First target acquired
I'm just on a roll with writing for this; I blame the fact that I can write JokerxViolet right from the get-go, hahaha.
Anyway, on with the chapter!
Disclaimer: Persona 5 Royal belongs to Atlus
It's been almost two weeks since Akira's first training trip to Mementos and he is happy to say, he is gotten used to fighting literal folklore creatures and demons.
If he ever said that out loud to almost anyone, he would probably be called crazy… actually, that's not true, he would definitely be called crazy.
Still, he has to admit, there are various perks to fighting Shadows; getting stronger to fight Yaldy is the main one, of course, but for some reason the defeated Shadows drop money, actual REAL money, and he can even threaten them when they're down to get even more out of them instead of making them a part of his power; no reason to have two Goblins, for example.
Turns out that Shadows are really cooperative if they're on the ground and a gun is pointed at their head; who would have thought?
The teen did wonder how Shadows carry around money, not to mention how it is just magically added to his wallet or, if it's too much for him to carry, goes back to his room but he already learned that trying to make sense of that is useless. The Metaverse has proven time and again that common sense doesn't apply to it for the most part so he just accepts it at this point. He still gets curious but just accepts that 'this reality is different than mine' instead of getting a headache trying to figure out how it works.
Still, while he enjoys training, as Arsène mentioned before, it's good to take a break.
"Sounds like Coach Hiraguchi is working you to the bone." Akira said with a grin.
"She is." Sumire giggled.
For the black haired teen, the most relaxing moments he gets are when he gets to have lunch with Sumire on the Shibuya diner; about once every three to four days, depending on her schedule.
"There is a competition at the start of July and Kasumi and I are entering it." Sumire said happily but her smile faded after a moment. "Well… Kasumi will probably end up in the podium as usual."
"…right beside you, right?" Akira asked a bit cautiously.
"…"
"What's wrong?"
"I don't usually end in the top three to make it to the podium, if you add my slump on top of that..." She trailed off with a sigh.
"You still have an entire month, right? There is time."
"I suppose so, yes." The red haired girl nodded. "I'll have to try and get over my slump in that time."
"Tell me if there is anything I can do to help." Akira offered.
BEEP BEEP
"Ah, looks like we're out of time." Akira said as Sumire stopped the alarm on her phone. "Let's go."
"Yes." She nodded quickly; ever since their first lunch together, she has made it a point to prepare an alarm.
She does not want to get her coach mad for being late again.
"Thank you for coming with me." Sumire said once they were in Central Street.
"On the contrary, thank you." He smiled. "Good luck in your practice."
"Thank you… again." She bowed before turning on her heel and walking to the station.
Akira doing the same after a few moments.
"Welcome back." Morgana greeted Akira when he went upstairs after his shift at Leblanc was over.
"Hey, Morgana."
"How did your lunch with Sumire-san go?" Zorro asked.
"It went well." Arsène answered for him. "But there is something more important we should talk about."
"Yep." Morgana nodded as Akira sat on the couch and he moved to sit beside him. "The two weeks you said we should wait to see if we get any info are over and that man didn't show up again; so what now?"
The teen sighed.
'I don't like the idea of contacting Alibaba again but…'
"Before that, I would like to pose another question." Zorro chimed in, earning everyone's attention. "Do we have to do something?"
"What do you mean?" Akira asked out loud without realizing.
"Zorro means that there is not really a need for us to do anything." The not-cat began. "That man talked big but the Chief seemed like he can handle him and he already got the money he wanted; maybe we won't even need to do anything."
"That sounds too idealistic." Arsène mentioned. "If he got money once then he will want to get even more money later on; just ignoring the issue and hoping nothing happens is not a good course of action, if nothing else, we need to prepare in case something has to be done."
"But what else can we do? Do you want to contact Alibaba?" Morgana countered.
"…maybe…" Akira frowned in thought for a few seconds. "…can't hurt to try."
