Persona 5: A Hero's Tale

by Wizbenorno

(Outdated) The Phantom Thieves are mysterious to the naked eye, but there are some mysteries even they overlook. It's up to one team to solve the mystery of the sudden changes of mentality. Well, they might not be the best ones out there, but will they be enough to save the world from the targets that the thieves have missed?

5. C1 (Takeyoshi): The One-Eyed Reaper!

Um… hi! My name is Takeyoshi Winslow, I'm the one-eyed eight-year old you've probably heard about. How did I get this title you may ask? Well it's very simple, if not easy. It all started when I was born. Well, let's not start there, my life as a baby is the hardest to remember. I entered the first grade for the first time when I was about 6, that's not exactly a rare feat coming from a child like me but that's what I did. Back then, I still had my two eyes intact and the only friends I ever had were Yuki and Reo. We formed a fan club called the Super Kids, it was a fun little club we were in. I was the one who does all the stuff, Yuki was the smart one, and Reo was the one we saved from being different.

You see, Reo is an ex-bully, thanks to Yuki standing up to him they realized that they aren't so different. It was I who did my best to motivate him to action, it was then that I realized that I'm special in my own way. Who else was going to let Yuki address Reo's many flaws in an over complicated list that made him cry? It turns out Reo meant good, he was only doing it because he thought it was cool to pick on other kids. We taught him what is really cool, like those video games Yuki has. I showed them my trading cards, and Reo demonstrated his skills as a baseball player.

Together, we managed to survive elementary school together up until the second grade, where we got a new student in class that would change our lives forever. Mrs. Wilma brought him in, he seemed nice because he was a chubby kid with short hair and the eyes of a cute little cat. He wore his spiffy little school outfit as the three of us knew exactly what a kid like him needs: adventure! We were already thinking about him joining our club, he looked so nice, he couldn't refuse!

"Children, we have a new student here today. I heard all about him from his parents and I had a feeling he'll get along great with you all. Why don't you introduce yourself?" "Hello. My name is Monigami Peroski, I hope you guys respect me for who I am." "Wow, that child sounded so nice!" I thought at the time, even the teacher seemed to like him.

"Aw. I can already tell he'll be an excellent addition. Now Monigami, you'll be sitting next to Takeyoshi, he'll be happy to show you the ropes." "Yes Mrs. Wilma." Monigami said happily as he walked towards my seat. Oh boy, the new kid was approaching my seat, and I was ready for anything!

He sat down next to me on the desk to my left, he kept smiling as I decided to welcome him. If there was any opportunity for me to get to know him, now is the perfect time to do it. I started with a wave, but he didn't pay attention, so I tapped his shoulder and finally his head turned my way as I gladly introduced myself.

"Monigami, it's nice to meet you! My name is Takeyoshi. I hope you have a very good school year." "Oh, I will…" "Um…" Monigami's cute smile suddenly turned into a smile of something that looks like a super villain...

At the time, I had no idea why he smiled so weirdly. Little did I know, he was going to give me a whole lotta trouble! At the hallway, me and my friends were planning on heading over to the maid cafe today. For some reason my parents allowed me to do what I want, so naturally I decided to see what the excitement was about. But while we were discussing plans, Monigami walked over with a smile, maybe he wanted to join us?

"What are you guys talking about?" Monigami asks with a curious look on his face. "We were planning to go somewhere fun after school, wanna come with?" Reo offered, but Monigami looked at the ground for some reason. I too looked down long and hard wondering what he was looking at. Was there something wrong with the tile, maybe there's some money, or does he have a pet ladybug?

It was none of those things, Monigami pushed me down to the floor, with my own friends watching, and chuckled a bit to himself devilishly. I looked at him and his smile wasn't cute anymore, it was absolutely despicable! "Takeyoshi! Why did you do that!?" Yuki shouted as I cried from the injury. "Because, you three are a bunch of brats. You are nothing compared to me, and I'll make sure you understand that…" Monigami's voice wasn't cute either! It was foul, repulsive and very supervillain-like! "Hey! We aren't brats! You're the brat around here sucker!" Reo shouted as he attempted to punch Monigami.

Monigami dodged and kicked Reo over, the brawn of our trip has fallen! This kid isn't just a bully, he's the biggest jerk in the world! I tried to tell the teacher about this, but long story short, I got a time-out! But why!? I didn't even do anything bad, does the teacher still think that Monigami is good!? He certainly wasn't good to us today, so why should they ignore him!? Apparently, I had to tell my parents what I did wrong, and my dad said: "Was this because of a bully? When I was your age, every time I was blamed for something, I would be abused by my father just because my sister gave me an innocent cookie. What you need to do is find some way to expose him for the fraud he is."

I'll do just that dad, I won't let you down! But, I kinda did let him down… Starting from day one, when no one was watching, Monigami would constantly pick on me and my friends. He gave us wedges, he ate our food, and the insults flew in secret. But the worst he could do was in private.

He often takes certain kids into an alleyway, and he kept demanding that he'd get stuff from them, including me, I lost half my allowance that way. Whenever someone tries to tell their teacher about him, they get sent on time out because they think Monigami is innocent! That's not far at all! Even when we weren't in school, Monigami would check for the opportunity he could pick on people without being noticed. He doesn't even say a word when he does it like that, he just takes what he wants!

We had no idea what to do, this kid was just too mean, and he took advantage of our weaknesses. None of the kids speak up nowadays, but they aren't afraid to tell their parents, but once they get the confidence to go after him, they get knocked down again. And I don't think Monigami's parents had good judgement, because whenever someone comes over to complain, they try with all their might to deny that he's bad. It worked out too well for the kid as the toddler of terror continued his crime spree.

We all tried to get even with him somehow, but he still picked on me, a year or two have passed and he still didn't get what he deserves. But that's when I saw the new student, and I don't know about you, but she looks so beautiful! Her reddish hair was quite gorgeous, her clothes were always sparkling clean, she looked very young and well trained in self-defense, not even Monigami picks on her because he has no dirt on her. She simply turns away from bullies and occasionally spits the ground. I had no idea what kind of lady she was, but she felt absolutely perfect! I introduced myself to her in the hallway, she looked quite happy to see a guy like me.

"H-hello…? My name is… T-takeyoshi!" I felt like I was gonna die, standing in front of a lady has made my mind go into overdrive! "Hi! My name is Junko Yumasu, I just moved here the other day and I love everything about this place!" Junko was optimistic, a trait I personally found to be very dashing in a lady. This made me smile, hopelessly in love, and I tried to get more words out, but all that came out was pure gibberish. She giggled as a response, it was such a perfect laugh, I didn't know what to say except: "Would you like to eat lunch with me?" I said as fast as I could, thankfully she understood…

"Lunch? That's great, but I have to make more friends or else my brother would be sad. He doesn't like making friends as much anymore, mostly because his old friend dumped him. I really shouldn't be saying these things aloud, but

I hope we see each other again someday!" And I did see her, every day. She was the light in my tunnel, and I didn't want it to go away. One day, Monigami approached her, the horror! If he gets his grubby little hands dirty with her girl cooties, I swear I'll never forgive that bully!

"Hey sunshine, aren't you a pretty one?" He just flirted with her! Oh my gosh he's a maniac! But, Junko ignored him. Oh no, she's in for it now… "Hey! Don't you dare ignore me like you don't know who I am!" "Your fat." Monigami froze! She insulted him with a smile on her face, and even though Monigami was going to be even more mad at her, that was awesome! I think I love her even more!

Just then, Monigami was charging at her, I tried to warn Junko, but she suddenly lost her bright smile. I felt a strange feeling in the air, as if the lady has had enough of his trouble. "Stop! You're nothing but an ugly, fat, piece of cow-poop! Now if you don't mind, I have better things to do. If you do anything else to me, I'll tell my dad. And let me tell you now, my dad is the best dad in the whole world." Monigami stopped at the lady's fury, I had never seen her so angry and it almost scared me. But then she smiled again and said: "Bye fat kid, I hope you have a bad day!" and then walked away as Monigami's pride was hurt that day.

He tried to tell on her by going to the teacher, but she didn't believe him!? Unfortunately, Monigami didn't get in trouble, but when I asked how Junko remained so tough that day: "Oh that? I got it from my dad, he's always so threatening, I'm glad that actually worked in my favor. Now people won't rape me when I sound like that." What's a rape? I don't know, I was too distracted by her looks to come up with a definition. I didn't even bother looking for a definition because I know it would be a bit bad to say it aloud.

My friends found out about this and we talked about it at Yuki's apartment. It's the one with all kinds of stuff relating to comics, cool ideas written on paper, and all kinds of stuff. We sat in the middle of the floor as we talked about what's going on.

"Sorry, guys. I've just been so distracted with Junko, that I completely forgot about Monigami." I said with a blush. "What do we do leader? Monigami hasn't found a way to break her yet, we saw her counter Monigami like a boss and she didn't even flinch at one of his threats!" Yuki worried. "But it's only a matter of time before she gives in and becomes Monigami's toy!" Reo said. That made me angry, like, super angry. So I yelled: "I won't let Monigami ruin the only one for me! I'll see to it myself she doesn't get hurt, even if I'll have to do all kinds of stupid stuff to stop him!"

Me and my big mouth. A few months later, something happened that changed everything I knew about stuff! Not even Monigami could compare to what happened to me by then! It was a nice day, give or take, I was with my mom during one of her infamous shopping trips on Sundays as we took the train to the next supermarket. But then, something started to go wrong, we were going faster and faster, down the rails as fast as lightning! Zoom! Here I was, thinking we suddenly entered a race, as I cheered for a few seconds before I realized the train wasn't stopping at our stop! My mom held on tight to me and I just began to realize there was something wrong!

"M-mom? What's going on!?" "Oh I'm sure the driver's having a rough day, I think… Hey you! Are you okay!?" My mother was getting nervous as she stormed to the front, while I myself began to shiver in place...

We took one look at the driver, and although I couldn't see his eyes at the time, he looked tired and angry at the same time. At first, I thought he didn't go to sleep at night, but he had this blank stare going on that kinda scared the heck out of me! I held on tight to my mom as she kept trying to get the engineer's attention!

The train shook and rocked as I began to panic. Suddenly, the whole train fell off the rails with a smack! A bang! A big kapow! I crashed into one of the windows with my left eye exposed! It hurt so much, I couldn't stop crying! Fortunately, my mother and I survived the crash, and that's why I wear an eye patch. While I was still recovering from my pain at the hospital, I didn't see my parents after my mom's injuries were cured about a few days later. I was alone, but my friends supported me and they each gave me a get-well card to show that they cared.

