[19th April, after school]
After the successful infiltration in yesterday, the four thieves decided to do some preparation first. Ren is handling all the upgrades of their gear and medicine while Ryuji is handling the calling card. Meanwhile, Akira and Shiho were waiting for the calling card to be sent.
Seeing that the Phantom Thieves won't send the calling card in these few days, Akira decided to back to his part-time job at Untouchable.
"Kid, you do have a passion for guns," Iwai smiled, reading the newspaper in his hand. "Having you to work here is the best choice I've ever had."
"Thanks, Iwai-san." Akira replied with an equally bright smile on his face, checking the model gun's functionality. "Even Shiho called me a 'Gun Nerd' sometimes."
"Shiho... Sounds like a name for a good girl." The shop owner said, putting another lollipop into his mouth. "She's the one you have a crush on?"
"Huh?!" The younger boy exclaimed, almost dropping the gun in his hand. "Well... Yes."
"Hoo boy." Iwai whistled, looking away from him intentionally. "Man...It's giving me nostalgia."
"Can we just drop this topic? It's too-" Akira's request was interrupted when the doorbell rang, signaling the arrival of another customer. "Welcome to Untouchable, what do you need-"
"Ichijou?! Why are you here?!" Akira's introductory remark was interrupted again as the screaming of Ryuji suddenly rang through the whole shop.
Akira took a few long seconds before finally realized who was the customers. It's the Phantom Thieves.
"Ryuji! Can't you just be quiet for just a moment?" Ann hissed and quickly smacked the back of his head, then apologized to Iwai. "Sorry sir, we disturbed your business."
"It's OK." Iwai said monotonously, putting the newspaper over his face, "I'll leave the things to you, kid."
"O-OK, boss." Akira shuttered and coughed for a bit, quickly switching into his professional side.
"Well, what do you want?" he asked with a professional tone, earning a look of disbelief from the thieves.
Ren's eyes darted around the different guns showcased on the wall and said, "Uh... Akira, do you have any recommendations?"
"Any recommendations from me, huh?" The dealer stretched and leaned closer to them. "Well, which type of guns do you want? You just need to give me some adjectives."
"Adjective..." Ren thought for a moment before answering. "I need something light-weight, robust."
"Light-weight, robust..." Akira murmured in deep thought, raising an eyebrow. "Well, I got something for you."
He crouched to the pistol's category and chose a model gun which designed like a black Desert Eagle, spinning the gun in his head a few times before putting on the counter. "Well, even though this pistol isn't the most lightweight in the world. However, the firepower of this beauty is one of the best in the world. Using a magnum round instead of normal round, this gun's firepower can stop everything in the sight of this gun."
Ren took the gun from the counter and tested the iron sight. After a few tries, he nodded with a smile and put the gun back on the counter. "I'll take this. This seems a good fit for me."
Seeing the professional remark and description from Akira, Ryuji excitingly rushed to the counter and suggested with a grin. "I want somethin' that would go out with a bang!"
"Go out with a bang..." Akira turned around and took a shotgun designed to replicate an AA-12 shotgun. "I don't really need any description beside... Fully automatic shotgun, this would certainly fulfill your need."
Then, he took another shotgun from the wall and put it to the counter. This time a pump-action shotgun designed like a SPAS-12 shotgun. "However, if you like the sound or feeling of pumping the gun itself. This shotgun's firepower is basically the same as the other one. Well... it depends on you, Sakamoto."
"Depends on me..." Ryuji examined the two shotguns, tried to have a feel for it before choosing the pump-action shotgun. "My choice is this one!"
"Suit you, Sakamoto." Akira then turned his attention to Ann and asked. "So, how about you, Ann?"
"Um..." Ann was deep in thought for a short moment before answering him with a wide grin. "I want something that would be fast, and wide!"
