A source of information
Well… I know I said that I wasn't planning on writing more for this yet but after publishing it, now I sort of want to keep going, haha.
Thank you everyone for the support you gave to the first chapters, I hope you continue to enjoy the fic!
Disclaimer: I don't own Persona 5
"Someone's in a good mood." Sojiro said with a smirk.
For the first time since Akira moved to the attic, he hadn't needed to wake him up, the teen already up and at the counter, cleaning a few things; that was a surprise but nothing to take too much note of, the way Akira was smiling and humming was a different subject, though.
"Did your rendezvous with the twins yesterday go well?"
"That too." Akira chuckled as he finished cleaning a plate of curry. "But there was this thing I was trying to do for a while and I just managed yesterday, so yeah, I'm in a pretty good mood."
Before they could say anything else, a customer walked in.
"So this restaurant's main dish is this 'curry'." Arsène commented, hovering over the big pot of curry Sojiro had prepared, unseen by everyone but Akira.
"It has quite the interesting look, don't you think?" Another voice, that, like Arsène, only Akira could hear, asked.
The night before, right after Akira defeated the Jack-o-lantern.
"I knew you had it in you." Morgana said proudly as he sauntered over to him. "You have just awakened to the power of your Persona."
"So that's the name, huh?" Akira muttered as he took a look at his outfit. "…not bad."
"The outfit is another aspect of it, it's the image of a rebel you have in your heart." The not-cat explained. "I'll tell you more once we go back, for now, we should call it a day."
"No arguments here."
A few minutes later and they were back in the real world.
"Phew… I feel even more tired than usual." Akira commented.
"That's because of your awakening, it's even more draining than just normal trips to the Metaverse."
"Indeed, but you should have no issue after some training."
"…Arsène?" Akira blinked twice.
Hovering right beside him was his Persona.
"Indeed, that is my name." Arsène nodded.
"This is part of what I wanted to talk to you about, I should introduce you to my Persona as well." A blue light appeared on Morgana for a second before it turned into a large flame that moved behind him.
"My name is Zorro." Morgana's Persona looked like a large man, with a muscled chest but very thin looking legs, a black Spaniard outfit with a belt buckle with the letter 'Z' on it and holding a rapier on his right hand.
"Nice to meet you…" Akira trailed off as he moved his gaze from Zorro to Arsène and back. "…I feel like I should be more surprised about this but it honestly doesn't feel strange at all to see you two here."
"Well, of course not." Morgana chuckled. "A Persona is a manifestation of a person's heart; you wouldn't be surprised if you saw yourself in the mirror, would you?"
"…I think you have to explain a few things to me but let's do that while we walk, I want to crash on my bed as soon as possible."
"Fine by me." The two began to walk, while their Personas floated behind them and followed. "So, Personas, think of them as Shadows; the difference is that you control them."
"I'm gonna need a bit more than that, Morgana."
"A Shadow is the manifestation of a person's inner thoughts, a side of yourself you refuse to see or ignore, usually because you don't like that part of yourself; a Persona is the exact same thing, except that you have accepted and tamed those feelings."
"…I'm just going to accept a lot of things you say as 'it just works' because I honestly can't think of an explanation using normal logic to understand how that makes any sort of sense."
"That's a smart move. The topic of Shadows and Personas is talked about among psychiatrists and the like if you want to learn more but I don't think they ever thought of them so… 'physically'."
"I can't imagine why." Akira said dryly.
"Meowhehehe." The cat laughed.
"So, what's our next move now that I've awakened to Arsène?"
"For now, you have to train your power, Master Igor will explain once we visit him; let's try and go tomorrow if we can."
"Can't he just call me in my dreams?"
"He could… but you're probably tired after this trip and prefer to go yourself tomorrow, don't you?"
"…pretty much, yeah." Akira stifled a yawn. "Anything else you can tell me?"
"Just two things; no one but other Persona users can see or hear a Persona so don't worry about them following us, they can rest inside your mind or be out like now but can't go too far from their user."