The first one was from Reo, who gave me a small picture of a whale, those are my favorite. He wrote in his messy handwriting: "Takeyoshi, it'll be alright! I'll help you like you helped me!" The next one was a store-bought card with the rocket with a silly cat on it. He always gets me that one without any words because he has a fear of expressing positives with particular words, or something. I don't know why, but I think he'd rather talk about it himself.

I smiled at those cards, knowing that when I get back to school tomorrow, everything will be alright. My parents came to pick me up, which made me so happy to see them again after they disappeared for a couple of weeks. When I returned to school, I showed the crew my eye-patch. Reo thinks it makes me look tough, and Yuki is impressed that I've survived the train incident, it was a miracle! And of course, Monigami made fun of the eye patch, but I didn't mind, not this time. It makes me look like a pirate, one of my favorite things, so what if it looks like a cereal piece is stuck to my face? I love it and there's nothing he can say to change my mind!

When I was eating lunch that day, Junko saw the eye-patch and she was surprised as she quickly sat down next to me. This is not a drill Takeyoshi, this is not a drill! "Oh my, what happened?" She asked out of concern. "A train. A trainman crashed his own train for some reason, I got hurt so bad I needed an eye-patch." I answered. "Yeah I know, it was something people like to call a mental shutdown thing. Y'know, when your eyes disappear and you can't move at all, it's like they died on the inside or something!" She felt a bit shaky due to the constant news about stuff crashing, who would've thought I would be a part of one of those things.

"Hey, Junko. What do you think of my eye-patch?" She smiled when I asked her, and she said: "I think it's wonderful! You look so cool with that eye-patch, that's a thing I can definitely take seriously around here!" "Y-you, really think it's amazing?" "Yes! Wanna eat together?" "Y-yeah!" And we did. I ate the sandwich my mom packs my, and Junko always had that cute bento box. I have no idea how her dad keeps making them, but she shared some with me, it wasn't too bad.

Junko left with a smile, I was staring at her beautifulness as she walked away with my friends just getting out of the bathroom. My friends noticed my lovesick behavior and snapped me out of it...

"Um… Takeyoshi? What's with that look on your face?" Questioned Yuki. "Hey, you think Takeyoshi is in love with Junko?" Said Reo winking at Yuki. "Well, he seems to be expressing signs of attraction whenever he sees her." Yuki calculated before I snapped out of my trance.

"Huh? What? Oh, hey guys! Junko sat with me for lunch, isn't that great?" Yuki nodded while Reo started stuffing the rest of his food in his mouth. "Indeed, but what if you-know-who shows up and takes her?" "Then in that case Yuki, I'll just have to make sure he never bothers her! I've got a plan!"

"Takeyoshi, you know you don't stand a chance against him!" "Reo has a point, none of our bully proofing techniques seem to work on him!" Yuki said worried as I felt sure of myself...

"Trust me. I know exactly what to do to get him to stop bothering us! This Monday, after school, I'm gonna bring my piggy bank to him and strike a deal he can't refuse, especially in public. If he doesn't take the bait, he'll at least be exposed for whom he really is right in the open!" "Do you really think this'll work?" Yuki asks.

"I hope so, this guy has been getting on my nerves!" Reo sounded a little mad at himself for letting him get picked on by a child younger than him. "Relax boys. I can assure you that once this is all over, we'll be munching on ice cream before the day is done!" I say confidently as I slurp my juice box, I can taste victory already!

And so we cheered as my confidence skyrocketed. The only problem I have left, I'm a bit scared. My father always told me, if you live in fear, you'll never grow up to be a man. And starting this Monday, that was exactly what I was gonna do! I'm gonna become a man, no matter what it takes!

There I was, smack dab in the middle of Shibuya, the date was May the 2nd. I prepared myself to stand up to him, with my piggy bank in hand. His parents were busy elsewhere, and there weren't very many people around, which meant that he could do anything he wanted. But not for much longer…

"Monigami!" I shouted. "Yes? What is it?" asked Monigami while pulling off that fake smile. It's now or never Takeyoshi, if you don't stop him you'll never be able to live with yourself again!

"W-Well, you are always picking on people who can't defend themselves, well you know what? That stops here! I'm giving you all the money I've saved up to buy that ultra rare trading card, and that sweet new video game too, but only if you promise never to bother anyone again!"

He thought long and hard, while keeping that smile on his face. Then he took the piggy bank, which meant I did it, but he emptied only one coin from the bank, and he gave it back to me. The smile of his false face started to get more twisted as he expressed what he thought about me…

"Heh. You think that a worthless scrub like you would give me the benefit of the doubt? You're even stupider than I thought, you're doing this for a lady are you not? Well, I'll take just one coin, that means I won't pick on you for a whole week. But by the time that happens, your girlfriend will be mincemeat. I can promise you that."

I looked in horror to see if anyone was paying attention as he stared at me with that smug face. That's it, nobody else was going to do it, and I'll just stir up trouble if I did. I cried knowing that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop him. He giggled like the 'innocent' child he was before he smirked at the two people behind me. One was an ordinary teen, and the other was a punk rebel. I had to explain my dilemma to them since they were older than me, but I didn't know they were gonna help me…

They managed to cheer me up a bit by telling them they're a part of this team called the Phantom Thieves, and they're going to help beat Monigami using an app they had.

At the time, I didn't know what they were talking about. But when I was first taken into the Cognitive World. I was amazed at how big the place was, I saw Monigami looking like a rich person, a whole bunch of mules with other people's hair, and most importantly, Hakaru became a literal Hero for the first time! I was so amazed by this, and that stranger that cleared things up told me that I have potential! Unfortunately, I didn't have the capability to become like Hero yet, but I felt like I had high hopes for my own future, and these guys helped me when no one else did!

I went back home that day to see my friends sleeping over with me, they had ice cream sandwiches at the ready, but I didn't bring any of my own just to surprise them. I know I wasn't supposed to tell my parents about this, and my friends are no exception. But they had to know that I was chosen to be someone unlike any other!

"Um… Takeyoshi? Why aren't you celebrating with us?" Reo asks curiously, I felt a little sad as I cleared things up with the boys… "Well… the deal sorta didn't work. He'll spare me for now, but he'll be going after Junko instead..."

"What!? That's terrible!" Yuki was shocked because of this outcome while Reo was more angry than ever: "I knew he was too good for a deal like this!" "No wait! It's okay, I know how I can beat him, but this is another task I must do on my own." I said to them trying to ease the mood a little. But after saying something like that, anyone wouldn't easily be recovering from that…

"You couldn't even convince him to stop! What makes you think that you can beat him now!?" Reo panicked a bit and shook as Yuki tried to stay calm, but failed: "The odds of success are at 1%! You can't just fight him!"

"Maybe I can't. But they can help me. Trust me, I've seen what these guys can do, if they can help me overcome my fears, then I'll be able to fight! I'm now extra super duper certain that I can stop him for good if I can just get some help!" I said to them with confidence in my tone, I wasn't able to say stuff like this before, but I'll do whatever it takes to become stronger!

"Are you sure you can trust them? The older generation seems to be very aggressive towards kids their age." Yuki was a bit nervous, but I kept a straight face the whole time...

"Look, Hakaru and Jin'ichi both know what they're doing. Jin'ichi is a rough and tough guy who punches his way through stuff, and Hakaru is a freaking superhero for crying out loud!" "I'm sorry what?" Reo got confused right there, perhaps I should've kept my mouth shut about this, but I can't stop now!

"Just give me a couple of days on my own and I'll make that bully wish he was never born!" I never thought I'd actually have to battle him, but as long as I get my vengeance, I'll be even. The two boys looked at me confused and worried about me for a bit, but then Reo put his own trust in my idea: "Well… okay. If you two could change me, I'm sure you can do the same to Monigami."

"We'll do our best to help you Takeyoshi, I just hope you know what you're getting into." I nodded to Yuki and made a tiny fist with a smile on my face: "I am. When the sun rises, and my school vacation starts, I'm gonna kick some Shadow butt!"

"Uh… okay! Good luck punching shadows!" Says Reo, still being confident despite the awkwardness in my tone. "If it makes you feel better, why not go after flies or geese?" Yuki said being a bit sarcastic, but I don't have time for flies or geese!

"Nope! It has to be Shadows, I'll protect you both from the horrors of that bully no matter what it takes!" I said as I ate the ice cream sandwich I kept in my pocket. It tastes like courage!

And so by the next day, I've only begun to scratch the surface of my true potential as a real Phantom Thief! And pretty soon, I felt myself becoming stronger than ever, and I thank the Phantom Thieves for giving me courage where I didn't have it before! When my stick turned into a sword, I started to have belief that my powers are stronger than I thought! I gave Jin'ichi my baseball cap in the pool because I didn't want him to lose his cool. The dolls kinda creeped me out, but I had the idea to help Jin'ichi awaken his Persona during Shadow Monigami's monologue. Doll-Hakaru was the only doll that didn't creep me out, in fact, after that whole jail thing, I think I started to get attached.

Akiyo joined the team after we took a train, and boy did I not like it! At first, she was a little confused as I was when I first came to this magical world, but dang was she grateful that we had a noble cause! I tried to turn my sword into various things while Hakaru and Jin'ichi were clearing things up for her, and it worked! Now I could create nearly anything using my imagination! I mostly create whales because they're big, heavy, and I love whales!

I helped Akiyo discover her power on my own, and then she became known as Siren, and even though I was too late for the next mission since I was held up by my mother going shopping, I met a real life liger named Naruki! That was so cool, we have a real life wild cat! Hakaru eventually helped me catch up thanks to the pictures he took on his phone. And boy was I hyped for the next mission!

After I helped Jin'ichi overcome his problems, I kept close to my old friends in the real world, and they were under the impression that I'll have to fight Monigami for real. Even though they thought it was a bad idea, they helped me the best they could. During my free time, Yuki played fighting games with me, so I could memorize the moves of as many fighters I could, while Reo helped get me into fighting shape at the gym by running on the treadmill, even my family was into helping when I explained my dilemma!

My mom is very supportive and helpful, she's great at making things with paper and other kinds of art and crafts. I guess you could say I'm pretty good at arts and crafts myself. My dad is pretty smart and creative, he's supposed to be this "blacksmith" who makes weapons out of metal. Trust me, I'll need them in order to stand up to that bully! Unlike other parents who don't understand anything their child says, these two seem to pamper me, but not as aggressively as Monigami. I still don't get to do anything I want without doing my homework, but other than that they're with me to the very end.

