Wings of Rebellion

by aiyumi

Contains major spoilers. Sequel to "Unfiltered." Akechi has had enough. So, he... tries to be a better person. Can he mislead the Conspiracy, and prevent the Phantom Thieves from falling into the trap? He isn't sure, but this is his last chance to do something right for once, and he has no intention of wasting it. His mind is set. This is his resolve. Crow's wings of rebellion.

25. Amazing Allies

A/n: ah! I'm late again! Like a month late. But I have a good reason. It's because this chapter became very long! Even longer than the previous one. In fact, this is the longest chapter I've ever written for any fic. My previous record had been around 15,000 words, and this one is more than 19,000! Which means that this chapter is basically worth double the normal ones. So, get a huge mug of Leblanc coffee, sit down, and have a good read!

---

Wings of Rebellion

Written by Aiyumi

Disclaimer: Persona and all related characters are property of Atlus. Any trademarks that may be referenced in this fan fiction are properties of their respective owners. I am just a fan and do not have any relations to said people/companies.

Chapter 25: Amazing Allies

Sunday, October 16

In the morning, Akechi headed to Elizabeth's apartment to return the container that had housed the dumplings. He also brought a pen and a piece of paper to write the recipe.

"Elizabeth, thank you for the dumplings. They served as my dinner. They were great. Um, are they easy to make?"

"Yes, nothing too involved. Why do you ask?"

"Well, in a few hours I'll head to a group study session and, um, I was wondering whether you could... teach me how to make these dumplings..."

"Whoa!" Morgana exclaimed. "You mean for everyone? Not just for Akira?"

Elizabeth seemed excited. "Oh, I can teach you, of course! It will be my pleasure to provide my assistance."

"Really?" Akechi took the pen and paper. "What are the ingredients? I have to note down the recipe and what to buy and-"

"There is no need to buy the ingredients." Elizabeth cut him off. "I still have plenty. They were inside those bags you helped me with yesterday." She beckoned the stunned Akechi inside. "Come in! Just note down the recipe and let us get to work!"

She told him the recipe, and he wrote it down.

"Hmm, one batch won't be enough for a group of around ten people, will it?"

"Probably not." Elizabeth answered. "Two batches it will be, then. I will walk you through the first one, and you will be on your own to make the second one."

Elizabeth had Akechi get to work, while Morgana watched everything from a chair.

Measuring ingredients was easy enough. It reminded Akechi of activities in the lab during Chemistry class. Elizabeth gave him tips on how to handle the cookware, and walked him through all the steps from the recipe as he performed them. At first, he was a bit awkward with the cookware. This was the result of having watched people use the utensils but not having used them himself. At the foster homes, no one let him near the kitchen utensils, and once he began living on his own, he made nothing more than the most basic.

By the time Akechi began getting the hang of handling the cookware, he got to the recipe's last steps. He put the baking tray with the dumplings in the oven and turned it on.

Elizabeth began making small talk while they waited for the dumplings to be ready. "Do you enjoy cooking, Akechi-san?"

"Um, not really. I live alone and cooking feels more like a hassle... since it's just for me, I usually just have rice with something or instant noodles in emergencies, and that's it. But I thought that maybe cooking for others might motivate me to do better."

Elizabeth frowned. "As I suspected, your diet really is not the best... however, those friends of yours must be very special to the point of motivating you to improve your skills in an activity you do not enjoy. Your bonds are providing you with new experiences and broadening your horizons. This is good. So, what are your thoughts about the activity so far?"

"It's not that bad..." Akechi admitted.

Elizabeth nodded in approval. "May your bonds get you to discover more pleasant activities in life."

Around half an hour later, the first batch of dumplings was ready.

Elizabeth took the first batch out of the oven. "Nicely done, Akechi-san. Now it is time for the second batch. It is up to you."

"Okay." Akechi nodded with determination.

Elizabeth transferred the first batch of dumplings to another container to free the baking tray while Akechi worked on the second batch. He followed the recipe again. His lack of practice made him take a bit more time than he should have, but the dumplings eventually came into shape.

After another half an hour wait, Akechi checked the state of the dumplings and deemed them good enough to get them out of the oven.

He split one dumpling so that the three of them could taste it. Akechi brought a piece of the dumpling to his mouth, and felt a peculiar taste. The taste of success, and the satisfaction of having completed a challenge. A fulfillment similar to what he felt when he managed to solve cases without manipulating them.

"Approved!" Elizabeth gave her verdict after having the other piece of the dumpling, then fed the last piece to Morgana.

Morgana ate the treat and his eyes sparkled. "Your dumpling came out as good as the one Elizabeth made! Nice job, Akechi!"

A wide smile inadvertently formed, and Akechi couldn't contain his joy. "Yes... I did it!" Akechi hopped over to the chair from where Morgana had been observing him and scooped the little Phantom Thief up in his arms. "Morgana, I did it!"

"Hey!" Morgana was about to protest from having been lifted so suddenly, but decided against it. Rather than that, a proud look crossed his eyes. "Well, never mind. This is the first time I've seen you this happy. Akechi, you did great."

Akechi felt fulfilled and proud of himself. Morgana also shared the sentiment, proud of Akechi's little victory, the same way as Akechi had felt proud of Futaba when she managed to buy the Featherman DVD collection on her own. The bond between Akechi and Morgana strengthened, and the Magician Confidant ranked up.

"Akechi-san, from how content you look, it is possible to tell how important these friends are to you. I applaud your dedication to them. Too bad they are not aware of what you are doing for them..."

"Uh, it's just some dumplings..."

"Is it?" Elizabeth shot back with a knowing look, and Akechi realized that her comment applied to the other things he had been doing for the Phantom Thieves as well. The way he had been helping them, stalling and protecting them from the organization...

"I hope they like the dumplings, though," was what Akechi replied with.

"Of course they'll like the dumplings!" Morgana assured him. "If they dare dislike them, I'll have all the dumplings for myself! If I could, I'd ditch cat food for these without a second thought."

Akechi stifled a laugh. He couldn't reveal that he had understood Morgana.

"Morgana has clearly liked these very much, at least." Elizabeth commented. "Do not worry, Akechi-san. It will be fine."

---

Akira and the others were at Leblanc. Akechi hadn't arrived yet. Everyone was a bit tense, still uneasy because of Akechi's interview the previous day.

"I don't like the way Akechi spoke as though we're going against what he says just to mock him," Ryuji said.

"Not to mention that it is also not true that we gave up on Okumura." Yusuke added.

"I still think it'll be fine to show him the Metaverse." Akira gave her opinion. "Akechi-kun isn't closed-minded like that. He's getting to know us better, too. If we reveal to him that we're the Phantom Thieves and explain our ways, he has to realize the Phantom Thieves aren't jerks like he was thinking, and has to understand our reasons."

Makoto was still apprehensive. "This would be the best possible scenario. I'm still not sure if it would work, though. Akechi-kun seems to completely forget common sense when the subject is the Phantom Thieves."

"Hmm, alright. Maybe we'll have to observe him closely a bit more," was what Akira said, though her plan was to talk to Akechi in private and convince him that the Phantom Thieves were doing good. She wouldn't reveal her plan to the others because they would think it was too risky. Akira felt bad for breaking the unanimous decision rule, but she knew that if she didn't do it, then no one else would. She trusted Akechi, and trusted her plan would work.

Her phone beeped with a text message. It was him.

"Speaking of Akechi-kun, he's just texted me to say he's on his way here. Guys, try to act normally."

"Easy f-for you to say..." Futaba stuttered.

"You don't even go to school, and don't have exams." Yusuke remarked. "You have no need to be here. Why don't you just stay home and save yourself the trouble of being nervous?"

"Shut up, Inari. I'd be nervous either way!"

... ... ... ... ...

A few minutes later, Akechi arrived. He was carrying the backpack Akira had lent him on his back, and a big grocery bag on his hand. "Hi."

Morgana poked out of the backpack. "I'm back!"

Akira raised an eyebrow. Perhaps Morgana hadn't been as affected by the interview as everyone else? "Morgana, you look cheerful. I take it that you had a good time."

"You could say that."

Futaba made a mock hurt face. "You really prefer Akechi over me... I'm jelly."

Akira smirked at Futaba. "C'mon, you cling to Akechi-kun a lot, too."

"Akechi-kun, did you take Morgana with you to the interview?" Ann asked curiously.

"Ah, no. I ran into my neighbor, and she offered to look after him while I was away."

"The one you told us about?" Ann spoke again.

"Yes, the one whose sister has gone missing."

"Oh!" Akira was curious. "Speaking of her, did you try to look into her problem?"

"I apologized for refusing to help her, but she said she'll find another solution. She said she doesn't want to be on bad terms with me, and we began talking. She's quite... eccentric, but is a nice person."

"By the way, what is that you are carrying?" Yusuke asked what Akira, and probably everyone else, were wondering about.

"Uh, um..." Akechi became shy all of a sudden. "I asked my neighbor to teach me to make these meat dumplings... I hope you guys will like them."

Everyone was taken aback, especially Makoto. "F-for us?"

Akechi nodded and placed the grocery bag on one of the tables.

"I supervised the whole cooking process!" Morgana said proudly. "100% safe and approved!"

"Whoa! My bro can cook!"

"I'm just a beginner..." Akechi argued.

"Well, I can't even begin." Futaba shuddered and made a face. "My mom tried to teach me, but I kept bumping into stuff, dropping pots and spilling ingredients. It was a total disaster!"

Haru stared at the grocery bag in wonder. "I'm curious to taste the dumplings!"

"Me too!" Akira agreed. "It's still early to have lunch, though. Let's get our studies going for now."

Akira and her friends sat at the table and took their study materials out.

"Today we will just go through the most important, and most likely points to be on the exams," Makoto said.

They started studying, with Akechi helping them.

"I bet this one will be on the exam." Akechi pointed at one of the second year questions. "This is important, and I'd put it on the exam for sure if I were a teacher."

"Oh, I had never thought about it that way," Ann said.

"I also believe it will be on the exam," Makoto said. "I remember it had been when I was in second year."

Ryuji grinned. "Detective, let's see if you're good at predicting stuff."

Haru inched her head forward. "How about we see who can correctly predict more questions?"

Akira approved the idea. "Sounds good! Then, when the questions pop up, we might remember, this is the one Makoto predicted, this is the one Ryuji predicted, and so on."

"This goes without saying, but make sure to remember the answers too." Akechi reminded them.

They put their little game into practice, and the study session proved to be more fun than expected.

"Interesting." Akechi spoke once the study session had ended. "I hadn't imagined a group study session could be this fun."

"You've always studied alone, right?" Akira said. "Too bad we aren't in the same year as you, or we could also help you study instead of just the other way around."

"It's good enough to me. I just hope you all do well after all this. Besides, there was some third-year material that my school has also been covering. It actually might show up on my exams."

The time Akira had been waiting for arrived. Time to taste the dumplings! She opened the grocery bag, and found containers with the dumplings inside. She opened one of the containers and set it on the table. "They look good!"

"Hmm. Meat dumplings, huh? May I have one?" Sojiro asked Akechi.

"Of course, Sakura-san."

Sojiro had one dumpling. "Oh, you did a good job on these."

"Thank you."

"Would you guys wait only a few minutes? I'll get a matching coffee brew to go with the dumplings." Sojiro didn't wait for a response and went to work.

A couple of minutes later, Sojiro came and served them coffee, and juice for Ryuji. They started to eat.

"Hmm, good!" Akira smiled radiantly.

"Yeah!" Ann agreed while Ryuji had his mouth full.

"It's good," Makoto said timidly.

"My lil' big bro, 10/10."

Akechi looked relieved to hear their opinions. "Thanks. I'm glad that you guys like it. I was a bit nervous..."

"It is very good on its own, and also with coffee," Yusuke said.

Haru smiled contentedly. "Yes, Sakura-san's coffee goes really well with it, too!"

Akechi bit into a dumpling and had a sip of the coffee, and was amazed at the combination. "Wow, Sakura-san. I hadn't imagined such simple dumplings could get cafe treatment."

"Any food can get cafe treatment. It is a matter of knowing what coffee matches with each food."

Settled between Akira and Akechi on the bench, Morgana looked longingly at the food.

"That reminds me," Akira said. "Akechi-kun, what have you been feeding Morgana?"

