Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

As the train rolled in to the familiar world of Tokyo and Yongen-Jaya, Ren couldn’t help but feel an excited smile creep onto his face. It had been way, WAY too long since he had seen any of his friends, his fellow Phantom Thieves, in person. The last time had been with Haru a couple months back, and that had been a special case since she was his girlfriend.

But now, Ren would be seeing ALL of them! His unique and special team of Persona users, the ones with whom he had forged unbreakable bonds greater than even the ones he had made with Yu and the Investigation Team. He would be hanging out with them for an entire month, and this time there wouldn’t be the grip of tyrannical and corrupt authority figures, or a malevolent false deity, threatening to crush his and his friends’ necks. This time, it would be just him, his friends, and an exciting road trip vacation throughout all of Japan.

And it was something he was very, very much looking forward to.

Morgana peered his head over his shoulder from his bag and smirked up at him. “It’s been a while since we rode this to Yongen-jaya, huh?” he asked knowingly.

“You know it, Morgana,” Ren replied happily as the train pressed on.

“Now for today’s Train News,” the train’s intercom interrupted before either of them could continue the conversation. “Today’s headlines are…confession of document tampering! The Diet is in chaos over the Vice-Minister of Finance’s confession, and power struggles have flared. Members of the Vice-Minister’s party have refused to comment across the board while the country awaits his court summons.”

“Oh, wonderful…” Ren thought dryly. “Good to know that the government leadership of this country is just as incompetent as ever, even without Shido getting his slimy hands into everything.” Granted, he had little doubt that his old friend Toranosuke Yoshida would have improved the Diet once he was elected…but Tora was still only one member of the Diet, and thus wouldn’t be enough to reform the government by himself, at least not initially.

“We haven’t seen anyone besides Haru in so long!” Morgana exclaimed, interrupting his thoughts. “I know it’s stupid, but I’m getting kind of nervous,” he admitted.

“Don’t be,” Ren reassured him with a grin. “This is going to be awesome!”

“Hell yeah it is!” Morgana agreed as the train came to a stop.

Ren got out of the train and walked onto the streets of Yongen-Jaya. Even though it had been several months since he had last been in Tokyo, Ren knew the streets of where he had lived for the past year like the back of his hands. In almost no time at all, they were standing right in front of the entrance to Café LeBlanc, the only place that Ren could possibly call home while he was in Tokyo.

“Well, here we are. Doesn’t look like things have changed much,” Morgana mused. “Time to go in, right?”

“As if there’s any other place I’d rather be,” Ren deadpanned, earning a snicker from Morgana as the two entered the café. When they entered, they were surprised to discover that the Café was completely deserted and pitch-black.

“What the heck?” Ren thought. “It’s a weekday, there’s no way Sojiro would skip out on a work day for no good reason.”

Before he could process anything further, a voice suddenly whispered out from the shadows. “One…two…three…!”

The lights flashed on, and confetti and streamers burst into the air. “WELCOME HOME!” multiple very familiar voices shouted.

Ren’s eyes widened in surprise as Ann, Futaba, Makoto, and Haru popped out from under the chairs and tables in the booths to his left, while Yusuke and Ryuji popped out from beneath LeBlanc’s counter to his right. All of them had huge smiles on their faces, positively delighted to see their leader and friend finally back home. The only one missing was Sumire, although this was unsurprising as her Olympics training had taken her out of Japan entirely, meaning that the chances of her joining them were basically zero.

As Ren tried to process what was going on, Ryuji rushed over and wrapped an arm around his best bud. “Surprise!” he greeted him with a cocky grin. “We getcha or what?”

Ren finally collected his thoughts enough to let out an amused chuckle. “Yeah, you got me,” he admitted with a smirk. “I didn’t think you guys were gonna throw a surprise party for me like this.”

“We missed ya!” Futaba greeted him cheerfully as she rushed up to him.

“It really has been far too long,” Yusuke agreed.

Haru approached her boyfriend and grinned warmly at him. “I know I visited you in Inaba only a few months ago,” she acknowledged, “but that brief stay with you just wasn’t enough, my love.” Her face broke into an elated grin. “I want to be by your side for far longer than that, and I’m so unbelievably happy that I finally have the opportunity for a whole month. Welcome home, Ren-kun!”

She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug and kissed him passionately on the mouth. Ren was caught off-guard for a few second, but immediately afterwards reciprocated the kiss as they twirled around once. Cheers and whoops erupted from the rest of the Phantom Thieves, with Ann making sure to take a picture of the couple while they were still in the middle of the kiss.

“Power couple of the Phantom Thieves, right here!” Ryuji bellowed as Ren and Haru finally, and reluctantly, separated.

“I got the picture!” Ann announced happily. “Definitely gonna share it with you all later!”

“If only I had my art supplies with me,” Yusuke lamented. “I absolutely would have taken the opportunity to bring such a glorious and romantic scene to life upon my canvas!”

Makoto chuckled warmly. “Looks like you’ve been doing just fine,” she commented as Ann reached out to gently pet Morgana’s head, giving him a warm greeting as she did so.

For the next few seconds, the Phantom Thieves engaged in small talk (with most of them asking Ren how he was doing back in his hometown in Inaba) as Sojiro walked up to the counter, having hidden in the kitchen while the others threw their surprise party.

“Boy, were you in for a surprise!” Ann exclaimed with a giggle.

“You guys did all that for us?” Morgana asked in joyful disbelief. “Talk about a greeting!”

“We figured that the best way to getcha was to have Boss let us in early!” Ryuji declared with a silly grin on his face.

All eyes turned to Sojiro, who smiled at the sight of his son-like figure finally returned. “Well, you’re lookin’ sharp,” he remarked.

Ren turned to his father figure of Tokyo and smirked. “Did you get even older?” he asked dryly.

Sojiro only chuckled in response. “Clearly, you’re doing fine if you can make jokes like that,” he commented in an equally dry tone, before continuing, “I’m sure you guys have plenty of catching up to do. But since I’ve got to open up soon, go ahead and take it upstairs. After all, it’s your room. Have a good time.”

“Thanks, Boss,” Ren replied appreciatively. “It’s good to be back.”

“It’s good to have you back, Ren,” Sojiro replied with a smile. “You can pay me back by working at the counter once you have the time.”

“Deal!” Futaba cheerfully declared. “Now, Thieves…to the Hideout!”

As one, the Thieves all raced to the Hideout in the attic of Café LeBlanc, with Ren leading the ways as was only proper. Once they had all gotten themselves settled, the Thieves began talking to each other about how their school lives and grades had been going. Ryuji admitted that he had failed three finals, while Ann proudly admitted that she had only failed one final…much to Makoto’s annoyance. Meanwhile, both Makoto and Haru had been doing just fine at college despite how busy it could be.

“And what about you, Ren-kun?” Haru asked her boyfriend. “How has your school life been?”

“I’ve actually been doing pretty well, all things considered,” Ren answered. “Obviously I have Shiho as a friend there, and she’s probably my closest friend in Inaba. Both in general, and because she’s been fighting Shadows alongside me in the TV World as a Persona user.”

“Ooh, yeah!” Ann interrupted eagerly. “We’ve been talking SO much about that! I can’t believe she’s already evolved Zheng Yi Sao to Queen Frigg. That’s soooooo cool!” she gushed.

“I’m glad Shiho’s doing so well nowadays,” Makoto commented with a relieved smile on her face. “She deserves to have a happier life away from Shujin.”

“Man, I really wish we could’ve invited her here,” Ryuji lamented.

“I tried,” Ren sighed, “but Sojiro said that she wouldn’t fit in whatever transportation he planned to get for our road trip. And her parents didn’t want her traveling out of the country this summer anyway, so that plan was doomed on multiple levels.” He blinked as he realized he’d steered a little too far off-topic. “Anyways,” his lips stretched into a smirk, “I was top of the class at Shujin, and I’m still the top of the class at Yasogami.”

“Hell yeah!” Ryuji cheered.

“I wouldn’t have expected anything else,” Makoto replied proudly.

“And I actually have people outside of that I can actually call friends,” Ren continued. “Yeah, shocking, right? Granted, I can’t really call them anything more than casual friends. They certainly can’t hold a candle to you guys, or even to the Investigation Team.” He smiled. “But, hey…that’s still better than when I started off, right?”

“I’m honestly very relieved to hear that you’re being treated better,” Haru answered seriously. “You deserve nothing but the best, Ren-kun. If I heard that you were being treated poorly at your high school, I would have arranged a personal visit to…teach them a lesson, as it were,” she finished with a tone that was as sugary sweet as it was utterly menacing.

Yusuke shuddered. “I see that Haru is just as terrifying now as she was a year ago,” he murmured, Futaba nodding in firm agreement.

“Anyways, school sucks ass no matter how good you are it, so let’s move on to the ACTUAL important topic of conversation,” Ren declared. “What are we gonna do for our vacation this month? I know the short answer is a road trip, but there are so many options and opportunities that go into that.”

“If I may suggest Kyoto,” Yusuke was the first to put in a recommendation. “I’ll find an abundance of inspiration if we tour each temple and shrine.” His face adopted a euphoric expression that only Yusuke could display. “Oh, the sheer wealth of beauty I can witness in a whole month! I can hear the treasures of history calling out to me!” he grandiosely proclaimed.

Futaba yawned. “Yeah…” she drawled, “if this is gonna be a month-long art tour, I’m gonna pass.”

“Kyoto by itself isn’t a bad idea,” Ren acknowledged, acting as a mediator, “but we need to make sure that we choose activities that everyone here can enjoy.”

“What if we all went camping?” Ann suggested. “We can all go hiking and stuff during the day, and even throw a barbecue at night!”

“B-b-barbecue?” Futaba squeaked, clearly frightened. “Aren’t those always b-big gatherings for people who socialize IRL?”

“It’ll just be us,” Ren quickly reassured her. “You won’t have to hang around or force yourself to socialize with any strangers.”

Futaba breathed out an audible sigh of relief and gave a quick thanks to her brother figure as the rest of the Phantom Thieves voiced their agreement on a barbecue to start off their summer vacation. After they had all agreed, Futaba showed them a new app on her phone, EMMA, a virtual assistant which helped them identify a location where they could get camping gear.

“EMMA, huh?” Ren mused. “I haven’t heard of that app before.”

“It came out a few days ago before you showed up, actually,” Ann explained. “It knows basically everything and does all sorts of stuff for you!”

Futaba, ever the techno geek, launched into a detailed explanation of EMMA’s many functions and capabilities. Ren couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows at the sheer size and scale of the app’s functions. He could very easily see EMMA becoming the next big app to take center stage in modern technology…assuming that there wasn’t a downside he wasn’t aware of.

Ren downloaded the app inserted his name into it and accepted his friends’ friend requests. “I gotta tell Yu about this later,” he thought. “They might want to hear about the app, even if they don’t want to download it themselves.”

He and the rest of the Phantom Thieves spent the rest of the day and most of the evening sharing small talk and discussing their plans for the upcoming barbecue. Sojiro, in the meantime, had once again demonstrated why he was a culinary master and provided them all with a fresh batch of curry for dinner. By the time the Phantom Thieves except Ren left Café LeBlanc, it was already well into the night, and Ren himself was beginning to feel fatigue creeping into him.

“You know,” Sojiro remarked once everyone else except them, Futaba, and Morgana were gone, “I’ll let you stay over at my house for tonight, if you’d like,” he offered. “At this point, it’d be rude for me not to extend the invitation after everything we’ve been through last year.”

“Thanks, Boss…but I prefer to stay in the attic here,” Ren politely and gratefully declined. “It just…wouldn’t be the same if I slept anywhere else, y’know?”

Sojiro chuckled. “I had a feeling you’d say that, but I figured I should at least ask.” He glanced over at Futaba. “You’re done for the night, right?”

“Yep!” Futaba cheerfully confirmed, before turning to Ren. “We’ll see you tomorrow!”

“See ya,” Ren waved back, before shifting his attention to Sojiro. “I know the drill, Sojiro. See you tomorrow, and have a good night.”

“I trust you know what you’re doing, Ren,” Sojiro replied confidently. “Have a good night.”

The two Sakuras left the Café, and Ren immediately closed and locked the door like he had done countless times last year. By now, he was feeling really tired after his long trip from Inaba and the many hours he had spent chatting with his friends, and he didn’t even need Morgana’s prompting to lay down on his bed and go right to sleep.

Ren’s vacation had started off about as well as he could have hoped for…so the last thing he expected was to wake up in the Velvet Room in the prison cell where he had spent the last year. “What the heck?” he thought as he shot up onto his cot. The very fact that he had woken up in the Velvet Room was concerning by itself. Sure, he had visited the Velvet Room many times in Inaba both with and without Yu around…but those visits had always been voluntary, and mainly for the purposes of getting Yu’s Personas up to par with the ones he possessed. Not a single one of those visits had been forced upon him.

So the fact that his mind had been brought to the Velvet Room externally was worrisome enough…but that red flag was nothing compared to the fact that he was once again in the same prison clothes that he had worn when he had been Yaldabaoth’s prison. “Shit,” Ren muttered as he got to his feet. “Shit, shit, shit. This CANNOT be a good sign.”

“Unfortunately, my Trickster…you are very correct,” a familiar voice tinged with sadness and resignation greeted him.

Ren approached the edge of the jail door…where Lavenza was waiting to greet him, next to Igor’s desk. His Velvet Room Attendant thankfully appeared completely unharmed and largely unchanged since the last time he had seen her in Inaba, which meant that the worst-case situation of Yaldabaoth returning to ruin things for everyone was thankfully ruled out.

Margaret was nowhere to be found, though…and Igor’s chair was as empty as it had always been. Clearly, the master of the Velvet Room was still recovering from his imprisonment under Yaldabaoth.

Lavenza walked up to Ren’s door, looking downtrodden. “I apologize for bringing your consciousness to the Velvet Room against your will, Trickster,” she began regretfully. “Yet I must perform my duty, both for your sake and for the sake of humanity.” She took a second to compose herself before continuing. “As you are well aware, the Velvet Room is a room that only those who are bound by a contract may enter. The expression that you bear tells me that you already know the reason for your summons.”

“Yep,” Ren answered, his tone drier than the sands surrounding Futaba’s old Palace. “Some new major threat has popped up somewhere, the world’s about to go to hell in some way or another, and my friends and I are the ones who’re gonna have to save the world.” He rolled his eyes. “Again.”

Lavenza sighed, before giving Ren an ironic smile. “Astute as always, my Trickster,” she complimented, before steeling herself and continuing. “Your assumptions are correct. I have come here to warn you of the danger threatening to consume both yourself and the entire world whose heart you strove so greatly to change.”

Ren groaned. “Fan-fucking-tastic,” he growled, resisting the urge to kick the jail door. “Sometimes I hate being right.” He glanced over at Lavenza and forced himself to calm down. It wasn’t her fault that some cognitive threat out there was about to ruin his vacation. “Is there anything you can tell me about this new threat?” he asked, making sure to soften his voice as much as possible.

Lavenza scowled. “A most loathsome prison has manifested,” she explained. “Your appearance is ironclad evidence of this.” Her face fell and she sighed. “You have become a prisoner of fate yet again.”

“Wonderful,” Ren drawled. “Because CLEARLY Yaldabaoth wasn’t enough the first time around.”

“I do not have many details to give you at this time,” Lavenza admitted, before her gaze hardened. “But I can tell you this, Trickster. Someone, even now, plots to lure you into a disastrous fate. Confronted by this evil will…your own will cries out, calling for you to rise against it!”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Ren retorted. “Some asshole decided to fuck around with me and my friends on our first major reunion. I’m going to beat the shit out of them when I get my hands on them, whoever they are.”

Lavenza smiled fondly. “That is the Trickster I know so well.” Her smile faded away. “But as to your previous question…unfortunately, my information is currently limited.”

“I have a bunch of overpowered Personas from my last Journey and also the TV World,” Ren pointed out. “Any chance I can just bring them, completely curbstomp everything in my path with Satanael, Yoshitsune, and friends? And then call it a day afterwards?”

“If only it were that simple,” Lavenza lamented, and the doubt was so thick that Ren was almost certain at this point that the easy way simply wasn’t going to happen. “But I do not believe it will be that easy. The loathsome prison of which I spoke of earlier…it is a world shaped by the human unconscious just like Mementos and the TV World. However, there is something about this world that is fundamentally and completely different from any world that you have visited in the past, Trickster. I beg of you…” she pleaded. “Do not assume that you will be able to freely wield the Personas and power that you have utilized in your previous journey. I do not wish to see you fall to arrogance borne from a flawed assumption!”

Ren grimaced. “So I might not be able to bring all of my overpowered Personas with me to this new cognitive world,” he realized. That was absolutely NOT what he wanted to hear. For far too long, he had enjoyed the pleasure of creating overpowered, practically invincible Personas with which he could slaughter entire armies of Shadows. Now, he was facing the very real possibility that he might no longer have that luxury…and if that was true, then the Shadows of this world could prove to be a very real threat once again. He would have to be very careful going forward, just in case this scenario proved to be true.

Still, until he actually ENTERED this new world, there wasn’t really much he could realistically do about it. Ren would just have to keep a careful eye on his surroundings until he could get more information.

“Should the world continue down its current path,” Lavenza warned, “all that awaits you is destruction.” Then, she smiled at him. “Yet you have faced and triumphed over multiple threats to humanity in the past, and triumphed over them all. As one who rules over power, it is my duty and my privilege to witness and guide you down the path you must take, my Trickster. Do you still have the resolve to defy the grim fate awaiting you and face the distortion that yet again threatens the world?”

Ren raised an eyebrow at her and smirked. “Do you even need to ask?”

Lavenza giggled and nodded approvingly. “That is the Trickster I know so well.” Her face adopted a more neutral and stoic expression. “What awaits you ahead are more of the same – no, even greater hardships than before,” she warned.

Ren rolled his eyes. “Yeah, that sounds about right,” he muttered.

Lavenza smiled at him warmly. “You must never forget, though. I will always be by your side.”

Ren smiled back at her, but before he could say anything, he began to feel his consciousness be pulled back to reality. A phenomenon that Lavenza also realized was happening, as the alarm in the Velvet Room began to ring. “Let us meet again soon. Once you have entered the prison for the first time, I will be able to provide you with more information,” she offered. “Until then, pleasant dreams.”

Ren gave her a final farewell as he returned to the world of reality. He was thankful for the warning Lavenza had given him, although he was not pleased in the slightest that what was supposed to be a calm, relaxing vacation would very likely end up becoming a journey to save humanity from a world-threatening disaster for the second.

“I don’t mind answering the call to save the world in and of itself,” he thought with growing annoyance. “Heck, fighting Shadows with Personas in the Metaverse or TV World is honestly kinda fun. But couldn’t the universe have waited just one fucking year before whacking me on the head with this shit?”

Ren sighed. Right now, he had basically no information to go off of apart from Lavenza’s warning, and until he entered this “loathsome prison” for the first time there was nothing he could realistically do. He would report everything to his friends the moment he found evidence that something was wrong, but until then he would simply keep a keen eye on his surroundings for potential dangers and enemies.

He didn’t know when to laugh or cry when he found the evidence that he was looking for not even a day later.

The day had started simply enough. He, Ryuji, and Morgana had left for Shibuya, specifically at the Shibuya 705 building, to look for camping supplies and tools to prepare for their travels. EMMA had been the one to offer the recommendation, and Ren figured he might as well humor the app and test just how effective it truly was. On the way there, they happened to pass by an event being held by an idol named Alice Hiiragi. Ren personally thought the way she was dressed was excessive to the point of being outright garish, but judging by the huge crowds of adoring fans, Alice appeared to be very popular...to the point that all of the fans were practically gushing whenever she gave away one of her invitation cards.

“Yeesh, I know fandoms can get carried away, but this is kinda getting out of hand,” Ren thought, struggling not to openly cringe. Before he could do anything else, though, Alice was suddenly up in front of him.

“Ooh!” the idol gasped as she looked into his eyes. “Those are some quality specs!”

“Thanks…I guess?” Ren replied, not really sure what else to say.

Alice giggled. “Sorry…that was weird,” she apologized. She handed over the card, which Ren cautiously accepted. He couldn’t really see why Alice was so popular, but so far she hadn’t actually done anything wrong to him either. And there was no reason for him to be rude, especially when they were right in the middle of a crowd of Alice’s adoring fans.

Once the three friends left the area, Ryuji started gushing about how cool Alice was. Morgana didn’t seem all that impressed, and while Ren didn’t always see eye-to-eye with Morgana on everything, in this case he was fully in agreement with him regarding Alice.

And then things went to hell as soon as he put in the keyword from Alice’s invitation card into EMMA. The moment he entered the keyword, he immediately felt a sensation that he hadn’t felt since the beginning of the year. The sensation of being pulled out of the real world and into the Metaverse. And it wasn’t just him, either…Ryuji and Morgana had also been dragged along into the Metaverse as well. Ren could immediately tell based on how the Shibuya 705 tower had been dramatically transformed into a castle of some kind with a heart-shaped cage at the very top…as well as the fact that he, Skull, and Mona were all in their Phantom Thief outfits.

That was all Joker had time to process before his head suddenly exploded in a horrendous headache. It was without question the worst headache he had ever experienced in his entire life, as though parts of his mind were being torn away from his brain. It was so bad that it made attacks from the Reaper feel like wet tissue paper in comparison. “GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!” Joker screamed as the pain in his head forced him down to one knee, clutching his head.

Next to him, Skull and Mona were also suffering headaches just like he was, although thankfully it didn’t seem as though theirs were nearly as bad. Skull looked up and his eyes widened in horror as he watched Joker clutch his head in agonizing pain. “Holy shit, Joker!” he exclaimed. “Are you all right, dude?”

“Urrrgggghhhh…I think…?” Joker groaned. “The pain’s starting to ease off, at the very least.”

“What the hell just happened?” Skull asked furiously. “We’ve never gotten headaches coming into the Metaverse before!”

“I don’t know!” Mona answered helplessly. “That’s never happened to us before! Heck, it never happened whenever Joker and I entered the TV World back in Inaba, and that’s an entirely different cognitive world from the Metaverse!”

“Guys…” Joker pointed up to the top of a skyscraper that had a huge TV screen attached to the side. They watched as a Shadow version of Alice appeared, looking so garish and flamboyantly colored that it made the real Alice look positively normal by comparison. They watched in horror as Shadow Alice demanded that the Shadows of hapless, innocent bystanders give them her “Desires,” and summoned Shadows in the forms of masked police officers to rip out strange gems from within their cores.

Instinctively, Joker understood that this was going to have bad implications, but he didn’t have time to dwell on this any further as more of the Shadow police guards surrounded them with the goal of stealing their Desires too. He had a feeling that he would be inherently immune to this thanks to already having a Persona…but that didn’t mean anything if they beat him to death with their clubs.

“What the hell is going on?” Skull exclaimed.

“There’s no time!” Mona warned. “We’ll think about it later. Joker, Skull, let’s fight our way out of this!”

Joker nodded and ripped off his mask, only to summon… “Arsène?” he asked incredulously as his very first Persona manifested behind him. “What the…what happened to Satanael and Raoul?”

Skull and Mona let out similar cries of surprise as the former summoned Captain Kidd instead of William, and the latter summoned Zorro instead of Diego. What made matters even worse was that instead of unleashing powerful Ziodynes and Garudynes like they would have expected, ALL of their attacks had regressed back down to the most basic level with weak moves like Zio and Garu. Joker quickly looked at his Persona’s level and grimaced when he realized that his Persona had regressed all the way back down to Level 1…and it was the ONLY Persona he now had in his roster.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Joker groaned as he ordered Arsène to attack a group of enemies in front of him with Eiha. He was surprised to discover that multiple Shadows were blasted by the basic Eiha instead of just one…and his surprise increased even further when he discovered that even a basic knife swing was able to strike multiple enemies at once. The same also held true for Skull’s and Mona’s basic attacks as well.

“What the hell?” Joker thought. “Fighting here is completely different than fighting in Mementos, the Palaces, or the TV World. It feels like a hack-and-slash game, but with Personas thrown into the mix!” In the back of his mind, he wondered if this change in battle dynamics was related to the “fundamentally different” nature of this aspect of the Metaverse, just like how Lavenza had warned.

Thankfully, the enemies they faced were pathetic even by the standards of Persona users whose Personas had been reduced to basic functionality. There were a few Jack-o-Lanterns and Pixies thrown into the mix, but they were able to clear the first two waves without significant difficulty. Even though he was still recovering from the worst headache of his existence, Joker was functional enough to hold his own, and he took the time to experiment with and familiarize himself with how combat functioned in this new form of the Metaverse. His friends did the same once they realized what he was doing.

Despite their initial success, more and more Shadows kept coming in, to the point that there were entire crowds closing in on them. “We can’t keep doing this forever,” Joker warned. “We’re gonna be overwhelmed if we keep this up!”

“You’re right,” Mona muttered. “We’re getting surrounded fast…we have to retreat!” He spotted a corner further away behind a subway station entrance, where there weren’t any guards blocking their path and pointed it out to his friends. “Over there! Let’s get out of here while we still have the chance!”

“All right!” Skull growled. “Time to get the hell out of here!”

Without needing any further prompting, the three raced towards the corner that was free of any Shadows or guards. As they slipped away into the Shadows and made their escape, Joker couldn’t help but think about the recent developments that had just occurred.

The overall situation could generously be described as “spectacularly fucked.” The “loathsome prison” that Lavenza had warned about had reared its ugly head almost immediately, and Joker didn’t want to think about what would happen to the poor bystanders who had had their “Desires” stolen by Shadow Alice’s guards.

To make matters worse, he and his friends’ Personas had all been forcibly reduced down to level 1. They had all worked together to make their Personas as powerful as possible, and their Third Tier Personas were a perfect representation of how much growth they had experienced. To have all of that progress stripped away from them because of something out of their control was downright insulting. Joker dearly hoped that their Personas would return to their full potential once they had dealt with the “prison” and had returned to a familiar cognitive universe more in line with Mementos and the Palaces.

But what worried Joker the most wasn’t just the fact that all of his overpowered Personas were now gone, but the sheer violent and extreme nature in which they had been removed from his mind. Joker was no stranger to pain after all the battles he had fought last year, but he hadn’t been hyperbolic when he had called his previous headache the worst thing he had ever experienced.

Now that he could actually think about the headache, it had been worse than just a mere pain in his head. Joker had felt as though his connections to his Personas had been violently severed by an external force and ripped away from his soul. Raoul, Satanael, Yoshitsune, Black Frost, Magatsu-Izanagi Picaro, and countless others…they were completely gone from his mind, without the faintest traces remaining. All that remained was Arsène, who he suspected still remained because his Will of Rebellion had never died, and would continue to remain within his soul as long as that will still burned strong.

“I’m going to have to ask Lavenza about all this,” Joker thought as his friends followed him into the depths of the alley. He was certainly angered and concerned by the recent developments, but he would adapt and power on through these challenges. He had started from scratch once before, and he could do it again.

Even so, Joker couldn’t help but have a bad feeling about the way his Personas had been violently severed from his mind and soul. “This is going to have consequences down the road,” he thought grimly, the suspicion weighing on his soul with a cold certainty greater than what a mere hunch was capable of inspiring. “I’m just not sure what those consequences are going to be, and I know I’m not gonna be happy when I find the answer.”

Chapter Text

Joker was already in a poor mood after learning that he and his fellow Phantom Thieves were about to have a forced runback of their previous exploits with only the barest shadow of the power that they had once possessed, and he was even less thrilled when he, Skull, and Mona were all captured with a net by the Shadows barely a few minutes after they had escaped the mob from before.

“At least I’m not getting dragged to a police interrogation room this time,” Joker thought dryly. Instead, they had been brought by the Shadows to Shadow Alice, who had revealed her malicious and power-hungry nature to them almost immediately…while trying to make a pass on him. Given how his heart belonged to Haru and only to Haru, he’d obviously refused…prompting Shadow Alice to dismissively throw them down a garbage chute into a pile of trash in the sewers under the streets of Shibuya. She’d ordered the Shadows to knock them out again before tossing them into the sewers, so Joker and his friends had absolutely no idea how long they’d been out for when they finally reawakened.

It was genuinely depressing, and probably concerning, that Joker could unironically call this a massive improvement compared to the first time he was captured like that.

On the plus side, they had found a new ally in Sophia, who Joker honestly had no idea what to make of. Sophia was…a mystery, to put it mildly. The way she behaved was almost childlike in nature, and she definitely wasn’t an ordinary human either. Her pigtails were made out of literal hearts, and her teal eyes seemed almost…robotic, in nature, yet full of life. She also didn’t have any memories, which only added further to the confusion.

All that being said, Ren didn’t detect any red flags or warning signs from Sophia. On the contrary, she seemed genuinely eager to help them escape the trash pit, and her unusual behavior and appearance was honestly adorable rather than disturbing. Joker couldn’t help but smile when Sophia complimented them on being really cool…even though it wasn’t exactly the right time or place.

But the biggest surprise about Sophia came when she rushed towards a Shadow, without any thought for stealth or secrecy. Joker had nearly suffered a panic attack when Sophia ran straight into a group of Jack-o-Lanterns, thinking that she was about to get toasted by an Agi…only for her to effortless block the attack by summoning a group of four white and black pillar-like objects around her that blasted the Shadows with beams of light very similar to a Kouha. Not only that, but she also summoned two combat yo-yos that served as surprisingly effective weapons…and her face had transformed into a mask that glowed with brilliant blue circles replacing her eyes. Granted, Sophia’s power level was very elementary and basic, but no worse than that of him or his friends, and she proved herself fully capable of pulling her weight to fight the Shadows alongside them.

“Okay, we beat them!” Sophia declared cheerfully once they were done, jumping up and down enthusiastically as she did so.

“Well damn!” Joker whistled appreciatively. “And here I was thinking you’d just be a guide who couldn’t actually do any fighting, and we’d have to make sure you didn’t get killed just like one of those annoying video game escort missions. Boy, am I happy to be proven wrong!”

“You’re so freaking strong!” Skull agreed. “You shoulda told us right away you could fight!”

“But you never asked!” Sophia replied innocently, eliciting a facepalm from Joker but no other response since technically she wasn’t wrong.

“Not just that, but your clothes!” Mona exclaimed, looking utterly gobsmacked. “What in the world? It’s completely different from our own transformations.”

“I copied what you do and ended up like this,” Sophia explained.

“I’m beginning to understand what’s going on…” Joker mused, “and I also have a hunch on who, or rather what, Sophia is.”

“Whaddaya mean, Joker?” Skull asked.

“I’ll save my answer on the second question for a little later,” Joker replied. “As for the first…those boxes she summoned that were flying around her…that looked awfully lot like a Persona. Or at least it’s the closest she can get to a Persona, anyway.”

“Persona?” Sophia asked in confusion, swaying her head to the side as she did so. “What is a Persona? That was a weapon. I needed it to fight.”

Mona shook his head rapidly in confused frustration as Skull sighed deeply and Joker facepalmed again, all of them feeling a bead of sweat drop down their foreheads.

“You know what?” Joker suggested. “Let’s unpack all of this later. Let’s just get the heck out of here and we can figure this out once we’re safely out in the real world and not about to get beaten up by Shadows.” He scowled. “I made it through an entire Journey already and killed a false god. I am NOT about to get my ass handed to me by a Jack-o-Lantern or Pixie!”

“Yeah…that would be a goddamn embarrassment after all the crap we’ve been through already,” Skull agreed.

“You’re right,” Mona nodded his head, before turning to Sophia. “Would you mind lending us a hand, Sophia!”

Thankfully, Sophia was just as enthusiastic to help them as she was before she had revealed her combat potential, and they wasted no more time following her down the sewers. The Shadows remained just as weak as they had always been, and the Phantom Thieves managed to learn a few extra tricks like dropping scaffolding on their enemies. They were still getting used to how combat in this new incarnation of the Metaverse worked, but they were catching on to the basics quickly, and Joker even picked up the mask of a Pixie along the way.

“Ooh, you got another Persona!” Mona cheerfully declared. “Looks like that power you’ve got is alive and well!”

Joker grinned. “Hell yeah, it is!” he replied, before adding in a more serious tone. “And thank God for that. Because if I didn’t have it, Lavenza and the Velvet Room would be completely fucking useless and more likely than not, I’d be fucked six ways to Sunday.”

“Excuse me, Joker?” Sophia interrupted with her innocent curiosity. “I have several questions.”

“Go ahead,” Joker invited.

“How did the enemy become a mask? Explain this, please,” Sophia requested.

“He seals a Shadow’s form and power into a mask, turning it into a Persona,” Mona explained.

“Oh! Interesting!” Sophia replied cheerfully, before adding, “and what does it mean to be, as Joker described, fucked six ways to Sunday?”

Joker, Skull, and Mona all felt a bead of sweat drop down their heads. “Sophia, one aspect of learning the human heart is learning about language, and language is a very complicated thing,” Joker explained after a few seconds of careful thought. Since he was the one who had said the word, he felt it was his obligation to explain the situation to Sophia…who was basically a child, now that he thought about it. “The word fuck can have multiple meanings, but regardless of what you use it for, it is generally considered an impolite and improper word in human society known as a curse or cuss word. The way I use it, I either use it as an expression of frustration or anger, or if I’m in a situation where I’m in deep trouble, which is what I was describing in this case. But it should NOT be used around most people. When you’re old enough, saying it alone is perfectly fine, as is saying it around friends who don’t have a problem with it. But if you don’t know a person really well, do NOT use the word fuck around them. And for you, I’d honestly avoid just saying it in general even if we are friends because of your age. Other examples of curse words that you shouldn’t say include shit and ass, for the same reasons. Does what I say make any sense?”

“Okay!” Sophia answered cheerfully. “I should avoid saying curse words then. Thank you for explaining that to me, Joker!” Her eyes turned into sparkles. “I’m so glad that you consider me a friend to say curse words around me even though it’s not polite!”

“Wow…” Skull blinked as Joker sweatdropped again. “That was a…really detailed description. And, uh, surprisingly kinda wholesome towards the end there, huh?”

“I can’t believe you just spent an entire minute explaining what curse words are to someone who’s basically a child,” Mona mumbled. “And it actually made a ton of sense, too!”

“Yeah, well, this wasn’t exactly on my to-do list, either,” Joker drawled. “Just like literally everything else about today. Let’s just get the heck outta here.”

They moved on through the sewers, following Sophia’s lead. And Joker’s words about retaining the ability to change Personas proved prophetic almost immediately, as they were soon forced to fight a Bicorn towards the end. It wasn’t just any Bicorn, though. It was, without question, THE sturdiest Bicorn that they had ever faced. Unlike the Shadows in Mementos, which only needed to be hit with a weakness one time to be knocked down, the Bicorn that they faced here needed multiple Zios both from Joker’s new Pixie and Skull’s Captain Kidd before it was FINALLY knocked down to the ground and stunned enough for them to pull off an All-Out Attack. What made matters even worse was that the Bicorn started summoning other minions to help it once they had dealt some damage to it, making the battle even MORE annoying than it already was.

As Joker dodged out of the way out of the Bicorn’s charge and blasted it with another Zio, he suddenly felt a flare of massive power surge through him. It felt very similar to the power of the Showtime that he had unlocked with Sumire and Akechi, although unlike in Mementos this power wasn’t tied to anybody else. With a grin on his face, Joker leapt into the air and channeled this newfound power as he summoned Pixie, who unleashed a massive explosion of Electric energy that did significant damage to the Bicorn AND cleared out most of the Shadows surrounding it.

“Holy crap!” Skull exclaimed. “What the heck was THAT?”

“That almost looked like a Showtime!” Mona added in disbelief. “But you didn’t need anybody else to summon it?”

“Don’t know, not complaining,” Joker replied tersely. “Just keep beating the heck out of this thing while it’s stunned!”

None of his companions needed any encouragement to do so, and when the Bicorn finally recovered, Joker already had Pixie at standby to blast it with another Zio. Eventually, after repeated hits from him and his friends (especially Skull), along with a second All-Out Attack, the Bicorn was finally destroyed.

“Okay, what in the actual FUCK was that?” Joker snarled, too annoyed to care that he was cursing again in front of Sophia. He would’ve kicked the Bicorn’s corpse in the side if he could, but sadly the Shadow had already disintegrated. “That thing took fucking FOREVER to knock down for us to All-Out Attack it!”

“Dude, forget knocking it down, that thing had boatloads of health compared to the Shadows we fought in any of the Palaces!” Skull added, just as irritated as his leader and friend. “That was such a MASSIVE pain in the ass! The hell kind of drugs was this thing even on?”

“This must be an aspect of the new combat that is exclusive to this version of the Metaverse,” Mona surmised, before frowning. “And if just a Bicorn had that kind of durability, then I’d hate to think about the levels of health the REALLY powerful Shadows here have. At least they didn’t hit as hard as they could take, thankfully.”

“Are you frustrated?” Sophia asked with a hint of concern. “I have good news! The way out is very close now!”

Joker visibly brightened. “That is probably the first bit of good news I’ve heard all day,” he declared. “Lead the way, Sophia!”

Sophia guided them out of the sewers and to a set of scaffolding overlooking the streets of Shibuya and the transformed Shibuya tower in the distance, the end of which lead to a mystical green portal that lead back to the real world. Even though she had been true to her word, Sophia had seemed unusually hesitant to go through the portal herself. It turned out that there was a good reason for that, because when they went back to the real world, Sophia’s real-world manifestation ended up being as a program on Ren’s phone. It was also night time when they finally arrived…causing Ren to break into a sweat as he realized that Haru and the others had probably been waiting for them for a good long while.

“Aww, crap…” Ren groaned as he read the increasingly concerned and borderline frantic text messages from Haru. “Haru’s gonna kill me.”

“We should get back ASAP,” Ryuji agreed, not eager to see his best friend get slaughtered by his girlfriend.

They raced back to Café LeBlanc, and the moment the door opened Haru rushed towards her boyfriend, wrapping him in a frantic and relieved hug. “Where were you, Ren-kun?” she demanded, and it was clear that she was trying not to cry. “You told us you would be back hours ago! I was so worried!”

Ren returned the hug and pat his girlfriend’s back gently to calm down. “I’ll explain upstairs,” he replied soothingly. “The short answer is that we’re all personally fine, but the vacation’s gone to shit.”

“What?” Haru blinked. “Already?” Her eyes narrowed. “I think I would like that explanation now.”

“You got it,” Ren readily agreed, leading Haru, Ryuji, Morgana, and technically Sophia all the way back up to where the rest of the Thieves were waiting for them. None of them jumped off the table to hug him like Haru had, but they had all clearly been incredibly worried about where they had been and were clearly relieved to see him back.

“Oh my God…” Ann breathed. “You guys are all finally back! We were starting to get scared!”

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Ren declared, his face and tone making it clear to everyone that he was now in serious mode, “I regret to inform you that the situation has officially gone to shit in record time.”

“What do you mean by that?” Makoto wondered.

Ren proceeded to explain everything that had happened, how they had stumbled into Alice’s space in the Metaverse (a Jail, based on what EMMA had stated earlier), how they had been captured and forced to fight their way out, how their Personas had lost almost all of their potency, and how the nature of combat in the Jail was completely different from anything that they were used to.

“I see,” Yusuke mused. “That is…incredibly concerning on multiple levels.”

“I wish I was joking, Yusuke,” Ren sighed. “But everything we just said is the truth and nothing but the truth.”

“That goes without saying,” Makoto agreed. “None of us would make up something like this. I wonder if Sophia may know more about this situation.”

Morgana agreed with her, and they introduced the rest of the Phantom Thieves to Sophia. Ren couldn’t help but smirk at the sheer gobsmacked exclamations the Thieves made over Sophia’s existence on his phone. Futaba in particular was geeking out like crazy, which was unsurprising given how much of a tech geek she was.

“She’s actually an AI with genuine will…” Futaba breathed out in disbelief. “This is way too advanced! This is like…actual sci-fi stuff right here!”

“I know, right?” Ryuji agreed. “We couldn’t believe it either.”

They proceeded to finish introduction between Sophia and the rest of the Phantom Thieves, and after Sophia offered to let Futaba look at her source code (a proposition which she unsurprisingly leapt on harder than whenever he jumped on a Shadow’s head), they changed the topic of discussion to more pressing matters.

“So…let me get this straight,” Ann spoke with a frown. “Alice Hiiragi has a Palace in Shibuya, right?”

“Yeah!” Ryuji scowled. “She was callin’ herself the queen, bein’ all high an’ mighty, orderin’ Shadows around. All that kinda shit. Reminds me of that fucker Kamoshida from last year.”

“I’m not gonna jump to conclusions and call Alice the next Kamoshida right away,” Ren added grimly, “but it is NOT a good sign when your first impression reminds of me that piece of shit.”

“This new cognitive world itself also worries me,” Morgana admitted. “It was awfully different from the Palaces, and not just because Ren had all his overpowered Personas forced out of his head, or because all of ours de-evolved and lost most of their power.” His eyes darkened. “We saw real humans being attacked by Shadows.”

Everyone gasped in horror. “There were people inside the Palace?” Haru asked in disbelief.

“You mean, they had access to the Metaverse Navigator?” Yusuke asked for clarification.

“Yeah,” Ryuji confirmed. “For some reason, EMMA works just like the Meta-Nav did.”

“We accidentally entered Alice’s EMMA keyword and got sent to the Metaverse,” Morgana clarified.

“That was where we saw Shadows that looked like police guards rip out something called Desires from the people trapped there,” Ren explained with a grimace. “I don’t know exactly what happened there, but I can tell you right now that it’s bad news.”

“But…but that means EMMA is dangerous!” Ann gasped.

“Not only that, but when we returned to the real world, EMMA called the place we just came from a Jail,” Morgana added with a serious look on his face. “That’s honestly been bothering me ever since we got back.”

“I think Jail is the term for the Palaces of this specific form of the Metaverse,” Ren surmised. “It’s definitely not a term we heard before in Mementos, that’s for sure.” He sighed. “I also have something else I need to tell you guys.”

“What is it, Ren-kun?” Haru asked, concerned.

“I had a dream visit to the Velvet Room last night,” Ren admitted, earning shocked looks from his friends. “Lavenza was there, and she warned me that a new loathsome prison had been created, someone was plotting my destruction, and that I was a prisoner of fate once again. I showed up in prison clothes again for the first time since we beat Yaldabaoth, so I know she’s not joking.” He gripped the bridge of his nose and rubbed it with a groan. “Honestly, guys? I think I just got dragged into a battle against a major threat to the entire world and humanity. Again.”

“Oh, no…” Makoto murmured. “If Lavenza visited you personally, then this must be serious.”

“I know it is,” Ren groaned. “I was hoping to just kick back and have a fun vacation with you guys. And now that plan has already gone to hell on Day Fucking 2.”

“We were wondering if you guys could come and check out the Palace, or Jail, or whatever with us,” Ryuji requested.

“Hold on, Ryuji…” Ren cautioned. He looked at the rest of his friends with an intense look in his eyes that only the leader of the Phantom Thieves could manage. “Just know in advance that if you enter the Jail, your Persona will almost certainly de-evolve back to the original form it once had, and you’ll go all the way down to Level 1,” he warned. “You’ll basically be forced to start from scratch like we did. If you don’t want to lose all the hard work you guys made on your Personas and your growth, I’m giving you a chance to walk away now. I won’t hold it against you, or think any less of you if you do.”

There was silence for several seconds…and then everyone burst out laughing.

“You’re…you’re kidding, right?” Ann laughed. “Walk away? Are you nuts?”

“Hell no!” Futaba exclaimed. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily, bro!”

“We’re the Phantom Thieves,” Makoto declared. “And we always stick together, no matter what.”

“What is the point of having the power of a Persona if I abandon the very people who gave me that strength to begin with?” Yusuke asked. “It would be the height of disgraceful behavior.”

“There’s no need for me to walk away from a threat,” Haru giggled, “when I can simply destroy it and anything else that threatens us instead with my trusty axe and an extreme amount of prejudice.”

Ren smiled, an expression that was both wry and filled with real warmth. “I knew you guys wouldn’t walk away,” he admitted with a chuckle. “But I figured it’s only fair that I give you an out while you still have the chance. Because once you enter the Jail, there’s no going back, at least where your Personas is concerned.”

“Your warning is acknowledged,” Yusuke replied. “Now, going back to our actual planning…I agree with Ryuji. There is no progressing any further unless we see the Jail with our own eyes.”

Together, the Thieves formed a plan to investigate the Shibuya Jail the next day, using the same entry point where they had exited the last time since it was a relatively safe area with no enemies present. Futaba spent a few additional hours looking at Sophia’s source code after they adjourned their meeting…and Ren was honestly shocked when Futaba called her creator a straight-up genius, given her very high standards when it came to all things technology-related. Just as he was surprised to learn that Sophia’s code was so insanely advanced that Futaba would need weeks or even months to figure it all out, especially since Futaba was so insanely skilled as a hacker that she could obliterate any coding-related challenge in hours at most, no matter how difficult it was.

“And the mystery of Sophia keeps getting thicker,” Ren thought as Futaba finally packed up for the day. The last thing that he did before going to sleep was arrange a deal between him and Sophia, with Morgana providing helpful advice in the background.

“All you need to do is join us and learn from all the kinds of people we meet!” Morgana suggested. “And in exchange, you lend a hand to the Phantom Thieves. So I guess you could call this a deal.”

“Okay!” Sophia readily agreed. “This is a decent deal. Especially since it should help me become a good companion to humanity!”

A deal it might’ve been, although this felt more like two friends agreeing to help each other out rather than a formal business deal that Ren had made with some of his adult confidants. Either way, Ren certainly didn’t have a problem with it. He smirked at Sophia. “Work that AI magic, Sophia!” he declared.

Sophia smiled back at him in that uniquely adorable way of hers. “Okay…then we can do this together!” she declared.

“Good to have you on board,” Ren replied with Joker’s grin. “Welcome to the Phantom Thieves!”

And with a new deal between friends made (albeit not one that triggered a unique confidant bond, interestingly enough), Ren finally went to sleep. The next day, he met up with the others at their agreed meeting spot, which also coincidentally was one of their former hangouts. They entered the Jail together…and everyone who wasn’t Joker, Skull, Mona, or Sophia immediately broke out into terrible headaches just like the ones that their friends had suffered yesterday.

“Ugh…that was…incredibly unpleasant,” Fox mumbled as he clutched his head with his hand.

“Joker wasn’t kidding about getting seriously de-powered,” Oracle commented with a groan. “My Persona feels so weak compared to what it used to be. I feel like a total noob again, it feels soooooo bad!”

“I am going to miss Lucy’s power,” Noir admitted with a sigh. “But if Milady’s power is all that I will be able to access, then it will have to do.”

“I just realized that Shiho is technically more powerful than I am right now,” Panther giggled dryly. “She’d tease me so hard about that if she could see this.”

“All that aside,” Fox smiled, “I’d forgotten this feeling. The fusion of form and function. Truly magnificent. I must confess that I felt a few pangs of envy towards Joker and Mona for their regular access to this power through their town’s TV World.”

“I miss the TV World already,” Joker drawled as he looked out across the Shibuya Jail, and the twisted palace that the Shibuya 705 Tower had transformed into. He and the rest of the Phantom Thieves proceeded to discuss the Jail and more specifically go into Desires, and what seizing them could possibly mean. Together, they decided that in order to fully understand what was going on, they would need to go back to the real world and see what kind of effect seizing desires would have in reality. Queen and Panther were entirely correct to state that they would risk causing serious damage if they started screwing around in the cognitive world without understanding what was going on in the real world first, and Joker wasn’t about to disagree with them. Getting innocent people harmed was something that Joker very much wanted to avoid as much as humanly possible, and he wasn’t thrilled about the idea of accidentally causing a mental shutdown on Alice either.

When they got back to the real world, the Thieves briefly discussed how they would go about getting intel on Alice and any potential victims she might’ve ensnared. Ren was honestly surprised to learn that Ann had made plans to meet with Alice prior to their vacation, and he wasn’t going to let such a rare opportunity to get direct access to Alice go to waste. In the meantime, he and the remaining Phantom Thieves began to scout out Shibuya to gather the intel that they needed.

The good news was that the people whose Desires had been stolen hadn’t straight-up disappeared from the real world, as Ren had found at least one of them wandering the streets of Shibuya soon after gathering their intel. The bad news was that the person in question had become so insanely and extremely obsessed with Alice that it went far beyond anything he had ever seen before. The Thieves shared stories of how people had started getting loans JUST for the sake of buying Alice merchandise, of long-time romantic partners who had abruptly broken off relationships because the guy in question had become obsessed with Alice, and how people had even been let go of their jobs because they weren’t Alice fans.

It disturbingly reminded Ren of a change of heart…if a change of heart was utilized to selfishly brainwash people into buying Alice merchandise instead of forcing corrupt figures of authority to confess their crimes.

“This is definitely not normal,” Ren concluded grimly. “I wasn’t sure before, but now I’m pretty convinced that stealing Desires from people makes them go crazy, forcing them to be mindlessly devoted to whoever has stolen them.”

“Then we have to do something,” Makoto replied firmly. “This may not be on the level of a mental shutdown, but this is still a crime that involves the Metaverse.”

“We’ve gotten the intel we need about Alice’s victims,” Ren declared.

“Would you like to investigate her next?” Sophia asked.

“Yes, we certainly are,” Ren confirmed. “Tomorrow is do or die time, and we’ll see just how guilty Alice is in all this.”

As it turned out, the answer would be very guilty indeed. Just like they had planned, Ren and Ann visited the TV station that was hosting Alice at Akasaka Mitsuke, where they had the displeasure of witnessing a complete travesty. The host of the TV show had abruptly declared his love for Alice right in the middle of the broadcast right out of nowhere in a manner that couldn’t possibly be considered normal by any definition, causing the show to immediately be interrupted. But what was even more damning was the way Alice belittled and humiliated her manager in the back hallway, stomping on him while he groveled and taking pictures of him in that helpless position to humiliate him. Thankfully, both he and Ann had been there to intervene and prevent any further harm, and Ann made her disgust abundantly clear before they left.

“Well,” Ren deadpanned once they were out of the station, “I think we have our answer on whether or not Alice is guilty.”

“I can’t believe her,” Ann growled, Carmen’s flames flickering in her eyes. “Trampling on other people like that for her own twisted amusement. To think that so many people in Shibuya admire her, only for her to be a sadistic bitch!”

“You’re not gonna get any argument from me there,” Ren agreed. “But as messed up as that was, we DID get the info on Alice that we needed.” He smiled encouragingly. “Let’s get back to the others. I don’t think there’s going to be any more doubt on the situation anymore.”

Ann smiled back at him, and the two friends and Morgana returned to the Thieves’ Hideout. Just as Ren predicted, the Thieves were horrified and disgusted with Alice’s behavior, and they were in full agreement to change her heart. The question of HOW to fix the crimes committed by Alice was a thornier topic, which Sophia practically threw a grenade into with her own…unique suggestion.

“Death…that is an acceptable outcome,” Sophia declared, causing everyone around her to stare at her in disbelief. The fact that she suggested it in the same innocent tone, indicating that she genuinely didn’t know what was wrong with her suggestion, only made it sound even more disturbing.

“Dude…” Ryuji breathed, “that’s…”

“I’m humanity’s companion!” Sophia explained, sounding confused. “I am supposed to determine the best choices for humanity. Alice Hiiragi makes people suffer every day. We should ensure she stops this as soon as possible. Why not do so?”

Ren grimaced. The worst part was, from the perspective of an AI who focused almost entirely on logic without factoring in morals or emotions, he could see why Sophia thought killing Alice would make sense. “That’s not how we do things here,” he answered coolly. “Alice has to own up to her crimes, and she can’t do that if she’s dead.”

“But…I do not understand,” Sophia replied plaintively. “I want to understand, but I cannot. What is the flaw in your logic?”

“The logic isn’t the problem, Sophia,” Ren explained gently but firmly. “Technically, you’re not wrong. In theory, we could kill Alice, and that would allow us to help her victims without needing to care about what happens to her. But that doesn’t make it the right answer.”

“Why not?” Sophia wondered.

“Because being human isn’t just about logic,” Ren answered. “It’s about morals, too. Humans need to have a code of morals and ethics that help define good and evil, to help them make their lives and the lives of people around them better and avoiding causing harm to other people. While a few people are so thoroughly evil that they don’t care about morals or ethics, the vast majority of humans universally agree that knowingly killing another person is wrong and should never be committed outside of very rare and very specific circumstances. If you want to truly be a good companion to humanity, you’ll need to learn what morals most humans generally agree on, and you’ll need to respect and accept them.”

“That’s why we always choose to change someone’s heart instead of harming them,” Mona added firmly. “It’s part of the Phantom Thieves’ code.”

“That’s right,” Ryuji agreed. “Kinda pointless if we gotta stoop to the bad guys’ level to take them down.”

“We never kill for that reason,” Makoto chimed in. “We steal the desires of the wicked and make them change their ways.”

“That’s why we’re the Phantom Thieves of Hearts!” Haru cheerfully concluded.

“I see…” Sophia murmured. “The Phantom Thieves…of Hearts.” She sighed. “I lack a heart. That’s why I don’t understand the logic of the Phantom Thieves. If only I could understand how hearts work…”

“You’ll get there,” Ren reassured her. “This isn’t something that where you’ll magically understand all the solutions right away. As you see more of humanity and spend more time with us, you’ll learn more about hearts and how humanity works.” He shrugged. “Who knows? You might even grow a heart yourself.”

“I would like that!” Sophia agreed. “I need to learn more about hearts so that I can become an even better companion.” She turned to face Ren. “I know we talked about this last night, Ren, but may I become a member of the Phantom Thieves?” she asked pleadingly. “If I do so, I am certain I will witness many things about the human heart. I need to learn more about the human heart. And about the Phantom Thieves.”

Ren smiled. “Honestly? I thought you were already one of us starting last night.” He glanced around at his friends. “Any objections?”

Ryuji grinned. “Hell no, I’m so down!” he declared.

“Ooh, me too, me too!” Futaba agreed eagerly.

“I don’t think there is a single person here who would turn you down, Sophia-chan!” Haru added brightly.

The rest of the Phantom Thieves made various noises of agreement, all of them welcoming Sophia officially into the Phantom Thieves. Sophia seemed incredibly happy to be accepted, and just as importantly, she made no further comments about killing Alice to stop her. All that was left was figuring out her code name…which ended up being “Sophie.” Probably the most unoriginal code name one could possibly come up with, but since Sophia liked it so much, Ren wasn’t going to argue the point.

With Sophia’s codename chosen, the Phantom Thieves unanimously agreed that it was time to begin her first mission and go back to the Jail to change Alice’s heart. Like any Phantom Thief mission, the first step was to go and find weapons, armor, and supplies. While they might’ve all had truly impressive gear from their battles against Yaldabaoth and Maruki, none of the Phantom Thieves had brought it with them…which was understandable since none of them had expected another adventure in a cognitive world so soon.

Unfortunately, Dr. Takemi was off at an academic conference, meaning that her clinic was closed. With that avenue closed off to him, Ren instead made his way to Shibuya and Iwai’s shop, the Untouchables. On the way there, he discovered to his immense relief that the Velvet Room door was still present in the same exact corner where it had always been last year.

“Oh, thank fuck!” Ren exclaimed in relief. “The Velvet Room entrance is here, Morgana. I need to see Lavenza right away, I have a bunch of questions I need to ask her.”

“Yeah, you should definitely take care of that now,” Morgana agreed. “Any information Lavenza can give us would be really helpful.”

Not needing any further encouragement, Ren entered the Velvet Room. Lavenza was already waiting for him at his cell door once he arrived. “It is good to see you again, Trickster,” Lavenza greeted him, but she looked noticeably downtrodden. “The gears of fate turn yet again, bringing you close to calamity once more.”

“Well yeah, we figured out that part already,” Ren deadpanned, receiving a small giggle from his attendant. “And my friends and I have already started getting to business.”

Lavenza smiled at him. “Your hope burns brightly as ever, even with the hardships you encountered,” she complimented. “While this hope may be the smallest of seeds now, and its true power unknown for now, I can assist you in nurturing the possibilities within you, and allow this seed to sprout and become your strength against calamity.”

“Business as usual, then,” Ren replied with a shrug, before hardening his face into a businesslike expression. “But in all seriousness, Lavenza, I have some questions that I need to ask you.”

“But of course,” Lavenza replied with a curtsy. “Ask away, Trickster.”

“Okay…so when I first entered the Jail, I lost all of my Personas,” Ren began, frowning as he remembered the extreme headache he had suffered. “All of them, with only a Level 1 Arsène left for me to work with. Not only that, but all of my friends have had their Personas downgraded to their most basic forms at Level 1, like Morgana’s Diego turning back into Zorro and only being able to cast crap like Garu and Dia. Is this because of the nature of the Metaverse that we’re in now?”

Lavenza nodded and sighed. “Your suspicions are indeed correct, Trickster,” she confirmed. “This prison…this Jail…its very nature is unlike anything that we in the Velvet Room have ever experienced. As you have already figured out, it follows an entirely unique set of rules and is fundamentally incompatible with other cognitive worlds such as Mementos and the TV World.” She gave him a regretful look. “Because of this, I regret to inform you that your Personas from your previous journey, and the Personas of your friends, cannot be used in this new world.”

“God dammit,” Ren groaned as he rolled his eyes. “I really hate being right sometimes.” He looked back over at Lavenza. “But did we lose all of our progress completely?” he pressed. “Did all the work that I put into making my compendium and my overpowered Personas, and all the hard work my friends put into developing their Personas, go to complete waste?”

Lavenza smiled at him, immediately putting him at ease. “Thankfully, that is not the case, Trickster,” she reassured him. “The moment you return to a more familiar environment of the human mind like the TV World, you will have access to all of your Personas from your old Compendium once again. Your friends will also have access to the full power of their Personas once they return to such an environment as well.”

“Oh, thank God…” Ren breathed a sigh of relief. It was more reassuring than he had expected to learn that no, the power loss and loss of his Personas wasn’t permanent. It was just…unavailable…to them while they were in whatever form of the Metaverse that made up these Jails. This was far from the worst-case scenario, and he could work with this.

“As for you, Trickster,” Lavenza added, “I have taken the liberty of storing your normal Compendium away for safe-keeping. In its place, I will provide you with a secondary Compendium for you to use while you are traversing this new prison of fate. This Compendium is smaller than your original one, as based on my limited research into this new world, there will be less Personas for you to collect overall.”

“Makes sense,” Ren acknowledged. No point in having his old Compendium lying about somewhere when he couldn’t even use the Personas in it. The last thing he wanted was for an enemy to get his grubby little hands on it, like Yaldabaoth had indirectly.

“Do you have any further questions for me, Trickster?” Lavenza asked.

“I do, actually,” Ren continued. “Where is Margaret? She was working with you while I was partnering up with Yu in the Velvet Room. And speaking of Yu, is it possible for me to call on him for help traversing these Jails?” He didn’t want to actually drag Yu or his team to Tokyo to help him solve this Jail crisis, but he figured the question was at the very least worth asking.

Lavenza shook her head. “Unfortunately, you cannot bring the Seeker of Truth’s team to complete this journey alongside your own,” she regretfully informed him. “For you see, my Trickster, there are strict rules that govern the Velvet Room and teams of Persona users, laws that are written into the very fabric of the universe. One of these fundamental rules is that if a Fool such as yourself is chosen by fate to undergo a Journey, then they must fulfill that Journey predominantly through their own efforts and the efforts of their team with outside interference kept to the bare minimum. Outside of very specific and extenuating circumstances, involving multiple teams of Persona users to complete the same Journey at the same time risks the complete unraveling and abject failure of the Journey. It would be a violation of the laws of the Velvet Room and reality and it would invite…retribution…from higher powers.” She gave Ren a serious, intense look. “I know you care little for the rules in general, Trickster, but please be assured when I say that these are rules that you do NOT want to break under any circumstances.”

“Don’t worry, Lavenza,” Ren reassured her. “I may have a loose relationship with the rules, but I know when to put my foot down.” While he would happily trample upon rules like the laws of society that only served to empower the corrupt and oppress the innocent, the laws of reality were a different matter entirely. Those were the kinds of rules that he couldn’t simply break without disastrous consequences.

He had learned that lesson well from his experiences with Takuto Maruki…even though Ren highly doubted that this was the kind of lesson that the good doctor had intended to teach him back when his heart had been distorted by his desire to bring happiness to all with no regard for the consequences.

That being said…the way Lavenza had worded those particular rules…Ren would have to think about if there were any potential loopholes he could exploit in those laws without outright breaking them. A question that he would figure out the answer to later.

“Is that the reason why Margaret isn’t here?” Ren asked.

“It is indeed,” Lavenza confirmed. “While she may continue to use the Velvet Room to assist the Seeker of Truth in matters related to the cognitive world in Inaba, she cannot utilize the Velvet Room to assist you with regards to the new world and is obliged to leave so that we may conduct our business alone. The same applies to the entity known as Marie as well.”

Which basically meant that he was essentially cut off from access to Yu’s catalogue of skill cards. Which was…annoying…but also something he unfortunately couldn’t really do anything about.

“Last question for now,” Ren decided to change the subject. “What tools will I have access to here? We had things like the gallows and electric chair back when I was dealing with Mementos.”

Lavenza sighed. “Unfortunately, we cannot utilize most of those tools that you used in your previous Journey. Because of the new and unfamiliar nature of the loathsome prison, tools like the gallows and electric chair are incompatible and will serve no use here. The same applies to any weapons and armor that you and your friends have obtained from your previous journey, as most of your most powerful equipment was empowered by the essences of Personas that are incompatible with this new dimension.” She smiled at Ren. “Fortunately, I have been working on and recently completed a new method of conducting fusions that IS compatible with the new world, and it is this method that we shall be using now.” She left the room for a few seconds, and when she came back, Lavenza had brought two large iron maidens, gigantic metal sarcophagi with spikes lining their insides with statues of heads wearing spiked crowns at their tops.

Well, this answered the question of whether or not Lavenza, Caroline, and Justine had only utilized the cruel methods of execution solely because of Yaldabaoth’s influence. It turned out that, no, it hadn’t just been Yaldabaoth, Lavenza really did have a sadistic and psychopathic streak as a natural part of her personality. “Good to know, I guess?” Ren sarcastically thought to himself.

He didn’t have any more pressing questions for Lavenza, so she proceeded to guide him through the process of fusion with regards to the world of the Jails. Despite the iron maidens looking completely different from the guillotines, in practice the method of fusion was functionally the same. The two Personas he had in his possession (Arsène and Pixie) were encased in the iron maidens and skewered, their energies flowing from the eyes of the head statues to transform into a Bicorn.

What was new and more interesting to Ren was the concept of “Persona Enhancement,” a new feature that he didn’t remember there being the first time. This ability seemed to revolve around a new resource called “Persona points” that Ren definitely hadn’t had access to last time. “The power of the masks you have obtained will be vital to this strengthening process,” Lavenza explained. “By spending the points you collect from your masks, you can directly level up the Personas in your soul so long as they do not exceed your current level. You can obtain these points either by picking up the mask of a Persona you already harbor in your soul, or by fusing and releasing your Personas.” Ren nodded to show that he understood, and then used this new technique to empower the Bicorn he had just created by one level. Lavenza smiled as Ren exercised this technique. “You are learning this new technique admirably quickly,” she praised.

Ren smirked. “I’ve always been a fast learner,” he replied. He then took out a few thousand yen to repurchase his Arsène and his Pixie, as leaving only one Persona in his roster sounded like a comically bad idea.

“You can utilize this technique to grow your Personas further,” Lavenza advised. “This process can be repeated to draw out further powers. As you know, one way to consider the Persona is that it is “the other self”, and thus their growth is your own growth as well. Please make wise use of this strengthening henceforth.”

“I will,” Ren promised. Mentally, he was already thinking about ways that he could make the most out of this strengthening process. “I think I’ll need more information and collect a few more Personas before I can actually come up with a plan,” he decided.

Ren boosted his Arsène by another level, getting Tarunda in the process, and then decided to wrap his Velvet Room visit up for the time being. Once he was done, Lavenza smiled warmly at him. “Whenever you feel the need for more, come visit me at any time,” she encouraged. “Consider this my atonement for utterly failing to guide you properly in the past year while I was enslaved by Yaldabaoth’s machinations.”

“You don’t have to apologize for anything, Lavenza,” Ren reassured her. “None of that was your fault. The only person to blame for all of that was Yaldabaoth, and I’ve already shot that asshole through the head.” He grinned. “You’re doing great, Lavenza, and I look forward to properly working with you this time around.”

Lavenza giggled. “I share the sentiment too, Trickster. This time, I will always be by your side,” she promised. “Until next time, farewell…”

Ren gave her a thumbs up as he returned to the real world. He quickly reassured Morgana that he had gotten answers to the relevant questions, and then proceeded to check on Untouchables. To his significant irritation, the shop was ALSO closed just as Takemi’s clinic had been, and it looked like Iwai had been gone for a good long while.

“Well that kinda sucks, doesn’t it?” Ren asked rhetorically in a deadpan tone. “Takemi’s gone, Iwai’s gone, what the hell do we now?”

“I guess we’re gonna have to report back to the other Thieves,” Morgana was forced to admit defeat. “Maybe they can come up with some other ideas.”

Ren nodded in agreement. Right as they were about to leave, his phone suddenly beeped.

“Hey, Ren? There’s somebody messaging you on your phone,” Sophia informed him. “Somebody who isn’t one of the Phantom Thieves. Do you know a Yu Narukami?”

Ren blinked. “Oh crap, Yu’s messaging me? I should probably see what he needs.” Taking his phone out, he quickly explained to Sophia. “Yu Narukami is from the town of Inaba, which is my hometown. He’s one of my closest friends there, almost to the point of being an older brother. He’s not a Phantom Thief, though.”

“I see. So he can be trusted,” Sophia replied with a hum as Ren took out his phone.

“He absolutely can be trusted,” Ren agreed as he read the messages. His mouth twisted into a frown as he read them.

Yu: “Hey Ren, are you okay?”

Yu: “I haven’t heard from you in a while. At first I wanted to leave you alone because I figured you were having fun with your friends, but I figured you’d have reached out by now.”

Yu: “If there’s anything wrong, you know you can reach out to me, right? We’re all here for you.”

“Ah shit,” Ren groaned. With everything that had been going on, he’d just straight-up forgotten to check in with Yu. “Yeah, I better give him a heads-up.”

He took out his phone and began typing.

Ren: “Hey, Yu. Sorry to say, but things somehow went to shit even faster than they did last year.”

Ren: “We’re personally doing fine, but there’s a threat involving an entirely new version of the Metaverse. My team and I are gonna do for our first full exploration into it today.”

Ren: “Can you and the rest of the IT have a chat with me later this evening?”

Not even 10 seconds passed before Yu’s reply.

Yu: “You got it, Ren. We’ll all be around. Reach out to us whenever you get the chance.”

Chapter Text

“So yeah…” Ren concluded. He and his fellow Thieves were back at the hideout in Café LeBlanc’s attic, the former having summoned his friends there to give them the bad news. “Takemi and Iwai are both outta town, and they’re probably not gonna be back for a good long while. Which means, we don’t have anywhere where we can get the usual supplies at the moment.”

“Talk about shitty timing,” Ryuji groaned.

Makoto sighed and shook her head. “This is not good,” she muttered. “We can’t just return to the Metaverse defenseless.”

“If only we’d brought our weapons and armors from Mementos,” Haru lamented.

Ren shook his head. “Even if we could, it wouldn’t have helped,” he replied with a frown. “I talked to Lavenza in the Velvet Room, and she said that because this new version of the Metaverse is fundamentally different from anything that’s come before it, all our old weapons and armors would’ve basically been useless anyways.” He smiled slightly. “That being said, once you return to a more familiar version of a cognitive world like Mementos or even the TV World, your Personas should go back to the full power that they once were.”

“That is a relief to hear,” Yusuke acknowledged, “but unfortunately it does not help us with our current situation.”

Futaba sighed. “I guess we gotta find some other stores,” she mumbled with a gloomy look. “But I don’t think there’s any stores around here that could give us the kinda stuff we need…”

Haru looked similarly glum. “I feel like that might take a while…”

A sudden beep emanated from Ren’s phone. “What’s up?” Sophia asked. “Do you have a problem?”

“We most certainly do. We need to find shops where we can buy weapons, armor, and supplies for our expeditions into the Jails. Sadly, all the places we normally go to are closed, and there’s nowhere else around here I can think of that can sell the kinds of things we need,” Ren explained.

“Perhaps I can help!” Sophia offered. “If you would like, I’m happy to lend a hand!”

The rest of the Thieves all perked up at this offer. “That would be very much appreciated,” Yusuke replied. “Securing proper supplies and equipment is vital to a successful expedition into the Metaverse.”

“Do you know if there are any suitable stores nearby?” Makoto asked.

“Why not just order supplies online?” Sophia returned the question with one of her own.

“We could do that,” Futaba acknowledged, “but the delay between orderin’ and actually getting the stuff is way too long.”

“Also,” Makoto added with a frown, “we were able to get much more effective medicines from our clinic than we could find online.”

“No problem!” Sophia replied without a care in the world. “The Net has it all!”

“Really now?” Ren raised an eyebrow. “It’s that simple?”

“It’s that simple!” Sophia affirmed with a smile. “Not only that, but the Net also has an expedited delivery feature so your delivery will come here almost immediately!” She turned her attention to Ryuji. “Ryuji, is there something you want?”

“Huh?” Ryuji blinked. “What do I want? Uh, okay…how about a gold bar?” he requested with a goofy grin, clearly not expecting anything to actually come out of this.

Ann groaned and palmed her face with her hand. “Really…?”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Futaba scolded.

“Aww, c’mon!” Ryuji shrugged, the goofy grin still plastered on his face. “It was just a joke! Nothing else popped into my head when she asked, so…

Ren suddenly got a very bad feeling about this whole situation. “Umm…maybe we should…” he began.

“Okay, I got it!” Sophia interrupted. “Please wait!”

The grin dropped from Ryuji’s face. “Hmm?” he mumbled. “Got what?”

Ren smacked his face with the palm of his head. “This is about to turn into an absolute shitshow, isn’t it?” he muttered.

“Hello!” a voice suddenly called out from below them. “Expedited delivery!”

Everyone’s head jerked towards the door. “Wha…?” Ann spluttered. “Did you seriously order a gold bar!?” They all watched as Ren walked down to the front door of Café Leblanc…and came back carrying a heavy package. The rest of the Thieves unanimously picked Ryuji to be the one to open the box (which Ren couldn’t even argue with since it was technically his fault), and they were all stunned to discover that, yes, there was an indeed a bona fide gold bar in the package.

“Is that…real?” Haru stammered.

“Ho…ly…shit…” Ryuji exclaimed, in a tone so high Ren was genuinely impressed his friend’s voice could even reach that high of an octave. “What have I done???”

“Wha-wha-wha-whaaaa…” Futaba couldn’t even get a coherent sentence out.

“Yes, my eyes can’t be fooled,” Yusuke muttered, retaining enough mental faculties to get his thoughts out properly but still just as shocked as the rest of them. “There’s no doubt. That’s real gold.”

“No way!” Ann exclaimed. “No way is that real!”

“Wow!” Haru mumbled. “Now I can open my café early! It’s like a dream! Eheh…ehehehe…” Ren felt a bit bad for his girlfriend, considering how overwhelmed she sounded.

“Th-that needs to go to the police!” Makoto shouted. “Right away! Oh – wait, would they even believe it showed up like this?” she asked in disbelief. “Is this even a crime? What is even going on?”

“Hello!” Sophia interrupted, wearing an innocent and cheerful smile on her face even as she remained completely oblivious to her new friends’ impending mental breakdowns. “Did that solve your problem?”

“I mean…” Ren muttered. There were very few things that could take him by surprise anymore, but this had somehow found its way onto the list. “We definitely know that the service works. And is fast. Seriously,” he added under his breath, “how the fuck did they send a gold bar over here in like two minutes?”

“THAT’S what you’re worrying about, Ren?” Ryuji yelled. “Not the fact that we have a fucking GOLD BAR just sitting here in front of us?”

“I found an online vendor with expedited delivery,” Sophia explained. “Time is no longer a concern.”

“But, a whole gold bar?” Futaba mumbled, looking completely stumped for the first time that Ren could remember. “Where did you even find that, the dark web?”

“I’ve been on the Dark Web before buying random crap from Tanaka’s Shady Commodities for Mementos expeditions,” Ren commented in a dry tone. “And I can tell you right now he wasn’t selling random gold bars, ever.”

“That’s where I found it, though!” Sophia answered. “It’s fine. I broke no laws! The transaction was made with cryptocurrency. I will send you an invoice for reimbursement.”

“We have to reimburse you!” Morgana exclaimed.

“Soooo…how much did this cost again?” Ann asked the question that all of them were thinking about…and dreading the answer to.

“At least a few million…” Futaba mumbled.

“Send it back!” Ryuji ordered, before repeating the command in a deafening shout. “SEND THE FUCKING THING BACK!”

Sophia did as she was instructed, and to everyone’s relief, the deliveryman picked up the gold bar and the package just as quickly as delivered it. The Thieves all slumped in their chairs, feeling utterly overwhelmed by the gold bar delivery.

“I’m relieved they took it back,” Makoto mumbled, “but…”

“That definitely gave us a few gray hairs,” Haru muttered.

Ren couldn’t take it anymore. He started chuckling, earning bewildered looks from his friends…and their confusion only increased as his chuckles evolved into full-blown laughter. He was laughing so hard that he was struggling to maintain his balance on the chair he was on.

“Umm…Ren-kun?” Haru asked, clearly concerned about her boyfriend’s mental state. “Are you all right?”

“Did our leader just suffer a complete mental breakdown?” Yusuke looked just as worried.

“Thanks for ordering that, Ryuji!” Ann scolded. “Not only did that scare the hell out of all of us, you just drove our leader completely crazy!”

“C’mon!” Ryuji protested. “Who would’ve thought a gold bar would actually show up here?”

“It’s not that,” Ren was still laughing, although he’d calmed down enough to talk. “It’s not that.”

“Then what’s so funny?” Futaba wondered.

“What’s funny,” Ren answered with Joker’s grin on his face, “is that if I had all the money I’ve collected from Mementos last year and the TV World since then on me right now, I could’ve covered the cost of that gold bar all by myself.”

Everyone’s eyes bulged as they stared at him disbelief. “Wait, WHAT?” Futaba exclaimed. “HOW???”

“I had over 10 million yen when we finished up with Mementos last year,” Ren explained, looking incredibly satisfied with himself. “Money I’ve been keeping carefully hidden away in my closet with occasional deposits into my bank account here and there. And with every trip I’ve made into the TV World, I’ve just been racking up the cash reserves more and more. Especially after Jose showed up in the TV World and amped up the money I get from killing Shadows even further.”

“You’re shitting me,” Ryuji breathed, looking just as stunned as he had been when the gold bar had showed up.

“At least I don’t have to worry about my beloved suffering from accusations of gold-digging,” Haru mumbled. “Because clearly, as far as money is concerned, Ren-kun doesn’t have to worry about a thing.”

“Just how wealthy ARE you, Ren?” Yusuke asked in an awestruck voice.

“Wealthy enough that I probably don’t have to worry about a goddamn thing ever again,” Ren replied with a smirk. “And while we’re in the middle of massive bombshells, I think it’s time I drop one of my own.”

“Oh, God…” Futaba groaned. “I think my body will straight-up give out on me if I suffer another mental shock that huge.”

“Oh, don’t you worry, little sis,” Ren reassured her. “This is very much the good kind of bombshell.”

Makoto sighed. “Well, let’s hear it then,” she muttered. “I might as well join my sister in developing gray hairs.”

Ren got to his feet. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he announced. “It is true that we have suffered a major setback. Our Personas have been weakened down to the most basic level, and we don’t have the powerful weapons and equipment that we used to.” He grinned. “But there’s one thing that hasn’t changed with this new version of the Metaverse: the value of money. And that is something I’ve got covered in spades.”

He reached into this backpack and started taking out stacks of paper bills. The rest of the Thieves’ eyes widened and their jaws dropped to comically large degrees as Ren took out more and more bills until the entire table was positively covered in yen bills.

Makoto looked like she was doing her best impression of a goldfish. “How…” she stammered. “How the…how is this…”

“Wha-wha-wha-wha…” Futaba spluttered, just as shocked as she had been at the sight of the gold bar.

“How much money did you BRING?” Ann exclaimed in disbelief.

Ren laughed. “Five million yen,” he declared, sounding thoroughly satisfied with himself. “A decent chunk of my reserves, but there’s plenty more where that came from back at home.”

“WHAT THE FUCK?” Ryuji exclaimed. “Why did you even bring that much money here to begin with???”

“Well, this was originally supposed to be our vacation fund,” Ren explained. “The original plan was that I’d bring so much money for our road trip for things like souvenirs, food, and supplies that we’d literally never have to worry about a single thing money-wise.” He sighed. “But, since these Jails have decided to oh-so-rudely fuck up our original plans, now I’m making it so that this fund will be our war chest instead.” He smirked. “Five million yen will be more than enough to cover both our equipment and weapon costs and any money I need to pay Lavenza for summoning Personas, at least for a good long while.”

Haru breathed a huge sigh of relief. “We certainly don’t have to worry about funds for our expedition, then,” she remarked as she gave her boyfriend an appreciative and affectionate glance.

“It’s certainly a relief, but I also can’t help but wonder if this is a tad excessive,” Makoto commented with a frown. “We’re just dealing with Alice Hiiragi’s singular Jail, correct? Unless Jails are dramatically larger in scale than Palaces, we should be able to resolve this fairly quickly.”

Ren frowned. “Makoto,” he replied grimly. “The way Lavenza talked to me about the Jails, it sounds like it’s going to be another large-scale threat to all of humanity. Something tells me that there’s going to be a lot more than just one crazy idol’s Jail to deal with. I hope I’m wrong, but after everything we’ve been through, I’m going to assume the worst until proven otherwise.”

“That…is unfortunately the most prudent course of action, given our past experiences,” Yusuke muttered.

Morgana tried to cheer everyone up. “Hey, look on the bright side! Doesn’t the online service Sophia found sound pretty awesome, though?” he called out with a grin. “At that speed, it’ll be perfect for anything we need! Let’s ask Sophia to find some useful stuff for us!”

“Yeah, you’re right!” Ann agreed, looking noticeably happier.

“Shall I do that for you, Ren?” Sophia asked.

“No time like the present!” Ren replied with a grin. “Let’s take this thing for a proper test run!”

He opened up the online catalogue, with Sophia ready and waiting to take any orders. Ren wasted no time in buying the best weapons and equipment that he could get for everyone (which unfortunately wasn’t all that impressive, but this didn’t really surprise Ren given that they were starting from scratch for all intents and purposes), and he also bought several different medicines for their expedition. To everyone’s delight, the deliveryman for the online service dropped off their requested items just as quickly as he had dropped off the gold bar, and after only a few short minutes they were as primed and ready for a trip into the Metaverse as they would ever be.

“It’s time for the Phantom Thieves to take action once again!” Ren declared. “Are you all ready?”

“YEAH!” Everyone shouted in agreement, and they were off to Alice’s Jail once again.

As they ventured into Alice’s Jail (which was indeed a Castle with a disturbing amount of Alice in Wonderland themes both in the immediate vicinity of the Jail itself and in the surrounding buildings of Shibuya), Joker was carefully observing the nature of the Jail, analyzing how similar or different it was from the Metaverse.

Almost all the Shadows took the form of police officers of some kind, and when their masks were ripped off by Joker in one of his ambushes, they transformed into a frankly ridiculous number of Shadows. This might’ve sounded like bad news for the Thieves, but with all of their attacks (even their basic melee attacks) covering a range to at least some degree, they were able to knock down multiple Shadows at once and tear through those armies of Shadows with their trusty All-Out Attacks. There was also a greater focus and importance on combat reflexes and dodging, as every attack from both the Thieves and the Shadows basically came out in real time. Dodging at the right time and in the right direction was more critical than ever to evade incoming attacks and avoid leaping right into a second one. It took quite a few fights for his fellow Thieves to get used to combat in this new form of the Metaverse, especially the ones who hadn’t been with him the first time, but with every battle they fought, the Phantom Thieves gradually got into the swing of things.

That was far from the only way combat in the Metaverse had changed within the Jails. After they had discovered the spotlights protecting Alice’s Jail castle and started searching through Shibuya to find a means to disable them, they had come across another gigantic Shadow, this one being a Pixie, with a disproportionately huge health bar. It turned out that, no, the ridiculously sturdy Bicorn from the sewers hadn’t been just a one-time occurrence – there were a few Shadows who were unusually tanky, and a helpful scan from Oracle was able to find out why. “These really huge Shadows have this kind of energy shield protecting them,” the trusty navigator of the Thieves had explained. “It doesn’t stop them from getting damaged, but it does keep them from being knocked down, and it has multiple layers. I think every time you hit that Shadow with things that would’ve knocked them down in the Metaverse like a crit, a Weakness, or a Technical, you’ll break or at least damage the shield. But you won’t be able to actually knock them down for an All-Out Attack until you’ve destroyed the shield entirely…and it’ll grow back completely after you do one.”

Everyone had groaned with annoyance at that revelation after they had finished beating the giant Pixie, but it wasn’t all bad news. Breaking a layer of the shield was enough to at least stun the giant Shadow and expose them to a 1 More, and for whatever reason, the All-Out Attacks they inflicted upon giant Shadows were much more devastating than a “typical” All-Out Attack to the point of creating a massive explosion of Almighty damage after they pulled one off. Still, they all missed the days where one single attack was enough to knock their enemies down and give them free rein to obliterate them with extreme prejudice.

“At least there’s some good changes too,” Joker thought as they ventured through the Jail. One major positive they’d discovered early on was that time in general passed MUCH more slowly compared to the Palaces and Mementos. HP and SP weren’t personally a huge problem for Joker; even though he’d lost quite a lot of HP and SP from being forcibly reduced back down to level 1, he’d been lucky enough to retain some of the bonuses he’d gotten from his hours of working out and meditation. But his friends hadn’t gone through the same kind of intense training he had, and Joker decided to make the call to pull back after they’d cleared the first Jail Tower to give some of his friends a chance to recuperate.

They’d all been expecting it to be nighttime when they returned, but to their surprise, only about an hour or so had passed in the real world and it was still in broad daylight. Not only that, but they’d experienced basically no fatigue from traveling between the Metaverse and the real world even after their journey through the Jail, which was completely unlike any Metaverse trip they’d made in the past. And most importantly, all of them had been delighted to discover that when they returned to Alice’s Jail, their HP and SP had completely replenished, leaving them in peak fighting condition. “This is definitely a lot more merciful than traveling back and forth between the real world and cognitive worlds usually is,” Joker thought as they proceeded to the other towers holding the Jail’s power cores, “but I’m not complaining.”

Another major benefit that he’d discovered applied to him specifically was how swapping Personas worked. Joker had soon realized after a few battles that he could swap Personas instantly and in real-time with practically no cooldown, rather than only being able to do it once every few seconds. If he was wearing Silky and a Jack-o-Lantern was flinging an Agi his way? No problem, just swap over to Jack-o-Lantern and drain the attack before swapping right back to Silky to fire back with a Bufu. While he wasn’t able to do too much with this right now, Joker could already see the massive implications if this turned out to be a longer adventure.

If he could master Persona swapping in this fast-paced real-time combat system, covering weaknesses with immunities on his endgame Personas (something that had been a fundamental part of his Persona building strategy) might be completely unnecessary for the very first time.

Of course, it wasn’t all fun and games. The towers holding the power cores of the Jails ended up being guarded either by armies of Shadows, or in one case, an Archangel/Heavenly Punisher who ended up being a particular pain to fight (and was also an unwelcome callback to Kamoshida’s Palace).

There were also multiple times where a barricade was blocking their way and Oracle needed several moments to hack her way through it while the rest of the Phantom Thieves did their best to protect her, which nobody was a fan of.

“It might not have been too bad here,” Joker thought grimly, “but if my gut feeling is correct and there’s more Jails that we’ll have to deal with later, I could see those Protect Oracle missions being a major problem to deal with down the road.”

Still, the Phantom Thieves were able to deal with every challenge that came their way (except for one weird Shadow with an electric blue aura surrounding it that Oracle warned them was way, WAY beyond their power level and would almost certainly slaughter them if they tried to fight it now), and they were eventually able to claim the third Core after sliding down a line of flags from a Ferris Wheel of all things.

Unfortunately, after they claimed the third power core, Shadow Alice’s guards activated a defensive mechanism and set up a giant metal barrier in front of the castle gates with a veritable legion of Shadows defending it, leaving the Thieves with no choice but to retreat to the real world while they came up with a plan.

“Good job, guys,” Ren praised all of them once they had returned to the real world. “I feel like we’ve done everything we could’ve realistically expected ourselves to do, and we also learned a lot about who this new form of the Metaverse works in general.”

“Thanks, Ren,” Ryuji grinned at him, before adding with a sigh. “Wish we knew how to get through that huge metal door, though. That wall ain’t goin’ anywhere.”

“We can come up with a plan once we’re back at Café LeBlanc,” Makoto suggested. “I think we all need a few moments of rest, at the very least.”

As if on cue, a grumbling emerged from both Ryuji’s and Yusuke’s stomachs. “That would be for the best,” Yusuke agreed readily. “I’m quite famished.”

“And when it comes to food around here, you all know what the only correct choice is,” Ren added with a smirk.

“Sojiro’s curry!” Futaba exclaimed with delight. “I bet he’ll hook all of you up, too!”

“An excellent idea!” Haru agreed with a smile. “I doubt we’ll be able to come up with good ideas on an empty stomach.”

Their pleasant conversation was sadly interrupted by a drunk office worker who started yelling at them to get out of his way. Ren was not in the mood to deal with this shit…and his anger rose even further when the drunk office worker started hitting on Ann, giving them all unpleasant reminders of Kamoshida. He honestly would have smashed his fist into the worker’s face already, if it weren’t for his pragmatic side warning against recreating his criminal record after his confidants had worked so hard to get it erased.

What Ren WASN’T expecting was for bearded man with long black hair in a fancy suit to intervene. He didn’t bother to hide his amusement when the drunk office worker tried to land a fist on the new arrival…only for said arrival to thoroughly hand the guy his ass in an embarrassingly one-sided bout.

“Serves that fucker right,” he thought with a smirk. His amusement immediately vanished, however, when the man revealed himself to be a police officer, even showing his badge to prove it. At the very least, the revelation was enough to send the drunk office worker’s partner fleeing in panic, much to the bearded man’s irritation.

Ren felt a flash of rage at the mere sight of the badge, although he forced himself to calm down and smoothed his face into a neutral expression by the time the man turned to face them. “Well folks,” the bearded man addressed them, “you all right now?”

“Thanks,” Ren nodded stiffly, with reluctant but genuine appreciation. He might hate the Tokyo Police and disagree with them on many things (to put it mildly), but beating the shit out of perverts who thought they could hit on a friend who’d already dealt with that garbage for years wasn’t one of them. “But are you really a cop?”

“Don’t get too chummy, Ren,” Yusuke warned with a serious look on his face. “This main is most likely with Public Security.”

“Ooh, good guess,” the man replied with a raised eyebrow. “Although for you, I guess it may be more like common knowledge, considering the number of tails on you.” He raised his head slightly and gestured behind them. “For example, you noticed the one over there yet?”

Everyone’s eyes turned to look at a man who had been trying to hide behind a lamppost. “Dumbass!” the man snarled. “What are you DOING?”

The bearded man in front of them chuckled. “Sorry, my bad…” he replied in an apologetic tone that was…dubious, at best. “Could you bring this drunk in for me?”

That was admittedly funny, although Ren wasn’t going to say that out loud. Especially when his friends were still really worked up over all this.

“What is WITH this guy?” Ryuji muttered.

“His suspicion level is off the charts,” Futaba mumbled.

“What does someone from Public Security want with us?” Makoto asked suspiciously.

“Aww, no need for that look,” the man with a feigned hurt expression, before his expression shifted into a more serious look. “Ren Amamiya, I need to speak with you. What say we grab some coffee over there?” he asked, glancing over at Café LeBlanc down the road. “Their curry’s pretty killer, too.”

“Oh, we are well aware of that,” Ren replied, still keeping his face and tone carefully neutral. He sure as hell didn’t want to speak to a police officer, but right now refusing would almost certainly cause more problems than it would solve. At least at LeBlanc, he would be surrounded by his friends and in his own home turf if things went south. “Lead the way, officer.”

The Thieves warily followed the man into LeBlanc, the mood remaining incredibly tense. Even Sojiro was highly suspicious of the man once he realized that he was a cop, merely giving him a cup of water with only the barest pretenses of being polite.

Only Haru remained in relatively good spirits, although her next words would prove why. “Sorry about that,” she apologized with a smile that Ren knew was just a little too wide and a voice that was a little too cheerful to be real. “We just despise the Tokyo Police, is all.”

It took Ren every bit of self-control he had not to grin widely at her words. “That’s my girlfriend!” he thought proudly. “She even remembered to exclude the good police officers I know in Inaba. I’m so proud!”

His amusement increased even further as the man adopted a thoroughly weirded-out expression on his face. “It’s…kinda weird when you say it with a smile like that…” he mumbled. The man proceeded to introduce himself as Zenkichi Hasegawa, an investigator on loan to Tokyo’s Public Security Branch. “Did you hear at all about that mess on the chat show the other day? With Alice Hiiragi?” he asked.

“We did,” Ren affirmed. In situations like this, it was best to tell the truth while giving out as little information as possible.

Zenkichi nodded. “I’m glad to see we’re on the same page, then. Anyways, there’s already been a full investigation into the incident,” he explained. “There was no indication the MC was planning to propose – everyone questioned said that he didn’t even know who Alice was before this week. Not only that, he’d already been engaged to his co-host for however long. There isn’t a whiff of motive to be found. So the police have concluded…” he finished dramatically, “doesn’t this sound like the work of the Phantom Thieves?”

Everyone let out exclamations of shock and disbelief. “Wait…” Makoto mumbled. “You’re saying…?”

“A whole lotta cases of similar cases last year, no?” Zenkichi asked knowingly. “Sudden personality shifts, abnormal behavior, psychotic breakdowns. If the MC went bonkers from a change of heart, you’re gonna be suspect number one. Ren Amamiya, the leader of the Phantom Thieves. We don’t know if it’s drugs, or hypnosis, or what, but they wanna charge you with criminal mischief,” Zenkichi warned. “It’s only a matter of time before you’re arrested.”

“This is outrageous!” Yusuke snarled. “What proof do you have?”

“Sure it’s outrageous,” Zenkichi agreed readily. “But we don’t actually have any proof yet.”

“Well, I can tell you right now, the Phantom Thieves are not responsible for this,” Ren replied coldly. “The change of hearts the Phantom Thieves did in the past are completely different from this.”

“Oh?” Zenkichi raised an eyebrow. “Do tell.”

“The Phantom Thieves exclusively changed the hearts of wrongdoers, especially the corrupt and wicked criminals who were trying to hide their sins while pretending to be upstanding members of society,” Ren explained. “Men like Kamoshida, Madarame, and Masayoshi Shido…men who trampled those they deemed lesser than themselves and perpetrated atrocious crimes they would’ve gotten away with for years if the Phantom Thieves hadn’t changed their hearts and caused them to be so full of remorse that they tearfully confessed their crimes out to the public. The Phantom Thieves fight to bring hope to the oppressed and justice to the guilty when standard law enforcement like the police,” he glared at Zenkichi, “utterly failed to do so or were actively helping them.”

To his credit, Zenkichi didn’t even flinch at the unspoken accusation. “Fair enough,” he acknowledged. “So if these new cases are due to a change of heart, explain to me why it wouldn’t be the Phantom Thieves?”

“Because what’s going on here is completely different than the Phantom Thieves’ usual modus operandi,” Ren retorted. “The MC hasn’t committed any crime. He hasn’t done anything wrong, he doesn’t have any hidden sins that need to be corrected or exposed to the public. He’s just your normal guy, and there is absolutely no reason for the Phantom Thieves to go after him.” He gave Zenkichi a piercing glare with his eyes. “We didn’t do a damn thing, Officer Hasegawa. But you want my suspicion on who’s responsible? It's Alice Hiiragi,” he declared. “Somehow, Alice Hiiragi has found a way to enact change of hearts on her own, and is using them to brainwash hundreds of people in Shibuya to be frenzied fans to a level way beyond what could be considered normal.” He paused, before adding, “And as for those psychotic breakdowns you mentioned, that was never us in the first place. Shido confessed to ordering those, in case you missed the memo.”

“Damn right!” Ryuji stomped his foot onto the ground. “We didn’t do jack shit!”

“If you arrest Ren, you’re arresting an innocent person,” Makoto warned. “Look for the true culprit elsewhere if you actually care about enforcing justice.”

To everyone’s surprise, Zenkichi began to chuckle. “Well, quite the public speaker, aren’t you, Ren?” he asked with a knowing smile. “As it so happens, I completely agree with you. I don’t think you’re the culprit. Gimme a second while I tell my boss.”

Everyone stared blankly as Zenkichi straight-up called his boss, telling whoever it was on the other end that he was speaking with the leader of the Phantom Thieves who had claimed his innocence. Ren had to admit, Zenkichi was certainly bold, if nothing else.

“Well, as you saw, I reported what you said to my boss,” Zenkichi declared, “but if you ask me, I don’t think she’s convinced.”

“Did you really just call your boss?” Ann asked in disbelief.

“What is WITH this guy?” Ryuji asked incredulously.

“I’d appreciate it if you’d get to the point,” Ren requested through gritted teeth.

“No matter how hard you claim to be innocent,” Zenkichi replied in a more serious tone now, “there are people out there chomping at the bit to arrest you. And if that happens, you’re done for – and I’ll be up the river too, because then this case will never get solved.”

Zenkichi looked Ren straight in the eyes. “I can tell you don’t like me, and you probably don’t trust me as far as you can throw me,” he continued, not flinching underneath the teen’s glare. “But I actually do believe you when you say that you’re innocent. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have bothered with all this, I would’ve just arrested you right here and now.” His smile returned. “So I wanted to make you an offer…or maybe, more like a deal.”

“A deal with YOU!?” Morgana asked furiously, even though Zenkichi couldn’t hear him.

“I want to solve this case,” Zenkichi explained. “To do that, I need the intel you’ve gathered. At the moment, I don’t even have anything that even resembles a lead. I’m totally at a loss.”

Ren was honestly surprised that the police officer was being so honest about his own lack of knowledge, but Zenkichi wasn’t done. “You, though, you just don’t wanna get arrested. I can do what needs to be done so that won’t happen. Bureau men are a trustworthy lot in the force. There won’t be any problems.”

“Says the Bureau man,” Ren couldn’t help but quip.

Zenkichi couldn’t resist a dry chuckle. “Fair enough, but it doesn’t change where things currently stand. Sound like a fair deal to you?”

“Forgive me if I’m not exactly jumping at the bit to just accept a deal from the police right away,” Ren answered dryly. “Especially with all the shit they put me through last year.”

“I can understand that,” Zenkichi acknowledged, and to his credit, he did seem genuinely understanding. “What happened to you last year was an absolute travesty.”

Ryuji finally started losing his patience. “We don’t have any reason to trust you!” he snarled.

Zenkichi didn’t flinch in the slightest. “You know how they say the wise cat hides its claws?” he asked. “Let’s just say that applies to me too.”

“I’ve literally never heard anyone say that in my entire life,” Futaba muttered, “and this is from someone who was terminally online until the last year.”

Morgana turned to face Ren. “What do you think, Ren?” he asked. “You don’t have to do anything until you decide whether you trust him or not.”

“That sure is a noisy cat,” Zenkichi commented with a frown, earning a panicked look from Morgana as he started making fake cat noises, much to everyone else’s amusement.

“How soon do you need an answer?” Ren asked curtly once the moment of levity passed.

“Well, I don’t need an answer right away,” Zenkichi reassured him. “I can spare you a few days. Give it some time to think it over, and then get back to me once you have an answer.”

“We’ll give it some consideration,” Ren replied coolly. “That’s the most I’m willing to give you for now.”

“And that’s all I’m asking,” Zenkichi replied. “I hope you’ll see things my way, Phantom Thieves.” He turned to face Sojiro. “All right, Boss. I’ll be back for some curry.”

“Sorry,” Sojiro growled, “the curry’s been eighty-sixed. For you.”

“Oh…” Zenkichi groaned dramatically, “now that hurts.”

The inspector left the Café, leaving the Phantom Thieves and Sojiro behind. “What did you guys do this time?” Sojiro asked with a groan.

“Hey!” Ryuji protested. “Like we told the damn cop, we didn’t do anything!”

“What is WITH that guy?” Ann shouted, and now it was her turn to stamp her foot on the ground in frustration. “He is absolutely ridiculous!”

“Zenkichi Hasegawa,” Futaba muttered. “That guy has way too cool a name for being such a massive dweeb.”

“But…” Haru murmured, “if he was telling the truth just now, then Ren-kun is in danger of being arrested again. I won’t let that happen!” she shouted.

“What a bullshit deal!” Ryuji growled. “Sounds more like a damn threat to me!”

“What do you think, Ren?” Makoto asked with concern in her voice. “What’s your thoughts on this deal?”

“The guy’s definitely shady, there’s no doubt about that,” Ren acknowledged. “Best case scenario, he’s being honest with what he says but he’s still planning to use us to his advantage. Worst case scenario, the guy’s trying to lure us into a trap so he can backstab us.” He sighed. “The problem is, I don’t think I have much of a choice here.”

“I was afraid you’d say that,” Makoto mumbled. “I hate the idea of walking into a trap, but it’s still better than getting you arrested. At the very least, his intel might pay off for us.”

“Chin up, you guys,” Sojiro interrupted encouragingly. “We all know that accusation against Ren is total bull. It’s up to you to prove it.”

“Boss…” Haru murmured admiringly.

“Chief really hit the nail on the head,” Morgana agreed approvingly.

Ren was silent for a few moments. “Here’s the way I see things,” he finally declared after a few seconds of thought, drawing all of their attention to him. “Zenkichi is willing to give us a few days to think over his deal. We’re going to use that time productively to deal with the person we know is a problem: Alice Hiiragi. We’re going to find a way to break down that barricade, and we’re going to figure out how to change Alice Hiiragi’s heart and undo the selfish changes of heart she forced on the people of Shibuya.”

“Oh, right!” Ann realized. “Then we wouldn’t even need to make a deal with him.”

“If Alice publicly admits to what she’s doing,” Morgana added, “it should clear our names.”

“That’s the best-case scenario,” Ren acknowledged. “If we’re lucky, we can solve this problem entirely by ourselves and tell the police to fuck off.” He sighed. “That being said, with what Lavenza told me, I can’t ignore the possibility that this is a much bigger problem than we currently know about. If changing Alice’s heart and fixing the mess she caused doesn’t immediately fix everything, then I’ll consider accepting Zenkichi’s deal while keeping an eye out for any knives he might try to stab us in the back with.”

“Even if he is being honest about his intentions, there’s little doubt that he plans to use us for his own purposes,” Yusuke pointed out solemnly.

“Oh, I don’t doubt that,” Ren agreed without missing a beat, “but if that’s all he’s doing, then I actually don’t have that much of a problem with it.”

Everyone stared at Ren. “Wait, really?” Makoto asked incredulously.

Ren laughed humorlessly. “You think I started every confidant bond I made here by just being best friends with everyone last year when I had a criminal record?” he asked dryly. “I might’ve been genuine friends with you guys from the start, but most of the adults I formed bonds with? At the beginning, they wanted to use me for their own purposes, and I was very much the same with them. It was only later on that I formed genuine friendships with them. Assuming that Zenkichi’s being honest in his deal, I’m not gonna be a hypocrite and shit on him for doing the same thing I did last year.”

“I’m…not really sure how to feel about that,” Haru admitted.

“Trust me, I don’t either,” Ren admitted. “And regardless, I’d still like to avoid working with the Police if I can help it at all.”

“Right,” Morgana agreed. “First things first, we take care of Alice. We can respond to the detective later.”

“If you guys need anything, you know where to find me,” Sojiro called out to them before walking away, leaving the Thieves to discuss their plans for how to break down the barricade. After several minutes of discussion, they had their game plan set, with Ren serving as the decoy to distract the majority of the Shadows.

Ren was honestly looking forward to it. There was a certain satisfaction in destroying entire armies of Shadows, whether it be through tearing them to pieces with his blade or ruthlessly blasting them with his Personas’ attacks. And he’d trained his Personas as much as he could in the Jail, including a trick he’d learned to conserve his SP by passing on his Jack o Lantern’s Soul Thief to a Silky who happened to learn both Dormina and Sleep Boost. He might not have been anywhere near the heights of his power, but he was confident he had more than enough to get the job done with the style worthy of any true Phantom Thief.

With their strategizing concluded, he said good-bye to the Phantom Thieves and retired to Café LeBlanc’s attic, where he took out his phone and opened up the group chat he had made with the Investigation Team.

Kanji: “There he is!”

Rise: “REEEEEEEEN! You’re finally here!”

Teddie: “We miss you already, Ren-ren!”

Ren: “Hey guys, sorry I’m late. There was a lot I had to deal with today.”

Yu: “Good to finally hear from you, Ren. I was starting to get worried, especially after what you told me earlier.”

Yosuke: “Yeah, we nearly lost our shit when we learned there was a new version of the Metaverse that showed up.”

Chie: “You doing all right, Ren? Must really suck being thrown into another cognitive world disaster like that.”

Yukiko: “I hope you’re still enjoying yourselves with your friends despite all this.”

Naoto: “What can you tell us about this new form of the Metaverse?”

Ren proceeded to tell them everything he’d learned about the Jails and how they differed from the typical cognitive world spaces that they were all used to. He also explained the differences in combat that he’d noticed…as well as the fact that all of his and the other Phantom Thieves’ Personas had been reduced to their most basic level upon entering the Jail because of its fundamentally different nature.

Chie: “You lost all of your Personas and their power? Ugh, I’m so sorry, Ren. You were such a powerhouse!”

Yosuke: “Dude, that really sucks on a level I can’t even describe.”

Kanji: “You just got finished dealing with Yaldabaoth’s and Maruki’s bullshit, and now you have to deal with this too? Fucking hell, can’t the world give you a damn break, Ren?”

Ren: “I’ve already asked myself that question, Kanji. Many times.”

Rise: “Do you really have to start from scratch? ☹”

Ren: “Not completely. Yeah, I got downgraded to level 1 and apparently our weapons and equipment from before won’t work, which sucks. Not that it matters for me since I didn’t bring any of them to Tokyo to begin with.”

Ren: “But I still kept some of the HP and SP gains from working out, and more importantly, I brought 5 million yen with me to Tokyo.”

Teddie: “Wow, I keep forgetting Ren-ren has so much money!”

Naoto: “Now I see where you’re going with this. You plan on using this money for your war chest for your new adventure, correct?”

Ren: “That’s right, Naoto. We’ve already started our first exploration into this Jail, and so far things have been going okay for the most part.”

Yukiko: “That’s a relief to hear.”

Yu: “Ren, is there anything that we can do to help you and your fellow Thieves? I speak for all of us when I say that we’re more than happy to help if a cognitive world is involved.”

Ren: “I appreciate it, Yu. The problem is that Lavenza told me that multiple teams of Persona users can’t complete the same Journey at the same time. It’s apparently some kind of law of reality, and breaking it would lead to seriously bad shit that we really, REALLY don’t want to happen. For better or for worse, I guess I’m the Fool who has to deal with the problem. Again.”

Rise: “That really sucks, Ren. I’m sorry.”

Ren: “I’m trying to see if there’s any loopholes I can exploit to get around this so you can help out without breaking the laws of the Velvet Room, but for now I don’t think there’s really much you can do.”

Ren: “Even if you could get into the Jails, you’d probably all get downgraded to level 1 just like we did. And I really don’t want that to happen to you if I can avoid it.”

Yu: “Well, we certainly appreciate the warning. It would’ve been a disaster if we blindly walked into a Jail and learned about all this the hard way.”

Yosuke: “Sounds like you’ve got a decent handle on things for now, at least. That’s good to hear.”

Chie: “Yeah, I know you’ll do great, Ren!”

Ren: “Thanks, guys. We’ll do our best, like we always do.”

Naoto: “Let us know if there’s anything we can do to help in ways that doesn’t involve the cognitive world directly.”

Ren smiled at Naoto’s offer. It was nice to know that he had people to rely on in case Zenkichi proved to be outright untrustworthy rather than simply “shady” like he currently was.

He elected not to tell his friends from Inaba about Zenkichi or his plan to serve as a decoy for massive armies of Shadows tomorrow. The former might very well cease to be a problem if they changed Alice’s heart, and Ren didn’t want his friends to excessively worry about the latter.

Ren: “I’ve gotta head out, guys. We’re gonna continue working on dealing with Alice’s Jail tomorrow.”

Yu: “Thanks for keeping us informed, Ren. This has been incredibly helpful.”

Teddie: “See ya, Ren-ren!”

The rest of the Investigation Team gave Ren one form of farewell message or another, and the leader of the Phantom Thieves signed off from the chat.

Yu frowned as he reread the messages Ren had sent him informing him about the Jail. Just as Ren himself had stated, it was an entirely new version of a cognitive world that none of them had ever seen before, operating on an entirely different set of rules. What was worse was that the Jails seemed to be able to directly control the minds of unsuspecting people in one way or another, a disturbing feature that not even the Palaces from last year had possessed. And based on what he’d seen from Alice’s fans, it seemed like that feature was already being unacceptably abused.

He minimized the chat containing the Investigation Team and dialed in a different number that he only occasionally used. Obviously, Ren had forbidden him from revealing his identity or the identities of his friends as the Phantom Thieves to anyone else (not that Yu ever intended to expose them and betray Ren’s trust like that, even if he was under torture). But there was other information he could share that didn’t violate Ren’s trust, as the leader of the Phantom Thieves had never prohibited him from discussing cognitive worlds in general.

He dialed the number on his phone and brought it up to his ear. “Hello?” he called out.

“Narukami-san?” a female voice belonging to someone who many people considered the most powerful woman in Japan answered. “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you today.”

“Good evening, Mitsuru,” Yu Narukami answered cordially but seriously. “Do you have a moment of time you can spare? I have some important information I need to share with you.”

Chapter Text

A lone, shadowy figure leapt across the rooftops of Shibuya’s buildings under a supernaturally-colored night sky. Police cars zoomed through the streets below, all converging at the crossing below in an attempt to close in on the figure’s location. From the height of the building he was currently on the roof of, Joker looked down coldly at the police cars, memories of a similar heist several months ago fueling his contempt at the enemies chasing him.

“Careful, Joker!” Oracle called out to him in warning. “We got one comin’ up!”

Joker raised an eyebrow as a Shadow in the form of an attack helicopter holding a machine gun of all things flew up to his location and started firing at him. Joker raced away and charged down the side of the building, the bullets from the machine gun following after him. The attack helicopter Shadow tried to mow him down with its machine gun, but Joker nimbly dodged all of them, leaping on the Shadow’s head and ripping its mask off. The Shadow plunged out of the sky and crashed onto the ground in a massive explosion, while Joker landed deftly on his feet, unbothered and unharmed by either the fall or the explosion.

In front of him, armies of Shadows in the forms of police officers advanced towards Joker, faceless hordes following their one singular goal of destroying him. Joker raised his knife and pointed it towards his enemies as he gave them all a cold glare, the taunt and the challenge unmistakable even to inhuman Shadows. Several of them transformed into Jack-o-Lanterns and Pixies, signaling that the true battle was about to begin with.

“That was one hell of an entrance, Joker!” Oracle cheered. “They’re all riled up!”

Joker grinned. “It’s Showtime,” was his only response…before he lunged at the nearest group of Jack-o-Lanterns. They were clearly taken by surprise, not expecting Joker to move so quickly, and before any of them could do anything, the leader of the Phantom Thieves had already summoned Andras to blast them with a Bufu and torn them apart with his blade.

Even diminished as he was, it was soon abundantly clear to everyone (friend and foe alike) that Joker was the leader of the Phantom Thieves for a reason, and still a powerhouse unto himself. He expertly weaved battle ferocity and calculated strategic planning together, mixing vicious slashes with his blade with attacks from his Personas. Whenever he got the chance, Joker blew up the police cars with his gun to damage hordes of enemies and burn the survivors, and he even managed to keep his SP plentiful by utilizing the Dormina + Soul Thief + Sleep Boost combo he had developed in Silky and passed on to Succubus through fusion.

The truth was unmistakable. Joker wasn’t trapped with the Shadows. The Shadows were trapped here with him. And they only had just enough time to realize this truth before being utterly destroyed by Joker’s blade or by his Personas.

That didn’t mean this state of affairs couldn’t change, however. More police cars were converging on his location, surrounding him, and opening up to reveal more Shadows. If he was alone, Joker knew he ran the very real risk of being overwhelmed and defeated.

But that was the great secret to the power of the Wild Card…he was never alone. “We made it!” Panther called out. “Let’s rock, Joker!”

A sudden, massive explosion rocked from the top of one of the buildings, and a giant spotlight attached to its roof suddenly fell from the sky and crashed onto the hordes of Shadows and police cars in front of the barricade, wiping them all out. Panther, Skull, and Mona all leapt from the building where the spotlight had been seconds before, landing neatly on the ground.

“We late to the party?” Skull asked with a grin.

“Hell no,” Joker replied, before giving them just one command. “Fuck ‘em up!”

Without any further prompting, the four of them charged at the Shadows surrounding them. Joker had already been unleashing mass havoc by himself, and with four Thieves now in the thick of battle, tearing apart the Shadows was disgustingly easy. Whether it was at the hands of Skull’s mace, Panther’s whip, or Mona’s sword, any Shadow unfortunate enough to be near a Thief suffered an immediate and unceremonious death.

Oracle smirked as she watched Joker leap onto the back of a Shadow and rip off his mask. “Heh, nice moves.” She turned her attention back to the barricade. “How d’ya like this?” She pressed a single button on Necronomicon’s interface. “Aaaaand-a boop!”

Electricity suddenly crackled throughout the barrier, disabling it and causing it to slowly lower back into the ground. The already hapless Shadows could only stare in disbelief as Queen charged right at them on the back of Johanna, crashing through their lines and sending them flying. Meanwhile, Fox lunged at them from the air, slicing through his enemies with a grace that only a seasoned blademaster could possess. Taking advantage of their distraction, Noir charged out from a street to the side with her mighty battleaxe in hand, cleaving Shadows in half with every swing. “Take it away, Joker!” she called out to her beloved.

Joker grinned as he felt raw energy surge through his body like it had when he had fought the Bicorn. He leapt into the air and summoned Arsène to his side. “Game over, assholes!” he roared. “SHOWTIME!”

The demonic Gentleman Thief spun once in the air and smashed the ground with his feet, unleashing a massive explosion of Curse energy far beyond anything he would have been capable of normally. The Showtime attack was enough to obliterate almost all of the Shadows remaining, and all that were left were a few Shadows along with a few Silkies, Mokois, and Andrases.

“That couldn’ta gone better, Joker!” Skull cheered with a grin as they grouped.

“I’ve returned from my diversion as well!” Sophie announced happily. “The plan appears to have been a success.”

“Great hustle out there, Sophie!” Oracle praised. “Now all we hafta do is storm the castle!”

“Now the real fight begins!” Mona declared. “Let’s mop up the rest of these Shadows so we can get to 705!”

What followed was a one-sided slaughter unworthy of being considered a proper battle. Admittedly, the last few Shadows were more powerful than the complete and utter chaff Joker had torn through earlier…but with four Thieves, the result was never in doubt.

“Nothing left to stop us now!” Joker shouted once the Shadows were all destroyed. He pointed his knife at the gates. “Into the Castle, Thieves!”

Meanwhile, at Iwatodai, Kirijo Group Headquarters…

Yu Narukami walked calmly and purposefully into the lobby of the Kirijo Group Headquarters. It had been quite a while since he had last been here, as before Yaldabaoth’s rise there hadn’t been any recent Shadow activity apart from the occasional minor flare-up. The lobby was just as fashionable as he remembered, simplistic yet elegant in design.

A blond woman with piercing blue eyes was waiting for him at the front desk. She might have appeared like a normal woman, but Yu knew full well her true nature as a robot and an Anti-Shadow weapon. He also knew that, despite her mechanical nature, she had just as much of a human heart and soul as himself or anyone else.

Yu smiled at Aigis. “Nice to see you again, Aigis,” he greeted her politely. “I have an appointment with Mitsuru Kirijo today.”

Aigis smiled back at Yu. “Yes, thank you for coming, Yu-san,” she answered. “We’re very grateful that you took the time to come here personally on such short notice.”

Yu shook his head. “It’s no trouble at all,” he reassured her. “This is the second major spike in Shadow activity since last year, and it deserves my full attention.”

Aigis guided Yu into an elevator, typing in a passcode on a numerical pad located next to the array of buttons and inserting in her own cardkey. This would allow the elevator to go straight up to Mitsuru Kirijo’s office at the top of the building, as well as override any other commands given to the elevator.

“How’ve you been doing, Aigis?” Yu asked to break the silence.

“Quite well,” Aigis answered, clearly in good spirits. “Mitsuru and Fuuka have been working diligently to upgrade me, both in terms of my combat effectiveness and allowing me to blend in better with humans.”

“I can tell,” Yu chuckled. “I honestly wouldn’t have been able to tell you were a robot right now if I didn’t already know you beforehand.”

Aigis grinned. “I am pleased to hear that my upgrades are succeeding in their intended purpose,” she replied as the elevator came to a stop. “Mitsuru is waiting for you.”

The elevator door opened and Aigis guided Yu through a hallway leading to Mitsuru’s office. Though he couldn’t see all of them, Yu knew there were multiple hidden security measures both in the elevator and the hallway to make sure that Mitsuru would never be in any danger in case of an intruder…and that was to say nothing of Aigis herself.

Aigis opened the door to Mitsuru’s office, and the woman widely recognized as one of the most powerful women in Japan (and THE most powerful person in Iwatodai and the surrounding regions by an indomitable margin) got up from her chair and walked over to greet Narukami.

“Thank you very much for coming, Yu-san,” Mitsuru Kirijo greeted him with a warmth that she reserved only for people she knew and trusted. “I apologize once again for asking you to come personally. Your phone didn’t have any of Fuuka’s security measures so I couldn’t risk talking to you about Shadows over it.”

“Not a problem at all,” Yu reassured her. “We both know just how dangerous knowledge of Shadows and cognitive world can be in the wrong hands.”

“Absolutely,” Mitsuru agreed. “Allow me to present to you your newest phone.”

As if on cue, a teal-haired young woman entered the office from behind them. Yu immediately recognized Fuuka Yamagishi, the navigator of SEES and the Shadow Operatives. Fuuka smiled at him and presented a small case that, when Yu opened it, revealed a brand new smartphone. “Good to see you again, Yu-san,” she greeted him respectfully, before continuing. “This smartphone is the latest version, with state-of-the-art technology. It also has extensive security protections installed personally by me. I’ve already transferred your data over to it from your old smartphone per your request, and you’ll be able to chat or talk to people about important Shadow Ops or cognitive world business now without fear of being spied on.” She smiled gently at him. “I hope it serves you well.”

“I was looking to get a new smartphone soon anyway, so this works out great for me,” Yu commented with a grin. “Thank you very much for this, Fuuka.”

“You’re very welcome, Yu-san,” Fuuka replied with a slight bow of her head. “I’ll leave you to your business.”

Fuuka left the office and Aigis did a second later to guard the hallway outside, leaving just Yu and Mitsuru in the office. Without even needing to be prompted, Yu took a seat on the chair opposite Mitsuru’s desk. “Let’s get straight to business,” Mitsuru suggested, her tone becoming more serious. “You told me you had some information on this new, significant rise in Shadow activity?”

“Yes,” Yu affirmed. “I don’t have a ton of information, but I can confirm that there is a new, major rise in Shadow activity…and that the world it has taken form in is unlike anything any of us have ever seen before.” He proceeded to explain what little he knew about the Jails based on the information he had gathered to Mitsuru, based on the information Ren had given him.

“I see,” Mitsuru mused once he was done. “This knowledge is certainly invaluable…but also frustratingly incomplete. Not through any fault of your own, of course,” she added quickly.

“There’s only so much I can tell you right now,” Yu admitted. “I only know about all this thanks to the Phantom Thieves.”

“The Phantom Thieves?” Mitsuru repeated with a raised eyebrow.

Yu nodded. “They’re the ones who stumbled upon the Jail in Shibuya first. And not only that, Mitsuru, but I think they’re the ones who are going to have to deal with this, at least for the most part. Margaret visited me earlier, and she confirmed that this is officially a Fool’s Journey. It seems as though the Phantom Thieves and their leader have been the ones chosen to represent humanity for a second time. And you know the rules regarding a Fool’s Journey. Any other teams of Persona users cannot interfere in the main events of a Journey without risking disastrous consequences.”

“I am aware,” Mitsuru sighed. “This seems…incredibly unfair to them, to be quite frank. They just finished dealing with multiple cognitive entities, one of whom was actively malevolent. And now they have to deal with what could possibly be yet another major threat after only a few months.”

Yu chuckled humorlessly. “I can assure you, I’m not happy about it either,” he replied. “Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s much we can do about that for now.”

“At the very least, the knowledge that the Jails will forcibly reduce Personas to their most basic level and operates by an entirely novel set of rules is incredibly important and potentially lifesaving to know,” Mitsuru replied with a frown. “If one of either my Shadow Operatives or your Investigation Team members had stumbled into a Jail without this knowledge, that could have very easily led to their deaths.”

Yu shuddered. “Don’t remind me,” he mumbled. “The Phantom Thieves are honestly lucky that they stumbled into a Jail with the weakest Shadows possible.”

“With all that being said,” Mitsuru continued, “it doesn’t sit right with me to just sit here and wait for the problem to resolve itself.” She took a deep breath before continuing. “Yu…the next time you speak with the leader of the Phantom Thieves, I’d like you to reveal the existence of the Shadow Operatives to them. You can even reveal my name to him if necessary.”

“Really?” Yu didn’t even try to hide his surprise. “You’re okay with me going that far?”

“I am,” Mitsuru affirmed. “It isn’t ideal…but from what you’ve told me about the leader of the Phantom Thieves, he doesn’t trust people in positions of power and authority.”

“There are very good reasons for that,” Yu replied in a carefully neutral voice. “Why do you want me to reveal the existence of the Shadow Operatives to him?”

Mitsuru sighed. “Under ideal circumstances…i.e., not in the middle of a major Shadow event, I would have liked for the Phantom Thieves to join the Shadow Operatives.” There had been a time early in their career when Mitsuru had questioned their intentions and actions, but those doubts had long been laid to rest. The Phantom Thieves had proven their goodness and dedication to humanity beyond question by defeating the cognitive entities of last year, especially after Yu started vouching for them. They were simply a more Chaotic brand of Good (to borrow a term from a game called D&D that Ken sometimes played with his friends) as opposed to a more Lawful or Neutral variety…which was fine by Mitsuru. If she couldn’t cooperate with people who fundamentally aligned with her beliefs but had differing perspectives on how to get things done, then her tenure as head of the Kirijo Group would have ended in catastrophic failure years ago. “However, I’m aware that the Phantom Thieves may not trust such an offer, and even if they did, it might not be practical regardless given the current situation.” She looked Yu in the eyes. “For now, I just want you to ask them if there is any assistance that we can provide. We may be unable to intervene in the Jails directly, but whatever help we can realistically give, I am willing to provide it. We aren’t dealing with an unstoppable political entity like Shido’s Conspiracy anymore.”

“I’ll pass your message along,” Yu agreed, “but I can’t promise anything more than that.”

Mitsuru nodded. “That by itself is much appreciated, my friend,” she thanked him. “Thank you.”

As they shifted their conversation to more pleasant and less serious matters, Yu couldn’t help but wonder what Ren was doing at this moment. The younger Wild Card sounded like he was close to completing his infiltration of the Shibuya Jail, and he wished his younger brother figure success in whatever his goals were.

Back at Shibuya, A Few Hours Later…

As far as short-term goals went, Ren thought, the infiltration of Shibuya’s Jail had been a smashing success. They’d managed to easily infiltrate Alice’s castle (which was somehow even MORE garish and filled with Wonderland themes on the inside) and climbed it all the way to top, even taking down another Heavenly Punisher in the process. They’d also managed to find where the Shadows had been taking people’s Desires on the roof of the Palace, where they had all accumulated into one massive pink gem at the very top.

Unfortunately, while their success was considerable, it wasn’t complete. At the very last moment, they’d been stopped by a supernatural barrier of some kind shaped like a jail cell door, and when Ryuji had touched it (giving himself a nasty shock in the process), it had triggered some sort of flashback where they’d heard nasty voices mocking and bullying someone. Voices that sounded like high school girls, although Ren couldn’t be sure.

Sophia had proven to be a massively valuable part of the team once again. She had somehow figured out that the memory they heard was the key to the barrier, and that the cage holding the Desires was locked and would require a key where they would hear more of the voices. A key located in a room completely separate from the Jail, and could only be accessible in the real world.

“That’s incredibly helpful,” Ren had complimented her, and while Sophia had been joyful at the praise, he couldn’t help but think something was off. Not about Sophia herself, as he had no reason whatsoever to doubt her intentions. “But how could she possibly know all this stuff to begin with,” he couldn’t help but wonder, “when she doesn’t remember who she is apart from her directive to be humanity’s companion?”

It was a question that he sadly just did not have any information to answer, and there were more pressing and immediate matters to deal with anyway. Alice had apparently gone through great lengths to remove all traces of her past from the Internet, which only raised Ren’s suspicions that her time at high school had not been a happy one. Luckily, if you could call it luck, Zenkichi Hasegawa had overheard their conversation and freely given them the information they needed about Alice being a Shujin alumnus, pointing them in the right direction.

“Well, as much as I hate to admit it, that actually WAS very helpful,” Ren acknowledged. “Saves us a lot of time, at the very least.

“It’s hard to gauge whether he’s friend or foe,” Yusuke commented with a conflicted look.

“More importantly,” Ryuji pointed out, “how did he know where Alice went to school?”

“Could the police already have their eyes on Alice as well?” Makoto wondered.

“If that’s true, then we actually CAN trust Zenkichi, at least in the short-term,” Ren concluded. He shook his head and let out a bitter laugh. “Can’t believe I just said that we could trust the fucking police. Unironically. Assuming, of course, that his intel is any good,” he quickly added.

“Well, I guess all we can do now is try it out,” Ryuji suggested. “We can find the secret room if we go to Shujin, right?”

Nobody had any reason to disagree, and after a quick check to make sure their supplies were plentiful, they made their way over to Shujin.

When they entered the Metaverse through Shujin, they immediately noticed something was off. They were inside one of the Shujin classrooms, but right outside the window were rows and rows of jail cells with their interiors glowing with an ominous red light. The cognitive distortion itself was also really strong, as Mona could attest.

As disturbing as the atmosphere was, it was nothing compared to the scene that awaited them. A girl in a Shujin uniform was sitting on a desk in front of them with black voids for eyes, viciously mocking and verbally abusing an unseen younger Alice. The younger Alice desperately pleaded for mercy, but the bullying from the other student kept getting worse and worse.

Joker had honestly thought he’d had it bad in Shujin when Kamoshida had exposed his criminal record. He’d very quickly realized that his own experiences had been NOTHING compared to Alice’s…and that Shujin Academy’s problems had existed LONG before the fucker had ever showed up. “Prestigious school, my ass,” he thought bitterly.

“Do us a favor,” the bullying student hissed in an increasingly distorted tone, “and die already!”

Everyone stared in horror as the student suddenly transformed into a humongous monster unlike anything any of them had ever seen before. A towering behemoth that was only vaguely humanoid in shape with four arms…each of which was carrying a massive axe. Around them, the room changed, transforming into a square-shaped arena surrounded by the same glowing red jail cells as the Lock Keeper summoned hordes of smaller, weaker Shadows to fight alongside it.

“Can’t you get it through your thick skull?” the Lock Keeper snarled. “Nobody wants you around!”

Panther couldn’t take it anymore. With a scream of rage, she summoned Carmen and hurled an Agi at the Lock Keeper…and to everyone’s surprise, the Lock Keeper flinched. Not only that, but the attack had burned the Lock Keeper. “I think you hit a weakness, Panther!” Oracle called out.

Mona, seeing that the Lock Keeper was burned, followed through with a Garu from Zorro. This had even greater effect than Panther’s Agi, hitting the Lock Keeper with both a weakness AND a technical thanks to the burn. This time, the Lock Keeper straight-up recoiled, as one of its many energy shield layers was destroyed. “It’s weak to Wind, too!” Oracle confirmed.

“Panther, Mona, Sophie, help me destroy the Lock Keeper!” Joker immediately commanded. “Everyone else, take care of the chaff surrounding us. We’re taking this thing down!”

A task that was easier said than done. The Lock Keeper was easily the most durable enemy they had faced so far, with multiple layers on its shields. And it hit like a truck too, even with Panther weakening it with a Tarunda. Although Joker was experienced enough by now in this new form of combat that he could identify the attack patterns of the Lock Keeper and dodge them accordingly, some of his friends weren’t quite at that level yet and got hit by the axes. Thankfully, none of them were wounded enough to be outright knocked out, and they made sure to heal each other appropriately.

It didn’t help that they had to deal with the numerous other Shadows summoned by the Lock Keeper at the same time…as well as the Lock Keeper’s vicious taunts towards Alice distracting them.

“Huh?” the Lock Keeper mocked. “Oh, you’re here? You’re so bland I didn’t notice you. Hahaha!”

“Is this stuff…from Alice’s past?” Panther wondered, clearly horrified. “Did she really go through all this?”

“There were some truly terrible things said in the classroom as well…” Noir murmured sadly.

“I believe we’ve seen why Alice strove so far to wipe the records of her time at school…” Fox muttered.

“We’ll talk about it later,” Joker cut them off tersely. As much as he hated being the asshole here, getting distracted in the middle of combat was a fantastic way to get oneself killed. “Deal with the Lock Keeper first!”

He summoned Hua Po and blasted the Lock Keeper with an Agi. This was enough to finally knock it down completely, and he and his Thieves wasted no time in getting in an All-Out Attack. Joker couldn’t help but feel a vindictive sense of satisfaction as the explosion from the attack not only dealt heavy damage to the Lock Keeper, but also destroyed all of the Shadows in the surrounding vicinity.

As they battled on, Joker quickly realized that the best way to deal with the Lock Keeper was brutal and unrelenting offense with his Personas. Attacking them with their weaknesses over and over again ceaselessly and mercilessly, constantly staggering them and making sure they never got a chance to get an attack in. The major downside was that it would chew through his and his friends’ SP, and could potentially exhaust them before they could finish the Lock Keeper. Thankfully, however, the gains he had made in working out his body and mind paid dividends here, and he had gotten enough drinks from the vending machines to keep his friends refreshed enough to continue the onslaught.

It was effectively a stunlock strategy to keep the Lock Keeper neutralized by bombarding its weaknesses over and over. Was it a dishonorable and cheap tactic? Maybe. Did Joker or anyone else give a shit? Not in the slightest. Especially given the despicable bully the Lock Keeper represented.

“I heard you actually confessed your feelings for him?” the Lock Keeper taunted. “Gross. SO FUCKING GROSS! Are you just, like, obsessed with guys now or something? It’s not like you’d ever make a good couple.”

“This bitch is beginning to piss me off yesterday!” Joker snarled as he blasted the Lock Keeper with another Agi.

“In fact, I think I’ll take him off your hands for you! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

“What a bunch of bullies!” Panther yelled. “They were just too mean to Alice!”

“The enemy’s getting weaker!” Oracle encouraged. “Put that bully in its place!”

“Don’t even need to ask,” Panther replied. All throughout the battle, a fire had been burning in her soul. Rage at the vicious bullying that Alice had suffered, an overwhelming desire to see her bully thoroughly put in her place. And as she smacked the Lock Keeper with her whip one final time, she suddenly felt her body overflow with energy that she hadn’t felt since Mementos. And she knew what she had to do.

“Showtime!” Panther yelled as she ripped off her mask and summoned Carmen behind her in a backdrop of pink spotlights and hearts. The two of them began to spin around and around together in a dance, gathering the power they had built up within themselves as fiery energy swirled in a circle around them. “Your heart is mine!” she declared as they pointed their hands towards the Lock Keeper as one. A massive pillar of flames, infused with Carmen’s energy, erupted under the ground beneath the Lock Keeper’s feet, creating a gigantic explosion akin to the one that Joker had unleashed with Arsene when they had infiltrated Alice’s Castle. And it was more than enough to obliterate what was left of the Lock Keeper’s health.

“Every rose has its thorns!” Panther declared triumphantly as the Lock Keeper collapsed onto its knees and fell to the ground, finally defeated. It disintegrated, leaving behind only a golden lock that fell to the ground. Before Skull could even touch it, the lock split into pieces and disintegrated, triggering an earthquake in the far distance. Although they couldn’t see it, the lock guarding the cage was also broken at the same time, and the chains surrounding it fell to the front of the castle, leaving the cage with the Desires finally unlocked.

“The birdcage in the Jail is unlocked,” Sophie declared. “We will be able to access it now.”

“For real!?” Skull asked.

“It appears our most recent target held the key,” Sophie reported.

“In other words, we defeated the warden guarding the key,” Fox remarked.

“A warden in Alice’s memories,” Mona muttered. “A key to the cage in her Jail. So a different Shadow held the key, not Alice’s?”

“I think we can take our knowledge on how Palaces work and throw at least some of it right out the window as far as Jails are concerned,” Joker deadpanned.

“Joker’s right,” Mona agreed. “There’s definitely a lot more differences between Jails and Palaces, even more than I first thought.”

“Good point,” Noir acknowledged. “The Palaces don’t have any rooms like these, or wardens guarding keys in hidden locations. The closest thing I can think of are the Will Seeds, and those were merely optional items that we could collect that didn’t have anything to do with actually infiltrating the Palaces and stealing the Treasures.”

“The more we learn, the messier the situation gets,” Queen muttered.

“Sophie’s been really pulling her weight here and then some,” Panther complimented, smiling at the AI. “If it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t have even made it here.”

“Praise accepted!” Sophie accepted cheerfully with a hum.

“But now, there’s one last major step we need to take,” Joker declared. “Sending Alice the calling card and taking back those Desires.”

They returned to the real world and back to Café LeBlanc’s attic. “Like Ren said earlier,” Ryuji commented, “all that’s left is sendin’ the calling card. What should it say?”

“We’re after the Desires that Alice is seizing from the people whose hearts she changed, right? Then don’t we have to write something like, ‘we shall take back the Desires you’ve seized’?” Futaba suggested.

“Smart,” Morgana nodded in approval. “Using the same logic that works on Treasures is probably our best shot.”

“Once the Desire takes form, we can steal it,” Makoto agreed. “If we return the victims their own Desires…”

“…she should be havin’ a change of heart and confessin’ soon after.”

“Hold on,” Morgana interrupted warningly. “That’s not actually set in stone. What we’re stealing this time are the Desires that Alice seized from others. It’s not her own desire or ambition – or like the Treasure we found in Palaces.” He sighed. “There’s no way of knowing whether or not Alice’s heart will be changed.”

“We have to change her heart as well as take back the Desires,” Makoto pointed out with a worried look on her face. “Otherwise, even if we rescue her victims, without a change of heart in Alice, this will just be a pointless cycle with no end in sight.”

“If the Calling Card works,” Yusuke mused, “then her Desire will manifest inside the birdcage. That would create a high probability that we’ll encounter Alice’s Shadow there as well.”

“We did cause quite a scene destroying the lock!” Sophia pointed out.

“If that’s the case, then us coming across Alice’s Shadow might actually be a good thing for us,” Ren pointed out. “We’ll almost certainly have to fight her, but that’s also the only way we’ll actually be able to change her heart too.”

“Indeed, facing her Shadow may prove to be just as much of a boon as it is a hindrance,” Yusuke agreed. “Whether through words or fists, don’t we have the opportunity to change her heart via her Shadow?”

“Then let’s do it!” Ann shouted fiercely as she got up on her feet. “Let’s take her head-on!”

Everyone gave her shocked expressions, clearly taken aback by her outburst. Ann felt a wave of embarrassment as she sat down back into her chair. “Oh…sorry…” she mumbled.

Ren gave his friend a sympathetic glance. He’d noticed that Ann had been noticeably despondent ever since the battle with the Lock Keeper, and it wasn’t hard to see why. “This has been eating away at you for a while, hasn’t it?” he asked as he put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Yeah…” Ann admitted with a heavy sigh. “I know going after Shadow Alice directly might be the more dangerous approach, but if you guys are up for it…I feel like it’s something that needs to be done. Something that I have to do, especially.”

“And if I know you, Ann, you’re not just talking about taking back the Desires and making sure they stay with their original owners,” Ren replied knowingly.

Ann shook her head. “No, it’s about more than that. I want to rescue Alice too, not just her victims,” she affirmed. “Alice said she wanted to be a ray of light that could inspire people suffering through life.”

Ryuji frowned. “You mean, when she was on TV? With all the shit she’s pulled, I dunno if she really meant all that…” he pointed out, and not for unjustified reasons.

Ann’s eyes burned with intensity. “Well, I do,” she insisted. “Even after everything she’s done, I think she was telling the truth. And I get why she said it, too: because of all the bullying in the past.” She turned to gaze at each and every one of her fellow Thieves, who were giving her their undivided attention. “I mean…doesn’t it seem like we saw part of Alice’s trauma in the secret room?”

“Trauma?” Sophia asked curiosity.

“It’s like an invisible wound in a person’s heart,” Haru explained. “It comes from living through painful experiences. All of us have suffered a wound like that in some way or another,” she added sadly, “although each of those wounds is different.”

“A wound in a heart…” Sophia repeated sadly, lost in her thoughts.

“Maybe that trauma is the whole reason the Jail formed,” Ann hypothesized gloomily.

Morgana looked equally glum. “Trauma distorted Alice’s heart, giving birth to the Jail. It makes a disturbing amount of sense,” he mulled over the possibility. “And it sounds very similar to how Palaces generate…I definitely think it’s at least a decent possibility.”

“But how is that trauma relevant to Alice’s current behavior?” Yusuke asked.

“This is just a hunch…” Ann guessed, “but I think she sees what she’s doing as some kind of revenge. Against the kinds of girls who treated her badly.”

“You know, Ann?” Ren finally spoke up, drawing everyone’s attention to him. “I was more or less thinking the exact same thing. I know we don’t have any actual proof, but I think you hit the nail on the head with Alice.”

Ann smiled gratefully at him. “You believe me, Ren.”

“I do,” Ren affirmed. “And I have my own thoughts on Alice. There was a time when I thought that she was going to be the second coming of Kamoshida. Not perverted and certainly not as depraved, but just as much of a sadistic asshole.”

Ann shook her head. “It’s not right to put her in the same category as that piece of shit,” she growled.

“No,” Ren agreed. “It isn’t. I don’t see Alice Hiiragi as the Jail version of Kamoshida anymore, Ann. If anything, I actually see her as a darker, evil version of you.”

Everyone’s eyes widened. “Really?” Ann asked, shocked.

“Really,” Ren nodded, before explaining. “You were both bullied and shamed at Shujin Academy through no fault of your own, and you both wanted to make a better life for yourselves through going into fashion. But you never fell to the depths that Alice did, Ann. You had friends like Shiho, and later us fellow Thieves, that brought light into your life even in that miserable school and kept you from falling into darkness. And even when you did decide to fight back, you only focused your anger on Kamoshida, a complete and utter piece of shit who thoroughly deserved everything we did to him and then some. You didn’t hurt other innocent people in the process.”

Ann understood where Ren was going. “And Alice had no one…” she murmured sadly.

“Exactly,” Ren agreed with a sigh. “Alice had no one to save her, and no one to keep her from going off the deep end. You say that you believe Alice’s original goal was to be a ray of light to other people? I believe it too.” His eyes hardened. “Just as I believe that all her anger, sorrow, and bitterness over her trauma has caused her to lose sight of that original goal. She’s been consumed by revenge to the point that she’s become the bully now, and what she’s doing now is far beyond what any reasonable person could possibly consider appropriate.”

“Ren’s right!” Ryuji added with a scowl. “Stealing someone’s dude in front of her is revenge to Alice? No matter what happened to her in the past, that’s pretty sick!”

“Her Shadow’s operation is way too massive for that to be all,” Futaba agreed solemnly. “She just has too many victims already.”

“Ren-kun brought up an excellent point earlier,” Haru murmured. “Alice had no one to save her. What if she simply kept escalating because no one was there to stop her either? Becoming a Monarch must create an awful amount of distortion…”

“All that makes me only want to help Alice more,” Ann asserted. “If her heart’s grown that distorted, then I want her to at least remember how it feels being a ray of light for somebody. I don’t know if she’s beyond helping at this point…” her eyes lit up with determination, “…but there has to be someone who tries! We can’t just abandon Alice!”

“Alice had nobody to help her in the past,” Ren declared with the voice of Joker. “So we’ll be the ones to save her. Just as we’ll be the ones to stop her.” He gazed intently into Ann’s eyes. “I’m with you, Ann. If you really think you can reach out to Alice and be the one to save her from herself, then I’ll support you every step of the way.”

“Ren…” Ann breathed out gratefully.

“You and Alice Hiiragi both shared a dream,” Ren added with a smile. “Let’s see if the Phantom Thieves can help Alice remember what that dream truly was.”

“I’m with you,” Makoto chimed in. “Let’s do it.”

“No objections here, either,” Yusuke agreed. “However, should we engage her in combat, we must avoid taking her life at all costs.”

“Absolutely,” Ann agreed fervently. “That’s out of the question.”

“In that regard, our Personas being depowered the way they were might actually be a blessing in disguise,” Ren pointed out with a dry smile. “Shadow Alice’s power level probably isn’t all that much higher than the rest of the Shadows in the Jail. I know the new combat system makes what I’m about to say a bit wonky, but if we went in against Shadow Alice at our full power with level 99 Personas and all guns blazing, there was a very real chance that we could’ve gone way too overboard with our attacks and accidentally killed her Shadow.” He chuckled humorlessly. “At least we don’t have to worry about that nearly as much with our overall power levels being a lot lower.”

“Then perhaps the weakening of our Personas may have turned out for the best after all,” Haru mused.

“Best case scenario, we just talk her out of it without even needing to fight,” Ryuji commented.

“I’d love for that to be the case, but I doubt we’ll be that lucky,” Ren deadpanned. “Which is why we need to choose who to fight Shadow Alice carefully.”

“Ren, I’d like to be one of the Thieves on the front line,” Ann requested. “I feel like this is something I have to do myself.”

“I was going to do that anyway, Ann,” Ren reassured her. “I noticed that the Lock Keeper had some very…odd resistance patterns. Why would it be weak to Fire and Wind, of all things?” he asked. “That’s very unusual, especially when it didn’t look like it should have those kinds of weaknesses.”

“The Lock Keeper was also weak to Bless and Curse,” Makoto pointed out.

“I noticed that too,” Ren acknowledged. “I don’t have anything to support this beyond a hunch, but I have a theory that the Lock Keeper’s weaknesses are a reflection of Alice’s. And if that’s the case, the best team to fight Shadow Alice will be Ann, Morgana, and Sophia.” He shrugged. “I don’t really have anything more to go off of, but that’s what my instincts are telling me.”

“If you think that’s what our strategy should be, then I’m with you,” Makoto reassured him. “It’s better than anything I can come up with.”

Ann smiled at them all. “Thank you, everyone. I promise I won’t disappoint you when the time comes.”

Ren returned the expression with an encouraging grin. “I know you won’t, Ann.”

“Thanks, Ren. Do you mind if I could write the calling card this time?” Ann requested solemnly. “There’s something I need to tell her personally.”

“All yours,” Ren replied invitingly. “There’s nobody here who could write a calling card for Alice better than you.”

Ann grinned for the first time. “It’ll be great, I promise!”

“Do you need any help writing the calling card?” Sophia requested.

“Ooh, you can help me with the phrasing, Sophia!” Ann gratefully accepted.

“Awesome!” Ryuji cheered. “All we gotta do is figure out the delivery.”

“Mwehehehehe!” Futaba cackled. “I may have a plan for that!”

Ren smiled in approval as he watched his fellow Thieves discuss their plans for the calling card. He recognized that this was something Ann had to do more than anyone else, a chance for her to demonstrate just how much she’d grown by saving someone very similar to her who had fallen into darkness and lost her way.

As Futaba herself stated a few seconds later, this was a special reunion of the Phantom Thieves and their return to the public consciousness. And they were going to come back in style.

Chapter Text

No matter what the time of day, Shibuya and its people were as busy as ever. People walked across the different streets under a pitch-black night sky, going about their business as the many buildings in the area covered the streets with light.

On the many large TV screens that lined the walls of several of the buildings, news forecasters were reporting that Akira Konoe, founder of Madicce, was working on a collaboration with the company known as Pineapple. It was just one of many news broadcasts that were constantly announced to the public…

…until, all at once, every single TV screen lining Shibuya’s buildings flickered and faded away, being replaced seconds later with a red and black vortex. In front of the vortex was a red hat on top of a theater mask with blazing white flames in its eyes, with the words “Take Your Heart!” displayed proudly underneath. The passersby of Shibuya looked up in shock as the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, the urban legends of the last year who had taken down numerous corrupt figures and led to the greatest shakeup of the government in recent history before disappearing into the shadows, were making their grand return when nobody had expected them to.

“Okay folks, listen up!” a distorted, rough male voice called out to them, demanding their complete attention.

“Good evening!” a distorted female voice joined him.

“Been a while, huh?” a second distorted female voice addressed them coolly.

“Perhaps you remember us?”

“We…are the Phantom Thieves.”

The mutterings of the crowd grew even louder, as the unknown voices confirmed what everyone had been suspecting.

“And we’re back in action with a new heart in our sights!” a new female voice declared.

“A wicked witch who treats people like toys. Alice Hiiragi!”

“You pretend you’re a ray of light, but all you do is hurt people you indulge your own darkness!”

As the crowd gasped and began frantically muttering to itself at the declaration of their target and the accusations leveled against her, Zenkichi Hasegawa looked up at one of the TV screens and smiled.

“Go for it, Phantom Thieves,” he thought. “Steal her heart, and prove me right in thinking that you’re innocent in all this!”

“You’re a bad person,” the female voice from before continued, “and bad people have to be stopped!”

“And all those desires you’ve stolen?”

The screen flickered, revealing a mysterious male figure in a black coat wearing a white domino mask and red gloves. “Tonight, we’re taking them all back!” he declared, as he threw a calling card onto the screen for the entirety of Shibuya to see.

Meanwhile…

“Mwehehehehe!” Futaba cackled. “It’s The Return of the Futaba Cannon! Hope it was a blast! Shibuya’s in frenzy all over again!” she reported. “I’m pretty sure Alice got her calling card by now, too!”

“Excellent work, Futaba,” Ren complimented. “I knew you wouldn’t let us down.”

Futaba grinned at her older brother figure’s praise. “Now all we have left to do is to wrap this up!” she declared. “Let’s head in and finish the job we started!”

“I have all the supplies we need from the online shop, so we are good to go,” Ren added. “Time for the heist, everyone!”

The Phantom Thieves immediately used EMMA to enter Alice’s Jail, and even though the nature of the Jail was completely different from that of Palaces, the aura and atmosphere of intensity whenever they were about to steal someone’s heart was exactly the same.

“Let’s go, everyone!” Mona shouted. “Time to change Alice’s heart!”

The Phantom Thieves leapt from the ledge they had entered the Jail in and landed neatly on the streets of Shibuya. With no need to maintain stealth when the security level was already maximal, they proceeded to charge straight towards Alice’s Castle, brutally slaughtering every Shadow they came across. By now, the Shadows were pathetically weak compared to the Thieves, and they faced no meaningful resistance whatsoever as they approached the front entrance to the Castle.

As they got closer, they saw that the chain that had previously been surrounding the cage at the top of the Castle had completely broken apart, with one particularly long link falling straight to the ground in front of the doors. Joker smirked at the sight. “Looks like Sophie was right,” he declared. “Destroying the Lock Keeper broke the chains surrounding that cage.”

“Climbing this should give us a straight shot to the birdcage of Desires,” Mona informed them. “Let’s not waste any more time, anyone!”

“And remember our battle strategy,” Queen added. “Panther, Mona, and Sophie on the front lines alongside Joker, just like he planned.”

The Phantom Thieves gave out various expressions of agreement, and together they scaled the fallen chain link all the way up to the top of the Castle. Once they arrived at the top, they could see that the huge ball of pink light that made up the Desires had transformed into a gigantic pink gem neatly encased in the crown-like structure making up the tower’s top.

“What the hell?” Joker spluttered.

“That thing is GINORMOUS!” Oracle exclaimed. “Why’s it so big?”

“At least it actually materialized for us,” Noir breathed with a noticeable sigh of relief. “Thank goodness!”

“That is a relief,” Mona agreed. “Part of me was worried that our standard Palace procedures wouldn’t work.”

“This is one similarity between Jails and Palaces that I’m glad exists,” Joker commented.

“All right, Skull!” Oracle teased. “Get to hauling!”

“Uh, no!” Skull protested. “Look at the size of that thing!”

“What do we do now?” Panther asked worriedly. “How do we steal something like that?”

“I admit,” Queen sighed, “I don’t know either.”

Any additional conversation was immediately interrupted as rumbling suddenly shook the ground. On the gaudy and colorful stage in front of them, Shadow Alice ascended into view, looking at them smugly from her throne.

“So,” Fox intoned grimly, “it’s a fight after all.”

“We wanted to face her head-on,” Joker commented in a tone drier than the Sahara Desert, “and it looks like we’re about to get our wish.”

“Alice!” Panther gasped.

Shadow Alice chuckled as she got off her throne, brandishing her candy cane threateningly. “Oh dear,” she commented with an evil smirk, “you thought you’d just sneak in like that? And what exactly do you plan on doing with those Desires?” she challenged.

“We’re taking them back and giving them to the people you stole them from,” Joker declared. “You know full well that they don’t belong to you.”

Shadow Alice’s eyes fell upon Joker and her smile widened into a cruel grin. “Hey, you!” She called out to him. “Joker, right? Did you come back to me so you could be mine?”

“Not interested,” Joker answered in a tone colder than Black Frost’s aura. Next to him, Noir’s grip tightened on her axe and her eyes burned with vicious fury. She said nothing, though, for she refused to let her rage get the better of her. She would not make the same mistakes that Goro Akechi had. “The only reason we’re here is to take your heart, Alice.”

“Aww, what a grump,” Shadow Alice sneered. “You should be nicer to girls.”

Mona had had enough. “Alice Hiiragi!” he shouted. “We know all about the horrible things you’ve done!”

“You’ve seized people’s Desires by force and turned them into your puppets!” Fox added angrily.

“We can no longer overlook the wicked changes of heart you’ve forced on the people!” Noir declared furiously, forcing herself to shift her focus away from Alice’s unwanted attentions on her boyfriend to the actual crimes she committed that mattered far more.

“That Phantom Thieves are going to beat the distortion out of you!” Panther declared with fire burning in her eyes.

“There’s no way you could understand,” Shadow Alice dismissed mockingly. “You have no clue what I’ve been through.”

“You mean…what happened to you at Shujin?” Panther asked morosely.

Shadow Alice’s eyes widened in shock, and then her gaze immediately hardened. “What the…” she spluttered, genuinely taken aback for the first time. “Where did…how…?”

