"While Royal is a perfectly good name for a game it sounds kinda pompous here, like they are lookin down on the Phantom Thiefs"

I suppose it might sound a little pompous, yeah. Still, I think it's fitting enough to warrant that.

"But in all seriousness did you change your plan to have Toya act alongside the PT? I remember you mentioning something of the sort at the end of the previous one so I'm rather curious?"

To be honest: I don't know lmao. If it happens, it'll be a lot later. The thing about Toya working alongside the PTs is that it would take away a lot from his character arc. On top of that, it would turn into just retelling the P5 story with a new character in. It'd be pretty hard to make things interesting that way. Sure, I could come up with some funny dialogue from time to time, but I already plan on having him interact with the members of the PTs more often in the coming chapters (more on that later)

June 26th, 20XX (Sunday)

Daytime - Kaneshiro's Bank (Security Room)

"So they won…" The mysterious figure in a black mask watched as the giant robot was destroyed. He thought it was an interesting show, seeing people who were individually outclassed by a powerful foe end up triumphant due to proper teamwork and strategy. He snickered at the thought of it, teamwork and friendship being that beneficial in a world like this. "Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous." He turned away from the security footage, preparing himself to leave the Metaverse. "The Phantom Thieves, and The Royals… They're more similar than I gave them credit for. Still, should they get in my way…" A red flame burned his mask away. He looked up in front of him, and saw his Persona looming above him. The zebra-striped figure sitting atop a red sword, Loki. "I won't hold back against them." He chuckled, before slowly leaving the room. He had seen everything he needed to. Even with their strength combined, those three… They wouldn't stand a chance against him, no matter how well they worked together. In his eyes, he had absolute power… Power that couldn't be overcome by something as weak as companionship. So long as he had that… Nobody could get in the way of his ultimate goal-of his revenge.

June 26th, 20XX (Sunday)

Daytime - Kaneshiro's Bank (Treasure Room)

Meanwhile, back in the Treasure Room, the Royals had just taken their first big victory. The three of them were completely ecstatic, actually coming out on top of that fight. It took a lot of work, and there were definitely some close calls, but that didn't matter in the end. They won. That was the important part, nothing else ultimately mattered compared to that fact.

"Alright, alright. Shouldn't we grab the Treasure and get out of here now?" Makoto said, trying to get back on track.

"Yeah. I think I saw it fall out of the pig, all we gotta do is grab-" Toya's speech was cut off as he saw something. In the corner of his eye, he saw a badly bruised Kaneshiro slowly crawling over to the gold bar on the ground, as if his life depended on it. His suit was torn in multiple spots, his hair was completely out of sorts, and his face was… well, it had seen better days. Toya quickly walked over to the gold bar, pulling it away and watching Kaneshiro desperately reach out for it.

"No… Don't take that!" He helplessly pleaded, trying to find the strength to take it back. "That's all I have left… There's nothing else to my name than that…!"

"Are you joking? Are you actually kidding me!?" Toya yelled, pulling the gold bar away further away from him. "Your name? This never belonged to you to begin with! Every bit of cash here… You just took it from people! Countless different people whose lives have been completely ruined!"

"You're right… I'm a poor, ugly… idiot… How am I supposed to live a normal life like this? It's all because of our society! Weak people can't lead a happy life, no matter what they do! I'm a victim too, you know!? Yeah, none of this is my fault!"

"What a sorry excuse for a man… All you've done is continue a horrible cycle of society, and reap the benefits of it. You're entirely to blame for it!" Makoto looked like she was ready to start beating down on him again. There was a part of Toya that was getting worried that he'd have to stop her from going too far. She had already done a number to him, after all.

"I just wanted a place where I could belong! You get that, don't you!?"

"A place where you belong… Yeah, I get it." Mishima solemnly responded, thinking back to the way his life was months before this. "Being picked on for not fitting in… Wanting nothing but to find a place where you belong… I get that more than you could possibly know. But, even when you're living a life like that… It doesn't make you justified in putting people through the same hell you went through!" His voice started breaking up for a minute there. Deep down, he understood; a lot more than he wanted to admit. He had already almost resorted to blackmailing his own friends into getting whatever he wants.

"Where do you find meaning in that naive sense of justice?" Kaneshiro started picking himself up, facing the trio head on. Something about what Mishima said reached him in a way that nothing else had in a long, long time. "With that incredible power… These Palaces could net you whatever you wanted! But instead, you're wasting your time on a schmuck like me. You know, there's already someone out there taking full advantage of what Palaces have to offer..." Amidst all of his blabbering, at the end there… Kaneshiro said something-something that completely blindsided the group.

"What!?" Makoto was the first to speak up. Kaneshiro couldn't help but go back to his condescending demeanor upon hearing that.

