This story is a work of fiction.

Any relation to persons, living or dead, as well as events, are purely coincidental.

The author owns none of the characters, or events, that take place here.

The world is not as it should be.

It's filled with distortion, and "ruin" will soon descend.

However...there are those who would challenge fate, in desire for change.

Since time immemorial...they were known as,

"Tricksters."

Persona 5: Hoshi to Bokura to

Fourth Heist: Distortions

.

.

.

.

.

"...and this is the faculty room," Makoto finished their tour, standing outside the door where Kawakami was waiting. The tour in itself was hardly anything special, and while she had shown him the facilities, Akira wasn't quite impressed. Even though the equipment and areas were definitely up to par with an elite school like Shujin, it was hardly any different from his old school. "So, any questions so far?"

He shook his head. There was nothing he needed to know. And if he did, he could just ask her later when they had the time.

"Alright then," she said, turning to leave. "I need to head to the Student Council room. You'll find me there if you need anything." She took six steps before she stopped and turned back to face him, smiling somewhat. "Oh, and Kurusu-kun? Welcome to Shujin Academy." With that, she left, walking away and heading up the staircase. Akira's stare lingered for a bit, a bit surprised. It seemed that Makoto hadn't fully pegged him for a trouble child like everyone else. She didn't hold a high opinion of him, but she hadn't joined the bandwagon of considering him to be troublesome.

Regardless, he grabbed hold of the small slit in the door, and gently pulled it open, stepping inside the faculty room. As he expected, several desks were found alongside many men and women, either at their desk, writing on documents or grading papers and the like. At the closest one to the door, he found Kawakami, writing on what appeared to be a document of some sort. She didn't notice him at first when he walked him, but upon hearing his footsteps approaching her, she turned. "Oh," she said, looking slightly surprised. "You're...earlier than I expected."

Akira shrugged. "Woke up early, didn't have much of a choice."

"I...see," the teacher sweatdropped slightly at his nonchalant response before she stood up. "Well, class is going to start in a few minutes, so I suppose that's enough for the time being." She turned to her desk, gathering her papers and stuffing them into the clipboard. She placed it underneath her arm, and then looked at Akira. "Well then." He nodded, and followed her out the faculty room. Shortly afterwards, they entered back into the main hallway, and began making their way towards his classroom. "I'm sure you've been told this numerous times already, but..."

'I know, I know,' he thought in annoyance. 'Cause any trouble, I get kicked out. Why does everyone keep reminding me so much?' They turned the corner, and passed by two female students. As he walked past them, he gave a brief look over his shoulder, noticing that they stopped after he passed them, giving him a slight stare before whispering to one another. 'Rumors again, I see...so, what will be it here? Kid got chewed out by teacher at the front gate? Delinquent getting in trouble on his first day? ...knowing my luck, the students here already know about my record.' Even if the faculty was asked to keep quiet, there was no way such information could be withheld for long. Rumors had a way of getting into the mouths and ears of others, after all, one way or another. Soon, they reached his classroom. Kawakami opened the door, and they stepped inside, with the teacher taking her place at the podium, and he at the chalkboard, already writing his name.

"Alright, settle down everyone," Kawakami called out tiredly. The chattering of the students had ceased, quieting down to where only hushed whispers could be heard in the background. "Class is now in session. First, I'd like to introduce a new student." Akira set the chalk on the small metal railing underneath the chalkboard, and turned to the students. "This is Akira Kurusu. He will be joining our class as of today," she introduced him before giving him a small look. "Kurusu-kun, do you have anything to say to the class?"

'Yeah, a few. Like how I'm innocent and got in trouble for helping a woman from a drunk only for the police to take his side,' Akira thought sarcastically before speaking. "I'm Akira Kurusu...pleased to meet all of you."

After the introduction, he strained his ears, hearing the new whispers that started to go around.

"Man, that's him? He looks...well, normal."

"I thought he was gonna be a thug, but he just looks like your average joe."

"I bet that's just how he normally is, but once you piss him off..."

'Yep, everyone knows about my record,' Akira thought in annoyance. He wanted to tell these people off, but the rules were clear. It was frustrating, being forced to play to a tune he didn't want to play. However, it was necessary if he wanted a regular life, or at least what could pass as a semblance of one. Kawakami had told him that he could take a seat behind the girl near the windows. Sighing, he nodded, and walked down the isle, uncaring of the gazes of everyone around him. As he passed the girl he would be sitting behind, he stole a look, and was genuinely surprised.

