want to do this?"

Cautiously, Akira lowered his blanket shield a smidge. "Well, I don't think having written terms or anything would be a good idea because, like, anyone could find them. But we would know our rules and terms and whatnot. I doubt Okumura will ask us to do anything for him because it's an arranged marriage for a reason. And we could probably plan out the more specific details later, when my parents give the okay and send Okumura the request."

Haru nodded. Having anything written wouldn't work, and Haru already comes to Kurashiki often enough for them to plan anytime. Putting off the terms till next visit would also give them more time to decide on what the terms would be.

Haru watched as Akira nodded back and discarded his IPad, picking up her textbook and started reading it again. She shouldn't ask, but she really, really wants to.

So she asked. "Don't your mangas normally have the female lead as innocent and ignorant, and the male lead as obsessive, overprotective, and slightly sadistic?"

"Um," Akira glanced up from her textbook. His eyes flicked across her face. "Is this some kind of dig at my tastes or..?"

Haru let a smile stretch across her face. "I don't think I'm innocent and ignorant."

"If someone calls you innocent, they haven't met you." Akira snorted, a grin on his face. "So, what? You wanna be the obsessive, sadistic one in this relationship?"

"I'll send my men out to watch you and report back to me." Haru said daintily. "If they say someone so much as looks at you, I'll have my men send them to the dungeons."

"Mhm," Akira hummed, a saintly smile on his face and not a single hint of unease. "You'll have a full dungeon in no time, Your Highness. Your threats need a little work, I don't think you're in character yet."

"Perhaps, I'll cut off the fingers of whoever touches you."

"Mm, stunting will be hard, then." Akira tilted his head playfully. "Do you want me to lend you my novels so you can study?"

Haru stared at him and thought of Akira's ranting at specific scenes in his manga, of how she could spin it. She tapped the bedsheet covers with her nail. Then, she smiles sweetly. "I'll build you your own gym with stunting equipment in my own manor. Then you won't ever have to leave the house, not that you could since I'll have guards at every exit. I'll prepare everything you'd ever want or need, and you'd never have to meet another person besides me." Haru claps her hands together pleasantly. "And if I ever do see you with someone else, then I'll string them up and watch them bleed out."

Akira stared at her, for once not having an immediate come-back. Haru basked in the feeling of victory. His fingers twitched around a page. "I think," Akira started, then paused. "I think you and mom watch too many thrillers. How did you come up with that?"

Haru grinned, with another thing to try she leaned forward and whispered it in his ear. Akira spluttered, lunging around her to grab at Mona — who's planted near his pillows — and pulled the stuffed cat to his chest and covered his little cat ears. "Not in front of Morgana! Look at him, he's traumatized."

Haru forced down her laughter, solidifying her face as more serious and opened her mouth again only to be cut off by Akira.

"Okay! Okay! You win! You can be the obsessive, sadistic one. Stop bullying my tastes," Akira whined. "Why do you even know that?"

Haru lost the battle and burst into laughter. Akira's confidant, nonchalant exterior was broken into tiny little pieces. It doesn't ever happen often, but it's always a sight to see. "Oh my gosh, your face—!"

Ai-chan threw his pillow at her.

Haru curls into her covers, pulling Mona close to her chest. There's no way that Akira is dead, she won't believe that. He's the strongest person she's ever known. Someone who stands firmly with his own ideals. Reckless to a fault. And somehow, simultaneously unforgiving and forgiving.

However he disappeared, whatever happened to him a year ago, Haru knows that he would have survived.

Haru looks at the fresh and bright pink camellias and astilbes in her desk vase.

He has to be alive.

The Phantoms enter Madarame's Palace a few days after their encounter with the not-shadow. They had spent the days leading up to the palace excursion constantly searching through Mementos to see if the boy would come back to no avail. Without any luck in Mementos, they had set their sights back on their original plan: changing Madarame's heart.

They climb over the truck and wall, running along the side of the building until they can slip in through their infiltration route in the gallery.

The second Mona's feet touch the ground, he nearly lurches towards the palace's entrance. His ears perk straight up as he senses it. The same traces he's been tracking from that country town. The same ones he felt in Mementos.

The Trickster.

The palace's distortion near the entrance had shifted, like it gave way to something, and settled again and then the feeling is saturating the palace.

Turn around—he's here—go—

Mona grabs the rope, then reels back. The fear in the Trickster's eyes were so clear back in Mementos that they penetrated through Mona's very being. He doesn't want to see Mona.

Mona terrifies him.

Mona's soul nearly cries. I don't want him to be afraid anymore.

He forces himself away from the rope, towards his teammates, and further into the palace. If Mona doesn't approach him, if Mona doesn't talk to him, maybe he wouldn't be scared anymore.

A pinprick in his soul tells him that it's wishful thinking, that it won't happen that way.

He wants to believe it will.

Mona stops breathing when they reach the statute of Madarame. BehIND YOU! The voice in his soul screeches.

Distortion. Heavy yet minuscule. Unfamiliar yet familiar. Just down the hall behind them. In the same room where they first found the beginning half of the palace map.

He can feel those red eyes on him.

Turn around—he's there—why aren't you moving—?

Mona knows he won't be able to see the Trickster. Even if he turns. It's like when they hide behind walls and furniture to avoid shadows seeing them — but still so so different. Despite that, he recognizes the somehow-familiar curl of distortion that's blocking the Trickster from view.

If he tries, could Mona see past it?

Does he want to?

Would the Trickster run again if he did?

—Stop. Don't turn around. Don't look.

The light pinpricks of distortion trail after them as they delve further in the palace. His soul perks in unrestrained glee, wanting to reach back to where he knows the Trickster is.

He's following them.

Mona's been off ever since they stepped into the Palace proper. His ears flicking this way and that — the same way he does when he's following something with his senses — he isn't focusing, and he's nearly walked into three different laser sensors that they already knew about.

Panther and Skull exchange looks behind the cat's back as they avoid shadow after shadow, nearly dragging both Mona and Fox into the first safe room they see. Panther settles into one of the table chairs, and Fox spares her a curious glance before doing the same.

"Alright, what's up with you?" Skull's the first to voice it as he shuts the safe room's door behind him. And Panther's honestly unsure if the outburst is a lack of patience or an abundance of it, considering he didn't push it until they were inside the safe room.

Skull marches into the room, dropping into one of the chairs in the center, just across from Fox. Mona makes an odd sound from table's corner, a cross between a whine and something else.

"He's here," Mona declares, eyes flicking up to them. Panther shifts in her seat, trying to connect whatever points Mona's skipped over.

It's Fox who puzzles it together first. His eyes light up as he veers towards Mona. "Truly? How long has he been here? Since we entered? Perhaps he followed us here?"

Understanding slams into Panther. The boy from Mementos. He's here? How long has he...why? Why is he in Madarame's Palace? Was he here since he disappeared from Mementos a week ago?

"Wait, for real?" Skull sits up, head shooting between Mona and the door. "But I didn't see anything! Where was he!?"

"I don’t know," Mona shakes his head. Despite the negative action, his ears are straight and he's nearly vibrating on the table. "But I feel him really, really strongly. He was watching us."

"For real!? Let's go talk to him then!" Skull jumps up. Panther barely manages to snag his jacket sleeve and yank him to a stop when Mona cries out to definitely not do that.

Fox slumps, matching Skull's disbelief with his own disappointment. "We cannot talk to him? To be barred from inspiration again...what a cruel fate."

"You saw how terrified he was, he's not going to let us talk to him."

"But he was scared of you, not us—ow!" Skull winces as Panther smacks his arm. "I'm just sayin' maybe he'll talk to us! It's not a diss on Mona, geez."

That doesn't change how Mona sinks. They know Mona doesn't want the other to be scared of him, but there's really not anything they can do when the creature can literally bend the Metaverse to hide.

Panther looks towards Mona. "What should we do, then?"

"Let's..." Mona frowns, "let's keep going. We should try not to show that we know he's there. I don't want to scare him again."

Agreements sound around the table. None of them want to see the not-shadow vanish like he did at the Shibuya Station. The curdling shift of the Metaverse and the heavy, oppressive weight that came with it.

So they continue, leaving the safe room and not giving a hint of acknowledgement towards their silent follower. Even Skull doesn't bring up the not-shadow, though he does gaze around occasionally like he's searching for the not-shadow.

They continue to fight through shadows, force their way through puzzles, almost get trapped in a laser cage, find a... treasure demon? Was that what Mona called it?

It's disgusting and Panther doesn't want anything to do with the towering ghost-attached-jewel-thing.

It's a blessing when they find the next safe room, less than an hour after the last one.
They push open the doors and gather inside.

"How's it lookin' Mona?" Skull asks a little after Panther lays the map on the table, pulling the attached pencil off.

"He's definitely following us." The deceleration catches all of their attention. Fox leans over the table with a curious tilt of his head and Panther's eyes flick off the map for a moment. "He doesn't come into the safe rooms, and when we're out there I can sometimes feel the Metaverse distorting in places. I think that's how he's hiding himself, and it's so strong I don't think he's going to reveal himself."

Whatever he is, he's strong enough to distort the Metaverse itself? Panther doesn't want to think of what would happen to anything that pisses him off. Are they on his hit list—?

"Perhaps we should offer him food?" Fox suggests when Panther's staring at the last three vent systems she marked on the map. She stops, pencil freezing over the page as she lifts her head to stare at him.

Skull blinks at their newest teammate. "What, like a food offering?"

"Precisely." Fox nods, immensely pleased with himself. "Food is always the best way to reach someone's heart and to show one's intentions."

"He's..." Panther speaks up, trying to convey her extreme confusion, "...not an animal?" She decidedly does not look at Mona as she says it.

"What does being an animal have to do with offering food?" Fox tilts his head, face creasing under his mask. Skull gapes at him. "If someone were to offer me food, I would talk with them."

"Dude, you're sad." Despite his words, Skull slides the instant ramen bowl he just finished making across the table.

Fox's eyes light up as they bounce between the bowl and Skull, then carefully takes it between his hands. Skull slowly turns toward Panther as Fox eats. He points a finger at their teammate. "He's the kid who gets kidnapped."

He's not wrong, and that's the saddest thing about it. Fox ignores their exchange entirely while Mona flicks an ear at it. "What part of 'don't let him know' makes you think letting him know we know he's here is a good idea?"

"Well, we ain't getting anywhere by not doing anything." Skull shrugs, leaning the chair back on it's hind legs.

"We won't get anywhere with rushing things either!"

Skull and Mona both jump as Fox claps his hands over his empty bowl. "I greatly appreciate your—oh, have I missed something?"

Skull's chair legs thunk against the ground as he leans forward. Facing Mona, he makes a heavy gesture towards Fox — as if proving some kind of nonexistent point — and launches himself.

"Wha—"

"Skull!"

The teenager darts out the room before Panther could pull him back. She and Mona share looks of mixed worry and panic as the door shuts.

Panther mumbles, "...would it be bad if I kind of hope he gets death ray'ed?" Mona groans into his paws in response.

The door opens, and Skull saunters in — completely unharmed, sadly — and nods solemnly at Fox, who returns it with his own.

"What," Mona growls, "did you do?"

Skull waves a yellow hand. "Relax, I just left some food out there. No talky-talky. Just like you wanted, Monamona."

"I wanted you to not interact with him!" Mona throws one of his arms towards the door. "Leaving things out there is interacting with him!"

"How's he gonna know I left it out there?" Panther stares at the idiot, because how would he not know when he's following them and literally would have seen the blond place whatever he put out there. "Maybe a shadow did it."

"I don't think you're going to be able to gaslight him."

"Eh," Skull shrugs. "Fox is right. It's like training a pet."

"Again," Panther drawls over Mona's indignant cry. "He's not an animal."

They leave the safe room about twenty minutes later after a long debate on if they actually wanted to leave the safe room and risk the ire of whatever creature Skull no doubtedly just pissed off.

Outside the room is a singular back of chips, a bottle of soda, and a bottle of mineral water. Panther slowly turns towards Skull, who completely wilts at the sight.

"Really?"

"Shaddup."

"I told you that it was a stupid idea."

"Shaddup."

Mona groans. "Look, can we just go. Please?" Without waiting for an answer, Mona starts down the hall, leaving the three of them to catch up with him. Mildly, Panther wonders if the creature is still here or if Skull scared him off with the food and drink stunt.

Does the not-shadow even eat food? They've never seen any Metaverse creature eating before - besides Kamoshida, but that was for healing and not...well, food.

Regardless, Panther pushes the thought of the not-shadow away and they continue to fight through Madarame's palace and all collectively mull over the best way to blow it up after getting caught by a laser sensor after the fourth time.

It's a particularly difficult grind, and Panther's sure that Fox is tired after the most of the shadows they've fought being weak to ice, and they all welcome the sight of the safe room in the distance.

Panther stops when she sees Skull dropping another bag of chips, soda, and water outside the door and marches right in. She blinks at it, then stares into the safe room where Skull collapses onto the couch. "Literally how many of those do you have?"

Panther steps in and closes the door behind her.

Skull raises a finger at her. "Never underestimate a gamer's comfort food stash."

Fox leans towards Mona with a curious look plastered on his unmasked face. "Mona, is our silent watcher still here?"

"Somehow," Mona sighs, his ears twitching as he shakes his head. The cat then glowers at their impulsive electric-user. "He's not as close as he was before, though, so Skull's little stunt did do something."

"Aw, come on, no one can resist chips and soda." Skull whines from the couch, leaning back.

"Well, apparently the not-shadow can." Panther sets down the map on the table and gets to work again. Skull clicks his tongue and says something that Panther ignores.

Normally, this would be around the time that they leave the palace since it would be getting to be just about evening in the real world. But Panther's not too sure that she wants to willingly leave if the creature Mona's been looking for is so close to them right now. Mona doesn't seem to want to either, with how often his eyes flick towards the door.

"Mona?" Panther calls, and the cat looks away from the the door and towards her. "How much longer should we stay for?"

Mona blinks, a moment later his ears drop. "Oh, it's been that long."

"I would not mind staying longer," Fox offers.

"Yeah, me neither." Skull waves his hand. "Though, I do gotta' get back for dinner or Ma' will worry."

"How about staying for one or two more safe rooms?" Panther glances at Mona to see the cat's wide eyes flicking between each of them.

"Really?"

Skull shrugs. "The further we get now, the less we have ta' do later."

Mona brightens, flicking his tail. "Okay! But that means we need to be really careful on our persona usage now. Manage yourselves for the really hard fights, and still try to avoid shadows you can get around."

After getting nods from everyone, Mona has them rest and recover in the safe room for another twenty minutes before they leave again. Skull's bag of chips and two drinks are still resting outside the saferoom's wavering doors when they step out.

Panther decides to throw Skull a bone. "Maybe they don't like the soda."

Skull sends her a withering look back. "That's why there's mineral water, too." Bone not taken, Panther's not going to try and appease him anymore. Let him stew in his own disappointment.

They continue marching through the Palace, despite Mona's words, they still find themselves in some fights. But they weren't all that bad. Panther focuses on restricting enemy movement with her whips and using her machine gun to assault multiple enemies. Mona deals with weak points, using his sling shot and using healing items when necessary. Skull rushes in — as always — and does physical damage whenever he can. At least Skull does have the decency to listen to Mona when the cat says somethings either weak or immune to physical damage - something he decidedly didn't do during Kamoshida's palace. 

Fox, on the other hand, is shaping up to be someone that the team never knew they needed: a shield. The entirety of Kamoshida's palace, they had do be quick on their feet and dodge whatever they could - and whatever they couldn't, Skull always tried to block it. But Fox's elemental mastery and his skill in arts makes crafting and controlling his ice extremely easy. Not only can he send waves of ice at opponents, he can also craft his ice into shields to block attacks.

After learning about this, Mona puts him strictly on defense. Panther wishes Fox wasn't benched to blocking and shielding — given how many opponents were weak to ice, and how Fox was clearly more comfortable with offense — but she did agree that having someone reliably cover them is much more useful. Hopefully, they'll find someone else who has a defensive persona and wants to work with defense, but until then, Fox's ice will have to do.

They keep pushing forward, through the winding pathways and the — ugh — painting jumping. That excursion takes nearly a full hour, not including finding out that the paintings were weird Wonderland portals. They only found out after Mona curiously pointed them out after Panther and Skull held a ten minute debate on if she could use her whips to somehow Tarzan them to the next level. After Mona mentioned the paintings, Fox marched right over and fell through the frame and well, that started the whole navigating painting portals.

Panther hates it here. Are all palaces like this? Why can't they just be clear and straight and not puzzles and mind tricks?

Because the human cognition is messy and nothing is straight laced and easily explained! Mona had said back in Kamoshida's palace.

Panther kind of wonders if playing mind-fuckery games would work as training for palaces. She'll bring it up to Skull and Fox later.

When they're not fighting shadows, and they're either avoiding laser sensors (ughhhhhhh), or hiding behind chairs and walls, Panther sees Mona's ears occasionally flicking back. A clear sign that he's paying attention to something else, something behind them.

But Mona resolutely continues to look forward, like just the simple act of turning around would scare the not-shadow away. So Panther doesn't look either.

But she does keep a close eye on their furry companion. Every time his ears flick and his eyes dart to the side, she sees it. It's mildly fascinating to see. How much is he picking up from his senses? Can Mona tell how far away the not-shadow is? What exactly the not-shadow's doing? Or does he just feel the distortions in the Metaverse that the not-shadow's apparently using and following it?

What does it even feel like to...feel distortion?

At first, Panther wonders if it is similar to how she felt when she enters the Metaverse. How the air curls around her and it feels like she's falling back, sinking down, and stumbling forward all at once. How it feels like the air gets heavier. How a small ache rests in the back of her skull. How Carmen's presence becomes ever so closer.

How everything feels a small coating of wrong.

But Mona never gives off that impression. She's never heard him say anything like it, at least. Maybe the Metaverse just feels completely different to him than it does the rest of them. Given his cat-like body and nature, compared to their human ones, it wasn't too heavy a stretch.

Mona's ears flick again, and Fox calls out a safe room's wavering doors in the distance. Skull whoops and marches towards the room. None of them bat an eye as he drops yet another bag of different type of chips, soda, and the same mineral water at the doors before disappearing inside. Well, Fox does, but they'll pass food to him when they're inside and resting.

Panther collapses next to Skull as Mona lets the doors swing shut. Skull accommodates her, leaning slightly to the side, even with his grumbling. He also passes a sandwich off to Fox, who gladly takes it with sparkling eyes.

"I only got one more in me." Skull mutters, closing his eyes and rubbing at his bad knee with one hand. Panther offers him a painkiller but he waves it off.

"I as well." Fox chimes in over his sandwich. "Making barriers is quite wearing."

Mona winces, ears dropping, "Sorry, I know using personas like that is more taxing but..."

"No need to apologize." Fox shakes his head, still sitting ramrod straight in his chair despite the clear exhaustion lining his face and eyes. "The need for safety is more important than want of ease."

Mona still frowns, but doesn't argue that point. "We can leave after this safe room."

"One more!" Skull cuts in, not moving from his place next to her.

Panther hums quietly. "I think so, too. We have enough power for our personas to make it another hour or so. We'll be getting home really late, though."

Skulls huffs. "Defin'lly cuttin' Ma's dinner close."

"Fox?" Mona questions softly, blue eyes flicking over their newest member.

"I can endure another hour." Fox agrees. A moment later his face twists. "Just...not as many encounters, if we can?"

Mona bobs his head quickly. "Of course! We avoid fights as much as we can." He whips to the side. "That means you, Skull!"

"I got it, I got it."

As always, they rest. Fox finishes his sandwich and promptly folds his arms on the table and collapses into them. Skull stays silent in the massively uncharacteristically way that shows how tired he is. Panther continues resting beside him, and Mona stays still on the edge of the table, ears continuously flicking.

Can he even still sense the not-shadow in here? Distortion is supposed to be weak in safe rooms. Maybe he's just trying to sense it, however weak or nonexistent it is at the moment.

Another twenty minutes pass, and the team is up and stretching, getting ready for another palace run of — hopefully — avoiding shadows.  They step out of the safe room, and Panther starts towards the new direction they haven't explored yet when she hears a Oh! from Fox behind her.

He doesn't sound distressed or worried or panicked, so Panther isn't worried that they're about to be attacked, and she turns around to question it. And stops.

The little place by the door that Skull's been dropping offerings like he's at a shrine is empty.

None of them have touched the chips and two drinks left at the other safe rooms, even as they left and wandered off, which means no one removed them this time either. But they're gone.

Panther's wide eyes meet Fox's astonished ones, then to Mona's own flabbergasted look.

Skull — clearly having recovered from his exhaustion — lets out the loudest, most enthusiastic whoop, the sound reverberating in the halls enough that Mona winces and covers his ears. "See! I told you!"

Panther can't believe that this food and bait plan actually somehow fucking worked.

The air presses down on them and Panther jolts as shadows shudder into existence.

"Skull!"

"Ah shit, my bad!" Skull yelps at Mona's yell.

The fight is... decently quick. At least Fox didn't have to use his persona and the majority of it is dealt with with only guns and weapons.

Note to self, screaming in a palace can attract shadows. This should have been obvious and clear without needing to be said, but well, it's Skull.

"So you do like soda!" Skull claims — marginally quieter — to the hallway once the fight is over and done with. The empty air doesn't respond, but Panther does see Mona's ears twitch again, and — for a moment — his eyes flicking down the path and up. Panther chances a look too, but she doesn't see anything but the ceiling and a few upper vent locks.

Fox nods resolutely, his own exhaustion seemingly gone. "As I claimed, food is always a bridge."

Skull whips towards him with an excited grin, offering a raised hand. The artist stares at it blankly, before realization lights his eyes and he claps his own gloved hand against Skulls. 

"We shouldn't loiter here." Mona's voice cuts through Fox and Skull's cheer. "Let's keep going."

"Hah? What? Mona?" Skull blanks before chasing the cat down the opposite hall from the one he looked down earlier; the one that leads further into the palace. Panther and Fox are quick to follow too. "Why are we goin'?"

Mona doesn't look like he did back in Kamoshida's palace, or in Mementos, when they ran into the not-shadow. It's almost like he's trying not to acknowledge it's existence at all, just like he has been the entire palace. Despite how the not-shadow clearly revealed it's presence by taking Skull's pseudo-bait.

He doesn't say anything, shoulders tense and ears still flicking behind him. Whatever Skull is about to say next gets cut off when they have to dive behind furniture to avoid a shadow and the conversation stops there.

The three of them keep up with Mona as he keeps marching forward, occasionally sending questioning looks at each other.

Skull, as always, gets tired of it within minutes. He starts cheerfully making comments about anything any everything as they go. Panther's face twists and she the look she sends him is completely aghast when he comments on Panther's art skills for absolutely no reason.

Then Fox joins in, saying whatever random fact comes to mind.

Mona doesn't stop the chatter from either of them, doesn't make any comments about stealth and phantom thieving. He only pauses to quiet them when he senses a shadow. It's wholly unlike him and Panther doesn't know how to take it. It's like Mona has some kind of mental haywire switch that gets flipped whenever the not-shadow is near. She doesn't get it.

"This is how we die," Panther let's the bland words slip from her lips as Skull nearly calls a wandering shadow in their direction with a particularly loud comment. "Because of you two."

Skull's But it's worth it! drowns out Fox's quieter My apologies.

They reach an open corridor, a safe room peering off on the left while bright blue and green screen doors spread across the courtyard to their right.

"Hold on a moment," Fox calls before Mona steps towards the safe room. The cat tilts his head back. Without further comment, Fox walks into the courtyard, peering at the doors. He hums. "I've seen these before."

"Huh? Whaddyou mean?"

"In Sens— In Madarame's atelier."

"Oh no." It's immensely worrying that those are the first words Mona's spoken since they left the last safe room.

As Mona steps forward and inspects the doors, Panther cautiously asks: "What's 'oh no'?"

The cat's face twists, "It's a cognitive barrier. I hate these." A brush of wind ruffles against Panther, and she jolts. Palaces rarely ever have wind, it feels so out of place that it has her glancing around. She only sees one of the courtyard lights flickering before it settles. "—need to go into the atelier and open the real version of the door. Preferably when Madarame sees it himself. Then we'd only have a few minutes to permanently set it open before it locks again."

Skull gasps, a cross between excited and cautious. "You mean breakin' n' entering?"

"It's not breaking and entering if I live there." Fox points out, then he gazes at the door again. "Though, this door has always remained locked. And I do not know where Se- Madarame stores the key."

"I'll pick it open." Mona says, and Fox stares at him in wonder. Probably because Mona just said he could pick locks, as Morgana, in his cat form. "We'll need to plan the next infiltration around Madarame. Fox, can you figure out when Madarame will be there?"

Fox hums, his right hand curling under his chin. "Thought Madarame never announces when he'll be there...I should be able to get a concrete date if..." he trails off, face pondering. Then, he nods. "I should be able to, yes."

"Perfect." Mona also nods. "Then we should head back for today." He walks past Panther, back into the museum and towards the safe room. 

"Man, what's up with him?" Skull mutters before tilting his head back and calling, "See ya' Ghost Buddy! We'll be back later!"

"We hope to see you next time, as well." Fox bows his head, then follows after Skull and Mona. Just like every other attempt at talking with the not-shadow, only silence remains.

Panther steps after them, pausing to look back at the semi-open courtyard. She doesn't know why, but she gazes at the lamppost again. The light was the same as all the others, even the same intensity and brightness.

Slowly, she lowers her head in a small bow, saying a quiet: bye, before following after her teammates.

What she didn't notice is that there was a small dent along the side of that lamp cover.

Still waters begin to churn. Water that has never moved further than a few ripples and small waves during heavy storms, now twists and folds in on itself under the bright, sunny blue sky. The new waves brush against the grass, picking up stones and rocks and dragging them into the lake.

One particularly heavy wave crashes against the grass and dirt. When the water returns back to the lake, a heavy velvet blue tome remains, half lodged between a rock and under the sandy grass.

Under the bright golden sun, the waves go still, and the lake doesn't move again.

Chapter Text

They enter the Metaverse again three days later. Mona pulls Skull and her near the museum's courtyard, dropping them in the nearest safe room. He's silent until they make it to the courtyard, standing before the bright blue and gold peacock doors.

"You two are sure you're okay with this?" Mona's ears flick back, unsure as he watches them.

"Yeah, man. We just sit around, no worries."

Mona turns to her. She hates the idea of Mona going back to the real world while leaving them in the Metaverse. The idea of being stuck in the museum until Mona gets back grates on her nerves. But it's part of the plan. They just have to wait for Fox and Mona to get the door open in the real world, then lock the door open in the palace during the same period.

"Yeah," she says. They won't be stuck here for longer than an hour, she internally reasons. "Don't worry about us, we'll take care of things here."

Hesitantly, Mona nods, turns, and vanishes from the Metaverse.

Skull kicks his shoe against the tiles as the lasers around the peacock-painted door spark and sizzle. He huffs as Panther paces around one of the benches, arms crossed over her chest and heels clicking at every step.

"Man, how long are they gonna take?"

Panther pauses, glancing back over her shoulder. "It's only been like five minutes." Skull groans, kicking his foot again. He knows they only gotta wait until Mona and Fox get the door open, but being stuck in the Metaverse with no way out is making him antsy.

He tips his head back. "Ghost Buddy? How boring is this out of ten?" He doesn't even know if the ghost is here. Mona didn't say nothing about it as he dropped them here and left.

Panther's quiet as she glances around, both of them expecting an answer that doesn't come. Skull doesn't let that stop him. "Ten? Yeah, me too, man."

"I think it's more of a seven," Panther offers, glancing back into the museum before leaning against the bench. "Too high-strung to be a ten. I feel like a shadow is going to jump us."

"Yea," Skull shuffles on his feet, sending his own look around. It's the first time they're without Mona, and the cat's their only shadow radar. "Weeeeeeell, if anything sneaks up on us, Ghost Buddy can blast it?"

Something clinks. Skull jumps as they both whip around to face it. Nothing's there except for a lantern that flickers a few times.

Panther shudders, collapsing onto the bench. "I hate it here. Better than Mementos but I still hate it."

"Creepy crawly subway." Skull agrees, eyes flicking to the door again. Same lasers. He almost kind of wishes a shadow would just appear, then he'd have something to—

Wait. Skull goes still. Ghosts cause lights to flicker, right? Yeah, that guy isn't a ghost ghost but he kind of functions like one, don't he?

Skull whips his head towards the lantern again, the light: solid and unblinking. He talked about the ghost using his death ray and then— "Wait, wait— was that you respondin'?"

"Uh, what?" Panther's heels click solidly on the tiles.

Skull ignores her, staring and the lantern and grins bright, opening his arms wide. "Ghost Buddy!" The light inside the standing lantern shudders, a small back and forth movement. Skull laughs giddily when he sees it.

"I can't tell if you've lost it or not."

"Was that a yes?" Skull nearly skips towards the lantern in glee. "You'd blast them for us?!"

When Skull's only a few paces away, the lantern flickers violently. He stumbles back with a yelp as a gust of air whips against his shoulders. Panther's Holy shit! ringing in his ears as Skull's eyes shot towards the lantern — still sizzling — before he notices another light flickering a few paces away.

Skull takes a few steps towards the next lantern, an awed Awesome slipping from his lips. "You can use wind too? That's just like Mona!"

Another step. Wind knocks Skull on his ass and the lantern's covering shatters, glass shards littering the tiles as the light goes dark.

"Oh my god, oh god." Panther shudders, and he sees her staring up at the lantern right next to the bench she stood up from. The lantern that's swaying. She quickly holds out a hand to stop him as Skull scrambles to his feet. "How—how about you don't go chasing around the Metaverse creature that doesn't want to get chased?"

"Wha—I'm not chasing him!"

"He's running from you!" She waves a hand at the other two lanterns, one broken and the other still flickering.

"But I wasn't—" The door groans. Both Skull and Panther jump, whipping towards the peacock door as it shudders and screeches open, the lasers dying with a mournful drone. Skull stares at it with wide eyes, "They did it! They actually did it!"

A shadow rises from the ichor behind the door, bulging and growing.

Skull's hand drifts towards his pipe. "Panther?"

"I know the plan but—" She bites her lip, eyes darting between the shadow and Skull. "That looks strong as hell. Are you sure you can..?"

"I got Ghost Buddy." Skull readies his pipe with one hand and nudges Panther with his left. The lantern above her flickers. "We'll fight it until you get the door open."

Panther points a finger at him, "If you die, I'll kill you myself." She turns and runs through the open gates, eyes locked on the shadow as she passes it and disappears into the hall.

The shadow bursts, shaping into a yellow gorilla-looking thing.

Skull rushes at it, bashing it with his pipe. The gorilla gives a guttural growl before swiping fast at his head. It's nails dig into Skull's pipe as he blocks the hit, arms straining under the attack.

"Captain!" Skull calls, stumbling back from another physical attack. "Tarukaja! Zio!"

The super-charged electricity zaps through the gorilla. The big thing only shudders before roaring again, the same death magic as the shadows in Kamoshida's palace echoing around it as electricity continues dancing around its limbs. Skull ducks under the curse magic.

Skull kinda gets what Mona meant about weaker shadows not being able to do the death ray now. Even he could tell that curse attack was weak as hell compared to that beam of magic.

Okay, but now it feels kinda the same. Does curse magic get stronger when it's fizzling out in the air? It didn't do that in Kamoshida's—"Oh shit!"

The shadow takes the death ray head on, the black and red aura overtaking it's body completely.

Skull blinks wide eyes at it before looking in the direction it came from. The air wavers around a vaguely human-like body before settling. Awesome camouflage.

Now that he knows where to look, he can see the exact moment the air goes staticky again. But he still chokes down a yelp as a hand grabs his arm and yanks. He nearly goes down, barely catching himself on his good leg as he feels the hair on his body stand up.

A missed Mamudo attack. He was nearly hit with an instant kill attack.

"Wha—it's still alive!?" Skull gapes at the yellow gorilla thing, looking like it didn't just take a full death beam to the face even when — behind it — the top corner of the peacock door is melting just like the wall in Kamoshida's palace.

The gorilla thing cackles and the fingers on Skull's arm go tight. "Captain!" The hand pulls back with a muffled yelp. "Headbutt!"

Captain Kidd lunges at the shadow, swerving around its swing and slams into it. The shadow groans, staggering but doesn't fall. Wind roads above Skull's head.

Skull whips his head up. "You got another plan—?" And stops. It's not Ghost Buddy above him, it's Mona and Fox, riding Zorro's wind down from wherever the hell they just came from.

Fox lands with ease, a hand flying to his mask. "Goemon! Bufu!"

The gorilla brushes the ice off.

"It's resistant to ice!" Mona calls as he rushes over, stopping at Skull's other side. "What about electricity and physical?"

"They work!" Skull calls, staggering away from a swipe. "They don't do much but they work! It's got insta kills!"

"Goemon! Sukukaja!" The gorilla's movements go slower as Fox's speed enhancing flows over them.

"What kind?" Mona fires a few slingshot bullets. "Neutral on bullets!"

"Curse!" Skull calls back, firing off his own wave with his shotgun. "Took the death ray and still standing!"

"It—?" Mona whips his head towards the gorilla, taking in the melting edge of the door. "Curse nullification. Doesn't mean much for us but... Zorro! Lucky Punch!"

The gorilla goes down with a mournful cry and the three of them rush in for an all out attack. When they fall back, Skull yelps as it tries to send him to an early grave with curse magic.

"Carmen! Agi!" The gorilla screeches as it evaporates into black ichor. They stop, slowly turning to Panther whose heaving in the next hallway.

Panther takes a moment to gather her breath as Carmen comes back to her. The mad dash to find the damn control room to which computer held the locking mechanism and damn it she's not good at computers. At least Fox and Mona made it out safely, the both of them standing right by Skull.

Skull gapes at her and she catches the pure disbelief on his face. "You're kiddin' me." What. If he didn't believe she could lock the door open she's going to have words.

"It was weak to fire." Mona drawls. "And we sent our fire user away."

"Oh?" Panther blinks at where the shadow just died, then she cackles. "You mean I locked the door open and killed the shadow?"

"Hey! Shut up!"

Panther wipes her eyes before skipping back to them, stopping by the same bench she was sitting on before the door opened. "Good job, Mona! Fox!" Fox looks like he swallowed something sour, and Mona's clearly aware of it from the wide berth he's giving the ice-user. But Fox clearly doesn't want to talk about it and Mona isn't mentioning it...

Panther won't push.

Fox blinks at something in the distance. "Did you two break a lantern?"

"Ah," Skull waves him off, like he wasn't half of the problem earlier. "No, that was Ghost Buddy." Cold air pricks right behind her, so brief that Panther almost things she imagined it. Like the air was bristling or something. Skull lights up a millisecond later. "Right! Thanks for the save earlier, Ghost Buddy!"

Fox gasps, his eyes lighting up as he stares at the shatters lantern casing. "Truly? And he was fighting with you while we were gone? Fate is cruel..." Fox turns, gazing around. "Is he still here?"

"I mean he was on the lights but I dunno about now..." Skull leans back, eyes narrowed over one of the lights. Panther catches Mona's eyes dart to her and away again.

Wait.

Panther's eyes flick behind her, the same area she felt the cold brush of air from. She's right next to the same place he was before. She has the irrational thought to slowly start backing away.

Panther doesn't get it. The boy ran from Skull so rapidly he broke a light. Then why the hell isn't he running from her?

Vaguely, she sees Fox and Skull badgering Mona about the creature. The creature that's apparently right above her.

"Look I- I don't know," Mona waves a paw, decidedly not looking at where they both know the boy is. "If he is, then he doesn't want to be seen. Can we just try to get to the treasure today?"

"Aww," Skull whines and Fox deflates. But both follow the cat through the now open doors. Panther chances a look up, the light from the lantern burning spots into her eyes. She doesn't see what she knows is there. Vaguely, Panther wonders if he's looking down at her too.

"Panther?"

"R-right!" Panther peels herself from the bench and light post and stumbles after them.

They move past the control room quickly, working their way deeper into the palace. The heavy waves of distortion only grows stronger the further they in they get from the peacock doors. It's just like in Kamoshida's palace, the higher they climbed the final tower. Even without the map, Panther can tell that they're getting close to the treasure.

If only they didn't keep getting blocked by lasers.

The door they need to get through is right at the end of this hallway, bright and taunting them from behind a crisscross of at least ten different sets of lasers.

"That ain't fair at all!" Skull waves his gloved hand at the sizzling red lines.

From behind him, Mona says, "There's probably a control room for it somewhere on this floor. I saw a gated area earlier..." the not-cat turns and leads them back through the palace, to a large open room with inactive laser poles scattered everywhere.

And she means everywhere. They're coating the entire room like they're the only furniture it'll ever get.

"Oh!" Panther points to the other end of the pole room, where she sees the barest hint of glass peaking out behind a hallway. "I think that's the control room."

"Nice!" Skull cheers as Fox's hand goes to rest under his chin. "So we just gotta get over there and turn the lasers off—" Skull takes a step forward, only for Mona to cry Hold on! and Fox to jolt forward and yank him back.

"Oi! What gives?"

"It exudes the feeling of a trap," Fox's eyes narrow at the open room, his hand still firm around Skull's arm. "That is what you felt, yes, Mona?"

Mona nods, ears flicking. "Exactly. It doesn't make sense for there to be no security here. Especially not so close to the treasure." He digs a paw into his hip bag, dragging out something Panther can't quite see and throws it into the room.

It sizzles and burns before it even hits the ground. Almost like it was hit by a laser.

It hits Panther then. "No, you're fucking with me." This is ridiculous, she hates palaces, she never wants to deal with this kind of shit again. "It's not a room of invisible lasers. Please say it doesn't have invisible lasers."

Mona's face twists. "I really wish I could say that."

"How the hell do we even get passed that!?" Skulls face is aghast when he says it, stomping his foot like a child. Panther feels very much like joining him.

"I...could use Goemon to check for any lasers around us," Fox's voice is hesitant as he suggests this.

"That's too dangerous," Mona shakes his head. "We don't know if the lasers move, and if you set any off it could alert the guards, and then we'd have to fight in the middle of them..."

"Then what do we do?" Panther stares at the not-empty room of invisible lasers. "We can't scale the place like Kamoshida's palace."

"I don't know...let me think.." Mona murmurs, blue eyes drifting across the room. "Maybe Zorro could..no..." Mona snaps up, causing all of them to jolt. Panther quickly whips around to check for shadows, but there aren't any.

The not-cat sucks in a breath, "Wait, don't!" He stops. His half step forward frozen. He looks like he's barely breathing.

"Uh, what?"

"Mona?"

Mona's staring at something in the laser room, but Panther doesn't see a thing. She does, however, see Mona flinch a second later. She then hears him gasp.

And step forward.

"Oh my god, Mona!" Panther reaches forward to pull him back from getting lasered — sees Skull and Fox doing the same — and they all freeze as nothing happens.

"—wha?"

"Follow exactly where I walk!" Mona calls over his shoulder. Panther, Skull, and Fox exchange skeptical glances before she carefully steps past Skull and Fox, heels clicking on the floor tiles. Panther keeps her arms near as she presses closer to Mona, hearing their remaining teammates following quickly behind.

Mona's ears flick, focusing on something before him and carefully pads forward. They walk like a game of conga-line through the invisible lasers, straight, sharp rights and lefts, stepping over and ducking under.

When they reach the center of the room, Panther's head shoots up when she thinks she sees a shadow, but there's nothing there when she looks.

She sees it again the next time Mona moves, just before Mona moves. A few paces away, something rippling in the air, almost giving the impression of a safe room.

It moves, the air rippling as it steps between two dark black bars, and what looks like legs moving back to slowly, carefully touch the ground again.

What?

Panther squints, eyes trying to catch sight of whatever's leading them. It twists, the distortion behind it billowing and folding in before it settles, feet(?) stopping — waiting? It feels like looking at something half-human and half...something else. Like when you think of a merperson or a fairy - it looks human but you just know it isn't.

That's when she catches the faintest hint of red. Right where she thinks it's face is, a brief crimson glow breaches through the distortion.

A glow she's seen before. Panther gasps, freezing in place. Skull stumbled into her back, but she barely notices it.

The boy's glowing eyes flick to her, pausing mid step. The distortion behind him flares, nearly brushing against another laser pole before it folds back in. His finishes the step, moving back and — vanishes.

—What?

"Oi, Panther, come on." Skull nudges her forward and Panther rushes to close her gaping mouth and catch up to Mona.

That was definitely that boy, right? But Panther knows what he looks like, the image of his dark winter coat, heels, black gloves and glowing red eyes is seared into her memory. But that didn't look like him. Well, kind of? Maybe? She couldn't tell if he was wearing the same thing and his red eyes were the same but—

Something had been fundamentally different. Something both not right and...right.

Does Mona see him? Panther sees the not-cat's ears flick again. He has to, right? Can he tell exactly what that creature looks like?

And that's not even—the boy's actively helping them? Why? Yeah, Skull said that he helped with the gorilla shadow at the door but— no, even then why did he help? Isn't he terrified of them?

Mona jumps onto the next platform, outside of the room of invisible lasers.

Skull whistles as he steps onto the platform, "Woooah, how'd you do that, Mona?"

"I—" Mona's eyes dart to the side, and Panther tries desperately to see through the still air for any hint of distortion. "—had some help."

"Oh! Our follower?"

Mona's ears twitch, head darting towards the control room. He makes a fast, confirming sound before quickly padding into the glass walls. It takes a while to find the correct computer and to even understand the hint (how are they supposed to know "Madarame's feet" means some kind of code on his statue?) and shut the invisible lasers off, as well as turning the paintings in the laser room on. Because there are offline paintings hanging from the wall that they have to jump through, again. 

They continue making their way deeper into the palace, jumping through more paintings (why did one of them have to have a kraken? Why?) and they managed to get so far through the museum that the security upgraded from lasers to lasers and cameras.

It is not a fun experience when Fox walks right into the camera view and alarms start blaring with shadows bursting from the floor. Panther can't believe she's saying this but she prefers the lasers to cameras, especially because they're no where near as noticeable as the poles sticking out of the ground.

Fox suggests that they start shooting the cameras down that they see, but even that doesn't stop them from missing some. By the time they get caught by the third camera, Panther's about to loose her shit.

Skull's clearly feeling the same as he waves his arms aggressively at the camera hanging on the wall. "Where even are your bounds!?"

The camera screeches as it hurtles straight down, crashing into the ground mournfully. It takes a moment of staring at the sparking wires in the wall to figure out what just happened.

"Ha! Take that you stupid camera!" Skull absolutely lights up. "Nice, Ghost Buddy!"

Fox blinks up at the sparks with wide eyes, "How did you get up there..?"

Unsurprisingly, the Metaverse creature doesn't answer. Surprisingly, the Metaverse creature decides to start breaking the cameras for them. She does have to say, though, that this help comes with a massive learning curve as they don't know where the boy is, nor does he know which cameras they've noticed or not (and are about to shoot or not — Mona has to stop that disaster from happening only once before they decided on ground rules). The rule is a simple one, don't shoot immediately, point out which camera is getting shot, and then declare that it's getting shot (preferably by someone announcing Gun before Fox shoots the camera — because Fox has the best aim out of all of them; sans Mona).

"Shadow!" Mona informs them as a guard meanders near the end of the hall, too far and not moving enough for them to sneak up on it.

Fox rests a hand on his katana, "I'm assuming we fight head on?"

"I hope not, this is a strong one." Mona peers at it from their hiding area. "Panther, is there another way around? Or a place to ambush it?"

From what she remembers, no. "This is the only way forward."

"Then we're going to have to do this head on. Skull, get ready to shoot it, and—" Mona's stops, ears standing up in a way that Panther's extremely familiar with. She looks in the direction his ears are pointing, just in time to see something tear from the staticky veil of distortion that's covering the Metaverse creature, slamming straight into the shadow's mask with a nasty crack. It shrieks, arms flailing as it dissolves into a few humanoid winged shadows.

"Go, go, go!" Mona calls, and they stumble to their feet to follow up on the ambush. The shadow doesn't go down easy, taking multiple of their higher level magic skills, but it does go  relatively quickly thanks to the initial ambush.

Curious, Panther picks up the glinting item that was apparently chucked at the shadow's mask. Some kind of gear? It had multiple prodded edges, which are actually kind of sharp now that she feels them. The prongs must be what broke the mask in the first place. There's also some kind of neon, glitching code running over it in a way that makes it clear that the gear (DIY shuriken?) is from the Metaverse and not the real world.

"What is that?" Skull peers over her shoulder as Panther turns the thing over in her hand.

"Ninja throw star," Panther says, because that's clearly what the aim is here. And with how much tailoring the other clearly made to it, she should probably give it back, but there's no way he'd just take it from her hand. Cautiously, Panther crouches down and decides to roll the gear down the hallway. The thing clinks as it turns, then vanishes a few yards down the hall.

They reach a safe room soon after, and by soon after she means after turning the corner. But instead of going inside, Skull plops down right outside the door and just sits there. When asked why, he says 'Cause Ghost Buddy can't go in the safe rooms.'

Fox takes this in stride, dropping down next to Skull. Panther, on the other hand, thinks this is a horrible, awful idea because the point of safe rooms is to actually rest, not to be hyper aware of being ambushed any second. But there's no way of winning that argument with either of them

Panther's amazed that they don't get ambushed in the ten minutes they spend recovering.

They make their way through the palace again, fighting their way through shadows, lasers, and a few cameras until they reach a long stretch of just about nothing.

Skull nudges Panther's side, and when she looks at him she can immediately tell he's bored. He flicks two fingers up, miming a gunshot at invisible targets. It's probably because Skull wanted to be the one to shoot down the cameras, but none of them trusted his aim.

Panther snickers, "Gun?"

"Guuuun," he flicks his fingers again. "Bang bang."

Mona's eyes flick back to them. "You know he's probably not going to like that." Neither of them need clarification on who the he is in the cat's statement.

"But I'm bored," Skulk complains with another finger wave. "And it's not like I'm actually shootin' somethin.'"

A shuriken whizzes over Skull's head and buries itself into the wall. It's sends a very clear message that the Metaverse creature does, in fact, not like it.

"Holy shit!" Skull wheezes as he stares at the sharp edges of the gear-turned-throwing-star. "Dude!?"

"Oh," Fox says. "It appears that he doesn't agree with you, Skull."

Mona preens, "I told you so."

Skull doesn't do that again, and soon after they reach a large doorway that the map says will lead to the treasure room. It doesn't.

"Woah... what is this?" Skull gazes around at the large glowing arches and solid gold ledges peering over the blue foggy abyss.

"Perhaps it's some kind of Alice in Wonderland themed room?" Fox ponders, carefully looking down at the lower ledges.

Panther points out, "This place isn't on the map..."

Mona pads down one pathway, staring at the glowing light inside one arch, and then down to the lower arches. "They're teleporters."

"They're what now?"

"Awesome," Skull breathes, and then walks straight through the arch and disappears.

"What—oh my god." Panther groans, running a hand over her mask. Why is he so impulsive? Sometimes she really wishes he would get ambushed just to prove to him that he needs to stop doing things like this.

"Yoooooooo!" Panther drags her eyes towards the call, and sees Skull waving his hands from another golden ledge almost twenty meters below them. "That was so cool—" his hair flutters in the wind and Skull flicks his head to the side, "Oh hey, Ghost Buddy!" Well, at least it looks like the Metaverse creature forgives Skull for his comment earlier.

Mona heaves a sigh before stepping through the portal. Fox and Panther are quick to follow, the dizziness of the teleportation causing her go light headed for a moment.

"Don't just walk into teleporters!" Mona hisses, waving a paw at the lightning-user. "It could have been a trap! What if it teleported you in the air and you just fell!?"

"Uh," Skull tips his head back, looking up at the glitching sky. "I, uh, didn't think of that."

"Think next time!"

Skull grumbles something incoherent, but doesn't retort. At her side, Fox curiously tilts his head and walks forward, past Skull and peers down at something on an easel.

Curious, Panther asks, "What is it?" This catches both Mona and Skull's attention.

Fox hums, but it's not like his normal voice. It's more strangled, this time. "It's a forged Sayuri."

Mona's ears wilt as Skull lets out a low whistle. "Really, man? That's 'effed up." He leans over Fox's shoulder. "How'd you even tell?"

"The paint," Fox mutters, his hand hovering over the edge of the painting. "It's not meant to be angled this way."

Faintly, Panther feels like she's missing something. Fox has the same pained look as when she saw him and Mona again after they returned in the courtyard. Something must have happened back in the real world, something to do with that door.

"Maybe there's some kind of mechanism with the paintings," Mona offers. "There's some other easels. If most of them are forgeries...do you think you can find the real one, Fox?"

Fox scoffs, "Of course, I can. Mere forgeries...they could never fool me." He turns and marches down the ledge, barely glancing at the paintings as they pass. Panther and the others rush to trail after him.

At the second to last painting, he stops. "This one is no forgery."

Mona hums, but whatever he's about to say freezes in his throat as the painting releases a soft gold glow, then shrinks into a bright glowing sphere. It pulses, hovering in the air before it bolts.

A strangled noise echoes as the air in the path of the orb glitches and stutters, then the distortion bolts — a heavy gust of wind that the light passes straight through — Panther yelps, blocking the wind from her eyes.

"Holy shit!" Skull staggers away from the edge as the wind buffers at him. A teleporter in the distance changes from a dark blue glow to bright gold. "Ghost Buddy!?"

Panther's head snaps up, and whips around to see the telltale distortion of wherever the boy is now. It's a few paces behind her, what was clearly flailing — almost like a baby bird, Panther thinks near-hysterically — is now settling; the distortion easing slowly back into the regular air of the palace.

"Are..." Panther stops, eyes drifting over empty air hesitantly. "Are you okay?"

The air doesn't respond.

"I think...the light might have almost..." Mona trails off, and Panther nearly demands that he finishes that sentence. Almost what? The cat's eyes drift behind her. "Maybe you should... stay behind us for this part?"

Mona doesn't get a response either. But he doesn't seem to need one as he turns and motions for them to go to the newly lit teleporter. Fox barely hesitates after they reach the new area, immediately setting out to look at the forgeries. He's quick to pick out each real painting, putting together the 3D puzzle of the arch teleporters with ease. That is, until the current one.

Fox declares, "They're all forgeries."

"Wha—then how do we activate the arch thingy?"

Panther glances around, "Could it be on another ledge? Like a.." she wrings her heads, "red herring?"

"I mean that's possible," Mona ponders, narrowed blue eyes searching around the ledges. "But palaces normally follow patterns since that's easier mentally. Switching things like this without warning...I don't think it's on another ledge."

"Maybe one of them is the real one but don't look it?" Skull offers.

"But that also breaks the—" THUNK.

Panther jolts, the startled sounds of her teammates running through her ears as she twists towards the sound. It had come from just behind Fox, a solid wall leading up to a higher ledge. When she sees nothing obvious having made the noise, it's easy to figure out that it came from the Metaverse creature.

"That sound—!" Mona gasps, paws frantically waving to Fox. "It's a fake wall!"

A wh— how did Mona catch that from a sound?

But Fox's eyes light up as he draws his katana, raising it and slashing into the wall. The side of the ledge gives way, crumbling into itself and revealing a tiny alcove in the ruble. With a light gasp, he declares, "It's the Sayuri!"

"Woaaaaah," Skull ducks under the orb as it zips past his head and lights the next teleporter. "Nice one, Ghost Buddy!"

"Yes! That was brilliant!" Fox bows to the broken wall, as if the boy is standing in the alcove (she's nearly positive he isn't). "A fake wall—that's something to consider for the future."

Mona steps towards the teleporter and studies the next arch, ears flicking as he does. "I think this is the last one. It leads out of here."

"Nice! Finally!" Skull skips to the arch, stopping just before touching it. He stares at Mona, who sighs and waves a paw, then the electric user cheers and ducks into the arch.

Panther hopes that this leads them back to the marked areas on the map, because that would mean that they're in the treasure room, finally. Her prayers are answered when she steps through the arch, herself, and her first sight when the dizziness fades is the glowing light of the treasure hovering behind caging bars.

"Is that the treasure?" Fox asks after he hears Skull's cheer. Mona is quick to explain, Fox nodding throughout the cat's words. They then develop into searching for a way to get the treasure out of the bars once it materializes. They settle on using a nearby control system to cut the lights and the rafters as an entry point.

"Callin' card time!" Skull cheers.

Panther cuts in, "And training."

"And training," He mumbles. After their last attempt with Kamoshida, it was immensely clear that they need a lot of training. With Fox's help, this will surely be easier than just three people, but, based on his palace, Madarame is stronger than Kamoshida (and that's not a comforting thought).

"Then we should start heading out now," Mona suggests, his eyes flicking to the side.

"Man," Skull groans. "I can't wait to sleep."

"And food."

Skull laughs, following Mona and Fox to the safe room nearby. And after Fox says goodbye to their Metaverse follower, Skull says, "Hey, Ghost Buddy! We'll be in Mementos next time! Hang out with us again!"