“We know all of it, Alice,” Panther replied firmly, seeing the slightest of opportunities to maybe resolve this confrontation without a fight. “How you were bullied. How it was torture for you. But I still…”

“Oh, okay!” Shadow Alice cut her off, looking noticeably displeased now. “So you found out. No matter how much I hide it, the past still comes back to me!” she shouted, before adding with a disgusted snarl. “How pathetic. What a mess!”

She forced herself to calm down, and the confident smirk returned to her face. “But that doesn’t matter now. With this power, I can have everything!” She stepped forward, causing all of the Phantom Thieves to tense as they sensed that the battle was about to begin. “And now…I’m going to make you mine.” She raised her candy cane and pointed it at them, laughing evilly all the while. “All MINE!”

Malignant black and red energies surged from Shadow Alice’s body as she underwent a monstrous transformation like countless Shadows before her. Everyone gasped as she transformed into a gigantic humanoid rabbit that looked positively grotesque in appearance. Her fluffy tail had a mouth with a tongue sticking out of it that reminded Joker disturbingly of the Hableries from the TV World. Even more disturbingly, her right eye and mouth were stitched shut and her left eye looked like a psychedelic vortex of colors. The monstrous Shadow Alice leapt from her stage and onto the center of the floor, which had transformed into an arena with countless adoring, faceless fans cheering her from all sides as spotlight shined down upon them.

“What in the!” Skull spluttered as she waved mockingly at them. “She turned into some kinda rabbit!”

“So this really is Alice in Wonderland…” Queen remarked.

As if to confirm her words, Shadow Alice began to copy words straight from the Alice in Wonderland book. “Oh my,” she cackled. “I’m late for a very important date! Come along, come along!” she invited. “I have such wonders to show you!”

“What wonders?” Sophie asked curiously.

“Ignore her, Sophie,” Oracle ordered with a scowl. “She just wants to torture us or something.”

“Alice…” Panther promised, “I’m going to make you see the light.”

“Get ready!” Joker warned. “Here she comes!”

Immediately, Shadow Alice raced towards them, letting loose a vicious kick that fortunately all of them were able to dodge in time.

“Aww, you Phantom Thieves look like best buds!” Shadow Alice taunted. “Any of you happen to be dating?” She giggled. “I wonder who you’ve got your eye on, Takamaki-san.”

“And how is that your business?” Panther shot back furiously.

“Personally, I’ve got a thing for Joker!” Shadow Alice continued, completely ignoring Panther. “I’m going to take your heart!”

“Dude, she is freaky!” Skull exclaimed. “Look out, Joker!” Joker replied by firing an Agi from Hua Po, which Oracle was able to confirm did indeed hit a weakness.

“Owwwww!” she shouted furiously. “What the hell?”

Unfortunately, this by itself wasn’t enough to knock down Alice or even stun her.

“Bad news, guy,” Oracle warned. “She has eight layers on her energy shield.”

“EIGHT?” Panther spluttered. “Are you kidding me?”

“Don’t worry about that now!” Joker ordered quickly. “Just keep firing Agi and Garu attacks whenever you get the chance, and make sure to dodge her attacks as best as you can! Sophie, hit her with a Rakunda now so we can do more damage.

Joker’s teammates did as they were instructed, and thanks to the combined assault they were able to break her first shield. To everyone’s surprise, Shadow Alice’s body started burning up. “It burns!” she snarled. “You must really wanna piss me off!”

Joker couldn’t remember the last time any personal Shadow he had battled was able to be affected by a status condition, but he wasn’t going to complain. “Mona!” he called out as he switched over to Andras, who he had passed Garu to from a Mokoi that had received the ability from a Bicorn. “She’s burning! You know what to do!”

“You got it, Joker!” Mona replied as he summoned Zorro to attack Shadow Alice with a Garu. To everyone’s delight, the attack did WAY more damage than the Agi, confirming that in the world of the Jails, extra damage from Technical Attacks and Weakness did indeed stack in a way that they hadn’t in the Palaces or the TV World.

Joker and Mona proceeded to attack Shadow Alice with as many Wind attacks as they possibly could in between their regular melee strikes, while Panther imbued her whip with her Fire affinity to hit at Alice’s weaknesses that way. But they quickly learned that Shadow Alice was a much more competent fighter than Shadow Kamoshida had ever been. As befitting the animal she had chosen to copy, her attacks and movements were fast, and they hit way stronger than anything Shadow Kamoshida had ever done outside of his “strongest” moves. Sometimes she would leap into the air and smash the ground with a shockwave, sometimes she would try to viciously strike them with her kicks and staff, and a few times she would swing around the pole in the center to create a vicious whirlwind of violence in an imitation of the Phantom Thieves’ own pole-swinging attack.

Not only that, but unlike Shadow Kamoshida, Alice’s Shadow actually had some variety in her strategy beyond physical attacks. While it didn’t happen especially commonly, every so often she would send out heart-shaped blasts onto the arena. They quickly realized those hearts were a variation of Marin Karin when one of them struck Mona and he looked dumbly at Alice with a lovestruck expression on his face for a few seconds. Thankfully, Joker had come prepared for this, and quickly gave the feline some medicine to immediately snap him out of it…which couldn’t have come at a better time, as Shadow Alice immediately followed her brainwashing attempt with a psychedelic blast that could have done serious Technical damage to Mona if he hadn’t been cured beforehand.

Joker would freely admit that Shadow Alice was a far worthier foe than Shadow Kamoshida had ever been, and thus he was more careful in his approach. He knew he could theoretically just keep spamming Agi and Garu attacks until she finally collapsed (an honestly tempting proposition given his higher SP pool thanks to his exercise workouts), but he decided to keep things slower and more disciplined instead. He waited for Shadow Alice to miss one of her attacks on him or his friends before retaliating with an attack from one of his Personas, always making sure to use Wind over Fire if Alice was already burned. Mona had also noticed several bizarre looking firecrackers scattered around the arena that inexplicably did Wind damage when fired, and the Thieves were quick to use them to their advantage whenever Shadow Alice stumbled within their line of fire.

The battle was long and arduous, with quite a few heals needed whenever Alice managed to land a hit on one of them. But through their slow and methodical attacking strategy, the Thieves were able to get in at least one All-Out Attack in, and eventually knock down Shadow Alice’s total health to half.

“Why are you being like this?” Shadow Alice yelled…but for the first time in the fight, her tone was different. The rage was unmistakably still there…but now they could all hear hints of pain and sorrow too. “I was finally able to find some happiness. Are you here to take everything I have?” she demanded. “Just like she did?” A hint of desperation entered her voice as she yelled, “JUST TRY ME!”

She began to hop about even more frenziedly before…and then everyone jumped as she suddenly broke her cane upon her knee, snapping it in half before leaping onto all fours, slamming the ground as she did so. “Something’s changed!” Oracle called out to them in warning. “Stay on guard!”

Joker couldn’t even give a verbal acknowledgement as Shadow Alice immediately started swinging her claws at them with such strength and ferocity that they briefly formed slash marks made of energy, and the Thieves were forced to spend the next few seconds dodging as Shadow Alice chased after them while trying to tear them apart with her claws.

“Whoa, holy shit!” Skull exclaimed.

“Why is she so fast now!?” Mona asked incredulously. “Sheesh!”

“She refuses to give up…” Panther murmured, before she suddenly shouted. “Alice! What made you like this? Why are you doing this?”

“You’d never get it, Takamaki-san,” Shadow Alice retorted bitterly. “I’ve been treated like shit all my life! I had everything taken from me! You don’t know what that’s like! The further up the social ladder, the shittier they were to me!”

“But she does know,” Joker thought grimly. “She knows better than anyone.”

Shadow Alice wasn’t done ranting, though. “Even if they saw someone getting tortured, they’d just smile and keep on walking like I didn’t matter!” she shouted. “How could trash like that NOT deserve it?”

“And what does that say about you, then?” Joker asked, unflinching in the face of Shadow Alice’s wrath. “When you’ve done far worse things than your bully ever did to you?”

Shadow Alice let out a yell of rage and curled into a ball, before spinning towards Joker like a wheel of death. Joker dodged the attack, but Shadow Alice turned around to spin at him again. She had turned into a true wheel of destruction, tumbling around the arena trying to attack Joker and the other Thieves in a zigzagging fashion again and again, forcing them to abandon attacking entirely just to avoid Alice’s spins. But as powerful as this attack was, she couldn’t keep it up forever. When she finally slowed to a stop, she struggled to catch her breath, and Joker and the rest of the Thieves wasted no time in piling on their attacks.

“I’ll show you that you’re trash, too!” Shadow Alice promised furiously even as she withstood the barrage of Agis and Garus fired her way. “Once I’ve gotten a man in my grasp, there’s no letting go. I’ll turn him on you, and then you’ll learn true despair!”

She let out a psychic attack much more powerful than the Mapsi she had fired in the past, this particular Mapsio taking the form of multiple psychedelic orbs in a spread-out pattern that all of the Thieves managed to dodge.

“Soon, I will be loved by all the men in the world!” Shadow Alice declared.

“What good is that love when you brainwash men into giving it to you?” Joker asked coldly. “Love that isn’t given freely is worthless, Alice!”

“You’ll be singing a different tune when I’m through with you, Joker!” Shadow Alice fired back. She proceeded to launch several psychedelic hearts around her that exploded into pink blasts of Brainwash energy, but by that point Joker had already retreated to a safe distance and the Brain Jack did nothing to affect him.

By now, Joker had a better understanding of Shadow Alice’s new attack patterns. Her rage had fueled her attacks to becoming more powerful and more dangerous, but they also tired her out more and gave more openings for him and his friends to attack. Patience was the key, and the difference between knowing when to attack and knowing when NOT to attack was more important than ever.

Slowly but surely, Shadow Alice’s health began to whittle down more and more, and the desperation and fear in Alice’s voice became more and more apparent. “Ngh!” Shadow Alice groaned. “Why are you…I’m not doing anything wrong!”

“She’s getting weaker, guys!” Oracle called out to them excitedly. “Just one more push! Keep it up, guys!”

“All those girls looking down on me!” Shadow Alice ranted, and this time there was no mistaking the pain and sorrow in her voice. “They’ll see! They’ll see how every man is mine!”

“Is that really what you want, Alice?” Panther shouted back. “Don’t be stupid! I remember what your real answer. You have to remember too, Alice!” She raised her voice as she gave her final demand. “Tell me, Alice!” she shouted. “What do you REALLY want?”

“I…” Shadow Alice stammered, looking uncertain and confused for the first time their entire battle.

As Shadow Alice hesitated, Joker took full advantage of the distraction. His inner power had been building up steadily throughout the fight, and it had now reached its fruition. “SHOWTIME!” he shouted as he swung around and leapt into the air. Grabbing his mask, he ripped it off and summoned Hua Po next to him. The fairy-like spirit pointed her hand at Shadow Alice, unleashing a massive explosion of flame that caused her to stagger backward and stumble to the ground. Together, Joker, Panther, Mona, and Sophie bombarded Shadow Alice with all the strength they had left (whether it took the form of physical attacks or Persona skills), and her last shield broke before their onslaught.

“ALL-OUT ATTACK!” Joker shouted. “NOW!”

The Thieves launched themselves at Shadow Alice, performing the finishing maneuver that was so iconic to all Persona users no matter what generation. As they landed on their feet triumphantly, the massive explosion of Almighty energy generated from the All-Out Attack wiped out the last of Shadow Alice’s health. With one last cry, she fell forward and collapsed onto the ground, utterly defeated and broken.

“This…can’t be…” she whimpered, but there was no denying reality. She had lost, and the Phantom Thieves had won. The Phantom Thieves watched as Shadow Alice transformed back into her “normal” form, looking battered and bruised, and she fell to her knees. “No…” she mumbled. “How can I still not be strong enough?” Tears started to pour down her eyes as she started crying openly. “Why can’t I change!?” she cried out in despair. “I’m not the victim anymore!”

“Enough, Alice…” Panther sighed. “If you keep going, you’ll just make yourself feel even worse.”

“How would you know!?” Shadow Alice spat bitterly in between her sobs.

“You were wrong about Panther,” Joker answered solemnly, stepping up until he was in front of Shadow Alice, right next to Ann. “You looked at her and saw the bully who ruined your life. But the truth, Alice? She’s closer to you than you could possibly imagine. She went to the same school that you did…and her life was just as miserable as yours. In fact, one could very easily argue that she had it even worse than you did.”

“What?” Shadow Alice spluttered in disbelief. “How is that even possible?”

“Because,” Panther replied bitterly, though none of that was directed at Alice. “I got the attentions of one of the worst people on Earth. A scumbag and a creep who made Shujin a living hell for everyone around him until we changed his heart and forced him to confess all his crimes.”

Shadow Alice thought back to what she’d heard about Shujin in the last year…and her eyes widened as she remembered one story her other self had read and realized the implications. “Oh my God…” she breathed out in horror. “Are you talking about…”

“Yeah,” Panther muttered. “You have no idea how many rumors I had to deal with me sleeping with that bastard Kamoshida, or how many times I had to see him basically beat the shit out of my best friend during their volleyball practices. I knew I had to do something to stop him.”

“And you found a way to deal with him and make him confess all the horrible things he did,” Shadow Alice finished, before letting out a morose sigh. “I just can’t compare to you, Takamaki-san. All my life, I’m no match for the real winners…”

“…” Panther couldn’t find a proper response, and so she stayed silent, figuring that the best thing to do right now was let Alice air out her grievances to them.

“And I tried SO HARD to change!” Shadow Alice shouted. “But even after I graduated from Shujin, no matter where I went, I was still made fun of…still bullied…I just wanted to stop being miserable.”

“That’s why you went into fashion, wasn’t it?” Joker asked knowingly. “We saw the items that made up the power cores of your Jail, Alice. We were so confused as to why you resorted to all this, when it looked like you were skilled enough to make it into the fashion business legitimately without all the brainwashing bullshit.” He shook his head. “But now I see the truth. You DID try to go into fashion the normal way at first, didn’t you?”

“I tried, Joker…” Shadow Alice replied sadly. “I tried to do things the right way, at first. I poured my heart into fashion and worked as hard as I could to get so far!” Her eyes burned with fury as she spat the next words. “But then SHE showed up again! She started running her mouth about my past. She told everyone what a pathetic little shit I was!” Alice shouted, more tears flowing out of her eyes.

“What a pathetic and petty piece of shit,” Joker thought darkly, his mouth curling with disgust at Alice’s bully. It was one thing to bully someone while they were at school, as bullying was something that was tragically all too common. But to go out of your way to hunt down your bully victim long after you had both graduated, JUST so you could ruin their life as an adult?

It seemed the Lock Keeper had actually downplayed just how vicious and despicable Alice’s bully had truly been, as impossible as that sounded.

“That’s why I took it all from her!” Shadow Alice snarled. “Her boyfriend, her social circle, everything! And that STILL wasn’t enough for me!”

“And if that had been all that you’d done,” Joker replied sternly, “I could’ve considered that understandable, if not justifiable. An eye for an eye from the person who ruined your life.” He gazed unflinchingly into Alice’s eyes. “But you didn’t stop at just your bully. You went way beyond that.”

“It wasn’t just her,” Shadow Alice admitted bitterly. “Everyone that talked behind my back, all the people who just stood there while I was getting…I wanted to destroy every single one of them!”

“Alice…” Noir murmured sadly, her earlier rage gone in light of seeing her pain.

“So this is what a wound in the heart looks like…” Sophie added quietly to the side.

“I don’t know how I got this power, but it let me get my revenge,” Shadow Alice confessed. “So I…”

“You became the bully,” Panther finished for her, before stomping on the ground in frustration. “You idiot! What good does that do!?” she shouted furiously. “Now you’re just as bad as the people who made YOU suffer! Is that how you want to live?” Her question cut straight to Alice’s heart. “Like one of those bullies? As a person who only exists to make other people miserable?”

Shadow Alice looked back down on the ground in shame. “I…I…”

“Didn’t you wanna be something else?” Panther asked more softly as she knelt on the ground in front of her. “I remember what you truly wanted to be, and even after everything you’ve done, I believe that you were telling the truth.” She smiled at Alice’s tear-stricken face. “A ray of light for others…and for yourself.”

“…”

“Don’t give up because of those selfish bastards!” Panther insisted before Shadow Alice could say anything.

“Takamaki-san…” Shadow Alice murmured, and there was a gentleness in her voice that wasn’t there before. “You’re right. I wanted…to rescue them… All the people like me…going through the same thing.” She shook her head in despair and shame. “But after everything I’ve done…all the Desires I’ve stolen and the people whose minds I’ve twisted…is it even possible for me to be that ray of light anymore?”

“I think it is, Alice,” Joker answered, and for the first time there was a smile on his face. “You were so trapped in your own misery that you forgot the noble goal you once had…but you remember it now. I see it in your eyes. You can do the right thing, and make a better future for yourself and for people who have suffered just like you have. It’s not too late for you…so long as you’re willing to turn away from this path of enslaving others to do your whims.”

“You…think so?” Shadow Alice asked, and everyone could hear the hope in her voice for the first time.

“I know so,” Panther insisted, fully in agreement with her leader’s words.

In response, Shadow Alice reached up for the crown that rested on her head and took it off, laying it on the ground. “Takamaki-san,” she glanced up into her eyes. “I…I want to apologize to the people I hurt and start over!”

Panther grinned, seeing that Alice had finally seen the light in full.

“And the first person I need to apologize to is Joker,” she continued, turning her head to face the leader of the Phantom Thieves. “I’m sorry for hitting on you, stepping on you when you first showed up here…and treating you like shit in general. I hope you can forgive me.”

Joker smiled and shook his head. “So long as you do the right thing, no apologies are necessary,” he replied gently.

“I’m sure you can turn it around,” Panther added encouragingly. “I’ve been through a lot of the same things. But thanks to my best friend and the Phantom Thieves, I was able to stand up for myself and do the right thing. And now I’m going to pay that forward to you, Alice.” She smiled at the idol. “You’re never alone. Once you’re back to your real self, let’s be friends, okay?” she offered gently.

“You…wanna be…really?” Shadow Alice asked hopefully.

“Uh-huh!” Panther confirmed cheerfully. “You know it! I mean, how could I not love Alice? We even share the same dream!”

Shadow Alice smiled at that. “Heh…I guess we really do, huh?” she asked with a sniff. She bowed her head gratefully at the Phantom Thief. “Thank you.”

“It’s the least I could do,” Panther replied gently. She knelt down and wrapped the Shadow in a hug. Shadow Alice hesitated for a few seconds…and then slowly, she raised her arms to return the gesture. Phantom Thief and Shadow embraced each other for a few seconds, the latter accepting from the former the comfort and kindness that she’d been lacking throughout the entirety of her high school life.

“I’ll go back now,” Shadow Alice promised once they finally separated, “where I belong. I promise to you all…I’ll make things right.”

Joker nodded in acknowledgement. “Atonement won’t be easy, and it won’t be painless,” he answered sternly, before he smiled at her. “But I promise you it’ll be worth it in the end.”

“I know,” Shadow Alice acknowledged…and she began to glow with light as her body began to fade. The Shadow closed her eyes and smiled one last time, an expression filled with genuine warmth and relief…before disappearing in front of their eyes, just as every other Shadow they had faced had done before them.

Panther got to her feet, but before she could say anything, the entire cage suddenly started to rumble. “Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me!” Joker groaned. “I forgot about this part!”

“Crap, this is bad!” Mona exclaimed. “It’s all coming down!”

“Time to get the fuck out of here!” Joker ordered. “NOW!”

His words spurred the Phantom Thieves to action, and they raced towards and down the chain they had climbed up. Out of the corner of his eye, Joker watched as the massive pink gem that made up the stolen Desires fell to the ground, but he and his friends didn’t stop running until they were a safe distance away. As they looked back towards the castle, a column of pink light suddenly erupted from the top of the castle and into the night sky. The Phantom Thieves watched with awestruck eyes as countless small gems that made up individual Desires rained from the sky and onto the ground, a sight that was truly beautiful in its own way.

And as the Desires flew back into their rightful owners, the Shadows in the jail cells disappeared in bursts of light just as Alice’s had done, returning back to their real-world selves with their sanity and free will restored.

Joker and the rest of the Phantom Thieves watched the Desires fall from the sky, with Sophie jumping up and down adorably with her hands raised into the air in triumph.

“A job well done, everyone,” Joker praised his friends once the rain of Desires stopped.

“That was fucking AMAZING!” Skull exclaimed.

“Did we just witness the Desires returning to their rightful owners?” Fox asked with wonder in his voice.

“It has to be,” Joker declared with absolute conviction. “There’s no other explanation that makes sense.”

“Yeah, that’s what it looked like to me too,” Panther agreed. “Everyone who got a Desire disappeared afterwards.”

“I hope that means their real-life counterparts are returning to normal,” Queen muttered.

“There’s only one way to find out,” Joker replied. “We go back to the real world and scout out to Shibuya to see what’s going on.”

“You’re right,” Queen agreed. “We’ll need to take care of that first thing tomorrow.”

“Wait, what the…! Hold on a sec, guys!” Mona exclaimed.

“What is it, Mona-chan?” Noir asked with concern in her voice.

“Something’s wrong,” Mona reported grimly. “The Jail…it’s not collapsing!”

“But the giant Desire blew up!” Oracle pointed out. “Like…Pwaaaaah!”

“No…just look around!” Mona insisted.

“Mona is right,” Joker realized. “Every time we stole a Treasure from a Palace, it would immediately lead to the complete collapse of the Palace and we’d have to rush to get the hell out of the Metaverse as soon as possible.” He looked back at the Castle and frowned. “And while yes, we did have to run away from the top of the Castle to avoid getting crushed by the giant Desire when it fell…that’s all we needed to do. The giant Desire blew up into smaller ones, the Shadows of Alice’s victims are freed…but the Jail itself is still here.”

“If anything,” Fox commented, “the Jail has grown eerily quiet now.”

“So if the Monarch is toppled and the Desires are all returned, the Jail still doesn’t collapse?” Mona asked incredulously. “What could that mean.”

“It only enforces what we already suspected,” Noir murmured. “Jails are truly different from Palaces in many ways.”

“There’s a chance that we haven’t actually resolved the issue yet,” Fox realized grimly.

“I’m not sure what the Jail’s continued existence means,” Joker acknowledged. “But at the very least, I do think we succeeded in changing Alice’s heart and freeing her victims and their Desires.” He frowned. “We can think about the actual Jail still existing later.”

“I wish we knew what Alice thought of about all this,” Queen mused.

“Could we find out when we get back to the real world?” Noir suggested.

Mona sighed. “It’d be nice if she could recall what happened here, but no one shares memories with their Shadows.”

“Maybe Alice might talk to Panther?” Skull suggested. “I mean, she did say that she wanted to be friends with you.”

“Yeah, yeah!” Oracle agreed eagerly. “Those two could really hit it off!”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Joker interrupted with a note of caution. “While I do think Panther is the best person to talk to Alice, we need to actually make sure that she went through the change of heart first.”

“I’m sure she did,” Panther declared. “It was definitely worth going that far for her to make her come to her senses. She really is a one-of-a-kind talent.” She looked down at the ground and sighed. “I just hope she can remember how that dream first made her feel, so she can bring that feeling to the people who need it. I don’t know if there’s anything I can do to help her, but I at least want to be there for her.”

Joker smiled at her. “You already were for her Shadow, and I’m sure you’ll be the same for the real her.”

“Fascinating,” Sophie murmured. “Just as the Phantom Thieves predicted, Alice Hiiragi appeared to change her logic. This would not be possible if we simply defeated her.” She tilted her head curiously. “How did you predict the outcome?”

“We didn’t really predict it,” Queen admitted. “Being able to change is what makes someone human.

“Someone is human…” Sophie repeated pensively, “because they are able to change.”

“The human heart is much more complicated than expected, isn’t it?” Noir asked understandingly.

“The human heart is indeed difficult to comprehend,” Sophie agreed. “It is filled with mysteries.”

“And we’ll work together to unravel those mysteries,” Joker promised. “One step at a time.”

And with that, the Phantom Thieves left the Shibuya Jail and returned to the real world. All of them were thoroughly exhausted after the events of the night, and they all made agreements to meet up the next day to investigate the effects of the change of heart on Shibuya. Ren was left alone with Morgana and Sophia in his bedroom in LeBlanc, and he immediately went to lay down on his bed to get some well-deserved rest.

“Hey, Ren?” Sophia suddenly broke the silence with a beep on his phone. “Ann was very angry with Shadow Alice earlier. But she seemed happy at the end. Why is that?” she asked, confused. “Wasn’t she angry earlier?”

“She was angry a lot of reasons,” Ren explained. He knew that his explanation probably wouldn’t be as eloquent as he’d liked, but he figured it was better to give Sophia the best answer he could now rather than put it off until later. “She was angry at the injustices that Alice had suffered, and she was angry that Alice took her own anger and desire for vengeance on innocent people while losing sight of the goal she once had to be a ray of light for bully victims like her.” He smiled at Sophia. “But after we beat her, Alice finally realized what really mattered to her, and they were able to share their feelings and understand each other. That’s why Ann was happy at the end.”

“Okay…” Sophia tried her best to understand. “Anger is not just for hurting people. It is also able to save people.”

“It depends,” Ren replied, not wanting Sophia to oversimply the emotion of anger. “In some cases, absolutely. Anger can be used to save people, like Ann did for Alice. But other times, if you lose control of your anger or use it in the wrong way, it can also be destructive and make things worse for everyone involved. Context is incredibly important.”

“I see, and in this case, anger was used in the right way,” Sophia acknowledged. “Consider: anger saved Alice. If someone is in the wrong, anger can be used to show them the error of their ways.”

“That can be true,” Ren agreed, “but once again, it’s not the right answer for every situation.”

Sophia sighed. “The human heart is such a mystery.” She suddenly perked up. “But thanks to you, Ren, I gained a lot of valuable experience. I hope to learn more from you.”

“Understanding the human heart is a journey, with multiple steps along the way. And we’ll be happy to take that journey with you,” Ren reassured her.

Sophia was content with that answer, and Ren and Morgana fell asleep. The next day, the Phantom Thieves all congregated at Café LeBlanc as they waited for Alice’s broadcast. The idol was once again sitting as a special guest in the same TV studio where she had been last time, and right away the Thieves could tell something was different about Alice. She looked like she was carrying a heavy burden within her, and there were shades of guilt and shame on her face.

“Alice Hiiragi has returned as our special guest,” the veteran newcaster introduced her to the onlooking viewers. “Miss Alice, thank you so much for coming on today despite the last visit’s conclusion. From what I hear, there is something you wish to share?”

“Yes,” Alice answered solemnly, in a completely different tone from before. One that was filled with regret and remorse. “The incident that occurred with the previous hosts…” she bowed her head in shame. “…that was all my fault. I forced him to proclaim his love for me during a live broadcast. When I heard he was engaged to his co-host, I just wanted to ruin their relationship. Every time I see a happy woman, I just get so jealous…I do whatever it takes to ruin their lives.”

The veteran newscaster swiveled between Alice and the camera, looking utterly gobsmacked. “Uh…ummm…” she spluttered. “Is this…is this a prank or something?”

Alice wasn’t done, however. “All of my past managers tried so hard to stop me. They were only trying to do the right thing…but then I’d lash out at them too. And…and I’d assault them until they’d back down. The only reason why I changed managers was because my last one had a total breakdown.”

The veteran newscaster gasped as she realized what was going on. “Wait…are you…is this…?”

“Everything I’ve said is the truth,” Alice declared. “I’m sure all of it is easy enough to prove now.” She started crying openly now. “I went into fashion because I wanted to be a ray of light for people…but I lost sight of that goal. I’ve lied, and…I’ve…I’ve hurt so many people…” she clasped her hands in an apologetic prayer-like gesture, “and I’m just so sorry for it all!”

“Is this the Phantom Thieves?” the veteran newscaster asked in disbelief and wonder.

“I’M the one who did it all!” Alice shouted through her sobs. “No one but me did these horrible things!” She finished her last words with a barely audible whisper. “I’m sorry…I’m so sorry!”

The Phantom Thieves looked on in silence as the TV broadcast was abruptly cut off.

“This is gonna blow waaaaaaaay up,” Futaba was the first to break the silence. “That news lady even name-checked the Phantom Thieves.”

“That might not necessarily be a bad thing, at least not completely,” Ren pointed out. “At the very least, it proves that the Alice-obsessed changes of heart were NOT done by us.”

“Whatever may come, though,” Morgana replied, “at least our job is done.”

“Right,” Makoto acknowledged. “We may have gone through something quite different from a Palace, but there’s no mistaking Alice had a change of heart.”

“And we didn’t even need to steal someone’s Treasure to do it,” Ren added. “We just had to reason with Alice after we beat her, and she made the decision to give up the Desires and atone of her own accord.” He smiled. “That by itself elevates my respect for her above most of the Palace Rulers from last year.”

The other Phantom Thieves checked their phones, which confirmed that the people of Shibuya had come back to their senses and were no longer acting like rabid Alice superfans. Unfortunately but unsurprisingly, this also included several people who wanted their money back, as they had only made so many purchases under Alice’s mind control. Futaba cringed at she read through those messages. “Welp, we sure can’t help them there.”

“I’m not sure everyone is actually a victim here,” Ann mumbled.

“I feel sorry for many of Alice’s victims, but that bullying bitch who ruined Alice’s life sure isn’t one of them,” Ren agreed coldly.

“Nevertheless,” Sophia interrupted, “Mission Complete!”

“I wonder what’ll happen to Alice next,” Haru murmured.

“It’s probably next to impossible for her to make it in the industry now,” Ann admitted with a sigh. “Her scandal is big news.”

“That is the price that she has to pay,” Ren answered with a shake of his head. “There was a reason why I warned her that doing the right thing wouldn’t be easy or painless. She still committed crimes and did terrible deeds before her redemption, and she has to face the consequences for those actions even if she’s willing to better herself going forward.”

“I know,” Ann acknowledged. “But if Alice really can find that feeling she had when she first discovered fashion, I think she’ll be okay.” She smiled at them. “She can still be a ray of light for others, even if she has to find another way to shine.”

Ren gave her an encouraging grin. “And with you there to help her, Ann, I think that Alice will be able to find that way eventually,” he declared. Ann gave him a grateful smile in response, and the Thieves spent the next few moments in silence as they considered the ramifications of Alice’s successful change of heart and what would happen to her in the future.

Ren, in the meanwhile, knew that a moment of truth was coming, and coming soon. Either Alice’s Jail would be the end of their problems…or their journey was only beginning.

“That reminds me,” Makoto finally broke the silence, “we should still try to press her for info. She might know something that we still don’t.”

“But do we actually have a chance of meeting with her now?” Haru asked worriedly. “I’d imagine her day-to-day life’s become quite the mess.”

“Oh geez,” Ann groaned, “that’s a good point. Her agency isn’t going to want anything to do with her…”

“An enlightening conversation as always in here,” a new but familiar voice interrupted.

Ren frowned as Zenkichi Hasegawa walked into the café. It appeared that he would find the answer to his moment of truth even sooner than he had anticipated.

Chapter Text

The Thieves watched silently as Zenkichi Hasegawa strolled into Café LeBlanc, seemingly without a care in the world. “Sup?” He addressed them all casually, although his eyes were focused on Ren. “How’s it hanging, folks?”

“Awww!?” Futaba groaned, not even bothering to hide her irritation. “You again, gramps?”

Zenkichi only sighed in response. “Hey,” he protested. “I won’t deny that I’m older than you guys, but that still stings, y’know?”

“All that aside,” Ren interrupted, keeping his tone carefully neutral. “I take it you’ve seen the recent news?”

“Sure did,” Hasegawa confirmed. “You guys sure worked fast. You really hop to work when your minds are set, don’tcha?” He sounded more impressed than anything else, which the Thieves really wasn’t sure what to make of.

“We certainly do,” Ren smirked briefly, before adopting a businesslike tone. “Now then, let’s talk business, Inspector Hasegawa. You see, one of the reasons why we worked so quickly to change Alice’s heart was because we wanted to see if that would resolve the situation by itself. The best-case scenario would be that changing Alice’s heart and restoring Shibuya to normal would completely clear our names, end the problem of the rogue changes of heart, and make it so that dealing with the police would…no longer be necessary.”

The last few words were chosen to be polite, but everyone, Zenkichi very much included, could tell that the intent was closer to “tell the police to fuck off.” Zenkichi was also canny enough not to call Ren out on it.

Whatever traces of a smirk were on Ren’s face immediately vanished. “But something tells me that the case isn’t over yet, is it?” he asked, already knowing and dreading the answer. “Alice isn’t the only one causing problems, is she?”

Zenkichi blinked. “You know, it is scary how quick you are on the uptake, kid,” he commented.

Haru giggled. “We would expect nothing else from our leader and friend!” she remarked.

Zenkichi gave her an unnerved look, before shaking his head. “Moving on from that…” he turned his attention back to Ren. “Well, Amamiya, your prediction happens to be spot-on.”

“What do you mean?” Makoto demanded. “How is this case not closed?”

“It’s exactly what he implied,” Zenkichi answered without missing a beat. “It is far from closed. The Change of Heart epidemic is happening ALL over the country. Shibuya was just one piece of the puzzle. And we know that they can’t all be Alice’s victims.” He gave Ren a piercing look. “Therefore, you still have plenty to get pinned on you, don’tcha?”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Ryuji growled.

“Oh, that’s not even the end of it,” Zenkichi continued. “You already know how badly you’ve stirred the pot. That little calling card stunt’s fired up the public more than ever.” He raised his hands and made air quotes with them. ““These Change of Heart cases have to be the Phantom Thieves!” It’s the only thing I hear down at the station now.”

It took every bit of Ren’s self-control for him not to curse loudly and slam his head down on the table. There were people out there, he knew, who prided themselves on being right all the time. Arrogant pricks who thought that always being right was an inherent symbol of their superiority.

In Ren’s humble opinion, those people were complete imbeciles. Because being right about most things was infinitely less valuable if the only thing you were “right” about was an impending disaster careening towards you, and it didn’t give you an immediate and meaningful solution. All it meant was that you were less fucked than you would’ve been otherwise, which only helped so much when the problem you needed to deal with was a potential threat to all of humanity.

Ren took a deep breath to calm himself down before continuing. “So, since this case is very much NOT solved with Alice, I suppose you’re here to offer your deal again?”

Zenkichi nodded. “Hit the nail on the head, Amamiya.” He smirked. “After all, I did give you some solid intel, yeah?”

“Yes…” Ann admitted reluctantly.

“That is…undoubtedly true,” Yusuke was forced to acknowledge.

“This is all such BULLSHIT!” Ryuji shouted as he stomped his foot on the ground in frustration. “We didn’t do anything!”

“Calm down!” Zenkichi didn’t seem fazed by Ryuji’s outburst in the slightest. “Why do you think I offered you that deal? Amamiya knows full well that if I truly wanted to, I could cuff him and bring him in right now. You and I both know that the police would be all too happy to pin this on the leader of the Phantom Thieves.”

“And the very fact that you haven’t, means that you think I’m innocent, and that you want to catch the true perpetrator,” Ren concluded.

Zenkichi smirked. “Call it detective’s intuition. I mean, I’m PubSec, but close enough. We already talked about why these cases don’t match the Phantom Thieves’ M.O. the last time I was here. I really do think it’s in everyone’s best interests for us to make that deal. In fact,” he added slyly. “I could do add in a little bonus for you, right here and now.”

“What kind of a favor?” Makoto asked carefully.

“You wanted to ask Alice some questions, right?” Zenkichi asked. “I heard you talking about it before I came in.” When Ren nodded, he continued. “I have access to Alice that very few people do right now, and if you need anything from her, I can get it for you.”

“We’d like to discuss this amongst ourselves for a moment,” Ren requested. “Would you be so kind as to wait outside, Inspector?”

“Sure,” Zenkichi replied casually. “I’ll be right outside.” The inspector turned around and left the Café, leaving only the Thieves by themselves.

Ren let out a loud groan of annoyance and palmed his face with his hands. “Fucking hell,” he grumbled. “I KNEW changing Alice’s heart wasn’t going to be the end of this bullshit, but I was really hoping I was wrong.”

“Now this is a conundrum,” Yusuke acknowledged with a frown. “If Alice was only causing some of the changes of heart, and those changes were localized in Shibuya…”

Makoto sighed. “Then that means that the others are happening in different parts of the country,” she realized with concern in her voice. “And it’s very possible that there might be other Jails and Monarchs involved, too.”

“Dammit…” Futaba groaned, before explaining. “I went on a quick search online just to make sure Zenkichi wasn’t trolling. While looking through the web, I noticed some people saying that weird stuff was happening here and there, similar to what we’ve seen so far…”

“How come we haven’t heard about this stuff before?” Ann wondered.

“None of the made the news,” Futaba replied soberly, “and it seems like everyone’s just trying to ignore it, but…”

“…then what Gramps is saying probably isn’t bullshit after all,” Ryuji was forced to concede.

“What should we do?” Haru wondered, clearly distraught. “If there are other Monarchs out there and they decide to scapegoat us, we’ll never be able to clear our names!”

“Which is why I think that we should take Zenkichi’s deal,” Ren declared, getting everyone’s attention immediately.

“Really?” Ryuji asked incredulously. “Are we seriously gonna trust that dude?”

Ren snorted. “Oh, believe me, Ryuji, I’m not exactly thrilled about it either,” he retorted, before sighing. “But with all that being said, we have to be realistic about the situation. Our backs are against the wall, and we don’t have any other good options.”

“Ren’s right,” Ann agreed. “We don’t really have a choice. At the very least, his intel about Alice was useful.”

“It was,” Ren acknowledged. “And while I might not have any desire to trust Zenkichi right now, I don’t have any legitimate reasons to actively distrust him either outside of general distrust for the Tokyo Police.” He chuckled humorlessly. “At the very least, taking the deal buys us time to keep me from getting arrested. And assuming that he actually is being serious about wanting to find the true culprit, he could be useful to us in the future, like I said earlier.”

“I agree with Ren, but we have another problem,” Morgana interrupted. “Even if we DO level with him, how would we explain it? Do you think he’ll even believe us?”

“We have no choice but to make him believe,” Yusuke declared. “Otherwise, it’s Ren on the line.”

“But…but…” Ryuji spluttered. “The Metaverse! The Jail! How do ya think we’re gonna get some thickheaded cop to buy that!?”

Ren suddenly got an idea in his mind. It was probably one of the worst ideas he could have possibly come up with, but it was too tempting to pass up. “You know what? Fuck it!” he declared with a mischievous grin on his face. “Let’s show him the Jail and the Metaverse directly!”

Everyone stared at him as though he’d grown a second head. “What!?” Futaba exclaimed.

“I think I actually agree with Ren here,” Makoto added to everyone’s surprise. “Seeing is believing, after all. And more to the point, can you think of any other way for Ren to avoid getting arrested?”

“If that’s the only way to make Hasegawa-san see the truth, then that’s what we have to do,” Haru declared. “I refuse to allow my beloved to see the inside of a jail cell for the third time! And besides,” she added with a giggle, “seeing his reaction to the Jail might prove to be quite amusing, wouldn’t you all agree?”

“It…would be kinda funny,” Ann had to admit.

“Ooh, ooh!” Futaba piped in. “Maybe we can make Gramps have a mental breakdown!”

“As long as we’re careful to protect Zenkichi in the Jail, then we should be fine,” Ren replied. “Let’s go call him back in.”

“Let us all be careful,” Yusuke warned. “Otherwise, this may very well prove to be our undoing.”

Makoto called out to the inspector, who walked back into the Café the moment he was called. “Huh,” he commented, “that was quicker than I expected. So what say you all?” he asked expectantly.

“Before we accept your deal,” Ren spoke on their behalf, “there’s a place that we need to show you first. Follow us.”

The Phantom Thieves guided Zenkichi over to the overpass that had once been one of their hideouts. As expected, Zenkichi didn’t believe them, wondering if they had been taking drugs before coming over, prompting the Phantom Thieves to guide him directly into the Jail.

And just as expected, Zenkichi had a complete mental breakdown once he saw the Jail and Alice’s castle in the distance directly with his own eyes.

“Wha…what!?” he spluttered in utter disbelief. “What is…This…isn’t real. No way is this real!”

“Everything here is real,” Queen interrupted sternly. “Every last bit you can see.”

Zenkichi turned around to face the Thieves. “Whoa!?” He exclaimed once he realized they were wearing their Phantom Thief outfits. “What happened!? What’re those outfits for?”

“Yep,” Skull muttered, “this is just about what I expected.”

“This is our Phantom Thief attire,” Panther explained.

“Ha! Hahahahaha…what even IS this!?” Zenkichi mumbled as he let out bouts of hysteric laughter. “Where even AM I?”

Joker didn’t even bother trying to hide his smirk. Really, bringing Zenkichi here had been worth it just for seeing the police officer go into a complete mental breakdown.

Sophie walked up to Zenkichi, no doubt trying to help but more than likely unintentionally making his breakdown worse. “Questions!” she declared cheerfully. “This is a Jail! You are currently located within a Jail!”

It didn’t take a genius to figure out Zenkichi’s next question. “Wait, who’re YOU!?” he demanded.

“I am Sophie!” Sophie explained, completely oblivious to Zenkichi’s breakdown. “Humanity’s companion! Nice to meet you!”

“Nice to…what?” the police officer shook his head, trying to recollect himself.

Mona waddled up to Zenkichi, no doubt getting tired of his breakdown. “Chill out, Zenkichi,” he instructed. “You’ve gotta keep yourself together.”

To Joker’s surprise, his words DID seem to calm Zenkichi down for a bit. “Yeah, yeah…right,” Zenkichi closed his eyes and forced himself to calm down. “Right. I can’t be losing my shit like…” he opened his eyes, only to stare right at Mona’s true form. “MONSTER CAT!!!!” he yelled.

Joker couldn’t hold himself back anymore. He started letting out loud snickers as Mona angrily yelled at Zenkichi for calling him a monster cat. “This is the funniest shit I’ve seen in a long time,” he thought. “Why couldn’t anything from last year be anywhere near this funny?”

Queen decided to take charge. “Do you finally believe we’ve been telling you the truth?”

Zenkichi only rubbed his forehead in consternation. “The hell?” he mumbled. “How much did I drink last night…? This just has to be a dream! I’m still passed out!”

Skull seemed a bit concerned now. “You holdin’ up there, Gramps?” he asked.

“No need to worry,” Sophie reassured them. “He is merely having a meltdown.”

“Yes, thank you very much, Sophie,” Joker deadpanned. “We couldn’t tell.”

“You’re welcome!” Sophie cheerfully replied.

“Memo to me,” Joker thought as they finally brought Zenkichi back from the Jail. “Teach Sophie the meaning of sarcasm before this whole mess clears up.”

Zenkichi still needed a few seconds to recollect himself once they had left the Jail, much to Ryuji’s amusement. It didn’t help that he continued to address Morgana as the monster cat, much to his frustration. Ren honestly didn’t know what to think about the fact that the talking cat was somehow the thing that Zenkichi had the hardest time wrapping his head around.

Eventually, though, Zenkichi did manage to calm himself down and be convinced that everything he had seen was completely real. “None of this makes any sense to me,” he admitted, before adding a promise, “but I’m going to strive to understand.”

An admirable mentality, Ren would willingly acknowledge.

Makoto, ever the most serious thief among them, brought the topic back to their deal. “If we’re going to make a deal, then that makes us conspirators. Conspirators have to vow never to betray one another’s trust.”

Zenkichi smiled knowingly. “So you already know how all this works.”

“Of course we do,” Ren replied coolly. “This deal goes both ways, after all. Neither of us would expect each other to give something for nothing.”

“Fair enough,” Zenkichi acknowledged. “Your trust is repaid with mine. Help me figure out this nationwide change of heart business and I’ll make sure you’re all protected. As long as you cooperate, I won’t allow the police to lay a finger on you. That’s my vow.”

Ren smiled and nodded. “So long as you don’t screw us on this, then you have yourself a deal,” he answered. He extended his hand to Zenkichi, and the man shook it.

“Excellent,” Zenkichi declared, before continuing. “In that case, I’m gonna cut right down to it and ask you for your help with a similar incident. PubSec has their eyes on Sapporo right now because of all the Change of Heart cases there. I need you in Sapporo Central City by August 8^th.”

Makoto raised an eyebrow. “Why does it need to be the 8^th?” she asked.

“Our suspect’s out of the country on a business trip until then,” Zenkichi explained. “We’re kicking off the investigation within the hour of their arrival back home.”

“I see…” Ren nodded. “So they’re most likely another Monarch, then.”

“Sapporo City’s in Hokkaido, right?” Morgana asked. “This’ll be quite the little trip for us.”

“Uh, word of caution?” Zenkichi added with a warning. “You’ll definitely want to avoid any sort of public transportation. You’re gonna either wanna drive or hoof it.”

“Why is that?” Makoto wondered.

“Because,” Ren answered grimly, “the people operating public transportation might potentially be brainwashed by any Monarchs out there in Japan. We announced the return of the Phantom Thieves, and unless those Monarchs are living under a rock for some reason, they’ll have heard about us for a now. And they’ll know that we’re a threat to them if we go after their Desires.” His voice and eyes were utterly cold as he asked the next question. “What do you think will happen if we go on an airplane and the pilot has been brainwashed by a Monarch who decides to get rid of us?”

Every single one of the Phantom Thieves shuddered. They remembered all too well the disastrous accidents caused by Akechi’s mental shutdowns last year, and realized that a pilot or conductor brainwashed by a Monarch could end up doing something similar. Leading not to just their deaths, but possibly the deaths of countless others.

“They’re definitely on high alert now,” Futaba agreed somberly. “And I don’t wanna be the reason for another major traffic accident. We’ve had enough of those already from last year.”

“But if we can’t fly, how are we gonna get to Sapporo?” Ann wondered.

Zenkichi advised them to find a car to use as the safest option, although he wouldn’t be providing them one himself since otherwise it would risk violating the secrecy of their deal. Although part of Ren was annoyed by the lack of help here, the much larger and more rational part of him completely understood Zenkichi’s perspective in this regard. It was clear that Zenkichi was doing some under-the-table dealings by offering them this deal, and although Ren didn’t fully trust him yet, he trusted Zenkichi more than the rest of the Tokyo Police who would be jumping at the bit to arrest him if they found out about this.

“Oh, and one more thing,” Zenkichi added as an afterthought. “Don’t worry about the Alice thing. I’ll fill you in once I’m done grilling her.”

“That would be appreciated,” Ren acknowledged.

Zenkichi smiled. “And with that, here’s to a solved case.”

“Same here, Zenkichi!” Morgana replied cordially, earning a sigh from the man in response.

“Ah! Right…sorry I called you a monster cat, Kitty,” Zenkichi muttered.

Ren visibly rolled his eyes as Morgana growled. “Oh, you’ll BE sorry!”

The Thieves watched as Zenkichi turned and left, muttering to himself about how he hadn’t gone crazy and everything was real. With the deal secured, the Thieves returned to Café LeBlanc, where they spent the night discussing the information they had collected so far regarding EMMA and the Jails. They also discovered, to their pleasant surprise, that Sophia had an inherent ability to detect (or rather, smell) nearby Jails, vitally contributing to their plan of action. All that was left was making sure they had a vehicle available to them, and they were quickly able to confirm with Sojiro that he did indeed have a friend with a camper that could be loaned to them.

With everything settled, the Phantom Thieves left, leaving Ren alone with Morgana and Sophia at Café LeBlanc. “I think now’s a good a time as any to contact Yu and let him know what’s up, right?” Ren asked Morgana.

“Yeah, he should definitely know about this,” Morgana agreed. “I’ll give you guys some privacy.”

Without wasting any time, Ren dialed Yu’s number and raised his phone to his head as Morgana climbed down the stairs and out of the room. “Hey, Ren!” Yu’s voice greeted him from the other side of the phone. “The phone you’re using is protected, right?”

“It is,” Ren confirmed. “One of my fellow Phantom Thieves is a hacker and technology expert extraordinaire. The security system on this phone is so beefed up that you probably wouldn’t find a more secure phone in all of Japan.”

“Excellent,” Yu replied. “My phone is thoroughly secured as well. I’ve been meaning to call you, but then I saw that you were going to change Alice’s heart yesterday and I decided to hold off so that I wouldn’t distract you. It looks like that went off without a hitch, based on the news I saw earlier today.”

“The change of heart went smoothly,” Ren answered, and Yu could hear the frown on his face, “but we’ve got other problems now.”

Ren proceeded to give Yu an update on the situation. What he knew about Jails and the potential dangers of EMMA, the deal he had made with Zenkichi (although he didn’t drop the PubSec inspector’s name), and the revelation that there were potentially more Jails tied to change of heart epidemics around the country.

“I don’t like the fact that these changes of heart are happening all around the country,” Yu muttered once Ren had finished his report. “And it sounds like EMMA’s the core problem behind all of this…somehow.”

“Don’t put EMMA on your phone,” Ren warned. “Otherwise you might stumble upon a Jail accidentally. We were lucky that we stumbled upon a Jail that had the weakest Shadows possible. You guys might not be so lucky.”

“Oh, don’t you worry,” Yu reassured him. “Once I told my friends about EMMA and the Jails, we’re all keeping that app as far away from us as possible.”

“That’s good to hear,” Ren breathed a sigh of relief. “So what exactly did you want to call me about?” he wondered.

Yu took a deep breath before continuing. “Ren, I think it’s time that I let you in on a secret I’ve been keeping for a while,” he declared. “I didn’t have permission to reveal this to you before now, but I’ve gotten the okay to share it with you.”

Ren raised an eyebrow at that. “Okay…I’ll bite. What’s this secret, then?” he asked.

“You see, Ren, I am actually an unofficial part of a group known as the Shadow Operatives,” Yu explained. “An order dedicated to fighting Shadows and protecting people from Shadow-related activity, with all of its major operatives being Persona users. On paper, the Shadow Operatives are technically affiliated with the government, and receive funding and legitimization from the government.”

The word technically was stressed with so much emphasis that Ren could probably cut it with his Paradise Lost R. “And in practice?” Ren asked.

“In practice, the Shadow Operatives are almost completely autonomous from any other organization, including the government, in every way that matters,” Yu explained. “The real power behind the Shadow Operatives is a woman named Mitsuru Kirijo, the head of the Kirijo Group. Does that name sound familiar to you?”

“Sound familiar?” Ren repeated with disbelief. “Are you kidding me? Isn’t she basically the most powerful woman in all of Japan? And you’re telling me she’s a Persona user too?”

“She is,” Yu confirmed, before continuing. “I know that you don’t really trust people in power and authority after everything that you’ve been through, Ren. But I can assure you that I’ve met Mitsuru Kirijo personally many times. She is a woman of steadfast principles and her ethics have never been anything other than unimpeachable.”

Ren raised an eyebrow. “That’s a glorious endorsement from you,” he commented. Especially since Yu’s special Wild Card power focused on truth and cutting through people’s bullshit.

“Mitsuru has been interested in the Phantom Thieves for quite some time,” Yu explained. He could hear Ren tense up at that, so Yu quickly continued. “Of course, Mitsuru doesn’t know who any of you are. I never revealed that to her, and I strongly recommended to her that she leave you alone and give you some space while you recovered from your Wild Card journey. To my knowledge, she’s been faithfully following that advice ever since.”

“Does she think the Phantom Thieves are criminals?” Ren asked dryly.

“Not at all,” Yu replied. “As far as she’s concerned, the Phantom Thieves proved their goodness and dedication to humanity, especially after you defeated Yaldabaoth. Mitsuru does want to try and recruit the Phantom Thieves into the Shadow Operatives eventually, but she knows that throwing this offer on you right now isn’t reasonable with everything that’s going on. All she wanted me to do right now is ask if there was any way she and the Shadow Operatives could provide any assistance to you and the other Thieves.”

This all sounded helpful…almost too helpful, even with Yu’s endorsement of Mitsuru Kirijo’s character. “Can you give me any other reasons to trust Mitsuru Kirijo’s intentions?” Ren asked carefully. “You say that she can be trusted, but I trust people’s actions more than I trust their words.”

“Fair enough,” Yu acknowledged. “Have you noticed how the vast majority of Shido’s Conspiracy has been more or less thoroughly neutralized, and its political influence completely neutered?”

Ren blinked. Come to think of it, from what he’d seen on the news, Shido’s Conspiracy had indeed been irrevocably damaged as a political entity. He’d seen so many news reports of Conspiracy members getting arrested or ruined in some way that he’d lost count of them all.

“The reason why the takedown of Shido’s Conspiracy has been so seamless is because Kirijo is the one heading the offensive against them,” Yu explained. “The Shadow Operatives couldn’t do anything to Shido while he was ascendant in the Government. Heck, it took all of Mitsuru’s influence just to keep Shido out of Iwatodai and Shadow Operatives business…and trust me when I say that Shido getting his hands on the Shadow Operatives would’ve been a complete disaster. And that’s not even going into the fact that it would’ve interfered in a Fool’s Journey, which we both know by now is something that we very much DON’T want to happen.”

THAT, Ren could easily believe. Shido had already been able to do catastrophic damage with just one Persona user, and he didn’t want to think about what the bald piece of shit would be able to do with multiples of them. And he couldn’t exactly blame Mitsuru Kirijo for failing to mount a meaningful offensive at the time, given Shido’s godlike status at the time as well as Yaldabaoth’s influence from behind the scenes.

“But afterwards? Mitsuru has been thorough and merciless in dealing with the Conspiracy,” Yu continued with a hint of vindictive satisfaction in his voice. “After being proven right about Shido’s corruption, her star and the Shadow Operatives are in the ascendant right now, and a lot of the government is bending over backwards to accommodate her and avoid pissing her off. Nobody wants to give off the impression that they were associated with Shido in any way. Outside of a few supporters who weren’t directly involved in Shido’s atrocities as far as we are aware, Mitsuru has been executing any chances they’ve had of escaping justice.”

The way in which Yu said the word “executed” was slightly weird, but Ren couldn’t put a finger on it. “She’s also the reason why the Tokyo Police got off your back at Inaba,” Yu added before he could say anything.

“Really? How’d she do that when she doesn’t know I’m the leader of the Phantom Thieves?” Ren asked incredulously.

“I asked her to do me a favor as a repayment for my service in the Shadow Operatives,” Yu answered smugly. “I brought you up not as the leader of the Phantom Thieves, but as a friend who had been wronged by Shido and was being wrongfully monitored by the Tokyo Police when they had no business spying on you in Inaba. Mitsuru agreed to help, and with her political influence she got them to back off and leave any further investigations to the Inaba Police while you stayed at Inaba.”

And since Dojima was the head of the Police now, that basically meant that Ren was completely left alone. Which was certainly nice, and it was certainly a positive point for Mitsuru’s character if she was willing to help him without even knowing who he truly was. But unfortunately, it didn’t exactly help Ren in his current situation.

“What exactly have you told her so far?” Ren wondered, deciding to change the topic of conversation to something more relevant in the present time.

“I still haven’t told her your identity, and I certainly didn’t bring up the identities of any of the Phantom Thieves that I do know,” Yu answered firmly, “but I did tell her about the Jails. That seemed too important for me to keep silent about.”

Fair enough, Ren acknowledged. There was no way Yu could keep silent about the Jails in general to Mitsuru without being significantly derelict in his duties to the Shadow Operatives, whatever those were.

“With all that being said, Ren, is there any way the Shadow Operatives can help you guys out?” Yu asked Ren again. “Obviously, we can’t help in major ways like helping you change hearts in the Jails, since that would risk interfering with a Fool’s Journey. But Mitsuru would like to help you out in whatever way she can, and is willing to hold off on discussing the Phantom Thieves joining the Shadow Operatives until after this mess with the Jails wraps up.”

Ren stayed silent as he mulled over Mitsuru’s offer. From what Yu had said, the offer was certainly generous, and everything pointed towards Mitsuru Kirijo being one of the few authority figures that could be trusted…but Ren would never commit to trusting anyone unless he had met them in person and could evaluate them for himself. Especially not when his fellow Phantom Thieves could potentially be involved.

“Are all of the Investigation Team involved in the Shadow Operatives?” Ren finally asked.

“They are,” Yu confirmed. “Not official or full-time members, but we help them out when we need to.”

“Then here’s what I have to say,” Ren decided. “You can go ahead and reveal my name and my identity as leader of the Phantom Thieves to Kirijo. But JUST me, not anyone else. I’m willing to put my ass on the line, but I’m not going to risk endangering any of my friends.” He chuckled bitterly. “I mean, clearly the Police already know who I am, and I obviously don’t trust them very much. So I don’t really see what’s the point in hiding that particular detail from Kirijo any longer. I’m honestly surprised she didn’t try to dig and find out who I was by herself.”

Yu didn’t really know what to say to that, so he remained silent.

“As for joining the Shadow Operatives, I’m obviously not going to do that right now,” Ren continued. “I’m not going to commit to anything until I’ve met Mitsuru Kirijo personally, and I think it’s safe to assume that’s not happening until after I’ve dealt with the Jails. Even if I wanted to join the Shadow Operatives, like you said earlier, I don’t want to risk interfering in my own Fool’s Journey and screwing everything up in the process.”

“Mitsuru didn’t think you’d do that either,” Yu replied, “and she understands.”

“As for whether I’ll accept any help from the Shadow Operatives…I don’t have anything specific that I want to ask for right now,” Ren decided. “And if I do need help from the Shadow Operatives, for now I only want that help to come from the Investigation Team. You guys are people I know and trust, but I don’t know a single Shadow Operative outside of you guys. And I’m not going to blindly put my faith in complete strangers.”

Yu was fairly confident that Ren would grow to appreciate the other Shadow Operatives once he was eventually introduced for them, but he understood the younger Wild Card’s perspective. “I get that,” he acknowledged. “Especially when you’ve already been roped into a deal with a police inspector more or less against your will.”

“These are my conditions for Mitsuru Kirijo,” Ren declared. “If she’s willing to agree to them, then I’ll be open to further discuss joining the Shadow Operatives and talking about it with the other Phantom Thieves in the future. If she refuses, or if she goes behind my back, the only thing I’m going to say to her is to fuck off.”

“I’ll pass on the message to Mitsuru,” Yu promised. “For what it’s worth, all of your demands are fairly reasonable, so I doubt that Mitsuru will argue against them.”

“If she’s as reasonable as you say she is, then I don’t think we’ll have a problem,” Ren agreed. He was about to hang up the phone, before deciding to add one last thing. “Oh, and Yu? I’m still trying to find a way to see if you and the rest of the Investigation Team can help out in the Jails somehow without breaking the laws of reality Lavenza mentioned. So far I haven’t found anything, but I’ll keep looking,” he promised.

“If you find anything, let us know,” Yu answered seriously. “I know you might be the main Wild Card dealing with the Jails, but us Inaba Persona users are more than happy to play our part in protecting humanity.”

Ren grinned at that. “I know that better than anyone else.” And with that, the two Wild Cards exchanged farewells and Ren hung up the phone.

Once the call ended, Sophia returned to Ren’s screen. “Hey, Ren?” she wondered curiously. “Who were you talking to just now? I felt something push me out of the call and I couldn’t hear anything at all.”

Ah. He had forgotten that Sophia was still in his phone, and whatever security measures Yu had installed in it had likely “kicked her out”, for lack of a better term. “Sorry, Sophia,” he apologized. “That was a private call that needed to be kept top secret on both ends. I think the security on my friend’s end must’ve pushed you out since I know Futaba’s security measures wouldn’t have done that.”

“I see,” Sophia murmured a bit sadly. “Did I do something wrong? Is that why I got kicked out of the call?”

“Not at all,” Ren reassured her. “But sometimes, for one reason or another, people want to have conversations with each other without other people listening to them.” He sat up on his bed and looked down at Sophia on his phone. “To make it up for you, let me spend a few extra minutes tonight explaining the concept of privacy.”

Chapter Text

“Man, I can’t wait to finally get out of Shibuya!” Ren declared. “Even if we’re doing it as part of Phantom Thieves business, there’s still plenty of ways for us to enjoy ourselves in the process.”

“You said it, Ren-kun!” Haru agreed with her boyfriend. “It would be a shame to let this crisis ruin the vacation we worked so had to plan for!”

Ren smiled at his friends, but inwardly he was still processing their last meeting with Zenkichi. The police inspector had, true to his word, secured Alice’s phone for the Thieves. According to him, Alice had been nothing but honest, helpful, and genuinely apologetic for her misdeeds after they had changed her heart…something that relieved all of them to hear, Ann and Ren most of all.

The problem was that the information itself was…limited…in its usefulness. Alice certainly wasn’t the mastermind of the Jails, given how she’d stumbled upon EMMA’s brainwashing capabilities through its friend registration by complete accident and had only gotten addicted to its power after some time had passed. Not only that, but the version of EMMA that Alice had used had only been the standard commercial version, not some special version with a unique brainwashing feature.

The only significant information that Futaba had discovered was the fact that somebody had been snooping on Alice’s phone. With Zenkichi thoroughly denying that PubSec had been involved in any way, it was clear that an unknown party was monitoring Alice from somewhere within the country. And Ren would bet the 5 million yen he’d brought with him that it was either the mastermind, or someone working on their behalf.

With little else to go off of, Ren filed away the information in his brain to be studied at a later date. Besides, he could barely process anything related to the case right now, with just how much ramen was in his stomach. He had spent the past hour or so at a ramen restaurant with Ryuji, Ann, and Morgana…and had somehow gotten roped into a challenge to eat an extra large bowl of ramen with a ramen pile so high he could barely see the soup underneath. It was only thanks to the extensive training he had with the Big Bang Burger Challenge and the Mega Beef Bowl Challenge that he had been able to power through the bowel…and even now, he was struggling not to fall into a food coma.

“What happened to you guys?” Makoto asked when she saw them stumbling back toward LeBlanc, all of them looking thoroughly exhausted if not outright sick. “Are you okay?”

“Mistakes were made, Makoto,” was the only answer Ren gave. “Mistakes were most certainly made.”

“Easy on the road, Makoto,” Ryuji practically begged. “Or all the ramen we just ate is coming back up.”

Makoto sighed. “Why am I not surprised. Don’t worry, guys, I’ll try to be as gentle as possible.”

“Much appreciated, Mako,” Ren smiled at her. “I already took care of the supplies before we left, so we should be ready to go.”

“Sounds like you’re ready to go,” Sojiro called out as he walked up to Ren, clearly having overheard their conversation. “About to roll out?”

“Yep,” Ren confirmed. “Sophia, please contact the other Phantom Thieves and let them know we’re ready to go.”

“Okay! I got it!” Sophia replied cheerfully.

Sojiro chuckled. “All right, then. Before you go, though…let me give you this.” He handed Ren several cooking ingredients. “Since you’ve been telling me you’ve been keeping your cooking skills nice and sharp at your hometown, I think this’ll do you some good on your trip.”

Ren smiled. “You know, I was wondering what we were going to do for meals on the road,” he remarked. “Glad to see that you’ve got our backs like always, Sojiro.”

“Just make sure you make enough for everyone,” Sojiro advised sternly. “And don’t get sloppy on your cooking skills. Since you’re already calling everyone here, I’ll go over and pick up your ride.”

He turned and walked away down the street as the rest of the Phantom Thieves came to group up together at Café LeBlanc’s entrance. By the time Sojiro came back, driving their new camper, everyone was already waiting for him. Makoto took Sojiro’s spot on the driver’s seat, and Ann joined her in the passenger side while the rest of the Phantom Thieves climbed aboard the back.

“You kids sure you’re going to be okay on your own?” Sojiro asked one last time with concern in his voice.

Futaba peeked out of the camper’s window. “We’ll be fine!” She cheerfully reassured him, and it honestly warmed Ren’s heart to see how freer and more confident she was in herself compared to the complete shut-in she had been when he had first met her last year. “I mean…probably.”

“Take care, Boss,” Yusuke added his own farewell, although the sentiment was very much felt by everyone in the camper.

“Ehhhh…same to you,” Sojiro replied with a sigh. “Be careful out there.”

“Thanks, Boss,” Makoto answered back. “Bye!”

“We’ve got this, Boss,” Ren promised, nodding his head to the closest thing he had to a father with the absence of his parents. “We’ll solve this case and enjoy ourselves while doing it!”

“I’d expect nothing less from you, Ren,” Sojiro answered with a smile as Makoto started driving the camper off.

“Summer vacation, here we come!” Ryuji cheered, with the others joining in as Makoto navigated the camper through the streets of Tokyo. Ren was honestly impressed with Makoto’s driving skills, as she was navigating the camper expertly despite never driving a similar vehicle (outside of the Monamobile) in the past.

For the next few hours, the Phantom Thieves spent their time in the camper playing around and exchanging small talk, enjoying themselves like normal teenagers. Even though there was still a Metaverse crisis in the background, their situation still felt much less oppressive. After all, Ren didn’t have a criminal record condemning him anymore, there weren’t monsters in human form like Masayoshi Shido threatening to drag all of Japan into a tyrannical dictatorship, and there wasn’t a blatantly evil and monstrously selfish god like Yaldabaoth manipulating them from behind the scenes and threatening to bring a guillotine blade down on their heads.

Makoto drove them all the way to Tochigi, and Sophia found them a nearby riverbank where they could stop and rest.

“Yoooo!” Ryuji exclaimed as they stepped out of the camper and looked out at the riverbank that Sophia had pointed out to them. “This spot really IS perfect!”

“Is…is this even real?” Futaba spluttered. “I’ve only ever seen this kind of place online!”

“This riverbank reminds me a bit of the beautiful garden in the TV World that’s also its Safe Zone,” Ren commented as he smiled fondly at Haru. “Do you remember what I’m talking about, Haru?”

“I do, Ren-kun!” Haru gushed. “While I do think the TV World’s antechamber is admittedly more beautiful than this riverbank, it has the advantage of being blessed with the essence of the supernatural. As far as natural beauty goes, this is easily one of the most beautiful locations I have ever seen!”

“I’m so jealous of you guys,” Ann sighed. “You got to actually go into a TV World and summon your Personas again without getting them screwed over by the Jails.”

“If you guys ever visit Inaba, I’ll make sure to bring you into the TV World,” Ren promised. “It’s both really similar to and also very different from the Metaverse in a lot of ways.”

“Hell, yeah!” Ryuji cheered. “And we gotta meet that Investigation Team you keep talking about. They sound really cool!”

“That should definitely be in the works for the next major vacation we have planned,” Makoto agreed.

“We can worry about the logistics of setting up a vacation to Inaba later,” Ren decided. “In the meantime, let’s all just take an hour or so to enjoy a beautiful riverside location.” He suddenly grinned. “And there’s no better way to do it than with a lunch picnic.”

Makoto smiled. “Ah, that’s right. Boss did give Ren some ingredients for curry. Shall we get started, then?”

Haru giggled. “This is really is going to be such a wonderful experience, cooking lunch with everyone!” She proclaimed.

As the rest of the Phantom Thieves broke out the chairs and tables and enjoyed the peaceful scenery of the riverside, Ren immediately got to work cooking Sojiro’s famous LeBlanc curry recipe. “As much as I’d love to cook the Master Curry that was so insanely useful for our Palace runs last year,” he thought wistfully, “I don’t really have the ingredients here to do it. Oh well! Nobody here would say no to a plate of the classic LeBlanc curry anyway.”

Morgana almost immediately confirm his thoughts, his eyes shining with sparkles as he got a whiff of Ren’s curry. “Ooh, something smells great!” He exclaimed. “I think we have a winner!”

“I know that smell!” Futaba eagerly agreed. “That’s Sojiro’s curry! No doubt!” She rushed towards the pot of curry until it was right in front of her. “Ugghhh, my stomach! I need!” she demanded.

“The rice has been prepared!” Yusuke proclaimed as he swung his arm in a dramatic pose, as though he were swinging his katana. “We’re ready whenever!”

With the expertise of a well-practiced chef and waiter, Ren neatly divided up the curry he had created into 8 different servings. He personally delivered each plate to everyone, making sure to give Haru her plate first, before joining them at the table they had set up. “Let’s eat, everyone!” he declared.

The Phantom Thieves proceeded to eat their curry, and just a few small bites of curry were enough to prove to everyone that Ren hadn’t lost his culinary touch in the slightest. If anything, his skills had only improved since they had last parted ways.

“Mmmm…” Ann moaned with delight. “It’s soooo good! I could eat this forever!”

“Indeed,” Yusuke agreed in a tone that sounded downright euphoric. “And to be surrounded by nature in all its splendor makes it taste that much better. Is there more?” he pleaded.

“Heh,” Futaba snickered. “Sorry, Inari. But the great Phantom Thief Futaba just swiped the very last plate!”

“L-last?” Yusuke spluttered, before falling back dramatically. “How could this be? Fate is truly cruel…”

“Oh, come on,” Makoto sighed. “Don’t act so depressed. It’s not like it’s the end of the world.”

Ren chuckled at Yusuke’s antics. “Don’t worry about it, Yusuke,” he reassured him. “Soon as I get some more ingredients at the next big city we stop by in, I’ll make some more for us.”

“You will!” Yusuke exclaimed. “Please do, Ren! For I would be eternally in your debt!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Ren rolled his eyes. “Seriously, though,” he added, “it’s not really that big of a deal. I was planning on making some more at some point anyway. Cause curry is great for refilling SP, and I forgot how much of a pain in the ass keeping the SP reserves up in the early stages of Metaverse exploration is.”

“Easy for you to say,” Futaba snorted. “You’ve got a hell of a lot more SP than the rest of us!”

“True,” Ren acknowledged, “but there’s only so much I can do if I have 50 SP while the rest of you guys all have 0.”

“Ehh, who cares about that?” Ryuji asked. “Let’s just eat!”

The rest of the Phantom Thieves, even the more serious ones like Makoto, were happy to follow Ryuji’s suggestion. After what seemed like only a few seconds had passed by, every single one of their plates was empty. They had eaten Ren’s curry that vigorously.

“Ahhhh, that was killer!” Ryuji sighed contentedly. “Even after eating a huge bowl of extra large ramen earlier this morning, Ren’s cooking was so good that my stomach just opened up and wanted more!”

“I’m full too,” Haru acknowledged. “How about I pour us some tea and then we can all just relax?”

“I’m down!” Ann eagerly agreed. “Ooh, why don’t we roast marshmallows later on, too?”

Makoto glanced over at Ren, who appeared to be lost in thought. “Ren?” she called. “Are you okay? You look like you’re thinking really hard about something.”

“Are you all right, Ren-kun?” Haru asked her boyfriend.

Ren briefly considered brushing off their concerns and assuring them that it was nothing to worry about, but he knew Haru wouldn’t believe that for a single second. “I was just thinking about the convos I’ve been having with the Investigation Team,” he admitted. He glanced down at his phone. “Sophia, this conversation isn’t particularly relevant to you. In the meantime, would you mind looking up the fastest road to Sapporo and fun things to do both in the city and on the way there?”

“Okay!” Sophia agreed cheerfully. “I’ll start looking right away!”

Meanwhile, everyone else’s attention was focused on the Investigation Team. “Oh yeah, your Persona-using friends from Inaba!” Futaba exclaimed. “Is there any way they could join us in the Jails to kick some ass?”

Ren shook his head. “God, I wish. But Lavenza made it very clear to me that the Investigation Team can’t get majorly involved in the Jail crisis. Something about the laws of reality and the Velvet Room. And she made it really clear that it’s a law that we REALLY don’t want to break.”

“Ah, I see,” Yusuke sighed. “That is indeed rather disappointing. There is a part of me who hopes to one day meet our predecessors, who took such good care of you.”

“We’re trying to see if there’s any loopholes we can exploit to get around that,” Ren added, “but for now, we’re on our own. At least where exploring the actual Jails is concerned, anyway.”

“Is that what’s bothering you, Ren-kun?” Haru wondered. “Not being able to fight alongside Narukami-san and the rest of the Investigation Team?”

Ren shook his head. “Not really. I mean, I do miss them, but I’m confident in our abilities as the Phantom Thieves to get shit done on our own. No, what I’m really thinking about is something Yu told me about.”

“What’s going on with this Yu guy, then?” Ryuji wondered.

“Yu told me that he and the Investigation Team are part of this group of Persona users known as the Shadow Operatives,” Ren explained with a frown. “While theoretically they’re part of the government, in practice they’re basically completely independent and led by one of the most powerful women in Japan.” He turned his head over to Haru. “Have you heard of Mitsuru Kirijo, Haru?”

Haru gasped. “Mitsuru Kirijo?” she repeated in disbelief. “I’ve seen her once before!”

“REALLY?” Now everyone’s attention was focused entirely on Haru. “When?” Ann demanded.

“It was about two or three years ago,” Haru recalled. “I don’t remember exactly where, but I know I was accompanying my father to a ball of some kind. I only crossed paths with her briefly, but I was always struck by how regal she appeared. Like a true queen, a power and an authority unto herself.” A faint smile appeared on her lips. “Not only that, but she looked strong in a unique way. As though she had faced through some great challenge in her life, and triumphed over it.”

“But is she actually a good person, though?” Makoto asked. “That’s what matters more than how powerful she is.” It was certainly a valid point, given just how many powerful, power-hungry monsters they had changed the hearts of (and destroyed, in the case of Yaldabaoth) last year.

“My father complained more than once about Mitsuru Kirijo in the past,” Haru remarked after a few seconds of thought. “He insulted her for being shackled to outdated principles, how the care she showed for her workers was holding her back from true greatness. That she could have been the leader of Japan if she wanted, but her principles made her weak and unworthy.”

Ren scoffed. “Of fucking course he’d think that,” he retorted. “And everything you just said supports Yu’s claim that she’s a woman of principle and a figure of authority who actually deserves to be trusted.”

“The complaints of Haru’s father are certainly more of an endorsement of her character for those who are true of heart,” Yusuke agreed. “But what does Mitsuru Kirijo and the Shadow Operatives have to do with us?”

“Well, the Shadow Operatives are apparently this really secretive organization that tries to fight Shadow activity,” Ren explained. “And from what Yu told me, Mitsuru’s hoping to try to recruit us eventually.”

The Phantom Thieves looked at each other uncertainly. It was clear from their expressions that they harbored some misgivings, just like Ren did. “Doesn’t this all seem kinda sketchy?” Ryuji was the first to voice a question. “Like, where the hell were they when Shido and Yaldabaoth were fucking over Japan?”

“That’s a fairly easy question to answer, actually,” Ren answered easily. “Shido was being a piece of shit and completely blocking the Shadow Operatives out of Tokyo. Hell, it took all of Mitsuru Kirijo’s influence to stop Shido’s Conspiracy from just barging their way into Iwatodai.” He shrugged. “As for Yaldabaoth, it’s probably the whole thing with laws of reality stopping them from interfering with a Fool’s Journey. Hell, for all we know, they don’t even have a Wild Card.”

“I’m…not really sure what to make of all this,” Makoto admitted. “From what both Haru and Yu have told us, Mitsuru Kirijo sounds like an authority figure who’s actually worthy of respect and trust…but we all trusted figures of authority in our lives at one point, and that trust was thoroughly betrayed and trampled on.”

“Well, just to make things clear, Mitsuru isn’t actually making an offer for us to join the Shadow Operatives yet,” Ren quickly clarified. “With the Jail Crisis going on, it wouldn’t be the right time to deal with that. From what Yu told me, she just wanted to offer some help to us if we needed it.”

“That is certainly a very generous offer, especially from a woman as powerful as Mitsuru Kirijo,” Haru acknowledged. “But with no obvious strings attached, I can’t help but feel that it almost sounds too generous.”

“I can’t say you’re wrong,” Morgana agreed. “These kinds of things come with a catch more often than not.”

“What’re your thoughts on all this, Ren?” Futaba wondered.

“Well, I’m not going to start outright trusting her yet, not when I haven’t even talked to her personally,” Ren answered. “But I don’t have any reason to distrust her either, and there’s two people close to me now who’ve said good things about her character. So I told Yu that I was going to give her a few conditions, which is my way of testing to see how reasonable and how trustworthy she is.”

Ren proceeded to explain the conditions he’d given Mitsuru Kirijo, and there was one that immediately caught all of their attention. “Wait, you’re giving her your name and outing yourself as the leader of the Phantom Thieves to her?” Futaba asked incredulously. “Doesn’t this seem kinda reckless?”

“I agree,” Yusuke added in a concerned tone. “Are you sure that you aren’t putting yourself in unnecessary risk, Ren?”

“Not as much as you think,” Ren replied. “Yu’s got my back, and I trust him to step in and protect me in case Mitsuru Kirijo decides to try and go full authoritarian on us.”

It went without saying that if Yu abandoned him to Mitsuru’s mercy in this worst-case situation, then the bond he shared with the Wild Card would be reduced to worthlessness and he would never be trusted again. But Ren wasn’t worried about that in the slightest. “More importantly,” he added, “nobody outside of my group of confidants knows who you guys are, at least officially. I’m the only one that’s anyone’s ever outright identified as a Phantom Thief. I’m not going to risk you guys’ privacy and safety over this, especially when I’ve got Yu protecting me.”

“Still dunno how I feel about you sticking your neck out like this,” Ryuji muttered.

“Besides, Mitsuru Kirijo’s technically helped me once before,” Ren tried to reassure them. “Yu asked Mitsuru to step in to make sure that the Tokyo police didn’t keep trailing me in Inaba. I’m honestly kinda surprised that she didn’t snoop around and aggressively try to find out my identity by herself.”

“She sure can’t be any worse than the police knowing about Ren already, that’s for sure,” Ann admitted.

“Well, Ren’s revelation of his identity as the leader of the Phantom Thieves aside, I think all of his conditions are reasonable and should be fairly easy to accommodate,” Makoto remarked. “If Mitsuru really is as reasonable and trustworthy as Haru and Yu claim she is, then she shouldn’t have any problem agreeing to his terms.”

“I have faith that she’ll reason, just as I have faith in our abilities!” Haru declared.

“Until I know more about Mitsuru, don’t even worry about whether or not to join with the Shadow Operatives,” Ren assured them. “That’s not even a consideration until we deal with the Jails, anyway.”

“Speaking of which, we probably shouldn’t stay around here for too much longer,” Makoto advised. “Why don’t we finish our break here with some tea and some sweets, and then get going?”

“Sounds good to me!” Ann happily agreed. “I’ll always take any excuse to get some more sweets!”

Haru and Makoto broke out cups of tea and sweets to the rest of the Phantom Thieves, and they spent the next few minutes peacefully enjoying the riverside before packing up their things and returning to the camper. They drove onward on the road for several more hours, making good progress despite their extended break. By the time night had fallen, they were just about to enter Sendai, which the Thieves figured was as good a place as any to spend the night. The Thieves also had a bunch of different ideas on what to do in Sendai, all of which were equally as valid as any other.

“Searching!” Sophia piped in, always eager to help out her human friends. “Overnight parking lots, beef tongue, Date Masamune, and nearby bathhouses! Leave it to me! I’ll find us the most efficient route to everything you’ve suggested.”

Ren grinned down at her. “Sophia, have I ever told you just how completely awesome you are at helping us out?” he asked rhetorically. “Because seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever come across a single bit of technology that’s been nearly as helpful as you are.”

“I know, right?” Ann immediately agreed. “I’m still amazed at just how much she can do every time we ask her to help out with something!”

“It’s nothing special,” Sophia replied, downplaying her own capabilities. “I’m just doing a wide search and lining up our destinations. We should first head to the parking lot at Mt. Aoba Park,” she suggested. “Then, we can walk to the statue of Masamune…huh?” she suddenly interrupted herself.

“Hmm?” Ryuji asked. “What’s up?”

“This smell…” Sophia murmured softly. “There might be a Jail here!”

Everyone (except Makoto, who was still driving), looked over at Sophia in shock. “Hold up,” Ren immediately gave her his full attention. “Did you just say there’s a Jail in Sendai?”

“Are you sure, Sophia?” Morgana asked, clearly shocked.

“I think so,” Sophia affirmed with a frown. “I can’t pinpoint it yet, and that may be because of the distance, but this feels the same as Shibuya.”

“Well,” Ren’s face immediately turned businesslike and his voice hardened, “if there is Jail in Sendai, then we need to look into it as soon as possible. Because if it’s anything like Shibuya’s Jail, then there’s going to be a Monarch who’s clearly up to no good.”

“You think we’re gonna see a bunch of people obsessed with someone like they were with Alice?” Ryuji wondered.

“It’s more than likely,” Haru replied with a frown. “And those changes of heart are the reason why Ren-kun is in danger. The more of those we can correct, the better.”

“Then we’re all agreed that we’re heading to Sendai,” Makoto concluded. “It shouldn’t be too much longer, anyway.”

True to her words, they arrived at Sendai within just a few minutes, arriving at an empty lot that was big enough to fit the camper. Sophia was able to confirm the presence of the Jail in the city, and the Thieves decided that the first thing they should do was to visit the statue of Date Masamune. The statue itself was just as majestic and as imposing as Yusuke had claimed it would be…but the beauty was marred by the countless posters that had been plastered onto the statue, all of which were advertising a single book.

“What the hell is this?” Ren asked with a scowl. “Posting a bunch of the same posters on a historic landmark like this is just not okay.”

Haru squinted at the name of the book on the poster. “Prince of Nightmares, Volume 1, 20^th Reissue Celebration…?”

“Reissue Celebration?” Makoto wondered. “So they’re promoting a book.”

“Either way, there are a ton of better places to slap a bunch of advertising posters on than one of the most iconic landmarks in the entire city,” Ren retorted. “This is borderline vandalism right here.”

“I completely agree with Ren,” Yusuke declared, sounding just as displeased as his friend. “What a reprehensible miscreant, putting up such tasteless flyers for their own gain while marring a true work of beauty in the process!”

“Let’s take them down,” Makoto suggested. The rest of the Thieves were more than happy to help out, and they were able to take down all the posters in just a few seconds. “Much better!” she declared with satisfaction once they had cleaned up the statue.

“Indeed!” Yusuke looked incredibly pleased with himself. “The glorious majesty of Lord Masamune can stand proudly once more, unblemished by these foul posters!”

“Part of me is wondering if this is a result of the Jail,” Ren mused, “or if this was just one loony fan showing his appreciation for his favorite book way too much.”

“Maybe,” Morgana answered with a frown, “but we don’t really have any way to tell right now.”

“We can keep an eye out for more crazy things like this,” Futaba suggested. “But for now, that’s one item off the list! Next up, beef tongue city!”

Sophia guided them over to a Sekigan, a gyutan restaurant in Sendai, where the Thieves (except for Morgana, much to his chagrin) were able to enjoy a beef tongue dinner that was completely unlike anything any of them had ever eaten before. Ren honestly had no idea anything could taste as delicious as LeBlanc’s curry, but the gyutan had rapidly proved itself to be a worthy contender in its own unique way.

The only issue that popped its ugly head during the meal was when Ryuji and Morgana both started arguing about who should share a piece of gyutan with Morgana, attracting the attention of a cheerful brown-haired woman wearing a white coat that gave off the impression of a scientist or a doctor. The woman, who introduced herself as a researcher named Kuon Ichinose, was certainly an eccentric person, given how she spent a few seconds rambling a mini-lecture about human cognition that lost the Thieves almost immediately. Thankfully, however, Ichinose didn’t seem at all to mind about Morgana’s presence in Ren’s backpack despite their admittedly pitiful attempts to hide the truth, and she left without informing the staff about Morgana’s presence and their breaking of the rules.

“Seriously, guys?” Ren hissed, not even bothering to hide his annoyance. “We were lucky we didn’t get caught and kicked out by the staff. Now stop arguing!”

“We should be grateful that she didn’t tell on us,” Makoto’s tone was more conciliatory, but the sentiment was very much the same.

“Sorry,” Morgana had the decency to look ashamed. “That was my fault.”

“Nah,” Ryuji admitted, taking some of the blame off his shoulders, “I got carried away too.”

Ren took pity on Morgana, softening his glare a little. “Hey, I’ll buy another gyutan serving before we go and I’ll give it to you outside the restaurant,” he offered in a softer tone. “Does that work for you?”

“Or we could buy you some sasa-kamaboko later too, if you’d like that instead,” his girlfriend offered.

Morgana perked up immediately. “You mean the fish cake on the skewers with that nice layer of char on top!?” he exclaimed. “Ooh, yes please!”

With the argument settled, the Phantom Thieves returned to their gyutan dinner. But as they were about to finish, Ren started to overhear two…very enthusiastic women talking about a book they were reading.

“Oh, his latest work was just perfect!” one of them was gushing. “I was up all night reading it. Two nights in a row, if you can believe that!”

“Speaking of which,” another equally passionate fan replied, “I read in a magazine interview today that he’s going to be at the station today…there’s no way I’m missing that!”

“Hrmmm?” Ren thought, eyes narrowing ever so slightly. “Could they be talking about Prince of Nightmares?” It was entirely possible that the two women were talking about a completely different book, but with a Jail present in Sendai, Ren wasn’t one to easily dismiss this as a coincidence.

The Thieves finished their meals, and just like he’d promised, Ren ordered an extra gyutan dinner for Morgana. “I see you’re quite the fan of our gyutan!” the chef commented. “If you’d like, you can come back tomorrow to buy our recipe for gyutan stew! We’re selling them at a discounted price for a limited time!”

“Ooh!” Morgana perked up. “Maybe you should buy that recipe. That way you could make your own gyutan, Ren! With how good you are at making curry, I bet you could make that gyutan just as good!”

“Not gonna lie, I’m thinking about it,” Ren admitted. “That gyutan sure was good, wasn’t it?”

Ryuji grinned. “If Ren-ren here makes his own gyutan, I’m gonna be the first one to grab a plate!” he declared eagerly as they left the restaurant behind them. All of them were in good spirits after enjoying such a wonderful meal, and by now they were all ready to pack it in for the night.

“How you can eat five bowls of rice is beyond me!” Futaba muttered towards Ryuji. “Ren I get, because he’s eaten the Big Bang Burger Challenge before, but you? Is your stomach a black hole or something?”

“Well, at least he’s not Sumire,” Ren pointed out dryly. “I swear, that girl has a stomach far beyond mortal comprehension with the size of the lunches she eats.”

“I wish I could eat that much food and still maintain a physique that good,” Ann mumbled jealously.

“Hey man,” Ryuji raised his hands defensively, “if they’re offering free refills, you can bet I’m orderin’ ‘em!”

“Indeed,” Yusuke agreed with his fellow thief. “You can eat the first bowl and focus exclusively on the glistening of the meat, then the aroma of the meat, and so on.”

“Well, the food here certainly is delicious!” Haru praised, before turning to Ren. “Please tell me you’re going to buy that recipe and try to make your own gyutan, Ren-kun!” she pleaded. “I don’t know if we’ll ever get the chance to try it again once we leave Sendai!”

Ren smirked. “Well, if my girlfriend asks me to get it, then how could I say no?” he replied with a chuckle.

“Great job finding this place, Sophia!” Ann didn’t hesitate to give her a compliment, which she happily accepted. Before they could continue their conversation, however, they were immediately interrupted by a commotion happening a few feet away.

In front of the station was a crowd of people, all assembled in front of a brown-haired young man wearing glasses.

“Natsume-san!” An excited young woman was gushing. “Your latest issue was just as amazing as always!”

“Natsume-san, over here!” A young man was pleading. “Can you please sign my copy!?”

“Wow,” Ren blinked. “Those guys are…really enthusiastic, huh?”

Before anyone could say anything, the young man they were all crowded around spoke up. “Heheh,” he chuckled as he held out his hands defensively, “thank you all for your support. Please, only one autograph per person, thank you.”

“Something about him rubs me the wrong way,” Ryuji muttered.

“I get that feeling from him too,” Makoto murmured back.

“Oh, my apologies,” the man continued, “but could the men please get to the back of the line? Ladies first, you see.”

Ann rolled her eyes. “Oh, great…please tell me this guy isn’t another pervert,” she muttered.

“He certainly seems rather pretentious, doesn’t he?” Yusuke remarked with a frown.

“Who the hell even is that?” Ryuji wondered.

“He looks pretty popular,” Makoto commented. “I heard that woman say something about a latest book. It sounds like he might be a writer.”

Before anyone could say anything else, the man’s eyes suddenly turned towards them and landed on Haru. “Oh?” He immediately started walking towards her until he was just a foot or two in front of her. “Hello there. Are you looking for an autograph?” he asked her. “Or perhaps a handshake?”

“Huh?” Haru spluttered. “Uhm…”

Ren decided to come to the rescue. “Excuse me, sir,” he interrupted, making sure he was right next to and just oh-so-slightly in front of Haru. “I believe you’re making my girlfriend uncomfortable.” He spoke his words in a polite tone, but they were very clearly a warning shot.

To his credit, the man did seem apologetic after his initial surprise. “Ah! My apologies to you both, then. You have quite the lovely young woman as a companion,” he replied, recovering smoothly. “It appears I got a little ahead of myself.”

“Your apology is accepted,” Ren replied, his voice carefully neutral. “If I may ask, would you happen to be Ango Natsume, the author of the Prince of Nightmares?”

“Indeed, I am!” Ango Natsume replied with the pride of a man who believed himself to be one of greatest things to grace the Earth. “Surely, you must be a fan of my book!”

“Unfortunately, I’ve never heard of it before today,” Ren shook his head, playing up the role of a curious stranger while making sure to keep Natsume’s attention squarely on him. Natsume didn’t give off the impression of being a creep like Sugimura or Kamoshida, but he didn’t like the way he had looked at Haru. As far as Ren was concerned, the more attention he gave to him and the less he gave to Haru, the better. “We’re visiting Sendai for the very first time.”

“How could you not have heard of Prince of Nightmares?” Ango asked in disbelief, before declaring. “Well then, I must correct this at once!” Natsume declared, taking a copy of his book from behind him and presenting it to Ren. “Please, accept this as a token of welcome to this wonderful city, to both you and your girlfriend. Before you even ask, don’t worry, I’ve already signed it!”

Ren smiled. “I think I’ll do just that,” he agreed as he accepted the book. “After all, I’m very interested to see what’s inside.” The best part was that he wasn’t even lying. He was, indeed, quite interested to read Natsume’s Prince of Nightmares…even if it was for reasons that Ango Natsume almost certainly wouldn’t be happy with, if he was indeed the Monarch behind the Jail. His gaze suddenly hardened. “That being said, Natsume-san, were you aware that posters featuring your book were completely covering Masamune’s statue?” he asked. “They were blocking a historical landmark, to the point of vandalism. As an outsider to the city, I couldn’t help but be concerned by the sight of that.”

Natsume blinked. “My flyers on Masamune’s statue?” he repeated dramatically, before continuing. “Ah, I think I know what must have happened.” A deep frown crossed his face. “That’s most likely the work of some of my more zealous fans. I appreciate them promoting my work, but…it appears they went overboard somewhat.” He sighed. “Honestly, they can be a real handful sometimes. Allow me to apologize on their behalf. I’ll be speaking with them to avoid such…excessive displays in the future.”

“Sounds good,” Ren replied. Natsume’s words seemed…half-hearted, at best, although he didn’t seem to be completely lying either. “I’ll read your book as soon as I get the chance.”

“How marvelous!” Natsume eagerly replied. “I’m always happy to meet a new fan. I can only hope that you will enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed writing it!”

“Mr. Natsume,” his escort interrupted him. “We need to get moving soon.”

“I see,” Natsume muttered. His gaze shifted across the female Phantom Thieves for the briefest of seconds, and he looked as though he wanted to address them. But he smoothed his expression almost immediately. “Well then, I must be going. I’ve a magazine interview to attend to get to.”

Natsume proceeded to give one final bow and a thanks to his crowd before he and his escort left, the excited and almost delusional cheers of his fans following after him.

“Natsume! I love you!” one fan cheered.

“Oh, he’s just so dreamy!” another fan agreed. “I’ll have to buy ten more copies tomorrow to show him just how much I care.”

“…who was that man?” Yusuke asked, looking thoroughly unimpressed in sharp contrast to the rest of his fans.

“I dunno if he was some local bigshot over whatever,” Ryuji grumbled, “but he sure was pissin’ me off.”

“I didn’t like the way he was looking at Haru, either,” Ren added, allowing a scowl to appear on his face for the first time, “so I made sure to keep his attention focused on me. He seemed like a bit of a pretentious prick, so I played to his ego, especially through his book.” He smirked. “Judging by how that turned out, I think it worked.”

“Thank you very much for that, Ren-kun,” Haru replied gratefully. “I would’ve dealt with this myself, but he caught me completely off guard!”

Ren shook his head. “Don’t worry about it, Haru,” he reassured his girlfriend. “Honestly, I wanted to try and get a copy of the Prince of Nightmares anyway.”

“He was a strange one, for sure,” Sophia agreed, “but the people around him seemed weirdly happy. Why was that?”

“Prolly cause they’re a buncha weirdos!” Ryuji retorted.

“I must agree,” Yusuke replied with a stormy expression. “He wasn’t at all deserving of such praise, even in the form of flattery.”

“How’d a guy so full of himself like him get so popular?” Ann asked with a scowl. “It doesn’t make any sense!”

Morgana frowned. “There might be something else going on here,” he theorized after a few seconds of silence. “He could even be changing people’s hearts.”

“Just like Alice,” Ren added with a nod. “Some of what those fans were saying was kinda suspicious. I don’t think any sane fan would buy 10 copies of the same book just to support an author, even if that book IS good.”

“If he’s the Monarch, then everything else totally makes sense!” Ryuji chimed in.

“It could be. It could also just be some guy local famous guy with way too many loony fans around this area,” Ren played the Devil’s advocate…even though his own tone and expression made it abundantly clear that he didn’t believe his own words for a single second. “Either way, we need to get some intel before we make any moves, like with Alice.”

“Works for me,” Futaba agreed. “I got my laptop back at the RV. Should be able to dig something up from there.”

With their chosen plan in mind, the Phantom Thieves proceeded to make their way back to the RV. Although they didn’t have quite enough evidence yet to label Ango Natsume is the Monarch of the Sendai Jail, Ren’s instincts were telling him that the Phantom Thieves were about to make their first debut outside of Shibuya very, very soon.

Chapter Text

When the Phantom Thieves reconvened inside the camper, it didn’t take very long for Futaba to do a bit of research on the suspiciously popular author that they had just encountered.

“Ango Natsume,” Futaba reported to them, “grandson to renowned writer Sogo Natsume. Currently a successful light novel author. Says the guy kicked off his career with his debut work, The Prince of Nightmares. It won the grand prize in the Soukaisha Awards.” She blinked in surprise. “This thing’s selling stupidly well. It’s sold a million copies alone!”

“What the fuck!?” Ren exclaimed. “Did you just say a MILLION?”

Ann’s eyes bulged. “That’s kinda nuts, right?”

“That’s bestseller territory,” Ren commented, for once not bothering to hide his surprise. “Actually, screw that, that’s record-breaking right there.”

“Yeah, that’s a borderline miracle right there!” Futaba agreed. “Debuts almost never hit numbers like that, even the really good ones.”

“Which can only mean one of two things,” Ren surmised with a frown. “Either this is a top 1% quality of light novel, one of the greatest pieces of literary works to ever come into existence…”

“…or it’s all bullshit and this Ango prick is brainwashing everyone into buying his book like Alice did,” Ryuji concluded.

“I think Ryuji might be right,” Makoto commented with a conflicted look on her face and concern in her voice. “I checked social media, and, well…this whole thing is kinda bizarre.”

“Natsume’s fans are probably going on some kinda rampage, right?” Futaba guessed with a frown, before continuing. “There’s a rumor that some people got beat within an inch of their lives just because they were sorta dressed like Natsume’s characters.”

“What the hell?” Ren spluttered. “That isn’t even criticizing his novel, that’s beating the hell out of someone over a meaningless coincidence!”

“Right…” Makoto agreed with a sigh. “But the worst part is that no one stepped in to stop them. In fact, the attackers were praised for what they did.”

Yusuke was scowling now. “These are likely the same kinds of people who’d defile the Masamune statue with fliers. They clearly lack self-restraint.”

“The fans at the station seemed really passionate too,” Haru added morosely. “It was almost like they were part of a cult.”

“This is already raising red flags for Jail-induced brainwashing,” Ren commented grimly.

“I’m checking some of the online forums,” Futaba reported, “and it looks like there’s about a hundred threads created about this dude almost every day. And they’re all positive…not only that, but all of these IP addresses are from Sendai!”

“Another red flag,” Ren pointed out. “Alice’s influence was localized almost entirely around Shibuya, and it sounds like Ango Natsume, if he really is our Monarch, has his influence localized around Sendai just like Alice did.”

“That’s crazy suspicious!” Ryuji exclaimed. “He HAS to be our guy, right?”

“All the signs are pointing to it,” Ren remarked, “but we have to do our proper investigating first like we did with Alice. Plus,” he picked up the Prince of Nightmares novel that Ango Natsume had given him. “I’m going to spend tonight reading this novel personally. If Ango really does deserve all the fame given to him for writing this book, it’ll show in the quality of his writing.”

“My thoughts exactly, Ren,” Yusuke agreed, taking out a second copy that he had somehow procured between finishing their gyutan meal and returning to the camper. “I have been quite curious to read this novel ever since I first saw the fliers on Lord Masamune’s statue.”

With that, the Thieves agreed that they would spend tomorrow doing some additional investigation into Ango Natsume and the Prince of Nightmares in Sendai. There was nothing left for them to do that night, so it was time for them to get some rest.

Which was when Ren suddenly let a grin spread across his face as he prepared to unleash a surprise on his fellow Thieves. “Uhhh…Ren?” Morgana first noticed the amused expression on his friend’s face. “Why are you smiling like that?”

“Oh, nothing, Morgana,” he replied in an innocent tone that fooled absolutely no one. “I’ve just decided to use my executive powers as leader of the Phantom Thieves to make a last-ditch change of plans.”

“Wait, what?” Ann asked, completely lost. “What do you mean?”

“Sophia, would you be so kind as to locate the nearest hotel or inn with above-average views?” Ren asked smugly.

“Ren, what are you doing?” Makoto wondered.

The grin on Ren’s face widened. “Allow me to explain,” he answered smoothly, clearly reveling in his friends’ confused expressions. “You see, while Makoto was driving us on the way to Sendai, I had a good long think about how our sleeping arrangements involve four guys all sleeping together in a single, cramped tent. And I came to the realization that, wow! That current plan sounds like complete dogshit!” he declared. “It sounds like it completely fucking sucks and I don’t want to deal with it for the entirety of our road trip together!”

“I understand your concern, Ren-kun,” Haru sympathized with a frown. “To be honest, I don’t think it’s quite fair to force all of you to sleep in the same tent. But we simply don’t have any better options.”

“Au contraire, my dear Haru!” Ren returned without missing a beat. “Being the absolute max knowledge genius that I am, I came to the realization that, actually no, I don’t have to deal with that bullshit. I have five million yen with me, and supplying all our medicines and upgrading all our equipment barely scratched a dent in those resources. And since this money is completely worthless if it’s just rotting in my pocket doing nothing, I officially declare that I’m going to be using some of that money to get us actually decent lodgings whenever we visit a major city like Sendai. Sophia will find us a decent hotel or inn to sleep in for the night, we can actually get some good night’s rest without needing to be all cramped up in either the camper or a single fucking tent, and we’ll have all the energy we need the next morning to get to work and do whatever the hell we need to do!”

“Oh, my!” Yusuke exclaimed. “I know you are a kind and generous person to those who have your trust, Ren, but I wasn’t expecting this of all things!”

“I’m not sure how I feel about this sudden change of plans,” Makoto admitted, before sighing, “but I do have to admit that having a nice warm bed to sleep in would do me wonders after driving for so long.”

“Are you sure this is okay, Ren-kun?” Haru asked with a bit of concern. “What if we enter a location with a Jail where sleeping in a hotel simply will not be possible, for one reason or another?”

“Then I’m going to buy another tent before we leave Sendai,” Ren reassured her. “That way, even if we do need to sleep in or around the camper, having 2 tents instead of one will mean that it will only be two people sharing instead of 4, so it will be a lot more comfortable.” He smiled at his friends. “Any objections?”

Unsurprisingly, none were forthcoming. Obviously, the guys in the group were thrilled at the idea of sleeping in a proper hotel room instead of being cramped in a single tent together, and it wasn’t as though the girls were going to violently object to the prospect either even if their accommodations were better than the guys’. And since Ren was paying for the whole thing entirely out of his own pocket, it wasn’t as though the Thieves had any grounds to object against him spending his own money even if they wanted to.

Sophia, ever the reliable AI helper, directed them to a decent hotel a few blocks away that had several available rooms next to each other also had enough space for them to park the camper, and Ren obtained several rooms for him and his friends to sleep together in pairs.

“Hey, Haru?” Ren asked as they approached the series of rooms where they would be sleeping for the night. He had reserved 4 rooms all next to each other, enough to accommodate 3 pairs and 1 individual person. “Do you want to room with me for tonight, or would you rather room with someone else? I was going to give the lone room either to myself and Morgana, or to Makoto since she did the heavy lifting today with all the driving.”

“Oh! I would love to share the room with you, Ren-kun!” Haru answered cheerfully.

Ren grinned. “Perfect. Makoto, you get an entire room all to yourself. Driver’s privilege.”

Makoto smiled back. “I really do appreciate your thoughtfulness, Ren,” she thanked him.

The Phantom Thieves split into pairs, with Ryuji and Yusuke pairing up in one room and Futaba and Ann pairing up in another. Makoto took a room by herself as they had previously agreed, leaving Ren and Haru to take the fourth room that Ren had booked. “Oh my!” Haru remarked as the two of them entered their room. “This is quite cozy, and better than I expected with how quickly you had Sophia do the search.”

“It really goes to show just how useful Sophia is,” Morgana commented in his hiding place from Ren’s bag.

“Praise accepted!” Sophia replied as she hummed cheerfully.

As both Ren and Haru were traveling relatively light (as were all the other Thieves, who hadn’t brought much with them beyond basic essentials like clothing and toiletries and their Phantom Thief equipment), it didn’t take long for them to get settled in the hotel room. After a hot shower and a nice change of clothes, they were settled quite nicely in their futons, with Morgana already claiming a place in the corner of the room for himself on a couch.

Haru laid her head on Ren’s shoulder. “So, Ren-kun, I believe you were planning on reading the Prince of Nightmares?” she questioned as Ren took the book out.

“That was the plan,” Ren confirmed, before adding regretfully. “As much as I want to spend the night cuddling with you Haru, business does come first. I need to figure out the overall quality of this book before I can properly judge whether Ango Natsume is a proper local legend or a talentless, brainwashing hack.”

“I understand, Ren-kun,” Haru reassured him, before letting out an adorable yawn. “I do hope you enjoy your reading session.”

“You better not stay up all night!” Morgana also added from the corner. “We’ve got a lot of work to do tomorrow!”

“Don’t worry, Morgana,” Ren replied. “I’ve perfected my speed-reading techniques. I shouldn’t be up too late.”

Satisfied with that answer, Haru and Morgana both allowed themselves to drift off to sleep while Ren read through as much of the Prince of Nightmares as his energy would allow. Even with his speed-reading skills well-developed, the light novel was too large for him to read the entire thing in one night.

Fortunately, he didn’t need to…because just a few chapters of reading the Prince of Nightmares gave Ren Amamiya all the information he needed to know to pass his judgment.

The next morning, Haru and Morgana woke up to see an incredibly amused and entertained look on Ren’s face. “Good morning, Ren-kun!” Haru greeted her boyfriend, before giving him a curious glance. “You look like you’re in a good mood today, my love. Is it because of the Prince of Nightmares?”

“You…could say that,” Ren answered cryptically with a huge smirk on his face, his voice positively dripping with amusement. “I’ll tell you guys later once we’re back in the camper and back at the park.” He glanced around warily, before adding quietly, “You never know if there’s any Ango Natsume fans hanging around in the hotel.”

Haru and Morgana both nodded in understanding. Given how Ango Natsume’s more-than-likely-brainwashed fans had severely beaten other people for merely looking like characters from his novel, nobody wanted to think about what they would do to people who straight-up insulted his book.

They met up with the rest of their friends, all of whom (especially Makoto) looked like they had thoroughly appreciated the good night’s sleep in the comforts of their hotel rooms.

“Dude, I seriously can’t thank you enough for paying for all this shit,” Ryuji gratefully declared once they were all back in the camper and on the move back to their previous stopping point in Sendai. “I thought sleeping while on this trip was gonna be the absolute worst thing ever, and you pretty much saved that completely!”

“I feel like we should pay you back for this,” Makoto added, fully in agreement with him. “It feels wrong for us to let you cover the cost for all of this out of your own pocket, Ren.”

“Nah,” Ren brushed aside their concerns, “I’ve got so much money from the Metaverse and the TV World back in Inaba that I’ve got duffel-bags of the stuff rotting in my closet. At least here I’m actually doing something with all that shit.”

“Your generosity is truly appreciated, Ren,” Yusuke thanked him, before shifting the conversation towards their Phantom Thief business. “With all that being said, I believe you were going to spend much of the last night reading the Prince of Nightmares?” He picked up his own copy of the book. “I skimmed through it myself, and I have…certain opinions…on it, to say the least.”

“Do you mind I go first?” Ren politely requested. “I’ve been wanting to share my thoughts ever since I woke up today.”

“By all means,” Yusuke graciously invited.

“Thank you, Yusuke,” Ren gratefully replied, before he turned to face his friends and picked up his own copy of the Prince of Nightmares. “This light novel, ladies and gentlemen. This light novel, by Ango Natsume, is nothing like anything I’ve ever read before. I can say with the utmost confidence that it is the most amazing, the most spectacular, the most glorious…” a grin suddenly broke out on his face, “piece of dogshit I’ve ever read in my entire life!”

The Phantom Thieves all blinked at the sudden whiplash in Ren’s review. “Wait…what did you say?” Makoto spluttered, clearly confused.

“You heard me the first time,” Ren continued without missing a beat. “This book isn’t just bad, it’s uniquely bad. It fails as a narrative and a work of literature on a level that I’ve never seen before. If you have ANY sort of familiarity with famous books, animes, and light novels, you’ll find out very quickly that the guy blatantly plagiarized sentences from them, mashed them together, and shoved them into the novel.”

“So the guy’s a plagiarist, huh?” Morgana scowled. “Reminds me a lot of Madarame.”

“Indeed,” Yusuke agreed fiercely. “I can conclude without a shadow of a doubt that Ango Natsume does not deserve one of the many accolades that has been thrust upon him for this work.”

“And yet…” Ren’s grin widened, “this book was so uniquely and impressively bad that, for me at least, it warped back around to being unintentionally hilarious. Everything I read should’ve filled me with nothing but rage and disgust, and yet I found myself completely entertained in a way that shouldn’t have been even remotely possible. Everything about the Prince of Nightmares is fucking awful, and it is now one of my favorite hate-reads of all time. Nothing I’ve read from either Shujin or Yasogami comes even close in comparison,” he declared as he slammed the book down onto the table.

There was silence as everyone spent several seconds processing Ren’s review. “So this guy is definitely brainwashing people to read his book, right?” Futaba finally broke the silence. “He isn’t actually some master novel writer, right?”

“And I take it the book certainly isn’t of high enough quality to warrant multiple people buying ten copies of it, Ren-kun?” Haru added.

Ren snorted. “Oh, hell to the fuck no!” he retorted. “Just to make it abundantly clear, even though in my opinion the book is so bad it wrapped around to being enjoyable in a fucked-up way, it’s still bad,” he emphasized. “By the conventional standards of narrative and literature, it sucks copious amounts of ass on every conceivable level. I enjoyed hate-reading it, but you couldn’t pay me to buy more than one copy of this dogshit, let alone 10.”

“For my part, I didn’t share the enjoyment that Ren did when reading this book,” Yusuke added with a scowl. “It is a disgrace. Even if we take out the blatant plagiarism that Ango Natsume conducted, there is no heart or soul in this novel whatsoever.”

“It’s looking more and more like Natsume’s our Monarch, all right,” Morgana acknowledged. “But we still have to do some legwork in Sendai. There’s a proper way for Phantom Thieves to do things, after all!”

“Well, the sooner we get out there and start figuring shit out, the sooner we can pin Natsume as the Monarch and invade his Jail,” Ryuji declared.

And with their meeting, the Phantom Thieves left the camper and proceeded to investigate Sendai. With how many people were raving about Natsume’s light novel, it only took about an hour for them to find the evidence they needed to essentially confirm their already strong suspicions about Natsume being the Jail Monarch of Sendai.

Ren, however, had a few other tasks he needed to focus on beyond “just” finding evidence on Ango Natsume. Just as he had promised some of the other Thieves, the first thing he did upon going out into Sendai was head straight to the gyutan restaurant where the Thieves had eaten dinner yesterday, and purchase a copy of the gyutan stew recipe for himself.

“Ooh!” Morgana gushed as he put the recipe away in his backpack. “Are you going to make more gyutan stew for us later?”

“That’s the idea,” Ren confirmed with a smile. “It’ll be a nice change of pace from cooking curry and coffee all the time, and if we’re really lucky it might even have some kind of Metaverse effect, who knows?”

“I can’t wait!” Morgana exclaimed happily.

The other main task that Ren carried out was to locate a Sports store and purchase an extra tent compared to the one that had already come with the camper. While finding inns and hotels would be a fairly easy task in big cities like Sendai, he couldn’t rule out the possibility that they might find themselves in…less accommodating areas. And he wanted to make sure that the males in the group would have reasonable lodgings if the situation came down to it.

Of course, since he didn’t want to spend several minutes lugging a huge tent around while trying to either talk to or eavesdrop on random people in Sendai, Ren waited until after he had gathered all the necessary intel on Natsume before actually purchasing the tent in question.

Once they had all reconvened and Ren had dropped off their new tent in the camper, the Phantom Thieves made their way over to Porto, where Ango Natsume was handing out autographs to his fans. The bookstore was positively crowded with fans all clamoring for Natsume’s autograph, as Makoto was quick to point out, much to Futaba’s discomfort.

“Um, Natsume-san,” a shy but passionate fan called out to him, “I just wanted to say, thank you for putting out such wonderful work all the time. I was so touched by your book, I ended up buying fifty copies!”

“The fuck?” Ren mumbled under his breath. “Did she just say FIFTY?”

“Oh yeah?” a competitive fan retorted. “Well, I bought a hundred! Some to read, some to collect, some to give out, and some to…”

“My goodness!” Natsume interrupted with a huge smile on his face. “Thank you, I’m flattered.”

“Okay, this is isn’t even funny anymore,” Ren muttered, quietly enough to not be overheard by anyone but his friends, as more of Natsume’s fans showered praises upon the author. “This is seriously getting way out of hand.”

It seemed that even Ango himself seemed a bit overwhelmed, assuming that it all wasn’t just an act to stroke his own ego. “Well,” he replied a bit hesitantly, “I have said that I want my book to reach as many people as possible…I can’t help but feel guilty, though. Be sure you don’t overdo it.”

The Phantom Thieves watched the autograph from a distance, waiting until Ango and his friends had vacated the building completely before finally speaking up.

“I’d expected as much,” Haru was the first to speak, clearly stunned, “but…he’s really popular.”

“Do you think that bit about the girl one of his fans brought up was for real?” Ann asked, clearly conflicted.

Ryuji scoffed. “Nah, it’s all bullshit. Dude doesn’t seem like the type, if you ask me.”

Morgana sighed. “I don’t think Natsume said anything resembling a keyword,” he pointed out the obvious problem they now had to face.

“Could it be because he really isn’t a Monarch?” Haru wondered. “Or perhaps he’s just being careful.”

“Or maybe it’s because everyone here already had their hearts changed,” Ren guessed. “That bookstore was full of fans with the same kind of crazy fervor that Alice’s fans had.”

“Which means he wouldn’t need to give out his keyword,” Futaba agreed, before turning to a very pensive-looking Yusuke. “Something on your mind, Inari?”

“I, for one, am quite thoroughly convinced that Ango Natsume is indeed our Monarch,” Yusuke answered. “As Ren so eloquently stated earlier, his novel fails completely not just as a work of literature, but as a work of art. Ren may have found amusement in the poor quality of Prince of Nightmares, yet I feel something quite different about it.”

“Could you enlighten us as to what you mean, Yusuke?” Makoto asked politely.

“For any creative work, one should be able to feel some sense of its creator’s passion,” Yusuke explained with a frown. “No matter how crude or unrefined the work may be, there should always be some sort of spark present to those engaging with it.”

“I imagine that you’re speaking from experience,” Ren commented sagely. “Everyone has to start from somewhere, after all.”

“Indeed,” Yusuke nodded in agreement. “Whenever I look back at my earliest works, as utterly inadequate as they might be by my current standards, I could still feel my own spark from deep within them. I admit that I’m not terribly well versed in the literary arts, but…I feel nothing when reading this book,” Yusuke declared. “The sentences are formed well enough, but what’s here is shockingly hollow.”

“I’m guessing that’s the plagiarism that Natsume’s been doing,” Ren mused.

“It has to be,” Yusuke agreed. “It’s as if these words have been taken from someone else and given the most bare-minimum coat of paint possible.”

Futaba took a quick look at the book, and she immediately confirmed that, indeed, Natsume had blatantly plagiarized several sentences from different animes, books, and mangas, and piled them all into a single novel.

“The only way a fraudulent piece of work such as this could have ever garnered this much praise was if Ango Natsume stole the Desires of others and mentally coerced them into purchasing it,” Yusuke concluded. “Of this, I am certain.”

“I don’t think any more needs to be said,” Ren agreed. “Ango Natsume is our Monarch, and the power behind the Jail here in Sendai.”

“But there is a problem,” Haru pointed out with a morose look. “We don’t know the keyword. If we only knew the keyword, we could investigate the Jail for ourselves.”

“Think we should ask some of his friends?” Ryuji suggested. “They’ve all had their Desires taken, right?”

Makoto shook her head. “If this is anything like Shibuya, I doubt they’ll tell us anything.”

“Guess we’re kinda stuck then,” Futaba sighed, before turning to Ren. “Have you heard anything from Gramps, yet?”

“He said he’d be here by tonight,” Ann pointed out. “Maybe he learned something.”

“And besides,” Ren added, “Inspector Hasegawa might have access to resources, or be able to do things, that we can’t by ourselves. We might be doing the legwork for him in the Jails as part of our deal, but I expect him to put in some of the work for our deal too.” He smiled thinly. “Let’s see just how seriously Zenkichi Hasegawa is actually taking our agreement.”

“Then it’s settled,” Morgana concluded. “Let’s go back to the camper and wait for Zenkichi to arrive.”

As the Phantom Thieves left the bookstore to return to the camper, Yusuke suddenly called out to Ren. “Excuse me, Ren. I wanted to ask you something before we left.”

“Go ahead, Yusuke,” Ren invited.

“I must ask you…why do you think Natsume wrote this novel?” Yusuke wondered. “It’s a question that has been burning in my mind ever since I realized the truth about it.”

Ren shrugged. “Money? Fame? A different reason that only he could comprehend?” he answered. “Maybe we’ll find the answer in the Jail. But it doesn’t change the fact that Ango Natsume is almost certainly committing crimes and subverting the free will of the people. And his reasons don’t change the fact that he must be stopped.”

“You are quite right, Ren,” Yusuke agreed. “And no matter how much praise a work of art may receive, if it was built on the backs of others, then you cannot truly call that praise your own. Those compliments will surely ring empty. Anyone in the arts should know this.” He shook his head in frustration. “I hope you are right, Ren. I hope we will find the answer to Ango Natsume’s true motivations within the Jail. Because otherwise I cannot comprehend why Natsume would write such a soulless piece of work.”

“We found an answer to Alice’s motivations in her Jail, and I’m sure we’ll find the answer to Natsume’s in his,” Ren reassured him. Yusuke smiled back gratefully at him, and the two friends followed the others back to the camper.

Just like Ann had said, it wasn’t until nighttime when Zenkichi arrived. The police officer looked thoroughly impressed by the camper, and was equally surprised that Sendai had ended up being on the agenda.

“How’d you guys even know there was a Jail here in Sendai?” he asked in disbelief.

“I smelled it!” Sophia answered cheerfully with a ping from Ren’s phone.

“…you smelled it?” Zenkichi asked, looking utterly flabbergasted. “How the hell does that even work?”

“Don’t ask,” Ren muttered. “We don’t know the answer to that question any better than you do.”

“Aaaaaanyways,” Makoto interrupted, “have you learned anything new?”

“Yeah,” Zenkichi affirmed with a frown. “Ango Natsume’s certainly shady, all right. His book’s been selling like crazy, but only here in Sendai. Most of the other stuff lines up with what you guys told me. And when I did some asking around, and I found out that everyone in Natsume’s little fanclub became friend with him through EMMA.” His words elicited shocked looks from everyone. “And once that happens, they start buying his book any and every chance they get. Some even go into debt because of it.” A knowing smile appeared on his face. “Sound familiar?”

“That pretty much confirms it, then,” Ren commented. “Alice had a very localized sphere of influence with her Jail, and it looks like Natsume has one too in Sendai.” He frowned. “The problem is that we have no idea how to get his EMMA keyword. And if we want to deal with the problem, we absolutely need that keyword. No ifs, ands, or buts about it, Zenkichi.”

“God,” Ryuji muttered, “I really wish we could just nab the shithead and make him cough it up?”

“You can stop right there,” Zenkichi interrupted. “Do that, and I have to arrest you for assault. Our deal goes straight out the window if you commit serious crimes like that in broad daylight. You can ramble on about the Jails all you want. Best case scenario is you getting dragged off to a mental institution.”

“Yeah,” Ren sighed. “Sorry, Ryuji, but I’m gonna have to agree with Zenkichi on this one.”

“I know,” Ryuji muttered. “I was joking anyway.”

“We are Phantom Thieves, after all,” Haru pointed out. “Going at it directly isn’t our preferred method, anyway.”

“Oh, there goes Beauty Thief,” Futaba commented fondly. “Always tryin’ to be elegant and subtle and stuff.”

Zenkichi stared at them for a second. “Beauty…what?” he spluttered.

“She’s talking about Haru,” Ren quickly explained.

“Uh…uh…” Haru stammered, before exclaiming, “my name is Beauty Thief!” It was clear from the expression on her face that she was finding the whole thing more embarrassing than anything else.

“I see…” Zenkichi blinked, before shaking his head. “She’s really calling herself that?” he muttered under his breath.

“Long story,” Ren decided to rescue his girlfriend. “Related to past Phantom Thief business. I think we should probably get back on track.”

“Yeah,” Morgana agreed. “We really need to get that keyword.”

At that, Zenkichi smiled. “And that’s where I come in!” he declared. “You’d better thank me for this later.”

At this, Ren perked his head up. “Do you have a way for us to get access to Ango Natsume’s keyword?” he asked immediately.

“Natsume’s holding a party tonight in celebration of Prince of Nightmares passing over a million in sales,” Zenkichi explained smugly. “And I just happen to have enough invitations for all of you. Which means…”

“We’re crashing a party?” Ann asked in disbelief.

“Hey,” Ryuji grinned, “that sounds fun as hell! Don’t you think, Ren?”

“It sure does. Well damn, Zenkichi,” Ren whistled, genuinely impressed. “I was going to reach out to you for help, but I didn’t expect you to be on the ball this quickly, or before I even asked.” He grinned. “Not bad. Not bad at all. Thanks for the help, Zenkichi. Keep this up, and you might officially be the first cop I’ve met outside of Inaba who doesn’t suck ass.”

“Uhhh…I think I’ll take what you just said as a competent,” Zenkichi decided, before the smile returned. “So what do you think? Glad we struck a deal?”

“You did pretty good, Gramps!” Futaba admitted.

“Yeah!” Ryuji willingly agreed. “Nice one, Gramps!”

“I must admit,” Yusuke added, “I’m seeing you in a whole new light, Gramps!”

“Yeah!” Ann happily chimed in. “You really came through, Gramps!”

Haru giggled. “I knew we could count on you, Gramps-san!”

Zenkichi groaned and shook his head in frustration. “C’mon, guys…” he pleaded. “At least call me by my name.”

Even Sophia got in on the fun. “Don’t feel bad, Gramps,” she offered, in what was no doubt a genuine effort at comfort but in practice was more like kicking him while he was already down.

Realizing that there was no possible way he was going to win this one, Zenkichi decided to cut his losses and conclude the meeting while the Phantom Thieves made their way over to the venue of Ango Natsume’s party. The party immediately got started after a brief speech by Natsume, and while the Phantom Thieves did allow themselves to enjoy some of the food and drinks, Ren was more interested in the conversation that Ango was having with his editors.

“Congratulations, Mr. Natsume. Truly,” one of the editors was praising him.

Natsume chuckled. “It’s all thanks to everyone working so hard to push sales,” he replied in that perpetually smug tone of his. “All I did was write.”

“Oh, you’re too modest,” another editor answered.

“It really is impressive how well you’ve done,” a third, rather stout editor chimed in, “considering the amount of competition there is these days.”

Ren listened into the conversation, grimacing as he did so. Obviously, Natsume’s tone was insufferable as ever, but the editors were rubbing him the wrong way too. There was something off about the way they heaped their praises onto him. Something…fake.

But before he could process it any further, Natsume’s next words interrupted his train of thought. “You might recall Ichiryusai Madarame’s confession on TV not too long ago. Surely, you remember. His signature piece…what was the name of it?”

“Oh,” the stout editor from before answered, “do you mean the Sayuri?”

“Ah yes, that’s it!” Natsume nodded in acknowledgment. “The Sayuri.” Ren suddenly had a bad feeling about what the author was about to say next, but there was nothing he could do about it. “That piece was certainly lauded as the pinnacle of beauty at the time, but if you ask me, the only place it belongs now is the trash.”

“And there it is…” Ren thought with a scowl.

His words elicited fury from all the Phantom Thieves on Yusuke’s behalf…and yet strangely, Yusuke himself didn’t seem to demonstrate any visible reaction.

“Yusuke,” Morgana tried to comfort him, “I know how you feel, but…”

“I’m all right,” Yusuke reassured them all. “I have a favor to ask. Would you mind if I handled this one?” he requested. “I promise I’ll get the keyword from him. There’s a good chance he remembers your faces from the other day. However, I was towards the back of the crowd, so there’s a good chance that he won’t recognize me.”

Ren carefully studied his friend’s face. There was fury that lurked within Yusuke, there was no mistaking it, but it was carefully controlled fury expertly hidden underneath a tranquil mask. Yusuke was in control, and that was all the reassurance Ren needed. “Go for it,” he approved.

“My thanks,” Yusuke gratefully replied. He turned and walked towards Ango Natsume, and Ren watched in approval and relief as Yusuke expertly presented himself as a big fan of Natsume’s. He acted every bit the servile, naïve young man that he had once truly been under Madarame’s control, and Natsume fell for the entire deception hook, line, and sinker. “The keyword is Prince of Nightmares,” he declared.

It took all of Ren’s self-control not to groan loudly and smack his palm into his forehead. “Oh, fuck me, really?” he mumbled under his breath. “How did I not think of something so obvious? I could’ve figured this shit out by myself if I put just a little thought into it, what the hell is wrong with me?”

“Thank you very much,” Yusuke replied with a grateful smile. “Expect a request from me sometime soon.” The smile faded from his face. “Now, there is one more thing…I overheard you and your entourage mention the Sayuri earlier. If I’m not mistaken, you said it should be thrown out with the trash, as though it were some cheap attempt.”

“Ah, so you heard that, did you?” Natsume asked, completely unapologetic. “Is that what I said? Well, I take it someone of your taste agrees with me? In the end, that painting only had value because of whose name was attached to it. Madarame had-”

“The Sayuri was painted by my mother,” Yusuke interrupted, allowing a trace of Goemon’s cold fury to seep into his voice.

“What?” Natsume exclaimed, sounding genuinely shocked by the revelation.

“This may be unprofessional of me,” Yusuke admitted, before proceeding, “but professionalism be damned. My mother painted the Sayuri at the cost of her own life. It is her final masterpiece. That painting was crafted with a love that simply cannot be found anywhere else.” He openly scowled. “You may condemn Madarame’s name all you wish, but don’t you dare lump the Sayuri in with that soulless drivel you cobbled together from authors far more talented than you!”

Natsume was too stunned to reply, whether it was from the revelation of the true origins of the Sayuri, or the fact that Yusuke knew the true nature of the Prince of Nightmares. One of his editors tried to interrupt him, but Yusuke had already spoken his peace. “I merely spoke the truth. Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

He walked back over to the rest of the Thieves, and they proceeded to leave the venue. Natsume scowled as he watched them leave, growling under his breath. “Soulless drivel,” he hissed. “That little bastard…what the hell does he know!?”

His editors desperately tried to placate him, earning an outburst of fury from the author before he finally calmed down. “Hmph,” he muttered. “No matter. He’ll come around just like the rest.”

Meanwhile, outside of the venue, the Phantom Thieves were watching Yusuke with concern in their eyes. “My apologies,” Yusuke apologized to his friends, “I couldn’t hold myself back. I suppose I still have much to learn.”

“Dude, don’t sweat it,” Ryuji reassured him. “Everything worked out. We got the keyword, so we’re all good.”

“Yeah, you did great!” Ann immediately agreed. “I was actually pretty impressed with how you stood up to him.”

“And the way you played up to his ego like that?” Ren grinned proudly. “Absolutely masterful. I couldn’t have done it better myself.”

“Thank you all,” Yusuke answered gratefully, before allowing a frown to return to his face. “Although I can’t say that my assessment of his book was entirely correct. Whatever someone feels about a work of art, no matter what that work may be, ultimately comes down to the individual. Ren may have felt ironic amusement from the Prince of Nightmares, while I felt nothing reading from its pages.”

“Yeah, well, for what it’s worth, we all loved seeing you stick it to that creep, Inari!” Futaba complimented eagerly.

“In any case, we got the keyword now,” Morgana declared.

“I still can’t believe I didn’t figure this shit out by myself,” Ren groaned. “It’s so fucking obvious, thinking about it in hindsight. Akechi would be calling me a goddamn moron right now for not figuring this shit out on my own if he were still alive, and he wouldn’t be wrong.”

“Don’t worry about it, dude,” Ryuji reassured him. “If you couldn’t figure it out, no way in hell we would’ve done any better. And like I just told Yusuke, we got it in the end, so we just need to bust our way into that Jail now.”

“Sendai Station would be a good place to look,” Sophia suggested from Ren’s phone. When Haru asked why, she explained, “the smell isn’t as strong there. The security’s probably more lax. The station should be a safe point of entry, just like in Shibuya.”

“Then I guess we’re doing it, then!” Ann exclaimed.

“Yeah, we got everything we need,” Morgana concluded. “Tomorrow, the Jail’s getting a visit from the Phantom Thieves.”

As the Phantom Thieves left to return to the camper and drive back to the hotel, Sophia suddenly pinged from Ren’s phone, drawing his attention. “Hey, Ren? There was something I wanted to ask you.”

“What’s up, Sophia?” Ren asked.

“Yusuke might have been acting calm just now, but…he seemed rather sad. Why is that?” Sophia wondered.

“There could be a lot of reasons for that, Sophia,” Ren explained. “He suffered a great personal tragedy early in his life when he lost his mother, and the Sayuri that she painted is the greatest reminder of that love. Natsume seriously insulted Yusuke and his mother when he insulted the Sayuri, which is probably why he was so angry in the venue and so sad just now.” He thought for a few more seconds, before continuing. “It could also be that since Yusuke is an artist who truly values art in a way that few other people do, Natsume blatantly ripping off lines from other works to put into his novel is one of the greatest crimes an artist or novelist can commit. And any true artist who saw something like that would be thoroughly disgusted by Natsume’s actions.”

“I see,” Sophia pondered Ren’s words. “So when someone disrespects something important to you, it could make you both sad and angry about it?”

“It depends on the person,” Ren answered, “but I’ve found that more often than not, anger and sadness are both appropriate reactions to that kind of disrespect. Some people might feel angrier about that kind of disrespect than sad, while others might feel more sad than angry. But they’ll usually feel at least one or the other, if not both to differing degrees.”

“I think I understand,” Sophia acknowledged as she pondered Ren’s words. “Having someone disrespect something important to you can make you sad, angry, or both. In Yusuke’s case, he seemed more sad than angry about the way Ango Natsume insulted the Sayuri.”

Ren smiled down at the AI girl. “I think that’s a great way of putting it, Sophia.”

“And I think I’m starting to understand him a little better now,” Sophia replied, smiling back at him. “Thank you, Ren.”

“Always happy to help, Sophia,” Ren answered with a grin. “Now let’s get back to the RV and get some rest at the hotel rooms. Tomorrow, we have a Jail to infiltrate.”

Chapter Text

Ren finished handing out the last of his ordered equipment to the rest of the Phantom Thieves. Sophia’s dark web shop had updated with new weapons and equipment since they had left Shibuya, and Ren wanted to make absolutely damn sure that his team wasn’t going into the new Jail with anything less than the finest equipment possible.

“Man, it feels so nice not needing to worry about farming money in the Metaverse just so I can afford this shit,” he thought to himself with a smirk. All the purchases he was making was barely making a scratch in even the relatively limited money pool he had brought with him. It was a completely different experience from when he had been prepping for Mementos and the Palaces. And needless to say, it was satisfying as all hell.

“We’re ready to go, Ren!” Morgana confirmed, breaking him out of his thoughts. “Just say the word!”

Ren nodded. “All right, let’s head over to Sendai Station and find that safe entry point that Sophia mentioned,” he suggested. “We’ve already delayed this long enough.”

The other Phantom Thieves fully agreed with him, and they made their way over to the station. Once they were in a safe and secluded area where nobody could see them, Ren typed “Prince of Nightmares” as the EMMA keyword for Ango Natsume, and they felt reality shift around them as they entered the Metaverse.

It took a few seconds for the Thieves to get their bearings, but when they finally did, they gasped at the transformation that had undergone Sendai in the Jail. The transformation itself was markedly different compared to Shibuya’s, but it was no less drastic. The sky was now an ominous bloody red and covered with clouds, while several of the buildings had been transformed into a “gothic horror” style, complete with medieval European cathedrals and gargoyles on the rooftops. In the distance, they could see Ango Natsume’s palace, an imposing medieval castle with another “crown” at the very top wrapped in chains. And right in front of them was a giant, tacky golden statue of Ango Natsume, a monument to the man’s ego.

“Once again,” Fox stroked his chin thoughtfully as he declared, “the domain reflects what’s within.”

“That settles it, then,” Queen muttered. “Ango Natsume is our Jail’s Monarch.”

Joker felt a thrill of elation as he realized that the Jail was indeed based almost entirely off the Prince of Nightmares. “Yes…” he murmured, before shouting the word again much more loudly, drawing the attention and confused looks from the rest of the Thieves. “YES!!!!!”

“Umm…Joker?” Noir asked with a hint of concern. “Are you all right?”

Joker grinned. “You have no idea how happy I am to see this,” he replied, his voice dripping with satisfaction. “Ever since I finished reading Prince of Nightmares, I was hoping so badly that the Sendai Jail would be based off of that phenomenal piece of shit. The fact that Ango Natsume’s Jail is based off of his novel means that the Jail is more than likely going to be just as much of a glorious steaming pile of garbage as that book, and I am HERE for it, baby!”

The rest of the Thieves all felt a bead of sweat drop down their forehead at Joker’s antics as Fox frowned. “Well, I certainly cannot claim that I share the same enthusiasm as our leader to be in a manifestation of Ango Natsume’s crimes against art,” he mused, “if the Jail is indeed based off of his work, then it is entirely possible that the book may provide us with valuable clues as to how to navigate through his Jail.”

“This is gonna be cringey as hell,” Oracle muttered, before reluctantly admitting, “but I kinda wanna see how bad it gets. Ready to go, Joker?”

“It’s Showtime,” Joker replied confidently, before jumping off the roof and onto the ground in front of the Sendai Station. There were Shadows swarming the area, and right away Joker could tell that there was something different about some of them. The one right in front of him a short distance away, for example, didn’t look like the “standard” police officer they had seen in Shibuya. Instead, it looked like a medieval executioner, carrying a battle-axe in its hands as it prowled back and forth across the bridge.

“Huh,” he thought, “guess some of the Shadows look different depending on the Jail.” He waited until the Shadow had its back turned before leaping on top of its back and ripping off its mask. Just as he suspected, it transformed into 3 Beriths, a different and overall stronger group of Shadows than what he had seen in Shibuya. Joker wasn’t the least bit surprised by this, as he had already ended up creating Berith as a Persona even before they had entered Sendai. Summoning Andras, he blasted the Beriths with a Mabufu, and it didn’t take very long for him and the rest of the Thieves to clean them up nicely.

The Thieves proceeded to clear out the area of Shadows, with Joker instructing Thieves who hadn’t gotten the chance to fight Shadow Alice (such as Queen and Noir) to fight on the front lines so that they could “catch up” on battle experience, for lack of a better term. The Shadows in the opening area of the Jail weren’t all that much harder to beat than the ones in Shibuya, although they were taken a bit by surprise when they ended up battling a giant Slime in front of the giant Natsume statue.

Still, they destroyed all their opposition with ease, and the Thieves advanced towards the wooden gate in the direction of Ango Natsume’s Palace. As they approached the gate, however, they were stopped by a man wearing a business suit. Before any of them could question why a seemingly normal-looking businessman was in the Jail, the man opened his mouth…and let out an evil laugh.

“Hehehehehehe!” the businessman cackled, a sound that was completely out of place coming from a seemingly mundane looking human. “I’ve been waiting for you, oh chosen heroes…”

Skull blinked. “Uhh…who the hell are you?” he asked blankly.

“I am Doma!” the businessman introduced himself melodramatically. “One of the Fearsome Four, and servant to the Prince of Nightmares!”

“The Fearsome Four!?” Noir repeated in disbelief.

Oracle let out a loud groan. “Oh, no, no, no, no, NO!” she lamented in a way that only a true geek could. “He did not just say that. There’s no way someone could be THIS cliché! There’s no way someone could be this lame, it’s not scientifically possible!”

Joker fought the urge to grin and settled for a smirk instead. “Oh, the cringe,” he thought in amusement, “the glorious, GLORIOUS cringe! I can feel it drowning my brain in the best and worst way possible.”

Panther sighed. “He…kinda just looks like some old guy in a suit to me,” she muttered.

“I am the guardian of this gate!” Doma declared. “If you wish to pass, you’ll have to defeat me in combat! But be warned…” he added in what should have been a menacing tone, but completely fell flat in front of the unimpressed Thieves, “I will not fall so easily! In the name of the Fearsome Four, I will slay you where you stand!” he vowed. “Come, chosen heroes!”

Before anyone could say anything, Doma the man transformed into…a Jack-o-Lantern. A Jack-o-Lantern with more health and durability than the average Jack-o-Lantern…but still just a Jack-o-Lantern.

“…are we supposed to be scared of this?” Noir asked, sounding more confused than anything.

“Bruh, you’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” Joker muttered. “Even the Shadow this guy turns into is lame!”

“Let’s just wrap this up so we can move on with this nonsense,” Queen suggested, already fed up in record time.

“I believe that would be for the best,” Fox agreed. He was about to fire a Bufu at the Jack-o-Lantern, when his eyes fell upon the glimmering blue crystal right next to the Jack-o-Lantern. A flash of inspiration burst in his mind, and he leaped onto the crystal. Jumping into the air, Fox fired his gun at the crystal, causing it to explode in a burst of ice. The explosion not only damaged the Jack-o-Lantern by hitting its weakness, but outright froze it as well.

“Ooh!” Oracle gushed. “Great work, Fox! Blowing up that crystal was a huge play!”

“Let’s kick his ass!” Joker ordered. His friends needed no encouragement, and they proceeded to pummel Doma with a barrage of physical attacks and, in Queen’s case, Technical Frei strikes. It wasn’t very long until all of Doma’s shields were broken, and the Thieves unleashed a true All-Out Attack that wiped out a huge chunk of his health.

Doma didn’t even get a chance to properly recover, because Joker then promptly hit him with a Bufu from Andras and ended up freezing him again. With him so thoroughly locked down by crowd control, there was effectively nothing Doma could do as the Phantom Thieves smashed him down mercilessly. It was almost a mercy when the second All-Out Attack wiped out the rest of his health.

“Nggghhhh!” Doma cried out as he transformed back into his human form. “Urrggggghhh!!!”

“Great going, everyone!” Mona cheered. “Did we get him?”

“Heheheheh…” Doma laughed again. “I’d expect nothing less from the chosen. Very well…” he acknowledged. “You may pass. To best us is to overcome the Overlord’s most perilous trial. But will you be able to defeat the others? I pray you lose your way, chosen heroes!”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Joker wondered. But before he could say or think anything else, there was a brilliant flash of light that completely enveloped his world for a few seconds.

“What!?” Panther cried out.

When the light faded, the Thieves were in a completely different area. Now, they were standing in front of a fountain in a courtyard…right in front of Natsume’s Palace.

“The hell!?” Skull exclaimed. “Where are we now?”

Joker blinked. “Uhhh…I think he might’ve teleported us right in front of Natsume’s castle, actually.” He pointed at the castle in front of them, and the cage at the very top. “That’s the castle we saw earlier, right?”

“You’re right, Joker,” Queen realized. “This has to be Natsume’s Palace.”

“D-does that mean we were brought here by some kind of magic?” Mona asked in disbelief.

“My guess is it was that Fearsome Four guy’s doing,” Oracle hypothesized. “You heard that “I pray you lose your way” crap, right?” she asked, speaking Doma’s words in a faux-spooky voice as she did so.

“And before anyone asks,” Joker added with a roll of his eyes, “yes, that shitty dialogue came straight out of Natsume’s book. There’s a reason why the guy sounded so lame.”

“Yeah,” Oracle agreed. “Especially when you realize they’re just punching bags for player or hero or whatever the hell.”

“Umm…I’m sorry,” Noir interrupted with an apologetic look, “but I’m having trouble keeping up here. Is this meant to be based on fantasy manga and video games that Joker introduced me to during some of our dates?”

“That’s pretty much it,” Skull confirmed. “Chosen heroes and demons and shit? Like you just said, that’s classic video game and manga business.”

Joker blinked. “Oh, that reminds me, Noir, I need to introduce you to tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons at some point.”

“Well, so far, everything in this Jail aligns with Prince of Nightmares, as Joker so enthusiastically pointed out,” Fox commented.

“Oh, speaking of which,” Mona called out to both Fox and Joker, “you guys have read the novel. What’s it actually about?”

“A man living a completely normal life in our world is reborn as a demon overlord in another,” Fox explained. “Making the most of his new villainous role, he then attempts to repel the heroes who come to slay him. To that end, he deploys a number of traps about his castle along with a group known as the Fearsome Four.”

“Honestly?” Joker commented, “the concept isn’t that bad on a fundamental level. Too bad Natsume had to completely fuck it up with all his plagiarism bullshit.”

“And that’s why he called us heroes earlier, right?” Noir asked.

“So are the heroes the real bad guys of the story, then?” Oracle asked with a sigh.

“Yes, that’s correct,” Fox confirmed. “Did you read the story too?”

“Nah,” Oracle replied dryly, “I just skimmed it. But I’ve seen enough of that kinda thing to guess where it was going.”

“So that means it’s our job to challenge the demon king then, huh…” Mona mused.

“I’d say that Doma fucked up by bringing us straight to Natsume’s castle, but I doubt it’s going to be that easy,” Joker remarked. “That being said, let’s see if we can find a way inside. Even if we can’t get in right away, knowing what the hell is going on will still be helpful.”

“There’s a checkpoint nearby,” Oracle reported with a frown, “but it looks like the warp function isn’t working. If this the work of the Fearsome Four guy too? Guess he really doesn’t plan on letting us leave.”

“Which means we’re probably trapped here until we kick his ass a second time,” Joker replied. “Good thing we properly stocked up before coming here.”

Skull grinned. “But seriously, though. An overlord’s castle? Dude, this is actually kinda sick!”

“Pipe down, Skull! We’re on enemy turf!” Oracle scolded as Joker tried to find the checkpoint that Oracle had discovered. He found it right in front of a locked metal gate, and just as his little sister figure had reported, the warp function was completely disabled for the time being. Joker quickly activated the checkpoint just in case they needed to use it for whatever reason. He and his friends then approached a large metal door blocking the path forward. The door was admittedly quite ornately carved and decorative, featuring two dragons glaring at each other with menacing red eyes, while a lone figure in the center was raising his right hand and shooting out beams of light from it. It was an admittedly an elegant piece of art that also highlighted its importance to progressing through the Jail.

“Get a load of that gate!” Oracle exclaimed, mirroring his thoughts. “It’s ginormous!”

Skull wasn’t quite so enthusiastic. “Well, we ain’t bustin’ through that any time soon,” he pointed out. “What now?”

Queen sighed. “We don’t have any other option. We’ll have to double back or find another way in.”

“Hold on!” Fox interrupted. “I believe I read something about this gate in his book.” He took out the book and searched through the pages until he found what he was looking for. “Here. Supposedly, it’s the Gate of Trials, designed to deny heroes entry. It’s a test to see whether the heroes are worthy to face the Overlord.”

“Yeah, I remember seeing that in the book too,” Joker agreed. “We’ve gotta open it by overcoming three trials and obtaining proof of victory, or some shit like that.”

Skull grinned. “Dude, this really IS a video game! I mean, say what you want about Natsume being a pompous ass or his book being shit, but this Jail is a 10 out of 10 for me so far!”

Joker chuckled. “Yeah, I’m enjoying myself way more in this Jail already than I ever did in any of the Palaces. Granted,” he quickly added, “most of the Palaces we infiltrated belonged to complete and utter shitheads, so it’s not like that was exactly a high bar to clear.”

“Umm…” Noir interrupted timidly, still out of her element with regards to the fantasy genre compared to Joker and Skull. “This Overlord wants to keep the heroes out, right?”

“Yeah, Noir,” Oracle confirmed as she rolled her eyes. “The story couldn’t progress if the heroes didn’t have a chance. Natsume got THAT part right at least, even if he screwed up everything else.”

“So, exactly where are we supposed to find this proof?” Queen wondered.

“It’s being held in three different towers placed outside the castle,” Fox answered.

“Three different towers…” Joker repeated with a frown. “I bet those are going to be where we find the Jail cores, and a bunch of jail cells where people’s Shadows are being locked up.”

“So it’d be just like Shadow Alice’s Jail, in that case…” Mona mused.

“Those towers are also likely to be heavily guarded,” Fox warned. “The book also mentions that the towers are guarded by the Fearsome Four themselves.”

Panther blinked. “They’re called the Fearsome Four, but there’s only three trials?” she asked, clearly confused.

“Don’t think about it too much,” Oracle sighed. “This guy’s writing is all over the place.”

“Well, I think it’s safe to assume that Dumbass or whatever the hell that Jack-o-Lantern’s name was is probably the one member of the Fearsome Four who ISN’T guarding a tower,” Joker assumed. He turned to Fox. “Any thoughts on where we should start, Fox?”

“One of the towers apparently stands near something called the Great River,” Fox read.

“So is that just a big river or something?” Skull asked dryly.

“Well, the Hirose River runs right through Sendai in the real world,” Queen suggested. “And it’s pretty big.”

“That’s as good of a place to start with as any,” Joker commented. “Let’s go find that river.”

The Thieves returned back the way they came, as there was only one other exit and that was past Natsume’s palace. They soon discovered a medieval dungeon that looked suspiciously similar to the holding cells in Shadow Alice’s Jail, complete with a birdcage structure on top of a tower. Unsurprisingly, the entrance to the dungeon and tower was blocked by a stone gate. There was an ornately carved slab made of marble to the right with words carved into it, which Oracle approached and read. “One must offer sun and rain…”

“What do you think that means?” Noir wondered.

Joker sighed. “It means we have to go on a fetch quest to get two items representing the sun and the rain,” he explained. “Probably something like an orb or some shit.”

“Here’s a line from the novel,” Fox chimed in. “Mine hallowed orbs sleep in a shrine of sun and a land of rain.”

Joker smirked. “Did I not call it?” he asked dryly.

Sophie sighed. “The sign should’ve said so to begin with,” she pointed out.

“Nah,” Joker immediately countered, “that would’ve been even lamer. I know this Jail is already a gigantic cringefest, but it would kill the immersion completely if the sign just said to go pick up two orbs and bring them here without any nuance whatsoever.”

“Yeah, don’t be like that Sophie,” Oracle agreed. “This is just…one of those things.”

She tilted her head curiously. “One of those things?” the AI girl repeated, clearly confused.

“I’ll explain later,” Joker reassured her.

“With all that being said,” Fox interrupted. “Let us not forget that this is still Natsume’s world, however. This is likely still a trap to deter the heroes.”

“Oh, I know,” Joker replied with a grin. “I just don’t give a shit. Let’s just get those orbs already.” The Thieves set out to explore more of Natsume’s Jail, fighting and destroying any Shadows they encountered while doing so. With one path blocked by a giant drawbridge, they ended up climbing a set of stone columns and scaling the rooftop of a building before landing in a miniature park or garden right next to the Hirose River. With their enhanced dexterity, the Phantom Thieves were effortlessly able to leap across the stones situated within the Hirose River, and when they crossed it, they found themselves standing in front of a giant medieval cathedral with many stained-glass windows colored a brilliant gold or yellow.

“That shrine looks awfully suspicious,” Oracle pointed out what everyone was thinking. “Think that’s our shrine of sun?”

“If it is, then perhaps the orb is inside,” Fox surmised. “Let’s take a closer look inside, Joker.”

“No need to tell me twice,” Joker agreed. The Phantom Thieves made their way into the cathedral, which was even more brilliantly lit with golden light inside. Unlike most churches, however, the space inside the cathedral was mostly empty, with only 2 crystalline ice shards instead of rows of pews.

Joker reached out and grabbed the Solemn Sun Orb, and the moment he did so, the illumination in the cathedral dimmed dramatically. At the same time, a new type of Shadow materialized behind them, this one appearing like a mechanical dog.

“Wha!?” Panther exclaimed. “The lights went off! Wait, is that a Shadow?”

“It’s just as the novel said,” Fox mused. “The orb is a symbol of the sun. Remove it, and the light fades. Once that happens, warriors will appear to prevent its theft.”

Noir’s eyes widened. “Then that means…”

More Shadows appeared inside the room, and some of them transformed into a Berith and several High Pixies.

Fox chuckled. “Yes, that seems par for the course…” he commented dryly.

“Why didn’t you tell us this earlier!?” Oracle exclaimed angrily.

Joker gave her a sheepish look. “I, uh…I might’ve read this part…and completely forgotten about it.” At the thoroughly unimpressed look everyone gave him, he raised an eyebrow. “What, you expect me to remember every detail about this plagiarized clusterfuck of a novel?”

“Fair enough, I suppose,” Queen acknowledged. “Let’s just deal with them already.”

Noir took out her grenade launcher and immediately fired a grenade at a group of High Pixies, knocking them to the ground. Joker, in the meantime, leapt onto the chandelier hanging from the ceiling and sliced the chain holding it in place, letting the elegant (and more importantly, huge) decoration fall to the ground and explode, stunning several of the other Shadows. The Phantom Thieves promptly got to work on the Shadows, who despite their numerical advantage and initial element of surprise, found themselves on the backfoot very, very quickly.

As more Shadows (including a group of Slimes) materialized as reinforcements, Joker couldn’t help but notice the different fighting styles that his friends were developing as they fought their enemies. Fox, for example, relied highly on his expert swordsmanship to tear apart his enemies with slashes and thrusts with the occasional input from Goemon. Queen, by contrast, was able to empower herself with Johanna to actually imbue her fists with Nuke energy, adding her innate elemental power into basic attacks. And Noir, his beloved girlfriend, viciously tore apart her enemies with her axe, slicing them to pieces and even summoning a freaking tornado made of Psychic energy that Joker personally thought looked super cool.

Eventually, all the guardians of the orb were destroyed without the Phantom Thieves any worse for wear, allowing them all to leave.

“Next time, tell us about the gaggle of enemies BEFORE we get jumped, Inari!” Oracle complained.

