ty6 "You're Hifumi Togo!" Akira shouted in realization, instantly regretting his stupid action.
"Yes, I am." Hifumi nodded calmly, taking a step closer.
"OK, miss Togo." Keigo said plainly, standing between her and the others. "Why are you telling us about that now?"
"You're going to expose us, right?" Shiho added, crossing her arms in front. "You caught us red-handed after all."
"You didn't deny my claim..." The Shogi player trailed off, looking down with a thoughtful look before perking back up. "It seems that I've found the right people for that..."
"'Right People'?" Akira questioned, tilting his head in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"
"You can change someone's heart for good, right?" She replied with a question, taking a deep breath before opening her mouth again. "I have a request for you."
"Request?" The volleyball player sweatdropped, looking at her with a hesitated look. "You can just post it on the Phan-Site. It's anonymous after all."
"If I can post it on the Phantom Aficionado Website, I would've done that already." Hifumi sighed softly. "But now I am face to face with you, this is my only chance to say my request."
"Uh..." Akira awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, not sure what to do. "We'll hear about it, but not here in the street."
"We should go somewhere else to talk about that..." She nodded, changing her composure from a kind of intimating to a much comfier one. "Also, since I am a kind of popular now... We should find somewhere quiet."
"Understandable." Keigo commented, looking at Shiho for a suggestion.
"Maybe we can go to that family dinner to talk." Shiho suggested, tilting her head in uncertainty.
"Well, we don't have a lot of choices left," Akira sighed, turning back toward the family dinner briefly before turning back to Hifumi. "You're OK with this?"
She merely nodded silently in response, following them afterward.
[Family Dinner]
Once they entered the Family Dinner, the four found a table far away from other customers and sat down. Akira was sitting with Shiho while Keigo was sitting with Hifumi.
Ordering some coffee for everyone, Akira looked at the Shogi player with a deep look. "So... What exactly is your request?"
She looked down hesitantly to the table for a moment, but decided to tell them anyways. "I want to change someone's heart."
"You want to change someone's heart..." Keigo trailed off, asking her for more information. "No offense, but can you tell us who is the person you want his heart change?"
Shiho nodded in agreement. "It's basically impossible if we know nothing about that person."
After an internal battle with herself for a short while, Hifumi decided to tell them the full story. "It's my mother, Mitsuyo Togo." She said firmly.
"Your mother?" Shiho questioned.
"Yes, I want my mother's heart to be changed." The shogi player nodded, still looks hesitant to disclose the details. "She's been like this for a while now and... She's different from back then."
"Well, everyone's changing, I guess." Akira plainly commented, not aware of the seriousness of her problem.
"It not like that..." She trailed off, looking more hesitant than before. "She had been using me as her tool to fame... Fixing matches in order to make me gain idol status... And constantly shout at me for 'not being the princess she wants'..."
"That horrible..." Keigo murmured, eyes widening in shock.
"She just wants me to gain the fame she never could... But I just want to be a professional Shogi player like my father..." Tears start to come out from her eyelid, trailing down her face as she spoke. "I cannot just stand up and go against my mother... So please, can you help me?"
"Togo-San..." Shiho trailed off, taking out a tissue for Hifumi to wipe her tears. "That horrible for you to live through these things..."
"So basically, your mother was using you as her tools and mixed with verbally insulting you or just verbal violence on you..." Akira tch ed, feeling disgusted at what her mother had done to Hifumi. "We promise you. We'll investigate this."
A smile crept on her face as she heard those words from Akira. "Thank you." Hifumi said, taking out her phone to check the time. "Oh, It seems like that it's my time to leave."
She stood up from her seat and bowed to them politely. "I'm sorry to pull you all into this incident... But this is my only way."
With that said, the Shogi player left the Family Dinner, leaving the trio left.
Once Hifumi was out from their sight, Shiho poked his shoulder, looking at him with disapproval. "We already have Madarame to handle, how can we also tackle this as well?"
"Maybe we'll leave Madarame's palace for them to finish." Keigo suggested, pinching his nose bridge to keep himself awake. "This could be a simple Memento target... or a full-on palace."
