A.N: We last said chapter 3 had two teams editing. The second one was Mizuki's brother. So here is his version of Chapter 3. Please note he is only doing this for chapter 3 to help his sister out. IF you want to read more of his style the two of them work together on The lost Composer of London. So please check out his writing on that story.

We are still looking for editors and Beta reader. Please message or comment to Mizuki if interested.

(Tuesday 4/12)

Akira's eyes fluttered open at the arrival of dawn. She scanned the room, half expecting a Shadow to pop out of the dust or something, before grabbing her phone to check the time. Two hours before she had to catch the train to Shujin. Was that enough time to get in a shower? Probably not, but Akira felt like the dust had adhered to all the sweat on her skin, so nuts to it.

She anchored her leg over the side of the bed and leveraged herself up. A little closer to consciousness, her memory played peekaboo with whatever dream she had last night.

"I had another strange dream...Fate...and Awakening?" she muttered to the napping spider in the corner. Akira thought about the nonsense from yesterday. "Was it all a dream? Maybe I blacked out from the nervousness." She shook her head and got up; probably best to just get ready for school. Her uniform was tucked away in a cardboard box with the rest of her stuff. She pulled it out and changed into the nice crisp cloth.

Akira trotted down the stairs to do her make up. On the way down she heard the jingling bell announce an entrance and saw Sojiro come through the door. She looked down to avoid meeting his eye, sure that he was still mad after yesterday's little incident. She ducked into the bathroom, hurriedly applied some eyeliner and a light blush, and made to escape to school making as little noise as possible.

"Change the sign to open on the way out," Sojiro told her as he prepared for the day's customers. "Also don't forget to grab an umbrella. It is raining outside."

Akira noticed there wasn't as much anger in his voice like she expected. Maybe he'd just forgotten and was riding on a resting calm, and she had no problem with that. She followed his advice and ran upstairs to grab her umbrella, then waved goodbye. Walking out she flipped the sign over and opened her umbrella.

The walk to the subway was wet and eventless, but Akira still caught herself checking corners and staring at passerby. "Paranoia doesn't suit you," she chastised herself under her breath. Once on the train Akira found an inconspicuous spot and listened to the passenger's chitchat. People were still talking about the train incident that occurred two days ago. She'd only seen the news in bits and pieces on the internet. People keep bringing up the mental shutdowns. She remembered hearing about them back in her hometown when her classmates would bring it up.

But listening to the people who lived where the incidents were actually taking place was a lot different and a tad frightening compared to how her town would talk about it like some folk tale. In most cases, they were involved with farmers and the market especially since Inaba was recovering from the fog incident.

From what she'd heard a few murders threw the town into a panic. As well as put more resources into catching the killer, the authorities ignored farmers' warnings that the fog and endless rains would ruin their crops; it overall caused them to rely on other farming towns nearby, and the local economy plummeted.

The talking continued as they discussed that the news didn't help it seemed like Tokyo was a much more depressed city than she thought. The train finally reached her stop and the doors mercifully opened and let out the flood.

On her way out Akira overheard two Shujin students gossiping. Usually she'd leave them be, but she had a little time left before class started. The two were complaining about being possibly late, how Ryuji got into another fight, as well as some rumors about herself. It was almost funny: Akira had been there barely half a week and she was already kind of infamous.

'Infamous for a thing I didn't do,' she thought ruefully as the girls walked by. But what was that about Ryuji? He did seem like a total punk, but then again that's what they thought about her too. So clearly they were just stupid. 'Yeah girl, thinking like that will totally separate yourself from the stigma.' Her phone buzzed its impatience at her to get to class, and like a good little high school student she obeyed.

The walls of every high school have eyes; that's a mostly figurative statement, but Akira would have easily believed faces boring out of the painted drywall and glaring at her like she was the most unnatural thing in the room. For the entire two minutes between walking in the front door and walking into her homeroom, Akira was greeted with seven dirty looks, five disparaging giggles, twenty fearful glances, and one lower-classman who nearly fell over trying to avoid her path. Apparently "laying low" wasn't going to be an option that the rest of the world would let her take.

Homeroom offered little escape, but soon a teacher entered and the room went silent; it felt like heaven to Akira. The teacher introduced himself as , their social studies teacher.

He went on about what they would be learning, made a few comments about his students because of course he did, and generally just fell into the comfortable groove of "unlikeable teacher." The normalcy was a nice change of pace.

Akira listened, kind of, sort of, technically. Words were definitely being spoken and she was definitely hearing them. She just also happened to be looking at the wall thinking about the color purple. Weird, weird dream. Somewhere, at some point, the name Kurusu was uttered and Akira immediately pretended she had been listening the whole time.

"Yes Mr. Ushimaru?" she answered, turning her attention to the teacher entirely.

"The Greek philosopher Plato divided the human soul into three parts," the teacher started and Akira regretted all of life. "A soul is composed of appetite, spirit, and what else?" he asked. The little curve at the edge of his mouth might as well have been a derogatory slur written in giant red capital letters.

'You want me to get this wrong,' she accused him silently. 'Prove I'm not supposed to be here? Well unlucky for you buster the Greek philosophers were only good at one thing: using big words to explain obvious crap! Also, I freaking learned this a month ago!... Ah crap.'

'Okay, deep breaths girl, it's just the three aspects of the psyche. Id, Ego, and Superego. Id is our animal instinct, our guts or something like that, so that's appetite. Spirit is like… civilization or human morals I guess? That's like love and compassion and all that, which is Superego. So that leaves Ego, the decision-making part that has to parse out all the information from the Id and the Superego to create an action. It's the most conscious part. So that would be…'

"I believe it was Logic sir." The surprise on Ushimaru's dumb face was like a warm taiyaki for Akira's ego.

"Correct." He said, actually applauding her. "So you knew that, huh?" He concealed his shock poorly.

"Of course I do. You might think I'm a delinquent, but I don't neglect my studies," she came very close to saying out loud.

The class went on as he explained the rather self-explanatory concept further, but Akira was busy gloating internally. The white girl in front of her, Ann she remembered, was watching her. Akira turned her eyes back to the teacher, and Ann did the same.

After the class was dismissed, Akira saw Anne talking with Kamoshida. Akira quickly hid behind a corner to listen in. A boy gave her a weird look, which was justified, so she showed her teeth and growled, which was stupid but did succeed in making the boy leave. Bonuses of being a circumstantial criminal, she supposed.

At first, the two exchange greetings and the gym teacher offered Ann a ride home. The subject of accidents came up. Evidently the rash of mental shutdown accidents had scared Ann into not wanting to be in Tokyo at all.

Ann politely declined, citing a photoshoot as her excuse. Was she a model? Didn't exactly have the figure, but she was pretty fashionable. Plus, Akira thought mockingly, she was exotic enough for both Western and Japanese audiences to get the free attention. Just then she noticed that Ann looked rather uncomfortable.

Kamoshida, cheerful as an elementary schoolboy with a lollipop, warned her not to work too hard. Was this the same man from the castle? If so, he was either a great actor or just legitimately cared about Ann for one reason or another. She kept listening until Kamoshida guessed she might be sick with something.

Huh, that might explain it. There was a bug going around, maybe Ann caught something? 'Crap, I sit right next to her!'

Then Ann said "Appendicitis." And that is what Akira, in her professional opinion, would call a bold-faced lie of such ridiculous stature as to be laughable. Appendicitis was the sort of disease that has you doubled over in pain as your internal organs go on strike and threaten to bring down the entire factory if they don't get rid of the shriveled up rotten turd calling itself an important part of the system. You get put on the emergency surgery list with Appendicitis, not in a car to a photoshoot like it's a tummy ache. And, even more ridiculously, Kamoshida bought it!

So, the obvious question remained, why lie?

The two continued, and Kamoshida mentioned keeping Ann's friend at practice. That was pretty basic, a tournament was coming up and coaches were generally hard asses around that time of year.

"Oh, and be careful around that transfer student. She's got a criminal record, after all." Kamoshida finished with. Lovely, he remembers her. That's going to lead to great things.

Ann merely thanked him for his worry and excused herself from the building.