"If you want to," Panther says. It feels like the right thing to say, at least she thinks it does. The creature clearly likes following them, or if he doesn't, then he's curious about them. And despite all of the hiding, he's still helped them through puzzles and fights.

She hopes that he'll join them again, even if it's as a mysterious stalking ghost rather than the dark-clad boy in Mementos.

He doesn't come to Mementos. When they go into the subway to train the next day, there isn't a single hint of the Metaverse creature anywhere; not in the entranceway, not in the tunnels, and not even in the Shibuya Station Way where they (sans Mona) saw him for the first time.

He doesn't come the second day, or the third either. They try not to let the absence bog them down, but she can see how Mona's ears flick and twist, only to have his face fall moments later; how Skull makes some comment and waits for a flutter of wind that doesn't come; how Fox avidly gazes around as if he can see the static distortion that always covers the boy.

For the entire week they train, there's not a single hint of him. So they turn their focus — or try to — entirely to training. Each of them raising their personas abilities to the point of being able to use moderate elemental damage without mental strain.

In the real world, Ann stops by pharmacies and convenience stores to buy medications and healing items between her shoots and schoolwork; Ryuji upgrades their weapons and armor after a lot of back and forth research with Morgana; and Yusuke works around designing the calling card.

Just like with Kamoshida, the preparations take just about a week, and when the days encroach into June, Morgana takes the calling cards and plasters them around the exhibit before opening time.

When they step into the Metaverse on June 2, Panther hopes that they've prepared enough.

She also realizes a few small details. Just like in Kamoshida's palace, when they went to steal the treasure the sky was a bright, angry red, the same color Madarame's palace sky is now. The change hasn't been as stark in the castle as it is now though, since pink to red isn't that big of a change, but dark blue to vibrant red is extremely noticeable.

The second thing she notices, is Mona's ears pointing up and his body stark straight. She knows exactly what this means, and she doesn't call Mona out on it when he perks up and calls, "Okay! Let's go get the treasure!"

They make their way through quickly, avoiding shadows and security systems until they see Madarame's shadow and his guards hovering around the barred cage surrounding the treasure - some kind of rectangle-like shape with a sheet over it. Panther thinks it's a painting.

The plan goes, well, according to plan. They manage to cut the lights and steal the treasure, escaping through a window and making their way through their escape route of the roof. It didn't go entirely smoothly, as Skull nearly trips over the edge, but the Metaverse creature manages to pull him up from his stumble the instant it happens. That, of course, is when Skull and Fox — who didn't notice Mona's tells at the entrance like she did — realize that the boy is with them again.

He always seems to be in the palace, maybe he just likes the palaces more than Mementos. But that thoughts for another time, when they're not actively running through the palace.

They climb down the side of the museum when they reach the courtyard and through the open peacock doors. That's when Madarame corners them, laughing about how the treasure they stole is fake — like everything else about him — and tells them the real story behind his treasure, the Sayuri.

The true Sayuri.

She just happened to have a seizure in front of me, He says.

She would have died anyway, He says. I just stopped her suffering.

She thought the Sayuri was finished, He says. But it looks so much more mysterious and captivating now, doesn't it?

He laughs and laughs and Panther strews in anger. How dare he? How dare he just leave someone to die and then steal something so personal? And then continue to do it?

The air of the palace bares down, heavy, sizzling, and dark. Carmen responds to the distortion, growling low in her throat.

They're going to stop him. She won't ever let him try to use Yusuke again.

With a final sneer, the Shadow turns, erupting into four grotesque, floating paintings and the four — five — of them go down on the Shadow.

They're quick to realize that each painting is immune to some kind of damage, healing of it. The mouth is weak to elemental and absorbs physical; The nose is neutral to both types; and the eyes absorb elemental and are weak to physical. They find this out when the Shadow screeches as something slashes into it from above and behind, and Panther has no idea how the Metaverse creature apparently grappled onto the flying paintings, but they've already come to the conclusion that he's a special case.

"Captain!"

"Goemon!"

Captain Kidd spears into one of the eyes, tearing into the film of the painting while Goemon's ice turns half of the mouth painting to a frozen film. Panther erupts the status effect with Carmen's searing heat. Zorro bears down the painting in the center.

The Shadow growls, deep and reverberating in the open courtyard. "They came to me! I only took what was rightfully mine!" The paintings flare, and a wave of elemental energy sweeps back at them.

Every persona responds. The energy weakens under Carmen's Tarunda; a shield of ice, crafted under Goemon's Bufula and Captain Kidd's Tarukaja; a wave of healing from Zorro's Media flows over them from behind the shield.

And through it all, the distortion edges each persona on, strengthening every attack and supplementing a power that Panther knows they never had even throughout the training in Mementos.

They fight more like a unit than they ever had.

The Shadow roars, firing another wave of electricity and heat, which only faces the same shield-and-debuff treatment as the other attack.

Fox unloads his gun into one of the eyes, Skull sends Captain Kidd crashing into the same eye with a rightly timed Headbutt. Panther sears the nose until it sags in the air. A heavy, deep tear cuts through the other eye.

The paintings rear back with a howl, energy darkening as blackened liquid-miasma slams into solid distortion. The air goes static under the miasma and Panther barely has a second to think that somethings not quite right with the way the distortion looks. Carmen surges forward, weakening the Shadow just as it launches a heavy gust of wind magic at the distortion.

The boy doesn't dodge, and Carmen whips around with wide eyes just as the wind strikes the distortion.

A cry, pained and choked — in the same way that she's heard Skull make when he's knocked down with wind, but so, so much worse — and the static fizzles out as he crashes into the ground rolling until he stops on his side, at the edge of the courtyard, with another strangled cry.

"Oh my god—"

"Ghost Buddy!?"

Drops of blood on the tiles — blood — she's never seen one of them bleed in the Metaverse before, aside from their awakenings. Personas are supposed to protect their users from this, it's what their costumes are for. It hits her cold when she remembers what Mona said weeks ago, that whatever this creature is — this boy is — he doesn't have a persona.

He doesn't move.

The Shadow does.

Mona shrieks as elemental energy collects over the Shadow, aimed directly at the boy. Zorro's form — covered in red energy, not blue — launches forward and covers the boy's downed body with its own.

Fox and Skull call their personas and the enhanced ice layers a heavy shield. Panther dives behind the ice as Carmen digs her nails into the Shadow's eyes.

With a scream, the Shadow's attack grazes the edge of the shield, staggering back as Carmen growls and retreats to Panther's mask; only for Zorro to tear upward and take her place, and she sees something so much larger and stronger than a Lucky Punch before she whips around, ready to call Carmen forward again before she realizes that she doesn't see blood anymore.

Whatever wounds he had, they're gone. It hits her that in the instant he was downed and Zorro covered him, the persona must have healed him. But despite the healing, he's still covered in the same black aura.

Panther's digging through her supplies — the sounds of the fight behind her loud and near deadly — when she sees, from the corner of her eye, the boy move.

Her head whips up. He's shaking, twitching, one gloved hand clawing at the ground to try to push himself up, only to weakly collapse again. His eyes flickering between that glowing red — only for milliseconds — and off again and with a pained wail he digs the same hand into the cloth of his hood.

"God—oh god— hold on," Panther whirls back to her supplies. "I'm trying to get something to help you—" She has pain meds, bandages, cures for forget and brainwash, but what's even supposed to help with whatever the miasma did? They've never faced a status effect like this before—

A pained whimper and — "Nix?" His voice. She knows she heard it a month ago, singing that song that still sticks in her head, but hearing it now is so different. It's real and hurt.

She doesn't know what nix is supposed to mean, if it even has a meaning, but she does know that he's still in pain despite getting healed so she digs out pain medication. She tries to give them to him, but the boy jolts back with a hissed breath and she really doesn't think either of them would get out unscathed if she tries to force the meds.

"It's a healing item," Panther urges quickly, hearing Madarame's Shadow screeching behind the ice wall. She chances a glance over her shoulder, seeing that none of her teammates are allowing the Shadow to get anywhere near the shield, she turns back. "I don't know what that stuff did to you, but if you're in pain this should help."

Red eyes flicker on. A hiss and they're off again. A quiet mutter, "Healing?" She goes to reassure him, that yes, they'll help, please take them — but he weakly lifts his other shaking hand and feels around the inside of his coat.

He fishes out a vial, dark and solid, pops the top open and downs it. Oh—oh, of course he has his own healing items — he gags with a choked breath and Panther winces at the sound. Whatever he drank, it must have been vile.

From the strangled "Fuck" the boy winces out, he obviously agrees.

The blackened aura around him dims, but doesn't disappear. Still, the boy levers himself up, body still trembling. Panther reaches out to steady him like she would Skull or Fox, but quickly backs off again when he ducks back and nearly collapses again.

She thinks he's peering around her at the fight, but Panther can't be entirely sure since she can't see his eyes anymore.

The Shadow wails as it's knocked down, the other Phantoms surging in in an all out attack.

Panther's torn between getting back to the fight and staying here. She won't leave him alone if he's still hurt and defenseless, but the idea of leaving her teammates to fight alone doesn't feel right, even if she thinks they're winning right now. "Can you cover yourself again?"

For a moment, he doesn't move. Then his head tilts down and he raises one hand off the ground. Distortion spiderwebs over his fingers, it’s slow and stringy. Not at all like the quick blanket-like cover it normally looks like.

It looks wrong. He probably thinks the same as he stares down at it. "Is there any pain with it?"

Red eyes flash on and flick to her, then dark again. He shakes his head.

"Do you think you can hide yourself for the rest of the fight?" She doesn't know if that would help or not. Madarame was still able to knock him down even with the distortion covering him; but Panther isn't sure if that means that the Shadow could see through the static like she thinks Mona can, or if it was just due to the boy's proximity to the Shadow. But Madarame did get more aggressive when the distortion fell so having it back up might help?

The boy keeps staring at the distortion spidering over the back of his hand. He takes a breath and nods. The distortion strings around him and he vanishes, no where near as smooth as normal, and the air is still glitching and staticky, but she can't see him anymore.

"Okay," Panther nods back. "Okay. I'm going to help the others. You, be careful."

Panther peers at the static for another few seconds, for any indication that she should stay. Upon receiving nothing, she stands and ducks around the shield of ice and back into the fray.

The Shadow is on its last legs, only it's nose and one eye remaining flying, the other two paintings dropped unmoving on the ground. Even the only two paintings left are sagging in their splintering frames. Mona and Zorro are still ripping into the Shadow, while Fox and Skull are covering for him.

"Panther!" Skull calls when he notices her.

"He's fine!" She yells back, not entirely true but accurate enough. He's awake and moving again. Mona hears this, and finally falls back, Zorro returning to him in a flash of blue as he retreats into the back line with Panther.

It really doesn't take long for the fight to end, only a few well-timed elemental attacks from Carmen and Goemon, before the remaining paintings hit the ground and turn to ichor, reshaping back into Madarame.

Fox yanks the treasure from the Shadow's sunken form. The Shadow doesn't react to loosing his treasure; instead, his golden eyes look fearful as they dart between the Thieves.

"S-so it's my time now?" He whimpers. "You're going to kill me."

"What're you talking about?" Skull gapes, eyes narrowed as he makes an aggressive gesture towards the sunken Shadow. "We don't kill people!"

"You... don't?" Madarame's yellow eyes widen, surprise flickering over his face with some kind of contorted confusion. "But...aren't you people with the one in the black mask? Yusuke, aren't you with him?"

"Black—?"

"Aside from Mona, we don't know of a person with a black mask," Fox's voice is soft as he says this, but his eyes are furrowed and face set in stone. The painting of the true Sayuri is cradled in his arms. "And we know Mona isn't a killer. Who are you talking about, Madarame?"

"He's—he's like you people..." The Shadow's eyes flit around open air hesitantly, like just saying what he is is dangerous. "Masks like you, summons like you. He was—like you," Madarame's gaze flits to Mona. "Like you were when I—" He stops, eyes darting to the calm distortion behind Panther that she knows that boy is hiding behind. Even with Carmen's urging, Panther would and does step between them, hopefully blocking the Shadow from seeing whatever it sees through the distortion that's prickling and radiating just behind her.

Whoever this persona user is, he's aggressive, extremely so. Apparently, just like how Mona was bloodthirsty when Madarame felled their friend. (The image of the boy hitting the ground with a cry and the near red aura surrounding Zorro and Mona after—she doesn't think she'll ever forget that). Mona's eyes take on a dangerous glint as he surely remembers the same.

The palace rumbles under their feet, only Skull moves, staggering as the ground shakes.

"This place won't last much longer," The Shadow speaks, his yellow eyes flit towards Fox. "Go," He urges. "Leave, before it crumbles down." He looks at his treasure, then Fox again. "I know I can't ever apologize for what I've done to you, but— I'm sorry, Yusuke."

Fox doesn't say a word. He turns his head from the Shadow, and walks towards Mona in a silent gesture to leave. Mona takes it, urging her and Skull closer so he can pull them back into the real world.

Just before Mona pulls them out, Skull waves a hand frantically at still air. "Ghost Buddy! We'll be in Mementos in two days!" Which isn't something they discussed, but apparently they'll be in Mementos again. "Don't avoid us this time!"

Panther wouldn't be surprised if he avoided them again just to spite Skull.

As the world shifts around them, Panther sees Shadow Madarame's eyes dart to the still-staticky distortion that's much more visible now, solidified around the Metaverse creature's form. The palace shudders and cracks, and they don't get to hear whatever Madarame goes to say to him as they're pulled back into the real world.

Ann collapses in bed once Morgana and her get home. She switches the lock screen on, and pauses at the preview message from a very familiar name and number. As fast as she calls for Carmen in the Metaverse, Ann unlocks and opens her messenger app.

Shiho: look at this!

A picture of a wide, open lake standing proud in the middle of what looks like a forest. The crystal clear water is tinted yellow and orange, meaning she must have been there either at sunrise or sundown.

Shiho:╭〻◕'w'◕〻╮

Ann laughs. She doesn't care about the time or typing out a response to the picture or the ridiculous kaomoji.

She tabs open Shiho's contact and presses call.

Chapter Text

Mid May

It's the second week of May when Shiho and her family arrive in Kurashiki, the countryside town they've decided to move to. Shiho doesn't know many details, but her parents had talked with Ann's, and the elder Takamakis helped them find a small house in the town.

Shiho hasn't seen Kurashiki before and — given that the only knowledge she has of it is that it's the center of the biggest mystery and tragedy of the century — she had thought it would be grim, or at least give off some hint of the disappearance-maybe-kidnapping. It doesn't. In fact, it's small, close-knit and beautiful. Even this close to the station, there's still so much tamed wildlife and small businesses. Seeing a cafe and picnic tables, of all things, being so close to the subway exit is a culture shock in itself.

Their house isn't too far from the station, Shiho guesses it's around a five minute walk but, thankfully, she doesn't have to test that guess in her crutches as they had taken a taxi from the station. The house is small, just like most other things she's seen in Kurashiki (besides the trees, those are tall). It's a light creme, two story home with an open yard and fence, and a decent distance from the two houses that it sits between. The house to the left is as well-taken care of as theirs, while the one on the right is much less put together, with its overgrown grass and uncut weeds.

The inside is just as nice as the outside, Shiho notes. It's relatively open, with a kitchen to the left of the door, a dining room to the right and both a stairwell and a hallway in the center. The hallway and the kitchen are connected to a living room, guest room, and a bathroom; while the stairs lead to the master room, a third bedroom, and a second bathroom.

They decide that the downstairs guest room is Shiho's, until she graduates from her crutches and if she wants the upstairs bedroom once she does. Shiho solidly agrees with this, the idea of trying to brave the staircase multiple times a day with her crutches makes her legs ache just thinking about.

Shiho shoos her parents off when they try to help her unpack. Her bed and desk have already been set up by the moving and installing company they hired, and she really doesn't want them hovering.

She collapses onto her bed, crutches clattering against the bed frame as she lets them go. She loves her parents, but having them around every second of the day is starting to feel suffocating.

Shiho fishes out her phone from her pocket and tabs open Ann's text trail.

Shiho: i am country child now (๑ˇ ῁̫ ˇ)˒˒

The text bounces. Shiho blinks at it, pressing the resend button. It bounces again.

"Oh." She doesn't think this has ever happened before. No, wait this actually isn't the first time. "She's probably on the train." Shiho groans, knowing that the other doesn't check her phone when she's in the subway.

She should start unpacking.

She doesn't want to unpack.

Shiho groans again, rolling onto her side and reaches a hand off the edge of her bed. Her fingers wrap around the cold bars of a crutch and she pulls it up.

"I need a wall hook or something." She does not want to go bed fishing every time she needs her crutches, that's just asking to fall off the mattress.

Steadying herself on shaky legs and a single crutch, Shiho hobbles over to her suitcase, sinks to the ground and starts working through her things.

It takes a long two hours of organizing things on the ground and slowly sliding them around the room via her suitcase, but she does finish. Her clothes are settled in the dresser drawers, her computer rests on her desk, her school bag rests over her dresser and the new rug her parents got her is on the floor beside her bed.

Her parents call her for dinner, and Shiho pulls herself off the fluffy rug to meet them at the table.

Her father places the plates down near the rice cooker. "Shiho, what do you think of the house?"

"It's nice." It's different from their old home in Shinagawa. This home is more comfortably laid out, but their old home was more cosy. "I like it," she says anyway.

Her mother sighs, and Shiho can visibly see the relief in her form. "I'm so glad you think so. I was worried about moving here since the homes are more spread apart but Elena and Masuyo said a more private area may be best."

Elena and Masuyo, Ann's parents. They're the ones that recommended Kurashiki when Shiho's mom told them about the move. They also helped them get pick out the new house, as they've gone to Kurashiki a lot over the years.

"What about Kurashiki, how is it so far?"

Shiho's barely seen any of it. "It's quiet," she says instead. The subway and the little business area around it is nice, she knows that at least. It seems like they're aren't many people, which is what she wanted. "It's pretty," that too.

They eat in relative silence, the only thing of note being that the school she'll be attending now is Kurai High, apparently a good fifteen minute walk from here. But the walk doesn't matter because she's not starting for another few weeks, and even when she is it'll be through virtual schoolwork.

The hours drag on, and when the clock strikes seven her message to Ann still hasn't gone through. She sighs, scrolling through her other contacts. There's not many, put her eyes do catch on one. Mishima.

She sends a quick ┻┳|･ω･)ﾉ and he responds. They message for a while before he has to go. Ann's message does go through, after a long time.

Shiho doesn't ask why, no matter how much she wants to.

The days drag on, and Shiho doesn't leave the house. When she's not working on her physical therapy, she moves between the floor rug, the living room couch and the little window alcove in her room. She's read through all of her books twice, even grabbing the daily newspaper once or twice just to flip through the pages. She's sat in the window alcove and idly sketched the yard behind their house four different times. She's beaten her mobile RPG another three times.

Despite all of this, none of these things catch her attention. It almost feels like she's drowning.

Shiho sighs, head thunking against the window of her alcove.

She hears talking outside her room. This happens sometimes. Her parents said it's the neighbors. Shiho thinks they've become friends. She doesn't know, she hasn't met them.

Suddenly, she can't stand the emptiness of doing nothing. Shiho reaches behind her and grabs her crutches off the hook between her bed frame and the alcove. She hoists herself up, pushing past the twinge in her legs and lower back and leaves her room.

Her parents are hovering in the front hallway, expressions inviting and open despite their pinched worry lines. The neighbor stands before them. He has peppered curly hair framing his face, and that face, unlike her parents, is set in an empty sort of sadness.

Mid May.

Yuuki's pencil speeds along the notebook page. needs to have some kind of forum or request page — specific design or regular posts? has to be something people will feel comfortable posting. private?— has to be visible for Phantoms to see. make anonymous? 

It's a few hours after school's end, and now that Yuuki's gotten semi-confident with his basic coding skills Akemi said he should start brainstorming the site's design and format. It's a lot easier said than done, Yuuki realizes, extremely glad that she brought up the idea of planning early.

should request/forum be front page? think on this. yes: easy access to requests, no big searching (should I add a search feature?). no: front pages normally aren't forums, if I make any edits they'd be really noticeable. what other front pages could work?

There's way to much to think about, and he has no idea what would be most helpful to the Phantom Thieves. What information do they even need to decide to go after someone? To 'change their heart' or 'steal their desires' in the first place? What does that even mean? Some kind of code or magic or paranormal ability?

He doesn't even know if the Phantoms are going to keep changing hearts; they haven't made any appearances since they went after Kamoshida, and that was weeks ago.

What if they started looking into him years ago and it took until now to go after him? How long does it take to change someone's heart?

Yuuki groans, running a hand through his hair. There's too much to consider. And Yuuki always considers. Sometimes, he hates that his brain always thinks of everything, or trying to connect dots that don't exist: when there's a much more obvious picture laying right in front of him.

Going fast is okay, Akemi has said to him before, But you gotta slow down and embrace the moment sometimes.

But I don't know how to do that. So Yuuki does what he does best: he thinks. He writes in his notebook and he plans. He looks through his textbook and he learns. He goes through his homework and he works.

And he goes to school the next day, spending each class thinking of everything else.

"Mishima!" Akemi cheers when he slides the door of the newspaper room open after classes. She has to of been running around the room when he got there, because she's juggling at least three different files in her hands. "Just in time! Door: shut!"

Yuuki would have been hesitant and cautious if someone told him that a few weeks ago, but he's gotten too used to Akemi to feel that way with her. He shuts the door.

"I found like, so much stuff," Akemi says. She drops two files on the table and slides them across like they're pucks from an air hockey game. Yuuki lunges forward to grab the one that almost flies off the edge. "So there's this government negotiator — that one who deals with legislation between Japan and Asia — and he's suspected of doing all kinds of underhanded deals with other countries. Then there's the Okumura Cooperate; need I even talk about the Okumura Cooperate?"

Yuuki doesn't open the file labeled LETTUCE and carefully places it down on top of the other one (labeled: THAT ONE GUY). "I...don't think the principal would let you publish about those."

"Well, no." Akemi drops the third file into one of the cabinets. "Because he's a stinking jackass, but we already knew that. But he will let us publish about school stuff, so—" She throws herself into a chair and plants her hands like an evil mastermind from the movies. "—did my little spy find anything?"

Little spy. Yuuki huffs, sliding into his own chair. "There are a few things, but the one I've heard most is some kind of..." he wrings his hands. "Pyramid scheme?"

"Whomst?" Akemi blinks. "Like, in the school or outta the school?"

"Out," Yuuki answers, pulling up the memories in his head about the things he's heard in the halls, the locker room, the library. "I think it's in Shibuya, but a lot of students have said they were part of it. It's not...I don't think it's good."

"People want out," Akemi surmises. She takes in Yuuki's nod and continues. "But they can't. I'm guessing they can't tell the police or authorities either if so many haven't done anything so, hm..." Akemi tilts her chair back, eyes furrowed behind her glasses. "Some kind of fear factor?" The girl nods to herself. "Good job, Mishima! See what else you can find for me, okay?"

"Right," Yuuki nods back. He doesn't know what she's going to do with the information, whether it's writing a column about it or taking it to the outside press — because she's apparently done that with other stories — but he trusts her judgement.

"So, how's your pet project coming along? Any progress?"

"Oh! I've gotten pretty far on coding, and I think I know enough to make the site. Or, just about, I think." Yuuki wrings his hands again. "I'm working on the design and format right now."

"Oooooh artsy." Akemi grins. "Show me when you're done with it!"

Yuuki's quick to nod to that. He's come to trust her judgement a lot in the past weeks, and he knows she's actually posted things before so she'll have some comments to make.

He wants it to be as perfect as possible.

When he goes back home, he delves into the coding textbook and starts working on practice code for the site.

Ding!

Yuuki pauses and looks at his phone.

Suzui: ┻┳|･ω･)ﾉ

Yuuki: ( ^_^)／

Yuuki: Did you get to Kurashiki?

Suzui: yepppp

Suzui: its so quiet you have no idea

Suzui: i hear birds in the morning Σ(ﾟ口ﾟ;

Yuuki: We have birds here too though?

Suzui: ༼ノಠل͟ಠ༽ノ ︵ ┻━┻

Yuuki: But we do??

Suzui: im crying

Suzui: you suck

Suzui: literally nothing happens here

Suzui: tell me ur doing something fun im begging you

Yuuki: um

Yuuki: I joined the newspaper club? Kind of?

Suzui: !!

Yuuki: It's not anything official, but I'm helping the club leader get information for some of her stories and she's helping me with a project of mine

Suzui: doesnt the newspaper only have one member lol (｡ >艸<)

Suzui: also,, project?? •ू(ᵒ̴̶̷ωᵒ̴̶̷*•ू) )੭ु⁾

Yuuki: It...does, yes

Yuuki: And I haven't finished the project yet. It's um not anything school related, it's more of a personal project?

Yuuki: I can send it to you when I'm done?

Suzui: ꉂ (′ ॢꇴ ॢ‵๑))

A few days later, Yuuki nervously packs his laptop in it's carry bag after finishing a website draft he's relatively comfortable with. Yuuki brings it with him to school and stashes it in the locked newspaper club room during classes, and immediately darts back to the room once those classes end.

Akemi blinks when she opens the door, seeing him already perched in his chair.

"Woah, hi?" The girl slides the door shut behind her. She settles her book bag on the table. "You've never been here before me, well before. What's up?"

Yuuki wordlessly slides his laptop across the table.

Akemi curiously pulls it towards her, eyes darting over the screen. A moment later, her face lights up. "Oh! You finished it!?"

"It's, um, not published yet." Yuuki wrings his hands, glancing away. "What— what do you think?"

"Lemmie look at it."

Yuuki goes silent, nervously listening as she taps away and scrolls on the mousepad. He hears her hum a few times, and whenever he peeks over he thinks she's nodding to herself.

"Okay," Akemi says a few minutes later. "This is really good. You planned the layout really good, too, and it's easy to navigate." She hums. "I'm not too sure on having the forum the first thing you see when you open the page. It feels a little..." Akemi taps her nails on the table. "Empty? I think the front page should either jump out of give information; having it rely on user usage and comments can make it feel stilted or empty if there isn't much activity."

That was what Yuuki worried about when he settled on it after a lot of debate. "I thought about an information page, since the Phantoms have only gone after one target and they're not really well known but I'm not really a good writer."

Akemi hums, and when Yuuki takes in the considering look an idea comes to him.

He says, "You're a good writer."

Akemi pauses, looking up at him over the laptop screen. She blinks, mouth opening and closing. "You—want me to write it?"

"Ah, I mean..." Yuuki looks away. "If you want to? You know what you're doing and I wouldn't even know where to start."

"Hey, no self deprecation." Akemi waves a finger. "I was just surprised, I didn't think you'd want my grubby little fingers on it—but I'd love to help if you want me to."

"Really?"

Akemi nods with a smile. "Give me a few days, and I'll have something for you. In the meantime, I have another few suggestions, if you want them." She starts again after Yuuki vigorously nods. "You could have a page for information gathering or rumors that people have heard. After all, a lot about Kamoshida was only known through rumors. And a lot of corporations get things brushed under the rug."

Akemi slides the computer back over, and Yuuki takes notes on the things she says.

The following day, Akemi comes in with a draft. That night, Yuuki makes it the new front page, moving hyperlinks around to work around the change, and making the final changes to the site.

He brings his laptop in the next day, showing the final draft to Akemi.

"How...does this look?" Yuuki questions as he nudges his laptop towards the club leader. Akemi takes control of the scroll wheel and starts reading, humming as she clicks through the tabs and hyperlinks.

"I like it!" She cheers a few minutes later, and Yuuki sinks into his seat in relief. "It's clean and looks really professional; no one could guess it's your first time! And I love the color scheme. Nice play on the calling card."

"It's the only reference we have of them," Yuuki admits sheepishly. "So I thought that would work best for the siding and forums."

"Brilliant. Have you published it yet?"

Yuuki shakes his head. "I wanted you to check it first. Do you think it's ready to..?"

"Yes!"

With Akemi at his side, he publishes the site. Soon after, she turns their attention to what Yuuki had told her he had heard in the halls. What Akemi had deduced as a pyramid scheme not too long ago, she's now certain of it being some kind of drug smuggling operation.

She wants Yuuki to try and sleuth more information from their classmates while she takes a look around Shibuya, where the operation is likely occurring.

"Make sure you're careful." Yuuki urges her after agreeing to investigate more in Shujin.

Akemi only laughs, but Yuuki thinks it sounds like a cackle. "They should be the ones who are careful. No one can hide from the truth!" She doesn't say another word as she marches out of the club room.

Yuuki sighs, knowing that nothing he says will convince the girl otherwise. Instead, he closes and packs up his laptop, then fishes out his phone to text Suzui.

Yuuki: I finished the project!

Yuuki: For now, at least.

Yuuki: I want to work on it more but I'm working on something for Akemi right now

Yuuki: phansite

Mid-Late May

Shiho learns that the man, their neighbor, is named Kurusu Kiyoshi, father to the boy who vanished into thin air just over a year ago. When she realizes this, the reason for the permanent set of hidden pain in his face becomes clear.

Shiho doesn't know how he can still be so kind, how he can pull a smile on his face like he does.

It only takes one meeting, for Kurusu — Kiyo, he corrects — to become a recurring part of her life. Instead of staring despondently out of the window with her sketchbook in hand, she's in the home next door, in the quiet of Kiyo doing work at the dining table or listening to his him tell stories as he cooks.

It doesn't take long for her to meet his wife, Kurusu Yulier — Haeri, she corrects — one night when Shiho was at their home in the evening, her own parents both being pulled into work late despite their protests. Much like Kiyo, her hair is also curly, but in contrast, hers is a dark pitch black. The woman is much like her other half, far too kind and carrying the same pain in her soft eyes.

"Have you thought about exploring a little?" Haeri's voice catches Shiho's attention, and the girl pulls her eyes up to meet the elders. Her face is curious, wondering. "It may help you," she says gently.

If Shiho's own parents had said this, she would have made a show of considering it before finding some way to decline. She knows their worry is for her, but it doesn't spark any motivation in her. Yet, hearing it from Haeri is different. If Shiho considers why, she would say that it may be because all three of them — Haeri, Kiyo, and Shiho — have some kind of emptiness in them. She's speaking as someone who understands.

Shiho lets the word fall, "Where?"

"You don't need a destination," Kiyo speaks. "Sometimes, just taking a step can show you where to go."

Haeri's expression softens, "You don't need to take that step alone, either."

This is how their meandering starts. During evenings, the three of them will walk slowly along the city paths; the two adults walking at a snails pace for Shiho. Occasionally, Kiyo and Shiho will go during the morning, just around the time the sun rises.

She learns where to find the bookstore, the flower shop, multiple cafes, the gym, the school, the park, and more. The town looks different every hour of the day. The morning sunrise paints everything in a fiery yet soothing light. The morning is active, adults and kids rushing off to their work or schooling. The afternoons are peaceful, niches of college students wandering. The evenings are bright with parents playing with their younger children and friends meeting up. The nights are tranquil, the darkness settling like a blanket rather than an oppressive weight.

They were right, Shiho thinks. This does help.

It doesn't get rid of the emptiness she feels, Shiho reckons that they didn't expect it to. But it helps her feel something she hasn't it months — years even. Control.

She can pick which way to go, whether there's a reason or not. She can wander at sunrise or sundown. She's not restricted by schedules or expectations.

While the lack of restriction helps, it also drags her down on some days. The absolute loss of direction leaving her weightless and not knowing what to do. Today is one of those days, the emptiness weighing heavily in her as she curls into the Kurusu's couch.

Kiyo is the only one home. He notices her feelings immediately, almost like they are his own. "You know," he says. "You sometimes remind me a lot of Akira."

Attention caught, Shiho sits up and looks at him. A silent urge to continue.

The man smiles, pen stilling in his hand and leaning back in his chair. "Akira wears his heart on his sleeve, he gets invested in even the slightest thing. And when things bother him? They bother him." Kiyo looks down, twists his pen in his fingers. "Sometimes, when his emotions get overwhelming he will just shut down completely, and he won’t feel anything. Burnout, he calls it. You act a lot like he does, when he's like that."

Burnout, Shiho turns the word over in her head. Wryly, she thinks it fits more than she expects. The image of a candle flame going out and not relighting comes to her mind.

"How di— does he..?" Shiho corrects herself mid-sentence to use present tense — something she noticed early with the Kurusu's, they never use past tense with their son — but she stumbles over the end, not sure how to say it.

Still, she can see the man understands. "Akira has a place he goes to to mentally reset. It seems to help Haru, too, when she is feeling out of sorts. And while it helps them, I can't promise it will do the same for you."

Shiho hates feeling like this. "I want to go there."

Kiyo nods, like he expects the answer. "Would you prefer me there, or to be alone?"

"Alone," the answer comes easier than she thought it would.

The man accepts it, telling her where to go. Half an hour later with dull aches in her legs, Shiho's standing in the middle of a massive ring of trees, before a near equally large lake.

She lowers herself to sit in the grass, drops her crutches, and just—

Exists.

She doesn't know how long she stays there, taking in the chirping from the birds, the scampering of the squirrels, the rustling of trees, and the light brushing of the lake against the foliage.

She knows this isn't meant to be an immediate fix, but it's peaceful. She likes it. A lot. It makes sense why Kurusu would come here often. It's almost like she stepped out of the world and into another one.

Shiho stays until the sun starts to sleep and the sky begins to dim. It only makes the place look more beautiful. Without a thought, Shiho raises her phone to take a picture.

Despite not wanting to leave, she knows her parents will worry if she doesn't come back soon. So she pockets her phone, grabs her crutches, and pulls herself to her feet. It takes a moment for her to to settle her crutches against the grass. It's in that moment that she sees an unnatural blue.

Curious, Shiho carefully makes her way down the grass, towards the lake. The ends of her crutch nearly slip when she plants one in the shallows to get a better look.

It's a book. At least, she thinks it's a book. It's a bright velvet blue, half sticking out of the lake water and half lodged in rocks and grass.

Shiho plants herself solidly on one crutch and lowers herself, reaching a hand out to displace and pick up the tome-like-book. She carefully lays it over her knees, paying specialized attention to the side that was in the water, making sure that sides not soaking her.

The weight is throwing her off, like her brain and body can't comprehend if it's meant to be heavy or light.

It's incredibly ornate. Shiho has no idea what the designs on the cover mean, but they're so intricate that she has no idea why someone would throw it into the lake in the first place. It feels near-sacrilegious to cause something like this any damage.

It only takes a second for Shiho to decide what to do. She shifts her hold, fingertips dipping into an area she thought is supposed to be drenched — which is actually confusingly dry — and pulls herself to her feet. It's a careful balancing act, but Shiho does manage to make it home with both crutches and the velvet blue book in her arms.

The book is placed on her desk when she gets to her room, and an innate curiosity causes Shiho to run her fingers along the edges of the cover and open the book so mindfully, as if it would crumble under fingers despite not having a single scratch on it.

Blank.

Shiho turns the page slowly, and she thinks she sees something flit over the page like a glitch, but when she blinks she only sees more pristine white.

It's an empty book. Shiho carefully closes it, paying special care not to wrinkle or bend a single page. Somehow, the emptiness doesn't change a thing for her. The tome remains ethereal and unnatural.

Her attention is drawn away when her parents call her for dinner.

And when Shiho goes to sleep that night, she doesn't see the book give off a brief, faint blue glow; nor does she see the images and text held in the pages within glitch into existence before they flicker away.

Late May

The library is a common area in Makoto's schedule. She works it in between her duties with the student council, which include doling out club funds, assigning club rooms, assisting teachers, occasional tutoring, and a lot of paperwork. The library is one of her favorite places, third to the student council room and spending time with Haru on the rooftop.

Makoto is in the library when she first hears about it. She's sitting in one of the cubicles with the window behind her, hiding from the students eyes as she takes time just for her own studies.

It's the sound of two students, whispering to each other behind a nearby bookshelf. Makoto is naturally sensitive to a lot of things, and low, obviously secretive hushed voices is one of those things.

She listens.

And she learns that one of them is being blackmailed.

Attention caught, she stands and walks closer. After what happened with Kamoshida, she doesn't want any of her peers to suffer in silence. She wants to be someone that they can confide in, someone who can help them.

Makoto knows that the students don't trust her, most thinking that she either knew about Kamoshida and ignored it or works solely for the teachers. These two, it's clear that they think one of these two reasons, as they clam up and briskly speed off before she can talk to them.

This first experience is what brings it to her notice. And now that she sees, her ears perk up every time she hears something remotely like blackmail.

She hears it often, Makoto realizes with growing dread.

She tries to talk to them.

After the fifth time, she understands that no one is going to willingly speak to her. So she employs other methods. Her favorite is sleuthing, quietly listening in from where they can't hear.

And she learns. She learns about a part time job, centered in Shibuya. How they draw you in through promises of easy money and keep you there with photographic blackmail.

Makoto starts bringing one of her empty notebooks with her when she sleuths. She writes everything she can, gathering as much evidence without talking and scaring any of the students. It would have been easier, she thinks, if they talked to her directly.

Maybe she could bring the notes to Sae?

No, Makoto shakes her head. Sis has too much to deal with right now. She doesn't need another thing on her plate.

Makoto just has to figure out what to do.

Sir Ichiryusai Madarame, a great sinner of vanity whose talent has been exhausted. You are an artist who uses his authority to shamelessly steal the ideas of his pupils. We have decided to make you confess all your crimes with your own mouth.

We will take your distorted desires without fail.

From, The Phantom Thieves

Shiho: look at this!

Shiho: prttylake.png

Shiho: ╭〻◕'w'◕〻╮

Each text is subjected to the spinning wheel of internet before they bounce back with a red error message. Shiho heaves a sigh, flopping down and onto her back in the cushioned rugs near her window and bed. Ann never turned off her phone before, but now it seems like it's always off. What is she even doing? The only thing Shiho can think of is some kind of modeling job, but even then Ann doesn't turn off her phone.

Her phone buzzes. It's not Ann.

Mishima: I finished the project!

Mishima: For now, at least.

Mishima: I want to work on it more but I'm working on something for Akemi right now

Mishima: phansite

"Is it a website?" Shiho shifts, hissing lightly as she pulls a muscle in her leg, and clicks the link open. She's immediately greeted by a website with a lot of red and black ripples, the bolded words PHANSITE plastered on the front page. Underneath that are a concise four paragraphs of text.

Shiho reads through them, stopping on that name. She immediately tabs out and opens Mishima's messages again and tries to force the usual cheer she uses into the texts.

Shiho: what happened? (╭ರ_⊙)

Mishima: Kamoshida confessed

Mishima: For everything he did

Shiho doesn't know how she feels. She doesn't know what she feels.

She reads as Mishima's messages come in, explaining who the Phantom Thieves are and how they did something that caused that man to turn himself in. At some point in the conversation, Shiho had pulled herself into her desk chair with her phone in hand and the velvet book just right of it.

Mishima: They haven't done anything else since, but I still wanted to do something for them.

Mishima: I don't know if this is helpful to them but...I wanted to do something.

The words roll and churn in her mind. The realization bubbles up that without that man, the students are free. Her friends, Ann, Ryuji, Mishima, they're all safe.

One finger brushes against the book.

She pushes down the thought of why it couldn't have happened sooner.

She moves her hand back to her phone.

It's not long after that Mishima needs to go and Shiho is left with spiraling thoughts until her phone rings a few hours later, when the run is just starting to dip into the horizon.

Shiho fingers move to accept it the second she sees the name.

"Shiho!" Ann's exhausted cheer comes through the phone speaker. Her voice brings a smile to Shiho's face as she tilts the phone to see her friend. The girl is sitting up in her bed.

Shiho cheers back with the same enthusiasm, "Ann!"

"Oh my god, how are you? How's Kurashiki? What the heck was the lake?"

Shiho gives a small laugh at the spitfire. "I'm alright." As much as she can be. "The town is nice, it's so much quieter than the city. And you wouldn't believe the number of people I actually have started recognizing based on how many times I've seen them."

A meow filters through the speaker. Shiho pauses, recognizing the sound.

Ann brightens. "Yeah, yeah, come here!"

A tiny black animal jumps onto the bed's headboard and Shiho gasps at the sight of its white paws and tail. The cat mewls excitedly. "Is that Sir Cat!?"

"It is!" Ann cackles as the cat's ears flick in very familiar irritation. Aw, he's still sassy! Ann leans forward, conspiringly. "He followed me home."

The cat hisses and Ann laughs back.

"Awwww, you adopted him?" Shiho then tilts her head. "Have you told your parents about him?"

"Uh, not yet. But they shouldn't be home for a few months so I don't really need to, right?"

She's a hundred percent going to get caught. She remarks dryly, "Yeah, tell me how that works out for you."

Ann flips her hair back, and the cat fumbles around it. It meows and Ann looks over at it and waits. She turns back to Shiho with a playful glint in her eyes. "While 'Sir Cat' is very distinguished, he wants you to know his name is Morgana."

Shiho gasps heavily. "You named him?"

The cat — Morgana — yowls. "He named himself!"

"Oh of course," Shiho nods her head. "His highness would never let himself be named by another person."

Morgana preens.

They talk for hours about everything and nothing. They talk about Ann's modeling (Mika's still bothering her), Mishima's new site (an unexpected curiosity in both Ann and Morgana's form during that conversation), the places Shiho's found (while she brings up the lake, she keeps everything about the book unsaid. It doesn't feel right to parade the object around).

Their talk lasts until Shiho catches a glance at the time and she wraps the call up for Ann's sake. Shiho knows that while the other girl can operate on less than five hours of sleep, she doesn't operate well.

Shiho should get some sleep, herself too, actually. She plugs in her phone and her eyes catch on the book again. Maybe she should look into it more tomorrow, do a little research, look for ways to reveal hidden writing.

Because she really doesn't think that a tome as ornate as this one would have nothing in it.

She promises to her nonexistent schedule, Tomorrow.

Early June

Makoto can think of a lot of reasons why Principal Kobayakawa would call her into his office. Yet the words that come out of his mouth are not ones that she expected, not ones that she could have even suspected he was going to say.

"I want you to find the identities of the Phantom Thieves," He says, flipping through the papers on his desk idly without even a glance towards her. "All evidence you can get."

Makoto gaps at him, trying to turn the words over in her head. "—Excuse me?"

"You're a smart girl, Niijima," He says flippantly. "I'm sure you can drill down on them."

"No that—hold on, sir." The words are still churning. "There's no real evidence that the Phantoms are even a real group, it could have just been a prank." Surely there's no way that something as crazy as stealing hearts is true. And even still, there's no reason that he should be trying to find them, or instructing her to find them. Shouldn't he bring it up to the police if he's worried? It's their job, not hers.

"It hardly seems like a prank if they've already gone after two well-renowned people." The principal still refuses to look up from his desk. "We can't let them think they can keep acting like this. It's better to stop them before they do something like this again, don't you agree? After all, you are the sister of the youngest prodigy of a prosecutor."

Sis. Makoto knows that she and Sae are different, extremely so. She hears it every day that Sae comes home, if she even cares to come home anymore. She hears it every time she goes to the precinct to deliver her sister's dinner. She hears it every time a teacher tells her to do something.

"If you do well, I could pull some connections to get you a full ride scholarship to the university of your choosing," He says. "I have many friends in high places, it would be easy."

A scholarship. Does he think he can get everything he wants just by waving those words in front of her? He's done it at least three times already when she was in her second year, and he's still holding it over her. Because he knows that it's what Sae wants and that it's what Makoto wants to alleviate financial pressure off of her sister.

If she accepts she's only setting herself up for the same problem in the future, and if she declines then she looses everything.

"Sir, aren't there other issues more pressing than this?" Makoto tries to reason with him. If she's being forced into doing something, let it at least be worthwhile. "A few of the students have talked about financial troubles and being blackmailed in some trafficking scheme. Shouldn't we put our attention on that?"

Shouldn't you put your attention on that?

The man scoffs and finally — finally — looks up. His eyes are full of disappointment and his face is set. "That's all hog wash. Really, Niijima, I'm disappointed you'd believe such rumors. If there was something plaguing my students like that, I would know."

Makoto can't believe what she's hearing. There's no way that everything she's been hearing in the halls — all the hushed whispers when the students don't know she's there, all the cautious and terrified looks at the mere thought of going to Shibuya — is fake.

If there was something plaguing my students like that, I would know. Wasn't Kamoshida a plague? The abuse and assault that he confessed to? If Kobayakawa knows everything in the school, then he would have known about what Kamoshida was doing. And allowed it.

And if he didn't know, then how could she even trust him on something like this?

The principal continues, like his words are all that matters in the world. "Put your attention to something more worthwhile. Like I told you, look into the Phantoms. Is that clear?"

If he did know about the trafficking scheme just like he — supposedly — knew about Kamoshida then Makoto doesn't have a single clue on what's running through his head and why. She feels pangs of fear start to creep up at the thought of what else he's hiding.

Makoto lowers her head, edges towards the door. "I'll look into them, sir."

"Ah, smart decision. I knew I could count on you, Niijima." He waves his hand in a way that she knows she's dismissed. Makoto takes it and leaves as quick as she can.

The door shuts behind her.

She feels small.

She has no standing anywhere, no connections of her own. She can't put her trust in any person of authority; not the teachers, not the police, not even her own sister.

For the first time, she's left without any direction to go. Any hint of what she can do. Even if she wants to help the other students, her peers, what can a high schooler even do in a situation like this?

On the evening of June 2, Shiho decides to investigate the velvet book. She goes through each page, turning them over with her fingers and inspecting each page for any hint of letters or symbols. She checks over a hundred pages and there's not a hint of anything within those pristine pages.

Shiho uses her phone flashlight on a few pages, even trying to see if holding it behind a page will do anything. The light doesn't reveal anything, and not only that, it doesn't even bleed through! How dense do pages have to be for you to not even see a spec of light when shining a light from behind it?

Maybe it's there's some kind of invisible ink? Don't those investigative TV shows use blacklights or fire to reveal hidden messages? Shiho immediately trashes the thought the second it makes it's way into her head. There is no way in hell she'd risk damaging the pages.

She sighs, running the edge of her finger along the edge of the page the velvet book's open to. "I wonder why you were left there like that." The memory of the book half submerged in water still sends aches of wrongness surging through her.

Maybe there just isn't anything, maybe her eyes were just playing tricks on her when she thought she saw something painting over that pristine white.

It's an odd feeling, Shiho thinks as she gently turns the page to more white. She feels an odd kinship with it. Despite it being apparently completely empty, it feels like it's full, like it's somehow alive in a way far more than she can see.

It's almost as if the book itself is far more than just a book.

In that moment, multiple things happen at once. The air feels heavy. Pitch black hieroglyphic-like text glitch and race over the open pages. And something foreign stabs through her head.

Shiho rips her hand back with a scream, chair tipping to the side as she crashes to the floor.

The thing in her head rears it's head, alert and vigilant. A voice, deep yet young, rumbles and reverberated in her ears.

Her door slams open.

The feelings shift, like a kaleidoscope of emotions. Tentative and wary, it stares at her from somewhere she can't tell. "What dost thou think thou art doing?"

"Shiho!" Distantly, she can see her parents at her side. "Did you hurt yourself—what happened—?"

The thing that they can't see bares it's teeth, distrustful and guarded. "This doth not belong to thee."

Her vision shifts as her parents help her sit. She can feel them checking her over, their worried words falling on deaf ears.

The thing shifts and she feels one more pair of emotions before the open door in her mind slams shut: dread and hope.

When Shiho's eyes shoot to the velvet book, it's pages are as empty and pristine white as they were the past few days.

There's not even a single hint of those words, or the creature.

It's the night of June 3; the night before they go into Mementos again to see if the Trickster is there. The room is dark, and Ann is already asleep in her bed. Morgana curls into the pillow that he's claimed as his and closes his eyes.

And Morgana dreams.

A voice jabs at the edge of his hearing. The feminine voice that's normally so calming is grating, and saturated with the faint hint of crying.

It sets his nerves on fire.

He shifts, trying to focus on the sound through the beating in his heart that woke him. Something soft moves behind his back and head. It isn't his pillow or his blankets, and he knows that he doesn't sleep sitting up in the nest. So where—?

Awareness slams into him, and he twists his head. His blurry eyes catch on the color white. Right— he's not in the nest, he's—

The white shifts, and it whines. The girl's voice is muffled, but he can hear her wheezing breaths. Her wails.

"—Pharoah?" His fingers dig into the fur, throwing himself to his feet as he climbs on top of the white form. He can barely brace himself on the shifting body in his sleep-and-panic addled haze. A long metal tail presses against his back to steady him, and he can't even think to thank creature as he reaches to the other form laying on the animal's back. Orange silk hair bleeds against the white fur.

He curls his fingers around her shoulder, "Hey—"

The girls gasps a harsh and heavy breath, her eyes are sealed shut. Fear stabs into his chest as his entire everything shakes. The animal whimpers, it's tail curls tighter over the both of them.

He digs his other arm around her. Something cracks and he throws himself over her shaking body.

This isn't a normal break — is there even a normal break to a Hellscape—?

Bright yellow eyes flare open, and the girl sucks in a breath. Her panic-filled eyes match his own, but their panic is for vastly different reasons.

"—You're okay," He chokes out fast and hurried. "Everything is okay."

Her fingers clutch into his jacket.

"She's not real—" CRACK. He flinches, keeps his arms tight. "Listen to my voice, okay? I'm real, Cer's real—" The animal makes a sound cross between a growl and a trill, loud enough to hear over the shuddering and the cracking and the breaking. "She's not real. Focus on what's here."

She cries, nails digging in, "—sorry, 'm sorry—"

"You're okay," He forces a calm in his voice. Places a hand on the back of her head. "We're okay. Everything's fine. Just breathe, okay? Don't try to talk, just breathe."

Her orange hair shakes with the force of her nod, and everything starts to steady. A shuddering breath, and the tension snaps as everything rights itself.

He teeters to the side, falling into Cer's white fur and taking the girl with him. She clings to him and he clings back—

Morgana snaps awake, head darting up to take in the darkness of Ann's room. He sucks in air and tries to breathe.

Trickster!

That was real. It wasn't a memory.

Morgana had been experiencing exactly what the Trickster was, in the exact moment he was feeling it and through the other's eyes.

And Morgana knows that this isn't the first time this has happened — it felt almost exactly the same as the gripping terror the Trickster felt that day when Morgana called him that.

This wasn't terror for himself, like it was that day. Morgana could feel it so innately in his bones, as if he was feeling the emotions himself, that the Trickster was scared — is scared — for that girl.

The short girl, so clearly physically weak. With her bright orange hair and golden eyes.

The same golden eyes of a Shadow.

Chapter Text

June 4, 2016. Afternoon.

The team of four delves into Mementos after school and a short wait for Yusuke to get to Shibuya. They take in the empty, underground and distorted subway tunnels with anticipation.

"Aw, no way." Skull whines, throwing his head this way and that, as if that would somehow reveal their Metaverse friend. "There ain't no way he blew us off again."

Either the creature really hates being offered going to places besides palaces with them or he doesn't like Mementos. Panther doesn't know which one seems more likely, but she's figuring it might be the first one since he seemed fine in Mementos the first time they saw him here.

Well, until he didn't.

"Mona, do you perhaps sense him?" Fox tilts his head at their navigator, a hand resting under his chin. Panther turns to look at the cat, who looks just as troubled as he did this morning (which she did ask about, but he refused to answer).

Mona shakes his head. "I never sense him here."

"But he was here that other time!" Skull waves his hand towards the stairs that lead outside, up into the Shibuya Crossing.

"That was different." Mona peers at the same stairs before giving his head another shake. "I didn't feel his presence then either; it was the song I felt. That worked as a..." Mona wrings his paws. "Homing beacon, I guess."

Fox hums. "So, theoretically, he could be here now and you wouldn't be able to sense him?"

"If he's close, I know I would feel it. But..." Mona makes a sound, ears flicking back. "Theoretically, if he was far enough away, then no, I wouldn't know."

Skull groans.

Panther asks, "But you don't think he's here?" That's what his demeanor seems to suggest. He doesn't look happy in the slightest, and even if he has been in a bad mood all day she thinks the cat would still perk up if the boy was nearby.

"No," Mona confirms. He speaks again after hesitating. "I don't think he's coming today."

"Is it possible that he got the days wrong?" Fox questions.

The look on Mona's face says he doubts that immensely. Still, the cat answers, "Maybe."

"Well," Panther cuts in before they can ask anymore questions Mona clearly knows the answer to but won't say. "A mutual friend of ours told me about this website for the Phantom Thieves."

That gets Skull's attention real quick. "We gotta website?"

Panther whips out her phone, it doesn't connect to data or wifi but that's fine because she already planned for it and has a few screenshot images in her camera roll. She flashes a picture towards the boys, her phone displaying the requests page. "Someone from my class made it — I'll tell you guys when we're back in the real world who — and it's supposed to be a way for people to contact us with requests and support and the like."

Fox leans forward with a curious face as he inspects the phone. "Are there any real requests, and not petty disputes?"