"Fast... and wide..." The shop employee visibly sweatdropped at the girl's answer, but then turned around and took a model submachine gun which designed to be a replica of a Thompson M1928 machinegun. "Maybe...this would suit you."
"Hmm..." Ann took the SMG and put it next to her hips, making 'Pew Pew' sound in her mouth while playing with it. "I'll take this! Your choices are the best, Akira!"
"Sometimes." Akira smirked from her answer before checking the prices of those guns on the counter. "So... It's 9980 yen in total."
Ren took out 10000 yen from his wallet and handed it over to him. After paying for those model guns and saying farewell to them. Akira instantly slumped onto the ground, only holding himself up by the counter.
"Kid, you've done great." Iwai said, putting down the newspaper. "You do have the talent of choosing things for others."
"I know, Iwai-san." Akira forced himself to get back up before taking his revolver out. "Um... Can I use the workshop? Iwa-"
The younger boy's word was interrupted as Iwai nodded and pointed to his back. "Of course you can, just don't mess anything up."
"Thank you!" Akira quickly dashed into the workshop and started to customizing his revolver. Replacing the iron sight with a one with white lining, making aiming with it in the dark much easier. Then a heavier barrel to handle more powerful bullet, replacing it with a reinforced cylinder in addition. A modified grip to make it handle a bit better.
"Let's hope that this thing would help me to fight that bastard..."
[21st April, Shujin's hallway, Morning]
The calling card was sent. The notice board at the entrance hall was plastered with multiple copies of the calling card itself, covering almost everything on the board itself.
"So this is what they meant..." Akira took a copy of the calling card and read it out loud. "'Sir Kamoshida Suguru, the utter bastard of lust. We know how shitty you are, and that you put your twisted desires on students that can't fight back. That's why we have decided to steal away those desires and make you confess your sins. This will be done tomorrow, so we hope you will be ready. From, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts...'"
"Um..." Shiho, who was by his side frowned from the word of the calling card. "Well, definitely Sakamoto's word."
"My thought exactly." Akira sighed and put the calling into his school bag. "Well, rooftop after school?"
"OK..." Shiho trailed off, feeling nervous as this the end. "With our help, they would be able to steal the treasure with no problems."
Akira nodded and walked toward the classroom when Kamoshida walked up to the notice board, shouting furiously. "Who's responsible for this..?!"
"Got him." Shiho smirked slightly but quickly reformed to the usual somber look afterward.
Meanwhile, the four thieves were watching Kamoshida's reaction from aside. Knowing that their plan had worked.
"I think it's hittin' him pretty hard." Ryuji grinned at Kamoshida's reaction. Finally able to revenge at him for once.
"Yeah." Ren also smirked, observing his reaction with a sense of joy.
Kamoshida, now furious, turned sharply at a nearby student. "Did you do this?! Or was it you?!" He yelled, turning to another student.
Turning around, he spotted Akira and Shiho and walked up to them. "Was it you, Ichijou?" He gritted, staring right at his eyes.
"Me? Please don't make me laugh." Akira replied in a mocking tone, enjoying his reaction, "Why would I be sooo secret about my hatred to you and claimed that I am some kind of 'Phantom Thief of Heart'?"
"Your word would have consequences, Ichijou." Knowing that he can't fight him now as people are watching, he gritted in a low tone. "You'll be gone by the time I found out who's behind this!"
"Same goes for you." Akira plainly stated before turning to Shiho and walked away without another word, leaving him alone.
But as the duo reached the staircase to the upper floor, they felt that the atmosphere was changed. "Wha-"
Shiho's question was interrupted as the voice of Kamoshida, or his shadow suddenly rang out to every Persona users. "Come...Steal it, if you can!" The King yelled, grinning. The Shadow turned back to the real Kamoshida a brief moment later, who pivoted and walked away.
[After school, Kamoshida's palace]
After the calling card was sent, the whole castle was on high alert, the usual purple sky was replaced with dark red, the twisted moon seemed to be even larger than before. The sound of soldiers running filled the whole castle, even can be heard from miles away.