The girl looked slightly foreign, if only because of her eyes and hair. She had bright blue eyes and ash blonde wavy hair styled in bushy pigtails, with parted side bangs on the right side of her face. She accessorized with a single yellow hair clip above her left ear, as well as small circular earrings on both ears. She wore the school uniform, but also modified like his for her own preference; the standard black blazer over a white varsity-like hoodie worn long to cover most of her short plaid skirt. Her hoodie had a zipper, a red stripe between two blue stripes at the bottom, an S symbol near the front bottom on one side, and a green four-leaf-clover symbol on the back of the hood. She also wore red tights and brown boots with yellow laces.

His gaze didn't last longer than a second before he took his seat. With that done, he pulled out his books, and Kawakami began her lecture.

TakeYourHeart

"That will be all for today," Kawakami announced, signalling the end of class, as well as the school day. "Normal classes will resume tomorrow."

Everyone was soon buzzing, leaving their desks and the classroom, while only some lingered about, speaking with friends. Akira, for his part, felt tired. 'I forgotten how exhausting school can be,' he thought as he held a hand over his mouth as he yawned before he packed his things, slinging his bag over his shoulder. 'Time to head home, I guess. I've memorized the route already, so...oh. Wait, I don't have Makoto-san's phone number, so I can't text her that I already know the route home.' He gave a sigh, and scratched his scalp. Great...now he had to make a detour. "Gimme a break," he muttered before he left the classroom. As he did, he again noticed the stares, but paid them no mind. It would be no different from the stares he received back home after the incident. Besides, he was pretty sure everything would blow over soon...if he got lucky, that is. After all, gossip queens tend to speak frequently.

While looking for the student council room, he had to ask a fellow student where the room was located. He also took notice of the boy's appearance. He was roughly beat up, with bruises all over his face, marred with bandages, and a forlorn look. He didn't wear the jacket, but did had on the turtleneck sweater with the sleeves rolled up, and had a messy bed of dark blue hair. Akira noted that he was nervous speaking with him, though he understood why, since everyone seemed to be aware of his reputation. The room was up on the third floor, right next to the library, so it wasn't hard to miss. He thanked the boy, and went on his way up. After reaching the third floor, he noticed that quite a few of the students upon this floor looked younger than him, though recalling Makoto's tour, this was because the students were divided into three different years, and each year occupied a different floor; third years on the first floor, second years had the second, and first years on the third. To his luck, Makoto was standing right outside, speaking with another student.

"I heard you came to school with that criminal," the student said, wearing a green armband with his uniform, and a concerned face. "He didn't blackmail you into coming with him, did he?"

Makoto frowned, crossing her arms. "No, he didn't do anything like that," she said with annoyance. "More importantly, where did you hear about that? Only the school faculty is supposed to know about Kurusu-kun's record."

"W-well, everyone's talking about it," the armband-wearing student replied, slightly nervous from the glare. Akira didn't blame him. That stare looked pretty intense. "Plus, it's on the school website."

Akira and Makoto's eyes widened upon this piece of information. His info was on a public website for anyone to see? What the hell?! Having the school know he had a record was one thing, but anyone could see that! For once, Akira was left shaken. Who in the hell leaked that info? It had to be someone with access to the website domain, so it must have been a teacher...but why?! "What?" Makoto gaped. "Wh-who did it?"

"I don't know," the student replied, shaking his head. "L-look, just be careful, okay Niijima-senpai? I've heard some nasty rumors about that guy."

Makoto was silent as the student walked away, bidding her farewell. Her face was troubled, and he couldn't quite blame her. Going by what the student just said...it seemed like his record was hardly the only thing that was being spread around. Akira didn't want to know what kind of rumors were going around, as he was more concerned about the fact that someone had more or less spread his record to anyone who looked at Shujin's website. He gave yet another sigh. Somehow, he knew this was going to be a recurring theme for him. Oh well...he supposed he would have to find out about this later. He approached Makoto, alerting her of his presence. "O-oh, Kurusu-kun," she said, surprised a bit before she looked at him with sadness. "So...I suppose you've already heard?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Expected as much, actually. Someone's bound to find out eventually."

