TWEWY X Persona 5

Chapter Four

Roles in society

*Leblanc*

"So I got a call from the school…telling me you ditched HALF of your first day.".

And this makes this the fourth adult Ren had single handily upset. True as Kawakami's word, Sojiro was less than happy to hear the kid he oversaw had skipped half of his first day and was probably stewing in his café wondering if the money he was paid to take care of Ren was worth this hassle.

Not that Ren could entirely blame him, he didn't exactly make coming home his priority after he parted ways from Ryuji and the others. He had spent at least two hours of his journey back home exploring more of the big city to get an idea of where what was and even tried to find a place hiring students. That, and he just needed to clear his mind from today's event. His first day here was probably more exciting than his entire life alone, and he was dreading what the future held for him.

"Sorry about that…I got lost for the majority of the morning and found a few students who were gracious enough to help me find the way to Shujin," Ren explained. Not a complete lie he believed; Beat DID lead him back to the school after they escaped the castle. Even if this was the lamest excuse he had to justify his ditching, it was better than going with Ryuji's approach of being…well, direct. He had a good feeling Sojiro wasn't in a funny mood at the moment.

"…just behave yourself. You know what will happen if you don't. You do know what probation means, right?" Sojiro asked.

"My life is over?" Ren asked.

"Damn straight".

The old man pinches the bridge of his nose as Ren's shoulders slump, both in relief that was all the old man had to say and self-pity that his first day had taken such a terrible turn of an event. Being the good boy was a lot harder than he thought it was. As he thinks, he hears a phone going off and almost self-consciously goes for his, then sees Sojiro pull his out and answer. His mood changed almost immediately when the other side spoke and he seemed kinder, warmer.

Ren shrugged with indifference, none of his business. Could be a girlfriend or a family member, maybe. But he just nods to Sojiro and walks off to his room, thinking their little bonding time was over. Until he asked him to turn off the lights and not to forget about lock-up, which caused the speaker on the other side to ask who he was talking to. Turns out Sojiro must be keeping Ren a secret because he assuredly says to the other voice Ren was just a part-timer he hired.

"Better than what Shujin's students been calling me," he thinks to himself as he climbs the stairs to his bedroom. Once he was within his little sanctuary, he drops his bag on the table near the stairs and all but collapsed on the sofa face first, groaning with exhaustion. He shifts on his back and looks up at the ceiling in thought regarding today's events. Ren looked at his hand as he raised it, imagining the blood-red glove that covered his hand.

His mind is riddled with questions about that world, Morgana, Kamoshida, and his other self, and even the school itself. The way that principal Kobayakawa was kissing Kamoshida's backside, buttering him while that self-entitled prick was drinking it all up. That would be bad enough but Ryuji's history with the man and how he acted in the castle worried the boy, if he was that disturbing in the castle, how much worse is he in this…world?

He wonders if he told Sojiro his thoughts on the guy, would he even care or just think Ren was making it up? Probably not a good time to test that, given how much hot water he was in with both the school and his guardian of sorts. He lets a massive yawn and rubbing his eyes, his body called for slumber and he was more than willing to put this bizarre life-threatening day in the past, and with luck, maybe tomorrow would be more merciful on him.

As he throws on his nightwear and climbed into bed, no longer than the second his head hits his pillow, he falls into slumber…

*Velvet Room*

With a gasp, Ren opens his eyes to see himself back in the strange room. Sitting up and when he saw the two wardens and Igor, he climbs to his feet and approached the bars, Caroline remarking he took his time to get here. The other one, Justine, merely informed him their master wishes to speak to him…and informed him to take these words to heart for his own sake. Just what the raven needs…

"First, let us celebrate our reunion," greets Igor still with that creepy smile.

"Is that your way of saying "I wasn't expecting you to survive"? Ren asked with tiredness in his tone. Caroline sneers at his disobedience but Igor chuckles, amused by the boy.

"My, my…you've seen to grown a bit of a backbone, since last we spoke," comments the master with a gleam in his eyes, "Ahh, but that, no doubt, is thanks to the awakening of your powers. Special ones at that. Your rehabilitation can finally begin".

