Author's note: You probably noticed the title change. Mr Dusk - the guy I mentioned at the top of the first chapter - has been an immense help as someone to proofread this stuff, run plot points past, and consult on P5 lore, and as such I believe he deserves a co-credit for the story.

That's all, on to the show.

2020-07-19 edit: I forgot that Mementos targets drop unique loot on defeat; I went back and added some bits about that

"I… got in a fight." Haru said. Only then Joker registered that she covered a black left eye with her hair. "And I'm worried the attacker will come to Shujin once he recovers."

"Ho boy. Come in, come in, sit down," he invited her. "We have pancakes, you can grab one."

She entered the flat and marched to the living room, followed by the two guys and a cat. "Remember my former fiance?" she asked, sitting down by the table.

"How could I forget the bastard?" the brunette replied, sitting down next to her. Morgana hissed angrily.

"He was waiting for me in front of my house. I… I barely escaped."

"He didn't follow you here, did he?" Akechi spoke up.

In lieu of a response, she shot him a venomous glare. The detective took the hint and backed away to his bedroom.

"He did make a valid point," the cat piped up.

"Yes, I know," Haru sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm on edge right now. To answer the question, no, I don't think I was followed. By him or anyone."

"Great. You should be safe for now, and I can arrange you a doctor's note for today if you need one." The brunette brought the pancakes from the countertop to the table, and put some toppings next to the stack. He rolled himself one up, with peanut butter, and ate about half of it before deciding to not wait for the girl to speak up. "So, do you wanna go to Mementos today?"

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea," the girl said. "Someone will surely notice a change in his behaviour. Especially now that we gave the country definite proof we're operating and you're alive."

"If you report him to the police, they might even take it seriously," Morgana said. "You are from a rich and influential family."

Joker swallowed a bite. "And so is he, it might cancel out. I'm still in favour of the Thieves doing their magic, but I'm not going to for-"

He was interrupted by a notification from both his and the princess' phones - a message from Makoto on the group chat. Where is Haru?

In a safe place. Joker snapped a quick photo of her and sent it. What's wrong?

Her former fiance came to school today, being vulgar, aggressive, and looking… well, I managed to get a photo.

In spite of being taken from a suboptimal angle from a hidden phone, the photo was of decent enough quality for everyone to notice Sugimura's hair being clumped on the side, and some dried blood down his neck and staining his impeccable suit.

Joker glanced at Haru. "You did that to him?"

In lieu of a direct response, she typed: I might have broken my favourite flower pot on his stupid head.

Nice! Ryuji wrote.

"Well, that means we should be also concerned with you hurting him," Joker said. "I'm sure there's unanimous support for kicking his Shadow's ass, but I will not call a vote if you do not agree to that."

"If there's no other option…" she muttered.

"Very well." The brunette typed Wanna drop by after school for some pancakes? in the group chat. It took about three seconds before everyone confirmed their attendance, and Ryuji demanded actual pancakes in a separate chat. After confirming that yes, there will be some, Joker put the phone away. "There's still one topic to discuss. Morgana, get the other two."

"What is it?"

"I'd rather that Akechi was under supervision. For both our and his own good."

"We could ask someone to stay here with him. Or draw straws if nobody volunteers."

"We could, but I have a better idea." The geek and the detective entered the room, and Joker turned to the latter. "We're going to Mementos today, wanna tag along?"

"What?!" the entire team said in unison.

"You cannot be serious," Haru said. "There is absolutely no reason for him to take part in the operation."

"He's got a Persona and it can beat up Shadows, isn't that good enough?"

"He killed my father!" she reacted with indignation. "He tried to kill you! Why do you try giving him chances?"

"She does make a valid point," Akechi spoke up.

"You stay out of this."

"I'm a risk taker, alright?" Joker shrugged. "That is only slightly more risky than getting Makoto onboard a few months back. She was working for the principal back then, he asked her to sniff us out."

"And later he died in mysterious circumstances." If looks could kill, this story would have been about disposing the corpse of Goro Akechi. "Futaba, please back me up."

"I'm the support party member, keep me out of the fights," she inched towards her bedroom.

"If that is any consolation," Akechi remarked, "I'm not suicidal enough to pull anything against the one group of people that barely tolerates my existence."

"Oh, you're not suicidal enough, alright."

Joker put his hand on her shoulder. "Trust me, Haru. If you agree, I will not let things escalate between him and the rest of the group."

After a moment of hesitation, she sighed and nodded. "Fine. Whatever it takes to get that guy out of my life."

"Crow, could you do us a favour?" Joker said, as the group materialized near the Mementos entrance.

"What's the problem?" Akechi asked.

"It's about your current Persona," he explained. "I don't think we're going to need Loki's, ahem, skillset, and the looks bring back bad memories."

"Less Loki and more low-key, is what we're saying." Morgana chuckled to himself, and everyone else rolled their eyes.