"Oh, yeah." Panther moves her phone back to scroll through a few of the saved images and lands on one. She turns it back to them.

"We can check if any of them are in Mementos." Mona offers. "But if any of them are palaces, then I'll need to investigate them before we can target them."

"Oooooh," Ryuji leans back to stare at Mona. "You already looked at a lotta palaces, didn't'cha? Have any good targets ready?" He says this as if they didn't just complete one. Panther shakes her head, exasperated.

"Uh, maybe?" Mona's ears twitch as he tilts his head and thinks. "All of the ones I've been to around here are still too strong for us, but there might be one or two that we're close to if we train up a bit?"

"Then what're we waitin' for?" Skull cheers, waving an arm into the unknowns of the hell-subway. "Onwards!"

"We are already here," Fox equities. "We shouldn't let a Metaverse visit go to waste; and we could return again tomorrow to look for our follower."

"And requests," Skull urges, pointing a finger at Panther's phone.

They look towards their unofficial leader, who sighs. "Okay, we can change a few hearts in Mementos while training. Just remember we have unanimous decisions."

They spend the rest of the afternoon fighting through Mementos shadows and navigating through the levels to find their targets. It feels instinctively wrong to be fighting without the Metaverse creature, and Panther knows she's not the only one hypersensitive to anything that moves on the off chance it's him. Still, they make it through the day with two changed hearts (two!), and enough training to decently satisfy Skull before they leave Mementos with agreements to meet again tomorrow.

June 4, 2023. Afternoon.

Makoto doesn't know what she expects to happen when she stakes out Shibuya's Central Street. The intended aim is evidence. If she can get enough, maybe get a few pictures of known faces or get some audio recordings then she could take it to the police.

What Makoto doesn't expect, however, is to be accosted by another third year after an hour of sleuthing around Shibuya shops and walkways; noting even the slightest things in her notebook. The student in question is Sora Akemi, the club leader of Shujin's newspaper.

"A-ah," Makoto stutters, subtly angling her notebook away. "Hello, Sora."

Sora stares at her, not removing her hand from where it's clasped around Makoto's right wrist. She then sighs, heavy and exasperated in a way that Makoto feels chastised.

"This is the most painful thing I've ever watched," Sora finally says.

What?

Makoto stares back. "Excuse me?"

"I, like, legitimately can't even ignore you it's so painful." Sora shakes her head and tugs at Makoto's hand, pulling her towards one of Shibuya's diners. Stunned, Makoto let's herself get dragged into the diner and pushed into a chair.

Sora takes the opposite seat. She takes a sip of what Makoto thinks is coffee, places the mug down and picks up a pen lying on the table just to point it at Makoto.

"You're not going to find anything if you're broadcasting that you're looking for it."

Makoto closes her notebook. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Sora's face says that she doesn't believe that in the slightest.

Makoto groans. "Was it really that obvious?"

"You stood outside of the gym and stared at anyone even remotely suspicious for like, twenty minutes." Sora says this blandly, like it's obvious. "While writing in a notebook."

"Wh—" Embarrassment overtakes her as she tries to come up with a retort to the statement. Then the words Sora said shift in her head and she comes to a late realization. "You were watching me."

"Yep."

Makoto studies the other girl, who peers back behind her glasses. "Why?"

"Well, it's not every day your student class president is sniffing around places." Sora shrugs, placing her pen down beside her closed laptop. "You caught my interest. And my intuition says that I might know what you're doing here."

Sora already has her attention, but the words only catch her curiosity further.

"And? What do you think I'm doing?"

Sora sips from her coffee before stating offhandedly, "Investigating the mafia."

Had it really been that obvious?

Whatever Sora sees in Makoto's face makes her snicker. "I am too, for the record. I got some leads, evidently either the same or similar ones to you. So, I'm staking this place out."

Abandoning any pretense of hiding, Makoto leans forward, speaking in hushed tones. "Have you found anything?"

"I have a good list of the students involved, but not much more." Akemi sighs, eyes drifting out the window. Makoto deflates, and Akemi's eyes flick back, gleaming. "Tell you what, how about we help each other out. You let me know if you find anything, and I'll do the same."

Makoto pauses, the deal seems innocent in nature, but she knows not to trust anything at face value. "What are you going to do with the information?" Did she just want to write a paper? Post information about the victims and perpetrators?

"Who knows?" A grin spreads across Akemi's face as she rests a hand under chin. "If the major news outlets and police find themselves with stacks of info, then it must just be fate, right?"

Oh.

I see. Makoto takes in the impish smile and understands. We have the same goal.

"Well Sora," Makoto leans back in her chair. "I'd say we have a deal then."

Sora grins back, bright.

June 5, 2016. Afternoon.

When they leave Mementos for the day. The Metaverse creature didn't come today either, which effectively smashes their hopes that he merely got the day wrong. Ann doesn't think they had any really bad experiences with him in Madarame's palace, so she hopes he's not avoiding them again.

Shibuya's sky is darker as Ryuji and Morgana exchange their usual back and forth, Yusuke strangely quiet. Ann looks over at him, the artists face set in a curious expression as he tilts his head.

"What is it, Yusuke?"

"Hm?" He blinks, turning his eyes to her. "Ah. I saw a student with your uniform entering the side alleys. She seemed quite determined. With such a steely look...I wonder if I could capture that in a painting."

"Uh," Ryuji pauses in his conversation, blinking at Yusuke. "What?"

Morgana balances himself on Ryuji's shoulder. "Do you think something's happening?"

Ann peers towards Central Street, trying to see the student Yusuke pointed out, but she comes up empty. "...Maybe we should check it out?"

They make their way through Central Street attempting to look like they aren't following after someone as Yusuke directs them to where he saw the student go.

Ryuji is nearly bowled over by a first year that bolts from the alley. But that's very clearly not the student Yusuke had seen because, standing in the middle of the alley before three adults who look very yakuza, is Niijima Makoto.

The men's faces are twisted in annoyance, and Niijima is tense with her arms slightly raised. Immediately, Ann is worried for whatever Niijima had just done.

"This is more trouble than it's worth." One of the men clicks his tongue when he sees them in the mouth of the alley. He shoves one of his partners to catch their attention. Turning on his heel, he makes for the street before casting a dark look over his shoulder at the third year. "Don't think we're done here."

The tension bleeds from Niijima's shoulders the second they leave. She heaves a breath, turns, and freezes when she sees them.

"What the hell was that!?" Ryuji waves his hands at where the yakuza-looking men left.

"W-what—?" Niijima's eyes bounce between them. "What are you all doing here—when did you get here—?"

Yusuke blinks at her. "I don't believe those are the important questions here."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," The third year answers quickly, then she pauses. Her eyes scan over them with a hint of worry. "You all aren't involved with them, are you?"

Ryuji's nose scrunches up. "We don't even know who they are. Why're you accusin' us?"

The girl startles, jolting. "I'm not! I didn't mean to make it sound that way, I apologize." She shifts, clearly uncomfortable, leaning down to pick up her bag that was lying on the ground. Niijima bites her lip, looking over then all again. "If you see those people again, or if anyone asks you if you want a part time job, say no and leave, okay?"

"Uh, what?"

Niijima shifts her bag on her shoulder. "I've heard about a few students getting caught up with those people. You three are students too, so I thought I'd say something." She gives a faint bow. "Please excuse me, I should be getting home."

"Can we walk you home, at least?" Ann begs, the parting warning of those men ringing harshly in her ears, especially after the girl essentially confirming that they were part of the yakuza or mafia. "You live in Shibuya, right? I've seen you at the night connivence store before. I also live here and we were going to my house so..."

"I couldn't..."

Ryuji groans. "Can we just skip the 'I'll be fine' and 'we insist' crap and just let us walk you back?"

Niijima gaps at him before making a strangled noise in her throat. A moment later, she runs a hand through her hair with a heavy sigh. "Very well then. I'll take you up on your offer."

The third year doesn't say anything their entire walk to her apartment, face twisted in worried displeasure. When they get there, Niijima is quick to open her door and go inside with a quick and quiet thank you.

(And if Ann goes back a few hours later in frantic worry to give the council president her phone number when she realizes that the only way they'd be able to reliably check if she was okay was in the school hallways — well, the others don't have to know that.)

That evening, Madarame Ichiryusai appears on national television and confesses, just as the calling card dictated he would.

June 6, 2016. Lunch.

"I don't understand why he keeps pushing this on me." Makoto hisses through her teeth as she wrings her hands over her bento. Haru shifts in the next seat, a considering look spreading over her face. She had been asking about what was pressing down on Makoto for the past few days now, and yesterday just pushed Makoto over the breaking point into actually telling her. Like the saint she is, she listens as Makoto talks, even though Haru has so much more worries than anything Makoto is dealing with.

"Those Phantoms Thieves aren't even a problem! There are students being blackmailed by an actual mob and he thinks some anonymous vigilante group is more important?"

"I'd like to say 'maybe he has his reasons' but..." Haru trails off. She doesn't finish her sentence but she doesn't need to. Makoto understands completely.

"If he does, they're idiotic reasons."

Haru's laugh is quiet, but there. "I'm sure he'll see reason when you slap him in the face with it. You've done it before." She leans back, eyes carefully meeting Makoto's. "Let me know if there's anything I can do. If nothing else, I can pull my name's influence. Father wouldn't be happy if he heard of any of this." Because of his reputation, is left unsaid.

"Of course." Makoto nods, despite having no intention to do so. If a word of it even reached Okumura's ears, he'd pull Haru from Shujin right then and there, and Shujin is one of the only places Haru said she feels comfortable in.

"Just make sure you're being safe and not reckless, Mako-chan." Haru sighs, turning to look at the sky outside of the Student Council Room's window. "I know how hyper focused you can get."

Ah, Makoto thinks.

She's really glad she didn't tell Haru about yesterday.

June 6, 2016. Evening.

When Makoto gets home, she's greeted by a folded white paper nudged between the door and frame. She pulls it out, curiously staring at it as she unlocks the door and makes her way to her room after locking up and taking off her shoes.

Makoto places her book bag on her bed before opening the paper.

A pit falls in her stomach, and Makoto feels more sick the further she reads.

The dealers she interfered with yesterday must have been higher ups in the mafia, because it says that their boss isn't happy and wants her to pay back the annoyances he suffered to his mental state. And there's information about her and Sae.

Makoto knows a threat when she sees one.

Do as we say or we will ruin both of your lives, is hidden in the subtext. It's only been a day, and look at how easy it is for us to find this much.

At the bottom is a date, July 9th. A little over one month from now.

The sick feeling only grows worse when she realizes that those three second years, Takamaki, Sakamoto, and Kitagawa were there too. Makoto tears through her bag to yank out her phone, pulling up the only contact out of the three she knows.

Makoto: Takamaki?

Makoto: Are you and your friends alright?

It doesn't take long for the second year to respond, a quick icon appears to show that she's typing.

Takamaki: uh

Takamaki: We're fine?

Takamaki: I think?

Takamaki: let me ask the others

A rush of relief cuts through her panic as Makoto clenches the card in her hand. They haven't reached out to Takamaki, which means that they either didn't know about her or haven't contacted her yet. Makoto prays it's the former, and that the mafia doesn't know about her kohais.

Takamaki: Everyones fine

Makoto shudders a breath of relief.

Takamaki: That was so ominous! You worried the heck out of me

Takamaki: Why did you ask that?

Takamaki: are YOU okay? what happened?

In a normal situation, Makoto would have played it off, would have said something like Oh, I just wanted to make sure you all were okay after my stunt yesterday! or I heard something worrying on the news and wanted to make sure you all didn't get caught up in it. Sorry to worry you!

But this isn't a normal situation. It's so far from a normal situation, and Makoto has no idea if they're really safe or not. If the mafia really doesn't know about them, doesn't care, or are just biding their time.

And damn it, Makoto really wants to be able to talk to someone who isn't Haru. God knows she's made her worry enough. Haru has enough to deal with without Makoto digging herself into a grave.

Takamaki: niijima?

Makoto takes a breath. And types.

Makoto: Those people from yesterday contacted me. They left a note in front of my house and I wanted to make sure that they didn't contact you three

Takamaki: THEY WHAT??

Makoto's next message gets cut off when her phone vibrates to life with Takamaki's name on the screen. Makoto shoves the note under her book bag like the second-year could actually see it through a voice call, forces herself to calm down, answers and—

"THEY WHAT?"

— Immediately drops her phone at the instant shout.

"Ah—ah, shoot!" Makoto darts to grab the device, barely checking to make sure it didn't crack before delicately holding it near her ear, fully prepared to whip it away if the other shouts again. "You, um, didn't need to call."

"Excuse me!" Takamaki's indignant voice filters through the speaker. "You just had a criminal organization show up at your door— that is call worthy! Are you okay? They weren't around when you got home? No one was hurt?"

"I—yes. I'm fine. Everything's okay," Makoto promises falsely. "Actually, I'm more worried about you and your friends. I am so, so sorry if they go after any of you because of my—"

"Screw that!" Makoto jumps. "You didn't do anything wrong! Well, okay, charging in wasn't the best idea, but you helped that first year so I don't want to hear it!"

Makoto stares at her phone, somehow wishing that her puzzled astonishment both does and doesn't get portrayed from her silence. How is this girl not even the slightest bit worried about herself?

"What did the note say? Did you report it to the police? Do you need somewhere to stay?"

"I, um, didn't report it." Sis would know if she did, which is one of the reasons why Makoto didn't report it. "I don't need anywhere to stay," she's not going to run away and hide with someone and put that person in danger too. "And the note was just some mild threats."

Takamaki mumbles something, and Makoto hears a cat mewling in the background. "Just mild ones?"

"Yes," Makoto answers, gripping the phone in her hand tight. "It's barely anything."

"You aren't going to go out and confront them again, are you?" Takamaki hesitantly asks.

"No, I'm not."

"Okay, okay good." The girl shuffles her phone, and when she speaks again her voice is full of forced pep. "Well! I wouldn't worry about it. With how active they are, I'm sure the police will crack down on them and put them in jail soon." 

"...Right..?"

"Mhm! I'll go tell the others to look out for if they get contacted and/or approached. Let me know if they do anything else, okay?"

Makoto hesitantly agrees, staring down at the ended call screen not long after. She's been around enough students to know when they're trying to hide or play something off, and the way Takamaki's voice and words changed had blared massive red flags. 

Worry courses through her. What if she tries to do something?

(That worry only increases tenfold when Makoto sees Takamaki and Sakamoto leaving school the next day, both with hardened faces as they walk the Shibuya Station line.) 

(Makoto could never have expected what she saw that day, or any of the unreal situations that followed after).

(Nor could she have known that that day marked the beginning of her finding everything she's been desperately looking for.)

June 7, 2016. Afternoon.

"Man, if you already know this guys palace, then I won't ever doubt your 'scouting' walks again." Ryuji shuffles on his feet, peering into Shibuya's Central Street. Morgana wishes he was in Ryuji's bag today just to swat at him.

"Scouting is extremely important with how many palaces are around here!" Morgana hisses from Ann's bag instead. Niijima and Ann's phone call last night was the worst case scenerio and then some. The only good thing that came out of it is that Morgana is pretty pretty sure that the floating bank he found over Shibuya after Kamoshida's change of heart is the palace of at least someone high-ranked in the mafia.

If it is, then Morgana thinks it will be around their current strength level, which is great! On the other hand, he still doesn't know how to get passed the cognitive block of getting in the bank in the first place. Not so great.

"Can you truly remember all of the palaces you've visited?" Yusuke hums.

"I have to." Morgana answers, feeling for which rift in the Metaverse is the bank. "Knowing how strong each palace is, where they are, which ones the Trickster goes to most often or is most likely to go to. It's a necessity." He sniffs when he catches the correct distortion. "Okay! I found it. I'm pulling us in now."

Morgana does as he says, feeling the fabric of reality shift around them. He jumps down from Ann's — now Panther's — shoulder. As always, he checks to make sure everyone made it safely.

And his eyes immediately catch on a fourth, unintended person, her red eyes blown wide as she stumbles back.

"Oh for the—" Mona hisses, hearing Skull's exclaimed surprise, Panther's gasp and Fox's quiet oh. "—If I accidentally drag in one more person, I'm going to lose it."

The tagalong breathes, horrified. "What in the world?"

First Panther and Skull, and now Niijima? Mona needs to get a handle on this transporting thing. He thought he did, but apparently not. Now they have more to worry about besides getting into the bank.

Wait. Mona pauses. Getting in?

"Since when were you here!?"

"Niijima? What— why—?"

"—I was worried you would do something!" Niijima waves her hands in the air. "Clearly I was right! What the hell did you just do? Where are we!?"

If Niijima had been contacted by the mafia, then it's possible that she would be able to access the bank. They wouldn't have threatened her if they didn't want to get something out of it right?

Fox, Panther, and Skull exchange panicked looks.

Niijima is not pleased when they don't jump to answer. "The sky is green, there's walking ATM machines, you all are dressed like you walked off a movie set and what is that?" She points frantically at Mona.

"Uhh," Skull's head darts to her. "You're dreaming."

"Yes," Fox nods solidly. "You are having the utmost strangest dream."

"Don't you dare try that," Niijima hisses, glaring knives at the two of them. Skull immediately flinches back.

"Shit—Mona you gotta take her back!"

"Wait," Mona calls past their arguing. It catches Panther and Fox's attention first, and Panther has to pull on Skull's arm for him to stop grumbling to himself. Niijima stares at him more apprehensively than the walking cognition ATMs or the floating bank. "I think we should let her stay."

"Wha—" Skull whips his head around. "But she ain't got a persona!"

"Neither did you." Mona points out. "Or Panther or Fox. No one just automatically has a persona when they come here." His blue eyes narrow at the memory of their first encounter in a palace together. "And you do remember how you and Panther literally ran into a palace without anything to protect you two?"

"But that's different!"

"Uh," Panther stares at him. "It's not different."

"Truly? How did you two get out unharmed?"

"Persona." Skull states blandly.

"And Mona," Panther chimes in. "But Mona explained this beforehand and I guess we were both just ready to meet our Shadows. Anyways, why do you think she should stay?"

Niijima's head is bouncing back and forth between them.

"She's the one being blackmailed by the mafia boss." Mona looks up at the hovering bank. "There's no way for us to get into the palace without the ruler thinking that we can get inside. They think the mafia's untouchable and that we don't know who they are or how to reach them, but—" Mona casts a glance at Niijima. "They do know about the class president and how to reach her so, theoretically, the ruler does think of a connection between them."

Skull kicks his heel against the pavement. "Ooookay?"

"So she might be our key in."

Niijima cuts in. "Will you please explain clearly?"

"It's not smart or safe to explain things right now." Mona answers. The third-year does not look happy with the answer, her face scrunches up in displeasure. "For now, just know that we think this has to do with the mafia, we're trying to stop them, and I think you might be our ticket in."

Niijima stares at him, and Mona can almost hear the gears turning in her brain. Her eyes move between each of the Thieves, then pauses with a look of realization. "Oh my God," Niijima groans, covering her face with her hands. "This just would happened, wouldn't it."

"What's that suppose'ta mean?"

"You're the Phantom Thieves, aren't you?" Her voice is bland as her hands fall. "No. Don't even answer that, your faces say it all. You really don't have good poker faces."

"Ah," Fox mumbles. "This isn't ideal."

"So uh," Panther sputters. "What are you going to do?"

"Now?" Niijima drawls, and only continues after Panther's hesitant nod. "Be your ticket in, apparently. How does this work?"

"What?" Skull gaps. "Really?"

Mona doesn't see why this is surprising. They have a common enemy. "She has as much of a reason as we do. Likely more, too." Mona turns his head to Niijima, and she stares down at him. "Just walk near the bank as it floats by. If it gives us a way up, then we'll see if we can find a safe room or for you to awaken like the others. No, I won't explain that yet, wait until we're out. We use code names too, don't use your real name here."

Skull's hand shoots up. "I vote Prez!"

Niijima stares at him, displeasure clear on her face before she pinches the bridge of her nose. "For right now, fine. As you've repeatedly stated, we can't spend much time here to talk. But I do expect a full explanation once we're out of this place."

It doesn't take long for the bank to come close enough to them, nor for it to register Niijima and actually send a bridge down. In fact, it takes just enough time for them to give their codenames to Niijima before the palace lets them in. Mona's quick to lead them all up, firmly instructing Fox to stay by Niijima and guard her, shooting down the girl's protests of being able to defend herself. Aikido isn't a guaranteed protection against shadows, and Mona is not risking it.

They carefully creep into the palace, and Mona stays hyper aware of anything that could cause shadows to spawn. They need to stay out of as many fights as they can until they reach a safe room for Niijima to stay in.

Mona doesn't like the idea of having an unprotected human in the Metaverse. He really doesn't like it. A human without a persona in the Metaverse is just asking for a disaster. Palace rulers don't see them as a threat, meaning that even the weakest of shadows wouldn't get harmed in a fight. In contrast, unprotected humans don't have any buffer between them and the Metaverse, a single physical attack could take off an arm or a weak magic attack could kill them. Even if a human managed to survive in the Metaverse without getting hurt they would still not have any buffer against the Metaverse's distortions, leaving them to get corrupted just like wandering shadows do.

Panther and Skull, Mona didn't have a choice with. Fox was a variable in a controlled environment, in a relatively weak area of a palace. Niijima's presence is an uncontrolled variable in an uncontrolled environment.

Needless to say, Mona really doesn't like the idea of having Niijima here longer than she needs to be. They need to keep this trip as fast as possible and somehow find a way to either get the bridge down without Niijima, or, as he said, for the girl to awaken a persona.

"Oh," Mona snaps his attention to Fox's disheartened voice. "There's cameras."

What.

Skull whips back to Fox, desperate. "There ain't no way—please tell me you're joking."

Mona follows Fox's eyes to see the faintest red light of a security camera. It's pointed away from them and down the hall, but if Fox didn't notice it, they would have walked straight into it.

"...what happens if there's cameras?" Niijima asks hesitantly.

Panther saddles up beside her, looking just as annoyed as the rest of the team. "Either they spawn enemies, make the enemies stronger, or both."

"Ah."

"Man, where's Ghost Buddy when you need him." Skull whines as Fox readies his gun — not noticing Niijima's flinch and incredulous look at the firearm — and snipes the camera directly off its ceiling mount. Skull's words dig up the thoughts in Mona's head that he's been trying to avoid as they continue deeper into the palace in search of a safe room.

Mona's worried. They haven't seen the Trickster since the collapse of Madarame's palace, and that was almost a week ago. Not only that, but Mona also hasn't gotten any feelings, dreams, or traces from the Trickster since he saw those shaking and crumbling walls, almost like it was under an earthquake, with that young female Shadow.

If Mona gets dreams and visions from the Trickster when the other is panicked, then that would mean that nothing further happened.

This should bring him peace, knowing that the other is safe.

It doesn't, because Mona somehow knows that those two instances — that day in Mementos and that dream — couldn't have been the only times the Trickster has been scared in the past year and a half of Mona's search.

"Shadow," Mona hisses as he senses something down the hall. The team promptly falls into hiding as they wait for it to pass by. They don't engage it, not when Niijima is with them.

"That was a dog," Skull jabs a yellow-clad finger down the hallway the shadow disappears down. "Why are the bank shadows dogs?"

That's actually a good question. Mona supposes it's because this isn't a real bank, and the mafia boss or palace ruler likely has some guard dogs in their hideout.

Mona motions for the others to follow him, and he leads them further into the palace. He doesn't feel the subtle distortion of a safe room anywhere. How far in are they?

This is ridiculous, there should always be a safe room relatively close to the entrance since the distortion is weaker further from the treasure.

Mona freezes, thoughts cutting off as he feels a familiar fold and shift around the edge of the palace - near Mementos. His ears perk up.

Trickster!

Relief floods through him. The Trickster is okay and back to following them now that they're in a palace again.

"Uh, why'd you stop?"

"Did you sense something?"

Faintly, he hears Panther's muffled laugh, like she somehow knows the exact reason why he had stopped.

"He's here!" Mona exclaims quietly. After the Trickster's presence became common on their palace runs, Mona normally doesn't tell them that he's there, leaving it up to the Trickster to reveal his presence, but with the added worry of having an unprotected human there, Mona thinks the knowledge of the Trickster being there would ease all of their nerves.

It does. Fox lights up, Skull whips his head around excitedly, while Panther watches on. Actually, maybe Panther does know exactly why he stopped, she never seems to be surprised by the Trickster's presence, even though Mona knows that she can't sense him.

"Ghost Buddy!"

"Shush!" Mona hisses. "He's not here here, he's just in the palace."

"Aww."

"Um, pardon me but who is here?" Niijima looks between all of them from where she's standing at Fox and Panther's sides. She chances a glance behind her before turning back to them. "Is there another Phantom Thief besides you four?"

"Yeah!" Skull cheers.

"No," Fox says at the same time.

They look at each other, and Panther sighs. "Yes and no. We're talking about a Metaverse native. He's not officially part of the team, but he seems to like following us around and helping." Panther's eyes flick to Mona. "It's complicated."

Mona silently agrees. Just like everything in the Metaverse, their relationship with the Trickster is complicated.

Niijima gaps, stumbling after Panther as they turn another corner and Fox downs another camera. "People live here?"

"To be fair," Fox speaks quietly, holstering his gun. "I don't believe he lives in this palace."

"That is not what I meant."

"Guys!" Mona cuts in. "Now is not the time for this! We can talk about this later."

They run into multiple fights, nearly stumble into three cameras, and find zero safe rooms. Through their frantic searching, Mona keeps half his attention split on both Niijima and the Trickster. He doesn't feel any danger to the girl yet, and the Metaverse's distortion hasn't given any hint of doing harm to her. On the other hand, the Trickster is now with them again, not giving any indication of his presence besides the blanket of distortion covering him.

While they don't find any safe rooms, they do, however, find out that the palace owner is the boss of the mafia, and that his name is Kaneshiro Junya.

They learn this by finding a room with a large TV monitor that glows to life the second the door opens. The Shadow's grotesque purple face appears on the screen as he taunts all of them before summoning large shadow orcs and giants.

Cornered, they only have a team of four strong, and an unawakened human to protect.

"Fox, stay with Prez!" Mona calls over his shoulder as he sends a Miracle Punch towards the metal giant. It holds up a large armored arm to block the attack, but it stumbles back a few feet. The large red orcs raise their hulking clubs over their heads.

Panther sends a burst of fire towards them, and Fox calls Goemon to create a makeshift shield between Niijima and the orcs.

"We need to get Prez out of here!"

Panther sends another wave of fire towards the orcs and giant shadows. "We need to get all of us out of here!"

Nijima yelps as she ducks closer to Fox when the ice shield starts cracking. Skull sends a power amp towards their ice user so he can reforge the barrier.

"What can I do?" Nijima's head swings towards Mona and Panther, standing side by side towards the inside of the room. "I can help—how can I help?"

"Your punching ain't gonna' to do nothin' here, Prez!" Skull shouts as he sends a wave of electricity towards the orcs.

"Just stay between us—" Panther yells between attacks, her magic rapid-firing at the metal giant. "Don't get hit! Stay between us!"

"But—gun! I can use a gun! Let me help!" Nijima stumbles as Skull and Fox fall back a few steps. Even with Mona shooting wind spells towards the shadows constantly, he can tell that she truly is trying to keep herself out of their way. She may not be able to fight, but she isn't making their job excessively harder.

Something surges in Mona's chests, an all-too familiar energy surge and crackling in the air. The terrifying aura gives off such a heavy promise of death that if Mona didn't know better, he would have thought the Reaper somehow crawled its way out of Mementos and into the palace.

"Get down!" Skull shouts. Fox hauls Niijima to the floor as Panther ducks despite Carmen bursting to life and blocking the swinging club from hitting her. And Mona? Mona doesn't move, because he knows that the Trickster would never hit them, accident or not.

The two orcs screech as a ray of black energy pierces through their bodies. The darkness shooting from overhead, straight through Fox's protective ice and over Panther's head. Both shadows explode into black ichor-like smoke.

"Woo!" Skull cheers, peeking back up. "Death ray!"

"Oh my god," Niijima whimpers, eyes wide at the destruction.

Mona doesn't let the save go unfollowed, calling Zorro forward. The persona deals another Miracle Punch that does knock the giant metal shadow off it's feet. It crashes into the ground with a startled cry.

"Go!" Mona yells. "Get to the front! As fast as you can!"

Skull grabs Nijima's wrist and runs. Fox follows suit, his hand clasped tightly around his katana handle. Panther ducks down, grabbing Mona in her arms and books it out of the room as fast as she can. In any other situation, Mona would have argued against this. He doesn't like being carried or manhandled. But he while he is swift and lithe, he is not able to keep up with them in speed in this form.

Mona takes advantage of it. His eyes darting from every patch of darkness, trying to see some flicker of glowing red. Any indication that the Trickster is still here and safe. But the boy doesn't leave anything for him, his presence completely void.

Until it isn't. There's still a subtle distortion that Mona knows is the Trickster, but he doesn't feel the heavy layer that normally leaves him hidden and—

—something sharp explodes through his skull and—

It hurts.

Makoto is terrified.

She hates that she's not able to do a single thing to help the others - who are doing so much to help her. Everything she does is feeling like a liability.

Stay behind us. Don't wander too far. Stay away from all of the fights. No, do not try to use aikido on a shadow.

They can't even fight at full strength with me here, the thought bulldozes into her as she's keeping pace just behind Fox and Skull. Not only is she not helping, she's holding them back.

And Makoto is terrified. Normally, she's able to hold herself together well, she's done it for years, but this is too much. Demons and creatures of myth using magic, her kohais using the same magic, and whatever the hell their demon friend is can apparently cause the same damage as some kind of nuclear ray!?

"You still good, Prez?"

Makoto's head snaps to Skull. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine!" Please don't worry about me, this is not the time to be worrying about other people—

Fox rounds the corner, and Makoto and Skull are quick to follow.

"Arg—"

"Mona?"

Makoto's head whirls around, both Panther and Mona are still behind her. The weird cat creature thing that really really seems like it should be one of the bank's (palace?) demons is wincing with one paw to it's head.

"Something...doesn't feel right." Mona pulls himself up to peer over Panther's shoulder as they run. "I really don't like it."

"Are you two okay?" Makoto calls back, stumbling as she misses a step and Skull has to grab her arm to stop her from falling. Another instance of her needing help.

"We're fine!" Panther yells back. "Keep going!"

Makoto really doesn't like not acknowledging the apparent discomfort of the cat thing. He knows a lot more of this Metaverse business than any of them do, doesn't he? Still, she can't risk causing any trouble for them, so she spins around and keeps going, and can't wait until they leave so she can get a damn explanation.

Makoto can see the exit, it's wide and tall doors, just down the entrance hall.

They don't make it. They get stopped when even more of those demons flaring into existence right in front of them. The Thieves barely even start summoning their flaming creatures before the echoing voice of that disgusting man envelops the room.

"Please, fight with all your might." He chuckles, dark and amused. "It'll be fine entertainment to see you all fall."

"Screw you!" Skull shouts back, electrocuting an orc.

The Thieves fight the best they can, but every time one of the monsters is killed, another one rises in its place. A never ending battle under the Shadow's amused gaze.

"Oh?" The Shadow hums, curiosity dripping in his voice. With how nothing has changed in the Thieves' fight, Makoto has a bad feeling that it doesn't have anything to do with them. "What did you bring me? A bird?" The Shadow of the mafia boss is peering curiously at one of his armored demons as it clambers in.

It's not the shadow that catches any of their attention.

It takes a moment for Makoto to make sense of it. The demon has one of it's gauntlet-covered hands wrapped around the leg of an unconscious teenager. A teenager with wings, large and ebony feathers brushing against the ground.

Panther sucks in a harsh breath and Makoto feels Fox freeze next to her.

Makoto suddenly has a very horrifying, sinking feeling.

"Let go of him, you bastard!" Skull's eyes flare a furious gold as his persona — Captain Kidd — blasts one of the hulking red orcs between them and the three behind the demons. Shadow Kaneshiro merely waves his hand and a new orc demon takes the place of the fallen one.

All of them know this teenager. Everything in her head is pointing towards this being the boy that the Thieves told her about. The one who saved them not even ten minutes ago.

And he's hurt. A stream of red blood drips from under his hood and his left wing has splashes of the same crimson near his shoulder.

"How dare you..." The cat growls.

Panther curses, summoning her persona. It only staggers one of the orcs. "Mona, we can't afford to have you lose your head right now!"

Makoto wants to push past the wall of demons and drive something into that giant's head. Something, anything to get the teen away from the threats. But she can't, because she's useless here. No weapons, no persona, no weird protective clothes, no nothing.

This never would have happened if she didn't go searching for the drug ring. Then the Thieves would never have even gone to this place.

They never would have been in this situation.

If she had just taken what she knew to the police, to someone of authority who could do something. If she didn't try to do it herself—

How much longer must you delude yourself for?

—What?

So many people suffering...many of which your own peers. Her own voice muses, echoing deep in her skull. They're suffering in silence. There's even someone right before you now. Will you really abandon what you know you must do, simply because of your plans going awry?

What use is trying to help when it only causes more trouble for others? When I can't do anything when it really matters?

The voice laughs. Who says that there's nothing you can do?

And suddenly, Makoto knows exactly what to do, ripping the heavy metal mask clean off her face. She feels more connected to herself than she ever has before.

"What—?"

"Wha—what the hell ? "

"—Holy shit, Prez!"

As the flames take form beneath her, she knows exactly what name to call. "Johanna, to me!"

Her other self takes form, and knowledge of those terms the other Thieves had shouted out before starts to make sense.

In all of their variations: Zio, electricity. Agi, fire. Bufu, ice. Garu, wind. And now her own, Frei, nuclear.

When Makoto opens her eyes, she revs the bike instinctively. Behind the wall of shadows, she can see the Metaversian is awake, his bright glowing red eyes are wide and locked on her.

"Cover me and I'll take care of this!" Makoto shouts, revving Johanna's engine again. She lifts her feet off the ground, into the pegs, and Johanna moves.

Mafrei.

The attack hits every orc and giant. A tall purple one topples over as she speeds past it. Weaknesses and strengths, she understands. But these shadows aren't her priority.

The Metaversian is fighting too, frantically stabbing the sharp blade from the heel of his free foot into the gauntlet of the towering armored shadow.

"Agilao!" Fire soars just over her head and Makoto ducks close to Johanna. A shadow orc — red — whips it's head away from Makoto and towards the group with a growl.

She needs a concentrated attack, one that won't hit the Metaversian but will still be enough to at least get the armored giant's attention. And Panther's attack gives her just the idea.

"Johanna, Freila!" The nuke damage sears straight into the giant's chest and face. On it's other side, the Metaversian cleaves his knife-heel  straight through the giant's gauntlet and whips it's legs with one of his wings. The shadow lets go under the onslaught, staggering back.

The Metaversian barely plants his gloved hands on the ground before he could land face first, dropping into a roll.

Makoto swerves to a stop before the giant shadow and Kaneshiro, blocking the Metaversian behind her. The shadow is already wiping the ichor from its eyes and the mafia boss' face is contorted with rage.

"Kill them! Kill them all!"

"We need to go." Makoto motions her head with a quick order. "Get on!"

The Metaversian doesn't move from his half-crouched position on the ground, wings partially curled and glowing eyes narrowed.

Defiant is not what she needs right now.

Makoto can hear the shouting calls of spells from across the room. She can see the armored giant steadying itself again. "I am not an enemy, I am with your friends. Now, unless you want to try flying with an injured wing, get on."

He glares at her and, with the adrenaline flowing, Makoto takes it easily. A moment later, he's pushing himself up and vaulting onto the back of Johanna.

Makoto does not have the patience nor the care right now to try and teach the Metaversian that proper driving rules state that crouching on a motorcycle is not only against the law but also dangerous.

She merely says, "Don't fall off." And slams the hand clutch down.

"Seriously? How many times to we have to kill these things!?" Skull's voice shouts. "What the hell!"

Makoto revs the engine. Mafrei. Two of the purple orcs screech as the nuke spell crashes into their backs. They stumble forward, directly into a wave of Panther's fire and Mona's wind.

Makoto pushes Johanna through the gap, driving straight past Skull, swerving the bike to a stop between Panther and Fox. Makoto slams her foot on the ground before the persona can tip. The others look relatively fine, if exhausted. Each of their faces are pitched with worry and faintly pale from magic use.

The weight on the back of Johanna says that the Metaversian hasn't fallen off, so Makoto's attention turns towards the cat. "What now?"

Panther whirls around — Skull taking her place to down an orc — and rips off her mask. "Carmen! Diarama!"

The creature behind her makes a half aborted sound and Makoto twists after feeling the weird scramble he makes. He's half-tipped off Johanna, frozen still with one arm raised like he was trying to block the healing spell. He blinks, arm faltering and wide eyes as he stares at Panther.

"Break through and get out!" Mona yells as Panther's mask reappears and she turns back to heal Skull too. "We'll follow you!"

"What?" Makoto's persona-gold eyes widen. The idea of leaving them here to fight feels like swallowing ash. "You want me to leave you guys here?"

"We'll be fine. Go!"

Skull blocks a red orc's club with his own, his legs shaking under the weight before Fox knocks the shadow back with a wave of ice. "We got this, Prez! Mona's our getaway!"

Makoto has no idea how that could possibly be true. Mona's a cat. But Panther, Skull, and Fox seem so sure of it and they've all been in the Metaverse for far longer than her...

She bites her lip and gives a firm nod. "Okay! But if I don't see you all out in two minutes, I'm coming back!"

"That would be much appreciated!" Fox grits out, freezing another shadow before spinning around and casting Sukukaja — movement enhancement — on Makoto and Johanna.

Makoto revs the engine, a nonverbal gesture to let the Metaversian know that she's about to move again. He jolts, eyes breaking from Panther's form and curls back down into his crouch before Makoto lets Johanna move.

They speed out of the palace, down the bridge and into central street. The Metaversian is off the moment she stops, landing on one of the hanging store signs in a gust of wind.

Makoto narrows her eyes at the boy watching her, then calls Johanna back into her mask as a nonverbal sign of goodwill as she begins counting the seconds in her head. She really doesn't want to have to fight someone that the others see as an ally but if he attacks her, she won't have any qualms about pulling Johanna back out.

Makoto turns away, staring up at the bank for any sign of her underclassman. She doesn't like the idea of leaving them all there, regardless of them having more experience in the Metaverse or not. Isn't this place a matter of life and death?

The Metaversian doesn't even look worried for them when she glances at him again. Not even a single sign of unease or anxiety about leaving his friends behind as he flicks his eyes between the bank and her.

Are they even friends? Nothing in this place is even remotely amicable towards outsiders, which Makoto and the Thieves definitely are. What makes the Metaversian any different?

Makoto's head snaps up at the sound of an engine that she knows isn't Johanna's, since the persona is back in the form of her mask. Barreling down the ramp is an odd black van.

Wait. There's no way that's—

The van is moving erratically, stopping just short of crashing into a storefront as it sputters to a stop. A side door shoots open furiously. Mona's voice echos, "Disgusting. Get out."

Skull clambers out of the back with a breathless laugh. Makoto quickly moves forward to help him, carefully holding the door open for Fox as well while Panther pops open the front door.

"Are you all alright?"

"Exhausted, but alive." Panther slides out of the drivers seat. Fox follows suit much slower, gingerly sipping from a can of soda. The second the Thieves are out, the entire van goes up in smoke.

Mona's standing there when it all clears.

Makoto really, really does not want to ask.

Panther's eyes drift around the street. She hesitantly looks to Makoto. "What happened? Where's..?"

"Ah, he's..." Makoto tilts her head towards the hanging sign, a story-and-a-half above the ground. One by one, all of the Thieves look to where she indicated. The Metaversian is the same as he was moments prior, with his wings half-curled and crouched gargoyle-like.

"Duuuuuude," Skull says in awe. The Metaversian's glowing eyes flick to Skull, feathers ruffling behind him. "You have wings? Since when!?"

Makoto stares when the boy doesn't answer. Are they really friends? Allies? She doesn't think he's mute, considering she heard brief noises from him before. Is the silent treatment normal?

"This appearance suddenly makes much sense." Fox muses as he steps into place beside Makoto, still sipping from his soda like one would tea or coffee. "Your favorability towards high places and ease of getting there..."

Wait—wait, hold on—did they not know what he looks like?

How could they not know?

Skull shifts, "I know Panther healed it, but how's your head doin'?"

The Metaversian's eyes flit between them again as a few feathers catch on the light eerie breeze. He looks at Skull, then the subway and away again.

This can't be how they normally have conversations. How do they even get anywhere with this?

Panther hesitantly steps forward, and the Metaversian's eyes drift to her. "I...can heal you again, if you need it."

"Don't." The Metaversian's wings flare, and all of them stumble back at the sharp gust of wind, each with their own exclamations of surprise. Makoto immediately looks back the second the wind eases. Just in time to see him duck his head sharply.

His wings move again, but there isn't any wind this time. They're slower, flapping twice before curling in again. "Don't," he says softly. "I'm fine."

"That's great! Effin' bastards, grabbing you like that."

The Metaversian just stares at Skull, and Makoto's tutored enough students to pick up on the meager part of his expression that she can see. He's confused.

Why? Is it them talking to him? Skull's verbal concern? Some other weird otherworldly thing?

The Metaverian's red eyes flare brighter and wings twitch.

"You were following us," Mona says softly, stating something that's already clear. But the boy reacts to it. He jolts, heels shooting up to balance just on his toes, wings snapping out wide enough that there's another sharp gust.

Okay that message is extremely clear: Stay away.

The Metaversian does not like Mona.

The cat winces, taking a few steps back as if he wasn't already the farthest away from the boy. The Metaversian's eyes narrow, wings barely curling at their edges.

"It's not an accusation, it's just..." Mona averts his eyes, face twisting uncomfortably. "You've helped us out a lot and you're... you're going to keep following us, right? So you don't— you don't have to hide from us. Like Skull said before, we don't — we aren't — going to hurt you."

The Metaversian's eyes narrow further, the red light from his irises sharp.

"Yeah, man," Skull cuts in, jabbing a thumb towards the floating bank in the distance. Smoke rises under its platform as it slowly drifts away. "We're not like those shadows."

Fox nods his head slowly, looking vaguely more coherent. "You have not attempted to harm us, so there is no reason to treat you with violence."

"Just to point out, I did heal you," Panther chimes in. She nods her head towards Makoto. "And Prez got you away from Kaneshiro. And like Mona said, you've done a lot for us and we're not going to betray that."

"Yeah!" Skull jumps in, nodding his head vigorously. "Don't know how we would have dealt with all that crap in Madarame's palace without'cha. You saved our asses a bunch."

"And it would be really nice to actually see and talk to you sometimes?"

The Metaversian's eyes dart between Skull and Panther's back and forth. But his lips tilt downward and his wings twitch.

"...You want to leave." Mona's voice cuts off both of Panther and Skull's tag-teaming. It's resigned, and his posture is downcast and defeated.

The boy's wings lower a fraction, no longer looking like some harbinger of death and something much younger. When he nods it's slow and hesitant.

"Then you don't have to stay, if you don't want to." The cat's voice is both firm and reassuring, despite the clear dislike of the idea he showed seconds prior.

Makoto doesn't get it. The way that the boy is acting, his defensive nature despite his apparent constant outreaching that the others have mentioned...

The Metaversian's eyes flicker, the red glow disappearing for a second — they can do that? Is it similar to how their eyes change gold when summoning? — and he blinks rapidly as he studies Mona like some complex problem.

"Really," Mona insists. "I know we scare you, so you don't need to stay."

The red irises — pinned on Mona — dim from a blaze to a gleam as his wings raise slowly and pause, waiting. The dark ebony wings then snap open and he shoots off the hanging sign and towards the station. It's barely a moment before red tendrils envelop him and he's gone mid-flight.

Makoto stares after him.

Where did he go?

"Awh," Ryuji whines, wilting. "I really thought we had him that time."

Fox tilts his head. "Do you know where he went, Mona?"

"My guess? Mementos," Mona says blandly. He heaves a sigh, then shakes his head vigorously. "Okay! Since Prez now has a persona, we don't need to worry about her safety in the palace or the bridge. Now that you've awakened, we should do some training in Mementos to get you used to fighting and integrated into the team dynamic..."

"Woah, that was fast."

Mona blinks at Skull. "I— I'm okay waiting for the Trickster to approach us when he feels safer. It just means we have to wait until the next time we come here to see him again."

"Before that," Makoto interjects. "I'd really like the explanations you all promised."

"Ah, yes." Fox turns to Panther.

"Yep," Panther nods to the unasked question. "My house."

June 7, 2016. Afternoon.

They congregate in Takamaki's house immediately after leaving the Metaverse. She doesn't know where Mona went, the cat creature having vanished when they exited. None of the others seem concerned or confused so it's yet another thing she needs to ask about.

When they reach Takamaki's house, Makoto notes that it's a relatively big home, with a moderately large yard with a fence, an intercom, and standing two stories tall.

Makoto does find it surprising that the Thieves are holding their Metaverse meetings in someone's house. She would have figured it would be somewhere more...mysterious or hidden. Maybe actually in the Metaverse, now that she knows about the other dimension.

"Okay," Takamaki says after settling at the kotatsu in the middle of the couch-and-loveseat combination that make a U-shape before the television. Sakamoto and Kitagawa are on the sofa at her left. "Uh, where do we even start now? There's like, a lot."

Makoto takes the opposite side of the kotatsu. "How about you start with the Metaverse?" She suggests. She understands the general gist from her awakening to Johanna, but knowing more always helps. "I understand it's another world based on desires and beliefs. I also understand the persona's role as your shadow becoming yourself and your knowledge relatively merging with theirs."  

"Oh, I got this one!" Mona's voice chirps. A tiny black body jumps onto the kotatsu's table, and Makoto freezes. Perching on the table is a living carbon copy of Morgana, down to the smallest patches of white on his fur and the same bluebell eyes. Makoto hasn't heard anything about Haru and Kurusu's stuffed cat apparently coming to life.

Is that even— no this has to be some kind of insane coincidence. Surely. If Morgana somehow vanished or came to life, Haru would have told her.

"Geez, here we go." Mona mumbles. "Yes, I look like a talking cat. Can we move past it?"

Sakamoto snickers and Mona glares at him.

"That - right, yes." Makoto nods, forcing herself to focus. "Please continue."

"Thank you. Now, your question. I'm actually surprised that you know that much - well, actually you are a pretty knowledge oriented person, so it shouldn't be that surprising that your Shadow would think you knowing nuances is important." Mona tilts his head, ears twitching. "To the point, the Metaverse is the collective unconscious. Everyone has some kind of other self that lives there, which is their Shadow.

"Shadows have the same memories as their real life counterpart, in addition to knowledge of the Metaverse - like the difference between a Shadow and shadow, or elemental skills and their costs, palaces and treasures and desires and how to protect themselves against threats and all of that." Mona hums. "Next question?"

Makoto collects the information and mentally catalogs it. It explains a lot, like why Makoto was able to understand how to fight and what the others were talking about the second she awakened.

Makoto backtracks to the beginning of the cat's explanation. "Is it uncommon for people to know about the Metaverse from awakening?" 

"I didn't know any of that when I awakened," Takamaki answers. "I mean, I knew how to fight and my own skills, but not everyone else's. Or palace stuff."

"Same here."

"I had an understanding of Goemon's abilities since awakening." Kitagawa blinks at the two of them. "I was also able to understand your own personas after seeing them briefly, even before you two using any skills. I did with yours as well, Niijima. Is this not normal for you two?"

"Wait you knew about our personas—?" Sakamoto stares at him agast. "Huh?"

"It's normal." Mona chimes in, and they all stare at him. "It has a lot to do with what you and your Shadow find important. A lot of personas have special abilities that their user can utilize depending on their priorities. Niijima finds knowledge important so Johanna does as well, allowing Niijima to know more about the Metaverse than when you guys awakened.

"Yusuke, on the other hand," Mona turns his head to look at him. "Yusuke is an artist, and he focuses on observation. He's really good at it too, so it doesn't surprise me that he has an innate ability to be able to appraise personas at a glance."

"Wooooow."

"Do we have anything like that?"

"It's highly likely." Mona bobs his head. "Everyone has something they find important, it's just a wonder in how it translates to the Metaverse. And it's not like you can only have one innate talent. It's more likely that you just haven't realized what it is, since it's instinctual."

Both Takamaki and Sakamoto light up, excited.

Makoto leans forward curiously. "Do you have any innate skills?"

"Yeah!" Mona answers. "From what I know about, I can travel into palaces, sense distortion — that's how I'm able to tell threat levels of palaces — I can also sense palace cores and things like them. I can turn into a car and have some navigation skills..." Mona tilts his head and flicks his tail. "Huh. Now that I think about it, tracking and sensing the Trickster is kind of a combination of a lot of them."

Sakamoto's mouth drops open. "Damn, you got so many. That feels like cheating."

Mona flicks his head up as haughtily as a cat can. "That's because I'm awesome."

"You've said that name a lot." Makoto cuts in, turning the attention back. Mona hums curiously, so Makoto continues. "'Trickster.' Are you referring to that Metaversian?"

"The huh?" Sakamoto's face contorts in confusion. When she looks around, all of the Thieves look at her in some variation of puzzlement.

Makoto tries to think of what caused it and comes up with nothing. "What did I say?"

"'Metaversian'?" Takamaki asks.

Why is that confusing? "The boy? The winged one that lives in the Metaverse? Is that not what he is?"

Kitagawa hums. "It does seem to fit surprisingly well..." he tilts his head. "How did you come to think of it?"

"I—just did?" Makoto tries to think of a reason, but it just seemed to fit to her, much like everything with the Metaverse did in an instant.

Just like?

Makoto stops. Thinks back. She didn't call him that from the start, she only changed when—

"Johanna," Makoto breathes. "I started thinking of him that way after I awakened. It must have been something from Johanna. Why do you call him Trickster? Is it synonymous?"

Mona's cat face frowns, the area above his eyes furrowing like eyebrows would. "I don't know. I just know that he's a Trickster. Metaversian doesn't seem wrong exactly, but..."

"Not entirely correct either," Makoto surmises. "So personas can give partially correct or wrong information. That's good to know." Makoto needs to broaden her own knowledge. The Metaverse does have some focus on mythology, fables, or stories doesn't it? Those orcs and giants were rather fairytale-like. "What exactly is your relationship with him? He didn't seem very friendly towards you."

"That—that's my fault." Mona mumbles, downcast.

"Hey, no it wasn't. Stop that." Takamaki flicks the cat's ear. The animal gently swats back at her in displeasure.

Mona's ears fold down, pressing against his head. "He doesn't like the name 'Trickster.' I called him that when we first met and he's avoided me since." The cat sighs. "He still follows us around in palaces and helps us though."

"He has an intriguing ability that makes him invisible in the Metaverse. While Mona can sense his presence nearby, we are unable." Kitagawa lifts a hand to his chin. "He uses that cover to stay in close contact with us and assist when needed."

Takamaki laughs. "Or throw things at Ryuji."

"Awh man, that was terrifying though! You guys didn't nearly get a shuriken to the face!"

"...what?" Makoto gaps. They're saying this like it's normal to have their life threatened by an apparent ally.

"Ryuji and Lady Ann were horseplaying. Then Ryuji tried to downplay it when we said the Trickster wouldn't like it." Mona huffs, exasperated. "The Trickster just told him to stop. It's not like he would have actually hit you."

"That don't mean it wasn't scary!"

"The point is," Mona presses, "we're trying to get the Trickster to trust and not hide from us."

"We are doing quite well, in my opinion." Kitagawa says. "With Morgana's guidance I believe we are making ample headway."

Makoto stops.

"He's kinda like a feral cat." Sakamoto snickers. "He'll scratch you if you get too close but still wanna know what you're doin'. Just gotta unferal the feral."

Takamaki gives him an unimpressed look.

"I'm sorry," Makoto cuts in. "Who's Morgana?"

"Oh!" Takamaki turns to her apologetically. "You know how we have code names in the Metaverse? Mona's real name is Morgana."

"Oh, I never introduced myself." Mona's blue eyes blink at her. "My name's Morgana in the real world."

That can't be a coincidence, how is that possible? He looks the same, and even has the same names and frequency of names. Haru and Kurusu's stuffed cat's name is Morgana, but sometimes goes by Mona. He even has the same gender.

How does she even ask about this? Can she even ask about this? Maybe she should go to Haru first — see if she still has her Morgana or if he's missing and—

"I—I just remembered I have somewhere I need to go." Makoto stutters out, hoping it sounds realization-surprised and not panic-surprised as she shuffles her knees under her. "You have my number. Please contact me whenever you all are ready to train in the Mementos place you mentioned before or if you need me prior."

"Uh, yeah. 'Course."

"We could go tomorrow?" Takamaki offers.

Makoto nods jerkily, standing up. "That works wonderfully. I'll meet with you all after school then. I'll see you tomorrow, Takamaki, Sakamoto, Kitagawa, Mo-Morgana."