Without explaining anything else, he got up from the couch and walked downstairs; Arsène and Zorro followed him while Mona stayed near the stairs to listen in.
Sojiro was still there behind the counter, working on something.
"Sakura-san." Akira said to earn his attention.
"What is it?"
"…I get that you told me to mind my business but… it's about that man that came here about two weeks ago."
"Kid, I told you not to-"
"I know, I know but… I overheard that he threatened to expose my record… and about your daughter."
Sojiro's eyes widened.
"How did you…?!"
"You weren't being that quiet." He said simply. "I won't ask you what's going on or anything, I just want to know how I should deal with him if he comes around and you're not here."
"…" The older man glared at him for a few seconds before sighing. "Look, I'm dealing with that problem; I'll make sure he doesn't come around unannounced and leaves you alone, you just keep your head down."
"But still-"
"Kid." Sojiro's glare came back in full force. "Don't make me repeat myself."
"…" Akira had to fight the urge to glare back and he only left a defeated sigh before going back upstairs after a mumbled 'I understand'.
"Guess that didn't work, huh." Morgana said dejectedly.
"It was worth a shot." The teen shrugged. "What now?"
"Once again, the option to leave it alone is there." Zorro repeated.
"Not now, it isn't." Arsène grumbled. "Didn't you hear what Boss said? 'I'm dealing with the problem', present tense."
"Yeah, leaving it alone isn't an option anymore."
PING
Akira's phone pinged a notification and he walked to his bed and took it.
"So you have decided to do something." Akira held back a gasp at seeing a message from Alibaba. "My offer for information still stands; you just learned that asking Sakura Sojiro clearly won't work."
Wordlessly, he showed it to the other three.
"How the hell?!" Morgana shrieked.
"How does Alibaba know that you asked the Chief?!" Zorro added.
"This is… troubling." Arsène mumbled. "How could they know…?" Funnily enough, Akira was thinking about the exact same thing.
'No one was down there but Boss and I; I never even talked about asking Boss for more information about that man out loud; could they… could it be that they can hear Morgana and the Personas?' He felt a shiver run down his spine at the possibility. 'No, wait, don't jump to conclusions.' Taking a deep breath, he tried to analyze the situation again. 'I can't completely discard the possibility but… even if it's become normal for me, the Metaverse shouldn't be the first thing I think of.'
"Akira." Arsène called out, pulling him from his thoughts. "Could it be that Boss…?"
His eyes widened at the suggestion.
"Maybe…" Akira mumbled. 'But... would he go about asking me in this roundabout way?'
"So?" His phone pinged again with a message from Alibaba. "I'm waiting."
"…" Wordlessly, the black haired teen looked at this Persona and then downstairs.
"Got it." The pillager of twilight nodded and moved downstairs where Sojiro still was.
"How do you know I asked him?"
"I have my ways."
'The expected answer.'
"Akira." Arsène called out after a few seconds. "Boss didn't even take out his phone."
'So it's not him.' It wasn't his first choice to suspect Sojiro but better safe than sorry. 'Then…'
"I'll be blunt, while I am considering doing something, it's not as if I'm in any hurry; I can take my time and get information on my own so I don't see a reason to trust anything you say when I don't even know why you want to help me." Akira hit sent and added. "Saying 'I have my reasons' is not an answer I can work with." He sat on the couch in the time it took Alibaba to answer.
"…wait a minute."
Akira raised an eyebrow, wondering what Alibaba could be planning.
"Listen to this and tell me again if you're not in any hurry." An audio file followed that message.
A bit hesitant, he pressed play.
"Come on Sakura-san, I know you make enough money." That voice was definitely the man's that has threatened Boss.
"I already gave you money, why do you need even more?" Sojiro's voice followed.
"Ah, ah, ah; that's my business, I don't ask you about yours, do I? Not even the ones involving my niece."
"Grr…"
"You just have to keep printing the money and we will be just fine."
