"S-So I'm next, huh? I'm Futaba Sakura, and I kinda suck at socializing, b-but I wanna be friends and stuffs…" said Futaba nervously to Sophia.
"Nah, you did great, Futaba. In fact, I bet you and Sophia'll get along real awesome." said Ryuji approvingly at Futaba before he glance at Isamu. "Alright, you're next and the last one to introduced yourself to Sophia, new girl." said Ryuji calmly to Isamu.
"Huh? Oh right. I'm Isamu Toudou, a third year in Ayuzawa Academy and a skilled musician, Sophia-san." said Isamu.
"Oh, you're a musician from Ayuzawa Academy, huh? Hm… you're indeed one because I can sense a wondrous musician aura from you, Toudou-san." said Yusuke as he glance at Isamu with an interested look on his face.
"O-Oh, is that so?" said Isamu with an uncomfortable look on her face at Yusuke only to widened her eyes in surprise when she see Minato pinched Yusuke's right ear with his fingers and pull him away from Isamu. "What the? Did you have to do that to him, Arisato-san?" asked Isamu in disbelief at Minato.
"He'll be fine plus he makes you uncomfortable, isn't it? And please forgive my brother for being enthusiastic upon you, Toudou-san." said Minato gently and reassuringly to Isamu.
"Uh, sure." said Isamu as she slowly nodded at Minato.
"Ow, please let go of my ear, Aniki!" protested Yusuke as he winced in pain from Minato pinching his ear.
"I will only if you stop making Toudou-san uncomfortable, Yusuke. Alright?" said Minato calmly to Yusuke.
"Alright, I won't so please…" said Yusuke as he quickly nodded at Minato, who smiled and let go of Yusuke's ear, which Yusuke immediately rubbed it to soothed the pain a little.
"Poor Kitagawa-kun…" thought Sumire slightly sadly in her mind at Yusuke being punished by Minato.
"Heh, serves you right, Kitagawa-kun." thought Goro smugly in his mind after he saw Minato punish Yusuke before he glance at Sophia. "Sorry about that and will you ignore it and continue on with our previous conversation, Sophia-san?" said Goro calmly to Sophia (who nodded and listen to him).
"Kyosuke, Takuto, Makoto, Ken, Goro, Haru, Ann, Yusuke, Minato, Akira, Sumire, Morgana, Ryuji, Hanzo, Futaba and Isamu. I'll remember that. All of you have normal names unlike the ones I heard when we're in the… Metaverse?" said Sophia.
"Well yeah. That's because we're the Phantom Thieves, but…" said Ryuji.
"We call each other by code names in the Metaverse so our enemies won't discover our real identities." said Morgana.
"Code names…" said Sophia with a curious look on her face.
"Yeah, exactly as what Sakamoto-kun and Morgana-kun says, Sophia-san." said Doctor Maruki.
"Um… So you really are a computer program?" asked Haru curiously to Sophia.
"Correct. Would you like to see my source code?" replied Sophia as she nodded at Haru.
"Ooooh, yes yes yes! Show me, show me!" said Futaba excitedly to Sophia.
"Take it down a notch, okay? You can see it after we get through these questions." said Ryuji in slight exasperation at Futaba.
"First off, why were you in the Metaverse?" asked Makoto.
"I do not know because my memory is gone." replied Sophia sadly to Makoto.
"Could you have the AI version of amnesia or something? That seems difficult to recover from." said Makoto.
"If your data just crashed, I could take a look and try restoring it." said Futaba.
"It is impossible. I've already tried every potential solution." said Sophia sadly to Futaba.
"Ehhh, yeah. Based on your specs, I guess it's not surprising that you already thought of that." sighed Futaba.
"Were you able to recall anything at all?" asked Doctor Maruki.
"Only the command I received at initialization." replied Sophia.
"You don't sound too sure of that." said Ryuji.
"Be humanity's companion." That was the command I was issued. I remember nothing else." said Sophia more sadly to them.
"I see. Don't worry about it, Sophia." said Akira reassuringly to Sophia.
"Yeah, don't let it bother you too much, Sophia. I was in the exact same situation when I first met these guys." said Morgana.
