[12th April, School's courtyard]
Ann and Shiho were Sitting on one of those blue benches, talking about something. However, the topic quickly changed to Shiho's recent experience in her life.
"..." Shiho sighed and looked down to her kneecaps with a dark look, "I-I haven't been sleeping well lately..."
"Whenever I close my eyes, I keep thinking about too many things..."
Well...mostly about the abuse she got from Kamoshida. She couldn't talk with Akira about this since Akira would most likely rush to the Kamoshida and confronted him all by himself. It's not that she's defending him. It's just that she is scared of the fact that Akira would be expelled from Shujin if he is involved in anything that broke the school rule.
However, Shiho couldn't even mention a word about all of this to Ann.
"Shiho..."
Ann noticed her dark look, but even she couldn't do anything to help Shiho.
"Nationals are coming up soon, so I keep thinking..." Shiho shut her eyes and said with a sober tone. "Should someone like me really be on the starting lineup...?"
"Don't worry. Just be confident in yourself!" Ann said with a smile, tried to cheer her up, "Your skills have been recognized! It's all because you work harder than anyone else!"
"..." Shiho just looked at Ann, still having that dark and gloomy look, "Yeah... volleyball's all I have, after all..."
Ann noticed Shiho's bruises on her arms and legs, quickly changed her tone to a serious but worrying one. "More importantly, was that injury OK? It looked really swollen."
"No, it's nothing. It's normal... Especially since a meet's coming up..."Shiho shook her head and lied, "Akira had already helped me for some of those, it's fine..."
"..." Ann sighed.
Suddenly, Yuuki Mishima came out of nowhere and walked up to both of them. Mishima was an average height young boy with short blue hair. Not only that, he was fairly injured and his left arm was wrapped in bandages.
"Sorry to interrupt, Suzui," Mishima said, "Um... Mr Kamoshida told me to get you."
"Huh?" Shiho exclaimed her eyes out of surprise, "What does he want...?"
Mishima looked away from Shiho, avoiding her gaze, "He didn't say..."
"..." Shiho looked down, back toward her kneecaps or the ground, "Ann, I..."
"..." Ann looked down as well, already figured out what Kmoshida's want.
But she quickly looked toward Shiho, tried to cheer her up for the second time, "It'll be fine! I bet it's a meeting about the starting lineup or something."
"..." Shiho returned with a small smile, but not a genuine one."Yeah."
She then got up from the bench, internally winced from the wound on her legs.
"well, I better go..."
Ann patted her shoulder, tried to cheer her up for the third time with a smile, "Yup. Good luck!"
Shiho only nodded in response, then walked toward the Faculty office, then followed by Mishima.
After Shiho's out her view, Ann sigh and played with her pigtails for a bit before taking out her phone. "Hanged in there, Shiho..."
Ann: Hey, Akira.
Akira: Hey, Ann.
Akira: Anything happened?
Ann: Well...
Ann: I'd just talked with Shiho for a bit.
Ann: She said that you helped her with some of those injuries.
Ann: I'm just wanna ask you that... is this true?
Akira: Um... if she's said that physically, then no.
Akira: But I told her that she can talk to me when Kamoshida does anything toward her or having any more injuries from him.
Akira: Is Kamoshida called her to meet him again?
Ann: Yes... And I am concerned about that.
Akira: Don't worry, I'll keep my eyes on her when you can't.
Akira: Trust me.
Ann: OK
Ann: Well, I have a photoshoot at seven, see you tomorrow.
Akira: Seeya.
And with that, Ann pocketed her phone with a heavy sigh.
The day of Kamoshida ruling this school continues, but not for long.
[Evening, Yongen-Jaya]
Akira had just finished texting with Ann about the situation with Shiho and now, he just hoped that castle can help him to defeat Kamoshida for good. With a groan from his stomach, he slowly walked to the only place he knew that'd provide a good meal for him.
Cafe Leblanc.
"Hey, Sojiro-san." Akira greeted Sojiro Sakura, the owner of this cafe and sat at the side of the booth, "Can I have a pour-over and the famous curry?"
