Ren walked out the venue and not long after Morgana appeared from some bushes nearby.

"So how'd Sumire do?" asked Morgana as Ren let his bag down to allow him to climb in.

"She got third place." Ren replied. "Though, she messed up part way through so that affected her score. That being said placing even after making a mistake is an amazing feat in itself."

"Wow…" Morgana exclaimed in awe. "I want to congratulate her when she comes out!"

"Sure but we might be waiting in this heat for a bit. She's probably talking with her coach." Ren made his way to a bench outside the venue and sat down, fanning himself with his hand as they planned out their next infiltration.

"We need to find out the requirements for the star so that we can get Futaba back…" Ren sighed as he took out the star and stared at it.

"It might have something to do with the fact we haven't met her yet…" Morgana suggested.

"You might be right, I'll try it again once I've met and talked to her at least once." Ren put the star away after he stared at it for a bit longer

After 30 minutes, Sumire walked out of the venue. A small skip every step as she noticed Ren sitting down and made her way towards him.

"Congratulations on third place Sumire!" Morgana jumped out of the bag as he congratulated her.

"Thank you Morgana-san." Sumire giggled as she sat down on the bench and began petting Morgana. "Oh!" she turned to Ren. "I didn't get to say this earlier but thank you so much senpai! Your cheer helped me finish my routine! I don't know what I would have done without you there!"

"Don't worry about it" Ren tried to wave it off. "Next time I want to see you place higher."

"I hope I won't disappoint you!" she said with vigour as she stood up, still holding onto Morgana. "It's been my- no, our dream to take the crown of the gymnastics world!"

`Our? Oh right…`

"You'll make her proud." Ren smiled as he also got up, Morgana climbed into the bag before Ren grabbed it. "Wanna head down to the food festival? It's nearby and they should still be open. It'll all be on me today as a congratulations."

"That sounds great!" Sumire chirped. "I'm always hungry after a big competition!"

Ren thought back to how much she ate as the corner of one of his eyes twitched slightly. "Yeah…"

`I may have messed up...`

═════════•°• Take your time •°•═════════

Ren shakily handed over the third 5000 yen bill that day to a food vendor who snatched it from him.

Morgana had already went off to do his own thing as he didn't want to stay inside the bag on a hot day.

`I need to watch my money when I'm around her…` He looked at Sumire who was happily chomping away on different types of food as she skillfully balanced them on her arm.

"Senpai! You should try this takoyaki! It's amazing!" Sumire blurted out after finishing up one of the dishes.

"I'm fine. Just enjoy your food, thank you though." Ren replied, he had bought himself some shaved ice due to the intense heat.

"If you say so." Sumire went back to inhaling food at a monstrous rate. "Oh! Let's go over there next! They look like they're selling crepes!" she made her way over to the crepe stand.

`Oh joy…` Ren sighed as he followed her. `I hope I brought enough with me…`

As they made their way over, a child who was running around bumped into Sumire, causing her to drop a majority of her food.

"Ah…" Sumire stared at the dropped food, completely devastated. "My food…"

"My money…" Ren muttered softly before he tried to comfort Sumire. "Don't worry, I'll get you more later. By the way." He pointed at a phone laying facedown on the floor. "Is that yours?"

"Oh!" Sumire quickly checked through her pockets. "I think it is!" she picked up the phone and checked through it before throwing it into her bag.

The child's mother came over and profusely apologised, even trying to pay for at least some of the food.

"No no. It's fine, really." Ren tried refusing the money. "Instead buy your child something to keep him from running around." he patted the child's downcast head who looked up at him with an innocent smile.

"Amamiya-kun? Yoshizawa-san?" A voice called out to the both of them from behind.

Ren turned around and saw Dr. Maruki, not wearing his usual lab coat but instead wearing some casual clothes while carrying an ice cream.

"Hey Doc." Ren waved. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"I could say the same to you." Maruki replied as he walked up to them.

"Dr. Maruki! Good afternoon." Sumire bowed.

"Good afternoon to you too Yoshizawa-san." Maruki flashed a smile as they talked amongst one another.

"E-Excuse me!" The mother earlier called out to them as she faced Dr. Maruki. "C-Can you tell me your name please!"

Maruki looked at her blankly for a moment before responding. "My name is Takuto Maruki. Is something wrong?"

Ren heard a small beep coming from somewhere but he didn't know where it came from.

"D-Do you want to… get a coffee sometime?" She timidly asked him while playing with her hair.