Not a second passed after Ann's departure before Kamoshida started scowling and muttering to himself. That was truly a face that only a mother could see and confidently proclaim "Meh, he'll do." Suddenly she became very worried for Ann's well being.

But there was nothing to about it that day. Akira was hungry and she just so happened to live in a cafe. All in all, life could be worse.

Akira had intended to go straight back to Leblanc and raid the fridge, and probably take a shower in the back. She also intended to do her homework that night. Intentions were one thing. The reality was Ryuji popping out in front of her like a monster from the tall grass.

"Yo," he chirped.

"Are you stalking me?" she deflected him. That led to a lovely spasming of denial from the punk.

"What no?! I was just waiting for you!" Stalkers can wait.

Akira wasn't sure if she was annoyed or having fun with the guy. Her stomach insisted annoyance. "So why were you waiting for me?"

"I wanna talk about that castle from yesterday," he answered, eager to get off the stalker thing.

"You mean the one with the talking cat?"

Ryuji nodded "I tried telling myself it was all just a dream... but I couldn't do it. I can't act as if nothing happened. It's all connected to that bastard Kamoshida, after all." He growled that last bit, clearly on the edge of a tirade at the mere mention of the slimy gym coach.

He looked up and smiled at Akira like a monkey who was about to bite off your ear. "And y'know. You're the only person I can rely on for this stuff. So, you in?"

'Oh my gosh this idiot wants to go BACK,' Akira realized. 'That pervy castle was a pulsing death trap and he wants to go back. Ha, dude's got some guts I'll give him that.' She stopped for a second: there was a lot of weird nonsense going on. Something, or someone, clearly wanted Akira in that castle. The persistent phone app had something to do with that. Heck, a dude popped out of her and killed monsters! Because she told him too! That alone was kind of cool. Perhaps a quick trip back wasn't such a terrible idea. 'Well okay, it is a terrible idea. But a terrible idea that I can get behind!'

"Alright, deal." Akira nodded, showing no desire to do this whatsoever. "But if something else happens we drop this."

The bloodthirsty monkey nodded happily. "Right then. Let's retrace our steps from yesterday." He turned around and set off for adventure, and Akira took the opportunity to readjust her glasses and glance at his butt. She missed the hot guys at her old school who didn't think she was a hardened criminal.

'So you know,' Akira thought to herself. 'If you get caught somehow then your "hardened criminal" rap sheet will practically double in length.'

'Yeah, from one fake charge to one fake charge and breaking and entering a place that doesn't exist and killing monsters,' she responded to herself before realizing how insane that was. Think like a normal person. 'This could draw a huge amount of unwanted attention, which goes directly against the keep calm and don't piss anyone off plan I had going. Kamoshida didn't remember what happened the last time, but that isn't a guarantee he never will.'

The two followed the path they had strayed through yesterday, but at the end there was no castle. Only a lovely blue sky and some taller buildings.

"When'd they build something like a castle though?" The monkey scratched his head, bemused.

"Let's walk back," Akira suggested. "We might have taken a wrong turn or something."

Ryuji nodded and they retraced their steps again. Okay, there was the school now. No castle.

"There wasn't anything out of place along the way right? I don't see the castle either..." Ryuji hunched even more, frustrated "We must've made a wrong turn somewhere," he insisted.

"No, we went the exact way," Akira said and grabbed her phone. Sojiro would be mad if she was late again, and this was starting to feel like a waste of time. There was the creepy Hell app staring at her.

She suddenly remembered a fragment of her dream in the Velvet Room. What did they call this thing again? While Akira was thinking she didn't notice Ryuji spying on her phone, and out of nowhere he ripped it out of her hand.

"Hey give that back!"

She snatched at the phone but Ryuji held it high above his head. Akira looked him dead in the eye. "I'm not going to jump for that, but I will kick you so hard you grandchildren will be born crippled."

"Relax, I'll give it back," Ryuji assured her, turning his hips ninety degrees away. "I'm just looking at this app." He pushed the Eye icon as Akira folded her arms and debated using a cute face. She then heard a robotic female voice intone some keywords.

"Kamoshida...Shujin Academy...Pervert...Castle." The app said. Akira looked over at the phone and Ryuji grinned self-satisfactorily, lowering his arm to show her the screen.
"Beginning navigation."

"There we go!" Ryuji exclaimed, and Akira yanked her phone away from him. Just then she looked back at the world and froze.

"Hey, what're you-" he started before seeing what Akira was looking at. "What the hell?"

Darkness overtook them like a bellowing gust, deep and all-encompassing. Little veins of color scratched into the absence, purples and reds intermingling and melting into solids. Matter took shape, polygons and hard edges cut into sight like toads leaping from shallow water. The castle emerged from nothing and wobbled in space as though it were setting gelatin, distorted and grungy. Along with this distortion Akira was swallowed up and spat out in her Persona wardrobe.

"We made it back..." Ryuji muttered, looking around to make sure he didn't fall into the world or something. "This means what happened yesterday was for real too…" He turned to get a sign from Akira that he wasn't crazy.

He nearly jumped out of his own socks. "Yeargh! Those clothes!" Akira looked down and half-twirled, lifting up the trench coat dress thing. 'You know, these are actually really comfy.'

She let herself laugh, verbally this time. "Guess we can confirm we are at our destination." She scanned the area, curious if that cat would appear again. Ryuji, very obviously, was still staring at her.

"Whats with the outfit!?" he yelled.

Akira cocked an eyebrow. "Why is it a problem?" Pink started to tickle at Ryuji's cheeks.

"What no!" he shouted stupidly, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking at the ground like a child. "This makes no effn' sense at all..." Ryuji muttered to himself.

"Hey!" A familiar childish voice hissed at them, and out from the shadows emerged the cartoon cat Morgana. He ('She? Gonna go with he.') was glaring at them both like they'd been throwing rocks at a moose. "Stop making a commotion."

Ryuji jumped back again when he saw the cat; he was likely to fall over at some point.m"Ah...You!?" he hissed back.

Morgana raised a paw to the castle. "The shadows started acting up, so I came here wondering what it could be..." He crossed his paws and tapped his… also paw. Ah nuts to it, paws and feet. He tapped his foot. "To think you guys would come back to the entrance when you barely managed to escape."

"What is this place? Is it the school?" Ryuji asked.

Morgana nodded. "That's right."

"But it's a castle!" Morgana hushed him again and checked for unwanted attention.

"The castle IS the school" Morgana explained. "But only to this castle's ruler."

Akira thought about that. 'Okay that cinches it, this place isn't real. If it is and isn't the school then obviously we're in some kind of funhouse mirror dimension.'

"So, unless I'm off base here, it's what he sees himself as in the school that's giving this place the medieval feng shui?"

Morgana focused his eyes on Akira in that creepy way only cats and snakes could, and nodded. "I think you called him Kamoshida?" She nodded. "You are correct, this how his distorted heart views the school."

'Distorted heart,' Akira repeated in her head. She rolled the phrase around, bounced it off a few walls, and eventually came up with the exact same words. 'No other way of interpreting that. This place is a Jungian nightmare.'

"Kamoshida... Distorted?" Ryuji looked confused. "Explain it in a way that makes sense!"

The two started bickering and Akira tuned them out, until a blood-curdling scream burst out of the castle. That shut everybody up very efficiently and grabbed their attention.

"What was that!?" Ryuji yelled, breaking his voice a little.

"It must be the slaves captive here," Morgana said, his ears folding back out of discomfort.

"For real!?" Ryuji exclaimed in disbelief. Another scream answered. "Oh, shit. It's for real!"

It took some time for both sides to explain their situations to the other. Ryuji explained how he couldn't just sit around thinking about everything he'd seen. Morgana explained how Kamoshida enjoyed "training" his slaves, and lectured the two for coming back after Morgana had gone to all the trouble of getting them out. Akira chose not to divulge how she really just wanted to see if she could fight more monsters; the idea of finding them frightening was not at all appealing, and she had decided to deal with that potential phobia by stabbing them repeatedly. It was an extreme therapy, but one she liked.

"Ryuji...?" Morgana said, suddenly noticing how Ryuji was seething.

