This chapter was posted today because someone on Twitter asked if I could post the next chapter to this story on their birthday!

...At least, that's what I WOULD say, if their birthday wasn't almost exactly 2 months ago. Happy belated birthday to you, buddy.

June 24th, 20XX (Friday)

Afternoon - Shujin Academy

After what felt like an eternity, the next day had finally come. And, from Toya's perspective, the atmosphere of the entire world felt… different. It felt brighter, and full of hope. It was a good feeling that he couldn't shake, not that he minded. His entire mood was visually different, and anyone who was paying any kind of attention to him would be able to tell.

Unfortunately for him, there was someone that was paying very close attention, someone that was in the same class as him: Ren Amamiya, the leader of the Phantom Thieves. After the scene he witnessed yesterday after class, he didn't think Toya would be in a good mood at all-yet for some reason, that isn't the case at all. Toya's happier than usual; and on top of that, he's interacting with Mishima. Those two didn't look to be on amazing terms yesterday, but today… That's different. It was like they were best friends this entire time. He took his phone out, opening his messages and typing something to his friends.

REN: You guys remember what we heard yesterday, right?

RYUJI: Y'mean that group of three, talkin' about a bank or somethin'?

REN: Yeah.

REN: ...Something's bothering me about it.

ANN: You noticed it too?

RYUJI: Huh?

REN: Toya and Mishima are acting like nothing ever happened. Like they're best friends.

REN: Doesn't that seem weird to you?

RYUJI: I mean, a little…

RYUJI: But c'mon, it's probably nothing! Those two were probably just going through some stuff, but they met up and talked it out!

ANN: Yeah. This is probably nothing. Kind of weird, but nothing bad.

RYUJI: Exactly! Besides, we're probably just bein' antsy cuz we haven't done anything as Phantom Thieves in like, a month!

RYUJI: We gotta get a new target already!

"..." Despite Ryuji's attempt at reassurance, Ren couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something. He had no idea what, but… There was definitely something going on. Something that he couldn't figure out yet.

"This is really getting to you, huh?" Morgana whispered from inside of Ren's desk, slightly poking his head out. "You know, there's no harm in following them around after school to see if they're hiding something."

"I can't just stalk them…" Ren replied underneath his breath. "Besides, what if they see me?"

"Hey, I'm the master of being stealthy! I'll make sure they never see you!"

"We literally found you locked in a prison cell…"

"T-That was a different time!" Ren chuckled in response to that. "Anyway, it's still a good idea. If they're not up to anything, then we'll just leave them alone." As Morgana spoke, Ren heard the sound of the bell ringing, signaling the end of classes for the day. As the bell rang, he saw Toya move towards the front of the room to where Mishima was sitting. The two of them nodded at each other and left the room.

"...Alright. Let's get moving quick." Ren picked his bag up and got out of the room, trying to keep some distance between him and the other two, but not enough to the point where he'd lose sight of them. He ultimately followed them outside, where they met up with Makoto. "She's the student council president, right? Why's she hanging out with them...?" He whispered, trying to get a better understanding of the entire situation. It was the same group of 3 as yesterday, and they seemed to be in high spirits-especially compared to before.

They didn't waste any time in walking away from the school, heading toward the nearby subway station. Ren knew it'd be a lot harder to effectively hide from them in a place so crowded, but he tried it regardless. "Just stay in a crowd. They won't notice you if you blend in with everyone else." Morgana spoke from inside the bag as Ren went down into the subway station. He had no problems getting on a train unnoticed, and made it a point to stay out of sight.

"So it's a bank now, right? How do we get there?" He overheard Mishima talking to the rest of the group.

"We shouldn't talk about this here. Let's wait until we're off the train, alright?" Toya responded to him. Ren sighed, knowing that it would have been too easy if he just overheard everything . It was enough to confirm that they have something to hide though, which was definitely a step up compared to what he knew before. "Just make sure you stick next to us and we'll be there in no time." Ren put his hands on his pockets and closed his eyes. He had no choice but to wait until they got off the train and follow them after.