That was the end of the file.
"Son of a bitch…" Akira gritted his teeth.
"So? Are you sure you're just going to take your time?"
"…" Akira took a calming breath before replying. "This doesn't change anything, I still can't trust what you tell me without knowing your reasons; if anything, I'm even more worried since you're apparently able to wire-tap Sakura Sojiro's phone." It was half a bluff; while he certainly isn't keen on trusting Alibaba, it would be a lie to say that nothing changed.
"…I propose a deal." Alibaba replied. "I will tell you why I'm interested in something being done with that man if you tell me what you plan on doing."
"Why do I have to go first?"
The reply took a few seconds.
"Don't give me details of what you're doing, just vague information; in exchange, I'll tell you my reasons."
Akira frowned in thought and showed the message to the others.
"It still sounds dangerous." Morgana gave his opinion.
"But now we know that Alibaba really wishes to do something about that man." Arsène chimed in. "We know a bit more than before."
Akira moved a hand to his chin in thought.
'Think for a moment; a person that wants something to be done with that man, has access to Leblanc, cares about Boss, is able to hack… no, that last one shouldn't matter to me at the moment, there is no way for me to know who that could be.' He shook his head to dispel that thought and started again.
"If Alibaba will be affected by that man, it could explain why they want to do something about him." Zorro offered. "I don't know who that person could be, though."
"Hey, come on, don't leave me hanging like that."
'Damn it, should I accept?' Akira worked his jaw. 'Think; someone that could be affected, that cares about Boss… wait… this sounds almost impossible but…' He looked at the talking 'not-cat' and the two Personas invisible to everyone but him. "Hehe, I guess I have to redefine what 'impossible' means to me." The teen mumbled with a chuckle.
"Hm? Did you think of something?" Arsène asked.
Akira was actually surprised that he was the one to ask.
"For once, I can't tell what you realized."
"Give me a moment." He sent that to Alibaba before leaving his phone on the couch and moved to the desk to write on a notebook. "This is just a hunch but I believe it could help us decide if we should trust Alibaba or not; Zorro, I want you to go to Boss' house and look inside, see if there is anyone living there aside from him."
"Eh… I just want to say that I feel a bit bad about this." The Persona answered.
"Well, it's normal to be reluctant to enter someone's house uninvited." Morgana shrugged.
"Unless they deserve it." Arsène chuckled. "But I think Akira has an idea, let's see where this goes."
"If you find 'Futaba' stay with her and see what she's doing; if my hunch is right, she will be looking at her phone or a computer; I'll wait five minutes before answering to Alibaba."
"Got it." Morgana and Zorro said in unison before the former jumped down from the window, followed by his Persona.
'Now we wait.'
PING
Akira ignored his phone for the moment
.
.
"Alright, you're up." Morgana said as he stood close to the wall of the Sakura residence.
"Here goes nothing." Zorro answered as he phased through the wall and inside the house. 'Let's see…'
There didn't seem to be anything weird about the house, there were two floors and looked unoccupied for the moment since Sojiro was still at Leblanc.
After searching the first floor and finding nothing, Zorro moved to the second floor.
There, he saw a door with various 'caution' tapes around it and a large 'Private DO NOT ENTER' sign.
'Well, that definitely looks suspicious.' A bit hesitant, he passed his head through the door and saw inside.
The room looked incredibly messy and it was completely dark.
The curtains were shut to not let any sunlight in, the lights off, some garbage bags filled were on top of some boxes at the side, papers of all kinds on the floor; it was the definition of a mess.
The only spot that was a bit cleaner was on the opposite wall from the door.
Sitting at a computer, which was the only source of light in the room, was a young girl with long orange hair wearing a dark green shirt with stripped sleeves and green pajama shorts.
Zorro passed his entire body through the door and approached the girl, seeing her on her phone, a familiar logo on the messaging app.
And messaging Akira.
