The beeping of a cellphone alarm rang in the darkened room, making its owner get up with stiff muscles. Naoto wasn't in the mood to make breakfast, remembering that she had passed by a quaint cafe house. "It should be a good bet." She even could use the round trip and pass by the convenience store to get supplies. After that, she would have to get to the police station and get a case to work in.

The brisk morning air helped to blow away her sleepiness and there were few people in the streets, a contrast to the more urban areas. She looked up, 'Leblanc', she had reached her target. Luckily the plaque said 'open', so she pushed the door, getting a waft of coffee grinds and curry spices. "Oh, your face is new around here." The owner(?) was at the counter, raising a brow at her. "Hm? Aren't you...?"

"Yes, I am the previous Detective Prince, Shirogane Naoto." She was somewhat used to this routine speech. "I want black coffee." The man simply nodded and started brewing while the woman took a seat by the counter. "I should check for anything that seems off, who knows what the current trigger is." She had considered asking the man for info on rumors, but that might make him suspicious, she may need to get some sliver of trust first.

The steaming cup was delivered, breaking her out of her thoughts for now. "Mm, this is quite good, Boss, you got a new regular." The man chuckled with pride, telling her she should give the curry a try as well. Naoto heard shuffling and steps coming from the upper floor, prompting the owner to make her hurry up. "I almost forgot. I got a brat under my wing and have to deal with him. Sorry for the inconvenience." Naoto shook her head at his apologetic face, only to catch sight of the 'brat'.

"Ah/You-" Akira felt tense, would he need to walk the line of 'law-abiding citizen' even closer? He couldn't help but be distrustful of members of the police force. "You know each other?" Sojiro had furrowed brows, crossing his arms and staring at Akira. "We simply took the same train here, it's just a coincidence." She finished the cup and went out, letting Sojiro close shop and take Akira to the school.

~Bonafide Monafide~

Akira rubbed his eyes, provoking Sojiro into nagging about having to manage his sleep schedule. "Let him speak, he isn't the one who just had his life go to shit." He pulled out his phone and stared at the strange app. "Neither did he have to face that bizarre dream." Trickster, Velvet Room, the long-nosed man...

And there was the event with the blue fire at Shibuya, where he saw himself with golden eyes. Did he go insane and didn't notice? The stint at Shujin wasn't any better, seeing how even his homeroom teacher disdained him and labeled him as a mere troublemaker edging on hoodlum, she was obviously not looking forward to having him in her classes.

To make things worse, there was the way the principal had talked him down, casting doubt on his honest life, it was frankly frustrating. Now even Sojiro pitied him, however little managed to get past his 'don't rock the boat' stance. Akira gritted his teeth, he was sick of how society dropped people like him like rotten food, even if they were completely innocent.

Who knows, maybe that teacher was currently griping about him among her fellow employees. The grapevine would then turn the entire school against him. For now, he could only mess around with his phone, seeing how Sojiro's car was in the middle of a huge traffic jam, probably thanks to the metro accident currently on the radio news.

~Speak up, Panther!~

Naoto had managed to get some low-key incidents to investigate, thankful for once at the tendency of a new office looking down on her skills. As long she completed the procedures in a timely manner, she wouldn't have budget issues. She was currently searching for clues on a stalker who was leaving letters that were bordering on death threats. "A scorned partner? Or a fanatical admirer?"

The woman was questioning the people of the apartment complex, letting her fame loosen the tongues of the gossipers. "Oh my, that girl was always a heart-breaker... I wouldn't be surprised if it was Kurata-kun..." "I've seen her going off to those questionable places at the red-light district, did she mix with the wrong people?" Every statement that gave a hint or a name was jotted down.

"This isn't something that can be closed up in one day..." She had gone to check the alleys, searching for a possible route that the stalker could traverse unnoticed. When she walked past a window- "Meow!" She felt a weight falling on her head before getting a paw to the face. A cat had just used her as a break-fall. It was currently staring at her, big blue eyes against pitch black fur. "A stray animal? No, it's collared."

A white-tipped tail trailed on the air, the cat was apparently sizing up Naoto. Then it suddenly broke eye contact, its mitted paws hitting the asphalt as it wandered off to god knows where. "That was strange..." The feline had seemed to gauge her, but why? She took off her hat and brushed off the dirt and fur the animal got on it. "Whatever, it must be my mind playing tricks." She checked her wristwatch, it was close to noon, maybe Leblanc was open, or else she could get take-out.

~Cleanup complete!~

Akira wasn't looking forward to school time, having the looming foreboding that he was about to face the hell of human nature. He shook his head and sighed, he had social expectations to meet. He got dressed quickly, the metro schedule might have delays, so he couldn't afford to lose a ride.

Once again he was faced with Naoto, but she was distracted by her meal and her phone, apparently having quite the Line chat with how the screen kept scrolling down. He intended to simply go to the station, but Sojiro stopped him, giving curry for breakfast. He ate quickly and thanked Sojiro, rushing out.

