You've got your whole life honey, don't move so fast
Cause something's gonna happen to you
When you wear that gown
If you're from my town
You'll get around...
"Dude, you WHAT?"
Ryuji's eyes bugged out, attempting to register what Ren was telling him.
"I told her everything." Their dark haired leader sat on an empty desk, one of many discarded on the school rooftop. "All things considered, I think it went pretty well."
"When you say everything-" Ann began.
"The Metaverse, The Palaces, The Thieves and who we are." He counted off on his fingers. "Just about everything. Like I said, she took it like a champ."
"Yeah, but I thought she'd like, forget when she woke up or something. You sure that's a good idea, bro?" His bottle blonde buddy didn't seem so convinced. "I know you like her, but she's still our teacher."
"Ryuji's right." Ann backed him up. "It's not just your butt on the line anymore.. We're all in this together."
"One way or another, she was going to wake up in my room, and I had to make a decision. I wasn't going to lie and let her believe she was losing her mind." Ren stood by that firmly. "We all know what we're capable of now because of what we went through, all I did was give her that choice."
"And what did she say?"
Anticipation swept through the air.
"She said she'll think about it."
"So no, then."
"For the time being." Ren looked out to the city skyline. "I think she'll come around eventually."
"Whatever you say." Ann leaned forward. "Also you and Kawakami? Really? Talk about reading the room..."
"It's not like that."
Both blondes stared in disbelief.
"It's really not." He shrugged, hands in his pockets. "But, if she doesn't want to be involved, then I can't do anything about that."
"It's not a school club, Ren. You can't just opt out of not knowing about the Metaverse, she's gonna have to live with that now."
"Why shouldn't people know? Do you want to go back to living with your eyes closed?"
"Listen, man, we're all pretty new to this still." Ryuji stepped up. "I think what she's trying to say is that there's enough ways this can blow up in our face before we start bringing more people in."
"Either way, that deadline is coming up fast. The more time we spend bringing someone else up to speed, the less we have to deal with Kamoshida." Ann scratched under Morgana's chin absent mindedly, much to the cat's purring delight.
"I've got something in mind for that. Give it time, soon the whole school will know about the Thieves."
"Does that mean we're bringing back the Members Only jackets-?"
"No, Ryuji." They synchronously shot down his idea.
"Aww."
Returning to Shujin was like visiting the remains of a house burned down, the echoes of what once was playing around her, but faraway and indistinct. Even the expected talking-to from Kobayakawa felt like it was happening to another Sadayo, whose shoulder she was looking over. At any moment, she expected to turn around and see the dungeon keep rise again in all its hellish glory. However, this waking nightmare was not the kind that could be dispelled with a splash of cold water to the face.
"And another thing!" Kobayakawa warned, his jowls trembling with the force of every syllable uttered. "I'll not tolerate any more unannounced 'sick days' or excessive tardiness, or you can kiss that vacation time goodbye!"
What was even a vacation from this place? A getaway to go scrub floors until her knees went numb? For all its faults, the school was still a place of sanctuary for her, a place where it felt like she was more than the weight of her responsibilities. Sadayo thought of Joker's words, and how deeply the well must have been poisoned to go this long unnoticed.
"Are you listening to me?"
The egghead huffed and puffed, looking for all the world like a parent chastising their rowdy teen for playing the music too loud.
"It won't happen again, sir, I promise." Her head was somewhere else, that much was plain to see, eyes wandering to the raindrops on the window outside.
"I hope so, for your sake." He grumbled, returning to the papers at his desk. "If you won't show up on time, I guarantee you there's a line of applicants ready to take your place."
"Can I ask you something?"
"What is it? And make it quick, Kawakami, I've got a meeting at 10."
"Did you know about Kamoshida? About what he's done?"
"What are you on about?" The principal listened with half-interest. "Has he been making 'problematic' comments in the teacher's lounge again? Heh, that rascal..."
"The abuse, sir. He's been abusing students for God knows how long."
She had his attention now, that was for certain, something sharp cutting across his rather comical face and leaving his eyes steeped in shadow.
"And don't tell me it didn't happen, because the signs were always there, I just didn't want to look." Sadayo felt dirty, and ashamed, like she was the one being exposed for her crimes. "But I can't go back to pretending it doesn't exist, like I'm not rubbing shoulders with a monster."
"I see." Kobayakawa folded his hands atop his desk, addressing her directly. "These are very serious allegations. How did you come about this information, did one of the students approach you?"
"It doesn't matter, I can prove it-"
"Can you?" His voice interjected in a flat, matter of fact way, the rain filling the silence between them. "Without any witnesses or evidence?"
"I'm far from the only teacher who's had enough of his bullshit. Do you have any idea how much of a PR nightmare you're sitting on?"
"I believe that threat cuts both ways, Miss Kawakami, or have you forgotten the circumstances of your employment?"
Sadayo stopped, genuinely surprised to have that thrown in her face.
"What?"
"Don't be coy, we do background checks for a reason. And I, for one, find these accusations a touch hypocritical coming from a woman who was… involved with a student prior to their untimely death. Such a loss."
"Don't you dare bring him into this!" She breathed flame, pressing her hands on his desk before she knew what she was doing. "It wasn't like that, and you damn well know it!"
"Who's to say it wasn't? Word is, you're hardly on good terms with the boy's family either."