"I'll let you in on a little something… There's a criminal using other people's Palaces to accomplish whatever they damn well please. They don't care about the consequences. Psychotic breakdowns, mental shutdowns… Anything goes."

"Someone else…? Then, does that mean…!?" Toya held on to his head. "That person that Madarame was talking about… Could he have meant…?"

"H-Hey, speak up! What other person are you talking about!?" Mishima was starting to panic-the thought of a criminal having access to this world scared him just as much as the rest of the group, only he showed it easier.

"Don't even bother. You are nothing compared to them… Better be careful… A chance encounter with them could prove fatal…" He couldn't help but laugh, before finally, he disappeared into a bright light. And, just as he did… the Palace began shaking.

"Uhh… Jester, you didn't mention this part…!" Makoto was struggling to even stand straight, let alone speak. It was like the entire world was shaking… perhaps because it was.

"Yeah, uh… I totally knew about this! One hundred percent! Uh… Okay, uh…" Toya looked towards the nearby wall. "Q-Queen, break the wall down with your Persona! Knight, get ready to fly us outta here!" He ordered them, while slowly heaving the gold bar up. He'd help break the wall down, but doing that while carrying solid gold was easier said than done. Thankfully, since the entire world was collapsing, the wall went down without much effort. Mishima got a hold of Toya and Makoto, before rising into the air. But holding two people and a gold bar was a lot of weight… He couldn't fly that well.

"Hold on tight, this might get rough…!" He said, flying out of the hole in the wall and doing his best to stay in the air.

June 26th, 20XX (Sunday)

Afternoon - Kazero Household

After a long and tiring day, filled with much more trouble than the three of them expected, despite how prepared they thought they were… the group could breathe. They sent the calling card unnoticed, they defeated Kaneshiro, and above all, they secured his Treasure. They even made it all the way back to a place where they could keep the Treasure without worrying about anyone seeing it.

"You all took your sweet time! I was starting to get worried…" Kai yelled from the other room, quickly walking over to greet his brother and his friends. "So, how'd it go? You guys win?"

"Pfft, 'did we win'. Of course we won!" Toya held the Treasure up high. It was a briefcase made entirely out of gold, shining brightly above him. A part of Kai couldn't believe it. Despite having faith in the three of them, there was always this part of him that was concerned about this entire plan flopping. And yet… here it was in front of him, the proof that they won. The proof that the three of them were strong enough as a team. And, above all… to him, it was the green light, telling him to stop waiting around and to get moving. The next phase of his plan was finally about to get into motion.

Kai ended up letting everyone in, allowing the group to relax and just… talk to each other. Despite all of them knowing each other for a while now, they didn't get many chances to sit down and talk. This was especially true in Makoto's case, having not interacted with either Toya or Mishima much before she was aware of the Metaverse's existence. She wasn't exactly accustomed to having a group of friends that she could try to relax around, so it was a pretty difficult thing to get accustomed to. She definitely didn't mind the feeling though. Being surrounded by people who didn't expect her to be some perfect student was the change of pace she never knew she needed.

"I'm glad you kids are getting along. But there's something we need to talk about." Kai said, re-entering the room. The trio all looked towards him, the tone of the room completely changing from carefree to serious in a heartbeat. "Kaneshiro was an awful person. However, compared to some of the other people in the country… He's small time. What he's done pales in comparison to the things that I've been looking into."

"Things you've been looking into… Do you mean some sort of private investigation being done by the police?" Makoto asked. She didn't recall her sister mentioning anything that sounded nearly as intense as this, but considering it sounded pretty secret… It made sense why she would never have brought it up.

"The police…? Yeah, right. The police would never look into this. This is something I've been doing of my own accord. I've been keeping it a secret for a long time now. This is mostly due to the fact that I haven't been able to do all that much about it. But you three… You have a power that barely anyone has. If anyone can uncover the biggest crime in this country's history… it's you."

"Wait, the biggest crime in Japan's history!? I-Isn't that a pretty big step up from some guy who bribes high schoolers!?" Mishima was easily the most nervous about it. Despite that part of him that wanted to be a hero more than anything, there was still that part of him screaming that he was in way over his head.

"Mental shutdowns… Psychotic breakdowns… They've been the talk of the town for a while now. It started seemingly out of nowhere, and despite the fact that the general public is scared out of their minds about it… the police haven't really done much about it. To tell you the truth… They're not looking into this nearly as much as news outlets will let you believe. Of course, we're forced to tell them that we're hard at work, but… We've never looked very far into it. In fact… We've been told to do the exact opposite."

"That… makes no sense. Do you mean that you're being ordered not to look into these cases!? But… why!?" Toya yelled. He could hardly believe what he was hearing.