So I explained what I needed to do to confront Monigami, without mentioning all that Phantom Thief stuff going on, and then my dad says: "If you want to stand up to a bully, you'll have to play by their rules. Doing just that will keep you on your toes and ready for whatever curveball he throws at you."

"Now son tell us, what rules does he live by?" Where do I start? I could list so many things wrong with him, but I'll just stick with the basics... "Well mom, he sees people as donkeys, which means he thinks they're pathetic, including me. He sees his babysitters like toys to play with until they break, that means anyone who has 'potential' to get in trouble, like my new friend Hakaru if I don't do something about it. And he sees animals as prey for him to hang up on a wall. Poor lion and tiger."

"Oh my, he's tough." My dad says worried, but I wasn't done there: "And he picked on me for two years without being caught by his parents who think he's innocent." My mom and dad had a huge grudge against Monigami's family. Whenever they try to chew him out, Monigami's parents keep on denying that he's bad even though he is! My parents aren't like others, instead of blaming the child who sent them to the 'good-boy's' house, my parents got so mad at the Peroskis that they sent me to bed early while they talked about my condition.

Unfortunately, they nearly gave up until I came to them today. They knew I was up to something good, and I wasn't pulling any punches, my mom then says while feeling extra sorry for me: "Oh you poor child. What you need to do is equip yourself with the proper tools to deal with him."

"You know how you always wanted to be a pirate?" "Yeah dad, they're my most favorite thing in the world, next to whales of course!" Then my dad pulls off a pirate wink while swinging his arms around like a scurvy pirate captain! "Argh! Then buckle up me heartie, because what you need to do is be prepared!" "Yar! I can't wait to start!" I swing my arms around too as I cheered for whatever we've got planned!

Aren't my parents the greatest? They support me no matter what — except when I accidentally spill something — they have the greatest advice, and even though some of it may be a little over the top, they know what's best for me. That's what makes my parents much more different from most regular parents, they seem to know what I'm doing is better, and they think the best way to get me out of trouble is by letting me do what I think is best. It's way simpler than just that y'know, mostly because my parents are still mad at the Peroskis for whatever they did to offend them.

My school may be off, but Hakaru and Jin'ichi still have their school to go to and Akiyo has a business to run. It's up to me and my supporters to beat the bully at his own game! My dad was in charge of making a pirate sword out of the stick I had and a couple of metals, my mom created the pirate cannon out of paper, and I took out my old pirate costume and put on the belt, the jeans, the black pirate circle-shaped eye patch, and a pirate hat! But I added my own logo to the hat, it was a mask with a cape on it looking into the distance. This logo will be our symbol of hope, and it'll strike fear into the hearts of our foes! As soon as we got together, we forged a plan at the table using these very objects.

"If this bully of yours is going to pick on your girlfriend, he'd better learn how fierce you really are." "She's not my girlfriend, she's just a lady dad." I say embarrassed of myself.

"I'm so happy you are finally becoming the tough man I knew you would be. Ever since you were a child I saw great potential in you, and now that you have proven yourself worthy, I can finally give you your late birthday present." "For me? Thanks, Mom!" She gave me a green box with a blue bow on it, and I sprang towards it like it was beginning to feel like Christmas!

I opened the present up and it was a treasure chest unlike any other. It was a backpack treasure chest that'll hold my stuff! I got so happy right there, I'm naturally happy by everything good that happens to be, it felt just like a second birthday! I hugged and kissed my family goodbye as I went to deal with a bully! But I won't do that yet, oh no, now's the time to head back into the Metaverse! If I can prove to the team that I can really cause a ruckus in Monigami's mansion, I'll be able to stand a chance against him in the real world! And who knows, maybe I might be able to awaken like the others have done before. I can't wait to head back in!

Now was the time for action, from this point onward I'll be focusing purely on the mission, and maybe if I succeed I'll be a real Phantom Thief! Hakaru told us to meet at the junkyard this time, and at about 5:30 PM, we all gathered around as Jin'ichi got out of detention and met with us. I talked to the others about the plan, and did my best to get them fired up.

"Okay. Hakaru how many more days till Monigami visits you?" "I estimate about six days or something…" Hakaru says a bit nervously, we gave his Cognitive self a charm that renders them invincible, so Monigami can't wait to break him now. I won't allow that to happen!

"Akiyo, how's your business coming along?" "I sold five charms, gave two palm readings, and made two extras in my spare time." Akiyo says calmly, her business is pretty nice, especially since she doesn't have any school. I wished I wouldn't have school because of a job.

"Jin'ichi, is the liger okay?" "He's fine bro, but why are you so serious all of a sudden?" Jin'ichi smiled, he's always the one who goes about life without a care. I wanna be like him, tough, rebellious, and a Phantom Thief! I answer Jin'ichi's question: "Because I have a secret weapon, but before I show it off, let's go into the Metaverse!" I shouted confidently before Hakaru stopped me for some reason.

"Hey! Wait Takeyoshi! We can't just go in there immediately like we used to." "Yeah, now that Naruki is on our side, we can't bring him to the usual alleyway without raising suspicion." Akiyo is right, we have a real life liger now, which is cool, but that really limits our options for entering Monigami's mansion. Jin'ichi smiles and then says: "I'd figured you guys would be like that, which is why I have something of my own to show off…" Ooh, what could it be?

Jin'ichi led us to what appears to be a truck load of junk surrounding something, but what? He opened a sliding door jammed into the pile, and he signaled us to follow him through the stuff. "It's right through here guys, this'll make us even with the Phantom Thieves for sure." Jin'ichi confidently shouted. We climbed only to realize Hakaru was still outside, is he cold? I'm not too sure since he's shivering.

"Hakaru, are you okay?" Akiyo asked. "I-I forgot to tell you, I'm claustrophobic… I can't follow you in there, I'll panic!" Hakaru's teeth chattered as Jin'ichi grabbed Hakaru's arm and quickly pulled him inside the passage. "It's okay Harry, I'll help you get through this. You helped me overcome my mother's words, it's only fair if I help you too. Soon enough, you'll be looking back at this moment and laugh as you find yourself walking through this without any problems."

But for now Hakaru's breath was getting bigger and bigger as he tried to stay calm while Jin'ichi was smiling at him all the way. That's so nice, I just wished Monigami was like this, which is exactly why we're going to change his mind!

When we came out the other side, we saw more junk, but it's in a huge circle. That's when I noticed a huge metal house right in the middle! There's a metal roof with a satellite dish on top, the metal walls were red, a few glass windows were around the building, and another sliding door. I was amazed at the place that was like a superhero lair, because every good hero needs a main base!

"Whoa! That is so cool!" I was amazed as heck seeing the punk make something this big! I ran around it a couple of times to see it from all angles. "You made that!?" Hakaru shouted as confused as ever. "All by yourself!?" Akiyo was just as amazed as he was.

"Yep. Turns out my assembling powers work outside the Metaverse, but like HEX said, it only lasts a short while." Jin'ichi pointed it out feeling impressed with himself.

"Whoa, how can this be?" Hakaru wondered that as Akiyo came up with another theory: "From what I understand, the 1.0 version of that app doesn't normally give power to people like us. When we awakened for the first time, that rebellious spirit sent some of its power to us in real time. So, I think the Cognitive World is more related to the human world than we realized."

"Forget how we did it, let's go inside!" I was too hyped to start exploring or new clubhouse, and Jin'ichi agrees: "I wouldn't want to keep a kid waiting." Hakaru and Akiyo followed us as Jin'ichi opened the sliding door inside.

We went inside and I already got hyped up when we saw the interior. It had movie posters and stuff at every angle, we had a working soda machine and a flat screen TV, an air freshener, and there was a small wooden table with 5 rugs that were based on us. Hakaru sat on a plain old green rug that looked a bit dusty, Jin'ichi sat on the black one with a flaming skull on it, Akiyo had the cyan one with water on it, I got a beanbag chair, and there was the giant liger, sitting on a big pet pillow. I pet the liger as we gathered together, and Jin'ichi started getting plastic cups for us.

"This is so cool! But where's the cool gizmo thingies?" I asked hoping this was like a real superhero lair. "It's a work in progress, but we do have a soda machine. Name your flavor." Jin'ichi said happily while grabbing some plastic cups from the counter.

"A real working soda machine? You really have thought of everything! I'll have orange soda!" Hakaru likes oranges. "I shall take a dose of lemonade." Akiyo loves lemons. "Strawberry!" I love strawberries! "And I'll take some grape soda." And Jin'ichi likes grapes! It's a perfect recipe for fun!

He passed the cups around and gave the liger some milk he bought at the store. As far as I can tell this cat was supposed to be talking, but apparently he wasn't. I didn't mind though, I'm hanging with my best friends in the clubhouse drinking strawberry soda!

"Wow. That was good, the soda seems new, how'd you get it?" Hakaru asks Jin'ichi. "My dad got the supplies for me and boy he was happy that I've taken an interest in making machines." Jin'ichi felt pretty cool right now with his big stinking lair, I couldn't imagine him as the ruthless man Hakaru told me about because of his unique charm.

"Great job Jin'ichi, now we can use this as our main headquarters." Akiyo says proudly before Hakaru brings up the main issue: "Are you guys forgetting that we still need to get inside Mementos Lane? How are we going to get to a gas station from here?" "Don't worry about it Harry. The junkyard isn't that far away from the alleyway HEX is in, so maybe by default we'll just go straight to the gas station…" "Wait! Let me show you guys something first before we go! Close your eyes…" They did as it was finally time to reveal my own Phantom Thief attire!

I grabbed the stuff out of my treasure chest backpack, I put on my pirate jacket, my jeans, and my special pirate hat, I switched the regular eye patch for a pirate eye patch and I brought out my sword-stick and my origami cannon. I even had practice speaking like a pirate during a costume party I've been to during first grade.

"Yar! You guys may look!" I said in my pirate accident. They opened their eyes to see me in a stunning pirate outfit! Hakaru was obviously surprised at my change of clothing and I even came up with a special code-name for myself too!

"Whoa! Takeyoshi!?" "Argh! You mean Scalawag? I'm gonna steal Monigami's booty!" I said with all of my pirate might! Jin'ichi smiled at my attire while Akiyo was just in love with my appearance. "Damn, you came prepared." "Aw… aren't you the cutest Phantom Thief?" She wanted to pinch my cheeks, but she couldn't because of her pacifism thingy.