Inhale. "If I must." His body stiffened, then he fell down to his knees. He let out a continuous painful groan and clutched his head, as his black-and-violet costume retracted into nothingness, revealing the white-and-gold toy soldier uniform. When he got up, his face was covered with a red mask with a pointy beak. Noticing everyone's uneasy looks, he remarked "Excuse me for not being as clean and swift as our leader."

"Our?" Haru remarked.

"Well, I am under his command at the moment, and so are you."

"Off to a great start," Joker muttered under his breath. "Alright, forward team is me, Noir, Fox and Queen. We're making a beeline straight to the…" he glanced at Haru, "I just realized we didn't talk about his name."

"Sugimura."

"I need a full name," Morgana said.

"Well… nobody told me. Joys of arranged marriages."

"Does he even have a canon full name?" Joker scratched his head. "Screw it, headcanon, first name is Hisayoshi, after his voice actor. Phantom Thieves, moving out!"

Thanks to the magic of fast-travel, the Morganacar was on the correct level in no time, slamming Shadows too low-level to be a threat to the party. Joker was behind the wheel, with Haru riding shotgun, Yusuke, Makoto and Ann in the middle row, and Akechi, Ryuji and Futaba in the back.

"Everyone's awfully quiet today," Joker remarked. "Something's bugging you all?"

"I've been listening to conversations on the subway," Makoto piped up. "Shido appears to have remained popular."

"The 'net is also on his side, from what I've seen," Futaba added.

"I've heard two talking heads on the news claiming the Thieves are obviously paid off by foreign powers," Akechi muttered.

"I wish," Ryuji rolled his eyes.

The Morganacar reached a black-and-red hole leading towards a separate part of the Metaverse, and went through it. Shadow Sugimura was standing on the other side, staring in their general direction. Waiting.

"Before we get off…" Joker put his hand on Haru's shoulder, "Noir, you're an incredibly valuable team member. You're surrounded by friends and allies. If things get too heavy, there are multiple people willing to listen to you and support you. You got it?"

"Yes," she mumbled.

"Louder for the people in the back!" Ryuji screamed.

"Yes!"

"LOUDER!"

"Yes, I got it!"

"Good," Joker smirked. "Now, let's go kick some Shadow ass."

The group stepped out of the car, allowing Morgana to shift himself back to his default form. Shadow Sugimura took a step forward. "Look what the cat dragged in - a bunch of thugs above their station led by a guy that can't even die properly."

"Bold words for someone outnumbered nine-to-one."

He recognized the girl and smirked, managing the difficult task of looking even more punchable than usual. "Of course you're with the Thieves. Who else could've benefitted from Kunikazu Okumura kicking the bucket?"

"Um, lots of people," Akechi muttered, trying to blend in with the surroundings.

Haru gripped her axe tighter. "I had nothing to do with that!"

"Well, someone else had to do the heavy lifting, obviously." The Shadow took another step forward. "I do not expect a fragile little flower like you to get her hands dirty."

"I'll show you fragile!" She charged forward, attempting to attack him with an overhead two-handed smash. Unfortunately for her, the weapon bounced off a shield that materialized at just the right moment, and the handle smacked Haru straight in the face, dealing significant damage.

"Crap, Phys repel," Joker muttered.

"My turn," Sugimura grinned. "Freidyne!"

"Wait, why did he call his atta-" she started, before getting nuked within an inch of her life, and falling to the ground.

"Pathetic," the Shadow smirked. "One more: Freidyne!"

This time, he targeted Makoto, who just shrugged it off with a disinterested expression.

"Queen, revive Noir!" the leader commanded. Makoto rummaged through the bag and pulled out a small tube of Life Ointment, then squeezed it in Haru's general direction. She got up from the ground, fully healed.

"He called his attack because it's convenient in a purely written medium," Joker explained. "Fox, give our host a cold shoulder, let's see how it goes."

"Bufudyne!" A crystal formation surrounded the Shadow, then shattered, dealing relatively pitiful damage. "It's ineffective!"

"Okay, let's try the boring option." The leader took aim from his model gun and fired. The bullet bounced back and smacked him in the forehead. "Ow!"

"Repel this!" Haru put a hand on her domino mask. "Psycho Force!"

The Psy attack connected, and did enough damage to wipe the smile off the Shadow's face - and put one on Haru's.

"Hmph," it regained composure. "This isn't over yet, Okumura. Freidyne!"

Before the attack managed to connect, Joker pushed Haru out of the way. It hurt like hell, but the leader was still standing.

"Wha-why?"

"Y'all take hits for me all the time…" he huffed. "I really wanted to return the favour."

"Letting others deal with the, heh, fallout of your actions?" the Shadow switched back to obnoxiousness. "Like father, like daughter."