"Thank you." said Sophia slightly happily to Morgana.
"I've still got a shit-ton of questions for Sophia, but we have some real work to do first." said Ryuji.
"Right-the Metaverse… and what we saw." said Morgana as he nodded at Ryuji.
"From what you all saw, that means Alice Hiiragi has a Palace in Shibuya, right?" asked Ann.
"Yeah, she was callin' herself the Queen, bein' all high an' mighty, whackin' people with her damn cane, orderin' Shadows around. All that kinda shit." replied Ryuji with an angry look on his face.
"She did, huh? What a terrible girl she is…" said Kanakubo-sensei with an annoy look on his face.
"There's no doubt that was the cognitive world, but… something about it was awfully different from the Palaces that we've seen and gone through last year." said Morgana.
"What is it?" asked Futaba.
"While we were in there, we saw real humans attacked by Shadows." replied Morgana grimly to Futaba and the others (which make them gasped and widened their eyes in more surprise and shock).
"There were people inside the Palace!?" said Haru.
"You mean, they had access to the Metaverse Navigator like we do?" said Yusuke.
"But that disappeared for all of us." said Makoto as she shake her head.
"Niijima-san's right. So how is it possible?" said Doctor Maruki.
"I know, right? That's where this comes in." said Ryuji as he take out his phone, turned it on then turned his phone around to show them the EMMA app.
"You mean… EMMA?" said Makoto.
"Yup, for some reason, this thing worked just like the Meta-Nav did." said Ryuji.
"We accidentally entered Alice's EMMA keyword and got sent to the Metaverse." said Morgana.
"Yeah, it's true, we did." said Hanzo with a nod of his head.
"Wait, that means EMMA is dangerous!" said Ann with a worry look on her face.
"Yeah, we know it is dangerous, Takamaki-san." thought Goro as he rolled his eyes at Ann.
"But you can just uninstall it. The Meta-Nav didn't work like that." said Futaba.
"There's one more thing that's been bothering me… When we got back to this world, EMMA say we returned from "the Jail"." said Morgana.
"Jail?" said Makoto with a confused look on her face.
"Yeah, Jail, Makoto-san." said Minato.
"The only thing we've figured out is that this new place is called a Jail." said Morgana.
"So, could you guys and girls check out the Palace, or Jail, or whatever with us?" asked Ryuji to Ken, Makoto, Haru, Yusuke, Futaba, Ann, Kanakubo-sensei and Doctor Maruki.
"Good point. There's no progressing any further unless we see it with our own eyes." said Yusuke as he nodded at Ryuji.
"I'm also having a hard time buying Alice as the ruler of a Palace." said Ann with an unsure look on her face.
"Are we going to scout it out together? I think the sooner, the better." said Haru.
"No, we won't yet, Haru." said Hanzo as he shake his head at Haru.
"He's right. Is it even safe for us to enter though? What if we all just end up captured?" said Makoto.
"You've a point, Niijima-san…" said Doctor Maruki in agreement with Makoto.
"There were no enemies in the vicinity of the exit. It's fine to enter through there." said Sophia reassuringly to both Makoto and Doctor Maruki.
"Is that so? Glad to know that from you, Sophia-san." said Kanakubo-sensei as he smiled and nodded at Sophia.
"Well, Akira, are we going to head back to that place tomorrow?" asked Morgana as he glance at Akira.
"Yeah, we will, Morgana." replied Akira as he nodded at Morgana.
"Right, we've got our mission!" said Futaba.
"Very well, I look forward to seeing this Jail. What say we met at the connecting bridge in Shibuya?" suggested Yusuke.
"Good idea, Kitagawa-san." said Ken as he nodded at Yusuke's place suggestion.
"But firrrrst… I get to see Sophia's code! You promised? Remember? Ohhh, this is gonna be the info dump of a lifetime! I promise you won't feel a thing! Mewheheheh…" said Futaba eagerly to Akira first then Sophia.
"Are you confident this is wise?" said Sophia with a concern look on her face.
"Hahaha… I guess so? I mean, at least we know she got computer skills." said Ann.
"Aw, maaaan… THIS is what happens when we get back together? Talk about an ass-busting summer vacation." groaned Ryuji.