"This is bullshit!" he screamed out of nowhere and charged the castle door like a bull. It wouldn't budge, so Ryuji just yelled at it and started punching the wood. Morgana and Akira approached the raging punk cautiously.

"Doing that isn't going to open it, you know?" Morgana said, wildly turning to see the guards that must be coming for them by now. "Still, it seems you have your reasons."

Ryuji spastically spun around. It didn't seem like he had heard a word that the cat had said.

"Hey, Monamona!"

"It's Morgana!" he corrected, annoyed.

"Do you know where those voices are coming' from?"

Morgana turned his head and squinted in confusion. "You want me to take you to them?" He paused, contemplative. "Well, I guess I could guide you there. But only if she comes with us." He indicated to Akira.

"Why?" Akira asked. "I mean I totally will, but still."

"I just want to get a better look at your powers," Morgana replied simply. Akira felt like he was being dismissive, but didn't push it. "Even if didn't agree, I bet this guy will go on even if he has to do it alone. I don't think you would leave him here."

Akira looked over at Ryuji. He was panting and his knuckles were torn like paper, skin curling inward and slowly dying. The image of impotent rage felt familiar to her.

"Yeah. Fair."

"It's settled then!" Morgana jumped up happily. It was an oddly extreme reaction, Akira noted.

"Thanks, man," Ryuji smacked her shoulder like they were soccer players.

"No problem."

Morgana led them in through a vent in the side of the castle. The place was just as musty and twisted as the last time Akira had been there.

"Man this place is as creepy as always," Ryuji said with a shudder.

"Mm-hmm." Morgana grunted inattentively. "Now, make sure you do exactly as I say, all right?" They nodded and the three took off into the depths of the castle. Sneaking through the foyer, they suddenly became distinctly aware of reality screaming at them; physicality shifted and reformed, color dove into itself and resurfaced anew, and the air solidified as stone evaporated. It all transformed around their very skin into the Shujin gymnasium and back again.

'... I don't like that. Nope, don't like that at all.'

Ryuji seemed to agree because they both ran ahead of Morgana to the door before space decided to have another identity crisis. Morgana dashed back up to them and they ran down a spiral staircase into the castle's dungeon.

Morgana held out his paw and directed them behind cover. He silently pointed forward toward a patrolling knight clanking down the waterway.

"Alright," Morgana whispered, "here's the plan. If we can catch the guard with his back turned…" Akira had already left.

She was trying to sprint at the unaware guard as quietly as possible. 'Please don't turn around please don't turn around please don't turn around.'

"SHOW ME YOUR TRUE SELF!" She screamed, jumping on the metal man's back to rip his face off. The Shadow burst from its armor, revealing a pumpkin headed pyromaniac that looked like it just crawled out of a crypt. Leaping away before it ate her, Akira positioned herself to attack.

Morgana ran up beside her. "Okay, good technique, but no shouting. This is a STEALTH mission."

"I make no promises. Arsene!" She tore off the mask and the hellish Persona materialized from flame behind her. "Eiga!" With a wave of his hand tendrils of darkness ripped at the Jack-o-Lantern. While it was distracted Morgana charged forward and cut the Shadow down in a spurt of blood and yen.

Morgana started grabbing fistfulls of cash and shoved it in his pockets. Akira examined one of the coins: it was an authentic hundred yen mint, nice and weighty. She flipped it, savoring that perfect metallic clink, and pocketed it.

Ryuji eventually crept out of his hiding place and rejoined the party while Akira was bent over picking up coins. He hovered behind her, not saying a word.

"Enjoying the view back there?" Akira said, catching him staring at her rear. She stood up and sneered at him with her hand on her hip. Ryuji turned away and kept walking through the dungeon. Akira chuckled and followed after him. "It's great, I know! You can admit it!"

"Shaddup," Ryuji barked.

After spending a while wandering the dank corridors, Akira spotted those cages they had seen the prisoners held in yesterday. The dangled flaccidly from rusty chains, completely empty.

Ryuji's eyes widened and a vein bulged out of his temple. "Dammit, they were here before! Where'd they go!?"

"Quiet down!" Morgana ordered softly. He pointed towards a set of guards passing by them, oblivious. Akira wondered if she could ambush both of them.

"Oh, yeah there were more of 'em further in too...!" Ryuji remembered and bolted further down the passage. Akira locked eyes with Morgana, who was just about done with Ryuji at this point, and shrugged apologetically. Just as his footsteps faded into the distance they heard them come back. Ryuji sprinted past them.

"Crap, I hear footsteps comin'! Lot's of them!" He dashed around in a frenzy for a hiding place. Morgana leapt into a similar panic and dashed into a door hidden in the corner.

"We should be able to hide in here until they leave," he called to them. They filled the room and Morgana quickly latched the door. Outside the guards could be heard passing by. "The Shadows will not follow us in here," Morgana said confidently.

Akira brushed a bit of dirt off her coat, and that's when she noticed it: thin carpeting curling in and out of the stone floor. On the walls paint dried and melted away every few seconds in a constant loop. The room, just like the foyer, was cyclically transforming into the school.

"Oh…" she gurgled nausea in her throat and closed her eyes. Even the air was shifting between the grime of a castle and the poor air conditioning of a school. She could feel it on her neck, in her hair, creeping over her like ephemeral insects. The only parts of her body that felt normal were where her clothes covered, which gave Akira a new appreciation for tights and the dumb mask. Eventually her eyes bravely opened back up, and she saw Ryuji holding his head and shaking in a chair that changed shape under him. 'He doesn't have any protection,' Akira realized. 'I just have to look at it with a few uncovered spots. He's completely exposed,'

"This place is insane," Akira turned to Morgana. "Is this really the only safe spot in here?"

Morgana nodded. "There's a lack of distortion here, meaning the ruler's control over this area is weak."

"...Which means no Shadows," Akira concluded.

"Can't even get in," Morgana confirmed.

"I'm not sure I want to be in a place like this either," she said, rubbing her arms as she watched electric lights explode into and out of the ceiling. "And is it safe for…" she nodded towards Ryuji minutely. Morgana frowned and scratched his ear.

"The weak distortion is physically harmless. It's weird, and I wouldn't stare at one spot for too long, but it can't hurt you."

"It's fine," Ryuji spoke through his teeth. "We can stay as long as we need to. If it means gettin' that bastard…" He trailed off into his thoughts.

"You really hate this guy," Morgana noted. "Don't you?"

Laughter sprung up out of Ryuji's grit teeth and his eyes flared. "Hate doesn't even cover how I feel," he said, and his mouth gaped open as if to take a breathe. "Everything is that asshole's fault!" His tone was almost sinister. Loathing practically drooled out of his mouth, and Akira, the one with the knife and the magic mask, felt intimidated. But more than that she felt a certain kinship in their rage, and she admired the electricity in his eyes.

Morgana's ears folded back and he looked away. "I don't know what happened between you two, but don't let your emotions get the better of you," Morgana warned. "His lackeys are everywhere inside." He then turned his focus to Akira.

"You're curious about your outfit, aren't you?"

Akira paused, then nodded. "I can't feel the distorted air through it."

"Yeah. I'm curious as hell about it too." Ryuji states, turning his head away from the wall.

"That's also because of this world," Morgana said.

"More stuff that makes no sense..." Ryuji muttered.

"Yeah," Akira agreed. "That's way too vague."

"Anything distorts according to how a ruler pleases within his Palace. A school turns into a castle like this after all." Morgana started over, scratching his ear like he was bored. "In order to prevent such distortion, one must hold a powerful will of rebellion. Your appearance is a manifestation of that. It's the image of rebellion that you hold within."

"... That's… so… It's protection. That just looks like a coat you'd find at a steampunk convention. And it came out of my heart because I won't deal with people's shit."

"Basically."

Ryuji's face screwed up in confusion. "Uugh, I'm so fed up with all of this!" he yelled. "I'm more curious about you than her clothes! What the hell are you anyways!?"

"That does need explaining too," Akira agreed, while also secretly trying to change her clothes with her mind. "You look like a cancelled cereal mascot."

Morgana jumped on the table and pounded his paw against his chest. "I'm human- an honest- to-god human!"