"We'll add you to the group chat!" Takamaki calls, and Makoto gives another quick nod.

Makoto barely notices Kitagawa's puzzled look as she turns around and makes for the front door. "Who is Sakamoto?"

"Wha—dude? I thought we were friends, what the hell?"

"Isn't your surname Takamaki? Aren't you two siblings?"

"You two never cleared up that lie!?"

Makoto shuts the door behind her, whipping out her phone as she power walks down the walkway.

Makoto: This is going to sound like an odd question but is Morgana with you?

A moment, and then the text trail shows the three dots that signify Haru's typing.

Haru: monachan.png

Haru: Is something wrong?

The picture is a quick, down shot of the black faux-fur stuffed cat and the business textbook that Haru told Makoto she was going to be reading through later today. Both of them are laying in her lap.

Makoto: nope

Makoto: everything's fine, thank you

She's going crazy.

fashionista has added Niijima Makoto to Phantom Seekers

iamspeeeed: i still can't believe he has wings though

iamspeeeed: WINGS

iamspeeeed: HOW DID HE GET THOSE

Van Gogh: I still cannot believe that the two of you aren't siblings.

Van Gogh: This has changed my perspective immensely, and I find it incredibly disturbing.

fashionista: Sorry Yusuke!

fashionista: We really just forgot to tell you

fashionista: p('⌒｀｡q)

Van Gogh has left Phantom Seekers

fashionista: oop

iamspeeeed: not gonna lie im suprised he knows how to do that

June 8, 2016. Evening.

They meet up in front of the station the next day to show Niijima Mementos and to employ their mandatory new-phantom-training process. Which mainly just means they stick to Mementos for the next few days to a week to get their new recruit used to fighting in the Metaverse and to get their place in the team dynamic.

And codenames, that's important too.

After some debate, Niijima settles on the name Queen, which Panther thinks fits her dynamic in the Metaverse - all commanding and powerful.

The main difficultly, they're coming to realize, is that she's another front-line fighter. Yes, she does have some defense buffs but she doesn't have any skills to help in blocking and shielding, so Fox is still stuck in being their shielder. However, she does have extremely good mobility — from her persona being a bike — and hits hard, so it gives them two fast powerhouses in the front line rather than just Skull.

Panther watches as Queen obliterates a shadow under a heavy hit of technical damage from Skull's shock. She's fitting in surprisingly well, Panther notes, calmly vanishing her whip since the fight's over, despite the prickling air of Mementos. It's probably because of her persona's innate ability.

Skull whips around with his shotgun pointed near Panther's head.

"Wha—?" A brief panic surges through Panther as her eyes dart to his. There's no pink tint so he hasn't been brainwashed. So why—?

"Panther, move!" Panther instinctlively whirls around at Mona's call.

There's a shadow hovering a few paces behind where she was a moment before. It's a fairy, one of the weaker shadows they saw in Kamoshida's palace and in the upper Mementos layers. Why is it so deep in Mementos?

The shadow's auburn-gold eyes are wide and it's face is pale with panic. It's wings stutter back and forth as it's wild eyes are frozen on Skull's gun.

"Uh...aren't those supposed to be higher up?" Skull asks slowly, his brown irises watching the shadow with his yellow-clad finger pressed over the trigger.

And aren't shadows supposed to be covered in red auras? Unlike the other fairies they've fought, this one is wrapped in a velvet blue aura that's reminiscent of a persona. But personas are exclusive, born from someone's soul, so this couldn't be a persona if they've seen it as a shadow before.

"I do believe so, yes." Fox tilts his head to the side, resting a hand under his chin. "She appears different from the blue-haired fairies in Madarame's palace."

Right, Fox hasn't seen this shadow before. They rarely go to the upper Mementos levels, and he wasn't there for Kamoshida's palace. Neither has Queen, either.

Panther slowly backs towards the group, settling between Skull and Queen.

The fairy clutches it's blue-gloved hands together, ducking it's head hesitantly. It's eyes switch between auburn and gold. "I don't know what you're talking about." She raises her head again, raising a hand to brush the short auburn hair from her face. "But I'd suggest you put that gun down. You really wouldn't want to shoot me."

"Is this a hold up?" Queen mumbles her question to Panther.

Unsure, Panther hesitantly shrugs. In concept, yes. Currently, she has no idea. Normally a lesser shadow begs for their life when threatened, not threatens back.

Skull makes a disbelieving sound, also clearly confused at the event.

"Skull," Mona stills at the electric-users side. "Put down the gun."

"Wha—why?"

Mona peers up at her, and the fairy stares back with now auburn eyes. "I don't think she's going to attack us. We don't need a hold up."

The fairy grins impishly, leaning forward in midair. Her eyes glint mischievously. "Do you want to fight? I like blowing things up."

Despite the fairy's words, Panther doesn't feel like she's going to follow through with them - just like Mona said. It's odd, almost like this fairy is nothing like it's shadow counterparts.

And Panther thinks the fairy feels oddly familiar, too. Like she's known her for years.

Skull waves his gun at her. "What part of that is friendly!?"

Panther places her hand on Skull's shotgun and pushes it down. He stares at her incredulously. "If Mona says don't shoot the fairy, we don't shoot the fairy. And besides, I think he's right. She doesn't feel dangerous, I think she's just playing."

The fairy blinks at her curiously before those auburn eyes light up. "Ooooooh, you're like me! That's fun."

"Um, what does that mean?"

The fairy grins with a glint in her eyes. She doesn't elaborate.

"You're not a shadow," Mona observes — and what?

"Nope!" The fairy giggles, flittering around in the air the same way someone would pace. "I'm just a waiting Soul." She sighs wantonly. "I do hope I don't have to wait forever. I hate waiting."

Queen peers at her cautiously. "What are you waiting for?"

"That," The fairy grins secretively, tapping a gloved finger against her lips, "is only for my Little Raven to know. Oh! Speaking of—" she leans back, peering at them curiously. "How often do you all come here?"

That—

Those two sentences don't relate at all.

"We come here roughly an hour most days, around this time," Fox offers. "Occasionally we do stay for longer. Is there a reason you wish to know?"

"Woah, really?" She blinks wide auburn eyes. "That's a lot, don't you ever get tired?"

Skull shuffles. "Uh, not really?"

"Okay," Queen cuts in, voice harsh. "Stop answering her. She's only trying to get information out of us."

The fairy laughs, voice bubbly despite the accusation. "That was fast. Could have been faster, though, I suppose."

Queen narrows her eyes, demanding, "What do you want here?"

"Information," the fairy shrugs lazily.

"Why?"

The fairy's eyes flash gold and stay there. She grins sharp. "Partially curiosity." After Queen said it, now Panther notices the way that the fairy speaks. It's responding with half-answers, dancing around questions with ease while hiding the real answers.

Mona's voice comes as a shock to them, as he hasn't spoken since the start of the conversation - if it can even be called that. "Did the Trickster ask you to?"

The fairy's gold eyes snap to him. "I don't know anyone by that name."

"Is he okay?" Mona presses anyway. "The last time we saw him...I know he'll be at the palace again but..."

The fairy blinks at him, eyes flickering between gold and auburn. "Huh." Her eyes narrow, like she is inspecting the cat for everything he's worth. "You really — hmm..." She raises a blue gloved hand to her chin. "Okay, very well. Yes, the Little Raven is fine and resting."

Mona relaxes, breathing a sigh of relief. Panther does as well. The last time they saw him wasn't...wasn't very good.

"Wait—you know Ghost Buddy, then? Why didn't you say so!?"

"Why would I?" She kicks her legs in the air, childlike. "I don't trust you. We don't have any deals."

"What does that got to do with trust?"

Fox peers at her curiously, "Would you like us to make a deal then?"

"No." The fairy points her head up dismissively.

"Then how would we get you to trust us?" Makoto narrows her eyes at the fairy.

"You don't." She says back, just as harshly. "Look, I'm only here because the Little Raven asked me. Though I don't really get why. So many times he goes gallivanting off with you lot and then he comes back and he's only just—" The fairy clicks her tongue with a hiss, looking away as irritation mars her face. "I've got what I needed, I'm leaving."

She zips off before any of them can get a word out. 

June 8, 2016. Evening.

Trickster.

In mythology, folklore, and religion, a Trickster is a god, goddess, spirit, human, or anthropomorphism who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwise disobey normal rules and defy conventional behavior.

In myths, a Trickster is described as a boundary-crosser. A Trickster often breaks both physical and societal rules, violating the natural order. Oftentimes, this is done through thievery or breaking rules to re-establish them on their own terms.

In folklore, some traditions say a Trickster is held as sacred, and either evil or heroic. In another folklore, a Trickster is a means as a catalyst for something greater.

In others, a Trickster is a maker of the world; their actions changing and shaping the very world itself.

Makoto massages at her scalp, staring down at the words in her notebook, collected from multiple library readings and internet mythology deep-dives.

A Trickster: someone of many faces. Someone who breaks the social order. Someone who can rewrite and turn the very world itself.

Cunning. Witty. Unpredictable.

God. Human. Spirit.

Worshiped or despised.

There's too many contradictions to pin down which ones apply to the Metaversian and that thought makes her feel faintly sick. This creature that the others are trying so hard to get close to, do they even know any of this? How powerful Tricksters are portrayed? Their real role in the world? Is it even safe to attempt to get close to him?

Even from what Makoto's seen, herself, the Metaversian is a complete contradiction. He takes the form of almost-human, while not acting even faintly human. He continues to approach the others, but doesn't let them approach him. He's strong enough to kill shadows in one hit, vaporizing rooms, but can be knocked unconscious apparently extremely easily.

She thinks about the traits described in mythology.

Cunning and witty, she hasn't seen. Unpredictable, unlikely. None of the Thieves seemed surprised at any of his actions. In fact, he seemed rather predictable.

God, human, or spirit. It wouldn't surprise her if gods did exist, considering the Metaverse has a heavy reliance on mythology and folklore. But can a god really be as physically weak as the Metaversian is? A human isn't possible, unless the Metaversian is a person's Shadow and not the human themself — but Shadows all have gold eyes, no exceptions. A spirit appears to be the most likely conclusion.

Worshipped or despised. This is the category that Makoto has the most information for. She doesn't think that Sakamoto, Takamaki, or Kitagawa would fit into the "worship" category as they only seem friendly to the Metaversian. Morgana, on the other hand, seems to live and breathe by the boy. Makoto suspects that that fairy would also fit here, considering her helping him; but she also didn't seem pleased by it.

Then there's the despised category. From what she's seen, the shadows in Kaneshiro's palace didn't have any inkling of respect for him, but nothing that showed outright contempt.

However...Makoto does suspect he must have faced something before. She remembers the way he acts around the Thieves — and around her when she went to save him — that he isn't used to kindness, like it's some foreign concept. He expects everything around him to be against him. Sakamoto called him a feral cat. If these circumstances are true, then that statement could be seen as partially true; but instead of a feral cat, it would be more apt to say beaten.

Makoto closes her notebook, stashing it under the college fliers and textbooks in her desk drawer with hardened resolve.

She needs to find out which traits apply to the Metaversian, whether he's a threat or not, and what world laws his title declares he's breaking.

June 9, 2016. Noon.

"Why did we pick the TV station?" Ryuji groans, kicking his foot and slumping against hallway wall. "I could'a skipped. I wanted to skip."

Morgana pokes out of Ryuji's bag just to bat at his ear. "You're supposed to be acting normal! No skipping!"

"It's more normal for me to not be here!" Ryuji waves his hands furiously. "I'm not a good student, what about that don't make sense?"

"Ryuji doesn't normally go to school events," Ann chimes in. Ryuji gives her a grateful look as he gestures pointedly towards her. Morgana groans with an annoyed eye roll as he ducks back into Ryuji's bag.

"I'd rather be lookin' for Ghost Buddy." Ryuji shoves his hands in his pockets. "I still can't believe he's avoidin' us."

"We...don't know that for sure?" Ann says hesitantly.

Ryuji huffs. "Pretty sure the 'let's meet in two days' followed by him not comin' was answer enough."

"Oh." Ann stops at the familiar unfamiliar voice, blinking over at the end of the hall. Another student — evident from his tan not-Shujin uniform — is standing there, paused, with a cellphone in one hand and briefcase in the other. "My apologies, I wasn't aware there would be any students left in the building."

"Uh," Ryuji stares at him. "Who are you?"

Shock mars the other's face, only to smooth out with a soft laugh the moment following. "I'm just a student. As you all are as well, evidently. I know Shujin Academy was having their field trip today."

Ann tries to figure out where she recognizes him from.

"Huh. You on a field trip too?"

He laughs again. "Oh, no. I'm here for work actually." His phone chimes, and the teen glances at it. A brief flicker of annoyance flashes through his red eyes before he shuffles back. "And that would be work. I need to be going. Please, excuse me."

He goes to leave. Pauses. "Oh, and I wish you luck in patching things up with your friend."

Ryuji blinks, muttering to himself after the other leaves. "What kinda work makes you show up at the TV station?"

Ann stares where the student left. The answer to Ryuji's question coming rising silently in her head. Which would normally be a guest.

Or some kind of celebrity.

Shiho has been avoiding the empty (apparently not empty) book for the past few days, leaving it splayed open on her desk to suspiciously blank pages.

Over the past few days, Shiho's taken to researching about possessed books. She doesn't find anything about books, specifically, being possessed but she does find some information about objects in general. Apparently, objects can't be possessed but they can be influenced by demons or other spiritually powerful creature.

Cursed objects, however, do exist. From what she's found out, they're normally created from remnants of dark energy or evil magic. Which, prior to whatever was talking, she wouldn't have thought cursed items existed but well — something inhuman speaking in your head kind of changes things, doesn't it?

Shiho does cross off cursed object from the list rather quickly after reading multiple accounts that say cursed objects often make people feel queasy, uneasy, or sick around them. All of which Shiho had never felt around the book prior to it forcing its way into her head for that brief moment. Before she was aware that something was actually in it (or connected to it? Shiho has no idea), it was actually extremely comforting and ethereal.

It still is ethereal.

Shiho mildly hates that.

She also doesn't get why it would choose then, of all times, to somehow come to life. Shiho had it around for weeks before it did anything. (Does it somehow siphon energy from her? Is that possible? She thinks she read that cursed objects can do that— but she doesn't feel any different).

It also hasn't done anything or spoken since, leaving her mildly off. She would say frustrated, but, well, she doesn't know. Maybe it's because of the foreign feelings that she felt when it spoke, emotions that she knew weren't hers.

Tentative and wary, then distrustful and guarded. Almost like a wounded animal lashing out. Maybe that's why Shiho lets it stay there, open and untouched on her desk instead of covering or getting rid of it.

She also remembers the weird, contradictory feelings as it vanished. The hope and dread, two emotions that she knows extremely personally.

Those thoughts churn in her mind, and it only takes four days for the unspoken cold war to end. Shiho makes the first move, hesitantly using her desk again, right next to the open book. It doesn't react to her.

It doesn't speak when she does her schoolwork less than a foot away. It doesn't move when she talks with Ann (and Morgana's meows in the background) in the late evenings. It doesn't have dark hieroglyphics glitching over its pages when she has videos or music running on her computer. It doesn't stab into her mind when she pillows her head with her arms and just stares at it late into the night.

One night, she even hesitantly reaches out and pokes at the edge of the velvet blue cover under the blank pages. At the exact moment of the faintest hint of feeling something foreign, she yanks her hand back.

It vanishes the second her finger leaves the book, and Shiho takes a moment to stare at her hand and then the book. There's nothing on her hand, and the book remains as still and unmarred as always.

Slowly, Shiho reaches out again to brush the tip of her finger against the cover and pages. She feels it again, something faintly sharp under her hand. Not sharp in a way that it would hurt her, but...

It's almost like she can feel it watching her.

June 10, 2016. Morning.

Ann figures out how she recognized that student from yesterday very quickly when he's introduced on stage. Then, she beats herself over the head on how she didn't recognize him.

Akechi Goro sits in the guest seat, answering the hosts questions on his recent cases and about them — or, well, the Phantom Thieves.

He pokes holes and plants doubts about every action the Thieves have done, worrying about the extent that they could use their powers for.

If Ann had only been a Phantom Thief to punish those who hurt others or was blindly trying to help people, his words would have shaken her, would have made her question what they were doing.

But they don't, because Akechi doesn't know the main reason they're delving into the Metaverse.

They have a deal with Morgana, and they've seen just how much the cat cares and worries for the Metaverse creature. Just like how Ryuji's mom cares about him, or Ann's parents to her, even like how the Thieves take care of each other.

If stealing and changing the hearts of people who hurt others is the only way to gain the Metaverse creature's attention, then they'll keep doing it. Brainwashing theories or not.

Morgana hums quietly from her bag. "You guys should be careful around him."

June 10, 2016. Afternoon.

The distortion ripples around them when Morgana pulls them into the Metaverse, glitching and moving harshly before settling into the subtle distortions of Mementos. Mona turns around on his paws to make sure everyone was transported in safely. It appears like it. Panther, Fox, and Skull look the same as they always do, not looking a step out of place under Mementos' distortion. Queen, on the other hand, seems a little out of sorts.

She's gotten better, but she still hasn't adjusted to the Metaverse completely yet. She'll improve with time, if the other Thieves are any indication.

"'Nother day, 'nother grind," Skull stretches his arms across his body.

"Are we going down to Aiyatsbus again?" Fox questions, tilting his head. "Or will we be going to Chemdah?"

"I think the team formation's good," Panther points out, her eyes shifting between Mona and Queen. "We could start moving onto training now, if Queen thinks she's ready for the harder enemies."

"I'm ready to move forward," Queen says, crossing her arms with a firm nod. "There's no reason to get used to fighting low-level enemies to the point where I'd become careless with the higher-level ones."

Mona bobs his head and starts moving towards the tracks, preparing to shift forms. "Okay then, let's do a little more team training on Aiyatsbus, and then move down to Chemdah for the real training—"

Mona freezes after a step, heart jumping in his chest as a place in soul flares, demanding attention. He sucks in a breath before whipping around, the confused words of his teammates falling on deaf ears because where—?

His ears twitch as his eyes lock onto a shadowed area across the platform, one that Mona isn't near, but one that he had been walking closer to. It's just a few paces away from the guardrails, on the same half of the platform that leads into Shibuya proper. 

The darkness shifts, and two bright glowing eyes peer out of it. "...How do you do that?"

"Woah, what—!?" Mona hears Skull shout behind him, hears the clamor of his teammates, but he keeps his body still, fighting every instinct in his body to move closer.

"What—" Mona needs to get himself under control, instincts and emotions aren't helping him at all right now with those eyes staring straight at him. "What do you mean?"

"How do you see me?" The shadows grow darker as the Trickster's eyes blaze. "I don't let you see me."

"I—I don't." Mona doesn't know if he can. He's never tried to look past the cloak of distortion the other hides in, too terrified of the consequences. Even back when the Trickster was leading them through the maze of lasers in Madarame's palace, Mona couldn't see any more than  an outline - one that the Trickster clearly let him see. Still, the Trickster's eyes narrow and Mona gets the faint hint of disbelief from them. Mona stutters, "I can sense distortions and you hide yourself with distortions so..."

The Trickster blinks, eyes darting to his side as he pauses. Waits. Then, he hums and the darkness brushes away from him.

Mona's ears perk upwards as he takes in the form the shadows bleed off of. He looks the same as he did in Kaneshiro's palace, with large ebony wings curling behind his back and a hood of a winter coat shadowing his face.

The only difference is that the same fairy from two days ago is sitting on his shoulder. She pinches the bridge of her nose with a displeased sigh. "That doesn't mean reveal yourself."

"What's the point if he can sense me?"

The fairy groans.

"Nix?"

"Just do what you want," The fairy huffs, leaning back into the feathers of the Trickster's right wing. Her face twists, annoyed. "Not like I can stop you anyway."

"...Nix?" Panther murmurs, curiously blinking at the duo. "Oooh, so that was a name."

"Huh? You—?" The fairy stares at Panther before whipping her head around and drilling her eyes into the side of the Trickster's head. Immediately, he stills. "Little Raven."

He looks away. "...Nothing happened?"

Nix clicks her tongue, red eyes narrow. "Say it like you believe it next time."

The Trickster's wings ruffle, ends folding in. "Can we not do this now? Please?"

"Nest." Her voice is firm, giving no allowance of avoidance.

The Trickster's eyes flick back to her. "Fine."

"Fine," she parrots, crossing her arms.

"Pardon me for interrupting," Fox speaks, catching both the Trickster's and the fairy's attention in an instant. His eyes drift over the winged boy — who shifts at the action — before he speaks again. "We wanted to make sure you were alright. Much occurred last we happened upon each other. We were worried, if you will." His voice is as honest and blunt as always.

The Trickster peers at Fox, ignoring Nix's insistent stares. "...Nix said I was fine."

"She did," Panther nods quickly, confirming the statement. "But it's different hearing it to seeing it, y'know?"

The Trickster's red eyes stare at her as if he did not, in fact, know.

Mona's heart lurches. He wants to tell the Trickster that he shouldn't have to be worried about hiding, that he is more important than he seems to think he is, and that he deserves to be safe.

The Trickster's wings curl, blanketing over his arms like a protective barrier and it hurts Mona. He looks so far out of his depth, like he would never have been here if he didn't need to. The only comfort seemingly being the little fairy perched on his shoulder like a watchful guardian.

So Mona takes a chance and does what he hasn't tried to do since that day in Shibuya. He reaches into his heart, tugging a the fog covering the memories in his mind and urges it to give him something that would help.

The fog pushes a concept back, and Mona pauses. Instead of just blurting it out like the last time, he mulls it over.

A deal. Nix mentioned deals a few days ago, relating them to a form of trust. If that's the case then...

"Can we make a deal?"

Just like last time, the Trickster's head shoots up, glowing red eyes alert and locked on Mona. Those dark wings flare, just enough to send a light gust of wind sweeping through the platform. Unlike last time, he doesn't look afraid, and Mona just knows he made the right choice.

"A deal?" His wings shift again, and Mona catches a faint blue-velvet glow on some of his feather tips. Nix is just as alert, shedding the irritation from her form as she leans forward to peer at Mona. "What kind of deal?"

What kind..? A pang of fear courses through him when he draws a blank. What could he offer that the other didn't already have or know? He could teach the Thieves about the Metaverse, but that's useless to someone who lives here. Infiltration tools? What would he even need with them?

"I—don't know," Mona mutters, internally kicking himself. Of course he does something right and can't even follow it through.

"You don't know? Why did you offer a deal then?" Slowly, the Trickster tilts his head. "Is there something you want?"

Safe. Together, Mona's heart whispers. Even getting his memories and human form back means nothing in comparison to what he wants for the Trickster. 

He wants the Trickster to not be afraid of the Thieves, of Mona. He wants to be there to help in anyway he can. He wants the Trickster to be safe. Which is —

Not.

Here.

Mona blinks at the thought. Not here?

"...Do you not know that either? Or do you not want to say?" Mona startles, eyes shooting up. The Trickster's wings shift, the faint blue-velvet glow near gone. His red eyes dim, they seem both dull and calculating now. "I don't understand."

Mona doesn't have the time to try and decipher the last thought. He can't let this chance go away. Mona turns the Trickster's question back on him. "Is there something you want?"

The Trickster jolts, glowing eyes flaring for a brief moment. "What I want? What game are you trying to play?"

"There's no game! I'm not playing around, I swear!" Mona cries, waving his paws in front of his face because he isn't. He would never. "I thought a deal would make you feel more comfortable but I have no idea what I could offer you..."

Nix blinks, stunned, the hand that was propping her chin up when she had leaned forward falls. The Trickster's eyes widen while his mouth drops open. The both of them stare, completely uncomprehending.

Mona doesn't get it. Deals are about trust aren't they? Did he get that wrong? He doesn't think he did, but their reactions are making him worried.

"Comfort..?" The boy mutters, before glancing at Nix. She hesitantly makes a little gesture at him with a shrugged shoulder. He shuffles, shifting his weight on his feet before turning back to Mona. "What did you do with the exhibit and castle? And what are you intending to do with the bank?"

"Why do you want to know that?" Queen demands, only to have Panther tug on her arm with a quiet head shake.

Still, the Trickster's eyes flick to her. "You wanted to make a deal; I'm seeing what you can offer me."

"You want us to steal someone's treasure?" Skull perks up beside Fox.

"Did I say that?" The Trickster blinks, tilting his head. He hums curiously. "By 'treasure' are you talking about the crown and painting?"

"He's doing the same thing as her," Queen hisses, waving a hand at the duo.

"Glad to see our dislike is mutual," The Trickster chirps happily with narrowed glowing eyes. Queen glares back.

"Yes," Mona cuts in. The Trickster's eyes flit back to him. "The crown was the core of Kamoshida's castle, and the painting was the core Madarame's museum. We call them treasures."

The Trickster raises a hand under his hood and fiddles with something. "So you target cores and, once they're removed, it destroys those areas?"

"Yes! Exactly." Mona bobs his head.

"Why?" His hand falls, the glow of his eyes brightening. "What do you have to gain from destroying those places?"

"Uhh why wouldn't we?" Skull leans back on one foot with a confused look. "They were hurtin' people so we stopped them."

Panther watches as the Trickster stares at Skull, like she's picking up on the same puzzlement from the Trickster that Mona is. She speaks up, "Kamoshida was controlling his students, physically and sexually abusing those that didn't agree with him."

Red eyes snap to her.

Panther nudges Fox, and the ice user picks up where she leaves off. "Madarame stole work from his pupils, profiting off them. Whenever a pupil tried to retaliate, he ruined their livelihood and threw them to the streets. Or let them die."

The Tricksters gaze flits between the two of them, and it's in that moment that Mona realizes the Trickster didn't know about either of the Shadow's crimes. The other may not have gone deep enough into many palaces to hear the Shadows explicitly stating it, but a palaces' design should be enough to figure it out if you know what to look for.

Yet, he didn't know.

"...How much do you know about the connection between our world and this one?" Mona sees the exact moment the Trickster's gaze snap to him, eyes wide and the glow flickering on and off.

The Trickster stares at him and Mona would have thought that he wasn't going to answer if he didn't already know better. This isn't the look of someone avoiding a question, it's one of someone piecing together a puzzle. "Everyone here has another copy of themselves in your w-world," He says finally, stuttering over the last word. "Everyone is affected by their actions in the opposite world. Thoughts and emotions are shared. Experiences are not."

The general basics. The exact things Mona taught Skull and Panther after their first time in the Metaverse.

"The actions Panther and Fox described happened in our world," Mona explains where the other left off. "Destroying their palace in this world stops their actions in our world, forcing them to repent for the crimes they've done."

The Trickster hums, eyes lighting. "The confessions."

"Wait—" Skull gasps. "You know about that?"

"I've heard about them," The Trickster answers softly. "So, you alter their personalities in your world by stealing their cores in this one. What about those who haven't committed crimes?"

Someone who hasn't committed a crime but is still distorted? If the Trickster's asking about this then he's likely already sure they have a palace.

Mona's mind drifts to the young orange-haired Shadow.

"I don't think we can force a change of heart if someone hasn't done something bad." Panther shifts, glancing at the others who hold similarly confused looks.

"Not exactly," Queen voices Mona's thoughts. "Someone doesn't have to have committed crimes to become distorted in this world. Think about an obsession, it doesn't have to be harmful to other people."

"Right. As long as someone's thinking is distorted, we can do the same to them." Mona turns his gaze back to the Trickster. "If that person's distortion isn't based on a crime, and something like an obsession, then taking their core would either get rid of that obsession or make them start thinking clearly again."

"A data wipe," He breathes, nodding decisively. He shifts, body angling lightly towards the stairs. "I need to speak with someone before I can offer you a deal. Nix said that you come here every day, so I'll be back here in...three days."

Mona lights up at the words.

Monday. They'll make a deal on Monday.

The Trickster peers at them, Nix a silent observer on his shoulder. "Will that work?"

Mona vigorously nods, hearing most of the other Thieves saying their confirmations.

"But will you actually be here on Monday?" Skull narrows his eyes skeptically. "You don't got a good track record, dude."

The Trickster pauses, shooting a narrow-eyed look over his shoulder. He vanishes under the shadows.

"Wha—"

Panther sighs. "Way to go, Skull."

Mona's ears prick as he feels the heavy blanket of distortion in the air, solidly keeping his eyes away as the Trickster walks out of Mementos and to the above-ground Shibuya.

"It was a valid question!"

It doesn't take long for that feeling of that distortion to dim into nothing.

"Are you all really sure if this is a good idea?" Queen cuts in, crossing her arms with an extremely visible look of displeasure on her face. "We don't know what we're getting into. And regardless of how much you want to, we don't know anything about him."

"It is alright to be skeptical," Fox amends. "But our follower has been immensely helpful in every situation. I do not believe getting closer to him will result in anything negative."

"Yeah!" Skull bobs his head. "And Mona's been lookin' for him, and if Mona says likes him, then I got no problem liking him too." Mona feels a rush of fondness at the words.

Fox tilts his head, staring at Panther.

Queen sighs harshly, raising a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. "That's not what I meant. He's not human like us, he's a being of the Metaverse. When has anything from the Metaverse struck you as friendly?"

Skull blinks at her. "But he's Ghost Buddy."

"Panther? Is something bothering you?" Fox inquires.

The girl snaps back into the conversation, an odd look on her face. "I don't know, I just—something didn't feel right about it." Her eyes dart to Mona.  "I know we're already like, halfway there — but is it really necessary to make a deal?"

"Yes." Mona doesn't know why, but he knows that making a deal here is extremely important. This is the closest they've ever gotten to the Trickster, and something he seems receptive towards, too.

Mona wants to help the Trickster, and his soul returned the concept of deals.

"Okay." Panther doesn't look happy about it. She shakes her head, her heels clicking on the tiles as she steps towards the Mementos tunnels. "I'm probably just being sensitive. Ignore me. Let's get our training in."

She doesn't say anything else on the topic.

Chapter Text

June 11, 2016. Afternoon. 

Shiho stares at the tome, an activity that she finds herself doing often, either during afternoons when classes would have let out — if she had been going to school physically — or at nights after she spends long days with the Kurusus. She thinks the thing in the book is getting more used to her too, because it even lets her open the book again! Sometimes. But still! Progress! 

She turns a few blank pages, just to prove the point. The being's unseen eyes watching as she does it. 

Now that she knows the book is somewhat sentient and the living(?) thing in it isn't spearing it's way into her mind, she can almost relate it to an invisible cat. The way it's constantly staring reminds her of how Morgana acts. Then again, Morgana is more affectionate than this creature. Sometimes.  

She turns another page. 

The creature pauses. Shiho stops too, fingers freezing on the edge of the book. The page she just turned to, it's glitching. Weird images and symbols flitting across the pristine white. It's almost like the symbols are forming some kind of rectangle, just to break apart and reconnect again. 

"Um," Shiho stares at it. The thing stares at her. "Should I...be worried about that?" 

A wave of amusement brushes around her. The creature doesn't say a word as it's eyes glint. 

"Fine. Don't say anything, you cryptic ass." Shiho huffs, resolving herself to stare at the reality-breaking page just like the thing stares at her. It doesn't change, still glitching in the same unorthodox pattern. But the thing inside of the tome is closer than she's felt it in days, almost like it's physically here. 

The page glitches again, and the dark hieroglyphic symbols break that repeating pattern. They don't separate from that rectangle this time. Each symbol connects and merges to it until it's a solid, unmoving, black shape. It almost looks like some kind of playing card. 

"What..?" The image doesn't break apart, and Shiho hesitantly turns the page — pristine white —  just to flip back. It's still there. And when she squints at it, she can almost see some kind of delicate lining running through the shape. 

The thing laughs, and Shiho freezes. It's voice echoes through her skull, loud and unhinged. 

"Is, um, is this a good thing?" It feels like it, from the way the being sounds.  She blinks down at the image after no response. "You're not going to tell me what it means, are you?" 

The thing just keeps giggling. 

Not even a few seconds later, the next page starts glitching in the same way, the symbols flittering frantically.

"That unhinged little..." The creature sucks in a breath through it's laughter. It's joy and hysteria seeps through the pages, saturating the air. "My goodness, Magician." 

It doesn't take long for the symbols to form into another solid black shape, complete with its own set of delicate and unreadable lines.

June 11, 2016. Afternoon. 

They haven't even been in Mementos for more than a few seconds when Skull gasps, his voice coming out in a loud exclamation. Mona's head snaps to the faux-blond, sees his brown eyes blown wide, and whirls around to the direction he's staring. Mona's heart leaps in his chest.

The Trickster's there, completely visible. He's facing away from them, sitting on the guardrail and lightly kicking his feet back and forth.

"That was loud." The Trickster turns his head, staring at them past his left wing. His glowing eyes flash. "You're not the best at stealth, are you?" 

"Wha— anyone would be surprised to just see you there, man!" Skull widely waves his arms at the Trickster. "And you said you were comin' Monday!" 

"Have you already finished speaking with who you needed to?" Fox inquires. 

The Trickster blinks at them. He tilts his head, and the shadows creep further over his face. "What day is it?" 

"Um," Panther stares at him. "...Saturday?" 

"Huh." The Trickster swings his legs over the guardrail, his heels clicking against the ground as he slides off. He's only a foot closer, but his presence starts to brush at the edge of Mona's senses. He's still clouded in the same faint distortions as he always is. "Yes, I did finish what I needed to." He nods to Fox, and the other boy returns it. 

"Then...?" 

The Trickster straightens, and his wings take on the same velvet glow from yesterday. "I do have a deal proposal." His glowing eyes move from one thief to the next. "You all are targeting that bank? I believe the owner's name is Kaneshiro?" He raises one hand, offering it out calmly. "For my end, I'll work with you until the bank's core is in your possession, and the bank is destroyed." Red eyes flit to Mona. "No hiding from you." 

Mona's ears perk. He would be working with them completely visible? 

"Didn't you normally follow and help with the other palaces?" Queen's voice cuts through Mementos' air. "What makes what you're offering any different from that?" At her side, Panther groans, burying her face in her pink gloves. 

"Well, for the museum and castle I didn't have to follow your little group." A sharp grin spreads over the Trickster's face. He lifts his arms in a lazy shrug. "I don't fancy getting attacked, whose to say that I just never go to the bank again? Won't be the first place I've blacklisted." 

Queen's eyes narrow. "That sounds like you're trying to force us into this deal." 

"Does it?" The Trickster raises one hand, hiding his grin behind black cloth and curling fingers. His eyes glint. "Oh, whatever would you do if I was?" 

"You—"

"Oh my god, guys, please." Panther drags her hands down her face and fixes a look at the both of them. "Queen, stop nitpicking. You, stop antagonizing." 

"I'm not—" 

"Zip!" Panther snaps and Queen falls silent, visibly simmering. The blonde nods to herself, then turns her gaze to the Trickster. "Continue." 

The Trickster slightly raises his head, just like Mona's seen some people do when they raise an eyebrow.

"What do you want from the deal?" Panther repeats after not getting a response. She motions a hand. "Continue." 

The Trickster peers at her with a hum. The hand at his mouth falls, and he tucks the both of them into his coat pockets. "In return, should she wish it, I want you to destroy the He—the palace of an acquaintance." Immediately, Mona knows that his assumption yesterday was right, this is about that young Shadow. 

"So you do want us to steal a treasure!" Skull lights up. 

"Apparently." 

Fox hums, tilting his head. "'Should she wish it'? Are you meaning to imply that the target in question will make the decision? Or another ally of yours?"

"Your first assumption is correct." The glow of his eyes brighten, wings ruffling behind him. "Should she want your presence there, then — after the bank is destroyed — she will contact you herself. In your world."

Wait. Mona stops, turning the words over in his head. Something isn't quite right about it. The Trickster's been talking to the girl's Shadow, but it almost sounds like — like he's implying that he was talking to the Shadow's real life counterpart. 

"Uh," Skull shuffles, eyes darting to the others. "You mean like through the website?" 

The Trickster smiles, shrugging. "Maybe. Guess you'll have to find out if you accept the deal, hm?" 

Can it possible for a Shadow and real self to share memories? If it is, then Mona's never seen it before. But what would even cause something like that? Some innate skill or something else? 

"This is what you were talking about last time." Queen narrows her eyes, words coming slowly like she's picking and choosing each one. "The one with a distorted mindset that hasn't done some crime." 

Again, a grin spreads over the other's face. He doesn't answer the question. Queen bristles. 

"I'm good with it," Skull raises his hand. "I mean if she wants it gone then we get it gone right? And if you're askin' about it then you've gotta be close with her with right? So I trust that: I'm in." 

Fox nods decisively. "I as well." 

The Trickster blinks at the two, wings ruffling, and tilts his head. "And you three?" 

"Let me make sure I understand this." Queen crosses her arms, narrowing her eyes. "In simple terms, you help us with Kaneshiro, and we deal with your unknown Shadow." 

The Trickster pauses, eyes flashing. "In simple terms, yes." 

"So you don't want us to do anything for you?" The Trickster tilts his head. Queen huffs. "What about this doesn't make sense to you? You want us to steal someone's treasure, that's what you proposed our end of this deal to be. What use is that to you? What reason would you have to have her palace destroyed?" 

"Telling you isn't part of the terms." The voice is harsh, and something molten hot rushes through Mona. His fur bristles as he whirls towards Queen.

He just knows instinctively — that burning heat — the Trickster's angry.  

"Queen, knock it off!" Mona hisses, and the Trickster's burning eyes flick to him. 

The girl jumps at the sheet venom in Mona's voice, and he knows it's not reasonable to be acting like this with her, but damn it, Mona hates seeing the Trickster like this. He hates seeing the constant jabs in both directions.

Queen huffs, voice put off and irritated. "Fine."

The Trickster's blazing eyes narrow on Queen for a moment later before they fix themselves on Mona and Panther. "Do either of you have any objections to say? Get them out now."

"No," Panther answers quietly. 

"No objections or no to the deal?" 

"No objections." Panther shakes her head, but her lips twist uncomfortably. A rush of fondness flows through Mona. Even though the girl voiced her dislike of the deal yesterday, she still accepted it.

"And you?" 

Mona turns his head, staring up at the being he's been looking for all his life. He doesn't need to even think about what answer to give. "I accept." 

"Then, the deal is struck." The velvet glow in the Trickster's wings burns, settling and fading into ashes. And — something nestles into Mona, a faint insistent binding. Almost like...a contract. 

Oh. Mona's eyes blink wide. The deal. 

When Mona turns to the others, not a single one of them looks like they notice it. Not Queen, who is so insistent and demanding about anything she wants to know. Not even Panther, whose instincts are stronger than anyone he knows. 

Mona doesn't understand why Panther was so against it, the feeling of the deal weighs comfortably inside him. The only thing he doesn't like is that the solid string is stretched thin, attached to all of them, like a cobweb. Strings for Fox, Skull, Queen, Panther, Mona, and the Trickster.  

Mona's ears perk, and when his eyes meet the Trickster's, their red glow is narrowed on Mona. 

"I want to make another deal." He ignores the sounds from his teammates. Only the Trickster's widening eyes and confused twist of his lips are important. 

"...another?" He shuffles. One heel scrapes against the platform as he sighs. The sound is put-out and disappointed. "This isn't going to be like before, is it? Do you even know what you want this time?" 

The apprehension doesn't hinder Mona's excitement because he does know. The feeling of their first deal made something infinitely clear. 

"I want it to be between just us." Mona insists, the feeling of the strings edging him on. "Not between you and the Phantoms. But you and me." 

The Trickster's head tilts faintly, eyes regarding him carefully. "...Very well." 

Mona remembers every instance of the Trickster avoiding him, every single time the other was afraid of him. Despite Mona's insistence that he won't hurt the Trickster, it won't be believed. But if these contracts are what he thinks they are, then— "For my end, I will not harm you in any way, and I'll protect you." 

Red eyes widen. "You would make a deal like that? Is that—is that really what you want to do? Are you positive?"

"Yes," Mona insists. "You can't think I'll hurt you if it's a deal right?" 

"I—you do understand that that's a permanent deal, right?" The Trickster shifts, arms crossing at his elbows. He watches Mona cautiously. 

Mona bobs his head vigorously. He wasn't intending on ever leaving once the Trickster feels comfortable with him. 

The Trickster stare is wary, confused. "I really don't get you. Fine. If you're making a deal as strong as that, what could you possibly want me to do for you? If it's the same as your end, know that I won't accept it." 

It's not. What Mona wants, too, is clear. The instant urging in his head begging not here, not here, not here— "Come back with us. To our world." 

The Trickster jolts, wings flaring. "What?" He's not the only one, most of Mona teammates jump to voice their own surprise. 

"What do you mean—?" Fox.

"—that even possible—?" Skull.

"—can't possibly be serious!" Queen. 

"You want me to..?" The Trickster blinks wide, his voice as soft as air. He shakes his head, raising one hand to tug the hood of his coat further down, the glint of his eyes gone. "You all obviously need to discuss amongst yourselves. I need to think." 

He retreats to the edge of the platform without waiting for an answer. 

"I thought shadows and Metaverse stuff had to stay in the Metaverse!" Skull exclaims in an attempted whisper, which is really just a hushed raspy voice. 

"I was under that impression as well," Fox murmurs, gazing over at the Trickster — whose now started pacing back and forth. "What form do you think he would take? Considering Mona takes the form of a cat in our world." 

"Of course it's possible!" Mona hisses towards Skull. Despite never doing it himself, never having considered it before, he just knows he can. In the exact same way he knows he can bring the others into the Metaverse with him. "And he wouldn't have some weird form like me! He would just be him without the distortions!" 

"Yeah, that don't make sense." 

Mona groans. Logically, he shouldn't get irritated. It's not like Skull — or any of them — would know that the Trickster's always covering himself in distortions. 

"You— you mean back near Shibuya Crossing, right?" Panther hesitantly raises her hand next to an increasingly agitated Queen. Mona perks the moment he hears those words. "When we first saw him, he didn't look like he does now. Is that the him without distortions?" 

"Yes!" Mona bobs his head. "That was the time the distortions were the weakest. So in our world he would take that form." 

Skull scuffs his foot against the platform. "Soooo, he'd look human, is what you're sayin'?" 

"I can't believe we're even discussing this," Queen hisses, her nails digging into her armored sleeves. "There are so many consequences that could come out of this. How are you all not considering any of them?"

"I'm afraid I do not follow." Fox tilts his head, a frown marring his face. "I've known our Follower for more than a month and he hasn't displayed any hostility towards us. In actuality he's more wary of us than harmful." 

"You said he threw a shuriken at Skull's head." 

"Ah— yeah, but I did kinda deserve it." 

"He is not harmless!" Queen jabs towards the Trickster's pacing corner. Not once in their discussion has he stopped or looked over at them. "He's lived his entire life in the Metaverse, and it's clear that he doesn't know a single thing about our world. How do you think he would survive there? We would have to teach him everything and deal with living and monetary situations and costs. Not only that, what if he can still use his magic? It's dangerous both for our world and for him. This entire idea is insanely reckless." 

"Whatever happens, I'll take care of it!" 

"How?" Queen demands. "You're a cat. Even if you were able to work out any issues that will inevitably rise, he won't have any certification or ID. You can't forge a birth identity for him." 

Skull winces. "I hate to say it, but..." 

"I don't care!" Mona throws his arms up. Whatever the consequences are, they don't matter to him. Mona knows that he needs to follow whatever urging he's given, and if the empty pocket where his memories are supposed to be says the Trickster needs to leave the Metaverse, then he needs to leave the Metaverse! "I need to bring him back with me. I need to! I'll figure out everything else after, okay! And this deal is between me and him! I don't need a unanimous decision, it doesn't have anything to do with the Phantom Thieves!"   

"But it relates to our world and everyone's well-being!" 

"That doesn't—"

"—I'm with Mona." Both Queen and Mona pause, whirling towards Panther. The girl's arms are crossed at her elbows, face set in the same solid determination as Queen. 

"You're what?" 

"I'm with Mona," Panther repeats, clear and unyielding. "When we formed the Phantom Thieves, our primary goal was never to defeat Shadows or to help people — no offense." Fox waves off the fire-user's apologetic look. "It was always to help Mona with his mission. And his mission is, well, whatever he is." Panther gestures towards the Trickster. 

Queen fixes a look at them. "You never told me that." 

"It, um, wasn't really important?" Panther shuffles on her feet. "I mean like, we don't know if you want to stick around with us after Kaneshiro's taken care of—and it's not like we thought Kaneshiro would somehow make this whole—" she gestures widely with her hands "—thing happen." 

Queen turns her eyes to Mona. "So this whole Phantom Thief business has been just been for the sake of you getting to the Metaversian?" 

"Not from the start," Mona admits, earning quick nods from the rest of the original thieves. "Kamoshida was personal. And then Madarame became personal. But I only just found him the day we changed Kamoshida's heart and—yes. Panther's right. The major reasoning behind our coming to this world is the Tric—" Mona freezes, casting a quick glance over his shoulder. The Trickster doesn't seem to have notice the almost-slip of the not-to-be-spoken name. "—him." 

"This is immensely reckless," Queen repeats, even though it's not. Even though Mona knows that everything will be alright. 

"I mean, even if all of us disagreed it doesn't really matter," Panther offers, and Mona waves his paws at her because she's right. "Mona's our only way in and out of the Metaverse. If he wants to use his power to bring him out, then that's what Mona's going to do." 

Mona puffs his chest. "Exactly!"

"Fine," Queen huffs. "Just know that I don't agree with this. At all." 

Mona whips around, eyes fixing on the Trickster's repeated pacing and calls, "We're done!" 

The Trickster jolts, flinching so hard he would have tripped if his wings didn't flare out to catch him. His head snaps towards Mona, and the cat immediately wilts, ears falling. "I—I was too loud, sorry." 

Slowly, the Trickster's wings fold back again. He shakes his head and takes a few steps towards their group. "What have you decided?" 

"No changes," Mona peers up at the boy. "I still want you to come back with me." 

The Trickster is silent for a moment, the parts of his face that are visible twist. "You're asking for something I've never done. That's not something I can promise you." 

"You wouldn't have to do anything," Mona begs, fighting every instinct to move closer. "I can bring you there, I know I can." 

"I can't make a deal around an assumption," The Trickster shakes his head, the red glow of his eyes dimming. "Especially when it's my end of the deal." 

Mona wilts. "But..." 

Mona feels those red eyes peering at him. "You...really want this." It's not a question.

Mona answers anyway. His head snaps up, staring straight into the shadows of the Trickster's face. "Yes!" 

The Trickster makes a soft sound as he looks away. Almost like a whine. His wings flare, he takes a breath and turns back. "If I accept this, I want a fail safe. Should it not work, and I'm unable to go with you, what do you want then?" 

It feels redundant to make a condition that Mona knows isn't going to happen. He's never been more sure of anything that he can bring the Trickster out. But if that's what he needs to actually make the deal...Mona racks his brain. 

"...If it doesn't work," It will. "Then could you not hide from us even after Kaneshiro is dealt with?" 

The Trickster blinks, red glow narrowing. He raises a hand to fiddle with something under his hood with a quiet hum. "A permanent for a  permanent... no other conditions? Just no hiding?" 

Mona vigorously bobs his head. 

"I have an amendment." The Trickster's hand drops from under the hood to fiddle with the edge of the hood itself. "My part of the deal will only happen once our first deal is completed." 

But—but that would mean it would have to be when they defeat Kaneshiro! And that's— that's so long from now! Mona wilts. He really, really wanted to do it now, to pull the Trickster out like that thought in his head so venomously wants to.  

Yet, he somehow knows that this is the best he'll get. That this is the only version of the deal with Trickster will accept. So, he forces his head up and tries not look like the demand is earth-shattering. "Okay!" 

The Trickster peers at him, waiting for a few silent moments. (Almost like he's waiting for Mona to take it back, but he never does, never will—)

The Trickster huffs, "Then, the deal is struck."

Mona vibrates under the feeling of the contract weaving itself taut and strong. He sees the Trickster breathing out a long, slow breath as the velvet glow from his wings burns to ash in the same way they did after their last deal. 

"Okay," The Trickster says, red eyes cautiously roaming over the others. "Any other last minute curveballs? No?" He barely waits a second before continuing, like he didn't want to even chance someone saying yes. "Cool. What now?" 

"We're currently training to take on the bank," Panther offers. 

"More accurately," Queen cuts in, crossing her arms, "we're working on integrating my abilities into the team, as well as our new team formation. Which we'll now need to adapt to you as well." 

The Trickster's sharp eyes turn to her. "And how does that work?" 

"We're doing team and solo fights against weaker shadows," Queen answers curtly. 

Mona continues next. "Once we know who works best with who, and we're comfortable fighting with each other then we'll start taking on Kaneshiro." 

The Trickster fiddles under his hood again, nodding. "And how long will we be training?" 

"It took about a week for me," Fox answers, then tilts his head curiously. "Though, it may take longer now as we have two members to integrate." 

The Trickster nods again, wings rustling behind him. "And then we move onto the bank?"

Mona bobs his head, "Yeah—"

"Oh! Oh!" Skull jumps in, nearly bouncing on his good leg. The Trickster's eyes dart to him. "You gotta have a codename!" 

"A codename?" The Trickster tilts his head, his glowing eyes blinking. "Is that what your names are? Codenames?"

"Was that not obvious?" Fox ponders from his place next to Skull. 

"I mean," the Trickster shifts, wings rustling faintly as he moves. "I did think your names weren't really normal. Well, aside from..." his eyes dart to Mona for a moment. "So those are codenames? Skull, Fox, Panther, Queen, and Mona, right?" 

Skull gasps, "You remember our names!" 

Panther snorts, stifling a laugh. "With how much Mona's yelled at you, anyone could remember your name." Mona cackles, because she's so right.  Someone would have to be extremely daft not to have caught Skull's name by now, and the Trickster isn't daft.  

Skull whips around, offended. "Hey!" 

Queen pinches the bridge of her nose. Mona knows she's come a long way in accepting the common back-and-forth of their group, but he still thinks she's needs a few more weeks to really get there. The girl huffs. "Do you have a name in mind? Your friend called you 'Raven', right? Would that work?" 

The Trickster makes a strangled sound, wings fluffing behind him. "I'd, um, advise against that one. Nix has claimed that name, so unless you want her to vaporize you out of pettiness, that's a no." 

Panther startles out of her argument with Skull. "Vaporize?" 

"Does Nix have nuclear skills like Queen?" Fox questions, tilting his head.

"Nuclear? Uh, no." The Trickster shakes his head, now eyeing Queen warily. He quickly waves a dismissive hand, "Nix's possessive tendencies aside, you can call me Joker." 

Joker? Mona stares up at him. Somehow, the name fits him just as much as Trickster does. Almost like the word itself was crafted solely for his use.

"Joker?" Skull repeats it, peering at the Tric—at Joker. "Is that 'cause you're funny?" 

"No." The edge of Joker's mouth twitches, like he's fighting back a smile or laugh. "It's because 'my life is a joke.'" His voice pitches higher at the end of his sentence, like he's imitating someone else. 

Mona's seen Skull do the same thing whenever he quotes Panther. (Only for Panther to immediately wack him upside the head or throw a pillow at him after because "I don't sound like that, Ryuji!") 

Joker's words sound like an insult, but Mona doesn't catch even the slightest sense of resentment or anger. In fact it's almost like... like Joker's amused at the seeming-insult. Maybe even fond. 

"Dude..." 

Joker's lips quirk up, but he doesn't deign Skull a response, nor does he comment on pained looks from Panther or Fox. Instead, he turns to Queen. "Codename, done. Returning to the previous conversation, do we need the bank destroyed by a certain time?" 

Now that Mona's thinking about it, Joker probably only went to Queen because she's the strictest out of all of them. Mona wouldn't be surprised if the boy has caught on to her need to get things done and is playing into it. 

Queen snaps to attention. "The deadline's July 7th, so we have roughly a month to change his heart." 

Joker stops, even his ever-moving wings seem to still. And Mona feels the same foreign not-foreign emotions surging so quickly that he struggles to get a grasp on them. 

Surprise. Fear. Longing. Worry. Anguish. 

"What?" Queen crosses her arms warily. 

Immediately, the feelings reign back, vanishing at the same speed they surged in. It leaves Mona stumbling as he tries to figure out what caused the Trickster to feel all of that.

"That makes sense," Joker nods, but to Mona, the motion looks stilted. "It is early June, so that would be a month. Right." Queen narrows her eyes which Joker ignores as he turns his head towards the path that leads to Shibuya Crossing. 

Mona's ears perk and Zorro stirs as Joker hums a quick and curt hymn. It only lasts for a second or two, but he recognizes it easily, in fact Mona doesn't think he could ever forget that melody. It's the same one from a month ago, the same one that called them above surface. The same one that's sparking something in his memories because he's so, so sure he's heard it before but can't figure out where. 

Queen uncomfortable shifting and confused stare is drowned out by Fox's gasp as he takes a few steps forward, only stopping when Joker pointedly steps away from the approach. "That! That's the song you sung before, yes?" Behind Fox, Panther pauses, curiously looking over at the subway's opening. 