When Ren inquired about this sentence, the man merely brushes the concern aside and states that it is not important, for now. Instead, Ren should focus more on training the power of the Persona he had awakened within him. The boy asks more about the Persona, remembering Morgana never fully explained to them what they were or how they came to be. Igor described the beings as "Masks", much like how Morgana did. They act something like the armor of the heart when confronting worldly matters.

Igor confidently claimed he had very high expectations of Ren and whatever his rehabilitation would bring, but when the raven asked for more clarity, like his question about the matter before it was brushed off as unimportant for the time being. Something was giving Ren the worrying impression that asking Igor for answers was going to be a VERY uphill battle. And those battles were probably going to cost more than an arm or leg.

"By the by…have you come to appreciate the Metaverse Navigator app? Using it shall allow you to come and go between reality and Palaces." Igor says.

"Metaverse App? Palaces? What the hell are you talking about?" Ren asked, grabbing the bars. But upon hearing "app", Ren thought back to that strange icon on his phone. The one with the red-eye and slowly realized it. That app must have been the reason he and the others were able to go to the castle, but as far as he remembers, he had no idea what he did to activate it or even knew how the blasted thing kept coming back every time he deleted it.

"Oh, I merely bestowed it upon you as a means to train you as a thief," Igor reveals. Both the twins, in their way, stressed the importance of the gift to the prisoner, both to be grateful that Igor gave it in the first place to Ren and use it well to become a better thief. His grip on the bars got tighter as the information piled up in his mind, a thief? He was already on probation for "assaulting" someone, adding that to his track record, he might as well tell Sojiro he murdered someone.

"Hang a second! I'm already in enough trouble, I'm not interested in being a thief!" Ren stressed. Caroline snaps and slammed her baton against the bars, shocking them and him for a second before he backed off from the bars. She lashes at him, telling him he had no choice and unless he wants to remain a prisoner for the rest of his worthless life, he'd best comply with the task laid before him. Justine, stern but "kindly", states that should he refuse to accept the role he was fated to play, then an even worse fate lies in the future for him.

Igor rests his chin on a spare hand and says: "It must be disheartening to use the Navigator alone. Worry not, however, I have provided one who will benefit you, as well as others should you see fit, to use it". All for Ren to grow into a most excellent thief, and before he could uselessly beg for more information, he is thrown out of the dream and back into the darkness of his sleeping mind…

A single reaper skull shined before him…

*Next Day: Subway*

Rubbing his eyes before planting his glasses back on his nose, Ren settles into the growing ant colony of people gathered up at the subway stop for the train. Luckily for him despite the very screwed-up dream he had endured yet again, he was pleasantly refreshed and even ready for the day to begin. Credit to those bizarre dreams, least they allow him to sleep like a baby, plus he even managed to get up early to have breakfast and even make it to the subway for a decent time.

And maybe it was someone looking out for him, but even if he was surrounded by Shujin students, nobody commented on him. Which were a blessing and a nice break from all the attention he got yesterday. However, maybe it was because somebody else was being the target of the students.

"Hey, isn't that hear?" a girl asks.

"You mean the one with the red ribbon?" a boy asked, confused.

Ren blinks and looks ahead of himself to see indeed a girl with a dark red ribbon. Not only that but she had scarlet red hair tied into a ponytail, wearing the Shujin uniform and to his curiosity, she looked extremely thin. Not anorexia levels of thin if he is honest, but far more fit than your average high school student. He listens in to the conversation of the girl and boy, the former mostly complainer on how she looked far thinner despite both having ponytails.

How that was supposed to make someone thinner is beyond the Trickster, but he wasn't a girl, maybe it was a secret.

Getting on the train was as comfortable as always, being shoved into a tiny metal can that moves with dozens of people. He is near the red-haired girl who kindly offered an old lady to take her seat, and the reward for her kindness was some asshat in a business suit who unceremoniously just sat down on her offered seat. Credit to her she held back whatever indigent response and kindly clarified to the man she was offering to the old lady.

His response? Fall asleep and ignore her.

The girl sighed in sympathy, whether to the man or old lady Ren couldn't say for certain but luckily behind him, he sees another man getting off a seat and quickly placed his bag on it. With a gentle smile, he offers the old lady the seat and glared at one opportunistic man to keep this spot for her. The lady graciously thanked both for their help and sat down, while Ren was shifted closer to the girl.

