[Memento, Enterance]
Akira, now in his full thief outfit, looked around and observed the surrounding. Everything seems normal, but something just doesn't feel right. He felt some weight on his shoulder, just like the castle back then. The subway station was also replaced by a hellish version of it.
The light was dim, too dim for his liking. And the red walls and ceiling were covered by black vines, spreading like some tumors and such. The TV screens around were showing static, buzzing non-stop.
"What is this place..." He muttered, walking down to the subway station. "Whose palace is this..."
Entering the station, Jester noticed the four thieves standing in a group discussing something and quickly fired his grappling hook. Overhearing their conversation in the shadow.
"The hell is this place..?" Skull questioned, looking around and noticed the change to their costume. "Wait, our clothes changed?!"
The others looked down at themselves, their clothes did change. "The Shadows know we're here?!" Panther shouted.
With a cough, their attention turned to Mona. "Since the moment we stepped in." He confirmed with a nod.
"You should've told us!" Skull complained, glaring at him.
"We're still safe right here." He quickly reassured them. "I've come to investigate a number of times. Shadows never come up to this floor. But it's a different story once you go down. This place is simply teeming with them."
"So something attracts the shadow, right?" Joker asked while playing with his hair, earning a nod from the talking cat.
"You're right."
"OK, more importantly, " Panther asked irritably, stopping everyone in the process. "What is this memento?! "It's about time you start explaining."
With both paws on his hips, Morgana announced grimly. "Everyone, welcome to Memento, the palace of everyone."
"Huh?" Skull looked at everyone with a confused look. "Whaddya mean 'the palace of everyone'...?"
"A Palace as grand as the previous castle only forms when a person's wishes are extremely distorted." He explained. "So, instead of many individual Palaces, the general public has one gigantic shared Palace. That's where we are now...Mementos."
"Wait, this still doesn't make any sense!" Ryuji exclaimed, rubbing his head in confusion. "There're millions of people in here!"
"It's because of the common belief among everyone, right?" Joker suddenly said, rubbing his chin. "Like rumors about one thing, or news..."
"Or collective unconscious as I call it." Mona agreed with a firm nod. "I thought you won't understand what's going on but you did, how surprising."
"Thanks for the compliment." He smiled and turned to the dark hallway below. "So we can change someone's heart as long as their desire's still not too corrupted?"
"Exactly!" The feline nodded again, smiling. "The steps to do so are slightly different though."
The four thieves then walked near to the abyss below along the escalator. Skull looked at the sheer scale of the roads in front of him and turned to others again.
"But this place looks pretty huge. Are we gonna be able to get around just by walkin'...?" He asked, rubbing the back of his head.
Hearing Skulls word, Mona jumped down and landed on a spot a few meters away from the other thieves. "It seems the time has finally come…" He announced dramatically.
"Huh?" They turned to look at him, a confused look on their face.
Before anyone of them can speak out, Mona suddenly mimicked the henshin pose of Kamen Rider Ichigo.
"Morganaaaa...Henshin!" He suddenly yelled with a frim look and jumped to the air. A puff of smoke suddenly burst out and a black van fell to the ground. The thieves took a step back in shock, couldn't believe what they've just seen.
Even Jester in the shadow could only be gaping at the scene of the van in front of them. "What the hell is that..." He murmured in disbelief.
The black van had one yellow stripe extending from its hood to its rear, two blue eye-like orbs floating in front as the headlights. Also, it had a cattail in the back.
"Come now, Panther, Elegant. Ladies first." Mona said, sounding muttered for a bit.
"A car…?!" Panther could only yelp from the bizarre scene in front of her.
"What in the effin' world..." Skull murmured, eyes opened wide as the van talked.
"It's similar to what happened to your costumes, just some more practicing and you'll get to my level." The van explained.
Skull flailed his arms. "You turnin' into a car is totally different than our clothes changin'!" He yelled.
The van's wheel moved as if they're the legs of Mona. "For some reason, 'cats turning into buses' is an extremely widespread cognition among the general public."
"Why a bus though?" Panther questioned, raising an eyebrow while crossing her arms
The van jumped as if it shrugged. "...No idea."