Joker's wings rustle, hovering over his arms. "...Yeah?" 

"It's ethereal quality has struck me since I first heard it! I haven't been able to find anything like it!" Fox claps his hands together, eyes pleading. "Please sing it again!" 

Red eyes blink once, twice, and the boy mouths a few short, incredulous words. A moment later, he says, "...No?"

Like a puppet cut strings, Fox wilts. "What a cruel fate..." 

"I agree with the fox man!" A chipper voice pipes up from behind Skull, who shrieks as he whirls around, stumbles over his own feet, and falls back. The tiny fairy blinks wide auburn eyes down at the fallen persona user. "Wow, okay. I don't know if I should be offended or not."

"Where did you come from!?" 

Nix shrugs her shoulders flippantly before fluttering over to Joker and settling cross-legged on his hood. Panther glances between the two of them curiously.

"Sooooo, what's happening?" Nix plants her hands on Joker's head and peers down at him. 

Joker's eyes flick up, "Deal." 

"Informative," The fairy clicks her tongue and leans back again, seemingly content to just stare at them. 

"You all go on ahead," Joker says and Nix blinks down curiously at him. "I need to talk to Nix." The alone is heavily implied.

"Wait, but—" Skull stares at them, uncomprehending. "The tunnels are random. How are you gonna find us?" 

"Nix can find you, easily." Joker waves off the concern, and the calm, dismissive action spurs Mona into moving. If Joker says so and Mona's mind doesn't correct it, then he's inclined to believe the Trickster.

But something strikes him odd from the words. Joker is always the one to find them in palaces, so why did he single out Nix for something he can do?

Still, Mona's quick to jump onto the subway rails, pulling on Mementos' cognition and shifts into a bus. He hears a strangled noise from Joker and a quiet, delighted gasp from Nix. 

Mona waits for the inevitable freak out that everyone has when they see him get bus-ified. Panther and Skull had screamed, Fox had stared and gone silent for over an hour, and Queen had refused to even go inside the first few days, choosing to ride Johanna instead. 

"Um," Joker's hesitant voice reaches Mona's ears. "...My Neighborhood Totoro?"

"I thought that too!" Panther brightens.

Skull whirls around, half-hanging out of the bus. "What!?" He nearly falls out, jabbing a finger at Panther. "You mean this made sense to you!?"

Panther shrugs sheepishly as Fox curiously peers at Skull from inside the bus. "What is this Totoro?" 

Both blondes turn to Fox. Skull looks like he's about to cry. "Dude..."

"Please, just get in," Queen begs from the drivers seat. Panther winces before pushing Skull back in so she could climb inside.  

"We'll see you two when you're done!" Panther calls before she closes the door. 

"Right..." 

As they drive into the tunnels, Mona turns the words over in his head. Joker seemed hesitant and confused at the shift in form, but Mona brightens because, unlike everyone else, Joker wasn't even the slightest bit afraid at the new form.

The two aren't gone for long. Panther and the others only make it past the two levels of Qimranut before Joker and Nix come into view. The Phantoms are all quick to climb out of the Monabus once Queen pulls them to a stop. 

The very first thing that happens isn't a conversation, isn't a team formation, isn't anything that you'd think it would be. 

It's Nix, pointing a finger at a shadow down the tunnel and cheering, "Oh! Oh! I want to fight that!" 

Immediately, Joker winces, taking a few careful steps away from the little fairy that's hovering at his side, wings bristling.

"Oh, okay, then let's—" 

"Nope!" Nix interrupts Mona cheerily. "Just me!" The not-shadow then snaps her tiny fingers and a blinding light erupts down the hall, shaking the entire tunnel with an explosion that has Panther stumbling from the resulting earthquake

—What?

"My word!" 

"What the shit!" Skull shouts as Panther tries blinking the sunspots from her eyes. 

What the hell was that? It couldn't be that, while Joker has massive curse abilities, Nix has massive light abilities? What kind of team combination is that? 

When Panther's able to clear her vision, Mona's gaping at Nix. "...You have an almighty affinity." Nix kicks her feet in the air, pleased. 

"Holy shit," Skull breathes, wide eyes bouncing between the destroyed tunnel and the fairy. "With you two that bank's gonna be a breeze." 

"Oh no," Nix waves a dismissive hand. "I'm not going to that place."

"You're not?" Queen blinks, squinting at her. "Then why are you training with us?" 

"I'm not!" The fairy grins, sharp. In the same threatening way she did when they first met her. "You didn't think I'd just leave you all alone with my Little Raven, did you?" 

"...She insisted," Joker huffs, exasperated. Nix cheerily flutters over to him at his voice, settling on the boy's shoulder. "You can ignore her, she's only going to be watching."

Queen narrows her eyes. "In other words, she's only here to silently threaten us?" 

"You pick up things quick, boss lady." 

Panther quietly shuffles towards the duo. "But was blowing up the tunnel really necessary?" 

"Nix doesn't know the meaning of the word moderation," Joker mutters back, irritated glowing eyes flitting to Nix.

The tiny bomb merely admires her nails, humming. "You're right. It's probably dying somewhere with your self preservation." 

Joker clicks his tongue and the conversation stops. 

They decide that, instead of taking the Monabus around the tunnels, they're walking. This decision is made when Joker shakes his head and refuses to enter the bus on the reason of his wings. This leads to Skull and Fox both boycotting taking the bus, and well, now they're all walking. 

While Panther doesn't prefer it, it's helping her get used to not tripping over the subway rails. It's also giving her a chance to watch Joker and Nix, a few paces in front of her, seeing how the boy's wings twitch at literally every small sound or how his head would tilt towards any instance of movement. 

The sight feels eerily similar to how she felt in Madarame's palace, where the air around the Metaverse creature was constantly buzzing and alert. Joker's actions kind of remind Panther of Skull, actually, how he would bounce his leg or would be full of restless energy whenever he was nervous. 

But there are way too many reasons for why Joker could be nervous, so Panther can't narrow it down. He's visible, he doesn't like being in close contact with others, they've never seen him in Mementos' tunnels before: these are only three of the reasons she can come up with. 

So, Panther does what helps her when she's nervous, she speeds up a bit to match pace with him and talks. "So, how long have you and Nix known each other?" 

Joker's glowing eyes dart to her under the shadows of his hood. Not for the first time does Panther wonder if that's a skill that he's constantly holding or if he just doesn't have an upper face. "A while," he says slowly. 

Nix sighs wistfully from Joker's shoulder, where she's been benched too. "You were so tiny back then." 

Even with the shadows, the incredulous look on Joker's face is clear. "I was not tiny." Nix sighs again, in clear unvoiced disagreement. "You're tiny," Joker says petulantly. 

Nix smiles, all teeth, at him. "I'm a threat." 

"Yeah. But you're like, the size of a walnut." 

"That is so not true." Nix flips her short hair over her shoulder before crossing her arms, shooting Panther the same look Shiho sometimes does when she hears bullshit. "Get a load of this guy." 

It only takes a quick wink from the fairy for Panther to understand that she knew what Panther is doing, and is also pitching in to calm Joker down. 

Then Panther realizes she's in the position of taking a side between two powerful Metaverse beings, one who can obliterate palaces with death magic and the other who has a tendency of smiting. 

Panther is very quick to attempt a topic switch. 

"You two met when you were young, then?" She tilts her head curiously, hoping that the question isn't an obvious misdirection. "How'd you meet?" 

Joker huffs over Nix's delighted gasp, "Nix is a fairy, she thinks everyone is young—" 

"Hush you, you're a baby, you are young." Nix swats at the side of Joker's hood before turning star-filled eyes to Panther (faintly, Panther relates the look to Fox whenever he finds inspiration). "Our meeting was so memorable! You see, Little Raven tried to stab me—"

"I did not!" Joker whines, throwing his hands up. It jostles Nix, but the fairy doesn't show any trouble staying seated. 

"Stab—?" Panther chokes on the word before she can stop it from slipping out. As much as Panther wants to believe that to be a joke or a tease, she's seen very clearly what Joker's capable of. So hesitantly, she nods. "Okay." 

Immediately, Nix delves into cackles. 

"Wha— I didn't stab her. I just pointed some metal in her direction— Nix, stop laughing."

"This is proof!" Nix cheers, giggling as she points a finger at Panther. "She barely knows you and even she sees you have claws!" 

Joker swats her off his shoulder with a swipe of his wing. Nix yelps before she catches herself with her own wings, twirling around to fix a disapproving parental stare at him. A stare that is very undermined by the fact that she's still laughing up a storm. 

Despite the argument, Panther sees how Joker's wings aren't twitching anymore. He isn't looking around at the walls and dark tunnels like he's trying to find something hiding there. He isn't jumping at every eerie sound or inhuman groan.

When Panther catches Nix's eyes, the fairy is smiling back at her.

You would think it's easy to have more members when you're fighting through a hell subway crawling with monsters from the human subconscious.

It's not, Panther thinks resolutely as Fox cleaves through a weaker shadow. 

Working with Mona and Skull was relatively easy, at the start. They watched over each other, knew their weaknesses, strengths, and roles in the team. Fox, joining later, gave them that added defense and firepower (even if that firepower was rarely used, in favor of his ice shields). 

Adding two — three — powerhouses like Queen, Joker, and Nix, so close to each other, however? Even with Nix being benched, it leaves their synergy rapidly crumbling into shambles. 

Obviously, the team doesn't function if the two are too busy watching and avoiding each other. 

(Mona quickly split the team into two sub teams after the seeing that, with Queen, Skull, and Mona on one team and Panther, Fox, Joker and Nix on the other.) 

(Yet, even with the team in a state of disfunction, Panther wouldn't change it. Somehow, it feels like this is how it was always meant to be.) 

"Joker, would you like to take the next one?" Fox asks, sheathing his sword and tilting his head down the hall, where another shadow is patrolling. 

Joker's eyes flick towards Fox from where he was staring at the other team, then down the hall. "Okay. Team or solo?" 

"Whichever you prefer." 

Joker hums, slipping a gloved hand into his pocket, taking a quick step, tears his hand out of his pocket and throws. The shadow in the distance shrieks as it's mask cracks, dissolving into black ash, dead. 

Joker stares at where the corpse would have been (the little shuriken he threw at it clatters on the rails innocently). "So," he starts, voice sounding eerily similar to a student trying to placate their teacher. "I feel like I should probably say that I meant for that to be a team fight." 

Nix snorts.

Fox blinks at him, Panther stares at the little throw star, glinting green in the distance. Was that the same one he threw at Skull? Panther turns wide eyes to Joker while Fox slinks down the tunnel for the weapon. "...How powerful is that thing?" 

"Um," He stares back. "I thought not much?" Right, right. This is the same creature who can obliterate parts of a human's psyche without breaking a sweat. Of course his weapons would also be overpowered. Joker continues sheepishly, "Or maybe the real question is how weak are the shadows?" 

Nix snorts again.

Joker pins red eyes on her. "Stop." From his shoulder, the little fairy raises her hands innocently.

"Perhaps we could use that to get out of fights in Kaneshiro's palace," Fox observes, returning to their small group with the eerie glowing weapon in hand. He holds it out to Joker, who tentatively takes it back and peers curiously at it. 

"Maybe?" Joker turns the gear-turned-ninja-star over. "The bank shadows are stronger than these ones. I haven't tested it on them either." 

"Wonderful!" Fox cheers. "We can test it when we next go in, then!" 

"Mm," Joker agrees, sliding the gear back into his pocket. "I'll stick to my knife for now, then." 

Panther pauses, eyes flicking over Joker's winged form. "...You have a knife?" For some reason, the idea of the overpowered, winged, curse-loving Metaverse creature fighting with something as mundane as a knife isn't computing in her brain. 

The boy tilts his head. "Why wouldn't I have a knife?" 

Okay, Panther thinks. Sure, why not. 

The next fight they get into, Joker sticks to his word. He slides a moderate-sized knife out from his jacket and slices into the unmasked shadow they were fighting (after Panther had it stumbling around from a burn). Fox follows shortly after, beheading the thing in a quick motion. 

Fox turns back, eyes glued to the blade in Joker's hand. "I believe you said that's a knife?" 

Joker blinks, then shifts, his wing feathers settling after the fight. "Oh no," he drawls, brandishing the knife so it's easier for the other to observe it. "Lecture me, senpai." 

Panther holds back a laugh as Fox very clearly does not get the sarcasm dripping from their new member's voice. 

"That is not a knife," Fox says instead, lifting one hand to press his fingers onto the flat side of the blade, tilting it as he peers at it. Joker very clearly does not expect this because it really looked like he was about to yank the weapon back the second Fox touched it. "A knife only has one bladed edge. This is a dagger. Quite a strong blade too, and well taken care of." 

"...Thank you?" Joker stares at him incredulously. "And I mean, if something goes stabby-stab, it's valid to call it a knife." 

Fox looks like Joker just insulted every one of his paintings and then called then sky green.

(Neither Nix or Panther could hide their laughter as Fox goes into the intricacies of different blades and how a dagger isn't a knife while Joker looks more and more flabbergasted.)

(It catches the attention of the other team, and Panther barely registers Skull's what the fuck is happening over there expression before she's laughing again.) 

While the Phantoms may not have much structure in terms of their leadership and conduct, they did have a few rules that they followed no matter what. One of these rules was the Mementos Rule.

This rule was created after the first few training sessions when Fox was a new member, the team made it a point to always know where either the up or down escalators were, and to always stick by one of them no matter where they trained. Thus the unspoken rule was created the last time they stayed on a floor too long and were almost cornered by the Reaper. 

This also led to them making another unspoken rule about leaving the floor after a set amount of time, which led to seeing Joker's very confused look when Mona announced for them to change floors about an hour ago. 

The entire team was very quick to follow Mona's call, even Queen, who had yet to even run into the Reaper yet. Panther was about to follow too, but Joker settled at her side cautiously, leaning over in a way that reminded her of a child trying to say something to their friend without being overheard.

He whispered, "Where are we going?" 

"We're moving floors," Panther answered quietly, matching his volume. Joker's confused expression didn't change. "We don't want to attract the Reaper, so we need to take the escalators every so often." 

"Ah," Nix said, nodding her head as Joker's eyes flitted towards where Skull and Queen were heading down the escalator path. 

"Right..." Joker said slowly, squinting at the escalators. "We'll meet you on the next floor then." 

"Wait, you're not coming with us?" Panther blinked, turning her own confused look to Joker, completely disregarding Mona's second call. 

"Um," Joker started, only to have Nix cut him off with a shake of her head. 

"We like walking better!" She waved her hand at Mona, whose staring at them from the escalators. "So we'll meet up in a bit!" 

"Are you... sure?" Panther asked hesitantly. The idea of leaving them alone in Mementos left a sour taste in her mouth. It didn't even make sense on how they would meet up, considering the only way between floors was through the escalators. 

"Mm," Joker nodded. "We'll catch up." 

(He did, it hadn't even taken long, just a few minutes for him to find them on the next platform.) 

(But it doesn't stop them from noticing how he avoided using the stairs with them the next three times they used them. But everything about Joker seems to be a contradiction, so Panther doesn't let her mind dwell on it too long. Just another oddity, her mind decides.) 

(Hopefully, she'll be able to understand those oddities the more she gets to know him.) 

(Their training for that day comes to an end about two and a half hours in. Joker and Nix wave to them from the platform as Mona pulls them from the Metaverse.)

June 12, 2016. Noon.

Haru and Makoto have always eaten lunch together, ever since they met in their first year. Haru took to the girl quickly back then, she reasoned that it was because Makoto was similar to Akira, if Ai-chan had a working filter, that is. She also reasons that she kept Makoto secret from Akira for the first month or two of the budding friendship was because of that exact reason. He would definitely have gotten a crack out of it and teased Haru for comparing them. So, she didn't tell him — until she did. Accidentally.

(Ai-chan would like Mako-chan. That was the first thought that came to her mind as Akira eagerly flipped through her textbooks. It's a habit he's grown into ever since he found out she's a year ahead of him. He loved getting ahead, loved learning. He soaked up knowledge like a sponge and it's almost as if he had his own personal mental library.

Makoto loved learning. Akira loved learning. Haru would have said that they'd get on like a house on fire if she didn't know that Akira would drive Makoto up the wall. 

Makoto doesn't like disobedience with authority. Akira...well he could either be an angel or a hellion depending on the authority. So, reasonably, Makoto would not always like Akira, but Haru definitely knows that Akira would like Makoto. Honestly, he'd probably look at her and think 'target acquired' and latch on like a koala. 

It took Haru far too long to notice that Akira had stopped flipping pages and was staring at her, face filled with curiosity. 

Haru blinked at him. "What?" 

A grin stretched across the boy's face, and Haru immediately feels cautious. If she knew what the look was for, she would have risen up and jabbed back, but she hadn't done anything to warrant it. 

"'Ai-chan would like Mako-chan'?" Akira parroted innocently.

Haru stared. "I didn't say that." Akira's grin stretched wider. "I did not just talk out loud." 

Akira cackled, dropping the maths textbook and nearly flinging himself onto his bed next to her. "Did Haru make a friend? When did that happen? You haven't threatened them yet, have you?" 

Haru glared at him, offended. "Wha—I don't threaten people." 

Akira gasped, a large and loud breath that could either be him being theatrical or the boy being the reincarnation of a dying whale. She wished it was the second. "You threaten me all the time!" He whined. 

He was obviously still complaining about that morning, which Haru still thought her pointed words were rather justified. Instead, Haru smiled innocently. "I would never threaten you, Ai-chan." 

Akira shuddered, again overly exaggerated. He jolted to attention a moment after. "Hey, wait! You're not getting out of this, spill!" 

After some (read: a lot) of prodding from Akira, Haru did. She told him how they met (same homeroom, they were desk mates), how they became friends (Makoto wasn't very good at getting along with others and she didn't know what Haru's last name meant either), and a few instances of them hanging out after. 

Through it all, Akira listened with rapt attention, hugging Mona to his chest and nodding along with the stories. 

When she's done, he said, "I want to meet her!" 

A grin stretched across Haru's lips. "You can when you come to Tokyo!" 

Immediately, Akira's face fell. "But, Tokyo's so far away." He whined, dropping backwards to flop onto his mattress. "Mom and dad would never let me take the subway."

"You could come back with me and stay at our estate." Haru pointed out.

"And listen to your father make innuendos once every hour? No thank you—" 

Haru watched, amused, as Ai-chan complained and made a drag at her father nearly every few sentences. For once, she didn't even join in as he buried her fathers name even further into the mud. No, she was far to giddy at the fact that, after everything he heard, he wanted to meet Makoto.

Haru couldn't wait to see what would happen first: if Mako-chan would force Ai-chan into reigning in his outbursts, or if Ai-chan wheedled his way into getting Mako-chan to break the rules.)

When Haru blinks back the memories, she's back in the student council room, watching as Makoto picks at her food, barely eating. Her red eyes unfocused in the way they always do when she gets stuck in her own head. Sometimes, it's like when Makoto hyper-fixates, she only exists her own mind, not her body. 

Makoto's been acting weird. She's been a distinct level of off for the past week. No, it's been longer than a week now. It was just after Makoto brought up Principal Kobayakawa's refusal to look into the blackmailing issue.

(He's a horrible, disgusting man that she'd be glad to get removed from his position. He doesn't deserve it. Only there for the honor of it not for any desire to do right for his students. Akira would have—) 

Haru needs more than both of her hands to count how many times Makoto has broken her norm in the past week and a half. At the beginning, she was irritated and frustrated, nearly at her wits end. 

(Haru would have brought the issue to her father, even if it meant losing her enrollment at the school. But Makoto asked her not to, and Haru didn't want to lose her only other friend — not after she lost her brother — and damn it Akira would have — she knows he would have, his own comfort be damned—)

Then Makoto fell into a nervous wreck for a day, only to bounce back into this hyper-fixated state that she just refuses to leave. Haru doesn't see her snooping around the other students (and Haru's noticed, because bless Mako-chan's soul, she's not subtle). Haru doesn't see Makoto attempt to present the case to the Principal, and she's even stopped coming to the gardening club after school. 

Makoto's not part of the gardening club, but she had always come, even just to say hi, while Haru was gardening. (She even remembers the time Makoto tried to help Haru lug fertilizer to the roof. It was so sweet, even if the girl had stumbled and dropped the bag open on the third-floor stairs).

It's not like her. Haru hasn't seen her normal for a while now. Even that weird panic-like text Makoto had sent asking to see Morgana was off. 

"Mako-chan?" Haru asks, hesitantly. She wants to help, to understand, but she doesn't want to push if Makoto doesn't want to answer. (Akira would have known what to do). "Mako?" 

Makoto jolts, nearly dropping her chopsticks. "W-what? Sorry, I wasn't paying attention." 

I know, Haru thinks but doesn't say. "Are you okay?" She watches as Makoto's face twists in that confused look she sometimes gets. "It's just... you've been distant lately and I haven't seen you after school in a while." Now it's a little hard to stop talking. "Did something happen? Is it something with the blackmailing situation? Did I do something? I—" 

"What? No!" Makoto waves her hands frantically and Haru forces herself to stop. "First, you didn't do anything wrong, don't ever think that. Second, I've been—" Makoto makes a sound, like a cross between a groan and whine. "I've been working on something. It does kind of relate to the student blackmailing issue — I'm not getting in over my head, I promise. But you're right, I haven't been paying attention to anything else..." 

Makoto's voice drifts off, uncertain. Haru waits until she feels comfortable continuing. 

It takes a few moments, but when Makoto finally speaks she says, "I'm probably going to be working on it for most of this month. So I'll be busy most afternoons..." Makoto pauses, looking straight at Haru. "But just let me know if you ever need me, okay? Nothings more important than that."  

Haru smiles, because she knows Makoto's being honest and she really, truly appreciates it but—

She wishes Makoto would see that Haru feels the same about her. Whatever is causing her so much turmoil, Haru wants to help her. But she knows that Makoto would brush it off if Haru asked how she could help.

And not once does Makoto ask for help.

June 12, 2016. Afternoon.  

When the disorientation of the Metaverse fades, the first thing Panther sees is Joker and Nix lounging on the far side of the platform. Nix is perched on one of the lower bars of the guardrail, admiring her nails. In contrast, Joker is still, his head lowered in the same way Panther's sure she's seen Ryuji do during gym when he's falling asleep against the wall. 

"Hello!" Nix perks up at their arrival, sliding from the rail and fluttering over to Joker. 

"Yo, yo!" Skull waves as he bounds over to them, as loud and energetic as he always is. Joker's head snaps up after five steps, eyes blaring red. 

"Oh, hi." The glow calms after a few blinks. "You guys can head down to the training floor and I'll meet you there."

And well, there's nothing really to do besides to follow that.

Something Skull notices is that Joker fights weird. He's not like any of them. Not in a bad way! He's just really, really unpredictable. 

Like, okay, Panther and Mona tend to stay in the back lines. They're magic support and dealing, Skull gets that. Fox stays near the front cause he's strong and their defense, yeah, he's used to that. Queen's like their middle ground, cause she has both magic and physical damage. Then there's Joker, who can go literally anywhere. 

Skull's used to him being in the back with Panther just... blasting things. But he's not doing that here, even though Skull knows he can. He hasn't even death rayed a shadow once! 

(Skull kinda misses it)

Instead, he's near the front of the fights. Sometimes he's swinging a dagger with the same precision as Fox does with his katana, sometimes he's conking a shadow upside the head with his heels and sometimes he's even bitch-slapping a shadow with a wing.

Like, his fighting makes no sense! Skull can't be the only one noticing this!

After their last fight, Skull catches Joker peering at him from across the way, head tilted curiously. He's been doing this for the past five fights, like he could somehow tell that Skull was also staring back at him every time he wasn't looking. Funnily, if he imagines little cat ears on Joker's head, then the tiny head tilt reminds him of Mona.

"Yo!" Skull calls curiosity finally overweighting everything else and jogs his way over and stopping a few paces away. "What's bonkin'?"

Joker silently blinks at him, again, like Mona. 

"That's never going to become a thing, Skull!" Panther calls from the group, in a completely unfair statement. 

"No one asked you!" Skull yells back. The girl sticks her tongue out at him before turning back to Fox. Skull huffs, looking back at Joker. With the way the guy's looking at him, it kind of feels like he's under a microscope. "You got something to say?" 

Joker's glowing eyes narrow, but he don't look angry. "Are you related to lions?" 

What? "Huh?" Is that some kind of Metaverse phrase? Is it an insult? "What's that suppose ta' mean?" 

"You just..." Joker frowns, tilting his head again. "Remind me of a lion I know." 

Oh. Oh! Ain't lions the strongest ones in the animal kingdom? It's a compliment then! 

When Mona calls for them, Skull pushes the compliment to the back of his head. And when they start fighting again, the thought slips from his mind. He doesn't think about it when they start rotating their team positions for the third time, Mona trying to figure out just what mini-teams work best for Joker to feel comfortable. He doesn't think about it when Mona calls for the end of training and they wave bye to Joker and Nix at Mementos' entrance. 

It's only when he's at home with the moon rising in the sky that he thinks. 

Ryuji's been related to a lot of animals before. But why did Ghost Buddy choose a lion?

June 13, 2016. Afternoon. 

Aside from their legs aching, their first complication from not using the Monabus — and walking through Mementos — comes three days into the deal. 

They had spent just a tad too long on one of the middle floors on Aiyatsbus' path when the already-cold air turns frigid, and there's something echoing off the walls in a way that sounds like chains dragging over the metal rails. It makes the hair on Panther's neck stand up. 

Her head snaps down the tunnel, and it's very easy to catch Skull's panicked look from a few paces away.

"Oh, shit! Guys! Reaper!" Skull shouts, like all of them didn't already know what the feeling meant. And yes, they were keeping their training near the downward escalators, but that doesn't mean that they wouldn't react to feeling the Reaper arriving the floor. 

Fox, the closest to the escalators, jumps onto the platform with Mona and Queen follow closely behind. Despite Queen being the only one who hasn't felt the Reaper before, the urgency from everyone else clearly spurs her into moving.

"Go to the next floor!" Mona instructs. Fox pulls a wide-eyed Queen down the stopped escalators, the pathway rippling as they disappear to the lower floor. Panther and Skull scramble after them, with Panther helping Skull pull himself onto the platform. 

Skull whirls around. "Dude, come on!" He's not talking to her, so Panther looks, too. Both Joker and Nix are staring down the tunnel, but where Nix's face is set dangerously, her auburn eyes burning gold, Joker looks terrified. 

 "Joker, we need to go." Panther would have jumped back down and dragged the winged boy onto the platform, the only reason she doesn't is because she knows that would only freak him out more. The next best thing is making her voice as urgent as possible. "Come on." 

Joker's head snaps back. "Go where?"  

"The stairs!" Skull frantically waves his hands towards the escalators. 

"The Reaper is floor-bound," Mona explains, his words rushed and hurried. He looks just like the Panther feels, jumping out of his skin and ready to bolt. "It can't follow us to the next floor. I know you don't like using the stairs but—"

"What stairs?" The three of them freeze at Joker's hissed words. Dread starts sinking in Panther's chest as she comprehends the words. From Skull's open mouth and Mona's wide eyes, she's sure they feel the same.

The rattling chains, undeterred, ominously creep closer. 

"The hell does that mean?!"

"You can't see them." Mona shakes his head, voice frantic and uncomprehending. "But— you're not a shadow, you should be able to! Why— no, no, not the time for this. Can you see the platform?" 

Joker answers by snapping his wings out and landing on the cement platform with a gust of wind. 

"Okay, okay. You can't see the stairs, that's fine—" the chains screech as they click click click against the tracks. "Panther will lead you. Skull, you go first—" She's what? 

Skull frantically whips his head between the tunnel and them. "I'm not leaving you guys here!" 

"Well you can't lead Joker because I'm not risking you walking backwards on the stairs with your leg!" Mona snaps back. 

Skull's face twists. He clearly doesn't like this, just like Panther doesn't like this, and definitely like Joker doesn't like this. "Then if you need help, you better call the second you need it." 

"We will, go!" Mona urges, and Skull very unhappily retreats to the next floor. Mona whirls around, speaking quickly. "Okay, here's how this is going to work. Panther you need to lead Joker. Joker can't see the path so you need to guide him. Joker, you're going to need to close your eyes and trust her, because if you don't your senses are going to mess with you." 

Joker whips frantic eyes towards Nix. 

"I'll meet you on the next floor," She assures, resolutely, glowing gold eyes narrow on something in the distance.

Joker sucks in a breath, turning back to them. "Fine, okay, let's go." 

"Just like a trust exercise, right?" Panther says hesitantly, despite knowing that Joker wouldn't know of human primary school games. She reaches out her hands and, after a moment, Joker takes them, his glowing red eyes blinking off. 

She hastily takes a few steps back under Mona's guidance, pulling Joker forward by his arm until Panther's taking the first step down. "Tuck your wings in," She says quickly before his right one nearly hits the corner and the boy folds them tight against his back. 

"Right step," She instructs, and Joker pauses before taking a step down with his right foot, completely in the escalator path now. She can't even take a moment to whirl her head to Mona and say — look it's working! He's in the path! — because she's too hyper focused on telling the Metaverse creature when to move to the next step.

Panther releases a breath once her feet touch the solid ground, carefully tugging Joker one, two, three more steps until his feet touch the platform. She sees his wings flicker, wavering like a mirage, before his face pinches and they solidify again. 

By some godly stroke of luck, this floor is a rest stop, and Panther can't express that relief enough while she tries calming her racing heart. She barely even registers Mona's voice and Joker hesitantly opening his eyes again. Their bright glow roams over the platform, sitting area, and subway tracks.

Joker gapes, tentatively dropping Panther's hands. His voice whispers in a quiet mumble, "A lull?" 

Wait, if he couldn't see the escalators then he wouldn't have ever been to the rest stops before. Are they really hidden to all Metaverse beings? And—wait— how did he even go between floors before?

"It's a rest stop," Mona corrects at her side. "No shadows can come here."

"A lull," Joker repeats and, despite the odd term, it sounds like a confirmation to Mona's words. He twists around, staring intently at the escalator path she just led him down. With a hint of wonder, he says, "I still can't see them." 

"Wait, seriously?" Skull saddles up beside them, but even the clear relief couldn't stop him from staring aghast at Joker. "The hell does it look like to you?" 

"A wall," Joker answers, deadpan. 

"Did a problem occur?" Fox and Queen quickly make their way over. 

"What about a wall?" 

Skull whirls towards Fox and Queen, repeatedly jabbing his finger at the escalator path. "Joker can't see the stairs!" Out of the corner of Panther's eye, she can see Joker's wings bristling. 

"Truly? Then how did he move between floors before?"  

"Um," Panther's eyes flick between Joker and the rest of the group. He looks increasingly agitated and, without Nix, it's really hard to calm him down. 

Mona cuts into the debate, "Guys, stop—" 

Queen narrows her eyes. "I thought you weren't a shadow." 

Joker glares back, his wings snap open, and Panther had to cover her eyes as a sharp gust of wind surges. The second the winds die down, Panther snaps her eyes to Joker, only to freeze when she doesn't see him. 

"What—"

"Huh, dude?!" 

They all whirl around, trying to find where he went. Panther doesn't feel any static distortion in the air so he couldn't have gone invisible—

"Oh." 

Panther quickly looks to where Fox is staring: the roof of the sitting pavilion. Now that she's looking there, it's easy to see the edges of Joker's wings in the darkness. 

It's almost like when a cat squeezes it's way into a crevice or under a bed and scratches anyone that gets close. 

"Dude..?" Skull stares up. He doesn't get a response. 

The team exchanges equally helpless looks, somehow all of them knowing that Joker isn't going to come down any time soon. 

(They decide to wait until he comes down on his own, which didn't actually take too long but to all of them it felt like hours.) 

(He refused to say anything even after he came down and Panther had helped him down the next escalator. Nor did he say anything when Nix fluttered up to them, eyes cautiously roaming over Joker until even she was bristling too.)

(Ending training that day on such a bad note left a taste of ash in all of their mouths.) 

June 13, 2016. Evening.

It's been two days, and Shiho still can't figure out what those lines or shapes etched into the velvet book mean. If the book wasn't housing a sentient creature, she would have bought and used some kind of black light by now. But she doesn't, because the book is sentient and Shiho and them seem to have some kind of silent agreement going on. Shiho doesn't mess with the book and the book doesn't mess with her.

Seems fair, right? Except that it feels insanely unfair with how much it sparks her curiosity in a way that she hasn't felt in so long. 

It doesn't help that the creature intentionally does or says things just to make her more curious, just to not answer anything. It's like it's taunting her. What an ass. 

Just like it's doing now. Brief spurts of emotion seep through the pages into Shiho, almost like sparks from a flame. The creature's having fun — no, that's not the right word — thrill? Yeah, a thrill fits better, because it feels like their heart is beating way too fast for something merely fun. 

The creature laughs, loud and unhinged, and Shiho has heard them enough by now to know that it's not directed towards her. At this point, Shiho wouldn't even be surprised if they forgot that she's here and that the transmitted emotions weren't even intentional. 

"Thou hast to be faster than that, Birdie!" 

This has been going on for at least twenty minutes now. Shiho's only been able to hear one half of their conversation, but she can't help but feel bad for whoever 'Birdie' is. The creature's taunting is relentless and unending, and Birdie is definitely someone they know with how comfortable the creature is with their taunts. It's like it finds it's greatest joy in life to be messing with people.

"But I don't want to," The creature pouts, and Shiho gets the sense that it's somewhere high. She feels air, the same way you feel when at the top of a rollercoaster. The same way she felt before she — the creature gasps, scandalized. "Thou wouldn't shoot me, that would be so ru—" A yelp, then a muffled curse in French.

Shiho startles, staring down at the velvet book. That couldn't have been— they weren't talking about guns were they? And the creature didn't just get shot, right? It sounded like they—

"You couldn't have just stabbed me?" The creature clicks it's tongue, grumbling like a petulant child and not something (someone?) who just got shot. "I'd rather you stab me, that's more personal." 

"Are you okay!?" Shiho worries down at the book, and she feels the way the creature freezes. Just like the way she feels how every emotion and sense vanishes quickly after. "You're not serious?" She stares down at the pages, gaping. "You can't seriously just leave like that without even saying if you're okay!" 

The creature is somehow more comfortable with someone who tried to kill them than they are with her. 

That realization hurts Shiho more than she thought it would.

June 14, 2016. Afternoon.

It's awesome how much a simple thing can change everything, that's what Skull has been thinking the past few days. Just 'cause Mona had his weird brain intuition thing to make a deal, they're now seeing Joker all the time. Why couldn't Mona have come up with making a deal earlier? Was a deal seriously all they needed to have their Metaverse Buddy actually go to Mementos with them? 

Yes. Yes it was.  

He's been here waiting for them every time they've gone to Mementos in the past four days. It's cool but it's also weird. Why's he always here now? He's gotta get here late at some point, he's always a little late to palaces, why's this different? 

Nix nudges Ghost Buddy from where she's perched on his shoulder. The boy shifts against the wall, flicking offended red eyes at the fairy like her waking him is the biggest betrayal she could have made. Skull should know, he's given the same look to Panther before when she had blasted that stupid crashing-metal-pipes audio from her phone when he fell asleep studying in her house once (and that's not cool!) 

Joker blinks blearily. This guy is always tired, he swears. Why the hell doesn't he just sleep in and join them later? The guy doesn't even have school, he's got no reason to be sleeping all the time. "Why're you always here?" 

The boy doesn't flinch at his crass wording like any of Shujin's students would. He also doesn't look mad about yesterday anymore, and that's a relieving feeling.

He just raises a gloved hand and wipes the sleep from his eyes. "Oh, ever so sorry. You made a fuss about me—" he yawns, "—being on time. Don't have the patience to figure out what sky vibrancies match up with your times so this is the best you get." 

Huh? 

"Sky vibrancy?" Panther parrots, looking confused.

He was — was Joker telling the time from the sky? 

"The sky's color changes here too?" Fox gasps, because of course that's what he focuses on. Colors.

"You...can't tell the time?" Queen questions, face pinched in disbelief. Skull feels the same because how could he even live like that? Was that why he got so pissy when Skull brought it up before? God, he feels like an ass. 

Ghost Buddy's wings bristle, feathers fluffing up like a baby birds. Swiftly, Nix snaps her head towards Queen. "Time is a concept that doesn't matter to anyone from this realm. Keep your constructs to yourselves." 

"But... you could have told us," Panther frowns at the two as Joker slowly unfolds himself from his place against the wall, moving to stand. "We would have worked around it. You're as much of a part of the team as everyone else. Geez, this is the escalator problem all over again." 

"I can tell the difference between morning, afternoon, evening, and night." Joker waves a dismissive hand. "The nuances don't matter." 

And that— that don't make any sense. Time is important for everything. For when you need to go somewhere, or meet someone, hell it's even used for when to eat or go home —

"So that's why you never joined us at specified times before," Yusuke hums.

Joker shrugs. 

"This feels like it's going to be a problem," Queen mumbles. 

"Can we just get this training over with?" Ghost Buddy's wings bristle. "Rather than talking about how different we are?" 

— is Ghost Buddy even going home? The reason he's always here when they get here couldn't be because he's never left, right? Right?

Skull sees everyone getting off the platform and making their way into the tunnels. He jolts, quickly stumbling just passed Panther and Nix to get between them and Joker —because Ghost Buddy's almost always with Panther — cause he's just got to know.

Panther shoots him a curious glance, and she's gotta see something in his face because she willingly gives up her place and speeds up to walk with the group ahead of them. Nix hovers in place for a moment before choosing to follow after Panther. 

Skull's really got no good way to ask it. "So you were just, staying there? On the platform?" 

"I thought we already talked about this." Ghost Buddy's eyes flick to him. 

"Dude, you can't just sleep there," Skull can't believe anyone would think that's a good idea. It may only be the entrance of Mementos, but there's still shadows everywhere. What if one comes up on Joker when he's sleeping? "And what about your family? They've gotta be worried sick, man." Skull knows that his mom would rather ground him for life than let him go and fight mythical creatures, if she knew. 

"Skull." He freezes at the sound of Joker's voice. He's stopped a few paces behind Skull, and his voice is sharp and bitter. "Back off of things you don't understand." 

Joker brushes past Skull, sidling up beside Panther and Mementos' wall, despite the fact that Skull knows Joker hates being close to the full group.

Panther blinks widely when she sees Joker, quickly looking back at Skull. He knows the look in her eyes means what the hell did you do? 

Skull wilts. He has no idea. 

June 14, 2016. Evening.

Ryuji can't stop thinking about it. The harsh words from Joker, how he immediately closed himself off, how he avoided Ryuji the entire time they were in Mementos today. He didn't even respond to any of them when they left Mementos aside from a curt, dismissive wave. 

He also can't stop thinking about Joker staying on that platform, waiting until they come back, because that couldn't have been where he was staying before. He had to have some place he called home even if he got mad about Ryuji bringing it up before

Ryuji doesn't know what he has to do, besides knowing that he's gotta do something. 

He snatches Morgana right off Ann's shoulder. 

"Argh— what the hell—?" The cat yelps, flailing wildly in the air. 

Ann swerves around, wide eyes staring at them as Ryuji gets smacked in the face with Tail. Before she can even get a word out, he says, "I'm borrowing Monamona for the night." 

"What—?"

"Don't I get a say in this! Let go of me, you monkey!" Ryuji wrestles the yowling cat into his arms and his tiny friend bristles but stops trying to bite his fingers off when he's not dangling in the air anymore. 

"Nope! Bye guys!" Quickly, Ryuji runs out of there the fastest he can. He hears the others calling after him but he doesn't stop until they're in the underground mall with his phone vibrating in his pocket. 

Morgana peers up at him from The Arm Cage. "What the hell, Ryuji?" 

"You got your weird Joker feelings, right?" Ryuji blurts out, sees Morgana blinking uncomprehending at him, and continues. "How do I make him not mad at me?" 

Morgana's aghast little kitty face stares up at him. "You're... asking me how to get on the Trickster's good side?" 

Okay. Yeah. Not his best idea, Ghost Buddy did avoid Morgana for months but they're better together now. At least Joker could actually stand around Mona without bristling. 

Ryuji grumbles an annoyed breath. Morgana shakes his head, ears twitching. "Well—okay, geez. At least you had a valid reason for kidnapping me." 

At this point, Ryuji knows that anything relating to Ghost Buddy is a Valid Reason for Morgana. 

"What did you even do?" 

"I don't know!" Ryuji whines, finding a small, out-of-the-way hall to stand and complain in. "I was talkin' about how he was staying in the station and then he got all mad. We were also talkin' about the whole time thing and—" Ryuji stops, an idea hitting him in the face.

Hold up. Wait. 

Ryuji looks down at Morgana narrowed eyes. "Does our stuff work in the Metaverse?" 

Morgana blinks at him, tail whipping irritably. "Can you call Lady Ann back to translate your mind for me? Or can you finish your sentences and make sense?" 

"Like—" Ryuji would have flung his hands around to try and grasp his words, but they were full of Cat and he didn't want to accidentally throw his friend. "Like our phones or machines or that stuff. Do they work? There?" 

"Huh." Morgana's tiny face scrunches up, peering away. "I think that would depend. Obviously anything that needs electricity wouldn't work, unless you're using Zio spells to charge them. And that would probably just break the device if you're not careful..." Morgana hums, tail tickling Ryuji's arm as it starts waving. "If it doesn't need electricity or internet, it should work. I think." 

"What about a clock? Or watch?" 

Morgana's ears perk up. "You mean for Joker?" 

Ryuji vigorously nods. "That would fix the whole time thing, wouldn't it?" 

They spend the next almost two hours taking a train to Akihabara, going through at least six different shops, and arguing about the different specs of the damn thing. When they finally find (what they hope is) the perfect one, they leave the shop with twin looks of relief. 

After the arguing and debating, they settled on the most-important spec being solar powered, since the Metaverse doesn't have outlets or electricity and using zio is... not a good idea. They don't have Ghost Buddy's wrist size, so they couldn't get something metal or sturdy (since Joker uses his hands all the time so Ryuji thought something sturdy and hard to break would be nice but that was shot down). That left them getting a tough leather-like band instead that the store owner insisted was also good with temperatures. Ryuji really hopes that's true and that it won't get destroyed after a small Agi. 

They make their way back to Shibuya after Ryuj takes the watch out of its case to fumble around with the settings, making sure that the time is actually set. This would have been a complete failure if it wasn't even ready to hand over. 

When they slip back into Mementos — alone, and God, don't that feel weird — the subway is just as dark and eerie as it is during the day. Skull swerves his head towards where Ghost Buddy always waits and stops. 

There's some kinda long dark and layered cocoon thing laying there. It looks strong like it's made outta some kinda hard metal and Skull can't, for the life of him, figure out what the hell that's supposed to be. 

"What the 'eff?" The words slip out of his mouth before he realizes he said anything. Instantly, the metal cocoon thing breaks form, thousands of tiny sharp knife-like things sticking out and pointing at them— and wow that reminds him of a pufferfish. A very big, very sharp, very deadly pufferfish.

Mona's ears twitch, peering curiously at the thing. "...Joker?" 

What? What? There ain't no way—

A moment goes by before every single one of the tiny knives shudder, shaking out until they're smooth — what? — and now they look soft like long feathers — what? — and the top of the cocoon thing lifts and — that was Ghost Buddy's WING?

Since when did his wings have KNIVES?

"...it's not morning," Joker mumbles, voice deep and exhausted. Through the darkness under his wing, Skull can kinda see him laying down and his red eyes are flicking on and off from where his head's resting on the ground, and his eyes aren't even glowing when they're on and wow that's weird. Normally they're always glowing. 

"I knew it!" Skull calls instead, because for some reason it's the only thing he feels like he can say. "You are sleeping here!" 

Ghost Buddy's red eyes stare at him blankly for a solid second, before he groans, "Good God." And drops his wing back down on himself. 

 "Ah, wait—!" 

"Skull!" Mona whines, and damn it Mona, he knows! 

Skull shuffles towards the cocoon. "C-can you come again? Or uh, not stab me with your million feather knives?" Skull makes sure to be loud enough that Joker can hear him walking, cause he definitely doesn't want the other to panic. He stops a few paces away from the cocoon, squatting down. "We uh, got something for you?" 

"Is it something to shoot myself with?" Ghost Buddy's muffled voice asks from under the feather mountain. 

Skull gapes at the feathers. "I'm not gonna shoot you, man!" 

"Then is it anything that will make me unconscious right now?" 

"Wha—no!"

The wings shift and Ghost Buddy whines, "Then I don't want it." 

"G-Ghost Buddy?" No answer. "Hello?" Nothing. "Did you go back to sleep?" The lump of feathers is silent. 

Skull looks at Mona, and the cat blinks, hesitantly pointing at Mementos' exit. Skull shakes his head, aghast, back. He doesn't want to leave! He wants to give Ghost Buddy the damn watch! 

Skull huffs, crossing his arms. "Then I'll sleep here too." He flops backwards onto the hard platform next to Joker, ignores Mona's exasperated stare and pointedly closes his eyes. 

Ghost Buddy doesn't say anything, neither does Mona. But the tunnels still sound creepy. 

Maybe if he pretends hard enough the eerie Mementos noises will start sounding like a really bad whirly fan. 

...It doesn't work. 

How does Ghost Buddy do this all the time? Is it 'cause he's from the Metaverse that it just...doesn't set off every nerve in his body? Damn, Skull feels jittery just hearing every little clink and whirr and groan. But that doesn't matter! Cause Ghost Buddy can do it, so Skull can too.

His ma' will kill him tomorrow, though. He should probably have Mona take him back for a minute so he could text her but then it feels like that's breaking the weird little thing they got going on here. 

"...You're stubborn." Skull jolts, snapping his eyes open and towards Joker, who's peaking out from behind his wing. "It can't wait until tomorrow?" 

"I mean..." Skull stares back at him. "It's kinda for tomorrow?" 

Ghost Buddy blinks and Skull blinks back. Huh. He actually thinks this is the closest he's been to Joker— at least, when Skull can actually see him. It's kinda like when him and the others are lounging about at Ann's place.

"What is it?" Joker lightly tilts his head from where he's laying, peering curiously at him.

"Oh!" Right! He has to actually give it to Joker. Skull quickly sits up, patting around his pockets trying to figure out where the watch magic'ed itself off to. He can see Ghost Buddy's eyes following the movements as the wing drapes a little lower, more like a blanket rather than a cocoon. 

Geez, where is it? Skull fumbles around a little more before his fingers close around it. Cheering, he pulls out the small box and presents it. But Ghost Buddy doesn't look excited at it, he just stares at it, uncomprehending. 

Oh— oh Nix said they don't know time so he may not even know what it is. Quickly, Skull tries to explain. "So— uh, in our world we got a lot of um, electric running stuff. Like— like zio." 

Skull pauses, and a moment later Joker slowly nods. "...Okay?" 

"Okay." Skull nods back. "Okay, so your world doesn't run on time, but ours does. So we got a lotta' time-keepin' stuff— and this," Skull brandishes the box again. "It's somethin' we call a 'watch.' It—" 

Ghost Buddy snaps to attention, and it looks like he's about to sit up before his eyes dart to his wing and winds up freezing half-propped up on his arm. 

Skull winces. "Uh, does that mean you understand what this is or is that another thing I shouldn't have said?"  

"I—" Ghost Buddy's eyes are laser-focused on the box. "I know what that is."

"Oh— okay, cool! Here!" Skull holds out the box to him, but he doesn't take it. After a silent moment, Skull frowns. "What're you wait in' for?" 

"—What do you want?" 

"Huh?"

Joker's red eyes flick up, meeting Skull's confused look. "Nothing is free. What do you want for it?" 

"Dude, I don't want anything." Skull places the box on the ground and just...slides it across the small platform area between them. Ghost Buddy even jolts when it bumps against his wing. "It's a gift." 

Ghost Buddy frowns and Skull doesn't know what to feel like. It's like he both wants to wilt at the other not accepting it but he also feels so mad at whoever made Ghost Buddy think that he has to do something to warrant a gift. 

Mona presses against Skull's side, and he jumps at the cat's sudden appearance. Damn, Mona can be quiet sometimes. "If you don't want it to be a gift," Mona hesitantly says. "Then you can see it as a tool to help with our deal." 

"A tool?" 

"Mm," Mona nods. "It would hinder the deal if we couldn't reliably set up meeting times." 

Joker peers at Mona, narrowing his eyes. "You're grasping at straws." 

"No, I'm not!" The cat points his head up haughtily. "You need it for the deal, so you should take it." Skull can't even believe what he's hearing.  

A moment passes before Joker snorts. Then he shifts, eyes flicking towards the box and then again. "And you really don't want anything for it?" 

"No!" Skull vehemently says while Mona vigorously shakes his head. 

"...Okay." Ghost Buddy reaches over to pick up the box, carefully opening it and picking up the watch with a gloved hand. 

Ghost Buddy tentatively wraps the band around his wrist, just under his glove, cinching it in place in a way that looks like he's really familiar with the motion. Skull wonders what other thing he's used to threading like that.

"Is it...good?" Skull asks hesitantly after watching Joker stare at it for what has to be a full minute in silence. Mona peers up at the winged boy from his place tucked into Skull's side. 

Joker wordlessly nods, watching the little prongs tick inside the watch face. 

"It should be solar charging," Mona offers. "So you should be able to charge it from any light source. And Skull made sure it was set to the right time before we came." 

"But we didn't test it with Metaverse light." And that would really suck if it didn't charge here. 

"The vendor said it was half charged, so you wouldn't need to worry about that now," Mona says. "If it doesn't charge, we can figure something out." 

Ghost Buddy looks back at them for the first time since he put the watch on. Even when he's not staring at it, he's got one hand cradling it around his wrist. And Skull freezes at the look in his eyes. It almost looks like he's going to cry. "I—Thank you. You really didn't have to do something like this." 

"It was Skull's idea!" 

"Mona helped pick it out!" Skull shoots back, just so he has something to say and not stare back at Ghost Buddy like a dumbstruck fool. 

"Hey!" Mona bristles, swatting at his thigh with a paw. "Take credit for yourself!" 

Skull swats back with a finger, and it turns into a ridiculous game of patty-cake as Mona swipes back. 

A quiet, wet laugh has them looking back at Ghost Buddy. He's running a hand over his face, giving his head a brief shake before drops his hand down. 

"Not that I'm not grateful, but you both really should head home," Ghost Buddy says softly, red eyes peering up at him. And Skull would have protested — because he'd already resolved himself to sleeping here — if Joker didn't start talking again. "After all, you have someone waiting for you, don't you?" 

"Wha—how'd you know?" Skull gapes back at him.

Joker's face softens. "What you said earlier today. About— about my family. I don't think that would have been your first thought if your family wasn't important to you." 

"Well, yeah," Skull says quietly. "My ma's the best person in my life." 

Joker nods, like the confession is nothing to be surprised about. "Go home." He grins, "There's nothing here but trains. You'd get bored." 

Skull vehemently disagrees, because, "You're here. And you're anything but boring." Mona vigorously bobs his head in agreement.

A moment passes before Ghost Buddy laughs. "Well, I did tell you my life's a joke." 

That's not even close to what Skull meant, but Joker seems to be happy so he doesn't really want to disagree. (Why is even so happy about that kind of insult? Joker's anything but some joke). 

"Are you going home too, then?" Skull asks instead. 

"Ah," Joker winces. "I would but..." He shifts, carefully lifting his wing again and pointedly looks down to where his elbows are pressed into his other wing. Skull looks down too, nearly doing a double-take at seeing Nix curled up in his feathers, out like a light.

"Has she been there the entire time!?" Skull gapes at the tiny fairy. She doesn't even twitch. 

"How did she not wake up with all the noise..." Mona mutters, baffled. 

Ghost Buddy snickers, draping his wing back down, making the not-shadow disappear in the mess of feathers. "She'll wake up if she senses a threat, but otherwise she's a really heavy sleeper."

Mona perks up. "Then we're not a threat?" This makes Skull perk up too, staring excitedly back at Joker.

Joker's amused, glinting red eyes roam over them. "According to our deal, you're not," he says to Mona, who eagerly nods back. 

"What about me?" 

Red eyes flick to Skull, no less amused. "Perhaps." 

Skull pouts, "That's cold, man." A moment later, he jolts up again. "Wait, hold on, do you even know how to read a clock? Not to say that you don't know how but you don't use time so..." 

Skull chances a look at Joker, and he doesn't look mad or irritated like he normally does when people say he doesn't know something. 

Ghost Buddy glances at the watch. "9:43. P.M, right?" He tilts the watch face for Skull to check. 

The minute hand turns to 44 the second he turns it, but Skull still bobs his head. "Yeah! To both of them!" 

Joker nods. "Alright, stop stalling then. Shoo, go home. Get some sleep."

Skull groans, scooping Mona in his arms and standing up. He hesitates before leaving, glancing back at Ghost Buddy. Joker being Joker, catches the pause instantly, glancing up from his watch with a curious look.