Akira and Ryuji stared at the display of confident delusion. "No, you're obviously more like a cat!" Ryuji said, pointing at Morgana's body.

The feline looked down, a weird amalgamation of sadness and confusion drowning his posture. Akira squeed internally and resolved to cuddle with him at a more appropriate time. Her coat also refused to grow any fancy fur, so she gave up on that endeavor.

"This is, well…" Morgana stumbled, uncertain of his own words. "It's because I lost my true form. I think..."

"Okay," Akira said softly. "'You think.' Do you know what happened to your true form?"

He shook his head, but then he brightened up spontaneously. "But I do know how to regain my true form.

"The reasons I snuck in here was for a preliminary investigation of those means. Well, I ended up getting caught though..." Morgana's ears twitched up and down with the rapid rise and fall of his mood, it was like watching a bird."Besides. I've been tortured by Kamoshida too! I'm gonna make him pay for sure!" He raised the paw in determination, and Akira was positive he thought that this was supposed to be imposing and inspiring. She was DEFINITELY going to cuddle this tiny cat boy. 'Man? How old even is he? Is he a he? No, not going back down this hole. Tiny cat boy. Snuggle. End of story.'

"What is this, a comic book? This is seriously crazy..." Ryuji muttered. Akira gave him a light elbow in the head.

"If we're gonna keep going, we should hurry along," Morgana eventually announced.

"I'll be counting on your skills this time too, rookie," he added, addressing Akira. "Got it?"

Akira chuckled and puffed out her coat. "Like you weren't already? Let's go beat something up."

Suddenly, at the discretion of no one, Ryuji pulled out a gun. "What is that?!" Akira yelled, instinctively flinching away.

"Don't worry," he said, waving the firearm nonchalantly. "I'm not gonna force it on you. I thought I might help, so. I brought this just in case! It's a model gun though, so it only makes sounds."

"Wha?... WHY WOULD YOU NEED A MODEL GUN?! It can't shoot anything! Where did you even find that?"

"There a shop in the city that sells them," he answered, shrugging.

"That's a toy!" Morgana pointed out, since Ryuji clearly hadn't heard Akira.

"But it looks genuine," Ryuji said proudly. "So it'll at least fake 'em out."

Morgana and Akira looked at each other, then back at Ryuji. Would Shadows who think they're knights even know what a handgun is?

Ryuji pulled a brown paper bag out of the same pocket the model gun came out of. "I brought some medicine too. You know what they say: 'Providin'; is pre...something.' Huh? Huh?"

"So you were planning this from the start..." Morgana realized with a sigh. The monkey waited for a treat that would never come. "Well, fine if you're ready to go, we'll resume our infiltration.

Ryuji handed Akira the model gun and the medicine. She looked at the fake hunk of metal resting in the palm of her gloved hand, then tucked it in her belt.

"Show me your true self!"

The Shadow emerged from its destroyed armor, revealing itself as the skimpily dressed Pixie.

'Huh, you look skittish,' Akira thought, grabbing Ryuji's model gun. 'Might as well see what good this can be.' She pulled up the glock without aiming particularly carefully and shot. The bang was impressive, she had to give the manufacturer credit. The muzzle flash was a nice touch, and so was the gush of blood that exploded out of the Pixie's stomach.

"Wait what?" The Shadow fell limply into a growing pool of blood, and Akira dropped the gun like it had turned into a spider. "HOLY SHIT RYUJI I THOUGHT YOU SAID IT WAS FAKE!"

"It is fake!" Ryuji yelled from cover. "Or it should be? Crap, did I accidentally buy a real gun?!"

"Everybody calm down," Morgana mediated. "The gun is fake! Remember, 'distortion based on perception.' The model looks so real that in this world it might as well be!" He turned his gaze back to the Shadow; it was pushing itself off the ground, slipping in its own oozing blood. "Not quite as effective though. Hey rookie, why don't we go all out and finish her off?"

Akira picked the real fake gun off the floor, Suddenly the weight it pressed into her felt much more satisfying. A deranged grin cut across her face as she pulled out her knife and held both weapons at her sides.

"Oh, you're finished!"

The assault was too swift to really perceive, and too gruesome to want to. The Shadow's body exploded and yen rained on Akira's bloody head. Ryuji walked up and offered her a bit of cloth he'd found somewhere. She wiped her face down and collected a few bills as they floated past her.

"You look high," Ryuji said cautiously.

Akira blushed a bit and pocketed the money. "High on adrenaline. Working out some stuff, you know?"

He nodded. "Yeah." He raised his hand, paused, then slid it behind his head. "Yeah, I know."

They continued on, sneaking past the guards they could, until they reached a door into...

"Kamoshida's...Training Hall.. Of Love?" Ryuji read. "What kinda bullshit is this!?" He looked at the banner again, as if he thought he must have read it incorrectly, and then turned to the other two. No one had anything to say.

Inside, things were eerily silent. A few Shadows patrolled the hall, blocking the path forward. Akira, using tactical finger pointing, told Morgana to circle around and flank the guard opposite them while Akira ambushed the second that was standing by the doorway. They got into position, readied their blades, and struck the two from behind revealing their forms. Akira rolled back and shot at the first Shadow in the neck, dropping it. Morgana summoned Zoro and a flurry of wind knocked the other on the ground. Not giving them a moment to breathe, Akira and Morgana dashed at them and cut the Shadows to pieces.

"Heh, we're getting good at this," Akira remarked, stooping down to collect her bounty. Suddenly screams pierced the air; Akira froze as Ryuji and Morgana formed up with her. They looked at each other for a few seconds in silence before dashing toward the source of the cries.

Akira wasn't entirely sure what she had expected. The slaves kept in cages, Kamoshida's shameless wardrobe, the name of this room, they were all obvious hints. And yet somehow, despite all of this, she was still taken aback in shock at the sight of it.

The bodies were tied to a volleyball net, wrapped in volleyball uniforms, twisting and screaming at the beating they were being given by a line of Shadows.

"Dammit! This is bullshit!" Ryuji yelled.

"How many times do I have to tell you to keep your voice down!?" Morgana warned him again.

"But this is beyond messed up!" he yelled just as loudly.

Then another voice called out from a cell nearby. "Stop it!" One of the athletes approached the cell bars, panicked. Another one hobbled beside the first. "If we stay obedient, we won't be executed like you guys!"

Ryuji was awash with a baffled anger. "You're tellin' me you wanna stay in place like this!?"

Morgana lit up with a sudden realization. "Wait a minute… Were you planning on taking these guys out of here?"

The two started to fight, but Akira was not listening to them. Instead she had approached the pair of athletes who had come just to tell Ryuji to shut up. Something about them was odd, but she couldn't quite place it…

'"Stop it." That voice… I heard you at school today. I saw you at school today!' She didn't know his name, but he was the kid who had tripped himself trying to get away from her that morning. And now he was here? In Kamoshida's brain castle? No, that wouldn't make sense. It was impossible, Kamoshida clearly didn't even know this place existed, let alone know how to bring other people here. Which could only mean that…

"They aren't real people." She turned back to tell the others, but not only had Morgana already known this, he'd been yelling at Ryuji for not knowing it. This was a subconscious space, everything was the distorted reflection of a personal reality.

"Oh no…" Akira reached the logical conclusion of all this information. "Ryuji, this is happening for real. Not this with the…" She waved her hand at the Shadows and the active torture. "But he's abusing the real team. Oh my God, he's abusing them and getting away with it!"

Ryuji looked down as the Shadows rotated out victims, tying the two who they'd spoken with up to the net. "I'll use these guys as evidence." He took out his phone. "If it all goes well, we can take down that asshole Kamoshida…" Ryuji stopped and took a double take at his phone. He tapped the screen a few times.

"..Huh? It's not workin'!?" He turned to show her the phone; it sat on the menu screen, and Ryuji tapped the camera icon. Nothing happened. "We can use the navigation app, but the camera's a no go!?"

Akira pulled out her phone and tapped a few icons. Nothing opened, not even her storage file.

"A navigation app?" Morgana questioned. Akira held out her phone, pointing at the evil eye.

"It brought us here," she explained. "Refuses to stay off my phone too."