`Is she a single mother?` Ren watched the woman in front of him fawn over Maruki.

"I'm sorry but I'll be occupied with my work for the next few months. I don't know when my next day off is. Thank you for the invite though, I really do appreciate it." Maruki politely refused her.

"T-Then at least your number!" she wouldn't back down. "You can message me when you're free!"

Maruki took his phone out. "That is fine by me."

The woman beamed a bright smile as they exchanged contact info and left soon after.

That was… something… Quite the lady killer are we?

"Haha…" Maruki sighed in defeat. "It's sad I can't even refute you on that. I've been strangely popular ever since my college days. I'm not sure why though, I've always been attached to my research…"

"Sounds rough." Ren said as he scratched one of his cheeks.

"Tell me about it." Maruki chuckled. "But onto you two, Yoshizawa-san, didn't you have a competition today?"

"Yes! I competed this morning at a venue near here." Sumire responded.

"And how did you do, if you mind me asking?" Maruki's interest was piqued.

"Not at all, I placed third!" Sumire exclaimed.

"That's amazing! Wasn't that a big competition as well?" Maruki congratulated her with a wide grin.

"It was, I honestly expected to completely flop as I made a mistake and tripped up part way through. Ren-senpai managed to get me back up and I completed the routine, eventually placing!" Sumire responded as she reminisced on what happened earlier that day.

"Amamiya-kun did? I wonder how he-"

Pi Pi Pi Pi

Before he could finish, Maruki got a call. "Sorry, I have to go now. Congratulations again Yoshizawa-san, I'll see you both at school."

"Goodbye Dr. Maruki." Sumire bowed.

"Seeya Doc." Ren waved him off before turning his attention back to Sumire. "Why don't we go to that crepe stand now?"

"That sounds like a great idea!" Sumire clapped her hands together. "I've been abstaining from eating sweets all this week so I could go all out today!"

═════════•°• Take your time •°•═════════

"That was great!" Sumire stretched her body. "I haven't eaten that much in a while!"

`Rest in peace... my money…` Ren mourned the money that was sacrificed today before speaking up.

"Should we go home now?"

"If it's alright with you… can you come with me somewhere?" Sumire asked him, slightly nervous.

"Lead the way." Ren replied as he adjusted his bag.

"It's not far so we'll get there quickly." Sumire assured him as they started walking, Morgana reuniting with them not long after they left the food festival.

"Here we are!" Sumire stopped in front of a construction site.

"This is…?" Ren questioned her.

But before Sumire could respond, a couple nearby started talking.

"You've gotten us completely lost!"

"Yeah I know, I'm looking up the place we need to be now."

"Ugh, I don't even recognise anything around here. What's even that place supposed to be?"

"Err… I think it was a convention centre? Or was it a research lab… I think it was a lab…"

"It doesn't matter anyway, let's just go."

As the couple left Sumire muttered under her breath. "It's not a lab… It's a stadium…"

"A stadium?" Ren questioned her.

"Sorry, what that couple said irked me." Sumire answered him. "This building here is a stadium that me and my sister wanted to compete in once it was completed… I think the name was Odaiba Stadium?"

"Then what was that stuff about a research lab?" Ren questioned her.

"I'm not sure about that myself… A research lab huh…" She pondered to herself before they heard a familiar sound.

Beginning Navigation

"What the hell!?" Morgana exclaimed as the world around the three distorted.

"Shit!" Ren called out as his vision became hazy.

Once Ren's vision came to, he was greeted by a humongous structure where the construction site should have been.

"What is this…" Sumire gasped as she looked at the structure,

"Wait!? Is this a Palace!?" Morgana exclaimed as he jumped off of Ren's shoulder, already in his metaverse form.

Ren looked down at himself and noticed he was in his Phantom Thief attire. "Shit." he cursed to himself. "Sumire, go back."

"H-Huh!? Alright!" Sumire started looking through her bag as Ren and Morgana started planning.

"Alright, let's scout the place out for now." Morgana started. "This Palace isn't something we've been through before so we need to stay on guard until we've found out who the ruler is."

Ren nodded in agreement.

"Sumire…" A soft voice called out to Sumire, unbeknownst of Ren and Morgana, she started walking towards the familiar voice.

Ren glanced over and saw that Sumire had climbed over the wall and was already at the entrance to the palace.

"Sumire!?" Ren called out to her which didn't reach her. She entered the palace in a daze.