"I suppose," Makoto said, biting her lip. "But it still doesn't make it right." She tapped her forehead, wondering what she could do. As student council president, it was her job to make sure she tended to the student body, which was right now in an uproar due to Akira having a criminal record; a fact that was supposed to remain with the faculty as to not alarm them. Now, however, it was in plain sight, and already, rumors were spreading like wildfire. However, she was also worried about Akira. Now that his past was in full view, he was practically void of any chance of having a second chance to start a new life. She wanted to help him, but couldn't think of any way. It was at times like these that she wished she knew what to do when her authority as student council president literally meant nothing in this situation.

She gave a tired groan, shaking her head ruefully. She couldn't think like this. She needed to be positive. "Anyway," she returned her attention to Akira, putting a hand at her hip. "Hopefully it blows over. Thankfully, because this is the start of the first term, there's no work for me, so we can go home. By the way, Sis texted me earlier. She said she won't be home again tonight."

"Is she not home often?"

Makoto sighed. "Downside to being a prosecutor is that your boss runs you ragged," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "Or so Sis says." She then brightened her face, and smiled at him. "Anyway, shall we go?"

"...sure."

With a nod, the two left, heading down the stairs. As they did, some of the first year students who noticed them being together whispered amongst themselves.

"Dude, you seeing that?"

"That was the Student Council President, yeah? Who was that she was with?"

"Maybe its that delinquent transfer student everyone's been talking about."

"What's she doin' with him? Think he's already causing trouble?"

"They looked pretty close. Do they know each other or something?"

And the talking spread even to the second-years when they saw them briefly, though the two payed them little mind. As they walked down the stairs, Akira had pulled out his phone, checking to see if he had any new messages. Much to his surprise, however, he found an increasingly disturbing sight on his phone.

It was the app from before. The one with the eye.

'What the hell is going on here?' he thought, his irritation growing. 'I've deleted this damn thing twice now.'

Just as he tapped it, with the intent to once again delete it before something bad happened to his phone, they reached the first floor, and to his confusion, was stopped by Makoto, noticing something ahead of them at the entrance. "Takamaki-san," she muttered in slight surprise. Akira followed her gaze, and noticed the blonde girl who sat in front of him in class. She looked to be speaking with a teacher; probably the PE teacher by the look of his attire, as he wore a jersey with a whistle around his neck, and was rather muscular. He looked back at Makoto, and noticed a look of slight animosity directed at the teacher. "Kamoshida-sensei..."

'Kamoshida?'

"I hope everything's been going okay for you, Ann-chan," the man, Kamoshida, said in a leisurely tone, coupled with a concerned smile as he spoke with the girl called Takamaki. "You seemed pretty out of it when I picked you up at the station earlier. Everything going okay at your part-time job?"

Takamaki nodded slowly. "Y-yeah," she answered, appearing to be rather anxious. If the look on her face was any indication, she clearly did not want to be anywhere near the man, though Akira was unsure why. Perhaps he was notorious among the students? "I'm just...not feeling well today."

"Well, don't push yourself too hard, okay?" Kamoshida told her, placing a hand on her shoulder. Takamaki, for the briefest second, flinched under his touch. "If you want, I can give you a ride home too."

"T-that's fine," Takamaki told him, gently pushing herself out of his grasp. Kamoshida seemed taken aback by this action while the girl looked increasingly more uncomfortable. "A-anyway, I need to get going. I have a shoot today." She performed a deep bow. "Excuse me." Faster than what Akira was expecting, the girl speed-walked away from the man, reaching the doors in seconds and leaving Kamoshida behind.

The teacher stared at the door, his expression unreadable before he left. Akira frowned. Whoever the man was...something definitely seemed off. Going by Makoto's hostility and Takamaki's reaction to him...he was either not probably liked, or there was something about him that neither girls liked. He even noticed something rather disturbing as well. The man seemed to be overly familiar with her, speaking to her on a first-name basis, and the way he grabbed her shoulder was...how should he put it? If he didn't know any better, it seemed like he-

"Fucking perverted bastard."