"Whatever you do is fine, but we're gonna get caught if we stand around like this," he said disregarding the information. "We need to head back!"

"In a sec," Ryuji answered, turning back to the cage. "If my stupid camera won't work I'll just memorize their faces. Work everything out later."

Ryuji insisted that they visit each individual cell so he could get a good look at every prisoner, and they were all horrific. In one cell victims ran from spikes on a giant treadmill going at full speed. In another students were tied to the wall as Shadows hurled razor-spiked volleyballs at them. Akira couldn't look away from the travesty, it was too inhuman.

"Got them all. Let's go." Ryuji finally said. They rushed to leave the area.

They reached the foyer; it was quiet, not a Shadow in sight. Without a moment's hesitation the three dashed toward the door. Out of nowhere Shadows burst from the floor and completely surrounded them.

"What where did they come from?!" Ryuji shouted.

A rotten voice echoed through the room. "You knaves again?" Kamoshida's voice reeked with disdain. "To think you'd make the same mistake again. You're hopeless!" He yelled mockingly. It struck Akira as odd: she assumed he was talking to all of them about trespassing again, but he was only facing Ryuji. Was there something else he could be referring to?

"This school ain't your castle!" Ryuji spat. "I've memorized their faces real good. You're goin' down!"

Kamoshida scoffed "It seems it's true when they say 'barking dogs seldom bite.' How far the star runner of the track team has fallen." Kamoshida shook his head with a nasty sneer.

"The hell are you gettin' at!?"

Kamoshida's yellow eyes flashed with malice. "I speak of the 'Track Traitor' who acted in violence, ending his teammates' dreams."

"Oh cut the crap," Akira interrupted, hovering her hand over her gun. Putting a bullet in fake-Kamoshida was a highly appealing idea, but she couldn't be too careless. With them surrounded by guards, they needed to create an opening. "Traitor? Violence? You realize how dumb that sounds right?" Akira caught Ryuji fidgeting out of the corner of her eye.

Shadow Kamoshida looked confused now, looking between Ryuji and Akira. "He betrayed his teammates and crushed their hopes and dreams, yet he still carries on as carefree as ever."

Ryuji was quick to deny his claims again, but his voice was weaker and less certain than before. Kamoshida simply held up his hand to shut them up, then snapped his fingers. Three guards moved out of the circle and freed themselves of their armor to reveal what Akira could only call demon unicorns, except with two horns. Bicorns.

"Goddamnit..." Ryuji growled impotently as the Shadows formed around them.

"Ryuji, move!" Morgana ordered. Ryuji slinked away, giving them room to fight, but couldn't escape the formation of Shadows.

"You will pay for opposing King Kamoshida!" one of the Shadows whinnied as it charged at Akira. She avoided being impaled, but got the wind knocked out of her from a glancing blow.

"Gack!" she sputtered. Another Bicorn charged while she was winded and rammed right into her chest. She slid across the floor, suddenly tasting blood. Morgana bounced next to her, but he landed on his feet. He was bleeding above the eye.

"Get up," he ordered. "We lose, we die. And dammit I'm not dying here!" Akira pushed herself off the ground and spat a globule of red on the floor.

"You know," she said, wiping her lip with her gun, "I remember I used to like unicorns. Cool magical rhyno horses? Sign me up. You guys though, you're just assholes. Arsene!" She tore off her mask and the Persona erupted from behind her. Inky black darkness stretched from his fingers and lashed out at the first Bicorn. It barely winced, neighing in laughter. 'Eiga won't work. Greaaaaat.' Arsene shrugged and returned to the mask, completely useless.

"Magic horses huh?" the Shadow taunted her, whipping its horns in a circular motion. "You want magic? I'll show you magic!" The air whirled faster and faster between its horns before abruptly shooting out and knocking Akira in the head. Her skull shook with a sick ringing, and she was momentarily disoriented.

"Morgana?!" she called toward the blurry black and white figure. "Help please!"

Morgana grimaced. After some thought he called out his Persona and it weaved its sword into a magic symbol. Akira's daze melted away, and her ribs stretched back to where they were supposed to be. Blood still gushed into her mouth, but it was an improvement.

The second Shadow appeared from the side and slammed into Morgana, plastering him to the stone floor. It trampled him for good measure. Before Akira could react to this, something large and sharp jabbed at her stomach and tossed her into the air. She landed with a hard thud and lost consciousness for a few seconds.

Between the blackness she could make out Morgana getting up and running towards her. How was he even still alive? 'Costume armor. Same reason I didn't just get gored. Hell, he probably doesn't even look like that normally.'

Morgana had rushed to her side before Kamoshida pushed him down with his foot.

Ryuji watched as the two struggled to get up.

"Rgh..., You piece of-" Before Morgana could finish Kamoshida put his weight down on him.

Akira woke up enough to see Ryuji panicking, looking frantically for a way out. She could see the rage writhing in his gut, he must have wanted to tear Kamoshida's stomach out. But he wasn't like Akira or Morgana, he didn't have a Persona or any protection.

"No..." It sounded like he was miles away.

For a moment Kamoshida's gaze fell onto Akira desperately trying to get away as guards picked her up and held her by the arms.

"How dare you raise your hand at me," he said. Then Akira blacked out again, since the blood was rushing back to her extremities and left her brain to rot. She only heard one other part of the conversation.

It was Ryuji. "Everything that was important to me was taken by him... I'll never get'em back!"

Kamoshida scoffed. Akira passed out for a few seconds.

When she woke again, the vision that greeted her was Kamoshida's yellow eyes glaring at her costume. No, he was staring through her costume. She became acutely aware once again that he was only wearing underwear under that cape.

Her eyes widened and she felt her anger keeping her awake. "Go *cough* go lick a live wire." He couldn't help but laugh as he gazed upon her body, completely unfazed.

She wasn't as beautiful as his Princess, but she was certainly quite a vixen herself.

"You know yours not as threatening when bound. In fact, I dare say it is a disappointment to kill someone as lovely as you." He said, inching closer to Akira and beginning to explore her geography with his hands.

Akira's disgusted cursing was stifled under the guard's metal grip as Kamoshida found his way up to her chest. He grinned like a snake as she writhed to try and escape from his grasp, completely impotent in the iron hold that trapped her. She tried for her mask, but Arsene's assistance was out of her reach. Her skin crawled and recoiled as the slimy pig slid his sweaty mitts undershirt and bra and began to grope and fondle her directly; it was all Akira could do to not wretch every second she felt his despicable touch.

"Lady Akira!" Morgana yelled. He looked to Ryuji desperately. "If you want to prove him wrong, save her! Don't let him win!"

Ryuji looked up, and the swirling panic ebbed away. All of a sudden his frantic emotions calmed, and his righteous vengeful anger took center stage. He clenched his shaking fists and made them still.

"You're right," he said. "Everything that was important to me was taken by him. I'll never get' em back!"

Shadow Kamoshida's hands tread lower down her body. "Say there and watch," he warned. Akira separated her jaw wide enough to get her teeth around the guard's hand, and then bit down sending a sharp pain into her skull. 'Ow! Real metal. Dammit!'
"You're the real scumbag, Kamoshida!" Ryuji yelled, ignoring his threat. "All you think about is using people and playing with them like they are lowly slaves!"

He approached Kamoshida, and the sparks in his eyes became pure burning thunder. Kamoshida ordered the guards to attack.

Picking up his pace, Ryuji reared back his fist to knock that gaudy crown off of Kamoshida's head. "Now get your stinkin' hands off my friend!"

"You made me wait quite a while," a deep brooding voice suddenly rippled through Ryuji's head, doubling him over. He hit the ground, blinded by a burning halo forming over his eyes.

"You seek power, correct?" The voice ravaged his thoughts. "Then let us form a pact. Since your name has been disgraced already, why not hoist the flag and wreak havoc...? The 'other you' who exists within desires it thus...I am thou, thou art I...There is no turning back...The skull of rebellion is your flag henceforth!"

At that moment a Mask formed on Ryuji's face, bearing the grim sneer of Death. Looking up Akira noticed his eyes glowing yellow, just like her's had. Kamoshida's slimy grasp retreated, and she grinned with blood dribbling down her chin.

