The operation in Futaba's Palace began. Shadow Futaba asked the Thieves to head into the desert town to retrieve something that was stolen from the pyramid by a thief. The group found the thief in town, but he had no intentions of handing over what he stole so easily. As a result, he was fleeing from the Thieves simply out of spite. "You'll have to be faster than that!" The bandit exclaimed mockingly, turning a corner. He knew this area better than they did, so eluding them was rather easy.
"Wait, dammit!" Skull cursed, gritting his teeth. Every time they got close, the bandit just slipped away by going into alleyway and appearing in a completely different location.
"Our foe is quite the slippery beast…" Dragon remarked, panting softly. "We must corner him somehow…"
Queen had an idea. "We outnumber him 7 to 1. We have the advantage. We can corner him into the street if we block off all of his escape routes."
"Good idea, Queen." Joker said, pointing off at separate paths. "Skull, Panther, take the left side. Queen and Mona should take the center, Fox, Dragon, and I, will take the right."
"Hold on." Queen interjected. "Dragon is better suited for the high ground because of her sniper rifle. We can end this chase quickly with her presence."
"Oh right, she can take aim from afar!" Panther said.
"Er…but I only have one bullet." Dragon sighed. She learned this the hard way during their battle with Shadow Kaneshiro.
"I would be quite terrified knowing there was a sniper on me to begin with." Fox pointed out. "Shadows are much like people. They fear for their lives when they know they are in danger."
"Hold ups are fun…." Dragon mumbled.
"Alright, let's go with that plan, then." Mona said. "Everyone take positions!"
"Right!" Everyone nodded and split off. Dragon searched for the tallest building that would give her the best vantage point. After finding it, she used her Phantom Thief moves to ascend to the roof while the others broke off. "Okay. Here's hoping I don't miss this time." She hasn't had many chances to improve her aim in the Metaverse, so she was relying on her darts training with Panther.
Mona was first, rushing around the corner to spot the bandit mockingly swinging his blade around. "You can't run forever!"
"Like you outsiders can catch me!" The bandit laughed and turned to run away from Mona. He didn't get very far, because Queen was waiting for him around the corner. "Hrk!?"
"I think you'll find yourself quite surrounded." Queen said casually…while she cracked her knuckles threateningly.
"Gah…!" The bandit quickly turned and made a left, bolting that way to shake the people who were chasing him. But he didn't get to go very far, as Panther and Skull were already waiting for him. "No way…!"
Skull was crouched down, but gave a menacing smile as the bandit spotted them. "Yo, where are ya goin'?"
Panther cracked her whip while standing next to Skull. "Stay and chat a while."
"GAH!" The bandit scurried away. They may not have known the area as well as he did, but that truly didn't matter when they blocked off every way he could move. Unfortunately for him, he did spot Fox and Joker waiting for him as soon as he fled from the other two.
"Running will only prolong this little charade." Fox said.
"Hand it over." Joker just held his hand out.
"Not on your life!" Defiant to the end, the bandit scurried into the only safezone he could think of. It was the town square, but he soon realized he was herded like cattle as the Thieves converged on his location. "Ah…so this was your plan. Not bad…you guys really are decent thieves. But do you really think I'll hand this over so easily!? I stole it fair and square!"
"I think you will." Queen pointed to a nearby building, where Dragon was seen taking aim at the bandit. "We can resolve this in two ways: you hand over what you stole…or our friend there takes the shot."
"Wh…?" The bandit glanced up at Dragon. Her aim was trained on him. He didn't know she only had one shot…but the thought of a sniper having a clear shot was enough to make anyone freeze. "You think that's enough to scare me!?" The Bandit began to transform.
"Dragon, now!" Panther exclaimed.
Dragon's finger squeezed the trigger. She was using her one shot. The bullet flew from the long barrel, soaring through the air to strike the bandit in the chest before they could fully transform into their true form. It was a fatal shot and the bandit vanished into thin air. "…I hit it? I hit it…!"