"He was right!" The Persona covered his mouth. "Oh, right, she can't hear me." He relaxed a bit. "I guess my work here is done." The Persona thought out loud as he turned around and left to tell Akira the news.
.
.
'…alright, I better answer before Alibaba gets too upset.' Akira thought five minutes after Morgana and Zorro left and walked back to the couch to grab his phone.
There were various messages from Alibaba urging him to give an answer, some of them sounding almost threatening.
"You're putting me in a difficult position; for all I know, you're on that guy's side and want to know what I will do to take measures." It was a really weak excuse since, if that was the case, there was no reason for Alibaba to contact him, just keeping his phone wire-tapped and listening to his conversations would be plenty.
Alibaba sent a reply saying that exact thing before the next message.
"No more beating around the bush; do we have a deal or no? Answer me now!"
"Akira!" Morgana jumped on the window.
"You were right, Alibaba is Futaba." Zorro told him. "She is looking at her chat with you right now and… I'm honestly amazed, she must be around your age, younger even."
The teen smirked as he typed his next message.
"We do and we don't."
"What?"
"I will make a deal with you but not the deal you offered." He hit send and then sent another message, just one word. "Futaba."
There was no move from the line for almost ten minutes after that, no denials, no threats, no 'don't contact me again', nothing.
"…how did you find out?" Alibaba, or Futaba, finally replied.
"It was a hunch at first but it made sense." He answered vaguely. "I must say, I'm impressed you're able to hack phones when you're so young; what are you, fourteen?"
"That doesn't matter." Futaba replied quicker than usual. "Are you going to tell Sojiro?"
Akira had to pause to consider.
"For the moment, no." He said. "I won't promise I won't ever tell him but I at least won't for now."
'I'd rather hear her side of the story before doing anything; she seemed to want to help Boss.'
"So, what do you want?"
"You said you will give me information on that man, right?"
"I can give you just about anything but…"
"What is it?"
"I won't tell you until I know what you will do with it; I don't want Sojiro to end up in trouble because you did something stupid while he was keeping an eye on you."
"Hm, that is actually understandable." Arsène thought out loud.
The other three nodded.
"Define 'something stupid'."
"Going to his house and beat him up… or worse."
'…oh, right, my record; duh!'
"Oh, we won't have any issues then." Akira typed. "I have no intention of causing him harm, I'll just have him… rethink his actions; I give you my word, whatever that's worth to you, that I won't even get near him."
"How will you make him 'rethink his actions' without getting near him?"
"I have my methods." A polite way of saying 'it's none of your business'. "So?"
"…what do you want to know?"
'Yes!' Akira fist bumped the air while Arsène chuckled.
Morgana and Zorro shared smug grins.
The black haired teen gave the cat a look that his Persona translated.
"Do we need anything aside from his name?"
"No, just the name will be plenty."
"I just need his name."
"Just that?"
"Yes."
"Weird… but alright; his name is Isshiki Youji."
Akira immediately went to the Meta-nav and repeated the name.
"Candidate found." The artificial voice answered.
"Is that really everything you need?" Futaba asked.
"Yes, that's plenty." He nodded.
"Only the name… seriously?"
'She is probably thinking that I would use something like blackmail and want any dirt she has on him.' Akira chuckled.
"I told you, remember? I have my methods."
'Wait… the meta-nav…'
"You just realized that you need your phone, the phone she likely has bugged, to enter the Metaverse and that she will likely be keeping a closer eye on you now; didn't you?" Arsène said matter-of-factly.
The teen face palmed, hard.
'Shit! What do I do now?!'
"You could tell her to stop listening to your conversations through your phone and threaten to tell the Chief if she doesn't?" Zorro suggested.
"But we have no way of knowing if she really stops or not; it's not like we can go and keep an eye on her at all times to check, doubly so since we need to go with Akira to the Metaverse." Morgana shook his head.
"For now… I guess I'll have to wait and see what happens." Akira said out loud.
