One hour later, in the Niijima apartment…
"I'm back and I brought back dinner for you, Makoto-san." greeted Minato politely to Makoto after he came back from the celebration party he had in Wilton Hotel buffet room with his friends, teacher and 2 of his family members and saw Makoto sitting and studying by herself in the dining room.
"Welcome back and not that I'm not thankful to you for always bringing dinner back but may I ask why is it that you do so, Arisato-kun?" asked Makoto suspiciously at Minato.
"Well, it's the least I can do plus this is my way of saying thanks to you and your older sister for agreeing and allowing me to stay here as long as I obey the rules set by her, that's why. Unless you think I'm a busybody who shouldn't do this and mind my own business, Makoto-san?" replied Minato as he put the dinner on the dining room table before he glance blankly at Makoto.
"Oh, I see. That makes sense and no, I would never think that of you, Arisato-kun!" said Makoto as she shake her head at Minato.
"… I see. Enjoy the dinner and I'll be going to my room now, good night, Makoto-san." said Minato after he glance blankly at Makoto for the next 5 minutes before he went toward and entered his room, closed the door behind him before he change into his pajamas and as he's about to sleep, he heard and saw his phone vibrating and he quickly pick it up to see the messages.
XXXX
Meanwhile, inside Leblanc's attic…
"Well, we spend most of our money on the buffet, but… We officially established the Phantom Thieves, so it was totally worth it, Akira." said Morgana happily about the buffet and the formation of the Phantom Thieves to Akira.
"Yeah, I know, Morgana." said Akira as he glance at Morgana with a smile on his face before he felt his phone vibrating and he pull it out to see his friends messages.
RS: The Phantom Thieves, huh… I'm liking the sound of that!
KK: Of course you'll like it and I suppose it's an acceptable enough name for us and do you think you're up for the leader job, Kurusu-kun?
AK: Yes, I'm sure I'm up for it, sensei.
KK: Very well then, Kurusu-kun.
AT: Great! I hope we can really helped people. I'm curious about the Phantom Aficionado Website too. I wonder who made it…
RS: No clue.
MA: Maybe it's someone from our school?
AK: It's possible, Arisato-senpai.
RS: Maybe, Kurusu. More importantly, did any of you see the survey on there? I dunno how I feel about it.
AT: Yeah, there was this approval rating thing, but it was only at like 6 percent…
AK: That's better than I expected.
AT: I guess it's not so bad if you put it that way…
RS: But don't you guys just wanna get it higher than that? I bet it'll go up tons if we keep taking down big targets. It's pretty damn exciting if you guys try and think about it like that.
KK: This isn't a game, Sakamoto-kun!
RS: Yeah, yeah, I know, teach.
AT: You know, you're actually right. Well then, let's keep working hard from this point on!
AK: Of course we will!
MA: And try not to get too carried away, alright, you guys and sensei?
KK: Of course we won't, Arisato-kun.
RS: Yeah, yeah.
"From tomorrow on, we're officially the Phantom Thieves and I hope we can find a big shot we can target soon, Akira." said Morgana to Akira, who nodded before he noticed another weird app with the words "Thieves Den" at the bottom under the Meta-Nav app on his phone. "Huh? Another new and weird app showed up on my phone and what's this "Thieves Den" thing about? I think I'll check it out." thought Akira with a confused look on his face at the app on his phone before he press the new app on his phone and everything went dark around him.
XXXX
Inside the Thieves Den…
When Akira opened his eyes and look around at where he is, he widened his eyes and gasped in surprise when he saw that he's standing in a huge and expensive-looking room that had several huge different-coloured glass floors with black and white stripe stars in it in the middle of the room, a vending machine and several smaller rooms (a TV room, Awards room, Gallery room, Karaoke room, Cards room and Archives room) and a staircase that goes up to the second floor before a random light blue toy car with dozens of boxes on it and several yellow-coloured, star-shaped balloons tied to the car driven by a pale-skinned, short grey-haired (which is the shape of a half egg shell), yellow-eyed small boy wearing a long sleeve oversized light grey raincoat with dozens of star and moon motifs on it and a pair of goggles around his neck, black gloves on his hands, black pants and short light grey boots with matching star and moon motifs on it suddenly came crashing through a wall to his left into the room.
"What in the name of Izanagi? First the app that I press took me to this unknown room filled with things and smaller rooms that people need and used for rest, relaxation and fun everyday and now a random little boy driving a car literally crash himself into the room? What's gonna happen next?" thought Akira to himself as he kept on watching the small boy.
"I really messed that up. I can't believe I mixed up the gas and brake pedals… Eh, oh well. First, I need to fix this up…" said the boy with a guilty look on his face at the destruction he caused before he quickly got off his car, walked toward and swiftly covered up and fix the hole on the wall with dozens of wooden boards and nails on it. "That oughta do it. Okay!" added the small boy with an approving nod of his head after he's done covering and fixing the wall up.
"Uh, hey there. That's quite the neat and swift work you did in fixing the hole on the wall, little boy." said Akira, complimenting the small boy's work on the wall.
