[29th May. Phantom Thief's hideout]

At the side of Shibuya station's walkway, Ren was checking the Phan-Site while waiting for the others. Morgana also came out from his bag, examing the requests with his friend.

"Mishima did help us here," Ren stated, scrolling through the request tab of the site. "Morgana, how many potential requests we got?"

"Why would you ask me about that?" The feline deadpanned, pointing at some requests with his paw. "But, I don't think there's a single one that worth our time."

"Really?" The fuzzy-haired boy said with a raised eye, before skimming through the requests again. "Uh... 'My boss was an asshole, can you change his heart?', 'My friend didn't return the money'..."

"You're right." He admitted, sighing and switching to the group chat. "Well, let's change the plan just to train and explore Memento."

Ren: Guys, plan changed.

Ryuji: Huh? What?

Ren: I was planning to finish some requests on the Phan-Site.

Yusuke: But not a single one was serious, right?

Ren: yep.

Ren: So, we're just going to do some training and explore the Memento.

Akira: I'm okay with that.

Akira: It's been a while since we even went to Meta-verse.

Shiho: Jeanne said she needs some training as well.

Akira: She didn't say that.

Shiho: Yes, she did.

Akira: Whatever.

Ren: I was about to use the P-word, just barely.

Ren: But you're spared, just for today.

Akira: What? Why?

Ann: I don't have any plan today, count me in.

Ryuji: Count me in!

Yusuke: I should be near to the hideout.

Ryuji: We just... Expected you to say 'yes' or 'no.'

Hifumi: Ryuji had a point.

Ren: Morgana just said he agrees with Ryuji too.

Akira: That's rare.

Akira: Wait, where's Keigo?

Ryuji: Yeah, he should be cracking some cringy joke by now.

Ryuji: It's weird...

Yusuke: It seems he has learned... When to 'lighten the mood.'

The whole group-chat halted at the artist's message. Only to be broken by Hifumi's response.

Hifumi: Yusuke, did you just make a joke?

Ryuji: Dude, it's even weirder...

Akira: Um... okay?

Ren: Never expected that.

Ann: Keigo, are you using Yusuke's phone to message us?

Keigo: Why would I?

Shiho: Oh, hey! You're finally here!

Akira: I was about to call Mitsuru-San to check your safety.

Keigo: You're serious?

Akira: No, I'm not.

Keigo: I'm not going to stay on this topic anymore.

Keigo: Anyway, I'm sorry for not responding.

Keigo: But I'm not able to join our training today.

Ren: Wait. What?

Akira: Hmm... Something urgent?

Keigo: It's more like something I promised a while before.

Keigo: It's classified, but I'm sorry.

Keigo: Just go on without me.

And with that, Keigo withdrew from the group chat again, leaving the others in pure confusion. "Uh... Strange." Ren murmured, tapping the virtual keyboard on his phone. "Any idea, Morgana?"

"Maybe it's a formal meeting?" The black cat suggested with a raised eyebrow. "I have no idea, like any."

"Whatever, let's call everyone here."

Ren: We'll talk at the hideout, and I need a new plan for all of us.

After waiting for a short while, Ryuji and Ann were the first two to come. "Yo!" The ex-runner greeted with a wave.

"Hey, Ren," Ann said with a smile, remarking the absence of others in the hideout. "Wait, we're the first two?"

"Yeah." Ren nodded, putting his phone back in his pocket. "The others are coming, I think."

"Maybe." Ryuji shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck. "So, what's the new plan?"

"We're probably not going to Memento, right?" The model added.

"Yeah." The fuzzy-haired boy nodded, adjusting his glasses. "I'm thinking of going somewhere with everyone. Have you ever been to Kichijoji?"

"No." Ann and Ryuji answered in unison, shaking their heads.

"I saw a club over there, it seems fun," Ren explained, pulling his phone out and opened a page about the game room. "I think it's called 'Penguin Sniper.'"

"A club? That sounds awesome!" Ryuji grinned. "Ann?"

"I've never been to any club, like ever," Ann commented, tapping her chin as she imagined what'll happen.

And at that same moment, Yusuke walked casually to them, shifting his bangs. "Greetings."

Not only that, Hifumi came over to them from the other side. "Morning, everyone."

"Hey, Yusuke, Hifumi," Ren greeted, showing the page to them as well. "I found a club in Kichijoji. It seems fun."

"'Penguin Sniper,' I think I've heard of this club before," Yusuke commented, crossing his arms thoughtfully. "Some girls in my class talked about this club."

"What's that club about?" Hifumi asked, raising an eye in curiosity.

"Dart and Pool," Ren stated, shrugging. "You're all interested in them, right?"

