A few hours later, after school…

As Minato, Makoto, Hanzo, Haru, Ken and the rest of their classmates packed up their bags after class ended for the day and after the auditorium scene of Kamoshida confessing his crimes before he got arrested and taken away by the police, Minato noticed Ken coming toward him.

"Here he comes and commences the interrogation." said Pharos jokingly to Minato.

"Yeah, I know because you already told me earlier, Pharos." said Minato in a deadpan tone of voice to Pharos. "Hello and is there something you need from me, Ken?" asked Minato as he glance at Ken.

"Yeah, there is but not here, Minato-san. Is there any place where we can talk in private?" whisper Ken as he briefly look around the partially empty classroom.

"Well, there's the small resting area in the courtyard that should be private enough, will that place suffice, Ken?" suggested Minato.

"Yeah, it'll do and lead the way, Minato-san." whisper Ken as he nodded at Minato.

"Alright, let's go." said Minato before he began leading Ken out of the classroom, went down the stairs and hallways until they arrived and stopped inside the small resting area in the courtyard. "Well, here we are and I can guess on what you're going to talk to me about. It's about how and why Kamoshida suddenly confessed everything back in the auditorium and whether I had something to do with it or not, am I right, Ken?" said Minato calmly to Ken before Ken could say anything to him first.

"… Yes, it's exactly as you said so I ask you now, did you have a hand in Kamoshida suddenly confessing his crimes and what's with the phantom thieves rumor that I heard the other students talking about back in the auditorium, Minato-san?" said Ken.

"Yes, I did and as for the phantom thieves rumor, how about you hear it from my new friends instead of hearing it from me alone and how's your student council duty with Makoto-san, Ken?" said Minato.

"From your new friends instead of from you alone, huh? Alright and let's go see them so I can hear what they say about the phantom thieves rumor and my student council duty with Niijima-san is doing fine, Minato-san." said Ken as he nodded at Minato before they left the small resting area, went back into Shujin and Minato bumped into Ann.

"Oh, sorry for bumping into you." said Minato apologetically to Ann.

"No, it's fine. It's my fault for not looking where I was going." said Ann reassuringly to Minato before she noticed Ken standing with him. "Hm, aren't you the newest transfer student who transfer into Shujin a few days ago?" asked Ann curiously to Ken.

"That's right. I'm Ken Amada, nice to meet you…" said Ken, introducing himself to Ann.

"Nice to meet you too, Amada-kun. I'm Ann Takamaki and why are you with Arisato-senpai?" asked Ann in confusion to Ken after she introduced herself to him.

"He's one of my close friends from my previous high school in Tatsumi Port Island before I transfer to Shujin Academy, that's why." replied Minato.

"Oh, I see, senpai. Well then, I should hurry and…" said Ann.

"See Suzui-san and tell her the good news, right?" said Minato, finishing her words. "If you don't mind, may I go with you to see her too, Takamaki-san?"

"You want to come with me to see her? Why?" asked Ann in confusion at Minato.

"Yeah, why and what do you mean by that, Minato-san?" asked Ken in confusion at Minato as well just as both Hanzo and Haru showed up and hear the end of their conversation.

"Huh? Don't tell me that you've forgotten why, Takamaki-san. Didn't Minato-kun try to stop Suzui-san from jumping from the school's roof a few weeks ago? Also, hello, Amada-kun." said Hanzo as he scowled at Ann before he noticed Ken with them and greeted him politely.

"Oh, you're right and I forget about it, Okumura-senpai. Sorry for that, Arisato-senpai." said Ann apologetically at Minato. "Alright. Come on and let's go see her now." added Ann as she smiled softly at Minato.

"Splendid." said Minato as he smiled back at Ann before he glance at Ken. "Ken, do you mind waiting for us until we come back from seeing Suzui-san?" added Minato to Ken.

"No, I don't and I guess I'll go kill some time in the cafeteria until you and Takamaki-san came back from seeing Suzui-san, Minato-san." said Ken as he nodded at Minato (who nodded back to him) before both he and Ann turned and left the school.

"I hope that Suzui-san will wake up once she heard the good news from them, Hanzo." said Haru softly to Hanzo before a cold look appear on her face. "I can't believe that Kamoshida-sensei would be this terrible. How could he do such cruel and depraved things to the students?"