"That's a nice hat you've got there, I especially liked the logo." Hakaru said while impressed with my handy work, I blushed a bit as my voice sounded normal for a bit…

"Thanks guys! My parents don't know I'm a Phantom Thief, but they helped me make equipment to stand up to Monigami." I revealed the sword and paper cannon to the crew and Hakaru was suddenly a little nervous.

"Is that a real metal stick sword?" "Argh! You got that right matey!" I swung it around a few practice swings and Jin'ichi just looked at me and smiled like he knew that feeling of aggression anywhere. "Damn. You really want to beat the shit out of Monigami don't you?"

My response? "Exactly! I'm not gonna stand around and do nothing anymore! I've been practicing ever since we learned of this place! And if this psycho thinks he could pull that kind of poop on me again, I'll slice him to pieces!" I said really mad as I swung the sword around like a powerful child! This scared the pants off of Hakaru as he began to shiver!

"Whoa! Don't swing that at me! Let's just go already Jin'ichi!" "Sure thing Harry." Jin'ichi smiles as Akiyo was still a bit adored by my costume.

Jin'ichi pressed the button on his phone, and then we made our grand entrance into Mementos Lane's gas station. It sure looks like a gas station alright, complete with a highway right next to it. From the red gas pumps, to the red walls, and the red cement roads. Wow, this place really likes the color red! Hakaru, Jin'ichi, and Akiyo once again became Hero, Gremlin and Siren! And look at the liger, he's standing on two legs and he looks more buff than those strong people my father sees in action movies!

"Whoa… it's just like the pictures you showed me Hero, this place looks amazing!" "I think this place needs a fresh coat of paint." Said the… liger!? "Oh wow! A walking and talking liger! You look so strong!" "Call me Naruki. Now I don't mean to brag, but I am a pretty tough guy. On the other hand, look at yourself kid, you look even more scurvy than you were before." "I do?"

I looked into the glass window and realized my pirate costume became ten times more real! I had pirate boots, more of that brown pirate leather, holy jeans, a gold baby tooth, a pirate hat that looks like a captain, and everything I had looked like stuff real pirates use!

Unfortunately I didn't exactly get a mask yet, but my sword looks like something only a real swashbuckler would use! The thin metal blade and the more realistic handlebar, it felt so real, even more so than my original sticky sword! Even the paper cannon looked so real it had actual cannonballs! This felt so amazing, I didn't need a Persona to look good, at least not yet, this suit felt like a much-needed tune-up!

"Oh wow! Argh! Just wait 'till Monigami sees me now!" "And that's not even the half of it, you guys want to try the foods here? My treat." Gremlin says with a proud smirk. "But didn't we just drink stuff?" Naruki pointed out. "And besides, what if we get drunk again?" Hero was worried, but Gremlin felt sure that this was a hit-or-miss opportunity. "I keep telling you guys, no problem! We'll take some for the road, and I'll double check and see if they have alcohol in it. Now let's see what the general public loves, and then we'll go get that treasure."

I ran headfirst through the glass doors as I heard a bell ring when I went inside. The place looked packed with stuff! There's food I've never seen before on the shelves, tons of posters about places I've never been to, and at the check-out, there was a happy gas station worker lady who was looking at a TV. On the TV was a commercial about some cheesy soap opera that not even my mom watches. The personalities were exaggerated, and it almost got me hooked until the guy said that he's gay. What's a gay?

It doesn't matter what is a gay, the lady seems to be enjoying it: "Oh Anal-San, I wish I could be with you. But atlas, your show had to be canceled in favor of a trip to Subterranean-Mementos. What does he see in that place that's more important than a girl who can't stop smiling?" She was hugging the TV until it cut to some commercial about a bank, she backed off and saw Gremlin ring the bell by the counter. She appeared right in front of the bell when she heard that and then remembered that we existed...

"Welcome back to Mementos Lane, strangers from the other-side! What can I get you?" Oh I get it, she's a stranger to us like we're one to her! "Howdy madam, we were just looking for some food to take with us on the road." Gremlin said kindly. "You're in luck, we just so happen to have a child and pet discount if you are interested in some of our beginner's items. They're on shelf #1 and fridge #1, there you'll find foods that are based on what the entire human population thinks about them!"

"Whoa, the entire human population?" I was amazed by the way she said that. Mementos Lane is actually inside everyone's heads, which is so weirdly cool! "That's right! Every mind thinks alike, if everyone agrees on one thing it's manifested here, although not all of the minds are positive thinkers. Some choose to spend their life in complete boredom, which was why the Mementos subway was made. Some of those people claim they want a Palace when they go down there, but some just want to run away from their problems and lock themselves up for some reason."

I was confused about what she was talking about, but Siren seems to understand: "Is that so?" "That's right, the other-side is very important too. Without it, we wouldn't even be standing here right now. In fact, I don't even have a other-self." "Wait, then how are you alive?" Hero questioned as the girl kept smiling no matter what was thrown at her: "Oh that's easy, as long as the mass believes that I am supposed to be nice and caring, I'll exist! The shifts have been hard since I'm the only employee of the gas stations, but I'm not the only chaperone who exists in this world."

"Chaperone?" the liger questioned. "That's right, we are the Public's Cognition, willing to serve the general public without any pay or question! That bus driver you went with yesterday was also a chaperone, he represents all the bus drivers who are sick of driving people around." Just then Gremlin walks over with all kinds of food in his hands. He took five packs of different food, and five drinks from the fridge. "Yo, we'd like to take this stuff on the road."

We checked the labels of the food we got, mine was a sweet looking lollipop that 'Tastes like strawberry, but looks like cherry.' and a small strawberry drink that was 'Made from real strawberries.'. I checked the inside to make sure and it had actual juice that had bits of strawberries crushed inside, I think I'm in strawberry heaven.

"Great! That'll be ¥300 because of the discount. Have a safe trip!" Gremlin paid the lady and we were about to leave before Siren stopped us: "H-Hang on, we just consumed our liquids in the real world, I'm not so sure if there's any bathrooms in Monigami's Mansion!" Siren was a little worried about the stuff we got, but Gremlin had a simple solution: "Then we'll just go to the bathroom here first and then promise not to drink until we do find a bathroom. Hey lady, can you point us in the right direction of the bathrooms?"

"Sure, it's right in the corner of the store. It's perfectly fine if some outsiders like yourselves use our bathrooms, but don't forget to flush and wash your hands when you're done." "Thanks ma'am, I completely forgot to go when we first came in here!" We all stepped away from Hero, who was squeezing his knees together and kept his hands where his knees were squeezed, it's a definite potty emergency! "You couldn't tell us any sooner you damn coward!?" The liger was a bit mad, as Hero kelt making the motion: "I didn't know Cognitive Worlds had bathrooms until now, so I was just going to pee in the swimming pool if nothing else."

"And ruin Mother Nature's blessing upon this world!? Perish the thought!" Siren got mad when he said that too as Gremlin tried to ease the tension: "Look, as much as I'd love to see the look on Monigami's face when he finds piss in the swimming pool, I think going to the bathroom would definitely improve our performance. And besides, we all gotta go sometimes." "Okay fine, just take me to the nearest litter-box and I'll be happy." said Naruki.

The litter-box was outside behind the building, so the liger went one way, and we went another way. Siren went to the lady's room, but we had a bad feeling about the men's room. When we went inside the bathroom, it was the stinkiest sight I've ever seen! "Ew!" me and Hero shouted in unison, not even trash could compare to the grossest place ever thought up by man...

The place had mold on the walls, leaky pipes, cracks all over the place, it smells like ten thousand skunks farting at the same time, and there were all kinds of bugs in the sink, as well as a half-done bottle of that beer stuff my dad drinks at night. This wasn't just any gross bathroom, this was heck!

"Oh my God, this is so unsanitary on so many levels… I think I'm going to puke…" Hero held his stomach with his knees still crossed. "This is so stinky, I think I'd rather eat Monigami's poop than stay here for the rest of my life!" I never been this grossed out by anything until now, but Gremlin kept a straight face the whole time as he quickly embraced the disgusting bathroom with open arms.

"Heh, before you guys eat shit I think we might as well go pee here." "B-But, Jin'ichi it's so gross!" "Would you rather pee in the pool while piranhas suck your dick? Pardon my language Harry, but this place is too shity not to curse about." What does he mean by sucking a dick? I really gotta stop myself from asking all these adult questions, for now I have to prove to the others that I can pee in here! "Argh! Tis be nothing but one big poop deck, I'll tame this monster of a potty even if it kills me!"

"No! Takeyoshi, don't throw away your life! It means everything to you!" Hero was thinking this was the end of the world, but even though this bathroom growls at my very presence, she's nothing more than a stinky little child nobody wants to sit next to. I just had to befriend this stinker and get through this without any fear! In comparison to Monigami, this bathroom was much stinkier than anything Monigami has ever done! This was my ultimate test, to see if I could rebel against Monigami himself, and save the world, I must do this for their sake!

I approached one of the stalls with extreme overconfidence, I saw the toilet with it's seat flipped up and I swallowed my fears. I looked inside and found a big gaping hole where the pee would go. It was a bottomless pit, a place where no one would want to end up. I took a whiff at the stank the toilet had and I refrained myself from puking at that funky poop smell from within. As the flies flew right over my head, I began to pee into the great abyss. It felt kinda relieving to let loose what was inside me and flush down the pee through the clearly messy john.

I ran out, washed my hands with the uncomfortable dirty water in the sink and then used my mom's hand sanitizer from my treasured backpack. Gremlin finished his bathroom run first and he clapped for me after washing his hands with the stinky water. "Bravo kid! You are one brave little risk-taker, big props to you amigo!" "Thank you! Don't you need hand sanitizer?" I asked him as he spit into his dirty hands and wiped them on his jacket: "Nah, if people think I'm trash, I might as well smell like it too."

Oh man, Gremlin smells worse than he did before— but that'll show those no-good people who made fun of him! Just then, Hero left the toilet a bit woozy and very hurt in the stomach. He stuck his hand out at me and spoke with an uneasy feeling: "Give me the hand sanitizer little buddy…" "Are you okay Hero?" "What's wrong Harry, cat got your tongue?" "I don't want to talk about it, let's just get out of here before I get even more sick…" said Hero who was slowly walking towards the cashier and he started to ask her: "What the fuck was that!?"