They bump into each other and thanks to everyone pushing and adjusting their spot, they were pressed against each other. Ren holds back a curse as the girl shyly looks away with a sheepish smile, but not quick enough for Ren not to catch her face. Pale skin like almost everyone else but with dark red eyes that reminded him of a rose and pink lips. He held back a "wow" and clears his throat, looking up at the ceiling of the train to keep his mind off this close encounter.

"S-Sorry about this," she squeaks, "I uh…I hope this doesn't bother you too much".

He looks back at her and sees she was facing him but now has her head downcast, avoiding his eyes. Not that he blamed her, he was just as uncomfortable with their current lack of personal space as she was, except she had more willpower to voice it. But then he just smiles good-naturedly and decides to put his Amamiya humor to good use.

"Well ya know how it goes…nothing brings strangers closer than being confined in a metal locomotive," he joked.

She looks at him with surprised eyes and he immediately regrets trusting his gut. Then, she giggles profusely, clasping her mouth to hold back more laugher erupting from her. That was…not the reaction he had expected but certainly was not complaining.

*Shujin Academy*

"Son of a bitch!".

With a growl, Beat punches the hand drying machine, and then punched it again, and again and again until he feels the pain in his knuckles and tremors. Several small dents were made in the machine while a fist was against it, Beat's head cast down as he shakily breathes while his whole body shook like he was enduring an earthquake. Stubbornly pulling those tears back from escaping the jail that was his eyes, he dropped his hand and huffed.

Grabbing the sink as the water pools within, he looks at himself in the mirror and almost spat in disgust at the "wimpy" look in his eyes. He splashes his face with water and curses yet again, forcing himself to do what Neku usually tells him to do and calm down. But how can he calm down, especially when he had that nightmare again, that damn constant reminder of his biggest screw-up and how because of him, he and someone important to him had endured a hellish experience. Shaking shoulders as he grabbed the rim of the porcelain sink and if he is even more livid, he would have ripped off the wall and thrown it.

He thought he'd have nightmares of the castle, Kamoshida, or whatever yesterday had shown him, hell he would have taken anything. But no, instead he had to relive that day in his mind. The day he had invertedly dragged Rhyme into the Game, and then her death…a death he caused.

Two times he snuffed out her candle, twice in a week he got his little sister killed. He still had those horrible memories plaguing his heart and mind, and even nowadays he can't help but tense up whenever he sees his sister crossing the road or when she's near cars, that urge to scream her name or run and save her.

"God damn son of a…DAMN IT!" he growls. He hated this, hated how even after everything they had gone through and all the lessons he had learned, it was still a wound that for all he knows will never heal. She forgave him, or at least she claimed to but why would she? Why would anyone forgive him after basically getting her killed TWICE?

"Rhyme…" he whimpered as he faces the sink, then storms out of the bathroom.

Exiting the room and giving anyone who looked at him funny and just figured if he goes to class and just pretends he gave a crap about social studies maybe those feelings would recede until the next nightmare. But when he climbed up the stairs, he heard Kamoshida again.

This time he was speaking to that Takamaki girl and was oblivious to Beat just standing there. That creep of a teacher spoke to her about all the dangers regarding those accidents that have been occurring for a while now. Beat scrunched his nose when he thinks about those weird accidents, an idiot he might be, ignorant he ain't. He's been hearing all sorts of weird-ass accidents lately that were happening WAY more than they should, and those mental breakdowns everyone was going on about were creeping him out.

Takamaki looked like she was trying to get away from the coach, something about being late for a photoshoot. Apparently for summer so she couldn't miss it. Beat hummed and remember Takamaki, or Ann was part of Eri's circle of friends. Sure he never met her directly, but Rhyme went on about her now and then, about how she was a teen model for some fashion magazine that Beat couldn't remember, and because of her connections, she got Eri and Shiki summer drops as fashion designers.

That alone gave the blond punk a reason to respect the blond girl and ignore those bullshit rumors about her and that piece of garbage coach.

He stayed behind to watch this go down, waiting for that pervy creep. As he thought, Kamoshida showed "worry" about her well-being, about taking care of her pretty self and not working to the bone. He even mentioned her saying she wasn't feeling too well, appendicitis. Beat had to think about what that means and remembered Eri had hers removed a few months ago before the new year. Sounds like an excuse to him and based on how Takamaki was putting off the hospital for work, he gathered the notion that she was bull shitting her way out.