Even this outburst, shocking as it was, hardly moved him. Though he sat lower than her, that desk might as well have been ten feet tall.
"And who would believe the word of a homeroom teacher over mine? You'd be on the unemployment line so fast, it'd make your head spin, along with anyone else you managed to drag down with you. That's not even touching the rumors about your 'other' avenues of employment..."
Her nails dug into her palms, sharply.
How could he know about what's been going on with his staff? Does he just not care?
"But, this is all hypothetical. Pure flight of fancy, as it were." Kobayakawa leaned back into his leather chair. "I like the work you do, Kawakami. I wouldn't have given you the opportunity if I didn't think you could handle it, and such a gross display of misconduct might give the board of directors cause to rethink your position. But, I'm a good boss, and the kids like you, so I'll give you a hint: there's only one of us that Shujin could do without, and last I checked, it isn't your name on that door."
He gently pointed his fountain pen at the exit, an obsidian wand in his bulbous, sausage like fingers.
"I will graciously accept your apology and pretend that I did not hear this insipid diatribe against one of your colleagues. You will leave the room, and we will never speak of this again."
The consequences were well understood, any reply hopelessly wedged behind the egg in her throat.
"Are we clear?"
She thought she was going to throw up. Sadayo looked up in the mirror of the faculty bathroom to see a pair of brown eyes barely recognizable behind the veil of exhaustion. Thank God she had this place as a refuge, the last thing she needed was a gaggle of schoolgirls to come in and find her like this before she finished getting her face right.
"I feel sick."
Staring at the toilet hadn't helped things, only seeing her reflection swirling around in the bowl.
It can't keep going on like this.
Uchimaru's words echoed in her head. How many of them had known? How many refused to speak up? How many were like her and were so wrapped up in their own little worlds that they couldn't see the forest for the trees?
I can't hide in here forever, I know that much.
The bathroom itself was not that big, but going out to face the world felt like trading one cage for another.
"Sadayo, you okay?" Chouno's muffled voice called from the other side of the door. "You've been in there for a while..."
"I'm alright." She splashed some cold water on her face and shut off the sink. "Just having one of those days."
Every day seemed like one of those days as of late, the stress throbbing in the back of her head. Ironically, her journey into the Metaverse had worked like a soft reset for her brain, leaving it totally blank and at peace. For a time, there had been nothing but the warm bed sheets around her, shielding the woman from the world outside.
Sadayo supposed that Ren and his friends saving her was a basic act of human decency, but the question remained: why her?
"Hey Kawakami!" Her colleague's voice was more insistent this time. "Still in there?"
"Yeah, just a minute!"
Everyone wants a piece today, don't they?
She opened the door to find her friend looking flustered, but relieved.
"There you are."
"In the flesh. What's the rush?"
"No rush, just figured I'd check in on you." Chouno put her hands on her hips. "I heard Kobayakawa really gave it to you in there, wanna talk about it?"
Sadayo's stare carried on for a thousand miles, seeing what they could try, and fail, to accomplish on their own. They could make noise, raise hell, but who would hear it? Could they make any difference without pulling the whole rotten evil out by the root?
"Uhh, you alright there, girlfriend?"
The principal's threats echoed in her head, and Sadayo blinked.
"Yeah, just a little lightheaded. It's about that time, you know." She gathered herself, mustering enough air in her chest to square those shoulders. "I'll tell you about it some other time."
"Say no more. Hell, take the bathroom for yourself if you have to." Chouno nudged her arm on the way in. "And hey, chin up. It's almost Friday~!"
"Am I in trouble?" Ren sat down opposite her, the arrangement they'd gotten used to in the teacher's lounge looking not unlike an interrogation.
"Try me and you'll find out."
"Bad day then, I take it?"
Sadayo's eyes narrowed.
"Are you really going to sit there and act like nothing happened?"
"I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about." He sounded bored, listless eyes drifting towards his phone. A moment later, her own buzzed with a message.
Not here. Too many eyes and ears.
"Like the rooftop is any more discreet." She scoffed.
"It's a start." The young man shrugged in reply. "I've been having a bit of trouble keeping up with the coursework and my part time job. Think you could help with that?"
"You have a part time job?"
"Well, I like to think of it as volunteer work, cleaning up the streets. But I could use some tutoring to help get me back on track."
"I'll think about it. I have a pretty busy schedule myself."
"Of course. Then again, the place could use a bit of cleaning up."
Sadayo's retort was locked and loaded in her throat, ready to fly when Kamoshida walked into the teacher's lounge wearing a nonplussed expression.
"Is this kid makin' trouble again, Kawakami?"
"Just going over a few things before exams." Ren stood up, taking his bag. "I'll talk to you later then, Miss K."
He walked past the volleyball coach, their eyes meeting like crossed swords before Ren passed the threshold.
"Miss K..." The older man huffed, watching him leave. "Anything I should know about?"
"I have nothing to say to you, Suguru."
"Really? Is that how it's going to be?"
Sadayo refused to look at him, the tension in her clenched fist so strong, it seemed as though her palms might bleed.
"Listen, I know we haven't been on the best of terms but what I wanna say is, I'm sorry."
The pressure dissipated, just for a moment, as she turned her head slightly, still not enough to let him see the welling tears in her eyes.
"I'm sorry?"
"Yeah, I want to apologize, face to face. I was way out of line back there, and I shouldn't have put hands on you."