In the meantime, Jester instantly realized what Mona was talking about ''cats turning into buses' is an extremely widespread cognition among the general public.'
"It's 'My Neighbor Totoro'." He thought, murmuring to himself. "No wonder why."
"Wait." Skull interrupted. "Why didn't you do this at the castle?!"
"I would have if I could!" The van replied, "But that castle was cramped, there were tons of stairs, and no way this fits on top of a chandelier!"
Rubbing his head in frustration, Skull walked to the door of the van and opened it. "C'mon, let's go!"
"Hey, Skull! Ladies first!" Before he can enter the van, Panther suddenly shouted and ran after him, wrestling him off in the process.
"Stop pullin' me! That's dangerous!" The blonde thief yelled.
The van shook violently. "Panther! Please be gentle!"
With a sigh, Joker opened the other side of the van and took a seat next to Skull. With the three thieves at the back seat, Skull cheered. "All aboard, let's go!"
But... nothing happened.
"ugh..." Panther looked at the seat in front of her, raising an eyebrow. "Mona, why aren't you moving?"
"I'm a car, remember?" The van replied, as if he's blinking in confusion. "I'm not going anywhere unless someone drives me."
"You can't drive yourself?!" Skull cried out from his seat.
The red thief looked at her teammates and questioned. "Do any of us know how to drive?"
"I've played some racing game." Joker opened the door and changed to the driver seat. "I think we won't crash to something." He hesitantly said, observing the panel in front of him.
He saw a switch under the steering wheel and turned it on. "Haha, that tickles!" The van suddenly shivered. "Oh, there...That feels so goood…"
Coughing in awkwardness, the leader of The Phantom turned around and looked at his teammates in hesitation. The other two shook their heads in response.
"Uh, is that purrin' I hear..? What a creepy-ass car!" Skull cracked.
"Don't underestimate my meowtary engine. We're going full throttle! It's time to fly!" The van replied.
"OK everyone, grab something!" Coughing again, Joker gripped the steering wheel and step on the gas. The van ran through the dark tunnel with great speed, with a few close calls in the process.
Seeing the van ran away, Jester fired his grappling hook and swing through the tunnel behind them. He considered helping them in battle while they fight some passing shadow, but dismissed the thought as he noticed that they are doing great against the shadows
After a few battles and More driving, they reached a place where there's only a swirling red vortex in front of them. The train tracks warped and sucked into the vortex, red and black blended to each other.
"This is the place… I sense the target up ahead." Mona said. "Now, are we ready?"
The van paused for a brief moment before jumping into the portal, with Jester quietly and swiftly following them. After getting through the portal, they come in contact with a shadowy figure like a normal salaryman. The three thieves jumped out from the van and the van turned back to the cat as well.
"She's mine…" These two words kept echoing throughout the room, seemingly coming from the man himself.
"That must be Nakanohara's Shadow." Mona remarked, preparing his sword.
"Let's go." Nodding, Joker commanded. "We don't know how much evil he's done, but we have to do something if he's bothering other people."
With that said, the four thieves ran up to the shadow, readying their weapons.
"Who are you?!" The shadow shouted.
"Are you that stalker?! Haven't you ever stopped to consider how your ex feels?" Panther yelled, stomping her heel.
The shadow swung his arm in fury. "She's my property! I can do whatever I want with her! It's not like she didn't treat me like a plaything! What's wrong with me doing the same?!"
"You can't treat someone like shit just 'cause they did it to you! What a load of crap…" Skull grumbled, glaring at him. "We're gonna change the hearts of all the bastards like you!"
"There are millions of people far worse than me!" He retorted. "What about Madarame…? He stole everything from me, but you're letting him off the hook?!"
"Madarame...?" Jester murmured to himself, feeling there's something more to it. "Maybe I should do some research after this."
On the other hand, the thieves were taken back by his word. "...Madarame? The hell's this guy goin' on about?" Skull said, scratching his head.
With a burst of black, the man transformed into an Obariyon, the little troll dancing around in front of them.
"Get ready! Here he comes!" Mona shouted, pulling his slingshot.
"Now that I finally have what's rightfully mine...I'm not going to let you take it away…" The shadow spoke. "Look...This is a winner-takes-all world. Come fight me and I'll show you what I mean!"