"I hope that it's not the latter one..." He sighed and sank into his seat, changing the subject to a one that is more casual. "But now let's focus on something else, any idea?"
"..." Akira pondered for a moment before his stomach suddenly groaned, earning an amused look from them.
"I think we have an idea now." Shiho giggled, pressing the 'call' button for ordering meals. "Mom and dad are both out tonight, so I'm OK for a dinner with you two today!"
[17th May, afterschool]
"No meeting today..." Keigo muttered as he looked at their group chat, walking down the school hallway. "Day off from Phantom Thief business, that's great."
He pursued his walk toward the library until an unusual sight captured his attention. A young girl with curly light auburn hair and wearing a pink turtleneck cardigan with short puffed sleeves over her usual Shujin uniform. And she was carrying a bag of fertilizer down the stairs alone. Noting the amount of sweat on her forehead, he rushed onward to support her carry the fertilizer.
It took the girl a few moments before finally realizing what had happened. "Oh, thank you." She said politely, walking down the stairs with him.
"It's fine." He giggled awkwardly. "But why would someone like you carry these bags alone, especially with no one helping you?"
"It's OK for me." She replied, still using an overly formal tone. "Thank you for caring about that."
"It's a gentleman's responsibility to help a lady like you." Keigo winked playfully, but quickly regretted his action as she giggled awkwardly.
"That is... new." She said, finally reached their destination. It was a small garden in the space between the front door and the front gate and they place the bag down on the small trolley aside from the garden.
"Thank you..." The girl thanked Keigo, smiling gently at him before realizing she had never seen him before. "Have I ever seen you before? You don't look similar."
"Oh, I am actually new here." He awkwardly caressed his neck, internally cursing at himself for not telling her that. "I am Keigo Kamisaki, nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, Kamisaki..." She trailed off, noticing Keigo's strange blonde hair. "Um... No offense but, do you dye your hair? That shade of blondes is unique to say at least..."
"It's actually natural." Keigo said, still awkward from the situation. "In fact, I am one-fourth France and three-fourth Japanese."
"You are mixed-blood?" The young girl asked, tilting her head in confusion. "But your name is so native Japanese..."
"Well, it's because I am born here." He explained, putting both of his hand into his pockets. "My father had a French name as my middle name, just... I just never referred myself by that name."
"You have a French name?" Her interested peeked again. "What is it? Can you tell me?"
"Uh... It's not I can't..." After about thirty seconds of deep thought, Keigo decided to give in and told her. "Fine, it's 'Collin'."
"Collin Kamisaki... To be honest..." She pondered for a moment before nodding to herself, giving him a faint smile of reassurance. "That's a great name, at least for me."
"You like that?" He was surprised by her response, the mixed-blood boy coughed awkwardly before answering her. "T-That's new. I guess it's just I hate that part of me..."
"Why would you hate being a mixed-blood? Many people would love being mixed-blood themselves." The young girl was confused by his word, tilting her head.
"Actually... I've been bullied back when I was in middle school for being a mixed-blood." Keigo said, wincing for a bit as those bad memories coming back in his mind. "I think I've never really fit into anyone's group, until now." He paused as he noticed the look of worry on her face, quickly apologized for sabotaging the mood between them.
"I'm sorry... We've just met a moment ago and now I'm breaking the mood..." He apologized. "That's my fault."
taken back slightly for his sudden apology, she quickly reassured him that she's cool with it. "It's not your fault! I'm fine with hearing someone else's story."
Nodding hesitantly, Keigo decided to change their topic, stray away from his past. "Oh! Now I've told you my name, what about you?"
"Me?" The girl blinked, seems to be surprised by what he'd just said. "Uh... Since that you've told me about your's... I think I'll tell you something about me-"
Her word was cut short when a group of bodyguards suddenly appeared on the front gate of the school, catching their attention. "Oh... I forgot about that..." She furrowed her brow, turning back to Keigo. "I'm sorry, my father told me that I have to return home early today."
"Wait... Those bodyguards were yours?!" The mixed-blood boy yelped, but quickly regained his composure. "Uh... you're a daughter of some corporate head? Not that I'm going to distant you because of that."