"I see." The teen said as he looked at the two Personas.
"So you are based on a character from a book, then?" Zorro asked.
"Indeed, I'm what you would call a 'gentleman thief'." Arsène answered with a tip of his hat. "If I'm not mistaken, you are based on an outlaw that lived in Spain, correct?"
"Correct and I must say, the architecture here is quite different from Spain."
"That's the thing about different countries, they all have different aesthetics, it makes for a delightful mental exercise to think of how to steal something from other places in the world."
"What would you consider the hardest place to steal from?" Akira chimed in their conversation.
"Ah, it all depends on the circumstances and what preparations you can make; for example, it's rather easy to steal from a noble's mansion when all they have are some guards patrolling if you scout the patrol routes and shift changes but this becomes more difficult if you have a time limit that doesn't allow for proper preparation; the mark of a good thief is to be able to get what you want regardless of the circumstances."
"I'll keep that in mind." The Kurusu grinned.
The four had gotten to Leblanc soon after and the Personas retreated inside their respective partners' mind while they went to rest.
Now, though, Arsène and Zorro were exploring the entire place.
Morgana hadn't let Zorro out before in the Metaverse because he didn't want to give Akira a preconception about Personas.
He isn't sure why that's important but, like many things about that other dimension, he has learned to not question it too much.
'I'll have to go talk with Igor soon.' The teen thought, glancing at a clock to see how long until his break. 'Just a bit more.'
As soon as normal school hours were done, Akira told Sojiro he will take his break, grabbed Morgana and booked it to Shibuya.
Quickly making his way to the alley.
"I've been expecting you." The familiar form of Lavenza greeted him outside the door.
"It's good to see you again." He said in a whisper, making sure other people don't think he is crazy by talking to an empty space.
"Likewise." Lavenza smiled. "Before we go, I thank you for reminding me of my true name, I dread to think what could have happened otherwise." The petite girl bowed.
"Don't mention it, I'm glad you're back."
"I appreciate your words." She said as she straightened up. "Now, I shouldn't delay you any longer, my master wishes to speak with you."
Without any prompting, they walked through the door of the Velvet Room.
The familiar aria greeted him and Akira found himself lying on the bed of his cell; no shackles or iron ball chained to his body this time, although he still wore a prison suit.
"Welcome to the Velvet Room." Igor greeted.
"Hey, Igor." Akira said as he got up and walked to the cell door, noting there weren't any chains on it this time. "I see this place is back to normal."
"It took a bit of clean-up to get rid of that malevolent entity's influence but yes." Lavenza said with a frown. "The fact that it required clean-up at all is something that shouldn't have happened."
"Now, now, Lavenza, what's done is done." Igor assured her.
"…I don't see Morgana." Akira mentioned.
"He is always welcome to enter this room if he so wishes but he doesn't necessarily have to." Igor answered. "But, for now, let's talk about you."
"Alright, Morgana mentioned that you're going to explain a few things about the power of Persona, right?"
"Correct, Morgana already gave you the basics but I wish to talk about a particular power you possess regarding Personas, as well as what to do with it in order to grow stronger and face Yaldabaoth."
"Alright, I'm all ears."
"First, remember this?" Igor flicked his wrists and the cards representing his bonds began to float in front of his cell.
"Yeah, I remember… there are three cards that aren't blank now." He noticed. "I'm guessing I've started making more bonds, then?"
"Indeed." Igor nodded. "I'm certain you know who each card belongs to, don't you?"
Akira focused on the three cards for a moment; the first one to gain an image looked like a priest sitting on a chair and doing a thumbs-down.
"Boss." He said before moving to a different card, this one looking like a person making something; it was kind of eerie if only for the knife and blood on the table shown on the card. "Morgana." Akira turned to the last card, this one of a priestess of sorts, sitting on a chair moved by two people; he couldn't help but smile at the person that came to his mind upon seeing it. "Sumire." He gave a quick look to the rest of the cards but they were all blank. "That's all of them for now."
