Tuesday, April 12th, 20XX

The subway trains of Shibuya were so crowded that Saya often considered herself lucky whenever she managed to grab a seat.

Today, she did.

The shrine maiden decided to make good use of her luck by bringing out from her bag one of the small notebooks she had hidden away in her closet, and began to read it again from the beginning.

The mentions of Personas, Shadows and similar terms began to show up about a quarter up the way through. By this point Saya was convinced her encounter with Akira Kurusu at Café Leblanc yesterday was fate.

She was so lost in thought that she almost forgot to get off the train when it arrived at its destination, and even then she couldn't shake them off as she trudged to Shujin Academy.

The school day passed by in a blur.

After narrowly being able to answer a question thrown his way in Social Studies, and overhearing a peculiar conversation between Kamoshida and a familiar blonde, twin-tailed girl, Akira ran into Ryuji as he was leaving the school.

"Yo." The blonde boy greeted Akira as he stepped out of Shujin's gates.

"What's up?" He replied.

Ryuji crossed his arms. "I wanna talk about that castle form yesterday. I tried tellin' myself it was all just a dream…but I couldn't do it."

"Yeah, me neither." Akira said. "It all felt…real. Somehow."

"Tell me about it. Besides, I can't act like nothing happened. It's all connected to that bastard Kamoshida, after all. I wanna find out what's up with that place, no matter what."

"Sure. What next?" He knew it was already going to be an odd experience, but there was something he felt like he was forgetting…

"Ahem."

Both boys turned around and saw Saya standing in front of them. "Hello, Ryuji. Hello, Akira."

"Huh?" Ryuji was surprised, but not at the shrine maiden's presence. "Saya, you know Akira?"

"Yep. I met him at a café. In fact, he and I had a very interesting convo…" She said, shooting a look at Akira. "You see, Ryuji, I didn't dismiss your story completely. So when I happened to encounter the very person you were traveling with during your wild escapade, I couldn't help but be curious…"

Akira sighed. "Ryuji, you told her what actually happened, didn't you?"

"W-well, I didn't have a choice! Saya wasn't the kind of girl who'd take 'I got lost' for an answer!"

"Great. Because now she's coming with us."

That took the blonde aback. "Wait! But…I never agreed to this!"

"I never said I needed your permission." Saya said, smirking.

"Oh come on…Saya, seriously, it's-"

"Ryuji." Akira cut him off. "Don't bother. I already tried."

He understood immediately. "…Fine. We can't not try and find that castle again, even if Saya tails us. I'm just worried for her safety, though. We almost died."

"I heard that from Akira already, and if I cared about the risks I wouldn't be following you guys." Saya waved it off.

"We'll just have to do it with her, then." Akira said. "Where should we start?"

"I think we should just try and retrace our steps from yesterday." Ryuji said.

The trio went back to where Akira and Ryuji had been when they 'entered' the other world, on the streets.

"…We walked that way from here, right?" Ryuji pointed to a side path.

"…Maybe." Akira replied with uncertainty clear in his voice.

"When you put it that way, I'm not so sure anymore…All right, this way."

They followed their own footsteps and ended up at the school, which…was still a school.

"Gah…there wasn't anything out of place along the way, right?" Ryuji groaned.

"Nope, I didn't see a castle." Akira said.

"Me neither." Saya added. "You sure it exists?"

"Probably…we must've made a wrong turn somewhere. Let's try again."

The three made their way back and then went the same way again, which led them to Shujin Academy – which, well, was Shujin Academy.

By now Ryuji was quite frustrated. "For real…?"

"That's strange…I was sure yesterday wasn't a dream…"

"Is it smaller than we think?" Ryuji voiced his thoughts.

Saya shook her head. "No. Castles are never so small that you couldn't notice them among a bunch of regular buildings."

A thought crossed Akira's mind. "Hey, Ryuji, try checking your phone."

"I already did-huh? Phone…Hey, that reminds me—didn't you have a navigation app thingy on, back then?"

Akira remembered the odd eye icon on his phone. "I think so. Was it a navigation app, though?"

"I dunno if it was or not, but I heard stuff that sounded like one comin' from your phone. Didn't it say stuff like 'returned to the real world' or something like that?"

A navigation app? The further they went, the weirder this got – and the more determined Saya got. "Akira, let me see your phone. It's likely whatever took you to the castle might still be on there."

