This story is a work of fiction.

Any relation to persons, living or dead, as well as events, are purely coincidental.

The author owns none of the characters, or events, that take place here.

The world is not as it should be.

It's filled with distortion, and "ruin" will soon descend.

However...there are those who would challenge fate, in desire for change.

Since time immemorial...they were known as,

"Tricksters."

Persona 5: Hoshi to Bokura to

Ninth Heist: Infiltration

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Surprisingly, new rumors had popped up not long after second period began in Akira's class, which was headed by Ushimaru. The man certainly did not like it whenever someone whispered or spoke out of turn, as he made a move to grab a particularly large piece of chalk. Personally speaking, Akira preferred having a strict teacher, since they kept chatter in the classroom down to a bare minimum. That, and it was fun watching them grill someone, depending on who it was and it wasn't him on the receiving end. However, simply because he ran a tight ship didn't mean the whispers had stopped.

"Did you hear? The transfer student was hanging around Sakamoto the other day!"

"Seriously? Guess troublemakers attract one another."

"I heard he was with the Student Council President, too!"

"You don't think he's forcing her to hang out with him, do you?"

Akira rolled his eyes. Forcing her? Well, in a way, he was, given that she had, more or less, the job of looking after him here at school. That said, though, it was odd how they knew about him being with Ryuji. Were there still a couple of students left behind when they somehow returned after that...bizarre trip? He glanced at Ushimaru before taking out his phone, looking at the app that brought him, Makoto and Ryuji there. He had yet to receive any answers about how it installed on his phone, but after many repeated attempts last night, he knew it was there to stay.

And it just may be used again.

TakeYourTime

Akira never thought his feet would fly off so quickly on their own. He walked out the door on autopilot when he heard Kamoshida's familiar voice. "Are you doing alright, Takamaki?" Frowning, the frizzy-haired teen inched closer, hiding himself around the corner and found the teacher with Takamaki. "You're looking a bit pale. Are you still sick?"

"Y-yeah," she nodded hesitantly. "A bit. I still have to make time for the photoshoot, though. My boss insisted."

Akira quirked an eyebrow. Once again, her tone showed that she wanted nothing to do with Kamoshida...not that he blamed here. He was still having a hard time believing that someone like this was even a school teacher. Something about him was still bothering the teen, and whatever it was, he knew it had something to do with that bizarre trip in the castle. As he watched the two speak, or rather Ann trying to find a way out of the conversation, Akira felt his head pulse and ache with pain. He cradled his head, swooning somewhat. His vision started to turn double, only rather than finding two hallways, the world was distorted, turning into the halls of the castle.

What...?

"Hey, now... Being a model's fine and dandy, but don't work your pretty little self to the bone." Kamoshida said as Akira shook his head, removing the unpleasant light-headed experience. "If you're still not feeling well, I can take you home. You said something about appendicitis the other day, right?"

Appendicitis? That required going to the hospital. Akira was baffled by how gullible the teacher was, even more so with Takamaki creating such a flimsy lie.

"I planned on going to the hospital, b-but I've been busy lately." Takamaki continued the excuse, fidgeting as she twisted her hair around her pigtail. "Sorry to worry you, sensei." Kamosida gave her a concerned look, moving to touch her. Almost instantly, the girl back-pedaled away with a fearful look in her eye, along with slight traces of disgust. "S-sorry, but I really need to go!" With a swift bow, the foreign-looking girl took off in a fast-walk, all the while leaving Kamoshida by himself.

Unlike before, Kamoshida openly showed his expression of bitter anger. "Tch." With a scowl, he turned and walked away, all the while unaware of Akira watching him from the corner.

With the teacher gone, he removed himself from his hiding place and adjusted his glasses when they threatened to fall. From what he saw, it seemed like Kamoshida had been making advances on the girl. Normally he wouldn't blame him. The girl was quite beautiful...but the advances the man was making, and Takamaki's reaction, were anything but normal. Something was happening. He then recalled what the "king" had mentioned, along with the way he looked at Makoto. Just the mere thought of it caused his heart to clench in anger. Something was definitely wrong. Kamoshida was in the middle of it...but just what on Earth was happening?

"Yo." Akira turned and found Ryuji coming up from behind him, his hands in his pockets. The teen idly noticed how he seemed to walk in a limp, his leg lower than the others. "Miss Prez told me to come get you." The frizzy-haired teen nodded before he turned back to where Kamoshida left, his unnerved feeling still present. Ryuji noticed this and frowned. "Something up?"

Akira shook his head. "It's nothing." he told him. Right now, it was just that. A feeling. There was no evidence to back it up yet. He then followed Ryuji to the Student Council Room where Makoto was waiting, all the while ignoring the hushed whispers and stares everyone was giving the two.