"Huh?! But you just said you were gonna do something!"
Akira faked a surprised look before answering.
"So you heard that, huh?"
Once again, no answer for a few minutes.
'Gotcha.'
"You have my phone bugged; isn't that right?"
"…yes."
'I guess this works for now.'
"If you don't stop monitoring my phone I will tell Sakura-san about this and before you say anything about deleting our chat history or something like that; how do you think I was able to find out who you are?"
'Have I ever bluffed so much in my life before coming to Tokyo?' The teen couldn't help but wonder.
"I understand, I'll stop monitoring your phone." Akira fought back the urge to yell 'yes!' at the news but that urge disappeared when he read the next message. "Just… please hurry in dealing with that man…"
"Is there something you're not telling me?"
There was a pause of around twenty seconds before the next message.
"The audio file I sent you? It's a week old, I have others that are more… worrying." Akira grimaced. "Please, help Sojiro."
The teen blinked in surprise at the straightforward request and his expression softened.
"I'll start getting more information tomorrow and act accordingly; I trust you will stop your monitoring of my phone by then?"
"Yes."
That was the end of their conversation for the moment.
Mentally exhausted, Akira let his phone on the couch and moved to lie down on the bed.
'What a day…'
The next day.
Since arriving at Tokyo, Akira has a new-found appreciation for Sundays.
It is the one day of the week when he can go out at any time without having to worry about someone calling him out on not being at school and, right now, he really wants to start working on this 'Isshiki Youji' is case.
"Are we sure Futaba isn't listening in anymore?" Zorro asked.
"Even if she is, there is nothing we can do about it." Arsène sighed. "We can only hope she doesn't call Akira's bluff."
"I really don't like that 'hoping for the best' is the only thing we can do."
"That's funny, I thought 'hope' would be something you'd do a lot more." Akira said jokingly. "You know, considering what you wanted to be referred as when-"
"Oh, shut up!" Morgana snapped back making the teen chuckle. "In any case, we're here." The four were standing behind the alley on Central Street and Akira opened the Meta-nav. "Just say that guy's name before saying Mementos and we will have a way of tracking him."
"Alright; Isshiki Youji."
"Candidate found."
"Mementos."
"No candidates found."
"…what?"
"Oh, crap." Morgana and Zorro said in unison.
"What is it?" Akira asked.
"Do you remember what I explained about Mementos? It's the 'Palace of the general public', if this guy isn't there…"
"Then he has a personal Palace." Arsène concluded.
"…every time, every damn time, something new comes up to make things more difficult." Akira mumbled through gritted teeth. "So, what now?"
"We need to find out where his distortion is located and then what the distortion is." Morgana answered.
"And how do we do that?"
"Well… you have to guess."
"…of course I do." Akira let out a heavy sigh. "Well, I'd rather not just say random stuff here so let's go back to Leblanc and think there."
"Candidate found."
"…huh?" The four said in unison.
"That guy… his distortion is located in Leblanc." Zorro said with a mix of surprise and confusion. "Why there of all places?"
"I don't know but this is a struck of good luck." Arsène chuckled. "Although… aren't there risks in staying in Leblanc now that we know?"
"Don't worry, the Palace won't affect us unless we're in the Metaverse." Morgana assured him. "It's better if we don't enter while inside Leblanc, though, we don't know where inside the Palace we could end up if we do."
"…guess I'll have to find a spot somewhere in Yongen to enter."
"Oh, that's another thing; we can only enter a Palace if we're in proximity to it, not if we're too far."
"Define 'proximity'." Arsène requested.
"If we're outside of the subway station in Yongen-jaya, we should be good."
"That's a lot of ground we can use." Akira mumbled. "Well… we won't learn anything by staying here; let's go back."
A train ride back and the four were back in Yongen.
'Now, where can I enter the Metaverse?' Akira thought as the four looked for a spot they could use.