Reluctantly, Akira unlocked his phone and handed it over to her. Her gaze fell upon an odd looking app. "Hey, there's…an eyeball or something in here. Do you know what it is?"

"I don't know. It just appeared on there one day, and I couldn't delete it."

"…Huh, this IS a navigation app. There's search history on here, too."

"Try usin' it, then." Ryuji said.

"Uh…" She froze. "…How do I do that?"

"Give it to me then, I'll do it."

Saya gave Akira's phone to Ryuji, and he tapped once on the screen. Moments later, they heard it voicing out, "Kamoshida…Shujin Academy…Castle…Beginning navigation."

"There we go!" Ryuji exclaimed. "Then, we went in a certain direction, and-"

Suddenly, the trio felt the space around them rippling. "Hey, what- Huh? What the hell?"

"W-what's going on?" Saya gasped. "…Akira, your phone!"

The eye that was shown on the icon was now flashing across the screen, and the trio watched as the school morphed into a castle – the one Akira and Ryuji had been lost in.

"Look!" Ryuji cried out. "It's the castle from yesterday!"

Saya, though the religious one among the group, couldn't believe her eyes. "That…it…so it actually exists…"

"We made it back." Akira pointed out. "That means what happened yesterday was real, too."

Ryuji's eyes, however, landed on something just as odd. "Yeargh! Those clothes…!"

Akira, surprised, looked at himself and saw that he was wearing the same attire he did when he awoke his power. "This…happened last time, too."

Saya seemed transfixed on Akira's costume. "T-that outfit…it's…IT'S SO COOL!"

Akira and Ryuji whipped around to face her, surprised at her sudden outburst. "Well," Akira laughed. "someone's jelly."

"Oh my God! It's like you're dressed as an actual phantom thief!" Saya continued her gushing. "What with that black coat, and that mask, and…oh…um…" She caught herself, and looked flushed. "Sorry…I tend to get overexcited sometimes…"

"OK, but seriously, what the hell is going on?" Ryuji yelled. "None of this makes any effin' sense!"

"Hey!" Called out a familiar voice, at least to Akira and Ryuji. Morgana then skipped over to the two. "Stop making a commotion."

Upon seeing the odd creature, Saya's eyes widened. "…I'm confused now. Are you…a cat?"

"No! I'm a human!" He cried out.

"Hey, I recognize you." Akira said. "You're…Morgana, right?"

"Yep. The Shadows were acting up, so I came here wondering what I could be…To think you two would come back to the entrance when you barely managed to escape." Morgana turned to Saya. "And, more importantly, who is this?"

"Oh, uh… She's a friend." Ryuji explained.

"…Great. The last thing I need is another powerless person stuck in the crossfire." Morgana sighed in exasperation. At least, Saya felt like it was one. She was still very shocked by the fact that Morgana was a talking…cat.

"Hey." Akira suddenly cut him off. "Don't talk about Saya like that. Or Ryuji, either."

"Uhh…" Saya felt like he was just being polite. "Thanks?"

"Right, I appreciate that and all, but…" Ryuji said. "Isn't this supposed to be the school?"

"It is." came Morgana's reply.

"…But it's a castle!"

"This castle is the school…but only to the castle's ruler."

Akira, Ryuji and Saya just looked at each other upon hearing this. "The castle's ruler…?" Ryuji questioned.

"I think you guys said his name was…Kamoshida, correct?" Morgana continued. "This is how his distorted heart views the school."

Akira was the first to understand. "So, Kamoshida thinks he's the king of Shujin Academy."

"You're sharp." Morgana complimented. "That saves me time."

Saya seemed to comprehend it easily as well. Ryuji, however, didn't. "Uh…Explain it in a way that makes sense!"

The cat-thing sighed. "I shouldn't have expected a moron to get it."

"What'd you say?" Ryuji retorted.

Suddenly, they heard the agonized scream of a boy coming from deep within the castle. The trio of students recoiled. "Oh my God! What was that?!" Saya cried, panicked.

"It must be the slaves captive here." Morgana explained.

"Slaves?" Akira batted an eye.

Another scream rang out. "Oh shit…" Ryuji exclaimed. "It's for real! We saw other guys held captive here yesterday…I'm pretty sure they're from our school."