"Very good." With another flick, the cards disappeared. "Now, as for what you must do in order to strengthen your power; most people can only wield one Persona you, however, possess the power of the 'wild card' which allows you to wield multiple of them."
"That… sounds pretty powerful."
"I would use the word 'versatile' more than powerful, although it is indeed a very strong ability." Lavenza chimed in.
"There are two ways for you to gain new Personas, first, to negotiate with the shadows you fight."
"Ah… I don't think they are the type to stop and chat; the ones I fought weren't at least."
"You must coerce them." Lavenza said.
"…pardon?"
"Fight them, show them the difference in strength and force them to talk; most shadows will request that you let them go in exchange of giving you something but, with the power of the wild card, you can remind them of their true name and have them join you."
"…I'm adding my 'it just works' rule to everything you are going to tell me starting from now." Akira said, one hand massaging his forehead. "And the other method?"
"By making use of this Velvet Room, you can fuse Personas you have and turn them into stronger ones." Igor answered. "We take care of that part, you only need to bring them, ask us which Personas you wish to fuse, and we'll get it done."
"There are a few limitations, some Personas are too powerful for you to wield until you have matured but we will tell you if that's the case." Lavenza added. "Also, each Persona is categorized in one of the Arcana and the stronger your bond of that Arcana is, the more power that Persona will gain through fusion."
"Ok, get Personas, fuse them to get stronger ones, and the power of friendship makes them even stronger, got it." Akira mumbled. "By the way, what exactly am I supposed to do to beat Yaldy? Just get stronger and stronger Personas?"
"I'm afraid it's not so simple." Igor shook his head. "Tell me, do you know why we call you 'Trickster'?"
"I… don't actually."
"To explain it to you, I have to tell you a bit more about Yaldabaoth's purpose." Igor began. "I usually wouldn't be able to tell you much, if anything at all, but… well, he brought this upon himself."
Akira chuckled at the irony; by trying to rig the result, Yaldy actually gave him advantages he wouldn't have had otherwise.
"Yaldabaoth believes that humanity's currently directed towards ruin and that the wish of all humans is to be controlled and continue towards that path so he is trying to give them that."
"…he thinks humans wish for 'ruin'?"
"He does; as to why, you can ask him when you find him if you wish to." Igor shrugged. "You remember how there are certain rules for beings such as ourselves we must abide by?"
"Yeah, those rules are the reason why humanity gets a chance after all."
"I won't tell you all of them, we'll be here for far too long, but the one that matters to you is that, if someone wishes to do something like what Yaldabaoth is doing, they must 'give humanity a chance to prove otherwise'."
"…so humans have to prove that we don't wish for ruin?" Akira raised an eyebrow. "Why doesn't Yaldy go and ask, then?"
"I believe you know the answer to that question." Igor grinned. "My point is, in order to defeat Yaldabaoth, you must cause change in the masses, a change big enough that Yaldabaoth can no longer claim that humanity wishes for ruin."
"…how am I supposed to do that?"
"You are aware, more than most people, that humanity can be corrupt, aren't you?" Lavenza spoke softly.
"…yeah." Akira smiled bitterly.
"Many people are aware of the corruption and curse at life, which is why Yaldabaoth is granting their 'wish'. Igor continued. "In order to prove them wrong, you must uncover this corruption, show the people that submitting is not the only choice available to them."
"Morgana will explain the exact process for this once you go back." Lavenza finished.
Akira rested his head on his hands and sighed.
"You just dropped a pretty heavy weight on my shoulders, you know?"
"Yes." Igor nodded.
"Heh… well, I already accepted this role so I guess I'll have to get to work." The Kurusu smirked. "Besides, I still have to pay Yaldy back for when he tried to kill me."
Igor and Lavenza both chuckled at the answer.
"One more thing and, for once, this is something that you would have received regardless of Yaldabaoth's intervention." The master of the Velvet Room said.
"I'm telling him the exact opposite when I meet him." Akira smirked. "What is it?"