"Huh? Whatever food is available. Why?"

"Was everything okay? Didn't he get sick or anything? He gets impossible whenever we say we might take him to the vet. I don't know what to do if he gets sick, so I usually only give him cat food just to be safe."

"Hmm, I see. We had no problem at all. I do make sure he doesn't eat too much, though."

Akechi fed a dumpling to Morgana. Both the way Morgana seemed happy and the way Akechi acted so gently made Akira smile widely.

Futaba looked at Akechi with suspicion. "Hmm. So, is this the secret? Mona likes you this much because you give him different food?"

"This is not all!" Morgana protested with his mouth full, and almost spat some of his food.

Akira giggled, and she could swear Akechi was trying to hold a chuckle.

Futaba smirked at Morgana. "But there's that too, huh?"

"Just like any other cat." Ryuji mocked.

"What did you say!?" Morgana growled, ready to physically attack Ryuji, and the blond Phantom Thief was lucky to be at the other side of the table.

"Hey hey hey, Morgana..." Akechi called Morgana to attention.

"Why are you calling me out?!" Morgana sounded offended, and threw a hurt look at the detective. "Akechi, you saw it. They keep making fun of me! They're the ones in the wrong! Tell them to stop!"

Akechi only stared at Morgana with an exasperated expression and didn't say a word.

"Akechiii..." Morgana made a whiny face and leaned into the detective.

Akechi heaved a sigh. "Alright. Let's just calm down, okay?" Akechi brought what remained of the dumpling to Morgana's mouth, and this effectively diverted the supernatural cat's attention.

"Food really speaks louder, huh?" Ryuji mocked again.

"Ryuji! Stop!" Ann chided him.

Akira glanced behind, and caught Sojiro looking at them from a distance with an amused expression.

Ryuji stopped mocking Morgana, and lunch proceeded with no more incident.

"Akechi-kun, the dumplings were great." Akira complimented after they had finished eating.

"They were a pleasant surprise." Yusuke commented.

"Since you said you weren't into cooking, it was surprising that you made us food!" Ryuji said.

"You aren't into cooking? Then, what made you decide to prepare food for us?" Makoto asked with a hint of suspicion.

"Honestly, I'm not sure. When my neighbor brought me some dumplings, I thought it'd be nice to bring some to share with everyone. It looks like Sakamoto-kun was right. It's boring to cook just for myself, but I somehow felt motivated when I thought about making something for you guys." Akechi flashed a contented smile. "Hearing your opinions made me feel that it was worth it."

"It was Ryuji's suggestion?" Ann sounded surprised.

"Yeah." Ryuji answered himself. "I ran into him at the market the other day and we talked a bit. He told me he doesn't like cooking, and I said I don't mind it 'cause I do it for my mom and she appreciates it. So, I told him he might enjoy cooking more if he were to do it for others!"

"Speaking of cooking for others," Akechi said. "Haru, at the supermarket, you had said that you'd make dinner for your father. How did it go?"

Haru's face lit up. "It went great! Father was really surprised. He said the food was delicious. He was proud of me, and said that he hadn't realized that I could already cook. He apologized to me for not having followed my growth closely as he should have. He had been distant for most of my life, but now he's getting to know me better little by little, and I can tell that this dinner brought us a bit closer. I'm very happy about this!"

"This is good to hear." Akechi was glad for her. "I never managed to have the adults pay attention to me. You're doing way better than me. I wish you the best in the relationship with your father."

"Thank you!" Haru responded with a bright smile.

"I hadn't thought Akechi'd make food for us, though!" Ryuji grinned teasingly. "I had thought he'd only do it for his... special someone, you know?"

---

"Huh?" Akechi blushed slightly and his eyes automatically half closed in embarrassment at the recollection of the moment Akira asked him out.

"Oh, you have your eyes on someone?" Takamaki-san was curious.

"Uh, well..." Akechi avoided turning his head in Akira's direction, and couldn't see how she was taking that topic. But apparently, she at least hadn't gossiped to the others about the day she had asked him out.

"Yeah, my bro is already the age for this kinda stuff, right Sojiro?" Futaba traded a knowing glance with her adoptive dad.

"Is it someone from your school?" Takamaki-san pressed. "Or maybe an ex-fan?"

Akechi still didn't respond. He was getting more embarrassed at each second.

"The problem is that his popularity on TV's low right now, and he has to find other ways to impress her!" Sakamoto said.

"Oh, but he's good-looking and smart, and if he displays his skills, I think it'll be enough to impress her!" Takamaki-san went on with the awkward talk.

The only person who didn't seem to care about the subject was Makoto, who looked totally disinterested.

Even Haru joined the conversation. "Akira-chan, aren't you the least bit curious to know who Akechi-kun is interested in?"

"H-huh!" Akira jumped in alarm. "Uh, y-yeah, sort of... b-but can't you see how uncomfortable he is?"

"Oh, Akechi-kun, I'm sorry! We did not mean to make you uncomfortable. We were just curious..." Haru apologized, and in the end, Akira ended up being the one to save him from that embarrassing talk. "Okay, you don't need to tell us if you don't want to. Either way, like Grandfather used to say, good food brings comfort, creates smiles and good memories. Preparing something special for her should be a good idea! Akechi-kun, I am rooting for you! I have heard that you do not have many people to keep you company. It will be great if you find someone to be with."

Akechi felt Haru's innocent but genuine support, and the Empress Confidant ranked up.

Thankfully, the subject dropped. They made a bit more small talk, and Akechi returned home.

---

When they had raised the topic of Akechi's love interest, Akira's heart had skipped a beat. She recalled the sandwich Akechi had made for her. Could it have had more meaning than she had imagined? Could his act of kindness have meant that he actually liked her, after all? Maybe it could, even if it were an unconscious action.

When Akechi left, her friends were still present, and she couldn't give him the customary kiss.

It was only them in Leblanc again. Everyone still hadn't fully recovered from the surprise dumplings.

"He seemed so happy while he was here..." Makoto observed.

"He looked like a totally different person from the one in the interview." Haru added. "And it didn't look like an act."

"He has no reason to pretend anything," Yusuke said. "I is not supposed to know we are the Phantom Thieves."

"He must've felt good to be in the company of friends." Ann gave her opinion. "But how will he react once he finds out we're the Phantom Thieves? Will he understand us, or will he turn against us?"

Makoto sighed. "That's the one million yen question... Morgana, you spent the day with him yesterday, right? How was it? How did he behave?"

"For the most part, he was acting normally, just like here. There was one time when he got different, though. A few hours after Akechi came back from the interview, he got a phone call. He didn't talk much, but he was all serious and polite. I think the call was from a superior or something. I don't know what they talked about because I could only hear Akechi's side of the conversation, and the most he said was that he couldn't wait to put an end to a case, probably the one about the Phantom Thieves. All I can tell for sure is that the call troubled Akechi a lot. I suspect it had to do with the people who're using him."

"The people who're using him?" Sojiro echoed.

"Yeah." Akira answered. "He told us that he's at the TV staff's mercy, and is forced to do whatever they want."

Makoto added. "I had suggested to him to make a request to the Phantom Thieves regarding those people. I told him to send a message through the Phansite's contact form if he doesn't want to post publicly, but he has yet to make a request. I wonder why he is taking so long."

Akira recalled an event at the hotel when she had looked after Akechi while he was sick, and he didn't want to let her help him.

"I'm fine on my own. I've always been..." Was what he had said.

"Maybe he wants to deal with the case without anyone's help?"

Haru made a hurt face. "We are more than willing to help him. Why does he not simply let us?"

Sojiro furrowed his brows in thought. "If I get an opportunity, maybe I should try to push some buttons too..."

"Boss?" Akira and the other Phantom Thieves stared at Sojiro in surprise.

"Outsmarting the detective shouldn't be an easy task, but if I manage to squeeze a tricky question when his guard is low, something may come out, who knows..."

Futaba grinned. "That'd be epic! Go Sojiro! It probably wouldn't work out if it were up to me..."

Sojiro looked sternly at Futaba. "Speaking of things that are up to you, you haven't forgotten the mission I gave you, right?"

Futaba gulped and shook her head. "O-of course not! I'm trying!"

"That mission is really important, alright?" Sojiro reminded her and walked to the back of the cafe.

As Akira began considering what to do next, Makoto's cellphone beeped with a text message.

"My sister went to work just for a bit today." Makoto explained the situation to everyone. "She has just had lunch at home, and has the rest of the afternoon free. She is asking if we can take her to the Metaverse so that she can get used to her Persona."

"Of course!" Akira responded. "Everyone's already here, too. So, let's go."

---

Akechi sat at the table, with Elizabeth sitting across from him.

"From your satisfied expression, things must have gone well." Elizabeth guessed.

"Better than I had expected." Akechi admitted. "Everyone enjoyed the dumplings. Elizabeth, thank you for the recipe and the instructions."

"You are welcome. I will gladly share other nice recipes if you would like." Suddenly, the protection was active. "Not only food recipes, but Persona recipes as well."

"... Huh!" Akechi gasped. "P-Persona recipes?"

"Yes, in other words, which Personas are needed to achieve a specific result through fusion. I usually leave the wild card to figure out which ingredient combinations result in which Personas, but since you do not have a compendium and do not have much room for experimentation, I will give you the recipes outright."

"Oh, th-thank you. It sounds interesting."

"I can see that this has piqued your curiosity. So, how about I give you a recipe right now to get you started? I would like you to create a certain Persona with a certain skill. More specifically, a Kurama Tengu that knows Masukukaja. The easiest way for you to create a Kurama Tengu with Masukukaja in your current condition would be to fuse Rangda, which you already have, and Pale Rider. To create Pale Rider, the easiest way would be to get and fuse Power, which learns Masukukaja, and Kikuri-Hime. You may be able to find them in Mementos."

"Okay. Thank you."

"There is no need to hurry. Once you gather the required ingredients, come talk to me."

With their first successful recipe and the prospect of many more to come, their bond strengthened, and the Temperance Confidant ranked up.

---

Akira and the other Phantom Thieves met up with Niijima-san at the Shibuya station.

"First of all, I should have said this last time." Niijima-san began. "I need to apologize. Futaba-chan, I had acted out of line and caused you and Sakura-san a lot of trouble a few months ago. I had wanted information about the cognitive world, and was beginning to resort to nasty means. I am sorry."

"No worries. That's in the past," Was Futaba's mature reply.

"Thank you." Niijima-san breathed out in relief. "Now, on to what we have come here for. Everyone is here." Her gaze darted among the teenagers. "... Except one, that is."

"You mean Crow, right?" Ann guessed. "We have no way to contact him."

"Is that so?" Niijima-san frowned. "I still have not been able to properly thank him for his help in changing my heart. I was hoping to talk to him here, but unfortunately he is not present."

"I wish he were here too, but oh well. Sadly, we can't count on him being available all the time."

"On that note, I will have to say that this goes for me as well," Niijima-san said. "Thanks to my schedule, I won't be able to take part in the group's operations often."

"Too bad..." Akira expressed her - and probably everyone else's - opinion.

"Still, I would like to accompany you to the Metaverse from time to time, to get the hang of things just in case. Since now I have gotten this power, it would be a waste not to use it. So, if I ever have the opportunity to use it and help you in some way, I would like to, and I would rather be prepared."

"It is a good plan," Yusuke said.

"No time to waste. Then, let's get this started!" Akira used the app to teleport them to Mementos.

Their Metaverse costumes appeared, and Niijima-san looked around. "So, this is Mementos... Makoto told me about this place. The general public's Palace..." She stared at her gloved hands. "These hot pink gloves and mask, though... they still bother me a bit."

"As I had already said, it's an expression of your rebellious will." Mona spoke.

"Not that all of us felt totally comfortable in these outfits at first..." Panther added. "But like Mona said, they're part of ourselves. You'll get used to yours soon."

"The hot pink must be your femininity talking!" Joker supposed.

"Oh. Her pink mask and gloves may represent her femininity, and her judge attire probably represents her will to fight for justice." Fox mused. "The whole combination makes for an odd mix between formality and daringness."

"I have to admit, it makes sense when you put it this way." Niijima-san agreed with him. "I might get used to this combination easier now."

"What about her code name?" Mona reminded them. "We need to come up with one for her."