“My apologies,” Fox sighed. “I knew I had forgotten something.”

“Ehh, don’t worry about it,” Joker reassured him. “I didn’t remember shit either. Let’s just find the orb of rain now that we have the sun orb.”

They made their way over to the nearby checkpoint (which unfortunately still had Warp disabled), and Joker took the time to lower the drawbridge to the nearby dungeon and activate the checkpoint itself. As they turned to head down the street, they found Doma waiting for them once again.

“Heheheheheh,” Doma chuckled. “We meet again, chosen heroes.”

“Hey, you’re that jerk from earlier!” Oracle called out angrily.

“Yeah, it’s him all right,” Joker agreed contemptuously. “What’s your name again? Dumb-fuck, or something like that?”

Doma clearly didn’t like that. “Grrrr…Doma!” he growled. “I am Doma of the Fearsome Four!”

“Are you the one who brought us here?” Fox asked coldly.

“Heheheheh…” Doma laughed sinisterly. “That is my duty. I am tasked with bestowing our master’s trials upon the chosen heroes. In addition, I have been entrusted with protecting this sacred land. If the orb of rain is what you seek, then you’ll have to defeat me!”

Joker couldn’t resist the urge anymore. He knew that indulging in and taking part in the cringe was probably not the best of ideas, but the temptation was just too great. “Us heroes will take you down, Doma of the Fearsome Four!” he declared with a dramatic tone.

“Uhhh…yeah, what he said!” Skull chimed in after a few seconds of hesitation.

“Bring it, Four boy!” Oracle challenged. “The chosen heroes are gonna take you down!”

Doma transformed into the Jack-o-Lantern from before…and he proved to be just as easy to defeat as the last time. The good news for him was that there wasn’t any ice crystal that any of the Phantom Thieves could use to immediately blast and freeze him…but that hardly mattered when Joker could just blast him with multiple Bufus to stagger him anyway.

The only difference with how the fight ended this time around was how Fox finally gathered enough energy to unleash his Showtime. He shaped his fingers into an artist’s rectangle as Goemon breathed a stream of ice from his mouth, covering the area in razor sharp ice crystals. Fox charged towards the crystals, slashing his blade in wide arcs and striking both Doma and the ice crystals his Persona had created simultaneously. As Doma flailed helplessly against Fox’s relentless assault, the artist finished his mighty attack by sheathing his sword nonchalantly as the ice crystals exploded behind him, completely wiping out the last of Doma’s health.

“Urrrrgggghhhhh…” Doma groaned.

“Did we get him for good this time?” Mona asked impatiently.

“Ngh…eheheheh…” Doma rasped. “So you’ve come this far…Well done, chosen heroes. But I was but the weakest of the Fearsome Four.”

Oracle slapped her forehead with her hand. “Oh, for…gimme a break, already!” she complained. “It’s the next guy’s job to tell us that! Natsume’s doing this all wrong!”

“My fellow Fearsome Four will surely make you suffer!” Doma vowed ominously. And with one final cry, Doma dissolved into red and black wisps, finally destroyed for good.

Joker yawned. “God, I hope he’s actually being serious about the next member of the Fearsome Four actually being more powerful,” he muttered. “Because throwing the same miniboss at us twice in a row without any meaningful powerup in belongs in its own special tier of lame!”

“At least we can keep going now,” Queen sighed. “Let’s find that orb so we can get to the keep.”

“Wait a moment!” Noir suddenly realized something. “So now that we’ve defeated…what was his name again? Du…Dumbass?” Her misnaming immediately earned her several snickers from the other Thieves, and she giggled before continuing, “Do you think we could use the checkpoints again?”

“Yep!” Oracle confirmed. “They’re working again!”

“Great!” Joker breathed a sigh of relief. “Good to know we can get out of the Jail if things go to shit for whatever reason.” He glanced at his teammates. “Anybody need to go back to the real world for any reason? Feeling tired, or out of SP, or what not?”

“Nope!” Panther replied cheerfully. “We’re good!”

“Excellent,” Joker grinned. He switched up the order of his teammates a little to make sure everybody could share in the battle experience, and then they advanced down the street. As they approached another cathedral similar the one that they had just found the Orb of Sun it, it started to inexplicably rain all around them. “Well, I think we know where the Orb of Rain is,” Joker remarked dryly.

They approached the cathedral, and to their surprise, a Treasure Demon manifested in front of them. The Phantom Thieves bombarded it with as many different attacks as possible, although it turned out to be a Bufu from Andras that hit its weakness and knocked it down. Once the Treasure Demon was destroyed, the Thieves were rewarded with a nice chunk of yen and a Dia card for Joker to use.

“Man, I really wish I brought my Skill Cards with me,” Joker lamented as they approached the cathedral entrance, which unfortunately happened to be locked this time around. “Imagine if I could just slap Diamond Dust, Ice Amp, and Ice Boost on my Andras right now. Shit would be dying really, REALLY fast.”

“Do you think you could ask Narukami-sensei to mail or deliver those Skill Cards to you?” Noir wondered as they scaled up a series of flagpoles to the rooftops of the Sendai buildings (pointedly ignoring another very, VERY powerful Dire Shadow that would almost certainly slaughter them if they tried to engage it). “Your power level would truly become something to behold, Joker-kun, even without maximized stats.” She giggled at the image of Joker unleashing Diamond Dusts and Panta Rheis on their opponents. “The slaughter would be glorious!”

The rest of the Thieves sweatdropped slightly as Joker shook his head. “Probably not the best idea,” he replied. “There’s a real chance that that could break the laws of reality that Lavenza warned me about…and she made it very clear that breaking those laws would lead to very, VERY bad things.” He scowled. “I don’t want to be the next Maruki and accidentally fuck up reality, thank you very much.”

Oracle shuddered. “Yeah…let’s not do that,” she agreed. “I don’t think Violet would be very happy with you.”

The Thieves proceeded to race through the rooftops, and they found the entrance to the Rain Cathedral through a broken stained-glass window. After beating a particularly gigantic High Pixie and evading spotlights, they reached the opening and leapt down into the Rain Cathedral. It was practically identical to the cathedral holding the Sun orb, although this time there was no luminescence brightening up the entire place. Joker took the orb, triggering more Shadows to appear behind them. The Shadows themselves weren’t any different from the guardians of the Sun orb, and the Phantom Thieves used the same strategies to wipe out the opposition.

“Well, we got both the sun and the rain orbs now,” Queen remarked once the carnage was over “Let’s head back to the tower.”

“Oh, hey!” Panther realized. “Did the rain stop?”

“Oh yeah, guess so. It’s prolly cause we took the orb, huh?” Skull guessed.

“Not a bad theory,” Joker approved. “Let’s hope we can finally get into that prison keep now.”

As they made their way back down the way they had come, Skull suddenly raised up a talking point that had been nagging at the back of his head for a while now. “Hey, wait! This place is treatin’ us like a party of RPG heroes, right? How ‘bout we decide each other’s job classes? You know, like…Warrior and Priest and stuff!”

“Well, Joker’s definitely the Hero. Queen’s the Martial Artist. And…I guess Mona would be the Mage?” Oracle guessed.

“Whoa, if we’re talking about RPG heroes, then I absolutely need to get involved in this conversation,” Joker interrupted. “I played Dungeons and Dragons campaigns with the Investigation Team every so often, so I think I have a certain degree of expertise in the topic.”

“Ooh, so what do you think, Joker?” Oracle wondered.

“Well, if we’re going by D&D classes, Skull would obviously be the Barbarian,” Joker began.

“The Barbarian!” Skull spluttered. “The hell, man?”

“That wasn’t an insult, Skull,” Joker quickly reassured him. “Barbarians are beasts who can fuck shit up in melee and are nigh-unkillable sometimes. Yeah, they’re not as versatile or as powerful as magic classes, but as someone who’s played a squishy mage before, I can tell you right now that I was VERY happy to have a Barbarian soak up all the attention while I cast spells that blew up entire armies.” He raised an eyebrow. “Besides, are you telling me that Fox or Noir are better choices for Barbarian?”

“Nah, I’m pretty sure Noir would kick my ass if I called her a barbarian,” Skull acknowledged, earning a giggle from the girl in question.

“As for some others…Panther would be the Wizard, for pretty obvious reasons,” Joker continued. “Mona would either be a Cleric or Druid, some class that can heal. For Queen, I agree that Monk isn’t a bad choice for her…but with how much magic damage and healing she does, I honestly think that Cleric wouldn’t be a bad choice for her either.”

“Does that mean that I would be the company manager?” Noir asked curiously.

“I…don’t think that’s what they’re talking about,” Panther mumbled.

“Nah, Noir, you’d probably be a good ol’-fashioned Fighter,” Joker answered. “And Fox…” he blinked. “Actually, I’m not exactly sure what class Fox would be. Fighter doesn’t seem right…maybe Rogue?” He shook his head. “I’m gonna have to think about that one.”

“And what about you, Joker?” Oracle wondered.

“Well, since Hero doesn’t exist as a class in D&D…” Joker thought for a moment before answering. “I think I’d either be a Thief/Assassin or a Bard. Depends on whether I’m going for the edgy Antihero who kills shit, or the charismatic leader vibe.” He shrugged. “Technically I could multiclass in both, but multiclassing always sounded like a pain in the ass to me, personally.”

Oracle nodded thoughtfully. “You know what? Yeah! I think that all checks out,” she agreed with Joker’s assessment after a few seconds of thought.

“I really need to get you guys together for a D&D campaign,” Joker vowed as they made their way back to the entrance to the dungeon keep. The leader of the Phantom Thieves put in the Orbs of Rain and Sun, and the stone door opened to reveal the tower housing the “proof” surrounded by jail cells filled with Shadows, just like they had guessed.

As they approached the base of the tower, a woman wearing an elegant red dress and a tacky hairstyle manifested in front of them. Joker blinked as he realized that he had seen this woman before, at Ango Natsume’s party.

“Hohohohohoho!” the woman laughed, with one of the snootiest, most obnoxious laughs that Joker had ever heard in his entire life. “You’ve done well to make it this far, chosen heroes!”

“Whoa!” Panther exclaimed. “Where’d SHE come from!?”

Queen sighed, already done with this nonsense. “Can we assume that this is another one of the Fearsome Four?” she asked, knowing full well the answer.

“That is correct!” the woman haughtily replied. “I am indeed one of the Prince of Nightmares’ Fearsome Four! You may call me Ante!”

“The hell kind of name is that?” Joker thought dryly. “Oh well, at least it’s better than Doma. I can’t make a joke like Dumbass or Dumb-fuck out of that name, at the very least.”

“If it’s proof that you’re after, you’ll have to defeat me!” Ante declared, before adding, “Still, you would do well to avoid mistaking me for a pushover like Doma!”

Noir blinked. “Doma? Who is that again?” she wondered.

“That jerk we clobbered earlier, the first of these Fearsome Four creeps,” Oracle quickly brought her up to speed.

Ante giggled. “I’ll let you in on a little secret. Doma was the weakest amongst we of the Fearsome Four. My power far exceeds his! Your doom is nigh!”

“Considering that Doma turned into a fucking Jack-o-Lantern of all things,” Joker replied in a deadpan tone, “that’s not exactly a high bar to clear.”

“Yeeaaaaahhhh…” Skull muttered, thoroughly unimpressed. “Sorry, we kinda already knew that.”

“Well, looks like we’ll just have to fight her,” Queen remarked. Oddly enough, she didn’t seem remotely bothered by the prospect.

Joker blinked. “Oh, right, I need to get into character.” He cleared his throat, “You’re no match for the chosen!” he declared dramatically, even throwing in an arm sweep for good measure.

Skull felt a bead of sweat drop down his forehead. “Man, you’re really into this, huh,” he mumbled.

Ante completely ignored him, focusing her attention on Joker. “Come!” she invited. “Let’s begin!” Her body exploded in red and black shadows, transforming into a giant Lamia.

“Well,” Joker commented dryly, “that’s certainly a massive improvement over a Jack-o-Lantern, for whatever that’s worth.”

Ante leapt into action, launching a Brain Shake towards the party, but Joker was already on the move, leaping onto an ice crystal located conveniently next to Ante and exploding it. Ante was immediately frozen by the attack like Doma had been before her, giving the Thieves plenty of time to wail on her with their attacks. Fox had been brought back up to the front lines by this point, which gave him plenty of opportunity to hit her with powerful Technical strikes and Ice attacks, and Queen could also hit Ante with her Nuclear weakness as well.

To give Ante some credit, she was indeed stronger than Doma. She managed to break from the Freeze before they could destroy her shields, and she promptly retaliated by hitting Fox with a powerful Agilao that wiped out a good chunk of his health. Queen immediately broke off from her fight with Ante (narrowly avoiding a Brain Shake in the process) to take care of Fox’s wounds, leaving Joker and Skull to handle the combat. Ante summoned a group of High Pixies to fight by her side, and Joker realized that the battle could spiral very quickly out of their favor if he didn’t do something.

Fortunately, Joker had the perfect tool for the job in his Showtime attack. He had actually reached that critical mass of power a while ago, but he had been saving it for a fight that mattered…and now was that time. “Showtime!” he bellowed as he leapt into the air and summoned Andras behind him. His Persona unleashed a massive explosion of Ice that obliterated the High Pixie reinforcements and did massive damage to Ante, staggering her at the same time and giving Fox and Queen valuable time to rejoin the fight. Together, they destroyed the last of her shields and launched an All-Out Attack. The resulting explosion did heavily damage Ante further, but even this wasn’t quite enough to destroy her completely.

Ante groaned as she struggled to get back to her feet, and in a last desperate attempt, she unleashed a Brain Shake that managed to hit all 3 of Joker’s teammates AND Brainwash them at the same time.

“Ah, fuck,” Joker thought with a groan at the massive streak of bad luck that had just hit his team. Thankfully, he had the perfect Persona to handle this situation. He switched over to Hua Po, conveniently giving himself a Fire immunity in the process as Ante blasted him with an Agilao that accomplished absolutely nothing. Joker used Hua Po’s Amrita Drop to cure his friends of their Brainwash one at a time, and Queen promptly healed them all with a Media. With this round of heals, the tide swung decisively back into the Phantom Thieves’ favor, and there was nothing more Ante could do. Fox and Queen ruthlessly blasted her with Ice and Nuke attacks until the rest of her HP was destroyed, leaving her utterly defeated and helpless on the floor.

“Haha…” Ante gave out one last laugh even as she started to crumble away into black dust. “Well done, chosen heroes…I admit defeat. I will open the door for you…I wish you luck on the rest of your journey. Farewell…my darling…” was the last thing she said before dissolving entirely.

“Ugh…” Oracle groaned. “He’s doing one of those sentimental plot thread things.”

“Wasn’t that Ante snake lady based on a real person, though?” Panther pointed out. “Kinda messed up, when you think about it.”

“Well, Natsume didn’t act like a creep to her in real life, so I’ll give him credit for that, at least,” Joker acknowledged as they made their way up to the top of the tower. As they approached the center, the core of light flew down towards them and transformed into…a copy of the Prince of Nightmares.

“Is this the proof we need?” Oracle asked incredulously.

“Most likely,” Fox confirmed. “Still, this is…”

“A copy of the Prince of Nightmares,” Joker finished curtly. “I’m gonna be really fucking annoyed if I could’ve just used my copy of the book as the proof and we could’ve skipped all this bullshit the entire time.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Oracle reassured her older brother figure. “This specific copy is definitely a Jail Core. I felt something about the Jail itself shift when you took it, just like with Shadow Alice’s Jail.

“Oh, thank God...” Joker breathed a sigh of relief. He might’ve ironically enjoyed LARPing around as a chosen hero, but he didn’t enjoy having his time wasted.

“Yeah, if we’re going by what happened in Shibuya’s Jail, these Jail Cores are essentially a Monarch’s source of power,” Mona agreed. “It looks like keeps and cores are a few things these Jails have in common.”

“So if we need to have two more pieces of proof…” Sophie hypothesized, “then we’ll have to find the other two Prison Keeps.”

“Joker or Fox, do you have any hints on that?” Queen asked.

Fox took out the book and read a few pages quickly. “According to the book, the other two towers are somewhere beyond the land of rain.”

“We’ll probably have to go back to that rainy area, then,” Queen concluded. “And explore an area that we haven’t explored before.”

“Hold on,” Joker interrupted. “I can see that some of us are starting to get a bit tired. Why don’t we quickly head back to the real world first from the nearest checkpoint and heal ourselves up before we move on with the infiltration? We’ve already learned that time doesn’t pass by in the real world nearly as quickly in Jails compared to Palaces, and we don’t feel nearly as tired when we leave the Metaverse from Jails. I think we can afford the pit stop.”

“That sounds good to me,” Noir happily agreed. “I think we could all use a few minutes of rest!”

The rest of the Phantom Thieves agreed, and they departed from the tower, which now had its main gate opened to allow them free access. Joker couldn’t help but give the Sendai Jail one more appreciative look as they prepared to return to the real world.

He could say plenty of things about Ango Natsume, many of which would certainly be negative. But even if it was completely unintentional, at least the guy knew how to make a major infiltration fun.

Chapter Text

After a brief rest and full recovery of their HP and SP, the Phantom Thieves leapt right back into the Sendai Jail. With the first Jail Core out of the way, they advanced down a street in the Sendai Jail that they had not yet entered. After killing a few stray, hapless Shadows, they found themselves outside of a market street very similar to the one that they had collected intel on Ango Natsume’s status as a Jail Monarch.

The gate had been closed when they had first arrived, but the moment they approached the street, the Jail began to rumble as the gate slowly lifted up, allowing the Thieves access.

“Well, that’s awfully convenient,” Joker commented. “I’m gonna assume that’s the way we need to go, then.”

“Perhaps it’s because we’ve proved we’re worthy of passage,” Fox suggested.

Mona squinted down the passageway towards what looked like a pedestal with a beam of light shooting out of it towards the sky. “Hmm? What’s that?” He asked as he pointed down the street towards the pedestal.

“It looks like some kind of light,” Panther remarked.

“Be careful,” Joker warned. “This hallway looks suspiciously empty. I’d bet there’s a trap hidden somewhere.” He activated his Third Eye…and immediately noticed that there were several red spotlights on the ground quite similar to what they’d encountered in Kaneshiro’s Palace. Joker looked up to see several lanterns shaped like demonic eyes hanging from the ceiling with chains attached to them like twisted candelabras. He smirked, took out his gun, and fired at the eye, destroying the security device in a single shot. “Gotcha, bitch.”

“Oh my!” Noir gasped. “So there were indeed traps waiting for us down this hallway!”

“Hell yeah!” Skull cheered. “Great work, Joker!”

Joker smirked. “Natsume’s gonna have to do better than THAT to get one over me!” he retorted as they advanced down the hallway. Whenever he got into shooting distance from one of the eye lanterns, Joker would stop, point his gun upward, and fire a shot that immediately destroyed a demonic security device.

“Nothing on my radar so far,” Oracle commented as they approached the pillar of light. Now that they were closer up, they could see that the pedestal was more akin to an altar with a single red orb in its center. “Looks like we’re safe for now.”

“How much do you want to bet that that’s gonna change once we snag that orb?” Joker asked dryly.

“No deal,” Queen replied as Joker reached out to grab the Infernal Red Orb. “After spending so much time in Palaces, I’d like to think I know an obvious trap when I see one. And with how things have been going, we’ll probably use this to open some kind of door.”

“A safe assessment, to say the least,” Fox agreed. “Indeed, this is most likely one of the novel’s tri-colored orbs. It says we’re to gather the red, blue, and yellow orbs in order to open the sealed doors.”

“So this is just your garden-variety fetch quest,” Joker added with a roll of his eyes. “Can’t really get more basic than that, honestly.”

“Everyone!” Sophie suddenly called out in a panicked tone. “The enemy is closing in!”

As if on cue, a multitude of Shadows suddenly appeared, including a few that transformed into Lamias that looked like smaller and weaker versions of Ante. “Did I fucking call it or what?” Joker asked in a thoroughly unimpressed tone.

Noir giggled. “I will never complain about more Shadows to brutally slaughter!” she declared happily as she brandished her axe.

One one-sided massacre later, the Thieves approached a door with the sigil at the top that matched the color of the Infernal Red Orb. The door opened to reveal a backstreet surrounded by the walls of buildings…as well as two other closed doors, one with a blue sigil at the top and one with a yellow sigil. The Thieves barely had time to register this information, however, as the back alley ALSO contained several robotic dog Shadows…one of which had been close enough to sniff them out when the door had opened.

“Ah, crap!” Skull exclaimed as the canine Shadow sensed their presence. Joker tried to pull his gun out to shoot it, but he was just a bit too slow. The Shadow immediately spotted them, let out a howl to alert its friends, and charged at the Thieves, knocking them down as it transformed into a multitude of canine Shadows and Slimes.

“Oh, that is such BULLSHIT!” Joker complained as the battle began with them on the backfoot. Joker was able to climb back onto his feet relatively quickly, but his fellow Thieves took a bit longer, and the Shadows were able to get a few free hits in before everyone was back on their feet. Joker summoned his own Lamia to burn them all to a crisp, and the Thieves wasted no time venting their frustrations out on the Shadows that had gotten such an unfair ambush on them.

“Everyone doing okay?” Mona asked as he healed his friends’ wounds with a Media.

“Yeah, we’re fine,” Skull reassured him. “Didn’t expect to get whacked on sight the moment we opened the door though!”

“Those dogs are gonna be more annoying to deal with than I thought,” Joker admitted. “Probably best to ambush them if we can.” As if to prove his point, he leapt onto a police car that was located dangerously close to another pack of canine Shadows. This time, however, the Shadows failed to detect him completely despite their close distance, and Joker was able to easily score an ambush that essentially allowed the Thieves to kill them for free.

“Do you think there’s going to be more variety in the Shadows in later Jails?” Queen asked with a hint of concern as they proceeded, discovering another checkpoint and killing the canine Shadows that were prowling the road. “We’ve already seen at least one Shadow that looked like an attack helicopter holding a machine gun, of all things.”

Joker grimaced. “It’s a distinct possibility,” he acknowledged as they approached the altar where a blue orb was waiting for them. Before they could reach it, however, an array of lasers manifested, blocking them from grabbing it. Another small army of Shadows materialized, this one led by a Berith and a Lamia. They were completely surrounded, which would’ve been an actual problem…were it not for the fact that the courtyard surrounding the blue altar also had several blue ice crystals poking out of the ground.

The leader of the Phantom Thieves smirked. “You really need to pick better places to set up your ambushes,” he taunted dryly…before leaping onto one of the ice crystals and shooting it, causing it to explode. The rest of the Phantom Thieves on the front lines mirrored his action with the rest of the crystals, showering the arena in explosions of ice. Many of the Shadows were immediately frozen by the counterstrike, completely destroying any momentum they might have gotten from their ambush.

To be fair to the Shadows, they actually did put up an honest effort to defend the orb, summoning multiple waves of axe-wielding warriors Shadows to try and protect it. To stop being fair to the Shadows, the warriors in question failed to provide any meaningful resistance whatsoever, as the close combat-oriented Thieves completely outmatched them in the art of battle and the more magic-oriented ones could simply harass them to death from a distance with their skills. In just a few short moments, the battle was over, with some of the Thieves only suffering a few minor wounds for their troubles.

“You’d think villains would be more competent in how they set up their traps,” Joker commented dryly as the laser grid protecting the Frigid Blue Orb disappeared and he snagged it. “Or at the very least not set them up in places that could actively help the heroes out.”

“There is an argument to be made that it might contribute to the narrative,” Fox acknowledged, before scowling, “but that is a weak argument at best, and from a tactical standpoint, it is indeed completely inexcusable incompetence.”

They retreated back to the back alley where the doors were located, and Joker held the orb up to the door with the blue sigil to open it. This time, the door lead into a crowded and narrow street, but the correct path somehow ended up with them climbing onto the roofs of the buildings. “How is anybody who isn’t a Metaverse Persona user supposed to figure this out?” Panther wondered in frustration as they leapt across lanterns and buildings. “We’re fine because we’ve got superpowers in the Metaverse and can just jump up from the streets as long as we have something to grab on, but if we didn’t have Metaverse powers? There’s no way we’d be able to grab that orb!”

“Not to mention the fact that a fall from a building this high could very easily lead to someone’s death, or at the very least serious injury, if we didn’t have superhuman capabilities here!” Mona added with a frown.

Joker thought for a moment as he leapt onto the rooftop that held the altar holding the yellow orb. “Who knows?” he finally answered. “Maybe some abilities from Persona users depend not on the Persona user, but the type of cognitive world they’re in. I’ve been fighting in the TV World for a couple of months now, and I can tell you that I don’t have the ability to dash across large spaces in the blink of an eye in the TV World like I do in the Metaverse.”

“Ooh!” Noir suddenly realized with an excited gasp. “Does that mean if Narukami-sensei and his team of Persona users were to enter a Jail, they would suddenly gain abilities in the Metaverse similar to ours?”

Joker smiled. “It’s a distinct possibility,” he acknowledged, but the smile disappeared almost immediately after. “Unfortunately, there’s no way we can test that right now. Yu and the Investigation Team aren’t anywhere near Shibuya or Sendai to enter the Jails, and even if they could they’d risk breaking the laws of reality.”

“Joker, I really hope you find that loophole you’re looking for,” Oracle muttered as Joker snagged the Blinding Yellow Orb. This time, the enemies immediately spawned without so much as a single word of introduction, launching into an attack without a moment’s hesitation. It was arguably the smartest ambush they’d seen in the Jail so far, and Joker was honestly surprised that they hadn’t tried this more frequently.

Unfortunately for the Shadows, they were still guilty of tactical incompetence in their chosen arena…as evidenced by the gigantic ice crystal chandelier hanging a few feet above their heads. Joker was 100% certain that the Thieves could crush their enemies even without the chandelier…but the opportunity was too funny to pass on. With a grin, he leapt onto the chandelier and sliced the chain hanging it in the air, letting it fall to the ground with a massive frosty explosion that covered the entire arena.

“I felt like a cartoon character with that one!” he commented with a laugh as he and the Thieves slaughtered the rest of the Shadows. “Damn, I wish we could do more cool shit like this back in the Palaces!”

“Yeah, this has been way more fun!” Panther agreed. “Blowing up police cars, spinning around traffic light poles, skateboarding, there’s so much more we can do in the Jails than we could back in the Palaces!”

“To be fair,” Queen pointed out as they jumped down from the rooftops and retreated back to the main backstreet, “the Palaces were mostly ruled by thoroughly depraved monsters, and Yaldabaoth was a malevolent entity trying to enslave all of humanity. They probably didn’t put much thought into making things fun.”

They approached the door with the yellow sigil, and just like the other doors, it opened as Joker held up the correct orb to it. “I will say this,” Joker commented. “If there is a cognitive entity or god ruling over these Jails, the fact that they allowed fun shit like this in the Jails means they already get a higher approval rating than Yaldabaoth from me.”

Oracle snorted. “Yeah, but Yaldabaoth’s rating is like negative a million,” she drawled. “The bar’s so low that I could probably high jump over it, and in case you guys haven’t noticed, my physical stats SUCK!”

They made their way down Hoheto Alley, killing any Shadow in their way (including a particularly big Lamia that, while not as powerful as Ante, was still easily more dangerous than most Shadows that they had come across in the Jail). Once the Lamia was defeated, Queen turned to Joker with a pensive look on her face.

“Hey, Joker?” Queen asked hesitantly. “Can I ask you something?”

“Absolutely,” Joker encouraged as they took a brief rest in the wide area where they had just defeated the Lamia.

“Okay…” Queen took a deep breath before continuing. “I don’t know if it’s just because we’re in a different form of the Metaverse, but it feels like Weaknesses, Crits, and Technicals…they don’t feel like they hit as hard as they used to,” Queen explained her thoughts. “At first I was wondering if it was just the Shadows…but Fox got hit by an Agilao from that Ante Lamia we fought earlier. And yeah, it looked like it did hurt…but I feel like if that weakness had hit as hard as it did in the Palaces and Mementos, it would’ve easily wiped him out in one hit, without a doubt.”

“Hey, Queen’s right!” Oracle chimed in. “Now that she mentions it, I don’t think hitting the enemy really hard with a weakness or something hits with the same Oomph that it used to…and yeah, that rule looks like it goes both ways, to them and to us!”

“So I’m not the only one who noticed that was going on,” Joker muttered back. He knew what Queen and Oracle were talking about. When he had first started his journey as the leader of the Phantom Thieves last year, weaknesses, crits, and technical attacks hadn’t immediately been devastating blows that could very realistically defeat enemies in one hit. They were certainly very damaging and knocked the targets down, but rarely did they obliterate an entire health bar in just one go.

But around the time of Okumura’s Palace, that dynamic had changed. Weaknesses, critical hits, and technical attacks suddenly and inexplicably became WAY more damaging than they had been previously. They had learned this the hard way when Panther had been hit by an errant Bufudyne from a Belphegor…and it had unexpectedly completely wiped out her health from near full HP.

Thankfully, the effect hadn’t been one-sided. The Phantom Thieves’ own super-effective attacks proved to be just as devastatingly powerful against enemy Shadows as the other way around, and by that point Joker had already started using the electric chair and fusion alarms to collect as many Drain and Repel skill cards as possible to turn his weaknesses into immunities. Ultimately, the unexpected power increase ended up played out to the Phantom Thieves’ favor, as Joker was able to easily wipe out entire armies of Shadows single-handedly with his optimized Personas and multitudes of immunities, while the Phantom Thieves in general were able to hit their enemies way harder and destroy them before they got hit in return.

Thinking about the bizarre phenomenon in hindsight, Joker suspected that it had been a manipulation of the cognitive world by Yaldabaoth to make the game more dangerous, albeit one he couldn’t apply in a one-sided manner without breaking the laws of reality and inviting retribution. Which was really a testament to the false god’s incompetence more than anything else, given how the power increase had helped them more than it had hurt them.

“I think you’re right, Queen,” Joker affirmed. “I think the power increases on effective hits like weaknesses has gone back down to what it was before they got boosted to crazy levels. Which I’m not sure how I feel about, honestly.”

“I get what you’re saying,” Mona acknowledged. “That major power increase in weaknesses would make tearing apart those energy shields on powerful Shadows way easier…”

“…but we’d be toast if we got hit by a weakness, then,” Skull finished grimly. “And there’s a LOT more Shadows now that we have to avoid eating hits from.”

“We’re doing all right in these Jails right now, so I’m not gonna complain about it,” Joker decided. “But there is one major difference compared to before. In the Palaces and Mementos, Technical attacks and Weaknesses didn’t stack. Here in the Jails? We know they do. Because Mona did a LOT more damage with his Wind attacks on Shadow Alice when he was hitting her with Garus while she was burned.”

“It’s definitely something to keep in mind,” Queen acknowledged. “With the right team setups, we could attack our enemies in a way we couldn’t really do in the Palaces and Mementos.”

“I do have to wonder, though,” Joker had one final thought. “That power increase on targeted attacks was still in the TV World when I came back home. I wonder if it’s still there now that the Metaverse has changed the rules again?”

Nobody had an answer to that question, and realistically there was no way for them TO answer that question at the moment. So instead, the Phantom Thieves simply dropped the topic and approached the entrance to another Prison Keep, this one by the same green barrier that had impeded their progress in Shibuya’s Jail.

“Oh, great!” Joker groaned loudly. “Another one of these fucking things!”

“Yeah, looks like this way’s blocked too,” Oracle reported, before she grinned loudly. “Should be able to hack my way through, though!”

“Go for it, Oracle!” Joker invited. “Break that barrier down!”

Oracle immediately got to work hacking as the Phantom Thieves took defensive positions around her position. Joker grimaced as he watched hordes of Shadows materialize on the other side of the courtyard to attack them. These types of fights were rapidly proving to some of his least favorite and most concerning to deal with. Not because the Shadows themselves were particularly powerful; they weren’t any stronger than anything else they had fought in the Jail so far. No, the reason why he was so worried was because of Oracle’s well-being. As she herself had stated earlier, she wasn’t a physical-oriented Persona user by any stretch of the imagination, and she was uniquely vulnerable to attacks in a way that she hadn’t been in the Palaces or Mementos.

“Gaaaahhhhh!!!” Oracle yelped as two Shadow canines slipped through their defenses and started biting at her. “This is agony!”

“I gotcha, Oracle!” Skull shouted as he smashed the two dog Shadows in the face with his hammer, killing them both as Mona healed Oracle’s health with a Media.

“We need a better strategy to deal with these asswipes,” Joker thought. Simply beating them to death or blasting them with Persona skills wouldn’t be enough, not if some of them were fast enough to rush through their defenses or otherwise bypass them in some way. Luckily, he still had a backup plan in the form of his Sleep-inducing Soul Thief Persona, a combo that he had continuously carried forward to more and more Personas whenever he got the chance. “Lamia, DORMINA!” Joker shouted as he ripped off his mask.

His own version of the serpentine lady materialized and cast her sleep spell, sending several of the nearby Shadows to sleep while replenishing his SP at the same time. With so many enemies affected, it was more than enough to pay for the cost of the spell and then some, allowing Joker to cast it multiple times with impunity and destroy the Shadows’ momentum while his friends took full advantage of the induced sleep to unleash havoc upon their enemies. With the danger to Oracle removed through the mass crowd control, she was able to focus more intently on hacking the barrier, and after a few more seconds she was able to break through and destroy it without further harm.

“Got it!” the navigator of the Phantom Thieves called out. “Thanks for the backup, everyone!”

“Dude, I’m so happy you have that Dormina on that Lamia,” Skull breathed out a huge sigh of relief. “I got really scared when some of those stupid dogs started rushing at Oracle.”

“Yeah, I think mass status conditions like Dormina are definitely the way to go moving forward,” Joker agreed. “I hope I can get something like Sleep Boost or Ailment Boost somewhere down the line, though. That Dormina by itself doesn’t always work, as much as I’d like it to.”

With the barrier deactivated, they advanced into the second Jail Keep…where a man in a business suit with frizzy dirty blonde hair materialized and advanced towards them. “Hahahahaha!” the man cackled. “Welcome, chosen heroes!” he greeted them with a melodramatic voice.

“You must be one of the Fearsome Four!” Noir accused, actually sounding like she was getting into the bit for the first time even if it probably wasn’t intentional.

Oracle rolled her eyes. “More like Fearsome Snore, if you ask me,” she muttered.

“I am one of the Fearsome Four and servant of the Prince of Nightmares!” the man bellowed. “The Great Kuga!”

“…the fuck kind of name is Kuga?” Joker muttered. “It sounds stupid as hell. And seriously, what the fuck is that hairdo? It just makes the whole thing even cringier!”

“I suppose you must possess some skill if you were able to best both Doma and Ante,” Kuga acknowledged, before boasting. “But you’d be foolish to assume I’d be as easily defeated as them!”

The Thieves were thoroughly unimpressed by his words. “Didn’t the last one say somethin’ similar?” Skull asked in a deadpan tone.

“Pretty much,” Joker replied with a roll of his eyes. “Literally the same shit over and over again.”

“Either Natsume didn’t vary his characters enough or he lacked the creativity and started copy-pasting,” Oracle criticized. “Either way, this dialogue SUCKS!”

“Eh, fuck it,” Joker shrugged. “One cringey-ass piece of dialogue deserves another.” He turned to face Kuga. “Prepare to face the chosen!” he declared in an equally melodramatic tone as he pointed his knife threateningly at the man.

Skull facepalmed. “Man, you are REALLY into this hero thing, huh?” he muttered.

Panther was similarly nonplussed. “I think Joker’s having a little too much fun with all this,” she added out of the corner of her mouth.

“Hah!” Kuga laughed. “You’ve got spirit, I’ll give you that. I’m starting to like you…now then, have at you!” He dissolved into the ground…and a few seconds later, transformed into a giant Orthrus.

“Holy shit!” Joker blinked. “Okay…I wasn’t expecting this guy to transform into a giant two-headed dog of all things!”

The transformed Kuga let out a menacing howl as the battle commenced. Joker was very grateful that he had already cycled out Noir for this battle, because she would have had an exceedingly poor matchup against an enemy with powerful Nuclear attacks and a lack of a Psychic weakness.

Unlike Ante, who had relied primarily on her magical skills, Kuga was much more aggressive in his attacks, combining rapid charges and claw strikes with the occasional Freila and Mafrei thrown into the mix. The Thieves had to be much quicker on their feet to deal with Kuga compared to when they had fought Ante, and they took quite a few hits from the two-headed dog’s claws and charges whenever they were too slow to dodge.

Fortunately, Kuga still retained Orthrus’ weakness to Ice attacks, and Fox was still in the front lines of battle. Joker and Fox quickly took charge of the tempo of the battle, alternating their Ice attacks to strike Kuga in his weakness and chip down his energy shield. After a few hits, Joker was able to land a Freeze on Kuga, and Fox immediately took advantage of the opportunity to viciously strike at the helpless Kuga with his katana and his Persona’s physical attacks. The others joined in, and after a few more hits, they were able to knock him to the ground and unleash an All-Out Attack on him.

Kuga howled in pain as he was engulfed in the explosion from the attack, but it was far from enough to defeat him outright. Luckily for the Phantom Thieves, both Joker and Fox had been steadily accumulating their power from the constant battles they had been fighting in during this Jail excursion, and as the Orthrus got back on his feet, both of them felt the power of Showtime flare up in their souls, ready to be unleashed.

Kuga tried to summon a ball of nuclear energy to fire at Joker, but the leader of the Phantom Thieves wasn’t going to give his enemy the chance. Calling upon the power of Showtime he summoned Andras to his side, and the demonic owl unleashed a massive explosion of Ice that wiped another large chunk of Kuga’s health and sent him stumbling helplessly back down to the ground. “That’s showing him, Joker! Stylish as always!” Oracle cheered.

“Shall I unleash my own power, Joker?” Fox called out as he and the other Thieves took advantage of the opening to pummel Kuga with their attacks.

“Not quite yet,” Joker answered back. “Wait for it…wait for it…” Growling in frustration and pain, Kuga forced himself back onto his feet. “NOW, FOX!”

“Let us attack, Goemon!” Fox shouted as he summoned his Persona behind him. Just like before, Goemon unleashed a breath of freezing cold air that trapped Kuga in an array of gigantic ice spikes, keeping him immobilized. The swordsmaster charged at Kuga with his blade drawn, slicing him repeatedly with a lethal combination of grace and frenzy, before sheathing his sword as the ice exploded behind him, dealing even more devastating damage and sending Kuga sprawling back onto the ground for the third time in a row.

“Ooh, I get it!” Oracle gushed as the Phantom Thieves started beating the crap out of the helpless Kuga yet again. “You’re basically hard-stunlocking that guy by using that All-Out Attack and those Showtimes like that!”

“That’s the idea!” Joker replied with a grin as he launched yet another Bufu from Andras onto Kuga. With the brutal beating he had already received, this was simply too much, and the last of Kuga’s health was wiped out entirely.

The Phantom Thieves waited for a few seconds for Kuga to say something as he faded away…but the Fearsome Four member didn’t say a single word as he died. “Oh, what the fuck!” Joker scoffed. “You gotta be shitting me. This guy doesn’t say a single goddamn thing before he dies? Where’s the post-battle dialogue? The last words before death?” he ranted. “Yeah I know the dialogue from the other Fearsome Four members was dumb as all hell, but having this guy not say anything at all is somehow even lamer!” He shook his head in disgust. “Fucking hell, talk about killing the immersion…”

“Eh, let’s be real,” Skull replied with a shrug. “His dialogue would’ve sucked ass anyway.”

“Let’s just get to the top already,” Mona sighed. “The Jail Core’s probably more interesting than this guy’s entire existence anyway.”

“The sad part is, that’s probably true,” Oracle muttered as they raced to the top of the tower. The orb of light representing the Jail Core descended to meet them, and once Joker grabbed it, it transformed into a trophy that looked like it was made of the finest quality glass.

“It looks like this core is…a trophy?” Noir blinked as she read the placard on the trophy. “It says Soukaisha Awards.”

Skull snorted. “Who gives a shit?” he muttered. “Dude probably got this by cheating, too.”

“I’m not so sure,” Queen countered. “Look at the date. This was definitely before people’s hearts started to change.”

Panther blinked. “So…he won this on his own?” she asked incredulously.

“I don’t buy it,” Oracle scoffed. “You can’t win an award just by ripping people off.”

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Joker muttered. “This guy can’t write for shit, we’ve thoroughly established that with Prince of Nightmares. So how the hell was he able to win an award this prestigious without brainwashing other people into giving it to him, since he didn’t have the power of EMMA at the time? And if he DID earn this award legitimately by writing something that deserved it, how the hell did his writing quality take such a major nosedive that he had to resort to mass EMMA brainwashing to get people to read his latest work?” He shook his head. “We’re missing something. I don’t know what, but we’re missing something.”

“Perhaps the truth will become clearer once we have seen all the Jail Cores,” Fox suggested. “At the very least, that’s two Jail Cores in our possession.”

“There’s just one left,” Mona commented, before asking. “Where haven’t we checked yet?”

“There was that door back when we first entered!” Sophie pointed out. “Maybe we should look there?”

“We did score another piece of proof, so maybe it’ll open now,” Oracle agreed. “Let’s head back.”

The Phantom Thieves departed from the tower, sliding down the flagpole back to the ground. As they made their way down to Hirose Street, Sophie couldn’t help but bring up a question.

“Hey, Joker?” The AI girl looked up innocently at him. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure thing,” Joker turned to face her as Queen took out her gun and starting shooting the eye security devices shining spotlights down in a hall very similar to the one where they had first found the Red Orb. “What can I help you with?”

“You have completely criticized Ango Natsume’s novel and the Jail that it is based on,” Sophie explained. “You constantly condemn them for their failings and point their flaws out all the time. And yet…you seem happy to be here. You seem like you’re really enjoying yourself and having fun despite every bad thing you say about the Prince of Nightmares.” She tilted her head with curiosity and confusion. “Why is that? Why are you so happy when instead you should be angry or disappointed? It logically doesn’t make any sense!”

Joker gave her a grin, as he had been waiting for an opportunity to explain exactly what he was feeling. “I’m SO glad you asked, Sophie!” he replied. “You see…this phenomenon is something that humans call ironic appreciation.”

“Ironic appreciation?” Sophie repeated.

“Ironic appreciation,” Joker affirmed, before launching into an explanation. “It means to appreciate and enjoy something despite, or perhaps because of, its real or perceived flaws.”

“But isn’t that irrational?” Sophie asked, confused.

“Of course it is! By its very nature, ironic appreciation is an irrational feeling.” Joker answered as he gestured around him towards the Sendai Jail as a whole. “Take the Sendai Jail and the Prince of Nightmares. The book itself is a plagiarized mess with no spirit behind it whatsoever, the puzzles needed to unlock the Jail Core towers are some of the most basic and most unimaginative ideas imaginable, and the dialogue from the Fearsome Fear is some of the cringiest shit I’ve ever heard or read in my life. Reaching a logical conclusion, I should hate the Sendai Jail with a burning passion. I should feel nothing but rage and disgust towards it.”

“But you do not,” Sophie replied with a hint of understanding. “You ironically appreciate it instead.”

“I do,” Joker agreed with a grin. “For me, this entire Jail and the book it’s based off of are such a gloriously cringey and disastrous mess that it wraps back around to being enjoyable. I’m having more fun in this one Jail than I ever did in any Palace I’ve ever been into ever since I became leader of the Phantom Thieves, despite or perhaps BECAUSE of its many failings.”

“What is a Palace?” Sophie wondered.

Joker shook his head. “Don’t worry about it, it’s not relevant to the current conversation,” he replied, before continuing. “Do you understand now, Sophie? Despite its many, MANY flaws, I enjoy the Prince of Nightmares and this Jail because I ironically appreciate them.”

“I see,” Sophie nodded, before smiling. “Thank you for explaining ironic appreciation to me, Joker!”

“No problem,” Joker replied, before holding up a finger in warning. “There is a caveat, though. Ironic appreciation is a very subjective phenomenon, and it varies from person to person. While I might ironically appreciate the Sendai Jail, not every human may feel the same way. Other people who experience this Jail or read Prince of Nightmares without being brainwashed into it could feel any range of negative emotions from boredom to disgust to rage, and their feelings would be completely valid. Like any emotion or opinion, it varies from person to person. So don’t automatically assume that just because I ironically appreciate something, so would every other human on the planet. Does that makes sense?”

“Yes,” Sophie answered. “I will not assume that every human feels the same way.” She sighed a bit morosely. “Humans and human emotions are so complicated!”

“Yeah, that comes part and parcel with being a human,” Joker sympathized. “Hell, even a lot of humans don’t fully understand their own emotions. Just do your best to try and learn the best you can, Sophie, and you’ll be a good companion to humanity.”

Noir giggled. “You’re so adorable whenever you teach Sophie about humanity, Joker,” she commented affectionately.

“Yeah, I can’t really tell whether it’s Dad or Big Brother energy, but it’s super cute either way,” Oracle agreed eagerly.

Joker shrugged. “I have experience with that kind of thing with a friend of mine back home,” he explained. “She’s basically the entire Inaba Persona team’s little sister, and kinda mine too.”

“We really need to come down to Inaba to meet them one day,” Panther asserted as they approached the end of the hallway. “I know I’ve talked to Rise already, but they sound soooooo cool!”

“Hopefully we’ll get the chance sooner or later,” Joker replied. His eyes fell on the entrance of the third Jail Keep a short distance down to the right…with the entrance predictably closed. “Yeah, that looks about right,” he drawled.

“Did the book have any other hints, Fox?” Oracle asked.

“In the story, the heroes had to walk an invisible floor to get inside,” Fox replied.

“Oh,” Joker blinked, before frowning. “Well shit, that might actually be a problem. An invisible floor sounds like it could be more challenging than bringing a bunch of orbs to locked doors. Granted, those prior challenges are bottom-of-the-barrel tier shit so that’s not saying much, but still.”

“As long as there aren’t any pits with spikes at the bottom, we should be cool!” Skull exclaimed.

Panther groaned. “Ugh, don’t say crap like that, Skull. That’s how you jinx it!”

Skull winced. “Oof, you’re right, sorry,” he apologized.

“All that aside, an invisible floor does sound worrying,” Noir murmured. “How do we find something we can’t see?”

Joker smirked. “I have an idea…but we have to actually find these invisible floors first.”

“Joker’s right,” Mona agreed. “We’ll just have to look really carefully. Maybe something’ll turn up.”

The Thieves advanced down Hirose Street, killing more Shadows along the way. As they did so, they noticed piles of golden swords with their hilts out and their blade impaled to the ground. Panther was the first to discover that they could lift the swords out of the ground and hurl them at their enemies, doing extra Bless damage at them from a distance.

“Hehehehe!” Noir giggled as she hurled multiple golden blades at their rapidly dwindling enemies in quick succession. “This is quite entertaining! Not as enjoyable as launching grenades at helpless Shadows, but certainly exhilarating in its own way!”

Joker picked up a sword and hurled it at a canine Shadow, impaling it straight in the brain and destroying it instantly. “Couldn’t agree more, Noir!” he replied with a grin. “And hey, all these extra weapons lying around means that we don’t have to worry about wasting SP if we don’t have to!”

“Really calling out to your inner edgelord, huh, Joker?” Oracle asked teasingly.

Joker shrugged. “Hey, a free weapon with no downsides is a free weapon with no downsides,” he replied nonchalantly as they killed the rest of the Shadows. They snuck down an alleyway, ambushing any Shadow in their path, until they found another checkpoint…and a series of golden flagpoles that led them up onto the rooftops once again. There were more piles of swords impaled into the roof, and more Shadows waiting to attack them.

“You think we’ll get the chance to throw these swords at Natsume’s Shadow?” Skull wondered with a grin. “Would be hilarious if we could just kite him until he goes down.”

“I doubt it’ll be that easy,” Joker’s lips twitched upward into a smirk, “but it would be very funny.”

They proceeded to jump across the floating lanterns that were hovering between the rooftops…until they landed on one that didn’t seem to have any sort of lantern connecting them. “Ummm, guys?” Queen pointed to the next building, and the large space that existed between it and the one they were currently on with nothing in it. “I think we have a bit of a problem.”

“I believe we may have discovered the invisible floor the novel was speaking of,” Fox declared.

Joker smirked. “Oh, I know how to deal with this,” he focused and activated his Third Eye, his eyes glowing a brilliant scarlet as he scanned the space between this rooftop and the other one. Floating in midair between the rooftops were two large glass-like platforms, barely visible to the naked eye but brought into sharp relief by Joker’s enhanced vision. “Got it!” he declared. “There’s floating glass panels in between the rooftops that we can step on.” He turned to the Thieves and his tone serious. “Follow my steps as close as you can, if not exactly,” he warned. “There’s gaps in between the panels and you can fall if you’re not careful.”

“Understood, Joker,” Queen spoke for all of them as they acknowledged the order. “We’ll follow your lead.”

Joker leapt across the platforms, making sure to position his footwork in a way that would pose minimal risk to his fellow Thieves even if they landed slightly differently than he did. Once he was across the platforms and onto the other rooftop, the rest of the Phantom Thieves followed suit, taking great care to follow in their leader’s footsteps as he had instructed.

“Whoa!” Skull gasped as he leapt onto the other rooftop. “It actually IS invisible!”

“I-is this safe?” Queen asked nervously. “We’re not going to fall, are we?”

“Nope!” Oracle replied cheerfully. “We should be good! Let’s take these things all the way to the Keep!”

“Easy for you to say!” Mona retorted. “You’re just flying around in that UFO of yours!”

Oracle stuck her tongue out at him as Joker navigated the invisible floating platforms that made up the passageway in between the rooftops. It soon became clear that the platforms weren’t always arranged in a straightforward, unidirectional pattern. The next major set of invisible platforms required sharp turns to the left and right to navigate across, and soon enough they encountered sets of platforms that were not only more widely spaced out, but were also on different altitudes too. Panther ended up missing a jump, and it was only thanks to Joker pre-emptively shooting a patrolling security Shadow before it could catch her that her fall didn’t trigger an enemy ambush.

“Are you okay?” Joker asked in a concerned tone once the fight was over.

“Yeah,” Panther breathed out with a sigh of relief. “I’m not hurt or anything. It’s just hard getting on some of these platforms. I was fine when they were all on the same level, but when they started changing heights it got really hard to see where exactly I needed to put my hands and feet.”

“Nah, I get it,” Joker reassured her. “Don’t beat yourself over it, Panther, only reason why I’m doing so well with these platforms is because of the Third Eye.”

The Phantom Thieves got back onto the glass platforms, and this time they were able to navigate across them successfully without anyone slipping. Joker took a few extra seconds to leap back across the platforms to collect some Treasure, and then they slid across a wire to land on a rooftop that was right outside the walls of the castle-themed Jail Keep. This time, Joker pre-emptively shot one of the hovercar Shadows patrolling the exterior, allowing the Phantom Thieves to clear out the last set of defenders protecting the outside of the Jail Keep and leaving the exterior walls completely unprotected. There was one last set of platforms to cross that led to a red window that was large enough for them all to fit into, but thankfully these particular invisible platforms were much more closely packed together and easier to traverse.

“Before we go in and fight the last member of the Fearsome Four, can I say something?” Joker interrupted the silence.

“Ooh, are you going to roast the Jail again?” Oracle asked excitedly. “It’s always fun to hear you trashtalk it!”

Joker smirked. “Actually, no. I’m actually going to DEFEND this specific part of the Jail,” he replied, much to everyone’s surprise. “Gonna be completely honest, this is actually not that stupid of a challenge when you think about it. These invisible glass platforms are pretty hard for most people or even most Persona users to see, it’s hard to tell where their boundaries are, and there are spaces in between them. If you somehow miss the platform or misstep off of it, both of which are pretty easy to do when you can’t clearly see them, you’ll end up having a huge fall down to the streets below. That could very easily kill or seriously hurt a normal person attempting this challenge. Combine this with the fact that some of the platforms are arranged in nonlinear patterns or even at different heights like the ones that Panther had trouble with earlier, and this whole trial would honestly be pretty hard and pretty dangerous for an average person to deal with.” He smirked. “Especially when you compare it to the other challenges, which were a complete joke for anybody who knows how to competently fight Shadows.”

“There is certainly a level of ingenuity in this particular puzzle, I must admit,” Noir acknowledged. “Without Joker-kun and his Third Eye, we would have had much greater difficulty navigating the invisible platforms.”

“Thankfully, we pretty much hard counter all of the problems that most people would have had to deal with if they came across these invisible floors,” Joker replied with a confident laugh. “I have the Third Eye, so I can clearly see all the platforms as if they were covered in bright blue paint. And we have superhuman capabilities in the Metaverse, so a huge fall that would be seriously life-threatening to most people is just a minor annoyance for us.” He snickered. “Our very existences pretty much kick every problematic part of this challenge straight in the balls.”

“Maybe that’s why we were chosen to fight against the Jails?” Queen suggested. “Because we have abilities in the Metaverse that other Persona users don’t?”

Joker shrugged. “It’s possible, but I still don’t know if some of our superhuman attributes are because we’re Phantom Thieves or because of the Metaverse. Either way, not worth worrying about it right now. Let’s just get the last Jail Core and get the hell out of here.”

None of the Thieves had any reason to argue against that, and they climbed into the window and raced down the tower until they were in the courtyard of the third Jail Keep. As they approached the base of the tower where the third Jail Core was kept, they found their way blocked by a figure that, oddly enough, looked like an old man. “Ohohohoho!” the old man laughed in a jovial manner. “I’ve been waiting for you, chosen heroes!”

“Ummm…is it just me, or is this guy an old man?” Skull muttered. “I’m not going crazy, right?”

“Correct, Skull,” Sophie affirmed, interpreting his question literally. “This is indeed an elderly male. Although he will likely transform into a Shadow to stop us from getting the Jail Core!”

“I am one of the Fearsome Four and servant to the Prince of Nightmares, Betero,” the old man introduced himself.

“Well, the old geezer’s definitely new,” Oracle acknowledged snidely. “Wasn’t expecting to see THAT here of all places.”

“Aww,” Panther sighed. “I feel kind of bad. He looks like he’d fall over with just a little push.”

“Ohohoho,” Betero chuckled. “But appearances can be deceiving, can’t they? Despair, for I am the strongest of the Fearsome Four. Your journey ends here!”

“And there’s the generic, cringey-ass dialogue,” Joker rolled his eyes. “I knew we were overdue for this shit at some point.”

“Well, if he wants to fight,” Noir commented with a fierce glint in her eyes, “then I guess we don’t have to hold back!”

“Hand over that proof!” Panther demanded.

Betero blinked. “Hmm!?” he replied, completely ignoring their demands. Everyone watched in blank confusion as the old man walked up to Panther, eyeing her with a disturbingly familiar glint in his eyes. “Oho…ohohohohoho…” he whistled.

“W-what!?” Panther spluttered.

“My, you’re a curvy little thing, aren’t you!?” Betero snickered. “Ahh, you’re a real sight for these tired old eyes!”

Joker let out a loud groan of frustration and smacked his mask with his hand. “Oh, you have got to be FUCKING kidding me,” he growled. “The ONE member of the Fearsome Four who has something resembling an actual personality, and it’s because his personality is a perverted old man.”

“…yeah okay, fuck this,” Panther snapped, no more pleased about the whole thing than Joker was. “He’s going down.”

And on cue, Joker leapt into the roleplay once again. “You dare provoke a legend!?” he declared. “Fool! You will meet the same fate as the rest of your friends!”

“And there he goes again,” Skull muttered, his tone making it clear he’d all but given up at this point. “Though to be fair, I wouldn’t want to get in the way of a pissed-off Panther either. Those Concentrated Blazing Hells, man…that is some scary shit right there.”

Betero giggled again and transformed into a red-armored knight holding a spear and riding a black horse. “Why is it always the Eligors that end up being related to perverts in some way?” Joker muttered as the battle began. Betero slammed his spear’s butt onto the ground, empowering himself with a Tarukaja, which Panther immediately countered with a Dekaja followed by a Tarunda. Admittedly, Panther probably wasn’t the best choice for a front line fighter against Betero thanks to Eligor’s resistance to Fire, but she was absolutely determined to take the perverted Fearsome Four member down, and Joker wasn’t going to steal that right from her.

Thankfully, the rest of their current team was more than able to make up for it. Skull was already charging straight into battle against Betero, hitting him with his Electric weakness, and Queen was right alongside them with her ever-trusty combination of Nuclear attacks and healing.

That wasn’t to say that Betero was a pushover though, far from it. To give him his due credit, he truly did live up to his title of the most powerful Fearsome Four member, combining powerful Lunges akin to cavalry charges and strong Fire attacks that wiped out a good chunk of HP to anybody hit by them.

Still, Joker deftly dodged Betero’s attacks and Skull just powered on through them with Panther and Queen healing him from the side, blasting him repeatedly with Zios from their Personas. “Thank God I picked up that Zio skill card from another Treasure Demon we wrecked,” Joker thought as he blasted Betero again with a Zio from Pisaca. To his pleasant surprise, this one actually managed to shock Betero completely, giving Queen the opportunity to hit him with Technicals from her Freis.

“That did it!” Oracle called out excitedly as the last of Betero’s energy shields was demolished. “Go for it, guys!”

“ALL-OUT ATTACK!” Joker commanded, and the Phantom Thieves pummeled the perverted horseman with everything they had, unleashing a massive explosion that tore apart his health even further.

“You should’ve known better than to mess with us!” Panther shouted furiously as she smacked Betero again and again with his whip.

“Hell yeah!” Skull cheered as he beat the stunned horseman over and over again with his hammer. “We’re not gonna be taking any more perverted asshole’s shit from you, or anyone else!” He grinned as he suddenly felt a flare of power burst through his body. It was the first time he had felt this strange power course through him, but he’d seen it enough times from Joker and some of his other friends to know what it was. “Hey, Joker!” he called out to his leader and friend. “I think I can fire a Showtime! Should I go for it?”

“Not yet!” Joker called back. “Give yourself a Tarukaja first!”

“Got it!” Skull affirmed as he summoned Captain Kidd and buffed himself with a Tarukaja. At the same time, Joker summoned Lamia and cast a Rakunda on Betero, weakening his defense. The moment Betero’s horse climbed back onto its feet, Joker knew the time had come. “NOW, Skull!” he shouted.

Skull grinned and his mask vanished from his face as Captain Kidd materialized behind him. The fearsome pirate gave Betero a death glare as he launched an incendiary shell blazing with energy from his arm cannon. Skull rushed forward and leapt high into the air as the rocket-like shell flew around him, gathering even more power as it did so. Skull channeled all his might into the hammer, and it too began to glow with the same energy as the rocket shell. The moment the shell got close enough to him, Skull swung his hammer like a baseball bat, striking it with perfect timing and sending it flying towards Betero. The moment the shell hit their enemy, it unleashed a massive explosion that looked almost like an atomic cloud with lightning bolts violently flashing all around it. Similar to other Showtimes, it did even more massive damage to Betero, and sent the Fearsome Four sprawling back down onto the ground.

“That blow your mind or what?” Skull called out with a grin.

“Great job, Skull!” Panther cheered. “If only we could have used attacks like this against Kamoshida!”

Joker smirked. “It sure as hell would’ve made Shadow Kamoshida a lot easier to deal with,” he freely acknowledged. He couldn’t help but imagine the battle against Shadow Kamoshida if the original four members of the Phantom Thieves had all possessed individual Showtime capabilities…and had brought them all fully charged to that particular battle. Needless to say, that battle would’ve been over pathetically quickly once they broke Kamoshida’s cup, and it hadn’t even been that challenging of a battle to begin with.

Sadly, that fantasy would forever only remain a fantasy, so Joker settled on beating the shit out of Betero instead. He had his own Showtime ready to go again, but with how little HP Betero had left he decided it wasn’t worth the effort. Betero was able to actually get up on his feet again and fire off one final pair of Lunges, but it was too little, too late. Skull blasted Betero with another Zio to shock him, and Queen fired off a Technical Frei, deleting the last dredges of his health and destroying the perverted knight shadow for good.

“Blerrrggghhh…” Betero groaned. “So…it seems it’s the end for me as well…” To his credit, the knight was taking his defeat and death with a surprising amount of grace. It was a pity that he had to immediately ruin it by making one last lustful remark towards Panther. “Come visit me in the afterlife, won’t you, beautiful?”

Panther scoffed. “In your dreams!”

“And suddenly I’m starting to miss when these guys were just dialogue regurgitators with no soul,” Joker muttered.

“Eh, who cares?” Oracle replied with a shrug. “That takes care of old man ogles-a-lot. Now we just need to nab that proof!”

The Phantom Thieves didn’t need any more encouraging, and as they approached the top of the tower the core of light flew down to meet them. As Joker grabbed it, it transformed into a gaudy fountain pen with a golden dragon coiled around its body.

“It seems this last one is a fountain pen,” Fox remarked. “Fitting for a writer, I suppose.”

“So now we can get into the Overlord’s castle, right?” Skull asked.

“If we’re following the novel, then yes,” Fox confirmed.

“We’re finally gonna storm the castle!” Sophie declared.

“Hmph!” Skull grumbled. “About damn time! The Phantom Thieves are comin’ for you, asshole!”

“Hold on,” Queen interrupted, before suggesting, “maybe we should head back for now. We didn’t take any breaks ever since we came back for the second core, and a lot of us are running low on SP. We should make sure we’re prepared before we storm the castle.”

“Good idea. I’m all sorts of tired after that last fight,” Panther admitted.

“I’m inclined to agree,” Joker assented with a nod of his head. “We’ve made good progress getting all three Jail Cores in one day, and we’re not under any pressure to add storming the castle tonight on top of all of that. If we keep going today, we’re at serious risk of overextending ourselves. And that’s the easiest way to fuck up all our hard work and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.”

“Then we’re agreed,” Mona concluded. “We should fall back, get some well-deserved rest, and regroup.”

“Sounds good to me!” Oracle declared. “We gotta be at the top of our game before a big operation. That’s Phantom Thieves 101!”

“That settles it then,” Queen replied, sounding visibly relieved. “Let’s make our way back.”

And with that, the Phantom Thieves left the tower keep behind them and made their way back to the entrance of the Jail. There was still more work to do, but claiming all three Jail Cores in the same day like they had in Alice’s Jail was an excellent start.

“All in a day’s work for a group of legendary heroes,” Joker thought with a smirk as they made their way back to reality. If the Sendai Jail was this much of a wonderful disaster, he couldn’t wait to see what Shadow Natsume himself brought to the table.

Chapter Text

Night had fallen by the time that the Phantom Thieves returned from the Sendai Jail. After a quick dinner, Ren was content to let his friends hang out in the city and do some more shopping on their own before he called them back to retire to the inn where they were staying at. But when Futaba sent a message asking to see all of them right away, Ren wasn’t going to keep her waiting. He knew that Futaba wouldn’t call for a group meeting this late unless it was important, and his instincts were proven right when they all gathered outside the RV.

“Hey guys,” Futaba greeted them apologetically. “Sorry to bring up business when we’re all tired and stuff.”

“Oh no, you’re fine,” Haru reassured her. “I think we’re all feeling a lot better now that we’ve eaten. So what did you find out?”

“Have you learned something about Natsume?” Yusuke inquired.

“Nope, not Natsume,” Futaba denied. “This is about Alice.”

Everyone blinked at that. “Alice?” Ann repeated, clearly confused.

“I was looking into this even after we changed her heart in Shibuya,” Futaba explained. “But it looks like some of her fans never reverted back to normal.”

Everyone’s eyes widened in shock. “Well shit,” Ren groaned as he smacked his face with his hand. “How the hell did that happen when we very clearly saw Alice repent and all of those Desires break free from that cage at the top?” he asked the question they were all thinking.

“Ren has a point,” Morgana murmured with concern. “I thought we released all the Desires that she stole.”

“Yeah!” Ryuji immediately chimed in. “We saw ‘em all go back to their owners, right?”

The realization suddenly struck Ren. “Unless…” he began slowly, attracting everyone’s attention to him, “unless there’s a few Desires still stuck in the Shibuya Jail that are just lying around, separated from their Shadows.”

“I think Ren’s right,” Futaba agreed morosely. “Some people still get set off if you criticize Alice even just a little. There’s reports of people getting threatened or even attacked…seriously messed up stuff.”

“Their obsession with Alice hasn’t disappeared?” Yusuke demanded.

“That’s why I agree with Ren,” Futaba concluded. “I’m thinking maybe some Desires haven’t returned to their owners.”

“There’s a lot we still don’t understand about the Jails,” Makoto acknowledged, “so we can’t exactly rule that out. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the Shibuya Jail didn’t disappear.”

“Well, if we left this job unfinished, then it’s our duty as the Phantom Thieves to correct this oversight and fix the mess left behind,” Ren replied with a frown. “The problem is, how the hell do we do that when we’ve already left Shibuya far behind us?”

“Why not just visit the Jail?” Sophia asked innocently.

“As much as we’d love to do that,” Morgana muttered sadly, “we can’t just leave here and go back.”

“There’s no need to go back!” Sophia reassured him. “I meant you should visit the Shibuya Jail from here.”

THAT got everyone’s attention immediately. “Hold on a second,” Ren interrupted, his eyes widening as he processed what Sophia had just said. “Did you just say that it’s possible to revisit the Shibuya Jail from here?”

“It is!” Sophia answered confidently. “Ever since we left the Shibuya Jail, I’ve wondered if we might be able to get back inside. Hoping to find out, I put in the keyword earlier. Sure enough, I was given access to the Shibuya Jail.” Her smile faded slightly. “However, I couldn’t do the same with the Sendai Jail, so it may have something to do with the fact that the Jail no longer has its Monarch. It works somewhat like a backdoor function, I think,” Sophia concluded.

Everyone was giving the AI girl thoroughly impressed looks by the time she was done with her speech. “So we can enter even though we’re nowhere near the same place in the real world?” Makoto summarized in disbelief. “We certainly couldn’t do that with the Palaces.”

“God damn, Sophia!” Ren whistled appreciatively. “Every time I keep thinking you couldn’t possibly be more valuable and helpful to the Phantom Thieves than you already are, you keep surprising me with shit like this!”

“Praise accepted!” Sophia declared as she hummed cheerfully.

“Seriously though, this is really sweet!” Ryuji exclaimed with a huge grin on his face. “We can basically warp to Shibuya now, right?”

“Unfortunately not,” Sophia immediately denied. “It’s not as if you could leave the Jail and appear in the real-world Shibuya. You can only visit and exit the Jail from whatever entry point you chose in the real world. Leaving will simply take you back to where you first entered.”

“I suppose things wouldn’t be that simple,” Yusuke acknowledged.

“This is still a lot better than nothing, though!” Haru replied cheerfully.

“I’ll say it is!” All traces of fatigue from the exploration of the Sendai Jail had completely left Ren’s voice. “This is still all we need to go back into Shibuya and look into whether or not there were a few Desires left behind.” He got up from his chair. “And honestly? I’m ready to go right now. The Shadows at the Shibuya Jail are a complete joke for us now even if we’re not at our 100%, and the sooner we solve the problem with the missing Desires the better.”

“Me too!” Ann agreed immediately. “I don’t want Alice to have more crazy fans on her conscience even after she tried to do the right thing!”

“Let’s get going then!” Makoto suggested. They entered the RV to make sure that nobody was looking, and then typed in the keyword to go to the Shibuya Jail. They immediately felt reality warp and shift around them. A few seconds they were standing at the overpass overlooking Alice’s now empty castle, just as Sophia had reported.

“Wow!” Panther gasped. “We really DID make it back into the Shibuya Jail!”

“Told you!” Sophie replied smugly.

Skull looked out at the Shibuya Jail, stunned. “It even went all WOWOWOWOWOWOW and everything, too!”

“It seems Jails truly are different from Palaces,” Fox mused.

“So, uh, what do we do now?” Skull wondered.

“We go into the Jail and start looking for any Desires that might be missing,” Joker declared.

Queen sighed. “This is going to be like finding a needle in a haystack. If only we could track it down somehow…”

“Wait!” Mona interrupted. “I’m getting a faint scent! There’s a Treasure…I mean, a Desire at Shibuya Crossing!”

Joker grinned. “Well shit, that was easy. Let’s go get that Desire, everyone!” He leapt down from the overpass, not even bothering to change the team lineup before entering the Shibuya Crossing. Just like Mona had said, there was indeed a lone Desire floating around in the Shibuya Crossing…and a Jack-o-Lantern Shadow had already gotten its grubby little hands on it.

“Th-this Desire is mine-ho!” the Jack-o-Lantern shouted. “It’s my treasure-ho! No one can have it!”

Joker scoffed. “Yeah no, fuck you, we’re taking it back now,” he retorted. In response, the Jack-o-Lantern summoned a horde of Shadows…but they were so pathetically weak compared to the Thieves or even the Shadows they had fought in the Sendai Jail that Joker was pretty confident he could have beaten them all just by stabbing them to death with his knife. As he didn’t want to waste time doing that, though, he and the other Thieves just bombarded their enemies to death with random Persona skills. The resulting carnage didn’t even last 10 seconds, leaving behind only the isolated Desire.

Now it was Skull’s turn to facepalm. “The hell was that all about?” he asked.

“More importantly,” Noir interrupted, “isn’t this…?”

“That is indeed the Desire that was left behind,” Fox affirmed. “Just as Oracle and Joker had theorized.”

“Yeah, but why was it left behind?” Skull insisted. It was a good question, one that Joker honestly didn’t have an answer for. It wasn’t like they could blame Alice for this one, since she had already repented.

“Well, this is just a theory, but that Shadow earlier said that desire was his. I’m thinking it didn’t return to its original owner because he had his mitts on it,” Mona suggested.

Before anyone could say anything else, there was a flash of light that blinded them for a second, and when it faded the Desire was gone.

“Hey, where’d it go!?” Panther spluttered.

“Since we took down that Shadow, I think the Desire was finally released!” Oracle theorized.

“Then, would that mean the Alice fan who was still acting strange is back to normal?” Noir asked hopefully.

“Only one way to find out,” Joker replied. “Let’s go back into the real world and look into it.”

They did as Joker suggested, and once they had returned to the real world, Futaba immediately got to work looking up the Internet to find any intel on the crazed Alice fan.

“Well, any luck so far?” Haru asked after a few minutes.

Futaba sighed. “No, nothing just yet, but I’ll let ya know…” She perked up suddenly and her eyes widened. “Hold up! Strike that! Here we go! A buncha people who went off the deep end for Alice got together and posted a public apology online!” she announced, before reading, “We are truly sorry for causing so much trouble over a celebrity. Our actions were wrong, and we apologize to both the people and to Alice.” She grinned. “Okay…not only that, the so-called anti-Alice people are saying they’re not getting harassed anymore! They’ve even accepted the apology!”

Ann smiled. “Wow!” she exclaimed. “Then that means…”

“The Desires went back to their owners!” Makoto concluded. “We really were able to undo their changes of heart even after Alice was already gone.”

“That being said, we must be cautious,” Yusuke warned. “There is a chance this situation may not be wholly resolved. Remember, we have no idea if there are more cases like this.”

“Hmm…” Mona mused. “So there are Shadows that go after the Desires we release back to their owners…I don’t think we can fully call this case closed until we’ve taken out those Shadows too.”

“I get that, but how the hell are we gonna find them?” Ryuji asked.

“We can find them if Morgana sniffs out the Desires they hold,” Sophia suggested.

“Yeah, I should be able to do that,” Mona affirmed. “I was able to do it for that first one, after all!”

Futaba snickered. “Excellent! Leave it to the Phantom Nose!”

“Hey!” Mona spluttered indignantly. “That is NOT my title!” He shook his head to collect his thoughts. “ANYway, it looks like we’ve got a whole other fight lined up for us now. We should have Futaba and Sophia search for other cases like this too.”

“Okay!” Sophia agreed. “The Phantom Thieves Intel Tag Team is ready and raring to go!”

“If any of you come across another situation like this one, send it my way!” Futaba advised. “I’ll compile the relevant info and list it up for you – kinda like how we used the requests on the Phan-site!”

“This way, we can resolve these requests and make progress in our infiltration at the same time,” Haru happily declared. “What do you think, Ren-kun?”

There was no answer from the leader of the Phantom Thieves, who had been sitting silently in the RV the whole time. “Uh…earth to Ren?” Futaba waved a hand in front of his face. “Are you okay?”

“Oh, I’m okay all right,” Ren answered as a grin slowly spread across his face. “In fact, I think I’m doing WAY more than okay.” Then to everyone’s surprise, he started chuckling. “Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh…”

“Ummm…Ren-kun?” Haru replied nervously. “You’re starting to frighten me a little. Why are you laughing like that?”

“Oh, Haru, my love, I have VERY good reasons to be laughing,” Ren answered, the grin on his face growing even wider. “Do you remember earlier when I was talking about the Investigation Team, my group of older friends and fellow Persona users from Inaba who also happens to include Shiho?”

“As if we could ever forget a bombshell that big, dude!” Ryuji answered.

“And remember how I told you guys how the Investigation Team couldn’t help us deal with the Jails and the Monarchs?” Ren asked, sounding ever more satisfied with himself with every word that came out of his mouth. “Partly because we have to deal with the major challenges by ourselves to avoid breaking the laws of reality, and partly because they had no way of entering the Jails themselves?”

Makoto’s eyes widened as the pieces clicked into place in her mind. “You found the loophole, didn’t you?” she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.

“If my logic is correct,” Ren confirmed triumphantly, “then yes, I just found the loophole.”

Haru’s eyes lit up and she clapped her hands excitedly. “Oh, that’s incredible!” she gushed. “Does that mean Narukami-san and his team will be able to help us after all?”

“And does that mean Shiho can help us too?” Ann added eagerly, sounding just as thrilled at the idea of fighting side-by-side with her best friend as fellow Persona users.

Ren immediately got up from his seat and moved to the door of the camper. “I’m going outside for a bit,” he reported. “I need to talk to both Yu and Lavenza as soon as possible.” He turned to Futaba. “My phone’s still secure, right, Futaba?”

“Hey, you know better than to test my tech genius!” Futaba scolded jokingly, before adding, “but yeah, between my programming and Sophia, your phone should be completely secure even with EMMA on it.”

“Perfect,” Ren thanked his surrogate sister, and before any of his other friends could react, he was already out the door. He found a spot that was mostly devoid of other people in the park and called Yu’s number, recognizing that news this crucial was best delivered in person.

“Oh, good evening, Ren!” Yu’s voice greeted him over the phone, his tone both cordial and a bit surprised. “I wasn’t expecting to get a call from you this late. Is there anything I can help you with?”

“I’ll say there is,” Ren replied immediately, not bothering to hide his excitement. “Yu, I think I just found a way for the Investigation Team to help out in the Jails WITHOUT breaking the laws of reality.” He proceeded to explain the major discovery that Sophia had made this evening, how it was possible to enter Jails cleared of their Monarchs even without being physically present in the real-life location of the Jail. He also explained how there had been a few people still brainwashed into being obsessed Alice fans even after Alice had repented and willingly surrendered her stolen Desires because their Desires had been left behind in the Jail, and how they had restored those people to normalcy after they had reclaimed those isolated Desires from the Shadow that had stolen it.

As always, Yu was an excellent listener, waiting until Ren was finished making his report. “This is…incredible news,” he declared, and although his tone was as tranquil as always, Ren knew the older Wild Card well enough to detect the hint of delight in his tone. “My friends and I were hoping to find a way to help you with the Jails ever since you got wrapped up into this mess. They’re going to be so happy to hear this!”

His voice took on a more serious tone. “That being said, I think you should talk to Lavenza first about this,” the Seeker of Truth warned. “She’s the expert on the laws of reality here, and the last thing we want to do is set off a major reality-breaking catastrophe because we got a little too trigger-happy with our assumptions.”

“I was on my way to the Velvet Room as soon as I finished calling you,” Ren reassured Yu. “I completely agree we need to run this by her first before we try anything. As you know so well, I’m a huge fan of not fucking things up.”

Yu chuckled. “That makes two of us. Let me know what Lavenza says, Ren. I’m eager to hear what she has to say.”

“Will do,” Ren assured him as they both hung up. He made his way over to the Velvet Room, where Lavenza was clearly surprised to see him arrive.

“Oh my, Trickster!” she greeted him with a surprised but friendly tone. “I didn’t expect you to be out in the streets of Sendai this late! Even though I of course will continue to be happy to serve you whenever or wherever you require my assistance.”

“Hey, Lavenza,” Ren replied with a hint of urgency. “Can we talk in the Velvet Room?”

“Of course!” Lavenza agreed, inviting her Wild Card through the Velvet Room door. Once they were inside the Jail, Ren cut to the chase and explained the discovery the Phantom Thieves had made regarding the backdoor function of the Jails and the missing Desires.

“I think this is the way the Investigation Team can help us out with the Jails,” Ren concluded excitedly. “You said before that they couldn’t help us deal with the major threats in the Jails like the Monarchs because it would interfere in my Fool’s Journey and violate the laws governing reality. I acknowledge, accept, and respect that. But what about entering Jails that have already had their Monarchs defeated? Jails where the major threat has already been dealt with, and there are still possibly leftover Desires in those Jails that need to be found and reclaimed by Persona users like us to restore more victims to normal? Couldn’t the Investigation Team help us out with side problems like that?”

Lavenza listened carefully to Ren’s arguments, and for several seconds afterwards she remained completely silent and lost in thought. Finally, a small but noticeable smile broke out on the Velvet Room attendant’s face. “I believe, Trickster…that what you are suggesting may very well be possible,” she declared, earning a grin from the leader of the Phantom Thieves. “However,” she was quick to add, “the laws of reality are not to be taken lightly, and I wish to make sure I have considered all aspects carefully before we allow the Seeker of Truth and his team to become involved in the Jails. Would you be so kind as to allow me to consult with Margaret tomorrow? I would like for her to confirm that your approach is possible, as well as devise appropriate strategies to ensure that any involvement with the Investigation Team will not be considered a violation of your Journey.”

“Go right ahead,” Ren invited. “I’m not in any hurry.”

Lavenza smiled at him. “Excellent. I knew if anyone could find a loophole to exploit in this conundrum, it would be you, my Trickster,” she praised.

Ren grinned. “I can’t wait to hear what you have to say tomorrow, Lavenza,” he replied eagerly. “Is there anything else you need from me?”

Lavenza giggled. “I should be asking you that, Trickster, but no. All I need now is time.”

“Then I wish you a good night,” Ren answered as he departed from the Velvet Room. Once he was back in reality, he gave Yu another call. “Lavenza’s gonna talk to Margaret tomorrow about how you guys can get involved in the Jails.”

“Excellent,” Yu replied. “Until then, we’ll stand by and wait for any updates you can give us. In the meantime, we’ve pretty much finished up Shiho’s training in the TV World. She actually beat the Reaper today for the very first time! And she was an active participant too, it wasn’t like she was being hard carried by us throughout the fight.”

Ren’s eyes widened. “Holy shit, seriously?” he asked. “That’s amazing news!” He remembered the golden holy armor that had dropped from the Reaper when they had beaten it in the Heaven Dungeon. “Did she get anything out of it?”

“She did, actually,” Yu confirmed. “The Amenonuhoko. It’s this really fancy celestial spear with a golden tip that looks like it came straight from Heaven. Apparently, it was the spear wielded by Izanagi and Izanami in Japanese mythology…which Izanagi Picaro finds absolutely hilarious, by the way.”

“Sounds fancy,” Ren commented, before raising an eyebrow. “Does it do anything apart from looking all shiny and golden?”

“You bet it does,” Yu answered, and Ren could hear the smirk in his voice. “Complete status immunity.”

Ren’s eyes bulged. “Complete status…God DAMN! I wish I had an ultimate weapon with an effect that busted. Does that weapon tell Galgalim Eyes to fuck off completely, or does it reduce your HP to 1 but you don’t get the Despair?”

“Dunno, we haven’t tested it yet. But Shiho’s really happy with her new spear, I can tell you.”

“Yeah, I’d be over the moon too if I found a weapon that gave me complete status immunity,” Ren agreed. “Tell her I said congratulations, and I’ll let you know if I hear back from Lavenza soon.”

“I will, and the same with me and Margaret,” Yu assured the younger Wild Card. Once the phone call was over, Ren made his way back to the camper, where the rest of the Phantom Thieves were waiting for him.

“All right, I talked to Yu and Lavenza,” Ren reported. “They’re aware of our latest discovery, and Lavenza’s gonna be talking to her older sister tomorrow to iron out the details about how the Investigation Team can get involved in the Jails without fucking things up.” He glanced over at Ann and grinned. “Also, Shiho beat the Reaper for the very first time!”

“YESSSSSS!!!!!” Ann cheered. “You go, girl!”

“Hell yeah!” Ryuji pumped a fist in the air. “That’s like, THE mark of a master Persona user, right there!”

“That’s incredible!” Morgana praised. “It’s amazing just how much progress she’s made as a Persona user over the course of a few months.”

“It gets better,” Ren smirked. “She got an Ultimate Weapon now with this really long and convoluted name I can’t remember, but get this, it gives her complete immunity to every single status in the Metaverse. All of them. Despair? Fear? Brainwash? With her new spear, she doesn’t give a fuck about any of them.”

“Yoooooooo…” Futaba whistled. “That’s so busted!”

“I think that’s straight-up better than any of our Ultimate Weapons’ effects,” Ren acknowledged. “Especially mine, because reducing Curse damage doesn’t mean jack shit when you already block them completely thanks to my St. Hermelin Badge.”

“I need to call Shiho and congratulate her when we get back to the inn,” Ann exclaimed. “She deserves it for beating the Reaper!”

“And on that note, I don’t really have anything else to add for today,” Ren concluded. “Let’s go back to the inn and get some well-deserved rest. We still have to infiltrate the cage at the top of Natsume’s jail castle tomorrow, and it’s already late enough as it is.”

Nobody had any reason to disagree, and Makoto drove them back to the inn to pack it in for the night. Still, there was an undercurrent of excitement that hadn’t been there before. If Ren really had discovered the loophole, then the Phantom Thieves could very well meet their predecessors as Persona users for the very first time. And with everything they had heard about the Investigation Team, that was very much cause for excitement indeed.

Chapter Text

Yu didn’t hear from either Margaret or Lavenza all throughout the next morning, or even the early afternoon. His Velvet Room attendant had contacted him earlier in the morning and promised him that she and Lavenza would have a set of rules established for him and his team before the end of the day, so that they could help the Phantom Thieves with the Jail Crisis while minimizing the risk of violating the laws of reality.

“Hope Ren’s infiltration of Ango Natsume’s Palace is going smoothly,” Yu thought. The leader of the Phantom Thieves had decided to use the morning to finish their infiltration of the Sendai Jail, and he wished his younger brother and fellow Wild Card success. If he understood the process of infiltrating the Jails correctly, the Phantom Thieves would first reach the top of the Jail castle, where they would find the stolen Desires and a clue that would lead them to a separate cell with a Lock Keeper that they would need to defeat. Only then would the cage surrounding the Desires be unsealed, and the Monarch exposed.

His thoughts were interrupted by his phone. Yu immediately brought it up to his ear and allowed the call to go through, and to his relief, it was Margaret’s voice that entered his ear.

“Good evening, my dear guest,” Margaret greeted him in a warm, but serious tone that Yu immediately recognized as the one she used when she got down to business. “After much discussion with my younger sister, we have compiled a list of rules and guidelines that would allow you and your fellow Seekers of Truth to assist with the Jails.”

Yu smiled. “That’s excellent news, Margaret,” he replied, allowing a hint of excitement to enter his otherwise perpetually tranquil tone. “I’m ready to hear them, and so is my team. I specifically asked them to keep their afternoons free today so that they would be able to discuss this whenever you were ready.”

“Excellent,” Margaret replied approvingly. “Would you be so kind as to gather them together in a single location? A private location would be ideal.”

“I’ll invite the entire Investigation Team to Ren’s currently empty house,” Yu assured her. “There probably isn’t a single location more private than that outside of the TV World itself.”

“Then I will be there in about an hour,” Margaret promised. She hung up the phone, and immediately Yu got to work sending messages to the rest of his team and Shiho. He made his way over to Ren’s house, unlocking the door with his uncle’s spare key, and over the next hour the members of the Investigation Team arrived at the younger Wild Card’s house. Margaret was the last time to enter, arriving at the end of the hour just as she had promised.

“Before we begin, nobody here as EMMA on their phone, right?” Yu asked once they had all settled down.

“Nope!” Yosuke assured him. “We’re not gonna let some enemy spy on us through that damn app!” The other Investigation Team members confirmed that none of them had the app on their phone.

“Excellent,” Yu nodded approvingly, before turning to Margaret. “Then we can begin.”

“Thank you all for gathering here at such short notice,” Margaret got straight to the point. “As you are no doubt already aware, the Trickster discovered a potential loophole that may allow you to assist in undoing the damage caused by the Jail Crisis.”

“Yeah!” Chie answered eagerly. “I’m super stoked to help Ren and the other Phantom Thieves out in the Jails!”

“It doesn’t sit right with us to simply wait on the sidelines while the Phantom Thieves are putting themselves at risk against another major threat to humanity,” Yukiko agreed, her eyes blazing with determination. “Any help we can give them, I’m more than willing to do my part.”

Kanji grinned. “From what I heard, we’re gonna be beating the shit out of Shadows en masse, and I am SO down for that!” he declared.

“We couldn’t help our precious little fluffy-haired brother last time,” Rise added fiercely. “But I’m not gonna just sit here and do nothing this time around!”

Margaret smiled. “Spoken like true protectors of humanity,” she praised, before her face took on a more businesslike and serious expression. “With that being said, it is essential that you follow the rules my sister and I have created for you as closely as possible,” she warned. “For if you interfere in a way that violates the Trickster’s Journey and the laws of reality, it would invite an even greater disaster and judgment that must be avoided at all costs.”

“We understand,” Naoto reassured her. “All of us have accepted that the duty of dealing with the Jail Crisis falls to Ren, first and foremost.”

“That’s right!” Teddie chimed in. “Messing with the laws of reality would end beary badly!”

Yosuke rolled his eyes. “You and your goddamn puns, Teddie…” he groaned, before adding, “but yeah, we get that we need to stick to the rules here.”

“Then let us proceed,” Margaret declared. The Velvet Room attendant took out a sheet of paper and laid it down on the table in the living room. The Investigation Team crowded around the paper, which had a series of rules listed in numerical order.

• Battling a Monarch’s Shadow is strictly forbidden, as is battling a Lock Keeper or finding the Jail Cores in a Jail with a Monarch active.

“This is the first and most important rule,” Margaret explained. “The battles against the Shadows of the Monarchs are major stepping stones of the Trickster’s journey. Only he and his fellow Phantom Thieves are allowed to face and triumph over these formidable foes.”

“And what about the Lock Keeper and the Jail Cores?” Shiho wondered. “I don’t even know what those are!”

“Those are related to how the Jails operate,” Yu explained, providing a brief explanation to his friends on what they were based on Ren’s descriptions. “I’m guessing we can’t interfere with them at all because they’re so important to the Phantom Thieves’ infiltrations.”

“Wait, but if we can’t do any of that, then wouldn’t it be easier to just ban us outright from entering Jails with Monarchs still active to begin with?” Yosuke pointed out. “Since it’s not like we can do anything major in them anyway.”

“While that would functionally be true in the majority of cases, it would technically be an oversimplification,” Margaret answered, “as you will soon see with the second rule.”

Everyone’s attention turned back to the second rule on Margaret’s list.

• Entering a Jail with a Monarch still active, by itself, is not outright forbidden. However, any incursions into a Jail with a Monarch active are strongly discouraged, and should only be done in case of an absolute emergency.

“Ohhh…I see,” Kanji nodded, understanding appearing his eyes. “So we CAN technically enter Jails with Monarchs still there, it’s just something that we probably shouldn’t do unless we have a REALLY good reason for it.”

Yu frowned. “And entering a Jail with a Monarch active is very impractical under most circumstances anyway,” he pointed out, “since unlike Jails with Monarchs already defeated, we can only enter Jails with Monarchs active if we’re in the real-world location of the Jail in question. I think in practice, we won’t be able to enter Jails with Monarchs still there even if we wanted to, at least not in a timely enough manner to rescue the Phantom Thieves if they run into trouble.”

“Aww…so I guess we can’t just jump into the Jails to save Ren and the other Phantom Thieves if they need us to bail them out,” Rise sighed sadly.

“I think, to keep things simple, we should simply avoid entering Jails with Monarchs active unless a very compelling reason presents itself,” Naoto concluded.

“That would indeed be a wise and safe course of action under most circumstances,” Margaret agreed as they turned their attention back to the list of rules.

• Interfering with the real-world selves of the Monarchs is strictly forbidden before their hearts have been changed by the Phantom Thieves. However, you are free to interact with them however you see fit after their hearts have been changed.

Yukiko blinked. “This is the same principle as dealing with the Shadow Monarchs, right?” The keeper of the Amagi Inn asked for clarification. “They’re important stepping stones for Ren’s journey, so we can’t interfere with them either in the real world or in the Jails.”

Margaret nodded. “That is correct,” she confirmed. “However, that restriction no longer applies once their hearts have been changed by the Phantom Thieves.”

“That’s actually really important for the Shadow Operatives to know,” Yu murmured. “I’ll have to get into contact with Mitsuru after we’re done here. The last thing we want is for her to send Shadow Operatives after Natsume and accidentally trigger a major catastrophe.”

Shiho blinked. “Mitsuru?” she repeated, her eyes widening. “You mean…like Mitsuru Kirijo?”

“Later,” Yu replied curtly, his unusually brusque tone making it clear that this was not up for discussion right now. Shiho reluctantly accepted it, although now she knew she was going to wonder all night just how Yu Narukami was acquainted with one of the most powerful women in all of Japan.

“That being said, it sounds like the Shadow Operatives are free to speak with Alice,” Naoto pointed out as a final thought on the rule. “Obviously, there’s no need for them to be heavy-handed with her since she is genuinely remorseful for her actions, but speaking with her could still provide some insight on the Jails.”

• Interactions between the Investigation Team and the Phantom Thieves should be kept to a minimum, even in Jails that have had their Monarchs defeated.

“Wait, so we can’t go into a Jail together as one giant team?” Chie pouted. “Awww!”

“While such interactions are not technically outright forbidden by themselves, the more your two teams interact with each other, the greater the risk of a violation of the laws of reality,” Margaret explained. “And multiple teams of Persona users being in each other’s presence for a prolonged period of time runs the risk of being considered such a violation in and of itself, if one of them was not permitted to play a defining role in a Fool’s Journey.”

“So I’m guessing the reason why things didn’t go to shit in such a major way when we and the Shadow Ops dealt with Hino-kagu-tsuchi was because we were both part of the same journey then,” Yosuke muttered.

Margaret nodded. “Indeed,” she affirmed. “That was indeed the case for that particular set of trials, but it is not the case now with the Jail Crisis and the Phantom Thieves.”

“We might have to coordinate with Ren a bit then to make sure that our teams don’t stumble into the same Jail at the same time,” Yu mused.

“Dammit! I was really hoping to kick some ass next to my best friend in the Jails!” Shiho sighed as they went back to the list of rules.

• Upon entry into the world of Jails, you and your Personas will be reverted to level 1 and their most basic forms.

Yu grimaced. “Ren did warn me about that,” he muttered. “He lost all of his Personas when he entered the Jails, and he and his team were forced back down to the most basic level.”

“Ah, shit,” Kanji groaned. “And the same thing’s gonna happen to us too in the Jails. And after all that hard work we put in to building up our Personas to be total badasses, too…”

“This is not a rule, per se, more of a warning,” Margaret explained with a frown. “The environment of the Jails, as the Trickster has already discovered, is fundamentally different from anything you have encountered before, and your Personas in their current forms are incompatible with them. Therefore, it is only fair that I give you this warning before you commit to entering the Jails.”

“Well, we’re not changing our minds because doing the right thing isn’t going to be easy!” Yukiko reassured her.

“But losing all the hard work we did in our Personas…that sucks so beary much!” Teddie whined.

Margaret smiled. “I do have some good news in that regard,” she offered. “Once you and the Phantom Thieves have finished your business with the Jails, Marie is willing to restore your Personas back to their appropriate levels and evolutions. So you need not fear the permanent loss of all the growth and development you went through in your trials against her as Izanami. In the same token, my dear guest, I will have your original Compendium saved so that you will have access to your Personas again once you are done with the Jails.”

There was a huge sigh of relief all around the room. “Oh, thank God!” Rise exclaimed. “So we’ll be back to our usual selves once we’re done dealing with this mess!”

“That is correct, but be advised that Marie will not restore your Personas to their pre-Jail forms until after the Crisis reaches its conclusion,” Margaret warned. “Forcing your Personas to undergo such dramatic changes frequently and repeatedly will risk breaking your mind and driving you into insanity. So I must emphasis, once again, that assisting the Phantom Thieves in the Jails is a commitment that cannot be taken lightly. In fact, I would go so far as to recommend that you avoid fighting Shadows in the TV World entirely, and instead focus solely on your excursions into the Jails until the Crisis is over.”

“I understand why. Fighting Shadows in the TV World while our Personas are weakened is…inadvisable, to say the least,” Naoto acknowledged.

“Yeah, we get that,” Chie agreed. “But it doesn’t change anything about our choice!”

“Your spirit is admirable, as always,” Margaret applauded as they turned to the next rule.

• The Seeker of Truth will not be able to access the Trickster’s Compendium while in the Jails, and vice-versa. He will also not be able to access either the Trickster’s skill cards or his own skill cards that have been collected outside of the Jails, and the Trickster will not have access to the Seeker of Truth’s skill cards either.

Yu sighed. “Somehow I’m not really surprised by this rule, even though I would’ve loved to be wrong in this case,” he commented. “I’m guessing it’s here for the same reasons as the other rules that minimize contact between our two teams.”

“That is correct,” Margaret affirmed. “I will be lending you a Compendium similar in nature to the Trickster’s while you are in the Jails, and this Compendium will be available to you alone.”

“Well, I started from almost nothing once before, and I’d like to think I’m wiser now than I was 6 years ago,” Yu chuckled dryly. “I’ll find a way to make it work.”

“Wait, hold on, I just realized something!” Rise interrupted. “We might not have access to our fully powered Personas, but I didn’t hear you say anything about us not being able to use our weapons and armors from the TV World, or any money that we already have. Our weapons and armors are actually real unlike the Phantom Thieves’ cognitive weapons, and Yu has boatloads of yen from his trips into the TV World. Is there any rule stopping us from being able to use those?”

Margaret didn’t say a word, but her smile widened massively, and everyone could see the mirth and approval glowing in her eyes. Everyone started grinning as they realized the implications. It looked like despite all the limitations forced upon them, the Investigation Team wasn’t truly going to be starting from scratch in every aspect.

“Oh, I can’t WAIT to kick some Shadows’ asses!” Chie shouted gleefully as they turned their attention back to the list.

• The Seeker of Truth and the Trickster will not be allowed to utilize the Velvet Room at the same time, and the Trickster will have priority over the Seeker of Truth with regards to Velvet Room usage.

Yu read the rule, and then shrugged. “Not really surprised by this one either, to be honest,” he commented. “Sticking with the same theme of minimizing interference and all that. And obviously Ren deserves to have higher priority than me when it comes to using the Velvet Room, since he’s the main Wild Card dealing with the Jails. That goes without saying, really.”

“You will not have to worry too much about accidentally breaking this rule, Yu,” Margaret assured him. “We will simply not allow you access into the Velvet Room while the Trickster is present, and vice-versa. And if the Trickster requires emergent use of the Velvet Room for any reason, I will simply conclude our business immediately and escort you out.”

“Understood,” Yu acknowledged.

• For now, please limit your major interventions in the Jails to finding Lost Desires that remain trapped within those domains even after their respective Monarch’s change of heart.

“Unlike other rules on this list, this one is not set in stone,” Margaret explained, “and the interventions you are allowed to carry out will likely expand as the Phantom Thieves discover more about the Jails. We merely ask that you focus on this particular intervention for now, as Desires remaining lost within the Jails will continue to cause disruption and harm not just to the victims who have had their Desires stolen, but also to the people around them.”

“Of course,” Yu agreed readily. “Helping the victims of those who have suffered crimes related to the cognitive world, and helping humanity in general, are the biggest reasons why we joined forces with the Shadow Operatives to begin with.”

“Indeed,” Naoto nodded her head. “We will be more than willing to assist the Phantom Thieves in this task so that they can focus their efforts on defeating the Monarchs and solving the larger Crisis. And if there’s anything else that they need us to do, we will be more than willing to do it.”

• Information-sharing and communication between yourselves and the Trickster IS allowed, so long as doing so does not violate one of the other rules.

Yosuke grinned. “Oh, hell yeah!” he cheered. “So Yu can keep talking with Ren to gather more intel about the Jails?”

“Not just that, but Ren can also freely share advice and strategies with Yu based on his own experiences in the Jails, too!” Yukiko chimed in. “That could make our own trips through the Jails a lot easier, since we’ll already have Ren’s experience to go off of!”

Shiho giggled. “It feels really refreshing to see a rule that tells us what we CAN do for a change.”

• Sharing of physical resources such as money, items, weapons, and armor, on the other hand, is forbidden.

Kanji groaned. “And there it is,” he muttered. “Knew there was gonna be a catch.”

Yu shrugged. “I’m not too worried about that, to be honest,” he remarked. “Ren brought about 5 million yen with him to Tokyo, and he’s sure to find more in the Jails. And he knows how to properly manage his money. I highly doubt he’ll run into any problems with resources or making sure his team is properly equipped.”

“If you say so, Senpai,” Rise murmured. She knew Ren was competent and fully capable of taking care of himself and his friends, but she couldn’t help but worry about him despite that. She still remembered clear as day when he had just been a little kid, and that kid had grown up incredibly fast…too fast for her liking, if she was completely honest with herself.

“That is all that Lavenza and I have compiled with regards to what rules you must follow to safely participate in the Jail Crisis,” Margaret declared. “However, this is one more piece of advice I wish to give you.”

“Yeah?” Chie’s raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

“Do not be surprised if the ways your Personas develop in strength in the Jails differs from how they gained power in the TV World,” Margaret warned. “It is a fundamentally different environment unlike anything we have ever seen before, and it is entirely plausible that the growth of your Personas may reflect that. This is especially true with regards to the skills your Personas obtain.”

“Wait…” Yukiko blinked. “So you’re saying that we might get different skills as we power up our Personas in the Jails?” she asked for clarification.

“That is correct,” Margaret affirmed. “While I do not think the differences will be major enough to fundamentally transform the nature of how you and your Personas will battle, it would behoove you to recognize those changes and adapt them into your fighting styles. You may find yourself equipped with tools in the Jails that you previously did not have access to in the TV World…just as you may find yourself lacking tools that you previously possessed in the TV World.” She frowned. “That is all the warning I can give you, however. Only you will be able to witness these changes firsthand as you battle within the Jails.”

“Even knowing that this is a possibility is a huge help, Margaret,” Yu replied solemnly. “Thank you for warning us about this in advance.” Inwardly, he was already thinking about asking Ren what strategies the leader of the Phantom Thieves had found optimal for Jail combat. Ren was a vital resource of knowledge that he wasn’t banned from drawing from, and he would be a fool to ignore it.

Margaret bowed her head in respect to Yu before standing up. “And that is all the rules that my sister and I have compiled for you at this time,” she concluded. “I will, of course, provide you with any further updates as appropriate.”

“Thanks for taking the time to figure all this stuff out,” Yosuke thanked her.

“Yeah, this is a huge help!” Chie added appreciatively.

“We’ll take all of this beary seriously!” Teddie chimed in.

The rest of the Investigation Team members and Shiho gave Margaret their thanks, and the Velvet Room attendant departed from Ren’s house, leaving behind the list of rules.

“So whaddaya think, Yu?” Kanji was the first to break the silence. “Should we reach out to Ren and meet up with him in the Shibuya Jail, or whatever it was? Feels like we should ask him for some tips first before we start barging in there ourselves.”

“I think that’s not a bad idea,” Yu answered after a few seconds of thought, “but we should probably wait until after the Phantom Thieves have already taken care of Ango Natsume. Ren and his friends already have plenty enough to deal with since they might be fighting a Shadow Monarch as early as tomorrow, and the last thing that I want to do is give them a major distraction.”

“That’s probably for the best,” Naoto agreed. “We are in no real hurry, and Ren’s own infiltration should take utmost priority.”

“I can’t help but wonder what Ren thinks of all this,” Rise wondered with a thoughtful expression on her face. “Do you guys think he has his own copy of the list that he’s going through with the Phantom Thieves just like we are?”

Meanwhile, in Sendai…

“Aww, man!” Ryuji complained. “So we can’t just meet up with that team of Inaba Persona users in the Shibuya Jail? We could’ve kicked so much ass together!”

“And I would’ve finally been able to meet up with Shiho and THE Risette in person!” Ann groaned. “It would’ve been so cool!”

“Yeah, I know,” Ren sympathized. He and the Thieves had finished their infiltration of the Sendai Jail’s castle, and had discovered a potential clue to the nature of Ango Natsume’s motivations just like they had with Shadow Alice’s castle. Afterwards, they had located the one Gatorre Coffee in Sendai where the Lock Keeper could be located…and then just as they had been about to head off to the café in question, Lavenza had contacted him and presented him with the list of rules that the Investigation Team would need to follow in order to safely assist them within the Jails.

Needless to say, once Ren had gotten the list in question, the infiltration into the Gatorre Coffee had been placed on hold as the Phantom Thieves studied the list, making sure to turn off all their phones so that any potential spies through EMMA wouldn’t be able to learn about the existence of Yu Narukami and the Investigation Team. Unfortunately, this also meant Sophia wouldn’t be able to participate in this specific conversation, although Ren promised to her that he would catch her up on everything once he could do so in a secure manner.

“I know you guys wanted to meet up with them at some point, but it sounds like we shouldn’t do it through the Jails,” Ren continued with a sigh. “I know it’s not technically forbidden based on the rules list if we do it in Jails already cleared by Monarchs, but Lavenza asked me to take these rules seriously, and I’m not going to break her trust on this. If a situation comes up where we can justify meeting up in the Jails, I’ll try to arrange something, but otherwise it sounds like the Investigation Team are going to be more or less cleaning up the mess that the Jails and the Monarchs are leaving behind after we’ve changed their hearts.”

“That’s still pretty helpful, though!” Futaba pointed out. “If there are more Desires that are just hanging around in the Jails and people are still going crazy without them, having some backup to help deal with those problems while we’re dealing with the Monarchs will make things so much easier!”

“That’s more or less my view on the whole situation too,” Makoto remarked. “The help provided by Ren’s friends from Inaba is very welcome and can certainly lighten our burden somewhat, but the responsibilities for dealing with the Jail Crisis are ours first and foremost.”

Ryuji shrugged. “Then I guess it’s business as usual, right? We’ve been doing just fine so far even without them!”

“Indeed, Ryuji-kun!” Haru agreed with a giggle. “And we still have a Lock Keeper to fight, do we not?”

“I must confess, I’m quite curious as to see what drove Ango Natsume to such shameful acts of plagiarism,” Yusuke remarked. “I can tell, in my soul, that at the very least his motivations are different from Madarame’s.”

“Then let’s go,” Ren suggested. “We’ve already put this off long enough. If all goes as planned, we’ll be stealing Ango Natsume’s heart as early as tomorrow.”

Chapter Text

The Phantom Thieves agreed to fight the Lock Keeper without any further delay, and they made their way over to the Gatorre Coffee that Sophia had pointed out to them. “Huh,” Ren blinked as he studied the café entrance. “This just looks like your ordinary, run-of-the-mill coffee shop.”

“I agree with Ren. I can smell the coffee. It seems to just be an ordinary café,” Yusuke acknowledged.

“Are we sure we have the right place?” Haru wondered.

“There can be no doubt!” Sophia affirmed. “This is the location where the Lock Keeper is.”

“Then we’ll just have to put in the keyword and see,” Morgana concluded.

Futaba pumped her fists in the air. “All right, then let’s make it happen!” she exclaimed. “The Trauma Cell’s calling our names!”

Ann blinked. “Trauma Cell?” she repeated, confused.

“It’s just a name I came up with,” Futaba explained. “Trauma Room sounds like some kinda cheesy hospital drama.”

Ren shrugged. “It’s as good a name as any, I guess,” he replied. “And unfortunately, it’s probably accurate too, if it’s anything like what we saw in Shadow Alice’s cell.”

“Call it whatever you want,” Ryuji interrupted impatiently, “but we gotta roll!”

“Ryuji’s right,” Morgana agreed, “let’s just deal with the Lock Keeper already!”

The Phantom Thieves input the keyword into EMMA, and felt reality shift around them as they entered the Trauma Cell. The Phantom Thieves entered the café in the Metaverse, where just like with Shadow Alice’s cell, the outside of the café was lined with more ominous red jail cells with the figures of Shadows standing inside them.

“It’s just like what happened in Shibuya,” Mona murmured. “This is where Natsume’s trauma comes from.”

“What could’ve happened to him, I wonder…” Fox mused.

“Shh!” Queen silenced them. “Someone is up ahead!” She pointed towards the counter of the café, where there were two men dressed in business suits sitting and enjoying their coffee together as they talked.

“Are you sure about this?” one of them was asking the other. “Awarding him the grand prize for THAT?”

“Ango Natsume…” the other man replied disdainfully. “The kid’s entered every contest, but he’s never made it past the first stage. He’s as stubborn as he is incompetent. What’s more, his writing is so painfully generic. It only becomes more obvious when you compare it to the other candidates.”

“W-what?” Ango Natsume’s voice murmured through the air, sounding genuinely horrified.

“That voice…” Fox gasped. “Is it Natsume?”

“It was,” Joker confirmed grimly. “And I think he just heard every single word those men said.”

“They can’t be…” Natsume mumbled, the bravado his voice had possessed in their real-life interactions with him completely absent. “They acknowledged my work.”

“It’s fine,” a man who appeared to be the chief editor answered dismissively. “He’s the great Sogo Natsume’s grandson, remember? Brand recognition is a huge part of marketability. Nobody gives a rat’s ass about what’s beyond the cover. Though a certain someone seems to think he’s actually worth a damn.”

“No…” Natsume whimpered in a heartbroken tone. “I’m trying as hard as I can!”

The chief editor chuckled menacingly. “No skin off my nose so long as he keeps raking it in. We hit the jackpot with that one, and I plan on riding him straight to the top. And if he does by some miracle make something decent of himself, well, then everyone wins right?” He bellowed with laughter. “Ahahahahaha!” The editor transformed into another Lock Keeper abomination very similar to the one that Alice’s bully had turned into, only this time it was wielding four swords instead of axes.

“These guys are the worst!” Panther growled in disgust.

“Here it comes!” Fox warned.

“Fox, Sophie, Skull, up front!” Joker barked out orders. “Everyone else, stay back and support us against the chaff that the Lock Keeper sends out against us!”

“Write all you want!” The Lock Keeper bellowed as the landscape around them transformed into walls of red jail cells. “A talentless hack like you is hopeless, hopeless, HOPELESS!”

“This is the same thing we saw in Shibuya!”

“Careful!” Mona warned. “It’s using different weapons from last time!”

The warning was well-deserved, for the Lock Keeper immediately rushed at them with its swords, moving much faster than the last one had. All of the Thieves barely managed to dodge out of the way in time. Joker retaliated by firing a Bufula from his Jack Frost…and to his satisfaction, the attack struck the Lock Keeper in a weakness. It wasn’t enough to break one of the energy shields, but even discovering the information itself was essential to their victory.

“Fox!” Joker called out. “It’s Weak to Ice!”

“Excellent!” Fox answered, wasting no time in summoning Goemon and firing his own Bufu. The Lock Keeper retaliated by launching into the air, and the swordsmaster nimbly leapt out of the way as the Lock Keeper slammed onto the ground with a huge shockwave.

“This fucker’s way faster than the last Lock Keeper,” Joker thought with a scowl as Sophie fired her version of a Kouha from her weapon systems, confirming that the Lock Keeper was also weak to Bless just like the past one had been.

“He can’t seriously be proud of submitting this trash, can he?” The Lock Keeper asked insultingly as it sliced the air around him with his swords, catching both Skull and Sophie off guard. Sophie disengaged to heal her friends, while Joker stepped in and fired multiple Bufulas from Jack Frost. The barrage not only broke the first layer of the Keeper’s energy shield, but also managed to score a lucky freeze on the Keeper itself. Fox took full advantage of the situation to slice apart the Lock Keeper with a combination of Giant Slices and a ruthless flurry of slashes from his sword, managing to tear through more of the Lock Keeper’s shield before it finally broke free. Fox nimbly leapt out of the way as the Keeper retaliated with yet another vicious swing of its swords, with Sophie healing him back to full with multiple Dias in quick succession.

“Whoa, shit!” Skull yelped. “These attacks are coming out crazy fast!”

“And that definitely makes this Lock Keeper more dangerous than the last one,” Joker agreed grimly. The axe-wielding Lock Keeper had been much slower in its attacks, and while they were certainly powerful, they had also been fairly telegraphed and relatively easy for him to dodge.

The sword-wielding Lock Keeper, on the other hand, was much faster and kept even him on his toes for every second. Trying to attack him in close range was risky because the Lock Keeper could either swing its blades dangerously quickly in retaliation, or it could leap up into the air and smash the ground to cause a massive shockwave. Joker winced as Fox got a little too aggressive in attacking the Lock Keeper, and was caught in one such explosion that wiped out more than half of his health by itself. And unlike last time, keeping at a distance and bombarding the Lock Keeper with Persona attacks was much less safe, as the Lock Keeper could decide to charge at him and his friends at any moment.

Still, that didn’t mean the Lock Keeper was invincible, far from it. Whenever it finished its attacks, there were brief moments where it was exposed before it began its next assault, giving Joker and his friends the window of opportunity to fire attacks at it with a much-reduced risk of retaliation. Not only that, but the Lock Keeper’s weakness to Ice meant that at any time, a Bufu or Bufula attack from Fox and Joker could completely immobilize it, allowing Skull and Fox free rein to brutally bombard it with Physical attacks and skills to tear apart the Lock Keeper’s energy shield without needing to waste SP as Sophie and Joker replenished the health that they expended for their attacks.

“I might not like that Natsume guy…” Skull snarled as he smashed another layer of the Lock Keeper’s energy shield with a Technical-boosted Lunge, “but…it’s these assholes who were usin’ him the whole time, right?”

“Yeah…” Noir murmured sadly, “I feel kind of sorry for him. They only chose him for who he was, not what he wrote.”

“He’s not the only fraud here, that’s for sure!” Joker gritted his teeth in fury as he fired another Bufula from Jack Frost.

“Authors are just chips in a bigger game!” the Lock Keeper taunted as its swung its blades down onto the ground where the Phantom Thieves had been standing seconds before they dodged. “They exist solely for us to win!”

“From what I can tell, his editor was a real scumbag,” Oracle muttered.

“I know his pain perhaps more than anyone,” Fox murmured, his eyes burning with icy fury. “And for that reason, I refuse to let this go on any longer!”

“Y’know, I said I was in this for the money, but holy hell, reading through this shit is torture!”

“And listening to you spout this garbage is torture,” Joker snarled in response. “So why don’t I shut you up and give you something to ACTUALLY complain about!”

He took out three magazines that featured Hot Spots in Sendai from his inventory. Such an action would have seemed bizarre in the middle of an intense battle…but Joker had done this deliberately. For whatever reason, using the magazines in the Jails boosted his Showtime meter significantly, and Joker had been building up his power throughout the fight. He used up the Magazines to manually fill up the rest of his Showtime meter, and then unleashed his mightiest attack.

“Showtime!” Joker shouted as he summoned Jack Frost to his side. The snow imp giggled and danced around once as it raised its hand towards the Lock Keeper, and the armies of Shadows it had summoned, before unleashing a massive explosion of Ice that covered the entire battlefield. The reinforcement Shadows were obliterated entirely, and the Lock Keeper suffered a huge chunk of damage to its health as it stumbled and fell backward onto the ground, the momentum it had been collecting throughout the fight completely destroyed for the time being.

“Hell yeah, Joker!” Skull grinned. “Classy as always!”

“Kick its ass while it’s down!” Joker commanded. Skull, Fox, and Sophie needed no further encouragement, and they proceeded to attack the Lock Keeper with as many powerful attacks as they could while it was struggling to get back onto its feet. Right as it managed to get back up, Sophie broke through its final energy shield with a single Kouha, causing it to stumble back down and leaving it completely vulnerable to an All-Out Attack.

“You know what to do!” Joker shouted, and the Phantom Thieves launched their first All-Out Attack against the Lock Keeper. The pure force and fury driving their attack unleashed another massive explosion, destroying yet another chunk of the Lock Keeper’s health in the process.

“You’d better cling to that name of yours!” The Lock Keeper sneered. “Way I see it, that’s all you’ll ever have!”

“When I first saw proof of Ango Natsume’s crimes, I believed him to be the second coming of Madarame,” Fox answered with cold hatred in his tone as he sliced at the Lock Keeper with his sword. “But now, I see the truth. Your depravities are far closer to my former mentor’s corruption than Natsume’s have ever been!”

The Lock Keeper got back onto its feet and immediately began charging at and slicing at the Phantom Thieves, forcing them to disengage to safety. This time, Sophie and Fox were the ones who were just a bit too slow to dodge, and Joker was the one to heal them with Medias and Diaramas from Ame-no-Uzume.

“It’s warping around using sneak attacks…” Sophie observed as she attacked the Lock Keeper with a Kouha. “Is this what they call a ninja?”

“Not exactly!” Oracle yelped as the Lock Keeper tried to smash the ground and unleash another shockwave, although this time all the Phantom Thieves were able to evade it completely. “Last I checked, ninjas don’t use giant machetes!”

“Slow and steady will win this battle!” Joker instructed. “Wait for openings to attack, and don’t be too aggressive! This Lock Keeper will punish you a lot harder than the other one did if you overextend!”

“Understood, Joker!” Fox assured him. He was utterly furious at the editor the Lock Keeper represented, but he had not allowed his anger to overwhelm him before, and he would not start now.

Even when the Lock Keeper proceeded to taunt Natsume even further. “Hey, cheer up. You might be a shit writer, but at least you’ve got a knack for stringing yourself along! Hahahahaha!”

“Truly, you are as despicable as Madarame,” Fox hissed. “A disgrace to the worlds of art and literature, through and through!”

All throughout the battle against the Lock Keeper, the swordsmaster had been amassing his power, his wrath and disgust at Natsume’s editors fueling his fury and determination to destroy the monster that they represented. It had taken him more time than it had for Joker because he hadn’t been able to use the magazines like his leader had, but he had finally amassed enough power to unleash a Showtime, and he wasn’t afraid to use it.

Fox summoned Goemon to his side, and the Persona let out a breath of ice that covered the entire battlefield surrounding the Lock Keeper in a cascade of razor-sharp ice crystals. Fox charged at the Lock Keeper with all of his strength, slicing at it frenziedly with numerous sword slashes in quick succession while it was still immobilized. As he sheathed his sword to complete his technique, the ice crystals erupted into a massive explosion very similar to the one that Joker had unleashed through his own Jack Frost’s Showtime, tearing through another portion of the Lock Keeper’s health and forcing it to the ground in a helpless state once again.

Slowly and methodically, just as Joker had advised, the Phantom Thieves were able to whittle down the Lock Keeper’s health. The enhanced speed of the monster meant that all of them occasionally suffered damage from the creature’s fast sword swings, even Joker, but it was nothing that the Phantom Thieves wasn’t able to heal off through items and healing skills.

“Even worthless trash like yours can sell!” The Lock Keeper let out one final insult. “As long as there’s a buyer, I’ll be there to bleed you dry!”

“A sword is nothing if you lack the conviction to swing it!” Fox retorted. “Such a dull blade is worthless against me!”

“It’s almost dead, everyone!” Oracle called out excitedly. “You just need to push through a little more!”

“You’re my ticket to the bigtime, eh, Mr. Natsume? Ahahahahahahaha!”

Joker fired another Bufula from Jack Frost, and as luck would have it, this one landed a Freeze. “Right on fucking time,” he thought with a smirk as the Phantom Thieves bombarded the immobilized Lock Keeper with more physical attacks. This was enough to destroy the last of the monster’s energy shield for a second time, and the Phantom Thieves unleashed a second All-Out Attack that destroyed the last remaining pieces of the Lock Keeper’s health in another devastating explosion.

“You did it!” Oracle cheered as the Lock Keeper fell to its knees, utterly defeated. “The warden’s down for the count!”

“Well, I guess that does it,” Mona remarked approvingly as the environment transformed back into the Gatorre Coffee café.

“We can get inside the birdcage now, right?” Skull asked. “Better get going, then.”

“Can we talk about what we just saw, though?” Panther asked with worry in her tone. “It was really rubbing me the wrong way.”

“From what I could tell, it sounds like Ango Natsume wasn’t given that award on his own merit,” Queen explained. “The editors just used him for his name.”

“So there was a secret behind that novel, after all,” Fox murmured. “I knew there was more to Ango Natsume than what we were seeing…but I didn’t expect his story to be so disturbingly similar to my own.”

“I know he was a prick when we saw him,” Panther mumbled sympathetically, “but maybe he wasn’t as bad as we thought he was. It sounded like he entered that competition a whole bunch of times.”

“And just when he thought his hard work was paying off, he had to hear all that,” Mona added morosely. “It must’ve been devastating.”

“Those editors are horrible!” Noir sounded equally depressed and disgusted as she recalled all the despicable things the Lock Keeper had spouted. “They knew his writing wasn’t good enough, but they still gave him the prize just so they could make money.”

“There’s a reason why people say the love of money is the root of all evil,” Joker commented with a scowl. “And I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t give Ango Natsume enough credit. From what we saw just now, it seems as though he did genuinely try to be a good writer based on his own merits…only for the editors to crush his dream that one day, he would have enough talent to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps. I can now see all too easily how he became a Jail Monarch, and how this revelation drove him past the breaking point and led him down a dark path.”

“It still doesn’t justify what he’s doing now, though,” Mona retorted.

“Absolutely,” Joker agreed with his friend. “Unlike Madarame, whose excuses for his crimes are so pathetic that they’re not even worth acknowledging, Ango Natsume was indeed a genuine victim of corrupt and greedy authority figures. But with the actions he’s taken, he’s allowed his despair to twist him into something just as dark. The crimes he’s committed through the Jails are the types of actions Madarame would’ve committed without a second thought, if he had access to the power of the Jails one year ago.”

“Indeed,” Fox murmured, as he got up from the chair. “And now that I’ve seen this memory with my own eyes, I’m finally beginning to understand how Ango Natsume feels. Rising to fame atop stolen ideas, pulling at people’s emotions with a fabricated story…even worse, robbing others of free will, changing their hearts, and wallowing in his own vanity. These crimes are unforgiveable, and there’s no denying that he’s been a fool.” He sighed. “And yet, in spite of all of that, it doesn’t change the fact that Natsume spent years giving it everything he had. Creative work is often a lonely endeavor, and battling against that loneliness is truly a challenge in and of itself. And as if it wasn’t hard enough, if you don’t produce results, no one will even think twice about you.”

“I knew you would understand that feeling better than anyone else here possibly could,” Joker commented sympathetically. “And if you want my honest thoughts, Fox? Just like Alice Hiiragi was a dark representation of what Ann could have become if she let herself fall to evil, I believe Ango Natsume represents what you could’ve become if you fell to despair and hopelessness under Madarame’s iron grip.”

“A disturbing parallel that I recognized all too well,” Fox agreed without hesitation. “It is so easy to believe that dark and unfulfilling times are all that’s in store. And I could have fallen into such a dismal way of thinking myself, if the Phantom Thieves hadn’t opened my eyes to the truth and delivered me from that darkness. If only Ango Natsume had had someone, anyone to truly support him…perhaps he could have been delivered from that dark path…just as I may very well have turned out to be as hideous as him, if I had but taken one wrong step.”

“Inari…” Oracle murmured sadly.

“I must say it once again,” Fox insisted. “It is thanks to you all that I didn’t stray from the path of righteousness. He, however, doesn’t seem to have anyone. Natsume should know better than most that there’s no meaning in superficial glory. And now he’s turned his back on what he truly wants to write for the sake of spinning this infernal novel of lies. Someone needs to bring him back to his senses.”

“And that someone is you, Fox,” Joker interjected calmly, but with an intensity in his tone that drew everyone’s attention to him. “You understand Natsume’s mentality and plight better than anyone else here possibly could. Just like Panther was able to understand Alice. After we beat her Shadow, Panther was the one to open Alice’s eyes to the truth and guide her back onto the path of redemption. And I have every bit of confidence in you that after we defeat Natsume’s Shadow, you are the one who can free him from his inner demons and convince him to do the right thing.”

“A goal which I will dedicate my entire heart and soul to accomplishing,” Fox pledged. “My honor as one who has dedicated his life to art demands it. I cannot condone his actions, and so let us bring this to an end! We’ll send the Calling Card, wrest the Overlord from his throne, and remind Natsume of the dream he once had before he fell to darkness!”

And with Fox’s proclamation, the Phantom Thieves returned to the real world. The lock to the jail cell had been broken with the Keeper’s destruction, and the Desires were ripe for the taking. All that was left for them to do was send the Calling Card, and then the battle for the hearts of Sendai and Ango Natsume would truly begin.

Meanwhile…

Yu sat alone in Ren’s house, all of his friends having already left after they had finished reviewing Margaret’s list of rules. This was by his own choice, for both he and Mitsuru Kirijo preferred to have their conversations privately, although Mitsuru didn’t have an issue with him sharing the details of the conversation with the rest of his team after the fact. And this particular conversation was almost certainly one that he couldn’t put off until later.

He dialed Mitsuru’s number and raised the phone to his ear. As it was already nighttime, Mitsuru answered almost immediately. “Good evening, Yu-san,” the head of the Kirijo Group and the Shadow Operatives greeted him. “How are you doing tonight?”

“I’m doing well,” Yu replied warmly. “And I have some excellent news.”

“Oh?” Even though he couldn’t picture it, Yu could imagine Mitsuru raising an eyebrow. “Does it have something to do with the Jail Crisis?”

“That’s right,” Yu affirmed. “There’s been a major development regarding the Jail Crisis. Ren discovered a loophole that would allow us to get involved in assisting with the Jails, even if our role would be relatively minor compared to that to of the Phantom Thieves. Both Ren’s and my Velvet Room attendants created a list of rules for our team to follow, and we just finished going over it today. I plan on discussing this further with Ren once he’s finished dealing with Ango Natsume’s Shadow in the Sendai Jail tomorrow.”

“That is indeed excellent news,” Mitsuru replied, and though her tone was calm and subdued as it always was, Yu could hear the genuine happiness in her voice at the revelation. “It always frustrated me to no end that we could do nothing against Shido and Yaldabaoth, so the fact that our hands aren’t quite as tied as they were last year gives me no small amount of satisfaction. Since you told me that Ren wants the Investigation Team to take on the bulk of the work regarding infiltration in the Jails, is there anything that I need to know on my end regarding Margaret’s list of rules?”

“I think the most important thing is that, according to Margaret and Lavenza, you cannot interfere with the actions of the real-world Monarchs,” Yu answered solemnly. “That means no trying to arrest them or aggressively shutting down their operations before the Phantom Thieves have the opportunity to change their hearts. I suppose the best you might be able to do is slow them down a little. But even then, I’d be very careful because too much intervention could be considered a violation of Ren’s Journey.”

“Understood. However, I noticed that you specifically stated that we cannot significantly interact with the Jail Monarchs before their hearts have been changed,” Mitsuru pointed out. “Which implies that after their hearts have been changed by the Phantom Thieves, we can interrogate them to discover more about the Jails.”

“That is indeed correct,” Yu confirmed. “Margaret even explicitly wrote as such in her list of rules.”

“Then perhaps it might be worth sending someone over to speak with Alice Hiiragi while she’s in custody,” Mitsuru mused, “and maybe Ango Natsume as well after the Phantom Thieves have changed his heart.”

“It’s not a bad idea, but I wouldn’t expect to find too much beyond what we already know,” Yu warned. “Ren’s no fool, and he most certainly wouldn’t have forgotten to ask his own set of questions.”

“Perhaps, but as wasteful as duplicating efforts often tends to be, I wouldn’t be at peace with myself unless I knew for a fact that I’d left no stone unturned,” Mitsuru replied firmly. Yu merely nodded in agreement at that. He wouldn’t respect Mitsuru Kirijo as much as he did if she hadn’t proven herself a thorough, methodical, and competent leader.

“Going back to our original topic, I plan on speaking with Ren again after he’s changed Ango Natsume’s heart,” Yu reported. “While I will certainly follow the rules set for me by Margaret, I do think rendezvousing with him in the Shibuya Jail for a singular meeting would help us adjust more quickly to combat in the Jails. He would be able to offer us advice and guidance in this unfamiliar environment, but after this initial…tutorial, for lack of a better word, I have every confidence in my team’s ability to handle Jail infiltrations by ourselves.”

“Since you’re the one with the list of rules from Margaret, I leave that to your discretion,” Mitsuru answered. “However, there is something I did want to discuss, and it involves the terms that Ren Amamiya set for us.”

“…please don’t tell me you’re going to go behind his back or subvert them in some way,” Yu all but pleaded, with a hint of concern in his voice. “He’s really not going to like that.”

“Oh, Heavens no!” Mitsuru quickly reassured him.

“I didn’t think you would, but I had to be sure,” Yu replied, sounding visibly relieved. “Out of all the Wild Cards within the past couple of years, Ren is arguably the most dangerous to make an enemy out of, and certainly the least forgiving.”

“You can be assured that I have no intention of violating our agreement,” Mitsuru promised. “That being said, I did want to ask you to pass on a request to him.”

“And what would that request be?” Yu wondered.

“If he would be willing to allow me to send a singular operative to assist you in the Investigation Team’s Jail infiltrations,” Mitsuru requested. “I know that you’re technically part of the Shadow Operatives, Yu, but having someone on the field who would be able to directly report their observations to me would be very helpful in allowing me and my team to understand the Jails. The ability to commit mass brainwashing through the cognitive world is very concerning, and a comprehensive understanding of the Jails would help me devise strategies on how to counter or undo crimes of a similar nature involving cognitive worlds in the future.”

“I can pass on the request, but that’s all I can promise,” Yu warned. “It’s up to Ren to decide whether to agree or not, and since this is HIS Fool’s Journey, I’m not going to argue against whatever decision he makes.”

“Understood, and thank you,” Mitsuru thanked the Seeker of Truth. “Please let me know what the leader of the Phantom Thieves decides as soon as possible.”

They ended the call, and Yu got to work dialing Ren’s number right afterwards. “Oh, hey Yu, what’s up?” Ren’s voice greeted him after only one ring. “We just finished dealing with the Lock Keeper today, and my friends are working on the calling card. Plan is to send it out and steal Natsume’s heart tomorrow.”

“Well, I certainly wish you the best of luck tomorrow, then,” Yu replied warmly. “I just wanted to call to let you know that I updated Mitsuru Kirijo on the list of rules regarding Jail Infiltrations. Mainly so that she knows not to try and arrest Ango Natsume or any other Monarch whose Jails you infiltrate before the Thieves have a chance to change their heart. You know, to avoid violating the laws of reality and all that.”

“Yeah, that’s probably for the best,” Ren agreed. “Would be really stupid if we spent all this time going over those rules, only for things to go to shit anyway because the Shadow Operatives decided to try and arrest Natsume and fuck everything up in the process.”

“Mitsuru is very much of the same mind,” Yu reassured him. “But just as importantly, Mitsuru asked me to pass on a request to you. She would like to send a single operative to assist us in the Jail Infiltrations so that she has somebody in the gathering information on the Jails. Mainly so that she can better understand how they work and deal with similar situations if they ever come up in the future.”

“She does know that part of my terms for continuing negotiations with the Shadow Operatives was that you guys were going to be the ones doing the work in the Jails, right?” Ren asked in a neutral tone that was impossible to read.

“Mitsuru does,” Yu affirmed, “and she made it clear to me that she would respect whatever choice you made in the matter. As will I.”

Ren was silent for several seconds. “I’ve met a lot of corrupt authority figures and assholes over the past year,” he finally broke the silence once he’d collected his thoughts. “And pretty much all of them fit into one of two categories. Either they demanded things be done their way without giving a shit what other people thought…or they just went ahead and did whatever the fuck they wanted to, the consequences and the negative impact their actions on others be damned. I think Mitsuru Kirijo is the first person of power and authority outside of Tokyo and Inaba who politely asked me to do something instead of trying to force me to do it, and she hasn’t even met or talked to me personally yet.”

“I told you before that I fully endorse her as a woman of principle, and my assessment hasn’t changed,” Yu assured his younger brother figure.

“You know what? Since Mitsuru bothered to extend that basic courtesy to me when so many other shitheads didn’t, I’ll extend a courtesy back to her in return,” Ren decided. “Tell her she can send one operative to help you guys in the Jails. But ONLY one operative. Whoever they are, they’ll be subject to the same terms and conditions we talked about earlier, like not trying to find out who the identities of the other Phantom Thieves are and all that shit. And that operative has to fully place themselves under your authority for the Jail infiltrations. That means that if for whatever reason, you and Mitsuru disagree on something, the operative has to listen to YOUR word over Mitsuru’s.”

Yu smiled at Ren’s answer. For as hardened as Ren had become after his last Fool’s Journey, and for all the darkness and viciousness that lurked in the depths of his soul that hadn’t been there before (Magatsu-Izanagi Picaro was testament to THAT), none of it had overwhelmed his rational thought or his ability to be understanding and reasonable. “I’ll give your answer to Mitsuru right away,” he promised, before adding. “And once again, Ren, good luck tomorrow on stealing Ango Natsume’s heart.”

He could picture the grin on Ren’s face. “We’re gonna give Ango Natsume and the rest of Sendai a Showtime they’re never gonna forget!” he promised, and the younger Wild Card hung up the phone.

“That went about just as well as I could’ve hoped for,” Yu thought. “Mitsuru will be very happy to hear that Ren gave his approval.”

And as he typed in Mitsuru’s phone number again to give her good news, Yu couldn’t help but wonder which operative Mitsuru was planning to send to help the Investigation Team in the Jail Infiltrations. “Whoever it is,” he thought, “I hope it’s someone who can fill out a role in our team that the rest of us can’t.”

Chapter Text

With the decision to send the calling card made, the Phantom Thieves decided to get in contact with Zenkichi and update him on their plans. After all, they were about to perform a major heist, and as long as Zenkichi didn’t do anything to violate their trust, he would be considered an ally to the Phantom Thieves and treated accordingly.

The good news was that Zenkichi was already in the Sendai park, trying to help a kid who had apparently gotten lost. The bad news was that he was failing miserably, as PubSec refused to send any additional help to Zenkichi (much to his irritation) and the kid ended up walking off on his own.

“That kid sure made things difficult,” Zenkichi muttered once he had joined the Thieves. “He didn’t have to run away like that, right?” He stared at the blank looks the Thieves were giving him. “Right?”

Futaba cut right to the point. “You’re not exactly cute and cuddly, Gramps…” she replied without any hesitation. “Honestly, I don’t blame him.”

Zenkichi groaned and rolled his eyes. “Can you please stop calling me Gramps?” he pleaded.

“All jokes aside,” Ren decided to interrupt before things got out of hand. “This is actually perfect timing, as we wanted to talk to you. We wanted to ask you about something.”

“Sure,” Zenkichi replied, sounding visibly happier. “We’re supposed to be working together anyway.”

“We’re all set to go inside Natsume’s Jail,” Makoto explained. “There’s just one thing left to do.” She sighed. “Only problem is, we’re not sure how to send our calling card.”

“Calling card…” Zenkichi repeated, before he snapped his fingers. “Oh! You mean that thing you guys did with the screens in Shibuya?”

“That’s it exactly,” Ren confirmed.

Zenkichi thought for a few seconds. “If you want my advice, you should avoid any high-profile stuff like that,” he advised. “The police aren’t stupid. Eventually, you’ll get caught. I know I’m supposed to help you and all, but I gotta draw the line at breaking the law,” he warned.

“That makes sense,” Ren acknowledged. “Our calling card at Shibuya was targeted at Alice, but I can see how the police could’ve seen it as a gigantic provocation.” He chuckled ruefully. “As much as I personally enjoy pissing the corrupt ones off, I can also see why we should avoid deliberately provoking them unless there’s a REALLY good reason for it.”

“Yeah, so the adult’s the voice of reason here,” Futaba commented. “You really are a Gramps, you know that?”

Zenkichi sighed. “You’re pretty set on calling me that, aren’t you?” he asked in a resigned tone. He shook his head. “Whatever. My point is, go with something simple.”

“So it sounds like we’re going back to our classic roots with the paper calling cards,” Ren replied as his lips twisted into a smirk. “All right. I don’t have a problem with that.”

“We still need a way to guarantee that Natsume will read the calling card,” Haru pointed out. “Maybe if we knew where he was going to be, we could set up something before he arrived.”

A beep sounded from Ren’s phone. “In that case, I know just the event!” Sophia volunteered. “Natsume is holding another book-signing at the bookstore near the station. He will certainly be there. It starts as soon as the store opens at 10 AM.”

Ryuji grinned. “Oh, great! That sounds like it could work. I’d bet it’d be easy to set up if we roll in at night.”

“Hey!” Zenkichi interrupted with a scowl. “Didn’t you hear what I just said? Breaking and entering’s a crime, you know?”

“Well, that’s where you come in, Gramps!” Futaba interrupted.

Zenkichi’s jaw dropped. “Huh!?” he spluttered.

“Yeah!” Ann chimed in. “If we did it and got caught, they’d lock us up.”

“They’d lock me up too!” Zenkichi protested.

“You sayin’ you can’t do it?” Ryuji retorted. “Some help the police turned out to be.”

“Wasn’t the deal that you’d cooperate with us?” Futaba added with a hint of mischief. “I thought adults kept their word.”

It took all of Ren’s self-control to start laughing. It was such an obvious provocation…and yet it was somehow working. “Nghh….” Zenkichi groaned. “You kids…”

“All right, it’s settled,” Yusuke declared, not allowing for any more discussion or debate. “I will go and prepare the calling card.”

“Yeah,” Morgana agreed. “You got this, Yusuke. That goes for you, Zenkichi. We’ll leave the planning to you.”

“We’re counting on you,” Ren added in with a serious tone on his face. He wasn’t going to joke around on the eve of a major heist. “Both of you.”

Zenkichi groaned. “Am I seriously gonna go through with this?” he asked himself out loud. But tellingly, for whatever reason, Zenkichi didn’t refuse the task the Phantom Thieves had given him. Ren wasn’t sure exactly why the inspector had stopped protesting, but he wasn’t going to complain.

The Thieves spent the rest of the night preparing for the heist, with Ren buying more medical supplies and Yusuke making the calling cards before giving them to Zenkichi. With all that work done, they decided to return to their hotel rooms to sleep for the night.

With how surprisingly challenging Shadow Alice had proved to be for a fight, they would need all the rest and energy they could get to deal with whatever Natsume’s Shadow threw at them.

The Next Day…

Ango Natsume walked confidently into the bookstore, ready as ever to sign more books for his adoring, brainwashed fans. He was so eager to begin the day that he almost failed to notice his editor looking at him with a panicked expression. “M-Mr. Natsume!” the editor spluttered.

“Good morning!” Natsume replied pleasantly. “I see there’s quite a crowd today as well.”

“Um, yes…” the editor looked like he was on the verge of panicking. “About that…”

“What is it?” Natsume asked. He turned to look at his station…and gasped in shock at the multitude of Phantom Thieves calling cards positively splattered all over his workplace. “Wha…what?” he gasped in disbelief. “What is this?”

Natsume’s editor frantically tried to explain as Natsume went up to get a closer look. “Well, when the staff came to open the store this morning, it was already like this...they called the police, but they were told to leave it at is…to preserve the crime scene.”

Natsume ignored him, focusing on the words written on the calling card. “To the ostentatious swindler, Mr. Ango Natsume…you are a depraved miscreant who holds others in contempt and steals their work, lining your own pockets all the while. We refuse to overlook the crimes you commit as you wear a false crown. Tonight, we take back the Desires you’ve stolen.”

He forced a laugh out of his mouth that didn’t reach his eyes. “Heh. Heheh. Ahahahaha!!! Honestly, how stupid can you get!?” He scowled furiously and stomped his foot on the ground. “Dammit! What nonsense…!”

In the depths of his heart, a Shadow in the form of a demon overlord’s eyes flared with both amusement and fury. “I am the Monarch!” he proclaimed. “My followers are loyal. That is…as long as I hold their Desires.” The demon overlord scowled. “No…having those Desires is proof of my claim to power. Proof of my sovereignty! I won’t hand them over…” he growled. “I won’t give them up! You foolish heroes are nothing but talk. Come, then!” he declared. “I’ll crush every last one of you!”

Meanwhile, outside of the bookstore, the Phantom Thieves and Zenkichi had gathered. “All right,” Yusuke reported. “His cognition should be changed now.”

“Thank you for all the help, Mr. Detective!” Haru gratefully thanked Zenkichi.

Zenkichi sighed. “And with that,” he muttered, “I’ve officially become an accomplice of the Phantom Thieves.”

“What are you complaining about?” Morgana retorted. “You’re the one who proposed working with us, remember?”

“And hey,” Ren added with a smirk, “Futaba messed with the cameras in the bookstore last night so there was no chance of anybody spying on you with any surveillance, and you were smart enough to wear gloves last night, so there’s pretty much no chance of you getting caught.”

“As a reward,” Futaba offered, “I’ll try to start calling you Zenkichi instead of Gramps now on, okay?”

“Hmm…” Yusuke mused. “Inspector Hasegawa is quite a mouthful.”

“Yeah,” Ann agreed, “Zenkichi’s good, don’t you think?”

“Okay then!” Haru declared. “From now on, you’re Zenkichi-san, all right?”

“I’m looking forward to work with you, Zenkichi!” Sophia cheerfully added.

Zenkichi sighed again. “Fine, whatever. You’ve already dragged me along this far, dammit. I’ll take what I can get.”

“Going back to the appropriate topic, the Desires should have materialized by this point,” Yusuke declared. “It’s up to us to take them back and return them to their rightful owners.”

“And I’ve already come up with our lineup for this battle,” Ren added with a more serious look on his face. “Judging by the fact that Natsume’s a demon lord and the Lock Keeper was Weak to Ice, my gut’s telling me that our best chances of success are if Yusuke and Sophia are on the front lines. And since it’s statistically unlikely that we’ll face two Monarchs back-to-back that resist Psy, I’m going to assign Haru as the last front line member.”

“I see no obvious flaws in that strategy,” Yusuke acknowledged. “And once we’ve taken back the Desires he’s stolen, we’ll set his distorted heart straight.”

“Let’s do this!” Ren declared. Together, the Phantom Thieves entered the Sendai Jail, where the air was already brimming with the intense energy that always permeated the environment whenever a target had read a calling card.

Joker transported them over to the Checkpoint at Mt. Aoba, which was right outside the main entrance to Shadow Natsume’s Castle. “Let’s go!” Fox declared right before they teleported. “We’re taking back those stolen Desires!”

“Yeah!” Oracle agreed. “Natsume won’t know what hit him!”

The Thieves teleported over to the Mt. Aoba checkpoint, where they rushed straight to the entrance to Natsume’s Castle. Just like with the Shibuya Jail, the cage containing the Desires at the top of the demon overlord’s castle had been unlocked, with a mighty chain link breaking free from the cage and snaking all the way down to the bottom of the stairs.

“Damn!” Joker whistled as he realized that a statue of Natsume had gotten completely entangled within the chain.

Oracle had the same thought. “Whoa, check out that statue that totally ate it! And hey, doesn’t that remind you of how we got to the top in Shibuya? Ready for round two?”

Joker grinned back at her. “Hell of a lot easier than trying to scale the demon overlord’s castle for a second time. Let’s do this, Thieves!”

They climbed to the top of the castle, where to their satisfaction, the Desires had once again materialized as a gigantic pink gem, ready for the Thieves to steal them back from Natsume. They rushed to the door leading inside to the demon overlord’s throne room, where Shadow Natsume was no doubt waiting for them.

Shadow Natsume’s throne room was very much what one would expect from a demon overlord’s throne room, with perhaps the main standout feature being the gigantic bookcases that flanked his throne on either side. Not all that surprising to the Phantom Thieves, given Natsume’s background as a writer. And just as unsurprisingly, Shadow Natsume was already waiting for them, as the Thieves had zero delusions that he would simply give up the Desires without a fight.

“Hmph,” Shadow Natsume greeted them dismissively once they approached the bottom of the stairs leading up to the throne. “You certainly took your time, Phantom Thieves. Or should I say, chosen heroes?”

Skull scoffed at that. “Bout time we met, eh, Mister Overlord?” he retorted.

“You’re gonna give back all those Desires you stole!” Panther shouted.

“This farce has gone on long enough!” Joker declared. “I hope you’re ready, because we’re gonna be taking them straight off your hands!”

Shadow Natsume only laughed as they adopted their battle stances. “Hehehehe…HAHAHAHAHAHA! Such foolishness! You haven’t the slightest idea what you’ve just walked into!”

Fox’s eyes narrowed as he studied Shadow Natsume’s appearance. “That appearance…that stance…this is no doubt the Overlord from the Prince of Nightmares.”

“He certainly gives off that impression…” Noir agreed with a frown, “but weren’t the Fearsome Four just dressed like normal people?”

Joker scowled. “I could’ve sworn I’ve seen that stance somewhere before...I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy was copying that too along with everything else.”

“Yeah,” Oracle agreed. “Thinking about it, those guys didn’t get much love from the author, did they?”

“Given what we saw in the Trauma Cell, I can take a guess why,” Joker replied grimly.

“Heh,” Shadow Natsume interrupted with a sinister chuckle. “You’ve come all this way only to fall right into my trap. This world belongs to me and me alone. It takes shape solely according to my design. Here, the Overlord rains justice upon the holier-than-thou heroes who would dare brand him as evil. Here, you are nothing more than flies to be swatted!” His face stretched into a malicious and triumphant grin. “I’ll enjoy hearing your filthy screams as you atone for your transgressions!”

Queen scoffed. “That’s bold for someone who stole others’ Desires just to satisfy their own selfish wants,” she growled.

“Yeah!” Skull fiercely added. “If you’re really the Overlord, ain’t this the part where you get your ass kicked?”

“Hmph,” Shadow Natsume sneered. “Tell me, how many of my demon brethren have you slaughtered while spouting such despicable hypocrisies?”

Joker blinked. “What the fuck?” he spluttered. “Those things are literally just constructs made from your own mind. Your entire argument makes no fucking sense whatsoever!”

Oracle sighed. “Wow…this guy’s reading right from the handbook, isn’t he?”

“Enough of this!” Fox growled. “It’s time we fought! No matter how brave a façade you put on, it’s clear you’re just afraid of losing that hollow throne you’re so proud of.”

Shadow Natsume’s arrogant smile vanished instantly. “What was that?” he snarled.

“Your reign is naught but an illusion!” Fox shouted as he raised his fist into the air. “Allow us to show you the truth!”

Shadow Natsume’s eyes flashed dangerously as he glared down upon the Thieves. “I am so sick…and tired…of everyone looking down on me,” he growled, before twisting his lips into a menacing grin. “Yes…the time has come for my true power! Bear witness to my final form!” An explosion of red and black magic erupted around his body, just like it had for Shadow Alice. But when the eruption faded away, the Phantom Thieves were shocked to discover that his body was completely gone.

“Be careful,” Joker warned as they tensed and looked around the empty chamber. “He could be anywhere.”

The earth started shaking, and Skull and Panther barely had time to get out of the way as a giant dragon clad with golden scales covering his body like armor lunged towards them. The giant dragon that Natsume had transformed into circled around them in the air before flying over his throne, stretching his wings outward with a mighty roar before raising his arms in yet another pose that Joker could have sworn that he had copied (yet again) from an anime he had seen before.

The Thieves flinched as the brilliant golden radiance shining from his body briefly blinded them. Shadow Natsume landed on the ground, letting out one final roar as he glared at the Phantom Thieves. “You ignorant whelps dare to challenge the great Overlord himself!?” he bellowed. “Imbeciles! I will feast upon your bones!”

“Holy crap!” Oracle exclaimed in disbelief. “A giant dragon! Be careful, guys!” she warned. “This one’s really tough!”

The Phantom Thieves barely had time to get ready as Shadow Natsume raised himself upon his own two feet, before grabbing his tail and writing mystical golden symbols in the air. “He’s writing something!” Morgana pointed out warningly.

“Is he building up energy!?” Oracle asked with growing nervousness. “Crap, you gotta stop that pen of his!”

“Hit him with everything you have!” Joker shouted. He summoned Ame-no-Uzume and immediately started firing Bufulas in quick succession, while Fox did the same with Bufus from Goemon and Sophie began assaulting Shadow Natsume with her equivalent of Kouhas from her weapons. The good news was that Joker’s assessment of Natsume’s weaknesses turned out to be correct, and they started shipping away at the energy shield protecting Natsume’s body.

The bad news was that none of their attacks were enough to actually stop him from completing his spell, and an eruption of the same golden-colored energy surged around Shadow Natsume, massively increasing his power on all levels as he let out a mighty, deafening roar.

Oracle confirmed Joker’s suspicions a few seconds later. “Whoa, he’s powered up like crazy!” she exclaimed as Shadow Natsume’s body flared with that unholy golden aura. “He must be getting serious! We gotta slow his momentum! Can you target his weakness and knock him down?”

Joker narrowed his eyes and considered his options as Shadow Natsume swiped at Noir and Sophie with his claws. Noir was able to dodge out of the way in time, but Sophie was just a bit too slow and Joker winced as Natsume’s claws tore apart a huge chunk of her health in one single blow. “We can’t fight him at full power like this,” he thought grimly as Sophie retreated and healed herself with a few of the items he had bought from the online store. His eyes fell upon the battlefield…which, for some reason, was filled with both ice crystals and piles of golden swords. “Wait a minute…those might be the key to stopping him in his tracks!”

“I was born of nightmares blacker and darker than darkness itself!” Shadow Natsume boasted as he flew into the air, opening his massive jaw and began channeling Ice magic into his mouth. “Watch as I unleash hell!”

“Not on my watch!” Joker retorted. He jumped onto the nearest ice crystal, changing his Persona to Jack Frost so that he could neutralize the Ice attack if he got hit by it. Joker leapt into the air, turned towards the crystal, and fired his gun at it. The crystal exploded into countless fragments of ice, the frosty blast taking Natsume completely by surprise. Shadow Natsume yelped as his momentum and the power he had gotten from his spell were negated, and he fell back onto the ground unceremoniously.

“Excellent work, Joker!” Fox praised as he lunged forward towards Shadow Natsume, taking the opportunity to get a few free slashes with his blades as the dragon recovered. Shadow Natsume unleashed a blast of fire from his mouth that Fox was only barely able to dodge in time.

“Hahahaha!” Shadow Natsume laughed. “How was that!? If you thought that was Agidyne just now, think again…it was Agi!”

“Are you…actually stupid or something?” Joker asked incredulously. “You do realize that Agi is straight up the weakest possible version of the Agi line? Why the hell would we be more scared of a fucking Agi over Agidyne?”

“Oh, geez…” Oracle groaned. “I’ve definitely heard that line before. Just how many things did this guy rip off?”

“Not the time, you two!” Mona interrupted as Shadow Natsume reared up on his hind legs before slamming his claws down onto the ground. This time, both Joker and Fox got caught in the attack, but without the power boost from his earlier spell, the damage both took from the attack was only moderate at worst, and easily healed.