Kamoshida and his guards hurled insults and mockery at Ryuji, but he could not hear them. He felt so stuffed with fury and emotion, like he had been bottled up for years and the fumes were making him swell unnaturally. Only now he could finally, FINALLY rip the cap off. He tightened his fingers around the mask that stuck to his face and tore it from his flesh, skin and all. Fire bellowed from the furnace, and it forged a chain which Ryuji took hold of as the creature of his heart roared into existence.

The impressive display distracted the guard holding Akira, allowing her to kick him in the knee and escape. She rushed to Morgana's side to feed him some painkillers, then went to join Ryuji in the gunshow.

And the Persona he had summoned was surely ready for a gunshow: a massive gold cannon stuck out of its arm, which was in turn attached to the skeletal frame of the most metal pirate Akira had ever seen. Its face was a grinning skull, flanked by two crossed falchions that it didn't even appear to need. And it was riding a pirate ship, with a cartoonish shark-toothed grin, like it was a surfboard.

Ryuji lifted his face up at the Persona and gaped like a kid on Christmas day. Akira and Morgana stepped beside him and readied their weapons against the advancing Shadows.

"This effin' rocks!" he yelled gleefully as energy surged through him. "Now that I got this power, it's time for payback. Let's go Captain Kidd!"

The Persona flexed as the guards formed up and did something new: they melted into each other through their armor, becoming a massive crimson figure astride an ebony steed. He wielded a long spear, ground to a deadly point.

"Blast him away, Captain Kidd!" Ryuji yelled. Here was how the good captain interpreted this: it strutted off the grinning boat, grabbed it by the bowsprit his one hand, and slammed the lancer with a one-handed home run swing. The Shadow stumbled to the side, but remained riding.

"Woo-hoo-hoo!" Ryuji cheered as Captain Kidd mounted his ship. "That was awesome!"

Akira wasn't there to respond, she was already sweeping toward the Shadow while it was off balance to slash at the horse. Her knife aimed true and cut a gash out of its neck, loosing corrupt black and red blood. Morgana too capitalized on the opportunity and summoned his Persona to hurl a gale at the mounted knight.

The Shadow growled (from both its mouths), and raised its spear into the sky. The horse kicked up and a rain of fire exploded from the tip of the weapon. Flames blew through the three, scorching their flesh.

"Crap, magic," Ryuji muttered as his skin bubbled up in the heat. "I got magic! Captain Kidd, light 'em up!"

The Persona rode up doing a trick on the ship. It lifted its hand cannon, thunder clapped, and a streak of lightning stabbed at the Shadow's raised spear and coursed through its body. The fire ceased as smoke poured from the joints of the armor and both horse and rider seized up.

"Now!" Akira shouted, and the party bore down on the incapacitated creature like hyenas on a wounded buffalo. It left behind a great amount of money, but they were not looking at that when the weapons fell. They were all looking at Shadow Kamoshida.

"How 'bout that!?" Ryuji challenged, raising his arms.

"Whoa. So Ryuji had the potential too..." Morgana was astonished.

"Even if you apologize now I ain't forgivin' you!" Ryuji continued.

Kamoshida, after witnessing two punks and a cat eviscerate an amalgamation of a sizable chunk of his guards, was unimpressed. He started to taunt them with his superiority for the umpteenth time when very light footsteps began to approach from nearby.

Both Akira and Ryuji were shocked when they saw Ann's face come into sight. They were even more shocked when the rest of her came into sight. She wore thin-strapped bikini, with cat ears in her hair and a tiny crown resting between them.

Ryuji looked at her face, then at her chest, then at Kamoshida, then back at Ann's face. "What's going on!?"

"Something seems off..." Akira said, very clearly remembering Ann's blatant lie just to get away from Kamoshida at school. 'Oh wait, cognition. Duh. But how deluded do you have to be to take avoidance as… that?'

"Yeah, now that you mention it…" he nodded. "But why is she even here!?"

Akira opened her mouth to explain, a little shocked that Ryuji still wasn't getting it, but had to close it just as quickly so she wouldn't vomit. Kamoshida was occupying himself caressing the imaginary Ann. Akira had to look away, shivering at the cold touch on her spine.

"Hey! Let go of her, you perv!" Ryuji demanded.

"How many times must I tell you until you understand? This is MY castle - A place in which I can do whatever I want. Everyone wishes to be loved by me."

Before Ryuji could respond Akira grabbed him. "That's not her Ryuji. Takamaki is at home, in the real world." Ryuji stopped, looking into Akira's eyes. In the melee he had practically forgotten what she had gone through mere minutes beforehand. The dark cloud in her eyes slapped the memory back into him.

Morgana nodded his confirmation. "She's right. She's thee same as those slaves - a being made from Kamoshida's cognition of her!"

"Are you jealous?" He asked vauntingly. Ryuji and Akira side-eyed each other.

"Are you stupid?" Akira answered. "You're fantasizing about a minor. There is literally nothing to be jealous of. Grossed out though, yes. Plenty of that."

Kamoshida scowled at her, but at the sight of Ryuji his face could have split in two. He still was not internalizing how everything happening was imaginary, a subconscious projection. Ann LOOKED real enough to him, and her dubious show of skin was real enough for the bulge in his pants.

"Well I'm not surprised," Kamoshida directed at him. "Women aren't drawn to problematic punks like you."

"Okay, gonna shoot 'im now." Akira lifted her gun. "We all cool with that?"

"Yup."

Morgana touched Akira's leg. "Uh, actually, they might not be!" He pointed as a troop of armored Shadows filed into the foyer from either side. "I think it's time to go!"

"Damn." Akira holstered her gun as Morgana pushed open a side door. Ryuji skipped through the door backwards, flipping dual birds, followed quickly by Akira as Morgana swung the door closed. Shadow Kamoshida and his imaginary pet Ann waved them farewell.

They took the most circuitous path back outside possible, and when they finally did escape they could hear the guards throwing a ruckus through the stone walls. The party took a moment to hunch over and gasp into their burning lungs.

"So," Ryuji sputtered between gulps of air. "You, uh, okay?"

"Never better," Akira said, straightening her jacket.

"Well I mean, uhh… Anyways." RYuji wiped his brow, and only then did he realize that he was wearing gloves now. He suddenly registered the leather jacket and upturned collar, and the red neckerchief draped over his chest. "I don't remember changin' into this!"

"Heh, comfy isn't it?" Akira chuckled. "Doesn't look half bad on you. You've completed your evolution from punk kid to full on thug."

Ryuji blushed for brief moment. "Uh, thanks. At least we match with the theme of thieves a bit."

Inside the walls of the castle something made a loud crash. Apparently one of the guards had tripped and accidentally smashed a bust of Kamoshida. The full ramifications of this was unknown to Akira, but it was a whole process. There was a whole disarming ceremony that the Shadows held independently, followed by confession of the act and a swift execution. A new bust would be chiseled by the replacement, which was actually the same Shadow reincarnated a couple hours later by the collective unconscious and replaced in its armor. Only the Shadows knew about this little ritual.

"So what's goin' on?" Ryuji asked like a man baffled by the clouds' refusal to become sheep. "I'm completely lost, man!"

Morgana smacked himself and went over the situation again. Ryuji gleaned next to nothing of the lecture, but eventually drew his own conclusions.

"Okay so we might've gotten away here, but we're still screwed with Kamoshida at the real school."

"That's quite sharp of you! For being an idiot," Morgana slammed him. "Relax. The Kamoshida in reality can't possibly know about what happens here. A Shadow is the true self that is suppressed - a side of one's personality they don't want to see."

"So real Kamoshida is repressing this entire place as we speak?" Akira guessed.

Morgana nodded. "Did the Kamoshida in reality remember about the execution?"

Akire shook her head. The man was being a gargantuan dick, but at no point did he display any knowledge of superpowers and alternate realities

"There you have it."

"All right!" Ryuji cheered. "Now that we know that, all we gotta do is-"

"Wait." Morgana cut him off. "I guided you as promised. It's your turn to cooperate with me." Akira and Ryuji stared at him blankly. "That's why I was super nice about teaching you idiots everything." They both shrugged dumbly.