"Because he's a goddamn sick bastard, that's why." said Hanzo as he clench his fist in anger at the mention of Kamoshida (while Ken had a pondering look on his face at both Haru and Hanzo's reactions to the true nature of Kamoshida). "Come on, Haru. We should be going home now. See you, Amada-kun." Hanzo bade farewell to Ken before both he and Haru left Shujin and went home while Ken turned and went to the cafeteria.

XXXX

On the rooftop…

After the class end for the day, Akira, Morgana (who's inside Akira's bag) and Ryuji received text messages from both Minato and Ann telling them to head up to the rooftop first without them since they'll be going to the hospital to see Shiho and told her of the news of Kamoshida confessing his crimes and another message from Minato saying that he'll be bringing another person to meet them and the 3 of them heeded their messages, make their way up to the rooftop and sat themselves down on the chairs there to begin their meeting.

"I totally freaked out… He really did have a change of heart… And we were lucky that his mind didn't get messed up either! This was an A+ job!" said Ryuji quite loudly and happily to both Akira and Morgana.

"Ugh, what will it take for you to keep your voice down, Sakamoto-kun! What if some other students or teachers heard what you just said to us?" groaned Akira as he scowled at Ryuji.

"Akira's right, Ryuji. Can you please try to speak not so loudly next time?" said Morgana in agreement with Akira.

"Eh, it's fine since no one came up here anyway, Kurusu, Morgana." said Ryuji as he briefly waved his hand to dismiss their words (which make them both sighed and shake their heads at him).

"Does this mean that they won't have a mental shutdown even if their Palace disappears…? I see… so we need to persuade the Shadow without killing it, and then sent it back to it's real self. Our targets won't undergo a cognitive collapse if we do that." said Morgana with a slight relief look on his face.

"So we can get'em to confess with no bad stuff? Hey! That works for me!" said Ryuji excitedly to Morgana before the door to the roof opened and Minato, Ann and Ken make their way toward them.

"Do you have to be so loud?" said Ann as she scowled at Ryuji.

"That's what I told him a few minutes ago, Arisato-senpai, Takamaki-san." said Akira before he noticed Ken with them. "Hm? Is he the person that you'll be bringing up here to meet us?" asked Akira curiously at Minato about Ken.

"Yeah, we can see that you did try but he'll just dismiss it and that's right, Kurusu-kun. This guy is the person that I say that I'll bring up here to you guys, he's a fellow student and an old friend of mine from my previous school and he's also a persona-user like us too so it's fine for us to talk about what we did to Kamoshida with him." said Minato before he raised and gestured with his hand at Ken (which caused surprise looks to appear on Akira, Morgana, Ann and Ryuji's faces after they heard what Minato tell them about Ken).

"Really? Are you sure, Minato?" asked Morgana suspiciously.

"Yes, I'm sure and he's trustworthy, Morgana." replied Minato firmly at Morgana.

"Very well then." said Morgana as he nodded at Minato.

"Hello, I'm Ken Amada. Nice to meet you all and Minato-san's right about me being an old friend of his and a fellow persona-user." greeted Ken as he introduced himself politely to Akira, Morgana (who had an annoy look on his face at Ken for excluding him), Ann and Ryuji. "Oh, what an adorable-looking cat… No, I must control my urge to pick it up and pet it like how I did to Koromaru many times before until he got tired of it and why did Minato-san talk to the cat?" thought Ken in surprise and confusion at seeing Minato talking to Morgana.

"…Is that so? In that case, nice to meet you, Amada-senpai. I'm Akira Kurusu." greeted Akira as he introduced himself to Ken.

"Sup, the name's Ryuji Sakamoto and great to know that you're an old friend and persona-user like Arisato-senpai, senpai. And don't you and these 2 senpai worry about it, Ann." said Ryuji as he introduced himself to Ken as well before he glance at both Minato and Ann. "So… how'd it go, you two? With Shiho, I mean…?" asked Ryuji concernly to both Minato and Ann about Shiho.

"Yeah, how is she now, Takamaki-san? Is she alright and did you two tell her about what happened?" asked Akira concernly to Ann.

"She's alright now, Kurusu-kun. Thanks for asking about it. But more than that, she's regained consciousness…!" said Ann in joy and relief to them (which surprises them).

"For real!?" said Ryuji.

"She's regained consciousness!?" said Akira.

"Yeah, she really did, you guys." said Minato with a relief smile on his face.

"That's good news, at least." thought Ken with a happy smile on his face.