Sojiro Sakura was a man, a man with a tough surface. However, he looked even tougher than before. "Your pleasure."
"Is there something happened to you, Sojiro-san?" Akira couldn't help but asked, "You look...sad for some reason."
Sojiro originally didn't want to talk about it, but then he remembered that Akira was in Shujin too. "...huh..."
With a sigh, Sojiro started to tell Akira about what had happened, "It's about a new kid who now lives in here."
"He's wrongfully accused with assault, and somehow he was late for half a day in his first day to Shujin."
'It reminds me of a certain Transfer student...' Akira wondered from his words, 'So Amamiya-san lives in here?'
"Why should I tell you this much about him?" Sojiro asked himself in the middle of his sentences, "I think he's in the same year as you."
"Actually..." Akira sighed and pinched his nose bridge, "Amamiya-san is in the same class as me."
"And his criminal record got exposed by someone, so everyone pretty much avoided him now."
"Oh." Sojiro only said.
"Amamiya-san is a good person. I'm sure about that." Akira sighed and finished his curry and coffee, "Please don't be too harsh on him."
"I'll try my best."
Akira nodded in response and pay for his meal. As he exited Leblanc, Ren also comes in right after.
"You're home." Sojiro, who was now sitting on one of those chairs and looking at the newspaper in his hand, "I take it you actually went to school today?"
"It was pretty tough."
"Hey... You better not be getting into trouble." Sojiro noticed the sober look on Ren's face and sighed, "I heard that your criminal record got exposed... I'm sorry about that."
"Wha- How?" Ren Stuttered a bit before answering, "Who told you that, Sojiro-san?"
"It's Akira in your class. He just came by to have a meal. We've talked for a bit." Sojiro couldn't help but feel bad for him, "He also told me that you were a great person. You're friends with him?"
"No, we've only met once." Ren shook his head in response.
"Hmm..." Sojiro was deep in his thought for a bit, "Maybe it's because he knows how it feels to be punished for doing the right thing."
"I remembered that he was in a fight with a teacher in Shujin to protect someone else from being sexually assaulted." Sojiro continued, "Poor kid..."
'sexually assault...sound like Kamoshida.' Ren began to wonder about Akira, 'Maybe he can tell us something about him.'
Suddenly, some 'Pi'sound came out of Ren's pocket and snapped him out from his thought. It's text from Ryuji.
Ryuji: Hey, I decided to go ahead and message you.
Ryuji: Can you see this?
Ren: Yep.
Ryuji: I'm gonna be counting on you tomorrow, OK?
Ren: Got it.
Ryuji: You're the bro, man...
Ren: Hey, before you go...
Ren: maybe we can ask Ichijou-san about Kamoshida.
Ren: He seems like he had a history with him.
Ryuji: Oh, about the fights he had with him...
Ryuji: Yeah, maybe after volleyball rally.
Ryuji: Welp, seeya tomorrow!
Ryuji: Let's save those guys who've been getting abused. You and me.
With a small smile, Ren put his phone back to his pocket and was greeted by Sojiro's annoyed glance.
"...Sheesh, are you even listening to me? Just stay away from bad influences, OK?"
Ren nodded and processed to walk toward his room in the attic before Sojiro stopped him, again.
"Hey, I'm gonna head home for the night." He put the newspaper to the booth and said while getting up, "I'll lock the store up. Don't go wandering out."
Ren only modded again and headed up to his room, leaving Sojiro alone.
[Up on the attic]
Ren was about to get into bed before Ryuji texted him again, earning a slightly annoyed look from him.
Ryuji: That thingy on your phone was some red eyeball icon, right?
Ren: Right.
Ryuji: We ended up at that weird place when we used this nav app, right?
Ryuji: I found it on my phone too...
Ryuji: I don't even remember installing it!
Ren: That's creepy
Ryuji: For real. what is this thing?
Ryuji: Think it's being downloaded on its own somehow?
Ryuji: It's dangerous to use something without knowing what it is...
Ryuji: But with it, we can go to that weird place, right?
Ren: seems like it.
