[22nd April]

It has been a full day since the battle and the collapse of Kamoshida's palace. The Phantom Thieves had no choice but to just wait for the board meeting in about ten days. They're nervous about it, but what can they do?

With nothing else to do, Akira arrived at the library of the school. "Uh..." He sighed as all sight wat put on him once he entered the library.

"Why is he here?"

"He's just trying to play nice."

"Stay away from him, you know what he'd done to Kimiko-chan..."

"..." Knowing that everyone would just stay away from him, Akira took a few books from the shelf in silence and sat aside to read it.

"So these are the story with Moriarty in it..." He examined the book in his hand and sat down at one of the round tables, only to be accompanied by another student with brown hair in a bob cut with blunt bangs and a French-braid styled headband.

'It's Nijima-Senpai...' Akira glanced up from his book occasionally, interested at what's she studying about. 'Well, It' the final year of high school for her anyway...'

"Why are you looking at me, Ichijou?" His thought was interrupted as Nijima suddenly spoke up to him, gaining a confused from him.

"Huh?" It took Akira a few long seconds before finally realize that he's been staring at her the whole time. "Oh, sorry. I'm just interested in what you're studying..." He quickly apologized, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

"It's my own business."NIjima replied, still focusing on her paperwork on the table.

"OK..." Akira trailed off, putting his attention back to the books in his hand. The duo then proceeded to focus on their own business, with other students whispering in the meantime.

"This time targetting on Nijima-Senpai..."

"Disgusting..."

"Now Mr. Kamoshida has taken a few days off... We need to be more careful around him..."

"..." Akira quietly snickered from those whispers, trying his best to hold back his emotion. "Just wait till the board meeting, and everything will be fine..."

Makoto heard those murmur from him and looked up from her works. He was clenching his books so hard, almost leaving marks on it.

"The book would break if you keep doing that." She plainly commented, causing Akira to look at her again.

"What do you mea-" He interrupted himself as he looked down to his books and saw the mark he left. He hastily flattened out those marks and took out his notebook, jotting down points about Moriarty.

'A sociopath in disguise... Using his intelligence for his benefit, his own "Justice" in a sense... Self-Center, Napolean of crime...' Akira frowned at the word on his notebook, still can't wrap his head around the fact that his Persona is 'Moriarty' out of anything. 'He's nothing but a villain, a villain of Sherlock Holmes' story...'

'But at the same time, a hero in his own story.' He stopped his pen as he realized the similarities between him and Moriarty. 'Just like me... A hero, in our own story. Kamoshida painted me as a villain, but I still am a hero in my own way...'

'Maybe this is what it meant.' He finished, closing his notebook. "But that's too stretch out in my opinion..."

The teen checked his phone and found that it's already almost seven. "I've been here for this long?!" He exclaimed, quickly packed his things up and left the library in an instant.

Ignoring everything in the way, Akira quickly rushed to the train station and was lucky enough to evade the rush hour. After a few minutes of being squeezed inside the subway, he was back in Yongen-Jaya.

"I'm back..." He sighed in exhaustion as he entered his apartment, instantly slumped into the couch. But as his stomach groaned in emptiness, he was forced to get up and get some food for himself.

"Leblanc should be closed by now..." The boy looked at the clock and sighed, walking into the kitchen and made himself some instant noodles to eat.

Will Kamoshida's change of heart work? Will he be able to stay in Shujin? These two questions lingered on his mind for the whole day, and the disappearance of Kamoshida only made it worse. But as days pass, the doubt of his mind was gradually getting larger.

[23rd April, courtyard.]

Akira was sitting alone at the bench of the courtyard, eating his bento when Ren suddenly came up to him. He put the bento aside and greeted back with a small smile.

"Hey, Akira." Ren sat next to him and put his bag on his lap, letting Morgana poke his head out.

"A cat in your bag?" Akira noticed Morgana and asked with a raised eyebrow. "So that's why I heard those meowing during class."

"Yeah..." Ren gently patted the cat's head, earning an annoyed look from it. "He's very annoying sometimes."

"I know." The other boy laughed for a bit at his word, but then sighed again. "I heard that you're also going to be expelled because of Kamoshida, right?"

"Maybe, but he had taken a few days off." Ren answered, looking at the other side of the courtyard. "Let's hope that he got a change of heart. According to the 'Phantom Thief'."

"Oh, yeah... about the 'Phantom Thief'." Akira stretched and replied. "They remind me of Mitsuru-san's group...hmm..." He whispered to himself, but loud enough to be heard by Ren.

"Mitsuru? She's your parent?"