"Nice shot!" Panther gave Dragon a thumbs up.
Dragon gave a sheepish smile, leaping down to meet with the others. "I guess the training has been paying off."
"So what did this dick steal anyway?" Skull asked.
"Some kind of…I don't know what this is?" It was a papyrus, but Joker wasn't exactly aware of that. "But this is what Futaba wanted."
"Isn't it a bit odd that the Shadows would steal from the Palace ruler?" Fox mentioned. "Previous Shadows followed the Ruler's whims. Yet the Shadows here seem to be running amok of their own free will."
"Futaba might not have a lot of control in her own Palace." Mona said. "Her mental state might be a part of that…"
"Mhm…" Dragon said. "When her Shadow said she was going to die…I felt the truth in those words. She truly believes this place will be her tomb…" It made her frown. Being able to discern truth from lie came with its own fair share of troubles. Such an undeniable truth spoken from a young girl's heart pained her.
"That's why we're goin' to save her, right?" Skull said.
"Right." Queen nodded. "Let's go return this to Futaba first."
.
.
The Thieves returned to the pyramid where Shadow Futaba was waiting for them. After the incident last time, it seemed like she was becoming a bit more willing to accept their help. "Ah…so you have returned."
"Yeah, we got this thing back for you." Skull said.
"Keep it. That is your reward." Shadow Futaba said.
"Eh?" Joker then opened up the papyrus, only to see that it was actually a map.
"That is a map of the pyramid. It was stolen by the bandit to aid in his robbery of this place." Shadow Futaba explained.
"Why are you letting them do whatever they want?" Panther asked. "This is your Palace!"
"That doesn't matter." Shadow Futaba brushed off Panther's concerns. "All that matters is that now you can go deeper and…oh." She sensed something coming and just…left. She vanished into thin air before the others could say anything.
"Wait, where are you…!" Queen reached out for a person that was already gone.
"…She left again." Dragon sighed. But that was when the ground began to rumble.
"I don't like where this is going." Mona said with a deadpan.
"What in the…?" Fox looked around. The floor then opened up, just like before, causing the group to fall to the lower levels of the pyramid yet again.
"GODAMMIIIIIIIIT!" Skull screamed as they all fell.
.
.
Sojiro was manning the shop. Since it was summer, business was fairly good. There were a few people in the shop, lounging around, enjoying coffee while chatting with each other or watching TV. The news was still talking about Medjed and naturally the people were curious about how this showdown with the Phantom Thieves would be. "It's all the people talk about these days…" Sojiro sighed.
The door opened. Another customer stepped inside. It was Haru, though she did seem a bit lost. "Um…excuse me…"
"Hm?" Sojiro turned to see Haru enter. She was an unfamiliar face but he welcomed her anyway. "Welcome."
"Oh, hello." Haru offered a smile, taking a seat at the counter. "A friend of mine told me this was a cozy coffee place…and she was right."
A recommendation? That was always nice. "What would you like?"
"Hm…" Haru hummed for a moment. "I'll have a house blend, please."
"Coming right up." Sojiro replied, beginning to work on the coffee for Haru. He wasn't going to ask many question, since small talk wasn't exactly his thing for certain topics.
"Thank you." Haru kept her smile, glancing around. "Hm…is Mako-chan not here?"
Sojiro of course didn't have any idea who Haru was referring to. "Mako-chan…?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. My friend's name is Makoto…" Haru said bashfully. "She told me if I wanted a place to relax, that Leblanc was a good place. I have a little time so I wanted to see it for myself." That and she didn't want to be home right now. "Mako-chan and her friends are very nice. I guess you know them?"
"You're welcome to stay as long as you like. I can't promise you'll find the atmosphere enjoyable the whole time, though." Sojiro said, handing Haru her cup of coffee. He could tell she was a bit downtrodden. "And yes, I do. They're good kids." Ren still pending due to his probation, but Sojiro could tell he had a good crowd around him. "I don't know when they'll come back."