"Most likely on Kamoshida's orders." Morgana kept explaining. "It's nothing out of the ordinary; it's like that every day here."

"Nothing out of the ordinary?!" The creature's calm tone in explaining such a cruelty surprised Saya.

Morgana ignored her. "What's more, you two escaped yesterday. He must have lost his temper quite a bit."

"And he's taking out his anger on those captives…" Akira added.

Ryuji clenched his fists. "That son of a bitch…!" He walked up to the wall and bashed his shoulder against it. "You hear that, Kamoshida?!"

Morgana sweatdropped. "Doing that isn't going to open it, you know?"

The blonde turned back to him. "Hey, Monamona?"

"It's Morgana!" He protested.

"Do you know where the voices are coming from?" Ryuji asked.

"…You want me to take you to them?" Morgana frowned.

Before either of the boys could confirm, Saya beat them both to the punch. "Yes. I want to find out what all this is about."

"Don't you mean 'we?'" Akira thought, but had no chance to say it out loud as Morgana replied, "Really?...Fine. But only if he comes with us." He indicated the phantom thief among them.

Akira looked at Ryuji and Saya's faces, and saw there was no use arguing against them. Not like he was going to, anyway. "OK, then. Let's go."

"It's settled then!" The cat-thing jumped in excitement.

"For real?!" Ryuji exclaimed. He turned to Akira. "…Thanks, man."

Saya was more enthusiastic in expressing her gratitude – she clasped her hands together and mumbled, "Thank you, Akira", though faintly enough that only its intended recipient could really hear it.

The group now stood at a ventilation shaft leading into the castle – one which the boys recognized.

"This is our entry point." Morgana explained.

"Ain't that where we escaped outta last time…?" Ryuji pointed out.

"That's right. Not barging in through the entrance is one of the basics of phantom thievery."

"Whoa…" Out of the corner of his eye, Akira saw Saya perking up at the mention of the last two words. "Phantom thieves…?"

"How're we supposed to know about that stuff…?" Ryuji said.

Ignoring him, Morgana leapt from a barrel up to the ventilation shaft, and called out, "I'll make sure to teach you as we go. Come on, follow me!"

Ryuji turned to Akira. "So, uh…sorry for draggin' you into this…But I just can't forgive that bastard Kamoshida doin' whatever the hell he wants!"

"Looks like you really hate that man." Akira noted.

"Really, you should hear what he has to say when I'maround." Saya added. "Hate doesn't even scratch the surface, apparently. But…thanks for coming along. You don't know how important this is to me." She bowed.

"Same!" Ryuji said, not giving Akira a chance to consider the last part of Saya's statement. "I owe you big time, man."

Akira shrugged. "It's no big deal. Come on, let's go. I'll climb first."

"Man, this place is as creepy as always." Ryuji commented once the group were all inside.

"Mm-hm. Now, make sure you do exactly as I say, all right?" Morgana said.

All three humans nodded. "Good." He then went through the door to the rest of the Palace. "Follow me!"

"Ryuji, Saya, you two stay in the back. If we get into any fights, hide." Akira said to his companions, then followed Morgana.

As they went through the (foyer), they suddenly watched as the place morphed into an eerily similar replica of one of Shujin's hallways.

All three students reeled. "W-wait!" Saya cried out. "Was that...Shujin Academy?"

"I've told you before. This place is your school." Morgana explained. "We need to keep going. Come on, this way!"

The group went back downstairs, into the dungeon. It was a peculiar sight – a small river flowed down the middle, dividing cells along two sides. As they turned a corner, however, they saw a masked knight patrolling the path.

"Darn…" Morgana frowned. "I knew there would be guards here. Looks like we won't be able to avoid conflict from this point forward." He turned to Akira. "Oh well, I'll just teach you the basics of battle right now. You had better remember all of this. First rule of business: ambush as many enemies as possible, preferably from behind."

"Do I just stab them, or…?" Akira asked.

"Nope – you'll need to rip off their masks to momentarily break the ruler's control over them. Then the enemy will be caught off guard, and we'll hit first and fast."

"Ooh, so we're pulling off sneak attacks, then?" Saya said, excitement evident in her voice. "Just like rogues! I like it!"

"Uh, you know you're just going to be watching, right?" Morgana pointed out. "You can't use a Persona."

"Oh…right…" She drooped. "Sorry. I just get overexcited sometimes…"

"It's fine. Anyway, let's go!"