"How about the entrance to that clinic?" Zorro suggested, pointing at said place. "It's on a back alley so not many people will come around and if someone happens to see you, they'll think you're just coming out from seeing the doctor."
"Sounds good." The teen nodded, Morgana and Arsène doing the same after. 'I'll have to keep my voice down while thinking words, though.'
Akira moved to the entrance of said clinic, noting there didn't seem to be cameras in the entrance and the door wasn't made of glass nor had a window to see through it.
"Alright, this should work." Morgana grinned. "Time to find out that keyword."
"Any suggestions?" Akira asked.
"We don't know much about that guy except that he wants money and Leblanc is the center of the distortion so try stuff related to that."
"Alright… bank."
"No candidates found"
'Well, I wasn't expecting it to be that easy.'
"I doubt this but… café."
"No candidates found"
"Why would you try that?" Zorro asked.
"The café is how Boss earns money, I thought maybe that Isshiki guy would think of the place and the money it makes as his own." Akira explained.
"I guess I can see the logic but you have to think of a distortion; it wouldn't be called that if he saw Leblanc as a café." Morgana said.
"We'll have to keep that in mind for the future." Arsène thought out loud. "For now, though; try 'palace', referring to the ones where nobles would keep their belongings."
"Palace."
"No candidates found."
"Bar."
"No candidates found."
"…business?"
"No candidates found."
.
.
An hour later.
The four had tried every possible word they can think of but couldn't get the right one.
"No ca-"
"Yeah, yeah, we know." Zorro exclaimed. "I don't want to hear those words again for a while."
"I don't think guessing like this will get us anywhere." Arsène sighed.
"Yeah, let's take a break." Morgana suggested.
Akira nodded and put away his phone.
"Maybe we need to investigate the guy; there could be something that tells us his keyword." The teen whispered.
"We can ask Futaba; the way she was talking made it sound like she has information on that guy." Arsène mentioned.
"Yeah, but it sounded more like stuff that can be used to blackmail him, we need to know about him." Morgana said. "She is his niece, perhaps she knows something."
"…"
"What is it, Akira?"
"…wait until we're at Leblanc." He whispered.
.
.
A few minutes later, the four were in Akira's room after he told Sojiro that he just went out to get a book he needs to study.
"I've been thinking… why does Boss give that guy money?" Akira wondered.
"To avoid going to family court?" Zorro said, a bit unsure.
"But why? He is supposed to have custody, right? Why does that Isshiki guy threaten him and why does Boss take the threat seriously?"
"That's… a good question." Morgana mumbled.
"This is just a conjecture." Arsène chimed in. "But perhaps Futaba doesn't wish to see her uncle, or get involved in a trial; you two mentioned that the guy talked like he didn't care about her."
"Yeah." Zorro nodded. "And… well, her room was messy, really messy; I don't think Boss is treating her badly or anything but… there may be some circumstances we're not aware of."
"On top of that." Akira raised a finger. "Why have I not heard anything about Boss having a daughter? I only learned that because I asked you two to overhear that conversation."
"To be fair, Boss isn't the most talkative person." Morgana said with a small grin.
"That's not it; the strange thing isn't that Boss didn't tell him, it's that none of us ever suspected it before that man showed up." Arsène said, his partner nodded in agreement.
"Think about it; you said she was my age or younger, she should be going to school but I haven't heard anything about it; even if she is going and coming back on her own, 'Alibaba' knew things she shouldn't have known without keeping tabs on me almost 24/7." The teen explained. "I can understand that Boss didn't tell me because of my record or because he didn't want a stranger to get involved but the fact that I had no idea at all is strange."
"I understand all that… but why bring it up?" Morgana asked.
"I'm saying that their situation might be more complicated than we imagine and asking for more information after I said I only need the name could make her suspicious; worst case scenario, she reveals that I'm planning something."
PING
'…I have a bad feeling about this.' Never before has the sound of a message notification filled Akira with so much dread as it is now.