He seemed more nervous than apologetic, like he wasn't used to having the words on his tongue.
"Did Kobayakawa put you up to this?"
"Nope, just me."
Kawakami closed her eyes and sighed, finally turning around.
"You think that's going to fix this? You come in here like a lost puppy with a half assed apology, and I just sit and act like it never happened?"
"Hey, I said I was sorry, alright? What do you want from me?"
A confession.
"I want you to own up to your goddamn mistakes, Kamoshida!" Sadayo stood up from her chair. "I want you to look me in the eye like a man and tell me what you did was wrong! I'm not one of your students to just take it lying down! I'm a grown woman and I want some respect!"
She declared, chest heaving, to an otherwise empty lounge. Kamoshida, for his part, looked like he expected hidden cameras to start popping out.
"Yeah, okay, you get that off your chest? How many times do I have to say sorry? Jeez." He crossed his arms, but the fiery display from the five foot nothing woman in front of him was like watching lightning strike twice. "Man, what's gotten into you? Serves me right, trying to mend fences."
Kamoshida grumbled and began walking away.
"Hey, Kamoshida. Boss man wanted me to pass a message along."
"What? What is it?" He paused on his way to the coffee maker.
"Eat my ass."
The man kept a sternly furrowed brow and kept walking, shaking his head along the way.
"Crazy bitch..." He muttered under his breath.
Oh I'm a bitch, but I'm not crazy.
Outside of her peripheral vision, the shadow that had been watching over her from the door disappeared, finding himself among the other students once more.
This evening began like many others, with Sadayo forgoing the temptation of a soft mattress to attend to another shift. Her adventures in the Metaverse had thankfully left her maid outfit unharmed, and the washing that Ren had given it didn't hurt either. Fresh and hot out of the dryer, she recalled how it smelled like his sheets as she began to slip into 'Becky', the other self that came out at night. It proved to be good foresight, as her phone soon rang with news of a hot tip.
"Someone requested me? Like, on purpose?"
Sadayo's eyebrow rose suspiciously. It was no secret that she was on the older end of the roster, receiving less business overall than the usual girls that got roped into this scheme. She didn't mind the lack of attention most of the time, though being passed over so often did hurt her self-image, and her pocketbook. In any case, the folks at the call center handled her request like they took orders at a drive thru.
"They sure did. Some mark out in Yongen-Jaya, looks like. Friend of yours?"
The puzzle pieces came together in her head, forming a picture of a smartass student in glasses that she wanted to smash over a table.
"More of an acquaintance, I'd say." She wondered if they could hear how tight her lips were.
"Well, whoever he is, he's paying double the usual rate."
"Double?" Sadayo's eyes bugged out. "And you're sure he asked for me, specifically?"
"Hey, I called back just to make sure myself. We pre-charged him for the night, so if I were you, I'd get my frilly little keister over there, pronto."
"Just a bit odd for a first time client. Do you know who referred this guy?"
"No clue. You're a big girl, figure it out."
"Gee, thanks. Do you at least have a name for me?"
"Yeah, he calls himself the Joker." The call center employee made no effort to hide their derision.
"Of course he does."
"Have fun, Becky."
Click.
"Welcome to Cafe LeBlanc-" Sojiro turned, eager to greet a new customer at the dinging of the bell, only to lay eyes on the young woman who'd laid comatose in his attic. "Oh, you're back."
"Yeah, it's me. Hi." Sadayo had chosen to forgo her usual maid outfit, partly out of convenience and partly to not give her student the satisfaction.
"Good to see you're feeling better. Come back for the coffee?"
"Thanks, but not exactly." She gripped the sleeve of her brown overcoat, a familiar sweater underneath. "Is Ren around?"
"Sure is, let me call him down for you."
Sojiro took a broom from behind the counter and raised it above his head, knocking the wooden ceiling twice.
"Hey! You got a visitor!" The older gentleman leaned on the counter. "So, you here to tutor the kid, or did you leave something behind?"
Sadayo heard footsteps that sounded like a controlled demolition, bounding down the stairs and arriving in the shape of an exhausted young man who looked surprised to see her.
"Oh, Miss Kawakami, what a pleasure."
"I didn't know you were having company over, kid. You shoulda said something."
"It's alright, Mr. Sakura. I'm just here to give Ren some after school tutoring."
"This late?" He raised an eyebrow, polishing the last of his mugs. "Bless your heart for trying to give him a hand, he needs it."
Ren's de facto boss reached for his hat and coat.
"Calling it a night already, Gramps?"
"Watch it, kid." Sojiro chuckled on his way to the door. "You ain't too old for me to pull your ears. Lock up for the night, and behave yourself around the lady."
"I'll make sure of it." Sadayo kept her arms crossed, looking at the lad who leaned in the stairwell.
"Alright then. Good night, you two."
The silence after their goodbyes held for a few moments, waiting until the man was well and clear of the cafe.
"You think you're real clever, don't you?"
"Not clever enough, apparently. You're not in uniform."
Her eyebrow twitched.
"Give me one good reason I shouldn't leave right now."
"You're free to do as you please." He looked at the wall clock and shrugged. "As per your enthusiastic manager, I've paid for the whole night, but I can't keep you here. So you can go home and get some well deserved rest, or you can stay here and grab a seat while we catch up."
The casual manner in which he spoke, black sweater hanging on his lean frame, almost made her believe he'd done this before.