"That's okay." Haru said while taking a sip of the coffee. She let out a content hum to say that it was delicious. "I'm not in a rush."
.
.
Futaba's Palace was a trip and a half. Every time Shadow Futaba beckoned them to come closer, it also resulted in some sort of trap springing as well. It annoyed Skull the most, because he really couldn't tell if Futaba wanted their help or not. They had to constantly remind themselves that Futaba couldn't help her instinct of pushing people away. As they plundered the pyramid, they came across a strange wall. "Er…what is this?" Dragon asked, pointing at it. "I see Futaba…"
"It looks like some kind of picture?" Panther suggested. "But it's all broken up…"
"Hm…" Joker stared at the picture, shuffling around the pieces to complete the picture. "That worked…but what is this?"
"This adult seems to be reading something to a crying child?" Fox said. "The emotion art oft depicted in the art they produce." He was analyzing the picture, his artistic eyes picking up every bit of emotion left behind. "I can sense…serious pain harbored in her heart."
"I should never have had Futaba. She was always such a brother." An unfamiliar voice rang out from the mural.
"What the…?" Queen tilted her head. "Is that coming from the mural?"
"It seems you caused your mother a great deal of trouble, Futaba-chan…"
"Huh…?" Dragon raised a brow. That felt…wrong? Her lie detector powers were going off again, but she wasn't sure why.
"She must have had some kind of maternity neurosis." After the voice spoke, the light on the nearby device turned to a door in the stairway, opening it up.
"…That was…" Mona wasn't sure how to describe that.
"Based on the contents, it sounded like a suicide note?" Queen said.
"Could that be what Futaba remembers of her mother's suicide?" Fox pondered this thought.
"But that's the shittiest thing to do to a kid if that's how it really went down…" Skull remarked.
"Hn…" Dragon couldn't make sense of this. Why did she feel a lie? She wasn't sure of the full extent of this ability of hers, but something was just…off about that. There was no point worrying about it now…
.
.
The trek continued. They reached another mural, but this one was far more scrambled than the previous one. "Another one…" Joker said.
"This one is a bit hard to tell, though…" Skull was trying to figure it out.
"Let the puzzle master show you how it's done." Joker cracked his knuckles and went to work.
"I wonder…" Dragon tapped her foot as Joker started to work on the mural. "Are these scrambled murals Futaba's memories? I mean…with the way they're jumbled and broken apart, it seems like…she doesn't remember things clearly?"
"That's a good point…" Queen crossed her arms. "After the first one we saw, I was curious about the same thing. It must be the events as she remembers them. Whether to say that is how things truly turned out or not…we have no way of knowing."
"Mm…" Dragon could only nod in agreement.
Joker finished the picture and it was…a bit gruesome. A woman tumbling leaping headfirst into a passing car, while Futaba was on the sidelines weeping. "…Eesh…"
"Is she jumping in front of a car…?!" Queen gasped.
"This might be the moment her mother committed suicide…" Panther had to look away. It was only a still image, but that didn't make it any less pleasant to look at.
"Futaba…you…areeeeeeee…" A raspy, angry voice echoed from the mural. The entire Pyramid began to tremble while another shrieking sound came from outside.
"Geez, what the hell is that?!" Skull asked.
"There's something out there and I don't like it…" Dragon shuddered.
"Did Futaba's desires to forget these memories cause her to repress them…?" Fox said.
"She died in front of Futaba's eyes…I mean, who wouldn't feel that way?" Skull said.
"It's horrible…" Queen sighed.
.
.
One last mural. The more they encountered the more complex they became. The deeper the memory, the harder it was to unravel. That was the common theme as they went deeper into Futaba's Palace. Just like before, Joker, the puzzle master, went for it. The picture was Futaba tugging at Wakaba's shirt to get her attention. "Got it."
"A child pulling on her mother's clothes?" Fox said.