Haru was ready to cast Psycho Force again, out of turn, but Joker grabbed her hand. "Not yet. Queen, debuffs!"

Makoto rummaged through the item bag and found a spray can with 'Ultimate Disinfectant' written on it. She sprayed it in the Shadow's face.

"Gah!" he recoiled, weakened.

"Fox, status effect!"

Yusuke pulled out a glass vial with "Fear" written on it and tossed it at the Shadow's feet.

"What was that?" he asked, taken aback. "What did you do to me?! What is happening?!"

Joker looked Haru in the face, still holding her hand, and said, in an incredibly calm voice, "Tarukaja." The girl felt a surge of power coursing through her and the leader released her hand. "Get him."

A wide smile appeared on Haru's face. This was her moment. She adjusted her mask and screamed, triumphantly: "Psycho Force!"

The strike was decisive enough to knock him down for good. The group surrounded him, aiming their ranged weapons at him, just in case - with him being beaten, the Gun immunity wasn't in force.

"Anything clever to add now?" Joker said. "Any excuses to justify your bullcrap?"

The Shadow didn't respond at first, before muttering a weak "I'm sorry."

"That means nothing!" Haru shouted. "You've tried to hurt me and my friends, and God knows how many other people besides us!"

"Noir…" Joker said, quietly, as Makoto and Yusuke lowered their guns.

"You think you can just say sorry and things will go back to normal?" The Shadow tried to scuttle away, and she followed him, grenade launcher still pointed at him. "That you deserve to live another day?!"

"Noir!"

She was too riled up to listen at that point. "I should end your miserable existence right here-"

"Haru Okumura!" Joker raised his voice. "Put down the weapon, now!"

After a pause, she let go of the grenade launcher, allowing it to fall on the ground.

Joker picked the weapon up. "We are not killers."

"Have you told your new best friend that?" she scoffed.

"Erm, he did, kinda," Akechi piped up. "Yesterday evening."

"Okay, this train's heading to Escalation Station," the leader stepped between them. "We did what we had to, let's return to the real world and go our separate ways."

"Fine." Haru took her weapon and marched past the group. "Morgana, car form, please. " The cat did as asked, and the girl got onboard.

"Alright, everyone but Queen and Crow, get in the cat!" Joker commanded.

"Do you want anything from us?" Makoto asked.

Joker waited for the rest of the team to be out of earshot, before saying "I want you to keep an eye on Ha- on Noir at school tomorrow. Make sure she stays out of trouble and has a shoulder to lean on."

"Right. Got it."

"You're a lifesaver. And Crow," he turned to Akechi, "just in case… please, remain silent until we get back to Ōta."

He opened his mouth, then caught himself, and just nodded.

Joker turned to the defeated Shadow. "C'mon, make like a tree and drop your unique loot so we can all go home."

Shadow Sugimura disappeared in a flash of white light, leaving behind something on the ground. Makoto bent over to pick it up. "Looks like an engagement ring."

The brunette took it from her hand. "Looks valuable. I'll stop by the pawn shop on my way to the hotel."

The three teens and the cat entered the flat. "Dibs on the shower!" Futaba announced.

Joker removed the bag from his back and pulled a wrapped bundle out of it. "I expected we might end up in hiding and packed a a fresh change of clothes for both of us."

"Gimme!" Futaba yanked it from his hand.

"Leave the dirty clothes on the pile," Akechi said, tossing his suit jacket and button-up shirt on the floor. "There were signs about a laundromat in the basement, I'll check it out later."

"We've got tomorrow free, don't we?" The brunette added his hoodie to the pile. "We could go out, refill the fridge, and get some threads for you."

"Sounds like a plan." The detective sat down on the couch and turned on the TV.

"-oday's poll is undeniable proof that the Japanese people trust Masayoshi Shido, despite the allegations from the Phantom Thieves," a pundit finished a sentence.

Akechi looked down, at the strapline. FIRST SURVEY AFTER PHANTOM THIEVES' BROADCAST - 70% SUPPORT SHIDO. "Fucking sheep." he muttered to himself.

"We really should've seen that coming," Joker said. "Shido was the leader and you were the enforcer, but the conspiracy is bigger than you two."

The detective turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "…where are your clothes?"

"In the laundry pile."

"Of course," he rolled his eyes. "But yes, you're correct. If they run down the clock and Shido's party wins, they'll get enough power to not need the Metaverse anymore."

"And we can't allow that to happen," Morgana stated the obvious.

Gears in Akechi's head started turning. "You know, the party is the problem, but Shido is its frontman and main draw. If we managed to drag his reputation through the mud somehow, the party will go down with him."

Joker sat down. "I have a friend in the press. If the Thieves got their hands on some concrete evidence of his crap - something more than your word - publishing it wouldn't be a problem."

A metaphorical light bulb went over the detective's head. "I might be able to help with that."