Moments later, Akira had leapt onto the Shadow's back, and, yelling "Show me your true form!", yanked its' mask off. The Shadow staggered and fell, before melting into a puddle of black liquid and then reforming into a…floating pumpkin-headed creature holding a lantern, with a dark blue robe and witch-like hat?

"A Crypt-dwelling Pyromaniac, as I like to call them." Morgana said. "This one should be easy!"

"He's mine!" Akira called out as he ran up and slashed the Shadow several times with his dagger before jumping back, causing it to reel.

"Not bad…" Morgana smirked. "But wait till you see this! Zorro, blast them!"

Suddenly, a towering masked figure appeared behind him, dressed in black with a matching cape and wielding a rapier. He slashed the air with a weapon, and gusts of wind surrounded the Shadow before barreling at it, and the Shadow faded in a puff of black smoke.

"We're done." Akira said, and Ryuji and Saya popped out. "Daaaamn, that kinda stuff just never gets old!" Ryuji said. Saya, meanwhile, just stood there with an awestruck expression on her face.

Akira shrugged. "It does really get your blood pumping…Um, Saya? Are you OK?"

He was met by what sounded like her squealing in delight.

"I'll…take that as a yes then. Alright, let's keep going."

As they went across a bridge to the other side of the stream, Saya let out, "What…was that?"

"It's the power of Persona." Morgana replied. "It's the physical manifestation of your heart, your spirit of rebellion. Akira's got one too."

"Wow…"

They stopped once they reached the other side of the bridge. Immediately, Ryuji saw that something was off. "Hey...Why ain't anyone here…?"

Indeed, the cells which Akira and Ryuji had once seen populated by prisoners were now empty. "Dammit, they were here before! Where'd they go!?" cried Ryuji in frustration.

"Quiet down!" Morgana said.

Paying no attention to the feline, Ryuji added, "Oh yeah, there were more of 'em further in too…!" He ran down the hallway.

Morgana turned to Akira. "They might have been transferred elsewhere already…"

"Wait, wait!" Saya chimed in. "What's 'they'?!"

Akira shook his head. "Prisoners, Saya. It's terrible."

Ryuji came running back. "Crap, I can hear footsteps comin'!" He panted. "Lots of 'em!"

"It'd be a problem if they found us now…" Morgana muttered, then ran to a door to their left. "In here! We should be able to hide here until they leave!"

The group quickly entered the room (which, miraculously, was unlocked) and closed the door behind them. Akira noticed that they had gone into some sort of bedroom, with a table, chairs and cupboards.

"The Shadows probably won't come in here." Morgana said.

"And how can you tell?" Akira asked.

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

"Lack of distortion…?" Saya had a hard time comprehending those words.

"I think he means this is somewhere in the school that Kamoshida doesn't have much influence in." Akira explained for her.

Suddenly, the environment around them turned into one of a classroom, before back to the dimly-lit room they were in. "Is this a classroom…!?" Ryuji said, surprised.

"Now do you understand?" Morgana continued. "This place is another reality that the ruler's heart projects. One could say it's a world in which one's distorted desires have materialized. I call such a place a Palace."

"A…Palace?" Saya repeated, clearly confused.

"Ah yes, I forgot you're completely new to this." Morgana turned to her. "I'll boil it down for you. The reason why everything you see here is as is – the whole castle thing and all that – is because Kamoshida, the Palace ruler, thinks the school is his own castle."

"So…he saw Shujin Academy as a castle, which is why it's a castle here?" She was finally beginning to understand.

Ryuji laughed sourly. "Hahaha…" He suddenly stamped his foot on the ground, angry. "That son of a bitch!"

"Well, back to the matter at hand…" Morgana cleared his throat. "His lackeys are everywhere inside." He turned to Akira. "You're curious about your outfit, aren't you, Akira?"

"I'd like to know about it…" The frizzy-haired boy answered.

"Yeah, I'm curious as hell about it too." Ryuji added.

"Cool-looking aesthetics aside, why exactly are you wearing that…?" Saya inquired.

"That's also because of this world." Morgana said. "Anything distorts according to how a ruler pleases within his Palace. A school can turn into a castle like this, after all. In order to prevent such distortions, one must hold a powerful will of rebellion. Your appearance is a manifestation of that. It's the image of rebellion you hold within."