"Uh huh, and at double the usual rate too. How does a delinquent like you have that much scratch to throw around?"
"Not paying rent helps." He turned and went to ascend the stairs. "Coming?"
Sadayo paused at the invitation.
"C'mon, it's nothing you haven't seen before."
"I know, it's just..."
It's been a while since I've done this.
"You know I was just kidding about the maid stuff earlier, right?" He offered her a hand. "I can clean my own room."
"Bullshit." She took it, following him up to the attic, and surveyed the sparse, drafty room. "This looks like the Diary of Anne Frank."
"Hey, you didn't seem to mind the other night."
"I was out cold. How did you get me up here anyway?"
"I carried you up the steps myself."
She wondered if his sixth sense could tell that she was blushing behind his back.
"You know what I mean, it's a walk from here to Shujin. And you better not have tried anything."
"I guess I'll have to float you up the stairs next time." Ren took a seat on the couch and offered her the bed, a single halogen bulb on a string above their heads providing the only light. "And that'd make me a little hypocritical going after Kamoshida, don't you think?"
"You wouldn't be the first demagogue who let a bit of power go to his head." She sat on the edge of the bed primly, its texture already familiar to her.
"True, but I don't want to keep it all to myself. I want to share it, give others the ability to see things the way I do."
"Or burden them with knowledge that they never asked for."
"It's the truth, Sadayo. We can close our eyes and pretend it's not there, but that doesn't make it go away."
He leaned forward on his hands, studying her expression.
"How did your talk with the Principal go?"
"I didn't tell him anything about you and your quote-unquote 'Thieves', if that's what you're implying."
"I know you didn't, I want to know how he reacted to the news of Kamoshida's abuse. Did he gasp, did he double down, change the subject?"
"He… threatened me."
Ren's jaw wound tighter with every word.
"Physically?"
"No." She clarified, before Ren reached for his six-shooter and started blasting. "He said I'd lose my job, get blacklisted, and so would anyone else if they stood beside me."
"So you admit it's bigger than just Kamoshida."
"He's still the one who's actually perpetrating the crimes, so I'd slow your roll if I was you." The woman sighed, her shoulders deflated. "We still need to do something about him though."
"We?" Ren perked up again.
"You know what I mean..." She took her eyes off the floor, the soles of her white shoes scraping against the boards. "I want to go back."
"To the way things were before?"
"Yeah, that too, but back to that place, I mean. The Castle." She gestured out to some undefined direction.
"You want to go back into the Metaverse?"
"I do."
"Why? You seemed dead set against it last time."
"Last time, I had just woken up in my student's bed to a bad hangover and the news that Hell is real and it lives inside Shujin." She explained, hands tensing around the sheets. "It was a lot to take in, and not the time, mind you, to sell me on your elevator pitch for this vigilante group or whatever it is you've got going on."
"I thought you should get the full picture, let you know that what you were seeing and feeling wasn't madness, it was real. Just as real as this place is, only different."
"I get that, but you'll forgive me for harboring some skepticism about your intentions."
"It's only natural. If I'm being honest, I didn't expect you to say yes right away either."
"Then why did you ask?"
"Shooters shoot." He briefly tilted his head to the side. "I wanted to let you know that door was open, if you wanted it."
"Yeah, but we hardly know each other."
"I haven't known Ann and Ryuji much longer, and I trust them with my life."
"This is pretty heavy for an after school club, are you sure it's not a blood in, blood out kind of deal?"
"I just want everyone to know what they're getting into, thought I'd do the same for you."
"Do you know what you're getting into?"
"It's worked out for us so far, which is more than I can say for listening to the authorities."
"This isn't about some rebellious phase, Ren. You're changing a man's life, from the inside out."
"For the better. I'm taking a serial abuser and airing out his crimes, and helping my friends in the process. Don't you want to see him brought to justice?"
"I do, I'm just not sure that this is it."
"Then why come back?"
"Don't snap at me, I just want to know how strong your convictions are. You seem like you're more than just talk, but I don't want to see you go over the edge, and take your friends with you."
"If, in situations of injustice, you choose to remain neutral, then you have chosen the side of the oppressor."
"Wow, okay. You do know I'm not grading you on this, right?"
"I'm serious, Sadayo. I can't be the kind of person who witnesses something like this and acts like it's someone else's problem. I want to believe that I can make a difference, that my being here in this place is not just the result of some cosmic game of marbles. Yours too."
"You think fate is what brought us here tonight?"
"Not quite so rigid a concept, but if that's what you want to go with, then sure."
"I guess you're right. I mean, what are the odds of us both ending up in the same cab?"
"Mine was more like a jail cell, actually."
"Huh." Sadayo looked around the dusty room, more fit for antiques than a wiry adolescent. "So, how do we get there?"
"Metaverse app." Ren tapped his phone. "All you need is a name and a keyword, and you can get inside someone's Palace."
"And how did you get Kamoshida's password?"
"Lucky guess." The young man greeted the ball of black fur that landed in his lap. "Morgana helped too."
"Right. Hi, Morgana." She waved weakly.
"Hiya Teach!" The effervescent feline mewled with infectious energy. "Ready for a nighttime stroll in Metaverse?"
"Ready as ever." Kawakami steeled herself. "Take us in."
