Persona 5: Crusade – Chapter 2: The Faith

Disclaimer: This is a non-profit, fan-made story. Persona 5 belongs to Atlus, SEGA, Cloverworks, Madman Entertainment, Aniplex USA, Katsura Hashino, and Hisato Murasaki. Support the official release by buying the game, buying the manga adaptation, or watching the anime on Crunchyroll.

You are an outsider.

You were never meant to be part of the events to come. Now, however, you have a chance to make a difference.

You can ensure that the world does not fall into ruin.

Will you take up your mantle?

I will.

Then, awaken… Crusader!

Saturday, April 9th, 2016

After School

"Hey, Fritz? You got a second?"

While he was waiting for the train home, a male student of Shujin Academy was approached by a girl from the same school. The boy had short blonde hair, amber-colored eyes, and rectangular-framed glasses. He wore the standard uniform: black blazer, beige sweater, and plaid trousers; he also had a black-and-white scarf around his neck, the ends tucked into the blazer. The girl had blonde hair as well, tied into twin ponytails, and deep blue eyes. She wore the blazer and plaid skirt, adding on a black-and-white varsity hoodie and red tights.

"Sure, Anne," the boy, Furitsu 'Fritz' Yamamoto, replied. "What's up?"

"Do you wanna hang out tomorrow?" the girl, Anne Takamaki, asked.

Fritz pretended to mull over the offer, then gave his answer. "No,"

"Why not?"

"I was planning on studying tomorrow."

"Aw, come on! It's not like tests are next week."

"It doesn't hurt to be early."

Anne sighed, crossing her arms, then muttered to herself. "Guess it's just gonna be me and Shiho, again."

In a complete one-eighty, Fritz decided to take up Anne's offer. "You know, you make a good point. I can study later. Mind if I tag along?"

"You effin' would." Anne whispered, which Fritz barely caught, before raising her voice to normal conversation levels. "Nope! Come to the Bikkuri Boy in Shibuya at noon." Her voice dropped back to a whisper. "You'd probably just text Shiho behind my back if I said no, frigging simp."

Fritz chose to ignore her whispered comments and step onto the train the second it pulled in. "Well, see you tomorrow then, Anne."

As Fritz walked home, he thought about his conversation with Anne. It was a radical departure from when they met the previous year. Back then, she treated him as though he was just another hormone-addled, perverted student (he was, but he had at least some restraint). However, ever since that one time after school, she's been nicer to him.

Fritz shuddered as he thought back to that day. He swore that he'd take that story (or, at least, a small part of the story) to his grave, and he demanded that Anne do the same, but here's the gist of it:

Last year, when the FIFA Women's World Cup was being held in Canada, Fritz had overheard the gym teacher make disparaging comments about women's football, and the sport as a whole. The student found it rather offensive for the teacher to disparage women's sports; it was also hypocritical, considering that he coached a girls' volleyball team.

The comment that really set Fritz off was that, since the American men's team had been knocked out in the Round of 16 the preceding year, the women's team wouldn't even make it that far. The student responded in, what he then thought, was the best possible way:

"Would you care to put your money where your foot currently is, Kamoshida-sensei?"

(Fritz would look back and think, "In hindsight, how am I still alive?")

The teacher actually found the challenge rather funny, and he agreed to ¥500 (about $5) on the Americans passing the Round of 16. Fritz decided to go for broke by betting ¥5,000 (about $50) on the Americans winning the tournament, which Kamoshida agreed to. Sure enough, the team won, and Fritz pocketed his winnings the next morning. He handled everything correctly, he certainly didn't gloat about the victory, but Kamoshida's mind was set.

Anne invited him to hang out in Shibuya after school. However, he was suspicious of this request, especially given how wooden her request sounded. She was phenomenally bad at bluffing, so he demanded to know why she really wanted to hang out with him.

She took him to a photo booth, carefully looked around, and closed the curtain, isolating the two of them from the rest of Shibuya Station. "Give me your winnings."