"I will bestow upon you an ability that will aid you in your journey, you can call it a 'third eye', it will undoubtedly prove useful to you."
Igor snapped his fingers and Akira felt a shift in his vision but it subsided as soon as it began.
"You will find its usefulness very soon."
"Thanks."
"That is all we wished to talk about for now." Igor said after a moment.
"Alright." Akira turned to leave but stopped. "Hey, I want to ask something before I leave."
The two residents of the Velvet Room waited for him to speak.
Akira turned back to look at them, walked towards the cell door, pressed his right hand against it and pushed.
The door opened without any resistance.
"Why put me in a cell and not lock it?"
Igor and Lavenza smiled widely.
"We never put you in that cell." Lavenza informed him. "Neither did Yaldabaoth."
"The Velvet Room changes form according to its guest." Igor followed.
"…" Akira stared at the two, then back to his open cell, and then back at the two.
Then he laughed and his body shook with mirth.
"You're back." Morgana said once Akira came back from the Velvet Room.
"Yep, you could have come with me, you know?"
"Eh, I didn't see any need." The 'not-cat' shrugged. "How did it go?"
Before answering, Akira took out his phone, moved to rest against the wall and put it against his ear.
"Who are you calling?"
"No one."
"Then why… oh, I get it, clever." Morgana nodded in approval.
"Thanks; to answer your question, they explained what Yaldy plans and that I have to 'trigger a change in the masses' to stop him, I do that by uncovering corruption and showing that there is another option aside from submitting; they also said you would know the exact process for this."
"Indeed I do." Morgana did what Akira has come to recognize as a smirk. "But it will take a while to explain, more so without having a practical example, I'll tell you what we're looking for at night; your break is about to end."
The teen moved his phone to check the hour.
"True; alright, let's go back to Leblanc."
"Before we go, can you answer a question of mine?" Arsène materialized behind him.
Zorro doing the same soon after.
"Sure, what is it?"
"What is that store at the middle of this alley?" The Persona pointed one of his claw-like fingers to a store not far from them. "It feels like a place to acquire equipment."
"…does it now?" Akira stared at the store he mentioned. "'Untouchable'." The teen read the name on the sign above the door out loud. "Looks like a store that sells model guns."
"Model guns… that could prove useful." Morgana said.
"Indeed." Zorro supported.
"I'll make sure to pay this place a visit tomorrow during my break but we have to go back now." Akira said as he began to walk away. "Sorry Arsène, you'll have to find out tomorrow."
"That is not a problem; as the saying goes: patience is a virtue."
"You're not gonna ask how a model gun could be useful?" Morgana asked.
"Will I understand it without being in the Metaverse?"
"…" The cat remained quiet.
That night.
Akira and Morgana, plus their Personas, were in the attic.
The teen had just finished taking a bath in a nearby bath house and changing to his pajamas and was sitting on his bed, Morgana next to him while their Personas stood in front of them.
"Alright, I'll have to explain a few things, you may not understand some but just bear with me." Morgana began. "Mementos is something I call a 'Palace' and it is formed by distortions of people's hearts; however, Mementos is 'the Palace of the general public', it's an amalgamation of several minor distortions that combined together."
"I'm with you so far." Akira nodded.
"However, if an individual has a strong enough distortion, it creates its own Palace, separated from Mementos." Zorro continued. "They are both the same essentially but a Palace with a single owner will be far different from Mementos."
"Question." Arsène interrupted. "What exactly is a 'distortion'?"
"It's when a person sees a place differently than how other people do, but taken to the extreme." Morgana answered. "For example, one could see this café and see a normal café but if they have a distortion around it, it could instead be something like a club house, a bar; maybe even something ridiculous like a football field and so on."
"So how are these individual Palaces different from Mementos?" Akira asked.
"They will all have a ruler, the Shadow of the person that has a distorted heart." The not-cat said. "And a Treasure, the 'core' of that Palace."