"Hm? Thanks and hello there, mister. My name is Jose. Who are you?" asked the small boy named Jose to Akira as he turned to glance curiously at him.
"The name's Akira Kurusu, nice to meet you, Jose." replied Akira as he introduced himself to Jose.
"Akira Kurusu, huh? It fits you." said Jose with a small nod of his head. "So, do you need anything from me? Were you drawn here by the smell too?" asked Jose.
"Huh? What do you mean by that? I just got here via the app on my phone, not drawn here by smell like you said, Jose." replied Akira in confusion to Jose.
"Oh, I see. Sorry about that-I guess you just got here, huh? I can definitely understand not knowing what's going on here-don't worry." said Jose reassuringly to Akira.
"Uh huh. Whatever you say, Jose." said Akira before he and Jose turned to have another thorough look of the huge room.
"Hmmm, I think I'm starting to get it, though… So, THAT'S what this place is!" said Jose with a realization look on his face about the room.
"You do? Explain, Jose." said Akira as he glance at Jose.
"This is a place created by the cognitions of people like you… Your memories and feelings are collected here and given shape." explained Jose calmly to Akira.
"Hold on. This huge place is collected and given shape by the memories and feelings and cognition of people like us?" said Akira in confusion to Jose.
"Yep, exactly as you said, mister. Boy, am I sure glad I came here now! I bet this place can teach me all sorts of cool things. I'm going to stick around here for a while. You could take a look around too, if that interests you. I'm curious to see more of the memories inside you. If there's anything you don't understand, just ask me! I'll help as much as I can. Well, that should wrap it up and good job, mister." said Jose as he glance and smiled at Akira.
"Sure, Jose." said Akira as he smiled at Jose before she listen to Jose words to check the entire place out until he's done checking the place out and went back to where Jose is, bade farewell to him before Akira take out his phone and press the app on it to transport himself back to his attic room.
Soon after Akira return to his attic room, Morgana immediately demand where Akira disappear to, which Akira explain calmly to Morgana about him disappearing to "Thieves Den" place via the new app that suddenly appear on his phone, which managed to placate Morgana a little before Akira received some more messages from Ryuji on his phone and saw that Ryuji sent some pictures of them celebrating in the buffet place together before he turned off and put his phone on the desk filled with the tools he used to create infiltration items then he picked Morgana up and they fell asleep (same goes for Minato in his room in Niijima apartment).
XXXX
In the Velvet Room…
"Here I am, back in the Velvet Room once again." thought Akira in slight exasperation to himself after he opened his eyes and see that he's back inside the cell of the Velvet Room before he stood up, turned and glance at Caroline, Justine and Igor.
"First off… I'd like to begin by congratulating you." said Igor in an approving tone of voice to Akira.
"To think our master would give words of praise…" said Justine as she turned to glance at Akira.
"You better treasure this moment, Inmate!" snapped Caroline as she turned to scowled at Akira.
"You have encountered allies who shared your aesthetics, the resurrected "messiah" and the appearance of another one who had the same power as you who'll help you and your allies and you have found your place in reality. The time has finally come… Your rehabilitation will soon begin." said Igor.
"What rehabilitation and who is it that had the same power as me like you said?" asked Akira in confusion at Igor.
"I shall explain it to you now… You have a special potential. However, that must be refined into a useful power. It is weak now, but refining it shall grant you the strength to stand against the coming ruin… That is the rehabilitation cast upon you." replied Igor.
"Strength to stand against the coming ruin?" said Akira hesitantly and uneasily at Igor.
"There are various means by which you may gain the power to resist the ruin." explained Igor as he ignored his words. "Fighting Shadows, gather personas and gaining experience is one way. The fusion process I taught you prior is another."
"This is all possible because of our master's guidance, Inmate!" said Caroline.
"Though it may be presumptuous of us, we have words of wisdom as well." said Justine.
"When you're out in reality, you better hone your relationships with those you have contracts with!" continue Caroline.
"Spending time with these people… will lead to the cultivation of your relationships with them." added Justine.
"If you've got time to waste, you'd better visit your contractors, Inmate!" finished Caroline.
"That is another source of power to evade the ruin that our master has mentioned to you." finished Justine.
"Oh dear god, what they just told me is a little too much to take in all at once but if what they say is true, then I've no choice but to do it." thought Akira in exasperation in his mind at their words.
"Thanks to the contracts you've formed, your heart is steadily gaining the power of opposition. It seems the rehabilitation is going well. This is a truly joyous occasion… I shall grant you an ability befitting of your newfound growth. Consider it a gift. May the devotion to your rehabilitation grow even deeper… I have high hopes for you." explained Igor even more to Akira (who felt his social link with Igor go up to level 3) as he chuckled amusingly at him before they heard the bell ringing out.
"…The time has come. Return to your brief moments of rest." said Justine.
"And don't forget to go talk to your contractors, Inmate!" said Caroline.
"…Fine." said Akira to them as he felt his eyelids started to go heavy and he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