Kamoshida then "felt bad" for keeping one of her best friends away from her. Then he had the nerve to bring up Ren and his criminal record, feigning worry for wellbeing. Beat clenched his fist, if there was anybody in this crap hole of a school to be worried about it was this lecherous ass hat. With a faint "thank you" from the girl, she excused herself from the coach and left, making him scoff in annoyance and march away. Beat smirked, that man got denied and it was a girl he fancied to.

"And why are you smirking?".

He jumped with a loud "Gah" and spun around to see Rhyme with her bag in her hands. The younger sibling had a suspicious look in her eyes while at the same time looked like she was having trouble carrying her back due to the inhumane load of books within it. Beat scratched his neck and sheepishly tried to bounce off her question by acting dumb. Rhyme however points out she saw the whole thing with Kamoshida and saw Beat.

This made him frown, knowing it wasn't the coach she was watching.

"What? Ya think I was gonna kick his ass?" he asked.

"No offense but yes. I was worried you would," Rhyme revealed as she climbed the stairs with effort. Beat grabbed her bag and throws it on his shoulder, gesturing her to let him carry it to class. The bell wearing girl has this bizarre bad luck with bags for the past year, no straps seem to last more than a month with her and while she got Shiki or Eri to help keep it together long enough to keep it usable until funds were stable, she never went a school year with one intact.

Beat huffs as he walks with her, Rhyme looking at him. "Beat…you know you're already in enough trouble without assaulting that pervert," Rhyme stressed, "All it takes is for him to just come up with an excuse and you'll be expulsed".

"So what? Not like it'll matter!" Beat huffed, "I ain't got plans for college or shit like that!".

He tried hard not to look at his sister's disappoint look and downcast eyes because he knows he's let her down already with this year. Out of everyone in their family, she is the only one who knows Beat is far more capable than he lets on, and she firmly believes if he just stopped with his self-doubting he'd go far. But he never does because of his temper and stubbornness…as well as his lack of hope for himself. The little Bito knows their last exchange with their parents have done way more on his confidence than he'd ever let her know.

It explained why he moved to Wildcat's and thanks to the owner have a roof over his head. While to a degree she understands her parents' frustrations with him, in her heart she knows why they treat him so harshly while she was much better cared for.

"We're here," he grunts, standing near her classroom and was about to hand her bag to her. Rhyme watches him with dimmed eyes before taking a breath and takes her bag and opens the classroom door. She gave him one more look of guilt and then enters before he could speak to her. The punk groans as those feelings from the earlier rise and with clenched teeth hissed a breath and storms to his classroom.

Inside her history class, Rhyme takes down the notes her teacher drew on the whiteboard while said the teacher was reading a book on history, letting the class finish their assignments. The girl tries hard to concentrate on her work, her second favorite subject, but she couldn't ignore those rude students that were obnoxiously talking about her and Beat.

"Those two are siblings? Dude, they got to be adopted or something! No way that ape is related to her!" one says whispering, and by whispering Rhyme claimed it was their poor idea on what the term meant.

"Yeah, how could a dumbass like him be related to little miss perfect over there?" another one mocks. Rhyme's grip on the pen grows tighter at the nickname, biting her tongue to withhold some snarky response the girls taught her. God forgive her while she may not like swearing or vulgar insults like Eri or Ann use, those students earned her scorn by their talking. "Little Miss Perfect" was a stupid nickname those jerks gave her when she was introduced to the class, only because technically she is a year behind them but because of her exams being aced and her academic levels were higher she could skip a year.

But ever since then, those comments plagued her wherever she goes in this school. There is no sanctuary for her, no spot to have some peace, and whenever she finds it, it's tainted later by her "fans". Not her fault she put the work into her academics and was rewarded for her hard work with recognition and praise, and yet she never feels that pride in those praises. She never once felt something like Shiki or Eri do when their designs become recognized by some celebrity or fashionista, nor does she get the gleam in her eyes like Neku does with his art.

Everything she worked on feels like it is missing something, every achievement in her schoolwork felt empty and just another day of doing her duty as a diligent student, and when people, like Kobayakawa, would flaunt her work she feels as if she were not a student or gifted in the academical world but rather just something to be used as a tool. Most students nowadays can't stand her because of those speculations because they planted her on a pedestal they will never reach.