Ryuji: Basically, it's gonna depend on how we use it.
Ryuji: But first we gotta fond evidence for the beating.
Ryuji: I'm counting on you, all right? Don't go ditching school on me.
Ren: Of course, Ryuji.
And with that, Ren turned off the phone and went to bed. But the rattling sound of chain woke him up afterwards. He got from what supposed to be his bed and found himself in the velvet room, again.
"Wake up inmate! Our master wants to have a word with you." Caroline, one of the guards who was standing outside the cell said harshly.
Ren just silently sighed and walked up to the door of the prison cell, looking at Igor, a bizarre old man with a long nose, pointed ears and bulging and bloodshot eyes. He also wears a black suit with white gloves.
"Welcome to the Velvet Room." Igor said with a strange smile on his face, quite creepy to be honest," I thought about resuming our previous conversation tonight, That's why I have summoned you."
"What are your thoughts? Are you becoming accustomed to this place?"
"Yeah." Ren only nodded.
"Ah, glad to hear it. It seems you have nerves of steel."Igor's smile widened, only to make it even creepier, "Your rehabilitation determines if ruin can be stopped, Yet, such a feat cannot be done by you alone."
"But today, you entered a partnership with someone who awoke to the same power, and even met another one who has it too, haven't you?"
"A partnership?" Ren asked.
"Involving yourself with others is an important foundation for your recovery. You've done well."Igor didn't answer his question, just continued with his vague word, "That said, I am nor advising the formation of superficial relationships."
"It must not be of frivolity but a ring of those who would, by morals or faith, lend you their strength."
"In other words, they are bonds with those who have been robbed of their places to belong."
"The expansion of said ring will, in return, help you mature as well."
"Personas are the strength of heart..."As Igor finished his word. Another guard of the cell, Justine, Turned toward Ren and said. "The stronger the bonds that surround you, the more power your Personas will gain."
"There are countless people in the city who have talents that a weakling like you doesn't." Caroline then followed, "You better rack that noggin of yours and get them on your side. We'll change that into power."
Once both caroline and Justine had finished, Igor chuckled for a bit and said, "Indeed. you should be prepared to use even myself, or your ambitions will not come to fruition."
"We have a deal then."
[13th April, School]
Akira was focusing on the music from his headphone when Ms Kawakami was announcing to others.
Ms Kawakami or Sadayo Kawakami was a youthful-looking woman, possibly in her late 20s. She had dark brown unkempt hair, dark brown eyes and consistently has a relatively long and sleepy face.
She also wore a yellow long-sleeved shirt striped with white and red horizontal lines, a blue denim skirt and white kitten heel shoes.
"OK, listen up everyone." Kawakami noticed Akira who was still listening to his headphone and sigh, "Hey, Ichijou. Can you just put down your headphone and listen to me, even just for a moment?"
Akira merely put his headphone around his neck and present her a sorry look, "Sorry..."
"As you all know, today is the volleyball rally." Kawakami then returned his attention towards the whole class, "Head to the gymnasium once you've changed. got it?"
with a nod from everyone, the volleyball rally had started.
So did the investigation of Ren and Ryuji.
[Afternoon, during the rally]
Kamoshida was doing well, constantly giving spikes to the student's team, especially Mishima. Yes, most students were focused on the rally, or just Kamoshida himself.
But from the far corner of the stadium, Akira was sitting with Ann while Ren was sitting with Ryuji on the other side.
"You OK, Ann?" Akira said, his gaze had never left Kamoshida, but not a good one, "Still worrying about Shiho?"
"Yeah..." Ann said while playing with her hair, looked bored as hell, "I don't know why, but please don't leave her alone."
"I know... Kamoshida hit on you again?"
"Always..."
"Not good... let's hope that he won't have your phone number at any moment."Akira sighed heavily, mumbled quietly to himself, "That bastard... Think that he is a king of the castle of some sort..."
"..." Ann didn't answer.
Meanwhile, Ryuji was staring at Ann the whole time with Ren looked like bored as hell too.
"Still sticks out... Hasn't changed a bit."He quietly mumbled, but loud enough to be heard by Ren.