"I know what you mean but even so…" said Kanakubo-sensei before he got cut off by Yusuke suddenly gasping out loud.
"Huh? What is it?" asked Ann concernly to Yusuke.
"What about our life-changing Kyoto excursion? Our barbeque extravaganza?" said Yusuke as he suddenly stand up from his chair.
"Oh Yusuke…" thought Minato as he, Goro and Ken sighed and shake their heads at Yusuke.
"Extravaganza? You mean our camping trip?" said Ann.
"It looks like we'll just have to postpone it." said Haru sadly to Yusuke.
"Damned Metaverse… I vow to slice you to ribbons!" snapped Yusuke in anger at the Metaverse.
"Uh, you can't slice the Metaverse, dude… Just save it for the Shadows." said Ryuji.
"Yeah, he's right. And if slicing Shadows isn't enough for you, you can always go after and slice Alice's shadow to ribbons." said Goro.
"Not happening, Goro." said Minato as he scowled at Goro.
"Buzzkill." muttered Goro in annoyance at Minato.
"Heh. Quite the fun, hilarious and unique group they are, these Phantom Thieves guys and girls…" thought Isamu in amusement in her mind at them before she and the others stood up from their chairs, bade farewell to Akira, Morgana and Futaba, left Leblanc and went to the subway station and take different train rides home and after they do so, Akira hand over his phone to Futaba to let her do her thing while he and Morgana watched her in silence.
"Hmmm… I see… What!? But how? I mean, with this over here… Daaaamn… So, that's it…" said Futaba as she analysed Sophia with her laptop.
"So, what do you think, Futaba? How's Sophia's code look?" asked Morgana.
"Well, her programmer is a genius. No doubt about that. You can figure a person out by their code, and not just their skill level. Their habits, thought processes, even their personalities are there. This code is so advanced that even I can't read it and comprehend it right away. It'd take me weeks-even months to actually grasp how Sophia works." replied Futaba with an impressed look on her face.
"Take you months? That's a serious program…" said Morgana with a surprise look on his face.
"I don't understand. Do you mean I'm impressive?" said Sophia with a confused look on her face.
"Yeah, you're impressive! You're some kinda Super-AI! If you ever went public, everyone would call EMMA old hat!" said Futaba happily to Sophia.
"Old hat?" said Sophia, more confused now.
"It means old and no longer popular, Sophia." said Akira.
"Yep. When something was popular at one point but stops being popular, it becomes old hat. It's a saying people don't really use anymore." said Futaba.
"Okay, I got it. You 2 are quite knowledgeable, Futaba, Akira." Said Sophia thankfully to both Futaba and Akira.
"You're welcome." said Akira.
"Don't go teaching her too many weird stuffs, okay? While we're at it, did you see anything about Sophia's past? Her programmer's name, or company's, maybe?" asked Morgana.
"Nothing yet-and most of those leave a signature of some sort on their work, too…" replied Futaba while Sophia had a sad look on her face.
"Anywaaay, I'm gonna keep crackin' at it from home. I'll let you know once I find anything new." said Futaba.
"Sure and do you want me to walk you home?" said Akira concernly to Futaba.
"I'm good. It's just around the block! Well, time for me to make like a tree." said Futaba as she turned off her laptop, bade goodnight to Akira, Morgana and Sophia and left Leblanc.
"Boy was that a helluva day. I never would've imagined something like this would happen." said Morgana. "Well, the Metaverse reappearing may have been a surprise, but even that doesn't compare with Sophia." added Morgana as he glance at Akira.
'Did you call for me?" asked Sophia as she showed up on Akira's phone.
"No. We were just talking about how you're a huge mystery…" replied Akira honestly to Sophia.
"Wait, I don't have too. By the way… how does some top of the line program lose all it's memory, huh? I mean, AI are supposed to be super-smart, right?" said Morgana.
"That is… inarguably true." said Sophia with a sad look on her face.
"Aw, don't get TOO down over it…" said Morgana with a guilty look on his face.
"I am humanity's companion. If I'm not helpful, then I'm useless." said Sophia more sadly to both Akira and Morgana.