"Holy..." Jester looked at the threatening look of the palace, the knot in his stomach ached. "...Let's go, Swan."
Swan only nodded in silence, and the two entered the castle and went straight to the main tower. They are a bit late to infiltrate the castle, coming after the Phantom Thieves had already entered the castle, or even had already taken the Treasure.
Since the whole castle was on high alert, the duo found themselves in a hard time to sneak through those soldiers. But after many many close calls, they reached the King's Hall.
And what they saw was not what they expected.
The Phantom Thieves were in a battle with a giant demon. The demon had four arms, holding onto a wine glass, a knife, a crop whip, and a fork. The size of this monstrosity was HUGE, about the size of the whole hall. His purple tongue hung out like a dog, with saliva dripping all over the floor. However, the most disgusting part of this monster is that... It's Kamoshida.
"So this is the shadow of Kamosida..." Jester and Swan quickly grappled themselves to the balcony of the hall, assisting them with Magic attack.
Joker quickly noticed the addition of Bless skills and the greater Wind attack and shouted to his teammates. "We got help!"
"I can see that." Mona replied with the same volume as Joker and turned to the balcony above. "Jester, Swan! We really need your help!"
Instead of the usual silence, Jester exclaimed back. "I know! We're trying to defeat this monstrosity too!"
"But his health is just too much!" Swan finished the sentences for him, summoning Jeanne while talking. "Fly High! Giant Slice!"
The crystal Persona materialized in the air and slashed the demon right in the center, but it still standing. The giant shadow whipped and command the four small slaves to fire a volleyball barrage to the balcony. But since the duo was running in the shadow, the volleyballs only hit the wall of the hall. Leaving a huge hole behind.
"Let's do this!" Jester summoned Moriarty and grappled himself across the hall, landing on the other side. "Moriarty! Revolver Shot!"
The Blue Persona fired his revolver again and again, emptied the bullets of his revolver. "Dammit!" Jester cursed and shouted back to the Phantom Thieves on the ground.
"Your turn now!"
"My turn... OK!" Joker summoned Obariyon and pointed at the demon. "Snap!"
A large bullet hit Kamoshida. It hit it right in the head and sent him crashing with the stairs behind rubble and dust covered some bit of the demon.
"Captain Kidd! Zio!" Skull's pirate cast a bolt of lightning to it, but not very useful.
"Zorro! Garu!"
"Carmen! Agi!"
The wind skill and the fire skill of Mona and Panther combined, creating a fire tornado and strike him. Injuring it further.
After a barrage of attacks from all thieves, Kamoshida started to a look of injured. But it quickly took a pair of female legs from the cup in and devoured it, his injuries start to disappear as green sparks surrounded it.
"He healed himself...?" Mona whispered, observing the cup in front of it. "Is it because he ate those insides there..?"
Kamoshida raised his whip again and the salves spiked another barrage of volleyball at them, specifically Skull this time. The barrage of volleyball hit him and was hardly fazed. Then another barrage was sent and hit Panther this time, knocking her back a few steps.
"We need to attack the cup!" Joker shouted as he dashed towards the cup and slashed it for a few times, then fired a few shots towards it while dodging the other barrage of volleyball.
"Hey!" Kamoshida yelled as he noticed the target of their attacks were now on the cup. Moving its arms to protect it. "You don't know what this is worth, so stop touching it! Don't do it again anymore, got it? I've warned you!"
"But we're not those type of people that would take these warning seriously!" Swan summoned Jeanne again in the air while shooting it with her sniper rifle. "Kouga!"
An arrow of light appeared on the top of the cup and presented it with the bullet, almost destroying it. Then without another word, Jester jumped down from the balcony and slashed the cup with his scythe in incredible speed, before firing a final shot by his magnum revolver. Breaking it into nothing.