"Mom?" Futaba's voice echoed out from the mural. "I'm tired of eating dinner alone all the time. It's always convenience store bentos….I wanna go somewhere! Take me on a trip!"
"Is that Futaba-chan?" Panther asked.
"Don't be so selfish!" Wakaba's voice snapped back at Futaba's. "You know I'm working hard to support you, right? UGH!" And just as before, the last door up ahead opened.
"She sounded really angry…" Joker said.
"I thought it was pretty normal for a child to want to spend time with their parents, though?" Panther replied.
"She seemed very lonely…" Dragon mumbled. She could relate to that feeling.
"So these incidents compounded into her mother's suicide?" Fox said.
That's when Shadow Futaba appeared in front of them again. "I must die." She uttered, saying nothing else.
"Hey, don't say that…!" Mona said.
"I killed her. That's why I must die, here in this tomb. I will die…" Shadow Futaba's voice lingered as her body vanished once again.
Dragon placed her heart to her chest, frowning at Shadow Futaba's words. The girl really did believe that she was fated to die in this place. "Oh, you poor thing…"
"What happened to that snarky personality? She got quiet…" Skull said.
"Could her heart perhaps be growing weaker?" Fox said with some urgency. They had been in here a while, delving into her deeply rooted, repressed memories. If they were forcing her heart to relive this trauma, it was no surprise her mental state responded in kind by growing weaker.
"We have to hurry and save her!" Panther said with urgency.
With the last door opened, they hurried to the final obstacle in their way. It was the door they first saw when they arrived. The door barricade with yellow tape, the words 'keep out' and 'caution' on it. "Hey, I remember this door…" Queen looked it over.
"It ain't openin'…" Skull was trying, but it was no use.
"It's Futaba's door! The door to her room!" Queen shouted.
"So why ain't it openin'?" Skull asked before deciding to give up.
"It must be her cognition that no one can open it." Mona said.
Shadow Futaba returned once again. "I'm surprised you made it this far…Beyond lies the Pharaoh's chamber."
"So the Treasure is beyond this door? Can you let us in?" Dragon asked.
"I cannot." Shadow Futaba replied. "You must let her let you in."
"Euh…? Her?" Dragon turned to Mona.
"The Shadow is Futaba, but not Futaba herself," Mona explained. "If we want to get past this door, we need the real Futaba to let us in."
"That…might be difficult…" Joker said.
"Considering you made it this far, you might be able to do it…" Shadow Futaba then vanished once more. It sounded like there was a part of her that ultimately had faith in the Phantom Thieves to accomplish a task she otherwise deemed impossible.
"So we need the real Futaba to let us in. That's going to be difficult considering she's a shut in…" Skull said.
"We have no choice but to sneak in again." Fox said.
"Again!?" Dragon's eyes widened. "Are you certain!? I-It's different sneaking around in a Palace, but sneaking into Boss's home for the third time…does that not fill you with hesitation? I felt dirty the first time…even worse the second…I do not know if my conscious can take a third…!"
"It'll be the last time." Joker reassured Dragon. "We have to do this if we want to help Futaba. Besides…it should be fine. Boss'll be at work, too busy to check in on Futaba while the shop's running."
"Your use of the word 'should' does not inspire much confidence within me, Leader…" Dragon sighed. "But you are right…"
"Hey, gimme the calling card Alibaba gave us." Skull turned to Joker. "We're the Phantom Thieves, so we gotta announce this. If the Treasure is back there, we can hand it to her and head right for it!"
"…That's actually a good plan." Panther was shocked. "Knowing how reclusive Futaba-chan is, it would be best to take out both birds with one stone."
"We'll leave the timing to you, Joker." Skull said excitedly. "Oh…and try to think of an excuse just in case Boss catches us." They were discussing plans while walking down the corridor and back to reality.
But as they walked back, Dragon couldn't help but stare up at the ceiling. She couldn't shake the feeling of something existing in this Palace they hadn't seen yet… "Hrm…"