Ryuji grumbled. "Uuugh, I'm so fed up with all this! I'm more curious about you! What the hell are you anyways?!"

"I'm a human – an honest-to-god human!"

Akira, Ryuji and Saya all shot each other looks. "Well, uh, you don't look human to me." Akira said. "More like a cat, really."

"This is…" Morgana sighed dejectedly. "Well, it's because I lost my true form…I think."

"You think…?" Ryuji repeated.

"But!" Morgana said. "I do know how to regain my true form. The reason why I snuck in here in the first place was to investigate those means. Well, I ended up getting caught though…" He shook his head. "Besides, I've been tortured by Kamoshida too! I'm gonna make him pay for sure!"

"What is this, a video game?!" The blonde was exasperated. "This is seriously crazy…"

After a moment of silence, Akira said, "Shouldn't we get going?"

"Yep." Morgana replied. "I'll be counting on your skills this time too, rookie. Got it?"

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna force it all on you." Ryuji said. "I thought it might help, so…" He took out a…pistol? "I brought this just in case! It's just a model gun though, so it only makes sounds!"

"But…that's a toy." Saya said, dumbstruck.

"But it looks totally real, so it'll at least fake 'em out. Oh, I brought some medicine too. You know what they say: 'Providing is pre…something.' Huh? Huh?"

Saya palmed her face. "Preparing."

"So you were planning this from the start…" Morgana noted. "Well, fine. If you're ready, we'll resume our infiltration."

Akira decided to take the model gun anyway, along with the medicine Ryuji brought. When he peeked out through the door, he saw 3 of the guards chatting.

"Hm, I thought I just heard something move over there…guess it was just my imagination…"

"And what of the slaves?"

"In the training hall. Likely screaming in pain by now."

Saya's fists instinctively clenched upon hearing that.

"Very well. By the way, I heard we may have intruders around. Stay on your guard." The Shadows split up, two going in one direction and one in the opposite.

Once the coast was clear, the group stepped out. "Did you hear that?" Morgana asked.

"They said trainin' hall, right?" Ryuji said.

"I think that's just a little further ahead. Let's go!"

However, it wasn't long before they came across yet another guard, posted at the bottom of a stairway leading to the training hall.

"Shoot." Morgana frowned. "There's a guard on duty here…"

"Do we hit it?" Akira asked.

"Seems so. Make sure not to get spotted before we strike."

After a few seconds of sneaking, Akira tore the cyan mask off the guard's face, and the Shadow turned into 2 small, pale humanoid creatures with a feminine build and a red flower on their heads – referred to by Morgana as "Gallows-Flowers".

"Arsene!" Akira pulled off his own mask, and behind him appeared a large winged figure, dressed in red and black with a large hat. "Eiha!" The figure slammed his hand into the ground, and the Gallows-Flower on the left was assaulted by a small pillar of red-and-black lines – though it still stood.

"That's even cooler…!"

"Saya! Shut up!"

"I'll finish it!" Morgana yelled. "Zorro, Garu!" The caped figure appeared behind Morgana again and casted the same move Saya had seen him do earlier on Akira's target, which disappeared in black smoke.

The other one leapt and tried to kick Akira square in the chest. He quickly sidestepped, but the attack tagged him in the arm.

"Akira! You OK?" His battle partner called out.

"I'm fine!" Akira ripped off his mask again, and readied his dagger. "Arsene, let's Cleave them!" He dashed forward and delivered a wide slash to the Shadow, accompanied by Arsene making the same cutting motion with his arm. The Gallows-Flower fell back and disappeared in the same way its comrade did.

"I think that's it." Morgana said. "Akira, do you need healing?"

"No, I'm fine, it's just a kick." He waved it off.

"D-did it hurt though?" Saya asked. Unbeknownst to anyone else, she'd almost panicked when she saw Akira get hit.

"A bit, yeah. You learn to ignore it, though."

They later came across not one, but two guards blocking their path.

"Shoot…" Morgana grimaced, peering around the corner. "There's too many enemies around here, we can't dodge them all…"

"Then what do we do?" Ryuji asked. "Should we try and take 'em down like before?"

"It's not that simple." The cat-like creature replied. "We still have a long way to go, so we need to conserve energy.