"Yes..." She said, looking down in nervousness. "I am Haru Okumura, the daughter of Kunikazu Okumura."
"Haru Okumura..." Seeing that Haru was weirdly nervous about the mention of her own name, Keigo quickly reassured her. "It's OK, I won't stay away from you because that you're related to Okumura Food."
"Really?" She perked up, giving him a look of pure surprise. "T-Thank you..."
"Nah, it's fine." He replied with a faint smile, pointing at those bodyguards at the front gate, waiting for her. "You have something urgent to do, right? I'll help you clean those things up."
"Thank you... Kamisaki-San." Haru bowed politely, turning back and walking toward the bodyguards, leaving Keigo alone.
"Haru... That's cute." He muttered to himself, smiling faintly.
[19th May, Afterschool, Courtyard]
"The situation was worse than I thought." Akira said, showing his phone to his teammates. "I tried Togo's mother's name on the Memento... It didn't hit."
"Huh?!" Shiho yelped, almost chocked on her apple juice. "If her name didn't hit on Memento, that's mean..."
"She got her own palace." Keigo concluded the sentence for her, sighing as he crosses his arms in front. "Now that's a huge problem for us, we already have Madarame's palace to worry about..."
"Maybe Ren's group has to finish that palace on their own." The leader suggested, putting his phone back into his pocket. "I think they can handle themselves well."
"Yeah..." The volleyball plater trailed off, taking another sip of her apple juice. "Um... Now we know that Togo's mother has a palace, what about the keywords?"
"I've tried a few keywords." He replied, putting both of his hand in his pocket. "'Togo household' is the location, but the distortion part..."
"Still no clue, right?" The mixed-blood boy questioned, raising his eyebrow. "So we're having another investigation, fantastic."
"No! Just let me finish my sentence..." Akira shook his head in response, leaning toward the vending machine behind him. "I don't want to get into how did I guess the keyword since it's kinda complicated, but it's 'Palace'."
"A palace as a palace... That's 'very' creative." He deadpanned, crossing his hand in front of him. "So what now?"
"Now we know what is our goal." Shiho said, throwing the empty pack of apple juice to the trash can nearby. "What are we waiting for?"
[About half an hour later.]
After a short train ride to Kanda, they followed the map on Akira's phone and reached a residential area filled with houses only can be own by those who were higher up in a company. Or just celebrities in general.
"And... We're here." Akira said, looking up at the traditional Japanese house in front of them. "That's... larger than I thought."
"Togo-San was kind of a celebrity after all." Keigo commented, walking up to the doorbell on the side of the door. "Who's gonna call her?"
"Why?" Shiho questioned, tilting his head and raising an eyebrow. "She is not involving our infiltration."
"Besides, it's dangerous for her to come with us." The young persudo-detective added, taking out his phone and opened the Meta-Nav. "Whatever, let's see what's install for us."
Mitsuyo Togo... Togo Household... Palace... Beginning navigation.
After the mechanical voice from Akira's phone rang, the trio vanished in thin air, entering the Metaverse. However, they didn't notice Hifumi was looking at them from her room's window, watching the whole event played out.
"Good luck..." She murmured, returning to her daily life of practicing her shogi with herself. Until she noticed a weird looking app appeared on her phone for no reason at all.
"What is that app?" She said to herself as she picked up the phone and examined it. It has a red and black icon which shaped to mimic an eyeball. "I didn't remember I installed it on my own..."
The shogi player clicked open the app, only to see it's a navigation app or such, with a box already filled with information... a search history. Hifumi was shocked as she looked at the search history, hesitant to click on it or not.
"That's... mother's name..."
[Mitsuyo's palace, enterance]
Once the feeling of disgust passed, both Akira, Shiho and Keigo noticed that they have changed into their thief outfits. Turning around as the noise of fireworks suddenly rang throughout the whole space.
"Holy..." Jester trailed off, staring in awe as the scene of an enormous Japanese palace replaced the original Togo Household. It was covered with gold and white, the light projecting to every direction imaginable.