Meanwhile, Naoto watched the ALL CAPS argument between Yosuke, Teddie, and Kanji, shaking her head with amusement. It had started with Yosuke making a comment of how he looked forward to beach time and Kanji agreed, but Teddie just had to poke the hornet's nest by mentioning Operation Babe Hunt and predicting the boys would screw it up again, which made the chat catch on fire.

She opened the alt chat with only the girls, only to blanch at the sight. "Oh no, no. No, no, no..." Chie had pitched a new idea for a recipe and Rise had thrown 'improvements' in the mix, all while Yukiko chirped about how she would try making it for Yu. Naoto did a quick prayer for her senpai's stomach. "Maybe I should burn incense at the shrine."

A customer entered and sat by the counter, striking up a conversation with Sojiro. Naoto sharpened her hearing, he might provide some good pieces of information, even if those were only rumors. "... went crazy all of a sudden... nervous breakdowns during interrogations..." She started to wonder how those victims were chosen.

~It's time for some bloodshed~

Akira grumbled under the marquise, just his luck to get rain right on his first day, and he lacked an umbrella. His phone got a foreign ringtone, so he checked it, only to see the suspicious app's icon take up the entire screen. "Did it activate by itself?" Then he saw someone come get cover by him. "Oh, she looks quite foreign." The girl caught him staring, but just offered a tiny polite smile before both resumed staring at the rain.

Soon a car pulled up, it seemed that the driver was a teacher of Shujin, going by his jersey, offering the girl a ride. Akira got the offer as well, but he refused, something in the man made his skin prickle. "Damnit... Screw that pervy teacher." A thuggish guy with the same uniform as Akira was stomping his feet in anger. When Akira questioned the outburst, the guy got defensive and accused him of wanting to snitch.

But once they started chatting, the guy managed to figure Akira was a transfer, informing him of the teacher's, Kamoshida's, tendencies of strutting by Shujin as if he were the king of a castle. Akira glanced at his phone and sighted the clock. "We should go, or we'll be late." The weird app was still on, but he figured it was no big deal. "Yeah, let's hoof it. Ngh-!" The pair felt woozy for a moment as if they had just gotten off a twisty roller-coaster.

"That was freaky, was the milk spoiled?" They shook their heads to dispel it. "Hey dude, I know a shortcut, come on." As they walked the narrow alley, Akira felt that he stepped on something strange, but there was nothing. "Whoa!" The blond thug was gawking at the imposing castle, stating that they had taken the correct route, then they noticed the plaque, Shujin Academy. "What's goin' on?" The duo decided to go to the castle and find answers.

It was a huge mistake. They got thrown into the dungeon, faced a quasi-naked Kamoshida, and almost died. Akira flexed his hand and touched his face, still recalling that he ripped off flesh with the mask, just to awaken some strange power. Then there was the talking... cat? Some kind of critter had barked orders to the teens and spouted things about Personas or whatever.

He was now facing the fifth period of his class, hearing the slanderous mutterings aimed at him. And there were those wondering about him and the girl sitting in front of him, Takamaki. Oh well, let them speak, he didn't care. - Once classes were over, he felt a surge of nausea crash on him, making him briefly glimpse the castle and his teacher asked if he had health issues before starting a nagging session.

Ryuji came just in time to save his ears from getting rotted off by the monotonous lecture, calling him up to the rooftop. Too bad he had to hear the principal and Kamoshida argue over his attendance. - As he had expected, Ryuji wanted to talk about the mysterious castle, asking out loud if that was just a freaky shared daydream. Then he did something Akira didn't expect. "You know, we're quite similar."

"I feel that we're gonna get along just fine as this school's troublemakers." He felt oddly drained after going through that weird sequence of events. But the silver lining was that he might have one person in Shujin who treated him with respect. Sakamoto Ryuji was truly similar to him, scorned by the general crowd. Although he did almost get the police's aggro on them by speaking like a lunatic or a druggie on a high.

~You look exhausted~

"Night stakeouts are the worst..." The woman was keeping watch for a possible appearance of a petty thief that was raiding this convenience store, keeping hold of a St*rbucks cup. "Where's the guy that would switch with me?" She blinked hard to make the Sandman scram. A movement in an alley caught her eye, it was the cat who messed with her the other day, it had a smile on its muzzle and its whiskers were twitching.

"Hmp... That castle seems to hold some clues, I wonder if I can get that frizzly-hair to help me." Naoto froze, cup half raised. "Did the cat just speak?" Her lucky break was that she didn't start drinking, she might have spat the coffee with the surprise. But before she could catch it, the cat dashed away with peppy steps. "Castle? And who is this frizzly-hair?" She hoped to find the animal soon, she now had the thief in her sights.

Author-

The way I wrote this chapter isn't confusing, right?