"That's great, Takamaki-san!" said Akira as he smiled at Ann (who smiled back at Akira before tears started to glisten in her eyes, which make her quickly raised her hand to wipe it away before she crouch down, lowered and hide her face in her arms).

"It was only for a little bit, but Minato-senpai and I got to talk to her…! I was able to tell her that Kamoshida admitted to what he did…!" sobbed Ann in relief to them (who exchange silent and relief looks to each other) before she stood up from her crouching position. "Shiho, she… she told me she was sorry… Looks like she found out that I was flirting with Kamoshida for her sake… And then she apologize to Minato-senpai for scratching and hurting him when he try and fail to convince and save her from falling from the school's rooftop. Looks like she and I are the same, wanting to apologize to each other and senpai too." added Ann to them.

"Don't blame yourself so much, Takamaki-san." said Akira consolingly to Ann.

"Akira's right, Lady Ann. Kamoshida's at fault for all this." added Morgana firmly to Ann.

"Yeah, Ann. Now that he finally confessed his crimes, got arrested and taken away by the police, which means you and Suzui-san can rest easy now." said Minato reassuringly to Ann as well.

"I know…" said Ann as she wiped away the last traces of tears from her eyes. "Shiho's mom is thinking of transferring her to another school after she recovers. The whole sexual harassment and attempted suicide… people will label her after that. Sounded like Shiho had the same idea too." added Ann sullenly to them.

"It's gonna get lonely…" said Ryuji as he leaned back in his chair.

"Yeah. But I think it's for the best… I'm sure it'll be hard if she stays here." said Ann solemnly to them.

"She's alive. You can see her anytime." said Ryuji.

"Yeah, I agreed." said Minato with a nod of his head.

"That's right, Takamaki-san." said Akira in agreement with Ryuji.

"… I need to change too." said Ann as she clasped her hands together behind her back.

"That aside, I was surprised you could hold yourself back against Kamoshida's shadow." said Ryuji.

"It wasn't like that… I just wanted Kamoshida to apologize himself." said Ann as she shook her head at Ryuji.

"You're so kind, Lady Ann." said Morgana as he glance dreamily up at Ann.

"No matter how much of a shit bag he was, finishing him off woulda left a bad aftertaste, huh?" said Ryuji with a grimace look on his face.

"No, that would be too easy for a bastard like him, Sakamoto-kun. Making him repent for his crimes is a far better revenge for him." said Akira as he smiled coldly at Ryuji (which make him gulped in fear).

"Yeah, Akira's right. Realizing what he's done, he'll grovel for forgiveness for the rest of his life, you know? And I believe that there are fates worse than death." said Ann with a look of dark satisfaction on her face.

"Holy shit…" said Ryuji with a shock then fearful look on his face at what Akira and Ann just said.

"I agreed with you two about him, no matter how cold it is." said Minato in agreement with both Akira and Ann.

"Aw, thanks for that, Arisato-senpai." said Akira sarcastically at Minato (who rolled his eyes at him).

"A-Anyways, that's all settled… But you know, there was one more thing I was wonderin' about that castle." said Ryuji before he glance at Morgana. "Why was Kamoshida the only one who had that Metaverse thing?" asked Ryuji.

"It isn't necessarily limited to him. It's something anyone could have if their hearts become warped from their desires." replied Morgana.

"Anyone…" said Ann as she furrowed her brow.

"Hm? What do you all mean by castle, metaverse and hearts became warped from desires?" asked Ken in more confusion to them, which make Akira, Ann and Ryuji showed Ken the Meta-Nav app on their phones while they explain the Metaverse, it's workings to him and what they do in the other world while Minato stay silent and let them explain to Ken. "I see. Thanks for the explanation and for showing me the creepy-looking app that allow you all access into the other world." added Ken as he nodded to them.

"No problem, senpai." said Ryuji as he nodded at Ken.

"Now that you guys are done in explaining to him about the Metaverse and what we do in there, you guys wanna check it out?" asked Morgana.

"N-Not right now. We better lay low for a while. People are still gonna be talkin' about Kamoshida." replied Ryuji to Morgana as he shake his head and crossed his leg nervously. "Then again, it's totally impossible for someone to find out what we did at his Palace."

"Yeah, about that… Weird rumors about you guys and Kanakubo-sensei are already going around." said Ann.

"What kind of weird rumors now, Takamaki-san?" asked Akira.