Fritz was confused. "What?"

"Just what the hell were you thinking, Fritz?" Anne was looking livid now. "Kamoshida's threatened to drop Shiho from the team unless he gets his money back."

"It's five thousand Yen. I don't think a teacher would be that petty."

"He is."

"I'd believe it if Shiho told me herself." Fritz said, pulling out the money, a single ¥5,000 bill, just to show that he wouldn't give it up. "Anyway, this is my trophy. I have one win against that arrogant muscle-head, and I'm not giving it up."

Anne huffed, then took a couple of deep breaths. "If—If that's the case, then what if you had… another win against him?"

Fritz cocked an eyebrow. "Was? (What?)"

"Oh, don't act so naïve, Fritz-kun." Anne said, in what she must've thought was a seductive tone. "You've heard the rumors, about me and him, right?"

"I don't think they're true." He said, the second she stopped.

"Good!" Anne caught herself. "Then, y-you could have something that he's never had."

She leaned in and whispered her offer.

After five seconds of processing, Fritz asked her to repeat what she had said.

She did, slowly, and licked her lips in what she must have thought was a seductive manner.

After another five seconds, Fritz shoved the money at her and left, face as red as Anne's tights. "Take it."

"Wha-?" Anne tucked the bill into her brassiere and followed after him. "Fritz, what's—?"

"Just take it! And, if I hear you breathe a syllable of what you said in there, I will rain retribution on you like flaming arrows."

The next day, Fritz sought out Shiho, who confirmed Anne's story.

Fritz sighed. "You could've asked me yourself."

Anne was free from retribution.

Kamoshida, on the other hand…

"I'm home~!" Fritz called as he entered his paternal aunt's apartment. She had agreed to house him while he attended Shujin Academy.

At his entrance, a small calico cat walked up to him, meowing for attention.

Fritz kneeled down and began scratching behind her ear. "It's good to see you too, Tomoe-chan. How's your day been? Kill any lizards lately?"

The cat received her name after killing a lizard that snuck in through the open door when she was brought home. Fritz found her while walking home from school, and he took her to the vet. After much begging, his aunt consented to him bringing the Japanese Bobtail home. She was exceptionally glad that Tomoe would keep the apartment pest-free.

Just then, his aunt walked in. She had dark hair that reached her mid-back, glistening green eyes, pink round-framed glasses, and a beauty mark under her left eye. She wore a pink t-shirt and a pair of grey sweatpants.

"How're you doing, Aunt Rizu?" Fritz picked up Tomoe and carried her into the living room.

"Good," she replied. "How about you?"

"Doing quite well, actually." Frtiz replied. "I'm meeting up with Shiho tomorrow at Shibuya."

Rizu gasped, then recovered. "You finally asked her out?"

"Eh, no," Fritz had let slip to his aunt that he harbored a small crush, and she'd taken to pestering him to confess his feelings to the girl. "Anne asked if I could hang out with them, and I said yes."

"You gonna tell her when you see her?"

"I'm waiting for the right opportunity to tell her."

"When, college?" Aunt Rizu said. "Fritz, you can't keep putting off telling her how you feel."

"With all due respect, Aunt Rizu," Fritz put Tomoe down on her favorite spot on the sofa, "I don't want relationship advice from you, of all people."

Rizu pouted, but she said nothing more on the subject. Fritz believed that his aunt had atrocious taste in men. He has held this view ever since he found out that she was dating a teacher from his school.

The same teacher who cheated him out of ¥5,000.

"If you need me," Fritz walked towards his bedroom, "I'll do a bit of studying before dinner."

"You gonna be reading manga?" Rizu found out about his stash of ecchi manga a few weeks after he moved in, and she was relentless in poking fun at him over it.

