The next day…
"Where am I? This place is… Am I dreaming or something?" thought Mallory as she look around with confusion and fear on her face at the tiny rocky island that she's standing on with a vast dark lake around the island while the sky above her is as dark as the lake.
"Maly…" said the faint and familiar voice of Keiko suddenly to Mallory from somewhere.
"Keiko!? Is that you, where are you!?" said Mallory as she quickly look around for Keiko.
"Maly, please help me. I'm right here…" said Keiko's voice again to Mallory from within the dark water in front of Mallory, which make her approach before she gasped in shock and fear when she see Keiko floating under the surface of the water.
"Oh my god, Keiko! Hold on, I'm gonna grab and pull you out of the water now!" said Mallory as she got down on her knees near the edge of the island and as she's about to grab hold of Keiko and pull her out of the water, Keiko disappear and a black scaly hand suddenly burst out of the water and grab hold of Mallory's right arm.
"Ah! What the!? Ow!" said Mallory before she winced in pain as the black scaly hand tighten it's grip painfully around her right arm.
"So, you're the human girl who's strong enough to be the vessel of an "Old One" like me, huh? How interesting and makes me wonder who is it that's heartless enough to choose you to be a vessel?" hissed a deep woman voice curiously and sinisterly at Mallory.
"What're you talking about!? Who are you!?" said Mallory as she try to pull her arm free from the black scaly hand tight grip to no avail.
"Who am I, you ask? I am-" said the deep woman voice to Mallory.
"Let go of her, you monster!" snapped the familiar voice of Ophelia suddenly from behind Mallory before Ophelia quickly pried the black scaly hand off Mallory's arm then pull her away from it.
"Thanks for your help, Ophelia. And what is that?" said Mallory gratefully to Ophelia, her persona before she asked Ophelia about the black scaly hand.
"You're welcome and that's a monster, an "Old One" of the HP Lovecraft books, mistress." replied Ophelia grimly to Mallory.
"Say what? That thing is an "Old One", a monster from the HP Lovecraft books? You mean they do exist?" gasped Mallory in disbelief and shock at what Ophelia just told her.
"Obviously, you ignorant girl!" snapped the deep woman voice in annoyance at Mallory.
"Unfortunately. Look, I know that you've more questions to ask me about but not now. Now you need to wake up and get ready to go to school with your friends and we'll talk more about it next time and it's up to you on whether you'll tell Keiko about it, mistress." said Ophelia calmly to Mallory.
"… Alright then, Ophelia." said Mallory as she nodded at Ophelia before she closed her eyes and knew no more.
XXXX
After both Keiko and Mallory woke up from their slumbers, fold up their pillows and futons and change into their uniforms, Mallory wasted no time in telling Keiko about the bad dream she had of being tricked by an illusion of Keiko so an "Old One" monster could grab her before Ophelia showed up and come to her rescue. Keiko listen quietly to Mallory telling her about her bad dream before she wrapped her arms around her for a comforting hug.
"Is this the first sign of whoever the enemies are have in store for Maly? If so, I won't let them!" thought Keiko angrily in her mind at the ones that Igor warned her about who set their sights on Mallory before Keiko and Mallory quickly grab their bags and Morgana, went downstairs to greet Sojiro, ate and finish the curry breakfasts that he prepared for them before they left Leblanc and went toward the subway station and got into the train.
As usual, Keiko, Mallory and Morgana were almost squished together as they stand among the other people inside the crowded train after it leave Shibuya station before they heard some people started talking.
"I wish I had money. I'd kill for a real breakfast…" said a broke-ass college student.
"What about "Big Bang Burger"? The one on Central Street is holding a contest right now. The Big Bang challenge or whatever." said an energetic college student to the broke-ass college student. "If you went there at night to eat it, you can eat for only 500 yen."
"You gotta eat one of their giant burgers though, right? How can anyone actually finish that? Still… 500 yen is a steal." said the broke-ass college student before he and the other college student stopped talking.
"A huge burger, huh? Interesting. Why don't you go and try the challenge out, Madame Keiko?" said Morgana as he glance at Keiko.
"Maybe one of the nights I will go to Central Street to try it out, Morgana. What about you, Maly?" said Isamu as she smirked at Morgana before she glance and asked Mallory.
"I'll go with you, just in case anyone try to get you, Keiko." said Mallory before the train stopped in Aoyama-Itchome station, opened it's doors and Keiko, Mallory and Morgana got off the train with the other people. After Keiko, Mallory and Morgana got off the train, Keiko suddenly felt someone watching her, look around at the crowd of people to find whoever it is that's watching her and can't find him or her anywhere nearby.
"What's wrong, Madame Keiko?" asked Morgana concernly to Keiko.
"You see someone trying to do anything bad to us?" said Mallory as she quickly look around for the culprit.
"… Nothing, Maly, Morgana." replied Keiko as she ceased looking around and quickly make her way out of the station toward Shujin Academy with Mallory and Morgana.