"Kind of." Ryuji shrugged, noticing that both Akira and Shiho still haven't arrived. "Wait, where's Akira and Shiho?"

"I didn't see them along the way," Yusuke replied, shaking his head in denial.

"Me neither," Hifumi added.

"Hmm... Weird." Ann commented, taking her phone and ready to call them. "I'll call them-"

However, before the model could open the messaging app, the voice of Akira and Shiho interrupted her. "We're sorry!" the duo apologized in unison, panting from the mad dash they did earlier.

"T-train got late..." The persudo-detective explained between panting, using his knees as support.

"Y-yeah..." Shiho nodded, panting heavily in exhaustion too. "We happened to be on the same train..."

The team sweatdropped at their explanation, giving each other an uncertain glance. "It's fine," Ren said, adjusting his glasses. "After all, we've decided to have some fun in Kichijoji."

"Kichijoji?" The duo asked in unison again.

"Yeah, you're in or not?"

Akira and Shiho glanced at each other for a brief moment, before nodding in sync again. "Yeah," Shiho replied, shifting her bangs aside. "I don't think we've been hanging out in a group like... ever."

"Remember, Wilton?" Ann deadpanned, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at them.

"Yeah, we remember that." The duo said in unison again, taken back a little by Ann's suspicious glare.

"Ann, what's with that look?" Akira asked.

"Nothing, just..." The model trailed off, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Something feels off between you two."

Ren nodded. "Yeah, now that you mentioned it."

"The sync, it's creepy..." Ryuji trailed off, taking a step away from the duo and glanced at the two Kosei students. "Don't you agree, Yusuke?"

"No, I didn't find it creepy," Yusuke answered, shaking his head and framed Akira and Shiho with his fingers. "The spark of love and passion is shining!"

"Ryuji, you're jealous?" Hifumi faintly smirked, nudging the ex-runner's shoulder.

The ex-runner almost jumped from contact, taking a step away from her. "NO!" He exclaimed. "Why'd I?"

"I don't know," The Shogi player shrugged, tugging her hair aside. "But, you seem like it."

Ryuji wanted to argue at first but sighed in the end. "...I'm not gonna continue on this." He stated, crossing his arms and turned back to the others. "Hey, are we just gonna stand here and do nothing?"

"We're about to go," Ren answered, adjusting his glasses and sighed. "But Akira just told us something important."

"Nijima-Senpai is investigating into us," Akira explained, causing the trio to widen their eyes in shock. "She asked me to help her with that."

"For real?!" The ex-runner exclaimed in disbelief, eyes darting between their leader and the persudo-detective. "You're joking, right?!"

"Why would Akira joked something like that?" Shiho retorted.

"...You're right." Ryuji sighed before pointing at the direction toward the station. "Anyway, we should get going by now."

Ren nodded. "Yeah, let's just forget about this investigation for now."

With that said, the group nodded and walked toward the train station.

[Kichijoji, SUN ROAD shopping district]

While the Persona users were taking the train to Kichijoji, Keigo and Haru were wandering around different stores, laughing and smiling at the little things.

"Your laptop just died with that?" Keigo laughed, quoting the 'died' with his finger. "That's impossible!"

"It's true!" Haru retorted, pouting and putting her hands on her hips. "Don't laugh at me for this, I don't want that laptop to die like this too!"

"But it's funny." The half-French shrugged, covering his mouth and giggled. "You sound like a grandma, you know."

"I'm not that old..."

"I never said it's a bad thing," Keigo said, playfully flicked her forehead. "You're so adorable, you know."

"A-adorable?" Haru shuttered, a shade of crimson covered her cheeks. "I-I..."

"C'mon, you're adorable," The half-French interrupted her, nudging her shoulder lightly. "Just admit it."

The rich princess sighed and nodded. "You have been teasing me for this whole time." She whispered.

"Becuase you're so easy to tease," Keigo replied with a wink, noting a shop of dount nearby. "Haru, have you ever ate a dount before?"

"Only once." She replied with a somber look, looking down at her feet. "It was about a few years ago, back when my grandfather was still alive-"

Knowing where her response is going, the half-French put his hand on her shoulder, stopped her from continuing. "You don't need to tell it all if it hurts you." He said reassuringly.

Haru stopped and pondered, nodding slightly.

Even though the atmosphere around them softened slightly, but Keigo still noticed the hint of regret in her. He can't blame her, his father controlled her life, and that with asshole called himself 'her fiance' around...

It seems he was the only one who still just wanted to be her friend or someone to let her forget about all those stuff in her life.

"...I take that back." Keigo said, internally hoping that he sounded sincere to her. "I'm here if you have anything to talk with me."

"Huh? Why?"