"Um, earlier.." Skull starts, trying to figure out how to say it before deciding that, after everything that happened in the past hour, bulldozing is fine. "Wha'd I do?" 

He gets a blank, confused look in response. "I think I'm going to need more than that."

"When you," Skull adjusts Mona to one arm — ignoring the cat's irritated grumbles — and waves the other around, like the gesture's suppose to mean something. "Told me to back off?" 

"Oh."

"Yeah." 

Ghost Buddy shifts, wings bristling, and he's so clearly uncomfortable that Skull wishes he didn't ask the question at all. 

"My family," Ghost Buddy says softly. "I don't like people bringing them up." 

"Okay," Skull says. "If I say anythin' else's about them, then — I dunno, wing slap me?" With a quick, fearful jolt, he adds, "When they're not knife-ified." 

Joker snorts. "Yeah. Yeah, I can do that." 

Phantom Seekers

iamspeeeed: SORRY GUYS

iamspeeeed: i needed monas help w smth

fashionista: YOU COULD HAVE TOLD US!!

fashionista: ⁞ つ: •̀ ⌂ •́ : ⁞つ

Queen: Was it really something you had to rush off like that for? You worried everyone with that stunt.

iamspeeeed: i didnt mean to worry you guys! sorry!!

iamspeeeed: but we fixed ghost buddys time problem!!! 

fashionista: you what

Queen: Excuse me? How did you do that? 

fashionista: what did you do????

iamspeeeed: find out tmr >:)

fashionista: WHY

iamspeeeed: OH and ghost buddys wings turn into knives

iamspeeeed: cursed nightmare images

Queen: What

fashionista: ???

Van Gogh: I apologize, I saw the most glorious flower arrangement on my way home and it was of utmost importance to sketch it

Van Gogh: What is happening?

fashionista: reaD UP

Van Gogh: I see! Joker can experience time now! Wonderful Ryuji! 

Van Gogh: I am also perplexed as to the second comment. I believed that it was common knowledge that his wings sharpen themselves?  

fashionista: uM nO? 

iamspeeeed: YOU KNEW ABOUT IT? 

Queen: Alright it is way too late to deal with this. We're discussing this, in detail, tomorrow. 

fashionista: PLEASE

Van Gogh: Very well. 

Van Gogh: However, I am still confused. 

A moment after Ryuji closes out of the group chat, he gets a text from Ann. 

Ann

Ann: Mona press F if you need rescuing

Ann: I can and will break into his house 

Morgana snickers in his ear, "Press F." 

"Hell no," Ryuji flicks the cats ear and he thwacks his tail against the back of Ryuji's head in retaliation. 

Morgana settles comfortably on his shoulder and Ryuji's mind drifts back that station platform. The way Ghost Buddy looked so surprised after getting something as small as a watch.  It was like— he didn't know, it's just...seeing him that touched made Ryuji feel touched. Like he never got any kindness that even a small thing...

Ryuji really, really wants to keep doing stuff for Ghost Buddy.

(Ryuji's phone buzzes half an hour later, when him and Morgana are settled comfortably in for the night. Which, in reality, means that Ryuji's booted up his handheld game console — on silent, of course, he's not a monster — while Mona's curled next to his pillow and trying to sleep. 

He gave up on trying to get Ryuji to sleep three seconds after trying. 

Ryuji turns on his phone, Morgana blearily blinking his eyes open. 

Ann: ...

Ann: ...does he actually have knife wings

Both Ryuji and Morgana share a look of pure amusement before Ryuji leaves the message on read.)

June 15, 2016. Afternoon.

"So," Akemi says after bursting into the club room and dropping her notebooks on the table with a loud thump. She ignores Mishima's jump at the sound and slides into her chair. "This is so much worse than I thought." 

"Um," Mishima blinks at the stack of notebooks. "The Pyramid scheme?" 

Akemi nods, pulling one notebook from the pile and flipping it open. "You know how there's a mafia and Yakuza group centered in Shibuya?" Mishima startles, and Akemi's quick to pick out the dawning realization on his face. 

"Which one..?" 

"The blackmail is run by the mafia group," Akemi answers, pushing the open book to the middle of the table so Mishima could read it easier. "I was able to find a lot of their lower members and get dirt on them, but there's no way I could safely get the higher people." 

Akemi can do a lot, she has done a lot. She's got pictures, license plates, building addresses, and many, many names. It helps that she has a photographic memory and a lot of media connections, but there's only so much she can sleuth out alone.  

(She really hopes Niijima isn't overextending herself. That girl would be a perfect target for the mafia. If they have her, they could easily control the school.)

(Now she just needs to find the best way to get the information to their council president without the girl doing something reckless with the information due to stress.) 

"You should stop here." Mishima bites his lip, apprehension covering his face as his eyes roam over the notebook. "I don't know, take it to the police? But you should back out before you go too far."

"Logically, yeah." Akemi frowns. But she can't just leave this be. It's not just a matter of their fellow students, but the more power the mafia gains the more untouchable they become. 

Getting her research to the police would be a logical step, but she knows well how there's corruption everywhere. Who knows if it would reach the right people? If they would even consider a students work? What if it reaches the wrong person and they track it back to her and Mishima? 

That's not a risk she can take.

Other options are: creating a media scandal, reaching out to her contacts, or distracting the mafia with something else. 

Maybe she could get some sparks flying between the mafia and the yakuza group over the issue. The Yakuza definitely wouldn't want the mafia to gain more power than them. 

—no, that's a stupid idea. She doesn't even have any trustworthy Yakuza contacts to do that. 

"I'll back out for now," Akemi says instead, taking the notebook that Mishima slides back over in her hands. Maybe she could contact Ohya. That woman was a brilliant reporter, after all. She probably already knew about the issue. "Only from the stake outs and research. I'll figure out some way to deal with this." 

Mishima sighs, and Akemi feels fondness for the boy as he looks at her with his normal wariness. "Just be careful." 

"Of course," Akemi bobs her head, standing up and gathering the notebooks. She should bring these home with her, hide them with her other research materials and cases. "Enough about that, how's your site going?" 

"Oh," Mishima shuffles, fiddling with his pencil. Right, she did totally just barge in when he was doing his homework. "I think the Phantom Thieves are using it?" 

This catches Akemi's attention quick. "Really? How do you know?" 

"A lot of the requests on the forum have been getting responses and thank you posts. It seems like a lot of them have gotten their requests fulfilled." He places his pencil down, pulling his phone out of his bag and fiddles with it. "It's a range from stalkers, abusers, and even some petty crimes." 

"Oh! Maybe you should make another page, for the completed requests." Akemi suggests, looking curiously at the phansite posts when Mishima turns his phone around to her. "That could help prove that the Phantom Thieves are real, right?"

Mishima perks up, nearly vibrating in his seat. The sight has Akemi laughing. "You want to go do that now, don't you?" She catches Mishima's nod and waves him off. "Go on, shoo. Have fun." 

June 15, 2016. Evening.

The first night of their self-imposed break, Yuuki has the Phansite open on one tab and the Madarame scandal on another. Maybe he could make a collage of the Phantom Thieves' calling cards or their target's confessions? That could lead to more credibility and proving that they're real to the people who do need their help...

Yuuki can't say that he's glad, exactly, of how Akemi and him have to stop looking into the mafia for now, but he definitely feels like his expertise is here. Behind a computer and finding information in the dark. 

That feels kind of vigilante too, right? 

Yuuki pulls up a video of Madarame's confession, watching as the false-artist sobs and apologizes on national television for his abuse, neglect, and plagiarism. He downloads the one with the best quality, saving it to put onto the Phansite later.

Footage of Madarame finding the calling card, on the other hand, is immensely harder to find. It takes a few hours to even find one of them, probably because it was so early in the morning and the exhibit the cards were posted around was closed early the same morning they were found. 

He quickly downloads that video too, before even watching it, because who knows when that would get deleted. He didn't want to chance wasting another few hours to find another. 

Yuuki only plays it when it's finished downloading, sitting back in his desk chair and watching. The camera is moving quickly, roaming around the entire exhibit where red and black cards are plastered on walls and scattered over the floor. 

Madarame's in the corner of the video, half-out of frame as he's handed one of the cards, face red and flustered. The camera moves again, the artist only in view by his long robes as the video-taker picks up one of the cards themself. 

Yuuki pauses. Not the video, no. He stops in his seat, confused eyes furrowing as the edge of the video, right where Madarame's out of frame, glitches with faint static. 

"What..?" Yuuki murmurs, pausing the video this time and scrolling back a few seconds. 

At this point, Yuuki is quite familiar with certain types of computer issues, including static and glitches. They all have their own little quirks, from the stuttering screen, to snow, to colorful lines. This one... he can't quite place it. It's so familiar but only for one instance that he can't quite remember, especially not with it being so little on the edge of a screen.

Frantically, Yuuki jolts forward in his seat, fingers running over his keyboard as he tries to find some other video of that morning. When he does, after a long deep dive through articles, Reddit and social media posts, he full screens the recording and watches. 

He sees an odd glitch in the background, just behind Madrame's figure, how a small group of pixels flicker darker before becoming colorful again. He sees the card in the false-artist's hand somehow gain more color in another tiny, minuscule glitch. 

Then, the entire screen flickers, just for a millisecond as Madarame's face contorts with disbelieving rage. 

That static... Yuuki quickly lowers the speed and rewinds, freezing the video at that exact instant. 

This wasn't the normal static that comes from technology mishaps, Yuuki realizes with wide eyes, gazing over the screen. It's like the world both lost color and gained it, like the static is trying to reveal something not there.

In Madarame's place is an odd figure. It doesn't match up with Madarame himself, the lines don't match and the grey, white, and black pixels don't align with the other color differences either. It's like there's something else standing in his place. 

Does that have something to do with the Phantom Thieves? Is the static some kind of unnatural superpower of theirs? 

Yuuki reaches over to his notebook, left forgotten on the side of his desk and writes a quick, scribbled note to himself. 

Ask Akemi about Kamoshida's calling card. 

If it did relate to the Phantoms, then there might be a similar reaction in any video taken of Kamoshida when he found his calling card. Luckily, the man's had been in the middle of the hall where they had security cameras. (He only remembers this from the Kamoshida making a fuss about the school having turned off those cameras at night, so he couldn't find out exactly who had plastered those cards everywhere). 

Knowing Akemi, she'd be able to get access to them somehow. 

Placing his pencil back down, Yuuki looks back at his computer, staring at the odd static that covers the screen. If only he could figure out where he's seen it before.

Chapter Text

June 15, 2016. Lunch. 

"Okay," Makoto starts after closing the door and dropping into her seat in the student council room. "Is Kitagawa on?" 

"Yusuke?" Takamaki looks to her phone that's resting on the table.  

"I am here," The phone affirms. "Should I take this as everyone being present?" 

Morgana, from his place on the table, quickly confirms the statement. Sakamoto kicks up a foot next to Morgana, and Takamaki looks a second away from shoving it off.

"Alright," Makoto says, knowing that they don't have much time, since Kosei and Shujin's lunch schedules don't entirely line up. "Sakamoto, what did you do yesterday?" 

Morgana's ears perk while the lightning-user blinks in clear faux-innocence. "We fixed Ghost Buddy's time problem." 

"How?" 

"Aw, come on," Sakamoto leans back, tipping his chair on it's back legs. "You gotta wait till we meet 'em in Mementos. It's only like, a few hours from now." 

Makoto already feels a rising headache and resists massaging her temple. She's trying not to get irritated, but Kaneshiro's blackmail, Principal Kobayakawa's insistent badgering about the Phantom Thieves, and the foreboding mythological meaning of a Trickster have all been pulling her strings taught. She doesn't need this. 

"Um," Takamaki's eyes flick between Makoto and Sakamoto. "So, waiting. Okay. Joker's wings, we can talk about that, right?" 

"Knife wings." Sakamoto shudders, letting his chair legs hit the ground again as he whirls to Takamaki's phone. "Yusuke, how the hell did you know, dude!?"

"It felt rather obvious," Kitawaga's mechanical voice says offhandedly. "A bird's wings are one of the most sensitive and valuable parts of their bodies; and yet, I often saw Joker using his in a more violent, weapon-like manner. It didn't take me long to notice that the reason for this is because they are a weapon."

Makoto has recognized this, all the way back to when she awakened. Even back then, Joker used his wings to trip the shadow restraining him. But if they were comparing the Metaversian's wings to a bird's, then it only adds another contradiction. Wings aren't meant to be weapons.

"Why do you guys keep comparing Joker to an animal?" Takamaki huffs, making a gesture with one hand. "First, he's feral in Madarame's palace. Then, he's a cat. Now he's a bird." 

"Okay, first off," Sakamoto says, "in Madarame's palace the dude was pretty feral. Also, he acts like Mona." He points at Morgana. "Cat." 

"I'm not a cat!" Morgana bites at Sakamoto's finger, and the boy reels back, shaking out his hand.

"You're just provin' my point!" 

"I find the comparisons valuable," Kitagawa chimes in. "If the Metaverse is based on belief and perception, then we would likely be able to understand more about Joker based on the perceptions that we know. Hence, why I referred to his wings earlier." 

If understanding the Metaverse is so important to them, why have they only thought about perception and belief. Why have they not once thought to consider mythology and folklore, which encompass the majority of the shadows they've fought? 

Makoto's research notebook burns. 

"See!" Sakamoto jabs his finger at Takamaki's phone. "It's important!" 

Takamaki heaves a sigh and, a moment later, a bell chimes through the phone speaker. 

"Ah," Kitagawa says. "I believe that is my cue. May you enjoy the rest of your lunch!" 

The call clicks off. 

"Man," Sakamoto huffs despondently. "Why's he gotta have the weird lunch period?"

Takamaki shrugs. "Prestigious school?" 

Morgana tilts his head. "Isn't Shujin a prestigious school?" Both blondes give him a look that says otherwise. 

"Morgana." The cat's ears twist Makoto's way before he turns his head with a blink. "Why is the Metaversian so important to you?" 

The cat's eyes turn cautious, and Makoto sees both Takamaki and Sakamoto exchange looks behind him. It's like they're all expecting her to snap, of all people.

"Why?" 

"I'm trying to understand," Makoto tries for the most measured voice she can. She feels Johanna simmering under her skin at being constantly denied the information she wants and needs. "The Metaversian is important to you, and I want to know why." 

"He just is." The cat frowns, tail flicking against the table. "He's always been important. I... don't really know why yet." 

"That doesn't make sense." Makoto stares down at him incredulously. "You must have some kind of reason." 

Morgana's ears lower, eyes flicking over her face. "I haven't told you about before I met Ann and Ryuji, have I?" 

"No." Makoto folds her arms over the edge of the table, already mentally cataloging the cat's words. "You haven't." 

The cat closes his eyes, takes a breath, and nods. When he opens them again, he says, "I've been searching for the Trickster for as long as I can remember. For the longest time, that was the only thing that mattered. Find him, no matter what." 

His eyes drift. "I don't remember who I was before I started looking for him. I think... I think maybe something happened before I lost my memories. It has to be something related to Joker, because why else would I be so hyper-focused on him?

"It's like... the moment I first saw him, everything lit up in me, saying: 'it's him. This is who I've been looking for.'" Morgana sighs. "I'm sorry, I don't have an answer for you. The Trickster... Joker, he's important. It's not an opinion, it's a fact. And for some reason, he was really important to the old me, and I trust the old me." 

Makoto leans back, crossing her arms and raising one hand under her chin as she thinks. Amnesia. She knows Morgana is distorted in some way,  the others have already filled her in on that, but amnesia is new. 

Yes, the cat's logic does make sense. If the Metaversian was important to him before loosing his memories, then he would hyper fixate on the familiar feelings he gets. On the other hand, Joker doesn't have any recognition of Morgana. It's either possible that Morgana's distortion makes him unrecognizable to Joker, or, perhaps, the Metaversian and Morgana have never actually met before. 

If Morgana had heard about the Metaversian, or learned about him somehow, just before he lost his memories, then it's likely that that would have stuck to him. A 'last thought' to be exact. 

Still, Morgana's amnesia brings another thing into question. She already knew the cat was obsessed, leading his feelings around the Metaversian to be irrational, but his amnesia makes it unreliable. What if something horrid happened before he lost his memories, and he's latching onto Joker because of that? She's seen studies and cases before where amnesia patients believe their worst enemies to be their closest friends. 

If he can't remember how he knows the Metaversian, and why he's searching for the creature, then Makoto can't believe everything he says to be undeniable facts. 

"It don't really matter why," Sakamoto shrugs, offhandedly and uncaring. "Mona feels how he wants, and Ghost Buddy's cool." 

Morgana sends him a grateful look. 

"Then, let me ask one more question." Makoto drops her hand back into her arms. "What does the word 'Trickster' mean to you?" 

Morgana's face presses in consideration.

"Uh," Sakamoto's eyes flick between Takamaki and Morgana. "Ain't it just mean Joker?" 

"I kind of thought it was a title," Takamaki offers. "I mean, it feels like a title, but from how Joker reacted to it, maybe it's some sort of derogatory name?" 

"It's not derogatory." Morgana shakes his head, tail wishing against the table. "What it means to me, huh? It could be a title but... I think I agree more with Ryuji. It is Joker, and it's different from something he could be or something that could be taken away, like a title would be. It just... it is him. In the same way we're human, a Trickster is him." 

It's not comforting in the way Morgana means it. It indicates that Joker embodies everything from her research. If it's not something that can be taken away then, despite the Metaversian not aligning with even half of what mythology and folklore dictates, that's who and what he really is. 

Something that can tear down the very world and rewrite it based on their own beliefs. Something that turns the world itself. 

Makoto really doesn't like these connotations.  

The lunch bell chimes, and Sakamoto startles before pushing himself out of his chair. His face contorts in a displeased look, "Man, can't school be over yet?" 

"Ah, Ryuji!" Takamaki calls before the blond can leave. He turns on his heel. "Take Morgana with you for afternoon classes." 

"Huh?" Morgana swerves around. "Why?" 

"Uh yeah. What he said." 

"C'mon please?" 

Morgana squints, stares, then turns to Sakamoto. He demands, "Open your bag." 

"Man," Sakamoto whines, allowing the cat to hop in before turning on his heel and leaving the student council room. Instead of getting up, Takamaki stays seated. 

Makoto can pick up when someone wants to say something, especially after that someone has clearly orchestrated a private setting. "Yes?" 

"That obvious, huh?" Takamaki turns on her chair, plucking her phone from the table and depositing it into her pocket. "I wanted to talk a little bit, and you can write passes, right?" 

"It can't wait until after school?" Makoto asks. She doesn't need to confirm the underclassman's question when her words are affirmation in themselves. "We'd miss part of the lessons." 

"It kind of does, yeah." She shifts uncomfortably before shaking her head. "Hear me out, okay?" 

Makoto gestures for her to continue. 

"I get that knowing things is important to you. That's because of your innate persona ability, right?" Takamaki tilts her head. "Is it like, if you get a question in your head, you just have to know the answer to it?" 

Makoto already doesn't like where this is going. Cautiously, she says, "Partially. In a way, it's like satiating curiosity. In another, it's like piecing a multi-layered puzzle together." 

"Geez, I could never." Takamaki sighs, shaking her head in disbelief. "How do you deal with that all the time? Your mind just whirling constantly? I'm getting a headache just thinking about it." 

"It's not normally a problem." Makoto eyes the blonde. "It only is when someone actively and continuously avoids answering questions or purposely gives false information." 

"Right, right." Takamaki shifts, biting her lip. Hesitantly, she glances up. "Like Joker, right?" 

"Exactly like Joker." Makoto has to physically stop herself from the words coming out in a hiss. Takamaki shifts again, and Makoto can see the words trying to form in her head like machines out of tune. "This is about Joker, isn't it?"

Takamaki breathes a sigh of relief. "Yeah, it is. I really don't like stirring the pot, but I think I need to say it." 

Makoto's eyes narrow.

"I get it's your persona's innate skill, but whenever you don't get answers to the questions you want, you hyper fixate really hard." Takamaki leans forward, placing her arms on the table. Her face is still cautious, but it's also firm. "Joker picks up on that, you know? Ryuji and Yusuke joke about it, but they are right when they say that Joker's a little feral and cat-like. If he doesn't feel comfortable, he'll do what he can to make himself feel safe or in-control again. Last year, Ryuji did that a lot, too, by lashing out."

Takamaki wrings her hands over the table. "Joker doesn't like being pressed, and you do it a lot, so he's kind of turning it back on you. Like a really convoluted game of tennis, or something." 

Makoto knows very well how irritating the Metaversian makes himself. "And?" 

"It's just... could you ease up?" Makoto must have made some expression under Johanna's simmering, because Takamaki waves her hands in front of her face. "I'm not trying to make you the bad guy, I promise. It's just, you weren't with us from the start, and you haven't seen how much Morgana's done to get to this point. You haven't seen how far Joker's come, either. I'm sure that if you were able to calm down a little, Joker would too. It would take a little time, but I'm sure he'd feel more comfortable answering some of your questions if he doesn't feel like you're an enemy." 

How can she ease up on something that's meant to shift the world order? He could throw the entire world into chaos, and none of them would even care. 

He's not even human. She can't expect to him to act civil and human when he's not.

"I can calm down when he calms down." Takamaki frowns, and even to her own ears the words sound childish. Makoto presses her eyes shut and pinches the bridge of her nose, trying to force herself to ease up, as the fire-user suggested. "I apologize," she grits out. "He irritates me," she can't help but say. 

"I get it," Takamaki nods. "We all have our own feelings, and we can't force anyone to feel otherwise. Well—" her face twists sheepishly, "—Madarame and Kamoshida notwithstanding." 

"I understand." Makoto forces a nod. "I will not promise anything," at Takamaki's downtrodden frown, she says, "but I will try to, at least, keep it to myself." 

"Okay. Okay! That would be great." Takamaki deflates in blatant relief, raising a hand to her chest. "It really would mean a lot to Morgana, too. He was really stressed about getting close to Joker back when he first met him because of his time limit, so anything for him not to be pulling his own fur out is a blessing." 

Takamaki rises from her chair as Makoto freezes, the words turning over in her skull. 

"Time limit?" 

Takamaki pauses, tilting her head with a confused look. 

"You said Morgana has a time limit," she repeats. 

The blonde blinks, clearly having to think back on what she just said. "Oh!" Her blue eyes light with realization. "Back when we were dealing with Kamoshida's palace, Morgana said he was on an unknown time limit." She tilts her head, eyes staring unfocused at the wall as she ponders. "But that was to find Joker, which he has, so we don't need to worry about that anymore."  

Makoto hums, her narrowed eyes pinned to the table. She can't figure out a reason why them simply meeting would require a timeframe. 

"Well, thanks for hearing me out. And for being open to it." Takamaki picks up her bookbag and slings it over her shoulder. "I should get back to class now. I'll tell Kawakami-sensei I was with you?" 

"Yes, I'll confirm it with her later." 

"Mm," Takamaki nods. "I'll see you after school." 

June 15, 2016. Afternoon.

Unlike what Skull had said earlier, they don't get to figure out what he did with Joker. This fact is because the platform is completely devoid of the winged Metaversian. 

"Um," Panther hesitantly looks around, the confusion very clear on her face. "That's... where's Joker?" 

Queen sees Skull's pleased expression and she's already starting to feel a familiar irritation welling up. "Skull." The blond's expectant eyes turn to her. "When you said you fixed Joker's time problem, do you mean you encouraged him to come late?" 

"What? Nooo," Skull averts his eyes, a common sign of guilt. Queen narrows her eyes. She can't believe this. They're on a time limit, not frolicking in a playground. 

If she didn't already know that this group took down two major persons, then she would have accused them of not taking this seriously. 

Is this really how the Phantom Thieves have been running up until now? Just messing around purely for the sake of that contradiction of a Metaversian? No, she can see it. They're all bending over backwards for Mona, and gaining attachments in the process. 

Over the past week, her impression of the creature hasn't had much of a change. Her only new mental notes are for the cunning and unpredictable traits of a Trickster. His way of making them walk right into a deal via Mona, and then twisting it around to his own benefit points to cunning. 

In addition, while the Metaversian is still highly predictable (frankly, it's getting ridiculous how easy it is to tell how the creature would act. She could write an algorithm at this point), the only Trickster-like thing about him is his fighting style, which is about as unpredictable as it gets. 

Despite having high-powered curse skills, he doesn't use them. Instead, he uses weaker abilities and tools like his dagger and shuriken, along with his own body. He uses his wings and heels like an acrobat, and frankly it's ridiculous how he hasn't hurt himself yet with his dramatics. 

Yet overall, he still shows barely any hint of what mythology describes a Trickster to be — what Mona has all but said he should be — and it makes her think that maybe he's putting on some kind of farce when he's with them. 

Queen looks up the moment she sees Mona's ears perk out of the corner of her eye. Which means she's also one of the first to witness Joker landing down the platform, wings vibrating and with the same pleased look that Skull has. 

Unbelievable. 

"Ah, you're here!"

"Hey, Ghost Buddy!"

"Hey." Joker flashes a smirk at them, like he can tell that he just pissed her off and is flaunting it. He raises his right hand, and Queen catches something glinting near his glove. "I figured I should make you all wait this time." 

Queen's eyes narrow on the odd light, and it only takes a moment for her to parse out what it is.

A watch. Of course, it's a logical conclusion for telling time and quick and easy to retrieve. Queen would have considered it earlier, had she thought that it would even work in the Metaverse.

"Oh! A watch, I see!" Fox nods his head, like the sight pleased him. 

Panther tilts her head, leaning over to look at it closer. "Is it helpful?" 

"Very!" Joker chirps, glowing eyes sliding to Skull.

"Hey, hey, show 'em the knife wings!" Skull excitedly calls, and the Metaversian steps away from Panther and shuffles his wings. The feathers rustle before they all take on an oddly sharp glint. A moment later, and the Metaversian spreads his wings, and Queen can clearly see how each feather has shifted into a blade. 

Queen narrows her eyes. It's reminiscent of a shadow changing forms. 

"You actually have knife wings," Panther squeaks in a strangled voice, warily eyeing said knife-wings. Skull cackles at the reaction. 

Fox's face twists. "Those aren't knives."

"Yeah, okay," the Metaversian says, then pauses and his face twists, too. "I'm not calling them dagger-wings, that just sounds aesthetically wrong."

Skull frowns at Fox, "Dagger-wings sounds too fancy." 

Fox heaves a long-suffering sigh. 

Queen pinches the bridge of her nose. "Can we just get this over with?" 

Joker hums absentmindedly — that same tune as always, what is his obsession with that song? — and shakes out his wings. They give a few clinks before the blades settle back into smooth feathers.

"Give Nix a second." He peers at the stairwell and, just like he implied, the fairy ducks into the subway. Are they somehow connected like Mona and Joker? How is it that they always seem to be on the same page?

Nix settles on Joker's hood. 

"Alright, we can go." 

"Hey, wait, hold on." Panther makes an aborted motion to tug at the Metaversian's sleeve. Joker stops with a quick glance at Panther's retreating hand. He faintly tilts his head. The girl takes a breath. "Okay. Before we go down, I'm going to make a point of something. Don't interrupt me, and don't see any of this as some kind of intelligence slight, okay?" 

Joker warily narrows his eyes, a complete contrast to Nix's curious look. "Do you have to?" 

Panther stares back sternly. "Yes." 

"Fine." The Metaversian crosses his arms and waits expectantly. 

"None of you say anything either," Panther points a finger at each of them, and Queen sees the Skull raise his hands placatingly, along with Fox and Mona's nod. She turns back to Joker after nodding. "Okay. I want everyone here to keep in mind that we're from different worlds. Things that are common knowledge for us may be completely new to you, and the same goes the other way around. Things that are common knowledge for you may make absolutely no sense to us.

"That being said," Panther huffs. "We are not doing this 'wait until the worst moment' and 'suffering in silence' shit anymore. Or at the very least, I'm not. I am not going to just sit back and wait for another Reaper situation to happen, because that terrified the hell out of me. So when you don't know something, or if something from our world doesn't translate to yours — like with time — then I want you to voice it so there's no confusion and no avoiding silent treatment afterwards." 

Panther goes silent, waiting expectantly for the Metaversian to say something. He only stares back. 

After a moment, Panther says, "You can talk now." Immediately, she cuts of Skull's aborted noise with a pointed finger and a "not you." 

The Metaversian averts his eyes with a irritated sigh. "Is this something you want added to our deal?" 

"No." Queen stares incredulously at Panther's firm answer. She can't believe this, if that was added to the deal, then they could at least get some information out of him. She also can't believe that Joker looks like he feels the same as her, incredulous eyes turning back to Panther. 

Panther takes both looks in, completely unwavering. "But I would really like it if you did this. At least, for both of our peace of minds." 

"You just...want me to ask questions?" 

"I want you to say when you're confused about something," Panther says instead, pauses, then: "or if there's something that you think we should know."

Joker frowns, perplexed eyes roaming over her.

"Please?" 

The Metaversian's wings ruffle as he tugs one hand at the edge of his hood. "I will... consider it." 

Still, even without blatant confirmation, Panther's eyes brighten. She nods. "Okay." 

Their time training is the same as always. They didn't have any encounters with massively strong shadows and they didn't almost get caught by the Reaper again. 

By the time they step onto their second rest stop and due for a break, Panther quickly turns on her heel and jogs back up the escalators in hopes of catching Joker before he vanishes to whatever he does to get to another floor. She's immediately hit with disappointment to see an empty tunnel. 

Panther ducks back into the rest stop, passes the sitting pavilion with a quick "I'm grabbing Joker!" before disappearing through the downward escalators. 

She plops down on the platform and waits. Just like always, it doesn't take too long for the boy to come into view, and Panther perks up and waves him over when she sees him. 

"We're taking a break in the rest stop!" Panther says once Joker drops onto the platform next to her. She points over her shoulder at the escalator path. "Do you want to come up again?" 

He hesitantly looks over at the fairy hovering next to his shoulder. Nix gives a very exaggerated cheer, zipping over to sit on one of the wall tendrils. "I've been wanting to do my nails for ages." She waves one of her hands at them. "Shoo." 

Well. That's one way to state an opinion. 

Joker huffs. "I guess I'm joining you all." 

Panther silently cheers, and the two of them go about reenacting Mona's instructions from the other day (she doesn't think either of them would forget their near-Reaper encounter anytime soon). 

When they're halfway up the escalators, Joker says, "I definitely like going up better." 

Yeah. That's very clear when she can see how at ease he looks with one gloved hand gliding up the handrail as he toes his heels along the edges of each step. Honestly, she might not even need to guide him by his other hand, he looks like he's got this. 

Well, aside from his wings. He's nearly knocked the wall twice. 

"Let's use the upward escalators from now on, then," Panther agrees, tugging him up the last step and fully into the rest stop. "Safe!" 

Joker glowing eyes blink open and, just like last time, his eyes roam over the area. "They always look the same, huh?" 

Panther brightens. He's already asking questions! "Pretty much," she agrees cheerily. Joker's eyes dart cautiously to her. 

"Ghost Buddy!" Aaand Joker's attention is immediately caught again. He's staring at Skull from over Panther's shoulder. "C'mon, we got snacks!" 

Panther sees Joker's face twist, and she blinks at the near blatant wince before it smoothes out. "Nah, I'm good." 

Skull groans. "Dude, you're no fun." 

"How could you turn down snacks?" Fox questions, flabbergasted. He nearly drops a chip in his shock. 

Joker snorts, moving to step around her, and Panther watches as he wanders over to the tracks. His hands tucked into his pockets as he curiously peers down the dark tunnel. 

"Careful!" Mona calls, ears perked up and alert. "We haven't had a train come down before, but it's still probably not a good idea to get too close!" 

Joker instantly rears back. "Yep, yeah. Good call." He spins around on his heels, opens his wings, and darts up to the top of the sitting pavilion. 

"Dude," Skull wilts, head jerking back to stare upward.

"It's comfy," Joker defends, like it's a valid reason for always going to the highest areas he can reach. 

Skull groans and Panther eases herself down next to Fox. Her eyes slide to Queen, but the upperclassman hasn't said a word. She normally would too, and Panther feels grateful that she seems to be taking Panther's words to heart. 

Fox whips out his sketchbook as soon as he finishes his bag of chips and starts sketching. Panther finds herself a little lost in it. He really is an amazing artist. Even with the early and nonsensical lines, they still somehow shift into a masterpiece the more he plays with them. 

They don't stay in the rest stop for long. Maybe another fifteen minutes or so, just enough to rest their legs and minds, and to get a little snack break in. 

When Mona calls for them to start up again, and Joker drops down from the pavilion, Skull points a finger at him. 

Joker stares at it uncomprehendingly. 

"I wanna deal!" 

Panther can't help the minute wince that crosses her face. She really, really doesn't like the idea of these deals. 

In contrast, Joker blinks at Skull. "Did you really wait until I came down to ask that?" 

"Well, yeah." 

"Okay?" Joker tilts his head and waits. When Skull doesn't say anything, Joker huffs. "You know, that's normally the time when you say what you want the deal to be." 

"Oh! Right! I forgot!" Skull rubs the back of his head sheepishly. Joker's face twists, like that was the most unbelievable thing he could have said. "I wanna bring you more stuff!" 

Joker waits. Stares. Keeps waiting. "...And?" 

Skull shrugs. 

"...What do you want?" 

"Nothin'." 

Joker raises his hand and pinches just over his where his glowing eyes sit. It's just like Queen when she's exasperated, pinching at the bridge of her nose and putting pressure on her temple. "That's not how deals work." He drawls before muttering, "It's such a simple concept, what's so confusing about it?"

"But I don't want anything," Skull wilts.

Joker sighs and, uncompromisingly, states: "No deal." 

"But whyyyy?" 

"Because a deal is equal exchange." He says this like he's explaining to a child. Though, to be fair, Skull looks like a pouting kid right now. 

"Oh!" Fox watches as Skull and Joker argue back and forth on the logistics of a deal. He ponders, "Does that mean we could make a deal if he deems it an equal agreement?" 

Why is everyone so set on this deal concept? It's like they're seeing a burning building and deciding to jump into it. Panther doesn't get why the analogy fits, but she's sure it does.

"Or, perhaps not." 

Panther blinks and turns her head. Fox is staring right at her, a considering look plastered on his face. "What?" 

"You don't like the deals," Fox observes. "I remember you were against the first two as well, despite agreeing to them for Mona." 

"I don't know," Panther mumbles, looking back to the squabble to see Joker fling his hands in the air like a frustrated kid. "They just... don't feel right." 

Fox hums. Then he also turns his head to the two boys as Mona tries to mediate and Queen watches on with the same attentive look as ever. 

"I've always known you to have good instincts," Fox speaks. "You've always had a good sense of the world around you. If you feel so strongly about this, then perhaps I should avoid this deal making as well." 

"I'm not trying to force you into not doing something," Panther says hesitantly. Mona felt strongly about the deals as well, and he's always known what to do, both in the Metaverse and with Joker. 

"No," Fox shakes his head as Skull wilts further, clearly having just been denied his attempt at a deal again. "I trust your judgement." 

(Skull continues to badger Joker about making a deal throughout the rest of the Metaverse trip. It gets to the point where Mona has to physically separate them to different teams just to give Joker a moment of a peace.) 

(When they leave Mementos that day, with Yusuke's words in her head, Ann feels more relieved than she has in a long time.)

(It doesn't last for long, because Ryuji does manage to strong-arm a deal the very next day.)

June 16, 2016. Afternoon. 

Rest stops are meant for resting. Studying is not resting. Homework isn't resting either. 

Skull huffs as he vigorously erases his past ten minutes of work. Why did they just have to get the student council president on their team? Skull could do without being bullied into doing work during his rest time. 

"By the time you get home you're not going to want to do it," she had said. He hates that she's right. "So just get it done now so you don't have to deal with later."

But come on! No one else is doing work! 

Fox is hunched over in the sitting pavilion, sketching. Mona's perched on the back of his seat, watching the artist work. On top of the pavilion, Ghost Buddy's resting like a normal person — not-person? Ah, whatever — would be. And— and Queen's not even studying! Miss President's across the way with Panther because Panther had stood up and declared, "Queen, teach me aikido!" and then Queen did.

He's not mad. Skull huffs. It's the damn calculus problem that's making him cranky. Why does he even gotta know calculus? He's never gonna use it. 

Mildly frustrated, Skull tries the problem again. 

When he's two lines in, a black mass drops next to him and Skull nearly shrieks. Joker blinks back.

"Holy shit, dude." This guy— both him and Mona need to learn to make sound when they move! 

"Sorry." He don't look sorry. Skull knows an amused face when he sees one. Joker settles close, wings curling comfortably behind him as he turns curious red eyes to Skull's horribly calculated calculus.

Well.

If Ghost Buddy wants to watch him fail at stupid human math then fine. It probably looks like scribbles to him or something. 

Skull writes out a mess of numbers, muttering, "Watch as I disappoint my ancestors." Aside from the short, quiet laugh, Joker doesn't say anything. He just sits there, watching. 

Skull finally gets the second question — he hopes. If x isn't approaching 5, he's going to throw the paper into the next Agi spell — and moves to the third question. 

A minute later Joker makes an odd sound that has Skull glancing over at him. Ghost Buddy's lips are twisted down and he's got confused eyes pinned on the paper. 

"Um," Joker hesitantly says after noticing Skull looking at him. "I... don't think that's the right derivative?" 

"Huh?" Skull looks down, squinting at what he just wrote. No. Nope that looks right. It's the really annoying one with the square root and absolute value in it. He'd remember that one. "No?" 

Joker squints back. "But, um, isn't csc supposed to be negative?" 

Skull's eyes dart between the paper and Joker. "A-ain't that sec?" 

Ghost Buddy shakes his head slowly. "If it starts with 'c' it's negative." 

What. What? Since when was that a rule? 

"QUEEN!" Skull whirls to the girls. Ghost Buddy jolts, and Queen freezes from where she's directing Panther to move her arms. Both girls look over. "Is the csc derivative negative!?" 

Queen blinks. "Yes?" 

Skull gaps, whirls to Joker then back to Queen. "Are all the 'c' derivatives negative!?" 

The council president looks even more confused. "If you're talking about trigonometric functions then yes. Cosine, cotangent, and cosecant derivatives are all negative." 

"What the hell?" Skull spins back to Joker. "Since when was that a rule?" 

"It's... not." Ghost Buddy smiles sheepishly, wings rustling. "I used it as a memory tactic." 

Skull is in pain. Ghost Buddy isn't even human and he can do math better than Skull. He groans, dropping his head onto his paper with a thump and whines, "Why d'you even know calc?" 

Joker shuffles. "I don't." Skull immediately looks up with narrow eyes and waves an offending hand at his homework. Ghost Buddy snorts. "I know Precalculus, and that question is like... sixty three percent precalc." 

Panther mutters, "Why does he know precalc?" 

An idea strikes Skull. He drops his papers and faces Joker, who immediately looks wary. 

"Let's make a deal!" 

Ghost Buddy squints at him. "You already tried this yesterday. Repeatedly." 

"Aw, c'mon. Hear me out before you say no." Skull groans, throwing his arms up. Ghost Buddy tracks the movement before sighing. Skull takes this as the chance it is. He points to himself. "I bring you things." Then points to Joker. "You teach me." 

He can hear Mona's scandalized gasp from across the rest stop. He does not flip the cat off no matter how much he wants to. Yes, he did just ask to study. Lay off. 

Ghost Buddy looks baffled. "I just said that I don't know calculus." 

"But you know precalc," Skull counters.

"Which is not calculus." 

"But you just said calculus is mostly precalculus." 

"No, I didn't. I said that about the problem. Calc and precalc are two entirely different subjects!" 

"But you just solved a calculus problem!" 

"What the hell is happening right now?" Ghost Buddy furiously shakes his head, face twisted in bewilderment. Internally, Skull cheers. Shiho always said he'd drive someone to confused insanity one day.

"We're making a deal!" 

"We—" Joker sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose as his eyes blink off. "You're not going to stop until I say yes, are you?" 

"Nope!" Skull agrees cheerfully. 

"Just to be completely clear," Ghost Buddy drops his hand. "I will not be able to teach you subjects that I don't know, and you want this deal despite that?" 

Skull bobs his head vigorously. "Yes!"

"Fine, the deal is struck. Are you happy now?" 

"Yes!" Skull throws his arms up. He did it! Now he can legally give Ghost Buddy things without getting refused! This is the best day ever!

"I feel tricked," Ghost Buddy mutters, giving him a withering look as Skull cackles. 

Skull's wide grin immediately turns into a yelp as Ghost Buddy's wing sends him tumbling over.

(Neither of them notice Queen's curious look as she watches them. Nor do they see Panther's conflicted expression.) 

When they're about the leave Mementos for the day, Skull immediately jumps to make use of their new deal. "What do you want tomorrow?" Skull shouts, and Ghost Buddy's wings flare as his head jolts towards Skull. 

He blinks dumbfounded at Skull before muttering, "It's like you're on steroids." 

"It can be anything!" Skull pushes. If Joker couldn't think of anything then Skull's sure he could find something that the other might like. But he'd rather bring something that he knows Ghost Buddy would want. 

Ghost Buddy shuffles and Nix shoots him a narrow-eyed look that reminds Skull of his mum's foreboding warning look of don't you dare do it.

Joker shakes his head, and the little fairy's face immediately contorts in irritation. "I can't think of anything." 

"Uh huh," Nix drawls before Joker can even finish. Ghost Buddy shoots a very wary look at her. "Little Raven, take the offer. Or would you rather I say it? Because I totally will." 

"Please, dude? I really will get it. Promise!" Skull presses hopefully. 

"Then..." Ghost Buddy shifts, his wings curling behind him as he fiddles with his hood. "Have you been to Yongen-Jaya?" 

Who to the where now? Skull looks at the others, and all of them got their thinking faces on too. 

"Could you describe it?" Fox requests, tilting his head. "I feel the name is familiar, but I am not entirely sure." 

Ghost Buddy frowns. "I don't know what it looks like in your world though." 

"That's entirely alright," Fox assures. Ghost Buddy's wings rustle again, before he hums and closes his glowing eyes. 

"It's kind of... backstreets? Everything is close together. There are a few small shops but it's mostly a residential town." Joker glances over to Fox, slowly tilting his head. "Was that okay?"  

Fox hums, hand curling at his chin. "Backstreets... residential... small... oh!" The artists' eyes light up. "Yes! I have gone there once before, the atmosphere is simply divine! It's subway line is also near where I tend to people-watch." 

"...You mean like where you stalked Panther?" Mona warily stares at him. 

"I have never stalked Panther!" Fox denies what he definitely did do with a dismissive hand and upturned head. "But that is where I asked Panther to be my muse." 

"Dark memories..." Panther mutters. "There was almost a slaughter that day."  

"Can we please stay on topic for once?" Queen groans. "What about Yongen?" 

"C-can we stay off topic?" Joker's voice has Skull muffling laughter. He sounds so baffled, it's hilarious. Ghost Buddy's eyes bounce between all of them. "What happened?" 

Fox nods resolutely. "I was enjoying a lovely day people watching when I saw Panther's silhouette amongst the crowd and I just knew she was the one." 

"So, he approached us—" 

"I did not." Fox denies, cutting Mona off. "I attempted to, but I had lost Panther. It was the worst four days of my life as I waited at Shibuya's station for her to return." 

"Oh my god," Panther's mouth drops open. "That's so creepy. You're lucky we're friends now." 

Fox blinks at her, completely oblivious. "I do not understand what you mean." 

Mona chimes in, "—And then he approached us." 

"Oh, yes. I did." Fox nods. "I saw Panther again and knew it must have been fate! She was with Skull and Mona, so I took their train and followed them out of the subway and asked her to be my muse! Horribly, she had refused, but I did not let that weigh on my spirits, so I invited her to one of Madarame's exhibits!" 

Panther and Skull exchange looks, silently agreeing on the same thing: someone else should have told this story, Fox is definitely coming off as the psychopathic stalker that they first thought he was.

Queen looks extremely unsettled. 

"We were investigating Madarame so we did go to the exhibit!" Panther cuts in, drawing all the attention to her as she nearly yells it. "Then we went to where Fox used to live to get more info and eventually he wound up joining the team. End of story! Wow! We can move on now!"

Fox pouts, looking like Panther did him the worst disservice known to man. "That was an incredibly lackluster way to tell that tale."

Panther shrugs, and does not elaborate that she jumped in to preserve his public image in the minuscule bit he has left. 

Joker stares at them, mouth open. "And you're... all friends now?"

"Yep!" Skull throws an arm over Fox, and the boy stumbles under the unexpected weight. "Best friends!"

"Huh." Ghost Buddy blinks. "Your friend group is wild." 

"That's such an underrated statement," Panther snorts, shaking her head with a flurry of blonde pigtails. "Sooo, what about Yongen?" 

"Ah, right." Joker snaps back to attention, Nix kicking her feet from his shoulder. "There's a... store? Café? Yeah, café. It's called Leblanc. So, um, I guess coffee from there?" 

Skull stares. He's sure the others are staring too. Ghost Buddy could ask for anything, and he's asking for coffee? How did he even know about that? Skull's pretty sure you can't even make coffee in the Metaverse. Doesn't it need, like, machinery or something? 

Nix groans over Joker's awkward shuffling. "What he means to say is: he very much wants the coffee." 

The fairy very narrowly avoids getting knocked off Joker's shoulder when she ducks under and away from his wing swipe. 

She points a finger at the boy's face. "Don't you swipe at me, Mister. I know where you live." 

"That's not even a threat; we live in the same place," Ghost Buddy grumbles back. "What are you going to do? Nuke your own home?" 

Nix clicks her tongue, crossing her arms pointedly. In return, Ghost Buddy rolls his glowing eyes. 

"Coffee," Queen repeats slowly, eyes furrowed pensively. Joker's eyes flick to her. She takes a breath, exhales, and, "I'm not even going to ask. I'm not sure if you're aware, but 'coffee' is an umbrella term. Is there a particular blend or type you want?" 

Joker watches her cautiously before giving a tentative head shake. "Surprise me." 

"Is that all you want?" Panther asks hesitantly. "This feels like too little." 

"Yes," Resolutely, Joker nods his head. "That's really all I want." 

Well, Skull takes in the hesitantly hopeful look in their friend's eyes. If Ghost Buddy wants weird bitter-tasting bean juice then Skull's sure as hell going to get it for him.

June 16, 2016. Evening. 

Shiho has had a very long, very aggravating day. Her knee has been wearing on her more and more and when she made one mistake earlier with placing one of her crutches into the slightest hint of unstable land, it sent both her and her things tumbling to the ground. Then there was a very irritating woman at the gym's front desk that just kept badgering Shiho on why she was there when she didn't even have working legs. She was picking up her damn membership card, not that the woman had any right to know. She couldn't even talk with the Kurusu's today, because they were both busy with work and hadn't come home yet.

And she's been getting increasingly annoyed with the demon book's persistent silence over the past few days. 

So when Shiho gets back from her very, very long day and sees that there's another pitch black rectangle hieroglyphic thing in the velvet book —  her only indication that the little demon book is still alive — she mentally snaps.

She doesn't get it. She expresses even the slightest bit of concern over injury, and the creature vanishes like it had never existed in the first place. No feelings, no words, she doesn't even feel it's eyes on her anymore when she's nearby.

Morbidly, Shiho wonders if her parents had watched some kind of soap opera in the living room and the creature somehow heard it from her room and is now perfectly demonstrating how to ghost someone. 

If that's what it's doing, Shiho really wants to slap them. Like, not hard, just throw a pillow at them or something — because this is not a valid time to ghost someone. It's not like they broke up or something, the damn thing got shot.

"Hey." Shiho knocks her knuckles against her desk, right next to the book. It doesn't say a thing, so she raps her knuckles louder and hopes the damn thing can feel the reverberations through the wood. "Hey," she hisses again. "Knock, knock. Ring, ring. Delivery. Email. Hello Felicia, you have another demonic rectangle. Do you want me to keep doing this? I can and will do this all day—" 

The creature hisses at her.

Shiho doesn't fall back at the abruptness like she did the first time the thing decided to stab it's way into her head. No. This time she glowers back down at it. 

"Oh, hello," she says cheerily. "Thank you ever so much for kindly telling me you're alive. That's so sweet of you."

The creature merely glares at her with the same irritation Shiho feels. Honestly, she's not sure which one of them is more annoyed at present. 

"Lovely to finally have your attention." Shiho claps her hands in the same way a teacher would to get their students attention. "Glad to see you haven't bleed out in the three days you've ignored me for." She narrows her eyes further, as if trying to see the thing's face in the black and white pages of the magic book. "Do you have anything you'd like to say to me?" 

The thing very clearly projects turning it's head away from her. 

"Fine then. If you would so much rather talk with someone who shot you than me, then I don't want to talk to you, either." 

Shiho very pointedly shuts the book on whatever reply the little bastard might have said. She yanks her sketchbook out of her bag and spends the rest of the night on her floor rug and jabbing her pencil into the sketchbook. 

There isn't a single cohesive drawling in the scribbles when the sun rises. And when she slides into her desk in the morning to boot up her computer for her school work, the book is still deadly silent. 

June 17, 2016. Afternoon.

After missing her yesterday, Yuuki worked especially hard to duck out of class early today to catch Akemi before she vanishes from school grounds again. 

When the girl sees him, she pauses, narrows her eyes, then promptly points upward, turns on her heel, and makes for the stairwell. 

Oh! He didn't even need to say anything! Yuuki promptly follows her as she veers towards the newspaper's clubroom. Then again, Yuuki's never waited for her outside of her classroom before so that was probably all she needed to know. 

They duck into the clubroom. 

The girl spins around, "What happened? Are you okay?" 

"I-I'm fine!" Yuuki quickly waves his hands in front of his face. "Nothings wrong! It's just that you didn't come to the clubroom yesterday, and I thought you might not today either so..." 

"Geez, Mishima." Akemi exhales, dropping her book bag on the table and flopping back into a chair. "You never seek me out. I thought something serious happened." She stops. "Did something serious happen?"

Yuuki thinks about two nights ago. He thinks about how familiar that static seemed, how something was just niggling in his brain that he should look further into it. If he mentioned that, he's sure Akemi would say that her journalist brain is infecting him. 

(He's been thinking about those videos nonstop.)

"I don't know," Yuuki answers honestly, slowly slipping into the seat across from Akemi. She knocks her bag to the side so that it's not between them. "I don't know how to explain it, I just — I feel like I need to look into something but I don't know how to go about it, and then I thought you might know..." 

Akemi's eyes gleam. "Well, considering my current position with the mafia case, I have time." She leans forward, propping her elbows on the table. "But I'd always make time for my kōhai. What do you need?" 

It's not a no, but Yuuki never thought it would be. He leans forward in his chair too. "Do you have any way to get the school's security footage?" 

Akemi blinks, once, twice. Then hums, placing a hand under her chin as she thinks. "It depends on what camera you're targeting, if there's one or multiple, and how much of it you need." 

"April thirtieth," Yuuki answers quickly. "I'd only need the morning of the thirtieth, and the cameras that cover the front billboard."

Akemi's eyes sharpen as they dart back to him. "The thirtieth? That was the day those calling cards were sent, right? No one was able to find out anything about the Phantom Thieves on them, so I'm assuming that's not why you want them?"

He nods. "Right. I'm looking into something else. And if what I'm looking for shows up on this footage too..." Yuuki doesn't know what that would mean. There has to be something with that odd static, and he knows that if he has the right materials, he can figure it out. 

Akemi closes her eyes, leaning back against her chair. "April thirtieth. Calling card. Cameras. Hm." She taps her nails on the edge of the table in a steady rhythm. Then, she opens her sharp eyes and pin them on Yuuki. "Okay. I think I can do that. Do you have a time you need them by?"

Immediately, Yuuki perks up. "N-no, but..." He doesn't think he can think about anything else. It's like the image of the static, that weird glitch, and whatever it did to Madarame dug a deep ditch in his head and plans to hibernate there. "The sooner the better?" 

"Got it." Akemi firmly nods her head. "I don't think I can start on it today. I'd have to cash in a deal with someone, but I need to figure out the best way to uphold my end first." 

"What? But—" Yuuki jolts. "—If it's a deal, then isn't that something you were trying to get something out of? I don't you to waste a favor because of this." 

It surprises him when Akemi snorts, waving off his concern with a dismissive hand. Akemi always holds her cards close to her chest, and wasting even a small one for this... 

"Don't worry about it," Akemi says, shaking her head. "I had to approach her soon anyway. I'd feel bad if I kept sitting on all the info I found without telling her anything." 

Yuuki doesn't ask who the 'her' is. He knows Akemi would never give up her sources without permission. 

"Okay, I've got you on my list." Akemi pushes her chair back, picking up her bag with one hand to sling it over her shoulder before looking back at him. "Anything else before I head out?" 

Yuuki shakes his head. "No. It was just that." 

"Okay, Coolio. I'll let you know the second I got them okay?" She points a finger at him. "Don't do anything reckless." 