"Obariyon... huh." Joker smirked and summoned the same Persona as the shadow in front of him. "Snap!"
The troll behind Joker fired a quick shot injured the shadow, doing a moderate amount of damage.
"Dance! Carmen!" Following Joker's attack, Panther summoned his Persona and sent a barrage of fireball toward it. "Agi!"
Seeing that the shadows are visibly injured, Mona fired a few bullets of his slingshot to it. "Skull!" He shouted, earning a nod of confirmation from the other thief.
"Captain Kidd! Zio!" The pirate shot a burst of lighting, hitting the weakness of the shadow. It fell to the ground and they quickly ran up and pointed their gun to him.
"Everyone! All-Out Attack!"
They all took a step back before jumping into the air, using the wall around as support, they mercilessly attacked the shadow.
Skull landed on the ground face first before getting back up, holding a rock sign. "Freaking Boring."
The shadow changed into a pile of black liquid before returned to Nakanohara's figure.
"I-I was wrong...Please forgive me…" He whispered, looking down in defeat. "That evil teacher used me, then threw me out on the street. That's what caused my fixation on her…"
"Evil teacher?" Joker questioned, frowning.
"Huh? Could it be that Madarame guy he was talkin' about earlier?" Skull asked, looking at the shadow.
"Yeah...I just didn't want anyone to throw me out again…" He murmured, nodding in the process.
"So some selfish bastard was making you suffer too…" Panther said, looking at him sympathetically. "Still, you shouldn't have dragged an unrelated woman into your mess."
"Go and apologize to her." Joker nodded in agreement. "And learn from your mistake."
Nakanohara nodded. "Yes, I know that now. I'll put an end to my love for her…" He looked up at Joker and requested. "...Hey, you can change people's hearts, right? In that case…Won't you change Madarame's heart?! Before more people fall victim to him…"
"We will look into that." The leader of The Phantom nodded determinately. "And we will change his heart if he's evil."
"...Thank you." He smiled, a glowing blue light slowly enveloped him and he vanished into nothing, leaving a floating ball like the one in Kamoshida's palace and some money.
"Change... Madarame's heart?" Panther repeated, blinking in confusion.
"Hm? What's that shinin' thing?" Skull asked, walking up to the ball of light.
"It's the bud of a Treasure." Mona explained, walking toward the ball. "Had we left it be, it very well may have blossomed into a Palace. Joker, this will make a perfect reward!"
Nodding, Joker grabbed the Treasure.
"Madarame..." In the meantime, Jester was curious about what the shadow had said, jotting it down on his notebook. "I should go back now, Shiho needs to know this."
With that said, he fired his grappling hook and exited the underground dungeon
[Evening, Akira's apartment]
Once Akira was back in his apartment, he rushed to the bedroom and turned on the laptop. "Madarame..." He murmured while typing the name into the search bar.
"Wow... That's a lot of search result." He quietly exclaimed, looking at the amount of news and article about this man. "He is a famous and well-renowned artist, known for his diverse art-style. Lived in a shack to steer him away from materialistic things like money... Now only one pupil remains..."
"Let's see if our mighty Meta-nav can confirm the palace or not." He took out his phone and opened the Meta-nav, typing the full name as he looked at his Wikipedia. "Ichiryusai Madarame..."
The phone buzzed in response, confirming a palace of this man. Seeing the result, Akira changed to iM and texted Shiho about the next target.
Akira: Hey!
Shiho: Huh? What happened?
Akira: I found our next target, just confirmed that he has a palace of his own.
Shiho: What?! How?
Akira: So I crashed into Ren and their friends.
Akira: I followed them to Memento, which basically is a massive maze with shadows.
Akira: Then they changed someone's heart and he mentioned about a man called Madarame, which took everything from him or some sort.
Akira: I just online searched the Madarame and double-checked it with Meta-nav, it's a hit.
Shiho: Madarame? You mean that famous painter?
Akira: Yep, it's him.
Shiho: Ok... Let me check on Meta-nav for a sec.
Shiho: NO WAY!
Shiho: So he does have a real palace, but we need to find the other keywords.
Akira: I know, but mid-term is next Wednesday.