"Why, indeed… Well, I guess the best place to start is around a year ago. I'd been looking into these cases on my own for a while. Despite the police being ordered not to look into it, I… had personal reasons for it. I needed to figure out who was causing this. And, last year… I finally got a lead." The Royals all felt a shock run through their bodies. "I overheard a conversation. Someone had asked for a specific person to be taken care of… and the next day, the person in question was dead. They were a part of a horrible accident… one that they caused. And, after some investigation… one thing became perfectly clear: this person had a psychotic breakdown. A coincidence like that… Those chances are slim to none. So, this person I overheard… They were in on it. I was sure back then, and I'm sure now."

"Then why has nothing happened!? I mean, if you know who's behind it, then-"

"Two reasons." Kai completely cut Toya off. "One, the specific wording he used. He specifically asked for someone to be taken care of. That means that he's not the person who's actually doing it. The person doing it is someone else… Someone that I have no leads on right now. And, the other reason…" He took a deep sigh. "Well, ordering an investigation against your own boss won't accomplish anything outside of getting yourself fired… and in this case, probably killed."

"Your boss…!? W-Wait, does that mean that this person you overheard is…!?" Makoto's entire body tensed up, her mind encroached by a horrible feeling that she couldn't describe with words.

"Yep. The director of the SIU himself. The person who's ordering the police not to investigate these cases is someone who's directly involved in at least one of them, and more than likely involved in many, many more. When you look at it that way… It makes sense, doesn't it?" Kai took a look at the three of them. As he expected, they were all pretty lost for words, but Makoto especially was distraught. "...Oh, right. The SIU Director… He's your sister's boss too, isn't he? Don't worry. I'm sure she's as unaware of this as everyone else is. The director might be a monster for ordering people's deaths, but he wouldn't do it for no reason. As long as she isn't suspected of going against him, then she isn't in any danger at all." It was hard for her to trust that, given the circumstances she just heard of. However, it still calmed her down a bit, knowing that her sister probably isn't in any danger. "...I'll say it up front. I want you three to change his heart. I've already confirmed the existence of his Palace. I'll do the work of figuring out the rest of his keywords, but as for everything else… That's something that only you can do." There was a long pause. The three of them really had to consider what they were up against here. Like Kai said, Kaneshiro was nothing compared to this. This was on an entirely new level. The director of the SIU… Ordering assassinations on people via psychotic breakdowns? Someone like him… There was no doubt that his heart was infinitely more distorted than that of Kaneshiro's, and as a result… The Shadows inside of his Palace were more than likely much stronger. This wasn't going to be easy… If anything, it was going to make everything that they've been through thus far look like a cakewalk.

"Well, you can count me in." Toya was the first to break the silence of the bunch. "Even if it's dangerous… There's no way I can just sit back and let him do whatever he wants! Plus, this is what dad would want me to do… So I'm in, no questions asked!"

"I'm in too!" Mishima excitedly yelled. "This guy sounds like exactly the kind of person who needs to have his heart changed! If we just let him do whatever he wants, then we're just leaving people to die!"

"I can't sit by and watch, either." Finally, Makoto spoke. "If the director of the SIU himself is corrupt, then the entire legal system is at risk. Ignoring this will only make things worse… And if we ignore it for too long, we might lose any chance we ever had at fixing it. For the sake of the entire country… I'll make sure we change his distorted heart!" She sounded more serious than she ever did before. It gave Toya and Mishima even more determination than they already had. The three of them were dead-set on this.

"Then that settles it! Kai, The Royals are at your service. We'll do whatever it takes!" Toya confirmed with his brother, standing in front of the other two. This was it… This was their big mission, and potentially the most important thing that the three of them would ever get involved with. Despite how daunting of a challenge it was, they knew that they had to do this, and they knew that failure was not an option.

June 26th, 20XX (Sunday)

Afternoon - Leblanc

After a shift that felt like it had lasted hours, Sojiro finally got back to the cafe, and with that, Ren was free to go. He practically dashed upstairs to grab his phone.

"Whoa, jeez! You're in a hurry!" Morgana got started by how unordinary Ren was acting.

"Of course I am! Did you not hear the news?"

"News? What news? Though, I did hear your phone going off a lot."

"And you didn't answer it!?"

"How can I answer a phone call!? I don't have thumbs!"

"You just tap-Okay, nevermind. I need to talk to everyone else, now!" He quickly turned his phone on and went to open his messenger.

REN: Sorry I'm late! Sojiro had me working all morning.

ANN: We've been trying to contact you all day!

YUSUKE: We were about to go to Leblanc and make sure you were okay.

REN: I'm guessing you all say the news, then.

RYUJI: Oh, we know what's happening, alright.

RYUJI: We're looking at it in person right now. It's insane!