The Phantom Thieves attacked Shadow Natsume with a combination of basic attacks and Persona skills, while Sophie periodically hit Shadow Natsume with Rakunda and Fox buffed them with Sukukaja. It soon became apparent that for all the grandness of his initial entrance and admittedly intimidating appearance, Natsume actually wasn’t all that skilled or impressive of a fighter. The so-called “demon overlord” relied heavily on physical attacks from his claws or his tail to strike at nearby enemies, many of which Joker honestly thought were easier to dodge than the Lock Keeper’s. He was also surprised by how easy it was to sneak around to Natsume’s back or sides and attack him where the demon overlord wasn’t looking. Granted, Natsume could and did still retaliate by swinging his tail around him in large sweeps, but otherwise he couldn’t fully focus his attention on attacking Joker without also exposing himself to the other Thieves surrounding him.

And that wasn’t Shadow Natsume’s only deficiency, as Fox demonstrated by jumping onto the pile of holy swords, grabbing one, and hurling it at the demon overlord. “Guh!” Natsume exclaimed as the sword sliced through his body. “These swords were once wielded by past heroes! Even in death, they continue to defy me!”

“Yo, what the hell’s this guy talking about?” Skull wondered.

“It seems he’s added some backstory,” Fox replied. “That said, those swords work quite well against him.”

“Noir, since you don’t have Ice or Bless attacks, you can use these swords instead to break his shields!” Joker advised. “Because apparently, this dumbfuck thought keeping a bunch of things he was weak to in his own chamber was somehow a good idea!”

“Of course, my love!” Noir replied with a giggle as she leapt onto a different sword pile and hurled another sword at Natsume. “I can’t say I’ve ever thrown a sword at an enemy before, but it’s quite fun in its own way!”

Joker smirked at his girlfriend’s enthusiasm, although the enthusiasm quickly faded as Natsume got onto his feet and started casting the same empowering spell that he had last time. “Oh, hell no!” the leader of the Phantom Thieves growled as he summoned Ame-no-Uzume and started bombarding Natsume with Bufulas. Part of him had been hoping to see if he could get a lucky Freeze on the demon overlord, but no such luck. Shadow Natsume’s energy and aura flared once more, filling him with unholy golden power. “Hahaha!” he gloated. “I’ve done it! No greater masterpiece has ever been written!”

“What masterpiece can you claim to have written?” Fox retorted. “Your so-called masterpiece is nothing but a fraud and an insult to every great author whose lines you pilfered for your own empty glory!” He jumped onto an ice crystal next to the draconic demon overlord and fired at it with his gun, causing it to explode and shower Shadow Natsume with more shards of ice.

“Gyah! D-damn it…!” Natsume howled in frustration. “You made me lose my edge!”

“Geez, this guy can’t even keep in character for more than a few seconds whenever something goes wrong for him,” Joker commented with a roll of his eyes as he followed up on Fox’s skillful maneuver with more Bufulas from Ame-no-Uzume. To his pleasant surprise, his next attack was actually able to freeze Shadow Natsume solid for a short period of time, giving Noir and Fox extra opportunity to whale on the helpless Natsume with their powerful physical attacks as Sophie supported them with healing from her Medias.

“This changes nothing!” Shadow Natsume spluttered as he broke free from his icy prison. “I, the Prince of Nightmares, carry the blood of dragons in my veins! No mere human could ever defeat me!” he yelled as a show of bravado.

“A pity for you, then, that we are far more than just mere mortals!” Noir retorted with a grin as she fired a Psi at Natsume. “We are the Phantom Thieves, and we will end your reign of terror today!”

Joker grinned at his girlfriend. “There you go, now you’re getting into it!” he praised as he leapt onto a pile of holy swords and hurled one at Natsume. “It’s a lot more fun when you really lean into the whole roleplay aspect, Noir, trust me!”

“Fighting this dragon certainly is exhilarating!” Noir acknowledged with a giggle.

Unfortunately, their amusement was cut short as Natsume managed to get a lucky hit on Fox with his fire breath while he had gotten a little too close, wiping out a huge chunk of his health and stunning him. Noir quickly healed him with an Amrita Drop while Joker gave him some medicinal products to heal him back up. “Hahahaha!” the Shadow cackled. “See? You cannot hope to best me! Lay down your weapons and submit! Do so, and your lives will be spared!”

“Like we’d ever join you?” Panther scoffed. “Thanks, but no thanks.”

“Oh lucky you, you managed to get in a single hit,” Joker sarcastically congratulated the demon overlord. “So what? If you honestly believe that hitting a single attack means you’ve already won this battle, then you’re an even bigger fool than I thought.”

“Besides!” Skull chimed in. “The evil Overlord’s destined to get his ass beat! That’s fantasy rule number 1, dude!”

“Not to mention the fact that you sequenced this shit all wrong!” Joker pointed out sarcastically. “You’re supposed to start off a battle in your normal form, and only transform into your final, most powerful form AFTER you’ve been beaten up a good bit by the heroes. The hell kind of fantasy works are you ripping off to transform into your final form before the battle’s even started?”

“Ango Natsume, you are a shameful despot steeped in vanity,” Fox concluded, having clearly lost patience with Natsume’s Shadow. “Today, your rule comes to an end!”

Shadow Natsume roared in frustration and swiped his claws at Joker, who neatly leapt out of the way as his friends fired a barrage of attacks and distracted the dragon from continuing his chase. Truly, past the pomp and circumstance, Shadow Natsume was so far proving rather disappointing as an enemy when compared to skill and tactical diversity that Shadow Alice had displayed in her battle. Joker had figured out by now that the best place to attack Shadow Natsume was on his sides, as this would allow him to avoid the brunt of his fire breath and claw attacks, while also giving him time to avoid the sweeps from Natsume’s tail.

The only thing that the leader of the Phantom Thieves was legitimately worried about was whenever Natsume powered himself up with his unique golden spell…but even then, the unholy golden aura that flared around the dragon overlord whenever he successfully cast it was almost immediately neutralized afterwards by either an ice crystal explosion or a throw of one of the many holy swords scattered around the arena. “Gah!” Natsume shouted in pain as Sophie picked up a holy sword and threw it at the dragon overlord this time around, causing him to crash back down onto the ground. “Ergh, why you little…why would the gods favor you over me!?”

“Man, he’s really committed to the bit, isn’t he?” Oracle muttered. “I gotta give him credit for that, at least. Either way, we know Bless attacks work, so keep at it, guys!”

The Phantom Thieves continued their onslaught against Shadow Natsume, and it was clear that the battle was in the Thieves’ favor. He was getting close to losing half of his health, and any injuries that the Phantom Thieves might have suffered were almost immediately healed afterwards by either skills or items.

Still, that didn’t mean Natsume didn’t have a few tricks up his sleep. Joker wasn’t expecting Natsume to swing his tail and start firing globs of ink from the pen-like stinger on its tip, an attack that not only damaged him but also obscured his vision. “Whoa!” Panther yelped. “Since when could he do that?”

“His tail doubles as a pen!” Joker replied as he brushed the ink off his face. “He’s using it to fire ink blobs that mess with our vision! Watch out, guys!”

He fired off one more Bufula from Ame-no-Uzume towards Natsume…and as he did so, he felt the energy of Showtime flare up within his body. Grinning, Joker summoned the goddess of dawn and meditation next to him, and directed her to unleash a massive explosion of Ice far greater than even the blasts created by the ice crystals. While the Showtime attack didn’t massively devastate Natsume’s health, it did cause more damage to him than any other attack, bringing his health below half and more importantly killing his momentum completely as he was sent sprawling onto the ground.

Shadow Natsume let out a roar of frustration as he realized that he was indeed losing the fight, and began to attack the Phantom Thieves more viciously and frenziedly before. Joker had to give Natsume some credit; he actually had to be somewhat more careful now, although the fundamental attacks hadn’t really changed and they weren’t all that much harder to dodge. The draconic overlord powered himself up once again with his unique spell, but this time when he flew into the air, he began to channel the powers of both Fire and Ice together for what Joker could tell would easily be his most powerful attack yet. Thinking quickly, the leader of the Phantom Thieves jumped to the nearest pile of holy swords and threw one at the demon lord, while Noir did the same with another pile. The two blades, thrown together by the Fool and his beloved Empress, slashed across Natsume’s body, not only interrupted his attack and sent the dragon overlord sprawling onto the ground…but also destroyed the last of his energy shield entirely, leaving him completely exposed.

“NOW!” Joker shouted. “All-Out Attack!”

The Thieves lunged at Natsume and attacked him with everything they had from all sides, before landing triumphantly on the ground as Natsume was engulfed in a pillar of Almighty destruction. The dragon overlord screamed in agony and frustration as he collapsed onto the ground stunned and helpless, giving the Thieves a valuable opportunity to launch as many free attacks on him as possible for a few precious seconds before Natsume eventually recovered.

And then…something bizarre happened. Shadow Natsume flailed about in the air as sparks of golden energy flared from multiple areas of his body, but it didn’t seem like he was trying to power himself up again. Instead, Joker’s eyes widened as pieces of his golden armor-like scales began to fall off, exposing small parts of his body that had been fully protected beforehand. It wasn’t enough to identify a definitive weakness, but even exposing these small chinks in his armor like this was enough to recognize that they were wearing Shadow Natsume down. “Kgh…” he growled. “Blasted rats! Those with talent are always being dragged down by those without! How can you be so ignorant!?” The demon overlord let out one last defiant roar, this one loud enough to briefly distort the very air around his mouth with its intensity.

“Villain!” Fox shouted as Natsume tried to strike at them with claws, causing the Thieves to scatter out of the way. “You have no right to say such a thing!”

“Wh-what!?” Natsume spluttered, temporarily forgetting his offensive. “Are you suggesting that I have no talent!?”

“And what talent can you claim to possess?” Fox retorted. “Stealing others’ work for your own selfish interests? You’ve cast away both your soul and your pride…you’ve no place calling yourself a writer!”

“All the works that you plagiarized, all the authors who put their heart and soul into the works that you shamelessly ripped off of…THEY’RE the ones who have talent!” Joker added, his eyes burning with judgment against Natsume’s crimes. “They’re the ones who gave all their effort, dedication, and skill into writing masterpieces that have an impact on culture to this very day! Your so-called accomplishment is worth NOTHING, Ango Natsume! The only reason why you have so many fans buying your book is because you brainwashed them all into it, and deep down, you can’t hide from the truth!”

“Dammit!” Natsume howled with fury and frustration, desperately trying to find a response to Joker and Fox’s condemnation. “Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT! You’re just like them! You’re just like those bastards who denied me! You think you’re better than me!?” he raged even as the Phantom Thieves kept wearing him down piece by piece with their attacks. “I’ll show you how wrong you are!”

Shadow Natsume lifted his head and fired an Agi from his mouth towards Joker…who only smirked with amusement as the attack healed him thanks to Ame-no-Uzume’s ability to drain fire. Realizing that his attack had failed, Natsume stood up on his hind legs and began writing in the air with his pen-tail to empower himself yet again.

“Not this time!” Fox shouted coldly, for his own Showtime gauge had filled up completely throughout the battle. He summoned Goemon to his side, who unleashed the very same Showtime technique that he had utilized several times during the battles in the Sendai Jail. Goemon entrapped Natsume in a prison of ice crystals as Fox charged towards the demon overlord and slashed at him furiously with his blade, finishing off the technique with a massive explosion that sent Natsume falling helplessly onto the ground.

The Phantom Thieves unleashed another onslaught of furious attacks on Shadow Natsume while he remained vulnerable, tearing through his health and vitality one bit at a time. As Joker fired another Bufula from Ame-no-Uzume, the dragon stumbled backward again as more golden explosions erupted from his body. Only this time, huge chunks of his armor were completely destroyed. The dragon’s entire body was now exposed, with only his head, shoulders, chest, and wings still encased in gold now. Joker couldn’t help but smirk at the red boxers that the dragon was wearing, which honestly made Shadow Natsume look ridiculous now more than anything else.

“Aaaah! My armor!” Shadow Natsume yelped, and this time he couldn’t hide the sheer amount of panic in his voice. “The hell are you…I mean, keep your filthy hands off me!” he tried to correct himself.

Fox gave him a cold, humorless smile. “So even that golden coat of yours was a sham,” he mocked. “You’re a fraud to the very core. How pitiful.”

“You really are a joke, Natsume,” Joker sneered. “Even your final form ended up being such a massive disappointment.”

“Seems everything’s been revealed,” Queen shouted. “Time to finish him off!”

To his credit, Shadow Natsume didn’t face his defeat like a coward. He tried one last-ditch effort to fight the Thieves off with everything he had, even throwing in a surprise Dekaja to try and remove his enemies’ buffs. But it was too little, too late. Sensing victory on the edge of his fingers, Fox bombarded the weakened Shadow Natsume with Vicious Strike after Vicious Strike, and it was too much for the dragon to handle. Shadow Natsume let out one final cry of disbelief and agony as he collapsed onto the ground, all of his energy completely exhausted. “Guh…” he lamented. “This can’t be…the great Overlord…defeated!”

“Some great Overlord you turned out to be,” Joker thought with a roll of his eyes. The raw power level differential aside, Alice had turned out have been more of a challenge than Natsume. Although perhaps it was only fitting that the Shadow of a man as vain as Natsume would turn out to be such a disappointment.

“Game over, Mister Overlord!” Skull taunted as Shadow Natsume was forcibly reverted back to his human form.

“Accept your defeat!” Joker called out to him in agreement.

The look on Natsume’s face at this point was just downright pathetic. “W-wait!” he feebly protested. “We can rule this world together! You can have half…”

The Phantom Thieves watched as his demonic armor, which was revealed to be nothing but a cardboard cutout, fell in front of him and slid pathetically down the stairs. “N-no!” Shadow Natsume wailed as he chased after it, falling to his knees in front of the Phantom Thieves. “M-my mantle! My magic armor!” He desperately tried to cover his face with his arms. “D-don’t look at me! Don’t look at me!”

“Is that…his true form?” Queen mumbled.

“Looks like it,” Mona replied with a scowl. “So in the end, even his identity was a cheap imitation.”

“Umm…Joker?” Noir ventured hesitantly. “If his armor was nothing more than a cardboard cutout, how was he able to transform into a giant dragon?”

Joker sighed. “Don’t ask me Noir, I have no fucking idea. I’ve pretty much given up making sense of this shit at this point.”

Fox walked up to face the defeated Natsume. “It’s over, Ango Natsume.”

“You’re just a bunch of stupid kids,” Natsume cried out, the pain in his voice now completely different from the one he had let out during their battle. “You don’t know how much I’ve suffered! It’s not too late for me. I’ve still got my reputation as a writer! I’ve won an award! I’ve sold books! It’s not too late…it’s never too late!”

“And that’s good enough for you?” Fox asked quietly, and with surprising gentleness.

“…!?” Natsume stopped his rambling to look up at Fox.

“This fame you’ve acquired through deception and brainwashing others…” Fox continued, “is that truly what you wanted? Tell me, Ango Natsume. What was the real reason you started writing novels?”

“I…” Natsume stammered. “I mean, I…dammit…dammit! I tried…I really tried. Just like everyone else! You said before I didn’t put in any effort or dedication, but I read and read, all throughout the night! I wrote hours on end, like my life depended on it! And for what!?” he cried out in despair as he punched the ground repeatedly. “Nothing I wrote was ever mine. It was just another work from “Sogo Natsume’s grandson.” No one! No one ever acknowledged my effort! Not my effort! Not my work! Not even me!”

“…” Fox stayed silent as he listened to Natsume’s woes.

“No matter where I look, all I ever see is a bunch of thoughtless idiots long before I ever brainwashed them into buying my book. Slaves to appearances and nothing more,” Natsume lamented. “Acknowledge me, dammit! Acknowledge Ango Natsume’s efforts for once! I just want someone to see that I really try!”

“…I do,” Fox broke the silence.

“…huh?”

“It’s very clear to me just how much work you’ve put into writing your novels,” Fox continued, with genuine sympathy in his voice. “A life led by creativity is almost always a lonely one, no matter your profession. You were battling that loneliness. You braced yourself, pouring your very soul into your writing, bringing it to your publisher time and time again.” He smiled. “I will gladly acknowledge such effort and determination.”

“…” Shadow Natsume shed a tear from his eyes, but didn’t interrupt Fox.

“There are many out there who would give up that battle, even those of exceptional skill and creativity,” Fox pressed on. “To be able to continuously bring new life to new works without giving up, however…that is the perhaps the most exceptional talent of all. There was once a time when you kept fighting. That is one part of your career that could never be labeled a fabrication, regardless of your past failings or sins. So start over, Ango Natsume!” Fox proclaimed. “Claw your way back up from nothing and move forward! After all, there are some things that simply cannot be painted without a blank canvas.”

“Fox understands your struggle, Ango Natsume,” Joker agreed from behind Fox. “He spent years enslaved to a cruel mentor who heaped false praise upon him, all the while abusing and manipulating him for his own selfish gain.” He glanced down upon Natsume. “Isn’t that a story that you’re all too familiar with?”

“…!?” Natsume gasped as Fox turned to face his friends.

“It is because everyone believed in me that I was able to choose the path that I walk today,” Fox declared. “I stopped lying to myself and was able to begin anew. And so it is now my turn to pay it forward…” he smiled. “Even if I’m the only one in the world to do so, I will believe in you.”

“And he won’t be alone,” Joker added, as he stepped up so that he was next to his artistic friend. “If Fox believes in you, then that’s good enough for me.”

Shadow Natsume was silent for a long moment…and then he began to weakly chuckle. “Heh…stupid kid…talking my damn ear off…but…” he sighed. “You’re right. This identity of mine was built on nothing but lies.” With great effort, he reached up to the demonic horns on either side of his head…and then ripped them off, throwing them to the ground. “I don’t need it anymore!” he shouted. “I’ll do it. I’ll climb my way back up! And I’ll do it on my own strength! I’ll write a novel that’ll capture the hearts of countless readers, just like my grandfather before me! I’ll write something I can be proud of,” Shadow Natsume promised. “To everyone…I swear it!”

“Good,” Fox’s smile widened. “And I’ll be looking forward to the day I get to read it.”

“And I have something I want to say to you as well,” Joker added, stepping up and drawing Natsume’s attention to him. He reached into his coat pocket and took out his copy of the Prince of Nightmares. “Do you know what I think of your book, Ango Natsume?”

Shadow Natsume sighed. “It’s a fraud, a crime against literature. A blatant act of plagiarism and not worth a single yen. I know all this. You must thoroughly hate it like nothing else in the world.”

Joker grinned. “You would think that, Natsume, but no. Your book is certainly a crime against literature and it completely fails to be a proper novel by every conventional literary standard. That can’t be denied. And yet, for me personally, it was so uniquely and spectacularly bad that it wrapped back around to being entertaining. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the Prince of Nightmares. Even if it was for all the wrong reasons and for a completely different purpose than what it was intended to do, your book was a ton of fun for me to read.”

“It doesn’t excuse what I’ve done,” Natsume murmured. “It doesn’t justify brainwashing countless people into buying several copies of it.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Joker agreed. “But I bring this point up because I want to give you some advice. This is only a guess, I never read his works, but was your grandfather a famous novelist in the fantasy genre? And did the novels you write and submit to the contest focus primarily, if not entirely, on the fantasy genre as well?”

Shadow Natsume’s eyes widened. “How…how did you know?” he asked in disbelief.

“I didn’t,” Joker freely admitted. “But this only strengthens my belief in what I’m about to say. Maybe the truth isn’t that you’re just a completely hopeless writer, like you believed for so long. Maybe the solution is to focus on a different genre than what you’ve tunneled on for who knows how long. Aren’t there countless different types of literary genres, Natsume? Science Fiction, Historical Fiction, Nonfiction, Mystery, Horror, Romance, Biography. The list goes on and on. There are so many different genres out there, I probably haven’t even begun to list them all.” He gazed into Natsume’s eyes. “Perhaps the key to unlocking your skill and talent isn’t to bash your head into the same roadblock again and again and again. Perhaps the way for you to write a truly excellent novel and honor your grandfather’s legacy is to find a different path to literary greatness than what he took.” He chuckled. “After all, didn’t you just say that you wanted to be recognized for your OWN success, and not because of his? What better way to establish your own legacy as a writer than to carve out your own, unique path?”

“As there are countless different style of art and painting, so too are there countless genres of literature,” Fox immediately agreed. “I found one that truly spoke to my heart, Natsume. And I truly believe that you will find one too.”

Shadow Natsume chuckled weakly, a faint but genuine smile appearing on his face for the very first time. “You know…I can’t believe I never thought of that,” he acknowledged. “Carving out my own unique path…I really am stupid. How did I let myself forget and spiral down like this? I know now…what it is I really wanted.”

“Then go forth, Natsume!” Fox commanded. “Release the Desires you’ve held captive. Return to the real world. Atone for the crimes you’ve committed…and then, your journey to write a literary masterpiece truly begins.”

Shadow Natsume nodded, and his body began to fade away into light just as Shadow Alice’s had done. The moment he was gone, the earth began to shake just like last time. “Ah, fuck…” Joker groaned. “I forgot about this shit.”

“The cage is collapsing!” Fox warned. “Come on, we’re leaving!”

The Thieves rushed out of the castle and to safety as the giant pink gem that the Desires were made of exploded into a pillar of light, transforming into countless individual Desires that were returned to their rightful owners. This time, the Thieves didn’t stick around, only checking to make sure that the Desires were indeed released before returning to the real world.

Only when they were back in the real world did the Phantom Thieves stop to relax outside of the bookstore where the Calling Cards had been posted. “Whew…” Ryuji breathed out a sigh of relief. “Looks like it’s over for now.”

“Mission complete!” Sophie cheerfully declared.

“I wonder if everyone’s desires have returned yet,” Haru remarked.

“Probably,” Futaba reassured her. “We saw them all flying out of the cage before we left, after all.”

“Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Ren cautioned. “It’s possible that an errant Desire might end up getting lost somewhere like in the Shibuya Jail.” He grinned. “But in terms of changing Natsume’s heart. We absolutely got the job done…even if we need to see for ourselves tomorrow.”

“We should check on the people back in town, just to be safe,” Makoto advised.

“Good idea,” Morgana agreed. “That said…” he scowled. “The Jail didn’t disappear this time either. Now I’m sure that Jails really aren’t the same as Palaces.”

Ryuji shrugged. “Well, we can worry about it later,” he replied. “It’s not like we can actually do anything with that info right now.”

“Indeed,” Yusuke concurred. “Let’s retire to our hotel rooms after we check on the people of the town. I think it’s safe to say we all earned a well-deserved rest.”

As the Phantom Thieves left to go back to their camper, Sophia interrupted Ren with a ping from his phone. “Hey, Ren? I feel as though I’m restless right now. Do you know what this is?”

“Restless?” Ren repeated, before shaking his head. “You’re gonna have to give me more details, Sophia.”

“I’m not sure what’s wrong,” Sophia admitted. “Natsume tried his hardest, but somewhere along the way, he lost sight of what mattered to him. He is a strange person, Natsume.”

“Before we changed his heart, he was wasting his talent stealing from other authors and brainwashing people into buying his book,” Ren answered. “But now that Yusuke’s reminded him of why he truly wanted to write to begin with, he can start over and start walking on the path to become a proper writer on his own merits. I hope the advice Yusuke and I gave him in the Jail gives him the inspiration he needs.”

“Yes,” Sophia agreed. “He did say he would climb back up. Yusuke said Natsume lost his way because he was alone.” A morose look appeared on her face. “Whenever I think about that, I feel restless inside. Even though Natsume hurt a lot of people and was, for some time, one of our enemies…what is this feeling?”

“Sadness,” Ren answered without hesitation. “And I’m willing to bet it’s what Yusuke was feeling too.”

“I see,” Sophia answered thoughtfully. “So that was why Yusuke wanted to save Natsume so badly. It was because Natsume’s reason for doing all those terrible things was really sad...”

“There’s many reasons for people to feel sad,” Ren remarked. “One of those reasons is being alone without anyone who cares about you. Another is seeing people suffer, or seeing them commit terrible crimes. Any one of those reasons can cause sadness, and some people can be feeling it for more than one reason.”

“I think I understand, then,” Sophia acknowledged. “Sadness can hurt people, but it can also save them.” She smiled. “It can give humans a reason to support one another.”

Ren grinned. “Couldn’t have said it better myself. And it can give you a reason to be a better companion to humanity, too.”

Sophia’s smile widened. “Then you can count on me!” she promised with a hum. “We should probably get going, Ren.”

The two friends left to rejoin the rest of the Thieves. Tomorrow, they would bear witness to the fruits of their efforts to change Natsume’s heart.

And maybe, with Natsume’s change of heart taken care of, Ren would finally have the time to reunite with the Investigation Team and teach them the ins and outs of Jail combat before they left to their next destination.

Chapter Text

From a quick nightly investigation into Sendai, it seemed as though the change of heart had worked. Nobody was talking obsessively about Natsume’s novel anymore, and there weren’t any more acts of vandalism like the fliers posted over the statue of Masamune as far as anyone could tell.

With no choice but to wait for the change of heart to take effect in the real world, the Phantom Thieves spent the rest of the night relaxing in a bathhouse in Sendai before retiring to their hotel. They very much hoped that Natsume would say something that would confirm whether their change of heart had worked…

…and their hopes were rewarded the very next day, when they discovered that Ango Natsume had organized an emergency press conference in Sendai. The Phantom Thieves decided to attend the press conference personally, where Natsume began the conference with a deep bow. “Thank you everyone, for coming,” he greeted the public. “I’ve called this press conference to give an announcement, as well as a formal apology.”

“First,” he continued, “my novel Prince of Nightmares was recently bestowed the honor of receiving first place in the Soukaisha Awards…” his smiling face suddenly turned into a solemn frown, all traces of vanity completely disappeared from his face. “I have decided to give that award back.”

The crowd began to murmur amongst themselves as they tried to figure out what was going on, but Ren smiled inwardly. He knew exactly what Natsume was doing…and that the Phantom Thieves had achieved yet another success.

“I’ve also decided to recall all published copies of the Prince of Nightmares,” Natsume declared solemnly, “…not to mention that I will personally ensure that the necessary steps are taken to refund everyone’s money.”

Ren raised an eyebrow at that. “Oh, wow,” he thought, surprised. He hadn’t expected Natsume to make that kind of statement right off the bat as part of his apology. It honestly raised his opinion of Natsume’s overall character, as Ren could think of plenty of assholes last year who wouldn’t have gone the extra mile to atone for their crimes even after a change of heart.

“I’m sure you all want to know my reasons for doing so,” Natsume continued somberly. “The truth is…my book, “Prince of Nightmares,” only won because of my status as Sogo Natsume’s grandson. In short, the competition was fixed,” the writer confessed. “In addition, I’ve stolen the work of countless other authors, word for word. And lastly,” Natsume slowly raised a hand over his heart, “the story I wrote about writing to inspire a hospitalized girl was nothing but a lie to garner sympathy. This fabrication allowed my book to sell a number of copies it nowhere near deserved. I wish to apologize for this scandal,” Natsume apologized with another bow. “And again, I’ll start by personally seeing to it that everyone who bought my book is refunded. I am deeply sorry for all that I’ve done!” he finished with one last proclamation. “To all of you! And if I must end my writing career today as the price I must pay to atone for my crimes, then I will accept that as my punishment without hesitation!” He finished with one final bow.

“H-hold on,” Natsume’s editor tried to frantically interrupt, and Ren felt both a flare of rage and a vicious satisfaction as he saw the corrupt man flail about in a feeble attempt to stop him. “Mr. Natsume! What do you think you’re doing!?”

“Hey, time to wrap it up!” another stout editor tried to take charge. “Get everyone out of here now!”

“Please, don’t interfere!” Natsume interrupted sharply. “This is my way of taking responsibility!”

The crowd began to whisper amongst themselves as they processed what they had just witnessed. “Hey, something doesn’t add up here,” a doubtful reporter spoke up loud enough for Ren to hear. “Mr. Natsume’s the one who put this thing together, right?”

“Do you think the editors were just trying to profit off Mr. Natsume’s family name?” another speculative reporter wondered.

Both editors immediately showed visible displays of panic on their faces, causing the suspicions of the crowd to only grow even greater. Ren allowed a smirk to appear on his faces. “Well, well…” he thought vindictively. “It looks like they’re figuring it out. Ango Natsume won’t be the only one whose crimes get exposed today.”

“Hey!” His thoughts were immediately interrupted by Yusuke, who had gotten out of his seat and was already walking towards Ango Natsume’s table.

“Huh!? Who are you?” Natsume’s editor asked in a flustered tone.

Natsume’s eyes widened in recognition. “You’re…you’re the one from the party.”

“I will not allow this,” Yusuke interrupted firmly, focusing his gaze intently on Natsume while contemptuously ignoring the corrupt editors.

“I’m so sorry for what I said back then,” Natsume apologized.

“I will not allow you to cower and run away, Ango Natsume,” Yusuke insisted. “I can see that you dedicated hours of time and effort to your work, only for that dedication to be exploited by corrupt individuals who rigged the award for their own selfish games. But now is the time for you to start again with a clean canvas. You intend to make a comeback, do you not?”

Natsume blinked. “Huh…?”

“I do not know how you will return to the literary world,” Yusuke continued, seizing the opportunity to sprinkle in some of the advice Ren had given to Natsume’s Shadow in addition to his own. “Perhaps it may be through writing in a different genre such as science fiction, or history or comedy, that you may find the way forward. But when you do make your return, I want to see a book with your name, not your grandfather’s! I want you to honor his legacy through your own merits and your own path!”

Natsume was stunned into silence as Yusuke made a sweeping gesture. “You’re going to write a novel that both you and your grandfather would be proud of, are you not?” he demanded.

“Give it your very best,” Ren agreed. “Even if it means writing in a different genre than what you’ve been focusing on before.”

“Thank you,” Natsume answered finally, sounding close to tears as he gave them both another bow. “Thank you so very much.”

“Who are they supposed to be?” one of the reporters from before wondered.

“Once everything is rightfully resolved, I will make my return,” Natsume vowed. “Even if there’s one person out there waiting to read my stories…no matter what, I will keep writing! I only hope that I can one day save someone’s soul the way my grandfather’s novels saved mine when I was young…” He stood up, and for the first time, Ren could truly see him as a dignified man capable of greatness, even after the fall he had just been through. “That is why I write!”

The conference ended, but not before Natsume made one last final condemnation towards his editors, personally confirming the reporters’ already intense suspicions that they had rigged the competition to profit off of his grandfather’s name. With that last loose end addressed, the Phantom Thieves left the conference to meet up with Zenkichi, by which point night had already fallen. “Sheesh,” he muttered, thoroughly exasperated. “You kids are something else, barging in on a press conference like that.”

“My apologies,” Yusuke sighed. “It was imperative that I speak to him.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” Zenkichi reassured him. “We’ve already picked up both Natsume’s editors and Natsume himself thanks to that confession. I actually gotta run right now, I have to go question Natsume.”

“Oh, right…Yeah, I guess it wouldn’t end with just an apology,” Ann mumbled morosely.

“Well, full credit to Natsume for pledging to return everyone’s money,” Ren acknowledged, “but like with Alice, there are consequences for one’s actions.” He smirked. “That being said, he can keep my money. I had such a good time making fun of his novel and his Jail that it was easily worth the yen.”

“Zenkichi’s really doing his job!” Futaba exclaimed. “It’s almost like he’s an actual cop or something!”

“I AM an actual cop!” said cop protested, before sighing. “Anyways, it won’t take long. So go on and wait for me back at the camper.”

Zenkichi left the group, and the rest of the Phantom Thieves followed suit. The only ones left in the square were Ren and Yusuke. “…do you have a moment, Ren?” Yusuke requested quietly.

“Of course, man,” Ren reassured him. “What’s up?”

“Something about Natsume’s been bothering me,” Yusuke explained somberly. “What he did was unforgiveable. Nothing will change that. However, was he really like Madarame?” he asked. “Can he truly be called evil like the Palace Rulers we’ve confronted in the past? Had he simply ignored his editors, would he have strayed from his path? Or…am I perhaps just sympathizing with someone who pursues the arts like myself? What do you think?”

Ren was silent for several moments as he processed Yusuke’s questions. “I don’t think that Natsume can really be called evil, or at least not to the same level that Madarame was,” he finally answered. “And it’s because of something that I’ve noticed with Alice, too.”

“By all means…” Yusuke invited.

“For both Alice and Natsume, we did have to battle them over the stolen Desires, just like we fought battles against the Palace Rulers,” Ren explained. “But after the battles is where those similarities end. For the Palace Rulers, we had to forcibly take their Treasures, the representation of their own distorted desires, to force them to change and confess their crimes. But with the Monarchs? We never had to actually forcibly take any of the gems representing the stolen Desires of the masses from them, at least not yet. For both Alice and Natsume, we just needed to reason with them, remind them of the well-meaning goals they once had before they fell. And once we did that, they ultimately made the decision to release the Desires and atone for the crimes they committed on their own. That’s the biggest difference between them and the Rulers, and that’s why Natsume at his core is a fundamentally better person than Madarame could ever hope to be.” He sighed. “That, and the fact that while it doesn’t excuse their crimes, the Monarchs so far have obviously been victims who suffered in some way, unlike the Rulers whose excuses are either flimsy as hell or just straight-up don’t fucking exist.”

“I see,” Yusuke seemed to brighten noticeably at Ren’s answer. “Yes, all of what you said does make sense.” He frowned again. “But in that case, what is the purpose of the Jails?”

Ren frowned. Unlike his last questions, Ren just didn’t have a good answer for Yusuke, and he wasn’t going to dishonor him by making up one.

Yusuke ultimately ended the conversation by himself. “Ah well, I suppose there’s no point thinking about it right this second We should return to the camper as well.”

The two friends returned to the camper, where the rest of the Phantom Thieves were already gathered. Zenkichi himself also showed up a few minutes later, giving them a brief rundown of the confession he’d gotten from Natsume.

“So basically,” Ren summarized with a frown, “once people befriended Natsume through EMMA, they became rabid fans of his. And he didn’t even realize what was going on at first. It really doesn’t sound like he orchestrated any of this, more like it was a happy coincidence that he took advantage of as the Jail Monarch.”

“It’s just like what Alice said,” Ann agreed morosely.

“And Natsume’s smartphone worked the same as Alice’s too,” Futaba chimed in. “There wasn’t anything off about the EMMA app or the phone itself.”

Ryuji groaned loudly. “So we got nothin’ again…?”

“I didn’t say that!” Futaba refuted. “Just like before, there were traces of someone snooping around in there.”

Ryuji gasped. “For real!?”

“It was the same thing with Alice,” Ren remembered with a scowl.

“I’d say this confirms that we’re dealing with something much bigger than a stalker,” Futaba theorized.

“So the same occurred with Natsume’s phone as well…” Yusuke mused.

“Well?” Zenkichi asked. “Any idea who it is?”

Futaba sighed. “Sorry, I got nothin’,” she reluctantly admitted. “All I found were traces.”

Morgana frowned. “So Alice and Natsume were being watched by someone,” he summarized.

“More than likely the same person, whoever it is,” Ren guessed.

“Hey, Zenkichi?” Morgana turned to the police officer. “Did the police know about that?”

Zenkichi shook his head. “No,” he denied. “The only reason we know this guy exists is because Sakura sifted through Alice’s smartphone.”

“So aside from the fact that they both used EMMA, this mystery observer is the only thing linking Alice and Natsume together,” Morgana muttered. “If the police didn’t know that, why would they assume these two cases are related?”

“Well, these are some very peculiar cases,” Zenkichi acknowledged. “But mainly, it boils down to the nature of the crimes and the timing.”

Haru blinked. “The timing?”

“All of the Changes of Heart incidents occurred at roughly the same time,” Zenkichi explained. “That being within the last 3 months. Didn’t I tell you?”

Oracle frowned. “Three months ago is around the time EMMA was released.”

“Well, EMMA is being used to perpetrate the crimes,” Zenkichi pointed out, “so that makes sense.”

“Someone’s exploiting EMMA,” Ren hypothesized with a frown. “Someone pulling the strings behind both Alice and Natsume, manipulating them both without them even being aware of it.”

“I bet it’s that company that put it out there in the first place!” Ryuji scowled. “What’re they called again? Madames or some shit?”

“Madicce,” Futaba corrected with a scowl. “At least you got the “Mad” part right…”

“For what it’s worth, I’m investigating on that front as well,” Zenkichi offered. “Still, we’re talking about a major corporation operating on a global scale. And even if there’s a bad egg in Madicce, that doesn’t mean the whole company’s guilty. Either way, you can’t just walk in and start poking around without reason.”

“You haven’t found anything suspicious yet?” Haru asked.

Zenkichi shook his head. “Not yet, no. At least, nothing’s coming up from checking the individuals involved. If our mystery observer was connected to Madicce, though, then we’d have grounds to conduct an investigation.” He stayed silent for a few seconds, before turning to Ren. “Do you think there’s someone pulling the strings of the case?”

“It’s a distinct possibility,” Ren acknowledged. And judging by what Lavenza had told him, the fact that there was an impending ruin that threatened humanity made him very worried that a cognitive entity like Yaldabaoth or Izanami was lurking in the shadows. There was no way he could explain that to Zenkichi, though.

“We don’t know for sure yet,” Morgana answered. “The incidents are similar, but they could just as easily be unrelated.”

“Guess we’ll have to see if the other incidents have any overlap as well,” Zenkichi concluded. “That’s one of the basic rules of investigation: find what the incidents do and don’t have in common then start narrowing things down. For now, looking into the other incidents is our best bet at scoring a lead.”

“This is true,” Yusuke agreed. “We’ll have to do what we can for the time being.”

“And if we look into the other Jails and their Monarchs, we might learn something new,” Makoto added.

“Well, then we’re all done here,” Zenkichi continued, “I’m heading to Sapporo to see what I can find on our next target. We’ll rendezvous on the 8^th. I’ll contact you the day of.”

“Three days!” Makoto declared. “Should be an easy trip with a car.”

“No need to rush,” Zenkichi interrupted. “The target’s not even in Japan until then.” He thought for a moment, and then grinned. “Oh, right! Wasn’t there a festival happening around here soon? Sendai’s famous for its Tanabata festivals. Lots of good food lined up, too, or so I hear.”

“Yes,” Yusuke agreed. “I did see decorations being put up here and there.”

“Anyways, I’ll see you in three days,” Zenkichi concluded their meeting. “Don’t forget.” The inspector left the camper, leaving the Phantom Thieves alone in their vehicle.

“I guess he wants us to rest up while we can,” Makoto surmised with a smile.

Ryuji grinned. “Gramps is actually a pretty considerate guy, huh?” he remarked.

“Well, since we’re here, should we put on yukata and go to the festival?” Ann asked happily.

 “Yukata,” Makoto laughed. “I can’t help but think of our disastrous fireworks festival last year when we got rained on.”

“Oh, don’t remind me, Makoto,” Ren groaned. “What an absolute shitshow that ended up being.”

Ann giggled. “That’s why we’re gonna do it right this time!” she promised. “Besides, we didn’t have Futaba or Haru with us back then!”

“Count me in!” Haru gushed. “Going to a festival in a yukata sounds wonderful!”

Ren grinned. “I’m never gonna say no to seeing you in a yukata, Haru,” he answered smoothly, causing the girl in question to blush, much to the amusement of their friends. “But with that being said, I actually have some important business that I’m hoping to take care of tomorrow morning before the festival.”

“Oh?” Everyone’s attention turned to their leader. “What kind of business?”

“If Yu and the rest of the Investigation Team have the time, I’m going to meet them in the Shibuya Jail tomorrow to guide them through the basics of Jail combat,” Ren answered, much to the shock of his friends. “We’ve been talking about it for a while, and Yu was hoping that I could meet up with the Investigation Team in a Jail to teach them basics of Jail combat, and also just navigating around the Metaverse in general. I think it’s possible they might get some of the same supernatural abilities that we do like like Phantom Dash, and if they do, they’ll need some guidance on how to utilize them.” He chuckled humorlessly. “That shit is NOT easy to get used to if you don’t have any experience in the Metaverse before.”

“Oh!” Haru gasped. “So you’re finally seizing the opportunity to introduce the Investigation Team to the Jails tomorrow, Ren-kun?”

“That’s the plan,” Ren confirmed. “Now that Shadow Natsume is out of the way, there’s no pressing commitments for the next few days that can stop me from getting the ball rolling!”

“Dude!” Ryuji grinned. “That’s awesome! Having some backup in the Jails could make our jobs a LOT easier while we deal with the big problems!”

Ren nodded and smiled. “That’s the idea. And since Mitsuru Kirijo politely asked me instead of demanding or just barging in, I allowed her to send a single Shadow Operative to work with the Investigation Team,” he announced. “They’ll be doing reporting back to her on the Jails.”

Makoto’s brow furrowed. “Do you trust Mitsuru Kirijo with this?” she asked. “We don’t really know anything about her beyond what you’ve told us.”

“So far, Kirijo hasn’t done anything to make me distrust her, and her behavior’s been a hell of a lot better than any adult we’ve dealt with in the past year who wasn’t a Confidant,” Ren answered. “And since Yu endorsed her character, that was enough for me to trust her with this request…as long as both she and her operative stick to our agreement.”

Ryuji shrugged. “Eh, if Ren’s cool with it, that’s good enough for me.”

“Yeah, and if she tries to screw with us, we could always sick Zenkichi on her!” Futaba cheerfully suggested.

Haru winced. “That…might not be the best idea,” she mumbled. “Considering that Kirijo-san is one of the most powerful people in all of Japan.”

“Well, if both Zenkichi and Mitsuru Kirijo turn out to be untrustworthy and corrupt pieces of shit, pitting the two of them against each other isn’t the worst idea in the world,” Ren acknowledged. “But I’m really hoping it doesn’t come to that.” He sighed. “It would be really nice to have some adults we could actually trust for once.”

“That’s a bridge we can cross if we need to,” Morgana replied. “In the meantime, how much do you plan on helping Yu Narukami and the Investigation Team?”

Ren shook his head. “I’m not gonna spend all that long doing this,” he answered. “Think of it as me giving them the Jail Tutorial. I’ll help the Investigation Team get used to the basics, but afterwards I’ll leave them to their own devices. Contact between our teams is supposed to be as minimal as possible, after all.”

Ann gasped as a sudden thought occurred to her. “Oh! Does this mean Shiho will be there?” she asked excitedly.

Ren shrugged. “If she’s not busy with something, I don’t see why not,” he replied. “We haven’t really gotten the chance to speak with her lately, though. Been too busy with the Jails and all that.”

“I’m gonna fix that right now!” Ann vowed, whipping out her phone to send a message to Shiho.

In the meantime, Ren turned his attention to the rest of the Phantom Thieves. “I’m gonna be bringing Morgana with me, but only him tomorrow,” he announced. “He’s the only one here who’s met the Investigation Team on a regular basis, and I want to follow the Velvet Room’s rules as closely as possible. And I might end up bringing Sophia too, because she’s basically living in my phone at this point and I’m not sure it’s possible for her to NOT get dragged into the Metaverse while I’m using EMMA.”

“Okay, that sounds good to me!” Sophia agreed cheerfully.

“In the meantime, you guys should enjoy Sendai and get ready for the festival,” Ren advised, before adding. “I’ll be ready for the festival by tomorrow evening, I promise.”

Haru sighed. “I admit, I would’ve dearly loved to reunite with Narukami-san and your friends again, Ren-kun. But I trust your judgment on the matter. If you think it is best to bring only Mona-chan, then Mona-chan it is.”

“If we DO get an opportunity to meet them in person, though, you WILL set that up for us. Right, Ren?” Ann pleaded.

“I promise,” Ren affirmed. That seemed to satisfy the other Phantom Thieves, and he left the camper to call Yu on his phone. “Hey, Yu!”

“Hey, Ren,” Yu greeted him, before cutting straight to the point. “I saw Natsume’s press conference in Sendai. Sounds like the change of heart worked exactly as planned.”

“That it did,” Ren confirmed, allowing a grin to stretch on his face. “And now that the change of heart is taken care of, I can finally get to work showing you and the other guys around the Shibuya Jail. Do you guys think you could do it tomorrow?” he asked.

“We’re ready whenever,” Yu assured him. “I specifically asked our team to keep a few days free so that we could go into the Jail with you. And the Operative Mitsuru talked about is gonna be here soon, so she’ll be ready to come with us tomorrow morning too.”

“Excellent!” Ren declared approvingly, before raising his eyebrow as a certain word caught his attention. “Wait, she? The operative is a girl?”

“Yeah,” Yu confirmed. “And get this. You’ve already met her before. You know who she is.”

Ren’s eyes widened. “Really? Can you tell me who?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Yu denied, and Ren could imagine the mischievous smirk on the older Wild Card’s face. “I think I’ll leave you guessing until tomorrow. As a self-respecting Wild Card, I can’t let you have the monopoly on being a little shit.”

“Har har,” Ren drawled, before letting out a chuckle of his own. “Well, here’s to the Investigation Team’s first successful Jail Infiltration tomorrow.”

“Looking forward to it,” Yu agreed happily, before hanging up the phone. He hadn’t mentioned it to Ren, but he had actually been waiting at the Inaba Train Station for Mitsuru’s chosen Shadow Operative to arrive while speaking to his surrogate little brother. And he could already see the train carrying the operative coming to the station, getting closer and closer.

“Right on time,” the leader of the Investigation Team thought, allowing a grin to appear on his face as the train slowed to a stop right in front of the station. The doors to the train slowly slid open, and a familiar young woman with silver-blue hair tied in a ponytail stepped out onto the platform. “Labrys!” he called out.

Labrys immediately turned to him, and her red eyes lit up with delight as they focused on Yu. “Yu!” she called out joyfully, racing towards him with her suitcase in tow. “How ya been? Can’t believe it’s been this long since I’ve been to Inaba!”

“Great to see you, Labrys,” Yu greeted her warmly. “I’m not surprised Mitsuru chose you to be her representative for the Jail Infiltrations, with how close you are to all of us. And even Ren knows you too, which is still better than nothing!”

Labrys whistled. “Yeah, Mitsuru gave me the rundown. That fluffy-haired little scamp ended up bein’ a big, badass Wild Card? Still can’t believe it!” She shook her head. “I really need to come around here more often.”

“Well, you’re gonna see just how much Ren has changed for yourself,” Yu assured her as the two friends walked off the station and towards Yu’s car. “I know you’ve just been through a long train ride, but you’re good to go for tomorrow, right?”

Labrys grinned. “Oh, hell yeah!” she exclaimed. “It’s been way too long since the last time I smacked some Shadows around. I ain’t gonna wait any longer to beat the crap out of’em!” She blinked. “You still got my axe lyin’ around in my house, right?” she clarified.

“Everything you have is still here and I’ve been checking on it every so often, so don’t worry about that,” Yu reassured her as they got into his car. Even though Labrys spent a lot of her time in Tokyo, she spent enough time in Inaba that Mitsuru had bought a small house for Labrys to live in whenever she visited. The house was hers and hers alone, and it contained necessities like her axe and appropriate machinery and robotics equipment for Labrys to keep herself fully charged and well-maintained.

“Perfect!” Labrys declared. “Oh man, I can’t wait to see all of ’em again.”

Yu laughed softly. “They’re gonna be so happy to see you too. We’ve even got a new member, although for her it’s more like she’s half part of the Investigation Team and half a Phantom Thief. You’ll definitely see her tomorrow when we go into the Jail, if not today.”

“Great! I was wonderin’ when you were gonna get some new meat in the team!” Labrys replied as they drove off. “So we’re gonna be kickin’ some Shadows’ asses in a whole new way, huh?”

“I haven’t seen it personally, but that’s my understanding of the situation based on Ren’s reports,” Yu affirmed.

Labrys thought about that for a moment, then shrugged. “Well, who cares about the details?” she asked. “As long as I get to smash my axe in some Shadows’ faces, that’s good enough for me!”

The Next Day…

The entire Investigation Team had gathered together at Labrys’ house, as there they would have the least likely chance of either getting discovered going into the Metaverse or accidentally dragging someone innocent along into the cognitive world. Labrys had met up with some of her old friends last night, and was catching up with the rest of them this morning. Unsurprisingly, the most enthusiastic greeting had been Rise squealing with delight and giving her a big hug. And while the rest of the Investigation Team didn’t have reactions as extreme as Rise’s, it was abundantly clear that they were all just as enthusiastic to see Labrys in their own ways. Labrys had also gotten the opportunity to meet Shiho, and the two of them had hit it off almost immediately.

Under any other circumstance, Yu would’ve loved to give Labrys and Shiho as much time as they needed to get to know each other better. Unfortunately, today they had much more pressing matters to attend to. “All right, everyone!” he called out, getting everyone’s undivided attention. “As you already know, we are going to be launching our first official expedition into the Jails that are interfering with people’s cognition on a massive scale. Ren has graciously offered to join us for our first expedition, and he will be teaching us the basics of Jail combat and navigating the Metaverse in general. I know we’re all no stranger to fighting in cognitive worlds, but from Ren’s reports, it sounds like we’ll be experiencing something completely different from anything we’ve ever faced before. So let’s treat like this we’re going in completely blind, with all the seriousness that deserves.”

“Indeed,” Naoto agreed promptly, placing a hand over her gun. While it was still the same legendary Black Hole firearm that she had won from triumphing over the Reaper in the TV World, she would not be using live ammunition while they were in the Jails. Ren had made it clear that model guns were a more than adequate weapon in the Metaverse, the power of cognition allowing the Thieves to shoot their weapons at enemy Shadows without the risk of getting hit by friendly fire. Yu had been worried about what would happen if Naoto started firing live bullets into a chaotic brawl where the Investigation Team was at risk of getting hit by mistake.

A concern that the First Detective Prince found very understandable. The absolute last thing that she wanted was to accidentally severely injure or even kill one of her friends because she shot them instead of a Shadow by mistake.

“Does everyone have their weapons, armor, and EMMA-specific smartphones ready?” Yu asked. A chorus of affirmative responses answered his question, causing him to smile. He and Ren had noticed that, among Margaret and Lavenza’s extensive list of rules, neither of them had specified that they couldn’t bring the powerful weapons and armor that they had found in the TV World and utilize them in the Jails. They simply couldn’t share them with the Phantom Thieves. As such, all of them were going to be bringing their legendary weapons and Godly Robes into the Jail, which would make dealing with Shadows much easier even if they ran out of SP for their Personas.

As for their smartphones, Mitsuru had purchased new smartphones for every single member of the Investigation Team (and even Shiho), with only the most basic functionalities. These smartphones were to be used solely for the purposes of infiltrating the Jails, and nothing else. Not even communication, as both Mitsuru and Yu were even more concerned that someone could try to spy on their phones through EMMA after Ren had reported that someone had been snooping on Alice’s and Natsume’s devices.

“All right everyone, the keyword to the Shibuya Jail was Wonderland, so make sure you add that in when you put in Alice Hiiragi’s name,” Yu instructed. He waited for a few seconds, before asking, “is everyone ready? Brace yourselves, because based on what Ren told me, getting your Personas forcibly reduced to Level 1 and devolved to their most basic form is…rather painful.”

A few of the Investigation Team members grimaced, but none of them so much as voiced a word of complaint. They had promised they were going to assist with the Jails, and none of them so much as voiced a word of complaint. Together, the Investigation Team activated EMMA, and they felt the word shift and distort around them in a way that was similar to, but not quite the same as, transporting into the TV World.

After a period of time that seemed to both last an eternity and yet also feel like no time at all, the Investigation Team arrived at the same entrance to the Shibuya Jail that the Phantom Thieves had used for every single one of their infiltrations. Immediately, Yu felt an explosion of pain rack his entire body as he felt all of his Personas be forcibly ripped away from his soul by an outside force, leaving only Izanagi Picaro with his basic level 1 skills.

“Urrrrggghhhhhh…” he groaned as the pain slowly subsided. One look around at his friends made it abundantly clear that they had been through their own painful episodes, although he was relieved to see that none of them seemed to be as debilitating or agonizing as his had been.

“You weren’t kidding when you said this was gonna hurt,” Chie mumbled. “Jeez…”

“Yeah! That was so bear-y painful!” Teddie chimed in with a frown. Everyone else was too busy recovering from their pain to bother complaining about his pun.

“Honestly, I forgot what it was like to be all the way back down in the low levels,” Yosuke muttered. “I really don’t like the reminder.”

“For me, what really sucks isn’t the pain,” Shiho remarked, leaning on her new Amenonuhoko spear to steady herself. “What sucks is that I only just evolved Zheng Yi Sao to Queen Frigg a short while ago…and because of the stupid Jail all the progress I made on her is gone, just like that.”

Yu winced. “At least Marie will help you get Queen Frigg back once we’re done with the Jails,” he reassured her.

“Yeah, entering the Jails for the first time has sucked for basically everyone who already had a Persona beforehand,” a new, but very familiar voice interrupted them. “I tried to warn you guys as best as I could, but there’s a difference between telling you guys about something and actually experiencing it firsthand.” The voice sighed. “At least you still have legendary weapons and armors that you can use to beat the everloving crap out of any Shadow that crosses your path, because sadly that’s not a luxury that me and my fellow Thieves had.”

Everyone looked up to see a familiar figure wearing a black longcoat and a white mask waving at them with a single hand from the other side of the platform they were currently on. Next to him was a familiar feline thief carrying a sword…as well as a distinctly unfamiliar girl in with red pigtails shaped oddly like hearts in a white outfit. “How’s it going, guys?” Joker greeted his old friends from Inaba, a grin slowly spreading on his face as the last traces of pain left his friends’ bodies. “Ready to infiltrate this Jail?”

Chapter Text

“THERE HE IS!!!!” Rise all but squealed as she caught sight of Joker in his Phantom Thief attire. She raced over and wrapped him up in a tight hug. “Oh, we were all so worried when we learned about this whole mess with the Jails! How’d you get wrapped up in another mess like this so soon?” she demanded.

Joker rolled his eyes. “I’ve been asking myself that question way too many times,” he replied, before grinning. “But hey, it’s great to see you and everyone else here finally.”

“Yeah, same here, man!” Yosuke replied happily. “Especially since you’re still in one piece after changing two hearts already!”

Kanji grinned. “I’ve been waiting for this all day!” he declared. “Just say the word and we can get started!”

“Hell yeah!” Chie agreed eagerly as Rise reluctantly broke the hug. “We’re all ready to kick some Shadows’ ass, Ren!”

“Whoa, hold up!” Mona interrupted. “We’re gonna actually have to stick with codenames in the Jails. This isn’t like the TV World. We can’t rule out the possibility that an enemy might try to spy on us, especially because we know somebody’s been snooping on the Jail Monarchs’ EMMA apps in the real world.”

Yu nodded. “That is a very good point,” he acknowledged. “Information is one of the most valuable tools one can have, and I can’t think of a single situation where giving away your true identity to an enemy is ever a good idea. Remind me us again, what are your codenames?”

“I’m Joker in the Metaverse,” Joker answered. “This is Mona,” he gestured to the feline, before turning to a strange girl with red hair and a white suit. “And this is Sophie. Her true name is Sophia, but her codename and her real name are so similar to each other that there isn’t really any meaningful difference.”

“My name is Sophie!” Sophie cheerfully added. “I’m humanity’s companion. Pleased to meet you!”

“Whoa, hold up!” A new voice interrupted. Labrys barged to the front of the group, staring at Sophie. “Are you…are you a robot?” she asked with disbelief on her face.

“To be precise, I am an AI who was designed to be humanity’s companion,” Sophie explained, seemingly completely unbothered by Labrys’ blunt demeanor. “In the real world, I manifest inside Joker’s phone and assist him with identifying Jails and answering any questions that he or the other Phantom Thieves may have!”

“Holy crap, that’s really cool!” Labrys exclaimed, and it was clear that she wasn’t the only one who was impressed. Pretty much all of the Investigation Team were surprised by Sophie’s revelation as an AI to varying degrees, with some like Rise and Yukiko being completely blown away. Even Yu and Naoto, the most tranquil members of the Investigation Team, couldn’t hide their surprise completely.

“And to top it all off, she can fight just as competently as any other Phantom Thief can,” Joker added with a chuckle. “Sophie’s been absolutely amazing ever since we met her.”

“Praise accepted!” Sophie replied with a cheerful hum.

Labrys whistled. “Oh, man…if only I could tell my sister about this. I didn’t think I’d ever meet another mechanical girl outside of the two of us.” She sighed. “But I know that ain’t gonna fly, Joker, since ya want me to be all tight-lipped about the Thieves’ identities and all dat.”

Joker nodded. “Sorry,” he replied sternly, “but that was a condition for me to allow Mitsuru Kirijo to send a Shadow Operative here to work with the Phantom Thieves, and it’s one I’m not budging on.” The leader of the Phantom Thieves’ mouth curled into a smile. “That being said, I’m happy that Mitsuru ended up sending someone I’ve met before and actually like.”

Labrys grinned. “Hell yeah, it’s great to see ya again, Joker. Really wish I got to spend more time with ya whenever I showed up at Inaba. But either way, I’m more than happy to help your team out by keeping things quiet in the Jails ya already cleared!”

Joker chuckled at her enthusiasm…and then something she’d said earlier clicked in his mind. “Wait, hold on a second,” he interrupted. “Did you say…you were a mechanical girl earlier? Like…a robot?”

“That’s right!” Labrys replied proudly. “Specifically, I’m an Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon built to beat the everloving crap out of any Shadows that try to mess with humanity.” She allowed the “illusion” maintaining her human appearance to fall aside, allowing Joker, Mona, and Sophie to clearly see the mechanical parts of her body, most prominently on her arms and legs as well as her distinct red eyes. “I’ve come a long way and gotten a lot of major upgrades since I first came online, but I’ve still got my trusty battleaxe!” As if on cue, Labrys reached behind her and swung her positively gigantic mechanical axe in front of them, an impressive weapon that put even Noir’s to shame.

Joker blinked once, twice, and three times. “Holy shit…you’re actually serious,” he mumbled. “You’re actually a robot with a giant battleaxe. I fought a giant golden dragon yesterday whose armor fell off, leaving him basically naked in everything except his red boxers. How the hell am I finding things that are giving that serious competition in the What-the-Fuck department in the very next day?”

Shiho giggled. “You’re a Wild Card, Joker,” she pointed out. “At this point, weird is basically your new normal.”

“Can’t deny that,” Joker conceded before turning back to Labrys. “Noir would love to see a battleaxe that huge. Too bad we can’t exchange or trade weapons cause of the Velvet Room’s rules, though.”

“Speaking of Noir,” Yu interrupted. “We should probably come up with our codenames now. That we can talk to each other without trying to work around not being able to use our real names.”

“Good idea,” Joker agreed, before turning to the rest of the Investigation Team. “Generally, our codenames are a single word that describe us well in some way. For example, I’m Joker because I’m a Wild Card and I’m extremely versatile because I can switch Personas.”

“Ooh, ooh!” Teddie interrupted eagerly. “Can I be Hot Stud?”

Everyone rolled their eyes. “First of all, that’s two words,” Yukiko retorted. “Second of all, if you keep trying to make that your codename I swear I’m gonna hit you with the strongest Fire attack I can make.”

“Eeeeeeek!” Teddie cringed.

“All right guys, settle down and come up with some codenames for yourselves,” Yu instructed. “For me, I’m gonna go with Seeker. Short, sweet, and keeps true to the whole theme of Seeking the Truth that was the whole point of my Fool’s Journey.”

The rest of the Investigation Team, Labrys, and Shiho spent the next few minutes coming up with their code names. Yosuke ended up going with Prince because of his Prince of Junes title, Chie went with Dragon, Yukiko chose Flower, Kanji picked Tailor, Rise decided on Melody, Teddie demonstrated a truly outstanding display of originality by picking Ted (much to the annoyance of the others, but since they already had precedents with Morgana and arguably Sophia, they couldn’t really shut it down), Naoto chose Sureshot, Labrys went with Pres (which was a reference to a previous adventure that she and Yu had shared in the past), and Shiho rounded them all off with Corsair as a reference to her Persona.

Joker grinned. “Nice, these are all some pretty sweet codenames for the most part.” He remarked. Except for Teddie’s went unsaid, although he was pretty sure that he wasn’t the only one who shared that particular thought. “Now you should be able to safely talk to each other without your identities getting exposed by any potential spies.”

“I still can’t believe you found your own AI girl to help you on in the Jails,” Yukiko commented, turning her attention back towards Sophie. “And she’s so adorable too! I just want to go over there and give her a big hug!”

“Request denied,” Sophie immediately countered. “As I informed Panther the last time I received this request, I am not a pet. I am not someone who can be floofed or hugged.”

“Aww!!!!” Yukiko groaned, and she wasn’t the only one. It was clear that Rise had entertained the same idea, and she wouldn’t have any more success hugging Sophie than Yukiko would have.

“Why don’t we practice using our codenames now?” Naoto suggested. “The sooner we get adjusted to them, the better.”

“A good idea,” Seeker agreed. “It’s a habit that we better get used to quickly.”

“Yeah, and I’m also happy that you guys brought holsters for some of your weapons,” Joker added. “Some of them probably won’t be too problematic, but things like Seeker’s katana and Prince’s knives might be a bit more dangerous to use with enhanced Metaverse physics factoring in.”

“Seeker took care of that before we came into the Jail,” Prince replied.

“That does bring me to my first major question,” Sureshot turned to Joker. “How exactly do the enhanced Metaverse physics work?” she asked. “We never encountered any such thing in the TV World, and you didn’t seem to display anything like that either when we were fighting together back then.”

“I know,” Joker acknowledged. “And since we got those back when we started going through the Jails, I think it might be possible that those are a Metaverse-specific thing, which means that YOU guys might get access to those enhanced abilities too.”

“Wait, REALLY?” Dragon asked eagerly. “We get to do cool Phantom Thief stuff too?”

“Yeah, but don’t get too excited just yet,” Mona cautioned. “They’re not necessarily the easiest thing to get used to for people who aren’t already experienced with them, like us. And with some of your very real weapons, you might get seriously hurt if you’re not careful.” He turned to Joker. “Joker, I think we should show them a demonstration, just to be safe.”

“Agreed,” Joker nodded his head, before turning to the Investigation Team. “I guess the first thing I should show you is how we get down from here. As you can see, we are currently on a ledge high above the streets of Shibuya. And how we get down is…by jumping.”

Before anyone could ask what he meant by that, Joker turned around and took a flying leap from the ledge, propelling himself far higher and farther than what he was capable of in the real world. The leader of the Phantom Thieves did a forward flip in the air before landing neatly on his feet, with Mona and Sophie both imitating his action and landing just as smoothly (minus the forward flip) a few seconds later.

Everyone stared at the three Thieves in amazement. “Whoa…” Tailor breathed. “Damn man, that was sick to watch!”

“And you’re saying we’ll be able to do that too?” Prince grinned. “Hell yeah!”

“That was pretty sweet!” Pres eagerly agreed. “Especially since normally I only see my sister or me do things like that.”

Flower wasn’t quite so enthusiastic. “Are you sure we’ll be able to do that?” she asked a bit cautiously. “That looks kinda…dangerous…”

“Only one way to find out!” Ted exclaimed. Before anyone could stop him, he raced forward and jumped off the ledge, imitating Joker’s action just before. “Wheeeeeeeee!!!!!”

“Ted!” Melody protested, but her words faded into a stunned silence shared with the rest of the Investigation Team as they realized that Ted was performing the same kind of physics-defying leap that Joker had, minus the flashy flip, and had landed neatly on his feet without stumbling or his claw getting on the way.

“That was so fun!” Ted cheered. “I’ve never jumped that high before!”

“That was really irresponsible!” Sureshot scolded. “You could’ve been hurt!”

“Maybe, but Ted basically confirmed that we all have enhanced abilities in the Metaverse compared to the TV World,” Seeker pointed out. “And if Ted could use them, then there’s no reason why the rest of us can’t either.” He stepped forward. “I’ll go next,” he volunteered. “As your leader, I shouldn’t ask or demand any of you to do anything that I wouldn’t be able to do myself.”

Taking a deep breath, Seeker took a leap off the ledge, not jumping quite as far or as high as Joker but still going farther than he would definitely have been capable of as a baseline human. Seeker felt something course through his body that he’d never experienced in the TV World before, and he marveled at natural everything felt as the ground grew closer and closer. Bracing for impact, Seeker landed neatly on his feet, half expecting to feel a massive shock through his legs. But while there was certainly some pressure from the landing, it wasn’t nearly as severe as he had expected, and he didn’t stumble at all. He turned around and looked back up at his friends. “It works!” he reported with a smile. “We get access to the enhanced physics of the Metaverse, just like Joker theorized.”

“Hey!” A voice suddenly interrupted them, and everyone turned to see a Shadow that they had gotten just a little bit too close to. “Hold it right there!”

“Ah, crap,” Joker muttered as the Shadow transformed into a bunch of Jack-o-Lanterns. “Should’ve cleared these guys out first before we started playing around with physics.” He turned to Mona and Sophie. “Guys? Let’s just get rid of these shmucks so we can make some room!”

“Got it, Joker!” Mona affirmed. The three Phantom Thieves launched themselves into battle, and Seeker watched as they engaged the group of Jack-o-Lanterns. Even though the Thieves might have appeared to be disgustingly outnumbered, the numbers advantage was actually much less significant than it first appeared. Each of their Personas’ attacks now covered an area no matter what skill they used, with the Ma- skills covering a much wider range than their “regular” variants. Not only that, but even the basic attacks of the Thieves, whether they be Joker’s knife slashes or Mona’s sword swings, were wide enough to hit multiple enemies at once in front of them. And of course, the Phantom Thieves completely outgunned the Jack-o-Lanterns both in terms of raw power and fighting experience.

Needless to say, the group of Jack-o-Lanterns were completely obliterated without putting up any meaningful resistance whatsoever.

“Easy shit,” Joker commented with a grin as the battle ended. “Honestly could’ve just slashed them all to death if I felt like it.”

“Whoa…” Dragon gasped. “That was so cool, Joker! The way you beat the crap out of all those Shadows up close and personal despite them all outnumbering you like that! I can’t wait to get in there and kick some Shadows in the face!”

“Hold on a sec,” Mona interrupted. “You still haven’t even gotten the basics of moving around in the Metaverse yet. Let Joker and I clear out a few of the Shadows around here first so that we don’t get spotted like we almost did just now.”

“Good idea,” Joker agreed. He, Mona, and Sophie proceeded to ambush the Shadows that were closest to the entry point of the Shibuya Jail, giving the Investigation Team room to land safely in the Jail itself without the risk of triggering an attack from Shadows that might be too close by.

“All right!” Seeker called out to his team. “You can come down now. Go one at a time so that we don’t all jump on each other by accident.”

One by one, each member of the Investigation Team jumped from the overlook down onto the street, marveling at the same sensation that Seeker had felt as they enjoyed the enhanced capabilities given to their bodies by virtue of being Persona users within the Metaverse. The only one who didn’t feel significantly different from normal was Labrys, who already had superhuman capabilities by virtue of being an Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon designed for intense combat. Melody also didn’t jump down like everyone else, instead using Himiko’s powers to simply teleport her onto the street.

“So this must be what Aigis feels like every time she flies around with her built-in jetpack,” Prince muttered.

Joker blinked. “Who has a what?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Tailor interrupted brusquely, before smiling. “Gotta admit, jumping off that ledge and landing like that made me feel like a real superhero. So what’s next?”

“Now we gotta show you how to move around,” Mona answered. “It’s an ability we call the Phantom Dash. It lets us dash around both in and out of battle, as well as jump higher than a normal human could and hide behind certain cover points that allow us to avoid getting discovered by Shadows.”

“Oh! Allow me to demonstrate, please!” Sophie requested in that adorable tone of hers.

Joker smiled. “Go ahead, Sophie,” he invited.

“Thank you!” Sophie replied cheerfully, before proceeding to Phantom Dash multiple times in a circle around them. The Investigation Team couldn’t help but marvel at how she quickly she moved, to the point that they could barely register her movements. One moment she was standing in one location, the next moment her body seemed to disappear into a blur as she zoomed forward, before re-appearing in a different spot a short distance away.

“That’s really cool!” Flower commented admiringly. “And you and Mona can both do that too, right?”

“All the Phantom Thieves can,” Joker answered with a grin. “And at this point, I’m pretty sure that you can too.”

“How does this whole Phantom Dash thing work, then?” Corsair asked. “I really wanna see how Panther feels whenever she goes Phantom Thieving!”

“It’s a bit hard to describe,” Joker admitted. “For me, at least, I have to focus my energy inside my body and concentrate on what I want to do, in this case charging forward, which allows me to Phantom Dash a short distance. Like Mona said earlier, it’s really important for dodging attacks, because those can come at you really quickly especially with how outnumbered you’ll end up being while fighting Shadows.”

“Let me try,” Seeker offered. He focused his energy inside his body, just like Joker had instructed, before charging forward. To the entire Investigation Team’s surprise, including his own, Seeker rushed forward in a blur just like Sophie had done, moving far faster than he would ever have been capable of in the real world, before stopping a short distance from where he’d started. “Oh my God…” he breathed. “It really does work.”

“YES!” Dragon cheered. “This is gonna be awesome!”

“I must admit,” Sureshot acknowledged with a good-humored smile. “I’m quite interested in trying these enhanced movement techniques myself.”

“It might feel a bit weird or a bit hard to pull off at first, but it’ll get easier the more times you do it,” Mona assured them. “The more practice you get, the more instinctive and natural it’ll become. The Phantom Thieves got the hang of it before they even finished their first Palace last year, so I’m sure you’ll get it down in no time!”

“There’s a lot more to Phantom Dashing than just supersonic running, but I think the basic Phantom Dash is the most important thing to get the hang of,” Joker added. “Mainly because it’s the best way to dodge attacks once you’re actually fighting Shadows here.”

“I agree,” Seeker nodded, before turning to the members of the Investigation Team. “All right, everyone. I want you guys to practice Phantom Dashing for the next few minutes,” he instructed. “Just the basic dash, nothing flashier than that. Don’t do anything stupid like trying to swing your weapons around while practicing this, and don’t stray too far away from this immediate area. The Phantom Thieves killed the Shadows right around here already, but there’s still some other ones further down in the square.”

The Investigation Team proceeded to spread out in the area that Joker, Mona, and Sophie had cleared for them, and they spent the next several minutes practicing the basic Phantom Dash technique that Sophie and Seeker had demonstrated. Some Investigation Team members were able to get the hang of it almost immediately like Dragon and Corsair, who already had an affinity towards physical activity and athletics thanks to their respective martial arts and basketball training. Others, like Tailor and Ted, took a bit longer to figure it out since neither of them were used to moving at intense or even fast speeds compared to their friends. But as they got more practice, all of them eventually got the hang of Phantom Dashing down.

“You guys catch on pretty quickly!” Mona commented approvingly once they had all finished their practice session. “Now we can move on to the next part of your Phantom Dash training!”

“There’s definitely more to Phantom Dashing than just running really fast, though,” Joker added. “Jumping plays a huge role in your new mobility, too. In some cases, it’s pretty simple. You can jump a little higher than normal even if you don’t focus your energy into the jump, like this.” He walked over to the entrance to the subway station in Shibuya and jumped, neatly grabbing onto the ledge and effortlessly pulling himself up on top of the subway station entrance, doing a neat little flip as he did so.

“Man, Joker, ya really do love showin’ off your Phantom Thief chops, don’t ya?” Pres remarked.

Joker grinned. “Can you blame me, Pres?” he retorted. “It’s not like I can do any of this shit in the real world without either hurting myself or getting arrested.”

“Fair enough,” Pres acknowledged as Joker jumped back off the station and rejoined their group.

“Anyways, that’s the easy part,” the leader of the Phantom Thieves continued. “Things get a bit more complicated when you try to Phantom Dash onto a higher surface. Watch this.” The Investigation Team watched, and their eyes widened in shock as Joker cleanly jumped from the ground right on top of a bus…and then from the roof of the bus onto the very top of a traffic light pole without any seeming exertion whatsoever. Joker leapt back down onto the bus from the traffic light pole, and then back onto the ground, rejoining like them like he hadn’t just performed a superhuman feat that would’ve put most athletes to shame.

“Dude!” Prince exclaimed. “You’re telling us Phantom Dashing will let us do crazy shit like that!”

“Yeah, and that’s also the part I’m worried about,” Joker replied with a frown. “Because while we Phantom Thieves are veterans who’ve had tons of experience with Phantom Dashing and jumping on all sorts of crazy places, we had plenty of time to practice it in the Metaverse last year. You guys are new to all of this, and part of me is worried that if you try to do any of the really risky jumps, you’ll end up falling and hurting yourselves.”

“And some of you guys are carrying really dangerous weapons, too,” Melody pointed out with some concern in her voice. “Seeker’s got his katana, Prince has got his knives, and Corsair has her spear. Heck, Sureshot’s gun would’ve been the scariest thing out of everyone here if she didn’t remove the bullets first before bringing it in here. I don’t want to think about what would happen if you fell out of the traffic pole, crashed into the ground, and then stabbed yourself with your own weapons by accident.”

Everyone shuddered at the rather gruesome mental image. “Now I see why you were so insistent on me getting a scabbard for my katana,” Seeker muttered.

Sophie tilted her head curiously. “If safety is a concern, perhaps the Investigation Team shouldn’t attempt to perform the riskiest jumps,” she advised. “Perhaps they should only perform the more basic maneuvers.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Joker acknowledged with a frown. “The problem is that you might need to perform a risky Phantom Dash jump just to progress. I know that was the case for the Sendai Jail, at least.”

“We’ll be careful,” Seeker promised. “And we’ll take the time today to practice both Phantom Dashing and Jail combat so that we can navigate all the Jails as smoothly as possible.”

“Why don’t we practice with that bus that Joker jumped on just now?” Sureshot suggested. “Jumping on that bus at least seems like a fairly straightforward and easy maneuver, as bizarre as it is for me to say out loud without any context,” she added dryly.

 “That sounds like as good an idea as any,” Joker agreed. He and his fellow Thieves watched as the members of the Investigation Team except Melody practiced jumping onto the bus. This time, the difference in skill level was much more noticeable. Ted outright fell off the bus the first time he attempted, and Tailor nearly stumbled off the bus as he struggled to keep his balance while holding his giant shield at the same time.

“Yeeesh,” Tailor muttered. “I either need to get better with holding this thing while dashing, or I need to find some way to strap it onto my back.”

“That might not be a bad idea, Tailor,” Prince suggested. “While we’re moving around not fighting, might want to strap that shield onto your back so you don’t have to worry about holding it all the time.” He grinned. “You know, like those old barbarian warriors from history shows!”

“Yeah,” Tailor agreed thoughtfully, “think I will. I’ll either buy something from Junes or make something at the textile shop, still haven’t decided which one yet.”

“How do your arms not get tired from lugging that shield around all the time?” Joker asked incredulously. “That thing seems HEAVY.”

Tailor smirked. “I still keep a good workout routine I do every so often,” he answered. “Does wonders for my arms. Sureshot here certainly agrees,” he added with a hint of mischief, causing the detective in question to blush furiously.

Both the Investigation Team and the Phantom Thieves snickered, except for Sophie who merely studied their interactions curiously. Even though her interactions with this other group of Joker’s friends would be limited thanks to their rules, she still hoped to learn as much as she could from them.

In the meantime, Mona got to work teaching the Investigation Team how to hide in certain corners using Phantom Dash to avoid detection by Shadows. “If you actively try to hide behind certain corners, or on top of high places, for whatever reason Shadows won’t be able to see you at all,” the feline explained as he dashed onto the corner of the street,” he explained. “Even if the rest of us can see you, or if logically the Shadows should be able to see you from a certain angle, they’ll just walk by you without noticing anything as long as you’re actively hiding.”

“Heh,” Pres chuckled. “Good to see that even in a new world, Shadows can still be as clueless as ever.”

Corsair blinked. “That’s definitely new,” she remarked. “Does that make Ambushing Shadows a lot easier then? Because now it sounds like you’ve got places you can hide in instead of just running up and hitting them in the back like in the TV World.”

Joker grinned. “You’re catching on quickly, Corsair. Yeah, this is how we Ambush Shadows like true Phantom Thieves,” he confirmed.

“We dash behind these hiding places,” Mona added, “and wait for Shadows to come by before attacking them.” He turned towards his leader. “Hey Joker, you think it’s time we give them a little demonstration?”

Joker nodded. “Yeah, I think it’s time.” He turned to face the Investigation Team, and he allowed a grin to spread across his face. “We’ve given you a crash course on the basics on how to navigate Jails with the Phantom Dash. Now it’s time for us to show you what it means to fight Shadows in these Jails. And if you haven’t noticed back already when we were clearing out the area, it’s nothing like anything you’ve ever experienced before.”

Chapter Text

“Aww, hell yeah!” Dragon cheered. “Now we get to the FUN part! Let’s go kick some Shadows’ asses!”

Pres grinned. “Just say the word, and I’m gonna smash my axe right into their faces!”

Joker chuckled. “Eager as always, but unfortunately you can’t just rush into things. There’s quite a lot I’ve gotta talk to you about first, because combat in the Jails really is a hell of a lot different than what you’re used to in the TV World.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Seeker acknowledged. “Especially from that one fight we saw you guys accidentally get tangled up in when you were jumping into the Jail.”

Mona nodded. “Yeah,” he agreed. “Glad to see you were paying attention to that. I think the first think we gotta warn you about is that you really don’t want to get spotted by the Shadows here.”

Joker grimaced. “You know how in the TV World, as you got closer to the Shadows, they noticed your presence and you had a few seconds to hit them in the back before they turned around and tried to attack you?” Everyone from the Investigation Team nodded. “Well, it’s not like that in the Jails. If the Shadows actually spot you, they’ll immediately knock you down and you start the battle at a disadvantage. There is NO grace period between them spotting you and you getting ambushed by them.”

Everyone’s eyes widened. “They react THAT quickly?” Corsair asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, it’s arguably even stricter than it was in the Palaces,” Mona acknowledged. “At least in the Palaces, if the Shadows spotted you, you still had a few seconds to strike and at the very least make the fight a normal one, even if the security level still goes up. But here, you don’t get that chance.”

Prince winced. “Yeeesh, that sounds pretty rough,” he muttered.

“The hell’s a security level?” Tailor wondered. “You just brought it up right now.”

“The security level of a Jail or Palace measures how thoroughly that world is protected by Shadows,” Mona explained. “To keep things really simple, think of it as how much the Jail or the Monarch is aware of your presence here, and how high the defenses are because of that. The higher the security level, the more Shadows pop up and the more heavily defended the Palace is. If the security level reaches its maximum for any reason other than sending a Calling Card, then you’re forced to retreat because the security at that point is just way too intense to safely navigate through, and there’s a good chance the Monarch ruling the Jail will figure out where we are and try to corner us when we’re not actually in a position to fight.”

“The more times you are spotted by Shadows or by security spotlights, the higher the Security level,” Sophie helpfully supplied. “By contrast, winning battles against enemy Shadows will lower the security level. It is generally a good idea to keep the Security level of the Jail as low as possible.”

“I see,” Seeker nodded in understanding. “So there’s reasons to avoid being spotted by Shadows beyond just starting a battle off on the wrong foot. But this Jail doesn’t actually have a Monarch now, right? Because you defeated Alice’s Shadow. So how does that affect the Security level when there isn’t a Shadow ruling over this Jail?”

Joker, Mona, and Sophie looked at each other uncertainly. “We don’t…actually know,” Joker admitted. “You’re right that the Monarchs are gone since we changed their hearts, but there’s still clearly Shadows here so it’s not like the Jails are deserted. We should probably just treat this as a normal Jail infiltration with the Security level still a thing, just to be safe.”

“When you guys got caught, I think I felt something about the environment change,” Melody supplied in support of Joker’s speculation. “Like…the whole place is a bit more on edge than it was before that fight. I don’t know if that’s what you’re talking about, or if it’s just me.”

“That’s probably it,” Mona acknowledged. “So it sounds like Security Levels are still a thing even after we beat the Monarchs in a given Jail.”

“So don’t be careless and avoid getting spotted,” Sureshot summarized. “Simple enough on paper, but it seems like avoiding the attentions of Shadows is going to be much more complicated in the Jails.”

To her surprise, Joker grinned. “Nah, not really, Sureshot,” he replied. “There’s actually quite a few ways to go about starting fights with Shadows, and some are pretty low-risk. The first one is the riskiest, but it’s probably the closest to what you guys are used to. Rushing at them from behind and attacking them while their back is turned. We trigger some of our ambushes like that.”

“Didn’t you just say that the Shadows immediately spot you, though?” Flower asked, confused.

“They’ll immediately trigger a battle if they spot you,” Joker corrected. “But, if you’re not right in their line of sight, you do have a few seconds to ambush them before they figure out where you are. Watch.”

The Investigation Team watched as Joker rushed towards an officer-like Shadow whose back was turned to them. The Shadow did seem to suspect that something was wrong as Joker got closer, but by then it was too late. Joker neatly jumped onto the Shadow’s shoulders, reached down onto its mask, and ripped it off. The Shadow staggered backwards and transformed into a horde of Jack-o-Lanterns and more Shadow officers as the Phantom Thieves took advantage of Joker’s ambush, leaping into the air and slamming their weapons down onto the group of hapless Shadows and completely stunning them for a few seconds. They quickly took advantage of their ambush to utterly demolish the Shadows with their skills before they even had a chance to react, neatly wrapping up the battle in just a few seconds.

“Whoa…” Pres breathed out as the Shadows dissolved, clearly impressed by what she had just witnessed. “Is THAT how ya ambush Shadows, Joker? Leaping onto their heads like a damn circus performer and straight-up ripping their faces off? That’s some next level stuff, right there!”

“That was soooooo cool!” Ted gushed.

Flower giggled. “It really does fit your style so well, Joker.” She frowned. “But…I don’t think most of us have the kind of acrobatic skill to pull that off.”

“Well, you guys didn’t have the acrobatic skill to leap off of a building and land neatly on your feet either, or dash around at the speed of light for a few seconds, and yet here we are,” Joker pointed out. “If you could do those kinds of things here, I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to pull off an ambush like I just did.”

“Man, now I REALLY wanna go out there and kick some Shadows’ asses more than ever!” Dragon exclaimed.

“Hold on, Dragon, let’s make sure we actually know all our options first,” Seeker advised, before turning back to Joker. “You said there were other ways to attack Shadows?”

“Yeah,” Joker nodded. “The second one is probably THE safest way to start a Shadow battle, but it doesn’t trigger an ambush and it’s not a way that anybody here except Sureshot can use at the moment.”

“Oh?” Sureshot raised an eyebrow. “What method is that?”

“Shooting them from a distance with a gun,” the leader of the Phantom Thieves answered. With a smirk, he took out his model gun and fired a shot at a Shadow right in front of the metal gate leading to Shadow Alice’s Castle. The Shadow was sent flying backwards by the impact of the bullet, and transformed into 3 Bicorns. Just as Joker had stated, there was no ambush like there had been on the Jack-o-Lanterns, and the 3 Phantom Thieves leapt right into the fray. The Bicorns might’ve been more durable than the Jack-o-Lanterns, but Joker wasn’t even remotely worried. He simply blasted them with a Zio spell that stunned all 3 of them, allowing his Thieves to take advantage of their vulnerability to wipe them out just as cleanly as they had the Jack-o-Lanterns. “Easy-peasy!” Joker declared with a smirk.

“Shooting Shadows from a distance is definitely the safest way to start Shadow fights, and sometimes it’s the only real way you have, especially if there’s multiple Shadows in a single area,” Mona commented. “The trade-off is that you can’t trigger ambushes with them, so you’re not gonna get any special advantages if you don’t ambush them the way Joker did.”

“Those guns aren’t real though, right?” Melody asked with some concern. “I don’t think you should be carrying around real guns, Joker, loaded or not.”

“Nah,” Joker shook his head to reassure her, earning a sigh of relief from her and some others. “They’re just realistic models. Heck, in the Jails, we don’t even use our guns all that much in actual fights. We mainly use them to start fights safely from a distance, although for Sureshot it might be a different story since her main weapon IS a gun.”

Prince turned to Seeker. “I think we’re gonna have to go back to Junes and get some model guns for each of us,” he suggested. “Probably just some basic handguns like what Joker’s using for everyone here except Sureshot. Doesn’t need to be anything super fancy, it’s not like we’re gonna be using them for all that much outside of starting Shadow fights anyway.”

“We’ll take care of that as soon as possible,” Seeker promised. “A safe way to start Shadow fights is always appreciated.”

“Yeah, I get it,” Pres acknowledged. “Going all-in guns blazing sounds a hell of a lot cooler, but I get that we can’t really do that all the time. Are there any other ways to start Shadow fights, Joker?” the android asked him.

Joker grinned. “There’s one more. The third, and my personal favorite way, is to ambush them from a cover point through the Phantom Dash. Let’s move to a different area so I can demonstrate this better.” He guided them over to the West Exit of the Shibuya Station, where there were more Shadows and quite a few buses and vehicles scattered around. Joker leapt onto the top of one of the buses and lunged towards the closest Shadow, moving at inhuman speed for a few seconds before neatly landing on top of the Shadows’ shoulders and ripping his mask off just as he had for the first Shadow. Once again, the Phantom Thieves joined their leader in swinging their weapons down on the flat-footed Shadows, leaving them stunned and helpless as Joker and his friends obliterated them all before they even had a chance to attack.

Prince grinned once the battle was over. “That was my favorite strat out of the 3 you showed us,” he declared. “No doubts about it.”

“Certainly the one that gives the biggest advantage,” Seeker agreed. “You don’t risk getting spotted and you get the benefits of an ambush. I guess the only downside is that sometimes you don’t have a cover point that makes such an ambush possible in the first place.”

“Yeah, the environment can really help or hurt you there, depending,” Mona acknowledged. “But if you can go for an ambush like that, more often than not you should go for it.”

“Well, we’ve seen plenty of demonstrations of you fighting Shadows by now,” Sureshot commented. “Is there anything else we should be aware of before we start fighting Shadows properly?”

“Yeah,” Joker replied. “Shadows have different power levels, with some being stronger than others. For me, with my Third Eye power, the weak ones are blue, the ones roughly equal to me in overall power level are yellow, and the more powerful and dangerous ones are red.” He frowned. “I don’t know how you’ll be able to see them, though, since you don’t have the Third Eye. And come to think of it, there’s a few places in the Jails where there are invisible things that can only be seen by my Third Eye to keep going. I don’t know what you’re going to use as a substitute, though, if you even can.”

“I might have something I can use, actually,” Seeker realized. “Right before I fought and defeated Izanami, Igor gave me a special item called the Orb of Sight, which allowed me to see the truth of things without being tricked by lies and illusions. This is just a theory and I don’t have any hard evidence to back it up, but I think if I bring the orb with me, I’ll be able to channel it to basically copy your Third Eye.”

“Who is Izanami?” Sophie wondered. “Was she an enemy you needed to fight?”

“It’s a long story, Sophie,” Mona answered. “Probably not one we can tell you in the middle of a Jail exploration.”

“Huh, looks like there’s still some prep that we still gotta do,” Tailor remarked. “It’s a really good thing Joker came here with us for this first exploration, cause otherwise we wouldn’t have realized what we were missing until it smacked us in the face.”

“Yeah!” Flower agreed. “You’re being really helpful, all of you. I don’t think we could thank you enough for coming with us today!”

Joker smiled. “No worries, Flower,” he answered gently. “I’m just doing what any decent friend and fellow Persona user would do. You’re already jumping into an unfamiliar environment, least I can do is make sure you’re as thoroughly prepared as possible.”

“Well, you’ve done a great job of it!” Corsair complimented. “I feel like I’m as ready as I can realistically be. Is there anything you’ve gotta tell us about before we start fighting?”

“There’s…one other thing,” Mona answered. “A few of the Shadows here are really big Shadows, almost like mini-bosses. They’re physically larger, their attacks are more powerful, and they have a big health bar with defenses harder to break.” He turned to the other Phantom Thieves. “Isn’t there a big Silky around here or something?”

“That is correct,” Sophie confirmed. “Near the entrance to the Underground Waterway.”

“We’ll show them what we mean with the big Silky,” Joker decided. “And then we’ll let the Investigation Team start fighting Shadows themselves.”

The three Phantom Thieves approached a seemingly innocuous hovercar Shadow, and Joker decided to show off a little bit by first jumping on top of a street light before dashing towards the hovercar, slashing it with his knife as he approached it. Even though it was a much more straightforward maneuver than what he’d pulled on the police officer-like Shadows, it was enough to trigger the ambush, as a particularly large Silky next to 2 smaller ones was forced to the ground by the weight of the Phantom Thieves’ initial opening strike.

“Oh!” Melody gasped. “Himiko’s picking up some data from that large Silky! It’s definitely got a lot more health than the other Silkies, and…it’s almost like there’s some kind of energy shield around the large one. A shield that feels like it has multiple layers on it. What could that mean?”

“That’s a question you should ask Joker once they’re done fighting,” Seeker advised his girlfriend.

“Yeah, I should wait until…oh!” Melody blinked. “Joker blasted that Silky with what looked like an Agilao just now. It stunned her a bit and knocked out one of the layers on her shield!”

The Investigation Team barely had time to process this as Joker hit the Silky with another Agilao, and then another. His constant bombardment of Fire attacks shredded the layers of the Silky’s energy shield like they were tissue paper, causing her to stumble and collapse onto the ground helplessly.

“You know what to do!” Joker called out to his friends, the two of them not needing any further explanation before launching into their All-Out Attack. The Investigation Team watched in astonishment as the Thieves attacked the fallen Silky with the same inhumanly fast speed of the Phantom Dash, dissolving into blurs as they attacked the Silky over and over again. The three Thieves landed on their feet in front of the fallen Silky and Joker snapped his fingers, triggering a massive Almighty explosion manifesting as a pillar of destructive energy that shredded through a huge chunk of the Silky’s health.

“Aww, come on!” Dragon complained. “Even their All-Out Attack looks way cooler than ours! Why do Joker and all the Phantom Thieves get all the cool stuff?”

“Well, they had to really work for it, what with them facing off and beating probably the most actively malevolent cognitive deity to date,” Seeker commented with a chuckle. “They deserve to have their cool toys.”

“And besides, Dragon, we’ve already been able to do a bunch of cool Phantom Thief stuff ourselves like the Phantom Dash!” Prince pointed out cheerfully. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and be able to do their All-Out Attacks too?”

“Oh yeah!” Dragon brightened at the idea. “I really hope so!”

They watched as Joker finished off the Silky with repeated Agilaos until the Shadow was finally destroyed. The large Silky had admittedly put up a bit more impressive of a fight in that it hadn’t been immediately obliterated in the first 10 seconds of the battle, but that really wasn’t saying much.

“Damn, Joker!” Kanji whistled. “Even your versions of the All-Out Attack are cool as hell! Can we do cool shit like that?”

Joker shrugged. “I dunno,” he answered completely honestly. “Only way to find out is to actually start fighting yourself.” His smile turned into a more serious expression. “That being said, as you could probably tell, that Shadow was bigger and tougher than the other ones we’ve fought so far, even though it didn’t look like it much right now because we’re so overleveled. It has an energy shield with several layers that you have to break apart before you can All-Out Attack it, although the shield doesn’t actually block damage. Other normal Shadows don’t have defenses that crazy, and you can usually knock them down for an All-Out Attack in one, maybe two hits at most. The way you break down energy shields is pretty much what you’d expect. Weaknesses, Crits, Technicals, things like that.”

“Did the Shadows of the Monarchs operate under the same basic principles?” Sureshot asked.

“Yeah,” Joker affirmed. “They have weaknesses unlike most of the Palace Rulers we fought, but they have a lot more shield layers to make up for it.”

“What was that mask thing ya picked up at the end?” Pres wondered. “That big Shadow thing turned into one after you kicked her ass.”

“It’s a mask that drops from some Shadows I beat,” Joker answered. “They become my Personas, or Persona points if I already have that Persona as a mask.” He shrugged. “Nowadays, with how far I’ve leveled, most of the masks I pick up in earlier Jails are probably gonna end up turning into points.”

“It’s a Wild Card thing,” Seeker quickly explained when he saw the confused looks on his friends’ faces. “Joker already gave me a bit of a rundown on how the Velvet Room works now before we came in, and I’ll talk to Margaret privately later so that we don’t waste time for you guys.”

“Well, I think that’s really all I have to show you,” Joker remarked. “I think I’ve covered all the essentials for combat in the Jails. At this point, the best teacher is personal experience. And I know some of you are itching for a fight at this point.” He smirked knowingly at Dragon, who gave him a cheerful grin back in response. “Unless you want to go back and get those supplies like the model guns and the Orb of Sight you were talking about earlier. For some reason, leaving the Jails isn’t nearly as exhausting as leaving other cognitive worlds is and time seems to pass a lot slower in the Jails, so you won’t be losing out on the day if you go back and prepare properly. You also get free heals and can travel to any checkpoint that’s been activated, which is really nice.” He grinned. “I’ve already activated all the checkpoints here so you can travel anywhere in the Jail you’d like.”

“Why don’t we go back and get those supplies?” Seeker suggested. “I want to make sure we all have to tools to attack Shadows safely, and if it’s not going to take a huge time investment like you suggested, then we don’t miss out on much by taking the extra time to prepare.”

The rest of his friends agreed, although some more enthusiastically than others. “Since I can’t rejoin you in the same location in the real world because I’m technically in Sendai, why don’t I just wait here while you take care of all that?” Joker suggested. “Maybe bring Prince and Ted with you to help with the shopping for the model guns.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Seeker agreed. The three Investigation Team members in question returned to the entrance to the Jail and left for the real world, leaving the rest of the Investigation Team and Phantom Thieves to exchange small talk while they waited at the entrance.

“Hey, so, I have a question,” Corsair suddenly shifted the conversation as she raised her hand off her spear. “How’d you guys get so good at Phantom Dashing and stuff like that to begin with?”

“What do you mean?” Joker replied, confused.

“The way you guys move around and fight in the Jails with all those superhuman abilities is seriously unreal,” Corsair elaborated. “Like, some of those moves you pull off like jumping on the top of street lights while keeping perfect balance is something that even super experienced gymnastics athletes would have a tough time doing. I know you guys had a year to practice this stuff back when you were taking care of the Palaces, but seriously, the kind of stuff you guys can do is incredible! And you’re telling me ALL the Phantom Thieves can do this the way you can?”

Joker smiled, and the expression this time was noticeably more bashful than it usually was. “Ehhh…I never really thought about it, to be honest,” he admitted. “After Mona taught us the basics in Kamoshithead’s Palace, it just came naturally to us. To be fair, that first Palace was honestly pretty basic in terms of architecture and design at least in the opening parts, so there wasn’t anything super dangerous or risky we needed to worry about, and by the time we got to the more dangerous and chaotic areas we’d already gotten the hang of it. I guess it’s something that just comes with practice, and once you get the hang of it, you won’t need to think twice about exploring the Metaverse.”

Dragon blinked. “I mean…these worlds are based on cognition, right?” she asked. Joker and Mona nodded, prompting her to continue. “Maybe it’s because you think you can do those things, it helps you actually do them in the Jails?” she suggested uncertainly. “And maybe that’s also the reason why those cover points work, it’s because you don’t think that Shadows can actually see you, so they don’t?”

Everyone stayed silent for several seconds, with Joker and Mona in particular blinking multiple times as they processed her words. “Ummm…am I just completely off the mark?” Dragon asked nervously after a few seconds.

Joker let out a loud groan and facepalmed. “Oh my God!” He exclaimed. “How the hell did I never think of that earlier? That makes so much sense!”

“I don’t think it’s barely purely off of your own cognition, because otherwise these guys would’ve had issues with the cover points back when they were still new to being Phantom Thieves. But I think using your own cognition to enhance your skills through confidence certainly doesn’t hurt,” Mona answered, before he let out a loud sigh. “Honestly, it’s pretty embarrassing that I never thought about that before now. And I’m supposed to be the expert on all things in the Metaverse!”

“How do you keep doing this, Dragon?” Tailor demanded. “How do you keep being so accidentally correct all the damn time?”

“I don’t know!” Dragon exclaimed, throwing up her hands as Flower burst into a hyena-like fit of laughter next to her. “Every time I say something with all the confidence in the world, I’m just so completely wrong like on those stupid exams back in high school! But whenever I say something completely random with no clue about how right I am, I always end up hitting the mark! I have no idea how!”

Melody giggled. “Never change, Dragon,” she commented affectionately.

“I just hope this doesn’t end up being a situation like manual breathing where you’re used to doing something naturally when you don’t think about it,” Joker muttered as he saw Seeker, Prince, and Ted come back into the Jail out of the corner of his eye, “but once you DO start thinking about something, it actively messes up with your ability to do it properly.”

“Oh, I hate those,” Corsair winced. “Overthinking things always sucks.”

“We’re back, guys!” Prince called out, interrupting their conversation. “We got some basic model guns for everyone to use, and Seeker got his Orb of Sight from home.”

Joker blinked. “Do you just leave this mystical item that helped you beat your Fool’s Journey lying around at home like that?” he asked with a hint of incredulity.

“Basically,” Seeker freely admitted as he took out the glowing orb from his pocket. “But it’s intrinsically tied to my very being, so it can’t ever be too far away from me. When I went back home after my first stay in Inaba, I’d left the Orb of Sight at my room in the Dojimas’ house. But it ended up teleporting to my pocket a few hours later when I moved back to the city, so I think there’s only so far away it can be from me before it magically teleports to my location.” He glanced over at the Shadows patrolling the front of Alice’s Jail, which had started to come back while they had been waiting. He placed his hand on the Orb of Sight and focused for a few minutes. “I think it’s working, guys,” he reported with a flash of enthusiasm in his eyes. “I can see the effect that Joker was talking about with his Third Eye. There’s one Shadow in the far distance that’s glowing red, but all the rest of them are glowing yellow.”

“That Shadow’s probably red because it spawns like three waves,” Joker commented. “It’s not something that’s particularly threatening after you’ve gotten a few levels, but you might want to kill every other Shadow in the area first. Obviously for me, all those Shadows are gonna be completely blue.”

“All right, we can definitely start kicking some Shadows’ asses now, right?” Dragon pressed eagerly.

“One last thing we need to do first,” Seeker gently interrupted. “We need to check our Personas’ skillsets and make sure we know what they’re capable of before we do anything. Since we’re all back down to Level 1, I’m going to assume we only have basic attacking skills, maybe a buff or debuff here and there.” He smiled dryly. “At least I still have Izanagi with Ren’s Picaro effect, so he still Nulls both Elec and Curse. That’s better than what I was expecting to be honest, although I’m not thrilled to see that I only have Zio, Cleave, and Rakukaja again. I’m gonna miss Wild Thunder while we’re here.”

Prince checked his now-Jiraya’s skillset and groaned. “Ugh, just Garu, Bash, and Dia? I forgot what it was like to be a complete noob, and I hate it! I don’t even Null Wind anymore, it’s just a freaking Resist again!”

“I have Bufu, Dia, and Tarukaja!” Ted cheerfully reported. “And I still Null Ice!”

“Aww, come on!” Prince complained. “How come YOU still get to Null something?”

“Yeah, it’s kinda inconsistent,” Joker admitted. “Some of my fellow Thieves have Personas that can completely Null their elements despite the downgrade back to their basic Personas. Others only have Resists. Doesn’t really make much sense, but we just gotta roll with the punches.”

“Wait…guys?” Pres’ voice suddenly interrupted them, and everyone immediately took note of how uncertain she sounded. They all turned to her, and she was giving them a confused look back. “Why am I seeing skills in Ariadne that I’ve never seen before?”

“What do you mean?” Seeker asked.

“What the hell is a Frei?”

Chapter Text

“Seriously!” Pres exclaimed. “What the hell is this new Frei skill? I’ve never seen it before in my life!”

“Ohhhh….” Prince realized. “You’ve got one of those new Nuke skills!”

Pres blinked. “Nuke? The hell is Nuke?” she asked.

“It’s one of the new elements that showed up last year when I was dealing with the Palaces and Mementos,” Joker explained. “Its opposite is Psychic attacks.”

“Huh, that would explain Ariadne’s new Psy weakness,” Pres mused. “So how does this new Nuke element work, anyway?”

“It’s an element that takes advantage of Technical attacks, more than anything,” Joker explained. “See, when you hit enemies with status conditions, they can become more vulnerable to certain elements and can be hit as though they have a Weakness, even if they wouldn’t be Weak to that element normally. In your case, Pres, Nuke attacks can hit enemies that are Shocked, Burned, or Frozen for Technical damage. There’s also certain statuses like Sleep and Dizzy where every single element can hit them for Technical damage. And keep in mind, in the Jails, Weaknesses and Technical damage stack.”

“Oh, okay,” Pres nodded. “That makes a lotta sense. Ariadne was never really a magic castin’ Persona though, ya know. She was more of a beat-the-crap-outta-my-enemies type of Persona.”

“I don’t know all your Persona’s skills, but it already sounds like Ariadne has a new skillset after coming into the Jails,” Joker remarked. “This is just a guess, but it could be that your kit will be focused on taking advantage of Technical attacks. Especially with Shock and Freeze, since you’ll be able to hit shocked and frozen enemies with Technical attacks from both Physical and Nuke attacks.”

“Well, I don’t really know enough to say anything about dat, since I’m still only level 1,” Pres commented with a thoughtful look. “But honestly? Dat ain’t a bad theory. I’ll definitely keep it in mind, Joker. Thanks!”

Joker grinned. “No problem, Pres.”

“Does anybody else have any questions or concerns about their Personas’ skillsets before we go into the Jails?” Seeker asked.

“Nah, I’m good here,” Tailor replied. “My skills are basically what I’d expect, except shittier since I’m level 1.”

“Nothing about my skills looks weird either,” Flower reported.

“I…think my Persona might’ve been dramatically changed by entering the Jails too,” Sureshot reported with a hint of uncertainty. “Based on Yamato-Sumeragi’s old skills, I was expecting to have access to multiple individual elemental skills covering a small area. Agi, Garu, Bufu, and the like. But I don’t have any of that. In fact, the only skills I have right now are Kouha, Eiha, and Cleave. I’m not really surprised by Cleave since Sukuna-Hikona did have Physical skills at one point. But the only Bless and Curse skills I used to have in the past were the Hama and Mudo skills. I think my Persona has been changed by the Jails to focus primarily on the Kouga and Eiga lines,” she concluded with a frown, “and I’m not sure what to think about that.”

“Honestly, Sureshot? I think this might actually be a good thing in the long run,” Seeker helpfully remarked. “Back when we didn’t know about Baton Pass, you having the ability to hit Shadows with every element was really helpful for setting up All-Out Attacks, even if your attacks didn’t have all that much oomph behind them since you didn’t have any Boost or Amp skills.”

“But now that we know about the Baton Passes, I have to admit that having all the single-target elemental skills but no way to boost them honestly felt rather…underwhelming,” Sureshot admitted. “Combined with the fact that Light and Dark skills only existed as Hamaon and Mudoon back then, and it felt like I couldn’t really pull my weight as effectively as the rest of you against powerful Shadows. Even if my three immunities and access to Concentrate and Megidolaon helped to offset that defensively.”

“You don’t need to feel bad about that!” Tailor was quick to reassure his girlfriend. “Having three immunities and no weaknesses is something all of us WISH we had.”

“I know,” Sureshot smiled at him, grateful for the reassurance. “But if Sukuna-Hikona is now a specialized Bless and Curse Persona, I have a sneaking suspicion that I’ll gain access to the Boost and Amp skills for Bless and Curse once I’ve empowered Sukuna-Hikona more. And from what Joker has described about combat in the Jails, I think that this will be much better for my combat effectiveness in the long run.” She chuckled. “And I still somehow have my immunities to both elements even in my Persona’s most basic form, which I’m certainly not complaining about.”

“Geez, even in a new cognitive world with entirely different rules, you still have the most overpowered resistance profile out of everyone here!” Prince jokingly complained, earning a few laughs from everyone.

“I think it might still be possible for me to get access to the Hama and Mudo skills later,” Sureshot commented thoughtfully once the humor had subsided. “I just hope Sukuna-Hikona can still learn Megidolaon eventually. My Almighty attacks may pale in comparison to Joker’s or Seeker’s at their primes, but it’s always good to have as many options as possible.”

“Since Pres and Sureshot have completely new skills, why don’t we let them take to the front lines so they can experiment with their new abilities?” Seeker suggested. Unsurprisingly, nobody had any reason to argue against this. He turned to the Phantom Thieves. “How did you set up your teams? Four up-front as the main team, with the rest on standby in the back?”

“Yeah, that hasn’t changed,” Mona confirmed.

“All right, then I guess I’ll throw in…Dragon for the third member, since she’s been wanting to kick some Shadows’ asses for a while now,” Seeker decided. Dragon grinned at him and gave him a thumbs-up. “Let’s get training, everyone!”

“HELL YEAH!” Dragon whooped, with everyone else expressing their enthusiasm to differing degrees. Everyone leapt off the overlook and into the Jail proper, where the Shadows had returned while they had been taking their break.

“Let’s start things off nice and simple,” Seeker decided as he took out the model handgun that he had bought at Junes. He pointed it towards the nearest Shadow and pulled the trigger. To his surprise, the gun seemed to behave exactly how a real gun would, firing a bullet and causing slight recoil in his hand. The cognitive bullet slammed into the Shadow and sent it flying backward, before transforming into 3 Bicorns.

“They’re weak to Elec, right? Then this should do the trick!” Seeker manifested his mystical blue card in his hand and crushed it. “Izanagi Picaro, ZIO!”

The creator god of Japan manifested behind him, dressed in his unique Shujin uniform. He swung his blade from side to side, summoning a lightning bolt onto the Bicorns. While the Zio attack was absolutely pathetic when compared to the overwhelming might of the Wild Thunders Izanagi Picaro used to wield, even this most basic of attacks now hit in a range just large enough to hit all of the Bicorns at once. One of them even began to crackle with electricity all over its body and grimaced in pain, demonstrating that it had been shocked.

“Nice one, Seeker!” Dragon cheered as she rushed into the fray to start kicking one of the Bicorns. Like Seeker, she was shocked to discover that even her basic kicks had just enough of an arc to hit both Bicorns. And since she was wearing the same legendary Moses Sandals that she had worn after beating the Reaper in the TV World, her kicks were powerful enough to crit the Bicorn and tear apart the rest of its already flimsy defenses, causing it to stumble and fall to the ground with only a sliver of health remaining. However, she failed to notice a second Bicorn Lunging at her, and yelped as it charged into her. Thankfully, the Godly Robe that she had been wearing provided just as powerful of a protection as ever, and the actual damage the charge inflicted was fairly minimal.

“Be more careful,” Seeker cautioned her. “We still aren’t used to how combat actually works in this world yet.”

Pres, in the meantime, had focused her attention on the shocked Bicorn. Remembering Joker’s advice, she summoned Ariadne behind her. “Let’s go, Ariadne!” the android shouted. “FREI!”

The graceful princess of Crete manifested behind Labrys and outstretched her hand towards the shocked Bicorn. A ball of brilliant blue Nuke energy that Pres had never seen her Persona use before shot towards the group of Bicorns, causing a small nuclear explosion that destroyed two of the Bicorns, with one of them being hit especially hard thanks to the Technical attack. Sureshot summoned Sukuna-Hikona and fired an Eiga, unleashing a small blast of accursed energy that hit the last remaining Bicorn, and Seeker sliced his legendary Blade of Totsuka across the Shadow’s neck to finish it off.

“Woooo!” Dragon cheered as the battle ended. “Our first fight in the Jails!”

“Not bad, not bad,” Joker complimented. “But there’s a few things you should be aware of that I didn’t mention yet to make your fighting effectiveness even better.”

“Like what?” Pres asked eagerly.

“The most important thing to keep in mind is that, unlike in the TV World, combat is in real-time,” Joker explained. “That means that you have to keep an eye out on your surroundings at all times, because multiple enemies can be trying to attack you at once. Dragon tunneled a bit too hard on that Bicorn, so it gave another one the chance to attack her. You have to be much more on your toes and be a lot more mindful of where you dodge.” He shook his head. “Doesn’t do you any good to dodge out of one Bicorn’s Lunge only to jump straight into an Agi from a Jack-o-Lantern.”

“So awareness of our surroundings is more important than ever,” Seeker acknowledged. “That’s helpful to know.” He smiled. “But judging by the attacks that Sureshot, Pres, and I all fired off just now, you were right when saying that even our basic skills can hit multiple enemies at the same time.”

“Yeah, it’s been really helpful,” Joker agreed, his smirk growing. “But there’s something else you guys can do that you couldn’t do in the TV World.”

“What’s that?” Corsair asked curiously.

“You can spam your attacks over and over again,” the leader of the Phantom Thieves replied with a grin. “You don’t need to wait for your enemies to attack first before attacking again. You can keep the offensive going with multiple hits with the same skill back-to-back, and if you can break the energy shield layers fast enough, you might be able to outright stunlock your enemies.”

“Holy shit!” Tailor gasped. “That’s so overpowered!”

“That sounds sweet as hell!” Prince agreed with a grin. “We could wipe out our enemies in just a few seconds with that!”

Flower didn’t sound quite as enthusiastic. “Won’t that burn out our energy reserves faster?” she pointed out. “Those skills aren’t free.”

“Yeah, and that’s the main downside to spamming your skills like crazy,” Joker agreed with Flower. “You’re gonna run out of energy really quickly if you spam your skills carelessly, which can be a major problem if you’re trying to do longer runs in the Jails or fighting against a particularly dangerous Shadow. If you really want to master combat in the Jails, you’ve gotta learn how to balance physical combat and skill usage.” He chuckled dryly. “And I am FAR from a master of that, since we’ve only cleared our second Jail so far.”

“It’s something we’ll get plenty of practice with in the Jails,” Seeker assured him. “I’m already thinking of how I’m going to arrange our training so that everyone gets their fair share of fights and practice.”

“Well, we’ll leave that to you,” Mona acknowledged. “These guys are your team. You’re the leader, and you should be the one making the calls for them.”

“At least you guys have your legendary armors and weapons from beating the Reaper,” Joker remarked with a grin. “So you’ll be cutting through these Shadows a lot more quickly than we are, and you won’t be hurt nearly as much by their attacks either.”

“I wish you guys could use your ultimate weapons and armor,” Melody sighed. “I bet you’d be able to breeze through the Jails too.”

Joker shook his head. “Didn’t bring them, and from what Lavenza told me, they wouldn’t work even if we did. Just gotta make do with what we can work with, I guess.”

“You’ve started from scratch before, you’ll do it again,” Seeker reassured him, before asking. “Is there anything else we need to know before we start training?”

“A few things for you specifically since you’re a Wild Card,” Joker replied. “The first is that just like the rest of combat, you can actually change your Personas in real-time.” He grinned. “This is a VERY good thing for us, because it means that if you’re fast enough and if you have the right Personas, you can fire off an attack at an enemy and then switch your Persona so that you can block or even drain whatever they send back at you. It might take a while, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll realize just how insanely useful this is in practice.”

Seeker smiled with anticipation. “I can only imagine,” he replied. “With the right Personas and setups, and with a fast enough reaction time, it could potentially remove the need for Null or Drain skills on our Personas entirely.”

“Whoa…” Corsair breathed in disbelief. “That sounds insane! Especially since you guys put as many Drain skills on your Personas as possible back in the TV World!”

“If anything, it emphasizes just how different combat is in the Jails compared to what we’re used to,” Sureshot remarked.

“Sure does,” Joker agreed. He thought for a few seconds, before continuing. “Speaking of Personas, Seeker, how you get them in the Jails is that you’ll pick them up from your defeated foes. The large Shadows like that Silky we destroyed earlier seem to always transform into Personas, at least from what I’ve seen, but not all of them do. For me, there’s a chance that whenever I beat a Shadow, they’ll turn into a mask like the one I’m wearing and I can pick them up. I dunno what that’ll look like for you, it might be a tarot card since that’s how you usually materialize your Personas.”

“That’s a reasonable assumption to make,” Seeker acknowledged.

“The only other thing I can think of for all of you is that there’s this one really powerful Shadow in each of the Jails,” Mona declared. “It’s called a Dire Shadow. It has this electric-blue aura around it, and it won’t ever attack unless you attack it first.” The feline’s gaze hardened. “DO NOT FIGHT that Shadow under ANY circumstances. It is way too powerful for you to handle, you are going to get destroyed at your current level.”

“And by that, we’re talking about a Shadow with a power level in the 40s when all of you are level 1,” Joker added grimly.

Everyone in the Investigation Team winced. “Ooof…” Dragon mumbled. “I mean…I don’t mind punching a bit above my weight class sometimes, but that’s just batshit insane.”

“Yeah, no thanks, I choose life,” Prince deadpanned.

“I’m not sure you’d be able to fight the Dire Shadow even if you wanted to,” Joker admitted. “I know they’re not the Shadow of a Monarch, but they might still count as a major Shadow that we the Phantom Thieves might have to deal with since this is officially my Fool’s Journey.” He tilted his head thoughtfully. “I’m gonna have to ask Lavenza about that, actually.”

“Well, you’re always going to be ahead of us on the power level curve since you’ve got a head start on us,” Seeker acknowledged. “We’ll leave the Dire Shadows to you, then.”

Joker smirked. “Excellent. Now then,” he gestured towards one of the Shadows. “Ready to start fighting?”

“Please, please, can I keep going for a bit more?” Dragon practically begged.

“All right, all right, Dragon,” Seeker acquiesced with a quiet laugh, “you can be part of the first group. I was actually gonna have our first team be Prince, you, and Flower. The very first members of the Investigation Team, more for nostalgia’s sake than anything else.”

“YES!” Dragon whooped. “Let’s go!”

Joker chuckled as he watched Seeker and his chosen group attack the nearest Shadow. He was honestly impressed with how skillfully Seeker pulled off the ambush despite his lack of experience with the Metaverse. While his attempt to grab the Shadows’ mask might not have been quite as smooth as his own, it was more than enough to get the job done, and all four of the IT members fully capitalized on the advantage to smash their weapons (or in Dragon’s case, her feet) down on the Shadows and leave them stunned as the battle began.

Joker already had some idea of his friends’ combat styles based on how he had seen them fight in the TV World, and how they battled in the Jail matched his expectations quite well for the most part. Seeker and Prince tore through the Shadows in front of them with their katana and knives, while Dragon viciously and frenziedly kicked at the Shadows with her greaves and her martial arts expertise, and Flower whacked at them with her fan. All of them also utilized Persona skills to varying degrees as they fought the Shadows in the immediate area, although some used them more than others. Of course, since they all had legendary weapons and armors gifted to them by the Reaper instead of the basic weapons that the Phantom Thieves currently had, they were able to demolish the Shadows in front of them even without Persona skills, with only minimal reprisal.

“There’s actually certain combos and techniques you guys can use to get the most out of your fighting styles,” Joker advised after the group had destroyed a hovercar-like Shadow that had ended up transforming into three waves of Bicorns, Jack-o-Lanterns, and more Bicorns. “For example, if I attack my enemies in a certain pattern, I can finish off my combo with a Persona skill. The skill is much weaker than what a Persona would normally be able to unleash, but it’s also completely free.”

Melody giggled. “Not like you really need that with how much SP you’ve got there, Joker,” she teased.

“True, but free attacks aren’t ever something to complain about,” Joker smirked, which was quickly replaced with a more pensive expression. “Although Seeker might be the only one who can actually do that kind of thing with his Personas since he’s a Wild Card. You guys have your own fighting styles, and whatever techniques you guys can master, that’s something you’ll have to figure out on your own.” He chuckled dryly. “I’ve been fighting alongside the Phantom Thieves in 2 Jails now, and I still don’t think we’ve unlocked our full potentials yet.”

“Thanks for the advice,” Seeker replied, his gray eyes flashing with anticipation. “I, for one, am interested to see how much I can hone my combat techniques here.”

“Yeah!” Dragon grinned. “Gonna be one heck of a workout, that’s for sure!”

“I can already tell that we’re going to be spending a good amount of time here today to train,” Sureshot acknowledged, before she smiled. “Not that I’m complaining, of course. I’m quite keen to learn more about Sukuna-Hikona’s new powers. If I’m fortunate, I may turn out even stronger than I ever was, in the long run.”

“Hell yeah, Sureshot!” Pres agreed enthusiastically. “Can’t wait to try out these new Nuke powers!” Her grin faded ever so slightly. “But…just to make sure I get what’s going on, when it comes to actually doing missions and stuff here, we’re only trying to find missing Desires from people that are still brainwashed, right?” she asked for clarification. “We’re not really doing anything else?”

“For now,” Joker confirmed. “It’s completely possible that something else might come up, some other kind of unfinished business that I’ll need you guys to deal with. But for now, if I get any of those kinds of requests, I’ll send them to you so you can do your part helping deal with the Jail Crisis. You guys volunteered to help, and I don’t want to end up your wasting your time.”

“Hey man, we’re helping both you and the people of Tokyo out,” Tailor reassured him. “That ain’t ever gonna be a waste of time.”

“Yeah,” Corsair agreed as she gave Joker a salute with her free hand. “I’m just happy I get to do stuff at all. I was seriously bummed out that I missed out with what you guys were doing. But fighting here in the Jails will make up for it!”

Joker chuckled. “Have fun, Corsair,” he replied cheekily. “If you’re into action moves, you’re gonna have a great time here.”

“I’m sure we’ll have plenty of fun here in our own ways,” Seeker commented with a chuckle. “Was there anything else you wanted me to know before we start training in earnest?” Though he didn’t say it out loud, both Wild Cards could tell that once the IT started their training properly, it would be time for the Phantom Thieves to depart and leave the Investigation Team to their own devices.

“Just one thing for you specifically, Seeker. Make sure you level up Jack-o-Lantern so it gets Soul Thief, and then pass it on to Silky so you can get one with Dormina, Sleep Boost, and Soul Thief,” Joker advised. “You have no idea just how AMAZING that combo is in keeping your SP up when you’re fighting hordes of enemies all the time.”

“Will do,” Seeker affirmed. “Thanks for the tip.”

“I’ll be passing that combo or some of variant of it to my future Personas, that’s for sure,” Joker nodded his head. “And I think that’s all I have to tell you about the Jails. The only other thing I’ve noticed is that some of the chests in the Jails that hold skill cards refresh whenever you leave a Jail and come back, but that’ll only matter for you in your second training session onward.” He turned to Mona and Sophie. “Can you guys think of anything else relevant?”

“Nah, I think you got most of the important stuff down,” Mona answered.

“I cannot recall any significant pieces of information that you have missed either,” Sophie affirmed.

“Then I think it’s time we leave the Investigation Team to their training,” he decided. “Lavenza and Margaret made it very clear that we should keep our interactions to each other to a minimum, and I’m not going to argue with them on that point.”

“Absolutely,” Seeker concurred. “I don’t want to risk inviting retribution on the Velvet Room and setting off a major crisis because we spent a little too much time hanging out with each other.”

Joker smiled. “Then I’ll leave you guys to your training, then.”

“Awww, you’re leaving already?” Ted exclaimed forlornly.

“Yeah, I know it sucks, Ted, but Joker’s done as much as he could do,” Prince tried to console him.

“Thanks for taking the time to come over here and give us this crash course,” Melody gratefully thanked Joker. “There’s so much we wouldn’t have known about if you hadn’t taken the time to explain all of this to us.”

“Indeed,” Sureshot agreed immediately. “I don’t think we would’ve even known how to ambush Shadows properly or perform basic navigation of these Jails without your help.”

“If you need any help from us, just send a message and we’ll do what we can,” Flower promised.

“It was great to see ya again, Joker,” Pres grinned at him. “We definitely need to hang out sometime after this mess is over.

The rest of the Investigation Team gave Joker and his friends their own forms of farewell, thanking them for taking the time to instruct them on the nature of the Jails. Joker accepted the thanks without fanfare, knowing full well that they had needed all the help they could get to successfully navigate through a brand-new cognitive world that operated on completely different rules from what they were used to.

As they prepared to leave, Joker gave one last wave to his friends. “Good luck, you guys. I’m sure you’ll get the hang of things just as quickly as we did. Just don’t get careless. Even if the Monarch is gone and you’ve got a bunch of overpowered weapons and armor, this is a still whole new world with its own set of rules. But as long as you know what you’re doing, I’m sure you’ll all do just fine.”

And with those parting words, the Phantom Thieves returned to the Jail entrance to go back to the real world and rejoin the rest of their team. Once they were gone, Seeker turned to face his own team, who were all ready and eager to get started. “All right, Investigation Team!” he declared. “It’s time to get to work!”

Chapter Text

It was early afternoon when Ren and his friends returned to the real world in Sendai, which gave him more than enough time to prepare for the festival in the evening.

“Man, I am really loving the fact that exploring the Jails doesn’t take nearly as much time or energy as going to the Palaces or Mementos did,” Ren commented with a grin, being very happy with how the day had turned out. Getting Yu and the rest of the Investigation Team acquainted with the Jails was a much more satisfying and fulfilling way to spend the day than his original plan…which had essentially boiled down to doing nothing and being a lazy fuck.

“Are you gonna go to the festival with anyone in particular?” Morgana asked curiously. Ren gave him a thoroughly unimpressed look, causing the feline to slap his face in embarrassment. “Oh, right, you have a girlfriend.”

Ren smirked. “I do have a girlfriend. And before you ask, yes, I am absolutely going to the festival with her. Who else would I go with?”

“You could have also chosen to go with Ryuji and Yusuke,” Sophia pointed out from his phone. “From my research, it seems that males typically hang out together at festivals, and then meet with the females in a given group afterwards.”

“That only applies when none of them have any girlfriends,” Ren explained. “Fortunately for me, I very much DO have a girlfriend, and it would be a social faux-paus not to go to the festival with her.”

“Okay!” Sophia replied cheerfully. “Humans who are in love with each other go to special events together. I believe this is what is called a date!”

“Uhhh…” Ren pondered that for a few seconds, before shrugging. “Eh, close enough. We didn’t plan on going on a date in the middle of dealing with the Jails, but the spirit of going to the festival with Haru is close enough that I might as well count it.”

“You guys DID bring your Jinbeis, right?” Morgana asked.

“Duh,” Ren answered, sounding outright offended at the question. “This was meant to be a vacation before the Jails decided to ruin our original plans, and I was fully expecting there to be at least ONE festival in one of the many places we visited.”

“Hey, just checking!” Morgana raised his paws in surrender. “Would’ve been really shameful if Haru showed up in a yukata and you only showed up in your T-shirt and jeans.”

“That, I won’t argue with,” Ren conceded. “Speaking of which, I need to take a quick nap and then prep for the festival. It’d be equally as embarrassing if I showed up to the festival with Haru looking like I’m out to pass out any second.”

“Oh, NOW you want to go to sleep,” Morgana retorted, causing both of them to erupt into snickers.

“Why are you laughing?” Sophia wondered. “What is so funny about going to sleep?”

“Inside joke, Sophia, don’t worry about it,” Ren replied in an amused tone. “Anyways, let’s get back to our hotel rooms. I’ve got a nap and a festival to look forward to.”

Later That Evening…

The streets of Sendai were bustling with activity, the city itself already feeling healthier and happier now that Ango Natsume’s control over it had been broken. There were countless booths with different decorative designs and offering a wide diversity of wares, ranging from food to masks and sacred ornaments. Ren smiled as he took in the lively sights around him, wearing a black jinbei with a red cloth wrapped around his waist. In a way, his jinbei’s colors were the inverse of Arsene’s color scheme, with an emphasis on black over red rather than the other way around.

Of course, Ren couldn’t give less of a shit about his own jinbei, when a much more lovely sight was right next to him. Haru Okumura, his beloved girlfriend, looked even more beautiful than she normally did. The Okumura heiress was wearing a white yukata with purple flower-like patterns on it and a green cloth wrapped around her waist, and she was looking around at the festival with unconcealed excitement.

“Oh my!” she gushed. “This is so exciting, Ren-kun! There’s so much to see and do!”

“No kidding,” Ren agreed appreciatively. “We could be here all night. We definitely deserve it after the hard work we put in.”

“I never really had the opportunity to enjoy festivals like this,” Haru admitted wistfully. “Father thought going to such events was beneath him, and he didn’t want me to lower myself to join the common folk, as he put it.” She sighed. “His heart must have been distorted even then.”

It took a considerable amount of self-control for Ren not to roll his eyes. While he acknowledged that Haru still loved her father and he certainly hadn’t ever wanted the man to die by mental shutdown, Ren didn’t exactly have a high opinion of Kunikazu Okumura after all the shit he had forced Haru through. “Well, you’re your own person now, Haru,” Ren reassured her. “You’re free to do whatever you want at this festival, and nobody’s gonna stop you.”

To his relief, Haru brightened immediately. “You’re quite right, Ren-kun!” she agreed. “And what I want to do right now is try out those masks over at that booth over there!” The fluffy-haired girl pointed at a pink and magenta booth presenting several different masks.

Ren grinned. “Let’s go for it.” The two teens made their way over to the mask booth, where they spent the next several minutes trying out different masks. Haru couldn’t help but giggle uncontrollably as Ren tried out a frankly ridiculous-looking frog mask, while Ren couldn’t help but marvel at how elegantly his girlfriend wore a fox mask that looked quite similar to Yusuke’s, minus the red highlights.

“All I’ve gotta say is, thank fuck my mask didn’t look like this one,” Ren muttered as he returned the mask to the owner. “Otherwise, I would’ve looked lame as hell at my job.”

The last two words were clearly meant to hide the fact that he was talking about Phantom Thief work, which Haru understood immediately. “I do have to admit, your domino mask possesses quite a degree of charm that the masks at the booth simply cannot hope to match,” she acknowledged. She held the fox mask in her hand, which she had purchased before leaving. “On the other hand, I do quite enjoy the look of this fox mask. I wonder what my outfit would have been like if Goemon had been my hero instead of Milady,” she mused. “Perhaps I would have worn an outfit similar to Yusuke’s.”

“Maybe you could commission Yusuke to draw you with a Fox theme instead of Noir?” Ren suggested.

“Perhaps I’ll speak to him about it once the crisis with the Jails is resolved,” Haru agreed. “But even so, I will never give up my axe and my grenade launcher.”

“Hell no,” Ren agreed immediately. “That psychic tornado you make is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.”

Haru giggled. “If there’s one good thing from having to deal with the latest crisis, unleashing that kind of power on our enemies is certainly it,” she replied with just the faintest hint of sadism.

Ren chuckled fondly. Most people would be absolutely terrified by his girlfriend’s hidden bloodlust. He, however, was more aroused by it than anything else…as long as it wasn’t directed towards him, of course. He glanced over at a different booth that had several items lined up with a row of guns on the counter. “Wanna try that shooting booth? Those guns are pretty different than what you or I are typically used to.”

“Ooh, yes!” Haru eagerly agreed. “I’ve always wanted to see what it’s like to try a smaller gun!” The couple walked over to the shooting gallery and each picked up a rifle. Once they had paid the booth operator, they immediately began firing at different targets in different locations. Unsurprisingly, Ren quickly proved to be a masterful shot. Even though he didn’t have max stats Personas like he used to, the proficiency that he had gained over the past year allowed him to quickly get the hang of firing the gun and he was soon shooting down target after target. Haru, in the meanwhile, proved to have surprising skill with the gun despite it being completely different from her familiar grenade launcher.

“Damn, Haru,” Ren whistled as Haru landed one final shot on a carton that fell backwards as the bullet hit it. “Now I REALLY want to know what you’d look like with a Fox theme.”

“Perhaps in another timeline,” Haru remarked as the booth operator gave them both a panda plushie as a prize. As they left the booth behind, Ren’s stomach suddenly grumbled loudly.

“I think my stomach’s telling me it’s time to eat,” Ren mumbled as his girlfriend burst into laughter. “I ate a tiny lunch since I knew we were gonna try out a ton of different foods at the festival.”

“Oh, we must try as many different foods as possible!” Haru exclaimed delightedly, before giving her boyfriend a pointed look. “And I will be the one to cover the costs of the food this evening.”

Ren immediately tried to protest. “Aww, no, Haru, you don’t have to…”

Haru shut him down immediately. “I won’t hear any arguments, Ren-kun,” she insisted. “You may have a considerable amount of funds, but all of them are going into important investments such as our hotel rooms, our equipment, and your special assets. Don’t think I haven’t noticed just how expensive some of those assets can get. It would be absolutely shameful for me to force you to cover for even more expenses when I have more than enough money with me to pay for a single night’s worth of food.” Ren opened his mouth to speak, but Haru lifted a finger to his mouth. “No buts, Ren-kun. Tonight’s festival foods are on me.”

Ren blinked for several seconds, and then shrugged. “All righty, then,” he accepted. “My Empress’ word is law.”

Haru giggled. “Don’t you forget it, Ren-kun. And now that we’ve settled that particular affair, let us begin our culinary adventure!”

The couple walked off to the nearest booth, unaware of the several pairs of eyes that were following them. The Phantom Thieves emerged from their hiding space behind one of the booths, all of them wearing their own jinbeis and yukatas. “Oh my God,” Ann practically squealed. “Those two are SO adorable together!”

“You said it, Lady Ann!” Morgana immediately agreed.

“And they’re one hell of a power couple too,” Futaba pointed out. “THE two scariest people in our group when they’re pissed off, no questions asked.”

“Man, spying on the two lovebirds is WAY more fun than whatever the hell we were gonna do before we realized they were going on a date,” Ryuji declared with a silly grin on his face.

“I have to admit, they do look really cute together,” Makoto acknowledged.

“The conversation they had about Haru in my costume’s style was rather fascinating,” Yusuke commented thoughtfully. “As she herself stated, perhaps it would be a worthwhile project to consider in my spare time. In the meantime, their plan to get food sounds like an excellent idea. I am quite famished currently.”

“Hey, you think if we walked up to them and joined them, Haru would pay for our food too?” Ryuji suggested cheekily…only for Ann to whack him on the back of the head with her hand.

“Don’t be a dick, Ryuji!” she scolded. “Nobody likes a third wheel!”

“Do you even see how many people we have here?” Futaba exclaimed. “There’d be a LOT more than just 3 wheels if we crashed into their date!”

“And going off Futaba’s earlier point, do YOU want to be the one to annoy both Ren and Haru at the same time by interrupting their date?” Makoto pointed out.

Ryuji shuddered and instantly deflated. “Nah, you’re right,” he agreed. “We should definitely leave them alone.”

“Still, though, I really like Yusuke’s idea to get some food!” Ann brightened up again. “Let’s try one of everything!”

As the Phantom Thieves started going through the stalls, Ren and Haru were collecting and going through their own meal of konjac skewers, yakitori, yakisoba, and many more staples of festival foods. “Okay, eating a tiny lunch was DEFINITELY the right decision,” Ren declared. “There’s no way I’d be able to go through all this if I hadn’t kept my stomach as empty as possible before the festival.”

“Such a wonderfully diverse and delicious meal!” Haru exclaimed. “I can’t remember having anything quite like this back in Tokyo.”

“Moments like these make me glad we went on this trip together,” Ren agreed contentedly, “despite the mess we have to deal with.”

Haru giggled. “To be completely honest, so far that mess is making this whole trip even more exciting,” she admitted with a grin. “I haven’t had this much fun since last year!”

“Me too,” Ren admitted. “As annoying as they’ve been, there’s a certain…excitement…that comes with dealing with a whole new situation like this.”

“No matter what happens, I’ll continue to face any challenge that comes our way head-on!” Haru vowed. “We’ve faced far worse than last year, and I’ll crush any threat that dares to bring harm upon you or our friends.”

“And I’ll continue to protect you just as much,” Ren promised. “That’s our duty to each other as a couple, right?”

Haru giggled. “You said it, Ren-kun. But those are problems for us to deal with in the future. For now, let us enjoy this festival and the many activities it has to offer,” she suggested. “Just because we have to deal with official business, doesn’t mean we can’t have as much fun as possible! Zenkichi-san himself said as much, and on this point, I completely agree with him.”

Ren got up and extended a hand to Haru, who happily accepted it. As he lifted her up, Ren stole a quick kiss, taking the girl completely by surprise and causing her to blush furiously. “Couldn’t resist,” Ren snickered.

“Ever the charmer, Ren-kun,” Haru sighed fondly. “Come on then, let us enjoy the rest of the night at this festival together.”

“After you, Haru,” Ren invited. The couple would spend the rest of the night enjoying themselves at the festival, eventually rejoining the rest of Phantom Thieves a few hours into the night. Ren was honestly surprised that he and Haru hadn’t run into them earlier, and he suspected that they had deliberately avoided them because of the impromptu “date” that the two of them were in. Either way, Ren wasn’t going to complain about the privacy, and he thoroughly enjoyed the festival night both with Haru and the Phantom Thieves as a whole.

As it turned out, however, their business in Sendai wouldn’t be quite finished yet. While they were preparing to go back to their hotel, Zenkichi had called them to inform them that Akira Konoe, the CEO of Madicce, was holding a lecture at the Mt. Aoba campus of Toho University. Knowing that Madicce was the company behind EMMA, Ren knew that this wasn’t an opportunity that he and the other Thieves could afford to miss. After dealing with corrupt and disgusting adult leaders like Shido, Ren was half-expecting Konoe’s lecture to be full of red flags that hinted at a sociopath underneath a falsely polite façade.

Yet to his and the other Phantom Thieves’ surprise, Konoe didn’t behave like that all at the lecture the next day. By all accounts, he seemed like a confident, composed, and affable young man who seemed genuinely enthusiastic about EMMA and the good that the app could do for humankind.

Granted, the way Konoe talked about EMMA helping everyone make the best choices did give Ren some distinct “Maruki”-like vibes, but that was purely based off his experiences facing off against a gentle madman who had stumbled upon reality-warping powers. Without those experiences taken into account, Ren didn’t see anything inherently problematic or suspicious with what Konoe was saying.

“He seems like a capable CEO,” Morgana commented as they continued to listen to his lecture. “That sounds pretty spot on.”

“Wow…” Haru murmured, “he’s so composed. He’s practically overflowing with confidence…quite like Ren-kun here, actually.”

“Not the time to be making me blush, Haru,” Ren mumbled.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist,” Haru apologized with a giggle, before adopting a more focused expression. “In all seriousness, look how clearly he states his company’s outlook and principles. He’s got everyone’s attention.”

“He’s not saying anything particularly suspicious, though,” Makoto said what they were all thinking out loud.

“Well, thanks to EMMA, Madicce’s stocks have shot way up,” Futaba pointed out. “You can bet they’re one of Japan’s biggest enterprises right now. That said, I feel like a company with this much going for it wouldn’t have much to gain from changing people’s hearts...”

“Perhaps,” Yusuke acknowledged, “but that doesn’t change the fact that EMMA is still a key factor in the Jails. It is through EMMA that people are allowed access.”

“Right,” Makoto agreed. “Madicce is connected to all of this one way or another, be it directly or indirectly.”

“And if there is a bad actor in Madicce, they could be anyone or anywhere,” Ren added with a frown. “Futaba said it just now. Madicce is one of Japan’s biggest enterprises, and that gives our potential mastermind plenty of places to hide.”

“The fact that the Monarchs themselves don’t know much about EMMA does make me think that something is going on underneath the surface,” Mona muttered. “And if we’re gonna solve the Jail Crisis, we’re gonna need to find out what it is.”

The Phantom Thieves continued to listen to Konoe’s lecture and talk quietly amongst themselves, all the way until its conclusion. They politely clapped and watched as Konoe and the rest of the audience left the auditorium, leaving the Thieves alone. Ryuji had ended up falling asleep before it ended, much to Ann’s irritation. Fortunately for him, Konoe hadn’t said anything suspicious or remarkable throughout the entire lecture…not that any of them had expected him to.

“I wouldn’t have expected him to trip up that easily,” Makoto acknowledged.

“Konoe’s clearly an intelligent guy,” Ren remarked. “If he was our mastermind and ended up blabbing his secrets out in the open, I would’ve been VERY disappointed.”

Just when they were going to get up and go back to their hotel in Sendai, a woman’s cheerful voice suddenly called out to them. “Hey, guys? That stuff you said earlier…was all of that true?”

“Huh?” Ann spluttered.

Everyone turned to look as a brown-haired woman in a scientist’s lab coat approached them…a woman whom they had all met before. “Are you really the Phantom Thieves of Hearts?” she asked eagerly.

The Thieves’ eyes all widened in shock at the question. “Wha…!?” Ann spluttered.

“You’re the woman from the beef tongue restaurant!” Makoto exclaimed.

“Oh…” Haru blinked, “Ichinose-san, right?”

“Y-you heard all that?” Futaba shrieked.

Ichinose’s grin widened. “Well, the thing is,” she explained, “I’m really good at picking up when a cat meows. Honestly, I found that way more interesting than Konoe’s lecture.”

Futaba glared at him. “Mona!” she hissed.

“M-me!?” Morgana protested. “But you guys are the ones she overheard!”

Ryuji was outright panicking at this point. “The hell are we gonna do!?”

Ren fixed Ichinose with an even stare. Given how his friends were acting, trying to play innocent was basically an exercise in futility at this point. “Depends on who’s asking,” he replied, making sure to keep his voice carefully neutral.

“I’ll answer that question soon,” Ichinose promised. “But in the meantime, why don’t we talk more outside? This place will close up soon.”

Nobody had any reason to disagree despite their wariness, so they escorted Ichinose out to the camper. “Wow!” Ichinose gushed excitedly once they were outside, pumping her fists in the air. “To think you guys are the famous Phantom Thieves!”

“And what if we’re simply fans pretending to be the Phantom Thieves?” Ren asked with a raised eyebrow. “Or perhaps you misheard us?”

Unsurprisingly, Ichinose didn’t buy it for a single second. “Come on now,” she scolded with an amused tone, “don’t try to hide it. When you guys mentioned Alice and Natsume, I imagine you were referring to Alice Hiiragi and Ango Natsume from the press conferences, yes?” she asked. “Is it safe to assume those were your doing?”

“They were,” Ren confirmed. “We changed their hearts.”

Ichinose’s smile widened. “Just as I thought! And what was that I heard about EMMA giving people access to Jails? Is that related to everyone’s hearts getting changed?” she pressed.

Everyone felt a bead of sweat drop down their forehead. “Oh, no…” Ann groaned, “…she…she heard everything.”

Ren decided to quickly take charge of the conversation. “Well, this is all fascinating and everything, but I’m still wondering what you’re doing here, Ichinose-san,” he questioned politely but firmly.

“Well, I told you at the beef tongue place, didn’t I?” Ichinose answered. “I’m a researcher at the university.”

“Oh!” Haru acknowledged. “That’s right.”

“And I’m also the one who designed the base for EMMA,” the older woman declared triumphantly as she took out her phone.

Everyone felt a jolt of shock at the revelation. “Wait…YOU made the base!?” Futaba exclaimed in disbelief.

“I didn’t tell you?” Ichinose wondered. “I specialize in the research and development of artificial intelligence.”

“Uh…” Ann shook her head, “we definitely didn’t hear about that.”

“Well, around the time I finished developing EMMA, Madicce came to me with an offer to buy it,” Ichinose explained cheerfully. “I was actually pretty tight on money at the time, so I went ahead and sold it.”

Ryuji was still stunned. “Is this lady for real…?” he mumbled.

“Oh by the way,” Ichinose continued, “that’s why Madicce is participating in the lecture today. Well, to be more accurate, the university asked me to reach out to them. I certainly didn’t expect the CEO himself to show up, though. I only got invited because of my little connection with the company. Anyhow, yeah, that’s how I ended up being there to overhear everything,” she concluded.

“So you’re EMMA’s creator and Madicce is simply the ones running it?” Yusuke asked for clarification.

For the first time, Ichinose’s smile vanished and a frown took its place. “Oh…” she replied uncertainly, “well, they’re definitely the ones running it, but I can’t say for sure if that’s all they’ve been doing.” The smile returned. “I just designed the base. Who knows what Madicce did once I sold it to them.”

“So it’s entirely possible that Madicce might’ve expanded on the base significantly since you sold it,” Ren surmised. “Or they might’ve gone with a drastically different direction with EMMA than what you originally planned for it.”

“It could be,” Ichinose freely acknowledged. “What they choose to do with it is out of my hands after they bought it.”

“So, you know all about EMMA then, right?” Ann wondered.

“Naturally,” Ichinose confirmed excitedly. “It’s like my baby, you know? And at the risk of tooting my own horn, it’s a reeeally good baby.”

“It’s certainly impressive, if nothing else,” Ren acknowledged. “Ichinose-san, would you mind giving us a bit of space to talk about this?”

“Sure, go right ahead!” Ichinose approved. “I’ll be waiting over here!”

The Thieves moved a few feet away and huddled together in a circle. “Well…” Mona mumbled. “Never would’ve expected this turn of events.”

“Do you think she’s telling the truth about designing EMMA?” Ann asked, clearly still trying to wrap her head around Ichinose’s claim.

“I do think it’s impressive that the CEO of Madicce came to personally give a lecture,” Haru acknowledged. “I can tell you all from personal experience that top-ranking executives typically don’t attend such matters personally unless they have very good reason to do so. If she’s the one that made it happen, doesn’t that mean she has a lot of influence?” she pointed out.

“This is true,” Yusuke agreed. “And let’s not forget the university asked her to attend the lecture.”

“What should we do?” Morgana wondered. “She could probably tell us a lot about EMMA.”

“Assuming that her claim is true, then she’s way too valuable of a resource to simply pass up on,” Ren admitted. “But with that being said, we should still be careful.” His eyes narrowed. “It wouldn’t be the first time we trusted a potential ally only for them to stab us in the back.”

Everyone grimaced at the reminder of Akechi. “Not to mention that she knows who we are now,” Ann murmured. “If we blow her off, she might try to revenge on us somehow.”

“Trying to bullshit her now is basically a complete waste of everyone’s time and effort,” Ren concluded. “Let’s just go ahead and tell her everything we know so far.”

The Thieves reluctantly but unanimously agreed with their leader’s decision, and they returned to Ichinose. The lab researcher seemed really, REALLY excited about EMMA’s connection with the Jails…almost to the point that it was rather off-putting. Ren was honestly surprised that Ichinose believed them almost immediately and without any hesitation…although he supposed that did make some sense, what with her being EMMA’s creator and all.

“Ichinose-san, do you have any idea why EMMA is serving as an entry point to the Jails?” Makoto asked.

“Sorry, but I couldn’t tell you,” Ichinose denied. “I’m surprised this other world even exists. There’s no way I could’ve thought up a way to get in if I didn’t even know it existed to begin with.”

Futaba sighed. “Yeah, that figures,” she mumbled, before blinking. “Wait…so that means…that function was added later?”

“Maybe by someone in Madicce?” Ren suggested. “Someone who stumbled upon the Jails after EMMA got sold to them…and decided to use that to their advantage.”

“A world where people’s Desires are stolen and their hearts are changed…hmm…” Ichinose pondered. “So many questions.” A sudden thought occurred to her and she frowned again. “Oh, wait, maybe I should be heartbroken here…my baby is being used for evil, after all.”

Ren felt a twinge of sympathy for the researcher. “Well, it sounds like we both want to stop whoever’s abusing EMMA for their own evil plans. Why don’t we work together on this?” he suggested. “Maybe like a deal of some kind.” He chuckled dryly. “We have plenty of experience with those.”

Ichinose giggled, her mood swinging back to upbeat in an instant. “Ooh, I like the sound of that. Super Phantom Thief-y! I’d be glad to help however I can!” she promised, before shrugging. “And I can’t say I don’t feel kinda responsible for all of this. More than anything, though, I think I’d die of curiosity if I didn’t get involved! So, what do you need me to look into?” she asked. “Say the word, and I’m on it.”

“Well, since EMMA’s the major topic of the day, why don’t we start with that?” Ren asked.

“Right,” Makoto agreed. “We’d like you to find whatever you can about EMMA’s current state. Maybe try and figure out how it’s different from the base you created.”

“I see,” Ichinose acknowledged. “Basically, you’d like to know the secret behind this new version of EMMA. And if someone’s responsible, you want to know who.”

Futaba suddenly remembered something. “Oh, hey!” she realized. “We found those mystery junk parts out in the Jails, didn’t we? Maybe if she takes a look at ‘em, we’ll learn more about that world!”

“Ooh,” Ichinose replied eagerly, “so you’re going to give me a bunch of neat stuff to analyze?” She closed her eyes and grinned. “Yes, that’s excellent, just wonderful. In fact, I’ll even buy them from you, as research materials.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Ren accepted. He conveniently decided not to mention the fact that he had millions of yen already thanks to his adventures last year. No need to de-value their offer or set off any unnecessary red flags, after all. “And is there anything that you’d like us to do in exchange?”

Ichinose brushed off his suggestion. “Nonsense!” she replied. “It’s fine just the way it is! My inner researcher is just squealing with delight!” She looked over at Joker and grinned. “So, what do you say we seal the deal?”

“A deal it is, then,” Ren agreed. He offered his hand to the researcher, who happily accepted it. “Here’s to working together.”

“Okay, then!” Ichinose exclaimed. “Looking forward to it!”

As she was about to leave, Ryuji suddenly interrupted her. “Oh, hold on a sec. If she specializes in AI, maybe we should ask about Sophia, yeah?” he asked.

It was a good idea, and Ren took out his phone as Ichinose repeated Sophia’s name in confusion. The woman walked up to Ren’s phone, from which Sophia happily greeted Ichinose. “This is…Sophia?” she murmured. Her entire attitude changed, transforming from enthusiastic and eager to almost confused and…troubled, somehow. Ichinose’s smile returned, but it was decidedly less energetic than it had been before. “Huh…well, it’s nice to meet you too.” Her tone was also noticeably more subdued as well.

Ren wasn’t the only one who noticed the major change in demeanor. “Whoa…” Ryuji breathed. “Who flipped the switch on her!?”

“Oh, no…” Ichinose shook her head. “It’s just that I’ve got so much on my mind right now…I guess even I’m a little confused,” she confessed.

“Sophia’s an AI we met in the Metaverse,” Makoto explained. “Is there anything you can tell us about her?”

“Nope!” Ichinose denied. “Can’t say I know anything about her…think you could send me her code later, though?” she requested.

“Huh? Oh, sure! No problem!” Futaba agreed.

Ichinose offered her contact information to Futaba, who accepted and logged it into her phone. “Well then, I’m excited to see how this all develops!” she declared as she waved a hand towards them. “See you around!” She turned and left the park, leaving the Phantom Thieves alone next to their camper.

“Uh…” Ryuji eloquently commented. “Welp, there she goes.”

Futaba sighed. “Would’ve been nice if she’d known something about Sophia.”

“I’m okay as long as I can stay useful to you guys,” Sophia reassured her.

“I guess that takes care of that,” Mona muttered, before glancing over at Ren. “You look like you’ve got a lot of things on your mind, Ren.”

“Yeah…I do,” he acknowledged. “Just thinking about our encounter with Ichinose just now.”

“What’s on your mind, Ren?” Yusuke asked.

“Well, she’s certainly quite the character, that’s for sure,” Ren commented dryly, earning a few chuckles from his friends. “I can’t deny that she’s an incredibly valuable source of information, assuming that she is indeed the creator of EMMA. There’s no doubt that she could give us all sorts of important intel that we wouldn’t have a chance of getting ourselves.”

“You don’t seem super convinced, Ren-kun,” Haru pointed out, knowing her boyfriend better than anyone else.

“It’s not her being the creator of EMMA that I’m questioning,” Ren replied with a troubled frown. “It’s just…her personality is…a lot to deal with. I know she’s the creator of EMMA and has every right to be enthusiastic about her creation, but even then she seems just a bit too excited about everything.”

“I know what you mean,” Ann muttered. “I’m still going through whiplash just thinking about everything that just happened.”