Akira: Let's start our investigation after that.
Shiho: OK.
Akira: Speaking of mid-term, Ann requested me to help her tomorrow in the family restaurant in Shibuya.
Akira: Do you know where is it?
Shiho: Oh! You mean that one, how about I walk you and Ann there tomorrow?
Akira: Of course! Thanks, Shiho!
Akira: You're the best!
Shiho: Always. ;)
With that, texting between them ended. Akira put the phone on his table and continued his research on Madarame, jotting any interesting point in his notebook. However, his mind soon shifted its focus on something else.
"...So who when will Mitsuru-San send that 'someone' to help me?" He murmured while looking through the notes he jotted down. "Let's hope that it'll be sooner than I thought..."
[8th May, morning]
"Wait, the restaurant is here the whole time?!" Akira exclaimed with wide eyes as Shiho walked him to the family restaurant in the main street, mentally facepalming. "I'm such an idiot..."
"Don't tell me that you've missed it for more than one time." Ann looked at him with a suspicious glance, narrowing her eyes. "This is so obvious!"
"Not that obvious to me... I think."
"Ann, Akira has never been here you know?" Shiho said while turning to face the blonde girl. "It's normal for anyone who expects a family restaurant to be as big as that anime about the restaurant!"
"It's call 'Wagnaria!'." Akira replied while deadpanning, looking at Shiho with an unimpressed face. "You've never watched it?"
"Nope." She replied, shaking her head. "I have other things to do..."
The brown-haired boy shrugged at her answer. "Ann, we're only gonna help you for the mid-term, right?" He turned to Ann and questioned, raising his eyebrow.
"Ugh... Actually..." She awkwardly laughed, avoiding his confused glance. "I called Ryuji here as well."
Akira just shook his head in response. "Great..." He murmured, gesturing them to enter the restaurant.
After finding a place which is enough for five people, Akira ordered coffee and took out the notes he jotted down for the exam. Noticing the two other boys approaching, he waved at them and let them join.
"OK, now everyone is here. Let's start with Math." Seeing that everyone had taken out their own note and books, he announced to everyone. "If you have any questions, just ask me."
With that said, the five Shujin students started their study session for the upcoming mid-term.
"My brain is fired..." Ryuji murmured in defeat before suddenly slamming his head to the table, taking everyone by surprise.
"Any question needed?" Akira questioned, raising an eyebrow. "I'm here to help."
"Everything..." The blonde boy straightened from the table, sighing. "This is too complicated..."
"Well then..." The brown-haired boy sighed, drinking his coffee. "I'll try my best to help you with this."
About another hour later...
"Finally..." Ann breathed, stretching in exhaustion. "I'm done!"
"I'm done too... in another sense." Ryuji said, slamming his head on the table again.
"Ryuji, you don't have to be like that." Akira sweatdropped, trying to reassure him that everything is OK. "It's just mid-term."
"That's the worse part!" He exclaimed, sounding muffled as his head was still on the table.
Ren patted his shoulder sympathetically, "I know... At least you have Ann with you."
"Wha- No!" Ann retorted, pouting at him. "I'm better than Ryuji! At least!"
"No, you're pretty much the same as him." Shiho plainly said while peeking at her work. "You're bad at anything aside of English!"
"Told you so." Akira added, shrugging.
"Yeah, you're bad at anything aside of English." Ryuji also added, observing her work with a raised eyebrow.
Seeing that Ann's temper was going to lose itself, Akira quickly announced to everyone. "Hey! Let's take a break, shall we?"
Before anyone else can reply to him, Shiho quickly nodded. "Yeah! Let's take a break before continuing!" She cheerfully said, giving a signal to Ryuji.
thankfully, Ryuji got the message from her and rubbed his head awkwardly. "Yeah! Let's eat first, we must be hungry from studyin' for this long."
Ann noticed the faces from them and sighed, decided to let them go this time. They ordered some food and started to eat.
"Hey Akira," Ryuji said, looking at him with an interested look. "I've been wonderin'..."
"Since Ren and I had hung out with Ann for a while, where are you and Shiho in the meantime?"
"Us?" Akira and Shiho said in unison, looking at each other. "Ugh..."