Mechanically speaking, she didn't feel any physically different upon re-entry, though her body certainly tensed in anticipation of the coming wave. Instead, it was as though a veil were pulled from over her eyes, sizzling away like cigarette burns on an old film reel, allowing her to see the world hers was superimposed upon.
"My God..."
The titans of glass and concrete she'd grown up around had their bones of steel replaced with actual flesh and bone, the city revealed as a pulsating, living thing that hungered and groaned. The purple sky returned as well, lit by an alien moon that never waned.
"It's something, isn't it?" Ren stood beside her, tall and proud in the regalia of the gentleman Thief, black coattails in the wind.
"I still don't understand how this is all here." She puzzled, taking in the streets she knew as familiar, but twisted into a semi-organic shape, as if they had been grown rather than constructed.
"It's Mementos!" The cheery cartoon cat exclaimed. "Not everyone is wicked enough to have a Palace, but everyone's got Desires and Shadows, even you Miss Kawakami!"
"It acts as a vessel for the background radiation of man's collective longing. Every action we take in our world has a corresponding reaction here, taking the form of a Shadow, the true self."
"So where's yours?"
Joker grinned behind a bone white mask.
"I called upon mine in a time of need, and accepted it as an extension of myself. Now the Persona exists as my sword, and my shield."
Kawakami saw a figure in red flash behind him, a winged Thief bowing to her. She took a few steps back as a ring of blue flame encircled them, then disappeared just as quickly.
"I see, and you taught Ann and Ryuji this power as well."
"Hey, I've got one too!" Morgana piped up, his Metaverse form somehow more diminutive than his real one.
"I could teach it to you too, if you'd let me." Ren offered. "It can be painful, and you'll have to face some painful memories but-"
"I'll do it."
She stood firm, smaller in stature than both him and his supernatural protector, but still in control.
"Just like that?" Morgana's whiskered mouth hung open.
"It's settled, then." Ren nodded, looking at the woman with renewed admiration. "Interesting that you haven't changed into your Thief clothes, I thought that welcoming you into our ranks would do the trick."
"You really do miss that maid outfit, huh?" Sadayo put her hands on her hips, still clad in her daily attire. "I was wondering where you kids got those costumes from."
"They're a reflection of ourselves, both our self perception and how we want to be seen. If I had to guess, I'd say you're still tethered to the other place."
"I take it there's more to this initiation ritual than a firm handshake."
"You have to face your Shadow, which is tied to a place of great import, only then can you have an Awakening."
"Feels like I need a glossary to keep track of all this." Sadayo shook her head. "The School, or the Castle, seems like a good place to start."
The tall spires of Kamoshida's kingdom loomed in the distance, a decrepit twist on an otherwise serene vista.
"Well, you're in the driver's seat."
As Ren spoke, his pet produced a puff of smoke, bouncing out of the cloud as a striped yellow minibus with a feline grin.
"Literally." Kawakami huffed. "I guess it doesn't matter if I never got my license."
"It's the Metaverse, your cognition is the source of your power." Ren waved his hand and produced a plastic card with the snap of a finger. "Believe it, and make it real."
"Sadayo Kawakami, Phantom Thief." She chuckled as she read off the construct, dissolving into thin air as she tossed it aside. "Got a nice ring to it."
"It gets better! We haven't even picked out your code name yet!" Morgana's engine purred with excitement as his doors welcomed them in.
"I remember. Joker, right?" She turned to their leader in black. "It fits."
"The aliases are just a precaution. If I remember right, the man on the phone said you go by Becky..."
Her furrowed brow was enough to deter him from that line of thinking, and get him in the driver's seat.
"Or we could try something else."
"Something else sounds good."
The cityscape provided a darkly beautiful backdrop to their journey, a sea of pulsating red and black overgrowth consuming the familiar skyline. Simply driving through Tokyo streets without traffic was eerie, like exploring a ruin that hadn't seen human contact in decades. Sadayo stared with her hand out the window, the air warm and balmy like the world was set on a stove.
"How did you say you found this place again?"
"Just walked in, I suppose."
Ren tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, in search of an explanation. The device was perhaps redundant on a sentient vehicle, but he did like to be in control.
"I think of it like searching for something lost. It's always in the last place you saw it, but you can't quite remember where that is until you let go and chance upon it again. The Metaverse is full of things that have been lost and looked over, memories and myth lost to time. I like to think that's why it opened itself up to a couple of kids who fell through the cracks, but that might be wishful thinking."
"And the man in the suit, we've both seen him." Visions of a nose like mask of a plague doctor poked at her mind. "Is he God? Master of this realm."
"I'm not sure, though I'm willing to bet it's god with a lowercase G. One of many with a seat at the table, and he decided to take a gamble on us."
Sadayo had seen his martial prowess for herself, but witnessing how casually he navigated this space instilled some faith in the operation. Either way, the darkness that crept in at the edges of her vision gave them a wide berth.
"Let's hope he made the right choice."
Joker looked at her from the driver's side, riding along easily with one hand. The car came to a halt without him taking his eyes off her.
"We're here."
The high, Gothic arches and crumbling stonework welcomed them once again upon disembarking, standing tall amid its urban trappings. Having the time to properly take in the scale of the place, Sadayo marveled at just how real it seemed, from the cobblestone under their feet to the squawking crows perched on the battlements above. She was about to step under the portcullis again, when Ren gently tugged at her arm.
"What is it now?"
"We're Thieves now, Sadayo. We don't take the front door."