June 24th, 20XX (Friday)

After School - Shibuya

"...I don't like this feeling." Osiris spoke in a soft tone, getting Toya's attention.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"It feels like we're being watched… Is somebody following us?" Toya stopped and turned his head, but he couldn't spot anyone that seemed like they were following him, aside from Makoto and Mishima.

"Doesn't look like it… Pretty sure you're just imagining things."

"Maybe, but still…"

"Don't worry. Even if someone's trying to follow us, we'll lose them as soon as we get into the Metaverse. Just gotta make sure nobody sees us go in, and we'll be fine!" Toya reassured, before signaling Makoto and Mishima to follow him into the nearby alleyway while pulling his phone out of his pocket.

Ren couldn't speed up from within the crowd. Everyone around him was moving too slowly, and it took him a bit of time to actually slip away. He couldn't see the group anymore, but he remembered the direction that they went in. He sped up to try and catch up to them, still making sure to act like he wasn't just following them. He ended up following the trail and finding himself at the entrance to an alleyway, but… There was nobody inside. He couldn't see a single person, it was just… empty. "Did… Did I go the wrong way?"

"That's impossible… They definitely went this way!" Morgana yelled, prompting Ren to go further into the alley, checking to make sure he wasn't just missing them. But, no matter where he looked… He couldn't find anything.

"Where could they have gone? It's not like they could just disappear into thin air-"

He felt his hair stand up straight.

"...Morgana?"

"Hm?"

"...We're in Shibuya. Right underneath us is the subway station. And, in the Metaverse… That turns into Mementos, right?" He spoke in a soft and careful tone while slowly taking his phone out.

"Well, yeah… Why?"

"If they disappeared, then is it possible that they…" His words trailed off, but Morgana knew what he was implying. The idea of it shook him as well, but he couldn't deny that it was possible. He didn't verbally respond. Instead he looked up at Ren with confused, and nervous eyes.

REN: They disappeared.

ANN: Hmm?

REN: The three of them vanished into thin air.

REN: ...In the middle of Shibuya.

ANN: Wait, did you follow them!?

RYUJI: Hold on. What do you mean they disappeared?

RYUJI: You sure you didn't just lose 'em?

REN: I'm positive.

REN: They went into an alley, and by the time I went in, they were gone. There's no trace of them at all.

REN: They… Might have gone into Mementos.

RYUJI: Whoa, what!?

REN: It makes sense. That's what happens whenever we go there, right?

REN: They were even in the middle of the city. There's nowhere else they could be.

RYUJI: We gotta check! I'll be there in a minute!

YUSUKE: Please wait a moment.

YUSUKE: We're not together. Is entering Mementos when we're not together really such a good idea?

ANN: I'm with Yusuke on this one…

ANN: I don't like the idea of us stalking someone, either.

ANN: Besides, doesn't Toya know who we are? What if we made him mad and he leaked it?

RYUJI: Well…

REN: ...You're right.

RYUJI: Huh!? You wanna drop this!?

ANN: We're in the same class as him. If something is really wrong, then we'll notice it.

ANN: But going after a guy who might not have done anything wrong is just jumping the gun, don't you think?

RYUJI: I mean yeah, but…

"..." Ren stopped to think. Could this be explained any other way? Was it actually possible that he had just lost them? It probably was, now that he looked back on it. He was in the crowd for quite some time. Maybe he did see it wrong. Maybe he was overreacting. But… Something in his gut was telling him that he wasn't wrong about this. He couldn't explain exactly why, and there was a good chance that he was wrong. But even still, he couldn't just write off this feeling, no matter how hard he tried.

"You think that they went in, huh?" Morgana chimed in, poking his head out of Ren's bag and looking up at him.