Akira blinked, and turned his head. There was another student next to him, leaning against the wall and watching the whole thing happen with a sour look on his face. It was a boy his age with short spiky blonde hair, though his eyebrows were black indicating that he had dyed it, and dark brown eyes. He wore the uniform, but like Akira himself and Takamaki, it was modified. It consisted of the standard black blazer, unbuttoned to reveal a yellow t-shirt with a comic style star symbol and the word 'ZOMG!' His plaid trousers were rolled up to reveal his ankles, and the suspenders hanged down instead of being worn on his shoulders. He also wore a white belt with white sneakers that had a rising sun flag motif.

"Perverted...bastard?" Akira unknowingly repeated. When he registered, his eyes widened, and earned the boy's attention, who looked at him and glared. Oh great...this should be fun. Going by what he saw by his attire, the boy was probably a delinquent, or at the very least one of the school's more...unsociable students.

"What?" the boy growled, removing himself from the wall and taking a step forward. "You gonna rat me out to that asshole?"

Before the blonde could do anything, though, Makoto stepped in between, a stern expression on her face. "Enough, Sakamoto-kun."

"P-Prez?!" The blonde, Sakamoto Makoto called him, backed off immediately, stepping back. "W-what're you doin' here?"

"I was on my way home, like everyone else," she answered curtly, crossing her arms. "I would have expected you to do the same. Moreover, its quite rude to refer to a teacher in such a manner," There was a brief pause in her voice before she quietly murmured under her breath. "Even if it is someone like Kamoshida-sensei..."

Sakamoto scoffed. "Yeah, right," he said in disdain, kicking the floor. "The bastard's a sicko, and you know it." He then looked at Akira, who remained quiet throughout the conversation. "Hey, what do you think?"

He tilted his head. "What about?"

"What about?" the blonde male quirked an eyebrow. "About Kamoshida! He thinks of the whole school like its his own damn castle!"

Makoto's eyes narrowed. "Sakamoto-kun..." she warned dangerously. While she did indeed share his opinion of Kamoshida, having more than heard enough of the hushed and terrified whispers amongst the student body, and even a few teachers within the faculty, it was rather dangerous to be making accusations out in public. "I believe that's enough."

"I'm just sayin' the truth is all," Sakamoto replied with disinterest, much to her anger. How the hell could he not take this any more seriously?! He was already on bad terms with the teachers, and was constantly being on the edge of suspension! If he pushed his luck, he could be expelled for goodness sake! And as Student Council President, she couldn't let that slide! That, and it irked her how he had yet to rid himself of that blonde hair dye. Sakamoto then looked back at Akira, and after an actual look, he quirked an eyebrow. "Wait...I don't think I've seen you before. You a new student?"

"This is Kurusu-kun," the red-eyed girl introduced him, struggling to keep herself from lashing out. "He started attending here today."

"Oh. That explains why you don't know him," Sakamoto said, crossing his arms. "Word of advice? Keep away from that fucker. He's nothing but trouble."

"How much longer are you going to keep this up?" Makoto asked, her irritation beginning to leak. "Look, I realize you and Kamoshida-sensei are not exactly friendly with one another, especially with what happened on the track team, but if you keep this up, you're going to be expelled!" Sakamoto rolled his eyes, which proved to be the last straw. She gritted her teeth, and her hands balled into fists. Thankfully, she managed to keep some control as she refrained from yelling too loudly to create attention. "Just what is up with you?!"

The delinquent scowled. "What's up with me?" he questioned, getting in Makoto's face. "What's up with you? You're the Prez here, and yet you just let everyone walk all over you like some pushover!"

"W-what?!" she gawked at the slander. "Th-that's not true in the least!" She realized she was allowing Sakamoto to get to her, and shook her head. "A-anyway, that's hardly the point! Sakamoto-kun, if you don't clean up your act-"

'I should probably stop them,' Akira thought, noticing the rising tension. Normally, someone in his position, at least at this very moment, would just walk away before the bomb went off and he was dragged into it, but he wasn't like someone else. He wasn't the type to stand idly by while someone was about to get into a brawl with another. "I think that's enough," he said, putting a hand on Makoto's shoulder. She jumped a bit, having completely forgotten about him in the heat of her argument with Sakamoto, and looked at him in surprise. Akira gave a small look, which more or less showed concern for her before looking at Sakamoto. "Look, I don't get what's going on here, but..."

"What's going on here?" Sakamoto repeated with anger. "Oh, I'll tell you what's going on!"