"I don't think it's any of your business." Fritz entered his room, closed the door, and sat down at the desk next to his bed. He then spent thirty or so seconds scanning the books on the shelf above the desk before picking the first volume of Senran Kagura: Skirting Shadows. He'd finished the series, but he still enjoyed rereading it from time to time. The story wasn't exactly top notch (a group of five buxom teens were learning ninjitsu in order to fight evil ninjas), but Fritz still liked it; he thought the characters were cute and endearing, especially Asuka.

More importantly, it was a nice distraction from the mess his life was.

That night, after dinner, Fritz decided to go straight to bed. It took a while of tossing and turning, but he finally went to sleep.

That sleep didn't last long, however. He woke up, felt that he was laying down on a bed of grass instead of an actual bed, opened his eyes, and shot up.

He was stretched out under an oak tree beside a dirt road, and it appeared to be late at night. The road had a couple of shallow ruts about one and a half meters apart running parallel to each other. He looked around more. To his right, the road led to a castle town. To his left, he could faintly make out a carriage coming towards him. Fritz stood up, noticing that he was wearing a simple cotton shirt and woolen trousers, and waited for the carriage to pull up to him.

An old man was seated in the driver's seat. He wore a faded blue cloak, a pointed grey hat, a faded grey scarf, and riding boots. Fritz couldn't make out much of the man's face, because much of it was taken up by a long grey beard, but he could just make out an eyepatch and eyebrows that jutted out past the rim of his hat. A long-stemmed wooden pipe was sticking out of his mouth, and a walking staff lay next to him.

He turned to look at Fritz. "Good evening, young Crusader."

Fritz looked up at the old man in confusion, noticing a glowing blue butterfly floating near the tip of his hat. "Er, pardon me if this sounds rude, but, who the heck are you?"

The man took a puff of his pipe. "I am your guide, young Fritz Yamamoto. If you wish to address me by a name, then you may call me 'Altmann'."

"How do you know my name?" Fritz asked. "Anyway, what is this place?"

"So many questions." Altmann said, eyeing the young man with interest. "To begin with, this–" he used his pipe stem to gesture to the dirt road, "–is the 'Road to Ruin."

"'Ruin'?!"

"Indeed," Altmann calmly responded to Fritz's outburst. "But, there is a way to avert ruin. You must face, and overcome, the distortions of your world."

"Altmann, I don't know how much you know about me—"

"You don't think you're qualified?"

Fritz threw up his arms in frustration. "Yes! I'm just a high school student who reads dirty manga, plays computer games, and doesn't even have the guts to tell a girl how he feels."

"That may be true," Altmann replied, stroking his beard in thought, "but great people so rarely get to choose whether or not they will be great. Alvin York was a simple farmer in Tennessee; he didn't necessarily choose to be a soldier, yet he performed admirably when the time came. In the stories you read, does the hero leap at the chance for adventure and run headlong into peril? No! They take the mantle of responsibility only because there's no one else who can."

"Didn't those heroes have help?" Fritz asked, already thinking of that ever-famous trilogy of novels.

"Indeed, they did!" Altmann declared, now standing in his seat with his staff in hand. "So shall you! Your allies will take many forms, but you will be able to discern who they are." He tapped the roof of the carriage with his staff, causing the door to open. "The night is waning too quickly to fully prepare you. For now, you may accompany me to the next town."

Hesitantly, Fritz climbed into the carriage.

Sunday, April 10th, 2016

Noon

The next morning was pretty uneventful. Fritz had decided that last night's dream was just that: a dream. He wasn't going to go on an adventure, he wasn't going to get involved in supernatural events by teaming up with a bunch of other high schoolers, and he certainly wouldn't do any of the above with talking mascot animals. In all likelihood, this year would be the same as last year: he'd do really good at tests, contend himself with the fact that he'd never get a date, prepare for more of the same in his third year, graduate, prepare himself for more of the same in college, and end up working a dead-end job until dying of overwork.

"Oh, hey there, Fritz!"