"Don't you remember? I originally came here for an investigation. I need to erase the distortion from my body and regain my real form! That's why we must delve deep into Mementos and-"

Ryuji paused the cat's rush of jargon. "Whoa. Hold up. What're you goin' on about?" Ryuji asked impatiently "We never said anything about helpin' you out."

"Huh? Don't tell me…Are you not going to repay the hospitality I showed you? Especially you!" He turned to Akira, and she nearly fell to the force of his sad cat face. "You're going to up and leave, even though you're already part of my master plan!?"
"I'm sorry Morgana," she apologized, notwithstanding how she really did not remember any agreement. Probably spaced out when the subject came up, bad habit. "We appreciate the help a lot, but this is a pretty dangerous gig." She rubbed her arm awkwardly, feeling incredibly guilty.

"All the more reason why I need you!" Morgana shouted, finally driven past the point of frustration. "Is it because I'm not human? Because I'm like a cat? Is that why you're making a fool of me!?"

"What, no! Nobody's making a-" Before she could mediate at all and pick up the shattered pieces of her kitty cuddling, Ryuji grabbed her hand and takes off, calling "See ya, we're busy!" over his shoulder.

Behind them Morgana was furiously demanding that they turn around, but Ryuji might as well have been deaf. Akira felt the sting of betrayal, except now she was the betrayer. Turned out that hurt the same way coming and going.

The distortion ebbed away, dropping the two exactly where they had left. Akira's phone sparked to life as the evil eye reported their successful return.

"Thank god. We're back," Ryuji said. He turned to his companion, who was rubbing the spot where he had grabbed her.

"I dragged you around a lot, huh?" Ryuji stuck his hands in his pockets guiltily. "Sorry about that."

"Meh," Akira grunted with a shrug.

Ryuji's eyes darted to the side. "So… earlier, what Kamoshida did. Are you?..."

"I don't want to talk about it," Akira answered brutishly. Concern covered his face.

"Yeah," he eventually relinquished. "Yeah, that's fair."

She crossed her arms to hold back the shivering. The two stood there uncomfortably for a while until abruptly Akira stepped forward and pressed her face into Ryuji's shoulder, arms still crossed. He froze, completely unsure what would be appropriate to do. Eventually his hand came up and patted Akira's shoulder.

"Thank you," she said, muffled through his uniform jacket.

"Any time," he answered, then immediately regretted it with the implication. "Err… yeah." He patted her back again.

Akira pulled away from Ryuji's shoulder dip and took a deep breath. Her arms fell to her side limply. "Fighting monsters really takes it outta ya. I need a nap."

Ryuji nodded, happy enough to change the subject. "Me too... Man, I'm gonna sleep like a rock when I get home. But damn, if what we saw was for real, this is gonna get good. I totally remember the faces of the guys Kamoshida was treatin' like slaves." Ryuji said, excitement easily taking over his composure.

"Alright," Akira said, smiling for Ryuji's sake.

"Once we make 'em fess up to any physical abuse, Kamoshida will be done."

Ryuji paused, realizing something. "So wanna help me look for those guys or any witnesses? I don't wanna force this on you or anything."

"Heh, give me a little more credit than that," Akira jested. "You already dragged me into this, now you're stuck with me!"

Ryuji's grin widened. "Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

"Hey, so. If you're thinkin' of layin' low 'cause you got a record. I don't think that'll help...
Everyone already knows. They totally got you pegged as a criminal."

"Nooooo, I totally didn't notice,".she said drolly. "A kid practically wet his pants when he bumped into me. What I don't get is how word spread so fast!"

"Kamoshida opened his damn mouth!" Ryuji informed her.

Akira sighed and visibly deflated. "Dude probably grades students with a pen full of AIDS too or something."

"No one else besides a teacher could've leaked it that fast!" Ryuji continued. "It doesn't matter if it's a student or a club;That asshole just wrecks things he doesn't agree with. And on top of that him being perv who prays on the female student body, as well as admit it in person. I just can't sit back!"

She was going to agree but then a voice echoed in her head about lying low. Her record was already on the verge of becoming a dumpster fire, and this sounded like some flammable trash. There was even the possibility of a prison sentence.

"I agree, but…"

Ryuji grabbed her hands, then quickly took them back on hindsight. "You gotta do this! I'll help out too!"

"Help out? This is your stupid plan."

"You know what I mean!"

She took a minute to think and then her mind went back to what happened. That feeling of being worthless and useless. Just like that day she was arrested. It was a big dumb world, and she would sooner be damned to Hell with Kamoshida before she just let it pass any longer.

"Screw it," she spat resolutely. "Let's take down that dirty bastard."

A goblin grin stretched across Ryuji's face. "I'm countin' on you! Don't worry; I'm hyped about this too!"

Akira rubbed her head. She was not terribly fond of that memory, but of course the cop hardly flinched at the mention of attempted rape. Everybody thinks Medusa is the evil monster.

"Acting as a Phantom Thief would've been more efficient alone. You could've gone about it that way." Sae recited. Akira was certain she talked like that to herself all the time. Business business, serious speak. 'Eff you.'

"However, you did not. There are merits to having associates... That's what you decided. Am I wrong?"

Akira said nothing at first, then looked up at the young woman with the graying hair. "You wanna hear my testimony or you wanna spout theories and rhetoric questions? all day? As I understand it, you ain't got a lotta time."

Time seemed to stop as a card descended from the heavens. She would have freaked out if she had any motor control whatsoever, but as it stood this was up there on the crazy meter. Ryuji's frozen face was pretty funny though. A voice echoed from nowhere, stating she had formed a bond with The Chariot,someone who was upright and stood for willpower, victory, assertion, and determination. But they had problems like lack of control and direction, as well as aggression. 'Okaaaaay… This is a weird superpower. The friend personality score, Tarot themed! Personas are weird. I wonder if Ryuji is getting this about me right now? What card am I? Better not be something lame.'

Time started back up like nothing had changed as both of their stomachs growled. Akira blushed.

"Right. I guess we both didn't eat lunch then." Ryuji said, seemingly oblivious of how the world just stopped to give him a character description. "It'd be weird splittin' off now, so why don't we grab a bite somewhere?"

Akira perked up and turned out her pockets. Several thousand yen peeked at her sleepily. "Yes! Dude I still have all the money! Where we goin'?"

"Follow me I know a good place in Shibuya." He motioned and the pair walked out of the alleyway. Akira was counting her money when she looked at Ryuji.

"If I was a Tarot card, which one would I be?"

"A what card?"

At the restaurant, some basic noodle shop, they ordered and sat down to eat. While they ate they shared a few key details about themselves. It was then that Akira decided to finally share what she was arrested for.

"What!?" Ryuji nearly spilled his bowl. "The hell, man! How much shittier can that asshole get!?"

"Chill, you're gonna get perfectly good ramen all over the floor," she pointed at him with her fork. She had specifically asked for a fork.

"Are you for real? If it was me, I wouldn't calm down until I punched that dick in the face." He actually pumped his fist into his other palm, and Akira rolled her eyes. It was hard to tell if he was acting macho just to impress her or if he was actually like that. 'Oh wait, Chariot. He's just like that.'

"So… You left your hometown and you're livin' here now, huh?" he asked.

"Yep. I'm here for a year. Barring any crimes against humanity I might commit." She stuck out her tongue with an ironic grin and speared a hunk of meat.

Ryuji gulped the rest of his noodles down. "The place you're livin' now is in… Yongen, right?" He belched and beat his chest.

She nodded and chewed.

"It's rush hour on the subways. I suggest you kill some time before headin' home." He looked down at her half-empty bowl. "You barely touched your food."

"What are you doing?" She asked as he reached to take a large bundle of meat and noodles from her.

"Just lemme do it. I gotta thank you for helpin' me," he said with a mouth full of her food. "Anyways I got your back like you got mine tomorrow on. As long as we do something about Kamoshida, I'm sure we'll be both feel better about bein' in school."

Akira shrugged and stabbed Ryuji's chopsticks, snapping one in half over her food. She laughed as he swore and called the waiter for a new pair. The two planned about meeting each other after the volleyball rally and beginning the investigation. Then they talked about videogames for the better part of an hour.