"Oh, I had forgotten. I had noticed that all of you address each other by code names. What are everyone's?" She asked.

All of them told her their code names.

"I see..."

"What would you like to be called?" Joker asked.

"Hmm." Niijima-san was unsure. "This is too sudden. I have no ideas at the moment."

"There's the feather coming out of her mask, and then there's the long black robe, like those things judges wear..." Skull pointed out. the more prominent details.

"How about we simply call her 'Judge?'" Panther gave her input.

"If no one has any better ideas, then it is fine by my," Niijima-san said.

"How about we have a look around in Mementos and continue brainstorming along the way?" Noir suggested.

"Sounds good." Joker accepted. "Let's get moving, then."

They went to the tracks and Mona assumed his vehicle form.

"Aaaand this is Mona's vehicle form!" Joker declared proudly. "We call it... the Monamobile!"

Niijima-san stared in wonder at the vehicle. "I didn't have time to comment when we escaped from the casino, but this is really interesting. May I go for a test drive?"

"Of course!" Joker agreed right away. She wouldn't say no to someone else's offer to drive.

Inside the Monamobile, Niijima-san took the driver seat, and the car went on its way.

"Nice driving." Mona complimented her. "Do you have a car?"

"Thank you. Yes, I have one. Though this is the first time I drive a 'foreign' type car with the steering wheel on the left side."

"Hold on." Mona warned when they spotted a pack of Shadows in the distance. "We should run the enemies over from behind and take them by surprise. But once we do, I'll eject everyone and we'll enter a battle."

"Understood."

Joker chuckled. "Last time, we forgot to give Crow this warning, and he almost failed to land on his feet when Mona ejected us and the battle began. Poor Crow..."

They ambushed the Shadows. Niijima-san had no problem landing on her feet after the ejection, but she didn't join the fight and only watched.

The enemies were a Mothman and a Lilim Shadows. Joker used her gun to hit the Mothman's weakness and baton-passed to Mona.

"Behold this new skill! Zorro!" Mona's Persona cast Garudyne, and the Lilim Shadow was down.

"Now!" Oracle signaled, and everyone except for Niijima-san went for the all-out attack.

"It is always amazing to watch you all fight." Niijima-san commented. "What about those guns, though?"

"Just model guns from the military Shop in Shibuya." Joker clarified. "Since they look quite real, they work wonders in the cognitive world! Haven't your outfit also come with a gun?"

Niijima-san sorted through her equipment. "Oh, this is...!" She found a miniature revolver. "It reminds me of the revolver my father had as a police officer. Though it's too small, even for a toy gun."

"Don't worry. It'll work just fine." Mona assured her. "Let's test it on some enemies!"

They went on their way, and entered a battle against a Girimehkala and a Mothman. Joker defeated the Girimehkala and left the Mothman - which was weak to gun attacks - for Niijima-san.

"Here goes nothing!" Indeed, a bullet shot from Niijima-san's miniature revolver and hit the enemy's weakness. "It really worked!"

"Now! All-out attack time!" Oracle signaled, and everyone advanced to finish the Shadow off, including Niijima-san this time.

"Ah, this felt great. And despite the gun being of an unrealistic size, it worked!" Niijima-san was still impressed.

"Its small size may serve as a way for enemies to underestimate you!" Mona reasoned.

"Oh, I see..."

"What about your Persona!?" Panther seemed impatient. "We haven't seen it yet!"

"She could attempt to use it in our next battle," was Fox's suggestion, to which everyone agreed.

The next battle came soon enough.

"The Mitra Shadow is weak to elec and the Lilim Shadow is weak to wind!" Oracle informed the group.

"Leave the wind one to me." Niijima-san stepped forward. "Persona!" A powerful wind attack the Phantom Thieves had never seen before took the enemy out. But the most surprising thing of all was her Persona. It was a woman with flowing light green hair and a big feather on the head just like its owner, but the body was metallic and looked like one of those huge robots from mecha anime.

The battle ended, and Mona was in awe. "What was that attack just now!?"

"I believe it is called Panta Rhei. At least, it is the name that appeared in my mind when my Persona cast the spell."

Mona's eyes were wide open. "The name must be correct, then! It's information from the collective unconscious, that you got through your Persona. That spell was quite powerful, though. I wonder if I'll be able to also cast it one day!"

"What's that Persona, anyway!?" Skull was also surprised.

"It looks like one of those big robots from mecha anime!" Oracle added.

"When I was little, I admired those anime." Niijima-san admitted. "I had wished I could pilot one of those mechas and protect others from the evil forces."

"Whoa, sounds like we'll get along well! Who'd have thought!?" Oracle was excited to learn that Niijima-san shared an interest in anime with her.

"Then, Queen's Persona is a bike, and her sister's is a mecha Egyptian goddess..." Joker observed.

Skull smirked. "Both sisters're pretty rad, huh?"

"Um, then, you can drive the Monamobile and pretend you're piloting one of those mechas..." Oracle smirked. "Hey, what if Mona's true form is a story-tall robot!"

"That's cool... but no, it can't be! My true form is a human!" Mona argued with conviction.

"Is it really?" Niijima-san blinked.

"I think..." Mona said, not sounding sure anymore.

Skull sighed in exasperation.

Niijima-san chuckled. "Either way, you are a fantastic creature."

"... You think so?" Mona was very pleased at the compliment.

"Yes, I do. That being said, could you transform, please?"

"Right on!" Mona regained his composure and assumed his vehicle form.

Everyone got on board, and Niijima-san took the driver seat.

"Here we go!" Niijima-san shouted decisively like an anime protagonist, and the car blasted forward. "Ah, this feels great. It is like a childhood dream come true!"

"She's having too much fun with this..." Skull commented, not very enthusiastic.

"Ah, I have an idea!" Niijima-san stated suddenly. "How about 'Minerva' as my code name?"

"... Minerva?" Panther echoed.

"I remembered there was a warship with that name in one of those mecha anime. But this is not important. The warship aside, Minerva is the name of a goddess who is said to have been responsible for a very important step in the law field."

"Minerva, the roman mythology counterpart to Athena, the goddess of war and wisdom." Fox spoke.

"Yes." Niijima-san nodded. "Myth says that she cast the deciding vote in what became known as the first trial in History."

"Wow!" Panther exclaimed.

"I think it is a good fit," Queen said.

"I like it too." Noir agreed.

"It has a cool ring to it." Skull also approved.

"Cool and powerful!" Joker added.

Agreement was unanimous.

"It's settled." Mona declared decisively. "From now on, you're Minerva!"

"Thank you," The newly code-named Minerva said. "The mythical 'first trial in History' was a complex one. The mission that lays before me is surely very complex as well. I plan to build a case against the corrupt organization. Since I can work on it only during my free time, it will take a while to be ready."

"How much time do you think it will take?" Noir asked.

"I don't think I can conclude it in less than a month, I'm afraid."

Everyone was dejected.

"Welp, it can't be helped..." Joker concluded.

"Meanwhile, it is best not to target anyone else related to the organization." Minerva warned them. "If others find out that one of their members had a change of heart, they will realize that the Phantom Thieves have set eyes on them."

"Yeah, that'd be bad..." Joker said.

"Ideally, I would like to release the case right after the mastermind's heart changes, so that he doesn't have the chance to retaliate. And until then, we will have to count on Crow to continue stalling and holding the organization back."

"I wonder how he does it..." Panther said.

"Have any of you actually asked him for details?"

"I don't think he would tell us much..." Noir spoke timidly. "He gets quite evasive sometimes..."

"When he dislikes something or thinks we're prying too much, he's quick to go away and leave us hanging." Joker explained.

"What is he thinking?" Minerva heaved a sigh and muttered under her breath. "Either way, let's hope he is doing his best."

They engaged a group of Shadows in battle.

"Two Decarabias!" Oracle shouted. "Weak to physical. Pummel them!"

Minerva traded a glance with Queen, who nodded. Both sisters released a battle cry, ran to the enemies and mercilessly punched the daylights out of them.

"Talk about a quick battle." Fox commented.

"So, Minerva's into martial arts too?" Joker asked.

"We used to take Aikido lessons together." Queen answered.

Minerva had a distant gaze. "It has been a long time since we have last practiced the techniques together..."

"Yes, it has." Queen smiled with nostalgia. "I'm happy to have been able to do it again."

"To think we'd need to come to the cognitive world to finally fight together again..."

"The enemies didn't even see what hit 'em!" Skull spoke excitedly. "It's too bad that she can come to the Metaverse with us only once in a while..."

"But we're sure that her progress outside of the Metaverse will also be amazing!" Came Noir's optimistic argument.

"That is some pressure." Minerva chuckled, then spoke determinedly. "In all seriousness, though, I normally wouldn't have dared go against such a dangerous and powerful organization. However, I was fortunate to see what this group is capable of, and I trust you all to reach a satisfactory end for this case. I am glad to work with such amazing allies. As the Minerva of the Phantom Thieves, I will give my best."

Joker smiled. "We'll be counting on you."

... ... ... ... ...

It was nightfall when they left the Metaverse.

"This was an interesting experience," Niijima-san said. "I still would like to know the details of how all this began and how the group came about."

"It's a long story..." Akira warned.

"I will drop by Leblanc another day so that we can talk more calmly. If possible, I would like everyone else to be present as well."

"Alright," Futaba said. "Just tell Akira and she'll ping us."

"Thank you, I will. Akira-chan, I will need your phone number."

"Oh, of course!" Akira took her phone and traded numbers with Niijima-san.

"Shouldn't we also include my sister in the group chat so that she can stay up-to-date?" Makoto suggested.

"Oh yeah." Akira was about to open the chat program.

"There is no need." Niijima-san interrupted her. "I would rather have Makoto relay the most important developments to me directly instead of having to keep up with all the discussions in the chat. It saves me time."

"Ah, okay." Akira put her phone away.

"Then, we will talk more another time." With that, Niijima-san left with Makoto.

The Phantom Thieves went their separate ways, and Akira returned to Leblanc.

She took a shower, had dinner, then went to the attic.

"Akira." Morgana called her to attention.

"Hmm?"

"Yesterday, Akechi awoke scared from a nightmare and began crying. I did what I could to comfort him, and even tried to have him take his phone to call you, but it didn't work. I hope he doesn't have nightmares frequently. It must be hard, with no one around to comfort him."

At hearing that, Akira wished she could be near Akechi to be able to comfort him. Since she couldn't, she would have to do the next best thing.

Akira took her phone and called Akechi's number. "Hi, Akechi-kun."

"... Akira?"

"I just wanted to wish you good night. I couldn't talk to you alone today, and couldn't wish you good night in advance!"

"Huh? You don't need to go out of your way to do that..."

"But I know you have no one around to do it, and I want to!" So, my precious detective friend, I wish you a good night, with peaceful sleep and no nightmares."

---

From those words, Akechi suspected Morgana had told Akira about the "incident" from last night.

"Huh? Uh, thanks. Same to you. And, um, good luck on the exams."

"Thanks! Let's see how many questions we predicted right! Ah, and you have exams too, don't you? Good luck to you too!"

When Akechi thought the call was over, Akira sent him a text message with a kiss emoji. The memory of the last time she had kissed him on the cheeks sprang to mind. Akechi blushed, and this time, he was grateful that no one was there to see it.

The detective spent a while with a blush on his face and with his eyes closed tightly. When he managed to regain his composure, Akechi considered responding the message, but the blush threatened to come back, and he gave up.

... ... ... ... ...

Monday, October 17

Akechi was heading to his line from the Shibuya station when Sakamoto stopped him.

"Hey, Akechi! Morning!"

"Hey." Akechi approached Sakamoto. "Excited this early in the morning, I see. Ready for exams?"

Sakamoto grimaced. "Ugh, not sure."

Akechi laughed. "Do you still remember the questions we tried to predict yesterday?"

"Those ones I think I remember. But if the predictions are totally off and most of those questions don't come up, I dunno..."

"Good luck." Akechi wished earnestly.

"Thanks. And, um, one other thing I wanted to say. I was surprised you actually followed my advice about cooking. Most people don't take what I say seriously..."

"It was good advice. Thanks." Akechi smiled. "I'll go to my line now. See you around."

They parted ways and headed to their respective lines. Akechi felt that his bond with Sakamoto had grown a bit closer, and the Chariot Confidant ranked up.

