May 30th, 20XX (Monday)

Early Morning - Kazero Household

"Ugh…" Toya slowly came to. It was early in the morning, and he was having trouble gathering his bearings. He was in his bed, in his room. But when did he get here? How did he get here? He didn't remember. His mind was completely dazed, covered in a thick fog that he couldn't think through. He could only remember he was running… But nothing else. It was starting to hurt, with how hard he was racking his brain to try and remember what had happened.

But something else was wrong. His head was hurting… And it wasn't just some regular morning headache. It felt worse. His entire head felt weird. He hadn't noticed it until then-probably due to the daze he was in, but his entire mind felt like it was splitting apart. He tossed and turned around in his bed from the pain, and his chest started heaving. He could feel cold sweats dripping down from his forehead.

It was a nightmare- that's what he had told himself. The pain he felt couldn't be real. It reminded him of when he awoke to Yama, but there was a big difference. When he was awakening the month prior, he could feel something coming out from him. Something coming from inside of his soul, that being his Persona. But now… It didn't feel like anything was coming. Instead, it felt like something was lurking. Lurking around inside of his head, just… waiting. Toya could feel it, and he could feel one strong emotion coming from it: hate. A passionate, unconditional hatred was in his head, one that was never there before. He didn't welcome the feeling at all. He didn't even know why it was there, or what it was directed towards. He just wanted it gone.

"H-Hey, Osiris…?" In some kind of desperation, Toya tried calling out to Osiris. There was no response, and the pain didn't let up at all. He grabbed onto his head, turning onto his chest and grunting in pain, which had eventually turned into him yelling. "A-Are you in there…!?" He felt alone, and scared. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. But why? He couldn't figure it out. He just wanted it to stop. "Please… O-Osiris…!"

"...Hm?" And just like that, it was gone. The feeling of hatred, and all of the pain that came along with it. Everything had suddenly vanished, like it was never there to begin with. Toya took deep breaths. He wasn't in pain anymore, thankfully. But still… He couldn't just forget what had happened. It was real. He wanted it to be a nightmare, but he was very awake. "What's wrong?" Osiris asked, audible concern in his voice.

"My head was going crazy… It felt like it was splitting apart. It only went back to normal when you started responding…"

"That's… Odd."

"...Is there something you're not telling me?"

"What do you mean?"

"I felt a really, really strong… hatred in my head. Like… Almost like I wanted something to suffer. That hate wasn't from you, right…?"

"...To be perfectly honest, I'm not so sure." Just hearing that concerned Toya. "I felt like I was in some kind of a trance. Hearing you snapped me out of it."

"A trance…?" An already confusing morning was getting even more confusing for him. He couldn't really process anything, not after… All of that.

"...Do you mind if I ask a question?"

"Huh? What is it?"

"Humans… Are they all as… problematic as some of the ones we've seen? People like Kamoshida, and Madarame. Is that… normal?"

"Normal? No. Those two are especially bad cases. But…" Toya sat up. "There's more people like them out there."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah. I mean… There were police that knew about Kamoshida. And they did nothing about it. Committing crimes is one thing, but… being completely aware of something wrong, and doing nothing to stop it when you have the authority and power to do it? That's not much better."

"...I see. You're right. Even those people… their inherit nature is…" Osiris stopped talking. He let out a soft sigh, as if he was stuck in thought.

"...What's going on? You've been acting off all morning."

"It's… It's nothing. Nothing you should concern yourself with."

"Osiris… I don't know what you are yet. But…I don't care. Even if nobody else sees you… You're family to me. You don't have to hide things from me that trouble you."

"...Thank you, Jester. Knowing that there are people like you… It gives me hope." There was a long pause, where the two of them just sat in silence with each other. Neither knew what to say anymore, but the bond between them felt like it was getting closer. They couldn't fully understand each other yet, but it was okay. They were getting there. "Shouldn't you get going, though?"

"Huh?"

"...It's Monday. Don't you have school?"

"...CRAP."

"You idiot..."