"Nah, She's just my distant relative and my legal guardian." Akira answered, shaking his head. "As for my parents... They're gone."

"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that." Ren was shocked by the answer from him and quickly apologized. "It's must be hard to live through that."

"It's OK." Akira shook his head again. "It's been seven years, after all..."

"How about you? I'm curious about your assault case." He turned to Ren with a curious look, taking out his notebook. "I can't see you as a person who had assaulted someone before."

After a moment of consideration, Ren decided to tell him the truth of his case. "Well... I saved a woman from an assaulter, I only pushed him away and he fell to the fences on aside." He winced from those memories about his case. "I don't know how, but he was able to make the police to stay on his side. Even that woman had lied to frame as the assaulter. And the rest is history."

"...Damn, that's..." Akira can't help but feel sorry about him, he wrote down the word he said and closed his book. "I'll call Mitsuru-san to look into your case, maybe she can help you about it."

"She can help me?"

"Of course." he nodded with confidence, smirking. "She's the head of Kirijo group after all."

"Wait, what?" Ren was dumbfounded from his answer, staring at him with a look of disbelief. "The head of Kirijo Group?!"

"Oh yeah. She's the one and only Mitsuru Kirijo." Akira plainly stated, rubbing his head in frustration as he remembered something important afterward. "But she told me that she's going to Hawaii to deal with some stuff a while ago, so..."

"I'm sorry about that."

"It's OK." Ren said, "I've accepted this fact."

Then, a question popped up in his mind. "Um, Akira." He suddenly changed his tone to a questioning one. "If you're tied with Kirijo Group, why they can't just kick Kamoshida out of Shujin by exposing him to the public?"

"Oh, about that." Akira touched his cheek and thought for a moment to answer. "Well, since every adult knows what's going on, protecting him and the students were too scared to speak out or didn't know at all... Mitsuru-san couldn't find someone with a good reputation to expose him. Especially after his false claim about my 'sex assault' and those fights with him, my already damaged reputation sank to the bottom of the ocean and anything from them would just hurt me even more."

"If not for Ann and Shiho, I would be studying in Gekkoukan right now."

"...That must be hard for you." Ren said with a sympathetic tone, looking down toward Morgana

"...Let's change our topic." Seeing the somber tone between them, Akira quickly decided to changed his subject. "Um... You and Ann had been close recently... Are you two dating?"

"Huh? No, of course." The boy with fuzzy hair replied plainly, a dumbfounded look on his face. "We're just friends."

"Of course! Lady Ann is only our friends!" Morgana added but interrupted as Ren quickly pressed his head, making him squeaked. "Ren! Stop this!"

The boy didn't answer, pretending that he didn't hear what the cat said.

"Well, you look honest about this." Akira replied with a look of disappointment for his answer, also pretending that he didn't hear Morgana's complain. "If that's so, then what type are you into?" He then quickly followed up with another question, an look of interest on his face.

"What type?" Ren was deep in his thought for a moment before answering, this time with a hesitant tone. "Ugh...I don't know, maybe someone who is smart, caring, a bit funny and cute."

Akira thought of his response for a moment before looking back toward Ren with a grin on his face. "Well, Ann did fit a number of these requirements. Except for the smart department."

"She may look like those smart blonde from movie and stuff, but she never passed anything other than English." He quickly explained, not seeing the look of fear from Ren and the cat. "I remember every time that an exam or a test is around the corner, she'd just begged me or Shiho for help on her study. However, no matter what we taught her, her result is still poor for some unknown reaso-" The boy with headphones interrupted himself mid-sentence as he noticed those look of fear from the duo.

"What's going on-" It only took Akira a few milliseconds to realize what caused the look of fear from their faces and sighed. "Ann is right behind me, right?"

"You're right!" The cheerful sound of Ann quickly answered, "Akira, don't you know that talking behind someone's back is an awful thing to do?"

"O-Of course." He replied, slowly turning his head to face the smiling blonde. "But this is fact, you're bad at everything aside of English-"

Ann's eyebrow twitched as she leaned closer to him, still holding her smile. "Ohhh, it would such a shame if your little crush to Shiho was exposed~"

"...How would you know!" Akira's face visibly paled at Ann's word, cold sweat falling down his cheek. "I-I'm sorry Ann! Please don't tell her about that!"

"Hmm... Maybe." Ann said with an evil smirk on her face, still not satisfied with Akira's response. "Oh, hey Shiho!"

"!" The boy instantly looked up and over the benches, only to be greeted by no one.

"Haha! You fell for it!" Ann can't help but laughing out loud at Akira's action, making him looked down in defeat.