---

The first half of the exam day passed. Akira was on lunch break and ran into Mishima.

"Kurusu, how are you doing on the exams?"

"I believe I'm doing fine." Akira was pleasantly surprised at some of the familiar questions that were on the exams so far. "You?"

Mishima, on the other hand, didn't look very confident. "Hmm. More or less. But look at this!" His expression changed to an angry one when he showed her the Phansite on his phone. "Everyone's raging over Akechi's last interview. That guy's so stubborn, and totally not neutral at all!" Mishima lowered his voice. "So, what do you guys plan to do about Akechi? Are you gonna change his heart or what?"

"Oh, we have a better idea."

"Hmm? What would that be?"

"You'll see." Akira smirked mysteriously.

"Well, you guys seem to have everything under control. I'll wait and see, then. Curious to see what you guys will pull off!" Mishima took his phone and showed the Phansite. "By the way, have you seen this request? The owner of a small farm is basically treating his workers as slaves, and even threatened to kill the ones who disobey him. His name is Jinzaburo Oono. I've already posted the Phantom Thieves warning on the thread. You guys gotta do something quick! This is serious!"

Minutes later, Akira was with her friends.

"What do we do? We go to Mementos today?" Ryuji asked with a devious smirk.

Morgana caught the smirk. "Ryuji... trying to escape from studying for exams, aren't you?"

"That would be bad." Makoto disapproved. "I still think we should wait until exams are over."

"It doesn't feel right to have the workers endure one more week of suffering, though," Ann reasoned.

"I can go." Morgana volunteered. "Unlike you guys who are busy with studies, I have nothing to do. It doesn't feel right to have the workers endure one more week of suffering while I have the whole week with nothing to do!"

Haru didn't seem too sure about that plan. "But... you're thinking of going alone?"

"I have an idea!" Akira suddenly spoke up. "If you go to Mementos at the usual time and run into Crow, you could ask him to come along and help! Considering how serious this request is, I think he wouldn't say no."

This assured Haru. "Good idea! Crow is reliable. We'll be more at ease knowing he's helping you."

"And I can spend some more time with the other wild card!" Morgana was getting excited. "It's settled, then!"

Akira took her cellphone. "Alright, I'll text the others about this."

... ... ... ... ...

The first day of exams ended. They had correctly predicted questions at the study session, though not all of their predictions for the day's subjects came true.

Back at Leblanc, Akira was studying in preparation for the following day.

"Akira, I'll be going." Morgana announced.

"Okay. Oh, I don't think we've told Crow that we'd be busy this week. Would you tell him? Today there's the request, but we wouldn't want him going to Mementos and wasting his time waiting for us for the rest of the week."

"Good reminder. Sure, leave it to me!" Morgana sounded excited at today's mission. Since his capabilities in his cat form were limited, he must be glad to feel useful.

Morgana went downstairs, and Akira could hear a faint, "Chief, I'm heading out for a bit!"

"Make sure to come back before dinner, alright?" Was Sojiro's response, and Akira smiled at the interaction.

---

Crow went to Mementos to look for the Personas needed for Elizabeth's "Kurama Tengu with Masukukaja" recipe. Since he had used up most of the items he had - especially the barrier items - during the Reaper and the twins fight, it should be a good idea to farm for items as well.

Near the entrance, he absentmindedly stared at the spot the twins had been standing on the day he had come to battle them. There was no sign of them at the moment. Distracted, he ignored the app's robotic voice message informing him that a new area had been found.

Who in the world are those twins, anyway? He thought with gritted teeth.

After a moment of absentminded staring, a voice made him jump. "Hey! Crow!" It was that familiar high-pitched voice he had been hearing a lot these last two days.

Crow looked around, and saw no one else aside from the supernatural feline. "... What are you doing here? Is it only you?"

"The others aren't coming. This is what I'm here to tell you, actually! Joker specifically asked me to tell you that everyone will be busy this week."

"Ah..." Crow had known. The others had exams. Well, he also had, but he felt confident enough not to need the rest of the day to study or sleep.

"If you have a message for them, I'll let them know." Mona was a bit apprehensive. "I mean, you are here because you came to wait for us and give some news, right?"

"No. This is not my reason for being here today. Don't worry. There's no news yet. I'm here just to get some items."

"... Is that so?" Mona relaxed. "You're here to get items? Like, by scouring around or stealing from Shadows?"

"That's right."

"Oh, I see, you have other things to do. Actually, me too. I have one more reason to be here today. I'm here to fulfill a Phansite request!"

"... Alone?"

"The others can't come, and it's urgent, so, yes." Mona made a pleading face. "It'd be great if you would help, though..."

"Oh, I get it. You've approached me with ulterior motives." Crow spoke with suspicion.

"Hey, don't say it like that. How about this? Let's make a deal. You help me with the request, and I help you to get items." Mona grinned. "Battles are way easier when you can baton-pass and all-out attack, aren't they? But those techniques require at least two people."

"... You have a point." Crow had to agree. "Huh? Wait. Do the others even know about what you're doing? I doubt they'd let you handle a request alone."

"Of course they know! They didn't want to let me come alone, but they said it's okay if I can find you and ask you to come with me!"

Crow heaved a sigh. Why did the Phantom Thieves always have to decide things behind his back and then force him to do whatever they want? First they forced him to drive, then to navigate, then to fight the Reaper, then to join them for their study sessions... they kept reminding him about the unanimous decision rule, but in practice, no matter how much he argued, he didn't have a say in most things and had to simply go along with whatever the others decided.

Well, not that he wouldn't accompany Mona, though. It didn't sound like a good idea to leave Mona to deal with a request target's Shadow alone. It reminded Crow of that time Mona and formerly Beauty Thief had been running away from Shadows at Okumura's Palace, and he didn't want a repeat of that incident. At least Mona had come to him instead of tackling the request alone to show off or anything stupid like that...

Mona was still throwing arguments. "Think again. You can get your items on the way to the request and back, and you'll still have an easier time handling battles with baton passes and all-out attacks! It's not a bad proposal. Actually, it's advantageous for both of us! So, what do you say? Deal?"

"Fine." Crow nodded.

Mona grinned in triumph. "That's the spirit! Let's get this mission started, then!"

Crow was worried about taking his phone out to teleport to a lower area. Mona would surely recognize the phone if he were to see it. But when Crow reached for his phone, he noticed something was different.

"Hmm?" Crow hummed in wonder. His phone was protected by a case, made from a material not unlike his Metaverse armor. It wasn't like that before. This must be the result of his rebellious will to hide from the Phantom Thieves, in a similar way he had managed to create wheels on his boots to move in Mementos faster.

"What happened?"

Crow would say it was nothing, but he remembered something he could use as an excuse. "I remembered that the app had alerted me to a newly opened area."

"Really?! A new area!" Mona jumped in excitement. "This means we're getting a bit closer to the depths! Let's go! I'll do the honors of teleporting us."

"You can do that?"

Mona smirked proudly. "Of course I can! Who do you think I am?"

"Alright. Do it then." In the end, Crow wouldn't need to use his phone.

Mona teleported them to the last area they had access to, and Crow checked the wall.

"Yes! It opened!" Mona exclaimed in joy. "Let's get exploring already!"

They began their exploration. Mona in his vehicle form, with Crow as the driver.

"I can sense the target below us! Probably one or two floors below this one!" Mona informed.

"What request is it, anyway?"

"Have you seen the one about the abusive farm owner treating his workers as slaves?"

"I have." Crow confirmed. "He goes as far as threatening to kill his workers for disobedience. It's a serious issue..."

"Isn't it? One of the workers requested that the Phantom Thieves change this man's heart, and it's precisely what we're going to do! The others wanted to come, but they're too busy. So, the request fell in our hands! Don't you think this request is worth your time?"

"Sounds like it is," was what Crow said, but of course the request was worth his time.

They ran into two Shadows, one being an Ose and the other one being an Unicorn. The same kind of Shadows that had been in Sae-san's Palace. Those Shadows were on the weaker side of the selection, and Crow and Mona had no trouble taking them down.

Back on the tracks, Mona spoke up. "Hey, Crow. Can you drive in the real world too?"

"No."

"You can't? You drive well, and I thought you could! The chief drives better, though. I know he has a car."

"The chief?"

"Oh, the owner of the cafe where Joker is living at! He's Oracle's adoptive father." Mona spilled it, just like that. "He found out about the Phantom Thieves and some stuff about the cognitive world, and we decided to bring him here to show it to him!"

"You... brought him here?" Crow was incredulous. Had Sakura-san come to the Metaverse too!?

"We did. He was so surprised! Actually, he's the one who was teaching Joker to drive!"

Crow was the one surprised now, and wasn't paying proper attention to the way ahead.

"Crow, watch out! Shadows are coming for us!"

Crow snapped to focus and gripped the steering will tightly. Luckily, his quick reflexes allowed him to maneuver around and run the Shadows over from behind.

The enemies were three Kumbhanda Shadows, weak to ice. Crow used Kushinada-Hime's Mabufula to hit the weakness. Two Shadows were defeated but one was not. Crow and Mona held the Shadow at gun point, but it hadn't been carrying any item, which caused them to finish the battle with an all-out attack.

"That maneuver was great!" Mona said once he was back to his vehicle form and they were on their way. "That would've been impossible to Joker. Actually, I hadn't thought you'd pull it off, either."

"Me neither. We were lucky this time. Don't count on this always happening. Speaking of Joker, how are her driving skills coming along?"

"They've improved a bit. She still has a looooong way to go, though."

Indeed, it sounded like driving was the only thing he was better than her at.

"Speaking of driving, Minerva can drive, too."

"Who?" Crow was confused for a second.

"Oh, I forgot you still didn't know. Niijima is in the group now, and her code name is Minerva! Sadly, she can't come to the Metaverse much because she's busy with work and trying to build a case against the organization..."

"I see..."

"She said it'll take at least a month to get the case ready."

"At least a month!"

"Yeah, she's a busy person." Mona explained. "She can only look into these things in her free time."

"I understand that. But stalling for this long will be hard."

"It may not be ease, but you can do it. We're counting on you!" Mona encouraged. From his voice's tone, he would be grinning if he weren't in his car form.

Crow heaved a sigh. "At least we don't need to worry about her turning against us anymore."

"How do you get to stall, by the way?" First the car question, and now this. Suspicious. It sounded like Mona was prying into Crow's real world life.

"By delaying reports, giving convincing excuses, things like that." Crow made sure to be vague.

"Hmm. You don't spend the whole day with the organization, do you? I mean, when you aren't in the Metaverse with us, of course."

"I usually don't go there unless they request it."

"Good to hear. You need some time outside of that stuff. Things are much harder if you're stressed the whole time! What do you like to do in your free time?" That was it. Mona was definitely prying.

"Nothing out of the ordinary." Crow tried to sidestep the question.

"It doesn't need to be out of the ordinary. As one person I've met recently has said, it's important to enjoy life's simple things too." Mona could only be talking about Elizabeth. "So, what are your hobbies?"

Crow was getting annoyed. "Not something worth talking about. This is irrelevant to our next mission."

"Hey hey, this is not the point! We still know practically nothing about you..."

"Info on my life outside the Metaverse isn't interesting enough to be of any use. This is what I'm saying."

"Then, you should make it more interesting. You need some time to yourself, to change focus and have some fun, or it'll be much harder to deal with the serious stuff!"

"I'm fine in that regard." Crow shot back.

Mona seemed to be the one annoyed now. "Okay, just don't get involved in activities that are bad for you, alright?"

"I'm not doing anything wrong." Crow justified himself. "I know you guys need me standing strong for the next mission, and am not willing to risk harming my health or anything like that."

"That's good, but this is not the point I-"

"Shadows ahead." Crow interrupted Mona, glad for the change of focus. The last thing he needed was the Phantom Thieves finding out his identity through info about his hobbies.

They ambushed the Shadows and began the battle. In that fight, Crow baton-passed to Mona to defeat the last enemy, a Queen Mab Shadow.

"Look how cool this move is! Show your might, Zorro!" Mona's Persona cast Garudyne and finished the battle. "My finishing blow was awesome, wasn't it!?"

"Oh, you can use Garudyne now. This is good."