TakeYourTime

"We've got until the end of lunch before we have to head back," Makoto told the two as they took a seat at the table. Much to the student council president's ire, the blonde had chosen a rather immature posture by slinging an arm over the chair and propping a leg on the table. She gave an aggravated sigh before she pinched her nose. She would ignore it...for now. "At any rate, I did a bit of digging around. Do you recall the students we found back at the castle?"

Ryuji growled. "Hard not to." he said in utter disgust. He engraved the sight in his mind, making sure that he would never forget it. "I recognized a few of the guys, too."

"As did I." Makoto nodded, propping her chin on her hands. "Before classes started and during break, I called up a few of them."

Akira was the first to state the Elephant in the room. "Did you ask them about the castle?"

"Not in the way you think. Rather, I asked them if Kamoshida-sensei was abusing them." Her red eyes burned, almost like fire, as a look of anger formed on her face. "Their reactions and denial told me everything. He's definitely abusing them. While some of those injuries are form practice...many were far too severe to be caused by falling or being struck by volleyballs."

The black-haired boy shook his head, practically picturing the sight in his mind already. The bastard in a room somewhere, knuckles raw and bloodied while a student laid on the ground, black and blue all over with bruises in the making already forming while the man stared down at them with contempt. Ryuji must have imagined it as well as he let out a roar of anger, banging his fist down on the table. "Dammit!" he shouted. "What the hell! Why is nobody saying anything about this?!"

It was odd, now that Ryuji mentioned it. With so many students being abused, why had Kamoshida not been caught by now? How has he not been arrested? Makoto also seemed perplexed by this as a heavy frown of confusion marred her face while forehead creases made themselves known, a clear sign that she was deep in thought. There must be something they're missing, something crucial. Eventually, the girl sighed. "I can try and ask around more, but I don't think it will be much help. Principal Kobayakawa has always considered Kamoshida-sensei to be his pride and golden goose. Even if we were to bring this up to him with evidence...the worst he would do is suspend Kamoshida-sensei for a few days." The girl bit her lip in anger. "If only there was some way...!"

The three were left in silence. Was the situation...really hopeless? Even now, this sense of wrongness...

There has to be something. Akira thought, struggling to find an answer. If the faculty is keeping quiet, there has to be another way to get Kamoshida to tell us the truth. If he's really beating the students up like that, there has to be evidence somewhere. If only there was a way to...

Then a thought came to him. That's right...there was another option. It was a longshot, but...

"...what if we went back to the castle?" he offered, causing the two to look at him. "There's still the students there."

Ryuji's eyes widened as he leaped out of his seat. "Oh yeah, that's right!" he said with a grin. "If we can bust 'em out of that place, they can expose Kamoshida!"

"What?!" Makoto cried, clearly against the plan. She immediately showed her displeasure by glaring at the two. "Have you two lost your minds?! We nearly got killed back there! Also, we don't know how we can get back there!"

"The app." Akira took out his cell phone, showing the red eye. "If I remember right, when it started up it brought us to that castle. If we use it again, we can go back there."

"That still doesn't change the facts!" Makoto shook her head, slamming her hands on the table. The intensity of her glare, as well as this action, caused Ryuji to jump. "Those...Shadows, or whatever Morgana called them, are dangerous! We only got out because of him and you when you got that strange power! We don't know if its just a one-time deal!"

Akira knew she had a point. There was so much that they couldn't understand. However, that said...

"Can you really leave this alone, Niijima-san?"

The question was enough to render her speechless. The reason for this was because she knew he had her. Yes, even though she wanted to so badly deny any of this and pretend it didn't happen, her nature and position wouldn't allow it. Seeing students being hurt so horribly, and by the actions of a teacher no less, no matter how bizarre the circumstances were the other day, warranted her attention. She could try and put it off however she wanted to, but it could not change the fact that she was worried just as badly as they were. If there was even the slightest chance of Kamoshida's wrongdoings being true as the rumors claimed...

After a minute of silence, she gave a heavy sigh. "...fine." Ryuji smiled widely, pumping a fist while Akira's smile was one of gratitude. "But, if we're serious about this, we should be careful. I wasn't kidding when I said we were nearly killed back there." The conversation was cut short by the ringing of the bell. "We should head back to class. We can head there after school."

The two boys nodded, and left the Student Council room. As they made their way out, though, the blonde delinquent had bumped into a passerby. "Oof!" he grunted as he backpedaled from the sudden collision while the recipent was knocked to the ground, papers and documents falling out of her hands. A second after regaining his bearings, Ryuji panicked. "Ah, crap! Sorry about that!" he said apologetically as he bent down, collecting the documents. "You okay?"

"Y-yes." the girl said as she sat up, offering a gentle smile. "I'm sorry. I should have looked where I was going."

"H-here, let me help you!"