Yuuki can't stop himself from snorting. "Don't you mean 'don't do anything I wouldn't do'?" 

She giggles as she pushes her chair in. "Of course not. I'm crazy. Don't ever do what I do." Before she ducks out of the room, Yuuki calls a quick Thank you! at her back. The girl waves him off with a smile before disappearing.

Yuuki sits back in his chair. 

He just has to wait now.

June 17, 2016. Afternoon.

When Ann and the others step off the train and into Yongen's town proper, Joker and Yusuke's small descriptions suddenly make perfect sense. It looks nothing like Shibuya's bustle, and there's barely more than ten people in sight. Aside from the small second-hand shop on the left and what's clearly a food store down the street. There are hardly any shops either. 

It's really just a small residential neighborhood. 

"Woah," Ryuji peers around, Morgana popping his head out to look with him. "It looks like where I live. Kinda." Ann looks around too and concedes that point. If Yongen had two less shops and a bit more apartments rather than houses, then it would look just like Ryuji's home streets.

"It looks like Leblanc's this way," Makoto leans over, raising one hand from her phone maps to point down a street to their right. 

"Oh! Let's go then!" 

They follow where Makoto leads, and Ann can't help looking around on the way. There's a little batting cages place next to the foods store. There's a little girl walking her dog, and a police officer standing around down the street. It looks mundane, but in a sweet way. 

But Ann does have a little mixed feelings about this being a place Joker frequents in his world. It's so nondescript and mundane that she’d think it would never fit the Metaverse creature, who is anything but ordinary. Yet, knowing him for the few days she has, he'd fit right in with the town's calm atmosphere. 

They stop in front of a storefront. It's nestled in a small alley, only standing out from it's bright red awning and window-like door. The small sign on the door says it's open.

"Sooo," Ryuji shuffles. "Do we just... go in?" 

"I'd assume so." Makoto answers, pocketing her phone. "I don't think they'd be friendly with pets, so Morgana should stay hidden."

"Not a pet," Morgana grumbles, but ducks back in Ryuji's bag anyway. 

Makoto pushes open the door, and Ann immediately loves the look of the cafe. It's old-fashioned and small, only three booths and a small bar. It feels extremely cozy, and it smells like coffee and spice. 

There's an old man behind the counter, greying hair styled back and a dark apron plastered over his pink shirt. "Welcome," the man says after a brief squint at them. "What can I get for you all?" 

"Uh," Ryuji looks at the café, the man, Ann and Makoto, and then the man again. Ann gets the hesitance immediately. This does not look like the type of business that would do takeout orders. 

"Pardon us," Makoto steps forward. "We were wondering if you were able to make a to-go order." 

The barista's eyes roam over them before he sighs. "As you can see, my business doesn't tend to get enough traffic to invest in travel containers. 'Fraid I can't help you three."  

"What? But..." Ryuji wilts, embodying the look of a kicked puppy. "What if we pay extra for it? Can we pay extra for it? Or is there some way to..." 

The man's lips tug downward, an odd look creeping over his face. 

Ann bites her lip. "Should we try somewhere else..?"

"But he wanted here." Ryuji vigorously shakes his head. Ann knows, and she feels at a loss too. Joker specifically asked for this café, but they can't force the owner to serve them when he's already said he can't. "He already can't get here himself, and I don't wanna let him down when I promised." 

Makoto frowns, a hand raising to her chin. "What if we went back to Shibuya and bought a travel mug? Would it be possible were we to use that?" 

"Now, hold on," The man calls, causing their frantic murmuring to halt. "What's this about your friend?" 

Ann and Ryuji exchange a quick look at each other while Makoto squints at the barista.

The man's eyes roam over them, and Ann's quick to notice how they're narrowed. "You said he couldn't come here himself?" Ann isn't sure why the man is now curious about their request after the earlier back and forth.

"That's right." Ryuji narrows his eyes back cautiously. "He can't go out so I've been tryin' to get him to tell me stuff he wanted." 

Makoto's eyes flick between them. She clears her throat. "He specifically mentioned your café's coffee as the first thing he wanted." She peers at the man curiously, and Ann immediately catches onto this being Makoto's prim-and-proper act. "We apologize, but that's the reason why we were trying to bargain with you." 

The man exhales with a very deep sigh. "Well why didn't you all start with that? What does he want?" 

"Pardon?" Makoto blinks. "I thought you were unable to..." 

Ryuji jumps forward, "Wait does that mean you'll do it?"

"Really?" Ann perks up. 

"Settle down," the man waves a hand, strolling down the bar and disappearing into the backroom. He's barely gone for a moment before he returns with a black and gray thermos. He places it onto the counter with a quiet click. "Again, I don't have travel containers, so this one of my personal possessions. I expect it to be returned after you all are done with it. With that said, what does he want?" 

Ann stares wide-eyed. This man was going to let them use his thermos in place of a to-go cup? Three teenagers he's never met before? 

"Uh," Ryuji shuffles tentatively. "Coffee?" 

Makoto sighs while Ann facepalms. The student president shakes her head, "Thank you for your generosity, we'll make sure to return it. To your question, he didn't have any preferences, and decided to leave it to our discretion. Is there a particular brew you would recommend?" 

The barista huffs. "I'll do the house blend." He turns without waiting for an answer, plucking beans from the shelves and setting to work on the siphons. 

Ann watches as he works the machine, meticulously pouring water over the beans. It definitely looks professional and routine, like the man has been doing this for a while. It sort of makes her wonder if the man's coffee is somehow so good that it's known in the Metaverse. 

It's also amazing the amount of trust this man has, lending something to teenagers of all people. 

The man pours the dark liquid into his thermos, carefully screwing the lid on the following moment. He places the bottle on the counter, and Ryuji bounds over, just short of leaping, to pay the man.

"Thank you!" Ryuji cheers, going as far as giving a quick bow to the man. "I'll make sure to return it! Promise!" 

The man waves them off in nonchalance. 

"Sir," Ann pauses at the door. "Thank you again. This will really mean a lot to our friend." 

"It's Sakura." The man huffs, waving a dismissive hand. "So long as he enjoys it." 

Ann gives him one last smile before she turns on her heel and leaves the café.

Chapter Text

June 17, 2016. Afternoon. 

Joker stares at the thermos tentatively after Skull passed it to the boy mere seconds after they arrived. He doesn't open the top and drink from it like they expect him to, he just holds it between his hands and stares like he's either contemplating or fighting an intense mental war.

"Uh," Skull blinks. "Dude, have you ever had coffee before?"

Joker pauses, his eyes moving from the thermos to Skull. He tilts his head like he doesn't quite get the question. "...Yes?"

Skull's eyes flick between Joker and the untouched thermos doubtfully. "It don't look like it, man."

Joker frowns and, in a moment of pure spite, tips the thermos back. He immediately jolts after tasting it, and stares down at it with what looks like awe in his glowing eyes. Nix immediately zeroes in on this like a bear to honey.

"Finally!" Nix cheers ecstatically. "I don't have to listen to your ridiculous pinning anymore!"

Joker pouts back. "Shut up."

Fox's eyes light up with a little gasp. "So this is the type of sustenance you like!"

"Leblanc is a really nice place!" Panther chimes in cheerily from her place next to Queen and Mona. "How did you hear about it? Is it also known in the Metaverse?"

Joker cradles the thermos between his gloves. A moment passes before he shakes his head. "My friend told me about it," he says tentatively. "In summary, she said 'all other coffee sucks.'" He pauses, then snorts. "In actuality, it was more like 'he is coffee god, and all others shall perish for tarnishing coffee's divine name.' She's a little eccentric."

Fox hums pensively. "Is this friend of yours the same one from our deal?"

Joker's eyes flick to Fox, roaming over his face. He must have seen what he wanted to, because the boy slowly nods. "Yeah. That's her."

"She sounds fun." Skull shrugs. '"Sides liking coffee an' all."

"Uh huh," Joker drawls, taking a sip from his coffee.

Having just realized what he said, Skull splutters in an attempt to backtrack. "But I don't got anything against coffee!"

"Uh huh."

"I-it's just it's really bitter! Not anythin' like - I dunno, soda?"

"Mhm."

"A-and it's like, made of beans?"

"You really like digging this grave deeper, huh?"

Skull wilts. "Man."

Nix snickers from Joker's shoulder at the exchange. Panther hooks her arm around Skull's elbow. "We've never met a friendly palace ruler before. What's she like?"

Joker hums and closes his eyes. His wings rustle behind him. "Young," he says finally. The statement causes each of the Phantoms to exchange curious looks. "Fun. A little chaotic. Immensely intelligent, when she wants to be."

"Oooh," Skull perks up. "Is she how you know about stuff from our world?"

Joker raises one shoulder in a half shrug.

Fox tilts his head. "Perhaps we'll be able to meet her one day?"

"Maybe," Joker blinks his eyes open. "If she wants to."

During their Mementos excursions, Mona occasionally switches the sub-teams up, today seems to be a rotating roulette day every two-or-so floors. The only apparent constant in the teams is how Fox is nearly always paired with Joker, mainly due to how Joker's defense is ridiculously low — even worse than a glass cannon like Panther — and Fox has ice shields to compensate for that.

Neither Joker nor Fox seem to have a problem with this. In fact, the artist appears delighted to be partnered with Joker, and Joker seems to get a kick out of Fox's outlandish statements and semi-eccentric demeanor.

(Once, Joker stares at Fox's sheathed sword and, very leveled, asks if he can try using it. To which, the ice-user readily passes the weapon into Joker's eager hands and excited eyes, only with the statement of: "So long as you call it a katana, and not a knife."

In the proceeding fight, Joker attempts to use the katana like one would use a rapier, failing miserably. Fox only steps in to cleave the shadow through with Goemon after Joker sends him a panicked look.

Immediately after said fight, Joker, with an utterly devastated look, says, "I can't stabby-stab with this."

Fox groans at the words before promptly taking the katana back.)

The most common team formation for Joker consists of him, Fox, and Panther. This is due to a multitude of reasons, the first being that Joker is just as comfortable around her as he is Fox, and the second being that Panther has typically been paired with Fox since Madarame's palace, due to her ability to boost his shields, and because of her low defense. Those are Mona's reasons for making that the typical party.

This is also the team that finds out Joker is weak to ice.

Of course, it would figure that the two people who need shields and defense the most are both the ones who are weak to their only shielder: an ice-user.

(This incident occurs when a shadow gets a little too close to Joker, the boy being too occupied jabbing his dagger through a shadow's eye before he notices the approacher. In a quick fit of panic, Joker jolts back and away, and Fox surges forward to summon an ice barrier between the two.

The ice explodes into view, a little too close to Joker's feathers, and the wings shudder and seize as the boy stumbles and trips, tumbling to the ground. His body is trembling with shivers.

Panther, having been in the same situation before — though, not due to her teammate — drops to the ground next to Joker's folded form and summons Carmen. The persona is quick to hold a flaming hand near Joker's wing, and the boy doesn't flinch away it, actually moving his wing closer to the embers for them to burn off the light layer of frost on his feathers.

"Are you alright!?" Fox frantically questions in a panic as he disposes of the last shadow.

Panther, on the other hand, hysterically says, "This! This is something we should have known! Joker, we've talked about this!"

Joker just buries his fingers into his left wing, both trying to rub feeling back into it while also attempting get it as close to Carmen as humanly possible without burning. His voice, like Panther's, comes out with a hysterical laugh and still wreaked with shivers. "I didn't kn-know I w-was weak to i-it!"

Panther has to physically restrain herself from grabbing his shoulders and shaking them as Fox drops down with a both a medical ointment and heat warmers. "How could you not know!?"

"I-I don't mak-ke it a po-point to get hit w-with spells, th-thank you!"

It takes another five minutes to get him off the floor, and even then he's still shaky and hovering close to Carmen's still present form while the persona frowns and tuts as she heals him while Fox tries to hold him steady.

"At least it's just ice," Panther mutters to herself, pink gloves cupped around her nose and mouth as she presses her fingers to her temple. They always make sure they have healing items for ice and freeze, curtesy of Panther herself.

"Um."

Panther drags her hands across her face at the sound of Joker's very hesitant voice. "What?"

"I may also be weak to bless?"

Panther and Fox stare, aghast, at him. Because of course, of course Joker would be special. Of course he would have two weaknesses.

"How the hell do we even heal that?" Does bless even have a status ailment? Aren't bless skills mainly insta-kills— is he more susceptible to insta-kills!?

Joker shrugs helplessly next to Carmen.

"Oh my god," Panther groans. "You're ridiculous. I hate you, you cryptic, unhelpful birdman.")

Another team that Mona does, though not as often, is Joker, Fox, and Skull. While the three do work together well, Mona doesn't prefer having all of the physical dealers in one team and, more importantly, without a single healer. In the times where they do work with this team, Nix will always stay with the boys, breaking her no-helping rule to function as their healer.

Though, Mona admits that this particular team feels less like a team and more like a group of children or tiny animals fumbling around and horseplaying.

("Woo! Knife wings!" Skull cheers as Joker vaults away from a screeching, large-bodied shadow after cleaving his sharpened wings through it. Skull electrocutes another shadow before he stops and blurts, "wait are your knife wings like a nail bed?"

Joker pauses mid-flight, his wings legitimately stutter and this sends him tumbling to the ground with a yelp. He shoots Skull a very pointed what the fuck look from his prone form on the train rails.

Fox leaps over Joker to slice through and kill a shadow.

Joker blinks at Fox in disbelief. "What am I, a fucking rock?"

"You are far too aesthetically pleasing to be a mere rock," Fox states before unholstering his gun to shoot at a winged shadow. It goes down.

"Uh, you good dude?" Skull peers at him from above.

Joker looks like he's given up on life, staring blandly at the ceiling. "I'm cosplaying the nail bed."

Skull gasps, eyeing the dark feathers with an excited glint. "Does that mean I can—"

Joker splutters, kicking at Skull's shoe with his heels. "No! Get!"

Skull whines as he stumbles away from the bladed heels. "But they're so cool!"

"You make me want a spray bottle." Joker mutters before Fox shouts about a shadow and, instead of getting up, Joker decides to roll away from the attack. While he does get away from the unprompted Agilao, it has the added effect of accidentally ankle-checking Skull with his leg, which leads to the both of them collapsed on Mementos' floor.

"Ow," Skull groans.

"Oh hey," Joker drawls. "Welcome to the floor; we have dirty pulsing whatever the ground is made of and the metal rails that like poking your ribs out. Hope you enjoy your stay."

"—'Effin' rail."

"This is a train wreck," Nix heaves a sigh, staring despondently at the ceiling as if asking for divine intervention. "...Satanael, help me."

"Thanks for your love and support, Nix."

The fairy groans.

Skull picks up his head just enough to have it not be face first into the rails. "Ain't it suppose to be 'God help me'?"

"No," Nix hisses.

"The hell is a Sat...Sate... whatever she said?"

Joker raises one hand in a small who-knows gesture before dropping it back to the ground.

"I do not think Mona would be pleased if he saw you both," Fox hums as he glides over, blinking down at the mess of two teenagers.

"If Mona wanted shit done, Mona would not have put the three of us together." Joker flops further into the rails, looking like he half-expects Fox to join the impromptu dogpile. "Nix has the only braincell here, and she's using it to pray." 

"Nonetheless," Fox shakes his head with a little shudder. "I would prefer to not be on the other end of his disappointment."

Skull groans, levering himself up over Joker's legs. "Man, why'd you have to say that? Now I can't unthink it."

"It felt wise to say."

Skull groans again. "C'mon, Ghost Buddy. Time to get up."

Joker's wings go limp. "I don't wanna."

"But dude," Skull plants his hand on Joker's knee and shakes it, like that would somehow make the boy to get up. "Parental Mona."

"But Skull," Joker says with a short snicker. "I'm the favorite child."

Skull stares, blinks, then his face twists with disbelieving disgust. "He's 'effing right." He whirls to Fox, jabbing a finger at Joker's smirking face. "Mona'll never tell him off!"

Fox hums. "Panther would."

Joker stills. Skull immediately catches this, sending a shit-eating grin at the curse-user. He cackles, "Are you scared of Panther?"

"Okay, alright." Joker claps his hands. "Let's say I give you both a fun little idea and then we proceed to never mention any of this to the other team."

"No way, man, you're not getting away from this—"

"I am curious."

Joker points up at Fox, "Ice sculpting. Make tiny, hard, sharp things." Then, Skull, "You have a bat. Hit the death spikes. Baseball."

Nix heaves a long suffering sigh as Fox's eyes light up, and the ice-user whirls to Skull. "I would love to attempt this endeavor! Skull, please assist me with your strength and body!"

"Dude," Skull breathes. "I am the gun.")

This team combination isn't the only time that Nix has intervened and used her magic to help them. Though, this is the only instance where it's intentional and stated beforehand.

(There was only one time where Nix acts despite her self-appointed watching only rule. This incident happened yesterday, shortly after they left the rest stop where Joker and Skull made their deal.

Nix had been hovering near Fox and Panther as Joker surged ahead to fight with a shadow. It had been a peaceful, easy-going session until the shadow's paw got a little too close to Joker, claws outstretched towards his face. While Joker had bent backwards to avoid the attack, the rush of air had blown his hood back, and it would have been enough to fly off his head completely had Joker not frantically grappled it back down the moment he felt it rising.

Joker froze, staring cautiously at the shadow with his hands still clenched at his hood.

The shadow, however, had stilled, eyes narrowing as it's red aura shifted to something darker.

Joker took a step back, voice shouting a panicked, "Nix!"

The fairy snapped to attention, hand snapping out the second she caught sight of the shadow's dark aura, obliterating it with a flash of gold eyes and a Megidolaon spell mid-lunge.

There wasn't a hint of the rabid shadow when the light had cleared.)

From what Panther and Fox had told him later, Nix's demeanor had shifted from her playful hover to stony attention, and the fairy had stuck close to Joker while the boy kept a firm hand on his hood for the rest of that very short day.

Mona doesn't know what a darkened red —almost black — aura on a shadow is supposed to indicate, and he has a feeling that neither Joker nor Nix would readily give that information.

If Mona had been part of that sub-team, he might have been able to figure it out.

Unfortunately, Mona doesn't often get to pair up with Joker's team. Realistically, the only time he can do this is when he has Panther, Queen, and Skull on the other team, since Panther's directional skills matched with Queen's memory on shadows and Skull's strength makes for a good combination.

Mona has also learned that Queen and Joker should not be in the same team unless strictly needed. He's tried it on the first day they worked together, and he's tried it a few days ago. Both times, the two are far too focused on each other than the shadows, and the both of them are apparently savants at pissing each other off.

Though, unlike what their training often seems like, the groups do regularly merge at certain times, like when they decide to change a heart from the phansite, when they change floors, or when they come to a rest stop.

On the few times that they do deal with a change of heart, the team seems to function well together — aside from Queen and Joker — and the battle often goes off without a hitch. Well, aside from Skull begging Joker to use his death ray, to which Joker steadfastly refuses every time.

The rest stops have quickly become some of the Phantom's favorite part of the constant, long Mementos trips.

(Sometimes, Panther will pull aside Queen to practice aikido. During these moments, the two girls will migrate to the outer edge of the safe area — near the tracks — and Queen will direct the fire-user.)

(Sometimes, Skull and Joker work with their newly formed deal. During these moments, Skull will lay out his homework papers and attempt them while Joker sits curled next to him. The hooded-boy would occasionally point out an error and help Skull fix it, but the majority of the time, the boy's face furrows as he watches. At one point, Joker even asked, voice nearly begging, "Do you least have a textbook to help you?" Skull didn't, and Joker adopted a heavily mournful look.)

(Sometimes, the team's eyes would drift to their other teammates. One instance being during the studying sessions, where Queen's eyes would flick to the duo, face pressed in consideration.

Another instance would be when Fox decides inspiration strikes, and his bright eyes latch onto one of them as he sets his pencil to work. Not for the first time, do his eyes land on Joker, and whenever the boy notices that he's suddenly become the artist's focus, he specifically alters how he's sitting or standing to allow the artist a better view. Sometimes, even flexing his wings for Fox's eyes to brighten with excitement.

Occasionally, it's Joker's eyes that drift. Sometimes, those red eyes move to Mona, other times, they'll drift to the other Phantoms. A few times, Mona's caught him staring absently, almost like in a trance, at the barred areas of the walls. And sometimes, in rare moments, he calls out cheers for Panther and Queen's spar, as if they actually have an audience. It normally causes Panther to jump, lose her footing, and tumble.)

(Sometimes, more often after a hard fight, like when they change a heart, Joker would immediately dart atop the sitting pavilion without saying a word. Whenever this happened, he wouldn't answer anything they said, not even acknowledging any requests to come down. At one point, Mona had to have Skull boost him up to the top of the pavilion in a fit of worry, but found the irrational heart-wrenching fear unfounded when he saw Joker curled and sleeping. When they realized the reason for the silence, the entire team decided to stay quieter and for longer in the rest stop whenever Joker retreated to the pavilion roof.)

(And sometimes, the entire team would rest together, sitting peacefully to form a circle outside of the sitting pavilion as the Phantoms took a snack break while Joker took a coffee break.)

But, just as all of their Mementos trips end, they have to eventually return to their own world.

However, during today's trip, that pattern ends a little differently.

"Hold on," Queen calls before the Metaversian could vanish to wherever he disappears to when their training ends. Joker pauses by the entrance, red eyes flitting to her over his shoulder. "I'd like to speak with you, privately."

The Metaversian's eyes narrow. "I don't do private."

Queen wants to call bullshit on this. She's seen him off to the side with the other members on multiple occasions. Not only that, but the Metaversian acts like the most private person — person being used in the loosest form of the word  — she knows. It's such a blatant lie.

"I don't care if Nix is there," Queen says instead. The fairy can be irritating at the best of times, just like the Metaversian, but she'd much rather have this conversation without the other Phantom Thieves. If she gets interrupted or sidetracked, or told to temper herself again, she's going to loose it.

"Uh," Skull mutters as Panther and Mona nervously glance between her and Joker.

"Fine." The Metaversian turns on his heel and takes the stairs up to Shibuya.

Finally.

"You all can head back first," Queen says, shifting to look at the others over her shoulder. "I don't anticipate this taking long." Unless Joker makes it take long.

"Just to make sure," Panther shifts hesitantly. "You two aren't going to fight, right?"

As much as she wants to say no, Queen doesn't know if Panther also means verbal altercations. "I won't physically injure him," she says instead. "I promise nothing on arguments."

Panther sighs.

"I'll take the others back," Mona says, cautious eyes roaming to the stairs. "I'll come back and wait down here until you're done."

"Very well, thank you." Queen nods resolutely before turning on her heel and marching up the stairs. She barely has a moment to take in the ominously eerie red sky of Shibuya and empty subway above-ground before she sees the Metaversian.

"Well?" He says, folding his arms over his chest. Nix sits silently as always on his shoulder. "Whatever do we have to discuss?"

"I want to propose a deal," Queen answers bluntly. The Metaversian doesn't look surprised by the statement and, unlike every other time a deal is brought up around him, his wings don't even acknowledge it with their persona-like glow. They stay ebony black.

"Then, propose it."

"You seem to enjoy knowing things," Queen says instead, crossing her arms to mirror the Metaversian's posture. This seems like an obvious assumption. He always reacts negatively to having his intelligence slighted. "You're always watching and cataloging the things around you, you twist conversations to get the result and answers you want—"

"I'm not hearing a proposal." Joker narrows his eyes and Queen narrows hers right back.

"I was getting there," Queen hisses. "My point is that you like having facts and knowledge, and using them to your benefit. Would this be a correct assumption?"

"I'm still not hearing a proposal."

"I'm merely doing what you did." Queen lifts a hand dismissively. "You asked a multitude of probing questions before a deal even became possible. Would you fault someone for doing exactly what you did?"

The Metaversian clicks his tongue. "I don't like you."

"Our dislike is mutual," Queen mirrors the same words he threw at her the last time they were involved in a deal conversation. "Wouldn't that make this a perfect opportunity to turn our distaste of each other into something civil?"

"Is that your intention?" His glowing eyes narrow, unamused. "Civility?"

Another avoiding sidestep. Queen feels her face twitch. Well, she's been involved in politics before, so she can play it right back. Instead of answering, she says, "My intention is to not play this game and dance. We can continue tearing at each others throats with round-about insults, or we can come to an mutual agreement."

Joker clicks his tongue, like he distastes even considering it, despite looking like he's doing just that.

After a long moment, Joker's eyes flit to the silent, bristling fairy on his shoulder. "You don't need to stay anymore."

Queen pauses, a mild wave of confusion running through her as she watches the fairy's entire demeanor change. She shifts from a heavy, foreboding presence to a befuddled blink.

"Really?" Nix's auburn eyes dart across his face, narrowing the faintest bit. "Really really?"

Joker huffs. "You said you had something to do this morning. I'll be fine."

Nix hums blandly, narrowed eyes flicking to Queen, then back. Joker nods, like they're having some kind of mute conversation right in front of her.

"Alrighty, then." Nix pushes herself to her feet and takes off. Queen doesn't even have a chance to figure out where she's going or why before Joker narrows his eyes on Queen.

"Fine, let's play around with this mutual agreement idea." With his crossed arms, Joker taps a gloved finger on one his elbows, a motion that screams impatience. "Convince me."

Queen narrows her eyes. "Then, please answer my earlier question: is it a correct assumption that you like facts and knowledge, and using them to your benefit?"

"Who doesn't like knowing things?" The Metaversian scoffs, wings flaring behind his back. "This is the Metaverse. Even the slightest thing can make a difference."

A surprisingly logical statement for a creature born in an emotion-centered world. This means it would be a rational assumption to be blunt and logical with her own words.

"I'm of the same belief, which is why your constant averting and redirecting answers irks me." Queen shakes her head. If she contemplates any more about how the other irritates her, they would be here all day. "Therefore, the deal I'd like to propose is a mutual information exchange. Since Panther has already unofficially extended the invitation of our world's knowledge, it wouldn't benefit you much if I suggested that, would it?"

The Metaversian shifts, eyes turning more curious and open as she lays out her thought process. Appealing to his apparent logical side was a good decision. "It would not."

"That was my conclusion as well." Queen nods resolutely. "Therefore, I considered some other avenues of learning. It is my understanding that there would be no reason for someone to take to studying academic knowledge were they not already interested in it. Nor would they have merely stopped at a subject like precalculus rather than continuing further. Would this be a correct guess?"

"Who knows?" The Metaversian shrugs. "I'd assume it depends on the person. Maybe they lost interest?"

"But would you?" She presses. "You don't seem like someone to give up."

He hums, eyes glinting. "You seem to already have your own answer."

"I do," Queen says instead of pressing further. His posture and eyes are already an answer and confirmation wrapped in one. "For my end of this supposed deal, I'd propose that I could tutor or teach you on academic subjects you hold an interest in. I take my studies extremely seriously, therefore I have a large understanding on each topic I've been taught. I am also further into curriculum than the other Phantoms. Along with this, I have tutored others before to no complaint. In addition, if you would prefer a non-academic subject, I can accommodate that as well. What do you say?"

"I'd say you've spoken like someone used to selling herself." He gives an amused chuckle. "Do often have to prove yourself to someone else?"

"People don't tend to value the opinions of someone younger than them," Queen says instead, and Joker's lips quirk. It's an odd look, like he somehow understands what Queen's dealt with. She pushes the thought away, it's not necessary right now. "What do you think? Is my offer enticing?"

"It's appealing." The Metaversian drops his arms from their crossed position, tucking them into his coat pockets. "How about you tell me what you want now?"

Queen notes that now the Metaversian's wings have taken on that velvet glow they do with deals. The sight immediately brings a sense of satisfaction to her.

"I said earlier that your tendency of dodging answering questions irritates me."

He smirks, the grin sharp and amused. "You have."

"What I want is for you to stop doing that. I expect an honest response when I ask a question." Joker's eyes narrow, but Queen doesn't let him interrupt. "Since I know that would be too much to ask of someone who has a chronic problem of avoiding things, I would only want this take place during the same time I would be upholding my end. Whenever I am teaching or tutoring you, if I ask questions during that time I would like an honest answer. You can be as avoidant as you want outside of our predetermined sessions."

Joker hums shortly, averting his eyes as he clearly contemplates the offer. Everything is on his side of the court now. Queen crosses her arms as she waits.

Finally, he says, "As someone with a chronic problem of avoiding things, I do have things I don't like talking about. Should I accept this deal, I want the right to continue avoiding those topics."

"Then I can choose not to comply with a request for every question avoided," Queen says, unyielding. "It wouldn't be very fair if you could deny answering every question while I still had to uphold my deal, would it?"

"It would not." Unlike what she expects, the Metaversian doesn't attempt to argue or twist the deal any further in his favor. His grin turns sharp like he's somehow pleased her adding restricting terms. "You were always different from the other Phantoms. They would never have altered a deal for their own terms."

Queen eyes narrow. "Is that a problem?"

"You misunderstand, I much prefer this to someone endlessly yielding or bending backwards to another. You've made it quite clear where we stand." His wings shift and, in a motion she's become increasingly familiar with, the velvet glow burns to ash. "The deal is struck."

"Good," Queen nods in acknowledgement, pushing aside his vocal agreement on her conduct. Now that they have a deal, she can get her answers and the other can't worm out of them without also facing a consequence. This would also give her more opportunities to observe him. "I'll need to discuss with Mona on when he can bring me here; but would it be a correct assumption that these sessions would take place either after training or on days where the Phantoms do not come to the Metaverse?"

The Metaversian shrugs. "So long as I know ahead of time, that's agreeable."

"Alright. One more question: do you have any subject you'd like to study so I can prepare it?"

The Metaversian hums, one hand slipping from his pocket to the underside of his hood. It's a gesture she's seen around the others once or twice, one she's come to the assumption of it being a tick for when he's considering something.

"I know most first year things," he says finally, dropping his hand back down and waits, like he wants her to fill in the blanks. Queen isn't sure if this is some kind of test or if he's just leaving the decision to her, like he did with the coffee question.

Queen questions, "Are you looking for second year subject material?"

"Primarily," Joker agrees. "I might need a review on first year."

Queen hums with a considering look. First and second year material, huh? That would mean to imply that he's at least gotten up to first year high school academics in the past.

It makes her wonder why, of all places, the Metaversian would have stopped at second year studies.

"Very well," Queen nods, turning on her heel to start making her way back down to Mona. They've made a deal, and she's gotten what she wants. There's no more of a reason for her to wait around. "I'll see what I can do, and inform you of when we can start."

The Metaversian doesn't say a word as she makes her way back down into Mementos' subway. And as she walks down the steps, her mind is brimming with more questions than before.

He's apparently far more analytical than Queen had thought. And isn't that an odd conclusion to come to about a creature that acts on it's emotions far more than logic? He was also far more receptive to a deal with rationally laid out terms than an emotion-driven one like those between him and the Phantoms, Mona, and Skull, despite all of them heavily favoring the Metaversian.

Well, the sooner she can get her side of the deal ready, the sooner she can start piecing out the puzzle the Metaversian is.

June 17, 2016. Night.

Ann turns over in her bed, mind spinning like a hamster running on its wheel. The more she thinks about their otherworldly friend, the more he feels just like them.

First, he doesn't act at all like shadows do. The red-auraed mythological creatures that they fight on daily basis are always hostile, jumping at the first chance to attack. The only time they haven't is when Ann and the others were on the first two floors, where the shadows skittered away as quick as they could. Those shadows are far more like wild animals, really, with the threat: attack! and strong: avoid! mindset.

Second, he's not at all like a Shadow. Kaneshiro, Madarame, and Kamoshida acted like they held all of the power in their palaces, which they did, and they didn't hold back on gloating it. They always acted far too in control of the situations around them, like they were able to sit comfortably on their pedestals without worry or concern.

Ann knows Morgana said that Joker isn't a shadow or palace ruler, but those are the only other Metaverse beings that Ann's had the displeasure of meeting, so she can't help but compare them a little. And that just makes it all the more confusing.

The other Metaverse being they know is Nix, but even then the little fairy acts more like what they would expect from that world than Joker does. Yes, she's kind and fiercely protective, but her actions somehow fit well in the Metaverse. All thinly veiled threats, jokes, and flippant gestures. She feels like she belongs there.

Joker...doesn't.

Since the first time Ann saw him, he didn't feel like what her preconcerted belief of a Metaverse native is. A lot of the time, she can't tell the difference between him and Phantoms. Honestly, if she had seen him in the real world, somehow, Ann thinks he would fit right in. Maybe even more than he does in the Metaverse. Or well... she supposes it's more like he fits perfectly in both?

Is this what human-like Metaverse beings are normally like? Does he even have a real-life counterpart? Or maybe is it because he doesn't have a counterpart that he feels more human than anything else from the Metaverse?

Where even would the other human-like Metaverse beings live? Do they just wander around palaces like Joker does? Or do they have their own kind of... kingdom or palace they live in?

Arg! This all too confusing.

Ann turns over again. In the dark, she spies Morgana's sleeping form from across the room in his own little bed.

Y'know what? Ann's just going to think of Joker like she does Morgana. Their cat-friend has been around since day one and, while he's more physically like shadows from the Metaverse, he's been nothing but a friend.

Who cares about any of the weird nuances? Joker can destroy entire palaces, sure. He has wings and can essentially turn himself invisible, yeah. But he's also the same person who carefully watched over them through Madarame's palace, the same person who looked around in wonder at the rest stop, the same person who let Yusuke lecture him on his weapons, and he's the same person who cautiously helps and accepts what they do, despite it being confusing to him.

Metaverse creature or not, Joker is her friend. Just like Morgana is, just like Shiho is, and just like all of the other Phantoms are.

And Ann doesn't keep up masks and pretenses around her friends.

June 18, 2016. Lunch.

Today is one of the few days that Makoto and Haru don't eat in the student council room. It's bright and sunny and it makes for a perfect day to check up on Haru's rooftop garden that Makoto has sorely been missing while she's working with the Phantom Thieves.

And she's late.

She's already had to spend the first half of the lunch period talking with the first year teachers to see if she could get copies of either their curriculum for this year or last for her deal with Joker. Makoto still had her papers and tests from first year, but she'd much rather work with the teacher's actual lessons than her memory.

Thankfully, her status as the student council president and spinning her reason for needing it is tutoring a homeschooled student, the majority of the instructors agreed. Some teachers, like the one overseeing ethics studies, said they could pass some work along after school today, which Makoto is grateful for. Hopefully they pull through, considering the sooner she got the ball rolling the sooner she can get information out of the Metaversian.

However, this success leads her to being late to the roof.

Haru isn't mad when Makoto closes the door behind her, but she still feels horrible for missing any of their already limited time together.

"You texted me, Mako-chan." Haru says with a little head shake as she fiddles with the soil in a planter. "I knew you were going to be late. Please, stop worrying."

Makoto doesn't retort as she settles on her knees next to Haru and messes with another vegetable plant. It's a moot point to argue with Haru on most things.

Haru glances up tentatively. "How has your project been going?"

Makoto knows instantly what project Haru's referring to. From Kaneshiro and the blackmailing, to what Haru doesn't know about: the Phantom Thieves and the Metaversian.

Makoto takes a moment to consider. They're making good progress in Mementos, and they've definitely started to act more like a team. The original team has always functioned well together, but her and the Metaversian have slowly yet surely started integrating themselves into it.

She's also seen how well the Metaversian seems to slot in with Panther and Fox when they fight together, how playful he now acts with Skull, and how he's no longer avoiding Mona at every turn.

Yes, they're definitely getting close to moving onto Kaneshiro's palace. That's an immense amount of progress, and hopefully, the bank won't be harder to get through than getting any cohesive answer from the Metaversian has been up until now.

"I believe it's going well," Makoto answers, carefully placing a splint around one of the green stalks after getting a nod from her questioning gesture towards them. "I still don't know when w—I'll be done, but there's definitely been progress."

"That's wonderful to hear," Haru smiles softly. "And your sister? Has her case improved any?"

No. Sae has still been a force to be reckoned with, both entering and leaving their apartment with the force of a typhoon and the attitude to match.

"It's still been... going," Makoto answers with a grimace. In turn, Haru winces and they both are quick to change topics, talking about anything and nothing as they kept their hands busy with the vegetable garden until the class bell rings and they're forced to pack up.

"Mako-chan?" Makoto pauses by the door at Haru's tentative call. When she sees the pinched look on the girl's face, she already knows what the topic of the words will be about. Haru's fingers clench around her sleeves. "It'll be Ai-chan's birthday soon."

Kurusu's birthday. Now that Haru's said it, Makoto remembers it from last year: when Haru despondently stayed at Makoto's apartment because she couldn't stand being at home. She also remembers it from the year before that, too, when Haru took a full week off of school to visit Kurashiki. She can't believe she almost forgot it with all of the Phantom Thief business.

It's only five days away.

He would have been turning seventeen.

"Do you want to come over again?" Makoto asks immediately, and Haru near instantly looks like a weight has lifted from her shoulders.

"Please," she says. "I don't want to be around father then. I know he'll make some comment and I just can't..."

"Of course," Makoto assures. "You know my apartment is always open to you."

As they make their way back down to class, Makoto makes the mental note to let the others know, in non-negotiable terms, that she's busy on the twenty third.

June 18, 2016. Afternoon.

Ryuji pushes the café door open, cheering, "Hello!" The barista nearly drops his newspaper as he jolts up. Ann heaves a sigh behind her friend.

When the man recognizes them, he smoothes out the newspaper and places it behind the counter. "You all came back quick. And with one less."

"Makoto had to do something at school." Ann then points out, "And you did say to return your thermos." Sakura laughs gruffly.

"He loved it!" Ryuji cheers again, and Ann recognizes the look on Sakura's face being one of someone who is rapidly getting used to outbursts.

"Oh?" The barista raises a brow. "I take it you're not actually back to return my thermos. You're here for another brew."

Ann hesitantly places the cleaned black and gray thermos on the counter. "We are actually returning it."

"—And we brought our own!" Ryuji pulls out his own bright red thermos from his bag, Morgana yelping as Ryuji unintentionally shakes the fake cat-carrier.

The barista's eyes narrow on Ryuji's bag.

"—And thank you for letting us use it!" Ann says rapidly, hoping to draw the man's attention away from their furry hideaway. "C-could we still get more coffee?"

Ryuji very suspiciously hides his bag behind him.

Sakura squints further. "Your friend wouldn't happen to be that cat, would it?"

"No, what cat?"

"What's a cat?"

Ann and Ryuji stare at each other. Morgana, having given up all semblance of hiding, groans. "Oh my god, bring Makoto back."

Sakura's face is unamused.

"We're not giving him coffee! He can't even drink it!" Ann waves her hands frantically under the barista's stare. Then she pauses, eyes flicking to the Morgana-bag. "Can you drink coffee?"

The cat states blandly, "I can eat and drink anything."

"Huh," Ann blinks at him.

Sakura huffs, raising a hand to massage at his temple. "If you're actually giving him coffee, I'm going to blacklist you from my establishment." He doesn't give either of them a chance to respond before he turns on his heel, picks out one of the bean jars, and starts working at the siphons. 

Morgana pokes his head out of the bag, resting his front paws on Ryuji's shoulder.

"I don't think he'd even like coffee." Ryuji says this like it's meant to be reassuring. It's not.

In retaliation, Morgana swats at Ryuji's ear.

Sakura sighs, and Ann can feel the parental disapproval radiating from him. "Why are you kids even toting around a cat?"

Ryuji shrugs. "'Cause he likes it?"

"He's actually our friends cat," Ann offers, and watches both Ryuji and Morgana's heads whirl towards her. It's not even a lie, she's perfectly aware of how Morgana will stay with Joker once he comes to their world. She doesn't think anything could stop Morgana from attaching himself to the boy's side.

Well, she guesses it would be more accurate to say that Morgana will be Joker's cat, but, well, semantics?

"Uh huh," drawls the barista as he pours the coffee into Ryuji's thermos.

They make the executive decision to stay silent as the man finishes, as to not put their feet in their mouths anymore. When Sakura finishes, they pay and thank the man before slipping out of the shop.

"So," Ryuji says. "That went well."

Ann sighs as her phone buzzes. She pulls it out.

Phantom Seekers

Queen: Considering how long we've been spending in Mementos recently, I picked up some bentos on the way to the station.

Queen: We can work out who gets what when we take a break.

fashionista: thank you!!

fashionista: we just finished at the cafe, so we're on our way!

Queen: Great. Yusuke, are you waiting at the station?

Queen: Yusuke?

fashionista: he got distracted again didn't he

Queen: ...I'll find him before you all get here

fashionista: tyyyy!

(As the three of them make their way to the station to meet up with Makoto and Yusuke, none of them are aware of someone silently sneaking into their group chat.)

June 18, 2016. Afternoon.

Just as Makoto promised, she's waiting with Yusuke when they get to Shibuya. They're quick to jump into the Metaverse after, and Panther sees Joker waiting by the stairs.

"Bean Juice!" Skull immediately declares, bounding over to the two Metaverse beings. Joker's wings twitch as pauses his conversation with Nix and shifts towards the lightning-user.

Then Joker freezes, wide red eyes locking onto Panther, not saying a word. Hesitantly, Panther turns to look behind her, not seeing anything out of the ordinary.

(Since when did Mementos' tunnels become "ordinary" anyway?)

"Uh, dude?" Skull waves the thermos, the motion catching Joker's attention with a jolt. The boy reaches out and carefully takes the bottle in his gloved hands.

He stares down at it. "I kind of thought this was a one time thing?"

"Uh..." Skull's face twists, looking like a dear in headlights. "Did you not want it anymore?"

The speed at which Joker steps back and blocks the thermos from Skull's view is breathtaking. It's almost like a kid hiding their favorite toy from another child. "I didn't say that."

Nix snickers and Skull deflates with relief.

"Alright," Queen cuts in. "Should we get started now? Which floors are we going to?"

Mona's ears perk, this is a fun motion that catches all of their attention — except for Joker's — whose eyes dart to Panther again. "Let's go to Chemdah today and see how long we can stay on the lower floors for."

Fox tilts his head. "Shall we continue with our normal sub-parties?" Before even finishing the question, he already anticipates the answer, shifting closer to Panther.

Mona makes a considering sound, glancing at the pair of Joker and Nix before turning back. "Yeah. I think we should stick with our current teams."

"Wonderful," Fox strides forward, jumping down onto the tracks. "Let us proceed!"

Okay, the staring has been getting a little ridiculous. Sure, Panther could write it off when they first got to Mementos and passed over the Leblanc delivery, but not when Joker continuously glances over at her every other minute. He downs a shadow with Fox, pauses, looks over. He's walking, sends a quick glance to his side. He's spinning his dagger over his fingers, flicks his eyes to her, then goes back to his questionable pastime game.

Nix isn't being weird, it's only Joker. Well, she's been hovering with the other group for the past twenty minutes, but still!

Panther didn't do anything to warrant this!

"Please," Panther groans after the next fight. And by after the fight, she means the second the shadow dissolved into nothing. "Please just tell me what I did."

"Pardon?" Fox blinks back.

Panther shakes her head to indicate a not you, that she isn't even sure if Fox picks up on. "Joker," she clarifies instead, and the boy jumps a little when he's addressed. "What did I do?"

"Um," he tilts his head, wings shuffling. "What?"

Don't just act like you don't know what you're doing!

"Is my hair on fire or something?" Panther waves her hands around and, just to check, she pulls her twin tails into view to make sure that they aren't somehow burning. They're not. She points a finger at him instead. "You keep staring at me."

Joker makes a strangled sound, one hand rising to tug at his hood, like he's somehow embarrassed about being called out. "I— sorry. You just look different than I thought you would."

Panther's brows furrow. What's that supposed to mean? They've known each other for over a month now, he should know what she looks like.

"I mean," Joker's wings twitch uncomfortably. "Blonde is a more western hair color, so I didn't expect it?"

"...my hair's always been blonde." Panther can't help it if the words come out a little indignant. "It's not like I changed my hair color in the last day."

Fox slides into the confusing conversation. "Joker, are you meaning to imply that you didn't know what Panther looked like until now?"

"Um," Joker's eyes flick to Fox. "Yeah."

Panther feels herself blue-screening. That doesn't make sense! Is this like how he sees a wall instead of the escalator paths? Is she just like that wall to him!?

"Seriously?" Panther gaps at him with disbelief. "What did I look like before!?"

Joker shuffles, eyes flicking towards the other team's fight for a moment, then back. "I'm not really sure? I could see your mask and clothes, but not really anything else?"

Panther groans, lamenting, "Why me?" She doesn't want to be special. Why could he not see her out of everyone else? This isn't fair.

The boy shrugs hesitantly.

"I wonder..." Fox hums curiously. "Is Panther the only one you couldn't see, or is she the only one you can see?"

"Uh," Joker's eyes drift, looking like he's weighing his questionable mental choices. "Let's say option three, which is option two but with Mona."

Panther balks. Blinking owlishly, she repeats, "You can only see me and Mona?"

Joker bobs his head.

Panther takes it back. She likes being special.

"That doesn't seem enjoyable." Fox's lips twist down. "Mona may have a solution for this?"

"It's not important enough to waste time on." Panther swerves back to Joker. The boy's visible face looks like he's being completely honest with the statement. Like whether he can see them or not doesn't matter to him.

Even though it very clearly does considering how he can't stop watching Panther now that he can see her.

"Good idea," Panther says to Fox, before declaring: "We're asking Mona."

Joker's wings shuffle. "You really don't have to—"

"We," Panther repeats, "are asking Mona."

The boy sighs. "Okay."

The next time they get to a rest stop, before Mona can even say anything, Panther declares "Mandatory break!" and darts down to the next floor to get Joker.

"Uh," Skull stares after her. "What's up with her?"

"Ah." Fox nods to himself. "I believe she wishes we discuss our earlier realization now."

"Realization?" Mona asks.

"Joker cannot see us," Fox says, and Mona freezes at the words, staring at him uncomprehendingly. "He has said that he could always see Mona, but he has been unable to see anyone else's faces until he saw Panther's today."

"Huh?" Skull blurts, eyes wide. "Why?"

"He can't see us?" Queen repeats, brows furrowing. "Do you mean that we look like he does to us? Some kind of shadow veil over our faces?"

Fox hums. "Perhaps? I hadn't considered that."

The Trickster can't see the others? Mona tries to consider the reasons as Panther and Joker come into view from the stairwell. If he can see Mona, but not the others, then is that related to how Mona can sense him? But then why would Panther now be..?

Skull whirls to the Trickster. "Wha'do I look like!?"

Joker squints. "Skull mask. Pirate getup."

Skull looks himself up and down, like he doesn't already know what he is wearing. He tilts his head back up. "I'm confused."

"I can't see anything but that," Joker clarifies. Skull's face contorts, completely befuddled.

Queen sighs. "Should we just take our snack break now?"

Fox perks up. "Snacks?"

The Trickster snorts, breezing past the rest of the group to sit against Mementos' wall, a few paces outside of the sitting pavilion. The boys clearly take this as an agreement to the suggestion as Fox drops to the ground from where he's standing and Skull marches over and plops down at Joker's right. The Trickster immediately folds in his right wing.

"Y'know what, sure. This is probably going to be a long conversation anyway." Panther eases herself down next to Fox, Queen taking the boy's other side.

Mona cautiously approaches the Trickster's left, and he watches as Mona takes a seat next to him without complaint. The cat's soul sings as the Trickster doesn't lean away from him.

Queen doles out the bentos she bought to everyone but Joker, who had politely declined taking one.

Once done, Queen asks, "Do you have any idea why Joker cannot see us?"

"I'm not sure," Mona answers, eyes roaming to the Trickster, who peers back. "You could always see me?"

"Very clearly."

"And you only started seeing Panther today?"

"Mhm."

Then something had to of happened between Mementos yesterday and today. Considering that it's only Panther and Joker involved, it has to be something that either of them did...

It's unlikely that Joker did something, because then it would be more likely for everyone to be visible rather than just Panther...

Mona turns to Panther. "Did you do anything yesterday?"

"Uh," Panther blinks. "Besides go home and sleep? Not really? I mean, you were there the whole time, too."

Okay, yeah. That probably wasn't his best question. Mona thinks of yesterday, and can't come up with a single outlier that would cause this.

Mona turns the situation over in his head. Maybe he should consider this from another angle, sight and perception is part of cognition, which can be both conscious and unconscious; so even if Panther did somehow do something, she might not even know it.

The last time the Trickster couldn't perceive something was the escalator paths, which he still can't see. That's a cognitive problem that only Shadows and shadows have, since the stairs are meant to be a safe area outside of perception, just like safe rooms and rest stops are. They're gaps in cognition, which allow rulers to have little to no control over them, and as such, shadows are unable to see them.

If the Trickster couldn't see the escalator paths, then it's possible that he could be either effected by shadows or has a similar cognition to them.

If that's the case, Mona should consider this from a Metaverse angle. Can shadows and palace rulers see persona users? Mona doesn't believe so. Kamoshida recognized Panther and Skull because, not only did he see them awaken, but they also brought up personal incidents that revolved heavily around them. This is the same for Fox and Madarame. Kaneshiro had to of known about Queen, because his palace instinctively reacted to her presence, giving them a path up to the bank. That path didn't disappear after she awakened either, likely because Kaneshiro was there when she awakened.

But for everyone they've faced in Mementos, the smaller targets, those Shadows didn't know who they were. Their masks kept the Shadows from recognizing them, because they didn't want to be recognized—

Wait—!

"Panther, did you have any thought about Joker being able to see you?" Mona sees the look of confusion on her face, and jumps to change the question. "Or any thought about your mask, or hiding, or anything like that?"

"Oh!" Panther lights up with realization. "Last night I was thinking about something similar. 'No masks around my friends' that kind of thing?"

"That! That has to be it!" Mona points a paw at her. "Our masks hide us from everyone we don't feel comfortable or safe with. They're masks for a reason. Because you don't need a mask around Joker, he can see you!"

Fox hums curiously. "That would also explain Mona always being visible, he has never wanted to hide from Joker."

Panther's face falls. "Wait but doesn't that mean I was intentionally not letting him see me before?" She turns her devastated face to Joker — who jolts at the look — and immediately bows. "I'm so sorry! I didn't know I was doing it!"

The Trickster makes a strangled noise as he waves his hands. "Hey, you didn't know." He pauses, wide eyes flicking to the right and stopping on Skull. He blinks, then shakes his head and turns back to Panther. "It's okay. I mean, even if it was intentional, I'd get that. Metaverse is the Metaverse, right?"

"Still..." Panther mumbles.

"Seriously, it's fine."

"I'd like to reveal myself," Fox declares, sitting up ramrod-straight as he closes his eyes. By the way Joker jolts, Mona thinks Fox just changed his cognition to do exactly what he said.

"Huh," Joker blinks as Fox's eyes open again. They peer at each other. "I didn't expect it, but the blue tint fits you."

Fox beams.

"Oh! Oh!" Skull waves his hand, catching Joker's eyes quickly. "Me next!"

The Trickster pauses, looking mildly confused.

Just like with Fox, the two engage in an intense staring contest before Skull frowns, swerving towards Fox. "Man, I don't get it. How'd you do it?"

Mona watches as Joker's eyes light with some kind of realization. The look is quickly schooled back into a blank face.

Fox tilts his head. "I merely wished for Joker to be able to see me."

Skull whirls back, eyebrows furrowed and staring so intently that Mona thinks he might give himself a headache.

Joker blinks at him.

"Aw, come on!" Skull groans, throwing his hands up in the air. Joker watches as the boy nearly teeters backwards. "Why's this so hard!?"

Joker's lips twitch, eyes gleaming in amusement. "Don't worry, you'll get it eventually."

With a frustrated little sound, Skull rips off his mask and flings it to the ground. "There! Come on, that has to work!"

"Oh wow," Joker says conversationally. "I can see your roots."

"What!? But I just did them!" Skull's hands fly to his hair, like he could somehow feel undyed hair with his gloved hands. A moment, then— "WAIT! YOU CAN SEE ME!"

Panther snickers as the Trickster's bland expression finally cracks. Joker ignores Skull's now pointing finger in his face as he snorts with a smirk curling over his lips. "If it makes you feel better, I could see you since Mona went over how it works."

Skull's face falls in betrayal. "Dude!" He shoves at Joker's shoulder, and the Trickster cackles as he teeters to the side, wings faintly flaring to stop him from falling over. "Why didn't you say that!"

"At first? Was distracted," Joker snickers. "After? 'Twas funny."

Skull crosses his arms childishly, his exposed face still looking cross. Joker lightly unfurls his right wing to nudge Skull's shoulder with it.

Fox pops his store-bought bento open, an unintentional reminder that they had sat down to eat while they talked in the first place. The others quickly follow after the ice-user, and even Joker pulls out his thermos from his coat after a moment.

(Mona doesn't bring up how Joker didn't point out what Queen looks like, or how Queen doesn't offer to reveal herself. The Trickster doesn't seem offended by it and Queen's allowed to keep herself hidden if she wants to.)

Skull mumbles, "Where'd I miss my roots?"

