This story is merely practice for me. Any criticism is helpful.

I finally got what I deserved.

I looked up at the big TV on the building. Its been awhile since I've needed one of these things. The last time I've used this was-

No. Not again. I Need to distract myself before I lose control again. Maybe this is interesting, what are they talking about the news?

"The police have officially withdrawn the arrest warrant on the Phantom Thieves."

Should have been done a long time ago though. If they did then...no. Not going to think about that now.

"As well as apologized for those who lead the investigation, citing they were inadequate for the task. Due to a drastic change in policy, it is speculated that they had a change of heart as well…"

I glanced around to listen to the whispers of the ever watching public. My parents always did say I was nosy. "So the police were in the wrong after all. They're the ones who must've been doing shady stuff." I heard one person say.

"There's no way the Phantom Thieves could be evil."

As if any of these people would have been able to find out by themselves. Up until now, the you guys were out to get us! But I guess it doesn't matter now. I managed to fix everything with a simple deal.

And yet…that look she gave me. What was her name?

Lavenza. Yes...Lavenza. She told me that I was fated to save the world. And I did once I made a deal with the enemy. So why did she look so disappointed? I saved the world and I got the recognition I deserved. So why?

Could I have been wrong? After all, I did it knowing full well that

I wasn't wrong was I? He was unbeatable, almost all of us were nearly erased out of existence. The only exception being myself. Its not like I can walk in there, proclaim the power of society, and shoot a gun at his face. There was no way we were going to take on something that powerful when he easily erase me out of existence.

We? Damn it.

Stop it! That empathy will get you nowhere! I take off my glasses and quickly wipe away the tears building up on my eyes. Just keep watching. Just keep watching!

"The actions of the Phantom Thieves show no sign of stopping."

You can't stop now! Not when you're this far. Not when you've sacrificed so much.

"The change of heart police reports already surpassed one hundred cases."

"Only a hundred? I thought it would have been double that already." The nerve of that man! This is how the public always works. You do something nice for them and they always expect you to do more. I get in so much trouble just to make the public happy and I get barely anything in return. Nothing's changed.

It was like that with Kamoshida, Madarame, Kaneshiro, Mejed, and even Okumura. An escalating scale of taking down rotten adults in power and it only got me scorn from society in the end. All of the popularity we worked towards was stripped away as soon as that jerk Shido framed us.

They seemed to have subsided. I turn around, take a deep breath and I smirked. Looks like that trip to Mementos paid off. Perhaps I went a bit overboard, but they all deserved it! Not a single one of them tried to stand up for themselves. It would have been easier if Mor-

Mor…

If I did it in the morning. Yeah, that's what I mean to say.

Yeah… …

Oh, who am I kidding?

"Ah you're ba-" I ran in and slammed the door to the bathroom before I could hear anything else. I don't want anyone else seeing me like this. He wouldn't understand.

I need to get myself together! People were giving me weird looks in the subway. I don't need to draw any more attention to myself.

I'm tired of that! I'm SO tired of that!

And yet, I miss that feeling. Because those were the last few moments I got to spend with the people I care about most. They really felt like true friends to me.

And they're all gone…

"Hey!" I heard knocking on the door. "Are you okay in there? What are those noises?" Oh, its just Sojiro. He's always been looking out for me.

I refuse to let him know I've been crying though. Besides, he wouldn't understand. "Yeah I'm fine!" I called out as I quickly flushed the empty toilet as a cover-up. I then turned the cold notch on the sink and let it run for a bit. "My stomach was hurting after I went to Big Bang Burger."

Was that enough to fool him? "Oh Big Bang Burger? I heard they were electing looking for another president." They already had one. Though Haru didn't seem to like it that much. She never has to worry about that again. But still, was that my decision to make? "Still….why would you come here?"

An easy lie. "I was in the subway and that's when it started." I said as I opened the door.

He gave me that suspicious look that he always gave me back then. His eyebrow is raised and one eye is squinted. Its like he's trying really hard to give hints that he doesn't believe me. "Hmm….well I guess you're at that age. Listen, its normal for people growing up to do-"

Now is a good time to go to my room. "We're not having that conversation." There's no point in trying to say I wasn't doing something. He won't believe me. I quickly closed the door and got to bed.

"Okay but don't ever do that in my bathroom again! I'm not cleaning your mess!" That horrifying image is burned into my mind for eternity now. "G'night!"

I hear the jingles of the bells on the front door of Leblanc. Then the soft slam of a door. Well, that's good for me. Nowadays, I could never sleep well with even the slightest bit of noise. I probably need to work on that, since there's not too much to worry about now. All of the threats are taken care of and its all thanks to…..

….

Me. Yeah, all thanks to me.

But still, the fact that Sojiro doesn't remember Futaba just rubs me the wrong way. She was like a daughter to him, yet she was gone in an instant. Her history on the world, erased.

Just like how he doesn't even remember that Morgana even existed as my pet. Nobody even remembers Ryuji even though he's the whole reason the track team even exists, nobody even remembers Makoto our student president.

Just erased because of one deal. Their whole existence was completely erased.

And its all my fault.

I need to fix this. There HAS to be a way to fix this.

I found myself drifting to sleep

I woke up and saw some familiar prison bars.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room." Oh, so its finally time to visit him. The voice seemed to echo throughout the room. I got up and walked out of the prison room. "How do you like your new status?"

Don't try to fight him Akira, you'll lose. He's more powerful than you can ever imagine.

"Bring my friends back into existence." I said firmly. I looked around for a little bit. "Where is Lavenza?" I already know the answer.

The light coming from what should be a ceiling made his eyes seem like they were glowing. I usually don't feel fear after stealing the hearts of people for so long, but this thing is different. He only chuckled at my questions.

"I erased her and Igor from existence." He said bluntly. "And if I recall correctly, my deal was with you." He rose out of the chair and levitated towards me. "I don't remember including the Phantom Thieves anywhere."

Screw taking this calmly damn it! "Bring them back!" I readied my dagger not exactly sure what I was going to do.

But damn it I couldn't just sit here.

"Oh so you're rationale has gone out the window?" He chuckled and levitated slightly closer to me. "Even if you do beat me by some miraculous luck, I cannot bring them back once they are removed from reality."

I knelt down in defeat. "Then erase me too."

"No." What? "We made a deal remember? I still wish to observe you closely." Oh, No no no no no. This can't be happening. "Get up. There is still much work to do."

I am awake and in my bad, yet I do not want to be. I don't want to exist either yet forces beyond my control is forcing me to endure this torment.

I don't want to deal with the fact that all of the people I care about are gone forever. Its just too painful. And I have nobody to blame but myself. Is this how having a change of heart feels for my targets? How ironic.

All that talk coming out of my mouth about how I was apparently above my targets, how they were the scum of society, and how I am so above them. In reality, I'm no different than any of my targets.

My desires have become distorted.

Deep in the depths of the cognitive world, a crowd of people are gathered around a big TV. Each one of these individuals have a single string connecting them to the sky.

And in that sky...is a single individual. If you can even call him that.

Some would even call him a Persona.