Akira rolled his eyes, amused by Ryuji's flustered nature before he helped out as well. In little time, all the papers were gathered and returned to the girl. "Thank you so much." the girl said, smile still present as she bowed her head. "And again, I'm very sorry. I was so deep in thought I didn't notice someone coming."

"It's fine." Akira told her, waving a hand. He then took a moment to look at her.

She was a year older than him or so, with autumn-burned hair, curly and cut short at the chin and coffee brown eyes. Rather than a blazer with a tie or bow, she wore a baggy pink sweater over it with a rather large turtleneck and puffy short-sleeves. Underneath it was a white shirt, and below was the school's trademark black and red skirt. Underneath that were white tights with black flower patterns and black Mary Jane shoes.

The girl seemed to notice his stare, as she cocked her head in confusion. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, it's nothing." he said, quickly avoiding her gaze. "Are you a senior, by any chance?"

The girl nodded. "Yes. You two must be second-years, am I correct?"

"Yep." Ryuji nodded. "And again, sorry for bumping into you earlier."

"I've told you before, it's nothing!" the girl giggled. She then looked at the clock hanging on a hallway wall nearby, and her eyes widened. "Oh no, class is going to start soon!" She turned back to the two boys, and bowed her head deeply. "E-excuse me!" The two parted for her to move, and she was off like a bullet, racing down the halls.

As Ryuji watched her leave, he couldn't help but chuckle. "Talk about cute." he said before he adopted a puzzled expression. "You know...I think I've seen her before." He gave the idea some thought, but then shook his head. "Eh, whatever. C'mon, let's head to class before the teach chews us out. Who do you have?"

"Ms. Kawakami."

"Lucky. I've got Ushimaru."

TakeYourTime

School ended much quicker than the classes Akira and Ryuji were forced to attend. After meeting up at the Student Council Room with Makoto, they made their way to the front gate, opposing the alleyway shown off just ahead. "Remind me again," Ryuji said in confusion. "Why are we in some alley? No offense, Prez, but if people saw us here, I'm pretty sure people are gonna be talking about you as bad as me and this guy here, if the whispers I keep hearing are any indication." Curious, the teen then turned to Akira with an eyebrow at his hairline. "Speaking of which...who did you piss off to get your record spread?"

"We've been trying to figure that out." Makoto said. "As for why we're in the alleyway, the school rooftop is closed off ever since an accident two years ago. We can't use that, and even if we did, I don't want to run the risk of someone, especially a teacher, catching us in the act."

Akira nodded at the logic. "It would be hard to explain how students mysteriously vanish into some alternate dimension."

"Exactly." Makoto nodded before she smiled. "But thank you for the concern, Sakamoto-kun."

"Ah, sheesh. Just call me Ryuji." the blonde insisted. "Never was one for formality."

"Very well." Makoto agreed. "However, in that case, please call me Makoto." She then leveled a look at Akira. "Same to you, Akira. You don't have to be so formal." A giggle then escaped her. "If there's anyone you should be formal to, it's Sis."

Well, there was no denying that, especially since she was both his legal guardian and probation officer. Speaking of that, he was still confused how a prosecutor could double as a troublesome kid's warden, especially given how stressful her job could be at times. Regardless, he smiled and nodded.

"Good. Now then...I'll just ask one more time." Makoto's red eyes hardened in concern, staring at the two boys as she folded her arms. Any lesser man with weak resolve would have crumbled, but they remained firm. "Are you guys sure about this? We got out thanks to Morgana. We may not be so lucky next time."

"We already know that, Makoto-senpai." Ryuji said, already becoming used to referring her by first name now with a steely look present. "Can't turn away from this." A dark look cross his eyes as he grit his teeth. "Especially not when that bastard is involved."

Akira frowned heavily, looking at Ryuji in concern. He still didn't know what sort of problem the blonde delinquent had with the teacher, but regardless, he also gave a determined nod. Makoto gave a sigh, pinching her nose. She knew she would regret this, but for now...they needed answers. She turned to the frizzy-haired teen and gave a nod. He took out his phone and opened up the app. To his surprise, as it opened, a sidebar covered the left side of the screen, showing a few options. Among them was [SEARCH] and [HISTORY].

He clicked on [HISTORY], going by the hunch that [SEARCH] had probably been opened by accident somehow while he was in the process of deleting it before he encountered Ryuji. The sidebar extended further, and found an item of interest.

{KAMOSHIDA'S PALACE}

'Could that be what that place is called? he thought before shrugging and tapping it. Only moments later did the voice of what he assumed was the navigation app speaking.

[Beginning entry.]