She kept her smiling face, like she saw this coming, and said: "Oh that? That was the public opinion on the men's bathroom. People walk in and expect men to be disgusting revolting creatures in the bathrooms, which is why public bathrooms were split into two in the first place" she said all that without remorse as Hero banged his head on the counter and shouted: "But why!? Why does the public hate men going to the bathroom!?"

"I dunno Harry, maybe that's just how people see things." As soon as Gremlin says that, Siren walks out of her bathroom with a bright beautiful smile on her face. I could easily tell she had a better time than we did: "Whoa, Mrs. Siren, what happened?" She then gives us a monologue while expressing the joys of purity, I have no idea what purity has to do with toilets but I would be happy too if the toilets were as she said they were...

"I have found a beautiful sight of heaven in this ruthless world! I was hesitant at first to enter because I had a fear that the ocean in this world would suffer for my impure blessing, but to my surprise, there was nothing but a bottomless pit in the toilets. That meant it wouldn't hurt anything I put in, and what's more, the bathroom was the purest sight I've ever seen. It's clean checker floors and pure ocean water was definitely enough to make me smile."

We all stared at her with shock when she said that, but Hero just broke down in defeat: "Are you freaking kidding me!?" he was now crying for a short bit now that he has experienced a very stinky bathroom! "Lemme guess, ladies are so beautiful that their bathrooms are cute too?" Jin'ichi questioned while being completely unamused. "That's exactly right! A lady's bathroom is expected to be beautiful as their appearance, so naturally they have the cleanest bathrooms out of the two." "As I thought, thanks gas-lady."

Hero recovered after a couple of seconds of crying and then the liger came through the door, feeling mighty refreshed after his bathroom trip: "Dang, the litter-boxes here really know my size, I've really underestimated this place you guys, no wonder you guys goofed off at that big TV room." "That's great and all, but speaking of that big TV room, how are we going to get to Monigami's mansion?" Hero said trying to recover his lost sanitary state with more hand sanitizer.

Siren scratched her head before quickly pointing out: "I'm not ready to take the bus again. It's not easy getting dirty again once you've been cleaned once." "I have no idea, maybe these brochures can help us again, they disappeared when we left last time so I need to restock— what the heck? These weren't there before!" We looked and saw several of the brochures have different colors and different words and pictures on them. What does it mean? Thankfully, the lady at the counter was always willing to help...

"That's right, as the human opinion changes, so does everything else. No two bits of information will stay the same unless it's that important to the mass. If you don't want to take the bus, maybe you can read about the current trends and make it easier for you guys to figure out the best way to travel?" Now while Hero looked at the various brochures, I offered a suggestion as we walked out of the station:

"Well, maybe Naruki can help us?" I pointed to the liger, and he looked shocked that I wanted him to do something about this. "M-Me!?" "Huh. I don't see how Liger can give us a hand." Gremlin said a little clueless himself, before Hero came to a theory: "Come to think of it, HEX did tell us that the human mind can do wondrous things." "Tell me about it." Liger shrugs without a care.

"Well. If Takeyoshi's imagination is strong enough to change his sword into different objects, maybe Naruki can do the same?" Liger looks a bit nervous due to Siren's statement, and he begins to sweat: "Um guys? Where are you getting at?" I've seen this on the internet before, back when I was younger, if my analysis is correct about this…

"Argh! Liger, ye best be turning into a car!" "What!? I don't do cars! I'm more of a plane type of cat!" "Aw come on! You don't have to become just a car, you can probably turn yourself into a monster truck." I looked at Liger with hype as he looked very embarrassed of my pokey attitude.

"A-And how in the world am I supposed to turn into one!?" "I dunno, think car-y thoughts?" "I'm sorry what?" Gremlin, Liger doesn't know what a punk like you is saying, but that's not a bad idea!

"If Takeyoshi can use his mind to turn his sword into a whale, then picturing yourself as a giant truck should be no exception." "Exactly Siren! If you want to get us back to Monigami's mansion, you must become a monster truck!" Hero says with belief in Liger.

"Isn't there, y'know, another way we can do this?" "Nope. Not as far as I can tell. Now turn into a car!" I say to Liger super excited as I jump up and down. Siren brings up a very descriptive saying as I get confused while she says it: "Just picture yourself on a long winding road, watch as your rubbery spinning tires ease up on the nice cold pavement as you traverse an endless road of imagination and possibility..."

"Fine. But this'll never work just watch… grrrrrr…." Liger focused with all of his might hoping something wouldn't happen, and then all of a sudden, poof! He turned from a regular old liger into a monster truck! I sorta imagined him as a small minivan like my mother's, but look at him! He looked like a real monster truck, with his eyes as headlights, fluffy cat ears and tiger stripes, and a long lion tail in the back! Liger noticed this as he was clearly trying to get out of this.

"Whoa…" I was amazed as heck as I looked at the monster sized truck. Hero followed along as he expressed his surprise in the most questionable way: "That exactly worked!?"

"What the!? I can't move! What's going on!?" You're a monster truck now Liger, that's what going on! "Amazing. It appears the imagination factor of this place must be off the charts! Especially considering that cats turning into cars is a popular trend in this world." Siren said amazed, while I, an excited little kid, knew exactly what to do with a given opportunity...

"Yay! I want to drive the monster truck!" "What!? I'm a monster truck!? Aw crap, how do I turn back!?" "I don't know yet Naruki… but remember guys, we got a mansion to infiltrate!" Said Hero with confidence.

"I wanna drive!" "Sorry child… but regardless of your role, you can't drive until you are older." Siren tells me to my disappointment "Aw man… well then, who does know how to drive?" "I'll do it…" Gremlin answers my question without missing a beat, and this surprised Liger a bit.

"Whoa! Hold your horses! Why does this guy have to drive, at least make Hero drive, he looks safer!" "I don't know how…" Hero looks embarrassed, I can't drive either, so I feel his pain.

"Relax pal, I've once done some go-kart driving and other vehicle testing and I think this is no different." "If you say so Gremlin, in that case, I call shotgun!" Hero rushes into the truck as Siren awkwardly steps in covering her nose a bit as she then said: "I'll remember to get an air freshener later…"

"Yahoo! I get to ride a real life monster truck!" "This isn't a real truck kid, it's still Liger, so I'll be as gentle as I can." Gremlin says getting fingers used to the leather wheel as the seats started to feel comfortable.

"Um… Jin'ichi, you have absolutely no idea how these roads go don't you?" "Calm down already wild cat, I remember exactly how to get there, it's just three miles past the spiraling road." "Spiraling road!? I remember that! Only I wasn't exactly on that thing, it was a bus dude, A BUS!!!" Liger was a bit scared to put it simply, other than that he's completely enraged that he's letting someone else steer him.

"Please don't go too fast Gremlin…" "Hero, do we have a deadline to meet?" "Um, yes but…" "Thought so. Let's bounce!" Gremlin pulls off a big smirk as he begins to rev up the engine. Hero made sure his seat belt was tight while Siren started hugging me again. Aw, it's awkward but it shows just how much she cares!

Gremlin steps on the gas as I just got done buckling up. We all went super fast through the entrance and up the highway, we felt the wind in our hair as Gremlin laughed as we drove past so many road signs and other cars! Eventually we came across the loop de loops and I raised my arms in the air while cheering, as if I was on a roller coaster. Hero, Liger, and Siren screamed for their lives as Gremlin kept pushing the gas pedal to exciting speeds! We blasted towards the mansion gate but then a gate in front of it blocked it shut and Gremlin's expression turned into one of 'oh no!'

Gremlin hits the brakes as a barrier suddenly sprung up at some sort of toll-gate. We were wondering what's a big golden gate like this in front of the Palace until we saw this guy who's running the toll booth. He looked kinda dull, wearing a white outfit and a depressed frown and his eyes never, and I mean never, got any sleep.

"Um… what's this?" asked Hero. "This must be what people think of toll booth people. Boring, depressed and tired." Siren speculated the dull man as Gremlin looked a little mad about the sudden stop. "Hey! What's the big idea here!? I was in the zone and you cut me off!"

"Hold it. You guys can't enter here on your own, not without proper payment…" said the toll man with a boring tone to his voice. Liger speaks as he begins to get suspicious: "Grrr… I'd bet this guy just wants to rob us, well it's not gonna-" "Here, will ¥3000 be enough?" Hero hands over some money much to Liger's surprise: "You moron! He's not just going to take a random price!"

"That'll do, the ruler didn't exactly set up a valid price range, so I'll take anything I can." The toll guy says with a frown counting the yen. "Really? Why thank you." Siren says kindly.

"Huh. Nice work Hero, sometimes you really help us save the trouble of toll fraud." "Aw shucks. I'm just used to these kinds of roads dude." Gremlin patted Hero on the back like two good friends, but we don't have time for friendship right now, we got a job to do!

The toll guy presses a button while making an announcement through the megaphone above the booth, as unenthusiastic as humanly possible: "Welcome to the Mansion of Gluttony. Where men are jackasses and every lady is a thot." "Yeah we get it, let's go." I say a bit stubbornly to the guy. The toll guy shrugs as he opens the toll-gate and the mansion gate at the same time.

And before we knew it, we were back in the mansion. Liger then turned himself back to his big muscular self by thinking about Monigami primarily. That was so much fun, but fun won't help me defeat Monigami, not this time! Our heads were still spinning from the loop de loop, but at least no one got hurt.

"You call that gentle!?" Liger shouted after that huge acceleration. Hero looked a little carsick as he held his breath near Siren while he said: "I think I'm going to hurl again…" "N-Not on me!" Siren cried.

"Come on guys, that was fun right?" Gremlin shrugged as he looked at me all excited, but I wasn't ready to crack any smiles this time: "Yeah! But there's no time to waste, I want to change Monigami's heart so let's go!" "Whoa, someone's a little impatient today. Aren't we going to wait for the others to recover first?" Gremlin asks as I look at him with a twinkle in my eyes.

"Come on Gremlin! I can take it now that I'm like you guys!" "I don't know Takeyoshi, rushing in without a second thought is exactly what Monigami thinks we'll do…" I recognize that voice anywhere! It sounded like Hakaru, but it wasn't Hakaru, it was more like a doll speaking in someone else's voice, and it came from the bushes…

There is the main attraction of the mansion. Doll-Hakaru is a sentient Cognition-thingy who is actually nice to us, if not a little stressed. He looks like the real Hakaru, but like the rest of the dolls in that jail cell, he's doomed to be broken if we don't save him! "Doll-Hakaru, it's nice to meet you, but we've got no time to lose!" I look at Doll-Hakaru for a second and I look cautiously at the big doors immediately after. I really want to rush this because the faster we get to the end, the quicker we save our Hakaru!