"...Yeah. I don't really see where else they could have gone."

"Well, maybe they did go into the Metaverse, but I don't know if we'll find them in Mementos."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember what they were saying on the train? They were talking about going to a bank. If that's the case… then they probably didn't go into Mementos."

"You mean… They're in a Palace…!?"

"Maybe. We can't say for sure. Either way, we're not going to get anywhere by just standing around here. Let's head home and think things over some more." Ren nodded. Morgana had a point-there wasn't anything that they could really do about all of this. They had no choice but to just move on. If something was really wrong… then that would reveal itself sooner or later.

June 24th, 20XX (Friday)

After School - Kaneshiro's Bank (Laundering Office)

"Okay, One… Two… Three!" On the count of three, Toya and Makoto turned the keys to the giant vault that they found last time they were in Kaneashiro's Bank. The gears of the vault began spinning, and before they knew it, the path forward opened up. "There! That wasn't too bad!"

"We got the timing wrong three times…" Makoto said, closing her eyes and taking a sigh of relief.

"Well… At least it's open! Progress, right?"

"I suppose…" Makoto opened her eyes, staring at what was beyond the vault-shaped door. A long, narrow hallway with a door at the end of it, as well as money practically falling from the sky, floating through the air. "On that map we found, this was the last room. I was hoping that the 'Treasure' would be behind that, but instead… We might not even be close."

"Yeah… I wonder if there's a second map lying around somewhere? It'd help a lot…"

"Your wish is my command!" Said a voice coming from above. Toya and Makoto looked up to see Mishima descending down from the floor above, from within his suit of armor. "While I was looking around, I found thi s !" He triumphantly held a map up to the sky, much to the surprise of the others.

"Seriously!? Awesome!" Toya congratulated Mishima and walked towards him, taking the map out of his hands and looking over it.

"I thought you agreed not to go off exploring on your own! Do you have any idea how much trouble you would've been in if you ran into Shadows while the two of us were trying to open this!?" Makoto tried scolding him, being the most sensible of the bunch. But Mishima mostly shrugged it off, his excitement proving too strong.

"Come on! You can't bring me to a whole new world like this and expect me not to look around! Especially when I have Galahad!" He started floating around the room and laughing to himself, leaving Makoto mostly speechless. She decided to turn the other cheek and looked towards Toya, who was still checking the map.

"Kaneshiro's Treasure is probably pretty deep in here… that said…" Toya trailed his finger along the map, before pressing down on one spot. "There! This is where the Treasure should be!" Makoto stepped towards him and looked at where he pointed; as did Mishima, who was coming down from the sky.

"That's still pretty far away. We've got a lot of work ahead of us." Makoto said, taking a step back and taking another look down the narrow hallway.

"Yeah, but it looks like we're at least halfway done with this place, if not more. We can totally find his Treasure today!" Toya put the map away and stepped next to Makoto, with Mishima behind them. They stepped into the pathway that was behind the vault, and we're immediately taken aback by just how much money there was. It was ridiculous. More money than anyone could ever need. It was overwhelming, and, in a way… infuriating. "This money… It all probably represents all the money he's taken from blackmailing people. Right?" Toya clenched his fist. "I guess this is why Kai wanted me to deal with this guy. But still…!"

"That just means we gotta stop this guy. Change his heart and make him pay!" Mishima's innocent excitement gave a weird sense of reassurement that Toya couldn't fully describe. Regardless, he was right. The three of them had to focus on getting to Kaneshiro's Treasure and taking it from him. With that in mind, the three continued forward. Turning a corner, they found another hallway, but this time with two security cameras and two Shadows.

"There's no getting past them quietly. We can't get spotted by the cameras, otherwise more Shadows are gonna show up." Makoto tried evaluating the situation, staring at the scene for another moment before reaching a conclusion. She turned her head towards Toya. "The cameras are turning on and off, but our window of passing through them while they're off is too short with the Shadows there. You're gonna need to take care of the cameras."