Mona deflated at Crow's unenthusiastic reaction. "Ugh, though I have to admit that Minerva knows an even more awesome wind attack. I hope to also be able to cast it one day!"

"What if you can't?"

"Of course I can! ... I think."

Crow shrugged. "Whatever. Let's move on."

Crow went back to driving, and thankfully Mona seemed to have forgotten their previous argument. Or if he hadn't, then what they came across next effectively changed the supernatural cat's focus.

"The platform! Next floor, here we go! One more floor closer to the depths of Mementos!"

At the platform, Crow disembarked, and Mona returned to his normal Metaverse form.

"How many more floors until the depths?" Crow asked.

"I don't know! But each floor we go through is one less floor, right?"

That line of thought may be optimistic, but wasn't reassuring at all. Crow sighed and stared absentmindedly at the stairs. There was no way to know how many floors they would still have to explore. Crow wished he could help solve Mona's issue if possible. Would it be possible, though? Would Crow even live long enough to reach the Mementos depths with the Phantom Thieves?

"What's wrong?" Mona noticed him spacing out.

"... I wonder... what is at the bottom..."

"Me too," Mona said. "Whatever it is, I'm sure it's something related to my purpose... I need to find out what my original purpose is, or I can't fulfill it!"

"Your purpose? Aren't you the Phantom Thieve's Metaverse guide? What other purpose might you have?"

"I believe I was supposed to have a major purpose. I can't say for sure, but lately I came to think that it has something to do with helping the wild cards. In other words, Joker and you."

Crow had a painful realization. Mona's purpose must have been only to help Joker and not him, as it was obvious that he had been an enemy at the time Mona got the task. He wouldn't comment on that, though.

On the lower floor, Crow hesitated before approaching the tracks.

"Hey... how did you meet Joker?"

"Completely by chance." Mona answered. "It was Inside that Shujin teacher Kamoshida's Palace. She and Skull accidentally said the keywords and got sent to the Metaverse. The Shadows had trapped me in a cell, and that was where the two found me. They freed me in exchange for me showing the way out of the Palace."

"Had she already formed the Phantom Thieves?"

"No. She had barely awakened her Persona and couldn't even maintain her Metaverse costume active properly."

"Hmm." Crow hadn't had this kind of problem in the beginning.

"I couldn't even tell that she was a wild card yet." Mona added. "Skull still had no Persona, either. They were lost and confused for having ended up in the Metaverse so suddenly, and all they wanted was to get back to the real world. I got them out, but they just had to come back the next day! On purpose this time."

"You got them out and they came back?" Crow found it strange. "Didn't you leave the Metaverse with them?"

"No. I had my own business in the Palace. Looking for the treasure, that is. Not that I'd have managed to find it on my own, though, so I made sure to teach Joker the basics of using a Persona in battle, already planning to have her help me. Then Skull's Persona awakened too, and I got one more ally. The following day, I left the Metaverse and went to their school because I was sure I could find them there. They were trying to get some dirt on Kamoshida and were having a hard time finding a way to do something against him. I tried to convince them that finding the treasure in the Metaverse was the way to go."

"So, this was the beginning of the Phantom Thieves..."

"More like, the beginning of the beginning of the Phantom Thieves." Mona smirked.

"I couldn't have imagined you were like that..." Crow went back to the previous subject, disappointed at Mona's words. "You were manipulating them into doing whatever you wanted!"

"Yes, I was quite arrogant in the beginning." Mona admitted with shame. "I had no attachment to Joker at all. Once I had found out that she's a wild card, I basically forced her to take me in. I had only approached her out of interest, because I wanted her to hone her Persona powers to open Mementos up for me. As time passed, I kept some stuff from her because I thought it was none of her business, and because I wanted her to see me as someone tough and more experienced." Mona scoffed. "Now that I think about it, it sounds kind of lame. In the end, she may have never seen me the way I intended her to... no one probably has." Mona heaved a sigh. "I only realized how important she and the others are to me after we had a falling-out. Oh yeah, that time when you saved Noir and me at Okumura's Palace..."

"You mean Beauty Thief."

Mona laughed. "Oh, you remember that!"

Crow ignored the comment. "Why did you have a falling-out?"

"It began after Oracle joined the group. Until then, I had been the one navigating, but she proved she could do it much better than me." So, Oracle was involved too. This might explain why Mona tended to argue with her. "I was having nightmares about my origins and felt totally lost and unsure of myself. Skull kept mocking me and saying I was useless. Joker went on a trip without me. Oracle began investigating Okumura on her own, and kept treating me as though I were a pet. I began feeling that no one needed me. Once Joker was back and we tried to decide what to do about the rankings, we didn't reach an unanimous decision and got into a fight. And Skull just had to shout to my face that I was useless again. I couldn't take it anymore. I ran away, determined to change Okumura's heart on my own and prove how strong and reliable I was! Though it didn't go as I had expected. Haru got dragged accidentally into the Metaverse because she was nearby when I teleported." Mona let the girl's name slip. "She still couldn't battle, the Shadows did a number on us, and you know the rest."

"Hmm." Crow listened intently.

"I still remember that day. You were too suspicious, coming out of nowhere and demanding us to stop going after Okumura. Who'd have thought I'd be telling you all this?" Mona chuckled. "I trust you now, though. I feel I can tell you all these things."

Crow felt an involuntary smile creeping into his face, and the Magician Confidant ranked up.

"Hey, let's move on and start exploring this floor already!" Mona urged, and Crow agreed.

Mona assumed his car form. They moved on and battled more Shadows, but the ones Crow wanted didn't appear, and the few items he managed to get from them were nothing outstanding.

Crow was getting frustrated at his unsuccessful item and Persona farming... until they found a Kikuri-Hime Shadow.

Crow used Queen Mab's Agidyne to knock her down, and was trying to talk her into becoming a Persona.

At first, the negotiation wasn't going well. But then, the Shadow noticed Mona. "Aww, is this a friend of yours? He's so cute, isn't he?!"

"Yes, he is." Crow agreed with the Shadow, much to Mona's dismay.

"C-cute!?" Mona made an offended face, then pointed his slingshot at the Shadow and tried to look imposing.

"Yeah! And he's so cute when angry, too!" The Shadow giggled. "Looks like there's something we agree on, after all. No, wait. I remember now! I'm part of the Sea of Souls... I am thou, thou art I!" And Crow had her.

After the battle, Mona glared at Crow. "You were mocking me, weren't you!?"

"Huh?" Crow was clueless.

"Cute? What the heck? You don't mean that's really what you think, do you!?"

"Hmm..." Crow only hummed enigmatically.

"Hey!" Mona growled, unsatisfied with Crow's answer.

"Why are you angry? Having your appearance complimented should be a good thing..."

"It's..." Mona was about to argue, but lowered his gaze and sighed. "This brings us back to our previous subject. You know, about my true form. At first, I had been fully convinced I was human. But recently, the more I think about it, the less likely it feels. In the end, everyone only views me as a cute little cat..."

"Then, just be grateful you aren't ugly."

Mona burst laughing. "Yes, I guess that wouldn't be nice... as long as my true form doesn't turn out to be anything scary like that thing from my nightmares..."

"Nightmares? It's the second time you mention these." Crow noted.

"Uh... sometimes I have nightmares, and they bother me a lot. But I haven't told anyone about them. Not even Akira."

"... Huh?" Crow's head slightly shot up at the unexpected slip.

"... Er, I mean Joker." Mona quickly corrected. "Akira is her real name."

As if I hadn't known... Crow thought. But what he had just heard was absurd. Morgana was practically glued to Akira most of the time. "How come you didn't even tell Joker!?"

"Uh, maybe I should be a bit more open to her." Mona admitted. "Not only to her, but the others too. To think I'd be discussing my nightmares with you, out of all people..." Mona chuckled, then his expression became serious. "The nightmares are about a thing that looks like a Shadow version of myself. It emanates despair and gives me lots of bad vibes. I get chills thinking that it may be my true form..."

"You think you're a Shadow?"

Mona blinked. "No! I can't be a Shadow! since I have a Persona, I must've had a Shadow self. That must be it... I think..." And he just had to falter at the end and ruin his argument once more.

"'You think' again...?" Crow couldn't contain a small smirk. "You can't win arguments if you end your points this way! If you're in doubt, then keep that last part as a thought."

"Uh, you have a point..." Mona got thrown off for a moment, but quickly regained his composure. "I-I mean n-no! Shadows are born from negative emotions. I can't be a Shadow!"

Crow didn't buy it. Mona was a supernatural creature, clearly not from the real world, and very familiar with the Metaverse. To Crow, this was enough evidence that Mona had originated from the Metaverse. And the only creatures they had found in the Metaverse so far had been Shadows. If Mona wasn't a Shadow, then he might be something similar.

They were back on the tracks, but Mona was still bothered by the previous topic. "I can't be a Shadow... no... but if I'm not human, I can't be with Lady Ann..."

"Huh?" Crow deadpanned. "You mean you have a crush on..."

"I wonder whether she thinks it's cool that I can turn into a car..." Mona uttered dreamily, and Crow could tell it was a one-sided crush, as Panther didn't seem to show any special feelings towards Mona. "Ugh, no, this won't work out. If I'm not human, then we aren't even of a compatible species..."

"Wait. This is all that matters to you?"

"Gah! Y-you heard that?!" Mona realized he had been talking about his romantic dreams aloud, and probably would have jumped if he weren't in his car form. "Uh, well, not that it's the only thing, but being unable to be with the person we love is very sad. I don't know if you can understand this, but It's a serious matter!"

"Of course I understand!" Crow said without thinking.

And Mona caught it. "Huh? You mean... you also like someone?"

"I didn't say that!" Crow blurted out in panic. The subject made him recall the Phantom Thieves' teasing about his love interest the previous day. An annoying blush insisted on creeping into his face, and he was glad to be wearing a mask at that moment.

Mona apparently decided to set his drama aside and turn his focus to Crow instead. "So, you like someone..." It wasn't a question anymore.

"I haven't said anything like that! Stop assuming things!"

"Your reaction is pretty much a giveaway, though. And if you can relate to my drama, then it must mean that the person in question is out of your league, too. So, has she noticed you? Have you already told her your feelings?"

Crow gritted his teeth and refused to respond.

"Oh, come on." Mona insisted. "I told you I trust you enough to tell you about my biggest problems. Don't you trust me even a bit to tell me a little about yourself?"

Crow was genuinely irritated. "This is not the problem. The problem is that you're being too annoying! Stop this nonsense talk, or I will leave without helping you with the request! You know that I can move around in Mementos perfectly without depending on you."

"Hey, no need to be so angry. I was just trying to have a friendly conversation!"

"I got tired of talking. Let's just do what we came here to do."

Mona finally stopped arguing, and they remained in an awkward silence, until something interesting entered their line of sight.

"Oh! Our target is here!" Mona broke the silence. "His territory is right ahead!"

Crow let out an affirmative grunt to show he had understood, and they charged straight into the Shadow's territory. Mona ejected Crow and untransformed.

"There he is. Jinzaburo Oono's Shadow." Mona pointed out. "Let's take the distortion from his heart!"

Crow nodded determinedly, and they approached the Shadow.

"May you be the rumored Phantom Thieves?" Jinzaburo's Shadow guessed. "Hmm? Only two people, though? I had thought it was a bigger group..."

"We're understaffed today," Mona said. "We don't owe you any explanation, though! If you know of us, then you must have an idea as to why we're here. You're abusing your workers, and also go as far as threatening to kill them!"

"'Abusing?' I'm providing them food and shelter. If anything, they should be grateful! Obeying all my orders is the least they should do. They know better to go against me. They have nowhere to go. If they leave, they will die anyway."

"You force them to do whatever you want and threaten to eliminate them so that you have no opposition." Crow summarized. "This is cowardice!"

The Shadow scoffed. "Isn't this the same thing as what you Phantom Thieves are doing? Enforce your values onto others, and if they refuse to accept them, you eliminate all opposition by forcefully changing their hearts so that they agree with you."

Crow gritted his teeth. He felt bad, mainly because that wrong line of thought must have spawned from certain interviews.

"Don't compare us to you!" Mona exploded. "This isn't how we operate at all!"

Crow suddenly recalled Futaba's response when Sae-san had asked her how she had felt after the Phantom Thieves took her heart. "It was tough. But I got able to see stuff I couldn't see before, like a dark cloud had disappeared from my mind."