Doll-Hakaru looked at the others funny as he expressed a bit of worry: "Um… is he alright?" I don't know what he's so worried about, I'm doing fine so far, luckily Gremlin took my defense: "He's just getting into the swing of things. You guys coming?" he looks at the others starting with Hero, still trying to recover from his overwhelming carsickness: "I don't feel that good, but I think I'll be fine just as long as I don't have to take that loop de loop again…"

"Okay, let's smash some heads!" Liger says as he completely recovered from his adventure on the road. "Guys wait! Monigami has learned that you have the three keys! He's ramped up security even higher since I escaped. Going inside and out isn't going to be easy this time… we need a real plan if we need to stand a chance against him." Doll-Hakaru, why are you so worried about everything?

"Yeah, but we don't know what else this mansion has to offer…" Siren said being a little troubled herself. Doll-Hakaru suddenly gets serious as he looks at the crew with a determined expression: "But I do, let me act as your personal tour guide for this place. It's the very least I can do after you saved my life, and Monigami knows I'm strong-willed so I can oppose him too! From now on, we'll all help each other change Monigami's heart. You guys supply the muscle, and I'll help you navigate the traps and obstacles in your way."

"Thanks a lot doll me. In a situation like this, we could use all the help we can get…" Hero says with great respect. He shook hands with himself, and we entered the mansion once more. This adventure is gonna be super! If we can get the treasure before Monigami gets to Hakaru, we'll complete the heist! So far this experience in Mementos was awesome!

Sure I've had my share of bumps in the road, but if stealing stuff is what it takes to be a Phantom Thief then I'll show them all how great I am! After that, I'll awaken like everyone else and be the best Phantom Thief ever! "You can count on me!" I said before I entered the mansion, and sure enough, they were going to count on me very soon..

I remember this place like the back of my hand, and what a fine hand that was! There were the bunches of statues, the huge swimming pool, and the dinner table where the boys got drunk. I took a look at the man cave, and it had the biggest darn TV in the world, just like what Hakaru showed me yesterday. I wanted to go in there and see what's on TV, but I guess my urges told me to keep pressing forward. Sorry big TV, maybe later...

We found the door at the top of the red stairs that leads further into the mansion. The red, blue and yellow keys unlocked the door as we walked down a long twisting hallway filled with sick paintings of Monigami and a sculpture or two. We were walking on the red carpet and the walls looked pretty golden for a millionaire. After about three turns, we saw a strange Shadow-Maid as we hid behind the wall. Doll-Hakaru was the first to point out her role in serving Shadow Monigami.

"A Shadow. She's blocking our path. I know this one very well, she's the one who cleans my cell, she claims I must look fresh for when you-know-who shows up to break me." "Damn that child." Gremlin says clutching his fist. "Although violence isn't the answer, I am ready to strike when ready. What do you think about this, leader?" Siren says as everyone looks at Hero, I look at him too, so I don't feel left out.

"Huh? Me? I-I always thought Gremlin was the leader!" Hero tries to deny he's the leader, but Gremlin and the crew gives him a hand: "Nope, you've been helping us this whole time Harry." "Now it's our turn to help you." says Siren calmly. "So what are you waiting for pal? Let's tear 'em apart!" says Liger, while still thinking that Hero is a coward, at least he knows that Hero is simpler than Gremlin's driving.

I threw in my two cents into the barrel and I encouraged him further: "Hero. I believe in you. The only way to save yourself is to, you know, save yourself! If we work together, we can even make Monigami pay for his crimes if we just believe in ourselves!" I say while being extra confident in my words. It worked, Hero is moved by my dashing speech, I should talk more often.

"You guys…okay, I'll engage the Shadow. You guys better help me too, I pretty much need the extra muscle from all of you." "Trust yourself, We will." Doll-Hakaru nods as Hero mentally prepares to attack…

Hero sneaks around and, with a moment of hesitation, he punches the Shadow in the backside as hard as he can! The suit and mask fell off as the Shadow took the form of a pumpkin, two creepy looking dolls, and a big honking troll. We assumed our battle positions, and the fight began! Doll-Hakaru stayed on the sidelines as he said: "You guys should be able to take down all four of them. Remember your training!"

Yuki told me I had to pay excellent attention to people's fighting styles as I try to think up my very own style for the job, so I paid attention to the crew as I watched them fight. Hero throws a few punches at the pumpkin, but dodges out of the way as the pumpkin tries attacking him. Because he's a coward, he dodges the flames thrown at him before he glows light green, shouts: "Super Power!", and then throws the pumpkin against the wall. Hero must still be scared of things, and yet he is confident enough to do what's right.

Siren and Liger take down the dolls. Liger slashes and hacks against one of them, and then he roars as he gains stripes, saber fangs while he glows orange and screams: "Super Fury!". He bites down on one finishing it off, but just when he thought it was safe, he got hit by a needle from one of the dolls which caused him to get all depressed and stuff. Never fear, Siren is here! She used one of her special charms as it glowed cyan blue while she said peacefully: "Super Charm." Liger then snapped out of it and then proceeded to punch the remaining one and knock it out!

Gremlin took down the giant troll by climbing on top of it and punching it in the face several times before his gloves got twitchy. He glowed a dark green as he laughed while shouting: "Super Assemble!", only he didn't put together anything this time, he grabbed the club with his sticky fingers and smashed it into the troll's skull! Gremlin may be a little wild, but he lets loose because this is good anger management for him, as for me… uh oh.

The pumpkin was still alive, he called on three more of his pumpkin friends. Before the others could fight, I wanted a turn. So I pointed my thumb at myself, signaling Gremlin to let me do some action! He gets the others out of the way and it's just me and the pumpkins! I focused all my energy into my sword and sliced one open on the first try!

The other Shadows got intimidated, but I won't let them escape from me! I let my trusty cannon take a shot and it was a realistic cannonball! I shot down two of them and then stabbed them both on the spot. The remaining Shadow was scared out of his mind, and he wanted mercy, but I didn't want to hear it. I shot a cannonball at its face as punishment for trying to lure me into a false sense of sorriness, but that's what Monigami does too, and the more I thought about him the more madder I got. Fortunately, the others calmed me down when they cheered on my victory.

"You did awesome Scalawag!" Hero sounded impressed, at that point, I felt proud of myself for that praise I was given as I calmed down almost instantly: "You guys were awesome too!"

"I've gotta say kid, you've got guts." Gremlin says as he pats me on the back and Siren claps for me: "You took down those four Shadows like it was nothing!" "We didn't even need our Personas to beat him anyway. They were just too easy for us." Liger said a bit cockily. "That's because the maid here is actually the weakest maid in this building." Doll-Hakaru shrugged as I smiled brighter due to the respect the team had for me!

"I couldn't have done it without any of you. Thanks a bunch! Argh! What do you say we keep searching for ye booty!" I say with a pirate attitude. "Sounds good to me, let's go gang." Gremlin then signals us to keep going as Hero says: "Yeah." with confidence.

We took a few extra turns down the fancy hallway, and then we saw a door. It needed another key, and it was unbreakable again, Gremlin tried his lock pick on it and it still wasn't unstuck. We knew that the key was in here somewhere, but we just didn't know where to look. To our right was another wall, but to the left…

That's when I saw the most frightening thing that's ever known to a kid like me. It was a giant playground tunnel maze thing. It had all sorts of colors that got mashed together in a twisted rainbow. There was no way to be sure which way leads where, and we couldn't see anyway out by default. But one thing's for certain, if the key ends up in there, I'm gonna scream.

Why was I so afraid of this playful thing? That was also Monigami's fault, he scared the dickens out of me during my first years with him. I really wanted the slide during recess, but the only way to get to it was through a 'fun' tunnel. It wasn't that fun, Monigami would often scare the pants off of me by sticking his face through the tunnel or shouting "boo!" when I try to come through. I may be prepared for everything else, but I definitely wasn't prepared for this! I held my pirate hat on my head as tight as I could, and I tried my best not to show fear, but I couldn't take it…

"Let me guess… the key is inside the tunnels?" Siren guessed. "Yes. Unfortunately for us, the hole is too small for any of us to fit. I won't be able to fit in there either, because I can't fold without injuring myself." Doll-Hakaru says to my dislike. "And in case you guys don't remember, I still have claustrophobia." said Hero shivering a bit less than I was. "Well, someone's going to go inside there!" Liger says a bit ticked off. I break the conversation before Gremlin could get a word out as I shake like a blender we have at home: "Not me! I can't do it!"

Hero found out about my fear amongst the others and he tried to cheer me up a bit: "Um… T-Takeyoshi? Are you okay? You were so brave before, this is a perfect time to use your small height..." "Nuh uh! I'm not going in there! Something might jump out at me!" I keep on shivering as Doll-Hakaru points out the obvious with a sad look on his face: "I think Takeyoshi has a serious fear of playground tunnels. He was prepared for everything but the suspense of the tunnel. That's how frightening Monigami is to him."

"Oh you poor child… I can relate to how fear gets you, but you are the only one who can fit into this tunnel." Siren hugs me a bit before I break free to look at Gremlin, maybe he knows what to do when fighting fear… "But guys, I can't do this alone! Gremlin, you're with me on this right?" And to my surprise, he looked away from me in shame and paused a bit before admitting something while trying to be encouraging:

"No. Sorry kid, but there's no other way we can get through this without you. Come on pal, you know very well that we aren't always going to be supporting you, especially with that small looking tunnel. I'd bet the only reason you became Scalawag was to impress us wasn't it?" I began to tear up as Gremlin looked at me with a comforting gaze in his eyes.

"Well it worked, but come on, giving up on a seriously obvious puzzle? That's just weak, even for you." Liger called me weak? Hey! But I'm still scared of the tunnel, so I guess being called weak now is perfectly justified. But Siren provided me with more support with a smile: "You may be on your own for this one, but that doesn't mean we won't be there in spirit to guide you…"

"Don't worry about it Takeyoshi, Monigami isn't going to pop out at you, and if he does, you have the power to stab him with the old sticky-sword." Hey, Gremlin's right, I completely forgot about my sticky-sword, it's just as ready as it was before. But I just can't waltz in there and expect myself to stand up to Monigami in the worst possible scenario, but then Hero comforted me, just as I did to him earlier...