She sometimes envied Beat, his stubborn refusal to be tied down by people's view on him, working to what he wanted, and being so free with himself. Rhyme truly wanted to be like that, to stop being so polite, so calm, and just taking everyone's comments in stride. But that would disappoint her parents, and after how much they invested in her school, how they worked so hard to get her to this school and how much they…invest in her.

"Behave…be quiet…and don't be a failure…" she thinks to herself, forcing herself not to finish that lecture.

"Don't be like your brother…".

*After school*

Once the day of a normal school finally came to an end, Ren exited the building with Beat and Neku in tow, and standing at the school gate is Ryuji. He waves them over to him and after some reluctance, a bad feeling Neku and Ren shared, they approached him.

"I'm guessing you're not over the castle yet?" Neku asked, leaning against the stone wall.

"Nah…can't get it out of my head. I tried to act it was just a dream but…Kamoshida is connected to all this, and I can't just let him get away with whatever the hell he's doing." Ryuji expresses with an aggressive fold of his arms, "I wanna try and find out what's up with that place". He then sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck and reveals that currently, only the three teens before him were the only ones he could rely on. With that and giving what Kamoshida had done to each of them, the three nodded and agreed.

"Right, all good we're set on taking down that bastard…problem is, how do we get back to the castle?" Neku asked, "Something tells me we won't stumble on the castle just like that".

The orange-haired teen provided a good point, and as far as they know no one else has reported a castle just appearing from thin air, nor anything relating to that Kamoshida from the said castle. So to find it, the troublemaker Ryuji provides an idea that they just retrace their steps and see if they can recall something or heck, find something that could take them back to the castle. Without any other methods or ideas to go on, the trio reluctantly followed Ryuji's idea.

After an hour of retracing, nothing had changed. They tried different ways to get to the school, wait a few moments to see if something popped up, checked themselves in case Neku or Ren turned in their other clothes, kept an eye out for monsters and anything. But all they found were nothing out of the ordinary, just the same old day-to-day things one would find on their way to school. As the day slowly shifted into the late afternoon, the four just gathered up at the school gate yet again.

Ryuji, beginning to doubt the idea, started asking was it smaller than they remembered and even started wondering if it was even at the same spot. That raised some questions for the boys, wondering if it was possible the castle could have moved or relocated itself, and more questions surfaced.

"Yo…just sayin', you think if people saw a castle…wouldn't somebody post it or something?" Beat asked while scratching his head. Ryuji sighed and says he already checked his phone for anything about a castle in Shujin…and that is when Ren muttered "phone" quietly to himself before he took his out. Igor's words suddenly rang in his mind and when he touched the strange app in his phone, he called the three to look.

"The hell kinda app is that?" Ryuji asked.

"I think…this is what sent us there, to begin with," Ren says, touching the app again, "Remember yesterday we heard something about returning to reality?".

"Yeah, and hey, look," Neku says, pointing at a set of keywords, "Kamoshida, Shujin Academy, pervert, and castle".

The owner, the location, the problem, and the…Palace. All in the app.

"Beginning Navigation".

"Wait for what-

Once again, a sense of distortion and a feeling of the world becoming alien to them, bending and twisting into something psychedelic. But as they were pulled into this world yet again, Beat swore he heard someone calling his name…

*?*

When they regain their senses and feel the bizarre twisting and shifting of the world phase pass them, they all looked up to see the castle they escaped from looming over them. The same colors and odd atmosphere hanging around them like they were trapped in an alien world. Just like yesterday, they were back in this bizarre world and whatever debate on it being a dream is officially dead. They crossed the lowered drawbridge and headed for the main doors leading inside the castle.

"Well, now we know how we can come and go," Neku remarks before he sees himself back in those clothes again along with the surge of psych powers. Ryuji jumped and let out a surprised shout when he saw the two back in the clothes again. Except with Ren, he feels nothing draining him nor that bizarre lack of control that plagued him before. The Trickster frowns, wondering if this was what Igor meant about his powers, maybe he was adapting to this form quicker than he thought.