"I really hate you..." He murmured to himself, mentally facepalmed for his stupidity.

Meanwhile, Ren and Morgana sweatdropped as the event unfolding in front of their eyes.

"Note to self, don't piss Ann/Lady Ann off." The duo said in unison.

[nine days later]

The 2nd of May, the day of Kamoshida confessing his crime... or the day of the three outcasts to be expelled. Ren met Akira during their train ride and noticed the dark circles under his eyes.

"Hey, didn't sleep well?" He asked with a look of sympathy.

"Yeah... Let's hope that Kamoshida wouldn't kick us out." Akira replied while nodding, still half asleep. "Actually, I'm more worry about Shiho."

"Fear that she had to hear the news of you leaving, right?" The boy with fuzzy hair said, pinching his nosebridge to keep him awake as well. "Actually, I didn't sleep well last night too."

"Well, good to have someone to face the worst fate with you." The other boy jokingly said, yawning out from tiredness. "Are we there yet?"

"Maybe."

After what felt like years, the duo arrived at the Aoyama-Itchome and was greeted with Ryuji. His eyes were basically empty at this point, signified that he didn't sleep at all last night.

"Yo..." The blonde boy greeted the duo tiredly. "Didn't sleep well?"

The duo nodded wearily in unison. "Yeah..."

"No more waitin'... Let's go..." Ryuji pointed at the direction to the school and started to walk toward the school, with the other two followed closely.

During their walk to the school, they overhear a conversation between two male students in front of them.

"Mondays are such a drag…" One of the two students yawned, complaining to the other one. "Why couldn't they give us today off, too? We have the rest of the week off starting tomorrow…"

The other one nodded in response. "Yeah, it's ridiculous. Speaking of, what's up with that calling card? The one sent to Kamoshida." HE asked, tilting his head in the process. "Didn't it say something about 'stealing his distorted desires' or something weird like that?"

"Yeah, something about that..." He yawned again, stretching his arms. "I'm sure it's just a prank. No one's taking it seriously."

"Just a prank..." Akira murmured to himself, not able to be heard by the other two. "Let's hope this work..."

[Early Morning]

Instead of the usual class assembly in their classroom, the principal called everyone in the school to the gym for a special morning assembly. Akira was standing behind Ren, hearting pounding as he and the other thieves know what this is about.

"What's with the sudden morning assembly..?" A student in the crowd asked.

"I bet it's about that girl that almost jumped the other day."

"They don't have to tell us not to commit suicide or anything."

"There was that weird calling card too, so I guess the teachers are freaking out?"

Shiho frowned as she heard those comments from the others. 'they just don't care, aren't they?' She thought, eyes darting around to look for Akira.

Meanwhile, Ann was internally begging for the change of heart to work. 'Please don't expel them... Please don't...'

Then the thieves noticed Principal Kobayakawa getting on the stage, clearing his throat to start the assembly.

"Let's begin this school-wide morning assembly." He spoke to the microphone in front of him, making everyone to be quiet.

Most students didn't care about what Principal Kobayakawa is going to say, they just stand through the whole assembly in boredom or daydreaming. After all, the principal's speech is the most boring thing in existence.

"As you all know, a tragic event almost took place the other day. Thankfully, our brave students were able to save her and she's fine now." Principal Kobayakawa paused, looking out into the audience.

Shiho clenched her hand from anger at his statement, knowing that the stuff about Kamoshida was ignored.

Seeing a large portion of students was listening to him, Principal Kobayakawa continued. "Everyone here has a bright future ahead. I implore that you rethink the importance of life and-"

The door next to the stage slammed open, gaining everyone's attention. The crowd was filled with whispers as they tried to see who interrupted the assembly.

'What the hell?' Akira and Shiho thought in unison, still couldn't believe what they're seeing.

Meanwhile, Ann gasped, staring wide-eyed at the sight of the downtrodden men walking out from the room.

It was Kamoshida.

Or more precise, a shell of who he was two weeks ago. His shoulders were slumped to the that as if the weight of the world was right on top of him. He's thinner from before, mostly from the lack of eating in these two weeks. And his eyes were filled with self-hatred and shame, instead of the usual confidence and arrogance.

"Mr. Kamoshida." Principal Kobayakawa greeted the man hesitantly, looking at him with uncertainty. "What's the-"

"I... Have been reborn." Kamoshida interrupted him mid-sentence, his tone was filled with shame and exhaustion. "That is why I will confess everything to you all…"

The crowd's whisper became chatter as the teacher walked towards the stage, with each step feeling like the walking in mud.