"I think I understand it, or at least I understand as much as I can without seeing one." The teen frowned. "So how does this help us to uncover corruption or cause an impact on the masses?"
"You see, a person with a Palace will undoubtedly have distorted desires and if we steal that Palace's treasure, we will trigger a 'change of heart' making them see everything normally once again."
"…you said that people with distorted desires will have a Palace… so, for example, people that abuse their power?"
"Exactly." Morgana and Zorro said in unison, both smirking.
"By triggering a change of heart, we make that person realize how they've been abusing their power and the guilt will make them confess to their crimes; any person without a distorted heart would feel guilty of their crimes." Morgana finished.
"So… I have to find someone abusing their power and trigger a change of heart?" Akira asked.
"Actually…" Arsène said before they could answer. "If we are to 'uncover corruption' in order to 'change the masses' then it has to be someone high-profile."
"It's as Arsène says." Zorro nodded.
"Just finding someone is not enough, it has to be someone that will draw attention and makes people realize that 'something happened'."
"…" Akira let out a sigh and fell back on his bed. "Every time I think 'this must be the difficult part' you just come up with something new to prove me wrong."
"It certainly won't be easy." Morgana conceded.
"Well, I already knew that it wouldn't be." The teen shrugged. "Does Mementos have a Treasure as well?"
"Mementos is the Palace of the general public; people with minor distortions will be there and we can cause changes by interacting with their Shadows but they will have something I call 'the bud of a Treasure', it might become a Palace if left alone or it might not; it depends on the person." He answered. "Also, this is something very important, we must NOT kill the Shadow of a person."
"…what could happen if we do?"
"Worst case scenario… they could die."
Akira felt a chill down his spine.
"But… the one we fought…"
"Oh, don't worry, that one isn't the other self of a person, think of them as thoughts scattered around Mementos that took form; there is no risk of anything happening by defeating them."
The teen let out a sigh of relief.
"Alright… I'm tired so I'm gonna sleep, tell me tomorrow if there is anything else I need to know."
The next day.
Akira once again woke up with some extra time so, while getting a head-start in getting Leblanc ready for business, Morgana gave him the rest of the information he needs about Palaces.
Basically, he needs to know the name of the ruler, the place where the distortion is at and what that distortion is, then put that in the Meta-nav.
Using the example of Leblanc the not-cat used yesterday; it would be something like 'Ruler's name', 'Café Leblanc' and 'Football field'.
There is another problem, however; finding the keywords would undoubtedly have its own share of difficulties but the main problem is finding someone high-profile with a distortion in the first place.
"Perhaps we should go look for a politician or someone high in a corporate ladder?" Zorro thought as Akira worked.
Morgana was staying upstairs but was listening to what was talked.
"Even if we find someone, how would we learn about their keywords?" Arsène shook his head. "Just picking names out of a hat won't work, we need to look for someone specific, someone that we can get information on."
Akira nodded without saying a word as he washed the dishes, there weren't customers around but Sojiro was doing one of his crossword puzzles and he certainly didn't want to be seen as crazy.
"That being said, I'm not sure how we could get that sort of information in the first place." The Persona sighed.
While they were discussing this, the bell on top of Leblanc's door rang, signaling a customer.
"Good afternoon Boss, Kurusu-kun." The two turned and saw Shinichi at the door.
"Welcome." Sojiro greeted as he put down the crossword and moved behind the counter.
Akira waved at him in greeting while continuing to wash the dishes.
"The usual?"
"Yes, please." Yoshizawa nodded. "My daughters send their regards to both of you and said that they had fun hanging out with you last time, Kurusu-kun."
"I had fun as well." The teen answered with a smile. "How is their training going?"
"In Kasumi's words 'it's harsh but rewarding'." Shinichi chuckled before frowning. "Sumire seems to be in a slump at the moment, though, but I know she'll get over it eventually."
"Slumps can be really annoying." Akira shook his head. '…I'll try and see if I can give her a hand with that later; I owe her that much for helping me awaken to Arsène.'
"Here is your order." Sojiro said as he brought the curry and coffee.