"I can at least promise you that I won't reveal what you're planning."
It took all of his self- control to not say anything after seeing that message coming from none other than 'Alibaba'.
"I thought we agreed that you would stop monitoring my phone." He answered.
"We did but I realized that there is no way for you to have tracked me that way." Futaba answered and continued before he could ask what she meant. "I did a thorough search of all my systems after our last conversation and found absolutely no trace of any sort of bugs, malware or anything you could have used to track me down; I may not know how you did it, yet, but I know that it wasn't because you traced me back from the messages I sent to your phone."
"Tch… she called our bluff." Arsène clicked his tongue (or the equivalent, Akira isn't sure if he has a tongue or can simply imitate the sound) while crossing his arms.
"Great, back to having conversation among us three and Akira writing in that notebook of his." Zorro sighed.
"Wait…" Akira trailed off before writing. "Why are you letting me know that you're still listening in, then?"
"… call it… a show of good faith." The four raised an eyebrow at the response. "You don't trust me, at least not much, but we share an objective; as long as you keep your end of the deal and do something about that man, I will not hinder you in any way; if you need more information, then all you have to do is ask. Revealing that I'm still keeping tabs on you is my way of showing that I'm not your enemy."
Akira's eyes widened in surprise at the response.
"I'll keep that in mind… why couldn't you just come see me in person instead of keeping tabs on my phone again? What if I really did track you that way?"
"If you are so good, or know someone so good, that they can track me back and I wouldn't notice at all then I wouldn't have been able to hack your phone in the first place. I did fall for your lie at first but it became clear the more I thought about it that it must have been a bluff."
'…she didn't answer the first question.' Akira noted for future reference.
"But enough about that, tell me what information you need."
"…what should we tell her?" Arsène asked towards Morgana and Zorro.
"I don't think we can ask 'do you know if your uncle has a distortion centered on Leblanc?' and get a response from that." The 'not-cat' frowned.
"Perhaps ask for general information about that Isshiki guy?" Zorro offered.
"Something more specific would be ideal but… wait!" Arsène exclaimed and looked at Akira who had a look of realization.
"You said you had more audio files of that Isshiki guy threatening Boss, right?"
"Yes…"
"Send them to me."
"…alright."
'Huh, that was easier than I thought… I guess she thinks I will use them to blackmail that man.'
"They're uploading now… are you sure you don't need anything else?"
Akira frowned before answering.
"Honestly? I'm not sure; this isn't something that I've done before but I should be able to learn something from the files that will help." He was about to press send but he added one more thing. "For now, I want to learn more about this man and what's happening before doing anything rash."
It took a few seconds to get a reply.
"Alright."
Their conversation stopped there and Akira saw the files, five in total, show up.
"Time to check." The teen took out a pair of headphones and put them on in case Sojiro comes up and hears him.
.
.
'…I wasn't sure if I truly needed to do something before but I am certain now.' Akira took a deep breath to calm down as he finished listening to the last file.
"I can tell by your face that those files say some really bad things." Morgana winced.
"That's putting it lightly, Morgana." He answered with a growl as he took off the headphones. "Long story short, the guy is obsessed with money; more than we initially thought."
"I think the long story could be useful so we can guess his keyword." Arsène noted.
"I don't think there is any need." The teen sighed as he got up. "I'm fairly certain I know his keyword, he kept repeating it in every damn file; unless it turns out I'm wrong, I'll spare you from having to listen to him."
"Well… that's good then." Zorro said. "Shall we go and find out?"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
.
They walked back to their spot at the nearby clinic and Akira took out his phone after checking there wasn't anyone seeing him.
"Isshiki Youji."
"Candidate found."
"Leblanc."
"Candidate found."
'Moment of truth.'
"Money printer."
"Candidate found. Beginning navigation."
"Nice!" Morgana cheered as the world around them shifted.