"Easy." Toya got up and started drawing his bow, aimed at the first camera. "This one's an easy shot, but the other one is gonna take a second to aim. I'm gonna need you to distract the Shadows while I go for it."

"That's fine. Let's go." She signaled Mishima to follow her, while Toya stayed behind and kept his eye on the camera. He waited for them to get close, before shooting an arrow straight at the camera in his sight. It pierced right through it, effectively destroying the camera instantly. The Shadows instantly noticed it and looked to see who did it, but by the time they did, Toya had ducked down and gotten out of sight. Not only that, but Makoto and Mishima were approaching them, ready to fight.

"Intruders!" The shadows yelled out, before transforming into their real forms. They were two of the same red demons that they saw last time they were here. After what they saw in Mementos yesterday, this was nothing too Makoto, she wasn't even slightly concerned about it. One of the two immediately rushed into her, trying to smash its massive blade down onto her. But as soon as it started moving, Mishima took the chance to use his Persona's power to slow the demon down, making it more than easy enough for Makoto to dodge. With the free opportunity she had to attack, she quickly raised her leg and into the air and delivered a roundhouse kick right to the demon's head, sending it back the other way and onto the ground, dissolving into nothingness only moments later. She was happy with how much stronger she was getting, taking a moment to really take in how much different things were compared to a week or two before.

"Behind you!" Mishima yelled, snapping her out of her moment's respite. Makoto turned her head and saw the other demon looming over her, ready to strike. But before it could do anything, an arrow was shot directly into its eye, pushing the monster back away from her. This was followed up by a hook piercing its chest, and Toya being dragged through the air with his hand in a fist, punching the shadow as soon as he got in close and sending it down to the ground, finishing it off entirely.

"I take my eye off of you for a couple seconds, and you got yourself in that much trouble?" Toya said, looking back with a sarcastic grin on his face. Makoto pouted a little, averting here yes away. It was a bit embarrassing, needing to be saved like that when it was a situation she could have handled on her own. It made her realize that her own strength wasn't the only thing that mattered, though. If she wanted to get through this without needing to be saved, she needed to be more aware of her surroundings in the Metaverse, too. Still, this was good motivation for her, and good tell of what she needed to focus on from here on.

The group continued on without many problems. They were able to avoid a lot of Shadows that they saw, and whenever they did have to fight, it was nothing that they had to be concerned about. The three of them made a surprisingly good team. Mishima was able to weaken every foe that they ran into, while Toya and Makoto were both smart and strong enough to find an easy way to deal with them. They kept going through the bank, until they found themselves in a large, large room, with multiple flights of stairs throughout it. They looked around for a minute, until something caught Toya's attention. At the very bottom of the room, surrounded by multiple guards, was the shadow of Kaneshiro, with a troubled look on his face. Toya looked back to Makoto and Mishima, putting one finger to his lips to signal them to keep quiet, then started slowly moving ahead with the two following close behind. They slowly moved down the nearby stairs, still doing their best to stay out of sight but getting in close enough to start making out what Kaneshiro was saying.

"Security has been reinforced, sir. There's no way that anyone will be able to sneak in from this point."

"Good.. That better continue to be the case, you hear? Under no circumstances can anyone let those rats slip in here again!"

"That's Kaneshiro's voice… So this is his Shadow, right?" Mishima asked, not having gotten a good look at him yet.

"Yeah, that's him alright." Toya did his best to peek over at the scene whilst remaining hidden. "There's three other Shadows there… They look tough. Nothing like the ones we've been dealing with until now."

"Let me get a look." Mishima took Toya's place and looked over. He saw the Shadows that Toya was talking about, and right behind them… he saw Kaneshiro. The sickly purple skin, along with the tiny mustache and everything else about his appearance. "WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING!?" He blurted out without thinking, quickly alerting everyone nearby.