“There’s something about her personality that rubs me the wrong way,” Ren admitted. “Something just seems…off. And the way her demeanor just changed so dramatically when she saw Sophia…part of me is wondering if she’s hiding something. I just can’t shake off that feeling…” he shook his head and his eyes narrowed. “And at this point, I’ve learned pretty thoroughly that not trusting my instincts is an excellent way to fuck myself over.”

“Do you think Ichinose was lying to us?” Makoto wondered. “Was it a mistake to make a deal with her?”

Ren shook his head. “No, I don’t think so,” he replied, this time more confidently. “For now, at least, the benefits of making the deal with Ichinose are worth the risks. We need all the help we can get to figure out the inner workings of EMMA. Plus, it doesn’t change the fact that she knows who we are now. Even if Ichinose is hiding secrets from us, or in the worst-case scenario, a straight-up secret enemy, I’d rather have a way to keep an eye on her through our deal. Keep your enemies closer, and all that.” He gave his friends an intense gaze. “Rest assured, I WILL be keeping tabs on her. There’s not going to be a second backstab that we didn’t see coming until it was almost too late.”

Ryuji grinned. “Hell yeah, Ren! You’ve got this!”

Makoto smiled. “Well, you’ve led us excellently so far, and I have no reason to doubt your judgment now.”

Haru giggled. “We’ll continue to follow your lead, Ren-kun!” she declared, her affection obvious to everyone in her voice.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys,” Ren glanced at his cell phone. “Let’s spend the rest of the day taking care of any leftover business we have in Sendai.” He suggested. “And then it’s off to Sapporo and Hokkaido!”

Chapter Text

Ren had honestly expected the Phantom Thieves’ last day in Sendai to be a perfectly normal, relaxed vacation day…and to be fair, it had started out as exactly that. Makoto had planned to leave Sendai for Sapporo after lunch, so it had given his friends plenty of time to enjoy the sights of Sendai one last time. Ren had spent the morning hunting down the legendary Zunda Supreme for Ann on Morgana’s request, which had earned him the gratitude of both Ann and Morgana as well as an absolutely delicious desert unlike anything he had ever tasted before. He had also spent a few minutes with Yusuke and Futaba afterwards posing behind a photo stand in front of Sendai’s temple…getting a good laugh in the process when Yusuke’s glare ended up being so fierce that it had scared the crap out of Futaba.

All in all, it had been a very fun and chill morning…which in hindsight, should have triggered a massive red flag in Ren’s head. He should have remembered the annoyingly recurrent theme in his life that if things were seemingly going perfectly…it was only because there was an impending shitshow about to violently fuck up the situation in very short order.

Which was why the good vibes of the day were brought to an abrupt end when he got a phone call from Yu Narukami at around 11 AM. “Ren!” the older Wild Card called out to him without preamble, and he sounded visibly worried. That was enough to immediately put the leader of the Phantom Thieves on edge. If the eternally stoic and tranquil Yu Narukami was openly displaying concern, then there was a serious problem that needed to be addressed, ASAP. “We’ve got a problem.”

And now Yu was openly admitting that there was a problem. This was a very bad sign. “What’s wrong, Yu?” Ren asked immediately. Normally, he would’ve engaged in some pleasantries, but Yu didn’t seem to be in the mood and neither was he.

“We were doing some training in the Shibuya Jail this morning,” Yu explained.

“Is anybody hurt?” Ren demanded.

“No, thank God, that’s not the problem,” Yu reassured him quickly, before continuing. “We were doing some training earlier in the Jails this morning. Killing Shadows, powering up our Personas, just the standard stuff. But right when we were about to return to the real world for the break, Rise sensed a major spike in energy from the top of the castle where Alice’s Shadow used to live.”

Ren felt his stomach churn. He had the sneaking suspicion that he knew where this was going…and he was really hoping that he was wrong. “What caused that spike in energy?” Ren asked, dreading the answer.

“Rise was able to get a closer look at the top of the castle’s tower,” Yu answered grimly. “There’s a powerful entity at the top of the castle now. She was able to confirm that it’s not the Personal Shadow of a human…but it’s very similar to one. It looks like this pink-haired woman wearing way too much goddamn makeup with psychedelic makeup that hurts my eyes just looking at her. Does she sound familiar?”

“Yeah,” Ren replied through gritted teeth. There were moments when he absolutely despised being right, and this was rapidly turning out to be one of them. “That was the form Alice’s Shadow took when she was still ruling the Jail.”

“I figured as much,” Yu groaned. Ren could audibly hear the frustration in the older Wild Card’s voice, and he could tell that the Seeker of Truth wasn’t any happier about this development than he was. “Just to be clear, this isn’t Alice’s actual Shadow. I used the Orb of Sight and my own powers to see the truth to confirm that.”

“That’s good to know, but let me check to make sure something didn’t happen to Alice in the real world,” Ren replied. He knocked on the door to the camper, before opening it. While most of the Phantom Thieves were out and about, Futaba had parked herself inside the camper, as she still wasn’t a huge fan of the outdoors. “Futaba, look up anything you can on Alice real quick. Check to make sure that she’s still had her change of heart and hasn’t gone off about trying to brainwash people into buying her merchandise again.”

Futaba blinked. “Uhh…okay, gimme a sec…” she started typing furiously on her keyboard for a few seconds. “Umm…nothing that I can tell. Doesn’t look like anything’s changed about Alice or Shibuya in general.” She looked up at Ren…and was shocked to see the rather agitated and worried look on his face. “Are you okay, bro?”

“We might have a problem,” was the only reply Ren gave before leaving the camper and returning to his phone call. “Yu, so far, there hasn’t been any changes to either the real-life Alice Hiiragi or the people of Shibuya, at least from what my tech expert could find. Is that cognitive entity that looks like Shadow Alice doing anything?”

“Not at the moment,” Yu answered, before adding with a grim tone, “but I don’t like the idea of leaving that entity at the top of the tower to do whatever it wants. If you want my opinion, Ren? Someone or something is trying to recreate a copy of Shadow Alice at the top of the Jail…and they might try to pull off the same mass brainwashing that Shadow Alice did even if the actual Monarch is no longer there.” The older Wild Card sighed. “Based on what Rise could tell, the Shadow Alice copy doesn’t seem significantly stronger than anything else in the Shibuya Jail apart from that Dire Shadow you told us to stay away from. But we didn’t do anything yet because we didn’t want to break Margaret’s and Lavenza’s rules.”

“You know what? Let me go see Lavenza in the Velvet Room,” Ren decided. “These cognitive recreations of the Shadow Monarchs might not actually count as fighting the actual Monarch, and if that’s the case…” a humorless, calculating smile appeared on his face, “…then the rules stopping the Investigation Team from fighting them don’t apply, now do they?”

“Ohhhh…I see what you’re saying,” Yu realized, before giving him a dry chuckle. “I see the potential loophole you’re trying to exploit. All right, I’ll wait to hear back from you. You might want to let your own team know about this.”

“Oh, I’m having an emergency team meeting immediately after I get a chance to talk to Lavenza, I can promise you that,” Ren assured him. He hung up his phone, and knocked on the door to the camper again. “Futaba!” the girl looked up from her computer, and was shocked to see the expression of Joker on his face. “Start getting everyone over to the camper as soon as possible,”
his voice brimming with the commanding authority of the leader of the Phantom Thieves. “I need to go talk to Lavenza in the Velvet Room quickly, and then I’ll explain what’s going on. We’ve got a serious problem on our hands.”

Futaba immediately got to work sending messages out to the rest of the Thieves, while Ren hurried over to the Velvet Room. Lavenza was waiting for him like always, and Ren immediately noticed the expression on her face.

Although Lavenza might not have been human in nature, she was very much capable of displaying and feeling the full spectrum of human emotions. Joker had seen her display happiness, sadness, fear, confidence…and even love and sadism. Love directed towards him and sadism with her chainsaw, both of which Ren still wasn’t sure how to process.

But the emotion on her face currently was one that Ren couldn’t remember the last time he had seen. It was an expression of genuine rage, although thankfully he could tell it was not directed at him. Lavenza caught side of him, and made a visible effort to calm down…but the anger was still visible on her face. “Good day, Trickster,” she greeted him, making an effort to keep her voice polite despite her fury. “I was just about to contact you, so it is quite fortunate that you chose to come her of your own volition. A rather serious situation has developed within the loathsome prison.”

“Let me take a guess,” Ren interrupted, opting to cut straight to the point. “Someone or something has started creating cognitive versions of the Shadow Monarchs to replace the ones that we defeated, and if they’re not taken down, they could start doing the same mind control bullshit that the actual Monarchs were doing before we changed their hearts. Yu told me about this just now.”

Lavenza’s eyes visibly widened, before a pleased look appeared on her face that significantly lessened (but not outright removed) her earlier anger. “So you ARE aware of the situation that has developed. Excellent. Allow me to escort you into the Velvet Room, so we can discuss this further.”

The two entered the Velvet Room together, with Ren manifesting inside the jail cell and Lavenza in the circular room outside. “You have summarized the situation excellently, my Trickster. A malevolent force, the very same that ensnared you within the Jails to begin with, has recreated cognitions of the Shadow Monarchs that you fought so hard to defeat and return their hearts to the light. These caricatures, possessing none of the true heart and soul of the originals, exist solely to continue the foul deeds of the original Monarchs, and re-enslave the hearts of those who were already freed.”

Ren sighed. “I figured as much.” He raised an eyebrow. “Kinda surprised to see you this pissed about it, though.”

Lavenza allowed the anger to show on her face and in her voice back in full. “I am quite furious about this development for several reasons,” she growled. “These recreations of the Monarchs that you have already triumphed over,” she made sure to emphasize the last 3 words, “is a blatant insult and a mockery to the struggles that you and your friends have strived to overcome, and to the triumphs that you have rightfully accomplished. A brazen and blatant attempt to almost immediately invalidate your rightfully earned victory, the likes of which would have been worthy of Yaldabaoth, cursed be his worthless name.”

“Ah,” Ren thought. “Good to see that Lavenza hates Yaldabaoth just as much as ever.”

“But this is more than just a mere insult,” Lavenza continued her rant, and Ren could have sworn that she was somehow even angrier than she had been seconds ago. “It is an egregious violation of the natural order, Trickster. You and your fellow Wild Cards have faced and conquered many a Fools’ Journey in the past, and those Journeys were defined by singular, deadly threats that were vital steps for you and your fellow Persona wielders to prove their strength and growth. For you, it was the Shadows of the Palace Rulers. For the Seeker of Truth, it was the Shadows of those who would fight by his side once those Shadows were defeated. And for the Messiah, it was the Arcana Shadows that were the separated components of Death the Harbinger.”

Ren blinked. “Wait, what?” he asked. “Messiah? Arcana Shadows? Death? What the heck are those?”

Lavenza blinked. “Ah, my apologies, Trickster. Please do not concern yourself with that last statement, they are not relevant to your current situation.” Ren shrugged as his Velvet Room attendant steered the conversation back on track, and as she did so her anger returned. “As I was saying, these singular, deadly threats served as milestones to completing your Journey.” Her eyes flashed with rage. “Never once did an individual cognitive deity force the Persona users opposing them to fight those defining threats a second time after their rightful defeats, or try to recreate them so soon after those defeats for their own twisted and corrupt purposes, within the same Journey.” She raised her voice even louder, and only now could Ren truly see just how furious she truly was. In that moment, he couldn’t help but be reminded of Caroline, only this time there was true and righteous fury that made Caroline’s bouts of irritation look like a joke in comparison. “To recreate the first Monarch you defeated so soon after her defeat…I called this an insult and a mockery, but it is more than that. It is a gross and blatant violation of both the natural order and of a Fool’s Journey in general!” She shouted wrathfully.

Lavenza took a deep breath to force herself to calm down, before fixing Ren with a meaningful glare. “This. Is. Against the Rules,” she finished with a menacing hiss.

Ren’s eyes widened as he immediately caught the implications. After all, both Lavenza and Margaret had gone through great lengths to create a list of rules to ensure that Yu wouldn’t accidentally violate his Fool’s Journey. “So, whoever our enemy is…” he answered slowly, “they’re the ones who violated the natural order, instead of us.”

“Indeed, Trickster,” Lavenza affirmed. And while she was still clearly furious, a smile had appeared on her face. And unlike the warm and joyful smiles she usually gave him, this one was cold and vindictive. “I warned you before that to violate a Fool’s Journey would invite grave repercussions. But the reverse is also true. Since our unknown enemy has already violated the rules so blatantly and so early in your Journey, it gives us an opportunity to retaliate in turn.”

Ren smirked. “I’m beginning to like where this is going,” he remarked, allowing a hint of vindictiveness in his own voice. Fighting the Shadow Monarchs again was certainly going to be annoying, but from Yu had described, it didn’t sound like the cognitive recreation of Shadow Alice was noticeably more powerful than the original. And if that was true across the board (for Ren fully expected more cognitive recreations of the Shadow Monarchs to pop up after their defeats if Alice was any indication), then he and his Thieves could simply just beat them again. And the end result would be the Jails free from any Monarchical influence (real or fake) once more…and the Thieves with an extra card up their sleeve that their enemy had just handed to them on a silver platter. Then, he remembered why he had come to the Velvet Room in the first place. “Wait, I do have a question.”

“But of course, Trickster,” Lavenza invited.

“Do the cognitive copies of the Shadow Monarchs fall under the rule of the Investigation Team not being allowed to fight Shadow Monarchs?” Ren asked.

Lavenza looked visibly pleased at the question, which Ren took as a sign that he was on the mark. “An excellent question, Trickster,” she praised, before answering, “No. They do not. They are not true Shadow Monarchs, and so do not fall under the purview of that rule. You may request the Seeker of Truth and his team to fight them in your stead. And while I must discuss this with my sister, I do not believe that sending the Investigation Team to fight the copies of the Shadow Monarchs, in and of itself, will use up our retaliation opportunity.”

Ren grinned. “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.”

Lavenza nodded, before giving him a stern glance that was more in line with what he was used to instead of her furious glare from earlier. “But be advised, Trickster,” she warned. “Just because we have the capability to retaliate against our enemy for their blatant violation, does not mean that you should immediately do so. And take care not to overextend in said retaliation when the moment does come, for you do not want to make the same mistake that our enemy has done in this moment.”

“I know,” Ren assured her. “Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.”

“Excellent!” Lavenza declared, her mood now back to its former cheerful and warm self. “Then if you have any business here, we can proceed with that. Or if not, I can you escort you back to the real world.”

“I did have one last question, actually,” Ren replied. He proceeded to explain his encounter with Kuon Ichinose, and how she had offered to buy various pieces of junk that the Thieves had found in the Metaverse. “If I have the Investigation Team do that for me, will that count as a violation of the rules? I know we can’t share things like equipment, money, and items, but would them collecting these junk items for me so I can sell them to Ichinose count as a rule violation?”

Lavenza thought for a moment. “I’ll have to discuss this further with my sister, but I do not believe so,” she answered. “Please allow me a moment to speak with her first, though. I should have an answer for you by the time to you have moved on to the location of your next challenge.”

Ren smiled and gave her a thumbs-up. “Thanks, Lav.” He spent a few moments upgrading and fusing his Personas, before thanking Lavenza a second time and returning to the real world. He made a beeline straight for the camper, where to his pleasure, the other Phantom Thieves had already gathered courtesy of messages from Futaba.

“What’s up, Ren?” Ann asked the moment they were all in the camper. “Futaba made it sound like there was something pretty serious going on.”

“There is,” Ren acknowledged, “but there’s a silver lining to it.” He proceeded to explain everything that Yu had reported to him about EMMA creating a cognitive copy of Shadow Alice in the Jail that they had previous conquered. How it could very well begin brainwashing the people of Shibuya just like the real Shadow Alice had done if left unchecked, even after the actual Monarch had long had her heart changed.

“Oh, you’ve gotta be fucking kidding me! This is bullshit!” Ryuji exploded, punching the wall of the camper in frustration. “We did all that hard work changing Alice’s heart, and some asshole decides to make a cheap carbon copy of her in the Jail to make it so that what we did didn’t even matter? FUCK that!”

“Normally, I’d tell Ryuji to show more class, but I completely agree with him here,” Morgana agreed with a scowl. “This IS bullshit!”

“Wait, what happened to the real Alice?” Ann asked with concern in her voice. “She hasn’t been affected by the copy of her Shadow in the Jail, right?”

“Not as far as I can tell,” Futaba confirmed. “I mean, her life’s obviously not great right now because of the fallout from the change of heart, but she hasn’t started acting like she wants to brainwash people again. And the people of Shibuya haven’t started going crazy for Alice again, either.”

Haru breathed a sigh of relief. “So, we still have time to deal with this before it becomes a problem, then.”

Makoto looked worriedly at her watch. “I’m just worried with how this will impact our schedule,” she admitted. “We’re supposed to be heading off to Sapporo very soon.”

“It’s not like we have a choice in the matter,” Yusuke remarked with a frown. “If there are now cognitive versions of previous Monarchs that are attempting to brainwash the masses again, we must deal with them as soon as possible. Otherwise, it would be a gross dereliction of duty and no better than if we had outright failed to change the hearts of the actual Monarchs.”

To everyone’s surprise, Ren started grinning. “Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong, Yusuke. We actually DO have a choice, and that’s the silver lining I mentioned earlier. You see, because these are cognitive copies of Shadow Monarchs that we’ve already beaten before instead of the real thing, they DON’T fall under the rules stopping the Investigation Team from fighting them.”

Ann’s eyes widened. “OH!” she gasped. “So we can ask THEM to fight the Monarch copies instead of being forced to do it ourselves!”

Ryuji grinned. “Hell yeah! And while they’re dealing with that problem, we can go off to Sapporo and deal with whoever’s the real Monarch over there without needing to worry about it.”

“Are you sure they’d be okay with this?” Makoto asked Ren with a worried expression. “We’d be forcing them to fight a much more dangerous Shadow than normal. And I don’t want them to think that we’re just blowing off our responsibilities on them.”

Ren smirked. “Oh, don’t worry about that,” he reassured her. “I know my friends better than anyone else. They LOVE a good fight. Trust me, they’ll be over the moon to hear that they can join in on the big fights in their own way.”

“Well, as long as they’re not offended, them taking on the responsibility of fighting the copies of the Shadow Monarchs would certainly make things much easier for us,” Makoto acknowledged.

“So we’re all agreed that I can let the Investigation Team handle the copies of the Monarchs?” Ren asked for a final vote.

“Yep!” Futaba confirmed cheerfully, as everyone else made various sounds or expressions of agreement.

“Perfect!” Ren declared. “Let me go tell Yu.” He stepped out of the camper and contacted Yu on his phone. “Hey, Yu?”

“I’m here, Ren,” Yu answered back through the phone. “What’s the verdict?”

“I talked with Lavenza and the Phantom Thieves,” Ren reported, allowing a grin to spread across his face. “The Investigation Team are allowed to fight the cognitive copies of the Shadow Monarchs, and the Phantom Thieves are okay with it.” He chuckled. “I can already hear Chie shouting in joy about how she’ll be able to get some action against a major fight.”

“Yeah, although I don’t think she’d be the best pick against Shadow Alice specifically,” Ren cautioned. “Since this is meant to be a copy of Shadow Alice, it’ll very likely have the same strategies and attacks the actual Shadow Alice did. Let me guide you through the kinds of attacks Shadow Alice used against us, the weaknesses she has, and the strats we used to beat her.”

“That would be much appreciated,” Yu replied gratefully. “I know we have legendary weapons and armors to make our jobs a lot easier, but the more information we have, the better.”

Shibuya Jail, A Few Minutes Later…

Yu activated EMMA to transport himself into the Shibuya Jail, waiting patiently as the world distorted around him and shifted him into the Metaverse. When he arrived, his friends were already waiting for him, eagerly waiting for news from their leader. “So?” Pres asked eagerly and without preamble. “What did Joker say?”

Seeker smiled and gave his team a thumbs-up. “We’re clear to fight the copy of Shadow Alice,” he reported, “and likely all the other copies of defeated Shadow Monarchs that come up in the future.”

“YES!” Dragon cheered. “We get to do way more than just trying to find gems hidden in some random corner in these Jails!”

“I spent a couple of minutes talking to Joker about his own fight against Shadow Alice,” Seeker continued. “We’re around the right power level for the fight, even without taking into account our overpowered gear. And he gave me a very thorough rundown of what Shadow Alice is capable of and how we can beat her.” He gave Dragon an apologetic glance. “Sorry, Dragon, but you’re not the optimal choice for this fight. I think you’ll be pretty good for the copy of Shadow Natsume, though.”

“Aww…” Dragon groaned in disappointment. “You better let me get in a good fight soon, Seeker!”

“I promise, I’ll try to get you in one as soon as I can,” Seeker reassured her. He proceeded to share the details and suggestions that Joker had given him regarding Shadow Alice. “Because of that, I’m going to go in with Prince, Flower, and Corsair on the front lines. Prince and Flower to hit Shadow Alice’s weaknesses, and also because they can both heal. Meanwhile, Corsair can resist Psy attacks and has complete status immunity because of her spear. She might not be able to do much back to Alice with her Psy attacks, but you’ll at least be able to hit her hard with your weapon.”

Corsair shrugged and gripped her spear. “If you say so. I’m down, either way.”

“Then let’s get going,” Seeker declared. “The sooner we deal with this problem, the better.” He and the rest of the Investigation Team jumped into the Jail, effortlessly dealing with any Shadows that stood in their way. When they arrived at the base of the Alice’s Palace, there was a green portal at the base of the stairs that hadn’t been there before.

“That portal will take you to top of the castle, senpai!” Melody confirmed after a brief scan. “That copy of Shadow Alice is waiting for you up there!”

Seeker chuckled humorlessly. “Let’s not keep her waiting.” He stepped into the portal with his sword in hand, and just like Melody had reported, he found himself being teleported to the top of the tower. The garish copy of Shadow Alice was waiting for him, giggling as the other members of the Investigation Team joined up behind him.

“I’m going to make you mine!” she giggled as she transformed into a hideous rabbit-like monstrosity and the cage shifted around her into concert hall-like battle arena. “All mine!”

The copy perfectly mimicked the original’s sadism and viciousness, but Seeker could see right through it. There was no true emotion or humanity from this monster, only a soulless fabrication going through the motions and the dialogue of the original. It was nothing but a lie, and one that Seeker found especially insulting.

He and Flower immediately got to work firing Agis at the Shadow Alice copy from their Personas, while Prince and Corsair rushed forward to attack her with their weapons. Once Flower was able to get a burn off with one of her Agis, Prince and Seeker both immediately changed strategies to attacking with their Garus, just as they had planned.

Seeker was relieved to see that Shadow Alice behaved pretty much exactly how Joker had described, using a variety of Psychic attacks, Brainwash spells, and a slew of vicious and fast physical attacks. Joker had mentioned the possibility that the copy of Shadow Alice could possess either more attacks or stronger attacks than what the Phantom Thieves had experienced, but from what he could tell that really didn’t seem to be case. There didn’t seem to be any major deviations in the fake Shadow Alice’s attack patterns, which suited him just fine. It made her way more predictable, and consequently easier to defeat.

The fake Shadow Alice let out a yelp of pain as Corsair sliced at her leg with her spear, cleaving a neat wound through her leg. “You guys are really shredding through her health!” Melody cheered. “Great job, guys! Keep going, you’re almost half way there!”

“Hell yeah!” Prince exclaimed. “We’re shredding through her health like butter!”

His partner certainly wasn’t wrong, Yu thought, as he fired another Garu at the fake Shadow Alice. The legendary weapons that they had brought into the Jail were so powerful that they were tearing apart Alice’s health just as effectively as their Persona skills, even if not every attack was a crit that weakened her energy shield.

In blisteringly fast speed, he and his team whittled down Shadow Alice’s health to half while sustaining only minimal injuries. And just as Joker had warned, the fake copy of Shadow Alice hopped about in fury before snapping her cane in half and landing on all fours. “So mechanical,” he thought with disdain. “So fake. Even her fits of rage are completely soulless. A lie, through and through.”

Of course, that didn’t mean the lie in question couldn’t be painful, as demonstrated when Shadow Alice transformed into a wheel of death and nearly bowled Prince over. “Sheesh!” his partner exclaimed as the fake Shadow Alice shifted targets and tried to flatten Flower, who was barely able to sidestep out of the way. “I thought Joker was exaggerating when he said this freaky bunny lady turned into a wheel of death!”

“I guess not,” Flower remarked with a frown as the fake Shadow Alice zoomed around the arena, trying and failing to flatten her enemies as the aforementioned wheel of death. “Maybe it’s just how different the Jails are to the TV World, but this fake Shadow Alice is a lot more aggressive than our own Shadows.”

“And at least we have ultimate armor on to soften the blows and prior strategies to work with,” Seeker commented as the fake Shadow Alice finally collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion. “Joker and the Phantom Thieves didn’t have anything like that to fall back on.”

 “Yeah, full credit to him for beating the real deal without the equivalent of cheat codes,” Prince agreed as they got back to work tearing down the Shadow Alice copy’s health with their weapons and Persona skills. The fake Shadow Alice started to cry about how she was the victim and how she hadn’t done anything wrong. But once again, it was all empty and false, with no true emotion behind it. Perhaps, if he knew Alice’s background and this was truly her Shadow, Seeker could have felt pity for her. But for this copy that served no purpose other than to undermine and insult his younger brother figure’s victory? He felt no sympathy or mercy whatsoever, and neither did his friends.

He was treated to the rather amusing sight of Corsair taking a Brain Jack-fueled psychedelic heart to the face…only to ignore it completely thanks to her Amenonuhoko. “Who needs Persona skills when you’ve got a weapon that basically tells every status ailment to screw off?” Seeker asked with amusement.

“Still can’t believe she found a weapon that overpowered,” Flower shook her head fondly as they continued to break down the fake Shadow Alice’s health. By now, it was clear that the copy was on its last legs, with the Investigation Team having dominated the fight from beginning to end thanks to the many unfair advantages they had entered the battle with.

“You guys are almost done!” Melody called out to them excitedly. “Just a bit more!”

Seeker sliced at Shadow Alice with his Blade of Totsuku, and as he did so, he felt the energy in his body flare up and envelop him with an aura of power. He smiled as he realized what was going on.

In one of their information sharing strategies, Joker had explained a phenomenon to him known as Showtime. Joker had described it as a feeling of energy gathering within his body while he battled in the Jails, and when that energy reached its peak, it would allow him to unleash an ultimate attack with one of his Personas that would cause immense damage to a wide area in front of him, ignoring resistances in the process. It was something that he had never experienced personally in the TV World, although he had seen his friends pull off combo attacks sometimes after an All-Out Attack in the TV World.

But in the Jails, it was different. Seeker had felt the sensation of energy building within him as they had battled the fake Shadow Alice, and even during their training the days before. And now, as this false construct struggled to keep hold of its existence under the ruthless barrage of his team’s attacks, Seeker knew that it was time to finish off this insult to his fellow Wild Card’s accomplishment once and for all.

“It’s time to reveal you as the worthless fake that you truly are once and for all,” Seeker declared coldly in front of his enemy’s face, “and end the threat that you pose to the people of Shibuya.” He manifested his mystical blue tarot card in front of him as blue flames surged intensely around his body, before crushing the card in his hand. “Hua Po! Show her the height of our power!”

The fiery elemental fairy manifested next to him, giggling as Seeker channeled all of his accumulated power into his Persona. Seeker swung his sword forward, the way a general would signal a charge, as Hua Po pointed her hand out towards the critically wounded copy of Shadow Alice. Flames erupted from the ground across the entire battlefield in a way that he had never seen before, culminating in a massive fiery explosion that was arguably even more visually impressive than the Blazing Hells that he had unleashed with Surt, even if the explosion itself lacked the power of his Personas back in the TV World.

Still, the power of the Revelation attack was more than enough to overwhelm what was left of the fake Shadow Alice’s vitality. With one final, hideous screech, the copy of the Shibuya Jail’s Monarch collapsed onto the ground and dissolved into black mist, the threat that she had posed to the people of Shibuya completely neutralized.

“You did it, Senpai!” Melody cheered. “That fake Shadow Alice is gone for good! I don’t even sense a single trace of her left on Himiko’s radar anymore!”

“Hell yeah!” Prince cheered. “We kicked her ass completely, and didn’t even break a sweat while doing it!”

“Well, Seeker did most of the work towards the end,” Flower acknowledged. “He certain dealt the killing blow to her, if nothing else.”

“What WAS that attack?” Pres demanded as they left the now empty castle behind them. “That huge fiery explosion you just did right now? I’ve never seen you do anything like that before, Seeker!”

 “That was a new attack that we can do in the Jails,” Seeker explained. “Joker described them to me as Showtime attacks. The longer we fight in the Jails, the more we build up energy in our bodies. And when that energy builds up fully, we can channel it through our Personas to unleash a massive attack.”

“Now that you mention it,” Tailor remarked, “I did notice some kind of buzz going through my body while we were training the Jails the other day. Like I was psyching myself up. I didn’t really think about it at the time, though, cause I didn’t know what it was.”

“Ooh, ooh!” Ted yelped excitedly. “Does that mean WE can do those kinds of attacks to if we fight long enough?”

Seeker smiled at him. “I think you all might be able to,” he answered, causing the others to give him and each other looks of excitement at the idea of unleashing their own immensely powerful attacks with their Personas. Joker called this attack a Showtime, but we’re not the Phantom Thieves. Our Journey together was always defined by something different, a quest to find and protect the truth no matter what. And I think I have the perfect name for our own ultimate attacks.”

His silver eyes flashed with anticipation. “When another copy of a Shadow Monarch tries to trample on our friend’s progress, we’ll show them the power of our own REVELATION.”

Chapter Text

As much as Ren and the rest of the Phantom Thieves had enjoyed their time in Sendai, all of them were ready to move on to their next destination. Makoto was downright eager to start the drive to Sapporo, despite the fact that according to Sophia, the journey would take twelve hours of driving as well as a ferry trip on top of that.

Of course, as impressive as Makoto’s driving skills and endurance were, expecting her to make a straight drive for 12 hours would be downright insane, so no one was going to begrudge her when she stopped to take a break at one of the parking areas.

“Whew…” Makoto breathed out as she dropped her head onto her arms at one of the picnic tables. “I have to admit, I’m kind of exhausted.”

“You’ve been driving for a while,” Ren commented with a frown. “Don’t push yourself too much, Makoto.”

Makoto chuckled lightly. “Thanks, Ren, but I’ll be fine after a little rest.”

“We definitely owe you a break,” Morgana agreed sympathetically.

“Sorry for asking too much of you, Mako-chan,” Haru murmured sadly. “I wish I could drive in your stead…”

“Don’t you worry about me!” Makoto quickly replied, perking up almost immediately. “Driving’s a responsibility I enjoy. Plus, it’s nice listening to everyone chatter away in the back. Keeps me alert and motivated.”

Ren’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. He had little doubt that Makoto was telling the truth, but there had been something…off, about the way she had reacted to Haru’s offer to drive. It didn’t sound like something he needed to comment on since Makoto didn’t sound like she was overstraining herself way beyond her limits yet, but it might be something to keep in mind later if need be.

Nobody else seemed to have noticed either Makoto’s reaction or his own. “Then we will find a way to repay your devotion!” Yusuke swore.

“Ryuji, massage her shoulders at once!” Futaba ordered. “And procure the finest soft serve money can buy!”

“On it!” Ryuji declared. Then, he blinked. “Wait, I get the soft serve, but why do I gotta be the one to give the massage?” he asked.

“I’ll massage you too before bed!” Ann offered happily. “I know this technique that works wonders on sore muscles. Us models use it all the time!”

“That’d be great,” Makoto replied with visible relief in her voice. “I could use a good massage.”

“…Makoto, I need to apologize,” Sophia spoke up from Ren’s phone.

“What?” Makoto spluttered. “Why?”

“Because I can’t help you,” Sophia explained sadly. “Even though I know how effective physical stimulation is at treating fatigue. But I’m all digital, and therefore incapable of massaging. An AI that can’t provide assistance cannot be humanity’s companion. I’m as worthless as a bug.”

“Sophia?” Futaba asked in shock. “Are you going through mood swings or something?”

“Okay, let me stop you right there, Sophia,” Ren interrupted gently but firmly. “There is not a single being, human, AI, or otherwise, that is capable of being good at absolutely everything. It is just fundamentally impossible. Everyone has some things that they’re good at, and some things that they’re either bad at or just straight-up can’t do. For example, I consider myself quite good at Phantom Thieving, but I can’t play a harp worth a damn.” He smiled at the red-haired girl AI. “You, Sophia, are doing so well at the things that you ARE capable of that I guarantee you nobody here gives a shit that you can’t give a massage.”

“Yeah, no need to be so hard on yourself, Sophia,” Makoto reassured her. “Like Ren said, you’ve been a great deal of help so far. We owe you a lot, Sophia.”

“You mean it?” Sophia asked excitedly. “That makes me happy! And I do want to try this soft serve you speak of!”

Ryuji sighed. “Her mood swung right back to normal.”

“Makoto, you look spent,” Morgana muttered. “I say we call it a day the moment we reach Hokkaido. We already lost some time because Ren had to figure out how Yu was going to deal with that extra copy of Shadow Alice.”

“In that case, we should treat ourselves to some local cuisine for dinner,” Yusuke suggested.

“Oh!” Haru gasped excitedly. “I’ve always wanted to try a wasabi soda!”

Ann blinked. “Uhhh…no thanks.”

Haru gave Makoto a quick massage to relax her shoulders, and she subsequently rejuvenated enough to continue the drive. They were able to make good time even with the delay that had come with the fake Shadow Alice’s rise, and arrived at Sapporo by around noon on the next day.

“Helloooo Sapporo!” Futaba cheered.

“So this is Sapporo Central City,” Yusuke remarked. “A bustling outpost of civilization, cradled by the untamed wilderness.”

“Hey! You think they’re still doing the Snow Festival?” Ryuji asked eagerly.

Ann facepalmed. “Are you seriously THAT dumb?” she exclaimed.

“Well, it certainly is cooler here than Tokyo,” Haru remarked with a smile. “It should be a nice change of place.”

“Oh, don’t even get me started, Haru,” Ren groaned. “Those heat waves in Tokyo last year were such a gigantic pain in the ass. If I ever move back to Café LeBlanc, I’m buying my own air conditioning model, cause I am NOT dealing with that shit a second time.”

“I know we just got here, but I want to check whether there’s a Jail nearby,” Makoto declared. “Sophia?”

“I do smell a Jail,” Sophia reported somberly, causing alarm bells to ring in everyone’s head. “An intense one.”

“Just like Gramps said…” Ryuji whispered.

Ren sighed. “Well, we already knew that was going to be a problem, since Zenkichi was already doing some investigating around here. How much do you wanna bet that whoever he’s looking into is the Monarch of Sapporo?”

“No deal,” Futaba replied bluntly. “That’s a sucker’s bet, Ren.”

“Then perhaps we should comb the area for intel,” Makoto suggested.

“Uh, before that, I think we should hit a bath,” Ann countered. “Seriously, I’ve been feeling all gross since yesterday.”

“Agreed!” Haru chimed in. “It would be nice to freshen up a little first.”

“Then let me help!” Sophia interjected. “I’ve already located a bathing facility 500 meters from here.”

Ren smirked. “Sophia already proving my point from yesterday.”

“Yeah,” Futaba added. “You work quick, Sophia.”

“Guess it’s bath time for you guys, then,” Morgana concluded. “In the meantime, I’ll be on the prowl for that intel.”

“And I actually do want to go into some of the earlier Jails at some point today to knock out all the requests you guys are sending me, minus the ones we’re delegating over to Yu and his team,” Ren added. “Plus, a little extra training before we jump into a whole new Jail is never a bad thing. We can do this either before or after the bath, though. I’ll let you guys decide.”

The Thieves talked it over briefly, and they eventually decided to deal with the requests in the Jails first before going over to the bathhouse. “If we’re gonna be going into the Jails and getting our hands dirty, we might as well take care of all of that before cleaning up at the bath,” Ann concluded.

“Delaying the bath may cause some short-term pain, but it will make the bath itself all the sweeter when the time finally comes,” Yusuke agreed.

After a quick check with Yu to make sure that the Investigation Team wasn’t in either Jail at the moment, the Phantom Thieves dove into both the Shibuya and Sendai Jails to complete the various requests that had been sent to Ren’s phone. Although fulfilling the requests was the main goal, Joker also took the time to give the Phantom Thieves who had stayed on the backlines during the Shadow Natsume battle more experience to help them catch up with the others.

Unfortunately, during their brief excursion into the Sendai Jail, Oracle was able to confirm that a fake copy of Shadow Natsume had indeed taken residence in the castle where the real one had used to reside. Joker resisted the urge to challenge the fake Shadow Natsume to a rematch, as he didn’t want to deprive his friends from Inaba the worthy challenge that he knew they all enjoyed.

Having already been into both Jails multiple times right now, the Thieves were able to easily and efficiently clear Joker’s Requests, returning to the real world after completing their tasks in only about an hour. “I think we’re really getting into the hang of this,” Ren commented with a smirk as they returned to the real world. “All right, NOW it’s time for us to go take a bath.”

“About time!” Ann exclaimed. “After spending an extra hour working in the Jails, that bath is gonna feel sooooo much better than ever!”

“You guys all earned it,” Ren praised as they started making their way over to the bathhouse that Sophia had pointed out. “We might be on official Phantom Thief business here, but we’re not gonna let that stop us from enjoying ourselves on our vacation THIS time around.”

Meanwhile, at Inaba…

“You ready, Labrys?” Yu asked as the two of them sat in front of the computer. The two of them were at Labrys’ house in Inaba, ready to give their joint report to Mitsuru. The recent developments were absolutely important for Mitsuru to know, and Ren hadn’t forbidden them from sharing that particular information.

“Yeah, Yu,” Labrys affirmed. “Let’s start the call.”

Yu activated the video call, and was greeted by Mitsuru’s face with her office in the background once it connected. Like their main phones, the video call was being sent over a secure link with equally secure wifi, courtesy of Fuuka, to make sure that nobody could spy in on them. “Good afternoon, Yu and Labrys,” Mitsuru greeted them with as much warmth as her naturally cool demeanor would allow. “How go your expeditions into the Jails?”

“They’re goin’ good, Mitsy!” Labrys answered cheerfully. Yu couldn’t resist a smirk, both at the sheer comedy of someone calling Mitsuru “Mitsy” and the fact that anybody else who was stupid enough to call her that would almost certainly get executed in very short order. “Trainin’ with the IT’s been goin’ great, and I’ve even got some new powers that I didn’t have before!”

“How fascinating,” Mitsuru replied with a raised eyebrow. “Perhaps you’ll be able to show us some of these new powers in the rooms we use to replicate the Dark Hour when you return.”

“Yeah, but it ain’t all good news,” Labrys continued with a notably more serious expression now. “Some real shit’s been goin’ on in those Jails.” She glanced over at Yu. “You wanna spill the deets, Yu?”

“We’ve discovered a rather concerning phenomenon in the Jails,” Yu explained solemnly. “Someone or something is trying to recreate fake cognitive copies of the Shadow Monarchs after the Phantom Thieves defeat the real ones. From what we can tell, these copies are about as powerful as the real Shadow Monarchs were, although they don’t have any actual connection to them. We have reason to believe that whatever enemy is behind the Jails is creating those fake copies of the Shadow Monarchs to try and pick up where the real ones left off. Changing hearts on a mass scale, brainwashing large portions of the population, so on and so forth.”

“I see,” Mitsuru explained with a frown that had been growing throughout Yu’s report. “That is…very concerning, to say the least. Not just because of the threat to the populace even after the defeats of the Monarchs, but also because it might unjustly incriminate the actual Monarchs further. Alice Hiragii and Ango Natsume have both demonstrated genuine remorse based on our own interviews with them, and they should not be condemned for actions they did not commit.”

“I’m completely with you on there,” Yu agreed, before continuing. “Fortunately, we destroyed the fake copy of Shadow Alice before it could have any effect on Shibuya, and there hasn’t been another one that’s appeared since then. We’re keeping a close eye on both the Shibuya and Sendai Jails, though, and have already moved the bulk of our training to the Sendai Jail. Melody detected the presence of a fake copy of Shadow Natsume already, and we’ll destroy it as soon as we’re ready.”

“That would be logical,” Mitsuru nodded, before chuckling dryly. “Well, you, Labrys, and the rest of the Investigation Team certainly won’t be deprived of challenging battles, if you’re facing exact copies of the Shadow Monarchs that the Phantom Thieves are facing.”

Labrys grinned. “Don’t worry about us, Mitsy,” she reassured her. “Would be real boring in those Jails if we couldn’t get a good, tough scrap in every once in a while!”

“Between your team and the Phantom Thieves, I have every reason to believe the crisis with the Jails is in good hands,” Mitsuru complimented. “You may continue your activities as you see fit, Yu. The only question I have left to ask is if Ren Amamiya remains content with our current arrangement, or if he’s raised any concerns.”

“If he had any concerns about you or the Shadow Ops, Mitsuru, he didn’t bring any up with me,” Yu answered. “As long as you stick with your agreement with him and don’t give him any reasons to distrust you, I don’t think the two of you will have any problems.”

“I will defer to your expertise on the matter of Ren,” Mitsuru conceded. “In the meantime, do we know where the Phantom Thieves are currently? I’m fairly certain that a Monarch will be appearing there shortly, if one hasn’t already.”

“Sapporo, last I heard from Ren,” Yu informed her. “If I remember correctly, that was actually supposed to be the Phantom Thieves’ original location before they were forced to detour to Sendai to deal with the Jail there.”

“I see,” Mitsuru nodded. “Please keep me posted once you have identified the Monarch of Sapporo.”

“Yeah, we’ll let ya know, Mitsy!” Labrys promised. “And we’ll keep on doing what we’re doing til then!”

Mitsuru chuckled again. “It sounds like you’ve got matters well in hand, then,” she complimented. “Good luck with your adventures, you two. And please give the rest of the Investigation Team my regards as well.”

“Thanks, Mitsuru. I will,” Yu promised.

“See ya around, Mitsy!” Labrys called back cheerfully.

Mitsuru ended the call, leaving Yu and his friend and teammate to themselves. Labrys turned to Yu. “Sapporo, huh?” she asked. “Here’s to hoping that it’s a lot cooler than Inaba. These freaking heat waves are such a pain in the ass, man!”

“One can only hope,” Yu nodded in agreement. “Ren and his friends might be on official Phantom Thief business, but they absolutely deserve the comforts of a vacation whenever possible…as much as they can get them.”

Back at Sapporo…

“Ahhhh…” Yusuke stretched his arms out as they left the bathhouse. “I feel truly rejuvenated. The greatest bath that I can remember experiencing in living memory!”

Haru giggled. “Perhaps I wouldn’t call it the best bath I’ve ever taken in my entire life, but it was definitely quite the refreshing experience!” she remarked.

Ryuji glanced over Ren incredulously. “Dude…” he breathed. “I still can’t believe you got away with knocking on the wall while the girls were talking! I nearly had a heart attack, I thought we were gonna get the crap beaten out of us when they realized we could hear them!”

“Well, that’s exactly why I knocked on the wall,” Ren pointed out dryly. “Cause if they were loud enough that WE could hear them, it isn’t exactly crazy to think that somebody else might’ve too.”

“Very true,” Makoto acknowledged. “That conversation was going to go in a very…interesting…direction if you hadn’t put a stop to it, Ren.”

“Yeah, thanks for interrupting it,” Ann added gratefully. “The way Futaba was talking was really starting to make me uncomfortable, to be honest.”

Futaba scoffed. “Nothing I said was wrong, and I regret nothing!” she defiantly declared.

“All jokes aside, we were incredibly fortunate that it was just Ren-kun and the others on the other side of the wall,” Haru remarked in a more serious tone. “Imagine if there was someone else there who we weren’t familiar with.”

Everyone groaned at the idea. “Yeah, I’ve had enough of perverted assholes for an entire lifetime,” Ryuji muttered through gritted teeth.

“You and me both,” Ann agreed with a scowl.

“Moving on from THAT particular topic,” Ren steered the conversation away. “Waiting for the bath until AFTER we finished all the requests was definitely the right call. It made the bath feel so much better.”

“Hell yeah!” Ryuji grinned. “Minds and bodies refreshed!”

“That bath was just what we needed. Thanks for suggesting this place, Sophia!” Haru praised.

“No prob!” Sophia cheerfully replied from her phone. “Glad I could be of service.”

Ren smiled at the AI girl on his phone. The bath had certainly been a welcome distraction not just from their Phantom Thief-related duties, but also the tragic scene that they had witnessed on the way to the bathhouse. The death of a child was horrifying to think about no matter the circumstances, and it was very clear that her family missed her dearly. There was nothing he any of the Phantom Thieves could do except hope that this moment of tragedy stayed isolated to that singular event, and didn’t lead to more widespread ramifications down the line.

Another blip from Ren’s phone broke him out of his thoughts. “Ren, you have a phone call from Zenkichi,” Sophia reported.

Ren raised his phone to his ear. “Greetings!” their police contact greeted him through the phone. “You are now speaking to the long arm of the law! So, you guys in Sapporo yet?”

“Long arm of the law, huh?” Ren repeated in a tone drier than Shadow Futaba’s desert.

“Oh, come on!” Zenkichi groaned. “I thought I was being funny! Anyways, I wanted to set up a meeting. How ‘bout I swing by the RV in the evening?” he asked.

“I was actually hoping to get into contact with you once we got to Sapporo, so that ends up working out perfectly,” Ren answered. “I might find a hotel for us to stay in like we did in Sendai, but that can wait until after we’ve talked to you first.”

“Sounds good to me,” Zenkichi agreed, before hanging up.

“Zenkichi’s gonna be swinging by in the evening,” Ren reported to his friends. “No doubt to update us on who the Monarch of Sapporo is. The sooner we figure out who she is, the sooner we can get down to business.” He glanced around the town. “In the meantime, let’s just spend the rest of the afternoon enjoying ourselves and seeing the sights.”

“Hey, I like the sound of that!” Ann exclaimed.

“Oh, I’ve been looking forward to exploring Sapporo! This should be loads of fun!” Haru added excitedly.

“Then let us explore the wonders of Sapporo!” Yusuke declared. “And reconvene at the RV when nightfall comes!”

The Phantom Thieves split up, choosing to explore Sapporo on their own initiatives like they had for Sendai. Ren spent the next few hours exploring the various stores and restaurants in Sapporo, looking not just for food items to enjoy but also materials that could potentially be of use in the Metaverse. Two particular items that caught his interest were Recipes for a Seafood Bowl and Miso Ramen at two restaurants at Suzushino. Remembering how the previous Recipes he’d picked up at Sendai (the Gyutan Stew and Salmon Bowl) had been such huge hits with the Phantom Thieves, Ren didn’t hesitate to shell out the yen to pick up both Recipes. The other interesting item he discovered was at a pharmacy, and it was a Cod-Liver Oil Candy, of all things. Under normal circumstances, Ren would’ve been utterly repulsed by the very idea of such a candy…but when the store owner declared that it could rejuvenate the spirit like nothing else, Ren decided to pick a few up.

“I bet this thing tastes like ass,” he thought dryly. “But if it works like how I think it’s going to work, SP healing is SP healing, and the taste is just something we’re gonna have to deal with.”

By the time Ren finished his initial shopping excursion around Sapporo, night was beginning to fall. He and the Phantom Thieves regrouped at the RV where Makoto had last parked it, and Zenkichi popped in a few minutes later.

“Good evening, everyone!” he greeted them all cheerfully. “How’s Sapporo been treating you all so far?”

“We had a really relaxing bath at a bathhouse a couple hours ago,” Ren answered in a good-humored tone, “so I think things have been off to a good start here.”

“Glad to hear that,” Zenkichi replied with a smile of his own. “It’s always good to relax and take a break when you can. You never know when you might lose out on that chance later.”

“You’re certainly not wrong,” Ren acknowledged. “Especially since, if I’m not mistaken, you’re about to brief us on who the Monarch of Sapporo is.”

Zenkichi chuckled. “Straight to the point, then. I like that.” He shifted his face to a slightly more formal and businesslike expression. “Now that we’re all together, let’s talk about the Monarch of Sapporo. Our suspect’s name is Mariko Hyodo. Oh, and wait for it – she’s the mayor of Sapporo Central.”

Everyone’s eyes widened in shock. “Our target’s a mayor!?” Futaba spluttered.

“No way!” Ann exclaimed in disbelief. “Wouldn’t that make her the most influential person in Sapporo?”

“How could someone like that be a Monarch?” Yusuke wondered.

Even Ren was visibly surprised by the revelation. “I had a feeling a politician was gonna show up as a Monarch sooner or later,” he remarked. “I didn’t expect her to be the mayor of this entire city, though!” He took a deep breath and shook his head. “Well shit, this sure as hell complicates things, doesn’t it?”

“Perhaps it’s not as surprising as I thought,” Yusuke acknowledged. “Such things have happened before.”

Ryuji turned to Zenkichi. “How’d you find out she’s the one?” he asked, in a visibly more serious and quieter tone than what was typical for him.

“Because everyone’s suddenly in love with her,” Zenkichi explained. “Mayor Hyodo’s approval rating now sits at a lofty 88%. She’s gained fifty points in the last 2 months alone.”

Makoto’s eyes bulged. “Did you say fifty!?” she exclaimed.

“So she got crazy popular outta nowhere?” Futaba asked.

“It’s more than just crazy,” Makoto replied solemnly. “It’s unheard of.”

“This is beginning to sound very familiar,” Ren commented grimly. “We’ve already seen two extreme popularity boosts seemingly out of nowhere before…and we already know what caused those.”

“There’s more,” Zenkichi interjected. “Last month, three city councilmen who opposed her bill admitted to corruption and resigned. Any remaining councilmen who opposed her suddenly became her most fervent advocates. Not to mention, the election’s coming up.” He sighed. “It’s all too convenient, if you ask me.”

“Convenient is right,” Ren agreed. “I know about political corruption all too well. Politicians just don’t admit that they’re being corrupt bastards out of nowhere. I could see one person doing it, maybe, but three?” His eyes narrowed. “And all her political opponents suddenly becoming allies out of nowhere is arguably even more suspicious.”

Haru shuddered. “Imagine if Shido had the power to change minds like that,” she murmured. “Perhaps the overall body count might have been lower…but his tyranny would have arguably become even more absolute.”

“That’s not something I wanna think about,” Ryuji muttered. “Not now, and not ever.”

“Well, you might have to worry about that more than you think,” Zenkichi warned. “Rumor has it, Hyodo wants to expand her political influence to the national level. PubSec’s been investigating that…but alas. We haven’t run across any solid leads yet. So what do you make of all this?”

“I think there’s a very distinct possibility that you might be right,” Ren acknowledged. “You’ve got a lot of reasonable arguments to back up your suspicion of Hyodo…and I know we just got here, but so far I haven’t seen anything in Sapporo to suggest anybody else as the potential Monarch.” He glanced over at his friends. “Have you guys?”

“I haven’t seen anything,” Ann answered, shaking her head.

“I have not seen anything suspicious either,” Yusuke denied.

“We’ll definitely keep a close eye after tonight, though,” Makoto promised. “Especially on Mariko Hyodo.”

Zenkichi smiled. “Glad we’re all on the same page, then. So, this is where you come in.”

“There’s still a problem, though,” Morgana pointed out. “We’d need a keyword to confirm whether she’s a Monarch or not.”

“That won’t be a problem,” Zenkichi reassured them. “She’s already referenced EMMA several times in her speeches. Meaning there’s a good chance that she’ll be announcing her keyword in public.”

“So you’re saying we can find out her keyword if we go see her speak?” Ann asked.

“Very likely, yes,” Zenkichi affirmed. “In fact, Hyodo is gonna be in Suzushino on the 10^th making a speech. Since it’s close to the election, the crowds may very well be in the thousands.”

Ryuji blinked. “That’s a grip.”

“And it’s also a problem,” Ren pointed out grimly. “Because crowds that huge will give Hyodo the perfect opportunity to brainwash all those people into voting for her, if she IS the Monarch.”

“If she is indeed changing people’s hearts, then perhaps this is no surprise,” Yusuke acknowledged.

“Hmm…” Haru sighed as she looked downwards at the table.

“Are you all right there, Haru?” Ren gave his girlfriend a concerned look. He’d been primarily focused on his conversation with Zenkichi, but now that he was paying closer to attention, Ren noticed that she looked decidedly downcast compared to usual. “Is something wrong?”

Haru shook her head. “No…” she answered, although with how troubled she sounded, Ren didn’t believe her denial. “It’s just…mhm…it’s hard to explain. Mariko…Hyodo…that name seems familiar somehow.”

“I mean, she is the mayor of the town,” Ann pointed out. “Maybe you’ve heard her name on TV?”

“Possibly…” Haru acknowledged, although from her tone, it was clear that she didn’t actually buy that explanation for a single second.

“Maybe it’ll come back to you if you hear it again, or if you get a good night’s sleep first,” Ren suggested gently. “We’ve travelled a long time between today and yesterday, and I don’t think anybody here can confidently say they’re at full brain capacity at the moment.”

Haru smiled at her boyfriend. “I think you’re right, Ren-kun. Let’s set this aside for now.”

“Whatever you do, don’t try and contact her directly,” Zenkichi warned sternly. “I’m saying this to keep you safe. It’ll be a downright pain in the ass if she finds out we’re on to her. I suggest you enjoy your leisure time until the day of her speech.”

“Oh, believe me, Zenkichi, I am completely on the same page with you there,” Ren chuckled humorlessly. “I’m fully aware that prematurely letting your enemies know you exist is a fantastic way to fuck up your own plans.”

“Hey, Ren…” Makoto suddenly interrupted. “Should we tell him about what happened with Ichinose-san? She’s an important part of the investigation now.”

“Yeah, we probably should,” Ren acknowledged. “This isn’t something we should keep on the down low.”

“Oh?” Zenkichi raised an eyebrow. “What’s up? You look like you’ve got something important you want to tell me.”

Ren proceeded to spend the next few minutes explaining their encounter with Kuon Ichinose in Sendai. It was honestly worth it just for the reaction, because Zenkichi looked utterly gobsmacked by the time he finished. “The hell?” he spluttered. “You made a deal with the inventor of EMMA!?”

“We didn’t go out of our way to find her,” Ren replied, fully aware of just how weak his defense sounded. “It just…sorta…happened.”

“Wait, hold on,” Zenkichi shook his head in consternation. “That’s Kuon Ichinose, you said? Where have I heard that before…” He thought hard for a few seconds before remembering. “Right. Ichinose’s the one who wrote EMMA from scratch.”

“Were you lookin’ into her?” Ryuji wondered curiously.

“I was looking into Madicce, actually,” Zenkichi answered. “Wasn’t long before her name popped up. The famous inventor who sold off EMMA to Madicce.” He looked quizzically at the Thieves. “Tell me, how’d you get cozy with someone like that?”

“Like Ren said…” Ann muttered with audible embarrassment. “It just sorta…happened.”

“What matters is her familiarity with EMMA,” Makoto interjected. “If anyone abuses it, she could help us find out who and why.”

“Only Ichinose knows EMMA’s ins and outs, no matter what version it is,” Futaba pointed out.

“Makes sense,” Zenkichi acknowledged with a slight frown. “The report didn’t make her out to be somewhat dangerous.”

“That being said, we’re not blindly trusting her either,” Ren commented. “I actually have more reason to trust YOU than her at the moment. Which is really saying a lot, considering how much we hate the police in general.”

Zenkichi chuckled dryly. “Well, thanks for the reassurance. I’ll freely admit she does sound like a valuable source of info, but I really want you guys to be more careful about this operation,” he sternly reprimanded them. “I’m trusting you guys a lot by sharing all this classified intel. So I’d prefer you don’t go creating liabilities like this behind my back.”

“Understood,” Makoto acknowledged. “We’ll take your advice to heart.”

“There’s one more thing you should be aware of, while we’re all here,” Ren decided to add. “There’s some enemy force out there, more than likely our mastermind, who was trying to create fake copies of the Shadow Monarchs that we’ve already beaten. Left uninterrupted, those Shadow Monarchs could try to restart the mass changes of heart that we reversed even though we already beat the actual Monarchs.”

Zenkichi groaned. “Oh geez, you’ve got to be kidding me!” He buried his face in his hands. “I can already see the huge wrench that’ll throw in our investigation if that happens.”

Ren smiled. “Not to worry, they’re being taken care of,” he reassured him. “You see, I have a group of older friends from my hometown who all have similar powers to us, even if they’re a little different. Since we’re so busy with dealing with the ACTUAL Monarchs, I recruited them to help deal with issues in the Jails that we’ve already cleared. They’re the ones who are handling the fake Monarchs, and they’ve actually beaten the fake copy of Shadow Alice already. I imagine they’ll deal with the fake copy of Shadow Natsume too pretty shortly. I hope you understand that I didn’t want to wait around for the fake copies of the Monarchs to start wreaking havoc before dealing with the problem.”

“No, no, I can see why you’d want to nip that in the bud as soon as possible,” Zenkichi acknowledged. “And I get that this isn’t really something you could wait on. But this…friend group of yours…are they going to get involved in the actual investigation?” he questioned.

Ren shook his head. “No, they’re ONLY focused on cleaning up and keeping the peace in the Jails that we’ve already beaten,” he reassured Zenkichi. “Not only did I specifically instruct them NOT to get involved in Jails with active Monarchs in them, I don’t think they could directly get involved in the investigation even if they wanted to since they can’t directly enter Jails that have an active Monarch in them unless they’re in the same physical location. They’re only getting involved in empty Jails, and that’s it.”

“Okay,” Zenkichi nodded in acceptance. “As long as they don’t get involved in the meat of the investigation and cause problems for me, I don’t have a problem with you outsourcing to this group of yours for some extra pairs of hands.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Ren promised. “I can trust them, and so can you.”

“Good,” Zenkichi smiled. “But seriously, shouldn’t I be your go-to guy for help for most things?” He made a face. “Seeing you guys run off making confidants left and right makes me feel like a lonely old man!”

Futaba rolled her eyes. “Are you trying to gain our trust or get attention?”

“Hate to say it, Gramps, but we do shit on our own ‘cause your help only gets us so far,” Ryuji pointed out. “If you tried to walk into one of those Jails on your own, you’d be dead meat!”

“What, it’s not my fault I’m not an expert on all this cognitive mumbo-jumbo!” Zenkichi exclaimed. “And would it kill you to ditch the Gramps? I’m as fly as any one of you kids!”

Ren groaned loudly, not even bothering to hide his secondhand embarrassment. “Please, never ever say that again,” he practically begged as the rest of the Thieves merely sat there silently, not wanting to comment. “I will say that the goatee’s a statement, though,” he added, deciding to throw the inspector a bone…albeit one of dubious value, to say the least.

“I don’t need your pity!” Zenkichi retorted.

“You’re the one bringing it up!” Ryuji exclaimed.

“Never mind that!” Zenkichi abruptly stood up, having decided that discretion and changing the subject were suddenly VERY much the better part of valor. “Point is, there’s a speech on the 10^th and I’m counting on you to be there.” He retreated from the camper, no doubt trying to save whatever was left of his dignity.

As the other Thieves settled down to talk about their plans until the 10^th, Ren mulled over Zenkichi’s advice. To be completely honest, he still wasn’t sure what to think of the inspector. Trustworthiness aside (and he would give credit where credit was due, Zenkichi had so far proven to be a valuable ally and more importantly hadn’t given him any real reasons to DISTRUST him), the inspector delicately straddled a fine line between “cool” and “lame” in a way that nobody else he’d met had ever done before.

Still, the inspector’s advice was completely valid. There was absolutely no reason to let Mariko Hyodo, whoever she was, know of the Phantom Thieves’ existence in Sapporo before she gave out her speech (and more importantly, her EMMA information) on the 10^th. All the Thieves would need to do is lay low for the next two days, get the keyword, and go through her Jail.

If all went according to plan, and Ren fully acknowledged how quickly his and the Thieves’ plans often got derailed, Mariko Hyodo wouldn’t know what hit her until the day came to change her heart.

Chapter Text

As leader of the Phantom Thieves, Ren understood that plans rarely (if ever) proceed exactly as intended. His interrogation in November of last year had been a testament to that, as his plan to escape the clutches of Shido’s corrupt police had almost gone disastrously wrong when they had injected him with drugs that messed with his brain.

But even by the already questionable standards of the Phantom Thieves, Ren couldn’t remember the last time a plan had gone off the rails this quickly.

The saddest thing was, the Phantom Thieves hadn’t even intended to disregard Zenkichi’s advice. They’d gone to the main government office of Sapporo purely for sightseeing purposes, and had stumbled upon a distinguished, elderly woman berating a worker for failing to properly take care of the flowers in the garden…even though there hadn’t been anything wrong with the flowers, as far as Ren could tell. Then, the timid man had called the woman Mayor, and before Ren could even begin to process that, the woman had turned around…and focused her attention directly on Haru.

“Could it be…?” she asked in disbelief. “You’re…Haru-chan?”

“Huh?” Haru gasped, and she wasn’t the only one. Pretty much every member of the Phantom Thieves was caught off-guard by the fact that Mariko Hyodo somehow knew Haru from before.

Mariko smiled warmly, a sharp contrast to the harsh and frankly vicious demeanor she had exhibited towards the government worker. “Of course you wouldn’t recognize me,” she continued happily. “You were tiny the last time I saw you. It’s me,” she proceeded to introduce herself, “Mariko Hyodo. Your father, President Okumura, was a very good friend of mine.”

“Hyodo…” Ann’s eyes widened. “She’s the mayor!?”

“O-o-okay, guys!” Futaba stammered. “Don’t panic.”

Haru was also shocked, but for a different reason. “Oh, could it be…you’re Mari-san?” she asked, recognition finally creeping into her voice.

“Yes!” Mariko confirmed happily. “Oh, that lifts my heart! It’s been ever so long.”

“Haru,” Makoto interrupted, still reeling from the revelations. “Do you know this lady?”

“Yes!” Haru answered with a huge smile on her face. “Of course I do! She used to come visit me back when I was little! Mari-san was one of my father’s clients. They used to go golfing all the time. And she’d always keep me company when I was bored or lonely.”

“Huh,” Ren remarked, even as he internally wondered what the hell was going on. “It really is a small world, huh.”

“Some freakin’ coincidence…” Ryuji muttered under his breath.

“You got that right,” Morgana agreed quietly.

Mariko’s face fell as she gave her young friend a somber look. “Haru-chan…I’m so sorry about what happened to your father.” She scowled. “To think that a man he trusted would stab him the back so cruelly and brutally…may Shido rot in prison for the rest of his life, where he belongs!”

“Oh, no…” Haru shook her head. “Thank you for your concern.” She smiled thinly. “The one who murdered him was duly punished for his actions, so he and I can rest knowing that justice was served.”

“Well, if there’s anything that’s been troubling you, you know that I’m here for you with open arms,” Mariko offered.

“I appreciate you saying that,” Haru replied gratefully, “but I’m okay. I have good people managing my company, and I’m working hard to finish my degree. And while I’m grateful to be surrounded by such wonderful people, not the least of which are my friends right here before you, I still have to walk on my own two feet.”

“Haru-chan…my, how you’ve grown,” Mariko answered appreciatively. She walked up and hugged Haru, much to her embarrassment.

“Mari-san! I’m not a little kid anymore…” Haru whined adorably, and Ren had to suppress a snicker.

“Ah, please forgive me,” Mariko apologized. “It seems my emotions got the better of me.”

“Like how they did when you were yelling at that poor employee?” Ren thought, although he made sure to keep his face carefully neutral. Even if he wanted to protest against Mariko’s treatment of the employee, now was clearly not the time for multiple reasons.

“Now then,” Mariko continued, “are you here visiting with your friends? I hope you’re all enjoying Sapporo to the fullest. Rest assured, my staff is working hard to make Sapporo a beautiful and worthwhile destination for all!” She turned to face the employee and barked out a command. “Don’t just stare at the ground! Replace these hideous flowers at once!”

The employee bowed and frantically left the area to do his building, while Mariko turned back to the Phantom Thieves. “I’m sorry you had to see that. Now, as much as I’d like to keep chatting with you, there are preparations to be done. This election has kept me busy night and day. But do let me know if there’s any way I can help you.” And with that offer made, Mariko Hyodo walked away, leaving the Phantom Thieves alone in the garden.

“…Okay, what in the actual hell just happened?” Ren muttered. “I’m getting a ton of whiplash from all this!”

“Sorry to be blunt, Haru,” Makoto turned to her friend, “but she seems really two-faced.”

“Mari-san…” Haru murmured sadly. “You used to be so kind to everyone…”

“To be fair, we did kinda see that with you,” Ren acknowledged with a frown. “The problem is that she’s not sharing this kindness with everyone else.”

“You guys think maybe she’s not the Monarch we’re after?” Ann wondered.

“I dunno, we just saw her go apeshit on that guy,” Ryuji pointed out. “Normal people don’t get pissed over plants.”

“Have to agree with Ryuji here,” Ren agreed. “I could maybe understand it if the plants were blatantly messed up in some way, but they don’t. They look completely fine.”

“Are you okay, Haru?” Ann asked with concern.

“Yes, I’m fine…” Haru replied with a smile that didn’t quite match her eyes. “Just a little surprised is all.” She blinked. “Oh, and sorry I didn’t get her keyword. I was…preoccupied.”

Ren smiled at his girlfriend. “Don’t worry about it,” he reassured her. “We were gonna get it tomorrow anyway, and I honestly think that it might be better in the long run that you didn’t get it from her personally.”

“Oh? Why do you think that, Ren-kun?” Haru wondered.

Ren frowned. “Because we’re on Mariko Hyodo’s radar now,” he explained, “and even if it isn’t because she thinks we’re the Phantom Thieves, that’s still a bit of a problem. We’d hoped to slip underneath her notice completely until we were ready to steal her heart, but now that’s not possible. That’s not anyone’s fault,” he added with a brief glance at Haru. “That’s just an unfortunate coincidence and the reality that we now have to deal with. I’m not saying Haru shouldn’t interact with Mariko at all, because that would arguably even more suspicious now that we know about their past relationship…but when it comes to getting her EMMA keyword, we should probably do it in a way that doesn’t attract any more attention to us.” He smiled humorlessly. “Getting the keyword from one of her speeches where there’ll be a lot of other people around is a lot less conspicuous than one of us asking it from her in person, even if it was Haru.”

“Ren’s right,” Makoto agreed. “We should just stick to the plan and get the keyword tomorrow like we intended.”

“Yeah. For today, let’s go around asking for rumors on Hyodo and make that our objective,” Morgana suggested.

“Same thing we’ve been doing in the other cities, then? I’m down,” Ren affirmed.

“Yes…I’d like to find out what changed her,” Haru remarked sadly.

With their plan set, the Phantom Thieves would spread out throughout the bustling city in the evening to try and find more rumors on Mariko Hyodo. The city was just as energetic and lively at night as it was during the day if not more so, and it didn’t take Ren long to find the same unnaturally enthusiastic, if not downright crazy fans who were obsessed over their support for Mariko Hyodo as mayor for the upcoming election. “At least this time she’s not forcing people to spend all their life savings buying crappy merchandise,” Ren thought humorlessly. “She’s just brainwashing them into electing her as mayor. Thank FUCK Shido didn’t have access to that kind of power, or the country would’ve been even MORE fucked back then than it already was.” Not that he’d needed any help getting elected in the long run, with Yaldabaoth pulling the strings from behind the scenes.

His thoughts were interrupted by a buzz from his phone. He opened it to see that Yusuke was reaching out to him.

Yusuke: “Ren, there has been an emergency. Please come to the vending machine by the pharmacy immediately.”

Morgana frowned. “Did something happen to Yusuke? We might wanna go find him!” he urged.

“Yeah, although I’ll remind you that this IS Yusuke we’re talking about,” Ren deadpanned. “His definition of emergency could be anything from an angry mob about to burn down this entire city to running out of art supplies for the week.”

His feline friend chuckled. “You’re not wrong,” he acknowledged.

The two quickly made their way through the streets of Sapporo until they reached the vending machine in question, where Yusuke was waiting for them.

“What happened, Yusuke!?” Morgana asked once they’d met up.

“…Look at this,” Yusuke gestured as he held out an unopened beverage can towards Ren. Ren took it and looked at it. It was a can filled with juice, with milk and fish on the label.

“Returning search results: This drink, called Primordial Soup, is considered a regional specialty,” Sophia reported. “They press the juices out of locally sourced fish and blend it with fresh Hokkaido milk. It’s marketed towards men in particular.”

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” Ren exclaimed. “Milk and fish together? Who in the actual fuck thought this was a good idea?”

“Look, I like both milk and fish, but even I know those two shouldn’t go together,” Morgana added with a frown. “I’m just worried about all the smell.”

“Who would invent such a monstrosity?” Yusuke exclaimed. “It seems Sapporo’s culture is not to be trifled with!”

Morgana groaned. “Sheesh, you got my hair all stood up for nothing. Anyways, are you done gathering rumors?”

“Not in the slightest,” Yusuke replied nonchalantly. “I was so taken aback that I lost focus. Perhaps I can recover if I offer this to you, Ren. Please inform me of how it tastes.”

He gave the can to Ren, who hesitantly took it. “You know what, fuck it, I’m morbidly fascinated now,” he admitted. “The same kind of morbid fascination you experience when you’re witnessing a burning truck fly straight off a cliff. I’m just gonna try this now because it’s gonna bother me all night otherwise.” Ren flipped the lid off the can, and was immediately met by a fishy odor. “Well, here goes nothing.”

With a grimace, the leader of the Phantom Thieves took a drink from the can. Almost immediately, he nearly spat it out in disgust. “Oh, dear God!” he gagged. “What the fuck was that? That was one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever tasted in my entire life!”

Yusuke gave him a sympathetic glance. “I presume that the Primordial Soup beverage was…not to your liking?” he asked rhetorically.

“Bruh, I felt like my taste buds just got hit with the Fear status, it was that bad,” Ren retorted. He started texting Yu.

Ren: “Hey Yu, I just stumbled across this absolutely heinous drink in Sapporo.”

Yu: “Uh oh. What is it, and how bad was it?”

Ren: “Primordial Soup. It’s a beverage in Sapporo that mixes fish juices with milk.”

Yu: “…”

Yu: “…that sounds like one of the worst things I’ve ever heard of in my entire life. And this is coming from someone who’s survived Mystery Food X.”

Ren: “That’s actually why I wanted to tell you about this. On a scale of 1 to Mystery Food X, how bad does this sound to you? Cause I tasted the Primordial Soup, and it SUCKS ASS.”

Yu: “I’d give it a nice, solid 7. Fish and milk sounds like a pretty bad combo, but I’ve seen the girls do worse back in the day. I’ll freely admit that they’re better now, but uh…you should’ve seen the chocolate they helped Nanako make for me. I wish I had a spare sample I could toss at a Shadow, cause I’m pretty sure that chocolate would’ve straight-up Mudooned anything I threw it at.”

Yu: “It looked like a Black Slime, for context. And probably tasted just as bad.”

Ren visibly cringed. Clearly, there were some things mere mortal men weren’t meant to know. Or taste, in this case.

Ren: “Want me to buy one and bring it home?”

Yu: “Oh, hell no, I bet it’d rot by the time you got back. And even if it didn’t, it might give some of the girls…inspiration.”

Ren shuddered at the idea.

Ren: “Good point. I’ll just…go back to investigating the Sapporo Monarch. That sounds a lot more pleasant than what we’re talking about.”

Yu: “Probably a smart idea. Good luck with your investigation. We’ll probably be taking care of the fake Shadow Natsume tomorrow.”

Ren ended the chat message and looked up to see both Yusuke and Morgana staring curiously at him. “What’re you doing, Ren?” Morgana asked out loud for them both.

“Just sending a message to Yu about the Primordial Soup,” he answered with a snicker. “Just thought it’d be something he’d be interested in.”

“I hope you’re not suggesting he try some of that, after your reaction to it,” Morgana made a face.

“Oh, hell no!” Ren snorted. “I wouldn’t do my older brother dirty like that! But since I’ve already opened it and I don’t want to insult the locals, might as well finish the rest of it.”

“Are you certain about this course of action?” Yusuke asked with a hint of worry.

“What doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger,” Ren replied. His friends watched as he slowly downed the rest of the Primordial Soup. The drink wasn’t any more pleasant now than it had been the first time, but to his own surprise, he managed to finish the rest of it without feeling the overwhelming urge to vomit the drink out. “Okay, I’m done. Now I’m never fucking trying this shit ever again,” he declared as he tossed the empty can in the trash.

“Do you think it would have some sort of effect in the Metaverse?” Morgana wondered as they went back to searching for rumors.

“Who knows, and who gives a shit?” Ren replied flippantly. “If we wanted to bring food or drinks into the Metaverse to test their effects, we’ve got a ton of better options to work with that don’t taste like crap.”

Morgana didn’t have any real argument against that, and they spent the next few minutes continuing their search for rumors on Mariko Hyodo. It didn’t take very long for them to get all the evidence they needed, and they regrouped with their friends back at the camper. Since the air was much cooler than it had been in Sendai, nobody had any arguments against sleeping in the camper and the tents that they had brought with them. With two tents to share instead of one, Ryuji and Yusuke didn’t have any problems sharing a tent, while Ren and Morgana claimed one for themselves. After reaffirming their plans, they all went to sleep early to prepare for Mariko Hyodo’s campaign speech tomorrow…

…and that night, Ren found himself in the Velvet Room, with Lavenza standing in front of the jail cell door. “I’ve been waiting for you,” Lavenza greeted him without preamble. She smiled at him. “It seems that you and your friends are becoming much stronger.”

“We’re getting there,” Ren replied with a wry smirk of his own. “Slowly and thankfully not-too-painfully, we’re getting there.”

Lavenza giggled, before her face fell into a somber look. “However, the shadow of calamity creeps ever closer to your path. Please bear this in mind,” she warned.

“Yeah, I know we’ve got some major enemy lurking from behind the scenes,” Ren acknowledged with a frown. “I don’t know whether it’s another cognitive deity or a human like Shido, but either way, I’m not exactly thrilled about it.” He raised an eyebrow. “So how close exactly is it?”

Lavenza sighed. “I only know that an evil is worming its way into being, though I know not its true nature,” she admitted. “Unfortunately, at this time I do not know any more than you do.” She looked up at Ren and her expression became more businesslike. “Since I have nothing else to say on that matter, let us change focus to the topic at hand. I summoned you here to notify you about your power of the wild card, as it pertains to this new world. The number of Personas you can maintain has increased due to your growth. You will now be able to carry up to ten.”

Ren grinned. “Oh, excellent!” he declared. “I will never say no to being able to carry more Personas at once. And unlike last time, there isn’t some asshole like Yaldabaoth pulling the strings from behind the scenes, so this can only be good news!”

Lavenza’s smile returned. “Your potential to wield multiple Personas comes with endless possibilities. And your senior Wild Card, the Seeker of Truth, will also be able to expand his limits as he and his fellow Persona users grow in strength as well. Hone this power alongside the companions with whom you’ve formed unbreakable bonds, and prepare for the coming calamity,” she advised, before bowing her head respectfully. “Whatever else you may need, I’m here for you.”

“Thank you, Lavenza,” Ren replied gratefully. “However, I already took care of all the business I needed to the last time I was here. I’ll probably visit you again after we actually enter the Sapporo Jail, which will probably be some time tomorrow.”

Lavenza nodded in understanding. “Then I will see you again very shortly, Trickster,” she promised.

The next day, the Phantom Thieves gathered with the rest of the city at Mariko Hyodo’s speech, making sure that they were carefully positioned so that they weren’t either directly in front of Hyodo or too far away from the rest of the crowd. “I’m sure you are all aware of the prior corruption that plagued our city council. Make no mistake, no one is more ashamed than I,” Mariko Hyodo declared. “As such, the ethics bill I propose will leave no more room for corruption to rear its ugly head. With your support, I will make this city of Sapporo a beautiful, stainless paradise! Like fresh snow on a midwinter’s day! Together, let us turn our home into a beacon of light to the world, where both citizens and government leaders radiate truth and purity!” She nodded her head once. “Now everyone, let’s clean Sapporo up!”

The crowd cheered around her, while the Phantom Thieves mulled over her words. “Her popularity is unbelievable…” Ann muttered. “Do you think everyone here had their hearts changed.”

“I think at least some of them did,” Ren replied just as quietly. “But others could just be regular supporters as well. It’s kinda hard to tell, since Mariko isn’t making them do blatantly crazy shit like Alice or Natsume.”

“I agree,” Yusuke commented. “Crowds have a tendency to attract people. I imagine at least some of them came of their own volition.”

“Haru…” Makoto reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Haru sighed, but before she could respond, Yusuke pointed out that Mariko had taken her phone out. Ren took his own out too as Mariko began talking again. “I’m sure you are all familiar with EMMA, yes? I’m also no stranger to technology, so feel free to add me,” Mariko offered. “For those of you listening outside Sapporo, outside Hokkaido, or even outside the country, this invitation extends to each of you as well. The keyword is Snow City. Well, there you have it!”

“Got it,” Ren affirmed.

“The whole audience is friending her!” Futaba exclaimed.

“Shouldn’t we be stopping her right now?” Ryuji asked.

“How exactly do you suggest we do that?” Ren deadpanned. “We don’t have any options in the real world, and if we tried to do something now, we might as well put up a neon sign with a giant arrow pointing down at us for Hyodo to see.”

“Ren is right,” Makoto agreed grimly. “Causing a scene here would only draw unwanted attention. I hate to say it, but all we can do for now is watch.”

“We can at least be glad we got the keyword,” Morgana pointed out. “That was the main plan to begin with. Now we can infiltrate Hyodo’s jail any time we like.”

“The smell here in Suzushino isn’t too strong,” Sophia added. “Getting inside the Jail won’t be a problem.”

“We’ve already taken care of most of the preparation,” Ren concluded. “I’m ready to go into the Jail today if you are.”

“Then let’s go, everyone!” His girlfriend declared. “If Mari-san really is the Monarch, only we can stop her. We can’t let her toy with the hearts of innocent people.”

“True that,” Ryuji agreed.

Ren smiled at her. “Then let’s blast through this Jail. It’s time for us to save Sapporo too.”

“All right,” Morgana declared. “Then let’s ready up and begin the infiltration!”

As the Thieves departed to make their own infiltrations, Ren couldn’t help but think about Mariko Hyodo’s speech. It wasn’t the words themselves that mattered so much to him, but rather Mariko’s demeanor. After living with Yu Narukami and the harrowing experiences he had endured the last year, Ren considered his bullshit detector to be honed to a razor’s edge. The false Igor had set off multiple alarms in his head throughout the year (even if he hadn’t known exactly what was wrong), Akechi’s “Detective Prince” personality had always struck him as fake or at the very least forced, and it was almost laughably easy how quickly he had seen through Shido’s façade of politeness and detected the self-absorbed, arrogant bastard underneath (although admittedly, his own personal experiences with the asshole certainly helped).

Mariko Hyodo…wasn’t setting off his bullshit detector. At least, not beyond the fact that she was almost certainly the Monarch of Sapporo. Which meant that she was either telling the truth…or at the very least, she believed that she was telling the truth. She seemed genuinely dedicated to Sapporo…which put her more in the Maruki category of distorted hearts, more than anything.

“We’re missing something,” Ren thought with a frown. “Every Monarch so far had a Trauma Cell that explained how they ended up like this to begin with, and I’m sure Mariko Hyodo’s no exception. And we’re gonna need to figure out exactly what it is before we can properly change her heart.”

Chapter Text

Having already completed their preparations beforehand, there was nothing stopping the Phantom Thieves from beginning their infiltration. “We’re good, right?” Ren asked Makoto. “I’m not missing anything important supplies-wise?”

Makoto shook her head. “I can’t think of anything. We’ve stocked up on all the essentials.”

“Then let’s get going!” Ren declared. Sophia guided them to a corner of the street that would serve as their entry point, and everyone inputted Mariko Hyodo’s keyword into EMMA.

Reality shifted around them as they felt themselves leave the real world and enter the Metaverse…only for them to be immediately blasted by a relentless barrage of freezing wind and snow. “Arrrgggh…gaaaaahhhhh…what the hell!” Joker exclaimed as the frigid blizzard blasted him. He just barely managed to stand his ground and immediately switch to Jack Frost…but while that stopped the worst of the cold, it didn’t negate the chill of the snow entirely.

His friends weren’t doing any better. All of them were shivering or feebly trying to protect themselves from the vicious weather in some way, and even Fox wasn’t completely immune to the cold. On the floor of the building they had ended up on, both Mona and Sophie had stunned, blank looks on their faces, with the latter having straight-up curled into a ball. It would’ve been funny if he wasn’t busy freezing to death.

Just as it felt like the wind was about to overwhelm them…it suddenly vanished. Noir, who had been bowing her head to try and protect herself through her large hat, looked up to see that the entire city of Sapporo had been transformed into a winter wonderland, with huge ice crystals as tall as the buildings of the city rising from the ground. A few of the buildings were made with a majestic architectural style that sharply contrasted the modern city, and in the distance the Thieves could be a massive, towering palace crafted in that same style with 2 huge utensils sticking out of the sides and multiple chains snaking out of the very top of the castle.

“Holy shit,” Joker blinked. “When Mariko Hyodo said she wanted to make Sapporo a city as white as snow, she was NOT joking.”

“A city encased in ice,” Fox murmured pensively. “Its serenity belies a yawning desolation.”

“Not the exact words I’d have used,” Joker acknowledged, “but you’re not wrong. There’s something about this place that seems…empty.”

“S-so c-cold,” Oracle shivered. “W-why’s it s-so c-cold in the summer?”

“The fact that we can enter this Jail means that Mari-san really is the Monarch…” Noir murmured sadly.

“Noir…” Panther replied sympathetically.

“It’s okay,” Noir quickly reassured her. “My main concern is returning everyone’s Desires.”

“There’s a building in the distance that looks like a castle,” Sophie pointed out. “Should we go there?”

“Yeah,” Skull affirmed. “That’s where the Desires gotta be.”

“Okay, then let’s make investigating that castle our top priority,” Queen declared.

“And let’s hope that getting a move on will help us stay warm,” Joker added, before leaping off the building they were on and onto the ground. Almost immediately, they were greeted by two of the “standard” police officer Shadows, as well as a new Shadow that looked like a SWAT member wearing a bulletproof vest and holding a gun in its hands. “It’s like those Shadows we saw in Shido’s Palace,” the leader of the Phantom Thieves thought. “Only a lot less cool.”

The Shadows transformed into a small army of them, including a few that were carrying shields, a Lamia, and a group of Jack Frosts in the very center. “Ooh, I was wondering where the Jack Frosts were!” Joker exclaimed with a grin. “There they are!” He switched to Lamia to blast them all with an Agilao, before immediately swapping back to Jack Frost to negate any retaliation from them. The Jack Frosts were completely taken by surprise by the fiery assault, leaving his teammates plenty of time to capitalize on the advantage. The Shadows were helpless against the Phantom Thieves’ onslaught, especially when Noir leapt onto a police car and exploded it with her grenade launcher, bathing the Shadows in searing flames. Joker couldn’t help but smirk at the sight. His girlfriend laying a brutal beatdown on Shadows and blowing up police cars…two of his favorite things to watch.

With his friends keeping the other Shadows busy, Joker targeted the new police Shadows with guns. The Shadows in question might’ve been annoying from a distance and potentially even dangerous if they got multiple shots in, but they had practically nonexistent close-quarters capability, and Joker found it laughably easy to tear them all to pieces up close.

After a few seconds, the Shadows were all defeated, leaving the area clear. Unfortunately, the Thieves had a bigger problem ahead of them than an army of Shadows…namely, the giant ice wall that was blocking the path to the castle.

“We’re…not gonna be able to climb that, are we?” Skull asked the obvious question.

“Nope,” Oracle confirmed with popping the P. “I can’t even see a ledge to Phantom Dash on or anything!”

“If we can’t get up there by scaling the wall, then maybe we can get over there another way,” Joker remarked. He turned to face the buildings surrounding them. “My guess? We’re gonna have to scale the buildings and get around the ice wall that way.”

Joker’s guess turned out to be correct, although not without having to clear out more Shadows along the way. Some of them turned into large groups of Jack Frosts, while others transformed into smaller groups of more individually dangerous Lilim. Thankfully, Joker still had Archangel and High Pixie to blast the Lilim with both Bless and Wind attacks, and the Phantom Thieves soon found an office building that had forks randomly stuck into the sides that they could scale up to the roof. After dealing with the Shadows that were patrolling the rooftops, the Thieves slid across a narrow wire leading to another building and scaled down another series of forks, landing neatly on the other side of the ice wall they had seen earlier and finding a clear path to Odori Park.

“This is already shaping up to be more annoying than the other Jails,” Joker grumbled.

“Hey, it could be worse,” Skull helpfully pointed out.

Joker sighed. “I feel like asking this question is basically asking for us to get screwed over in some way, but fuck it, I’ll bite. How could it be worse, Skull?”

“There could be ice physics in this Jail,” Skull answered.

Everyone shuddered in silence as they pondered THAT possibility. “Okay, fair enough,” Joker conceded. “You got me on that one, Skull.”

“Oh, don’t even get me STARTED on those!” Oracle ranted. “Ice physics are the WORST! They make moving around in a video game TEN times more annoying than it needs to be! I get that you want to add realism to icy and cold environments, but seriously! NOBODY likes ice physics!”

“100% agree with Oracle on that one,” Joker affirmed. “If you’ve never played a video game with ice physics, you’ll learn very quickly that ice physics sucks ass. Especially on platformers.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Queen replied with a frown. “Hopefully we don’t have to deal with those kinds of annoyances here.”

They made their way into Odori Park, finding themselves in a narrow street. There was a huge block of ice in the middle of the road with a patrolling Shadow behind it. An idea suddenly struck Joker, who walked up to the ice block in question…and viciously kicked it down the road. The ice block smashed into the Shadow, who was sent flying backward and forced to transform into another group of Jack Frosts.

“Oh, hell yes!” Joker smirked as he blasted the Jack Frosts with another Agilao from Lamia. “Now THOSE are the kinds of ice physics I can get behind!”

“Oh, what fun!” Noir gushed. “Can you kick that ice block back towards the Jack Frosts again?”

“No can do,” Oracle replied apologetically. “It’s too close to the barrier.”

“Awww…” Noir sighed in disappointment. Having been denied the opportunity to watch her boyfriend kick a gigantic ice block into a group of Shadows, she was forced to settle for blasting apart the Shadows with her grenade launcher as the Phantom Thieves mopped up the rest.

With the Shadows taken care of, the Thieves walked up to the street leading down to the castle, only to find another giant wall of ice blocking their way. And unlike the previous area, this time there was no visible way for the Thieves to get around the ice wall.

“Well, that’s a bit of a problem, isn’t it?” Joker drawled.

“How far does this ice wall go?” Noir wondered.

Queen squinted at it. “It doesn’t seem like we can just break through it.”

Noir shook her head sadly. “This place is so cold and empty…it’s chilling to think this is how someone sees the world,” she mumbled.

“Yeah,” Joker agreed. “Say what you want about Shadow Natsume’s Palace, but at least it was a comedy goldmine and fun as hell to go through. This? This is just depressing.”

“It’s over…for me…” Oracle mumbled. “Getting…so sleepy…”

“Oracle has fainted,” Sophie reported in an innocent tone. Joker suppressed a smirk at the doubtlessly unintentional gaming reference the AI girl had just made.

Queen sighed. “Come on, stop fooling around. There must be an alternate route somewhere…” They spent the next few seconds searching the streets for any potential openings, quickly finding out that there was only path available to them. “Then our only option has to follow this route. Let’s take it as far as we can,” she suggested.

“Very well,” Fox declared. “We shall analyze our finding and find a proper solution.”

“Yo, it’s cold as balls out here!” Skull complained. “If I don’t start joggin’, I’m gonna freeze in place!”

Joker shook his head. “I’d start casting Agilaos and Maragis from Lamia to warm all of us up,” he replied apologetically. but those that last only a few seconds, might hurt all of you guys by accident, and would completely eat up my SP like nothing else. Let’s just keep moving. If we’re lucky, we might find something down there that might help us warm off.”

“Yes,” Noir agreed. “Let’s explore the castle perimeter and figure out the secret to getting in.”

The Thieves made their way down the street to another part of Sapporo, one with a giant medieval prison keep in the middle of the area with streets and buildings surrounding it in a circular pattern. The ominous and now familiar glowing red lights in the jail cell windows of the structure made it abundantly clear that this building was a Prison Keep, and by extension the location of one of the Jail cores.

“Oh!” Noir gasped. “That looks familiar!”

“And the gate looks like it’s just wide open, too!” Panther pointed out. The Thieves got closer to the front entrance of the prison keep and approached it cautiously, half-expecting to see the inside either crawling with Shadows or having a big, powerful Shadow on guard. But to their surprise, there was absolutely nobody inside. For all they could see, the path to the Jail Core was completely clear. Even after Joker rushed to the other side of the Prison Keep to open a treasure chest hidden behind a police van that Oracle reported, and picked up the Recarm skill card hidden inside…there was still no response from the Jail or any Shadows.

“Wait, there’s nobody here?” Skull asked in disbelief as Joker rejoined them at the entrance. “So we can just…walk up and take the Core without anybody stopping us?”

“Hold it, Skull,” Joker answered, with a deadly serious tone that caused everyone to give him their full and undivided attention. “Doesn’t this seem odd to any of you? Every single other Prison Keep was crawling with guards or a big boss who threw themselves at us to stop us from getting the Core. And yet this one singular Prison Keep doesn’t seem to have any real security whatsoever?”

“Yeah…I get what you’re saying, Joker,” Panther agreed warily. “Something feels off.”

Oracle briefly scanned the area. “Hmm…not picking up any Shadows on the radar,” she reported.

Joker snorted. “Yeah, and what makes you think that’s not going to change the moment we grab the Core?” he asked. There was dead silence, as everyone conceded his point. “I don’t know about you guys, but to me?” He gestured towards the inside of the Jail Core. “This is a trap. In fact, not only is it a trap, it is such a blatantly fucking obvious trap that the only way they could’ve made it even more obvious is if they flashed a giant neon sign in the sky with a flashing arrow pointing down with the words “This Is A Trap” in glowing neon lights.” He scowled. “I am one thousand percent certain that the moment we grab that Core, everything will go to shit immediately and in a spectacular fashion.”

“I agree with everything you said, Joker,” Queen acknowledged, “but it doesn’t change the fact that we’re going to have to grab that Core sooner or later if we want to progress through the Jail.”

Joker grinned mirthlessly. “You’re absolutely right, Queen,” he agreed. “We are indeed going to grab that Jail Core, but we’re not going to do it like a bunch of incompetent and brainless dumbfucks. We’re gonna do this the right way, the smart way. We’re going to investigate the entirety of the area surrounding this Prison Keep, see if there’s anything special around here to take notice of and what kind of enemies we need to fight. If we need to organize a retreat to the real world to heal, we’ll do exactly that. And then, and ONLY then, are we going to grab the Jail Core.”

“A thorough investigation of our surroundings to ensure that we miss no crucial details?” Fox nodded. “I approve.”

“So do I,” Mona agreed. “All in favor?” There was not a single voice of dissent among the Thieves.

Joker grinned. “Then let’s go do some reconnaissance.” The Thieves left the empty Prison Keep, and instead proceeded to investigate the ring surrounding the keep in a clockwise fashion. The decision to do so rapidly produced results, as the Thieves soon found themselves dealing with Setantas for the very first time. The spear-wielding warriors seemed completely unbothered by the freezing weather, which probably had something to do with the large blue scarfs they wore around their necks and mouths as well as the white armor that they were wearing. Joker couldn’t help but feel jealous at how cozy those scarfs looked.

Unfortunately, since Joker couldn’t enjoy the happy privilege of stealing their scarfs for the Phantom Thieves to use, and taking the scarf from his own Setanta simply wasn’t an option, he would settle for destroying the enemy Setantas as violently as possible for mocking them with their seeming warmth. He didn’t actually have a Psy Persona to target their weaknesses, so he instead settled for having Ame-no-Uzume attempt to put them to sleep with the Dormina + Sleep Boost + Soul Thief combo he had passed on to her from Lamia, while allowing the other Thieves to do the rest. Luckily, his ever-dependable girlfriend Noir was on the front lines, and she more than made up for Joker’s current lack of Psy powers with her own. “Time to die!” she giggled sinisterly as she deftly dodged a ball of Nuke energy from one of the Setantas that hadn’t fallen asleep, before brutally punishing him for his opposition with the same Psychic tornado that Joker found so awe-inspiring and badass.

“That’s gotta be one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in this new world so far,” Joker commented once the group of Setantas were all dead. “Nothing even compares.”

Noir giggled. “Aww, thank you, Joker-kun!” she replied affectionately. “And you are just as skillful and graceful as always!”

Panther snickered from a few feet away from them. “Geez, you two can’t take your eyes off each other even in the middle of a Jail!” she called out teasingly.

“This is basically flirting at this point,” Skull commented, not even bothering to hide his grin. “They’re one step away from straight-up making out.”

“Ugh, gross…” Oracle groaned melodramatically. “Can you guys save the mushy romance stuff til AFTER we’re done with this Jail?”

“That is a good point,” Queen acknowledged, although even she couldn’t fully hide her smile.

“All right, fair enough,” Joker conceded, before giving a smug grin to Noir. “I’ll just have to wait until after we’re done with the Jail before showering you with all the hugs and kisses you deserve.”

“I look forward to it!” Noir replied eagerly as they continued their scouting mission, pointedly ignoring the snickers and knowing looks from the rest of the Thieves. As they continued investigating the outer perimeter and killing Shadows, they soon came across a large, strange device that looked almost like a heater…a device that none of them had seen before entering this area.

“Aww man, it doesn’t work!” Skull complained when Joker tried and failed to turn the heater on. “Some heat would be really nice right about now!”

“I still think this heater is important somehow,” Joker commented with a frown. “Keep in mind, we saw something like this in the Shibuya Jail with the electric power boxes. We thought they didn’t do anything at first, but we ended up needing them to get through the Jail.”

“Well, it doesn’t seem like you changed anything trying to turn that heater on,” Oracle remarked. “Maybe come back to it later?”

Joker shrugged, and they continued their reconnaissance. They soon discovered that there were no less than four large heaters scattered throughout the area…one of which was sequestered behind a barrier that looked suspiciously like one that Oracle would need to hack to get through. But apart from another checkpoint, there were no other major discoveries to be found. The Thieves quickly returned to the real world to replenish their energy reserves, and when they came back to the entrance of the Prison Keep, the inside was still completely deserted.

Joker sighed. “Well, we’ve done pretty much everything I can think of,” he remarked. “I don’t think there’s any point putting it off any longer. You guys ready to take the Core and spring the trap?” he asked his friends.

“Yeah, we’re good, Joker!” Mona replied. “I think we’ve prepared as much as we possibly could and gotten all the intel that we can around here.”

The other Thieves confirmed their own readiness, and they raced to the top of the keep. The golden core of light flew down to meet them, transforming into an election poster featuring Mariko Hyodo’s face and name on it. “It looks like a campaign flyer,” Queen commented.

“That sounds about right,” Joker acknowledged. “She’s trying to run for an election, after all.”

But before anyone could say anything else, the entire Prison Keep was suddenly bombarded with a howling blizzard. The snowstorm was so intense that they could barely see in front of them, and the freezing cold only intensified. “Waaaaaah!” Oracle howled.

Queen frowned and shivered. “This snowstorm came out of nowhere…did we trigger this somehow?” she asked as she desperately tried to keep herself warm.

“I knew it!” Joker growled in frustration. “I knew there was a trap here! How much do you guys wanna bet that we’re gonna have to deal with a bunch of Shadows in this snowstorm now?”

“That’s the least of our problems,” Mona groaned. “Looks like the area we just came from looks even worse. It doesn’t look like we can head that way anymore.”

“Then our exit is lost,” Fox ominously replied. “An ill omen to be sure.”

“We can’t just stick around here freezing our asses off,” Joker declared. “Let’s get the hell out of this keep and see if there’s anything we can do to stop the storm.”

“I can help with that!” Sophie interjected. She pointed to a seemingly random area...an area that Joker distinctly remembered one of the heaters being at. “Oracle, set our destination over there!”

“Wh-what’d you find?” Oracle shivered. “Whatever it is, I’m going! And b-before you ask, Joker, f-forget the checkpoint! Its transportation function seems to have gone kaput!”

“Fan-fucking-tastic,” Joker retorted. “The heater it is, then!”

The Thieves retreated from the Keep and slid down the pole to the ground…only to discover that the area was now crawling with robot police dog Shadows. Joker only barely managed to shoot one in time to avoid being discovered. To his relief, the only things it transformed into were a bunch of Jack Frosts and a few actual robot dogs, which weren’t any more difficult to deal with now than they had been before the snowstorm.

“This entire area’s crawling with Shadows!” Oracle reported frantically. “Be careful, guys!”

As if to emphasize her point, a small army of Shadows was already waiting for them right outside the Prison Keep, transforming into Setantas and hordes of Jack Frosts. Joker was suddenly very grateful that he had bothered to perform reconnaissance before trying to steal the Core, because none of the enemies summoned against the Thieves were a surprise to him or his friends.

“Get out of our way!” Noir shouted as she blasted the Setantas with a Mapsi, causing them to stumble backward as Joker and Panther blasted the group of Jack Frosts over and over again with Agilaos. It was hardly the most efficient or elegant use of Persona skills, but right now the only thing they cared about was breaking through the Shadows and making it to the heater that Sophie had pointed out. After a fight that seemed to last for seemingly forever, the Phantom Thieves rushed towards the heater, and Joker wasted no time trying to activate it.

To their immense relief, the heater immediately turned on, its interior glowing with a fiery orange light as it blasted them with a wave of incredibly welcome warmth.

“Ahhhhh…” Panther moaned with a joyful smile on her face. “So nice and warm!”

“This really is perfect timing,” Queen added gratefully. “We would’ve frozen solid out here!”

“Just the sight of it makes me feel more at ease!” Noir cheered.

“We truly are fortunate to have found this,” Fox remarked.

Joker grinned. “You know, as much as I like to spend the next few minutes cooking a mochi with this thing, I think there’s more to this heater than just something we can use to warm us all up,” he commented. “Remember all those other heaters that we saw around here? I bet they’re just as important as this one.”

“I think Joker’s right,” Mona agreed. “Those heaters were put here for a reason. Why else would this be the only area with them to begin with?”

“Let’s switch on all three heaters and see what happens!” Noir suggested.

“And let us make haste,” Fox warned. “The longer we linger at the fire, the harder it is to leave.” He turned to glare at the heater. “O wicked bearer of flames whose heat both soothes and ensnares…we shall sever thy temptation at once!” he declared.

“Uhhhh…I wouldn’t go THAT far,” Joker muttered, before conceding. “But yeah, on a fundamental level, you’re not wrong. Let’s go target that one heater we found on the roof first, get that out of the way.”

The Thieves returned to the rooftops of the Sapporo Clocktower area, either fighting or avoiding the many Shadows that were now swarming the grounds. As they approached the rooftop with the target heater in question, they soon realized that it was now guarded in a way that it definitely hadn’t been before.

“I won’t let you pass!” the Shadow vowed, before transforming into the first Principality they had seen. More Shadows spawned around them, with a few of them transforming into more Principalities. Joker summoned Pisaca to kill them immediately with Mudo…only for the Mudo to accomplish absolutely nothing when he tried it.

“Ah, shit!” Joker groaned, quickly switching to Archangel to avoid getting brutalized by a retaliatory Makouga. “I forgot how much Mudo sucks by itself without Mudo Boost to power it up!”

“Uh…you got anything else you can use, Joker?” Skull asked as he barely managed to avoid getting hit by another Principality’s Makouga. “We don’t have any Curse skills, bro!”

“Yeah, hold on a sec,” Joker responded, switching back to Pisaca and firing off a Maeiha. This time, the Curse skill had the desired effect, cracking apart the small energy shields and knocking the Archangels down after he followed up with another Maeiha. “Thank God I had the foresight to pass Maeiha from Slime onto Pisaca before we started,” he commented with a scowl.

“I can help too!” Noir volunteered. She summoned Milady and cast an Evil Smile on a group of Shadows, including two Principalities. Although not every Shadow was affected by the malicious Fear skill, many of them, including both Principalities, were. Noir giggled sinisterly as she blasted the Shadows with a Mapsi, shredding their health and endurance to pieces thanks to the overwhelming power of her Technical-boosted Psy attacks. “Ooh!” she gasped in delight. “I had no idea just how powerful my attack would be. This new skill, Technical Adept…I’m enjoying it oh so very much!”

“Very swanky, Noir!” Oracle cheered from the sidelines.

“I need to get that skill on one of my own Personas as soon as I can get the chance,” Joker commented with a hint of both admiration and jealousy. “If there’s a skill card somewhere with Technical Adept on it, that would be a real godsend for down the road!”

The Phantom Thieves finished off the rest of the Shadows, and they wasted no time activating the second heater. “Man…it’s so warm and toasty,” Skull sighed contentedly as the heater emanated another relaxing aura of warmth. “I really don’t wanna move.”

“I could build an igloo here,” Oracle admitted, before letting out a loud yawn. “Getting the sleepies…”

“Stay vigilant, you two,” Fox cautioned.

“Yeah, falling asleep in a cognitive world is REALLY not the brightest of ideas,” Joker agreed with a frown. “Especially when this area’s crawling with Shadows…and in the middle of a giant blizzard.”

With the second heater down, the Thieves circled clockwise until they found the third Heater. Just as Joker had feared, this one was blocked by a green futuristic barrier…one that would require Oracle to hack through.

“We have to protect Oracle…through a horde of Shadows…in a blizzard,” Joker summarized the situation, before letting out a loud groan. “This is gonna fucking suck, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, this isn’t gonna be fun…” Oracle didn’t even bother trying to hide her concern about the situation, before she perked up. “But I’m trusting you guys to keep me safe!”

“You guys go on the offensive and try to kill as many Shadows as possible,” Joker commanded his team. “I’ll stay on the defense and keep Oracle safe from any threats that come up close and personal.” He focused his gaze on the first wave of Shadows that spawned…and immediately let out a loud groan when he realized that they were all the type of guard Shadow that were wearing SWAT armor…and carrying guns. Guns that they could point directly at Oracle from far away. “Son of a bitch!” Joker snarled, realizing that his strategy of being a personal bodyguard to Oracle suddenly had a horrendous flaw in it. Instead, Joker summoned Ame-no-Uzume and began alternating between putting hordes of Shadows to sleep with Dormina and tearing them to pieces with Jack Frost’s Bufula and Lilim’s Mabufula. The Mabufula in particular was a rather hefty SP cost, but thanks to both Ame-no-Uzume’s Soul Thief and his own large SP pool from his extensive workouts, he was able to offset the costs of the wide-reaching attack to some degree.

Of course, it wasn’t just the gun-wielding Shadows he had to worry about. While he had been busy taking them out, more Shadows in the forms of Jack Frosts and robotic dogs had manifested, and Joker had nearly had a heart attack when several of the dogs charged straight towards Oracle and started biting at her. He frantically summoned Archangel and unleashed an onslaught of Makouhas and Vajra Blasts to destroy most of them, but not before she took over half of her health in damage from their attacks. Thankfully, Queen was on the ball and healed Oracle immediately with a Diarama, and the Thieves wasted no time in destroying the Shadows close to Oracle to stop another sudden onslaught like the one that had come dangerously close to killing her.

For the first time in a long while, Joker and the Phantom Thieves found themselves genuinely challenged by the onslaught of Shadows. It wasn’t just the fact that they had to protect Oracle, but they also had to do it against enemies capable of attacking both up close and from a distance, with a giant snowstorm lowering visibility even further. The Thieves had to perform a delicate balancing act between charging out to attack gun-wielding Shadows before they could shoot down Oracle from a distance, and retreating back to Oracle’s position to protect her from any Shadows that got too close to her. At one point, Joker even ended up using the last of the Hot Spot Magazines from Sendai to artificially boost up his energy levels and unleash a Showtime when a swarm of Shadows got dangerously close to overwhelming Oracle a second time, effectively “resetting” the battlefield and giving his friends some much-needed breathing room.

Thankfully, the Thieves were able to protect Oracle well enough that she was never in grave danger a second time, and after a seeming eternity, she was finally able to break the barrier. “Holy shit!” Joker ranted as they turned on the heater sequestered behind the now-fallen barrier. “That was such a gigantic pain in the ass! Keeping Oracle alive this time around was SO much harder than it was before! I can’t even count how many close calls we had with her life!”

“Normally, there is a certain thrill to battle, but I could not bring myself to feel it here,” Fox commented with a frown. “Not when a teammate’s life was at stake in such a manner.”

“It was scary, I’m not gonna lie,” Oracle admitted. She grinned at them all. “But I knew you guys would never let me down!”

“We’re going to have to refine our strategies for future battles like this,” Queen acknowledged. “Otherwise, keeping Oracle alive will be even harder than it was here.”

There was only one more heater left to open, and Joker thanked his lucky stars that this one wasn’t guarded by another hacking barrier. Compared to the grueling battle that they had just endured, a group of guards that “only” transformed into two Principalities and a group of Jack Frosts and other Shadows was laughably easy by comparison. Still pent up with frustration over their last battle, Joker summoned Pisaca and attempted a Mudo purely out of spite…and was pleasantly surprised when the Mudo killed both of the Principalities immediately. “Huh, maybe that skill isn’t so hopeless after all.”

With the Principalities dead, it was a simple matter for Joker to switch back to Jack Frost and laugh as the hordes of enemy Jack Frosts ended up healing them with their attacks, leaving him free reign to destroy the other security officer Shadows while saving them for last. Once they were done, Joker kicked the large ice block over to the high ledge where the heater was stowed away, climbing on top of it to reach the heater and turn it on.

The moment Joker turned on the last heater and let it out an aura of warmth, the raging snowstorm stopped immediately. “The snowstorm stopped!” Noir cheered. “We did it!”

“The heaters must have stopped it for good,” Queen remarked. “Thank goodness we followed Joker’s suggestion and properly scouted the area before attempting to grab the Core. Who knows how much more difficult this would’ve been without all the information we gathered beforehand.”

“Well, in hindsight, it’s no surprise that these heaters were so heavily guarded,” Fox realized. “Their ability to cancel the snowstorm must be the reason why.”

“They were pretty handy,” Mona agreed. “We should keep them in mind in case we run into any more snowy issues.”

“Snowy issues,” Joker snickered dryly. “That’s a way to put it, I guess.” He shook his head. “You know, one could wonder why the Sapporo Jail bothered to put these heaters here to begin with, when leaving them out means that we’d be completely trapped in the snowstorm with no way to break through it once we nabbed the Core.”

“That’s…a good point, actually,” Panther realized. “This trap would’ve been a lot more effective without those heaters. Hell, it might’ve straight-up screwed us for good without them!”

Joker shrugged his shoulders. “Whatever,” he snorted. “I’m not going to complain about our enemies’ strategic incompetence. And I sure as hell am not gonna give our enemies advice on how to improve that particular failure.”

“I’m glad that the snowstorm’s stopped and all,” Oracle commented, “but there doesn’t seem to be anything left here. Let’s head back toward Odori Park for now.” She sent out one final scan and frowned. “Wait, hold on…that checkpoint we saw earlier is still dead.”

Joker groaned. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, what NOW?”

Mona frowned. “There may be something else interfering,” he realized. “Okay, let’s double back.”

The Thieves left the Sapporo Clocktower the same way they had come in, returning to Odori Park…and just as Mona had suspected, there was a large gun-wielding soldier Shadow with a red aura waiting for them.

“A-ah!” the Shadow yelped. “H-how’d you make it through the snowstorm unscathed?”

“So this is the goon behind the snowy mess…” Mona muttered.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Joker replied with a vicious sneer. “Now get the fuck out of my way,” he snarled. “Your little stunt with the blizzard has pissed me off, and I promise you that fighting me while I’m in a bad mood is one of the worst mistakes you can possibly make.”

The Shadow seemed to be visibly afraid…although not of Joker. “Oh,” he lamented. “I’ll get punished for sure if she finds out I goofed up. Sorry, but you’re all gonna die right here!” The Shadow transformed into a large Jack Frost, which the Phantom Thieves would’ve honestly found rather adorable under different circumstances. Unfortunately for the Jack Frost, they were all too frustrated and pissed off from dealing with the snowstorm to care at the moment.

“All right, asshole, you asked for it!” Joker growled. He summoned Lamia and blasted the Jack Frost with an Agilao, causing it to squeal in pain even though it didn’t fully break his energy shield. The Jack immediately retaliated by summoning a Mabufu that took the form of an ice tornado that swirled around its body and exploded outward. Such an attack would’ve been outright devastating to Joker…if he didn’t switch to his own Jack Frost, allowing the attack to wash over him harmlessly. “Hah!” he laughed derisively. “What the hell can you do to me exactly?”

Unfortunately, the answer wasn’t “absolutely nothing.” Even with Joker able to render the Jack Frost’s ice attacks worse than useless, it could still cast Marakunda and hit him with vicious and shockingly fast punches…as Joker learned to his detriment when he was just a bit too slow to dodge one such punch and it sent him flying. Thankfully, Mona was there to heal him with Zorro, but it was a harsh and very-much-necessary reminder that he needed to stay focused no matter how angry he might be.

So, Joker took a deep breath and forced himself to take things slowly and methodically. He would use Lamia to attack the Jack Frost with Agilaos whenever he got the chance and switch back to Jack Frost whenever the enemy was about to hit him with his Mabufus or Mabufulas. As he and his friends whittled down the Jack Frost’s health and energy shields, more reinforcements started to appear in the form of additional Jack Frosts and soldiers.

As tempting as it was for Joker to just break the last of the big Jack Frost’s energy shields, he had a better idea. Switching to Jack Frost, he waited for his primary enemy to lunge at him with another punch. He positioned himself between the large Jack Frost and the group of reinforcements, and just as he hoped, the large Jack Frost charged at him. He leapt out of the way as the Jack Frost lunged at the pack of smaller snowmen, and then summoned Lamia back to blast them all with Agilao. The Fire attack did heavy damage to the entire group at once…and more importantly, knocked the large Jack Frost tumbling off his feet and onto the ground.

“NOW!” he shouted. “ALL-OUT ATTACK!”

The Thieves launched themselves at the helpless Jack Frost, unleashing the roaring pillar of Almighty energy that by now was so familiar to the Jails. As Joker had hoped, the attack had not only dealt a massive blow to the Jack Frost…but also obliterated the reinforcements he had summoned in one fell swoop.

To the Jack Frost’s credit, it didn’t go down like a coward. Even as the Thieves tore its health apart piece by piece, it fought against them with everything it had, with both its Ice attacks and its punches. But with Joker figuring out the Jack Frost’s attack pattern, the conclusion had never been in doubt. The Jack Frost disintegrated with one final agonized squeal, and only after his body fully disappeared did the Phantom Thieves finally take a rest.

“All right, this oughta stop the snowstorm for good!” Skull declared.

“I’ve got some more good news!” Oracle gasped. “The checkpoint’s functionality is back!”

“Excellent news,” Joker replied tersely. “We’re headed straight there. First, I’m going to visit the Velvet Room for a few minutes to upgrade my Personas.”

“And then what are we going to do afterwards?” Sophie wondered curiously.

Joker gave her a humorless laugh in response. “And then we’re going to go back to the real world to take a fucking break.”

Chapter Text

After the harrowing ordeal they had endured through the Sapporo Jail’s blizzard trap, Ren had absolutely no qualms about declaring a one-hour break before they returned to the Jail, and none of the Thieves were going to complain about the welcome and necessary reprieve.

Even though Ren needed the rest just as much as the other Phantom Thieves despite the gains his body had made from working out and meditating, he didn’t want to just sit idly and do nothing either after doing another round of supply shopping. Fortunately, he had plenty of recipes that he had yet to try out, and once the Phantom Thieves realized what his plans for the hour were, they were eager to enjoy the wonderful smells of his meals as he cooked them.

“I’m done!” Ren called out to his friends as they all gathered around the table Makoto had set up. “I made some Miso Ramen for you guys! This is from a recipe I found from a really good ramen store in Suzushino.”

“Ooh!” Futaba gushed. “That sounds de-lish!”

“Yeah, no kidding!” Ryuji agreed happily. “I was there when Ren bought the recipe from that restaurant. If it’s anything like the ramen from the restaurant, we’re gonna be eating hella good today!”

Ren distributed the Miso Ramen in enough bowls for everyone, and the Phantom Thieves eagerly chowed down on the bowls. “Mmm…” Ann exclaimed joyfully. “The noodles have just the right firmness! The miso flavor tastes great too!”

“Holy shit…” Ryuji breathed out in disbelief. “This isn’t just good…it’s like an out-of-body experience!”

“I must agree!” Haru praised whole-heartedly. “I haven’t had the chance to eat ramen all that frequently…I couldn’t have asked for a better re-introduction!”

“Hey, Ren? Would ya make this for me every morning?” Ryuji practically begged. “Please?”

“WHY?” Futaba rolled her eyes. “Are you proposing to him, Ryuji?”

“Sorry, but I gotta pass,” Ren deadpanned. “I’m pretty sure Haru would start whacking me with her axe if I accepted.”

Haru giggled. “Ren-kun’s heart belongs to me, and no one else!” she declared. “That being said, I absolutely would not be opposed to trying this again later!”

The rest of the Thieves whole-heartedly agreed, and they spent the next several minutes enjoying their Miso Ramen bowls. Even with 8 Thieves, there was more than enough leftovers for Ren to store away. “Hey, Ren?” Makoto suddenly called out to him once they were done.

“What’s up, Mako?” Ren replied.

“Do you think some of these meals might have some kind of effect in the Metaverse?” she asked. “You used to make lots of coffee and curry last year…and those were incredibly useful to us in the Metaverse.”

Ren blinked. “That’s a…really good point, actually,” he acknowledged. “We can test this out with the Miso Ramen that’s left over later. Does that sound good to everyone?”

“That sounds like an excellent plan,” Yusuke replied. “Any potential tool that can give us an advantage can and should be used.”

With their bellies full and their energy replenished, Ren cleaned up the materials he had used to make the Thieves their meal, and they used EMMA to jump right back into the Sapporo Jail. Joker took the time to visit the Velvet Room and upgrade his stock of Personas. After all, there were still plenty of new Personas for him to use in his ever-expanding arsenal.

“All right, I got some new good ones here!” Joker declared. “Got a Principality for Bless damage, a Kaiwan for Psy damage, and a Mothman for Elec damage.”

“A Mothman?” Noir repeated with both confusion and curiosity. “I don’t recall you ever wielding such a Persona before, Joker-kun.”

Joker smirked and took off his mask, summoning the Persona in question behind him. “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!” Noir positively squealed as she beheld the Persona in question. “Its perfect! Its antennae are so cute, its wings so bright and colorful, and its expression so…hmm, what’s the word…” she thought for a moment, before brightening with realization. “Adorably derpy!” she finished, clapping her hands with delight.

“Uhh…that’s not quite the words I would’ve used…” Queen acknowledged, “but I can’t actually say that anything Noir said about Mothman just now was wrong.”

Joker chuckled, as he sensed the Mothman within him feel flattered, confused, and just a little bit unnerved by Noir’s enthusiasm. “Didn’t think Noir would be so enthusiastic about the Mothman of all things.”

“Did you get a new Fire Persona too?” Oracle asked as they teleported over to the Odori Park checkpoint.

“Sadly, no,” Joker responded regretfully. “I think an Eligor’s somewhere near my future, but I’m not high enough level to get it yet.”

When they got to the checkpoint, they realized that one of the huge ice walls that had been blocking their path before was now gone. “Huh? The ice wall’s gone!” Noir exclaimed.

“No kidding!” Oracle agreed. “Wonder why.”

“Something tells me even a massive heater couldn’t have done this,” Fox mused.

“I bet it’s because we took one of the Jail Cores,” Joker explained to everyone. “In every Jail we’ve been to, every time we took one of the Jail Cores, it opened up a path to another part of the Jail we couldn’t get to before we took the Core.” He shook his head. “I don’t see why it’d be any different here.”

Mona nodded. “I agree with Joker. And in this particular Jail, moving forward most likely means melting the ice walls.”

“That could very well be possible,” Fox acknowledged.

“How the heck does that even work, though?” Skull wondered, rubbing the back of his neck in confusion. “I just don’t get it.”

Queen shrugged. “Remember, we’re in the Metaverse. Some things we just have to accept and move on.”

Joker nodded. “In this case, the concepts of “Don’t Overthink Things” and “Fuck the Details” very much apply. Let’s just melt more ice walls, cause I bet we can get into the castle that way.”

They proceeded down the path to what would’ve been Sapporo’s Arboretum in the real world, which led them to a narrow path surrounded by ice walls with only one way forward. The path led them to a cliff overseeing the second Prison Keep, although there wasn’t any obvious way for the Thieves to just leap over the walls and into the Keep itself, as far as they could tell. There was a large Shadow taking the form of a sentient attack helicopter with a machine gun patrolling the area in front of them. The Shadow ended up transforming into a giant Lilim and two Principalities, which was…certainly annoying, given the fact that they had conflicting weaknesses and immunities. Joker originally tried to target the Lilim with his own Principality’s Makouga, but after realizing that the Lilim’s Principalities were trying to heal her, he decided to shift his attention to killing the Principalities first. The Lilim herself, despite clearly being a powerful enemy, thankfully wasn’t as dangerous as the Jack Frost Shadow that had orchestrated the blizzard in the first part of the Jail. Between his own attacks and Morgana’s Garus, the Thieves were able to defeat the Lilim without exerting themselves too badly in the process.

“They’re getting smarter about this,” Joker commented with a frown. “Pairing that Lilim with Principalities…certainly made things more annoying than they needed to be, at the very least.”

“Well, the Palaces got harder the more we went through them,” Mona pointed out. “Not really a surprise the Jails are turning out the same way.”

“Fair enough,” Joker acknowledged. He scaled down the icy cliff wall with the Thieves following, and after killing a few more Shadows in their way, the Thieves found themselves in a large rectangular chamber with ornate architecture decorating the walls and a fancy chandelier in the very center. As the Thieves reached the center of the chamber, a Shadow taking the form of a flying security drone entered the room, transforming into a large group of Mothmen. More flying drone Shadows manifested behind them, transforming into another large group of Mothmen.

Noir’s delighted squeal was somehow even louder than it had already been when Joker had shown her his own Mothman. “So many Mothmen! So many adorable Mothmen!” she gushed. “Oh, they’re so perfect!”

Joker was beginning to wonder if Noir’s fixation on the Mothmen was going to detract from her combat prowess…but before he could so much as open his mouth, Noir suddenly took out her grenade launcher. “I get to blast them all to pieces with my grenade launcher, and tear them all to shreds with my Gun attacks! Oh, I can’t wait to hear just how adorable their screams are!”

“What the fu…” was all Skull had time to say as Noir rushed towards the forward group of Mothmen, and blasted the entire group with an explosive grenade. The Mothmen shrieked in terror and agony as Noir immediately followed up her first attack by blasting the Mothmen with a Snap from Milady. She didn’t even give her friends the time to All-Out Attack, as she relentlessly bombarded the Mothmen with Snap over and over until they were all destroyed. “Oh, this is so much fun!” Noir giggled in a way that was downright unnerving. “These Mothmen are so cute, I could rip them to pieces all day!”

“Jesus fuck,” Joker mumbled. The onslaught had been so sudden and violent that everyone else in the room, both the Phantom Thieves and the other group of enemy Mothmen alike, had done nothing but gawk in horrified disbelief at the carnage. Unsurprisingly, the Mothman within his own soul was currently all but pissing itself in mortal terror of his girlfriend, and Joker was doing his best to calm it down and reassure it that Noir wouldn’t come after him or it next. Once he’d finally managed to stop his Mothman Persona from getting a panic attack, Joker promptly took his gun out and shot one of the Mothmen in the other group. That, at least, seemed to spur the Phantom Thieves into action, and they spent the next few seconds shooting down and killing the Mothmen that remained after Noir’s carnage.

Given how brutally and joyfully Noir slaughtered any Mothman she came across, at this point it was as much a mercy kill as it was anything else. Yes, there were more reinforcements, including some Shadow attack helicopters that outright tried to shoot them with machine guns, but that just meant more victims for Noir to slaughter with extreme prejudice.

“Noir, you might want to calm down a bit,” Oracle warned as Queen healed her with Diarama. “You’re burning through your health with all these Snaps you keep firing off over and over again!”

“Aww, but then I won’t be able to kill more of these Mothmen,” Noir whined, before sighing. “I suppose I must find alternative forms of entertainment.” She looked up at the giant chandelier and smiled wildly. “Like that chandelier, for instance!”

Moving far too quickly for anyone to say a single word, let alone try to stop her, Noir jumped onto the giant chandelier that just so happened to be directly above a huge group of Mothmen and other Shadows. With a bloodthirsty giggle, Noir neatly sliced apart the chain holding it up with her axe, letting the chandelier fall onto the ground with a massive explosion that instantly killed or crippled every Shadow unfortunate enough to have been caught in the blast radius. “Oh, what fun!” she exclaimed cheerfully. “If only there were more chandeliers to smash on everyone’s heads!”

At this point, the Phantom Thieves were in unspoken but universal agreement to end the fight as quickly as possible, if only to tamper down the rising levels of terror they were feeling at witnessing Noir’s carnage. Oracle reported that they were on the last wave of reinforcements, which came as a huge disappointment to Noir and a huge relief to anyone else. “Are there no more reinforcements because that’s all they had here?” Joker wondered dryly to himself as they finished off the rest of the Shadows. “Or are there no more reinforcements because the ones that were going to show up decided to stay the fuck away after THAT?”

Either way, with the Shadows in the room destroyed, the Phantom Thieves made their way through to the other side of the rectangular chamber. There were more Shadow drones that transformed into Mothmen on the other side…which in practice, translated to more Mothmen for Noir to slaughter. Once they were taken care of, the Phantom Thieves scaled the cliff face to find another checkpoint waiting for them…as well as a treasure chest just a few steps away at the top of the cliff.

“Wait, hold on, Joker!” Oracle suddenly called out to him. “Do you mind if we test something real quick?”

“Uh, sure thing, Oracle,” Joker replied, happy to move on to something that wasn’t Noir violently killing Mothmen. “What’s up?”

“Can you open that chest?” she requested. “And then afterwards, can we go back to the real world for like…10 seconds, and then come back here?”

It was an odd request, but Joker and the other Phantom Thieves fully trusted in their Navigator. He opened the seemingly ordinary treasure chest, revealing a Sleep Boost skill card, and then all the Phantom Thieves returned to the real world as Oracle had instructed. After waiting just a few seconds, they went back in, back to the same checkpoint that they had just left from. “Yes!” Oracle cheered. “That treasure chest is back! Okay, open it up again, and see what’s inside!”

Joker shrugged and did what his little sister figure instructed. He opened the chest, and his eyes widened when he saw that it was a Technical Adept skill card…the very same passive skill that made Noir so deadly with her Technical attacks. “Holy shit,” he gasped. “I could see this skill card becoming REALLY useful down the road.”

He wasn’t the only one excited. “I figured it out!” Oracle exclaimed triumphantly. “Some of these treasure chests respawn with new items in them every time we go out of the Jail to the real world and come back in. I had a feeling that was the case back in the first Jail Core, but I wasn’t 100% sure, and I didn’t want to force you guys to fight through all those Shadows to go back to the first Prison Keep just to test my theory out. But this place right here is as safe as you can get, and it was the perfect time to try out my little science experiment!”

“And it’s the chests with the skill cards too,” Joker pointed out gleefully. “I didn’t pay too much attention to them before, but Sapporo is giving me some absolute bangers so far! Sleep Boost AND Technical Adept? I might come back here later JUST to farm as many skill cards from here as I possibly can.” He shook his head. “But I’m not gonna waste everyone’s time doing it now. We still have a job to do, after all.”

“Yeaaaaahhhh…about that, Joker…” Panther pointed down the slope of the mountainside. “How exactly are we supposed to get down there, again?”

Mona squinted at where Panther was pointing. “It looks like we can descend from here…although there are Shadows in the way,” he reported.

“It’s a steep slope covered in snow,” Queen added grimly. “The danger is there regardless.”

Skull glanced over at a rather conspicuous rack with snowboards on it…and a silly grin appeared on his face. “Hey, isn’t that a snowboard over there? Why don’t we use that to cruise down?” he suggested.

“That’s…” Joker blinked, “…that’s actually not a bad idea,” he replied. He glanced around and frowned. “It’s not like we’ve got any better options around here.”

Fox frowned. “I’m afraid I don’t really know how to use a snowboard. My tenure under Madarame did not exactly allow time for such…frivolities, as I’m sure he would put it,” he remarked.

Joker shrugged. “Eh, it’s the Metaverse, Fox. Just fucking wing it.” And before anyone could say anything else, he grabbed one of the snowboards and immediately started sliding down the mountain. The leader of the Phantom Thieves grinned as he felt the rush from snowboarding pump him with adrenaline, and as he approached the Shadows, they transformed into small hordes of Jack Frosts. But before the Jack Frosts could even get a chance to attack, Joker collided into them, the impact of his momentum tearing their health to shreds as he barreled over them without even slowing down. “Oh, hell yeah!” he thought as he tore apart the second group of Jack Frosts in much the same manner. “Killing Shadows by running them over with a snowboard? That is just perfect. I honestly can’t tell if skateboarding or snowboarding into them is more fun!”

As he reached the bottom of the slope, Joker neatly jumped off the snowboard, letting it slide away into the distance as he waited for his friends to arrive. “You know, I’m starting to come around to this place,” he admitted as they approached the entrance to the Prison Keep that was only a short distance away now. “After that fucking blizzard trap around the first Jail Core, I thought this place was gonna be a miserable pain in the ass. But between the banging skill cards from the self-refilling treasure chests and free snowboarding runs down the mountains into groups of Shadows, I’m actually starting to like this place now.”

“Ummm…Joker?” Queen pointed at the entrance to the Prison Keep. “There’s another barrier that Oracle’s gonna have to hack through.”

Joker gave the entrance another look and let out a loud groan when he realized Queen was right. “Never mind, I take back what I said, this place sucks.”

His friends all snickered, although their amusement was tempered by the fact that they would have to protect Oracle from hordes of Shadows yet again. But even though the Shadows were arguably a little stronger now, this last hacking battle (as Oracle had started to call them) didn’t seem to be as oppressive. Maybe it was the fact that they had just healed themselves by going back to the real world for Oracle’s little science experiment. Or maybe it was the fact that the Shadows could only really come from a singular forward direction, or that there wasn’t any blizzard that was battering them and obscuring their vision this time around. Maybe it was any one of these reasons or maybe it was all of them, but Joker didn’t find defending Oracle nearly as difficult as it had been when he and the other Thieves had protected her during the blizzard, although they certainly ended up using quite a bit of SP to destroy the more dangerous Shadows before they could get anywhere close to Oracle.

It probably helped that Noir enthusiastically obliterated the Mothmen with her grenade launcher whenever she got the chance, cutting down on a huge portion of the attacking force through sheer violent enthusiasm.

“And voila!” Oracle declared triumphantly as the green barrier deactivated. “Thanks for the backup, everyone!”

Joker took out a few Cod-Flavored Candies to replenish his SP and made a face as he used them. “I still think that candy that tastes like fish is a dogshit idea. Almost as bad as making a drink made of fish juices,” he commented dryly, before shrugging, “but hey, SP healing is SP healing. And when you need something that important, there’s a lot of bullshit you’ll excuse to get it.”

“Still can’t believe a candy that tastes like fish is one of the best ways for us to heal our SP back,” Panther muttered as they entered the second Prison Keep. Unlike the first Keep, however, “empty” was the least accurate word possible to describe it. Almost immediately, a massive army of Shadows consisting of every Shadow they had faced in the Jail so far manifested, as well as some attack helicopters with machine guns to back them up. To make things even worse, another miniature blizzard began to swirl around the inside of the Keep, obscuring their vision just like the one that had bombarded the Sapporo Clocktower area.

“There’s a heater on the other side of the Jail a little to the left!” Oracle reported frantically. “Get to it, quickly!”

“On it!” Joker barked as he charged forward. Although the visibility was much reduced again, there was thankfully still enough light to see the Shadows that were at least immediately in front of him. As much as he wanted to start tearing apart his enemies, Joker knew that activating the heater was the more disciplined and intelligent move. He raced to the heater in question and activated it, and to his relief, the blizzard disappeared immediately once he turned it on.

Unfortunately, while the visibility issue was resolved, there was still a massive horde of Shadows to deal with. Trying to deal with this many Shadows all at once at the same time without proper strategy was an exercise doomed to failure, as Joker knew all too well. Thankfully, all the experience that the Phantom Thieves had gathered while fighting in the Jails had given Joker the valuable experience he needed, and the best way to even the odds was hitting weaknesses and spamming All-Out Attacks as much as possible.

“Hit them with their weaknesses!” Joker commanded. “As much as you can, whenever you can!”

“I got it, Joker!” Sophie replied in affirmation as she blasted a group of Lilims with her equivalent of a Kouga. The demonic women fell to the ground with a shriek, giving the Phantom Thieves a prime opportunity to unleash an All-Out Attack. Without a powerful boss Shadow, the All-Out Attacks that the Phantom Thieves could unleash simply weren’t as powerful, which Joker attributed to simply being a quirk of the Jails. But even without the massive Almighty explosion that could tear apart lesser Shadows to shreds, the All-Out Attack was both a powerful method of dealing heavy damage to groups of Shadows, and more importantly a way to swing the momentum of the fight back into the Thieves’ favor every time their enemies started to get the upper hand or their enemies threatened to overwhelm them through sheer numbers. Through repeated exploitations of weaknesses and Technical attacks, All-Out Attacks were launched against the hordes of Shadows again and again, each one tearing down the numbers of Shadows arrayed against them and balancing the numbers one step at a time. Although none of them escaped the battle completely unscathed, as there were just too many Shadows present at the same time to avoid every single one of their attacks, the careful and methodical strategy that Joker implemented allowed the Thieves to destroy the entire army guarding the Prison Keep without suffering any grievous wounds in return.

“I don’t know which is worse,” Queen remarked with a sigh after the battle finally ended. “A completely empty Prison Keep hiding a massive trap, or a Prison Keep that’s got an entire army protecting the core.”

“The first one is definitely worse,” Joker answered without a second of hesitation as they scaled the tower in the center of the keep. “At least with the second, once you’ve killed the army, that’s the end of that. We were floundering about like fish in a dried-up pond in the Sapporo Clocktower, and that was WITH us doing proper reconnaissance beforehand.” They reached the top of the tower, where the core of light descended down to greet them and transformed into…a beautiful white flower.

“Wasn’t she telling off that one staff member who let that flower wither?” Panther wondered as Joker claimed the core.

Noir frowned. “I wonder if it’s related to what she said earlier…how she wanted to make Sapporo a beautiful destination for all,” she mused.

“While I certainly understand her passion,” Fox acknowledged, “sacrificing her own people to do it is completely unacceptable.”

“Yes,” Noir nodded in acknowledgement. “I agree.”

“The cores have always been about things extremely important to the Jail Monarch on a persona level,” Joker commented. “Given the fact that this flower is a Jail core of all things, at the very least we can say for sure that there’s more going on behind the scenes than the mayor just being a bitch to her employees over her garden not looking good enough.”

“At any rate, we retrieved the core. Let’s head back to Odori Park,” Queen suggested.

Nobody had any reason to disagree, and when they went back to Odori Park, the Thieves realized that another one of the ice walls had melted. “The ice wall is gone!” Mona cheered. “Just as we thought!”

Before anyone could say anything, however, a Shadow drone glowing with an ominous red aura manifested next to them. “You, thief! Return what you stole at once!” The Shadow transformed into a gigantic Mothman. “You have no idea what kind of torture awaits us if…”

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!” Noir suddenly squealed, cutting the Mothman off as her eyes glowed with delight. “A giant Mothman! It’s even more adorable than the small ones!” She took out her grenade launcher and pointed it at the Mothman. “Oh, I just can’t wait to blow you to pieces!”

Joker only shook his head and gave the Mothman a pitying look. “My dude, I am so sorry,” he apologized. “You say that the Monarch’s gonna torture you? I guarantee you it’s absolutely nothing compared to what Noir here does whenever she sees a Mothman.”

What followed was less a battle and more a massacre. Noir being Noir spoke for itself, but Panther had a literal machine gun to mow down the Mothman with, and Joker realized that he could pick up metal utensils from the piles scattered around the area and throw them at the Mothman to deal Gun damage…for reasons that Joker couldn’t even begin to fathom. Even the arrival of additional Mothmen as reinforcements only gave Noir more Mothmen for her to violently kill with her Gun attacks.

Needless to say, the giant Mothman and his group of reinforcements never stood a chance.

“Times like this, I definitely think Noir’s the scariest of the Phantom Thieves,” Skull commented as the giant Mothman’s bullet-ridden and exploded corpse dissolved into ash.

“After seeing that, I can see why,” Panther answered with a shudder. “I still think Queen is scarier sometimes when she goes into Fists of Justice mode, though.”

“I can understand your assessment,” Fox interjected. “However, I still maintain that Joker is without question the most terrifying among us, when his wrath has been well and truly unleashed.”

“No kidding,” Skull grimaced. “The way he fought against Shido’s Shadow and Yaldabaoth is the stuff of nightmares, man.”

“Are you guys seriously arguing over which one of us is the scariest?” Joker asked as he overheard their conversation, not even bothering to hide his amusement. “Cause the answer should be obvious after seeing the Mothman Massacres.”

“Ooh, did I win something?” Noir asked eagerly.

“My eternal love and affection,” Joker answered with a loving smile.

“Aww, but I already had that!” Noir pouted, prompting the others to burst into laughter as they made their way to the Sapporo Tower now that the ice wall was gone.

“All this ice reminds me of Shadow Natsume and all the ice attacks we threw at him,” Joker thought. “I wonder how the Investigation Team’s doing with that fake copy of Shadow Natsume?”

Meanwhile, in the Sendai Jail…

“Hahahahaha!” the fake copy of Shadow Natsume cackled as he sent a blast of fire from his mouth towards Dragon, who nimbly leaped out of the way. “How was that!? If you thought that was Agidyne just now, think again…it was Agi!”

“Sensei?” Ted wondered as he fired a Bufula from Kintoki-Douji, coating the large golden dragon in ice and freezing him in the process. “Why is the dragon happy that his attack was an Agi instead of Agidyne? I’m so confused! Is he stupid or something?”

“Wow,” Melody whistled as Dragon followed up Ted’s Bufula by whacking the fake Shadow Natsume with several Technical-boosted Rampages from Tomoe. “You know you’ve hit a new low when even TED of all people is calling you an idiot.”

“Well, the original Ango Natsume wasn’t an imbecile, strictly speaking,” Sureshot pointed out as she blasted the struggling dragon with a Kouha from Sukuna-Hikona. With insta-kills pretty much out of the picture against a Shadow this powerful, even a fake cognitive form, the detective was appreciating the value of “standard” damage-dealing Bless and Curse attacks more than ever. “He was just overly fond of stealing and reusing catchphrases from the popular works that he plagiarized. That’s probably what’s happening here.”

“Aww, so he’s just stealing his lines, then?” Dragon complained. “That’s so lame!”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much what’s going on here,” Seeker acknowledged as he picked up a holy sword and hurled it at Shadow Natsume. “And really, this whole fight so far has been both one of the coolest and one of the lamest things I’ve ever done at the same time. On the one hand, fighting a giant golden dragon in an evil overlord’s lair? That’s really cool. But on the other hand, the way this guy goes about this is just so incredibly lame that it wraps back around to being funny in a pathetic way.”

“Joker told us that he had a lot of fun with this fight because of all the over-the-top plagiarized lines,” Melody commented with a sigh, “but knowing that this guy is just a fake and not the real thing…I dunno, I’m just not feeling it.”

“You’re right,” Seeker agreed. “I have little doubt that the real Shadow Ango Natsume had genuine spirit and emotion behind his grand boasts, but just like the fake copy of Shadow Alice, none of that is here. It’s all just empty and hollow words.” Arguably even emptier than Adachi, because at least Adachi had had a genuine personality…even if that personality was something that most of his friends probably wanted to punch in the face.

Still, at least there was the novelty of fighting an actual demon dragon in a cognitive world for the first time, if nothing else. Seeker crushed his mystical blue card and summoned Ame-no-Uzume, in a parallel to Joker’s own strategy. He would not allow this hollow, empty creature to twist the minds and hearts of the innocent public of Tokyo, nor would he allow it to disrespect the redemption of the true Ango Natsume who, if Joker’s words were of any indication, had voluntarily given up his stolen Desires and chosen the honest path just as Alice Hiiragi had done.

Back in the Sapporo Jail…

“All right, we’re almost done with this Jail,” Joker thought as they climbed the tower of the third Prison Keep to claim the third core.

To get past the giant ice wall blocking the front of the Prison Keep, he and his fellow Phantom Thieves had ended up scaling a gigantic ice cliff that was only possible thanks to a series of several ledges jutting out of the cliff wall…making Joker profusely thankful that the Sapporo Jail, despite its cold and frozen exterior, didn’t have any actual ice physics that he’d needed to deal with. They’d then snowboarded down another mountainside to get to the backyard of the Jail, although this snowboarding experience was significantly less carefree when there were Shadow attack helicopters trying to shoot them with machine guns during the ride. They’d then snuck over the back wall of the Prison Keep to enter the actual courtyard, where yet another giant army of Shadows had been waiting to ambush any intruders who dared to enter.

The main difference now was that there were enemy Kaiwans that had entered the picture, making Noir less effective of a fighter thanks to Kaiwan’s Psy and Gun immunities while giving Queen a chance to shine with her Nuke attacks.

Still, the same fundamental strategies that Joker and the Phantom Thieves had used up until now to beat the armies of Shadows were just as effective now as they had been in the battle for the second Prison Keep, and the third core was now theirs for the taking. The core turned into a mayor badge, demonstrating the insignia of the Sapporo Central mayor. “A simple yet effective symbol of power,” as Queen aptly put it.

After fighting a giant Setanta reinforced by Kaiwans, Joker opened a nearby treasure chest that contained a skill card. “Freeze Boost, huh?” he remarked. “If I ever find Black Frost in the Jails, that’s something absolutely worth putting on him with how much more important ailments are in the Jails compared to what we’re used to.”

As they returned to Odori Park, they discovered that the last ice wall blocking their way forward to the castle had indeed melted away…and that there was now a bulky super soldier Shadow glowing with a menacing red aura blocking the way. Deciding that discretion and patience were the better part of valor, Joker had all of the Phantom Thieves quickly go back to the real world to heal up before coming back to face this new threat.

“The Monarch’s gonna punish us because of you!” the Shadow growled, his tone filled with a mixture of anger and fear. “You think you can just do whatever you want?”

“Save that line for your Monarch,” Skull retorted. “Better yet, we’ll tell her…once we take you out!”

The Shadow growled and transformed into a Mithras, the first time Joker had seen this particular Shadow in any of the Jails so far. “It’s weak to Elec, Wind, and Psy,” Oracle reported, “drains Fire and Nuke, and resists everything else except Gun and Ice!”

Before Joker could capitalize on this new information, the Mithras unleashed a mighty Tempest Slash, charging at them while swinging his entire body around in a whirlwind of death. Joker was able to barely dodge in time, but both Skull and Fox were caught off guard, both taking serious damage from the mighty attack. The Mithras didn’t give them any time for breathing room however, as it leapt high into the air before smashing his entire body down like a meteor, creating a massive shockwave that reminded Joker unpleasantly of the times they had smashed a chandelier down onto their enemies.

“Holy shit, this guy moves REALLY fast!” Skull exclaimed as he blasted the Mithras with a Zionga from Captain Kidd.

“Let’s see if we can’t slow him down a bit,” Joker muttered as he summoned Kaiwan to blast the Mithras with a Mapsio. It seemed to do the trick at first…but then the Mithras summoned a massive ball of Nuke energy, forcing Joker to break off his assault as he only barely managed to switch to Setanta in time to drain the attack instead of getting blown away by it.

“Fuck it!” Joker shouted to his friends. “Guys, we’re not gonna beat this thing by fighting it in an endurance test, it’s just way too fast and strong! Skull, Fox, keep hitting it with your elemental attacks until you Shock or Freeze it! Then beat it down as fast as you can!”

“You got it, Joker!” Skull replied as he blasted the Mithras with more and more Ziongas, while Fox did the same with Bufulas. It was hardly the most elegant strategy in the world, especially with the Mithras doing everything in its power to grind them down or crush them to powder, but eventually, Fox was able to land a lucky freeze with a Bufula. “All right, now beat the shit out of it with as many Physical attacks as possible!” Joker ordered.

Skull and Fox needed no encouragement to do so, while Joker and Mona blasted the Mithras with Mapsios from Kaiwan and Garulas from Zorro. Thanks to the freeze completely immobilizing it, Joker could now cast his Psy attacks without any fear of retaliating Mafreilas, and together the Thieves were able to destroy the Mithras’ energy shields just as it broke free from its icy prison. “ALL-OUT ATTACK!” Joker shouted. The Thieves needed no encouragement, assaulting the Mithras with blinding speed and dealing with massive damage to it.

“All right, keeping hitting it with as many attacks as possible!” Joker ordered as the Mithras struggled to get up. “Weaknesses and Technical attacks, you know the drill!”

“Understood, Joker!” Fox replied as he summoned Goemon to attempt another freeze attempt with a Bufula. Unlike some of the previous enemies they had faced, the Phantom Thieves were relying on a raw, overwhelming onslaught of powerful attacks to grind down the Mithras as quickly as possible. Even though such a strategy was eating through their SP like butter, it also helped break the Mithras’ energy shields much faster, stunning it and preventing it from unleashing one of its mighty attacks whenever it was about to unleash them. It was an admittedly risky strategy, as if the Mithras was still alive if everyone ran out of SP, then they would be in a serious disadvantage against an enemy this powerful.

But fortunately, their brief return to the real world before the fight had been enough to ensure that he and all of his friends had enough SP to make a concentrated, continuous onslaught of Persona attacks a viable strategy. Fox landed one final lucky freeze with a Bufula, and Skull finished the Shadow off with a Lunge from Captain Kidd, and the Mithras stumbled out of the sky and onto the ground, dissolving into ash with a sigh.

“Oh, thank God!” Skull panted. “That was a really rough one. I had no idea that guy could move so fast!”

“Yeah,” Joker agreed with a grimace. “Fights like those really makes it sink in just how physical the combat is compared to what we’re used to.”

“But at least the ice walls are no more,” Fox pointed out despite his own exhaustion. “While I may not have the energy to be on the front lines for the time being, I’m sure that the rest of us have the strength to continue the fight.”

“I’m not actually sure if I want to invade the Castle today,” Joker admitted. “We got the three Jail cores, which is what I was really after. But it wouldn’t be a bad idea to scout out the perimeter of the Castle and see what we’ll need to deal with tomorrow before we…”

Before he could finish his sentence, an intercom jingle suddenly cut off his sentence, the tune being loud enough to be heard throughout the entire Jail. “How do you do, everyone?” Mariko’s voice echoed around them.

“That voice…” Noir gasped. “Mari-san!?”

“Are you working hard to keep Sapporo clean?” Mariko’s voice asked. “To make it a glistening, filth-free city? Well, it’s time for our regular cleanup,” the voice barked. “Anyone who calls themselves a proud member of my staff must take initiative! That means no slacking off, and not a single mote of dust left on the premises! I want this place spotless! Turn Sapporo into a paradise as pure as snow!”

The ground started to rumble, and Mona was the first to hear it with his keen hearing. “Huh? Something’s coming!” he warned. “Hide!”

The Phantom Thieves darted off the street and hid behind an icy boulder as a horde of Jack Frosts started marching down the street. They’d thought they’d seen a lot of Jack Frosts whenever the Shadows transformed into them, but this was an entire army of Jack Frosts so huge that it dwarfed even the armies that had defended the second and third Prison Keeps. Joker had never seen so many Jack Frosts in his entire life, and even a mind experienced with the Metaverse as his could only stare dumbfounded at the surprisingly orderly horde of Jack Frosts swarming the street.

“Hee-ho! Hee-ho!” the Jack Frosts chanted. “Cleanup, hee! Cleanup, ho! Cleanup, hee-ho, here we go! Bury them in pure white snow! Hee-ho!”

“…what the fuck am I even looking at,” Joker muttered as he struggled to stop his brain from breaking at the phenomenon he was staring at. Even by the already dubious standards of cognitive worlds, this horde of Jack Frosts deserved its own special level of bizarre.

“What’s up with these little freaks?” Skull spluttered.

“They’re everywhere!” Oracle exclaimed. “The Hee-horde from hell!”

“Hee-horde from Hell,” Joker replied dryly. “Is that what we’re calling it now?”

“I can hardly believe my eyes!” Fox gasped. “If only I had my artistic supplies with me. This would have been the prime opportunity for me to paint such a wondrous scene!”

“I wish phone cameras worked so I could show this to the Investigation Team,” Joker commented regretfully. “I would’ve loved to see their reactions to this.”

“They’re chanting about some cleanup routine,” Mona surmised, his eyes wide with shock. “Maybe this is a periodic security measure?”

“Well, if that’s the case, then my plan to scout out the outer perimeter of the castle just died a miserable death,” Joker deadpanned. “If anybody wants to try and fight this many Jack Frosts at once, be my fucking guest.”

“Joker’s right,” Mona agreed. “It’s too risky to charge in right now. Let’s head back to reality and see what we can do,” he suggested.

Joker was about to give the order, but he stopped at the last second. The Hee-Horde from Hell might have been one of the strangest things he had ever seen from ANY cognitive world he had ever been it…but it was also a prime opportunity for comedy. And as a self-respecting little shit, it was his sacred duty to take advantage of golden opportunities for comedy whenever they popped up.

So instead of giving an order, Joker allowed his face to stretch into a grin, and shouted, “Hee-Ho!”

“Hee-ho!” Sophie cheerfully repeated with a silly grin on her face.

Oracle stared at them both. “Hee-ho?” she asked in confusion.

“Hee-ho!” Noir happily joined in the chant that her boyfriend had started.

“Heeee-haaaawwww!” Skull exclaimed with an accent that sounded almost American…even though Joker couldn’t remember any Americans he had seen in Hawaii talking like that.

“Hee-ho!” Fox proclaimed, his voice giving the words a certain dignity.

Panther stared at all of her friends in horror. “They’re infected!” she gasped dramatically.

Queen shook her head, although she couldn’t hide her smile. “All right, good bit…” she admitted. “Now it’s time to go.”

“Ho-kay…” Skull sighed.

As they left the Metaverse behind them, Joker gave the Hee-Horde from Hell one last look. “Did something in the real-world trigger this, or is this triggering something in the real world?” he couldn’t help but wonder with a chuckle. “If this is what’s going on in the Jail, I hope whatever it’s related to in the real world is just as hilarious.”

Chapter Text

It turned out that the real-life event that had triggered the Hee-Horde from Hell was, in fact, NOT hilarious.

In fact, Ren would probably go so far as to say that this was one of the least funny things he’d ever seen in his life.

“Ugh, how many types must I repeat myself!?” Mariko Hyodo shouted furiously at a hapless worker. “Did I not tell you our citizens suffer every time our personnel slacks off!?”

Ren’s eyes widened as the employee started coughing, and he realized that the man was so weak he could barely stand. “For…give…me…” the man wheezed out, clearly looking like he was about to collapse any moment.

“Stand up straight and get back to doing your job!” Mariko barked harshly. “Our citizens would be ashamed of this.”