"What's going on with Mr. Kamoshida?"

"...Huh?" Ann breathed, looking at him wide-eyed.

"Could this be..." Shiho whispered. Also looking at him with a look of disbelief.

"I have repeatedly done things that were... unbecoming of a teacher." Kamoshida started, clutching his hand out of anger toward himself. "Verbally abusing students...physically abusing my team, and… Sexually harassing female students."

"I am the reason why Suzui Shiho tried to kill herself!" He fell to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably as the weight of his sins crushed him, "I even shifted those blames to Akira Ichijou, who was trying to protect them from me!"

"Sexual harassment...?"

"What?!"

"He is the worst!"

"So Ichijou was the hero after all..."

"He was trying to protecting everyone!"

"That's why he fought with him before..."

"I thought of this school as my own castle...There were even students that I sentenced to expulsion, simply because I didn't like them..." Kamoshida looked up from the ground, eyes blurry from the tears. "I will, of course, rescind those…"

Principal Kobayakawa looked at the man in shock, rapidly darting between the crowd and Kamoshida.

"I am truly sorry for putting innocent youths through such horrible acts..." The teacher clenched his knees in anguish. "I am an arrogant, shallow...and shameful person. No, I'm worse than that…"

"I will take responsibility and kill myself for it...!"

The crowd burst into chatter again, this time louder as comment and complaint overtake the small whisper to each other. Principal Kobayakawa rushed to his side and pleaded, "Mr. Kamoshida! Please get off the stage for now!"

Other teachers began to approach the crowd and forced them to go. "Everyone, return to your class!" A teacher yelled.

"I-" Kamoshida's sobbing was interrupted as the trio of Akira, Shiho and Ann screamed in anger.

"Don't run, you bastard!"

"Those people were destroyed by you!" Akira shouted, clenching his hand. "I won't let you take an easy way out!"

"I'm still here, not running away!" Shiho added, equally angry. "Then why do you have the right?!"

"You have to pay for your sin!" Ann finished, staring at the man. "Death won't be able to you!"

Trembling, he nodded. "You're right...You're absolutely right...I should be punished under the law and atone for my crimes..."

"I did horrible things to Takamaki-san, as well." He admitted while straightening up. "In return for giving Suzui-san a position on the team... I tried to force her into having relations."

"As of today, I will resign from my position as an instructor and turn myself in." The teacher finished, looking around frantically. "Someone, please call the police!"

The students and teachers stood around, unsure of what to do. Seeing no one was going to do anything, Akira took out his phone and called the police.

"Wow..." Ryuji murmured.

"It worked..." Ren followed.

"This morning's assembly is over! Return to your classes immediately!" A teacher yelled out, walking past the two.

The duo turned their attention toward the others, hearing their words.

"Isn't this just like what that calling card said..?"

"Does this mean the Phantom Thieves thing was for real?!"

"Was something done to Kamoshida?!"

"C'mon, there's no way you could steal someone's heart!"

"But why else would he start saying things like he'll kill himself or turn himself in?"

"Maybe because it almost got leaked? Don't they go easier on you if you turn yourself in?"

"I wonder what happened…"

"Who knows? But man, Kamoshida turned out to be one sick bastard."

Ren smiled slightly, it's over... finally.

"Return to your classrooms at once!" The teacher who passed the two shouted.

Slowly, the students were ushered out of the gym, along with most of the staff. And the police quickly came in, cuffing kamoshida and took him to the car.


After most students walked out of the gym, the three Persona users glanced at the stage, still in disbelief of what happened.

"His heart really did change..." Ann whispered, sighing in relief.

"Seems like it," Ryuji commented hesitantly and looked toward Ren. "But, was this really for the best?"

Ren nodded. "I think so..."

"Things're happenin' way too fast..." The blonde boy bit his lips, still in disbelief.

The trio heard a few pairs of footsteps behind them and turned around, it's Mishima and another two female students. Mishima walked up and bowed toward Ann. "Takamaki-san...I'm sorry!"

"Huh..?"

"We all knew...but we pretended we didn't," Mishima said, straightening up from his bow.

Then one of the female students walked up and apologized too. "Takamaki-san, I had you all wrong… "I'm sorry that I spread rumors about you!"

"The other students also walked up to Ann and bowed. "I didn't know at all… Kamoshida was forcefully pushing himself on you...It must've been so hard for you..!"

"I'm sure there's a ton of people who want to apologize to you." She added, biting her lip. "We're so sorry..!"

After a brief moment of pause, Ann shook her head and smiled, "No, it's OK. The same goes for me too…Besides, that's all in the past now."