"I see…Damn, I wish I could fight, I'd be able to help…" Ryuji grumbled. "But all I got is this toy from earlier…"

"You mean this?" Akira held up the toy gun he'd been given.

"Yeah…It looks real an' all, but it can't actually shoot anything…

There was a sudden gleam in Morgana's eyes. "I see…Well, there is a way…" He summoned his sword. For some reason, he and Akira were able to materialize their weapons from thin air. "OK, we'll use that to take them down!"

"What?!" Ryuji was bewildered at this. "Were you listenin' to me? It don't even shoot pellets…"

"Just trust me." Morgana turned to Akira. "Alright, Frizzy Hair, you ready?"

Though not aware of Morgana's intentions, he nodded anyway. "Let's go."

"Wait!" Ryuji called out as the duo of Persona users emerged from the corner, with Akira ripping off the mask of one of the guards as he spoke. "Like I keep sayin', it's not gonna-"

Too late – the Shadows had morphed into a Gallows-Flower similar to before, and a…pixie the size of a human girl?

"Now, point your gun at a Shadow and fire!" Morgana said.

Akira took out the toy pistol, aimed at the pixie, and pulled the trigger – to his surprise, and Ryuji and Saya's, the gun made a loud bang and flashed at the muzzle, akin to a real gun – and the Shadow he was aiming at fell to the ground.

"What the-?" He exclaimed, after registering that his model gun actually fired real bullets.

"How about that? Surprised?" Morgana smirked. "All right, I'll show you my weapon too!" And he pulled out a…slingshot, and fired several shots at the Gallows-Flower. Enraged, the Shadow tried to kick Morgana, but the biped feline sidestepped out of the way.

"We'd better finish off that other one!" Akira said. "Arsene, Cleave them!" The winged figure appeared once again, and both stepped forward and slashed the Beguiling Girl (which was what Akira had referred to them as in his head, for some godsforsaken reason). The Shadow faded, leaving the Gallows-Flower left.

"I'll finish it!" Morgana ran up and uppercutted the Shadow with his sabre, and landing with another slash – this killed it, too, and finished the job.

As Ryuji and Saya ran over to them with bewildered looks on their faces, Akira noticed that he felt stronger after the fight.

"T-that was a toy, right?!" Saya frantically asked. "I swear it shot real bullets!"

Morgana turned to the rest of them. "This is a cognitive world." He explained. "As long as our opponent sees it as real, it becomes such. Good thing it looks real, too."

"Uh…" Ryuji scratched his head. "I don't get it."

Morgana struggled to contain his laughter. "I wasn't expecting someone with your brains to understand."

"Basically," Akira rephrased it for his companions. "the Shadows think it's real, so…it's real. Make sense?"

"Kinda…" "It sounds like it doesn't, but somehow it does." Ryuji and Saya both replied.

Ryuji turned back to Morgana. "Wait, if it's better havin' something realistic, why do you got that slingshot!? And it was just as strong as a goddamn gun! What about your whole cognitive whatever?"

"W-well, um…" Struggling to find an answer, Morgana sighed. "Fine, you can choose to understand it how you want." He shook his head. "Oh, by the way, we should decide how we divvy up our roles from here on out.

Ignoring Ryuji grumbling about dodging his question, he continued, "As you can see, there are quite a lot of enemies. It'll be important to coordinate our moves well. I can keep providing intel for us, but you should decide how we fight, Frizzy Hair."

"Whaddya mean by 'how we fight'?" Ryuji asked.

"Basically, what we do in battle. He can order us directly, or let us decide what we do. Though I guess I'm the only other one fighting right now…"

"So..like a field leader?" Akira said. "Well, I won't say I'm unfit for the task, but…what about when I'm fighting? I can't really shout orders while I'm in the middle of cutting down a Shadow."

"Good point." Morgana said. "We could probably use a strategist, someone outside of battle who can see the big picture and tell us what to do. Mmm…Saya, you up to it?"

"H-huh?" Saya was surprised at the mention of her name. "Me?"

"Yep. Blondie here's too brainless to think about that sort of thing ("Hey!" Ryuji cried indignantly here), but you seem quite smart from what I've seen so far."