It seemed obvious now, with how quickly she'd gotten caught last time, but with a few stories of sheer wall between them and the castle interior, there didn't seem to be a way around. Ren was unfazed, walking around the perimeter of the wall until he came upon one part that looked different from the others, rippling like the surface of a pond.
"There are sections of the Palace where the ruler's cognition is not so strong." He remarked, putting his fist through the wall as the illusion rippled once more and dissipated, revealing the bright red door of an emergency exit.
"I see, so even if it's his fantasy, he isn't in total control? He can't just kick us out as soon as we walk in?"
Ren kicked the door open as if to prove her point, the inky interior welcoming them to the dungeon depths.
"People tend to be self absorbed, they won't see something if they don't want to. Even if Kamoshida wasn't such an asshole, there would be a few things he'd miss." Joker thought for a moment. "Unless we really piss him off."
"Isn't that what we're here to do?" Sadayo strode past him.
"Now you're talking."
Once inside Kawakami followed the boy's lead, watching him slide, sneak, and sleuth around the halls of the castle. There was a dour opulence to the interior, cobwebs hanging off the gilded chandeliers and candle holders. The many busts and statues had exaggerated, grotesque proportions, befitting the ego that constructed them from thin air. Still, they were useful for hiding behind.
Props to Takamaki, I don't know how that girl manages to keep up in those heels.
Sadayo stopped to catch her breath when the sound of clanking iron and hoarse breaths turned the corner ahead of them. Two Shadows, sniffling like bloodhounds, turned their infernal heads in the direction of the intruders.
"Watch your head." Ren took hold of his teacher's waist and brought her close.
"Wha-"
With a soft bang and a zip, the two of them were launched into the rafters above, landing on a wooden beam. Having held onto him reflexively on the way up, Sadayo reconsidered letting go once she saw how little space there was. Ren looked at her and held a finger to his lips.
"Fuckin' hell, I thought I had the bastard! Saw 'em with my own two eyes!" One angry shadow declared, knocking the pommel of his sword against the wall.
"Had 'em dead to rights, you did." His squat, lowly squire proclaimed, the lower portion of his helmet hanging like a broken jaw. "No worries m'lord, we'll get 'em next time."
"You hear that, Thief? It'll be off to the dungeons with you!"
The rusted knight waved his sword wildly, menacing a nearby bookcase before they departed down the hall, clanging their way through the kitchens in search of more brigands to haul away.
"Jeez, is that really what Kamoshida thinks of the security guards?" Kawakami whispered once they were out of sight.
"Mm, I doubt he thinks about them at all. Not every Shadow corresponds to a person in the real world, some just are. These are just fodder, but others will have fully formed cognitive avatars" Ren mused aloud. "Call it… artistic liberty."
"So somewhere in here, there's a Shadow me walking around in a maid uniform."
"Does he know about your part time job?"
"No, but last time I was here, those bozos assumed I was the help."
"That can be helpful."
"What do you mean?"
"Shadows aren't too bright, they can't tell the difference between a mere cognition and the genuine article. That's why they feel bullets instead of BBs when we shoot them." The young man scratched his chin. "If you convinced them that you were a maid in keeping with the Ruler's perception, they would probably let you through no problem."
"You don't think-?"
"I do. You up for it?" Ren nodded hopefully.
"Fine." She rolled her eyes. "Where would we even get one of those right now?"
"Come on, Becky. Have a little imagination."
He snapped his fingers.
"Make way, coming through!"
Becky barged through the kitchen doors in full uniform, white frills held high and pushing a meal cart with a tablecloth draped over it.
"Make room for dessert!"
Her speedy delivery into the dusty kitchen was met by a steel roadblock in the form of a great broadsword, embedding itself in the stone in front of the cart.
"Who goes there?" The Shadow knight demanded, his one veiny, yellow eye scrutinizing the gulping maid.
"It's me, Becky- err, Kawakami!" She summoned her sunniest smile, all but blinding him with her cheer. "I'm here to bring some sweet treats for my Master!"
The fluttering of her eyelashes was perhaps a bit much, the ancient gears beginning to turn in the guard's head.
"Oi, what's all this then?" Another Shadow showed his face, dragging his mace along the ground and drawing sparks.
"Wench from the pantry says she's got dessert for the boss man." He coughed up a chest full of webs.
"Then what's the holdup?"
"Ain't ever seen her before. What if she's one of those brats with the funny masks?"
"You buffoon, does she look like a teenager to you?" The other Shadow pointed at the maid, flabbergasted.
"Hey!" Sadayo pushed her cart forward, knocking the Shadow on his shins. "Move it or lose it, tin man! I got places to be!"
"Oi! Don't raise your voice at me, lass!" He growled. "What if this so-called dessert is poison?"
"Why don't you try some and find out?" Kawakami took the metal lid off her dish, revealing a spread of sweets and cream puffs to delight the senses.
"Hey, that looks pretty good..." A bony finger steadily advanced on the puffs, before the lid came crashing back down like a cymbal.
"Not so fast!" Sadayo shouted, and both Shadows recoiled. "These are for Royal hands only, as I'm sure yours will be lopped off if King Kamoshida finds out you stuck your grubby paws into his pie."
"Aye aye, m'lady!" The pair of them parted for her and saluted as she wheeled the squeaky cart through. "Oh, and by the way, you wouldn't happen to know a shortcut, would you? Bit tricky to get this up the stairs."