"Damn it…" Ren clicked his tongue as he jumped over the fence.

"Joker!? I know you're worried about her but we need to be careful!" Morgana reprimanded him.

"...I know." Ren froze for a moment. "Let's go."

"Got it." Morgana nodded as he jumped over the fence as well. They made their way to the entrance, which happened to be an elevator.

Ren looked around but Lavenza nor the entrance to the velvet room was nowhere to be seen. He sighed as he walked over to the button next to the elevator and pressed it, instantly calling it down to take them into the palace.

Ren took out his knife and gun while inside the elevator and aimed the gun at the door to the elevator as they shot upwards.

After the elevator stopped, there was a brief moment of silence before the doors opened up. Ren immediately rolled in and looked around, aiming his gun in the directions he looked at.

"Huh?" Morgana was surprised. "Where are the shadows?"

"It's… eerily quiet…" Ren let out, Morgana nodded in agreement.

Ren noticed a door and the two of them made their way to it. He tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge, he slammed his shoulder into the door to make sure.

"Fuck…" Ren scanned his surroundings, he saw that the wall blocking him from getting to the other side didn't go to the ceiling. "Looks like the only way across is up…" he began searching the area, eventually finding a raised platform and climbed up onto it.

He used third eye as the world around his bled grey, he saw an object where he could attach his grappling hook onto and fired it, propelling him to the platform above him, he repeated this until he reached the highest point. He jumped over a small gap and made his way to the downwards slope that led to the otherside of the wall.

Right before he slid down the slope he heard Sumire's voice. "W-Who's there!?"

"That was Sumire, right!?" Morgana sounded worried.

"That didn't sound good…" Ren gritted his teeth. "We need to move."

"Yeah… let's stay on guard though." Morgana added.

Ren agreed before he slid down the slope.

After Ren reached the bottom of the slope he saw two figures, one was Sumire while the other one was… Sumire with a ponytail?

`No… that other one may look like her but the hair is a different colour... also… her facial features look slightly different…` Ren adjusted himself to the situation.

Sumire had a look of astonishment plastered across her face. "H-How are you here!? You should be..."

`Kasumi…? Isn't that...` Ren jumped down from where he was and made his way towards the two with Morgana following in tow.

"Is that a cognitive being?" Morgana asked himself.

"I don't know…" Ren replied as he listened in on the conversation.

"Sumire…" The girl who looked like Sumire said to her.

Sumire reached her hand out to the girl but before she could reach her, a shadow appeared from behind her and slashed her back.

"KASUMI!" Sumire shrieked as the girl fell to the floor.

"Sumire... please… if it's just you..." The girl managed to get out before disappearing.

"Shit." Ren spat as he dashed over to Sumire.

"Joker! Be careful!" Morgana called out to him before following.

"I know!" Ren increased his speed.

"You who have refused our lord's mercy." The shadow started to speak. "You should not be here. Well, that doesn't matter. I'll finish you off here and now."

"A-Ah…" Sumire fell onto her backside as she started slowly backing up, a cold sweat developed.

The shadow transformed, blowing Sumire back a bit more as she screamed. It then raised one of its arms in preparation to attack her.

Sumire shielded her eyes as the shadow struck down. After a few seconds of nothing happening she slowly uncovered her eyes and saw that Ren was blocking the attack with his knife resting on the arm that was holding the gun.

"Sumire, get out of here. NOW!" Ren ordered as he struggled against the shadow. "Mona, cover her.

`Why is this one so strong!?`

"Got it." Morgana nodded. "Sumire, let's go."

"Y-Yeah…" Sumire shakily got up and made her way towards the door.

`This isn't good.` Ren felt himself lose ground as he was forced onto one knee.

Sumire turned around once more to see that Ren was losing.

"S-Senpai!?" She exclaimed which prompted Morgana to turn around.

"Crap! Joker, won't last much longer." Morgana exclaimed as he prepared to jump at the shadow.

All of a sudden another shadow appeared out of nowhere and aimed a strike.

"Intruders will be eliminated." The shadow struck down at Sumire but before she could get hit. Morgana jumped in the way, blocking the majority of the blow but was sent flying into a wall.

"S-Sumire… run away…" Morgana groaned as he stood up.

"Impudent intruders." The shadow ignored Sumire who they saw as not a threat and made its way to Morgana.

"I-I…" Sumire formed at the corners of her eyes as she could only watch as both Ren and Morgana were slowly getting overwhelmed.