For now, Fritz decided to delay the inevitable by meeting Anne at Bikkuri Boy, a diner near Shibuya's subway station. In all honesty, the only reason Fritz even agreed to go was because, on the off chance that pigs were getting their licenses from the Civil Aviation Bureau, he could ask Shiho to hang out with him, just the two of them. He could then use that opportunity to confess his feelings to her.

"So, when's Shiho getting here?" Fritz asked as a waitress led them to a booth near the back.

"She said she'd text me when practice is over." Anne said, deciding to order water while they waited for Shiho.

Fritz was confused "Practice? On Sunday?"

"Hey, that's what Shiho told me yesterday. The volleyball tournament's coming up, so maybe Kamoshida wanted to add an extra practice session for the teams."

Fritz ordered a soda, and scoffed. "He just really likes running his teams ragged."

Anne nodded, but said nothing else. Evidently, she wanted a change in subject, but she expected Fritz to do it. However, he never really grasped how to start a conversation, or how to find a topic that all parties involved could join in on. This was one reason Fritz thought it'd be impossible to confess his feelings to Shiho; he had no idea how to start a conversation that could smoothly transition to a love confession.

"So," Fritz could not handle sitting there in awkward silence until Shiho showed up, "do you play any computer games?"

"Eh," Anne replied, texting Shiho where to find them at the diner. "I'm more into portable consoles. I just finished playing a game called Amnesia: Memories."

He was pleasantly surprised. "You know, I played Amnesia on my computer at home, and I didn't know they made any handheld games. Is this 'Memories' any good?"

Anne cocked an eyebrow. "Huh, I didn't know you played otome games."

"What?!" Fritz was infuriated. "So, some idiots decided to give their stupid dating sim the same title as survival horror game?"

"It's alright."

"No! Really, I've got the only four good games for the console: Girls und Panzer, Legends of War, and a couple Senran Kagura games."

"What're those games like?"

"Well," Fritz started, "I only have Legends because I have an uncle in Germany, since the game isn't available here. One of the Senran Kagura games is a fighting game, while the other is a cooking rhythm game that's so rewarding, even if you mess up. Girls und Panzer is… hm, you know how we have a volleyball team going to the nationals?"

"Yeah," Anne said.

"Well, imagine that, but replace 'playing volleyball' with 'armored warfare'."

There were a few seconds of stunned silence before Anne spoke. "What messed-up psychopaths would think that's a good idea?!"

"From that description, the cast of Lord of the Flies," Fritz said, "but it's technically safe. The shells never penetrate the armor, so the risks are slim to none. If you want, I can loan you the anime."

"How many episodes?"

"Twelve, and about seven OVAs. I'll have it for you tomorrow after school."

"Um…" came a voice right next to their table. "Hello."

Shocked, the two blondes looked in the direction of the voice to see a girl their age. She had dark brown hair, tied into a ponytail with a pink hairband, dark brown eyes, and a bemused expression on her face. She wore the school uniform without the blazer, opting to wear just the sweater, and a black knee brace. Fritz also noticed, because her sleeves were rolled up, white wraps of cloth near her elbows.

"Oh! Hi there, Shiho!" Anne recovered and scooted over so that her friend could sit with her. "How'd practice go?"

"Oh, it went great." Shiho replied, giving a very simple answer.

Perhaps it was Fritz's imagination, but Shiho never seemed to want to talk about practice. Over the year he'd known her, he's noticed that she got small injuries quite often. She attributed it to training, but Fritz suspected otherwise. He initially suspected that she was having trouble at home, but that theory never gained ground after a brief encounter with her mother. He then suspected that another student was bullying her; if that were the case, though, then it would've been easily resolved by reporting the offender. Now, Fritz was still unsure what was going on.

"A-Actually," Shiho continued, "K-Kamoshida-sensei told me that I'm on the starting line-up today."

"Wow, really?! That's great!" Anne said, throwing an arm around her friend.

"Congratulations," Fritz knew next to nothing about volleyball (he knew that a former president of the Russian Federation played the sport), but he could appreciate this as a huge achievement for Shiho.