"Thank you, Boss."
As Shinichi began to eat, the bell at the door rang once more.
"Welc-" Sojiro stopped mid-sentence, causing Akira and Shinichi (as well as the two Personas) to turn to look at the new arrival.
"Hey there, Sakura-san."
'It's the man from back then.' Akira recognized him, he is the one that came last month saying he wanted to say 'hi' and Sojiro clearly didn't like; his guardian had been a bit cold towards the teen when he had pushed a bit about who he was.
"Your order?" Sojiro asked stiffly, bringing attention from both Akira and Shinichi.
"Come on now, no need to be that cold." The man smiled but it looked more like a sneer. "I just wanted to have a talk; of course, I understand that you're working right now so I can wait, perhaps I could go to your house until you close up shop?"
For the first time since he can remember, Akira heard Sojiro growl; it was just for an instant but he is certain about it.
"…I can spare a few minutes." Sojiro said through gritted teeth. "Let's go outside."
The two walked out the door.
"Who… was that?" Shinichi asked, clearly worried.
"I'm not sure." Akira answered, he then looked at Arsène and Zorro before pointing towards the two men that just left with his eyes.
"Morgana, Akira wants us to eavesdrop on Boss' conversation, something is weird." Zorro told his partner as he phased through the ceiling. "He says we're on it."
Zorro left after that, most likely going after Morgana so they can hear what's going on with Sojiro.
"I don't think I've ever seen Boss act like that." Shinichi mentioned.
"I… have; one time, that same man came here a month ago." Akira answered. "They clearly know each other but I get the feeling Boss doesn't exactly like him."
"Do you have any idea what happened between them?"
"I tried to ask last month but he told me to 'mind my own business'." The teen frowned. "Whatever is going on between them, it's not something he likes to talk about."
"I see…" Shinichi took a sip of his coffee. "I just hope it's nothing serious."
"Same." Akira and Arsène said in unison.
Around half an hour later, Sojiro came back.
"Sorry about that, it's been taken care of." He said simply as he walked back behind the counter.
At the same time, Zorro phased through Leblanc.
"This is… troubling." The Persona said slowly. "It will take some time to explain so we'll do that after your shift is over."
Akira scowled.
'Who the heck is that guy?'
Akira took off his apron once his shift was over, went upstairs to grab Morgana and walked back down.
"I'm going out for a bit."
"Alright." Sojiro responded simply without raising his eyes from what he was doing at the counter.
"…" The teen decided it was better to not say anything and simply walked out the door.
"So, what did you find out?" Arsène asked once the four were out.
"It's… complicated." Morgana began.
"It appears the Chief has a daughter." Akira had to fight down the urge to yell 'WHAT?!' at the news. "Did he ever say anything about a daughter?" Zorro looked at the teen.
Akira shook his head before taking out his phone and putting it to his ear.
"What else did you find out?"
"Apparently, that man is Futaba's uncle, I suppose 'Futaba' is the name of the Chief's daughter." Morgana began. "Judging by the way they were talking, I'm guessing they're not related; he is most likely related to Futaba's mother."
"Chief currently has custody of her but that man has threatened to dispute that in family court if he doesn't pay him." Zorro added
"What?!" Akira seethed.
"Akira…" The not-cat trailed off with an uneasy expression. "The way he was talking about her… I don't think that man cares about Futaba or the Chief, he sounded like he was threatening him; he did mention something about Futaba not being in a good home."
"He sounded so condescending I had to fight the urge to punch him." Zorro growled.
"Wait, what do you mean with the 'not being in a good home' part?"
"It sounded like he was implying the Chief was abusing his daughter."
"…" In his surprise, Akira stopped and turned around to stare at Morgana. 'Wait… there is no way.' The teen took a deep breath. 'Boss is… rough around the edges but there is no way he is abusing someone… right?'
"He doesn't strike me as the type of man to do that but…" Arsène trailed off.
"…hey, Morgana."
"Yeah?"