"The Phantom Thieves don't enforce anything!" Crow couldn't hold himself and added to Mona's argument. "We only take the distorted desires that are clouding our target's hearts, and that don't let them see things clearly. It's what we are going to do now!"

"Well said, Crow!" Mona was proud. "You really got the hang on how stuff works! Let's do this!"

"Grrr! You will regret having opposed me!" The Shadow turned into Narcissus, and summoned a Decarabia and an Isis. "Don't let those thieves near me! You know what will happen if you disobey my orders!"

The Decarabia cast Tetrakarn on Jinzaburo's Shadow, and the Isis followed suit and cast Makarakarn.

"They're protecting him?!" Mona exclaimed. "Both physical and magical attacks will redirect back to us if we attack him!"

"I'll remove the physical barrier. Rangda!" Crow changed Personas and attacked the barrier. The physical barrier was gone, and as Rangda was immune to physical attacks, the reflected blow did no damage to Crow.

"Nice one!" Mona exclaimed. "My turn! Leave the two lackeys to me!"

Since Decarabias were weak to physical attacks, Mona swung his toy sword and attacked the Decarabia first. Thankfully, that enemy behaved as normal, and the melee attack was a weakness hit. With the Decarabia stunned, Mona moved to attack the Isis, and used Zorro's Miracle Punch to maybe knock the Shadow to the ground with a critical hit. However, luck wasn't on their side, and the Miracle Punch didn't score a critical hit.

"As long as you obey me, I will keep you safe." To make things worse, Jinzaburo's Shadow used Mediarama and healed the two lackeys back to full health.

"What!?" Mona gasped.

The Decarabia put the Tetrakarn barrier back up for Jinzaburo's Shadow, and the Isis cast Makaracarn on itself.

"Our main target is protected, but the Decarabia is open for physical attacks. Let's go for it!" Mona alerted Crow.

Both of them went for the Decarabia, but the damage wasn't enough to defeat it. Jinzaburo's Shadow cast Mediarama once more, and all Crow's and Mona's efforts were wasted.

"This is going nowhere." Crow grumbled. Then, an idea struck him. "Mona, just to confirm. It's safe to kill these two Shadows, right? It wouldn't affect the workers in the real world, would it?"

"It's safe. These are normal Shadows, unrelated to the workers. But how can we defeat them? We can't deal enough damage, and they'll keep being healed back to full energy!"

"It's not us who will be doing it." Crow smirked from behind his mask. "Persona!" He summoned Pazuzu to whom he had passed the Brain Jack spell through fusion, and used it on the enemies.

The two lackeys got brainwashed and began attacking their own allies... including Jinzaburo's Shadow. The Decarabia hit the physical barrier and got the hit reflected back, and also resulted in removing the barrier. The Isis also hit Jinzaburo's Shadow, and the hit got through because he didn't have a physical barrier anymore.

The damage was very small, but was enough to set Jinzaburo's Shadow off. "I had warned you time and time again not to go against me, and you still dare oppose me! You leave me no choice. Bear the consequences! Merciless Shot!"

Jinzaburo's Shadow took a pistol that sent two huge bullets straight into the two Shadows and finished them off in a single hit.

"Wow!" Mona was amazed. "Crow, you took advantage of his cognition, and the thought that he'd kill the workers if they were to disobey him!"

"It's only him and us now." Crow interrupted. "Remember he still has the Makarakarn barrier active!"

"I don't think I've said this before, but you'd make for a great navigator!" Mona spoke while he ran and attacked the target with his toy sword.

Jinzaburo's Shadow cast Magarula, but it was no problem for the two Phantom Thieves. Frustrated with the attack's ineffectiveness, the Shadow summoned one more Decarabia and Isis.

"The result will be the same!" Crow had Pazuzu cast Brain Jack again and brainwash the two lackeys, who attacked Jinzaburo's Shadow just like before.

"You are opposing me too!? Then you will die!" Jinzaburo's Shadow used his signature move again and eliminated the two Shadows.

With only the main target to deal with, Crow had Loki use Brave Blade. It caused a critical hit and knocked the Shadow to the ground.

"Check mate." Crow declared, then he and Mona jumped in for the all-out attack.

"No, no, no! Why does everyone have to oppose me! Aaaaah!" Jinzaburo's Shadow fell to the ground, defeated.

"This is it." Crow spoke decisively. "We have removed the distortion that was clouding your heart. It's up to you to decide what to do from now on."

"That's right!" Mona smirked with pride.

Jinzaburo's Shadow had a contemplative expression for a moment. After a heavy sigh, he stood up and began speaking. "My father was the owner of a convenience store. When I was back in my 20s, some of his employees got hold of an unscrupulous lawyer and unjustly sued my father. Thanks to their nasty deals with the lawyer, they ended up winning the case and forcing my father to give them most of what he had, and the only thing left was his farm which he passed on to me. Since then, I was afraid of the farm's workers betraying me the same way the store's workers did to my father. Then I bought a pistol and began threatening my workers to make sure they wouldn't oppose me."

"You realize that they have valid reasons to sue you because of that, don't you?" Crow reminded the Shadow. "Be grateful that they decided to ask for our help instead of suing you and taking everything that you have."

"Uh, yes, you're right..." The Shadow admitted. "Now I realize it, but before, I had been so blinded by my fear and paranoia thinking my workers could betray me at any moment, and I failed to realize what I was putting them through. I need to do something to make up to them..." Jinzaburo's Shadow raised his head with determination. "Yes, this is it... the fact is that if they leave me, they really don't have anywhere to go. So, if I become a good boss and take care of them well, they will be happy and won't have reasons to go against me anymore..."

A bright light engulfed Jinzaburo's Shadow, and he disappeared. He left behind a pistol, likely the cognitive version of the weapon he had mentioned, the item that began his threats to the workers. It just so happened to be the kind of firearm that Crow used!

"Hmm, not bad." Crow examined the weapon. It was actually better than his current one.

"You did great, Crow!" Mona spoke proudly.

"You too." Crow replied monotonously and put the pistol away.

"Hey, what's with this lack of enthusiasm? I really mean it! Crow, I'm glad that you were here in this mission. If not for your Persona with Brain Jack, it'd have been impossible to defeat the Shadow! There was no way that I'd have managed it alone!"

"Likely not... though I was lucky to be carrying a Persona with that skill this time."

Mona was exasperated. "You don't realize how amazing you were, do you? You not only did great in the battle, but also proved to have a good understanding of the Phantom Thieves' philosophy, and were totally cool all around! Oh, that reminds me. This is still your second time fulfilling a Phansite request, isn't it? By changing that man's heart, you did a very good act! Be proud!"

Of course Crow was proud of it. He didn't let it show, though. He was hiding his identity, and the less he let his emotions show in the Metaverse near the Phantom Thieves, the better.

"By the way, you said, 'check mate' before we went in for the all out attack." Mona observed. "It's the expression that ends a chess game. Perhaps, are you into chess?"

Crow sighed. Here came the prying again. Maybe, if he were to disclose an insignificant bit of information he didn't intend to tell anyone else, Mona may get satisfied for now. "You could say that."

"Wow! That's cool! And you said your hobbies weren't interesting... you're into chess. It's no wonder that you're good at strategizing!"

"I haven't played it in a while, though."

"Why not?!"

"Why was it, again?" As Crow stopped to think, he realized the subject wasn't insignificant at all. "Ever since I set off to search for the mastermind, I haven't played chess. The closest to that I've been doing is the 'real life chess' about fooling the organization. If only I had continued to invest my time in chess instead of going after the mastermind, I at least wouldn't have ruined anyone's life..."

"You can always start playing again!" Mona tried to encourage him. "And if you really like chess, you could even play it professionally. It's not too late!"

"Of course it's too late. I have made too many wrong moves already. No matter how I look at it, I can't see any exit in this messed-up board that my life has become. All I can do is protect a few pieces to avoid things from becoming worse. Once we take the mastermind down, I will go down with him and it'll be check mate for me."

"Crow..." Mona took a tentative step closer. It looked like he wanted to say something, but was unsure what to say.

Crow shrugged and tried to get rid of those depressing thoughts. "The request is done. I'll go back to my item search." He began walking out of the Shadow's territory.

"Hey!" Mona scrambled after him. "You haven't forgotten our deal, right? We had agreed that I'd help you battle and get items."

Crow balked. "Hmm? Wasn't it supposed to be only on the way here?"

"Of course not! I had told you I currently have a lot of free time in my hands. I'll accompany you until you get all the items you want!"

"If you say so..."

They left the Shadow's territory and were back on the tracks.

---

Mona became lost in thought. He kept reflecting on his past behavior towards the Phantom Thieves, especially Akira, who he remained near the most. If only he had opened up to her sooner instead of trying to hide his weaknesses around her, he could probably have avoided a lot of headaches.

"Hey." Crow's voice pulled Mona out of his thoughts. "There's something I've always wondered about. How does it feel like when we're inside your car form? Does it feel as though we're indeed inside you, or what?"

"Oh, what an odd question! Well, to put it simply, it feels as though I'm carrying everyone in my lap!"

"Hmm..." Crow hummed in wonder.

On further thought, even though Mona was used to have humans carry him, he had never thought about how it would feel to carry them instead. But now that Crow had posed the question, Mona realized that this was what having them inside his vehicle form felt like. Too bad he couldn't do any caring gesture to any of them in that form! ... Wait, caring gesture? Mona was surprised at the sudden thought.

Even after he had concluded the Phantom Thieves were important to him because they were the only people he had, Morgana didn't usually show his more caring side to them, with the exception of Lady Ann and Haru. In fact, Akechi was the only other person who had had the "privilege" of witnessing Morgana's caring side. Morgana had strangely developed a soft spot for the detective, especially after hearing the cat story and concluding Akechi also had no one and nowhere. Perhaps Morgana should start showing his caring side to others more often...

Speaking of Akechi, Mona realized that they had never talked to Crow about anything involving Akechi, and Crow had never mentioned anything about those interviews, either.

When they reached the platform to the next floor, Mona spoke up. "Hey, Crow. What do you think of Akechi's interviews?"

Crow grunted in irritation. "So much nonsense, and a total waste of time."

"Huh?" Mona hadn't expected such a cold answer.

"Don't tell me those interviews actually bother you."

"Uh, but..."

"Does it look like anything can come out of those?" Crow cut him off. "No, it doesn't. They're just noise. They're as pointless as all that Phantom Thieves merchandise that have nothing to do with the actual Phantom Thieves."

It was technically right. The Phantom Thieves' worries weren't about the interviews' contents, though. The problem was what Akechi might do if he were to find out the Phantom Thieves' identities.

"Crow, I see your point, but..."

Crow didn't let Mona explain his point. "Just tune the noise out. All that matters is that we manage to do what we have to do."

---

The interviews were a waste of time. For the enemies, of course. It was his number one way of stalling, after all. The fact that his allies were getting worked up over the interviews was bothersome, though. With that advice, Crow hoped Mona - and eventually the other Phantom Thieves - would stop freaking out over those interviews.

They continued their exploration, and found the Power Shadow that Crow needed. They held him up and Crow was negotiating with him.

"Do you have a rival? Someone you want to surpass, but don't seem able to..."

"I do." Crow answered firmly without thinking twice.

"Ah, then I have finally found someone to talk about it. You see, this kind of thing isn't allowed in our hierarchy. I know I can never surpass this person, though I cannot help but want to... what should I do?"

"... Just accept the truth and deal with it," Crow said resignedly.

"Oh, I see. You are facing the same problem as me... no, wait! I remember now!"

Crow flashed a triumphant smirk as his mask absorbed the Persona. That was the second of the two ingredients he needed.

Crow went back inside the "car," and they were talking.

"No matter how many times I see it, the wild card power is amazing!" And Mona just had to start prying again. "By the way, most Shadows say a lot of nonsense, but you seemed invested in the answers to that one. Who is that 'rival' figure you spoke of? Is it someone from the organization?"

"No." Crow didn't want to elaborate.

"Hmm, may it be one of us?" Mona pressed. Crow grunted in annoyance, and Mona knew he had gotten him. "Who is it?"

Crow heaved a sigh in frustration, and when he realized it, he had already spilled the answer. "Joker."