"…this is just all kinds of messed up." Akira, now in his Metaverse attire, thought out loud.
"You've said it…" Morgana, in his true form, agreed.
They hadn't even moved from the entrance of the clinic and the place already looked way different.
The buildings around all had a 'no value' sign plastered all over them to the point it covered the entire thing; everything from the clinic where he was standing at, to the cinema, the batting cages.
"This… this is how he sees Yongen, isn't it?" Akira asked.
"Yeah…" The not-cat sighed. "And this is just the area around the main distortion…"
"…better to get this over with, it's not like I will like how he sees Leblanc anyway." The teen took a deep breath and the two began to walk towards the café.
A few steps later and they were standing in front of the café Leblanc inside Youji's heart.
"I know you said it would be different from Mementos but I didn't know how much." Akira said as he moved his neck back to look up.
"Every Palace we find from now on will be different; there are no two people who are the same after all." Morgana answered, doing the same as him.
The entrance looked more or less the same, the only difference being that it was painted completely grey, but the real change was when one looked up.
'Leblanc' was still occupying the same space as in the real world but was now a large tower that looked like it should collapse on its own weight; large pieces that Akira could only guess were rooms and/or corridors were sticking out from the center of the tower in various places making it look like a man-made tree more than a building.
"So there is a 'Treasure' somewhere in there, huh?"
"Yep, I can smell it."
"…do you mean that literally?" Akira couldn't help but grin.
"Yes." Morgana nodded proudly. "Now we need to find a way to it; there will be another step we need to take before we can steal it but I'll tell you about it after we secure the route."
"Alright, let's get going."
"Wait!"
The teen stopped mid-step.
"Just one last thing, we need codenames."
"…why?"
"This is the 'world inside Isshiki Youji's heart', the shadows here will be loyal to him and his other self will learn what they know; what do you think could happen if we go around using our real names and they hear us?"
"Isshiki will know them too…? But wait, doesn't that mean we have to avoid being seen at all."
"Not exactly, this is something like his subconscious; what happens here will affect him but he can't know what's going on."
"So if we use our names and his Shadow hears them, his other self in the real world will be affected and react badly to us?"
"Yep; it's the same principle as when an ad for food plays and you suddenly feel hungry."
"…I'm not sure I like that comparison but alright, codenames… should we use our Personas' names?"
"That would get confusing real soon." The not-cat sighed. "You come up with one for me, I actually already thought of one for you." He smirked.
"…did you avoid mentioning the codenames until now just so you had time to think and I didn't?" Akira smirked jokingly.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about." Morgana said, glancing away.
"Hehe, alright, alright… I'm not calling you 'Hope' if that's what you were hoping for… I just realized what I said."
"I didn't expect you to but come on, just think of one."
"Well-"
"It better not be 'cat'!" He interrupted. "Or 'Feline'!"
"Hehe, alright, alright, give me a sec, I'm honestly not good at coming up with names." He rested a hand on his chin in thought as he stared at his partner. "…Mona?"
"…seriously, Mona?"
"It's short for your name and, like I told you before, I'm not good at coming up with names." Akira shrugged. "Feel free to change it if you want."
"…nah, it's fine." Morgana shrugged. "Ready to hear your codename?"
"Sure."
"Joker."
"…I like it." The teen smirked. "Reference to the power of the wild card?"
"Yep!" Mona grinned before turning to the building. "Now, let's begin our infiltration, Joker."
"Alright, Mona." Joker answered with a smirk as he adjusted his gloves.
Here is another one!
I know, I know, I'm stopping just before the Palace but, this might just be me, I feel like this is the best place to stop from a narrative perspective.
Similar to how I ended chapter 3 with 'you can call me Alibaba'.
Anyway!
Next chapter you will see the interior of that Palace, promise.
I think that's it for now; I hope you enjoyed the chapter and don't forget to leave a comment! It's my fuel, hehehe.
Until next time!