Overall it was a refreshingly calm way to spend an afternoon. Ryuji was the first boy to give her his phone number that she did not think was a total creep.

Back at the school two other friends were meeting up. Ann was talking to Shiho checking on her after seeing her injures.

She stayed quiet for a bit as if she didn't want to say anything to Ann. However she was persistent, and clearly concerned.

"I- I haven't been sleeping well lately…" Shiho confessed in a weak voice. "Whenever I close my eyes, I keep thinking about too many things…"..

"Shiho…"

"Nationals are coming up soon, so I keep thinking..." She paused, unsure. "Should someone like me really be on the starting lineup?"

Ann quickly put on a positive air. "Don't worry. Just be confident in yourself! Your skills have been recognized! It's all because you work harder than anyone else!"

Shiho did not respond, and every second of silence made Ann more worried.

"Yeah… Volleyball's all I have, after all," Shiho eventually sighed unconvincingly.

"More importantly, was that injury okay? It looked really swollen," Anne asked, changing the subject.

"No, it's nothing… It's normal… Especially since a meet is coming up." Ann looks at her. The atmosphere still hung heavy. Mishima appeared and said Kamoshida wanted to talk to Shiho.

"Ann, I…" She whimpered. Shiho then spent a solid ten seconds staring at a crippled ant. Then she conjured up a smile from nothing.

"It'll be fine! I bet it's a meeting about the starting lineup or something." The ant curled up on the pavement. "...Yeah" Shiho said quietly. "Well, I better go..."The two friends hug before Shiho and Mishima leave for Kamoshida's office.

As she left Ann cheered her on in one last attempt at encouragement. Neither of them felt as happy as they let the other think.

After another round against the Japanese subway system, Akira walked the lonely alley to the cafe. She saw Sojiro scratching his head at a crossword again. He looked up at her. "You're home. I take it you actually went to school today?"

"Yes sir. I went straight to school and didn't cause any problems," she recited. At that point Akira really wanted nothing except to take a long shower and sleep in her own dusty bed.

"I guess you learned your lesson after what happened yesterday," he said. She nodded curtly. Sojiro raised an eyebrow; the girl looked like someone had stuffed a handful of antidepressants down her throat. Then again, perhaps that was just how probation punks were.

"Eh, as long as you're not getting in trouble, it's fine by me. I don't know what you've been up to, but trust me, you'll be gone if you start causing problems. In case you forgot, your life is not a free one right now." Sojiro warned her.

Her parents had told Sojiro that Akira was a quiet girl before the incident. He supposed the hostile circumstances had caused her to double down on that pattern. Better than becoming a hot-headed thug, he thought. But either way, she did not look healthy.

Akira's phone chirped. It was Ryuji checking to make sure the number she gave him wasn't fake ('Hey, I've only done that, like, twice.'). She texted back:

"WHO IS THIS?"
…

"RYUJI IM KIDDING."

That upset the monkey, but luckily he had other things on his mind. He wanted to go over the plan for tomorrow again, and Akira amused him for a bit. She pocketed her phone and looked back up at Sojiro. Evidently she had been tuning him out.

"Sheesh are you even listening to me? Just stay away from bad influences, okay?"

"Yes sir," she replied, then showed herself to the restroom for a hot shower. Turned out that Sojiro wasn't too keen on paying for extra hot water, and the highest setting just barely exceeded room temperature. When Akira emerged Sojiro was gone and the cafe was locked tight.

She went upstairs and changed into her pajamas, tossing her dirty clothes on the sofa. The pocket journal popped out of her pants, and she remembered that she was supposed to record everything.

"Tiny book," she said, picking up the moleskine. "You would not believe the day I've had."

It lasted about three minutes. Three minutes of writing until she actually remembered everything, relived every second. Getting beaten, nearly killed, by Shadows again. Being held prisoner, completely powerless. Being… being…

Sobs suddenly shook her body, making her drop her pen and cover her face. Invisible hands crept over her body, rough and unwelcome. Tears flowed down her cheek so hard that they splashed when she blinked.

"S-stop," she wailed at herself. "Stop crying! F-fucking STOP!" She cried harder, fell off her bed, and curled up in a protective ball amidst the grime and the dust. The sobbing did not show any sign of stopping for some time, and the memory of Shadow Kamoshida's sweaty hands continued to fondle her just as long. Akira screamed into her knees.

Eventually, after an amount of time Akira did not care to know, the tears dried up. The hands vanished. Her body stilled, and she relaxed her protective hedgehog ball. Shame flooded her veins and made her skin itch.

A tiny bird chirped up on her bed. Ryuji, she assumed. She waved her hand over the edge of the mattress blindly until she knocked the phone down. It landed on her forehead. After a moment of repressing the urge to smash the bloody thing into fresh dust, she swiped through her phone. It was Ryuji, freaking out because the evil eye app was on his phone now too.

"WEIRD. NEED SLEEP. SEE YOU TOMORROW."

She slept on the floor that night.

Akira opened her eyes to one huge vision of purple. She was chained up again. 'I hate everything.'

She stood up bitterly and walked to the barred cell door. There, as always, was the Penguin's creepy older brother and his underaged entourage.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room." Igor greeted her.

"I thought about resuming our previous conversation tonight. That is why I have summoned you. What are your thoughts? Are you becoming accustomed to this place?" Igor asked

"Pretty much used to it by now." Akira answered with a tongue that could cut stone.

"Ah, glad to hear it. It seems you have nerves of steel." Igor complimented her. "Your rehabilitation determines if ruin can be stopped. Yet, such a feat can't be done by you alone. But today, you entered a partnership with someone who awoke to the same power, haven't you?"

"You mean Ryuji."

Igor nodded. "Involving yourself with others is an important foundation for your recovery. You've done well. That said, I am not advising the formation of superficial relationships. It must not be of frivolity, but a ring of those who would, by morals or faith, lend you their strength. In other words, they are bonds with those who have been robbed of their places to belong. The expansion of said ring will, in return, help you mature as well."

'You know,' Akira thought vindictively. 'I'm really not fond of people right now. In fact, not terribly fond of you right now.' It took all her willpower not to say that outloud.

Justine's voice broke her train of thought. "Personas are the strength of the heart… The stronger the bonds that surround you, the more power your Personas will gain." Caroline picked up where her sister left off.

"There are countless people in the city who have talent that a weakling like you doesn't. You better rack that noggin of yours and get them on your side. We'll change that into power."

'You know Carry, I think I'll take that power and beat you over the head with it.' This was very much not the time Akira wanted people to be yelling at her about the power of friendship. She really just wanted sleep, and forgetfulness, and oblivion.

"You have been through a great ordeal today," Igor said suddenly, grabbing her attention. "Events have occurred which will change your life forever, and for that much I offer my condolences. However, you must not stray from the path to rehabilitation if you intend to avoid ruin."

Akira looked at the pointed nose of Igor. If he was feigning compassion, she could not tell. "... Thanks."

Igor chuckled. "Indeed. You should be prepared to use even myself, or your ambitions will not come to fruition." Chuckling for a minute, Akira felt a bond form "We have a deal then."

Time, Akira would realize later, did not stop in the Velvet Room, so when the card fell into Akira's hands the other three were actively watching her.

The Fool, represented Upright: beginnings, innocence, spontaneity, a free spirit. But it also carries the flaws of naivety, foolishness, recklessness, and risk-taking.

It was then that Akira discovered her Tarot was super dumb.

"Well you will understand it all in due time… Continue devoting yourself to your rehabilitation." Igor advised her, and the escape alarm sounded. Akira was finally permitted to drift into the void rest she had wanted.

Akira Kurusu Diary Entry 3:
I guess I made a new friend today. Ryuji, "The Chariot!" He's pretty cool. A bit of a punk, but I guess that makes sense. I'm a punk now too after all. It's just nice to have a bro for once, especially with the whole school being against me. I did growl at a kid and he ran away, that was fun. Silver linings!
Something's up between Ann, the white girl, and Kamoshida. Going to have to look into that if we're going to deal with the bastard.
Today Ryuji and I went back to that castle. It was
*The entry stops here*