That still didn't explain Neku's powers. Ren watches him looking at his gauntlet and fiddling with it while Beat was making a few remarks about his choice of pins. Igor's words lingered in his mind, did Igor know he was brave enough to wield a Persona, or was there something else about Neku that caught that long nose devil's attention? But his thoughts were stopped when Ryuji questioned the clothes themselves.

"What? You jelly we're looking swaggerlicious?" Ren teased with a cocky smirk.

Ryuji stammered a "no" but he starts going on more about how this castle, this world itself made no sense. How did the app get them here, where did that app come from, and just how any of this was possible were all the questions he was asking while the Beat just looked more lost before they started this revisit. But their moment of baffled confusion was stopped when a voice calls out to them to be quiet. Nearby, hiding behind a round stone pillar is none other than the strange cat from yesterday, Morgana.

"Furball…" Neku greets with a shrug, "Looks like you've stuck around".

"Well it was only because the shadows were acting up, I was wondering what all the commotion was about," he explained with a frown, "And who'd think it'd be the four guys who just barely escape, would come back!".

Neku rolls his eyes at that jab, as understanding as it appeared giving their first foray into this castle. But with the furball back, Ryuji had taken the opportunity to ask the questions that had been plaguing their minds for a while, namely why the school was turned into a castle. But Morgana casually responds to that question with even more questions. The castle is indeed the school but only to the ruler of the castle.

"So when that pervert ass hat acts like he's the king of the castle, he THINKS the school's a castle!?" Beat asked, rubbing his neck.

"It's how his distorted hearts see the school," Morgana explained.

Unfortunately, his method of explaining went over the heads of the two blondes while the other two were still wrapping their minds around it. Ryuji demanded the furry creature to try and explain it in a way that makes sense, to which the cat replied he wouldn't have expected two idiots to comprehend what he was saying. Neku was mentally counting down how much longer it'd take before Beat and Ryuji were going to kick the little guy's head like a football and see how far he'd fly.

But thankfully before any football test would commence, a scream of agony bursts from the castle, catching the five's ears. Morgana frowns with disgust and states the slaves must be going through their "training" again. Another scream runs throughout the castle again, and this makes Ryuji gasp out that the slaves had to be from Shujin Academy, remembering the one they had to leave behind yesterday.

Morgana ruefully explains that likely these are from Kamoshida's orders as this was the slaves' everyday lives here. He also added that likely because of their escape and thanks to Ren and Neku, they must have enraged the king, and unfortunately for the slaves, they were the victims of his temper. With a loud cry of anger and disgust, Ryuji shoulder tackled the castle door, shaking the door, and screamed for Kamoshida. This burst of anger caught them off guard, but Morgana seemed more sympathetic.

"Hey, Monamsa!" Ryuji says, turning to the cat.

"It's MORGANA!" the cat replied, angrily.

"Do you know where the screams are comin' from?" the blonde, ignoring the correction.

Hesitantly, Morgana does confirm he knows a way down to the slaves but would only take Ryuji there if the two Persona users would tag along with them for safety. The two Persona users glanced at each other, Neku sighed and folds his arms while Ren nodded.

"We're already here may as well go along for the ride," Ren says. Neku shrugged indifferently, only going because he knew Beat would follow that blonde hot head to hell and back. And there was no way in hell he was going to deal with a heartbroken Rhyme. Morgana nods and commands them to follow him, with no sense in wasting time when they were all on a short time limit.

He leads them to their escape point, and when he was asked about this choice of an entrance, he went on a short spiel about the basic rules of "Phantom Thievery". He leaps onto a barrel and then onto the ledge of the entrance, assuring the team he would explain more as they went on before he enters the castle. The blondes follow suit while Neku and Ren stick behind for a moment. Ren shakes his head and sighed.

"Phantom Thievery…is that what Igor means for my thief training…?" he thinks to himself. Then he looked at Neku as the skull-wearing teen climbs up and enters the ventilation shaft. He had to have had the app by now, if what Igor says is true about allies who could benefit him, then did Neku have the same dream he's been having for the past two days? And if he was a prisoner like himself, why haven't they met up in the velvet room? And another question that lingered within his mind like a ship in the middle of a storm.

How was Neku so much stronger?

"Ren, you coming or what?" Neku calls out from the castle.

"On the way…!" Ren replied, jumping to the vent.