"I just figured out something." He explained, avoiding to talk about her fiance and father explicitly. "I know you need someone to let you lean on, and I shouldn't just stop you."

"...K-Keigo-Kun..." Haru was speechless from his sudden words of caring, unable to form anything to answer him. "I-I..."

"You don't need to thank me or anything," Keigo smiled.

"But..." She trailed off, sighing, and put on a faint smile on her face. "Anyway, I did want to have some dount with you, and maybe I can create new meaning for it."

"Your pleasure." The half-French playfully bowed, and with a smile on their face, they walked over to the dount shop together.

While Keigo and Haru were waiting in line for some dount, the Phantom Thieves arrived at the SUN ROAD as well. They are widening their mouths in awe at the number of people and the scale of the district.

"Dude!" Ryuji exclaimed in awe, eyes darting around like a little kid. "This place looks awesome!"

Morgana poked his head out with an unimpressed face. "Calm down! You're making a scene for us."

Ann just giggled at his word of awe, playfully nudged his shoulder. "You look like a kid."

"Oh c'mon, don't tell me you two are not interested in this place too." The ex-runner deadpanned, shifting his glance at Yusuke behind him. "Yusuke, you agree with me, right?"

"Indeed." Yusuke agreed with a nod, framing the whole district with his fingers. "The architect of this district is excellent for a normal shopping district."

"I can't see the difference between them." Hifumi deadpanned.

"I think it's more an artist thing..." Akira murmured, sighing, and adjusted his headphones for the tenth time. "Typical Yusuke..."

Shiho, on the other hand, noticed Ren kept his silence and stared at his phone. "Ren, do you know where that 'Penguin Sniper' place is?" She asked with a raised eye, glancing at his phone's screen.

"Of course." The fuzzy-haired boy replied casually, opening a map app. "It's over there." He said, pointing in front and led everyone to the club.

[Penguin Sniper]

After almost missing the rather small entrance of the club, they finally entered the club. Walking down the stairs, the thieves were greeted with a cozy space with a few Pool tables and a few dart machines on the other side.

Ren walked to the bar table nearby and paid for an hour of darts, coming back to the group with darts in his hand. "Ready for some darts?"

The group nodded and stopped in front of a dart machine, pressing some buttons and readied for a game. "Are we gonna compete against one another?"

Ren pondered for a moment before coming up with an idea. Nodding to himself. "With the size of us, we should go for a team of two."

"A duo battle then." Akira shrugged, stretching his arms. "How are we going to form in duo, Ren?"

The fuzzy-haired boy took out his phone and opened an app, showing a lucky wheel on its screen. "I got this app on the store a while ago."

"That's overly convenient." Hifumi deadpanned.

"It's just a coincidence."

"It's too good for a coincidence, Ren," Akira added.

Sighing, Ren changed the setting, and the wheel turned into six columns of three colors. "Anyway, there are seven people here," He announced, extending his hand to the middle of everyone. "Just spin the wheel and let it decide your fate, I'm just going to watch for now."

"We'll have two darts for each person in a team, when everyone has thrown their darts, it counts as a round." He continued. "We'll do this for three rounds, the team which got the most point of that wins that round."

"And the team who win two round wins."

The thieves awkwardly glanced at each other for a moment before Ann walked out and spun the wheel. "Red." She said.

Then Yusuke followed her. "White."

And next is Shiho. "Oh, I'm red too!" She beamed, turning around and high-fived with the model.

"Nice Shiho!" Ann giggled in excitement. "We're going to win, for sure!"

Hifumi watched with an everyday look and sighed, spinning the lucky wheel on his phone. "Black." She stated, perking up and darted between Ryuji and Akira before ending on Akira.

"Please be my partner." She mouthed.

Akira just sighed and spun the wheel, smiling and gave the Shogi player a thumbs up as the wheel landed on black as well. "I got you, Hifumi." He smiled.

Ren put the phone in his pocket and shrugged at his best friend. "I think you're with Yusuke, Ryuji."

Ryuji and Yusuke glanced at each other for a moment, before the ex-runner sighed and crossed his arms. "We're so effed." He murmured.

Morgana climbed out from the fuzzy-haired boy's shoulder bag, sitting down on his shoulder. "Ren, you can just battle with them all."

"I know," Ren smirked lightly, leaning his head to the cat. "I just don't want them to get destroyed."

"Don't be so cocky." The feline smirked in return, turning his attention back to the others.

"So... who goes first?" Akira asked, raising his hand and looked around.

Without any hesitation, Shiho came forward and took a dart. "I'll do it first." She said, aiming with an eye closed. After a few seconds of concentration, she threw the dart and landed on a double ring in column 18.