May 30th, 20XX (Monday)

Early Morning - Shibuya (Station Square)

After scrambling around in an attempt to get himself together, Toya was somehow able to get himself situated enough to get out the door. He lived relatively close to the subway station, so it didn't take much time. The hardest part of the morning was trying to find his gym clothes. Today wasn't going to be a normal day of school- instead, it was a cleanup day. All students had to go to a park in Aoyama and clean it up… for some reason. Toya didn't really want to, but he wasn't going to complain about taking a break from actual classes.

"Hey, what's going on over there?"

"Huh?" Toya directed his focus towards what was happening in the middle of the station square. There was a middle aged man grabbing onto a schoolgirl's arm- she was in a Shujin uniform and had red hair. Everyone was ignoring the scene… Well, almost everyone. Toya was going to step in himself, but he saw someone else go up before him.

"You're hurting her." Ren Amamiya. He was the only other person around who seemed to actually care about what was happening. The man in question let go of the school girl, who promptly hid behind Ren. The man got angry and walked off, saying something vulgar under his breath.

"He really likes playing hero, doesn't he?"

"You should go talk to him."

"Huh? Uhhhh…. Maaaaaybe not…"

"What? Why not?"

"Didn't I just gut punch him not even 24 hours ago? How am I supposed to just look him in the eye and act like that DIDN'T happen?"

"It would be a lot more suspicious if you ignored him, you know."

"But-"

"Just do it. If you don't bring it up, then he has no way of knowing it was you. Simple enough."

"Fiiiiiine…" Toya watched the girl that Ren saved started walking away, and started walking forward himself.

"You really like involving yourself with other people's problems, don't you?" He said, walking forward and trying to remain as calm as possible. Ren turned his head and met his eyes.

"Something like that." He turned around-mostly just to hide his bag from Toya- most likely due to Morgana being inside of it. "How much of that did you see?"

"Most of it. I would've tried stepping in myself, but… Well, you were already here. Not like you're incapable of stopping someone like him, given your… track record in the past month." Ren averted his eyes. He forgot that Toya knew about him being a Phantom Thief already , due to how hectic things have been recently. "...Why do you do it, anyways? Helping so many people, I mean. Don't most of them look at you and write you off as being a criminal? I mean, half of the school does it. Even some of the teachers."

"It's not like anyone else is going to do it. Besides… people write me off as a criminal regardless of what I do. Might as well just do what I think is right."

"I guess that makes sense. Well, as long as you're making yourself happy, then it's no problem." Toya took out his phone and checked the time. "I-It's this late

already!? Hey, we gotta get moving! Come on!"

May 30th, 20XX (Monday)

Morning - Aoyama-Itchome

The two of them split off once they were at school grounds. Ren went off to his friends, while Toya…

"Oh, right. You don't have any friends."

"Shut up!" Toya shook his head and leaned against a tree. "I-I could have friends if I wanted to! Honest!"

"I'm sure you could." The two of them bickered with each other for a little bit, until someone walked up to them.

"It's such a nice day out that even the weather seems to be mocking us." It took a second for Toya to remember Mishima's voice.

"Who the hell starts a conversation like that!?"

"Oh, hey Mishima. What's up?"

"Just waiting for things to start up. I've been waiting around for a while."

"...How long…?"

"Only like an hour."

"A-An hour!? I've been here for like, a minute! 2 tops! Why'd you get here so early?"

"Good morning, Shujin Academy students and staff." The two of them could hear someone talking through a megaphone. They turned towards the sound, and Toya instinctively clenched a fist upon seeing who the sound was coming from. "Please pick up all trash located in the areas assigned to your group. Once the cleanup is completed, a lunch of miso soup with pork and vegetables will be served."

"Ugh…" Toya rolled his eyes. He recognized her as the girl who approached him after his fight with Kai.

"Hm? You don't like her?"

"Something about her attitude rubs me the wrong way. Who even is she?"

"...Wait, you seriously don't know her? She's the student council president, Makoto Niijima."

"God… That explains the high and mighty attitude tone. What a pain…"

"Don't worry about her. She's small time compared to the people you've been taking down!"