Moments later, a familiar sense of distortion overlapped with reality. Makoto and Ryuji stared at their surroundings in shock as they watched as the world morphed and twisted around as black and red ripples overlapped with reality, warping the school. While the alleyway and the street remained normal, the sky became overcast and dark with black clouds threatening to rain down on them. Shujin Academy, however, was left in an entirely new shape - a state that they easily recognized.

The castle.

"Holy shit!" Ryuji exclaimed with large eyes of disbelief. "It actually worked?!"

Makoto, like Ryuji, was stunned to see the incredible change. "Unbelievable..." she whispered in awe. The group cautiously walked into the castle courtyard, right where large gates, no doubt the front entrance, resided. "To think that a phone app was capable of this."

"No shit!" the vulgar student said, still amazed. "B-but how the hell does it work?! I mean, that can't be normal!"

"Ryuji-kun!" Makoto hissed. "Pipe down! You want us to get caught and killed?!" Ryuji paled, instantly realizing his mistake and looking around. Thankfully, there was no one around. Either no one heard him yelling, or no one was around. Akira hoped it was the later, though he had a feeling it wouldn't be so simple. "Look, we just need to get inside and free the students here." she reminded him. "After that, we get out of here. At the very least, find evidence of what Kamoshida is doing."

"R-right." Ryuji nodded his head, lowering his voice. "Sorry." He looked back at the castle, and glared at it. "Still...talk about bad taste. Man, how is this even possible?"

"If you ever find out, please tell me." Makoto asked him before she turned to Akira. She opened her mouth, likely to offer some kind of advice or to remind him to not be reckless, only to stop as her eyes widen. "K-Kurusu-kun, your clothes!"

Akira looked down. To his surprise, he was back in the clothes from when he awakened to the power Igor called Persona: black trench coat, a gray-collared shirt with black trousers, boots pressed against the foothold beneath him, and red gloves at his hands. His hand moved up to his face, feeling the white avian mask that hid the upper half of his face. He felt the presence in the back of his mind pulsate, as if like a beating heart, as it had been the day he first felt it. However, in this bizarre place, it seemed much stronger, as if it could only truly thrive here.

"Oh yeah," Ryuji recalled. "You wore those last time too." His eyes then widened. "Wait, does that mean you can summon that weird thing again?!"

Akira closed his eyes, grasping the mask. He recalled the feeling of elation from when he first removed it, how the shackles that bounded him for so long becoming undone and shattering apart, link by link. As he remembered that feeling, so too did the rush of power. As a result, he felt the mask become wreathed in blue flames, and the presence in the back of his mind answer his summons. Behind him was the faint silhouette of Arsene, bearing his menacing flaming grin. The shadow of the Persona intimidated the two, so he cut off the flow of power. As a result, the mask regained its physical form, and the black shadow of Arsene vanished into him.

"...dude?" Ryuji looked at him with pleading eyes. "Never do that again."

Makoto seemed to share a similar look, though hers was less of fear and more of curiosity and intrigue. "So you still have that power." she said, somewhat in relief. "Good. It should helps if we get into a fight." That said, however, her eyes narrowed in concern. "Just...don't push yourself, okay?"

"...I will." he promised before he turned. "Let's go. If I remember right, we left through a vent in the wall. Assuming the guards in this castle haven't found it yet, we can use that to sneak in."

The two nodded and followed his lead. Sure enough, their escape route from last time was still there. Akira went in first, in spite of the protests the two gave him. He reasoned that if he had the ability to fight, he should see if the coast was clear. They were still reluctant, but they accepted his logic. Ryuji followed, squeezing through the tight fit before he he landed on the ground, hopping down from the bookshelf. Makoto was the last, though Akira helped her down by catching her and setting her down gently. "A gentleman," she hummed in approval before they looked around. "Still the same. If memory serves, that dungeon should be on the corridor to the right of the ballroom."

"Well, let's hope there aren't any knights there to catch us." Ryuji said. "Like you said, in and out, right?"

Makoto nodded. The three then left the room, entering the hallway. As they moved about, Akira kept a close eye out for any guards, though strangely, as he did, he felt an odd sensation. For a moment, the world seemed to shimmer out, outlined by white lines. He quickly shook his head, wondering if it was perhaps a side-effect of this new power. As they reached the ballroom, he grew suspicious, finding no guard present whatsoever.

Unfortunately, that line of thinking was cut off when they heard the sounds of screaming, emanating from the corridor. Hearing this, Ryuji growled in rage. Were it not for Makoto, who held him by the shoulder and offered him a determined glare of her own, he would have run off.

"Don't worry." she told him. "We'll save them." Her eyes then hardened once more, this time with a threatening edge. "And make Kamoshida pay."

The blonde's eyes widened, but then bowed his head in gratitude. "...thanks, senpai." With that, the three set off.

All the while, unaware of blue eyes watching them intently. Moments later, a black shadow darted off with the intention of following them.

TO BE CONTINUED...