"Hm?" Ryuji noticed Ren's confusing look on him and Stretched for a bit, "Pretty boring, right?"
Ren only modded with a small smirk on his face, "yeah... Just boring in general."
Ryuji didn't answer, just used his right hand to support his hand and fell asleep, or looked like that he was sleeping. Until the chanting from the girls suddenly increased and gaining their attention.
It was Kamoshida again. He had given another hard spike toward the student team. With the incredible height of his, he was able to easily break through the defences and straight toward Mishima's face.
But then, seemingly out of nowhere, someone suddenly pushed him away from the ball and taking the ball for himself. He quickly served the ball towards the net and jumped, even higher than Kamoshida and strike.
The ball went even faster than everyone had expected and zoomed past the shocked Kamoshida, barely touching his face. For a moment, there are only the echos of the ball crashing to the ground.
Once everyone had come back from their shocking state, they found who was that mysterious person who saved Mishima from getting hit.
It was Akira.
"Ju-Just in time..." Akira looked back on Mishima and gave him a smile between heavy panting, "You're OK?"
Mishima just nodded, still too shocked to respond.
But then, the others start to whisper to each other.
"It's that brat again..."
"Why would he interrupt the whole thing?"
"He's just showing off, trying to impress Takamaki that he's better than Kamoshida-sensei..."
Akira didn't hear or pretended that he didn't hear those whisper and apologized to the teachers with a bow, "Sorry about that, I'm only wanted to save Mishima-san from getting hit."
"You can continue." As with that said, Akira quickly walked back to the seat next to Ann.
"Thank god..." he quietly sighed in relief and said.
"You baka." Ann glared at him and whispered, "You know that you can't just rush out and do things like that."
"Sorry... I just wanted to save Mishima from getting hit by Kamoshida..."
"Huh..." Ann could only sigh on Akira's word, "Still trying to help everyone..."
[After the volleyball rally, school courtyard]
"Get to know each other better, my ass. It's just a one-man show for him to stroke ego." Ryuji hissed furiously, stamping his feet, "At least Akira was able to get some form of revenge to him..."
"...well, anyways." Ryuji sighed silently and stepped close to Ren, "Now's our chance to go look for the guys we saw were slaves yesterday."
Suddenly, the voice of Akira ringed from somewhere near them, caught them by surprise.
"You two are going to find evidence about that bastard, correct?"
"Ichijou-San?" Ren said, looked surprised at Akira appearances. "Why are you here?"
"Just overheard your conversation." Akira sighed and leaned on one of the pillars.
"Ichijou, we're going to ask you about him as well," Ryuji said, crossing his arms, "You had a history with him before, right?"
"Yeah... About that." Akira couldn't help but cringed to his words, "I was trying to save Kimiko-chan from being sexually assaulted by Kamoshida, then it quickly escalated to a fistfight with him..."
"You bastard! Get your hands off from Kimoko-chan!"
"At the end, I was the one who got blamed. Kamoshida said that I was the one who was sexually assaulting Kimoko-chan..." Akira's hand clutched tight, tried to control his emotion. "If not Mitsuru-San came in and helped me. I would already be expelled from here..."
"Well... that's unfortunate." Ren said.
"I know..." Akira waved reassuringly with a small sombre smile, "Ryuji, if you want to find anything about Kamoshida... I suggest you guys go to Mishima."
"Mishima? why?"Ryuji asked with a confused look.
"Just my intuition..." Akira sighed and gave them a fist pump. "Good luck...you'll need it."
with that said, Akira left both of them alone and went to the classroom.
'Time to my investigation...'
"I-I don't know what you're talking about?!"
"It's OK, I won't tell anyone about it." Akira was, in short, frustrated from the response from the volleyball player.
"But you-you're that one who had fought with Kamoshida-Sensei! I-I just can't trust you!"
"What would I do to harm you?" Obviously, Akira knew that his reputation wasn't the greatest. But this is merely absurd, "I'm just gathering evidence of Kamoshida abusing and sexual assault to expose it to the police."