"Joker!?" Mona sounded surprised. "Why? Because she's a wild card?"

"Uh, well, that too. A few months back, when I began spying on the Phantom Thieves and saw Joker switch between multiple Personas for the first time, I got so frustrated..."

"Why?!"

"That entity had told me that having two Personas was what proved that I was special. Loki and Robin were the only Personas I had, and when I saw Joker switching among so many Personas, I felt like my two Personas meant nothing. She has arrived at the Metaverse just recently, yet she's way ahead of me..."

"You're... envious of her?"

Crow nodded firmly.

"You can use multiple Personas now, though. Are you still envious?"

"Yes." Crow confirmed. Even though he could use multiple Personas now, he didn't have the "compendium" Elizabeth had mentioned. He was sure that Joker had one and could resummon previously fused Personas at will. Crow felt that no matter what he did, Joker was still ahead of him, and would always be.

Mona sounded sad when he spoke again. "This makes me think that, if you were still on the wrong side, you might be opposing her."

"Probably." Even the twins had said so. They would be opposing each other. They might've become... rivals. Enemies. He would have viewed her as an obstacle. His greatest obstacle...

"Crow, I'm glad that you're with us, though. Having two wild cards against each other would be such a waste of potential..."

Crow was glad too. He didn't want to imagine what he could have done if he had let the envy consume his heart. Even now that he was on the same side as her, his inability to surpass her skills in whichever activity frustrated him to no end. However, as he had already admitted straight to her face, he couldn't dislike her even if he wanted to.

"Don't worry. I won't let this envy thing get in the way of our teamwork. Changing the mastermind's heart is what matters most."

Mona was silent after that.

... ... ... ... ...

A few battles later, Crow and Mona decided to call it a day. Since they likely wouldn't arrive at the next rest area anytime soon, Crow used a Goho-m and they returned to the entrance.

"This item-farming left much to be desired... though at least I got those two Personas, the request is done, and the pistol treasure is something. I guess it was good enough progress."

"Of course it was! Crow, you did awesome. And my help was invaluable too, wasn't it?"

Crow nodded.

"See?" Mona smirked, full of himself. "Our deal was worth it! We've done a great job. Let's go home and take a well-deserved rest."

---

Out of the Metaverse, Morgana hid in a corner in the Shibuya station. He needed to leave the station and walk back to Leblanc, and he would rather not be caught in a commotion if people at the station were to spot him. Morgana waited for an opportunity to change cover spots, and when he saw one, he came out. However, he was caught.

"Oh, a cat!" A child's voice startled him, followed by a couple of preschoolers running after him.

Morgana gasped and tried to run, but the two kids managed to grab him, and not so gently, for that matter.

The girl giggled. "So cute!"

"I'll take it home, so you can play with it when you come to visit!" The boy declared, much to Morgana's panic.

"No, I will take it home!" The girl roughly pulled Morgana by the neck towards her.

"No, I will! I saw it first!" The boy pulled Morgana roughly as well.

"Ah! Help!" Morgana flailed and tried to break free from the two kids' hold.

---

Akechi had snuck out of his Mementos entry spot and was about to head towards his line when he heard Morgana's unmistakable voice crying for help.

Oh crap. Morgana! Akechi thought in alarm. He was still here...

The detective changed his course and quickened his pace towards Morgana's voice. He soon found the two kids fighting over the supernatural cat.

"What is going on here?" Akechi approached them and asked gently.

The kids stopped what they were doing, but still remained holding Morgana.

"We found this cat." The boy answered. "She wants to take it home. But I saw it first! It's me who'll take it to my home!"

"Hmm?" Akechi threw Morgana an analytical look. "I don't think either of you can take it home, though. Look. It's wearing a collar. It must have a owner already."

"Oh... yeah, it has a collar." The boy deflated.

"Maybe it's lost?" The girl wondered aloud. "We need to find its owner, then! But how?"

"Don't worry. Just leave it to me." Akechi assured her.

The boy, on the other hand, didn't seem so sure. "You can do that?"

"Of course I can. I'm a detective. Finding a cat's owner should be easy."

"Okay!" The argument convinced the girl, and she slowly reached Morgana out to Akechi, though her friend didn't seem to like the decision.

Akechi took Morgana in his arms and flashed a friendly smile to the kids. "I'll make sure it gets to its owner safely. And you two, be careful not to get lost too."

The two kids nodded and walked away, but stopped to talk, still in Akechi's earshot.

The boy spoke first. "That was Akechi, right? The detective from TV..."

"Yeah. Wasn't he... nice?"

"But he doesn't like the Phantom Thieves!" The boy protested.

"But he was worried about the cat. He can't be that bad!" The girl argued back.

I wish things were this simple, Akechi thought while he tried to suppress a chuckle.

The girl was suddenly excited. "It's decided. When I grow up, I'll be a detective too. I want to help many lost cats find their owners!"

This time, Akechi was unable to stifle a laugh.

The kids walked out of earshot. Akechi heaved a tired sigh, and directed his attention to the supernatural cat. "Morgana, are you okay?"

"Akechi, you saved me! Thank goodness that you were around." Morgana clung to Akechi and closed his eyes in relief. "What was that just now, though? You were acting? For a moment I thought you hadn't recognized me!"

There was no way that Akechi wouldn't have recognized Morgana, especially since he could hear Morgana's voice and not just meowing.

"Akira... doesn't seem to be around. Is she?" Akechi knew she wasn't, but feigned ignorance.

Morgana shook his head. "I'm on my own today!"

"She isn't." Akechi furrowed his brows. "Does this mean I'll have to take you to Leblanc?"

"I can go back by myself! You look tired. You should go home."

Akechi didn't intend to go to Leblanc today. He couldn't leave Morgana unattended, though. He wouldn't want anyone else getting hold of the special cat. So, he would really have to do as he had told the children and see to it that Morgana got home safely... with that thought, Akechi began walking towards the ticket gate to pay the pet fare.

"Hey, I'm fine! Put me down." Morgana protested, but Akechi just ignored him. "I can go back on my own!" Irritated at the ineffectiveness of his protests, Morgana managed to escape from Akechi's arms and roll to the ground.

However, Akechi was quick enough to crouch down and hold Morgana again. "Hey, where do you think you're going? This way someone else will get hold of you again."

"Uh, you have a point. I hadn't thought of that..." Morgana's head drooped in defeat. "Ugh, living as a cat is so hard... it really looks like I'll have to count on you to go back home. Sorry about the trouble, Akechi."

With a tired but assuring smile, Akechi lifted Morgana and stood back up, then resumed his walk to the ticket gate. However, a voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Akechi-kun, good evening."

"... Sae-san!?" Akechi failed to hold his surprise, but did his best to regain his composure. "On your way home?"

"Yes."

"If you are going home at this hour, I take it that you didn't work overtime today." Akechi reasoned.

"That is correct." Her brows rose in amusement at the sight of Morgana. "And once more I have run into you with the cat from Leblanc." Then, she became oddly hesitant. "Which reminds me... I had directed harsh words towards you the other time. Akechi-kun... I apologize."

Akechi gaped in surprise for a few seconds. "There's no need to apologize."

"Yes, there is. I didn't know what I was talking about and made wrong assumptions about you. Those words were unwarranted."

"Those words were harsh. As much as it hurts to admit this, though, I had needed to hear them. Even though your assumptions might not have been 100% correct, what you said got me thinking, and made me realize things about myself that I had failed to realize before. I really wasn't in my best behavior..."

"I wasn't either. I suppose we are even." Sae-san produced a warm smile, something nearly unthinkable before her change of heart. "By the way, did someone from Leblanc ask you to take care of him again?" She threw a glance at Morgana.

"Oh, no. I was about to head home when I found him. Some kids were thinking he was a stray cat and trying to take him away. I managed to convince them that he's not a stray and that I'd get him to his home. And now, here I am. It seems no one from Leblanc is around. I hadn't been planning on going to Leblanc today, but it looks like I'll have to..."

Sae-san apparently noticed how tired Akechi looked. "A cup of Leblanc coffee to finish my work day sounds like a good idea. I can take him there if you want."

"Would you?" Akechi's eyes lit up.

"Consider it as my way to make up to you... for having bombarded you with those harsh words."

"It doesn't need to be because of that, but thank you." Relieved at the offer, Akechi gently passed Morgana over to Sae-san.

Sae-san held Morgana in her arms, then turned towards the ticket gate and began walking.

"Sae-san." Akechi stopped her in her tracks. "This is for the pet fare." He reached a few coins towards her.

"Oh, you don't need to do that. I would take care of the pet fare myself."

"But I want to. I had assured those kids that I'd see to it that Morgana got home safely, so I feel I need to do at least this. Also, Morgana did me so much good when I was supposed to take care of him that I want to do something for him too. As you said the other time, looking after another living being may not be easy. But when it's someone we care about, then it may be quite fulfilling."

Another warm smile from Sae-san. "Yes, indeed. To think I had also forgotten that point." She accepted the coins. "We will be off. Akechi-kun, have a good night."

"Thank you. Good night to you as well."

---

Morgana was about to complain when Niijima paid for the pet fare, but after Akechi's kind gesture and words, he just couldn't bring himself to complain.

Inside the train, Morgana lay on Niijima's lap, with his head low and drooped ears.

"What is wrong?" Niijima asked in a low voice.

"I was just wondering about my origins. For a long time, I believed I was a human, but the more time passes, the less this feels likely. What if I'm a being from the Metaverse, like a Shadow? Or what if I turn out to be just a cat? I'm not sure what would be worse."

"The first possibility would be really amazing."

"Huh?" Morgana's head shot up. To him, what Niijima said was absurd. Every creature they had run into at the Metaverse so far were basically their enemies. "Why do you think that?"

"Because it would mean I'm holding a creature from another dimension right now." She spoke to him even lower. "A creature that can fight monsters, and that can turn into a car. Who would imagine something like this is even possible? As for the second possibility... honestly, from the time we came out of the casino and I heard you talking, I was beyond intrigued. Even if no one else has expressed it in words, the others must have thought the same. I doubt that anyone who really knows you would think you are just a normal cat."

"Hmm..." Morgana closed his eyes in thought. "I wonder whether 'she' also thinks this way..." He mumbled dreamily.

"... Who?"

Morgana looked away in embarrassment once he realized he had let his thoughts out loud. "Uh, n-never mind..."

Either way, Niijima's perspective was quite different, and Morgana had to admit his situation might not be that bad if viewed that way. However, it was frustrating how helpless he was in the real world.

---

Akira had just come out of the shower when Niijima-san entered Leblanc, and she hadn't expected the prosecutor would be carrying Morgana.

"Good evening, Sakura-san, Akira-chan. I am here for some coffee, and have brought Morgana with me."

Niijima-san explained the whole situation while Sojiro went off to prepare her coffee.

"That must've been tough! It was a good thing that Akechi-kun got to you in time!" Akira said to Morgana.

"This is shameful..." Morgana lamented. "In the Metaverse, I can dispatch powerful Shadows with ease! Yet, I'm so helpless in the real world, and couldn't do anything against such small kids..."

"Don't be sad," Niijima-san said. "I'm sure all your forms have their peculiarities and limitations. Just know that you are amazing even in this form."

"Yeah, you are." Akira agreed. "You may not have skills to blow Shadows up outside of the Metaverse, but you're always looking over me, keeping me company, talking to me and giving me advice." Akira went over to Morgana and picked him up from Niijima-san's lap. "You know? I think I'm lucky to have you around. It feels like those anime where there's a magic creature that only the protagonists can understand. But this is reality, so it's even cooler!" She said with a grin. "Paraphrasing Niijima-san, it's like a childhood dream come true!"

"Akira..." Morgana looked touched.

"And hadn't Akechi-kun said you did him much good when he was looking after you?" Niijima-san pointed out. "It happened while you were in your real world form, didn't it? This must mean that you can do unique things in this form as well."

Morgana became pensive. "He was very distressed and woke up crying in the middle of the night. I tried to comfort him, even though I had thought I wouldn't be able to do it well enough. But if he went as far as to say that..."

"Your feelings got through to him for sure!" Akira assured Morgana.

---

"Here's your coffee." Sakura-san set a cup on the table.

"Thank you." Sae replied.