ANN: The calling cards are everywhere… It's not like anything I've ever seen before.

"Wait, what? What did I miss!?" Morgana, having only just now heard about this, was as confused as one could be.

"Some group calling themselves 'The Royals' put calling cards all over the city."

"What!? Wait, do you think they have access to the Metaverse!?"

REN: Did any of you try checking the Nav?

RYUJI: That's the first thing we did, but…

ANN: When we entered the guy's name, it said that his Palace has been deleted.

YUSUKE: Just to test, I entered Madarame's name into the app again. It said the same thing.

REN: So Kaneshiro really did have a Palace.

REN: But if it's already gone, then… We were too late.

ANN: There was no way we could have prepared for this… This came entirely out of left field.

RYUJI: Damn it, it's probably that guy in the Black Mask! He's gotta be the one behind this shit!

YUSUKE: That does appear likely, but…

YUSUKE: Consider the name: "The Royals".

YUSUKE: A plural name would imply that there are multiple people involved. Yet we only know of one.

RYUJI: You think there's more of 'em!?

RYUJI: No way! There can't be that many people who can use the app! It's gotta be a coverup!

ANN: Why would they go out of their way to lie about it…?

ANN: I don't want to admit it, but… There being more people involved in this sounds a lot more believable.

RYUJI: But…! There's no way, right…!?

REN: We need to focus.

REN: The only thing that we know for sure is that there's at least one more person who can enter the Metaverse. We need to focus on that.

REN: And we have a lead on who it might be.

ANN: Yeah…

YUSUKE: I suppose we have no other option then. The situation certainly calls for drastic measures.

RYUJI: Yeah. We gotta start looking into that guy, and his friends!

YUSUKE: And how exactly do we go about doing that?

ANN: Trying to just follow him didn't work too well last time.

RYUJI: That's only cuz Ren lost track of him. But don't worry, I got this!

ANN: Wait, you're gonna go after him this time? Are you sure that's a good idea?

RYUJI: Of course! C'mon, there's no way he'll slip away from me!

RYUJI: And it's not like he can outrun me!

REN: Isn't your leg broken?

RYUJI: Shuddup!

ANN: I guess it wouldn't hurt to try…

REN: Then it's settled.

REN: Ryuji, you're up.

RYUJI: Hell yeah!

RYUJI: Don't worry, I got this! There's no way I mess this up!

"Why do I get the feeling that he doesn't have this…" Morgana expressed his lack of faith in Ryuji. Ren expected Morgana to have his doubts, but there weren't that many other options. It was true that Ren managed to let Toya slip away when he tried it himself, so maybe Ryuji would have better luck? There was only one way to really find that out. Though, going along with him to make sure nothing went wrong didn't seem like such a bad idea either.

June 26th, 20XX (Sunday)

Midnight - Velvet Room

After a stressful day full of worry… Ren was having a dream. It was a good dream, too. He was enjoying it… Until all of a sudden, he woke up. Bound by chains and in a cell… He was beginning to get used to it at this point. He knew exactly where he was. He got up from the hard prison bed and walked to the iron bars, taking hold of them and staring at the unsettling man in the center of the room, sitting at his desk.

"It would appear as if the other Metaverse user in question has proven to become… A unique sort of obstacle, in the way of your rehabilitation. Tell me: what do you think of this character?"

"...I'm not sure. I thought that they were some psychotic murderer… But now, it feels like they're just trying to one-up all of our efforts. Everything we've worked for…"

"...I see. It truly is a very interesting case. Normally, such a challenge would make me think that your rehabilitation is unattainable. However… I can't help but find this ordeal to be interesting. As such, I will continue to watch over your game… And a close eye over the interesting characters." He chuckled. Ren found it unsettling… But there wasn't anything he could really do about it. Not only that, but he was aware of his position. He needed Igor's help. He then began feeling tired once again, and heard the bell toll throughout the Velvet Room. He turned away from Igor, heading back to whatever dream he was having, and the real world that followed.

"This other Metaverse user… They've proven to be more interesting than I had originally anticipated. Perhaps it's time for an… intervention…" He let out a long, menacing chuckle-one that would echo throughout the halls. This plan of his that he had thought up not long ago… All he needed was one opportunity, and things would get into motion. And that plan would prove to cause a very, very interesting change to the Trickster's rehabilitation… and an even bigger change to this other Metaverse user.

After a bit of consideration, I decided I'm not gonna bother with putting Toya's confidant ranks at the end of chapters anymore. I still think it's a neat concept, but I found myself trying to alter chapters that were already fine on their own just for the sake of increasing a confidant rank. So yeah, don't expect that again. Unless I change my mind which... eh, maybe. I doubt that'll bother anyone too much though.