`Senpai will get killed because of me…` Thoughts were going through her mind as she looked around. `He's saved me so many times and how do I pay him back? By running away…`

`No longer will I run away…`

`I will no longer be the weak girl I've always been…`

`Senpai… you were the one who taught me to always stay true to yourself`

`Today is the day I will stand up and fight!`

She steeled herself before a surge of pain hit her in the head.

"Urgh…" The pain forced her to kneel down as she held her head.

"Have you finally decided to fight?"

A voice in her head called out to her. "H-Huh?"

"Don't be surprised little one. You wish to protect him, no?"

The pain in her head surged through once more but she gritted her teeth and nodded. "Yes!"

"My… Such tenacity..."

"Very well. I shall give you my power."

"I am Thou, thou art I…"

"Are you prepared for your debut? The ball awaits"

"Rip off thy mask and call out thy name."

The pain in her head subsided as a flash of blue flames appeared, once they disappeared the sight of a black mask with silver lines around the eyes on Sumire's face could be seen.

The shadow's turned their attention towards Sumire, allowing Ren and Morgana to jump away and look over to Sumire.

"No way…" Morgana let out as he watched. "Isn't this…"

Ren watched in silence as Sumire held onto the mask and started to pull on it, his throat felt dry.

`Damn it…`

"The weak… Insecure Sumire… Dies today!" Sumire announced. "Come forth! Cendrillon!"

She screamed as she ripped off the mask, blood flowed from where the mask was and her usual red eyes were now a yellow colour, just like everyone else's awakenings.

Almost instantly afterwards, a pillar of blue flames surrounded Sumire as her Persona came into being. Her clothes had also changed while the flames surrounded her. A black leotard with black boots that went up to her thighs. A black coat that looked similar to Ren's but was smaller and cut off in places to make movement easier along with frilly cuffs. A rapier was strapped to her waist which was decorated with silver roses. The whole look was completed with a pair of red gloves.

"She looks similar to you, doesn't she Joker?" Morgana fired a question towards Ren.

"Yeah…" Ren nodded in agreement before they both ran to Sumire's side.

"Sumire!" Morgana exclaimed as they jumped next to her, getting into battle stances. "We'll show you how it's done so follow our lead!"

"Thank you! Please do!" Sumire replied as she pulled out her rapier from its scabbard. The silver rapier shined as she readied up.

"You should already know your Persona's element and basic skills so for now use the first one!" Morgana explained. "Take off your mask and call out the attack."

"Right!" Sumire pulled off her mask, summoning Cendrillon. "Kouga!"

The shadow that was hit by it immediately knocked down.

"So they're weak to bless…" Ren muttered as he switched persona's. "Tarukaja!" he buffed Sumire's attack power before calling out to her. "Attack the other one while they're confused."

"This power…" Sumire felt a surge of power flow through her before she ripped off the mask once again. "Cendrillon!" The bless attack hit the other shadow, knocking it down.

"Now!" Ren ordered as both her and Morgana ran forward with Sumire following closely behind to surround the shadows. Ren and Morgana took out their guns and aimed it. "You should have a gun so just think about it and take it out."

Sumire closed her eyes for a moment as she reached from underneath her coat, pulling out a lever action rifle, she aimed it at the downed shadows.

Ren flashed a slight grin as he turned his attention back to the shadows. "Who is this place's ruler!"

"Like hell I'll will tell you!" The shadow spat out.

"Looks like we're not getting anything out of them." Ren sighed. "Mona, All out attack."

"Got it." Morgana replied. "Sumire, follow our lead!"

"Right!" Sumire answered as Ren and Morgana jumped upwards, she jumped up right after they did.

"You've seen us do this while we were in Madarame's Palace so you know how these go right?" Ren asked her right before they started attacking.

"Yes! I knocked them down so I need to be the finisher, yes?" Sumire asked.

"Yeah." Ren nodded. "I'm sure you can do this."

The three of them launched a barrage of attacks onto the downed shadows.

"Finish them!" Morgana exclaimed towards Sumire who had taken out a blue ribbon, the same one that she used in her competition and did a flip and few twirls on one leg before posing, the blood of the shadows in the background splattered everywhere before they disappeared.

"Whew…" Sumire exhaled after the battle ended but then immediately stumbled with a grunt.

"Are you alright!?" Morgana asked her.

"I… Can't be weak any longer… I'm… Fine!" She forced herself to stand back up.