XXXX
A few minutes later, inside the classroom…
"Like all of you heard last week, gym class is cancelled today. Instead, I'm supposed to give you all some guidance." said Kawakami-sensei to the students. "The gist is, don't go around talking about the incident. That's all. The police are still investigating Kamoshida-sensei, so I can't say anything myself." sighed Kawakami-sensei quite heavily and with a slightly tired look on her face. "As a teacher though, I'm ashamed for not having noticed that a student was suffering like that… I'm not defending him, but as a colleague, he just seemed like… well, a normal person. Honestly, it still doesn't feel real. I guess people can have multiple sides to them…"
"No shit, sensei." thought Mallory sarcastically in her mind at Kawakami-sensei.
"The teachers have it rough, huh…?" whisper Morgana pityingly to Keiko.
"Yeah, they do." Keiko whisper sadly back to Morgana.
"Oh yeah, I just remembered something I learned about psychology. They say that humans have several different personalities hidden in their subconscious." explained Kawakami-sensei to the class.
"Different personalities…?" said Morgana as he glance thoughtfully at Keiko.
"Oh, to be clear, I'm not talking about multiple personality disorder. These different personalities can be a different gender or a different age from you." Kawakami-sensei continue telling the class. "I mean, if any of you think about how gods and monsters in myths were first based on the human image… if any of you actually saw one of those personalities with your own eyes, it might look like a monster."
"Oho… Do you know what she mean by those words, Madame Keiko?" asked Morgana.
"Yeah, what she just tell us sounds close to the Shadows that we encounter and fought in Kamoshida's Palace." replied Keiko. "Also it sounds like the monster that Maly told me earlier in her dream." added Keiko concernly in her mind.
"Hm? You all seem more alert than usual. Did I say something wrong, Amamiya-san?" asked Kawakami-sensei as she glance and smiled modestly at Keiko.
"No, Kawakami-sensei. You didn't say anything wrong." replied Keiko reassuringly to Kawakami-sensei.
"Well, I'm just saying what I've heard. It feels like I just now understood what I learned long ago." said Kawakami-sensei as she shrugged her shoulders.
"Subconscious personalities… It's a fascinating topic, and it has a lot to do with us. That teacher's surprisingly smart, huh?" whisper Morgana.
"Yeah, she is." Keiko whisper back to Morgana before they fell silent and listen to her teaching quietly.
XXXX
Lunchtime, near the stairwell…
"It ain't much, but we've been gettin' more postings on the Phantom Aficionado Website…" said Ryuji to Keiko, Mallory, Morgana and Ann as he look and told them about the postings on the website on his phone. "I want to make my friend apologize for not returning the stuff I lend him." Ugh, deal with that yourself!" said Ryuji as he rolled his eyes at that particular post.
"Hey, those girls…" said Ann when she noticed 2 girls walking out of their classroom and they decided to listen in on their conversation.
"You know that phantom thieves rumor about stealing Kamoshida's heart? I wonder if it's true." said the long-haired female student.
"It's got to be made up. Do you seriously believe they exist?" scoffed the short-haired female student skeptically to the long-haired student.
"But look at what happened to Kamoshida." argued the long-haired student.
"He probably just couldn't keep hiding it after that girl tried to kill herself." said the short-haired student callously to the long-haired student.
"Yeah, you might be right. I guess there's no way they really exist." sighed the long-haired student in agreement to the short-haired student.
"More importantly, it seriously sucks that our school is gonna be known for stuff like this!" complained the short-haired student.
"I wonder if it'll affect our college entrance…" said the long-haired student worriedly to the short-haired student before they stopped talking, turned and walked past Keiko, her friends and Morgana without noticing them.
"How callous those girls are, talking about Suzui-san and about us like that." said Keiko as she scowled at the 2 departing girls while both Mallory and Ann nodded in agreement with her.
"That's prolly a normal reaction for now, but… they'll see soon enough!" said Ryuji as he shrugged his shoulders. "If we can take care of 2 or 3 more famous guys, people'll have to believe we exist." added Ryuji excitedly to them.
"Why don't we do some more research and check the website a little bit more? Maybe we might find some big shots in it that Sakamoto might missed." suggested Mallory.
"I already did that a few times already on the website, Caelum!" said Ryuji as he scowled at Mallory (who rolled her eyes at him).
"So about those big shots… we don't have any leads yet, right?" asked Ann as she crossed her arms. "Plus there's still that lingering rumor about you three threatening Kamoshida too…" added Ann morosely to them.
"Looks like you all just have to live normal, honest school life for the time being." said Morgana as he popped out of Keiko's bag and glance quite sternly at them. "Still, make sure you all stay alert and prepared just in case anything comes up, alright?"
"Okay, Morgana." said Keiko as she nodded to Morgana.
"I'll continue to keep an eye out for info on any big shots that might be comin' around." said Ryuji eagerly while he nodded to Keiko.
"And I'll try to dig up some dirt online." added Ann as she smiled at Keiko.
"We went and formed the Phantom Thieves group yesterday, but we can't even find a target…" said Ryuji as he put his phone back into his pants pocket and scratch his head in disappointment.
"There, there…" said Ann consolingly to Ryuji.
"I guess sometimes things just don't go the way we want 'em to…" sighed Ryuji.
"Sad but true, Sakamoto." said Mallory in agreement with Ryuji.
"Come on, you guys. Lunchtime is almost over, let's head back to class now." said Keiko quietly to them and they nodded to her before they turned and went back into their classrooms.