"That's huge..." Swan murmured, pulling her gloves. "Where are we entering this thing?"
"There must be an opened window or a hole for us." Roi said, taking out his grappling hook and pulled himself to the second floor. The other two looked at each other for a moment before firing their grappling as well, joining him.
After a brief run on the top of the overhang for a while, they discovered a narrowly opened window and quietly jumped in. The interior of the palace was equally lighted and luxurious, the floor was covered with a bright crimson carpet, the wall and ceiling were covered by gold and silver paint. A few shadows wearing a kimono and a featureless pale mask were roaming around the hallways and many rooms. Sliding a door open and noted the shadows roaming the area, they hastily hid behind the corner.
"All those gold and shiny things are hurting my eyes..." Jester commented, taking his mask off to rub his eyes.
"There's only a lone shadow there..." Swan whispered, peeking out from the corner. "I'll ambush it."
"We'll on our way." Both male thieves nodded, allowing her for a show-off.
As the shadow was in range and turned around, she quietly fired her grappling hook and pulled herself to the back of the shadow. Gripping the mask hard, she whispered to its ear. "Greeting."
Swan ripped the mask off and jump off with a backflip, Jester and Roi. The shadow twitched uncontrollably for a moment before melting into black goo, reveal a bringer of Misfortune.
"Persona!" She shouted, summoning Jeanne and rushed toward the shadow. "Giant Slice!"
The crystal Persona sliced the shadow with her saber, but did little to no damage at all. Following her up, Jester quickly summoned Moriarty and fired some shot to it. However, his shot was totally useless on it.
"All physical attacks are useless!" He shouted to Roi who was ready to attack, jumping to aside to dodge a Snap from the shadow. "Use something else!"
"OK! Persona!" Dodging another Snap from the Bringer, Roi snapped his finger and summoned Napoleon. "Frei!"
A burst of nuclear energy shot from the tip of the sword of the horse rider, striking the shadow dead center, knocking it down.
"Everyone! You know the drill!" The royal thief shouted to his teammates, the trio jumped back in unison before rushing to do an All-Out Attack, After a trail of smoke and beating, he jumped down and extended his arms before snapping his finger again, signaling the death of the shadow.
"Au revoir!" He shouted proudly, facing away from the dying shadow.
Once the battle between the shadow was ended, the trio continued their infiltration. Luckily, it was not as big as what they've experienced in Madarame's palace, or what they've experienced. Slid open a bay door, they discovered a small safe room which wavered to be a bedroom before returning to its saferoom look.
"Let's take a small break." Jester announced, taking off his mask and sat down on one of the chairs.
"We're making good progress here." Swan said, taking off her mask as well as she sat down on the table. "If we keep this pace up, maybe we'll finish this palace in a week."
"I hope so." Roi smiled vaguely, straightening his arms upward in exhaustion. "But man, the shadows here are much stronger than those in Madarame's palace."
"Yeah." Their leader agreed, massaging his shoulder with his other hand. "We're training in Memento after this palace."
"I agree with that." Swan nodded.
"I think so..." The royal thief trailed off, sinking into his chair.
Seeing that all three of them are still not enough to continue on, Jester decided to rest in here for a while before returning back to the real world.
Once they were back in the real world, the trio was greeted with the sight of Hifumi standing next to them, seems to be waiting for their return.
"Oh! You're back!" She said with a faint excitement, walking up to them. "Is my mother's heart changed now?"
"Heh? Togo-San?" Akira took a step in surprise, but regained his composure a moment after. "Why are you here?"
"Yeah..." Shiho nodded, awkwardly stroking the back of her neck. "That's creepy..."
"Um... It's just my room has a perfect view over here." Hifumi explained, pointing at the window on the second floor. "I saw you vanishing and decided to wait for your return."
"...Thanks?" Keigo hesitantly said, raising an eyebrow.
Sighing, Akira recalled the question she was asking. "Oh, about your mother's heart..." He paused for a moment, thinking for a proper word to answer her. "It's much more complicated than we expected, so we're unable to change her heart for now."
"Not able to change her heart for now?" Shocked from his answer, Hifumi took a step back and widened her eyes in horror. "But... But I don't have much time left..."