"Thanks."

Before the trio who were apologizing can answer, a teacher passing by shouted. "Hey, you there! Return to class at once!"

Obeying the command of the teacher, the two female students bowed and walking back to their class. But Mishima stayed and whispered again to them. "I can't apologize enough for what I did to you."

After a moment of pause, he looked at them with a determined look. "...I swear I'll make it up to you someday."

With that said, Mishima also walked back to his class. Leaving the trio of Persona user with a confused look.


[After school, Front gate.]

After about fifty people apologized to him about his false charge of sexual assault and damaged his reputation, Akira left the school with a sigh with both exhaustion and relief. Kamoshida was gone and everyone is safe now.

But his thought was interrupted as the music coming from his headphones was paused by the notification sound of someone texting him. He pulled out his phone and checked who's messaging him.

It was Ann.

Ann: Hey! You're free on the 5th?

Akira: Yeah, I didn't have any plan for the golden week.

Ann: If that's so, we will have a buffet at the Wilton Hotel!

Ann: Me, Ren and Ryuji will be there!

Akira: Huh? What about Shiho?

Akira: She dreamt to have a buffet there for decades now.

Ann: I'll let you send the invitation~

Ann: Winky face~

Akira: What?!

Akira: NO! You ask her!

Akira: It'll look like I ask her to date!

Ann: That's the best part!

Ann: Good luck~

And with that, Ann was gone. leaving Akira alone in the front gate with a look of terror. "No no no no no! I can't do that!"

"What should I do? What should I do? What should I do..." He whispered to himself. He's walking back and forth, trying to figure out what to do. "This is bad-"

"Akira? What are you doing?"

His thought was interrupted as the voice of Shiho suddenly rang out behind him, making him jumped and screamed from the bottom of his lung. "AHHHHH! JESUS CHRIST!"

"Ah!" Shiho also jumped from Akira's screaming, covering her ears in the process. "You scared me!"

"S-Sorry Shiho..." He trailed off, awkwardly nodding to other students to apologize as well. "It's just that I had something on my mind."

"Something on your mind?" Shiho tilted her head and walked closer to Akira. "You can tell me."

"Ugh..." After thirty seconds of struggling in his mind, he decided to do what Ann said and asked her. "It's that... You're free on the 5th, right?"

"5th? I'm free." Shiho answered with a nod, an interested look on her face.

"OK..." He trailed off, blushing madly for no reason at all. On top of that, the murmur from the students besides only added oil to the fire.

"Ichijou-San was blushing?!"

"He's going to ask Suzui-San for a date!"

"This quick?!"

"No! They've been friends for years by now, it's going to happen after all."

"But Ichijou is so cute while blushing..."

"This is no good..." Akira whispered to himself, finally decided to ask her at the end. "Um... Shiho, we're going to have a buffet at Wilton-"

"Yes! I'll go with you!" His invitation was interrupted again as Shiho nodded again and again, jumping around in excitement. But her excitement quickly disappeared as she remembered about Ann. "But Ann..."

"It's fine." Akira quickly reassured her. "Actually, Ann told me to invite you in the first place... She's having a buffet with Ren and Sakamoto." He explained.

"Oh..." Shiho's face dropped even more from his explanation, making him even more anxious then a moment before. "So not just us then..."

"But whatever." She shrugged at the end. "Let's go home together?"

"Huh?!" Akira was dumbfounded from her words, but nodded at the end. "OK..."


[Evening, Akira's Apartment]

"This is bad! What should I do?! Shiho is going to friendzone me! This is very bad!" The owner of this apartment complained as he entered the apartment and going to slump onto his couch. However, he stopped as he noticed the light was on for some reason.

"I didn't turn the light on this morning..." Akira walked around and looked around. "Mitsuru-San didn't tell me that someone is coming..."

"Yep, she didn't tell you. It's the golden week after all." A voice suddenly rang out behind him, causing him to jump. "However, I'm also worried about you."

"It's been a while since too! Akira Nee-San!" Then another voice of a young girl rang out, making him even more shocked.

"It can't be..." He recognized the voice behind him and turned around to the source of those voices.

"Yu-San?! Nanako-Chan?!"


And with that, chapter eight of P5: Another Thief concludes! thank you for reading!

So...a little cameo from Persona 4;), Yu and Nanako would stay with Akira for the whole golden week, but they're a little cameo and won't stay for long. So the story would be not that far fetched from the canon.

Um... the golden week would be the next chapter's focus!

I hope you would enjoy this story so far, reviews are welcome!