Entering the castle once more, the teens hold back their shudders at the creepiness of this castle. It felt bizarre and weirder than the last time they were here. Morgana stresses if they wanted to reach the slaves without causing trouble or potentially getting caught, they'd do what he says. He guides them back to the main hall where they were captured the first time, and like yesterday, they all staggered as the world was shifting and switching from looking like the castle and the main school entrance.

Neku asked if the reason they were seeing the school was that while they were in the castle, it was still their school at the end of the day, just with an illusion of sorts. Morgana praised his quick comprehension but stressed they needed to keep going before a shadow finds them. The five sped off towards the old path they had taken to escape, and soon enough found themselves back in the lower regions of the castle, the dungeon.

They continued for a moment before they reached a gate, where Morgana stopped them and quickly ordering everyone to hide behind the pillar and wall connected to the gate. To the team's dismay, a lone knight was patrolling the pathway. Morgana groaned quietly, lamenting he had a bad feeling there would be guards here. Neku chuckled lowly and reminded everyone of the amount of chaos they caused last time they were guests of the king.

"Looks like fighting is our only way forward now, huh?" Ren asked.

"Yeah…so hope you two can keep up," Morgana comments, "But how about we get an advantage?".

"Always up for having a leg up on my enemies, what's the plan?" Neku asked.

Morgana implores the two that the best option to take before a fight is always from behind, catch them off guard though wouldn't be enough. He encourages them to rip the mask off the guards, which would temporarily break the control ruler of the Palace has over them. He also stressed Beat and Ryuji stay out of the way, which they begrudgingly do while Neku and Ren wait for Morgana's signal. Once the knight turned around to resume its patrol, he whispers "now!" and like phantoms, both teenagers dashed towards the knight.

Neku kicked off the wall and soared above the head of the knight just as Ren slides behind the knight, brandishing his dagger from letting it slip down his sleeve, and with a dazzling spin, he plunged it into the knight's lower back. It reels backward in time to see Neku land on its shoulders and grabbed the mask. He ripped it off like a bandage, a gush of crimson ink that didn't smell of blood gushes from the knight. Neku leaps off the knight as its body deteriorates and Ren flips backward from it, letting the body perish.

They both nod in approval of their team-up, even Morgana praised their teamwork. With the knight out of the way, they moved onward to the rest of the dungeon. In no time, they arrived back where they first saw the slave. Except…the jail cell was empty. Ryuji swore to the gang this was where they were last time they were here, but he growled and ran down further into the dungeon, much to the ire of Morgana and his dwindling patience.

But then he comes running back, saying he heard more footsteps on the way. Likely, as anyone would assume, his yelling earned the attention of another patrol unit, and want to avoid their king's temper taking out on them they weren't going to take any chances. As confident in his powers, Neku had a bad feeling even with his power, and Ren and Morgana, the former still coming to grips with his powers, they'd be overwhelmed. And getting caught a second time would not end well for them this time.

Luckily, Morgana approached a door that was shimmering and vibrating like a mirage, suggesting if they use this room they could wait out a patrol. Beat immediately rushes for the door and opened it up, yelling for everyone to get inside before the knights showed up.

Inside, Neku and Ren slammed the door and looked around for something to hold in case the knights attempt to barge in. Morgana however assured them the shadows probably won't come in here. When Ryuji, understandably so, asked how the cat was so sure about it, the cat explains that the distortion here was severely weaker here, meaning the ruler of the Palace likely didn't have as much control over it as he does with the rest of the school. As if to prove his point, the room shimmered and shifted temporality into what looks like a classroom.

"You guys finally get it now? This place is just another reality that the ruler's heart projects," Morgana asked while explaining the basics of this world's rules.

"This is Kamoshida's reality? Shit makes no sense!" Ryuji growled, kicking a barrel almost hard enough to shatter either his foot or the wooden structure.

Morgana explains a little more on the matter, that distorted desires from someone's desires. And that was when Ren mentions "Palace", to the cat's surprise. Ryuji asked why Ren and Morgana referred to this place as a "Palace", and Ren states that because Kamoshida sees the school as his castle, this world came into creation because of those distorted desires within his heart. Neku hummed in agreement, reminding everyone of how he acts in the school.