Haru and Morgana stared at the sight in horror and concern, but it was the mayor’s next words that really hammered in how grievous the situation truly was. “Might I remind you that you’ll be working through the night to make up for lost time!”

“All right,” Ren muttered, “this has gone far enough.” He approached the pair with the rest of the Thieves quickly following. “Excuse me, ma’am!” he called out, keeping his voice polite but assertive. “I don’t think this employee is in any condition to work for another second, let alone the entirety of the night!” He gestured towards the man. “Right, guys? He looks like he’s about to collapse any second!”

“Indeed!” Yusuke exclaimed. “We cannot allow this to go on for a second longer.”

“Mari-san!” Haru gasped, struggling to hold her tears in. “How could you allow such a horrible thing to happen?”

Mariko’s eyes widened as they fell on Haru. “Horrible?” she repeated with a stammer. “Oh, no, no, no…Haru-chan, you misunderstand. I derive no pleasure in being so harsh. But it is a necessary measure to keep our city functioning. You see,” she explained, “we’ve been doing a campaign where our staff cleans up around the city for a month. Not only does it keep our staff in line, but it enhances safety as well.” Her expression hardened. “It’s such an important job, yet this incompetent bungler still has the nerve to show up late!” she shouted. “How can I take pride in such poor behavior? All he seems to be capable of is making excuses!”

Morgana frowned. “A clean-up campaign, huh…”

“Could this be related to the Hee-Horde?” Futaba whispered.

“I bet it is,” Ren muttered back out of the corner of his mouth, “and suddenly that Hee-Horde just became a lot less funny, now that I know the context.”

“I won’t say it another time!” Mariko shouted. “Quit groveling and get back to work!”

“But he doesn’t look well at all!” Haru protested.

Mariko sighed. “The unfortunate thing is, Haru-chan, everyone working for Sapporo City Hall is a worthless piece of garbage,” she answered. “If I didn’t set them straight, who knows what kind of mischief they’d cook up? They might betray me in far more crucial matters!”

Ryuji couldn’t take it anymore. “Sounds to me like you’re just making bullshit up to justify yourself!” he growled.

“This man needs immediate medical attention!” Yusuke declared. “He is in no condition to work!”

“I’ll help you!” Makoto volunteered.

“As an outsider to Sapporo, seeing the mayor scold one of the city’s workers like this does not present you or your city in a favorable light,” Ren scolded. “Especially since, at least from my perspective, the bushes and gardens of this city look pristine already without the special attention you’re demanding from the employees.”

“Just stop this, Mari-san!” Haru shouted, unable to take any more of her cruelty.

“Haru-chan!?” Mariko gasped in shock.

“The Mari-san I saw just now…was nothing like the Mari-san I used to know,” Haru murmured sadly. “What happened to the Mari-san that treated everyone around her with kindness? You used to be surrounded by smiles. Everyone who met you was touched by your warmth and compassion. The way I remember you, Mari-san…you were like a sun that shined down on me.” Haru looked up and glared at her. “Why did you become like this? Why did you become so cold!?”

Everyone, whether it be Mariko or the Thieves, stared in silence for several moments as they processed Haru’s outburst. To her credit, Mariko did seem to show genuine guilt on her face, which was more than what Ren could say for any of the Palace Rulers or even the two Monarchs before her. For a brief second, Ren dared to hope that, as fleeting and as unlikely the possibility might have been, that Haru might have gotten through to Mariko even without changing her heart through the Jails.

But of course, it wasn’t going to be that easy. Mariko sighed and turned away. “I can’t stop now,” she murmured with genuine sorrow in her voice. “For her sake.” And with that, she walked away.

Haru looked like she was about to pursue her, but Morgana stopped her. “Don’t pursue her, Haru,” he advised compassionately but sternly. “She’s the Monarch of the Jail – in other words, our target.”

“Morgana’s right,” Ren agreed. “Her heart is distorted, and if the past two Monarchs are any indication, she might even be at least partially brainwashed into acting like this. We’re not gonna make any lasting progress with her until we change her heart in the Jail.”

“I know how you feel,” Ann murmured sympathetically. “But right now we need to get this man to the hospital.”

“I have a list of hospitals nearby,” Sophia reported. “Let’s move.”

The Thieves guided the worker to the nearest hospital possible, before returning to the camper in Odori Park.

“Who does she think she is, treatin’ a sick worker like dogshit!” Ryuji snarled as he stamped his foot on the ground.

“Ryuji…” Ann warned, tilting her head with a scowl towards a despondent Haru.

“…my bad,” Ryuji apologized with a sigh.

“It’s strange how she’s so nice to us but so unforgiving with her staff,” Makoto muttered.

“I don’t know…I don’t know what’s making Mari-san act like this,” Haru mumbled. “She wasn’t always like that. She used to be kind to everyone. What happened…”

“Well, given what we’ve seen from the other Monarchs, there has to be a specific traumatic event that set Mariko Hyodo off,” Ren reasoned. “The way she went off about her employees betraying her, and how she mentioned doing all this for a her…I get the impression that she’s referring to something specific.”

“I agree, Ren-kun,” His girlfriend nodded. “Something horrible must have happened to make her the way she is now.”

“The reason will become clear as we progress,” Yusuke surmised. “Until then, we move forward.”

“Despite what just happened tonight, I still think that today was a success overall,” Morgana offered encouragingly. “We still managed to secure a route to the castle. If this Jail is anything like the others, tomorrow we get to the top, find out what caused Mariko Hyodo to act like this, and battle the Lock Keeper.”

The Next Day…

Joker couldn’t help but feel incredibly satisfied with the progress he and the other Thieves had made. Not only had they made it to the top of the Sapporo Jail’s Castle without any major difficulties, but he had also taken care of the requests the other Thieves had given him beforehand. Arguably the biggest accomplishment in that particular field was collecting enough antennae from the Mothmen to create a supple bandage for the pharmacist, clearing the way for him and Skull to enjoy the legendary King Ramen.

But as productive as he had been before and during the infiltration of the castle, that actually hadn’t been the highlight of his day. The highlight of his day had been…

“Dude!” Skull gawked in disbelief. “Did you just ONE-SHOT that boss angel Shadow?”

“I am…just as shocked as you are,” Joker blinked, still in complete disbelief over what had just happened. He had found a Mudo Boost skill card in a treasure chest right outside the Castle and had put it on his Pisaca, and at the top of the Castle right outside the cage, they had come across a boss Kaiwan and a Principality. He and his team had taken care of the Kaiwan first, and since they had a secure advantage in the battle, Joker figured that he might as well cast Mudo on the Principality a few times as a joke before going back to taking the fight more seriously.

And then the fifth Mudo landed and instantly killed the Principality.

“I was just fucking around,” Joker admitted as the Principality dissolved into nothingness. “Figured that since we were crushing these two Shadows, I might as well meme a bit with a bunch of Mudos before going back to take care of business. I didn’t expect this shit to actually WORK.”

“Ooh, a new meme strat?” Oracle asked with a grin. “Those are the best kind!”

“That took five Mudos to work, and only because you had both Mudo Boost and were hitting a weakness,” Queen pointed out the flaws immediately. “I don’t think this is anything remotely close to a reliable strategy…and I certainly don’t expect this to work on bosses like the Shadow Monarchs.”

“Aww man, Queen, stop being a buzzkill!” Oracle complained.

“I mean, she’s not wrong,” Joker acknowledged, although he was still smirking. “It’s not like I’m gonna try this against a serious opponent like a Lock Keeper or a Shadow Monarch. That just sounds like a fantastic way to waste all my SP.”

Noir giggled. “Well, at least it’s a backup option we can consider if we have absolutely no other avenues available to us!” she remarked.

As they walked up to the entrance of the pinnacle, Panther pointed out the Desires floating at the top of the tower. Joker couldn’t help but acknowledge just how fitting it was that the Desires were encased in a cage of frozen ice, just like how Mariko Hyodo had closed herself off from the rest of the world.

Skull was volunteered to touch the cage entrance, much to his irritation, and they immediately heard the echoes of Mariko Hyodo’s trauma.

“You did this!” a female voice shouted tearfully. “It’s all your fault! How could you be so ignorant? Did you not think a snow sculpture could collapse!?”

“I…” Mariko Hyodo’s voice stammered, and she too sounded like she was about to start crying. “I apologize on behalf of our staff…!”

“Here it comes…” Skull wondered.

“A collapsing snow sculpture…” Queen murmured.

The other voice broke down into sobs. “This is where she…it must’ve been so heavy…it must’ve been so painful! Give me back Kaho!” the voice screamed. “Give me back my daughter…my precious little girl!”

Mariko continued her apology in a broken voice. “The accident resulted from my own personal oversight…truly, I’m so sorry!”

“Is the mayor the one apologizing?” Panther wondered.

“Shh!” Noir hushed. “There’s still more!”

“Well, I didn’t think the statue’d fall on anybody…” a different voice, a male one, commented. “But isn’t this the mayor’s responsibility in the end? Besides,” the voice added, “who can blame me? We don’t get paid nearly enough. Nothing wrong with taking a little kickback here and there.”

Joker instinctively felt a surge of loathing at the voice as the words ended and their sight returned.

“Those voices must be the root of Mariko Hyodo’s trauma,” Mona surmised.

“That snow sculpture incident…didn’t we first hear about it at the park?” Panther pointed out.

“We did, but I had no idea…could Mari-san have really been involved?” Noir wondered with concern in her voice.

“Well, judging by those voices we just heard, she absolutely was…” Joker replied grimly. “And I have a really bad feeling about all this, even beyond the bad feelings I was already getting from what he just heard.”

Everyone shuddered at their leader’s words. They thoroughly trusted Ren’s instincts, and if he was having bad feelings about anything, that alone was cause for concern.

“Don’t forget that guy’s voice,” Skull added. “Sounded like he was tryin’ to pass the blame on someone.”

“I don’t like the way he was talking either,” Joker commented with a scowl.

“At any rate, this is vital information,” Mona declared. “Let’s go back to reality and confirm the truth.

The Thieves returned to the real world and crowded into an empty bus stop, where they waited for Futaba to look up the snow sculpture accident. “Two years ago, a large snow sculpture collapsed during the December Snow Festival sponsored by Sapporo Central City,” Futaba reported. “Kaho Nanase-chan, a nine-year-old girl, was caught in the collapse and died. Despite Mayor Hyodo’s apology, the accident was ruled as an unforeseeable disaster. Therefore, she wasn’t held liable.”

“Oh…” Ann murmured sadly. “So that’s what the flowers in the park were for.”

Ren sighed and looked away. “That is…just about as bad as I was expecting,” he muttered.

“I wonder if the voice accusing Mari-san was the poor girl’s mother,” Haru mused. “So this is Mari-san’s trauma...”

“From what we heard, it sounded like it,” Ren agreed with a frown.

“That park where the Snow Festival was held is probably where the accident happened,” Futaba hypothesized.

“I’m willing to bet it’s where those flowers were,” Ren guessed. “We should head over there right away.” He glanced over at his friends. “I’m willing to bet there’s probably gonna be a Lock Keeper and some enemies we have to fight, just like every other Jail so far. Let’s take a break for about an hour, and then we deal with the Lock Keeper. Sounds good?”

“Yeah!” Everyone agreed. They left to enjoy their break and prepare, with Ren buying a few more healing goods for the Metaverse. He also made sure to give the Mothmen’s bandages to the pharmacist, earning the two tickets for the King Ramen and enjoying some of the best ramen he’d ever had with Ryuji in the process.

“DUDE!” Ryuji gushed as they finished their bowls. The King Ramen didn’t come in the same tremendous size that the one they’d eaten in Shibuya did…which was probably for the best, since they were about to fight a major battle against the Lock Keeper. “This ramen…this is the best ramen I’ve ever had in my entire life! Even better than the one you made yesterday!” He blinked quickly and glanced apologetically at Ren. “Uh…no offense.”

“None taken, man,” Ren reassured him. “I agree with you, this stuff is legendary. I didn’t think it was scientifically possible to make ramen this good.” He sighed. “Too bad they don’t have a recipe for it, though. I would’ve loved to make this and see if it did anything for us in the Metaverse.”

Ryuji grinned as the two boys got off their chairs. “Hey man, after eating something this amazing, I’m ready to go!” he declared.

“If only I could eat this ramen,” Sophia commented with a sigh, before brightening immediately. “But just seeing it was good enough for me! Even I could tell that it looked incredible!”

They returned to Odori Park, where the Thieves gathered in front of the corner where Kaho’s family had placed the white flowers. “This is where the accident happened, isn’t it?” Ann asked quietly.

“If we put in the keyword here, we should be able to access the Trauma Cell,” Sophia affirmed.

“Like Ren said earlier, we’re gonna be facing the Lock Keeper soon,” Morgana warned. “Get ready.”

“I want to see what happened to Mari-san with my own eyes!” Haru declared. “The keyword is Snow City!”

EMMA proceeded to transport them out of reality and into the Metaverse, where they found themselves in front of a large pile of snow with a large construction crane looming on top of it. Scaffolding as tall as a building surrounded the gigantic snow pile, and they could see the outlines of jail cells glowing with ominous red lights just beyond.

“Check out those two suits over there!” Skull suddenly pointed out two men in business suits standing in front of the snow pile.

“I didn’t know you were accepting rebates,” one of the men addressed the other. “Haha, I see a career man in the making.”

“Sir,” a listless man replied nervously, “would you please be discreet about this?”

“I can do that,” the first man agreed. “But in return, you need to do me a favor. I want her to take full responsibility for the incident. That way she’ll resign. Once that happens, I’ll be the new mayor in town…and you’ll be my well-paid associate. You will cooperate, won’t you?” he asked sinisterly.

“Yes…yes, of course.”

“Oh boy, more corrupt politicians,” Joker grumbled. “Fan-fucking-tastic.”

“What did you just say?” Mariko Hyodo’s voice suddenly called out, catching their attention.

“Ahh!” the second man exclaimed. “Mayor?”

“Oh,” the first man replied sarcastically, “it seems I’ve been found out.”

“I-it’s not what it looks like, Mayor!” the second man spluttered feebly. “This is merely…”

“Mayor…” Mona’s eyes widened. “Does he mean Mayor Hyodo?”

Noir gasped. “Then…Mari-san saw this happen?”

“I had no idea that you were behind this!” Mariko shouted. “That anyone was behind this!”

“…this festival is held by the city, meaning it comes out of the taxpayer’s pocket,” the listless man answered in a more sinister tone. “I figured, why not lower costs and hire cheaper construction? And what’s wrong with getting compensated for it?” he continued callously. “The rest of our staff make these deals all the time! So what’s the harm in one little mishap? That sculpture collapse was just bad luck!”

“You son of a bitch…” Joker snarled.

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing!” Mariko tearfully exclaimed. “I’m calling the police!”

“Fine,” the man challenged. “Go ahead and do it. But I’m bringing you down with me!”

“What?” she gasped.

“I’m going to testify that I did it under your orders,” the man sneered. “Then you’ll be ruined. After all, you’re the one in charge here. See, I even have the papers you signed, right here.”

“Such an unfortunate turn of events,” Mariko’s rival drawled. “Sorry to say, but you’re finished, Mayor.”

“…you’re a councilman, aren’t you?” Mariko asked him in disbelief. “Don’t you want to do the right thing?”

Joker barked out a derisive laugh. “Politicians?” he retorted, acid dripping from his voice. “Doing the right thing? What a fucking joke. Unless their name is Toranosuke Yoshida, don’t make me laugh!”

“As far as I’m concerned,” the councilman retorted, “that’s whatever’s right for me.”

The callous staff member walked up and pointed his finger at the mayor. “Well, are you ready to listen? Answer me, mayor!” he challenged, before transforming into a gigantic Lock Keeper. This one looked similar to the other ones they had faced, although this time each of his four hands was carrying a gigantic riot shield.

“Be ready!” Fox warned as the environment transformed around them into the battlefield they were more familiar with.

“It’s weak to Psy, Bless, and Curse!” Oracle shouted. “Only three weaknesses this time!”

“Mona, Sophie, Noir, you’re on the front lines!” Joker ordered. “Everyone else, make sure we don’t get surrounded by enemies!”

“How can you blame a peon like me?” the Lock Keeper snarled. “We don’t get paid enough for this! This world revolves around money…money talks, bullshit walks, mayor!”

“Bastard!” Skull snarled. “So he threatened the mayor, is that it!?”

“I had no idea Mari-san went through something like this…something so awful,” Noir murmured sadly.

“Well you can avenge her now…” Joker answered in a cold tone, “by bashing this fucker’s head in.”

The Lock Keeper raised its shields and positioned them around its body in a square position as Shadow guards materialized behind him. Joker tensed for an attack, but instead the Lock Keeper invoked a Marakukaja effect, casting a defensive purple aura around itself and its allies.

“Not a chance!” Joker retorted, summoning Lilim to negate the effect with Dekaja, and then summoning his new Black Slime to cripple the Shadows’ defenses with Marakunda. Unfortunately, this left him open to an attack, and he grimaced as the Lock Keeper swung his shields around him in a whirlwind of destruction, knocking out a sizable portion of his health. Mona promptly healed him back up as Joker quickly dashed to the side, trying to get some distance between himself and the Lock Keeper so that he could hit as many Shadows as possible with his attacks.

“You want to stay mayor that badly?” the Lock Keeper taunted. “What a greedy woman you are!”

“Oh, shut the FUCK up already!” Joker snarled venomously as he summoned Kaiwan and powered himself up with a Concentrate, before blasting a large part of the arena with a Mapsio. The psychedelic energies tore at the Shadows, and everyone was pleasantly surprised when they realized the attack had been powerful enough to tear through TWO of the Lock Keeper’s energy shield layers. Noir and Sophie quickly joined in, with Noir summoning a powerful psychic tornado with a few swings of her axe while Sophie bombarded the Lock Keeper with her version of a Kouga, the latter of which was now further empowered by Bless Boost.

“You’re guilty too, right mayor?” the Lock Keeper asked maliciously as he charged at the Thieves with his shields held out in front, forcing everyone to dodge out of the way. “She died because you gave your approval! Hahahahahaha!”

“This guy’s atrocious!” Panther spat. “Placing all the blame on the mayor!”

“Well, now we know why the Mayor was so afraid of all her workers stabbing her in the back,” Joker growled as he blasted the Lock Keeper with another Mapsio, although this one wasn’t charged up like his other one. “Because it straight-up happened to her already!”

Joker was already in a foul mood by how much of a piece of shit the scumbag this Lock Keeper represented actually was, and the way the Lock Keeper fought didn’t help his opinion either. While the Lock Keeper’s attacks with its shields weren’t actually all that difficult to dodge once he saw them a few times, the Lock Keeper had an annoying habit of casting Marakukaja and healing itself and its army every so often. The one silver lining was that the Lock Keeper needed to channel its energy for a few seconds before unleashing its Marakukaja effect, giving him and the other Thieves a few seconds’ opening to interrupt it by breaking through a layer of its energy shields.

“Thank God I bought all those Cod-Flavored Candies and Chilled Pineapples,” Joker thought, popping two of the former in his mouth and feeling some of his SP return. “Even with the extra SP I gained from my workouts, I think I’d burn myself out between attacking and nullifying his defense buffs.”

“Take this!” Sophie shouted as she blasted another Kouga at the Lock Keeper.

“Allow me!” Noir added as she fired her own Psio at Mariko’s tormentor.

“Now we’re accomplices,” the Lock Keeper cackled even as the Thieves tore through its energy shields and forced it to stumble backward, not wanting to give the creature a chance to cast more Marakukajas. “Let’s try to get along!”

“We’re gonna make you eat those words!” Joker sneered. He summoned Kaiwan, powered himself with a Concentrate, and then unleashed another Mapsio. The empowered Psychic attack not only destroyed the army that the Lock Keeper had surrounded itself with…but more importantly, it tore through the last two layers of its energy shield, causing it to collapse onto the ground. “You know what to do, Thieves! ALL-OUT ATTACK!”

The Thieves charged at the Lock Keeper and initiated their ultimate combo attack, viciously striking at the Lock Keeper with all the fury they could muster before blowing the monster up with the massive pillar of Almighty energy that had become so satisfying to unleash within the Jails. The Lock Keeper fell to its knees, desperately trying to right itself with its shields as the Thieves assaulted it ruthlessly. Noir in particular attacked with a vicious savagery that Joker had rarely seen in her. His girlfriend might have attacked Shadows sadistically on a regular basis, but now there was an outright wrath and hatred that burned in her eyes as she tore at the Lock Keeper with her axe and psychic attacks alike.

“It’s useless no matter what you do!” the Lock Keeper shouted. “You should’ve just resigned and disappeared!”

“Oh, fuck off already!” Skull snarled. “Why don’t you do what you just said, and go down and disappear!”

“Hit him with everything you’ve got!” Joker ordered in a harsh tone. “Show no mercy, because this piece of shit clearly doesn’t deserve it!”

The Thieves continued to bombard the Lock Keeper with everything they had, and as it slowly got back onto its feet, Joker felt the power of Showtime flow through him. “You know what, fuck honorable and fair combat,” Joker growled. “This scumbag doesn’t deserve that kind of respect.

As the Lock Keeper slowly got back to its feet and summoned more enemies around him…which was the exact moment Joker had been waiting for. “SHOWTIME!” he shouted as he leapt into the air and ripped his mask off, summoning Kaiwan next to him. The unholy star-like Persona opened its mouth in a soundless scream as it stuck its tongue out at the Lock Keeper, and together, they unleashed a massive Psychedelic explosion that shredded through the battlefield, dealing yet more devastating damage to the Lock Keeper and, equally as importantly, forcing it back onto its knees helplessly.

“It’s too late to change anything,” the Lock Keeper cackled. “The death of a sweet little girl…so tragic!”

“I’m going to make you suffer for this,” Noir hissed venomously as she swung her axe frenziedly into the downed Lock Keeper, summoning another psychic tornado in the process. “If I cannot avenge this wrong upon the man you represent, then at least I can make you beg for death, you disgusting beast!”

As she tore apart at the Lock Keeper with her mighty weapon again and again, she felt power and energy within her build up more and more. Realizing just what that entailed, Noir quickly retreated and turned to Joker once she was a safe distance away from the Lock Keeper. “My love!” she called out to him. “Do you have anything that can empower my energy! I feel as though I am close to unleashing a Showtime just as you did moments ago!”

“All yours!” Joker replied with a smile as he tossed a Soulful Jelly at her. Noir deftly caught the jelly and consumed it, and immediately she felt her energy reach its peak. Trying to imitate her boyfriend’s strategic acumen, Noir waited for the Lock Keeper to slam its shields down to invoke a Marakukaja, before unleashing all of her Persona’s power in her own Showtime attack.

Milady manifested next to Noir, who turned to face her Persona. “Would you care to join me?” she asked her other self as the two extended a dainty hand towards each other. Noir grasped the fan in Milady’s hand, and the two swirled around in a graceful whirlwind-like dance before turning to glare at the Lock Keeper. Milady’s corset opened up to reveal two Gatling guns that unleashed a relentless and merciless onslaught of pink bullets at the Lock Keeper. As her Persona continued its ruthless bombardment, Noir leapt into the air and channeled as much psychic energy into her axe as she could muster, shouting, “Coup de grâce!” as she swung the blade down upon the Lock Keeper. As her axe struck true, it unleashed a mighty Psychic explosion that rivaled the power of Joker’s own Showtime, proving just as deadly and effective as her lover’s in devastating the Lock Keeper and locking it down even further.

Joker grinned at his girlfriend. “God damn, that was hot!” he complimented, earning a bashful giggle from Noir.

“Ugh, can you guys flirt later, we’re still in the middle of the battle!” Oracle reminded, before adding, “but yeah, that was very swanky, Noir!”

“Thank you!” she giggled as her teammates continued to bombard the Lock Keeper with their attacks. “That was so incredibly satisfying!”

By now, the creature had only a small portion of its health left, and only a few layers of its energy shield remained.

“Why single me out?” the Lock Keeper snarled. “If I’m corrupt, then so is everyone around me!”

“Ah yes, projection,” Joker sneered. “The favorite tool of the guilty. You really are a pathetic piece of shit, aren’t you?”

“Come on, everyone!” Oracle called out. “He’s getting weaker!”

“Prepare yourself!” Noir shouted as Joker concentrated with Kaiwan. “I will cleave through your shield!”

“Let’s blow this fucker up once and for all!” Joker shouted as he unleashed an empowered Mapsio through Kaiwan. This was enough to tear apart the last two layers of the Lock Keeper’s energy shield, opening it up for another All-Out Attack. Sensing the kill, the Phantom Thieves unleashed every bit of rage they had felt at the injustice Mariko Hyodo had suffered, and this time, the All-Out Attack was enough to finish off the Lock Keeper for good.

As the Lock Keeper dissolved into nothingness, the scene shifted back to the pile of snow they had seen earlier.

“That’s all of them,” Mona declared. “We can get into the throne room now.”

“So who exactly were those guys who were arguing with the mayor just now?” Skull wondered.

“One was a city employee,” Queen answered. “The other must’ve been a councilman – someone higher up on the ladder. Anyway, it seems this employee accepted an illegal donation from the contractor who ended up building the sculpture.”

“Payment for landing the job,” Fox summarized. “In other words…bribery. We don’t know if the structure collapsed due to a structural issue or a general lack of care. The result is still the same.”

“Either way, the councilman was in the know,” Queen acknowledged. “Not only that, he tried using a fatal accident to take Mayor Hyodo’s position. Something along those lines.”

“Grrr…” Oracle growled. “Unforgivable.”

“Well, thank fuck he failed at least,” Joker muttered. “Even if Mayor Hyodo’s treating her employees like shit, that’s still somehow better than what this city would’ve been like if that asshole had been in charge.”

“Everything makes sense now,” Mona realized. “Hyodo overheard this conversation by chance and found out the truth about the accident. Not only was it someone from the city, but even her own staff had blackmailed her.”

“That’s messed up!” Skull snarled, stomping his foot in frustration. “These greedy assholes only wanted money and power!”

“Welcome to the same fucking story we had to deal with for the entirety of last year,” Joker drawled

“At least now I have a better understanding of what Hyodo must be thinking,” Fox commented. “When she found out those around her were immoral, she became determined to purge the corruption above all else.”

“That’s why she’s overworked her staff and trying to push her ethics bill through,” Noir remarked.

“And on top of it,” Mona added, “she’s trying to manipulate the people into re-electing her.”

“Mari-san…” Noir bowed her head sadly.

“Well, at least the birdcage is finally open,” Mona remarked. “Let’s head back out to the hideout and discuss the specifics of the calling card.”

The Thieves returned to the real world and gathered in the camper. “So what do we do for the calling card?” Ryuji asked once they were settled.

“Maybe we shouldn’t go overboard with it,” Ann suggested morosely. “I don’t really see her as a bad person.”

“Yeah…” Ryuji agreed. “The real bad guy here’s the one who took the bribe.”

“No,” Futaba retorted. “The guy who offered the bribe in the first place is the true villain.”

“Was it not the shoddy contractors who built the sculpture?” Yusuke posited. “They deserve the most punishment.”

Haru didn’t say anything, and before anybody else could contribute further to the argument, a familiar male voice interrupted. “You guys sound pretty heated,” Zenkichi remarked from outside the camper. “Who’s to say one man’s more evil than the next?”

Ren got up and allowed Zenkichi into the camper. “So you were here all along,” Makoto remarked.

“I figured you’d show up around here at some point,” Ren remarked with a wry smile. “Probably just as well, since we’re planning on stealing Mariko Hyodo’s heart tomorrow.”

“Yeah, about that. You guys forgot about me, didn’t you. Why would you not get in contact with me?” Zenkichi questioned.

“Well…now that you mention it,” Ann mumbled.

“Gramps, you completely slipped our minds,” Futaba admitted.

Zenkichi rolled his eyes. “All right then, maybe I’ll forget to keep you from getting arrested!” he retorted.

“To be fair,” Ren interjected. “There was no real reason for us to contact you before we actually went through the steps that would make stealing Mariko Hyodo’s heart possible, and we just finished everything we needed to up to today outside of sending the calling card. Unless you just wanted more frequent updates, in which case…fair enough, we apologize,” he acknowledged.

“Yeah, we’re sorry…” Ryuji mumbled.

“Eh, forget it,” Zenkichi waved away the apology, giving them a smile to show them he wasn’t actually being serious about breaking the deal. “So what’s our situation?” He turned to Ren. “You said you’ve finished up everything outside of sending the calling card?”

“Yeah,” Ren affirmed. He proceeded to give Zenkichi an update on everything that had happened with regards to the Sapporo Jail…as well as the trauma that Mariko Hyodo had suffered to become the Monarch in the first place.

“Now I get the picture,” Zenkichi acknowledged. “So that’s how Mariko Hyodo became a Monarch.”

“So what’s your take on it, Gramps?” Ryuji wondered.

Zenkichi sighed. “My take…is you kids are naïve,” he admitted, not holding back any punches.

“Whaddaya mean?” Ryuji asked.

“It’s clear that Mariko Hyodo was corned by a pair of rotten scumbags,” Zenkichi explained his rationale. “Tragic, I agree. But what is she doing in response?” he challenged. “Isn’t it just as wrong to change people’s hearts and manipulate them?”

“That may be true,” Ann conceded somberly. “But…”

“Furthermore,” Zenkichi pressed, “that accident was her responsibility, being that she’s the top of command. Regardless of who did what, a real leader takes the fall.”

“But, even so…!” Ryuji feebly protested, but Zenkichi wasn’t done.

“It may be a bitter pill to swallow, especially for a group of justice-loving kids operating outside the law,” Zenkichi continued with a frown. “But the real world isn’t so cut and dry. And the longer you keep up this hero charade, the harder it’ll bite you in the ass down the line.”

“Zenkichi, that’s terrible!” Futaba protested. “Take it back!”

“Is that what you really think?” Ren asked quietly.

“…” Zenkichi was silent for several moments. “Sorry. Might’ve overstepped my boundaries.” He glanced over at Ren. “You know, you look like you have something to say, and I haven’t heard you say a single word about this. Indulge me for a bit, since you’re the leader of the Phantom Thieves. What’re your thoughts on all this?”

“My thoughts?” Ren repeated. “They’re…complicated, to say the least. On the one hand, I don’t consider Mariko Hyodo a fundamentally evil person. She certainly isn’t anywhere near as evil as most of the major hearts we changed last year like Kamoshida and Shido. And I’d argue that she isn’t as evil as the Jail Monarchs we’ve already changed the hearts of either, since in a vacuum her motivations are nobler and she hasn’t forced people to destroy their own livelihoods by wasting their entire life savings on merchandise or to attack others who disagree with them just for her own self-aggrandizement. There is a clear and understandable motive for why she became the Monarch of Sapporo, even if it isn’t justifiable. There are multiple parties that were responsible for why the snow statue fell on that poor girl and killed her, and I can think of at least three that I’d condemn first before Hyodo.”

“Yeah, exactly!” Futaba declared.

Makoto smiled. “I couldn’t have said it better myself,” she agreed.

Zenkichi wasn’t fazed in the slightest, instead merely raising an eyebrow. “The way you said On the One Hand implies you’ve got more to say,” he addressed Ren.

“That’s because I do,” Ren confirmed. “Because on the other hand, you’re absolutely right when you say that the accident happened under Hyodo’s responsibility.” His friends’ eyes turned to him in surprise as he continued. “There’s a movie I remember seeing with Nanako a few years back. And the villain of all characters had an excellent line. The first rule of leadership: everything is your fault,” he quoted, raising his right index finger up to emphasis the point. “The villain in that movie was a gigantic asshole, but that doesn’t mean he was wrong. An important aspect of being a proper leader is having responsibility over the actions of your team, even if you’re not the one who fucked up directly. It’s the reason why I consider…a certain argument between two of us last year and the fall-out of that argument one of my greatest failures as leader of the Phantom Thieves, even if I wasn’t the one who set that argument off directly.”

Ren didn’t say any names and didn’t even look at the Thieves he was talking about. But from the way Ryuji and Morgana seemed to shuffle uncomfortably and shrink into themselves, Zenkichi could take a guess as to who Ren was referring to.

But Ren wasn’t done. “The same is true for Hyodo. She wasn’t the one who accepted a bribe from the shitty construction company that built an inferiorly designed statue. But that corrupt asshat who accepted the bribe was still someone working underneath her, and she didn’t do her due diligence before she signed the paperwork approving the construction. She isn’t guilty of embezzlement, like that bastard tried to frame her for. But even if you completely absolve her of the blame for anything else, she’s at the very least guilty of negligence and poor judgment of character when it came to allowing a corrupt piece of shit like him to join her team in the first place,” he declared.

The Thieves were silent as they processed their leader’s words. None of them could find any argument to what Ren was saying, no matter how much they wanted to. Zenkichi, meanwhile, nodded his head in approval but said nothing, sensing that he had more to contribute.

“And what you said before about Mariko Hyodo’s actions wasn’t wrong either,” Ren acknowledged. “Mariko Hyodo might not have been the major villain of the accident that killed that girl. But she most certainly IS the villain in the present day.” His gaze hardened. “Brainwashing the population of Sapporo and stripping the population of their free will is bad enough, and something that we Phantom Thieves fundamentally oppose on principle. But forcing an innocent government worker who had nothing to do with that accident to work ridiculous hours and tasks to the point of ending up hospitalized?” He crossed his arms. “There is NO excuse for that kind of behavior, under ANY reasonable standard,” he concluded. “She most certainly deserves to have her heart changed, as much for her own sake as for the people of Sapporo’s.”

Zenkichi clapped his hands lightly. “Well said, kid,” he complimented, clearly impressed. “You know what? I take back what I said about you being naïve, Ren. With a mature speech like that, I can see you’re the leader of the Thieves for a reason.”

Ann sighed. “Yeah…I know you’re right, Ren,” she reluctantly admitted. “We can’t let Mariko Hyodo brainwash people into giving her votes or abusing her staff, no matter how much we sympathize with her.”

“It might not have been the most pleasant speech for us,” Yusuke acknowledged, with his earlier doubt now gone from his voice, “but it was one that we needed to hear.”

Ren nodded in thanks, but he had one last thing to say to Zenkichi. “You’re wrong about one thing, though, Zenkichi,” he challenged. “Us being heroes isn’t a charade. Our drive to do the right thing is real…even if doing the right thing isn’t pleasant or easy.”

“I acknowledge the validity of your arguments, Zenkichi,” Makoto chimed in, “and we recognize that the world isn’t neatly divided into good and evil. But that won’t stop us from fighting. If we give up now, then the people who are counting on us won’t have any hope left.”

Zenkichi nodded. “I understand that you all take this very seriously,” he conceded, “especially after what Ren just said. And based on his own words, you’re not letting Hyodo get away with what she’s doing, are you?” he asked with a smile, already knowing the answer.

“Correct,” Haru spoke up for the first time. “We’re going to stop her. My beloved has stated everything that needed to be said.”

“Haru…” Ann murmured.

“What Mari-san is doing is forcing her warped intentions onto other people,” Haru pressed on firmly. “And we can’t let that happen, no matter the reason.”

“Right,” Morgana affirmed. “We’re the Phantom Thieves, and we fight for what we believe in. Yes, we’re going to stop Hyodo, but we’ll do it in a way that’s true to us.”

“We’ll take back the Desires she stole, and wake up her up to the truth,” Ren concluded.

“I have no objections. It’s decided, then!” Yusuke declared.

Haru smiled gently at her boyfriend. “Thank you, Ren-kun,” she gratefully addressed him. “Hearing your words was what I needed to cast aside my doubts and commit myself to ending Mari-san’s injustices.” Ren smiled back at her and wordlessly reached out his hands to hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

“So how will we send the calling card?” Sophia asked as Haru briefly returned the squeeze before allowing Ren to disconnect his hand.

“Maybe we could send it over with some curry to the mayor’s office?” Futaba suggested.

“What are we, a catering service?” Ryuji protested. “If anything, it should be ramen.”

“It might be better to avoid closed spaces, actually,” Makoto pointed out. “After all, she’ll probably be outside prepping for the election most of the time. There’s no point in sending a calling card if the target doesn’t see it. Wonder if we can send it somewhere on her campaign route.”

“Like somewhere she’s bound to pass by…” Haru mused. She thought for a few seconds, before an idea came to her head. “Then how about where the Suzushino posters are? I’m sure she’ll have a speech over there.”

Ren grinned. “That sounds like a perfect place to set up the calling card, Haru,” he approved.

“Yeah!” Morgana agreed. “And if we time it with her speech, it’ll be perfect!”

“The question is, who’s going to place it there?” Yusuke asked.

It didn’t take any more than a few seconds for every single Phantom Thief’s head in the room to turn to Zenkichi without so much as a single word.

“Ahhhhhh…no!” Zenkichi immediately protested. “Not again! Seriously?”

Ryuji gave him a silly grin. “Thanks in advance, Gramps!”

“Now hold on just a minute!” Zenkichi angrily retorted. “Didn’t I already pull this stunt for you in Sendai?”

“Consider it a favor, then,” Makoto replied coolly.

“Yeah, for being such a meanie earlier!” Futaba added mercilessly.

“Shouldn’t you own up to it?” Ann pressed.

“There’s no need to worry!” Haru “reassured” him. “We’ll make the calling card for you!”

“We’ll be counting on you, Gramps,” Yusuke concluded.

Ren smirked. “You wanted us to involve you more in the investigation,” he pointed out. “Well, we’re getting you more involved now, aren’t we?”

“Arrggghhhh…” Zenkichi groaned as he caved. “You little weasels…all right, fine, FINE!” he shouted in frustration. “I’ll post the damn calling card!”

Haru smiled beautifully at him. “We really do appreciate it!”

Zenkichi sighed and grabbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. “How’d I let ‘em twist my arm like this…” he grumbled, before sighing. “Whatever. If we’re really doing this, it’ll be early in the morning. Don’t be late.”

“You got it,” Ren acknowledged as they concluded the meeting. “You’re doing your part, and it’s only right that we do ours.”

Chapter Text

With their resolve strengthened and their decision to send the calling card finalized, Ren visited the Velvet Room for more Persona upgrades and did one final round of shopping for supplies. After this last-minute errand, he had been ready to hunker down in his tent for a pre-battle good night’s rest.

At least, that had been the plan until his phone started buzzing.

Haru: “Good evening, Ren-kun.”

Haru: “I’m sorry for the short notice, but could we meet up? I’d like to talk to you.”

Haru: “I would truly appreciate it, my love. It would make me very happy. I’ll be waiting in front of the fountain.”

“Welp, fuck sleep,” Ren thought as he immediately turned around and started walking away from the camper and towards the fountain. “My girlfriend needs me.”

He approached the fountain, where Haru was sitting on the edge, just as she had promised. On any other night, this would have been the perfect opportunity for a romantic moment, especially with how beautiful both his girlfriend and the fountain looked.

But with a major battle quickly approaching and Haru’s troubled look on her face, Ren understood immediately that this was not the time for romance. He did give Haru a quick hug as he approached though, which Haru gladly reciprocated.

“Thank you for coming out so quickly,” Haru greeted him once they had separated. “I’m sorry to call you out so late,” she apologized.

Ren brushed the apology with a wave for his hand. “You know damn well I’d do anything for you, the timing be damned.”

“I know,” Haru giggled briefly, before her expression turned more morose. “I wanted to talk to you about Mari-san.”

Ren’s smile faded. “I figured it’d be something along those lines,” he acknowledged, inviting his girlfriend to continue.

“It’s strange,” Haru continued somberly, “how I couldn’t remember Mari-san until now. Even when Hasegawa-san said her name, it didn’t quite occur to me who she was. But the moment she called me Haru-chan…”

“…the memories came flooding back, didn’t they?” Ren asked quietly.

Haru nodded. “Suddenly, it felt like a lid popped open in my mind, and my memories kept pouring out,” she confessed. “I remembered all these things about my childhood…about Mari-san.” Her face turned sorrowful. “How could I forget someone I loved so much?”

Ren sighed. “Haru…you were dealing with so much stuff last year that was both extremely important and incredibly dangerous,” he answered as he clasped her hand with his. “Your father’s distorted heart and his mental shutdown afterwards, Sugimura, Shido, Yaldabaoth…any single one of these could and would have either ruined or outright destroyed your life individually, and we had to deal with all of them over the course of a year. It’s entirely understandable that something that wasn’t as high on your list of priorities might’ve slipped through the cracks…even if that something is a childhood friend. It doesn’t make you a bad person, it just makes you human,” he finished reassuringly.

“That could be it…” Haru acknowledged as she got up from the fountain, “but I think what happened with my father affected me more than I realized,” she admitted tearfully. “All the times we spent together…and the moment he passed away…I must’ve suppressed those memories deep within my heart. At some point, I got used to hiding away, and I even forgot a good friend like Mari-san.”

“You did what you could,” Ren reassured her. “And don’t think for a single second that your absence is the reason why Mariko Hyodo turned into a Jail Monarch. We all saw the reason why she became a Monarch in the first place, and there might be some external brainwashing going on on top of that.”

“I know…” Haru sighed. “But I know, deep within my heart…that I was running away from it all over again.” She turned to face Ren, and a small smile creeped up on her face. “A long time ago, I remember tagging along with Mari-san and my father during a golfing trip. I was so happy running around that I ended up tripping and falling. Then, of course, I started crying. Then, all of a sudden, Mari-san came up to me and said, “stop crying and get back up!”” Her expression turned wistful. “That always shocked me at first because I always thought of her as an extremely gentle person. But because I knew she was so kind, I managed to stop crying and eventually got back up. I remember thinking Mari-san would never say anything out of place. I trusted her completely. At that point, Mari-san hugged me and said, “No matter how many times you fall…you can always get back up and start again. Never forget that.”” She giggled. “Can you believe it?”

Ren smiled. “That’s an adorable story,” he remarked, “and she was completely right. We wouldn’t have been able to save the world last year if we just keeled over and gave up at the first major hurdle.”

Haru sighed. “I didn’t quite understand back then, but I think I do now. There’s more to good character than kindness. Being good means dealing with the bad in front of you. It means to take a stand even when all you want to do is run away. To realize nothing will change if you keep ignoring reality.”

“Sounds like these are all principles that the Phantom Thieves have already been following, and will continue to follow,” Ren commented with a knowing grin as he got up from the fountain too.

“That’s right,” Haru affirmed. “It’s too late to save my father. But it’s not too late for Mari-san. This time, I can change things around, and I will! I want to tell her exactly what she told me, all those years ago.”

“Then I think you know what you have to say to Mariko once we change her heart tomorrow, Haru,” Ren declared.

“Yes,” Haru agreed, before giving him a gentle and quick kiss. “Thanks for hearing me out. Tomorrow, I’m going to do my absolute best. But for now…good night.”

Haru walked away from the fountain, leaving Ren alone. But even before he started walking back to his tent, he had already committed himself to at least one decision.

Haru would absolutely be on the front lines tomorrow. Her Psychic skills aside, it would be absolutely insulting to her to suggest otherwise.

“Hey, Ren?” Sophia’s voice interrupted his thoughts with a ping. “Why do people try so hard for others?” she asked, before sighing. “I wonder if I’ll ever know.”

“Sometimes, it’s because they care about someone and want to fight on their behalf because of how much they care,” Ren answered. “Other times, it’s for a cause that they believe in so strongly that they’re willing to fight and even put themselves at risk for it.” He smiled down at Sophia. “You’ll find your own answer, eventually. Heck, you technically already did when you joined up with the Phantom Thieves.”

“I did, didn’t I?” Sophia asked with a smile, before her expression turned more serious. “I guess even real people have trouble empathizing from time to time. It may seem like a simple concept to you, but to me, it makes my mind go BZZZZZZZZZZT,” she continued, making an adorable sound as she did so. “But I am humanity’s companion,” she continued. “I am here to learn and grow.”

“And I’m sure that you’ll be able to do exactly that,” Ren replied, giving Sophia a nod of acknowledgement as he returned to his tent. The time for rest was at hand, and he would need all his strength for the major battle to come tomorrow.

The Next Day…

“Good day, everyone!” Mariko Hyodo called out to her fans. “Are we ready to make Sapporo a paradise as pure as snow? Then remember, on election day, please vote for Mariko Hyodo!”

She expected to hear resounding cheers from her constituents, but the actual response was far more muted than what she had expected. The reason for this soon became perfectly apparent, as she noticed that many of them were looking at a board down the street.

Mariko approached the board, and she gasped as her eyes fell upon the calling cards plastered on the board. “Mariko Hyodo,” she read, getting angrier with every word. “The false empress with a frozen heart. You are a cold manipulator who treats people as tools to be discarded. We find this unforgivable, and will end your reign of abuse. In fact, we will take back the Desires you stole this very night.”

In the depths of her heart and Jail, her Shadow’s eyes hardened. “The Phantom Thieves? And they say they’re going to steal my Desires? What a bald-faced lie! Those Desires are mine and mine alone! As long as I’m the Monarch, I won’t let anyone stop me!” she declared, before her tone turned sinister. “Very well. I was just beginning to work up an appetite. I wonder what you’ll taste like…perhaps I should gobble you up and find out!”

Back in reality, Mariko shouted orders at her staff to start taking the Calling Cards down…completely oblivious to the Phantom Thieves who were getting ready to enter the Jail that very moment. Once they were back in the Sapporo Jail, Joker made some quick detours towards two of the treasure chests that had respawning skill cards. “Dizzy Boost and Freeze Boost, huh?” he mused as they teleported to the entrance of Shadow Hyodo’s castle. “They probably won’t help much right now, but I could see them becoming more useful down the road.”

The Phantom Thieves scaled the chain that had fallen from the top of the castle, once again giving them direct access to the birdcage where the Desires had fully materialized. They barged into the Palace, right into the throne room where Shadow Mariko waited for them.

“Sorry about the wait!” Skull taunted. “We’re here to kick ass and WHAAAAAAAAA!?” he exclaimed, his bravado falling apart at the sight in front of him.

Not that Joker could blame him for his shock…given that Shadow Hyodo was a morbidly obese queen with pale white skin and wearing an equally pale gown, hungrily gobbling down food in front of her. At least Shadow Alice and Shadow Natsume had looked relatively similar to their real-life counterparts prior to their monstrous transformations…Joker couldn’t blame him for his shock.

“W-who the hell is she?” Skull spluttered.

“Th…that can’t be…” Noir mumbled in disbelief. “Mari-san?”

“Mmm…” Shadow Mariko licked her lips, causing everyone there to cringe.

“What on earth HAPPENED to her?” Queen exclaimed.

“An excellent fucking question that I have NO answer to,” Joker muttered.

“I’m guessing this is Hyodo’s distorted form,” Mona answered with bulging eyes.

“What do you people want?” Shadow Mariko snarled. “You had best…best not get in my way! I’m almost there…only a few more votes, and I’ll win re-election!”

“This is wrong, Mari-san!” Noir retorted. “Those votes you gathered by twisting the people’s hearts are worthless!”

“And if you don’t stop your tyranny,” Queen added harshly, “your staff will collapse one by one!”

“There is NO justification for the way you’ve been treating them,” Joker added coldly. “None whatsoever.”

“I get why it’s hard for you to trust people,” Panther tried to sympathize, “but you still have to treat them with decency!”

“Bah!” Shadow Mariko rudely interrupted them, waving her utensils threateningly at them. “You shut your impudent mouths! I’ve done nothing wrong! I will wring out every last ounce of corruption from my staff by working them into the ground!” she vowed menacingly. “I’ll silence all charlatans who betray me! And I will consume every last vote in the city, whether these people agree with me or not!” She grinned sinisterly as she raised her utensils in triumph. “Only then can I build a safe haven…a radiant snow city that sparkles like winter!”

Joker scowled. “Spoken like a true tyrant,” he retorted. “We’re taking back those Desires that you stole. Your election campaign is nothing but a lie!”

“When you take away someone’s Desire, you rob them of their agency. The ability to make their own decisions!” Noir added fervently. “So what good does it do to turn your loyal citizens into mindless drones? Isn’t it better to let them arrive at their own conclusions, and follow their own hearts!?” she pleaded.

Unfortunately, her words fell on deaf ears. “How dare you lecture me!” Shadow Mariko growled, seemingly completely oblivious to Noir’s true identity.

“Good job, Noir!” Sophie cheerfully added from nearby as she jumped up and down. “You tell her!”

“Mari-san!” Noir declared. “Say goodbye to the countless Desires you stole…because Beauty Thief and the Phantom Thieves…are about to take them back!” she shouted as she pointed her challenge at Shadow Mariko.

In response, Shadow Mariko began to eat even more frenetically and start growling. “Ngggghhhh…they’re all in my way! This is the last straw!” she roared as she started transforming into a gigantic, obese monstrosity with eyes over her breasts, a colossal mouth over her stomach, and multiple tentacles coming holding razor-sharp utensils elongating out from where her arms should’ve been. The Thieves all gasped as a large, disgusting tongue stretched out from Shadow Mariko’s abdominal mouth and devoured the table that she had been eating from, before the mouth let out a deafening roar that blasted the Thieves with a gust of icy wind.

Noir swallowed her fear at the hideous transformation and steeled her resolve. “Mari-san, what you’re doing is wrong,” she declared. “So we’ll be taking those desires back!”

“Shut your prissy little mouth!” Shadow Mariko spat. “What would you know!? I will consume all who oppose me, no matter who they are!” The monster that she had become let out another roar. “You either eat or be eaten!”

Joker grimaced as he and his chosen front-line team, Noir, Queen, and Mona, all braced for impact. As tempted as he had been to choose Panther, he was reasonably confident that Shadow Mariko would be wielding Ice attacks, and based on the Lock Keeper’s defenses, she wouldn’t be weak to Fire attacks. His hope was that Queen and Mona would be able to use Technicals from him burning Mariko or at the very least provide steady healing, while he and Noir took care of the brunt of the work with Psychic damage.

It seemed as though keeping Panther out of the front lines had been a wise decision, considering that Shadow Mariko had lifted her tentacles into the air and was waving them frenziedly, conjuring up a Mabufula taking the form of several razor-sharp ice crystals that looked like frozen stars in the air. With the way she was glaring at him, it appeared that he was targeting her attack towards him. Joker quickly switched to Mitra to negate Ice damage and moved away from the others to make sure they weren’t caught in the blast radius. Shadow Mariko hurled the ice crystals towards him, and Joker merely smirked as the crystals collided with his body harmlessly, doing nothing while his friends attacked her from the sides and behind.

Unfortunately, Shadow Mariko was way faster with her movements than her Mabufula would have suggested…and she wasn’t nearly as vulnerable to being surrounded either. Realizing what was going on, Shadow Mariko frenziedly whirled around herself, striking everyone in a wide circle with her tentacles and giant utensils. “Ack!” Mona exclaimed as he just barely managed to dodge out of the way, while everyone else was caught by the sweeping blow. “How is she so fast?”

“Look out!” Noir shouted as Mariko swiped at them with her tentacles and utensils again, forcing them all to scatter.

“I’ve got this!” Joker promised as he summoned Legion next to him. It was a new Psy persona that he had made by fusing Setanta and Kaiwan, and he made sure to pass on Concentrate and Mapsio when he had done so. He invoked the power of Concentrate and unleashed a Psio, tearing apart at least one layer of her shield and doing heavy damage to the another.

“Stop that!” Shadow Mariko bellowed, recoiling at the ferocity of the attack. “Arghhhhh…I’ve done nothing to deserve such agony!”

“The enemy’s in great pain! Looks like she’s weak to Psychokinesis attacks!” Oracle reported as Joker took out some food items and sharing them with his friends. During their excursion through the Sapporo Jail, the Thieves had discovered, to their surprise and delight, that certain foods like the Miso Ramen and the Jingisukan could provide buffs to them equivalent to a Kaja skill. As Shadow Mariko recovered, the Thieves consumed a Gyutan Burger, a Seafood Bowl, and a Miso Ramen for a Matarukaja, Marakukaja, and Masukukaja effect respectively...effectively giving themselves all Heat Riser without spending a single point of SP.

“Psychokinesis, you say?” Noir repeated with a grin as she summoned Milady and blasted Mariko with a Psio of her own. It wasn’t enough to completely break the next layer of Mariko’s shield, but Joker followed through his girlfriend’s attack with another Psio from Legion, finishing it off and forcing Mariko to stagger back again.

With a snarl, Shadow Mariko charged forward across the battlefield, once again demonstrating surprising speed and agility for her massive girth as she swung her tentacles and utensils at them in the middle of her charge. Joker tried to blast her with a Maragion from Eligor once he dodged out of the way, but while the attack did connect, it didn’t burn her or touch her energy shield in the slightest. “Dammit, this is so unfair!” he complained as Shadow Mariko spat blasts of icy wind at him, forcing him to spend the next several seconds dodging to avoid getting frozen. “How is this giant ice monster NOT weak to Fire?”

“Beats me,” Queen admitted as Shadow Mariko summoned another barrage of ice crystals…which Joker was able to block by switching back to Mitra and his Ice immunity. “Just try to burn her so that Mona can hit her for Technical damage. She’s resisting my Nuke attacks, so I won’t be able to do all that much damage to her unless she gets burned.”

Joker nodded and fired off another Maragion from a safer distance as Shadow Mariko swung her giant utensils at them again…only this time she swung them across the ground in front of her two create a wall of razor-sharp ice crystals. Joker was beginning to wonder if this was all that she was capable of, just swinging her giant utensils around and throwing an ice attack at them every now and again.

And then Shadow Mariko suddenly tensed, and Joker had the sneaking suspicion he knew what was about to come next. “Get out of the way!” he shouted, following his own advice as Shadow Mariko leaped into the air, smashing the ground as she landed back on it. The force of the impact caused entire circles of razor-sharp ice crystals to launch out of the ground in a radius around her, before the crystals themselves exploded. “Ahhhhhhhh!” Noir exclaimed, having been in the middle of trying to summon her Psychic tornado attack and thus was too slow to escape the blast radius entirely. Mona swiftly healed her with a Diarama, and they got back to work attacking Shadow Hyodo.

But the Shadow seemed to suddenly have had enough of them constantly dodging her attacks. She began to writhe in anger, and the Thieves watched in shock as her entire body turned into a fiery wrathful orange and she let out a howl of rage, the steam coming out of the top of her body intensifying. “Why, damn you?” she roared. “Why do you keep standing in my way?”

“Her attack power’s getting stronger!” Oracle warned. “This doesn’t look good, guys!”

“Dinnertime!” Shadow Mariko cackled, and everyone watched in abject horror as she grabbed Queen with one of her tentacles and straight up tossed her into her mouth, devouring her.

“Did she just eat one of us?” Oracle screeched in disbelief. “Someone, help! Drop a chandelier on her, quickly!” she pleaded. “Make her spit up from the impact!”

“On it!” Mona reassured her. He nimbly leapt up onto the top of one of the chandeliers and waited for Shadow Mariko to charge under it with one of her attacks. Joker lured Mariko underneath the chandelier, and as soon as she was under it, Mona sliced the chain holding it up with a swing of his sword.

The chandelier fell down, smashing right onto Shadow Mariko’s body, and just as Oracle had predicted, the impact forced the Shadow to spit Queen right back up. “Euuggggggghhhhhh…” Queen shuddered once she had rejoined their group. “That was…disgusting doesn’t even begin to describe that!”

“We need a better plan to deal with Shadow Mariko once she gets pissed like that,” Joker muttered. “We can’t have her eating us every single time she goes into rage mode, and there’s only so many chandeliers in this room.”

The Thieves continued to attack Shadow Mariko, with Joker and Noir doing the brunt of the damage thanks to their Psychic attacks. But only a few seconds later, Shadow Mariko’s rage began to flare once again, her entire body turning orange as she writhed in anger once more.

“Aww fuck, not this again!” Joker groaned. He needed to stop Shadow Mariko from devouring his teammates, and fast. Deciding that an all-out assault was probably his best chance of doing so, he summoned Legion and began blasting Mariko with Psios…only to realize that the attack had done significantly more damage than before.

Joker’s eyes widened. “Wait a minute…that Psio did way more to her than I expected! Is that because…”

“She’s more vulnerable in her rage state!” Oracle confirmed. “You can hit her for Technical attacks while she’s enraged!”

Joker grinned. “Oh that is the best news I’ve heard this entire fight! You hear that, Noir?” he called out to his girlfriend.

“I certainly did!” she affirmed. Together, Joker and Noir began to bombard Shadow Mariko relentlessly with their Psy attacks, tearing apart her energy shield layers and repeatedly stunning her. The constant bombardment of Psy attacks targeting her heightened vulnerability was enough to tear through the remainder of energy shield, leaving her open to an All-Out Attack that the Thieves took full advantage of.

“Never gets old!” Joker thought with a grin, snapping his fingers as their enemy was engulfed in the destructive pillar of Almighty damage.

Shadow Mariko stumbled backwards, both her momentum and her rage completely worn out, as the Thieves attacked her gigantic body with basic attacks and skills alike. “What else is she weak to, Oracle?” Joker called out, figuring that now was the time to get as much information as he could while she was still recovering.

“She’s weak to Curse!” Oracle reported back.

Joker groaned. “Of course it’s Curse that she’s weak to,” he muttered. “I miss Magatsu-Izanagi Picaro already.”

As if to worsen his mood even further, Shadow Mariko let out a massive breath of icy wind, but this time, it covered the entire room in a raging blizzard. “What the heck?” Mona exclaimed. “Why is there suddenly a BLIZZARD in here?”

“You have to turn on a heater to stop it!” Oracle frantically reported. “I was able to hack the heater to the northwest! Go turn it on before we all freeze!”

“On it!” Joker answered brusquely as he immediately started rushing towards the heater that Oracle had pointed out. The blizzard was both drastically reducing his vision and slowing him down, forcing him to continuously phantom dash just to make any meaningful progress. He was able to get to the heater and turn it on to dispel the blizzard, but not before Shadow Mariko leapt into the air and smash the ground with another shockwave, this one managing to freeze both Queen and Noir in the process. Joker hastily gave them healing items to unfreeze them, and Mona healed the damage off with a Media.

Shadow Mariko’s body began to burn orange with rage again…and right as it did so, Joker felt his energy reach its peak for a Showtime. “Can I try to use this Showtime to interrupt her rage?” he wondered. A quick assessment of the situation revealed that he didn’t have any better options. Her regenerated energy shield had way too many layers for him to break it down quickly, and letting one of his friends get devoured again was simply not an option. “Fuck it, we ball! SHOWTIME!”

Joker leapt into the air, summoning Legion next to him before unleashing a powerful Psychic showtime just like had with Kaiwan against the Lock Keeper. The explosive Showdown attack destroyed another huge chunk of Mariko’s health…but more importantly, it completely neutralized her rage, while leaving her staggered and vulnerable. “Aww, hell yeah!” he shouted gleefully. “Showtimes shut down her rage mode too! That is what we like to SEE!”

“How delightful!” Noir cheered. “That was amazing, Joker, even for you!”

“More…” Shadow Mariko growled. “There’s still more! I must eat every last one of you!” She let out another hideous roar as she swirled her tongue around menacingly.

“Why did she have to have that tongue?” Joker groaned inwardly.

“Please stop, Mari-san!” Noir begged. “I know you’re still kind deep down!”

Her pleas fell upon deaf ears, as Shadow Mariko began to turn fiery orange with anger once again. Joker tried to stun her by breaking a layer of her shield with a Technical Psio, but he didn’t do quite enough to break it completely. Shadow Mariko reared back, and unleashed an especially devastating attack that she hadn’t utilized yet. The hideous, obese monster began to spin around and around with breakneck speed, creating an icy whirlwind of death that summoned a multitude of razor sharp ice crystals around her. Noir, Mona, AND Queen were all taken by the surprise by the sudden speed and brutality of the attack, getting caught up in the destructive waltz and getting completely frozen in the process. Joker rushed to them and managed to heal them with his supplies, but this gave Shadow Mariko a free opportunity to let out another overwhelming breath of icy wind that engulfed the room in a blizzard once more.

“Look at the size of that blizzard!” Queen remarked in disbelief as Shadow Mariko cackled menacingly, while Mona rushed over to the heater in the southeast to deactivate the blizzard at Oracle’s instruction. “Her lungs must really be something!”

“Given how big she is right now, is that really a surprise?” Joker deadpanned as they dodged out of the way from another frenzied attack from Shadow Mariko.

It was abundantly clear to the Phantom Thieves that at this point, the Shadow was almost entirely consumed by rage. She didn’t cry out excuses or laments the way Shadow Alice and Natsume had, instead focusing entirely on taking them down with her vicious, powerful, and surprisingly fast attacks. The Phantom Thieves constantly had to stay on their toes as they kept a careful eye on Shadow Mariko’s next attack, even as they tried to seize opportunities to attack her with whatever openings that she gave them. Joker in particular was constantly switching between Legion and Mitra, the two Personas who endowed him with Psychic might and unconquerable defense against ice.

But the relentless onslaught from the Phantom Thieves gradually wore down Shadow Mariko’s attacks, and it became clearer that as powerful and as wrathful as Shadow Mariko might have been, she was no match for the Phantom Thieves.

And as the Phantom Thieves wore down Shadow Mariko’s ever-dwindling health with a second All-Out Attack, Noir decided to demonstrate this indisputable truth once and for all…with a Showtime of her own. “I cannot tolerate this any longer!” she declared. “Come and join me, Milady, so we can end this charade once and for all!” Her Persona accepted her hand, and unleashed a relentless spray of psychic bullets from underneath her dress. Noir leapt into the air, her axe brimming with psychic energy, and swung the axe upon Shadow Mariko’s body to unleash a devastating psychedelic explosion. Combined with the significant damage that she had already endured from the All-Out Attack, this was just too much. “No…” Shadow Mariko lamented as her strength failed her and she languished helplessly on the floor. “This cannot be. If I fall, what kind of monster will…?”

With all her energy and health spent, Shadow Mariko had no choice but to transform back to her original humanoid form…and she fell on her knees in defeat. “Wait!” she exclaimed desperately. “Not yet! I won’t let it end this way! I need to wipe out all of Sapporo’s injustice!”

“Please stop!” Noir begged, reaching out a second time now that Shadow Mariko wasn’t caught up in her own rage. “Haven’t you done enough!?”

“What!?” Shadow Mariko gasped.

“You’re a kind person, Mari-san,” Noir continued, encouraged by the fact that she was now actually listening for once, “and I know you’ve tried to shoulder all of this alone. The staff member who took bribes, the councilman who tried to set you up…even the girl who died in the accident…”

“…” the Shadow’s eyes turned mournful, as the tragic and horrible memories raced through her head.

“Each of these things grieved you,” Noir pressed. “And in order to make a city where none of it could reoccur, you took action as you saw fit. Am I right?”

Shadow Mariko sighed. “As the mayor, I know very well that little girl’s death was ultimately my fault. But my staff betrayed me! All for their insatiable greed! I thought I could leave that awful position behind…that I could be happier if I set all of that behind me.”

“It wasn’t that simple though, was it?” Joker replied with a frown.

“If only it was,” Shadow Mariko spat bitterly and sorrowfully. “Had I gone, I’d only be replaced by greedy scum! That’s why I never stepped down! In this world, it’s either eat or be eaten! And with circumstances so cruel, I decided I’d be the one doing the eating! Even if every last one of my votes was false, at least I could use them to make the world a better place!” Her face turned stricken with grief. “But if was replaced as mayor…who would be there to honor that little girl’s memory? An innocent girl lost her life, yet I could still do nothing to stop the evil still afoot!”

“And you think this is honoring her memory?” Joker asked quietly and sternly. “Engaging in corruption just as the staff members who betrayed you did? Twisting the minds of others and enslaving them to your will? Overworking innocent staff members who had nothing to do with that terrible accident to the point that they need to be hospitalized? What would Kaho say, if she saw what you were doing and had the maturity to understand it?”

Shadow Mariko bowed her head, unable to give an answer…because deep down, she knew what that answer would be.

Noir took the opportunity to step up to Shadow Mariko. “It’s not too late to set this right,” she encouraged. “First, you must tell the people everything that happened! Then can you get a fresh start, but this time, on your own strength!”

“That would be…impossible…” Shadow Mariko lamented. “I cooperated with those awful men to hide the truth…that way I could continue being mayor.” She shook her head in defeat. “There’s nothing I can do…”

Noir was silent for several seconds, before she suddenly swung her hand in front of her. “Stand up, Mariko Hyodo!” she shouted, catching everyone, Phantom Thief and Shadow alike, in complete surprise. Only Joker was seemingly unperturbed by Noir’s outburst. Instead, a knowing smile appeared on his lips, as he understood exactly where Noir was coming from.

“Are you just going to stay knocked down!?” Noir challenged. “You are a kind and strong woman, not someone who collapses over mistakes! So stand up, and hold your head up high! Because no matter how many times you fall, you can always get back up and start again!”

Shadow Mariko’s eyes widened. “Isn’t that…?”

“The words you spoke to Haru a long time ago,” Joker affirmed, stepping up to join his girlfriend’s side. He reached out a hand towards her, which Noir gladly accepted with her own. “They were nothing less than the absolute truth all those years ago, and their truth is no less absolute today.”

“Even if you told the people the truth about the incident, there are those who would still see the good in you!” Noir declared, encouraged by her boyfriend’s presence at her side. “Don’t let your position ruin you! Think back to what you stood for!”

“She’s right, Mayor!” Skull agreed. “You can’t give up!”

“If you tell everyone your side of things, they’ll listen!” Panther encouraged.

“We’ve changed the hearts of many corrupt figures of authority over the past year,” Joker remarked. “And even after learning about your mistakes, even after the corrupt actions you’ve committed…I still hold you in higher regard than so many of them. I see a woman who, despite her failings, can still prove herself worthy of the authority she wields…so long as you are willing to turn away from your corrupt path, and choose to do the right thing going forward.”

“When my father died,” Noir continued, “I felt like my heart was going to break. But thanks to the Phantom Thieves, I was able to stand strong and move forward! That’s why I know you can too! Remember the part of you that taught me to get back up, no matter how many times I fall!”

“Yes…” Shadow Mariko conceded. “You’re right. Thank you, Haru-chan.” She stood back up, and for the first time, she looked genuinely regal even if her face was marred by her own regrets. “What I’ve done…was wrong. I drove my employees to the brink and used a strange power to manipulate the votes…” She shook her head in dismay. “I was so driven by my personal agenda, I lost sight of how I originally felt…and why I ran for mayor in the first place. To make a city beloved by everyone…to give back to the home where I was raised…that’s reason enough to take another stand. I won’t make this mistake again. I never needed this power from the start!”

Shadow Mariko reached up, took her crown from her head, and tossed it aside onto the icy floor of the palace. “Haru-chan…you’ve grown so much. Your father must be so happy in Heaven.” She turned to Joker. “And you, young man…I see the way you look so admiringly at Haru-chan. The way you joined her side, and the way you affectionately hold each other’s hands. You must be the one that she loves above all.”

“That is correct, Mayor,” Joker bowed his head in affirmation. “And I assure you, that love is entirely reciprocated.

For the first time, a smile appeared on the Shadow’s face. “Good,” she acknowledged. “Then my only request is that you continue to give Haru-chan all the love and affection that she deserves.”

“A promise I will keep until death and beyond,” Joker vowed.

Shadow Mariko smiled, and her body began to disappear into light as she returned to her real self.

“Mari-san!” Noir gasped happily, knowing that she had made the right choice.

“Happy?” Sophie asked with a tilt of her head.

Joker already knew the answer to that question, but before Noir could answer it, the Jail started to rumble. “Okay, we changed her heart, now time to get the hell out of here!” he declared.

The Phantom Thieves needed no encouragement, and they raced out of the Jail and back to the real world as fast as possible. By the time they had gotten safely back to the real Sapporo, night had already fallen. “That took us quite a while,” Yusuke remarked.

“Haru, you were fantastic,” Makoto praised.

“Damn right she was,” Ren agreed with a grin as he wrapped an arm around Haru’s shoulder. “I couldn’t have said any of it better myself!”

“It was only because you were all with me,” Haru acknowledged with a huge smile, although it did fade slightly as a thought occurred to her. “But I do wonder if Mari-san will be okay…”

“I’d say so,” Ryuji answered encouragingly. “Her Shadow disappeared like they always do.”

“Yeah, your feelings definitely reached her,” Mona agreed. “I’m sure her heart has changed for the better. I guess that wraps up the mission then!”

“We still need to confirm that the citizens are all back to normal,” Makoto pointed out. “It’d be nice if we could do that right away…”

“Can’t we grab somethin’ to eat first?” Ryuji asked pleadingly. “I’m hungry enough to pass out here!”

“He has a point,” Yusuke agreed. “Battles can’t be fought on an empty stomach.”

“The battle’s already over…” Ryuji pointed out, “but still…”

“Hey…can we have some more jingisukan?” Morgana asked eagerly. “That delicious lamb barbecue dish that Joker made for the battle earlier? That stuff was so good!”

“Ooh, I am SO down for that!” Futaba agreed excitedly. “I know Ren already made some for us earlier, but we gotta try the local variety here! It’s a must in Hokkaido!”

“What!?” Yusuke gasped dramatically. “I thought we were finally going to get lobster hot pot!”

“Since when did we decide that?” Ryuji sighed. “And why would we, when it’s so damn hot out?”

“But if you think about it, isn’t jingisukan also sorta like hot pot?” Futaba pointed out.

“No way!” Ann gasped. “Isn’t it supposed to be barbecue?”

The Thieves proceeded to launch into a half-argument half-discussion about jingisukan and whether it counted as hot pot or barbecue, prompting Haru to giggle at the display. “Ahahahaha!” she laughed.

“Hey, was that a smile just now?” Futaba asked slyly.

“You bet it was!” Ren exclaimed with a grin. “And we all know Haru has a gorgeous smile!”

“Yeah!” Futaba proclaimed. “Straight from Sapporo, it’s Beauty Thief’s award-winning smile!”

“I’m relieved too,” Makoto admitted. “I thought you might be weighed down by everything that’s happened.”

“Indeed,” Yusuke acknowledged, “she was so weighed down that she met up with our leader for a private midnight chat.”

Ann gave Ren and Haru a sly look. “Are you sure that’s the only reason they met up for a midnight chat?” she asked in a sing-song voice.

Haru gasped. “Were…were you watching!?” she spluttered.

“What did we say about dates before major battles?” Morgana asked in a mock-scolding tone…before everyone burst into laughter. As Haru continued to stare at each everyone with a flustered appearance, Ren couldn’t help but feel peaceful and comforted by the bonds he had shared with his friends.

Even though they hadn’t actually confirmed Mariko Hyodo’s change of heart, it was times like these that gave him the reassurance that everything would be okay.

Chapter Text

The initial signs the day after they had changed Mariko Hyodo’s heart were certainly promising. The people of Sapporo were questioning the mayor’s high approval rating, why they wanted to vote for Hyodo in the first place, and were circulating rumors about how the mayor had been abusing her staff.

In other words, they were thinking for themselves, which was exactly the objective that the Phantom Thieves had been aiming for in the first place.

“Well,” Ryuji remarked, “everyone seems pretty normal to me.”

“Their fanatical support for Mariko Hyodo appears to have died down,” Yusuke declared.

“I’m glad they’re back to their senses,” Makoto commented firmly. “What a drastic change. Just goes to show how powerful a Monarch’s influence can be.”

Footsteps approached them, and everyone looked up to see Ann racing towards. “Hey, guess what?” she called out. “Hyodo-san’s holding a press conference right now!”

The Thieves took out their phones to watch the press conference in question. Mariko Hyodo was sitting in front of a long table with countless microphones placed on it, all pointed towards her. She looked both sorrowful and remorseful, an expression similar to the other Monarchs after their changes of heart. “Thank you all for taking your time to gather here today,” Mariko Hyodo greeted the public solemnly. “Actually, there’s been something I’ve been meaning to share with everyone.”

Mariko Hyodo took a deep breath. “As of today, I will be resigning from office. I do not intend to seek re-election either,” she declared, standing up from the chair and bowing before continuing. “During my time as mayor, I’ve betrayed all of your trust,” she confessed. “You may think of me as a mayor who’s earned your trust, but in truth, there is plenty that I’m ashamed of. The snow sculpture that collapsed was built by an unscrupulous company that bribed one of my staff. In spite of my responsibility, I neglected to see the finer details…and went ahead with the construction. As a result, the sculpture ended up collapsing, and a girl’s precious life was lost.”

“Mari-san…” Haru murmured sympathetically, but the mayor wasn’t done.

“Furthermore,” Mariko continued her confession, “I elected to cover up the truth, all so I could save my position. I’ve been garnering votes I didn’t deserve in order to stay on as mayor…” she bowed her head in guilt. “I betrayed everyone to protect myself…and covered it up by allowing more wrongdoing. I am among the guilty. That little girl…she died because of me.”

She let out another huge sigh…before hardening her eyes with resolve. “As such, I will have the police reinvestigate the case and offer my full assistance. And again, I will drop out of the election and forfeit my position as mayor.” She bowed once again, as the press conference ended.

“It seems Hyodo-san’s made up her mind,” Makoto remarked.

“I wonder if she’ll be arrested…” Haru murmured sadly.

“Good question…I don’t know,” Makoto admitted.

“Hyodo was afraid that if she wasn’t the mayor, she couldn’t protect her people,” Mona commented morosely.

“She could have told the truth and made her underling take the blame,” Yusuke pointed out. “But she was concerned about other evils potentially lurking in the shadows…”

“I think this turned out for the best,” Haru decided. “Mari-san wouldn’t have wanted to hide her mistake forever.”

“Something’s bothering me about all this, though,” Ren muttered. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that her change of heart went through and that she’s doing the right thing. But Haru told Mariko’s Shadow to stand up and start over, but that press conference made it sound like she’s just…giving up,” he finished with a frown.

“Now that you mention it…” Ann frowned. “How IS she going to start over, if it’s not by being the mayor of Sapporo?”

Before anybody could answer the question, Sophia interrupted them with a call from Zenkichi. “Hey,” the officer greeted them, “you see Hyodo’s press conference?”

“Yeah, we heard it, all right,” Ren affirmed. “The change of heart went through.”

“Yep, you all did a bang-up job,” Zenkichi congratulated them. “Really can’t thank you enough. They plan on bringing Hyodo in as a key witness regarding the accident. I knew you’d want to analyze her phone, too. So I pulled a few strings, and now I’m her personal chauffeur…at least as far as the station.”

“Yeah, that would be good,” Ren replied. “If this is like the other Monarchs, I don’t really expect to see anything in Hyodo’s phone beyond what we already know, but we’ve still gotta do our due diligence.”

“We’re on the same page, then,” Zenkichi answered back with a smile. “If you want, I can open up some time for you to talk to her. Just tell me where you wanna meet.”

As it turned out, they didn’t need to try very hard to locate Hyodo or arrange a time with her at all…because she was already at the memorial where Kaho died, giving her own silent prayer for the girl. “I’m sorry…” Mariko murmured sorrowfully. “How could you ever forgive me, Kaho-chan…”

The Thieves approached her from behind, with Haru being the first to greet her. “Mari-san…”

Mariko got up and turned around to face her. “Haru-chan…” she began, her voice filled with regret. “Listen, there was something wrong with me. It’s like I was in a terrible dream. I don’t know when it was that my heart grew so cold.”

“Probably when you became a Monarch,” Ren thought. “Everything seems to have spiraled out of control from that point, both for you and the other Monarchs whose hearts we’ve already changed.”

“…but after what you told me, I remembered who I really was inside,” Mariko continued. “I wanted to protect this city and everyone in as if they were my own family…I remembered that feeling. Thanks to you, I’ve finally been able to confront myself. And I realized that I was doing a horrible disservice to that girl. I had lost sight of reality and begun acting self-righteous. Nothing I did was for her sake,” she confessed tearfully.

“But Mari-san,” Haru tried to comfort her, “you were doing the best you could.”

“No,” Mariko cut her off. “It’s the truth. Had I not realized my mistake, I would have likely continued to hurt even more people. But that’s not what Kaho-chan would want.” She bowed her head towards Haru. “So let me say thank you, Haru-chan. Thank you for saving this city…for saving my family!”

Haru walked up to Mariko and hugged her, tears falling out of both of their eyes as the rest of the Phantom Thieves watched sympathetically.

“Your father’s recent passing must have caused you so much turmoil…” Mariko murmured as she returned the hug. “I’m sorry I added to it.” A smile returned to her face for the first time. “But if there’s anything I can do for you in the future…any way I can be there…just ask me. I say this because you’re a precious part of my family too.”

“Thank you so much, Mari-san!” Haru gushed.

“I’m happy for you, Haru,” Makoto smiled at the sight.

“It’s good that the two of you got some closure in the end,” Ren commented as Sophia silently studied the scene from her phone.

Haru reluctantly broke the hug and Mariko stepped away from the memorial. “I suppose I must get going,” Mariko acknowledged. “Though I am concerned about the state of affairs I’ve left our city in…I’ll leave it up to my successor. An arrogant wretch like me has no place being the mayor.”

“Does that mean you won’t be involved in politics anymore?” Makoto wondered.

“Yes,” Mariko confirmed, “I’m too ashamed to show my face in public. And at my age, there are plenty of younger folks who can…”

“…mayor…” a soft female voice interrupted her. Mariko turned around, and her eyes widened as she realized who had called out to her.

“You’re…” she gasped, recognizing Kaho’s grieving mother.

“Ahhhh, shit…” Ren muttered underneath his breath. He remembered clearly from the Trauma Cell the agonized rage in the mother’s voice when she had first confronted Hyodo about her daughter’s death. He didn’t know what exactly Kaho’s mother was going to say to Hyodo after that press conference, but he doubted it was going to be pleasant.

“I saw the news,” Kaho’s mother continued. “So you’re resigning. And you’re leaving politics for good?”

“Here it comes,” Ren thought, bracing himself.

“That’s right,” Mariko affirmed. “I’ve promised to step down and never…”

The outburst from Kaho’s mother came…but it wasn’t anything like what Ren and the other Phantom Thieves had expected. “You can’t be serious!” Kaho’s mother shouted.

Everyone’s eyes widened. “Huh???” Ren’s thoughts ground to a jarring halt.

“Resigning won’t bring her back,” Kaho’s mother continued fervently. “In fact, it won’t change a thing! Kaho...nothing can change what happened to my daughter!”

“Hey, uh…” Ryuji spoke up quietly. “Shouldn’t we get in there?”

“Hold on a sec,” Ren raised his index finger in a “one second” gesture.

“So you can’t!” Kaho’s mother pleaded. “You can’t just run away! You need to start over and become our mayor again! When I was weeping with rage and grief…you stood there and cried with me. Instead of running away, you were there when I needed someone the most! I know your character more than anyone!”

“Ma’am…” Hyodo murmured, bowing her head to her. “Thank you for sharing your heart with me. Then I promise, to both you and your daughter…I will stand back up and become your mayor again!” she vowed.

“Mari-san!” Haru gasped.

“Well said,” Ren finally chose this time to step forward, attracting both women’s attentions to him. “Mayor Hyodo,” he addressed her. “I am an outsider to this city. I don’t claim to understand the inner workings of Sapporo’s politics. I’ve seen some of the failings that you admitted to in your press conference firsthand. And while I may not have had the greatest first impression of you based on our earlier meetings…I can say with absolute certainty that not many politicians I’ve seen would have had the courage to confront their own shortcomings and shown the honesty and accountability you displayed in that press conference. For that alone, you have my respect.” He smiled. “And if this woman believes that you deserve to be mayor despite your flaws, then I wish you nothing but success in your efforts to start over and become a worthy mayor to Sapporo.”

“I am in full agreement with this young man, mayor,” Kaho’s mother insisted. “Your character is not perfect, but it is good. I trust you far more than I would trust any other candidate. And I am willing to speak to the entire city of Sapporo to make my support loud and clear.”

“Then I am truly humbled by your support, ma’am, and I welcome it with open arms,” Mariko Hyodo accepted. “I could do no less for one who is willing to believe in me so fervently, despite suffering because of my failings more than any other.” She looked down. “If only I knew where to start…”

“May I suggest an open and honest conversation about what led to the accident, from your perspective?” Ren suggested. Of course, he and the other Thieves already knew the details, but there was no realistic way for him to know the full story from an outsider’s perspective. “I apologize if this opens any old wounds, but your confession sounded like it was one of your staff who accepted a bribe from a shady company without your knowledge. To me, that sounds like he and the company are the main people to blame. And while his actions might’ve ultimately fallen under your responsibility, from what you’ve said, I don’t consider you guilty of anything more than negligence and being a poor judge of character for your staff.”

“I think that would be an excellent place to start, mayor,” Kaho’s mother agreed. “I need to know exactly what happened so that I know how to properly defend your character against your opponents when the mayoral race comes. And even if I didn’t…I owe it to Kaho to learn the full truth.”

“Then we will have that conversation as soon as I finish my business with the police,” Mariko vowed, before turning to Ren. “Thank you very much for your input, sir. I can only apologize for the unsightly and unethical behavior I displayed in front of you and Haru-chan.” She gave him a curious look. “May I ask your relation to Haru-chan?” she inquired. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen the two of you apart from each other at any point during your stay in Sapporo.”

“Oh!” Haru blinked, before giving Mariko a joyful smile. “Mari-san, this is Ren Amamiya-kun. He is nothing less than my adoring boyfriend!”

“Boyfriend!” Mariko repeated with a gasp, before returning the smile with a delighted expression of her own. “How wonderful for you, Haru-chan! I was wondering if you were going to find someone to share your life with.” She studied Ren briefly and approvingly. “He appears to be a kind, intelligent, and mature young man from what I can tell. I think you’ve made an excellent choice.”

“Thank you, Mari-san,” Haru giggled cheerfully. “Ren-kun has been nothing short of wonderful to me ever since we agreed to share our lives and our love with each other.”

“I would expect nothing less,” Mariko declared, before turning to Ren and giving him a fierce glare. “Young man, as a close friend of Haru-chan’s, I demand that you always give her the love and adoration that she deserves, until the end of your days,” she ordered, with all the authority that she had displayed as the mayor of Sapporo.

“Haru will always have my unconditional love and support, now and forever,” Ren swore with utmost seriousness.

Mariko smiled. “Then may you both experience nothing but true happiness going forward,” she answered. She turned back to Kaho’s mother to talk further as Ren and Haru walked back to the rest of the Thieves.

“Damn, Ren!” Ryuji whistled with a grin. “You got the Mayoral Seal of Approval to be Haru’s boyfriend!”

Ann laughed. “That might as well make it official, right?”

“Yeah,” Ren chuckled. “And more importantly, Mayor Hyodo finally found that spark to start over. Might’ve needed a little extra help, but she got there eventually.”

“I have faith in Mari-san!” Haru declared firmly. “She will rise above this, I’m certain of it!”

Before Ren could say anything else, Sophia pinged from his phone. “Hey…Ren?” Her tone sounded confused and a little forlorn. “I don’t get it. I know this is a sad moment. Everyone is crying. But it also feels warm and kind. How would you describe this?”

Ren didn’t need any more than a few seconds to answer. “It’s happiness.”

“I see,” Sophia acknowledged. “So that’s why Haru helped Hyodo. To transform sadness into happiness. Recording valuable data. Sophia has learned happiness.”

“And it’s one of the most important emotions you can learn as humanity’s companion,” Ren commented as they walked away from the scene. “It’s one that really makes life worth living.”

With Mariko Hyodo’s heart successfully changed, the Thieves spent the rest of the day in Sapporo relaxing. In celebration, Ren made a few more meals both for the Thieves to enjoy and as extra Metaverse resources, which everyone was very happy about. As night fell, Sophia recommended that Ren ride the Ferris Wheel in Suzushino, a suggestion that Ren was more than happy to accept.

“Ooh, that’s a good idea!” Mona exclaimed. “You should go invite someone to come along!”

Ren smirked. “You’re right. Go ahead and take a wild guess who I’m gonna ask.” Mona only snickered in response as Ren went searching for Haru, finding her on the street corner. “Miss Okumura,” he asked in a suave tone, “may I ask you to join me on the Ferris Wheel tonight?”

“Oh, I would love to!” Haru eagerly and graciously accepted. “The one we saw in Suzushino, right?”

“That’s the one!” Ren affirmed with a grin. Haru needed no further encouragement, and the couple went off to the Ferris Wheel. Once they were there, he looked down at Morgana. “Beat it,” he ordered. “This is just for the two of us, and I’m not bringing a third wheel.”

Morgana rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, enjoy your ride,” he drawled in a wry tone as he got out of Ren’s backpack and walked away to join some of the other Thieves. With just the two of them left, Ren guided Haru onto the next available Ferris Wheel cart, and the wheel took them up to see the city of Sapporo from an aerial view.

“Wow!” Haru gushed. “Look at this view! It’s so wonderful!”

“Yeah, this city looks a lot better at night when there isn’t a giant layer of snow and ice covering it,” Ren commented dryly.

Haru giggled. “It’s somewhat strange, riding a Ferris Wheel in the middle of a city like this,” she remarked. The two fell silent, taking a few moments to just simultaneously enjoy the view and each other’s presence at the same time. “Thank you for everything, including saving Mari-san, Ren-kun,” she murmured gratefully. “She’s so important to me, so I had to thank you for what you did.”

“But of course,” Ren answered without hesitation. “You’ve had to deal with enough in your life by yourself, and it’s my duty as your boyfriend to step in and help you when you need it.” He smirked. “Although…I wouldn’t mind a free coffee from your shop once you get that opened eventually.”

Haru laughed. “I’m nowhere near as talented as you are, but I’ll still brew you the best cup I can,” she promised.

Ren grinned. “Good enough for me,” he replied.

They spent a few more seconds silently enjoying the view. “Say, did you know…” Haru broke the silence as a thought just occurred to her, “this Ferris Wheel’s comprised of red gondolas, but there is a single yellow one. Apparently, if you manage to get that one, they say that you’ll meet your true love. Isn’t that romantic?” she asked.

Ren blinked. “Oh, wow…I didn’t hear anything like that around here before we went on,” he remarked.

“Hmm…what colored gondola did we get on?” Haru asked with a sudden blush on her face.

Ren tried to jog his memory of the outside of the Ferris Wheel. “…well shit, I don’t actually remember,” he finally admitted. “I wasn’t really paying attention.”

“Yes, I must admit, I didn’t get a good look either,” Haru reluctantly admitted. “I should’ve been paying attention…”

“But honestly, who gives a shit?” Ren interrupted with a grin. “We already know we’re in love with each other. We’ve already gone on dates before. Heck, you took a several-hour ride over to Inaba just to visit me. Our true love is already a done deal, set in stone. The color of the Ferris Wheel gondola is just a formality at this point, if even that. I mean, what, are we gonna break up because it ends up being red?” he asked in a deadpan tone.

Haru laughed at Ren’s joke. “Of course not, that would be ridiculous!” she acknowledged mirthfully. “Our love transcends a mere superstition. Although…that would make for a rather good scene for a comedy.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” Ren acknowledged. “But speaking of sealing the deal…I do think we’re going to be reaching the top of the Ferris Wheel soon. How do you feel about sharing a kiss once we reach the top?” he asked.

The words were spoken casually, but Haru could see the love and affection in Ren’s eyes. A love and affection that she fully reciprocated. “Of course, Ren-kun!” she agreed enthusiastically. And as the Ferris Wheel’s gondola reached its peak, the two shared a passionate kiss that lasted for several seconds. By the time they broke the kiss, their gondola had already started going back down, and the couple enjoyed the view of Sapporo as they were carried back down to the bottom. Once the attendant opened the door and they stepped out, Ren and Haru turned to look at the gondola they had spent the past few minutes in. “Hey, Haru!” he pointed at the gondola with a grin. “We nailed it!”

Haru giggled. “We certainly did, didn’t we?” she agreed as she laid eyes on the gondola. A gondola that was a brilliant yellow color.

“If we ever come back here again, we definitely need to make sure we try to get on this yellow gondola again,” Ren remarked as they walked away from the Ferris Wheel.

“It’s a date!” Haru agreed cheerfully. “I would most certainly love to come back in the future!”

The two walked back together to the camper, where the rest of the Phantom Thieves had already gathered. “Heeyyyyyyyy…” Ann greeted them with a smug grin and a sing-song voice. “Looks like someone went on a date on the Ferris Wheel together!”

Ren gave her an unimpressed look. “Yeah, we did,” he replied in a straightforward and stoic tone. “What about it?”

Ann pouted. “Aww, come on! You’re supposed to act all flustered and embarrassed! You’re not being any fun!”

Haru giggled. “Ren-kun figured that you might try to call us out on our date,” she admitted, before declaring proudly, “I will not let you all turn me into a blushing mess a second time today!”

Ryuji snapped his fingers. “Aww, nuts. Guess your plan didn’t work, Ann.”

Futaba snickered. “Wheh-heh-heh…give it time, I’m sure we’ll find a way eventually.”

“Aww, young love…” a male voice interrupted them, and everyone turned to see Zenkichi behind them, not even bothering to hide his amusement. “Enjoy it while it lasts, kids.”

“Hey there, Gramps,” Ren greeted him without missing a beat, causing the inspector to roll his eyes at the nickname. “You’re back from talking with Hyodo?”

“Yeah,” Zenkichi answered, “but nothing new came out of it. All she explained is she could control whoever added her as a friend on EMMA.”

Ren sighed. “I was pretty much expecting that to be the case, as much as I was hoping it wasn’t,” he acknowledged. “So we’re back to square one, huh?”

“Come on, don’t give me that look!” Zenkichi replied as he took out Hyodo’s cell phone. “At least I got her smartphone, right?” Futaba took it and brought it into the camper, with the rest of the Thieves following. After a few minutes of investigation, she more or less confirmed the same details that they had found with the other phones.

“After reviewing the facts, I’ve just about confirmed it,” Morgana declared after they spent a few minutes discussing. “Each of these so-called incidents…I think they all stemmed from a mastermind.”

Zenkichi raised an eyebrow. “Oh? I’m curious as to why you think so.”

“Hyodo, Natsume, Alice…” Morgana spoke the names of the three Monarchs out loud. “All three were changing people’s hearts to do bad things, but deep down, none of them were truly evil. At the very least, they’re not the same as the rulers who distorted reality for their own sakes and ended up spawning Palaces.”

“I’ve been considering that as well,” Yusuke agreed. “Before Natsume lost sight of his writing, he was diligently working towards his dreams.”

“Alice too,” Ann added somberly. “She was doing her very best to be a ray of light and hope for other people.”

“Mari-san was also striving for the betterment of everyone in Sapporo,” Haru pointed out.

“Right,” Morgana concluded. “They’re different than criminal scum like Kamoshida and Madarame, who acted only for their own benefit.”

“Okay…but how does a handful of not-so-evil Monarchs prove there’s a mastermind behind this?” Zenkichi questioned.

“The fact that Jails are fundamentally different from Palaces provides us a big clue,” Morgana answered. “For starters, Jails don’t have any Treasures for the taking. All we’ve found are people’s stolen Desires. That means, Monarchs don’t have twisted enough wills to reshape reality and form Treasures.”

“In other words, the Monarchs themselves aren’t the ones creating the Jails,” Ren pointed out. “They’re being created externally by someone else. Otherwise, we’d have seen Treasures in the Jails in addition to the people’s Desires.”

“And then there’s the locks on the birdcages,” Morgana continued. “In order to get to the Monarch, we’ve always had to unlock a door that denies us passage. I had thought this was just a security measure designed to protect the Monarch and the Desires held within…but if that were the case, why would traumatic memories the Monarch would rather erase be the key to unlocking it?”

“Given that these are cognitive worlds, maybe it means the Monarchs think their trauma will protect them?” Makoto suggested, but there was a hint of doubt in her tone.

She didn’t seem to be the only one who had problems with that theory. “I find that rather odd. If anything, I would think it’s the other way around,” Yusuke pointed out.

“Correct,” Morgana agreed. “What if it’s the other way around? Why might a door like that exist?” he questioned.

Ren snapped his fingers as a scowl appeared on his face. “To keep the Monarchs trapped within their own Jails,” he realized.

“Right,” Morgana concurred. “I think so too. What if that door isn’t to keep intruders out, but to trap Monarchs in?”

Haru’s eyes widened. “You mean they’re trapped?” she gasped.

“What the heck?” Ryuji spluttered. “I thought the Monarchs were the ones in charge.”

“Think about it,” Morgana urged. “What would happen if a Monarch tried leaving their cage?”

“They’d touch the door,” Ann answered, realization settling in her shocked eyes. “And then hear the voices of their trauma.”

“Exactly,” Morgana affirmed. “They’ll remember what made them so warped in the first place, and stick to their guns as a Monarch. And thus, the cycle continues unbroken. The Monarchs really are birds in a cage.”

“If that’s true, and at this point I’m pretty sure it is, then this whole situation just became a lot more messed up,” Ren growled. “Because now it sounds like the Monarchs are themselves victims being puppeted by some outside force that is using their past traumas to brainwash them into doing what they want…which is stealing people’s Desires and spreading their own form of brainwashing to the greater public. That is fucked up,” he spat the last two words out.

“From that perspective, the Shadows protecting the keys inside the Trauma Cell hold a far more sinister purpose,” Yusuke realized. “They aren’t there to prevent the Monarch’s trauma from being discovered. They’re wardens guarding an elaborate system to ensure the Monarch’s imprisonment.”

“Let me get this straight,” Zenkichi chose this moment to interrupt. “You’re basically saying these Monarchs are being manipulated. And by virtue of that, there’s somebody doing the manipulating.”

“That’s what it’s looking like,” Ren affirmed with a frown. “And the fact that somebody’s been monitoring the phones of the Monarchs is not comforting in the slightest.”

“How’s Hyodo-san’s smartphone looking?” Ann asked Futaba.

“Nothing wrong with her phone or the EMMA app installed,” Futaba reported back. “But I did find traces of surveillance. I’ll bet it’s the same snooper we keeping running into, though I’m lost as to who it might be.”

“So this observer and this mastermind may just be one and the same,” Zenkichi realized. “Anyone have any guesses?”

“Our first suspect is Madicce,” Morgana answered. “The company in charge of EMMA. Since you can’t get into the Jails without EMMA, I can’t write it off as mere coincidence.”

“Madicce, huh?” Zenkichi sighed. “Too bad we can’t just storm their headquarters.”

“Y’mean the cops can’t actually do that?” Ryuji asked flippantly.

“Of course not!” Zenkichi retorted. “How could we even put out a warrant on them? By saying they go around turning people into Monarchs?”

Before anyone could answer, Sophia’s voice pinged from Ren’s phone. “Ren, you have a call from Ichinose!” Sophia reported.

“Hi there!” Ichinose greeted Ren cheerfully once he had picked up his phone. “Sorry for the lapse in communication. But I did turn up some info that I thought you guys might like to know!”

“Oh, hey Ichinose,” Ren returned the greeting in a cordial but otherwise stoic tone. “What’s up?”

“So I’ve been looking into EMMA all this time,” Ichinose explained, “and I still have yet to find any differences between her past and present versions. I mean, this is state-of-the-art tech. Not something just anybody could pry open and take a look inside…”

“Okay, makes sense,” Ren acknowledged. “We already know how complicated EMMA is just by virtue of the Jails being a thing.”

“I know, right?” Ichinose replied enthusiastically. “But then I took a peek at EMMA’s changelog…and that’s where things got interesting. It seems EMMA was transported to Okinawa at some point after I sold her to Madicce.”

“Okinawa?” Ren repeated the name in confusion. “Why there? What’s so special about it?”

“Yes! Exactly!” Ichinose agreed excitedly. “Why was the first thing that popped into my head! So I dug around some more. And I found that off the coast of Okinawa, on the island of Kukojima…Madicce apparently has a research lab!”

Ren’s eyes widened. “Excuse me?”

“Oddly enough, its existence is unknown to the public,” Ichinose continued, “and when I called to ask for records, nothing came up. Basically, they’re running a secret research lab! How crazy is that?”

“I’m thinking we might have a possible new lead,” Ren answered, unable to stop his lips from twitching into a smirk.

“That’s right!” Ichinose agreed. “So if EMMA’s been altered in any way, I would think it had to have been done on that island.” Ren could hear the excited grin on the other end of the phone. “Well, guys? Wasn’t I a super-stellar source of information?”

“Yeah, this is a huge lead,” Ren affirmed. “Thanks for the help, Ichinose.”

“You just leave it to me!” Ichinose assured him. “I’ve become rather fond of investigating, actually. Welp, guess it’s bye for now, Phantom Thieves! Please regale me with tales of your adventure another time!”

Ren and Ichinose hung up their phone, and Ren reported what he had discovered about Madicce’s secret lab to the rest of the Phantom Thieves and Zenkichi. But to the Thieves, the revelation of the secret lab wasn’t as big of a deal as…

“Okinawa!?” Makoto gasped.

“Crystal-clear waters!?” Ann exclaimed.

“Shiisaa statues!?” Haru asked in disbelief.

“Juicy pineapples!?” Futaba gushed.

“Chisuko cookies!?” Yusuke shouted.

“Since we’re all jumping in on the Okinawa bandwagon…Okinawa soba!” Ren finished the bit with a dramatic flourish.

“Oooh, that too!” Ryuji eagerly agreed. “It’s that ramen-like thing, yeah!?”

Morgana groaned. “Guys…” he interrupted with audible irritation, “can you snap out of it?”

“Hmm…” Zenkichi stroked his chin pensively, “if it’s an unregistered facility, we could always say we’re conducting a field survey. That way, we could ensure their cooperation. We may even find proper evidence that could be used in court. It may well be worth going…” He frowned. “But Kukojima is a bit far from the Okinawa mainland…then I guess we’d have to go by plane.”

“Wait!” Futaba exclaimed. “What about our precious Feathermobile!? We’ve taken it all this way!”

“THAT’S what you’re naming this thing!?” Ryuji spluttered.

“Plus, you said it’d be dangerous using public transportation,” Haru pointed out.

“Even so, wouldn’t it be too complicated to try to reach Okinawa by car?” Yusuke wondered.

Before anybody could say anything, Zenkichi’s phone suddenly rang. “Sorry…gimme a sec,” he apologized as he answered the call. “Hey, what’s up? Yeah…yeah…” he frowned. “Of course I’m aware. But I also have a job to do, you know…hahaha…” he laughed weakly.

“Who’s he talkin’ to?” Ryuji whispered.

“I dunno,” Ren mumbled back quietly, “but something tells me they’re not another cop.”

“Why would I lie?” Zenkichi exclaimed, surprising them all. “I’m being honest, I swear. Of course I remember! Thing is, I’m a little…well…” The line immediately went dead. “Oh…” he groaned.

“…you got hung up on,” Futaba deadpanned.

“Okay, guys, change of plans!” Zenkichi declared. “Plane’s a no-go. We’re driving.”

“Wait, what?” Ren spluttered.

“Huh?” Ryuji’s jaw dropped.

“You mean we’re going all the way to Okinawa by car!?” Ann asked in disbelief.

“Heh heh…” Zenkichi chuckled weakly before explaining, “the thing is, I need to make a stop along the way. So we’ll be heading to Kyoto first.”

“Did you say Kyoto!?” Yusuke gasped.

“Kyoto? The heck?” Ren blinked. “What’s this all about?”

“Yeah,” Zenkichi answered with a grin that wasn’t convincing in the slightest…although Ren didn’t get the impression it was because the office was trying to stab them in the back, as ironic as that sounded. “I primarily work for the Kyoto Police Department. I thought it’d take a moment to catch up, share intel…y’know, cop stuff. After that, we head to Kobe; we can take a direct ferry to Okinawa from there. That ought to cut down on time.”

Makoto frowned. “But that’s still quite a distance…even to Kyoto.” Just the very sound of a drive that long sounded exhausting to her.

“Not to worry,” Zenkichi reassured her quickly. “I’ll do the driving.”

“You’re tagging along!?” Ryuji exclaimed.

“Wait, hold on,” Zenkichi suddenly backtracked as a thought just occurred to him. “Am I to believe that Nijima’s been doing all the driving? Okumura, I thought you already had your license!”

“I do have it…” Haru admitted reluctantly, “it’s just…I don’t have much experience behind the wheel.”

“Plus…” Makoto added uncertainly, “Haru’s driving is not exactly…uh…”

Ren raised an eyebrow. Once again, there was that same uncertainty and hesitation the last time they had brought up the possibility of Haru driving…

“Well, in any case, we’re taking off immediately,” Zenkichi declared.

“If we’re leaving from here, you’ll need to take the Hokuriku Expressway,” Sophia chimed in. “The estimated travel time will be…”

“…about 21 hours, give or take,” Zenkichi finished for her.

“Gramps is correct!” Sophia confirmed.

Everyone’s jaws dropped. “21 hours!?” Ryuji spluttered. “Are you nuts?”

Zenkichi only smirked in response. “You forget I’m an office of the law?” he answered cheekily. “We’re badass at driving.”

“What’s with him all of a sudden…” Ryuji mumbled quietly. “It’s like he lit a fire under his ass.”

“Ehhh, who cares?” Ren shrugged. “As long as he’s doing the driving, I’m not gonna complain. Better than Makoto trying to do it for that long, at any rate.”

“Fine by me!” Yusuke declared excitedly. “So long as I can visit Kyoto at last!”

Futaba rolled her eyes. “There goes Inari, revealing his true colors,” she commented dryly.

“Well then, sounds like we’ve got a plan!” Ren declared. “It’s off to Kyoto and then Okinawa!”

Chapter Text

Ren leaned back in the front seat as Zenkichi drove the RV. To the officer’s credit, he was driving very smoothly and with no signs of exhaustion. Makoto had joined the rest of the Phantom Thieves in the back, and she clearly appreciated the much-needed break after having done all the driving up to this point. While everyone else had fallen asleep, Makoto had taken the opportunity to ask Zenkichi about what it was like being a police officer.

Zenkichi’s answer had been blunt and harsh. “Wouldn’t really recommend it myself. This job’s nothin’ but hell. Your hours are a mess, you get transferred all over the place…anything goes down at the scene, you get blamed.”

“That may be so,” Makoto acknowledged, “but my heart’s set on it. No matter how tough it may be…”

“Well, whatever you do, we have your back,” Ren promised. “I look forward to the day that you join my exclusive list of police officers who don’t suck.”

Makoto laughed lightly. “Thank you, Ren. I would be honored to join that list.”

“Am I on that list?” Zenkichi asked hopefully.

“For now,” Ren decided after a few seconds of thought. “Whether you STAY on that list or not depends on how this case goes.”

“Eh, fair enough,” Zenkichi acknowledged, before redirecting his words towards Makoto. “If your heart’s set, then do what you gotta do. But as your future senior, I’ll say this. The harder you work, the more you wind up putting the people in your life on the backburner. Criminals don’t care about your schedule. Tragedies don’t care. You’ll barely see your own home. Sit on that for a bit. Then, decide if the force is right for you.”

“Well, I’m already quite aware,” Makoto assured him. “And speaking of, don’t you have any family waiting for you at home?”

Zenkichi let out a humorless, joyless laugh. “Heh, good question.”

“You’ve got some trouble going on at home?” Ren asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You could say that,” Zenkichi answered dryly. “Let’s just say, you’ve gotta think about yourself before you can worry about anyone else.”

“I…suppose that’s true,” Makoto acknowledged.

“Hmm?” Zenkichi raised an eyebrow. “What’s up now?”

“You just reminded me of my father, is all,” Makoto answered with a twinge of nostalgia. “He was an officer too. Unfortunately, he lost his life on duty.”

“I see,” Zenkichi answered noncommittally.

“He took his job a lot more seriously than you seem to,” Makoto continued, “but when you boil it down, you two are actually quite similar.”

Zenkichi chuckled. “Heh…you shouldn’t diss your father so badly, comparing him to me,” he joked, before his face turned more serious. “Hey, Nijima? When you were little, your old man probably wasn’t home often either, was he? How’d you feel about that?”

Makoto blinked. “Huh? Ah, well…” she smiled. “In retrospect, I’m very proud. My father was an officer who acted on his beliefs…all the way to the end. He taught me that his duty was to keep people from being hurt. It may just be his influence on me, but I think becoming an officer is still an admirable path in life.”

“Assuming, of course, that you stay true to the path of justice and nobility,” Ren interjected. “Unfortunately, I can say from personal experience that that is a VERY big if.”

“Gotta agree with Ren here,” Zenkichi agreed morosely. “If only that were always true. Our ability to help is restrained. The shrewder and more malicious the target, the less we can actually serve them justice. Held back by superiors, held back by the red tape, held back by all sorts of laws…the only thing the police do is obey orders…even when they involve total injustice or an absence of human logic. Basically, the cops I see every day are nothing but a bunch of spineless dogs…and that includes when I’m lookin’ in the mirror.”

“I can relate to that,” Ren commented.

Zenkichi scoffed. “Oh, thanks a lot for the vote of confidence, kid,” he deadpanned.

“Oh, that’s actually not what I meant,” Ren corrected himself. “See, I know someone back home in Inaba. A…family friend, for lack of a better term. He’s a police officer too, and he has a daughter who I’m friends with.”

Zenkichi noticeably stiffened at the word daughter, which Ren picked up. “Anyways, he’s pretty content with his life now, but back in 2011…there was a string of disappearances and murders in 2011. That case ended up spreading through the better part of 10 months before the culprit was finally caught, and he got wrapped up in that case in addition to the normal crime already going on. And he was held back too…although in his case, it was because the crimes were being committed by supernatural means similar to, but not quite the same as the Jails.”

“You mean like…cognitive worlds, or whatever the heck you called them?” Zenkichi asked.

“In the interest of keeping things simple, yeah,” Ren answered. “He wasn’t a bad person or even a bad cop, but a lot of the time he had to go out and work, leaving his daughter at home. I like him and I know how much he loves his daughter, but I can’t really call him a good parent.”

Zenkichi grimaced, further confirming Ren’s suspicions that this was a situation that he was VERY familiar with. “How bad was it?” he asked.

“Let me put it this way,” Ren answered wryly. “She knew how to cook breakfast when she was six.”

Both Makoto and Zenkichi visibly winced. “That’s…not good,” was all that Makoto could think to say in response.

“I’d give that other guy shit over this, but I’m honestly in no position whatsoever to talk,” Zenkichi admitted. “How did his daughter feel about it?” he asked with an intensity in his voice that Ren couldn’t recall hearing before.

Ren thought back to his interactions with the Dojimas all the way back in 2011. “She was more…sad…about the whole thing, than anything else,” Ren answered carefully. “She always tried to keep her spirits up around me and everyone else, but even back then, I could tell that her Dad constantly not being around was eating away at her. It’s honestly lucky that her cousin was visiting that year, because he filled up the hole in their home that her father couldn’t.”

“If only there was someone I could rely on to take care of my daughter while I’m out of the house,” Zenkichi thought morosely. Out loud, he asked, “how’d that story end?”

Ren smiled. “Honestly? I think that cousin might’ve ended up saving the entire family. I don’t know the details since I don’t live in their house, but the cousin ended up bringing them together and the daughter learned how to appreciate her father more by the time the murder mystery wrapped up. He makes a point of spending a lot more time with his daughter nowadays, and as far as I can tell they’re a perfectly happy family as far as I can tell.”

He elected not to tell Zenkichi about Nanako’s kidnapping. That particular aspect of the situation probably wouldn’t apply to Zenkichi’s own family, and he didn’t want to give off the impression that a daughter getting kidnapped and nearly killed would be the only way to bring her and her father together.

“Well, I’m glad that your friends over in your hometown had a happy ending,” Zenkichi answered. His words were honest, but Ren could hear a twinge of jealousy in his voice. “Actually, Nijima, that’s more in line with what I wanted to ask. How did you feel about your dad rarely being at home when you were a kid?”

“Oh, when I was younger? I did understand that it was part of his job, but…” Makoto sighed. “I do remember missing him, still. But at least I always had my sister with me.”

“I see,” Zenkichi acknowledged. “Sorry to bother you guys with all that. You guys had better get to sleep already. If we run into trouble while you’re all too tired, I’m the one who’ll be in real deep shit.”

“Yes, I should definitely get as much sleep as I can get,” Makoto recognized.

“Sounds good, Zenkichi,” Ren acknowledged with a nod. “This was definitely an interesting talk. If you want to talk more tomorrow, just let me know. I don’t mind.”

Zenkichi nodded as the two teens got into more comfortable positions to sleep. They still had a long drive ahead of them, after all.

The Next Day, 8/14 at Noon…

Zenkichi was continuing to drive the RV with no signs of stopping, and while he did look a bit more tired than yesterday, he still looked like he had plenty of energy left. Which was more than Ren could say for the rest of the Phantom Thieves…

“I slept so much that even sleep’s boring now!” Futaba complained. “What dooooooo…?”

“Well, is anyone feeling peckish yet?” Haru wondered. “Although I suppose we’ve nearly reached Kyoto…”

“C’mon, Ryuji, make us laugh!” Ann requested with a grin on her face.

“Don’t tell me to perform for you!” Ryuji retorted as he threw his hands up into the air. “I ain’t some comedian!”

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by a ringing phone. “Shit!” Zenkichi cursed under his breath. “Not now…”

“Want me to answer it for you?” Ren asked, pretty sure that he knew who it was.

“Uhm…well, I guess there’s no reason not to,” Zenkichi answered reluctantly. “Go ahead. Make it quick, though. Just say that I’m driving, and that I’ll call back later.”

Ren glanced down at the caller ID, which was listed as an “Akane.” “Okay,” he thought, “I know who this is for sure now.” He answered the call and raised the phone up to his head.

“Hello?” A girl’s voice called out to him with a simmering anger in her tone. “It’s way past noon. Don’t tell me you forgot what day it is. We were supposed to visit Mom’s grave together.”

“Hi,” Ren answered. “Sorry to hear that.”

“Huh?” Akane now sounded confused more than anything. “Who is this? Please give him his phone back.”

“Your father’s currently driving home to Kyoto as fast as possible,” Ren tried to placate her. “I’m answering on his behalf.”

“Driving?” Akane sighed in irritation. “Okay…I guess that makes sense.”

 “What is it?” Ann called from the back. “Who’s calling?”

“Is it some kind of emergency?” Haru wondered.

“Why don’tcha just pull over, Gramps?” Futaba asked.

“Do I hear a bunch of girls with you?” Akane asked, her anger flaring. “What an asshole! You’re just out partying right now, aren’t you!?”

Ryuji cringed. “Oof, she sounds pissed.”

“That is not even remotely close to the truth,” Ren answered as Zenkichi groaned.

At this point, it didn’t sound like Akane even cared. “You really are the worst!” she shouted. “Don’t bother coming home again! You don’t even deserve to visit Mom’s grave!” The phone hung up.

“Umm…I don’t know the details, but is everything all right?” Makoto wondered.

“She clearly got the wrong impression,” Ren deadpanned, “and at this point, I’m pretty sure I know who that is.”

“Yeah…” Zenkichi answered unconvincingly. “Sorry about that…just forget it.”

“So, who was that, anyway?” Futaba asked.

“My daughter…” Zenkichi admitted reluctantly. Everyone stared at him with shocked expressions…except for Ren.

“Yeah, I kinda figured as much last night when we were talking,” Ren acknowledged. “I just didn’t want to put you on the spot about it…for all the good that did in the end,” he added dryly.

“Daughter?” Futaba exclaimed in disbelief. “YOU have one!?”

“Gah, dammit!” Zenkichi growled. “Sorry, time to floor it…hang onto your seats, kids!”

“Ah, shit…” was the only thing Ren had time to say as Zenkichi accelerated the RV to Kyoto. Even with the increased speed, they didn’t arrive at the city until the evening hours. “Okay, we’re in Kyoto city limits, is this good?” Zenkichi blabbered. “I really have to go. Just park this somewhere and check out the temples or something, I’ll be in touch tomorrow.”

“Yeah, yeah, dude, get the fuck out of here, go!” Ren urged just as quickly, surprising everyone again.

Zenkichi nodded his thanks to Ren, not even caring about the curse word as he practically jumped out of the RV, leaving the Phantom Thieves alone.

“You just let him go, Ren?” Makoto asked in disbelief. “We didn’t even get to ask him where we could stay overnight!”

“What in the heck?” Futaba exclaimed.

“Trust me when I say he needed to get the hell out of here as soon as possible,” Ren answered firmly. “Also, Sophia can just find somewhere for us to stay anyway like she always does, so who even gives a shit?”

“He’s been in quite the state since that phone call earlier,” Yusuke pointed out.

“Maybe plans to keep, or somethin’?” Ryuji guessed.

“I know what’s going on,” Ren answered with a sigh. “Let’s just say that Gramps reminds me of someone I’m close to back home…and his situation is eerily similar to theirs. Although it sounds like Zenkichi is in more of a shitshow than the other guy, so…”

“Based on my deductions, today seems to be the day Zenkichi’s wife passed away,” Sophia observed. “He is due at her grave to pay respects.”

Except for Ren, everyone’s eyes widened in shock at this revelation. “Zenkichi-san’s wife passed away?” Haru asked in a small voice.

Yusuke sighed. “That’s why his daughter demanded to know where he was,” he realized.

Morgana frowned. “Zenkichi…” he murmured sympathetically, “he could’ve just told us what was going on!”

“Also…” Ann realized with a frown, “wasn’t the way she was talking to him, like…really bad? Especially for today?”

“She was enraged by the sound of young female voices,” Sophia pointed out. “She surmised that Zenkichi was just out partying. But that is not an accurate assessment.”

“Oof,” Futaba groaned. “Talk about getting the wrong idea.”

Haru gasped. “That’s terrible! We need to go straighten things out with her right away!”

“I’m with you there,” Ren agreed. “Is there a cemetery nearby? I don’t want to wait around here doing fuck all if I can stop the situation from degrading any further than it already has.”

“I have found only one cemetery in the vicinity,” Sophia reported. “He will be there.”

 “Great,” Ren had already unbuckled his seatbelt and was practically jumping out the door. “Let’s get going. Now.”

Meanwhile, at the Cemetery…

Zenkichi raced over to his wife’s gravestone as fast as his legs could carry him, where his daughter was already waiting. He hunched forward onto his knees, gasping for breath. “Sorry…I’m late…” he gasped out.

Akane barely bothered to acknowledge her father’s presence.

“Uh, Akane?”

“I’m not here for excuses,” Akane growled. “Go have fun with your girls. Good-bye.”

“No, no!” Zenkichi spluttered. “You don’t understand! I’m on the job right now!”

“Do not come near me again,” Akane snarled. “Got it? Can’t even catch mom’s killer.”

“…” Zenkichi couldn’t find the words to say.

“Can’t even look your daughter in the eye?” Akane asked with a scowl. “Of course! You refuse to face up to anything. The way I see it, you’re no father to me.”

“Uh, well…you know…” Zenkichi stammered.

A short distance away, the Phantom Thieves could only watch in uncomfortable silence.

“What do we even do!?” Futaba whispered frantically. “We really crashed that ship…”

“She’s really eviscerating him…” Morgana mumbled.

Makoto winced. “This whole thing is entirely our fault. We’re the ones who should explain everything.”

“Yeah, fuck it, we’re intervening right now before this shit goes even further south,” Ren decided. Together, they walked up to where Zenkichi and Akane were facing off against each other.

“Um, um, hang on a second? Please?” Ann interrupted desperately.

“You must be the girl who I talked to over the phone. Akane, right?” Ren asked, forcing himself to keep his nerves cool. “Like I said before, Zenkichi partying with a bunch of women wasn’t even remotely close to the truth. This is all just a giant misunderstanding.”

“What the…” Zenkichi turned around, eyes wide with disbelief. “YOU guys! What’re you doing here!?”

“Saving your ass is what we’re doing,” Ren answered without missing a beat.

Akane blinked in confusion. “Who…are you?” she wondered.

“We’re helping your father out,” Ren explained. “He’s investigating the changes of heart that have been going on all over the country, and we’ve been helping him deal with the mess they’ve been causing. We’re also his ride here.”

“Ooookay, and…what do you want?” Akane asked in confusion.

“She’s totally suspicious of us,” Futaba mumbled. “I would be too, but…”

“Sorry to barge in on this, but please, we have to tell you something first!” Haru pleaded.

“Why did you come here!?” Zenkichi exclaimed. “I told you, wait until tomorrow!”

“Well, we are the ones responsible for upsetting your daughter,” Yusuke pointed out.

“And we’re here to prove that you weren’t just screwing around today,” Ren added.

Makoto decided to address Akane directly. “Akane-chan, right? We’re working a case together, so we were all traveling as a group until he ran off to meet you. Since your father volunteered to handle the driving, Ren answered the phone instead.”

“Please give him some slack,” Ren added. “He drove 21 hours from Sapporo just so he could try to get to the cemetery as quickly as possible.”

Akane blinked. “So, when I talked to you…”

“That’s right!” Haru answered encouragingly. “He was driving us all to Kyoto. We’re so sorry we upset you,” she apologized.

“Oh, uh…I see,” Akane replied uncertainly…but her anger seemed to have dissipated or at the very least toned down significantly, which Ren took as a win. “In that case, please excuse my awful behavior,” she apologized bashfully. “I’m sorry for jumping the gun and making a scene like that.”

“Eh, don’t sweat it,” Ren brushed aside the apology. “I’ve seen way worse.”

“Whoa, she’s so well-behaved!” Futaba exclaimed. “She’s already more mature than Ryuji!”

“Shuddup!” Ryuji retorted. “But for real, you don’t seem like you’d be HIS kid.”

“YOU shuddup!” Zenkichi exclaimed.

Ann decided to redirect the conversation back on track. “So, Akane-chan…you and your dad made a promise about today, right?” she asked.

“We are so sorry he got here late,” Makoto apologized. “That’s totally our fault, too.”

“Oh no, it’s…it’s fine…” Akane mumbled.

“Yeah, I’m sorry too,” Zenkichi apologized as he turned back to his daughter. “I promise, I really did remember it was today…it’s just, the case has been dragging us all over the place, and…heheh.”

“What’s so funny?” Akane asked with a glower, although thankfully it didn’t seem as harsh as her previous expressions.

“Hrgh...well, uh…” Zenkichi mumbled.

“Also, you told me none of this,” Akane pointed out. “Couldn’t you have simply explained all of this to me before today?”

“She’s ripping into him at an adult level,” Futaba muttered out of the corner of her mouth.

“To think she’s so cold to her father on such a day,” Yusuke sighed.

“This was all a last-minute arrangement,” Ren explained calmly. “And besides, the police can’t talk about active cases. Especially a case as high profile as this.”

“That’s right,” Makoto agreed. “In the force, any information about a case that leaks to the public could ruin all our hard work.”

“C’mon,” Ryuji pleaded, “just give him some slack.”

“Ryuji!” Ann scolded, but this time Ryuji would not be silenced.

“Sure, I don’t got a right to talk, considerin’ all the hell I put my own mom through,” Ryuji continued, “but he’s taking care of you, right? So don’t go bitin’ his head off over this.”

“Yeah,” Futaba agreed. “If I did that to Sojiro? It’d probably take him the better part of the year to recover.”

“If you did that to Sojiro, I’d leak the strategies for every video game you play on the Internet for an entire year,” Ren growled.

“I mean…” Akane’s expression turned conflicted, but her tone did turn softer, “it’s not like...”

“Umm…we’re not trying to pile on you, though,” Haru added softly. “I’m sure you have your own reasons for what you said.”

“But his delay really was because of work,” Makoto finished. “Please, at least don’t blame him for that.”

“Yeah, Zenkichi didn’t do anything wrong here,” Ren concluded. “This one’s on us.”

“…fine,” Akane sighed. “I understand.”

Makoto breathed a sigh of relief and closed her eyes. “Thank you, Akane-chan.”

“We especially regret causing you trouble on such an important day,” Yusuke apologized.

“May we pay our respects as well?” Makoto asked.

“Sure,” Akane granted.

“Guys…” Zenkichi turned around to face the Thieves. “Uh…thanks.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Morgana reassured him. “But don’t forget, you owe us one too, Zenkichi.”

“Hey, zip on the lips, cat!” Zenkichi hissed. “I’m not explaining all this to Akane!”

“Don’t worry, Akane can’t hear a thing! C’mon, let’s go pay our respects!” Morgana urged.

Zenkichi, his daughter, and the Thieves proceeded to utter silent prayers to Zenkichi’s wife and pay their respects. When they were done, Ren suddenly got an idea.

“Hey, you know what?” he asked. “This whole mess was our fault, right? So why don’t we make it up to you? How about we make dinner at your house tonight?”

“Uh…dinner?” Akane repeated in confusion.

“And not just any dinner,” Ren continued with a grin. “Some of the best curry you’ve ever tasted. Curry so good that it’ll ruin any other curry you’ll eat for the rest of your time. I’m willing to stake my name on it, cause it’s THAT good.”

“That…does sound good,” Akane admitted, as she shot a glare at her father. “It sounds better than all the instant noodles and takeout I have to eat because HE’S not around.”

Zenkichi winced but didn’t say anything.

“Yeah, I’ll make as much as you want,” Ren promised. “Hell, I’ll give you some leftovers so that you have something good to eat for the next few days. And if you’ve got anything you need help with, we can give you a hand for tonight.”

“I mean…I do have some homework I could use some help with,” Akane reluctantly admitted. “Especially math.”

“Oh, I can help with that!” Makoto offered.

“See, this works out perfectly, then!” Ren grinned. “And then afterwards we can talk about whatever the hell you want. Like…oh, I don’t know, the Phantom Thieves, or something!”

To everyone’s surprise, Akane’s eyes lit up at the mention of the Phantom Thieves. “Wait, you guys are fans of the Phantom Thieves?” she asked with the first genuinely happy tone they’d heard from her.

“Yep, we sure are!” Ann exclaimed cheerfully. “So what do you say?”

“…all right, you’ve got a deal,” Akane accepted. “Just don’t expect me to be super nice to my dad, or anything.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it!” Ren reassured her.

“Why don’t we go get some groceries together?” Haru suggested. “If you could show us a good grocery store, that would be very helpful, Akane-chan!”

“Oh, uh…yeah, I know one nearby,” Akane answered. “Let me take you there.”

The Phantom Thieves started walking away from the cemetery with Akane, leaving Ren and Zenkichi in the cemetery. “Are you guys seriously crashing my place!?” Zenkichi asked in disbelief once the rest were gone.

Ren gave him an unimpressed look. “Do you want to be the one to tell Akane that, no, in fact, her new friends are NOT allowed to stay over at her house because her dad told them to piss off at the last minute after they generously offered to make curry for her and help her with her homework?” he asked pointedly.

“I…errggghhh…gahhhh…fine!” Zenkichi gave in with a groan. “Better than the alternative, anyway.”

“Besides, it’s not like we’re completely freeloading at your house,” Ren added with a chuckle. “You’re getting free dinner, right? And because Sojiro eighty-six’d the curry at LeBlanc, this is your one and only chance to get your hands on it.”

“Ehhhhh...that is a good point,” Zenkichi reluctantly conceded. “Would sure be nice to have something that delicious after 21 hours of driving. Fine, I’ll let you all stay for the night…if only because I don’t want to even think about Akane’s reaction if I tried to put the brakes on this now.”

“Perfect,” Ren nodded. “Then let’s go catch up with the others.”

As he started walking away, Zenkichi suddenly called out to him. “Hey, Ren?” The leader of the Phantom Thieves turned back to face him. “Thanks for jumping in,” Zenkichi gratefully thanked him. “You and the others really did save this whole day.”

Ren smiled back at him. “No problem, Zenkichi. It was the least we could do,” he replied.

Zenkichi gave him a small smile in return, and the two walked off to rejoin the rest of the Thieves and Akane. As they did, Ren couldn’t help but think about the Dojimas. How Nanako and Ryotaro Dojima’s relationship had been just as strained, and how Yu Narukami had ultimately been the one to bring them together.

“I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to pull that kind of miracle for these guys,” the leader of the Phantom Thieves thought. “But I wouldn’t be able to look Yu, Nanako, or Dojima-san in the eye if I didn’t at least try.”

Chapter Text

Ren couldn’t help but feel relieved that his gambit had played out exactly as he had planned.

While he was under no illusions that Akane had forgiven her father for her grudge, whatever it might be based on, the presence of some new friends had effectively defused the escalating conflict between her and her father…or at the very least controlled it for the time being.

Most of the Thieves (and Makoto in particular) were very eager to help Akane prepare the ingredients and cook the curry, and Akane was thankfully receptive to the group activity. The girl was actually smiling regularly now, which she certainly hadn’t been back at the cemetery…not that that was saying much.

Haru giggled. “Well, they seem to be getting along in there,” she remarked.

“I guess she’s warmin’ up to us, huh?” Ryuji added with a grin. “I seriously didn’t think that could happen when we first met her.”

“Yeah, that situation was going to hell real fast,” Ren agreed. “Thank God we managed to settle things down, huh?”

Before anyone could say anything, Sophia pinged from his phone. “I can no longer sit idly by!” she declared. “I want to help too, and I know just how to. I’ll find an award-winning recipe and…”

“Chill your circuits, Sophia!” Futaba interrupted with a good-humored tone. “The curry always tastes good when you make it together with someone.”

“Is that so?” Sophia asked curiously.

“I still can’t believe you guys all raided my house like this,” Zenkichi sighed. “You guys have some serious nerve…although I can’t remember the last time this place felt so alive,” he admitted with a sheepish smile.

“You can say a lot of things about us, but we certainly aren’t boring,” Ren smirked.

Ryuji’s smile disappeared. “Hey, so…Gramps? You don’t gotta answer if you don’t wanna, but…what happened with Akane’s mom?”

Zenkichi didn’t answer for several seconds, which made everyone wonder if he was gonna answer at all. “Vehicular manslaughter,” he finally answered. “A hit-and-run.”

“So that’s what she meant…” Ryuji murmured surprisingly quietly.

“This is sounding REALLY fucking familiar,” Ren thought with a grimace. It was the exact same way that Ryotaro Dojima’s wife and Nanako’s mother had died…although he didn’t say this out loud.

“She said something about the killer too, right?” Ryuji continued. “They ever get caught?”

“No case was ever pursued,” Zenkichi reluctantly answered. “Any suspect is way outta my reach.”

Ren’s eyes narrowed. “You didn’t say that you don’t know who the killer is,” he pointed out.

“…it’s none of your concern,” Zenkichi cut him off brusquely. Clearly, Ren’s words had struck home…and it looked like that was as much as he was gonna get from the officer, at least for the time being.

“Sure, but…” Ryuji tried.

“Hey, Ren?” Makoto’s voice interrupted as she called out from the kitchen. “Can you help put the finishing touches on this?”

“Oh yeah, sure!” Ren agreed, getting up from the sofa. “I couldn’t possibly let you guys serve curry without making sure it passed LeBlanc’s standards.”

“Yeah, off to work!” Zenkichi jumped at the opportunity to change the subject. “It’d better be worth the hassle!”

Ren went off to the kitchen and made the finishing touches to the curry, making sure that the taste and quality were worthy of Sojiro Sakura’s protégé. While he didn’t utilize any of the “special” ingredients that he had seen Sojiro use sometimes, he did incorporate a few vegetables from Kyoto to give it a unique flavor. The additional effort clearly paid off, because the curry was some of the best that the Phantom Thieves had ever tasted.

“Mmmmmm!!!!” Ann moaned in delight as she ate her curry. “So good! These vegetables in Kyoto make curry so amazing!”

“Lemme try, lemme try!” Futaba demanded. She took a bite, and her eyes lit up. “Oh, this IS delicious!” she declared. “I’ll have to report this back to Sojiro!”

Everyone in the house dug in, and gave off various expressions of delight and approval at how delicious the curry was. This very much included Akane, who immediately complimented it after just the very first bite.

“Good!” Zenkichi breathed a sigh of relief as he took a bite of his own curry. “I’m glad.”

“We better keep our mouths shut here, Sophia,” Morgana mumbled out of the corner of his mouth.

“Aw, man…” Sophia sighed quietly.

Ren, in the meantime, had started taking notes on a sheet of paper. “Okay, so…this Kamo eggplant really brought out the flavor in this curry,” he thought. “Gotta make a note of that, and…yep, I think I can make this again going forward if I want to!”

Morgana caught the look in Ren’s eyes and grinned. “Ooh, did you come up with a new dish!?” he asked eagerly. “I can’t wait to try it out!”

Ren only grinned and put his new potential recipe away as everyone eagerly went for seconds, whether it was the Phantom Thieves or the two Hasegawas. Once the dinner was done, most of the girls went off to share a bath with Akane, leaving the guys and Futaba in the living room with Zenkichi. “You guys really saved my ass back there,” he declared appreciatively. “The place may be cramped, but it’s yours for the night.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Ren replied with a grin. “We’re all having a good time here. Right, guys?”

“Yeah, Ren-ren’s right!” Ryuji agreed immediately.

“This atmosphere is quite comforting,” Yusuke added. “I have no complaints whatsoever.”

Zenkichi shook his head. “Who the hell’d ever guess the Phantom Thieves are a buncha softies?” he muttered.

“If someone is suffering, it’s only right to provide aid when possible,” Yusuke pointed out.

“Yeah,” Ryuji agreed. “We just do what we know we gotta do.”

“Help the weak and crush the strong!” Morgana declared. “That’s the Phantom Thieves way, and always will be!”

“And we never forget when someone provides us a meal or a roof,” Yusuke concluded with a smile. “Ever.”

“Oh, really?” Zenkichi asked with a smirk, before his face turned more serious. “At any rate, I still wanted to thank you guys properly. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Akane so happy.”

“No problem,” Ren answered with a serious expression of his own. “If there’s any way we can help with whatever’s going on in the background between you two, please let us know.”

Ryuji tried to ask again about what happened to his wife, but Zenkichi let out a loud yawn and made some excuse about the driving finally catching up to him. Nobody in the room bought it for a second…but after everything Zenkichi had done and been through in the past day, they decided to cut him some slack.

“Sorry, but I gotta hit the hay. Would you guys mind hanging out with Akane in her room for a bit?” Zenkichi requested. “She’s into some kind of online thing lately. Something to do with some show about her faves…?”

“Uh…like Featherman?” Ren asked, confused.

Zenkichi shrugged. “No clue, to be honest. Clearly I don’t know anything about it, but I’m sure she’d be happy to fill you guys in on it.”

“Roger that!” Futaba agreed eagerly. “We gotcha covered! Hear that, Ren? We’ve accepted a mission!”

Ren smirked. “Gotta be easier than some of the stuff you guys have asked me to do so far on this trip,” he replied dryly.

The Thieves waited until the girls and Akane returned to their bath, during which Zenkichi headed off to get some sleep in his bedroom. Akane then guided the Thieves up to her bedroom…and their jaws all dropped in shock and disbelief once she let them inside.

“Uh, whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…” Futaba mumbled.

“Good God!” Yusuke exclaimed.

“What in the actual…” Ren mumbled, only just barely managing to restrain himself from saying the last word.

Akane glanced over at them and shuffled around bashfully. “So, this is my room, and…yeah.”

The room in question was completely filled with Phantom Thieves merch. Phantom Thieves posters and stickers, a Phantom Thieves blanket, Phantom Thieves miniatures and furniture…even the curtains and laptop were a distinct red color that was the same exact shade of red as the Phantom Thieves logo. “Is this really all Phantom Thieves merch?” Ann asked in disbelief.

“I didn’t even know they made this much stuff!” Ryuji spluttered.

“Me neither,” Ren thought. “Even at the height of our popularity last year before everything went to shit with Haru’s dad, I don’t remember ever seeing this much merch before!”

Futaba tried to rationalize what she was witnessing. “Well, uh, they are real famous, ya know! I’m pretty sure some of these were only posted on super obscure websites, too…”

“There are even some handmade ones…” Haru pointed out.

“It’s too much, isn’t it?” Akane sighed. “I know, it’s lame…”

“No, no, not at all!” Ren quickly reassured her. “Everybody’s gotta have a hobby of some kind, after all.”

“That’s not it, Akane-chan,” Makoto chimed in as well. “You’re into the Phantom Thieves, yeah?”

Akane blinked. “Huh? Well, uh…yeah…”

Makoto turned around to give everyone a loaded expression, which Ren caught the meaning of immediately. Haru was the first to jump in. “How neat!” she exclaimed. “We’re all the same then.”

Akane gasped. “HUH? You mean…”

“Uh, yyup!” Ryuji agreed quickly with a shit-eating grin. “Like we told you back at the cemetery, we’re, uh…huge Phantom Thieves fans!”

“Right, right!” Ann cheered with a smile that was just a bit too big to be natural. “I loooove the Phantom Thieves! Go, go, Phantom Thieves! Change their hearts and all that stuff!”

Ren privately thought that Ann was laying it on a bit thick, but thankfully Akane seemed to be eating it all up without question. He smirked as a sudden idea came to his head. It was a spectacularly stupid idea, to be sure, and potentially a dangerous one…but the temptation was just a little too good to resist. “We are the Phantom Thieves,” he told Akane, his expression and face deadly serious.

Everyone looked around to stare at him in horror and disbelief…but then Akane started laughing. “Hahahahahaha!” she giggled. “I guess your hairdos really do remind me of them!”

“Yeah, I was just messing around,” Ren’s face broke into a grin. “But yeah, we’re fans of the Phantom Thieves just like you. Although we never even realized there was this much merch around…I might have to start looking around online for a few things of my own.”

The best part was that he wasn’t even lying. He’d thought that Mishima was a dedicated Phan-boy…but Akane was putting him to deep and everlasting shame with all the merch she’d collected.

“I’m into the Phantom Thieves because they seem like the only ones changing this crappy world for the better,” Akane explained with a huge smile. “They’re not just fighting with their lives to save the people in trouble…they inspire them to be stronger, too!”

“Well, I’m glad that there’s people out there who are inspired by the work we’ve done,” Ren thought…although Akane had no idea just how literal the “fighting with their lives” part actually was.

“They’ve got up to eight or nine members, but all of their identities are still a mystery,” Akane rambled on. “From the footage gathered online, they all seem so cool! I can’t help but wonder who they really are!” She turned around to look directly at a figurine of Joker. “Especially the one who’s always in the middle…I think he’s the leader? He’s so mysterious…” she almost swooned, “and dreamy…”

“Oh…oh…?” Ryuji stammered.

“Uhm…” Haru mumbled, “that is, uh…that is to say…”

“Well shit, this is…awkward,” Ren thought, and it took all of his self-control to keep a straight face. Not just because Akane was completely oblivious to the fact that the leader of the Phantom Thieves was in this very room, but also because the girl was clearly crushing on his Phantom Thief self…when he was already in a committed and devoted relationship to Haru. “We might need to come up with a new scientific measurement to describe how awkward this is. I am NOT gonna be the one to break THAT bit of news to her, thank you very much,” he thought dryly. “That just sounds like a recipe for a disaster so messy it’ll make Mystery Food X look edible.”

Makoto, thankfully, was on the same wavelength as he was and shifted the conversation. “You really do like the Phantom Thieves, huh?” she asked.

“Damn,” Ann whistled, “Akane-chan is so awesome…”

Akane gasped as she remembered that she had an audience. “Oh, sorry!” she apologized. “I didn’t mean to rant like that.”

Haru giggled. “No problem at all!” she exclaimed. “I’d love to hear more about the Phantom Thieves.”

“Great!” Akane cheered. “Oh, maybe I could let you in on the show!” she suggested eagerly.

Ann blinked. “Hmm? What show?” she asked.

“It’s a livestream that’s sort of…all about the Phantom Thieves,” Akane explained.

“Oh…that’s interesting,” Makoto remarked, clearly not sure how to process this latest in a string of revelations.

“Y-yep!” Haru agreed brightly, trying to hide her bafflement. “Sounds like a great show!”

“Okay, just gimme a sec!” Akane declared. “It’s almost time!”

Akane proceeded to start the livestream, and Ren had to admit he was impressed by what he saw. Akane was clearly a dedicated superfan who had a surprisingly strong following for someone who had, as Futaba had called it, a “mid-tier account.” Her acted voices for the Phantom Thieves, while obviously not completely accurate to their voices, weren’t all that far off from their actual mannerisms. And it was apparent after only a few minutes that Akane had been closely following their return and their recent triumphs in the three Jails. When Akane finally finished her livestream, Ren started clapping, and it didn’t take very long for the other Thieves to give their own applause.

“Well damn!” Ren whistled appreciatively. “That was a really impressive showing for someone who isn’t even in high school yet.”

“That was great!” Haru agreed with her boyfriend. “You’re an excellent showrunner. Spectators seemed really into it, too.”

“Oh, thanks!” Akane replied gratefully. “I’ve been doing these ever since the Phantom Thieves first popped up last year.”

“Kids these days are so impressive…” Ann remarked, still surprised over what she had just witnessed.

Futaba rolled her eyes. “Really, grandma?” she muttered under her breath.

“Maybe I should introduce Akane and Mishima to each other,” Ren thought, suppressing a smirk. It was the kind of interaction that would either go really, really well…or really, really badly. “Although Mishima did change his own heart and get over himself last year, so maybe it’s not as bad of an idea as it might’ve been otherwise.”

“I admit my grades are slipping…” Akane reluctantly admitted. “I should probably scale back on the livestreams for a bit…especially with high school exams coming up and all.”

“In that case, would you like some help studying?” Makoto offered.

“You mean it?” Akane asked, clearly taken aback by the sudden offer.

“Of course!” Makoto confirmed with a smile, before looking around at her friends. “Would anyone here mind?”

“No, no, go right ahead,” Ren encouraged. “You’re the best person here when it comes to help others with studying. Knock yourself out.”

“Thank you!” Akane gratefully thanked them. “I could really use the help.”

The Thieves and Akane relocated back down to the living room, where Makoto got to work not just helping Akane with her homework, but also teaching the concepts needed to get to the right answers in the first place. The Thieves opted to just let Makoto do the work with regards to the teaching…especially Ryuji and Ann, given that neither of them was exactly an intellectual superstar to begin with.

“It’s been a long time since I hung out with someone,” Akane was chatting, drawing everyone’s attention to her.

“What about your friends?” Makoto asked.

“Well, I grew up in Tokyo,” Akane explained. “So I don’t really have any friends here.”

“Oh, really?” Makoto wondered. “I thought your father was in the Kyoto police.”

“After Mom’s accident, he transferred here from Tokyo,” Akane clarified morosely. “He said it’s because my grandparents live here.”

“He seems like a good dad,” Makoto commented. “He probably didn’t want you to be all alone all the time…”

Akane scowled. “Yeah, that’s not it,” she scowled. “He just wants to blow me off and go get drunk every night.”

Ren raised an eyebrow. “Really?” he asked skeptically. “Cause I haven’t seen him get drunk once in the entire time we’ve seen him so far.”

Akane scoffed. “Oh, if that was just it, I could’ve dealt with it,” she retorted. “And it’s not just that. He…Mom was murdered, and he won’t…” she sighed. “I’m…I’m sorry…”

“It’s all right,” Makoto reassured her. “You’ve been through so much, Akane-chan…”

“I’ve just been so depressed ever since Mom died…” Akane admitted. “I wasn’t having fun with stuff like I used to. Before I even knew it, all my friends had ditched me.”

Makoto sighed. “I see…”

“I have a friend back home who was stuck in a similar situation,” Ren commented sympathetically. “So I get it.”

If only there was an equivalent to Yu Narukami who could march right into the Hasegawa family and work his magic to make things better…but sadly, there wasn’t, so he would have to do his best.

Akane brightened a little. “But nowadays, I’m doing a lot better thanks to my subscribers…but when I’m not streaming, I still…I get really lonely…”

“Mhmm…” Makoto murmured.

“Why don’t you give us your contact information?” Ren suggested. “Or at the very least, give it to someone like me or Makoto? That way, you’d at least have SOMEONE you can talk to over the phone, right?”

“I think that’s a wonderful idea,” Makoto agreed. “We can do it once we’re finished with your homework.” She was about to help Akane with the next problem, but a thought suddenly occurred to her. “You want to know something?” she asked.

Akane’s eyes widened. “Huh?”

“At that point, my father had to raise my sister and me all by myself,” Makoto continued. “Not only that…he was a police officer too. He would always be home so late, if at all…happened so often that I really believed for a while he didn’t care about us.”

“It’s honestly kind of unnerving just how frequently I’ve come across that kind of backstory in my life,” Ren thought grimly. Nanako, Makoto, now Akane…and he wasn’t stupid enough to believe that this time would be the last.

Akane stayed silent, letting Makoto continue.

“But one day, he was struck by a vehicle during an investigation, and…he passed away,” Makoto sighed.

“I…I had no idea,” Akane stammered.

“I had so many regrets at that point,” Makoto admitted. “I especially wished I’d shared more with my father. He had worked so hard for our family and the public, and I never thanked him at all for it…just thought over and over, “there’s so much I wish I could say.”” She took a deep breath before continuing. “I know it’s not my place to speak on your father and your relationship…but even still, I wish you could find a way to not blame your father for his work.”

“But he…” Akane tried to protest.

“…?” Makoto prompted.

Akane tried to backtrack and shook her head. “Mmm…it’s nothing. Sorry…”

“Doesn’t sound like nothing,” Ren muttered underneath his breath, not loud enough for Akane to hear. His friends quietly nodded in agreement, but they left it to Makoto to ask the question burning on everyone’s minds.

“If it’s okay with you, would you tell me what happened between you and your father?” Makoto asked.

Akane sighed. “I saw him…the man that ran Mom over,” she confessed, earning shocked looks from everyone in the room.

“What!?” Makoto gasped.

“Excuse me?” Ren exclaimed.

Akane shook her head. “But they never arrested him. His secretary left behind some suicide note. Apparently it said, “I’m the one who ran over that woman.””

“What the hell?” Ren frowned. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“I agree,” Makoto nodded. “If the police had an eyewitness, they’d never make such a huge error in their investigation.”

“That’s what he said, at first,” Akane acknowledged, before sighing. “Eventually, he gave up on it too. Him and the rest of the police…none of them listened to me. And I told them, so many times…” She scowled. “Why? Because I’m just some kid? The guy who killed my mom is still out there...! He doesn’t care about Mom anymore. He doesn’t care about me. I know he’s just trying to find the next woman so he can get on with his life. I know he thinks I’m just in the way,” she ranted. “I wish anyone but him was my father!”

“Stop that,” Makoto ordered with unexpected sharpness.

“Huh?” Akane stopped in surprise.

“There is absolutely no way your father doesn’t care about you,” Makoto firmly answered. “I know you’ve suffered a lot, Akane-chan. But…I really believe there has to be some sort of explanation of this.”

“I have one in mind already,” Ren offered, getting up from his spot on the floor and walking over to them. “And no, it isn’t your father not giving a crap.”

“What do you think is happening, then?” Akane challenged.

“My guess is that the jackass who ran over your mother was a man with a powerful position in society,” Ren answered as he ignored Makoto’s unimpressed glare, not particularly caring to moderate his language at that moment. “A politician, a CEO, a high-ranking government official, something along those lines. Someone who had enough power or influence to escape the consequences of killing an innocent bystander like your mother. While the police are meant to enforce the law in theory, in practice they don’t always have the power or authority to make sure justice is done. At best, they want to do the right thing but the criminal in question is powerful enough to escape the law for one reason or another. At worst, they’re corrupt and in cahoots with the criminal. I’m willing to bet a good chunk of money that the corrupt bastard who ran over your mother either bribed or threatened someone to look the other way, if not both. They certainly had enough power to force their secretary to kill themselves and take the blame for it.”

“How can you be so certain?” Akane demanded.

Ren’s eyes narrowed. “Because there was an entire conspiracy who very nearly took over the government last year and had both the power and influence to do all sorts of corrupt bullshit with nobody able to stop them…at least, not until the Phantom Thieves sorted them out,” he answered coolly. “Does the name Masayoshi Shido ring a bell?”

Akane visibly cringed…not that anyone could blame her in the slightest. The name of Masayoshi Shido was one of the most currently hated names in all of Japan…for a VERY good reason. “Now, I’m not saying that the guy who ran over your mother was necessarily part of Shido’s conspiracy, or even supporting him. But what I can tell you is that Masayoshi Shido’s control over Japan before his change of heart was absolute and untouchable. He and his underlings could get away with all sorts of horrible crimes, and there was nobody who could stop them because he could simply remove if not outright kill anyone who got in his way through things like mental shutdowns or just sending the yakuza after them. I should know,” he added with the faintest hint of rage in his voice, “because I tried to stop the bastard from assaulting a woman, and I was the one who got thrown in juvie and slapped with a criminal record for it because his political power was so vast he could just pin the blame on me instead.”

Akane’s eyes widened. “Oh my God…” she breathed. “I’m…really sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he reassured her. “That got reversed after the Phantom Thieves changed Shido’s heart. But the point I’m trying to make is that the reason your dad didn’t go after that asshole might not be because he didn’t want to. It might simply be because he realistically couldn’t. I can tell you from personal experience that a lone police officer won’t be able to go after a powerful political figure by himself, no matter how good he might be.”

“I get that,” Akane sighed, “but…”

“…and I can tell you this,” Ren continued with a hint of warning. “Running over an innocent bystander and pinning the blame on a helpless secretary is EXACTLY the kind of bullshit that a member of Shido’s conspiracy would pull. And if your mom’s killer does turn out to have been part of Shido’s conspiracy? There would be zero chance that your dad could have gone after him and succeeded in taking him down while Shido was still in power. And I do mean absolutely ZERO,” he emphasized. “Zero, zilch, nada, a snowball’s chance in hell. If your dad tried, I can guarantee with absolute certainty that either he or you would’ve gotten killed or disappeared or AT BEST had your lives ruined, because that’s the kind of overwhelming power Shido had at the time.”

“…” Akane tried to come up with another rebuttal, but couldn’t.

“I completely agree with Ren,” Makoto chimed in. “As much as I hate to admit it, Akane-chan, the realities of enforcing justice aren’t nearly as simple or as easy as we’d like to believe. And while Hasegawa-san may seem like he doesn’t care, I believe he does, in his own way. Just a bit ago, he went through a lot of effort trying to reunite a lost boy with his mom. He’s been there for us as well.”

“But…that’s just…” Akane turned to Ren. “If what you’re saying about the guy who ran over my mom really is true…and the more I think about it, the more I’m starting to believe it…why wouldn’t he just tell me? I wouldn’t be happy about it, but at least I would’ve understood.”

“Uhh…your dad’s a giant dork,” Ren deadpanned. “He’s pretty on point when it comes to the case we’re working on together and related business, but good God is he lame as hell in some aspects. Maybe his failure to communicate is a part of that lameness.”

Akane snorted loudly. “That wouldn’t surprise me at all,” she commented dryly, but it looked like she was trying to suppress her giggles.

Makoto’s lips twitched. “I really do mean it when I say Hasegawa-san reminds me of my own father,” she remarked. “Even when I couldn’t see him, he was always giving it his all for my sister and I…his family was always on his mind. And that’s why I think your father’s always working so hard as well, Akane-chan.”

“Really?” Akane asked quietly.

Makoto smiled and closed her eyes. “His face looks so much happier when you’re around…” she explained. “It’s completely different from when he’s out in the world. That should prove just how important you are to him. You’re the biggest thing in his world.”

“…” Akane didn’t say anything.

“Pushing him away isn’t going to make you feel any better,” Makoto concluded. “It’s going to hurt you more. Tell him everything so you can’t regret it later,” she advised. “No matter what you have to say, I know he’ll listen to you.”

Akane sighed. “Maybe…once this huge case of yours is done…I might…ask him why…” she reluctantly conceded. “I’ll ask him…why exactly he never went after that guy…who killed…” Then, she started sobbing, her emotions finally starting to overwhelm her. “M-my mom…she…”

“Please forgive me,” Makoto apologized softly. “I really didn’t mean to do that to you. Feel free to talk to me anytime you want. I’ll be there for you to whenever you need it,” she promised.

Akane sniffed. “Thank you.” She took out her phone, and Makoto proceeded to exchange contact information with her. Then, she turned to Ren and asked to do the same. The leader of the Phantom Thieves was inwardly a bit surprised, but quickly accepted. Clearly, his words had struck a chord with Akane enough for her to want to talk to him more as well.