"Let's get crepes to celebrate!" Anne suggested.

Fritz smirked. "Are you planning on celebrating, or testing the limits of your many stomachs?"

Anne cocked an eyebrow and narrowed her eyes at him. "That was a jab at me, wasn't it?"

"He does have a point: you go through sweets like there's no tomorrow." Shiho pointed out, then lowered her voice. "Actually, I'm kinda jealous."

The waitress came back and took their orders. Once she was gone, the three continued their conversation.

"Actually, guys," Shiho said, "I'm pretty worn from practice. I'm heading home after this. Sorry."

"No problem, Shiho," Anne said.

"Yeah," Fritz said, "no need to apologize."

"Thank you,"

Fritz glanced over at the counter, then turned back to the girls. "Say, I've never actually eaten here before. Can either of you tell me what the 'Surprise Sando' is?"

Anne shrugged, as helpful as ever, then turned to the girl next to her.

Shiho cringed slightly. "Simple words cannot describe it."

Just then the waitress came back with their orders.

Fritz picked up his sandwich. "Moment of truth. Ittadakimaaaa…"

"Why didn't you stop me?!"

The three students stood by the entrance to the subway station. The girls watched, and tried to stifle their laughter, as Fritz jammed half a tin of breath mints in his mouth.

"Well," Shiho said, "I thought you'd know better."

Fritz held back his retort, and he said goodbye to the girls. Later, after making it back home, he heard about the horrific subway crash in Shibuya that happened just prior to his meeting with the girls. While he read the news on his phone, he got a couple texts from Anne.

AT: Saw a couple videos on Senran Kagura.

Fritz smirked as he replied.

FY: What are your thoughts?

AT: You're absolutely DISGUSTING!

"Ah, there it is." Fritz thought, glad that Anne was back to treating him like a total pervert.

Monday, April 11th, 2016

Morning

Fritz cursed his own short-sightedness. While he noticed the cloudy weather when he woke up, he ended up caught in a rainstorm, without an umbrella, as soon as he arrived at Aoyama-Itchome. While other students, who were lucky enough to have brought their umbrellas, walked by, Fritz ran under an awning and decided to wait for the rain to lessen. Just then, he realized that someone else had the same idea. He wore the same uniform as Fritz, but he didn't seem familiar. He had unkempt black hair, round glasses, and smoky grey eyes. After a couple awkward seconds, Fritz extended a hand in greeting.

"Hello," he said. "Yamamoto Furitsu."

The new kid shook Fritz's hand. "Kurusu Akira. You go to Shujin?"

Fritz nodded. "Are you a new student?"

"Just transferred over."

"Im Ernst? (Really?)"

Kurusu looked like replying, but he pulled out his phone instead. Before Fritz could ask him if something was wrong, Anne walked under the awning. She pulled off her hood and turned to Fritz.

"How're you doing this morning, Fritz?" she asked.

"Eh, not perfect, but I could be worse off, Anne." Fritz said, thanking the fact that the rain wasn't heavier. "And that basically sums up our experience at Shujin Academy." (*BEEP*)

Anne nodded grimly, then took notice of Kurusu. "Who's that?"

"Transfer student," Fritz said, then noticed Kamoshida's car driving in from his right. "Bandit, two o' clock."

The car pulled up, and the passenger side window rolled down to reveal Kamoshida's (oh so punchable, Fritz thought) face. "Morning~! Want me to give you a ride to school?"

Anne took up the offer, though Fritz knew she was only doing it because he was Shiho's coach.

"Verdammt! (Damn!)" Fritz muttered, then raised his voice and plastered a polite smile on his face. "No. Thank you, though, Kamoshida-sensei." (*BEEP*)

The teacher shrugged. "Alright. Just don't blame me if you're late." He then drove off, leaving Fritz and the transfer student in the dust.

Kurusu turned to Fritz, while the rain trickled to a stop. "Who's 'Fritz'?"