"Takeyoshi. I just want you to know that you aren't alone. Even if we aren't exactly here to guide you through the tunnel, we'll still be with you no matter what. Overcoming this is the only hurdle you have left if you want to get over your fear of Monigami. And let's not forget the stakes if we fail, and the reason that we're fighting. Takeyoshi, if you see anything besides the key in there, then don't be afraid to fight back." The Hero brought courage and inspiration, it's just like when he got all serious when Akiyo was confused as heck, or when he heard Doll-Hakaru scared out of his mind. Combined with the confidence that he normally brings, I had to do this, even if it means getting scared!

"O-Okay… I'll try, but I won't like it…" "Do not fear Takeyoshi, if anything bad ever happens in there, just remember your friends are with you in your heart…" Siren, everyone, thank you. I just hope I know what I'm doing...

I climb into the entrance shaking in my boots, crawling inside gives me the feeling of fear as I can't predict which way something will pop out at me. The tunnel itself wasn't helping me calm down, but I had to do this for Hakaru and Jin'ichi and everyone! But still, it feels so cold and lonely in here, I've never been through a tunnel this long before. I had to carefully look down each twist and turn that I took, and aside from a few snakes in here, which I disposed of quickly, Monigami didn't appear or even try to scare me.

The more snakes that appeared, the faster I went, but I remember to stop whenever I take a turn. I was about to turn around and run for my life, but I've come too far to be a chicken now! I can't just abandon this job, everyone has been helping me this whole time. It's just like Akiyo said, they help me, and I'll help them! If Hakaru could overcome his cowardly instincts, so can I!

Eventually, I stopped being afraid of the consequences, my teeth stopped chattering as I kept reminding myself that my friends are waiting for me on the outside. I kept crawling through as fast I could as my tears of sadness slowly turned into fists of fury.

I sliced up more and more snakes as I used trial and error to figure out which path to take. It felt like thirty minutes since I first entered this thing, but I'm not complaining anymore. My fear just won't let me be unless I conquer it myself, and conquer it I did! All of a sudden, I wasn't afraid of the tunnel anymore. I felt like I could finally get through it without anything unexpected. I see the light, I'm almost done, but what if it's Monigami?

Not to worry, I have the potential to knock him down! I shot my cannon straight ahead to make sure it hurt something and sure enough, it hit a cardboard cutout of Monigami making that face he always makes whenever he scares me. It was at this very moment that I had nothing to worry about, even if this was a scary experience for me, I actually didn't cry like a baby this time! I exited the tube only to find a ball pit on my way out, and it looks like I found a snake made of different colored dodge balls with eyes shaped like footballs!

It also had Junko's beautiful red long hairdo! The nerve of that guy! He thinks he could picture Hakaru's sister and my girlfriend like a snake!? I'm not afraid of it, it just made me a little hesitant when attempting to approach it. It has the key in its mouth, but I wasn't scared of it, it just reminded me how much Monigami loves his snakes, ever since he tried to intimate me with a plastic one. I also heard him call Junko a snake one time for escaping his wrath!

And reminding myself of those memories led to me focusing all of my anger onto the snake! It tried to attack by spitting out various types of balls, but by using my sword as a baseball bat, I knocked just about every ball back into its mouth. I shot a cannonball into its already stuffed mouth, and it caused it to choke on all the balls it ate. It disappeared as I grabbed the purple key. What I did was incredible, if only the others could see me now! But I must not let my guard down, I've got a door to unlock!

There was a one-way exit, but I heard nothing on the other side, as if something's gone wrong. I suspected my friends were in trouble, so I placed my sword into the cannon and pounded it as I used my imagination to start to change the sword into the whale! Before it was able to transform, the sword blasted out of my cannon and out the exit, I checked outside as I saw my friends struggling with a couple of Shadows who found them while I was inside.

The sword turned into the whale just in the nick of time! It fell on top of Hero's arms, and he used his super powers to lift it up high! Liger helped by climbing up on top and then turned into the monster truck form for extra weight. Everyone got out of the way as every Shadow was crushed along with Shadow Monigami, who just barely survived the squash.

Everyone was happy that I made my first dramatic entrance as they cheered, but I tuned them out as I still had to deal with Shadow Monigami. The guy was asking to be hurt by me, but I think I'll give him time to sink in how low he is compared to me. He has made me suffer for so long, I couldn't stand another day with this jerk, this injustice must end right now!

I approached him, but not too close, I turned the whale back into the sword as Shadow Monigami tried to intimate me with his anger and bad words. I look at him with a cold look on my face, everything that once scared me about him now made me twice as mad at him for making me suffer every dang day…

"You goddamn swine… you don't even know what the fuck you're doing do you? I am the most powerful child in the world, my parents would never believe a jackass like you! You are nothing but a little squirt to me, why should I be scared of you!?" he was clearly looking down on me, but I wasn't scared, far from it actually...

"I see… so your real self doesn't know that I'm not his little teapot anymore. Just you wait… I'll show you I'm not a donkey. You'd better not mess with Junko, she's too good to be tormented by the likes of you!" I talked back to Shadow Monigani like it was nothing. I definitely wasn't able to do that before, but I couldn't take his smug face anymore…

Hero noticed what I was talking about, and he was shocked to hear about his sister in trouble: "Wait, Junko!?" "Aw fuck you! If you really care about her so fucking much, I'll personally ruin her stupid body for you! Guards! Stop these loathsome pests!" Shadow Monigami shouted as more Shadows started appearing by the dozen. I was going to take them all on, but Akiyo grabbed me as she panicked.

We unlocked the door and ran down the hallway as Doll-Hakaru signaled us to enter a door on the right to escape, but for some reason Doll-Hakaru couldn't enter which forced him to run away. We looked at the room before us and it had a wooden table with equally wooden chairs. The room looked golden and white like the rest of the mansion, but I saw a bunch of money and toys on the floor. And to make it more weird, it kept phasing in and out of his bathroom, which confused everyone but me. Mostly because I had a one track mind right now, a track to take care of Monigami once and for all...

"Um, where exactly are we?" Liger was confused. "Perhaps that this must be the breach between reality and the cognitive mind. The Shadows can't come after us because this room feels safe enough to keep them away." Siren felt with her heart that there were no monsters in here, but Hero felt worried about himself, literally: "But what about my doppelgänger? We have to go back for him!"

I had to get back to the real world on the double, Junko might be in trouble, and seeing that Doll-Hakaru still has protection, we MUST get back to the real world in time! "Relax guys. He's invincible, he can take care of himself. What we really need to worry about is your sister Hero! She needs our help!" I think I got Hero a bit more frightened, but that's just his brotherly instincts triggering: "Oh crap you're right! We need to get back to the real world!"

"Goddamn, if a lady like her gets picked on by someone that twisted, she might end up twisted herself…" Gremlin says a little frustrated as Siren was quick to worry too: "B-But how do we get out with Liger on our side?"

"It gets extra awkward if we suddenly appear in the bathroom." Liger said a bit embarrassed as I looked at Gremlin's phone, one of our tickets inside: "Maybe there's another magic button here somewhere? Let me see that Gremlin…"

I looked around looking for a button that brings us back, but I accidentally closed the app by sliding it off the screen. We suddenly entered that ripple effect as we were suddenly back in our clubhouse. Maybe closing the app manually is what it takes to end up in the exact place we went in. It's just like when I save my game, we made our progress sure, but by forcing it to close we ended up in the main hub world. Just then, I heard my friends Yuki and Reo calling for me. The crew ran out of the junkyard, except for Naruki, and found them nearly out of breath.

"Takeyoshi, are we glad to see you!" Yuki says a little panicked. "What's going on?" I asked. "It's Junko! Monigami is threatening to go after you if she doesn't go with him into the alleyway near school!" Reo says scared out of his mind as Jin'ichi makes another fist: "Goddamn it…" Hakaru's brotherly instincts tapped in and he got all steamed up, just like I was!

"Oh that little brat is going to pay!" Hakaru, I couldn't agree more! But, if any of them tried to hurt Monigami, it wouldn't be right! If teens were picking on young kids, especially ones that were 'innocent', they'll be no better than those rotten adults they keep telling me about! With no other choice left in my heart, it's up to me to handle this responsibly! "No. Let me handle this Hakaru…" as usual Hakaru is surprised, he's concerned for me. But this isn't the best time to worry about me, especially since he was the one all worked up, what's wrong now? "W-What!? B-But you can't…"

"I can't do what? I took down several Shadows without your help, I have been training to get stronger than Monigami ever since we first got there, and you're telling me I can't fight him now!?" I looked at the crew with anger in my eye as Akiyo was a little nervous about me, why was everyone worried about me!? "No child! It's just that we can't let you fight him directly without our help!"

"You guys said it yourself, you won't always be there to help me, I know you want to help me, but this is personal… if you guys come with me, that'll make him realize it's your fault that I'm stronger than him, and then he won't be as scared, and then he'll target all of you!" I cleared my point as even Jin'ichi was even worried about me, stop worrying already, I can do this!

"Look kid, I think I might have given you too much confidence, now can we just calm down and think this thro-" I interrupt Jin'ichi as I got so mad, I might explode! "I have had enough of this kid's baloney! Any other time I try to stand up to him, he just attempts to pin the blame on me! This is an opportunity I can't miss! Let's go Reo and Yuki!" They nod as the others were trying to stop me, but nothing can stop me from claiming my vengeance…

"W-Wait!" "Harry, we need to follow them in case anything bad happens to Takeyoshi…" Hakaru, Jin'ichi, and Akiyo ran after us as I kept powering myself with rage. Enough rage to gain a Persona, enough rage to rebel, enough rage to seek my revenge!!!

I run for my dear life towards the alleyway near my school, and Monigami is already picking on her! He says he wants ¥5000 huh? She doesn't have that kind of money, so he'll start to abuse her for it, I'm not gonna let him lay a single finger on her! I don't care if my tools are fake in this world, I just need to tell him clearly that I am not a frickin donkey! I ran up to him at full speed with pure anger in my eye as Monigami smirks as if I'm just toying with him, I'll show you who's toying with whom!!!

"Aw, is the little pirate ups-" Shut up dang it!!!! I kicked him square in the gut, he fell over as he looked at me with a rage all his own. I fired my origami cannon and it made a loud noise while shooting confetti that caused him to cover his ears. After that, I jumped on his belly while pinning his arms down with my own so he won't escape his punishment.

"J-Just who do you th-" "I don't wanna hear another word out of you Monigami…" I interrupted him again, I didn't want him to speak to me in that agonizing tone, especially after I've been driven crazy by it after all these years!