"Elevator's on your left, three doors down."
"Thank you very much!"
Sadayo offered them a quick bow and sped down the hall, the glamour of her dress already starting to fade.
"That was a close one..."
"You're telling me." Came the muffled voice from inside the cart. "These cream puffs are pretty good though. It's like my body knows it's thin air, but my brain doesn't."
"Yeah, don't get too comfy, it's still a long ride up."
They arrived at the elevator, an ancient contraption that amounted to a wide stone platform suspended by a system of heavy chains and pulleys. It's attendant was a bored looking purple devil with foot long horns, seated upon a floating toilet as if it were a throne.
"Oh. Visitors." It remarked joylessly upon seeing the maid and her cart.
"Just the one, actually." Sadayo clarified. "Going up. Got places to be."
"Don't they all." The devil exhaled with a heavy sigh and turned to the elevator controls.
"Are you sure you don't want to try the slave dungeons? The prisoners there make the most delightful little squeals."
"I'm fine, thank you."
"Your loss." He pulled the chain to the tune of a flushing sound, and the floor dropped for a few teeth-clenching moments before it began to rise slowly to the shaft of light up top.
"Say hi to the boss for me." He waved goodbye at them on their way up, the ancient machinery creaking to life.
"You know, they don't seem so bad when they're not trying to kill you."
"Oh they can be quite friendly." Ren answered from his hidden compartment under the food. "I've made pacts with a few. It's the ones with gaps in their communication skills that you have to watch out for."
"Huh." She leaned on the cart, not noticing the shadow that was getting larger on the ground behind her. "In my experience, it's the smart ones you have to watch out for."
BOOM.
A sudden crash rocked the platform, sending Sadayo stumbling backwards and the cart rolling towards the edge.
"Ren!"
She reached out, but it was too late, the crack of a staff behind her summoning another blast that threw her to the floor and knocked the cart into the void below. Coughing, she picked herself up off the ground just in time to see Morgana frantically claw at the edge to no avail, and fall away with a faraway yowl. Her own disguise was fading fast, marking her as an outsider deep behind enemy lines.
"Oh Kawakami..." The smug, distorted voice of Suguru Kamoshida called out from over her shoulder. "You really are too clever for your own good, aren't you?"
He laughed in her face as the elevator continued to ascend, his magenta robe trailing behind him proudly as he tapped the golden scepter into his palm.
"Someone's going to have to teach you a lesson!" The Palace's ruler barked, gesturing at the spilled tray of food between them. "After you clean up this mess!"
Sadayo brought herself to bear on shaky knees, the sunshine on her sweater still bright.
"I'm not cleaning up shit." She declared.
"Feisty today, aren't we?" His toothy, yellowed grin of avarice stretched from ear to ear. "Well, it's like Kobayakawa says, if you won't do the job, I'll find somebody else who will."
Kamoshida summoned a shadow with a tap of his scepter upon the ground, coalescing into a familiar, if humiliating form.
"How can I be of service, Master?" The cognitive Kawakami asked in tired supplication, clad in a wrinkled maid dress, stained with soot. Her eyes were sallow and dead like TV static, and her bare ankles were held together with chains.
"Clean up this mess!" Kamoshida pushed her to the floor, making her doppelganger drop the bucket and rag she was carrying. "And quickly! Or every slight inflicted upon me by this imposter will be repaid by you!"
"Yes, Master." The shadow mumbled, dutifully picking up her cleaning utensils and crawling on all fours towards the mess.
"Wait, no!" Kawakami rushed towards her twin, trying to pick her up off the ground, but the woman refused and pushed her away.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Don't you get it? This is who you are!" Kamoshida laughed, watching the maid on her hands and knees. He shoved her away with his foot, only to watch her get up again in a futile attempt to keep scrubbing.
"You're a mediocre teacher who lives to serve! You complain and you moan, but you like it here, Kawakami! The guilt and the sorrow, the bullshit bosses, it's all a license to act like the victim, like it's never your fault. You think that if you keep your head down and keep doing what you're doing, that someone will take pity on your pathetic life and change it for you. Now I'm pretty fucked up myself, but at least I don't delude myself, I revel in it."
Sadayo tried to retreat from the rant, but quickly found herself at the edge of the platform, forced to confront his words.
"That's not true!" She balled her fists, shaking with rage.
"Are you sure?" He continued, walking around the shadow and playfully lifting up her skirt, to no reaction from the Shadow. "You gonna tell me this little woe is me wretch ain't the same one I've been looking at since day one? Come on, Kawakami, you can do better than that!"
"I am thou." The deadened twin finally spoke. "And thou art I, two sides of the same coin-"
"NO!" Sadayo shouted, the shockwaves of her cry rattling the chains that held up the platform and bringing their ascent to a stop.
"YOU'RE NOT ME!"
An eruption of blue flame consumed her, the barest silhouette visible behind a veil that burned so bright the ruler had to shield his eyes.
"What the hell?"
I am thou, and thou art I…
Tongues of fire licked at her skin, paradoxically cool and ticklish, burning away her armor of daily battle for something more refined.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust...
I am the ire of the servant girl scorned…
Sadayo felt the weight of a mask on her face, outlined in fine velvet blue. She took her first step outside the ring of fire, landing on the stone with the clink of a glass slipper. A black dress bloomed and billowed around her as if made of smoke, a white diadem atop her head.