"Stuff like, you 3 got together and threatened Kamoshida with something close to physical violence and that Kanakubo-sensei encouraged you all to do it…" replied Ann.

"The hell!?" said Ryuji in surprise to Ann.

"Hmph. What a bunch of untrue lies about us and sensei." scoffed Minato with anger and disgust looks on his face.

"I agreed with you, Minato-san." said Ken in agreement with Minato. "And from what I observed and think about your new friends, I'm relieved to know that they're not the ones who caused those terrible accidents on the news, Minato-san." thought Ken in relief in his mind at them.

"People aren't going to easily believe that Phantom Thieves really exist." said Ann as she rolled her eyes at both Ryuji and Minato. "The calling card's being treated like it was a prank by someone who knew what Kamoshida was doing."

"Makes sense… We are the ones who did it, and I still don't completely believe in myself." said Ryuji before he slumped in his chair.

"Let's wait for things to settle down for the time being." suggested Ann to them and they nodded in unison to her.

"Anyways, let's see how much the medal we took from Kamoshida can be sold for. It'd be better if we pawned it off ASAP." said Ryuji with a grin on his face as he pull out his phone and tapped the screen to search online for auction prices and found one. "Ooh, got a hit!" said Ryuji as he got excited before he shake his head and groaned in disappointment. "… Wait, thirty thousand yen!? That's all a gold medal's worth!?"

"Never pegged you for the type of person who likes money, Sakamoto-kun." said Akira in a deadpan tone of voice at Ryuji (which make Minato snorted in amusement).

"Remember that time back in middle school, Ryuji? I lend you some money." said Ann as she smiled fakely at Ryuji.

"There's no way I borrowed thirty thousand yen from you!" yell Ryuji as he stood up and scowled darkly at Ann.

"Wouldn't it be around that much with compounded interest?" said Ann as she smirked at Ryuji now.

"Heh, she got you good, Sakamoto-kun." chuckled Minato while Akira smirked at him.

"S-Shut up, senpai! Compounded interest, my ass!" snapped Ryuji as he scowled even more darkly at Akira, Ann and Minato.

"I'm not saying that I'm taking all of it. I mean, it's your fault for not paying me back the past few years! It's just common sense!" said Ann as she rolled her eyes at Ryuji.

"Dammit…" swored Ryuji as he slumped his shoulders in resignation.

"I agreed on laying low and keeping an eye on the situation. However, you dragged me into this. It would be nonsense not to celebrate a successful mission." said Morgana.

"I guess we could blow this dirty money on something fun." said Ryuji as he grinned and rolled his shoulders a little.

"Discussions among phantom thieves are to take place over luxurious food. How about it?" suggested Morgana as he smiled merrily to them.

"Hmm… That doesn't sound bad at all, Morgana." said Akira as he nodded in agreement to Morgana.

Hey, wait-" Ann started protesting before she fell into silence and reluctantly agreed with Morgana. "…Nah, I guess it's fine. There's somewhere I want to go then."

"Where's that?" asked Ryuji.

"It's a place Shiho and I have been wanting to go for a while." replied Ann.

"I own you money, so I can't complain…" said Ryuji sullenly to Ann before he glance at Akira, Minato and Ken. "What about you three? You guys good with that?" asked Ryuji.

"I don't mind, Sakamoto-kun." replied Akira.

"Fine by me." replied Minato.

"Nah, I'll pass but thanks for the offer." said Ken.

"I'll leave it to your discretion as well, Lady Ann." said Morgana as he glance at Ann. "I'll call and check the prices later then." said Ann confidently to them.

"When should we go? Wanna do it soon, like tomorrow?" said Ryuji with an excited grin on his face.

"Why don't we go on the last day of the holidays? It'll help energize us when school life starts up again the day after." said Ann.

"That means we'll go and celebrate on the 5th, which is Children's Day." said Akira.

"That's right." said Ann as she nodded to Akira. "So, who among us is going to sell this medal?" asked Ann as she and the others glance down at the medal lying on the table.

"Leave that to me and Akira, Lady Ann. We know a store that'll buy anything. Don't we, Akira?" said Morgana to Akira.

"Yeah, sure." said Akira as he nodded at Morgana.

"OK. I'll leave that to you guys then." said Ann as she grinned at Akira and Morgana, who also grinned back at Ann before both of them stood up, take the medal and he, Morgana and their friends left the rooftop, left Shujin, went to the station and take different trains home.