"I just continue my part-time job with Iwai-San in Untouchable." He lied, turning back to the blonde boy.
"I didn't have any practice since the confession, so I just went back home instead." She also lied, shrugging in the process.
"Um... I guess it's better for both of you after the confession." Ryuji shrugged, turning his focus back to the food in front of him.
"I guess..." They said in unison again, sighing.
[9th May, Afterschool]
Akira was ready to leave the school, considering the choice to walk Shiho home while walking in the corridor of the second floor. But then a large group of girls suddenly appeared and blocked his way.
But then, the whisper from the group caught his attention.
"Another transfer... But he's so handsome!"
"He's a mixed blood too, just like Takamaki!"
"I heard that he's from France!"
"He was asking for Ichijou... Weird."
"What the-" His word was interrupted as his phone buzzed unexpectedly in his pocket. "Perfect timing, just great..."
He took out the phone and checked who's texting him, it's Mishima.
Mishima: Hey! I have some info for you!
Mishima: Since you've said that you're not a part of them, I decided to message both you and Amamiya!
Akira: Huh? OK then...
Mishima: I saw it in the Phan-Site, but I've heard about it at school too.
Akira: It's the bullying incident?
Mishima: Yes! the guy had gone way too far...
Mishima: I can't help the victim by myself, but I went ahead and posted on the forum that the Phantom Thieves are coming for him though.
Akira: Well, thanks. I'll look into it.
Mishima: Thanks, dude! You're amazing!
Akira: Oh wait, I had something on my mind.
Akira: You didn't expose me to Ren, right?
Mishima: Yeah, but why?
Akira: It's... complicated.
Akira: back to business, what is that bully's name?
Mishima: Takanashi Daisuke. He's the brown-haired guy who always seen standing out in front of the school entrance.
Mishima: Just make sure that no one knows I told you that name!
Akira: 120% Got it.
With that, Akira put his phone back into his pocket and decided to find Shiho to discuss this case. However, the presence of the large group still stopped him from getting to the staircase.
Knowing that he couldn't force his way through, he approached one girl in the group and asked. "Um... Hey, what's going on?"
"Oh! Ichijou-Senpai!" The girl exclaimed, pointing at him for some reason. "Kamisaki-Sanpai! He's the one you're looking for!"
"Kamisaki?" Akira was totally confused when the group of girls suddenly split into two rows, revealing the boy on the other side. He was a second-year student, tieing a dark blue sports jacket around his waist with his standard jacket missing. He was also blonde hair with dark blue eyes.
"Oh, you must be Akira Ichijou." Kamisaki politely greeted while walking up to him, Taking his hand to a handshake. "I am Keigo Kamisaki, Captain Kirijo sent me to this school to assist you."
"Huh?!" Taken back by his word, Akira took a step before replying. "So... You're the one..."
"Akira! Finally found-" And out of nowhere, Shiho appeared behind the two and walked up to them with a confused expression. "Who is he?"
"Uh..." Akira stammered for a moment before answering. "He's Keigo Kamisaki, someone sent Mitsuru-San to help us on the other-worldly business."
"Kirijo-San sent him to help us?" She repeated, tilting her head. "You didn't tell me that."
"I guess it's Mr. Ichijou's fault, Miss Suzui." Keigo politely said, bowing a bit to her. "By the way, I'm actually not fully transferred to Shujin."
"I'll officially be transferred to hereafter the mid-term. today's just my register day." He leaned closer to the two, keeping his volume low. "But maybe we should go somewhere... a bit more private to discuss the business about the Metaverse."
Sweatdropped, Akira looked at Shiho for a response. Shiho nodded and suggested. "Maybe we should go to the rooftop, I think the other group won't use it today."
"I guess..." Akira shrugged, leading the trio to the staircase toward the rooftop.
A/N:
With that,chapter 11 of P5: Another Thief conclude! Thank you for reading!
Memento was officially introduced to this story, and the second OC of this story- Keigo Kamisaki was also introduced! His Persona and backstory(sort of) will be revealed in the next chapter!
But on the other hand, I'm sorry for delaying Yusuke's introduction to the next chapter.
Anyway, I hope you would enjoy this story so far, reviews are welcome!