"Sounds like now you can understand the little fellow too, huh?"

"You can as well?" Sae was surprised at the implication.

"He can." Akira answered. "We took him to Mementos just so that he could understand Morgana! And drive a bit. Boss, she's been to the Metaverse too! It's a long story, but basically she's part of the Phantom Thieves now."

"Oh. Things happen so fast around you guys... it's too much for me to wrap my head around." Sakura-san walked away to the back area and proceeded to do the dishes.

Sae took a sip of her coffee. "Akira-chan, was it you who had asked Akechi-kun to take care of Morgana?"

"Yeah, I had begun getting along with Akechi-kun, but Morgana still didn't like him much. I wanted Morgana to spend some time with him, and realize that there's much more to Akechi-kun than just the detective boy that criticizes the Phantom Thieves on TV."

Akira couldn't be more correct. There was much more to Akechi than met the eye. Much more...

"I was very wary of him at first, but by spending some time with him, I realized that Akira was right," Morgana said. "At his home, he acted like a mere kid. A lonely kid, that is. He was rejected all his life, and has no one and nowhere."

"Now we're trying to have the others soften to him too, because they're also wary, especially after those interviews!" Those words from Akira were evidence that Akechi hadn't revealed his identity as Crow to the Phantom Thieves yet. "Niijima-san, do you get along with Akechi-kun? I heard from Makoto that you talk to him during work."

"When rumors about the high school detective started, I heard that he had been looking into the same case as I was. I decided to meet up with him and see what he had to say. The moment he approached, he had that know-it-all, arrogant look, and I disliked him immediately. Then I thought he would be all talk and just a show-off who knew nothing, and that his reputation was just marketing. He couldn't be anything special. After all, he was much younger than anyone else there and was still in high school. He couldn't be on the same level as all of us who spent years in university to acquire the needed knowledge to manage our jobs. How wrong I was. His theories were brilliant, and this bothered me quite a bit. And as irony would have it, sometimes I would get stuck unable to find an evidence in a case, end up running into him by chance, and when he asked about what I was currently investigating, I would mention my current problem, only for him to say something that would lead me to the missing piece of the puzzle, just in a minute of conversation. And that arrogance remained on his face the whole time, as though he were mocking me for being too slow in my reasoning and failing to arrive at that 'simple' conclusion."

Akira fidgeted, likely uneasy at hearing Sae speak badly of Akechi. "Um, was he really that arrogant? The worst that I've seen of him was during his interviews. I've always thought that his expressions in public were too forced, too fake, but he didn't look that arrogant to me."

"Yes, he was. As much as I had a problem with it, though, I had to admit that he had enough reasons to be proud of his skills. This was frustrating to me, because as you might already know, my previous line of thought had been that the extraordinarily talented people were the biggest obstacles to us mere mortals born without any special talent. They could get everything they wanted with ease, including the better-paying jobs, and leave only crumbs to us the untalented. To me, this was the kind of person that Akechi-kun was. To put it bluntly, I did not like him at all."

Akira and Morgana stared at her apprehensively.

Sae felt the need to add, "I will make it clear. Now, it is different. Somehow, Akechi-kun has changed completely. He seems more mature, and doesn't seem to be mocking and 'playing around' anymore. It is as though something serious had happened and forced him to grow as a person."

Akira relaxed. "He told me that he's realized some things, like how the fame he had been getting on TV wasn't the kind of recognition he wanted."

"How well are the others getting along with him?"

"I've been trying to have him hang out with all of us, and the others were warming up to him. But then, his last interview came and put everyone on edge. Niijima-san, you've watched that interview, right? What do you think of it?"

This was a dangerous question. Since Sae suspected Akechi had his reasons to hide his identity from the Phantom Thieves, she figured she shouldn't tell them. He trusted her, and she would be betraying his trust if she were to tell them. Sae wished she could, though, but needed Akechi to be in agreement. First, she wanted to know his reasons, and know what the Phantom Thieves thought of his two sides. From what she had seen of their teamwork in the Metaverse and what they had told her about him so far, they seemed to trust Crow, but Sae would rather dig deeper. If it turned out to be safe enough, she would discuss the issue with him and convince him to reveal his identity to them.

"I was shocked to see that he is going as far as to hurt his own reputation this much." Sae answered Akira's question. "He may have concluded that his reputation does not mean much to him anymore as you have said, but still..."

"His determination and stubbornness in that interview were scary." Morgana commented. "We had actually been considering telling him that we're the Phantom Thieves and revealing the truth about our methods, but after that interview, we aren't so sure anymore. There's no telling what he might do if he learns the truth. He's totally obsessed with solving the Phantom Thieves case, whatever he means by that, and it doesn't look like he'll listen to reason. What if he misunderstands everything completely? Would he sell us out even though we're his friends?"

Akira, on the other hand, was optimistic. "We need to win him over. Now that he's become more open-minded, he has to accept the truth! I'm sure his reputation will recover if he admits in public that we're just. It's the best thing he could do!"

"You have a good point. I agree," Sae said.

"Niijima, now you know how things work too." Morgana spoke. "Can't you do something to help us convince him?"

That was her plan... sort of. "I will see what I can do."

---

Akira's eyes lit up. "Really? This is reassuring! Thanks!"

Niijima-san's trust in her as a fellow Phantom Thief, as well as their common faith in Akechi had gotten stronger. The Judgement Confidant ranked up.

Speaking of trust as a group member, there was one more issue Akira would like to get Niijima-san's help with. Since Niijima-san was in the law field, Akira hoped she could help save Crow from a possible death sentence. However, Akira wasn't sure how to approach the issue. How would Niijima-san react at the information that Crow had been the one responsible for the mental breakdowns and shutdowns?

"Sakura-san, thank you for the coffee. It was as great as ever." Niijima-san had finished her coffee and stood up. "And... I apologize for all the trouble I have caused you a few months back."

"Nah, no worries." Sojiro waved it off. "Just let that stay in the past. Most importantly, thank you for the preference." as business-like as usual.

"Thank you. I will definitely come more often."

Niijima-san left, and Akira wasn't brave enough to approach her about Crow's issue.

... ... ... ... ...

Minutes later, dinner was on the table. It was rice with pork and a salad.

Sojiro placed normal food into Morgana's bowl, much to both Akira's and Morgana's surprise.

"Wow! Really?" Morgana's eyes sparkled.

"Not sure you're a cat or a car or whatever. Just try to avoid eating too much and getting sick, alright?"

"Thanks, Chief!" Morgana glanced at Sojiro gratefully and ate his food with delight.

After dinner, Akira and Morgana went upstairs.

"How was it at Mementos?" Akira asked Morgana.

"Guess what? A new area of Mementos opened and we started exploring it!"

"Oh, that's nice! A new area opened even though we haven't changed any other big target's heart. Well, Niijima-san doesn't count, since it didn't even make the news."

"This means that the public is talking about us enough even though we haven't shown them any big move, which is cool." Morgana observed.

"Is the new area too hard?"

"It has the same selection of Shadows as Niijima's Palace had."

"What about the request? Did you manage to fulfill it?"

"We did. It was awesome!" Morgana spoke with enthusiasm. "Crow was really cool during the whole thing!" And he proceeded to tell Akira about the strategy Crow had come up with to defeat the target's Shadow.

"Wow! I wish I had been there to see it too!"

"I wish there were a way to record it. It was really cool." Morgana continued telling her about what happened that day. "After the request, Crow wanted to farm some items and I decided to help him out. While we were exploring, Crow said something very sad. During a negotiation, a Shadow asked him if he had a rival, someone he envied and wanted to surpass, and he said yes. Later, I asked who that was, and... he said it was you..."

Akira felt a pang in her chest. "I know he's envious of me."

"... You do?" Morgana was surprised.

"One of these days, I went to Mementos alone to talk to Crow about the wild card stuff. He revealed that he's envious of my wild card abilities, and that I can have a future and he can't."

---

"That's... understandable." Morgana admitted. "One more reason for him to have hard feelings towards you. And this is huge... it must really be a touchy subject for him."

"But 'rival?' 'Surpass?' This kinda hurts... I don't want him to feel like that, and don't want to be his rival. I only wish that we could get along well, and that he could have a future, too. I understand why he'd think his future is doomed, after everything he did. But maybe... maybe there's a way. He's working so hard to set things right. I believe he deserves a future. A peaceful one..."

"Me too." Morgana agreed.

However, there was something Morgana didn't tell her. Akira was already hurting at hearing about Crow's envy, and Morgana couldn't bring himself to voice the disturbing thought that came to his mind. What if Crow's envy weren't all? What if Crow actually... hated Akira? It would be very painful if this were true.

"I wonder if there's something we could do to help save him..." Akira uttered, oblivious to Morgana's sad thought.

---

Akira thought quietly for a minute, then swept her phone with determination.

"Hey, guys." She wrote in the chat. "You know, about that death sentence stuff Makoto was looking into. I was wondering whether there's something we can do to help save Crow. Like testify in his defense or something."

"I am not sure how much weight it would have, but we could definitely testify in his favor." Makoto answered.

"I like this idea!" Ann replied. "Something like, say we don't know the kind of person he was when he did those bad things, but when we met him he was a good person."

"This sounds like a sensible plan." Yusuke wrote. "Crow's heart has clearly changed. Perhaps I could incorporate my experiences with Madarame's change of heart into my testimony. It might be of help to make a point."

Akira could detect the smile in Haru's message. "It is thanks to him that Father is alive and back to the loving parent from before. I am really grateful, and will do anything I can to help."

"This kind of important and formal speeches is real hard for me, but I want to help too!" Futaba expressed her intention. "Makoto said that the victims' families wishes have a huge weight in the decision. I don't want him to die!"

"This kind of formal stuff'd be hard for me too." Ryuji wrote. "I'll do what I can, though! Even if I trip over everything, I'll power through it! Our secret agent helped us out of a big messed-up trap. We've gotta show him we've got his back too!"

Morgana peered into Akira's phone and flashed a pleased grin. "It's an unanimous decision. That's the spirit!"

Akira smiled widely at everyone's supportive messages. "See, Crow. Everyone's supporting you! All these messages are so motivating that I'm beginning to think that we can actually manage it! We'll do our best to steal back your future, you'll see!"

---

Elizabeth was alone in her living room, with the protection active as she fiddled with her Tarot cards.

"Hmm." She hummed in wonder at her card piles. "The Fool card is in a different position from the previous readings. The Fool, or rather, the wild card and those under its influence, have started to move. And then, the Wheel of Fortune. I wonder. Will it move in your favor, Akechi-san?"

---

The detective in question was fast asleep in his futon. His eyes half-opened at the Tarot card vision when the Fool Confidant ranked up out of nowhere, but quickly closed again and he returned to sleep.

---

A/n: so, Makoto's ultimate Persona is a Transformer, and Sae's in this fic is a Gundam :P . Also, Minerva is the name of a warship in Gundam Seed Destiny. Gundam references aside, of course Minerva is the name of a goddess, and there's the bit about the "first trial in History" too. There's more to that trivia, which I'll get into in another chapter.

Sadly, Morgana doesn't learn Panta Rhei in the game, and gets Salvation instead. It may be the best healing spell in the game, but I don't think I've ever needed to use it. I'd prefer Panta Rhei :P . Maybe in P5 Royal...

In Makoto's Social rank 2 in Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight, Makoto reveals that she and Sae used to take Aikido lessons together.

Someone had asked whether female Akira really needs glasses. She doesn't, just as the male protagonist doesn't (the glasses are just for aestetics). And I believe Futaba probably doesn't need glasses, either. Or at least, she shouldn't when she's not in front of a computer (unless what she wants is to cover part of her face :P ).

Edit: a reader corrected me about Futaba, as in P5 Dancing in Starlight, she reveals that she's nearsighted and needs glasses. I hadn't seen enough of the Social events to know that. Thanks for the info!

And another reader asked what Akira's Judgement Confidant will entail, as the Judgement Social Links are about choosing the right answers to reach the true ending (like I had already mentioned in a note for another chapter). And what else could the true ending for this fic be? A better ending for a certain someone, of course! Akira's Confidant with Sae mostly revolves around finding a way to help Crow. Though both of them are still wary and stepping on eggshells around the issue...

Next chapter will have one of the events many have been waiting for. The culture festival!