"If Boss was doing something like that, he would have a distortion, wouldn't he?"
"Definitely."
Without delay, he opened the meta-nav, swallowing thickly before speaking the name.
"Sakura Sojiro."
"No candidates found."
He let out the breath he was holding and started walking again.
"That's a relief." Arsène said, Akira knowing he was smiling despite his unchanging face/mask.
"I didn't think the Chief had one in the first place." Morgana tried to sound smug but the relief was clear in his voice.
"It's likely that man is bad news then; either for the Chief, his daughter, or both." Zorro frowned.
"Did you get a name?" The other Persona asked.
"No, the Chief never called him by name." Morgana said. "And… there is one more thing."
"Of course there is." Akira smiled dryly.
"That man… he knows about your record." For the second time, the teen stopped in his tracks but all he did was take a deep breath before continuing to walk. "He threatened to reveal that the Chief has 'a criminal in close proximity with Futaba' in family court if he didn't get money."
The more he hears about this man, the more Akira feels like making his fake record a real one.
"…we have to find out that guy's name ASAP." The black haired teen declared.
The other three nodded.
None of them was aware that someone was eavesdropping on their conversation.
The four stopped the conversation about the man Boss knows once they reached the subway station, there was nothing else they could learn for now and planning to get more information wasn't something they should discuss in a public place, even if Akira puts his phone to his ear, the way that conversation would play out could draw unnecessary attention if someone overhears him.
For now, Akira decided to focus on the store Arsène mentioned to him last time, 'Untouchable', and learning how a model gun could be useful.
Stopping at the entrance for a moment to make sure it was open, he walked in.
The store was rather small but all the products seemed well organized, with model guns occupying most of the space, specially behind the counter, but also some other types of weapons; such as knives, swords, hammers, all of them fake as far as Akira can tell.
A few mannequins stood at the corner, wearing what looked like military armor, complete with a helmet, and magazines about guns were in a rack at the opposite side of the door.
The man behind counter was sitting with his feet propped on top of the counter and reading a magazine.
He is a man, probably around Sojiro's age with gray hair, earrings and a tattoo of a gecko on the left side of his neck. He is wearing a black sweater, a gray coat, blue jeans and dark boots and a gray hat with yellow ear defenders.
He barely looked up from his magazine, as if only to acknowledge that someone entered the store, but he didn't stop reading or said 'welcome' or anything of the sort.
'I guess I have to look around on my own.' With that thought, he walked forward and looked for anything that caught his interest.
He gave Arsène a look and his Persona took the meaning.
"Morgana, what exactly are we looking for?"
"Something realistic." He whispered, not wanting his meows to draw attention. "I know we're not exactly overflowing with funds at the moment but look for a weapon that you think you could use and try to get the most realistic one you can."
'Even if you say that, I don't know much about weapons.' The teen frowned. '…guess, I'll ask.'
"Excuse me."
The man looked up from his magazine.
"I wanted to ask for a recommendation."
"Just buy whatever strikes your fancy."
"This doesn't sound like good customer service." Zorro huffed.
Akira had to agree.
"I'm looking for something realistic but I don't know much about guns, do you have anything like that?" The teen pushed.
"Hate to break it to you kid, but this store is for enthusiasts, not punks like you." The man said, his eyes completely focused on his magazine again.
"How do you get new clients if only people that already know about guns can get them?" Akira asked.
The man looked up at him with a glare that would probably send most people his age running the other way.
"You're cheeky, aren't you?"
"So I've been told." He grinned.
If Akira was the same kid that came to Tokyo, then that glare would have probably been enough to send him running.
Right now, though, he won't say he isn't afraid at all but… well, if he could bluff courage in front of Yaldy, then he certainly can do the same now; this man's glare could be called 'cute' when compared to the wave of killing intent that evil deity showed not too long ago.
"You think you're cute?"
"Sir, I'm adorable." His grin widened.
"…pff." The man suddenly snorted in amusement. "Alright kid, you have guts, I can respect that." He let down his magazine and got up. "What are you doing here if you aren't an enthusiast, then?"