"You don't have much time left?" Shiho asked, tilting her head in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Um..." She hesitated for a while, looking down at her shoes. "Actually... My mother has been fixing my matches for a while now..."
"What?!" The mixed-blood boy yelped, widening his eyes in surprise. "You're not kidding us, right? That's a huge scandal..."
"I wish." The shogi player whispered. "That's not how I want to be a professional shogi player... That's unacceptable!"
"She just wants you to be her tools for fame..." Shiho trailed off, but blinking in confusion when she noted something off. "But how could that produce a palace? That should be something belong to Memento."
"Yeah, now that I've think about it..." Akira agreed, stroking his chin in thought. "Maybe there's more than we thought."
Hearing everything from both of them, Hifumi tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean by 'Palace' and 'Memento'?"
"Um... That's..." Keigo trailed off, looking at his teammates for a proper way to explain it.
Knowing their only way is telling the truth, Akira sighed. "It's where we go to after you saw us 'vanished' and where we shole someone's heart."
Nodding, Hifumi took out her phone and show them the strange app. "Oh, that's also something I want to show you." She said, opening the 'eye' app. "I found mother's name on it... somehow."
However, the trio were frozen in place, unable to believe what they've just seen.
"That's the Nav..." Shiho muttered, eyes widened in shock. "How did you get that?"
"I don't know..." The shogi player answered, shaking her head. "It just appeared on my phone for some reason."
"But you've never been to the Metaverse before... How?" Akira questioned, taking a step forward. "That should not have happened."
"I think we need some more explanation to do." Keigo sighed. "I know there's a church not far from here, how about that we continue over there?"
Seeing there's no reason to decline, the others decided to walk over there to continue.
[the church]
"Another universe?" After briefly explained everything about the Metaverse (aside of the minor things), Hifumi can only widen her eyes in question and confusion. "That is... too much for me."
"We know." The mixed-blood boy said in sympathy. "But sometimes, not everything is easy to understand."
"Also, don't consider changing your mother's heart alone." Shiho said with a grim look. "It's dangerous for anyone who doesn't have a Persona."
The shogi player nodded. "OK..."
Checking his phone for the time, Akira perked up at the others. "It's getting late, I think we should go." He said, much to her disappointment.
Looking down to her lap for a moment before standing up, the shogi player decided to leave. "I think I should leave first... to gather my thought."
With that said, she leaves the church and left the trio alone. "We should go as well..." Keigo trailed off, leaving the church with the others following him.
Taking the train back to Shibuya, their stomach groaned in unison, forcing them to find somewhere to eat. Unluckily, they chose the family dinner, again.
"Here again..." Akira sighed, leaning back to his seat. "I'm tired from all of this..."
"Me too..." Shiho nodded tiredly, pinching her nose bridge to stay awake. "This is worse than that one time in Kamoshida's palace..."
However, Keigo didn't say anything. "Wait... That's Ren's group!" He quietly exclaimed, pointing to the seat behind them. "Why is Kitagawa with them?"
"Huh?" The two old friends questioned in unison, turning back to see they're here with Yusuke. "Yeah... Why would Kitagawa here with them?" Akira asked.
"How would I know?" Shiho retorted quietly.
"I don't want to do any assumption but..." Keigo paused for a moment. "What if Kitagawa is joining Ren's group?"
With that, chapter 14 of P5: Another Thief concludes! thank you for reading!
Don't worry, Yusuke's awaking won't be skipped! It'll be like a small flashback to cover the 'nude model' event. Not only that... maybe we'll a double awaking in the next chapter!
BTW, I am currently considering the possibility of making Akira a wildcard. Since he is connected with the P3 cast, and Minato has the power of 'Universe'. Nothing is outside of the realm of possibility for him, maybe he can make Akira a wildcard to assist Ren and save the real Igor. But I'm still not sure of this idea.
Other than that, I am also considering whether introducing Kasumi Yoshizawa to this fic or not. But I don't think that I'll make her a Persona user.
Hope you would enjoy this story so far, reviews are welcome!