"Joker, I'll leave the Hold Up to you!" Jester exclaimed before firing his grappling hook and pulled himself back to the balcony.
"Ack!" The shadow visibly slumped down from the face that his cup was destroyed. "No way...This was from when I won the national..."
The thieves rushed to him and surrounded him with their guns, Jester and Swan also pointing theirs to it in the balcony.
"You think you can get away with doing such a thing? Do you realize who I am?!" Kamoshida yelled, sending everyone an intense glare with his disgusting large eyeballs. "...I am Kamoshida! Don't you get it?!"
Joker spun his pistol before pointing at it again. "So what?" He asked mockingly.
"Like I keep saying!" The Distorted King retorted back. "I am Kamoshida! I'm the king!"
"You look down on everyone...but you're seriously lame right now." Skull said, pumping his shotgun for another shot.
"We came all this way to steal that!" Panther pointed the crown on its head with her Tompson. "Will you just give it up and hand it over?!"
"Silence!" The monster shouted, pulling the items in its hand closer to itself. "I won't let the likes of you have this!"
"You still have the energy to say things like that?!" Mona yelled, turning his head to Joker, "It looks like that we need to up our games as well!"
Joker nodded and commanded his teammates. "Everyone! All-Out Attack!"
The four thieves did a short leap backward before launching themselves into the air. Using walls, pillars and other things as their stepping point, They strike from every direction possible. Black blood and blood mark covering the monstrosity as time went on.
Staggering back, the Distorted King stared st the thieves, rage filled his heart and his eyes. "I'm the king..! If I'm not, then who is?!"
"It seems like we need to be smart about this..." Mona suggested to Joker. "Maybe we need to aim for the crown."
"I know." The leader of the Phantom Thieves glanced at the crown for a moment before whispering to Skull.
"Skull, I need you to get up there and told Jester that we need to take the crown."
Seeing a nod of confirmation from Skull, Joker executed his plan B. "Everyone! Fire everything you got to Kamoshida!"
Panther and Mona cast the same fire tornado trick like before towards Kamoshida, covering Skull's climbing in the process. The injured monstrosity Swirled his other cup in one of his hands and drank the wine in it, letting the fake girl hit his tongue. He violated the dolls with the massive tongue before spitting it back to the glass. Energy filled inside of it as he did that.
"Ugh..." Swan cringed as she saw the disgusting act it had done. "Disgustin-"
Swan interrupted as she saw Skull climbed the pilar toward the balcony. She quickly grappled herself to the other side and helped him up.
"Yo." Skull said as Swan helped him back onto the balcony, "We need you guys to take that crown from Kamoshida!"
"Oh, that crown..." Swan switched her attention as Jester approached them. "You heard him, Jester?"
"Yeah." Jester turned to the shadow before turning back to Skull. "Skull, you go back first, we'll handle this."
Skull nodded and jumped down to the hall and rushed to the group, telling Joker that the duo would help them finish this task. Joker turned to the balcony and they gave each other a nod.
"Swan, I'll take the crown." Seeing a nod from her, Jester took a deep breath and started running towards it, attacking it while running to distract it. Once he reached the steps next to the head of Kamoshida, he leaped and kicked the crown from its head with every strength he had. Then he fired the hook behind his back to pull himself back.
Landing smoothly with a back roll. The duo looked at the shadow as he desperately reaching for its crown. "Nooo! My...my precious…!"
"Good!" Mona grinned. "Kamoshida's shaken up!"
Taking theirs only opportunity, Joker shouted again. "Everyone! Fire everything you have!"
"Arsene! Eiha!"
"Captain Kidd! Cleave!"
"Carmen! Agi!"
"Zorro! Garu!"
"Moriarty! Revolver Shot!"
"Jeanne! Kouga!"