Or even better, the one and only Naoto Shirogane. Even though they only met once, but Akira knew she could be trusted, one hundred percent.
"Dude, it's no use..." the player said sombrely, "Everyone knows, even our parents. They would just defend Kamoshida..."
'That effin' prick!' Akira internally cursed and sighed. "OK... I'll leave you alone now."
With that said, Akira left the volleyball player alone and went back to the hallway. And wrote down the information to his 'Detective Notebook'.
'So only the castle left...' before Akira realised, he was already back to the courtyard and recognized Ann, who seemed like talking with someone else.
"Can I talk to you for a sec?" Ann was talking, or more precisely, interrogating Ren.
"What is it?"
"It'll be quick." Ann said, "Anyway, what's with you? Like, how you were late the other day was a lie and all."
"...There's that weird rumor about you too." she continued.
Akira only stood there and watch, internally hoping that thing wouldn't go out of control.
But then Ryuji came, earning a facepalm from him.
"Whaddya want with him?"
"right back at you. You're not even in our class." Ann retorted.
"...We just happened to get to know each other." Ryuji cringed a bit and stepped back for a bit.
Ann noted the reaction of Ryuji and decided to continue to ask, "What're you planning on doing to Mr Kamoshida?"
"Huh? I see. I getcha." Ryuji exclaimed with eyes wide-open, but quickly recomposed himself, "You're all buddy-buddy with Kamoshida after all."
"This has nothing to do with you, Sakamoto-"
"OK, THAT'S ENOUGH!" before Ann could finish her word, Akira stepped out from his hiding places and shouted, interrupted all of them.
"Akira? Why are you here?" Ann asked with wide eyes.
"Ichijou?!" Ryuji also added.
"Ann wasn't like that buddy-buddy with that prick!" Akira stepped between Ann and Ryuji, continued to snap, "Don't you see that sombre face when Kamoshida asked to go out with her? She was forced to go with him!"
"You know that feeling of being the centre of rumour, right?" Akira finished with a heavy sigh, "Why would I confronted Kamoshida for you and the track team back then..."
Ryuji only stared in awe, unable to find a word to say.
"...I'm sorry..." he finally apologized to Ann.
"Good." Akira then took out his notebook and turned to one page, "Now every adult, even the parents know about the abuse..."
"What?! For real?!"
"Yes, indeed..." Akira said, clutched his other hand tight, "You can ask Mishima for confirmation."
"...He's always the target of Kamoshida-sensei's 'Special Coaching'... True, I always see the guy covered with bruises."Ryuji thought for a bit, then signalled Ren to fallow, leaving Ann and Akira alone. "Let's go talk to him before he leaves then."
After Ryuji and Ren were gone, Akira looked back at Ann with an apologetic face, "Well... I guess I can be a baka sometimes."
"Huh..." Ann only sighed with a small smile on her face, "But anyways, thank you."
"My pleasure."
[enterence hall, a few minutes later]
"Everybody knows... The principal, Our parents... They all know, and they all keep quiet about it."
"This is gotta be a joke..." Ryuji just looked at Mishima in awe, couldn't believe what he'd just heard, "So Ichijou was right..."
"...Don't be a pain. you don't understand what I'm going through." Mishima just retorted with slight annoyance, "Shouldn't you of all people know that nothing's going to help...?!"
"...!" Ryuji just winced a bit from his words.
Seeing that Ryuji won't ask him further, Mishima decided to rush back to the stadium, leaving only Ryuji and Ren.
"Dammit." Ryuji said, equally annoyed.
"What now?" Ren sighed and pushed his glasses, "Apparently everyone knows..."
"I'll try one more time to persuade the other guys. That's all I can do."
They nodded to each other before parting away.
On the other hand, Akira was all on his own when he entered the dark alley near the school. He quickly pulled out his phone and tapped the mysterious app with an eyeball-looking icon.
"So this is the 'navigation app' Ryuji and Amamiya-san were talking about..." Akira couldn't help but wonder, when did this app installed to his phone?
"But now I just have a find that 'Morgana' and ask him about how to take down Kamoshida..." Akira quickly entered the keywords he heard from yesterday to the app. Then that robotic feminine voice rang again.