"So much for being stealthy…" Osiris rang out in Toya's head, not sounding very surprised, but still disappointed. Mishima looked back towards Toya and Makoto, who were… struggling to actually respond to what had just happened. Ultimately, Makoto was the one who spoke up.

"Well, no point in hiding now. Let's move!" On her call, the three of them moved in, stepping up to Kaneshiro.

"How did you get this far!? What about my security!?"

"Come on. You call that security? We barely even had to think about any fight that we got into!" Toya put his hand to his mask, ready to fight right here and now. Kaneshiro took a nervous step back, turning his gaze to the guards.

"H-Hey, finish off these vermin here! Keep them away from the elevator at all costs!" He did his best to be assertive about it, but he wasn't able to fully hide the nervousness that was in his voice. Regardless, his security was loyal, and intended on doing exactly as he said. The three Shadows stepped forward and quickly took their true forms. Toya and Makoto could recognize the ones on the right and the left. The large pink demon with long hair, and the blue demon with a hole where its face should be. The one in the middle, however, was entirely new to them. They couldn't tell what it was, due to the golden armor and helmet it was wearing. Something about that made it even more intimidating than the other two.

"You took that pink one on your own last time. Think you can do it again?" Toya asked, turning over to Makoto.

"I don't think that's a good idea. Last time we ran into it, there were only two, so we could split up and be fine. But now there's three of them… One of us will get overwhelmed like that. Unless…" She stopped for a moment, before hatching an idea. "I'll keep two of them distracted. You take down the other one and even the odds!"

"Wha-!? Are you sure that you can-" Before Toya could finish his thought, Makoto summoned and mounted on top of her Persona, charging into both the pink and armored demons. The two of them dodged out of the way and looked towards her, diverting their attention solely at her as she began driving around the room. "She's supposed to be the smart one! Ugh… Mishima, cover her! I'll deal with this thing on my own!" He yelled, shifting his focus to the leftover blue demon, who was trying to assist the other two. He quickly aimed his bow at one of its arms, specifically the one that it held its sword in. The impact was enough to make the monster drop its sword onto the ground. It quickly turned back, facing Toya. Somehow, even without a face, Toya could make out the angry expression it had.

The demon brought its hands together, seemingly charging some kind of attack. It let out a loud, frustrated grunt, and pushed its hands out towards Toya, unleashing a powerful surge of wind. Toya raised one arm up to try and block the attack, but the force of it was still enough to push him back. He planted his feet firmly in the ground as the onslaught of wind tried relentlessly to blow him away. With his free hand, he took aim at the nearby wall before shooting his grappling hook at it, dragging him towards it and out of the way of the wind.

"Don't give it another chance to do that. Finish it now!"

"Working on it!" Toya quickly took his bow out again, aiming at the demon that was still turning around to face him once more. He fired an arrow at it, and then started rushing forward. The demon easily hit the arrow out of the air, without much effort at all. However, Toya didn't shoot the arrow with the intention of it directly doing damage. Instead, he used it as a distraction to get in close. He quickly unmasked himself as he got close to the Shadow, summoning his Persona and using it to get a clean hit off. The attack was a success, but it wasn't nearly enough to finish it off entirely. Still, it was enough momentum for Toya to get an advantage in the fight.

While Toya was keeping himself busy on one side of the room, Makoto used the entire other side of the room to distract the other demons. Thanks to her Persona, she was able to easily out-maneuver the relatively slow Shadows that she was in charge of distracting. She was easily able to drive circles around them, without ever getting hit once. That is, until the demons began to wise up, and figured out a way to deal with her. The pink demon spun its blade around in its hands, before suddenly, it created a large, sharp chunk of ice on the ground. It was well aware that it couldn't possibly reach Makoto with the attack, but it didn't need to. While it was using its magic, the armored demon raised one fist into the air and slammed the ground, creating a visible shockwave that was headed straight for Makoto. She was able to easily see it coming, so she had an easy time dodging out of the way.