The other Thieves grimaced and looked on sadly at the sight. Sophia was the first to break the silence. “Why is Akane crying? Is she in pain?”

“You’ll get it one day,” Ren muttered as he walked back to his spot on the floor to rejoin his friends. “But right now, this really isn’t the time.”

“Akane-chan…” Haru murmured.

“That poor girl…” Yusuke sympathized.

“Both Akane and Gramps’re really torn up inside,” Ryuji muttered.

“I said before that I have a friend back home who was stuck in a similar mess,” Ren mumbled. “But I think this might actually be worse, at least in its own way.”

“We ought to get to bed,” Morgana advised. “We’ve got a long journey ahead of us tomorrow.”

“Yeah…” Futaba agreed morosely. “My heart’s all warm and fuzzy now…I’m gonna sleep like a baby!”

As the Phantom Thieves and Akane got up to get ready to go to bed, none of them noticed that Zenkichi had actually been awake the whole time and listening in on the conversation. “Those kids…” he mumbled with a sigh. Especially Ren…there was no way he could have known it, but the leader of the Phantom Thieves had been completely on-point with his theory...right down to his wife’s killer being under Shido’s protection.

As much as he hated to admit it, maybe the kid was right. Maybe he did need to have an honest discussion with Akane once this case was over…finally tell her the truth about why he hadn’t gone after Owada…

The Next Day…

“Well, Akane, I gotta get going,” Zenkichi greeted his daughter the next morning.

“…” Akane glared at him, looking thoroughly unimpressed.

“Umm…once the case is through, I’m gonna take some time off,” Zenkichi offered hesitantly. “What do you say we take a trip somewhere? How about we visit a theme park?”

“…I’m not a little kid anymore,” Akane grumbled.

“Excuse YOU?” Ren exclaimed dramatically with mock offense. “I’ll have you know that I would happily go to a theme park any chance I get if I could get away with it. Roller coasters are good for all ages, and I will not tolerate this slander against the good name of theme parks!”

Akane winced. “Uhhh…sorry…” she mumbled.

Ren snickered. “Eh, you’re fine,” he reassured her. “I was just messing around…mostly.”

Akane sighed. “I don’t want to go to a theme park, dad. I want to have a talk. An actual, serious talk.” She glared up at him and declared. “No more beating around the bush. I want to have a real, serious talk about why you never went after the guy who killed my mom. And you’re gonna stop ignoring me like you always did whenever I tried to bring it up before.”

Zenkichi sighed. “…fine,” he conceded. “After I’m done with the case, we’ll sit down and talk.”

“That’d be a first,” Akane muttered.

“Aww, are we still feeling pouty?” Futaba teased. “Don’t you think it’s time to grow out of the whole tsundere thing?”

Akane cringed. “C’mon, Futaba-chan, quit it!” she pleaded.

“Will we ever be able to truly reunite father and daughter?” Yusuke quietly asked Ren.

“Just give it a little more time…” Haru murmured. “I hope they find the opportunity to bond.”

“Well, at least they’re gonna actually try to…you know, talk to each other later…” Ren muttered out of the corner of his mouth. “I’ll take the wins when I can get them.”

“I’m sure they’ll make it,” Makoto confidently declared. “Right, Akane-chan?”

Akane rolled her eyes. “I already said I was gonna talk to dad later,” she whined. “What more do you want from me?”

“Nothing!” Ren reassured her. “That’s plenty good enough as it is.”

Sophia pinged from Ren’s phone. “The time has come,” she reminded them. “If we wait any longer, the ferry will depart before we arrive.”

“Sounds like we have to get going,” Makoto gave Akane once last farewell. “Take care, Akane-chan.”

Akane smiled back. “Oh! Uh, thanks for everything!”

“You’re welcome,” Ren replied kindly.

Akane walked up to Ren and gave him something. “Here,” she offered. “It’s like a Kyoto souvenir. I mean, you guys did so much for me, so…”

“Hey, it’s been great hanging out with you,” Ren gave her a huge grin. “We’ll hang this up in the RV for the rest of our trip.”

“Of course!” Ann cheerfully agreed. “And next time, we’ll bring tons of snacks and we can stay up all night gossiping!”

“We can share a bath again, too!” Haru offered.

“Reach out to me anytime you like. I’m looking forward to hearing from you,” Makoto promised.

“Got it! Have a good trip!” Akane answered back cheerfully.

Ren cleared his throat. “I think there’s one person you forgot to say good-bye to,” he pointed out.

Akane sighed. “Fine…be careful, dad.”

Everyone turned to give Zenkichi pointed looks. “Oh! Okay! Gotcha, I’ll be careful!” he hastily promised.

Morgana blinked. “What-ho! Sure seemed to work for him, though!”

Exchanging their final farewells, the Phantom Thieves and Zenkichi departed from the Hasegawa household, with Zenkichi again volunteering to drive the RV to the ferry. They were able to make it to the ferry in good time, and were feeling optimistic about the case and Okinawa going forward.

That is, until Ren got a phone call shortly after the ferry had departed. “You have a call from Yu Narukami, Ren,” Sophia reported.

“Thanks, Sophia,” Ren thanked her as he let the call go through. He was in a good enough mood…so the Phantom Thieves were immediately on edge when his eyes widened in shock and the smile vanished from his face. “Wait, WHAT?” he exclaimed. “Yu…please tell me you’re joking. Please tell me this is a bad prank that you’re pulling on me to get back at me for something I did years ago.”

The other Thieves and Zenkichi watched as Ren listened silently for several seconds…and to their growing concern, his expression turned stormy. “Oh, you have got to be FUCKING kidding me!” Ren growled furiously. “We literally just left on a ferry for Okinawa! And this fucking bullshit chooses NOW of all times to show up???” He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. “Sorry, Yu. I know this isn’t your fault. Thanks for telling me about this. Let me let the Thieves know and we’ll talk more about this in a few minutes. Thanks.”

Ren hung up the phone…and to everyone’s shock, he viciously kicked the side of the RV in a fit of rage. “Son of a BITCH!” he snarled angrily, causing everyone to flinch at the sudden vitriol in his tone.

“Uhhh…Ren-kun? Are you all right?” Haru asked with worry in her tone as she reached out and clasped her hand over Ren’s, hoping to calm her boyfriend down. His expression did somewhat soften at his girlfriend’s touch…but it was clear that his overall mood had otherwise not improved in the slightest. “Is something wrong?”

“Everyone, we’ve got a HUGE fucking problem,” Ren declared grimly, immediately setting everyone on edge.

There were certain words and phrases that the Phantom Thieves never wanted their leader to say…and the ones he had just uttered were at the top of the list or very close to it.

Zenkichi’s face was all business. “What’s going on, kid?” he asked in a serious tone. “What’s got you all riled up like this.”

“I just got off the phone with the leader of my Persona-wielding friends back in Inaba,” Ren reported, his gray eyes burning with fury. “As of this morning…there is now a new Jail in my hometown.”

Chapter Text

It wasn’t very often that Yu Narukami called emergency meetings ever since they had solved the Foggy Day Murders and defeated Izanami. And in the modern day, it was practically unheard of for the leader of the Investigation Team to call an emergency meeting during the day, when the members of Investigation Team were busy with their jobs and their daily lives.

So when the normally easygoing Yu Narukami sent a mass group message more or less demanding that the entire Investigation Team meet at Dojima’s currently empty house for an emergency meeting immediately…everyone understood that something had gone very wrong, very fast.

Some of the Investigation Team had an easier time getting to Dojima’s house than others. Labrys and Naoto hadn’t been doing anything in particular, while Kanji could simply close up his textile shop early and head on over. Others, like Yukiko and Yosuke, needed a bit more time and effort to excuse themselves from their duties and make sure someone else could run things in their place, and Chie in particular needed to seek permission from Dojima to get the next few hours off from work.

But, one way or another, all of the Investigation Team members (including Shiho) were able to make it Dojima’s house. And they were all shocked to discover that Marie was there too…and she did not look happy in the slightest.

“Thank you all for coming, everyone,” Yu greeted them once they had all assembled in Dojima’s house and locked the door behind them. “Sorry for forcing you all to come here on such short notice, but Marie informed me that a very serious situation has come up regarding the TV World and the Jails. Actually, I’d go so far as to call it an emergency.”

“We’ve got a huge problem on our hands,” Marie agreed grimly, her stormy eyes very much giving off “Izanami” vibes. “Last night, I sensed that something was very wrong with the TV World, so I went there to investigate.” She scowled. “Well, it turns out, there’s an entire section of the TV World that’s been invaded and transformed into a pocket of a cognitive world completely different in nature from the rest of the TV World.”

Everyone gasped in shock and disbelief. “Wait!” Rise exclaimed. “So you’re saying that…?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Marie affirmed. “Those Jails you guys have been talking about? I think Inaba’s just been invaded by one, and it messed with the TV World in the process. I had to cut off that part of the TV World from the rest of it, otherwise that Jail might’ve destabilized the whole thing.” She sighed, letting everyone see how tired she was from the whole ordeal. “Had to call in sick today because of how exhausting that was.”

“Eeeeek! That is so beary terrible!” Teddie exclaimed.

“Teddie’s atrocious puns aside…this is indeed very concerning, to say the least,” Naoto muttered. “Based on what we’ve seen so far, every Jail has led to mass societal upheaval and chaos soon after its creation. I think it’s safe to assume that the same will happen to Inaba sooner or later.”

“Is there any chance Ren and the Phantom Thieves could come here and deal with the Jail?” Yosuke asked. “I know, I’m not any happier about calling them here to clean up the mess than anyone else, but this is technically supposed to be their Journey.”

Yu grimaced. “Yeah, about that…the Phantom Thieves are currently on a ferry headed to Okinawa to investigate some kind of lab,” he explained. “They aren’t anywhere near Inaba at the moment, and there isn’t really any way for them to change course since that would mean either shifting the ferry away from Okinawa or taking a second ferry back as soon as they land…and even after that, it will take several hours of driving for them to get to Inaba. We’re talking a couple of days’ worth of time, at the very least.”

“And if I remember correctly, the Phantom Thieves are purposefully avoiding any public transportation like a plane, correct?” Yukiko asked.

Yu nodded. “It’s for safety reasons, in case the pilot or conductor is secretly brainwashed by a Monarch.”

Everyone grimaced as the reality sunk in. There was a Jail in Inaba, which posed a serious danger to the general safety of Inaba and its population…and the team best suited to deal with that Jail were in no position to help any time soon. “So what the hell are we supposed to do?” Chie exclaimed. “We just sit here and do nothing while whoever the…Monarch, right?” She quickly asked Yu, who nodded briefly in confirmation. “We just sit here and do nothing but wait for the Phantom Thieves to finally get here while whoever the Monarch is starts brainwashing people in our town?”

“Aww, hell nah!” Labrys retorted. “I said I’d protect the public decency of Inaba and I’m gonna keep protecting it, no matter who’s messin’ with this town!”

“I ain’t sittin’ around waiting for Inaba to go to shit,” Kanji growled. “I’m itchin’ to deal with this right here and now!”

“This town has done wonders for my mental health,” Shiho added as she clenched her fists. “I’m not letting a Jail ruin everything about it.”

“I completely agree with you all,” Yu affirmed, before his mouth twisted into a smirk. “Which is where Marie comes in.” He gestured towards her with his hand. “Floor’s all yours, Marie.”

“Thanks, Yu,” Marie nodded, before turning to address the Investigation Team as a whole. “As you guys already know, I’m actually the goddess Izanami-no-Mikoto. The TV World was a domain created by one of my components, Izanami-no-okami, several years ago. Ever since you guys defeated me and made me whole, I’ve taken a step back from doing goddess things and nowadays don’t do much more than controlling the weather and watching over the TV World as its protector.” Her eyes hardened and a sense of undeniable authority entered her voice. “But while I might not have taken an active role after everything that happened, I am still a full-fledged goddess in my own right, and the TV World is still technically my domain to rule,” she declared.

Shiho shook her head in bemusement. “I’m still wrapping my head over the fact that I’m living in the same town as a goddess,” she remarked. “This is still one of the most surreal things I’ve ever heard, and this is after I awakened my Persona and went on multiple trips in the TV World.”

Yosuke grinned cheekily. “Ehhh, it’s not really THAT special once the novelty wears off,” he joked as Teddie snickered in the background. “I bet when most people think of a goddess, they don’t think of a glorified weather reporter who relies on HAX to get her predictions 100% right.”

Marie’s temper flared. “Do you WANT me to fry your asses with Hot Lightning again, you two?” she growled.

Yosuke and Teddie both blanched. “I’ll be good,” the former meekly promised.

Yu coughed to get the conversation back on track. “Continue, please.”

“Right,” Marie calmed down. “The TV World is its own cognitive realm, and it has boundaries that are to be respected. That’s true for all cognitive worlds, really. Apart from the fact that they all manifested at different points in time and you guys all had quests in different years, those boundaries are the reason why you don’t see mashups of Tartarus and the TV World, or the TV World and Mementos.”

Rise frowned. “Wait, hold on. You say there’s boundaries, but the TV World got more chaotic and more dangerous thanks to everything that’s happened in the past year. And from what Ren told us, that Yaldabaoth guy or whatever his name was didn’t give a damn about breaking the rules.”

Marie shook her head. “Those changes were a side effect of humanity’s collective unconscious taking a turn for the worse because of Yaldabaoth’s meddling. That’s a big difference from outright invading another cognitive world and seizing part of it for your own,” She scowled. “And given how little Yaldabaoth gave a damn about the rules, I think the only reason why Yaldabaoth didn’t try to invade the TV World and forcibly merge it with Mementos was because he didn’t care enough to bother. With how he tried to merge Mementos with the real world, the TV World probably would’ve gotten consumed along with it anyway if Ren didn’t shoot that jerk in the head.”

“Yeah, Ren did all of humanity a huge favor by obliterating that jackass,” Kanji agreed.

Chie frowned. “What you said about invading another cognitive world…isn’t that what’s happening right now, though?” she asked worriedly. “Because from what Marie’s saying, it sounds like part of the TV World was straight-up invaded and turned into a Jail.”

Marie scowled. “That’s pretty much what happened,” she growled, before sighing. “The good news is that the Jail doesn’t seem to be expanding any further into the TV World, at least for now. I don’t know if it’s because of how I cut it off, or if it’s just because the Jail’s reached its max size naturally. But it’s staying put as is for the moment.”

“That is a good thing,” Yukiko acknowledged with a frown. “But I don’t know if we can count on the Jail to stay that way until we can get Ren and the Phantom Thieves to come here and deal with it.”

To her surprise, Marie smirked. “And this is where I come in with a potential solution,” she declared. “You see, this Jail has effectively invaded the TV World. It violated the TV World’s boundaries, and directly challenged MY authority as its ruling goddess. And as the TV World’s main goddess, I have the right to retaliate as I see fit against an invasion of MY property.”

“Oooh!” Chie gasped excitedly. “Does that mean we’re about to see you blow this Jail up for breaking into your home turf?”

Rise shook her head. “I feel like if that was the case, then Yu and Marie wouldn’t have bothered to get us all here. She would’ve just done it and be done with it.”

Marie nodded at her former rival for Yu’s affections. “As much as I really want to just blow up the Jail, I can’t,” she confirmed regretfully. “I COULD technically do it, but doing it might end up dealing catastrophic damage to the TV World and destabilize it badly. And I’m talking badly enough that the damage might carry over to the real world.”

The Investigation Team all cringed. The fallout from the yellow fog of the TV World had been bad enough especially in the later months of 2011, and that was when the TV World had been relatively stable. Nobody wanted to see the effects of an unstable TV World on Inaba.

“I think it’s safe to assume that Marie destroying the Jail directly would be rather…unwise,” Yu summarized their thoughts on the matter.

“Fortunately for us, I have another solution I had in mind instead,” Marie reassured them all with a smug smirk. “Because as the goddess of the TV World, I can appoint all of you as my personal representatives and champions to deal with the Jail in my stead.”

“Oh. OH,” Labrys blinked as she processed her friend’s words. “I see where you’re going with this.”

Naoto smiled. “Now I understand your plan. You appoint us as your representatives to deal with this Jail’s invasion into the TV World. This will allow us to take care of the Jail without needing to wait for the Phantom Thieves…or violating the laws of reality.” She raised an eyebrow. “This IS how we deal with Inaba’s Jail without violating the laws of reality, yes?”

“Yeah,” Marie affirmed. “It’s not breaking the rules if someone or something else broke them first. But there is a caveat.”

“Uh-oh,” Kanji muttered. “Don’t like the sound of that.”

“It’s nothing too major, but it is something we need to talk about,” Marie reassured him, before continuing. “Even if I appoint you as my representatives to deal with the Jail, we still can’t have two teams of Persona wielders running around the same Jail and fighting the same battles. So if you choose to be ones to infiltrate Inaba’s Jail and fight whoever the Monarch is, the Phantom Thieves will need to forfeit their duties for this specific Jail.”

“I was talking about this with Margaret earlier,” Yu added. “We can play around the rules quite a bit, but we can’t break them entirely. Not without using up our opportunity for retribution…or inviting some down on our own heads.”

“If ya ask me, we should totally go for it!” Labrys exclaimed. “Stuff like this is what the Shadow Ops were made for in the first place. And it’s not like we have any other choice with Ren and those Phantom Thieves stuck on a ferry in the middle of nowhere!”

“I think we should accept Marie’s offer as well,” Yukiko agreed. “There’s no excuse for us to sit here and wait around, knowing that there’s a huge problem and that we can do something about it."

“Dealing with the Jail ourselves is both the right thing to do, and the practical thing to do,” Naoto pointed out. “I don’t believe anybody here would seriously argue otherwise.”

“What does Ren-Ren say, though?” Teddie asked. “He needs to know about this too!”

“That is a valid point,” Yu acknowledged. “But with that being said, I somehow doubt that Ren will have much of a problem with forfeiting the responsibility for the Inaba Jail to us. I’ll go call him right now just to make sure.”

He left the living room, climbing the stairs to the same bedroom that he always stayed in whenever he visited the Dojimas, before calling Ren on his secure cell phone. Once they connected, Yu wasted no time in explaining the situation and offering his solution on how to deal with the Inaba Jail in a timely manner.

“I vigorously and wholeheartedly support your current plan of action,” Ren answered immediately and without the slightest bit of hesitation once Yu had finished talking. The leader of the Phantom Thieves knew that, technically, he was invoking executive privilege by making this call. In theory, he should gather the Phantom Thieves for a discussion, decide on a course of action with them together, and then give their collective answer to Yu.

But in this case, both the problem and the solution were so blatantly self-evident that going through the motions would be a complete waste of time for everyone involved.

“Will this use up the Velvet Room’s opportunity for retribution?” Ren asked.

“Not as far as I’m aware,” Yu replied. “Because this is the second time that whoever created the Jails broke the rules. Marie was NOT happy when she learned that a Jail had invaded the TV World.”

“Yeah, I can imagine that,” Ren replied dryly. “I wouldn’t exactly be jumping for joy either if I was in her shoes.”

“The only reason she didn’t just blow up the Jail herself was because she was afraid of what would happen to the TV World and Inaba if she did,” Yu admitted.

“Well, I’m really happy that you guys will be the one to take care of this for us,” Ren replied gratefully. “Do you guys know whose Jail it is yet?”

“We don’t,” Yu answered, his voice sounding troubled as the realization struck him. “That’s going to be a problem, isn’t it?”

“Unless Marie can somehow find a way to sneak you inside the Jail, you’ll need to know who it is to get in,” Ren explained with a frown. “Every time we infiltrated a Jail, it was by finding out who the Monarch was and using their EMMA keyword. So far, for all three Jails we’ve been into, we were able to get in because there was a mass of obviously brainwashed people completely worshipping the Monarch. Has there been anything like that in Inaba, or even anyone just acting really weird in general?”

“No,” Yu replied immediately. “Not as far as I’ve seen, anyway.”

“So it looks like whoever the Monarch is hasn’t started any mass brainwashing yet, then,” Ren concluded. “That’s good because nothing bad’s happened to Inaba yet…but it’s also a problem because there’s no easy way to identify the Monarch.” He sighed. “Hate to say it, but I think you’re gonna have to find the Monarch first before you can infiltrate their Jail.”

“So we’re going to have to investigate the Monarch, just like we did back in the old days?” Yu chuckled as he emphasized the word investigate, causing Ren to snicker as well. “It’s been years since we had to do an actual investigation like that. Gotta be honest, part of me is looking forward to it…but another part is groaning at how much of a pain it’s probably gonna be,” he admitted.

“Well, I wish you the best of luck,” Ren remarked gratefully. “And thanks again for helping us out with this. Say hi to everyone for me.”

“Will do, Ren. We’ll give you regular updates whenever we can,” Yu promised, before hanging up the phone and descending down the stairs back to the living room. “I talked to Ren, he gave us the okay to take over the Inaba Jail.”

“Great!” Shiho smiled. “That’ll save us a lot of time and the Phantom Thieves a lot of trouble.”

Chie cheered. “All right! Time for us to get down to business!”

“Not so fast,” Yu reined in her enthusiasm. “We don’t actually know who the Jail Monarch is, and I’d rather not wait until people start getting brainwashed to find out. I want you guys to keep an eye and an ear around town, see if you hear anything suspicious or anything about people behaving in ways that aren’t normal. I’m hoping we can find the Jail Monarch before they start mass brainwashing the people of Inaba, and change their heart just like the Phantom Thieves do before it gets to that point.”

“So we’re going to be doing some investigating then, are we?” Naoto replied, before smiling with a hint of nostalgia. “How long has it been since we’ve done something like that?”

“Actually putting in the Investigation in Investigation Team for a change, huh?” Yosuke asked with a smirk. “Well, we’re not gonna find out who the Jail Monarch is by sitting around here, that’s for sure.”

A thought suddenly occurred to Rise. “Wait a minute, Yu…don’t we need an EMMA keyword too?” she asked with concern. “It isn’t just the Monarch we need to find. We need the keyword to actually get into the Jail.”

Yu shook his head. “One thing at a time. Focus on finding who the Monarch is first, and then on finding the keyword. Trying to do the second is completely pointless without doing the first.”

“Should we meet back up later?” Shiho wondered.

“If anybody here finds anything important, send the rest of us a message and we can meet up to talk about it,” Yu decided after a few seconds of thought. “Otherwise, there’s no real point to it before at least a day or two.”

The Investigation Team nodded. “Hey, uh…I got one last question,” Kanji decided to bring up before they wrapped the meeting up. “Do we think there’s some sort of cognitive deity like that Yaldabaoth asshole setting up the Jails?”

Marie frowned. “I…can’t really tell, to be honest,” she admitted. “I wouldn’t be surprised if there was…but it could also just be a result of EMMA’s programming, or the work of a mortal man whose head got too big for their own good.”

“The safest thing to do is assume there is one, and that we just haven’t seen them yet,” Yu decided. “I don’t think the Velvet Room wouldn’t have gotten involved if there wasn’t some kind of deity out there…and I don’t think we’d need to care as much about breaking the rules if this didn’t involve any gods to begin with.”

“Which means that Ren and his friends will probably have to fight them at some point,” Yosuke drawled, his next word filled with so much irony you could cut it with a knife. “Fantastic.”

“They can take care of themselves,” Shiho confidently assured them. “We just gotta make things as easy as possible for them since they’re doing most of the heavy lifting.”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself!” Labrys agreed with a grin, the sentiment shared by the rest of the Investigation Team.

Yu adjourned the meeting, and as they returned back to their homes or jobs, Inaba’s Persona users proceeded to ask around about any potential rumors or stories about people behaving oddly that previously had been relatively normal. Chie and Naoto turned to Dojima as their main contact in the police, and since he was both the head of the department and Chie’s direct superior, asking him such a question wouldn’t raise any eyebrows.

To their disappointment, however, Dojima denied seeing or hearing anything abnormal. “I haven’t heard about anything beyond the usual petty crimes that happen every so often,” he informed them with a shake of his head. “And nothing that sounded like a relatively normal person suddenly going insane, or a mass outbreak of a crime of a specific nature.” He gave them a quizzical look. “Why do you ask?”

Chie and Naoto briefly explained the situation regarding the new Jail in Inaba to Dojima, who visibly grimaced once they finished giving their report. “Don’t like the sound of that,” he muttered. “I was hoping Inaba would never have to deal with another incident like what happened back in 2011.” He sighed. “I had a feeling that was too much for ask for and something like this would happen sooner or later.”

“Well, Dojima-san, we are trying our hardest to prevent this situation from spiraling out of control like the Foggy Day Murders did this time around,” Naoto assured them. “Hence our inquiry.”

“That would be very much appreciated,” Dojima nodded in thanks, “but like I said before, I haven’t heard anything unusual over the past few days. After hearing this, though, I’ll definitely be keeping a closer eye out.” He smiled at them. “In the meantime, good luck with your investigation. Chie, I’ll assign you on patrol duty today but I won’t give you a specific route so that you can keep asking around without needing to take a vacation day.”

As Chie and Naoto gave their thanks, Yu in the meantime had immediately beelined straight to the house where Nanako had been hanging out with one of her friends. The girl was surprised to see Yu show up at her friend’s doorstep, but she was happy to see him like always. “Kinda surprised to see you here, Big Bro,” she remarked. “I thought we weren’t gonna meet up until dinner today.” Her smile faded as she caught the rather solemn look on Yu’s face. “Is something wrong, Big Bro? What’s going on?”

“Before I answer that, I need you to answer my own question first,” Yu answered in an unnervingly grim tone that was setting Nanako increasingly on edge. “Have you been using EMMA at all?”

Nanako shook her head. “Not lately…” she replied uncertainly. “Ever since you told me not to, I deleted the app from my phone and haven’t thought about it since.” Her eyes widened. “Wait, is there something going on with EMMA?”

Yu breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank God.” He looked visibly less stressed now, but maintained his serious expression and looked Nanako squarely in the eyes. “Nanako, I have reason to believe that there’s something very wrong with EMMA and that it involves…” he leaned in to whisper in her ear, “…the TV World.”

Nanako’s eyes widened in shock and just a hint of fear. Even though the memories of her time in the TV World were very distant and foggy (yes, she was aware of the pun and didn’t particularly enjoy the humor in it), she understood the fundamentals of the TV World after Yu had sat down with her and her father one day to explain the basics. It was one of the many things that she had appreciated about her Big Bro, that he had bothered to explain the truth about the other world to her and how it had related to the Foggy Day Murders without either hiding it or going into an overly complicated explanation about it.

What Nanako very much didn’t appreciate was a potential new danger either coming from or affecting the TV World. She knew full well what had happened the LAST time that had happened…and it was only thanks to her Big Bro and their friends that the body count hadn’t been much higher. “The TV World?” she whispered back in case her friend was overhearing.

“Yeah,” Yu murmured silently, “or close enough to it that I’m gonna group it in to keep things simple. I don’t think it’s going to lead to any murders, thankfully…but it is going to lead to mass brainwashing and chaos in Inaba if we don’t do something.”

“And EMMA has something to do with it, right?” Nanako asked knowingly. Suddenly, she was incredibly thankful that Yu had bothered to warn her about the app, and relieved that she had taken that warning seriously.

“It has everything to do with it,” Yu affirmed. “I came here to make sure that you weren’t using EMMA and had already gotten brainwashed…and to warn you about what was going on.”

“I appreciate it, Big Bro,” Nanako thanked him. “I already wasn’t using EMMA before, and I’m DEFINITELY not gonna use it now.” She frowned. “I don’t think I can stop my friends from using it, though. They think it’s really cool since it’s one of the newest things to ever come to Inaba.”

Yu sighed. “As much as I’d love to stop everyone in Inaba from using that app, I know that’s not realistic,” he acknowledged. “Just don’t use that app yourself, and try and see what you can do to stop your friends from using it.”

“I’ll try my best,” Nanako promised, “but that’s really all I can do.”

“That’s all I’m asking for,” Yu assured her. He gave her a quick hug, and was about to leave before one final thought suddenly occurred to him. “Actually, one more thing. If you see anybody acting in a weird way who used to be normal, let me know. That might be a clue that someone is being brainwashed.”

“I’ll keep an eye out for sure!” Nanako agreed readily. Yu smiled, satisfied that Nanako wasn’t in any immediate danger and had gotten the message clearly, and departed back to the shopping district of Inaba after one final farewell.

For most of the day, he and his friends proceeded to casually ask around about potential rumors or odd behaviors…and Yu was both relieved and disappointed to hear nothing out of the ordinary. And judging by the lack of communication from his friends and fellow Persona users, they hadn’t heard anything either. For now, the mass brainwashing and crime sprees that had affected Shibuya, Sendai, and Sapporo didn’t seem to have affected Inaba…but Yu knew that it was only a matter of time, and that time was running out.

It wasn’t until the late afternoon that Yu finally made a breakthrough, and it was from a person he hadn’t meaningfully interacted with in a very long time. His phone had suddenly rung out of nowhere, and Yu had been shocked to recognize the number of the mayor of Inaba, Taro Namatame, on his caller ID. “Namatame-san,” Yu greeted him once the call went through. “Good afternoon. How may I help you?”

“Good afternoon, Narukami-san,” the man’s voice was respectful, but there was an edge of uneasiness in it that Yu picked up on almost immediately. “I apologize for requesting this on such a short notice, but I was wondering if we could have a discussion in person. I would…rather not discuss this over the phone, if at all possible.”

“Of course,” Yu agreed readily. Even if he was preoccupied, he wasn’t going to just deny a request from Inaba’s mayor without a very good reason for it. “Where would you like to meet?”

“Any location that is as private as possible,” Namatame answered. “The topic of my discussion is…rather sensitive. Would my personal residence be acceptable to you?”

“I’ll be there as soon as you provide me an address,” Yu assured him. Namatame gave him the address in question, and Yu immediately drove there. The mayor’s home was certainly higher-end than most of the buildings in Inaba, but it was surprisingly modest given his major role in running the town. When he arrived at the front door, Namatame was already there to greet him personally.

“Thank you for coming at such short notice,” Namatame greeted him respectfully and invited him in. “There was something important that I wished to speak with you about, Narukami-san. Let me escort you to my office.”

Yu followed Namatame to the office in question, and sat in the chair opposite Namatame’s desk. Once they had made themselves comfortable, Namatame got straight to business. “I heard that some of your friends were asking about any unusual goings-on in Inaba. Does it have anything to do with…that world?”

“It does,” Yu solemnly confirmed. He offered a brief summary of the Jail Crisis that was affecting other parts of Japan, and expressed his concern that the same might soon fall upon Inaba if no action was taken.

Namatame sighed. “I was afraid as much, even though I was hoping otherwise.” He cleared his throat before continuing. “I didn’t see anything unusual for the first part of the day, but towards the late afternoon, I did notice one of my staff behaving…rather unusually.” His gaze sharpened. “Before we begin, I must ask that anything we discuss here be kept in utmost confidence,” the request was polite, but it was clear from his tone that it was non-negotiable. “Do not discuss this with anyone who is not part of your team, or anyone who will not be directly involved in solving this crisis.”

“You have my word and the word of the Investigation Team,” he vowed. “Go on, Namatame-san.”

“Her name is Tsuyomi Yamano,” Namatame continued, and Yu took a sharp breath as he recognized the last name. “She is the younger sister of the late Mayumi Yamano, the woman whose life I so foolishly and unwittingly ruined with my failings all those years ago…and the woman first murdered by Tohru Adachi. A few years after her death, Tsuyomi approached me and asked for a job as part of my staff. She had been trying to find a job with little success and believed that I would be more sympathetic to her struggles…or at the very least, would be willing to hire her to make up for my sins with regards to Mayumi.”

“I’m assuming you did hire her,” Yu guessed.

“I did indeed,” Namatame confirmed. “Even if we assume the least sympathetic motivation and that Tsuyomi took advantage of my lingering guilt for what happened to Mayumi, she is completely right to believe that I owe penance to Mayumi’s family for how I destroyed her life. I hired her sister, making sure not to repeat the mistakes of my past, and I have kept our relationship strictly professional. There were some mutterings amongst my staff at this, but I would not budge on the matter.”

“And what was Tsuyomi like until now?” Yu asked carefully.

Namatame shrugged. “Honestly, Narukami-san? Largely and surprisingly unremarkable. While she wasn’t necessarily the most joyful person I’ve ever met in my life, she did not have any significant difficulties with depression or anxiety either. At the very least, she doesn’t have any mental health problems that I’m aware of. She does her duties efficiently and without complaint, so I have no problems with her from an employee standpoint either.”

“I see,” Yu nodded understandingly. “So what made you believe that this may no longer be the case?”

“Because this morning, Tsuyomi let out a frankly bizarre outburst,” Namatame explained. “It was strange both because of how extreme it was, given her normally stable mood, as well as what the outburst was about. Tsuyomi demonstrated an uncharacteristic display of fury when she looked at my TV in my office earlier today. She started shouting about how it was the TV’s fault that her sister died, and that if it wasn’t for the TV, Mayumi would be alive today.” He frowned. “She actually didn’t seem to blame me all that much for Mayumi’s death, focusing most of her ire on the TV. Which by itself is quite unusual.”

 “She blamed the TV for her sister’s death?” Yu asked, making sure he had heard correctly. This was hardly the most rational line of thinking…although given Ren’s experiences so far, it seemed that rationality didn’t exactly factor into the equation when it came to a Monarch’s mindset.

“Indeed,” Namatame nodded. “In particular, she made a comment about how much safer Inaba would’ve been, and how her sister would still be alive, if it wasn’t for the existence of the TVs.” He frowned. “When she looked at my TV, there was a sheer, overwhelming hatred in her eyes...as though she wanted nothing more than to destroy my device. What makes this particular concerning is that she never once demonstrated anything resembling this kind of behavior or emotion before, to TVs or otherwise.”

“I understand why you’re concerned,” Yu assured him, his voice filled with sympathy. “A personality change like this coming out of nowhere certainly isn’t normal.” It was time for him to ask arguably the most important question. “Does Tsuyomi Yamano have EMMA?”

“She does,” Namatame confirmed with a grimace. “I believe she got the app about 2 weeks ago. I do recall seeing her share her friend code with a few other people over the past few days…but it didn’t strike me as anything beyond typical social networking.”

“It might not have been anything worse than that at first,” Yu thought grimly. “But if she’s the Monarch of the Jail, that might change soon.”

“Narukami-san,” Namatame’s voice broke him out of his thoughts. “I must once again emphasize that this is all strictly off-the-record. I have no evidence that Tsuyomi is responsible for any wrongdoing, and her family has already suffered enough from scandals in no small part thanks to me.” He gave the silver-haired Wild Card a fierce look. “I do not want to hear any rumors in the streets suggesting that Tsuyomi’s mental health is deteriorating, or anything of the nature. Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal clear,” Yu reassured him firmly. “None of this will leave the mouths of either myself or my team. In fact, my goal is to prevent the crisis from ever happening to Inaba in the first place, and I would like to avoid contact with Tsuyomi completely until the time comes to steal her heart…if it even comes to that in the first place.”

“Please consult me before you take any decisive action in that regard,” Namatame requested politely but firmly. “Even if Tsuyomi is the Monarch and her heart must be stolen, I would like to keep this as private and away from the eyes of the public as much as possible.”

“We’ll coordinate with you before we make our final moves,” Yu promised, earning a grateful nod of approval from Namatame. “Now, before we go…do you know what Tsuyomi’s EMMA keyword is?”

“I do,” Namatame answered. “Her keyword is Forceful Splendor.” He chuckled dryly. “I believe it’s based off her first name’s meaning. Not exactly the most original keyword out there, but it suits her well enough, I suppose.”

“Thank you very much Namatame-san,” Yu bowed his head respectfully as he got up from the chair and offered his hand to Namatame. “You have been incredibly helpful. This may be just what we need to prevent another disaster from falling on Inaba like what happened all those years ago.”

Namatame shook Yu’s hand. “This town has suffered enough from otherworldly crimes,” he agreed. Please keep me updated.”

“Certainly,” Yu promised, as Namatame escorted him back to his car. Just before he started driving away, he sent one important message to the Inaba Persona users’ group chat.

Yu: “Meet up at Ren’s empty house if you’ve got the chance. I think I’ve found out who the Monarch is…and if I’m right, I have everything we need to get into their Jail.”

Chapter Text

Once they realized that Yu had potentially discovered the identity of the Inaba Jail, the Investigation Team didn’t waste any time assembling at Ren’s empty house, just like their leader had ordered. The house felt unnaturally empty and forlorn without their little brother figure around, and the Investigation Team welcomed the opportunity to get right down to business to distract their minds from Ren’s absence.

Yu launched into his explanation of how he had been invited to Taro Namatame’s residence, and how he had learned about Tsuyomi Yamano and her abnormal behavior. “Not only is she acting in a completely unusual way,” he concluded, “but she also has EMMA as well. I got her keyword and everything from Namatame.”

“Namatame, huh?” Kanji shook his head. “Man, it’s been a long time since we’ve crossed paths with that guy. Can’t believe he’s the one who’s gonna help us crack this case, out of all people.”

“Let us not be hasty,” Naoto cautioned. “While I do agree that Tsuyomi Yamano has a much stronger argument for being the Jail Monarch compared to everyone else so far, we must keep in mind that she has not yet actually been confirmed as the Monarch yet.”

“Yamano…” Rise repeated the name thoughtfully, before snapping her fingers. “Wait, isn’t she…?”

“The younger sister of that TV announcer who was Adachi’s first murder victim? That’s correct,” Yu affirmed, deliberately neglecting to mention her affair with Namatame for reasons of good taste. He sighed. “Of course Inaba’s past history with cognitive worlds would intertwine with its present in such a morbid way…”

“Do we have any clue what Inaba’s Jail is even going to look like?” Shiho wondered.

Yu shook his head. “Not a clue. The only hint I got is something about Tsuyomi having an unusual hatred of TVs.” He grimaced. “It doesn’t exactly take a genius to figure out why…but that doesn’t actually tell us much about the nature of the Jail. There’s not much point in guessing before we try to actually go in.”

“We ARE gonna go in soon, right?” Chie pressed. “Inaba’s gonna be a real mess soon if we don’t do anything.”

“My plan is for us to infiltrate the Jail tomorrow morning, first thing,” Yu assured them. “I apologize, but this will mean that you’ll all have to take the next day or two off so we can get this done.”

“I figured something like that would happen, so I told my Dad Teddie and I were gonna take the next few days off,” Yosuke replied with a dry chuckle. “He wasn’t exactly thrilled about that, but we’ve put in a lot of work over the past few months without any breaks so he couldn’t really complain.”

“Dojima won’t mind,” Chie added confidently. “Hell, he probably knows that this is way more important than whatever else is going on in Inaba at the moment.”

Kanji smirked. “The great thing about owning your own business is that you can take breaks whenever the hell you want,” he commented smugly.

“I think most of us will be able to make it to the infiltration just fine,” Yukiko reassured Yu. “The only one of us who might have a problem is Shiho depending on her team’s schedule.”

“I’ll be there,” Shiho promised. “I don’t have another meet or practice with the basketball team for another few days.”

Yu smiled. “Excellent. I would’ve talked to Kou to get him to excuse you, but it looks like that won’t be a problem. So we’re all good to infiltrate the Jail tomorrow, then?”

“One question, Yu,” Naoto interrupted with a raised finger. “Do you have a safe point of entry to enter the Jail?” she asked with a frown. “Because the last thing we want to do is try to enter the Jail…only to find ourselves in an incredibly exposed location surrounded by enemies with no way out.”

“I’m still figuring that out,” Yu admitted. “My plan is to ask Marie to see if she can find a safe point in the Jail that we can access through in the real world. Even if she can’t find a perfect location, it’s safer than going in blind.”

“I can’t wait to see this new Jail!” Teddie exclaimed excitedly. “It’s going to be such a great time!”

“I’m kinda excited too,” Labrys admitted. “Wiping out entire armies of Shadows with just a few swings of my axe has been a hella fun time.”

“Well, you can count on me to navigate you all through the Jail, just like I have for everything else!” Rise assured them cheerfully.

Yu smiled at his girlfriend and kissed her on the cheek, earning some whoops and snickers from his team, before adopting a more businesslike expression. “Everyone should be on standby tomorrow morning,” he instructed. “Once I’ve found a safe location for us to enter the Jail from Marie, we should all meet there as soon as possible. I’m hoping that we can get all this done in 2 days, maybe 3 at the absolute most.”

Yosuke grinned. “Well, you know where to find us when you’re ready,” he spoke on behalf of the rest of the team. “We’re gonna get this done, just like we did all those years ago!”

The Investigation Team and its guest members all affirmed their commitment to clearing the Inaba Jail out, and once they had adjourned for the night, Yu reached out to Marie to request her assistance in finding a safe entry point to the Jail. She didn’t get back to him until the next morning, but fortunately the goddess of Inaba was able to provide the answer that they needed.

“Took me a bit of time since I had to spent over an hour figuring out which parts of the TV World and the Jail connected to which part of the TV World,” Marie explained. “But from what I’ve found, there should actually be a safe entry point to the Jail right around Labrys’ house.”

Yu’s eyes widened. “Really?” he asked incredulously, his perpetually tranquil demeanor fragmenting slightly. “Our Jail entry point is at Labrys’ house, of all places?”

Marie snickered. “Yeah, took me by surprise too,” she admitted. “I dunno if it’s cause I tried to keep it under control, but this Jail isn’t big enough to cover all of Inaba like those other Jails that Ren’s gone into. The Jail here covers a large chunk of residential area. Labrys’ house is there, and I think Ren’s and even the Dojimas’ houses are covered by it too. But yeah, Labrys’ house is probably the safest entry point you’ll get.”

Yu wasn’t exactly thrilled to learn that his sister/cousin and uncle’s house was within the Inaba Jail’s sphere of influence, but he WAS relieved that he and his team had a clear entry point where they could enter from with minimal risk of getting spotted disappearing into the Jail. He smiled at his friend. “Thanks, Marie. We’ll get to work right away,” he promised.

“You better,” Marie grumbled under her breath. “I didn’t wake up early in the morning just for you to twiddle your thumbs and do nothing.”

The irritation she was emanating at the moment gave Yu distinct Izanami-esque vibes, and he wisely decided not to comment on it. Instead, he thanked Marie again and wasted no time in gathering everyone at Labrys’ house.

“Yer kidding me!” Labrys exclaimed once Yu had told them why he had gathered them all there. “Our safe way into the Jail is in MY house, of all places?”

“Yeah, I was surprised too,” Yu replied. “Tsuyomi Yamano apparently lives somewhere around here, which is probably why her Jail covers this area.”

Yosuke grinned. “That means it’ll be easy for us to sneak in without people noticing we’re disappearing in the real world, right?” he prompted.

“It would seem so,” Naoto answered. “So long as we make sure to transition into the Jail within the house and keep all the windows closed, there should be no reason for anyone to spot us.”

“Everyone here is ready, right?” Yu prompted. “Got all of your weapons, armor, and everything?”

His team all gave their affirmations, and Yu wasted no time in entering Tsuyomi’s name and keyword into EMMA. Any doubts they might have had about her being the Monarch vanished once and for all when the world and reality shifted around them just like it had every time they had entered a Jail. Once they were sure they had fully completed the transition, the Investigation Team raced towards Pres’ front door and slid it open.

“Oh my God…” Flower gasped as they beheld the Inaba Jail for the first time.

The Amagi Inn proprietor’s shock was completely justified. For the residential area of Inaba that the Jail spanned had transformed into a modern military base, with military buildings and bunkers replacing some of the apartment buildings and houses that existed in the real world. In the far distance, they Investigation Team could see a military headquarters where a general and an army’s command structure might have been located…although unlike most headquarters, this one had a large tower reminiscent of an airport’s mission control tower extending into the sky…complete with a cage surrounded by chains at the very top.

But as impressive (and concerning) as the site of Inaba being transformed into a military base for a Monarch was…

“It’s smaller,” Melody vocalized what Seeker was thinking out loud. “It’s definitely smaller than the ones we’ve been in already.” She concentrated harder, directing Himiko’s power towards the boundaries of the Jail. “And I can feel it…clashing…against a boundary of some kind. It’s trying to spread through…but it’s being resisted.”

“That has to be Emmy-chan!” Ted exclaimed. “She’s gotta be pushing back against the Jail!”

It was a surprisingly insightful comment from Ted, and more than likely the correct explanation. “How long will she able to keep this up, though?” Tailor wondered with a frown.

“I don’t know,” Seeker answered with grim determination. “And the reason why we’re here is to make sure that she doesn’t have to find out.”

“I can see that tower in that military headquarters over there,” Corsair gestured towards the building on the other side of the Jail. “That’s gotta be where Tsuyomi’s Shadow is, right?”

“At the very least, it’s going to be her center of power,” Seeker replied after a few seconds of thought. “And most likely where she would keep any Desires that she’ll eventually start stealing.”

“Judging by all of both ours and Joker’s past experiences, it’s likely where we’ll have our eventual confrontation with her Shadow,” Sureshot observed.

“But we gotta get there first!” Dragon shouted as she kicked the air to pump herself once. “So let’s get cracking!”

“Everyone, let’s move out!” Seeker agreed. He checked to make sure that the street in front of them was empty, before stepping onto the street with his sword in hand. Next to him were Tailor, Ted, and Pres, three of his team who had been forced to take a backseat in the fight against the false copy of Shadow Mariko that the Sapporo Jail had created.

Unfortunately, despite taking care to check for Shadows around the area, there was nothing Seeker could have done about the horde of Shadows that suddenly spawned right in front of them. The Shadows were still humanoid in nature, only these ones were wearing modern military uniforms similar to the ones used in the Japanese army…and carrying what looked like modern assault rifles. “Intruders!” one of the Shadow soldiers barked orders. “Get them and bring them to the General!”

“Sorry, but I think I’m going to have to pass,” Seeker grunted in response. The Shadows didn’t seem to particularly appreciate his refusal, as they immediately transformed into large swarms of Black Ooze and more “normal” versions of the military Shadows.

“How the hell are these Shadows even able to fit so many copies of themselves into one body?” Tailor wondered in bemusement.

“Quirk of the Jails, I guess,” Seeker muttered back as they readied themselves. “Let’s just be grateful that the TV World’s Shadows only spawned into like…5 at most, instead of 20.”

Tailor shuddered at the idea of having to fight over 20 Shadows at once back in the days when Izanami was in control, and they launched themselves into battle. The Black Oozes actually had a plethora of weaknesses…but unfortunately, Tailor was the only one on the front lines who was able to hit them with their weaknesses with his electric attacks. Pres and Ted instead decided to prioritize the more humanlike Shadows, while Seeker joined Tailor in attacking the Black Oozes in their weaknesses through Psy attacks from Legion.

Although the Black Oozes were probably the strongest Shadows that they had faced so far where basic foot soldiers were concerned, the legendary weapons and armors that they had brought with them into the Jails completely overwhelmed that strength. Even their resisted attacks from their weapons were able to cut through the Black Oozes thanks to their sheer quality, and both Tailor’s and Seekers’ relentless attacks tore apart the Black Oozes by the dozens.

“Great job, guys!” Melody cheered once the last of the Black Oozes had faded away. “You guys kicked their asses like always!”

“Heh, they’re gonna have to do a lot better than that if they want to stop us!” Tailor boasted with a chuckle.

“So where to now?” Pres wondered.

“How about that headquarters building over there?” Prince pointed towards the large military headquarters that they had seen. “We’ll probably be able to find Shadow Tsuyomi over there.” He grinned. “If we’re lucky, we might even be able to fight her and wrap this up in one day?”

Dragon gave him a thoroughly unimpressed look. “Do you REALLY think it’s gonna be that easy?” she drawled.

“Not in the least,” Prince deadpanned. “But we might get some intel. Maybe about how Tsuyomi’s gonna start brainwashing people in Inaba, or something like that.”

That second goal was honestly much more realistic, and it was as good a place to start as any. As they made their way down the street towards the military headquarters, Melody started describing the military base’s layout to the rest of her team.

“So, this whole place is shaped in kind of a weird way,” the navigator explained. “In terms of places we can actually get to, it’s in this sort of cross formation. Labrys’ house is at one end, and the military headquarters on the complete opposite end. And then there’s two buildings on the “side ends” that I can’t really tell what they are exactly from here, but they’re pretty big and they feel pretty important.”

“Could those be Jail Keeps?” Flower wondered. “Those places where people’s Shadows get locked up and hold Cores?”

“There’s a decent possibility,” Seeker answered. “But I’m hoping that nobody’s actually gotten their Desires stolen and their Jails locked up. Time is of the essence.” He smiled. “But given how simple the layout of this Jail seems to be compared to the Jails Joker’s been in, I’m thinking that Marie blocking the Jail from spreading past this area might have had an impact on this Jail to make the layout less complex.”

“We haven’t ever had a case of an outside influence actively suppressing a Jail before, have we?” Sureshot mused. “There would certainly be some interesting potential for experimentation…if people’s free wills weren’t at stake,” she quickly added.

“I still think we need to get to the military headquarters first,” Corsair chimed in. “We don’t even know yet how Shadow Tsuyomi’s gonna start brainwashing people.”

“I agree,” Seeker nodded. “Let’s get moving.”

As it turned out, however, the Investigation Team wouldn’t ever get all the way over there. As they reached the center-point of the “cross” shape that Melody had described, the idol singer suddenly shouted a word of panic. “Guys, hide!” she shouted. “There’s a large force of Shadows coming…and a powerful presence that feels like the other Monarchs!”

Neither Seeker nor the rest of the Investigation Team needed any further encouragement to do what Melody had ordered. Fighting just the normal Shadows would have been one thing…Seeker was relatively confident that his team’s weapons and armor would allow them to match if not surpass an army of Shadows even if they were disgustingly outnumbered…but a Shadow Monarch was another matter entirely. That was a foe that Seeker wouldn’t allow himself or his team to face without proper preparation no matter their advantages….and he certainly wouldn’t fight against a Monarch backed up by an entire army.

Fortunately, his team were all on the same page, even the more battle-eager members. Using the new powers granted to them by the Metaverse, the Investigation Team all hid in corners and behind unused military vehicles, leaving the approaching force none the wiser.

And it was a good thing that they had opted to hide rather than attack, for a small army of military Shadows was marching towards their location, and at their head was a female figure that emanated power and authority. The woman was young, appearing to be in her early 20s, and was wearing a General’s uniform studded with various medals with a black sash draped neatly across it. On her head was a black military cap with a golden sun emblazoned on it laid neatly on top of cropped black hair that reminded Seeker of her late older sister, and in her hands she carried a military baton reminiscent of the ones held by several commanding officers in Western militaries.

But what was most striking to the Investigation Team were the glowing golden eyes that the woman possessed…eyes that blazed with a fierce light. Even without any prior knowledge of Shadows or Jails, Seeker would have easily been able to identify the woman in charge of this Jail.

The woman, who could only be Tsuyomi Yamano’s Shadow, turned to one of her subordinates. “Report!” she barked, in a tone that would tolerate no delay or argument.

“General!” one of the other Shadows saluted, before launching into his report. “We registered a disturbance at the edge of the base a few minutes ago, and sent out scouts to investigate. None of the scouts have returned, so we can assume that they were killed by a hostile force that intruded upon our base. An enemy that we have yet to identify.”

Shadow Tsuyomi scowled. “Typical,” she growled, her anger clear on her face. “First our efforts to spread our base out past this area get blocked for a reason we still don’t understand. And now you’re telling me that there’s an enemy who’s somehow broken into the base before we’ve even had the chance to launch our first attacks. How are we supposed to begin our assault if we keep running into setback after setback before we’ve even got the chance to get off the ground?” she shouted the last question into the air.

Her subordinate Shadow cringed. “We’re sorry, General!” he apologized frantically. “We didn’t expect things to go so badly this quickly. We’ll do better!”

Shadow Tsuyomi sighed and her expression seemed to soften ever so slightly. “Well, I’m not going to things beyond any of our control,” she acknowledged, before her eyes and voice hardened, “but I expect your performance to significantly improve very soon. My other self is going to start adding the natives here to EMMA, and the moment they arrive here, I expect you to steal their Desires and lock them up in the prisons as soon as they show up,” Shadow Tsuyomi ordered, before her adding a hint of menace to her tone. “If you manage to screw THAT up, then we’re going to have a problem.”

The Shadows seemed to understand that their fate if they failed this particular task would be decidedly unpleasant. “Ma’am, yes, ma’am!” they all saluted.

“And seriously, find those intruders!” Shadow Tsuyomi barked. “Either capture them and steal their Desires so they will join our noble cause, or drive them out of here so that they can never return and we can proceed with our plans uninterrupted.”

The Shadows all acknowledged their orders, and one of them approached the General. “General?” he asked nervously. “How will these latest developments affect your plans for the attack?”

Shadow Tsuyomi frowned and a thoughtful look appeared on her face. Seeker had to acknowledge that, despite her generally angry demeanor, the Shadow didn’t seem to be the type of individual who would attack or kill her subordinates simply for asking legitimate questions. “We will begin our attack in 2 days,” Shadow Tsuyomi decided. “Once my other self has converted the people of Inaba to our cause, we will launch our attack upon the accursed TVs that led to my sister’s death in the first place!” A look of fury, mixed with an undercurrent of anguish and grief, appeared on her face. “If it wasn’t for those damn TVs, she’d still be alive!” the General suddenly shouted. “I’m going to destroy them all! With my armies, I’m going to destroy every TV in Inaba I can find! I’m going to avenge my sister, and make sure that nobody will ever be murdered the way she was ever again! No matter…what it takes…” the woman’s voice softened ever so slightly at the last sentence.

“Well, I think we’ve figured out what Shadow Tsuyomi’s motivations are as a Monarch…and how she plans to brainwash the people in Inaba,” Seeker thought to himself. From her own words, it was clear that Shadow Tsuyomi planned to brainwash the people of Inaba to attack and destroy their own TVs, both to avenge Mayumi Yamano’s death and also to prevent another tragedy like the Foggy Day Murders from happening again.

It was honestly a noble intention in its own way, albeit twisted. At the very least, Shadow Tsuyomi seemed to have more altruistic goals than most of the other Shadow Monarchs who had primarily been driven by self-aggrandizement, which Seeker had no trouble acknowledging and giving her credit for.

The problem was that Tsuyomi didn’t have a proper understanding of the details behind the Foggy Day Murders, so she was blaming the wrong thing. And her misguided crusade would only lead to senseless destruction of property and violations of free will, all for nothing in the end. So as much as Seeker sympathized with Tsuyomi Yamano, she had to be stopped.

He could read the expressions on his friends’ faces, and could tell that they were all on the same page. But before any of them could say or do anything, Shadow Tsuyomi turned around and started barking out orders again. “Activate the security measures!” she demanded. “If you can’t find those intruders, at the very least we can make damn sure that none of them ever get into my headquarters!”

“Yes, ma’am!” the Shadows saluted. The General barked out more orders, and the Shadows dispersed. Some of them stayed by her side, while others started spreading out through the other three paths of the “cross formation” that Melody had described. Then, Shadow Tsuyomi started departing in the direction of the military headquarters building, flanked by her remaining soldiers. And once passed the threshold into the small lot in front of the building, a huge metal barricade suddenly rose from the ground, crackling with energy as it blocked their one clear path to the building.

The Investigation Team grimaced as they looked on at the empty streets, which were now being patrolled by military Shadows. On the plus side, they had gotten irrefutable confirmation that Shadow Tsuyomi was indeed the Monarch of the Inaba Jail, and they now knew her planned modus operandi on how she was going to brainwash the people of Inaba in the real world.

But all of that was now overshadowed by the much greater downside that getting to the most important building in this Jail had now gotten much more complicated than they had initially anticipated.

Chapter Text

The Investigation Team waited until the Shadows that were still remaining dispersed. The streets weren’t exactly empty, but they weren’t crowded with Shadows to the point that they would be swarmed if they got caught by one either. “All right, Melody,” Seeker called out to his girlfriend. “What can you tell us about that barricade?”

Melody frowned. “Well, it’s got two power sources…both of which are on the opposite ends of the Jail’s cross formation. The ends that aren’t the headquarters building and the way we just came,” she explained. “As long as even one power source is active, the barricade will stay up.”

“Which means we’ve gotta get over to whatever’s over there and nab those power sources,” Prince concluded.

“In all three of the Jails we’ve been in before this one, there were three huge Jail Keeps that used to hold all the prisoners of the Monarchs and their Cores,” Flower observed. “Do you guys think that it’s going to be the same thing here?”

“I think there’s a very high probability that that will be the case,” Sureshot affirmed.

“Well, let’s get goin’, then!” Pres urged. “We ain’t gonna get anythin’ done just sittin’ around here!”

Her words served to remind everyone that they were operating on a time limit. “Well, which way do we go now?” Corsair wondered. “We’ve got two options.”

“Uhhh…actually, you might only have one,” Melody reported apologetically. “Look down the path to the right, but don’t actually go down there!”

The Investigation Team did what their Navigator had instructed them to, and they quickly realized why going down the right path was a bad idea. Halfway down the street between them and where they suspected a Jail Core to be, multiple spotlights suddenly shined down brightly right in the middle of the road, covering an entire section of the street. If any of them thought that the spotlights wouldn’t be a problem, that notion was quickly dashed once they realized that the spotlights were attached to giant missile and gatling turrets that were all pointed directly at the spotlighted area.

Needless to say, nobody wanted to see if giant missiles and machine guns worked just as well against their bodies in a Jail as they would in the real world.

“Wh-wh-what the HECK?” Dragon spluttered in disbelief. “How the HELL are we supposed to get past THAT?”

“So scary!” Ted shuddered, clutching his bear claw close to himself. Nobody could honestly blame him, as the military defense system was THAT terrifying. And overkill.

Fortunately, their trusty idol singer had the solution. “It’s actually not as bad as you think, guys!” Melody quickly reassured them. “That turret defense system is directly connected to the same power source as the barricade blocking Shadow Tsuyomi’s HQ on the left side. If we deactivate that power source, it’ll deactivate the first one and get us one step closer to shutting down the second!” she declared.

Seeker smiled. “Well, in that case, our path is more or less determined for us,” he remarked. “Let’s head down the left path, and tear apart any Shadows that come anywhere near us.”

The Investigation Team members eagerly gave their agreements, and they made their way down the left path. With only one “main” path to go down the “arm” of the cross, the actual direction they needed to travel down the street was relatively straightforward.

Of course, the Shadows that patrolled the streets made progressing rather more complicated. Unsurprisingly given the Jail’s appearance as a modern military base and Shadow Tsuyomi’s appearance as a general, all of the Shadows were dressed in military uniforms. And whenever they were attacked by either Seeker or one of the Investigation Team members ambushing them (or Sureshot simply shooting them from a safe distance), they would transform into either a group of Eligors, a group of Mitras, or a much larger horde of Black Slimes.

“Sheesh,” Pres muttered. “I wouldn’t have expected this posh dude dressed in a military uniform to turn into a buncha slimes.”

“Can’t be any weirder than seeing a medieval executioner turn into a bunch of normal Slimes,” Tailor pointed out as he blasted the group of Black Slimes they were facing with a Zionga. “Probably not worth looking into too much.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Pres acknowledged. She reached out towards the group of Black Slimes, and her hand suddenly shot out from the rest of her arm, connected to the rest of her body by a steel chain, and grabbed the nearest Black Slime like a grappling hook. Pres pulled herself towards the hapless Black Slimes and swung her axe down upon them with two mighty swings. As her powerful weapon smashed upon the Black Slimes, Ariadne manifested behind Pres and unleashed a Minotaur-like silhouette that charged through the Black Slimes. Unlike in Pres’ and the rest of the Investigation Team’s previous adventure together, Ariadne’s attacks manifested with the color of a brilliant Nuclear blue…rather than the bloody red they had once been. The Weaver arts that Pres and Ariadne wielded together were now unquestionably imbued with the Nuke element…which meant they could take advantage of the Shock inflicted by Tailor’s electric attacks to blast the Shadows apart with Technical damage. “Easiest fight of my life!” she boasted as the Black Slimes all dissolved into black ashes.

“Nice work, team!” Melody praised. “Now on to the Jail Keep!”

The Investigation Team advanced down the street, fighting more Shadows along the way. As they made their way to the end of the cross’s “arm”, they realized that the edge of the arm was actually a large, ominous metal structure that looked suspiciously like the Jail Keeps that they had seen in some of the other Jails…only it had the appearance of a modern military prison, rather than a medieval castle dungeon.

“Melody?” Seeker called out to his girlfriend. “Anything we need to know?”

“I’ve got some good news and bad news for you guys,” she answered. “Which one do you wanna hear first?”

“The good news, please,” Seeker requested.

“Well, the good news is that I don’t sense any Shadows inside the Jail Keep, either trapped behind the cells or guarding the place. There’s nobody in there at all,” Melody reported. “And I can feel a power source at the top of the Jail Keep that’s connected to other parts of the Jail. This is definitely what we’re looking for.”

“That is indeed good news,” Sureshot acknowledged. “I’d already suspected that to be the case based on what Shadow Tsuyomi said earlier, but it’s relieving to receive confirmation that we’ve indeed arrived at this Jail before the brainwashing of Inaba’s people began.”

“Why do I feel like we’re not gonna like the bad news, though?” Prince asked with a frown.

Before Melody could say anything, an electric barrier suddenly zapped into existence, covering the doorway leading into the Jail Keep. “That’s why,” Melody sighed. “That barrier’s blocking the entrance to the Jail Keep, and it has its own power sources. We’re not gonna be able to get in until we’ve shut all those off first.”

“Oh, you’re kidding me!” Dragon groaned. “We finally got here, only to find out this way is blocked too? Are you telling me we went the wrong way the whole time?”

“No, no, this is definitely the right away,” Melody quickly reassured them. “There’s only two power sources to this barrier, and they’re both a lot smaller and located right around here. You see those two military bunkers on either side of the Jail Keep?”

“The ones that look a lot bigger and more important than everything else?” Ted asked.

“Yeah, exactly!” Melody confirmed. “You can bust in there, shut down whatever the power sources are, and go straight into the Jail Keep!”

“Is this supposed to be a military base or a freaking power plant?” Tailor muttered under his breath.

“Let us not be too hasty,” Sureshot cautioned, having already sensed the eager (and frankly bloodthirsty) expressions on her friends. “We don’t know exactly how heavily guarded these bunkers are. If they are filled to the brim with Shadows, it might be best to employ some stealth instead of charging into battle.”

“Sureshot has a point,” Flower acknowledged. “I know we have incredibly powerful weapons and armor, but our Personas and our bodies aren’t all that much stronger than the Shadows here, and there’s only so many hits we can take even with the equipment we have.”

“The left or the right one first?” Seeker asked his team.

“Whichever one you want, I don’t really care, partner,” Prince replied. The rest of the team had the same sentiment, so Seeker shrugged and directed them over to the left military bunker. Following Sureshot’s advice from earlier, they didn’t just barge in to the base with weapons drawn and guns blazing (literally in Sureshot’s case), instead waiting outside the ajar metal doors and peeking into the bunker to assess the situation.

“Wow!” Ted gasped. “Is that a TANK in there?”

“That is indeed a tank,” Sureshot mumbled. “Fortunately, I don’t believe it is currently in use. Otherwise, I would be very concerned about our chances fighting against it, legendary armor or no.”

“I hear ya…” Pres muttered as she studied the inside of the bunker. “But other than that tank that’s not even being used, this doesn’t seem too bad. I mean, there’s a couple of Shadows hanging around in there, but not all that many. I think we could take’em!”

“I’m in agreement,” Seeker concurred, before adding a word of caution. “Just be careful. There may not be too many enemies within the bunker, but the Shadows inside might either call for reinforcements once we attack them…or any Shadows wandering outside the bunker might come in on their own.”

“We’ll keep an eye out,” Tailor promised, with the rest of the Investigation Team mirroring his promise to be cautious. Seeker nodded his head once, signaling his team to get ready, before leaping out of their hiding spot behind the doors and landing squarely on the shoulders of the nearest Shadow. The Shadow barely had time to react as Seeker ripped off his mask, and as it transformed into a group of three Eligors, Seeker swung his blade down upon them, staggering them all while the rest of his team charged forward to join him.

The inside of the bunker was full of Eligors, Black Slimes, Mithras, and “normal” versions of the humanoid military Shadows that they had fought in Shadow Tsuyomi’s Jail. But equally as importantly, there didn’t seem to be any new Shadows in the bunker, just ones that they’d already battled against in a much larger quantity. This meant that all of the Investigation Team members were already familiar with the fundamental strategy needed to defeat these Shadows, and didn’t need to significantly change the way they battled significantly.

Of course, that didn’t mean the Investigation Team couldn’t find ways to…innovate…on the battlefield. “Hey, Sensei!” Ted called out to his leader like an excited child…from on top of a large hanging light that he had jumped on top of. “Look what I can do!”

Before anyone could say anything, Ted sliced the link connecting the light to the ceiling in half, allowing the light to fall. Everyone watched as the light collided onto the ground and unleashed a devasting Electric-fueled explosion, frying all of the Shadows in the vicinity within the radius. The Eligors and Black Slimes caught in the blast were the most severely affected, being not only hit with the most damage thanks to their weakness to Electric, but also shocked in the process. “Still got it!” Ted boasted as he landed neatly on his feet.

“That was pretty cool,” Melody admitted, trying to suppress a giggle.

“Normally I’d scold Ted for his recklessness, but it was objectively an effective strategy, so I can’t rightfully do so,” Seeker acknowledged. There were other lights in the area similar to the one that Ted had cut down from the ceiling, and the Investigation Team didn’t hesitate to replicate his strategy with the rest of them.

“Gotta say, this is hell of a fun time!” Pres cheered as she sliced the last light with her axe, letting the light fall onto explode another group of Shadows before she blasted them with a Freila from Ariadne. “I could do this all day!”

With her final Nuke attack, the last of the remaining Shadows in the bunker were destroyed. “Good work, everyone,” Seeker praised, his tranquil voice ringing with approval. “Melody, are there any reinforcements coming?”

Melody took a few seconds to scan the surrounding area. “Not that I can tell,” she reported. “I don’t feel any more Shadows coming.”

“Good thing we made sure to close the bunker door behind us,” Corsair remarked as Seeker approached the machinery that gave the barrier part of its power. The machine was located on the exact opposite end of the building directly across the bunker door, and it looked like a weird mix between a generator and a radar machine. Seeker held up the Orb of Sight and it began to react with pulses of energy as it got closer to the machine, confirming its significance.

“How do we turn this thing off?” Dragon wondered. “I don’t even know what I’m looking at.”

“I don’t have the faintest idea, either,” Flower admitted with frustration. “It could take days for us to figure this out. Time that we just don’t have.”

“Who the hell even cares?” Tailor impatiently demanded. “Just destroy the fucking thing! It’s not like we want the bastards running this place to turn the damn thing back on after we turn it off to begin with!”

“That’s a good point, actually,” Prince acknowledged. “I don’t think it makes a difference whether we destroy it or deactivate it. Either nobody’s gonna notice, or they are and we’re gonna set off a trap either way.” He grinned mischievously. “Might as well do it in a way they can’t fix, eh, partner?”

Seeker chuckled. “You two make an excellent point,” he agreed. He smirked at Dragon and Tailor. “I know how much you two love to beat the crap out of things. Would you care to do the honors?”

Dragon laughed gleefully. “Oh, you know us so well, Seeker!” she eagerly agreed. Working in tandem, Dragon and Tailor began to beat the everloving crap out of the machine, utterly brutalizing it with vicious kicks and whacks from their legendary boots and shields respectively. With the sheer power that was inherently imbued within their weapons, it didn’t take very long at all for them to start tearing apart the machine and reducing it to scrap. Tailor finished things off by blasting the generator with a powerful Zionga from Take-Mikazuchi, causing the machine to violently explode and leaving no questions whatsoever about its permanent destruction.

“That did it!” Melody cheered as the last few sparks spluttered out of the thoroughly wrecked machine before it shut down for good. “I can feel part of the barrier’s power going down!”

“Any enemy reinforcements coming?” Sureshot asked.

Melody frowned. “No…but I wouldn’t barge in into the other bunker if I were you. There’s a LOT more Shadows inside.”

“Let’s see what we’re dealing with, then,” Seeker suggested. The Investigation Team carefully approached the bunker across from them, making sure to stick to the Shadows, and Seeker peeked into the bunker through the main door. Almost immediately, he retracted his head and grimaced. “That’s not good,” he muttered.

Flower peeked into the bunker, grimaced, and pulled her head back as well. “There’s way more Shadows in there than in the other bunker we just invaded,” she confirmed. “Even with all our legendary weapons and armor, I’m not sure we’d be able to fight through it all safely.”

“So scary…” Ted mumbled, having also caught a glimpse of the Shadows inside.

“Let’s head back to the bunker we just cleared and think about this a bit more,” Prince suggested. It was certainly a much safer approach than simply hanging around outside the bunker crowded with Shadows and practically begging to get caught, so the Investigation Team retreated back to the empty bunker and closed the door behind them. “Okay…so that bunker’s filled with Shadows, and we probably can’t fight them all. So then, what do we do about it?” he asked the rest of his team, more to summarize the problem they now faced than anything else.

“Could we try to sneak past the Shadows in the bunker?” Corsair wondered. “I don’t think we’d be able to do it if we were just in the TV World…but with all these cool new abilities we get from being in the Metaverse and the Jails, we might actually be able to pull it off?”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Seeker acknowledged, before continuing, “but there’s three major problems with your suggestion, Corsair. The first is that I didn’t see a lot of areas to hide behind in that bunker. In order for hiding in the Metaverse to work, there have to be multiple points we can hide behind that are relatively close to each other so we can dash through them. And while I didn’t outright scan them with the Orb of Sight, I didn’t get the sense that we’d be able to hide behind a lot of places in that bunker.”

“The space in the bunker was pretty wide open, from what little I could see,” Flower remarked with a nod of her head.

“Which leads to my second concern,” Seeker continued. “If we get caught out while we’re deep inside that bunker, we’d be in an absolutely horrible position. Getting caught out by that large horde of Shadows in the bunker would be bad enough, but being caught while deep inside the bunker with no escape route? That would be immeasurably worse.”

Melody grimaced. “Getting trapped like that sounds like a really bad idea,” she agreed somberly.

“What was the third problem?” Corsair wondered. Now that Seeker was pointing out the logical flaws in the stealth plan, she was liking it less and less herself.

“We can’t hide while we’re trying to destroy the generator powering up the barricade,” he answered dryly. “Then all those Shadows will see us and try to stop us, and we’d be in the exact same situation as if we got caught while trying to hide from them.”

“Crap, I didn’t even think about that,” Pres muttered.

“So if we can’t fight our way in, and we can’t sneak our way in, the hell are we supposed to do?” Tailor demanded.

Dragon’s eyes fell on the tank, and her eyes widened as an idea crept into her mind. “Hold on…do you think we could take control of that tank and use it to blow up the bunker?” she asked, becoming increasingly excited at the very thought.

To her delight, Seeker was smiling, and the smiling was growing by the second. “You know, Dragon…that was exactly what I was thinking,” he admitted. “This giant tank has to be here for a reason…and the cannon is pointing directly towards the other bunker.”

Sureshot wasn’t quite as taken with the idea. “But you don’t have the slightest idea how to drive a tank,” she pointed out.

Seeker shrugged. “We’re in the Metaverse. There’s a first time for everything,” he replied blithely. “Besides, we don’t have any better ideas, and the laws of reality don’t apply here.” Sureshot didn’t have an answer to that, so Seeker leaped onto the top of the tank with his heightened physical capabilities and opened the hatch. To his surprise, he was able to get into the tank pretty easily, and the controls inside the tank were remarkably simple given the heavily armored vehicle he was currently in. There were two joysticks that were clearly labeled, one to move the tank forward and backward and side to side, and the other to rotate the tank and its turret. In front of him was a large screen that clearly showcased the space in front of the tank. There were also two large buttons, a power button to turn the tank on…and a big red button to fire the tank’s cannon. “It’s almost like a video game,” Seeker mused. Was that because the real-life Tsuyomi enjoyed video games, or a natural quirk of the Jail?

Seeker wasn’t sure what the answer was, and if he was completely honest with himself, it probably didn’t matter. What very much mattered to him was the fact that this tank would apparently be much easier to drive than he had originally anticipated. He popped his head back out through the roof. “I’m about to turn on the tank!” he called out. “Stay out of my way so you don’t get run over! Melody, there aren’t any personal Shadows in that other bunker, right?”

“Nope!” his girlfriend affirmed. “No personal Shadows, just more of the guards we’ve seen so far. You’re good to go!”

Seeker gave her a thumbs-up as everyone else scrambled out of the way, not particularly keen to see if getting run over by a tank was just as deadly in the Metaverse as it was in real life. He climbed back down into the tank, pressed the power button, and closed his hands over the joysticks as the tank came to life. The machine of war started to let out a low hum and rumble gently, and once he was certain that he was ready and that everyone was a safe distance away, he pushed the joystick forward.

The tank began to move forward at a gentle crawl, to Seeker’s relief. Without even needing to be asked, his fellow team members pulled the bunker doors open. Seeker drove the tank forward until the cannon extended just past the entrance. While he wanted to make sure he had a clear shot, Seeker also wanted to minimize the chances that potential enemies would see the goddamn tank moving out of the bunker. Seeker adjusted the turret so that it was pointed straight at the opposite bunker…and pressed the red button to fire.

The tank’s turret fired a giant missile with blinding speed, flying straight towards the bunker. The leader of the Investigation Team didn’t have any idea what to expect, so he was completely blindsided when the entire bunker suddenly and violently exploded the moment the missile collided into it. The massive, fiery explosion seemed to tear apart the very infrastructure of the other bunker, sending huge chunks of the building flying away in large pieces (none of which flew towards the bunker containing him or his team, thankfully). With the entire top half of the bunker being blown away, Seeker could now clearly see the inside of the devastated bunker from inside his tank. The explosion had apparently disintegrated many of the Shadows outright, as there were far fewer Shadows in the bunker now than there had been before the explosion. And on the other side of the bunker, Seeker could see another barrier generator machine practically identical to the one that Tailor and Dragon had just destroyed, damaged but surprisingly still intact.

Of course, Seeker wasn’t one to leave a job half-completed. He pointed the turret at the damaged generator and fired another missile. Just like the last one, it flew straight ahead towards the inside of the bunker, crashing straight into the generator and blowing it up with another tremendous explosion. Without the defense of the bunker’s exterior to protect it, the machine was completely obliterated by the missile…along with the few Shadows that had survived the initial explosion.

“Wow,” Seeker breathed out, eyes wide in disbelief as he stared at the carnage that he had just unleashed. He’d always had a feeling that the tank would be essential to progressing in the Jail, but he hadn’t expected the end result to be THAT destructive. He climbed out of the tank and rejoined his friends, all of whom were just as shocked as he was.

“That was…terrifying as hell…” Tailor was the first to find his voice. “Even for a tank, those explosions were freaking insane!”

“Are tank attacks always that violent?” Flower wondered. “I’ve never fought in a war, obviously, but that was one of the most destructive things I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“I couldn’t possibly tell you,” Seeker answered with a shrug. “But I have a sneaking suspicion that we were always supposed to use the tank to break open the second bunker, cause I don’t see how we’d be able to reasonably pull it off otherwise.”

“It definitely worked!” Melody called out to them. “The barricade is down! You should be able to enter the Jail Keep now! But be careful…the Shadow activity inside that Keep is way higher than it was seconds ago.”

“We probably attracted a lot of unwelcome attention by blowing up that bunker,” Seeker observed, before reassuring his friends, “but I don’t think we should worry too much about it. From my talks with Joker, the Jail Keeps being guarded by a powerful Shadow, a small army of Shadows, or both was the norm and not the exception in the Jail Keeps.” He glanced over at his team. “You guys all good, or should we take a rest?”

Pres grinned. “Ya mean leave when we’re about to break open this Keep? Hell nah!” She brandished her axe eagerly. “Let’s beat the crap outta whatevah’s here and get that Core!”

Tailor smirked. “I’ve still got plenty of stamina left, let’s kick their asses!” he declared.

Given how Tailor and Pres had seen the most battle so far and were still energized to press on, Seeker saw no reason not to acquiesce. He simply activated the blue energy pillar that served as the Checkpoint, before leading his team into the Jail Keep.

The Investigation Team entered the Keep, and just like the outside had suggested, the inside was that of a modern prison, only arranged in the circular pattern similar to the other Jail Keeps. In the center of the Keep was a guard tower with a winding stairway leading up to the top, where the team of Persona users could see a faint core of light within the cage at its peak.

Having been forewarned by Melody, the Investigation Team was fully expecting some type of meaningful resistance from the Jail…so none of them were surprised when a giant super soldier-like Shadow carrying a bazooka in his hand and glowing with an ominous red aura appeared, surrounded by multiple smaller Shadows on either side. It was clear that this guard was the captain of the welcoming party sent to intercept them. “So YOU’RE the intruders who’ve been causing chaos around here!” he growled. “You’ve got some nerve, stealing one of our tanks and using it to blow up our bunker!”

Seeker merely smirked back at the Shadow captain. “If you wanted to stop us, you should’ve done something when we were still in the bunkers,” he replied with zero sympathy in his voice. “Too late now.”

“Well, you won’t get a second chance!” the Shadow captain growled. “We’ll be ending your unauthorized little tour through the General’s base right here and now!” There was a rumble as the Shadow unleashed its true form, transforming into a giant Legion.

“Here they come!” Seeker warned as the other Shadows next to him transformed into an army of the same Shadows they had fought up to this point. “You know the drill. Fight off the other Shadows if you need to, but focus all your energy on that huge Legion!” he ordered.

“Right!” Ted agreed, brandishing his claw threateningly.

Tailor grinned. “Well, if it’s a fight they want, it’s a fight we’ll give them!” he bragged. “Seeker, I’ve got all my Revelation juice fired up and ready to go! Want me to start things off with a bang?”

“Hold on a second,” he paused, giving orders for Tailor to cast Tarukaja on himself and Ted to cast Rakunda on the Legion. Once this was done, he nodded his approval. “Go for it!” he approved.

“Hell yeah!” Tailor shouted as he unleashed the energy that had built up inside him. “Let’s show’em how it’s done, Take-Mikazuchi!”

His Persona manifested behind him and raised his golden lightning bolt in the air. Electricity shot out from the sky and imbued the bolt with electric energy as Tailor grinned, turned towards his Persona, and raised his shield above his head. Take-Mikazuchi slammed his energy bolt down upon the shield three times, each time imbuing the shield with more and more electric power. To the unenlightened, it might have seemed like Take-Mikazuchi was randomly attacking his own other self, but the Investigation Team knew better than anyone else that this was not the case. The movement was instead akin to the actions of a blacksmith, with Take-Mikazuchi being the hammer and Tailor being the anvil, with each strike empowering the shield itself to be a more potent weapon.

“You have no idea what’s about to go down!” Tailor snarled at the assembled horde of Shadows, and most importantly the Legion, as Take-Mikazuchi finished his third and final strike. By now, his shield was positive overflowing with electric energy, energy that didn’t seem to harm Tailor in the slightest despite the fact that his bare hands were touching exposed, charged metal. Take-Mikazuchi raised his lightning bolt and pointed it threateningly at his enemies, like a general ordering his army to strike, as Tailor charged towards the group of enemies. With a bestial roar, Tailor leaped into the air, shield held high above his head with both hands, before slamming the shield down onto the ground in front of him. The impact was infinitely more destructive than it could have ever been in reality, as a giant fissure with lightning crackling through it tore from the ground where Tailor had smashed his shield into it, snaking towards the group of enemies before unleashing a giant pillar of electricity that erupted right underneath their feet. The devastation was on a level comparable to that of Seeker’s own Revelation attacks, and it was able to deal some impressive damage to the Legion right from the start while obliterating all of his minions.

“Great going, Tailor!” Melody cheered. “And who says a shield can’t be a good weapon?”

“Damn, that felt satisfying as hell to do,” Tailor admitted with a grin. “It’s like Atomic Press, except it felt WAY better than anything else I’ve done before!”

“I’m happy for you, but let’s keep our eyes on the fight,” Seeker cautioned. “Our enemy isn’t defeated yet.”

As if to prove his point, the Legion had already lifted itself back into the air and started smashing its body down onto the ground towards them repeatedly, enacting its version of a Rampage. Tailor grunted as he was hit by the first slam, but he was able to tank the attack easily, and the rest of the Thieves scattered as the Legion missed its follow-up attacks. It then sent Psio towards Seeker, but with no ailment on him and a resist thanks to his own Legion, all it did was mildly annoy the Wild Card.

The army of Shadows summoned to face them in the Jail Keep was admittedly the largest singular force they had seen yet, but with the exception of the Legion, they were all Shadows that they had already fought before. Not only that, but the Jail Keep itself had a few of the electric lights from the bunker hanging in the ceiling, which gave his friends plenty of opportunity to slice apart the chains holding them and send them crashing down onto hapless groups of Shadows.

Confident that his friends could fend for themselves, Seeker focused his attention on the Legion that was standing in their way. As he bombarded the Legion with an onslaught of Electric and Bless attacks from his Personas, he noticed that Pres had joined him.

Unlike the rest of his friends, it had been a long time since Seeker had fought alongside Pres in a battle against Shadows, and Seeker couldn’t help his curiosity at how Pres was adjusting to both a new battleground and her Persona’s new abilities. From what he could see, it appeared that Pres’ fighting style was primarily momentum based, combining her powerful axe attacks and Ariadne’s capabilities as a Persona to cut down hordes of enemies in front of her. Seeker did recognize many of Pres’ attacks as her Weaver Arts. The array of spears that erupted from the ground, the silhouette of the minotaur charging at her enemies, the line of deadly spinning wheels that tore through Shadows with their deadly spikes…all of which they had seen from Pres before.

The difference now was that instead of red, all of Ariadne’s Weaver Art attacks were now a brilliant light blue to signify how they had become imbued with Nuclear energy…and how powerful the attacks seemed to be based on how much momentum Pres had gathered from attacking her enemies. The more strikes she landed at a time, whether it be through her axe or her more standard Persona attacks, the faster she struck and the more powerful her Weaver Arts became. Pres had started the battle after Tailor’s Revelation by summoning Ariadne to conjure some Nuclear spears from the ground when the Legion had still been stunned…and only two small spears had risen from the ground, barely denting one of the Legion’s energy shield layers.

But now that Pres had gotten some time to attack, hitting the Legion with her axe and firing off Freilas against the Legion whenever she had the opportunity, the difference in the power of her Weaver Arts was much more noticeable. The spears were larger and there were more of them summoned at a time in an area, the silhouette of the minotaur was larger and more solid as it charged at her foes, and the line of spinning wheels lasted much longer and extended farther than it would have if Pres hadn’t spent time building up her momentum first.

“Take this!” she shouted as she struck the Legion with yet another combo and summoned Ariadne to fire the Breaking Wheel. The glowing blue spinning wheels of death tore apart the Legion’s last energy shield, sending it tumbling out of the air and onto the growl with a howl of pain. “It’s down!” she called out to her friends.

 “You know what to do!” Seeker shouted. “All-Out Attack!”

The Investigation Team needed no encouragement, and they launched their onslaught of attacks on the Legion and the surrounding Shadows in a manner similar to what the Phantom Thieves did. As the Almighty explosion tore apart more of the Legion’s health and obliterated the surrounding Shadows, Pres felt her own energy flare up within her body as well.

“Hey, Seeker!” she called out excitedly. “I think I’ve got dat Revelation thing all charged up and ready to go!”

“Go for it!” Seeker approved after making sure she had a Tarukaja active on herself.

Pres grinned as she too unleashed her accumulated inner power just as Tailor had done earlier. “Ariadne!” she shouted fervently as the Persona materialized behind her and conjured a giant sigil that covered a huge portion of the terrain in front of her, with the wounded Legion right in the middle of it. Pres flung her axe towards the Legion and extended her hand out with the chain from her arm, grabbing the axe mid-air immediately after it struck the Shadow. The rest of the Investigation Team watched as Pres began to ruthlessly and relentlessly bombard the Shadow with a rapid-fire barrage of vicious attacks that were too fast for any of them to follow through as she slammed the Shadow over and over again with her axe. “I’ve had it with you!” she shouted as she raised her axe high into the air. “Time to give ya some educational discipline!”

With one final shout, Pres smashed her axe onto the Legion, causing the entire area that had been covered by Ariadne’s sigil to erupt into a massive, brilliant blue Nuclear explosion. The devastation of the Revelation was easily on par with Tailor’s own ultimate attack earlier, and the Legion’s health was demolished even further as it was reduced back down to complete helplessness on the ground. Between the All-Out Attack from earlier and Pres’ Revelation, the Legion had very little of its health left, and a final round of attacks was more than enough to finish it off for good.

“Hell yeah!” Pres cheered as their enemies dissolved into black mist. “I’ve still got it.”

“That was your Inquisition Weaver Art, wasn’t it?” Flower realized as they regrouped together. “The one you used to finish off whoever you were fighting back when we were up against Hinokagutsuchi?”

“Yeah, I think it was, actually!” Pres realized. “Only with Nuclear energy. It just…felt right to do it that way, ya know?” she asked with a smile.

“I get you,” Tailor nodded agreeably. “I felt the same way with me and Take-Mikazuchi.”

“That was a well-fought battle, all of you,” Seeker praised. “Now let’s go and grab that Jail Core.”

The Investigation Team charged up the stairs surrounding the central tower, and as they approached the top the Jail Core descended to greet them. It transformed from an orb of light into a photograph, which Prince grabbed to take a look at. “Oh, God…” he let out a loud groan. “It had to be THIS of all things?”

“Let me take a look!” Melody requested. She took the photo from Prince’s outstretched hand…and immediately regretted it. “I did NOT need to see this.”

She handed the photo over to Seeker, who showed it to the rest of the team. Pres, Corsair, and Ted let out shocked exclamations of horror, and while the rest of the Investigation Team’s responses were more muted, they were no less disgusted and unhappy about the picture’s contents.

The photograph was of Mayumi Yamano’s dead body hanging from the telephone phone, surrounded by a foggy yellow sky.

“That’s…” Pres started.

“Mayumi Yamano, yeah,” Dragon confirmed grimly. “Tsuyomi’s older sister…and that jackass Adachi’s first victim.”

“We don’t need to spend any more time talking about this, right?” Sureshot asked in a dry tone. “I think it’s fairly obvious to everyone here why a picture of Tsuyomi’s dead sister, a sister that her Shadow has made it very clear she is trying to avenge, would be a fundamental part of her Jail?”

Everyone shook their head, for the reasons couldn’t have been more obvious if there had been a giant neon sign shaped like an arrow with the word “Trauma” pointing towards the photograph. “We have seized the first Jail Core,” Seeker was quick to change the subject. “We should be able to make our way to the second Jail Keep on the other side of the Jail. Are you guys good to go?”

“I’m still good to go!” Corsair assured him.

“Maybe take a quick break to get our health and SP back, partner?” Prince suggested. “And then give Ted, Pres, and Tailor a bit of a break since they’ve done a lot of the heavy lifting so far?”

“I think that’s an excellent idea,” Seeker approved. “Let’s go back and heal, and then we can proceed. We’ve made good progress with this Jail so far, and I see no need to stop now.”

Chapter Text

The Investigation Team approached the entrance of the now-empty Jail Keep, their claimed Jail Core in hand. “Not to jinx anything, but I think this is going pretty well so far!” Corsair remarked. “We already have one Jail Core, and if Melody is right, then there’s only one more we’ve gotta worry about!”

“We’re on schedule to finish the Jail tomorrow,” Seeker acknowledged. “And I fully intend to commit to that deadline.”

“Seeing you use that tank to blow up those bunkers was really cool!” Dragon exclaimed cheerfully, before a thought suddenly occurred to her. “Hey…do you think you can keep driving that thing all the way to the other side and use it to blow through that Jail Keep too?”

She received an answer almost immediately, but not from Seeker or anyone else in the Investigation Team. The moment Seeker crossed the threshold of the Jail Keep, alarms instantly started blaring loudly throughout the surrounding area as previously inert red lights on some of the nearby buildings started flashing frenziedly, briefly disorienting them. “Hide!” Seeker barked with uncharacteristic harshness in his voice. His teammates needed no further encouragement once they regained their bearings, using their new Phantom Thief-esque powers to race to the shadows of the buildings and hide behind them.

And not a moment to soon, for a battalion of military Shadows was marching down the street towards their location. This time, Shadow Tsuyomi wasn’t leading them, but rather another large Super Soldier Shadow carrying a bazooka in his hand and glowing with an ominous red aura. “Those intruders!” he growled the moment the entrance of the Jail Keep came into his view. “They stole the power core!”

“Sir, there’s no sign of the intruders,” another Shadow in a basic military uniform reported. “They’ve completely disappeared!”

“Not quite true, soldier,” the Super Soldier Shadow countered. “They’ve left their tank out in the middle of the street.” He gestured towards the tank in question with his bazooka. “The nerve of those intruders, to usurp control of one of our own tanks and turn its power against our defenses…” he snarled.

“What should we do with the tank?” another regular soldier Shadow asked.

“The tank is compromised,” his superior replied angrily. “The General won’t tolerate its continued existence any longer. But we’ll make sure that wherever those intruders are, they won’t be able to enjoy using it either.” The Shadow took out what looked like a walkie-talkie and barked orders into it. Seconds later, the sound of missiles launching filled everyone’s ears, and the Investigation Team could only watch as the missiles collided with the tank, blowing it up with an explosion that devastated it just as thoroughly as the tank’s own missiles had devastated the bunkers guarding the first Jail Core.

The Super Soldier Shadow grunted and turned around. “Some of you, return to the General’s Quarters and give her the news,” he commanded. “The rest of you, come with me to the other Jail Keep. Now that the defenses have been weakened, it’s up to us to protect the other power source and the barricade!”

“Sir, yes sir!” the other Shadows all answered with salutes. The battalion of Shadows returned the way they came, leaving the Investigation Team alone with the charred ruins of their borrowed tank still smoking in the middle of the street.

“Aww, man!” Pres was the first to break the silence with a loud groan once the Shadows were a safe distance away. “Those bastards blew up our tank! That was the coolest thing we’ve ever gotten our hands on in any of the Jails, and now it’s ruined!”

“That…wasn’t a particularly intelligent or tactically sound decision,” Sureshot remarked, sounding more resigned than anything else. “True, our leader may have stolen the tank…but he didn’t fundamentally change how the tank worked, or reprogram it so that it would only respond to him.” She gave a quick glance to Seeker, who nodded in confirmation of her analysis. “They could have simply just reclaimed the tank and possibly even used it to deter our progress down the road.” The First Detective Prince scoffed. “Instead, they needlessly destroyed it and prevented it from being used by anyone. Utterly wasteful.”

“Sureshot, they’re Shadows!” Ted pointed out. “They’re not really the smartest guys, are they?”

The entire Investigation Team, even the newer members, could only blink in disbelief at what Ted had just said. Seeker honestly couldn’t tell what was harder to process, the fact that TED of all people had said those words…or that what he had said was fundamentally correct once you got past the extreme irony.

“Look who’s talking…” Prince mumbled under his breath once he had shaken himself out of his stupor.

“Moving on…” Flower shook her head before continuing, “that Shadow said something about the defenses around the other Jail Keep being weakened. Does that mean that scary missile and gatling gun defense blocking the path isn’t working anymore?”

“It was connected to the power core we just stole, so it should be down now!” Melody affirmed.

“Let’s retreat back to the real world to regain our stamina,” Seeker advised. “Then, we’ll go down the right path and I’ll switch the lineup around so more people get a chance to train properly.”

“Sounds good, partner!” Prince agreed, along with the rest of the Investigation Team.

Using the blue pillar of energy that constituted a “checkpoint” they had found close to the Jail Keep earlier, they returned to Pres’ home in reality to recuperate and enjoy a few snacks. The break didn’t last very long, for all of them were eager to continue making progress in the Jail. When they returned, they teleported to a “checkpoint” that they had found at the center-piece of the Jail’s cross-formation. The barricade leading to the General’s Headquarters was still up, but from what they could tell, the spotlights that had previously been shining down onto the street to the right had been deactivated.

“I think we did it, guys!” Melody called out. “Let’s go, but be careful. That defense system might still be active.”

“Will do,” Tailor acknowledged on the team’s behalf.

The Investigation Team made their way down the street, fighting any Shadows that they came across. The enemies patrolling the right side were noticeably different from the left, as instead of Black Slimes, Mitras, and Eligors, there were now Legions, Shiisaas, and even the occasional Arahabaki. Thankfully, Seeker had changed the composition of the front line to include Dragon, Flower, and Corsair, all of whom were capable of hitting the weaknesses of their foes in one way or another. “Aww, hell yeah!” Dragon cheered as she viciously kicked a Legion that she had gotten a lucky Freeze on to death with her Moses Sandals. “There’s no better workout than literally beating the crap out of Shadows to death!”

“You’re always so excited to fight Shadows,” Flower remarked affectionately. “Never change, Dragon.”

Seeker dealt with the last Shadow with his sword, and they approached the part of the street where the spotlights had been shining. As they got closer to the defense system, it was clear to the Investigation Team that stealing the power core fueling the apparatus had done more than just simply “turn it off.” The gatling gun and missile launchers, which had previously been upright and focused directly on the area that had been spotlighted, had now collapsed downward and were pointing uselessly towards the ground. Electricity crackled around the disabled machinery, and the entire apparatus looked like it was about to fall apart any second. “Wow,” Tailor whistled. “Didn’t expect stealing the core to make this entire weapons getup completely go to shit.”

“I think we can safely say that this outer defense will no longer be a problem,” Seeker remarked, “so it looks like our way forward is clear.”

“Perhaps,” Sureshot muttered, “though I doubt that we’ll be so lucky with the defenses surrounding the Jail Keep itself.”

“It’s pretty much a given at this point that we’re gonna have to deal with some bullshit or another, right?” Prince asked, earning nods of general agreement from everyone else. “Well, no point complaining about it then, let’s get this done.”

The Investigation Team advanced past the disabled defense mechanism, using their enhanced abilities in the Metaverse to ambush the Shadows patrolling the street. Although one of the Shadows turned out to be a giant Shiisaa surrounded by a horde of other Shiissaa that needed several attacks from Flower and Corsair in particular to bring down, the overall caliber of the outer defense was frankly rather disappointing for a military base that was supposedly on high alert. “Is it just me, or shouldn’t there be a bigger welcoming party out here to greet us after we completely wrecked the Jail Keep on the other side?” Dragon wondered aloud.

“Don’t jinx it, Dragon!” Melody scolded.

“Well, they might have chosen to take a defensive position within the Jail Keep or any buildings next to it,” Seeker pointed out, “which isn’t a bad strategy.”

“We should probably do the same thing we did with the other Jail Keep,” Flower suggested. “Sneak up to any buildings next to the Jail Keep and figure out what we need to do, because they main Jail Keep is probably going to be blocked off in some way.”

“And keep an eye out for any ambushes,” Corsair added. “After what we did to the first Jail Keep, there’s no way we didn’t grab their attention in some way.”

The Investigation Team attacked and killed the rest of the Shadows that were patrolling the area before approaching the Jail Keep at the end of the street. This one was similar in size and structure to the Jail Keep they had previously conquered at least on a superficial level, and for a moment, the Investigation Team wondered if they were going to have to repeat the same sequence of actions they had just gone through to clear the first of the two Jail Keeps.

Unfortunately, that theory was disproved almost immediately…because unlike the last Jail Keep, there was a small army of Shadows waiting for them at the entrance of the Jail Keep, although none of them seemed to be the red-glowing super soldier they had seen earlier. “You’re not getting anywhere near this Jail Core!” the soldier at the head of the army shouted.

“You don’t have the power to stop us,” Seeker answered in a cool, contemptuous tone.

The group of military-dressed Shadow guards transformed into a horde of every Shadow they had ever fought in this Jail, from the Black Slimes that they had faced all the way to the Arahabakis that they had only now just started encountering. There were also plenty of “regular”, human-like military Shadows in their ranks, who held their guns to shoot them from a distance while the monster-like Shadows engaged the Investigation Team in close combat.

But for all the size of the army arrayed against the Persona users, there weren’t any enemies within that group that were actually new or unfamiliar to the Investigation Team. And just as importantly, there weren’t any large Boss Shadows to lead the enemy army against them either. These major weaknesses could have potentially been overcome by the sheer size of the horde of Shadows…were it not for the fact that the Investigation Team was equipped with legendary weapons and armor that were designed to deal with far greater foes.

Although the Investigation Team didn’t emerge completely unscathed, Flower was able to easily heal any damage that any of her friends suffered, and the outcome had never been in doubt.

“Hey, Seeker!” Dragon called out to her leader as they started destroying the last of the Shadows. “I think I’ve got that Revelation power all charged up in me! Should I fire it off now?”

Seeker shook his head. “Hold off,” he cautioned. “We might fight a greater foe that could justify its use.”

Dragon shrugged and accepted the order as the last of the Shadows was destroyed. The way forward to the Jail Keep was now clear…except for the fact that just like last time, a barrier made of red energy materialized and blocked the sole entryway into the Jail. “Oh, not again!” Pres groaned. “Melody, is it the same thing as last time?”

“Yeah, there’s two bunkers close to the Jail Keep that have power sources fueling that barrier,” Melody confirmed, before adding with a hint of worry. “But be careful, guys. Something about those power sources feels different somehow…and I don’t think it’s in a good way.”

“So we’re not going to able to blow them up with another tank?” Seeker asked, before shaking his head in disappointment. “That is truly a shame.”

“Maybe we might be able to do something just as fun?” Dragon asked hopefully. “Only one way to find out, right?”

“Let’s check the bunker to the left first,” Seeker suggested. The Investigation Team cautiously approached the outside of the bunker, and the leader of the Investigation Team peeked through the slightly ajar door…only for his eyes to widen in disbelief. “Wait, what?” he blinked. “The bunker’s completely empty!”

“Wait, you’re serious?” Prince asked incredulously. He joined Seeker at the door and peeked inside. “Oh wow, you’re right. There’s literally nobody inside!”

“I can see a few light fixtures similar to the ones in the other bunkers that we can potentially cut down,” Sureshot reported, “and there’s this one device in the far corner to the left that looks like a smaller version of the missile launchers that was blocking the street earlier. There doesn’t really seem to be anything else, though.”

“Ooh, ooh!” Ted pointed inside the bunker with his claw. “I can see the power source!”

The former bear mascot was correct, as there was another pile of machines on the opposite side of the bunker generating energy for the barrier to the Jail Keep, just like there had been on the other side. Unlike the other generators, however, this one was protected by an energy barrier that was colored differently than the one blocking the door to the Jail Keep. This one was colored a brilliant green…and Seeker let out a loud groan when he saw it.

“I know what’s going on here,” he declared. “That generator is being protected by a barrier that has to be hacked in order to deactivate it. Joker told me about this kind of thing happening in other Jails. His navigator had to go up to the control panel in front of energy barriers like these and basically hack the system to deactivate it.”

“That doesn’t seem so bad,” Flower remarked.

Seeker gave her an unimpressed look. “It gets a lot worse when you realize that Shadows will be spawning in constantly while said navigator has to focus on deactivating the security system, completely defenseless and exposed, and the team has to constantly fight off those Shadows and protect their navigator from being overwhelmed and killed,” he answered dryly.

Everyone grimaced as their leader’s words sunk in. “…this is gonna suck, isn’t it?” Corsair broke the silence.

“Hold on a sec, though!” Pres suddenly interrupted. “This ain’t the same situation! Melody ain’t a hacker like whoever the Phantom Thieves’ Nav is, she’s an idol! Can she even hack this thing to begin with?”

It was a valid question, and one that the Investigation Team would only be able to answer once they were in front of the control panel that needed to be hacked. The team warily approached the control panel in question, looking around for any signs of ambush from Shadows. But nothing showed up to attack them, not even when they crossed the distance of the entire bunker and arrived in front of the control panel and the generator.

“I think we’re only gonna get attacked once someone starts hacking into the control panel,” Tailor guessed. “Melody, can you do anything about this?’

“Uhh…one second while I scan this,” Melody answered uncertainly. She manifested Himiko behind her and concentrated on the control panel and its inner workings. “This isn’t like anything I’ve ever seen before, but I THINK I can use Himiko’s power to seize control of the control panel and force it to shut off the energy barrier. It won’t be anything clean or elegant like what Joker’s Nav can do…but I think I can do it.” She frowned. “Problem is, it’s not gonna be anything even close to subtle, and if there’s a defense mechanism around here, me breaking into it is absolutely going to set it off.”

“That was going to be a given no matter who was going to be the one to hack into the system. That just means we’re going to have to protect you with everything we have,” Seeker replied as he gave his girlfriend a reassuring smile. “And you know I’d do that anyway no matter where we are or what the situation.”

Melody giggled. “Still such a charmer as always, Senpai.”

Prince rolled his eyes. “Can you guys save the flirting til AFTER we’ve cleared the Jail?” he deadpanned.

Before Seeker could retort, Sureshot’s eyes suddenly lit up with an idea. “Wait a moment!” she called out, redirecting everyone’s attention towards her. “We may not be able to avoid Melody being exposed to the Shadows attacking her while she’s hacking the control panel, for lack of a better term…but we can make things much, MUCH safer for her.”

“What do you mean by that?” Corsair wondered.

Sureshot smiled with an expression that was almost…mischievous, a word that typically didn’t apply to the First Detective Prince. “What if one of us, someone who won’t be actively taking part on the front lines for this battle, were to take off our Godly Robe and give it to Melody instead to wear while she’s hacking?” she suggested. “That way, even if some Shadows were to break through our defenses and attack her directly, she’d be much more protected and able to endure many more hits until someone else can come to rescue her. It would give her a powerful safety net to work with in case some Shadows slip through or attack from a direction we don’t expect.”

Everyone stared silently as they processed Sureshot’s suggestion. Then, they all started grinning in unison. “You know, Sureshot, there’s a reason why you’re the one and only TRUE Detective Prince,” Prince complimented appreciatively. “That is freaking genius!”

“Sureshot, if you weren’t already dating Tailor and I wasn’t already dating Seeker, I could kiss you right now,” Melody praised. “That is the greatest idea ever!”

“We brought these Godly Robes in for a reason, right?” Corsair smirked. “And right now, Melody will need it more than anyone else here!”

“Allow me to lend you mine,” Sureshot offered. “I haven’t been taking part in the front lines of the battles lately, so I don’t particularly need mine at the moment.”

The Detective Prince took off her Godly Robe and handed it to Melody, who gratefully accepted it. While this would’ve left Sureshot horribly exposed compared to the rest of the Investigation Team, Seeker had no intention to have her take part on the front lines of this particular battle and endanger herself after coming up with such a brilliant idea to protect his girlfriend and following through with it. “I really appreciate this a lot, Sureshot,” Seeker gratefully addressed his friend, before turning towards the rest of his team. “You guys ready?” he asked. “Once Melody starts hacking, I’m sure we’re going to get some fierce resistance.”

“Ready!” his friends affirmed.

“Start working your magic, Melody,” Seeker instructed.

Melody manifested Himiko around her and began channeling her energy into the control panel. “It’s working,” she reported, “but I just felt a surge of energy. There’s a lot of Shadows coming in!”

“Get ready!” Seeker warned. “Defend Melody as if your lives depended on it!”

Heartened by this declaration, Melody concentrated with all of her mind and soul into breaking down the defenses as a horde of canine Shadows manifested into existence in front of the entrance that they had come through, along with several yellow Shiisaas that charged towards the Investigation Team. “I’ll burn you all to ashes before you get your hands on her,” Flower declared coldly. “Konohana Sakuya, MARAGION!”

Konohana Sakuya manifested behind her and sent a wave of powerful fire towards the Shadows, stopping the Shiisaas in their tracks and setting many of them alight with crippling burns. Seeker wasted no time in following up on the attack by summoning Arahabaki and blasting the weakened Shadows with his own Maeiga, tearing the already crippled Shadows apart with the malefic Curse energy.

“Ooh, great job, guys!” Melody cheered from her spot at the control panel. “Keep doing that and I should be able to get through this terminal without a problem!”

“Don’t get too cocky,” Seeker cautioned. “We’ve only just gotten started.”

His words would prove prophetic, as a smaller but still potent group of military themed humanoid Shadows manifested alongside two Arahabakis and 2 Legions in the left corner closest to the generator and Melody. And because the Investigation Team had been so focused on the first group of Shadows, there was nobody who was directly between Melody and the Shadows.

“Oh, shit!” Dragon gasped in horror. “I didn’t expect them to spawn there! Melody’s exposed!”

“What should we do?” Corsair asked as she dashed towards the Shadows as fast as possible, her spear in hand. But one of the military Shadows had raised his gun and pointed it at Melody, firing a bullet into her back.

“Gah!” Melody yelped in pain and surprise. Thankfully, the actual damage that the bullet had inflicted was minimal thanks to the Godly Robe that Sureshot had loaned her, but the shot had still been painful, and it had broken her concentration and slowed down her progress. One bullet might have hardly been a problem…but an entire rain of bullets alongside multiple attacks from Persona-like Shadows was an entirely different story.

Seeker didn’t waste any time making a decision. “Dragon!” he barked, “unleash your Revelation, NOW!”

“You got it!” Dragon shouted back. “Let’s go, Tomoe Gozen!” The female warrior Persona manifested behind her as she unleashed the energy that had been building up inside her. Without needing any further prompting, Tomoe Gozen lifted her spear above her head, spun it around like a wheel of death, and then slammed the blade down into the ground. Large, jagged crystals of ice erupted from the ground from the point where the spear tip had impaled it, snaking towards the group of Shadows. The Shadows could only stare, stupefied, as the ice crystals impaled their bodies from beneath, before a gigantic ice crystal far larger and much sharper and more dangerous than any Bufudyne attack that Dragon had ever created in her entire life ascended out of the ground, sending all of the Shadows flying. Dragon had never seen her Persona do anything like this before in her life, but she didn’t need to. Like her friends and teammates, she instinctively understood what needed to be done, and eagerly ran forward to finish the job.

Dragon charged across the battlefield next to the line of icy crystals that her Persona had created, running towards the gigantic ice crystal. Once she was in front of the towering monolithic structure, she raised her legs in preparation for her attack. She kicked once with her right leg, once with her left leg, and then raised her right leg one more time as it began to glow with an intense aura. “Take this!” she shouted. “GALACTIC PUNT!”

With all of her might, Dragon slammed her right foot and its Moses Sandal into the gigantic ice structure, causing it to break apart in a massive icy explosion that was just as impressive and destructive as the Revelation attacks that her friends had unleashed at different points in their excursion. The explosion completely obliterated the Shadows that had been trying to attack Melody, leaving the corner clear and the Navigator safe to proceed with her work.

“Great job, Dragon!” Corsair cheered.

“That was amazing, Dragon!” Flower praised. “I’ve never seen you pull off a Galactic Punt like THAT before!”

“You know what?” Dragon grinned. “I’m starting to like these Jails, just a little bit. My ice attacks back in the day weren’t anywhere NEAR this strong!”

“Excellent work, Dragon,” Seeker complimented. “You completely wiped out those Shadows, and we’ve regained control of the situation.” His tone turned more businesslike. “Now that we know that the Shadows can spawn there, pay attention to the corners, and don’t stray too far from Melody’s location,” he added in a commanding tone. “There’s no excuse if we get caught out-of-position like that a second time.”

“Right!” his teammates chorused as they took up more defensive positions around Melody. With their position much more secure, the Shadows no longer had an opportunity to take them Investigation Team by surprise. And while the hordes of Shadows were frequent and numerous, it didn’t take long for Seeker to realize that they wouldn’t be spawning anywhere other than at the entrance on the opposite side of the room or in the corner where the first group of Shadows had spawned. This made the attacks predictable, and it gave him and his team more than enough opportunity to stop them in their tracks. Occasionally, a Shadow might get lucky and sneak past or land a stray shot on Melody, but the Godly Robe ensured that the damage remained miniscule, and the attacks didn’t do anything other than slow her down a little.

Within a few minutes, Melody finished channeling Himiko’s power to deactivate the green energy barrier, and when she announced that she had deactivated the barrier, all the Shadows that had been inside the bunker suddenly keeled over and died immediately. “Got it!” she cheered. “The barrier should be down now. We’re good to go!”

The green energy shield flickered away and disappeared, leaving the barrier exposed. “Excellent work, Melody,” Seeker praised his girlfriend as she gave the Godly Robe back to Sureshot. “And thank you everyone for keeping Melody safe.”

“Don’t sweat it!” Dragon replied confidently. “She’d do the same for us if we were in her shoes.”

“We should destroy that generator before someone finds a way to bring the shield back online,” Melody advised.

Seeker gave that honor to Dragon, Tailor, and Pres, who all eagerly bombarded the machine with an onslaught of attacks until it was nothing more than a pile of ruined junk. “Time for the other bunker, then?” Tailor asked.

“Whatever is in there, it can’t be any worse than what we just faced here!” Ted cheerfully replied.

Everyone facepalmed at his statement. “Ted…” Prince groaned. “You do realize that that was one of the worst things you could have possibly said right now?”

Even Seeker couldn’t resist a groan. “Well, might as well brace ourselves for something nasty in the other bunker,” he remarked. “Because if it wasn’t there before, it sure must be now after what Ted just said.”

To his (dubious) credit, Ted put his hands to his mouth and gasped theatrically. “Did I just tempt fate, Sensei?” he asked nervously.

“At least he’s learning,” Tailor deadpanned as they made their way to the other bunker. They were expecting the bunker in question to be full of Shadows, but to their surprise, it was similarly devoid of any enemies. And just like the last bunker, this one also had a generator on the opposite side of the room.

But something was different about this generator. It was shaped differently than the apparatuses they had seen in the other rooms…and the energy reading that Melody detected from it was different, somehow. Different…and more dangerous.

“Guys, there’s something about this generator that feels off,” the Navigator warned. “Be careful…”

“There’s no way there isn’t an enemy somewhere, right?” Prince asked.

Before anyone could answer her question, the bunker started to rumble as though it were being hit by an earthquake, causing everyone to stumble for a few seconds. “The hell is goin’ on here?” Pres gasped.

Corsair gasped and pointed at the generator. “Look!” she shouted. “It’s transforming!”

The Investigation Team turned to look towards the generator, and they were shocked to discover that the newest member of the Phantom Thieves was correct. The generator had taken on a life of its own, shifting and transforming its structure into something much more dangerous and menacing in design.

Instead of being a mere power source, the generator had transformed into a weapons defense system with no less than three layers of weapons. The top of the generator-turned-war machine was equipped with two missile launchers, the middle layer was a row of 3 large cannons, while the bottom layer was a row of 4 smaller but still sizable cannons.

Melody quickly scanned the machine and frowned. “No weaknesses or resistances!” was all she had time to say before the missile launchers suddenly opened up…and fired a series of six missiles, 3 from each launcher, into the air.

“SCATTER!” Seeker shouted as the missiles fell from the sky onto the ground. The Investigation Team scattered as the missiles collided onto the ground, creating explosions that, while thankfully not nearly as devastating as either the Revelation attacks or the tank that he had stolen earlier, were definitely not anything that he wanted himself or his friends to get hit by.

The Investigation Team regrouped as the missile launchers of the generator-turned-war machine closed, and the cannons on the bottom row came to life. Seeker couldn’t help but let out a humorless chuckle as the cannons started rotating around, trying to lock on to them.

It seemed that, despite their best efforts to avoid it, the Investigation Team was about to fight a military-themed war machine after all.

Chapter Text

“Well shit,” was all Seeker could say as the cannons tried to hone in on each of them. “Out of all the things that Joker told us about in his experiences in the Jails, he never mentioned fighting a power generator that transformed into a war machine.”

“Look out!” Dragon shouted as the four cannons each fired a cannonball at a different member of the Investigation Team. While the cannonballs weren’t as fast as the missiles, they weren’t slow either. Seeker, Dragon, and Corsair were all fast enough to dodge the cannonballs in time, but Flower was a bit too low and was hit by one squarely in the chest.

“Ack!” Flower exclaimed as she was knocked off her feet by the cannonball, which exploded the moment it hit her body. The Godly Robe thankfully mitigated much of the damage from the cannonball and it didn’t knock off too much of her health, but everyone had little doubt that it would have been more dangerous if she didn’t have legendary armor protecting her. “So that’s what getting hit by a cannonball feels like,” she muttered. “I feel like I got punched in the stomach.”

Dragon rushed over to Flower to help her get on her feet. “Are you okay, Flower?” she asked worriedly as Flower healed herself with a Diarama.

“Yeah, I’m fine, Dragon,” her best friend quickly reassured her.

“Guys, watch out!” Corsair called out to them before they could say or do anything else. “It’s changing weapons again!”

The youngest member of the Investigation Team pointed at the war machine with her spear, which had stopped moving the cannons on the bottom row and was now rotating the much larger cannons in the middle row. The Investigation Team warily observed the machine as it fired off three much larger cannon balls, these ones covered with small spikes all around them. These cannonballs didn’t fly through the air, instead bouncing along the ground in haphazard and random movements. The Investigation Team spent the next several moments dodging the spiked cannonballs, keeping an eye on them at all times. There were a few moments where the spiked cannonballs would collide with each other or the walls, but they would simply bounce off and move elsewhere instead of destroying each other.

Fortunately, the Investigation Team members by now had enough experience fighting in the Jails to adapt their movements to avoid the rather slow-moving spike balls. And after a few moments of bouncing around, the spiked cannonballs eventually exploded and crumbled apart, with no one getting hurt by any of them.

“Hmm…that didn’t seem too bad,” Seeker mused. He had little doubt that the spiked cannonballs were the most powerful and the most dangerous of the weapons used…but they were also the slowest and most easily avoidable. Before he could think anymore, the missile launchers on the top layer of the war machine opened up again, ready to rain down another storm of missiles upon them.

“All right, we need to start attacking this thing if we want to get anywhere,” Seeker declared as the war machine fired its missiles after a few seconds. “Melody, you said no weaknesses or resistances, right?”

“Wait, let me try to scan it again just to make sure,” Melody offered. She channeled Himiko’s power on the generator and then frowned. “I’m sorry, guys, I was wrong earlier. It resists physical and gun attacks. No other weaknesses or resists.”

“Resists physical and gun? DAMMIT!” Dragon grumbled. “So we can’t just beat the crap out of this thing to death with our super powerful weapons?”

“Doesn’t look like it,” Melody replied apologetically.

“Let’s just start attacking it before we get bombarded to death,” Corsair advised as Seeker and Dragon started buffing the team with Tarukajas. Corsair summoned Zheng Yi Sao to attack the war machine, but without any weaknesses or technical to abuse, the attack only did a small amount of damage compared to its total health. “This is gonna be really annoying, isn’t it?” she groaned as the war machine prepared to attack with the lower row’s cannonballs again.

“Oh, screw it!” Dragon growled as she summoned Tomoe Gozen behind her. “BUFULA!” The female warrior Persona manifested and fired a blast of ice at the war machine…and everyone was shocked as the machine became coated in ice. “Wait, what the HECK?” she exclaimed in stunned disbelief. “My attack FROZE the thing?”

Everyone, even Seeker, was completely taken by surprise. “…I did not know that was possible,” Flower mumbled.

“But this is really good!” Melody cheered. “This is how you can hit that generator really hard even with it not having weaknesses!”

“We’ll keep that in mind,” Seeker assured her as the ice on the war machine wore off. It could’ve been just his imagination, but Seeker could have sworn that the freeze effect had worn off faster than normal.

“We know how this thing attacks now,” Dragon declared. “Let’s go kick its ass!”

The Investigation Team advanced towards the generator turned war machine, being close enough to hit it with their more powerful close-ranged Persona attacks while being far enough away that they wouldn’t immediately be clobbered a cannonball coming out right in front of them. Since none of their attacks were inherently effective against the war machine, Seeker chose to focus on Electric attacks, blasting it with Ziongas and Maziongas from Shiisaa and Mothman respectively. Since Freeze was confirmed to work, Seeker’s hope was that he would eventually land a Shock on the war machine, giving his team (especially Dragon) the ability to attack it effectively with Technicals from their legendary weapons. Since he didn’t have any Ice Personas that were really up to par with the war machine’s power level, and both Flower and Dragon were already covering Burn and Freeze attempts through their Personas’ respective elements, Shock was the most desirable status from a strategic perspective.

His strategy was rewarded when a Zionga from a Shiissa inflicted a Shock on the war machine, right after it had fired another set of missiles from its launchers that all of them were able to avoid. “Woohoo!” Dragon cheered. “You shocked it, leader!”

“Hit it with everything you have!” Seeker ordered. His team needed no encouragement, with all of them closing in to whack the war machine with their legendary weapons. With their Technical-boosted attacks, they were able to tear through the machine’s health much more quickly than before. Dragon in particular was able to lay on some serious pain on the machine with Tomoe Gozen’s physical skills, with Flower right behind her to heal her with Diaramas whenever her health got low from the strain of using so many in quick succession.

The war machine was significantly slowed down, but it wasn’t quite stopped. As the smaller cannons on the lower layer were still trying to lock on to them, albeit at a much slower speed, Seeker commanded them to back away to give them some room. The cannons fired their cannonballs, but the Investigation Team was now familiar with the war machine’s attacks, and they were able to easily dodge even the smaller, faster cannonballs.

Having established a rhythm and a strategy, the Investigation Team were able to whittle down the war machine’s health…up until they knocked its health down halfway. As Flower blasted the war machine with an Agilao, the machine started to display overt signs of its damage. Cracks started to form as broken pieces of material fell off its body, the exposed parts of its machinery crackling with energy as smoke started to billow out of the damaged generator.

All of this was an unmistakable sign of the progress the Investigation Team had made. But the war machine didn’t look like it was about to fall apart any moment. On the contrary, the turrets and weapons systems started to rotate frenziedly, as if the machine was shifting into overdrive.

“Guys, get ready!” Melody warned. “I think this generator’s gonna start attacking more aggressively than before!”

The navigator’s words would unfortunately prove correct as the cannons on the bottom layer locked on to them much more quickly. And to make matters worse, one of the two missile launchers on the top of the machine opened up and fired two missiles, forcing the Investigation Team to dodge both the cannonballs in front of them AND the two missiles from the sky. Corsair couldn’t quite manage to dodge the attacks completely, and she got caught in the blast radius of one of the missiles. “Gahhh!” she yelped in pain. “God, is this what fighting in an actual war feels like?”

“It’s starting to combine its attacks,” Seeker cautioned. “Be careful, everyone!”

The leader of the Investigation Team’s words would be confirmed a moment later, as the war machine started firing not just a full barrage of missiles that rained down faster than before, but also a single spiked cannonball that bounced around and only narrowly missed Dragon, who had been fully caught up with dodging the missiles. And when the machine fired its three spiked cannonballs, it fired two smaller cannonballs from the bottom layer while they were busy trying to dodge the larger ones. The machine was also attacking at a faster rate in general, giving the Investigation Team much less time to get their attacks in before being forced back on the defensive against another assault.

“Ugh, this is getting REALLY annoying!” Dragon growled. “Tomoe, BUFULA!” Tomoe manifested behind her and fired another chunk of ice…and again, and again, as Dragon fired Bufulas over and over against the war machine, even as her SP got lower and the machine prepared to fire another salvo of cannonballs. The third Bufula was the one that landed the Freeze, granting them all a much-needed reprieve. “Go, go, go, kick this thing’s ass!” she shouted.

The Investigation Team needed no encouragement to approach the war machine and start beating the hell out of it as viciously as possible. Normally, Seeker would have been more reserved with his team’s attacks, but he recognized that given how aggressive and relentless the war machine was becoming with its attacks, their best strategy was to destroy its health as much and as quickly as possible with Technical attacks from their legendary weapons. Once again, Dragon lead the charge, violently beating up the machine with a combination of physical attacks from the Moses Sandals and her Persona’s physical attacks, while Flower kept her healthy with repeated Diaramas. By the time the Freeze had worn off, the machine’s health was dangerously low…and both Dragon AND Corsair had fully built up their Revelation energy.

“I’m ready to go!” Corsair shouted to Seeker. “Let me fire my Revelation!”

“Hold on a sec,” Seeker advised, as he cast a Rakunda on the machine from Eligor while Dragon powered up Corsair with a Tarukaja. “Go for it!”

The Psy specialist of the Investigation Team needed to no further encouragement. Unleashing the energy that she had been building up within her, Corsair summoned Zheng Yi Sao behind her. The masked Pirate Queen Persona raised her sword and pointed it at the machine in a challenging gesture, before lifting it higher into the air above her head. As she did so, six gigantic golden swords, three of which took the form of ornate smallswords and three of which took the form of Chinese daos, manifested in a circle around the pair, all of which were glowing faintly with the pink energy of Psychic attacks. Zheng Yi Sao swung the sword in her hand down as an act of command, and all 6 swords flew towards the machine with blinding speed, each towards a different direction and part of the machine. The Investigation Team watched, mystified, as the conjured swords began to frenziedly slash and hack at the machine like a whirlwind of death, unleashing a cascade of chaotic psychedelic energies that covered the battlefield and the war machine in chaos even as the magical swords sliced at the machine relentlessly. Even the machine seemed stunned by the overwhelming onslaught of Psy-imbued slashes, briefly doing nothing as Zheng Yi Sao lifted her gauntleted, clawed hand and pointed it towards the machine. Fully in tune with her other self, Corsair charged at the war machine as the six swords moved out of her way. With an exhilarated battle cry, Corsair stabbed at the machine with her spear once, then twice. And as she raised her spear above her and swung the bladed tip down in a diagonal slash, all six of the golden sword struck at the same time, unleashing a massive explosion of psychedelic energy that by now was recognized as a characteristic finish to all of the Revelation attacks.

The overwhelming power of Corsair’s Revelation was enough to destroy the last of the war machine’s health, and the generator exploded in a spectacular and devastating blast as it crumbled apart, the individual pieces and turrets falling to the ground in a charred ruin. “Oh, thank God!” Dragon groaned, visibly struggling not to fall to the ground in exhaustion. After such a hard-fought and challenging battle, even with their legendary weapons and armor, the only thing that she and the others could feel was relief. “This was such a giant pain in the ass!”

“I think that might’ve been the first enemy we’ve fought in the Jails that didn’t have any inherent weaknesses,” Flower mused with a frown. “And those are just as annoying as I remember.”

“At least this time, we could create artificial weaknesses with the status conditions,” Seeker mused. “Imagine trying to fight this war machine back in 2011.”

Everyone visibly cringed at the idea. “Well, at least it’s over now,” Corsair mumbled. “That means the entrance to the Jail Keep must be open now, right?’

Dragon sighed. “Someone else is gonna have to hit the front lines for now, man,” she mumbled. “After all that fighting we just did, I’m completely exhausted!”

“There’s a checkpoint relatively close to here,” Seeker remarked. “I was going to quickly return to the real world, heal all of us up, and then come back in to deal with whatever is going to try to stop us inside the Jail Keep.”

“Please swap us out for this next fight,” Flower requested with a tired look on her face. “Even if you restore our health and SP back, I’m still worn down after fighting that war machine.”

“Don’t worry, I was gonna swap in Prince, Tailor, and Sureshot,” Seeker reassured them. Dragon, Corsair, and Flower gratefully accepted the opportunity for a break, and the Investigation Team quickly returned to the real world before re-entering the Jail. A quick look at the time showed that it was now around 2 PM; the day was clearly passing them by, but there was still plenty of time left in the day to continue their infiltration.

When they came back to the Inaba Jail and approached the second Jail Keep, the barrier that had been blocking it had been fully deactivated. As they entered the Keep in question (which had a structure very similar to, if not outright identical to the first), an imposing Super Soldier Shadow glowing with a menacing red aura manifested in front of them, surrounded by a small army of “normal” humanoid Shadows.

“Grrrrrr…” the commander Shadow growled. “I can’t believe it! You actually managed to break through the General’s prized creation! Turning that generator into its own defense system was an act of pure genius, and you intruders ruined it!”

“I’ll admit that that war machine was the most difficult challenge you’ve given us so far,” Seeker freely and nonchalantly admitted without hesitation, for it was the absolute truth. “But it failed to stop us, just like the rest of your army. We’re coming for that power source, and there’s nothing you can do to stop us.”

“I’ve still got more than enough power to put filth like you into the ground where you belong!” the super soldier Shadow roared, as it transformed into a monstrous Hecatoncheires. The hulking beast with countless eyes and several hands wore a massive golden lock around its neck, and it let out a massive roar as it snarled at the intruders.

“At least this can’t be any harder than fighting that war machine, right partner?” Prince asked with a dry smile.

“There’s actually a weakness this time with Bless attacks, so you can always just spam them if nothing else!” Melody cheerfully replied.

“Bless attacks?” Seeker repeated with a smirk. “I’ve got just the right Persona for that.”

“As do I,” Sureshot added with a vicious smile. The two of them summoned Mitra and Sukuna-Hikona and started firing off a barrage of Kougas upon the Hecatoncheires. After fighting an enemy with no true weaknesses that didn’t first need to be artificially made, it honestly felt refreshing to simply blast a powerful enemy in its vulnerability over and over again and continually destroying any momentum that it tried to gain.

Perhaps it wasn’t the most tactically sound strategy, with how much SP it was costing Seeker and Sureshot. But it was certainly satisfying, given how quickly they demolished the monster’s energy shield and sent it collapsing to the ground. Seeker didn’t even need to shout out the order to All-Out Attack, as the Investigation Team enthusiastically launched the devastating move without saying a word.

“God, it feels so good being able to fire off another one of these after that damn war machine!” Prince grinned as he landed neatly on his feet and the Hecatoncheires collapsed onto its knees. Tailor hit the beast with a Zionga that landed a lucky shot, giving everyone free reign to hit it with Technical-boosted physical attacks from their legendary weapons.

After the ordeal that had been battling the war machine, fighting the Hecatoncheires was almost, disappointingly easy by comparison, even with the army that the Shadow had summoned to support it. “I am never going to take weaknesses or Technical attacks for granted ever again,” Seeker remarked once they finally defeated the boss Shadow with another All-Out Attack.

Once the Shadow had dissolved into black ashes, the team wasted no time running up the stairs snaking around the central tower to claim the power core. Once again, it manifested as a ball of light that transformed into another photograph. This one, however, featured two young women smiling at the camera on the mountainside overlooking Inaba. And although they had never seen one of the women (who looked more like a girl than a woman) before, Seeker could recognize the other woman as a younger Mayumi Yamano. The woman looked cheerful and content with her life, leading Seeker to believe that this picture had been taken way before Mayumi had gotten wrapped up with her scandal with Taro Namatame…when her life had been more carefree.

“This is Tsuyumi Yamano and Mayumi Yamano when they were younger, correct?” Sureshot muttered, earning a nod from her leader. “They look quite happy in this picture. And quite younger than what we’ve seen of either woman in the present day.”

“They must have loved each other dearly,” Melody mused sadly. “They look so happy together.”

“Yeah, before all the shit in 2011 went down,” Tailor grumbled. “Fucking Adachi and Izanami had to screw around and ruin everything.”

“And even if they hadn’t, things were going downhill already with Mayumi’s affair with Namatame-san,” Seeker observed. “We can blame Adachi and Izanami for many things, but there’s no reason to believe that affair was one of them.” He shook his head solemnly. “While I have my sympathies for both of them, they weren’t above the consequences of their actions.”

“We haven’t really seen anything that’s showed us what Tsuyomi thinks about Namatame,” Prince pointed out. “But I guess if she’s working for him and there weren’t any problems between them for the past couple of years, I guess she doesn’t hate him at the very least.”

“That’s a reasonable assumption to make, and we didn’t really hear Tsuyomi’s Shadow blame him either,” Seeker agreed, before frowning. “Although I don’t know what will happen once Tsuyomi starts brainwashing people to attack their own TVs. Namatame might very well be one of her brainwashing targets, if not the first.”

“We have to stop her!” Ted exclaimed.

“Ted is right,” Flower agreed. “Tsuyomi hasn’t truly done anything wrong yet, and there’s still time to stop her from fully going down the path of being a brainwashing Monarch.”

“The sooner we resolve this, the better,” Seeker agreed. He put the photo away, next to the other one that he had claimed. “Melody?”

“That barricade blocking the General’s Headquarters should be down now!” his girlfriend reported. “There aren’t any more power sources that I can sense!”

“Then let’s head back to the General’s Headquarters, but be careful,” Seeker warned. “Approach it from hiding spots, don’t hang out in the open. I wouldn’t be surprised if stealing both power cores and breaking down the barrier causes some kind of reaction.”

“Will do,” Prince agreed. “Getting caught would be the absolute worst thing possible, now that we’re closer than ever to getting to the top of that tower.”

The Investigation Team retreated from the empty Prison Keep, using a checkpoint to teleport themselves over to the nearest one, a short distance away from the barricaded gate to the General’s Headquarters. As they approached the General’s Headquarters by stealthily moving from cover point to cover point, red alarms started to blare as the barricade deactivated and slid downward out of sight, leaving the entrance to the headquarters exposed.

“Guys, be careful!” Melody warned. “I can sense a lot of activity inside the General’s Headquarters! And that includes Shadow Tsuyomi!”

“Stay hidden,” Seeker warned his friends as many, many Shadows wearing military uniforms started marching out of the entrance to the General’s Headquarters and assembling onto the field in front of it. The Shadows stood at attention in a line on either side of the field, while Shadow Tsuyomi walked out onto the center of the field before turning to glare furiously at her soldiers.

“Why haven’t you captured those intruders already?” she shouted, this time genuinely enraged at the incompetence of her soldiers. “How did you let them capture not just a tank, but the two power sources keeping my headquarters secure?”

“Th-the intruders are more powerful than we could’ve ever expected, General,” one Shadow soldier answered nervously. “They were able to take out even the war machine we set up to guard the East Jail Keep, without suffering a single casualty! Not to mention they’ve managed to take out all of our captains. They’re just too strong!”

Shadow Tsuyomi glowered at the Shadow. “So you’re either all incompetent, or those intruders are an even more dangerous threat to my plans than I first realized.” She scoffed. “Fine, whatever. Either way, I clearly can’t expect you to do the job on your own. I’ll take care of those damn intruders myself!” She smacked her free hand with her baton, causing every Shadow soldier to straighten up even further. “Attention!” she barked. “We’re marching out to every corner of this land! We’re going to find those intruders, and teach them a lesson on the punishment for interfering with our righteous cause!”

“Yes, ma’am!” her soldiers all shouted in agreement. Two of them presented a military buggy to Shadow Tsuyomi, who climbed into the vehicle while the rest of the soldiers fell in line behind her. Shadow Tsuyomi started to drive out with the rest of the Shadows following her on a steady march.

As they watched the Shadows pass by, Seeker couldn’t help but think about what their next move was going to be, and if the events that had just occurred in Shadow Tsuyomi’s Jail had any impact on the real world.

Meanwhile, in Taro Namatame’s Office

Namatame finished signing the forms that his staffers had given him, after studying the forms and making sure that everything was in order. “Tsuyomi-san?” the Mayor called out to her. “I’ve signed these forms. Would you please move them to the secretary’s desk, please?”

“O-of course, Namatame-san,” Tsuyomi agreed as she entered the office. Namatame barely managed to suppress a frown as he observed Tsuyomi’s demeanor. Like he had told Yu Narukami earlier, Tsuyomi had not previously displayed any behavior that would have been abnormal enough to warrant his direct intervention, let alone a psychiatric evaluation. Her demeanor over the past few days had certainly changed, but today it had been particularly jarring…and concerning.

Tsuyomi had been especially jittery and nervous today. She’d lost focus on her job multiple times today, and had needed prompting from both himself and others to redirect her back to her job. Not even in her first days on the job, when she had officially started working for the man who had played at least a role in the downfall of her older sister, had she behaved the way she was doing now.

But that by itself wouldn’t have concerned Namatame so much. Everyone had a bad day on the job sometimes, and Namatame wouldn’t fault anyone for one bad day. No, what worried Namatame the most was the almost…shifty look in Tsuyomi’s face and eyes. A look that was definitely not normal on Tsuyomi Yamano. The suspicious appearance made it look as though Tsuyomi Yamano was plotting something, or at the very least hiding something.

And given what Yu Narukami had warned him about, she almost certainly was.

Before Namatame could voice any concern, the TV in the office suddenly blared to life with a news segment. Both Namatame and Tsuyomi watched as the news broadcaster covered the changes of heart in Sapporo, how Mariko Hyodo had confessed and apologized for her wrongdoings, but also vowed to start over and do right for the people of Sapporo by continuing her campaign as mayor despite her past sins.

“I wish her the best,” Taro Namatame thought with a smile. “God knows I’ve been in a similar boat.”

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a deafening scream of both rage and anguish that bellowed out of Tsuyomi Yamano’s mouth. Stunned by the unexpected scream, Namatame could only watch in stunned disbelief as Tsuyomi let out another howl of fury, grabbed the remote on Namatame’s desk, and threw it at the TV.

The remote missed the TV screen by just a few inches, and Namatame knew he had to act now before Tsuyomi continued her violent outburst. “Tsuyomi-san!” Namatame barked, a bit more harshly than he had intended. “What is the meaning of this???”

His words, thankfully, seemed to snap Tsuyomi Yamano back into reality. Some semblance of reason and control returned to her face, but her eyes still burned with fury…and the shifty appearance on her face remained. “My-my apologies, Namatame-san,” she answered in a wooden and emotionless tone. “I…I don’t know what came over me.”

Her tone wasn’t particularly convincing, and Namatame didn’t believe it for a single second. Still, if the intelligence that Yu Narukami had given him was true, Tsuyomi Yamano’s mind was fundamentally distorted, and this would not be fixed until he and his team cleared the supernatural realm connected to Tsuyomi. In which case, a direct confrontation wouldn’t accomplish anything except make the situation worse.

So instead, Taro Namatame let out a sigh. “Why don’t you take the rest of the day off, Tsuyomi?” he suggested. “I can tell that you’ve been on edge all day…and this little outburst you’ve had just now removed all doubt. Perhaps it would be best for you to return home and wind down. That way you’ll be in a better state of mind when you come back tomorrow.”

“I…” For a moment, it looked like Tsuyomi wanted to argue. But then she closed her mouth and nodded stiffly. “You’re right, Namatame-san,” she reluctantly agreed. “Today just hasn’t been a good day. I should go home and take a break, like you said.” She bowed and turned, about to leave, but suddenly stopped. “Before I go, Namatame-san,” she turned back around to face him again, and Namatame realized that she was now holding out her phone to him, “would you mind friending me on EMMA? I think it would be a great way for me, you, and the rest of the office to keep in touch with each other.”

This time, Namatame couldn’t quite hide his surprise at the question coming out of the blue. He did, however, barely manage to hide the dread that chilled his soul at the sight of the app on Tsuyomi’s phone, as well as the suspicious expression on the woman’s face. Thanks to Yu, Natsume knew full well that this was an attempt by Tsuyomi to control him through EMMA. And if he confronted her on the issue outright, it would not only destabilize her further, but also potentially jeopardize Narukami’s operations in her Jail.

So, with all the practiced smoothness of a politician, he kept his facial expression carefully neutral and his voice polite but firm. “I am sorry, Tsuyomi-san,” he apologized with a regret that, thankfully, he didn’t have to fake, even if it wasn’t for the reasons Tsuyomi was probably thinking, “but I must decline. I have heard multiple disturbing reports about EMMA, and I need to confirm that the app is safe to use before I can use it, or allow its widespread use amongst my staff.”

A stormy expression of disappointment appeared on Tsuyomi’s face for a brief moment, but she was able to tamper it down and calm her expression quickly, though not quickly enough for Namatame to miss it. “I see,” she muttered. “Then I’ll get going.”

She turned and left the room, leaving Taro Namatame alone in his office. The mayor hoped that he’d handled the situation as best as he could’ve, although he knew for a fact that Tsuyomi wouldn’t be dissuaded from her current course without external intervention from Yu Narukami. And he had a sinking feeling in his stomach that if Narukami and his team didn’t act fast, Tsuyomi would carry out her plans as the “Monarch” of the Inaba Jail very, very soon.

“Time is running out, Narukami-san,” he thought grimly. “I don’t know how I know this, but I have a sinking feeling in my gut. Please,” he pleaded to the leader of the Investigation Team in his mind, “do whatever you can to stop Tsuyomi from ruining her life and the lives of others before it’s too late.”

Chapter Text

As Seeker watched Shadow Tsuyomi and her army march down the street and leave the General’s Headquarters (and unknowingly, their quarry) behind them, it only took a few seconds for him to make a decision on what to do next. “We move forward into the General’s Headquarters,” he declared.

“Wait, really?” Dragon asked incredulously. She happened to be next to Seeker when they had ducked for cover, so she didn’t have to shout…and potentially attract the attention of Shadow Tsuyomi and her army.

“Think about it,” Seeker explained. “If we try to retreat right now, we’ll almost certainly get caught by Shadow Tsuyomi and her army, since they’ve marched out into the Jail to look for us. But since we just saw that army leave, the General Headquarters is likely emptier and relatively unguarded…so this is the perfect time for us to invade.”

“Plus, it would allow us to make more progress in our infiltration of the Inaba Jail,” Sureshot pointed out. “The Phantom Thieves consistently needed to reach the top of the castle in each Jail to complete their missions, which I’m sure the General’s Headquarters is equivalent of.” She smiled thinly. “Since we’re stuck here for now until Shadow Tsuyomi gives up on her search, we might as well make some more progress while we’re here.”

“Then let’s go!” Pres urged. “We were gonna wrap this whole thing up by tomorrow, right? We ain’t doing any good sittin’ here doin’ nothing except waitin’ to get caught!”

The rest of the Investigation Team agreed, some more enthusiastically than others. Seeker raised a hand and gestured towards the General’s Headquarters once he was sure that the army was a safe distance away, and his team broke cover and charged towards the building. The building itself was both bigger and smaller than he expected once he was able to get a closer look at it. It was significantly smaller than the castles that they had seen in the other Jails…although it was also bigger than any General’s Headquarters building that he had ever seen before. “I wonder if it's because the creation of the Jail was interrupted by Marie,” he thought as they entered through the unlocked front door. “Maybe this building would’ve been even bigger if the Jail was allowed to grow all the way.”

As they entered the building, it quickly became apparent that the “castle” influence was still very much at play in the General’s Headquarters. They entered into a large hall that was comparable in size to the atrium of a medieval castle, a wide open space with only a few machines alongside the edges of the walls. Seeker’s gambit had apparently paid off, as there were only a few Shadows inside the atrium when they arrived, a very low number of guards given the importance of the Headquarters to the Jail.

“Oh, crap!” One of the Shadow soldiers exclaimed. “The intruders are here! And right when the General and most of the army just left, too!”

“Let’s just beat them now, that way the General will reward us for capturing the intruders instead of punishing us for letting them get in here to begin with,” another Shadow suggested.

Personally, Seeker would have thought that alerting the General immediately would have been the wiser course of action, but he wasn’t going to interrupt his enemies when they were making a mistake…especially when they had already started transforming into a horde of Shiisaas, Arahabakis, and Legions about to attack them.

Fortunately, Seeker had already adjusted his team’s lineup in preparation for this, so it was now Prince, Pres, and Sureshot on the frontlines, all of whom were relatively fresh and ready for battle. By now, they were all thoroughly familiar with the Shadows inside the Inaba Jail, and their victory was both swift and decisive.

“Man, these guys never learn, do they?” Prince asked once all the Shadows were defeated.

“They are a pack of imbeciles for not alerting their superior officer earlier,” Sureshot remarked with a scowl, unknowingly mirroring Seeker’s own thoughts on the matter before the battle had begun.

“There’s two ways you can go,” Melody reported as she scanned the interior of the building. They both lead to this large room in the middle of the second floor, and from there you go right to the top of the building where the cage is!”

“How do we get to the second floor, then?” Pres asked.

“There’s staircases on either side of the building,” Melody answered. “That’s the reason why I said you could go either way to get to the second floor.”

“Let’s go left then,” Seeker decided. “And before anyone asks, I picked a complete random direction since it doesn’t seem to matter either way.”

His friends looked at each other, shrugged, then followed his lead down the left side of the building. The path led down a hallway that was closer to what he had expected from a military headquarters, with conspicuously empty rooms on either side where officers would be expected to work at their desks, or staff members would have been expected to compile and work on data on behalf of their superiors. The end of the hallway led to another larger room that had more Shadows in it, this one being led by a gigantic Shiisaa that spawned numerous smaller Shiisaas behind it. Thankfully, Sureshot was in her element here, and all it took was for both her and himself to spam Eigas and Maeigas repeatedly to break its energy shields and expose it to All-Out Attacks until the giant Shiisaa was defeated.

“Thank you, leader,” Sureshot thanked him as he handed her a Chewing Soul. “I must confess, part of me was thinking about casting a Mudoon as a joke, just to see what would happen.”

Tailor smirked. “And who says that my girlfriend doesn’t have a sense of humor?”

“Humor comes in many forms,” Seeker sagely replied as Melody pointed out the staircase they would need to take to climb to the second floor. “I, for one, believe that instantly obliterating a Shadow that would otherwise have been powerful enough to be a miniboss in its own right will never not be funny.”

“I’ve seen some of the crazy things that Joker does when he fights,” Corsair remarked as they climbed up the stairs. “Still blows my mind just how insanely overpowered both he and you were before the Jails came along and screwed everything up.”

“Who knows?” Seeker remarked. “Perhaps one of us will find a way for us to reclaim the incredible power that comes with maximized stats and optimized Personas.” He thought for a moment, before adding, “Although given how this is Joker’s Journey first and foremost, I have a feeling that he’ll figure it out before I do.”

When they reached the second floor, the room they arrived at was almost identical in size to the one they had just climbed up from. This one had another “mini-boss” Shadow, but unlike the giant Shiisaa that they had just defeated, it instead transformed into a new one that none of them had seen before…at least within the context of the Jails.

“A Queen Mab?” Seeker blinked. “I…definitely haven’t seen that one yet.”

He didn’t have time to say any more, as the Queen Mab immediately started launching attacks at them. Even though she didn’t have a large army backing her up, unlike some of the other giant Shadows that they had battled, her moveset more than made up for it. She was able to wield both Fire and Ice attacks with deadly precision, throwing the battlefield into chaos with Maragions and Mabufulas. Not only that, but she also had access to Agidyne and Bufudyne, both of which would have been incredibly painful were it not for the Godly Robes that the Investigation Team had had the foresight to wear. As if that weren’t enough, the queen of the fairies was even able to disrupt them with Makajamaons on top of her dual mastery of Fire and Ice, destroying any momentum that his friends might have otherwise been able to gather.

Seeker was very grateful that he had made sure to switch out both Dragon and Flower beforehand, and that both he and Prince were able to hit Queen Mab in the one weakness she did have thanks to the Koppa Tengu that he had created in the Velvet Room before they had launched their invasion of the General’s Headquarters.

“Ack!” Prince exclaimed as he was hit by a Maragion that he was just a bit too slow to dodge, and ended up getting caught on fire by the fiery attack. “Dammit, I REALLY wish I still had my Fire immunity back when I still had Takehaya Susano-o!” he complained as he flailed and tried to put the fire out. Seeker immediately handed his partner a healing item which negated the burn, before switching over to Unicorn to block the Bufudyne that the Queen Mab sent his way.

“We need to wrap this up quickly,” Seeker warned. “Get your Wind attacks ready, partner.”

“You got it!” Prince agreed. Together, they summoned their Personas and unleashed a barrage of Garulas and Magarulas upon the Queen Mab, whose energy shield had already been dangerously close to failing after being hit by both repeated Wind attacks and crits from their legendary weapons. The Queen Mab tried to slow them down with a Makajamon, but she was just a bit too slow, and one last Garula from Prince was able to shatter her energy shield and knock her onto the ground. Without even needing to be verbally prompted by Seeker, the Investigation Team launched into an All-Out Attack, and the Almighty explosion was thankfully enough to finish off the imposing and queenly Shadow once and for all.

“Whew!” Prince wiped some sweat from his forehead once the Queen Mab had dissolved into black ashes. “I can’t believe fighting that one Shadow was harder than some of the literal armies we’ve fought at once!”

“I do hope that I’ll be able to make my own Queen Mab as a Persona soon,” Seeker commented placidly. Despite the intensity of the battle that they had just fought, he was feeling anticipation towards the idea of wielding her power as his own more than anything else. “Having a Persona that has access to both Fire and Ice at the same time would be very useful.”

“It probably won’t be until later, since we haven’t seen any other Queen Mabs anywhere else in this Jail,” Flower suggested, before adding under her breath, “…thankfully.”

“Are there any other major rooms before we head to the main one on the second floor?” Seeker asked his girlfriend.

“No, there’s only one room left, and it looks like the biggest one out of all of them,” Melody answered, before adding with a hint of concern in her tone. “But there’s something in that room that worries me.”

“What is it?” Seeker asked, giving her his full attention. One lesson that all Persona teams across generations learned very quickly was to always trust your navigator, girlfriend or otherwise.

“There’s some kind of…presence…in that middle room,” Melody explained uncertainly. “It’s not Shadow Tsuyomi, but it’s different. Unique. Powerful.”

“And probably dangerous,” Sureshot added with a sigh. “I think it’d be a fool’s hope to believe or assume otherwise.”

Seeker frowned. Joker hadn’t mentioned anything that matched what Melody had described in the previous Jails. Discounting the Shadow Monarchs themselves, the only truly unique and powerful Shadows within the Jails were the Dire Shadows…and those were Shadows far and above even the Monarchs themselves in terms of power, but also optional battles since the Shadows themselves were completely non-hostile unless they attacked first.

Even before seeing it, Seeker highly doubted that a Dire Shadow was what his girlfriend was describing, so he had no idea what to expect in the last room before the cage at the top of the General’s Headquarters. “The only other thing I can think of that matches what Melody is describing is a Lock Keeper,” Seeker thought to himself, “but I thought Joker said that all of those were fought in small, separate corners of the cities where the traumas of the Monarchs occurred. I’m pretty sure those Lock Keepers were never in the actual Jails themselves.”

“Yo, Seeker?” Pres called, breaking him out of his thoughts. “We doin’ this, or what? We can’t stick around here for too long, that General’s gonna be back with her army soon if they can’t find us out there!”

“Yeah, let’s just heal up for a second,” Seeker answered. He took out some healing items, many of which were targeted towards replenishing spirit as opposed to health, and gave them to both himself and his team. “All right, are we ready to press on?”

“We’re good!” Dragon cheerfully affirmed on all their behalf. With a nod of acknowledgment, Seeker led the Investigation Team into the main room of the General’s Headquarters.

The moment they stepped in the room, Seeker could immediately tell that something was off. The room itself was noticeably fuller compared to the other ones they had seen, as there were tables with maps and battle plans on them, and machines and computers lining the walls where staff and soldiers would have worked if Shadow Tsuyomi hadn’t marshalled them up to march out into the Jail to search for them. Seeker could easily tell that this was the most important room in the General’s Headquarters that he had seen so far…although that wasn’t what bothered him.

Before he could think about it any further, Melody suddenly let out a panicked, “Look out! Something’s coming!”

The Investigation Team barely had time to brace themselves as a gigantic black monster suddenly rose from the ground, right in front of a staircase leading upwards at the far end of the room. The monster was nothing like anything any of the Persona users had ever seen before, either in the TV World OR the Metaverse. It was a towering, humanoid behemoth with four arms…and in each of its four hands, the creature was carrying a spear that was taller than even the tallest humans of the Investigation Team with razor-sharp point at its tip.

“Wh-wh-wh…what the hell is THAT THING?” Dragon spluttered.