"But…I…" Saya scratched her head sheepishly. "I mean, I do know a bit about strategy thanks to Mom, but…I'm not sure if it'll actually work, and I'm better at reading people than logic and calculation…"

"Hey, it'll be fine." Akira placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "No one's forcing you. Besides, it's only when I'm fully occupied, and that's coming from someone who can say they're a pretty good multitasker. Just use common sense. Plus, I think we need a mind reader more than a…well, for lack of a better word, a nerd."

"O-OK…" She nodded. "Thank you, Akira. You can count on me!"

"Sheesh, you seem really enthusiastic all of a sudden…" Ryuji commented. Nevertheless, party strategy out of the way, they kept going.

After an encounter with another patrolling Shadow, the group eventually reached a door – and in front of it, yet another guard.

"Ugh, and I'm pretty sure that's where we need to be going too…" Morgana whispered. "…You know what? OK, I've decided I'm going to teach you two a special way to fight enemies!"

"Is it a new technique?" Akira asked.

"Something like that! Let's go!" Akira and Morgana ran up to the guard, and, seeing no opportunity to rip off its mask, the former resorted to striking it with his dagger. The Shadow morphed all the same, and took the form of one Beguiling Girl.

"Listen, there's a distinct flow to combat." Morgana explained. "Let me show you. First and most important step – knock down all the enemies! Exploit their weaknesses!"

"Got it! Arsene, Eiha!" Akira's casted spell indeed managed to drop the Shadow to the ground.

"All right! Now rush on in for an All-Out Attack!"

Though Akira did not exactly know what that meant, he instinctively knew what to do.

Moving at blurring speeds, both Persona users relentlessly leapt and slashed the Shadow back and forth, before it seemed all too ready to drop dead right there and then.

"And then what?" Akira asked.

"Strike a pose."

"Like this?" After landing with a crouch, he adjusted his gloves, and smirked as the Shadow fell behind him.

Morgana grinned. "That's it! Perfection!"

"THAT WAS SO AWESOME!" They heard Saya yell excitedly.

"Quiet down!" Morgana barked.

"S-sorry, I got overexcited again…"

"Seriously though, what was that super-move thing you just did!?" Ryuji asked.

"I told you, it's called an All-Out Attack. If you manage to knock down all of the enemies, you can use it to end it right there."

"So that's the basic cycle of battle." Akira said. "Hit their weaknesses, knock them down if possible, All-Out Attack, rinse and repeat?"

"You catch on fast." Morgana said. "As our leader, you can decide when we use this."

"'When'?" The last part caught Akira's attention. "You mean there's an alternative?"

"Yes. Eventually. Well then, let's go!"

As they went through the door, they were greeted the sight of a small room with another door, with a banner strewn on top of it that said…

"Kamoshida's…Training Hall…of Love?" Ryuji read. "What kinda bullshit is this?"

"I…I don't like the way that sounds…" Saya said.

"Me neither." said Akira. "But we have to see for ourselves. Come on."

*inhales* That escalated quickly. 5K words compared to Chapter 1's near-3K.

Anyways, that's one half of Saya's first foray into the Metaverse done.

There's something I need to clear up immediately: No, Saya will not actually have a Palace. What I meant was that there will be a Palace focusing on her, in the same way that Madarame's Palace focuses on Yusuke, Kaneshiro's Palace focuses on Makoto, etc.

I've managed to set in stone more things about Saya, including her initial Persona (not her Ultimate, though).For one, Saya's thing will be being able to "know" people. She's a strategist, but a different type than Makoto – she's able to pretty much predict what's going to happen in battle by "reading" the enemy, and can also win over people in a similar fashion to Akira. She'll also have a very distinctive battle role where she acts as a support who can cure status effects, ramping up the party's damage in the process, and can swap in and out of the party with Baton Passes as well.

Oh, and one more thing. The other day, I went and thought, "Isn't nuclear just a fusion of Fire and Light/Bless?" This cascaded into me thinking that Psychic attacks are basically about addling with minds, something associated with dark powers, very much a Curse thing.

Which led me to a decision I (likely) may or (unlikely) may not regret: I've decided to remove Nuclear and Psychic from the battle elements, and replaced them where necessary with Bless and Curse respectively.

So now each party member aside from Joker is dedicated to an element, with Saya covering Almighty (though to balance this, her personal damage output, especially early on, is terrible). I might also up Haru's Gun offense if I think she needs it.

Well then, that's 2 chapters down. Next time, we dive into what REALLY makes Kamoshida so despicable.

Stay tuned!