"Watch out! It's a trap!" Mishima yelled out, trying to warn Makoto of the danger that she was headed straight into. She didn't realize it at first, but after a moment, she realized exactly what he had meant. After moving out of the way of the attack, she unknowingly began driving straight into the massive chunk of ice that was created by the pink demon. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to drive out of the way, she had to get out the only other way that she could think, which was jumping off of the bike, letting it crash into the ice without her. "Just running around isn't going to work forever against both of them. You need to take one down!"

"That's easier said than done… It's not like I can beat them in just one hit." She responded, regaining composure after landing on the ground. The two Shadows were starting to slowly approach her, and she could tell that her options were getting more limited.

"Wait… I can see something..." Mishima whispered to himself, focusing on the Shadows, namely the pink one. It had a weakness… Somehow, with the use of his Persona, he could see its weakness. "Your Persona uses Nuclear attacks, right!? That pink one is weak to it! I'll lower its defenses, so give it everything you have!" Makoto was unsure, but she decided to trust him, not having many other options available to her. She quickly resummoned her Persona, waiting for his signal.

"Johanna!" As soon as she saw the blue aura appear around the demon signaling that its defenses had been lowered, she unleashed a blast of nuclear energy directly onto it. And, just as Mishima thought, it hurt a LOT more than Makoto thought was possible from just one attack—evident by the pain written on the Shadow's face as it got hit. But it wasn't finished-at least, not yet. However, this was the perfect opportunity for Mishima to take charge. Flying in with his gauntlets engulfed in a bright light, he pushed his hands out and let out a blast of almighty energy, directly aimed at the pink Shadow that Makoto had weakened.

The blast was enough to send the Shadow flying all the way to the other side of the room, where Toya was dealing with the remaining faceless demon. The pink demon clashed directly against the back of the blue one, sending the blue demon to the ground and finishing off the pink one, causing it to disappear.

"Jeez! Talk about an assist…" Toya said, looking over at the other side of the room and seeing Mishima hyping himself up after finishing one off, while Makoto was starting to fight against the armored Shadow. He could tell that it was significantly stronger than the other two, so Makoto probably wouldn't be able to take it down on her own. Toya had to finish up the blue Shadow that he was already fighting as soon as he could, so he could help. Thankfully, it didn't take too much more effort. The impact that the other Shadow made when it collided against it did a lot more damage than anything Toya had done on his own thus far. All he had to do was unmask one more time, and use his Persona to let out a blast of dark magic, ending the fight. "Okay! Now I just have to…" His words trailed off as he looked over to the other side of the room, and saw Makoto unable to do any kind of substantial damage against the remaining armored Shadow. It was even stronger than he thought it was.

"Nothing in your own arsenal can do much against that thing. But that shouldn't be a problem for you, right?" Toya didn't know what Osiris meant at first, but then he looked at the ground, and saw that the blue demon's sword was still on the ground.

"Worth a shot…!" He ran over to the large double-sided blade on the ground, grabbing it from the middle and slowly lifting it up. "This thing is HEAVY! Is this really gonna work?"

"Of course it will. Just… don't miss." Toya started slowly moving forward, doing his best to not make a sound so he could get a pre-emptive strike.

"Miss that thing? No way!" Slowly gaining speed, Toya began closing the distance between them. He pulled the sword back and got in as close as he could, before shoving it forward and straight into the Shadow's back.

"What the-!?" Makoto jumped back as the sword pierced through the Shadow's chest, before it ultimately fell to the ground and disappeared. "Did-did you just…?"

"That thing… is SO much heavier… than it looks…" Letting the sword fall to the ground with a loud thud, Toya took deep breaths and put his hands on his knees.

"Hey, uhh… Did you two see where Kaneshiro went?" Mishima asked, looking around the room.