"Kamoshida... Shujin Academy... Pervert... Castle..."
"beginning navigation"
['The Castle']
"I'm really back..." Akira, who now wearing his 'Other Uniform' as he called it, was standing in front of the castle and slowly approached the entrance.
As he approached the entrance, the 'Morgana' from before pushes the huge door to squeeze through it, "So you two are back-"
"wait, who are you?"
"I'm that guy who helped you in that fight yesterday." Akira kneeled and said with a small smile, "So... Morgana, right?"
"Yea-Yeah..." Morgana was decently surprised by Akira's knowledge of his name and stepped back for a bit, "But back to my question, who are you?"
"Who am I?" Akira knew that he couldn't give his name out to him and quickly thought a nickname for him, "you can call me Jester."
"OK... So Jester, why are you here?"
"I wanna talk to you for a bit." Akira, or now Jester, took off his tophat and said, "This place is how Kamoshida sees the school, right?"
"Yeah, he is the owner of this palace." Morgana nodded.
"Palace?"
"Palace is in short, a world in which one's distorted desires have materialized." Morgana crossed his arms and said, earning a look of confusion from Akira.
"So... It basically means that this is the literal version of his 'desire' or whatever, right?"
"Bingo."
"Ok then," Akira rubbed his chin and asked, "So can I stop Kamoshida from doing those act of 'desire' in here?"
It took a few second for Morgana to register what Akira's saying, "You mean stealing the treasure? If that so, then yes."
"Treasure...huh?" Akira thought for a short while before stood up from his kneeling position and slowly walked toward that small hole again. "How about we explore this place first? Maybe you can teach me about fighting with Persona or such."
"Are you sure about that? There are only you and me..." Even though Akira understood that Morgana was concerned for him, but he still insisted to go.
"I think we'll be fine, with Moriarty on my side."
"If you insist..." with a sigh, Morgana decided to follow him.
Both Akira and Morgana quickly and smoothly leapt through the small hole on the wall of the castle. They hopped from one cover to another, until a lone guard entered their sight.
"So, I should teach you the basic of combat." Morgana whispered, "In order to gain an advantage, you need to rip off the mask on those shadows."
"Mask... huh." Akira took out his grappling hook and aimed at the back of the guard, "Let's hope this work."
He fired the hook and directly attached to the back of the guard, pilling him toward him and flipped around to grip on his mask.
"Ciao, darling." before the guard could address what was going on, Akira ripped off his'(or her's) mask and jumped off with a backflip. Ready for battle.
The guard just twitched uncontrollably and dissolved into a pile of black goo, then turned into a Silky.
"Ho-How dare you!" The Silky shouted furiously toward Akira, "You'll be punished for intruding Kamoshima-Sama's castle!"
"Ohhh~ someone beautiful like you shouldn't be in control by bastard like Kamoshida." Akira said teasingly toward the Silky, "You know, you're a cutie after all."
"But sorry, I'm going to defeat you." Akira mockingly sighed and touched his mask, summoning Moriarty, "Moriarty, Eiha."
With that said, Moriarty instantly snapped his finger and sent a small burst of curse energy toward Silky, dealing a small amount of damage to her.
"Zorro! Garu!" Morgana quickly leapt out from his hiding spot and summoned Zorro. A burst of razor-sharp wind struck her and knocked her back.
"You thief!" Silky, who now was even more pissed cast a Bufu to Akira. A Burst of ice struck him hard, knocking him down.
"ARGH!"
But thanks to his quick wit, Akira swiftly backrolled toward Morgana. Narrowly dodged another Bufu from Silky.
"Jester, you're too cocky! " Morgana shouted while casting another Garu, covering Akira's retrieval, "You need to pay more attention to the fight, not dropping quirks every second!"
"Yeah, sorry Morgana." Akira rubbed the back of his neck and said apologetically to him, "Revolver shot!"
"YES, SIR!" Moriarty briskly aimed his revolver to Silky and without hesitation, fired to her's head. And Silky died afterwards.