"Me. My mother is from Germany, and she named me Fritz and taught me German. 'Furitsu' is what you get by putting Fritz through katakana. If you find it easier, you may refer to me as Fritz." Fritz said. "By the way, that teacher's an absolute Arschloch (asshole). You just need to tolerate him until graduation."

"Does it work?" Kurusu asked.

"Eh," Fritz took out his phone and checked the time. "It's a work in progress."

"Dammit! Screw that pervy teacher!"

The two students' attention was diverted when they were joined by another boy from Shujin. He had spiked blonde hair, an orange t-shirt with "ZOMG!" written on it under his blazer, and the straps of his suspenders weren't on his shoulders. Of all the students at Shujin to show up, Frtiz bitterly thought, it's Sakamato Ryuji. The two weren't on the best of terms, especially since Fritz blew Sakamato off when the latter was kicked off the track team, which was disbanded shortly thereafter.

Kurusu was a transfer student, and he didn't know any better when he talked to the vulgar student. "'Pervy teacher'?"

Sakamato suddenly took notice of Kurusu, becoming defensive. "And what're you lookin' at, huh? Gonna rat me out to Kamoshida or something?!"

"Was that guy in the car Kamoshida?" Kurusu asked.

"Huh? Yeah, that was the jackass in the car." Sakamato replied before glaring in the direction that the car drove off. "The skeevy jerk is way too into high school girls. Gives 'em rides in his car, calls 'em in for private 'counselling'. It's like, dude, do you think you're the king of some castle or some-?!" (*BEEP*)

"The kid's a transfer student, Sakamato." Fritz interrupted, walking in the direction of the school with the expectation that Kurusu and Sakamato follow him. "Now, let's get a move on! I have a reputation that cannot be upheld if I'm late!"

Kurusu started walking with him, ignoring the chimes coming from his phone. Sakamato grumbled to himself, but followed them, nonetheless.

Suddenly, the three boys were hit with migraines. As he closed his eyes briefly, Fritz saw the world around him distort for a split second. He felt light-headed.

"Ugh, my head hurts" Sakamato said, getting ahead of Fritz in spite of the pain. "Dammit… I wanna go home."

"No way in hell, Sakamato." Fritz was class rep, and he was hard-nosed with his classmates when attendance was involved. "You're going to school, and you can see the nurse if it still hurts."

Sakamato grumbled to himself. "Hardass," he turned to Kurusu. "Come on, I know a shortcut."

Kurusu followed this vulgar student, with Fritz following behind. "Wait up, you two."

"Wha…?!"

Fritz and Kurusu picked up the pace and caught up with Sakamato. He stood there, stunned by the sight before them. Kurusu gasped, and Fritz rubbed his eyes under his glasses to make sure he wasn't just seeing things.

It was a towering castle, with a red-brick wall in front, and a medieval Europe aesthetic. It wouldn't look out of place in Continental Europe, or the West Bank in the 11th and 12th centuries.

In modern-day Tokyo, however…

"Did we make a wrong turn?" Kurusu asked.

Omake

"By the way," Shiho said, "how's Ryuji doing?"

"Oh, him?" Fritz scoffed. "We're not on speaking terms anymore."

Shiho cocked an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"After he recovered, I thought I could teach him Kendo to get his mind off the track team debacle." Fritz said. "I practiced a bit with my little sister in my last year of middle school, so I thought I could use that experience. The results were… mixed."

"Hajime!" Fritz cried out, then rushed at Ryuji Sakamato with his Bokken.

Sakamato screamed like a little girl and dodged Fritz's first strikes, clutching onto his borrowed Bokken as though his life depended on it. "Aw, come on, Yamamoto! I just learned how to walk again!"

"Don't worry!" Fritz snarled, poised to strike. "You'll still be able to crawl, maggot! HAHAHA!"

"Mercy! I yield! I yield!"

"Death before dishonor!"

A/N: The Omake was based on a scene from SAO Abridged, ep12. I've updated his profile (and the chapters) to reflect the change in year.