Unknown to the three, the mysterious app on Akira's phone remained active, as his touch had opened it up, creating a menu belonging to some kind of voice activation property. And it recorded Sakamoto's words.

"That fucking perverted asshole, Suguru Kamoshida, thinks of Shujin Academy as his own goddamn castle, like he's some kind of goddamn king!"

[Suguru Kamoshida...Shujin Academy...Castle...]

The unmistakeable, electronic female voice that called out from Akira's phone after the rather tense and uneasy silence following Sakamoto's shout had surprised the three. Akira looked down, and found the app he tried to delete previously now open, menu included. Makoto also noticed the app, and saw the icon, looking quite disturbed. "W-what in the..."

[Match Found. Target: Asmodaeus. Beginning Navigation.]

"H-hey," Sakamoto said, confused and at the same time, disturbed. "The hell is-" he was cut off when he suddenly cringed, groaning in pain as he held his head. "Ngh...!"

Akira and Makoto both followed suit, gripping their temples. A sense of pain and light-headedness overcame them, and their senses, for a moment, became distorted. Unknown to any of them, the entrance of Shujin Academy, or rather the world around them, began to turn dark purple. Red ripples began to flow, as if the surroundings were nothing but water. The world shimmered, twisting and warping with each ripple. However, soon, as the sense of pain in their heads faded, the world began to settle. "D-dammit," Sakamoto growled, shaking his head. "The effin' hell was..." he trailed off as his eyes suddenly turned to the size of saucers. "...what the hell is this?"

"W-what?" Makoto maoned, still slightly left uneasy after that bout of nausea. "What's wrong?" Akira recovered soon after, and shared Makoto's sentiments...until both saw what Sakamoto saw. They were both caught off guard. "W-what in the world is this?!"

They were no longer in Shujin's entrace, right near the main gate. In fact, they weren't even inside Shujin at all. Instead, they were inside what could only be described as some sort of ballroom belonging inside some sort of lavish castle. It was a mix of purple, gold and red, with a grand staircase right next to them, leading up to what looked to be a grand portrait of a man locked in battle, adorned in brilliant golden armor, sword in hand. However, for some disturbing reason, the face of the warrior great resembled that of Kamoshida, the teacher that was speaking with Takamaki, and the subject of their conversation earlier. Above, grand chandeliers hanged from the ceiling, gently swaying.

'What in the heck...is this?' Akira questioned, completely thrown-off guard. What in the world was this place? Moreover...how in the heck did they get here? Weren't they at Shujin just moments ago? Also...what was with this atmosphere? It felt so heavy and oppressive, almost like something was weighing down on him. Not only that, but...something about this place felt...wrong. It felt like the Velvet Room's atmosphere, though that calming and soothing nature was nowhere to be found. No, it felt so...malevolent, like danger was so horribly close to him. Honestly, it was hard to breathe. 'How did we...' He looked down at his phone, and noticed that the entire screen was covered by the app, though it seemed to be glitching around some parts. 'Did...the app bring us here? Now that I think about it...it said something about finding a match.'

"H-hey," Sakamoto looked at the two, as if expecting them to have answer. "The heck is this place? Weren't we at Shujin?"

Makoto nodded, quite shaken. This defied all sense of logic...how was any of this possible? "W-we were, but..." she shook her head. "I-i don't know...how is any of this possible?"

"How should I know?" Sakamoto shot back before looking around. "Man...is this, like, the inside of a castle or something?" Akira gave a shrug, though he had to admit, the architecture was incredible. Whoever built this place put a lot of detail. The blonde male then saw the portrait, and grew disturbed. "Is that...Kamoshida? Tch, whoever painted that oughta be punched in the face." He scowled, clearly not liking the painting. "Just looking at that stupid mug is pissin' me off."

"Never mind that," Makoto said, urgency in her voice. "L-let's get out of here. I don't know why, but...something about this place...it doesn't feel right."

"Got that right," Sakamoto nodded in agreement. "Place gives me the creeps..."

Akira gave a nod as well, growing increasingly more uncomfortable. The three then began moving away from the staircase, taking one of the nearest doors, and thus, unknowingly, leading them further inside the castle, all the while completely unaware of the golden, yellow eyes that watched them leave, a cold and malicious intent behind them.

TO BE CONTINUED...