"Well, still a long way to go, I guess," Akira said in between his small panting, then turned to Morgana, "Let's get going, shall we?"
"...I guess so."
Morgana only nodded in response and followed him. they covered the area between the Main Hall and 'the Training Hall of Love' and had a few battles here and there. Akira also learnt about 'Hold Up' phase and 'All-Out Attack' from Morgana in the process. In the end, both of them sneaked back out to the outside of the castle.
"Well, I think we'd covered a lot of ground." Akira, now tired from the battles and sneaking, looked at the sketch map on 'Detective Notebook' and smiled, "And you're a great teacher for sure, Morgana-Chan."
"And you're a fast learner too." Morgana crossed his arm in front of him and said proudly, "You can fight with that Ryuji and Ren too! How about-"
"Nah, I think I'm more a 'operate in the shadow' type of person." Akira's turned down his request before he could finish his word, "I'll help the three of you during infiltration, but please don't tell them about me."
"Wha-Why?"
"Just my intuition... But whatever," Even though Akira said this. But for the sake of his identity, he swiftly summoned Moriarty and cast a unique kind of spell to Morgana.
"Moriarty, Makajama. "The spell was only to wiped Morgana's memories about him in the first place.
"Sorry, Morgana."
He whispered apologetically to Morgana before tapping his phone, teleported back to the alleyway he came from.
Once back to the real world, Akira started to note down something on his notebook, "I should buy a model gun first... But Shiho's business is more importa-"
"Akira-Kun? Why are you in the alleyway?" Out of a sudden, someone's voice came from his side and made him jumped for a bit.
"huh?!" Akira took a few seconds to regain his composure, "Oh hey... Shiho."
It was Shiho. She seems to like she just finished her volleyball practice, mostly from her bruises.
"You're going home?" Akira laughed awkwardly and said, "I can go with you."
"Um... I guess." Shiho nodded and led him toward the subway station.
On the way to the station, Akira decided to ask her about her lies from yesterday, "So... Shiho, why'd you said that I helped with your injuries?"
"H-huh?!" Shiho was dumbfounded from his word, struggled to find the right response, "Ugh... It's because I don't want Ann to worry too much about me... She already got her photoshoot to worry about..."
"But by doing so, you'd just made me and Ann even more worried about you." Akira noticed the guilt wearing on Shino's face and sighed, holding her hand reassuringly, "I'm not blaming you, but you're hiding something from me, right?"
"..." Shiho tried to contain her tear and emotions but ultimately failed, "It's just that... I want to escape it all... Kamoshida... everything!"
"Shiho..."
"But the abuse continues, the harassment continues..." Shiho said between sobbing, "I don't want Ann to do things she doesn't want to keep me as a regular on the team!"
"It's OK to-"
"IT'S NOT OK!" As if something inside Shiho snapped, she shouted before Akira could finish his words. "I kept this all by myself because I don't want you to fight with Kamoshida again! I don't want you to leave... I don't want you to be expelled..."
"Shi-Shiho..." Akira's heart was like being stabbed from seeing Shiho like this. Without any consideration, he pulled Shiho close and hugged her tightly. "I-I'm sorry for... everything."
Shiho didn't respond, just sobbing out loud in his chest.
With that, this ended the second chapter of P5: Another Thief! Thank you for reading!
As for anyone wondering Moriarty's stats and skills, here it is:
Moriarty- Lv. 10
Main elemental type : Curse, Wind and Gun
RESIST: CURSE AND WIND ATTACK
WEAK: ICE, ELECTRIC AND BLESS ATTACK.
SKILLS:
Eiha : (Light Curse damage to 1 foe)
Garula : (Medium Wind damage to 1 foe.)
Magaru : (Light Wind damage to all foes.)
(Unique skill)REVOLVER SHOT : (Light Gun damage to 1 foe)
Makajama : (Inflict Forget (high odds) to 1 foe.)
The next chapter would be the turning point of Shiho and possibly awaken her spirit of rebellion, or in another word, her Persona!
Hope you would enjoy this story so far, reviews are welcome!