"Didn't he say something about wanting to keep us away from the elevator? If I had to guess, he probably went down there." Makoto answered, walking towards the elevator and pressing the button to call it back up. "Come on. We should be close to the end now."

June 24th, 20XX (Friday)

After School - Kaneshiro's Bank (Treasure Room)

After getting through one more big room, the three of them had finally gotten to the end. Or at least… what they thought was the end. Going down the last elevator that they could find, and entering the last room on the map, they found themselves in a large room, with some kind of… orb of mist, floating in the air.

"Okay, so uhhh… What is that?" Mishima asked with a curious tone, tilting his head and taking a closer look at it.

"Well, this has to be the room with the Treasure, right? So that means… that's the Treasure, right? Even though it's all… foggy?" Toya walked closer and tried touching it, but his hand went right through it. "Well, that's… Certainly not what I was expecting."

"This is when the Phantom Thieves usually send their calling card, isn't it?" Osiris had a point. Toya relayed the message to Makoto and Mishima, in hopes that they'd be able to make better sense of it than he was.

"A calling card… I see… making the target believe that the Treasure is in danger will cause it to materialize. That's quite a bold trick." Makoto said, having figured out what the next step was, or at least what they thought it was. Toya and Mishima stood there mostly dumbfounded, trying to wrap their heads around what Makoto had just said.

"So we have to make Kaneshiro think we're gonna take his Treasure by… telling him we're gonna take it?"

"At least, that's what makes the most sense to me. In a world of cognition… the Palace ruler's head probably determined a lot of things about the surroundings. It'd make sense if one of those things was the Treasure's materialization." Makoto tried explaining it to Mishima, who was still somewhat lost. Either way, the one thing that they knew was that there was nothing else for them to do here. Somewhat reluctantly, the three of them turned around, making their ways back to the real world.

June 24th, 20XX (Friday)

Evening - Kazero Household

"Kai! Are you home?" Toya called out to his brother, walking into his home for the first time since he left for school, even though it was considerably late already. He had already said his goodbyes to Makoto and Mishima, who had to get to their own homes before their respective family members started to get worried.

"Jeez, you took your sweet time getting home. Do you have any idea how late it is?" Kai said, his voice coming from the living room. Toya walked in to greet him and sat down on the couch next to him. "Why were you out for so long, anyway?"

"I was in Kaneshiro's Palace the entire time. We're finally at the end!"

"Wait, already!? I didn't think a change of heart could happen that fast…"

"Hold on. His heart didn't get changed just yet. That's why I wanted to talk. We might need your help with this last step."

"You need my help? I don't think I'm gonna be much help in that world."

"No, but we don't need you to do anything there. We need your help with stuff in the real world. Specifically, we need help with delivering the calling card. Turns out it's not just for show… it's a necessary step for changing someone's heart."

"You're telling me that wasn't the Phantom Thieves just being cocky?"

"As far as we can tell, no. It looks like we'll need to make sure Kaneshiro knows that he's in danger. And to do that… we'll need the calling card."

"Alright. So, what, you need me to deliver it to him? I can get that done tonight."

"Well… I don't think it's gonna be that easy. I don't think he'll take it seriously if we just slide it under his door or something. We might need to go a little further."

"...'A little further'. And what exactly did you have in mind?"

"Oh, y'know… Just uhh… planting cards all over the city."

"WHAT?"

"L-Listen! There needs to be a huge threat! And there's no way he'll miss something like that , right?"

"You want to graffiti an entire city to send a message? Is that really necessary!? Hell—is that even possible to do?"

"If I do it late enough at night, nobody will see anything! There'll be plenty of time!"

"By yourself!?"

"Yyyyeeeeaaaah… About thaaaaat... Remember when I said that I need your help? Weeeelllllllllll…"

"...Oh my god. You cannot be serious."

"Please! Makoto and Mishima won't be able to help that late at night! You're the only hope we have at making this work!"