"Woah…" Morgana muttered before speaking up. "I'm impressed you managed to stay standing up, considering you just awakened to your Persona and all.

"Thank you." Sumire smiled. "By the way… Is the reason I'm dressed like this now due to my Persona?"

Something like that. I'll explain later.

"He's right." Morgana added. "It's too dangerous here."

Right on cue, they heard a shadows shout coming from further into the palace.

"Looks like they've found us" Morgana started running. "Let's get out of here!"

Both Ren and Sumire nodded as they ran towards the exit. Ren shot the lock with his gun to unlock it before kicking it down.

"R-Ren-Senpai!?" Sumire was shocked to see him do that.

"Don't worry about it." Ren assured her as they made their way to the elevator.

The three of them sighed in relief once they reached the entrance to the palace.

Ren took out his phone and tapped the exit icon on the Meta-nav.

Returning to the real world from # !?%$'s Palace. Thank you for your hard work

"Huh!?" A wave of surprise hit Ren as the world around them shifted, bringing them all back to the entrance of the construction site.

Once back in the real world, Ren immediately went to the navigation entry history and went to the latest one and read them out in his head.

`Blank…?`

`Odaiba Stadium…`

`Research Laboratory…`

`Wait, blank? What the hell…`

"Sumire, can you show me your Meta-nav for a bit." Ren asked her.

"Huh? O-Oh, sure." Sumire reached into her bag to grab her phone but her hand immediately came back out. "Why's my phone so hot!?" she reached into her bag once again and pulled out her phone, the screen was on with the Meta-nav open.

"Can I use it for a moment?" he asked before she handed her phone over to him.

The heat coming from the phone nearly made Ren drop it but he couldn't drop someone elses phone so he just beared with the pain as he navigated the app.

"C'mon…" he muttered to himself as he opened up the navigation history. "Damn it… blank again…" he locked the phone and handed it back to Sumire. "Sorry, I just needed to check something real quick."

"Did something happen?" She asked him as she tilted her head at an angle.

"I was just checking the Palace rulers name, but it wasn't there…" Ren held the bridge of his nose. "We can go back in but it seems like we won't know who the ruler's name is till we meet him in there… Well, It's not like it's doing anything right now so we can investigate it at a later date. I feel like I should go into more detail about what happened to you so do you want to come to go somewhere where we can sit down and talk?"

"T-Then, there's this new cafe near Shibuya that I want to go to!" Sumire suggested as she fidgeted.

"Sure. Lead the way." Ren walked with Sumire to the train station.

═════════•°• Take your time •°•═════════

"So, a Persona is a manifestation of the user's personality… is it?" Sumire asked, prompting Ren to nod his head. "And… that outfit I was wearing… it's to prevent me from being affected by the distortions."

"It also represents the image of rebellion that you hold in your inner self." Morgana added. "That being said, your outfit looks a lot like Ren's…"

"W-Well…" Sumire trailed off.

"Let's not push her on it for now." Ren said after he took a sip of the coffee he ordered. "Hmm… not bad…"

"Hey Ren, should we ask her THAT?" Morgana insisted.

"Huh? Oh, right." Ren was confused for a brief moment before realising what he meant and looked around before speaking up "Sumire, now that you've awakened I'm going to give you a choice. You can either join us as a Phantom Thief or not join us. Either one is fine and it won't affect our current relationship. I'll give you some time to think about it and I'll ask you another time, is that alright with you?"

"I... see…" Sumire responded as she began to think.

`I can become a Phantom Thief?`

`A Persona huh…`

`But I have an important competition coming up at the end of summer...`

`But I'll be able to spend more time with Ren-Senpai….`

`More time with Senpai…`

`Alright!`

"I-I've decided!" Sumire stuttered slightly as she spoke up.

"Hmm? That was fast…" Ren looked a bit shocked.

"Y-Yeah! I know what I want to do!" Sumire resolved herself before she spoke up. "I want to join you."

"That's great!" Morgana expressed his joy. "A strong one joins our ranks!"

"But!" Sumire added. "I'll only be able to join you after the competition at the end of summer is over. Also, my gymnastics takes precedence over anything so there will be times I won't be able to come. If you can agree to those, I'll be happy to join you guys!"

Ren nodded as he held out his hand for a handshake. "That's absolutely fine. Your career is more important. Welcome to the team."

"Glad to be here!" Sumire took his hand, her cheeks turned a light shade of pink.