“I think that’s the Lock Keeper that Joker told me about earlier,” Seeker muttered. “But this doesn’t make any sense. Joker made it very clear to me that the Lock Keepers in isolated areas separate from the main body of the Jail. But this Lock Keeper is right in the middle of Shadow Tsuyomi’s headquarters!”

“Does it really matter where this thing is?” Prince demanded. “It’s not gonna let us pass unless we beat the hell out of it first!”

“Prince is right,” Flower agreed. “It’s a powerful enemy, and even if we ignore it right now, I REALLY don’t like the idea of it coming back to help Shadow Tsuyomi when we eventually have to fight her.”

Both of these were valid points, and at least in the immediate sense, the mystery of the Lock Keeper’s presence within the main Jail wasn’t particularly relevant. Seeker forced himself to focus primarily on the upcoming battle. “Melody, what are its weaknesses?” he asked.

The idol spent a few moments to scan the Lock Keeper. “Wind, Nuke, Bless, and Curse,” she reported.

Seeker smirked. “Perfect, we can keep the front-line team we have currently, then. And I already know at least some of the team I’m going to bring against Shadow Tsuyomi. You guys ready?”

“Yeah!” His friends all answered eagerly. Seeker took a step towards the Lock Keeper, who immediately started channeling the red-orange energy of Tarukaja into its body. Seeker, Prince, Pres, and Sureshot all started firing attacks from their Personas at the same time, and the bombardment was enough to break a layer of its energy shield and throw the Lock Keeper off balance and interrupt its attempt to empower itself.

The Lock Keeper recovered quickly, though, and began to spin its body around like a tornado, creating a whirlwind of destruction that everyone had to dodge out of the way of. Seeker retreated further away from the Lock Keeper than the rest of his friends, hoping to buy himself some time to empower himself and his friends with stat boots and then fire some Magarulas from a safe distance with Koppa Tengu.

Seeker had enough time to empower himself and Sureshot with Tarukaja while Pres did the same with herself and Prince, but that was as far as he was able to do as the Lock Keeper suddenly stopped spinning. The monster raised one of its hands, and Seeker only barely had enough time to register what was happening and dodge out of the way as the Lock Keeper hurled its spear towards him, the tip viciously impaling into the ground where he had been standing seconds earlier.

“What the hell?” Prince stared at the spot in stunned disbelief. “Did that thing just throw its spear at you?”

“It looks like it just did,” Seeker replied tersely. “Keep on your feet, and make sure to move in and out while you’re fighting this thing. We won’t be able to sit back and harass the Lock Keeper with long-ranged skills since it can throw its spears at us.”

Leading by example, Seeker charged towards the Lock Keeper and attacked it with a close-ranged Kouga from Mitra, before retreating and firing a Magarula from a longer distance with Koppa Tengu. The Lock Keeper had tried to slam its spears down on Seeker in front of him while he had approached, but it had been too slow and Seeker had managed to retreat safely in time. The others followed his lead, weaving back and forth to strike the Lock Keeper with skills targeting its (thankfully numerous) weaknesses. As tempting as it was to use more complex strategies, they would settle on the simple yet effective strategy of hitting weaknesses until they knew more about the Lock Keeper’s capabilities.

Their patience would be rewarded as the Lock Keeper started unleashing a new attack, as it raised its spears, pointed them towards Seeker, and charge towards him with the intent to skewer him on the spears’ tips. Seeker saw the attack coming and was able to neatly dodge out of the way, but as the Lock Keeper dived past, more enemy Shadows from every part of the Inaba Jail started to appear to reinforce the Lock Keeper. As his teammates started getting to work dealing with these unwanted intruders, a childlike and disturbingly familiar female voice suddenly shouted across the room.

“Sis? Where are you? Are you okay?”

“What the hell?” Seeker thought blankly, briefly distracted from the fight. “Was that…Tsuyomi’s voice just now?”

A stray attack from a Black Slime forced his attention back to the battle, and Seeker was thankful that it had just been a weak attack from a Black Slime and not an attack from the much more powerful Lock Keeper that had caught him off-guard. He dealt with the group of Black Slimes near him and turned his focus back to the Lock Keeper, just in time to see it leap into the air. The Lock Keeper’s spears pointed towards the ground and slammed into it, unleashing a shockwave that caught Pres right in the blast radius.

“Gah!” Pres exclaimed as she forced herself back onto her feet. “Argh, that hurt like hell!”

Prince quickly healed her. “Damn, is this what Joker had to fight every time he got close to wrapping up a Jail?” he asked. When Seeker, he shook his head in exasperation. “Sheesh. Good thing these things have so many weaknesses cause otherwise they’d take forever to kill.”

“Joker and the Phantom Thieves actually had it way worse,” Seeker remarked as they dodged another spear throw from the Lock Keeper. “Because the Lock Keepers are supposed to represent the people causing the trauma of the Shadow Monarchs. And those guys constantly shout out some really disgusting things that really show just despicable they truly are.” He frowned. “This one has been oddly silent, though…and I’m still not sure why it’s here instead of in a separate part of the Jail.”

Ironically, the Lock Keeper at that point chose to let out another piece of dialogue, although once again it was only a disjointed and small fragment of Tsuyomi’s trauma, and it was once again with her own, younger voice. “Wait…is that you, sis? Are you…on the TV? Why are you on the TV at midnight?”

Everyone immediately grimaced. “This is that Midnight Channel thing you dealt with back in 2011, right?” Pres asked.

“Indeed,” Sureshot affirmed as Seeker blasted the Lock Keeper with a Mafreila, breaking another layer of its energy shield and staggering it briefly. “I’m beginning to think I know what happened.”

Prince had also started to figure it out, and he didn’t look any happier than Sureshot at the realization. “She saw her sister on the TV World the night she died, didn’t she?” he asked grimly as the Lock Keeper charged at them with its outstretched spears a second time.

Seeker frowned. “That would certainly explain why she blames the TVs for her sister’s death,” he acknowledged as he charged forward to bombard the Lock Keeper with more skills to interrupt its attempted Matarukaja. “Her motivations wouldn’t make any sense otherwise, even with the external brainwashing caused by the Jails taken into account.”

Sureshot fired one more Kouga at the Lock Keeper, breaking the last of its energy shield and causing it to stumble and fall onto its knees. The Investigation Team launched themselves at the Lock Keeper, unleashing an All-Out Attack that both did heavy damage to the monster and also completely obliterated the hordes of smaller Shadows that had come to reinforce it.

“What the…are you okay, sis? You…you look terrible! Is something chasing you?” the voice was both increasingly scared, and thoroughly confused.

“Do you remember seeing anything like that on the TVs the night when Mayumi Yamano first died?” Sureshot asked her leader.

Seeker shook his head as they assaulted the Lock Keeper while it was still down. “No, I never actually saw Mayumi Yamano on the TV. I was asleep that night, so I never got the chance to see the Midnight Channel back then.”

Tailor scowled. “Doesn’t take a genius to figure out what the hell happened,” he muttered. “Tsuyomi Yamano was awake that night and saw her sister’s death on the damn TV.”

Dragon winced. “She probably got killed by her Shadow, even if nobody was gonna know what the heck that was back then.”

“That poor girl…” Flower murmured sympathetically.

“Focus!” Seeker ordered grimly. “We can talk about this after we’ve beaten the Lock Keeper!”

Fortunately, the Lock Keeper in question had already taken heavy damage after all of the attacks that the Investigation Team had piled onto it, and apart from occasionally teleporting from one part of the arena to another, it didn’t seem to have any more tricks apart from the ones that it had already shown. Patience and mobility were the keys, with the Investigation Team constantly on the move to avoid the Lock Keeper’s admittedly powerful attacks while they waited for opportunities to strike when the Lock Keeper wouldn’t be able to immediately retaliate or intercept them with one of its attacks. With every single member of the front line able to hit the Lock Keeper’s weaknesses with their skills, as well as the innate power of their attacks from their legendary weapons, the Investigation Team was able to consistently and effectively wear down the Lock Keeper’s health even with the interruptions that came from the Lock Keeper’s own attacks.

“Sis…Sis…No! The TV just stopped playing! What happened? What happened to my sister?” the younger Tsuyomi’s voice shouted, sounding increasingly frantic.

“So she didn’t actually see her sister’s Shadow kill her in major detail,” Seeker muttered. “Under the circumstances, I’m not certain if that can be considered a blessing or a curse.”

“Speaking of which,” Sureshot suddenly chimed in. Her face was as serene as ever (for out of all the Investigation Team, only Seeker could claim to be her superior in the art of keeping her face calm and hidden of emotion), but there was a light gleaming in her eyes, and her body was flaring with energy. “I believe I am ready to unleash my Revelation…and I am quite eager to see what Sukuna-Hikona and I are capable of.”

“Go for it,” Seeker approved.

Sureshot nodded, gripped her gun, and unleashed the energy that had been building up within her. Sukuna-Hikona materialized behind her and flew around in her in a spiral. As they did so, six giant magical flames manifested into existence in a circle behind her, three of which were made of brilliant light and three of which were made of menacing red and black shadows. Once the circle of six sigils was fully formed, mystical circles formed around the six flames and lines made of magical energy began to extend from the circles, extending and connecting with each other until a full-blown magical circle had formed, similar to those created by arcane masters of magical arts in fantasy games. Sukuna-Hikona raised their sword, and the original magical flames that had given rise to the circle’s formation in the first place suddenly rose from the circle high into the air, before falling upon the Lock Keeper and bombarding it with the powers of light and darkness. The Lock Keeper stumbled backward as the magical light and dark flames collided with its body, but Sureshot wasn’t done. She raised her gun and pointed it at the Lock Keeper as Sukuna-Hikona made a similar gesture with her sword. Everyone watched the First Detective Prince as both Bless and Curse energies began to swirl and gather within the center of the giant magical circle that was still behind her, two fundamentally opposite powers forcibly combined together to create an energy that could only be described as pure chaos. The vortex of Bless and Curse energy grew larger and larger within the magical circle, only barely contained by Sureshot and her Persona…until finally, Sureshot decided that now was the time to release it.

Sureshot fired her gun as Sukuna-Hikona swung their sword downward like a general ordering an attack, and the gathered Bless and Curse energy was unleashed in a massive beam that shot straight towards the Lock Keeper. The Lock Keeper staggered backward as it was continuously bombarded by the powers of light and darkness for several seconds, before culminating in a gigantic explosion of Bless and Curse energy that was characteristic of every Revelation attack that had ever been unleashed from the Investigation Team.

“Ooh, that was so cool, Sureshot!” Melody gushed as the Lock Keeper stumbled onto the ground, completely overwhelmed by her Revelation attack. There was still a sliver of health left on the Lock Keeper, but one final barrage of Persona attacks was more than enough to wipe that out once and for all. The Lock Keeper dropped its spears and fell to its knees, and as it dissolved into black ashes, one final voice from the past emanated around them.

“Is…is that Mayumi? O-on the TV Antenna? No…No! NOOOOOOOO!!!!!”

The younger Tsuyomi’s scream echoed hauntingly around them, the memory of a young girl who had just seen their beloved sister’s dead body grotesquely hung up on a TV Antenna over five years ago. Nobody said a word as the scream faded, leaving the main room of the General’s Headquarters as silent as a tomb for several seconds.

“So are we going to talk about what we just heard?” Corsair finally broke the silence.

Seeker shook his head. “Not here,” he cautioned. “I promise, we WILL spend the rest of the time we have left unpacking this once we’re back in the real world. But we still have to finish our infiltration, and we’re still in a hostile environment.”

Nobody could argue with Seeker’s logic, especially not when just a few seconds later, a loud crash was suddenly heard outside of the General’s Headquarters, as though something had collided hard with something else. “We need to move,” Seeker warned. “Whatever that was, it almost certainly attracted some unwanted attention.”

That broke everyone out of their stupor, and without another word they climbed up the stairs to the roof of the General’s Headquarters. The stairs led to a set of double doors that led outside, and out on the roof there was a straight path to the inside of the cage on top of the General’s Headquarters.

“Oh my God!” Melody gasped. “There’s a gigantic chain that fell off the birdcage and onto the courtyard in front of the building!”

Her friends took a closer look, and they saw that, indeed, a gigantic chain link had detached from the cage and had fallen onto the ground in front of the General’s Headquarters, leaving a small crater where it had impacted the ground. In truth, none of them had really paid attention to the chain when they had first come into the Jail, but now the fallen chain couldn’t have been more blatant.

“Joker did mention something like this,” Seeker informed them. “Whenever he and his friends defeated the Lock Keepers, it would unlock the cages on top of the Monarchs’ castles and allow them access to their throne rooms to fight the Shadow Monarchs directly. I think we might have just performed that step, even though we didn’t exactly know what was going on when we were fighting that Lock Keeper.”

“So we should be good to get into the Throne Room, right?” Prince asked.

“Let’s check before we go,” Corsair advised. The team approached the edge of the cage, and when Seeker reached out his hand towards the cage, he didn’t encounter any barrier, physical or magical, that stopped his progress. He looked up towards the top of the cage, and to his relief, he didn’t find anything resembling a ball of light or formless energy or anything like what Joker had described the Desires to look like prior to any attempts to steal them.

“I don’t smell anything, sensei!” Ted confirmed. “I just smell that scary General girl’s presence on that throne over there!”

“Good,” Seeker breathed a sigh of relief. “We’ve confirmed that we’ve unlocked the Jail cage, and that Tsuyomi hasn’t gotten a chance to steal any Desires from anybody in Inaba.”

He looked towards the center of the Jail Cage, where there was a smaller building positioned right in the middle. “There’s only a single room inside that building,” Melody reported, “and there’s nothing blocking us from approaching it or going inside. I think this might be Shadow Tsuyomi’s throne room.”

“Are you sure that there’s nothing blocking us from going inside there, now that we’ve unlocked the Jail cage?” Seeker asked. He trusted his girlfriend’s analysis capabilities, but he wanted to make absolutely sure.

Melody scanned again carefully. “Yep!” she confirmed. “There’s nothing left to stop us. We can go in there at any time.” She frowned. “I don’t think you have time to take a look inside. I’m sensing a lot of Shadows approaching the General’s Headquarters. I think breaking the chain link just gave away where we are and what we’ve been doing here.”

“Time to go, then,” Seeker answered tersely. “But I don’t think we can go back the way we came.”

“There’s some buildings next to the General’s Headquarters that you should be able to jump across to get back to our entry point safely without having to fight any Shadows,” Melody reassured them. “Just follow my instructions and we should be able to still get outta here.”

Seeker smiled. “You’re the best, Melody,” he replied, earning a giggle from Melody before she started giving out her instructions. The Investigation Team followed them, jumping from building to building to evade Shadow Tsuyomi and the army of Shadows converging upon the General’s Headquarters. There was shout of rage from the streets below and some of the Shadows even started to fire upon them, but they were too slow and the distance too far away to hit them. Everyone was able to make it to the Jail entry point safely, and they were all able to travel back to the real world. Only when they had all settled in Labrys’ house, did they finally start to discuss what they had seen, heard, and done in the Inaba Jail.

“I think we all finally understand why Tsuyomi and her Shadow are so fixated on brainwashing the people of Inaba to destroy their own TVs,” Naoto summarized solemnly. “For one reason or another, she was awake the night that Adachi threw Mayumi Yamano into the TV. She was able to see the Midnight Channel, and see her sister chased and likely murdered by her own Shadow.”

“I vaguely remember seeing Saki Konishi’s death on the Midnight Channel the night she was killed,” Yu added with a frown. Yosuke visibly grimaced, but didn’t interrupt. “I imagine what Tsuyomi saw was very similar to that, only with her sister instead.”

“And then the next day, Mayumi Yamano’s dead body was hung up on the TV Antenna and that’s how this entire mess started,” Chie sighed, dejected over what they’d heard. “I’d be screwed in the head too if I saw something like that.”

“That poor girl…” Yukiko murmured sympathetically. “To witness something so horrible as a child…”

“Fucking Adachi,” Kanji grumbled. “Even more than five years later after we landed his ass behind bars, and he’s still causing problems for us.”

“And Tsuyomi doesn’t know anythin’ about the TV World, right?” Labrys asked, for clarification’s sake. “She doesn’t know about all this Persona stuff, about Izanami, or any of the cognitive stuff goin’ on behind the scenes?”

“I’m fairly certain she doesn’t,” Yu answered. “And without that context, as a bystander without deeper knowledge of Personas or the TV Worlds, it makes sense that she would blame the TVs for her sister’s death because she doesn’t have anything else to go off of.”

“She honestly might be trying to be a hero, in a really messed up way,” Shiho suggested. “Maybe she thinks that by having everyone destroy their own TVs, it would stop something like the Foggy Day Murders from happening again.”

“I do think that’s a distinct possibility,” Yu agreed, before adding. “And besides, the external brainwashing from the Jails is likely affecting Tsuyomi’s sanity, or at the very least her rational thinking. All of us here can clearly see the problems with brainwashing people to destroy their own TVs, but I doubt Tsuyomi will be able to while her heart remains distorted like this.”

“At least she hasn’t stolen any Desires yet,” Rise helpfully pointed out. “So we can still save her and stop her from doing anything wrong like all the other Jail Monarchs have.”

“How ARE we going to fix her distorted heart, though?” Yosuke wondered with a frown. “There’s no giant gem of Desires to steal, and there’s no Treasure either. This is different than what the Phantom Thieves have been doing.”

“It is,” Yu acknowledged, “but I do have an idea on how to go about this.”

Yukiko smiled fondly. “Of course our leader already has a plan,” she remarked.

“So what’re we gonna do, Yu?” Chie asked excitedly.

“I have to discuss the plan with Ren just to make sure he doesn’t find any problems with it, but here’s my idea for how we’re going to go about this,” Yu explained. “We’re going to create a calling card of our own. NOT one made with the design of the Phantom Thieves, or one that is affiliated with them. Our card is going to tell Tsuyomi that we know what she’s planning with EMMA, we know why she’s doing it, and that we’re going to stop her. That should be enough to get her riled up, and it will give us the opportunity to battle her within the Inaba Jail. And then, once we’ve defeated her, we’ll convince her to give up on her plans to brainwash Inaba’s population into destroying their own TVs.”

“So we’ll be using a variation of the Phantom Thieves’ own methods, only with adjustments to account for the unusual circumstances surrounding the Inaba Jail,” Naoto mused, before nodding. “I think that will work. And to be completely honest, I do not believe we have any better solutions available to us.”

“But how are we gonna convince her to give up on her plans, Sensei?” Teddie asked with a hint of worry. “You said it yourself! She doesn’t have anything to steal!”

It was a valid point, and one that Yu would need to account for when the time came to confront Shadow Tsuyomi. Fortunately, it took only a few seconds for him to come up with a solution. “The fact that people in the real world don’t remember anything that their Shadows see or do will help us out in a big way, because I actually think the best way to go about this is to stick to the one principle that’s always mattered the most to me, more than anything else,” Yu explained. “Mitsuru might not like it, but the more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that this is how we’ll get through to Tsuyomi’s Shadow.”

“Oh yeah?” Labrys asked curiously. “What’s yer strat that ya don’t think Mitsy’s gonna like?”

Yu smiled. “It’s quite simple,” he answered. “Tell her Shadow the truth.”

Chapter Text

Namatame’s Office

Taro Namatame sighed as he sat at his desk in his office. He wasn’t looking forward to what he was about to do, but he knew that he didn’t have any real choice in the matter. Yu Narukami had approached him late last evening after he and his team had completed their infiltration of Inaba’s Jail. Inaba’s hero had given him an update on everything that his team had done, what they were about to do…and a request to deliver a letter to Tsuyomi Yamano on the Investigation Team’s behalf.

“I only have the actions of the Phantom Thieves to go off,” Yu had explained to him last night as he had given him an envelope, “but based on the pattern of the other changes of heart, we need to send Tsuyomi a calling card of some kind so that we can draw her Shadow out into the open and fight her. Only then will we be able to change her heart and convince her to give up her plan to brainwash all of Inaba’s population into destroying their own TVs. “Please give this letter to Tsuyomi when she shows up for work at your office tomorrow. This is the trigger we need to free her from the Jail’s influence.”

Namatame grimaced. He wasn’t thrilled at the idea of giving Tsuyomi what amounted to a threatening letter, but in this case, it had to be done. He called Tsuyomi’s number and requested for her to present herself in his office, and the young woman appeared a few seconds later.

“Namatame-san?” The woman’s voice was polite, but noticeably on-edge. “How may I help you?”

“Please shut the door behind you and have a seat, Tsuyomi-san,” Namatame instructed. The woman warily did as she was instructed and sat down on the chair in front of the desk. “I called you in here because earlier this morning, I received a letter in my mailbox. There was no information about who the sender was, only instructions that I read the letter and then present it to you.” He frowned. “Naturally, I found these circumstances highly suspicious, and I would’ve read the letter first anyway as part of my responsibilities as your boss.”

“What?” Tsuyomi blinked, now more confused than anything. “Why would anybody want to send a letter to me?”

Namatame sighed. “Tsuyomi-san, I’m afraid that the letter in question accused you of planning to commit a crime…albeit in a very esoteric and frankly confusing manner. As far as I am aware, you have done no such thing, yet I will treat this matter with the seriousness deserves. Given how you are being accused of a crime by an unknown party, I feel that it is only right for you to read this letter so that you can understand the crimes that you are being accused of, and defend yourself accordingly.”

He took the letter and handed it to Tsuyomi, who started reading it.

To Tsuyomi Yamano:

Though you present yourself as a young woman innocent of any great sin, we know the truth. We know about your plans to use the power of EMMA steal the desires and wills of the population of Inaba, and control their hearts to destroy their own televisions en masse. Such wanton destruction and the usurpation of people’s free wills cannot be allowed. We have written this letter to you as one last plea to abandon this course of action, and let go of the rage that festers within your heart. If you refuse, then we will have no choice but to take action, and change your heart ourselves.

The Seekers of Truth

Tsuyomi stared at the letter for several long seconds, not saying a word. Then, her face contorted with anger, and she furiously crumpled the letter. “Who wrote this?” she shouted, clearly enraged. “Who’s the coward who dared to accuse me of a crime without even bothering to show their face first?”

Namatame gave her a sympathetic look. Tsuyomi’s anger, while uncharacteristic of her, was not unjustified in and of itself. Honestly, if Namatame didn’t have knowledge and understanding of the context behind her anger, he might have even taken her side outright.

But he did have that understanding. He did understand the destructiveness of Tsuyomi’s path, both to herself and to the population of Inaba as a whole. And so instead, he only gave another sigh. “I will launch my own investigation into the matter, Tsuyomi,” he offered instead, knowing full well that he wasn’t going to expose Yu and his friends to her. “But do you have anything you wish to share with me yourself, Tsuyomi? Whatever problems you’re dealing with, I’m always happy to help.”

Tsuyomi forced herself to calm down, and gave her boss a cold look. “No, Namatame-san,” she answered coolly and in evasive manner. “I have nothing I need to share with you at this time.”

Namatame resisted the urge to sigh or make any expression that would expose his suspicions, and instead merely nodded. “Then you are free to go, Tsuyomi-san,” he invited. “If you would like, you may take the day off today so that you can better process the letter and what it is accusing you of.”

“I…would like that,” Tsuyomi answered carefully. Then, suddenly, the world disappeared into darkness, leaving only Shadow Tsuyomi in the void with her general’s uniform and cold golden eyes. Namatame was surprised to discover that he could see what had to be Tsuyomi’s Shadow, but before he could even begin to process what he was seeing, Shadow Tsuyomi started speaking.

“So…” she hissed, her eyes burning with fury. “Those intruders who’ve been running amok in my base are finally going to be showing their faces, are they? Good. I won’t let them ruin the assault that I worked so hard to prepare for. It’s about time I crush this pocket of resistance once and for all. And then nobody will be able to stop me from finishing my campaign and avenging my sister!”

The world flashed again, returning to reality, causing Namatame to blink as he spent a few seconds reorienting himself. “I will be heading off now, Namatame-san,” Tsuyomi spoke quietly and emotionlessly, hiding the roiling emotions her Shadow represented within her.

“Of course,” Namatame nodded in acceptance as he watched Tsuyomi stand up and leave the office. Once he was sure that she was gone, he sent a text message to Yu Narukami.

Namatame: “Thank you again for coming to dinner at my house yesterday.”

A message that was seemingly completely innocuous, but was in fact a previously agreed-upon signal to Yu and his friends that Tsuyomi had indeed received the letter that would represent the Calling Card. “The rest is up to you,” he thought solemnly. “Good luck, Narukami-san. Please, do whatever you must to protect the peace of Inaba and save Tsuyomi from herself.”

Meanwhile, in Labrys’ House

Yu’s eyes glinted as he read the message that he had gotten from Taro Namatame. “The letter’s been delivered,” he announced as he got to his feet. “We don’t have any better chance to get at Shadow Tsuyomi than now. Are you guys ready?”

“You bet, sensei!” Teddie cheered.

“We gotta knock some sense into dat girl!” Labrys declared.

“You know we’ll be by your side like always, partner!” Yosuke promised with a grin.

Yu nodded in acknowledgment and smiled. “Then it’s time to begin. As we discussed earlier, Teddie, Yosuke, and Labrys will be on the front lines. We already know that Shadow Tsuyomi will most likely have a Wind and Nuke weakness thanks to the Lock Keeper, and Teddie will be our main healer while also letting us potentially get Technicals with freezes from his Ice attacks.”

“Remind me again, why we’re not going with me instead? With my Fire attacks, both Yosuke and Labrys will be able to get attacks off that can hit Weaknesses while also being boosted by Technical attacks at the same time,” Yukiko pointed out. “Plus, I can heal just as well as Teddie can.”

“I did think about it, and to be honest, I was really tempted,” Yu admitted, before continuing his explanation. “But adding you alongside both Yosuke and Labrys…to me, that combination feels way too easy. Based on what Ren’s told me, the Shadow selves in the Jails seem to have way more resistances and immunities in general than in the TV World. I have a gut feeling that if I added you to the front lines, Yukiko, the fight won’t be nearly as easy as we think it'll be.”

Yukiko thought for a moment, then nodded. “Okay, Yu. I trust your judgment,” she affirmed.

“We’re all ready, right?” Rise asked, earning nods from everyone. “Then let’s go change Shadow Tsuyomi’s heart, everyone!” she declared.

As one, the Investigation Team took out their phones and activated EMMA to transport them all into the Inaba Jail. Once they had arrived, they could immediately sense the difference in the atmosphere. The entire atmosphere felt tense and on-edge in a way it simply hadn’t been before, and in Melody’s case, the entire Jail seemed to flash with the occasional pulse of red energy. One quick scan of the Jail was enough to figure out the reason why. “The security level’s gone all the way up,” she reported. “That must be the effect of the letter we sent Tsuyomi.”

“Then Shadow Tsuyomi must be waiting for us at the top of her Jail cage,” Seeker surmised.

“She is,” Melody confirmed. “It’s faint, but I can sense her presence in that building we saw up in the Jail cage.”

“Then let’s go!” Ted urged. “We’ve got a beary important fight ahead of us!”

“Dammit, Ted,” Tailor rolled his eyes at the pun, but there was no time to waste on further banter. Fortunately for the Investigation Team, the checkpoints still worked despite the maximized security level of the Jail, and they were able to teleport all the way to a checkpoint very close to the entrance of the General’s Headquarters. When they arrived, they were able to use the fallen chain from the Lock Keeper’s destruction to scale the outside of the building and arrive back at the roof where the Jail cage was located, and approach the building that would serve as Shadow Tsuyomi’s throne room.

Out of all the rooms and buildings they had seen in the Inaba Jail, the throne room was the one that perhaps deviated most significantly from the military aesthetic. The room itself was fashioned in the design of the throne room of the Tokyo Imperial Palace, decorated in red with green curtains covering the windows all around them. At the far end of the room, opposite where they had come in, was an imperial throne with a single chair shaped exactly like the Chrysanthemum Throne that the Emperor or Empress of Japan would have sat on. And as the Investigation Team had expected, Shadow Tsuyomi was sitting upon the throne in her General’s uniform, waiting for them with a cold smirk on her face.

“So…” she greeted them with a sneer. “You’re the intruders who’ve been wreaking havoc in my base and trying to ruin my military campaign before it could even begin. I had a feeling that you would try to break into my throne room eventually. And since my efforts to hunt you down have proven…fruitless…” she spoke the single word through gritted teeth before continuing, “I figured that I would wait for you here instead, at the seat of my power.” The smirk returned. “And would you look at that? It looks like I made the right call.” She gave them all a critical eye. “You don’t really look like much…but then again, you’ve managed to destroy many of my forces and evade capture for this long, so I won’t be the fool who underestimates you.”

“Then you know why we’re here,” Seeker answered calmly, not bothering to waste time on the pleasantries. “We’re going to stop your misguided vengeance on all the TVs of Inaba. You think you’re going on some kind of righteous crusade for justice, but all you’d be doing is unleashing chaos on people’s lives and spitting on your dead sister’s name.”

The General’s face contorted in rage. “Don’t you dare mention my sister,” she hissed. “I know what I saw! I saw her die on the TV, with no explanation whatsoever! She was writhing around, screaming in pain, and the next day, she showed up dead, strung up from a TV Antenna! The TV is the reason why my sister died, and now I’m going to make sure nothing like that ever happens again!”

“You’re making a huge mistake, Tsuyomi,” Sureshot warned. “You don’t have a full understanding of what really happened.”

“Oh?” the General’s sneer returned. “Then perhaps I’ll get the information out of you through interrogation…after I’ve launched my attacks on the TVs of Inaba and carried out my mission.”

“You’re not gonna listen to us, are you?” Prince asked rhetorically. Without bothering to wait for an answer that he already knew, he shook his head and tightened his grip on his Malakh blades. “I guess we’re gonna have to make you see reason the hard way.”

Shadow Tsuyomi laughed. “You think you can stop me?” she asked mockingly. “All you have are those tiny weapons in your hands. I, on the other hand, have the full might of my military base at my disposal…and I’m going to demonstrate that to you right here and now.”

“Get ready, guys!” Melody warned. “She’s about to do something!”

“I’ve entertained your little visits for long enough!” Shadow Tsuyomi declared. “And I’m not going to wait any longer. It’s time for me to begin my campaign properly and avenge my sister’s death…starting with you!”

The entire Investigation Team tensed as the red and black energy of Shadows began to coalesce and form around Shadow Tsuyomi’s throne, covering both of them in a pillar of dark power. Inside the pillar, they could hear the sounds of machinery as gears shifted and metal pieces slid into place. When the pillar exploded outward to reveal the transformation in full, the Investigation Team was shocked to discover that unlike the Shadow Selves they had battled against the TV World, Shadow Tsuyomi had NOT transformed into a hideous monster. Instead, the throne itself had been transformed, turning into a gigantic metal tank with numerous turrets and cannons of different sizes coming out its sides and corners. Even though the tank was noticeably smaller than the generator-turned-war machine that they had battled earlier in the Jail, it was just as well-armed if not more so…and unlike the war machine, the tank would almost certainly be able to move.

Shadow Tsuyomi smirked from atop the tank before it lowered her to safety within its depths. They could still hear her voice, though, magnified by some sort of intercom within the tank itself as she drove the tank forward until it was in the center of the throne room, which had enlarged into an entire battlefield. “I am the General of this land! My power and authority here is supreme! And in the name of my dead sister Mayumi, I’ll make sure that anyone who dares to stand against my righteous crusade pays the price for their resistance!”

“Melody,” Seeker opted to ignore the threats from Shadow Tsuyomi, instead focusing on the mission at hand. “What’s the elemental profile looking like on Shadow Tsuyomi’s tank?”

“One second,” Melody used Himiko’s powers to scan the tank in question. “Got it. Weak to Wind and Nuke like the Lock Keeper, Nulls Gun and Fire, Resist Phys and Ice, normal against everything else.”

Shadow Tsuyomi immediately proved that she meant business as she drove the tank forward, trying to run them over with her very first move. Fortunately, her attempt to charge at them with the tank had been preceded with an increased spinning and whirring of the tank’s wheels, giving the Investigation Team just barely enough time to dive out of the way before they could get smashed with the tank. The tank stopped as it hit the wall, before turning around and trying to run them over again, this time aiming directly at Seeker. Seeker deftly leapt out of the way as the tank charged through where he had been standing seconds earlier.

“Holy crap, this chick is nuts!” Prince exclaimed. “She’s seriously trying to run us over with her tank?”

“Hit her with her weaknesses whenever you see an opening!” Seeker ordered. “But watch for any attacks!”

The tank had stopped trying to charge them and Pres had attempted to take the opportunity to hit it with a Freila. But since the fight had only just started and they were all still unfamiliar with the tank’s capabilities, Pres only time to fire off that single Freila before the panels on the sides of the tank opened up, revealing two missile launchers very similar to what the war machine had wielded. Unlike the war machine, however, the missiles all fired immediately, flying into the air and falling to the ground within the span of just a few short seconds. As the Investigation Team danced around trying to avoid getting hit by the missiles and the subsequent explosions, the tank moved to the center of the arena again. Shadow Tsuyomi briefly popped out of the hatch and swung her baton down in front of her, causing the entire tank to briefly glow with the red aura of Tarukaja as she disappeared back down the hatch.

This would prove to be less effective than Tsuyomi would’ve hoped, however, as both Prince and Pres began firing Garulas and Freilas while Shadow Tsuyomi had tried to empower her tank. This was enough to break the first energy shield, causing the tank to stall for a bit. Seeker also had a strategy available to counteract the Tarukaja, as he summoned Black Slime and inflicted two Matarundas on the tank in quick succession, weakening its offensive power.

“Urrrrggghhh!” Shadow Tsuyomi growled from inside the tank. “Pesky rats. Time to burn!”

“What does she mean by…eeeeek!” Ted’s question was interrupted by a shriek as the four “cannons” poking out of the tank’s corners were revealed to be flamethrowers, unleashing roaring streams of flame from each corner. By sheer bad luck, both Pres and Prince happened to be directly in the path of a blast of flames, both taking Fire damage before they managed to get out of the way.

“She’s got flamethrowers on her tank too?” Prince exclaimed. “God, I miss having Fire immunity on Takehaya Susano-o…”

“Look out!” Seeker shouted at them. The warning came just in time, for the top of the tank started to rotate clockwise, transforming the four flamethrowers into a wheel of death. At first, the rotation was relatively slow, and Seeker, Prince, and Pres were all able to land a few extra hits in with their Persona skills. But the tank started to rotate faster and faster, forcing the Investigation Team to stop all offensive maneuvers and focus entirely on evasive maneuvers. It wasn’t until the flamethrowers stopped entirely that they were able to try attacking again, and this time they had enough time to unleash an onslaught that tore through two more energy shield layers. The Investigation Team also hacked and slashed at the tank itself with their legendary weapons, but with the tank’s inherent resistances to Phys and a lack of Technical capabilities, there was only so much the legendary weapons could do despite their incredible base power.

“Why are you so hell-bent on stopping me?” Shadow Tsuyomi shouted as the large cannons on the sides of her tank fired four large spiked cannonballs that bounced around on the ground, identical to the ones that the war machine had fired. “Those TVs killed my sister. Who knows how many other people they’ll kill? You should be joining me in destroying them, not fighting me like this!”

“You’re lacking some crucial details, and your entire analysis is mistaken,” Seeker shot back as he and his friends alternated between dodging the large spiked balls and firing Persona attacks targeting the tank’s weaknesses. “Without a complete picture, you’ll never be able to understand why what you’re doing is fundamentally wrong.”

“I know enough!” Shadow Tsuyomi snarled back as the spiked balls finally exploded, though none of them hit any of her enemies. “Enough to see my campaign through to the bitter end!”

She popped out of her tank again, and Seeker half expected her to empower her tank with another Tarukaja. But when she swung her baton down this time, the entire battlefield became shrouded in violent red light as circles of the same-colored energy manifested on the ground, scattered randomly throughout out the battlefield. Seeker’s and Pres’ reflexes were fast enough to allow them to get out of the way as the blood-red energy erupted out of the circles…but Prince and Ted were both too slow, and both of them were consumed by a feeling of intense Rage as Tsuyomi’s Wage War hit them both and sent their minds into a berserk chaos.

“Oh, no,” was all Seeker had time to say as both Ted and Prince charged at the tank, their minds filled with nothing but a desire to tear the tank apart to shreds. Thanks to their legendary weapons and the attack boost granted by the rage, they actually were doing surprisingly decent damage to the tank…although its natural Phys resistance mitigated that, and it certainly wasn’t worth being up close and personal to a tank that could unleash devastating artillery at any time.

And judging by the way the tank was starting to rev up, it appeared that Shadow Tsuyomi was preparing yet another attack. Moving quickly, Seeker charged towards his friends and gave them both items that would heal their Rage, restoring their clarity and quickly shouting at them to retreat. With their minds restored, Prince and Ted followed their leader back to a safe distance…and it was just in time, too. For the wheels of the tank began to crackle with electric energy, and Seeker realized that the bottom of the tank wasn’t any safer than the top half. “Look out, guys!” he shouted as the bottom of the tank suddenly shot out a ring-like pulse of electric power that coursed through the ground. There wasn’t any way to dodge the ring of electricity, but fortunately it was short enough that he and his friends could jump over it. “Jump!” he ordered as he did exactly as he had commanded, and the Investigation Team spent the next several seconds jumping over the rings of electricity emanating from the wheels of the tank. While they were all able to avoid the electric pulses (which was very good, given how both Prince AND Ted were both weak to Electric), they had to focus all of their attention on that and were thus unable to attack.

“Seeker!” Melody called out to him a few seconds after the tank stopped firing off electric pulses. “I sensed Shadow Tsuyomi’s resists change during that attack! She Nulls Elec instead of Fire now!”

The Seeker of Truth processed his girlfriend’s words…and smiled as he realized the opportunity that Shadow Tsuyomi had suddenly presented him with that tactical error. As the tank started firing the smaller and faster cannonballs at them from its front and side cannons, Seeker summoned Neko Shogun behind him and began firing Maragion after Maragion upon the tank, hoping to hit it with a Burn. It took four Maragions, the last of which was fired right as Shadow Tsuyomi fired another barrage of missiles at them. But the last one was able to get the Burn that he’d wanted so badly, and Seeker didn’t waste any further time.

“Pres! Prince!” he shouted. “The tank is burned, you know what to do!”

The two members of the Investigation Team both grinned, realizing the golden opportunity that their leader had handed to them. They immediately started bombarding the tank with Garulas and Freilas, ignoring the shrieks of rage coming from Shadow Tsuyomi as they tore apart her energy shield. They had already gotten some good damage on both the tank and the energy shield throughout the battle, and Shadow Tsuyomi’s tactical mistake had ironically rendered her vulnerable to a full-on assault from the Investigation Team. Seeker joined in with Magarulas from his Koppa Tengu, and as they tore through the last of the energy shield, the tank suddenly slumped forward as its systems were overwhelmed by the onslaught of Technical-empowered attacks targeting its weaknesses.

“Now!” Seeker commanded. “All-Out Attack!”

The Investigation Team lunged at the tank, still helpless to react or fight back, as they unleashed their All-Out Attack upon it. Even the imposing stature and physical defenses of the tank could do nothing against their combined fury, and the explosion of Almighty damage that followed was enough to reduce its health to just below half.

Shadow Tsuyomi didn’t seem to like that at all, and when she emerged from her damaged but still very functional tank, her face was contorted with both rage…and desperation. “Why?” she shouted. “WHY? Why are you so hell-bent on opposing me? I’m doing the right thing! Not just for my sake, but for all of Inaba!”

Pres shook her head. “Lady, I’ve been keeping the peace in dis here town for longer than ya ever have,” she challenged. “And if you keep going on with this, you ain’t gonna do anythin’ except send Inaba plungin’ into Hell.”

“And what about my sister?” Shadow Tsuyomi spat. “Who’s going to get justice for her, if not me?”

“Justice has already been done, Tsuyomi,” Seeker answered calmly. “You just don’t know it.”

“Urrrggghhhh…I’ve had enough of this!” she growled, her distorted heart preventing her from seeing reason and surrendering. “You claim that you can prove that my actions are wrong? Then I’ll get that information from you once I beat you and throw you into my prison for interrogation!”

“Really committing to that whole military leader theme, huh,” Prince mumbled under his breath.

As if to confirm his point, Shadow Tsuyomi swung her baton at them twice, first empowering herself with a Tarukaja and then weakening their defenses with a Marakunda, which they were all too slow to dodge. She then ducked back into the tank, and Melody felt a surge of energy start to emanate from the tank. Seeker barely had time to cast a Dekunda and a Dekaja from one of his Personas (both of which he had fortunately managed to find from treasure chests in Sendai) to negate the debuff and buff, before the entire tank suddenly began to spin around faster and faster until it had become a cyclone of destruction.

“Get out of the way!” Pres shouted as the crazily spinning tank started to move in their direction. For the next few seconds, the entire Investigation Team spent all their time trying to dodge the whirlwind of destruction that the tank had become. They soon discovered just how big the tank and just how small the room truly were, as they had little room to maneuver. Several times, the spinning tank would only narrowly miss one or more of them, and nobody wanted to be the one to discover just how painful getting hit by a spinning tank would actually be. It was only after Shadow Tsuyomi had attempted to smash into them several times did the tank finally stop, giving Seeker and his friends the opportunity to try and attack the tank again.

“Its Fire immunity is back, Seeker!” Melody warned. “Don’t try to hit it with Fire attacks for now!”

“Great,” Seeker deadpanned. “So it’s back to business as usual, then.” He summoned Koppa Tengu and started firing off Magarulas at the tank, while Prince and Pres did the same with Garulas and Freilas. The spinning cyclone attack wasn’t the only new trick that Shadow Tsuyomi had to throw at them, though. While she didn’t really have any new attacks besides that new one, thankfully, she instead started combining two attacks together. The Investigation Team now had to deal with combinations such as trying to avoid four flamethrower streams and four large spiked cannonballs bouncing down on the ground at the same time, or trying to avoid getting run over by the tank as it charged at them even as missiles rained down from the sky above. It was getting harder and harder to dodge everything perfectly, and everyone ended up taking damage of some kind as they tried to avoid one attack only to get hit by another they were just too slow to recognize or evade from.

Seeker would be the first to admit that if they hadn’t had their legendary Godly Robes protecting them, this fight would’ve much more difficult and the chance of their defeat would’ve been very real. He was incredibly thankful that he had taken the time to get Godly Robes for everyone back in 2011, as that investment was paying off dividends now as it turned attacks that would’ve been absolutely devastating into minor inconveniences by comparison. He and his friends had adopted a slow and methodical attack pattern against the tank, waiting until it had finished off one set of attacks before fighting back with Wind and Nuke skills. Although the windows of opportunity were much shorter than they had been with the Lock Keeper, they were there, and breaking an energy shield would stall the tank out for just a little while longer and buy them more time for further attacks.

“I just want to get justice for my sister!” Shadow Tsuyomi cried out from inside the increasingly damaged and worn-down tank, the desperation and underlying sorrow more evident despite the anger still in her voice. “I don’t want what happened to her to happen to anyone else! Is that so wrong?”

“We understand your pain,” Melody answered back, her tone sympathetic but firm. “But all you’re doing with this military campaign of yours is forcing that pain on other people. Everyone will suffer, and for no good reason.”

“Hey, partner!” Prince called out to Seeker as Shadow Tsuyomi popped out of her tank to fire another Wage War at them. This time, they were all able to see it coming, and all avoid the pillars of blood red energy that would have consumed them in rage. Seeker was able to get a glimpse of Shadow Tsuyomi’s face as she popped back into the tank, and it was noticeably more desperate with a hint of uncertainty. “I’ve got my Revelation ready to go!”

“Go for it!” Seeker gave his approval as he empowered Prince with a Tarukaja.

Prince grinned and unleashed the energy that had been building up within his body. Jiraya manifested behind him, channeling the green energy of wind into his body and his blades alike. Jiraya charged at the tank and began spinning in a cyclone just like the tank itself had done earlier. The wind that had gathered around Jiraya erupted into a miniature hurricane of destruction, a relentless tornado that bombarded the tank mercilessly with its unstoppable energy. “Let’s do this!” Prince shouted as he charged at the tank, moving impossibly fast as he slashed it with his Malakh blades. Both the Investigation Team and Shadow Tsuyomi could only watch as Prince slashed and raced at the tank over and over again, slicing it with what looked like countless blades coming from all directions as Jiraya rose to the air, channeling even more green wind into his shurikens. As Prince slashed at the tank one final time before leaping out of the way, Jiraya hurled his empowered shurikens at the tank, finishing off the Revelation with a massive explosion of Wind energy similar to the many previous Revelation attacks his friends had performed.

The tank was still standing even after Prince’s Revelation, but it had been overwhelmed and was currently a sitting duck. The rest of the Investigation Team wasted no time in bombarding the tank with Wind and Nuke attacks, all while Shadow Tsuyomi could do nothing but watch as her tank’s energy shields were being torn apart.

“Don’t you realize why I’m doing this?” Shadow Tsuyomi pleaded. “There’s no other way! Nobody would believe me if I told them the TVs were the reason why my sister died! They’d think I was crazy!”

“You’re not crazy, Tsuyomi,” Prince tried to reassure her. “You’re just missing a lot of critical details.”

“We’ll tell you what you need to know,” Seeker promised. “Once you’re not trying to run us over or blow us to smithereens with your tank.”

“It won’t be long now!” Melody encouraged them. “A few more hits, and that tank is done for!”

“Then let’s wrap it up!” Pres shouted.

“I know just how to do it,” Seeker declared as he ingested 2 Soulful Jellies, which was enough to fill himself with the energy of Revelation. Shadow Tsuyomi tried to retaliate by firing another ring-like wave of electric energy from her tank treads, but her tank was just a bit too slow and Seeker was already unleashing his Revelation. He summoned Koppa Tengu besides him and extended his hand towards the tank, creating another massive explosion of Wind energy. The attack was far simpler in appearance and execution than Prince’s had been, but no less devastating.

Surprisingly, even this second Revelation attack wasn’t enough to immediately end the fight, but the tank’s momentum had been completely destroyed and it was clear to everyone that it was barely holding itself together. With only a few slivers of health left, the Investigation Team destroyed the remaining energy shields and unleashed one final All-Out Attack, and this was enough to finish the job once and for all.

“No! NO!” Shadow Tsuyomi screamed. “I can’t lose! Not like this! Not before I even had the chance to start my campaign!”

But it was too little, too late. With all of its health destroyed, the tank simply could not hold itself together. Seeker had honestly been worried that the tank might explode and seriously injure or even kill Shadow Tsuyomi, but that was thankfully not the case. Instead, the tank simply fell apart, its cannons and turrets falling uselessly to the ground as the various pieces of metal that held it together collapsed onto the ground.

The once imposing and powerful tank was left a completely unusable pile of scrap metal. And in the center of what had once been her war machine, a female General sat in the ruins of her plans, tears of sorrow and defeat pouring out of her golden eyes.

Chapter Text

The Investigation Team watched silently and sympathetically as they watched the defeated Shadow of Tsuyomi Yamano weep in the pile of ruined scrap that had once been her tank. The first thing that Seeker did was to check that the Shadow wasn’t seriously injured or at risk of death. To his relief, he didn’t see any visible major injuries or signs of instability on the Shadow.

Not that this was any comfort to the broken and defeated General. “I just wanted to get justice for my sister!” she cried out, her voice filled with desperation and anguish. “I just wanted to make sure nothing like what happened to her ever happened again! Is that so wrong?”

“Not by itself, no,” Seeker answered quietly but firmly. He slowly approached the girl who had once been General of the Jail, who barely reacted to his approach. “I’ve seen other people do way worse things when they suddenly found themselves with power. It’s not your reasons that are the problem, but your methods.”

“Brainwashing people into destroying their TVs isn’t gonna do anything,” Prince remarked. “We tried telling you this before, but you were too busy trying to blow us up with your tank to listen.”

“You’re missing some vital information, Tsuyomi-chan,” Sureshot added in a firmer tone. “Information that ultimately invalidates your entire approach.”

“What, then?” Shadow Tsuyomi retorted. “What am I missing?” Before anyone could say anything, she added with a derisive scoff, “and yeah, I know about the creep who confessed to killing my sister. But that doesn’t answer anything about those damn TVs! I know what I saw on that TV, the night my sister died! My parents thought I was just imagining things, but I know I’m not crazy! I know they have something to do with it!”

“You are not crazy, Tsuyomi,” Seeker assured her gently, “and you do deserve to know the truth. But the situation that lead to your sister’s death is much more complicated than simply blaming the TVs for it. I know what really happened. I can tell you the truth about why your sister died, because all of us,” he gestured towards his friends, “were involved. Will you let us tell you the truth?” he offered solemnly. “Will you listen to what we have to say?”

Shadow Tsuyomi didn’t say anything for several seconds. “Okay,” she finally conceded. “I’ll listen to you. For some reason…I feel like I can trust you. And it’s not like I have a choice to begin with, since you beat me here already,” she added dryly.

“Thank you,” Seeker answered appreciatively. He took a seat in front of the ruined scrap that had once been Shadow Tsuyomi’s tank, presenting himself more as an equal having an honest conversation rather than a superior who had just conquered someone weaker. “Before I begin, how much are you willing to believe in the supernatural?”

Shadow Tsuyomi snorted. “I can believe in it just fine,” she deadpanned. “There’s no chance that what happened to my sister on the TV was normal. And that’s not even going into whatever the hell was happening with the Phantom Thieves in Tokyo, and whatever’s going on here.” She chuckled humorlessly. “My other self might think she just stumbled on a strange app that gives her mind control power, but I know there’s some supernatural stuff going on.”

Which raised some interesting questions about the awareness of Shadow Selves compared to their real world counterparts, but now was not the time for that. “Excellent,” Seeker declared, pleased that he would not have to spend the next several minutes arguing with a dedicated atheist about the very real supernatural goings-on in their surroundings. “Do you remember the unnatural yellow fog that covered Inaba in 2011?”

“Yeah,” Shadow Tsuyomi affirmed. “I always thought it was weird, especially since it started around the same time that my sister died. But then it disappeared in 2012 and didn’t come back, so I never really thought about it anymore.”

“That fog has much more to do with the TVs than you might think,” Seeker replied solemnly. “You see, Tsuyomi, as crazy as it may sound…cognitive deities, or gods to use a simpler term…they exist. And Inaba was targeted by one of those gods, or rather a goddess, in 2011.”

“A goddess?” Shadow Tsuyomi repeated, clearly shocked by the revelation. “Are you saying that my sister’s death was because of an evil goddess?”

Evil was a bit too simplistic of a term to describe Izanami’s motivations, in Seeker’s opinion. But there were certainly many people who could justifiably view her as evil, and even if her motives weren’t, her actions certainly had been. “A goddess, yes,” Seeker confirmed. “A goddess who wanted to fulfill humanity’s desires, but had an incredibly warped way to go about it because she didn’t truly understand them. She created a supernatural world that could only be accessed by going through the TVs. The goddess wanted to play a game with humanity, and chose three unwitting pawns to which she gave the power to enter the TV World and manipulate that world to varying degrees.” He shook his head sadly. “Unfortunately, one of the pawns she gave that power to was the person who murdered your sister.”

Shadow Tsuyomi’s face darkened. “Tohru Adachi,” she spat. “That piece of shit.”

“I don’t blame you for being pissed off,” Dragon mumbled. “Nobody likes Adachi. Not even he does.”

“Adachi threw your sister into the TV with his powers, throwing her into the supernatural world created by the goddess,” Seeker continued his explanation. “There are monsters inside that world, Tsuyomi. Monsters born from the human subconsciousness.” He sighed. “Tragically, your sister either stumbled upon or was found by one of those monsters, born from the worst aspects of her personality…and she didn’t survive that encounter. She was killed by that monster, and that led to her corpse magically appearing on that TV Antenna the day after it happened. That is the real reason why your sister died. The TV didn’t kill her all by itself. It was just a portal into a world that humans couldn’t possibly comprehend.”

“So you’re saying that the TVs were used by this evil goddess as a portal into this supernatural world, and my sister was thrown into this world through the TVs?” Shadow Tsuyomi asked. Everyone nodded in response. “Then why is what I’m doing wrong?” she pressed, clearly not willing to give up her previous way of thinking entirely just yet. “Even if the process itself is more complicated, doesn’t that still make the TVs dangerous? Why am I wrong for wanting them destroyed to protect Inaba and avenge my sister?”

“A couple of reasons,” Seeker answered patiently. “The TVs might have been the main portal to enter the world your sister died in, but it isn’t the only way to enter it.” A statement that was completely true, given how Marie had her own ways to enter the TV World basically whenever she wanted to, and he had little doubt that Izanami would have very much been the same way. “And even if you destroyed every single TV in Inaba, it wouldn’t get rid of either the TV World itself, or the goddess who was pulling the strings behind the scenes. You might have inconvenienced her, sure…but she would’ve just found a different way to make sure her game continued. She would’ve found another way to draw people into her world. And you would have caused a lot of property damage in the process…without anything to show for it in the end.”

“How do you know all this?” Shadow Tsuyomi demanded. “You’re only a little older than I am? How could you possibly know so much?”

Seeker chuckled humorlessly. “Because I was one of the three pawns the goddess chose for her game,” he admitted, to the Shadow’s visible surprise. “She gave me the faintest traces of power and the power to enter the TV World…and it ended up being her biggest mistake. Because I used that power to rescue every person who was thrown into the TV World after the first two, and we all grew stronger together as we faced the monsters inside it.”

“Heck yeah we did!” Tailor interrupted with a fierce grin. “We all had to deal with those Shadows, we helped each other kick those monsters’ asses, and we got the power Seeker did to get shit done and help save each other!”

“All of us had to face grueling, life-threatening trials,” Sureshot added. “But we all triumphed in the end, and ultimately used the power and experience we gained to prevent further tragedy.”

“Did you ever wonder why no one else ever died after the first two victims?” Seeker continued. “It’s because we fought the monsters inside the TV World to stop them from killing the rest of us. And eventually, we became strong enough to fight that goddess in her home territory, and defeat her.”

“You…you defeated her?” Shadow Tsuyomi asked incredulously. “You fought a literal goddess…and won?” At their nods, she let out a disbelieving laugh. “Ha…ha…no wonder I lost. You fought and beat a freaking goddess before. What the hell was I ever going to do against that?”

“And that is the other critical detail that you are missing, Tsuyomi-san,” Flower interjected sympathetically but firmly. “The goddess who orchestrated the events and the twisted game that led to your sister’s death…we already defeated her. We defeated her, and freed the TV World from her influence.”

“We’ve already fought and won against both the goddess who orchestrated the game to begin with, and the criminal who used the powers she gave him to murder your sister,” Seeker added. “Neither of them will ever do anything to endanger the lives of the people of Inaba ever again. And as for the TVs themselves…we’ve worked hard to make sure that normal people can’t fall into the TV World. The only ones who can now enter the TV are people like us with special powers, or anybody who’s directly in contact with one such person.”

“Maybe if that evil goddess was still around messing with Inaba, it’d be a different story,” Prince chimed in. “Maybe destroying the TVs might’ve at least slowed her down. But now? Now that we’ve beaten her and spent the past few years making sure the TV World is much safer than it was years ago?” He shook his head. “You’d just be unleashing chaos on people’s livelihoods and doing a ton of property damage for nothing.”

Seeker carefully studied Shadow Tsuyomi’s face and golden eyes as she processed their arguments. Everything that he and his friends had been the truth and nothing but the truth, although they had admittedly let out certain details. The goddess that they had “defeated” hadn’t been permanently destroyed, but rather become whole and “turned good” for a lack of a better term. And the TV World wasn’t a complete safe haven either, given how dungeons with Shadows still existed, not to mention the whole Shadow Shiho incident. But those details would only needlessly complicate the picture for Tsuyomi, and might actively interfere with their efforts to change her heart.

Finally, she nodded and let out a weary sigh. “In the back of my mind…part of me wondered if I really was doing the right thing,” she reluctantly admitted. “If unleashing this campaign and making everyone in my town destroy their own TVs really would make things better. I kept pushing forward because I didn’t have any more information than what I saw on the TV all those years ago. But having a complete picture and knowing the truth…it really does change everything.”

The tears in her eyes weren’t completely gone, but they had slowed down significantly as she looked up at them. “Thank you,” she addressed them quietly, and they could see the genuine gratitude in her eyes now. “I can’t really explain why I believe you, with how crazy your story sounds…but in my gut, I know that you’re telling me the truth. And even if knowing the full story doesn’t make my sister’s death hurt any less…it did give me some closure. Enough to realize that…like you said…my plan wouldn’t have accomplished anything but cause chaos and make people’s lives worse.” She shook her head. “My sister…she wouldn’t have wanted that.”

The Investigation Team watched silently, but with growing smiles on their faces, as Shadow Tsuyomi took the General’s cap that she had been wearing and threw it to the side. “You’re doing the right thing, giving this up,” Seeker reassured her gently. “And you haven’t actually done anything wrong yet, Tsuyomi, so you haven’t made the mistakes that other people have already made when they got their hands on this power. If I were you, Tsuyomi, I’d go back to my other self, leave all this unpleasantness behind me, and then move forward with my life. Maybe talk with Namatame-san too, if you’d like. He’d understand you in a way that nobody else in the town could.”

Shadow Tsuyomi nodded in agreement and smiled genuinely for the first time since they’d met her. “I think I will. Thank you…” were her last words as she closed her eyes and started to fade away in particles of light until she disappeared entirely, leaving the Investigation Team alone in the throne room.

“Uhh…is that supposed to happen?” Corsair asked nervously.

Seeker nodded. “This is typical for one of the Phantom Thieves’ changes of heart,” he reassured them. “It means we did our job.”

The Jail suddenly started to rumble and quake all around them. “And THAT means gotta get of here, now!” Melody shouted.

“Let’s move, let’s move, let’s move!” Dragon urged them all.

Nobody needed any further encouragement, and they all raced away from the General’s Headquarters and back to the entry point of the Jail, not wasting a second returning to the real world. Only when they were safely back inside Labrys’ house did they finally take a deep breath and allow themselves to relax.

“So…what do we do now?” Yosuke asked the question that was on everyone’s minds. “How do we know we actually changed Tsuyomi Yamano’s heart for real?”

“Now, we wait,” Yu answered without a trace of doubt in his voice. “Because I am fairly certain that Taro Namatame-san will be the first person to see the results of the change of heart in the real world.”

Meanwhile, at Taro Namatame’s Office

Taro Namatame fidgeted as he sat at his mayor’s desk. He had been trying to get as much work done as he could to keep his mind off Tsuyomi, but he couldn’t really focus and couldn’t keep his mind off her current situation. Yu’s team of friends would soon be changing her heart if they hadn’t already done so, and he couldn’t help but feel nervous about whether they would succeed and Tsuyomi’s overall mental state afterwards.

As it turned out, however, he wouldn’t have very long to wait at all to get those answers.

The door to his office suddenly swung open, and Tsuyomi rushed into the room. To Namatame’s shock, Tsuyomi looked utterly miserable, her face contorted with grief, shame, and regret. He could see some tear streaks on her face, and it looked like she wasn’t very far off from crying again. “Tsuyomi-chan!” he exclaimed, getting up from his chair. “Are you all right?”

“N-Namatame-san,” she managed to stammer. “I-I need to speak to you. B-badly.”

“Of course,” Namatame agreed without hesitation, his work completely forgotten as he rushed to get out of his chair and escort Tsuyomi to the chair that she had sat on earlier that morning. He made sure to close the door to his office so that nobody would be easily eavesdrop on what was almost certainly best reserved for a private conversation. “How can I help you, Tsuyomi?” he asked gently.

“Namatame-san…” Tsuyomi mumbled. “T-that letter accusing me of those crimes…I-I have a c-confession to make.”

“What do you need to tell me?” Namatame invited solemnly. “Whatever you have to say, I am here to listen.”

“I…I was t-thinking about…doing exactly what that letter did,” Tsuyomi confessed, doing her best to keep her voice steady. “Ever since I first heard on the news about people changing hearts on a large scale to do whatever they wanted…I was tempted to do the same thing. I was so angry and afraid of the TVs because of my sister’s death…I wanted to control everyone in Inaba to destroy their own TVs. Both to avenge my sister…and make sure nothing like that ever happened to her again.”

Namatame nodded to show that he understood what the woman was saying. “So that letter…what you’re saying is that it held some truth, after all.”

“It did,” Tsuyomi admitted. “And I…I was very close to carrying out that plan. I would’ve gone through with it in just 1 or 2 days. That’s why I was so, so angry at that letter on top of everything else. Whoever these Seekers of Truth are…they somehow knew what I was planning, and was threatening to expose me for it. I didn’t know how they were going to be able to stop me…but I felt threatened in a way that I couldn’t really explain.”

“That letter…it reminded me very much of the calling cards from the Phantom Thieves, even though it was in a different style and manner than how they typically do things,” Namatame acknowledged, before continuing. “So what changed, Tsuyomi-chan?” he wondered aloud, even though he already knew the answer. “Why change your mind and come to me, instead of carrying out your plans regardless of this letter?”

Tsuyomi sighed, and tears started to flow out of her eyes again. “I…I suddenly felt a realization hit me,” she admitted. “Like someone had thrown a bucket of ice water over my very soul. I realized that brainwashing people into destroying their own TVs…it wouldn’t solve anything. It wouldn’t bring my sister back, and it wouldn’t help or protect anyone. I’d just be making people’s lives worse for no good reason.” She let out a choked sob. “What was I thinking? How could I have possibly thought that mind controlling innocent people was a good idea???”

Namatame stood up and approached the crying young woman. Even though he made it a point to keep his relationship with Mayumi Yamano’s younger sister strictly professional, being detached and aloof wouldn’t do anyone any good in this case. He gently placed a hand on her shoulder, catching her attention. “You haven’t done anything wrong,” he reassured her firmly. “You thought about committing a crime, yes. I won’t deny that. But you also chose to do the right thing. Not just morally by deciding not to commit that crime, but also for yourself by seeking help at the first opportunity. As far as I’m concerned, all that’s really happened is that you entertained a very bad idea, and decided not to go through with it. Let me repeat myself. You didn’t actually do anything wrong, and nobody’s suffered because of your actions.”

“But what does it say about me that I had those kinds of thoughts in the first place?” Tsuyomi cried out. “That I had the same kind of idea as people like Alice Hiiragi and Ango Natsume?” She sniffed. “I feel like such an asshole thinking about it now…”

Namatame sighed and shook his head. “That doesn’t make you an asshole, Tsuyomi. That just means you’re human. I don’t think there’s a single person in the world who doesn’t have thoughts that make them seem like…well, in your own words, an asshole…at one point or another,” he answered with understanding in his voice. “Even years after Adachi was arrested and thrown into prison, part of me still wants to violently strangle him for murdering your sister and manipulating me into endangering other innocent lives. But just like you never actually acted out on your own dark thoughts, I don’t act out my worst impulses either.” He smiled humorlessly. “I learned from that mistake the hard way all those years ago…”

“What do I do now, Namatame-san?” Tsuyomi pleaded quietly. “I don’t know what to do…”

“Don’t just ignore your feelings, Tsuyomi, no matter how painful they may be,” Namatame gently advised her. “Willful ignorance is never the solution. Acknowledge your negative thoughts and feelings. Recognize how they make you feel and the pain they cause you. Talk with someone you trust if you need to. It could be me, or someone else in your family. When you have a better understanding of your own thought process, it will make it much easier for you to rise above the negative thoughts and the confusion they bring, and move forward to making your life brighter and happier.”

Tsuyomi sat on her chair silently for several seconds as she processed Taro Namatame’s words. Then, she sighed, as the tears slowed down. “I’ll try, Namatame-san,” she promised. “I’ll do my best to follow your advice. And I’m…I’m sorry for throwing your remote at the TV the other day,” she apologized. “That was…completely inexcusable behavior on my part.”

“No need to apologize,” Namatame quickly reassured her. “I’ve chalked it up to just a bad day and already moved on from it.” He chuckled. “If anything, it was the most exciting thing that happened in the office yesterday, so if anything I should be thanking you for making this place less boring.”

Tsuyomi couldn’t suppress a giggle, earning a smile from Namatame. “I miss my sister, Namatame-san,” she mumbled once the moment of levity had subsided. “I don’t think I ever realized just how much I miss my sister until now.”

“I miss her too, Tsuyomi-chan,” Namatame replied quietly, commiserating with his young employee’s sorrow as he silently vowed that he would not fail her like he had failed her older sister. “Even after all these years.”

An Hour Later…

Yu smiled as he read the message from Namatame on his phone. “All right, everyone!” he announced to the rest of the Investigation Team. “Namatame-san has just confirmed that the change of heart worked just like we had hoped. Tsuyomi has officially abandoned her plans to brainwash people into destroying their own TVs.

“All right!” Labrys cheered as she raised her fist triumphantly in the air. “The public decency of Inaba has been saved!”

“And not just that, but we successfully stopped the Jail from becoming a problem in the real world in the first place!” Yukiko added with a grin. “Ren will be so happy to hear that!”

“But man, fighting a real-life Shadow Monarch felt so much different from fighting a cognitive copy,” Yosuke remarked. “You could really tell that Tsuyomi’s Shadow was gunning for us in that giant tank of hers.”

“So what happens now?” Rise wondered. “Will Marie destroy the Jail now that Tsuyomi’s gone from it?”

Yu shook his head. “Unfortunately, it isn’t quite that simple,” he countered. “Even though Tsuyomi’s Shadow may be gone, the Jail’s existence is still being maintained by an outside force. If Marie tried to destroy it now, she still risks catastrophic damage to the TV World. The only way we can safely get rid of it for good is if whatever force is maintaining the existence of the Jail ceases to exist.”

“And it was created by or through EMMA, right?” Chie asked, earning nods from Yu and Naoto. “Do you guys think…there’s another evil god like Izanami behind all this?” she wondered nervously.

Naoto sighed. “It’s a bit too early to say,” she admitted, “and we don’t have enough information. There could be a deity out there pulling the strings…but it could just as easily be a human abusing knowledge and power that humanity was not meant to possess.” She turned to Yu. “I’m honestly quite surprised that you went as far as to reveal Izanami’s existence and the truth of the Foggy Day Murders to Tsuyomi’s Shadow with that level of detail.”

“From what Ren told me, humans don’t remember things that their Shadow Selves experience, at least where the Metaverse is concerned,” Yu answered. “But I’m certain that telling her Shadow the truth was essential to helping Tsuyomi heal, even if her real self won’t remember the conversation we had.”

“So what happens next, sensei?” Teddie asked cheerfully. “Now that we’ve stopped that scary General from taking over everyone’s minds?”

Yu stood up from the couch he had been seated on. “There’s a couple of things I need to do before we wrap up the day,” he declared. “First, I need to drop by Namatame-san’s house and pick up Tsuyomi’s phone. He doesn’t blame Tsuyomi at all for what happened, but he’s very concerned about EMMA and wants to make sure there isn’t anything malignant about the app that she was using.”

Naoto frowned. “From what Ren told us, all the versions of the EMMA app that the Monarchs used were just the standard version. It’s likely that this will continue to be the case,” she pointed out.

“You’re probably right,” Yu acknowledged, “but we need to do our due diligence regardless. Fuuka will be coming by tomorrow to analyze the phone personally.”

“Yeah, we’re gonna be meetin’ her here,” Labrys confirmed. “Hopefully she might figure somethin’ out.”

“What else are you gonna do?” Yosuke wondered.

“I’m going to contact Mitsuru with Labrys either later tonight or tomorrow and give her a more detailed update on what happened with the Inaba Jail,” Yu explained. “She already knows that we succeeded, but I figure she’d appreciate a more detailed report.”

“Yeah, definitely not a good idea to leave her hanging unless you wanna get executed,” Kanji replied in a deadpan tone, earning some snickers from everyone else in the room except for Shiho, who just looked confused and a bit concerned.

“Don’t worry about it,” Labrys quickly reassured her. “Mitsy might seem scary, but she’s really a sweetheart.”

“Anything else you’ve got planned for tonight?” Rise asked her boyfriend curiously.

Yu smiled back at her. “My favorite part of the day,” he answered with genuine cheer in his voice. “Breaking the news to Ren that we accomplished our mission.”

Meanwhile, in the TV World…

Two figures approached the border between the TV World and the Inaba Jail, now devoid of its Monarch’s presence and influence. One of the figures stepped forward and placed a gloved hand on the barrier separating the two, taking a few seconds to sense the inside of the Jail. Then, he removed his hand from the barrier…and smiled.

“The Investigation Team defeated the Monarch of the Jail and freed her from its influence,” the figure declared. “Did I not tell you that they would remain just as skilled and proficient in battle as they have always been, even after being depowered so dramatically?”

The second figure crossed its arms and gave the first an irritated look, though it said nothing.

The first figure chuckled. “Don’t give me that look, my friend,” he answered in an amused tone. “You may be born from my other self’s inner darkness rather than Tohru Adachi’s, but I know how much both you and your former master respect the Seeker of Truth, no matter how much you might refuse to admit it.”

Ignoring the unimpressed glance from his companion, the figured turned back to gaze upon the border to the Inaba Jail again. “I must say, even I’m impressed with how quickly and efficiently Yu Narukami and the rest of my other self’s friends dealt with this entire situation. Part of me was beginning to wonder if I was going to have to intervene in some way after this crisis forcibly separated me from my other self…but for now, at least, it does not appear that we need to act so drastically.”

The figure chuckled. “As aggravating as it may have been to be separated from my other self in a crude and haphazard manner, it has also presented me with some benefits and opportunities. This Jail will serve as an excellent distraction for Marie and the others, while I proceed with my own plans. My other self…his remains just as committed to his rebellion as ever, and that rebellion burns as brightly and as gloriously as always.” He shook his head and the smile faded from his face. “Yet there is turmoil within him that has nothing to do with rebellion. Inner conflict that he himself barely remembers, if he even remembers at all. This will simply not do. He must confront and triumph over that inner conflict for him to reach his fullest potential and be truly at peace with himself, once his current rebellion is over and done with…and it falls upon me to set those gears in motion.”

The figure turned toward his companion, his golden eyes burning with determination and conviction. “Come, my friend. Let us return to our domain. We have work to do.”

Magatsu-Izanagi Picaro chuckled menacingly, his own eyes flashing with amusement and anticipation as they left the border of the Inaba Jail behind them, leaving no one the wiser of their presence.

Chapter Text

Yu: “Inaba Jail down. We got the job done.”

Ren: “Hell yes. Any fallout from the Jail before you took care of it?”

Yu: “Nope. We managed to solved the problem before any changes of heart actually happened.”

Ren: “Exactly what I wanted to hear. Thanks so much for taking care of that.”

Ren grinned as he sent the message and got a thumbs-up from Yu in return. He had been hoping to receive some kind of communication from Yu detailing exactly that as he and the rest of the Phantom Thieves got closer to Okinawa. Now, he could give the Phantom Thieves some much-needed good news.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he called out to his friends, getting their attention. “I’ve got some good news for you all!”

He gestured towards his friends and Zenkichi to gather inside the camper. “What’s up, Ren?” Ryuji asked once they were all safely inside.

“I just got word from Yu,” Ren announced. “He and the rest of my friends from Inaba have successfully cleared out the Inaba Jail and changed the heart of the Monarch inside…all before any changes of heart happened to the people there.”

Everyone visibly brightened as Ren delivered the good news. “Oh, that’s wonderful!” Haru gasped delightedly as she clapped her hands daintily together. “Narukami-san and his friends all seemed quite competent and skilled when I saw them. And I found Inaba to be a lovely town when I visited. I’m thrilled to hear that no harm has befallen its people because of this Jail.”

“Every time we’ve had to deal with a Jail so far, we always had to clean up after the mess that’s already happened,” Makoto remarked. “It’s great that we were able to deal with a Jail before anything bad happened for once…even if it was Yu and his team that actually did the job.”

“One less major obstacle for us to contend with is always a pleasant surprise,” Yusuke commented with a smile.

“Do you guys think Shiho was in that Jail dealing with whoever the Monarch was?” Ann wondered, before she frowned. “I hope she’s doing okay…”

“I’m sure she’s fine,” Ren answered confidently. “Yu would’ve brought up if there were any serious injuries or any other problems with our friends to me. And Shiho has both a legendary armor AND a legendary spear. She’s technically safer than any of us.”

Ann looked visibly relieved, as did everyone else. The knowledge of a separate Jail in Inaba had hung over their heads for the entire trip, stopping them all from fully enjoying the ferry trip to Okinawa and the beautiful view that it had provided. That weight was now finally gone, and the mood of everyone in the camper had noticeably brightened.

“So we don’t have to worry about this Jail in Inaba, yeah?” Zenkichi clarified.

Ren shook his head. “All taken care of, Zenkichi,” he confirmed.

“Good,” Zenkichi breathed a sigh of relief. “The last thing we needed was yet another Jail throwing a wrench in this case, especially with no way to get to Inaba quickly. Now we can focus on that lab in Okinawa. And maybe giving you a day to relax on the beach if we’re lucky,” he added with a chuckle.

“I just want to get there as soon as possible,” Futaba sighed. “Being stuck on this ferry is sooooooo boooooooring!”

“At this point, I almost want to go do another round in the Jails filling out some of the requests on Ren’s phone once we get to Okinawa,” Morgana admitted. “I know there’s nothing we could’ve done about it, but it didn’t feel right sitting on my paws doing nothing while an entirely different group of Persona users had to deal with our problems for us.”

“Don’t feel bad about it, Morgana,” Ren reassured him. “Situations like this are exactly why Yu and his team were standing by as backup in the first place.”

“I do think that another round of requests in the Jails might not be a bad idea,” Makoto acknowledged. “It’s been a few days since we last visited a Jail, and we need to keep our skills sharp whenever we get the chance.”

“How about once we get settled in Okinawa, we do a Jail run if we have time and then we enjoy ourselves or take care of business at Okinawa afterwards?” Ren suggested. Everyone agreed, and they spent the last few minutes of the ferry ride enjoying the wonderful view of the ocean as Okinawa got closer and closer. Towards the end, Futaba ended up getting the “brilliant” idea to imitate a sculpture of some kind by stepping on Ryuji and spreading her arms out wide with Morgana perched tightly on her head…only for a sailor to immediately call them out for performing such a dangerous stunt.

“You guys are so stupid…” Zenkichi groaned with a facepalm.

“Yeahhhhhhhhh…” Ren sighed. “I can’t even make up an excuse for that one.”

Still, the Phantom Thieves were in good spirits as they arrived at Okinawa and got their camper off the ferry. They ended up right in the village of Kukojima, Okinawa, which happened to be right at the edge of the beach. Since it was still only noon, the Phantom Thieves had plenty of time to dive into the Jails (except for the one in Inaba) to do a few requests and get some extra training in, after which they split off to both enjoy the sights and investigate the research lab. Sophia also attempted to find something about the lab online, but she was unable to find anything meaningful, to her disappointment.

“I’d love to come back here someday without having to deal with some kind of business,” Ren thought as he walked around Okinawa and enjoyed the view of the beach. He spotted Haru and Makoto close to one of the markets and approached them. “What’s up, you two?” he asked as they noticed him.

“Oh hello, Ren-kun!” Haru eagerly greeted her boyfriend. “Makoto and I were just talking about some of the people we met in Okinawa. I came across a group of outgoing locals, so I asked them a few questions. Once I told them I was from Tokyo, they gave me all this produce!”

She held out the produce in question, and Ren allowed Sophia to get a closer look from his phone. “Those are called bitter melons,” she declared. “Or Goya in Okinawan.”

“Right!” Haru agreed as she held the goyas out to Ren. “The locals told me they were picked just this morning. Look how bright they are!” she gushed. “I bet they’re delicious! Perhaps we could try cooking something with these? I’d love to watch you work your magic.”

“Maybe, although the one recipe I found so far doesn’t seem like it’s compatible with these,” Ren remarked as he took the goyas from his girlfriend. “That one recipe I found was for Goat Soup, for the record,” he added, barely resisting the temptation to make a face.

“Goat soup?” Haru blinked, sounding much less certain than she had been a second ago. “That sounds…interesting.”

“Interesting is one way to put it, but maybe it’ll work out,” Ren replied with a shrug. “If that meal ends up being the one that gives us a reproducible source of Matarukaja, I’ll eat as much goat soup as I need to get the job done.”

“With your culinary skills, I’m sure you’ll make even the most…unusual…of meals taste absolutely wonderful,” Makoto praised, before moving on to a more serious topic. “Anyways, as for the lab…I tried questioning the shopkeepers, but they were all very evasive. The island isn’t too large, though. We should be able to divide up and perform a thorough search.”

“That seems a bit odd,” Ren thought. “Why would the shopkeepers have a hard time telling you about a research lab on an island that isn’t very big…especially when a research lab would be really conspicuous compared to everything else on this island?” He didn’t have enough information to voice his suspicions yet, though, so he thanked Makoto and his girlfriend before moving on to explore the rest of the island.

As he moved away from the dock and more inland, Ren came across a dark-skinned man who looked rather cheerful and seemed to recognize him. “Wow, you came from Sapporo?” he asked incredulously. “That’s crazy. I’m surprised you came all this way.” Before Ren could say anything in response, he continued. “There’s honestly nothing here, but I hope you enjoy your stay.”

“Thanks,” Ren replied politely. “By the way, have you heard anything about a research lab here, by any chance?”

“Huh?” the man blinked. “A research lab? How about you visit the beach instead? Yeah, why don’t you go do that?”

Ren thanked the man and walked away, but inwardly he was questioning the conversation. “Something seems off,” he thought. “The way that man was acting was kinda weird…and he never actually answered my question about that lab.”

He was beginning to have suspicions that everything was not as it seemed…but he still didn’t have anything definite to go off of yet. Ren spent a few more minutes talking to people, and by good fortune, he came across a Sanshin player who had recently arrived at Okinawa and was able to easily point him in the general direction of the lab he was looking for.

Deciding that the Sanshin player’s advice was as good a starting point as any, Ren started walking in the direction of the lab. And as he started making his way deeper into the island, Zenkichi suddenly alerted him with some messages about some potential intel. It didn’t take long for Ren to find Zenkichi standing in front of a huge building, MUCH larger than the rest of the buildings in the surrounding area. “Oh, hey,” the police inspector greeted him as he got closer to the man. “I overheard from some deliveryman that there’s a really big building just this way.”

Morgana stared at the path in front of them. “Wow, look at that path,” he remarked, clearly impressed.

“This is most likely it,” Zenkichi affirmed.

“The hell?” Ren muttered. “Why were people having such a hard time trying to find this place? It’s literally right here!” He picked up his phone and talked to Sophia. “Sophia, please call everyone here so we can figure out once and for all if this really is the lab.”

“Okay!” Sophia agreed cheerfully. “Sending messages now!”

After a few minutes, the rest of the Thieves arrived in front of the lab. As they got together, Zenkichi frowned at the structure that had been placed in front of it. “A sacred festoon?” he mumbled.

“Don’tcha only see that stuff at shrines an’ shit?” Ryuji answered in confusion. “What’s it doin’ here?”

“Ooh, ooh, I got it!” Futaba suggested. “They sealed a legendary yokai in there!”

“This is a lab, though,” Ann pointed out. “Wouldn’t we find zombies or things like that instead?”

“Good point,” Ren acknowledged. “Zombies would make more sense for a lab than a yokai.”

“D-d-don’t be ridiculous!” Makoto spluttered, unintentionally giving Ren a distinct Chie-like impression with how she reacted to spooky stories that caused his lips to twitch in amusement. After a few seconds, she added hesitantly, “Y-you were, joking, right?”

“Ugh,” Zenkichi groaned. “Enough nonsense. This lab’s in the real world. Let’s get going.”

“Hey, Sophia!” Ann turned to Ren’s phone. “Just to be sure, there’s no Jail here, right?”

“There is no Jail on this island…I think,” Sophia answered slowly, although everyone could hear the uncertainty in her voice.

“You think?” Ryuji rubbed his neck in confusion. “I thought you smelled ’em, or whatever.”

“Yeah,” Zenkichi agreed. “You’d mentioned that you find the Jails based on their scent.”

“I am currently detecting zero scents,” Sophia reported. “Unlike Sendai and Sapporo, I cannot sense a Jail here.” She frowned. “However, there is indeed something odd about this place. I’m getting…a bad feeling.”

“A bad feeling, hm?” Yusuke repeated morosely.

Ren groaned. “I’m really not happy to hear that, to be honest,” he admitted. “Because after everything we’ve been through together? I’ve learned that if my instincts are telling me that something’s wrong or there’s a problem, there’s a greater than 50 percent chance that they turn out to be right and there’s an unpleasant surprise waiting to get us.”

“I will continue to re-evaluate the area,” Sophia promised. “I do not want us to experience unpleasant surprises.”

“Ooh, like a ghost?” Futaba asked mischievously, before making spooky gestures with her fingers. “Maybe you’re picking up somebody with a grudge. I’m coming for youuu…”

“Eek!” Makoto shrieked. “C-cut it out! That’s not funny, Futaba!”

“Whatever’s up there, we need to check it out,” Morgana declared.

The Phantom Thieves proceeded to climb up the road leading to the large building, with Ren taking one last look at the sacred festoon with a frown on his face. The more he looked at it, the more out-of-place it seemed when compared to the modern appearance of the building in front of him. He followed the rest of the Thieves and Zenkichi up to the main gate of the building, where a notice had been placed on a window on one of the adjacent booths.

Zenkich walked up to the notice and started reading it. “We are closed until August 18^th due to prior engagements?” He shook his head and scowled. “Welp, sure didn’t see that one coming.”

“I have a feeling I know the answer to this question before I even ask it,” Ren deadpanned, “but can we try to sneak into the lab?”

“Uh-uh,” Zenkichi shook his head. “Nothing that lands you in jail. Criminal trespassing’ll cop you a felony. Plus, any evidence gained through a criminal act is impermissible in court. That’d make this whole trip pointless.”

Ryuji sighed. “I mean, we know, but…”

“The sign says the 18^th, so we’ll just wait till tomorrow,” Zenkichi suggested. “Easier, and less illegal. Once the staff is back, I can start flashing my badge and asking questions.” He chuckled humorlessly. “This place is all kinds of shady, so I’m sure I’ll turn up plenty of dirt with enough pokin’ around. Once I’ve got some evidence, I can announce the start of the official investigation, and at that point we confiscate whatever we need.”

“I see,” Yusuke nodded in acknowledgment. “That’s quite the tactical approach.”

“Whoa!” Futaba cheered. “Check out the skills of Zenkichi: Private Eye!”

Zenkichi shook his head. “Yeah…I’m in “Public” Security for a reason, y’know…”

“Anyways, if we’re waiting until tomorrow, that gives us quite some time,” Makoto pointed out.

Ryuji suddenly grinned. “Wait, you mean…we get to party all day on the beach!?” he asked hopefully.

Ren smirked. “I mean…if there’s nothing we can really do until tomorrow anyway…might as well, right?” he asked knowingly.

“Yeah!” Ann agreed cheerfully. “We don’t want to waste any more time! How often do we get a chance like this?”

“Come on now…” Makoto groaned. “We are on a case, you know…”

“Actually,” Zenkichi suddenly smiled, “that’s not the worst idea,” he offered. “Getting too nosy right away could get people suspicious, and we cannot have that. We’d be better off trying to lay low around the tourists for now.”

“So…!” Haru gasped.

“We get to party!?” Ryuji whooped.

“You heard the man!” Ren declared. “If our resident responsible police officer is saying that partying on the beach is actively more helpful to our case than trying to pointlessly investigate, then who am I to argue against that?”

“On the beach!?” Ann added delightedly.

“Pristine sands?” Morgana purred. “Lady Ann!?”

“And to top it off…a barbecue!” Futaba exclaimed gleefully.

“And to top that: LOBSTER!” Yusuke declared passionately.

“We have a winner!” Futaba cheered. “Let’s round up the supplies before we venture forth!”

“Okay!” Sophia agreed. “I’ll search nearby stores…or rather, nearby store,” she added sheepishly. “The only supermarket on the island is back at the port.”

The Thieves made their way back down the road to the port and spent the next hour shopping and preparing for the barbecue. Once they were done, they looked throughout the shores of the island until they found a large, open space on the beach that nobody had claimed. “What do you guys think about here?” Ryuji asked. “This spot just screams beach party!”

“The water is mesmerizing,” Makoto murmured, all thoughts of investigating completely wiped from her mind at the sight of the ocean. “It almost looks dreamlike!”

“All right,” Zenkichi declared. “Let’s set up camp.”

“Beach time!!!” Ann cheered once they were finally done.

“Hey, wait for us, dude!” Ryuji exclaimed as he chased after her.

One by one, the Phantom Thieves raced out onto the beach, until only Ren, Sophia, Zenkichi, and Morgana were left. “Take me with you, Ren!” Sophia pleaded. “This will be my first time in the ocean. Smartphones are totally waterproof nowadays. Please? I know this phone can go underwater, I just checked again.”

Ren grinned. “Oh, how could I say no?” he asked rhetorically. “I hope you’re ready to take lots of good pictures in the water!”

Sophia returned his grin with one of her own. “Thank you! I’ll take the best pictures ever!”

“Oh yeah!” Morgana cheered. “We’re all going wild today!”

As he raced out onto the beach, he left Zenkichi and Ren on the road in front of the camper. Zenkichi looked at Ren again…and was surprised to see that the easygoing and cheerful expression on his face had morphed into a much more serious and tense expression. “Hey, uh, kid…something wrong?” he asked.

Ren sighed. “To be honest, Zenkichi…when Sophia said that she had a bad feeling about this place, she isn’t the only one,” he answered warily.

Zenkichi walked up closer to Ren, adopting a more serious and businesslike attitude himself. “What’s on your mind?” he asked.

“Something about this place has been bothering me too,” Ren admitted. “The way the locals have been acting, the fact that nobody seemed to be able to locate this place even though it was literally right behind the port, the random festoon in the middle of nowhere…things aren’t adding up. Something’s off, or missing, or wrong…and I don’t like it.”

“So you noticed it too,” Zenkichi answered quietly. “What else, Ren?”

“That notice on the gatehouse saying that the lab will be open August 18^th,” the leader of the Phantom Thieves muttered. “It seems awfully convenient that the lab will be open for us tomorrow, and they don’t even explain why beyond prior engagements. I also noticed that the sign looked like it was freshly put up, but the lab seems to have been closed for a lot longer than that” His eyes hardened. “There’s a word I have for that kind of convenient. It’s called suspicious,” he concluded, emphasizing the last word with a growl.

“I get what you’re saying,” Zenkichi acknowledged, before sighing. “The problem is that everything I said back at the gate of the lab still stands. We can’t sneak into the lab, and I can’t open an official investigation to confiscate things until I have a good reason for it.”

“I know,” Ren admitted. “And that’s one of the reasons why I didn’t bring my suspicions up with everyone else. There isn’t anything we can realistically do about the lab until tomorrow. Either I’m being overly paranoid, the lab opens up tomorrow, and we can keep going with your plan…”

“…or that sign is bullshit, the lab doesn’t open, and we need a new strategy,” Zenkichi finished. “No point in worrying your friends and ruining their beach party plans if there isn’t anything you can do about it today, anyway. I get that.”

“With that being said,” Ren continued. “Can you do me a huge favor and keep a careful eye on things around here, Zenkichi?” he requested. “I know nothing seemed particularly dangerous when we first got here…but there’s enough weird things going on that I don’t feel as safe as I should for a place that doesn’t have a Jail.”

“Yeah, I’ll keep a close eye on things around here,” Zenkichi agreed without hesitation. He cast an eye on the serene beach surroundings, and frowned. “I know you don’t particularly care for the cops, kid…but with how long I’ve been in my line of work, let’s just say I don’t like unpleasant surprises any more than you do.”

“Do you think we’re in any danger here?” Ren asked quietly.

Zenkichi thought carefully as he assessed their current situation. “Right now? I doubt it,” he answered after several seconds. “It’s too bright out, there’s tourists everywhere. Too many witnesses, and if anybody causes a major scene there’d be a massive outcry.” He frowned. “If something bad does happen, it’ll probably be around the late evening or nighttime,” he decided.

“That makes sense to me. I trust your judgment on this,” Ren declared. At the surprised look on Zenkichi’s face, he smirked. “What? Surprised I actually praised a cop? I’ll be the first to say that I don’t like the cops in general, but I know enough good people back at home who are cops for me to not hate each and every single one of them on principle without at least giving them a chance if they don’t try to arrest me right off the bat. So far, you haven’t showed yourself to be incompetent or corrupt, and this partnership has been working pretty well for us both.” He chuckled. “At the very least, I trust you enough to listen to you if we’re roughly on the same page about the same thing.”

“Yeah…” Zenkichi agreed. “I hope I’m wrong and I’m just being overly paranoid. But with all the twists and turns in this case that’ve already popped up so far…” his eyes narrowed, “at this point, we gotta be ready for anything.”

Ren nodded in agreement, and finally departed for the beach, leaving Zenkichi alone in front of the camper. The detective sighed as he looked at the phone that he had used to call Kaburagi earlier. “I really hope we find a culprit soon, kid,” he muttered under his breath. “Cause as much as I tried not to get attached…I really don’t wanna see you take the fall for something we both know you’re not guilty of.”

Meanwhile in Inaba, Labrys’ House…

Yu and Labrys waited for the video call on Labrys’ computer to connect to Mitsuru. The call connected after only a second or two, a sign that the head of the Kirijo Group had been anticipating their call for a while now. “Good afternoon, Yu and Labrys,” Mitsuru greeted them without preamble. “How goes your progress with the Inaba Jail?”

“Hey, Mitsy!” Labrys happily greeted her. “Boy, do we have some great news for you!”

“Oh?” Mitsuru smiled. “In that case, I’m quite eager to hear your report.”

Yu confidently returned the smile. “I’m happy to say that the news is pretty much as good as it gets,” he reported. “We managed to infiltrate the Inaba Jail and successfully change the Monarch’s heart on our own over the past few days. Not only that, but we were able to accomplish all this before Tsuyomi Yamano’s Shadow had time to start changing the hearts of Inaba’s population.”

“In other words, Mitsy, we solved the problem before it became a problem in the first place!” Labrys finished cheerfully.

“That is indeed excellent news,” Mitsuru praised, allowing a smile to appear on her own face now. “While the Phantom Thieves have been doing an admirable job undoing the changes of heart caused by the Monarchs within the Jails, I was getting increasingly concerned and a little frustrated at the fact that they could only react to threats that had already manifested…not that this was any fault of the Thieves themselves, of course,” she was quick to add. “I’m pleased to see that, for once, we were able to prevent the danger from happening in the first place.”

“So am I,” Yu readily agreed. “There would have been…serious problems…if that Jail had been allowed to fully develop. On multiple levels.”

Mitsuru nodded. “Thankfully, the Inaba Jail does not appear to be a serious concern any longer, thanks to your efforts. Although, I would ask that you keep an eye on the Inaba Jail for the next few days, just in case,” she requested. “It’s entirely possible that whoever the mastermind behind this Jail is might attempt to redouble their efforts there, since their initial plans would have failed before they even properly began.”

“We’ll be keepin’ an eye out on things over here, Mitsy!” Labrys promised. “Until we find out whoever they are and get ’em behind bars, we can’t take anythin’ for granted!”

“We’ll continue to do what we can, although given that this is the Phantom Thieves’ Journey first and foremost, I wouldn’t be surprised if they discover the culprit behind the Jails before we do,” Mitsuru acknowledged. “You stated earlier that the Phantom Thieves were heading to Okinawa to investigate a research lab previously owned by Madicce?”

“That’s correct,” Yu confirmed. “Their lack of availability was one of the reasons why it was so important for us to take care of the Inaba Jail before it could become a major problem.”

“I see,” Mitsuru nodded. “Let us hope that the Phantom Thieves discover something substantial enough in that lab that we can follow through with it on our end…although,” she sighed, “I wouldn’t be surprised if our culprit was intelligent enough to cover their tracks.”

“We can only hope,” Yu remarked. “That being said, there is one last thing we wish to discuss.” He turned to Labrys. “Would you mind letting me talk about this with Mitsuru in private, Labrys?” he requested.

“Yeah, no problem!” Labrys replied. “I’ll leave the room for ya.”

“What is it, Yu?” Mitsuru invited once Labrys was gone, leaving the two of them alone in the call.

Yu’s voice became much more businesslike. “I don’t want the Shadow Operatives to try to interrogate Tsuyomi Yamano, unlike the rest of the Monarchs,” he declared.

Mitsuru raised her eyebrow, slightly taken aback by the sudden change of tone. “May I ask why?” she asked.

“I have quite a few reasons, actually,” Yu answered. “The first being that there isn’t any justifiable reason for the Shadow Operatives to seek Tsuyomi out and interrogate her, from a real-world perspective. No changes of heart were committed, nor were any crimes committed in the real world. Unlike the other Monarchs, where there were clear real-world effects and consequences of the Monarchs’ actions, nothing of the sort has happened in Inaba. There also wasn’t a public confession either. Tsuyomi hadn’t technically done anything wrong yet regarding the Jails…and now that we’ve changed her heart proactively, she never will.”

“I see,” Mitsuru nodded in understanding. “There are practical barriers to interrogating her that didn’t exist for the others.”

“There’s more to it than then, though,” Yu continued, his voice becoming noticeably more assertive. “It’s an ethical matter as well. At the end of the day, Tsuyomi Yamano was a traumatized girl who was very possibly brainwashed into being forced to relieve her older sister’s death. She is a victim, first and foremost, arguably even more so than the other Monarchs. And unlike them, she never actually committed any wrongdoing yet, as I just said. The Shadow Operatives barging into Tsuyomi’s life and demanding answers from her will just add even more chaos into her life and make her even more miserable, for no good reason. Taro Namatame would be absolutely outraged if this happened to her, and I would be in complete agreement with him. Hell, part of me was considering not even telling you her name to begin with, and I only did because I trust you to do the right thing.”

“So you do not wish us to seek Tsuyomi out for an interrogation, then,” Mitsuru summarized.

“Absolutely not,” Yu insisted. “Such an action would accomplish nothing but make her life worse. And if you try to push back on this, Mitsuru, I WILL bring this up in front of Ren.”

And Mitsuru didn’t need to be a genius to figure out what Ren’s reaction would be. The leader of the Phantom Thieves would certainly side with Yu on this matter…and his answer would likely be much less polite, and much more hostile than the older Wild Card’s.

“I understand,” the leader of the Kirijo Group reassured her longtime friend and ally. “And I completely agree with your assessment that an interrogation would serve no purpose other than harming her life even more than it already has. I will leave her care to you, and I won’t intervene any further beyond allowing Fuuka to analyze her phone.”

Yu smiled and nodded. “I have no problems with that. Thank you for being reasonable, Mitsuru.”

“Of course,” Mitsuru replicated the gesture. “I created the Shadow Operatives to protect the people at large from threats related to Shadows. The last thing I wish to do is bring about harm upon those who are not a clear and present danger to humanity at large.”

“Shadows are already a threat to humanity without humans themselves making things worse,” Yu agreed, suppressing a grimace as he thought of examples like Adachi and Shido. “Speaking of which…do you think you have an idea of who is behind the Jails?”

Mitsuru sighed. “Unfortunately, I don’t have any concrete evidence pointing to any one particular suspect,” she admitted. “But whoever they are, they must be a figure of significant power and influence. There’s no way they would have been able to subvert EMMA’s purpose to such a dramatic degree otherwise…”

Meanwhile in Osaka, Madicce Headquarters…

In his office in Madicce Headquarters, Akira Konoe frowned as he studied the report that EMMA had given him. “Excuse me?” he asked incredulously as he finished reading the conclusion of the report. “EMMA, are you telling me that the Jail in Inaba just seemingly…failed out of nowhere?”

“That is correct, Akira,” EMMA’s feminine voice emotionlessly answered. “Due to circumstances that are not yet understood at this time, the Jail in the town of Inaba failed before it could even begin its mission. The creation of the Monarch was undone before she could begin changing the hearts of the public in that town. The Jail as it stands currently is in a state similar to those of the other Jails after the Monarchs’ hearts were changed by the Phantom Thieves.”

“And just to make sure I understand the situation, the Phantom Thieves weren’t anywhere near Inaba when the Jail failed, is that right?” Konoe asked for clarification.

“That is correct, Akira,” EMMA confirmed. “Our source informed us that the Phantom Thieves were traveling to Okinawa to investigate Madicce’s old research laboratory. They would have been far outside the range of Inaba’s Jail, and any attempt to infiltrate the Jail from that great a distance would be impossible.”

Konoe stroked his chin as he processed this latest information. None of the Jails that he’d created with EMMA had ever outright failed like this before. The closest he could think of was Operation Oraculi under Shuzo Ubukata…but even then, they had more or less accomplished their goals with that Jail even with Ubukata’s suicide, and it had always been more of a prototype to begin with. “Was there anything else about the Inaba Jail in particular that might have explained why it failed before it could even get off the ground?” Konoe pressed. “Anything at all, EMMA. I don’t care if there’s concrete evidence or if it’s just speculation.”

The app didn’t immediately respond, and it took a few seconds to formulate a response. “When creating the Jail in Inaba, I noticed that there was some external resistance of unknown origin that made developing the Jail more difficult,” EMMA answered finally. “This resistance was unique to Inaba, and was not encountered in any of the other locales where a Jail was successfully created. Because of this resistance, the Jail encompassed a smaller area than normal, and was not in a fully completed state.”

“External resistance unique to Inaba…” Konoe frowned again as he processed EMMA’s words. “So it’s possible that there a confounding factor specific to Inaba that we don’t know about that interfered with the creation of a Jail there…” he mused. “I can’t ignore that possibility, since it’s the only Jail where we’ve experienced this kind of thing.”

“If you would like, I can attempt to work further on the Inaba Jail,” EMMA offered. “Perhaps I can attempt to develop it fully, and try to re-install the Monarch within it once again.”

Konoe thought for a moment as he pondered EMMA’s offer. While he was admittedly curious about the circumstances that had led to the Inaba Jail’s unexpected and premature failure, the more he thought about it, the less appealing the idea was. There was likely something different about Inaba itself that had made the creation of a Jail more difficult on a fundamental level, and it was entirely possible that developing the Jail might lead to a second failure. Not only that, but based on EMMA’s report, it sounded like the Monarch had already had her heart changed somehow…and he had no data about either the possibilities or the potential dangers of trying to convert someone into a Monarch a second time. “I don’t want to hurt this person by accident by subjecting her to an experiment that I haven’t tested myself in a controlled environment first,” he thought. “I wouldn’t have the right to call myself a hero if I did.”

There were also practical issues to consider as well. The Inaba Jail might have failed, yes…but that failure had not hindered his plans or opened up the risk of exposure in any meaningful way. Not even the Phantom Thieves were aware of the Jail, as far as he knew. If he ordered EMMA to work on the Jail more, it might risk disturbing the area in a way that would attract unwanted attention…all for a Jail that wasn’t an integral part of his plans to begin with.

“No need, EMMA,” Konoe decided out loud. “Leave the Inaba Jail alone for now. It’s not really important in the grand scheme of things. Once we’ve finally established our utopia over the rest of Japan, then we can take a closer look at what went wrong with the Inaba Jail. For now, let’s focus our attention on the Thieves like we’ve been doing. They’re our biggest threat, and have been ever since they started changing the hearts of our Monarchs.”

“Understood,” EMMA affirmed. “As stated previously, the Phantom Thieves are traveling to Okinawa, and will likely attempt to look for evidence in Madicce’s abandoned research lab.”

Konoe chuckled. “If they expect to find the key to exposing me as the man behind the Jails, they’ll be sorely disappointed,” he declared. “I made sure to clear that area out long ago. They won’t find anything…except for the trap that Shuzo Ubukata so conveniently set up for us with his experiments back when he was still the Monarch of the Okinawa Jail.”

The CEO of Madicce allowed a smirk to appear on his face. “Let’s see how well the Thieves handle Okinawa when they can’t just waltz right into the Jail, and the main threat is in the real world instead.”

Chapter Text

Ann leaped out from under the waves of the ocean, water and sunlight cascading off her body and giving her an ethereal, almost heavenly glow to her already beautiful appearance. “Oh, man!” she gushed, calling out to Ren, Ryuji, and Morgana on the beach. “The water’s so clear!”

Both Ryuji and Morgana gave her admiring and absolutely smitten looks, to Ren’s amusement. “Whoa!” Ryuji cheered, pumping his fists excitedly. “Okinawa’s the freaking best!”

“Honestly, I don’t even care what happens afterwards,” Ren declared with a grin. “The beach alone makes everything worth it. That other beach in Tokyo’s got nothing on Okinawa, let alone the beaches back home at Inaba.” Ever since he’d started dating Haru, his eyes were only for her…but only a fool with no taste whatsoever wouldn’t think that Ann was beautiful.

Speaking of his girlfriend, Haru had chosen to rest on a beach chair underneath an umbrella, sipping a lemonade next to a dosing Zenkichi. Ren walked up to her and sat down on the sand next to her. “What’s up, Haru?” he asked.

“Ren-kun!” Haru greeted him joyfully. “You must try this lemonade. I’m not sure if it’s because it was made locally, but it tastes far better than anything I’ve ever had back home in Tokyo.”

She extended the cup to Ren, who took a sip without missing a beat. His eyes widened in surprise at the taste that reached his mouth. “Holy shit, that IS really good,” he acknowledged. “Now I’m really sad we can only stay on the beach for a day,” he lamented.

Haru giggled. “Perhaps we can come back in the future, just the two of us,” she suggested. “Okinawa looks like an excellent location for a romantic getaway!”

“I’d be down,” Ren agreed immediately. “And what’s better is that next time we won’t have to deal with Jail or Metaverse bullshit ruining our vacation.”

“It’s a date, then!” Haru cheerfully declared.

Before either of them could say anything more, Futaba suddenly called out to them from her tube on the ocean. “Hey!” she waved at them all. “Guys! You gotta see these fish!”

“Can we please see these fish now, Ren?” Sophia begged from Ren’s phone. “Please?”

“Oh, right, we gotta get some pictures while the sun’s still out.” Ren realized. He raced towards the shore as Haru waved him off with another giggle. Within the waters themselves, Makoto was swimming deep within the waters and gazing at the ocean floor as Yusuke arranged his hands together in a picture-like fashion towards one of the lobsters that he was so obsessed about. The poor artist was so engrossed with getting the perfect perspective of the lobster that he accidentally let out an air bubble from his mouth. Yusuke floundered about as he struggled to stabilize himself, and ended up needing to resurface to get some more air as Ren descended into the waters. Fulfilling his promise to Sophia, he took out his phone and extended it in front of him, giving Sophia a clear view of the fish and the corals within the ocean.

“Whoa…” Sophia gasped. With a giggle, she grabbed Ren’s camera app and started taking as many different pictures of the ocean as possible, stopping only when Ren needed to surface to breathe.

“You got enough pictures of the ocean, Sophia?” he asked.

“I did!” the AI girl answered happily, her tone awestruck at the beauty that she had just witnessed. “I had no idea that the ocean could be so beautiful!”

“That’s one aspect of humanity for you right there,” Ren answered with a smile. “Whenever they see something truly beautiful, whether natural or man-made, they want to cherish the memory and preserve it as much as they possibly can. Usually, that’s in the form of pictures…but sometimes talking about and sharing the memory with friends can help, too.”

“I won’t ever forget the ocean,” Sophia promised. “And you won’t forget it either! I took so many good pictures on your phone!”

“Great work!” Ren declared. “Let’s head over to shore. I wanna show some of these pictures to Haru.”

The leader of the Phantom Thieves swam back to shore together, and Ren approached Haru with his phone in hand. Together the couple admired the pictures that Sophia had taken of the ocean. “You have quite the eye for photography, Sophia-chan!” Haru praised as they scrolled through the photos together. “I can think of quite a few people who would be appreciative of someone who can take pictures like these!”

“I’m always looking for more ways to be the best companion to humanity!” Sophia answered cheerfully in response to the praise. “And the more tools and ways I have to do that, the better!”

Ren gave Sophia a thumbs-up in response, and they spent the next few seconds admiring Sophia’s photos. Once they were done, Ren’s eyes shifted to Haru…and the still-slumbering Zenkichi next to him. A wicked grin suddenly stretched across his face as a most mischievous idea suddenly burrowed its way into his mind. “I’ll be back,” he told Haru as he suddenly went out onto the beach, gathering all of his friends together and huddling them together. “Hey, guys…” he whispered as he spared a glance towards Zenkichi. “Why don’t we bury Zenkichi in sand and make into him a sand statue? It’ll be hilarious.”

Ryuji grinned. “Aww, hell yeah!” he eagerly agreed. “The classic beach prank! He’s the perfect fit for it!”

“We must be very stealthy in our approach,” Yusuke cautioned, speaking as though they were about to embark in an important mission. “The slightest misstep could alert Zenkichi to our intentions.”

“Just play it cool, guys!” Ann advised. “He won’t see it coming!”

Ren grinned. “It’s Showtime!” he declared. He quickly beckoned over for Futaba and Makoto to join them, and once he shared their plan the two immediately agreed. Makoto surprisingly didn’t protest their prank, a sign that even she was taking the opportunity to fully relax and enjoy herself before the case became a problem again.

Working together, the Thieves approached the slumbering Zenkichi as stealthily as possible. They slowly and carefully gathered sand around his body, with Haru trying and only barely managing to suppress a stream of giggles once she realized what her friends were doing.

After several painstaking minutes, with the sun already starting to descend from the sky, the Phantom Thieves completed their sand statue masterpiece. Yusuke, ever the artist among them, had even gone so far as to place seaweed and lobsters on Zenkichi, which only made the statue look even better in Ren’s eyes. And it was just in time too, for Zenkichi had finally started to wake up…only to be greeted with several giggling Phantom Thieves…and the realization that his entire body was covered in sand.

“Voila!” Yusuke declared. “You are truly beautiful!”

“Whoa…” Zenkichi stared at himself for a few seconds. “That’s some detailed work…for a bunch of DAMN KIDS!”

“Ah, shit!” Ren exclaimed as Zenkichi started to rise from the ground, shaking the sand off his body. “Run for it, everyone!”

The Thieves didn’t need any further encouragement, and started fleeing the scene as Zenkichi started chasing them. “GET BACK HERE! YOU’RE ALL UNDER ARREST!”

“You gotta catch us first!” Ren retorted as the Thieves scattered. Zenkichi spent the next several minutes chasing and trying to catch them…but his age very much worked against him here, as the teens were simply faster and had more energy than him. Ren even went so far as to flee the beach entirely. As he did so, he caught a glimpse of a few natives talking to each other in hushed voices a few feet away. He would’ve barely paid any attention to it normally…but he could have sworn that one of the adults had glared directly at him. It lasted for only a second, but Ren had been perceptive enough to catch it…and there was something about that glare that set him on edge.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Ren thought. “Maybe I should just go back to the beach for now.” He returned to the sands of the beach, and immediately felt better as he gazed upon the beautiful beach, now covered in the red, orange, and yellow hues of the sunset.

“Oh, the sun’s setting!” Morgana joined him at the edge of the beach. “So, what should we do next?”

Before Ren could answer, his phone suddenly started ringing. When he looked at it, he saw that Zenkichi had sent a text to him. If he was still angry about the prank from earlier, his words didn’t seem to convey that at all.

Zenkichi: “Hey, got a sec? Be ready to move once things settle down, okay? I’m sure it’ll all be fine. I’ve just got this weird feeling in my gut…”

Ren: “Will do. You’re not the only one.”

“Done getting ready?” Morgana asked in confusion. “For what?”

“He’s not the only one,” Ren answered, the grimness in his tone throwing his feline friend off guard. “I’ve been getting some bad vibes from Okinawa…and I think Zenkichi’s been feeling them too.”

“Are you gonna tell the others?” Morgana asked, now with a hint of concern in his voice.

“I will more towards the evening,” Ren answered.

“Well…I guess there’s no need to be on edge the WHOLE time we’re here…” Morgana replied uncertainly. He shook his head. “I think I’ll go for a walk now that it’s finally less crowded around here. You should relax a bit yourself,” he advised. “Why not go hang around with everyone else?”

Morgana walked away, leaving Ren to his own devices. He decided to visit the HaiSai HAOMA drink stand first, where both Zenkichi and Ryuji were both nearby.

Zenkichi gave him a thoroughly unimpressed look as he arrived. “Gah, my back is killing me!” he groaned. “I shoulda been takin’ it easier today…I’m gonna go lie down. You kids clearly have enough energy to handle the dinner prep. Here, take this. Go buy yourself a soda or something.”

He handed Ren 5000 yen. An amount that was just a drop in the bucket compared to the millions of yen that Ren had in reserve from his adventures in cognitive worlds, but he wasn’t going to complain about free money. “Thanks,” Ren replied as he turned to Ryuji, who had a silly grin on his face.

“Oh man, my sides still hurt!” Ryuji cackled. “Wasn’t Gramps the most hilarious Venus you ever saw?”

“What’s that?” Zenkichi growled. “You want me to show you those detainment techniques again?”

“No no no!” Ryuji stammered in terror. “No, please!”

“Sheesh,” Zenkichi shook his head in exasperation. “I can’t believe you damn kids. Got anything to say for yourself?”

Ren smirked. “It was funny as shit,” he answered. “We should try a different statue next time.”

“Hell no!” Zenkichi retorted. “I’m not some little kid you can just talk into doing whatever!” He took a few seconds to calm down. “Anyways, the sun’s about to set. We should wrap up the rowdiness and get on dinner pretty soon.”

“All right, all right, I’ll get to it soon enough,” Ren promised with a roll of his eyes. He approached the HaiSai HAOMA stand like he had originally intended, and the recipe for Okinawa Soba immediately caught his attention. “Ryuji’s gonna love this!” he thought as he bought the recipe and a bowl of soba.

Barely a second after making the purchase, Ryuji rushed over and joined Ren on the seat next to him. “Heheh, was waitin’ for ya, Ren. Obviously we gotta eat some Okinawa soba while we’re here!” he declared.

“Yeah, but let’s not do a repeat of that giant ramen at Yongen-jaya,” Ren answered. “Eating all that before going on the trip was…a mistake.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” Ryuji reassured him. “I’ve had some already, but I could easily down another bowl with ya. When you add all this…uh…kore-juice-u? Whatever, the chili stuff. Anyways I could eat a ton o’ this!”

The attendant at the stand served them two bowls of Okinawa soba, and Ryuji immediately started putting the chili in his bowl…only to immediately regret it. “Blugh!” he exclaimed. “I put way too much!”

“Never change, Ryuji,” Ren replied with a snicker of amusement as they enjoyed a bowl of Okinawa Soba together. Already, he could see himself making Okinawa Soba for his friends, adding yet another recipe to his ever-expanding cooking repertoire.

Once they were done, Ren looked through the options at the drink stand again, and realized that they were selling whole watermelons. “Why is a drink stand selling this?” he wondered. The entire concept was ridiculous. So ridiculous, in fact, that he couldn’t resist the urge to buy one. “Will I even find a use for this? No idea, but it was funny, so that’s all that matters.”

As it turned out though, Ren would find a use for that watermelon almost immediately after he had bought it. As he joined Makoto and Haru on the beach, Makoto suddenly turned to him to ask a question. “Hey, Ren. Could I consult you on something? I know you might think this is a bit childish, but…”

“Makoto, we literally spent the last several minutes burying Zenkichi in sand,” Ren deadpanned. “I think we’ve well established that I could not give any less of a shit over whether something is childish or not.”

Makoto chuckled. “Fair enough,” she acknowledged. “Since we’re at the beach and all, I think…I’d like to try suikawari. You know, the game where you split a watermelon while blindfolded and dizzy?”

“You mean…a watermelon like this?” Ren asked, producing the watermelon in question.

Makoto blinked. “You already have one? Where did you even get that?” she asked in confusion.

Ren shrugged. “I literally just bought it a few minutes ago at a drink stand. I don’t even have a good reason why I bought it. I just felt like it.”

“Well, that’s…certainly convenient then,” Makoto remarked, still trying to process the fact that Ren somehow had a watermelon already on him for no particular reason. “Anyways, it’s not like my family ever took a day at the beach together, so I didn’t actually get to do it growing up.”

“Splitting a watermelon?” Sophia asked as Ren tactfully refrained from commenting on how lame Makoto’s childhood sounded. “That sounds fun. I would like to watch.”

“Yeah, Sophia?” Makoto replied with a smile. “I’m happy to hear that.”

“And I’m happy to help with preparations, if you’d like,” Sophia answered. “You will need the watermelon that Ren has already purchased, and…”

“…a whackin’ stick,” Ren finished for her.

“True,” Makoto agreed. “We could track down a large branch somewhere. We’ll also need a blindfold. Now that we’re starting the actual planning, I’m beginning to get a bit nervous…” she admitted.

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” Ren reassured her. “It’ll be fun!”

“Perhaps you should warm up as much as you feel necessary in a Jail first before taking your skills to the fruit,” Sophia suggested. “Once you’ve split enough Shadows, a watermelon won’t affect your nerves at all.”

“Ummm…I usually don’t split them,” Makoto answered uncertainly, “but a warm-up does sound like a good idea. Maybe I should file a request before we proceed with the game.”

“Well, you know I’ve already got the watermelon right here,” Ren replied. “Obviously, it’s a little late to do this right now, and I don’t think the other Thieves are gonna appreciate me ripping them away from a relaxing beach day and forcing them to do some last-minute Jail work. But tomorrow we can hit a Jail before you smash the watermelon.”

“That sounds like a plan,” Makoto agreed, before smiling. “Thank you for indulging me.”

“No problem,” Ren replied with a grin. He spent the next few minutes gazing out onto the beach and the waves, letting Sophia get a good look at the horizon from his phone.

“So, Ren, this is one of those places that’s going to stay in your heart, right?” Sophia asked. “I can tell.”

“Yep,” Ren affirmed. “Like we talked about earlier, beautiful scenes like this one hold special places in the hearts of humans.”

He spent the next few minutes showing Sophia the beach from different angles. The AI girl was keen-eyed as ever, and actually managed to find a few valuables such as pearls and seashells on the beach that Ren could pick up and either sell later or use as souvenirs. As he approached the far end of the beach near a group of trees, he found Morgana staring at a narrow path blocked with a sign in front of it. “What the…” the feline was muttering to himself. “What’s that sign doing here?”

“What are you looking at?” Ren asked as he approached the feline.

“No entry beyond this point?” Morgana was reading the sign. “Well, if that’s not suspicious…” he turned to Ren. “Do you think it has anything to do with the research lab?”

“With the sun setting soon, going alone may be overly risky,” Sophia warned.

“That’s true,” Morgana agreed. “Should we call everyone else over, then?”

“Yeah,” Ren decided. “And let’s have Zenkichi take a look at this, too. Maybe he might know something that we don’t.”

“Okay! I’ll contact everyone!” Sophia declared. Within a few minutes, all of the Thieves and Zenkichi had joined Ren and Morgana in front of the sign.

“No entry beyond this point?” Ann repeated in confusion. “I wonder what for?”

“I admit, it only contributes to the mysterious vibe here…” Makoto acknowledged.

Ryuji grinned. “Ooh, looks like a dare to me! C’mon, who’s willing to go the farthest past it?”

“Nope,” Zenkichi cut him off before anyone could entertain the idea further, “this is the end of the line. There’s an utaki down that way. See there, on the sign?” He pointed at the sign in question.

“What’s an utaki?” Morgana wondered.

“Basically, it’s land that’s been considered holy since the Ryukyu era,” Zenkichi explained. People used to believe the gods lived there, or at least came to Earth there. Locals still revere the places, even today. Going down there for a laugh could get you in real trouble.”

“Ohhh,” Ryuji breathed, “I never heard of that stuff here…I’m surprised you know all that.”

Zenkichi smirked. “Well, Investigation 101 says to know your territory. Feel free to keep buttering me up, though.”

“Does that mean there are Ryukyu-era customs still being practiced today?” Haru wondered.

“Yep,” Zenkichi confirmed. “Reverence of the incomprehensible is ingrained deep in the human consciousness. Anyways, I’m sure you have no interest in pissing off a god today. Let’s all listen to the sign and get outta here.”

“Well, I’ve already beaten the shit out of a false god before, and that guy was just a complete asshole who ruined my life even when I didn’t do anything wrong,” Ren thought. Still, Zenkichi’s other points remained valid. “Yeah, we’re done here,” Ren agreed out loud. “Getting closer to the utaki sounds like a great way to piss the locals off and cause a bunch of problems for ourselves for no good reason.”

“I checked online for any relevant information, but this place does not appear to have any real significance,” Sophia added. “Other subjects here are far more interesting, such as the shape of the coastline, the sounds of the waves crashing, and the oceanic lifeforms.”

“A person’s values can affect what makes an impact on them,” Zenkichi advised. “It might be insignificant to you, but to others, this place may be very sacred.”

“Every human is different,” Ren added. “If you want to be humanity’s companion, you’ll need to figure out what values other people have. Even if you don’t agree with them, you should at the very least respect them…assuming those values aren’t outright evil, of course.”

“It depends on my values…” Sophia repeated thoughtfully, “and the values of others.”

Before anyone could say anything else, Yusuke’s stomach started rumbling. “My apologies…” he mumbled.

Futaba sighed. “Inari’s stomach, right on time as always…”

“Well, I’m starvin’ too!” Ryuji came to Yusuke’s rescue. “I bet we all worked an appetite out there!”

“Should we finally kick off our long-awaited barbecue?” Ann asked with an excited grin.

Ren grinned. “Hell yeah! It’s barbecue time!” he declared.

The Thieves eagerly rushed back to the camper to get ready for their barbecue, leaving Ren and Sophia alone in front of the path to the utaki. “Hey, Ren,” Sophia called out to him. “Thank you for earlier. When you gave me the underwater tour, it was a fascinating experience…and something that no AI could ever do on their own.”

“Well, that’s why I’m here,” Ren answered with a smirk. “I take care of those pesky little problems like you not having a physical body to go into the ocean with.”

Sophia smiled. “I guess you could say it made my heart feel full. Although, I don’t have a heart…”

“I thought we already established that you do have one, Sophia,” Ren assured her firmly. “You have a heart in every way that matters.”

“It is a simple fact,” Sophia pointed out. “There is no need to attempt to spare the feelings I lack. I am still going to try and understand what feelings are, though. I came to that realization when I first stared out at the sea. For example, being with you, and the other Phantom Thieves…it’s quite…fun. Yes, fun.” She smiled. “Did I get that right?”

“That’s right,” Ren agreed. “There’s really no other way to describe it that makes sense, especially since I had fun too.”

“I’ve got it!” Sophia declared as she let out another hum. “I understand another emotion. Okay. I’ve memorized what fun is.”

“Fun isn’t really something you should think about from an intellectual perspective,” Ren advised. “It’s an emotion that you should just let yourself experience and enjoy. Trying to overanalyze it honestly detracts from fun more than anything, at least in my experience.”

“I see,” Sophia answered. “Then I will simply allow myself to have fun whenever the situation arises!”

Before anyone could say anything, Ryuji called out to them. “Heeeeey! Pick up the pace! We’ve got a whole lotta cookin’ ahead of us!”

“Coming!” Ren called back to him. “Let’s go, Sophia, we’ve got a barbecue to cook!”

“I am already looking up ways to properly barbecue food!” Sophia assured him. “This will be my first barbecue!”

Ren raced to rejoin his friends, and they would spend the next hour preparing and cooking the food for the barbecue. As the more-or-less designated chef amongst the Thieves, Ren took charge of preparing the various meats and the accompanying curry, with some ever-helpful advice from Sophia on the best ways to cook the meat and really bring out the flavor. The combination of Ren’s cooking expertise and Sophia’s knowledge was unstoppable, and the scent of the barbecue already had the Thieves’ mouths watering even before dinner was ready.

The end result when Ren finally served dinner on the table they had set up on the beach was a meal that was nothing less than heavenly. “Oh man…” Ryuji gushed. “This meat is so good!” He swiped another piece of meat from a plate, to Ann’s irritation.

“Hey!” she protested. “You saw me about to grab that piece!”

 Yusuke smiled as he took a bite of curry. “The curry is divine as always…and with these leftovers, we’re sure to dine on curry udon tomorrow!”

“Let’s ignore the fact that you’re already planning tomorrow’s dinner,” Futaba replied. “Why not add deep fried tofu for Inari Curry Udon?”

“We’ve been eating nothing but the most delicious food since this trip began,” Haru pointed out. “Most of which is thanks to my beloved boyfriend!” Ren gave her a grin that spoke volumes, earning an appreciative smile in return.

“All right, lovebirds, you can flirt on the beach AFTER we finish our meals,” Morgana deadpanned, earning a blush from Ren and Haru and some snickers from everyone else.

“Traveling makes it a lot easier to lose track of one’s diet,” Makoto remarked. “I should be more careful.”

“Huh?” Ann blinked. “But you’re so toned, Makoto! Right, Ren?”

“No comment,” Ren answered in a deadpan tone. “I’d rather not make comments about girls that aren’t Haru these days.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Haru giggled. “I’m actually rather curious to hear what you have to say on the matter, Ren-kun.”

Ren smirked. “Well, if my girlfriend insists, then I’d say you look like a model and you don’t have anything to worry about, Makoto.”

Makoto gasped with a flustered expression on her face. “Oh, stop!” she scolded. “I know you’re just trying to flatter me, but there’s an actual model here! Don’t embarrass me like that!”

“Besides, who cares if you’ve packed on a few extra pounds?” Ryuji asked. “It probably gives your punches some extra oomph!”

Ren facepalmed. “Dawg…” he groaned loudly. “Couldn’t you have worded that in literally any other way?”

Makoto was similarly unimpressed and gave the blond the dreaded Nijima Glare. “Wanna test that theory?” she asked in a menacing tone.

“No! Please!” Ryuji stammered, realizing his mistake. “I don’t!”

The other Thieves laughed, and spent the next few minutes enjoying their meal. As they finished the final servings of their barbecue, Zenkichi’s head shifted towards a group of 3 men standing in front of their camper, talking quietly amongst themselves. “…” Zenkichi mumbled under his breath with a grimace.

“What is it, Zenkichi?” Morgana asked. “Upset stomach?”

“Hmm? Oh, nah,” Zenkichi answered, clearly lost in thought.

“Something bothering you?” Makoto wondered.

“It’s probably nothing,” Zenkichi answered. “Let’s wrap up…we oughta wake up early tomorrow.”

“Okay…” Ann muttered.

“Let’s pack things up once we’re done,” Ren suggested. The Thieves looked towards their leader…and were surprised to see a tense and wary grimace on his face. An expression that looked disturbingly similar to Zenkichi’s.

Once they had finally packed up, Zenkichi gathered them all on the beach. “Hey, guys. Something’s up,” he addressed them without preamble with a solemn and wary tone in his voice.

“You’ve noticed it too, then?” Ren asked quietly. “The locals…something’s off about them. I saw one of them glaring at me earlier…and the way they keep talking amongst themselves and looking at our direction…I don’t think they have good intentions for us.”

“Keep it down…and listen carefully,” Zenkichi warned quietly. “I saw those guys leave a bit ago, so we have a few minutes. Arrange your sleeping bags so that it looks like you’re sleeping in them…and then sneak out into the trees and the bushes of the forest close to the utaki. Be as stealthy as you possibly can. And whatever you do, do not just pack it in and go to bed in the camper tonight.”

“What?” Makoto blinked. “But…”

“Do as he says,” Ren interrupted curtly. Everyone else gave him shocked looks…except for Zenkichi. The officer’s face was one of understanding, and though the other Thieves didn’t fully understand what was going on, it was clear that both their leader and the officer were on the same page. “I’ve been getting bad vibes about this place and the people ever since we got here. And I have a feeling in my gut that something terrible’s gonna happen to us if we don’t take them seriously.”

Chapter Text

Night had fallen upon Okinawa, leaving the beach and the nearby streets and stands completely deserted. The Phantom Thieves’ camper sat upon the edge of the beach, where the Phantom Thieves had parked it for the night.

All was silent and undisturbed…until a man wearing a beach shirt suddenly rose from behind the window, a scowl on his face and fury glowing in his eyes as he glared into the inside of the camper. Seeing nobody inside from the direction he was looking in, the man lowered his head slowly and approached the door leading into the camper, stealthily pulling the handle down and opening the door. The intruder entered the camper, looking around for anyone inside…until his eyes fell upon a sleeping bag that was puffed up compared to the others, seemingly housing a sleeping figure within. With a vicious and triumphant smirk, the man pulled open the sleeping bag to ambush the person lying within…

…only to find a smaller, empty pink sleeping bag hiding underneath, instead of another person.

“What?” he gasped. Then, gritting his teeth and clenching his fist in fury, the man returned to the entrance of the camper. A mob had gathered in front of it, filled with crazed and enraged men all carrying torches with similar expressions of fury on their faces. “Hey! It’s empty!”

His words seemed to stir the mob into an uproar. “They can’t be far!” another man shouted as he brandished his torch threateningly. “Find them!”

“We have to punish them for defiling hallowed ground!” another man shouted as he swung his arm and punched the air.

“Find them! We’ll make an offering out of them!” a third man threatened.

The mob of bloodthirsty and enraged men started to disperse from the camper to find their targets…completely unaware that the Phantom Thieves and Zenkichi were hiding in the bushes at the edge of the beach, right underneath their very noses.

All of them were crouched behind the bushes, looking nervously as their hunters dispersed. Ryuji had even gone so far as to hold up two ferns to try and hide his face, a move that would’ve been amusing if it weren’t for the dire situation they were all in.

“Dude!” Ryuji hissed once the men were gone. “What the hell is going on!? These guys are effin’ nuts!”

“No kidding,” Morgana agreed grimly. “If Ren and Zenkichi hadn’t picked up on what was about to happen…”

“Let it never be said that I can’t detect a crisis coming before it hits,” Ren chuckled humorlessly. The smirk evaporated almost instantly afterwards, replaced with a scowl. “Too bad that only helps so much when the crisis is even more of a catastrophic shitshow than anything my mind ever came up with.”

“Did any of you guys catch what that man said?” Makoto asked as she turned to her friends. “Something about defiling hallowed ground…what’s that supposed to mean?”

“At first, I thought he was talking about the utaki,” Ren answered with a frown. “But that doesn’t make sense, since we never actually entered it.” His eyes narrowed. “I think he was actually talking about the lab.”

“Yeah,” Zenkichi agreed, “I think you’re right. Remember that straw festoon we saw on the entrance?”

“That’s right,” Yusuke acknowledged. “We saw it, then proceeded further anyway.”

“Hang on, hang on!” Ryuji interrupted, stomping his foot in frustration. “What’s so friggin’ hollow about some lab?”

“And even if it IS hallowed, that doesn’t explain how they’re acting at all!” Ann furiously added. “They look like they wanna kill us! It doesn’t matter how we look at it, these people have lost their minds!”

“Wait, could this be…” Haru gasped.

Ren groaned as he came to the same realization as his girlfriend. “Oh, son of a bitch…” he growled. “There IS a fucking Jail here!”

Everyone’s eyes widened in shock as Ren made his declaration. “And that would mean there’s a Monarch somewhere around here, yeah?” Ryuji asked. Before anyone could say anything, he continued. “But Sophia said she can’t smell a Jail here.”

“Correct,” Sophia confirmed. “I cannot smell any Jails here.”

“However, you did also say that you got a bad feeling from this place,” Yusuke pointed out with a frown. “Considering our current situation, I can only assume it’s due to a changing of their hearts.”

“But nobody tried to attack us until just now…” Ann mused.

“Personally, I’d file this whole thing as an atypical situation,” Ren suggested. “Clearly, there is something Jail-based here, although it’s not your normal Jail. It’s a bit like how the Inaba Jail was also an atypical situation since outside interference stopped the Jail from fully forming, although the circumstances between the two are clearly different.”

“Perhaps there really is something on this island,” Makoto added. “Something even Sophia can’t detect.”

“What do we now?” Morgana demanded. “They’ll catch us if we just stay here.”

Despite everything, Ren couldn’t help but smirk. “I say we go back to the lab,” he declared.

“Wait, WHAT?” Ryuji spluttered. “Won’t there already be brainwashed locals there?”

“Actually…” Zenkichi interrupted pensively, “it might be smarter than it seems.”

Everyone turned to face Zenkichi. “Whaddaya mean, Gramps?” Ryuji asked.

“It’s pretty obvious, based on how they treat that place, that something’s fishy there,” Zenkichi explained. “No matter where we go on this island, they’d catch us eventually. Why not strike at the heart of the matter right away?” he asked.

“By heart of the matter, do you mean a Jail?” Makoto asked.

“Ironically, the Jail might actually be the safest place on the island at the moment,” Ren pointed out. “We can beat the shit out of Shadows in the Metaverse, but if we try to fight those locals in the real world, we’re gonna get our asses handed to us and worse. The only one here who can’t fight Shadows is Zenkichi, but the entrances to the Jails have always been safe from any Shadows. As long as Zenkichi stays at the entrance, he should be completely safe from both Shadows and locals trying to hunt us down, while we deal with whatever is inside the Jail.”

“However, there is no Jail…” Sophia repeated, though she was sounding less and less certain the more she said it.

“Sure,” Zenkichi agreed. “There is no Jail. But I’d bet we’ll at least find something in their holy land.”

“And more to the point,” Ren added dryly. “Does anybody here have any better ideas?”

Everybody looked at each other, but nobody said anything. Not that they needed to, when the answer was obvious from the very beginning.

“I think we’re all in agreement,” Morgana declared. “Okay, let’s head for the lab!”

“Wait, hold on a minute!” Ryuji interrupted again. “How’re we gettin’ there? Without gettin’ spotted?”

Zenkichi scowled. “What’re you asking me for?” he retorted. “Aren’t you guys the Phantom Thieves?”

Yusuke frowned. “Well…those abilities are only relevant in the cognitive world,” he remarked sheepishly.

“You just gotta go with the flow,” Zenkichi replied. “Just follow my lead…and keep your voices down.”

Together, the Phantom Thieves and Zenkichi slowly emerged from the bushes and began sneaking through the streets towards the lab. Thankfully, the men who were hunting them all were carrying torches that clearly exposed their locations, so evading them was much easier than they had originally anticipated. They moved as silently as they possibly could, with even Ryuji being uncharacteristically silent and grim for once, until they made it all the way to the entrance of the lab.

The Phantom Thieves managed to make it to the entrance of the lab undetected, but they were all panting with exhaustion by the time they made it there. “We lost them…right…?” Ann breathed out in between gasps.

“Yeah,” Zenkichi answered. “Looks like the coast is clear.”

“That’s surprising,” Yusuke mumbled. “I would’ve expected guards to be posted here more so than anywhere else.”

“Either they treat this place as holy land seriously enough that they don’t come here if they can help it…or they’re just incompetent,” Ren answered. “Either way, I’m not gonna complain.”

Zenkichi’s eyes widened and he turned his head. “Wait! Listen…” he muttered.

“Eek!” Futaba shrieked.

“Footsteps!” Zenkichi snapped. “Hide!”

Despite their exhaustion, the Thieves wasted no time in hiding behind one of the columns bordering the iron gates. They all watched as a singular man, the same man who had invaded their camper, started doing something to the wall of the gatehouse.

“What’s he doing?” Haru wondered, curiosity overriding her fear.

“I can’t exactly tell from over here…” Makoto whispered.

Zenkichi smirked. “This could actually be good for us. There’s only one guy. If we capture him, we might be able to question him.”

Ren mirrored his expression. “It’s dangerous. But sometimes, with danger comes opportunity. Go for it, Zenkichi,” he approved.

Zenkichi chuckled. “Leave it to the professional.”

Ryuji’s eyes widened. “You’re doing it by yourself, Gramps!?” he asked in disbelief.

Zenkichi nodded. “I’ve been through enough training. I’ll be fine,” he reassured them. “You guys just stay here and keep an eye out for any of his buddies.”

Futaba gasped. “Holy crap, Gramps just got way cooler!” she praised.

Zenkichi emerged from the hiding spot and approached the man who was standing guard in front of the gatehouse. “Hello, excuse me?” he called out to him.

“Scoundrel!” the furious islander snarled. “You dare defile our Lord’s hallowed ground!?”

The islander reared back to punch Zenkichi…only for the police officer to sidestep the punch, and proceed to effortlessly punch him onto the ground in return. “Oh wow…” Zenkichi remarked, sarcasm dripping from his voice. “Watch your step there. You all right?”

“Not again!?” Ryuji gaped. “You totally threw him on his ass!”

“Eh, it was clearly self-defense,” Zenkichi remarked flippantly.

“That was both parts equally impressive on your end, and pathetic on his,” Ren commented. “I can’t remember the last time I saw a fight that one-sided in the real world.”

Yusuke chuckled. “He truly is a member of Public Security.”

Zenkichi turned his head to look at the poster. “Hey, take a look at that,” he pointed out.

“The sign we saw this morning…” Haru realized.

“Wrong,” Ren corrected his girlfriend, his glasses flashing with realization. “The date’s changed. It’s now showing the 19^th, not the 18^th.”

Zenkichi smirked again, although this time there was no humor whatsoever in the expression. “Apparently the facility’s staff is on permanent vacation, one day at a time.”

“Why would they do this?” Makoto asked in disbelief.

Ren shook his head. “To quote a certain movie series that takes place in a galaxy far, far away… it’s a trap,” he answered.

“Uh-huh,” Zenkichi agreed. “They’re using these posters to string along anyone who came to the island for the lab. When someone thinks the staff’s out for the day, they probably stick around the island. Come nighttime, the locals descend on whoever got too curious…to protect whatever’s in there.”

Yusuke shook his head. “What horrid tactics…” he growled.

“It’s genius,” Ren had to admit. “It’s completely fucked up, but there is an evil genius to it.”

“Well, let’s investigate a bit,” Zenkichi suggested. “If his heart’s been changed, he should have a smartphone with EMMA installed.”

After rummaging through the beaten man’s pockets, the Phantom Thieves were able to find the smartphone in question. Futaba quickly investigated the smartphone, and was soon able to find both the EMMA app…as well as only one friend listed: Shuzo Ubukata.

“Well, that certainly makes things easier,” Ren remarked. “If there’s only one friend listed on the EMMA app, this Ubukata dude, whoever the hell he is, is almost certainly the Monarch of the Jail here.”

“Anyone got a keyword?” Morgana asked.

Futaba frowned. “Hmm…that one’s a lot tougher…” her eyes widened. “Oh, hang on! There’s an email here!” She started reading the email. “Cordial inviter to serve as a tester to the EMMA system.”

“An EMMA tester?” Ann repeated curiously.

“Whoa, this even has a keyword on it!” Futaba realized.

“Oh thank fuck, something easy for a change,” Ren muttered. “Normally I’d wonder what the catch is, but considering that we’re already getting chased by a bunch of crazed islanders thinking that this lab is a holy land, I think we’ve dealt with the catch already.”

“Operation Oraculi!” Futaba read the keyword out loud.

“Who sent him the email?” Zenkichi asked.

“I don’t recognize the address,” Futaba answered. “Maybe it’s from the lab?”

Zenkichi frowned. “The lab asked all of these guys to be EMMA testers…?”

“What now?” Futaba wondered. “Thanks to the email, we know the keyword’s Operation Oraculi.”

“If the people who call this place hallowed had their hearts changed, then it’s going to be Jail-related, without a doubt,” Makoto concluded.

“But, like…we can’t find a Jail, here,” Ryuji countered. “Right, Sophia?”

“I’m not sure…” Sophia answered morosely. “At the very least, I do not smell one.”

“There’s only one way to know for sure,” Ren replied. “Let’s use that keyword and see what happens.”

“He’s right,” Morgana agreed. “If we can’t get in, that’ll settle it. But…if there IS a Jail here, testing the keyword will send us right in. Are we all ready?”

“We have no choice but to try,” Yusuke pointed out. “Our pursuers have decided our path.”

“And my points from earlier still stand,” Ren added. “The Jail is, ironically, safer than the real world at the moment.”

“Yeah,” Ann agreed. “Even the Metaverse feels safer to me than this place does now.”

“Okay, let’s do it,” Morgana declared.

“EMMA,” Futaba commanded. “Add Shuzo Ubukata to my Friend Registry. Keyword: Operation Oraculi!”

It took a few seconds, but the keyword was successful. “Wait!” Sophia gasped, eyes wide in shock. “I can smell a Jail! The scent is already all around us!”

Before anyone could say anything else, EMMA activated, and started transporting the Phantom Thieves and Zenkichi into the Okinawa Jail.

As reality shifted and they got their bearings inside the Okinawa Jail, Joker started to have some serious second thoughts about whether they were truly safer inside the Okinawa Jail compared to reality.

The lab in the real world, despite its closed appearance, had been relatively clean in appearance. Now, however, they were in a dilapidated, run-down facility that looked like it was falling apart, glowing with an ominous green light. The entire place looked like it had been taken straight out of a horror movie, with an appearance that gave it the impression that it had suffered some great calamity in the past, and what they were seeing was the aftermath of that calamity.

And that wasn’t even mentioning the whole “human experimentation” vibe that the lab gave off.

“Is this the lab?” Zenkichi asked uncertainly. “It looks kinda…eerie.”

“Bad vibes, guys,” Oracle mumbled fearfully. “This place looks straight-up haunted.”

Queen was visibly shivering and trembling in her uniform, causing Noir to give her a concerned look. “You all right?” she asked, clearly worried.

It took a few seconds to collect herself. “Yep!” she stammered in the most unconvincing voice ever. “All right here!” she added with a nervous giggle.

“You sure don’t sound fine,” Skull pointed out.

A stray can suddenly started rolling across the ground, letting a loud noise and causing Queen to shriek with terror as she fell to the ground and started hugging the closest thing she could get her hands on…which just so happened to be Joker’s leg.

“Well, screw you too, can!” Skull shouted at the can that had disrupted them…only to turn around as he and the rest of the Thieves stared at the terrified Queen grabbing onto Joker’s leg for dear life.

“I’msosorryI’msosorrywhereareyousisI’msosorry,” she blabbered, all composure completely gone.

“Oh, poor Mako-chan,” Noir murmured sympathetically. While normally she would either be completely amused or completely enraged at another girl holding onto her boyfriend’s leg depending on the person, in this case she could only feel sympathy and pity at how clearly overwhelmed with terror her friend was.

“Wait, hold on,” Zenkichi interrupted, pointing at Joker and Queen. “Weren’t you and Okumura dating each other, Ren? Or was I completely wrong and is it actually Nijima instead?”

His words were enough to break Queen out of her terrified stupor, only for her to finally realize the incredibly awkward situation she had entangled herself in. It was especially awkward considering that she had grabbed onto Joker’s leg in front of his girlfriend.

Joker looked down at her and smirked. “You know, normally the only person who’s allowed to hug me is Noir. But I think I’ll make an exception for you just this once, Queen,” he commented blithely.

Stammering incoherently, Queen quickly scrambled onto her feet and held her hands out in protest. “Nononononono,” she quickly corrected. “We’re just friends. You were right the first time, Joker’s dating Noir, not me!” Queen turned to Noir. “Sorry, Noir…”

Noir giggled good-humoredly. “It’s quite all right, Queen,” she reassured her. “You didn’t mean anything by it. And thank you for confirming that Joker’s leg is indeed quite huggable, I never actually had the opportunity to test that yet.”

The comment was enough to elicit a few giggles from the Phantom Thieves and lower the tension among them…although it didn’t last long, as they got right to business.

“So there really IS a Jail here,” Mona affirmed.

“And that means this Ubukata person is its Monarch, right?” Panther asked.

“Based on how the previous Jails have worked, yeah,” Joker agreed. “And even this Jail is a big unusual, we don’t have any other ideas on who it might be if it isn’t Ubukata.”

“But, why wasn’t Sophie able to detect it until just now?” Noir wondered.

“There is a possibility that it was sleeping,” Sophie answered.

“Jails can sleep?” Fox repeated in disbelief.

“Once the keyword was entered, it almost felt as if this place woke up,” Sophie explained.

“Huh…” Oracle mused. “So you mean Jails have a sleep mode?”

“Now this is a new wrinkle…” Mona muttered.

As the Phantom Thieves talked amongst themselves, Joker suddenly felt a strange and familiar sensation. A sensation that he had felt whenever the Velvet Room called out to him. And sure enough, the blue Jail Cell door had materialized within the Jail’s entrance, inviting him. “One moment, guys,” he interrupted. “Velvet Room business.”

“Go for it, Joker,” Mona replied with a nod.

Joker approached the Velvet Room entrance and walked through it, finding himself in his Jail cell and his familiar prison clothes in front of Lavenza. “You appear to have entered quite the conundrum,” Lavenza remarked as she approached him.

“Conundrum,” Joker repeated with a bark of humorless laughter. “That’s certainly one way to put it.”

Lavenza sighed, giving her guest a gloomy look. “What awaits you here in these lands is an inhuman being. This is where she…”

Joker buried his face in his hands. “Oh, fuck me…” he groaned. “Is this the part where you tell me that I have to face another false god?”

Lavenza shook her head. “No…I oughtn’t speak any further,” she denied. “My duty is to witness your path laid before you by your decisions. You must witness for yourself the being I have mentioned.”

Joker frowned. It could be another deity on the level of Yaldabaoth or Izanami…or it could be something else. Not necessarily a deity…but something operating the Jails from the shadows that clearly wasn’t human in nature. Which…honestly sounded like it might end up being a deity anyway or close enough to it, in the worst-case scenario. And Joker really wasn’t a fan of how depressingly frequently the worst-case scenarios happened in his life, nowadays.

“As for why I have called you,” Lavenza switched topics, “a new form of Persona execution is now at your disposal. You may now perform the Triad Fusion, a group execution harnessing special power. Triad Fusions allow you to generate even more powerful Personas. Please make use of it in preparation for the trials ahead,” she requested.

Joker grinned. “Okay…I’m never gonna say no to a new tool to use. So…are there any Personas I can make with Triad Fusion right now?”

As it turned out, there weren’t any that demanded a Triad Fusion right at that moment. Joker had the distinct impression that Triad Fusion was one of those tools whose value wasn’t immediately apparent right away, but would become more obvious and more powerful down the road when he was much stronger and at a higher level.

So instead, Joker thanked Lavenza for her assistance and returned to the Okinawa Jail. As he rejoined his friends, he noticed Zenkichi staring at him in confusion. “Uhhhh…why was he staring at that random corner not doing anything for the past few seconds?” Zenkichi wondered.

“Don’t worry about it,” Mona reassured him. “It’s a Leader of the Phantom Thieves thing.”

“Anyways,” Skull was saying, “if all the people on this island got their hearts changed, doesn’t that mean their Desires were taken? We gotta get ’em those Desires back, fast. We’re in real danger until we do.”

“Good point,” Mona agreed. “First, we need to figure out where they’re being held.”

“This really is real, isn’t it?” Zenkichi asked, shaking his head in bemusement. “I just feel like I keep losin’ it.”

“Honestly, Zenkichi?” Joker replied sympathetically. “I think part of that might just be this lab being creepy as hell.”

“Fair enough,” Zenkichi acknowledged. “Anyways, sorry, but I’m gonna stick around here while you do your thing. This place is your territory, not mine.”

“Completely agree,” Joker nodded. “Trust me, Zenkichi…you going into the lab without a Persona would be a VERY bad idea.”

“Yeah, leave it to us!” Oracle chimed in. “This is where WE take down whoever’s in our way!”

Joker grinned savagely. “I’ve got some choice words for Ubukata if he really did do this to the locals,” he declared as he cracked his knuckles. “And a free punch to the face with his name on it, among other things.”

“Hey, don’t take it too far,” Zenkichi cautioned. “You don’t wanna do anything that could translate into a real-world crime.”

Before Joker could say anything, Sophie suddenly turned her head towards the entrance of the Jail. “Just a moment…”

“Sophie?” Noir asked in confusion.

“I heard a voice deeper inside,” Sophie answered with a worried look on her face.

Queen did NOT look reassured by that statement in the slightest. “What do you mean by that?” she asked, trying and failing to keep the tremor out of her voice.

“I can hear someone calling for me,” Sophie reported. Then, her next words gave everyone a heart attack. “I’m going to check it out!”

“Hey, wait! Sophie!” Skull called out in desperation, but he was too slow. Sophie was already moving, and as she approached the front doors to the lab, the heavy metal doors slid open. Having already thrown caution to the winds completely, Sophie charged through the doors and into the lab, leaving her teammate behind as she ventured into unknown and almost certainly hostile territory.

“Well shit,” was the only thing Joker could think of to say as the doors closed behind her. They had barely started their exploration of what was undoubtedly the creepiest Jail they had been to so far…and things had already started to go wrong.

Chapter Text

“Dude, what’s gotten into her!?” Skull asked Joker with confusion in his voice as the Phantom Thieves entered the Okinawa Jail.

“She said it was a voice…” Fox mused.

“Whatever it is, we have to catch up to her,” Mona declared.

“No kidding,” Joker replied grimly. “A regular Persona user going into a cognitive world like a Jail alone, without any backup or a massive power level advantage? That’s a surefire way for things to go very wrong, very quickly.”

The metal door leading to the next room in the Jail opened as Joker approached it, and the Thieves found themselves in an empty room. There were four storage cells, two on each side of the room, all of which were completely abandoned. Broken debris and ruined stone were haphazardly piled up within each cell, and the cell bars themselves had started to rust away with overgrown ivy covering parts of them. One of the cells even had an empty bed with no furnishings, which gave Joker bad vibes just looking at it. “What’s the deal with this place?” Panther muttered nervously. “It’s so creepy…”

“Are you holding up, Queen?” Noir asked, clearly concerned.

“Ah! Yes, fine!” Queen immediately replied in a tone that was not even remotely convincing to anyone. “Let’s hurry up and find Sophie!”

On the opposite side of the room was another metal door, but in front of it was a single metal desk with a chair positioned behind it, a small desk light positioned on the side…and a tape recorder placed neatly on top of the table. The entire setup looked oddly pristine considering the utterly dilapidated environment, which caused Joker to immediately take notice of it.

“Hold up, guys!” Joker pointed at the recorder in question. “What do you think of that?”

“Is that a tape recorder?” Panther asked in confusion.

“Let’s see if it works,” Oracle suggested. She walked up to it and activated the recorder.

A man’s voice started to come out of the recorder. And after just the first few words, Joker could already tell that the man, whoever he was, sounded more than a bit unhinged and deranged. “This plan,” the man declared in a fanatical tone of voice, “brings to fruition a dream long-cherished by the research team – no, by all mankind! Every last test subject, a successful change of heart! When the Penitentiary System is complete, the concept of suffering will be dead to all mankind!” The man’s voice suddenly erupted into a rapturous tone. “Now, let us rejoice and welcome the new age of humanity! EMMA shall be our guide into this promised land!”

“EMMA!?” Oracle repeated in disbelief as the recording ended.

“And changes of heart!?” Panther added in shock.

“Just as Ichinose said,” Fox intoned solemnly, “there was indeed some form of experimentation on EMMA here.”

“The voice said something about a Penitentiary System, too…” Noir pointed out.

“Those fuckers,” Joker growled. “I think I already figured out at least some of what’s been going on. Whoever the mastermind behind everything that’s happened this summer is, they created a Prototype or Experimental Jail of some kind in Okinawa with the actual research lab as its base. And they used it to change the hearts of the people living here. They must’ve been doing shit like this for a while, and based on what we just heard, they were able to figure the process out. And they used what they learned to make those Jails in Shibuya, Sendai, and Sapporo.”

“That would be a logical conclusion,” Queen acknowledged.

“Whoever this guy is, I already don’t like him very much,” Joker added with a scowl. “He sounds like he was knee-deep in the shit going on here. There’s a good chance that he’s the Monarch, and there’s even a chance he could straight-up be the mastermind too.”

“We can talk about it later,” Mona reminded urgently. “We need to track down Sophie first.”