"Basically in the real world, he's hailed as a celebrity, being a former athlete who brought home a medal. In the school everyone has nothing but praise for him, like the principal constantly kissing his ass," he analyses, "So if he's able to get away with whatever the hell he's doing to the students, he's untouchable. He can do whatever he wants, and nobody can stop him, like a king".

"And that's how this place is made?", Beat asked. Morgana nodded and confirmed Neku's theory. But that only made Ryuji spit out a bitter laugh before once more damning and cursing the man. Once more the team looks at the spiky-haired boy, some with sympathy and curiosity. When Morgana commented on the deep level of hate for the man, Ryuji turned to the gang.

"Hate doesn't even come NEAR to how I feel about that bastard," growls Ryuji, "Everything is his fault!".

Morgana sighed but stressed to the boy that if they were still set on their task, he'd best keep his emotion check. Neku agreed with the fuzzball, reminding the punk that they were on his turf and he has a literal army at his command. Along with that he sat down at the table and asked Morgana for more info on this world, his and Ren's outfits, and more. Ren concurred with the request, adding that it was going to take a while for the patrol to end.

"Guess it'd make things easier on us if you guys get with the program…can't say I'm holding out much hope for those two though…" the cat teased, gesturing the two blondes with his paw.

After another string of insults from the two, Morgana begins his explanation…

*Main Hall*

"W-Where am I?".

Rhyme looks around the main hall with wide eyes mixed with curiosity and genuine fear, clutching her bell. One moment she was at the school, caught Beat hanging around that Sakamoto punk, the transfer student and Neku, tried to get his attention, and then the next thing she knows, she winds up in a place that could only a new world…or a nightmare.

"I-Is this the castle they talked about? B-But how, how is this possible?" she asked quietly, trying to wrap her mind around this bizarre circumstance.

"Well…well…look what crawled into my castle,".

She snapped her head to see sauntering down the stairs with a legion of knights behind him, Kamoshida lecherously ogling her. Just like Neku had said, this may be Kamoshida physically, but the hairs on her back stood tall as if lighting had struck her. This terrifying air around him, the lack of shame and concern for witnesses, what could only be his true self within this world.

"Kamoshida…" she greets, timid and with fear as she takes a step back.

"That's "Master" to you, little lady," he sneered.

He snapped his fingers and commands his knights to bring his new toy, and like obedient dogs, they marched towards Rhyme. The girl darts her eyes left and right before setting her eyes on Kamoshida and taking a page from Beat, she dashes towards him. This catches the knights by surprise and their king as she speeds past them and runs up the stairs.

"GET HER! BUT DON'T DAMAGE HER!", orders the king as the knights scrambled after her.

As the girl runs for her life once more, her heart calls out to her brother…

A/N:

…sorry this was late.

I had more work on Saturday, and this took me all evening yesterday and today to do so at least its out now and hopefully I'll be posting on Sundays again.

Responses:

LazinessRules: Nobody is too old to enjoy games they love. Fight anybody who says otherwise!

KaisakiTokura:

A1: Easier said then done…I got one however.

A2: Go on…

A3: Ren and Neku are gonna be confidants but I mostly referring to romance wise.

Joshua will be making an appearance later~

jikker jack:

A1: Hades does sound good…but that's more closer to an anti-hero than someone like Beat. Thanks for the help!

A2: More fleshed out next time!

A3: Queen is the best…we shall consider her.

SnowTrue:

Lot to work on I'll admit, I'll be showing whose gonna be a confidant to who later on, and when I did mean romantically. I'll still have Joshua being himself when he's near Neku~

Thank you for the support.

KingJGamer:

I wanna try and avoid using normal Personas (or ones Ren has access to) otherwise it'd make Beat's less interesting. Neku is already going to be more tactical compared to Ren, hence his pins.

Each member of the TWEWY group will have their own set of powers compared to the Thieves, you'll see later on. Team ups and Showtimes will be a thing!

Questions:

Q1: Thoughts on this chapter?

Q2: Curious what Persona Beat and Rhyme are gonna get?

Q3: How were the Bito family?

Q4: Do you want more fights?

Q5: Kasumi's "first" appearance?

Q6: Want to see more TWEWY characters?

As always everyone, thanks for reading! Stay awesome but more importantly stay safe!