I am passion reborn in the masquerade…
"I AM NOBODY'S SLAVE!"
Sadayo roared at the top of her lungs, brandishing a two handed claymore that rivaled herself in height. The words gave her wings to fly, each one bringing to life a vision of a woman with broken chains soaring behind her and breathing flame onto her weapon of choice. Her guardian hovered in place, a pale blue dress in tatters and embers pointing at the target with a white glove.
"Cendrillon!" The name beat in her heart as though she'd known it all her life. "Let's dance!"
Kamoshida recovered from his frozen shock just in time to dodge her wild slash.
"You crazy bitch!" He reached down to grab the cognitive Kawakami by the scruff of her neck and toss her in front of him. "Die for your king!"
They locked eyes for a moment as she saw her reflection tumble through the air at her, lost and confused, begging to belong with a last whisper on her lips.
"Hyaa!" Sadayo brought the sword down and sliced the shadow in two, an unearthly moan signaling its destruction as the girl was laid to rest.
"Nice try, Kamoshida!" She readied the blade again, assuming a piercing stance. "But I see right through your tricks! All you are is a sad, old pervert in his underwear, reliving the glory days."
"Enough! We'll see how feisty you are in the dungeons!" The king raised his scepter like a spear, high over his head and prepared to launch it right at Sadayo. "Have at you!"
BANG.
A shot rang out over their heads, the bullet knocking the golden rod right out of his hands. The pair of them looked up to see Joker, clinging to the elevator chain with one hand, hoisted up by the wings of Arsene, Morgana hanging off his coattails.
"Ren!" She exclaimed, her heart made somewhat whole in the knowledge that she hadn't lost another student.
"Sic semper tyrannis." He smirked from the other end of his smoking gun, as Kamoshida clutched his hand in rage.
"You little shit!" The King's voice growled in a distorted fashion, his body underneath the robe beginning to pop and shudder violently. "Let's see how the two of you like my true form!"
"Kawakami, we've gotta get out of here!" Morgana pleaded with her, tugging on the woman's dress.
She wasn't about to question it, not with the platform shaking under their very feet. Kamoshida's body expanded to grotesque proportions, his blow up form looking like it might burst at any moment as his mismatched mouth taunted them.
"Ants! Vermin beneath my heel!" His voice seemed to be coming from everywhere now. "I will crush you!"
Joker landed beside her, tucking his arm around her waist once more.
"I like your attitude, and that dress, but we need to pick our battles, and this looks like a one sided fight to me."
"Very well." She hugged him tight, as to make sure he was real. "Take us home, Joker."
"You said it, Teach!" Morgana narrowly evaded the expanding pool of flesh and slime that was Kamoshida as they were whisked away by Joker's grappling hook.
"COME BACK HERE!" Kamoshida gurgled and spat. "I WILL CONSUME YOUR YOUTH AND YOUR FLESH, AND TURN EVERY LAST PHANTOM THIEF INTO MY BOTTOM BITCH!"
The sad, angry heap of a man disappeared into their rearview, the trio rocketing up out of the elevator shaft and into the cool night air. They hung, silhouetted against the moonlight, the Thief rescuing his Princess from the castle, absconding into the night from whence they came.
Sadayo did not find breath in her lungs until she touched concrete again. The film was back over her eyes, the tortured tendrils of the alien skyline giving way to a full moon, chilly and white and thankfully, normal. Students and salarymen poured into the train station even at this hour, looking for a late night ride home, paying no mind to the young couple who appeared to believe that time stopped for them.
"You sure you'll get home alright?" Ren tried to hide the yawn that crept into his voice, much to her amusement.
"Feels like I just ran a marathon, but I'll be okay." Sadayo reassured him, and while she might very well fall asleep on the ride home. "I feel alive, more than I have in a long time. So thanks for that."
"You're welcome."
Her pumpkin carriage in the shape of mass transit came to a squealing halt, the sliding doors beckoning.
"Same time tomorrow?" He made his shot while he still had her on the hook.
"Not likely, I'm not as spry as you three… but I could try next week."
"Alright, it's a date."
"It is not a night, Ren."
Sadayo stepped over the threshold just in time to see the doors close and for her student to get one last word in through the glass.
"Date."
The rolling of her eyes coincided with the rolling start of the train, and she left Yongen Jaya behind. As Sadayo settled into her seat and the wheels rocked her to sleep, she leaned against the window. She closed her eyes slowly, safe in the knowledge that she was under the gaze of a watchful protector, carrying the secrets of their mischief made.
Eastover wives sneak out at night
Cause they're lonely, and they're beautiful
Eastover wives lead miserable lives
And they're boring
I admit to myself, I've seen
Good women do wrong
Song: Dent May - Eastover Wives
A/N: Hey, its been a minute. I cleared a work hump and decided to put this chapter out while I've got some breathing room. Writer's block notwithstanding, I revised the scenes in here a couple times to make sure it was in keeping with the tone I wanted. Sadayo is a fully fledged Thief now, I decided to poach one of Ann's Persona evolutions as the template with my own spin on it as I felt the whole Cinderella aspect fit better with Kawakami's character. Whatever I can bend or twist to better suit my needs is fair game, but I have a rough idea of how things will progress from here. Readers who showed up for the smut should know that this is more of a slow burn but I have plenty of ideas for that as well. Basically, we'll get there when we get there. See you all next time.