"Do you have ANY idea how illegal this is!? If either of us get caught, then—"

"If we don't do it, then Kaneshiro wins! We can't do this any other way!"

"But…" There was a pause as Kai tried to figure out how to persuade his pleading brother that this was a horrible idea. He knew how bad of an idea it was, and yet… despite his best efforts, he couldn't find the right way to say no. "...Fine. We'll do this tomorrow night. This better work, you hear me!?"

"Yes! Thank you! I'll make sure it works, I promise!" Toya cheered in excitement. It was hard for Kai to remain annoyed after hearing his brother so excited, but he still wasn't happy.

"What the hell am I going to do with you…" He took a long, deep breath before standing up. "I'm gonna go for a walk. You'd be better off staying up late tonight. It'll take a while for us to desecrate an entire city." Saying that outloud gave Kai a chill down his spine. He couldn't believe that he was actually going through with such a crazy plan. He walked out of the room and the house, leaving Toya to himself.

"Yes! Mission accomplished!" Toya could barely contain his excitement. He quickly took out his phone, texting his partners in crime.

TOYA: Kai agreed to help! Everything's coming together!

MISHIMA: Seriously!? Sweet! When's this gonna happen?"

TOYA: Tomorrow night. You think you can get the calling cards ready by then?

MISHIMA: Consider it done! We can start tomorrow after school!

MISHIMA: Making copies will be easy, so we just gotta make the first one!

MAKOTO: I've started writing it already. I'll be done by the time school ends tomorrow.

MISHIMA: Sweet! That takes care of everything then!

TOYA: Actually, there's one more thing I wanted to bring up.

TOYA: We're not sending the calling card as the Phantom Thieves, are we?

MAKOTO: I… hadn't thought about that yet. I suppose it doesn't make a difference.

MISHIMA: Wouldn't it be easier to pretend like we're the Phantom Thieves, though?

TOYA: Yeah, but… I don't wanna be compared to them, y'know? I wanna be something else.

TOYA: We're a group too, right? We can be way more than the Phantom Thieves!

TOYA: So let's do it. Let's send this as an entirely different group!

MAKOTO: I admit, we could probably get things done a lot more efficiently than them once we're more accustomed to the Metaverse…

MAKOTO: Not to mention, based on your opinion of them, I'm not sure I want to act under their guise either...

MAKOTO: Sure. Let's do it.

MISHIMA: Aw yeah, now I'm getting excited!

MISHIMA: Hey, I just got an idea. Let's come up with code names!

MAKOTO: Code names…?

MISHIMA: Yeah! Special names to call each other in the Metaverse! You know, in case we run into the Phantom Thieves, or something!

TOYA: Come to think of it, I think I remember them using code names too…

TOYA: Alright, why not? Code names it is! You two got any ideas for yours?

MAKOTO: Hmm…

MAKOTO: I'd like something that sounds a bit refined. How about… Queen?

TOYA: Queen… Yeah, that fits!

TOYA: How about you, Mishima? You got anything?

MISHIMA: It's gotta be Knight! It fits perfectly with my Persona!

MISHIMA: And you can be King! That way we all match! It's perfect!

TOYA: H-Hold on, I don't think that fits! I'm not really the kingly type, y'know?

MISHIMA: Aww… But it fits so well…

MAKOTO: If not that, then what? Do you have a better idea?

TOYA: Hmm…

Toya paused for just a second, before it came to him. He already had a code name, and has had one for months. He had never thought about it as anything more than a nickname until that very moment, but the more he thought about it… the more sense it made. He smiled, and began to type it to his teammates—his friends.

TOYA: Jester.

TOYA: You guys can call me Jester!

There were a few people wondering if Toya would keep his old code name from the old fic (that being Hazard). This chapter finally cleared that up! But, at the same time, now the name of this fic feels kinda obsolete, since it was only named this *because* of his code name, so... bleh.