"Don't be so hard on yourself…At least you remember that much, right?" said Morgana.
"Yeah, Morgana's right, Sophia." said Akira in agreement with Morgana.
"Right. I think that means it's important." said Sophia.
"But is being helpful all you'll do to become a good companion?" said Morgana.
"Is that not how it works? Please explain. How else can one be a companion?" asked Sophia.
"Huh!? Well, uh… Heheh, that's… I guess you'll just have to find a way to understand a human heart?" said Morgana unsurely to Sophia.
"Hearts?" said Sophia, confused.
"R-Right! Then you'll be able to empathize with other people, and be a good companion to them… I guess." said Morgana.
"Glad to see that you can give her an answer on how to be a good companion and it's quite cute and hilarious to see it, for me at least." thought Akira with an amused look on his face.
"The human heart…" said Sophia with a pondering look on her face.
"Look, just-just don't worry about it! All you need to do is join us and learn from all the kinds of people we meet! In exchange, you lend a hand to the Phantom Thieves. So I guess you could call this a deal." said Morgana excitedly to Sophia.
"Okay… that is a decent deal. Especially since it should help me become a good companion for humanity." said Sophia as she nodded at Morgana.
"Yep-so long as it's good with our leader." said Morgana as he glance at Akira.
"Yeah, fine with me. Let's do this together, Sophia." said Akira as he nodded at Sophia.
"Okay. We'll "do this together"." said Sophia as she smiled at Akira.
"Then it's a deal. Glad to have you on board, Sophia!" said Morgana as he smiled and nodded at Sophia before he glance at Akira. "We've got plenty of scouting to do tomorrow. We should get some rest." added Morgana slightly sleepily to Akira.
"Okay. Good night, Akira, Morgana." said Sophia as she bade good night to them both before she shrink herself until she's a red circle with a face on it moving around Akira's phone before Akira turned off his phone, change into his pajamas before both he and Morgana fell asleep.
XXXX
Meanwhile, in an apartment in Kichijoji…
"We're back and I'm starting to feel tired so I'll be going to my room to sleep now. Good night, Minato-san, Yusuke-san and Akechi-san." said Ken as he bade good night to Minato, Yusuke and Goro before letting out a yawn and went into his room.
"So do I so I'll be going to my room to sleep too. Good night, Aniki, Akechi-san." said Yusuke as he follow Ken's example, bade good night to both Minato and Goro and went into his room.
"Yeah, good night." said Minato as he watched his younger brother and his old teammate went into their rooms for their slumbers before he turned to glance at Goro. "Alright, now that it's just you and me, mind telling me what exactly is eating at you, Gocchan?" asked Minato.
"… It's nothing, Minato-san." said Goro as he refused to look at Minato.
"I don't think so. Clearly it's not nothing judging by the way you refused to look at me so out with it now, I mean it, Goro." said Minato firmly to Goro.
"… You want to know why? You and I already know why I'm like this when we had that meeting with everyone else earlier in the attic room in Leblanc. I'm worried when you didn't answer any of my calls and messages and then I'm jealous when you told me and the others that you guys, especially Hanzo were in Alice palace together…" grumbled Goro.
"That's it? That's why you're behaving like this, you're worry when I'm unable to answer any of your calls and messages and jealous that Hanzo and I were in Alice palace? In that case, you have my full apology for not answering your calls and messages earlier and Hanzo and I are just friends and we're not the only ones that got accidentally sent into Alice palace, so do Akira, Sumire, Morgana, Ryuji and Toudou-san because of EMMA. I'll make it up to you, Gocchan." said Minato as he make his way toward Goro to petted his head then lovingly caress his cheek a little with his left hand.
"You'll make it up to me, huh, Minato-san? Come with me to my room then." said Goro with a possessive look on his face as he grab hold of Minato's left arm, ceasing his caressing attempts to his cheek before Goro began dragging Minato along with him toward his room, went in and Goro closed and locked the door behind them before he slowly and determinedly backed Minato against the nearest wall, grab and pinned his arms above his head with his right hand before Goro leaned forward to planted a deep and passionate kiss on Minato's lips while his left hand went under his shirt to start playing and fondling his body.