I pull out my sword stick, made from real metal and wood, and I point it at him. He chuckles a bit before saying: "And just what do you plan on doing with that piece of plas-". I proved to him it wasn't plastic. I dragged the sword slowly while he was getting the words out, to savor the pain, across his cheek and his smirk slowly turned into one of despair as I made a 5-inch scar across his face. That felt satisfying as heck, I've never seen him pull off that face before, but I can't let my guard down. What if he tries to make me think that he's scared only for him to reveal that he tells his parents. The only way I could stop him is by hammering the same fear I felt for two stinking years into his dumb brain...

"I know everything that you did. You ruined the lives of so many people, you tortured both man and the animal kingdom, you played a part in ruining my friend Jin'ichi's life, and now you want to pick on a girl!? Look at yourself, you think you're so strong, but you're just a fat ungrateful child who treats others like trash for absolutely no reason! You see this eye patch!? I lost my eye due to a train crash, and let me tell you it was painful!! I still remember the glass hitting my eye that day, the blood that flowed out from it, the look on the conductor's face that gave me nightmares for weeks! And yet, you made fun of it because I'm just nothing but a scrub to you!?"

"I know what you're planning to do with Hakaru too! You're going to break him by becoming his babysitter weren't you!? And now you're picking on a girl, but not just any girl, the most precious girl I've ever met. Let me ask you something. Do you think human lives are free? You think that humans can be replaced!? Well you're completely wrong! No one, and I mean no one, can replace my friends! I care about them too much to just replace them! And now look where that's gotten you! I've had to put up with your poop for the last two years of my life! Everyday, I get picked on just to satisfy your cruel taste! At school, in public, and even in alleyways like this one, I was never safe from your wrath every time I wasn't with my parents!"

"But my friends taught me to be tough… without them, I probably wouldn't be here trying to slice your throat out… Hakaru may be a coward, but even he has his limits to how cowardly he is! He hates himself for being a coward because he couldn't do anything to stop his friend from disappearing! Jin'ichi was picked on by everyone in his school, and it's because of you that his mother went cuckoo! As far as I can tell, you're the reason he's so tough! Akiyo loves the sea, but you peed in it! And you just watched as Naruki's parents just up and died! And me? I'm just a big stinky donkey to you, am I!?"

He's got an expression of fear going on, I'm starting to get to his stupid little head. If he thinks he'll pick on me any longer, he won't even know that he's screwed... I was about to let him go before I noticed something in one of his pockets. It was some sort of voice recorder, it was turned on. Seriously!? Even now he thinks he's dominant!? He's going to use that to get me expelled!! If he seriously thinks I'm that stupid for not noticing it, then he's got another thing coming! More specifically, another helping of Takeyoshi's blade! Seeing something like this started to anger me so much that I grabbed his short head of hair and pointed the sword at him!

"What is this!? Tell me or I'll slice your head off!" "Y-You're bluffing aren't you…?" I wasn't going to let him get away from me anymore, I felt my remaining eye twitch as Monigami began to get even more scared of my cowardliness turned courageous… "Okay okay! I was going to record Junko's screams of terror, mostly because I thought a girl's scream would put me to sleep, but now that you've shown up I figured the school hearing you talk to me like this would sur-" I punched him so hard that he fell on the floor again.

I'm at my wit's end with him, he thinks he could just record me being this cruel to him and then frame me for something I don't deserve!? Monigami still thinks I'm a piece of trash, and yet he doesn't mind hearing screaming while he laughs about it!? He deserves everything that's coming to him, and I'm not gonna let a voice recorder stop me! I stabbed the voice recorder several times as I screamed, but not too loud so other people can't hear me. Monigami is suddenly shaking in his boots, or maybe this is his plan to cry his heart out to his mama and sue my parents!? I need to let him know how much trouble he's in! I lean in close as I continue to lash out on him...

"You think you're so smart, don't you? If I leave you alone, you'll tell your parents about this, will you? Well… open your ears and listen up because this won't be the last time you see this sword! I'll let you go for now, but if you tell your parents about this, if you tell the school about this, or if you get my family and friends involved in your trouble-making ways one more time, the next time we meet, it'll be the last time you'll ever see me."

"I'll carry this sword around in my backpack 24/7 from now on. If you screw over someone else one more time, I'll plunge this sword so far down your throat you'll never have any time to think about what you did wrong. And don't start with the crocodile tears, they don't work on everyone you know… I'm just so sick of all of your nonsense that I can't help but feel this way. Are you seriously thinking of a way to get me in trouble for saying those things...? Too bad. The moment I get in trouble, I don't care what happens to me. The next time I see your REAL face, I'll cut it in two. Now, never bother me, or my friends, ever again, or else…"

I kept staring at him for a moment or two, to really sink in that fear he once gave me. Monigami was shivering in place like a scared little rat, but I'm not going to fall for it that easy. Even when he was crying, he was still loads of trouble, I couldn't let him go now or else he'll definitely tell his parents! I've seen how they are, anything that goes wrong with him definitely makes them lash out against my own parents like complete cuckoo birds.

Eventually, his crying and sniffing was beginning to annoy me. The last time he did this was to frame me for hurting him, but now it's just absolutely pathetic. He should've thought up of a comeback by now, but I've been threatening him for the past few minutes and he doesn't seem to be responding. He's still crying because he thinks that if he does, he'll screw me over. Unfortunately, I got so tired of the crying that I decided to let him go and let him decide whether he wants to live or die...

I finally got off of Monigami, he runs off in tears, fake tears, as Junko hugs me. My friends cheered for me as I've finally got even with him, at least for now. But I can't say I'm satisfied, oh no, we still got a job to do. Even after my talk with him, I'm certain he's going to pull stuff like this again. When he does, I'll be ready for him. I watched a lot of adult action movies at night as part of my training, and it looks like all of it paid off. Junko looked so happy, so I smiled too, just to keep her spirits up.

"Thanks for saving me, you're my hero." Junko hugged me as Yuki and Reo cheered for me. They were the first who said I couldn't stand up to him, and when I did, their minds were blown. "You actually talked some sense into Monigami!" Yuki said while clapping cheerfully. "No one has ever done that to him before! You were awesome!" Reo shouted with glee. I smiled as proud as I could as I couldn't hog all the credit to myself. I didn't want everyone to feel left out, so I said: "I had a little help. Isn't that right guys?"

I looked at my team, but they didn't look too happy that I knocked some sense into that bully. They actually looked scared of me? Hakaru is shivering, Jin'ichi bit his lip and Akiyo put her hands to her mouth, they're scared of what I've become. But why? Why are they suddenly afraid of me? I learned everything they taught me, what's wrong now?

"Um. Guys…?" I spotted Akiyo who looked like she saw a ghost. "For a moment… you were… c-corrupt." Corrupt, me? I don't think I was being evil, this stuff was perfectly safe as long as it was Monigami. Hakaru tried to crack a smile and poke some fun at the way I acted, but he was just as awkward as ever: "Um… at least he'll have no trouble in the mansion now… am I right…?"

But most surprising of all was Jin'ichi, he was shaking a bit, and underneath the shades, he was trying to stay calm. But after seeing me lash out like he does regularly, he can't help but break his tough guy personality. "You… you really have changed haven't you…?" I did, didn't I? You guys helped you know, you shouldn't be afraid of me after teaching that bully his place!

"Big bro!? You taught him how to save me?" Junko says as she approaches her brother with surprised looks on both of their faces. "Uh… Y-Yeah, sure, that's it." Hakaru says a bit awkwardly, Junko jumped up and down as she was still optimistic as ever: "Wowie! Thank you so much Hakaru! You're truly a superhero in my heart!"

Junko then hugs Hakaru as she laughs away the pain, Hakaru could only help but laugh awkwardly. Jin'ichi and Akiyo were completely shocked by this outcome, they've probably never seen me like this before. Yuki and Reo wanted me to celebrate with ice cream, I told them I'll be right there as I face Jin'ichi and Akiyo like a new man. I made them proud didn't I? They must be so shocked that I had all the potential, that they can't seem to move.

"Takeyoshi… you really didn't have to go after Monigami like that… seriously..." Jin'ichi says a bit nervous. "W-We could've s-stopped him f-for you… what is happening to my precious child…?" Akiyo was shivering all over the place. I felt myself smiling as I explained the reason why I chose to fight him. Maybe that'll make them realize I'm a hero...

"Isn't that obvious? All I have to do is get mad, and I get a super power right? And whatever happens in the real world affects the other side too right? The only way to keep you all safe was to take on his real self. After all… if the real person takes a hint and stops bullying others… Then I'd bet his Palace must be crumbling to pieces by now… You can thank me for that. I really have changed for the better. And it's all thanks to you guys."

I must've creeped them out a bit, but who cares? That bully was trying to destroy our lives, the only way this was going to work is if we either take his heart, or punish the real self for crimes unspeakable. I chose the latter because it was faster than say stealing pirate booty! What really drove me to do this? My parents wanted me to defeat Monigami, at first I thought they were supplying me for his Palace, but then I had to go through the tunnel. Being in there just reminded me of all the terrible things he did to me, it was driving me up the wall as I couldn't take any more of his madness.

But, if something as simple as making Doll-Hakaru invincible was enough to change him, then giving the real Monigami a piece of my mind would surely do something. If it did, then I'll truly become the very hero Hakaru, Jin'ichi and my friends wanted me to be! Everyone will be so proud of me! But, little did I know, HEX saw the whole thing as he looked at his own cell phone and talked to himself. I don't exactly know what he said, but I'm sure whatever it is, it'll spell doom for Shadow Monigami and his precious mansion! Watch out world, there's a new Phantom Thief in town!

"Oh you did change for the better Takeyoshi. Monigami doesn't think of you as a jackass anymore. No. He thinks of you as a monster. A monster who is blinded by his delusion to help everyone in need, without even realizing that you are causing destruction beyond repair. If anything, the ass has become the bastard Monigami needed, the very being that rebels too far for him to handle. And because of you, his Palace is going to spiral out of control. Getting the treasure will no longer be a walk in the park for you. You are about to find out what happens if a Palace ruler thinks of you as a savage uncontrollable monster…"

"A Palace ruler views people like how they see it. Kamoshida viewed his subjects like prisoners, Monigami has viewed you all as jackasses. But nobody has scared a Palace ruler to death of someone, and there's a good reason for that. Scalawag… I hope you're happy. Because whatever happens next, you wouldn't want to be a part of it. But that doesn't mean…"

"You ARE a part of it…"