"N-Not so loud!" Toya nervously looked around. It didn't seem like anyone heard him, but it was still a scare.

"...How'd it go yesterday? You know, with Madarame? Did you get him?"

"...Yeah. Yeah, I got him. He'll confess to everything soon."

"Haha, awesome! No rotten adult is safe from you!"

"I said not loud! L-Let's just get to work!" The two of them went on to start cleaning up, unaware of the person listening in on their conversation. Standing behind the tree that Toya was leaning against Makoto Niijima, holding her phone out and recording the conversation. She closed her eyes and smirked, stopping the recording and putting it in her pocket.

May 30th, 20XX (Monday)

Afternoon - Aoyama-Itchome

The cleanup went by without anything noteworthy happening. Toya made small talk with Mishima, but mostly kept to himself—or rather, he talked to Osiris. He had a lot on his mind after the events that had transpired the day prior, so he felt unsure of what he was supposed to do now. He was on the tight side of the Phantom Thieves in the real world… but he was on the wrong side of them in the cognitive one. He heard and felt his phone ringing, so he quickly pulled it out and answered.

"Hello?"

"Everything okay?"

"Kai? Yeah, why?"

"You were out like a light for almost 20 hours. I had to literally carry you to your bed."

"Wait, I was THAT tired? ...Actually, that makes sense now that I think about it." Toya looked around to make sure nobody was nearby before sitting down on a bench.

"How'd everything go yesterday?"

"It was going fine. Madarame was dealt with pretty easily, and I didn't even have to help. Things didn't get bad until they turned around and saw me."

"Wait, they saw you!?"

"I had a mask on. They couldn't recognize me at all. But… They're not exactly 'fans' of me. Not over there, at least."

"What about the real world? Any differences?"

"No, not at all. Everything feels normal with them in the real world. They definitely don't know it's me."

"Good. Keep it that way. What about Madarame? Will his change of heart still come?"

"Yeah. He'll fess up to everything. It'll probably happen within the week, but I'm not sure."

"Within a week… Alright. Do you have any other plans?"

"Not really… I was just gonna focus on school. Why?"

"There's… something I need from you. Someone I ultimately need you to take down."

"Take down… You need me to change someone's heart?"

"Ultimately, yes. I've been following the Wakaba Isshiki case as closely as I possibly can. Her research… I'm going to find out who did it. I would never forgive
myself if I couldn't find it out. I believe that the cognitive world is the only way that
we can learn of it."

"Okay… So who? Who am I gonna go after?"

"I'm working up a name, but… This guy is in a different league than Kamoshida or Madarame- much different. He's a mob boss- running all of Shibuya."

"A-A mob boss!?"

"The police can't do anything to him since we have so little on him. I should be able to dig something up though."

"Wait… Don't you have to report everything you find? Isn't that your job?"

"Legally, yeah… But I'm putting my trust in you instead. Something tells me that they can't handle this."

"...Alright. I'll do everything that I can. I'll need your help getting in, though. Once I'm in his cognitive world, I can do the rest."

"One more thing… Most likely, this guy isn't directly connected to this case. But it's still important. Just… Think of this as a test. If you can do this, then we'll go through with everything that comes next. Alright, I gotta go. Take care, and I'll
tell you whatever I find."

"Got it!" Kai hung up. Toya put his phone in his pocket and looked up to the sky.

"A mob boss, hm? Isn't that a bit dangerous?"

"Aw, when did you start caring for my well-being like that?"

"Quiet! Besides, if you die, then I die too! Probably."

"We still don't really know what you are… But it's okay. And don't worry, I'll be fine. I have you looking out for me too, right? There's no way we're gonna get taken down by some nobody!"

"I can't tell if you're confident, or just stupid…"

"Both."

"Don't agree with it!"

Sorry this one took so long to come out. With everything happening in the world (Specifically all of the FGC drama), things have been... rough.

Nevertheless, I hope you all enjoyed. Things are going to start getting a lot more interesting after this chapter.