A barrage of different elemental and physical attacks struck Kamoshida hard. With a painful cry, the monster crashed onto the ground and changed back to its human form. Skull picked up the now smaller crown. But he Fallen King took the crown and ran to the treasure room in fear. With a yell from Skull, the thieves ran after him.
Swan fired his sniper rifle as he frantically ran and hit the pillar beside him, causing the shadow to stumble back to the balcony.
"Nngh..." Kamoshida stumbled in despair as there's no other escape route in sight. The only way out was a bottomless drop.
"What's wrong? Not running away?" Panther gritted, staring directly at his eyes as she approaches him. "Why don't you run? Aren't you a great athlete?"
"It's always been like this... All those goddamn hyenas forcing their expectations on me...! I'm doing this all for them! What's wrong about demanding a reward for that?!" Shaking in fear, he yelled, clenching at the crown in his hand.
"Now you're makin' excuses...?" Skull said with disgust. "We'll do something about that distorted heart of yours."
"You're a disgusting bastard, that's all I can say about you." Joker stated plainly, reaching for his pistol.
"Hrrgh..." Kamoshidaonly grunted in frustration and fear, not even able to move a bit.
"Scared?" Panther asked with anger. Taking another step to him. "Right now, you're seeing the same view that Shiho did. I'm sure she was scared too...except she had no choice but to jump..."
"If not because of Akira and us, she would be dead already." Panther quietly finished, only a few steps away from the Fallen King. "What will you do? Will you jump? ...Or would you rather die here?"
Her mask disappeared within a blue frame and Carmen appeared behind her. Kamoshida took another step at the sight of Carmen, hugging his crown even closer.
"Do you want to finish him off?" Mona asked, crossing his arms. "It's your call."
"No, please wait! I beg you...Just forgive meee!" Kamoshida begged, sweating heavily from fear.
"Shut up. I bet everyone told you the same. But you…" Panther said, clenching her hand tight. "You took everything from them!" She yelled, firing a fireball at his direction. The fireball narrowly passed him and hit the ground next to him.
"...Ann..." Swan and Jester could only hide and watched the whole event played out, knowing that they shouldn't intervene. Jester held her hand as she tried her best to hold her tears.
"I accept defeat...You want this? Take it." Kamoshida slumped in defeat and threw the crown to them. Joker caught the crown easily and examined it with a plain expression.
"Panther... You'll decide his fate." The leader said with a serious look.
"Go ahead and finish me off..." The king whispered, clenching his eyes with a single tear running down his cheek. "You do that...and my real self will go down too..."
"You have that right since you've won…"
Clenching her hand, Panther fired a large fireball to him. The others were shocked and yelled in surprise. The fireball hit the ground next to the king, only blowing his cape. He looked up slowly with wide-eyes, still in disbelief about how he was still in one piece.
"If his mind shuts down, he can't admit his crimes." Panther stated as she recalled Carmen, the red mask appeared back on her face.
"You're kind, Lady Ann..." Mona trailed off, smirking.
Kamoshida looked down to the ground. "I've lost. You're through when you lose... What am I- What am I supposed to do now..?" He said hesitantly.
"Atone for your sin." Joker decided to step forward and plainly stated. "Too many people with a dream was crushed by you. Death is not your option here."
After a brief moment, the king nodded. "All right... I will leave now and return to my real self..." a white aura surrounded him, and he disappeared with a flash.
Once the shadow was gone, the four thieves sighed unanimously in relief. And the duo in shadow smiled from the scene. Their work is done. However, their peace was cut short when the castle started to rumble
"What the-" Jester interrupted himself as he recalled about what would happen when the shadow was defeated and turned to Swan. "We need to go, FAST!"
Before Swan can even response, Jester took her hand and fired his grappling hook to the hallway. The duo ran as fast as they could as the wall and floor around them start to crumble.
As they're running for their lives, the duo heard the yelling from Ann far behind them. "We're gonna die! We're so gonna die!"
"Akira! My legs start to give up on me!" Shiho, now had lifted her mask on her forehead shouted to the one next to her. "Help!"