"36, not bad," She smiled, giving Ann a thumbs up before turning back to the board. Throwing the dart again, and this time it landed on the single section of 6.

"6..." The volleyball player sighed and turned around, raising her hand for Ann. "I'm counting on you." She said with a faint smile.

"Got it!" Ann beamed and high-fived with her, pulling the two darts on the board and aimed. She threw the darts and landed on the single area of 12 and 14.

"66..." Shiho sighed and facepalmed at the result on the screen. "Seriously?"

"I'm sorry..."

"Well, it does ease us a bit," Akira commented, giving Hifumi a smile of reassurance. "Let me handle it."

"I'm not that bad on darts, just never played them before."

"We'll see." The persudo-detective shrugged, taking the darts from Ann's hand, throwing them with a quickly aiming. The darts flew past the air and landed on the triple ring of 14 and 11.

"75." Turning around, Akira winked at Ann and Shiho before pulling the darts out, giving them to Hifumi. "I got a safety net for you, don't worry."

Ann was dumbfounded from his performance, glancing uncertainly at her partner. "...Let's hope Ryuji and Yusuke are going to be worse than us..."

Shiho, on the other hand, was impressed by his skills. 'He didn't tell me about this...' She thought.

Hifumi took the darts from his hand and threw it too, landing on the single area of 2 and the double ring of 9. "20... I'm not really good at dart..."

"But we almost cross over one hundred points, so it's fine," Akira said reassuringly, turning around toward Ryuji and Yusuke. "I'm rooting for both of you."

The two boys glanced at each other for a moment, and Ryuji sighed in frustration. "We're really, really effed."

"I had stopped caring for victory since the very beginning." Yusuke plainly stated.

The game went on as expected and down to a final round between Ann's duo and Akira's duo. Resetting the points, they readied the dart, and Akira decided to let Shiho go first.

Walking up and aiming the dart, Shiho looked back at her boyfriend with a confident smile. "We're going to beat you, for sure."

"I'm looking forward to it." Akira shrugged.

"We'll see~."

With that said, the volleyball player turned back to the board and aimed again. However, the voice of Keigo and Haru suddenly came from the stairs, interrupting everyone.

"Keigo-Kun, what is this place?"

"I think it's a club with some good drinks and dart or something like that."

"Oh, that sounds interesting, but aren't we just had some drinks in a jazz club?"

"That club doesn't have any games."

"You're right..."

"Anyway, we're here now-"

Keigo stopped in mid-sentence, widening his eyes in shock as he saw the thieves' appearance, mirroring his look of disbelief.

"So that's the 'something urgent' you're talking about..." Ren murmured to himself.

"Dude..." Ryuji trailed off, still in shock for what's happening in front of his eyes.

"Isn't that Okumura-Senpai?" Ann whispered, leaning her head toward Akira.

He nodded in response. "Keigo, I've been curious about your relationship with Okumura-Senpai, since that one time in Big Bang Burger." The persudo-detective said. "But now, you're adding another layer of mystery on top."

Yusuke and Hifumi just glanced at each other for a moment, not knowing what's exactly going on and just went on with the flow.

"Uh..." Haru's cheek slightly reddened from embarrassment, leaning her head to Keigo's ear. "Are these your friends, other than Ichijou and Suzui?"

Keigo just awkwardly laughed in response. "Y-yeah." He replied.

He hesitantly raised his hand and waved at everyone. "H-hi."

The group just facepalmed in unison.

Ren sighed. "This is gonna be awkward..."

And with that, chapter 26 of P5: Another Thief concludes! Thank you for reading!

So uh... sorry for the delay again, it's been a hectic week for me, and I am also doing a rewrite of chapter 25 simultaneously. But it's my fault that chapter 25 had a fundamental mistake.

Anyway, the next chapter will finish the group's trip to Kichijoji and jumped to Madarame's confession. It's been a few chapters of nothing.

Review response:

RosyMiranto18: First about AN being too long or not... Actually, I'm OK with the length now, and maybe I should find a way to shorten the response.

For the supposed to be in school... it's a mistake on my part, and I've done a partial rewrite of that chapter, and added some new scenes(Mostly to fit with the fact that they have school).

As for why Akira thinks Shiho's not interested in video games, I did add some dialogue to explain that point. And Akira did reside at Yongen-Jaya. He had dinner in Leblanc in the early chapter and was already one of Takemi's guinea pigs as mentioned in chapter 5.

And the movie, the actor who played Kazuto was... some actor, but you can make a name for him :).

About the lemon... Uh... That's a good question. I never planned any lemon scene FOR NOW, but who knows?

I put this fic as M, and I need to utilize it...

Well, I hope everyone would enjoy this story so far, reviews are welcome!