Joker snorts into his coffee, yanking the thermos away from his face as he coughs. "That's why you were cross?" He snickers, gleaming eyes darting to the lightning-user. "Cub, I was joking. It's impeccably dyed."

Skull heaves a relieved sigh. "Thank god, bleaching is a bitch."

Joker snorts again and Skull finally starts eating his bento. There's a few moments of silence as the Thieves eat from their bentos and Joker sips Sakura's coffee.

"Hey, Joker?" Panther's tentative voice causes Mona's ears to perk up. Next to him, the Trickster looks over as well. Panther plays with her chopsticks hesitantly. "Um, don't get mad."

Joker squints. "What a wonderful way to start."

"Please?"

He huffs, shifting to settle further against the wall. Mona leans forward to let Joker's left wing ease behind him, feathers comfortably brushing against Mona's back. Joker waves his hand in one of the normal ways he says go ahead.

Panther nods slowly. "I've been wondering this for a while — and you can totally not answer if you don't want to — but, um, do you have a Shadow?"

A Shadow? Mona blinks and Joker narrows his eyes with a tilted head.

"Why would Ghost Buddy have a Shadow?" Skull jolts up from his bento with wide eyes. "He's not distorted."

"I don't mean like that." Panther shakes her head as Fox hums curiously.

Queen places her bento to the side. "Are you meaning to imply that Joker could awaken a persona like we did?"

"I mean, couldn't it be possible?"

Fox peers curiously at Joker. "Considering Joker can use elemental magic, then wouldn't that mean he has some shadow form?"

Mona chances a glance as well. Joker doesn't look irritated or bristling like he used to at these kinds of questions. His wing feathers are still smooth too. In fact, his eyes are bouncing between the speakers with a little glint.

Joker flicks his hand up, his fingers crackling with red-black curse energy.

Being the closest, Skull catches on first. His eyes go wide as he scrambles away, tumbling onto his back, and points a very aggressive finger at Joker from the floor. "Dude, don't death ray here!"

"Aw," Joker cackles, his voice faintly echoing as he waves his sizzling hand playfully. "But you wanted me to blast something earlier." 

"Yeah, but not me!"

Queen squints. "It doesn't look like he's taken on a shadow form."

Joker shakes out his hand, and the sparks vanish along with the pitifully weak curse energy. He places his thermos next to Mona, props his elbows on his knees, then his chin on his palms. He squints back at Queen.

Panther's eyes flick hesitantly between them. "Do you have a shadow form?"

"Depends," Joker answers smoothly. "What's a shadow form?"

...what?

"What do you mean 'what's a shadow form'?" Skull nearly screeches from the ground. Queen heaves a steadying breath as she pinches the bridge of her nose and Fox blinks.

"Joker," Panther says pleasantly.

"Panther," he returns sweetly.

"What did I say about telling us things you don't know about?"

Joker's wings ruffle, lips twisting in a pout. "But I just asked."

"We've been using that term," Panther says slowly, raising her hands to clap after each word, "Every. Day. We've. Been. Here."

The Trickster shrugs helplessly. "There was never a good time?"

"I'm getting gray hairs." Panther pinches the bridge of her nose in a very Queen-like manner. And Mona would have jumped to explain, but Fox eagerly slides into the momentary silence.

"Do you remember how shadows change when they become unmasked?" He questions. Joker's eyes flick to Fox, and he nods into his hands. "That is one type of shadow form."

"Oh. I just call those shadows." Joker tilts his head. "I don't have that. What're the other ones? —And Skull, sit up. I'm not going to blast you."

"The floor is my home now," Skull grumbles back. The Trickster rolls his eyes.

"The second one we have seen is when a palace ruler or distorted individual receives a calling card and changes form to protect their treasure. Such as Madarame's floating paintings."

Joker nods along to Fox's explanation. Fox pauses for Joker to give his comments, but the boy doesn't.

"The third," Fox continues after a stint of silence, "is what I believe Panther is asking about. It refers to another version of yourself, similar to that of the palace rulers."

Mona feels the wing behind him still, and Mona is very quick to look up at the Trickster.

"You... want to know if I have a doppelgänger?" He lifts his head, just enough to drop his hands behind his raised knees. With a jolt, Mona realizes that the Trickster's hands are shaking. "Why?"

"Because that signals a potential persona," Queen says. "Once you reach an agreement with them, they lend you their power and become a persona. That's where our personas came from."

"An agreement?" The Trickster laughs, a touch hysterical and — a glint of yellow eyes, a curled smile, there's water everywhere— he can't breathe, can't breathe, can't—

Mona shudders as the feelings reign back, trying to force the air back into his lungs.

"Well," The Trickster clenches his gloved fingers behind his knees, and smiles. "Unfortunately, none of those apply to me. Looks like you're all just stuck with my curses and knives, hm?"

"Those are daggers!" Fox cries. "Knives and daggers are two entirely separate weapons!"

"Who needs a persona anyway?" Skull shrugs from the floor. "They're overrated. You got knife wings."

"Aw, thank you. Does that mean you'll get up now?"

"You'll never make me get up."

Joker squints. "Is that a challenge?"

"No, dude, it's a fact." Skull crosses his arms haughtily, only to yelp as Joker drops down next to him and the boys both immediately attempt to prove their respective points by grappling on the floor like children.

Panther huffs, rolling her eyes. "Immovable object meet unstoppable force."

(Despite the playful chaos, Mona can't shake the faint echoes of drowning from his mind.)

June 18, 2016. Evening.

Okay, Shiho might have overreacted a little. No, she can admit her mistakes, she definitely overreacted. The book creature might have been being an ass, but it didn't deserve her blow up over her increasingly negative day.

And hey, maybe to whatever the creature is, getting shot at doesn't have the same deadly meaning it would to anyone that Shiho knows. Or that could just be her making excuses, who knows?

She hesitantly slides into her desk chair. "So, um, hi."

The creature doesn't answer, and Shiho isn't sure if this is a silent treatment or if it can't speak if the book is closed, after all, it's never spoken when the book was closed before. Maybe it's both.

Shiho tentatively opens the book on it's normal corner on her desk. She expects it to retaliate at the action, like it did so long ago. That's why she doesn't have much of a reaction when she abruptly feels the creature's sharp eyes on her.

There's another rectangle page. Shiho doesn't ask about it as she removes her hands from the book. That's not why she's here, and it's not like she would get an answer to any question she could ask about it.

"I wanted to apologize. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that." Shiho inclines her head, giving a little bow to the book. She could explain what happened that day and clearly detail her increasing worry over the gunshot, but she doesn't want to make it sound like excuses. She says instead, "I won't do it again."

The creature doesn't answer.

Maybe they could go back to their tentative comfortability with each other over time, but when she thinks of that, Shiho also thinks that the book can't just grow legs and walk away. It didn't have a choice when Shiho picked it up at that lake and brought it home. The thought makes her feel a little like a jailer, and she immediately hates it.

"I, um, don't know where or what you are — well that is pretty obvious, I practically have 'ignorant' stapled to my forehead." Shiho shifts uncomfortably in her chair, wringing her hands. "So, I don't know where you were before I found you. If you want me to bring you somewhere or to someone, you can tell me and I'll bring you there."

The creature scoffs, and the distorted voice is so harsh and jarring that she jumps.

"I'm being serious," Shiho says softly after waiting for response, any further comment that doesn't come. "I don't want you to feel like you're stuck here. If you have somewhere you want to go, I'll bring you there."

"Can thou go to the depths of hell?" It sneers, glinting eyes narrow. "Even if thou had the chance to place thy eyes upon it, thou would get us both killed in attempting to descend."

"...Hell?" Shiho bites her lip, unsure if the creature means it as a euphemism or if it really does mean hell.

"Aw, do you feel uncomfortable?" The creature laughs, harsh and biting. "If thou wishes to get rid of me, then just throw me back into the lake."

Shiho jolts with a wince, "That's not—"

But the creature turns away and their presence vanishes.

Shiho crosses her arms over her desk and drops her head into them, digging her nails into her arms.

She feels like crying.

June 18, 2016. Night.

His right gloved hand runs along the dark purple wall as he creeps further down the winding path. The odd melody from the piano echoes in his ears.

This is a bad idea, he thinks resolutely as he steps over yet another train rail with his heeled boots. This is a really bad idea.

He takes a moment to check behind him again, carefully holding the jagged metal rail he tore off of the tracks earlier in his left hand. It's still the same empty, abandoned subway.

He doesn't like how far these tunnels are going. Just because he's had practice memorizing paths and directions, doesn't mean that trying to catalog the path he's already walked is easy. And every path looks the same, there's nothing that works as a landmark. He hates it.

The piano melody continues, urging him forward again in the same way it has every other time he's stopped.

I miss the ship. (No, he really doesn't.) His lips twist down as he hesitantly turns back around and continues. Logically, this place is much better than the ship. He hasn't even run into any creatures or monsters yet but... just being here is causing him to feel sick to his stomach.

It's like there's something innately wrong about this place. And that sense is only getting stronger the more he goes down.

Still, he clenches the rail a little tighter and presses on. He peers down each new hall he finds, checking for anything hostile before continuing down to wherever the piano is leading him. Further and further.

The next time he checks a path — the path he needs to go — the air feels heavier, and he only sees the faintest hint of a monster's aura before they burst from the ground.

In a fit of panic, he dives back behind the wall, hears a monster screech and just knows that it saw him. He's already turned around and running before the creature lunges into view. The sound of the piano echoes in his ears to turn around even though he knows he'll die if he does—

Morgana jolts awake, breathing heavily as he whirls his head around in panic. Across the room, Ann turns over in her sleep, but Morgana can't even focus on the familiar sight of her room, his mind caught between here and what was clearly a Mementos path. He can't even shake the dream-like state off because— Fuck, fuck, shit! He whirls down another path, stumbling over the rails as he frantically bolts. I knew this was a bad idea, why did I even think— can't ever trust yellow eyes—

Morgana frantically throws himself onto his paws. Why is the Trickster in Mementos!? And he's got to be farther down than they've ever been to! Morgana doesn't even recognize what path has dark purple walls!

— He dives to his side to avoid the thing that almost tackled him and thrusts the broken end of the rail into the eye of a blue winged chicken-lion.

Oh hey, he thinks hysterically. I actually used it to stab an eye.

That was meant to be a joke. Not a fucking premonition.

It rears back with a shrieking roar as he tears the improvised dagger from its flailing form and bolts. Which way did he come from? Right? Right! He spins down the right path—

Morgana jumps into Mementos instinctively,  climbing out the window. Can he even get that far into Mementos? No— he can't think of if he can or can't, he has to!

—Stupid, stupid, stupid! If he was going down here he should have at least made and brought one of his bombs—fuck. He skids down the next left path. It was straight, left, straight, then green, wasn't it?

He ducks under a rush of cold air, seeing icicles shatter against the wall next to him. A panicked, hysterical laugh slips from his lips as he scoops up one of the broken ice shards in his run and chucks it back at the red bird-headed humanoid—

Where is Nix!? Mona charges down the street into Shibuya. She never even lets the Trickster go into Mementos with them when she's not there, so why now—? 

—He twists down the left path, feet skidding to a horrified stop as it leads to a very clear dead end. A dead end that shouldn't exist. He knows what way he had to go, this isn't possible.

He jolts, forcing himself to spin around and run again, this time sprinting down a path that he knows he didn't take on the way down, but he can't just stand there in a dead end.

It's a brief hesitation that costs everything, and he chokes out a strangled scream as something sharp strikes his back. His entire body seizes as he crashes hard against the metal rails—

A realization slams into Mona as he forces himself to skid to a stop outside the Mementos tunnels. He didn't feel any pain, the dreamlike quality, the difference from these thoughts from every other time he sees things from the Trickster's eyes, and the lack of Nix—

It feels too much like the choking memory of drowning.

This is a nightmare. A memory.

—Fuck, fuck. He can't move. He can see his hands and arms twitching, but he can't move them. He can't move anything. Shit. Shit! What was that? Electricity?

He sees the creatures down the path and tries to force his aching, screaming body to work, but it doesn't do anything but twitch. A deep rooted panic constricts his chest as they keep getting closer—

Mona has to wake him up but how? He doesn't even know where the Trickster is! Mona whirls around, trying to think. Wait, the Trickster always knows when they enter palaces, right?

Mona dives into the nearest palace, barely noticing the sky flash to green as he focuses on the Trickster.

—He can't die here. Not after everything on that ship. He tries forcing his body again and again. But of course all he gets is a full-body flinch as the blue chicken-lion lunges at him. He squeezes his eyes shut and—

((Something odd twinges in his head))—

Mona latches onto that feeling— the Trickster definitely noticed him, but that wasn't enough to wake him. Immediately, Mona jumps back to Mementos and then the bank, then Mementos, back and forth so fast he starts to feel his head spin.

—braces himself for the pain.

A loud, dull thump.

He jumps, then hesitantly squints his eyes open after he doesn't feel pain exactly, but some kind of dull phantom ache from something he knows but doesn't.

((Something in his head twinges again.))

It's— dark? It's pitch black, and he has a brief moment where he wonders if he somehow fell into another Hellscape, but he can still feel the train rails digging sharply into his side.

Speaking of: ow.

((—another twinge, again and again—))

The chicken-lion screeches and he flinches, eyes darting around in the darkness. There's another dull thump and phantom ache.

((—it doesn't stop, and it's starting to feel familiar. Why are the twinges familiar?—))

He doesn't know how long he hears the monsters scrambling around and roaring just out of sight before he's able to slowly gain control of his body again. It takes an astronomical amount of strength to lever his arms under him and not collapse again. The darkness around him shifts.

((—the twinges become more insistent, tugging at something in his head. And the more he focuses on it the more he remembers piercing bright blue eyes—))

"Loki— Riot Gun!"

Bullets, screeches, and—

((—He mentally latches onto the twinges and—))

He jolts awake, breathing heavily with his hands scrambling against the blankets in the dark. Clenches his fingers once, twice, and tries to recognize where he is in the pitch black. The nest is safe, he tries to remind himself.

He flinches when he feels a familiar twist in the Metaverse's distortion again.

Slowly, he stills, finally recognizing the feeling. But why are they in the Metaverse? It couldn't be time to meet up again... no, no the distortional twist wasn't as strong as it normally was either, so it wasn't all of them...

It couldn't have been more than one or two of them.

Hesitantly, he forces himself to sit up. "Mona..?"—

Mona sighs as he stops jumping palaces. He presses a paw to his head and squeezes his eyes shut to stop them from spinning. Admittedly not his best plan, but it worked. The Trickster's awake, the dreamlike quality to their connection fading with the connection itself.

Mona can't even take the time to mentally process everything he saw in that dream over the pounding in his head. He wants to ask what the hell the Trickster was doing so deep in Mementos and when he had even gone down that far, but it has to be a traumatic memory if it was a nightmare right? Isn't that how nightmares work?

Would the Trickster even answer him if it wasn't a nightmare?

Mona mentally shakes his head. He shouldn't keep worrying about things he can't do anything about. And he should probably start heading back to Ann's now, it's not like he can do anything more in the Metaverse when he doesn't even know where the nest the Trickster lives in is.

"Mona?"

Mona jolts at the voice, eyes snapping open despite the dizziness to see the Trickster slowly alighting himself on the ground with a few easy wing flaps. Mona can't help noticing that the other looks awful. His clothes are wrinkled, shoulders slumped and his red eyes look exhausted.

The Trickster tilts his head, eyeing Mona cautiously. "Did something happen?"

It hits Mona then that he really shouldn't bring up how he can somehow mentally connect with Joker. Not after every other time Mona has said something he shouldn't, and definitely not when the Trickster sees their partnership as some kind of truce.

What if he sees the weird mind sharing as a violation of the truce!?

"N-no," Mona shakes his head — ow, bad idea — and sheepishly looks away. "I was just testing how quickly I could travel between palaces."

Joker squints, and Mona has to stop himself from squirming. "This late?"

"Y-yeah," Mona lies. "Everyone else is sleeping which makes it the best time; since no one needs me right now."

The Trickster hums.

"Speaking of, I should probably go back before they wake up and notice I'm missing—"

"Stop." Mona freezes half-turned. He hesitantly looks back to see Joker frowning. "Sit. Rest before you leave. You look like you're about to fall over."

"Am not," Mona mumbles despite very much feeling like tumbling over. He sits anyway. Joker snorts, easing his hands into his pockets, walks over, and leans back against the subway wall next to Mona. He's close enough that Mona could touch if he wanted to.

Mona really wants to.

Joker doesn't say anything. Mona doesn't either. They just sit there under Kaneshiro's green palace sky.

Mona feels himself relaxing under the Trickster's calming presence. Not for the first time does he wish that they could always be this close to each other. It just feels right; more than anything else does.

Still, Joker looks more like he's going to fall over than Mona. In honesty, Mona doesn't even know how he's up and moving right now. If Mona was any bigger and Joker had more trust in him, the cat would wrestle him back into bed. "You don't have to wait with me."

Joker's eyes flick to him, then back to the sky. "I want to."

"Oh." Mona wonders if it's because of his nightmare. He's never seen Ann or Ryuji have a nightmare, and Mona doesn't remember having any of his own. He doesn't know how people normally react after them.

A faint breeze flows through, and Mona hears Joker's wings ruffling with it. It almost feels like the wind from the real world.

Mona's eyes roam from the Trickster to the sky as well. The more he watches it, the more he understands what Joker had said about sky vibrancy with time. When they were last in Kaneshiro's palace, it was midafternoon, and the green sky was a little off a vibrant lime. Yet now in the night, it looks like a murky olive.

"Mona?" Mona's eyes jump towards Joker, but the boy isn't looking at him.

"Yeah?"

"...What does your sky look like?"

The sky? The Trickster doesn't move under Mona's staring, so he carefully looks away again, turning his eyes to the roaming clouds. "Our sky is different from the Metaverses'," He says instead. "I've seen a few palaces with similar skies, but none of them match it completely. Our sky changes throughout the day. Most of the time, it's either a light or moderate blue. If it's cloudy, it would be mixed with white and grey."

Joker quietly hums, and Mona continues after the sound. "When it storms, the sky could turn completely grey or black. Though, most people love how it looks in the beginning or the end of the day. During those times... you could say it looks like a mix of some Metaverse skies. Red, orange, yellow, purple, you name it. We call that sunset or sunrise."

Joker tilts his head further upward. Distantly, Mona wonders if he's looking for something in the clouds, or if he's trying to imagine their world's sky.

"It sounds beautiful."

If it weren't for their deal, Mona would pull the Trickster into their world now. But he can't, so instead he settles with: "When we're done with Kaneshiro's palace, let's watch the sunset!"

Joker exhales, and he slowly lowers his head to turn red eyes back to Mona. He smiles melancholily. "I'd like that."  

"Then let's steal this treasure quickly!" Mona jumps to his feet excitedly. He knows they can't do anything with just the two of them, without the other Thieves, but it's the thought that counts.

"Of course," Joker chuckles.

They fall into a comfortable silence again, the only sound coming from the faint breeze of Kaneshiro's palace. Slowly, the faint ache in Mona's head fades until it's just a distant memory, only remembered by the resulting exhaustion. The Trickster looks the same, his eyes either closed or off, slumped back against the subway's wall.

Mona doesn't want to go; yet he has the feeling that Joker won't leave until he does. Mona wonders why. Maybe, just maybe, the Trickster feels the same as him.

Mona peeks upward. "Isn't Nix waiting for you?" Mona's not really asking about the not-shadow, he knows this. He wonders if the Trickster catches the hidden questions underneath.

Don't you have to go? Why are you waiting with me? Do you not want this moment to end either?

"No," Joker answers softly. "Nix is out. Won't be back until morning, I think."

"That's... but aren't you two always together in Mementos?"

"We're not bound together. Nix just likes sticking around." The boy snorts, head thumping against the wall as he tilts it back. The mirth flickers off his face as quick as it came, one hand slipping from his coat pocket to rest on his throat, taps a finger once, twice. "Hell if I know why. Plus, we're not in Mementos right now." 

She obviously sticks around because she likes the Trickster. Just like Mona does.

"Because she likes you," Mona says, and Joker shrugs, tucking his hand back in his pocket. Mona huffs. "Still, isn't your nest safer than out here?"

Wouldn't you rather be there instead?

Again, Joker shrugs. "Maybe."

Hesitantly, Mona asks, "Do you want to go back?"

"Do you?" Joker shoots back.

No. Mona frowns. He doesn't want to back to Ann's house. No matter how much he likes Ann and the others, Joker is here and not there.

Mona finally gives in to his urge and lets himself lean to the side, bumping his head against the Trickster's leg. He feels the violent flinch from where they're connected and waits. A moment passes, Joker doesn't move away. Another, and the muscles under Mona's head relax.

"Okay," Joker breathes, and Mona knows the nonverbal answer reached him.

They wind up in Inokashira, or well, in Mementos' version of it, sitting in the red-tinted grass of the park. Mona half expects Nix to appear, just because she normally always pops out in Mementos, but Joker had already said she wouldn't.

It's odd to be in the Metaverse without intending to delve into Mementos or travel through a palace. And it's odder, still, to not have to worry about shadows while technically still being in an area where they could spawn.

Joker huffs, and Mona's eyes flick to the Trickster. His back is turned, body slumped in exhaustion with his gloved hands planted in the grass behind him, and head calmly tilting down with closed eyes.

Mona wonders if the calmness is because of him. It's almost like Joker's emotions bleed into Mona, soothing some part of his soul that Mona never realized ached.

He doesn't feel this way with the others. The Phantom Thieves would always make Mona feel safe and comfortable, but they can never make him feel this sense of innate rightness, of home with the Trickster.

Somehow, someway, Mona knows that he would give up everything — his lost memories, his want to search Mementos, everything of who he was before — if it meant he could stay with Joker.

He wouldn't even regret it.

Idly, Mona feels a wry smile stretch over his face, remembering how Ann had called Mona Joker's cat to the barista at Leblanc.

Somehow, she figured out exactly how Mona felt before even Mona knew.

"Mona?" The cat's eyes dart up towards Joker's tired downward peer. He looks hesitant in a way that has Mona's attention immediately. "If I... will you wake me again?"

Oh. Mona's ears fold down cautiously, mind flashing back to why they had even wound up together. He— he knows what Mona had done earlier. That he had somehow known about Joker's nightmare and acted on it.

He knows and still stayed.

Mona tentatively asks, "Y-you knew?"

Instantly, Joker sighs, the tension seeping out of his body as he flops back on the grass. "I suspected it for a little while now. You just confirmed it." His wings stretch out around him as he rolls to his side — towards Mona — with a soft look. "You're not subtle, you know?"

"Wh— I can lie!" Mona cries indignantly. He's not like Ann and Ryuji, they're the one who can't lie, not him!

"Mayhaps," The Trickster smirks. "But I think you just suck at it with me. You're too expressive. All the time."

Mona huffs. "Am not!"

Joker snickers, his left wing folding over his body in a way that's eerily familiar to how he looked back when Skull and Mona found him sleeping in Mementos. "I will ask about it at some point but, for now, will you? Wake me?"

Mona sobers immediately. "If you have a nightmare, I will." He promises this in the same way he does everything with the Trickster: earnest and definitive.

The boy's face softens further, curling comfortably on his right wing as it stretches farther, brushing against Mona's paws. "Thank you."

Mona watches as the Trickster's eyes close and his breathing evens out. He doesn't dare to move and risk waking the boy.

Once upon a time, Mona had thought sleeping on the grass would have been itchy and intolerable. Yet now that he's laying there, nestled next to the Trickster's wing, Mona finds that he's never been more comfortable.

Chapter Text

June 19, 2016. Afternoon

Shiho is curled up in her window alcove, staring despondently out the window with a sketchbook (it's current pages lacking any lead and sketches) in hand when it happens. At first, she thinks she imagines the faint mental tug. The odd feeling causing her to blink confusedly.

The second time it happens, it's more noticeable. A tentative pressure in her skull and a tiny mental tug that feels more akin to getting the edge of her sleeve pulled than having her mind lightly tugged sideways.

The only time she's ever had a foreign presence in her mind...

Shiho's eyes flit towards the velvet book, sitting innocently open on the edge of her desk. Her eyes then flick between her blank sketchbook and the velvet book, her mind attempting mental gymnastics on what the book is doing.

Shiho can't tell if the creature retreated, but it's not tugging at her mind anymore.

"Um," She bites her lip. Maybe the creature didn't mean to project again and she should pretend it didn't happen? But at the same time it felt intentional, and it only stopped once it got her attention... or... or did it only stop because she started paying attention?

It was really angry last night...

Shiho forces her head away, turning back to the window and trying to distract herself by tapping her pencil's eraser end on the sketchbook page.

It doesn't reach out again.

It's when the sun starts to set that she eases herself out of the window alcove and checks her phone again for messages. Her messages to Ann haven't sent yet. She sighs, placing her sketchbook where she was sitting and carefully makes her way over to her desk for the schoolwork she neglected today.

The velvet book is still awake. She can tell that as she slides into her chair and turns on her laptop. It's like the area around the book is charged with electric air.

Her phone dings.

Ann

Ann: oh my gosh i am so sorry!!!

Ann: i just got back home

Ann: it's been SO hectic recently

Shiho: its fine!!

Shiho: whhhaaats hectic?

Ann: we finally started a project we've been working on!

Ann: which is great

Ann: exhausting but great!

Ann: i would send a pic of morgana to prove my point but hes abandoned me for his new favorite person

Shiho: GASP

Shiho: he has FAVORITES?

Shiho: I NEVER WOULD HAVE GUESSED

Ann: oh hush you

Ann: morgana DOES like you you know

Shiho: my lack of petting allowance screams doubt

Ann: he's just fussy

Shiho: i think you spelt "having favorites" wrong

Ann: i stg i will bring morgana to you to prove you wrong

Shiho: enjoy the four hour trip! ☆（ゝω・）v

Ann:  (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

Ann: have a ryuji

Ann: hesdead.png

Shiho: lmao

Shiho: he really looks gone lol

Ann: ffs aaaaaand i have to go

Ann: ryuji's being a baby

Shiho: ha

Shiho: tell him I said hi!

Ann: okay!!

When Ann leaves, Shiho tries working for a good twenty minutes, eyes skimming over the assignment details without really registering them before concluding that she's not getting anywhere with it.

Giving up on finishing her work, Shiho closes the top of her laptop, pushes it along the desk, and drops her head into her arms. She used to do this a lot, back when her and the velvet book were on semi-good terms.

She heaves a sigh at the same moment she gets another mental tug. It startles the both of them. She stops mid breath and the creature freezes. 

Shiho waits to see if it will do anything, but it feels like they're both stuck like deer in headlights.

"Hi?" Shiho squeaks.

The creature faintly takes a step back, and Shiho thinks it's going to vanish again before it tentatively says, "Hello."

Shiho peaks her head out from her arms. "Hi."

"I'd like to apologize."

Shiho startles, sitting up so fast it causes an ache to surge along her spine. She swallows down the wince as she blinks wide-eyed and befuddled. "What?"

In her head, the being shifts, and Shiho feels some heavy emotions, too muddled to make out. "For our last conversation," it says. "I have been... acting immorally towards you, and I apologize for that. As you had said, you are unaware of the going ons and... everything. So, it was not right of me to let my anger get the better of me."

"But you were right," Shiho mumbles. "I have been causing you trouble and—"

"No." she nearly curls into herself at the harsh interruption. It sighs. The next time it speaks, it's softer. "No. Thou art a delight, no trouble at all."

Shiho can't help the confused frown that forms on her face. It's... never seemed happy with her presence before. Begrudging acceptance, maybe, but never happy.

The creature huffs, like it could see her thoughts and insecurities. It probably could. "Pardon me."

Shiho doesn't have the time to ask what it means, because the moment it finishes, it's like the creature has taken it's foot and kicked the proviberial mental floodgates between them open. Shiho has to grab the edge of her desk as the emotions surge and wash over her.

There's... there's so much.

She feels anger the most, a rush of hot, molten rage. Anger towards injustice, for itself and those around it. Anger towards things (people?) she doesn't know, but feels like she intimately does.

The next she feels is heavy set determination. A feeling she hasn't felt herself in a long time. The determination to stick to it's goals, and that it will achieve what it wants - no matter what it has to do.

The following spike is brief, a vindictive sort of excitement, curled and wrapped in bloodlust.

Next, a sharp but curtailed sense of betrayal. She doesn't know who it's directed at, it's not her, she knows. But it feels like it's centered singularly on one person, and... like it was a while ago? Tempered and muddled by time? 

The betrayal is covered by the next emotional surge, an odd feeling of longing. Like it's waiting for something to happen and just biding it's time, but it's been waiting for so long.

Another feeling replaces it, covered in an anxiousness that Shiho used to feel every second in Shujin. It's attention constantly split three ways between itself, someone else, and now her, too. It's like it's worried over something, but it can't do a single thing to ease that feeling, leaving it in an anxious in-between state. (One Shiho knew very well.)

The last emotion, currently the strongest out of all of them, is guilt. It burns like coils in a furnace, an unsettling flame that doesn't bring warmth so much as it makes it feel sick and mad at itself. The emotion is directed solely on her.

The mental flood tempers and reigns itself in, and Shiho's white-knuckled fingers ease from their brace on the edge of her desk.

"Thou hast never caused me trouble," the creature repeats softly, pulling away from her mind and settling back into the book. "I have been..." it cuts itself off with a sigh, shaking it's head. "'Tis not much of an explanation, but I don't like variables. Any variable can be detrimental, and I deemed thy presence to be as such. That hath caused unnecessary stress upon thee, and for that and my actions, I apologize."

"But..." Shiho blinks, trying to rearrange her thoughts while piecing together it's words. "But I also—"

"By the gods," The being makes a strangled sound, and she gets the faintest feeling of it dragging claw-like fingers through its hair. "Thou've done nothing to apologize for. Who the hell made you think you're always at fault? I know it wasn't from me, you've been like this for as long as I've known thee."

Shiho blinks, befuddled.

"Thou should be mad for thyself, not— what are you a saint?" The creature groans mournfully. "I miss Birdie; he'd yell at me."

Shiho stares. "Birdie shot you," she says incredulously.

"Birdie shoots everyone," it huffs back.

"That doesn't make it better!"

"How are you more mad at Birdie than me?" The creature grumbles in disbelief. "What the hell?"

"Uh," Shiho drawls, lifting both of her hands like weighing a scale. "Because: Shooting someone. Antagonizing someone." She drops her left hand to mimic the scale tipping to show the obvious that shooting someone is worse.

"I can't believe this." The creature shakes it's head incredulously. "You know what, just— would it make thou feel better if I give thee a free pass to act as thou pleases without consequence?"

"Maybe?"

"Then thou hast a free pass."

Shiho shuffles in her seat hesitantly. "Then... can I ask anything?" She feels a brief mental wave that clearly means yes, go ahead. "Okay, um, what should I call you?"

The creature blinks.

"I mean, I haven't really known what to call you so I haven't been calling you anything... um, if it helps, my name—" An abrupt surge of hold, stop causes the words to lock in her throat. Shiho freezes in her seat, wide eyes locked on the velvet book.

"Don't—" it's hurried word is paused by its own head shake. "Thou really shouldn't give thy name to something like me. If thou wishes to exchange names, use a nickname."

"Something like you...?" The only time she's ever heard of names being a bad thing to give out — in a supernatural sense — are with with demons and fae. "Um, why? It's not like you're a demon." It doesn't feel like a demon, she's long since realized that it's not evil or dangerous or deadly.

Petty, yes. Evil, no.

But it doesn’t really feel like a fae, either.

The creature quirks it's lips, clearly amused. It doesn't answer, leaving her staring in bemusement.

"Okay, no." Shiho blinks at it wide-eyed. "You're not demon-like!"

It snickers. "I take offense to that, you know."

"But- But you're not!" It's not - it's not evil or demonic or... or anything like that! It's emotions — both that it's intentionally shown her and that she's seen herself — are more understandable and human than something else. If anything, it acts like Morgana used to when she and Ann first met him, all hissy and distrustful.

He's not demon-like at all!

"You could name me," it says through it's extremely un-demon-like giggles, seeming to make it it's mission to confuse and stump her in every way it can. "Any name I could grant thou would just hint towards my title, which could give away my name, too. And it seems it's become somewhat of a tradition for us at this point, to give a name to another and receive one in turn."

Us? She's never given it a name before! Well, she's called it velvet book and creature before but those aren't names!

"Are - are you trying to roll past you implying that you're a demon?"

"Not particularly." It has the gall to shrug. "It depends on your definition of a demon. Some would call me as such. Others wouldn't. I suppose it depends on where your beliefs or religion stands."

Shiho has half a mind to do a deep dive into religious names just to figure out if it's being cryptic on purpose. Either way...

She shakes her head. "Well, I'm not calling you by a demon's name. And how am I supposed to name you when I don't really know anything about you besides that you're some... I don't know, book spirit?"

The creature hums, like her budding discomfort around the concept of it's name is amusing to it. It probably is. "Perhaps that, then?"

"What?"

"Spirit," it repeats. "While not entirely true, it's not an inaccurate title; a soul is a spirit."

"You're a soul?" Shiho tilts her head with a frown. It doesn't make sense to her. If it's supposed to be a maybe-somehow-someway demon, aren't demons supposed to not have a soul? Isn't that the whole point of them? They make deals for souls because they don't have any?

Still, it inclines it's head. "Indeed."

Shiho purses her lips, turns towards her laptop, opens the lid and proceeds to pull up a web search.

The internet gives no immediate concrete statement on if demons have souls or not.

The book — Spirit now, she guesses — snickers at her groan. "I did tell thee that it depends on thy beliefs, no?"

"You said that about your name."

"Names are one's identity and state of being."

Shiho glowers at the very clear smirk it has on it's face. Is this how Birdie feels? Spirit is very good at pushing buttons. "I will figure you out," she declares.

(It reminds her a little of the start of the school year, the last time she said something similar to those words. "Sir, I will find out your secrets," she had declared, pointing a finger at the cat that's now Ann's.

She still hasn't, yet.)

"By all means, Demoiselle." It almost feels like it's kicking it's feet, childishly.

Shiho's heard that word before. She knows where it's from. She stares incredulously at it. "Are you French?"

Spirit cackles.

June 20, 2016. Early Morning.

"You're not an it." Shiho probably could have found a better way to phrase it, but she just woke up and her sleep-deprived brain was thinking about Spirit before she realized oh wait, it might not like being referred to as an it, and then she couldn't stop thinking - so here she is, freshly rolled out of bed with tangled, unbrushed hair, ruffled clothes, and blurry eyes, asking a sentient book what it is.

The faint energy around the book becomes a little more alert. "Good morning?" It blinks, befuddled. "I am not an it," it— they— ugh confirms.

She pins her eyes on Spirit, near manic. "What thou?"

A laugh startles itself from the creature. "I would think humans need more sleep than you apparently just got."

"I don't need sleep, I need answers."

"Oh, wonderful; another memer." Spirit shakes their head with a snort. "I'm male, now go back to sleep."

Shiho shoots him a salute before crossing her arms on her desk and burying her head in them.

"In your bed, Demoiselle."

Shiho groans before hauling herself up, back into bed, and promptly collapses.

Shiho wakes when the sun is up and valiantly trying to light up her room past the curtains. She doesn't want to get up, but she still has work to do so she forces herself to climb out of her comfortable sheets and fumble her way over to her computer.

She barely has the time to open her laptop before Spirit talks, oddly chipper and amused. "Good day!"

"G'morn," Shiho mumbles as she logs in and pulls up the classwork and lessons she needs to get done.

"You sound even less awake than this morning."

"Huh?" Shiho pauses, blinks, and stares at the book. What is it talking about? This is the first time they've talked this morning.

"Ah," it snorts. "Sleepwalking, then."

"Sleep—?" Shiho falters as Spirit pushes a memory into her head, giving her a front row seat to her embarrassing sleep-deprived self and Spirit's amusement. Well, it couldn't be sleepwalking, because she remembers it now. She groans, burying her face in her hands. "I hate sleep deprivation."

He snickers, and now that she's paying attention, his distorted and echoey voice does sound deep. It makes her wonder why she never thought he was male before. "'Twas amusing."

Yeah, she could tell.

Then, she pauses. "You said memes. You know memes?" What? How?

"Our budding Hermit," he says, shaking his head fondly. "She is chronically online."

"Let me guess; you call her Hermit because of that?" If that's the case, then Spirit's naming sense needs some work. She'd hate it if someone called her Hermit just for not going outside. 

Spirit pauses as he blinks, and Shiho can feel the unfiltered confusion so hard it makes her confused. "No?"

"But doesn't hermit mean someone who doesn't go outside often?"

"That—" Spirit groans. "Humans." Shiho feels mildly offended at how he says it. "No." The pages on the velvet book flicker, and an image bleeds into the white sheet. It's one of those black rectangles, the ones with weird indecipherable patterns running through them. "Hermit," he says decisively.

He declares this like it's supposed to mean something. Shiho stares at it.

"The...rectangle is this Hermit person?"

"It represents our budding Hermit."

So the images are meant to represent people? Shiho tilts her head. "Then all of those rectangle thingies refer to someone?"

"Correct, Dlle." Spirit nods. "They are bonds not yet forged." The rectangle image shifts, fading as it's replaced with new rectangles, one after another - the patterns inside them all different, yet similar to each other. "Reversed White Rose, Justice, Hermit, Reversed Fool, R— oh! He used to Reversed — Upright Magician, Chariot, and Priestess." 

Shiho perks up, asking, "Are bonds tarot cards?" She recognizes almost all of the titles he's given, aside from White Rose. Don't tarot cards also have upright and reversed meanings too?

(She's definitely going to search up the images of those cards when she doesn't have her schoolwork looming over her, just to see if she can match the blackened card images to their counterparts.)

"Oui! Though, we prefer to refer to them as Arcana or Confidants— oh!" Spirit cuts himself off.

Shiho stares at the book, now hesitantly. That odd cross of a wary and relieved tone could mean anything. "What happened?"

"One moment, pardon me." A minute pause, before she hears a muffled irritated curse. "Damn it all to hell."

"...are you okay?"

"Me? Oh, I'm just fine," he drawls in a way that says he's not fine. "Absolutely nothing wron—" he heaves a breath. "I'm going to kill him."

At this point, Shiho doesn't even know if he means it literally or not. He sounds frustrated, not in the murder is the only solution way, but in the same way that Ann gets mad when someone at her modeling job messes up and matches two clothes together that really shouldn't go together, and then proceeds to tell her to model it.

It's the kind of silent, simmering frustration that rarely gets voiced to the offending party.

"...did Birdie do something?" She can't think of anyone else it could be, Spirit has only ever named him - aside from the, um, arcana?

"Ha!" Spirit doesn't need to say anything more for Shiho to know that it isn’t Birdie who committed the offense. He does anyway. "Birdie? Birdie would never. He has tact. He has intelligence. He would know that he would need to preen god damn wings. Hell, he would be meticulous about it, damn image perfectionist."

Shiho is confused. She asks hesitantly, "Birdie has wings?"

"No. I have wings."

"Then, um." Shiho leans back in her chair, tries to reconcile the image in her head of a clawed and winged creature, and peers at the book befuddledly. "Are you insulting yourself?"

"Apparently!" He grumbles a few incoherent words under his breath while (Shiho assumes) he assesses the damage he did to his wings. "This is going to take me hours," he bemoans.

"Oh," Shiho says. "Sorry, I don't think I can help with that?" It's not like she can jump into the book and somehow do something.

"Please, just distract me," he begs.

"Uhhhh." She looks around. She has no idea what to do. It's not like she can bring him somewhere entertaining or talk about random things, because she's already days behind on her work and desperately needs to catch up before the school decides to call. And she doesn't think Spirit would enjoy her narrating chapters four through nine of her art history textbook - which she really needs to start, damn it.

She settles for pulling up an online playlist of battle music — which she finds fitting for the situation — and plays it with a higher volume than she normally would play music.

Spirit doesn't say anything for a solid minute. Then, he says, "Okay, y'know what, that's fair."

They work in the relative silence (plus battle music) for over an hour. Shiho works through her classwork, while Spirit's emotions flip from irritation to meticulous to wallowing and back to irritation again.

Eventually, two and a half hours in, Spirit whines, "Dost thou think Birdie would do it if I groveled hard enough?"

Shiho's eyes flick from the boring drone of words to the velvet tome. She doesn't even think before she mumbles, "Didn't Birdie shoot you for being an annoyance?"

Then, she freezes, her mouth open to take it back with a hundred apologies when Spirit whines pathetically again. "Damn him and his perfect temper."

Well.

Okay.

It takes a few hours, but Shiho does eventually finish her work. Though, she did have her parents stick their heads in at one point with concerned looks at her choice of music. That wasn't fun.

Shiho lowers the volume and pokes the velvet book with a finger. "Did you fix your wings?"

Spirit groans, which Shiho generously takes as a no. "I'm taking a break, don't remind me."

"Okay." Shiho doesn't know how long wing care takes, her only experience with it being the birds she's seen plucking or pecking at their wings, but Spirit makes it sound harrowing and stressful. But Spirit doesn't want to talk about his wings so she won't ask right now.

But she does remembers another stressful statement.

"Hey... um, Spirit?"

"Hm?"

"A few days ago... you said that if I tried to bring you to where you were before that I would get us both killed." Shiho shifts, cautiously eyeing the book and paying attention to any minute emotional shift. "What did you mean by that?"

"Just as I said," Spirit answers, shuffling around in some unseen way. Stretching out, maybe? "Where I would need to go, it's located in the depths. And it's... more complicated than that. Presently, I physically can not enter the depths, but the Compendium would need to reach it. Dost that make sense?"

Shiho shuffles. Sort of? She knows that Spirit exists somewhere physically, and that that physical location isn't in the velvet book. But he's still connected to the book — Compendium? — so if it went to the depths of hell, then technically wouldn't he also be in the depths, despite not really being there?

Spirit's right. This is complicated and confusing.

She tries to sum it up anyway, to at least get some confirmation. "The book needs to go back, but not you?"

"Mmm," Spirit tilts his head. "Sure. I'd like to go back, but that's currently not in the cards."

"Okay..." Shiho nods slowly. "So, since you can't go, you would need someone else to bring your book down there?"

"Correct," Spirit confirms. "And before thou makes any suggestions, it would be impossible for you to bring me there. The path down is controlled, barred, and guarded. It's overseer would not allow anyone close. Even if, by some chance, there was a way down, it would be far too dangerous for both those descending and myself."

"Wait," Shiho demands, narrowed eyes blinking at the book. "Why is it dangerous for you? You said you wouldn't be there." A thought occurs to her, and it causes her heart to beat in her chest. "Do you mean- if the book—?

"Yes." Shiho feels herself freeze at the definitive confirmation. A shuffle, and Spirit continues, his tone offhanded. "If the Compendium is damaged, it will cause harm to me. If it's destroyed, it would kill me, and cause a mental shutdown."

What? He - he says it like it's not important, like it doesn't even matter—

That - that also means she could have injured or killed him by accident. She didn't even know—

"Thou hasn't harmed me." Shiho's head jolts towards the tome. "Thou've been careful and delicate, with no intent to harm. Rather, you've taken care of the Compendium's physical condition quite well. You can stop worrying."

"But - it - this is your life!" Shiho waves her hands frantically. "How are you so flippant with this—?"

"I'm well aware," he cuts in, shaking his head. "And I have never been flippant with the life of me and mine. That is why I've acted as I have." He sighs. "I've only ever trusted my Keeper with my life, it's her job to protect and care for the Compendium, and she did so until she cast it out."

Shiho whimpers at the brief flare of betrayal from Spirit. The same directed, singular feeling of betrayal from before. "She tried to kill you?"

"Pardon?" Spirit perks, blinking puzzledly. "No? No, I don't think she's emotionally capable of that."

"But she was the one who threw you into the lake?" If she knew that damage to the book translates to Spirit, then she would have known that water damages books when she left him there.

"Ah," Spirit mutters. "I understand the confusion." He shakes his head, and speaks a little louder, "Yes and no. My Keeper is the reason I was at the lake: yes. But she did not throw me in. She threw me out."

"I don't - but that - you came from the lake?" Shiho doesn't get it. "But water damages books, the pages can get withered and soggy and ripped and the binding can get weak. How could you come from the lake..?"

Spirit laughs, light and airy. "That lake isn't entirely what you would call a mortal lake. It's a sacred place for me and mine, it's waters cannot harm me."

Shiho remembers back when she picked up the book, how she thought it was odd that there wasn't a drop of water on it. How it wasn't wet or damaged, despite being lodged in rocks with lake water brushing under it. That's why it wasn't wet or damaged? Because that water, specifically, can't harm it?

She also remembers the last time Spirit mentioned the lake. Hesitantly, she asks, "Is that why you told me to throw you back into the lake?"

"I - well," Spirit shuffles sheepishly. "Yes."

"Is your Keeper still there? In the lake?"

"That... is a difficult question to answer without going into the nature of the Compendium." Spirit hums and kicks his feet pensively. "She exists in a place outside of time and physical location. Though, I would assume she is still with the lake, but the lake is located in the depths of hell?"

Shiho frowns. "I don't get it."

"...I apologize, I don't know how to explain it to a mortal without having to write a novel or academic paper."

"Then, um, if I brought you back to the lake, would you be able to, uh, find her?"

"Unlikely." Spirit shakes his head. "While connected to it, she does not exist with that lake, similar to how I do not exist within the Compendium." He waves a clawed hand. "The only way to reach her would be to descend into the depths."

"Which would kill both of us?" Shiho tentatively finishes.

"Correct," Spirit agrees with a small nod.

"That's... not fun."

Spirit chuckles. "No, 'tis not."

"Then why did she do that?" Shiho drums her nails on the desk, eyebrows furrowing as she stares down at the woodgrains. "If it's nearly impossible to get back to her, and she wasn't trying to kill you when she, um, threw you out, then why throw you out?"

"I don't know." Spirit clicks his tongue, voice irritated. "She didn't inform me of the decision, and if she meant for it to help, then I'm unable to comprehend her reasoning."

"Maybe there was something there that she thought you needed?" Shiho thinks back to the forest lake, but she can't think of anything that stands out, aside from the ethereal-ness of the lake itself.

Spirit shakes his head. "I can't interact with the non-living aspects of your world, so I don't believe—" He stops, perking up in immediate, excited attention.

Shiho's head snaps to the book. "What is it? Did you remember something?"

"No, it's Birdie!" Spirit chirps gleefully. "Birdie's back!"

Shiho sighs, falling back into her chair. She really, really doesn't get Spirit's obsession with this guy. "You're going to go pester him again, aren't you?"

"But of course!" He agrees cheerfully, and Shiho can already feel the creature getting up with a rush of excitement and salt air. "I could never leave my dear Birdie waiting, he'd get worried!"

Shiho doesn't believe that. She mumbles, "Just don't get shot again."

"Those are merely love taps!"

"They are not," Shiho disagrees indignantly.

"Aggressive love taps! Ciao!"

"Wait you—" Shiho stops with a frustrated hiss when she realizes he's not paying attention to her anymore. She heaves a sigh and resolves to cautiously submit herself to Spirit's occasional emotion surges as he does whatever he's doing with Birdie.

He's ridiculous, she thinks. He's not demon-like or evil like he seems to accept he is, and he doesn't act like he has any care for himself despite saying otherwise. 

Shiho doesn't like it. She doesn't like it's flippant attitude about its safety. She doesn't like how it runs towards someone who shot it like a dog does when it hears the word 'treat.' And she doesn't like how it could die if something happens to it's book home.

Spirit and his Keeper may not care for his safety, but Shiho sure as hell is going to make sure nothing happens to his soul book thing.

June 21, 2016. Noon.

Shiho returns home to her room after wandering through Kurashiki's shops for hours, carrying three heavily padded bags with her. She drops them onto her bed.

Well! Productive shopping trip, she hopes. She's gone through just about every option for protective bags that Kurashiki has to offer, and it is very difficult to find something big enough to fit the Compendium.

So far, she's settled on three waterproof, shockproof, and padded computer bags — because computer bags are the only ones that would reliability fit the Compendium. Something like backpack would only foster it falling around inside it.

Spirit blinks at her entrance, tilting his head with cat-like curiosity.

"I bought bags." Shiho holds up one of the bags, hoping that Spirit can get some sense of it and that she's not presenting it to the air and only the air. "They're supposed to be waterproof and shockproof."

Spirit nods along.

"I already tested that they're shockproof by attempting damage them, and my phone remains unbroken."

Spirit pauses minutely. "What did it do to deserve that?"

"It was the most delicate thing I could think of. It's fine," Shiho answers, waving off his incredulous look. "I also ran them under the faucet and the inside was untouched."

"...Your poor phone."

"It's fine," Shiho insists. She waves the bag in the air again. "Point: is putting the Compendium in a bag bad for you?"

If it is, she'll have to come up with some other way to protect the book than a padded bag-case.

"The Compendium? Why..." Spirit pauses, eyes flicking between her and the bag. "You got them for the Compendium?" He feels flabbergasted. "Why?" 

She should not have to explain this to him. She points at him. "You said the book is essentially your life."

"Well, yes..."

"Then it needs some kind of protective case."

"But... the house is fine?"

Shiho raises an incredulous eyebrow. "Are you going to live your entire book life in our house?" Spirit frowns. "Plus, I'm not always going to be in the house and what if something happens when I go out?"

"I sincerely doubt anything will happen in Kurashiki." He states this blandly, like there wasn't a whole earth-shattering disappearance a year ago that's located literally a few blocks away from here. When she reminds him of this, Spirit only clicks his tongue in distaste.

"I don't care about the nearly non-existent crime rate, I care about the one percent that something happens and I'm not here and you're defenseless."

"I'm not defenseless," he mumbles petulantly. "I knocked thou over when thou started messing with me."

"But you can only attack people mentally." Shiho retorts. "That's not going to do something against, I don't know, a fire?"

He blinks incredulously. "Why would there ever be a fire?"

"Spirit for the love of god, or the love of hell or whatever you pray to, I am an anxious teenager and your life is literally sitting on my desk right now." Shiho sternly holds the bag in front of him. "Will it, or will it not, be a problem?"

Spirit huffs, exhaling a long breath as he bites down whatever retort he was going to say before. "It should be fine."

Shiho narrows her eyes. He sounded reluctant. "Really?" She presses.

"It should be," he repeats, staring pensively. "I believe my senses would be dulled. I wouldn't be able to see or hear as much as I normally would, so I wouldn't particularly prefer it. But if it eases your anxiety, then I would be... amendable."

Shiho purses her lips. She doesn't like that. It also implies that having the Compendium inside anything would cause this dulling effect. To give it any kind of physical protection would only hamper Spirit's mental retaliations.

"I can hear thee pondering." Spirit comments with a small laugh. "It would really only shrink the radius of what I can sense around the Compendium. If something tried to interfere with it, I would still be able to fight back."

"Right..."

"How about this," he says. "When we're inside, no case. If you ever bring the Compendium outside, however, then we can use it."

"Okay." Shiho nods slowly, then decisively. "Okay, that works. Um, when would you be okay going outside? Because I don't really like the idea of just... leaving you somewhere now."

"I suppose... just ask me ahead of time?" Spirit tilts his head. "I'm fine with going to most places in Kurashiki."

"So just, if I'm going out, say, 'wanna come with'?" Spirit hums in confirmation, and Shiho nods back with a little salute. "Understood, mister book spirit, sir."

He laughs. "Very well, it's a deal, then—" Spirit slows to a stop as ink flickers along the book's pages. They both watch as it coalesces and forms a blackened rectangle. One that Spirit didn't show her before.

"Who's that?"

Spirit stutters out a breathy, "What..?"

Shiho frowns, hesitantly putting the bag down on the desk. He never acted like this for the other weird-forming rectangles. He always responded to those with joy or glee - aside from when he went silent on her. Now he just seems struck dumb.

"Spirit?"

He shakes his head again, like he's trying to stop a mental spiral. When he exhales, it's mildly shaky. "Reversed Fortitude."

Shiho tentatively looks between the ink and white parts of the page. She doesn't know what tarot card that's supposed to be. "Is... is that a bad thing?"

"A bad thing? That..." A rake of claws against his head, a brief tug of hair. "Fortitude is an alternative of Strength, but Strength is..." he frowns, eyes narrowed pensively. "Is that why she..?" A breath. "It still shouldn't be possible..."

The page flickers, revealing two other blackened rectangles she also hasn't seen before. Spirit stares at them with narrowed eyes, and Shiho senses a multitude of mixed feelings surging.

"...Do you want me to be quiet so you can figure it out?"

It takes a minute for Spirit to respond, slowly shaking his head. "No, I don't know if this is a bad thing; and no, thou doesn't need to silence thyself."

"Then, um, what happened?" Shiho carefully slides into her desk chair. "You're normally happy with the tarot cards."

"I'm not unhappy," he mutters. "I'm confused. Arcana and Confidants are shared between both halves of a whole. Therefore, any bonds made should be shared between the Confidant, the Trickster, and myself."