"I'm here!" With a sigh, Akira quickly picked her up in a bridal style and proceed to run towards the only white light in front of them.
[Real world, the front gate of the school]
Once the duo has escaped the crumbling castle. Akira unironically tripped himself with his other foot, sending him and Shiho rolling on the ground a few times before they finally stopped.
"Ugh..." With a grunt, Akira felt that his hand was holding something soft. He opened his eyes and found that... He's lying on top of Shiho, with his hand unconsciously rested on her breast. "Uh... Sorr-"
"..." Shiho opened her eyes and figured the situation they're in. Blushing madly, she shoved him off with a push. "Prevert!"
"I'm sorry! It's just an accident!" Akira apologized with a madly redden face, unknowingly gaining the attention of the only person at the front gate right now.
"Um... You two OK?" The duo snapped their attention to the source of the voice in an instant. It was a third-year girl with chin-length curly light auburn hair and wearing a pink turtleneck cardigan over her normal uniform.
"O-Okumura Senpai! We're sorry!" Shiho quickly recognized the girl in front of them and apologized in a flash. "Just forget about us!"
Before Okumura can respond, Shiho quickly took Akira's hand and ran off to another direction.
Meanwhile, the other group were back in the alley. Panting in exhaustion, Ann commented, "This sucked..."
"Yeah, one hundred percent." Ren nodded in agreement, still trying to catch his breath.
Then Ryuji suddenly shouted, gaining the attention from the other two. "Look at the Nav!"
"The destination has been deleted." The nav rang with a robotic voice, and the destination was deleted.
"...It's true. We can't go there anymore." Ann whispered, staring at the phone screen in disbelief.
"What about the Treasure?!" Morgana yelled in anticipation, jumping up and down.
"..." Ren took the Treasure out from his pocket and showed it to the group. "Well..."
It's an Olympic gold medal, not the crown in they were anticipating.
"...A medal? Wait, where'd that crown go?" Ann asked, raising an eyebrow.
"What's going on...?" Ryuji questioned, also raising an eyebrow.
"It means, that was the source of Kamoshida's desires." Morgana examined the medal for a moment before explained to the others. "To him, this medal is worth as much as that crown we saw in the Palace."
"An Olympic medal..." Ryuji took a step closer and observed the medal before widening his eyes in realization. "So that perv kept clingin' to his past glory and couldn't let it go…"
The thieves looked at each other briefly before sighing in unison. "This means that Kamoshida's heart might have changed, right?" Ann asked.
"Probably." Morgana only shrugged,
"...Our expulsion's on the line here... Morgana." Ren sighed and facepalmed himself.
"This is the first successful example for me too." The feline retorted weakly. "However, there's no doubt that this has affected Kamoshida's personality quite a lot. The entire Palace disappeared, after all."
"Ugh, I feel all antsy! Ain't there a way to check now?" Ryuji said, rubbing his head in frustration.
"Let's hope this work..." Ren sighed before noticing somethings wrong. "Um... Guys, where are Jester and Swan?"
"Jester and Swan?" Ryuji rubbed his chin before answering. "I didn't see them coming out."
"Maybe they ended up in another spot." Morgana said, "They're going to be alright."
"I hope so..." Ren sighed again from their responses.
Even though the whole thing ended in an uncertain note for the four thieves and an awkward not for the other duo. But after all... the mission was a success.
Kamoshida's rule in Shujin Academy, was no more.
And with that, chapter seven and the Kamoshida's arc of P5: Another Thief concludes! thank you for reading!
Next Chapter:
After the successful attempt of stealing Kamoshida's heart. Ren, Ryuji, Mishima and Akira's future was still uncertain. But since that they can't anything more, they wait for the result, and the board meeting to come.
Will the heart of Kamoshida be changed?
I hope you would enjoy this story so far, reviews are welcome!