"I'm hoping to become one, hence why I wanted your recommendation."
"Something realistic, right?" He asked.
The teen nodded.
"What price range?"
"Tell me what's the cheapest thing you have and we'll go from there."
"Any weapon in particular?"
"…handguns." Akira said after a moment.
"Alright." He rummaged under the counter before bringing a few handguns up. "I have a few cheaper options but those are all too obviously fakes so you'll have to buy one of these if you want something realistic." Iwai took two in particular and set them aside. "These two are 4000 yen and 10,200 yen respectively."
'Hm…' The teen stared at the two guns in thought. 'I don't have much money on me and I'm just testing for now so…'
"I'll take the one for 4000 yen." He said, taking out his wallet to pay.
"You could have said that you didn't have that much on you."
"Maybe I just want to start small." Akira shrugged.
"Alright, I'll wrap it up for you, few rules, though; they are just models but, as you requested, they're realistic so people could get confused, put them in your bag and don't wave them around in public, if the police catches you and comes then I never saw you before and we will never do business together again."
"Got it."
"I have a weapon of my own so don't worry about getting me anything yet, we'll come back after we get some more funds." Morgana whispered.
Without exchanging any more words, Akira gave the man the money, grabbed the gun, put it on his bag, and left.
"Alright, let's go to the Metaverse tomorrow so I can show you what that thing can do." The not-cat said as they walked.
That night.
Sojiro still looked to be in a sour mood when Akira came back so they exchanged a simple greeting and he went upstairs and sat on his bed.
"You can tell me about the model gun later, right now, we need to talk about the man that came to talk with Boss."
"Agreed." Morgana nodded sitting on the floor in front of him.
"Is there any way for us to get information on him? Even his name would be plenty." Arsène wondered.
"Last time I asked who that man was, Boss shut me out; I doubt it will be different now." Akira frowned. "If we were to know some of his other keywords, could we find out his name from that?"
"Impossible." Zorro shook his head. "You could try and guess keywords and you would likely find a match in some cases but without a name, there is no way to know who those keywords belong to."
"So, no matter what, we need to find out that man's name before we can do anything to stop him." Akira rested his head on his hand. "Asking will get us nowhere… maybe we can wait until he comes back and you could follow him? If we know where his house is, we could get his name."
"It's possible but we have no way of knowing when he will come back." Morgana sighed.
RING RING
Akira's phone chimed in his pocket and he took it out, seeing a new message.
"You wish to know the name of the man threatening Sakura Sojiro, correct?"
"What the…?" Akira stared at the message, not recognizing the number or the logo of the person that sent it.
"I can help you but you have to explain what you will do with that information before I give you anything."
"What is it?" Morgana asked.
The teen simply showed him the messages.
"WHAT THE-?!" The cat shrieked.
"Someone knows?!"
"But how did they get your number?"
Zorro and Arsène asked in turn.
"…" Akira stared at his phone, his mind racing with possibilities of who this person could be. 'Could it be a prank? No, impossible, the message is too specific for that. Someone heard us and is offering information, then? Likely, but who? And how did they get my number? Could it be someone I know… no, the only person I know that even saw that man aside from Morgana and Boss himself is Shinichi-san and neither of the two was near me when I talked about this.'
His phone rang again, interrupting his thoughts.
"So? What's it gonna be?"
Taking a moment to compose himself, he typed a response.
"Before I say anything, who are you? Why are you offering me information?"
The response came a second later.
"I have my reasons, as for my name…
You can call me 'Alibaba'."
Dun dun dun!
Hehe, I know everyone knows who Alibaba truly is but I couldn't resist, haha.
So… yeah, I just got into the mood for writing this, been a while since I wrote over 5000 words in less than a week.
I think I'm going to try and balance out this and my other long-fic, I don't want to make any promises and I KNOW updates won't usually be as fast as this one was but I do want to write this.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter and thank you again for all the support!
Until next time!